Mystic Ark: A Complete Walkthrough and Item Index By: Alice Kojiro (MotherKojiro(AT)gmail(DOT)com) Note: This work is mine exclusively. I've spent several hours writing it. If you don't believe me, try writing one yourself. Anyway, if you need to contact me, just send me an e-mail. E-mails have 3 main criteria. First of all, they need a subject line that tells me that the message is about my walkthrough. Another important criterion is that it needs to be suggestions about the walkthrough. I don't appreciate invitations to blogs, invites to chat rooms, flaming, or anything like that. Your suggestions can be anything from spelling and grammatical errors to new sections you think I should add. The only other reason you should be writing to me is to ask me to use this guide on your website. You cannot do so without my consent as it is illegal. All you need to do is ask and it is highly unlikely that I will deny you the use of this guide. You also have to give me credit for writing this. Failure to do so is plagiarism. I appreciate your cooperation. Thanks for choosing this guide. ~Kojiro ================= Table of Contents ================= I. Intro II. Thanks III. Characters IV. Walkthrough A. Sand World B. Plant World C. Children's World D. Machine World E. Giant's World F. Dark World G. Fairytale World H. Nexus of Darkness V. Techniques A. Skills B. Spells VI. Weapons A. Swords B. Katana C. Knives D. Axes E. Staves F. Bows G. Tetsu-jin Arms H. Nunchakus I. Shurikens VII. Armor A. Armor B. Helmet C. Shields D. Accessories VIII. Items A. Restorative Items B. Spell Items C. Salable Items D. Key Items E. Dummied Items IX. Arena X. Debug Crystal XI. Conclusion ======== I. Intro ======== Make no mistake; this game is tough. As far as getting from the beginning to the end, it's not too difficult. However, there is a lot to explore in this game. All of the walkthroughs I've found for Mystic Ark were written before the full translation patch was released, so I decided to write one of my own. That's not to say that the guides are lackluster, just that the language barrier has finally come down, making it easier to make a full guide. By the way, I've decided not to do a bestiary, since enemy figurines vary in stats, making it impossible to give definite numbers. If you need to find something quickly, type in the roman numeral from the Table of Contents. I didn't do anything like space the titles out like T I T L E, so you can type that in as well, if you'd like. Boss strategies are marked off like this: ********* Boss Name ********* The boss strategy is here. Make sure to read the whole thing before you enter a boss battle for strategies on what and who to bring in with you. If you want to figure it out yourself, just skip the paragraph. The next paragraph will always be the next part of the walkthrough. The only other real notation to make note of is puzzle solutions. Usually, I will mention a puzzle, then give a hint, then I will put the solution in its own section below, like this: ******************************************************************************* In here, you'll find the puzzle solution. Maybe you have trouble with RPG puzzles or maybe you just don't like them. In any case, if you want the solution, read these sections. If not, just skip them. I had so much fun with the puzzles, that I didn't want a solution. That's why I made it really easy to identify a solution, so that those who wish to solve it on their own can do so without easily spoiling it for themselves. ******************************************************************************* Well, on to the walkthrough. I hope this walkthrough is helpful and enjoyable. ========== II. Thanks ========== Produce for developing this fantastic game. Enix (NOT Squenix) for publishing this fantastic game. Nintendo for licensing this game and making the SNES to play it on. Aeon Genesis for the top-notch translation. Sébastien Pichette for informing me of the misaligned tables. Koschey for informing me of Blood Hook weapon sidequest and the Spare Ribs. My lady (as always) for making me happy. YOU for reading this walkthrough and this section. =============== III. Characters =============== It is still debatable whether or not this game is a sequel to 7th Saga (Elnard to our friends in Japan). Hell, I don't even know and I'm writing the guide. If nothing else, it's a spiritual sequel. This information is relevant because I will equate nearly every character to another from 7th Saga. Don't worry, though; this game is loads easier than 7th Saga. At any rate, the numbers in parentheses before the technique name is the level at which that character learns it. Remeer (Hero) ====== Likely Lemele, the king who began your quest in 7th Saga. I thought that to be a possibility, but then played Brain Lord, another Produce game with a hero named Remeer; I think they just like the name. At any rate, he's your hero, (provided you selected a male hero) which means he's your well-rounded character, though his Guard's a bit low. His Power and Speed are pretty high. I guess he's like Kamil Dowanna. Skills ------ ( 3) Guard ( 7) Figurine ( 8) Flurry (20) Powerwave Spells ------ ( 2) Health ( 4) Fire ( 6) Warp Gate ( 9) Power (11) Fire Storm (13) Morehealth (15) Deathguard (18) Heat Cyclone (21) Heal (26) Plasma Field (29) Kill (33) Fullhealth Feris (Heroine) ===== If you chose a heroine, rather than a hero, you have Feris. At least, I think that's her default name. Her presence kinda blows the above theory that you play as King Lemele in this game. Despite being just the female protagonist, she is a bit different from Remeer. She learns different spells, her techniques come at different levels and her Power and Speed are about average, while her Magic is fairly high. She has the same problem with low Guard as Remeer does, however. Personally, while I tend to go with female characters, I prefer Remeer to Feris. Skills ------ ( 4) Guard ( 7) Figurine ( 9) Flurry (22) Powerwave Spells ------ ( 2) Health ( 3) Sleep ( 5) Cold Down ( 6) Warp Gate ( 8) Speed (10) Icewall (11) Icerock Nail (12) Morehealth (16) Deathguard (18) Hard (19) Ice Chain (20) Heal (21) Plasma Field (23) Fullhealth (26) Cure Miriene (Witch) ======= She's the offensive magic user of the group. As such, she's physically weak, but her Magic stat is pretty high. She's a bit like Esuna Busy, but more geared toward offensive magic. Her speed's decent, too, but I'm not big on offensive magic, so I usually let her sit out. Skills ------ ( 6) Alluring Eyes ( 8) Kiss of Death Spells ------ ( 2) Fire ( 4) Fire Storm ( 5) Stone ( 7) Heal ( 9) Heat Cyclone (10) Icerock Nail (11) Fireball (12) Slow (14) Ice Chain (15) Draw (18) Hurricane (19) Highhealth (21) Mirror (23) Blackout (25) Prominence (28) Bolt Earth Lux (Tetujin/Tetsu-jin) === He's a tank, plain and simple. He has high Power and Magic stats. I'd equate him to Lux Tizer, except that he IS Lux Tizer. One more point towards sequel! Anyway, I use him fairly often, since I'm a brute force kind of guy. He's great for bosses. One last thing to note: Tetsu-jin is Japanese for iron person/people. It makes sense, since he's a robot. Skills ------ ( 8) Atomic (15) Full Atomic (20) Full Power Spells ------ ( 3) Laser ( 7) Wide Ray (15) Plasma Field (17) Blast Bomb (20) Spark Reeshine (Grappler) ======== What a BEAST! Her Power and Guard are very high and her speed's pretty good, too! I ALWAYS take her with me. She never gets any magic, but it's not like she needs it. She's great in any situation. She's an awful lot like Wilme Pelin. You know, without all the fire magic. Skills ------ ( 3) Guard ( 9) War Cry (16) Kick (19) Powerwave (21) Smash Tokio (Ninja) ===== As you might've guessed he's Power and Magic are decent, but Speed is where he really excels. His techniques are fairly useful as well. I use him fairly often, since he's pretty versatile. He's the only character that I can't equate to anyone in 7th Saga. Skills ------ ( 5) War Cry (12) Illusion Strike Spells ------ ( 2) Red Burn ( 4) Speed ( 7) Lightning (10) Stone (12) Kill (14) Icerock Nail (18) Deathguard (23) Bolt Earth (27) Death Flare Kamiwoo (Ogre) ======= His Power and Guard are pretty high and he has a surprisingly large array of offensive spells. He's another character that I use fairly often. He's like Lejes Rimul, my personal favorite from 7th Saga. Skills ------ ( 4) Threaten (11) Flurry (17) Blood Suck (20) Full Power (24) Breath Spells ------ ( 3) Cold Down ( 6) Curse ( 8) Earthquake (10) Lightning (12) Sick (13) Icerock Nail (15) Kill (17) Plasma Field (19) Ice Split (22) Blizzard Hole (26) Death Flare (28) Blackout Meisia (Priestess) ====== Her Magic is pretty high and her Speed's not too bad either. She's your healer, nothing more. In fact, her attack is so low that she'll usually be doing 1 damage even with the best equipment available to her. However, she's indispensable in fights with bosses that hit hard. You'll find no better healer in the game. She's like Valsu Saizer (I've never liked that guy). Skills ------ ( 5) Wish Song (10) Prayer (15) Compassion Spells ------ ( 2) Health ( 2) Cure ( 3) Morehealth ( 4) Icerock Nail ( 6) Speed ( 8) Highhealth ( 9) Hard (11) Power (12) Aura (14) Healmore (16) Holy Emblem (18) Fullhealth (19) Deathguard (20) Healhigh (22) Freezing Hell (24) Full Heal =============== IV. Walkthrough =============== I'm going to go ahead and assume you're smart enough to figure out how to name your character, so I'll start where you gain control of your character, henceforth referred to as " /the/your hero". You're in a strange environment and you probably want to explore and check out some of the strange objects. Well, you can use the "A" button to bring up a menu and select examine, but that can get cumbersome, especially in a room like this, in which you have no fewer than 6 objects in a small room. Use the "L" button and you'll automatically check/talk to whatever's in front of you. By the way, to equip things, you need to go into the Item menu. Magic is self- explanatory, but you don't have any yet. Monster is all of the monster figurines you currently have in your possession, but you can't do that until you reach Level 7 anyway, so forget it for now. Status allows you to check your stats, including gold coins, platinum coins (more on those when they become relevant), and when your next level will be. Your equipment will be displayed here as well. Ark is something else that I will explain once you get one. Alright! Let's start the adventure for real! A. Sand World ============= Check the figurines if you wish. Some of them may seem familiar if you really think about it. When you're ready, go south to leave this chamber. On the eastern side of this room, you'll find a fireplace; check it. While examining it, Use the Goddess Tear. Now you have the Crystal. This item will quickly become your best friend. It creates a display that shows the locations of all enemies in the area. That is, where there are enemies, of course. When ready, go south to leave the building. Go south and down the stairs and talk to the statue to the east. Next, go back inside and talk to the fireplace. It may not be very good at English (it was like that in the Japanese version), but its wisdom knows no bounds. Go upstairs. Enter the room at the end of the hall. Inside, you will find a strange statue holding a red orb and a blue orb. This is a save point. Use them whenever you find them, because you can warp to most of them once you learn the Warp Gate spell. There is also a model ship. Check it and touch it to enter the first world, which I call the Sand World. You may first wish to explore the island in its entirety. If you do, here are some of the strange things you'll find: Inside (first room, fireplace room, western room, upstairs) ------ A door inside of a crystal pillar A figurine of a Gypsy woman A figurine of a soldier covered in strange armor A figurine of a girl dressed in foreign clothing A figurine of a man in a mask A figurine of a monster A figurine of a woman wearing a robe A blank canvas A figurine of a scholar/scientist A figurine of a little girl A figurine of a bipedal cat wearing clothing A figurine of a young countryman A glass jar A heavy iron door A pencil A grandfather clock A figurine of a playground Outside (clockwise, beginning at the temple door.) ------- A cave, containing a locked door and a fountain with a trough A windmill, containing a switch and a music box A sword in the sand (currently inaccessible) A locked house with a lantern outside of it A figurine of a hatchling bird (behind the temple) A strange tree that gives a prompt (northernmost tree behind the temple) This island certainly holds a great deal of mysteries. Once you enter the first world, you'll be locked in a small room. First, check the green map on the table. Examine each mark to get an idea of where things are in this world. Next, open the various chests scattered throughout the room. You'll find a Bronze Blade, 200G, and an empty bottle. If you go to the south of the other table and push it north, you can get the other chest, which contains a Rusted Key. The left jar contains honey. If you check it, then Use an Empty Bottle, you can get a Bottle of Honey. I wouldn't recommend it since you can only do this 3 times, Empty Bottles have better uses and are not that common, and a Bottle of Honey only restores 10 HP. Whoopee. Also, if left unused, your honey will eventually turn rancid. Enjoy! The right jar can be checked as well. If you put your hand in, it will take you back to the Shrine. When you're ready, go up to the door, check it, Use your Rusted Key, and leave. Once outside, you're likely to notice the circle in the upper-left corner of the screen. That's your crystal. While not as useful as it was in 7th Saga (it doesn't show towns or treasure chests), it still shows you where the enemies are. They're the little white dots and you're the blue one in the center. Now, head east to find a red ship and enter it. You can't reach the black one just yet. Well, this is your first town. You've played an RPG before, right. Do your thing! You know, talk to people, check drawers and jars, etc. In the westernmost door, there's a cat that gives you an Onion. He wants you to give it to Bragg. Where's Bragg? In the brig! Ahaha ahaha aha haha... humm. Anyway once you're done slapping your knee, go to the... you know. In case you're unfamiliar with ship terminology, the brig is the jail, so it will be downstairs. The door next to where you got the Onion is the inn. Yes, even though you're sort of a member of the crew they still charge you. Honestly, though 10G isn't that much. The next door over has (from left to right) an armor shop, weapon shop, and item shop. Don't make the same mistake that I did when I first played. If you want to buy something, talk to them across the counter. Otherwise, they'll just talk to you. That said, talk to the item shop clerk to receive a free potion. Buy armor and items if you wish, but the Bloodhook has no weapons to sell you. Don't buy Leather Armor, since you're already wearing it. By the way, when you buy something, it'll equip it on you automatically. On the eastern end, next to the shops, you'll find two chests. One contains a Leather Hat, the other contains a Spare Mast. When ready, talk to the two cats in front of the staircase. Now, go downstairs. Talk to the cat at the table to solve his chess puzzle. If you're not familiar with chess, all you need to know is that the knight (which you're using) moves in an "L" shape. That is, two squares in one direction and one in a perpendicular direction. At any rate, you'll only be able to select the blinking pawns anyway. If you want to solve it yourself, do so now. If not, or if you're stuck, read the paragraph below. ******************************************************************************* At your first choice, pick the top pawn. At your second choice, pick the top one again. At your third and final choice, pick whichever; either choice will net you a victory. ******************************************************************************* When/if you win, you'll be awarded an Ice Claw. Talk to whichever cats you wish. Bragg is the pink cat wearing gray clothing. Use the Onion and you'll make a buddy. You can't get into the cell with the chests just yet, so go upstairs and talk to Sixpack. He's in the shop. He'll give you your next mission. So, how to find Pinkhead? Well, let's talk to the pink-head in the brig (sorry). Well, I guess we have to find that secret passage. Go outside and go east, north, and back west. You should pass the Gunboss and continue west. You'll eventually reach a cave east of a tower. The cave is where you want to go, but you'd have to be crazy to do that right now. I'd recommend reaching at least Level 3. That way you can heal and you'll have a few more MP before you tackle your first dungeon. Besides, two crows will net you enough for a stay at the inn and 6G change! By the end (or beginning) of this grind, you should also have a Bronze Blade, Leather Armor, Leather Hat, and a Buckler. When you're ready, enter the cave. DO NOT enter the tower yet. At the first split, head west. At the second split, head west for a Torch. Now, go south at the previous split (down the rushing sand) to move on. Once you're off the sand, you'll see three paths. Unfortunately, the boulders are in the exact wrong spots to be pushed, so you have to go east. Go in the opening at the end. Now, you've reached an underground foundry. Talk to the cat with the pink bandanna and you'll receive the Report. You can explore the foundry if you wish, but you are not required. When you're finished, go back to Sixpack on the Bloodhook. He'll give you your first accessory: the Rank Insignia. I don't think it does anything other than allow you into the Gunboss, but equip it for now anyway. You do need to get in, after all. When ready, go directly to the Gunboss. Right as you enter, you'll see the three shops. As the Bloodhook is out of weapons, the Gunboss is out of items. You should definitely invest in a Pirate Scimitar (unless you were lucky and got a Skeleton to drop one) and Chain Mail. There's a tavern, an inn, and a room with some cats on this floor as well. In the tavern, go behind the counter and talk to the bartender; he'll ask you for some Spare Ribs. Go downstairs into the storeroom and get some from the box just south of one of the urns. If you bring them to him, he'll leave the room unlocked, and you can steal 2 Pirate Scimitars and a Pirate Axe, but nothing more. Personally, I'd hold on to the Spare Ribs for later, since you can get something very nice for them. When you're ready, go back downstairs. If you go down the next set, you'll be back in the foundry again. Go there and talk to Pinkhead again. Follow his suggestion by going back up and talk to the two cats outside of the ship. Well, I guess our next goal should be that bridge, then! You have two choices: you can walk back to the Bloodhook or you can use the Crystal to warp back. Just know that neither one matters right now because you want to get yourself to Level 6 first, anyway. You'll learn Warp Gate, which does the same thing as the Crystal, except it works in dungeons. Back at the Bloodhook, talk to Sixpack. Well, hotshot, you've got your own room now! If you'd like, you can talk to the weapon shop clerk, and he will request that you bring 10 weapons to him. If you do, he'll give you 100 gold and a Mana Perfume for your trouble; no big deal, but if you have a lot of extras, go for it. Go to the stairs and talk to the cats. Looks like you'll have to earn access by solving a puzzle. Just select a coin to flip it and all adjacent ones over. Don't read the next paragraph if you want to solve it on your own. Me? I live for this stuff! ******************************************************************************* Just select the four coins that originally have heads facing up. ******************************************************************************* On the next floor up, you'll find your room in the middle of two others. The one on the right is the captain's room. The western side of this floor has a room that you can't enter because there's a bunch of pissed off cats in front of it. After talking to them, go all the way east to grab a potion from the chest and enter your room. Talk to your roommate and he'll tell you that you can have what's in the pot and the drawers. There's a potion in the pot. I'm sure that you can figure out how to collect the items from the drawer. Just make sure to check twice, so that you get both the Stone Moon and the Torch. Check the bed anytime to sleep for free, but you still need to visit an inn to save your game, though you don't need to stay. Anyway, go up the easternmost staircase to find chests with and Antidote, a Torch, and an Empty Bottle. If you'd like, you can go up the stairs to reach the crow's nest, but there's just a cat up there. Back on the floor with your room, head up the stairs on the other side of your room to reach a room in which battle tactics are being discussed. There's a rather amusing book on combat at the very east. You can also go outside and even fire the cannons if you wish. Finally, go up the westernmost staircase. You can meet Captain Alonso and listen to the other cats discussing strategy. The most important thing is that you found the Stone Moon. Now you can go to the aforementioned bridge. When you're ready, just go south of the Bloodhook until you reach the fissure, then go east. When you see the bridge, enter it. There's a gate you can't pass, so go into the building. Check the table and Use the Stone Moon. The gate is now open, so pass through. Head a little west. Ignore the tall rock pillar with a Shrine on top for now, since RPG heroes aren't very good at climbing. Just work your way south until you see something unique to this world: a patch of green. Yes, in a world with more brown and grit than a modern first-person shooter, there is something of color. Enter it. At the first split in this cave, go north to find some plants. Examine them to acquire a Healing Seed. Go back down to the intersection and go east this time. At the next split, east is a dead end, but it has a Healing Seed, so go west to the next intersection after grabbing the Healing Seed if you wish. At this intersection, north leads to a dead end with 2 Healing Seeds. Grab them if you want and go west. At the end of the path, you'll find a Healing Sapling. Take it back to the Gunboss whichever way you'd like. Back at the Gunboss, talk to Buyer, the Item Shop clerk. Hey! Look at that! You can go behind the shop counter now and pick up an MP Seed and an Iron Helmet. You can also go upstairs, so do so. There's nothing of particular interest on this floor, but you can go outside and swab the deck. You get the deck brush for doing so. As far as what it does, your guess is as good as mine. Even the game says it doesn't look too useful. Anyway, you can go up the stairs and meet the captain of the Gunboss. Return to the Bloodhook when ready and talk to Sixpack. Well, what are you waiting for? Go downstairs and find that the stairs here are now available, so go down. Talk to the cat here and agree to help him. He'll give you the Portable Hook. If you screw up and can't fix it, use the Portable Hook to reset the puzzle. Don't read on if you want to solve the puzzle yourself. ******************************************************************************* This solution might seem a little funky, but just bear with me. The further north a rock is at the beginning of the puzzle, the lower the number is. For example, the northernmost rock is the one I call Rock 1. The southernmost is Rock 5. Since they're all at different latitudes, it shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, start by pushing Rock 1 one square to the west. Now push Rock 3 one square to the south. Now push Rock 1 all the way north and into the small chamber and to the northwest corner of that chamber. One down, four to go! Now, push Rock 3 south one more square and Rock 2 east two squares. Now push Rock 2 against the northern wall of that small chamber and push it up against Rock 1. Three left! There are a number of solutions at this point. Let's be anal-retentive and do the rocks in order! YAY! So, push Rock 5 south one square and push Rock 3 into the chamber and up against Rock 2. Now push Rock 4 into the chamber straight back against the wall. Push Rock 5 up alongside of the little alcove. Now, go into the alcove and push Rock 5 east one square. Now push it straight back against Rock 4, east two squares, and finally against the back wall. ******************************************************************************* Talk to the cat when you're done and he'll take the Portable Hook and give you 100G and an MP Seed. Not bad. You may want to level up to Level 8 before moving on, since things are about to get tricky. Go south when ready. Go into the other opening once you've talked to the cats and get ready for another dungeon... sort of. Follow the path and ignore the south opening for now and go into the north opening at the end of the tunnel. If you want to solve the Megic Wind puzzle on your own, don't scroll down. ******************************************************************************* Push the southern rock south one square. Now push the northern rock north two squares so that it's in the northwest corner. Now push the southern rock north two squares, then east as far as you can. Now push it all the way south. Just push it east one square and you can open the chests. ******************************************************************************* After you either give up or get your Flame Pot and Foundation Seed. Go back out and go through that south opening you passed by. At the split, you can go west to a well. Check it and drink from it to restore your HP. Be careful with things like that, though, because some of them are poisoned. I guess that's why you have Mother Kojiro to watch over you, eh? Anyway, go east at the previous intersection and you'll find an Ice Rock and an Antidote. Then, go south, cross the moving sands and you'll come to two openings. Go into the eastern one and save your game, so you can warp here. You CAN walk back across the moving sands (albeit very slowly), so you can heal up at the well if you need it. Now, go into the other opening and cross the moving sands. This well is poisoned, so don't drink from it or you will be, too. Go east past the well and into the opening. It asks you to walk around the walls one time, so do that. I go counterclockwise, but I don't think it matters. Just hug the walls and you can stop once you reach the entrance. You'll get an Intelligence Seed and a Torch. Go back out, take the western path, and keep going north until you hit a dead end with a chest. Inside the chest is a Shark's Tooth. Go back south. Then go to the east and through the southern opening at the end. Okay, heal up, hold your breath and jump into the moving sands. Engage the giant centipede with the limited vocabulary at the end. This is your first boss. ********* Sand Worm ********* This guy's a snap. If you listened to me and are at least at Level 8, all you have to really do is keep attacking and heal when you need it. He only has one attack, so strategy isn't really relevant. However, if you want to end this battle quickly, blast him with all of those attack items you're likely to still be lugging around. The ice-elemental ones seem to work better. After you fall into the hole, you have no choice but to go into the north opening, since boulders block the southern one. Inside, you'll see a weird object. Check it to get the Black Iron. Keep going north and head through the opening. Push the rock aside and go out the other opening. Yup, you're back in the first room again, so go west and exit. Now go back up and talk to Sixpack. Talk to him again to get your next mission. Well, you know where to go, don't you? Up to the next floor and into the westernmost room. Notice anything strange in here? You know, like a creepy, floating, disembodied heart!? Why don't the other cats see that!? Anyway, check it to take it with you. Now, leave this world by going west of the Bloodhook to the place where you entered this world. Check the pot on the right and put your hand in and you're back in the Shrine. Leave the room and go downstairs. In this room, there are four figurines on tables. If you examine the second one from the west, it says that it's a figurine of a cat wearing clothes. Hmmm... Well Use Bullminch's Heart to get Bullminch's Figurine. Yeah, it sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? Now, go back into the Sand World. Go back to the Bloodhook. Visit Bullminch if you want. When you're ready, talk to Sixpack to get your next mission. I guess it's back over to the Gunboss, eh? Talk to the cats out front to find out that there's some sort of crazy monster in the forge. Let's take it out! You'll find it at the lowest level. You may want to be at least Level 9 to fight it, but it's your call. ********* King Mole ********* This guy's an endurance match for sure. Nothing you do will deal a whole lot of damage to him, so just wear him down gradually. Overall, he's not too tough. He only has one attack, so just wail away and heal when you need to. Go back upstairs and talk to the cats once you've defeated the King Mole, then follow them back down and go out into the cave. Hey, I recognize th- HEY! The rocks are gone! Now we can go west at the intersection. Do so and enter the opening. Save to make this a warp spot and go out the next opening. Go south at the split for an Empty Bottle, back north and west at the intersection. Follow the winding path to the next split. It's your call which way to go. North is a shorter route, but you have to fight the moving sands. Anyway, go around to the east for a Potion, then back to the intersection. Keep going west until you see another opening and go into it. Go east to find a Rusted Sword and a Buckler. Whee... Go back to the intersection, then go south. East from this intersection is a Potion; west and south take you around to the same opening, which you should enter. Talk to the cats and go into the opening behind them. Once you're back out, talk to the cats again, then follow the one the wanders off to the west and go into the opening. Fight the moving sands and push the boulder at the end and now, either go east to the forge or north to get outside. In any case, go to the Bloodhook next. Since you don't know what to do next, talk to your buddy, Bragg. Remember the tower I told you to stay away from? Matoya lives there, but you already knew that if you checked the map back in that first room in this world. Outside the shop on the Bloodhook, they're selling new weapons and armor made of the Black Iron you brought back. They're pretty nice, so I recommend investing in some. Also, make sure you at least reach Level 12. Matoya's Lighthouse has some nasty foes and you'll be fighting quite a lot, since its laden with all sorts of nasty traps. In case you've forgotten, it's near the cave, northwest of the Gunboss. Go there when you're ready. Okay, the fountain will fully restore your HP & MP. Make sure to save here, so you can warp here. Before you go upstairs, take heed. There are two new enemies here that I think you should know about. Bloody Bones can cast Fire and love to do so, so watch your HP. They've got nothing on the Vampires, though. As you may have noticed, Grey Slimes can cast Heal. Well, so can the Vampires. Not only that, but they have rather high HP and Power. To make matters worse, they can cast Sleep. It's not that big of a deal, normally, but remember that you're alone, so if you're put to sleep for, say, three rounds, especially against an enemy with as much Power as a Vampire, you can get wiped out fairly suddenly. Just be careful and keep your HP up. Go upstairs once you're ready. Now, this floor has quite a few traps. Look right in front of the spikes. Do you see the two tiles that look different? Step on them and you'll fall right back down to the previous floor. So, go around them and walk over the spikes. Yes, you read that last line right. You'll take damage, but you really don't have much of a choice. Go around and talk to the door. It asks you to solve a puzzle to get in. Don't read on if you want to solve it yourself. ******************************************************************************* Remember the other coin puzzle? Well, now do the inverse. That is, select each coin that begins with the flag side up. Now, do it again. Alternatively, you could just select each one once. Simple, eh? ******************************************************************************* Inside, you'll find a Power Seed and a Thunder Scarab. Now go up the stairs. There's a switch here, if you work your way around the western side of the room. If you want to figure out the solution, go ahead and mess around with the levers. If you want a hint, the order is important. If you want the solution, flip the left one up, then the right one up. When you solve the puzzle, you can walk across to the chest, which contains a Topaz. Any item that you can sell for the same as you got it for is valuable, since you lose half of your money when you die, but none of your items. Now, go up the stairs. Push the left rock south one square and you can get anywhere you want. It looks like there should be a trap somewhere near the chest, but there isn't. Inside it is a Magic Bottle. Go up either staircase, it doesn't matter. Up here, there are two fountains. This is where it tries to trick you. The left one seems like the one to drink, but it will poison you. Go with the one on the right. Yeah, the one with the musky smell. I have what is known as anosmia, which means that I was born with no sense of smell, so I don't know what a musky smell is, but it doesn't sound very nice. Anyway, go up the stairs, since those chests are currently inaccessible. Now, walk south until you are at the northernmost edge of the eastern hole. You should be on a one- square wide path. Walk off to the west to drop to the chests on the previous floor to get an Antidote, a Magic Bottle, a Speed Seed, and a Thunder Scarab. Now, jump off next to the rock, unless you want to return to the first floor. Get back up to the room where you were and walk over to the switch. You can just walk over the spikes or you can try to solve the puzzle. If you want a hint, check all of your options. If you want the solution, select the invisible option to find a hidden lever. When you solve the puzzle, there will be a path through the spikes. Go upstairs and carefully move around the pit. Those arrow tiles will move you in the direction in which they're pointing. You'll also find two pitfalls in the southwest corner of the room. Drop through the southernmost one to land on the previous floor and get an HP Seed. Now, jump off by the rock and work your way back up and climb the stairs to the top floor. Talk to Matoya, but don't be hasty/stupid. Look at the floor in front of her. It's a trap, so talk to her from the side or rear. No you have to pick up all of the Crumpled Clothing (which can be a bit difficult because the hit detection's a bit funky), walk over to the box closest to Matoya's bed, check it, open it, and Use each of the Crumpled Clothing items, then close the box and talk to her again. Now go over to her cabinet, open the drawer to get Matoya's Glasses, close the drawer, and talk to her again. Now, we need to find 5 ingredients: A Chess Piece A Healing Sapling An Onion A Mouse Tail A bottle of Fire Scotch (Yeah, that's totally for the potion, not for her) Well, let's get to it. First up is the Fire Scotch. The only bar I can think of is on the Gunboss, which just so happens to be nearby. Let's go! You can take the pit in front of Matoya as a shortcut, but be warned. She doesn't realize that you're doing it for that reason and will insult you. The bar on the Gunboss is right inside, in the westernmost room. Check the shelf behind the bartender to get some. Now go back to the Bloodhook. Go down to the brig. Talk to the chess-playing cat on the north side of the table to get the Chess Piece. Go over and talk to Bragg in the jail cell. Your old buddy will give you a Mouse Tail. Now, go upstairs twice to get back to the galley (kitchen). Inside, you can get to one of the boxes. Check it for an onion. Now, go south across the bridge and into the cave in which you found the Healing Sapling. Go through the cave again, which should be easy, now that all of the monsters are gone. Talk to the first cat you see to get a Healing Sapling. You can talk to all of the others if you wish. When you're ready, get back to Matoya and talk to her. BITCH! Well, climb back up and talk to her again. Too bad there's no Stab option. I'd like to carve her up like a Thanksgiving turkey. That said, this game was made by Enix, Square's biggest rival. Matoya was an important NPC in the first Final Fantasy, so consider this a stab at Square. Anyway, take Matoya's Medicine and leave the tower. Before you assault the King Mole, make sure to do two things. One is to reach Level 13, especially if you're Remeer. Morehealth is vital. The other is to go back to where you got the Black Iron and get more. If you don't get it now, you'll have to live without it. When you're ready, go back to where you chased the King Mole last time. That's through the cave near Matoya's Lighthouse, in case you forgot. Use Matoya's Medicine and see what happens. ********* King Mole ********* He should be a total pushover now that you've leveled up, right? WRONG! He's tougher this time. Now he can also cast Heal and Earthquake. Luckily, Earthquake misses pretty often. However, he likes to spam Heal sometimes, which can become irritating. You'll probably be hitting him from 28-46 damage, but Heal recovers 50 HP. That said, he doesn't hit very hard, so you might even be able to beat him without healing. Just wail away and heal when you need to and you should be fine. When everything's settled, go down to the brig on the Bloodhook, and get those two chests in the cell. There's a Potion and a Speed Bottle. Now, go out to the deck and talk to Bragg. He'll let you use a life boat to explore the world. There are new enemies on the world map now, but nothing terribly frightening. You can go to the Gunboss and enter the Captain's room, too. Inside, you'll find a Speed Bottle and an Ice Claw. Also, check his bookshelf and read the book. It's a hint as to what's ahead of you. When you're done, sail to the south to where that tall rock pillar was. Now, it's underwater, so you can enter the Shrine on it. Go in and get ready for your next dungeon. Go downstairs. You can drink from the spring near the beginning of the path to restore your HP and MP completely. Go northwest at the first split and down the stairs. At the split, go west and down the stairs. The path in here is fairly linear. Just work your way down to the deepest level and go down the stairs to the next floor. Luckily, there are no monsters down here, so just follow the path to the monolith and read it. Now, follow its instrutions: 8 to the B 7 to the Y 6 to the X 5 to the A 1 to the B 2 to the Y 3 to the X 4 to the A If you're stumped, go grab a Super Nintendo/Super Famicom controller. If you don't have one, north, south, east, and west are X, B, A, and Y respectively. Keep in mind that it refers to the number of squares it wants you to walk. When you're finished, talk to the monolith to receive your first Ark! Now, the treasure chests are unlocked as well, so open them for a Black Bastard (sword), a Magic Mirror, a Speed Seed, and Mana Perfume. Now, go back to the Gunboss and repeatedly talk to the sleeping cat in the room next to the captain's. How many cats have you seen? 96. You'll get Mana Musk for reading this guide, since who the HELL wants to count 96 cats!? When you're ready, leave this world and go back to the Shrine. First, though, a word about Arks. Arks are sources of power and can be used for a wide variety of things. You can imbue them in things that you're examining to solve puzzles or into items. These are also how you gain party members. The Ark of Power can be used in one of six figurines to make that person come to life. However, if you return to the Shrine or that person dies in battle, the Ark leaves that person. Also, if said person dies, you have to go all the way back to the Shrine to get the figurine again! Characters gain experience when you have their figurine in your possession. They gain more experience if they are active members of your however, so choose wisely! Now, back to the Shrine. Alright. Now, we're back in the Shrine. Look back up to the list of strange objects we've found. You can probably figure out what's up with each of the figurines, what to do with them, and roughly what they're used for. You're right about all but 6 of them. Talk to the Goddess Statue first. Now you know the relevance of the 6 figurines in the room in which you began the game. Go and retrieve them. Examine each one, then take it. Now, you can move on, if you wish, but I usually take them into the Sand World and build them up a bit. Whichever you wish to build most, go into your Ark menu and imbue the appropriate figurine with the Ark of Power. That person is your party member until s/he dies or you return to the Shrine. You cannot have active party members in the Shrine. At any rate, your characters are poorly equipped. Even if you don't want to grind with them, you may want to at least buy them better equipment. You're probably rolling in dough, anyway. At least I've never had a problem with money in this game. When you're good and ready, head back to the Shrine and talk to the fireplace. I know it's hard to make sense of what it just said, but it mentioned a steel door, right? Well, we have to figure out how to open it. Leave the temple and head west to the windmill. Inside the windmill, there's a large metal switch; check it. Try as you might, you can't Push it. Wait! Now you have the power! The Ark of Power, that is. Use the Ark of Power and you'll see its trademark magenta flash. Check the switch again to find that you can indeed Push it, so do so. Go back into the temple, go into the western door and enter the steel door, which should now be open. You can check the boxes for figurines of grape and pineapple seeds. Not that that's weird or anything. You can also check the cabinet, but it won't open, even with the Ark of Power. Check the squash (pumpkin) instead. Look closely at it to get sucked inside. If you're counting, here are the mysteries that still remain: Inside (first room, fireplace room, western room, upstairs) ------ A door inside of a crystal pillar A blank canvas A figurine of a scholar/scientist A figurine of a little girl A figurine of a young countryman A glass jar A pencil A grandfather clock A figurine of a playground Outside (clockwise, beginning at the temple door.) ------- A cave, containing a locked door and a fountain with a trough A windmill, containing a switch and a music box A sword in the sand (currently inaccessible) A locked house with a lantern outside of it A figurine of a hatchling bird (behind the temple) A strange tree that gives a prompt (northernmost tree behind the temple) Welcome to the Plant World. I'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to my favorite Flash game on the Internet. It's called Plant World. You play as a pumpkin with a pair of uzis that you solve puzzles with. Omar el Sawi, if you're reading this, I absolutely love your work! B. Plant World ============== When you regain control, you're inside of a giant watermelon. A giant watermelon with some serious problems. Check the crystal ball to return to the Shrine at any time. At this point, I'm going to let you go a little bit. Now that you're a little more acclimated to the game and its systems, I'm no longer going to do things like make purchase suggestions, remind you to activate your party members, remind you to save at every statue and inn to activate them as warp points, etc. Don't worry, I'll still give level suggestions where I think they're important, tell you where all treasures are, and warn you about any tough monsters. If you have any difficulty with weapons and such, just refer to the appropriate sections of this guide. It's all here! Now, on with the adventure. Talk to the elder, who has some of the most annoying verbal tics I've ever encountered in a video game. That aside, if you speak with the guard, he will now allow you to leave the town. Do so. There's nothing of interest to the west, so go east and travel through the mountain path. When you get to the other side of the mountains, head north to the dry riverbank and head east until you see the Gourd Bridge. It looks like a giant zucchini. Enter it and explore. If you are diligent, you'll find two things out about the townspeople: they're assholes to you and they bark. I can't help but think of the classic episode of The Simpsons in which Ralph Wiggum just randomly starts running in circles and barking. Well, once you're done talking to the village of Wugglepuppies, look around for something suspicious... well... other than barking townspeople who don't seem to want your business. You'll notice that there's a canine statue that you can examine. More on that later. In the northwestern corner, you see a giant leaf doing a piss poor job of covering a staircase. You can Move it aside if you wish, but other than humor for the warped minds out there, it does nothing. You know what to do: Burn it! Go downstairs. There are townspeople being a jail door. Examine it and use the Ark of Power to bust it down. Talk to everyone in the cell and you'll get the Fried Tofu. Go back to the canine statue and examine it. Use the Fried Tofu and see what happens. Now go down the new staircase. Heal up and check the treasure chest. *** Fox *** BWOAUHHHH!!! That thing's creepy! I heavily recommend using someone strong. You probably won't need to heal, since this guy's pretty easy. His regular attack it isn't terribly strong, though his Lightning spell is pretty dangerous; when it actually hits, that is. Just stay healed up and you shouldn't have to hard a time. Just remember that you can leave at any time and go back to Watermelon Town to rest up at the inn. Go downstairs and open the chest. Yup, it's another Fox. It's the same battle as last time, so just blast through him. Go downstairs, open the box. You know the drill. Go down the stairs, follow the path, and talk to the fox to fight him. Continue down the path until you reach another fox. Talk to him for another fight. Follow the path and talk to the next fox for yet ANOTHER fight. Continue down the path until you see a silver fox. The other foxes have been cake, but you should definitely heal up before this guy because he is a BASTARD. Talk to him when you're ready. ********* Metal Fox ********* He can easily destroy you if you aren't prepared. Make sure that you and your partner's levels are at least 15 and 7 respectively or you probably won't be dealing all that much damage. He can cast Lightning just like the Foxes. He can also cast Morehealth, which probably heals more HP than you can do damage in a single round, so hope he doesn't spam it. It might not be such a bad thing if this is a long battle because the music is just awesome! It's called "Hey, Don't Attack Me!" Anyway, make sure you stay healed up and just wail away on him relentlessly. If he messes up and forgets to heal, POUND HIM! You may want to bring Meisia in, since she is an excellent healer. Personally, I use Reeshine, since you probably won't heal EVERY round, she can take a hell of a punishment, and, between the two of you, you'll be dealing a lot of damage each round, which helps to counteract his healing. Just keep it up and he'll go down eventually. He reminds me a bit of 7th Saga because the harder palette swap of a particularly difficult recurring enemy named Pison became Metal Pison. Oh COME ON! Like you thought this would be the last you'd see of this guy. Go back up the stairs into the town. You can now exchange money for goods and services. Make sure to talk to the item shop clerk. He will give you the Grape Heart and Pineapple Heart. You know what we do with hearts, right? When you're ready, go back to the Shrine. First, though, you might want to talk to the guy in the inn who gives you an apple puzzle. I HATE slide puzzles. What's worse is that it's different every single time, so I can't even give you a solution. Sorry. For solving the puzzle, you get the Nasty Bludgeon, a nice weapon. It's worth it, in my opinion. When you're ready, go back to the Shrine. Examine the boxes to determine which seed is in the box and Use the appropriate heart to acquire the Grapeseed and Pineapple Seed. Go back into the Plant World. Talk to the elder. Now, go back to the Gourd Bridge and go out the northern exit this time. Beware! Out here, you may encounter an enemy known as a Mammoth. I've never been able to turn one into a figurine, so I don't think it's possible. They're a test of endurance. They have extremely high defense and an obscene amount of HP. They can attack, which usually misses and can cast Earthquake, which sometimes misses. They don't have that many MP, so they will probably run out before you kill them. Luckily, they're so large that you'll only ever fight one at a time. Anyway, head west along the dry riverbed until you see a discolored patch of soil. Enter it and plant the Pineapple Seed. Continue west until you find another. Plant the Grapeseed and head back to Watermelon Town. Talk to the elder and head west and south to reach the forest and enter it. Follow the linear path until it splits. At the split, go north. At the next split, go west for a topaz, then go east and up the stairs. At the first split, south takes you down a path with a hole in it. Go west and flip the switch, then go south to find that the hole is gone. At the next split, go south. At the next split, you can see that north is about 4 squares into a dead end, so go west and at this split, go north for a Cross Helmet. Go back south past the previous intersection and go west at the next and up the stairs. At the first split, go east to find 3 switches. Flip the middle one, then the one on the right. That will fill the hole in the southern path, so take it. Go west at the next split and flip the first switch you see to create a chest with a Banana Nunchaku inside. You thought Reeshine was powerful before? Try this bad boy out with her! Anyway, continue to the end and flip the switch to fill the hole, then go east at the previous intersection. Along the path, make sure to flip both switches and the one to the north at the next split. Now, go back to the two switches and flip the right one again and flip the one south at the intersection. After flipping all 4 switches, go east at said intersection and up the stairs. Now go down the northern staircase. Follow the path to its end and jump into the hole. Carefully grab the chest for Herbs and jump in the next hole. The door is locked, so go north. The chests are locked, so talk to the giant beetle. ****** Beetle ****** All he really does is attack and it deals very little damage. He takes a little while to bring down because his HP is high, but you shouldn't have much trouble. Just pound him relentlessly. BASTARD! Well, go back to Watermelon Town and talk to the elder. Tee hee! He only has one frame of animation. Anyway, head out to the fledgling Pineapple Town. Talk to the elder, check on the Grapeseed then head northwest to the Crow's Forest. Inside, you'll meet another enemy unable to be turned into a figurine: Death Flower. It's a nasty creature with high HP and it can poison or petrify you. Hit it hard to take it out fast! When you first enter, you'll see that the path splits. It doesn't matter, because you're just going around a group of trees, so go east however you wish. Continue until you reach what seems like a dead end. There's actually a hidden path here, so walk through it. Get used to spotting them because there are quite a few in most forests. In fact there's one that goes north right after this one. Don't go through it, though, since it's a dead end. Go east and through a different passage. Now, stay on the eastern end and at the northeast corner of this clearing, go east into a secret passage, then north, west and a bit north to come out and get a Meteor Bottle. Go back through the long passage and head west through another passage. Now go west through yet another passage. Head north and at the split, go all the way north, then east through a passage, then north into the trees to reach the next screen. Head west at the first split, then west again and talk to the crow. Now follow it and check the tree it's in. Talk to the tree (I know it's weird), then shake the tree to get the Hatchling Heart. Go back to the Shrine, exit the temple, go around to the back, check the bird, then Use the Hatchling Heart to get the Hatchling. Now, go back into the Plant World and check that tree again. Well, at least you can climb to the top and get your Grapeseed back. Leave the forest, then talk to the elder in Pineapple Town. He'll plant your seed for you and give you your next quest. Head west to the mountain with a cave in it. Follow the path and go north when it splits and go down the stairs. In the southeast corner to get Banded Mail. If you fall into a hole, this is where you'll end up, by the way. So, go back south to the split and go west this time. Now, this is one of two parts in the game that really pisses me off. Boulders come rolling down at you and they're really difficult to dodge. If you get hit, they'll knock you into a hole. Duck into alcoves to avoid them, but it's really difficult, especially with a SNES controller. At the first set of boulders, go north at your first opportunity. At the next one, go up north and slip down the west passage. Now, at the third one, your goal is to go south, as opposed to against the boulders, and slip into the western passage to reach the next screen. Go north and downstairs, then to the southwest corner to grab Herbs. Now, at the first boulder set here, go north and slip to the west. This is where it gets frustrating because the boulders have no apparent pattern. At least, not one that I could determine. Now, go south and slip west again to reach the next screen. Follow the path and go upstairs and talk to both guys. You'll get the Pot. Check the river and Use the Pot to get Cold Water. Now, go back to Watermelon Town. Ride the boulders if you want, I don't care. When you get back, give the Cold Water to any of the Couch Potatoes. They'll all get the water somehow, so you don't have to choose the right one or feel bad that the others have to die of thirst or anything like that. Guess what you get to do now. That's right, you have to get to the river through those damn boulders all over again. When you get there, talk to everyone and return to Pineapple Town. Now it's full-sized and has all of its shops. Talk to the elder and go to Grape Town. There's really nothing of interest except a beetle in the very back, so go talk to him. ****** Beetle ****** All he does is attack and cast Fire Storm, neither of which poses a great threat. Just pound him into submission and get on with your life. Open the chest for the Beetle Key. Now, return to Pineapple Town and talk to the elder. Oh boy, Junk. Talk to him again to hear about the Big Tree. That's your next destination. Leave and head directly north until you reach the mountain, then hug the eastern side until you see a big tree. That's the Big Tree, so enter. Go up to the door, check it, and Use the Beetle Key. At the first split, head east for a Thunder Scarab, then go back west and go upstairs at the end of the path. At the first branch, head south for Herbs, then go west at the previous intersection. Next, take the western path that goes around south and go upstairs at the end. Up here, go west out of the central room and climb the vine for an Iron Club. Now, head to the southeast corner of the path and climb that for an Ivory Cameo. Now go back down and head to the northeast corner and climb the vine to progress. On this floor, go through the central room (it's quicker) and down the western path, then climb the vine. At the first split, go south and climb the vine for an Intelligence Seed, then climb back down and go north at the previous intersection. Go all the way north and climb the vine. Go south at the intersection for a Longbow. Now go back all the way north and climb down the vine there. Follow the path to its end and climb the vine or take the south split 2 steps to see what's ahead of you. Follow this next path to its end and climb down the vine. Now, head up into the big chamber, heal up and talk to the big green beetle. *********** King Beetle *********** His Power is fairly low as is his Guard. He casts Red Burn, but the damage isn't outstanding, nor is the accuracy. His magic defense is fairly high, though, so Miriene is a poor choice here. He has Morehealth, but if your levels are okay, which they should be if you leveled up back in Sand World and don't run from battles, the combined strength of you and your partner should be more than enough to overturn it. He should go down without much of a fight. *** Sly *** This guy again! Well, now you finally get to take out that annoying elder. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty happy about that. Anyway, this guy's not much stronger than the last time, but you are! The only problem is that you didn't get to heal after the King Beetle, but you're probably in okay shape, anyway. Just do what you did last time and you'll probably crush him before he even has a chance to heal. When you've won, stop to ponder the ominous last words of Sly and get the Ark of Light. The Ark of Light cannot be used to bring party members to life, but it can be infused into weapons to make them strike with lightning every time you attack. It only seems to work on sharp weapons, however, such as a sword, katana, knife, axe, bow, or boomerang. By the way, it works with techniques, too, so just picture it with Illusion Strike or Flurry. Anyway, feel free to experiment with it. When you're ready, head back to Pineapple Town. Talk to the guy in the elder's room to get a Steel Sword. Now, go return to the Shrine. Talk to the Goddess Statue, then the Fireplace. Next, go to where you found the Hatchling. Find the northernmost tree and check it. When given the prompt, Use the Ark of Light. Check the tree again and go into the game room. The guy on the left is the panel game. You flip panels until you get a devil. Whatever the total is when you get that devil is your score, which determines your prize. The prizes are as follows: 0- 9 Spare Mast 10- 19 Speed Bottle 20- 29 Abstruse Book 30- 39 Topaz 40- 49 Potion 50- 59 Antidote 60- 69 Death Symbol 70- 79 Tempest Bell 80- 89 Magic Mirror 90- 99 Mana Perfume 100-109 Special Herb 110-119 Ruby 120 Mana Spray Nothing really of interest, but not bad for 200G. The other game is called Nervous Breakdown, but it's just matching. The pairs you get determines your prize. Now, if you match a pair of 1s, that's prize, a pair of 2s is another, etc. Here are the prizes for this game: 1 - Firecracker 2 - Empty Bottle 3 - Power Bottle 4 - Mana Musk 5 - Herb Soup 6 - Cross 7 - Earthquake Bell 8 - Ice Claw Now, go to the cave on the beach outside. This sounds weird, but bear with me. Check the fountain and Use the Ark of Light on it. Now the door is unlocked, so go through it. Now, you can finally reach that sword, but you can't equip it. Just check it and Use the Power Ark on it. Check it again and touch the sword. You have now entered the Arena. For more details, see the Arena section. Once you're finished there, go back out and head into the windmill. Go upstairs and check the music box. Use the Ark of Light and check it again. Now, Wind the handle and Touch it to enter the Children's World. Also, here are the unsolved mysteries: Inside (first room, fireplace room, western room, upstairs) ------ A door inside of a crystal pillar A blank canvas A figurine of a scholar/scientist A figurine of a little girl A figurine of a young countryman A glass jar A pencil A grandfather clock A figurine of a playground Outside (clockwise, beginning at the temple door.) ------- A locked house with a lantern outside of it C. Children's World =================== At any time, you can check the crate to go back to the Shrine. Check the bookcases and Examine them to find that they're missing books. The barred door is also locked, so go through the wooden door. In this room, you can check the plaque on the back wall to learn about the synthesis urn, which is in this room. It's the one tucked into the little alcove. When you check it, it will give you a close view of the urn and you can put items into it. Since you don't have the ingredients mentioned on the plaque, you might as well ignore it for now and go upstairs. Go down the nearby stairs for a Plasma Bottle and a Save Point, then go back up. You can check the drawer to find clock parts inside of it, but it's not useful at this moment. However, if you check the clock next to it, you'll find the Clock Book. Check the plant in the northeastern corner. Make sure to get both the Plants Book and the Benjamin Leaf. Go upstairs and check the easternmost bookcase to get a Cedar Staff. Go back downstairs and exit the house. Check the well to get the Underground Book. Go south to the wall and the children will notice you. Now enter the other house. You'll find 200G in the treasure chest. Go upstairs and grab the Moon Book on the table. It lacks the ironic placement of the others, but you need it just the same. Anyway, return to where you entered this world and check the bookshelf on the left. Use both the Clock Book and the Moon Book. If you'd like, you can try a wrong book, but the game won't let you screw it up. Now, put the Plants Book and the Underground Book onto the bookshelf on the right. Now, go through the bars and up the stairs. Exit the house. There are a great deal of houses here. The one west of your starting point is "badly stuck" and cannot be opened as of yet. In the house in the southwest, you can read the Dreadfully Boring Book, which acts like an inn, due to its soporific effects. There are two other houses toward the east, but they're only FILLED with reminders that you are, in fact, in the Children's World. Talk to the girl who lost her hat. Agree to help her get her hat back. Check the tree. You can get the hat down in one of two ways. You can continually climb until you make it, or you can dislodge it using the Deck Brush. No, really. Talk to her again and you get to play hide and seek. Whoopee. Well, let's get started: Apricot - Behind the trees. You can see her without moving. Ray - Right across the bridge in the left house. He's behind the bookcase. Catavanch - Hiding with Ray. Vince - In the jar outside of the house where you find Ray and Catavanch. Cynthia - Go straight west from Vince and check behind the house. Enna - Sleeping in the room with the Dreadfully Boring Book. Now, go back to the cedar tree. Vince and Ray will hide if you talk to them again. Talk to Enna and everyone will take a nap. Talk to Apricot and everyone will go play in the room with all of the toys, then go take a nap. If you just want to move on, talk to Cynthia. Now the "badly stuck" door will be "goodly open", so go through the house and out the other side, then exit to the world map. You get a chance to enjoy the beautiful blue countryside, since there are no enemy encounters. Before going any further, I highly recommend that you return to the Plant World and go to Grape Town. You can talk to the weapon shop upstairs for a laugh, but the real treasure is with the armor shop downstairs. You have to solve a slide puzzle. You get the Mandarin Shell for your trouble, which is definitely worth it. Check the armor section if you don't believe me. At any rate, return to the Children's World and head south, then west when you can to enter the mansion. You can explore if you like, but all you'll find is a mountain and a forest, neither of which you can get very far into just yet. Hmmm... there's a missing playground and a creepy disembodied heart... Well, the little girl won't give it to you, so I guess everyone has to suffer for now. Just enter the mansion and get ready for a long exploration session. In this first room, there's a board that tells you what day it is and what day tomorrow will be. Check both sides to find out. This sounds really pointless, but it will become quite relevant. Go up the western stairs. The doors leading south all lead to balconies. The other doors lead to rooms. The door on the right leads to a room full of toys. Check the fireplace for a Monster Seed. The middle door leads to a room where you can sleep. The narcoleptic Enna can also be found here. The door on the left is locked. Sorry, the Deck Brush can't pry it open. Now, go back downstairs and up the eastern stairs. There's a similar situation here, with three more balconies. The door on the left leads nowhere special, though the cabinet in here has an Empty Bottle if you don't have any. The door on the right is the library, so enter. The book in the upper-left-hand corner will save your game. The one next to it will heal you fully. The next wide one is a book of puzzles. If you want the solution, it's simple. Select the center coin and each corner to flip them all. You get a Mana Perfume for your trouble. I had tons at this point from fighting Vampires back in the first world, but maybe you need one. The right side of the same bookshelf wants you to bring it a Sapphire and says that there's one hidden somewhere in the mansion. More on that later on. The other two wide ones in this row are useful, but you don't have candies yet, so you can't use them. In the next row, the right side of the first wide bookshelf is the Happy Book. Negate Damage Floors is a waste of money. It's only 90G and you get the Griffon Boots, which allow you to walk over damage floors. The problem is, the only damage floors I've found are in Matoya's Lighthouse. Yes, the one that you can't get any lower than the top floor in because the whole thing is flooded. They DO work, however. Level Up is a cruel joke and a waste of 400G, since it doesn't actually level you. Raise Max MP will give you an MP Seed, but only if you don't have one. Never Get Poisoned is a bad idea, since it fills everyone's blank inventory spaces with Antidotes. You will NEVER need that many Antidotes, especially at that price! The shelf at the end of this row is another book of puzzles. They're all knight puzzles and will each give you a different prize for solving them. The solutions are at the end of this paragraph. The first two aren't too bad, but the third one just sucks and the prize is worthless, but I love you guys, so I've destroyed my brain a second time to bring you a solution. Anyway, the lower left bookshelf tells you secrets and the other two in that row have to be unlocked with candies. Go back downstairs when you're ready. ******************************************************************************* Knight 1 Knight 2 Knight 3 ----------- ----------- ----------- |XX| 1| 4|XX| |XX| | | | |11| 8| 1| 4| |-----------| |-----------| |-----------| | 5| 8|11| 2| | | |XX| | | 2| 5|12| 9| |-----------| |-----------| |-----------| |10| 3| K| 7| | | 1| |XX| | 7|10| 3| K| |-----------| |-----------| |-----------| |XX| 6| 9|12| |XX|XX| | K| |XX|13| 6|XX| ----------- ----------- ----------- Power Bottle Magic Mirror Spare Mast ******************************************************************************* Check the fireplace in the main room for a Sapphire. Take it back to Puzzle Book #3 for the Silent Shackles and return to this room. Now, go through the doorway and through the next hallway. Speak with Cecille twice. Check all of the doors, but she won't let you in. Go back to the hallway and keep talking to the kids until Neen lets you through. Now, go outside and talk to the girl with the heart. She'll give it to you for 5 candies. Keep that in mind. Talk to everyone outside and go back into the mansion. The main room should be devoid of children. This world is another one of those weird Enix scenarios, where you might not be able to advance the plot because you forgot to talk to a cat somewhere or something, so make sure to talk to everyone if you can't advance. Yes, I did literally have that problem in Dragon Warrior 7: I couldn't move on because I forgot to talk to a cat. Now, go to the western side of the upper floor and go to bed. Please disregard all Michael Jackson jokes here (I really don't think he was a child molester, anyway) and get ready for Sweets Mountain! Go outside and talk to the children. Go back inside to the kitchen and talk to Ben. He'll run out of the room. Now, leave Kidsdam. Go south and hug the coastline to the east until you see what looks like a pile of dirt/warped beehive/brown clamshell/smushed cinnamon bun. That is Sweets Mountain, so enter. Talk to the kids until they drag Neen back to Kidsdam. F. Now, you have to follow them back, so do so. Talk to them all in the bedroom to find out that more kids are heading there. Mother F. Check the middle part of the bulletin board to find the password to Sweets Mountain or be forced to shout more harsh letters. Now, go back to Sweets Mountain again. If you weren't paying attention or couldn't find the password, the first answer is Pink and the second answer is Stompas (Stomp-ass?). Go into the next area to find Ben. Talk to him, then head in, assuming you have at least one Empty Bottle. Two would be better. Finally some action! There are monsters here. Hopefully, you remember how to fight. If you don't, that's okay; you'll have the rockin' tune "I am a Powerful Ally" to get your blood pumping. Anyway, follow the path to the first cave. Go inside to solve a puzzle. You have to make a horizontal line of cakes positioned so that none can be moved. The solution is below. ******************************************************************************* This is simple. Just push them all down against the southern wall, then slide them against either another cake or the western/eastern cave wall. If you don't get the prize, make sure that the cakes are as far south as they can be. ******************************************************************************* Talk to the fourth tablet from the left to receive a choice. Toy gives you a Tin arm, Clothes gives you a Cotton Robe, Hat gives you a Triangle Hat, and Cookie gives you an Herb Cookie. Herb Cookie aside, they're all good choices. If you use Lux, take the Tin Arm. If you like Miriene or Meisia, take the Triangle Hat. If you don't use any of them, just pick whatever. Talk to the chocolate tablet again to remove the cakes, then leave the cave and continue on the path. You'll find a chest with Grand Mail inside right before the cave you should enter. In here, you can go west to a cup of cocoa. You can drink from it or put it in a bottle, but it restores less HP than the honey from the Sand World. Go east instead and continue on the path outside. Along the way, you'll find a Cross, a Tempest Bell, and a Shoulder Pad. Enter the cave. There are strange tiles here. If you walk onto them, you will slide in that direction until you either hit a spinner, which changes your direction or you touch regular ground. Go directly north from the entrance and slide. If you go east from here, the chocolate tablet will tell you it wants Milk Tea. Since you don't have any, go west from the tablet on the square two north of the two spinners that you can see. From here, go south across the one square and out. Take the Empty Bottle and go into the next cave. Slide down for a Boomerang, then slide back out and go to the two cups. Check the left one and Use an Empty Bottle to get a Bottle of Tea. Now, check the right one and Use the Bottle of Tea to get a Bottle of Milk Tea. Now, get back to the chocolate tablet and give it the Bottle of Milk Tea by talking to it and go into the opening. There are four paths in here. Take the northeast path and enter the opening. Solve this cake puzzle and talk to the chocolate tablet. ******************************************************************************* Push the cake one square south, then go into the alcove to push it all the way east, then all the way south. Make sure it is against the entrance and the eastern wall. ******************************************************************************* You'll be warped to the southeast corner. Check the chocolate tablet and answer the question. The answer should be fairly obvious. In the case that it isn't, it's Topaz. Slide north and go back to the center of the room. Now, head to the northwest corner by taking the northwest path. Enter the room for another cake puzzle. You have to block the entrance again. ******************************************************************************* Push the middle cake north 3 squares, then push all of the cakes as far south as you can. ******************************************************************************* Talk to the chocolate tablet. Now you're in the southwest corner. Check the tablet and answer the question. In case you don't know how to read an analog clock or just don't feel like figuring it out, the answer is 2:05. Now, go back to the center and go straight north into the opening that appears once you check the chocolate tablet again. In this room, you can only open one treasure chest per level. It doesn't matter, though because you'll get an Intelligence Seed, Frost Beads, and a Magic Mirror no matter which you choose. Enter the opening at the top. Now, check the giant pile of candy to put candies in your bottle. You can put 63 candies in and can only fill one bottle. Talk to the kids when you're ready to leave. You'll be back at Kidsdam. You can't take the heart; that would be dishonest. Go to the library. Pay 4 candies to open the Blacksmith's Book, which is your weapon shop. Now, pay 4 candies to open the Stonemason's Book, which is your armor shop. You can pay 2 candies to open the Journey Book, which will charge you to teleport you to various locations in this world. I think it's useless, but you have more candies than you know what to do with, so it's your choice. You can also pay 2 candies to open Trader Jack's Book, which is an item shop. When you're ready, go up to the bedroom and talk to Enna (who's awake for once) and go to sleep. Talk to Neen and go back downstairs. Go to the library and talk to Totechitote, the black-haired boy. He'll give you a Tempest Bell for 2 Candies, if you'd like. Now, go outside and trade 5 candies for the Plaza Heart. Now, return to the Shrine and go to the room with the ship, where you enter the Sand World. Check the shelf and Use the Plaza Heart to get the Plaza Figurine. Now, go back to the Children's World and go to Kidsdam. Go back inside the mansion and check the center of the board for a weird message. You know, I could go for a sandwich and a bag of paint chips myself... At any rate, go into the kitchen on the second floor. Talk to all of the kids to see how freakin' stupid they are. Well, it looks like you know your next destination. Mission objective: save stupid kids. Since you can't stop them, go talk to Cecille. AAAAAAA! What was that!? Anyway, go up to the bedroom and go to sleep. That's great, but Enna needs you to round up the kids. Talk to all of them. There are 5 outside and 3 in the kitchen. Now, you can go to bed. Go around and talk to all of the kids. Go outside and three kids will leave. Go back inside and go to the library. Check the book against the wall in the middle row. Now, go to the other side of the second floor to see a kid take off. Go back to the library and talk to the girl with the hood. Go to the bedroom and talk to Totechitote. Go back to the toy room and talk to Apricot, then talk to Cynthia. Go to the northeast corner, face south, and check the box to find the Scrap of Paper. Remember what it says. Now, leave Kidsdam and head east until you hit water. Then, go north into the big trees. Now, follow the kid north, then east on the screen with the well. Now, go south, then north. Check the stone totem twice. Go to Blind Alley and head to the house with the boring book. Once the kids leave, go back to Kidsdam and check the fireplace in Cecille's room for the answer to the weird riddle. Now go back to the stone totem in the forest. Talk to it again and tell it "Pimento Pilaf". I guess that's because green paint tastes like pimentos, but what's with the paper airplane? Anyway, you're now in Soda Hole. Go south from here to go back to the forest, if you wish. Otherwise, truck on north into the opening on the other side of the waterfall. Damn! Now, you can't use your Crystal. Encounters will seem random, since you can't see the enemies. Go east and follow the path for an Herb Cookie. Now, go back and north until you reach a split. Go up the stairs to get another Herb Cookie, then go down the stairs that seem to go underwater. Get the Foundation Seed here, then go into the difficult-to-see opening just to the right of the staircase. You can only open one chest, so make it count. The left one contains a Speed Bottle, the right one contains a Mana Spray, and the middle contains the Sansetsukon. The Sansetsukon cannot be found anywhere else, so you may want it, but if you got a Firefly figurine and traded it for a Cutter, it's pretty much worthless. Just don't try to open another one. Not only do you not get the treasure, your HP drops to 1, your MP drops to 0, and you're poisoned. If you don't have items, you WILL die, so maintain your integrity. When you're ready, go north and through the opening. Go east, then south through the opening. Go through the other opening and grab the Heavy Blow (probably supposed to be Heavy Bow). Now, go all the way back to the split. Go north and continue on past both openings to find an Empty Bottle, then go through the eastern opening I told you to ignore. Go north through the opening and find out that your Crystal has lost its power. Thanks, Genius, you told me that before. Go north and grab the plainly visible treasure chest for a Thunder Scarab. Go east and up the stairs to find an opening that leads to a save point. Now, go all the way down the stairs and south through the opening. Now, follow the path and go north into the empty room. Hang around in here until a tablet appears on the wall. Check it and a chest containing a Topaz will appear. You may want to hang on to this one for a while. Now, go out and south to a 4-way split. Go southeast, then east for a Metal Head. Now, go back and north and into the opening. ********** Aqua Hydra ********** Without grinding, only fighting every battle I encountered and almost never warping, I was at Level 22, so I had Powerwave. If you have it and your HP are high, use it. If not, just attack. Reeshine is great here, since she hits hard and can take quite the beating. It might help to have healing items on her, just in case it's better for your hero to attack. Hydra uses Ice Chain fairly often, which does decent damage. He's not too tough, though, especially if you're using Reeshine and she has the Cutter. Choose to carve him up like a Thanksgiving turkey and save those kids! Go north to return to the stone totem and leave the forest. Return to Kidsdam. Uh-oh! Go inside and up the western stairs. Go into the bedroom and talk to all of the kids. Go to the kitchen and talk to everyone. Now, go find Neen in Cecille's bedroom, which was previously inaccessible. Talk to her to get the Brass Key, grab the Magical Staff from the chest, then head back to the western half of the second floor. Remember that door at the end that just wouldn't open? Check it and Use the Brass Key, then go inside. Go downstairs, out the door, and into the first door you encounter. Get ready for a weird puzzle. ******************************************************************************* First, check the bookshelf. Now, sit at the southeastern seat and check the table. Now, go open the drawer. ******************************************************************************* You get an Ice Rock for your trouble. By the way, the Drones are another one of those enemies that can't seem to be turned into figurines. Also keep in mind that once you beat the boss down here, the monsters in Kidsdam will vanish, so make sure to get any figurines you want before then. Leave the room and go into the next door. Check the purple plant for a Ventura Seed, then get ready for a weirder puzzle. ******************************************************************************* Go to the left cabinet and take the Leftmost Fork and Use it on the lower pot, which is labeled "Forks" if you Examine it. Now, take the Rightmost Knife from the right cabinet and Use it on the other pot, which is labeled "Knives" if you Examine it. Next, take the Third Fork from the Right and the Second Knife from the Right and do the same. Now, the Second Fork from the right, and the Third Knife from the Right. Finally, the Rightmost Fork and Leftmost Knife. ******************************************************************************* Now, a staircase will appear. You can leave this room and go into the next room for a save point. In here, there is an organ, which you can play, there are also 2 or 4 unfinished musical scores in the tables. I imagine you're supposed to combine them somehow and play the organ, but I've been unable to figure out how to do that. I've tried reading them all, using items and Arks, and even pushing the tables together, but you can't push the tables. Go down the stairs you made when you're ready. Go out into a complex maze. Start by going directly south for a Chrome Plate. Go back to the entrance of this maze and go west. Check the chest and select whichever option you like, but it won't hurt you. Talk to it and go east from the entrance. Follow the path until the next split, at which go down the first south and talk to the mimic to restore your HP and MP. Go back and down the other south and continue until you find a little room. It contains an Empty Bottle and an Herb Cookie. Continue on and go down the stairs at the end of the path. Now, memorize the layout of the room you're in and go into the next room. Check everything that's different to solve the puzzle. ******************************************************************************* 1. The door you came through wasn't there, obviously. 2. The bottom pot wasn't there. 3. The smaller table used to be a staircase. 4. The books on the floor weren't there. 5. The bookcase in the northeastern corner used to be a Ventura Plant. 6. The drawers used to be a cabinet. 7. The larger table used to be a bit longer. ******************************************************************************* Go into the next room. The western path leads to a mimic that slinks away into the wall. (!?) Take the eastern path, shoving the oddly placed boulder aside, and go into the door. You'll see 4 doors. The leftmost has a funny tablet, the rightmost and second from the left loop you, and the second from the right takes you to a hall with purple carpet. You'll find a fountain of purple liquid to restore your MP (so just heal with magic) and a save point. When you're ready, go north through the door. Now, read the tablets. Go to the very southeast corner and go north one square and check the floor. Now, check the right tablet. In this room, one square southeast of the table, there is a real chest containing an Engetsu-To. Move quickly or face utter annoyance. Now, read the tablets, check the cabinet in the northwest corner, and ring the bell. Now, make sure you check the RIGHT tablet because the left one takes you back. You're in a room with 8 staircases, most of them loop you, but the western staircase second from the north will take you back and the eastern staircase second from the south will move you on. Grab the Hydra Stomach and leave the room. If you'd like, you can go west and into the door to solve some puzzles from the Pussle Pot. There's no reward, but the solutions are listed here, anyway. ******************************************************************************* Coin Puzzle ----------- Hint - Make the image the opposite of what it is. Solution - Select the upper-left, middle-left, center, and central-bottom. Knight Puzzle - it's the same as the first puzzle in the puzzle book in Kidsdam Magic Square ------------ Hint - Horizontal, diagonal, and vertical all add up to 15 Solution - 294 753 618 ******************************************************************************* I had a lot of fun with them. At least, I did, once I figured out what the hell I was supposed to do in Magic Square. Anyway, go down the path and take the lone door at the end. ********** Minotaurus ********** Just keep hitting him and he'll go down very quickly. ************* Minotaurus x2 ************* This isn't much tougher. Here's a general tip for RPGs: you can use Flurry if you'd like, but it's generally more efficient to take enemies out one at a time. Why? Simply because then, you have less things pounding on you in a round. ******* Chimera ******* This thing looks even creepier up close. He's also a cheap bastard. Remember what I said would happen if a party member died in battle? Well, you might have to face that here. His attacks are nothing to worry about, but he casts Kill, which is instant death. If he kills off a party member, you're all alone until the battle's over. If he kills off your hero, it's instant game over. So, use Crosses or cast Deathguard if you have it. You will more than likely be higher than Level 16 (15 for Remeer), so your hero should have Deathguard. After protecting your party, just pound him relentlessly. Oh yeah, he also casts Highhealth, so he'll recover 180 HP at a time. Someone strong is recommended as your second party member. Instant death aside, he's not too tough, just irritating. Once you're done, you can go into the room on the right, but it's empty. The room on the left is a shortcut that takes you out the locked door next to the first save point. Exit the area and go to Cecille's room. Go into that room on the left that was always locked and raid it! You'll find an Antidote, a Ruby, a Star Earring, and the Ark of Wisdom. The Ark of Wisdom works like the Ark of Power, except instead of increasing your third party member's Power and Guard, it increases their Speed and Magic. I'd recommend Lux, Tokio, or Kamiwoo for your third member and Meisia for tough boss fights. No, I don't use Miriene, but if you like having an offensive mage, she's great, especially with the Ark of Wisdom. Now, you can finally leave this world behind, but before you go completely, you have one more thing to do. Go back to Blind Alley and find that synthesis urn. It's north of the room where you go back to the Shrine in case you forgot. Check the urn and Use the Benjamin Leaf, Monster Seed, and Ventura Seed. Once you leave this world and come back, the mixture should be ready. Use an Empty Bottle to get a Mana Jar. However, if you throw a Topaz into the mixture, you get a Mana Bottle instead, which is a much better item. Now, go back to the Shrine. Go talk to the Goddess Statue, then the fireplace. Now, go to the room next to the one that you used to travel to the Sand World. Check the clock and Use the Ark of Wisdom. Check it again and Look at it. Now, you're entering the Machine World. Strangely enough, most walkthroughs refer to it as the Green World and I'm not quite sure why. Here are the remaining mysteries: Inside (first room, fireplace room, western room, upstairs) ------ A door inside of a crystal pillar A blank canvas A figurine of a scholar/scientist A figurine of a little girl A figurine of a young countryman A glass jar A pencil Outside (clockwise, beginning at the temple door.) ------- A locked house with a lantern outside of it D. Machine World ================ The weird thing that looks like a cabinet on a pedestal will take you back to the Shrine. Leave this area, talking to people as you go. Go south and enter the town of Keepensign. If you stay at the inn, you get a Special Herb. At the bar, you get different menus, depending upon whether you tell him business is going well or not. Water gives you a funny message, milk gets you in a fight if you're a male, electric brandy is kind of amusing, and he'll shoot the breeze with you if you buy anything else. None of it is useful, however. If you're female, talk to the item shop lady behind the table, rather than across it. She'll give you a Platinum Brooch. Go to the south of the town and along the coast to another house. Edison lives here, but he's out. Well, you're an RPG hero(ine), aren't you? Just barge in! Take Edison's Heart and go back to the Shrine. Go down to the room with the fireplace and check the figurine furthest to the east. It's a scholar or scientist, so Use Edison's Heart to get Edison. Now, go back into the Machine World and go to Edison's house. Talk to him twice, then check all of the machines in his house. Now, leave town and follow the wall northwest to another town. Talk to the people here. Man, this chapter's totally unrealistic! Edison's a jerk and Capone's an extortionist. If you talk to Capone and tell him you want to go through, he'll offer you free passage in exchange for a bottle of Golden Wine. Well, back to Keepensign. Go into the bar and talk to the woman at the end. That's the one by the bar, not the one playing the piano. Tell her you want a job. Talk to the man behind the bar, then go downstairs and move the old cabinet into the southeast corner. Go back up and talk to him. Now, go back down for a bottle of Brandy. The Brandy is all in the northeast corner of the cellar. The third shelf from the left contains Electric Brandy but you want regular brandy. Check the shelf and Take some. The other racks contain different drinks. From left to right, the racks closer to the stairs contain Fire Scotch, wine, dawn- hue wine, and 3 racks of whiskey. The other rack contains from left to right 2 racks of wine, a rack of Fire Scotch, 2 racks of whiskey, Golden Wine, brandy, and power drink. Go upstairs and bring him his Brandy and he'll ask you for Fire Scotch. Go get some and bring it back up to him. Talk to his wife for your pay, but go downstairs and grab some Golden Wine first. Sure, it's dishonest, but you can't progress without it. Unfortunately, you have no choice. Now, go back and give it to Capone. DAMMIT! Talk about bad luck with pitfalls. Well, go up the stairs, east, then up the other stairs and into the opening. In here you'll find a save point, a Cross, and an Abstruse Book. Abstruse, by the way, means difficult to understand. It has nothing to do with any German pastries. Anyway, leave this room and head west and into the opening. Now, follow the path and go west when it splits, then north when it splits again for a Rock Hook. Afterwards, go back south, west, then into the opening. Read the tablet. If it makes no sense to you, hold up your right hand with your palm facing the screen, you devil, you. That's your map. Go up the path that represents the ring finger for 7 chests each containing 100G and a bowl of Herb Soup. Now, follow the path representing the middle finger to move on. In this next room, do the same thing, but use your left hand. Take the middle finger for a Power Seed, then the thumb for a treasure room containing 1000G, a Guard Bottle, and Graham's Heart. Now, go back out and take the index finger to move on. Follow the path and talk to that angry rock-looking thing (it's a crab) at the end. ********** Metal Crab ********** Well, he's pretty powerful for a mid-boss. That is to say he's not the boss at the end of the chapter. He doesn't have any attacks other than his regular attack, but he's got decent Power and high HP. It won't be a short battle and you may need to heal, but he's not really much of a challenge. Just pound him and he'll go under. Now, go up two sets of stairs, including the one that the Metal Crab was guarding. On the western side of this platform is a Flame Pot. Go up keep going up the stairs until you see an opening and go into it. Hmmm... You're in an interesting position. Capone just dropped you into a pit with tons of monsters and now you're in a room where he keeps his treasure. Too bad it's just 70G and 40G. Go upstairs and through the door. Go up the staircase that the armored man was guarding and look very closely at the floor. See that tile against the eastern wall that looks different? Check it while facing it, not standing on it. Examine it to find that it is cracked. Use the Deck Brush to break through the floor. Jump into the hole and grab the Healing Boots, an Abstruse Book, and 1000G. That's a bit better of a haul. Jump into the pit and climb back to where you were. In the room nearest to the staircase, there is a bed that you can sleep in. In the other room is Capone. Talk to him and agree to help him. You took all his stuff, so you're even now, remember. Besides, the Rock Hook is a great weapon for Kamiwoo and you found that in the pit. Anyway, go into the back room to find Rona's Heart. Yup, there's your problem. You know what to do: go back to the Shrine. Both figurines are in the room with the fireplace. Rona is closest to the staircase and Graham is near the door that leads to the Plant World. Once you have them, return to the Machine World. Go to the armor shop in Keepensign. Once you're done, go back to Capone's Fort and talk to Capone. He'll give you 2000G, 3 bottles of Brandy, and a Power Bottle. Talk to him a second time for some closure, then go back downstairs and out the back door. Go across the bridge and you're on Snowgate. Before you begin, I'd like to point out 2 enemies here. First is the Bullfoot, which is a palette swap of the Mammoth. It's pretty much the same deal, too. You can't turn it into a figurine and it lasts a while, but probably not as long because you now have 3 party members. The other is the Beholder. They're not that special of an enemy, but keep in mind that they cast Kill. Be careful or you'll have to go all the way back to the Shrine to retrieve your fallen comrades. Follow the path and enter the opening. Continue on the path and go west at the first split. Go north at the second split for a Plasma Bottle and west and into the opening to move on. Here, climb 2 sets of stairs. If you go up from here, you can enter an opening and talk to two guards and a client. Otherwise, go east, taking the lower path when it splits, and go into the opening. You'll find Herb Soup and continue out the opening. Go down the stairs along the path for a Mushroom, then go back and west, continuing along the path until you enter the opening. Go into the next opening, then follow the path until it splits. Here, you can go east into an opening to talk to two travelers, but there's no sound, so you can't communicate. Go west and down the stairs instead. You'll see an opening, which contains a Thunder Staff and a Plasma Bottle. Now, leave and go east and all the way up the stairs for a Power Wrist. Go back and climb down 2 sets of stairs, then continue on east and into the opening at the end. In here, go north at the split and enter the opening at the end. On this screen, go northwest at the first split and hug the wall to grab an Orb of the Deep. Now, go northwest from the 4-way intersection and through the opening to exit Snowgate. Head west and enter the town on the bridge. This is Dupro. When you enter, go straight north. To the west, there should be a house. Go inside and talk to the woman. Now, you can communicate. The long house with several signs on the front will have either a weapon or armor shop, depending upon which entrance you take. If you want weapons, go in the weapon shop entrance, for armor, go in the armor shop entrance. In the back room in the bar, you'll find a Rock Hook and 40G. Once you've talked to everyone, leave town and head Keepensign and talk to Graham. Believe me, you'll want to warp any time in this chapter that you would otherwise have to pass over the mountain. If you haven't been warping much and haven't been running from fights, you'll likely be around Level 25. You're very well built to handle most of what comes your way, so you can afford to warp. Anyway, now, Graham will be running the weapon/armor shop while the couple goes off to get Beech Sap. Now, head to Bell Forest, which is south and slightly west of Dupro. Talk to Pablo and agree to help him. It doesn't matter where you move the bell, just as long as it's out of the way of his painting. Talk to him again. The blue one's a bit trickier. Circle around and get behind it to get it out of the way. If you screw up, you can just leave and come back. The bells that you didn't get out of the way for him will be reset. Talk to him again, then follow him. Go south through the doorway and continue along the linear path. Along the way, there's a fountain that restores your HP. Once you reach the world map, go straight east and enter the town. Welcome to Ratwood. If you have the Black Iron, the weapon shop won't sell you anything, but if you bring him Beech Sap, you'll use both that and the Black Iron to make a fantastic sword. As an odd curiosity, you can talk to the woman in the house next to the weapon shop and she'll tell you that she dropped a False Tooth. It's in the bed on the right. Give it back to her and she'll be able to speak again. This has seemingly no impact on the game, though. Anyway, you've probably noticed the large building that looks a bit like a church. You may also have noticed that you can't get in. Go to the house to the east of it to meet Einstein. Talk to him and he'll give you the passcode for the door. Check the door, punch in the numbers, and press that weird button thing in the lower-right-hand corner. Go inside and go up to the giant metal... thing and Use the Ark of Light. Go back and talk to Einstein, then check his bookshelf and take the Letter. Go back to Keepensign and give Edison the letter. Now, go back to Ratwood, back into the large building, and talk to Edison. Beech Sap, eh, well, get back to Dupro. Leave, and go north across the bridge, like you're going to Snowgate. Instead of going to Snowgate, go west to the wall, then south and around the wall. Once you come through the gap, go straight north and into the tall trees to reach the beech forest. Talk to the couple and check one of the pots, using an Empty Bottle to fill it with Beech Sap. Go back to Bell Forest and scrap the red bell for some Bellalite. Now, return to Ratwood. If you have Black Iron, give it and the Beech Sap to Meister. The sword won't be done until you've beaten the boss of this world and found the Ark, so don't worry about it for now. Go back to the beech forest and get more Beech Sap. Return to Ratwood and give the Beech Sap and Bellalite to Edison, then stay at the inn. Talk to Edison again, who screws up your name again. I bet it was a damn laugh riot in Japanese, but something got lost in translation. Anyway, go talk to Einstein. Go back and watch the exchange. A big jolt, eh? We have one of those! Go up and Use the Ark of Light like you did before. Check it again and put in the password. The puzzle's fairly simple, but if you can't figure it out, look below. ******************************************************************************* ----- |9|7|5| |-----| |3|1|2| |-----| |4|6|8| ----- ******************************************************************************* After the scene, check the door and return to Ratwood. Cure your poison, then go back down. You won't get poisoned this time. Go south through the doorway. Go west and into the door for an Antidote and a Gladius. Leave the room and go south to find a doorway, then go through it. In here, you'll find a town of sorts. The door furthest to the west has the town leader and a few people. The next door over has 2 Leather Armors and a Leather Hat. Delicious! Go over to the east side and enter the first door. You can rest and save on the blankets in here, even though there are people standing on them. Talk to everyone and if prompted, give them healing items. Strangely, Dried Meat cannot be given to them, so stick with Herb items. Honestly, you probably have more than you know what to do with right now. In the next door, there is some GOOD treasure. You'll find Platinum Armor, a Gladius, a Shamshir, and a Heavy Gun. When you're ready, go back to Loosewrench in the first room and talk to him to get the Open Card. Now, go down the south path in Metallimo and Use the Open Card on the door to unlock it and go inside. Talk to the people in here to find out what's behind the other door in here. Medusa-infested junkyard with crazy, broken robots? Let's go! Use the Open Card on the door and head in. The Medusas really freak me out. I don't know if it's the way they look, their palette, or the bizarre stance they have, but they really unnerve me. That said, the worst part about them is that they heal. Yes, they turn you to stone (no, really), but that's not as bad as it sounds. Petrification isn't permanent and you can just use an Antidote or Cure spell. Anyway, head on down the path until you reach a flashing panel. Check it for a puzzle. The idea here is to make the numbers add up to the "type". In other words, this one is type 12. 2+?+6=12. Well, subtract 6 to get 2+?=6, then subtract 2 to get ?=4. See? You thought algebra class was useless. One more thing: the numbers in each puzzle have to be from least to greatest from left to right. You'll need to know this because there are TONS of these puzzles down here and most have more than one variable. Continue on and enter the door for a Bottle of Oil and a Metal Nunchaku. Leave and go north and through the door. Welcome to math puzzle hell (or heaven if you're enough of a nerd to enjoy them as much as I did). The solutions are all at the end of this section. Go east to the first flashing panel. This is Puzzle 1. Each subsequent puzzle will be Puzzle 2, Puzzle 3, and so on. Go south at the intersection and check the panel. Go west to the next panel. Go south, then continue on the path and enter the door along the way for a P1301, then go out and east and continue to the panel. Go up north and around to the next panel. Go south, then west at the junction, then north at the next intersection and Use the Open Card to unlock the door and head through it. ******************************************************************************* Puzzle 1 - 3457 Puzzle 2 - 2356 Puzzle 3 - 1246 Puzzle 4 - 1245 Puzzle 5 - 2345 ******************************************************************************* Okay, that was just math puzzle purgatory. Here's your real hell. It's not that the puzzles are all that hard, it's just that you have to be some sort of miracle multi-tasker to remember what's going on. Okay, there are 9 aisles, which shall henceforth be referred to from west to east as Aisle 1, Aisle 2, etc. The corresponding puzzles will be the same number as the aisle that they disable the Severe Damage Tire Spikes (tm) for. No, you can't just walk over them and take the damage. So, get ready. The first puzzle is to the west of the entrance. It is Puzzle 1, so it unlocks Aisle 1, which is the aisle at the far west. This will unlock a save point. Puzzle 8 is to the east of the entrance. Go down Aisle 8 to reach Puzzle 7. Now, go down Aisle 7 and Use the Open Card on the door and head in. ******************************************************************************* Puzzle 1 - 1345 Puzzle 8 - 1567 Puzzle 7 - 2347 ******************************************************************************* DO NOT Use the Open Card to go back into the door you came out of. The game is likely to crash. If you must leave, use Warp Gate. Go east and follow the path to a Golden Sword. Go back to the entrance and go west this time. There are a great deal of fractured paths, so unless you can't see the end, I won't give directions. Once you are heading east and come to an intersection with a fractured path north, paths south and east, and a square shaped path, go south down the square. You should reach a fractured rectangle. Head due west and you should reach a treasure chest containing a Diamond Bomb. Head north and Use your Open Card to enter the door. Head south along the westernmost path to get another Diamond Bomb, then go north and east at the earliest opportunity. Then, go south and west, then turn south at the empty treasure chest. Yes, you could have grabbed it now, but it was a good landmark, wasn't it? Anyway, once you can't go south anymore, keep going east to get the Reinforcer. Now, go back west and head due north until you can't, then head east, then turn south, ignoring the door, then go through the doorway. If you go through the door I told you to ignore, it takes you to a dead end, but if you take it again, it will take you back to math puzzle hell. If you solve the puzzle, you can go up Aisle 9 and save, so it might not be such a bad idea, since you have a very difficult boss fight coming up. By the way, the solution to the puzzle is 1346. When ready, in the next room go east, heal up, and enter the door. ************ Death Knight ************ Remember all of the other boss fights that made you yawn? You know, like ALL of them? Well, playtime's over. Come in here unprepared and one of these guys will make you his/her bitch. Yeah, and there's THREE of them. That's okay, you've got me to guide you through it. The very first thing you should do is cast Deathguard/Use Crosses on everyone. You don't know how horrible it is to have three very strong enemies with high HP AND instant death spells. Remember that if your hero dies, it's instant game over. Also, your last save point was quite a ways back, so caution is recommended. Meisia is a great addition to this fight. Miriene is okay, too, since she has a lot of multi-target attack magic, but I've found magic to be only moderately effective. Reeshine's always a great addition and Tokio's Illusion Strike comes in handy unless you need to target a specific enemy. Lux is a fine addition, since he's built like a dump truck. It might also be a good idea to have some of your stronger healing items with the other party members in case more healing is needed than you can handle. That aside, focus on one knight at a time and you should be alright. Once you kill the first one, that's the turning point. It's still fairly challenging with two, but once you get to that point, you'll probably win unless you're already on the ropes. Once you are well grounded, DESTROY THEM! Don't let up except to heal, because these guys cast Morehealth, which really adds up when there are 3 of them. Think of it... 300 HP in a round. It's bad. If you can keep your HP up, Powerwave is great. Reeshine's Kick is even stronger, but its accuracy is not the greatest, so it's risky. Be sure to keep everyone juiced up, too, because their attacks are strong and they can cast Fireball, which has decent accuracy for enemy magic. Just keep it up and you'll make it. I had my hero at level 26 and my partners around 22. Congratulations, you survived. There are 4 octagonal prisms coming out of the floor. The two southern ones will give you information. Either of the northern ones will give you a better Open Card. Yes, you should tell it to dispose of your old one. Now, go back to Metallimo however you wish. Einstein and Edison are here and they'll tell you what's going on. Take Heropyonadfsdlg (if you don't have an aneurysm, you're not pronouncing it correctly) and go see Loosewrench. He'll give you Titanium Plating for Lux. Now, go out of Metallimo the way you originally came in. Go through the north passage, then go through the next north passage. You should be at a fork. Northwest takes you back to Ratwood, so go northeast this time. You'll come to a door with a puzzle on the display next to it. The solution to this puzzle is 289. Follow the linear path, taking a Spare Mast from a chest in a room along the way. At the end, check the display and Use your new Open Card and go inside. In here, the door to the west will take you to some sort of weird inn type thing. Check the panels to restore HP or MP in predetermined amounts. In the east, there is a broken panel, an item shop, and a synthesis machine. You can put some items into the synthesis machine, such as Junk, Deck Brush, False Tooth, etc. I have experimented a great deal with it and I think I understand how it works. The item you get back out is determined by what key item you put in. You can also get random small items from regular items, but they're not terribly important. Also, you have 3 basic types of items: solid, liquid, and magic. Magic is any item you can use that restores MP. Solid and liquid you just have to use common sense for. I have a list of all useable key items and what to combine them with (some work by themselves) and what you get. Of course, some of these you won't have yet. Here it is, sorted by when you get the item in question: Spare Ribs + Liquid = Mirrored Shield Deck Brush + Solid = Deck Brush Black Iron + Magic = HP Seed Bottle of Candy + Magic = HP Seed Scrap of Paper - HP Seed Beech Sap - HP Seed False Tooth + Magic = HP Seed Dirty Magazine + Solid = Alkaloid Bucket Purple Crystal + Solid = Alkaloid Bucket Lizard Tail + Magic = Holy Robe Poison Apple + Solid = Alkaloid Bucket Troll Harp + Magic = Holy Robe Wander around, entering doors and reading displays to get a history of what happened, then go to the big door and Use the Open Card and go down to the Hydro Cell. The battle music here is AWESOME! It's called I am a Powerful Ally. I wish some other games (RPG and otherwise) had battle music this great. I could get totally jazzed fighting enemies to this in Zelda or Rogue Galaxy or something like that. Anyway, welcome to arrow tile hell. Arrow tiles will propel you in the direction in which they are pointing. This is an Enix specialty. Of course, if you've played Dragon Warrior/Quest 4, you already know that. A small note: I think my copy of Mystic Ark is f-ed up because the arrow tiles don't propel me. That is, I can walk over them normally. I don't know if it's all copies that are like that, but I do know that the translators had a lot of weird bugs creep up after they translated the game. I think this may be one of which. This walkthrough assumes that your copy is not f-ed up. Go south to 2 paths that have southward arrows. Take the western side of the east path to get a chest containing an Orb of the Deep. Take the arrow tiles and go back around to the two paths heading south. Now, take the eastern side of the west path and go down the staircase. Take the arrows south for a Magic Bottle. The next path to take is the northwest path. Keep taking the arrow tile paths until you reach a staircase leading down. You can take the easternmost path here and wind up at a chest that gives you a Mana Perfume, then go on the next path, which takes you back to the entrance, but 16MP is a waste of my time, so I'd recommend just going down the staircase. The southwestern staircase has an Herb Cookie and Mana Musk. The southeastern staircase has a Death Symbol and a Ruby. The northwestern staircase is a dead end, but looks cool. The northeastern staircase, by contrast, has the Ark, which is very useful. This Ark is the Ark of Fire. It imbues weapons with fire properties, much like the Ark of Light does with lightning. It operates on similar rules, except that it is not compatible with an axe or boomerang. It is compatible with a sword, katana, knife, or bow. When you are ready, head back to Ratwood. Go talk to Meister to get your Warrior Sword. Now, get back to Capone's Fort. The northwest door outside is now open. Inside, you'll find Mana Spray, an Orb of the Deep, and an Ivory Cameo. Now, go back to the Shrine. Speak with the Goddess, then the fireplace. You haven't seen a flask, but you have seen a small hut with a Lamp. Go to that hut and check the lamp. You can probably figure out that you have to Use the Ark of Fire to light the lamp. That will unlock the door and you may enter. Check the bookcase and Use the Ark of Wisdom. Inside, you'll find your flask. Check it, then either Touch or Hit it to enter the Giant's World. These mysteries yet remain: Inside (first room, fireplace room, western room, upstairs) ------ A door inside of a crystal pillar A blank canvas A glass jar A pencil E. Giant's World ================ When you regain control, either of those wooden statues will take you back to the Shrine. Check the chest to find the Ark. Come on, you didn't think it'd be that easy did you? Well, that's all right because this world has some interesting scenery. Talk to the three people. Leave the house and follow the path to the first windmill. Inside is the shop. The inn is right across from it. The only reason I'm pointing this out is that there are no signs on the windmills. Find the kid and talk to him, then agree to help him out. Now, go talk to the guard at the southern end of town and he'll let you out. Leave Nanaka and go east. You should eventually reach an alcove in the mountains. One small note, you will encounter a large enemy called Stone Golem. He's fairly durable, but not much to worry about. The reason I mention him now is that he's another one of those creatures I never successfully made into a figurine. I'm fairly confident that you can't. Enter it, then follow the path around and enter the cave. Inside, the path is fairly linear, but you have to time your movements. You can hear the wind blowing, so you have to quickly move north and get a wall behind you while it's not. The wind blows to the south, by the way, and you can move east or west while it's blowing you unless you're against a wall. This will be important to know later. At one point, the wind will begin to blow to the east. Then, it keep switching back and forth. Go through the opening at the end. This room is a pain. Work your way north, hugging the western wall. You'll eventually reach a chest containing Herbs. Next, go east to the rock. You can go southeast to an L-Shaped rock to get a Firecracker, but it's totally not worth it if you ask me. Sure, random battles are also tedious, but at least you get gold and experience from them. Anyway, go northeast from there to the small rock pillar. Go west to the bigger rock. Now, go northwest to the ledge. This next one is tricky. Go as far east as you can without actually getting blown backward. Now, go north and east to the rock. This may take a few tries to get right, but just persist because this game is worth finishing. The next world is extremely well-done, so just keep that in mind for this tedium. Go northeast to the next rock after that. From here, you can go straight east and get blown a bit south for a Magic Bottle of you really want. If not, just go east to the L block. Now, standing at the western edge of said L block, go north to the T block. Sorry about all of the Tetris terminology to those who are not terribly fond of Tetris. Actually, I'm not that big a fan of it myself, but it's okay. Anyway, go north from the tip of the L block and check the big lithograph. Congratulations! You did it! If you Examine it, you'll find symbols you don't recognize. Well, only one way to fix that! Use the Ark of Wisdom. Now, you can leave this horrid place and go back to town! Great job! Now, once you get back to town, go to the elder's place. Talk to the elder and watch the scene. I told you there was some nice scenery. Anyway, leave the town and go west and enter the big pile at the end. Once inside, head west and go up the western path. They seem identical, but you can't make it to the top of the eastern path. Try it out and see what I mean. The Air Needles crack me up because they kind of look like flying pineapples. Rar. Also, beware of the Devil Kites. They are strong, have a lot of HP and cast Hurricane. In large groups, they can really f@*& you up quick. As an amusing side note, I once had a conversation about these things with one of my students. I asked why they might be called kites when they're clearly squids. He then proceeded to draw an epic battle between kite-ulu and a tree, making the creature in question out of a box kite, so that it would look more menacing. It currently hangs on my fridge. Anyway, snake around to the east, going down one path and up another until you reach 5 paths. The one furthest to the west will get you up. Head west, ignoring the first 2 paths as they terminate in eventual dead ends. The third path will get you where you're going, but the path at the very end will take you to Herbs. After taking that third path all the way up, continue along the path as it winds its way up the mountain. Ignore all paths to the south. When the path splits, go north to reach the next screen. Take the path furthest west and head east. You'll go down a path and reach two more at the end. Take the west path and continue climbing up another. Take the first path you see to the north. Take the road east and around north to the next screen. Walk up to the edge and- HERE COMES THE GIANT! Go downstairs and exit the house. The scenery here is also beautiful. It reminds me of the town of Mido from Zelda 2: Adventure of Link. Ignore the tall windmill for now. You'll have to deal with it soon enough. Once you find out what's going on, leave town. Be very careful, because the Glow Toles can cast Kill. Head northwest to a big tower and enter. I find it interesting that it has a spiral outside and we're in World 5. Does that remind you of anything? Like Super Mario Bros. 3, perhaps? Anyway, once inside, take the east platform and follow the path for a battle. ***** Rodem ***** WHAT IS THAT THING!? Well, you have to fight it. It has decent attack power, but isn't anything to worry about it. You probably won't need much strategy here. Once Syrtis leaves, go downstairs. Follow the path to the split, then go west and downstairs for the Crusher. Go back to the intersection, then head east, following the path to its next split. Go north here and east at the next split to find a staircase leading to a Hard Cross. Go back and west this time, then down the stairs. Go to the east to the next split. Go west, then north at the next split to find a pair of chests. You'll find the Blue Book and the Black Book. Now, go back to Kumu and talk to Syrtis. Once you're ready, leave the town and head southwest until you find a hole in the ground. It should be at the southernmost point of the sandy area. Jump in and get ready for some quicksand conveyor fun. In here, you're likely to encounter Stone Masks, yet another enemy that I can't seem to turn into a figurine. Ditto for the Bi-Golem. As soon as you enter, you'll see 2 treasure chests. Heal up and open one. ***** Mimic ***** You should be able to take them both out fairly quickly. They're definitely not as tough as the ones from 7th Saga, but they can poison you and cast Kill, so Deathguard might not be such a bad idea. Although, if you want to risk it and just go all out to kill them quickly, that could work, too. It's ultimately your choice. Just keep in mind that magic is USELESS against them. Now, the real fun begins. On my first run, it took me at least half an hour to find my way to the next screen. However, I love you guys so much that I took every possible combination and mapped them out, so that you don't have to go through all of that. You're welcome. There are quicksand conveyors that go in one direction, though sometimes, they go in two directions, making the path null and void. So, from the island that has the entrance, you have three paths to take if you want everything. The directions from the entrance are as follows: Herbs - WNENNNNESS, then SSSW to return to the entrance Frost Beads - WNENNNWNNWS, then SSSSEE to be one north of the entrance Exit - WNENNNWNNEE and into the opening I mapped it out across 2 post-it notes. At any rate, in the next room there are three dragon statues. Check one and you'll get in a fight. If you beat it and it's the right one, you'll destroy the boulder and you can go through. They are fairly strong and can cast Hurricane, but if you stay healed, you should be in pretty good shape. The right statue in this chamber is the east statue. In the next chamber, it's the north. Go along the path and down the stairs. The first chamber's correct statue is east. The next chamber's correct statue is the west. Go downstairs and into the next chamber. The correct statue here is north. In the second chamber, none of the statues will work. Just push the boulder all the way north and get the Ancient Mirror. Go back to Kumu and talk to Syrtis. If you decide to walk out of the cave, the path through the quicksand is south until you can't (6 times), then west to get to the island with the staircase. After talking to him, go to Coln, which is just south of the tower (northwest of town). As soon as you enter, go to the east and enter the first building you see for a Diamond Bomb and a Tempest Bell. Leave that building and go up to the one in the center of town. It's the one with the locked door and the ladder. Climb the ladder and approach the green guy and talk to him. ***** Clone ***** This guy does pretty good damage with his regular attack and likes to cast Plasma Field, but probably won't last long enough to cause you much trouble. Just hit hard and keep healed and you should take him down pretty fast. He lasted only 2 rounds against me. Now enter the door at the top and go down the stairs inside. Go down the next staircase, ride the platform, then go down the immediate staircase. Down here, go north as far as you can, around the path, then to the southwest corner of the room you get to for a Potion. Then, go out the east path and down the stairs. Down here, go to the northeast corner of the room for a Topaz, then go west from the southwest corner and down the staircase at the end. Go to the southwest corner and press the switch. Now, make your way back to the area with flying platforms and no enemies. Go west and take the flying platform, then go down the staircase in the room you come to. Follow the path until you reach the stairs, then go down. In this next room, both paths take you to a room, so enter the room and take the southeast path for an Antidote. Take the southeast path and go down the stairs. Go east, press the switch and go back up to the safe area with flying platforms. Go south, ride the platform, and go down the stairs, since the fire blocks your way. Follow the path to the room and descend the staircase in the southwest corner. In the room, there is a path from the east that leads to a Magic Mirror. Grab it and go down the north path and descend the staircase at the end. You know the drill: press the switch and go back up to the room with the flying platforms. Go east down the path that used to be blocked by fire. Go down the stairs, ignoring the stairs that go up for now. Go to the northeast corner of the room for the Ragnarok. Follow the southwest path to a staircase and descend it. Go into the room, which both paths lead to, and go into the southeast corner for a Main Gauche. Go west from the room and down the stairs. Go south, crossing the bridge and check the terminal. It's too complicated to understand, so Use the Ark of Wisdom. Go back to town to rest up if you wish, but if you're in good shape, just walk a short distance north to the tower. This time, take the north platform. Use the Black Book when prompted, then climb the stairs. Follow the linear path, riding 2 platforms, and climb the stairs. Ride 2 platforms, then ride the platform furthest east for a Silver Helmet. Ride the next platform and climb the stairs. The southwest platform takes you to a Smarts Anklet. The northwest platform takes you to a Meteor Bottle. The northeast platform takes you to the Ancient Sword. The southeast platform takes you further into the tower. From the top of the southeast staircase, continue climbing staircases until you reach the top. Check the switch and Use the Ark of Wisdom on it. Check it again and Use the Ark of Power on it. Your next goal is the town on that island. Do what you need to do, then go there. Inside, keep going down stairs until you reach a room filled with capsules containing Ancients. Snake your way through the room. Many of them will come and attack you, but they're the same enemy you faced in Coln. Descend the stairs at the end. Now, you'll get attacked in this room as well. Right as you step off the stairs, in fact. Go down the first stairs you see for a Special Herb, a Gauntlet, and a Shoot Ripper. Go back up and continue on, descending the stairs at the end. Down here, heal up and talk to the Ancient at the end. *********** Ancient One *********** This guy is TOUGH. He has very high HP and Guard, so this will be an endurance match. His attack strength is fairly decent. Oh yeah, and magic is pretty useless, so I wouldn't bring Miriene into this fight. To make matters worse, he can cast Draw to lower your Power. He can also cast Prominence, which hits for around 120 per person, depending on your level. Definitely use Powerwave when your HP is high. I'd recommend Reeshine and Meisia for this fight, because it's good to have a solid healer here. I think the worst part of this fight is that he casts Highhealth. 180 HP is likely more damage than you can do in a single round, so get ready for a loooooooong battle. I don't know if it's because his Speed is low or what, but I had a lot of success with Kick. It hit him quite often, so you might want to try it out. Once he starts healing, I have Meisia keep everyone's HP as full as possible, then use Powerwave with my Hero and Kick or Powerwave with Reeshine. I typically get at least 300 damage out of that. Again, he's not super difficult, just long- lasting. Let out a sigh of relief, then check the terminal and Use the Ark of Wisdom. Check it again and Tinker Randomly. That's right, pick the Screw Around With It option and everything shuts down. Return to Nanaka, then go to the Elder's house. Talk to the elder, then finally get your Ark of Wood from the chest. You can imbue it in a figurine to make that character VERY slowly regain MP. If you imbue it in your armor, it makes you immune to status ailments, however, which is much more useful. Return to the Shrine. Remember the cabinet that refused to open in the room that led you to the Plant World? If you Use the Ark of Wood on it, you can open it for a Holy Blade, a Crowbar of Light, a Cross, and an Emerald. There's also a secret area near the hut. From the hut, go east into the little alcove as far as you can, then face south. Check it until you get a prompt. Use the Ark of Wood and check it again. Here you can exchange Gold for Platinum. Leave by the northwest door, since the other 2 are an eternal loop. Talk to the Goddess and the fireplace. Go upstairs and into the first room. Examine the pencil and Use the Ark of Wood. Go back downstairs and check the canvas, then Touch or Hit it to enter the Dark World. Before you do, a word of caution. You cannot use party members, nor can you leave until you find the Ark, so prepare well before entering. The only remaining mysteries are the glass jar and the door inside of the crystal pillar. F. Dark World ============= You begin in a room, so exit that room. Go over to the desk and check the diary. Examine it, then Open it and Read it. If you want to sleep here, you have to check the wall while in the bed. Now, leave the room and check the message on the wall to the west. Go into the south door and check the broken box for a Dirty Magazine. Check the diary, Open it and Read it. Just think about the situation. This is one of the creepiest places around and there's both a dirty magazine and a child's diary. Whoever grew up here must have been warped beyond belief. Leave the room and go into the northern half of the next area and read the message on the wall. Go into the nearby door and read the note on the wall. Check the box, which looks like a TV, Turn on the switch, and Kick it. Remember the order of the colors. Now, leave and check the two paintings. You must Examine and Shake them until they are identical. If you can't figure it out, shake the top one 3 times and the bottom one twice. Now, go south through the door. By the way, you've likely noticed that there are monsters here. They only appear when you go into a different room. They do not appear every time, however. I've never been able to turn them into figurines, either. The battles are not terribly intense, but you're alone, so be careful. This chapter focuses more on story, horror, and puzzle-solving than actual combat. I'd say it's pretty well done. It's one of the creepiest moments I've experienced in a video game. It's not as frightening as Sweet Home on the NES, but I digress. In this new area, check the note on the wall east of where you entered. Go to the northwest corner and check the clock. Hit it, then Look closely to get Clock No. 4. Check the fireplace and Use Clock No. 4 to unlock a door. Go to the southern end of the room down the stairs and go west to a small room. Read the note on the table, then go into the door on the left. Read the note on the wall for a hint on what to do next. If you need another hint, think of the shapes and where you've seen wooden boxes. If you're stumped... ******************************************************************************* Check the box in this room and Open it. Next, leave this room, then go into the one next to it. Open the box here, then return to the box near the clock in the next room. Open this last box. ******************************************************************************* From the clock room, go back into the room with the round tables and through the other door. Check the note on the wall here and go through the door again. Read the note on this wall as well and the one on the nearby table. There's a box in here that will not open no matter how hard you try. The note on the wall will tell you how to open it. If you're still stumped, go the the clock room and check the box here. Shake it for the Wooden Box Key. Now, return to the room you were in and check the box. Use the Wooden Box Key and Open the box. Go back to the clock room and enter the previously sealed door and down the stairs to get to the *gulp* basement. Read the bone-chilling note on the wall and go south through the door. Now, read the note on the wall and check the creepy thing on the nightstand. On a side note, I sometimes have similar looking objects appear in my nightmares. Examine the scene and Blow on the web 3 times. Now, leave this room. You don't want to mess with anything that looks that pissed off. That's the look my cat gave me right before she pushed me down the stairs. True story. Anyway, go through the door you passed before. Check the note on the wall. Check the egg on the table, then Examine and Touch it. Now, go over to the fireplace and check it. Stoke the fire. Check the egg again and Examine it twice. Touch the lizard and Examine the scene to get the Lizard Tail. Go into the next room for another bizarre scene. The two doors to the east are sealed, but read the note on the wall. You cannot go north, because toxic water has flooded the path. Go south into the next room on the west side. Go to the south wall, then walk east and a bit north to the pot tucked away there. Check it, Shake it twice, and Turn it over to get the Cabinet Key. Now, against your better judgment, walk over to the cabinet, check it and Use the Cabinet Key. Open the cabinet and Examine it. Leave the room and go into the northern room on the east side. Check the machine in here and press the red button. Leave this room and go where the toxic water was. Read the 2 notes on the wall here, then enter the easternmost door. It is the only one of the 4 that is open. Read the note on the wall, then check the bird. Give it the Lizard's Tail, then go back south to the other group of four doors and enter the south door on the east side. Heal up and talk to the creature for an intense battle. ***** Beast ***** Cast Hard on yourself or use Guard Bottles until they stop working. This thing hits HARD. A boost or two in Speed wouldn't hurt, either, since the thing's fast on top of it. Just keep hitting and healing, using Powerwave when your HP is especially high. You'll eventually outlast it, hopefully. If you can't win, you can always try to grind on the random enemies here. I had Feris at Level 33 and I was alright. Just remember that this battle is optional, but the rewards are great, so I'd recommend it. Just plug away, I have faith in your abilities. Now, go back to where the water was and enter each of the three doors. The eastern door contains a Magic Buckle and a Forbidden Symbol. The middle door contains a Thorn Robe and a Crystal Shield. The western door contains a strange machine. Press the right button for darkness, the center button for dim light, and the left button for light. It doesn't serve any real purpose as far as I can tell. When you're ready, climb the nearby stairs, then the next set. In here, go south and read the note on the wall. Go through the door to the south on the west side near the note. Read the note on the table and check the cabinet. Approach it, then Examine it to get the Wine Glass. Now, leave the room and go through the other door to the south, since the north door cannot be opened yet. Read the somewhat disturbing note on the wall, then check the cabinet. Approach and Examine to get the White Wine. Check the table. Now, Place the glass, Place the wine, Pour the wine, then Drink the wine. Leave the room and go through the north door. Read the note on the wall and check the clock. Hit it, then Look closely to get the Clock Screw. Now, go to the table and ring the bell to awaken the western statue. You need a different kind of bell to awaken the eastern one. If you're stumped, look below. ******************************************************************************* Go into the next room, then south from the door. Check the pitcher on the table. Use the Clock Screw and Shake it to make a jingling sound. ******************************************************************************* Leave the room with the pitcher, then go into the north door on the east side. Here, read the note on the wall and take note that each of the statues is awake. Go through the south door on the right. Read the note on the wall and the other on the box. Check the southwestern-most white jar to get the Purple Crystal. Now, go around to all 5 statues in the next room and both statues in the room with the bell, check them, and Use the Purple Crystal. The order does not matter. Now, go north through the door in the room with the 5 statues. Read the note on the wall, then go into the next room and do the same. Now, you have to light the candles in the order you got from the TV near the beginning. If you need a refresher, the order is red, blue, yellow, green. If you need the solution, light east, west, north, then south. Go through the southern door. Read the note on the wall and MAKE SURE to do everything you want to do in this world, because once you open that chest, you can't come back. Open the chest for the Ark of Water. The Ark of Water is used like the Ark of Wood. In armor, I believe it raises the defense, but it is hard to tell, since it doesn't change the numerical value. In figurines, it causes the character to slowly regain HP. At any rate, you're back in the Shrine after a frightening adventure. Talk to the Goddess, then to the fireplace. Go into the room next to the canvas and check the bottle on the counter. Use the Ark of Water, then check it again and Take it to get the Bottle of Water. Check the fireplace, then Use the Bottle of Water on it. Go in, through the tunnel, and into the weird structure on the island. Check the book on the table and Open it. Since you can't read it, Use the Wisdom Ark. Check it again and Read it to enter the Fairytale World. G. Fairytale World ================== Check the pot behind you to return to the Shrine at any time. Read the sign for a cutscene. In front of the inn are 2 beautifully colored trees. They remind me of Slime Forest in Crusader of Centy. Anyway, check them and Use the Ark of Wood. You'll get a Sandwich from the one on the left and a Poison Apple from the one on the right. You can also find a large stump next to the house east of the castle. If you check it and Use the Ark of Wood, a large vine grows, which you can climb. It's interesting, if you can figure out where you are, but not really useful just yet. You can also choose to Cut it down the get the Troll Harp. On other thing to note before we move on: this kingdom is called Tinkle. I find this name juvenile and distasteful, so you'll see it referred to as Fairytale Kingdom both in the walkthrough and in the location section of all equipment. Now, head into the castle. Talk to the guards and enter the doorway. Go in the central doorway and up the stairs. Go talk to the King. He's the fat naked guy on the throne. Don't believe me? Talk to the people in the dungeon. It's an allegory to The Emperor's New Clothes, a fairytale about an emperor who bought clothes from a swindler. The clothes were said not to be visible to anyone who was foolish. There were no clothes and no one wanted to admit to being foolish, so they kept their mouths shut, except for one small child. This world has many such allegories. Anyway, agree to help him, then leave the castle. Make sure you talk to everyone, especially the girl in front of the inn. Otherwise, you can't move on. Leave the kingdom via the southwest exit. It should have a sign that reads "Gum Forest" just before it. As one additional curiosity, if you go around behind the castle walls by going out of the other western exit, you can find a hole. If you check it and Use the Ark of Water, you'll get an amusing message. Onward to Gum Forest! This forest is confusing so read my instructions carefully. Also, you can't turn the Jackals into Figurines. At the first split, go west. Talk to the man here and give him a Sandwich. Now, climb up the vine, walk west across the treetops, then down the next vine. Go west and climb another vine and continue west across the treetops. When you reach another vine, climb down it, then go west and into the cave. Follow the linear path, then go back out. Outside, go west at the split and continue along the cliff until you reach a cave. Go inside and follow the path to a Death Symbol. Exit the cave and go north at the previous intersection. When you reach the vine, climb it, head west, then climb down the next vine. Go west a bit and into the cave. At the first split, go kinda northeast, then north at the next one, then north again and into the opening. Talk to the wolf here and get ready for a fight. **** Wolf **** His Power is pretty high and his Speed is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure he's faster than the Ferrets were. You may want to buff your Speed or debuff his just so you can hit him. Magic also works pretty well here. This is one of those rare times when I bring Miriene into the picture. You'll probably take him out fairly quickly, so I don't think you'll need Meisia. Don't worry, though. You'll need her soon enough. Once you've beaten him, grab the Flame Bow from the back and go back to the Fairytale Kingdom. Go talk to the king to get the Royal Armor and your next quest. Go down the stairs, out the door, into the door to the east, then down more stairs to reach the dungeon. The wolf is here if you'd like to talk to him. Leave the castle and leave the town via the east exit to enter Cur Forest. It would have made more sense for the wolf to be here, but that's beside the point. Go east through the passage, then through another in the northeast corner of the next area. If you go south about halfway through the aforementioned passage, you can get your hands on a Wizard Axe. It's the most powerful weapon in the game with a whopping 120 Attack Power. Kamiwoo becomes a grizzly bear with a chainsaw when you equip him with it. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Go back to the path and go east into the next area. Go through the passage at the northeast of this area, then continue east to the next screen. Keep going east to reach an Assassin. Go back to the passage you went through and go south and into a clearing for a scene. You can go east, but all it leads to is an infinite loop. Go back to the Fairytale Kingdom and talk to the king. You'll get the King's Letter. Now leave town by the northwest exit to head toward Woz Tower. The wonderful Izard of Woz. Go west and touch the shore to get into a boat. At the first split, row north, then go east at the next. Land at the shore and grab the Blizzard Bottle. Go back to the intersection and go south, then west at the next. Keep going west until you land on shore, then go west to the next screen. Go into the water here and row around the path, which is a big spiral. The first branch goes off west, but it's a dead end. The next split is a circle, but south seems to be quicker. Once you reach the south side of the island, land and enter the tower. Climb all the way up the spiral staircase. The first door on the way contains Herb Soup. The next door contains a Magic Mirror. The following door contains the Lightning Bow. Go through the door at the top. If you run into an enemy called Grander (it's a palette swap of the King Mole), don't bother trying to make it into a figurine. Outside, follow the linear path and go back in to find... another spiral staircase! Climb to the top again. The room along the way contains a Magic Mirror. At the top, you'll find the lion from Cur Forest and Woz. Talk to them. Woz will give you the Staff of Woz. Now, go back to Fairytale Kingdom. Considering how far a journey it is, you may want to warp, but it's up to you. Talk to the Gresel in the inn 3 times. Now, go talk to the king. Go back to the inn and talk to the fat guy upstairs. Ugh, go to Ant's house, which is in the northwest corner of town. Go talk to Cricket, who is standing next to the moat. Now, go south from Ant's house and into the one house that's not destroyed. Talk to the pig in green, then the pig in blue. Go to the southeast corner of town and into the house. Go upstairs and talk to Cinderenna. Go back downstairs and talk to the woman in the brown dress. MAN ALIVE! Okay, this one's a bit tricky. Go to the inn and talk to the girl out front. Yet again, she advances the plot. Go into the inn, go upstairs, and talk to Gobbles McFoodface again. Go talk to the king, then go downstairs and out the door. Go into the western door, then the western door again to find the tailor again. Agree to help him, even though he's a huge pain in the ass. He'll give you the White Dress. Bring it to Cinderenna. Leave her house and go to the house next door to find Zepeck, who you helped earlier. He has all sorts of carved wooden dolls in his house. Talk to him. You can go to the tree now, but you won't have the proper materials, so go back to the Shrine and back to the Giant's World. Go to Kumu and go into the tall windmill I told you to ignore earlier. You'll know you're in the right place because there are enemies. This place sucks, plain and simple. All of the walls are invisible and the staircases you see aren't real. The real ones are invisible as well. At least now, you're ridiculously overpowered to handle the enemies here. That's why I had you wait. Anyway, follow these instructions carefully. 1F: Go north until you hit the wall. (1 space) Go west 4 spaces. Go north 3 spaces. Go east 4 spaces. Go north until you hit a wall. Go east 1 space. 2F: Go north 3 spaces. Go west 4 spaces. Go south 3 spaces. Go east 2 spaces. Go south 1 space. Face west and grab the Thunder Scarab. Go south until you hit a wall. (4 spaces) Go east until you hit a wall. (4 spaces) Go north until you hit a wall. (3 spaces) Go west until you hit a wall. (2 spaces) Go south 1 space. 3F: Go east 1 space. Go north 1 space. Go east 2 spaces. Go north until you hit a wall. (3 spaces) Go west 3 spaces. Go north one space and grab the Special Herb. Go south 1 space. Go east until you hit a wall. (4 spaces) Go south 7 spaces. Go east 1 space. 4F: Go north 6 spaces. (next to the fake stairs) Go west 2 spaces. Go south until you hit a wall. (5 spaces) Go west 4 spaces. Go north 1 space, check the machine and Use the Ark of Water. (Glass Sphere) Go south 1 space. Go west until you hit a wall. (3 spaces) Go north 6 spaces. Go west 2 spaces. Go all the way south. Go east to the treasure chest. (Death Symbol) Now, leave this horrid place. Your Crystal works, so I'd recommend that. Go back to the Fairytale World and leave through the eastern exit to return to Cur Forest. Go back to where you met the lion. Check the tree here and Use the Glass Sphere. Select the size 19 shoes. Go back and give them to Cinderenna. When you regain control, go to the throne and get the King's Heart. Now, talk to the prince by the stairs to get Cinderenna's Heart. Leave the castle and check the sign outside to see which 4 hearts you need. Go to the house to the southwest of town for Little Red Hat's Heart. Now, go to the house next to the stump, which is in the northeast corner, and grab the Goose's Heart. Check the stump, Use the Ark of Wood, and Climb to the top. Check the bird on the east edge, Use the Goose's Heart, and climb back down. Now, go back to the Shrine and return to the room with the fireplace. There are 3 figurines on tables here. Cinderenna is to the west, Little Red Hat is to the east, and the king is more centralized. Use the appropriate hearts to get their figurines, then return to the Fairytale World. Go talk to the prince, now on the throne, the chancellor, and the king, who is in bed in the room to the west of the throne. If you need an inn, go to Zepeck's house and talk to the large wooden puppet. Now, return to the top of Woz's Tower. Once you've reached the top, go back to the king and talk to him. Hmmm... Go back to the tailor's room on the first floor and open the chest for the Clothes of Concealment. Now, leave town via the south exit. Follow the path until you reach an old man, who simply will not let you pass. Equip the Clothes of Concealment and walk right by him. You may take them off whenever you wish. Go north to the next screen. You have now entered Carascobeth Waterfall. Go north and into the cave. Follow the path to get back outside. Now, go east under the waterfall and climb the vine at the end. Continue on and enter the cave. Go west and outside, then follow the short path for the Muramasa. Now, go back to to split and go up the stairs. Follow the path and go outside. Now, go east, climb the vine, and enter the cave. Check the chest, Look closely, and flip the switch. Go back out, down the vine, and into the cave. Follow the path, go downstairs, then go south to get outside. Climb down the vine, go under the waterfall, and enter the cave. Go through the cave and outside. You should be near the entrance. Now, go under the waterfall to the west, since you've lowered the drawbridge, and continue west until you reach a cave, then enter it, unless you want to go a bit further west to a save point. Inside the cave, follow the path and go up the stairs. Go outside, then head east, and enter the first cave. Follow the linear path until you reach a chest. Get the Mana Bottle, then go back through the cave. Continue east and enter the next cave you see for the Death Bringer, then exit. Continue east some more, climb the vine, and go into the cave. Head west at both intersections and go outside. Go east, climb the vine, heal up, and continue on to meet and old friend. *** Sly *** THIS guy again!? Don't worry; this is his lamest incarnation yet. All he has is a regular attack and while it does decent damage, you'll probably escape without having to heal. He even goes down pretty quickly. You know the drill just annihilate him. What a d-o-r-k. Enter the cave, follow the path, and go up the stairs. Go up these next stairs, then go up another set of stairs. When outside, go into the first cave you see and keep following the path until you get the Shuriken. Go back to that cave's entrance, then head west and into the next cave. Follow the path, go up the stairs, then outside. Head east, and check the two spots in the middle of the waterfall (4 & 5 squares in), all the way back, facing north. You'll find Herbs and a Power Bottle. Continue on and enter the cave at the eastern end. Follow the path, climb the stairs, and go outside. Travel west, climb the vine, heal, and pass through the waterfall to the east. You're stopped by the second slap on the boss gauntlet. ************ Water Dragon ************ This guy's not so bad. He's like Sly, only with a bit more Power and HP. He'll take a bit longer to defeat and will hit harder, but he's still not much of a problem. Just keep at it and you're good. Now, go east, climb the vine, then enter the cave at the top. Just follow the path and keep descending staircases until you reach an area with dragon statues and red carpet. No, you're not going to fight the Sinistrals, but you should definitely consider restoring your MP (because I know you're low unless you came in here with a buttload of healing items) and bringing out Meisia. Give your other party member a Cross if you have one. When you're ready, move on and get ready for the hardest boss you've faced in a while. ******** Darkness ******** You're finally face to face with Darkness and man is he a BASTARD. First of all, make sure you use Deathguard/Cross on everyone because he loves his death spells. His Power is pretty high, but manageable. His HP is very high! His Guard is relatively low, though, so you'll be doing pretty good damage. Still, he has so much HP that this is guaranteed to be a long battle. Unless you cheated, that is. His Magic is relatively high, so stick with physical attacks. He's Speed is about average, so Kick might not be such a good idea. However, DO use Powerwave when your HP is high. He can cast Sick and Slow, but if you were smart and listened to me, you have Meisia. Use her for buffing when she isn't busy healing. Healing lets you survive this marathon and bffing makes it shorter. That's a good thing; trust me. Keep plugging away and KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR HP! Just keep a watchful eye and a cool head and this guy is toast. You've made it this far... I have faith in you! Congratulations! You've defeated one of the most powerful bosses in the game AND you have the Ark of Darkness. If you imbue the Ark of Darkness into a staff, it will cause petrification upon impact. Yes, Meisia finally becomes somewhat useful in combat. It works quite often. Anyway, head back to Fairytale Kingdom. Go into the castle and talk to the prince. Go into the room to the west of the throne room and talk to the king. Now, talk to the prince again. Agree to help him and head to Cinderenna's house. Talk to the three women on the first floor for some great side commentary. Go upstairs and find that Cinderenna is not there. Go to the south exit, then west a bit and into the house. Now, go back to the castle and talk to the chancellor. Talk to the king in his bedroom and go into the eastern room from the throne room. Talk to the prince to find out what happened. Way to go, genius. Well, go to the inn and talk to Gresel. Now, I know what you're thinking, but it's not in the Temple. Go back to the Shrine, then go to the Fruit World. Now, go to the Crow's Forest and go to the crow's nest. Check it, and Climb to get the Powder of Awakening. Go back to Fairytale Kingdom and talk to the prince. Now, go back to the Temple and talk to the goddess statue. Go back to the room where you started the game and check the crystal pillar. Use the Ark of Darkness and head inside to enter the final area. H. Nexus of Darkness ==================== Go north to the first intersection. Head east until you see a crab to the north. You can go a bit east, all the way south, through the opening and east along the path if you want a Forbidden Symbol. If not (or if you already got it) talk to the crab for the first boss battle. ********* Iron Claw ********* Think of the Metal Crabs from Secret of Mana. He can hit decently hard, has a fairy amount of HP and has the ability to put you to sleep. He's even similarly colored. He's really nothing to worry about. His Power is about what you're used to in a boss. His HP will keep him alive for a few rounds, but this is not Darkness. He doesn't really have any special attacks, so just keep hitting him and hope he doesn't put the whole party to sleep. The only thing about him that's noteworthy is that his Speed is fairly high, so you might want to buff your Speed. It's not obnoxiously high like the Ferrets, though. Just keep it up and save your victory dance for later. Now, go into the opening and get ready for a really confusing set of paths. In the next room, there are 4 openings, each of which take you to the same room. However, that room has invisible walls that change their positions depending upon which entrance you took. Now, certain games use this structure as well. If you've played Mega Man X, it's like the path of the Bospider. If you haven't the concept is fairly simple. You continue north, but every time a path to the east or west crosses yours, you have to take it. This game enforces it with invisible walls. Now, I'll name the paths 1-4 from west to east and give you the yields of each, so you can determine which you want to follow. Path 1 provides a Special Herb. Path 2 has a Magic Mirror, which you will likely want. Path 3 moves you into the next area. Path 4 gives you a Mana Jar. After taking Path 3, go through this passage, then go west until you reach an opening with a tablet next to it. Check the tablet and flip the switch to make a shortcut back to the Shrine. You're in the first room right now, so if you want to go back, now is a good time to do it. Just go south. When you're ready, go into the opening next to the tablet. Follow the long, winding path and go into the opening at the top. In the totally dark room, just go north, there are no secret passages that I could find. Now, heal up, walk north along the path and talk to the hydra for your second boss battle. ********* Naga Raja ********* This thing is FAST. Make sure to buff your Speed or you won't be able to hit it very often. Magic will miss rather frequently as well, not that it matters because it does crap damage. It casts Freezing Hell, which will hurt like hell. Meisia wouldn't be a bad idea here, since even its Power is decently high. Its HP is fairly high as well, meaning that this will be a fairly long battle. He can also cast Sick to make your HP situation even worse. This battle will be intense, but just keep hitting him. I recommend Reeshine and Meisia. However, Lux and Kamiwoo make great candidates as well, since Full Power will keep them alive and well. Tokio's not a bad idea, either, since Illusion Strike hits twice, a valuable addition in a battle where accuracy is a big problem. He also has Speed, which helps out tremendously. So, I guess that the strategy is the same one I've been giving you all along: use Meisia if you feel you need a healer, and anyone else but Miriene. Sorry, but Enix likes to make games where offensive magic is fairly useless. That said, her Mirror spell could come in handy at times, so it's up to you. Keep going! You're almost there! After your victory, breathe a sigh of relief and continue on north through the opening. Before you go too far, stop. Heal your HP and MP fully. You probably have a buttload of Perfumes, anyway. Figure out who you want in your final party and give them healing items and Magic Mirrors, unless you want Miriene, who has the Mirror spell. She won't need them. Make sure you have a decent amount. You'll probably want at least 6. I recommend Meisia and Reeshine, but anyone can be useful here. It all depends on your style. Just make sure you have HP and MP restoring items and the ability to mirror your party because the final boss's magic is NASTY and his HP makes Darkness look like the Crows you fought back in the Sand World. I approached this at Level 37 with my party around Level 33. When ready, approach the large orange flux of energy. ****** Malice ****** This is it, the final battle. Begin by mirroring everyone as quickly as possible. Buff if you'd like and let him have it! This is by far the longest battle in the game. It's fairly long, even if your hero is at Level 81 and your party is at Level 78 (max levels), but don't worry, you can do it! Let's get started. His Power is fairly high, but not ridiculously so. His main attack opens a portal and throws moons at one character. He can also slam you with Blizzard Hole and Freezing Hell. These attacks really hurt, which is why you want to be mirrored. The other reasons are that he can cast Stone, which will incapacitate a member for quite some time and that he can cast Draw, which will make the battle last even longer! Use Powerwave when your HP is maxed. Even being short by about 100 will make it useless. If you've buffed your Power a fair amount, just use regular attacks, since they'll do more than Powerwave at that point. His Speed is a bit higher than average, so Kick is risky. However, if you keep buffing Reeshine's Speed, her accuracy gets to a point at which it's worth it for the few times you'll miss. Also, keep buffing her Power. I've seen Kick deal over 1000 damage! His Magic is very high, so offensive magic is useless. After 10 rounds, mirror your guys again, trust me. Alternatively, I suppose you could use the time you're mirrored to use Magic Bottles and cast Aura to raise your resistance to it. Whatever you do, don't let your HP drop too low and don't stop attacking. Sure, you can buff and heal for a long period of time, but that's time better spent fighting the battle. If you have Meisia, have her buff. She has all 4 buffing spells and her physical attack is worthless, plus the Ark of Darkness won't work on this boss. That would be cheap anyway. Just keep hitting Malice with your strongest attacks and keep your HP up and you'll eventually make it. I know you can do this. You've finally won. Crack open a can/bottle/jug/whatever of your favorite beverage, kick back, and enjoy the ending. ============= V. Techniques ============= There are two types of techniques: skills and spells. Skills show up under the Fight command, whereas spells show up under the Magic command. Skills do not consume MP; only spells do. Also, keep in mind that skills and spells are unable to overkill an enemy. That means that you cannot do more damage with them than an enemy has HP for. So, if it seems that a skill or spell is pathetically weak, but still kills the target, try it on a stronger foe to test its true power. The three exceptions are that Flurry as well as Lux's Atomic and Full Atomic can overkill their target. Skills ====== Prayer - Restores the user's HP. Compassion - Restores the user's MP. Kick - Deals massive damage, but misses often. Atomic - Consumes 10 HP and does massive damage to one enemy. Powerwave - Deals damage based on your current HP. Illusion Strike - Strikes twice. Flurry - Attacks all enemies. Breath - Deals fire-elemental damage to all enemies. Smash - Deals great damage to all enemies, but misses often. Full Atomic - Consumes 20 HP and does massive damage to all enemies. Blood Suck - Siphons an enemy's HP. Kiss of Death - Siphons an enemy's MP. Full Power - Boosts user's Power to maximum for one attack. War Cry - Boosts party's Power temporarily. Threaten - Reduces an enemy's Power. Alluring Eyes - Reduces an enemy's Magic. Wish Song - Puts an enemy to sleep. Guard - Raises defense for one turn. Figurine - Turns an enemy into a figurine. Spells ====== First comes the spell name. Following that is the number of MP it costs to cast that spell in parentheses. Then a dash and an explanation of what the spell does. Following that in parentheses is whether the spell targets one or all. Healing and positive support (buffing) spells target your party members, whereas offensive and negative support (debuffing) spells target your enemies. Generally speaking, spells are like life: the more [MP] you put into it, the more you get out. Also, I know that some of the descriptions are kind of "DUH!", but it's like I told myself when I paid 200-some rupees for a treasure chart that led me to a single rupee in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker... You can't put a price on the sake of completion. You can't put a price on the sake of completion. *rocks back and forth* Healing ------- Health (3) - Restore 50 HP (Single) Morehealth (6) - Restore 100 HP (Single) Highhealth (10) - Restore 180 HP (Single) Fullhealth (15) - Restore all HP (Single) Heal (6) - Restore 50 HP (Multiple) Healmore (12) - Restore 100 HP (Multiple) Healhigh (20) - Restore 180 HP (Multiple) Full Heal (40) - Restore all HP (Multiple) Cure (4) - Cancels status ailments (Single) Offensive --------- Fire (2) - Fire-elemental damage (Single) Fire Storm (4) - Fire-elemental damage (Single) Fireball (8) - Fire-elemental damage (Single) Red Burn (5) - Fire-elemental damage (Multiple) Heat Cyclone (8) - Fire-elemental damage (Multiple) Prominence (18) - Fire-elemental damage (Multiple) Cold Down (3) - Ice-elemental damage (Single) Icerock Nail (6) - Ice-elemental damage (Single) Ice Split (8) - Ice-elemental damage (Single) Blizzard Hole (14) - Ice-elemental damage (Single) Ice Wall (5) - Ice-elemental damage (Multiple) Ice Chain (10) - Ice-elemental damage (Multiple) Freezing Hell (40) - Ice-elemental damage (Multiple) Lightning (4) - Electrical-elemental damage (Single) Plasma Field (8) - Electrical-elemental damage (Single) Spark (14) - Electrical-elemental damage (Multiple) Bolt Earth (20) - Electrical-elemental damage (Multiple) Blast Bomb (22) - Non-elemental damage (Single) Laser (5) - Non-elemental damage (Multiple) Earthquake (6) - Non-elemental damage (Multiple) Wide Ray (10) - Non-elemental damage (Multiple) Hurricane (10) - Non-elemental damage (Multiple) Holy Emblem (30) - Massive damage to "evil" creatures (Multiple) Support ------- Power (8) - Temporarily boosts Power (Single) Hard (8) - Temporarily boosts Guard (Single) Speed (6) - Temporarily boosts Speed (Single) Aura (6) - Temporarily boosts Magic (Single) Draw (6) - Temporarily reduces Power (Single) Sick (6) - Temporarily reduces Guard (Single) Slow (6) - Temporarily reduces Speed (Single) Curse (6) - Temporarily reduces Magic (Single) Sleep (3) - Puts target to sleep (Single) Stone (4) - Petrify (makes one unable to act) (Single) Kill (10) - Instant death (when it works) (Single) Blackout (25) - Instant death (usually works) (Single) Death Flare (20) - Instant death (Multiple) Deathguard (6) - Negates instant death (actually quite useful) (Single) Mirror (6) - Negates magical damage (Single) Miscellaneous ------------- Warp Gate (14) - Warp to any town or Goddess Statue you've visited =========== VI. Weapons =========== I've tested this extensively. I thought for sure there was some sort of pattern regarding what people can equip and how much attack power it would give them based on what the weapon type was. However, after a fair amount of testing, I've determined that there is no pattern. If Tokio gets no penalty on a Black Iron Scimitar and a 2-point penalty on a Pirate Scimitar, then there's no pattern. They're both katana-type weapons. They're both scimitars. It's not that the penalty is so small that it doesn't show up on the one with lower attack power because it's the one with lower attack power, NOT the one with higher attack power that has the penalty. So, whatever. I'm going to give individual attack power ratings for each character for each weapon. Please use the table to determine the attack power you wish to know. -- means that the character cannot use that weapon. Attack (AP) is the base attack power for that weapon. One last thing: the top table in each section is real weapons and the bottom table is for the weapons that I'm pretty sure are dummied. See the Dummied Items subsection of the Items section for more details on what a dummy is. AP: Attack He: Hero Mi: Miriene Lu: Lux Re: Reeshine To: Tokio Ka: Kamiwoo Me: Meisia A. Swords ========= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Rusted Sword | 1| 0|--|--|--| 0| 1|--| Below Forge | |Bronze Blade | 3| 3|--|--|--| 2| 2|--| First room in Sand World | |Black Bastard |16|16|--|--|--|14|11|--| Found in the Altar of Chavez | |Steel Sword |20|20|--|--|--|18|14|--| Received in Pineapple Town | |Silver Sword |24|24|14|--|--|21|16|--| Buy from Blacksmith's Book | |Redwing Sword |30|30|--|--|--|27|21|--| Buy from Blacksmith's Book | |Earth Sword |36|32|--|--|--|32|25|--| Buy in Dupro | |Undead Slayer |45|45|--|--|--|40|31|--| Find in passage under Bell Forest | |Golden Sword |50|50|--|--|--|45|35|--| Find in Junkyard | |Thunder Sword |60|60|--|--|--|54|48|--| Buy in Nanaka | |Warrior Sword |62|62|--|--|--|55|43|--| Given to you by Meister | |Ancient Sword |65|65|--|--|--|58|45|--| Find in Tower of Ruins | |Holy Blade |72|72|--|--|--|64|50|36| Buy in Kumu | |Flame Sword |84|84|--|--|--|75|58|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Death Bringer |96|96|--|--|--|86|67|--| Find in Carascobeth Falls | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Storm Blade | 1| 1|--|--|--| 0| 0|--| --------------------------------------- B. Katanas ========== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Pirate Scimitar | 6| 6|--|--|--| 4| 4|--| Buy on the Gunboss | |Black Iron Scimitar |10|10|--|--|--|10| 8|--| Buy on the Bloodhoook | |Gourd Smasher |15| 9| 4|--|--|15|12|--| Buy in the Gourd Bridge | |Engetsu-To |34|20|17|--|--|34|27|--| Find in Kidsdam Mansion | |Shamshir |56|33|28|--|--|56|44|--| Buy in Nanaka | |Ragnarok |68|40|--|--|--|68|61|--| Find in Coln | |Muramasa |95|57|--|--|--|95|85|--| Find in Carascobeth Falls | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Masamune | 1| 0|--|--|--| 1| 0|--| |Kokuto | 1| 0|--|--|--| 1| 0|--| |Illegal | 1| 0|--|--|--| 1| 0|--| -------------------------------------------- C. Knives ========= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Pirate Knife | 3| 2| 3|--|--| 3| 0| 1| Buy on the Gunboss | |Shark's Tooth | 9| 7| 9|--|--| 9| 0| 5| Find in the Quarry | |Black Iron Knife |12| 9|12|--|--|12| 1| 7| Buy on the Bloodhook | |Fruit Knife |14|11|14|--|--|14| 1| 8| Buy in Watermelon Town | |Silver Dagger |20|16|20|--|--|20| 2|12| Buy from Blacksmith's Book | |Gladius |32|25|32|--|--|32| 3|19| Find in Metallimo | |Main Gauche |45|36|45|--|--|45|45|27| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Assassin |70|56|70|--|--|70| 7|42| Find in Cur Forest | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Ogre Cleaver | 1| 0| 1|--|--| 1| 0| 0| |Dimension Knife | 1| 0| 1|--|--| 1| 0| 0| ----------------------------------------- D. Axes ======= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP |He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka |Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Pirate Axe | 7| 5|--|--|--| 2| 7|--| Buy on the Bloodhook | |Black Iron Axe| 14|11|--|--|--| 5| 14|--| Buy on the Bloodhook | |Rock Cleaver | 18|14|--|--|--| 5| 18|--| Buy in the Gourd Bridge | |Skull Axe | 30|21|30|--|--|15| 30|30| Exchange *Bonehead in Arena | |Cutter | 30|--|--|--|30|--| --|--| Exchange Firefly in Arena | |Tomahawk | 34|20|--|--|--|10| 34|--| Buy from Blacksmith's Book | |Rock Hook | 40|20|--|--|--|12| 40|--| Buy in Dupro | |Guillotine Axe| 50|35|--|--|--|20| 50|--| Buy in Ratwood | |Tole Axe | 68|47|--|--|--|34| 68|--| Buy in Nanaka | |Wizard Axe |120|84|--|--|--|60|120|--| Find in Cur Forest | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Staves ========= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Cypress Staff |10| 4| 8|--|--| 2|--|10| Buy in Watermelon Town | |Nasty Bludgeon |15| 6|12|--|--| 3|--|15| Solve apple puzzle in Gourd Bridge | |Cedar Staff |21| 8|16|--|--| 4|--|21| Buy from Blacksmith's Book | |Magical Staff |28|11|22|--|--| 2|--|28| Found in Cecille's Bedroom (Kidsdam)| |Thunder Staff |34|13|27|--|--|10|--|34| Found in Snowgate | |Deck Brush |40|16|32|--|--|12|--|40| Synthesis Machine | |Droplet Staff |48|19|38|--|--|14|--|48| Buy in Kumu | |Staff of Woz |64|25|51|--|--|25|--|64| Given to you by Woz | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Death Wand | 1| 0| 0|--|--| 0|--| 1| |HolyLight Staff| 1| 0| 0|--|--| 0|--| 1| --------------------------------------- F. Bows ======= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Long Bow |17|13|--|--|11|17|--|--| Find in Big Tree | |Heavy Blow |28|22|--|--|19|28|--|--| Buy in Dupro | |Silver Bow |38|30|--|--|26|38|--|--| Buy in Dupro | |Heavy Gun |58|46|--|--|40|58|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Lightning Bow |70|56|--|--|49|70|--|--| Find in Tower of Woz | |Flame Bow |84|67|--|--|58|84|--|--| Find in Wolf's cave in Gum Forest | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bow | 1| 0|--|--| 0| 1|--|--| |Bow | 1| 0|--|--| 0| 1|--|--| |Bow | 1| 0|--|--| 0| 1|--|--| |Bow | 1| 0|--|--| 0| 1|--|--| --------------------------------------- G. Tetsu-jin Arms ================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Power Arm | 6|--|--| 6|--|--|--|--| Lux begins with | |Iron Club |14|--|--|14|--|--|--|--| Buy in Pineapple Town | |Tin Glove |22|--|--|22|--|--|--|--| Sweets Mountain cake puzzle "Toy" | |Power Wrist |28|--|--|28|--|--|--|--| Found in Snowgate | |P1301 |34|--|--|34|--|--|--|--| Found in Junkyard | |Gauntlet |42|--|--|42|--|--|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |P1401 | 1|--|--| 1|--|--|--|--| |Power Crash | 1|--|--| 1|--|--|--|--| |Golden Glove | 1|--|--| 1|--|--|--|--| |Destroyer | 1|--|--| 1|--|--|--|--| --------------------------------------- H. Nunchakus ============ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Banana Nunchaku |15|--|--|--|15| 4| 7|--| Found in Beetle Forest | |Sansetsukon |22|--|--|--|22| 8|13|--| Found in Soda Hole | |Sickle Nunchaku |32|--|--|--|32|12|--|--| Buy in Dupro | |Metal Nunchaku |38|--|--|--|38|15|--|--| Find in Junkyard | |Crusher |45|--|--|--|45|18|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Hard Masher | 1|--|--|--| 1| 0|--|--| |Battle Nunchaku | 1|--|--|--| 1| 0|--|--| |Battle Nunchaku | 1|--|--|--| 1| 0|--|--| |Battle Nunchaku | 1|--|--|--| 1| 0|--|--| |Battle Nunchaku | 1|--|--|--| 1| 0|--|--| ---------------------------------------- I. Boomerangs ============= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |AP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Boomerang |20|10|--|--|20|20|--|--| Buy from Blacksmith's Book | |Chakra |28|14|--|--|28|28|--|--| Buy in Dupro | |Double Chakra |37|29|--|--|37|37|--|--| Buy in Ratwood | |Shoot Ripper |46|36|--|--|46|46|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Shuriken |58|46|--|--|58|58|--|--| Find in Carascobeth Falls | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Cross Shuriken | 1| 0|--|--| 1| 1|--|--| |Engetsu-Rin | 1| 0|--|--| 1| 1|--|--| |Slash Link | 1| 0|--|--| 1| 1|--|--| |Chakra | 1| 0|--|--| 1| 1|--|--| |Chakra | 1| 0|--|--| 1| 1|--|--| --------------------------------------- ========== VII. Armor ========== Yes, armor has penalties, too. No, they don't make much sense, either. Use the key below to determine the appropriate defense power. DP: Defense He: Hero Mi: Miriene Lu: Lux Re: Reeshine To: Tokio Ka: Kamiwoo Me: Meisia A. Armor ======== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |DP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Leather Armor | 1| 1| 0|--| 0| 1| 1|--| Buy on the Gunboss | |Chain Mail | 3| 3|--|--|--| 3| 3|--| Buy on the Gunboss | |Leather Clothes | 4| 4| 4|--| 4| 4| 4| 4| Reeshine/Kamiwoo begin with | |Mithril Plating | 6|--|--| 6|--|--|--|--| Lux begins with | |Black Iron Armor | 7| 7|--|--|--| 7| 7|--| Buy on the Bloodhook | |Silver Plating |10|--|--|10|--|--|--|--| Buy in Watermelon Town | |Crimson Gi |10|--|--|--|10|--|--|--| Buy in the Gourd Bridge | |Banded Mail |11|11|--|--|--|11| 7|--| Buy at Pineapple Town | |Linen Robe |14|--|14|--|--|--|--|14| Buy in Gourd Bridge | |Gargoyle Suit |15|--|15|--|--|--|--|15| Exchange Killer Statue in Arena | |Goblin Suit |16|--|--|--|16|--|--|--| Exchange Goblin in Arena | |Beetle Suit |18|18|--|--|--|18|--|--| Exchange Neo Beetle in Arena | |Grand Mail |18|18|--|--|--|18|12|--| Buy in Keepensign | |Troll Suit |20|20|--|--|--|20|--|--| Exchange Troll in Arena | |Tin Vest |22|--|--|22|--|--|--|--| Buy in Keepensign | |Nichirin Gi |22|--|--|--|22|--|--|--| Buy in Keepensign | |Plate Armor |25|25|--|--|--|25|17|--| Buy in Keepensign | |Cotton Robe |25|--|25|--|--|--|--|25| Buy from Stonemason's Book | |Titanium Plating |28|--|--|28|--|--|--|--| Get from Loosewrench | |Panther Spats |30|--|--|--|30|--|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Silver Armor |31|31|--|--|--|31|21|--| Buy in Ratwood | |Full Metal Jacket|34|--|--|34|--|--|--|--| Synthesis Machine | |Black Robe |36|--|36|--|--|--|--|36| Buy in Keepensign | |Platinum Armor |37|37|--|--|--|37|--|--| Buy in Ratwood | |Horned Mail |42|42|--|--|--|42|--|--| Buy in Nanaka | |Magic Robe |42|--|42|--|--|--|--|42| Buy in Ratwood | |Mithril Armor |48|48|--|--|--|48|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kindgom | |Silk Robe |50|--|50|--|--|--|--|50| Buy in Nanaka | |Royal Armor |52|52|--|--|--|52|--|--| King's reward for defeating Wolf | |Steel Armor |52|--|--|52|--|--|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Thorn Robe |58|--|58|--|--|--|--|58| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Holy Robe |66|46|66|--|46|46|--|66| Synthesis Machine | |Wind Armor |75|75|--|--|--|75|--|--| Dummied item | |Hard Metal Armor |75|--|--|75|--|--|--|--| Dummied item | |Clear Armor |90|90|--|--|--|90|--|--| Dummied item | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Headgear =========== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |DP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Leather Hat | 1| 1|--|--|--| 1|--|--| Buy on the Bloodhook/Gunboss | |Iron Helmet | 2| 2|--|--|--| 2|--|--| Find on the Gunboss | |Black Iron Helm | 4| 4|--|--|--| 4|--|--| Buy on the Bloodhook | |Cross Helmet | 6| 6|--|--|--| 6|--|--| Buy from Stonemason's Book | |Nightcap | 6|--| 6|--|--|--|--| 6| Buy in Watermelon Town | |Tin Bucket | 8|--|--| 8|--|--|--|--| Buy in the Gourd Bridge | |Hard Helmet | 9| 9|--|--|--| 9|--|--| Buy in Dupro | |Wormmet |10|10|--|--|--| 8|10|--| Exchange Daedalus Worm in Arena | |Hood |10|--|10|--|--|--|--|10| Buy from Stonemason's Book | |Horned Helmet |11|11|--|--|--|11|--|--| Buy in Ratwood | |Gobbsmet |13|13|--|--|--|10|13|--| Exchange Gobbs in Arena | |Silver Helmet |14|14|--|--|--|14|--|--| Find in Tower of Ruins | |Mandarin Shell |15|10|10|--|10|--|15|10| Solve puzzle in Grape Town armory | |Metal Head |15|--|--|15|--|--|--|--| Find in Soda Hole | |Royal Crown |18|18|--|--|--|18|--|--| Buy in Fairytale Kingdom | |Triangle Hat |18|--|18|--|--|--|--|18| Buy in Nanaka | |Hard Cross |20|--|--|20|--|--|--|--| Find in Tower of Ruins | |Steel Cross |35|--|--|35|--|--|--|--| Dummied item | |Alkaloid Bucket |37|--|--|37|--|--|--|--| Synthesis Machine | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Shields ========== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |DP|He|Mi|Lu|Re|To|Ka|Me| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Buckler | 1| 1|--|--|--| 0| 0|--| Buy on the Bloodhook / Gunboss | |Black Shield | 3| 3|--|--|--| 2| 1|--| Buy on the Bloodhook | |Bone Shield | 5| 5|--|--|--| 4| 2|--| Buy in Watermelon Town | |Shoulder Pad | 5|--|--| 5|--|--|--|--| Found on Sweets Mountain | |Siren Mirror |10|10|--|--|--| 7| 7|--| Exchange Siren in Arena | |Kite Shield |10|10|--|--|--| 9| 5|--| Buy from Stonemason's Book | |Fire Shield |10|10|--|--|--| 7| 7|--| Exchange Elemental in Arena | |Light Shield |10|--|10|--|--|--|--|10| Exchange Metal Gate in Arena | |Chrome Plate |11|--|--|11|--|--|--|--| Found in Kidsdam Mansion | |Battle Shield |14|14|--|--|--|12| 7|--| Buy in Keepensign | |Zombie Shield |14|14|--|--|--| 9| 9|--| Exchange *Zombie in Arena | |Iron Gauntlet |14|--|--|--|14|--|--|--| Exchange Tetsujin M004 in Arena | |Tortoise Shell |16|16|--|--|--|14| 8|--| Buy in Ratwood | |Mirrored Shield|18|18|--|--|--|16| 9|--| Synthesis Machine | |Steel Shoulder |18|--|--|18|--|--|--|--| Dummied item | |Silver Shield |21|21|--|--|--|18|10|--| Buy in Nanaka | |Reinforcer |22|--|--|22|--|--|--|--| Find in Junkyard | |Crystal Shield |25|25|--|--|--|22|12|--| 3 Doors in Dark World | |Graphite Shield|61|61|--|--|--|54|--|--| Dummied item | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Accessories ============== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Name |Power|Guard|Speed|Magic| Location | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Ivory Cameo | | + 6| | | Find in Big Tree | |Star Earring | | +14| | | Find in Cecille's room | |Platinum Brooch | | | | +10| Keepensign Item Shop (Feris) | |Smarts Anklet | | | | +20| Find in Tower of Ruins | |Magic Buckle | +10| +10| | | 3 doors in Dark World | |Silent Shackles | + 8| + 8| -10| -10| Puzzle Book #3 | |Healing Boots |1 HP every 4 steps | Capone's Fort | |Magic Muffler |1 MP every 4 steps | Dummied item | |Griffon Boots |Negates damage floors | Buy from Happy Book | |Rank Insignia |Lets you enter Gunboss | Give Reports to Sixpack | |Clothes of Concealment|Makes you Invisible | Find in tailor's room | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- =========== VIII. Items =========== A. Restorative Items ==================== These items restore HP & MP, cure status ailments, or permanently increase stats. I've included the Empty Bottle because it is used to get most of these. Bottle of Cocoa - Restores 5 HP Bottle of Milk - Restores 5 HP Bottle of Honey - Restores 10 HP Bottle of Milk Tea - Restores 15 HP Sandwich - Restores 20 HP Healing Seed - Restores 30 HP Potion - Restores 40 HP Fried Bird - Restores 40 HP Dried Meat - Restores 60 HP Slime Food - Restores 70 HP Mushroom - Restores 90 HP Herbs - Restores 100 HP Brandy - Restores 100 HP Flesh Food - Restores 140 HP Herb Cookie - Restores 160 HP Jelly Food - Restores 180 HP Sky Food - Restores 220 HP Herb Soup - Restores 240 HP Special Herb - Fully restores HP Powerful Food - Fully restores HP Bottle of Tea - Restores 5 MP Mana Perfume - Restores 16 MP Horn - Restores 30 MP Mana Musk - Restores 40 MP Vampire Pill - Restores 50 MP Perfume - Restores 80 MP Termite Pill - Restores 80 MP Mana Spray - Restores 100 MP Medusa Pill - Restores 100 MP Grow Pill - Restores 150 MP Magic Pill - Restores 220 MP Mana Jar - Fully restores MP Power Pill - Fully restores MP Mana Bottle - Fully restores HP and MP Antidote - Cures any status ailment HP Seed - Increases Maximum HP by 1-4 HP Figurine - Increases Maximum HP by 1-4 MP Seed - Increases Maximum MP by 1-4 MP Figurine - Increases Maximum MP by 1-4 Power Seed - Increases Power by 1-4 Power Figurine - Increases Power by 1-4 Foundation Seed - Increases Guard by 1-4 Guard Figurine - Increases Guard by 1-4 Speed Seed - Increases Speed by 1-4 Speed Figurine - Increases Speed by 1-4 Intelligence Seed - Increases Magic by 1-4 Magic Figurine - Increases Magic by 1-4 Empty Bottle - Can be filled with various things B. Spell Items ============== These items cast a particular spell when used in battle. See the Spells subsection of the Techniques section for more details on the spells. Torch - Casts Fire Flame Pot - Casts Fire Storm Firecracker - Casts Red Burn Meteor Bottle - Casts Fireball Bottle of Oil - Casts Heat Cyclone Hydra Stomach - Casts Prominence Ice Rock - Casts Cold Down Ice Claw - Casts Icerock Nail Blizzard Bottle - Casts Blizzard Hole Glacier Fragment - Casts Ice Wall Frost Beads - Casts Ice Chain Orb of the Deep - Casts Freezing Hell Thunder Scarab - Casts Lightning Diamond Bomb - Casts Plasma Field Plasma Bottle - Casts Bolt Earth Tempest Bell - Casts Hurricane Earthquake Bell - Casts Earthquake Crowbar of Light - Casts Holy Emblem Power Bottle - Casts Power Guard Bottle - Casts Hard Speed Bottle - Casts Speed Magic Bottle - Casts Aura Cross - Casts Deathguard Magic Mirror - Casts Mirror Abstruse Book - Casts Sleep Death Symbol - Casts Kill Forbidden Symbol - Casts Death Flare Spare Mast - Run from battle with a higher success rate C. Salable Items ================ The only purpose these items serve is to be sold. You can keep them rather than money, so you don't lose half of it when you die. Mini Figurine - Sell for 200G Topaz - Sell for 500G Stone Figurine - Sell for 500G Ruby - Sell for 1000G Metal Figurine - Sell for 1000G Silver Figurine - Sell for 2000G Sapphire - Sell for 4000G Gold Figurine - Sell for 4000G Premium Figurine - Sell for 6000G Emerald - Sell for 10000G Special Figurine - Sell for 10000G Diamond - Sell for 20000G D. Key Items ============ These items are used to complete the game. Some can be used in the synthesis machine. Goddess Tear - Used to acquire the Crystal Crystal - Shows enemy locations Rusted Key - Opens the door in the first room of Sand World Onion - Give to Bragg in Sand World / third ingredient in Matoya's Medicine Report - Give to Sixpack in Sand World Stone Moon - Use to cross the bridge in Sand World Healing Sapling - Give to Buyer / second ingredient in Matoya's Medicine Deck Brush - Use to uncover secret room in Capone's Fort Portable Hook - Resets rock puzzles Black Iron - Bring it to Sixpack to make new weapons and armor Bullminch's Heart - Use it to get Bullminch Bullminch - Bring it to the Sand World to restore Bullminch Crumpled Clothing - Put in Matoya's clothing box Matoya's Glasses - Give to Matoya Chess Piece - The first ingredient in Matoya's Medicine Mouse Tail - The fourth ingredient in Matoya's Medicine Fire Scotch - The fifth ingredient in Matoya's Medicine Matoya's Medicine - Use on the King Mole Rancid Honey - Useless item Fried Tofu - Place on the dais in the Gourd Bridge Pineapple Heart - Use to get the Pineapple Seed Grape Heart - Use to get the Grapeseed Pineapple Seed - Plant to grow a giant pineapple Grapeseed - Plant to grow a giant grapevine Hatchling Heart - Use to get the Hatchling Hatchling - Bring into the Plant World to restore the hatchling Pot - Fill it with Cold Water Cold Water - Bring it to one of the couch potatoes in Watermelon Town Beetle Key - Use to enter the Big Tree Junk - Useful as it sounds Clock Book - Return to the bookshelf in Children's World Plants Book - Return to the bookshelf in Children's World Underground Book - Return to the bookshelf in Children's World Moon Book - Return to the bookshelf in Children's World Benjamin Leaf - Used in the synthesis urn Monster Seed - Used in the synthesis urn Ventura Seed - Used in the synthesis urn Bottle of Candies - Used as currency in Children's World Plaza Heart - Use to get the Plaza Figurine Plaza Figurine - Bring into the Children's World to restore the playground Scrap of Paper - Read it to find your way to Soda Hole Brass Key - Opens door on 2nd floor of Kidsdam Mansion. Silver Fork - Used in a puzzle in Kidsdam Mansion Silver Knife - Used in a puzzle in Kidsdam Mansion Edison's Heart - Use to get Edison Edison - Bring into the Machine World to restore Edison Golden Wine - Give to Capone for passage Graham's Heart - Use to get Graham Rona's Heart - Use to get Rona Graham - Bring into the Machine World to restore Graham Rona - Bring into the Machine World to restore Rona False Tooth - Give it to the old woman in Ratwood Letter - Bring it to Edison in Keepensign Beech Sap - Give to Meister with Black Iron and to Edison Lump of Resin - Useless item (Beech Sap becomes this in the Temple) Bellalite - Give to Edison with Beech Sap to repair the machine Open Card - Unlocks certain doors in the Machine World Blue Book - Bring to Syrtis Black Book - Bring to Syrtis/Use to enter the Tower of Ruin Ancient Mirror - Use to enter Coln Dirty Magazine - Gives an amusing message Clock No. 4 - Burn to unlock a door in Dark World Wooden Box Key - Use to open locked box in Dark World Lizard Tail - Allows access to Savage Beast in Dark World Cabinet Key - Use to open cabinet in Dark World Wine Glass - Use to open door in Dark World White Wine - Use to open door in Dark World Clock Screw - Use to awaken eastern statue in Dark World Purple Crystal - Use to put statues to sleep in Dark World Bottle of Water - Use to reach Fairytale World Poison Apple - Used for Synthesis Machine Troll Harp - Used for Synthesis Machine King's Letter - Show to Woz White Dress - Give to Cinderenna Glass Sphere - Feed to Shoe Tree Glass Shoes Size 15 - Too small for Cinderenna Glass Shoes Size 26 - Too large for Cinderenna Glass Shoes Size 19 - Give to Cinderenna King's Heart - Use to get King Cinderenna's Heart - Use to get Cinderenna Little Red Hat's Heart - Use to get Little Red Hat Goose's Heart - Use to get Goose King - Bring into Fairytale World to restore the king Cinderenna - Bring into Fairytale World to restore Cinderenna Little Red Hat - Bring into Fairytale World to restore Little Red Hat Goose - Bring into Fairytale World to restore goose Powder of Awakening - Use on Cinderenna to awaken her E. Dummied Items ================ A dummied item is one that you cannot get without using a cheat device or hex editor, but the programmers of the game never took out. They usually have weird functions, values, and (in the games that have them) pictures. Items I believe to be dummied will also have no Location, because you can't find them anywhere by definition. Debug Crystal - Warp anywhere Bottle of Poison - Does minor damage to an enemy Biscuit - Walk on damage floors without getting hurt Battle Record - No function Battle Book - No function Book of Sorcery - No function Scroll - No function Spare Ribs - No function ========= IX. Arena ========= Welcome to the Arena. You have two rooms. The eastern room is where you can use your monster figurines to fight other monsters and win Platinum. The western room is where you can bet platinum on other monsters and earn more if the one you chose wins the fight. In the western room, you can also exchange your monster figurines for prizes, but each prize costs Platinum. If you really enjoy this sort of thing, play to your heart's content. If this sort of thing irritates the crap out of you, see the chart below for prizes and costs. Either that or use some sort of cheat device to get yourself more platinum. The list is alphabetical by enemy, but separated by world for your convenience. By the way, many powerful enemies show up in battle alone. This is because they are too big to show up with 1-4 other enemies at the same time. They also cannot be turned into figurines, because it would screw up the battles in the Arena, because it would be impossible to fit every other enemy on the screen at the same time. Therefore, they will not show up on the chart below. Every enemy from the Dark World is this way, so there is no Dark World section. One final note: yes the monochromatic (black & white) enemies from the Machine World give you different items, so they're listed in their own chart. ------------------------------------------ |Monster |Prize |Cost | |------------------------------------------| | World 1 - Sand World | |------------------------------------------| |Bloody Bone |Mini Figurine | 100| |Crow |Fried Bird | 100| |Flying Ray |Silver Figurine | 1000| |Green Slime |Mini Figurine | 100| |Grey Slime |Slime Food | 300| |Owl Eagle |Mini Figurine | 100| |Red Jelly |Mini Figurine | 100| |Skeleton |Mini Figurine | 100| |Undead Tole |Mini Figurine | 100| |Vampire |Vampire Pill | 500| |------------------------------------------| | World 2 - Fruit World | |------------------------------------------| |Gargoyle |Flesh Food | 500| |Goblin |Goblin Suit | 4000| |Killer Statue |Gargoyle Suit | 5000| |Mini Beetle |Mini Figurine | 100| |Neo Beetle |Beetle Suit | 6000| |Siren |Siren Mirror | 5000| |Tole |Mini Figurine | 100| |------------------------------------------| | World 3 - Children's World | |------------------------------------------| |Death Marmalade |Jelly Food | 600| |Elemental |Fire Shield | 5000| |Firefly |Cutter | 4000| |Gobbs |Gobsmet | 3000| |Stompas |Mini Figurine | 100| |Troll |Troll Suit | 5000| |Undead Heart |Guard Figurine | 8000| |------------------------------------------| | World 4 - Machine World (Black & White) | |------------------------------------------| |Beholder |Mini Figurine | 100| |Bonehead |Skull Axe | 4000| |Daedalus Worm |Stone Figurine | 200| |Hobgoblin |Mini Figurine | 100| |Orc |Mini Figurine | 100| |Zombie |Zombie Shield | 4000| |------------------------------------------| | World 4 - Machine World (Color) | |------------------------------------------| |Beholder |MP Figurine | 8000| |Daedalus Worm |Wormmet | 5000| |Medusa |Medusa Pill | 1000| |Metal Gate |Light Shield | 3000| |Oil Slime |Mini Figurine | 100| |Orc |Speed Figurine | 8000| |Tetsujin GPG710 |Metal Figurine | 500| |Tetsujin M003 |Mini Figurine | 100| |Tetsujin M004 |Iron Gauntlet | 2000| |------------------------------------------| | World 5 - Giant's World | |------------------------------------------| |Air Needle |Mini Figurine | 100| |Dark Bull |Mini Figurine | 100| |Devil Kite |Powerful Food | 1000| |Flying Manta |Sky Food | 800| |Glow Tole |Grow Pill | 1500| |Green Gate |Mini Figurine | 100| |Ferret |Mini Figurine | 100| |Stone Demon |HP Figurine | 8000| |Termite |Termite Pill | 800| |------------------------------------------| | World 7 - Fairytale World | |------------------------------------------| |Big Troll |Mini Figurine | 100| |Burned Body |Mini Figurine | 100| |Chaos Lady |Magic Pill | 2000| |Cursed Warrior |Power Figurine | 8000| |Death Lich |Mini Figurine | 100| |Elder Ghoul |Mini Figurine | 100| |Hermit |Power Pill | 3000| |Jasmine 49 |Magic Figurine | 8000| |Orc Guarder |Gold Figurine | 3000| |------------------------------------------| | Final World - Nexus of Darkness | |------------------------------------------| |Alik |Mini Figurine | 100| |Blue Beholder |Premium Figurine | 5000| |Brandy Witch |Special Figurine |10000| ------------------------------------------ ================ X. Debug Crystal ================ The Debug Crystal is a dummied item that was used by the programmers for debugging. Those familiar with how games are programmed will understand what's going on with the different warps, but for the rest of you, let's just say that it also lets you travel through time. Many of these warps can be reached by using the regular Crystal, but others cannot. Again, this is a tool that the programmers used to get to areas that were either tedious to get to, or impossible depending upon how far into the game they were. Think of trying to test something in the Tower of Ruins after the giant has already pulled it down! Well, with this item, they were able to do that. The list below tells you where each list in each place takes you. Any notations in () are my notes or comments. Any notations in [] are specific times you warp to. Enjoy! Temple ------ Shrine - Room where you started the game World 1 - First room in Sand World [before water] World 2 - Entrance of Watermelon Town World 3 - Outside of Blind Alley World 4 - Outside of Keepensign World 5 - Outside of Kumu World 6 - Second room in Dark World World 7 - Outside of Inn in Fairytale Kingdom Arena - Right inside the Arena Unused 2 - Weird game-freezing screen (note half of Miriene to the left) Sand World ---------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Bloodhook - Inn on the Bloodhook Gunboss - Inn on the Gunboss Below Quarry - Save point below quarry Below Forge - Save point below forge Matoya's Lighthouse - Save point at entrance of Matoya's Lighthouse Sand Worm - Room where you fight the Sand Worm King Mole - Forge under the Gunboss where you first fought King Mole King Mole 2 - Room outside where you fight King Mole the second time Observatory - Room where you entered Sand World Fruit World ----------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Watermelon Town - Inn of Watermelon Town Pineapple Town - Inn of Pineapple Town Gourd Bridge - Inn of Gourd Brigde Pineapple Town - Inn of Pineapple Town (same as above) Grape Town - Inn of Grape Town Three Oaks - Near end of Beetle Forest Crow - Right next to crow's nest in Crow's Forest River Source - Downstairs from river source (the programmers must have hated those rolling boulders, too!) Huge Tree - Beginning of the room where you got the Ark of Light Children's World ---------------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Blind Alley - Save point in Blind Alley Kidsdam Manor - Save book in Kidsdam Manor Sweets Mountain - Save point on Sweets Mountain Soda Hole 1 - Save point at beginning of Soda Hole Soda Hole 2 - Save point further into Soda Hole Laboratory 1 - Save point in piano room in Laboratory Laboratory 2 - Save point in purple carpet room in Laboratory Manor Living Room - Room next to Cecille's room and Ark of Wisdom room Guardian's Forest - Forest right before Sweets Mountain Machine World ------------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Keepensign - Inn of Keepensign Capone's Fort - Entrance of Capone's Fort Bottomless Cave - Save point in Bottomless Cave Snowgate - Entrance of Snowgate Dupro - Inn of Dupro Ratwood - Inn of Ratwood Metalimo - "Inn" of Metalimo Junkyard - Save point in Junkyard Hydro Area - Beginning of Hydro Area Giant's World ------------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Nanaka - Inn of Nanaka [before Giant's awakening] Nanaka - Elder's house in Nanaka Kumu - Inn in Kumu Ancient Tower 1 - Room in Tower of Ruins where Black and Blue Books are found Ancient Tower 2 - Room in Tower of Ruins where giant control device is found Coln 1 - Entrance of town near Tower of Ruins Coln 2 - Room in town near Tower of Ruins where main shutoff is found Dark World ---------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Inside House 1 - First save point in Dark World (entrance) Inside House 2 - Second save point in Dark World (basement) Inside House 3 - Last save point in Dark World (after basement) Fairytale World --------------- Shrine - Room where you started the game Tinkle - Inn of Fairytale Kingdom Woz - Top room in the Tower of Woz Castle - Tailor's room in the castle Wolf - Cave where you battle Wolf Lion - Part of Cur Forest where you meet the lion Calascobeth Falls - Save point in Carascobeth Falls Hinocchio's House - Zepeck's workshop ============== XI. Conclusion ============== Well, there you have it: a fully comprehensive guide to Mystic Ark. Whether it's a sequel, a prequel, both, a spiritual sequel, or whatever, I hope you enjoyed the game as much as I did. I also hope that this guide was valuable to your adventure. If for some inconceivable reason, you crave more of my writing, check me out on GameFAQs; I have made a few contributions. Until next time, farewell.