Final Fantasy XII – 5. Golmore Jungle Paramina Rift
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.
i hate the elder worm hes so hard i nedd tips from anyone plze help!!!!!!
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yikes i have the same problem as you having difficulty beating the elder wyrm his tough and i hate his sporefall i tried to beat the wyrm thrice but i failed so i have to level up and buy some phoenix down and to complete some license for my character vaan is level 28 the rest are level 27 when i beat this elder wyrm for the fourth time i searched also in the internet for some advice how to beat the wyrm…use esuna for some spells and some stocks for ether for your MP especially when you used consecutive quickenings…i know by this month youve beaten already the wyrm..happy playing