Final Fantasy VI Escaping Narshe
Narshe
You’ll see an uncontrolled part for a while, so just follow what’s going on and eventually you’ll gain control of Vicks, Wedge and an unknown green-haired girl, all wearing Magitek Armor. Head north through Narshe and experiment with battle. The first few battles should be easy, just keep pushing northward. Eventually you’ll be inside a cave, where you can go west for a Save Point and north for a boss (Whelk).
Whelk isn’t too difficult, just don’t hit it when it’s head goes in the shell (or the shell at all for that matter). Use TekMissile by ???? for extra damage and after a few rounds Whelk should go down, yielding a potion. Continue north and you’ll be in a battle against the Esper Tritoch, although this is automatic. Vicks and Wedge disappear or die and then ????? wakes up in some guy’s bed in Narshe.
It’s not as bad as that may have sounded. In fact, the guy was nice enough to remove your slave crown and now you have gained your senses – you get a chance to name her, but I’ll stick with Terra. Now the Narshe guards will attempt to get in the house but the guy tries to help you leave. Instead, go west and search the grandfather clock for an Elixir then go east out of the building.
The Narshe Guards will spot you but you can continue to go west across the bridge and into a new portion of the cave. Continue along and save, then go north and east for a Fenix Down and further west for a Sleeping Bag. Skip the west fork (dead end) and go east then north, where you will be chased into a corner and will fall through a hole.
Terra will pass out and the scene will switch to an old man and a treasure hunter. The treasure hunter is Locke and you can re-name him here if you’d like. Locke finds Terra in the cave and the enemy does too unfortunately. Locke is outnumbered until a bunch of Moogles show up. You get 11 Moogles (so 3 full party’s including Locke in one). I generally take Mog’s group and defeat most of the enemies, while gaining Dusk Requiem (Dance) for Mog. After things have cleared up a bit (one or two enemies left) I take the Mithril Pike and Mithril Shld off Mog (for use on someone else) and take Locke’s party to defeat the last few monsters. The third Moogle-only party doesn’t really need to be used.
The boss at the very bottom is two Lobos and a Marshal. The Marshal is dangerous, taking off as much as 100 per hit. If you have healing items that is helpful, but with a party of four it should be easy to gang up on him.
Terra wakes up and goes together with Locke to the front of Narshe. Go into the beginner’s hall to your left and learn the basics (if you want). Be sure to at least hit the hp / mp recovery pool in that building. You can’t go into Narshe, so go south and into the desert towards Figaro.
Figaro
Head due north and you’ll meet Edgar, the king of Figaro. He’s quite the lady’s man for an SNES character. Anyway, when that is done with, go south and then west and north. Grab the treasure for a Fenix Down and then go south again but check the doors on the west and east. They are an Item Shop (with a Soft next to him) and a Tool Shop (Tonic / Antidote). You’ll want to buy the Noise Blaster and the Bio Blaster from the Tool Shop.
Go south into the main exterior area, and take the west wing and rest, then go downstairs and outside. Further west is another wing where you can talk to Matron (who will tell you about Sabin, Edgar’s older brother). Now go back to the north to the throne room to talk to Edgar. Edgar then gets a visit from Kefka, who is seemingly the emperor’s errand-boy. He’s looking for Terra but Edgar lies about it and Kefka leaves. You are then in control of Terra, so follow Locke to your room in the east and you’ll wake up to a fire!
Edgar will rush out to see Kefka has set Figaro on fire. Talk to Kefka then go north and talk to the Figaro guard, and Figaro will go into underground mode. Edgar and everyone will flee on chocobos while Kefka sends Magitek Armor’s to fight you. They are decent and you’ll need the help of Edgar’s Tools and Terra’s Fire Magic. When Terra uses magic the other two flip out. After the battle they explain the idea behind the Returners and they want you to meet their leader, Banon. You might want to give Edgar the Mithril Pike if you took it from Mog.
South Figaro
Go southeast of Figaro to the South Figaro Cave. In the first room is a recovery spring, so you can fight around here and gain some levels if you’d like. In the next room, you can go west for another room and a Tincture – but if you save this for later it’s a much more useful item. Instead, head east, south and east again for a Tincture. Skip the stairs going west and grab the Fenix Down, then go back to the stairs. The exit is soon.
Once outside, go southeast to South Figaro. You’ll see a dark black figure walking to the bar as you get in. You can go see him, this is Shadow. As you walk into South Figaro, the treasure just east of you is a Tonic. In the southwest crate in town you can seart for a Soft. Just east of that are two treasures with an Antidote and an Eyedrop. North of here is a Green Cherry and further north is a rich house. Walk through the east part of this house and you’ll be outside, where you should go north and west behind the house and try to go south into a hidden room.
The clock down here has an Elixir, and if you try to walk south you’ll get transfered to the south part of town, where you can go east and search for a Tonic in this room. Go outside and go to the raised area and work your way to the northwest and search for a Warp Stone. Buy some things, like Relics, Weapons, or Armor. Sprint Shoes are convenient as are Jewel Rings. Buy a RegalCutlass for Terra and a MithrilBlade for Locke. Upgrade your armor and you should be about ready to go. The house north of South Figaro brings some memories to Edgar. Could it be Sabin’s? Mt. Kolts is east so head there.
Mt. Kolts
Keep heading along the path until you get to a split (on the inside part of the cave). It doesn’t look like you can, but work your way east and then south for a Guardian (great weapon for Locke). Return back to that fork and go right (again, it doesn’t look like you can but you can). You’ll make your way to a great relic, the Atlas Armlet (physical attack up). Return back to that initial fork and go north, the standard way. You’ll be outside and you’ll see a shadow, so follow it.
Take the first path you see for a Tent, and then the next path to continue along for a decently long way. You’ll see the shadowy figure and a bridge to cross, and soon you’ll be near a save point. Save and rest, and the next area is pretty long. You won’t have a choice for a long stretch but when you do, go west and you’ll catch up to the figure you were chasing. Turns out it’s not someone you know, but some guy who knows Sabin named Vargas.
Vargas fights you and he has two Ipooh bears with him. You’re going to want to take them out first (well, you have to), with fire and the Auto Crossbow. Once they are done, focus on Vargas with Fire and the Bio Blaster. Note that he has a Gale Cut that takes off about 50 on each person so be wary of this move. Other than that he’s a pretty standard brute so keep yourself rested (you can steal a Tonic if you’d like).
After you defeat him he’ll intend to wipe you out with a powerful attack, but Sabin will intervene. They will talk for a while and Vargas will send your other three members away with a Gale. Sabin is left and it’s a one on one battle and you have a minute to pull off a “Blitz” on Vargas. Blitz is what Sabin uses as his ability, it is button combinations that act as powerful moves. If you can’t figure one out you’ll get hints throughout the battle, but if you just want to get it done choose Blitz and press left, right, left and A.
That will be Pummel and that will end the battle with Vargas. Sabin will join you as you exit the cave. Grab the treasure in the next room for a Tent and soon you’ll be out of Mt. Kolts. North of here on the world map is the Returner’s Hideout.
Returner’s Hideout
Search the right side of the first big room for a Green Cherry. Check the left-most door to get a Fenix Down. Go to the north now to get to Banon, and get the Potion next to him. Talk to him and he’ll go off about how it’s time to make up for what the empire has done.
Terra will be in her room, so talk to Locke. You can explore more rooms in the Returner’s Hideout, so go out of this room and go north. Search the pots for a Tincture and an Antidote, and then the treasures for a Fenix Down, True Knight and an Air Lancet. Also you can work your way to the northeast part of this room and then south a little to walk through the wall – you’ll see a treasure, it’s a good relic (White Cape). To continue on through the story, talk to Locke, Sabin and Edgar, and then the southwestern most guard to learn that Banon stepped outside.
Now with Banon you can answer yes right away and get the Gauntlet, or you can answer no three times and get the Genji Glove. I prefer the latter so that’s what I do. You’ll hear that South Figaro has been taken – the Returners then dispatch Locke to infiltrate and find out more information. Meanwhile the rest of the group will flee via raft. You get a group of Banon, Terra, Edgar and Sabin, and remember that Banon cannot die at any point! Return back north to save and then go south to jump on the raft.
Lete River
As your raft goes through this river you’ll fight random battles (that you can run away from strangely enough). The first choice you get is irrelivent (straight, left and right all go to a Save Point). Save and continue along to another choice, where north gives you an endless loop and left leads to another Save Point. Going up for a while and fighting up is a good idea especially considering Banon can use Health for free.
If you chose left you’ll get to another Save Point and a boss is coming up so you should be prepared. Make sure Banon is in the back row, this is essential. The boss fight is against an octopus (Ultros). Ultros counters Terra’s Fire with an ink attack, and counters everyone else with a tentacle attack that does roughly 200 damage to front row members (which is why you want Banon in the back). He also has a multiple tentacle attack that takes off half of that on everyone that he uses towards the end when he’s almost gone. Beat him up with Fire, Auto Crossbow and Aura Bolt and you should have him down. Sabin will chase after him and get separated from the other three.
You are now in control of Mog and you can choose any of the following three quests; Locke in South Figaro, Banon / Terra / Edgar going towards Narshe, or Sabin floating away from the group. The order you play them in affects your game somewhat so you may want some time to contemplate. Sabin has a longer quest and it’s in a new and far away area, so I tend to choose his first.