FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE WAR OF THE LIONS (PSP) FAQ @@ ,9@@@#@@s@@SA@; @@r i@ &@@: :@@@@@@@ .@ #@r #@;@@@@@@ r@ :@@SsM@@: 2@. @@@ :@s@@ r@@ 2@ @@ ;@@ .@@@ A@ @@; i@@ ;@:@ @@ # @@. ,@2 @@ @@S @@ @@@ # @@ @@@ @ 2@@@ @@ @@& A;@@@ @@@ @ @@ i@@@ #@@ @@h@ @@@X@. @@ @@@@@ @@@@ @@ @@@M@ @@@@ @@@@@ @@ @@@@ @@@@ r@@ @@@A@: @@ @ @@@ .@ @@ @@ . @@@@@ @ @@; @ @@@ @@ @ @@. @@@@; @@ @@@ :. @@ @ @@ @@@@@@ @@ r@ @@H .#@@@@@ @ @@ @@ @@@@@@ G @@@ @@ @@@ @@ :@: @@ @: i@@ ,@@:@@ @@@ @9 .@@ ,@; @@ @@ @r r@@ A@ @@r ,@@ @@@ i@@SX@& 3H@S 9@@X2@@@@i @@@ X@3 i@@&X@H A @@2@5 X@@#@@#@@. G@@s @@@ @@@ @@ @@i @@ M; @ T A C T I C S T h e W a r o f t h e L i o n s %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE WAR OF THE LIONS FAQ % % Version 2.25 % % by Fritz Fraundorf % % qumarsh@gmail.com % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% For best results, view this document using a fixed-width font (e.g. Courier). Make sure that the window is at least 80 characters wide, so that the numbers below all appear a single line: 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 If they appear on more than one line, you may need to make your window bigger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- %%%%TABLE OF CONTENTS%%%% To jump to any section of this FAQ, press Ctrl+F to Find and type in the code (beginning with 00) next to the section title. I. Revision History 00rev II. Frequently Asked Questions 00faq III. Walkthrough - Main Quest Chapter I: The Meager 00walk1 Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient 00walk2 Chapter III: The Valiant 00walk3 Chapter IV: In the Name of Love 00walk4 IV. Walkthrough - Subquests 00sub Agrias's Birthday 00agr Gollund Colliery 00col Recruiting Balthier 00balt Nelveska Temple 00nel Recruiting Cloud 00cloud Disorder in the Order 00dis Lionel's New Liege Lord 00lio Midlight's Deep 00md V. Battle Strategies Chapter I: The Meager 00bs1 Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient 00bs2 Chapter III: The Valiant 00bs3 Chapter IV: In the Name of Love 00bs4 Subquests 00bssub Midlight's Deep 00bsmd VI. Multiplayer Modes Melee Mode - General Information 00melee0 Melee Mode - Treasures 00melee1 Rendezvous Mode - General Information 00ren0 Rendezvous Mode - Treasures and Ranking 00ren1 Rendezvous Mission Strategies 00ren2 VII. Jobs and Abilities Job Requirements (Quick Reference) 00req General Information about Jobs 00job0 Standard Jobs 00job1 Special Jobs 00job2 Job Statistics Comparison 00jobstat Monsters 00mon Enemy-Only Jobs 00job3 VIII. Ability Strategies Ability Combos 00abil Character Strategies 00char Party Strategies 00par IX. Statistics and Leveling Bravery and Faith 00brave EXP, JP, and Gil 00exp Quickly Raising EXP and JP 00quick Automated Leveling 00auto Level-Downs and Stat Grinding 00down X. Equipment and Items 00equip Weapons 00weap Shields 00shield Headgear 00head Armor 00armor Accessories 00acc Items 00item XI. Finding Items Poached Items 00poach Shop Chart 00shop Rare Item Locations 00rare Missable Items and Events 00miss XII. Errands General Information About Errands 00err0 Errand Types & Preferred Jobs 00err1 Errand List 00err2 XIII. Random Battles Overworld Random Battles 00over Midlight's Deep Random Battles 00mdrb Special Random Battles 00special Guest Characters in Random Battles 00guest XIV. Other Game Information Basic Mechanics and Tactics 00basic Advanced Tactics and Secrets 00adv Ivalician Calendar 00calendar Zodiac Compatibility 00zodiac Party & Boss Zodiac Signs 00boss Status Changes (Quick Reference) 00status1 Status Changes (Detail) 00status2 Elemental Affinities 00elem Arithmeticks Chart 00arith Traps & Treasure Hunter 00traps XV. Miscellaneous Reference Zodiac Stone Locations 00stones FMV Movie List 00fmv FF References 00ffr XVI. PSone -> PSP Changes Game Changes 00psone Name Conversion Chart 00names XVII. Credits / Disclaimer 00cred ******************************************************************************* I. REVISION HISTORY 00rev ******************************************************************************* ---Version 2.25 (4/27/08)--- - In the previous update, I forgot to give my usual link to Joe Davidson's lioneditor save editor, so here it is now!: http://code.google.com/p/lioneditor/ It's a great program and keeps getting better and better. - Further revised the random battles section... > Added estimates of how *frequently* the monsters occur at each location, in addition to just listing which monsters can appear > Fixed a goof in the list of guests in Random Battles -- the guest Knight at Zeklaus Desert comes when you enter from Dorter, not Gariland ... there isn't even an entrance from Gariland! :P > Since the Random Battles section had gotten to be fairly large, I moved it into its own division of the guide. - Redid the Poaching List and Rare Items List with improved recommendations about where to find most of the monsters for poaching. - Updated the Zodiark sections with The Catacombs, The Switchback, and The Interstice as suggested places to find enemy Summoners (for purposes of teaching the spell additional party members). I also updated some old text that referred to Terminus as being the *only* place to learn Zodiark, since you can also learn it in one of the multiplayer missions. - Finally got around to addressing the most important part of any FAQ: ASCII art! I replaced the ASCII logo at the top with a new one that's hopefully less ugly ;) Thanks to Ascgen dotNET - http://ascgendotnet.jmsoftware.co.uk/ - for the software used to produce the image. - Added a FAQ for "How do I learn new abilities?" since I know this can be a sticking point for people just starting the game. - Fixed the date of the last update ;P ---Version 2.20 (4/25/08)--- - I revamped the Random Battles section; specifically... > I added the specific species of monsters encountered (not just the overall categories), as well as any human enemies encountered. > I also divided the monsters up by entrance, since which monsters you encounter depends on the direction you're walking when you enter a given area. > I added sections on the Midlight's Deep encounters, on the special random battles, and on where you can recruit guest monsters. > Added a FAQ about the special random battles. > Big thanks to Joe Davidson's lioneditor & FFTPatcher for letting me peek at the data on some of the rare monsters, to the Bradygames guide for a little help interpreting it, and to Jason Corbett for layout/formatting suggestions. - Reader Seraph07 informs me that the Ninja Gear can be won in Rendezvous Mode, which means there's an unlimited supply of them. I've updated this throughout the FAQ. - Ochu is actually the rank II malboro and Malboro is the rank I; I've updated this throughout the FAQ. I also re-ordered the monster species in the monster list to reflect the order the game actually organizes them in. - There's also a Swine at the special battle at Dorvauldar Marsh, which makes for another place you can recruit one. I've mentioned this in the Rare Items list. - Added the list of enemies for the Treasure Hunt rendezvous mission, which I'd somehow left out of previous versions. - Stephen Wang pointed out the month for the Zaland Melee errand got left out of the Errands section revision. It appears in Cancer; I've added this back to the section. - Fixed a goof in the Bravery & Faith section, which said the Mystic's Trepidation magick lowers Bravery by 20 -- it actually lowers it by 30. Thanks to Naveen Pillai for the catch. - Added a line of text to the top of the FAQ so it will show up properly on Google searches :P - More to come on Monday. ---Version 2.11 (4/8/08)--- - Amen Vang points out that the first rumor needed for the Balthier quest is also available in Gollund and Lesalia, which can be a little more convenient if you're coming from Bervenia. I've updated both the main walkthrough and the walkthrough for the Balthier quest accordigly. - Under Basic Mechanics, I've rewritten the description of the "clock ticks" that govern when you get turns (to try to make it a little more clear). - Job section updates: > For ability types that depend on the user's Faith, I've added an additional blurb to each job description to note that these abilities also depend on the *target's* Faith. (This was already mentioned in the intro and elsewhere, but I figured an additional mention for clarity didn't hurt!) > Corrected a typo in the Ninja's job description that made it unclear that Throw damage is based on the user's Speed. Thanks to Naveen Pillai for the catch. > Updated the Byblos's reaction abilities -- its Counter ability depends on its Bravery, just like most all reaction abilities. - I also updated the Basic Mechanics and Tactics section with a note about how you can rewatch story scenes from the Chronicle menu. - Updated the EXP, JP, & Gil section to note that you're also awarded gil if you find a Treasure Hunter item and already have 99 of the item, in addition to getting this from chests. Thanks to Naveen Pillai for this pointer as well. - Cleaned up a few more typos, most thanks as always to my , Naveen :) (Older updates not listed.) ******************************************************************************* II. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 00faq ******************************************************************************* Q. Is Cloud still in this version of the game, like he was in the PSone release? A. Yes. In fact, you can actually recruit him earlier than you could before. Q. How do I get Cloud to join my party? And where do I find his sword? A. See the "Walkthrough - Subquests" section of the FAQ. You need to complete the Gollund Colliery, Nelveska Temple, and Recruiting Cloud quests in sequence. Q. I didn't buy the flower when I had the chance. Can I still get Cloud? A. Unfortunately, it seems that you have only one chance to buy the flower. If you declined to buy it, you are not able to get Cloud, or complete the other sidequests that depend on the flower. Sorry :( Q. What's new in the PSP version of the game? A. Check out the PSP Version Changes section - just hit Ctrl+F and type in 00psone to jump to that section of the FAQ. Q. How do I beat Wiegraf? A. Equip the Auto-Potion ability on Ramza. Run from Wiegraf and keep using the Tailwind ability to boost your speed. Repeat until you are getting seven or eight turns in a row, then start using Focus to raise your attack power. When you have high attack power, just attack and KO Wiegraf. Against Belias, run up and attack him repeatedly. (If you don't have these abilities, check out the Chapter III Battle Strategies for a slew of alternate strategies.) Q. I just started the game; how do I learn new abilities? A. New abilities are "purchased" using JP, which you earn from any succesful action in battle. You earn JP separately for each job, so earning JP as an Archer only lets you buy Archer abilities. (Gaining JP also eventually unlocks new jobs for you to use.) To buy abilities, on the map screen, open the menu (with Triangle) and enter the Formation screen. Then point to a character, press Triangle to open the menu, and choose Abilities. The in- game tutorial, available from the title screen, can walk you through this step-by-step. If you check out the "EXP, JP, and Gil" section of this FAQ, you'll also find tips on maximizing your JP haul, though you don't *need* them at the start of the game. Q. Where is Midlight's Deep? A. After you beat Mullonde Holy Place, go to the Port City of Warjilis. You will see a scene at the bar, then the way to Midlight's Deep will appear. Q. How do I beat / find items in Midlight's Deep? A. See the cleverly-titled Midlight's Deep section of the walkthrough ;) . Just hit Ctrl+F and type in 00md to jump to that section of the FAQ. Q. OK, I think I understand the idea of finding the items, but how do I rotate the camera to get the correct perspective? A. Use the analog stick (in the lower left of the PSP). Every time you tap it left or right, the perspective changes. Q. How do I use items like Potions or Phoenix Downs? A. Items are used with the Items command, which belongs to the Chemist job, so switch one of your characters to a Chemist -- or assign Items as a secondary Action Ability. To learn how to use each type of item, the character must also learn the ability that goes along with it. For instance, to use Phoenix Downs, you must first learn the Chemist's "Phoenix Down" ability. These abilities can be bought on your status screen using JP (Job Points) earned by using the Chemist job. Q. How do I get the new equipment in the PSP version? A. The Tynar Rouge comes from the Agrias's Birthday quest, and the Mirage Vest and Ras Algethi come with Balthier. All the other new items can only be obtained as prizes in one of the multiplayer mods. Some items can only be found in Melee Mode and some only in Rendezvous Mode; see the respective sections or the Rare Items List for a complete list. Q. How do I get good items / more items in multiplayer? A. You'll get better items the higher your character level and (in Rendezvous Mode) the more difficult the mission you complete; most of the new items can only be obtained at a pretty high level. Winning Melee Mode battles and completing Rendezvous Mode missions with fewer characters deployed and more enemies KOed increases the NUMBER of items you get, but doesn't change their quality. Q. Are there items or events in this game that I can permanently miss? What do I need to do to see them? A. I've put together a Missable Items and Events list -- just press Ctrl+F and enter 00miss to jump to that section. Q. How do I use the Samurai's ability Iaido? A. First learn the ability you want to use. Then buy several of the corresponding Samurai sword. During battle, you can use the ability if you have the appropriate type of sword in your inventory (NOT equipped). Note that this may break the sword, so I'd buy several copies. Q. How do I learn Ultima? A. Only Ramza and Luso can learn Ultima. Ramza or Luso must be in their base job; then, if someone casts the spell on him, he will learn it. (As long as just one of the two characters learns it, you can have him cast it on the other to learn it later.) The best time to learn the spell is from the assassins outside Limberry Castle in Chapter IV, but you can also have Luso learn it on the Riovanes Castle Roof in Chapter III or from another player in the multiplayer mode. (There's also a guest character who can learn Ultima during the final battle if Ramza or Luso casts it on her.) Q. How do I get the lipstick accessory? A. First, you need to keep Agrias, Alicia, Lavian, and Mustadio on your roster until Chapter IV. Once Chapter IV begins, travel back and forth between Gollund and Lesalia until the calendar says 1 Cancer. If you have at least 500,000 gil and are standing on a town (NOT a castle) when the calendar turns 1 Cancer, you should get the scene where you acquire the Tynar Rouge accessory. Q. How can I revive a dead character? A. If the character is simply KOed (lying down with a red counter over his/her head), you can use a Phoenix Down, the White Mage's Raise/Arise spells, or the Monk's Revive. Or, finish the battle before the counter expires and the character will also be restored. If the counter counts down past 0, the character will turn into a treasure chest or crystal. Once this happens, the character is gone for good and there is unfortunately NO way to revive him or her, ever. (You can recruit replacement generic characters from the Warriors' Guild in any town; special story characters are irreplaceable if killed.) Q. Help! I beat the last boss and the game said it was saving afterwards, but when I load up my last save, I'm just at the last boss fight again. Can I go anywhere else? A. Unfortunately, no :(. The game clear save is just to unlock some of the multiplayer missions. If you want to continue roving the world map, you need to keep a separate save from before you began the final sequence of battles. Q. How do I beat the Lionel Castle Gate? A. There are two main methods: One is to give Ramza the Chakra ability and have him use it every turn. The other is to use Teleport to warp outside the gate. Either way, don't open the gate until the fight outside is finished. For more tips, see the Battle Strategies for Chapter II. Press Ctrl+F and type in 00bs2 to jump there. Q. How do I learn Zodiark? A. You can only learn Zodiark from Elidibus, the boss of Midlight's Deep, by having him cast it on one of your Summoners. Equip the Mana Shield ability to survive it. (You only have a random chance to learn the spell when you're hit with it, so you might not learn it the first time you're hit with it, but the odds are definitely in your favor!) If you don't get the spell in Midlight's Deep, the only other place to find Elidibus is in the Brave Story multiplayer mission. Q. How do I recruit monsters? A. Use the Orator's Entice or Tame abilities on the monsters. If you switch to another non-Orator job, you'll need to also equip the Beast Tongue support skill to use Entice on monsters. (For more information, see "Recruiting Monsters" in the Monsters section.) Q. How do I poach enemies? A. Equip the Thief ability Poach and kill a monster with a regular attack. Then go to a Poachers' Den in a trade city and you can purchase what you've poached. Note that Poachers' Dens are NOT available in all cities; only Dorter, Warjilis, and Sal Ghidos have them, and they don't appear until the start of Chapter III. Q. How do I get the Genji equipment? Can I steal it from the boss who has it? A. Unfortunately, you can never steal from that boss in the PSP version, so he gets to keep his Genji gear to himself. Alas! However, you CAN get the Genji Armor and Masamune from the new "Lionel's New Liege Lord" subquest. Press Ctrl+F and enter 00lio to jump to the guide for that quest. Q. Aren't there some new jobs added to the PSP version that weren't in the PSone version? How do I unlock them? A. The PSP version of FF Tactics has two new jobs. To make a character into an Onion Knight, simply get their Squire and Chemist jobs up to level 6. To make a character into a Dark Knight, you first Master (learn all the abilities for) Knight and Black Mage, have Dragoon, Geomancer, Samurai, and Ninja at level 8, AND kill 20 enemies (not just KO--they must turn to chests or crystals) with the character. Yikes! :) Q. How do I unlock the _______ job? A. I've put together a Quick Reference chart with all the job requirements; press Ctrl+F and enter 00req to get there. Q. What are the new subquests in the PSP version? How do I access them? A. There are three new subquests in Chapter IV, one revolving around Beowulf and the others revolving around Agrias. Beowulf's subquest is available after returning Reis to human form at Nelveska Temple and after completing Mullonde Cathedral in the main storyline. (Press Ctrl+F and enter 00lio to jump to the section with all the details on the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest.) Agrias has a couple of different subquests. First, if you still have Alicia and Lavian, the Tynar Rouge event can be accessed on 1 Cancer. Second, after Mullonde, travel to Zeltennia to open up another battle accessed via the Tavern at Gariland. For details on these events, press Ctrl+F and enter 00agr to jump to Agrias's Birthday or 00dis for Disorder in the Order, respectively. Q. How do I recruit Luso and Balthier? A. Luso is recruited automatically in Chapter III, as you head through the Zeklaus Desert on the way to Riovanes. Balthier isn't available until you've completed the battle at the Free City of Bervenia in Chapter IV. Any time after that, read the "Rash of Thefts" rumor at the Gariland tavern, then go to the Dorter tavern and read the "Call for Guards" rumor. Win the battle that ensues when you try to leave town and Balthier joins. Q. What do the Bravery and Faith statistics mean? Do I want high or low Bravery and Faith? A. A high Bravery is almost always good. It increases your chance of using Reaction Abilities, and makes certain weapon types (fists, knight's swords, and katanas) stronger. The only advantage of low Bravery is that helps you find rare items with the Treasure Hunter ability, but you can just keep a single low-Bravery character for that purpose. Faith makes a character's magick more effective, but also makes enemy magick more effective when used against that character. So, generally, you'll want your magick users to have high Faith (to make their magick stronger) and characters not using magick to have low Faith (to defend them from enemy magick). See the Bravery and Faith section for more specific details, as well as tips on raising/lowering Bravery and Faith. Q. What job should I use for the best HP? The best attack power? A. I've added a Job Statistics Comparison chart to the FAQ to quickly compare each job's stats. Ctrl+F and 00jobstat will get you there. Q. Is there a way I can quickly gain levels? A. Sure, see the Quickly Raising EXP & JP (00quick) for strategies for this. With the right magicks, it's even possible to make this process completely automatic! But keep in mind you never *need* to do this to finish the game. Usually, a change of strategy should be enough to get you past the next battle and you don't need to spend time leveling if you don't want to. Q. Why don't my Reaction Abilities always work? A. For almost all Reaction Abilities, the chance of using the ability is equal to your Bravery stat. Use Ramza's skills or an Orator to raise the character's Bravery and your Reaction Abilities will activate more. Q. How do I ride a Chocobo? A. Move the character onto the same square as the Chocobo. Q. What's the deal with Onion Knights? They seem horrible. Is there any way to make them stronger? A. Actually, yes. The Onion Knight's job level goes up as you master other jobs, and if you can get the Onion Knight up to job level 8, they'll become more powerful. Also, if you play the game's multiplayer missions, you can earn some powerful "Onion" equipment that only Onion Knights can equip. Q. One of my characters is threatening to leave the team. What do I do? A. This is happening because your character has either a very low Bravery or a very high Faith. Use Orator skills to increase his/her Bravery or lower his/her Faith a little. Q. Is there any kind of New Game+ mode, so that I can start from the beginning but keep all my levels and items? A. Unfortunately, no. FF Tactics dates back to a time before this feature started becoming common in RPGs. Whenever you start a new game, you always have to start from scratch. Q. I got into a random battle and was facing a weird set of enemies. Is this some special event? What's going on? A. Each wilderness location has a "special" random battle that you'll randomly encounter at low odds. These special battles pit you against unusual enemy parties -- mostly collections of human enemies. You don't get anything special for winning these battles and they have no relation to the story, but they can be an interesting extra challenge! For a list of all these special battles, see the Random Battles section. Q. Where do I get all the Zodiac Stones? A. Look in the Zodiac Stones list near the end of the file. Be warned that this list contains some spoilers. Q. Why don't any of the characters have noses? A. Your guess is as good as mine. Some genetic defect or something, I suppose. ******************************************************************************* III. WALKTHROUGH - MAIN QUEST ******************************************************************************* You'll begin by entering your name and birthdate. If you want Ramza (the protagonist) to end up with a certain Zodiac sign, see the Ivalician Calendar section to match up the sign you want with what birthdate you should enter. In a regular game, it's not *too* important to give him a particular Zodiac sign, so you can enter your own birthday or whatever else you want if you'd like. But, if you want to maximize the damage he can do to enemy bosses, Capricorn is probably your best bet; you'll get this sign if you enter a birthdate between December 23rd and January 19th. (Or, if you want as wide a range of Zodiac signs as possible, you could make him a Taurus, Virgo, or Sagittarius, as no other story characters have these signs.) The game starts at Orbonne Monastery. A band of enemy knights shows up, and you have to fight. This battle is pretty much automatic, as everyone except Ramza is controlled by the computer. Gaffgarion and Agrias will take care of most of the enemies without any trouble, so you can have Ramza just do pretty much whatever you want. It's possible that one or more of your weaker teammates--Alicia, Lavian, and Ladd--will get KOed. Don't worry; none of them can die permanently in this battle. After Gaffgarion and Agrias finish wiping out the enemies, there will be some story scenes, and Ramza will enter into an extended flashback. %%%CHAPTER I: THE MEAGER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk1 All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza's days as a knight-in-training with the Order of the Northern Sky. You (Ramza) and Delita will be at the academy in Gariland, where you receive the assignment to defeat some thieves entering the town. You are automatically joined by four squires and two chemists, then the first battle begins. See "Battle Strategies" for tips on this and other specific battles. I've also added some general gameplay information to the "Basic Mechanics and Tactics" section, which you might want to check out to help you get started if this is your first Final Fantasy Tactics experience. (Some of this information is in the tutorial, but you'll also find some additional tactics.) Press Ctrl+ F and enter 00begin to jump down there. After you win the battle against the thieves, you will go to the map screen. You can click on Gariland to visit its shops. The Tavern is used to hear information about the game's story and world, and later to run Errands for extra JP and money and to enter the multiplayer mode. The Outfitter is used to buy items. Finally, the Warriors' Guild allows you to recruit new human characters to your roster. You may want to stop at the Warriors' Guild recruit some new characters. In particular, look for characters with reasonably high Bravery, especially if your current characters don't have very good Bravery. Bravery affects the your chance of using Reaction Abilities and the strength of some attacks -- higher is better, of course! (Although there are abilities to raise everyone's Bravery later, you probably won't get them right away.) You may also want a character or two with high Faith to turn into a magick-user. A second thing to look at is the character's Zodiac sign. Taurus and Capricorn characters will be particularly effective against the bosses in this chapter and the next, so getting some of those signs on your roster will give you a bit of a leg up. If you want to spend the time, you can mine the Guild until you get just the character you want. If you don't like the character that appears; simply select "Don't Hire." You won't be charged anything and you can select Male Soldier or Female Soldier to roll another character. You can keep doing this until you get some high Bravery characters -- though it's certainly not necessary to spend the time here if you don't want. Note that female recruits are 100 gil cheaper and probably more useful in the long run since some of the game's most powerful items can only be used by female characters. This is probably the only time in the game that you'll want to use the Warriors' Guild. If you lose any of your main team members later in the game, you're probably better off resetting. It's tough to replace characters who have already been built up with a lot of abilities! Stop by the Outfitter's in Gariland to buy some Potions. If one or both of your Chemists has enough JP to learn the Phoenix Down ability, learn that ability and then buy a few (1-2) Phoenix Downs at the store. Phoenix Downs are great to have as they allow you to revive a KOed character. You'll also want to equip one of your Chemists with the Mythril Knife you picked up as a Battle Trophy in the first battle; it's stronger than the Daggers they already have. Save the game by pressing Triangle and choosing Data, then head west to Mandalia Plain. As soon as you leave the city, you'll have a flashback (yes, a flashback within a flashback) to the death of Ramza's father Barbaneth. After that sequence has ended, you'll be back in Gariland. Click on Mandalia Plain once again and this time you'll actually get there. At Mandalia Plain, you'll meet Argath, under attack by the Corpse Brigade. You can choose whether or not to help him (bottom option) or just go after the Corpse Brigade (to option). This has no long-term impact on the storyline; it only affects the victory conditions for the upcoming battle: - If you choose not to help Argath (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies. It doesn't matter if Argath is KOed during the battle or not. Choosing this option also adds 10 points to the Bravery score of every character in your current squad, including Delita. 2 points of this change will remain even after the battle. - Choosing to help Argath (bottom choice) adds an additional requirement to the battle: you'll have to keep Argath from getting KOed during the battle. This option has no effect on your team's Bravery. The first option both makes the battle easier AND gives you a boost in Bravery. High Bravery is pretty useful since it increases some weapons' attack strength and your chance of using Reaction Abilities. There's no benefit at all from choosing the second option, so choose the first! When the fight concludes, Argath will join as a guest regardless of which option you choose before the battle. Back on the map, go on up to Eagrose Castle. You'll have a brief chat with Dycedarg, then Zalbaag will send you to rendezvous with his spy at Dorter. At this point, you might want to consider changing some of your characters to new jobs. Chemists are really more useful than either White Mages or Black Mages, so keep your Chemists as-is. But you might want to change some of your Squires to Knights, since Knights have more HP and damage potential than Squires. (Archers are also available at this time. They're good in general, but I'd skip them for the next few battles as melee combat is best for them.) I made Ramza into a Knight at this point. It's probably a good idea to keep at least one Squire, though. Why is that? As long as you have at least one Squire active in battle, everyone will earn some JP towards that job, and that will help you buy useful Squire abilities like Counter Tackle, Move +1, and JP Boost. Move +1 and JP Boost are particulary useful -- JP Boost increases the amount of JP you earn, and will help you learn all the other abilities faster--it's a good investment! At any rate, if you do change jobs, be sure to buy (and equip) new gear for those characters. Before you leave Eagrose, stop by the Outfitter. There's new equipment for sale here. Stock up on Potions, then arm your characters with the new gear. Make sure all your Squires and Knights have Longswords, the best weapon available to them right now. In particular, if you changed any of your characters' jobs, be sure they have equipment that goes with the new jobs. You can safely skip the Mythril Knife, though--it'll just increase a Chemist's attack power by 1 point, and they don't do much fighting, anyway. The shop also sells Battle Boots, which increase your movement range by 1 tile. As handy is this, they're pricey, so you won't be able to afford them for your whole team. If you buy them for anyone, give them to your Chemist, so he/she can get around the battlefield quickly enough to heal people. Also stop by the shop at Gariland, which sells different items than the one at Eagrose. The Eagrose has equipment for Knights and Archers, but the shop offers Plumed Hats and Leather Clothing, which is better armor for your Squires and Chemists. Pick up these upgrades as well; you want to make sure your Chemists stay alive so they can heal people! (Unlike in a lot of games, armor in FF Tactics doesn't actually reduce the damage you take; it gives you more HP or MP. Still, it helps you stay alive longer!) Don't forget that you change Delita's and Argath's equipment, too, despite the fact that they're guest characters. You can (and should!) have them learn new abilities, too! You may want to gain some levels before proceeding. You can do this by strolling back and forth across the Mandalia Plain until you get into a random battle. Note that while Ramza is required in story battles, you do NOT have to deploy Ramza during the random battles. (Also, since Delita and Argath are Guest characters, they won't participate in random battles, only story ones.) By the way, it'll help you out in some of the future battles if you're able to teach Argath a simple Black Magick spell. This is pretty tricky, though, since he doesn't participate in any of the random battles and can only earn JP in the story battles. So, the only way to do this is to have your Chemists take enough actions during the story battles that Argath gains some JP in the Chemist job and is able to unlock the Black Mage job. It's cool if you can do this, but don't worry too much about it if you can't; it's not *necessary*. Your next story destination is the Siedge Weald, to the east of Gariland. Head down that direction. When you get to Gariland, you'll see a scene at the Tavern about the game's multiplayer modes. Both of these modes are now unlocked, and you can play them by visiting a Tavern in any town. Melee Mode is a "versus" mode that pits your party against another player's. Rendezvous Mode is a co-op mode in which you team up with another player to challenge various missions that will become unlocked as you play through the game. Right now, there's only one mission available, "Chocobo Defense." Both modes allow you to earn and keep JP and items; when you get to a high enough experience level, you can even obtain items that you can't get anywhere else. Another nice thing about these modes is that you can't permanently lose any items or characters, so they're risk- free. (Melee Mode does cost gil to play, though.) You can check them out now if you want, although at this point, the Rendezvous Mode mission may still be pretty challenging. Check out the Multiplayer Modes section below for more information on the modes' rules and for strategies for the Rendezvous Mode missions. (Note that both modes are playable only over a local, "ad hoc" connection.) If you don't have a chance to play the multiplayer modes, don't worry, you definitely don't need to play multiplayer in order to complete the single- player game. Continue on to the Weald and complete the battle there. Before proceeding on to Dorter, make sure your Chemists have learned both Potion and Phoenix Down. You can skip the abilities for all the individual condition-curing items, though; most of the conditions aren't that bad and when you get Remedies, those will cure *any* status change. Other good abilities to learn are Stone and Rush. When you get the JP, pick up Move +1, Focus, and Counter Tackle. Ramza can also use the Tailwind ability, which you'll want to get as well. Chemists should have Potion and Phoenix Down. When you enter Dorter, there will be a cutscene, and then you'll be tossed into a battle at the Dorter Slums. This is a pretty tough battle. If you don't win at first, try again, or build up your levels first. Upon your victory, you'll be able to visit the town. There's no new equipment to buy, but stock up on items. You'll want at least 10 Potions and 4 Phoenix Downs. Potions are cheap (50 gil each), so there's no reason not to carry plenty. Also, winning the battle at Dorter Slums netted you an Iron Sword, which is a better weapon than anything you can find in stores. Equip it one of your characters. Again, you may want to build levels before proceeding to the next battle. When you're ready, go on up to the Zeklaus Desert, where you'll have a battle at the Sand Rat's Sieve. This is a difficult fight--the toughest in Chapter I--so it may take you a couple tries. After you win, you'll rescue the Marquis. You'll also pick up a Blind Knife. It's not stronger than the other knives you already have, but it does inflict Blind status on enemies (lowering their hit rate), so give it to a Chemist. Return to Eagrose Castle. You'll meet Duke Larg, and then Dycedarg will let Ramza and friends in on the next mission against the Corpse Brigade. The shops at all three towns will now be stocked with new items. At Eagrose, you can buy Iron Swords for both your Squires and Knights, as well as Escutcheons, Iron Helms, and Bronze Armor for any Knights you have. Gariland has better light armor, used by jobs other than Knights. If you're using mages, you can buy new magick weapons at Gariland and Dorter, as well as Hempen Robes, which will raise their MP max. All towns also carry a new accessory-- the Shoulder Cape, which will boost both your physical and magick evade rates by a little bit (10%). It's not really as useful as the Battle Boots, though. The most important new item isn't actually an equipment--it's the Hi-Potion, which is now for sale under Items! Hi-Potions restore 70 HP instead of the 30 you get from a regular Potion, and since you should have a lot more than 30 HP now, you'll need the healing boost. You can't use Hi-Potions unless you've learned the Hi-Potion ability (under Chemist), so be sure to have your Chemist(s) learn this ability. Buy as much of the new gear as you can. There's a lot to buy, so you might not be able to afford it all. Aside from restocking your item supply, the priorities are probably the Iron Swords and Bronze Armor at Eagrose, and the Leather Plate at Gariland, as well as restocking your item supply. After you're done shopping, your new destination is the Brigands' Den, south of the Mandalia Plain. You may want to bring more male characters than female ones here, as there's a chance that one of the enemies can charm a female character--but it's pretty unlikely, so don't go out of your way to adjust your roster. Also, if you happen to have any characters on your roster who are Tauruses, Capricorns, or male Pisces, they're good to deploy here. You'll be facing your first boss character here, and she's a female Virgo. The three Zodiac signs listed above will do the most damage to her. Again, it's definitely not essential to have them, but it'll help you out if you do. The Brigands' Den is easier than the Sand Rat's Sieve, so if you won there, you should be able to attain victory here. Victory here nets you a Bronze Shield, which is a more effective shield than anything else you've got at this point. Following the battle, there will be a cutscene at Eagrose as the Corpse Brigade strikes back. Strip Argath of all his equipment, as he'll be leaving your party shortly. Go back up to Eagrose. A series of scenes will follow in which Ramza and Delita decide to rescue Tietra, and Argath leaves. At this point, you'll probably want to start changing jobs, if you haven't already. If you change any of your characters to Monks, do so; they're very strong fighters. If any of your characters have enough JP to buy the Knight abiity Equip Heavy Armor, a good strategy is to learn that ability and then make the character into a Monk--the heavy armor will make up for the Monk's otherwise poor HP count. It would also help to have a Black Mage and Archer. However, you will still want to have a healer, so give one of your characters the Items ability. Before switching out of the Chemist job, you need to learn (and equip) the Throw Item ability ... otherwise, your items will have a range of 1, and, as Sonic would say, that's NO GOOD! After you've finished changing jobs, be sure to buy matching equipment for them. If you're just now switching to Archers, I'll explain the difference between bowguns and regular bows: bowguns only require one hand, allowing you to equip a shield, but bows deal more damage. Since Archers are usually in the back line and don't get attacked too much, a shield isn't too important, so I almost always use regular bows. Note, also, that the Flame, Ice, and Thunder Rods (for Black Mages) boost the damage dealt by your Fire-family, Blizzard-family, and Thunder-family magicks, respectively. A good trick, then, is to buy a particular Rod and then learn some of the spells that go along with it (e.g., buy the Ice Rod and then try to learn Blizzard and Blizzara). This will increase the damage you can do with your magick. These rods also sometimes cast Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder when executing a physical attack, if your Black Mage happens to get caught in a melee. Return to Gariland. As you cross Mandalia Plain, an animated cutscene will play. Once you get to Gariland, buy plenty of Hi-Potions (12 or so) and Phoenix Down (6 should be sufficient). If you weren't able to purchase all the equipment upgrades you wanted before the Brigands' Den, you could do so now as well, but you're probably better off saving your money--there are even better items coming soon. But if any of your equipment was stolen by the Thieves in the last battle, be sure to replace it. Go north from Gariland to the Lenalian Plateau. You'll have another battle against Milleuda (Wiegraf's sister). She is of course still a female Virgo, so any Taurus, Capricorn, and male Pisces characters you have will be the most effective against her. After you win the battle at the Plateau, the shops will again update their shelves with new equipment. As before, you'll find heavy armor and most kinds of weapons in Eagrose, and lighter armor in Gariland and Dorter. Buy what you can and replace any items that Milleuda may have broken. Also, at this point you should be in great shape to win the Chocobo Defense mission in Rendezvous Mode, so if you'd like to check that out, you can earn some extra items and JP. Strategies for these missions are available in the Rendezvous Mode section. Forge on from the Lenalian Plateau to Fovoham Windflats. At Fovoham Windflats, you'll square off against Wiegraf and his Chocobo Boco (a reference to Final Fantasy V). This battle isn't too difficult if you have good jobs. If you want to exploit your Zodiac signs to maximize damage against him, he's a male Virgo, so Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces will be the most effective. Nothing is added to the shops after the battle at Fovoham, so if your item supply is okay, you can continue directly on to Ziekden Fortress, the final battle of the chapter. You'll probably want non-basic Jobs (particularly a Monk or an Archer) for this battle. A Black Mage with Blizzard family magicks will be quite useful, especially if paired with an Ice Rod. And, again, Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces characters will be good against the boss. If you need JP, you can always go to the Siedge Weald or the Mandalia Plain to fight some random battles. At Ziekden Fortress, you'll find Tietra being held captive by a Gragoroth, a Corpse Brigade knight. Argath arrive with some troops, and you'll find yourself battling an unexpected enemy. After you kill him, there are a couple FMV scenes, the fort blows up, and the chapter ends. The game will give you a chance to save, and then you'll move on to Chapter II. %%%CHAPTER II: THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk2 You now return to the present, at Orbonne Monastery. Your current mission is to rescue Princess Ovelia. After a brief chat, you'll be given a chance to add Ramza's fellow mercenary Ladd and both of Agrias's Knights (Alicia and Lavian) to the party. There's no real reason not to take them along, so sign them up! They start with a bare minimum of abilities, though, so they probably won't see much use compared to the characters you're carrying over from Chapter I. Note that to do one of Agrias's Subquests in Chapter IV, you MUST keep Alicia and Lavian (as well as Agrias, of course) on your roster until the subquest, even if you never use them in battle. Don't dismiss them or let them get killed if you want to complete all the sidequests. Agrias and Gaffgarion will also join as Guests. You still have all your characters from Chapter I (except Delita) as well. You'll see that Ramza's appearance has changed at the start of the chapter. His Squire job is now able to equip heavy armor and shields, plus he has a new ability to learn, Steel. Steel gives a character a +5 Bravery boost during a battle, and some of this increase will remain even after the battle. Raising your Bravery makes your Reaction Abilities and some attacks stronger, so this is a good ability to learn. If Ramza has some spare turns near the end of a battle, you can spend them using Steel to boost up characters' Bravery. If you have any abilities to learn, get them. Since the Guest AI can be somewhat poor at targeting spells, you may want to de-equip any spellcasting abilities (Black Magick or Mystic Arts) that Agrias may have equipped. When you've got your team organized, go north to the only location available to you: Dorter, where a battle awaits you. Win it (well, obviously) and you'll have access to all of the map again. At this point, you should have had all your characters upgraded from the beginning Jobs (Squire or Chemist) to more advanced ones. In particular, you'll want to have a Monk, Archer, Black Mage, and White Mage somewhere in the party. I like making Ramza into a Monk; you'll want to have him learn either the Monk's Chakra ability or the Time Mage's Teleport for use in a battle near the end of the chapter. An Orator can also be useful to have on the team, but might take some time to get, as you have to get the Mystic job up to job level 3, and Mystic itself requires job level 3 of White Mage. If you want to take the time to get it, you can also get the Thief Job, which is unlocked by getting Archer to job level 3. You now have the ability to take Errands at taverns. You can earn a lot of gil and some JP from these jobs, so take them up (never more than one at a time, though). Always choose to spend the maxinum number of days possible. While the characters are away, you can continue on without them, or you have the main group build up job levels with random battles. Or, if you just want to pass time, you can walk back and forth between two blue dots on the map, which will never trigger any random battles. (You can use Eagrose & Ziekden Fortress, or Dorter & the Monastery.) Also, two new Rendezvous Mode missions are now available in Taverns: Chicken Race and Treasure Hunt, which offer better items than the Chocobo Defense mission from chapter I. Chicken Race can be completed quite easily by a small party of Chemists and is great for collecting items at this stage. Treasure Hunt is a bit harder, but if you pick up the chest on the map, you'll get a good piece of equipment. All the stores have new equipment, so pay them a visit to gear up your characters. Remember that you'll have to hike back to Eagrose to purchase heavy armor and most weapons. Conversely, you'll only find lighter armor at the other two cities. Don't buy any equipment for Gaffgarion. (It's OK to get stuff for Agrias, but her equipment is already really good.) Stock up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs. Note you can have random battles at the Fovoham Windflats and the Zeklaus Desert that occur on entirely different maps from the story battles there. They also feature some advanced monsters, so try recruiting them with a Orator. Just make sure to keep an eye on the number of eggs they produce; wipe out the majority of eggs before they clog your roster. This is a good chance to build up your characters if you want. As long as you have the Jobs I recommended above and new equipment for your main squad of characters, you should be fine. When you feel confident that you're done preparing, go to Araguay Woods, east of Dorter. Here you have to save Boco the chocobo from goblins. As when you met Argath, you're given two options, which will affect your victory conditions: - If you choose not to help Boco (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies, and you don't have to keep Boco from being KOed. However, you'll also suffer a 10 point PENALTY to everyone's Bravery; 2 points of which will remain even after the battle. - Choosing to help Boco (bottom choice) means you must keep Boco from getting KOed during the battle, but does not penalize your Bravery. This time, the top choice still gives you an easier battle, but you'll take a hit to your Bravery for selecting it. Since protecting Boco during the battle isn't hard at all, choose the second option to keep from losing Bravery. After the battle, Boco will join. Back on the map, go into your roster screen and change Gaffgarion into a Time Mage or another crummy job. If you have the auto-equip feature on, be sure to also strip off all his gear. Equip it on one of your other characters. He has good armor, and the Power Gauntlet will give you an attack boost. (It's great for an Archer, or another character who doesn't need the movement bonus of the Battle Boots.) Then continue on to Zeirchele Falls. It's pretty here, but there's still a battle awaiting you. Be sure to deploy an Archer for it. After the battle, Delita will leave you with Ovelia. Ramza sets a new course for Lionel Castle, so Fort Besselat disappears from your map, not to return until much later in the game. Back on the map, help yourself to Gaffgarion's equipment if you didn't earlier. If you need items, go back to Dorter. There's also some new equipment for sale at Dorter and at Eagrose, so it's probably worth making the trip as you'll want the new gear for the next battle. However, you may want to pass on the Poison Rod for your Black Mages. While it does a little more damage physically (and sometimes poisons its target), it doesn't boost the power of any of your Black Magicks like the Flame, Ice, and Thunder Rods do. Since your Black Mages usually attack with magick most of the time (I assume ;) ), you're probably better off sticking your existing rod. While Ovelia is listed on your roster as a Guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles. So, you're safe de-equipping her Wizard's Hat and Wizard's Robe and giving them to another character. The Wizard's Robe is an especially nice pick-up since you can't buy them stores yet. It raises your magick attack, so give it to one of your mages. However, she WILL be able to use some of her abilities later. So, go into Ovelia's ability screen and teach her as many abilities under Princess as you can, then equip them. They'll come in handy in a few battles later down the road. The next battle is a tough one, so be prepared. You'll want Archers and Black Mages, and, if you don't include a White Mage in the party, one of the characters should have White Magick as a secondary ability. A Black Chocobo also be helpful, if you can get one. (Boco will randomly lay eggs and they may hatch into Black Chocobos, but there's obviously an element of luck/randomness to this.) I ended up using Ramza, two Archers, and a Black Mage. If you don't have the abilities you want, you can move back and forth across any green dot on the map to fight random battles and earn more JP. When you're ready, go south past the falls to the Castled City of Zaland. You'll meet Mustadio, who is being chased by some bad guys. Once again, you're given two options for the upcoming battle: - Choosing the first option means that you DO NOT have to keep Mustadio from getting KOed during the battle. This option raises the Bravery of each character on your current squad (including Agrias) by 5, 1 point of which is permanent. - Choosing the second option means that you DO have to keep from getting Mustadio from getting KOed. However, this option raises all the characters' Bravery by 10, 2 points of which are permanent. In other words, you'll get a Bravery increase either way, but you'll get a BIGGER increase for helping Mustadio. Of course, this also makes the battle harder. So, there's no clear "best option" here. It's up to you which you choose. Since this battle can be pretty challenging, you might want to just pick the first option; it makes the fight quite a bit easier and you're only missing out on 1 extra point of Bravery. Again, no matter what you pick, Mustadio joins you afterwards as a Guest. When all the talking is finished, you're now able to visit the stores in Zaland. There's not very much in the way of selection, but if you didn't upgrade your equipment after Zeirchele Falls, the Adamant Vest, Wizard's Hat, and Serpent Staff are all for sale here. (There's nothing brand new.) There are also a pair of new Errands available at the Tavern, and a new Rendezvous Mode mission. Your next stop is Balias Tor. When you first try to leave Zaland, there will be a cutscene. Afterwards, you'll be back on the map, but Balias Tor is still red. Travel there for real this time, and you'll get into a fight. Following the fight, a cut scene will pop up back at Eagrose Castle with Dycedarg and Gaffgarion scheming. You can now finally get to Lionel Castle--don't worry; there's no fight! You'll chat with Delacroix and learn about the Zodiac Stones. Agrias and Ovelia will then leave the party. Then you get to go shopping! There is a lot of really powerful equipment you can get here, so load up on it (you should have a lot of money by now). The Lightning Bow is a great weapon for any Archers you have; it has a fairly high attack power and sometimes casts the Thundaga spell. The stores also have a lot of new accessories -- you might want to pick up a Mage's Cloak or two for your magick users. Finally, you can now buy the Remedy item in all stores. It can cure any status ailment, so now there's really no point for your Chemists to learn the abilities for any of the other status-restoring items. Buy any stuff you want in Lionel now, as you won't be able to do so later. Since your access to the shops will be blocked off later, it might be a wise idea to buy some spare pieces of heavy armor and helms. That way, if any of your gear gets stolen or broken, you have a replacement. Now that you've reached Lionel Castle, you'll be able to deploy 5 characters in both story and random battles, instead of just 4. If you've been using a core team of just four characters, be sure to get a fifth equipped. Also, you may want to send some of your characters out on a errand if you haven't been doing them -- you can earn a lot of money from some. Again, walking between Dorter and Orbonne Monastery is an easy way to pass time and complete the errands while avoiding random battles. Be sure to complete all the errands before heading on to Goug, though. Once you get to Goug, it will be a while before you can go back to the other towns to retrieve your characters. If you go back up to Zaland, you can also buy some new light armor: Green Berets and Wizard Clothing. Keep your magick users equipped with Wizard's Hats, though, as those raise their magick power. If Mustadio has enough JP, pick up the Seal Evil ability for him if you haven't already--it'll be handy in the next battle, as it turns undead to stone. On to the fenlands. This should be a pretty easy battle as you fight your way through here on to Goug. However, there's a small chance that you may encounter a Pig monster here in the initial story battle. (It does not appear during random battles.) If you have an Orator, deploy him/her so that you can recruit the Pig if you see it. You can use that Pig to breed monsters from the pig family and then use the Thief ability Poach to kill them, which will yield great rare items. (Unfortunately, you won't actually be able to pick up the items until the Poachers' Dens open in Chapter III.) The next opportunity to get a Pig won't be until Chapter IV, so if you're particularly intent on getting a leg up on the enemy, you could keep entering the battle over and over and resetting until the Pig appears and you can recruit it. But, that's definitely NOT necessary; you can skip the Pig entirely and do just fine! Upon arriving in Goug, there will be a brief scene and then you're back on the map. The store doesn't have much of anything, but if you've got a Orator or Chemist, be sure to buy them a Romandan Pistol. The Romandan Pistol has a great rangeoverall, and is especially useful if you have a chance to pair it with the Knight's Arts of War abilities -- you can use it rend enemies' equipments or stats at a distance! Goug also has a number of accessories Make sure you're stocked up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs; you'll need them. You may also want to equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters who have it. Try to leave the city and you'll be immediately thrust into a battle. Deploy your Orator (if you have one), somebody with a bow, and somebody with Black Magick. Ludovich, the leader of the Baert Company, will appear with Mustadio and Besrudio (Mustadio's father) captive. Mustadio reveals the location of the Zodiac Stone. Ramza forks it over and you find out that Delacroix was in on the plot. It's fight time. After a fairly tough battle, you check on Besrudio. Mustadio reveals that the Zodiac Stone that Ludovich got was really a fake. Mustadio will now join as you a normal party member -- now you can control him! The only downside to this is that he can now be permanently killed. Be sure to keep him alive; you'll need him to complete most of the subquests in Chapter IV. Musty's equipment is all gone, so be sure to re-equip him. Also, if he learned any skills while he was a Guest, they're gone for some reason. The route back through the fenlands disappears. Take the ship (well, just walk across the ocean) over to the Port City of Warjilis. Upon getting off the ship, you'll see a FMV sequence with Delita. After that scene's ended, you can explore the town. There's no new equipment available, but to make some easy money, go to the bar and accept the errand (to find the Highwind!), then go back to Goug and get the job there as well. (There will be a cutscene with Delacroix's scheming when you leave Warjilis the first time). Just go back and forth between the two cities until both jobs are complete. If you weren't able to afford all the equipment you wanted in Goug or elsewhere, you should be able to get it now. There's also a new Rendezvous Mode mission, Lost Heirloom, that will have appeared after you completed the story battle at Goug. This new mission is pretty difficult if you don't have a good defense, and the enemy Thieves can charm female characters. If you have a female-heavy party, you may want to wait until you get to Chapter III and can buy equipment that protects you from Charm. Now that you have Mustadio, a good general trick for leveling up quickly is to use Arm Shot or Leg Shot to debilitate the last enemy in a battle. Then, you're free to let the other enemies turn into crystals/chests. Crystals from human enemies are often a good source of new abilities. Also, while the last enemy is Disabled or Immobilized, you can have your characters attack each other to raise JP. If you use the right strategy, you shouldn't really need to grind in this fashion, but it's an efficient way to raise levels if you decide to do so. Now go up to Balias Swale, where you'll find another fight. You'll deploy two squads here to save Agrias from Delacroix's Gryphon Knights. This is a really easy fight, so you might want to deploy some weaker characters to give them a boost. Agrias will rejoin, this time as a controllabe, non-guest character. Again, if you want to complete all the sidequests in the game, don't dismiss her or let her get killed. After getting Agrias, if you head back down to Warjilis, you'll find the shops have a few new items available. Most notably, you can replace your Power Gauntlets with the Diamond Bracelets, which gives you the Power Gauntlet's +1 Physical Attack but also +1 Magick Attack and immunity to Slow. The latter ability is pretty handy in the upcoming battle, so buy some for your main squad. You can also upgrade your Wizard Clothing to the Brigandine, which gives you a few more HP. (You'll probably want to keep magick-oriented characters on the Wizard Clothing or robes, though, for the magick bonus.) There's also the Mage's Staff, and, in the unlikely event you have a Samurai, the Osafune katana. Your next stop is Golgollada Gallows. Make sure you're ready; this is a tough battle. The execution turns out to be a trap, and you have to fight Gaffgarion. Bring your Diamond Bracelets! After you attain victory at the Gallows (it may take a few tries!), you'll see a scene back at Lionel Castle in which you find out more about Ovelia's past and Delacroix's plans. Then you're back on the map. When you move back up to Balias Swale, you'll see a cutscene with Wiegraf. Now, you can now wander around the map again. Next up is the final battles of the chapter, which occur at Lionel Castle. However, if you want to travel elsewhere, you can do so. If you click on any of the destinations PAST Lionel Castle, you can walk right through the castle without getting into a fight. Just don't click on the castle ITSELF until you're ready to fight. To prepare for the upcoming fight, you'll want to make sure that Ramza has either the Teleport movement ability (Time Mage) or Chakra (Monk). If you're using Chakra, you can either make Ramza into a Monk or by assigning Martial Arts as a secondary action ability. It's also probably a good idea to equip the Archer's Bane rection ability on any characters that have it. When you've done all that, it's time for the final battles of the chapter. When you click on Lionel Castle, you'll have no choice but to attack the gate. As Ramza tries to open the gate, Gaffgarion shows up yet again and surrounds the castle. If you thought the Gallows was bad, here's more fun. Actually, the gate isn't as bad if you play your cards right (see the battle strategies). The save game screen will pop up at the conclusion of the battle -- there's another couple battles right after this one. It's your call as to whether you should save. I'd recommend saving in a separate slot in case you need to go back to get more JP. After saving, you cut back to Delita at Zeirchele Falls with Ovelia. There's an easy battle here against the Order of the Northern Sky, but you get to control Delita during it :) Afterwards, you're given another chance to save (again, don't save in your main slot). Then your roster screen shows up, allowing Ramza's crew to learn new abilities or change equipment (which might be necessary if the Knights at the gate used Rend on you.) When you leave the formation screen, you'll immediately go to the next battle and start deploying your characters. This time you're up against Delacroix, who uses his Zodiac Stone to turn (with some pyrotechnics) into Cuchulainn. Beat him and he'll blow up (with more nifty effects) and drop another Zodiac Stone. Delita delivers Ovelia to Duke Goltanna, while Duke Larg maintains Orinus as the heir to the throne. As the War of the Lions begins over these claims to the throne, Chapter II draws to a close, and you're again given a chance to save. %%%CHAPTER III: THE VALIANT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk3 Three months into the War of the Lions, things are looking bad for both Larg and Goltanna. After a scene of Goltanna's council of war, we cut back to Ramza, whose new mission is to convince Zalbaag that someone is manipulating Ivalice into the war. You'll start the chapter positioned at Dorter. The shops have a lot of new stuff--as weird as it seems, those Croakadile Bags are *really* powerful, although expensive. The Headbands are also a great buy; not only do they increase your HP over the previous hats, they also give you a physical attack boost. (You may want to keep your magick users with the Wizard's Hats, though, as those boost their *magick* power.) Now that you're in Chapter III, you can also buy X-Potions, so you'll want to learn the corresponding ability with any item-users you have. The Poachers' Dens are also now open. You can now use the Thief's "Poach" ability to poach enemies and get items from them at the Poachers' Den. Poached items are cheap; you can buy them for half their usual price! You can also get some rare items from poaching that you can't get anywhere else! Note, though, that Poachers' Dens are only found in Dorter and Warjilis, not other cities. (Sal Ghidos, which you'll reach in Chapter IV, also has a Poachers' Den.) For additional shopping opportunities, visit one of the castles, Lionel or Eagrose. There you can pick up the Ancient Sword, a strong sword that can also Immobilize enemies, the Mythril Bow, and some other stuff. The Fire Shield and Ice Shield absorb fire and ice, respectively, which lets you do a handy trick: Cast a fire or ice spell that targets both enemies and an ally with the shield -- you'll damage the enemies, AND heal your character! Not only does this let you get around the "friendly fire" effects when fighting in close quarters, it even replenishes your HP! All this new equipment is expensive, so luckily there's a whole slew of new errands, at least one in every town. If you're short on cash, I recommend spending a while completing them, buying stuff, and building up your characters. If you're offered any "contest" errand, take it right away, because you won't have the chance for very long. A new Rendezvous mission, The Fete, is available. This one can be a little difficult if you haven't yet learned Shirahadori (see below), but with a Summoner you should be able to win. There's also the Lost Heirloom mission from last chapter if you haven't done that yet; the Nu Khai Armbands that you can now buy will make this battle easier by protecting you from Charm. There are some abilities you'll need at the end of Chapter III that it's a good idea to start learning now. You don't need these abilities just yet, but if you build your characters towards those abilities now, you won't have to spend time grinding for them later. Specifically, you'll really want Ramza toi have Focus and Tailwind (both Squire), and Auto-Potion (Chemist). If you have the chance to unlock the Ninja job for him, that'll also help out a lot, although it's not strictly necessary. (It can be a bit of pain to unlock, though, as it requires Ramza to at least have Archer at level 4, Thief at level 5, and Geomancer at level 2.) For your other characters, acquiring the Dragoon or Ninja job on as many as characters as possible is helpful, but also not a must-have. Combining the Ninja's inherent speed and double attack with the Monk's Brawler ability makes for an incredibly strong and quick fighter. You may also want to start developing a stealing specialist, if you haven't already. You'll be encountering more and more enemies with rare equipment that you can't buy in stores, so you may want to swipe it :). It'll be a big help if you can learn the Thief's Steal abilities, and either Concentration (Archer) or Brawler (Monk), either of which will improve your stealing success rate. If you don't get to this until Chapter IV, though, it's not a big deal. Some other abilities that you want to work towards over the course of the chapter are the Samurai's Shirahadori reaction ability, the Ninja's Dual Wield support ability, and the Time Mage's Teleport movement ability. Shirahadori blocks physical attacks outright and, if combined with a high Bravery stat (which you can boost with Ramza's Steel ability), can render you virtually impervious to physical attacks. It's one of the best abilities in the game. If you haven't already unlocked the Samurai job, though, you'll need to get a character with Knight level 4, Monk level 5, and Dragoon level 2 to become a Samurai. The Ninja's Dual Wield ability is also great as it allows you equip two weapons at once and effectively double (or come close to doubling) your attack power. Finally, the Time Mage's Teleport is helpful both for navigating battlefields with tall walls (as it allows you to essentially warp right up them), for teleporting through enemy forces blocking your path, and for extending your move range in a pinch. If you try to teleport long distances, it'll probably fail, but this ability is still extremely helpful for navigating heights and crowded maps. If you have a Summoner, the Golem summon will also help out in a battle near the end of the chapter. Lastly, if you haven't been using Ramza's Steel to work on building up your Bravery, try to do so when you get a chance -- having a high Bravery will make your Reaction Abilities a lot more useful (such as the aforementioned Shirahadori). When you're ready to get on with the game, equip your team with gear that boosts their Move or Jump ranges. Safeguard may also be helpful. Then go up from Dorter, across the Zeklaus Desert, to the Mining Town of Gollund. There's a fight here where you have to rescue Orran (although I can't imagine he'd need much rescuing). Black Magick and Thieves are handy here. After you save Orran, you'll chat briefly, and then he'll head off to the south, sadly depriving you of his super-powerful Celestial Stasis spell. There's no new equipment in the Gollund shops, so just head straight on to Lesalia. There's no fight when you first get here, just a short chat with Zalbaag. However, as soon as you leave, you'll have to fight Zalmour. It's a pretty easy battle. Alma then joins up as a guest. When you have a chance, de-equip her Healing Staff, Barette, and Red Shoes. The Healing Staff and Barette are items you can't ever buy in shops, and the Red Shoes won't be available to purchase until much later. (It's safe to de-equip all her gear since, despite being a guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles.) The Healing Staff is an interesting "weapon" in that it actually restores HP to the character hit by it. Equipping it on a magick-oriented character can be quite useful since they probably won't be doing much fighting anyway and it gives you a free source of healing. If you want to complete some errands easily, you can take the ones at Gollund and Lesalia and then just walk back and forth until they're done. Before leaving this region, you can also stop at the store in Lesalia to buy new heavy armor. Then go down to Dorter; there's some new equipment here as well. In particular, the Jujitsu Gi is a great set of clothes for fighting-oriented characters as it also boots your physical atack power, and the Celebrant's Miter is a hat that boosts your MP. (You'll probably want to keep your fighters using the Headband for the attack boost.) Depending on what jobs you're using, there may be weapon upgrades as well. A more powerful gun, the Mythril Gun, is now available for sale. Since Goug is the only city that sells guns, though, you'll have to walk all the way down there if you want to buy it. (Note that the sea route between Goug and Warjilis has vanished as of Chapter III.) It's 2 points stronger and a stronger guns never appears in stores, so it's worth the trip if you didn't get the chance to steal them during the Gollund battle. Purchase anything you want, then head to Orbonne Monastery. Note that once you enter, you'll be locked into a series of three battles, so make sure that you're well stocked with supplies. You could also pick up a few of the Jade Armlet accessory, since they'll be helpful in an upcoming battle, but they're fairly expensive and not really necessary. At Orbonne Monastery, enter the Monastery Vaults (it's the only option available), where you'll find Simon wounded. He tells you about Funebris's plot, and Ramza chases after the troops looking for the Virgo Stone. You'll have a chance to save your game. All you'd have to repeat if you died is that short scene with Simon, but if you want to save, save in a separate slot since you're locked into a series of battle. The roster screen will come up, then you will go down to the second floor and have a fight. After beating the second floor, you have another save opportunity. Again, save in a slot separate from your main file. For the next battle, you may want to equip any accessories you have that boost your Jump statistic. After you leave the roster screen, you'll go to the third floor for another battle against Isilud. Upon winning it, there's yet another save point, and then the last of the three battles, this time with Wiegraf. This time, equip any Jade Armlets you have to protect yourself from his sword attacks. Afterwards, Isilud escapes with a friend and your Zodiac Stones captive. Outside, Wiegraf transforms in a rather frightening scene and Simon then shows up to give you the Scriptures of Germonique. Back on the map, go to the Chronicle option and check out your Artefacts. Examine the Scriptures of Germonique and press Triangle to read it. After you read it (which takes a while), go to Dorter. A mage will demand the Scriptures and ask if you've read them. It doesn't seem to matter what you say. When he leaves, the route to Riovanes Castle will open. Try to leave Dorter (just click anywhere on the map) and you'll see an FMV scene with Delita and Ovelia. After the scene concludes, go into Dorter and check out the shops, which once again have some new equipment. The Power Garbs are a great buy; they're good new clothes that also raise your attack power. And don't miss the White Robe for your magick-users; you'll have to scroll down through all the clothes to find it. However, you may want to keep your Headbands and Celebrant's Miters instead of buying Black Cowls, since the Cowls don't have any special stat boost. Similarly, the Diamond Shields are not an especially great shield since they don't have any elemental properties, nor the magick block rate of the Aegis Shield. There are also a few new errands available down at Lionel Castle and the Castled City of Zaland, as well as at Eagrose Castle. Taverns also offer a new Rendezvous Mode mission, Desert Minefield. This one is relatively easy, although tough to clear with just a few characters. It's now time to head north to Riovanes. As you head up through the Zeklaus Desert, you'll run into a fixed battle. Deploy your characters; if you have anyone who can Poach or Entice/Tame monsters, they're good to bring here. There will be a CG scene, as Ramza jumps in to help Luso, and then the battle starts. Defeat or recruit the enemy Behemoths and Luso will join up. (Luso is the lead character from the Nintendo DS game Final Fantasy Tactics A2, not coming to North America until later this year ... he's just moonlighting here :) .) He's basically a clone of Ramza, but he has an intrinsic Poach ability (no ability needs to be equipped for it). This makes him very handy for treasure hunting, especially during the monster-laden random battles. (Story battles, of course, contain mostly humans and Poach doesn't work on them.) On the other hand, you may want to de-equip Luso's Icebrand sword and give it to Agrias -- it will make her Holy Sword techniques extremely powerful! If you poached any of the behemoths, you may want to go back to the Poachers' Den in Dorter to see what you got, since a lot of these items can be quite useful. If you recruited any of the behemoths, you're even better off; you can keep one behemoth on your team, have it breed other behemoths, and poach *those*. After helping out Luso, continue on up to Lesalia, where there is more new stuff (bows, daggers, and swords). Then continue to the Grogh Heights. Equip some accessories to boost your Jump and smash your way through here (I actually felt kind of bad killing those guys off) and you'll meet up with Orran again. You'll receive a Mythril Gun in spoils from the battle, so if you didn't bother to go to Goug to buy any Mythril Guns, equip this one now. Your next stop is the Walled City of Yardrow. Here you'll encounter Marach (the guy you met in Dorter) and Rapha. You have to save Rapha from Marach and the Riovanes soldiers. Deploy lots of healers and magick-users; skip the archers. After the fight, Rapha discusses her past. (Why the Grand Duke wants Rapha and Marach's powers so badly is one of FF Tactics's great unsolved mysteries ;) .) Marach, meanwhile, delivers a amphibian ultimatum. Rapha joins up as a guest for the next couple battles. She probably won't be all that helpful, though, since her Sky Mantra abilities only strike random tiles in their effect radius and can't be targeted too precisely. Before you leave Yardrow, stop at the Outfitter and pick up some better equipment for Rapha. But do NOT equip her with any "rare," non-buyable items like the Barette or Healing Staff; if you do, you'll lose them when Rapha goes from being a Guest into a regular character. There's also good gear for your magick users: the Gold Hairpins, which raise both your HP and MP a lot, and the Black Robe, which strengthens the power of any of your fire-, ice-, or lighting-elemental spells. (You may want to keep healers on the White Robe, since it's got elemental defenses and they don't need the offensive capability.) There are also some new accessories; pick up a pair of the speed-boosting Hermes Shoes for later use. The Bracer is also available. It's really expensive (50,000 gil), but it gives you a huge +3 attack boost, so buy one or two if you can afford them. When you leave town, there will be another Delita battle. It's a piece of cake. Back with Ramza's squad, if you want to do further shopping, you can go back down to Lesalia to buy new helmets, the Platinum Sword, and the Assassin's Dagger. If you have Ninjas, Samurais, or Dancers in the party, you may even want to trek all the way back to Dorter, as you will find new weapons for those three jobs there. Clearing the battle at Yardrow also opens up another Rendezvous Mode mission, Littering, which pits you against ten enemy Ninjas. If you bring characters with the Sticky Fingers reaction ability, you can catch the weapons that the Ninjas throw, which is a great way to build up your stock of weapons! You can also start winning rare equipment from this mission, although your experience level probably isn't high enough yet for these items to appear. When you've completed your shopping and catching spree, fight through the Yuguewood and its undead inhabitants. Deploy Mustadio and his Seal Evil ability will make quick work of them. Don't go on to Riovanes Castle just yet. It contains some very powerful bosses, so you need to make sure you're prepared. For Ramza, you'll want the Focus and Tailwind Squire abilities, as well as Auto-Potion from Chemist. Buy a healthy stock (30+) of X-Potions. You'll also want at least one pair of Hermes Shoes and a Green Beret. (If you sold all your Green Berets, you can buy another one at Yardrow.) Also helpful are Jujitsu Gis and Chameleon Robes (both of which protect against instant KO) and Jade Armlets (protection against Stop), particularly if you want to try to learn Ultima at Riovanes as opposed to later. Since the Jade Armlets are pretty expensive, you may not want to bother buying them unless you're set on going for Ultima. (If you don't get Ultima now, you can also get it in Chapter IV.) Finally, if any characters are close to reaching the Dragoon or Ninja jobs, you may want to bring them up to those jobs, as they are quite helpful. Zeklaus Desert is a good place to level up if you need to earn more JP. When you think you're ready, save your game, then pay a visit to Riovanes Castle. You'll see a scene with Barrington and the Templars, then have a chance to save. Be SURE to save in a separate slot from your main game, so that you can get out of the castle if you need to go back and level more/buy stuff. If you save in your main slot, you may wind up STUCK and have to start again from scratch! You then go to the first of a series of three battles. Strip Rafa of all her equipment; if she gets taken out quickly in the upcoming battle, Marach will also disappear. Equip the Archer's Bane or (preferably) Shirahadori ability on any characters you can, as well as the Ignore Elevation or Teleport movement abilities. If you have someone with the Golem summon, it's also helpful. Finally, equipping shields or capes for evasion may also be helpful. After you defeat everyone outside the gate, a wounded Knight will crawl out, warning of the Lucavi's rampage. Now, make sure you're prepared. You're about face a two-part battle against a Zodiac-charged Wiegraf, and he is rather powerful. However, if you're reading this walkthrough and coming prepared ;), he isn't that hard to beat. Before the battle starts, set Ramza with the Mettle action ability and Auto-Potion reaction ability. Next, you need to drop all your Potions and Hi-Potions. On the roster screen, click on any character and go to Equipment. Choose View List, find your Potions and Hi-Potions and select Discard. Throw away ALL of them, so that you can only use X-Potions when Auto-Potion activates. As for your othercharacters, make them into Dragoons or give them range weapons. Keep Agrias as a Holy Knight if she has the Hallowed Bolt ability. (If your Ramza is quite strong, you may not need such preparation--just give him Dual Wield or Jump.) When you think you're set, close the party roster screen and you'll be thrust into the battle against Wiegraf. (If you find yourself stuck in the castle without these recommended abilities, I've listed some other alternate tactics in the battle strategies below.) If you win both rounds of the battle, you'll go on to the last of this sequence of battles, on the roof. Be sure to save again. For this battle, make Ramza into a job with a high Speed stat (Ninja if available, otherwise Geomancer, Thief, or Monk), and equip him with a Green Beret and Hermes Shoes to boost his Speed as high as possible. Equipping the rest of the team with accessories boosting Speed or Move is helpful as well. You can also try to learn the Ultima spell during the rooftop battle. To do so, you'll need to deploy Luso (in his Game Hunter job), and equip the whole team with Jade Armlets and either Chameleon Robes or Jujitsu Gis. (Keep Ramza with the Hermes Shoes, though.) Or, if you took Alma's Barette, you can also equip that to protect a female character against both Stop AND KO. It's pretty challenging to learn Ultima here. There are other opportunities to learn the spell in Chapter IV where you don't have to contend with a suicidal Rapha and will have a much easier time. So, unless you really like a challenge, I would recommend waiting until Chapter IV. Anyway, after you (eventually) ward off Elmdore and his assassins, Rapha will use the Zodiac Stone to restore her family to a happy ending. You'll get your Zodiac Stones back, along with Wiegraf's Aries stone and Isilud's Pisces stone. Finally, Rapha and Marach will offer to join. You'll probably want to take Rapha, as her low Bravery makes her ideal for using Treasure Hunter. Marach basically sucks, but if you don't have a full roster already, there's no harm in signing him up. He's pretty similar to Rapha in that his abilities strike random tiles. What's interesting is that they do more damage to enemies with LOW Faith and get stronger when Marach has LOW Faith, the reverse of most magick abilities. (Rapha's abilities simply ignore Faith entirely.) If you have an Orator lower Marach's Faith, you can use Marach to attack the enemies with magick while being resistant to magick himself, but the randomness of his abilities still makes him not too useful. %%%CHAPTER IV: IN THE NAME OF LOVE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk4 Chapter IV picks up right where Chapter III left off. After a brief scene in Zeltennia Castle with Orlandeau and Orran, you'll be plopped back on the world map -- haven't seen that for a while, huh? -- outside Riovanes. Ramza's appearance has changed again, giving him the ability to equip knight's swords, powerful weapons that you'll start acquiring soon. He has also has a new ability available (Shout), so be sure to learn that. You'll note that Squire does not appear as a Mastered job even if you learn all the abilities -- that's because Ramza is missing the Ultima spell. If you managed to have Luso learn it back on the roof, you can now have him cast it on Ramza in any battle to teach it to Ramza. Otherwise, you'll have a chance to learn Ultima for both characters later on. Be sure to change back to your normal jobs if you're still altered from the fights in Riovanes Castle. While you're still at Riovanes, you can do a bit of equipment upgrading. There are new swords, shields, and armor available. If you visit Dorter, you can also buy new a ninja blade, katana, clothes (Gaia Gear), the Yagyu Darkroods shuriken, and the Angel Ring accessory. Pick up weapons you might need for you current jobs (and if you're using Throw, stock up on Darkroods). There are also a number of errands you can take in the various towns, but many of them aren't worth the time they take (and you sometimes LOSE money on them), so it's probably not worth the bother. Now that you're in Chapter IV, you can start accessing the game's side quests. First, assuming you still have Mustadio, you can head down to Goug to start the Gollund Colliery quest, which will net you two great new characters (Beowulf and Construct 8) as well as one OK one (Reis the Holy Dragon). This quest is covered in the Gollund Colliery section below -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00col to jump there. Second, you can also access the event to earn the Tynar Rouge accessory ... that is, IF you still have Mustadio, Agrias, Alicia, and Lavian on your team. It occurs on 1 Cancer, which follows the month of Gemini, which follows Taurus. So, if you're in Gemini or Taurus, keep your head up about that. See the Agrias's Birthday section below for the full scoop on how to complete that mission. Finally, there's a new Rendezvous Mode mission available, Shades of the Past. This one is pretty easy if you have a good physical defense. If your level is sufficiently high, you may start winning rare items from Rendezvous Mode! If you don't complete these sidequests now, don't worry--they all have no expiration date and you can always complete them later. You'll notice that a couple new routes have opened up from Riovanes: a shortcut back towards Eagrose Castle, and another down towards Dorter leading through the new Mount Bervenia location. You'll need to visit Mount Bervenia later if you're doing the Cloud Subquest, but there's not much to see there now. Instead, you'll want to head towards Zeltennia, where Ramza hopes to meet up with Delita to discuss the Church's plot. Go up to the pass near Lesalia. This is a routine battle against the Order of the Southern Sky. Whip through here and continue on towards the Free City of Bervenia. Before you enter the town, equip the Safeguard ability on everybody who has it. Archer's Bane or Shirahadori, Jump, and Ignore Elevation or Teleport are also helpful. In Bervenia, you'll encounter -- and fight -- Isilud's sister Meliadoul, accompanied by some Summoners and Archers. She has some very useful pieces of equipment (the Defender knight's sword and the Chantage perfume), so you may want to deploy someone with Steal and try to snag them, especially the Chantage. (See the battle strategies for more tips on stealing.) If you don't get them here, there *are* other ways to get them, but it's certainly worth taking a shot at acquiring them here. When you win the battle against Meliadoul, she'll teleport away and you'll be able to visit the shops in town. The Outfitter doesn't have anything new, but if you were able to steal Meliadoul's Defender and/or Chantage, equip them. The Defender is the first knight's sword you will have come across, which can only be used a select few jobs (Knight, Dark Knight, plus Ramza's Squire job and Agrias's Holy Knight job are the only ones who can use it now.) Also, now that you've completed the battle at Bervenia, you can begin the subquest to recruit Balthier. It requires trekking back down to Gollund and later to Dorter, so you can either do it now or just wait until you pass through that way a few battles later. For the full scoop on the Balthier quest, see the Recruiting Balthier section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00balt to jump down there. When you first leave Bervenia, there will be another intermission with Delita and Ovelia. Move on to Finnath Creek for another battle. You may want to bring an Orator or someone else with Speechcraft and Beast Tongue as you may able to recruit a Pig here. Instant-KO attacks (e.g. the Black Mage's Death) or petrification attacks (the Mystic's Induration or Beowulf's Break) will also be helpful here. After crossing the creek, you can finally get to Zeltennia Castle. Ramza will go to the church, where he'll meet Delita again. In an FMV scene, Delita explains more of the church's plan. Zalmour then shows up, and it's fight time (did you really think you could go somewhere without one?). With Delita's help, it's quite easy. After the battle, you'll meet with Valmafra, then Delita will leave (bummer). Strangely, the shops *still* don't have anything new. But restock your items; you'll need lots of X-Potions. You may also want to grab a couple Aegis Shields for any shield-using characters, if you don't already have some in your inventory. Then go to the Beddha Sandwaste, south of Bervenia. Here you'll encounter another Knight Templar, Barich, in a tough battle. To prepare yourself, you may want to equip White Robes and Aegis Shields to protect against enemy magic; deploying someone with the Esuna White Magick spell may also be helpful. This is one the last difficult encounters of the game, as pretty soon you... well, you'll see. After beating Barich (it may well take you a few tries), go to Fort Besselat. You'll have a choice as to whether to attack the south or north wall. Each is a different battle. I find that the south wall is easier, especially if you don't have characters with a good Jump rating. Still, a good Jump stat is useful for either battle, as are Shirahadori and Archer's Bane. Whichever way you go, you'll end up at the floodgate. Save your game in a different slot, then continue. There's a second battle at the sluice. After Ramza blows up the sluice, he, Orran, and Valmafra will rescue Orlandeau. Orran goes back to Zeltennia to guard Ovelia, but Orlandeau THEN JOINS YOU! YAHOO!! If you just heard a giant sucking sound, it was all the challenge going down to Mexico (er, unless you live in Mexico, then it all went to Zimbabwe). Orlandeau is ridiculously powerful, and once you have him, hardly anyone in the game has a chance against you. He has all of Agrias's, Gaffgarion's, and Meliadoul's sword techniques, plus a full set of Crystal equipment and the Excalibur, the latter of which gives him a permanent Haste. He can also use every type of sword (katana, knight's sword, etc.). To put it simply, he is hell on wheels. Meanwhile, Delita advances his power. A cutscene pops up instructing you to go to Limberry. A handy new path now opens up between Fort Besselat and Zeirchele Falls. If you didn't already recruit Balthier, now is a great time to trek back to either Gollund or Gariland to begin that quest. (Again, see the Recruiting Balthier section below for the full scoop.) A new Rendezvous Mode mission also becomes available, The Knights Templar. Your next stop is the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. On the way, stop in at Zeltennia. Finally, there's new equipment for sale! Aside from one hat that becomes available after Limberry, the gear here and at Sal Ghidos is the last round of equipment upgrades you can find in stores. There's better equipment out there, of course, but you have to steal or find it; you can't buy it. There's no point in holding back on upgrading, but save 50,000 - 75,000 gil or so for some accessories you'll need for the next arc. At Zeltennia, you'll find a new knife, sword, crossbow, polearm, shield, helm, armor, and the Featherweave Cloak accessory. Note that there are two new sets of armor available: the Crystal Mirror, which is a "regular" set of armor, and the Mirror Mail, which gives the character a permanent Reflect (basically the same as a Reflect Ring, but it doesn't take up your accessory slot :) ). This reflects enemy spells, but it also reflects your own cure spells or buffs. If you only use items to heal, though, the Reflect effect can be useful. At your next stop, the Trade City of Sal Ghidos, you'll run into what is probably a familiar face ... it's Aerith! Choose the SECOND option to buy a flower from her; you'll need to do so if you want to complete all the subquests. Be careful not to speed through the text and choose the first option by mistake! Once you have the flower, you can complete the Nelveska Temple quest (again, covered below in the subquests section), though this also requires you to have finished the Gollund Colliery quest first. The Nelveska Temple nets you one character upgrade, as well as the chance to acquire some rare items via the Treasure Hunter ability. Completing the Nelveska Temple in turn opens the Recruiting Cloud quest, which lets you recruit Cloud from Final Fantasy VII into your party. If you accidentally do NOT buy the flower, however, you'll miss out on your chance on complete these quests. After meeting with Aerith at Sal Ghidos, head into town (yup, there's no fight). There's yet more new equipment! Will the wonders never cease? Be sure to stop in for an upgrade. You can get new knives, katanas, polearms, poles, clothes, and hats. There's also the new Luminous Robe, although it doesn't have any special bonuses, so if you're using Black Magick, you may prefer to keep the Black Robe for its offensive bonuses. Before you leave, you'll want to have a good selection of equipment to protect yourself against the status conditions you'll face at Limberry. Jujitsu Gis and Jade Armlets are especially helpful, as they protect against the KO and Stop conditions that Celia and Lettie throw at you, and Protect Rings will defend against Sleep and Doom. You may also want to pick up a Nu Khai Armband or two for male characters; these protect against Charm. There are also a couple of new errands. Since Zeltennia and Sal Ghidos are right next to each other, you can easily clear the errands in either town (as well as in Bervenia) just by walking back and forth between them. They may help you out if you need to earn a little cash to buy stuff, though, in many cases, they're just as likely to lose you money as to earn you it. If you still need more money, you could complete the next two story battles (en route to Limberry), then come back to Sal Ghidos to shop with the bonus gil you received. Pop on down to Mount Germinas, where you'll have a run-in with some bandits. With Orlandeau in your party, this battle is a breeze. There is one special item here, which you can obtain either during the story battle or a random battle. It's the Invisibility Cloak, a cloak that (as you might expect) automatically makes you invisible. To get the cloak, first save the game; then equip someone with Treasure Hunter ability and move him/her to the top of the mountain. You'll receive either an Ether or the cloak; the LOWER your Bravery, the HIGHER your chances of getting the cloak. (Rapha is good for this because she has a pretty low Bravery.) If you get the Ether, you lose your shot at getting the cloak, so you'll have to reset and try again. There's no time limit on attempting to get the cloak (as long as you don't search and get an Ether), so if you don't have a good Move/Jump range or if your Bravery is too low, you can skip it for now and come back later. This is the only Invisibility Cloak available in the single-player quest, though you can easily win more in Rendezvous Mode. After Mount Germinas, you'll go to Lake Poescas. This is another undead scenario, but it's really easy. As always, Mustadio and (if you have him) Balthier are good for petrifying the undead. You then see a scene with Dycedarg, after which you can go to Limberry Castle. There's a sequence of four battles at Limberry Castle; as usual, you'll want to save in a different slot between them, so that you don't lock yourself in. The first battle is at the gate (isn't it always?). You'll be fighting Celia and Lettie again, so equipping your anti-Stop/KO/Charm gear is essential. The battle is pretty easy, but it's your best chance to learn Ultima. To do so, just make Ramza into a Squire before the battle and he'll learn the spell when Celia or Lettie casts it on him. (Luso can also learn the spell, but it's probably easiest to just have Ramza learn it here and then later teach it to Luso by having Ramza cast it on him.) After winning the gate battle, you'll see a story scene with Elmdore and Folmarv. Keep your status protection gear equipped for the next battle. If Ramza already learned Ultima, you can switch him back to his regular job now; otherwise, you'll have additional chances in the next two battles. The second battle is against Elmdore, Celia, and Lettie in the keep. If you're looking for revenge from the Riovanes Castle Roof, now's your chance -- but look out, Elmdore is still pretty darn tough, and nearly impossible to hit. Check the battle strategies if you need help beating him. After defeating Elmdore in the keep, you can return your equipment to normal as you won't have to fight Celia and Lettie any more. Next up is the courtyard, you'll have to square off against an old "friend." Deploying someone who can inflict Disable status (e.g. Mustadio, Balthier, Beowulf, or a Mystic) is particularly important for this battle. Finally, you'll proceed down to the basement for the last battle in this sequence and your last encounter with Elmdore -- now in Lucavi form. Equipping Protect Rings beforehand will help guard against some of the status attacks he uses on you. Meliadoul will also help you out here. After you defeat Elmdore for the last time, you'll collect two more Zodiac Stones--Elmdore's Gemini stone and Meliadoul's Sagittarius stone--and Meliadoul will offer to join you. Although she's not quite as powerful as Orlandeau (Orlandeau has all her sword techniques, plus more!), her sword techniques are still pretty good ... and, unlike in the PSone version, they work on monsters! She also has a pretty high Faith, so she can be good with magick too if you change her to a magick-using job. She comes equipped with the Save the Queen knight's sword; if you don't plan on using her, give this sword to someone else as it's probably stronger than anything else you have save the Excalibur. Limberry Castle is now a normal town, so you can go to the Tavern and Outfitter (although there's nothing new at the shop). When you try to leave, you'll see a long set of story scenes with Ovelia and then with Zalbaag. Now take a look at map. You'll note Eagrose Castle has turned red. It's time to hike all the way back there. A new wilderness location has opened up west of Limberry: Dorvauldar Marsh. Although nothing story-related happens here and you never *have* to visit, it provides a handy shortcut between Limberry and Fort Besselat. Additionally, there's a small chance of encountering Pigs in random battles here -- though only when you're entering from the Fort Besselat side. If you haven't snagged one yet for poaching purposes, you can look for one here. One of the later sidequests also offers an opportunity to find Pigs at higher odds, if you'd prefer not to wait for one to show up here. Now that you've defeated Elmdore, many towns around the map also have new errands to complete. As you make your way back to Eagrose, stop in at a non-castle town. You can now buy Thief's Caps, the last piece of new equipment that the shops will carry. If you don't have any Nu Khai Armbands, you'll also want to acquire a set of those for an upcoming battle. If you step into Dorter on the way back to Eagrose, you'll have an extra battle against Cletienne, another of Folmarv's henchmen. Meliadoul automatically participates as a guest in this battle, so be sure to equip her accordingly. Alternately, you can avoid this battle entirely if you go to Bervenia and head west along the northern coast ... but this is such a long and circuitous route that you're likely to have more random battles than you save by avoiding Cletienne. (Note that the Cletienne battle will also not trigger if you never admitted into Meliadoul into your party or if she has already been killed or fired.) When you finally do reach Eagrose, Ramza will open the gate (no gate battle, yay!), and then you'll line up for a fight. For an easy victory, equip Nu Khai Armbands and deploy Agrias, Orlandeau, and Meliadoul. You'll fight a two- stage battle against another Lucavi, Adrammelech. When killed, he will yield the Capricorn Zodiac Stone. (You can also pick up an extra Blood Sword and Healing Staff in this battle if you bring someone with Treasure Hunter and low Bravery, but it's not too important to get and the Healing Staff is quite difficult to reach.) After defeating Adrammelech, head to Gariland. Stock up on Holy Water and take the new route south to Mullonde. At Mullonde, you'll be treated to a series of battles, beginning outside the church (not that hard), and progressing inside, where you'll face off against Folmarv, Loffrey, and Cletienne. Equip Safeguard here since Loffrey likes to break your equipment. The three Knights Templar will teleport away after you beat on them for a while. If any of your equipment got broken in this battle, you'll need to replace it; strip the gear from somebody you're not going to be using in the next battle. You'll then go to the sanctuary, where Ramza will have to fight a possessed former ally. If you're still missing Ultima, this is your last chance to learn it and save it to your save file. The sanctuary battle is the last of the sequence of the battles at Mullonde; afterwards, Ramza will meet up with a dying Funebris, who tells him that Folmarv is going to Orbonne Monastery. Back on the map, a handy route has opened up between Mullonde and the Clockwork City of Goug. Another set of subquests becomes available: Midlight's Deep in Warjilis Trade City, Disorder in the Order (in Zeltennia and Dorter), and (if you've already completed the Nelveska Temple quest) Lionel's New Liege Lord. The All-Star Melee mission is also unlocked in Rendezvous Mode. And if you're still working on the earlier subquests, the new route between Mullonde and Goug makes them a lot easier. If you're going to do these quests or anything else on the map, take care of it now! Once you go to Orbonne Monastery, you're locked into the game's final series of battles. Before you go to Orbonne, make sure you're ready. Your main team of characters should be at least level 40. Equip yourself with all your best abilities, and change to your best jobs. Earning JP doesn't matter now. In truth, the last sequence of battles isn't all that difficult, just long. You may also want to buy a couple pairs of Winged Boots since they'll be helpful in one of the upcoming battles. Definitely purchase some Thief's Caps if you haven't already. !!!CAUTION!!! Once you enter Orbonne, there is NO way to return to the world map. If you want to be able to continue playing the game on the world map, you must keep a save from before you entered the Monastery. Once you enter the Monastery, save in a DIFFERENT slot. !!!CAUTION!!! The first battle at Orbonne is against some generic enemies -- an easy battle. Afterwards, you'll move on to the fifth for the next battle. Beforehand, ready your Safeguard abilities to protect yourself from Crush attacks. Equipping Winged Boots or the Jump +x and Fly abilities will also help you navigate the pit-laden terrain. On the fifth level, you'll face the first of a series of four battles against the Zodiac Braves. First up is Loffrey. After you defeat him, he'll suck you through a portal to the Necrohol of Mullonde (of no apparent relation to Mullonde Cathedral), then destroy the way back. Return your abilities and equipment to normal. Your next opponent is Cletienne. After that, you'll face Barich, brought back to life by the Zodiac Stones. This can be a pretty tough fight; deploying long-range attackers is a good idea and you'll probably want to equip Thief's Caps to keep Barich from Immobilizing or Disabling you. Finally, you'll head to the Airship Graveyard, which is really just a single airship, and a rather odd location for a final battle. Folmarv will use the Leo Stone to transform him into a giant lion, Hashmal. You may want to equip your Jade Armlets again for this battle since he likes to cast Stop on you. Defeat him and you'll get the Ragnarok sword. St. Ajora will then appear. You now have one last chance to save your game and adjust your characters. Equip the Ragnarok sword. It's strong but not quite as useful as the Excalibur, since it doesn't give you an automatic Haste. But if you have two characters who can use knight's swords (Knights, Dark Knights, and many of the special jobs), you can give the Ragnarok to the second one Another Alma will somehow appear. Ajora then summons four Ultima Demons in response, then transforms into Ultima. Alma will join you as a guest for the final battle, against the Generic Angel Boss (TM). After pounding on Ultima for a while, Ultima will (of course) reveal his/her/its (?) true form, a skeletony-type of angel. Thankfully, the Ultima Demons disappear for this phase of the battle. When you defeat Ultima's second form, it will blow up (nice special effects). The Battle Is Won! Leave the game on after the credits for an additional scene. Note that when the game says it's saving afterwards, it's just doing so to unlock the last set of Rendezvous Mode missions. If you saved at any point during the final sequence of battles (i.e., any time after you entered Orbonne Monastery), loading this save will only put you back into the last set of battles and doesn't allow you back to the world map. So, again, if you want to do anything outside of the Necrohol, hang on to a separate save from before you entered Orbonne Monastery! If you haven't beaten Midlight's Deep and all the other subquests, you're not done yet! Keep on reading for information on those quests. ******************************************************************************* IV. WALKTHROUGH - SUBQUESTS 00sub ******************************************************************************* Final Fantasy Tactics boasts a number of optional subquests, all of which become available at various points in Chapter IV. In addition, some of the subquests require you to have completed other subquests first. Specific requirements for each quest are listed with the walkthroughs below, but I've also provided this cheesy ASCII chart to demonstrate how they flow together. Agrias's Birthday --------> Recruiting Cloud (beginning of Chapter IV) / / Gollund Colliery ----------> Nelveska Temple (beginning of Chapter IV) (after Fort \ Besselat) \ ------> Lionel's New Liege Lord Recruiting Balthier (after Mullonde) (after Free City of Bervenia battle) Disorder in the Order (after Mullonde) Midlight's Deep (after Mullonde) Once a quest becomes available, it never goes away. There's no "time limit" on when you can complete these quests (unless you dismiss one of the characters needed for the quest, of course). Walkthroughs for the quests are below. Battle strategies for the battles encountered within these quests can be found in the Subquest Battle Strategies section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00bssub to jump there. %%%AGRIAS'S BIRTHDAY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00agr QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: At beginning of Chapter IV REWARDS: Tynar Rouge A pair of Agrias-related subquests become available in Chapter IV. The first one allows you to obtain the Tynar Rouge, a good accessory for female characters (if not *quite* as abusive as the Chantage). To trigger the scene in which you acquire the Tynar Rouge, you must move onto a TOWN or CITY (NOT a castle) on the world map on the date of 1 Cancer, which is Agrias's birthday. In addition, you must also meet these other requirements: - Agrias, Mustadio, Alicia, and Lavian must still be alive and on your roster. - You must have at least 500,000 gil in your War Funds. Only 50,000 of this will be spent as part of the quest, but you must have 500,000 available. - You must be in Chapter IV. (This event can be completed at any point during Chapter IV, though.) Assuming you meet the above requirements, if you move onto a town (again, a castle will NOT work), on 1 Cancer, you'll see a scene in which Mustadio buys Agrias the Tynar Rouge lip rouge for her birthday. The 50,000 gil cost of the rouge will be subtracted from your War Funds. It's worth the expense, though, as the Tynar Rouge is a great accessory. It can be equipped by any female character (not just Agrias) and grants a permanent Shell, Protect, and Haste, as well as a bonus to your attack and magick strength. 1 Cancer follows after 32 Gemini. The easiest way to ensure that you land on a city or town on that date is to simply move back and forth between Gollund Coal City and Lesalia. Both of these count as towns, so you're guaranteed to land on a town on 1 Cancer. If you somehow miss the date and don't end up on a town on 1 Cancer, don't worry; the event never "expires." You can just wait until all the months cycle through and try again the next time 1 Cancer comes up, as long as you still meet the requirements listed above. (Fortunately, the villains are more than happy to postpone their plans of world domination while you spend a year shopping for makeup.) Although this event never expires, it can only be completed ONCE, even if you cycle through the calendar to Agrias's birthday again. You can only get a single Tynar Rouge. %%%GOLLUND COLLIERY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00col QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: At beginning of Chapter IV REWARDS: Beowulf, Reis [Holy Dragon], and Construct 8 join the party In the Gollund Colliery quest, you'll recruit three new characters: Beowulf, Reis (in dragon form), and Construct 8. It's the first in a series of three quests, also leading into the Nelveska Temple and Cloud quests. To complete ANY of these quests, you must have Mustadio still around, so don't dismiss him or let him get killed! To start the quest, once Chapter IV begins, go to the Clockwork City of Goug. Besrudio, Mustadio's father, will show you an iron sphere he's found. (If you've already seen this scene, you don't need to repeat it.) Now go to the Mining Town of Gollund, in the center of the map. At the Tavern in Gollund, listen to the rumor "The Haunted Mine." You will be asked to fight a monster in the coal mines. Leave the bar. Nothing will happen at first, but go north to Lesalia. Ramza will automatically go into the Tavern and learn more about the coal mine job. He agrees to take it. On the way out, Beowulf will stop you and ask you to take him with you. Choose the second option to sign him up and he joins you as a Guest. (If you choose the first option and reject his assistance, the quest will end and you'll be permanently locked out of it!) You'll note that the Mining Town of Gollund has turned red. First, equip Mystic Arts as Beowulf's second ability, since he already has a bunch of Mystic Arts spells learned. Go back into Lesalia and check at the Outfitter's; depending on how far you are through Chapter IV, you may be able to buy Beowulf some better equipment. Equipment that protects you against ice will be especially helpful in the upcoming battles, so you may want to pick up some Ice Shields or White Robes if you don't have any in your inventory. (You'll have to go to a non-castle town to buy the robes.) Ideally, try to buy both some Icebrands and other swords. The ice damage from the Icebrands will be effective in some battles here, but there are also some monsters that absorb ice. Save your game--there's an extended series of battles coming up--and return to Gollund, where you'll be forced into entering the Gollund Colliery. You have to fight through three areas in the snow. Equipping your anti-ice gear will protect you well against the ice attacks you'll face. Since the snowy weather boosts the power of ice attacks, you'll also want to equip any Icebrands and Glacial Guns you own for the first two battles. For the third battle, however, switch them to other weapons; you'll face Blue Dragons that absorb ice! After the three battles, you'll reach the Coal Shaft. The monsters here are WEAK against ice, so strip off your anti-ice gear and re-equip any Icebrands you have. In the Coal Shaft, the Holy Dragon Reis is being attacked by an Archaeodaemon. You have to save her. After this battle, you'll get the Aquarius Zodiac Stone, and Reis and Beowulf will offer to join you. Sign them both up as you need them for later quests. (Be sure to keep them alive, too!) Reis, particularly while she's still stuck in dragon form, is not that great, but Beowulf IS. In particular, shoot for learning his Vengeance and Chicken abilities. Chicken does a HUGE drop on enemy Bravery and frequently turnes them into a helpless chicken, while Vengeance is a potent attack with a long range. Now that you've got the Aquarius Stone, return to Goug. You will put in the Aquarius stone in the iron sphere, which transforms into Construct 8. A comical scene will follow, and then another new character, Construct 8, joins you. Construct 8 is more like a monster in that it can't change jobs, but it's super-strong anyway. It has a long-range laser attack, an inherent Counter, and is basically impervious to magick and most (though not all) status conditions. Sign it up for sure! On the way out of Goug, if you've progressed sufficiently far in the game, you'll get another scene in which Besrudio puts together another device that requires the Cancer Zodiac Stone. If you've finished up Fort Besselat, you can now begin the Nelveska Temple quest, below. %%%RECRUITING BALTHIER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00balt QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After completing battle at the Free City of Bervenia REWARDS: Balthier joins the party, Ras Algethi gun, Mirage Vest Balthier from Final Fantasy XII makes an appearance as an optional cameo character you can sign up for your team. Any time after completing the battle at the Free City of Bervenia in Chapter IV, visit either the Magick City of Gariland, the Mining Town of Gollund, or the Royal City of Lesalia. Read the "Rash of Thefts" rumor. You only need to read this rumor at ONE of these three cities, not all three! After you've read "Rash of Thefts," go to Dorter and visit the Tavern there. Read the new rumor here ("A Call for Guards") that will have appeared if you've read "Rash of Thefts." It seems like nothing has happened, but return to the map and try to leave Dorter. You'll get into kicked into a battle (though not without a lengthy FMV intro to Balthier first). Balthier will help you out here as a guest. You can check the Other Subquests section of the battle strategies if you need help, but it should be really be pretty easy. Afterwards, you can sign Balthier up for your team. He's basically a combination of Mustadio (he has all of Mustadio's Aimed Shot abilities) and a Thief, with one unique ability of his own: Barrage. Barrage allows him to attack four times in a row for 1/2 damage each time, essentially allowing you to do double damage, and can't be blocked. His "Plunder" abilities are also a little better than regular Stealing; when it comes to stealing equipment, a Plunder is 10 percentage points more likely to succeed than a Steal. (So, if a Steal would have, say, a 36% success rate, Plunder will have a 46% success rate, for instance.) Balthier also comes equipped with a Ras Algethi gun and Mirage Vest, two items you can't find anywhere else! Both are quite strong, so if you don't plan on using Balthier, you should at least give his gear to someone else. %%%NELVESKA TEMPLE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00nel QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After clearing Fort Besselat and completing Gollund Colliery quest. (Must also buy flower in Sal Ghidos, see below) REWARDS: Reis returns to human form, various items found with Treasure Hunter In order to begin the Nelveska Temple quest, you must first have finished the battles at Fort Besselat in the main storyline, as well as having completed the Gollund Colliery quest above. (Beowulf and Reis the Holy Dragon must also still be on your team.) When you first reach the Trade City of Sal Ghidos during the main storyline, you'll be asked to buy a flower for 1 gil from Aerith. Make sure you choose the SECOND option to buy the flower. You'll need to buy this flower in order to continue with the quest. If you fail to buy the flower when asked, it seems that you do NOT have a second chance to get it, which means that you unfortunately can't continue with this quest :( Once you've got the flower, go down to Goug and you'll see a scene where Besrudio presents another device unearthed from the tunnels; this one requires the Cancer Zodiac Stone. (If you've already seen this scene, you don't need to go back to Goug.) Now go back up to Zeltennia Castle. Go to the tavern and listen to the "Cursed Isle of Nelveska" rumor. This will open up a new path on your map from Zeltennia to Nelveska Temple. Although you can open up the route to Nelveska as soon as you reach Zeltennia, in order to actually trigger the battle there, you must have seen the scene at Goug where Besrudio presents his weathervane-like device. The battle at Nelveska Temple contains a number of rare items that can be found using Treasure Hunter. These items include a super-powered Javelin and Escutcheon as well as the Sasuke's Blade ninja blade and the goofy Nagnarok sword. The Javelin II and Escutcheon II are especially worth picking up (and the Escutcheon II isn't available anywhere else!). You only have this one chance to get them, as there are no random battles at Nelveska Temple. Of course, you certainly don't NEED any of these items and they can be tricky to get, so it's up to you as to whether you want to try for them. If you do want to get the items, you'll need to have a LOW Bravery -- the higher your Treasure Hunter's Bravery, the higher the odds of getting a crummy item instead. Rapha is great for this purpose since her Bravery already starts pretty low. For the best odds, though, you'll want to lower it even further. The best way to do this is probably with the Orator ability Intimidate; for every use of this ability, she'll lose 20 points of Bravery during the battle but 5 points permanently. Be careful not to reduce her permanent Bravery TOO low, though, or she will quit the party (so using Beowulf's Chicken may not be a good idea). 15 to 20 is probably a safe number. Whether you're planning on looking for the items or not, you'll probably want to buy some Gold Needle or Remedies before you leave town for the coming battle, or equip Jade Armlets -- the Cockatrices at the temple can turn you to stone. Go to Nelveska and you'll be attacked by Construct 7. This is the one battle here, so search for the hidden items if you want, or just take down Construct 7. (See the battle strategies for tips both on the fight and on successfully retrieving the items.) When Construct 7 explodes, you'll get its power source: the Cancer Zodiac Stone. When you try to leave Nelveska Island, Beowulf will use the Cancer stone to restore the dragon Reis to her normal human form. She will then re-join your party, keeping all her dragon abilities and adding many new ones she can learn. Even in human form, her Dragonkin job can use very little equipment (just hair adornments, bags, and some accessories), but she has killer stats and an inherent Dual Wield. (The Dual Wield can only be used only with weapon types that can be Dual Wielded, of course, but that includes her fists.) If you now return the Cancer Stone to Besrudio, he'll summon Cloud ... but you won't be able to go any further to recruit him onto the team unless you've already defeated Adrammelech in the main storylie. (See Recruiting Cloud, below.) If you've gone even further and cleared Mullonde in the main storyline, you can also embark on the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest. %%%RECRUITING CLOUD%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00cloud QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: Immediately after completing Nelveska Temple quest REWARDS: Cloud joins the party You can get Cloud any time after you complete Ford Besselat. In order to get him, you must first complete the Gollund Colliery quest, followed by the Nelveska Temple quest, both described above. You'll also still need Mustadio around. Having completed both of these quests, hike all the way back to Goug. (If you've finished the battles at Mullonde, you'll have a handy shortcut.) Besrudio will power up the weathervane with the Cancer Stone and it will ... summon Cloud. Cloud, in typical Cloud fashion, will refuse to let you introduce yourselves and run off in pursuit of Sephiroth. Now you have to go all the way to the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. Remember when you met Aerith here earlier? Well, she's back, and this time she's being accosted by some thieves. Cloud comes to save her, but has another one of his schizophrenic breakdowns. You have to save him from the thieves. This is quite an easy battle, although you may want to equip Safeguard beforehand so the Thieves can't steal any of your gear. Afterwards, Clod... er, Cloud will join you. You're still not totally finished with this quest. In order for Cloud to be able to use his Limit attacks, you need to find his Materia Blade. The Blade is found using the Treasure Hunter ability on Mount Bervenia. The easiest method is to go to Riovanes Castle and just move back and