Espers

Throughout Final Fantasy XII there are thirteen Espers, or summons. After you defeat an Esper through storyline or sidequest play, you will acquire that summon on the License Board. You can then get the license with any character but only that character. In battle that character can summon that esper and the esper will fight alongside the caster until it runs out of HP or time. As your summoner gains level and ability so will your esper.

All that said they aren’t the most useful options in the world but provide some of the toughest challenges in the game. Some (Cuchulainn and Adrammelech come to mind) are available rather early in the game but will rout you until later on. Many esper fights have certain stipulations during the battle that disallow your party to attack, cast magic, use an item, etc. You will almost certainly have to do some scouting with the initial battle or inform yourself ahead of time.

Storyline Acquired Espers

Belias The Gigas

- Aries Zodiak – Likely the first esper you’ll acquire, this one in the depths of the Tomb of Raithwall. The boss fight against Belias is one of the hardest battles you’ll have fought up to that point. His Firaja Oil attack will leave you in big trouble if you don’t have the Handkerchief’s to get rid of it as he’ll like you up with fire attacks. Have Shell and Protect up, and Berserk your best fighters (tanks) including Vossler. He is Velius from Final Fantasy Tactics, and you must use Belias in a story related event in The Feywood much later in the game. Belias is quite useful early in the game as he is the only esper you’ll have for a good period of time.

Mateus The Corrupt

- Pisces Zodiak - An ice based Esper, fought in the Stilshrine of Miriam. Mateus is near the end, right before the nethicite destroying sword. He (it’s the fish, not the girl in front) likes Blizzaja, but you should like to use Shell. Of course Ice Shields are even better as it’ll render most of his attacks useless. Towards the end he comes really fast and has no charge times on his attacks so your healing will have to be a step ahead. Still, an easy battle and an Esper that is probably better than Belias but may not be worthy of being used over two of your other characters right now.

Shemhazai The Whisperer

- Sagittarius Zodiak – Shemhazai is weak against fire magic but tanking is your best bet. At this point in the game you probably have a solid strategy with Haste / Bravery / Berserk / Protect / Bubble and other positive status effects that you can cast to make this easy. Dispel her of course and her ability to change which elemental ability she has will make you not want to use magic anyway. She really is only dangerous near her end when her spells get off really fast and with Shock and Flare that could mean death for you. Disease and Silence can be a problem for you so be prepared with an item or spell to fix that. Fight through her Enraged state and you’ll acquire an underrated esper. Her Soul Purge attack can do upwards of 50,000 damage on enemies if Devour Soul / Knot of Rust damage up to that point is high.

Hashmal Bringer of Order

- Leo Zodiak -

The earth based esper, who is weak against Wind. You have Reddas with you so that should help, and once you put Float on all your characters you can dodge all of his earth abilities. Dispel him before you do anything and prepare to use Dispel again at some point. Quakeja and Roxxor are his tough earth attacks. His puts up a paling to all attacks for a while so wait it out and keep yourself healed until you can finish him off. He is Hashmalim from Final Fantasy Tactics. Gaia’s Wrath is his best ability for you to use but your summoner must have less than 10 % of their life for him to do it.

Famfrit The Darkening Cloud

- Aquarius Zodiak – The water esper that you fight with Dr. Cid. This battle is hard because if you use the Berserk Tank strategy like I do, your Berserked characters will attack Cid who is immune to damage until you kill Famfrit. So, either don’t use Berserk or just deal with it. Or you can Oil him up and use Firaga to take off 3 times the fire damage on him. Even with Shell up his Waterja spell will hurt bad unless you still have some Viking Coats laying around. Once he goes down you’ll get him and you’ll have to finish Cid off. As for Famfrit’s use as an Esper for you, it benefits from the same thing Hashmal does; there aren’t many water and earth attacks other than their’s. At the same time he’s the weakest level three esper around so his use will likely be situational for you (water-weak foes).

Optional Espers

Adrammelech The Wroth

- Capricorn Zodiak – Truth be told you can get Adrammelech really early in the game, if you’re fortunate enough to defeat him. He was the esper Adramelk (Dycedarg) in Final Fantasy Tactics. Weak to Ice but thrives with Thunder. He is in the middle area of the Zertinan Caverns, you can’t really miss it. As for the fight against him, he flies so your weapons must be long range. He likes to use magic like Thundara and Thundaja so Shell should be up and be prepared to use Regen to cure Sap if need be. The Shambling Corpses that appear around you can be an annoyance, but if you clear out an area and bait Adrammelech over there you should be okay. He’ll use Perfect Defense towards his end so use that time to heal and kill the Corpses around you if there are any. As for it’s use it’s likely you’ll acquire Adrammelech far after it can do any good for you. More or less the earlier you beat it the longer it’ll be a functional option as a summon for you rather than an Esper that just matches up against Lightning-weak characters.

Zalera The Death Seraph

- Gemini Zodiak – Zalera was Zalera in Final Fantasy Tactics, played by the Marquis Elmdor. Zalera can be found in the Barheim Passage but you’ll have to do the sidequest to get the Barheim key first. Basically you enter Barheim and then go west to the screen previously inaccessible (near the Bloodwing hunt) and you’ll reach a Crystal. Put your Haste / Bravery / Berserk spells up and head in to fight Zalera. There is a five minute time limit to this fight and his henchmen appear occassionally to take damage from you. When his henchmen are around his defense is really high also. The time limit wasn’t really an issue but this was fought later in the game for me; his Disable and Sleep propensity means you could lose valuable time if you don’t have at least one character to protect against them and use Esuna / Esunaga. Near the end he’ll start spamming instant death attacks like Kill and other dangerous attacks to put you out of commission so it’d be wise to use a Quickening or something to wrap the battle up. As for it’s use Zalera is a nifty esper with it’s Kill and Condemnation. Kill can allow you to charge through a sticky situation against lesser characters while Condemnation can end an enemy’s life if they get below 30% of their total HP. Having Shock and Holy doesn’t hurt either.

Exodus The Judge Sal

- Libra Zodiak – Refers to a FFTactics Advance boss and also to Exdeath of Final Fantasy 5. You must complete the Mosphoran Wasteland sidequest with the Craftsmoogles. More or less it requires riding a Chocobo around a secret path accessible through the east part of Mosphoran Wastelands and you are to turn the different shrines on. Eventually you’ll open up a path to Exodus. The battle itself isn’t that bad, he has no elemental favorite and you should Dispel him at all times. You cannot use Items but that’s probably the easiest stipulation yet. Despite his no elemental favoritism he does like to use devastating spells like Scathe, and Flare. With a Bubble Belt or two you should be okay to survive these. He’ll use Reflect but that can be Dispelled, and he’ll put a paling up that you’ll have to wait through. An easy battle for a poor summon, although it is useful for one thing. Exodus can cast Meteor, an attack that can take off 20,000 – 30,000 damage. Of course it requires there to be 10 seconds left of summon time and he must be Immobilized before he can cast it.

Cuchulainn The Impure King

Scorpio Zodiak – Queklain from Final Fantasy Tactics. Definitely my favorite esper in the game and a scary battle. You need to complete the White Mousse Hunt first to be able to get the key to gain access to Cuchulainn. That said you can do this rather early but Cuchulainn the Esper fight should be done around level 40 if not higher. With the Sluice Gate Key, light up the 3rd and 10th Sluice Gates. Now go to No 3 Cloaca Spur and light up the 1st South Sluice Gate. Return to the center and open the 3rd and 10th sluice gates, the ones you just used. Now, light up the 4th and 11th Sluice Gates and go to No 4 Cloaca Spur to close the 1st north sluice gate. Back to the center area one more time to open the 11th sluice gate and close the 3rd as you will have the middle two lit up. Go south now to the No. 1 Cloaca and you can now go through the gate at the south into the water. Before you do this, put your Haste / Bravery / Shell / Berserk buffs up as Cuchulainn looms. This battle is ridiculously hard as you will have a constant Sap on your party, and he can even cast Sap in conjunction to that to deplete your HP times two. Dispel him and Dispel him again if he casts more protective magic. You probably want Bubble Belts but Black Belts prevent against Disable which he loves to use. If you are immobilized then hopefully you have long range weapons or something to use to be productive while you wait that out. Foobar’s will drop down from the sky (or the sewer I should say) and you’ll want to wrap them up fast. If you have Berserked tanks they should take a second to do this. Watch for his Invert ability as if he gets this off one of your characters could die from Sap very quickly. If you have at least one character with a Black Belt you should be able to stay alive but without a way to protect from Disable this is one of the hardest fights in the entire game. As an esper he is a true brute for you with tons of great stats already on himself. He tends to lean to the physical side as his attack is highest when he has full power and you really will enjoy his ability to keep himself alive with Curaja and the enemy HP leeching ability known as Malaise.

Zeromus The Condemner

Cancer Zodiak – Zeromus was the final boss for Final Fantasy 4 (Final Fantasy II stateside SNES). You must acquire the Stone of Condemner from the acolyte at the top of Mt. Bur Omisace and then you are to take this to the Stilshrine of Miriam, where you should Save upon entry and then go to the Way Stone in the back of the first area. You will have the option of going to a new area so do so. Before you go through the door put some spells up as you cannot, I repeat, you CANNOT use magic in this battle. This made this very difficult for me and I expended more Elixir / Ether / Megalixir than I’d like to admit. The Dark Lord’s can do some mad damage against you and will continue to spawn, which means lots of combos. Your best bet is to hope that your buffs like Berserk / Haste / Bravery last long enough to do a decent amount of damage on Zeromus. From there you should try to use Quickenings since you can’t use magic anyway. Zeromus will attack with a good combo rate, and is downright lethal near his death with that. He also uses Graviga, a gravity spell that will have you running around to heal. Easily one of the toughest esper fights and one that will require lots of levelling up and maybe a little luck too. It’s worth it though as Zeromus’ Big Bang attack (from FF4) will do large amount of damage, with (Zeromus’ Maximum hit points minus his current hit points) x 5. Needless to say later on with a Bubble Belt and with low current HP Zeromus can do a ridiculous amount of damage with Big Bang or Gravity Well. The danger of course is that Zeromus risks dying before he gets Big Bang off.

Chaos Walker of the Wheel

Taurus Zodiak – The final boss of Final Fantasy 1. You have to fight four elemental Chaosjets along with this battle against the Wind based foe Chaos. You need to complete a huge sidequest before fighting Esper Chaos . Once the Medallion of Might gains power to open the door to Chaos, get your buffs up and enter. You cannot run from this battle and you cannot use the Fight option, which is the biggest reason this was the hardest fight for me. Dispel it immediately and then work on getting those damn Chaosjets destroyed as they will otherwise provide a tremendous hinderance with their status afflictions, most notably Silence. Watch out for Aeroga and Aeroja as the latter may confuse you. Whirlwind will take off half your total HP so that can be a huge problem also. Expect lots of quick revives and then getting in what attacks you can before you die again and have to repeat the process. Your best bet is a tough spell like Flare but if you’re fighting it early you may have to rely on Bio. As an esper it’s kind of useless as it’ll use Whirlwind all the time but it won’t work on most hunts / bosses and you can’t really justify using him against normal enemies.

Ultima -

Zodiark -

Further Reading:

• Dragon Warrior 2 II Rhone Hargon Erdrick Walkthrough
• Wild ARMs I Walkthrough Ziekfried Ka Dingel Ragu ragula
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Diao Chan musou mode w/ Lu Bu
• Persona 3 III Summer Walkthrough: Kirijo Beach, Amada
• Suikoden V Lordlake

Final Fantasy XII Hunt Walkthrough Guide

At the beginning of Final Fantasy 12 you can sign up at Clan Centurio to be a hunter. You will sign up for hunts at bar’s (like Rabanastre’s Sandsea) or Montblanc at the Centurio Clan HQ. After that you will meet a petitioner, the person who wants you to hunt a particular monster. You are generally to return to this character at the finish to collect your reward. As you progress through the story and unlock new areas, new hunts will become available for you.

Each hunt has a rank, the higher meaning they are harder. Keep in mind that just because a hunt is available at any particular time doesn’t mean your party has a chance at defeating it. You will be rewarded with money and items generally and some of the items can be extremely useful. Note that I tend to do most of these hunts after a healthy amount of leveling up so if you have a low level quest a lot of these brute force type strategies may not be applicable for you.

Early Rabanastre Hunts

Rogue Tomato -

Rogue Tomato is basically the tutorial hunt, as the petitioner Tomaj is right in the Sandsea. Save and go to the Estersand and you’ll see a large red dot in the initial screen. This means a boss or a hunt. Anyway Rogue Tomato will have miniscule attacks but can occassionally use Flame Breath. You may need to use a restorative item like Potion but your sheer ability should be able to overcome this foe. You’ll receive Galbana Lilies after the fight and returning to Tomaj to get your 300 Gil, 2 Potions and Teleport Stone.

Thextera -

Thextera is a wolf life creature in the Dalmasca Westersand. Gatsly is the petitioner and he is nearby, so talk to him and save by the Westersand exit. Go to the southeast part of the Westersand in the Galtea Downs section. Thextera has many other smaller wolves surrounding him and this is a good example of an early battle that will prep you for later hunts. Don’t charge all of them or you’ll be obliterated unless you have support. Instead try to bait some of the wolves into chasing you to clear out Thextera’s ranks. By himself Thextera is fast yet pretty easy at first but towards the end he’ll use Fangs and will cry for help from other wolves. Stay rested after Fangs and continue to attack the wolves as they appear. Return to Gatsly for Teleport Stone, a Headguard and 500 Gil.

Flowering Cactoid -

This hunt is unlocked right after Thextera but is probably too difficult to complete with one character. With Penelo or a bigger group it should be no problem. Sign up with Dantro in the Estersand camp and you’ll have to go to the Yardang Labyrinth to find the Flowering Cactoid. Magic works well on him but you can just regular attack also, just stay with him as he runs through other enemies. He can use the 1000 Needles skill near death which will be an instant kill if it hits one of your characters. Dantro gives you 10 Potions and 500 Gil for the hunt and you can bring the cactoid flower to Dantro’s wife, an entirely different side quest.

After Escaping Garamsythe and Barheim Passage Wraith -

You can fight him alone but you’re better off getting the rest of your members to join you. Talk to Milha to initiate the hunt and go into the sewers and Wraith will appear in the first area. He generally casts Doom on all of your characters so you’ll need a few Phoenix Down to revive your allies. Dark and Blind can be annoying spells so a Mage Masher to Silence him could be useful for you. Wraith is susceptible to Thunder so use that as your main offensive threat.

Cluckatrice -

This battle is probably much too hard for you when it first pops up with Montblanc. Cluckatrice can begin after talking to Dania in the Giza Plains Dry Season settlement. Have the best weapons and armor as this is a brutal physical battle with Cluckatrice having three Chickatrice’s with it. Cluckatrice will Petrify your characters with Break and goes on a combo spree towards the end of it’s line so it’s imperative to concentrate on the chicks. You can Blind them and it will not go away so do this to all of them, and then either gang up on them one by one or use spells like Dark that hit all of them. Surround the Cluckatrice once it is by itself and keep up on your healing as it’s attacks just get faster and combo more often. Far and away your hardest mark yet.

Lhusu Mines

Rocktoise -

Another difficult hunt through Montblanc. Rocktoise has high HP, attack and defense so any positive status effects you can get the better, along with the best weapons and armor up to this point. While powerful he is slow to act and even slower to move, so attacking him with a long ranged member and running around with that member will allow your other two characters to attack Rocktoise at will. Skeleton’s might pop up during this battle so dispatch them when that time comes. In addition you might find that Slow or Blind works for a time on Rocktoise to neutralize his tough attacks. 1200 Gil, a Hi Potion and a Heavy Coat are your rewards from Pilika in Bhujerba.

Nidhogg -

Like the Rocktoise battle, this is tough when it is first available. You are to talk to Aekom and then go to the third room in the Lhusu Mines. Clear out the other enemies that pop out in the area first if you can, and then engage Nidhogg. Try to inflict Blind on him as that can be your best friend in this battle. He is weak against Fire but I ran out of magic as he neared death, and then he started spamming Tail Slash and melee attacks. Using a Quickening towards the end of his life would be a good idea. Back to Aekom and your rewards are 600 Gil, Rose Corsage, Balaclava and a Great Serpentskin.

Nam-Yensa Sandsea

Wyvern Lord -

Go to the Rabanastre weapon shop for details and then to Simoon Bluff (right at the end, the north path) of Nam Yensa. You’ll see the Wyvern Lord flying off near the cliff and it’ll eventually come near land, but kill off the Bagoly’s around the area first. You probably have Vossler at this point which would be a big help with his Telekinesis. Since he’s flying you’ll need ranged melee weapons (Elfin Bows) or magic / technicks. As for Wyvern Lord he likes to use Aero and Flame Breath so your best bet is to surround him. Keep your characters as far apart as possible, which shouldn’t be so hard considering you’ll have long range weapons anyway. You’re at the point where using statuses like Protect and Berserk on your tanks is a must, so do this for a few of your bow-wielding characters. Your reward back in Rabanastre is 1000 Gil, Longbow and a Shell Shield.

After Tomb of Raithwall

Croakadile -

This is one of many new hunts that pop up at this juncture. He is in Giza Plains during the rainy season. The southwest part of Giza Plains (Starfall Field) has a sunstone and the bridge near it is where the Croakadile will pop out. It may surprise you but if you see the bridge beforehand, get Protect and Berserk and whatever else you use up. Close range weapons you have probably will do more damage but long range weapons will allow you to avoid attacks like Aqua Bubble that would hit multiple close range people. His melee attacks get more repetitive as he gets closer to death so that’s another issue to deal with, and he’ll usually have used Growing Threat (raises level) at this point. After he croaks you get the Ring of the Toad, which you should give to the Giza Plains elder during the Dry Season. Return to the guy at the nomad village to get 1200 Gil, Serpent Rod and a Teleport Stone.

Enkelados -

Talk to the Low Chief Sugumu to set up this hunt, which is in The Shred area of the Ozmone Plains. This area is home to some rare game, notably Bull Croc and Aeros. You are to kill all the monsters in this area and then return and Enkelados should be there. You’ll have a moment to get Protect and Berserk on your tanks, and then charge him. Your best bet is to have your non berserked ally to attack with a bow and run away from the slow Enkelados, allowing your tanks to do a number on him. You probably have Larsa with you, making this even easier with his healing abilities. Enkelados is most dangerous for his Restore ability that he’ll use a few times. This will be a long fight but he doesn’t have much offense other than his Spin Kick. He drops an Errmonea Leaf and the Low Chief Sugumu in Jahara will award you with 1100 Gil, an Ether and a Golden Amulet.

Ring Wyrm – Talk to Balzac in Lowtown and then head to the Windtrace Dunes in Westersand. If there is a sandstorm you should be able to find the Ringwyrm in the southwest part. Protect and Haste are a must and Berserk for your tanks. He has a really high HP level and will use Restore, but only once. His attacks like Breath and Fira can kill you but his tendency to be slow means your tanks should be able to maul him so long as you keep Protect and Shell up so that they survive his onslaught. Balzac will give you 200 Gil, Moon Ring and an Icebrand for Whom the Wyrm Tolls.

White Mousse -

A level 5 hunt, wow. It is actually very difficult but if prepared it can be rather easy. Talk to Sorbet, the westersand moogle, to set up the hunt and then buy three Viking Coats, but don’t equip them yet (unless they are your best armor). Head for the Garamsythe Waterway, specifically the West Sluice Control. Clear the area of course. See the stairs leading to the water? Don’t go there yet, but first equip those Water absorbing Viking Coats and then use Protect and Haste on everyone. Berserk your tanks and then run down the stairs to get the White Mousse to come out. With Waterga out of the picture you just have to worry about his physical attacks and his ability to Blind / Slow / Poison you. As his high HP starts to deplete he will absolutely spam Waterga so if you don’t have Viking Coats, have fun. After the White Mousse goes down you get a Broken Key and Sorbet gives you 2800 Gil and the Yoichi Bow for Lost in the Pudding. The Yoichi Bow is brilliant and the earlier you can get this the better. Sorbet also gives you the Broken Key back but as The Sluice Gate Key instead. Note that if you aren’t at the point where you can buy Viking Coats you’ll need to work on keeping Reflect up or putting White Mousse to Sleep or some method to stop the Waterga.

Orthros -

Just fought a Flan, go fight another one now. Sign up with Montblanc and talk to the warehouse Seeq. To Garamsythe Waterway, to the area just east of where you fought White Mousse. Go to the nearby Save Crystal and put an all female party in as Orthros won’t spawn otherwise (you can switch out afterwards though). He likes to use Mythril Bubbles and Darkra and physical attacks so Protect and Shell should be up. If you really want to cripple his chances, Blind him, otherwise the usual Haste / Berserk tank strategy should allow you to handle another high HP yet relatively weak hunt. You receive a pack of Stolen Articles and returning back to the Contrite Thief will net you 3800 Gil, Horakhty’s Flame and an Unpurified Ether for Crime and Punishment. You will also get a very important Blackened Fragment from this hunt.

Marilith -

The bar master at the Sand Sea will be the petitioner for this hunt. Go to Zertinan Caverns via the south part of Dalmasca Westersand and you’ll be right by the area where Marilith resides. Continue south in this first area of Zertinan and you’ll see a frog, a trap and some sunlight to your west. Clear the area and get Protect / Haste / Berserk up, and then go to the far east part of the map in this area to get Marilith to come out. It attacks fast but just with normal attacks and Tail Spear which can Slow you. Getting Haste back up is essential so that you don’t lose time in an already fast fight. The increased likelihood of combos towards the end results in possible deaths but keep Cura and Raise ready for that possibility. A cask of Serpentwyne Must is your reward and the bartender at Rabanastre wants it. He will give you 2200 Gil, 3 Teleport Stones and a Serpent Eye for A Tingling Toast.

Gil Snapper -

Another Montblanc hunt, and another tough turtle battle. Giza must be raining and then you are to talk to Nanau near the southern save crystal. You’ll receive the Silence Urn from her and then hear that you have to cut down trees to make a bridge. There are six total including one in the area you start off in. Just go up to it and you’ll be prompted to cut it down. The other areas with trees are Starfall Field, Toam Hills, Gizas North Bank, Throne Room and Nomad Village. After all of them have been cut down a new path to the southeast will have opened up. Bansat will meet you as you enter and will tell you whether Gil Snapper is there or not. If he doesn’t say it’s there exit out and return. After he says it’s there he won’t again so you’ll have to take him on them or check for yourself later. This is a tough tank battle like Rocktoise but if you have Protect / Shell / Bravery / Haste / Berserk you should be okay. If you have Dispel then use that also. If his physical attacks are getting to you, try to get your Yoichi Bow user to get his attention and run around, exposing the slow Gil Snapper to your tanks. Gil Snapper will be drawn into the urn so return during the Dry Season of Giza Plains for 3000 Gil and a Phobos Glaze for Paradise Risen.

Henne Mines

Ixtab -

An easy hunt. Talk to High Chief Zayalu at Jahara to set thisone up. Get a Chocobo at the Jahara Entrance and race off to the Henne Mines. Hit the switch within and go south to Phase 1 Shaft. Hit the switch here and take either path and Ixtab will come out as the two join. Doom and Death Sentence are his favorites but meager physical attacks will be what he uses mostly. If you’ve defeated some of the tougher marks before this one was available you should have no problem. He can also Annul your magic level and spam some mediocre spells near his death, so get the Haste and Berserk out to allow your tanks to kill him before he does any damage. Chances are he will Annul one of your Berserked tanks and not your protective character farther away from combat. Back at Jahara you get 1300 Gil, an Ether and Soul Powder for The Dead Ought Sleep Forever.

Mt. Bur Omisace

Feral Retriever -

This is an easier hunt also so sign up for it as you get here. Talk to Hymms in Bur Omisace to hear about it and then go to the Save Crystal in Paramina Rift, Save, and go west of here. Protect and Haste your characters and Berserk your tanks. His Blaster attack can kill you or screw your statuses up as can Balance. Still though, expect physical attacks out of him, at least until he nears death. Hymms will give you 1500 Gil, Recurve Crossbow and two Teleport Stones for completing Befoulment of the Beast.

Antlion -

A tough hunt, especially for when it appears. You acquire the site 3 key for this hunt and you’ll have to get to where you fought Rocktoise to use it in the Lhusu Mines. This will enable you to enter a previously inaccessible area, one with much harder monsters like Dullahans. Eventually you’ll get to the Lhusu Mines Gate Crystal, where you should save and prepare for Antlion. Soon after you’ll reach a room where you’ll see a bright red dot and plenty of little red dots. This is Antlion along with four or five Mantis’. The worst part is, you can’t just draw the Mantis’ out and kill them first; they’re all so close together that when one of them rushes you, you’ll get the entire group after your ass. Needless to say the beginning of this battle if mayhem as you need to get rid of the Mantis’ as soon as possible before they devour your group. One of your characters will have to cast Cura constantly and Raise too. Even with good armor and Protect on they’ll cut through your defenses. Antlion can Cannibalize the Mantis’ to increase it’s own strength and ability and should this happen you’re dealing with an infinitely harder battle. Use Warp on the Mantis to get rid of them quick or just hope your Berserk / Haste / Protect tanks will mow through them before Antlion (itll probably be a combination of both). Once Antlion is by himself just keep your health and statuses up and you should be okay. He’ll use Enrage to make himself faster and more violent but all he’ll use is Flatten and regular attacks, but if he cannibalized one of his Mantis’ that will make him dangerous. Return to Bhujerba for 4300 Gil, Bubble Belt and Sickle-Blade for the Antlion Infestation.

Trickster -

Talk to Gurdy in Mt. Bur Omisace for this tricky hunt. Like Antlion, this hunt is available a lot earlier than you should go after it. He will hit you hard and then run, and is the first hunt to use physical palings (physical attacks being useless for a few minutes). Go to the Frozen Brook part and Monid the Clan Centurio Bangaa hunter will come out and tell you about the hunt. Walk around and eventually a huge white chocobo will pop out. Again, he hits hard with physical attacks and Choco-Comet so Bubble Belts are a must especially if you fight this early on. Get your Protect / Haste / Berserk buffs up, and it should be easy to wear him down to about 20%. He will however put up a physical paling at about this point so if you can get Quickenings up before this and kill him, good for you. Otherwise you’ll have to rely on non elemental spells like Bio to do damage until the Paling wears off, in the meantime dealing with Tricker going through a melee attack spam rage at the end of his HP bar. 4800 Gil and Deimos Clay will be your reward from Gurdy for this hunt and if you sell the Deimos Clay that will unlock the Canopic Jar in your clan shop.

After Judge Bergan battle in Bur Omisace

Vorpal Bunny -

A pretty easy fight I’d say, talk to Nera in the east part of Eruyt to start it and then go to the center part of The Rustling Chapel to get the Vorpal Bunny to come out. The bunny isn’t really hard but it’ll run from you and have full hp if it successfully gets away, plus it’ll run through other monsters that you’ll then have to take care of. If you don’t want it to run you can Berserk it and if you don’t want it to hit you, you can Blind it. Otherwise just take care of it for a Rabbit’s Tail and then a scene with Alja in Eruyt. After the scene you get 2000 Gil, Lightning Arrows and Gillie Boots for A Chase Through the Woods.

MindFlayer -

Definitely a step up from the Vorpal Bunny battle. Talk to Warrior Gurumu in Jahara and go to the Henne Mines. Specifically, head for the southeast area of Phase 1 Dig to see MindFlayer appear. Mind Flayer can create problems with his status attacks like Stop, Sap and Blind. Soul Etude is a favorite of his, restoring his HP once. If he puts up Hero’s March, Dispel all of those positive stats. If he does Invert on a character be prepared to heal asap. Towards the end his defense stiffens and you’ll see his magic attacks more often, but still aren’t powerful enough to bother you too much. For the Mine Flayer you receive 2200 Gil and the Carmagnole from Warrior Gurumu of Jahara.

Atomos -

Talk to your bangaa buddy Burrogh in Nalbina to start the Atomos Hunt. Go to the central area of Mosphoran for the Gate Crystal and then north until you get to an area with Vultures and a down sloped hill. You should see Atomos from afar so finish off those Vultures first. Get near Atomos and put up Haste / Protect / and Berserk / Bravery on your tanks. Atomos is another tremendously slow character so attacking him with a bow character and running from him will allow your tanks to slash through him immediately. So Dispel him right away and run away with that character to begin doing this strategy. He doesn’t do much other than put up positive statuses and use Spinkick to attack. He can also use Restore but his tendency to be slow to catch you may mean he’ll never get that off. Burrogh at Nalbina will give you 1800 Gil, Diamond Shield and Gaia Rod for the Atomos hunts completion.

Braegh -

Braegh is in the Salikawood, near the entrance to Necrohol of Nabudis. First though talk to Va’Kansa in the center of the Mosphoran Wasteland to set it up. You’ll have to defeat the Bomb King to get to Braegh, a tougher task than defeating Braegh itself probably. Teleport to Salikawood and head northwest, taking the westmost paths. You’ll see a unicorn even farther west in another area, this is Braegh. As you turn the corner get your protective status spells up like Shell and Protect and then just tank him with Bravery / Berserk characters. He may use Invert so Curaga right away but other than that his next best ability is probably Thundara. Back with Va Kansa is 1700 Gil, Hi Ether and Obelisk for the Rodeo to the Death fight against Braegh.

Bloodwing -

For this hunt you have to complete the Dalmasca Estersand sidequest with Dantro’s Wife and the traveler who eventually gives you the Barheim Key. Click the link in the above paragraph for information on how to complete the sidequest. When you get the Barheim Key, use it southeast of camp in the Murmuring Defile area. As you backtrack through Barheim and get to the Save Crystal, go south a little and then west for a new area. Take the northmost exit and then go west and northwest for the exit. In the Zeviah Span you are to go south and take the left path where you will see a boat that you can push over to continue south more. Going west now across this huge bridge will get Bloodwing to come out, so slowly go across and clear the enemies as you go. When Bloodwing comes out, retreat a little so that you don’t go farther and get more enemies to spawn. Or you could continue west and the next room has a Save Crystal and you could clear the opposite end and fight Bloodwing, your choice. It attacks fast with physical attacks, Leech and Eerie Soundwaves but nothing too powerful, although the sheer speed of it will make you heal. He evades well but a Yoichi Bow is ideal for inflicting heavy damage on him at a fast rate. Back at the Estersand Camp you’ll get 2400 Gil, Stun Bombs and Vampyr Fang for The Deserter’s Revenge from No. 381.

Roblon -

Probably the toughest hunt you’ve had in a while. Talk to Morgen in Nalbina about the Roblon hunt. This in the Nabreus Deadlands, where you’ll find a secret path that connects you to the northwestern areas, specifically Overlooking Eternity. This area is absolutely cluttered with Dead Bones, and they don’t have an unlimited number of spawns so you’re simply going to have to eliminate them all in this area to have a chance against Roblon. The good news is Roblon won’t go after you unless you go up near him, so don’t worry about him chasing you. Roblon himself will cast weak secondary magic and drain your MP with Fear. Just use the usual Bravery / Haste / Berserk tank strategy and with one healer you should be fine. Morgen gives you 3100 Gil, Giant’s Helmet and Mythril for Adding Insult to Injury.

Carrot -

A dangerous status inflicting malboro. In the aerodrome of the Nalbina Fortress you will find Zammadria, and then you should go to the Salikawood. Don’t kill any enemies until you see this Carrot creature so just flee west a screen from the Gate Crystal and then south where you will meet the Viera to help you. Continue to flee south and you’ll see the huge Malboro Carrot. Have your usual tank strategy ready although long range weapons might be wise to have as Carrot’s status attack abilities hit only certain areas. Dispel it immediately and then go to work on it. After Dispelling it, it likes to use Hero’s March so you should continue to Dispel Carrot. Like most tough hunts it has a propensity for combo melee attacks towards it’s death. Decoy might be nice so that you only have to Curaga / Esuna one person. Back to the Aerodrome and Zammadria for 5200 Gil, Stink Bombs and Putrid Liquid for the Carrot Stalk hunt.

Archadia / Draklor’s Laborary

Darksteel -

The homesick man in the Archades weapon shop sets up the Darksteel hunt. Getting to it is simple and so is defeating it. Go to Old Archades and enter Sochen Cave Palace. A few screens south to Temptation Eluded and you’ll see the Darksteel. Dispel to get rid of Bravery and Protect and Shell and then start tanking it. Like all other slow tortoise-type’s, you can use the long range decoy effect to ensure your Berserk / Brave / Haste tanks can demolish Darksteel’s weak defenses. The homesick man will reward you with 3000 Gil, Lead Bolts and Adamantite for Shelled Obstruction.

Vyraal -

Speak with the Viera Wayfarer and then go to the center area of the Cerobi Steppe, The Northsward. The Viera Wayfarer will help a little but don’t expect much. Vyraal should be Dispelled at the start and Diamond Sword’s do wonders on it. Vyraal does have the ability to put up a magic paling and uses Sonic Fangs and Lunge for attacks, but the combo attacks are the most dangerous part unless you have Bubble Belts for all. Vyraal may use Restore if he can manage to get it off.

Goliath -

In Nalbina there is a bangaa named Barrong who wants some help with his bestiary. He sends you off to Necrohol of Nabudis to encounter Goliath. To get there, don’t take the Salikawood entrance but the Nabreus Deadlands path and Goliath will be on the first screen. Of course do your best to kill the surrounding enemies and then engage Goliath. He likes to use spells surprisingly so Shell is paramount and if you have something to absorb wind or water then even better. Reflect is another option, but as he gets near death he’ll focus more on physical combo attacks so get Protect up in this case. He is slow moving so if you can get him to chase a character you’ll reap the benefits. Back to Barrong in Nalbina Fortress for 3600 Gil, Save the Queen and Enherjarium item for the Creature Collector hunt.

Lindwyrm -

A tough, tough fight. It has a ton of HP and uses Restore a few times so this truly is a battle of attrition for you. Talk to the petitioner and go to the Tchita Uplands, but it must be during the cloudy weather (not rainy or sunny). Go from the Phon Coast to Tchita Uplands back and forth until it is cloudy. As for the actual battle, considering L2 Sleep will be a huge detriment, it may be wise to fight with odd level characters. If you are having trouble with that get a Firefly to hold your exp level. This takes a huge weight off your shoulder as it’ll still use these abilities (L4 Break also) to no avail. However he still has Stone Breath and Rake and can put up barriers and such, so have Dispel ready and Bubble Belts equipped so you can handle the damage he inflicts. Expect Restore twice unless you can finish him off as he gets low.

Deathscythe -

Harder than the Lindwyrm for me, but in a totally different way. Talk to Popol in Nalbina and then head to the Necrohol of Nabudis from Nabreus Deadlands again. As you get to Cloister of the Highborn from the Hall of the Ivory Covenant, clear out most of the enemies in the area except a few. Take those few monsters and run towards that stairway and switch in some of your poor characters so that they can get killed. Once two of these characters are dead Deathscythe will appear and you can switch in your good characters and begin the fight. Of course clear out the rest of the enemies and then maybe get a Stop preventing armor or have Cronos Tears. He likes to use the most annoying ability on the game, Annul, and you may be scrambling to use your Ethers / Phoenix Downs when he gets low in HP and uses Annul and kills your characters. Like most he’s easy to get down to his lower stage and then begins to cast Death like mad and puts up a paling, so this will be bad for you. Good armor and Bubble Belts are a must because of this as you’ll either have to hold out until the physical paling runs out or you’ll have to use Curaga or other spells on Deathscythe. A tough battle indeed, when he dies Popol will give you 2800 Gil, a Hi Ether and a Soul of Thamasa for Dead City Watch.

Overlord -

A rather simple fight but one that you must have the armor and physical attacks to keep up. Teleport to Tchita Uplands after talking to the seeq in the archadian technicks shop and then go to the Sochen Cave Palace. You are looking for Doubt Abandoned and on the left side as you are continuing on will be the Overlord’s bright red dot. He specializes in physical attacks and uses Tri Attack and Pyromania. You have the archadian seeq’s “help” in this one. The Overlord hits hard but Protectga can deal with that, and your Bravery / Haste / Berserk tanks will do a ton of damage on there own. Overlord has a surprisingly low HP count and defense so after Dispel – ing him it should be easy to grind him down, but watch out for his potent attacks. Back at the Archades Technicks Shop you’ll get 3500 Gil, a Hi Ether and a Teleport Stone for The Things We Do…

Belito -

This is an interesting hunt as Montblanc seems kind of shady about it. Sign up with him and it seems Monid the Centurio Clan Bangaa is suspected of being the hunter attacking the clan members. Regardless, rest up and go to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea via teleport and enter the Zertinan Caverns in the Central Junction area. From here go northwest and you’ll be in the part of the Ogir Yensa only accessible through Zertinan. Go to the end of this area, Withered Shores, and you’ll see a bangaa as you approach the end. Before you go up ahead get your positive status effects up. Turns out Monid is here but also Ba’Gamnon and a friend of his. You’ve been ambushed, but Monid fights on your side so it’s 4 on 2 for a bit. A few seconds after though BaGamnon has a few more friends run in to make it four on four. Hopefully you got Protectga / Haste / Bravery / Berserk up before you entered this battle otherwise you’ll get pummeled initially. Monid and BaGamnon seem to go at it so try to gang up on his friends to slowly make the numbers favor you. You’ll have to be very conservative with all the bangaa alive and at least one character should be using Cura often (or Curaga if you have a character Decoyed). Shining Ray and Fangs will be Ba Gamnon’s favorite moves but once he’s by himself it won’t matter. Still, the beginning is dangerous and if you’re bunched too close together you could easily get wiped out as BaGamnon’s reinforcements ambush you a few seconds in. If you can withstand the first burst you’ll see Bagamnon dive into the sea and Monid will give you 5100 Gil and a Megalixir for A Dark Rumor.

Mystery Man -

Talk to Montblanc to set this one up. The Antlion hunt is a prerequisite. Anyway, teleport into the Lhusu Mines and go west and the hunt will begin. It is against FF5 legend Gilgamesh and Enkidou, his dog. Dispel them both and get your statuses up. Concentrate on Enkidou first as he has typical dog maneuvers like Eerie Soundwaves but in general relies on fast melee attacks and isn’t much of a threat in this battle. Gilgamesh has some nice combos but if you have Bubble Belts and have handled the above hunts, Gilgamesh should be easy to defend. Decoy is nice so that you only have to worry about Curaga on one character. Each 20% of Gilgamesh’s health will be a cut scene and you will be allowed to Steal a new treasure from him. This isn’t that important at first but between the 40%-20% range you can get the Genji Shield and between 20% – 0% range you can steal a Genji Gauntlet. He puts up a shield where you can’t hurt him until he does two Ultimate Illusions, but these aren’t too hard to absorb and since you can’t attack him it’s easy to be well rested and well protected for when they come. After his paling goes down, destroy him and they’ll run away.

Gilgamesh Hunt 2 -

At the Phon Coast hunter camp is a Bhujerban who fell from the sky and there is the site key right next to him. At the west part of gate 9 you can use this key to continue onward where harder monsters lie. As you continue to the southeast you’ll reach a Save Point. Save and get your barriers up, Gilgamesh is ahead. This is much harder than the first one and if you judge him by the last battle you’ll be sorely mistaken. Gilgamesh now uses L2 Sleep L3 Disable and L4 Break so try to match up your levels or get a protective accessory for the L2 or L3. Killing Enkidou fast is extremely important but you shouldn’t underestimate his speed and ability to evade your attacks especially near his death. Your best bet is to do the Nihopalaoa / Remedy trick to put him to Sleep and Blind him. From then on try to tank him or do high level magic on him. After that it’s all about keeping Protectga / Hastega / Bubble up and continue to keep them healed as Gilgamesh’s attacks are a lot more powerful and the combo rate gets a little ridiculous near his death. Of course you can steal a Genji Helm at the 40% – 20% range and a Genji Armor at the 20% to 0% range, might want to do that.

When Reddas joins for Pharos Ridorana

Catoblepas -

War Chief Supinelu in Jahara signs you up for this one. You are to go to Zertinan Caverns and fight Catoblepas with him. If you recall where Adrammelech is, roughly in the center of Zertinan, you are to go east and south a little to get to a Save Point. Continue that direction and you’ll see sand falling, you can walk through this area to get to the secret Hourglass Basin part. You’ll see Supinelu so get your protective stuff up, especially Haste / Berserk / Bravery for your tanks, and then rush up and Dispel Catoblepas. You can Blind him and tear him apart. He’s pathetic for this late in the game. In Jahara you receive Arctic Wind, Volcano and 3200 Gil.

Piscodaemon -

Ivaness at the top of Mt. Bur Omisace sets this battle up in the Gate of Fire of Giruvegan. As you backtrack through Giruvegan remember to line the paths up and walk through to make the green bridges appear. At the west part of Gate of Fire you’ll see Piscodaemon, so clear out the area if Vivian or Gargoyles and then get Protect / Shell / Haste / etc up. Dispel isn’t even really necessary as he just has Shell up but if you’re casting spells on him you might as well. His low HP and overall meager ability (despite the annoying Reverse) will mean you’ll have this wrapped up in a minute or two. Again, far too easy for you right now, but you do get 3800 Gil, Dark Shot and Scathe Mote for The Black Sorcerer.

Wild Malboro -

Talk to Rena in Eruyt and then go near where you fought Rafflesia in the Feywood. You’ll see the huge Wild Malboro with some young Malboro’s. With all these status ailments likely to come your way, keep Decoy up and have one character ready for Esuna all the time. As you destroy the other weak Malboro’s you’ll be able to focus on the bigger one. Dispel the Wild Malboro to start the battle and work it’s health down, but you’ll want to time a Quickening just right so that Soul Etude or a paling doesn’t prevent you from finishing the battle early. If he gets one or both off it’ll be a much longer battle. Back in Eruyt you receive 4600 Gil and Euclid’s Sextant for A Wild Stench.

Diabolos -

Much harder than the last few jokes. Talk to Miclio in Bhujerba and then teleport to Lhusu Mines. Go to the southwest part of Site 11 and you’ll see Diabolos. Bubble should be up as Scourge and Pyromania will trounce you otherwise. Curse can be an issue so have Esuna ready and Dispel ready if he re-casts Haste. He’ll throw a paling up towards the end of his life and against you’ll have to withstand tough Scourge attacks so hopefully you’re prepared for that. Once the Paling is down you should be able to finish him quickly.

Deathgaze -

Seems like Doomgaze from FF6. Anyway, definitely the toughest of this group so far. Talk to the traveler in any Aerodrome to see if Deathgaze is close. Keep flying around to different Aerodromes until he says it is close. When he does, Save and then choose to fly again and you’ll have the option of fighting it. Go up the stairs and continue to go up until you’re on the deck. Up one more set of stairs and you’re at Deathgaze so get your protective stuff up beforehand. You can get instantly killed by Crushing Fangs and it is powerful regardless. A paling comes out right away so having Faith on initially could be smart. Use Bio while you’re waiting or prepare Esuna if he Diseases, Saps, Confuses, etc you. He’ll use Restore and Renew so if you can’t combo or Quickening him to death when he gets low that’ll be a huge detriment. Another Paling will come up and as he gets more desperate Reverse will come up also. Dispel this especially if you have Berserked tanks attacking like mad. This will be a grueling battle and the little traveler kid gives you 3400 Gil and two Elixir for Visitor on Deck.

Other Hunts – Fafnir – Behemoth King – Pylraster – Ixion – Shadowseer

Further Reading:

• Final Fantasy 6 Finding Terra, Zozo, Jidoor Walkthrough
• FREE SHIPPING : Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story DSi
• Suikoden V HQ Defense Twilight Forest
• Dragon Warrior 2 II Tantegel Charlock Crest FAQ
• Complete Suikoden Tierkreis Walkthrough with 108 Stars Guide

The Feywood

Teleport to either Golmore Jungle or Eruyt to get near the Feywood. Go towards the south exit and you’ll be there soon enough. The monsters aren’t too tough around here, even the best ones like Cerberus or Golem. So head east (don’t take the Paramina Rift exit of course) and in the second screen you’ll find a map in the northeast corner. If you go to the far west you’ll find an exit to Henne Mines where you can fight three Abysteels that will probably kill you (but are really good EXP). Anyway, go directly south into the small area for a Save Crystal. If you try to go south you’ll see a dense mist, but it’ll disappear mysteriously. Cast all of your status spells like Bravery / Haste / Berserk and then Save again.

Rafflesia greets you in the next area. She is not too hard, but there is a magic draining field here, which is why I suggested to prepare before you got in. You will soon be out of magic, but it may not matter. If you have berserked tanks ready with Protect and Haste and Bravery you should be able to slash through her pretty fast. She will cry for help and get Marlboro’s to come help but they should be a short distraction for you. Return back and Save.
You are in a new area, one that your map doesn’t cover. There is a new map for this area, in the southeast part of the first screen. You are to head southwest and in the large part with four pillar buildings. Try to exit via the far southwest, but it’ll just loop back. Instead, go to one of the buildings and it’ll riddle you with illusion. Don’t move though, just spin the analog around and see between which pillars is there a forest illusion on the other end? Follow this path and you’ll end up in another building, and so on and so forth. You’ll make your way to the southwest but it won’t loop this time. Same thing for this area, but you’ll get to a gate and it’ll mention something about summoning a gigas. So naturally you are to summon Belias and then touch the gate, and Belias will open the gate.

The Ancient City of Giruvegan

Continue along to the Gate Crystal and save. Further along and hit the panel to go to a new area. You’ll see a boss ahead, Daedalus in fact, so prepare yourself with Protect / Berserk / Brave / Haste and whatever else you normally use. Of course he’ll cast Haste right away so Dispel that when he gets it up. He’ll use Ice Break and Tremor but with Shell / Protect these should do minimal damage. Really, nothing too tough here, and he doesn’t exactly surprise you – you can go up to him when you want.

After the defeat another panel appears, so use it. You’ll be in an underground area with plenty of Behemoth’s. Go down the ramp and search the Avrio Gate Stone. Now go all the way south to where the two Mythril Golems are and defeat them. Examine the Chthes Gate Stone now. Go back north for a decent amount until you can go west a little and then north. This will take you to a White Fang, and then double back and go south (sticking west). This path is fairly linear and leads to two Mithril Golems and after you kill them a path opens up with large green holographs to walk on.

In this new area, go down the ramp and kill the Mythril Golems and hit the Paron Gate Stone. Down more more ramps and then hit the Parelthon Gate Stone. Down yet some more ramps and you’ll see a green gate, the Tychi gate. Remember where this is and then work your way southwest (using the map’s direction’s). This path will go up some ramps and down some, leading to two more Mithril Golems and the Tychi Gate Stone. Press that switch and then you can either backtrack or continue the way you’re going (it’ll circle around). If you continue the way you’re going you’ll get a White Fang, otherwise take the Tychi Gate out of here.

You get to a dead end with a Mythril Golem, so kill it and a green hologram path will appear again. Walk on it for a while and you’ll get to a new screen, and Save when you can. This upcoming area may seem like a dead end, but if you walk up the west ramp and then northeast (sticking to the wall) a path will open up where the guard rail isn’t. Put your barriers up as once you get to the circular green area you’ll fight a boss, Tyrant.

Tyrant locks Techniques, but really, does that matter? Dispel him and unleash your Berserk / Bravery / Haste tanks on him. He’ll use Sonic Fangs and Piercing Graviga, it’s toughest attack spell. He likes to follow up the Piercing Graviga with Firaga so have a Curaja to get in there immediately. Other than that the high HP is the only thing barring your victory, so once he’s done hit the warp.

You are in a new area now, and if you check the map you’ll probably be confused.

The Great Crystal – A Prama Vikaari is where you are at. On two ends of the teleportation device are green holographic bridges for you. Scorpio gate is also near the initial panel but is not accessible currently.

Take the path leading south and down. Continue along (two more bridges to make appear) and you’ll get to another way path panel. Take this and then take the middle path (going directly up). You’ll eventually get to the Cancer Gate Stone. Examine this and then take the other path going up, and this will bring you back to the three way path (you took the middle path going up, and now you take the far right path that is going down).

Continue past a few screens and you should be at Dha Vikaari Trahk with another Way Stone. Another new area (very southeast part of map) with three exits. One is gate Pisces which is blocked currently. Take the path just left of this, leading down. You will soon be at Aries Gate and the Pisce Gate Stone. Hit the Pisces Gate Stone and return to that previously inaccessible area, where the Pisces Gate was. Go down and hit the Way Stone, and you’ll see a scene (incidentally, if you take the other path you have a chance at getting a Holy Lance).

A scene will occur after hitting the way path and you’ll get to a new area, where you should head south and Save. Put your protective stuff up and hit the Way Path. You’ll get to Shemhazai, a difficult boss indeed. It will use Mana Spring, Shock, and Flare just to name a few. It also starts off with Haste, so Dispel should be used ASAP. It’ll use Enrage at the end to make itself more powerful, and then will use Chain Magick. It’s defense gets high at the end so keep up the pressure to put him away. Shemhazai the Whisperer is now your latest Esper.

Continue along to the Way Stone and you’ll go through some scenes. Ashe will be alone and there will be lots of scenes. At the end, the Treaty-Blade is yours. After getting the Treaty Blade touch the Way Stone and then go to the Save Crystal and teleport out to the Port of Balfonheim.

Port of Balfonheim

Before moving on with the story (you’d go to the red dot), buy Shellga, Protectga, Esunaga and all the other good spells that popped up here. Also check out the weapon and armor store for new and improved goods, the best money can buy.

I went on a bunch of hunts before returning to the story.

If you want to continue on the story (the red dot in Port of Balfonheim) just skip below to the bold Port of Balfonheim. Anyway, Goliath was next on my to do list. Talk to the Bangaa ( Barrong ) in the far northeast part of Nalbina Fortress and he wants his bestiary complete. Goliath is in the Necrohol of Nabudis, in the first room if you enter from the Nabreus Deadlands side. It’s a perfect time to break in your new spells Protectga and Shellga. Goliath has a ton of HP and uses Aeroga and Gravity at first, but later on goes crazy with physical attacks so Protectga is a must. For The Creature Collector you get 3600 Gil, Save The Queen and the Einherjarium item. Save The Queen is a particularly good Great Sword for your use.

While in Nalbina go to the Aerodrome and talk to Zammadria to set up the Carrot hunt. Carrot is in the Salikawood, so teleport there and then use the Flee option as you run a screen west and then south. From here you’ll meet the Viera who said she’d join you at the scene back at the Rabanastre Clan. Anyway, continue to flee south and you’ll soon see a huge Malboro, this is Carrot. Quickly cast Dispel and be ready to cast it again if it uses Hero’s March. Otherwise, back up and watch out for Bad Breath. It might be wise to attack from a distance so that it only gets one character per attempt if it works. Carrot has low HP for this point in the game though and that helps, but she gets violent towards the end with physical attacks. Keep on her and when she goes down, return to the Aerodrome in Nalbina to get 5200 gil, Stink Bombs and Putrid Liquid for the Carrot Stalk hunt.

Lindwyrm was much too hard for me until this point, and even now he pushed me to the edge. This huge dragon is only around during the cloudy weather in Tchita Upplands. This does not mean rain and this does not mean sunny weather – there are three different types and it needs to be cloudy. You get a Rusted Scrap of Armor at the end of the battle. Back in Old Archades you get 4200 Gil, Barrel Coat and a Hi Ether for Old Legends, Decaying Bonds from Fermon.

Teleport to Mosphoran Wasteland and talk to the Craftsmoogles. Then go to the far south part of this camp screen and turn the south Wind Shrine on. Go through the northeast into Rays of Ashen Light and towards the marking on the map. You’ll eventually get to some grass you otherwise wouldn’t be able to pass and you’ll go to another screen, Skyreach Ridge. Continue along until you get to the West Wind Shrine, which of course you should turn on and then use your map to see another marking has appeared to your northwest. For now though you’ll be stuck unless you push the boulder down near the West Wind Shrine. Do this, and then go down and just north of the shop is the North West Wind Shrine which you should also touch. Now get a chocobo and head towards those two marks.

The chocobo won’t go any further, so get your Berserk / Haste / Protectga / Shellga / Brave and anything else you use up. Exodus is ahead, and you should Dispel him immediately. He’ll use Flare and Unleash and the devastating Scathe. Still, with Bubble Belts this shouldn’t be too hard to survive, just have Curaja available. He is obsessed with having Reflect status up and when he gets near death he’ll use a Physical Paling ability so you have to use magic (or wait until it runs out). You will be using Dispel and Bio / Flare / whatever else you have on him if you are to use magic. Still, Exdeath’s HP is easy to trim down but he gets a bit difficult at the end.

Go to Nalbina Fortress and talk to Popol in the middle area. He is the petitioner for the Deathscythes hunt. You are to go to the Necrohol of Nabudis, might as well from the Nabreus Deadlands side. Work your way east a few screens to the cloister of the highborn and clear out the area of most of the monsters. Now the ones that are left, quickly switch in your two worst characters and dont equip them with anything. Let them get demolished by the enemies and if you are near the stairway that you entered (through the hall of the ivory covenant) the Deathscythe will appear. Once they are dead or able to switch out, do so and get your regular party in. Deathscythe is no easy fight. Getting most of his HP gone is easy but then he does the physical paling that my party of tanks just loves. You can try to use magic like Curaga whatever you feel is most efficient or you can wait until the paling wears off. Either way, once he starts getting low he starts casting Annul and Death like crazy on your party so Phoenix Down’s or Raise’s need to be ready fast. It is imperative to kill him fast as he gets low on HP as he will also do melee attacks that will cut through even Bubble Belt characters. Back in Nalbina Fortress Popol will give you 2800 Gil, a Hi Ether and a Soul of Thamasa for Dead City Watch and the Deathscythes.

Overlord is a pretty easy hunt. Go to the Technicks shop in Archades and talk to the Seeq, who will actually help you. Teleport to Tchita Upplands and enter the Sochen Cave Palace from there. Your destination is Doubt Abandoned, and you’ll see the Overlord’s bright red dot soon enough. Careful with him, all of his physical attacks hit devastatingly hard. Protectga, Berserk, Haste, Bravery, use all of these. The good thing is, Overlord has a weak defense and low HP so this will be done soon either way. If you keep Dispelling him, which you should do right away, he’ll waste previous turns recasting Bravery for nothing. Simple battle, return to the Archades Technicks shop for 3500 Gil, Hi Ether and a Teleport Stone for The Things We Do.

Sign up for Belito with Montblanc. He will tell you of the bangaa hunting down clan members, and Monid the bangaa seems to be acting suspicious. Either way, rest up and teleport to Ogir Yensa Sandsea and enter the Zertinan Caverns through the Central Junction in Ogir-Yensa. You will have an exit to the northwest of you to the Withered Shores. Head towards the end of this dead end area, but not all the way. You’ll eventually see a bangaa from afar, but first put up Shellga, Protectga, Bravery, Haste and Berserk (if necessary).

You get jumped by Ba’Gamnon, and that bastard has a friend up here with him. Monid is up here too to help you and he seems to migrate towards Ba Gamnon. After a few seconds BaGamnon’s friends will run out so it’s four on four! What fun. If you have Berserked characters this can be kind of difficult as it’s better off if you can gang up on certain characters, as the faster his friends fall the faster you’ll have Ba Gamnon to yourself. He’ll start to throw out Shining Ray and other powerful attacks but as long as you don’t have his other three friends with you should be able to withstand his attacks, especially with Bubble Belts. Monid explains this was all phony to get Ba Gamnon and the clan hunters out in the open, but you still get a reward of 5100 Gil and a Megalixir for A Dark Rumor. And Ba’Gamnon ends up in the quicksand.

There is one last available hunt, the Mystery Man. Montblanc is the petitioner of course and you are to go to Lhusu Mines (teleport) and Gilgamesh is at the bridge. Now he has Enkidou with him, which isn’t like the Enkidou in Final Fantasy 5 , but instead is a dog. Focus on that first (dispel it right away and if it uses status things on itself) and then you can get to Gilgamesh. If you remember from FF5 you can steal Genji equipment from him. In this particular battle, you can Steal from him at certain HP intervals. For example you only get worthless Potions from 40% to 100% of his health, but if you Steal from him in the 20% – 40% range you get the Genji Shield and in the 0%- 20% range you get the Genji Gloves. Now, the Genji Gloves allow multiple hits to be scored more often, something that is very valuable. You definitely want to get this. In this 0% to 20% range he puts up a physical and magical paling so you’ll have to withstand that until he uses two Ultimate Illusions. After that, finish him off and Gilgamesh will run off with Enkidou.

This hunt isn’t finished, so get to the Teleport Stone and use it to Phon Coast. In the same place the Gate Crystal is at, go to the northwest part and talk to the Bhujerban who fell. Search behind him for the Site 11 Key, it shines. Teleport back to Lhusu and go past the Gate Crystal and past where you fought Gilgamesh, all the way up to the gate leading to Site 11. Use the key and enter into the new area. It’s not too complicated, most of the “treasures” are Bugs and there are a few Switchboards you can turn on to open a few gates, one for convenience and one to continue on. When you get to Site 5 you have some options, as the south path takes you to the Lhusu Candle (map for this secret area)

If you go north you can walk through a wall and fight some Pandora’s and get an Aegis Shield treasure at the end. South of here is a Save Crystal and another room after that. Be sure to save, the second form of Gilgamesh and Enkidou is very difficult. Gilgamesh takes off 1500 a swipe and Enkidou is very dangerous especially near his death, as he uses instant kill tactics. This kind of limits the effectiveness of Bubble as Enkidou will cut through any amount at rapid rates. Always Dispel him when he puts up protective statuses. If you can finish him off the battle is a lot easier, allowing you to Steal the Genji Helmet and Armor from him at the 20-40% and 0-20% intervals. The Nihopalaoa trick can help to Blind and Oil up the Enkidou dog and Firaga will destroy him afterwards. Gilgamesh by himself is a lot easier but even with the best armor and Protect he’ll kill you with combos. Back to Montblanc for 10,000 Gil and Masamune Katana for Battle on the Big Bridge.

Port of Balfonheim

Continuing on with the story, you ended up at Balfonheim after the Giruvegan. You are to talk to Reddas in the southwest part, the port area. Reddas will tell you about the Sun Cryst and some other things, and then he’ll join you as a guest. You will now be able to use the Strahl so head out to the Aerodrome and fly it to the Ridorana Cataract.

The Ridorana Cataract

A really nice looking place, to say the least. Can’t complain about the FF12 graphics so far. Save your game when you get there, and you can return to the anchor to leave when you want. Past the Save Point and then take the southern exit to the Colisseum area. There are a bunch of traps in the central area so have Libra ready, but head north and then a quick west leading to the Ridorana Cataract map. Return east and head north to the new screen and northeast a bit more for a Save Point. There is a dangerous trap near it so careful.

The Pharos at Ridorana

As you enter this also gorgeous area you will come upon a sleeping dragon, the Hydro. He’s a pushover for a prepared party, and he likes to use Darkra and Sonic Fangs so Shellga and Protectga are useful. If you have Brave Berserk and Haste up on your tanks (including guest Reddas) you should absolutely maul this boss. Should he disease you make sure your Remedy Lore is of level 3 and you can cure it simply.

Head inside and Fran will read an inscription. When you regain control head further inside to a Gate Crystal and a Way Stone. Save and take the north stair above the Way Stone. You’ll notice Black Orb’s floating after defeating a monster. Should you see one, pick it up, you’re looking for three of them. Work your way to the northeast, and then south, and then west to get the map of the Pharos First Ascent. Fight up until you get three Black Orbs, and then once you do, you have to place them on the alters in The Wellspring area. Two of the altars are only accessible through paths that come from the Wellspring Labyrinth.

After all three have been placed the Seal of Night is removed and you can enter the far east door. Do so and you’ll be transported to a dark, desert area. Hmm…there is no mini map for you to use, so just head up the sand hill and you’ll see a dark grey ball in the background.

Head toward this, it is the tortoise boss Pandaemonium. Dispel his Protect / Shell immediately and get to work. He’s slow and if you can get him to chase one of your characters while your Berserk / Brave / Haste tanks go at him, he should have no shot. He’ll use a Power Spin to attack but it’s not too problematic. Stone Gaze is also a favorite of his, Flatten too. Still, none of these should kill you and with a Bubble Belt he’ll have no shot to kill you. You’ll have to withstand his Perfect Defense for a while but it’s not too hard to run around for a while until it fades.

Return back to The Wellspring and take the Way Stone to a new area now that the seal is gone. In this new area you will notice dead ends, but you can form green bridges by killing the Brainpans sitting around. Brainpain has a Self Destruct function so don’t let them sit when they get low. Their presence basically means you have to search every nook and cranny of this place, not that that’s really out of your way. In some of the rooms you will have to go in circles as the Brainpan’s and Deidar’s re spawn. Basically, kill a certain amount of those two in each section and continue your way up to Horizon’s Break, which has a Save Crystal.

Save and go south toward the triangle and to the stairs. Following this path you’ll get to Slyt, a fish. Dispel it right away but you’ll see it keeps casting Regen back on itself. Other than that it likes to use physical attacks which get stronger as the battle progresses (as does his defense) but really he has little to offer besides melee attacks. Continue past after the battle is over and you’ll come to a way stone that you should use.

Second Ascent – Reach of Diamond Law

To start off, go to the other side of the waterfall to save. Now this room has four rooms, each with an altar. Each area will nullify certain commands, like Item or Magic or Attack or Mini Map. The southeast one is Mini Map and since that isn’t an issue, let’s go there. Touch the altar and enter.

Use the big map to guide you around here. The first area is simple, the other, not so much. You can find an exit in the northeast corner going downstairs into the Station of Suffering. If you want the map, go to the northwest part of the floor. In this area though, go to the southeast corner to find another set of stairs going up. Work your way to the northeast corner of this room and then go west to the northwest corner to find the exit. Tough Bune monsters roam these areas in great abundance so be careful. After this floor you’ll be near another waterfall area which has a Save Point to the right as you walk in. South now and up the stairs in the triangle area.

Walk halfway into this large room and then get your barriers up. You’ll soon be teleported to another boss battle, this time against Fenrir. He has some fast physical attacks so Dispel him to eliminate his bonuses and then Protectga your party. If he tries Bravery Dispel it. Again, Dispelling him and keeping your good statuses up is paramount in success, although the last few “bosses” are more like regular monsters that are a little beefed up.

Continue along after the fight to a waterfall area with lots of altars to touch. Of course if you took the Knowledge one (Mini Map) like I had suggested, you go to that altar and touch it and the door will lose power. Go to the left side of the circular room and use the Dais of Ascendance to get to floor 67F.

Use the Save Point and then the Way Stone to get to the Reach of the Occult.

Third Ascent

Read the note ahead of you and take the Black Sigil to 81F. Go along to the east in this area to what would seem to be a deadend for you but get close and you’ll see it says Fool’s Facade so strike the wall and go through, getting the treasure for a Dragon Whisker and the Green Sigil.

Careful of traps in this area, and when you get out go east and touch the Red Sigil Way Stone quick before the flying Aeronite hurts you. Grab the Circlet here and touch the Purple Sigil Way Stone to get out of there. Check the wall immediately north of you and hit through it to get to a regular way stone that you should take.

You are at the Dais elevator again and you can take it to 90f. This is what you want to do, but first use Protectga, Haste, Brave and whatever else as a boss fight looms.

It is Hashmal in fact. Dispel his Protect right off the bat and get started on him. He will use Roxxor which can take off a bit, and Quakeja as he gets close to death. This could slow you, and in combination with his rapid melee attacks you could be in trouble. Bubble Belts are perfect for this situation, and his HP is easy to whittle down if you can stay alive. Hashmal is your newest Esper.

Go along the path now until you get to the Save Crystal on floor 98f. Save and continue to the way stone, but use some protective magic before you get there as a battle against yet another boss is on the horizon. You’ll actually go through a bunch of screens first, but Gabranth will then battle you.

This battle is really very easy especially if you did some of the status’ before you hit the elevator. Anyway, Dispel him right away of course and get Protectga up to protect against his Guilt attack and anything else he throws at you. After a quick defeat (likely) from his likely due to his low HP, Cid will berate him and a new battle starts.

Now a battle against Cid and his summon Famfrit the Darkening Cloud. Famfrit will join Cid halfway through, but that’s pretty fast as going through Cid by himself is pretty simple. Before you get him to half HP though make sure Protectga and Shellga are up as Cid + Famfrit are a tough duo. Dispelga them but Cid will continue to use Protect and Haste and other positive spells on Famfrit.

However Cid can’t be hurt during all this so you have to focus all of your attacks on Famfrit, which can be tricky if you have Berserked characters. Famfrit is most known for his Waterga spell which can do about 1000 each whether Shellga is up or not. His HP is also pretty deep so withstanding the middle part of the battle until Famfrit is defeated is the key. Cid gets much more vicious after Famfrit goes down, using Gatling Gun and other gun attacks to hurt the entire party. The hard part of the battle is done though, and it may have taken a lot out of you in terms of HP and MP so rotating characters could help. You then get Famfrit the Darkening Cloud, and some scenes go by and you’ll be able to save (you’re in Balfonheim).

Balfonheim Port

At this point in the game you can go to Bahamut, but there are plenty of things to do. New spells and items are everywhere and several hunts have popped up. Buy all the new spells / weapons / armor from Balfonheim that you can, then teleport to Dalmasca Estersand for Hastega from the Unlucky Merchant. With the new weapons and armor at Balfonheim you should be able to finish off most of the hunts and espers that you haven’t defeated yet. If not, go to the Baknamy Merchant in the Necrohol of Nabudis for the best armor in Maximillian, one of the best technicks in Telekinesis and the Scathe black magic spell. To get to the Baknamy Merchant, head to the Necrohol of Nabudis from the Salikawood extrance (near Bomb King and Braegh). Go to the northwest of the first room (Hall of Effugent Light) and go into the secret room, and to the left of the Pandora treasure you see, will be a ??? prompt. This is the Baknamy Merchant.

Catoblepas is one of the easier hunts, go to Jahara and the War-chief Supinelu. You are to meet him in the Zertinan Caverns, in the Hourglass Basin. Go past where Adrammelech is into the Save Point area to save and get your restorative stuff up, although it may wear off by the time you get there. Walk through the quicksand in this area to a secret area (Hourglass Basin) just north. Dispel Catoblepas of course and then go at it. Hastega should allow you to be a little more efficient although it does cost quite a bit. Catoblepas should be an easy victory despite his physical prowess, and back at Jahara you acquire 3200 Gil, Arctic Wind and Volcano .Piscodaemon can be found in Giruvegan but go to Ivaness in Mt. Bur Omisace to sign up. Piscodaemon is in the Gate of Fire at Giruvegan, an annoying walk to say the least. Remember, paths appear at the dead end of these large stairway rooms in the Giruvegan so look for them.

At the Gate of Fire, go to the west part of it and you’ll see his large red dot. He’ll have some Vivian or Gargoyle’s near him so eliminate those if you can, but if they are too close to him you’ll just have to deal with them. Piscodaemon only has Shell up and has a ridiculously low amount of HP. I tore through him in a matter of seconds and he only got Invert off on one character. The walk back is just as fun as the walk to Piscodaemon. Back at Mt Bur-Omisace you will get 3800 Gil, Dark Shot and Scathe Mote for The Black Sorcerer from Ivaness.

The Wild Malboro petitioner is Rena in the far northwest of Eruyt Village. You are to go to the Feywood, where you fought Rafflesia ( Redolent Glade ). The Wild Malboro is here with three other smaller Malboro’s. Quickly Dispel the Wild Malboro and get to work on the others. Decoying a member is a good idea so that the status breaths only hit one character (have your other berserk / bravery / haste tank use a long range weapon). It will use Soul Etude towards the end of a Mist Chain would be a wise choice. It will also use a Paling so physically attacks will be nullified. You can wait for this to go off or throw your Holy / Flare types at him. During this time you’ll be holding off several physical attack combo’s on the Wild Malboro’s part so you may wish to run around in circles to run the Paling out faster. A little tricky and longer than you’d think, but once Wild Malboro bites the dust return to Eruyt to get 4600 Gil and Euclid’s Sextant for A Wild Stench.

Diabolos is a bit more difficult than the last few hunts. Miclio is in the southern part of Bhujerba and after talking to him teleport to the Lhusu Mines. From here you are to go west on the map until you get to Site 11, and then it’s the southwest cape of Site 11. Diablos is by himself so get your barriers up and Dispel his Haste. His HP is low but he has some things that can be an issue. Bubble is as vital as ever here and Esunaga for Curse on your allies. Towards the end he gets downright nasty casting bad effects like Confuse Disease Sap Poison and Curse so Esunaga will be your best friend. Again, physical paling comes into effect but if you have fast and powerful enough tanks you can kill him before he gets up it due to his low HP (or with a Quickening). If you can’t pull this off you’ll just have to withstand him through his Paling or use magic. Miclio will give you 2600 Gil, Zeus Mace and the Demon Shield for The Child Snatcher.

Sign up for Deathgaze and go in any Aerodrome to find the kid traveler who sets up the battle against the Doomgaze Wyrm. You’ll have to fly to a few different Aerodromes and talk to the kid, he’s in a different area each time but as you continue to talk to him Death Gaze will get closer. This is a very difficult boss so when the kid says Deathgaze is near, Save and then go talk a flight somewhere and you’ll have the option of fighting it. Go up a few stairs until you get on the deck. Just put up Protectga and Shellga and then Dispel the Death Gaze Wyrm. It will put up a physical paling right away so you’ll have to withstand that. He’ll use Fireball and Crushing Fangs, and instant kill attack. He can also Disease, Confuse, Sap, Poison and do other status effects that require a Remedy or Esuna. Worse yet, even when you can attack him he will use Restore to get a little bit of HP back and then Renew to get it all back. You can probably avoid these by killing him off before he does it, but it can sap your MP / items the longer the battle goes. His HP really isn’t that high though but he will get a Paling up right before he dies again. In addition watch out for Reverse, as he will cast this on himself just as he is about to die so if you have some Berserked tanks up there, those attacks will begin to heal him.

Maybe try to time Dispel so that right when he Reverse’s himself you have Dispel to get rid of that. With all these tricks up his sleeve it’s easy to die or have a really drawn out battle. Talk to the little kid traveler to get 3400 Gil and two Elixir for the Visitor on Deck. Kind of bullshit that you didn’t get more loot.

Ixion is to be signed up for with the Whitecap Wench in Port Balfonheim. Teleport to Pharos at Ridorana and use the elevator to go to Penumbra. You will now be in Subterra – Origin of Darkness. If there are monsters around the circle you are at then Ixion won’t appear. If so, use the elevator back up to the 1st floor and then back down to Subterra until there are no monsters. When this happens just get your Protect / Shell / Haste / Bravery / Berserk combo up and run around until it appears. Dispel him and notice that Ixion is especially prone to tankers as it’ll put a magic barrier up at the halfway point. He’ll also use Fearga which will deplete everyone’s MP. Most of his attacks are physical ones like Kick that take off 1000-2000 so Curaja should be ready at all times. Towards the end his defense gets a huge boost and he’ll start using Thundaga and Aeroga. Your reward is 3000 Gil, Sapping Bolts and the Ragnarok Great Sword!

With Holy and Hastega and other powerful spells you can probably now handle Cuchulainn in Garamsythe. Via Lowtown, go to the central area of Garamsythe where you should close the 3rd and 10th Sluice Gates (light up the two pedestals to the right basically). Go to the No. 3 Cloaca Spur area and find the 1st south sluice gate to close that. Return to the center area and open the 3rd and 10th Sluice Gates, the ones you just closed. Go to the other side now to close the 4th and 11th Sluice Gates. Now go to the southeast exit to the No. 4 Cloaca Spur and close the 1st North Sluice Gate. Back to the central area once more to open the 11th sluice gate and close the 3rd, leaving the middle two (4th and 3rd) lit up.

Save and go to the southmost area, No. 1 Cloaca, to fight the Esper Cuchulainn the Impure. This battle is extremely tough and even though it’s accessible early you will get destroyed until later on in the game. There is a permanent Sap on your entire group that you can’t get rid of, so don’t bother trying. He can also cast Sap in conjunction to this so have Curaja and Regen ready. Black Belts are absolutely essential as Disablega can be fatal otherwise. If he Immobilizes you, hopefully you have a long ranged weapon to suffice while you’re waiting for that to wear off. Foobar’s drop from the sky during this battle, not huge hazards as your Berserked characters should be able to take them out. Holy works well on Cuchulainn but so does the usual Tank strategy. Bubble is nice but you’re better off with the Black Belt to prevent Disable so you’d have to cast Bubble instead. As long as you don’t let the battlefield Sap drain you down too far, the Impure King should be much easier to defeat at this juncture in the game.

Return to Lowtown and go to Old Dalan’s house, where you should talk to Roh’Kenmou. He’ll tell you about a medallion split into four, you are to recover the four parts and get a secret. You should be able to give him the Blackened Fragment for now, from the Orthros Bounty. You may have already received the Dusty Letter in the north residence in Lowtown but if not go and get it now and talk to Deeg the seeq. You must have completed the Wraith hunt, but please, that’s been done over a 100 hours ago. Go to Garamsythe Waterway, by the four sluice gate switches and the Save Crystal.

The middle two were still lit up for me from the Cuchulainn fight so I opened both of them so all four lights were dim and then left and returned, just in case. Now back at the Save crystal, do the following: Close No. 11 sluice gate, close No. 4 sluice gate, open No. 11 sluice gate, close No. 3 sluice gate, and open No. 4 sluice gate. You should hear a noise, so go to the south part of the room to find a Dull Fragment. Bring this back to RohKenmou and then talk to Filo in the east part of the same section. He’ll inform you about a part of the medallion, and then go up the stairs and talk to the Curious Woman in the Southern Plaza and listen to her story about how she is an amnesiac. Do the moogling to the Bazaar and talk to the orange bangaa. He’ll know of who he sold it to so go to Yugri’s Magicks and talk to the Sotted Imperial who wants you to bring the Curious Woman to him. She’s not at the fountain in the Southern Plaza anymore, so go talk to Filo in Lowtown again and agree to go to Yugri’s Magicks. At the end of the scene there, you’ll get the Grimy Fragment. Congratulations, you don’t have to fetch any more crap for a while. RohKenmou will go off to Nabudis with the four pieces of medallion and will invite you with.

Teleport to Archadia and go to Charlotte’s Magickery to find RohKenmu and another acolyte buddy and he’ll have sold the Moonsilver Medallion. Hehe, go to Old Archades and talk to the Proper Gent who is actually Otto. He will give you the Moon Silver Medallion which you should return to RohKenmu and then teleport Nabreus Deadlands and go to the southern Save Crystal to talk to Ma’Kleou. They will tell you of Humbaba, Fury and Chaos, evil monsters that have spawned from Nabudis being destroyed. They were sealed but you have now been chosen to defeat them all. You need one more medallion to take part in this, the Medallion of Might in Overlooking Eternity. This is where you fought Roblon. Slice through the Dead Bones and at the top you’ll receive the Lusterless Medallion, and the Medallion’s of Love and Bravery.

You can now open these doors in the Necrohol of Nabudis anytime you’d like. Save at the Gate in Nabreus and then enter Necrohol. In the second room there will be the Door of Loathing on the southeast side.

Use the Medallion of Love to open the door and you’ll see a giant green monster…but Fury the bunny kills it. Fury can do some fast and powerful damage to you, so Dispel it right away and prepare to do it again when Hero’s March comes up. His HP is really low at this point so despite Bunny Slam and his other attacks, he shouldn’t be able to kill a character with the Bubble Belt on. Continue to Dispel the little jerk and he uses Bacchus Wine and Hero’s March some more. Once he’s done, continue on.

The third area (right after this one) will be the door of Despair. Unfortunately this is the Medallion of Might and it hasn’t been powered up yet, so go to the next screen and continue west through a few Babil’s to the Door of Horrors where you will use the Medallion of Bravery to open it. You will encounter Humbaba Mistant who has Bravery and Haste up. Quickly Dispel that and get to work. He has a ton of HP but the Berserk idea works well especially with a Genji Glove tank. Humbaba casts Protect so Dispel that and his Darkness attack can be absorbed. Temblor is a powerful attack of his that causes Disable and Immobilize. This is all to watch out for though. After the battle the guy shrinks and his sword falls on top of him, crushing Hambaba Mistant to death. Your reward is a map of the Necrohol of Nabudis, and if you already beat Fury you’ll receive the Medallion of Might. You can now open the door of Despair, but please be ready for this, it’s a tough battle. It is against the Esper Chaos and you cannot use the fight option so your magic gambits have to be ready. You cannot run from this battle.

Chaos has Haste and Regen up so get rid of those immediately. You cannot attack so you are limited to Technicks and Magicks. Good luck. There is an Air, Flame, Water and Earth crystal that you should kill before working on Chaos. They can be an annoyance especially with the weird elementals (you can use Blizzara on the fire one and it is immune?) Quickenings might be your best bet to get rid of those things right away as they don’t have a lot of HP. Chaos will annoy you until he is dead. Aeroga and Whirlwind are favorites with Aeroga doing around 1000-2000 depending on Shellga being up while Whirlwind does around 5000. Worse yet you will be getting Silenced all the time so keep up with Vox or Echo Screens or Remedies, although I ran out of the two latter items and got lucky. Towards the end of the line for Chaos he’ll start pulling off Aeroja’s, doing around 3000-4000 on each with Confuse sometimes coming along with. Ouch. A little bit of luck is involved as is fast recovery on your part; it will look like defeat in many cases, it is your duty to keep yourself in it. This is especially true at first but as you start using Bio and Flare you should be able to wear Chaos down. There are only a few espers left at this point.

Speaking of, maybe you received the Stone of Condemner at Mt. Bur Omisace at some point. If not go to the top and talk to the acolyte to acquire it. You are to take it to the Stilshrine of Miriam, and when you get to the Way Stone in the south of the first room, you’ll be prompted to use it and go to a previously inaccessible area. Right before you open this door, put up all the protective and other status enhancers you want. The battle inside will not allow you to use magic.

The opposite of the Chaos battle, this time against Zeromus the Condemner from Final Fantasy 4 (Final Fantasy 2 stateside). As stated above you cannot use magic so make the most of your statuses by rushing Zeromus immediately and hacking away. His HP is not that much so hopefully you can do a good amount on him. The Dark Lord’s will soon swarm you but the battle will continue to be like that. The chains you build up will help but eventually you’ll have to focus on Zeromus as he gets more violent. He likes using Stop so Power Armlet’s might be useful to equip. If you get Slow – ed though, that could be a problem. Your X Potions and Phoenix Downs will get used often. Assuming you don’t run out, you should be able to outlast Zeromus’ generally weak attacks. Remember, since you can’t use magic you might as well use Quickenings to do damage on Zeromus. After the battle Zeromus the Condemner will be available on your license board.

Since you have defeated 10 Espers (if you followed this walkthrough) you will have the option of talking to Geomancer Yugeli in Jahara to unlock Zodiark Esper. Teleport to Henne Mines and go north and east to enter the new area. Continue all the way east through a bunch of extremely tough Abysteel’s and you’ll get to a dead end, and south is the Henne Mines Candle. You are now to go south through some more Abysteel’s but new monsters join the fold. Abysteel’s are the hardest around here in my opinion though. As you can see with the Henne Mines Candle that you are to work your way to the east through some secret passages not on the map. If you entered from the Feywood you’ll see that area as well although it’s still separate from where you are now.

Some of the tougher hunts remain before it’s time to do the end game with Bahamut. Fafnir has the petitioner Relf in Mt. Bur Omisace and she’ll give you the details (talking to her makes the snowstorm appear). Get a chocobo and go into Paramina Rift. You are to go one screen west, one south, and then take the southeast exit. From here take a quick south and if it is snowing Fafnir will be in this secluded area. He has a tremendous amount of HP. Having Ice Shield’s to halve his White Breath is a necessity. His combos will eventually get you with Rake and Shock will probably kill you outright unless you are a full health Bubble Belt character. You can Slow and Sap him, the Slow being worth it but you have to constantly apply it. Continue the tanking and after half an hour probably you’ll have depleted his 1 million HP. After the battle you get a Ring of the Light. Back to Relj you get 7000 Gil, Teleport Stone and Assassin’s Arrows for Wyrm Wrath’s Renewal.

Pylraster should be one of your final hunts. Talk to Rikken a few times at Port Balfonheim and you’ll race him. Afterwards he wants you to go on a hunt for him to see who is the strongest. Pylraster is no fun that’s for sure. You are to teleport to Pharos at Ridorana and then go west into the large area.

Down the stairs you’ll see a huge dinosaur running around They Who Thirst Not. This is Pylraster. His attack is ridiculous so please have Protect up. Unlike most later hunts, this guy doesn’t ignore evade (meaning equipping a high level shield plus Decoy on that characters means lots of blocked attacks). You can also Slow him with the Nihopalaoa trick. He is most dangerous near death of course as his defense is seemingly tripled, his speed is up and his strength is even higher (all from Growing Threat increasing his level). If you lose a character near death it’s likely he’ll kill your entire party off or you’ll have to run out of the room to rest up, as his speed truly is much faster even with Slow. If you can manage to keep all your characters alive just spam Curaja near the end to replenish any attacks that aren’t blocked by your shield. Return to the Port at Balfonheim to get 8000 Gil, two Scathe Mote and a Grand Mace for Who’s The Strongest!?

Sky Fortress Bahamut

Go to any Aerodrome and you’ll have the option of going to the Bahamut (just northeast of Rabanastre). You’ll be reminded that you have no way of returning if you go to Bahamut. I suggest making a separate save and going here. Lots of scenes will take place. The imperial enemies in here are unlimited and of many different types. Fortunately if you’ve done most of the hunts and espers and other sidequests you should maul through them. When you gain control take either path and you’ll get to a T. Take the path going up the stairs. A cutscene will occur and enemies will be around you. Continue along and in the next area go east a little and north to get on the circular part. Pass the first exit on your left and instead look for an exit on your right that leads to the interior area with a lift.

Take this lift and you’ll be in a battle against Judge Magister Gabranth. Seems he didn’t die. Again, if you’ve done most of the hunts and espers you’ll destroy this fellow. If not, Dispel his Haste initially and get your usual status buffs up like Berserk for your tanks and Haste / Protect / Bravery for everyone. Towards the end he’ll Renew and gets more dangerous with an ability that takes off 1000-1500 on each member and high combo rate skyrockets with Enrage.

After the battle, put up Protectga / Shellga / Hastega / Brave / Berserk on whoever you wish, then hit the lift. A battle with Vayne occurs and you have Larsa’s aid throughout. This battle should be even easier than Gabranth as although Vayne’s moves look cool and hurt the entire party, it should only do about 500-1000 with a party that has Shell / Protect. Even then, nothing Curaja or a Bubble Belt couldn’t absorb.

Another battle with Vayne ensues, this time against Vayne + manufactured nethicite. Vayne Novus has 5 Sephira flying around. Your Berserked characters will eventually wipe out all the Sephira, and notice you have Gabranth in this battle. He’s not much help but he attacks and will distract someone. Dispel Vayne Novus immediately and work him down to halfway to get a scene. He will use Inviolable Will, another cool looking move but one that only did around 1000 to each character. Vayne Novus puts up a Magic Shield as he nears death but since you’re probably tanking him to death you shouldn’t worry.

Gabranth tries to kill Vayne at the end but Vayne knocks Gabranth back and his mask comes off. Larsa comes back as Vayne tries to kill Gabranth and destroys the nethicite. More scenes with Venat and Vayne blowing things up. When battle begins put your buffs back up and prepare for battle versus The Undying. Dispel Undying’s Haste and get to work using the same stuff that got you to this point. At a certain point he’ll use Chain Magic and he starts going faster obviously. He likes Piercing Thundaga / Blizzaga / Firaga (1000-1500), Megaflare (1500-2000) and will use Faith on himself. Dispel that immediately if it happens. You’ll never see his HP but you can tell when he starts getting desperate at the Magick Barrier gets put up. Piercing Holy will come out and so will Ascension, the latter taking off 2000 each and Holy takes off about 3000 on one. You may also see Gigaflare Sword, taking off 2500-3000 on each. The Undying will use Enrage and Force Barrier to be immune to physical attacks. Eventually Perfect Defense will come out and he’ll beat you down for a while and use Teraflare, a devastating maneuver that takes off 4000 on each roughly. Surely you should have a Bubble Belt or two on for that one. Afterwards his barriers drop and he truly won’t have much longer to live. Continue and victory will be yours. Enjoy the scenes afterwards, it’s the end of Final Fantasy XII and you earned it.

Further Reading:

• Final Fantasy 12 – 5. Paramina Rift Stilshrine

Rabanastre

First sign up for Atomos at the Sandsea, and then go to the Aerodrome and make your way to Nalbina. Probably will want to buy new weapons and armor here. I’ve settled into a two sword users and one bow user party. The bow user is of course the recently won Yoichi Bow, very useful of course, while the sword users have Icebrands from Nalbina. Talk to Burrogh for more information on the Atomos hunt.

You can now enter the Mosphoran Highwaste, so do so.

Mosphoran Wasteland

First of all, there are plenty of traps around here. Have a Libra on and be careful, it’ll still take some work to get your other two characters to avoid them. In the middle area are some supplies and a save crystal at camp. There are some new weapons and armor here so check them out if you wish. Otherwise, rest up and save and head north. You’ll get to an area where you walk down a hill and there are several Vultures. The northeast part of this area has Atomos (Mosphoran Highwaste / Northern Skirts), and I’d clear it out of the Vultures first and then walk around to replenish MP. Anyway, get Berserk up for your Tanks and Haste and Protect for everyone. Atomos isn’t too tricky, he just uses physical attacks and does Spin Kicks as he nears death. He does have Regen Protect and Shell on though, not to mention lots of HP. Take advantage of your speed advantage and use your bow wielder to get Atomos’ attention and run away, while your Berserk characters destroy Atomos. Continue this strategy until Atomos starts flashing and eventually keels over. Burrogh at Nalbina Fortress will hook you up with 1800 Gil, the Gaia Rod and the Diamond Shield for your efforts.

Back at Rabanastre, talk to Montblanc for any rewards and then go sign up for Braegh now that you have access to the Mosphoran Wasteland. Talk to Va’Kansa in the center area with the caravaners and Vakansa will tell you that Braegh is in the northwest part of the Salikawood, near the Necrohol of Nabudis.

Salikawood

Rest up and head on in, going to the east side. If you were to try to go northwest, a Bomb King would bar your way. It’s possible to defeat him with efficient use of your Mist attacks, but this is not the way you are to go and it’s a very tough fight for that reason. Instead go east and talk to the Moogle Boss at the gate and then look on your map. You’ll see a bunch of markings and you’ll need to bring back all 9 moogles to the moogle boss to continue. When you do, they open the gate for you and if you talk to the moogle boss afterwards you get a pair of Quasimodo Boots.

Phon Coast

This is a scenic area to say the least. Work your way southeast, hopefully you have a good bow like the Yoichi Bow to deal with the Pyrolisk flyers. At camp you can get some better weapons and armor, and talk to everyone to learn the way to Tchita Uplands. You’re getting closer to Archadia, but more dangerous monsters are along the way.

Tchita Upplands

Head south to the next area and then east to the next. You’ll be by an Archadian Wayfarer and a Save Crystal. The wayfarer will put up an impromptu bill against ???, so accept it and you’ll get the Soul Ward Key. This is by Sochen so we’ll deal with it in a bit. Go north of here to meet a kid wayfarer and a Gate Crystal. Save and then go to the northeast like they’ve said and you’ll get to the Sochen Cave Palace.

Sochen Cave Palace

Go north and shortly thereafter you’ll get to a door. Before you use the Soul Ward Key from the Archadian Wayfarer, put Protect / Haste up for everyone and Berserk your physical attackers and enter. 5 little fellas will fight you, they are Topstalk, Onion Queen, Mandragora Prince, Alraune King and the Pumpkin Star. Whew. However don’t underestimate them as their status attacks can put you in a bind, with Sleep, Blind and Poison. Their attacks aren’t that good but their sheer volume of them warrants use of Protect probably. Try to surround one at a time with the non-berserked character doing traffic control ensuring that the Berserked characters gang up on one at a time to make things easier. Remember this was a hunt from that Wayfarer in Tchita Upplands (by the Save Crystal) so return for 1000 Gil and 3 Remedies.

Anyway, back at Sochen Cave Palace, take either side door in the boss room to continue north. There will be a Crystalbug ahead, but kill the Crystal Bug and a real Crystal will form of course. Save and continue eastward past the dead Bangaa.

In this area will be several paths leading north, some blocked by waterfalls. Work your way north and you’ll find a map in the center of the area with all the doors. The Wendigo’s and Striker’s can wear you down physically so Protect would be useful. You’ll get a lot of Element Enemy Gambit treasures around here, from Ice to Bolt to Fire.

Eventually you make it to a square room towards the end of your journey north, and an Ahriman appears. This character will split up at various points in the fight, with more Ahriman’s as his HP gets lower. There are 4 or 5 towards the end of Ahriman’s hit points. Careful of his Doom and other status ailments, his physical attacks shouldn’t do you too much trouble but when there are 5 of them it is worth keeping an eye on (Protect and Cura are most useful). After the fight you can continue on to a lift and then to the Gate Crystal.

Old Archades

You will be here now. Check out the shop and make your way to the Save Crystal and the imperial guards. They won’t let you through, but give the guy the money the Jule guy the money he asks for to help you out. Go talk to everyone now, specifically the northeast area with the bag of loot guy. Return to Jules and talk to him, and then return to the bag of loot guy. Now return to Jules and he’ll have moved to the middle area. A scene occurs, the imperials run away and you can get up to Archadia.

Head to the northwest to the Magic and Technicks area. The Technicks shop has a map shop which you should buy the Archadia Map to make travel more simple. Get some new armor and weapons if you’d like and talk to the Cab Driver in the southwest. He won’t take you yet, since you need Chops. Jules shows up to tell you about Chops if you give him money.

This is kind of annoying (really annoying actually) but you have to go to each area of Archadia (there is four in your immediate area) and talk to certain people to memorize a comment. Now you must tell this comment to someone else in the same area to get a chop. It matches only one person, the others will be disinterested in the comment. Get 9 of them to use the Cab Driver, but at some point get all 28 for a prize.

With 9 chops, he’ll take you to Tsenoble. Continue north for a short scene and then back to the Cab Driver. Balthier will talk with Jules, and tell the Cab Driver what Jules tells you to tell him.

Draklor Laboratory

Within this, you are to head north and choose to go to 67 instead of 68. Go to the northeast of this to enter a room (an imperial is just outside) and you’ll get a scene in Cid’s room and you’ll get the Lab Access Card and a map of Draklor Laboratories.

In control again, take the two doors next to you for a Save Point and a Panel that you should switch (turning the room red). Make your way to the elevator (you’ll have to fight some Imperial Hoplites and stuff) and go to 68F.

Upon entering 68F go west (east on the map) until you get to 6803. Enter and flip the panel so the room is blue. Leave and go north and then west and south to 6804 to flip the switch yet again. Now you are to work your way south a little, west a little, south some more, west and south (basically the southwest corner) until you get to room 6811. Flip the switch for a third time and then work your way to the middle south area for an elevator that can take you to 70F.

A scene happens when you get here, but Save first before rushing up the stairs. Might want to set up Shell / Protect / Haste on everyone and Berserk on your tanks, a tough battle awaits you. It is Cid, and like Bergan mist can be smelled. This means Cid with Nethicite aid. He has four Rooks around him that must be killed first, there is no way around it. Having Berserked characters means the sword users will be hacking at anyone even Cid which would be useless but more often than not they’ll work on the Rooks. Each have about 10,000 each but can go down rather easily. When they are all gone Cid busts out a new attack that does around 600-700 on each character, still easy to keep up on though. Cid will eventually go down and will flee saying he’s going to Giruvegan. Bunch of scenes and you’ll end up at Balfonheim Port. Probably a good time to go for some hunts.

More Hunts

I still hadn’t gone through the Bomb King to get to Braegh, so I figured it was time to do so. Bomb King is in the center (toward the northwest area) of the Salikawood, right after the Save Crystal. Get your status effects like Haste and Protect up and then use the crystal to restore your MP, and go towards the Bomb King. He’ll constantly get little bomb reinforcements to trouble you, will do oil based attacks and then follow up with Fire. That’s his MO more or less, but the hardest part about the Bomg King is that he does a Renew ability that fills his HP. This is very very annoying and happens any time after about 30% of his HP is left. Mist Combos are obviously a way to get him done quick once he’s close or you can just pummel him and hope he doesn’t get it in. This was the case for me as I went through about 6 or 7 lines of HP for him. Afterwards a new path opens that allows you to get to the northwest.

As you continue northwest in the Salikawood, go for the western exit as opposed to the northwestern. Near the western exit you can see a unicorn-type creature along the way, this is Braegh. Have your protective stuff up and go in, he’s not too hard at this juncture (about level 36 for me). I did have to switch out the Yoichi Bow as it healed him unfortunately. Back at the Mosphoran Wasteland, your rewards are 1700 Gil, 1 Hi Ether and 1 Obelisk for the Rodeo to the Death hunt against Braegh.

Mind Flayer was another hunt (started at Jahara) that I couldn’t finish previously but could now. He does Soul Etude which restores his HP and that was fatal in the prior meeting but with stronger weapons he was easier. Also Mindflayer does Hero’s March which gives him lots of positive status affects like Faith and Haste and such, so you should use Dispel as soon as he does that. His attacks aren’t that great but Invert will turn your HP into your MP amount, meaning you’ll be near death. He can do Blizzara and Thundara but that shouldn’t be an issue and his physical attacks are meager. Anyway, return to Warrior Gurumu in Jahara to get your gifts for The Mine Flayer, which include 220 Gil and the Carmagnole. After this talk to Geomancer Yugelu to hear about a section even farther in Henne Mines, but he won’t tell you about it quite yet.

Bloodwing was next for me, but to do this the sidequest with Dantro’s Wife has to be advanced past where you left it Dantro Barheim Passage Sidequest . Agree to sail over and see what’s wrong on the other end. The cactoids have taken over evidently, so return back, talk around and search behind Dantro’s Wife’s house to find a cactoid bud which turns into a baby cactoid. This will follow you so take it back to the other side and the cactoids will leave the village. The little one even gives you 1000 gil and a Wyrmfire Shot. Return back to Dantro’s Wife and she asks for some Valeblossom Dew, which is where we were stuck at last time. Vale Blossom Dew is in the Broken Sands. Go back across the river and north a few screens until you get to the Broken Sands, where you should go north (sticking to the right side). You’ll see a beautiful pink tree, search near this (an action icon will pop up) and you’ll get a phial of ValeBlossom Dew. Return to Dantro’s Wife and give it to her, and then she’ll ask for the Great Serpentskin, which you should also give to her. Now you’ll have to waste a little bit of time until the journeyman recovers. Leave somewhere and walk around for 10 minutes and return to talk to Dantro’s Wife, and then the Bangaa in the back. He will give you the Barheim Key and a Balance Mote. You can also get Sassan the Cockatrice across the river, by first bringing the dog and boy over first. For this you acquire a Koga Blade. Before leaving this area, talking to No. 381 and Number 381 will tell you about his friend who got attacked in Barheim Passage, West Annex area specifically. Remember this and head on out.

Barheim Passage

Now of course you can enter Barheim Passage in the Estersand, just southeast of camp in the Murmuring Defile section. This is not where you came out of Barheim Passage before (that’s south a bit more). Use the key to enter and go north a few screens to save at the Gate Crystal.

Now go a bit south and west. Take the northmost exit and continue west and take the northwestern exit again. You will now be in The Zeviah Span where you will work your way south by taking the left path and then when you get to a dead end near the south, search the prevarious boat to push it over and open up a path further south. Soon you’ll be at the West Annex. The long bridge on the south is dangerous as the Bloodwing (the hunt you hopefully signed up for) will appear. Run past it for now to the next area, it’s fairly linear at this point and you’ll get to a Save Crystal, and you should use all your support spells and then Save / Rest and go back for Bloodwing. The large amount of enemies nearby means you’ll have to clear the area out first. Bloodwing isn’t too difficult, just uses Eerie Soundwave and leechs your HP from you occassionally. He is very hard to hit, but he doesn’t have a lot of HP and damage is easy to do to him. Take him out with the Yoichi Bow and any other weapon that connects at a decent clip. No. 381 back at the Estersand Camp will give you 2400 Gil, Stun Bombs and a Vampyr Fang for The Deserter’s Revenge.

Back to the Save Point, where you should Save and cast a bunch of support magic. Zalera the Death Seraph is here to disturb you. He’ll have henchmen spawn that you will have to kill before you can harm him, which can be a detriment when you have Berserked characters attacking anyone. Zalera himself really won’t threaten you so much with his attacks and he’s easy to hurt when you are able to. However while he is vulnerable he also casts instant kill attacks constantly so you’ll have to raise immediately. He can also put you to sleep and disable you, which are even worse hassles for you. The time limit is there and it’s 5 minutes, but really that shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Might want to try a mist attack at the end to ensure that you aren’t wiped out by his more powerful abilities. I was at roughly level 39 for reference and it was pretty simple.

Continue westward and you’ll be at the Garamsythe Waterway. Make your way towards the crystal and get the Garamsythe Candle, showing you the hidden parts of the Garamsythe Waterway.

At this point I decided to go after Orthros, a hunt through Montblanc. Talk to the contrite thief in the lowtown of Rabanastre and then go to where you fought the White Mousse in the Garamsythe Sewers. This is the southwestern corner, but before you go to the south central area, put in the 3 females and cast the supportive magic on them. Orthros will appear and it’ll be time for battle. He doesn’t have too hard of attacks, you’ll want Protect and Shell up incase. Watch the status ailments like Sap, but he really doesn’t have anything that makes him too deadly. You get a pack of Stolen Articles and return back to the Contrite Thief in Lowtown for 3800 Gil, a Horakhty’s Flame, and an Unpurified Ether for Crime and Punishment. You will also get a Blackened Fragment.

Nalbina Fortress is near so I went and talked to Morgen about the Roblon hunt. Roblon is within a hidden area in the Overlooking Eternity part of Nabreus Deadlands (northwest part). To get there, head to the middle where the Gate Crystal is, and go to the screen south of that. Go to the northwest part of this screen and you’ll be able to head north and west, and then through some more areas. The hardest part of this hunt is that there are so many Dead Bones that you’ll have to go slowly so that they don’t kill you. It may seem like there is an endless amount but there is not. The key is to run up the hill and then retreat when you encounter new Dead Bones. If you don’t there is a chance your berserked character will go and attack Roblon, a bad idea. If you can bait all the Dead Bones down until they’re all gone this battle is far easier. Roblon itself doesn’t have too many powerful attacks other than -ara level black magic. He does have a ton of HP and good defense when he’s near death. Keep your support magic like Haste Shell and Berserk up and you should be able to defeat him assuming the Dead Bone issue has been dealt with. Back at Nalbina Fortress, Morgen will give you 3100 Gil, Giant’s Helmet and Mythril for Adding Insult to Injury.

Finally I stumbled across a raining Giza so I went after the Gil Snapper. Talk to Nanau near the south-most crystal to start it and you’ll receive the Silence Urn. Before you can access Tracks of the Beast you’ll have to go around and cut all the dead wood trees. There are six of them, including one in the area where you start off in, Crystal Glade.

The other areas are Starfall Field, Toam Hills, Nomad Village, Throne Room, and Gizas North Bank (in that order preferably). After you cut them all down, a new path in the southeast part of Gizas South bank will open up. Bansat will tell you whether the Gil Snapper is in the screen or not at that particular time. If not, clear the area out of the Silicon Tortoise’s and get the Feather of the Flock in the southeast corner. Return back until the Gil Snapper is there. Get Bravery / Protect / Haste / Berserk up. You should be far ahead of where you’d normally fight Gil Snapper, but he can prove difficult nonetheless especially towards the end. Be sure to Dispel him and treat him like the other Tortoise’s, using a Bow character to distract him while the tanks destroy him as Gil Snapper attempts to go after bow wielder. When Gil Snapper dies it’ll be drawn into the Urn and if you return to where Nanau was you’ll see a note. It says to come back during dry season, so do so and you’ll see a scene and get 3000 Gil and the Phobos Glaze for Paradise Risen.

It was Adrammelech the Wroth time for me. He had been a little too difficult for me with his status ailments until I was around level 40. Remember, he is in the middle of the Zertinan Caverns, the Athroza Quicksands to be exact. Adrammelech is a flying monster and will absorb lightning so make sure you don’t use the Lightning Arrows. His HP isn’t that high and his cronies aren’t that tough, although the Sleep / Stop ailments can be fatal. The Adrammelech Esper is yours to use from now on.

Antlion in Bhujerba was the next destination. Talk to the petitioner in the middle of Bhujerba and then head towards the save crystal by the Lhusu Mines. You will see some scenes with a boy as you walk through, but get to the point where you fought Rocktoise and use the Site 3 key you acquired at the beginning of the hunt. This will open a new area with Dullahan’s and Headless and other tougher monsters. Continue along and you’ll get to the Gate Crystal for Lhusu where you should obviously save. Just a bit further and you’ll see Antlion’s bright red dot along with about 5 other red dots. These are Mantis’ that are with him, making this fight very difficult. You can’t draw them out like the Roblon fight because the Antlion will charge right after you! Scary, well you can Warp the Mantis’ evidently but I have just put up Protect and took them out with one tank and two others casting Cura. The Antlion will probably feed on a few of the Mantis’, very bad news for you as this helps his abilities. Still, once the Mantis’ are gone Antlion is pretty simple to defeat despite his Flattening maneuver. A scene afterwards and back to get 4300 Gil, Bubble Belt and the Sickle-Blade for the Antlion Infestation.

Go to the top of Mt. Bur Omisace to get the Stone of Condemner and then talk to Gurdy at the bottom of Mt Bur Omisace (Chocobo moogle) to start the Trickster hunt in the Frozen Brook part of Paramina Rift. You’ll know you’re in the right area when Monid (clan member) the bangaa comes out and tells you about the trick. Trickster will just show up, a giant white chocobo. This battle is tough, even at this point. At first it’ll be easy to whittle down Tricker’s HP, but soon he’ll use a technique to make him invulnerable to physical attacks. If you had berserked characters up you’ll have to wait until they get unberserked to use them efficiently again. He also changes his status so you’re better off with Bio or Drain or some other non elemental spell, Bio is probably the best though. He uses Chocobo Comet and can do several physical attacks in a row when near death, so putting him away fast at that point would be pretty smart. Back to Gurdy in Mt Bur Omisace to get 4800 Gil and Deimos Clay for the Paramina Run against the Trickster.

Since Archadia has been unlocked there are a bunch of new hunts at the Sand Sea. Sign up for the Lindwyrm and the Darksteel and the Vyraal.

Talk to the Homesick Man in the weapon shop of Archades for the Darksteel and then in Old Archades the sitting guy (Fermon) for Lindwyrm. You’re near the Sochen Cave entrance so head in and Save at the Gate Crystal. Go south a few screens to Temptation Eluded and you’ll see the Darksteel. Get Bravery / Haste / Protect / Berserk for your tanks and first cast Dispel to get rid of Shell / Protect / Bravery and then attack him next with your bow and arrow user (non-tank). He’ll chase your bow character while your two tanks destroy him. Darksteel did not even get a chance to attack once, it was quite sad. The homesick man at the Arcahdes Weapon Shop will give you 3000 Gil, Lead Bolts and Adamantite for Shelled Obstruction.

Vyraal is next on the hunt list. He is in the Cerobi Steppe and you’ll have to talk to the Viera Wayfarer to start the hunt. Vyraal is in the center area, The Northsward. You have the help of the Viera Wayfarer but she doesn’t do much except low level healing and status help. The Vyraal has some powerful attacks and is immune to magic towards the end (along with Haste / Protect). Dispel it and continue tanking it with your Bravery / Haste / Berserk / Protect / Diamond Sword tankers. A Viera Rucksack drops after the battle and the viera will leave you. Go back to Balfonheim Port to get 3500 Gil, Halberd and Crystal Shield for Get My Stuff Back! hunt. At the end you will also get a Dragon Scale.

Further Reading:

• Final Fantasy 12 – 2. Vaan Hunt Nalbina Dungeon
• Final Fantasy V 5 Walkthrough Shinryu Omega Gilgamesh
• Final Fantasy V 5 Walkthrough Galuf’s World FAQ Exdeath
• Final Fantasy 5 V Walkthrough Guide World 1

Golmore Jungle

After getting the tear and speaking with Fran, it’s time to venture back into the Golmore Jungle. Previously inaccessible areas due to the light blue barriers have been lifted (well, you can walk through them). If you go south and to the far west you’ll encounter several tough Hell Hounds and some meaningless treasures. If you go further south you’ll see more Hellhounds, but also Coeurls and the ever dangerous Diresaur. The Coeurls are especially deadly and will make passage downright brutal. Farthest to the south is an entrance to the Feywood, but you don’t want to go there yet.

Instead, go through the barrier passage through the east part of Golmore Jungle. You’ll fight the same creatures as the first part of the Golmore Jungle (Malboro’s and Gargoyles) but you will also encounter the Great Malboro. Not too much more different than the normal Malboro though. Make your way to the save crystal and save.

Through the next area and you’ll be at an Elder Wyrm and two Treants. Cast Protect quick, and then Berserk a few characters (preferably not the High-Potion monster Larsa). Take the two Treants out fast, and then you can work on the Elder Wyrm. He casts Fireball which will likely kill a character. He also has status ailment attacks that’ll mean you’ll need all the Remedy’s and Esuna spells that you can get. The Elder Wyrm also likes to melee attack several times, hence the Protect.

Return back to Save after you defeat him, and then continue through a few passes eastward until you get to the Paramina Rift.

Paramina Rift

Talk to the people and Save your game again. In the screen past the save crystal, take the south exit and then go southwest. You’ll make your way to the Feywood, but you don’t want to be here yet. Instead, go east into the next area (leads to a dead end ultimately), and then go north from the Feywood entrance and then east. You’ll be in Frozen Brook now, where you should take the southwest exit for a Save Crystal and then resume a long path to the Stilshrine of Miriam. the Stil Shrine of Miriam is a long bridge and then a door you can’t open, saying you need to go north to Mt Bur Omisace.

If you go to the far northeast, you’ll get to Mt. Bur-Omisace. You’ll also have explored most of Paramina Rift. Mount Bur Omisace has some really good stuff at their shops that is definitely worth checking out right now. Haste is a must, and upgrading your weapons / armor should be done as well. Sell all the loot you’ve accumulated and buy anything else that you can.

After this I didn’t advance the story but went back to go after some hunts (I like to do that after I get new equipment / spells). I went for the Ring Wyrm, so talk to Balzac in Lowtown and go to the Windtrace Dunes in Westersand. You’ll find it in the southwestern area. Before you go up to it, make sure everyone is in Protect mode and Haste mode. Then, berserk a tank or two (I had Balthier and Vaan using the new Kogarasumaru Katana and Fran using the Loxley Bow) and watch them go at it. The problem is, The Ring Wyrm will still get kills with powerful moves like Breath and Fireball. He will also use Immobilizega so you will need Smelling Salts for that (although they don’t seem to work often). Fortunately Larsa can help with Hi Potions, and you’ll need a lot yourself. He will use Restore at least once to get his already astronomical HP back up even higher. If you can get the two katana users with Haste Protect and Berserk you should be able to deal enough damage to make this fight go fast enough. Back to Balzac for 200 gil, a Moon Ring and an Icebrand for completing For Whom the Wyrm Tolls.

Bur Omisace

To continue the story, go back to Bur Omisace and go to the north part of town. Talk to everyone and they’ll think you’re a refuge. Go to the top to the Temple Grounds to see some nice scenery. Talk to His Grace the Gran Kiltias, the dreamsage. This is a really long exchange and involves the general flow of the plot. It’ll switch to an important scene with Vayne and some others. When you are ready to go, it’ll be time to go to the Stilshrine of Miriam.

Stilshrine of Miriam

If you’ve explored Paramina Rift you’ll have seen this to the far south. When you get here, save and equip the Dawn Shard. This will take your magic down to 0, but don’t worry, you need to equip this now. Go through the main doors and go to the center area, and search. You’ll teleport near a treasure and a Miriam Guardian, so kill it. If you have Libra you can see there is an explosive near the treasure, but it was a Megalixir so it was worth it.

Continuing on, you’ll run into three Dragon Aevis’. These are difficult creatures, especially when there is three of them. Be sure to use Protect if they’re mowing you down. The wall will then come out and fight you and as you continue along your way (They are actually called Miriam Facer). Work your way to the green Life Crystal, which is actually a Crystalbug. It is fast and has some difficult spells that hit the entire party. Take care of it as fast as possible, and you’ll get a real Crystal when you win.

Further along you will get to another 3 way fork, with the right path being a door and the left being the right route. You’ll come to a purple horse, the Darkmare. These are not easy and if you attack it while it’s in the middle of teleporting, it won’t hurt it at all. Some more Gigas’ and you’ll come to a massive sword. Check it and the door that was previously sealed will open. Go through here and touch the device to teleport to the beginning.

Take the side part now to go downstairs and continue on. You’ll fight some monsters along the way but it’s pretty linear. The middle area has several paths, but work your way through the middle and eventually to the northeast to get to a boss.

Vinuskar is a scary looking creature that is easier to kill than you’d think. It’s far away at first, so get Protect / Shell / Haste on your characters, and then Berserk on a tank or two. The screen will show a warning on the top about metallic equipment being heavy, but I had no issue with it and I thought I had some metallic equipment on. Anyway, Vinuskar’s HP goes down really fast and he’ll try to use status ailments and the ever dangerous Sword Dance to whittle you down. Sword Dance is his most powerful move so if you can sustain that attack and stay over 500 HP you should be able to take him down fast.

One screen east is the Stilshrine of Miriam map. There is a statue that you can rotate, so rotate it clockwise so that it is facing west (towards the middle of the screen). Now go back to the other statues (the one in the middle part of the south area, and the one directly west of the east one) and make them face the middle. After you get them to do it, return to the first part and you’ll see the colossus lift his sword up, revealing an area previously inaccessible.

Back in the first area, go to the switch that will teleport you near the south area. As you continue towards the recently opened Sword door, a Negalmuur will ambush you. Negal Muur is rare game and is a difficult fight, but Berserk is extremely helpful to mow down the undead weaklings Negalmuur summons.

Before you enter the door that the sword opened, make sure you Saved and are rested up. Protect and Shell are a must, as is Haste. You’ll want a few characters berserked with katanas (or that’s what I did) with one to stay back and heal and use a bow from long distance.

Mateus The Corrupt is the battle. She is an Esper, one that uses Blizzaja. This will take off a lot, hence the Shell. Other than that the rest of the attacks are pretty standard, keep your HP up and continue with the Berserk onslaught and it’ll go down.

Into the next room and you’ll see the Nethicite destroying sword. This is The Sword of Kings. You can equip it if you’d like, otherwise just head out.

Mt. Bur Omisace

Back at Mt. Bur-Omisace it seems that some judges have invaded the temple area. Save and rush over there, making any last minute preparations.

This upcoming battle is tough. There are three judges behind you, and then Judge Bergan far in front of you. Quickly cast Haste, and then Protect on everyone. Bergan is fast and still does a ridiculous amount of damage with Protect on (and is fast to boot). I had katana users in this battle but quickly switched to Swords so that they could wield a Shield. The added defense is a must. Anyway, I had to go through all six characters just to get rid of all the spare judges (do this first), but you’re not out of the water just by doing that. Bergan gets really tough as his hit points go down, with some instant kill attacks. Take advantage of the long area, in the event that you have a bowman that can attract his attention and then run from, allowing your other characters to get free hacks in on him from behind.

Go through the scenes and then you are to work your way north to Archadia. First there are tons of new side hunts you can do both through Montblanc and the Sandsea.

Rabanastre

With all the hunts available, sign up for the level 2 one against Ixtab. Teleport to Jahara and then talk to the high chief Zayalu. Grab a chocobo at the entrance and take it to the Henne Mines. Within, hit the switch and then go through to the south room (Phase 1 Shaft). Hit the switch here and talk either path. Ixtab will appear in this corner that joins both paths.

Ixtab is not difficult despite his Doom and Death Sentence. Protect and Shell might be worth using but having Haste and Berserk on your tanks is your best option. Ixtab won’t last long with his amount of hit points. Return to Jahara and you will get 1300 Gil, an Ether and Soul Powder for The Dead Ought Sleep Forever.

The White Mousse was available for a long time but is a very hard fight, even now. Sign up at the Sandsea and talk to Sorbet (the Westersand Rabanastre teleport moogle). He’ll get you ready for the White Mousse. Before you go, get three Viking Coats (equip them when you fight the Mousse though).

Go to the Garamsythe Waterway, West Sluice Control. Clear the area of enemies and don’t go down the stairs that lead to the water area just yet. The White Mousse will appear when you step down there. First, make sure you have the Viking Coats on so you can be immune to his constant Waterga attacks.

Then, get Protect and Haste on everyone, and then Berserk your fighters. Without Waterga, The White Mousse can’t really do much damage save for a decent physical attack. White Mousse will cast several ailments, Blind being the most annoying but also Slow and Poison. He also has a ton of HP and will go into a Waterga rage when he starts flashing red (probably the 10% mark of his HP left). Also careful of other monsters popping up, this is why you should clear the area first though. You get a Broken Key after the fight and report back to Sorbet and you’ll get 2800 Gil and a Yoichi Bow for Lost in the Pudding. The Yoichi Bow will almost certainly be very useful for you right now. Even better, Sorbet gives you the repaired Brokey Key, which is now The Sluice Gate Key.

You can use the Sluice Gate Key to fight Queklain, but that’s hard so we’ll do that later. Instead, back at the Sandsea, sign up for Feral Retriever (Coeurl) which is in Bur Omisace (talk to Hymms). Hymms is right at the beginning of Bur Omisace so talk to him and then go south to Paramina Rift. Go south to the area with a Save Crystal and then west as the Feral Retriever will be right out here. It looks just like a Coeurl and should be the first enemy you see. Quickly get Protect and Haste up, along with Berserk for a character or two. He has a Mind Lash and Blaster attack, otherwise you’ll likely get physical attacks out of him and that’s about it. His HP is very slim compared to the White Mousse above and really will go down fast, just make sure he doesn’t get someone too low with his better attacks. Back to Hymms to get 1500 Gil, Recurve Crossbow and two Teleport Stones for Befoulment of the Beast.

In Rabanastre, sign up for the Vorpal Bunny and teleport out to Eruyt Village. Talk to Nera in the east part of town, and then go to the Golmore Jungle to look for the Bunny. The Vorpal Bunny is in the center square area of The Rustling Chapel in the Golmore Jungle. It’s not that the Vorpal Bunny is difficult, more so that it runs from you and will get away if you stop chasing it (or get stopped by other monsters). And of course it has full HP if it gets away. So don’t go through the center area until you clean out the entire Rustling Chapel, as the Vorpal Bunny will run away constantly. If there are no enemies to intercept you, you should have no problem killing this hunt. You get a Rabbit’s Tail for winning. Return back to Nera at Eruyt Village and you get a scene with Alja also. For A Chase Through the Woods you get 2000 Gil, Lightning Arrows and Gillie Boots.

At the Sandsea you’ll want to sign up for the Marilith. Talk to the bartender behind you and he’ll tell you to go to Westersand and then to the Zertinan Caves. Go here and go south until you get to an area with a Speartongue and trap to your west (east on the map but you’re traveling south). Clear the area out and then cast Protect, Haste, Berserk (on 2 characters). Go by the light area and the Marilith will pop out. It just uses regular attacks along with a tail spear which will cause Slow. It has a ton of HP and is quick but you should be able to overpower it and it doesn’t have any very powerful attacks. A cask of Serpentwyne Must is your war spoils. The bartender will give you 2200 Gil, 3 Teleport Stones and a Serpent Eye for A Tingling Toast.

Look behind you and go back to the board. Petition for the Mindflayer and you’ll have to go to Jahara and visit Warrior Guromu. You have to help his friend Asdalu and go to the Henne Mines.

Further Reading:

• Final Fantasy 12 – 7. End

Rabanastre

Still in Rabanastre, the party is to go to Giza Plains (and then south) to the Ozmone Plains. Before heading through there, I set up a hunt with the Croakadile as he is in Giza Plains anyway. You’ll notice plenty of others including some level 5 hunts. I was unable to beat any of the other ones however.

Giza Plains

The season has changed and there is water everywhere. This affects where you can go, and also there seems to be more water-based creatures (like frogs). The Hyena’s and other enemies you fought earlier have been beefed up.

To the middle area with the Save Crystal, and talk to the guy who is by himself. He is very short and gives you the details. You are to go to the southwest part of Giza Plains and walk by a bridge – the Croakadile will then jump out and you’ll get to fight it.

Before walking completely past the bridge in the middle of the southwest area, apply Protect and Shell to your entire party, and then Berserk two characters. Keep walking and eventually the Croakadile will pop out. Have your third character (who isn’t berserked) heal and attack accordingly (with a Bow, or something from long distance). The Croakadile will attack, and will use Growing Threat (increases his level) and Aqua Bubbles (aqua attack). He’s really not too hard to bring down, and a Ring of the Toad is your reward.

Back to the guy in the middle of Giza Plains, who gives you 1200 Gil, the Serpent Rod and a Teleport Stone for your efforts. It might be a good idea to sign up for the hunt in Jahara against the Slaven before you continue onward.

Ozmone Plains

This area has a lot of larger monsters and it may seem difficult especially at first. There is a bit to explore so take your time. The large amount of Zu will probably mean you’ll want the Elfin Bow on for easy kills. You’ll see Vipers, Black and Red Chocobo’s (which are sometimes sleeping), Mesmenir, Wu, Hybrid Gators, and the extremely tough Zaghols.

One screen south and in the middle of this area will be an entrance to the Zertinan Caverns. Two screens south and then west is Jahara, Land of the Garif. In the northeast part is an entrance to the Golmore Jungle, a Save Crystal, and a Game Hunter.

The eastern screens have more monsters and harder monsters. The left screens are filled with Vipers and Mesmenir, easier creatures. When you are ready, take that southwest exit towards Jahara.

Jahara, Land of the Garif

As you enter Jahara Land of the Garif, you’ll be in the Banks of the Sogoht section with a Gate Crystal near you. Talk to the Cartography’s Guild moogle if you wish, but talk to the guards and go west to move on. The Garif that you saw walking around Ozmone Plain will come to vouch for you as he saw you slaughter all of those monsters. Anyway, you’ll be at the far west screen talking to the elder and then you’ll get to have some freedom. You are to go to the Golmore Jungle to continue as Larsa decides that is what the party will do. Before that though, talk to the Low Chief Sugumu in the north part of the far west screen to initiate the Enkelados Hunt (hopefully that you signed up for at Rabanastre, it’s only a level 2 hunt).

You are to go back to the Ozmone Plains and to the shred area. Clear out the Bull Croc and the Aeros, both considered Rare Game. Finally, kill all of the Wu and then you should leave and re-enter. Enkelados will now be here, but before you rush him, cast Protect on everyone and Berserk your tanks. Larsa will be a big help with healing so keep him un-berserked. Control your tank while your others attack with bows preferably, and run around as Enkelados is slow. This will allow your berserked bow using characters to annihilate Enkelados as he’s running around. I had no problem with this fight, although he used Restore a few times to get about 25% of his HP back each time. After the fight, he dropped an Errmonea Leaf and the Low Chief Sugumu will give you 1100 Gil, an Ether and a Golden Amulet.

Golmore Jungle

Go to the Golmore Jungle and you’ll see a scene with the party and one with the Imperials. There are plenty of Panthers in this area, along with a section of Malboro. If you take the west path you’ll come across a dangerous Hellhound, careful of them (they regenerate). To the northeast is an area with Gargoyles, and if you go east you’ll come to one of several barriers. In the center of the northwest area is the map of Golmore Jungle by the way. Fortunately, if you go in the east / southeast area, Fran will show the party a secret way so that you can meet the Veira. It’s by the passive monster (the huge Treant). You just have to speak to the wood to go to the Eruyt Village.

Eruyt Village

Fran will tell you to look for Myrn and to bring her to Fran. Moogles will run up, one of them has some wares. Good Accessories, and the ever-important Curaga spell. He has some other unique ones too, like Float.

Go inside and talk to everyone, even though they aren’t very welcoming. Eventually you’ll run into Jote and the story will progress. Myrn actually isn’t here, and Fran can sense that. You are to leave and head for the Henne Mines south of the Ozmone Plains.

Actually just as you enter, talk to the Imperials. Give them a Potion, and talk to them again to use their Chocobo. Go to the next screen west in the Ozmone Plain and then go south where the yellow chocobo is. Actually, you can walk through this area, and you’ll see another Chocobo. Keep going southeast and you’ll be in the next area, previously inaccessible. Get off the Chocobo at the end and go in the Henne Mines.

Henne Mines

There are plenty of bat creatures in the mines, Redmaw and Seekers.

As you enter, take a right and go down the stairs and continue that way, hitting the blue switch along the way to open the gate. Continue along the same way until you get to a new area. Here you will have two gates open and two closed. Talk to the Imperial and hit the switch, but a bunch of Jelly drops down. These things are difficult and they continue to split, I wasn’t able to kill them all. Instead, go the new way that you just opened to find the Map (along with several bats).

Get the map and return to the room with the second switch and the four way fork. Hit the switch again and take the way going west on the map (the way you haven’t taken yet). Continue to the next room where you will be going down plenty of stairs and fighting many Redmaw’s. You’ll be at a more cavern looking place next, and go east on the map to the dead end to get a treasure and fight a Nightmare.

Now go back and go straight, taking the long path around. You’ll find some more treasures in the southern dead end, but then go south and east to continue along (look at the map for further detail).

If you take the dead end going north right before the next screen, you’ll come across a Thunderbug (they look like treasures, but are enemies). In the next screen, go north and take the east fork to fight the Tyranorox. He’s pretty difficult, but not impossible, just attacks strong. The passage will be blocked, so go north through another Tyranorox and several other Redmaw’s and you’ll be in the next area.

Two more Thunderbugs south of you here. It’s closed to your left, so go north and east and south until you can hit the switch (note that if you try to enter this area from the other door, it’ll be blocked. Now in this room, you have to hit the switch to open up the path to the north (allowing you to continue on). As you hit the switch, the door that was previously blocked (by the Tyranorox) will open, so go out that way. You’ll have to head back west and then north to exit. Now go north, the door will finally be open.

A scene will happen with Myrn possibly, but she detests humes and responds as such. When you regain control, Save and continue onward. The Tiamat will bar your progress. Expect a tough fight, and with Disablega, there is a chance you won’t be able to use a character (for a short period of time). Protect is your best bet, Shell might be worth the time to put up also. Berserking your tanks and keeping Larsa alive to heal is of prime importance. He’ll use Aero and attack physically, but as long as he doesn’t disable your non-berserked character, you should have total control of the fight. Stay clear of him when he uses powerful attacks like Breath. Towards the end, he’ll melee attack like nuts, so prepare to Raise if necessary.

After the battle the halo around the Tiamat falls off and the beast is destroyed. Myrn will be unconscious and she’ll drop a shiny, nethicite looking possession that destroys. She then passes out, and afterwards talks to your party. Turns out the mist the Veira feel is a closeness to Nethicite. Larsa takes Penelo’s nethicite and after a bit more you’ll be back with some scenes at Eruyt Village. You’ll receive Lente’s Tear and Myrn will wish to go back out with the Hume’s.

Save and prepare to head back into Golmore Jungle to go through previously inaccessible paths.

Further Reading:

• Diehard teh Fukken Review
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Lu Xun musou walkthrough
• Dynasty Warriors 5 195 Imperial Rescue
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Sun Shang Xiang musou mode
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms III 189 AD Gongsun Zan

The Skycity of Bhujerba

Talk to everyone and exit outside. Lamont will join you as a guest (he wants to go in the same mine you want to go in). You’ll want to buy some equipment around here and then go to the mine. Nearly everything else is blocked off.

Lhusu Mines

You’re going to want to take the first path going south all the way down for a Quiver of Onion Arrows. Then, go north a little, west a little, and then southwest for the exit. Now you’ll be on the exterior area, and this is a bit more difficult. The center is filled with enemies but it is pretty empty on the outsides. Still though, you’ll want to build up so head through the center. Keep in mind though that there are traps in the middle of areas that you are walking in, so be cautious about where you are walking (hug the walls).

In this next room you can take the right path and go through to continue north. Just a little longer and Lamont will find the Nethicite that he needed to see. The bangaa hunters were following you (remember them from Rabanastre, the green one especially). Not sure if you can kill them but they certainly were on pace to kill me fast, so just run back to Bhujerba.

The Skycity of Bhujerba

Back in town, go through the scenes and you’ll have to raise the rate to 100% to get Basch’s identity through to the citizens. Finding larger groups helps as does the guides, they’re the biggest boosts. Once it gets to 100%, you’ll be brought in front of a group that wants you to see Omdore. Before you do this though, you’ll gain control and can do some things.

Go to the board and sign up for Nidhogg. Talk to Aekom in the northeast part to initiate the hunt. Now Nidhogg is very tough, was for me at level 13 at least. He is in the third room at the Lhusu Mines, so you’ll probably want to clear that room out before going after Nidhogg. Get everyone to have Gambits that use Fire magic on him, that’s what he’s weak against. I ran into the problem of running out of MP too early, as in right before Nidhogg was about to die. He moves much faster and attacks consecutivelty often not to mention uses Tail Slash which will kill a character fast. Because of this it might be wise to save some MP for later (or save one of the four characters for later) for one last push. When he is done, you get 600 Gil, The Rose Corsage, and the Balaclava. Last, he gives you the Great Serpentskin.

Time to go to the Marquis house in the north. Look at the map for the big red X. Once you go here, you’ll go inside and see a bunch of scenes. The judge wants the stone Vaan stole and he gets it. Your party is locked up but catches a break as an imperial soldier is caught off guard. Vossler joins and then you should save.

Dreadnought Leviathan

Vossler is of high level, he’ll be a big help. After the save room, you’ll be in a much larger room. You’ll get taught about the lasers protecting certain passages. It’s not the end if you hit one of them but you will have enemies directed towards you for a while. Regardless, make your way south for some Gil and then far east for The Gambit Ally : Status = HP Critical. Now go south and you’ll be in the south-most room with an opportunity to go into the room northeast of this one, or the one to the far east. Take the one that has two exits (the one directly east that leads north).

You’ll find Gil and Blue Fangs around here. Just continue through to the top, where you should activate the switch and then continue on. In this room, go to the west and you can go further west than the map suggests. You’ll find an Ancient Sword and the Assassin’s Dagger over here, brilliant weapons for your immediate use likely. Hit the switch and continue on to get to the far east room.

Rest up and head through the door straight in the center. This will prompt a battle against two Judges and some henchmen. Three Swordsman and an Imperial Magus to be exact. Take out the Magus right away and then the Swordsmen. The Judges have the most HP so naturally they are to be dealt with last. By the time those are the only two left, you should have no problem surrounding the Judges. They stick to physical attacks so just heal and you’ll be a fine. They’ve got a Tri-Attack they use at the end, and like any boss they’re toughest right before they die. A No. 1 Brig Key is your reward, and then you can use that to continue onward.

You’ll see four cells. The one immediately to your right has a Systems Access Key, and a Save Crystal. Across from this is a moogle shop, worth your time to visit incase you can fill in some holes. The cell next to this is empty and the one across from this is Ashe. You now have 5 party members and a guest.

The alarms will set as you leave the area. Just continue to run through and don’t fight anyone, it’s not worth your time. At the end, Lamont and Vossler will go off on their own but Lamont will give you a piece of Manufactured Nethicite. A few more areas to the left and you’ll encounter Judge Ghis at the port, along with three Imperial Swordsmen. Ghis is slow to get to you so clear out the Swordsmen before he can get to you. Ghis has some powerful physical attacks and seems to go after Ashe if she’s in the party. He’s really not that difficult, he has Aero that he’ll use on you but that’s just 150 or so. You can heal after it and be fine.

Afterwards you’ll have found a way out and you’ll be at Bhujerba before you know it.

The Skycity of Bhujerba

Back in town, go to the Marquis. He’ll have a plan ready. Afterwards your party escapes and decides to follow Lady Ashe. This gets you to Dalmasca Westersand, where you should make your way back to Rabanastre

Rabanastre

First of all, there are new things at the shops. Check them out and upgrade what you can. Berserk is a must, as are Round Shields and Ancient Swords.

I went for the Cluckatrice another time now. It was too difficult prior to going to the Skycity of Bhujerba, but I was finally able to defeat him at level 13, with physical attacks. I’d concentrate on the main one, as the chicks just attacked Vaan for 0 damage. Watch out for the status ailments, they can cripple your chances if you don’t have the necessary items. Afterwards, the Little Love on the Big Plains rewards you with 1000 Gil, Rainbow Egg and Jackboots.

Now if you waited to fight the Rocktoise (talk to Montblanc to apply), then this might be a good time to try. Do remember it’ll cost you 200 to fly to Bhujerba again. And do remember Rocktoise will probably destroy you if you don’t know what you’re doing. I couldn’t beat him, I’m sure some Mist Links could do him in though. For now I’ll skip him and sign up for the Wyvern, and then continue on to Westersand.

Dalmasca Westersand

If you didn’t explore this area when you returned from Bhujera, then look at it now. You can uncover a path to Giza Plains, as well as one to the Zertinan Caverns. Directly to the north is an area you can’t get to now, so continue on westward. Past the camp and you’ll be at Ogir-Yensa Sandsea.

Ogir – Yensa Sandsea

Vaan will have a scene with the sand as you walk in. Walk up the ramp and follow your way to the southwest. Pretty easy screen. Continue further and Vossler will join you. I like to use Berserk on Vossler and watch him tank through hundreds of Urutan-Yensa’s.

Take the west path for a map of the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. You’ll see that this place is downright huge. Take the south passages first for some treasures (mostly just Gil and Potions but there is the Gambit Ally: Status = Confuse. Further along to the southwest is an exit that leads to a Gate Crystal and a merchant. He has some really nice spells you should buy, Raise and Cura (expensive of course). Further west is an entrance to the Nam-Yensa Sandsea.

Return back and head north, and then check the center if you want. One of the southern “circles” has a Gambit Ally: MP < 40%. There is another southern passage but it just had a Gil treasure. Further east to return to the Refinery, and then north. Take the east exit here for an entrance to the Zertinan Caverns. Leave and check out the dead end area just north of this for a Handaxe and a Capella.

You’ll notice that nearly all of your enemies are Urutan-Yensa. Use this to your advantage, as if you get a 50 chain (otherwise known as killing 50 Urutan-Yensa’s without killing a different monster or going to a save point) you’ll get a Montblanc picture at the Sky Pirate’s Den.

So as you work your way north and then south again, in the middle you’ll see another exit. This, like the northeast one, leads to a different area of the Zertinan Caverns. Not where you want to go through, so you might as well head west. You’ll make your way to the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. Before this though, you’ll speak with a moogle, and listen carefully to what he says.

Nam-Yensa Sandsea

Save as you get here and then continue west. Note that I took the upper Nam-Yensa path as opposed to the one that comes out from the merchant’s area farther south. Regardless, Save and continue west and then south, but stick to the east wall as you go south to see a forested path. I found a Lambent Hat, good for this point.

Soon you will come to the Urutan Eater. This is a gigantic creature that loves Urutan-Yensa’s. You can try to kill it, it has pretty good defense and a ton of HP though. Fortunately you can get huge combos and Vossler will downright slaughter this creature as a Guest. You’ll get a message saying you killed it, should you do so. Return to the moogle and talk to him. Then go back to Ogir-Yensa and up the ramp to see a scene. Return back to where the moogle is to see another scene. Now you can take the Eksir Berries. Afterwards, I went back east through the southern route to the gate crystal to go back to Rabanastre (and spend money on Armor).

Back at the Ogir-Yensa Gate Crystal, go west and take the skinny bridge going southwest. There is a treasure and a Nam-Yensa map. Another big (yet smaller than the last) desert. Take the south route now and you’ll fight a bunch of Bagoly’s. If you take the southern path you’ll come across the Gambit Fore: HP > 1000. New enemies (Axebeaks) are here as well. The exit in this area leads to another Zertinan Caverns entrance. Not worth going to of course, so return back and make your way west.

You’ll get to a large desert area that combines the upper and lower paths. In the northwest part of this area is The Gambit Foe > 500. The north part is really nothing of note, so continue westward. The bridge going north has explosives at the start of it, and it leads to nothing. So, it’s probably not worth your time to go down there to fight Yensa’s.

Do go further west, and then take the northeast path first as that is a dead end (the west continues). There will be a few explosives you’ll trigger, hopefully you bought Raise. If you go directly east in this area (up the ramp) you’ll come to two treasures (and no enemies along the way). The treasures were just an Antidote and some Gil though.

If you take the western path that leads north, you’ll come to some minor treasures along with the Wyvern Lord. Needless to say, he is not an easy Hunt. He flies so that makes things even that much more difficult. I wasn’t able to defeat him so I continued westward. You’ll come to the merchant again, who has some words of advice.

The Tomb of Raithwall

The Tomb of Raithwall is just before you as you work west. A Garuda will meet you, and if you paid attention to the moogle and the merchant you’ll know that those Eksir Berries could help you a lot. If you use them on him, he’ll become much more tame and the battle will be extremely easier. Magic or Bows are your best bet to bring this creature down.

Inside you’ll see a Gate Crystal, where you should obviously save. Take the teleport and continue on until a Demon Wall bars your path. Run from this one and then in the next room another appears! Run towards this one and start attacking it. I was best off Berserking 3 of my characters and using one to Heal or cure status (like Blind, Sleep, or characters in the Void). He’ll go down rather fast and you have a lot more time than the first fight. Now you can retreat afterwards and Save and come back, in which case that first Demon Wall will fight you again. You still probably can’t kill it but it’d be wise to do so later.

Continue along, and I chose the left path. This will take you to the lower section, where you should work towards the middle to a glowing switch. Hit it, and then hit the teleport switch in the middle to go back to the center room (where you chose to go left). This time, go right. You’ll be on the upper part where you can make your way to another glowing switch that will open up a new area completely that isn’t on the map.

Continue to the lower part, grabbing the treasures on the side. In the center leads even lower, to a boss named Belias. This guy killed me the first time I fought him. He has an Oil-based attack that takes off around 400 and leaves characters in the Oil status. The second time I went to fight him, I had Shell and Protect on before I started the fight and then Berserked a few characters and kept a conservative plan (not using Water the entire time). With Shell and Protect (along with Hankerchief’s to cure the Oil status) you should be able to take down Belias regardless of his barrier he puts up towards the end of the battle.

Continue past the door and you’ll get the Dawn Shard after a scene or two. Take the teleport behind you when you regain control for a quick leave. Now, you’re about to go through a bunch of scenes.

Eventually, Vossler and three Imperial Soldiers attempt to stop you. Fran will be in Berserk mode so that helps things greatly. Try killing the soldiers as fast as you can, allowing you to focus completely on Vossler afterwards. Berserking your other characters might be a good idea, as is using Protect on them. Vossler will get violent and will attack several times consecutively as he is nearing death.

More scenes and eventually you’ll be back in Rabanastre.

Rabanastre

You have some more freedom. After buying equipment / spells, I suggest catching yourself up on the hunts. Return to Montblanc and go after the Rocktoise if you haven’t defeated him already (which is the case for me). He’ll likely give you some additional small rewards for certain feats (getting an esper, defeating certain enemies, etc). Rocktoise at level 19 or 20 should be easy, although it’d be even easier if you fought it with Vossler. Have someone with a powerful bow, like the Longbow, and then two others that you can Berserk and have melee attack. Be sure to cast Protect right before you walk into his area. Afterwards return to Pilika in Bhujerba to get 1200 Gil, a Hi-Potion and a Heavy Coat. Talk to him again and he’ll give you the Merchant’s Armband and ask for you to get his diary.

Go get it for him at the technicks shop and you can read it if you like. Return it to Pilika and say yes or no, although you get better armor if you choose no (Shepherd’s Bolero as opposed to Kilimweave Shirt).

Another hunt I was unable to complete earlier was that against the Wyvern Lord. The signup for that is at the Sandsea, and then the Rabanastre Weapon Shop for details. The Wyvern Lord isn’t that difficult but you need a powerful long range weapon (the recently available Elfin Bow is ideal) to consistently hit him. Take three Elfin Bows to the Gate Crystal and warp to Raithwall Tomb. Backtrack a screen and then you’ll be right by the Wyvern Lord’s screen. Take the northeast instead of south path and you’ll reach the Wyvern Lord’s area. When you see it’s large red dot, don’t approach it right away, but rather rid the area of Bagoly’s and other enemies. When it is clear, use Protect on everyone and Berserk at least one of your Elfin Bow users. The Wyvern Lord likes to use Aero, and also will use a powerful tactic towards the end of it’s line that puts a character in sap mode (the opposite of Regen). With strong bows and Protect to minimize the physical attacks, you should be able to put the Wyvern Lord away without worry. Your rewards are 1000 Gil, Longbow and the Shell Shield.

Further Reading:

• Dynasty Warriors 5 214 Jia Meng
• Zachary Bishop Biography
• Persona 3 Fall Walkthrough Guide Strega Shinjiro
• Legend of Cao Cao Class Information
• Legend of Cao Cao Gameplay Basics

Nalbina Dungeon

Walk about, and Save if you want. You’ll find four Knots of Rust down here. Talk to everyone and Save, and continue along. You’ll see two Bangaa prisoners get killed by two vicious Seeq’s. These seeq’s aren’t the friendly ones you saw laughing outside. A third one will jump Vaan and he’ll wake up being drug around a sand area.

Turns out he’s in the middle of a caged fighting ring it seems, and the Seeq’s have him surrounded. Balthier comes to aid you so it’s two on three, but you don’t have weapons. Still though, your characters take off more. Just make sure you coordinate your attacks, attacking the same one until it goes down. Take advantage of your speed also to buy time to charge up your attack. As you clear out one or two you’ll get more room to manuever and you should win easily at this point. Daguza and his two seeq buddies are dead, but you’ve upset the higher ups. Balthier and Vaan hide until Fran gets them out. You get your first look at the head of the imperials though.

Save when you regain control and go north. You’ll be right by where the imperials keep all of the prisoners equipment. That means yours. You can also search around for a Tourmaline Ring and Gambit Foe: Targeting Leader. Save again and continue on, and you’ll get to a part where the door closes behind you. Your party makes it through, but there are plenty of imperials on your side of the wall unfortunately.

You can fight them all if you wish. I run up the stairs that you are near and clear that area out, getting the Chromed Leathers. Imperial Hoplite, Imperial Magus, Imperial Swordsmen and Imperial Marksmen are scattered about. Kill them all, get the treasures (Knot of Rust mostly) and follow the Judge through the door that he and his friends went through.

You’ll see some scenes with the Judge and Bash. The Judge and friends will leave and you’ll have a chance to talk to Basch. Your party will cut his cell down and you’ll all fall down. After the event, Basch joins as a guest.

Barheim Passage

Again, you have Basch as a guest. Go straight (down the stairs) and then east for a bunch of Gil, and then west to Save. Talk to Burrogh, he has a really nice shop. I bought some Leather Shields and Bronze Armor here for as many as I could, not to mention BlindA, PoisonA and any other spells I could afford. Last but certainly not least is the Ally:HP < 50% and 30% one, both of which you should buy and equip to at least one character. I tend to use the %30 in regular battles and then sometimes both for boss battles.

Hit the switch next to him and then go upstairs and try to use the Power Relay. It won’t work, so return to the Bangaa to get a Tube Fuse. Go back up and use this and everything will light up. Now go downstairs and press the switch to open the door. The charge lowers. The bangaa will tell you to make sure you have a charge otherwise tough monsters will come about.

As you continue along, you’ll see Battery Mimics. They suck your charge down, and you’ll want to kill them right away. There is also a Little Mimic and Zombie in this room. Clear it out and get the Quiver of Onion Arrows. The next room is a little easier, and then you’ll be in a room with a Battery Mimic and a Steeling.

This new area has much more narrow pathways, just watch for the Battery Mimics. You might get pulled into combat with other monsters, like Little Mimics and Steelings. Again, just worry about the Battery Mimics should this happen. Stay healed as you continue onward.

You’ll find the map (you can actually see it through the wall of where a Battery Mimic is, but can’t get it until you circle around) shortly after entering the narrower area. This should open things up a bit and allow you to see the dead ends so you can search them first, although most of the treasures are Gil, Potions, Remedy or an Ether.

When you get the chance, take the dead end path that heads to the west (instead of south, the fork after getting the map). Clear this out (2 Battery Mimics in here) but you’ll see you cannot continue. Return and take the path south, and you’ll see a Battery Mimic in the next room. It’ll scamper south, so follow it as no other enemies are down there. Back west and you’ll fight a pair of Flan, and then you’ll see the charge going down. Continue westward as a Battery Mimic will be over here as well, and a Flan will drop down and ambush you on top of that. Ignore the Flan and kill the Battery Mimic. Grab the Potion and Onion Arrow Quiver and go further west.

This is the last room, and there is a switch at the end. You’re going to want to take the west (upper) path first, as this leads to a few Flan and a Buckler (great shield, although L2 Shields take a while to get to). Return downstairs and you’ll see a Battery Mimic through the narrow path. Kill him immediately, and then the switch and a few more Flan are in the last room. Hit that switch to hear a door open to the south. Take that path south to a small area where there will be a flashback regarding Reks, Vaan’s brother who you controlled with Basch early in the game. Finally though there is a Save Crystal here, so use it.

Not much left from this point on. You’ll see on your map that there is a Battery Mimic just south of you, so rush it with your party. A few of the treasures around here are Mimic enemies. One of them is the Gambit Foe: HP greater than / equal to 50% though, so make sure you get that.

In the next room, there will be two Battery Mimics right by you. One of them will fight you while the other runs further south. Kill them both, there are only two other Little Mimics around. Return to the beginning of the area and get the Gil treasures along with the Light Woven Shirt. You’ll notice the charge is still going down, that’s because this is a large area and there is a Battery Mimic at the other end of the area that you want to sprint after. Careful, a new monster, the Suriander, is around. Kill the first one and go up the hill area to find two Tiny Mimics and a Battery Mimic. Kill that Battery Mimic first of course. There is a Gil treasure and the exit here, but first go the other way you skipped before, by the Suriander. There are two more Surianders and a dead end. Okay, so that wasn’t really worth it.

Back to where you fought the last Battery Mimic, and exit out. Save your game and continue on. You’ll be fighting four Tiny Battery’s and a Mimic Queen. Just attack the Mimic Queen (Steal of Knot of Rust if you’d like) and use Blizzard (and not Thunder). This battle will be very tough, and there’s also the factor of the Tiny Battery’s sucking the energy out on the sides. The energy got pretty low so I assume it’s likely to go to 0 if you completely ignore them. That said the Mother will use Earthshaker and a powerful thunder storm attack that will likely kill a few characters. I won by sneaking in a Blizzard at the last minute with both Fran and Balthier having less than 50 HP (the other two being dead). Some scenes happen and eventually you’re out!

Dalmasca Estersand

Save, and then you can explore a bit. Go north first, and then east for a door which is locked. Then go north for a camp area, where you can buy things (like items, accessories and a map of Estersand). A ferry normally runs here but not right now. There is also a Gate Crystal here.

Go south now into the center area, where you will see an unknown exit to the northeast. Go here and you’ll see an FMV, this is Nalbina Fortress. There are plenty of shops here, the Gambit one has some especially nice choices. You can get better weapons and armor than you’ve been accustomed to, so use all those License Points you earned fighting recently. I don’t know where I came across it, must have been from an enemy, but I had a Mage’s Habit, great armor for this early in the game. Return back to Rabanastre now.

Rabanastre

The party splits up when you enter. Save and notice the moogle attendant. He can transport you around Rabanastre. Use this to go into Migelo’s Sundries. Kytes will talk to you, and then you are to go to the slums, wait I mean Old Dalan’s house. He has you deliver a sword, the Sword of the Old Order. Deliver this to the red area on the map and you’ll see a scene with Basch. He’ll join as he needs Balthier’s wings. Go to the second floor of the Sand Sea and Fran and Balthier join Vaan and Basch. Before going on this escapade with the airship, first check out the board. Be SURE to put two of the three that joined you in battle with you.

That Flowering Cactoid (Rare Cactoid) is still there. You are to meet Dantro in Estersand for this one. Talk to Dantro in the middle section and he’ll explain the Flowering Cactoid, and it resides in Yardang Labyrinth. Go to the upper-center area and you’ll find it (that’s where mine was at least). He was incredibly easy for me, as were the weak monsters around him. He has a 1000 Needles move that he uses when he’s low and you get a Cactus Flower for defeating him. Return to Dantro to receive 500 Gil and 10 Potions.

Talk to Dantro again and he’ll ask you take the flower to his wife in a camp north of here. So, go north and talk to her (in the middle area of her camp by a house). She gives you a bundle of needles and asks for some Semclam Shells. Go in the nearby water and search the shiny objects to get them. Then she asks for Nebralim.

Back in Dantro’s camp, search behind the Chocobo to find a Phial of Nebralim. Take this back to his wife and then she’ll ask for the Valeblossom Dew. You can’t get this now, so just return to the board at the Sand Sea.

The Wraith (Ghost) is also available. Accept it and talk to Milha in the north part of Lowtown to get the details. Enter Storehouse 5 and take a right into Garamsythe. Stand around in the center and a Wraith will appear. He is not easy, much more difficult than the Cactoid you just fought. He’ll cast Blizzard on you and Doom, not to mention some other more annoying, status-based attacks (like Dark). He is weak against Thunder so utilize that. I had all three characters casting that (or Cure). He has a ton of HP but as long as you have a Phoenix Down or two (to survive Doom) you should be okay.

Back at Lowtown, talk to Milha to see the “person” scared was actually a baby Seeq. You get 500 Gil, Ether and a pair of Gauntlets. Go inside the house to get a very important Dusty Note. You’ll need this later.

Time to visit Montblanc at the Clan Hall. He gave me 2 Warp Motes and 2 Teleport Stones for going up one class and then 3 Remedies and 2 Teleport Stones. Finally, for defeating Flan, the Rabanastre Common Council will give you 150 gil. The Rabanastre Healers Covent will give you 200 Gil for defeating the Firemane and a lady will give you 300 for killing the Mimic Queen.

Now Montblanc has some choices for hunts. Choose Cluckatrice in the Giza Plains. Go to the Nomad Settlement which is just a screen south, and go to the Cockatrice area and talk to Dania there. Accept the hunt and go to the Giza North Bank. It’s probably too hard for you so I’ll touch on this later. To continue the story, speak with Fran at the Aerodrome and then go inside and talk to Balthier. He’ll have things set up to go to Bhujerba. Watch the flying scenes and the Penelo scenes and you’ll be there.

Further Reading:

• Final Fantasy 12 – 6. Archadia, Nalbina, Mosphoran

Nalbina Fortress

Be prepared for a long opening. Eventually after a long opening and some dialog, you’ll have control of Reks. Basch will teach you some basics about the control and you’ll then have to talk to him and a guard to advance. Continue to follow their commands as you open the gate and run forward.

You’ll reach an enemy and you’ll have a short dialog about fighting. It’s much different than FF10 – you have to target your enemy and then select your action. Control might seem hard at first but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. Normal attacks should suffice against this soldier and then continue on.

Now Reks will have the option to go into the menu and use the other controls. Again, experiment with these, the better you are at working your camera angle the better you’ll be in battle. Soon enough you’ll be in a “boss” battle against Tiny Airship Remora. Not a difficult fight as you’ll have plenty of help including the fact that you’ll be healed. Regular attacks should be fine but Thunder takes off more damage. A Mist attack by Basch will end this.

You’ll get to a harder to navigate area with several turns. Search around for a Potion (one of the dead ends to the right). You’ll fight a bunch of Imperial Soldiers that you can run from (R2) if you want. If you continue all the way to the stairs you’ll come to a Save Crystal. The stairs are after you take a left fork, and if you go north past it you’ll see a bigger area with another treasure (Potion). Continue along up the stairs and Reks will fight three Imperial Soldiers by himself.

This is a decent test of your abilities up to this point. If you’re attacking, make sure you’re near the one you’re locked on. Also, stay back if you’re casting magic. After the battle go through the door and you’ll see a bunch of scenes with Reks and then it’ll switch to Vaan.

Rabanastre

After some scenes you’ll gain control of Vaan. He’ll be fighting three Dire Rats, easy prey for you. They are sneakily fast and Vaan is weak and low leveled so stay aware. More scenes will occur and you’ll be outside in town with control of Vaan.

You can’t go in any stores but you can talk to all the townspeople. Penelo is in the north part, so talk to her and then go to Migelo in the very bottom. He wants you to go to the Sand Sea restaurant in the north part of town.

You’ll find Kytes here and Tomaj. Tomaj will give you a Clan Report so that you can track monsters that you hunt. In addition he has an Orrachea Armlet for you, and he’ll show you how to acquire licenses for abilities and equipment. Last, he’ll give you a Writ of Transit that will allow you to leave.

Go to the north part of town and then go west to get to the Clan HQ. Talk to Montblanc and he’ll enlist you in their clan. You can talk some more and continue west to the Bazaar where you can shop. Unfortunately you can only get things based on your rank, and since yours is low at the moment means that there won’t be much.

Directly in the middle (southwest of the weapon shop) and you’ll meet a banga that has a special package for his friend. He can’t get by the east gate though, so take his package and go east and the guard will let you through. Talk to the bangaa merchant by the save point and this will be the one you were supposed to deliver to. He’ll gladly take the package and you can continue on.

Dalmasca Estersand

Your first real freedom with Vaan (or anyone for that matter). Fight the Wolves and the Cactites, but the Wild Saurian’s are probably too much for you to handle at this point. Wander around and get the treasures that hold either Gil or a Potion. In the north part is an exit, which leads to a rest area with some travelers. You can spend 100 gil to rest but you’re better off just using Potions to restore yourself. If you search around here you’ll find more Potions and small amounts of Gil. At this stage in the game it’s probably worth your time.

Back outside, head to the middle area where you will see the Rogue Tomato. He’s not too difficult at first, and you’ll knock him down a level once you get his HP to about half. Run after him but take care as he’ll soon ready Flame Breath. Shouldn’t be too much for you to overcome as long as you keep up with the Potions. Galbana Lilies are your reward for defeating him, along with a message that you’ve vanquished him.

Rabanastre

Back in Rabanstre, Vaan will be stopped from entering as some Chocobos get to go in first. Migelo eventually gets you in and you’ll see some scenes and have some free time. Return to the Sand Sea Restaurant to see Tomaj, who will reward you with 300 gil, 2 Potions and a Teleport Stone for your efforts against the Tomato. You can check the board on the other side of the bar to see that Thextera (Mutant Wolf) is now available. Agree to this mark and you can talk to Gatsly (he’s waiting right by the board). Thextera is on the other side of Rabanastre (Westersand) near Galtea Downs. He’ll give you more specific directions also.

At this point, I bought the Broad Sword and Cure Magic, and I got both from their respective shops in town. The coming battles against Thextera and his wolf friends will prove difficult. You’ll first want to clear out the area and get the Potions, Gil and other treasures (you get a water-based item also). I had Vaan up to level four, and then I returned to the Save Point at the Rabanastre gate to rest.

Back in Westersand, if you take that left right away like Gatsly says, you’ll come to several wolves gathering around one big one. This is why you want to clear as many wolves out as possible, making this fight as easy as possible. It will be hard though and you’ll have to keep your wits about you. Remember, you can run to the save point to recharge if need be. Thextera and his wolf friends (usually 2 or 3) are at the top of that mountain on the left and they’ll charge you when you get close (and they will follow you all the way back if you try to run). They’re fast and do multiple attacks.

Thextera gets more difficult as his HP lessens (like most monsters). He uses Fang which’ll take off around 110 on you. He’ll also cry for help, and a wolf will come to help him (especially rough if you already have a lot on you). So basically, keep yourself rested until he gets to the half way mark, where you’ll want to be even more careful. Once he is dispatched remember that the other wolves won’t disappear so deal with them and then go back to Gatsly. He’ll reward you with a Headguard, Teleport Stone and 500 Gil.

You can go to Lowtown now, via the east. Once down there you should talk to everyone and go south. Old Dalan lives in the southmost house, and Vaan will have a talk with him. Rest up and go south toward the Giza Plains (hopefully you bought a map in the center of Rabanastre).

Giza Plains

The monsters here are decidely easier than what you encounted during your hunt of Thextera. The Hyena’s are much easier than the Wolves and the Giza Rabbits are a joke. Grab the treasures (Potions and maybe some Gil) and then go to the south area.

You’ll meet a bunch of nomad’s. In the southern part of the area you’ll meet Masyua. Masyua will explain the situation to you regarding the sunstones that you need. First, you have to save Jinn, a boy who helps collect them. After this talk is over, Vaan will spot Penelo, and she’ll invite herself along. When you’re ready, head out via the south exit. Before you are allowed to leave, Penelo will bring up some group fighting basics along with gambits. Basically now that you have two characters, you can switch between them and you can also set plans for the character(s) that you aren’t controlling(otherwise they’ll just act normally, attacking usually). It’s not too complicated and you’ll get plenty of practice against monsters you were doing okay against by yourself. However there will be some tougher monsters, notably in the left and west side (like the Urstrix, Wild Snake, Alpha Hyena and Slaven).

You can reach Dalmasca Estersand if you go east, but there is no reason for that. Instead, clear out the east route (with the help of a bangaa warrior) and then go south, where you will meet an injured Jinn. He’ll tell you how to make a sunstone with a shadestone (use the Dark Crystals until the energy is sufficient). Save at the save point and go out and get the energy up and return to Jinn. Use select to see the four Black Crystal locations. You’ll get a Sunstone after you visit the fourth one, and then Jinn will give his approval.

Masyua will give you 50 gil, 2 Potions and 2 Teleport Stones afterwards. Back to the lowertown and to Dalan’s house. Penelo will leave you and then you’ll talk to Dalan alone. He gives you the scoop on how to enter – first go to the Storehouse 5 (where you fought the Dire Rats). It’s directly north in Lowtown. Then talk to Kytes inside, who will open the door and give you 2 Potions and 4 Phials of Eye Drops. You are to use the Crescent Stone that was given to you by Dalan to light your way. By the way, buying black magic (especially Blizzard) might not be a bad idea for Vaan.

Garamsythe Waterway

Mostly you’ll encounter Dire Rats and Steeling down here. Take a right first although it is a dead end, it is worth fighting Rats to level up. Shortly after entering I had Vaan up to level 6, just for reference. Save and go the other way now (left from the entrance). You’ll be at the bottom left level of a huge area. Work your way to the other side, killing the Rats and the Steeling present. There are a few Potions in some of the dead end alley-type areas, so get them if need be.

You’ll get to a narrower area with an Ether and a Steeling. Careful here, the monsters behind you will tend to re-appear so you can’t retreat too far or else you’ll be screwed. This is why having Fire Magic (or some kind of magic) is good for long-range purposes. Continue to the northeast part of the floor to get another Potion and the exit.

There are Razorfin’s and Ichthon’s on this next floor. They’re a bit more difficult than what you’ve been dealing with in the first area. Be patient and deal with them one at a time and you shouldn’t have any issue. Continue to check the dead ends for petty treasures (Potions / Gil) and then continue along. You’ll get to an area where your navigate is basically worthless as there are enemies below you but it looks like they’re right next to you on the navigator.

Careful though, some of these enemies are Steeling’s which can fly at you at any point, so as soon as you seen yourself become targetted, target them. You’ll make your way to another water-filled area with a few Ichthon’s waiting your arrival. Kill them off and then take the passage leading south (eventually winding towards the northwest corner of the map) and to a Mage Masher. This is a better weapon than you probably have, so use some License Points to get Daggers 1 and you can use it. Work your way back to the initial fork and go north, eventually to the palace stairs. Cure yourself and head up the stairs. You’ll be asked twice if you want to go – just making sure you’re ready.

The Royal Palace of Rabanastre

You finally made it. Okay it wasn’t that long. Save your game (in a new slot, like the game suggests). Search the urn for a map of the palace. The passage to Garamsythe is there but Vaan won’t use it.

In the next room, talk to everyone and get the treasures. An Antidote, Remedy and a decent amount of gil. To the north, the imperial guards will tell you that you cannot go upstairs. Go up and talk to the guard personally. Return to the Seeq nearby and he’ll help you. He tells you to yell at the guard, so press square to do so. Vaan calls the guard a bucket head, and then the guard runs over to you and the Seeq. Now run to the right wall and hug that wall as you wrap around and up the stairs. Time it so that he won’t see you (ie make your break just as he’s getting to the Seeq). Shouldn’t be too hard.

Next floor, Vaan will recall Dalan mentioning to stand on a signet and use the sunstone (now the Crescent Stone). This area is a little tricky but you’re going to use the same concept you used to get up the stairs. Press square to call the guards over to a certain area. Press select first. You’ll see four horizontal lines in this room. The one you start off on has the Hawk signet in the middle. This is useless, but the one north of that (second-northmost one) has the Lion signet. Here’s how I got there.

Go to the very south and hug the north-part of the wall there. Wrap around and go north a little and you’ll have south guards on both sides of you, but not close enough to catch you (the guards in the southeast corner and the ones directly north (on par with the Hawk signet route) that you need to call over. Press square to do so, and then circle back to the area where you entered and go down the Hawk signet route. The guards who were at the end of this should now be further south since you called them down there. This should give you the opportunity to run along the east side and then go west along the Lion signet route. Use that Crescent Stone and a switch will light. You’re not out of trouble yet though, you have to call a few more sets of soldiers to get to the northwest corner. Return back to the initial part of this stage to call the soldiers on the left further south. Now run up to the Lion signet path and that should be open as you go west. Call the soldiers to the north of you, and then go east and up and west and it should be open. Continue straight and you’ll see the green flame that lit up. Search that door and you’ll go through.

Hit the switch and go through the door. You’ll see a goddess magicite and Vaan will take it, but two others will bust in on him. Continue along and watch the scenes, going north when you have a chance to continue the scenes.

Eventually Balthier and Fran will join you and you’ll go over Gambits again. For now I just keep it on attack the leader’s foe and heal at my own discretion, as I think healing when the HP goes below 70% is a little overuse.

Garamsythe Waterway

Time to make your way back through the Waterway. Check the soldiers and go to the next room. Hang a left and get the Garamsythe Waterway Map. Press select and you’ll see it’s a pretty linear path from this point forward.

Continue along and take the stairs to your right when you have a choice, for a Potion. Further along and you shouldn’t have any problem mowing through Rats and Bats with three characters. Soon you’ll be in the next room, where you should take the dead end path first (up the stairs) so that you can get an Ether. Take the next path and you’ll see a Gigantoad. These suckers have a ton of HP so be smart. Along the way you’ll get a Longsword, equal in power to the Mage Masher.

You’ll get to a section with two Steeling’s and two Gigantoads. The Gigantoads are likely to run up the stairs after you if you go that way and the Steelings will follow you wherever, so it’s likely that you’re going to get swamped. Still though, hold your ground and you’ll clear up the area. Grab the rest of the treasures in the dead end and continue on until you see a Save Point. Save and be ready.

A mysterious woman will be fighting imperial soldiers, but she gets backed into a corner. She jumps into Vaan’s hands and a battle ensues (but she’s not in it). There are four Imperial Soldiers, they aren’t difficult. After the battle, she’ll introduce herself as Amalia. Unlike the other two, she won’t take orders from you and fights on her own accord. Return back and save, and then go to the next room.

Circle around the left corner for a Leather Shield and then go forward to initiate a battle against four Flan. Tough, slime-like creatures. They are weak against fire, so you are well served to cast it with Vaan or whomever, but try to cast Fire once on each and have the others attack it to it’s death. This should create good flow as you can go one by one. After the battle, go straight to get the Dagger and then take the right path to go downstairs to the next area. Grab the Tuft of a Phoenix Down but watch out, monsters will come after you if you go a little further.

The Gigantoad is around these parts, as is a Ghost and a Garchimacera. Veterans of FF5 remember “Garkimasra” in the Walse dungeon. Fortunately you have four members fighting total. A good strategy is to run ahead and hit someone quick without them seeing (with Vaan) and then retreat, allowing the others to peg away at the monster chasing you. This allows for more efficient battle for your party, taking less damage long term. Check the corners for treasure and continue to the next room.

The second left passage has a Cotton Shirt here. Take the lower end to kill the Gigantoad and the Ghost and then go back upstairs to continue along to the Garchimacera’s. There are several of them (3 or 4 I think) and they’ll rush you at the same time, so be prepared. Continue further and lean towards the right and you’ll come across The Gambit Foe: Targeting Self. In the next room, you can save and look at four rusted devices. Not much you can do, go through the door.

A fire-based boss appears, the Firemane. That’s why you should have bought Blizzard for Vaan. Use it exclusively, healing when necessary. Attacking is fine too. Careful of Bush Fire, it’ll poison you and take off 100 each likely. Heal up and watch for the Kicks he uses often. After the battle, you are caught by the imperials.

The townspeople think the commotion was all over you. You are locked up and Vaan has a dream of sorts. You’ll wake up in Nalbina Dungeons.

Further Reading:

• Suikoden III Chris Chapter 3
• Suikoden III Hugo Chapter 1
• Suikoden Tierkreis Guide Cragbark Shams
• DW6 Mt Ding Jun; Huang Zhong battles Xiahou Yuan
• DW6 Chi Bi; Pang Tong Huang Gai Zhou Yu best Cao Cao