In an ancient era, there was a time where strength ruled the world. It was an era where evil reigned with the knowledge of Iron. An era called Zeteginea. **** * * ************* * * * ********* ** *** * * * ** * ** * ** ******** **** * *** **** *************** **** * **** * ** ** * *** ** *** *** *** * *** *** **** ** ** * ***** **** ** ** * ******** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** * *** **** ** ** ** **** ** *** * ** ***** * ** ** *** ** **** * ******* ***** ********* ** *** ******** **** *** *** ******* *** ***** * *** * **** * * *** * ** *** * *** *** *** **** ** ** ** **** **** **** **** ** ** ** * *** *** ***** *** ** ** ** * **** ** * *** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** ** **** ** ** ******** ** ** **** ** ** ******* ** * * ** ** ** ** *** * ** ** *** **** * ******* ******** *** ******* *** *** *** ***** *** **** *** ******* ** * **** --- Tactics Ogre FAQ --- --- Version 0.8 --- --- By Seigfried (seigfried@iname.com) --- I've been playing Tactics Ogre for a while now, and I've noticed that there are very few English FAQs, and most of those- quite frankly- are pretty bad. This is my attempt to remedy that situation. Feel free to EMail me at the above address with any suggestions, corrections, or additions. - Seigfried ** This FAQ is best viewed in a mono-spaced font. Viewing it in Courier or Courier New in 9-point font should work quite nicely. If you're on a Mac, try Monaco. Contents: I. Classes II. General Strategies III. Battle Strategies - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2L - Chapter 3L - Chapter 2C - Chapter 3C - Chapter 3N - Chapter 4 IV. Sidequests - Hell's Gate - FireSeal - Four Sisters/Forbidden Power - Gunners - Deneb - The Elusive Undead Ring - Getting the Shotgun V. Equipment VI. Tidbits VII. Legal Crap VIII. Credits Version History: Version 0.7: I worked on the Chapter 3L walktrhough a bit. I apologize for the last two battles; they were kinda last-minute. I also added the "Cannon Fodder" section to the General Strategies. I reformatted the battle descriptions slightly; now I list the Guests and Treasures available in any battle (See the note Re: treasure at the top of the Battle Strategies section). On a more personal note, this was included in the GIA's coverage of Tactics Ogre and recognized as the best Tactics Ogre FAQ out there- Woohoo! : ) Version 0.6: Well, what's new is best described by a clip from IRC: What, you're putting a walkthough update in your [TO] FAQ? * DragonFogel looks at the flying pigs Yep, that's right, I actually added the walkthough for Chapter 2L! Woohoo! Chapter 3L will follow shortly (I hope). I've also confirmed the location of the Fireseal. Other than that, I've made a bunch of the usual minor corrections and the like- nothing really major, though. Version 0.5: Includes the location of the Undead Ring (finally!). I've also added the description of the Four Sisters sidequest (thanks to Matt) and a trick to avoid the first battle at Brigantes Castle in chapter 4. The proposed method for getting a Templar Knight was disproven and has been removed. Information on the Shotgun was added, curteousy of Yulius Leonard. I made a slight change to my nick for personal reasons. Version 0.4: Well, I took Matt off the byline since he's become involved with a couple other projects and has decided not to help directly- Oh, well : ( I corrected a number of errors from the last version (Such as the fact that the first battle in Gruborza Plains was missing entirely.. Doh : P) and added the Tidbits section, which deals with the relations between Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle. I also added a few secrets to the General Strategies section, including the Necro/Rettisue trick (Thanks, Jon!) and an unconfirmed method of getting a Templar Knight in your army (If anyone can confirm this either way, please EMail me). Version 0.2: Woohoo! There's finally an actual version number! Well, the item lists are completed, the class lists are pretty much completed (I may later go into more detail on the specific classes). The Chaos path walkthrough is now completed in it's entirety. I'm currently trying to force Matt to write a section on Gameshark codes. Beta: Matt got on the FAQ bandwagon, chapter 3C completed, more classes added, Sidequests section added, started updating items from Matt's list. The phrase "Knights are dullards" was officially added to this FAQ. Alpha: The absolute first version. Contains most Classes, general strategies, Chapter 1 and 2C strategies, and a partial Equipment List. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Part I: The Classes -------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Male Classes --- Class: Soldier Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: None. Preferred Weapon: any. Magic: None. This is the basic male class. All your characters start out as this. They are decent fighters, but can't use Magic and don't specialize in any particular weapons. Upgrade as soon as possible (usually around level 6). Class: Knight Alignment: L, N Requirements: STR 45, VIT 44, DEX 46 Preferred Weapon: Swords Magic: None. Despite being better fighters than Soldiers, Knights are not very useful in the grand scheme of things. They specialize in Swords, which seems good- until you realize that Swords are weak compared to other weapons for the first two chapters. This changes somewhat in the third chapter, when Balder Swords become available (as opposed to Short Swords). On top of that, Knights are slow, have terrible statistic growth, and are generally incompetent. You're better off with Berzerkers or Beast Tamers; Knights are dullards. Class: Berzerker Alignment: N, C Requirements: STR 45, VIT 46, DEX 44 Preferred Weapon: Axes Magic: None. These are far better at fighting than Knights. Their Axes are often stronger than Swords, and they have higher attack strength and defense. They are a tad slow, however. These are the best characters for close-range fighting until the third chapter or so, when Terror Knights and the other "advanced" character classees become available. Class: Beast Tamer Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: STR 45, VIT 44, MEN 46 Preferred Weapon: Whip Magic: None. Beast Tamers are a much better class than you may at first think. The first thing you need to realize is that unlike in FF Tactics, monsters are actually useful- they can't use equipment, but they are strong enough that they don't need it. The second thing to realize is that unlike in Ogre Battle, L size creatures do not take up any more space than S size creatures do, although you can only have two of them in a battle (In Ogre Battle, an L size creature took up the same amount of space as two S size creatures). Beast Tamers make monsters even more useful by increasing their attack; Monsters will gain power when they are within three steps of a Beast Tamer. Furthermore, Beast Tamers are decent fighters on their own. While they're not the fastest of characters and their defense is somewhat lacking compared to other fighters, their Whips have a two- square reach and do decent damage. If you have a monster or two in your army, a Beast Tamer makes a good addition. Class: Wizard Alignment: N, C Requirements: INT 44, MEN 42, MP 16 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff; see below) Magic: Offensive, three spells. These are the basic magic-using class in the game. Be forewarned that they are not very powerful when you first get them, so I suggest having them sit out a couple battles until their intelligence raises to the point where useful. I suggest that you equip them with Staffs to raise their INT (Making their spells more powerful). One or two of these are a good addition to your army. As the game goes on, they will become drastically more powerful, eventually gaining the ability to use spells which hit a much larger area. Class: Exorcist Alignment: L Requirements: VIT 44, INT 42, MEN 44 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Light, three spells. This is the only male "healer" class, and also the only class which can use the "Exorcism" spell to destroy Undead characters. This is a fairly useful class- in addition to Exorcism, they can use a few other weak offensive spells like Lightbow. You will get Presance, an Exorcist, fairly early in the game, and he makes an excellent addition to your army. One of these, however, is enough- they're useful, but not as much so as Wizards or Clerics. As a side note, I don't think that enemy Exorcists ever wield the Exorcisim spell- usually just some combination of Heal and Lightbow. Class: Warlock Alignment: L, N Requirements: MP 84, INT 124, MEN 112 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Effect magic (Stun, Poison, etc.) and Elemental magic (Zoshnell, Gurza, etc.), 3 spells. Warlocks are essentially male Witches, with one not-so-important difference: They increase the power of any Golems nearby. Although you probably don't use Golems, they are a useful class anyway as they will become available at about the same time Prests do- when you will probably also want to change any Witches available into Clerics. They become increasingly important later in the game, since they can use the "charge" spell- making life easier when magic gets expensive. They can also use the HealRain spell when it becomes available, as well as Dragon Magic (including several powerful attack spells), increasing their general usefulness. They will become much more useful near the end of the game. Class: Ninja Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: STR 45, DEX 44, AGI 46 Preferred Weapon: Claw Magic: Offensive These flexible characters are not as good at fighting as Berzerkers, but they are fast, can move long distances, jump farther than other characters, and use some offensive magic. They also have the ability to equip a weapon in both hands and attack with both in the same round (The enemy will only counterattack once). They can do pretty much anything you need them to (short of killing Undead). They are not vital to your success, but they are not a bad class, either. They also get the Shiruken ability as their standard indirect attack instead of Stone; Shiruken have a longer range and better accuracy than stones. Class: Dragoon Alignment: N Requirements: STR 115, VIT 106, DEX 114 Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Offensive, one spell This class specializes in killing Dragons, and will do roughly 150% damage when attacking them. Other than that, they are a fairly basic fighting class- they're better than the incompetent Knights, but not as good at fighting as Berzerkers. Unlike Knights, they can actually do decent damage with their swords and also probably become available in the third chapter, where Balder swords are available (as opposed weak Short Swords). Although their magic power isn't as high as that of a Wizard or Siren, it does give them the ability to do some damage at long range. I generally keep one around to help with Dragons. Class: Sword Master Alignment: L Requirements: STR 95, AGI 102, DEX 126 Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Supplemental, 1 spell Between being able to attack with two hands like a Ninja and using some supplemental magic, Sword Masters are halfway decent for Lawful characters (Unlike the incompetent Knights). They are a tad slow, however, especially when equipped with two swords, and tend to have a low defense- making them especially vulnerable to attack if they're using a mantle to increase their speed. While this is not a truly powerful class, it's useful when you don't have anything else available. Class: Terror Knight Alignment: C Requirements: STR 117, VIT 114, DEX 104, 30 Kills Preferred Weapon: Axe Magic: None Terror Knights are annoying and powerful fighters. They have great attack strength and equip powerful Axes (like Berzerkers). Furthermore, they reduce the attack power of enemies within three squares of them. Their major weakness is their relatively low speed, but this can be remedied by equipping them with lighter armor (Using a helmet or pair of boots instead of a shield, for example) or having them alternate between this class and the Ninja class. They are very strong due to their combination of high HP, high Defense, and the Terror effect. They are a great asset to your team, and by far the best normal fighting class. Class: Gunner Alignment: N Requirements: STR 120, AGI 164, DEX 150 Preferred Weapon: Gun Magic: None This is a secret class, obtainable by means described in the "sidequests" section. This is a very strong class, mostly due to the strengths of their Guns, but they have a few notable weaknessess as well. Their guns have infinite range and do very good damage, and the Gunners themselves are fast. However, Gunners have low defense against essentially all types of attacks (both magical and physical), and the damage their guns do drops significantly as the defense of their target increases. There are also only two or three guns available in the entire game, and the most powerful of these is available only if you specifically attempt to get it. Finally, after a character becomes a Gunner, they cannot change their class again. Gunners are a good class, but I don't suggest that you use more than the one who joins you automatically (See below). Class: Warrior Aignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Attack, 1 spell. Vice uses this class in Chaper 3L- he has decent strength and speed and can attack with both hand. Pretty good all around, due to his high statistics and decent magical damage; this is essentially an enhanced Ninja class. He can do excellent damage when equipped with a good weapon. Class: White Knight Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: None Lans' two knights are of this class. It is basically an enhanced Knight class; they have better statistics but slightly worse defense. They are excellent fighters (Surpassed only by Terror Knights and some special classes such as Temple Commandos), but you cannot promote normal characters to this class. Class: Lord Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic Healing, 3 spells This is probably the best class in the game, but is only available to Denim. He can use three healing spells and has great attack and defense. Denim will automatically advance to this class if Kachua dies at Banisha castle. Class: Paladin Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Healing This is Lans' class. He is a devastating fighter and can use Healing magic as well. Unfortunately, your characters cannot be promoted to this class. Class: Lord Mancer Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: None Magic: Attack This is Warren's clas, a basic improved mage. He has powerful magic... Too bad you only have him for two or three battles : P --- Female Classes --- Class: Amazon Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: None Preferred Weapon: Any Magic: None These are the female equivalents of the Soldier class. Like Soldiers, they are decent characters, but should also be upgraded as soon as possible. Class: Valkyrie Alignment: L, N Requirements: STR 44, VIT 46, INT 42 Preferred Weapon: Spear Magic: Some offensive, two spells. Valkyries are good general-purpose characters. I have always found that they are good fighters, especially because of their spears, and they can use a little magic. They're relatively quick and can also move in water. As they go up in levels, their Magic becomes a very useful long-range attack. They also get stronger in storms; a wind-elemental Valkyrie in a storm is a character to be feared. One or two of these supplement your attack team quite nicely. Class: Archer Alignment: N, C Requirements: VIT 44, DEX 48, AGI 44 Preferred Weapon: Bow Magic: None. Archers are very powerful characters. Their bows do serious amounts of damage, and- if you are on the high ground- often shoot accurately beyond the indicated range. They can do more damage than almost any other character class on the same level. Their only drawback is that if you are on lower ground than your target, your range and chance of hitting is sharply reduced. Despite this, I strongly recommend having at least two of these in your army. Class: Cleric Alignment: L, N Requirements: INT 42, MEN 41, MP 16 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Healing magic (Heal, Clear, etc.), 3 spells. Clerics are, if you hadn't guessed, absolutely vital to your success. Their Healing spells are very important, as most characters don't have room to haul around even one item, let alone multiple items, or the time to use those items. You should keep at least two healers of any description in your party at all times- usually, one of those will be Presance and the other will be a Cleric. Like all other magic users, they have no preferred weapon, but you should probably equip them with Staffs to raise their magic power. Class: Witch Alignment: N, C Requirements: INT 45, MEN 41, MP 15 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff). Magic: Effect magic (Stun, Poison, etc.) and Elemental magic (Zoshnell, Gurza, etc.), 3 spells. Depending on your party, Witches may be absolutely vital or nearly worthless. If most of your party is of one or two elements, they are incredibly powerful, since they can just sit in back of your party constantly casting the spell to raise the power of that element (assuming, of course, that most of the enemy party is of a different element). Their other spells- Stun, Poison, and so on- are not as useful, since they often don't work- unlike the Oracle magic in FF Tactics, which generally worked 50% of the time, these spells generally only work 20-30% of the time. They can also use some very useful ability-enhancing spells, such as Heat and Quick. These are probably their most powerful attack in the long run. Class: Dragon Tamer Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: HP 180, STR 115, MEN 103 Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Offensive, one spell The Dragon Tamer is a more weapon-oriented Valkyrie- they get only one spell and their magic is weaker, but they also do much more damage with their swords. In addition to that, they increase the power of Dragons in a three-square radius, so are definitely worthwhile if you are using Dragons. Their major weakness is that their defense is fairly low- but between the fact that they can avoid most counterattacks with their Spears and have pretty good HP, this shouldn't be a major concern. Unfortuantley, this class really isn't as powerful as the Valkyrie class due to a combination of low magic power and the fact that they specialize in Swords instead of the more useful (IMO) Spears. Class: Siren Alignment: L, N Requirements: INT 75, MEN 71, MP 36 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Offensive, 3 spells. The Siren is essentially a female Wizard. Their statistics grow slightly faster than a Male wizard's do and their magic is a little stronger, but they are otherwise essentially identical. Like Wizards, they should equip Staffs to maximize Magic power. Class: Priest (Ed's Note: Shouldn't that be Priestess?) Alignment: L (Note: Despite what the status screen claims, only Lawful characters can become Preists) Requirements: MP 70, INT 125, MEN 110, Less than 15 Kills Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Basic light magic plus Revivify, 3 spells. Priests are similar to Exorcists, but they have the ability to use Revivify instead of Exorcism. They are basically a requirement- however, you will still probably want a Cleric in your party as well, since Clerics can use the important Heal+ spell (Which affects an area), while Priests and Exorcists cannot. Class: Angel Knight Alignment: Lawful Requirements: MP 92, STR 135, VIT 122, INT 144, MEN 119, AGI 122, DEX 124 Preferred Weapon: None Magic: Any spell an Exorcist can use, 1 spell. (Plus special abilities) Angel Knights cannot be obtained through normal means- after you have them up to the above stats, let them be killed in battle, and they will randomly automatically be revived as an Angel Knight. Angel Knights themselves are not, for the expenditure it requires to obtain, that useful. While they can wield some useful healing magic (Including Exorcism), they do not make good Magic- users, as they only have one spell. They do gain two semi-useful abilities- CalmSong takes away the target's MP, while SadSong heals undead characters. However, if they have been fighters already, they will be very good with weapons and the Hell's Gate abilities. While these are not the best class in the game, they do make strong and versatile characters. Class: Shaman Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: None Magic: Two Spells, Attack, Elemental + a 'Pray' skill Sisteena, Selye, Shelley, and Olivia can all be premoted to this class if they're all on the team, and after a certain sub-quest. They're about average fighters, who can also use some magic. They each have a Pray special ability that raises the power of their element without lowering the power of the opposing element (unlike the Elemental-summoning spells). Class: Sorceress Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: ? Magic: Any non-Light spell, 3 spells. If you grabbed the MagmaGod spell when you had a chance, Deneb is an incredibly powerful character, due to the fact that she can carry both attack spells and the Charge spell. Even if you don't have MagmaGod (She's Fire-elemental), she is a decent character with her combination of Witch/Warlock and Wizard magic. Class: High Priest Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Healing magic, offensive Light magic, 3 spells. This is Kachua's class initially. It's fairly powerful, although it is essentially an improved Cleric class. Class: Dark Priest Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: any Light magic, 3 spells When Kachua works with the Dark Knights, this is her class. She may join with this class in some of the paths; I don't know. She's essentially the same as a High Priest. Class: Princess Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Any, 3 spells In chapter 4C, Kachua may rejoin as this class. Although her statistics are a little low, she can use any magic spell (including Dragon Magic and normally restricted spells like Necro and Revivify). She will become a very strong magician if you have her pick up as many Mind and Mentality cards as possible. --- Demihuman Classes --- Class: Eagle Man Magic: None. This is Canopus' class. Canopus has excellent base statistics, plus he can fly, and he can hit most enemies from outside their range with his spear. Furthermore, at level 10, he gains the Windshot ability, allowing him to attack at a distance, and he gains the more powerful Tornado ability at level 20. He does take some damage from using these, but this tends to be in the 10-20 point range. After he joins your party, he definitely deserves to be a standard character in your army. I suggest that you keep him equipped with a two-square weapon (such as a Spear or Whip). Class: Hawk Man Magic: None. These are not as good as Canopus, but still formidable characters due to thier natural ability to fly. I suggest giving them Bows and having them attack from high points in the battlefield. Class: Lizard Man Magic: None. Lizard Men are very good fighters- they do decent amounts of damage and have very high defense- but they are also very slow, and their movement range is fairly small. They can defeat Knights with ease but Archers cause serious problems for them. If you can get one, they make fairly good fighters at any time in the game. Class: Skeleton Magic: None. These are rather weak fighters, with one important trait: They're Undead, and thus can't be killed by anyone except an Exorcist. I personally don't like Undead, since they're hard to recruit and tend to "die" rather quickly, but this is the basic fighting Undead class. I feel that I should also point out here that enemies don't actually appear (in my expirience, at least) with the Exorcisim spell, so you generally don't have to worry about bringing Skeletons or Ghosts into battle only to have then eliminated in a single spell. Class: Ghost Magic: Offensive, 2 spells This is the Wizard Undead class. It is somewhat better than the skeleton, as it can teleport at will (Allowing it to get to difficult-to-reach locations from which to cast spells), but they're hard to find and hard to recruit. They also gain the LifeSuck special attack as their level goes up and have surprisingly good physical attributes (at least early on in the game). Furthermore, they make excellent bait since they're both undead and teleporting, so it might not be a bad idea to keep one on your attack team for that purpose. Class: Lich Requirements: MP 114, INT 162, MEN 147 Magic: Offensive, 3 spells. Liches are powerful magic-users which are available later in the game. You create them by having a male character in one of the magician classes use an Undead Ring. They have the same stats that the character did, but they can use any attack spell. Class: Faerie Magic: Special Abilities These small faeries get the CuteKiss, DeepKiss, and HolyBolt special abilities. Their defense and attack are very low, so they make poor front-line fighters, but they are excellent with bows and their special abilites are useful- DeepKiss gives the target an extra turn (which I found quite useful) and HolyBolt can destroy undead characters. CuteKiss restores some HP to one character and clears up thier status, which is occasionally useful. At any rate, Faeries are fairly good support characters, and their decent missile attack and flying ability make them good bow users as well. Just be sure to keep them far out of harm's way... Class: Gremlin Magic: Special Abilities A "dark" version of the Fairy, these have some serious problems which prevents them from being good characters. Like the Fairy, they have terrible defense, and like the fairy, they have primarially close-range special abilites, but unlike the Fairy, their abiliies are offensive instead of defensive. Translation: You have to get within sword range before they can do anything, and by that time they're dead. They do, however, make decent archers if you give them a bow or crossbow. --- Monster Classes --- Class: Gryphon These half-lion, half-eagle beasts have a weak attack, but they can fly, have good defense and HP, and learn the Windshot ability at level 10. They aren't as useful as some of the other monsters initially, but become more powerful as the game goes on. Class: Golem These animated dolls have more HP than they did in Ogre Battle, but their attacks are rather weak and their defense also isn't what it used to be. They generally take 1/4 to 1/3 the damage any other character would, compared with one point of damage from virtually any physical attack in Ogre Battle. They are also fairly slow and can't move through water. They are acceptable fighters, but generally aren't that useful. Class: Octopus Octopi can move through water with ease and gain some special attacks when they are in the water. However, outside the water, their defense and attack both drop sharply. They are useful in areas with large amounts of water (The Lake stage early on is a good example), but I wouldn't recommend that you take them outside those areas. There are few enough stages which fit that description to make them essentially worthless. Class: Dragon Dragons have high defense, good attack, and a variety of special abilities depending on their element. Depending on their element, they will have a different Breath attack. These always do damage and occasionally cause a condition as well, depending on the type of attack. The most useful of these, IMO, is the Wind Dragon's Lighting attack, which randomly stuns the target. They reach only one square, but the opponent cannot counter it. Although you can only take two L-size creatures into a battle, Dragons make excellent allies. Beware, however, fighting Dragoons, who can kill the Dragons easily in hand-to-hand combat. I suggest recruiting a Dragon early on in the game. Class: White Dragon Alignment: L, N Requirements: HP 170, STR 135, VIT 90 DEX 55 This is an improved dragon class; they have the same breath attacks as a standard dragon, but gain strength and defense more quickly. White Dragons take less damage from Holy attacks. Class: Holy Dragon Alignment: L Requirements: HP 270, STR 233, 161 VIT, 95 DEX These powerful dragons use the same breath attacks, but have much higher STR and DEF and can take incredible amounts of punishment before dying. Furthermore, they are not affected particularly by dragon-slaying weapons. They are fearsome enemies and a great asset to your army. Class: Black Dragon Alignment: N, C Requirements: HP 170, STR 135, VIT 90 DEX 55 This is an improved dragon class; they have the Toxic breath attack and gain strength and defense more quickly. Black Dragons take less damage from Dark attacks. Class: Tiamat Alignment: C Requirements: HP 270, STR 223, VIT 171, DEX 105, 40 Kills These are like Holy Dragons, only they use the Toxic breath attack, have slightly lower defense, and terrify enemies around them, lowering their attack power. They are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Class: Hydra This is debatably the most powerful dragon-type monster- they can only be obtained in Hell's Gate by using the Persuade command. They have very good statistics and can use all four of the basic elemental attacks. Unfortuantly, they are a tad slower than most of the other dragon types. Class: Cockatrice These supremely annoying monsters have good defense and can petrify characters, a condition that will last the rest of the battle and still allows the character to take damage. They have decent defense, too, and lots of HP. They are much better for the enemy, because you will most likely have to reset if one of your characters dies while CPU-controlled characters can afford to be useful as cannon fodder. If you take one in your army, send it out with a group of fighters to kill anything it petrifies. Class: Cyclops These massive creatures are the successor to the Golem class; like Golems, they have very good attack and defense, but they also have higher HP than golems do and can use the Toxic breath attack. They are rather slow, however, and have a low magic defense (higher than a Golem's), making them easy pickings for a Warlock with Stun or Petrify. --- Enemy-Only Classes --- (Note: I have not included many of the Hell's Gate monsters here unless they are particularly important- most of the pallete-shifted monsters have been ommitted) Class: Templar Knight Magic: Effect These are one of the classes used by the Dark Knight troops who you will meet later in the game. They aren't all that strong, but be aware that they can cast virtually any spell that a Witch or Warlock can. They are also somewhat stronger than knights. Class: Temple Commando Magic: Effect, special abilities Most high-level dark knights are of this class. They have very high statistics and can carry some very powerful spells such as Charm and Petrify. They also come with their own special abilities: These vary, but generally do damage and cause conditions to targets up to two squares away on a straight line. Class: Death Templar Magic: Special Abilities This is Lans Tartare's class. He is a powerful fighter with excellent statistics and a typical Temple Commando-style special attack. You will only meet him in combat a few times, and I suggest that you primarially use Magic or Bows against him. Class: Bishop Magic: Healing, attack. Branta uses this class. Due to his low defense, he is not a very good fighter, but will use magic if he gets the chance. He can also summon Angel Knights as backup if he needs to. The conditions under which you fight him, however, make him an easy foe- see below for a better description. Class: Dark Element Magic: Dark magic, special abilities. This is Dolgare's class, and a very powerful one it is. Although, you'd probably expect that since he IS the last boss... At any rate, he has ludicrous statsics, very high HP (About 600 when I met him at level 35), and a variety of very powerful special attacks and spells. As if that weren't enough, he can also summon dark creatures to aid him. He's a very tough opponent, and strategies for defeating him are covered in more detail in the walkthrough. Class: Dark/Evil monsters Magic: Varies These are a particularly powerful type of enemies who you will met with some frequency in Hell's Gate and who also show up for the last battle. There are Dark varieties of many normal enemies (I've seen Cyclops, Ninja, Dragons, and Gryphons). Many of these monsters have new special attacks- the Dark variety of Cyclops, for example, has the "EvilEyes" attack instead of the usual Toxic attack. As a group, these monsters are also very fast and have abnormally high statistics. Especially beware Dark Stalkers, who can probably move faster than any character in your party and have very high evade rates. Class: Zombie Magic: Varies These are undead versions of normal characters- they are essentially the same as normal characters, but they will revive themselves after being killed as Zombies. They also have a slightly lower defense than normal characters. Zombie Wizards also have a nasty habit of using spells that they can't normally use (Such as the conditional spells). These are actually much weaker than normal characters, I find, since they can be destroyed through Exorcism. There are also Zombie monsters, but they appear under different names- usually "Death (name)"- and often wield different special attacks than they had in life. The most common are Toxic and EvilEyes. Class: Goblin Magic: None These basic fighters show up with some frequency in Hell's Gate. They are actually relatively weak; think of them as the Monster equivalent of Knights. They are decent fighters, but aren't any better than Valkyries or Berzerkers. Class: Gorgon Magic: None Gorgons are swift, have pretty good attack scores, and can petrify you. Although I've rarely seen them use the latter ability, they are fairly powerful and generally not to be trifled with. Their defense isn't all that good, but they also often carry bows to make up for it. Class: Sorcerer Magic: All attack spells These enemy-only units get ALL attack spells, including ones not normally available (Most notably LightBow). They are also slightly better at magic than standard Wizards. Class: Summoner Magic: Attack, summoning They aren't that powerful, but they are annoying because of their propensity for siccing largish groups of undead monsters on you. Their attack magic is stronger than a Valkyrie's or Ninja's, but not as strong as that of a full-fledged wizard. Class: Necromancer Magic: Attack, Dark, Summoning This is Nybbas' class. He's a decent magic user, but no more powerful than a Mage or Siren. He has low defense, so you shouldn't have too much trouble killing him with a Bow. Class: Venefik Magic: Poison, Acid When I first read the description for this class, the phrase which immediatley popped into my head was "I'm the MAD MIDNIGHT POISONER WHAT POISONS AT MIDNIGHT!", and you'll know why if you used to watch The Tick. Gameplay-wise, she is a pretty easy foe. She uses standard magic in her attacks as well as the somewhat more powerful Hazard special ability. Luckily, this ability is one- target-only, and she uses it very rarely. The only time you meet this enemy is on the top level of Hell's Gate, where they start in a terrible position. Class: Searzist Magic: Holy attack magic This character shows up at the 25th floor of Hell's Gate and specializes in Holy magic attacks. While she wields some fairly powerful magical attacks, if you're careful, she will not have time to build up the MP to use them. Watch out for Starion if she does build up her MP, though, as it can inflict serious damage to your party and kill any Undead characters with you. Class: Demon Magic: Dark attack magic No, unfortunatly, this character does not look like the cool demons from Ogre Battle- it's a lame pallete-shifted Siren instead. It appears on the 50th floor of Hell's Gate, where it is a very easy foe due to the circumstances of the battle. While it can use some very powerful attack magic (such as the Dark Law spell), it will almost never get to. Class: Death Knight Magic: None These are undead versions of some old friends, created by Nybbas. They're actually pretty weak; I wouldn't worry about them that much. They have slightly better statistics than normal Knights, but otherwise are basically the same as any other "enhanced Knight" class. Use bows to defeat them with ease. Class: Guardian Magic: Varies These are probably the toughest single monsters in the game- the Guardians of the four wind-elemental weapons in Hell's Gate. They have a variety of special abilities and vary in form, but are always yellow-colored monsters with some combination of the Thunder, Tornado, and WindShot attacks. They will leave you one of the weapons when defeated- the Notos Sword, Boleas Axe, Eros Hammer, or Zepyulos Lance. Please note that you will almost never meet all four groups of Guardians on a single trip through Hell's Gate. Class: Relics Knight Magic: None Gold-colored Terror Knights who guard the Ogre equipment and SnapShot Dragon Magic. These are fairly similar to Terror Knights and not all that much more threatening than other fighters. Be aware, however, that they do often wield bows. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Part II: General Strategies --------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Army Planning You probably want to plan exactly what you want to end up with at the beginning of the game when you first hire your army. I strongly advise that most of your male fighters have an alignment of N or C, so that they can become Berzerkers (as opposed to incompetent knights) and then either Dragoons or Terror Knights. Female fighters should have an alignment of N, which will allow them to become either a Valkyrie, Archer, or Dragon Tamer. Female Healers should be N so that they can become Clerics but still switch to a Siren or Witch if you need a little more firepower for any particular battle. Eventually, you will probably want to turn them into Priests (So that they can cast the all-important Vitalize spell), but probably contrary to your expectations, characters of any alignment may become Priests. All around, N-aligned characters are probably the most versatile, but there are a few classes available only to characters of a certain alignment- see the Classes section for more information. You should also try to make most of your characters of one or two non-opposing elements (Earth and Water, for example) so that you can use the Witch Trick (see below). In battle, I generally take five fighter-type characters (That includes some monsters, such as Lizard Men, Hawk Men, or Dragons), two Archers or Mages (includes Sirens), two Healers, and either an additional Mage or a Witch/Warlock. 2. The Witch Trick This actually works with either a Witch or a Warlock (Err, if you're using one for reasons which I cannot fathom). Essentially, the idea is this: Buy your Witch the element-enhancing spells for the two elements in your army (see above. When you go into battle, immediately stop and look at the enemies' guardian elements. If there are less than three or four enemies of one of the elements in your army, then kill those first and have your Witch retreat and constantly cast the spell to enhance that element. If you're lucky, you will soon find your characters inflicting massive damage. Furthermore, if you're lucky, a good number of the enemy will be of the opposite element- causing their attacks to weaken significantly. 3. Ganging Up This is the real secret to winning battles- in nine out of ten situations, two characters will be able to kill one. The outcome of one-on-one battles is generally determined by level- and the enemy often has the level advantage. Two characters of similar level fighting generally results in one dying and the other being wounded to the point where one of the dead character's companions comes up and finishes the attacker. I generally have my troops travel either en masse or in groups of two or three. Archers can stay alone at certain locations, as long as they're not in any immediate physical danger. 4. Preventing Counterattacks There are three ways to easily prevent the enemy from counterattacking, which is always a good thing if possible- attack indirectly, even at point-blank range, with a Bow or Crossbow, hit them from two squares away with a Spear or Whip (Assuming that they have only a close-range weapon), or attack from several height units above (I think three is the minimum height). Remember, of course, that enemies will die before counterattacking- if a counterattack will kill you, but you have a 75% chance of killing your target, save first and then try attacking. 5. Attacking from Behind This is fairly self-explanatory: Attacking from the side or behind seriously cuts down on an enemy's chance of blocking. Do so if possible. 6. Bows VS Crossbows Since Crossbows are lighter and have a higher hit rate, they are a good backup weapon for a close-range fighter like a knight. However, they cannot shoot outside their indicated range like a Bow and they also cannot shoot over obstacles as a Bow occasionally can. Bows are far better for Archers in that respect. 7. Friendly Fire There are two common instances in which characters will attack members of their own team by accident. The first is that some spells and projectile weapons (Ion Shot comes to mind) WILL hit characters between you and the target if the caster is below the target (Using Ion Shot, the bullet is actually created 2 or 3 steps above the casters head). This is not reflected in the hit chance, so keep an eye out for it. The Ion Shot in particular is also fairly wide (as opposed to Arrows or Stones) and may hit characters standing beside it's path if it goes close enough to them. Be especially wary of this when using Guns, as their long range makes you particularly likely to accidentally shoot one of your own characters. The other is when one character with a spear is near another character and is attacked- their spear WILL go through the two characters in that direction, whether one is an ally or not. Likewise, a character with a whip standing beside an ally who is attacked with a spear will hit his ally, even though the whip doesn't go through to the next character. This doesn't happen very often, but you should be aware of it. It also works on enemies, so use it to your advantage if you can. 8. Shields as an Attack Yes, you can attack with a shield, but they don't do much damage. They do, however, nearly always knock the target back- good if someone is foolish enough to be standing on the edge of a roof. Although falling damage here is not as ludicrous as it was in Final Fantasy Tactics, this can still be used to get pesky Knights out of your face or to get archers onto lower ground where they won't do as much damage. This is a good way to get rid of enemies foolish enough to stand next to a bottomless pit as well. 9. Equipping Magic When equipping Magic, keep the element of the caster in mind. Spells of their element will have a significant damage/success rate bonus. I suggest that you equip Wizards or Sirens with one or two spells of their element, then a non- elemental attack or miscellaneous spell- for example, an earth-elemental Wizard could be equipped with Acid, Meteor, and Incubus or Acid, Meteor, and Pain. Likewise, later in the game when you get Dragon Magic, Warlocks do more damage with spells of their own element- Mute is more effective when used by a Water-elemental character. 10. Gaining Experience Note: The terms in this section are misleading, but I can't think of any other semantically decent way to say this. This applies to any action done to any character (Healing a character a level higher than you gives you the same EXP as hitting them). The Attacker is the character using the attack and the Target is any character affected by the attack. The equation for EXP from attacks, as near as I can tell, is this: ((Target's level - Attacker's level) * 15) + (random number between 1 and 10) Any bonus above 100 points is rounded down to 100, and any attack which would give you negative EXP is rounded up to one. The element-enhancing spells are treated as though you were attacking yourself- in other words, you gain 1-10 EXP for casting them. I'm not sure exactly how attacking groups works; it appears that you may only get the expirience from attacking the strongest enemy in the group. Damage from killing a target, as near as I can tell, is calculated thus: ((Target's level - Attacker's Level) * 65) + (rand. num. from 10-20) Once again, this is between 1 and 100. Made simple, killing someone below your level gives you 1 EXP, killing someone at your level gives you 10-20 EXP, killing someone a level higher than you gives you 75-85 EXP, and killing anyone higher than that gives you an instant level-up. 11. Gaining Levels This is one of the most tedious parts of the game, but there is a way to make it easier. Essentially, once you have at least one character stronger than the rest of your army, you want to go into training and divide your army into two teams- high-level and low-level. Clerics should go on the high-level team (Just because they can't kill anyone doesn't mean they can't get EXP from healing higher-level characters). Then, ensure that the low-level team has enough of an advantage in numbers to defeat the high-level team, then set both sides to CPU control. Because of the combination of benefits that you get from wounding and killing enemy soldiers, you will nearly always get a level up from killing someone on the other team. Furthermore, the only involvement you need to have in the game is to occasionally glance at the screen to make sure a spell quote hasn't come up- the rest is done automatically. My suggestion is to stay in the same room as the Playstation and do something else, occasionally glancing at the screen to ensure the lack of spell quotes (I generally read during the training battles- I recommend the original Dune by Frank Herbert, the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the first Dragonlance trilogy by Margaret Wies and Tracy Hickman, or the Death Gate Cycle by the same). The one problem with this is that you will usually end up with and odd man out who's a level behind everyone else- this is fairly easy to fix. Give him a non- counterable attack of some sort (I keep a spear on hand at all times for just this purpose), and then set him against a character with weak defense, such as a Wizard or Cleric, setting both teams to player control. As you control both characters, it will be easy to simply hit the weak character in the back until they die and give you the 75+ EXP. When gaining levels for a new character, things get a little trickier. Although you will gain levels for every hit for a while, you may have only a 5% chance of hitting a character, even in the back. I generally do this by giving the level- gaining character a spear and using an exceptionally un-agile character (Knights work well here) as their "fencing dummy", removing ALL their equipment. If you still have a low chance of hitting them, try having a Witch-type character Stun or Petrify them. If you have to get a whole group of characters, you can expand this somewhat- put them on a computer-controlled team against a group of your characters who are up to speed, and then use a Witch-type character to petrify your high-level group while the low-level fighters pound away at them. This'll bring them up from level 1 quickly when the rest of your army is around level 25 or above. Also, certain classes have abilities which can be used to gain levels quickly while they're alone. Any character who can use the Charge spell, for example, can cast it on higher-level characters repeatedly to gain EXP quickly. The healer-type classes can use Cure on higher-level characters to gain a couple EXP per round. Ninja (and pretty much anyone else capable of using attack magic) can use low-cost attack spells to attack enemies. 12. Persuading Enemies Persuading enemies allows you to get good equipment and characters into your party, and also can allow you to recruit some special classes which are otherwise very difficult to get (Mainly Liches and Hydras). The real trick to persuasion is that you have to reduce the enemy to uner 20 HP (under 10 is even better) and then get behind them. This will give you a fairly high chance of persuading them. The enemy's attitude (Press select on their name) also figures into this significantly. You can persuade enemies in a story battle, but you cannot persuade the leader(s). 13. Cannon Fodder Sending a single unit into a large group of enemies is a very useful strategy for giving yourself a little extra time to prepare or some confusion to take advantage of. Of course, this could get a little expensive using normal troops. I find that Ghosts are ideal for this purpose- although they're not as quick as they could be, they can teleport and they're undead (Keep in mind that there are very rarely- if ever- enemies wielding the Exorcisim spell). Although I don't recommend equipping your Ghost with anything very heavy (They're slow enough already), giving them a sword will give them at least some counterattack damage, even if it's not that serious. 14. SnapShot Weapons These are by far the most powerful weapons in the game. They are made by having any magic-user cast SnapShot (A spell avialable on the lower levels of Hell's Gate) on himself- the spell will be consumed and they will be permanantly lost, but they will leave a sword behind. These swords have the same element as the character who originally did, and raise your abilities by half of their statistics (For example, if you snapshot a character with 100 STR, than the sword created will give you +50 STR). They are also always one-handed and have 10 WT- a very good deal. You can easily create insanely powerful weapons by hiring a soldier, having him level up through the techniques described above until they are at sixth level or so, then changing them into a Berzerker and having them get up to speed with the rest of your army. Turn them into a Wizard, SnapShot them, and you now have an insanely powerful weapon; the first time I did this, I was at level 28, and got a sword with almost +125 STR. 15. Necro/Rettisue Once you have both the Necro and Rettisue spells, there's yet another trick for producing ludicrously powerful characters. It's relativley simple, too: let a character die, then revive them as an undead with Necro. If you then cast Rettisue on them, they will be revived as a Solider or Amazon with the same statistics- at level 1! Bring them back up to the same level as the rest of your party in training and then they'll have ludicrously high statistics. 16. Supercharging While we're on the subject of characters with ludicrously high statistics, if you've got a lot of time on your hands, there's another way to bring characters up to insanely high levels with ease. If you set two healer-type characters (Anyone who's been a wizard for most of the game and can use the Heal spell) against each other (preferably under CPU control) and remove ALL of thier equipment except for the Heal spell, they'll fight pretty much indefinitley- gaining 1-5 EXP each move. If you set this up and walk away, you'll find that they each gain about 1 level every five minutes (barring spell quotes). As I stated, they'll fight pretty much indefinitley when left alone- meaning that you can easily get them up to several times your party's level and then use them to bring the rest of your army up using the methods described earlier. Now, you're probably thinking to yourself: "Uhh, Seig, didn't you say that enemies are usually around your character's levels? What good does this really do me?" Well, the thing is this: While enemies are about the same level as your army on average, they also "max out" at a certain level (which varies). The absolute maximum is around level 30- meaning that if your army is at level 50, you still have a 20-level advantage over them. Although I recommend playing the game the "right" way, if you really feel the need to massacre everyone, this is the way to go. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Part III: Battle Strategies --------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I have covered all of the story battles that I have reached here in as much detail as possible. Be forewarned that the Story Updates contain many spoilers. The leader in any particular battle is listed first, and important story characters are listed in a Name (Class) format, as are guests. Treasures are listed in an Item Name (Character carrying it) format; normal equipment (IE, items that you get randomly and can buy at that point in the game) is not listed, although buyable equipment which appears later in the game is. **** A note about the Tresure section: Admittedly, I haven't played many of these stages in a while, so the Treasure listings are probably incorrect in several places. Please EMail me with any corrections you have- there are some things that I know you win, but do not remember where (IE, the Revivfy spell in Chapter 2C)- these will be added in the next version. ---- Chapter 1 ---- ---- Are you telling me to stain my hands? ---- Story Update: Denim, Vice, and Kachua have heard that Lans, the leader of the Dark Knights who kidnapped their father, is coming through Griate City, and they hope to surprise and kill him. Griate City Enemies: Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight) Guests: Vice (Soldier), Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is the first battle of the game. You will not get to attack the enemies, as you do not have time to get close enough- after you move, Vice will move and then the battle will end with a conversation between you and Lans. Story Update: Lans, who is not the Dark Knight Lans but a Paladin exiled from neighboring Zenobia, is nice enough not to have his troop whup your asses and instead joins you to rescue the captive Duke Ronway. Those few lucky people who have played the original Ogre Battle will recognize Lans and his homeland. Armorkia Castle Enterance Enemies: Berzerker, Soldiers, Amazons Guests:Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight), Vice*, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None (* Since Vice's class can be changed, I have not listed any specific class for him) Lans and company will handle this battle for you- just sit back and listen to their advice as they demolish the enemies. Armorkia Castle Enemies: Knight, Soldiers, Amazons Guests:Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight), Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Another automated battle. Sit back and enjoy the show. Afterwards, Duke Ronway will give you some troops and send you to Griate City to save Leonard. Story Update: Now rescued, Duke Ronway hires Lans and his troop to train his army, sending Denim, Vice, Kachua, and their army (which you can name) to aid the knight Leonard, who has gone to Krizar to kill the Necromancer Nybbas. Tanmas Hill: Enemies: Wizard, Soldiers, Amazons Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is the first real battle and one of the harder ones, since you are just beginning and don't know much about the battle system. Your entire army should be at second level (Except for Kachua, who you cannot build up) before you attempt this. Canopus will join at the beginning of the battle as a guest and join permanently at the end. Keep your soldiers in groups to fight; at this point, numbers are the best protection against enemy attacks. Do not attack the Wizard until you have defeated most or all of the enemies, as he is a surprisingly powerful character and can inflict unexpected amounts of damage in hand-to-hand combat. You may well lose one or two characters in this battle; don't worry about it too much, as you can hire more at this stage in the game without having to train them exceptional amounts. Be sure that you don't lose Canopus- he's a unique character and a very good one in later battles. He joins you permanently at the end of the battle. Krizar City Enemies: Witch, Soldiers, Skeletons, Ghost Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None As you enter this battle, Presance is assaulting a group of Undead with his Exorcism magic- which is all well and good until the leader shows up and summons some more. While only Presance can destroy the undead, your characters can temporarily kill them with a minimum of effort. Once again, stay in groups. Your first order of business is to save Presance, who is a useful character and will join you after the battle. He may be able to destroy some of the Undead hanging around, but after you ensure his safety, your main concern is the living enemies and the Witch. Once you kill the Witch, Presance joins your party and any remaining undead disintegrate. On a side note, I love the music in this battle. Story Update: After this battle, you will have a short conversation with the captive Leonard. It seems that Nybbas has escaped to an abandoned fort to the south. You are given the choice of whether to attack Nybbas with your army or to return to Amorika for reinforcements. If you agree, Leonard will join you as a guest and will allow his two surviving troops, an archer and a knight, to join you permanently, and you will go to the next battle. Otherwise, you will simply skip it. Kadoriga Fort Enemies: Nybbas (Necromancer), Soldiers, Undead Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Nybbas is holed up in an abandoned fort with a small group of Undead and some living enemies- this battle is actually fairly easy. Presance can destroy any undead who are being particularly pesky, but your main goal here is to kill Nybbas. He will teleport away when he is in serious danger, ending the battle. I suggest that you mainly ignore the undead and concentrate on defeating him here. Most of my other advice still holds. Story Update: After this battle, you will return to Amorika for your next mission. Your characters should be on level 4 by this point. Duke Ronway will give you your next task: to travel to Fiduc Castle and get the Dark Knights to sign a non-intervention treaty in the upcoming war with Gargastan. Gruborza Plains Enemies: Berserker, Soldier(2), Wizard, Amazon, Cleric Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None The enemies here are pretty weak- but then again, so is your army. Stay together and take your time to defeat the enemies. The Berserker is proably a couple levels higher than your characters, so it might be wise to have Leonard fight him if possible. Be aware that the Amazon in this battle does have a bow- her attacks are long range, if somewhat weak. Even if you take a pounding here, you're at a low enough level that you can probably replace any standard troops fairly easily. Rime City Enemies: Knight, Dragon, Soldiers, Amazons, Witch Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess), Sisteena (Valkryie) Treasure: None As you enter this city, a mysterious woman is being attacked by a unit from the Valerian army. You are given the choice to save her (I have never tried answering "no" here, but I strongly suspect that it's a Communist Choice). This is a standard "kill the leader" level- the Dragon may cause a little trouble, but you shouldn't have too much difficulty eliminating the enemies. Like in the earlier battle where you met Presance, your first priority is to ensure that Sisteena- the mystery woman- survives. Killing the Dragon first is probably a good idea, and since you're actually capable of killing all the enemies for a change, you should do so for the experience. Beyond that, there's not much you have to do here beyond the usual. Although there is a Witch here, she's weak enough that her single spell- Stun- very rarely works, and only targets one character, so don't worry too much about her. There is one small secret in this battle- if you burn the grass off of the one-square island to the left of where you start and move onto it, you will find a hidden treasure. What you find is random, but you can get some decent items for this point in the game, such as Harps or the Vitalize spell. Story Update: Sisteena is a member of the Valeria Liberation Front. This is completely unimportant for the rest of this chapter, but keep it in mind in the future. There is no battle at Fiduc Castle; you meet the Dark Knight Lans and speak with him, and he agrees to sign the non-intervention treaty and sends you on your way with a lame-ass excuse for why he torched your hometown. Back at Armorkia, Duke Ronway sends you on a mission to travel to Baramus and encourage the residents- currently slave labor for the Gargastans- to revolt. Once again, Leonard will travel with you on this mission. You should spend the effort to get up to level 6 at this point, and get better classes for your characters. Bordo Lakeside Enemies: Knight, Soldier (3), Amazon (2), Wizard, Archer Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Matou Claw (Amazon) This is a rather difficult battle. Do not be lured into the water, as fighting in the marsh will usually result in your being defeated with ease. The enemies also have the high ground here, making Archers relatively weak. I found that the best strategy was to take the dry and relatively high ground on the center of the upper-right side of the battlefield and hold that position. This way, you avoid having to fight in the marsh. Of course, if most of your characters are water-elemental, you may want to stay in the marshes to gain the bonus to your damage you get there. Incidentally, one of the Amazons in this area carries a Matou Claw- get this if it's at all possible. The Matou Claw gives you a STR bonus of 24, making it the most powerful weapon you will find for quite a while. Zodo Marsh Enemies: Ganb (Beast Man), Gryphon (2), Lizard Man (3), Witch, Wizard Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is surprisingly easy after the last battle. The Gryphons are not as tough as they seem, and the Beast Man will retreat as soon as you do serious damage to one of them. Stay where you start until one of the Gryphons gets close to you, then throw everything you have at it. You cannot kill the Beast Man for his whip (He'll just retreat), so don't bother trying. Story Update: Denim has breached the defenses and reached Fiduc. You should be level seven or eight by now. Baramus part 1 Enemies: Soldier (8) Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Although the soldiers here are probably a level higher than you, this is a fairly easy battle- you have the high ground and they aren't very well-equipped. A couple may cause trouble since they have Bows, but altogether this is just a warm up. Since this is a two-part battle, be sure to get your characters as close to fully healed as possible before finishing off the last soldier (I suggest putting him to sleep with Incubus or Stunning him if you have Stun). Take two healers here in addition to Kachua to make life easier. Story Update: Even after you defeat the guards, the people of Baramus are reluctant to rebel. Duke Ronway, however, expected this, and Leonard tells you that he is under orders to kill the populace and blame the Gargastans. You are now given a choice which will dramatically affect the remainder of the game: Whether to follow orders and eliminate the populace, or do the right thing and refuse to. Your character's alignment will change depending on your choice- if you go with your orders, it will become L, and if you refuse, it will become C. I should note here that these alignments are not what you'd expect: Lawful does not mean "good", it just means that you tend to do what you're told, and Chaotic does not mean "evil", it means that you value Freedom more than the law. Of course, the character classes are a little odd in this particular- if you choose to be merciful now, you can become a Terror Knight later. Go figure. Baramus part 2 Enemies: Knight, Berzerker (2), Archer (2), Cleric/Witch*, Wizard (*- this varies depending on which choice you made earlier; if you made the Lawful choice, she's a Cleric, otherwise she's a Witch.) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Clear Staff (Cleric/Witch), Life Staff (Wizard), Great Bow(2, Archers) This battle is a very annoying one (It only occurs if you choose not to follow orders)- although the enemies are most likely on the same level as your party, you're probably still hurting from the last big fight, the enemies have the high ground, and they have better equipment than you do. The first order of business in this battle is to save, so that you won't have to do the last fight again should you lose anyone here. After that, I suggest that you have Canopus fly up as a diversion while the rest of your party makes it's way up the stairs, otherwise the enemy Archers will demolish you. Canopus will also most likely be able to do serious damage to a few enemies- especially if he still has his Spear, which allows him a two-square attack. If he can kill one of the Archers or the Witch, that's good, too. As you have probably gathered, the Archers are the most serious threat here- they have the high ground and they have powerful Great Bows. The Wizard is also a priority, since his Life staff can heal 50 points of damage and doesn't cost MP. The good thing about this battle is that if you do manage to get some of the items held by these enemies, you will have good equipment for most of the next chapter- the haul consists of Clear and Life Staffs and two Great Bows. ---- Chapter 2L ---- --- Nobody Should Blame Me --- Story Update: The Walsta Liberation Army, upon hearing of the massacre at Baramus, unite and grow in power- however, Vice travels into Gargastan and spreads the news that Duke Ronway was actually responsible for the massacre. The end result of this is that both the Walsta Liberation Army and the Gargastan army gain significantly in power. The Walsta Liberation Army needs to move against Gargastan quickly, before the truth about the Baramus massacre spreads, but they don't have enough manpower- luckily, as always, Duke Ronway had a plan. He will use Denim as a decoy to trick the Gargastan forces into splitting their army by faking an assault through Baramus. As the chapter opens, Denim's unit is moving into Baramus... Baramus City Enemies: Gryphon(2), Thunder Dragon, Hawk Man (3), Wizard Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This battle is pretty easy- although the enemies have quite a few flying units, you have the high ground. If you bring in a couple archers backed up by a couple tough fighters, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Be forewarned, however, that the Thunder Dragon which begins right near you can take a lot more punishment than the other enemy characters- you'll need to use a couple characters to defeat it quickly. The main thing you have to do here is be sure you can get a couple archers onto the roof of the tall building located down from where you start- that's an excellent vantage point to attack from. You do have to kill all the enemies here, so try to grab the Crossbow wielded by one of the Hawk Men when you do. Zodo Marsh Enemies: Wizard, Hawk Man (2), Archer (2), Solider (2), Octopus Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None If you're ready for this battle, it's also fairly easy. The major thing you need to know is that all of the enemies (well, except the Octopus) come equipped with bows. You should make sure, therefore, that most of your characters have long-range attacks or have either flying or teleportaion (Canopus, Gryphons, Hawk Men, Ghosts, etc.). Ghosts are excellent for luring enemies into postions where they're easy for you to attack. If you're having a tough time, you can go directly for the Wizard, but otherwise I'd suggest that you kill as may of the misc. characters as possible- the Great Bows they carry are fairly powerful. Ashton City Enemies: Cleric, Golem, Fire Dragon, Knight (3), Witch (3) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Once again, you start with the high ground, which makes your life easier if you've brought any bow-wielders with you. The first order of business here is to kill the Witch who has Charm- she can cause trouble for you if you're not careful. The Knights here are also fairly dangerous- although they're indavidually pretty weak, they all have fairly high attack and they tend to attack in groups. None of the enemies have any particularly powerful items, so you may be best off just to send a few flying units after the Cleric and dispatch her as quickly as possible. Story Update: As he leaves Ashton, Denim is attacked by a group under the command of Aloser- the sister of one of the innocents at Baramus. Ashton City Enemies: Aloser (Archer), Valkyrie (3), Hawk man (2), Wizard, Cleric, Knight Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is one of the tougher battles so far- Aloser is an excellent shot with her bow, a couple levels higher than you, and her army has the high ground. My suggestion is to use flying units to attack the enemies on her army with bows and long-range attacks (Cockitraices work well here, since they can petrify targets) while the rest of your army takes cover and waits for her to get close enough to attack. She will usually get close without much backup- at which point you should throw everything you have at her and any companions she has. If you have an undead party member you can send on a suicide attack at the beginning of the battle, that helps by giving you some more time before you have to deal with Aloser. Story Update: Aloser reveals that the Walsta Liberation Army was defeated at Swanzi Forest, leaving Denim without support- he decides to return to Amorika via the sea, passing through Kadoriga Fort on the way, where he meets a mysterious man under attack by a group of fighters... Kadoriga Fort Enemies: Berserker, Soldier (2), Ninja, Amazon, Cockitraice Guests: Zapan (Berzerker), Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Undead Ring (Cockitraice) Although it's not neccecary that you save Zapan- the Berserker under attack- it's highly advisable, and this battle is much easier than the corresponding battle in the Chaotic chapter. The key here, in short, is to get near enough to the enemies that they will attack you instead of Zapan as quickly as possible- he's also close enough to you to be in range of healing spells on the first or second round of combat. This battle is, as I've said, pretty easy- just get in and start killing the foot soliders as quickly as possible. Be aware that if you kill the Cockitraice, you'll get an Undead Ring- which can be useful for your magic-users later on. Tanmas Hill Enemies: Archer, Red Dragon (2), Knight(2), Ninja(2), Cleric, Witch Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Fire Orb (Red Dragon) There's nothing particularly special about this battle- just keep your party together. Don't take too much time killing the Dragons; they don't take much damage and have pretty high defense. After you kill most of the helpers, take out the Archer and be done with it. Be forewarned that most of the enemies here do have bows, however. Story Update: After the battle at Kadoriga Fort, Denim returns to Amorika, where he learns that the news is indeed true- the Walsta Liberation Army has been defeated. Duke Ronway makes the descision to ask Lodis for help- and throws Leonard out of the Liberation Army for resisting. Finally, he sends Denim to carry the letter to Fiduc... Gruborza Plains Enemies: Ninja, Gryphon(2), Wizard(2), Amazon(2), Soldier(2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Undead Ring (Gryphon) Once again, as long as you're on equal levels with the enemies, this shouldn't be too hard. The enemies won't move until you move closer to them (It's an odd AI glitch), so that should help you get into a better postion before you attack them- if you play your cards right, you can probably kill or seriously damage one of the soldiers before he even moves. The Ninja here is pretty tough; don't take him on until you're ready. Story Update: You meet up with Leonard in Rime, who suggests that you kill Duke Ronway- after a long chat, Denim decides to go along with it. On your way out of town, however, Vice shows up with Aloser, who starts a fight with you. Rime City Enemies: Vice (Knight), Aloser (Archer), Cleric, Knight(2), Soldier, Valkyrie(2), Wizard Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Revivify Spell (Aloser) This is a tough battle- your best bet here is to kill Vice as quickly as possible. Make sure you're at level 12 before you get here; otherwise both Vice and Aloser will be able to demolish your characters easily. My startegy here was to have my army move to the left immediatley (towards the hill with the two Archers on top) while my ghost moved to block the knights from attacking. Although the ghost 'died' fairly quickly, that allowed Vice to move out into a position where Zapan, Denim, and Canopus could attack him and drop him down to low enough health that the battle ended. It's probably best to use this or a similar strategy to kill Vice as quickly as possible- the enemies here don't carry much of use, and the longer you fight, the more likley it is that a few important characters in your party will be killed (While you can always recruit new generic characters, you're in big trouble if, say, Canopus or Zapan get killed- they're two of the more powerful helpers in the game). You'll probably need a try this battle a few times before you win- don't be discouraged if you do. Also be sure to kill Aloser, as she carries the all-important Revivify spell. Story Update: As you defeat Vice, the Bacrum army attacks Rime, complete with a group of Dark Knights. Lans Hamilton attacks their leader, while Vice and Denim retreat. Denim retreats to Gruborza Plains, preparing to attack Amorika Castle. Amorika Castle Enterance Enemies: Sorceror, Knight (3), Blue Dragon, Valkyrie(2), Cleric(2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Necro (Sorceror), Heal + (Clerics) This is a tough battle- you're really trapped into attacking from the front, and the Sorcerer and Valkries (who both have bows) here can do some serious damage from long range while you're dealing with the Knights and the Dragon (although the Knights and Dragon are indavidually fairly weak, they can absorb a lot of damage before dying). Things are made worse by the fact that this is a three-part stage- since your army doesn't recover HP between battles, you'll have to be sure you've got decent HP at the end of this one. Kill the Dragon and Knights as quickly as possible; I found that if I moved my army just a couple spaces forward, the enemies would get close enough that I could attack them the next round, and yet far enough away that they couldn't hit me. After you kill the fighters, move directly for the Sorceror- he's a powerful enough mage that he can do 50 or 60 points of damage with his magic, and he hits multiple characters, too. The good news is that his defense is rather low, so if you have a couple bow-wielders, you shouldn't have too hard of a time defeating him. If you have a couple Gryphons in your party, you may consider trying to use thier WindShot ability to dispatch him quickly. Amorika Castle Enemies: Terror Knight, Berserker(4), Wizard(2), Valkyrie(2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Fire Sword (Terror Knight) This battle is a lot easier than it looks- although there is a large force against you, the leader is exposed and will probably attack you immediatley. If you simply throw everything you have at him and switch in a group of characters which are in fairly good shape after the last battle, you will probably be able to kill him before you take any serious damage. This is one of the only stages where I recommend that you keep your chracters bunched up in a tight group- the four berserkers here won't be able to gang up as effectivley then, and the wizards probably won't get in range quickly enough to take advantage of your bunching. Be sure that Denim is in relativley good shape at the end of this battle- you'll need him as healthy as possible for the next one. Story Update: While you fight, Leonard kills Duke Ronway in his chambers- and then comes out to frame and kill Denim, not neccecarially in that order. Luckily, Vice shows up at the last minute, leading to a battle. Amorika Castle Enemies: Leonard (Knight) Guests: Vice (Knight), Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None The key here is to stay away from Leonard as long as possible- let Vice do as much of the fighting as you can. You'll probably want to equip Denim with a cure potion of some description and a two-square weapon (Denim was a Beast Tamer at the time in my game, so I used a Guard Whip). Attack Leonard from two squares away, and keep your distance so that he'll (hopefully) attack Vice instead of Denim. I thought that this was a cool battle, and it should only take you two or three tries (if that), assuming that you're prepared for it. Although Kachua is in this battle as a guest, she will usually be killed before she can do anything. Story Update: Before dying, Leonard tells Denim to blame him for the plot to kill the duke, and then go on to defeat Gargastan. In doing so, Denim unites the Walsta Liberation Army (now under his control) and the Neo Walsta Liberation Ally (Formerly under Vice's control) into one unit (which you named back in chapter one). They prepare to move against Gargastan, while Bacrum mysteriously retreats from Rime after invading it. ---- Chapter 3L ---- ---- Betrayal ---- Story Update: The new Walsta Liberation Army moves to take Coritani Castle- capital of Gargastan- by a split action- while Vice will move through Swanzi Forest, Denim's forces will move around through Burmor and Brigantes Castle, attacking Coritani from behind. Brumor Enemies: White Dragon(4), Lizard Man (4) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a rather tough battle- you'll have a hard time doing any appreciable damage if you're standing on the Ice when you attack. If you have any Dragoons or Dragon-slaying weapons, this is a good time to use them. Otherwise, my strategy here was to move to the hill to the right of my starting location and use the solid ground there to defend against the miscellaneous enemies- the hill in the upper-right corner makes an excellent place for a few Archers to stand. This may take you a few tries, but in the long run it isn't that tough. Story Update: There are two ways to enter Brigantes; through the South (the main enterance) or the West (more commonly known as the back). I prefer the West. There's no real advantage to going either way- there's no special equipment to be had here. South Brigantes Enemies: Wizard, Ninja (3), Valkyrie (2), Witch, Cleric, Golem (2) Guests: None Treasure: None You're under attack immediatley here- the three Ninja will probably go before you have the chance. You'll want to retreat far enough that the Archers won't be able to hit you. My suggestion here is that you retreat and kill the three Ninja and the two Golems (they should arrive fairly quickly), and then use magic or flying characters to destroy the three archers and the Wizard. This battle is a lot tougher than the West Brigantes counterpart; I really can't see doing it instead. If you do choose to do this battle, be sure to keep your HP up- there's another section at the end. West Brigantes Enemies: Hawk Man, Hawk Man (3), Octopus(2), Lizard Man(4) Guests: None Treasure: Aqua Hammer (Hawk Man) While the moat in this stage may appear to be a serious obstacle, keep in mind that the enemies have to cross it somehow too- if you bring your mages and archers into this battle, you'll have an easy time picking off the hapless Lizard Men and Octopi as they try to cross. The Hawk Men are a little tougher, but if you stay on the small raised area where you start, you'll probably be able to hit them with bows or spells as they cross one of the small island chains to reach you- keep in mind that your bows have much better range then their crossbows, especailly if they're wielded by skilled archers. Be sure to keep your HP up here, since there's a second part to this battle. Inside Brigantes Enemies: Knight, Earth Dragon, Berzerker, Witch, Siren, Exorcist Guests: None Treasure: None The one thing you really have going for you here is that while the enemies are all fairly tough, very few of them have missile attacks- although the one Berzerker is a good shot with his bow, most of the other enemies will have to take you on in hand-to-hand combat. With this in mind, my strategy here was to send a Ghost forward to keep the enemies occupied while I moved my power fighters into a line between the two torches near the starting place and used two Valkyries to form a "lip" around the side toward my party (to make myself more difficult to flank). One this was set up, I used an "attack by defending" strategy- I had my three fighters wait and use their counterattacks to do damage while they were supported by my two healers in the rear and my Wizards, Archers, and Valkyries attacked with long-range magic spells. I managed to hold out until the Knight came close enough that I could move forward and kill him- he is a "normal" knight, unlike most of the other story knights (*ahem* Leonard) who get huge stat bonuses. Story Update: After you liberate Brigantes, there's a scene with a group of Gargastan traitors who were imprisoned in Brigantes Castle. Their leader will say that the Gargastans are your enemies, despite the fact that they're traitors- if you respond "You're wrong!" to this, Jenounes- a powerful Dragoon- will join your party. Meanwhile, you set out for Coritani... Vahanna Enemies: Ninja, Ninja (2), Hawk Man (2), Gryphon (2), Preist Guests: None Treasure: None This is a pretty easy battle- you start with the high ground and the enemies don't have all that much in terms of magical attacks. If you have a few archers, keep them on the high ground and you should be able to kill the leader of the enemy group before they get too close- none of the others carry anything worthwhile (unless you want the Airleons carried by the two Hawk Men), so it's probably best just to end this quickly. Coritani Castle Enterance Enemies: Hawk Man, Berzerker (4), Wizard, Cleric, Witch, Hawk Man (2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is another fairly easy battle- again, the enemies here are tough, but those few of them who have missile attacks start out from a good distance away. The most dangerous enemy initially is probably the Witch- her spells will, at this point, be able to hit a large area- enough to freeze a good number of your troops with Stun. My suggestion is to move to the right of where you start and then kill the enemies as they try to cross the bridge- remember to keep your HP up here, since this is a two-part battle. Inside Coritani Enemies: Terror Knight, Terror Knight (2), Valkyrie (2), Siren, Cleric, Witch, Preist Guests: None Treasure: None If you have Jenounes with you, there's some interesting conversation between him and the Terror Knight here. Other than that, this is a fairly standard battle. If you have a Ninja or flying character, you can try and lure as many of the enemies as possible into one of the pits on either side of the "bridge" down the center- although anyone can jump in, only Ninja or Flying/Teleporting characters can get out. The lead Terror Knight is agressive enough that he should come down with the main force (although the two other Terror Knights will arrive first), so you should be able to kill him with magic or bows relativley easily. Story Update: After you capture Coritani, the Cardinal kills himself rather than be captured by the Liberation army. Meanwhile, Zaebos- a Gargastan knight- defeats the Liberation Army in Swanzi Forest and captures Vice. He sends out two of his squads to stop Denim while he retreats to Amorika castle. At this point, you have a choice of two battles- Swanzi Forest and Bordo Lakeside. They're both pretty equal in difficulty, and they both lead where you want to go. Swanzi Forest Enemies: Sorceror, Cleric, Lizard Man (4), Beast Man (2), Gryphon (2) Guests: None Treasure: None The enemies here are tough and, unlike many recent groups, have several characters with powerful ranged attacks who start out in positions where they can use them. This is still a fairly standard battle, though- I found that the enemies tended to crowd into groups on the "island" in front of your starting point- making them an easy target for magic. I found that the Stun spell was particularly effective here. If you can keep most of the enemies incapacitated, this battle shouldn't be too hard- just watch out for the Sorceror's Charm spell; it hits a large area and works a good percentage of the time. Bordo Lakeside Enemies: Summoner, Lizard Man (3), Hawk Man (2), Gremlin, Skeleton (2), Ghost Guests: None Treasure: None Interestingly, this is one of the few places where Gremlins appear in a story battle. I took the Swanzi Forest route, so I don't have all that much advice here- I do suggest, however, that you take an Exorcist to deal with the undead enemies here. Tanmas Hill Enemies: Ganb (Beast Tamer), Gryphon (2), Cockitraice (2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a fairly simple battle- if you're fast enough, you can finish it before Ganb and his ever-increasing number of pets get to move simply by having your archers and spell-casters move in and attack him quickly. This is a pretty easy battle; try to avoid killing Ganb's pets so that you can get the Rifle later. Amorika Castle Entrance Enemies: Siren, Archer (2), Berzerker (3), Terror Knight (2), Black Dragon, Earth Dragon, Witch Guests: None Treasure: Galdia Fan (Siren) This is a tough battle. Your best bet here is to stay in place for the first round; although the enemies are fairly well-equipped and do have long-range attacks, they probably won't be able to kill anyone the first round- and you should be able to do significant damage to their forces on the second. The biggest thing to watch out for here is the Witch's Stun spell- it works a good portion of the time and can hit a fairly large group of characters. Try to keep your HP up during this battle; you'll need it for the next one. Inside Amorika Castle Enemies: Zaebos (Knight), Knight (4), Valkryie (2), Witch, Wizard, Cleric Guests: None Treasure: Fafniel Sword (Zaebos) Zaebos' little group won't be able to attack you until the second round or so of this battle; I started out by using my flying characters and magic-users to attack the group of enemies which starts to the right of your starting place first. Once this group is dealt with (you should definitley kill the Witch and the bow-wielding Valkryies; you can kill the Knights if you have time, but it's not neccecary), you can attack Zaebos and his troops en masse. Assuming that you're in pretty good shape after the enterance, this battle shouldn't be all that hard. Story Update: Having liberated Amorika, you meet up with Guildus, Mildain, and Warren again- they were captured at Rime, but have since escaped. While Warren is seriously injured and is unable to help you, Guildus and Mildain join your party, along with Vice and a few generic characters (a Knight, an Exorcist, and a Preist). Meanwhile, Denim plans to attack Fiduc castle- the center of the Dark Knights' power- by going through the volcanic Wyoburi and Rime rather than going straight through the Gruborza Plains. Wyoburi Enemies: Red Dragon (2), Lizard Man (2), Hawk Man, Gremlin, Gryphon (2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a pretty standard "eliminate all enemies" battle. The most dangerous enemies here are the two Dragons, but if you play your cards right, you can block off their access to your side of the lava river by moving characters in front of the crossings. Besides, at this point, you have just gotten a couple dragon-slaying weapons and powerful fighter to wield them. The other thing to watch out for is the Hawk Man; while he does have a bow, you may well be able to kill him before he can do any serious damage with archers. The two Gryphons here are a pain to kill, since they tend to retreat onto the high plateau across the river from where you start, but you should be able to send a few Ninja after them. You may want to consider recruiting the Gremlin here if you get the chance; they make decent archers and they can fly. Rime Enemies: Ozma (Temple Commando), Knight, Archer, Wizard, Dragon Tamer, Black Dragon, Thunder Dragon, Terror Knight, Siren Guests: Haborym (Sword Master) Treasure: Kaminari Spell (Wizard), Fenril Spell (Siren), Warp Boots (Terror Knight), Rosebud Whip (Ozma) It's a lot easier to save Haborym in this battle than it is in the corresponding battle in the Chaos path- it's still difficult, though. The problem is that Haborym will almost always go after Ozma and then attempt to hit her in the back- and, after she counters, the Archer can make short work of him. What I ended up doing, as much as I usually hate the strategy, was saving the game right before Haborym's turn and then re-loading until Ozma's attack missed. That's pretty much the only option- you can't move your troops fast enough to prevent Haborym from attacking or to defeat Ozma or the Archer. The good news is that after the first round, Haborym usually has the presence of mind to retreat away from the battle. After that, it's pretty easy to kill all the enemies for the good amounts of equipment here- I find that if I use Archers and Canopus, I can kill the Siren and the Wizard before they manage to use their attack spells (definitley advisable), and the other enemies are relatively easy to kill assuming that you have a couple Dragoons or characters equipped with dragon-slaying weapons (Vice works wonders with the Fire sword). Do keep in mind that Ozma's Petrify spell isn't just there for looks- she prefers to attack with her whip if possible, but she will use the spell on occasion. Fiduc Castle West Enemies: Sword Master, Dragon(2), Terror Knight, Dragon Tamer (2), Archer(2), Wizard, Siren, Soldier(*) Guests: None Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Siren), Ice Bow (Archer), Light Bow (Archer), Aqua Armor (Terror Knight), Wing Armor (Sword Master) This is the easier of the two battles leading to the castle. If you initially stand still, the enemies will not move- so you can use a Warlock or Witch to get the MP of any mage in your party up, then the battle with the five enemies will be rather easy as you can simply smash through them with a couple shots of Kaminari or Fenril (I recommend getting the Terror Knight out of the way first), and then you will have a couple rounds to recuperate before the Sword Master and his group reach you. The most important thing here is to keep your HP high for the battle inside the castle, and if you can kill the two Archers for their bows before you kill the Sword Master, it wouldn't hurt. You get quite a few good pieces of equipment here: two elemental bows and two suits of elemental armor, as well as the Gnome and MagmaGod spells (the Earth and Fire counterparts to Kaminari and Fenril). Be aware that Soldiers may appear as you fight here, but they are slow and poorly-equipped, and thus not much of a problem. Fiduc Castle South Enemies: Witch, Archer (2), Wizard (2), Knight (4) Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Wizard), Sand Bow (Archer), Fire Bow (Archer), Granite Armor (Knight), Pheonix Armor (Witch) Because of the positions your characters start relative to the enemies, this battle is much more difficult than the East battle, and there is no real difference in the gains. There's really no reason to take this route instead of the easier Fiduc Castle West route. Inside Fiduc Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando) Treasure: Gramrock Axe (Oz) This battle is a one-on-one between Denim and Oz. This is actually pretty easy if you got the Warp boots back in Rime- equip the boots and a bow and then warp up to the ledge above Oz and demolish him from there. It may take a while, but you'll be able to stay out of his reach in the mean time. ---- Chapter 2C ---- Story Update: The Gargastan Army, now having to deal with uprisings inside Gargastan in addition to the Walsta Liberation Army, is in serious trouble. Meanwhile, Duke Ronway has arranged for Denim to take the blame for the massacre at Baramus, putting a price on his head in hopes that he can be eliminated before he causes too much damage. Denim and Kachua take refuge in the nearby port of Ashton. Their only hope is to get through to Lans, the only member of the army that they can trust, who is currently with the army of Tanmas Hill. Ashton City Enemies: Aloser (Archer), Witch, Cleric, Knights (2), Hawkmen (2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Before you try to leave the city (which will trigger this battle), turn Denim into a Berzerker, give him a Phlanka Axe, and get the rest of your party up to level 9. This is one of the more annoying battles in the game. Aloser, an Archer with an unfortunate name who wants to avenge her brother killed in Baramus, is 10th level, has the high ground, and has several powerful backup fighters. However, the good news is that right before this stage, you can buy the supremely useful Zoshonell, Gurza, Hahnela, and Bartha spells, which increase the powers of various elements. Promote someone to a Witch, buy one of the spells which increases the power of an element most of your party has and few of the enemies do, and have your Witch stay in back and constantly fire off that spell. If you take cover until Aloser gets close and then swarm her, you shouldn't have too much trouble here. When her HP gets low, she will join as a guest after a short exchange with Denim. Zodo Marsh Enemies: Berzerker, misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None I don't actually remember much about this battle. Since you start on the high ground, it should be rather easy to defeat the enemies simply by holding that ground and using Canopus to fly out and kill any characters with long-range attacks who get close. The leader should be easy enough to kill once he gets close, particularly if you manage to kill a couple of his peons with magic or arrows before he closes with you. The trick described above with the Witch is also useful. Bordo Lakeside Enemies: Ninja, Golem, Octopus, Hawk Men, misc. Fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Matou Claw (Ninja) Again, this is pretty easy. Do what you can to knock off the Archers. The Golem is actually not that strong- anyone with decent attack power should be able to do serious damage to it. Canopus shouldn't have too much trouble flying over and demolishing the Hawk Men, if they prove to be a problem. You also have another opportunity to get a Matou Claw here from the Ninja. Tanmas Hill Enemies: Vice (Ninja), Gryphon (2), Beast Man (2), misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None It turns out that Duke Ronway has played a rather nasty trick on you: Lans is not here, but Vice is- with help and orders to kill you. If Aloser is with you, she will fight as a guest in this battle (This is the only battle where she fights with you as a guest). The Gryphons are actually a threat this time, due to the presence of the Beast Men, who will increase their strength. Kill the two Beast Men first, then kill the Gryphons. As I recall, the characters here are not all that well-equipped, but as the battle in general is fairly easy, it isn't a bad idea to kill them off for the experience and whatever you can get from them treasure-wise. The one thing you should be aware of is the fact that Vice, for no apparent reason, has a Crossbow, so make sure any seriously wounded characters are well clear of him. When you do enough damage to him, Vice will use his escape jewel to remove himself from the battle. If Aloser survives this battle, she will join you permanently. Story Update: Despite this setback, Denim and Kachua still hope that Lans can help him. Working under more reliable information that he is actually in Rime, they plan to go to Krizar and hopefully get on a ship. In Krizar, the Walsta Liberation Army have captured someone who they think is a member of your army- but neither you nor Kachua have seen him before. Krizar City Enemies: Knights (A whole bunch), Wizard Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Crossbow (Knights), Chain Mail (Knights), Slender Spear (Knights) After a short chat, the Knights decide that the best course of action is to toss the Knight in jail and attack. You shouldn't have too much trouble here; just bring a couple healers to make sure that nobody gets killed in the ensuing battle. The Wizard starts in a location where he will probably not get to attack before you either win the battle or kill him, but don't forget that he's there. A few of the Knights have Crossbows (Crossbows are not really as useful as Great Bows, of which you should have a couple by this time), most of them have useful Chain Mail, and two of them carry Slender Spears, which you should probably try to get for any Valkyries in your party or for Canopus. Story Update: The Knight who you saw earlier is actually a member of the Valeria Liberation Front like Sisteena. He can help you get a ship, but you will have to help him save his companion from pirates who have apparently moved into Kadoriga Fort since Nybbas left. Kadoriga Fort Enemies: Berzerker, Ninjas, Cockitarice, misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess), Byan (Wizard) Treasure: Undead Ring (Cockitraice) The Wizard who is trapped on top of the fort by the enemy is the Knight's companion. However, I am warning you right here that his chances of surviving this battle are slim to none- At the very beginning of the battle, he develops a Rafa Complex and will usually run into a group of enemies and get himself killed before you can do anything to help him. The biggest immediate threat here- as most of the enemies will be occupied attacking the Mage- is the Cockitrace, who can petrify your characters essentially for the rest of the battle (Usually resulting in their death). If you can stun it with Stun or Incubus, I strongly recommend that you do so, then move a group of fighters in to finish it off. Otherwise, use projectile attacks or magic if you can. If all else fails, you can kill it in hand-to-hand combat, but that's somewhat risky since it's petrifaction attack is close-range. If one of your characters is Petrified, you may still be able to win the battle, but try to draw enemies away from that character if at all possible. After that, the battle is pretty standard. You can get a Guard Whip from the Berzerker, and some of the Ninjas carry Matou Claws. Story Update: If you saved the Wizard, you are allowed an optional battle at which you can save Sisteena. Otherwise, you grab a ship and head for the Valeria Liberation Army's secret hideout. You decide to stop in at Griate for supplies on the way. Griate City Enemies: Wizard, Dragons, Witches, Archer, misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Necro (Wizard) The Wizard is a bounty hunter looking for you. Big surprise. The two Valeria Liberation Front members will help you if they're still alive. Your biggest concern here is the Archer who starts on top of the house: She has a great bow and will make your life a living hell unless you kill her, ASAP. I suggest sending Canopus up after her and throwing a couple spells her way if you have a chance. Other than that, the battle is fairly basic. Look out for the Witches and be aware that the Dragons may cause trouble if you're not ready for them. Story Update: At their base in Fort Bodo, the Valeria Liberation Front's head will tell you of their plan to assassinate Duke Ronway. Kachua is indignant, although Denim considers the suggestion. The two do not join just yet, and instead go on to Rime City to meet with Lans. You should be up to at least level 12 at this point. Rime City Enemies: Zapan (Berzerker), Hawkman (2), Witch (2), Dragon (2), Lizardman (2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Denim and Kachua approach Rime, but they are stopped by none other than Zapan, a Berzerker they fought earlier. His force starts surrounding Denim and Kachua on three sides, and the rest of your army is in a corner at least two turns away. Kachua has- literally- a 98-100% chance of being killed by the Hawkmen before she even gets to move, so be concerned mostly with Denim's well-being. Zapan can do around 90 points of damage with his Hammer and has a high defense to boot, so don't expect to be able to end the battle by just quickly defeating him. I find that it's best to retreat straight backwards and have most of your troops cluster around the large house which Kachua is hiding behind at the beginning of the scene while Canopus flies out and dispatches the Hawkmen. Attack Zapan after all or most of the enemy forces have been dealt with (especially the bow- wielding ones)- I prefer using ranged weapons or Magic against him. When you're close to killing him, he recovers with a Cure+, so be ready for it. I find that a Dragon's Breath attack generally does very good damage to him. Otherwise, just keep in mind that this is a hard battle and expect to have to try it a couple times. I eventually put up with losing one replaceable character to get rid of him. Story Update: Just as you're about to kill Zapan, the Bacrum army- complete with a group of Dark Knights- attacks. Lans engages their leader in single combat, and in the chaos Zapan takes Kachua hostage and runs off. As you are about to follow him, a Dark Knight shows up and blocks your path long enough for Zapan to escape- luckily, one of Lans' knights shows up to fight him before he decides to take on your unit. Zapan challenges you to fight him at Amorika Castle. Gruborza Plains Enemies: Summoner, Ninja (3), Cleric (2), Witch (2) Guests: None Treasure: Revivify Spell (Summoner) After the last battle, this is a cake walk. Two of the Ninja have crossbows; they should be your first priority. The Witches also have a couple new spells- one has SlowDown, which essentially paralyzes you until your next turn, and the other has Charm (Which can be the most supremely annoying spell if they manage to hit your healers with it). Also be sure to bring Presance here, as the Summoner summons skeletons with some frequency. Although he can create more monsters, the Summoner himself isn't that powerful- one or two hits should be able to kill him. You will also get the very useful Revivfy spell in this battle from killing the Summoner. Story Update: You arrive at the gate to Amorika Castle. Your characters should probably be up to level 14. Naturally, Zapan is waiting for you when you get there. Amorika Castle Gate Enemies: Zapan (Berzerker), Ninja (2), Knight (5), Golem(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The Golems here are more threatening than ones you have met in the past, but they're still the least of your worries. The Ninjas both carry Great Bows, but because of their AI, if you have several relatively quick characters, you should be able to kill them after a single move. Zapan and the large number of Knights here are the most dangerous foes- the knights are weak individually, but will overwhelm you fairly easily. I suggest that you have your fighters take up positions on the bridge and simply hold them (Do not attack; plan to do most of your damage by counterattacking and projectile attacks). Don't try to move onto the large, open area near the middle of the road you start on, as that is a sure way to get slaughtered. If you have a pair of Healers with you (as you should), they can stay back and keep up your fighters' HP. Your spell and bow-wielding characters should stay back and take out the two Knights with Crossbows ASAP, and then concentrate on the fighters attacking your position. After the rest of the troop (or a significant portion of it) has been defeated, use magic or ranged attacks to kill Zapan. I also find that Dragon special attacks work well against him- he can't counter them and they do surprising damage. This battle will probably take a few tries to get past without losing any of your characters, but it's not as hard as the battle back at Rime. Be sure to get Denim's HP as high as possible before finishing the round. Story Update: The mastermind behind the plan of kidnapping Kachua is none other than your "friend", Vice. After killing Zapan (You bastard! He was MINE!), he vents his aggressions at you for a while and then attacks you alone. Amorika Castle Enemies: Vice (Ninja) Guests: None Treasure: None As long as Denim is at full HP and has been a Berzerker long enough to get his defense and attack fairly high, this is a breeze. Vice has bad equipment and should only be able to withstand two hits from your Axe- he will walk up and attack, you will counter, then you can hit him in the back to "kill" him. Story Update: As you fight Vice, Leonard walks in with the news that Rime has fallen to the Bacrum army. After a short chat, he offers you the chance to rejoin the Walsta Liberation Army to help Walsta. If you agree, your alignment will become N and you will go on to Chapter 3N. If you disagree, you will go on to Chapter 3C. ---- Chapter 3C ---- ---- Ambition and desire is the motivation. ---- ---- Losers are called dogs and hogs. ---- Story Update: In the wake of Rime's fall, Duke Ronway increases the bounty on Denim's head. Denim, trapped between the Bacrum forces who want to kill him and Duke Ronway who wants to kill him, retreats once again to Ashton. Denim hopes to implement Selye's plan and kill Duke Ronway. As the chapter opens, Kachua runs off, objecting to your method of helping the people (Quoth Canopus: "You'd have to smack her around with a club to convince her"). At the end of the scene, a Bounty Hunter finds your hideout and you are forced to attack him. Ashton City Enemies: Berzerker, Fairy, Soldier, Lizard Man (2), Gryphon (2) Guests: None Treasure: None Although the Berzerker here is even higher-level than Zapan, his statistics are considerably worse. This is actually a fairly easy battle- most of the enemies are fairly weak. Your first order of business should be to get rid of the Gryphons, who have long-range attacks but are rather weak, and the Fairy, who is surprisingly well-equipped. Since you start on the high ground in this battle, Archers are very effective. You will most likely end up killing the Berzerker before you can kill the rest of his army. Story Update: You set off for Coritani Castle, which has been taken by Zaebos, a knight formerly of the Gargastan forces. You hope to free it before the Walsta Liberation Army, weakening their position. On a completely separate note, Balder equipment and a load of new spells become available at this point- spend some time re-equipping all your troops before you move on. Zodo Swamp Enemies: ??? Guests: None Treasure: None The strategy in this battle is roughly the same as the last chapter- hold your ground and kill anyone who gets too close. The battle shouldn't take more than two or three tries. Cortaini Castle Entrance Enemies: Siren, Dragon (2), Wizard (2), Berzerker (2), Hawk Man (2) Guests: None Treasure: Gladia Fan (Siren) The key to winning this battle is speed- if you run over the upper drawbridge, you will generally be able to stay ahead of the lower group of enemies. You may have to kill the Wizard, but that's rather easy if you have an archer standing on the nice, high structure near the upper bridge. The most dangerous enemies here are the Wizards, who are probably powerful enough to cast spells in an increased radius. The Hawk Men here are not all that much of a threat as long as you can get some Archers close enough to kill them before they get too close. I suggest that you don't attack the Siren at close-range, as her Gladia fan can confuse you if it hits you. Inside Cortaini Castle Enemies: Zaebos (Knight), Knight (2), Cleric (2), Wizard (2), Valkyrie (2), Dragon Guests: None Treasure: Fafniel Sword (Zaebos) This is a supremely annoying battle, but there is a trick to beating easily. Be sure to bring a Priest into this battle with you, as you will most likely need her Revivify magic. Your first order of business should be to kill any non-Wind- elemental mage, as they will have the ability to cast spells on a vast area- not something you want to be on the wrong end of. As you close with the enemies on the bridge, you will most likely lose a few characters- this is okay, as long as you know the trick to this battle. The thing to remember is that the pits on either side of the bride are traps- any S-size character can jump in, but only Ninjas or flying characters can get out. The easy way to win this battle, knowing that, is to lure Zaebos into the pit (I use Canopus as bait; sometimes he will also go on his own) where he cannot attack out or get out, and then kill all of his helpers (Pretty easy after you get rid of him and his Dragon). You may now wait and revive any dead characters at your leisure. When everyone is alive, use bows or magic to kill Zaebos with ease- be forewarned, however, that he will escape when he is in any danger- do NOT attempt to harm him until everyone else in your party is alive. Also be forewarned that you may need a couple tries to finish this battle- his party is strong and he has the upper ground and two Clerics who can heal people in a frighteningly large area. Vahanna Plateau Enemies: Lizard Man (4), White Dragon (4) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a very easy and rather cold battle- remember, all the enemies are water- elemental, so if you're not loaded down with water-elemental characters, use the Witch Trick. If you cast Zoshnell enough, the enemies will be rendered nearly helpless. This is pretty much a warm-up (No pun intended) for the next few battles. Brigantes Castle South Enemies: Knight, Soldier (3), Archer, Wizard (2), Valkyrie (2), White Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None This is the easier of the two battles to enter the castle, with the right strategy. The first thing you will probably notice is that the obvious way to finish the level is simply to storm up the stairway- this is, therefore, the absolute last thing that you should do. A far better strategy is to work your way around the side of the castle (in the snow). Somewhat surprisingly, when you do this, the enemies will not attack until you put yourself into an obvious location (such as on top of a wall). I suspect this is because the AI does not think that it "sees" you, which is somewhat odd considering that the Knight yells at you at the very beginning of the battle. The key here is to kill the two Mages as quickly as possible- the three Soldiers have bows, but are surprisingly inaccurate. Don't be discouraged if one or two of your characters die, since you should have Revivify by now. Keeping your HP high is the most important thing here, as in most 2-part battles. One other thing to note is that the knight here is realistic- he doesn't get any significant statistic bonuses, and therefore is incompetent. West Brigantes Caslte Enemies: Hawk Man (5), Siren(2), Archer(2), Cockitrace Guests: None Treasure: Aqua Hammer (Hawk Man) This is the other method of ingress to Brigantes Castle. While I have never attempted this path, I can honestly say that it wouldn't seem to be worth your while unless you really want the Aqua Hammer (Held by one of the Hawk Men)- the enemies have the high ground across a river, and nearly all of them have bows or crossbows. If you do decide to try this battle, I suggest relying mostly on magic to destroy enemies from the greatest possible range or changing most of your fighters into Ninja, who can walk across water. Once again, I really suggest that you take the southern path. Inside Brigantes Castle Enemies: Zaebos (Knight), Knight(3), Terror Knight, Amazon(2), Exorcist, Wizard(2) Guests: None You get to this battle through either entrance to the castle. This is a fairly tough battle, but Archers are useful as most of the fighting is on level ground. Don't bring any Undead, however, as doing so will result in their utter destruction at the hands of the Exorcist. Your first order of business is to kill the two Wizards, as usual, and then the Terror Knight, who has very good defense and reduces the attack power of anyone near him. The Amazons are also very annoying due to their accurate and painful spears. After you take out about half of his troops so that the immediate pressure is off of you, throw everything you have a Zaebos- expect to lose a couple party members in this battle (I lost two of my better fighters in this one). After the battle, you will always pick up Zaebos' powerful Fafniel sword. Story Update: No sooner do you liberate Brigantes castle and free the prisoners there than the Walsta Liberation Army takes Coritani again. Vahanna Plateau Enemies: Sorcerer, Ninja (7) Guests: Haborym (Sword Master) Treasure: Petrify Spell (Sorcerer) As you pass Vahanna Plateau again, you come upon a Sword Master running from a group of Walsta Liberation Army forces. On the logic that anything which hurts the Liberation Army is good for you, your army moves to defend him. I'm going to point out right now that it's nearly impossible to save him- The Ninja are powerful enough to kill him when they attack en masse, and he has a Rafa Complex. You also cannot revivify him, as he is not a member of your army. All in all, your best bet is to kill the Sorcerer as soon as possible- two Archer shots should be able to do the trick if you manage to get close enough to hit him. My recommendation here is to bring a Warlock or two with Quick and use it on either the archers or the Sword Master. I have also heard that you can finish this battle relativley easily by bringing a group of fast archers into the battle and having them kill the Sorcerer. Another strategy is to hit Haborym with projectiles so that he retreats behind you so that you can heal him- I personally haven't had much luck with this one (I find that the Ninja usually catch up with him before I can heal him), you can try it. If you decide that it's not worth the trouble to save him, the battle is tremendously easier- he will generally mortally wound one or two ninjas, and everyone is fairly poorly equipped. Story Update: If you saved Haborym, the Sword Master, he offers to join your army. Coritani Castle Entrance Enemies: Terror Knight, Wizard (2), Dragon(2), Dragon Tamer(2), etc. Guests: None Treasure: Fire Sword (Terror Knight) This is a pretty easy battle, once you figure out the trick to beating it. What you want to do is retreat to the small island below where you start in the middle of the mote, using Canopus or Magic to kill the wizards. Once on this island, after you have killed all the enemies, it is fairly easy to block the enemy Terror Knight from attacking while you revive any dead characters. Inside Coritani Castle Enemies: Leonard (Knight), Knight(2), Hawk Man(2), Witch, Wizard, Valkyrie(2) Guests: None Treasure: None Coritani castle is guarded by none other than Leonard himself. At the beginning of the scene, he will challenge you to a one-on-one battle- do NOT agree to this. The battle with him is nearly impossible to win. If you decline, he will summon a large group of enemies to attack you. However, this is deceptively easy- if you have a few fast archers and mages in the front row of your army, it is very likely that you will be able to kill him before he even gets to move. Just put all of the mages and archers available into the front row of your attack group and keep Canopus in the back if you have trouble, and things will be a snap. Story update: After Leonard's death, Denim decides to go to Rime in an attempt to kill the Good Duke Ronway, through the Wyoburi mountain range. Wyoburi Enemies: Ganb (Beast Man), Gryphon (2), Cockatrice(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The Beast Man here is the same one you met way back in the first chapter, and he's just as easy in this second battle. Use archery and Magic to take out his beasts, and then whatever means necessary to kill him. He's on the low ground and all four of his monsters are relatively weak. Rime Enemies: Terror Knight, Knight (2), Wizard(2), Cleric, Dragon Tamer (2), Dragon(2) Guests: None Treasure: Kaminari spell(Wizard), Fenril spell (Wizard) This battle is made very difficult be one factor: The two Wizards wield Kaminari and Fenril, two very powerful attack spells. They can demolish a single character in one casting. Be sure to kill them as soon as possible. I finished this battle by moving up from the location where I started and keeping my Priest far away from the action, where she was able to revive one or two of my characters who died over the course of the battle. Be aware that the Terror Knight wears Warp Boots, which allow him a greater movement range than he would otherwise have, and that the Knights have bows. Story Update: Vice kills the Duke and attempts to kill the Dark Knight Lans, but Lans is a step ahead of him and has Oz and Ozma for backup. Lans spares Vice while the Liberation Army heads for Amorika. At Amorika, both Guildus and Mildain, the Paladin Lans' two knights, join your army (!) as you prepare to attack Fiduc, where the Dark Knights are currently holed up. Bodo Fort (Optional) Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando), Templar Knight (5) Guests: None Treasure: None This is your first encounter with the Dark Knights in battle. The Templar Knights aren't much more powerful than regular knights, but the Temple Commando Oz packs a serious punch and has the DarkCage ability- which stuns it's targets with a 100% success rate as well as doing the same damage as a physical attack. I suggest staying in the location you start and using Kaminari and Fenril or sending Canopus to deal with enemies who get too close. When Oz arrives, you will want to have all of your party available to attack him so that you can defeat him as quickly as possible- unfortunately, he will escape before you can kill him. Story Update: The Dark Knights have your father, Plancy, captive and have killed the entire Valeria Liberation Front that you know of except for Selye, who reluctantly joins you. Fiduc Castle West Enemies: Sword Master, Dragon(2), Terror Knight, Dragon Tamer (2), Archer(2), Wizard, Siren, Soldier(*) Guests: None Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Siren), Ice Bow (Archer), Light Bow (Archer), Aqua Armor (Terror Knight), Wing Armor (Sword Master) This is the easier of the two battles leading to the castle. If you initially stand still, the enemies will not move- so you can use a Warlock or Witch to get the MP of any mage in your party up, then the battle with the five enemies will be rather easy as you can simply smash through them with a couple shots of Kaminari or Fenril (I recommend getting the Terror Knight out of the way first), and then you will have a couple rounds to recuperate before the Sword Master and his group reach you. The most important thing here is to keep your HP high for the battle inside the castle, and if you can kill the two Archers for their bows before you kill the Sword Master, it wouldn't hurt. You get quite a few good pieces of equipment here: two elemental bows and two suits of elemental armor, as well as the Gnome and MagmaGod spells (the Earth and Fire counterparts to Kaminari and Fenril). Be aware that Soldiers may appear as you fight here, but they are slow and poorly-equipped, and thus not much of a problem. Fiduc Castle South Enemies: Witch, Archer (2), Wizard (2), Knight (4) Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Wizard), Sand Bow (Archer), Fire Bow (Archer), Granite Armor (Knight), Pheonix Armor (Witch) Because of the positions your characters start relative to the enemies, this battle is much more difficult than the East battle, and there is no real difference in the gains. There's really no reason to take this route instead of the easier Fiduc Castle West route. Fiduc Castle Inside Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando), Ozma (Temple Commando), Templar Knight(2), Valkyrie(2), Magic-users Guests: None Treasure: GramRock Axe (Oz), Rosebud Whip (Ozma) If you approach this with the right strategy, it's a fairly difficult battle. Otherwise, it's darn near impossible. Yes, both Ozma and Oz are here, and yes, you have to kill them both. I found that the key to surviving the battle was to kill Oz as quickly as possible- if you have two mages with repeated-attack spells and Magi++ items, you should be able to kill him in their second rounds. Be sure to bring a Warlock or Witch with the Charge spell, as you will probably need to refill your MP with some frequency. After you kill Oz, the most important thing to do is take out the two Valkyries (both of whom have bows) as quickly as possible. The Templar Knights are probably the weakest enemies here; they will usually kill themselves attacking your fighters before they can do any serious damage. Also try to spread your characters as much as possible over the low floor you start on, as one of Ozma's most dangerous abilities is her three- square-radius Pertify spell. When she gets close enough, you can defeat her by the same method you defeated Oz. This is a rather tough battle; I can't count the number of tries it took me to finish it. Save once at the beginning, and make a backup save before you enter the castle. ---- Chapter 4 ---- ---- Hand in Hand ---- Story update: Depending on what path you took to get here, you will see a variety of different scenes, but the chapter itself is essentially the same. Regardless of your path, Kachua is installed as the ruler of Valeria by the Dark Knights. She is not recognized, however, by the Walsta Liberation Army (now led by Denim), but there is dissension in the ranks as a religious group takes prisoners and demands that the Liberation Army surrender to Bacrum. As the chapter opens, Denim sets off to contact their leader in Brigantes castle. I have a couple other notes here- first, random encounters will get very difficult at this point- enemies begin to appear at four or five levels higher than the average character. If you manage to survive at least one of these battles, however, you will gain quite a few levels- bring a Priest and do what you can. Vahanna Plateau Enemies: Wizard, Witch(2), Cleric, Archer(3), Exorcist, Terror Knight, Dragon Tamer, Lizardman (Note: The first time I tried this battle, there was no lizardman, but I had to leave in the middle and couldn't complete it. The second time, there was a lizardman there as well as the normal troopers. I think his appearance may be random) Guests: None Treasure: None Naturally, on your way to Brigantes, you are attacked by the survivors of Zaebos' army. This is a rather easy battle, as long as you keep track of the Wizard. Stay on the side of the river you start on and demolish the enemies with bows or magic. Since there's only one path over, you can block the Terror Knight fairly easily, and the Dragon Tamer isn't that much of a problem even if she does come across. As usual, the most important thing to do is to kill the archers quickly. Story Update: You can avoid the battles here if you remove all of Denim's equipment and spells, then send him alone to the South gate. If you do this, Olivia will stop her troops from attacking you. The down side to this is that you don't get any of the nifty equipment you otherwise would (most notably the Black Shield). The battles are both fairly messy, so I suggest that you skip them and go in the South. If you do want to fight, the west route is probably easier. South Brigantes Castle Enemies: Dragoon(2), Sword Master, Cleric, Archer(3), Wizard, Exorcist, Warlock Guests: None Treasure: Black Shield (Dragoon) No sooner do you finish explaining to the guards that you just want to talk, they attack you. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Seriously, this is a pointlessly difficult battle to subject yourself to. You start in a position where you will likely be cut down where you stand without making a move, and even if you do get to go, you end up fighting uphill against a fairly well- fortified force. The strategy you used before also simply doesn't work this time because of your position. I strongly suggest that you simply take the other path, or else bring a large contingent of Wizards and Clerics into the battle. West Brigantes Castle Enemies: Archer(3), Cleric, Exorcist, Siren, Wizard, Dragoon(2) Guests: None Treasure: Wing Ring (Archers), Black Shield (Dragoon) This battle is easier than it appears at first- if you simply wait on your little island until the enemies get into the moat, thier defense is drastically reduced while your offense is the same as always. This allows you to use your Archers and Wizards to kill any opponents foolish enough to get close. The three Archers here carry useful Wing Rings, which allow you to fly, and one of the enemies carries a Black Pearl shield which defends against magic. You may have to go to the other side of the moat to get the Cleric and Exorcist, but they're fairly weak anyway and are more of a hassle than anything else. Story Update: Denim enters the castle and speaks with the leader of the order, Olivia. She tells him that Plancy is with them, but is ill and does not have long to live. After a LONG scene, Olivia joins and tells you to seek Moruba in the Banhamuba Temple. Hedon Enemies: Warlock, Lizardman, Dragoon, Ghost, Siren, Dragon, Valkyre(2), Terror Knight, Black Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None You're assaulted by this group (including the first undead character you've seen since the first chapter) on the way to the shrine. This battle is actually fairly easy- if you play your cards right, you can block all of the fighters from moving onto your platform in the beginning of the battle, and then destroy them with bows or magic before moving on to kill the Warlock and his friends. Banhamuba Temple Enemies: Shelly (Siren), Ninja(4), Knight(2), Cleric, Dragoon Guests: None Treasure: None The enemies here are led by Shelley, the fourth sister, and I reccomend that you avoid killing her if possible so that you can get the Shamans later. This is easier than it may at first seem- you have the high ground initially, so Archers are very effective, and Shelley will rarely- if ever- use her powerful Dark Law spell (I should note that you can win Dark Law here by killing Shelley- but this is not advised, because then you are unable to complete the Shamans subquest). My advice is to hold your position on the stairs while you kill the other members of the enemy party, and then use rocks to weaken Shelley until she runs. Story Update: After a talk with Moruba, Denim decided to fake a troop movment elsewhere so that he can save Kachua from Lans. Lanbees Hill Enemies: Dragoon, Dragon Tamer (4), Dragon (2), Holy Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None This is a fairly easy battle- the Dragoon is aggressive, so he should be relativley easy to take out with Bows or Magic. Don't spend too much time worrying about the other enemies in the party; although the Dragon Tamers wield Magic, it's fairly weak. The most threatening are the two with Bows- but you should be able to kill the leader before they do too much damage. Banisha Enterance Enemies: Templar Knight (5), Golem (2) Guests: None Treasure: None Take your time here and you shouldn't have too much trouble. If you have any Dragon magic, this is the time to use it- otherwise, hang back and use conventional magic against any enemies which are foolish enough to get too close. When the remaining enemies are weak enough, you may be able to attack the rest directly. The most important thing here is to heep your HP high for the next battle. Banisha Courtyard Enemies: Barbas (Temple Commando), Templar Knight(6), Tiamat(2) Guests: None Treasure: RimFire Gun (Templar Knight) This is a rather difficult battle. You will probably want to kill the Templar Knight who Barbas gives the RimFire gun to at the beginning of the battle, but this proves difficult since he will usually retreat to the back of the battlefield. I suggest that you send Canopus or another teleporting character after him while your mages throw spells at Barbas and his main troops. Some of them do wield attack magic, but it's not particularly strong attack magic, so you can probably recover with a Heal+ spell or two. The enemies will generally reach you by jumping down from the fortifications, so don't try to attack by going around and up. If you wait him out, Barbas will generally put himself into a position where you can kill him by attacking with multiple characters. Inside Banisha Enemies: Lans Tartare (Death Templar), Kachua (Dark Priest), Templar Knight(8) Guests: None Treasure: None This battle is actually easier than it may seem at first, assuming that your characters are all okay in the HP department (If you didn't do so well in the last battle, you may want to use a different set of characters here). Remember, normal magic can't be targeted through walls. Since the Templar Knights all have Warp Boots, they will generally teleport into your section of the map in handleable numbers (One or two at a time). Dragon Magic, if you have it, doesn't hurt either. Lans and Kachua, meanwhile, will take the long way around, so you will have time to deal with any Templar Knights before they arrive. When Lans arrives, I suggest that you use magic, bows, or multiple fighters to defeat him- his attacks are pretty powerful and he tends to be lucky with parries. Story Update: If Kachua survived the last battle, then she will speak with you afterwards; what answers you gave to her questions here determine her fate. The conversation will be slightly different in each chapter- in the Chaos chapter, answer "I did, once" and "I love you!" to her questions and she will join as a Princess. In the Neutral chapter, asnwer "I did, once", and "Come with me!". Otherwise, Denim will become a Lord (Debatably the best class in the game) upon his return to Fiduc. Either way, your army will move to attack the capital city, which is still held by the Dark Knights. Yomlahaba Enemies: Beast Tamer, Octopus(3), Valkyrie(2), Lizard Man, Hawk Man, Witch Guests: None Treasure: None If you have a Hawk Man with a bow, this is the place to use him. From the top of the cliffs behind your starting location, you should be able to fire a couple squares across the river at least. This battle isn't all that hard, but it may take a while to finish. The Octopi tend to be a pain due to the fact that they're incredibly hard to damage when they're in the water- luckily, they don't do much damage to you either. As there are no convienent crossings here, you're pretty much restricted to your own little section of the map (Translation: Bring flying chracters). Take your time here and attack the Beast Tamer whenever possible. William City Enemies: Sword Master, Dragoon(2), Knight(5), Exorcist, Cleric Guests: None Treasure: Fire Sword (Dragoons) This battle is made difficult mostly by the terrain- you will have a tough time getting close to the enemies and Guns and Bows are essentially useless. Luckily, the Sword Master who leads the enemies is rather aggressive and will move after your characters. The biggest threat here is the two Dragoons- the knights do not have any of the major stat bonuses which occasionally make enemy knights difficult, and the wield fairly weak weapons. The Dragoons, however, are stronger to begin with and wield Fire swords. Bring a lot of mages and any flying characters available into this battle. Be aware as well that many of the enemy Knights wear Wing boots, which allow you to fly- if you're having trouble, just go after the Sword Master, but otherwise you may want to consider getting these boots as well. Entrance Heigm Enemies: Terror Knight, Archer(3), Witch, Siren, Cleric, Tiamat(2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a tricky battle, due to the three Archers who start off in an excellent position to snipe at you. If you do try this path, put any weaker characters toward the left side of your group in the selection screen, so that they will be farther away from the Archers when you start. I suggest, however, that you simply take the other route. West Heigm? Enemies: ? Guests: ? Treasure: ? I did not take this route, so I have no details on the enemies you will encounter here or the battle itself. Rear Heigm Enemies: Dragon Tamer, Wizard(2), Knight(2), Cleric, Holy Dragon(2), Archer(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The archers in this battle are in a much less dangerous position, and the enemies suffer from the same problems that they had back in Brigantes- they will not move unless you get close enough. While the geography of the area prevents guns and archery from being all that useful, you can unload Dragon or Forbidden magic while the enemies are still far enough away that they won't be able to counterattack. If you have a few flying characters (and you should by this point in the game), this battle shouldn't be all that difficult. Just be careful to take out the Archers as soon as possible and keep your HP high. South Heigm Enemies: Knight, Archer (2), Warlock, Sword Master, Dragon Tamer, Tiamat(2), Siren Guests: None Treasure: Fire Sword (Sword Master) This is another relatively easy battle. The most dangerous enemy here is the Sword Master, who wields two powerful Fire swords and can so serious damage in a single attack. Once again, guns and archery aren't that useful, but Dragon magic is very handy. You can probably kill most of the enemies by waiting for them to get close enough that you can attack them- be sure to use spears against the Sword Master. Keeping your HP high is a priority here, too. Heigm Enemies: Branta (Bishop), Terror Knight (6), Siren(2) Guests: None Treasure: Penetant Sword (Branta) This battle is either incredibly easy or incredibly difficult, depending on how many sidequests you've completed. If you have a Gunner in your party, they start with a clear shot at Branta and even the RimFire gun can do about 200 points of damage to him. While this is not enough to kill him outright, it means that a single blast of any magic spell which targets all enemies will kill him, and it is possible that he may not be fully healed until the Gunner's next round. Unfortunatly, if you can't kill Branta quickly, you'll have to deal with the prodigious numbers of Terror Knights. If that is the case, the best strategy is probably to try and bring as many Archers and Mages into the battle as you can and kill them at a distance. Branta himself has some healing magic, but he is not a major concern as a fighter due to his low HP. Story Update: During your attack on Heigm, the lower-ranking Dark Knights pull a coup and take the Brunhild sword which Warren may have told you about earlier. They travel to a tower called Eden. Meanwhile, the Valeria Liberation Army makes an uneasy truce with the Bacrum army. Denim goes to a small church by the sea and finds an apparently wounded man who stares at the sea all day. In his room is a rather farmiliar Music Box- yes, the man is the Holy Knight Lans, last seen in the Dark Knights' custody. The girl caring for him gives you his Zenobia sword, one of the most powerful one-handed swords in the game, to take with you as you journey to Eden. Eden itself works somewhat like Hell's Gate- it's 18 floors high, and you must open the door on each floor by moving a character in front of it to continue. While there are battles on each floor, depening on the route you take (You will be offered a choice of proceeding to two different floors at two points in the tower) you will only encounter some of them. So far, I only have data on the route I took. Most of the battles here are pretty easy if you're prepared at all- at least until you get to the Ancient Ruins- so I won't go into as much detail as usual here. The general strategy is to petrify or stun one enemy, kill everyone else, open the door, and then kill that last enemy. I strongly reccomend that you do at least twenty or thirty floors of Hell's Gate (covered elsewhere in this FAQ) before you attempt this tower- things will get very difficult near the end, and you'll be glad you did. 1F Enterance Enemies: Templar Knight(6) Guests: None Treasure: None Use a flying character to open the upper door here and use magic against the Templar Knights on the upper floors. If you have a couple flying characters, that's even better. 2F Water Snake Spine Enemies: Templar Knight(4), Golem(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The biggest threat here is the Templar Knights with Petrify- they can rally make your life miserable if you give them the oppurtunity. If you have a flying character with a two-square or higher attackn range, it's relativley easy to defeat one of the golems by luring it onto the lower walkway. Since this walkway is broken every other square by water, you can trap the golem on one and hit it until it "dies" while it can't reach you. 4F Stomping Woman Enemies: Templar Knight(3), Cyclops(2) Guests: None Treasure: None In this stage, characters on the right side of the party setup screen will be right inside the range of a pair of Templar Knights with bows- not a good place to put your Priest. If you have a couple flying fighters, this should be pretty easy. 7F Hair in the Wind Enemies:Templar Knight(3), Cyclops Guests: None Treasure: None There's nothing especially dangerous or out of the ordinary about this stage. 9F (I don't recall) Enemies: Templar Knight, Hydra(3) Guests: None Treasure: None This is the second area where there are two doors. Be aware that the Hydra- which you may not have met before if you didn't do the deeper floors of Hell's Gate- can use all four breath weapons and are probably the most dangerous dragon-type monsters. Incapacitate them quickly, either by killing or petrifying them. 10F (I don't recall) Enemies: Templar Knight(3), Holy Dragon(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The biggest danger here is being charmed by the Templar Knights- this while it's possible that your characters may recover on thier own, it's more possible that they will attack someone on your side, inflicting fairly serious damage to both their target and themselves (through a counterattack). Thrown stones will usually recover a charmed character with only minor damage, though, so use them or Vitalize and kill the Templar Knights with Charm as quickly as possible. 13F Honeymoon? Enemies: Templar Knight(3), Basilisk(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The Basilisks are another Hell's Gate enemy who you've probably learned to hate and fear if you've been there. If you haven't, be forewarned that their EvilEyes ability hits your entire party- this is defninitley a map to carry LifeRocks to. You also may have learned in Hell's Gate that Basilisks will generally use EvilEyes every round until they're damaged or a character on your side gets too close. Use missile weapons to damage them as soon as possible. 15F Star Gazer Enemies: Templar Knight, Skeleton(2), Ghost(2), Goblin, Dragon Zombie Guests: None Treasure: None This is one of the very few story battles where there are Undead enemies. If you have Starion, use it to kill most of the enemies, then have a flying character open the door to the next floor. Otherwise, have a character with Exorcism (I reccomend an Angel Knight here for their natural flight ability) use it on any enemies foolish enough to bunch together. 17F (I don't recall) Enemies: Templar Knight(6) Guests: None Treasure: None This is another fairly easy one. Gunners work well here (Unlike in pretty much any other place in Eden) due to the terrain, which allows you a nice, clear shot at the Templar Knights most of the time. 18F (I don't recall) Enemies: Andoras (Temple Commando), Templar Knight(6), Tiamat(2) Guests: None Treasure: Thunder Claw (Andoras) This is far easier than it looks at first- Andoras will generally rush forward to the stairs where you can hit him with magic, guns, or bows, and there is no door to worry about. You will also have your HP refilled after finishing this battle, so you don't have to worry too much about taking damage. Just bring a few Archers and fliers and you shouldn't have too much trouble. Underground Enterance Enemies: Zombie(5), Death Giant(2), Death Hydra Guests: None Treasure: None If you have the Starion spell, this battle is a snap- just cast it once, and most of the enemies will die right away. Otherwise, unless you have multiple characters with Exorcism or other undead-killing attacks, things are considerably trickier. Cast Exorcism on whatever enemies group togehter and try to kill the Archer as qucikly as possible. Unless you Excorcise enemies or knock them into the few bottomless pits available, you will probably find yourself running back and forth killing enemies multiple times quite a bit. The enemies here are fairly strong, especially the Archer, so beware. Luckily, you don't have to open the door here. Ancient Ruins Enemies: Templar Knight (3) Guests: None Treasure: None This is another fairly easy battle. The Templar Knights are weak and there aren't many of them, either. Gunners are useful here due to the fact that essentially the entire battlefield is flat. Since you don't have to open the door for this battle, just waste the two Knights with magic or long-range weapons and move on. Make sure that Denim has high HP when you end this battle, though. Sealed Room Enemies: Barbas (Temple Commando), Martym (Temple Commando) Guests: None Treasure: Nyfret Sword (Martym), Brunhild Sword (Barbas) Both Barbas and Martym attack here, and Barbas has the Brunhild! Hopefully, your main character can withstand a single attack- otherwise, you're screwed. After that, have him retreat while any flying characters move in to attack Barbas and Martym. Dragon Magic isn't as useful as the good old-fashioned repeated attack spells here, since there are so few targets. This battle isn't all that hard- just use the same strategies you've used before against really tough enemies and keep your HP up. Sealed Room Enemies: Dolgare (Dark Element), Dark Wing, Dark Dragon, Dark Eye, Dark Stalker(2) Guests: None This is it, the final battle... The enemies here are powerful, but your biggest concern is Dolgare himself. He will generally teleport near your party, but he has an incredibly high defense and normal attacks do very little damage to him. Most of the special attacks you got from Roderick in Hell's Gate do decent damage, as do VERY powerful normal attacks (My SnapShot weapon did around 100 compared to the usual 200+). He also constantly switches his element, and can either attack single characters for decent damage or hit everyone with a souped- up version of the "orb" attack of his current element for serious damage. Furthermore, he can summon other Dark monsters to fight with him- this is NOT a good day to be an RPG hero. He will generally teleport in on the first round to where you can attack him easily- my strategy was to ignore the Dark monsters and have the characters in my party with special attacks rush him while my magic- users cast Dragon Magic. I found that Fudo worked particularly well as an attack here. If you haven't gotten as many special abilities, I suggest that you defeat at least some of the Dark monsters before going after Dolgare and primarially use Magic on him. I think that Dragon attacks should also work fairly well if you manage to hit, but I've never tried them. Good luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- Part IV: Subquests --------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Hell's Gate --- This is the lengthiest subquest of the game, encompassing several introductory battles and then 100 floors of enemies. The rewards are also very good, including the Dragon Magic, a number of powerful special abilites, and a load of very good equipment. To access it, check the Warren Report after you free Moruba in the fourth chapter- this will open a now path near Coritani castle, leading to a few small battles before Hell's Gate itslef. Hell's Gate is 100 floors deep, but most of those floors follow a basic format. After the initial series of set battles, there are normal floors (consisting of you against 4-6 enemies) and special ability floors, where Roderick will appear and offer you a special attack. Every fifth floor also features a different layout. These floors are generally fairly easy, as you start a distance away from the enemies- I suggest that you use flying characters here, as pits abound as well, and attack from long range with Dragon Magic or Starion. There are also "story battles" every twenty-fifth level or so which I will cover in detail here. I found that I could generally do five floors in about 45 minutes- the whole thing took me two weeks or so to finish, playing mostly on the weekends. Some other things you should look for are the Ogre and Guardian equipment- these are guarded by two special groups of enemies. Relics Knights carry Ogre equipment, while the Four Guardians will drop Guardian equipment. Also, be forewarned that many new unrecruitable enemies appear here (including most of the classes from Ogre Battle which are no longer available, such as Raven Men and Salamanders). These generally have better statistics than your characters, and often pack magic as well. You've probably turned Presance into a Wizard or Warlock long ago since Exorcist magic just isn't that useful in the normal game. Guess what? You'll actually use it here. Large numbers of Undead enemies appear with some frequency in the story battles, and there are some regular battles which consist entirely of Undead foes. Try to keep at least one character capable of killing Undead in your party at all times (I found that an Angel Knight workd well here). Exorcists also become far more useful after you find the Starion spell on the 25th floor. You will find that many strategies which work normally simply don't in Hell's Gate- for example, Magi items are practically useless becuase of the length of the area, and Archers are not all that useful due to your being restricted to an area where it is difficult to get higher than the enemies. I found that I did well using a character with Charge, a magician of any type with attack magic (generally Presance with Starion or Radlum with either Wipe Out or Mute), and a Faerie with the DeepKiss ability combined with my standard two healers and five front-line fighters. You do not gain EXP inside Hell's Gate. You will gain kills (One of my characters went from 9 kills to 125 kills inside the dungeon), so this is a good place to go and get the 30 kills needed to promote to a Terror Knight. You will also get a LOT of Goth and useless equipment- for every unique weapon you get, you will get about three sets of Balder armor. Don't say I didn't warn you. Battles: Madra Enemies: Dragon(2), White Dragon(2), Holy Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None This is more difficult than it seems at first- standing on the ice will drastically reduce your attack and defense. My suggestion is to attack mostly with magic or projectile weapons and to try and concentrate your unit on the snow "island" near the left-center of the map. Brumor Enemies: Ninja(2), Beast Tamer(3), Berzerker(2), Cyclops(2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is another deceptively tricky battle. The Cyclops are fairly strong, while the Beast Tamers have bows and do quite a bit of damage. The best strategy I have found here is to Petrify a couple enemies and then finish the other enemies taking whatever losses neccecary. Since Petrification is permenant, you then have as much time as you need to Revivify any dead characters. Botegen Plains Enemies: Sword Master, Ninja, Wizard, Siren, Hawkman(2), Gryphon Guests: None Treasure: None This is a much easier battle than the previous two- my suggestion is to first take out the Ninja and Sword Master, then the enemies coming from the side. You can use the same technique as before if your losses are too serious. 1st Floor Enemies: Venefik, Siren(2), Wizard(2), Exorcist, Priest, Cleric, Witch, Warlock Guests: None Treasure: Warp Ring (Most enemies) This battle is fairly easy if you're prepared. You are far uphill from the enemies, meaning that although they have Warp rings, you can still take them apart with Archery before they get within spell range. Bring a couple mages, too, for good measure. I advise that you try to kill all the normal soldiers before the leader- their Warp Rings are very useful, but you won't automatically get them from killing the mages. 2nd Floor Enemies: Skeleton (4), Ghost(3), Tiamat(2) Guests: None The key to this battle is saving Radlum, the Warlock. He's a pretty spiffy character, and also carries the Wipe Out spell, the first of the Dragon Magics. It's a strong attack spell and will be lost permanatly if Radlum dies. There are two undeads who start on the walkway to the right of where you start, but these should be fairly easily defeatable, since anyone with a shield can bop them into the pit, killing them. The real key to this battle is chance- if Radlum runs from the Tiamat near him to the area below, he will not survive, and if he runs toward your party, he probably will. Kill the Tiamat as quickly as possible, of course, and be sure to bring an Exorcist into this battle to deal with the large numbers of Undead enemies. 3rd Floor Enemies: Gorgon, Goblin(4), Ghost(3), Skeleton(2) Guests: None This battle is pretty easy in and of itself, but you MUST open the hidden gate to the next level before you defeat the boss here, or you will be unable to proceed. The switch is on a raised platform to the left of where you start, completley surrounded by poison mold- it's actually pretty obvious if you're looking for it. I suggest that you bring Canopus into this battle and send him after the Switch while your other characters fight with the Gorgon and her troops. Kill her to end the battle quickly after you open the gate- you will not get any expirience inside Hell's Gate and the Goblins have terrible equipment. 4th Floor (With Nybbas as a Necromancer) Enemies: Nybbas (Necromancer), Leonard (Death Knight), Zaebos (Death Knight), Zombie(3), Ghost(3), Skeleton Guests: None Treasure: Hero Spear (Leonard), Earth? Spear (Zaebos) This battle is different depending on whether Nybass is a Necromancer or a Lich when you get here. If you have the Exorcism spell, this battle will be fairly easy. The first thing to do is to kill Leonard and Zaebos- now Death Knights. The easiest way to do this is actually with Bows- if you have a Hawk Man wielding a Bow or an Archer with an item which gives them the power to fly or warp, they can sit on top of some of the really tall columns to the left of where you start and demolish the Death Knights. Death Knights will NOT revive like other Undead characters. After that, kill Nybass to end the level. unfortunatly, after you kill him, he will turn into a Lich and fly off. Nybass will also usually run into a corner and use Summon-E constantly and not actually cast any attack spells- this is a good thing, since he can use Dark Law. 4th Floor (With Nybbas as a Lich) Enemies: Nybbas (Lich), Zombie(?), Ghost(?), Skeleton(?) Guests: None Treasure: None I have never personally gotten to this battle, so I don't know exactly how to finish it. I do know that there are no Death Knights in this battle, and I believe that the major difference is that there are more misc. undeads in thier place. The bad part, of course, is that this means you don't get the two good spears you would otherwise get here. Other than that, it is probably beatable by the same general strategy. 25th Floor Enemies: Searzist, Dragoon(2), Sword Master(2), Valkyrie(2), Wizard, Witch, Cleric Guests: None Treasure: Starion Spell (Searzist) This floor is either impossible or very easy, depending on how you approach it. You will usually go before the enemies (Neither Sword Masters nor Dragoons are exceptionally agile), and they are fairly strong. The real trick here is to kill as many of the fighters as possible in the first round- their attacks are VERY powerful, especially if the Witch manages to Charm any of your characters (In which case you'll have them to deal with, too). However, if you manage to kill most of the Sword Masters and Dragoons, you can take out the rest of the enemies with ease. Also be sure to spread out to avoid the charm as much as possible. This battle may take a few tries, but it's not that much of a problem and you'll win the Starion spell at the end. 50th Floor Enemies: Demon, Skeleton(5), Ghost(4) Guests: None Treasure: Death Spell (Demon, must be on Forbidden Power quest) Dammit! I was hoping she'd look like one of the Ogre Battle Demons; they were cool. At any rate, this is a pretty easy battle. If you have an Exorcist (I suggest Presance) with the Starion spell and anyone with Charge, you should be able to toast the Undead enemies before they get within striking range, and with repeated castings it's altoghether possible that you will kill the Demon as well. Otherwise, just have a flying character kill her when she gets within range. The toughest thing in this battle is dealing with the fact that all the undeads have cool equipment which you can't get without making things much more difficult. If you REALLY want that equipment, you can always damage and then recruit the various undead characters, but this could make dealing with the Demon much more difficult. Last Level (100th Floor) Enemies: Nybbas (Lich), Skeleton(2), Zombie(4), Ghost(2) Guests: None Treasure: Necro Spell (Nybbas) This is actually a little disappointing. I had suspected that you'd get an Undead Ring on the last floor, but apparently not... At any rate, Starion works wonders here, but the enemies are high-level enough (Nybbas himself is at level 30 or 40) that it may fail to destroy some of them- just keep casting. Becuase of Nybbas' high level, it is unlikley that Physical attacks will be very effective- he will usually dodge and they do very little damage. As before, he will not attack you directly, but hide in the corner and summon enemies, so I suggest that you hold a position on the "bridge" between his island and the one you start on while any Mages in your party unload Dragon Magic or Starion on him. Starion only does 10-20 damage per hit and Dragon magic only does 30-50, but he has around 300 HP and you should have at least one character with Charge in your party. After he dies, you win the Necro spell. Yay. Four Guardians Enemies: Guardian(4) Guests: None Treasure: Wind God weapon (Guardian) These are not a fixed "story" battle, but I figured that I'd include them anyway since they are rather difficult. The main thing you need to know where is that normal attacks simply don't work well against the Guardians- they have very high defense and magic defense. I had the most sucess with special attacks (The first time I encountered these guys, I beat them primarially with DevilCry). They are also immune to condtions and condition-causing special attacks like Relic. Incubus will damage them, but they will never fall asleep after being attacked with it. The most annoying attack that the Guardians will use is Thunder, since it essentially has a 100% chance of paralyzing it's target as well as doing serious damage. My suggestion here is that you throw everything you have at the Guardians and not worry too much about coming out of the battle with low HP (Making sure, of course, that no party members die)- you can always just heal them in the next battle, or not use them until one of the special-layout levels where you will usually have time to heal them. --- FireSeal --- After you finish Hell's Gate the first time, you can go back for this if you're really a glutton for punishment. This is obtained by getting all four Wind God Weapons (The Boleas Axe, Eros Hammer, Notos Sword, and Zepyulos Lance), reading the information on the Fireseal in the Warren Report, and then going through again. On the 100th floor, you will meet a Lich carrying the Fireseal. At least you may get a free T-Shirt out of it (check the Warren Report for more info on that : ) --- Four Sisters/Forbidden Power --- (Description provided by Matt Hobbs) To start this subquest, you first need all four sisters on your team. This isn't possible in the Lawful route (without a GameShark), as Sisteena vanishes after the battle to protect her in Chapter 1, Selye dies in a story scene as the result of the absense of a key battle needed to get her to join (namely the one against Oz at Bodo), and even if you let Shelley live, you can't get her later. Ok, to start off, I'll list how to get the four sisters. Sisteena: In Chapter 2C, during the battle to protect the old wizard Byan at Kadoriga, be SURE to keep Byan alive. It's tough, but it CAN be done. After rescuing him, the following scene will be different, and Forcas and Byan will talk about one of their fellow troops who was kidnapped and taken to Fort Damsa, and ask you to help rescue her. If you agree, a path will appear to western Damsa isle. There's a battle there, but I don't remember anything about it except the fact that a Valkyrie was the leader. When you win, Sisteena will join as a guest. Just continue normally from here until you get to Fort Bodo. After the scenes there, (and assuming she's still alive) Sisteena will join you. Selye: In Chapter 3C, she joins you automatically, but In Chapter 3N, it's a different story. You have to fight an INSANELY difficult battle to protect her from Oz at Fort Bodo, (See below)), and if you manage to save her, she'll just run off!! Later, in Chapter 4, you can read something in the Warren Report called "Pirates at the Fort". After reading it, you can go to Fort Kadoriga and you'll be faced with a group of pirates, lead by an Exorcist. Before you fight, you'll be asked if you WANT to fight... If you say yes, you'll fight (I didn't, so I don't know anything about this battle.) If you say no, the battle will end, and you'll automatically be taken before the leader of the pirates: Selye! She'll automatically join you (and comes equipped with a Volcano spear). What's more, if you didn't fight the battle, the Exorcist leader, will also join you. He's not that good, but he comes equipped with a Poison Staff and the valuable Holy Ring!! Olivia: She automatically joins you after arriving at Brigantes Castle on any path. Shelley: Getting her requires that you DON'T kill her when you fight her at Banhamuba. Lower her HP to below 20, and she'll run off. Later on, return to Baramus, go into training, and somehow make it rain. (Use a Nest item, or the Storm spell). Start to leave town, and there will be a scene, in which Shelley will join you, but ONLY if you have the other three sisters. She comes equipped with a Soil Robe and the useful Teleport spell, but unfortunatly, she doesn't have Dark Law. (Editor's Note: Shelly's appearance is random; it may take a few tries. -Seig ) Ok, now that I've covered how to GET the sisters, I guess I can start explaining the subquest. ^_^ Once you have the four sisters in your team, return to Coritani castle and there will be a scene where Denim asks Moruba about the forbidden power. Moruba explains it, and asks you if you think you can handle it. Say you can, and he'll ask you to meet him at Banhamuba temple. Go there, and one-by-one, you'll have the option of turning the four sisters into Shamen, and afterwards, four new areas will appear on the world map. - Fort Damsa (Directly west of Banhamuba) - Fort Bodo (Directly east of Rime) - Fort Gerdo (Directly north of Banisha Castle) - Fort Gekko (Directly south of Grimby City) Each of these places has 2 battles, and can be done in any order... Battles: Fort Bodo (Rescung Selye) (Strategy contributed by Sir Aronar) Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando), Templar Knight (?) Guests: Selye (Valkyrie) Treasure: ? Saving Selye is not easy, and nearly impossible if your level is low. Try to gain at least 17th level, but around 20 is much better. You'll be up against Oz and 7 Templar Knights. Combined they have such spells as SlowMove, Stun, and HealRain, plus Oz has Charm. Also, they have bows, spears, and swords. Ox carries Gramrock, a 2-handed fire elemental axe. You start on a much lower level (they have the high ground) and are at a distance that only fliers will be able to attack anytime soon. Therefore, your strategy should be magic, magic, magic. Have 2 healers to heal Selye and your party, and 4 wizards or sirens, possibly substitute a witch for one. Place your 2 best damaging magic users in the front right of the team. Rather than attack you, all the Templar Knights will focus on Selye until she's dead. She starts charmed. Luckily, she should be able to take two arrows and one attack from Oz. The fourth hit will kill her. Start the fight by having your wizards focus on the Templar Knight in the bottom right. You'll need to kill him or he'll most likely kill Selye. Canopus's Tornado will also help. Also, any ninja and valkyrie you have should also join this assault. Furthermore, Selye must move on her first turn in order to live. If she regains sanity, reload the game. the objective is to make her move as far down the wooden incline as possible. This way Oz will be the only melee attacker to reach her. Do this by positioning someone to where she'll have to move there to cast FireBurn. Next, get your healers to heal Selye. You'll need to get them in range, so don't let your primary attackers get in the way. If you get lucky, one of the bow using Templar Knights will knock Selye down so none of the melee attackers can hit her. Otherwise, keep up the magical assault, favoring FireBurn, IceBlast, Lightning, Acid, and Incubus over the higher costing spell. Stun and Charm will work as well, and Quick will be a definite boost if you have it. Once Selye is clear, get your primary attackers (Mildain, Dragoons, Knights, Terror Knights, and Berzerkers) into the action. By now two or three of the knights should be dead or severely weakened. When Selye has regained sanity, she'll run from the enemy and use FireBurn when she can. By this point, you should be able to swarm one Templar Knight at a time and finish him. Oz is not too tough either, just soften him with a few spells and long range attacks. Battle 1: Fort Damsa Enemies: Sword Master, Archer (2), Valkyrie (), Witch, Cleric, Exorcist, Siren Guests: None Treasure: ? This is an annoying battle. All the enemies here have bows or long range spells, and they have the hight advantage. Take your time, and try to get rid of the healers first, then go after the others. There's no real strategy here... When you win, you'll get the Thunder shield, and you'll be taken to the Hahnela Temple. Hahnela Temple Enemies: Golem (2), Thunder Dragon (2), Obinick Guests: None Treasure: ? Umm... Yeah. This battle is so easy! You start a mile above the enemies, and you'll probably be able to kill them all with bows before they can even move, as they just sit there until you get close! the only thing to watch out for here is that one of the Golems has a WindOrb. While he probably won't use it, be aware that it's not just there for show. When you win, you'll get the Air Cry spell. Battle 2: Fort Bodo Enemies: Berzerker, Cockatrice (2), Hawk Man (4) Guests: None Treasure: ? This battle looks hard at first, but it's not. The Hawk Men are on low levels, and have horrible stats, and the Cockatrices start really far away, and will require at LEAST 2 turns to be able to reach you. The Berzerker leader, however, starts close to you, and is very easy to kill. When you win, you'll get the Flame shield, and be taken to the Zoshonell Temple. Zoshonell Temple Enemies: Phoenix (2), Fire Drake (2), Fire Brass Guests: None Treasure: ? Easily the hardest of the four temple battles. The Phoenixes and the Fire Brass have the super long-range Crimson spell, which also does a massive amount of damage to you! The layout of this battlefield also makes it tough to reach the enemies... Your best bet is to use flying/teleporting characters, and just rush the long range attackers. Petrify spells REALLY help here! When you (eventually) win, you'll get the Nova+ spell. Battle 3: Fort Gerdo Enemies: Lich, Ghost (2), Skeleton, Zombie Wizard (2), Zombie Knight, Zombie Archer, Zombie Berzerker Guests: None Treasure: ? Another easy battle. The enemies here are all undead (except the Lich leader), so bring in an Exorcist or two and easily wipe out all the enemies. The Lich is weak, and you can probably kill him in two hits, but watch out, he has the Fenril spell! However, it's unlikely he'll use it. The worst part about this battle is the fact that the Zombie wizards have an Undead Ring, and a Holy ring, which you can't get... Win, and you'll get the Ice Shield and will be brought to the Gurza Temple. Gurza Temple Enemies: Gryphon (2), Blue Dragon (2), Death Dragon Guests: None Treasure: ? Another routine battle. The dragons are all slow, but they're pretty strong, and you should know about Gryphons and their ^%^%$*^% WindShot attack! Again, Petrify comes in handy here. There is nothing special here, but note that "Death Dragon" is just a name, and it's not REALLY undead. When you win, you'll get the IceCloud spell. Battle 4: Fort Gekko Enemies: Berzerker, Ninja (4), Wizard, Cleric, Warlock Guests: None Treasure: ? This battle holds the same element that made the battle at Damsa a tough one: all the enemies start above you, and several of them have long range spells. However, this time, the archers are replaced by weaker Ninjas, who can only attack close range. Though you can defeat most of the enemies here with reletive ease, the leader starts on the ground level, so you should be able to beat him early on. When you win, you'll get the Earth shield and will (as usual) be brought to the Bartha Temple... Bartha Temple Enemies: Cockatrice (2), Earth Dragon (2), Gargoyle Guests: None Treasure: ? This is an easy battle. The gargoyle is...really slow, but it has a high defense, so it might take a while to kill. The annoying thing about this battle is that the pillars scattered around the room seem to hinder movement quite a bit... When you win, you'll get the Quake spell. --- Gunners --- Gunners are one of the more powerful classes in the game, due to the fact that Guns have infinite range. They are also fairly easy to get. The first thing you need to do is to make sure you get the RimShot gun from one of the Knights in the "Banisha Courtyard" battle. After the battle with Lans Tartare at Banisha Castle in the fourth chapter, read about the shipwreck in the "Miscellaneous" section of the Warren Report. This will allow you to go to Grimby City, a new city which appears off Banisha. Go there, and you will come upon Martym threatening Rendal, a character of a class you've never seen before. A battle between you an Martym's forces quickly breaks out. If you save Rendal in this battle, he will offer to join you and also allow you to use the Gunner class. After this, you can read the Warren Report about the Theif of Grimby (It's near the end) to allow you access to a new area off Grimby, where you will meet Ganb again. If you have not killed any of his "pets" at any point previous in the game and do not kill either of the Gryphons in this battle before killing him, he will join with the Rifle, the most powerful gun available in the game. Battles: Grimby City Enemies: Martym (Temple Commando), Templar Knight (6) Guests: Rendal (Gunner) Treasure: Ice Sword (Templar Knight), Granite Sword (Templar Knight), Comet Whip (Templar Knight) This battle is actually a lot easier than it may seem. None of the Templar Knights nearby Rendal have magic, and if you're fast, you will be able to move enough other characters into the area before the archers get within range that they will not attack him immediatley. Rendal also is weaponless as this battle begins and therefore won't do anything foolish like attempt to attack Martym. You can probably finish this battle fairly rapidly simply by having a couple fast characters attack Martym. The problem with that, however, is that the Templar Knights carry a good deal of spiffy equipment- Ice and Granite swords as well as the Comet whip. My advice here is that you concentrate on saving Rendal first- if he is healed and the archers are dead, you can take some time to kill the Templar Knights for their equipment, but always keep an eye on Martym. It is far safer, however, to kill Martym as quickly as possible and do the Hell's Gate subquest for cool equipment. Nimuraba Forest Enemies: Ganb (Beast Tamer), Gryphon(2), Hawk Man(2), Lizardman(4) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a tricky battle due to the fact that you want to avoid killing the two Gryphons if at all possible. The easiest way I found to finish this battle was to unload some Dragon Magic at the enemies, severely weakening everyone, and then using Rendal's RimShot to kill the weakened Ganb. Even this plan is difficult to execute, however, and the tress in the forest can also block your bullets. This battle will take you a few tries if you want the Rifle. --- Deneb --- You may remember Deneb the Witch from the original Ogre Battle- she is available in this one, too, as a secret character. Once you rescue Moruba in Chapter 4, look in the Warren Report for the section about her. After that, she will randomly show up at shops instead of the usual shopkeeper. She sells the elusive "orb" items- most useful in that they have negative weight- and will also join you. Buy 250 or so of one type of item, and she will offer to join (I suggest buying 99 Cures, then selling them, then buying another 99, etc.). She is a very useful character in that she can use both Charge and almost any attack spell. I do suggest, however, that you also stock up on Orbs before you get her. Also, if you obtain around ten Glass Pumpkins and sell them to Deneb before she joins, she will be more powerful when she does- she starts with some Fire equipment and better spells, including the Nova spell (which cannot be obtained any other way). Battles: None. --- The Elusive Undead Ring --- This item, used to create a Lich, can be obtained by killing the Cockitraice in the battle at Kadoriga Fort where you are attempting to save either Byan or Zapan (depending on which chapter you're in). You can also get Liches by recruting them in Hell's Gate. I've also heard that if you go through Hell's Gate three times, the Lich on the 100th floor will drop an Undead Ring; I can neither confirm nor deny this. Battles: Kadoriga Fort (See Chapter 2L and Chapter 2C walkthroughs). --- Getting the Shotgun --- Sources tell me that an extra stage will become available if Kachua dies and then you check the news report at Fiduc castle. I don't have any info on this stage, unfortunatley, since I've never been there. Battles: Unknown --- Getting Oxyones --- A truly obscure character, Oxyones can only be obtained in the Lawful chapter. Go to Brumor in the fourth chapter and get in a random battle. Bring Jenounes into the party with you and you may encounter Oxyones and four Holy Dragons- get her HP low enough and she will speak with Jenounes. At the end of the scene, she will join, along with any surviving dragons. Battles: Brumor (No strategy yet. See next version.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Part V: Equipment -------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A '*' Next to the effect of that item means you have to use it as an item to produce that effect. A '**' next to the effect of an item means it had been found with GameShark, but not confirmed in the actual game. ----Swords------------------------------------------ ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Warrior 1 52 Phys. 1 Luk +1 at level up Mini 12 3 Phys. 1 Dagger Short 15 7 Phys. 1 Balder 25 24 Phys. 1 Int +5, Dagger Desert 28 18 Phys. 1 Dex +5, Stops Petrify, Mildain's Weapon Balder 30 31 Phys. 1 Int +5 Isleberg 30 22 Phys. 2 Dex +5, Stops Stun, Guildus's Weapon Ice 31 35 Water 1 Fire Res +5 Fire 32 32 Fire 1 Water Res +5, Dragon Slayer Angel 32 23 Holy 1 Dark Res +5, Lans Tartare's Weapon Granite 33 37 Earth 1 Wind Res +5 Fafniel 34 34 Phys. 1 Dragon Slayer, Zaebos's Weapon Penetant 34 28 Holy 1 Dark Res +5, Branta's Weapon Dragon 35 37 Phys. 2 Dragon Slayer Nyfret 35 20 Water 1 Fire Res +5, Martym's Weapon Zenobia 35 20 Phys. 1 Men +4, Stops Status, Lans Hamilton's Weapon Ogre 36 42 Dark 1 Holy Res +10, Dark Res -5, *BodyGrab Notos 40 40 Wind 2 Earth Res +5, Four Guardians Weapon Balmuck 42 43 Phys. 2 Oricon 45 36 Holy 1 Dark Res +10, Holy Res -5, *Jihad Brunhild 50 36 Holy 1 Dark Res +15, Holy Res -10, Barbas's Weapon SnapShot ** 10 ***** 1 * *This is the sword you get from using the SnapShot spell. The name and element of the sword are that of the user. The stats are also based on the user -- the sword boosts your stats by around half of what the user had and adds 10 to your luck. ----Axes-------------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Phlanka 16 8 Phys. 1 Gramrock 32 30 Fire 2 Water Res +5, Oz's Weapon Ice 33 31 Water 2 Fire Res +5 Earth 34 30 Earth 2 Wind Res +5, Dragon Slayer Balder 34 34 Phys. 2 Int +5 Procs 36 37 Fire 2 Water Res +5, Zapan's Axe Boleas 40 42 Wind 2 Earth Res +5, Four Guardians Weapon Rune 42 43 Holy 2 Dark Res +5 Heavy 45 49 Phys. 2 Blood 48 51 Dark 2 Holy Res +10, *LifeSuck ----Spears------------------------------------------ ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Spear 12 9 Phys. 2 Canopus's Weapon Slender 22 23 Phys. 2 Hero 31 37 Water 2 Fire Res +5 Volcano 32 38 Fire 2 Water Res +5, Selye's Weapon Balder 32 38 Phys. 2 Int +5 Earth 34 36 Earth 2 Wind Res +5 Zepyulos 35 40 Wind 2 Earth Res +5, Four Guardians Weapon Unicorn 42 52 Phys. 2 Int +9, Luk +4 Evil 43 51 Dark 2 Holy Res +5 Igunis 45 35 Fire 2 Water Res +5 Holy 45 54 Holy 2 Dark Res +5 ----Hammers----------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Heavy 18 14 Phys. 1 Aqua 29 32 Water 1 Fire Res +5 Balder 30 31 Phys. 2 Int +5 Eros 30 42 Wind 1 Earth Res +5, Four Guardians Weapon Flame 31 35 Fire 1 Water Res +5 Light 32 36 Holy 1 Dark Res +5 (**) Phalanx 34 37 Earth 1 Wind Res +5 Earth 38 31 Earth 1 Wind Res +5, Barbas's Weapon Power 44 46 Phys. 2 Dark 48 51 Dark 2 Holy Res +5, *BrainFry ----Claws------------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Matou 24 21 Phys. 1 Thunder 26 27 Wind 1 Earth Res +5, Andoras's Weapon Blue 31 35 Phys. 1 Dragon Slayer Cat 35 40 Dark 1 Luk -5, Holy Res +5, Causes Poison ----Fans-------------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Galdia 23 24 Holy 1 Luk +4, Agi +8, Dark Res +5, Causes Charm ----Staffs------------------------------------------ ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Cedar 6 2 Phys. 1 Int +10 Poison 6 9 Water 1 Int +20, Fire Res +20, *Hazard Clear 7 4 Phys. 1 Int +14, Men +4, *Remedy Life 7 4 Phys. 1 Int +14, Men +4, *50Heal Balder 7 7 Phys. 1 Int +18 Wind 8 9 Wind 1 Int +19, Earth Res +5, *WindShot Fire 9 9 Fire 1 Int +17, Water Res +5, *GlowBall Earth 9 10 Earth 1 Int +18, Wind Res +5, *X-Zone Charge 10 13 Phys. 1 Int +25, Men +8, *25MP Ripple 10 14 Holy 1 Int +30, Dark Res +5, *HolyBolt Dragon 11 12 Dark 1 Int +16, Holy Res +5, *Abyss ----Whips------------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Guard 24 25 Phys. 2 Comet 31 35 Holy 2 Dark Res +5 Rosebud 33 30 Dark 2 Holy Res +5, Ozma's Weapon Blood 40 34 Dark 2 Holy Res +5 ----Guns-------------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL RimFire 7 22 Phys. 1 Shotgun 9 37 Phys. 2 (**) Rifle 11 52 Phys. 1 Ganb's Weapon ----Bows-------------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Short 10 6 Phys. 1 Great 15 15 Phys. 2 Balder 21 32 Phys. 2 Int +5 Sand 24 32 Earth 2 Earth Res +5 Light 25 32 Wind 2 Earth Res +5 Fire 26 36 Fire 2 Water Res +5 Ice 27 39 Water 2 Fire Res +5 Star 30 42 Holy 2 Dex +8, Dark Res +5, Causes Stun Chaos 30 41 Dark 2 Str +5, Holy Res +5, Causes Charm Dark 34 54 Dark 2 Holy Res +10, Causes Petrify ----Crossbows--------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Crossbow 15 24 Phys. 1 Gemini 23 36 Phys. 2 Saint 30 49 Holy 1 Dark Res +10, Oxyones's Weapon ----Blowguns---------------------------------------- ATK WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Paragun 16 24 Phys. 1 Causes Sleep ----Shields----------------------------------------- DEF WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Tower 10 10 Phys. 1 Balder 15 20 Phys. 1 Int +5 Black 17 24 Phys. 1 Stops all magic Dragon 20 30 Phys. 1 Thunder 25 40 Wind 1 Earth Res +20 Flame 25 40 Fire 1 Water Res +20 Earth 25 40 Earth 1 Wind Res +20 Ice 25 40 Water 1 Fire Res +20 Angel 25 40 Holy 1 Dark Res +20 Ogre 25 40 Dark 1 Holy Res +20 ----Gloves------------------------------------------ DEF WGT ELEMENT HND SPECIAL Warrior 1 26 Phys. 1 Luk +1 at level up Power 10 10 Phys. 1 Str +5 Balder 13 16 Phys. 1 Int +5 ----Rings------------------------------------------- WGT ELEMENT SPECIAL Magic 1 Phys. Int +3 Float 1 Phys. Int +3, Agi +4, Can walk on water Wing 1 Phys. Int +3, Agi +4, Can fly Warp 1 Phys. Int +3, Agi +4, Can teleport Fire 1 Fire Int +4, Water Res +5, *GlowBall (**) Aqua 1 Water Int +4, Fire Res +5, *Hazard (**) Soil 1 Earth Int +4, Wind Res +5, *X-Zone (**) Wind 1 Wind Int +4, Agi +4, Earth Res +5, *WindShot (**) Mind 1 Phys. Int +5 Evil 1 Dark Int +8, Holy Res +5, *Abyss Holy 1 Holy Int +8, Dark Res +5, Restores HP, *Banish Undead 1 Dark Int +8, Need to become a Lich, Nybbas's Ring ----Armor------------------------------------------- DEF WGT ELEMENT SPECIAL Warrior 1 25 Phys. Luk +1 at level up Leather 3 6 Phys. Chain 6 12 Phys. Balder 9 18 Phys. Int +5 Dragon 10 20 Phys. Faerie 12 24 Phys. Agi +4, Stops Petrify and Charm Aqua 13 28 Water Fire Res +5 Wing 13 28 Wind Earth Res +5 Phoenix 13 28 Fire Water Res +5 Granite 13 28 Earth Wind Res +5 Grim 13 28 Dark Holy Res +15 Angel 13 28 Holy Dark Res +15 Ogre 20 30 Dark Holy Res +20 ----Robes------------------------------------------- DEF WGT ELEMENT SPECIAL Robe 1 1 Phys. Balder 4 3 Phys. Int +5 Aqua 5 5 Water Int +5, Fire Res +10 Fire 5 5 Fire Int +5, Water Res +10, Deneb's Robe Soil 5 5 Earth Int +5, Wind Res +10, Shelley's Robe Wind 5 5 Wind Int +5, Earth Res +10 Evil 5 5 Dark Int +10, Holy Res +10, Restores double MP Holy 5 5 Holy Int +10, Dark Res +10, Restores double MP Crystal 6 6 Phys. Int +5, Olivia's Robe ----Helmets----------------------------------------- DEF WGT ELEMENT SPECIAL Warrior 1 15 Phys. Luk +1 at level up Leather 2 4 Phys. Balder 6 12 Phys. Int +5 Holy 7 13 Holy Dark Res +5, Kachua's Tiara Skull 7 13 Dark Holy Res +5 Dragon 8 16 Phys. Light 10 20 Holy Dark Res +10 Ogre 10 20 Dark Holy Res +10 ----Necklaces--------------------------------------- WGT ELEMENT SPECIAL VanCharm 1 Wind Men +5, Luk +5, Earth Res +5, *Pray-H OhnCharm 1 Water Men +5, Luk +5, Fire Res +5, *Pray-G SolCharm 1 Earth Men +5, Luk +5, Wind Res +5, *Pray-B FolCharm 1 Fire Men +5, Luk +5, Water Res +5, *Pray-Z Blue 1 Holy Men +10, Dark Res +5, Stops Status, Denim's Necklace Red 1 Holy Men +10, Dark Res +5, Stops Status, Kachua's Necklace Black 1 Holy Men +10, Dark Res +5, Stops Magic Evil 1 Dark Men +10, Holy Res +5, Spreads Fear ----Boots------------------------------------------ DEF WGT ELEMENT SPECIAL Spark 3 5 Phys. Agi +4, Can walk on lava Grease 3 5 Phys. Agi +4, Can walk on water Wing 3 5 Phys. Agi +4, Can fly Warp 3 5 Phys. Agi +4, Can teleport Battle 4 7 Phys. Agi +4 Zombie 8 15 Dark Agi +8, Holy Res +5 Holy 8 15 Holy Agi +8, Dark Res +5 ----Items------------------------------------------- WGT ELEMENT EFFECT Cure 1 Phys. Restores 50 HP Cure+ 1 Phys. Restores 100 HP Cure++ 1 Phys. Restores 150 HP Cure+++ 1 Phys. Restores Full HP Magi 1 Phys. Restores 25 MP Magi+ 1 Phys. Restores 50 MP Magi++ 1 Phys. Restores 100 MP Magi+++ 1 Phys. Restores Full MP FireOrb -10 Fire Water Res +20, *Summon-Z WindOrd -10 Wind Earth Res +20, *Summon-H WaterOrb -10 Water Fire Res +20, *Summon-G EarthOrb -10 Earth Wind Res +20, *Summon-B DarkOrb -10 Dark Holy Res +20, *Summon-A HolyOrb -10 Holy Dark Res +20, *Summon-I Arise 1 Phys. Cures Sleep Antidote 1 Phys. Cures Poison Ambrosia 1 Phys. Cures Stun LifeRock 1 Phys. Cures Petrify Blessing 1 Phys. Auto-revives wearer when killed with 50 HP and MP JoyStone 1 Phys. Auto-Revives wearer when killed with full HP and MP FireSeal 1 Phys. All Elemental Res +30, Defense +30 Escape 1 Phys. Allows you to leave a battlefield Pomme 1 Phys. Cures all status ailments MindKiwi 1 Phys. Restores 100 HP and MP HolyPlum 1 Phys. Restores Full HP and MP FoulPear 1 Phys. Damages user, but restores all allies' HP Obelon 1 Phys. Stops rain and brings sunshine (One use) Harp 1 Phys. Stops rain and brings sunshine (Unlimited uses) Nest 1 Phys. Brings rain (One use) Blowhorn 1 Phys. Brings rain (Unlimited uses) (**) Burger 1 Phys. Int +10 Steak 1 Phys. Str +10 Chicken 1 Phys. Vit +10 OctoBall 1 Phys. Men +10 Aileron 1 Phys. Increases power of nearby friendly Beasts WordRock 1 Phys. Increases power of nearby friendly Golems Dragos 1 Phys. Increases power of nearby friendly Dragons Pumpkin 30 Phys. Sell to Deneb; Can recruit Pumpkin Heads by doing do ---- Magic ---- A Few notes. For Range, the number is how many panels the spell can cross, and the letter represents whether the spell targets a single panel (S), or multiple panels (M). If the Range column lists "Inf.", it can have two meanings: the first is that the spell has no range, and just takes effect. The second is that the spell works like any other spell, but it has no restrictive range, therefore you can target someone with this spell, even if they're on the other side of the battlefield; these spells are rare, however, and will be marked with a *. "Enemy" means that spell hits all the enemies, no matter where they are, and "All" hits everyone (Enemy and Ally). ----Wind-------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Ion Shot 7 7/S Wind Attack Hahnela 10 All Strengthens Wind Elemental, Weakens Earth Elemental Thunder 18 6/M Wind Attack Storm 26 Inf. Calls a storm Quick 26 7/S Raises Speed Kaminari 40 5/M Repeated Wind Attacks Teleport 45 1/S Can move a character anywhere in the battlefield Air Cry 60 All Wind Attack ----Fire-------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Zoshonel 10 All Strengthens Fire Elemental, Weakens Water Elemental FireBurn 14 6/M Fire Attack, burns grass Stun 22 7/M Causes Stun Heat 24 7/S Increases power of Weapons Melt 24 7/S Lowers power of equipped items MagmaGod 40 5/M Repeated Fire Attacks Nova 50 7/S Causes Death Nova+ 60 All Fire Attack ----Earth------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Bartha 10 All Strengthens Earth Elemental, Weakens Wind Elemental Acid 14 6/M Earth Attack Jump 30 7/S Move ally to greater height Poison 32 7/M Causes Poison Petrify 32 7/M Causes Petrify Meteor 32 6/M Earth Attack Gnome 40 5/M Repeated Earth Attacks Quake 60 All Earth Attack ----Water------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Gurza 10 All Strengthens Water Elemental, Weakens Fire Elemental IceBlast 14 6/M Water Attack Clear 18 7/S Cures Poison SlowMove 22 7/S Lowers Speed AcidRain 38 6/M Water Attack, Lowers power of equipped items Fenril 40 5/M Repeated Water Attacks HealRain 42 6/M Restores HP IceCloud 60 All Water Attack ----Holy-------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Heal 10 7/S Restores HP Vitalize 10 7/S Cures Abnormal Status LightBow 20 7/S Holy Attack Heal+ 25 6/M Restores HP Exorcism 35 5/M Kills Undead instantly Heal All 40 Inf* Restores Full HP Revivify 55 Inf. Revives a dead ally with 1/2 HP Starion 60 Enemy Holy Attack, Kills Undead ----Dark-------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Charge 10 7/S Restores MP Incubus 14 7/S Dark Attack, Causes Sleep Pain 20 5/S Damages HP and MP, Less HP = More Damage Charm 24 7/M Causes Charm Paradigm 35 6/S Reduces WT to 0, Essentially gives ally a free turn Dark Law 40 5/M Repeated Dark Attacks, Targets HP -20% each hit Necro 55 Inf. Revives a dead character as a ghost or skeleton Death 60 All Dark Attack ----Dragon------------------------------------------ MP RANGE EFFECT SnapShot 0 Inf. Turns caster into sword. Higher stats = better sword Entify 70 Inf. Kills user to revive a dead character Retissue 70 Inf* Turns an undead team member into a soldier or amazon Dominion 70 6/S Stops WT count for a short time Mute 80 Enemy Water Attack, Causes Stun Tempest 80 Enemy Wind Attack, Makes weather worse Asteroid 80 Enemy Earth Attack, Power Down Wipe Out 80 Enemy Fire Attack, Burns Grass ----Other------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT Poison -- 1/S Earth Attack, Causes Poison Ice -- 1/S Ice Attack, Causes Sleep Fire -- 1/S Fire Attack, Lowers Weapon Power, Burns Grass Thunder -- 1/S Wind Attack, Causes Stun Petrify -- 1/S Earth Attack, Causes Petrify Toxic -- 1/S Dark Attack, Causes Charm CuteKiss -- 1/S Restores HP and clears up status (Fairy) DeepKiss -- 1/S Restores HP and Reduces WT to 0, Damages User (Fairy) HolyBolt -- 7/S Holy Attack, kills undead, Damages User CuteKiss -- 1/S Dark Attack, Drains HP, Causes Charm (Gremlin) DeepKiss -- 1/S Dark Attack, Drains HP, Causes Petrify (Gremlin) Abyss -- 2/S Dark Attack, Damages User Eddy -- 1/S Water Attack, only works if target is in water LifeSuck -- 5/S Drains HP WindShot -- 7/S Wind Attack, Damages User Tornado -- 7/S Wind Attack, Turns enemy, Damages User Crimson -- 7/S Fire Attack, Damages User Spiral -- 7/S Water Attack, Damages User Dragos -- 7/S Earth Attack, Damages User Hazard -- 7/S Water Attack, Causes Poison, Damages User Jihad -- 5/S Holy Attack, Kills Undead, Damages User EvilEyes -- Enemy Causes Petrify Summon-E -- Inf. Summons Skeletons (Summoners, Nybbas [Necromancer]) Summon-E -- Inf. Summons Angel Knights (Branta) Summon-E -- Inf. Summons Dark Monsters (Dolgare) Summon-E -- Inf. Summons Zombies (Nybbas [Lich]) DarkCell -- 2/S Dark Attack, Causes Stun (Oz's Attack) EvilRose -- 2/S Dark Attack, Causes Charm (Ozma's Attack) Thundax -- 2/S Wind Attack, Turns Target (Andoras's Attack) Venom -- 2/S Water Attack, Causes Poison (Martym's Attack) Avenger -- 2/S Earth Attack, Pushes Target Back (Barbas's Attack) Reaper -- 2/S Fire Attack, Lowers Weapon Power (Balzepho's Attack) RiotBurn -- 2/S Holy Attack (Volac's Attack) Oracle -- 2/S Dark Attack, Lowers Max HP (Lans Tartare's Attack) ColicDio -- Inf. Changes Element (Dolgare's Spell) Derupt -- Enemy Fire Attack on all enemies (Dolgare's Attack) Pondors -- Enemy Earth Attack on all enemies (Dolgare's Attack) Torutos -- Enemy Wind Attack on all enemies (Dolgare's Attack) Kusogaki -- Enemy Water Attack on all enemies (Dolgare's Attack) Fudo -- 2/S Physical Attack depending on Dex, Damages User DevilCry -- 2/S Devistating Physical Attack, Nearly Kills user FireWave -- 2/S Fire Attack, Damages User Dracul -- 2/S Physical Attack depending on Str, Damages User MegaBolt -- 2/S Wind Attack, Damages User Rage -- 2/S Physical Attack, Damages User Relic -- 2/S Petrifies Enemy Agony -- 2/S Less HP = More Damage RamPower -- 2/S Physical Attack, Pushes enemy back, Damages user SoulWave -- 2/S Instant Death (?) Pumpkin -- 5/S Reduces HP by Half, Damages user YasaiWar -- Enemy Drains MP, Damages User Squash-X -- 3/M Physical Attack, Kills user CalmSong -- 6/M Drains MP, Damages User Sad Song -- 6/M Restores Undead's HP Pray-Z -- All Raises Fire Elemental Pray-B -- All Raises Earth Elemental Pray-G -- All Raises Water Elemental Pray-H -- All Raises Wind Elemental ----Item-------------------------------------------- MP RANGE EFFECT 50Heal -- 1/S Restores 50 HP (Cure, Life Staff) 100Heal -- 1/S Restores 100 HP (Cure+) 150Heal -- 1/S Restores 150 HP (Cure++) MaxHeal -- 1/S Restores Full HP (Cure+++) 25MP -- 1/S Restores 25 MP (Magi, Charge Staff) 50MP -- 1/S Restores 50 MP (Magi+) 100MP -- 1/S Restores 100 MP (Magi++) MaxMP -- 1/S Restores Full MP (Magi+++) Restore -- 1/S Restores 100 HP and BP (MindKiwi) 100% -- 1/S Restores Full HP and MP (HolyPlum) Antidote -- 1/S Cures Poison (Antidote) Ambrosia -- 1/S Cures Stun (Ambrosia) Awaken -- 1/S Cures Sleep (Arise) Revive -- 1/S Cures Petrify (LifeRock) Remedy -- 1/S Cures Abnormal Status (Pomme, Clear Staff) INT Up -- 1/S Increases Int. by 10 (Burger) STR Up -- 1/S Increases Str. by 10 (Steak) VIT Up -- 1/S Increases Vit. by 10 (Chicken) MEN Up -- 1/S Increases Men. by 10 (OctoBall) Prophecy -- Inf. Damages user, but restores all allies' HP (FoulPear) Quit -- Inf. Escapes from a battlefield (Escape jewel) Cariban -- Inf. Calms storms and brings sunshine (Obelon, Harp) Typhoon -- Inf. Calls a storm (Nest, Blowhorn) X-Zone -- 7/S Earth Attack, Causes Stun, Damages User (Earth Staff) GlowBall -- 7/S Fire Attack, Damages User (Fire Staff) Banish -- 7/S Kills Undead, Damages User (Holy Ring) BrainFry -- 7/S Causes Charm (Dark Hammer) BodyGrab -- Inf. Swap bodies with a random human enemy (Ogre Sword) Summon-Z -- Enemy Fire Attack (FireOrb) Summon-B -- Enemy Earth Attack (EarthOrb) Summon-G -- Enemy Water Attack (WaterOrb) Summon-H -- Enemy Wind Attack (WindOrb) Summon-A -- Enemy Dark Attack (DarkOrb) Summon-I -- Enemy Holy Attack (HolyOrb) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Part VI: Tidbits ---------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a LOT of Ogre Battle references sprinkled throughout the game. Here are just a few: - The description of the Desert Sword mentions that it was uncovered in the Dahmund Desert- that was one of the battlefields in Ogre Battle. - The description of the Earth Hammer claims that it was used by the Demon Lord Galf. Galf appeared in Ogre Battle as a boss of one of the stages. You could also get the "worst" ending by giving him the Brunhild and allowing him to join your army. He always fought with a Sickle, though, not a Hammer. - Canopus death quote in the first chapter is "Gilbert, take care of Yulia for me..." or some such. Yulia is Canopus' sister and Gilbert was an old companion of Canopus. In several of the endings to Ogre Battle, Gilbert marries Yulia. - The description of the Angel Ring in Tactics Ogre mentions Yushis. She was another character who joined you in Ogre Battle. She was a Seraphim, the Ogre Battle equivalent of Angel Knights (The Seraphim were, IMHO, a lot cooler, though...) - In Ogre Battle, there are several "Chaos Gates" which allow you to enter new areas if you have the Brunhild with you. A Chaos Gate plays an important role near the end of Tactics Ogre... - In the scene where Deneb and Canopus visit Warren, Canopus alludes to the event in which you meet Deneb in Ogre Battle. In the stage where you meet her, Deneb has been expirimenting to create Pumpkin monsters. At the end of the stage, you have the choice to kill her or not- if you don't, she later gives you the Glass Pumpkin which allows you to recruit Pumpkin Heads. Interesting factoid: The only classes/monster types completley removed since Ogre Battle are the Werewolves, Mermaids, Samurai, Vampyres, Hellhounds, and Wyverns. Werewolves and Vampyres were probably removed due to the removal of night and day (Making them pretty pointless) and mermaids becuase the lack of water in most battlefields would make them useless. Without their special Iainuki ability, Samurai are also essentially the same as every other fighting class, and Hellhounds would also be fairly poinless due to the fact that there are a couple other types of monsters to do their former job. I would kinda like to know why Wyverns were removed, though- I'd love to have a flying monster with high attack and defense on my team, even if it was slow. In addition, many of the sub-classes which have been removed as usable classes show up in Hell's Gate- off the top of my head, Raven Men, Salamanders, Ice Giants, and Zombie Dragons come to mind. Pretty much all of the special classes from Ogre Battle (such as the High Knights and the two types of Generals) have been removed entirely; the only exception I can think of is the Lord class, which is very different from the original. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- Part VII: Legal Crap -------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tactics Ogre, Ogre Battle, and all characters within are Copyright 1995 Quest, 1997 Artdink, 1997 Atlus. Final Fantasy Tactics and all characters within are a trademark of Square Co., LTD. and copyright 1997/1998 Square Co., LTD. This FAQ is Copyright 1998 by "Lans" Hamilton Clower (AKA Seigfried, Khar Seigfried) and may be freely distributed, as long as its content is not changed in any way. This FAQ is in no way endorsed by Atlus, Sony, or Quest. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Part VIII: Credits -------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Thanks to: - John Mattila's preliminary FAQ, for a list of classes. I would like to point out here that I did not lift all stat requirments directly from this, but only used it as a research aid. - Matt Hobbs (yelseyking@aol.com) for complete item lists, the Four Sisters/Forbidden Power section, and general moral support. - Taarkoth (cdlyons@hiwaay.net) for a whole bunch of small item and class-related corrections. - Jon Dangler (dragonsphere@hotmail.com) for reminding me to add the Necro/Rettisue trick. - Sir Aronar (sir_aronar@email.msn.com) for making me de-Daravon my Faerie description, giving me the Fort Bodo battle description, and a load of other general corrections. - Yulius Leonard (leonard.yulius@mailcity.com) for telling me about the trick with Deneb, the location of the Shotgun, and a couple new tidbits. - ManaCota (ManaCota@aol.com) for the Brigantes Castle trick. - Gregg A. Leslie (leslieg@flash.net) for additions to the "Gaining Levels" section. - Victoria Joyner (Sevalayst@aol.com) for additions to the "gaining levels" section. - SkyKnyt (SkyKnyt@aol.com) for letting me in on his Evil Level-Building Secrets (These are probably 75% responsible for the "Supercharging" section). - Jyh-I Lu (halister@uclink4.berkeley.edu) for confirming the location of the Fireseal. - Jeff Howard (SirGemini@aol.com) for tipping me off to the fact that the conversation with Kachua varies from chapter to chapter and giving me the responses in the Neutral chapter. - The large group of people who EMailed me and pointed out the location of the Undead Ring (Includes many of the above). - Paul Burton, who wrote FIGWin, which I used to generate the nifty ASCII logo. Also thanks to Vinney Thai and Jorn, who made the font I used. (Editorial comment: get this program if you're writing a FAQ. It's a great way to generate non-hideous ASCII "banners", especially if you're as unskilled as I am at ASCII art.) - And Quest, for making a five-star strategy game. Now why did you have to go ruin everything by making Ogre Battle 3 on the Nintendo 64? However much they're paying you, I'll double it.