_FINAL FANTASY_ (insert ASCII artwork here)
Just another walkthrough by Matt Savvy(smatt@punkmail.com)
Okay, right off the bat: We all know this is a very old game,
but I'm killing time and I know the damn thing by heart, so put two
and two together(two plus two equals walkthrough, BTW). Also, I'm
sure there are people who need help with this; some people are
spoiled by user-friendly games. Okay, with that said, let's start the
fun.
I'm assuming you've inserted the Final Fantasy cartridge into your NES
console deck. Or, if you're realstic, loaded it into your NES emulator.
As soon as you hit "New Game", you pick your team. Feel free to pick
whatever team suits you, but the easiest lineup is something like
[FIGHTER]/[BLACK MAGE]/ [WHITE MAGE]/[THEIF, BLACK BELT, RED MAGE,
FIGHTER]; You should probably use Thief or Black Belt. Theives can't
actually steal, but they're pretty good fighters, and are decent at
running
from battles. When they get upgraded to Ninja status, they can make
good use
of most of your fighter's hand-me-downs. Black Belts suck until they
get
themselves off their feet. By level fifteen or so, he should be able to
fight without a weapon. This saves a bit of money in the long run, 'cos
they can't use much armor anyway. A Red Mage causes you to repurchase
expensive magic spells and a decent amount of weapons. A second
fighter will force you to earn a lot more money, 'cos you need to buy
all
the most expensive crap, TWICE. However, you have quite a physical
fighting force. Again, pick whichever suits you. If you have a black
belt, however, I suggest you see if he's more powerful without a weapon
every few levels. Check his status with the weapon equipped(look at
damage, hit%), then unequip the weapon and check it again. Use
whichever's higher.
Okay, now that your team is all set, you're just
itchin' for action. If you just see something in the middle of a town,
don't panic. That's supposed to happen. That reddish thing(I'm assuming
you have a fighter at the top) is your head character. It's best to
stick your most powerful physical team member up at the lead. It just
is. Enemies have a tendancy to attack the lead character. Hit Select
if you need to switch the order. Just walk into the big castle. Once
you're in, walk around and talk to everybody. If you can't walk any
further for no apparent reason, relax; you've probably found the
invisible man. Kudos. After you're done downstairs, head to the upper
floor
and do the same thing. You'll soon find out that (get this), the
princess has been kidnapped(All the evil villains do this, and the
princesses that they nab aren't even good looking...I just don't get
it.). Just head into town. Talk to everyone. (From now on, when you
enter a town, it's common-practice to talk to everyone and everything).
Hell, talk to the well if you feel the need; it's fun! Next, head on to
the weapons shop. A rapier for any fighters, theives, or red mages,
wooden nunchucks for a black belt, an iron hammer for any white mages,
and a small knife for any black mages. Armor is pretty simple, too.
Some
chain mail for a fighter or Red Mage, wooden armor for theives and
black
belts(this is basically what your black belt has for the rest of the
game.), and a cloth for white or black mages. Then, enter the black
magic shop. Buy FIR and LIT spells for your black and red mages. HARM
and CURE for any white mages, while red ones only need CURE.
You may or may not have noticed that by now, you're running a bit lot
low on the local currency. No problem. Simply go outside and walk
through
the forest outside the town. You'll get into combat sooner, and you'll
fight
larger packs of imps (as opposed to pacing in the grass). Imps are the
most
common thing around here, and all you'll be fighting for a bit. Have
each red
mage, fighter, thief or black belt hit an imp of their own, while white
and black mages should take a single imp between them. (NOTE: It's a
good idea to equip your weapons and armor at this point.) It'll take a
few good levels before a black mage can topple an imp in one blow. Imps
aren't much of a challenge, but can probably put a dent in some of your
people if they all gang up. Combat tip: do not use your combat spells
unless... A)You're going to use an inn soon. B)You're going to die
soon. C)You're about to fight something big and nasty. Best to use up
all your magic before using an inn. You'll get more for your money, and
believe me; in this game, you'll need every single G you can get your
claws on. If you come across a mad pony at this point, attack it. It
gives about as much as four or five imps do. Remember: don't attack
something with multiple people if you think it will drop on the first
hit; even if the target is dead, your characters will take a swing
anyway. You can't forget about
strategy. Strategy is everything. Remember how much damage each enemy
has taken so far, and remember roughly the amount it takes to kill
them. A good player wouldn't need a strategy guide for enemy data.
Also, you should try to remember how much gold/exp. some enemies give.
You wouldn't want to run away from something that's filled to the brim
with gold, nor fight something incredibly tough for a few stinking
experience points. Meanwhile, you're fighting imps. It's getting
slightly boring, isn't it? I sure hope not. Fighting imps doesn't get
old until you've sat down and fought them enough to get to level ten.
So how long do you keep this up? Until you've purchased all of the
above supplies and are at least level 2 or 3. Don't get impatient.
That's what they want you to
do, and that will make the game hard for you. Once you're done battling
imps, it's time to put that exp. to use. You'll remember that you have
to save some princess. This won't take long. Stock up on some heal
potion (five should do), a tent, and then stay at the Inn. Always sleep
at the inn last in a town, that way when you save your game, it's saved
with
your shopping done.
Walk outside the town and head north. Just keep walking until you find
a
big grayish thing. This is the Temple of Fiends. Kinda' unfriendly
sounding,
don't you think? Once you walk inside, head leftwards. Make sure not to
use
any of your magic in the random battles; you need to conserve it. Enter
the room and open the treasure box to get a Cap, which is a helmet.
Check the status of your team members, and give this to the person with
the lowest Absorb or Evade% via the trade command. Make sure to equip
it. From here, head north, and enter the room. Two chests are there - a
cabin and heal potion. Don't bother with the other two corners; those
rooms are locked. Instead, walk all the way down and then right until
you've reached the entrance again. Walk straight up into the room.
Inside are two people and a handful of bats. The closer of the two
people is Garland, the nogoodnik that kidnapped the princess. And the
further is the princess herself. Use some potion to refill your life,
or
if you're really feeling the pain, go outside and use that tent. Just
talk to Garland. Sure enough, Garland is ready to solve it with
violence. And in case you haven't guessed by now, your party members
are
these light warriors that everyone's talking about. Feel free to
underestimate Garland. He has about 100 hp and can only really hurt
White or Black mages, and unless you're extremely unlucky, it should
take two or three hits. Have your physical fighters fight. Just have
any
Black mages cast FIRE. Red Mages should either use FIRE or CURE. White
mages should cure people, with potion only when out of CURE.
Garland should be down for the count by the end of the second round.
As a prize for defeating Garland, you get 250 G and a measly 35 exp.
(assuming nobody's dead, of course.). Now talk to the princess. She
thanks you(what a reward) and you are teleported back to Corneria
castle
(Actually, I think you just walk back with the princess, but they
didn't
feel like showing that part.). Talk to the princess to get a LUTE. Joy!
Like you'd need something like THAT in an RPG(Or would you?).
Thankfully,
the king isn't so much of an asshole. He, in fact, builds a bridge for
you;
however, a little more is revealed. You should know by now that your
goal
is to make the elusive ORBS shine again. You'll learn more about this
soon.
Try talking to the people again, now that you've done something. Save
your game at the inn if you feel the need, too. Now, you're really
going
to start your quest. Head outside. Right away, you should notice the
bridge
in the space where there used to be only water. This is that bridge
that the
king had built. This allows you access to the next continent. When you
step on
the bridge, a special scene comes up. You are told a bit more of the
story, and the bridge theme(guess where it got THAT name from) is cued.
Now you're going to have to fight stronger things on a regular basis.
And if you come across ogres at this point, be careful. These guys have
as many hp as garland, higher attack power, and can double team you.
Again, strategy is your friend. Anyway, head north until you hit a
cave.
When you walk in, talk to one of the walking brooms. "TCELES B HSUP" is
"PUSH B SELECT" backwards. This is move lets you see a map of the world
when you're outside. Neat, eh? Now loot the place and talk to Matoya.
She just whines about her CRYSTAL. She's blind as a bat without it, and
some jerk stole it. And guess what, you get to find it. Now that you're
done there, you should just head south and east until you come across
the town of Provoka. By this time, you should be level four, and you
should also hope you have a lot of dough. Upon entering the town, you
will find that something's horribly wrong; pirates(arr!). And of
course,
you're expected to fight them. They guys are about as tough as
imps(even
less, actually), and even though there's nine of them, it's no big
whoop. If anyone got beaten up too badly on the way here, stay at the
inn before roughing them up. However, you get 350 gold and 90 exp.(if
you had a casualty in that fight, I feel very, VERY sorry for you. I
really do.), which is quite a bit for barely lifting a finger. And
what's more is that the Cap'n becomes a peaceful fella' and hands over
his ship. Which means you've got yourself a better means of
transportation, and you'll learn to love that boat. Now it's time to
use some or all(or more) of that hard earned green stuff. The weapons
shop is your first stop. This will make earning more money quicker.
(Weapons will always be your
highest pri ority, then work your way down to items.) A short sword for
any fighters, and if you really want to, one for any Red mages. You're
better off just getting a Scimitar for Red Mages and Theives, however.
Hand Axes are a waste of money, and you should have picked up an Iron
Hammer back in Corneria. At the Armor shop, Iron armor and a wooden
shield for your fighter(s), gloves for mages. As for magic, ICE(black)
and INVS(white) should do.
Take that boat of yours out of the bay and along the coast. Just keep
heading south until you reach a port. A short walk southwest and you'll
hit a town. Welcome to Elfland:Land of the High Prices. You'll shortly
find
out that you need to save some sleeping prince. They just don't give
you a
break, now do they? When you go to the weapons shop, Iron Nunchucks for
a
black belt, a large knife for black mages, sabre for theives and red
mages,
and a silver sword for your fighter . This seems all good and nice
until
you notice the 4,000 G tag attached to that sword. You'd think I must
be
joking or something, right? Well, that sword will take a bit of work to
earn
now, but you'll use it for QUITE a while. You'd better start working on
that silver sword now. An area a bit east of the town is packed with
ogres and other
such creatures, ripe for the killing. Your best bet is to fight here
until you start getting low on hp, then sailing back to Corneria(almost
a straight line north.) to stay at the Inn. Granted, Elfland does have
an inn, but that is 100 G a stay. You can stay at Corneria's inn about
three times for the same amount, and all it costs is a short overseas
trip. Which do YOU think is the better deal? Get your fighter a few
levels and equip that silver sword, and your fighter's power
practically
doubles. This is worth 4,000 G, isn't it? Well, there's more to come.
Go
back out in the fields and earn another 3,000 G. I must be pulling your
leg, right? Think again. These elves are real greedy assholes, eh?
You'll need FIR2 and HRM2, pronto. Know why? You're going to fight
things that you probably should be fighting for another few towns and
major chunks of the game. And WHY exactly are you fighting them?
Because
you'll start raking in the exp./G. And WHY are we doing this? Because
those damned elves have more magic and armor you need (And the sad part
is that this is one of my favorite parts of the game. Actually, this
always goes faster than you remember.)! Okay, now it's time to sail
back
to Provoka. From there, head south and east until the path starts to
lead north. Once you get all the way to the top, walk back and forth
between the two spaces of the tip. Here are advanced enemies(Frost
Wolves, Giants, Trolls, Wyverns, ZomBulls), all of which are packed to
the brim with exp. or G. Make sure to have stayed at the inn in
Provoka,
'cos you'll need all the magic. Use FIR2(and HRM2 if fighting Zombulls)
while using physical attacks. Attack one pack of things, win, stay at
the inn(to restore all your magic), repeat process. At first, it's
tricky, but after a while, it gets pretty easy.
Keep on doing this until you're about A)level 10. Or B)Have at least
10,000 G. Now, back to Elfland. You need LIT2(level 3, black),
FAST(level 4, black), ICE2(level 4, black), CUR2(level 3, white), and
PURE(level
4, white). FAST is one of the most important spells in the game; cast
it
on someone, and they're about twice as powerful. Armor shop is easy. An
Iron shield for any fighters, a wooden helmet for fighters, theives and
red mages. Black belts, and all mages need a copper bracelet. Get
anyone
else without head protection a Cap. Then go to the item shop, and get
no less than 500 G's worth of pure potion, and 1,000 G's worth of heal
potion- where
you're going next, you're bound to get poisoned a LOT.
Now that you're done buying, it's time for some action. From Elfland,
head all
the way west, and then travel along the edge of the mountain(on the
left side,
that is) until you reach some marshes. From there, walk south until you
hit the tip of the land. Enter that little hole. Welcome to the Marsh
cave, the local hellhole. If you would like to hurry and get this over
with, head downwards. If you would like to loot for a total of 1612 G,
go up. There's something really disturbing about this place. However,
the enemies are mostly wusses and shouldn't give you much trouble('cept
for the poisoning.). It's just disturbing. By the way, keep an eye out
for SCUM(enemy) - best off running from them. UPPER PATH-This room has
nothing you need, but it does have loot. A Large knife, 1300 G, and
short sword. LOWER PATH- Just follow the trail until it forks. Go down.
Eventually, you'll hit a room with a ladder. Go down it(duh). LOWER
PATH, FIRST ROOM-Go down and right until you find an exit. Nothing
worth
getting in this room. LOWER PATH, SECOND ROOM-Enter the room on the
third row from the top, second column from the left. This room contains
the CROWN, which is what you came here for. However, it's guarded by
wizards. These guys are pathetic. Just let LIT2 lose on them, and a
whole pack can be dead in no time. However, they CAN do some serious
damage if they gang up on a single person, so watch out. Okay, now that
you've got that crown, get your ass out of there. If you've got a tent
or something, use it! Now backtrack to Elfland and stay at the inn.
You'll want all of your magic back.
Walk all west, and then all north until you reach a castle. Walk in,
and
enter the big room that's right in your way. Now wave to the king. As
it turns
out, he's really Astos, the dark elf. He also really wants that crown.
You'll
just have to kill him for being so greedy. Cast fast on your best
physical fighter, then just ICE2 the sucker. Make sure to keep high hp,
and other then that, fight, fight, fight. He'll try to RUB one of your
people early in the
fight, which is an instant death spell. Hope it doesn't work or just
hope it doesn't get your fighter. As long as someone has FAST on, SLO2
will be useless, and FAST is pointless unless he takes another attack.
You should be able to drop him by the third round.
Guess what! You've got Matoya's crystal back. And from rumors in town,
you should know that she can prepare an herb to wake the prince. So
save your game,
sail past the bridge near Corneria, enter the port, and make for her
cave. Once
she's got her crystal, she'll give you the herb. So sail BACK to
Elfland castle, and give the prince the herb. You must have seen locked
doors by now, right? Well, the elf prince is so ecstatic that he'll
give you that mystical key. Time to go on an unlocking spree. First
walk along the left, outside wall of Elfland castle to raid that little
treasure room. Since you're near Elfland, stop by Astos' castle and
loot the place. Falchon might work for red mages, Iron gauntlet for
fighters, silver hammer for white mages. Sell any other crap at the
elven weapon/armor shops. Then make for Corneria castle. Walk to the
WAY back room, and equip the Silver knife on a black mage. Sell the
rest of the weapons/armor. The temple of feinds' two right hand rooms
have locked treasures, as well. Were or Rune swords might be good for
thieves and/or red mages. I don't really recall. If you really feel the
need, you can walk ALL the way back to the bottom floor of the Marsh
Cave to get a silver bracelet(good) and a silver knife(you've already
got one). It's just not worth it, though. Now it's time to put that TNT
you found back in Corneria castle to use.
Sail along the western coast of Corneria until you reach a dock. From
here, head southwest. You'll hit a cave in no time. This is the dwarven
cave. Loot the place - that silver armor's utter crap, and the dragon
sword isn't really good against dragons(neither is ice sword against
fire, or rune sword against mages.
They're just fancy names; they don't really change damage depending on
the target.). Iron helmet IS good, however(at least now your fighter is
fully iron armored up, eh?). Okay, now that you've done the usual
talking and looting give your TNT to Nerrik(far back of the cave; if
you haven't, already). Leave the cave and take a short walk back to
your ship. Head south and west along the coast again. There should be a
hole in that land that wasn't there before. This is the canal that
Nerrik was talking about. Sail a bit left...
Welcome to the Western Sea! Head a bit more west, and you'll reach
Melmond. Know what? This town's weapon shop is sportin' crap. Not even
worth looking into. Know what else? This town has no clinic OR items
shop. On to White magic. LIFE, CUR3, HRM3 . Your black mage desperately
needs FIR3. If you feel like it, buy BANE. VERY nearby, there is an
area great for earning experience/gold(and you'll
need it for this town); however, I find it easier(for now) to go back
to the area near Provoka. The armor shop holds the Steel Mail. This
stuff is pretty good, for its price, but you're always hurting for good
armor. 45 THOUSAND G. However, this does not take very long to earn
once you know where to fight. Also, Silver bracelets for any mages and
black belts. Other than that, you should be good in the armor area now.
Okay, now it's time to see what all this Earth Cave hub-bub is about.
Leave town and walk south westish. Once the path heads perfectly south,
then splits, take the lower route. You might want to save your
game(tent) before going in.
Enter, and bask in the cool Earth cave music. If you go up, you'll find
1975 gold. If you go left, you'll reach what is known as "The Hall of
Giants". In the hall of giants, you get attacked at every step, by
giants or their giant sidekicks. This is good for making money/building
exp., 'cos giants hold a lot of G and it also saves time on walking. If
you head down, you will hit a dead-end. If you go down/right, you'll
receive a pure potion, 795 G, 880 G, and a heal potion. If you go
right, you'll reach the stairs(something wrong with stairs in a cave?)
to the next floor. Nab the treasures if you want, then head for the
stairs. This floor has a slightly different look to it, now doesn't it?
If you want the treasures, I don't really give a damn. Here's a brief
explanation of which route to take. Down. up, down(right), down, right,
down, up(right), down(right), down, down(right), up(right), up. This
floor is the one with that vampire on it. Just snake around to the
center. If the reddish plate thing is in view when you get attacked,
you'll notice that it reveals a staircase beneath. Neat, eh? Shame you
can't get down there just yet. If you get
attacked by cocatrices, RUN! They can petrify you as casually as some
creatures poison or blind you. Once you talk to the Vampire, you
realize he sounds so full of himself that he must be so easy to beat.
Anyone in life is like that. Don't even bother with FAST; hit this
thing with your most powerful fire/harm spells, while having anyone
else just fight. I can normally drop him in one round; if my black mage
goes first, then in one turn. He's a wuss. Grab the ruby in the chest
behind him, and backtrack your way to the town of Melmond.
A townsman hints about there being something else causing the rot
besides the Vampire. The Vampire was way too easy, so you'd better
believe there's something big and ugly down that hidden staircase.
Well, as you can deduce from townspeople, this Sadra the sage guy lives
past a tunnel. The catch is that there's a ruby eating titan living in
it. You've got a ruby, right? Maybe you can give him a gift and get
passed. Hey, it's worth a try. So exit town, and
just head almost completely left. Once you hit mountains, start going a
bit south. You'll hit another cave. Enter it. See that happy looking
fella'? That's the Titan. Give him a ruby and he seems genuinely happy.
I think the titan goes about his life like a small child does with a
treehouse("This is my club! Only members can get in!"), only he says,
"This is my cave! Only members can get through!" However, he forgets
his sweet-tooth for rubies. You don't really need to worry about the
enemies here; most will give you no trouble at all. In the treasure
room, you'll find some gold, a silver helmet(good for fighters) and a
(not so)great axe, which is worthless.
Once on the other side, follow the trail to Sadra's little cave. You
get a nifty rod to remove the plate on the floor in the Earth Cave. Go
back to town and stock up on some potion(make sure to have some soft,
too), stay at the inn, and then go back to the Earth cave. Hopefully,
your black belt is using just his
fists now. While it may seem that his damage has only slightly risen,
he'll get multiple and critical hits more often now. Conserve your
magic; you'll need it for a big battle. Go through the first few floors
like you did before, but once you hit the Vampire's room, go to the
back and use the rod on the plate. Go down the stairs, another maze
floor. Go ... left, up, left, down, up(left), left, up, up, left, down,
down, up, up and down the stairs. This is the last floor of the Earth
cave. Just go up, turn to your left, and down the narrow passage.
Outside of the door, heal up. Beyond this door is the cause of the
Earth's rot; Lich.
He's the fiend of Earth, and that means once you kill him, you'll have
restored the orb of Earth. This can actually be a tough fight(however;
I have had two round versions of this battle). When you're ready, enter
the room and talk to the ball. You'll notice that when you hit fight,
you don't have to select Lich. Neat, eh? First, FAST your fighter. Then
hit him with all the fire and harm magic you've got. Keep yer HP up,
though. If/when you killed him, walk straight up. That rumbling thing
was an orb lighting up again. Walk the rest of the way up to be whisked
outside of the cave.
Return to Melmond; your work here is done. Soon, the earth will be
healthy again, thanks to you. Talk to the townspeople,
crawl in your boat, and prepare to sail nearly across the globe.
However, you won't be able to come back around here so easily, so if
you need any magic still, better get it now. AFIR, AMUT, ALIT, AICE, to
name a few. Okay, from Melmond, track the coast south. Once you pass
the tip of the Earth Cave peninsula, head directly west until you hit a
port. Dock your boat there; head southwestish until you see rivers and
a town. Enter the town, duh. This nice new town is the town of Crescent
Lake. It's interesting how a townsperson says something creative:
"LIGHT WARRIORS, you can do it!" Silver mail is worthless - even Iron
mail's better. The weapons store doesn't hold anything great. Silver
helmets, shields and gauntlets are good for fighters. Bucklers should
be good for theives and red mages. The magic shops have a load of
expensive magic. LIT3, SOFT, and INV2 are all you'll need. Right now
you can't learn EXIT. And remember how you could learn WARP back in
Melmond, right? Well, you've got a bit of work to do before you can
actually get able to use these spells. Walk to the back section of the
town, and talk to all of the twelve sages. They give you a canoe and
advice.
Leave, the town, and walk towards the rivers. To use the canoe, just
walk into a river. Make sure you have a LOT of heal potion. Follow
the river up to the Guru Volcano. Walk left and down the staircase. See
that lava all over the floor? Throughout the Volcano, try not to step
on the stuff more than necessary; with every step, each person on your
team loses 1 hp. Oh look, more lava. Joy. There's also a lot of area in
those back rooms, not to mention fights and treasure. Explore if you
want to; there's some pretty good stuff. Most of it's money, but
there's some mediocre armor(sell it) and potion, etc. in there, too.
When you're done, go down the staircase on your far left. As you can
see, this floor splits and goes two ways. Just head right and down the
stairs; nothing's on the other side. This next floor is completely
covered in lava. Walk from little safe spot to little safe spot in the
general direction of southeast. For the next floor, just walk...down,
left, down, all left, down the stairs. You're almost there. Walk along
the path, and head left when the path breaks. This should take you to a
dead end treasure room. The flame shield and the ice sword are two good
pieces of equipment for your fighter. Now walk back to the fork and go
down. Keep walking until another fork, and go down again. Trek on until
you go down the staircase. Hey, this room has eight different branches!
That'll take a while to do everything in, right? Wrong. Take the left
branch first. Enter the room, fight the dragon, get the treasure. The
dragon's a wuss, and will probably go down on the first round. The
flame mail's good for a fighter. Now go back to the middle and take the
southwestern branch. Outside the door, fill up on life with heal
potion; past this door is Kary, the fiend of fire. Yep, already at
another fiend. FAST your fighter, have your white mage or red mage cast
AFIR, then INV2. Your black mage should hit Kary with the most powerful
attack spell he's got. If it's FIR3, use it anyway. Fight shouldn't
take very long, but make sure to keep your HP up. It's not a very tough
fight, but if you're not good in the strategy department, then Kary can
pose a threat to your team. Anyway, once she's outta' the picture, walk
up to restore the glow to the orb of fire.
Now that you're out, use a tent or something to save your game. Canoe
back to town, and talk to the man that was sleeping and the sages
again. Also, stock up on heal potion(99). Sail north to a small bay
with a dock. Go straight into the river, and canoe up until you reach a
cave. This icy cave is known as the Ice Cave. Clever name, ain't it?
During your stay, make sure to fill up your hp at the end of every
floor and/or whenever you need it. If you encounter wizards, fighters,
mages, or sorcerers, DO NOT try to run. Kill them as fast as you can;
most can kill you in one hit. Walk through the cave until you hit the
stairs. Once you're down, this floor splits into two paths. It
basically forms a big square. You can go down and left or right and
down. It still takes you to the staircase in roughly the same amount of
steps. Just walk to the other staircase. Walk along the wall until you
reach the door. Loot the room, then jump down a hole. Any hole. Take
one step down, and get in an auto-fight. The ice works just like lava
did back in the Gurgu Volcano. Left treasure room holds a silver
gauntlet and ice mail. Ice mail is good for a fighter, but is just as
good as fire mail. Then take the lower route, at the first fork, head
down again, at the second fork, go left and loot(just money), then
leave right. Search the chest, walk out, enter the room and grab the
10,000 G. Walk into the other room on the far side of the floor, get
the loot from the chest, and enter the hole. Now, you're a few steps
away from that chest you couldn't reach before. Don't bother walking to
it just yet. Fill up on HP first. You're walking to it and BAM!
Attacked by something called "EYE". This is the badass you need to
fight before you get your chest. Fast up your fighter, and, well,
attack. If your fighter gets fast casted on him before his turn, the
fight can be over in one round. This guy has spells like RUB, XXXX,
etc., which can kill you instantly. Nice guy, eh? If you beat him, walk
and grab the chest. What's this? FLOATER? Seems important, eh? Yeah,
it's the legendary floater stone, which can make anything fly. What use
of it do you have? Worry about that later. Jump down a hole and you'll
be in a familiar room. Exit this one the same way you did before. In
the next room, however, do not jump down the hole in the treasure room.
Instead, walk all the way to the right and take the stairs. Guess what
- you're outside!
Use a tent or something, pronto. By now, even a good player will have
little or no heal potion left, and the situation is probably looking
pretty sad. Relax, it's but a short trip back to crescent lake. You'll
be there in no time. Do the usual town stuff(Stock up on supplies, stay
at the inn, etc.), then launch your canoe into the river south of
town(the one adjacent to the mountain). Follow this southward and get
off where it hits land. Disembark and walk into the desert. Small,
empty desert; right? Use your floater stone and sit back. WOW! An
airship! COOL! See that airship? That's -your- airship. Neat, eh?
What's even cooler is that you can use it. Walk on top of it and hit
"A". Whee! This thing goes about twice as fast as the boat, FLIES, and
you don't get attacked in it. Well, time to get off your little airship
high and start to use it.
From the temple of fiends, fly north, and pull left when you see some
land again. Park your ship at every island and explore the holes.
You'll find that these dragons are always blabbing about how important
courage is, and it also seems that their king will give you a reward
for proving it. That's where you come in. You'll have to fly a bit
northeast to see this castle. And notice there's no landing spot around
it? Oh poo. There are two basic ways to infiltrate this castle. A)Go
back and land your airship near your boat. Then take your boat back up
to the castle, drop your canoe out into the river, and walk to the
castle from there. B)Find a landing spot(land slightly northwest of the
castle works well) as close to the castle as possible. Once you land,
this involves lots of walking. If you're going by boat, check your map
to make sure you don't get off course(remember, PUSH B SELECT). If
you're going by land, bring a house or two.
It gets trickier once you get inside. The first floor is easy; talk to
the guy and sit on the throne. Ah, and now you're taken to what we call
"The Pillar Maze". Walk on to a pillar, and it will teleport you
somewhere else. At the first break, take the bottom one. At the next
split, the top one. Left one. Take a break and grab the Zeus gauntlet
from the box..what's this? A fighter can use it? What the hell kinda'
joke is this? Relax, he'll be able to use it in no time. Now take the
pillar third from the top, and finally, the staircase. This floor is
more simplistic. Follow the path until you reach a chest. Heal staff?
What good is this? As a weapon, worthless. However, use the TRADE
command and give it to your black or white mage. In battle, they can
use it from the ITEM command to cast HEAL on the team. Pretty good for
keeping HP high when they'd normally not do any real damage anyway.
Next, you'll find a gold bracelet(good for mages and black belts),
another Ice Sword(good for theives and red mages in about ten minutes),
and an iron gauntlet(good for black belts in about ten minutes.). In
the next patch of chests, you'll get money and a house. And hey, cool,
a ...tail? Yep, this is the proof of courage, a rat's tail. Nifty, eh?
Fill up on hp and try to step on the throne. Hey, an auto battle. Joy.
Zombie Dragon. Don't even bother with FAST. HRM3/FIR3 should drop him
easily. Step on the throne, and exit out the door. That wasn't so hard,
right?
Now, not only have you earned the dragon king's prize, but you have
earned the right to say, "I ain't afraid no ghosts!" Go back to Bahamut
and collect your prize. Hey, your fighter looks a bit more buff...wait
a second, that's no fighter! Hit start. Your fighter is now a knight.
Your back belt is now a master. Your mages all turned into wizards. And
your thief turned into a ninja. You know those spells(WARP, EXIT) that
you couldn't learn before? You can learn them now. And you know that
equipment you couldn't use before? You can probably use that now. Sure,
we'll miss those kiddie looking characters, but these guys are all much
better. Hell, your knight and ninja can use some magic soon.
Once you're done staring at your new and improved posse, fly due north
of the opening of the earth cave. When you're overhead of a town, track
the river a little west to a landing spot. Take a short hike into town
of Oncrac and explore. Here, you will find they make such a big deal
about having legs and having this elusive Oxyale. A guy named Kope
supposedly saw a robot plummeting into the north waterfall. Then
there's a woman with a submarine. But to go deep enough to visit the
mermaids' sunken shrine, it needs oxyale. Better go get some, right?
The magic shops have nothing really worthwhile, unless you feel like
HEL3.
Leave the town and get back in the ship. Okay, now fly your airship to
the northwestern hemisphere. More specifically, to the mountain town of
Gaia. You will soon find that a pirate(arr!) kidnapped the fairy and
sold her. Why do you care? 'Cos this fairy is the only one that can
draw Oxyale. You know what? It's been quite a while since you've bought
new gear. Hey, it's time to do that here. The weapon shop has one item:
a catclaw. This is good for a black wizard. Now the armor shop. Gold
bracelets for anyone who doesn't have anything else of the sort, and
prorings for everybody. EVERYBODY. I don't give a damn what gauntlet
your knight has on already; it doesn't protect against instant death(in
case you didn't get the message, ProRings protect against instant death
attacks[RUB, that thing sorcerers do, XXX, etc.]). CUR4 is a must, and
same for ICE3. As you recall, the pirate sold the fairie to a
caravan(HINT, desert). But not the south desert;the far, FAR away
desert that a pirate wouldn't have access to. Fly south a bit and east
until you reach a small desert with a patch of green in it. As you walk
into the caravan(the little patch of sand in the little patch of green
in the big patch of desert), you'll find that it's pretty expensive.
And guess what else? Nothing much that you have access to gives good
gold. Hey, wait a second, what about that EYE fella' back in the ice
caves? 3,000+ exp. AND gold, per fight. You'll get some levels and some
hard dough. And you don't have to worry about his instant death
attacks, courtesy of the ProRing. And having an airship and EXIT makes
him a bit easier to get to. And once you get there, all you have to do
is walk into the spot where he autoattacks you, kill 'em, and walk off.
Neat, eh? You'll get a level-up about every ten to fifteen fights, and
fight maybe one or two random battles per level. Hell, I've had games
where I built levels 25-35 here, and it didn't take very long. However,
this does get boring after a while.
Anyway, once you have gotten that bottle, do not, repeat: _DO NOT_ use
this bottle with the item menu. You will have to go buy the damn thing
all over again. Time to go back to Gaia's spring(back of the town), and
then use the bottle from the item menu. When you exit the menu screen,
you should see a fearie. Talk to the Fearie; she'll give you some
Oxyale. Hey, now you can go visit those mermaids. And why exactly do
you need to do that? 'Cos you CAN. Back to Oncrac with ye. Talk to the
woman in front of the sub; she'll let you use it. Nice, quick sub ride,
eh? First off, if you want about 10,000 G, loot this room. Otherwise,
take the stairs leading up(on the right). This next room is a must
loot. Opal Armor(knight), Light Axe casts HRM2 if used during battle,
Mage Staff isn't a good weapon for black wizards, but it casts FIR2 if
used during battle. Now take the stairs in the bottom right corner. Ah,
and now you're one the mermaid's floor. It's sorta' like a town- no
random battles. Just talk and loot until you're done. Give the opal
bracelet to whomever's got the lowest absorb/evade. Opal guantlet
should be dropped or sold. If you want to, cast EXIT, and sell left
over crap at a town. Otherwise, go to the base floor and head down;
save your magic, as well. You've got the fiend of water to topple.
On your way down, you will find a Ribbon. What good is this, you ask?
It basicially protects agianst ANYTHING that could happen to
you(Poison, Petrify, Stun, all that stuff), AND it has the effect of
having AFIR, AICE, ALIT. However, it's a crappy helmet. Once you reach
Kraken's ball, do the usual filling up of HP. Kraken spews a bit of big
talk, and you enter combat. FAST your fighter, use INV2 or just FADE if
you have it, keep your HP high, and blast Kraken with LIT3 when you
can. The fiend of water should go down on the second round(I find that
if I'm clever, most fiends do), and light up that orb.
Now take your airship out to Melmond and talk to Dr. Unne. Yep, quick
as that, you learned a new language. Time to put it to use. Bring at
least 120,000 G with you, too. Just a bit east of the desert south of
Gaia is a little landing spot for your airship. Drop it there, and
start walking to the far off town of Lefein. Talk to everybody. One
will give you a chime, which gives you access to Mirage tower. You're
not done there yet, though. Walk to the top-right corner of the town.
There's a little hole in the wall. Walk in a straight line right; you
will find the "secret" Lefein level 8 magic shops. Needless to say, but
I'm saying it anyway, buy NUKE and LIF2. NUKE is the ultimate black
magic attack, while LIF2 resurrects any light warrior(not during
combat, however) and gives them full life. Good spells. Now backtrack
your way to your airship.
Save your game, then land your airship as close to Mirage Tower as you
can. Walk into it(suprised?). Enter the room, loot it, talk to the
robot, and move on to the next floor. Heal Helemt works just like a
heal staff, and is just as worthless as armor. Agies sheild is good for
knights and protects against being GLANCEd, etc. Thor Hammer is the
best hammer in the game, and if used in battle, casts LIT2. Sun sword
is good for a ninja. Dragon mail is good for a knight. Once you reach
the third floor, however, cast EXIT and go back to your airship. Fly to
the river outside of Oncrac and canoe up the river into the waterfall.
Seems like there's a little cave or something behind that waterfall,
eh? Better loot and explore. When you reach the treasure room in the
back, make sure to talk to the robot. He gives you the cube, which
gives you access to the Floating castle. And who but the fiend of air,
Tiamat, lurks here. Conveinent, ain't it? As for loot...Wizard Staff
casts CONF(confusion) during battle.Ribbon is mentioned somewhere
above; Defense is good for a knight and casts RUSE when used in battle.
Trek to the third floor of Mirage tower. One step into the room and
you'll be attacked by a Blue Dragon. Doesn't require FAST or anything.
Just a few physical attacks. Step into that thing in the middle of the
room. It WILL work now that you have a cube.
You're whisked away to a cool looking tower. Doesn't look very much
like it's floating; more like it's in orbit. The random encounters
will be a lot stronger now, and you will have to make several trips to
town to sell the crap(or just drop it and save time). Bane sword isn't
really good, but if you use it in battle with the ITEM, it casts BANE.
Give it to someone who's not a good physical fighter(black wizard).
You'll also find a black shirt(armor for black wizard - casts ICE2 in
battle) and a white shirt(white wizard's armor - casts INV2 in battle).
You'll also find another ribbon(that makes three), and a katana - good
for a ninja. ProCape is worthless.
In one of the treasure boxes, you find ADAMANT, and the special music
plays. Why the fuss? Well, remember back in the dwarven caves, the
weapon smith guy, Smith, said he'd make you a sword, but alas, his
supply of Adamant was nonexistent. If you don't remember,
it's the truth(I SWEAR!). Finish looting that floor(and maybe the one
above), then EXIT. Fly back to the dwarves' cave(north of Astos'
castle), and get that sword! With a name like Xcalibar, it's GOT to be
good. But only a knight can use it.
Meanwhile, back at the floating castle, the teleporter to the next
floor is to the left. This room has four branches. If you start to walk
in any direction, the floor keeps repeating itself. The trick to
finding the teleporter to the next floor isn't very tricky; simply walk
left two intersections, and then up two. Or you could go left, left,
down, down. Or down, down, left left. You just need to go two horiztal
and two vertical and you'll reach a teleporter(notice I said "a". If
you go left, right, up, down, you'll wind up back where you started.).
And now we find ourself on a thin floor. This thin stretch is reffered
to as "The Bridge of Warmech". Why, you ask? Because this badass called
Warmech(about as tough as fighting the feind of water and air
simultainously) only shows up here. If you have enough luck(or complete
lack thereof), you'll fight him. He gives so much EXP/G it's not even
funny. If you fight him, FAST, NUKE, AFIR, and keep the HP as high as
possible. Keep walking up and then into the room. Yep, the ball opens
and out pops the feind of air. Okay, I don't know why they made it this
way, but spells such as BANE(particularly BANE) have an effect on him.
BANE kills things instantly(poison smoke). Don't bother with FAST. Cast
BANE or just use the bane sword, use physical attacks, and you should
be fine.
Wait a second...didn't you just kill Tiamat? Hey, yeah, all of the orbs
are lit, too. What's the deal here? Better visit the sages at Crescent
lake...Time loop? This does't sound good. Yeah, but haven't got a real
choice in the matter. Stock up on potion(all the pure, soft, and heal
you can hold). This is the final trip - better be well prepared. When
you're ready, go to the temple of Fiends. The SKY WARRIORS give you a
bit more insight, and then you go back in time. The staircase is in the
bottom-right corner of the floor. I think you can find the staircase
for this floor on your own. Now walk around to the center room(door is
on the bottom side). You'll fight the Phantom as soon as you walk in.
The two chests hold money. And your rod won't remove this stone plate.
Hmm...maybe that LUTE you've been cartin' around the whole game might
have some use. And sure enough, it does. The exit for this floor is in
the upper-right corner. The exit to the next floor is also on the
upper-right corner. And now you're on the Earth floor. The exit's at
the bottom-right corner. Fight some old Earth cave enemies, and one
step short of the stairs, you'll fight a souped-up Lich. Try to
conserve your magic, though. And now the fire floor. Gurgo Volcano
enemies and a PO'd Kary. Again, conserve magic. The exit is the
staircase you see right next to you when you enter the floor. Black
Shirt should help out some here. And then the water floor. Use Thor
hammer to cast LIT2 during combat; it saves time. The exit's in the
bottom right corner. Then we have the wind floor. If you go to the very
bottom right corner, you'll find the one and only treasure in the
Temple of Feinds 2,000 years ago - the masamune. The most powerful
weapon in the game, and anyone can use it. Nintendo Power suggests that
you use it on a white wizard. If you have a red wizard, they'd make
good use of it. Don't bother giving it to a black wizard - they've got
better things to do with their turns. A white wizard could make good
use of it. A knight already has an Xcaliber. A master can kick ass just
as well without it. If you have a second knight, they'd use it. A ninja
could work well as well.
Walk around the room, talk to Garland a few times, then fight Chaos,
the FINAL fight in the game. FAST up all your physical fighters, NUKE
all you can, keep your HP. Chaos can use any number of attacks, hell,
he can CUR4 himself, which means he can restore his 2,000 HP. You
should be about level 30 by now. Sit back, and watch the end. You just
beat one of the more fun Final Fantasy games. Hope you had fun.
-Matt Savvy (smatt@punkmail.com)
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