Pau Prairie

Pau Prairie is like a trailer park that moves around the plains here. Lots of stuff to do and some valuable characters are here for you.

Meet with General Elliott in the south, and then check the southeast building for a Long Sword. This is useful for Max. You will meet Earnest in a train, a cool looking dude. A Bread of Life is west of him, and so is the weapon shop. Nothing really new here besides the Long Swords.

Head to the very northwest part, with the Priest in the building. Work your way to the northwest part of the house to see Jogurt fall down – you need to do this to Recruit Jogurt. Enter the northeast train and get the Legs of Haste. You will need to talk to Queen Koron a few times to get them to drive off.

Once the Pau trains have rode off, Kokichi should fly into the screen (only if you saw him fly in Bustoke!). He’ll join you and uses Power Spears and flies! One of my personal favorites and is the definition of versatile.

Northwest of where you start off you’ll see Vankar, another knight. He’s pretty generic but he’s closer to being a good knight as opposed to some of the worse ones.

Battle outside Pau Prairie Lots of new characters so if you wish to rotate them in, remember to do so before you leave Pau. Pelle especially should be put in and you may wish to rotate Vankar / Kokichi in too.

General Elliott is waiting for you outside – a LONG way east. The enemies that head your way at first are nothing new, but one of the Lizardmen has a Heat Axe, and he’ll drop it when he dies. But if he hits you with it, it’ll likely kill ya.

The Artillery is a new enemy, one that has some dangerous long range capabilities. It’s low HP allows it to be easily rushed and destroyed though. Careful with Elliott. He won’t move if you attack him from afar, but if you get right next to him he’ll begin hunting out Max. And his high attack usually either kills or mortally wounds any ally. Gang up on him to defeat him.

Pau Trains

After the battle head into Pau. This visit nets you two of the best characters imo. Guntz might be my all time favorite. He has poor mobility but isn’t slowed by terrain. And he is a beast when he gets to the party, starting right away with the Power Spear. He is terrifying the pigs in the southeast. West of him is a guy with an incubator, and you have that Domingo Egg from Manarina so let him hatch it. Out pops Domingo, a flying creature that specializes in Freeze. You wouldn’t expect it but he’s a tremendous asset with his freeze / flying skills and his underrated defense.

You’ll hear about Earnest going in against Balbazak. Once you raise your characters and promote anyone (make sure you promote a Warrior at level 10 to make use of that Heat Axe).

Entering Uranbatol

This is one of the easiest levels in the entire game, and a good one to level up in (though it’s a huge board so actually the next one might be a better bet). Anyway, you are introduced to Cerberus here – their regular attack is extremely weak but their fire attack can penetrate anyone for 10-15 damage. Search the spot in the east for a Kenji - a pointless item.

Make use of your new characters and get your recently promoted characters some quick experience to make up for their lost stats. The enemies are so spread out that they’ll be easy to kill – once you get there.

After the battle you can enter the lower door or the upper door. If you take the upper one you’ll see a scene with Earnest pummeling a Cerberus. If you take the lower door you’ll have to take the northwest stairs in Uranbatol to meet up and recruit Earnest. Not much to do in town besides rest up and promote characters.

Uranbatol Harbor

Balbazak is here to prevent you from using the ship. This battle is hard because the enemy is right on top of you, and the Seabats are new enemies that prevent a new, more annoying challenge. This is my favorite stage for leveling up your characters – the enemies (notably the Seabats) yield a lot of EXP and as stated above, you don’t have to move far to engage in battle. Just Egress before taking out Balbazak and repeat – I generally do this to get all the non promoted characters up to speed.

As for winning the battle, be patient and let the Seabats come to you – with your best defenders lined up in front. The northern enemies are a conglomeration of weaker ones you’ve fought in the past. The Cerberus are of course the most dangerous with their armor penetrating flame attacks.

Like most bosses you’ve fought recently, Balbazak doesn’t move. But he does restore HP each turn. Have your Power Spear users snipe at him and throw your Heat Axe user in front to do some damage too – you should be able to maul him especially if you spent some time leveling up.

Balbazak gives you the boat but Darksol kills him immediately for betraying them.

End of Chapter 4 – The Great Fortress of Balbazak

Start of Chapter 5 – Gateway to the Hidden Shrine

Battle at Sea I

You start off on your ship, but enemies are approaching it. Mostly Shellfish and Conch enemies, don’t underestimate them though because their status ailments can prove to be annoying. The Pegasus Knights aren’t really any more difficult than they were before, and it’s been a while since you’ve fought them.

The only real strategy is to let the flying enemies come to you and just absorb the hits with your highest leveled tank. This is another great battle for leveling up with no real dangerous enemy (just annoyances with status effects).

Waral Your ship is screwed after the battle but Shell of Waral tells you of her village and says you should go there until it is fixed.

This is a nice looking resort village. Notice the two empty stands to the west by the king’s palace – the king himself runs them. In fact the weapon shop has new weapons for basically everyone but your spellcasters. You’ll notice with the Elven Arrow that you can now attack from three spaces away (though you got one of those in the previous chapter). Also grab all the treasures in the king’s shops . One is the Mobility Ring which you’ll grow to love – it makes any unit improve movement by 2. Imagine Guntz with 6 movement instead of 4? Makes a big difference.

As for your ship, you have to wait a bit so you might as well explore some more. Get in the boat and you can find the friar to save, etc. Further south past the buoies and your ship will get caught and sent to a new part of the island. Your party is good at ruining ships.

Talk to this other friar once you wake up, and then enter the blue crystally area. Follow the Skeleton and a battle starts.

Path to Metapha There is a Master Mage here looking to enter the Path to Metapha. You must stop him.

Starting off, you may wish to split up to the left and right to mop up the Seabats and Skeleton / Cerberus combos. The center enemies are stationary. The Ice Worm is a new enemy here as well. Their attack / defense is poor, but they have the Cerberus like ability to spew stuff but they like to use Freeze.

Further to the north the Cerberus will charge you and the Skeletons fall back. Notice the Skeleton’s are a bit tougher with elevated defenses. The Master Mage can deal fatal damage with Freeze 2 but also are weak with defense.

After it is defeated, you’ll hear the voice from the Orb of Light pool. Unfortunately as you are about to investigate Metapha Path it is blocked off by the Master Mage.

Waral You will be back in Waral after this. Your boat is ready to leave if you are.

Battle on the Sea II

Another battle on your way to the land of Dragon’s. This time you are stuck with enemies that regenerate at the south part of the ship – making it a bit longer. Though the enemy tends to cluster up really bad down there so once you clear up the center, you should be able to put your frontline characters south fast enough to clog that part up.

The Gargoyle is the new enemy here but like the other foes, he has nothing really dangerous to fear. He can make a weird face to stun you but that’s about it. And remember, the Conch’s and Shellfish will reappear when defeated.

End of Chapter 5 – Gateway to the Hidden Shrine

Beginning of Chapter 6 – Descendent of the Sacred Dragons

Rudo

Your ship again goes off course and you wake up in Rudo. It is run by some red head ladies. Talk to the first one right by you, and then check out the building west of this for another one that knows about Darksol and dragons.

Not much at the weapon shop besides Guardian Staves. Buy everyone that can equip one a Guardian Staff because they can’t be purchased elsewhere.

Check for Lyle in the westmost building. He is a centaur / ranger type who can attack from long range but has the movement of a Knight. He may be worth a test run though the battle ahead will be tough for him.

Battle outside Rudo A Dullahan is at the end, ensuring you don’t enter the village. Only 8 enemies are fronting you here, so expect some ambush parties. In fact, you may wish to send someone fast like Zylo or a flying character far east to set off the ambushes.

The first group includes 3 Ice Worms and 3 Master Mages. This group can be dangerous especially the Mages since they’ll act right away. The next group includes 6 Golems. They have crazy defenses, even your toughest characters will have a hard time. Plan on using a lot of Blaze, if you have someone like that with.

The High Priest has Heal 4 (all cure basically) and a deceptively strong attack. The Dullahan has a similar defense to the Golems but a much more dangerous attack. The Master Mage of course can screw you over in such a clustered area.

Dragonia

Inside, head north for a Halberd chest. This is a great short range item for Paladins, but they are rare to find. Also a Broad Sword is in the northeast house.

Check the northwest building and go through it to meet Bleu the dragon. He is timid and scared of you, but Karin comes to talk some sense into him. She leaves but then screams – an enemy has her! Bleu saves her and then joins.

Back in town you’ll see your nemesis Kane out there. Talk to him and he says to rest up and get ready for the showdown.

If you put Bleu in this battle, just let him build up with the Gargoyles to the north. Heading to the east is obviously more difficult, with Cain being able to instantly kill several of your characters. The Golem wall should not too be too much of an issue if you have a Blaze user around.

Try to snipe at the Dullahan and Master Mage protecting Cain’s south side. They won’t move until you move up the stairs. Cain can use Death on you and as stated before his physical attack is unstoppable. This is why you kill the lower two enemies first because you’ll need to gang up on him and kill off the High Priest too of course. About all else, keep Max protected!

After the battle, Kane comes to his senses. Try to enter the shrine, then come back and you’ll see Kane in the lower left corner. Talk to him and the two of you can open the door. Follow him in but Darksol will begin battle against him. Everyone will be gone, so head back to Rudo.

Rudo

At Rudo, speak to the sisters to find out you’re out of luck and Dark Dragon can be revived. Karin suggests you go to Prompt.

To Demon Castle Mishaela is outside and she informs you that you are going to die right now. This battle is definitely not for the Knights or Mages. The terrain has never been more brutal.

There are some annoying new enemies, like the Belials. They’ll cast Bolt and tend to get towards you when you’re clustered. So stay spaced out until you defeat them. Same with the Master Mages. A large portion of your party may fall behind and by the end it’ll likely be a worn out group of fliers that are killing the last Bowman and High Priest.

Demon Castle

Mishaela is here and so is the Sword of Light, something that you want. Also keep in mind that there are a ton of other treasures here, so get them all in battle, and Egress if you have to. The right treasure is a Power Potion, a White Ring, Shower of Cure, and Light Sword in the northeast, and Black Ring, Healing Seed and Evil Ring in the northwest. Of course you’ll want to get the Light Sword with a flying character and return it to Max. With the Sword of Light and White Ring, Max becomes extremely powerful.

Mishaela herself will retreat north to her den area. You’ll take care of her last of course, after acquiring the Sword of Light and other items. The Belials you should be careful with. You don’t want to waste heal spells early on because you’ll need them for Mishaela and her Bolt 2’s. A useful thing to do is use the Power Ring on Max when he has the Sword of Light. Sometimes he can get a double attack and kill Mishaela in one fell swoop!

End of Chapter 6 – Descendent of the Sacred Dragons

Beginning of Chapter 7 – The Lost Civilization

Prompt

You are in Prompt, the place you were looking for. You will spend a ton of cash buying weapons – this time everyone needs to get re-stocked save for the Healers. Don’t worry, this is one of the last times you’ll need to do this.

Head to the southwest and towards the king underground. For some reason he doesn’t trust you and immediately throws you in jail. Search the cell door and Boken lets you out. Go talk to the king…and it’s like he never even threw you in jail in the first place. He mentions Alef and Torasu at the tower fighting Darksol.

Search behind the King to find Kane in bed. Talk to him but he’ll be sleeping. As you leave, he tells the king to give you permission to go to the Tower of Ancients. So he lets you!

Leave the castle area of Prompt. Return north and to the hotel like house in the west with the little white north in the middle of it. Search that note…and it’s a note from Musashi the Samurai saying he’s going to join! This is good news because he’s one of the most powerful characters in the game – but slow and poor movement.

To Tower of Ancients Outside you’ll found yourself in another crappy terrain battle. And there are tough new enemies in this battle that you will get accustomed too. Fortunately, you got all of those new weapons – even with them though these new enemies (like the Jet) have good defenses still. The Torch Eyes are maybe the most annoying, doing a fixed 20 damage pretty much. Minotaurs are your typical brutes but can move fast through the terrain. Wyvern’s fly around and breath fire on you. Overall it’s a dangerous outfit so be careful and don’t stray to far ahead of the pack.

This is an underrated battle. The last few enemies really will push your team to the edge. Definitely don’t leave Max vulnerable because the Torch Eyes can do a static high-teens damage, and those Wyverns can do the same with their fire breath. And they will gang up on you.

After this battle, rest up at Prompt and then head to the Tower of Ancients.

Tower of Ancients

Enter the Tower of Ancients in the right part of the screen. Grab the Devil Lance on floor 1 and the Turbo Pepper on floor 2. Turbo Pepper ups your movement by 2 permanently! Use wisely…

A Demon Master is at the far north of this stage. They have Freeze 3, so be wary of these enemies. Try to snipe from afar at the enemies if you can (specifically the Steel Claw and Torch Eye). If you have a flying character you can just fly across to get the Valkrie, basically the best weapon for the Paladins (though this is the only one in the game ).

The group with two Torch Eyes in the northwest is best fought with a few flying characters to ambush the enemies from the sides. If you didn’t grab the Valkryie earlier do so now. The Demon Mage has Freeze 3 but it’s defense is as poor as it’s predecessors. It drops a Demon Rod (cursed).

As you reach the top of the tower, you’re late. And Darksol is ready to kill you. Fortunately Kane comes in to distract him but dies in the process. Return back to Prompt.

Prompt – to Metapha

Go speak with the King. Otrant will come in and tell you of the Chaos Breaker. You’ll get the Sword of Darkness to match the Sword of Light – now go to the Path to Metapha in the basement.

You’ll need the Orb of Light to continue forth to the path. Inside you will meet Adam the robot. He is a good guy and tells you to use the Orb of Light up ahead. Do so and you’ll eventually be led by Adam to where the Chaos Breaker is.

Unfortunately, a boss robot named Chaos is here to stop you! This battle is like the Balbazak one in that it is so small that the entire group of enemies will be bearing down on you after long. In turn it is a good one to build up in.

Have a good tank on the right side to deal with the Jets, and then kill the Demon Mages to the west as soon as possible. If you go too far north up that west path, Chaos and friends will just rush you. This is bad but even if it happens they’ll clutter up and will only be able to attack with a few units at a time. This is a wonderful battle for leveling up Alef, Torasu and Alex.

Up ahead you’ll place the Sword of Light and Sword of Darkness in the left and right altars respectively. Then you can get the Chaos Breaker up ahead. This has a higher attack and can use Freeze 3 is used in battle…but I miss the Bolt 2 of the Sword of Light. Anyway, go on and use the Orb of Light and return to the king in Prompt.

Road to Runefaust

As you exit outside, a battle to the Runefaust Gate begins. It is being blocked by an Armored Skeleton, an enemy with an extremely high attack. Also there are more new enemies, one being Horsemen who have the usual high attack / low defense combo. Then the Cerberus’ are here, and they are of course similar to Hellhounds. This is another crappy terrain battle unfortunately. You may even consider it too much of a hassle to kill the Skeletons far to the east.

The center is clearly the hardest part, with the Cerberus charging out at you and the Minotaurs not too far behind. Once you’ve cleared this area it should be easy to take out that last Armored Skeleton to end the chapter.

End of Chapter 7 – The Lost Civilization

Beginning of Chapter 8 – Rise of the Ancient Castle

Runefaust

You’ll begin near Runefaust. Just as you enter Runefaust, look north. See that weird looking bush? Search it and you’ll find a note from Hanzo! Hanzo is a Ninja and is like Musashi in that they’re both extremely dominant characters.

Not much to buy here besides Buster Shots for your archer types. You’ll hear from everyone around here that King Ramladu has turned against you.

Enter the castle area and a battle will begin.

Battle versus King Ramladu King Ramladu taunts you here and sics some tough enemies on you. Chimaera’s are the hardest normal enemies imo because they dodge so many attacks and their attack is very high. Blue Dragon’s are very similar in a lot of those categories as well, but are a bit slower and don’t evade quite as well.

Grab the Atlas Axe and a Halberd in the southeast – both are extremely worth it considering they are rare items. You will get your first Chimaera test early on here, and make sure you can gang up them.

The enemies to the north are for the most part stationary. So, have everyone take out the group in the northwest corner, and then begin to work your way east. You can use the ice blocks in the center as a way to guard yourself and keep the weaker characters protected.

One of the Armored Skeletons drops another Atlus Axe. After defeating all of the enemies, the ice blocks melt and you now have to fight a ton of machines – and this time King Ramladu himself gets involved.

Ramladu is stationed to the north and won’t move, so focus on the 20 or so enemies below you. The Torch Eyes can kill several characters if they are all left alive so begin to whittle their forces down. You’ll have casualties either way with the amount of enemies near you. Using Egress first to revive those who died in the previous battle should be done immediately.

If you thought Kane had a good attack, wait until you see King Ramladu. Instant kills galore, and his attack looks pretty cool too. He has Aura 3 to heal, but that’s really not that effective since he’s just one person. As usual with bosses, you are best off rushing him and doing all the damage you can – he’ll knock out a few characters along the way surely.

Shortly after, Ramladu regains his senses and apologizes for fighting you. It’s too late though and he passes. Return to town one last time to rest and take the west stairs this time in the castle area.

When you get outside, head to the far west cape. Use the Chaos Breaker to get Dark Dragon’s castle to appear. Now enter that little gate area that looks like the place where you fought your very first battle.

Castle of Ancients – Colossus Trio

Enter the gate and then hit the teleport. You’ll be in the Castle of Ancients now, but the Colossus Trio is barring your path. You’ll see that one has Bolt 3, one has Blaze 3, and one has Freeze 3.

This battle is tough at the beginning. You’re going to get assaulted from both sides by Blue Dragons and Chimaera’s. Do whatever you have to do to kill them all, and you have no choice but to wait for them to come to you. The Horseman above should be easy kills and the once you finish off the Armored Skeletons you can start worrying about the eastern Chimaera’s because they’ll probably be on top of you.

By the time you clear everyone out in the center, the Freeze and Blaze Colossus’ will be upon you from the west and east respectively. They really aren’t that difficult though their evade rate can be annoying.

The Bolt 3 Colossus is at the top. Obviously that’s the toughest one but it should be by itself once you get there. It’s slow movement allows you to get in close enough to gang it up like usual.

Darksol revives Dark Dragon

As you get to Darksol, he is meddling with Dark Dragon unsuccessfully. It looks like you can stop him after all! Darksol is at the top, protected by Steel Claws, Torch Eyes and Blue Dragons.

You’ll want to split your party in 2 likely, unless you are way overleveled in which case you can just head straight north. Otherwise though, head west / east with your party and mop up both sides. Destroy the four Torch Eyes in the middle at the same time, and the Blue Dragons will fly towards you once you get close to this area.

Darksol himself does not have that strong of a physical attack, but his Soul Blaze attack does about 30 damage on a group of characters. Not to mention over 100 HP. So you’ll want to spread out during this fight.

Unfortunately, with his last powers Darksol summons Dark Dragon! You must defeat it!

Dark Dragon

Dark Dragon has three heads. The center one likes to use Soul Blaze a lot, and it’s range is like Bolt 2 / Bolt 3, so if you gang up on him in any way you are in trouble. The side Dark Dragon’s can do that too but they seem to use weaker attacks like Blaze 3, Freeze 3, Desoul 2, etc. Dark Dragon also has a powerful physical attack, but it’s nothing compared to it Soul Blaze attack.

Also you’ll notice two areas where Armored Skeleton’s regenerate for a long while. There are about 20-25 Armored Skeleton’s on each renegeration spot. When you combine this with the fact that Dark Dragon doesn’t move, it’s a great spot to level your characters up to speed while Dark Dragon cannot attack.

You may wish to leave the center Dark Dragon alone until you defeat the other two. Having some flying characters allows you to attack Dark Dragon from all sides, which helps. Physical attacks seem to work best and have the ability to go twice. Freeze / Blaze / Bolt 4 aren’t bad either for quick damage. Torasu is a good one to have around with his Aura 4 incase things get messy.

The ending is sad

Further Reading:

• Shining Force I 1 Guardiana Walkthrough Guide
• Wild ARMs I Walkthrough Ziekfried Ka Dingel Ragu ragula

Guardiana

The game starts with a short dialogue with Various the Knight. Go to the king after that to hear that you are to check out the Runefaust army at the gate, as there seems to be some activity. You can check out town, but not much to do (or buy at this point).

You do get Ken (Knight), Luke (Warrior), Tao (Mage), Lowe (Healer), and Hans (Archer). Ken and Hans start off well but don’t age quite as good as some of the other characters – notably Luke, who should be a solid character throughout. Tao too is useful with her speed and Blaze ability.

Return to the king for 100 gold, and then leave town.

Guardiana Gate

Near the gate you will see the Runefaust army. The enemy will go into a set spot and wait for you to advance – this is the way it is in most battles, though in some they pursue quickly.

Anyway, try to snipe the three Goblins with long range users (Tao, Ken, Hans), as if you get too close you’ll incite the other enemies. Once those Goblins are done, try to move north just enough to get the rest of the Goblins and Dwarves after you. This will make clearing that Knight at the top less of a risk for Max and the others. Having Lowe get some finishing shots helps to keep him leveled up – you’ll notice Healers are difficult to level up otherwise.

To Guardiana

Once outside, you’ll see the enemies have Guardiana under control after you left. You need to work your way back north to get there. Before you do any of that, go into the hut east of the Gate Ruins. There is a priest, Jogurt, and Gong! Gong the Monk joins you. He is a healer but of course is more physically inclined. Still though, he is not the best threat physically so it is in your best interest to level him up with some finishing shots as well.

Back to the battle, advance through the Goblins again with long range users. Hans should be a dominant ally in the woods with decent movement compared to the rest. The clutter of Goblins and Dwarves might be a mess but you should be able to mow through them one or two at a time while the other enemies sit back and wait their turn. You are best off being patient at the end with the two Rune Knights and the Dwarf. If you use Hans / Ken / Tao to kill the knights from across the river, storming the dwarf should prove easy.

Inside Guardiana, you should raise anyone who may have died, and then buy an Axe for Luke if you wish (you can buy weapons here now). Head to the northeast to the library, as Gort will join you. He is basically a Luke clone which is a good addition.

Hurry to the King. As you get there Kane is murdering Varios, and the king dies shortly thereafter. Mae however joins, the daughter of Varios. She is another Knight like Ken but has a lance instead of spear so you’ll need to get up close with her to attack.

To Alterone

Northeast of Guardiana is Alterone. You need to get here to continue your journey but of course you have Runefaust Knights barring your way. Bats are also scattered about. You’ll quickly realize how annoying they can be, putting you to sleep and dodging attacks at ridiculous rates. Burning them with Tao helps.

Notice that as you get further north, those three Bats and then five Runefaust Knights come charging at you. So you’ll definitely want to clear the Dwarves before traveling too far north. If you fall asleep with a character they’ll have to wait a few turns to wake up.

Alterone has all sorts of treasures if you check around town. The first house in fact has 70 Gold and a Bronze Lance (Ken). The pub has a Healing Seed and 100 Gold. If you push the cart north of this building at the lady and then talk to her, she pushes you into the lake and you can get the Power Potion to raise ATP for someone. Scrounge around some more for a Medical Herb, Healing Seed, and Middle Sword. Give that sword to Luke or something. Talk to all the villagers and you’ll be let into the castle.More treasures here to get first. Some Healing stuff, Wooden Arrow, Bread of Life, Defense Potion, 100 Gold, Middle Sword and Wooden Staff. Talk to the king as shady stuff appears to be going on. Sure enough he’ll take you to Kane, who he has already surrendered to.

Max is thrown in jail. Save your game and then search the bars. Khris will save you and join the party. She reveals a path that leads to headquarters and back to Alterone town. Take it and you’ll find yourself in the last battle of Chapter 1.

Alterone
You are at the southwest part of Alterone, and Kane is waiting for you when you reach the surface. He has plenty of enemies including new enemies in 2 Sniper’s and a Dark Mage.

You can head north or east, but I generally head east to take out the easier enemies first. As you pass that bridge, the bats will come flying at you from the lakeside. This may put your Healers in danger so fall back with the front lines if necessary. Mopping up this area should be a breeze though.

Then you’ll catch the attention of the 5 or so Rune Knights. They shouldn’t be so hard at this point. Khris is probably a level or two behind so maybe she could get some of them (she is good for Dwarf mop-up too).

The Snipers and Dark Mage do not move so save them for last. Snipers can only attack from two spaces away while the Dark Mage can pull off some dangerous Blaze spells on the party if you’re clustered. Wait for the Dark Mage’s turn and then after that charge in and kill the three to end the battle.

Talk to the King of Alterone and forgive him – he had no choice due to Kane’s power. He gives you a hint to search the dragon head southwest of him. Do so then follow it to a teleport to Rindo.

End of Chapter 1 – Runefaust Invasion

Beginning of Chapter 2 – Spirit of the Holy Spring

Rindo

You start off in Rindo. First of all, there are Power Staves to buy for Lowe, Khris and Tao to make them decent with physical attacks. Also check the northeast building for a Speed Ring. Speak with the mayor in the north part of town to hear you can’t have his boat quite yet – might as well head to Anri in Manarina.

Road to Manarina

Manarina is being blocked by Dark Mages and Zombies, among others. The Dwarves are really easy at this point and the Bats are obsolete too.

Your biggest challenge is the terrain in this level. The desert is not kind to many, only really Luke and Gort. And they’re likely your two strongest characters anyway so you need your lesser ones to catch up. In turn you’ll need to be slow making your way and be careful not to set yourself up for a disastrous Blaze 2 from a Dark Mage.

The area with the Zombies and Dark Mages is far and away the hardest battle within the battle you’ve faced yet. The Zombies can poison you with their attack, and it’s generally for brutal damage unless you have Mae or one of the Fighter’s taking the hit. The crappy terrain means that it’ll be hard for you to be efficient and maximize your party’s potential. You may find yourself vulnerable but again be wary of Blaze 2. If you want just send Max into Manarina to end the battle.

Manarina

Talk to Anri to the north. She can’t believe the news of her father and goes running off.

Take the east path to get to the northeast corner of floor 1 in that building. See that weird amphibian-like machine? Search it for a Domingo Egg. This will prove useful later. Go up the stairs and speak with Arthur, a timid Knight. Anri is near him and she’ll join you. She’s like Tao, but a Freeze specialist (though she starts off with Blaze herself).

Cavern of Darkness

Back to floor 1. Speak with Otrant in the northwest and then go down a few sets of stairs. You will be at the Cavern of Darkness.

Lots of treasures in this battle. New enemies too you’ll see, as these Skeleton’s are like Zombies but stronger and with better defense (can’t poison you though). Before you set forth into that area though, have Anri gain some levels casting Blaze on the first two Zombies. Then get the Wooden Staff and a Power Staff. The southern part of the screen has a Medical Herb and Power Ring. The Power Ring is arguably the most useful support item in the game as you get it early and it bumps up any members attack by 4. And if you cast it in battle, it raises someone’s attack by even more (for a temporary time period though).

Again, the Bats shouldn’t prove an issue save for a minor annoyance with Sleep. The three Dark Mages should be taken out by your weakest characters since pretty much anyone can do damage on them physically. The Skeleton is guarding the Orb of Light treasure. It has a high defense but Blaze will eat it up.

After returning with the Orb of Light, go north and use it at the pool. A spirit will talk to you about Max’s destiny. Return to Otrant to learn more. When you regain control, head to Arthur and he’ll join now. He’s incredibly weak starting off but is rare in that he learns spells much later.

Rindo Circus

Back in Rindo, the circus is going on. Speak with the mayor and he’ll say that you can have his ship if you find his grandson who has been missing today. Head to the circus and enter.

Of course enemies ambush you. A boss is here too, a tough one at that. Marionette has Freeze 3 which is just ridiculous at this point.

The puppet enemies are weird to say the least. The yellow Evil Puppets cast Freeze so you may wish to kill them quick. The bats are for Arthur to hunt down. The Evil Clowns don’t move so just have Hans and your magician pick at them to death. You may wish to get the treasure FOUR spots away from Marionette to the east, as it’s a Steel Arrow for Hans. Once all the other enemies are killed, have the Power Ring user use the Power Ring on one of your best attackers. Then have that character run in and do the first blow, while having your other characters gang up on him too. The characters that attack him from afar will get destroyed by Freeze 3 but if you can get Luke or Gort to score a few Power Ring augmented hits, you may see half his damage go down in one swing. That other chest next to the Steel Arrow is 50 gold, so that’s not worth going after until the battle is over. A Defense Potion is to the east also.

Go back to the mayor for your ship reward. Now go to the ship and it seems all is well. But of course it’s not that easy – in fact it’s easy for Mishaela to burn down the ship and make you walk the long way around the continent. Return to the mayor and his son to hear about Shade Abbey and Uranbatol a long ways away. Revive anyone that died in the previous battle (surely someone did) and get ready for Shade Abbey.

Shade Abbey

This place used to give me the creeps really bad when I was younger. Honestly even now it does. Amon begs for help at the very beginning.

Everyone says weird stuff, and then they follow you! Slowly preventing you from going south. Uh oh. Eventually to the far north you’ll see Balbaroy, the fellow Amon was looking for. It is now that you realize you are screwed, stuck in Darksol’s trap.

This battle isn’t as intimidating as it seems, though having Max sitting there alone is never fun to see. Whatever you do, do not retreat back in the corner, as you’ll get ganged up on and beat down. Just run as far south as you can with him and have the other characters rush in. You’ll take heavy damage but it’s the only way to get Max back to the party.

Rely on your Mages in this battle. Their Blaze spells are really the only option for penetrating the Skeleton’s and Zombie’s hide. There are a lot of Skeleton’s and you’ll realize how difficult they are in this battle. Just try to use your best defensive stalwarts like Mae and Gort in the front lines and heal them continuously as they absorb the brunt. You’ll thin their forces eventually.

The Ghoul never moves. Even if you cast spells a space away, it won’t chase. But it’s attacks do do a decent amount of damage and the Ghoul dodges physical attacks well. Arthur is about as good as dead if he gets hit by a Skeleton – once. Tao is who you really need to lean on as her Blaze 2 can really screw these guys over when they inevitably cluster themselves together.

After the battle, you have Amon and Balbaroy on your forces. They can fly! But are a tad on the weak side. Anyway, it’s the end of Chapter 2.

End of Chapter 2 – Spirit of the Holy Spring

Beginning of Chapter 3 – Secret Weapon of Runefaust

Bustoke

You start off in the mining village of Bustoke. First things first, revive anyone that died. Then go to the weapon shop. Remember how you couldn’t pierce the Skeleton’s armor? Buy some Power Spears and see the difference. The Axes are also worth your time to purchase.

Go up to the castle like area. There is just a maid there, and an archer lady named Diane. She joins you. There will be more stuff to do after we finish this Quarry incident. You will probably want to go to headquarters because now you have more than 12 active characters, so Diane, Amon and Balbaroy are in the reserves. Depending on Hans’ level, I generally either dump him for Diane or keep him if he’s far enough ahead. However Hans is weak towards the end of his first class and only gets better towards the end of the game, so you may wish to take Diane who is more balanced throughout. I also generally switch out Arthur here or a Healer for Amon or Balbaroy because the flying element is useful. Though the Birds will be weak for a bit as they only have Middle Swords to use (hint, if you use one you may wish to give them the Power Ring for a little boost). We need to help this Zylo monster with Moon Stone. If you head east and a little south you’ll talk to the chemist and then just go to the Quarry.

Two Skeletons greet you. This upcoming part is best if you have a flying ally as you can attack the Dark Elves from the sky. They have a weak defense but extremely dangerous attack so watch out. Also you meet Dark Priest, basically enemy healers. The most annoying part about them is that they dodge far too many of your attacks. The Mage at the bottom has more HP and is capable of Freeze 2 – plus there is a Lizardman down there, tough brute enemies.

The enemies towards the bottom don’t really move (notice a trend in this game?) so you’ll want to peg away at that priest and the Skeleton / Lizardman combo first before getting the powerful mage involved.

Afterwards, enter the mine. Go up a few spots then left to that southwest wall. Face south and search for Sugoi Mizugi, an interesting outfit for Tao. Get the Moon Stone too of course.

Back to Bustoke and the chemist specifically. He’ll hook you up with Lunar Dew and then you gotta go to Zylo’s quarters in the far northwest of Bustoke. Use the Lunar Dew as you face Zylo and he’ll return to his senses and join you. He is an absolute monster that only slows down for a short time when promoted, which leads us to another topic.

Promotion is coming up as any character who reaches level 10 can be promoted to their next class. Some things to keep in mind though. It is recommended you take most characters at least a few levels past 10 as each character loses stats when promoted initially. This may seem annoying but once you start gaining levels and seeing the stat increases you won’t mind. But if you promote characters too early they can become ineffective (especially those without weapons to compensate like Zylo).Check out the other houses in Bustoke to meet Kokichi. Search his machine and then talk to him. Go out back and watch him crash his stuff. Make sure you do this. Before taking the north exit towards the bridge, you may wish to bring in characters who move well in forests.

As you get out, you’ll see why. You have a long ways to go north to the bridge. Fortunately the enemies up front are incompetent. The Skeletons are barely hanging on, and the Dark Elves act weird here (they just move a space at a time, never toward you).

The Pegasus Knights fly around the area and dodge your attacks like crazy. Easily the toughest enemies here. Not much to note about this battle other than the traveling to the bridge doesn’t take too long once you kill all the Peg Knights.

Make sure you are prepared for the Laser Eye battle. This thing takes about 4 – 5 turns to warm up and then shoot – and it hits everything in it’s path. When it’s turn is up you can see the radius for the gun that you’ll want to avoid. Those five spots east along the path and nestled south mean that you can only have 5 characters avoid the laser beam at once time (of course unless you have someone who flies, as they can easily fly south to avoid it. Your other characters should wait and charge in afterwards. Have your best Knights with Power Spears go to the spots as they can kill the Dark Elves.

After the first shot, rush through with everyone and kill the remaining enemies near the Laser Eye. Once it is isolated, just pound on it with your best characters to destroy it. Not much else to mop up, only a Lizardman, Priest and Knight. Pelle climbs his way up and joins you. He’s a top knight – make sure to put him in once Chapter 4 starts.

Further Reading:

• Shining Force I 1 Walkthrough Kane Darksol Dark Dragon
• Vandal Hearts Island of Madness Walkthrough Guide
• Wild ARMs I Walkthrough Ziekfried Ka Dingel Ragu ragula
• Suikoden II 2 recruiting 108 Stars of Destiny list