Final Fantasy 6 End
Pre-Kefka’s Tower
Before you go to Kefka’s Tower, hopefully you completed everything in the FF6 World of Ruin section, as that will make this a lot easier to navigate. If you are still unsure of whether or not you are prepared, realize you have to take three groups so 12 characters have to be in pretty good shape. Each group has to fight several hard enemies and bosses so having even a few members lagging can be tough to deal with.
If it’s magic you need to get caught up on, go to the desert south of Maranda. You can fight Cactuar‘s and Hoover‘s. Hoover’s are dangerous creatures but can be dispatched easily with Vanish – Doom / X Zone. They give 5 magic points and good EXP as well. Cactuar’s on the other hand give 10 magic points but are hard to kill. Edgar’s Drill, Sabin’s Suplex, Cyan’s 1st level swordtech, Relm’s Control, and the best option to kill it is the Offering. The Offering is a sure hit that will work for any character. You can learn even the hardest spells (like Ultima, Phoenix Esper, etc) in no time in this desert.
If you are looking for levels, you might want to try the forest west of the Veldt (on a different piece of land). You can fight Tyranosaur‘s which give a lot and also the occasional Brachosaur. These things are dragons that don’t count towards the 8 you have to kill but Brachosaur’s might be tougher than any of them. He has Meteor which takes off 3000 each and Ultima even, not to mention his attacks are devastating. Vanish and Doom is the easy way to get him, you can also win an Economizer sometimes. Consider yourself very very fortunate if this happens.
There are some story-related things you can do, like bring Gau to his dad’s house (west of the dinosaur forest). They’ll bring him to Jidoor and get him dressed up real nice, and his dad will still be a prick to him. Kind of depressing actually…
Kefka’s Tower
First of all, rest assured you can leave if you want at any time (well, until the very very end of Kefka’s Tower). So you don’t have to commit right away. As you go in, the party wonders what’ll happen when the statues are destroyed?
You get three party’s, and if you have all the characters you’ll have to leave two behind. One for me is definitely Umaro, because what’s the point when you can’t control him? Gau loses a mark for this same type of thing but he has a bit more versatility with monster abilities compared with Umaro. The other character to leave back is a hard choice, with Cyan / Setzer / Locke being my top three candidates. All of my characters have most if not all of the spells up to this point save for Merton / Meteor. Cyan is the second person to leave behind, because his Swordtech is slow and his good but not great attack / defense don’t do enough to make up for it.
Try to separate similar characters. Terra and Celes should be in separate party’s, Sabin and Edgar probably should too (my two powerhouses). So far, it looks like Terra / Sabin / Gogo / Shadow for one party, with Gogo having Tools, Magic and Blitz. The second party is Relm, Strago, Mog and Gau. This might sound weak but Grand Train gives Strago a very dominant spell, and Relm can handle nearly any regular monster with her Control / FakeMustache. Gau should continue to use Stray Cat and Mog should do his Dances and possibly use the Moogle Charm. Last but not least, Celes, Edgar, Locke and Setzer make up the last party.
Think ahead as you are going through this tower and it’ll save you a ton of time. Obviously with three groups you’re going to have to be on the ball so that you don’t get lost. Gt.Behemoth’s are incredibly tough and the Marlboro’s are no fun either.
With the first group, go east and ignore the first passage and go further north for a Coronet and back for the passage. Go along the elevator and into the next room, where there are Dark Forces (they use nearly every Lore technique). Grab the Fixed Dice and go along until you get to a dead end.
Take the second group along to the next room and then to the northwest for a Minerva. Go south and take the north door for a Tack Star and south for the bathroom. You’ll see Atma Weapon (well he’s just Atma now) so rest up and talk to him. A battle will ensue against this 55,000 HP monster. He is weak against nothing but Ultima, Grand Train, and Catscratch worked just fine. It’ll take a while and he has some nice attacks like N Cross, Quake, Fire 3, and so on. Get used to fighting tough bosses like this, they’re all over in this tower. You get 8 magic points and a Save Point for your efforts.
Go south and fall into the next room. You’ll fight Movers around here, yet they aren’t quite the Magic Point haul that they were in FF5 (199 ABP). Continue upstairs and take the left tube, and then go southwest for a Force Shld. Use the elevator and go in the door to the west. Inside is something nice; a Ribbon and a switch to let Party 1 continue along. Hit it and continue outside going south and west for a Force Armor, and back east for the exit.
You’ll come up on a dragon here, the Gold Drgn in fact. He has 32,400 HP and is weak against Water, and of course he likes to use Bolt. By now Bolt 3 shouldn’t be an issue for your party, and this guy is a step down from Atma. Giga Volt does around 1700 damage though. However, a few Grand Train’s and Catscratch’s and he’s dead. A Crystal Orb is your reward, and there should be one dragon left. Go along until you can’t go any further and it’ll be time to use the third group.
Okay, go south and get the Red Cap. Go inside now and get the Gauntlet and the Nutkin Suit, and then leave and go further south. Enter this and go forward for awhile until you come across the Hero Ring, and then go north. Save at the Save Point and go west, but Inferno / Striker / Rough will appear. This is similar to the Number 128 or whatever you fought during the Mine Cart escape. They attack fast and the main part counters Ultima with Meteor so be careful (only takes off 1000 per character though). The real danger in this enemy is it’s speed – despite the fact that the arms re-appear, it’s probably worth using spells and abilities that attack everything as it’s a lot easier when Striker and Rough aren’t attacking. 8 Magic Points is your reward.
Re-Save and go further along, getting the Megalixir to your right. Go south and hit the flickering red thing to open a path to your left, and then go north for a Rainbow Brsh. Circle back around and go through a few rooms to get to the last dragon, the Skull Drgn. It has 32,400 HP and is weak against Fire and Pearl. Utilize either of these, but Ultima still probably takes off more. He doesn’t have a lot of HP, so keep using your best abilities and watch out for his confusion attack (Specter) and Elf Fire (1500+ damage to one character). You’ll get the Muscle Belt, and the Crusader Esper! This Esper allows you to get Merton and Meteor. Merton is a crazy attack that is really only good if you’re heavily protected against Fire. Further along and this party will be stuck, so back to party number 1.
Okay, continue along your way, there aren’t many obstructions. Watch out for the Doom Dragons, they use Fallen One and will most likely kill you. Take the west path when you get a choice for a Tack Star and then east to get by the other two groups. You’re going to need everyone to step on their respective switches, allowing the middle path to open up. The middle path then chooses left or right and drops the weight on one side (move the group member off the switch first of course). The next group does the same thing until they are all inside on another switch. This opens up yet another path going north and south for the central team – go south and hit the switch, and then north.
The Guardian will be awaiting your center group. He is not easy, needless to say. You can be cheap and Vanish / Doom him if you’d like. Otherwise, Ultima works nice, as does Edgar’s Tools and other good physical attacks. He does have a lot of HP (60,000) and you can steal a Force Armor from him. He’s weak against Bolt so try Bolt 3, but Ultima might take off more. It’s worth a try – he has some strange attacks, like tentacle and confusion / slow based ones also. When those 60,000 HP’s run out, you’ll have 7 magic points and a Save Point in your grasp.
Further north with this group (of course after resting / saving) and you’ll have a battle against Poltrgeist. He is weak against Poison, has 58,000 HP, and you can steal a Red Jacket from him. He can use Meteo, Wave Cannon, Fire 3, Shrapnel and a bunch of other attacks that can take off anywhere from 1000-3000 damage (of course the 3000 damage ones are rare). He ends it with Meteo so hopefully you can live past 2500 damage to each person. You get an Aura Lance and 10 ABP. Time to switch to party 1 now.
Party 1 is on the left side (could be right side though). Doom is over here, and he’s not a friendly guy. He has 63,000 HP and is weak against Pearl, and you can steal a Safety Bit from him. Despite his Pearl-weakness, keep hitting him with Ultima and his “aura will begin to shake”. He then casts ForceField (Strago can learn this I think) and starts being more efficient. Keep up with the Ultima’s and Bum Rushes and he’ll go down, dropping the Sky Render too.
Time for the last party to fight Goddess. She only has 44,000 HP and can be hit for 9999 by Gau’s Catscratch. You can learn Quasar from her, a powerful Lore spell. She can also use a charm-type spell that you can’t get rid of, and a bunch of other attacks that hit the entire party (which is hard to heal when you have two on each side). Keep the Ultima, Catscratch and Grand Train coming, she passes out and gives 10 magic points and the Excalibur sword. For some reason there is still the power of magic despite the three guardians dying. Kefka must have drained them…
So this is basically it. When you have all three characters step on the green switches, that’ll teleport you to where Kefka is. If you want to level up, get sidequests you missed or do anything else, it is advised you Warp out now.
Kefka
Kefka will talk some trash to your party of 12 and Terra and Locke will respond. As the battle begins, you’ll choose the order of all 12 members that you brought. Use your best characters first, but know that one of them will probably die automatically at the second-to-last boss. Anyway, get your characters that have the best multiple-enemy magic spells (Ultima basically). Preferably those who has RunningShoes and definitely the carrier of the Gem Box should be using two Ultimas per turn.
The first enemy is pretty weak and really only did physical attacks (for around 1000). There are three parts and the lower one lasts the longest. The next enemy is tough and can freeze you or turn you into an Imp. There are four different parts and it can feel like you’re getting hit from all sides. One of the enemy’s will use 10 Hits, a powerful attack in it’s own right. Again, Grand Train and Ultima are your best bets to take the enemy away as fast as possible. You really don’t have time to focus on one enemy (although you don’t need to with Ultima).
The top fight is against two enemies, one of which supplies the other with Pearl Wind. Therefore you should either attack both or attack the character in the back. The front character will go on a Meteo rampage and use a fatal attack when he dies, so be careful.
Now it’s time for Kefka at the top. He looks like an angel. Use your best abilities and spells, the same ones you’ve been using this entire time. There is no trick to him…other than you have to be a lot more conservative than you normally are. He has a Fallen One move that brings you down to 1 and Goner which will take off a good chunk on each character. Havoc Wing is another favorite of his, that kills a character in one hit basically. The point is, he’s got lots of attacks that are either going to kill you or force you to use a Cure 3, so be as conservative as you need to be. The good thing is, Kefka can’t take too many Ultimas and this is the last incarnation.
Watch Kefka disintegrate and the world will eventually go back to normal.
I enjoyed this read. Final Fantasy VI in my opinion is the greatest game of all time. The first time I beat it, without spells such as Ultima or Grand Train…I was taken back at the story of the entire game as well as the ending.
Say what you will about Sephiroth…Kefka is on a whole different dimension and deserves the mantle as the Greatest Villain in the entire Final Fantasy series.
This was my favorite game as a kid on the snes. I was 8 or 9 when I was playing it. I got stuck on Wrexsoul because I had no phoenix downs and no magic users, lol. No other save files, no strategy guide, and no internet like we have it today. Greatest story ever, I cant wait to go back and finally beat this game. By the way, how can I join the forum here at lordyuanshu.com, I hope you all are still around.
Good luck gaming, Jinn.