Wild ARMs XF Full FAQ/Walkthrough by "darklao" Version 1.2 - 13 June 2008 =============================================================================== 123456789d123456789a123456789r123456789k123456789l123456789a123456789o123456789 =============================================================================== Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction/About This Guide II. Quick Access Notes III. Walkthrough Prologue - Seed of the Dandelion Stage 0-1 Act 1 - Path of the Founding Knights Stage 1-1 (Trader's Road) Stage 1-2 (Windhalt Gatehouse) Stage 1-3 (Poliasha) Stage 1-4 (Creedmore Prison) Part I - Rescue the Villagers (Creedmore Prison - Detention Area) Part II - Protect the Villagers (Creedmore Prison - Yard) Stage 1-5 (Rusty Docks) Stage 1-6 (Fallen Fowl Swamp) Stage 1-7 (Guardian Shrine/Path to the Shrine) Part I (Guardian Shrine) Part II (Path to the Shrine) Stage 1-8 (Fort Molasar) Interlude - Item Scope #2, Jelly Genocide Stage 1-9 (Hanigar - Zone 4) Part I - Find Key, Take Lift Part II - Escape Zone 4 Interlude - About Synthing and Searching, Money Cheat Stage 1-10 (Rainy Pass) Stage 1-11 (Starlit Path) Stage 1-12 (Deserter's Camp) Stage 1-13 (Dead Plateau) Stage 1-14 (Richala Rose) Stage 1-15 (Quarry of Desire) Stage 1-16 (Richala Rose) Act 2 - A Tale of Two Princesses Stage 2-1 (Frightful Abyss) Stage 2-2 (Wayward Path) Interlude - CSP Farming Stage 2-3 (Rasalom Keep) Interlude - Character Builds and Skill Combinations Stage 2-4 (Elensia) Stage 2-5 (Streets of Elensia) Stage 2-6 (River in Elensia) Stage 2-7 (Grauswein Plaza) Stage 2-8 (Grauswein Plaza) Stage 2-9 (Backstreets of Elensia) Stage 2-10 (Twilight Valley) Part I - Enter the Kinship Part II - Collateral Damage Stage 2-11 (Twilight Valley) Stage 2-12 (Circle Valley) Part I - Delaying Action Part II - IT'S A TRAP! Stage 2-13 (Sundome Abbey Ruins) Stage 2-14 (Sundome Abbey Dungeon) Stage 2-15 (Sundome Abbey Dungeon) Stage 2-16 (Sundome Abbey Exterior) Part I - Wonder Twin Powers, Activate! Part II - Rescue Rangers Act 3 - Echoes of Days Past Stage 3-1 (Lonely Waterside) Part I - One November Part II - Spawned a Monster Stage 3-2 (Crestabelde) Part I - Pull! Part II - The Forever War Stage 3-3 (The Frozen Lands) Part I - Ma Belle Part II - Dude Looks Like A Lady Stage 3-4 (Guardian Temple) Stage 3-5 (Guardian Temple Interior) Part I - Bring Us Your Poor... Part II - This... is a Brain Sucker... Stage 3-6 (Bandits' Forest) Stage 3-7 (Path of the Unjust) Interlude - Emulator Spells, Magic Berry Stage 3-8 (Elensia) Stage 3-9 (Elensia) Stage 3-10 (Secret Base) Stage 3-11 (Secret Base) Part I - Hook, Line, Sinker Part II - Stand and Deliver Part III - A Perfect Circle Stage 3-12 (Secret Base) Part I - I, Robot Part II - Once More, With Feeling Stage 3-13 (Secret Base) Part I - Poor Old Michael Finnegan Part II - The Doctrine of Eternal Recurrents Act IV - Searching for the Future Stage 4-1 (The Quiet Sands) Stage 4-2 (Boot Hill) Part I - Cry Me A River Part II - A River Runs Through It Stage 4-3 (The Flatwoods) Part I - Love is a Battlefield Part II - The Invisible College Interlude - Ragu O Ragul Stage 4-4 (Rasalom Keep) Stage 4-5 (Port Atraige) Stage 4-6 (Elensia) Part I - Time Well Wasted Part II - You Have Caused Confusion and Delay Part III - Control, Control, You Must Learn Control! Stage 4-7 (Schnell Ruins) Part I - Bring Out Your Dead! Part II - With Friends Like These... Stage 4-8 (Schnell Ruins) Part I - Can Love Bloom on the Battlefield? Part II - Walk Without Rhythm Stage 4-9 (Schnell Ruins) Part I - The Clone War Part II - If You Strike Me Down... Stage 4-10 (Schnell Ruins) Part I - Kill It With Kindness Part II - Just Kill It Stage 4-11 (Schnell Ruins) Part I - El Dia De Los Muertos Part II - Puzzle Break Part III - Just Deserts Final Act - When Flowers Once Again Bloom Stage Final Act 1 (Foothills of No Return) Stage Final Act 2 (Trail to the Summit) Interlude - Point of No Return Stage Final Act 3 (Silver Peaks) Stage Final Act 4 (Silver Peaks) IV. Search List V. Free Battles VI. Enemy List VII. FAQ/Tips VIII. Contact/Copyright/Hosting =============================================================================== Introduction/About This Guide =============================================================================== Welcome to yet another darklao guide. :P About spoilers - I don't discuss plot details at all. Certain location names (but probably not) may be spoilers, if you read ahead in the guide. Boss and character names in strategy descriptions will definitely be spoilers if you read ahead. The quick access guide in the beginning, if you're wondering "when do I get access to what?" contains no spoilers, that's why it's in the front, so you can look without worries. About skills, levels and equipment - As I played through specifically for writing this guide, I basically assumed you will have access to very little. At the most, a class OC and early skills-- things you can get inside of 30 or so CSP. It's well worth your while to open and use the better, more expensive skills, but I didn't assume you did any of that. Exception: Emulator skills must be learned via "Download" from an enemy. This guide assumes that you (and tells you how to get) the four basic elemental Emulator spells. You can for most purposes replace these with the inferior Elementalist versions. I also did very little battling outside of the plot, so you may assume that whatever your levels are, they are higher than mine. Mostly the enemy levels are tailored to your own, so this should make little or no difference anyway. For equipment, I usually had the most up-to-date weapons and armors up-to-date -1. Because you can learn skills to equip out-of-class weapons and armor, all you really need to do is keep a weapon and armor up-to-date for the mains' special class. Certain other class weapons, especially Elementalist books for increased MAG, are very worth keeping up to date as well. It's incredibly expensive as you proceed in the game to try to keep everything up-to-date all the time, so don't. Just keep the main characters and some books up to date, and build anything you need within one or two +x of your current ability, and you'll be fine. Equipment is great, but you'll be relying far more on skills and effects to kick butt, so don't stress about it if you don't want to. About map/battle strategies - With the exception of very few maps, I do not detail step-by-step move and attack descriptions of the combat. For one, there's no need. General ideas of what will work well against what, and any problems unique to a stage should work fine. For two, I don't expect you to play this game exactly like I would. You should work useful options into your play-style as necessary and possible. For the vast majority of maps, there are many possible solutions, and which works best for you will depend on you. For three, if you're smart, you'll be using things like Accelerate (adds random value to accumulated RFX after a unit's turn)--and plenty of the enemies will too--which makes a move by move guide impossible, setting aside the usual chances of misses, criticals, status effects landing or not, etc. About versions, updates, and whatnot - This guide should only exist on GameFAQs. GameFAQs will *always* have the most up-to-date version. What's actually in the guide will *always* be reflected in the contents section above. The Table of Contents headings will *always* be exactly the same as the section heading in the walkthrough or list, so just highlight and Ctrl+C,F,V yourself around. If it's not in the guide yet, but is planned for a future version, there will usually be a sentence or so at the end of the contents to reflect that. The walkthrough itself is complete. I don't submit before that, so you don't have to worry about scrolling down and seeing some crap about "To be continued..." Elsewise, I hope you find this guide helpful, and even slightly amusing. I had a lot of fun playing this game, and I hope you do too. On with the show... =============================================================================== Quick Access Notes =============================================================================== Formation Arts - beginning Shop - after prologue Class Change - during 1-1 Originals - during 1-1 Extra Skills - after 1-2 Character #3 - after 1-2 D.E.R.s - during 1-3 Free Battles - after 1-3 Item Scope #1 - 1-4 part II stage reward Hire Generics - after 1-4 Searches - after 1-4 Character #4 - during 1-7, part II Sacred Slayer - after 1-8 Sentinel - after 1-8 Excavator - after 1-8 Geomancer - after 1-8 Item Scope #2 - after 1-8, use Detect at Promise Hill 12H Synthing - after 1-9 Combination Arts - during 1-13 Character #5 - during 1-15 Item Scope #3 - 1-16 stage reward Berserker - after 2-3 Enigmancer - after 2-3 Strider - after 2-3 Grappler - after 2-3 Item Scope #4 - 2-7 stage reward Item Scope #5 - 2-15 stage reward Character #6 - after 2-15 Item Scope #6 - 3-4, use Detect at top/side of map. Nightstalker - after 3-6 Emulator - after 3-6 Extremist - after 3-6 High Cavalier - after 3-6 Item Scope #7 - 3-7 stage reward Item Scope #8 - 3-13 stage reward Item Scope #9 - 4-5 stage reward Item Scope #10 - Treasure Chest, Schnell Ruins (stage 4-7) Item Scope #11 - 4-11 part II stage reward Item Scope #12 - Foothills of No Return, detect at 19H snow plain (stage FA1) =============================================================================== Walkthrough =============================================================================== Prologue - Seed of the Dandelion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 0-1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies Failure: All allies fall in battle. Required Characters: 2/2 - Clarissa, Felius Enemies: Rupert (10), 2*Strider (1), Secutor (1), Elementalist (1) Notes: Ignore Rupert. You can hit him with Clarissa, but you can't even come close to killing him, so use her to pop off shots at the Striders instead as you move in. After a few turns Rupert will smash the arch and take off anyway. Do the Secutor last as his Weapon Block skill may have you taking unnecessary damage otherwise. Whenever possible, put Clarissa and Felius on opposite sides of the enemy to activate Formation Arts. It's particularly important to get used to not putting another character in the way of Clarissa's gunshot, and familiarize yourself with the basic Formation Art. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Act 1 - Path of the Founding Knights ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talk to Gilliam in the Shop, Bartender in the Bar, Heinz in the Outskirts, then Store-Minder in the Shop to get [Map of Elesius]. Buy 3 Heal Berry, 3 Nectar, and one each of all equipment you're missing. (Or don't, but you have to do 1-1 and 1-2 before you can access another Shop.) Then enter Trader's Road to activate Stage 1-1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-1 (Trader's Road) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Enemies: 2*Fantastica (2), Fantastica (3) Notes: The level 3 Fantastica has Secutor equipment, and of the other two, one is a pure Fantastica, the other has Elementalist OC. Default classes - White Dog can outpace Felius and Clarissa, but it's best to keep everybody together and move Felius and Dog so that Clarissa can hit them every turn with Encourage until combat is joined--both to get more turns and to make setting up Formation Arts easier. Also be aware that Felius' Attack Assist can give him an attack out of turn if Dog or Clarissa is attacking an enemy he's next to. Don't be afraid to use Clarissa's Sacrifice move on the final enemy for a quicker finish. Optional classes - Run Clarissa as Elementalist, Felius as Fantastica. (Remember to equip and load items.) First turn move everybody forward, have Felius hit Clarissa with Rush. Next use Clarissa to move up and OHKO the low HP Fantastica with Crush. Move Felius up next to the other and attack. Move Clarissa past Felius and hit the laggard with Vortex. Move Dog opposite Felius for Formation Arts. Have Claire finish the laggard, then finish the last guy with Dog/Felius FAs. After battle, proceed to Windhalt Gatehouse to activate Stage 1-2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-2 (Windhalt Gatehouse) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Activate the switch./Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. Enemies: Secutor (12), 2*Gadgeteer (3), Fantastica (3), Fantastica (1) Be aware that if *any* ally dies, it's Game Over, so make sure everybody has Heal Berries. The easy way - Have Clarissa wait and move Dog up next to her. When the Gadg and the Fant move in, take one of them out with Claire and Dog. As soon as you kill one of them, Felius and Suspicious Lady will show up to help. Move everybody up toward the switch in a nice protected group, with Lady tossing Replicas in the Secutor's path, and have everyone else focus on the Gadg coming down from by the switch. As soon as possible, Warp the Lady up by the Switch to toss a Lightning at it, or if you keep using her to distract the Sec, and you have Felius as his base class, get him up there and use Upper Hand. The hard way - Make sure Clarissa is an Elementalist, and have Felius as a Halberdier (though this is optional). As before, use Clarissa and Dog to make a kill, then kill the remaining nearby unit when Felius and Lady join. Distract the Secutor to kill the Gadg, then surround the Sec on three corners (he tends to focus on Clarissa, so you might as well keep him in place by using her as a corner). Keep tossing out Replicas with the Lady while Felius shoots for a disarm (or if he's not base class, just attack with FAs). Have Clarissa use Heal Berries as necessary, and otherwise cast Freeze. The Secutor does have Healing items, and isn't afraid to use them, but you can outpace him (especially if Disarm lands), then just keep hammering him down. When he's out, head over and take out the remaining Fantastica. The treasure chest is just a Heal Berry, so you can nab it if you get the shot, but don't stress over it--you can come back and get this one when the map opens as a free stage. After the battle, proceed to Poliasha. Talk to Labyrinthia in the Plaza, then enter the Inn. Afterward, do any shopping you need to do, then head to the Inn and talk to the Innkeeper to activate Stage 1-3. I recommend you pick up an extra Spellbook, at least. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-3 (Poliasha) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Guide all allies to the target area./Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. Enemies: Fantastica (3), Gadgeteer (2), Fantastica (20), 3*Secutor (20) The easy way - Have at least one character in the Fantastica class. Move that character up to the left side of the left block and knock it into the gap. Send everybody else left to the walkway, have the (or another) Fantastica bust through the barrels, then kill the Gadg (or just walk around her) and walk into the target zone. The hard(?) way - Felius as Gadg, Clarissa and Labyrinthia and Elementalists, Tony as Dog. >_> Remember to equip extra skills, equipment, and items (include Nectars). Block the gap as before, then move the ladies up by the barrier and start pelting the Secs in order of greatest weakness. Send Felius and Tony west to clear the path and kill the weaklings (take care not to accidentally step into the target area). After the Secs are dead, the high level Fant should close to attack. Take her out from behind the barrier. After the battle, you can reaccess the shop in Poliasha, and Free Battles can now be played on accessible maps. Watch the scene on Promise Hill, restock if need be, and head to Creedmore Prison to activate 1-4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-4 (Creedmore Prison) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Rescue the Villagers (Creedmore Prison - Detention Area) Success: Rescue all of the villagers. Failure: A single ally is spotted by the guards. Make everyone Gadgeteers for the higher RFX. Remember to equip Labyrinthia's Arcanist OC. You don't need to use items or equip--this is purely a puzzle map. For the purpose of this solution, place the characters in order on the tactics screen. Directions are with the camera behind the starting position. Buildings are labeled thus: 789 456 123 X - starting position Move Clarissa west to south side of 1 and wait by the door. Move Felius east to 3 and wait by the door. Move Laby to the door on the west side of 2. Move Clarissa into the alley between 1 and 2. Move Felius into the alley between 2 and 3. Warp Laby north into the alley between 4 and 5. Move Clarissa north east to open the door on the south of 5. Move Felius north to open 6. Move Clarissa west to the alley between 1 and 4. Warp Laby north east into the alley between 5 and 8. Move Felius north east into the alley between 6 and 9. Clarissa waits. Laby waits. Move Felius east of 9. Move Clarissa west of 4 to open the door. Laby waits. Clarissa moves north east into the alley between 4 and 7. Felius moves north to open 9. Felius moves south west between 6 and 9. Everyone waits until the guards move into the corners. Everyone moves north into the alleys between 7 and 8 and 9, Clarissa opens door on the east side of 8. Everyone waits until the guards move. Move Clarissa to the north door of 7. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Protect the Villagers (Creedmore Prison - Yard) Success: All villagers reach target area./Defeat Nanasato. Failure: A single villager dies./All allies die. All directions have the target area as south. The easy way - Setup: Clarissa as Dandelion Shot. Felius as Fantastica. Labyrinthia as Elementalist. (Arcanist OC) Levin as Elementalist. (Martial Mage OC) Give Levin/Laby elementalist eq for the MAG boost. Generally, the stage should go like this: -Levin takes out the close Fant, then moves north toward Nanasato, by hooking around the rock (avoiding the sand), taking out the second Fant on the way. -Tony heads north to attack/distract the three eastern enemies at the rear. -Felius hits Laby with Rush immediately, hits Clarissa with Rush on his second turn, then hits Nanasato with Slow Down, (moving somewhat south the while), then heads north to assist Tony. -Laby heads south, taking the western Excavator out with Vortex first turn, to drop Replicas near Nanasato, hitting her with Crush as possible. -Claire heads briefly north to Encourage Felius and Laby every possible turn, then helps finish Nanasato with Sacrifice. That's right, no Gadgeteers. Healing is a waste of turns you could spend making sure no villagers are taking hits. You should always have a Replica out before Laby bothers to use Crush. Don't use Clarissa's second Sacrifice until you can get a kill with it. Nanasato will move to attack whatever has the lowest HP, so drop Replicas in such a way as to lead her into Sand (so she gets no RFX boost from hex). Similarly, keep the team on Floor hexes for the RFX boost whenever possible. It may seem odd to move Levin around the sand, but with terrain RFX boosts and killing the Fants before they can hit him with Slow Down, he can actually get into the mix faster and do more good by going the long way. The hard way - Do everything the same, except don't kill Nanasato. Just keep distracting her until the villagers run into the zone... this way isn't so much hard, as, just pointless. You can also flood your team with gadgeteers and spam Heal Berry if you're not into thinking... The treasure chest is a Heal Berry. Pick it up in the free stage. Head back to Poliasha. Enter the Inn. You can now hire Generics... About generics... during the course of the game, you'll have occasion to use three or four to fill gaps. You should hire at least six as early as possible, so that you can do full six man searches (and the earlier you hire them, the more spillover XP they'll be getting, just by hanging around). Six is probably all you'll ever really want, though you can hire as many as 41. >_> No srsly. As far as stats, my personal opinion is that only two things matter: RFX and keeping the elemental weaknesses fairly low. All of their other stats are going to be boostable as needed by armor and weapons. So, high 80s is good, and if they also have a high MAG or ATK (>70), bonus. Six of these will give you a nice range of elements and MAG/ATK options, on characters quick enough to play a meaningful role in battle. What class you hire them as makes no difference, though you might as well mix it up so that you have the extra starter equipment lying around. As soon as you hire someone and exit the Inn, you can do Searches. When you're ready, head to Rusty Docks to activate Stage 1-5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-5 (Rusty Docks) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This stage is fairly straightforward. Light the torches to scare the Jellies out of the water, kill the Gremalkins with physical attacks, the Jellies with magic. Party: Clarissa, Laby, Felius, 3*Generics. It doesn't really matter who is what, or in what combination, though it helps to have Fantasticas for physical attacks from range (the Gremalkin have a HP theft counterattack) and to Rush the spellcasters. It's also much quicker to Warp Laby out in the center of the lake to fire the torches and have everybody else wait on the shore/take out the Gremalkins than have anybody else drag ass out there and back. If the Jellies are hit with a physical attack that crits, they may spawn a copy. The Jellies are also pretty much immune to damage >1, even by magic, while they're in the water. After the battle, return to Poliasha for plot, then leave town to open some new and old areas. When it suits you, proceed to Fallen Fowl Swamp to activate Stage 1-6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-6 (Fallen Fowl Swamp) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Suggested Party: Clarissa - Dandelion Shot, Elementalist OC (Dand EQ) Felius - Halberdier, Fantastica OC (Halb EQ) Labyrinthia - Elementalist, Arcanist OC (Elem EQ) 3*Generic - Fantastica, Elementalist OC Everybody - 3*Heal Berry, Nectar The two major factors in this map are environmental. The swamp and the cliff at the back of the stage. The swamp has a path through that can be passed as long as the units have at least 3 Climb, otherwise you have to slog through the swamp itself, acquiring poison status. Unfortunately the one best class for taking out unreachable enemies on the cliff--Elementalists--only has two Climb. So you either drag along antidotes and nectars and/or a Gadg--waste of time and effort, IMO, or you load up a bunch of Fants (who can also mutually Rush each other for running and gunning), and ignore the swamp entirely. Except for the magical warping wonder, Laby (whose capability is legendary (in her own mind)), who can manage with Warp and can use the extra MAG boost from the Elem EQ. Party starts in southwest corner. Clarissa's job is to Encourage anybody lagging behind the group, stop on the height 4 hex on the west side of the map to pop the treasure chest from range, and either Sacrifice or toss spells at the cliff-dwellers at the other end of the map. Felius' job is to Rush as necessary, then hug the cliff and Upper Hand anybody he can hit, otherwise make himself useful with Rush and Slow Down. Laby needs to forge ahead Generics are generic. Rush and toss spells. Expect Samille (the Geo mid-map) to toss some Shut Outs. Just kill him as fast as possible with spells and forge ahead. His major effect is to slow the party down in the middle of the map. Remember to keep everybody Rushed as you approach the cliff so you don't have to wait a turn in range of enemy fire before firing back. Treasure Chest is a Revive Fruit. After the battle, head to Guardian Shrine to activate Stage 1-7. ***WARNING*** Now is a good time to have a discussion about save files. You need to be keeping two. One current, and one backup for the last time you had access to towns and free stages. Not that it really really matters, but still. For instance, as soon as you enter the Guardian Shrine, you see a bunch of plot and are prompted to save *before* you enter the actual fight. Meaning you'll have to pass the stage as you are (and the stage after, actually)--items, equips, levels, CSP, and all. If this twists your panties, keep an extra save. I will try to warn you any time this is about to happen. So. Yeah. >_> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-7 (Guardian Shrine/Path to the Shrine) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I (Guardian Shrine) Success: Guide all allies to the target area./Defeat all enemies. Failure: 99 turns pass from the start of the quest./A single ally falls in battle. Notes: Another stage where if even one character dies, it's Game Over, so be paranoid. Particularly of note is the Sentinel in the center's Heavy Strike skill, which can knock back a lighter character (at this point, all of them)--which if you stand between him and a hole (like anywhere near him), he can knock you into auto-death and Game Over. Further, you must complete this stage, meaning either all enemies dead or all units to the gate on the other side of the room, before turn 99 is over. There are three viable strategies: 1) Up the middle. This has the advantage of directness, but the disadvantage of having to take out the high-level Sentinel without dying while all of the other enemies are still burning turns. Doable, but. Load yourself out as in 1-6 with Rushing Spellcasters (preferably units with 4 move). Laby can Warp, and Clarissa should Encourage constantly, to help stack the turn list in your favor. Watch for the enemy Spellcasters heading over to the edge to try to hit you with spells. Sentinel is weak to water, but don't expect amazing things. 2) One way or the other. This has the advantage of killing almost half the enemies in the turn list, and should be about as speedy as going up the middle when you consider how long it takes to kill the Sentinel. If you head for the spellcasters, emphasize physical attacks, again with fast movers (generic Secs/Gadgs, Felius as Halb, etc.) Laby can warp, so. Even Tony with his 5 move is not a poor choice. Remember to take full advantage of Formation Arts. If you head toward the Secutors, do the opposite. Emphasize quick casters as in 1-6 or #1 above. 3) Split the party. Send physical attackers at the Elementalists and casters at the Secutors. This is my favorite just because after the melee, you've got only one enemy eating the available turns. This is probably the first actual combat stage where I'd recommend Gadgeteers, to take out the Elementalists, for the high RFX and built-in Decelerate. FAs should more than make up for less ATK. Add to that their armor's special boost to RFX after item-use if you do need to heal. If you opt for #2 or #3 don't forget to use Clarissa's gun to pop the chest before you head around. So for my money, it's: Clarissa as Fant, Dandy OC, Dandy EQ Laby as Elem, Arcanist OC, Elem EQ Generic Fant, Elementalist OC, Elem EQ (if possible) - Felius as Gadg, Fantastica OC, Fant EQ (for FA boost) 2*Generic Gadg. Everybody Heal Berry to capacity. Gang up and kill quickly. Better to take somebody off the turn list than shoot for most efficient application of damage. Also, be aware of the environment. IMO it's better to cut yourself short a hex to land on a 20% RFX than stand on a 10% or non-bonus hex. Finally, if you're close on moves toward the end and have some stragglers, get everybody else the hell off the board. Treasure Chest is Katzbalger. After the battle, there's nothing really to do but head to Path to the Shrine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II (Path to the Shrine) Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: Levin falls in battle. Suggested Party: Clarissa as Dandy. Felius as Halb. Laby as Elem, Arcanist OC, Elem EQ. Levin as Elem, Martial Mage OC/EQ, Spellbook/Coat. 2*Generic Elem, Fantastica OC, Elem EQ. Everybody loaded with Heal Berries. Have Clarissa block the path north and Encourage the Elems, use Heal Berry, or take pot shots down the bottleneck, as prudent. Watch her HP as she'll be on the front line. Generic elems back her up with spells. Work those elemental weaknesses. Felius takes out the lone Secutor (start with Disarms), then returns to assist Clarissa and the generics. Laby assists with the Sec, then Warps across (or fires from behind the barrier if enemies are in range). Levin as Elem (for the MAG) *slowly* advances to deal with enemies. Be insanely paranoid about his HP, as a crit from the beefy Sec can easily 75% him. If anyone dies, use Laby to revive them on the other side of the barrier (as is prudent). This isn't really a tough fight so long as Levin doesn't go rushing into the swarm... in fact a solid first move is to drop him back and west to hit the Excav with a spell on the next turn so that the rest go hang around the barrier. After the battle, you can reaccess shops and free battles. Stop by West Wind Guidepost for some plot, the when ready continue on to Fort Molasar for Stage 1-8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-8 (Fort Molasar) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat Magnus Failure: All allies fall in battle. Magnus is the Sec at the back. His sword does additional damage based on how much VP his target is missing. The easy answer is to drag along a Gadg to Mystic some Nectars onto the party at the last minute. You can also just kill him from range, though he has +20% vs. all elements, so Blast/Lightning will be the way to go. This battle, more than any other, is about turn *efficiency* more than speed, so Levin should be back in his Martial Mage class, even though this will cut his effectiveness as a caster. Clarissa, also, should be out of class, as her 3 Move just isn't going to cut it. Clarissa's a good one to pop into Gadg to use for support and endstage mass Nectaring. Suggested party: Clarissa - Gadgeteer, Dandy OC Felius - Halberdier Laby - Elementalist, Arcanist OC, Elementalist EQ Levin - Martial Mage 2*Generic Fantastica - Elementalist OC, Elementalist EQ Nectars for Clarissa, Felius, Levin, and Heal Berries to fill. Send everybody but Laby up the near shortcut. Be sure to Rush Laby before you send all the Fants up. Move/Warp Laby east up the stairs then back across to the party. She should be able to one-shot both enemies, then Warp to rejoin. Everybody else takes out the Sentinel (use magic, Invoked Felius to Disarm). Continue north through the next shortcut and take out both enemy Gadg before getting on the stairs up to Magnus and co. Pile everybody together for Clarissa's Mystic Nectar to refill VP, then lure Magnus down onto the stairs with a Replica. Send Levin up to nab the chest [Gella Card], then have him Cancel Strike Magnus. Use the Fants to keep Felius Invoked for Disarms on Magnus. Burn any of their remaining MP taking out the enemy Fants, then hitting Magnus for whatever they can. Nestle Labyrinthia on the RFX +20 tiles just below the stairs, and have Clarissa constantly Encourage her so that she can pound Magnus often with Lightning. NB: Don't put Felius next to the Replica if you have him wearing his class armor unless you want him taking hits for Laby's sock monkey. >_> Once you get rid of his sword, he's a tank, but nothing unusually dangerous, attack-wise. Just wear him down. Clarissa's Sacrifice makes a good finisher. After the battle, you'll open some new classes. Proceed to Hanigar, talk to the Forger in Synth Shop, talk to Jeune in The Elder's, Workman in Synth Shop, Jeune again in The Elder's, Ore Miner in The Bar, then Jeune a third time in The Elder's when you're ready to hit the next battle... but before that, I recommend you purchase upgraded EQ for the mains, at least, and a couple sets of Elem +MAG/RES EQ... and: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - Item Scope #2, Jelly Genocide ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now that you've opened Excavators, you can nab Item Scope #2 by entering a free battle at Promise Hill and using the Excav Detect skill at the high point. You can also exploit Excavator's Gella Bonus to repeat kill an endless series of Jellies at Rusty Docks and farm up tons of Gella, CSP, and EXP. Just take in an Excavator with Elementalist OC, kill all but one Jelly, then pop the last with weak strikes until you crit, whereupon the Jelly will Floop out a copy, which you kill with spells, rinse, repeat. When the Jelly gets low on HP or VP, just kill it after it spawns, and start on the copy. At this point in the game, you don't have the skills to make this really easily exploitable, but: 2+ Excavator, Sacred Slayer OC/Elementalist OC. - When your MP start to run low, Heal to restore your HP, and have somebody Switch you for full MP. You can run this with as few as two characters, or a full roster. Everybody's VP (and then HP) will run low, but the Jellies are far more concerned with fleeing than anything else. Later on you can access skills to restore your MP as you go, so you can run it with a single character. It also becomes more profitable later on as the enemy levels (and Gella, EXP) rise. It will also nab you 1 CSP per Jelly, so you can get whatever skills you have the patience for (though at this point you shouldn't go crazy because there's a more exploitable CSP factory coming up before too long). Its real advantage is that it's a reasonably quick and somewhat mindless alternative to doing a krajillion random battles normally with Gella Bonus, and late game it's an easy alternative to grinding for EXP. Not that you need levels, but whatever trips your trigger. >_> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-9 (Hanigar - Zone 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Find Key, Take Lift Success: Guide all allies to the target area. Failure: A single ally is spotted by the enemy. This is purely a puzzle map, so just put Clarissa and Levin in the Excavator class. They don't need other skills or equips or anything. Just head over to the building by the Secutor and use Detect to reveal the key in front of the door, nab it while he's around back, and head over to the lift to enter the cliff, which is the target area. Make sure to have two moves to cross or enter vision zones before the enemy gets a turn. Stuff strewn around: Heal Berry - steps near the start point, height 4. Revive Fruit - middle of the path on the way to the key door. Antidote - behind the building near the Fantastica. Lift Key - in front of the door to the building by the Secutor. Quickshot - middle of courtyard before mine/lift. Iron Ore - right in front of the lift. Pinwheel - by the lower lift switch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Escape Zone 4 Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. The first group is cake. Kill them and move on. The sacred slayers are the real problem. Step to the bottom of the first flight of stairs to activate the first SS, let him come up, drain his MP with Clarissa and Felius while Levin keeps everybody healed, the hit him with Fragile (Levin), surround him, and use FAs for a quick kill. Step down to the next level (just one spot) to activate the second, retreat, drain his MP, let him come up, surround him, FA to kill. At this point you may be starting to run low on VP, so pop some Nectar as you drop down to engage the final, toughest Slayer. At this point, you're probably also running low on MP. Luckily this guy is fast and just loooves to Fragile and Sanctify. Burn his MP as much as you can with Clarissa and Felius, and when he's out, Fragile/Cancel Strike with Levin and FA with Felius. Clarissa won't be able to do much (because of this guy's "Hard" armor), but if she has a turn right before Felius, go ahead and attack anyway for the Chain bonus. Suggested Party: Clarissa - Fantastica, Elementalist OC, Elementalist EQ Felius - Halberdier, Fantastica OC, Fantastica EQ (Halberd/Fant Armor - to be able to damage the Hard guy, and for the FA bonus) Levin - Sacred Slayer, Martial Mage OC Everyone should have Nectar, 3*Heal Berry After the battle, talk to Clerk in the Shop, Forger in the Synth Shop (to open Synthing), Funk in the bar, Jeune at The Elder's, and Toco at The Elder's to obtain a Dragon Fossil. Then leave town to open the next stage at Rainy Pass. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - About Synthing and Searching, Money Cheat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keeping your EQ up to date is actually a better way to stay on par with enemies than level grinding. That (less now than later) requires Synthing, which requires money and ingredients, which you get from searching, which requires money. A perfectly good way to get money is to take your people into battle either as Excavators or with Gella Bonus (if they've learned it) and just kill stuff. The Harpies are especially good targets, as they have high Gella drops. The next stage (Rainy Pass), is pretty good money, once you open it as a free stage. It is usually either all Harpies or a special encounter with a Not Have, a 1 HP enemy that essentially runs away and resets the stage if you can't kill him in time (with level*100 Gella--double that for a kill with Gella Bonus). You can also take advantage of the infinite flooping Jellies to make gobs of cash. If you're not of a mind to do anything legitimate, you can equip Laby with an item you have only one of, spawn a Replica, get the Harpies to steal that item, have Laby use the original item (be sure to make sure she *can* use it), and since you will have lost two of an item you only had one of to begin with, through the magic of programming loopholes unclosed, you can go sell 254 of your now 255 of them, and repeat until the cows come home, you get bored, etc. So for instance at this stage of the game you can mass dup a Gella Card and make 381K Gella in about five minutes. Never used this, myself, except to check that it works, so... as always with this sort of thing, caveat emptor. The glitch may or may not make some of your items disappear (they're still there, just can't be sold or equipped). Save and reload after selling the overloaded Gella Cards (or whatever) to fix whatever got glitched. Either way, it's a good idea to keep your equips up to date. "Up to date" as defined by how many Item Scopes you have. Every time you get a new Item Scope, check back at the Synth Shop to see what you can build. Synthable weapons and armors come in three types: ATK/DEF boosters, which require metals, AIM/EVA boosters, which require plants, and MAG/RES boosters, which require animal parts. At 1 Item Scopes, you can Synth specialized equipment. At 2 Item Scopes, you can Synth +1 specialized equipment and: Potion Berry Antidote +1 Medicine +1 At 3 Item Scopes, you can Synth +2 specialized equipment and: Exploder Gem Large Moon Elemental Gems +1 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Exploder Gem +1 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Nectar +1 Breath Mint +1 At 4 Item Scopes, you can Synth +3 specialized equipment and: Mega Berry (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Flying Saucer Antidote +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Medicine +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Peppy Acorn +1 Pinwheel +1 Pygmalion +1 At 5 Item Scopes, you can Synth +4 specialized equipment and: Holy Root (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Imprisoner (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Money Pit (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Dark Nebula Nectar +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Breath Mint +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Holy Root +1 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) At 6 Item Scopes, you can Synth +5 specialized equipment and: Full Revive (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Smart Bomb (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Unholy Berry (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Exploder (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Circle Zapper Peppy Acorn +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Pinwheel +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Pygmalion +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Magic Berry At 7 Item Scopes, you can Synth +6 specialized equipment and: Holy Berry (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Angel Halo Holy Root +2 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) At 8 Item Scopes, you can Synth named specialized equipment (+7) and: Buzzsaw At 9 Item Scopes, you can Synth named equipment (+8) At 11 Item Scopes, you can Synth ultimate equipment (+9) and: Great Apple (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Ambrosia (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) Magic Berry +1 (High class--mastered Gadgeteer only) If you stay in a particular "path" (say ATK boosting halberds), it takes fewer materials to upgrade each stage of the equipment. You can covert any type n to any type n+1, and it will have higher values in all three categories than any of the type n equipment, so if you have no concern for the cost, it's always better to upgrade to a different type (lacking the parts for the type you prefer) than work with a lower level weapon or armor. Better armors are almost always heavier, also, so bear that in mind as you upgrade. The extra power will take a heavier toll on your VP. But what can you do? Check the Search List at the end of the guide for a detailed list of where to search for needed materials. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-10 (Rainy Pass) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat half (4) of the enemies. Failure: Clarissa falls in battle. Notice the treasure chest on the far opposite side of the battlefield, around the bottom of the cliff. You'll want to send someone to get it. I usually send Clarissa because she's the failure condition. Be sure to keep from killing a fourth enemy until she (or whoever) has nabbed it. This is probably the first of many stages where it just doesn't really matter what your setup is. Excavators and Geomancers will have an easier time moving around this map than anyone else, but anybody else can get the job done just fine. As long as you have at least one unit that can tear things up magically to take out the beefy Sentinel (with the huge Wind weakness), like, I don't know, Laby, you'll be fine pretty much no matter what you do. If you kill as you go, you won't even need to come close to Rupert. (Though Laby can hit him from below with her Lightning, if you really want to kill him.) If you bring along a Geo as one of your fillers, you can Shut Out the Sentinel while you kill him. So, for instance: Clarissa - Excavator, Excavator EQ (for the RFX, MOV, and flexible ranged attack to nab that chest faster) Labyrinthia - Elementalist, Arcanist OC, Elementalist EQ Generics to fill, maybe one magic user and three attackers. Typical item load: 2*Heal Berry, Revive Fruit, Nectar Not really a difficult stage. Treasure Chest contains a Flail. After the battle, Starlit Path opens. Proceed there to activate 1-11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-11 (Starlit Path) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Until the final part of this stage, it's all puzzle maps, so: Suggested Party: Felius/Levin - Excavator, Excavator EQ Part I: Walk one of them onto the step switch and have the other hit the attack switch. Part II: Have Levin step right (toward center) and fire at the attack switch to unstone Felius' similar switch. Felius steps left and attacks switch. Levin pops over the wall and attacks the near switch to drop the blocks in Felius' way. Felius moves past the blocks and to the outside to hit the corner box. Levin moves forward to hit his corner box. Felius moves to hit the attack switch. Levin hits the attack switch. Both move to the warp point. Part III: Levin moves straight ahead all the way to the beam, attacks switch. Felius moves onto the step switch and attacks the attack switch. Levin moves forward out of the pit. Felius walks over the raised block. Both warp out. Part IV: Levin walks to warp point, attacks either of the two blocks on the 4hex area just ahead. Felius does the same. Levin walks to warp point and attacks the more beamward (southern, behindward, etc.) of the two boxes to the right. Felius walks to warp point and attacks the box to the left. Levin walks to box and attacks it. Felius walks to warp point and attacks the rightmost crate. Levin walks to warp point and attacks any of the forward crates. Both move toward warp point, firing each turn, then warp out. Part V: Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. Notice that both units have to be fairly self-sufficient, as neither can die or it's Game Over. Suggested Party: Both as Sacred Slayers with their special OC, best equips you've got. Items: 3*Heal Berry, Nectar Move both forward onto the raised stone 9H stone hexes directly in front. From this point, both will be protected from the stupid AI and even be able to reach across the gap with Sanctify. Felius will be doing crap damage, but it doesn't really matter--it'll give time for Levin to pop over and open the chest, which has a Curaiss. You can actually run them as whatever you want, really, just be sure to watch their HPs. Ignore the switches. They do nothing. After the battle, enter Rhino River for some plot, then proceed to Deserter's Camp for Stage 1-12. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-12 (Deserter's Camp) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. The Paigoels always have one strong elemental weakness and one strong elemental defense. When they're on a ley point that matches their strength, they get a stat boost. If you put them onto a ley point that corresponds to their weak element, they take 9999 damage. Even "Active" on their good ley point, they can still be damaged effectively by using their weakness against them. They can also be knocked off with the Sentinal original, Replaced off with the Geomancer original, etc. This stage can be completed any number of ways. Probably the easiest answer is to have elemental casters to kill the two nearby earth types before they get to the near ley point, and have one or more Geos with healing (via items or SS OC) translate across and replace the rest of the Paigoels onto a ley point that will automatically kill them. You can also go through with meatheads and push them off ley points and Shut Out or otherwise block them from their ley point, then kill them. Or you can just kill them with elemental attacks against their weakness. So your line-up will depend on which strategy you like. If you choose one of the slower strategies, remember to pack a Nectar for everybody. For the auto- kills with Geomancers, pack healing items and take advantage of their armor's innate elemental damage reduction (reduces all elemental damage by 1/3). My preference is Clarissa/Felius with Fant OC to Rush (in class or out), Levin and Laby as Elementalists, and a couple generic Sacred Slayers with Elem OC and EQ. Rush keeps everybody active, the SS keep everybody healed and toss on extra damage (with +1 range from widespread), and Levin and Laby bring the pain. You don't even need to bring a Geo to see the ley points. On or off, hit their weakness (just look it up), and you can reach everything from this side of the river, so. The treasure chest can be ignored/gotten in Free Battle. After the fight, proceed to Dead Plateau to activate stage 1-13. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-13 (Dead Plateau) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You will now have access to Combination Arts (finally >_>)... instead of choosing to follow through with an attack, you can Lock-on, and the next attack you follow through with (before the target gets a turn) will activate the MAG based Combination Arts. This is a good way to damage a lot of Hard-type enemies like the Rhinos. Just lock-on and attack. You can pull off a combo with up to all six characters, for increasing damage. This battle is fairly straight-forward. Use CAs or spells on the Rhinos (and enemy name), use physical attackers for the Gremalkins. Watch out for the Rhino Petrify attack. It's got a big range and they like to use it. A petrified unit can be OHKO'd with a physical attack. You can either drag a Gadg along to cure any stoned units with Pygmalions, or just protect them and wait out the Petrify (takes a few turns). Despite the diversity of enemies and double reinforcements, this battle is very straightforward. Excavators and Geomancers can be useful for getting around quickly, but they are by no means necessary. The Tarasque is just another Hard enemy, so use spells and CAs. It has a long range Poison attack and a fairly powerful short range attack, but it really isn't that tough to kill. Chest near the ruins contains Antidote. After the battle and plot, head to Richala Rose. Talk to Bamburgh in the Shop, Mist at the Synth Shop, Daniel at the Inn, Ragnar at the Quarry, ***SAVE***, then when you're ready for the next fight, talk to Mist again in the Synth Shop. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-14 (Richala Rose) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single enemy reaches the target area./All allies fall in battle. Suggested Party: 2*Generic Sacred Slayer with Geomancer OC. (pos 1, 6) Laby/Levin as Elementalist. (pos 3, 4) Clarissa/Felius as Gadgeteer w/useful OC like Dandy/Fant and if possible Excavator OC for In & Out item reloads. (pos 2, 5) Everybody should be stuffed with heal berries, except Clarissa and Felius, who should pack a Nectar, a Heal Berry, and as many elemental gems as you've got. Position your Sacred Slayers on the outside of the barriers just in front of the party. From this position both slayer should be able to widespread Shut Out the gaps to the side, locking off the entire final side gaps. That is pretty much their whole job in this fight. They funnel all the enemies through the middle gap. Vitally important. Levin and Laby should nestle in the middle nook back of each barrier, for maximum center coverage with their elementalist spells. Clarissa and Felius are support and added damage. As gadgeteers, with their armor, any time they pop an item, they get an RFX boost, so target enemy elemental weaknesses if possible, but their main job is to support whoever needs it. Of the first set of enemies, the Excavs will get there first. Just pound their weakest element. As soon as you kill both Excavs, a group (2 Berserkers, and a Geomancer with insane move) will reinforce back left of the stage. As soon as you take out two of the starting Berserkers, a similar group will reinforce back right. Of all the enemies in the stage, those Geomancers must be killed ASAP. The Berserkers' straight line movement tends to have them floundering around most of the time, but those Geos will go for the target area at any cost. The treasure chest to the left is Safety Boots. You can either send somebody over there when you get down to one enemy, or pop it from range when Clarissa has a free turn. This combat can be as hard or easy as you make it. If you lock out the sides and take out the geos and excavs fast, it's cake. If you don't lock out those sides, it can still be done, but pack elementalists and keep them spread. Don't make the mistake of rushing in. Just stick to your line. After the battle, talk to Daniel in the Bar, then leave town to open Quarry of Desire. Proceed there for Stage 1-15. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-15 (Quarry of Desire) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: Ragnar falls in battle. This battle is fairly straightforward, besides being a bunch of undead (and a huge reinforcement, midway through). Since Ragnar is a failure condition, don't rush in with him. I usually switch him to Excavator and send him up for the chest on the peak after the enemies are clear. You need at least 3 Climb to get up on the plateau, but sacred slayers can reach up there just fine with Sanctify, so just don't send anybody up there who isn't going for the chest. Chest contains Heal Berry... no srsly. >_> As for your exact party, 2-3 Sacred Slayers is fine, or 6 is good, or whatever. The enemies have a smallish chance to respawn if killed by anything but Sanctify, but if you want to just blast through that, you can. (but... why?) Movement is going to be slow, especially with SS in the party, so speed things up with some Fantastica OC on whoever's got access to it, and pack a Nectar for everybody, just in case. The reinforcement will happen when you've taken out all but one of the enemy. Just take it slow and take full advantage of widespread. For an extra MAG boost, equip your SS with Elementalist weapons. After the battle, return to Richala Rose, talk to Nostalgic Man at Quarry, leave town and enter Dead Plateau, then return to Richala Rose to activate Stage 1-16. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1-16 (Richala Rose) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single villager dies in battle./All allies fall in battle. Don't forget to re-equip Ragnar. The party from the last map will do fine. Sacred Slayers for Santcify and Heal, Additional members to Rush so the SS can run and gun. Watch the turn list, and don't attack if a villager needs a heal. You really need to be moving everybody into the fray. Until the villagers get some range, expect to be healing more than anything else. The tide of battle turns quickly in your favor as the villagers scatter and you take out one or two enemies. Just take care in the beginning and it'll be fine. Item Scope #3 is a post-battle reward. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Act 2 - A Tale of Two Princesses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With what should be your third item scope, you will have access to another level of Synthable equipment and new items. When you're ready, head to Frightful Abyss to activate stage 2-1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-1 (Frightful Abyss) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all Martial Guards. Failure: All allies fall in battle. The Vodianoi only attacks if somebody (enemy or ally) is in the water, and hits with an attack that will damage everybody in the water. Otherwise, he'll just hang out over there and watch--unless you act on him, attack him, etc. The easiest way to avoid the water is to use Geomancer OC to Translate across from the ley point just ahead of the party. The drawback is that you'll be pretty much smack in the range of enemy attacks, and you'll have ended everybody's turn. If you're superhardcore, go for it. Otherwise, it's a good idea to take a more measured crossing, suck up the damage (bring heals), and not have to deal with everything at once. No matter which way you go, you're going to be dealing with enemies in numbers. Sacred Slayers are good for healing and widespread, but bad for movement and long term VP. Geomancers are great for getting around, but otherwise fairly ineffective (although for a laugh, instead of taking the last move onto land, Replace an enemy into the water--then Shut Out the hex for bonus giggles). My best advice is to pack a Nectar for everyone, turtle up and creep in a group toward the enemy. A set of four units will reinforce once you kill four guards, so be prepared, and play defensively. The map is built to try to make you rush in, but the Vod's damage is not that bad, so take your time (and bring heals or a healer). Be especially careful of the Grapplers, who have Red Zone (enables an immediate turn when an ally goes into Crisis), and Accelerate (the cheating move to end all cheating moves) which adds a random value to accumulated RFX after every turn... they can and will end up getting double turns now and then. Treasure Chest contains Shield +1. After the battle, proceed to Wayward Path to enter Stage 2-2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-2 (Wayward Path) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. The step switch lowers the first set of elevator blocks, the two "weight" switches lower the second set of blocks. Actually they don't have anything to do with weight. They trigger on Sentinel armor. If a character is wearing it, the switch will drop. They can have any non-Sentinel weapon equipped, and be any weight. But forget all that. Bothering with that elevator is stupid. Suggested Party: Clarissa as whatever, Dandy OC--her job is support, mostly to Encourage Felius. Excav and Gadg are good for the RFX. Felius as Sentinel (for the ATK bonus), Halberdier equip/OC. Labyrinthia as whatever. I like Sacred Slayer with Arcanist OC (required for treasure chest), and Elementalist EQ. Levin as Sacred Slayer, Elementalist OC, Elementalist EQ. Ragnar -- Excavator if he doesn't yet know Attack High/Low, otherwise Secutor, with Stormrider EQ and whatever. Generic -- your choice. I'd go with another SS/Elementalist OC/EQ. Have somebody step on the button before Laby's turn. Warp Laby onto the lowered elevator, then have the button guy move off and pop Laby up. She can now Warp through to the upper level. Her whole job in this fight is to stay alive, making herself useful as possible, use Replica to lure enemies toward the edge, etc. Then have her pop the chest. Treasure Chest contains Play Apron +1. You can also get the chest in a Free Battle. (In that case use Laby like another SS to elemental spell or Lightning from below). Clarissa's whole job is to Encourage, mostly Felius. Levin's job is to stand on the button/raised platform and throw spells up onto the ledge. Felius' job is to Upper Hand everything to death. Ragnar should throw boomerangs up there until the edge is clear. Generic should help out. Behold the carnage. >_> After you've killed 5 enemies, another 5 will reinforce at the back. Just let them come join the fun until everybody upstairs is dead. Remember to give Laby time to get the chest if you sent her after it. After the battle, Stage 2-3 opens at Rasalom Keep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - CSP Farming ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Flatwoods has, among its possible battles, an encounter with 1 or 3 of an enemy called "Creeping Chaos." You may remember them from previous Wild ARMs titles. In this game, they reward you with CSP = overkill damage/2 (on the first playthrough). Though they have a dangerous set of attacks, if you toss out a Replica with Labyrinthia, they will repeatedly attempt to use their skill Dangerous Matter (cuts HP in half) on it--for 0 damage. This will give you plenty of time to reduce their HP as low as possible without killing them (Sentinel has a skill in its OC just for this purpose), then buff up and debuff the enemy to deal the most powerful finishing blow possible. Be careful not to let their MP get too low before killing them, or they won't be able to use Dangerous Matter and will start using their more lethal 0 MP skills. Even early in the game, it's fairly easy to generate as much or more than 100 CSP per battle--making this the ultimate short-cut to gaining class skills. It is very worth your while to go ahead and learn whatever you have the patience to learn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-3 (Rasalom Keep) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Everybody but Felius (who isn't there to start), will be affected by Misery status, blocking use of Originals. Use whatever party you want, but pop a couple of elemental gems on everybody, emphasizing the enemy weaknesses. I like Clarissa as a Gadgeteer, too, because I really only use her for support (so switching is convenient). Just make sure Felius has Halberdier OC equipped, if he's not in class, for his Status Absorb skill. For the rest of the items, some Nectar and Revives are a good idea. Especially for Clarissa, so she can mass-Nectar later on (if you use her as a Gadg). Move the party as quickly as possible to the first landing. As soon as you step on the stairs up from there, Felius will arrive above. You should get somebody up there ASAP, but generally keep the group together on the first landing, and avoid killing anything (first kill triggers the reinforcements below) until your laggards are away from the start point. Move Felius down toward the party and the party up toward Felius. Be sure to wait with Felius' Status Absorb until he can hit *everybody* with it (he can't do it twice because he'll be miserable after the first shot). NB: Anybody who gets revived won't be miserable, so it's not the worst idea in the world to let a healer get slaughtered, then assist after revive until you hook up with Felius. After that, the stage is purely a matter of killing the rest of the guards. No big trouble, there. Don't forget to send somebody after the treasure chest up top for a Cup Badge +1. After the battle, you will open 4 new classes, and Stage 2-4 will be open at Elensia. I would also urge you to do any equipment synthing and CSP farming that you intend to do. Stage 2-4 through 2-10 are chained, allowing you no access to Free Battles, Shops or Synthing. Even afterward, for quite some time you will not have access to The Flatwoods, so use it now if you're going to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - Character Builds and Skill Combinations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's about this point in the game that you can (and should) start thinking about some more advanced character builds. For your uniques, this means taking a look at their unique skills and deciding what other skills and OCs will best suit them to exploit their natural abilities and make up for their innate weaknesses. For generics, this means deciding what kind of builds will best suit their natural stats and the roles they play in your party, as suits your play style. I'm not going to belabor this, as thinking and planning your characters to suit the maps and your play style is probably the most fun thing about SRPGs, but let's take a look at Labyrinthia as an example. Labyrinthia is a strong mage, but her low RFX and low MOV/CLM in the casting classes is probably already becoming obvious. So an interesting build, taking advantage of her Arcanist skills Attack & AIM down and Critical Extra turn, and helping to rid her of her crappy move, is to use her as a Strider, so she has a decent move and awesome Climb, a nice ranged attack, and the boosted crit% to give her turn after turn while she disables enemy AIM. Pile in Decelerate (from Gadg) and Accelerate (from Grappler) for even more effectiveness--and even Grappler OC, so she can climb up, toss enemies down to other units, and still add damage from on high. Add in IFF (from Enigmancer) and she can toss your own units around the field without hurting them... you get the point. There are some fantastic combinations of skills and Originals, and it's a good time to start thinking of your units as having distinct combat roles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-4 (Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Guide all allies to the target area. Defeat all enemies after the gate opens. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. Defeat an enemy before the gate opens. Take special note of the failure conditions: If any ally dies, or any enemy dies before the gate is up, it's Game Over. You have to be very careful about putting enemy units in Crisis because they stay active--they'll walk right up and attack, then get killed by your counter. The battle comes in two parts: First, you have to get three enemies into Crisis without dying or killing in order to get them to open the gates. Then, you have 90 turns (including enemy moves) to either kill everything (including the extra reinforcements that arrive when the gate opens) or get everybody into the target zone behind the gate. The best way to accomplish this is to get everybody smack up against the gate, and THEN put three enemies in critical, so that when the gate opens, you can just pop back into it and/or start killing indiscriminately, whichever you prefer. The hardest thing about this level is not-killing before the gate, and not dying after the gate opens. You'll need healers to keep everybody safe, and units with variable damage options (elemental spells work well for this, as you can somewhat tailor the damage you'll be doing). Levin's Martial Mage Original Graviton is also good for adding that last light touch of damage. Despite what Laby says in the D.E.R., you don't want units with high MOV. You need to keep a tight group, and there's no reason not to take the first half slowly and carefully. Especially considering that you'll need to navigate around the Sentinels (with their ZOC effect limiting your MOV) anyway, so having high MOV units won't matter anyway. My best advice for getting everybody safely near the gate is to pop everybody up on the bridge sides. You'll still have some problems with Sentinels blocking and limiting, but less than if you go up the middle. Then weaken the mages and another enemy, and when the reinforcements arrive, escape. Be paranoid about healing. The other option is to head up the middle and put the first three enemies you meet in Crisis, then slaughter your way forward. You still need to keep a tight group and be paranoid about healing. If you're doing it this way, it helps to deal as much damage to the enemies as you can before you put three in Crisis, so that you can kill them the faster when the gate rises. Don't forget to get the Treasure Chest on the right side of the gate, which contains a Corseca +1. Stage 2-4 leads directly to Stage 2-5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-5 (Streets of Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. The object on this map is (conveniently) a Gravity Device that doubles every- body's weight, and increases the damage dealt by weight-based attacks, such as the ones in the Grappler OC. Grapplers also have incredibly light equipment... and high VP... and there are a ton of enemy Sentinels... coincidence? >_> No. By far the easiest way to manage this battle is to make everybody a Grappler, or (if you've learned it) give them the Grappler OC so they can toss enemies around. You should have at least three sets of +1 Grappler weapons and armor, just from plot rewards. Another coincidence? >_> No. Be sure to leave Ragnar with his Boomerang weapon, so you have somebody to send forward and hit the object (turning it on) from range. You can also trigger it with spells or other attacks. You'll want to pack Nectars, since double the weight means double the VP loss. In fact, you should be at a point where you can just dress them as Grapplers and leave them otherwise alone by just adding their usual healing/damage OCs and normal EQ. Packing Nectars is a small price to pay for using the usual EQ. With the gravity device active, all the Sentinels should be nearly a one shot kill with Heavy Throw. Just remember to bring healers and such, and file this one under "stupid easy." Also, when you've done most or all of the Sentinels, turn the machine off. No point leaving it on to drain you when it's not going to do you any good. If you're allergic to using new anything, a bunch of magic users will tear through everything here just fine, without you having to bother with the gravity ball. Remember to send somebody off around the back to get the treasure chest for a Mage Staff +1. Stage 2-5 leads directly to Stage 2-6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-6 (River in Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat Asgard. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This battle should be epic... but it isn't... kind of sad, really. Asgard has three moves, a basic point blank attack, a "you can't touch me" defensive move, and a badass AoE that he can't use after moving... Things to use: Arcanist OC - For Lightning. Sacred Slayer OC - For Fragile, Turn Shift. Fantastica OC - For Feeble Mind. *Somebody in Berserker class. Nectars Just leave your front line in place, then move your back line up behind them. Wait until Asgard approaches. As soon as he's close, send your Berserker up the stairs and across the bridge to get the chest (if you do it early, Asgard will focus on that unit--pointlessly). Treasure chest contains Comp. Bow +1. With your main party, wait until he drops his shield and have everybody trash his MP with Feeble Mind (and have somebody Slow him). When he's below the point where he can raise his Shield, have somebody cast Fragile and everybody Turn Shifts to Laby, who pounds him with Lightning. What? Laby said something about FAs and CAs? Ignore her. She's a goof. 2-6 leads directly to 2-7. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-7 (Grauswein Plaza) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Stop Charlton from summoning Grauswein. (Destroy the 6 generators.) Defeat all enemies. Failure: 60 turns pass from the start of the quest. All allies fall in battle. Your goal is to take out the six generators. They are one shot kills, so all you really need is MOV and ranged weapons. Claire with Dandy EQ (for Strahl's range), Ragnar with his Boomerang, and Levin with Martial Mage OC (Blast) are all good for Berserkers. Make Laby a Strider with Arcanist OC (Warp), Felius an Excavator, and add a generic whatever. Excav is fine, unless you've got one that has learned Excav or Strider EQ, then make them a Berserker with a ranged weapon. Pile in some Fant and SS OC to Rush Laby for move + Warp and to Turn Shift whenever possible. Don't forget to send somebody back left to get the chest (I like Ragnar with Attack high/low, Berserker's innate Penetrator). It contains Power Glove +1. Be sure to get it before you take out the 6th generator. 60 turns should be about double what you need for this. Just ignore the enemies and concentrate on the generators. Item Scope #4 is a mission reward. You now have the ability to Synth +3 EQ. (Not that it'll do you any good for a while. >_>) 2-7 leads directly to 2-8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-8 (Grauswein Plaza) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Stop Charlton from summoning Grauswein. Defeat all enemies. Failure: 40 turns pass from the start of the quest. All allies fall in battle. Just don't die. :P If you're reading this to find out if anything happens differently if you actually spoiler the spoiler, the answer is no. You can't actually spoiler the spoiler. If you're reading this because you failed to keep everybody from dying, I weep for humanity. "Stage" 2-8 leads directly to Stage 2-9. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-9 (Backstreets of Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Guide all allies to the target area. Defeat all enemies. Failure: 99 turns pass from the start of the quest. A single ally falls in battle. You need, again, MOV, range, and RFX for this battle. You can certainly try to escape into the target zone, but since the enemies are in the way, and the enemies are eating turns you need to move, you ought to be killing them. At the end, it's a judgement call. Berserkers are the obvious choice, though Laby can really keep up reasonably well with Warp, especially if you keep her Rushed. You'll be needing to clear some boxes from the path, so once again Berserkers with ranged attacks (as above in 2-7) are a good call. For the Sentinels at the end, magic is good, Grappler OC is also good--either to kill or just toss them behind you on your way to the target zone. Again, a judgement call. Generally, you want to keep everybody together and healed, so nobody gets ganged up on and dies, since any ally's death is a failure condition. You should really have plenty of time for this, so play it carefully. After this battle, you'll be on the World Map, and Labyrinthia will have left the party. Stage 2-10 is (the only thing) open at Twilight Valley. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-10 (Twilight Valley) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Enter the Kinship Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Treasure Chest contains Type: DEF +2. This battle is fairly straightforward, and of a type that you'll want to be getting used to. Monsters with various weaknesses and strengths, paired with a "trainer" that acts as a support character--to raise RFX, heal damage, etc. For the Tarasques you'll want to use Magic and Combination Arts, for the Gremalkins magic will do, but physical attacks are better, and they have their usual draining counter. For the "Dark Summoners," anything is fine. Given the chance, kill them first as they'll focus on healing things. As for this stage particularly, Grapplers are excellent for throwing things off the high cliffs and down to casters who'll finish them. If you can install the Grap OC on an Excav or Strider who can just bounce straight up the cliffs, it will go faster, but it's not really necessary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Collateral Damage Success: Defeat King Tarasque III. Activate all of the switches. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. A single enemy crosses the bridge. Shift everybody into Excavator class, outfit them with Elementalist OC/EQ or Fantastica/Sacred Slayer OC and their best EQ. Items: Heal Berries, Antidotes for Felius/others (+1 if you've made them). The easiest way to do this is to just head up the cliff and kill the Tarasque. A fairly even distribution of Fantastica (for Slow Down, Rush), Sacred Slayer (Heal, Fragile), and Elementalist (Vortex) OCs will set you up right. If you end a turn in a hex next to the Tarasque, you'll be poisoned--something to be aware of, but not necessarily worry about. Put your three best casters on the steps just below the top of the cliff. Use them to Vortex the Tarasque. Your other units should focus on healing the casters, popping up to slow the Tarasque/Woman, and heading up to generally keep the Woman distracted from the casters. All the other enemies will just stand in place and ignore you while you work. Watch the HP of the casters carefully--this is another Game Over if anybody dies, so watch Poison, and be aware the Tarasque can hit the casters with his Megaton Punch from the cliff top. After the battle, enter Lefas Corner, enter The Shrine, talk to Levin, enter the Inn, talk to Ragnar, enter the Shop, talk to Upset Young Man, talk to Returning Farmer, leave the Shop, enter the Pub, talk to Levin to open Stage 2-11 at Twilight Valley. You should do any Synthing you intend to do (with the limited metals available from Twilight Valley) before you trigger 2-11, as it converts Twilight Valley into an unsearchable red (!). You can reaccess it right after 2-11, so it's not a huge deal. Just saying. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-11 (Twilight Valley) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Convert your usual spellcasters into Enigmancers (with Elementalist books for the MAG), and everyone else should be Grappler or their usual whatever, focus on support. Add Elementalist OC and SS OC to the Enigmancers if possible. Enigmancers may seem like an odd choice, but with IFF and Devastate, they're ideal for close quarters combat--especially against fairies. As you're able, shift them near the stairs and just spam Devastate. Use your other units to toss units into the killzone, finish weak units, or heal the casters. This battle is going to look a mess no matter what you do, but if you keep up the Devestates, it will go quickly and painlessly. After the battle, Stage 2-12 opens at Circle Valley. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-12 (Circle Valley) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Delaying Action Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This is a completely straightforward beatdown. Pick your favorite set-up. The enemies are diverse enough that nothing in particular is of any great benefit or detriment. Treasure Chest contains Talisman +2. Even with a Strider, you'll have to track all the way to the end and back to nab it. You can also pick it up in the free stage if you'd like (or Part II). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - IT'S A TRAP! Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You'll need at least one Strider to be able to see where the traps are, but if you don't want to use one, there are traps basically everywhere except behind the back two party members and on any of the raised tiles at the bottom of the cliff. A strider can also disarm and remove a trap just by ending a turn on the trapped hex. You also need to watch out for the Pigs' ranged Slumber Fog attack. Either plan on just waiting this out or bring along a Gadg with Breath Mints so you can cure it (remember, sleeping units can't cure themselves, so equipping them on non-Gadgeteers is pointless). Felius can also remove it with his status drain move, but then he'll be asleep himself, so. The Pigs are also probably about 10 levels higher than the party (unless you've been doing a lot of side-leveling), so their basic attacks will mess you up. They have a slight weakness to fire, but carry a chance to respond to Fire elemental attacks with a counter spell. Levin's Blast does decent damage, as do Grappler Throws. Generally, you should treat these guys like bosses--Slow, Fragile, and wear them down one by one. If you edge in slowly enough, you should be able to avoid activating more than two at once. Labyrinthia's Replica makes a good distraction, as always. After you've done the Pigs, there are still the 6 Kinship to handle, but their levels are on par with the party and they're no great shakes (indeed the first three only have HP ~60). After the battle, Stage 2-13 opens at Sundome Abbey Ruins, a free Stage opens at White Devil Plains. This is also a good time to go ahead and catch up on your EQ Synthing, since the three searchable areas have all three component types. Also, stage 2-13 through 2-16 are chained, so there will be no access to shops or free battles between. I also recommend you stock up at least 4 of each basic elemental gem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-13 (Sundome Abbey Ruins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Treasure Chest (across from start point) contains Convent Belt +2. Clarissa can pop this with Strahl on her first turn. Sacred Slayer OC is good for Sanctify, as undead enemies have a small chance to respawn (weakened) if killed by weapons. Undead have a long range attack, Stink Cloud, that can cause Disease (unit cannot heal). This combat is very straightforward. Creep ahead and pound with Sanctify. Use Felius to remove disease with his Halberdier OC (pack some Medicines), or just ignore it. Stage 2-13 leads directly to 2-14. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-14 (Sundome Abbey Dungeon) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You'll be facing Paigoels and Undead, so Elemental and Sacred Slayer OCs will be useful. It's also helpful to have at least one Geomancer to enable you to see the ley points--but not necessary, as a Paigoel on the right ley point shows status "Active." The first two Paigoels you meet are fire-types, and the ley point directly in front of them starts as fire type. By hitting the switches, you can rotate the ley points through the elements. In theory, you could make this battle a puzzle fest of hitting switches and tossing or pushing or replacing Paigoels onto ley points. In practice, there's no reason to do anything but wade in with spells. The undead still have their Stink Cloud move to cause Disease, so use Felius as necessary to cure other units (and have him pack Medicine). Three undead will spawn near each switch when an enemy or ally steps on the ley point. Odds are slim that you can take out the two fire Paigoels in time to prevent that spawn, but if you don't mess with the second switch, you can probably kill the rest of the Paigoels before the other undead spawn. The lava only deals about 11 damage whenever you end a turn on it. You can slip into Enigmancer (or equip the Levitation skill) to avoid it... but it's not really worth it, honestly. Slipping your casters into Excavator or another speedy high MOV class (while still equipping Elementalist EQ for MAG bonus) will speed up this battle immensely. As always, Fantastica's Rush will help your casters run and gun. Stage 2-14 leads directly to 2-15. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-15 (Sundome Abbey Dungeon) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Activate all the switches. Failure: 17 turns pass from the start of battle. All allies fall in battle. Make sure Clarissa has Strahl Gewehr equipped and her Dandelion Shot OC. The door = south. 1. Move to the Warp Point and attack the switch. 2. Face the Treasure chest, move back two hex, and attack the chest. Chest contains Rapier +3. 3. Attack the southern switch. 4. Attack the northern switch. 5. Move into warp zone. (Not the one you came from--the more northern one.) 6. Move 1 SE and fire at southern switch. 7. Move into warp zone. (Not the one you came from--the more northern one.) 8. Move 1 S and fire at SW switch. 9. Move 1 SE and wait. 10. Fire Howling Shot south. 11. Move into warp zone. (Not the one you came from--the more southern one.) 12. Move 2 SW and attack the southern blue switch. 13. Fire Howling Shot south. 14. Move into warp zone. (Not the one you came from--the more southern one.) 15. Fire at north switch. Item Scope #5 is a stage reward. Stage 2-15 leads directly to 2-16. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 2-16 (Sundome Abbey Exterior) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Wonder Twin Powers, Activate! Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Treasure Chest contains Secret Sign +3. Change Alexia to any other class and equip her Royal Fencer skills. Use Clarissa as whatever you'd like. Be sure that between the two of them, they have the ability to do some healing. My preference: Alexia as Strider. Use Trail on Clarissa ASAP--this will both keep her up with Clarissa and drain her VP, raising her RFX. It will also let her learn Strider OC for Swift Shock, a nice fast attack for slow-poke Alexia when she's in her unique class. Clarissa as Gadgeteer with elemental gems. Clarissa can OHKO all but one of the enemies with gems, and she'll get an RFX boost each time she uses an item. Add Excavator OC for In & Out in case she needs to reload. Elementalist weapon for the MAG boost, but keep the Gadg armor for the RFX boost. Take out the Striders first, then back track to take out the two approaching Elementalists. Send Alexia up the cliff to pop the chest (be sure to not move Clarissa meanwhile or Alexia will trail her). Then proceed to take out the rest of the Elementalists. Easy Peasy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Rescue Rangers Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Party start is southeast. You have a couple choices w/r/t keeping Clarissa and Alexia alive. You can slip them into Berserker class and just move them the hell out of there (toward the Secutor). Alternatively, you can arm them to protect each other and dish out some damage, shift them more slowly toward the Secutor, and defend from the 4*High Cav until reinforcements arrive. My preference is to use Clarissa as a spellcaster (Sacred Slayer w/Elementalist OC/EQ) and Alexia for support (Fantastica with her Fencer OC and Strider OC). This will let Clarissa deal damage and heal, while Alexia uses Rush on her, Slows the enemies, and drops a big old Mesmerize on the crowding High Cavs. (Which won't bother Clarissa when it hits her because she'll be casting, rather than hitting.) As for the rest, I'd send Felius and Ragnar west with Grappler OCs to take out the Sentinels, then move in on the Striders and Gadgeteers in the center of the map. Send Laby and Levin north as casters to take out the Secutor then assist Clarissa and Alexia with the High Cavs. Don't forget to pack Ragnar and Felius with heals (Potion Berries if possible.) By the time you take out the Sentinels and High Cavs, an enemy group will reinforce near where the party starts. Leave Felius and Ragnar to finish the enemies in the center, and take the other group of ladies + Levin back south to deal with the new arrivals. One of the reinforcing Sentinels will probably tear off after Felius and Ragnar, but it's so slow it can be ignored while everyone works. When everything else is dead, join up to finish it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Act 3 - Echoes of Days Past ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-1 opens at Lonely Waterside. You can also Synth up to +4 equipment. Now is a decent time to go ahead and work on upgrading your equipment. When you're ready, head to Lonely Waterside to begin Stage 3-1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-1 (Lonely Waterside) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - One November Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Clarissa can hit the chest with Strahl. Treasure Chest contains Pliers +3. Physical attacks should work reasonably well on everything but the Tarasque. Magic will work fine on the Fairies, Zortroa and Tarasque. Be sure to take out the dog-types with their huge drain counter from range. Blast and Lightning should damage them fine, the elementalist spells won't do much, though. This map is probably going to be a slow one, just because of all the snow and water. You can either take your time and pack a Nectar for everybody, or include Geomancer's Ignore Move Cost--I'd just pack a Nectar. There's no rush. When you get up to the Tarasque, take out the Zortroa first. Grappler OC will also tear up the Tarasque. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Spawned a Monster Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This is where the Zortroa get serious. Think of these guys as merged with a particular monster. You can tell which monster by looking at their Unit OC or Emulator OC on the status page: Kirlian Buster = Gremalkin type Toxic Breath = Tarasque type Petrify = Iron Rhino type Downhearted = Mu type There are three of each, and in addition to Sacred Slayer and High Cav OCs for speed and healing, they gain the special attributes of the monster they're merged with. Meaning that Tarasques and Iron Rhinos will require spells and Combination Arts to pierce their Hard status, and Mu-types will be tough to damage with physical attacks. Of the enemies, the most difficult are going to be the Mu-types in the water. Both because of the difficulty of damaging them and because of their Unit OC Downhearted, which will cause Misery (blocking use of originals). Aside from them, there's the Iron Rhino type with their Petrify. You should have at least two physical hitters, preferably with Grappler OC to help damage the Tarasques, and two or more casters, preferably as Strider or Excavator class (for the CLM). First send your team up the hill to take out the Gremalkin and Tarasque types. Then move your casters down the steep face of the hill to the bottom, but not in the water. From this height, you should be able to drop Elemental spells on the Mu and Rhino types while being too high for their Downhearted/Petrify to reach. It's not incredibly fast, but it's the most effective way to take them down with no drama. After the battle, enter Crestabelde. Talk to the Hotel Manager in the Pub, then when you're ready to activate Stage 3-2, talk to the Front Desk Clerk and say Yes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-2 (Crestabelde) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Pull! Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You're facing 4 sets of a Gremalkin and a Zortroa (the easy kind). You can really play this any way you want, but you're best off with using ranged physical attacks. As long as your setup includes some healing and some decent physical attacks, you'll be fine. My suggestion: Make both of them Striders with Grappler OC. Head for the chest in the top corner. Take shots at anything in range as you move, and if you can get up next to something while you're going, use Heavy Throw to chuck it down the hill. Nab the chest for a Rubas Bell +3, then just stand there on the cliff and shoot or Drop Kick the enemies. As the farther enemies wander in, if one gets up in range to hit you, step down and chuck it to the bottom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - The Forever War Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Return Clarissa and Alexia to their usual support setups, outfit Laby and Levin as elemental casters, Felius and Ragnar as physical attackers. Make sure Felius has his Halberdier OC equipped, for Status Absorb. Also, pack Nectar. This can be a long combat. On the lower level, you have four groups of Zortroa/Shroom. The Shrooms will be spamming Luminous Moss to confuse whoever they can, so have Felius hang back and be ready to absorb it, preferably when you've got more than one unit in Confusion. When/if he is confused (and this applies to any confused unit), try to make sure an enemy unit is closer to him than any party member. Confused units usually, but not always, go for the closest target. You may want to put him in a relatively non-friendly fire class like Excavator. It will reduce his non-confusion absorbing usefulness, but the casters are your main offense, so. Otherwise, use Laby and Levin to toss fire at the Shrooms and hit the Zortroa with whatever their weakness is. Use Clarissa and Alexia to support them (Rush, Encourage, Royal Cheer, etc.) as much as possible to keep them gunning. Have Ragnar add damage wherever possible (Orbital Ring for multiple hits). Favor the Mushrooms as much as possible to prevent Confusions. For now, ignore the dynamic duo upstairs. When you finish the first eight enemies, another eight, same style (Zortroa & Mushroom sets) will appear, mostly right on top of you. Just keep at them, Mushrooms first. After you finish the final grunt, Chelle and the Tarasque will go active. Use your casters to damage the Tarasque, and use Felius/Ragnar to go after Chelle. The Tarasque is pretty much the same as the last time you fought: Within one hex causes Poison, Megaton Punch, Toxic Breath. When you fight Chelle, watch the environment carefully. She has a version of Ragnar's Raving Rage that she can use after moving. When Chelle's down, start using Felius/Ragnar to set up Combination Arts with any stray units (especially casters that've run out of MP). After the battle, Stage 3-3 is open at The Frozen Lands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-3 (The Frozen Lands) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Ma Belle Success: Defeat Chelle Failure: All allies fall in battle. All you need to do for this map is run over and take out Chelle. It seems more complicated than it is. Make Ragnar a Berserker with his Stormrider EQ and OC. Make Laby and Levin Fantastica casters, make Felius, Clarissa and Alexia anything, as long as it has more than 3 CLM, and make sure at least one of them has Grappler OC equipped. Make sure Ragnar has Berries to heal. Load the characters in order, or not, but make sure Ragnar is in position 5. Party starts in southeast. As soon as battle starts, move everybody east and north toward the cliff. There is one spot that only requires a 3 CLM to get up. Except Ragnar. Send him north to the cliff edge and cast Quick Step. Next turn, move him forward enough to hit the near Zoatroa. Everybody else should be moving up the cliff and hitting the Zoatroa when possible. Ragnar's third turn, he should move as far back as he can go and pop the treasure chest for a Travel Vest +3. Keep the other characters rushing forward. Kill the Zoatroa, but don't bother hitting the Vod. Just keep healed. As soon as (one of) your Grappler OC unit(s) can, toss the Vod back off the cliff you just climbed. If it takes two throws, leave anybody but Levin and Laby back to take care of it. Now nothing will be able to reach you in time to save Chelle. Chelle will probably have knocked Ragnar back a space and dealt some damage. If you need, heal. If not, have him use Raving Revenge. If it hits, great. If not, no big deal. On his next turn drag him back away to where he was and use Hyper Attack. As soon as one of the Fant/casters is in range, have them Invoke him so he can hit Chelle, and have him take her out. He should be doing far more damage than needed to finish her before anything else interferes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Dude Looks Like A Lady Success: Defeat Weisheit Failure: All allies fall in battle. Your favorite setup is fine, as long as you take care to include plenty of healing, preferably via Sacred Slayer OCs. Weisheit is actually no big deal here. His favorite move is Divider, which cuts your HP in half, so just heal whoever he hits, and hit him with your best attacks, Arts, etc. Slow Down, Fragile, etc. will speed the process (typical boss tactics.) After the battle, Stage 3-4 opens at Guardian Temple. Stage 3-4 and 3-5 (with 2 parts) are chained. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-4 (Guardian Temple) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. I recommend two groups: Laby/Levin as casters, Clarissa as support (Fantastica/Dandy OC) Felius/Ragnar/Alexia as Striders w/Grappler OC/Excavator OC. You'll want your Casters to head up the stairs and take the long way around. Their job is to exploit elemental weaknesses to kill enemies. Send the Strider group stright up the hill toward the Temple. They should kill the Fantastica and Strider on the way, and (they'll have to shift right toward the stairs up to the final level anyway) either kill or toss the Sentinel and Fantastica down to the casters to finish. When they reach the top, toss the Sentinel and kill the Strider and the High Cav, then have the one with Detect to use it on the left side, on the snow, to reveal Item Scope #6. Don't forget to finish the tossed Sentinel. The caster group should just advance up the stairs, killing everything they can reach and everything tossed down to them. Stage 3-4 leads directly to 3-5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-5 (Guardian Temple Interior) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Bring Us Your Poor... Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. There's another Gravity Ball at the back of the map. You can send somebody back as a Berserker with a ranged attack to activate it, but it's not really worth the bother--spells are fine for taking out Sentinels. Your preferred setup will be fine for this one, though I suggest a balanced split into two groups of three: a caster, a physical attacker, and a unit for support. I recommend you split them by speed: Send Clarissa, Ragnar, and Levin right. Send Felius, Labyrinthia, and Alexia left. This will allow you to keep tighter groups, and use the faster right group to do most of the center killing and reach the back faster to nab the chest for a Fairy Ring +3. Be careful of the Sentinels, who can knock your units back into the holes for auto-kills. An all-over reinforcement will occur after you've taken out the first four enemies. Divert the fast right group into the center to kill those enemies, and just proceed toward the back. There's a lot to kill, here, but nothing is significantly difficult. Bring a Nectar for everyone, just in case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - This... is a Brain Sucker... Success: Reduce Katrina's MP to 0. Failure: Katrina falls in battle. All allies fall in battle. Your regular setup is fine, but make sure at least one (preferably two) people have Fantastica OC and Excavator OC. If you want, you can just dress your casters in Fant/Excav jobs (it'll help the stage go faster anyway) with their usual caster OCs/EQ. Take your time on the way up. Kill all four Demon Slaves, then when you're ready to approach Katrina, tease out the other two Demons with ranged attacks, and kill them. Send somebody to the left to pop the chest for Play Apron +3. Make sure everybody is Rushed, then walk in and hit Katrina with a Switch then Feeble Mind, or 6 Feeble Minds. After the battle and a bunch of plot, you will end up at West Wind Guidepost, with restored access to many locations, in addition to Shops and Synthing, which with Item Scope #6 allows you to Synth +5 equipment. Enter Poliasha to watch some plot and open Stage 3-6 at Bandits' Forest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-6 (Bandits' Forest) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Let's... have a discussion about Labyrinthia, shall we? She's an idiot. The idea she dismisses out of hand--dispelling the locked hexes, is actually interesting. In fact, a Sacred Slayer with Enigmancer OC or an Enigmancer with Widespread could take out many hexes at once--more than enough to rush through and kill all those casters. Instead, she wants you to take multiple turns moving a bunch of big rocks around... in range of enemy spells. >_> But that's not even the best answer. You could use Grapplers with IFF or Enigmancers with Grappler OC to toss beefy killers right over the gap. You could move in Rushed attackers with Geomancer OC to replace themselves across-- not just teleporting themselves into the fray but isolating an enemy on your side. Laby can just Warp across. Or you could observe the Golden Rule and do unto them before they do to you: Magic and ranged attacks while you ignore the blocked hexes entirely. Of all your options (go ahead and pick your favorite), this is probably the simplest, and if you're running two casters and Ragnar, you've already got three perfect killers without switching up your party at all. Add Felius' Halberdier OC for his ranged Upper Hand, give Alexia and Clarissa *any* ranged attack, and you're in business. And in fact with Rushed Widespreading casters and ATK-boosted ranged physical attackers, you'll be doing unto them a hell of a lot more than they could do to you. About their only advantage in this fight is that their casters are mastered Elementalists, meaning Magic Block and Reflect. But you can always heal. They can't. Because they're idiots. So, yeah, pound away. When you're down to El Jackson, you can just keep healed and pepper him with whatever can reach him (or employ one of the many options to cross the barrier and mess him up directly). After the battle, head to Hanigar and talk to Melissa in the Shop... twice. >_> Then leave town to open the final four classes and Stage 3-7 at the Path of the Unjust. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-7 (Path of the Unjust) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Your usual setup will be fine here. Make sure you have at least one caster and at least one physical attacker. For simplicity's sake, make sure Clarissa has Strahl Gewehr to pop the chest in the other near corner of the stage before you head all the way down to the end. The key to this stage is in the tactics. Each of the two groups has skills that tend to augment the abilities of of protect the other unit. First, send physical attackers and Clarissa (to get the chest) toward the near Elementalists. The chest contains Badelaire +4. Send the caster(s) north to take the Secutors. Best not to hit the Elems with magic (Reflect) or the Secs with close range physical attacks (Retaliation). Next is the Sentinel/Sacred Slayer duo. The Sentinel has Magic Block, and the Sacred Slayer has Weapon Block, which is frighteningly... smart. Since the Sentinel has Defender and the Sacred Slayer has Crisis RFX Up (Ally), you'll want to kill the Slayer first. If you have any Grappler OC, toss the Sentinel away to separate them. The Grappler/Enigmancer will split itself... the grappler will rush out to you if you get too close. Let her, then take her down. Be careful about keeping healed (Accelerate can give her double turns). To avoid a pain in the butt, keep your casters far away from the Enigmancer (Prevent = 50% magic hit rate). Use your physical attacker(s) instead to go take her out. Finally, Tweedle-Dee and Dum (plus one). Use magic against the Geo and the Strider, but NOT the Elementalist (Reflect). Likewise, use (ranged) weapon attacks on the Elementalist. They like to stand up there on their little hill. Just let them. Usual boss tactics apply--Fragile, Slow Down, etc. Item Scope #7 is a stage reward. Enter Elensia and talk to Paperboy in the Shop, Spectator in the Streets, and City Resident in the Pub. Afterward, talk to the Innkeeper in the Pub when you're ready to enter Stage 3-8. But before that... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - Emulator Spells, Magic Berry ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now that you've got access to yet another level of equipment, all the classes, and The Flatwoods, now is a great time to stop and make sure your most used equipment is up to snuff, and learn a ton of new skills. For the purposes of this guide, I will only very rarely assume you know any skill more in-depth than a class OC. This will continue to apply, except in the case of the Emulator OC. For your casters, you really should (and I will assume you do) learn via Download all the four basic elemental spells for your casters at least (and since it's pretty simple to do for everyone, you probably should do that, too). All four can be sucked out of Paigoels at The Flatwoods, with very little effort. They cost more than double the Elementalist versions, but they can be widespread, have a longer range, and can be used after moving... they make any caster a death machine on wheels. Other available Emulator spells: Kirlian Buster - Gremalkins Petrify - Iron Rhinos Toxic Breath - Tarasques Luminous Moss - Mushrooms Slumber Fog - Pigs Asphyxiate - Harpies Dangerous Matter - Creeping Chaos Stink Cloud - Damnation *For enemy availability see Free Battle/Enemy List sections below. Also, a rare find when searching at Path of the Unjust is a Magic Berry. As expensive as it is to wait out a search there (1620 Gella for a full party and the 12 day wait), it is very worthwhile to search yourself up a handful for your casters to hold just in case in battle. And it's still much cheaper to search some up than Synth them. You won't want to be popping them like crazy, but you should have a few around for clutch situations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-8 (Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You'll be facing three groups of three knights. All are fairly heavy, and will take high damage from throws. Elemental damage will also work well against them. Each of the near two groups has a knight with Sacred Slayer OC for healing, so target them first. I recommend a group of Geomancers with Grappler OC sent across the water, and a couple of casters (Sacred Slayer with Emulator OC) sent up the stairs. Both groups should have no problem killing, and the pacing should be right to distract the final group toward the Geos, allowing the casters to move in and kill the two brown knights (with Enigmancer OC) before they get hit by Prevent. If the blue boss comes down toward the Geos, just have them toss him back up the stairs into range of the Emulator spells. After the battle, talk to Girl in Pink Dress in Streets, then everybody in the Shop. Leave and return, then talk to Melissa to activate Stage 3-9. Stage 3-9 through 3-13 are chained, and you won't have access to shops and synthing until 4-1, so do any farming, shopping, or synthing you want to do before activating 3-9. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-9 (Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. A group of Sentinels, a group of Sentinels and a Nightstalker, and a group of all Nightstalkers. The Sentinels will go down to the usual tactics: Throw and spells. The Nightstalkers are nasty because they're fast and each has one Emulator status inflicting spell. Not the one with the Sentinels that has Petrify, and the two behind the party that have Slumber Fog and Downhearted. You can leave your casters alone, but put someone in Enigmancer class (I always use Clarissa for this kind of special need) for Dispel. I recommend you put these is positions 4 (Clarissa), 5 and 6. For the other three, your preferred physical attacker setup is fine, but if you have Grappler OC, consider sliding them into the Nightstalker class for the RFX boost. Put them in positions 1, 2, 3. Be sure Felius has his Halberdier OC for status emergencies. When the battle starts, send everybody after the back Nightstalkers. Hit every- thing as hard and fast as you can, concentrating on the Nightstalkers with Downhearted and Slumber Fog. The other Nightstalker will come in from behind, so kill him too. Save Clarissa for Dispeling status effects, and save Felius to Absorb from Clarissa if she gets hit with something that will prevent her from using Dispel (Misery, Sleep, Petrify). After you've finished the Nightstalkers, the battle is basically won. Send half the party up and half down, be sure to identify and target the knights with Sacred Slayer OC first. Stage 3-9 leads directly to 3-10. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-10 (Secret Base) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. If your casters have Emulator OC (they should), make them Sacred Slayers. Make everyone else an Emulator (this is optional--but if you go ahead and use them as Emus in this battle and have them learn Electrigger, it will make this whole series of battles 100 times easier), but otherwise have their normal eq and skill builds. Bring Nectars, as between hanging around to learn spells and Replays firing off, VP consumption will be high. Send everybody up toward the Enigmancer/2*Emulator group. Kill the Enigmancer and the Strider that comes in from upstairs. Take some time to get everybody to Download Electrigger (and optional: Dangerous Matter). When you've learned what you need, suck Nectar and continue on up to the next level and take out the undead. From there, head up toward Asgard, popping off Electriggers as you get in range. Your goal should be to get all your in-class Emulators at point blank around Asgard, so that anybody's Electrigger has a chance to be replayed multiple times. The final four undead will begin to close, just take them out as you can while you're pounding Asgard. Asgard has some pretty fearsome attacks, but with constant replays, your casualties should be light. After Asgard is gone, clean up any remaining undead. Stage 3-10 leads directly to 3-11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-11 (Secret Base) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Hook, Line, Sinker Success: Guide all allies to the target area. Defeat all enemies. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. You may do this board with as many or as few units as you'd like. It's actually easier to just kill everything, since all the Mus can hit you with Misery, and you need to Anchor Hook, so. It's also easier to field as few units as you feel comfortable using (two or three is good), since more units will just tend to get in one another's way. Laby can actually solo it, but it involves a lot of waiting and teasing things with Replicas. Most Mus can be either Anchor Hooked to death from afar (just check the angles and set it up so that when pulled to the character, they end up above a hole) or killed with Elementalist spells (or other abilities that have a high vertical range--boomerang with Excav Attack High/Low, Upper Hand, etc.) The Mu in the center west (hiding behind the big platform) is probably the best example of a Mu that needs to be worked a bit, but if Laby generates a Replica from the platform below and east up onto the higher platform with him, he'll come over into range of elementalist spells. Be aware that pretty much everybody (except Laby, who can warp) will have to be in Extremist class (or have the OC equipped) to have any mobility on this map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Stand and Deliver Success: Defeat Weisheit. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Trick out Felius however you'd like. This is pretty much a straight-up brawl. Speed is good, so consider changing Felius to a Nightstalker (with Fantastica OC to Slow Weisheit). Don't forget to equip him with Heal/Potion Berries. As a Nightstalker, if you use your first turn to Slow Weisheit, you should be able to take three plus turns between Weisheit's moves. Add in Accelerate from Grappler and/or Declerate from Gadgeteer and you can probably kill him before he can take a second turn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part III - A Perfect Circle Success: Defeat Weisheit. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This is a traditional boss fight. Make sure to have at least one unit with: Extremist OC for Debilitator Fantastica OC for Slow Down Sacred Slayer OC for Fragile Contrary to Laby's D.E.R., you want to close with Weisheit ASAP. He's fast, but the majority of the time he's going to take a turn to Lock-on to somebody (tell you who he's going to target with his big nasty attack), then move and fire it. It's a straight-line ranged attack that will probably OHKO whoever it hits. This is why you want to get him circled. If he can't move, he can't manuever to hit more than one unit with it. Not to mention it'll give you the advantage of Formation Arts. Also, there's just no point leaving him open as a loose cannon and trying to dodge in and out to avoid damage. Needless pain in the butt. As for the OHKO, you have some options. You can either Revive them with Laby or an item (slow), or you can have somebody with High Cavalier OC hit his target with Remain as soon as he tells you who he's going to target. They'll revive in position with one HP, but since he mostly OHKOs anyway, the difference between 1 HP and full is academic. Speedy units are helpful, but not a must. Your usual build, leaving physical hitters as hitters and casters as casters, is fine. Make your priority landing a Slow Down, then add Fragile and Debilitator to speed up your damage. The Gadgeteer skill Decelerate is also a good choice, so each of your blows slows him further. Stage 3-11 leads directly to 3-12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-12 (Secret Base) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - I, Robot Success: Defeat Asgard. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Same setup as above is fine: your preferred setup. Again, ake sure to have at least one unit with: Extremist OC for Debilitator Fantastica OC for Slow Down Sacred Slayer OC for Fragile Asgard isn't Weisheit, but he can deal some decent damage, and your party starts split. Make sure each trio is strategically cohesive, include a hitter, a caster (with Emulator OC for Electrigger, or Laby with Lightning), and some healing. If you can double up on the Debuff skills listed above, so much the better--at least double up on Fantastica OC for Slow Down. At the beginning of combat, Asgard will head toward one group or the other. Just engage him with the close group, Debuff (start with Slow Down), and start pounding. He has a lot of HP, but between Electrigger and Formation Arts, you should have no trouble piling damage on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Once More, With Feeling Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Same setup as above, Emulating casters for Electrigger, your usual party. This is really no big thing. Your casters should be able to one-hit the weak units with Electrigger. Each group has two weak units and a strong one. Just pick a group and head toward it. After you've taken down a few units, the rest will go active. Just take them out as they come. Stage 3-12 leads directly to Stage 3-13. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 3-13 (Secret Base) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Poor Old Michael Finnegan Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Same same. Add a touch of Sacred Slayer OC for Sanctify/extra healing. The only thing special/difficult about this map is the Smoky Specimen across the map. You must kill it before its sixth turn or it will restart the map. Put Labyrinthia in position 1, and make sure she has Arcanist OC for warp. Her job is to Warp over there and kill it. Putting her in a fast class will help, but even in a slow class, she has plenty of time to Warp over there and pop it with a ranged attack. Everybody else proceeds normally along the stage, killing as they go. Take care to keep everyone healed, as the nearby robots can essentially pelt you without end as you advance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - The Doctrine of Eternal Recurrents Success: Defeat Weisheit. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This plays a lot like 3-11 part III, versus solo Weisheit, except with the addition of golems to distract and add damage. First priority is to land a Slow Down and Debilitator on Weisheit, but don't bother damaging him at this point. You can also either use Shut Out (Geo) to lock him in place and stay out of his range (5 hexes, straight line), or you can do as above and hit his target with Remain before he lands it (and meanwhile manuever that unit to a place where in order for Weisheit to hit, he must also damage the 'bots). Weisheit's total move + attack range is nine, so just move the first character he targets right toward the tougher bots, but outside his attack range. Second, kill the bots as fast as possible. The three on the left should be one- shottable with a caster's Electrigger (Emu). The three on the right will require more pounding. Generally speaking, your priority should be watching and controlling Weisheit, including any healing/revival necessary, then taking out the bots, focusing on one at a time. After you've got the 'bots taken out, just encircle Weisheit and take him down as before. Debuffs and Decelerate, as usual, do great jobs of keeping him in check while you whittle him down. Item Scope #8 is a stage reward. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Act IV - Searching for the Future ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proceed to Santanica, talk to Entrepreneur in the Pub, Merchant in Outskirts, then leave town to open Stage 4-1 at The Quiet Sands. With your 8th Item Scope, you now have access to synthing the next level of equipment. When you're ready, head to the Quiet Sands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-1 (The Quiet Sands) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You must take out Lluvia ASAP in this battle. He is the brother with the special "attack" that allows his brothers to take immediate turns, during which one boosts MAG and the other launches big nastiness. Your ordinary setup will be fine, but consider speed/slow skills such as Slow Down, Debilitator, Decelerate, Accelerate, RFX +25%, etc. Also, elemental spells are not going to be particularly effective against the brothers, so it's worthwhile to at least trade out Levin's Emu OC for Martial Mage (Blast), or you can just get by with Electrigger. Another option is to equip them with a weapon with decent MAG and AIM (Books suck at AIM) and use them to trigger off Combination Arts. They will almost certainly get at least one big attack off before you can do much, and it will probably kill whoever it hits, so bring along either Revive Fruit or Laby's Arcanist OC for Revive. Once you have one of them down, the others will be effectively powerless, as without their Triple skills, they're just HP with legs (and some fairly weak one hex spells). For extra effectiveness, make sure your debuffers have widespread, as the three stand in range to hit all of them at once with things like Slow Down, Debilitate, and Fragile. Treasure Chest contains Tenrai +5. You can have somebody nab it after two are down or get it later in Free Battle. After the battle, Stage 4-2 opens at Boot Hill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-2 (Boot Hill) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Cry Me A River Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Rupert and company are nothing much, here. Once again, you'll be fighting normal humans, so your Emulator elemental spells are going to be incredibly effective... though this board can run long, so MP may be a problem. Either add some Magic Berries onto your casters, or supply them with any of the MP skills: Wait & Heal MP - Elementalist (meh) Crisis Conserve MP - Elementalist (meh) Move & Heal MP - Berserker (good) Attack & Heal MP - Extremist (meh) MP Recovery - Emulator (good) Conserve MP - Emulator (great) For Rupert you'll want to include Slow Down (Fantastica OC) and Debilitator (Extremist OC) to keep his RFX down, as two of his three attacks are RFX-based. Finally, most of the enemies are pure class, so you'll know what to expect by looking at them. Watch out for the Emulator on the hill by the chest, across the map, as it knows Downhearted. She'll probably get at least one attempt off before you can hit her, but take her down ASAP when she comes in range. Except for Rupert (use Boss tactics) and the diversity of the enemies, there's nothing very spectacular here. I recommend you stay on the starting side of the river and hit whatever comes for you from range before dealing with Rupert, so as to avoid swarms. Anchor Hook can be fun here--suck them across and let your physical attackers slaughter them. This is an especially good way to get rid of the High Cavs flanking Rupert before dealing with him. Treasure Chest contains Main Gauche +5. Either send somebody over toward the end, or nab it later... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - A River Runs Through It Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Consider this the advanced tutorial in killing the final four class-types. Rupert punked out, but you have three each of Nightstalkers, Extremists, High Cavaliers and Emulators, in three groups. Of the three, you'll want to watch out for the one south of the party, where the Emulator has Slumber Fog, and the one across the map, where the Emu has Petrify. Otherwise, the same tactics as above apply here. Humans are easy to kill by exploiting elemental weaknesses. Your starting position is on a hill--anybody with 2 CLM will need to head west, so arrange your starting positions to suit. After you take out most of the two groups on this side of the river, the Nightstalkers will go active. Just let them do the work of coming across the river and pepper them with spells (some will be deflected by Illusion). Things to watch for: - The Extremists will have insane Evade. Debilitate them, Invoke any physical attackers, or both. - The Nightstalkers' Six Shooter can hit for partial damage, which if they get lucky can be high. Try to kill them before they cross the river and close to range. Debilitator and Slow Down will help. As fast as they are, they can gang up and take out weaker characters before you have a chance to heal. After the battle, Stage 4-3 opens at The Flatwoods. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-3 (The Flatwoods) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Love is a Battlefield Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You've got two pair of trainer/beefy Paigoel, and three merged Zortroa (no special attributes). Elemental spells are again the obvious answer, as well as the usual debuffs to speed things up (Debilitator, Fragile). Most of the characters aren't weak to anything, but watch Alexia carefully because of her weakness to Wind. It's not a bad idea to make her a Geomancer for their armor's 1/3 reduction of elemental damage, or a Sacred Slayer for the RES +25% (or just equip one/both). I recommend you start going all out for the Paigoel northeast of the starting position. Both Paigoels make a beeline for a ley point, but that one goes for the one back by the three merged Zortroa, so it's worth your while to cut that one off so you don't have to deal with it, boosted, at the same time as the Zortroa. The other Paigoel will come toward the starting position, so once you've run over to take out the other, you can just pop back and take the second down. Speed is good, but not vital. With debuffs you should be able to get decent damage even on an Active version of these Paigoels. Treasure Chest (if you haven't already looted it in a Free Battle) contains the mighty Heal Berry. >_> The Paigoels are the only thing remotely difficult in this stage. Everything else falls very quickly to elemental spells/regular attacks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - The Invisible College Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Before you do anything else, cancel out of the ring menu and thumb through the enemies with the square button. Yeah, look, invisible people. These guys can't be targetted until you've revealed them using the Excavator skill Detect. You can still hit them with area effects--but even those you'll have to target on a visible unit, friend or foe. Add to this an instakill that can be used after moving (they have 3 MOV), and this isn't a happy situation. Luckily, they aren't particularly durable. If you're going to reveal them with Detect, put it on a unit with 5 or more move (Detect range is tied to the unit's MOV/CLM)--like an *gasp* Excavator. Clarissa makes a good choice for this if you've learned her Dandy skill Soul Survivor (makes her immune to instakills). Alternatively, you can take a regular caster with the IFF skill and Widespread, and have an allied unit get close, then hit both. Either way, modify your standard set-up to include one of these options, then just kill away. Once you've taken out the invisibles, start approaching (the oncoming) Chelle and the trainers. Watch your background with Chelle--she has her version of Raving Rage (and now a skill to counter with it), so try to keep your back to a wall, lest she smack you across the field, yea even unto death. Hit Chelle with the usual debuffs (Debilitator, Slow Down), then focus on taking out the trainers so they don't assist Chelle. Once they're dead, you can start pounding Chelle, but again, watch your back, especially when launching point-blank attacks. Luckily, the map is pretty rugged, so it's usually not too difficult to find a safe place to stand. After the battle, Stage 4-4 will be open at Rasalom Keep, and you'll have access to most of the map for Free Battles and Search/Synthing. But before that... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - Ragu O Ragul ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head to Richala Rose and talk to Wistful Woman in the Quarry, then leave town to open Heart of Fire in the far northwest of the map, where waits the optional boss Ragu O Ragul. You must complete this fight before 4-8 if you want to gain the optional prize: Sheriff Star (a Fantastica armor--best in the game). In preparation for this fight: Alexia must be level 50*, and have learned High Cavalier, Secutor, and Excavator OCs. She must also have mastered the Gadgeteer class, and it helps for her to have learned one of: Conserve MP, Crisis Conserve MP, or MP Recovery. Do some searching at Path of the Undead until you have 10 or more Magic Berry, and search at Secret Base (or synth) until you have 50 or more Freeze Gem +1. (It might be worth your while to wait until you get the ninth item scope after Stage 4-5, as this will allow you to find Magic Berry +1 at Path of the Undead instead of plain Magic Berry.) Depending on your level, you probably won't need this much, but it's better not to run out after 45 minutes of combat. >_> Switch Alexia to Gadgeteer and equip: Leader's Duty High Cavalier OC Secutor OC Excavator OC Conserve MP For items, equip a Magic Berry and 6 Freeze Gem +1. This is how the fight will go: Intrude repeatedly for turns (until Alexia has turns 00 - 07 on the turn list), when her MP is about 1/3 of maximum, move closer to Ragu and use Secutor skill MP Burst. If it succeeds, gain more turns (if necessary), then keep on with the process. The last thing you do before you start using Gems (always!) is make sure your MP is full with an MP Burst. If MP Burst fails, pop a Magic Berry, reload your Magic Berry with In & Out, then keep Bursting and gaining turns as needed. It is vital that you never Burst without a Magic Berry, in case of failure, so always reload whenever you use one. When you're ready for an attack run, you should have full MP, turns 00 - 06 (you'll have used one to Burst), and a Magic Berry and 6 Gems in inventory. Pop 6 Gems in a row on Ragu (unless he Throw Blocks, you'll get chain bonuses), then start the process again by Intruding for turns, reloading gems, etc. When your next attack will bring him below 3000 MP, be absolutely certain you have enough MP to Intrude. (You should be full before any attack chain anyway.) When he enters Crisis, he will automatically get the next turn (after your current), so the next thing you do will be to create a new turn chain and rebuild to where you can start another attack chain. *This is actually possible at lower than 50, but without the extra slot for Conserve MP, the margins for error are razor thin. It will be easier, faster, and take fewer items the higher your level and the more supplemental skills you can add in. After you've done Ragu, Heart of Fire will be open for Free Battles containing Gella and Grow Apples, which return 100*overkill damage Gella and 10*overkill damage EXP, respectively. You get your Sheriff Star later on, after 4-6, by entering Crestablede and talking to Skilled Hunter in Main St. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-4 (Rasalom Keep) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Each of the brothers has three very weak (~10 HP) clones, and DEF/RES in the 900s. Whenever you kill any of the copies, they'll respawn next to the "real" brother. When the real version is defeated, the copies of that brother disappear as well. With Debilitator + Fragile you can drop their RES/DEF into the 300s. Sufficient to damage them decently with ordinary attacks and non-elemental spells. You can also employ Nightstalker's Innocent Blow to hit them decently anyway, Sacrifice (Clarissa's Dandy OC) will also hit through their RES/DEF. Aside from the slowness of moving around, this stage isn't difficult. The enemies don't actually do that much damage, and killing any of the doppleganger before their turn comes up will effectively cancel it. Even the brothers don't do much in the way of damage. Just hit them with Debilitator and Fragile, then take them out with the usual stuff. After the battle, Stage 4-5 opens at Port Atraige. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-5 (Port Atraige) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat Rupert. Failure: All allies die in battle. Your standard set-up is fine. Elemental spells work well on humans, as usual, and Rupert is effectively stymied by the same tactics as before (and on other boss-types): Slow Down and Debilitator to reduce his RFX, Fragile to speed up damage. You can also toss Rupert up on the ledge and take him out with spells and skills that have a high vertical range, but to my mind this just drags the battle out unnecessarily. Another useful addition would be a Strider and someone with Excavator OC, so that you can switch the crystal by the wall to a block and have someone pop up to nab the chest. Or toss your own unit up there. Or walk around. Chest holds Serpentine +5. All enemies are active, so there's no point splitting the party. Start north across the bridge and take out the first group while you wait for Rupert and the rest to meet you. If you've got people with Anchor Hook, watch for chances to kill humans from across the stage by dropping them in the drink. As Rupert's HP get low, his Maximum Risk skill will become insane (dealing in excess of 1000 damage). You can get rid of his ability to pull this (and all other non-basic attacks) off by draining his MP with Feeble Mind. 5 hits will drain him--with any MP he uses meanwhile, it'll probably take fewer. Item Scope #9 is a stage reward. Stage 4-6 opens at Elensia. You now have the ability to synth another level of equipment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-6 (Elensia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Time Well Wasted Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Work a balanced team. Casters will be effective against most enemies, for physical attackers, weapons that ignore Hard will be good for the Tarasque. Start by taking out the four Zortroa trainers (without monsters) across from the party on the lower level. From there, head up the stairs and take out the Mu with magic ASAP in order to avoid its Downhearted. I recommend you take out the King Tarasque next, as killing either of the remaining trainer/monster groups will trigger reinforcements. After the King is dead, roll either right or left and kill the trainer/Jelly pair to trigger three merged Zortroa on the side. Of them, one is a Tarasque type (Hard), so you'll want to use magic, Combination Arts, and weapons that strike through Hard, as usual. When you kill the first of three, there will be another reinforcement of three merged Zortroa, this time on the opposite side back of the stage. This stage can run long, so bring Nectar for your heavier/lower VP units, and a Magic Berry for your casters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - You Have Caused Confusion and Delay Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Once again, a balanced party is best. You start spread out in the midst of the enemy, who are all confused. Just tighten up in the center and focus on the enemy as they approach. It helps to make sure all your units have some kind of ranged attack, then just surround Clarissa and have her Encourage constantly. As always, elemental attacks are particularly effective against the humans. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part III - Control, Control, You Must Learn Control! Success: Reduce all enemies' HP to 20% or below. Failure: A single enemy falls in battle. All allies fall in battle. This map is all about damage control. Elemental casters are good because you can tailor your damage based on the target's defenses. For physical types, it's good to add OCs (Strider, Secutor, etc.) that give different types of attack, so you have some different damaging options. It is also vital that you unequip all skills such as Critical Up, Extra Critical, Command Critical, Counter Up, etc.--any skill that acts to increase your critical or counter rate or damage. Other useful skills are Slow Down, Debilitator, Shut Out--anything that will keep enemies from moving and acting, so you have fewer chances to counter, and more time to exercise care. Emulator spell Dangerous Matter is especially useful, as it hits everybody in the stage at 100% accuracy. Once enemies are in critical, just ignore them as they'll stand there and do nothing. After the battle, leave town, be sure to pick up the Sheriff Star from the Skilled Hunter in Crestabelde is you've done Ragu. Head to Lefas Corner, talk to Upset Young Man in the Pub, then leave town to open Stage 4-7 at Schnell Ruins. Be aware that 4-7 through 4-11 (each with multiple parts) are chained, so do any shopping, etc. beforehand, and of course save in a different file. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-7 (Schnell Ruins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Bring Out Your Dead! Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You're facing a bunch of undead and Charlton. For the undead, their Disease attack can be annoying because you'll be unable to heal. Charlton has an attack that can inflict Misery. So you'll want Sacred Slayer OC for slaughtering the undead, and you should have at least one unit with Enigmancer OC to cure the ailments of others, along with some Peppy Acorns in case that unit itself is hit with Misery. Charlton also has weapon block, so spells are the preferred way to hit him, especially Lightning/Electrigger/Blast. Since you have to kill everything, I recommend you head down to the bottom group (and nab the chest), then up to the group across the stage, and finally up to Charlton. The usual boss tactics (Debilitator, Slow Down, Fragile) work well on Charlton. Chest contains Item Scope #10. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - With Friends Like These... Success: Reduce all enemies' HP to 20% or below. Failure: A single enemy falls in battle. All allies fall in battle. Once again, this is all about control, so get rid of your counter/critical skills, and diversify your damage options. Once again, Dangerous Matter has 100% hit rate. Once again, units stop moving as soon as they're in critical. This pretty much plays just like 4-6 part III, carefully focus on the knights, then debuff Eisen and whittle him down. Stage 4-7 leads directly to 4-8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-8 (Schnell Ruins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Can Love Bloom on the Battlefield? Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Include Excavator OC for Detect. There are fully eight invisible people on the field, all with their autokill attack. They're also considerably beefier than the previous versions (~285 HP), so don't mess around with these guys. Reveal them and kill them ASAP. There are a pair that start immediately on the steps on either side of the party start position. Treasure Chest contains Dream Wand +6. Be sure to catch it on the way up to the next level. When you've taken out the invisible enemies, advance up to Chelle and the merged Zortroa. One of the merged is a pig-type, with Slumber Fog skill and Hard status, the other is a Mu-type with Downhearted and Soft. Magic is the best option for killing both. Combination Arts will also work. It's best to focus on these first, before Chelle, to avoid their Status attacks. Chelle is the most powerful version yet, with her own Raving Rage (and the ability to counter with it), and an Intrude-like skill that she will use every turn to give herself two turns in a row. As always, watch your background to avoid her Raving Rage-style attack, and be aware she's going to get two turns, so she can really pile the damage on. Your best bet with her is to use normal boss debuffers (Debilitator, Slow Down, Fragile) and whenever possible, hit from range to avoid her nasty counter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Walk Without Rhythm Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. You're facing 4 merged Zortroa and the Worm. Of the Zortroa, the one in the northeast has Downhearted, and the one in the southeast (just right of the party) has Petrify. Send Laby/Levin east to take care of the Petrifyer, have someone with Anchor Hook suck the northeast Downhearted guy all the way across and slaughter him (he's Soft, so use CA/spells). The northwestern (Kirlian Buster) Zortroa can also be pulled toward the party and killed in advance. By the time you take out those two/three, the worm will be in range. Just hit him with all the debuffs and start in on him. FYI: Dangerous Matter has a 25% chance of hitting him--low, but worth it if it lands early on for a couple thousand damage. The worm is also slow enough that if you Debilitate and Slow, a single unit attacking with Decelerate should be able to keep it from acting at all. At some point during this process, the final Zortroa(s) will go active. Just ignore them and finish the worm. When it's dead, take care of the final Zort(s) and don't forget to send somebody over to nab the chest for a Sniper Bow +6. Stage 4-8 leads directly to 4-9. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-9 (Schnell Ruins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - The Clone War Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. This is a replay of past Triad battles, with clones and the Triad's triple skills. Your first priority is Lluvia, to the left of the party. Debilitate, Slow Down, and attack with Decelerate, as usual, then take him out. The clones can largely be ignored, though you can avoid some damage by killing them from range if their turn is coming up. You'll want to keep the party as tight as possible for mass healing. The enemy does a good job of singling out one unit, so having multiple characters with Sacred Slayer OC for healing is good. After you've taken out Lluvia, just head for the closest real brother and repeat: Debilitate, Slow, Fragile, kill. The difficulty of this battle is all in the beginning. After you've taken out one of the brothers, the momentum will shift heavily toward you. Watch the turn list and break up any enemy turns that stack, and keep your HP up, and this should be no problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - If You Strike Me Down... Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies die in battle. Before combat, view the map and take a look at the enemy stats. One of them is fairly weak, another stronger, the last has insane stats. These will not be the enemies' starting stats. These stats reflect what happens as you take out one brother after the other. First kill boosts the remaining two to the stats of the middle unit, killing the second boosts the final brother to the insane stats. The same boss strategy as before applies here. Debilitate, Slow, Fragile. It's fine to kill one brother first, but you should avoid killing a second brother until you've whittled the third down as well. Best to whittle them all down in advance. If you face the last brother, full strength, you will find it almost impossible to damage and fast as hell. Play smart. The brothers don't have any of their nasty triple attacks this go, so it doesn't matter in what order you take them down. When you're ready to take out the final two, make sure you have units in range to hit, preferably Invoked (if physical attackers), and generally prepared, in advance, to hit as hard and fast as possible. Even Debilitated, your damage against the final brother will be low. Stage 4-9 leads directly to 4-10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-10 (Schnell Ruins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - Kill It With Kindness Success: Reduce Katrina's MP to 0. Failure: Katrina falls in battle. All allies fall in battle. This plays exactly like the previous Katrina battle, except with more beefed lackeys. Excavator Switch is good, Fantastica's Feeble Mind is essential. Just plow your way forward, killing cronies as you go, then hit Katrina with Slow Down and Debilitator (to keep her from casting at you), and suck out her MP. Most if not all of the cronies can be auto-killed by Anchor Hooking them into holes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Just Kill It Success: Defeat Fear Guardian?. Failure: All allies fall in battle. As above, kill/Anchor Hook the cronies on your way toward the bird. Debuff the bird, and beat it down. Stage 4-10 leads directly to 4-11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 4-11 (Schnell Ruins) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - El Dia De Los Muertos Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Treasure Chest contains Lapis Lazuli +6. You're facing three groups of undead, plus Charlton. Charlton has his Misery attack again, so assign somebody Enigmancer OC and/or stock Peppy Acorns. The undead have a chance to respawn if killed with anything but Sanctify, so come prepared either to repeat kill them or hit them with (Rushed) Sanctify. Widespread is also fairly indispensible on this map, both because the undead group up and because Charlton has a counterattack that spawns an undead unit in one of the spaces next to him every time he's attacked. Split however you'd like to kill the undead, then come together to take down Charlton. As always, Debilitate, Slow, and Fragile. Surround him as much as possible to reduce his ability to summon undead (indeed, it's probably best to avoid hitting him at the start to encircle him completely). Charlton's energy drain attack gets more powerful the lower his HP, so keep him Slow and Debilitated, and attack with Decelerate as much as you can. Once he's down, clean up any remaining undead left on the field. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II - Puzzle Break Success: Activate all of the switches. Failure: A single ally falls in battle. Make sure Laby has Arcanist OC, Emulator or Elementalist OC and Widespread. (If she can't equip widespread, just shift her into Sacred Slayer class.) Have two units (not Laby) hit the switches, then have three others use the teleporter to go across to the next platform and stand on those three floor switches. Meanwhile, warp Laby across, and set the pot on the left on fire, then move her right toward the next teleporter. When you've got the three switches active, move her into the teleporter to the next platform. From now on, everybody but Laby waits. Move Laby up the center steps and cast a water spell to the pot on the right to put it out. Warp Laby left next to the chest and attack for a Study Belt +6. Finally, use Lightning on the attack switch behind the barrels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part III - Just Deserts Success: Defeat Charlton. Failure: All allies fall in battle. The cowardly way - Make sure at least one unit has Sacred Slayer OC. Move everybody back into the central nook, and wait wait wait. Charlton will spam his giant area attack, killing the undead, which will respawn with a stat boost. As they get stronger and stronger, they'll deal more and more damage to him, while you hang back and watch. Kill any undead that start to get in range of physical attacks with Sanctify. (Only maybe a couple should get to you before Charlton bites it.) The non-cowardly way - Extremist OC is a must. Advance Anchor Hooking units toward the pits and Hook undead into them. Once you've killed most of them, Charlton should stop using his mega attack. Advance on Charlton and use the same tactics as before, Debuff, surround, etc. to take him out. You will need healers, dispellers, etc. to survive the beginning of the battle, so stock up on Sacred Slayer and Enigmancer OC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Act - When Flowers Once Again Bloom ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leave town to open Final Stage 1 at Foothills of No Return. With 11 Item Scopes, you can now synth all ultimate weapons and armor (except special item Sheriff Star). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage Final Act 1 (Foothills of No Return) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat Weisheit. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Useful OCs: Excavator - for Detect on 19H snow plain. Grappler - for throwing enemies around. Emulator/Electrigger - for damaging golems. Proceed left up the hill from the party start, taking out the three golems as you go. Once you've got your entire party past the 12H plateau with the tree-- notice you have to either go around up the stairs or have CLM 5 to get out of it--use Grappler OC to throw Asgard II down onto that plateau. He won't be able to get out of it, and can't hit anything from there. Weisheit is similar to past versions: He will spend most of his time targeting and trying to pull of his range 5 straight-line mega attack. On the snow, however, he doesn't really have the move to get around well enough to use it effectively. Debilitate and Slow him ASAP, then you should have gobs of time to check his move and all possible spots he can hit, and move the targetted unit out of range (or into one of the blind spots). Use your other units as meat walls to restrict his movement even further. From there, back him into a corner (throw him there) and block him with units. Once he is Slowed and Debilitated, and wasting half or all his turns doing nothing, just beat him down. On the way up the hill, be sure to take a side trip to the snow field at height 19, and use Detect to find Item Scope #12. You can also do this on this map as a free stage. After the battle, Stage Final Act 2 will be open at Trail to the Summit. With 12 Item Scopes, you can now synth everything, including the Sheriff Star. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage Final Act 2 (Trail to the Summit) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat all enemies. Failure: All allies die in battle. You face eight souped up Harpies. They have all the usual Harpy nastiness-- skills to inflict misery, confusion, steal items, health, and cause death-- plus each is equipped with a unique set of blue support skills. All also have +70% vs. all elements (but not non-elemental skills like Blast/Electrigger). As rough as it might sound, this map is really straightforward. Set yourself up with a couple of units with Enigmancer OC to cure status ailments, and pack plenty of Revive Fruits (and/or Laby's Arcanist OC) in case anybody eats it. Then just pick a target and go. Ranged attacks (physical/spells) will give you better flexibility against the enemies on the jagged, snowy terrain. Otherwise, there's no special trick here. After the battle, Stage Final Act 3 opens at Silver Peaks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interlude - Point of No Return ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you save here, this will be your last free save before game's end. The game does prompt you to save in the middle of the final battle sequence, so if you intend to do any extra synthing, leveling, etc. before you move on to a new game loaded from Clear Data, do not save over this file. Clear Data (you will be prompted to save after the end/credits) can only be used to start a new game with all items and gella, and a bonus to EXP/CSP/Gella (double rewards the first time). So if you want to finalize some weapons or hammer out some new/other equips to use in new game+, do it now or at least maintain a save here to come back to after the end. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage Final Act 3 (Silver Peaks) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat Fear Clysmian. Failure: All allies fall in battle. In the final sequence of battles, the cronies around the boss(es) become more and more irrelevant. Surround the Clysmian and use Formation Arts to pummel it. Let your casters hit the cronies with fire when they aren't healing or doing other support tasks. Especially as you wear the Clysmian down, they'll burn turns healing for piddling amounts. Standard boss tactics, as always, apply to the bird. Debilitate, Slow, Fragile, attack with Decelerate. Stage Final Act 3 leads directly to Stage Final Act 4. Remember to save in a different file when prompted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stage Final Act 4 (Silver Peaks) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success: Defeat Katrina. Failure: All allies fall in battle. Add Geomancer OC to one or more units, along with your usual set-up. During this battle, watch Katrina carefully and do not attack her unless you've hit her with Shut-Out. Aside from this, everything about this battle is standard. Debuff, surround, beat with Decelerate, kill cronies only as necessary. If you start doing 0 damage, she has raised her shield. Use Combination Arts until it is destroyed. (You'll be told.) Be sure to check whether she's Shut Out before every attack. You really don't want to be tracking around the map to resurround and setup. Not really a difficult battle so long as you keep her Shut Out. Watch credits. Save Clear File if desired. =============================================================================== Search List =============================================================================== Locations are roughly in order of access. "Focus" is if the search returns significantly more of one type of item and what it is--though this varies somewhat over the course of the game. (e.g. Rasalom will give Tarasque Tusks earlier in the game--before the point you'd need Sol Niger Spikes for synthing.) "Rare" is the uncommon item(s) that may or may not be awarded in addition to synth items. For plant locations and metal locations listed with "throwable," you will get more advanced versions the more item scopes you have. Location Days Type Focus Rare Trader's Road 2 Plant Tabanga Branch Antidote Windhalt Gatehouse 2 Animal Kalivos Claw Lucky Card, Potential Egg Bandits' Forest 2 Plant Mantrap Vine Heal Berry Promise Hill 2 Metal Iron Ore Cyclone Gem, Break Gem Creedmore Prison 2 Animal Taztelwurm Horn Lucky Card, Gella Card Rusty Docks 2 Metal Elesium Fire Gem, Freeze Gem Fallen Fowl Swamp 2 Plant Alraune Pollen Revive Fruit Path to the Shrine 2 Metal Spirit Crystal Exploder Gem, Throwable West Wind Guidepost 2 Animal Gigamantis Claw Gella Card, Potential Egg Fort Molasar 2 Animal Yurung Fang Lucky Card, Gella Card Rainy Pass 2 Metal Median Metal Fire Gem, Freeze Gem Starlit Path 2 Animal A Bao A Qu Drop Lucky Card, Potential Egg Rhino River 2 Animal Belleclaire Horn Gella Card, Potential Egg Deserters' Camp 2 Plant Tryphid Fruit Nectar Dead Plateau 2 Metal Gulcyte Iron Exploder Gem, Throwable Quarry of Desire 4 Metal Mystic Silver Exploder Gem, Throwable Frightful Abyss 4 Plant Dendrobium Petal Medicine Wayward Path 4 Metal Dragon Fossil Break Gem +1 The Flatwoods 4 Animal Tarasque Tusk Gella Card, Lucky Card Rasalom Keep 4 Animal Sol Niger Spike Lucky Card, Potential Egg Twilight Valley 4 Metal None Cyclone Gem +1 Circle Valley 4 Animal None Gella Card White Devil Plains 4 Plant Dendrobium Petal Breath Mint Sundome Abbey Ruins 4 Animal None Lucky Card Lonely Waterside 6 Plant Ent Leaf Pinwheel The Frozen Lands 4 Plant Black Fern Seed Pygmalion Guardian Temple 6 Plant None Peppy Acorn Guardian Shrine* 2 Metal Meteoric Iron Cyclone Gem, Break Gem Path of the Unjust 12 Plant None Magic Berry Secret Base 6 Metal None Freeze Gem +1 Desert Ocean 8 Animal None Gella Card The Quiet Sands 8 Plant None Holy Root Boot Hill 8 Plant None Great Apple Schnell Ruins 14 Metal None Fire Gem +1 Foothills of No Return 8 Metal None Exploder Gem +1 Trail to the Summit 8 Animal None Potential Egg *Guardian Shrine is only accessible as a search location between 3-6 and 3-8. =============================================================================== Free Battles =============================================================================== This list is in order of access. This list may or may not be entirely complete. Some rare monsters may be available that are not listed here. Guardian Shrine is only accessible as a free battle between 3-6 and 3-8. Some enemies (such as Mu in Rusty Docks, and Apples in most places) are extremely rare. Trader's Road - Gremalkin, Marchosias Windhalt Gatehouse - Gremalkin, Ascomoid, Moss Fungus Rusty Docks - Jelly Blob, Mu Bandits' Forest - Harpy, Gremalkin, Marchosias Promise Hill - Ascomoid Creedmore Prison - Harpy, Ascomoid Fallen Fowl Swamp - Harpy, Grow Apple Path to the Shrine - Harpy, Gremalkin, Ascomoid West Wind Guidepost - Orc Fort Molasar - Ascomoid, Orc, Gremalkin Rainy Pass - Harpy, Not-Have, Jelly Blob Starlit Path - Fairylight, Ignus Fatuus Rhino River - Rhinocerous Deserters' Camp - Paigoel Dead Plateau - Tarasque, Rhinocerous, Gremalkin Quarry of Desire - Rhinocerous, Tarasque Frightful Abyss - Vodianoi, Harpy, Jelly Blob Wayward Path - Fairylight, Jelly Blob, Ignus Fatuus The Flatwoods - Fairylight, Paigoel, Clymenus, Creeping Chaos Rasalom Keep - Harpy, Orc, Doppelganger Twilight Valley - Fairylight, Ignus Fatuus, Gella Apple Circle Valley - Orc, Ascomoid, Gremalkin White Devil Plains - Gremalkin, Marchosias, Rhinocerous, Tarasque Sundome Abbey Ruins - Damnation Lonely Waterside - Fairylight, Orc, Gremalkin The Frozen Lands - Vodianoi, Stealth Stalker Guardian Shrine - Troll, Hyperion, Gella Apple, Grow Apple Path of the Unjust - Gremalkin, Jelly Blob Secret Base - Mu, Jelly Blob Desert Ocean - Troll, Hyperion The Quiet Sands - Troll, Hyperion, Vacuumon, Doppelganger Boot Hill - Troll, Ascomoid, Moss Fungus, John Doe, Gorgon Grow Apple, Mu, Marchiosas, Fairylight Heart of Fire - Grow Apple, Gella Apple Schnell Ruins - John Doe, Damnation Foothills of No Return - Doppleganger Trail to the Summit - Not-Have, Gella Apple, Grow Apple, Harpy (Gate Victim) Tarasque (Gate Victim) =============================================================================== Enemy List =============================================================================== Listed money, exp, and csp apply only to the first game. Each new game+ adds the value again to the actual monsters. So during your second game, all enemies yield double the values (including special monsters), the third time triple, etc. Location list may not be entirely complete. Rare monsters may be hard to find in the listed locations. Ascomoid - Mutant Shroom Money: lvl*25 Items: Pinwheel, Heal Berry, Freeze Gem EXP: lvl*2.5 CSP: 1 Emulator: Luminous Moss Location: Windhalt Gatehouse, Promise Hill, Creedmore Prison, Path to the Shrine, Fort Molasar, Circle Valley, Boot Hill Clymenus - Ghastly Ghoul Money: lvl*30 Items: Elemental Gems, Elemental Gems +1 EXP: lvl*8 CSP: 1 Emulator: Buried Alive, Hydro Pressure, Crimson Cremation, Storm Blade Location: The Flatwoods Creeping Chaos - Unwanted Visitor Money: lvl*100 Items: Antidote +1, Pinwheel +1, Pygmalion +1, Magic Berry +1 EXP: lvl*3.3 CSP: Special* Emulator: Dangerous Matter Location: The Flatwoods *CSP = Overkill damage Damnation - Living Dead Money: lvl*40 Items: Heal Berry, Potion Berry, Medicine +1 EXP: lvl*4 CSP: 1 Emulator: Stink Cloud Location: Sundome Abbey Ruins, Schnell Ruins Special* - Doppelganger Money: lvl*30 Items: Special** EXP: lvl*3 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Rasalom Keep, The Quiet Sands, Foothills of No Return *Unit name = Main Character names **Items = Basic, Specialized versions of the copied character's armor. Fairylight - Wicked Spirit Money: lvl*20 Items: Heal Berry, Elemental Gems EXP: lvl*2 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Starlit Path, Wayward Path, Twilight Valley, Lonely Waterside, Boot Hill Gella Apple - Devil Tree Fruit Money: Special* Items: Gella Card, Money Pit EXP: lvl*1 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Twilight Valley, Guardian Shrine, Heart of Fire, Trail to the Summit *Money = Overkill damage*100 Gorgon - Stone Eater Money: lvl*60 Items: Median Metal EXP: lvl*6 CSP: 1 Emulator: Petrify Location: Boot Hill Gremalkin - Dubious Leopard Money: lvl*20 Items: Heal Berry, Medicine, Potion Berry EXP: lvl*2 CSP: 1 Emulator: Kirlian Buster Location: Trader's Road, Wildhalt Gatehouse, Bandits' Forest, Path to the Shrine, Fort Molasar, Dead Plateau, Circle Valley, White Devil Plains, Lonely Waterside, Path of the Unjust Grow Apple - Evil Tree Fruit Money: lvl*20 Items: Lucky Card, Great Apple EXP: Special* CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Fallen Fowl Swamp, Guardian Shrine, Boot Hill, Heart of Fire, Trail to the Summit *EXP = Overkill damage*10 Harpy - Avian Bandit Money: lvl*60 Items: Heal Berry, Antidote, Medicine, Pygmalion EXP: lvl*2 CSP: 1 Emulator: Asphyxiate Location: Bandits' Forest, Creedmore Prison, Fallen Fowl Swamp, Path to the Shrine, Frightful Abyss, Rasalom Keep Harpy - Gate Victim Money: lvl*20 Items: Lucky Card EXP: lvl*1 CSP: 1 Emulator: Asphyxiate Location: Trail to the Summit Hyperion - Bellowing Monk Money: lvl*80 Items: Gigamantis Cw, Yurung Fg, Bao A Qu Drp, Belleclaire Hn EXP: lvl*15 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Guardian Shrine, Desert Ocean, The Quiet Sands Ignus Fatuus - Phantom Soul Money: lvl*70 Items: Exploder Gem, Exploder Gem +1 EXP: lvl*5 CSP: 1 Emulator: Electrigger Location: Starlit Path, Wayward Path, Twilight Valley Jelly Blob - Shapeless Mass Money: lvl*25 Items: Antidote, Heal Berry, Medicine EXP: lvl*2.5 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Rusty Docks, Rainy Pass, Frightful Abyss, Wayward Path, Path of the Unjust, Secret Base John Doe - Nameless Corpse Money: lvl*70 Items: Heal Berry, Potion Berry, Potential Egg, Ambrosia EXP: lvl*7 CSP: 1 Emulator: Stink Cloud Location: Boot Hill, Schnell Ruins Marchosias - Vicious Canine Money: lvl*50 Items: Iron Ore EXP: lvl*5 CSP: 1 Emulator: Kirlian Buster Location: Bandits' Forest, White Devil Plains, Boot Hill Moss Fungus - Nocturnal Shroom Money: lvl*60 Items: Pinwheel, Ambrosia, Pinwheel +1 EXP: lvl*6 CSP: 1 Emulator: Luminous Moss Location: Windhalt Gatehouse, Boot Hill Mu - Dissolving Cell Money: lvl*55 Items: Heal Berry, Medicine +1 EXP: lvl*5.5 CSP: 1 Emulator: Downhearted Location: Rusty Docks, Secret Base, Boot Hill Not-Have - Smoky Specimen Money: lvl*100 Items: Pygmalion, Potion Berry EXP: lvl*1 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Rainy Pass, Trail to the Summit Orc - Brutal Swine Money: lvl*30 Items: Breath Mint, Lucky Card, Fire Gem EXP: lvl*3 CSP: 1 Emulator: Slumber Fog Location: West Wind Guidepost, Fort Molasar, Rasalom Keep, Circle Valley, Lonely Waterside Paigoel - Ghostly Goblin Money: lvl*30 Items: Elemental Gems EXP: lvl*3 CSP: 1 Emulator: Buried Alive, Hydro Pressure, Crimson Cremation, Storm Blade Location: Deserters' Camp Rhinocerous - One-Eyed Beast Money: lvl*30 Items: Pygmalion, Breath Mint EXP: lvl*3 CSP: 1 Emulator: Petrify Location: Rhino River, Dead Plateau, Quarry of Desire, White Devil Plains Stealth Stalker - Hidden Wanderer Money: lvl*10 Items: Revive Fruit, Full Revive EXP: lvl*9 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: The Frozen Lands Tarasque - Shelled Lizard Money: lvl*20 Items: Antidote, Antidote +1 EXP: lvl*6 CSP: 1 Emulator: Toxic Breath Location: Dead Plateau, Quarry of Desire, White Devil Plains, Path of the Unjust Tarasque - Gate Victim Money: lvl*20 Items: Great Apple EXP: lvl*6 CSP: 1 Emulator: Toxic Breath Location: Trail to the Summit Troll - Beastly Brute Money: lvl*50 Items: Tatzelwurm Hrn, Kalivos Clw, Gigamantis Clw, Yurung Fng EXP: lvl*10 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: Guardian Shrine, Desert Ocean, Boot Hill Vacuumon - Misty Mortal Money: lvl*30 Items: Median Metal, Regulus Sap, A Bao A Qu Drop EXP: lvl*3 CSP: 1 Emulator: none Location: The Quiet Sands Vodianoi - Mystic Kappa Money: lvl*140 Items: Nectar +1, Great Apple, Magic Berry, Ambrosia EXP: lvl*14 CSP: 15 Emulator: none Location: Frightful Abyss, The Frozen Lands =============================================================================== FAQ/Tips =============================================================================== -Any missables? Yes. The reward for killing the optional boss can be missed. You must access his stage and kill him before entering stage 4-7. Certain treasure chests and item availabilities in shops are missable, but all of these items and equips can be built or found elsewhere. -CSP/EXP/Money farming? It's not really worth your while to do much CSP farming until 2-4, when you can access a very easy method. See "Interlude - CSP Farming" in the walkthrough above. Levels don't matter much, so there's no need to grind. The easiest legitimate way to get money is to kill harpies with (mastered) Excavators. See "Free Battles" or "Enemy List" above for locations. You can also use the item duplication cheat to make gobs of money. -Equipment? It's good to keep your weapons as up to date as possible, and your armors close to up to date. You don't need every weapon for every class. Felius' Halberd and Ragnar's Boomerang are worth keeping current, keep a couple of Elementalist books for Levin and Laby, and a Secutor sword/axe or two. This will vary depending on your play style, of course, but all classes have a skill that lets you equip their stuff out-of-class, so you can just keep your six favorite weapons and armors going, and you won't have to spend much effort upgrading. You will also want to keep a maximally updated MAG-wrench if you plan to kill Ragu at lowish levels (~50). -How do I kill Gella/Grow Apples? Honestly, it's not worth it. For Gella Apples, in the time it takes you to kill them, you can earn as much money just quickly killing Harpies and/or Not-Haves. For Grow Apples, you can earn EXP slightly faster, but it's still so close as makes no difference, in my opinion. If you feel you must grind on them, Heart of Fire always loads a mix of six apples (after Ragu is gone), and you can repeatedly kill them fairly quickly using Alexia, Intrude chains (similar to Ragu), and Exploder Gems +1 with an Elementalist book equipped. This is about the simplest and quickest solution. The real difference between the apples and creeping chaos is that they're a hell of a lot faster, can't be meaningfully distracted with a Replica, and will OHKO a character on any turn they're in range of their exceedingly long range attack. There are convulated methods out there for getting huge overkill damage on them, but IMO it's a pain in the butt for relatively little reward. You might as well just wait for other playthroughs, when EXP/CSP are boosted. You don't keep levels for New Game+ anyway, and the levels you hit naturally in the course of the game are more than sufficient to kill everything, including Ragu. =============================================================================== Contact/Copyright/Hosting =============================================================================== Contacting Me: If you have any corrections or additions to this guide, please do let me know. Send a note to darklao@gmail.com for inclusion in the next revision. Please include the phrase "Wild ARMs XF FAQ" in the subject line or your mail will be deleted unread. Of course any meaningful contributions to this guide will be credited in an obscure bit at the end of the guide that nobody will read anyway. Like right here. ---> If you have other questions about the game, please feel free to ask them on the board at: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=935425 You stand a much better chance of getting help there than by mailing me. Don't feel slighted if I don't respond to your e-mail asking for help. I rarely do. Copyright Notice: This document is Copyright 2008 Matthew "darklao" Pattison. It may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site outside of GameFAQs. It may not be distributed electronically outside of the GameFAQs web site, and it may not be distributed otherwise at all. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public format is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and etc. blah blah blah belong to their respective holders. NO, YOU CANNOT USE THIS GUIDE ON YOUR NON-GAMEFAQS/GAMEFAQS AFFILIATED SITE. IF I WANT YOU TO HOST IT, I WILL SEND IT TO YOU. PEOPLE WHO DON'T READ THIS AND SEND ME MAIL RE: "I HAVE THIS AWESOME SITE CAN I HOST YOUR GUIDE WAGH" WILL BE CURSED WITH VARIOUS MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DISORDERS, FROM AFAR, BY THE FANTASTIC POWER OF MY HATE. I am, for reasons none of your business, extremely loyal to GameFAQs. Your heart will go on. darklao would like to thank his wife and son and tiny microbun currently ovened and unnamed, the staff of GameFAQs, Sony and XSeed, and all my TR/US/SSK pals. Be kind to everybody. Peace. -EOF-