_______ _______ _________ _________ _____ _____ \ _ \ \ _ \ \ ____| /\ /___ ___\ \ / \ / | | | ) | | | ) | / | / \ | | | | | | | | | |_/ / | |_| / | |___ / /\ \ | | | | | | | __ \ | ___ \ -- ---| / ____ \ | | | |____| | | | \ ) | | \ \ | | / /* \ \ | | | ____ | | |__/ ) | | \ \ | \____| / /* * \ \ | | | | | | |_____/ /___\ \ \|______//_/**** * \_\ _|_|_ /___\ /___\ \_\_ **** ** __ _____ ________*******_______ _______ /__\ ||--| \ __| ***** \ _ \ \ ___| ((__)) ||-| | | | _____ | |_) ) | |__ | \__/ _||_ | |__ \ / | _ / -- ---| | |--| | | | | \ \ | |___| | | | | | | \ \ |_____/ /___\ | | /___\ \ \ /___\ \_\_ ------------------------- \ ____ ____ / | | | | | | A mysterious power... | | | | | | |An unlikely hero...| | |____| |____| | / A classic adventure \ ------------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % BREATH OF FIRE III FAQ % % Version 5.0 % % by Fritz Fraundorf % % erggibbon@aol.com % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The most recent version of this FAQ is available at Cosmo Canyon: http://come.to/cosmocaynon -----------------------------------+++++------------------------------- %%%%TABLE OF CONTENTS%%%% I. Revision History II. Frequently Asked Questions III. Walkthrough: Childhood Awakening Cedar Woods Springtime Balio and Sunder The Inventor Veggie Tales Wyndian Gladiators Rhapala The Volcano Angel Tower IV. Walkthrough: Adulthood Dauna Mine Syn City 2000 The Greenhouse Effect The Journey East Steel Beach Shisu The Black Ship A New World Dragnier Just Deserts Caer Xhan Reunion Final Battle V. Other Stuff to Do Defeating the Berserker Defeating the Arch Mage Did You Notice? Ultimate Boss Strategy VI. Skills Magic Skills Dragon Classes Dragon Powers Fusions Formations VII. Items and Equipment Weapons Armor Shields Helmets Accessories Items Fishing Gear Vital Items Antiques Item Magic VIII. Charts and Info Character Evaluations Stolen Items Enemy Skills Dragon Genes Masters Stores Best Equipment BOF Series Names IX. Playing the Game EX Turns Camping Maximum HP Loss Masters Skills Willpower X. Fishing Fishing Spots Fish Types Ranks Strategy Manillo's Shops XI. Faerie Village Strategies Jobs Building List Town Map Music List Expedition List Casino Prize List XII. Credits / Disclaimer ******************************************************* I. REVISION HISTORY ******************************************************* Version 5.0 (8/22/98): - First of all, please note that my e-mail and web page addresses have changed. My e-mail address is now erggibbon@aol.com, and my site (Cosmo Canyon) can now be found at http://come.to/cosmocanyon. Now, on with the FAQ! - The title logo is spruced up a little, thanks to Robby Stone. - Changed the new Berserker strategy to the Ultimate Boss Strategy because it doesn't work on Berserkers. - Removed the Goo King strategy; it doesn't work either. - Filled in a lot of the level ?s on the spell list. - Added a lot more places to learn enemy skills, and one new item magic. - Walkthrough additions: o Added info on how to get a Broad Sword on the roof of the McNeil Manor. o Added a few notes about learning skills in the Cedar Woods, and a tip on Mt. Myrneg. o Added a new strategy on how to train Beyd and beat Zig. o Added another Hourglass in the boss maze - Added info in the Faerie Village section on a new Vital Item, the Teleporter Dice, which you can get from the Gift Shop. Supposedly, these let you teleport to more places. If anybody has more info on this, let me know! - Various other corrections. Version 4.5 (7/29/98): - Added another tip on beating Balio and Sunder - Added a really cool new Berserker strategy - Added one more desert item (Speed Boots, oh joy) - Added a bunch more places to learn enemy skills, and a new one called Ebonfire - Corrected how to get Deis and Ladon - Various other minor corrections and walkthrough additions Version 4.2 (7/6/98): - Minor corrections. - Added one new Frequently Asked Question. - Revised Gene uses. - Added more info to the fishing section. - Added a new section on beating Goo Kings; they aren't that tough, but you can get good experience from them. Version 4.0 (6/27/98): - Shops in the Arena and Faerie Village "Speed" shops added to the Shops list. - More "Did You Notice?"s. - Berserker and ArchMage strategies revised. - More equipment stats added. - Item magic list expanded, a few notes on item magic added. - Character data (height, weight, likes, dislikes) added to the Character Evaluations. A few other special traits (Peco's high reprisal rate, etc.) added to this section as well. - Kaiser II added to the dragon classes list. - Walkthrough additions: o Added a way to beat Balio and Sunder in Wyndia. o Another experience-gaining trick, this time in the Veggie Tales section. o New strategy on beating Emitai. o Added another desert item: Peco's Death Claws. o Explained how to get the Shaman's Ring in Ryu's mind. - Various minor corrections - Cheese. It's what's for dinner. Version 3.8 (6/14/98): - Strategies for defeating the Berserker and ArchMage (for those of you don't know what they are, they're BOF3's version of the Emerald and Ruby Weapons) added to the new Other Stuff to Do section. This section also has some "Did You Know?" stuff. - The stolen items section has been merged with the new Monster List section! Thanks to Michael Strong for making the monster list. - Master List complete, and reformatted to give the number of levels you have to gain to learn the abilities. - Best Equipment list added. - Faerie Village Expedition and Casino Prize lists added. - The last (?) two dragon classes, Wildfire and Trygon, have been added. Actually, they're not very good, but now I think I have them all. - Added more info on the uses of the music tracks - Added more items and the Item Magic list (some equipment can cast spells when used as an item in battle). - Added a list of the prizes you can win from the Momo's Tower crystal game and the shisu cooking to their respective sections. - A cool EXP-gaining trick added to the Volcano section, and a way to get some free items on the Black Ship added to the Black Ship (what else?) section. - Added an explanation of the Willpower statistic to the Playing the Game section. - I finally found out (well, was told) the use of Momo's Fortune spell. It tells you what elements an enemy is weak against. - I was wrong about each fish giving you a set amount of points; it's based on how big the fish is (and, indeed, you need to get big fish sizes to reach the 9000 points needed for Master of Angler++). Apparently size does matter. - Unanswered Questions list removed; there aren't any more. - What I'm still looking for: o Better strategies on defeating the Arch Mage and Berserker o GameShark codes o The rest of the music info o Any equipment, skills, or item magic I'm missing o More enemies you can learn the various skills from o More faerie village info o The lyrics to Pure Again o If somebody who knows Japanese could go this site: http://www.capcom.co.jp/newproducts/consumer/breath3/char.html and translate the character data (height, weight, etc.) info for me, that would be cool. o On a related note, a list of the battle quotes and their English translation would be a nice addition too. If you can help out on any of this stuff, mail me! - This was a rather large update, wasn't it? Version 2.6 (6/10/98): - Corrected instructions on how to get two Masters - Corrected Bunyan's ability list - Added a few skills - Added a few tips to the beginning of the walkthrough: the Melted Blade and Rei's storeroom. - Changed the description of the Thorn Gene. - As I had guessed, the "something important" in the desert is a Royal Sword. It's been added to the walkthrough. Version 2.5 (6/9/98): - Fishing section completed: all fish listed, all fishing spots complete, and more strategies. - The remaining Masters and their abilities added. I'm don't have all the abilities for 3 of the Masters; my characters are all now at such a high level that it takes a whole afternoon just to get them one level. So if somebody could send the abilities, their effect, and AP cost, that would save me a lot of time. - Some cool secret items added: the Spanner fishing pole in the Steel Grave [A New World], the Coupons in Dauna Mines [Veggie Tales: The Sequel], and the Flyer in Genmel [Balio and Sunder]. - Dragon Classes list added, with some really cool secret dragon classes. - A lot more enemy skills and stolen items added. - More spells added for Nina, Rei, and Garr. - Shops list added - Many walkthrough changes: o More details on the wood-chopping game. o Added a way to get some money at the McNeil Manor. o Changed the strategy in the Hall of Fire to taking out the Dodai, as you get a lot of experience this way. o All Masters added to walkthrough. o Added tips on fighting the Dragon Zombie, HugeSlug, Manmo, and Dragon Lord. o Added tips about getting the Last Resort [Wyndian Gladiators] and Cure [Just Deserts] skills. o Noted that you can steal Rare Books from the Codgers in the Antenna Tower; they're antiques which you can sell for a decent price. o Corrected some enemy descriptions in the last dungeon. - I FOUND THE NICE OUTFIT IN THE DESERT! It's a suit of Life Armor. For info on how to get it, check the end of the Just Deserts section. - Nina's rating went up to a D, Garr down to an F. - Unanswered Questions list added. If anybody knows anything about these questions, please let me know! Version 1.0 (6/4/98): - Walkthrough completed - Faerie Village section added - Fusion and Formations list added - Character Evaluations added - Manillo's shops now have a separate list in the fishing section because they were taking up too much room. - I know I'm missing a bunch of secret stuff; that will be taken care of soon. I just wanted to get the full walkthrough up. - Also, since I've finished the game, I'll be more than happy to take all contributions now. Send 'em in! Version 0.5 (5/22/98): - Less-than-first version. - I just have the walkthrough for the first half of the game (childhood) done; look for the second half soon. - Note: I know I'm missing a lot of information here, but please DON'T send me any contributions yet. As I'm not yet done with the game, I don't want anything spoiled. Thank you. ******************************************************* II. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ******************************************************* Q. What is Square's connection to the Breath of Fire series? A. Very little. All three Breath of Fire were developed by Capcom of Japan, and published in Japan by Capcom as well. Breath of Fire I was translated and published in the U.S. by Square, but both Breath of Fire II and Breath of Fire III were translated and published by Capcom USA. So all Square did was translate one of the games into English. Q. How come you say certain characters were in BOF1 when they weren't? A. This is because many names were changed in the U.S. version of BOF1. BOF2 and BOF3 both use the correct names, so there are some discrepancies. Specifically, Gobi is really named Maniro, Bo is really Gary, Bleu is really Deis, and Agni is Anfini. Q. Is there any fishing pole better than the Bamboo Rod? A. Yup, there are four, but they're difficult to find. Deluxe Rod -- Once you get Rei back, have him unlock the locked door in the building at the Northern Checkpoint. Inside is a chest with the Deluxe Rod. Angler Rod -- Sold in the Handyman shop in Faerie Village. It's about the fifth or sixth item they get. This is the best fishing pole you can get in the normal game. Spanner -- Use Momo's cannon to blow open the wrecked door inside the spaceship at the Steel Grave. The Spanner is in the next room. Master Rod -- After beating the game, and playing in Clear Game, get a rank of Master of Angling++ (9000 points), then go talk to Bow at his house on the point near Junk Town. Q. How do I get through McNeil Manor? A. See the "Springtime" section of the walkthrough. Q. Is Peco worth building up? He seems like a wimp. A. Appearances can be deceiving. Peco is the best fighter in the game, and essential later in the game. Be sure to catch him up when you get him. Q. How do I get the faerie Master? A. First, have Peco bop the tree near the house west of Maekyss Gorge (where the thieves are) to get the Flower Jewel. Then go to the faerie pond near the Coffee Shop and have Peco hit one of the rocks into the pond (you need a running start). Give Meryleep the Flower Jewel when she appears and she'll join you. Q. How come I can't get Deis? A. When she asks if you like her snake form better, you have to say that you do. If you said you liked her human form better, I'm afraid you can't get her. Sorry. Q. How do I get through the desert? A. First, get the water from the jug at Horis's tent. Then, in the desert, walk towards the North Star (red) until the Evening Star (blue) is due west (four turns to the left). Once it is, go east (four tuns right) and continue that way until you can't see the Evening Star behind you anymore. Then turn back north and keep going until you get to the oasis. For more info, see the Just Deserts section of the walkthrough. Q. What is the connection between Bleu and Deis? A. Bleu IS Deis. Deis was her name in all three Japanese BOF games. Square changed it to Bleu in their crappy translation of BOF1. Capcom kept it as Bleu in BOF2, but decided to use her real, actual, name in BOF3. ******************************************************* III. WALKTHROUGH: CHILDHOOD ******************************************************* %%%AWAKENING%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Mogu and Gary (Bo in the U.S. version of BOF1) from Breath of Fire I approach a large crystal in which a dragon rests. That's you, Ryu. They blow open the crystal with some explosives, freeing Ryu. You then have to fight them . All you have to do is use the Whelp Breath attack to take them out in one hit. Ryu will then escape. First, search Mogu for the Melted Blade. Then run southeast of the mine; you'll fight a few miners on the way. They are all easily defeated by Whelp Breath. Eventually, you come across another BOF1 character, Ox. You'll have to fight him. When you try to use Whelp Breath, a voice tells you not to. Ryu then gets bonked on the head by a crane and knocked unconscious. When Ryu regains consciousness, you're on a train. Just push the direction pad in any direction repeatedly to bust out of the cage and hop out. %%%CEDAR WOODS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% While out hunting in the woods, Rei discovers Ryu, now in human form. He takes you back to the cabin he shares with another orphan kid, Teepo. They put Ryu to sleep in Teepo's bed. There will be a brief dream sequence, and then you will get to control Ryu. Go downstairs and search the cabinets for a Vitamin (restores HP) and a Worm (used for fishing). Then leave the house and go down the spiral path into the forest. Head southeast, picking up items on the way (be sure to get the Skill Ink and Ammonia on the first screen). Use the R1 button to rotate the camera and look for items hidden behind trees. Eventually you'll come out on the world map. Head south to the village of McNeil. You'll run into Rei and Teepo again, who are being chased out of a house after being caught breaking in. They lament how they are known everywhere, then one of them gets the idea to use Ryu. But first, they need to get you some equipment. You'll automatically break into the weapon store and steal Ryu some gear. While Rei is grabbing the loot, Teepo talks to Ryu and calls him "Ryu" even though he never said his name. A bit mysterious... Rei and Teepo then join the party. Now that you have them, and Ryu isn't running around in his pajamas, you will encounter enemies in the forest. Use Rei's Pilfer spell (it costs no AP) to steal items from the enemies. Teepo can attack or use his magic, and Ryu fights well, but also has a heal spell. I recommend using the Attack formation and putting Rei in the lead. Be sure to equip the Melted Blade that you got from Mogu as well. If you use the Examine command, you can learn a few skills: Unmotivate from the Goblins, Burn from the Mage Goos, and Influence from the Boss Goblins. Contine south in the area you're in to the road. When you get here, Rei and Teepo will decide to mug somebody to get food. Go behind the tree the finger points to and Bunyan will show up. Teepo will throw Ryu at him. Bunyan chews Ryu out, then leaves. Rei and Teepo decide to break into Bunyan's house and steal food. Get the item in the bag near you, then leave the area (the exit is to the north). Back on the world map, go back up to the Cedar Woods and enter. Return to the first screen (outside Rei and Teepo's house). Here you can chat with the Goblin and Eye Ooze to learn about some of the game's more complicated functions. Also, if you go back into the cabin and take the west exit from the living room, you will reach a ladder that leads down into the storeroom. Searching the cabinet in the storeroom gives you a free Healing Herb. Finally, it's also worth pointing out that you have fewer fights if you walk instead of run. On the other hand, running is a lot quicker, and you need the experience anyway. I just ran everywhere the whole game. ^_^ Go to Bunyan's house, southeast from the cabin. Use L1 to put Rei in the lead and have him pick the lock of the house (just examine it). Go inside. Ryu catches a plate dropping off the table, then you are free to walk around. Go down the stairs in the back (you might have to rotate the camera to see them) and search the cabinet for some Beef Jerky. Teepo and Rei will come down, but then Bunyan returns home. Rei and Teepo go upstairs to deal with him, and there are sounds of fighting. Go upstairs and leave the house. As soon as you walk outside, Bunyan will whack you and knock you unconscious. Ryu wakes up tied to the fence with Rei and Teepo. Bunyan will free you on the condition that you help him. He sends Rei off to Mt. Glaus, and then tells Rei and Teepo to help him cut wood. This is the first bonus game. You have to cut as much wood as possible in the time limit, being careful not to hit Teepo. Whacking Teepo loses you a lot of time, so it's better to be a bit slow hitting the wood than to hit Teepo. Hit the Triangle button just as the wood tips forward out of Teepo's hands. If you chop fewer than 16 pieces, yo' gotta do it again! After you finish chopping the wood, work your way back out of the woods, but first change your formation to Normal. On the map, go down to McNeil again. Head to the shops and purchase some new equipment and stock up on items. There's also a hidden bag in the lower-left corner of town with (I think) a Vitamin. Don't forget to equip your new stuff! Go up to the upper-right corner of the explorable area of map. You will reach a place labeled "?". Enter here and cross the bridge. Go down and right to a big rock. Put Teepo in the lead and use his kick (press Triangle) to kick the rock down into the water, damming the river. You can now walk down in the ditch. There are two exits from there; both lead to items -- one the Weather Vane, and the other something else (I forget what). After getting the items, go north on this screen until you come back out on the map. Step away from the forest pass and press Start to camp. Go inside the tent, rest, and save your game. Then go back to the map and head up to Mt. Glaus. Cross the bridge and go straight ahead. You'll find a steep white slope. Go up the ramp on the left and you can slide down onto the ledges with bags. The middle ledge has a Heavy Caro (fishing item) and the one on the right has a Cloth Shield. After getting both items, go up the ramp again, but this time head along the ridge, past the ramp, to a bridge. As you cross the bridge, Teepo will note that it's getting dark. You head to the nearby cabin to spend the night, where you find Rei. Rei says he thinks Bunyan sent him to kill the monster on the mountain, then rejoins the party. The next morning, you are awakened by the monster's cries. Change your formation back to Attack and put Rei in the lead again. When you leave the cabin, you'll have to fight the Nue. Just use regular attacks and Teepo's magic, healing with Ryu's magic when necessary. If it poisons you, use Ryu's Purify spell to cure the poison. The Nue will run off after you do enough damage. Examine the Dragon God statue and you can save your game. Then continue up the mountain. Skip the cave and ascend to the peak, where there is a bag with Vitamins. Note that "Vitamins" are different from the item "Vitamin" -- Vitamins are a Vitamin that affects the whole party. Return to the cave and enter. Follow the trail of blood to a room with a river. At the end of the trail of blood, some dialogue will be triggered. Leave that room and Teepo will say that the Nue must have jumped in the water. Explore the main room of the cave and search both skeletons for good items. Then go to the upper-left corner and enter the room there. Jump in the water and you'll automatically be taken down a waterfall into the Nue's lair. Walk forward. When you come up in front of the cave, the Nue will come out and you'll have to fight it again. On the first round, have Ryu cast his Protect spell (assuming he has it) on Rei. Then use the same strategy you did before -- Ryu attack, Rei attack, and Teepo use his best spell (preferably Simoon). Use Ryu's Heal magic to heal, and Purify to cure poison. Once Teepo runs out of AP, have him use regular attacks. After you do enough damage, the Nue will unleash its powerful Jolt attack on all three characters, but it can only do this once. When the Nue is defeated for good, go up to its body and press X to enter the Nue's nest. Examine the dead Nue cubs, then go back to the waterfall room. You'll be swept back down the mountain, where you'll run into Bunyan. Bunyan congratulates you on your victory, then you automatically return to the cabin. %%%SPRINGTIME%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Several months later, spring returns to the Yraall Region. Teepo wants to go down to the village and see what the people think of them now that they beat the Nue. Leave the forest (after checking out the cool springtime graphics). There's a whole lot of things available to do now, including fishing and getting your first Master. First, go to McNeil. Upon arriving, you'll be cornered by townspeople... only to find that they are there to congratulate you. After that sequence ends, talk to the guy in the cloak -- Loki. He'll ask you for your help; agree and he says to meet him at the house in the fields. Now take a look around town. Upgrade your equipment, then spend the rest of your money purchasing items and fishing gear. Go ahead and splurge -- just keep at least 1 zenny remaining. You'll see why shortly. Leave McNeil and go northwest on the world map. In the lower-left corner of the woods is a small clearing. Walk up to and a ? appears over Ryu's head. If you press Triangle to get the "Guide" option, you'll learn that the Yggdrasil tree has been cut down. Hit X to enter the clearing and talk to the wizard, Mygas. He's the game's first Master, and he'll let you be his apprentice if you pay him all your money. Since you already spent almost all your money, say yes. You then obtain your first Master and can choose a character to apprentice to him. Choose Ryu. For more information on how Masters work, look under Masters in the Playing the Game section. Now go fishing! There's two spots where you can go fishing, one near the Yggdrasil clearing and one near the Farm. The game provides a pretty good fishing tutorial, or you can go to the Fishing section for more details on fishing. I recommend you try to catch some Rainbow Trout; they restore your AP and you don't have any other items that do that at this point. When you're ready to progress in the game, go to the Farms south of McNeil. Talk to the people if you wish, then go to the house on the road. You'll meet up with Loki again here, and he'll explain his plan to overthrow Mayor McNeil. You'll then wait until nighttime to invade McNeil's manor. At the manor, you can pop in the cabin (where Loki is) to rest. Head northwest to the patched up part of the wall and examine it. Rei and Teepo will come over, and Rei will accidentally break down the wall down. Go through to enter the hedge maze. Head southwest around the first hedge and talk to the guy there (you'll have to rotate the camera to see him). He'll give you 50 zenny. Then give that 50 zenny to the first guard to make him move. Go up the steps and talk to the guard up there. Head left and search the area to find the guard's wallet. Give to the guard and he'll move. Descend the stairs. Do not step in the light from any of the guards' lanterns or you will be caught and kicked out of the manor (if this happens, raise 50 zenny by fighting the monsters on the grounds and then go back in through the weak wall). Instead, go southeast to the platform with the bell on it. Climb up the ladder and whack the bell with Ryu's sword. One of the guards will leave. Go through the path he was guarding to reach the central plaza. The guard here (the smoking one) won't let you by unless you kill the guard dog and thus remove the blame from him. Head south and you'll encounter the dog. The dog is not that difficult an opponent. First, have one of your characters (it doesn't matter who) select the Examine option. Then, when the Pooch uses its Snap attack, the character Examining will learn it, your first Skill (for more info on Skills -- the manual does a poor job of explaining them -- see the Playing the Game section). Then attack the Pooch with weapons and Snap. After defeating it, go back up to the guard and he'll let you by. In the east section of the hedge maze, go up the steps and follow the path around to get a Firecracker. Then go back down and talk to all the people (if you hit one of the guards with Ryu's sword, you'll get some money). After you've talken to Mina, go back and talk to the guard guarding the chicken coop. He'll run off. Go inside the chicken coop and Teepo will attempt to steal some eggs, triggering an attack by a giant chicken, Rocky. Like the last time, start by having Ryu Examine the chicken until you learn the Jump skill. Meanwhile, Rei should attack and Teepo should cast Simoon. Once Ryu learns Jump, have him start attacking with that. Once Rocky goes down, the other chickens will go berserk and run out of the hen house. The guards will leave their posts to round them up. Go back to the stairs that were being blocked by guard. Go up them and head right to the main doors of the manor. Rei will distract the guards while Ryu and Teepo run inside. As soon as you get in, switch back to Normal formation. Go through the door on the right. Here you'll find a bed where you can rest and save your game. Also, on the desk in the corridor behind the bed is some zenny. Search the dressers by the stairs, then go up the stairs and search the cabinets for a Magic Shard, which permanently raises your max AP by 1. Use it on Ryu. BTW, if you didn't learn the Jump skill from Rocky, you can get it from the Roaches in the manor. Then go up the stairs again and search all the crates for goodies. Return to the entrance room and try to go up the stairs. You'll encounter a boss. Have Ryu cast Protect on both himself and Teepo, then attack it with Jump and Teepo's magic. It will put you to sleep; just have the other character keep fighting as the sleeping one will wake up shortly. After you defeat it, go back to the bed to get healed up. Ascend all the the stairs and head left. Search all the cabinets on the way to pick up some Gems. When you get to the upper-left room, you'll encounter another McNeil ghost. This one is really easy; just hit him with Jump and Simoon and he'll go down in a few turns. After defeating him, go right into the next room. Search this room for a Panacea, then try to go down the stairs. A third ghost will appear and it's fight time. This ghost will lower your stats with his magic, but just keep hitting him with the Jump and Simoon combo and you shouldn't have much trouble. Go down the stairs and follow the long pathway until you come to the fourth ghost. This one can cast Flare and is pretty tough. Don't use magic on him, as it doesn't do a lot of damage. Stick to regular attacks and Jump. After you defeat him, you'll witness a spooky cutscene. Then go up the stairs behind you and search the room for a huge stash of zenny. Return to the room where you fought the ghost and go through the door he came through. Push the button on the wall next to the elevator to activate it. Ride the elevator up and take the stairs up to a room with a bed and a diary. Rest, save your game, then continue up to the roof. Don't step on any of the moss or you'll slide down. Go left along the top of the roof as far as you can go. Then walk carefully down the roof onto the farthest-left ledge. Jump down from the edge of the ledge and pick up the grappling hook there. After you get the grappling hook, Rei will return and use it to get to the other side of the roof. Now that you have Rei back, return to Attack formation and put the Reister in the lead. Go to the lower-left corner of the roof and pick up the bag for a Sparrow Eye, then head to the upper-right corner. Rotate the camera and you should be able to sheathed red sword. Grab it; it's a very powerful Broad Sword. Then climb back up to the top of the roof and look for the stairs leading down into the manor (there's only one). This will take you to McNeil's room. Teepo will confront McNeil, but then the ghosts appear and merge into one huge (and cool-looking) boss. Begin the battle by having Rei Pilfer from the ghost until you get a Magic Shard, while Ryu casts Protect on each member of the party. Magic attacks do little damage to the ghost, so attack with regular attacks and Jump. The Amalgam can do a lot of damage, but it doesn't have that much HP. It disappears in a cool way after you defeat it. Teepo will demand that the panicking McNeil show him the money. McNeil reluctantly hands it over, and you spend the rest of the night distributing it to the people of the village. Mayor McNeil, however, vows to get the last laugh. The next day, you're back in your cabin. You're already healed up, but be sure to save your game with the diary in the upper room. Leave the woods and go to town. It becomes obvious that things didn't go as you planned -- everybody has returned the money to the mayor, and they're not too thrilled with the stunt you played. Go to the farm and confront Loki. He'll tell you to meet him in the hut, so go there. Loki doesn't show, but Bunyan does. Bunyan tells you that the whole plan was a scheme by Loki to steal the money for himself, and that you were being used. He also informs you that McNeil belongs to a large crime syndicate, and suggests you hurry back to your house. Leave McNeil and go back to the Cedar Woods. Before you enter the screen with your house, de-equip Rei and Teepo and return any of their Skills to skill notes. Then go up to your house. The house has been burned down by McNeil's goons. Suddenly, two unicorn guys show up and you have to fight. You can't beat these guys, so don't even try. Just let them kill you. You'll wake up in Bunyan's house, alone. Go outside and talk to Bunyan. He believes that Rei and Teepo were killed by McNeil. Ryu decides to go to Wyndia. Leave the woods. If you need supplies, stop by McNeil (buying some Molotovs would be a good idea), then go to the Yggdrasil clearing and talk with Mygas. He should teach Ryu the Frost spell, which will come in handy. Then head south. You can now pass through the Yraall Road, so continue up to Mt. Myrneg to Wyndia. %%%BALIO AND SUNDER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Make your way through the mountain. The only way to kill the Tarmen is with frost attacks, so hopefully you got the Frost spell from Mygas. If not, just run away. As for the Nut Troops and Nut Mages, you can either use Molotovs on them or just use regular attacks. One hit will kill them either way, but attacks are a bit inaccuracte on them. Take out the Mages first; they can cast Flare. Alternately, if you've learned Burn from the Mage Goos back in the Cedar Woods (or go and get it now), you can use it instead. Explore the mountains and pick up any loot you find. Make sure to get the Bat Amulet hidden in a chest on the right side; you need to rotate the camera to see it. Once you reach the top of the mountain, you'll encounter Balio and Sunder again. One of them runs you through with his sword, causing Ryu to turn into a dragon. They capture you and take you to Wyndia Castle. At Wyndia, Balio and Sunder will present Ryu to the king, only to discover that he's turned back into a kid again (I love this scene). All three of you get thrown in jail. Princess Nina will come and let the two horse guys out, but then they beat her up and run off with Nina captive. Examine the door of your cell and ram it twice to get out. Stop in the horses' cell to grab the bag (Skill Ink) and save your game, then follow them down the stairs. (You can't get into the other cell, which houses Jean the frog from BOF2). You'll have to fight Balio and Sunder again. You can now finally use Ryu's Accession spell to turn into a dragon. You can now either just lose on purpose (nothing bad happens, you just go on with the game), or actually try to beat Balio and Sunder. If you try, first attack Nina to wake her up. Then use Accession, choose the Flame Gene, and attack Balio and Sunder. When you run out of AP or HP, you will return to human form. Keep attacking and healing with items. Alternately, if you learned Influence from the Boss Goblins back in the Cedar Woods, use it on Balio, which will cause Sunder to start attacking Balio. If you manage to win this battle, you'll get a lot of experience, and may receive a Broad Sword or Asbestos Armor. If you lost, Nina will revive you after Balio and Sunder leave, and then she joins your party. If you won, Nina will still join, so the end result is the same (you just don't get the items if you lose). Go down the stairs into the caves. This is a pretty tough dungeon, because Nina starts off really wimpy and you only have two people. Don't use Nina's magic, it's not that effective (except for Simoon, which is great on zombies, once you learn it). Instead, have her Examine a Nut Troop and learn its Double Blow attack. The deadliest enemies in here are the Volts and Thunders, if you encounter a pair of these, use Accession and turn into a dragon (you only have one gene available, the Flame Gene, so just select that and hit okay), then use Ryu's physical attacks (*not* the Breath attacks). Go to each of the seven tombstone and press the words in green. Then go to the tombstone on the ramp in the far left and press the number 7. You'll drop down into another cave. Open the chest for the Light Bangle. Equip it on Nina, then follow the passageway to the ladder. Climb up and take the Glass Domino from the chest there (strangely, it's a helmet, but a good one -- give it to Nina to boost her meager defense). Jump off the ledge, then head to the lower-right corner and examine the tombstone that doesn't have the color words on it. Instead, you're giving a choice between three words in white. Choose "red", "climbing", "I", "is", "look", "beneath", and "this" (these are the words in red on the other tombstones). You'll drop down through a pit. Walk onto the dark part of the ground to fall through *another* pit into the Wyndia Family Crypt. Head southwest out of the tomb and into Lower Wyndia. Explore the town and loot the houses (heh). Be sure to stay at the inn, especially if any of your characters were killed in the caves -- staying at the inn restores their max HP to the normal level. Upgrade your weapons, then buy any armor you can afford (note that doing so will lower your speed, so don't bulk up too much). If you need money, you can sell off Rei and Teepo's gear. There's also a clinic where you get temporary immunizations against various elements. These shots are pretty much useless; don't waste your money. Go to the lower-right corner of town and talk to the kids there. They'll want to play hide-and-seek, so you have to find them all. One is in the lower-right corner of town (near where you start the game), two are the sides of the weapon shop, and one is behind a tree in the outdoors cafe. You'll have to rotate the camera to see any of them. Once you've found all four kids, you'll automatically return to where you started the game, and the kids will give you a lead on where to find Teepo. Before you leave, head up to Upper Wyndia. There's not much to do here but check out the bread shops, although one of the shops has a Moxa hidden in a cabinet. Leave Wyndia, but don't go down the road. Instead, head west and take the forest path up to the side of the castle. A ? mark will pop up, enter the location and you'll find a hidden chest (rotate the camera) with something in it (I forgot what). Leave this area and follow the path between the outer and inner city walls of Wyndia. There's another ? location at the very end. This one contains a small hut in which lives Durandal, another Master. Apprentice Nina to him. Downstairs is a machine that you can't do anything with yet. Now go to the road south of Wyndia. Nina will suggest you go to the hut on the road. As you enter, you hear a scream from outside. Go back out. Balio and Sunder have shown up again and taken Nina captive. They'll knock Ryu out again (Ryu really takes it in the shorts in this game, doesn't he?) and take you both to the desert town of Genmel. After Balio and Sunder leave, Ryu will chew through the ropes holding you and you escape. You can now walk around town and look for all the characters from previous BOF games (the Manillo look-alikes running the item shop, Bow and Sten from BOF2 arguing at the gate, Ox outside the arena, and Fahl looks like Rand). In the lower-left corner of town, there's a fish who will give you the Flyer (you have to rotate the camera to see him). The Flyer saves you 20%-30% off the price of items, but only in Genmel. Other than that, there's not much to do here besides buy items from the fish merchants. BTW, you shoul never stay at inn unless you have a lowered (yellow) HP max -- camping will fill up your HP for free. While you're camping, you can use the Skill Ink to transfer any Skills Rei or Teepo might have learned to one of your present members. Back on the world map, there's another fishing spot way to the west, should you feel like doing some fishing. Otherwise, your next goal is Mt. Boumore to the northeast. Head up the mountain and collect the chest and bag on side paths (you have to rotate the camera to see the bag). Now that you have Nina, you can easily defeat the Tar Men with her Frost spell. When you get to the top, don't talk to the two guys. Instead, jump down the chute, and then make another jump down to a chest with a Buckler. Give it to Ryu. Now go back up to the guys and talk to them. The mason will offer to let you spend the night at the cabin. The next morning, you'll awake to find that you're locked in the room. As you'd expect, the mason has turned you over to Balio and Sunder. Take the rear exit to the lift and examine the control panel. Nina uses her magic to start the lift and you hop on just as Sunder arrives. After the lift stops, you'll be on a different mountain. Leave the lift building and look around for another item bag. Then go up to the top of the mountain, where you'll be cornered by Sunder. Ryu and Nina jump off the mountain. Ryu turns into a dragon to cushion Nina's fall, and you get the Defender Dragon Gene. Leave Mt. Boumore and head south. There's another ? area in the corner of the mountains. Enter and follow the trail to find the Reverse Gene. After getting it, go northeast on the world map, past the fishing spot (stop here if you want), to the Tower. %%%THE INVENTOR%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% At the Tower, you'll find Manillo (aka Gobi) selling items. If Nina doesn't have the Mage's Robes, buy them for her, and then get a Glass Domino for Ryu (Nina should already have one). Skip the Cuirass; it lowers your agility too much. Then stock up on Healing Herbs -- don't be fooled by the happy music, this is the toughest dungeon yet. First, enter the lowest door on the left. Inside, you'll fight ArmorBots and ProtoBots; use Nina's Jolt spell on these (particularly the Protos). Walk up to the crystal and use Nina's magic wand on it (hit Triangle). A timer will appear. Quickly follow the rear path back outside and run to the fountain. Use the wand on each of the four crystals. If you do it within the time limit, the pond will drain. Go back in the left door, descend the stairs into the ex-pond, and go outside. Open the chest. Depending on how long it took you to hit all the crystals, it will contain one of three prizes: More than 6 seconds remaining: Ring of Ice 5 to 6 seconds remaining: Wisdom Fruit Fewer than 5 seconds remaining: MultiVitamin If you go back and read the tablet, it will reset the pond, so you can try for the other treasures (you can only get each chest once). The Ring of Ice is pretty useful (it absorbs ice attacks), so you may want to try for it before continuing. After you're done with the game, leave the tower and camp to restore your HP before continuing. Back inside, work your upwards until you come to a door. Go inside to a library-type room with a save diary. Save, read the books, then go outside. Go up the next set of stairs to a hallway. As you walk into the hallway, you'll see an explosion. Go in the first door and you'll meet Momo, the mole scientist. After some dialogue, she agrees to help you get back to Wyndia, but then Balio and Sunder's goons show up. Momo joins the party. Momo is one of the better characters in the game; she has a very strong attack and useful (healing) spells. On the other hand, she gets killed easily, and her attacks are very inaccurate. The best strategy with Momo is to have her attack a different enemy from the others -- if she hits it, she'll kill it, so there's no use whittling down its HP. Also, use Momo's healing magic instead of Ryu's, so you can save Ryu's for dragon transformations. I would also recommend switching to Attack formation and putting Ryu in the front. Head into the next door beyond Momo's to your classic light-all-the tiles puzzle. Number the tiles like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Then step on (in order) tiles 15, 11, 10, 14, 13, 9, 10, 6, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 16, 15. Go through the open door and open the three chests for an always-needed Skill Ink and Flame and Ice Chrysms (weapons for Momo). Since a number of enemies in here are weak against fire, equip the Flame Chrysm. Go up the stairs behind the two doors. Up here, you'll fight HyperBots, which are extremely powerful -- they use a Blitz attack that takes off about 30-40 HP on all your characters, every single turn. Kill them right away. Oh, and don't use Jolt on them -- it won't hurt them, and will raise their defense greatly. Circle around the path to the next puzzle room. This puzzle is pretty cool; you have to flick the switches on the cube that are identical to the one in the back. So hit the second and fourth ones from the left to disarm the pit trap (don't step beyond the cubes before you do or you'll fall down). Then continue along to the next puzzle room. Flick the blue switch first. Cross the first gap. The door to the right just leads to a chest with 300 zenny; don't bother with it as you'll have a number of fights trying to get it. Instead, cross to the second set of levers and flick the red one. Head left and go up the stairs. Open the chest for some very valuable Moon Tears, then go back down and head up the stairs. In the next puzzle room (the one with a big pit), ride the first gray platform and circle up to the Eldritch Floater. You have to power this lift by hitting it repeatedly with Nina's wand. First, shoot the crystal twice, then ride the platform to a chest with a Breasplate. Euip it on Ryu for a huge defense boost, then jump down and return to the lift. Shoot the crystal six times this trip to get to the second chest, which contains Ivory Dice. Return to the lift once more and shoot it eleven times. Ride to the stairs. Go up the next set of stairs beyond that and you'll reach a door. Inside is a chest with the Bamboo Rod, a better fishing pole. Then go up the next set of stairs to a room with a red infrared beam and a crystal. Shoot the crystal from a distance to move the beam. Walk behind the crystal, making sure that *all* your characters are behind it (otherwise they will take massive damage) -- the easiest way to do this is to walk sideways. Once everybody's safely behind the crystal, blast it with the wand to switch the beam again. Move up to the next beam, walk sideways to get everybody behind the second pair of statues in the wall, and shoot it again (you may have to creep forward slightly to reach it). You're now free to walk to the door that leads to the exit from this torturous dungeon. I don't know about you, but I was on fumes by the time I got out of here. Search the three cupboards in the back corner, then examine the desk. You'll find a switch, that, when pushed, will reveal an escape rocket. Momo starts the rocket and you hop on. The rocket smashes through the roof of the ruins and lands in a field. Fresh air at last! Before you leave the crash site, go up and right a little and you'll find the Thorn Dragon Gene. Then get the heck out of here and CAMP! Finally you can heal up and save your game. Take a break; you've earned it. Oh, and you might want to switch Momo back to the Ammo from the Flame Chrysm. After you've recovered enough to continue playing, go to the Coffee Shop northwest of the crash site. Here you'll run into an acquitance of Momo, who asks you to go to the plant to the southwest and investigate the malfunctioning equipment. You have no choice but to agree. Before you leave the shop, go inside and stock up on items. Don't stay at the inn, however -- there's a cheaper one nearby. Also, on the hill behind the Coffee Shop is another Master, D'lonzo, but she won't take any apprentices unless you have at least 16 weapons in your inventory. It's highly unlikely that you will, even if you never sold anything, so just skip this for now. Leave the Coffee Shop and return to the the world map. The plant is to the southwest, but there's a number of other stops you should make. - Checkpoint. The building north of the Coffee Shop. There's a few items in cupboards, but that's about it. Don't stay at the inn here. - Fairy Woods. This is the identation in the woods west of the Checkpoint. In here, you'll find a bag with some money, and in the far back, a chest with the Scramasax sword. This is a really good sword; it's light and hits hard. You can also cut through the bushes blocking one path with Ryu's sword to get to a bag with Protein. Also, you'll sometimes run into Goo Titans here; they give you a lot of experience at this stage in the game. - Fishing Spot. There's a fishing spot as far west as you can go, just before you get to the bridge. Since you have a new fishing pole, you should have a little easier time here. - The Plant. The inn here (on the right) is 170 zenny cheaper than the one at the Coffee Shop, so stay here. - Yggdrasil Tree. The big tree located east of the Plant. This place has really cool graphics and I love the music, but there's nothing you can do here right now. It's still worth checking out for the audio / visual aspects, though. %%%VEGGIE TALES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Now go to the Plant. You have to work your way to the central valley, where the main plant is. You do this by flicking switches to change the conveyors -- the blue ones reverse all the gray conveyors and the red levers reverse all the brown conveyors. It's kind of confusing, but there's no fights here. Eventually what you want to do is go from the upper-right corner around the top to the middle left, where there's a conveyor down into the center. Once you get there, talk to the scientists. They'll send you to the Dump west of the plant. Go into the building and loot the shelves, then hop down to the entrance and leave. The Dump is the cave west of the Plant. Inside, you'll fight a variety of chrysm-mutated creatures. The two types of Weeds are the toughest -- they hit hard, have a high defense, and are immune to magic. The easiest way to beat them is to have Ryu use a Dragon-class transformation (i.e., one that's not a Whelp -- Flame/Defender works best) and use Dragon Breath. This should wipe out both, or at least damage them severly. Start by heading south. Loop around to the center and flick the blue switch twice. Cross the conveyor belt and open the chest. Now loop back around to the entrance and go north, up onto the higher plateau. Walk across the crates at the middle "prong" of the ledge to a chest with High Boots. Give them to Momo. Now go back to the entrance again and go south. Hug the outer wall until you come to the door to the next room. Just head down and right for now to the vine-covered door. Go through and you'll face the first boss in a quite a while (since the Amalgam, to be exact), the Mutant. Ryu should attack with Jump. Nina, being the fastest, is your healer -- have her use Healing Herbs or Vitamins to cure your party, and Antidotes if you get poisoned. If nobody needs healing, attack with Simoon. Momo should just use physical attacks. The Mutant will regenerate its HP after each round, but it stops after a few rounds and then you can beat it. It's not that difficult a boss. The Mutant forces the party to destroy it so that no more of its kind will be made. Throw the red lever to drop the Mutant into the lava (you can try the blue one for a laugh). The Mutant is destroyed, but then its offspring Peco, the lovable onion, hopes out of the lava. After some cute squeaking, he joins your party. Since he starts out at level 1, just stick with Ryu, Nina, and Momo for now. There's no fights in this room now that you've killed the Mutant, so go to the lower-left corner and open the chest. Then use the pair of levers to move the crates until there is a crate whose upper-right corner is even with the upper-left of the ledge on the right. That was kind of conusing, so here's an drawing. --\ --/**/---- **\---- The *s are where you want the crate to be. Then go north a ways and ascend the stairs. Follow the path south over two crates (if you can't, you'll need to adjust the crates with the levers) to a chest with Artemis' Cap, which raises your hit rate. It doesn't take a genius to figure out you'll want to give this to Momo. You've got everything in the Dump, so now just walk back out. There *are* fights in the first room, so make sure you're healthy. Back on the map, return to the Plant. Momo will report his findings, then Palet will tell you he has a plan to get you back into Wyndia. Go to the inn and stay for free. In the morning, you'll hide inside a hay cart bound for Wyndia... only to discover that Palet was in league with Balio and Sunder and you've once again fallen into their hands. %%%WYNDIAN GLADIATORS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The captive party is taken back to Genmel, where Balio and Sunder taunt you once again. Nina demands that they let you enter the Tournament of Champions, and the two horses reluctantly agree. They insist that they take a hostage, however. Choose Peco; he's at level 1 so he's worthless right now. Explore the arena to learn about the matches, rings, and your competiton. Some places of note: - Hall of Fire: Upper left corner, first floor. This is where you'll fight your first match. Talk to the people to learn about the rules. - Null Magic Hall: First floor, upper left corner. The location of second battle; the people here explain its rules. - Hall of Kings: Center door, first floor. The last battleground. - Your Room: First door in left hall of first floor. When you're ready to begin the fight, go here (but you aren't yet, so don't). The woman here will also explain the rules of the Hall of Fire, and there's an important Coin in one of the cabinets -- you can use it catch Manillo (aka Gobi) when fishing. - Balio and Sunder's Room: First stairs on right when you come in. If you got Peco in your party by accident, you can go here to change hostages. Trust me, the little guy might be cute, but you don't want to use him. - Shops: Take the stairs to the right of your room to get here. The weapons they sell here are bad (they're too heavy), but you can get decent armor, and more importantly, Vitamins and Multi-Vitamins at the item shop (middle). After you're done looking around the arena, head back out into town. Go to the shops and buy some *good* equipment, and then rest (if need be) and save at the inn. In case you wanted to know, here's my characters' stats at this point: Ryu Lv: 15 Nina Lv: 14 Momo Lv: 14 Weapon: Scramasax Weapon: Magician Rod Weapon: Ammo Shield: Buckler Shield: Buckler Shield: Buckler Helm: Glass Domino Helm: Glass Domino Helm: Glass Domino Armor: Breastplate Armor: Mage's Robe Armor: Breastplate Misc1: Talisman Misc1: Light Bangle Misc1: Artemis' Cap Misc2: nothing Misc2: High Boots Misc2: Bat Charm Skills: Jump Skills: Snap, Skills: none Double Blow Now organize your characters in the order you want to have them fight -- you'll want Momo first, Ryu second, and Nina third. Equip Momo with the Ice Chrysm for this battle, and make sure she has the Bat Charm. When you're ready to fight, go to your room in the Hall of Fire. Read the rules again, then say you're ready to begin. Using Momo, you'll fight Claw the thief. First, cast Protect -- this will last for all three battles. Then just regular attacks on him. Do NOT attack the Dodai or Claw will do the same back. Claw will try to blind you, but the Bat Charm makes you immune to this (hee hee hee). Claw goes first, so make sure that you can take one more hit before you cast Heal. You shouldn't have any trouble. In the second round, you'll encounter Cawer the mage. Don't attack him; instead go after the Dodai. Don't heal; just keep attacking until Momo is knocked out. You'll then continue the battle with Ryu. First, cast Protect on the Dodai. Then have him use Accession with the Reverse and Flame genes to get ice abilities. Use Ice Claw on the Dodai, until Ryu's AP runs out and he revers to human form. At this point, attack Cawer (*not* the Dodai -- if you do, Cawer will attack yours back) and let yourself get killed. Nina now steps in. Have her cast Frost (or Iceblast, if you have it) on the Dodai. If you run out of AP, use attack items (just not fire ones) on the Dodai. Assuming you manage to defeat the Dodai, you'll automatically win and receive a huge amount of experience (more than you would have won by taking out all three guys normally). If you can't win the Dodai way, just fight all three guys normally instead. Get healed, save, and re-equip Momo with the Ammo, then go back into the arena and go to the room on the right, the Anti-Magic Hall. Rearrange your party order so Ryu is in the lead again, then choose to begin the battle. Emitai will come in and explain his situation, but you have no choice but to proceed with the battle. Since this is the Anti-Magic Hall, you can't use magic. However, any ability with no AP doesn't count as spell. Can you say Accession? Yup, have Ryu use Flame/Defender to transform into a Dragon-class dragon, then just have him start using Flame Breath. Nina should use Snap on each enemy (if she has it; if not don't worry about it), then attack with Double Blow. Momo should just attack. When you need healing, have Nina use Healing Herbs. Ignore the Golems and attack Emitai. When Ryu runs out of AP and reverts to human form, have him attack with Jump. After you knock out Emitai, the golems will start attacking each other. Just sit back and wait until one of the golems is killed, then pound on the remaining one. When you win, you get a Magician Rod -- equip it on Nina if you don't already have one. Back in your room, Sunder pays you a visit to taunt you. Then you see a brief cutscene with more of the horse guys' plotting. Once you regain control, pay a visit to Emitai's room, where you'll discover the whole story about his daughter was just a scam to make you forfeit in the Null Magic Hall. (that loser, I really felt bad beating him too). Get healed and save, then proceed to the Hall of Kings. Equip Ryu with the High Boots and Artemis' Cap, then begin the duel. First, cast Protect on yourself. Then do a dragon transformation using Flame and Defender. Attack Garr with regular attacks until you run out of AP or HP (whichever comes first), at which point you'll revert to human form. Then attack with Jump and use Healing Herbs to heal. After you do enough damage to Garr, he'll attack you with a Lucky Strike that takes off over 600 HP. Needless to say, you lose, and Garr becomes the champion once again. However, he uses his prize to free Ryu and his friends, then tells you to come to the Angel Tower east of Wyndia to find out more about The Brood, the race to which Ryu belongs. Your hostage is freed and you can choose who to put in your party. Put Peco in your party, then drop by the arena shop. Buy a bunch of Vitamins; you'll need them shortly. Return to the town, head to the shop and buy Peco some equipment. If you can't afford the armor, at least get him some Rippers (weapon) -- you can always give him hand-me-down armor. At this point, you'll want to build Peco up some levels by fighting at the ! spots on the map. He may be a wimp right now, but once he is at the same level (or even close) to your other characters, he will start getting strong. I can't stress the importance of catching him up enough. Peco is *the* best fighter in the game, and well worth the time to build up -- you will have a tough time later in the game without him. Another good thing you can do for Peco is take him back to the Tower and have him learn the Last Resort skill from the Orcs. It's not essential, so if you're having trouble getting it now, just come back later. Go to Maekyss Gorge. Cross the bridge and you'll find yourself surrounded by Balio and Sunder's flunkies. You will automatically fight three thieves. Have Ryu cast Shield (if he has it), then use Jump. Don't use Accession; you want to save his AP. Momo and Peco should just attack, and Nina should use Jolt or Snap. Concentrate on the tall guy (Bully 2) first, as he is the magic-user. Once you take him out, go after Bully 1 and finally 3. This is not a very difficult fight. Balio and Sunder corner you, but Garr shows up in the nick of time. He then joins your party, and you have to make a new party with Ryu and Garr. I strongly recommend you use Momo. Press Triangle when you're done making a party and the formation screen comes up. Put Garr in the lead, Ryu second, and Momo third, and use Attack formation. Then hit Triangle again. Balio and Sunder use their Stallion Metamorphosis to transform into the Stallion, and then you finally get to fight them. Ryu should cast Shield on the party, then do a Flame / Defender Accession. Once he's morphed, have him attack until his AP runs out. At that point, attack with Jump. Garr should just attack, as should Momo. Momo should be your healer; have her use Healing Herbs to heal. When Balio and Sunder get low on life, they will start using their UtmostAttack. This attack really rips you; use Vitamins to heal once they start doing it. If somebody dies, don't try to revive them, just heal the people you have (if Momo dies, make Ryu the healer as Garr does the most damage). Keep attacking them, though, because on they start doing the attack, they're nearly dead. When you defeat the Stallion, Balio and Sunder are gone for good! Yahoo! %%%RHAPALA%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% While still at the Gorge, cross the bridge you're on, and go down the trail to the left. It leads to a small house with a frog painter inside. Talk to him if you wish, but the real reason for coming here is the Frost Dragon Gene hidden in the garden (it's squeezed behind the fence). Get it, then go back up the trail and leave the Gorge. You're now completely free to explore everywhere you've visited, including both Central and East Wyndia, and even back to the Yraall Region (you can walk around Mt. Myrneg). Places worth visiting again: - If you apprenticed any of your characters to Durandal way back when you first got to Wyndia, drop by his house in the ? spot near Wyndia to pick up some skills. Hopefully, you'll get Backhand, which will be very useful in a little while. If not, build up your levels to get it (you only need to gain 3 levels to learn it). - If you have 15 weapons in your inventory, return to the Coffee Shop and talk to D'lonzo; she's another Master you can get. - There's another Yggdrasil tree north of Mt. Myrneg. It's the same as the other, so there's no real need to go here. - Back at the Cedar Woods, Bunyan will also work as a Master. He raises your attack and defense, but lowers intelligence. Since Peco doesn't have much magic anyway (and consequently his intelligence and AP don't matter), sign him up. - In the Fairy Woods near the rocket crash site, there are some rocks you can roll away by having Peco bop them with his head (push Triangle). Search the holes for a Vitamin and a Hawk's Ring (increases chance of surprising the enemy -- equip this on somebody). - At the southern of the two Yraall Region fishing spots, you can use your Coin to catch Manillo. You can trade fish for items at his shop. This is a cool feature, but you won't have the requisite fish unless you've been doing a lot of fishing. You keep the Coin, though, so you can go ahead and check out his wares. Anyway, put Nina in your party and go back to Wyndia. Everything's basically the same here, except in the upper part of town you learn that the word is out that Nina was kidnapped. Put Nina in the lead of your party and talk to the guard at the castle. He'll let you in. The party has a banquet with the king (check out the animation on Garr eating donuts!!), after which Ryu, Momo, Garr, and Peco set off to the east, leaving Nina in the castle. Hit the Circle button to advance the scene after all the dialogue is done. You're now controlling Nina. Explore the castle and loot all the cupboards. Be sure to talk to the maid standing near the broken plate and Queen Sheila, and collect another Coin from one of the cabinets in Sheila's room. Then go down to the wine cellar in the basement. Rotate the camera until you find Honey hiding. Talk to her and she'll run off. Go back up to Nina's room and take the left path out to the roof. Honey will be there; Nina will chase her and fall off the bridge. Honey levitates her down, but then ceases to function. Cut to the campsite. Nina arrives with Honey, who's out of chrysm energy. She then rejoins your party. Head to the Checkpoint northeast from the Coffee Shop (or just due east from Wyndia). Enter and Garr will automatically get you past the checkpoint, allowing you to reach the really spiffy-looking bridge. After a brief scene, you'll be in the Rhapala Region. Descend the cliff you're on and head north. Enter the small house area. Grab the Life Shard inside the house, then descend the stairs behind it and collect the Thunder Gene. Then leave. Now head to the lower-left corner, near the southern fishing spot. On the beach north of the fishing spot is a ? area. Here, you'll meet Giotto the fishman. Talk to him and choose the top option. If you've scored enough points fishing, you'll get him as a Master. If not, he won't help you until you do so. If you want to go fishing, there's a fishing spot to the west of the house, and another one near Giotto's beach, but your next destination is the town of Rhapala to the southeast. Turn up the volume so you can listen to the really cool music here (actually, almost all the music in this game is really cool music). Head to the weapon shop and buy new gear. Don't sell any of Ryu's old equipment; you'll need it in a moment. The item shop also sells better fishing bait, should you be interested. There's also another clinic; don't waste your money on that rip-off. Go to the inn and take the stairs down into a bar. Talk to Sinkar, the guildmaster. He'll send you to talk to his daughter, Shardis. Leave the bar and go north to the wharf. Find Shardis and Beyd on the right-hand side and talk to them. After Shardis runs off, return to the entrance of the docks and talk to her again. She'll send you back to talk to her father. Go back into the town proper, go to the bar, and talk to Sinkar again. He'll tell you that you can't take the road either as it has been closed by the volcano. You automatically return to camp, where Nina decides to talk to Beyd. Go to the Wharf (you can get there directly from the map). Talk to Beyd and Nina will tell him to propose to Shardis. After he runs off, go back to where he normally is and talk to him again. He'll ask you to train him so that he can enter the lighthouse and defeat the monsters, then fork over 1000 zenny. Tell him you don't have any equipment, and he'll give you some more zenny. De-equip Ryu of his weapon and armor and go talk to Beyd. Tell him you're ready and you'll go to the town square. Give him Ryu's equipment -- don't worry, he'll return the favor later. Talk to Beyd and ask him to explain how the training works -- this is a really cool concept, I might add. Put Nina and Peco in your party, then strip off all your armor so Beyd can do more damage. Give Nina the Backhand skill you got from Durandal (you did get it, didn't you?). Talk to Beyd and choose to begin training. Nina should use Backhand and the others attack. When Beyd defends, have Nina keep hitting him with Backhand. It won't do any damage, but it will count as a blocked attack, thus boosting Beyd's defense. With 2 rounds to go, have Ryu cast Accession with the Thunder and Defender genes, then use Thunder Claw on Zig. After 20 rounds are up, or you knock out Beyd, he will report the results of the training, and then you'll be back on the map, all healed up. Go back to the Wharfs, talk to Beyd again, and do another round of training. After two rounds of training, go talk to Beyd at the Wharfs and choose "To the lighthouse!" Zig will challenge Beyd to a duel. You'll go to the town square, and then the fight will begin. Don't do anything (or you'll automatically lose), just defend. However, when Zig's head is turning back and forth to look at Shardis (it's really obvious when it happens), cast Rejuvenate on Beyd to heal him, or Protect if he's healthy. If Beyd loses, it's no big deal. Just do another round or two of training, then try again. The key is to raise Beyd's defense; if you do this, he'll win easily. Eventually, you'll get Beyd strong enough that he can beat Zig. There will be a bit of dialogue, then you're back on the map. Go to the Wharfs and talk to Beyd. He broke his arm in the fight with Zig, so he asks you to go to the lighthouse instead. Open the chests for some equipment -- it's one step up from whatever you gave Beyd. Then go talk to Beyd and he'll give you a Guild Badge. Make sure you're stocked up on Vitamins and Ammonia; you'll need them. I recommend that you put Peco and Momo in the party and use a Regular formation with Ryu in first position, Peco second, and Momo third. When you're ready to go, take the northwest exit from the Wharfs to the Lighthouse. Head all the way up the stairs to a chest with a Coin. Note that you can learn the skill Air Raid from the Bombers; it's pretty good and certainly worth learning. After getting the Coin, go down a level and go right. Follow the path to the lighthouse door, being sure to pick up the two hidden items along the way -- a Mithril Shield and a Swallow Eye. Keep the Swallow Eye; don't use it. Inside the Lighthouse, go right and down the stairs. Explore and throw the two blue levers. There's also another hidden chest near the middle (as always, rotate the camera to see it) with the Dream Ring. Take the exit in the lower-left corner to go outside the Lighthouse. Open the three chests for Flame Chrysm, then go back inside. Take the other nearby door to go into the control room. Put a Flame Chrysm inside the hatch with an arrow painted on it. Then go pull the lever. A control panel will come up showing the pressure in the lighthouse (aren't there just so many cool ideas in this game?). Wait through the first three passes, then hit the button when the pressure is at the top of the screen. If you did it right, the chrysm will start pumping through the tubes. If not, go put another Flame Chrysm in the chute and try again. (Should you run out of Flame Chrysm, go back to town and buy a bunch more, then return). You've already directed the chrysm by pulling the earlier levers, so return to the main door of the lighthouse and head up and west. You'll spot a small green lizard. Heal up your characters. Your AP has probably been mostly drained away by the Spectres, but if you have any RainbowTrout, use one (or more, if you've got a load) on Ryu, so that he has at least 4 AP. Then continue up the stairs. A huge -- and very cool-looking eyeball -- will come bouncing down the stairs and the lizard will catch it. Then you have to fight a boss. The Gazer is the toughest boss you've fought so far. Have Ryu cast Shield on his first turn, then transform into a dragon if he has any more AP left (unlikely). Use physical attacks against the Gazer, but *don't* use Jump or Air Strike; they won't work. If you have a bunch of attack items (like Napalm), those are also effective. Have your fastest character (probably Ryu) use Vitamins to heal. The Gazer has two main attacks: a bouncing attack that does about 20 damage to the party and an Eye Beam that does around 60 damage to one character (ouch). It's important to keep all your characters alive; if somebody goes down, have the *slowest* character use an Ammonia on the dead fellow. This will insure that the character gets revived after the Gazer has attacked, so they won't get killed again. Then, of course, have the fastest character heal them with a Vitamin on the next round. After defeating the Gazer, you'll get a whopping amount of experience, as you well should. Go up the long flight of stairs to the roof. Collect the Eldritch Dragon Gene from the crystal, then throw the blue lever. The lamp will turn on (nifty effect here), but then a faerie flies down and tries to turn it off. After failing, she throws a Faerie Tiara at you and flies off. The Faerie Tiara activates all those faerie rings you've been seeing all over the map, allowing you entrance into the Faerie Village! %%%THE VOLCANO%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Work your way back out of the Lighthouse to the world map. Go to Rhapala and get healed at the inn, then replenish your item supply. If you couldn't afford some equipment before, get it now. Then leave town and go to any faerie ring (they all lead to the same place). Hit X over it and you'll be warped into the Faerie Village. There's not much here right now -- just the flower circle that teleports you out, one house, and a tiny dock. Later you'll be able to start building up a town here. For now, just go into the house and talk to the faeries. They will ask you to go to the beach and defeat the monster. Your party will automatically change to Ryu, Nina, and Momo. Go down to the beach and choose to wait until night. An ominous fin appears and your party attacks. Afterwards, you discover it was only a dolphin. Nina and Momo leave to get the faeries, and the dolphin starts chewing you out for beating it up... in Australian dialect, no less. You might want to use the option for an English translation (LOL) that pops up after this scene. Nina and Momo return, then the dolphin transforms and you have to fight it. On his first turn (do NOT cast Shield), have Ryu use the Eldritch and Thunder genes to transform. This will give him the Myollnir (sic) spell, which does 200+ (!) damage to the Dolphin. It costs 10 AP each shot, not to mention the AP you lose each turn from being transformed, so you'll only get a few shots in. After Ryu returns to human form, cast Shield (if you have the AP), then have him use regular attacks. Meanwhile, Nina should be casting Iceblast, and Momo should use regular attacks and heal with magic. Like the Gazer, the Dolphin is immune to aerial attacks. The Dolphin does have a powerful (and cool-looking) Tsunami spell, so keep your HP up. With the Myollnir damage, though, he shouldn't be too much of a problem. After the battle, go back to the house and talk to the faeries. They'll take you for getting rid of the dolphin. Leave the faerie village (use the circle of flowers you came in through) and return to Rhapala. Talk to Beyd, then to Sinkar. Sinkar will give you a letter that allows you to enter the volcano. Leave town and go up on the cliffs to the east to find the volcano. Enter and take the Protein in the chest to the right. If you go straight, you'll come to a temple in which is a plaque you can't read (not yet, at least). What you want is the path just to the east of the temple door. Take this path all the way up the stairs until you reach a cave. Enter. The enemies in here are fire-based, so don't use fire spells on them. Ice spells, of course, do a lot of damage. As for the Cinders, just run from them -- you can't hurt them with weapons. You can learn the Burn skill from the Lava Men, but it's pretty crummy. Blind, which you can learn from the Lizards, is a bit better, but certainly not essential. Also, be careful not to step in the lava or the air vents when you can avoid it -- the lava does massive damage to your lead character and the air vents damage the whole party. When you do have to walk across lava, put the character with the most HP in the lead. Head east and enter the first cave you come to. Walk around the edge of the room here to avoid the lava and open the chest for AsbestosArmr, which reduces all fire damage to 0. Equip it somebody that can use it, preferably somebody other than Ryu, then leave the room. To the north is a chest with 800 zenny, but you have to walk across some lava to get it. You can get it if you want. Head south and enter the next cave. Here, ascend to the top level. The yellow gas vents will confuse your characters if you touch them. This isn't that bad, but try to avoid it if possible. Head down all the ramps until you reach a chest with the fire-absorbing (you *gain* HP from fire damage) Ring of Fire. Equip it on Ryu (unless Ryu has the AsbestosArmr, in which case give it to somebody else). Now two of your characters are protecting from fire. Jump down, then work your way back up the ladders until you get to the next cave entrance. Go through to a lava-filled room. Go down until you get to a chest. Open it, then head north and circle around the top of the room. Descend to the lower level. Hug the west wall and circle around the lava to another Gene crystal, containing the Miracle Gene, which isn't. All it does is turn the whole party into a giant Behemoth dragon, which isn't nearly as useful as it sounds. Then run southeast through the lava to get to a chest with the Flame Talons for Peco. Don't equip them now; they do fire damage and you don't want that in here. I strongly recommend that you now return to Rhapala to get healed up and save. Also, now that you have the Ring of Fire, you can do a cool experience-gaining trick. Equip Nina with the Ring of Fire and Ryu with the Asbestos Armor, and have somebody learn Burn from the Lava Men. Then go fight a Vulcan. Cast Burn on it and it will come to life and start casting Lavaburst on you (a good skill which you can learn) -- but casting Burn on it also more than quadruples the experience you get from it. Now have Nina use an ice spell on it, then finish it off. You'll get 900 experience (divided among your party members for 300 each) for each one you kill, and they sometimes drop Magma Armor, fire-absorbing armor. Be sure to equip it if you get it. Continuing on, return to the volcano and go straight through, without detouring for chests. With the AsbestosArmr and Ring of Fire, you shouldn't take too much damage this time through anyway. In the lower-right hand corner of the third room, you'll reach a narrow bridge. Heal up, then try to cross it. An old man will appear, say "Hee hee hee" a lot, and then summon two monsters, Scylla and Charybdis. Ryu should cast Shield, then use Accession with the Frost and Eldritch Genes. This will give him the Blizzard spell, which will do about 160 damage to both monsters, and lesser damage to the old man. Have him use this until he runs out of AP and reverts to human form, then just attack. All your other characters should attack as well, except have Nina (if you're using her) cast Iceblast. Concentrate on attacking one monster until dies, then attack the other. The old man will keep healing the monsters, but only for 60 HP a turn -- as long as you do more than 60 damage every round (and you should), you'll kill them eventually. He'll eventually run out of AP anyway. When both monsters are dead, attack the old man -- he can't hurt you. With the AsbestosArmr and Ring of Fire absorbing most of the damage, this isn't that hard a fight. After defeating the old man, continue across the bridge. Go through the door, descend the stairs, and exit the volcano. %%%ANGEL TOWER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% You'll emerge from the volcano in the Urkan Region. First, camp to heal and save. While you're at, also equip Peco with the Flame Talons you got in the volcano. If you want to go fishing, there's a fishing spot to the southeast -- you can catch Manillo there. Go to the north part of the Urkan Region and enter Junk Town. You can't do much of anything here right now except go shopping, and most of the equipment is way out of your price range. However, pick up the Shotgun Shell for Momo, then hit the road. Your next real destination is the really cool-looking town of Urkan Tapa, to the south. Be sure to bring Garr along. Urkan Tapa is a huge place, but there's not actually a whole lot there. Directly ahead of you when you enter is the shop, where you can buy new armor and weapons for Ryu and Garr. Before you buy any equipment, make sure you have at least 50 Healing Herbs and 50 Vitamins (yes, 50). If you head left from the entrance, the first door you come to is the inn. Then go to the door on the right from where you come in. If you have Durandal's Backhand ability, you can get the priest (Hondara) to join you as a Master -- he's a good master for Nina. If you don't have the ability yet, come back later. Go up the ladder in the room with Hondara. Put Garr in the lead and use him to roll the boulder aside. Go inside and Garr will talk briefly with Patriach Sudama, revealing that he (Garr) is one of the Guardians of Urkan. Now leave town. There will be a brief scene at the camp, then you're back on the map. Save and go to Angel Tower. At Angel Tower, head up the stairs until you see an opening on the right. Go through there, then jump down the tiered ledges. There are two chests to collect this way (you'll have to make several trips), plus the stairs at the lower right. The stairs leading down take you to a room with a woman imprisoned in a barrier; you can't do anything here, so take the up stairs instead. These will take you to the door that leads into the actual tower. Angel Tower is pretty maze-y, just wander around until you get to a big square room with three silver blocks. Put Garr in the lead of the party and use him to push the blocks around to make a path to the stairs (sorry for the vague instructions here). Once you go down those stairs, Garr will ask the third character in the party to leave. Examine all the plaques until you find Garr's. Garr will then Ryu that, as Ryu is a member of the Brood, he has to kill him, and then you fight. Just use Accession and whack him a couple times; it will only take a few hits. After the battle, the same voice that spoke to Ryu way back in the mines at the start of the game calls to him again and tells him that Garr is not his enemy. Ryu vanishes, then the Kaiser Dragon appears and the place starts to collapse. ******************************************************* IV. WALKTHROUGH: ADULTHOOD ******************************************************* Several years later... %%%DAUNA MINE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Ryu awakens once again in Dauna Mine, but now as an adult. This time he's been freed by Garr. Garr asks Ryu to forgive him. Say "Yes". He'll hand over Ryu's old gear, then joins up. You now have Ryu's adult form, which looks different but is statistically the same as kid Ryu, just taller. Make your way back to the screen where you fought Ox at the start of the game. If you up and left, you'll find some chests. Then examine the elevator control panel and choose to go up to B1. On B1, open the chest for the Light Clothes. Their defense is pretty good for a weight of 1, but I wouldn't recommend using them. Then just pop back in the elevator and go down to B2. On B2, enter the first door. You can use the beds to rest, and save your game with the diary. Then head down to reach a mine cart. Use the levers to alter the track so that it leads to the lower-right corner. Put Garr in the lead and give the mine cart a shove. It should end up between the two ledges (if not, push it back and flick the levers to fix the track). Climb up on the cliff to the south and walk across the cart to get to the chest, which contains the powerful Feather Sword for Ryu. Equip it right away. Push the mine cart back to its original starting point, then use the levers to make the track point to the very top (the upper-left corner). Shove the mine cart over there, then follow it. Heal up, throw the lever closest to the mine cart, and push it again. The cart will smash into the big boulder and blow it up. Then a voice starts talking, and you end up fighting another great-looking boss (look at the way the light in its mouth lights up the rest of its body): the Dragon Zombie. The Dragon Zombie is easily the toughest boss so far. Start by having Ryu cast Shield, then have him transform with the Defender and Eldritch genes. Use his heal spells on the Dragon Zombie (the dragon is undead; so heal spells do damage ot it) until he runs out of AP and reverts, then have him attack. Meanwhile, Garr should just be attacking. The Dragon Zombie only has two attacks: one that poisons your party but does no direct damage, and another that takes off about 20 on both of you and confuses you. These are a lot worse than they sound. Don't even try to cure the poisoning; you'll just get poisoned again. As for the confusion, you have no choice but to let it wear off. Use Vitamins to heal (have Ryu use them if he can, as he's faster), and use them whenever you start to get low -- you may get confused and not be able to heal when you really need it. Keep both characters alive; if somebody dies, use Ammonia to bring them back. Near the end of battle, the Dragon Zombie may run out of AP, which means that it can't use Bone Storm anymore. Things get easier here -- although the Dragon Zombie does gain a strong regular attack (it takes off about 40 HP), healing is no problem. The Dragon Zombie has an obscene amount of HP (it took me 25 minutes to kill), so hopefully you have a big Vitamin supply. When you defeat it, you'll receive the Shadow and Fusion Genes. Don't use the Fusion Gene right now; it requires three people to work. See the Fusions list under Abilities for more info. Cure your poisoning and run back to the room with the beds to restore your HP and AP. Then go through the door previously blocked by the huge rock. Head south and enter the first door you come to. Look around in this cave for some chests, especially the Lion's Belt. Then continue south in the main hall to another door. Go in here and throw the lever until the platform outside is level with the walkway. Cross it and exit the mine. When you get outside, the chief miner will talk to you and tell you to come to his office. Talk to the people in the camp to get an idea of how long Ryu's been sleeping (quite a while). You'll also find Mogu and Gary alive and well (good, I didn't want to have killed them). Pop in the chief's office and he'll give you 3000 zenny. If you go back in, you can use the bed to rest, and there's a save diary in the adjacent building. Leave town and you'll automatically camp. Ryu will awake after dreaming of the huge dragon skeleton in the mines, and he and Garr will talk briefly. Then you'll finally get back to the map for some fresh air. %%%SYN CITY 2000%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% There's new overworld music! Actually, I liked the old tune better. You now have a large area to explore around the mines. First, go to the nearby house. Inside, you'll meet up with none other than Emitai! (Note that Emitai's previously toddler daughter has grown up while Ryu was asleep) Talk to Emitai and he'll explain his situation. If you pay him 10,000 zenny, you can get him as a Master. You may not want to (or be able to) do this right now, but keep his location in mind. Also, in his basement is another machine that you can't use yet. For the fishing-inclined, there's two fishing spots in the Dauna Hills region. One is directly south of the mines, but it's not very good. The better one is across the bridge, to the northwest -- you can catch Manillo here. Look around the region for a faerie ring. Use the Faerie Tiara to enter. In the village, examine the message board -- three new faeries have been born. Go up the path and talk to Cadis. She'll give you instructions on how to build the faerie village! This is a really cool SimCity-like bonus game. For more info on it, see the Faerie Village section. For now, set one faerie to hunt, one to clear land, and one as a scholar. You have two options for the scholar -- research jobs or research culture. Choose to reserach jobs. It will take time before you see any results, so leave for now. Head to the southwest from the faerie ring to reach Syn City, which is run by the same crime syndicate that Mayor McNeil and the horse twins work(ed) for. At the moment, there's nothing you can do here but shop. The bum guy will offer to sell you information for 20 zenny a tip; don't pay him. Once you've done your shopping, go southeast from the faerie ring to get to Ogre Road (it's the difficult- to-see path through the forest). The enemies here are (very) souped-up versions of the ones you fought way back in the Cedar Woods. Just head south until you get to a swampy area. Cut the plants with Ryu's sword to pick up some Horseradish. Hang onto it; don't use it. Near the swamp is a ramp leading up onto the cliffs. Follow it to get to a chest with an Hourglass, then jump down and head southeast until you get to the exit. Here you'll encounter the Weretiger. Don't use Accession; just have Ryu cast Shield and then attack, while Garr attacks as well. Use Rejuvenate for healing. The Weretiger will run off when you defeat it, then you can continue south to the exit. You're now back in the Yraall Region, but in the southwest corner (you can see the game's first fishing spot to the north, across the river). You can just walk back north to the Dauna Hills; you don't have to go through the road again. There's no need to do so, however. What you *should* do, however, is stop by the faerie village and see what's up. If some new land has been cleared, switch that faerie into a building to build a second house. Unless you want to stop by the mediocre fishing spot, just continue on to Mt. Levett. This is another pretty sad dungeon. Check out both of the caves for some treasure, then just find your way to the nearby exit. Cross the bridge and you'll find yourself at the good ol' Yraall Road. You can't get any further, so you have to explore the road. Some Wyndian guards are blocking the road, as an investigation of Mayor McNeil's smuggling activities are in progress. Take the north exit from the road. Return to McNeil village. Everyone here (including your old "friend" Loki) is being interrogated by Wyndian troops. It seems Mayor McNeil is finally getting his comeuppance. Go to the inn and talk to the woman outside. She'll talk you to about the man-eating tiger and ask you to go to the Cedar Woods to defeat it. You can stay at the inn for free afterwards. Unfortunately, the weapon and item stores have not seen it fit to upgrade their wares and are still selling junk from the beginning of the game. Leave McNeil and enter the Cedar Woods from the east side. If Ryu or Garr is apprenticed to Bunyan, drop by him to collect your abilities. Then go up to the burnt cabin. As you ascend the trail to it, Ryu will ask Garr to stay behind, and Garr does so. Keep going up the path until you bump into.... Rei! Rei won't join the party just yet, however, and runs off to the village. Rejoin Garr, leave the woods, and return to McNeil. In McNeil, you'll find everyone clustered around a wounded Loki. Somebody says that Rei ran off to McNeil manor's, so go there. At the manor, you'll bump into a Wyndian patrol leading a captive Mayor McNeil away. The patrol is led by none other than... Nina! Or at least, a really stupid-looking adult version of Nina Nina will rejoin your party, no questions asked, and then it's off to Syn City. Back at Syn City, you'll find that everybody has been murdered by Rei. Head across the drawbridge and enter the building at the very end. Talk to the guys there and they'll say the boss ran off to the checkpoint. Grab the chest for an Old Painting, then leave. Before you go to the checkpoint, make sure to get healed up and *save*. Pay another visit to the faerie village as well and see what's up. Switch your scholar to another hunter so you can increase your population (Note: I'm not going to mention visiting the faerie village anymore. Just be sure to visit it regularly and reassign jobs as need be). Also, you may want to have Nina apprenticed to Emitai, as she is good at magic. Go to the checkpoint. Here you'll find Rei and Mikba, the don of Syn City. Mikba transforms into a demon and knocks out Rei. You then have to make a party to fight Mikba. Replace Nina with Garr so that you have Ryu, Garr, and Rei. Use normal formation with Garr in the lead, Ryu second, and Rei in the back. Then hit Triangle to begin the fight. You need to play the first two rounds very carefully. Have Ryu cast Shield, and Garr use an Ammonia on Rei (who begins the battle dead). Since Garr moves after Mikba, Mikba will not get a chance to kill Rei again. Next round. Rei's turn comes up first; choose the Item option, then press up to get the option to equip Rei. Equip him with some better armor and the ThievesKnife if you have it. Then have him use a Vitamin on himself. Ryu should cast Protect on Rei, and Garr should just attack. If all goes well, Rei will heal himself, then automatically transform into the Weretiger, then Ryu casts Protect on him. On the third round, have Ryu use Accession with the following Genes: Shadow, Reverse, Defense. Reversing Shadow gives you holy abilities; use Shining Claw on Mikba for big damage. Meanwhile, Garr and Rei should just attack (you can't control Rei). Mikba is a tough boss because he will use a Reprisal after almost all your attacks -- stay healed, and don't attack if you're low on HP. After you defeat Mikba, Rei will join the party for good! Pick a party, but be sure to include Rei. Go inside the building at the Checkpoint and have Rei unlock the door. Inside you'll find the Deluxe Rod, a better fishing pole. Also, Syn City has mysteriously opened back up again, so if you want to buy stuff, you can go there. Then head back through the moutains again to the Yraall Region. %%%THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Head east past the Yraall Region and Mt. Myrneg (just walk around it) to Eygnock Road. When you arrive at the road, Nina will explain the situation with her father and suggest going to the Plant to solve the problems there. Do so, and work your way back through the maze (most of the conveyors are already set, so it's pretty easy) to the central area. Here you'll bump into Momo and Honey. Momo rejoins the party and tells you where to find Peco. Leave the Lab and go to the nearby Yggdrasil tree. Talk to Peco, and he'll rejoin you. Thankfully, your cute little onion pal has not turned into a lame adult version, and is just as lovable -- and powerful -- as ever. You now have every character for good! Before you go back to the Plant, there's some other stops you should make: - Since you have everybody again, drop by all your Masters to see if you've learned any new abilities. If you've learned more than one new ability, you'll have to talk to the Master several times to get them all. Hopefully, Bunyan will teach Peco the Super Combo spell (assuming you apprenticed Peco to Bunyan like I suggested). This spell is really cool -- you have to match the buttons that appear on the screen quickly to do added hits. It's like PaRappa meets Mario RPG. - If you never got D'lonzo at the Coffee Shop, do so. - Go to the city of Genmel (the place with the arena). Genmel's kind of dying out now that the Contest is gone for good, but you can get the barkeep Fahl as a master. He'll want you to win 30 fights in a row without resting. Just go outside, find a ! spot, and fight 30 rounds against the wimpy enemies, then Fahl will help you. I recommend apprenticed Garr to him. - Take Peco to the faerie pond northwest of the Coffee Shop. Cut through the nearby bushes with Ryu, then have Peco get a running start and headbutt the rock into the pond. If you hit it hard enough, Meryleep the faerie will appear. She wants you to find her Flower Jewel. To get it, go to ? spot west of the Maekyss Gorge (it's the house with the thieves) and have Peco whack the tree. After getting the jewel, take it back to Meryleep to get her as a Master. - Go all the way back to Dauna Mine with Momo and return to the room where you fought the Dragon Zombie. Go up onto the ledge where the Zombie was, and head north through the door into a small room. Use Momo to blow open the boarded up door, and go through. You'll reach a chest with the elusive Coupons, an accessory which reduces the price of items by 20%-30%. You do have to equip them for them to function, however, so don't forget to before you go shopping. - Near the front door of Momo's tower is a Yoda-like robot that will explain some more advanced battle strategies. - There's not much to do back in Wyndia, except for one thing. The hide-and-seek kids are here, now as teenagers. They'll challenge you to another game, but this time they hide all over the world. If you're in a cheating mood, here's where to find them all: o Lang - Use the door on the left side of Wyndia to enter the crypt again. Lang is hiding behind one of the big tombstones. Don't miss the Wisdom Fruit in the chest behind the other one. o Wynn - Behind a house on the left side of Junk Town; you can't get to her just yet (so remember where she is). In the bag next to her is a Tea Cup. o Lee - Hiding under the wall on the far side of the Wyndia / Rhapala Checkpoint. You can't find her yet either. o Bais - Behind a pillar on B3 of the Dauna Mines (in the room with the dragon chrysm). - Return to the Yggdrasil Tree and put Peco in the lead of your party so you can talk to the tree. Give it a Wisdom Fruit and you will get it as a Master. I recommend having Peco apprentice to it (not until he masters Bunyan, though) as your little onion pal could use the AP boost. Peco can also talk to the Yggdrasil north of Mt. Myrneg. Make sure Momo and Peco are in your party before returning to the Plant. When you arrive, Momo will note that something seems wrong. Head around the top until you come to a rockpile. Talk to the guy near the rocks and he'll explain what you have to do. Put Peco in the lead and use his headbutt (press Triangle) to roll the rocks onto the two Xs. Then get a running start at the rocks and hit X just as you come to them. If you do it right, Peco will give the rock a massive headbutt and send it crashing through the greenhouse roof. If not, just get another rock. Should you run out of rocks, walking offscreen and coming back will restore them. After you smash both greenhouses, chrysm smoke will start to come out of the main plant's chimenys. Go down to the main plant and enter. Put Momo in the lead and use her cannon to shoot the furnace. It will blow open and reveal a passage. Go inside and descend the stairs to a dungeon. Head south. Go up the first ladder you come to and search the room for a Skill Ink, then descend again. Continue to a computer room. Have Momo examine the computer marked "1" and she will open the locked doors with a 1. Take the rear exit from the computer room to get to a bedroom where you can rest and save. Return to the entrance and go north. Keep going until you get to a room with another computer terminal. Remember this room's location; we'll call it Room A. Go down the stairs into a room filled with chrysm radiation. You only have a limited amount of time down here -- if you run out, you're kicked out and have to fight some enemies. Quickly run to the upper-right corner and spin the camera until you see a Peco-like critter. Examine it to get the second password. Return to the main computer room and operate the second computer with Momo to unlock the "2" doors. Use the bedroom to heal up, then go back to Room A. Use the terminal there to open a nearby door and go through. Open the hidden chest for some Silver Mail. Backtrack until you come to another door marked "2" and go through. You're now on the upper level of Room A. Take the first door you come to and flick the switch. Then go back out of that room, descend the stairs to the left, and keep going until you get to a room with some paper on the ground (if you go north when you get to the pipe, you'll find a hint for a later puzzle -- if you want to solve the puzzle on your own, get this). You're now in Room B. Read the paper for the third password, then walk up on the nearby pipe. Ascend and search around for a chrysm crystal containing the Force Dragon Gene. After getting it, go back to Room B and ride the escalator up. Head out through the door and open the chest for the Sleep Shells for Momo. Equip them right away. Ride the nearby conveyor to a point near the computer room, where you should then go. Do the routine -- use the third computer to open the "3" doors, rest, save -- then head down the main hall until you get to a door marked "3". Go through and search the room until you find another 3 door. Heal up and go through. You'll have to fight a mutated slug. On the first round, have one of your characters use a fire attack (the items Molotov, Firecracker, and Napalm all qualify). This will destroy the HugeSlug's protective coating, allowing you to do more damage to it. Have Ryu cast Shield to protect yourself from the HugeSlug's brutal attacks. Then have him morph with the Force Gene to get a Warrior-class dragon (I guess... it doesn't look like a dragon). Have him cast Aura on his first turn to boost his attack power, then use regular attacks until he runs out of AP. Momo should attack and use Rejuvenate (if she has it) or items to heal. Don't use Quake, it doesn't do very much damage. Peco should attack, but if he has Super Combo, use it instead -- a 6- or 7-hit combo can do 300+ damage. Later in the battle, the HugeSlug will start casting Quake, but by then it's almost dead. Just be sure to heal. After defeating the HugeSlug, heal up and leave the room. Go up the stairs on the left and read the book for instructions on how to get the next password. The little green things give you the pressure readings. Combined with them and the note you found the pipes, you should be able to figure out what to do. If not (or you're just lazy), the answer is 1-3-2-5-4. Input that code into the last computer in the computer room to open the 4 door. Take the rear exit to the bedroom, which should make use of. Then take the passage in the bedroom to a ladder and ascend to find the 4 door. Go through, cross the pipe, get the Wisdom Ring (it raises your intelligence a LOT -- give it to Momo for now, but later switch it to Nina), and descend the stairs. Here you'll find Director Palet. After explaining his plan (bad guys always explain their plans first), he uses the Yggdrasil sap to turn into a giant mushroom and attacks. Ryu should first cast Shield. Then, if he has the Barrier spell (he may not), have him cast it on Momo, Peco, and then himself. Then use the Flame and Force genes to transform into a Warrior and attack with Aura until you run out of AP. Momo should cast Might on Peco, Ryu, and herself, then attack. Peco should use Super Combo (if he has it), or just attack. Palet has a lot of nasty spells; having Barrier helps a lot. I wouldn't worry too much about healing; just keep attacking -- if you heal, he starts healing too, then you'll never beat him. If Momo doesn't have the Might spell, you may have a tough time with him (fortunately, you saved it nearby) -- you may want to roll up points fighting guys until she gets to level 20 and learns it. After Palet goes down, you'll get a lot of experience. Throw the blue lever to turn the machine off, then make your way back out. Watch out, there's still enemies here. Once you get back above ground, you'll learn that the Plant is closing. There's nothing more to do here, so leave. There will be a brief camp sequence in which Momo decides to come with the party (like you didn't expect that), then you're back on the map. %%%THE JOURNEY EAST%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Return to Wyndia. When you enter, the game will take over and Nina and Rei will go to the castle. They'll talk with the King, who agrees to give them a passport. First, go down to the basement and collect Honey. Then go back up and enter the left tower. Talk to Queen Sheila and she'll yell at Nina for a while. Go back down out of the tower. The screen will fade out, then you'll get the passport. Before you have a chance to leave, Sheila enters and proclaims Rei as one of Ryu's friends. The guards run to grab Rei, and you escape to the basement. Follow Honey down all the stairs on the left (not the ones towards the dungeons) until you get to the locked door in the basement. Rei will open it, then he and Nina will escape through the teleporter to Durandal's shed. Leave the shed area and you'll cut to a brief scene at the campsite. You'll have a chance to change your party; don't do so (leave it at Ryu, Nina, Rei). Back on the map, you'll note that you can no longer enter Wyndia. You can, however, re-enter the castle by going back to Durandal's shed and teleporting at the altar. You can't leave the basement, but you should go to the dungeon. Put Rei in the lead and have him open the first cell to get to a chest containing a Laurel. It's a good helmet for Nina, Peco, or Momo, and doesn't weigh anything. Also in the dungeon, you'll find Mayor McNeil and the Mac brothers from the Contest of Champions. Leave the castle and head east to the checkpoint. With your new passport, you can get through (note that you just walk back across the bridge to leave the Rhapala Region, if you want to). There's no real need to visit Rhapala -- you can talk to Shardis and find out the ship has been lost again, but that's it. Just go to Mt. Zublo (the volcano). The path is clear now, so take the left exit on the walkway and you'll arrive at the Urkan Region. Your first stop here should be Junk Town. You should be able to buy some of the stuff you couldn't buy before (just watch out, it's really heavy). Then put Garr in the party and go to Angel Tower. With Garr in the lead, you can ascend to the top of the tower. A women (Deis) will appear and tell Garr to find Guardian Geist. Leave Angel Tower and go to Urkan Tapa, still with Garr. Talk to the Patriarch and he'll tell you where you can find Geist. Check by the weapon shop; depending on what you bought earlier, you might actually find some upgrades here. Also, if you didn't have Backhand when you first came here, you can get Hondara if you have it now. Take the southeast-most road south, back to the Rhapala Region. Keep going forward until you reach the Tidal Caves, and enter. I recommend you bring Nina or Rei along (or both); their lighting spells are very effective on the aquatic enemies in the caves. (So are the thunder-elemental weapons sold in Junk Town). This place is HUGE. There are a lot of passages going everywhere, many caves to enter, a constantly changing tide. When it's high, you can ride rafts (to ride one raft, you'll have to use Ryu's sword to cut the rope holding the dock up); when it's low, you can get to the lower caves. Just look around for treasure and be sure to get the Thunder Ring (like the Ring of Fire, but for electric attacks). The exit is in the upper-left. Right next to it, you'll find the Gross Dragon Gene (that's "Gross" as in "great", not "disgusting"). After leaving the Tidal Caves, continue to the village of Cliff. Be sure Garr is in your party. There's not much to do at Cliff, but there's an inn and item shop in the topmost house. Geist is in the cave in the far back of town. After you talk to him, he'll want to test Ryu. Go outside and talk to Garr. Go to the inn and save. Make sure Ryu's equipped with the Ring of Fire, then go back in and talk to Geist to challenge him. He'll transform into a huge demon. First, cast Barrier and then Protect on yourself. After that, transform with the Frost, Gross, and Force genes. Attack with Frost Breath until you take out the two torches that keep healing Geist. After you get rid of the torches, use Aura once to raise your attack power. Then attack with Frost Claw until you run out of AP transform back. He'll be almost dead by now; just use regular attacks on him until he kicks the bucket. Don't worry about his attacks; whenever he casts Corona, that will heal you, as you have the Ring of Fire (not too swift, is he?) After you defeat Geist, he transforms back to normal and starts to die. Garr and your other party member run in. Geist tells you that the seal on Deis is free, then dissolves into ashes. Search the ashes for the Beast Spear, a really strong weapon for Garr. On the other hand, it is incredibly heavy, and it drains your HP each round. It's up to you whether you want to use it or not, but I say... go for it! Its sheer attack power makes up for its weight and life draining. Return to Angel Tower (with Garr, of course). Jump your way to the stairs in the lower-right corner. Go down them to the room where Deis is imprisoned. The seal will break. Deis will talk to you briefly (after smacking Garr around ^_^) and then tell you to come to Mt. Zublo. Leave Deis's tomb and go up the stairs to the main door of Angel Tower. Hop down from the ledge on the left and work your way back to the entrance, then leave. Go to the Rhapala side of Mt. Zublo (the road part, not the cave). Enter the shrine at the base and put Ryu in the lead. Examine the wall and Ryu will be sucked through into Deis's chamber. Deis, now in her half-snake form, will tell open Ryu's "eye" and tell him to go to the far north. When she aks you if you like her snake form better, be sure to say yes. After you get warped back out, go back in. Talk to Deis and she'll join as a Master (just say "Yes, ma'am"). Apprentice Ryu to her; he needs the AP boost, and the spells she teaches will be very useful later in the game. Return to Junk Town. Go to the south end of town, where Beyd is talking to a Machine Guild member. After he leaves, follow him out of town. %%%STEEL BEACH%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% In the new section of map you can get to are a number of interesting places. Near the Dock is a fishing spot that features 3 of the best kinds of fish, and on the far west point of land is a massive fishing spot with a whopping 11 different kinds of fish for catch (that's almost half the fish in the game!). Manillo can be found at the latter spot as well. If you've been looking for a good fishing spot, you've found them. On the point of land with the second fishing spot is a small house as well. There, you'll find Bow from BOF2 fishing. He says he's working on some new fishing gear, but isn't quite done. Remember him for later. Inside the house, there's a Swallow Eye in the cupboard, and, more importantly, the ??? Dragon Gene hidden by the curtain. (Yes, ??? is the actual name of the gene). Go to the Dock, where you'll find Beyd. He asks you to find some parts to repair the broken Rhapala ship. Leave and put Momo in the party (if she isn't already), then come back and talk to Beyd with Momo in the lead. You will go down into the ship, where Momo will give you a diagram of the parts she needs. Leave the ship. You'll have to make a new party (as Momo has left), then go back to Junk Town. Talk to the Guildmaster (he's in the building with the weird lettering over the door) and he'll give you permission to go to Steel Beach. Put Garr in your party (you always have to use him, don't you?). I recommend that your third member be Peco. If you use him or Rei, equip Garr with the Thunder Ring. If you use Nina, give her the ring. Go to Steel Beach (it's the cave northwest of the Dock) and enter. The guard will let you by if you have the permission (and you should). At Steel Beach, first head to the upper-right and collect the Mutant gene (yes, I know you just got one, but here's another one). (Have you noticed how many parentheses I've been using lately?). The Mutant gene acts a completely random gene when you use it, but the upside is that it only costs 3 AP. Put Garr in the lead and talk to the Foreman -- he looks like Ox from BOF1. The Foreman will tell you that you have to prove your worth to get into the wrecked freighter, then it's bonus game time! You have to hit X as fast as you can to pull on the rope when the monkey raises the *red* flag. Stop as soon as you hear the whistle. Also, you can't be more than 2 meters ahead of the foreman, so if you get close, slow down. One thing they don't mention in the instructions is that occasionally the monkey will raise BOTH flags -- so you have to both pull. This game's not very difficult; the only trick is to watch the monkey and not pay attention to everything else. After you get the rope down to about 5 meters, you'll pull it in, only to discover that it's a giant fish, and you have to fight it. The Angler is a pain in the rear. It not only can poison and confuse you, but is nearly immune to magic (which is why you want Peco). Since Ryu will do nasty things to your party if he gets confused while a dragon, don't have him transform. Have him attack with Jump instead, as it works great on the Angler. Peco should use Super Combo (if he has it) or attack, and Garr should just attack. The Angler has a thunder spell, which is why you want the Thunder Ring. As usual, don't try to cure poisoning; the Angler will just Poison Breath you agan. After you defeat the Angler, the Foreman will give you permission to enter the wrecked freighter to look for the engine parts. Leave the beach and rest. Put Nina and Rei in your party, and equip Nina with the Thunder Ring and Dream Ring. Set the party to Defense formation. Return to Steel Beach and search around the beach area. You'll find several parts: Part A (in the water), Part B (on one of the scrap piles), and Parts F, G, and H by rotating the camera. Then enter the freighter. In here, you'll find Bolt People, tougher versions of the Nut People from earlier in the game. They have an incredibly high evade rate. Have Nina cast Simoon or Typhoon (if there's more than one) to take them out. Ryu and Rei should attack, but don't expect to hit too often. The generic Bolts use Frost Strike to put you to sleep; that's why you gave Nina the Dream Ring. (You can and should learn Frost Strike from them). On the top level of the freighter are Part D and another Part B -- you'll need to rotate the camera to see one of them. Then descend the ladder to the bottom of the freighter. Search the floor for parts D, G, H, E, and two Cs. You'll have to rotate the camera to see most of them. Also, in the upper-right corner of the floor is a well-hidden chest (it's behind some crates) holding the Robe of Wind. Now use the levers to raise and lower the girders until they are lined up with the crates. Ascend a level and cross the girders to find parts A, C, and F. To get one of the parts, you'll have to lower the furthest girder a level and walk across the lower level of crates. Once you have all the parts, leave Steel Beach and go back to the Dock. Enter the ship and descend to the engine room. You'll be asked to hand over the parts. Give Momo all the parts; she won't want some of them, but giving them to her does no harm. After you've given her all the parts, hit Triangle. Momo will fix up the engine and you'll set sail. Talk to everybody on the ship. When you finish, the Black Ship will appear, but leaves you alone... for now. Then you arrive back in Rhapala. %%%SHISU%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Back at Rhapala, Zig will show up and demand to be allowed to pilot your ship. You then gain control of the ship! The ship takes a bit of getting used to -- you use left and right to turn the ship, up to move forward, and down to back up. Circle activates a temporary speed boost. You can also hit Start while sailing to camp on board the ship. Sail up to the Outer Sea (the dark blue area). When you get there, Zig will ask you if you're sure you want to go there and tell you to talk to the rest of the party. Go around the ship and talk to them all, then go back to Zig. Zig will attempt to sail out into the Outer Sea, but he can't get by the waves. He then tells you about the Legendary Mariner, and suggests you go to Parch to find out about it. Back in control of the ship, sail northwest from Rhapala to get to Parch (the small village on the shore, surrounded by cliffs) and hit X to enter. At Parch, make a beeline for the shop (straight ahead). Here there's a lot of new equipment. Unless you have a lot of money, though, I wouldn't recommend it, as there is another town with even better stuff coming up soon. The item shop also sells better fishing bait, which you might want to take to the fishing spots near Steel Beach. Finally, there's a Coin in the dresser in the back of the building. Go up and talk to the mayor. He's in a bad mood because he's gotten sick of fish. Yes, folks, it's time for that old BOF standby, the cooking sequence. And for this, you're going to need the help of the one, the only... Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken! No, actually, you need to make shisu. It's time to head all the way back to the Maekyss Gorge in Central Wyndia. While you're in Central Wyndia, you can go back into Wyndia (the town) again. The only real reason to do this is to continue the hide- and-seek game. Once you've found all four people (see the section "Veggie Tales: The Sequel" to find out where they are), go talk to them at Wyndia. They'll each become Masters... yes, they're four different masters. Three of them (Bais, Wynn, and Lee) will each teach you a new Formation, and Lang gives you an item. Bais is the most important; as his Chain Form is the best formation in the game. Just put a fast character in the first slot (Rei or Ryu) and everybody gets the same speed. At the Maekyss Gorge, head down under the bridge (where you found the Frost Gene) and go in the house. Talk to the frog's wife and she'll tell you how to make shisu -- you need mackerel, shaly seeds, vinegar, and horseradish. You should already have the horseradish (from Ogre Pass). The Shaly Seeds are easy to get; just put Peco in the party and have him headbutt the tree behind the cabin. Keep doing this until you have 99 shalys. To get the Mackerel, head to the fishing spot that has appeared near the bridge (it doesn't appear until you've asked where to find the mackerel). Just catch a mackerel (they're the fish in the deep water) and that's that. Frog-type bait works best. The final ingredient, and the one that requires the most work, is the vinegar. Put Garr in your party and go to the Coffee Shop east of Wyndia. Talk to the wellkeeper with Garr in the lead and he'll explain what to do... except his directions are totally wrong. Ignore what he says; here's what you're REALLY supposed to do: Press Triangle rapidly until you hear a splashing sound. Keep track of the number of times you press, and be sure to release the button fully before you tap again, or the game might count it as only one tap and throw off your count. After you hear the splash, alternate left and right on the control pad until the splashing sounds STOP. Then press X rapidly, the same number of times you hit Triangle. Wait a moment, and then you'll win. The wellkeeper will give you some Vinegar. Note that if you want more Vinegar (you can use it to cure your status), you can talk to the wellkeeper and play the game again. You may want to do this twice to make sure you have enough vinegar. Take all the ingredients back to the house at the Maekyss Gorge and talk to the woman. She'll explain how to make the shisu. You now have to return to Parch to actually make the shisu (this threw me at first, too). But before you do, there's something else you can do, while we're on the cooking theme. Use the transporter in Durandal's hut to warp into Wyndia Castle, then go up and talk to Hachio the cat chef (as seen in BOF2). You can get him as a Master if you bring him four ingredients: Beef Jerky, a Swallow Eye, an Angler, and a Martian Squid. o Beef Jerky you get by killing certain enemies; you're probably carrying some (you can also buy them at the Handyman Shop in Faerie Village) o You may or may not have a Swallow Eye (I told you to keep one earlier); if not, just come back when you get one. o The Angler is a fish you can catch. It's found in fishing spots in the Urkan Region. o The Martian Squid is also a "fish"; you can catch them at the fishing spot near Mt. Myrneg. Use worms to catch them. Back at Parch, go into the mayor's house and talk to the old guy in the front room to begin the cooking sequence. Yes, it's time for another bonus game. On the list of items, select your Mackerel. Then add Shaly Seeds until the ball of seeds is a little bigger than the piece of mackerel. Count how many seeds you add, then divide than by 4 and add that much vinegar. Then add all three horseradishes. Obviously, your recipe is going to vary based on how big your mackerel was, but in my game I had: Mackerel: 58 cm. Shaly Seeds: 17 Vinegar: 4 Horseradish: 3 Once you've added all four ingredients, click on Knead (Knd) once or twice. Then hit end and Ryu will give the shisu to the mayor. He'll eat it and decide he likes fish again (assuming you did everything right). He then gives you a Sea Chart and tells you to go the rocks to the east. Before you leave, talk to the old guy again and he'll give you a prize based on how good your shisu was: Shaman's Ring (best) Lacquer Armor Barbarossa Sage's Frock Wisdom Fruit Wisdom Seed Ammonia (worst) %%%THE BLACK SHIP%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Before you continue, I strongly recommend that you go back and chat with all your Masters to collect any new abilities. You won't be seeing them for a while, so you'll want to get as much as you can now. Take your ship over to the point where Bow's house is. Sail between the two rocks there and a ? will pop up. Enter. It's time for another bonus game. (What's with all these bonus games all in a row?). Here, you have to race to the Legendary Mariner's house before the tides sweep you away. Don't go to the house, though. First, there's three chests sitting around you'll want to pick up. You only have time to pick up one chest per run, but that's okay. The first and easiest chest is up and to the right from where you start. Just get up next to it, point the nose of your ship at it, and hit X to open it -- it has a Heavy Dagger. Let time run out, then enter again and go for the chest in the loop at the far top. This is the hardest to get; use your turbos, but don't let your engine power run down to nothing or you'll freeze for a moment. Adjust your sailing angle and keep moving at the normal speed when you're not using turbos, and keep tapping the turbo button for short bursts of speed. Don't forget, the point of your ship has to be bumping again the chest to open it. When you do finally get it, you'll find Blizzard Mail inside. To get to the third and final chest, head up the left fork from your starting point. Turn left and head south past the Legendary Mariner's house to the chest, which contains the Ice Shield. If you got the second chest, you should be able to get this one. After getting all three chests (or giving up ^_^), go to the Legendary Mariner's house on your next run. The Legendary Mariner, Kukuys, and his parrot Duan will greet you. Kukuys, however, tells you that he's not really the Legendary Mariner and isn't even a sailor. He just stowed away on... the Black Ship. Yes, folks, it's time for the obligatory ghost ship dungeon. You'll automatically return to your ship. Momo will try to use her cannon to stop the Black Ship, but winds up nearly sinking your ship. Zig asks you to (once again) talk to the rest of your party. Go up on desk and talk to Momo, then go back and talk to Zig again. You decide to ram the Black Ship, and it's time for (wait for it)... another bonus game! This time around, you're trying to ram the Black Ship. It's really easy. Just sail around the Middle Sea until you find the Black Ship, then use your turbo and ram it from behind (the lower side). Just keep trying 'til you hit it. You now need to create a party to board the ship. You'll need to use Momo; as for the other character, you can choose anybody besides Nina (you don't want two magic-users), but I recommend Rei as you have to fight the same annoying Bolt people on board. Use Momo's Quake to take them out. Be sure to equip the gear you found in the reefs outside Kukuys's house, and give the Momo the Dream Ring. If you need healing or you want to save, just go back inside the ship and use the diary. On board the Black Ship, enter the door on the left (the only place you can go) and go forward until you get to a room with a moving platform. Look at the computer and choose to run program 5. Board the platform. Get on and off at each stop until it goes up the chute in the back. Look at the computer near the door to find the ID Card, then return to the platform. Ride it back down and back to the computer. This time, run program 3. It will take you to the middle hole and descend. Look around here for the switch to turn the crane on, then ride the platform back to the starting point. Return to the first door on the inside of the Black Ship -- the crane room. Use the control panel to operate the crane. Hold X to move the crane to the right and line up the red Xs with one of the gray crates, then release. Hold X to move the crane vertically over the crate, then release it again. The crane will pick the crate up and move it over to make part of a bridge. Repeat for the other two crates to make the whole bridge. Then pick up the fourth crate, and the crane will drop it, allowing you to get an item. Leave the room, and repeat this, but pick up a different crate as the fourth crate to get a different item. Repeat this until you've opened all four crates. Cross the crate bridge and go through the small room. Cross the crates to find a chest with the Flash Shells for Momo (blinds enemies), then go up the stairs. Flip the blue lever to make a bridge back to the entrance. Should you need to go back to your ship to get healed, do so. Then go up the stairs. Take the door in the lower-left and open the chest at the end of the passage for Skill Ink. Leave that room, go all the way down the hall, and up the stairs. Put your ID Card in the panel to activate the elevator. After riding the elevator up, go up the next set of stairs to the control room. Put Momo in the lead and have her examine the control panel. She'll start the ship and send you down to check on the Boost Counter. Go back down the elevator to the hall with lots of door. Take the upper-right one and examine the Boost Counter. Note the number that's on it. A ticking sound will start. Each tick is adding one to the number that you saw -- keep track of the number! Go back up to the bridge and stand next to Momo, but don't talk to her. Count the ticks until the number hits 99, then talk to Momo just before the next tick. If you did it right, the ship will start. I think the game's pretty lenient here. After the ship starts, sit back and watch the scenes, and listen to the cool music. After a while, an alarm will start to sound. Go up to the bridge (you can stop in Nina and Momo's room and check the cabinet for an Ammonia) and Momo will explain the problem. You'll then have to make a party. Put Momo and Peco in your party, then go down to the hall that had the Skill Ink. The door is now open, so go through. Head to the lower-right corner of this room and go through the door to the south. Open the chest for Ivory Dice. Now loop around in the previous room until you get to the ladder. Go up and ascend the stairs on the right. Loop around the outside of this room to get to a chest with