_FINAL FANTASY_ (insert ASCII artwork here) Just another walkthrough by
Cecil(faramir@netreach.net)


Okay, right off the bat: We all know this is a very old game, but I'm
killing time and I know the damn thing by heart, so put two and two
together(Two plus two equals walkthrough, BTW). Also, I'm sure there
-are- people who need help with this; not all of the clues are really
blatant. And if you're used to RPGs like Final Fantasy 7, this is a
challenge. Okay, 'nuff of that. Let's start the fun.


As soon as you hit "New Game", you pick your team. Feel free to pick
whatever team suits you, but the easiest lineup is something like
[FIGHTER]/[BLACK MAGE]/ [WHITE MAGE]/[THEIF, BLACK BELT, RED MAGE,
FIGHTER]; You should probably use Thief or Black Belt. Theives can't
actually steal, but they're pretty good fighters, and decent people for
running. When they get upgraded to Ninja status, they can make good use
of most of your fighter's hand-me-downs. Black Belts suck until they get
themselves off their feet. By level fifteen or so, he should be able to
fight without a weapon. This saves a bit of money in the long run, 'cos
they can't use much armor anyway. A Red Mage causes you to repurchase
expensive magic spells -and- a decent amount of weapons. A second
fighter will make you earn a lot more money, 'cos you need to buy all
the most expensive crap TWICE. However, you have quite a physical
fighting force. Again, pick whichever suits you. If you have a black
belt, however, I suggest you see if he's more powerful without a weapon
every few levels. Check his status with the weapon equipped(look at
damage, hit%), then unequip the weapon and check it again. Use
whichever's higher. Okay, now that your team is all set, you're just
itchin' for action. If you just see something in the middle of a town,
don't panic. That's supposed to happen. That reddish thing(I'm assuming
you have a fighter at the top) is your head character. It's best to
stick your most powerful physical team member up at the lead. It just
is. Hit Select if you need to switch the order. Just walk into the big
castle. Once you're in, walk around and talk to everybody. If you can't
walk any further for no apparent reason, relax; you've probably found
the invisible man. After you're done downstairs, head to the upper floor
and do the same thing. You'll soon find out that (get this), the
princess has been kidnapped(All the evil villains do this, and the
princesses that they nab aren't even good looking...I just don't get
it.). Just head into town. Talk to everyone. (From now on, when you
enter a town, it's common-practice to talk to everyone and everything).
Hell, talk to the well if you feel the need; it's fun! Next, head on to
the weapons shop. A rapier for any fighters, theives, or red mages,
wooden nunchucks for a black belt, an iron hammer for any white mages,
and a small knife for any black mages. Armor is pretty simple, too. Some
chain mail for a fighter or Red Mage, wooden armor for theives and black
belts(this is basically what your black belt has for the rest of the
game.), and a cloth for white or black mages. Then, enter the black
magic shop. Buy FIR and LIT spells for your black and red mages. HARM
and CURE for any white mages, while red ones only need CURE. You may or
may not have noticed that by now, you're running a bit lot low on the
green stuff. No problem. Simply go outside and walk through the forest
outside the town. You'll get into combat sooner, and you'll fight larger
packs of imps. Imps are the most common thing around here, and all
you'll be fighting for a bit. Have each red mage, fighter, thief or
black belt hit an imp of their own, while white and black mages should
take a single imp between them. (NOTE: It's a good idea to equip your
weapons and armor at this point.) It'll take a few good levels before a
black mage can topple an imp in one blow. Imps aren't much of a
challenge, but can probably put a dent in some of your people if they
all gang up. Combat tip: do not use your combat spells unless...
A)You're going to use an inn soon. B)You're going to die soon. C)You're
about to fight something big and nasty. Best to use up all your magic
before using an inn. You'll get more for your money, and believe me; in
this game, you'll need every single G you can get your claws on. If you
come across a mad pony at this point, attack it. It gives about as much
as four or five imps do. Remember: don't attack something with multiple
people if you think it will drop on the first hit; even if the target is
dead, your characters will take a swing anyway. You can't forget about
strategy. Strategy is everything. Remember how much damage each enemy
has taken so far, and remember roughly the amount it takes to kill them.
A good player wouldn't need a strategy guide for enemy data. Also, you
should try to remember how much gold/exp. some enemies give. You
wouldn't want to run away from something that's filled to the brim with
gold, nor fight something incredibly tough for a few stinking experience
points. Meanwhile, you're fighting imps. It's getting slightly boring,
isn't it? I sure hope not. Fighting imps doesn't get old until you've
sat down and fought them enough to get to level ten. So how long do you
keep this up? Until you've purchased all of the above supplies and are
at least level 2 or 3. Don't get impatient. That's what they want you to
do, and that will make the game hard for you. Once you're done battling
imps, it's time to put that exp. to use. You'll remember that you have
to save some princess. This won't take long. Stock up on some heal
potion (five should do), a tent, and then stay at the Inn. Walk outside
the town and head north. Just keep walking until you find a big grayish
thing. This is the Temple of Fiends. Kinda' unfriendly sounding, don't
you think? Once you walk inside, head leftwards. Make sure not to use
any of your magic in the random battles; you need to conserve it. Enter
the room and open the treasure box to get a Cap, which is a helmet.
Check the status of your team members, and give this to the person with
the lowest Absorb or Evade% via the trade command. Make sure to equip
it. From here, head north, and enter the room. Two chests are there - a
cabin and heal potion. Don't bother with the other two corners; those
rooms are locked. Instead, walk all the way down and then right until
you've reached the entrance again. Walk straight up into the room.
Inside are two people and a handful of bats. The closer of the two
people is Garland, the nogoodnik that kidnapped the princess. And the
further is the princess herself. Use some potion to refill your life, or
if you're really feeling the pain, go outside and use that tent. Just
talk to Garland. Sure enough, Garland is ready to solve it with
violence. And in case you haven't guessed by now, your party members are
these light warriors that everyone's talking about. Feel free to
underestimate Garland. He has about 100 hp and can only really hurt
White or Black mages, and unless you're extremely unlucky, it should
take two or three hits. Have your physical fighters fight. Just have any
Black mages cast FIRE. Red Mages should either use FIRE or CURE. White
mages should cure people(duh). Garland should be down for the count by
the end of the second round. As a prize for defeating Garland, you get
250 G and a measly 35 exp.(assuming nobody's dead, of course.). Now talk
to the princess. She thanks you(what a reward) and you are teleported
back to Corneria castle(Actually, I think you just walk back with the
princess, but they didn't feel like showing that part.). Talk to the
princess to get a LUTE. Joy! Like you'd need something like THAT in an
rpg(Or would you?). Thankfully, the king isn't so much of an asshole.
He, in fact, builds a bridge for you; however, a little more is
revealed. You should know by now that your goal is to make the elusive
ORBS shine again. You'll learn more about this soon. Try talking to the
people again, now that you've done something. Save your game at the inn
if you feel the need, too. Now, you're really going to start your quest.
Head outside. Right away, you should notice the bridge in the space
where there used to be only water. This is that bridge that the king had
built. This allows you access to the next continent. When you step on
the bridge, a special scene comes up. You are told a bit more of the
story, and the bridge theme(guess where it got THAT name from) is cued.
Now you're going to have to fight stronger things on a regular basis.
And if you come across ogres at this point, be careful. These guys have
as many hp as garland, higher attack power, and can double team you.
Again, strategy is your friend. Anyway, head north until you hit a cave.
When you walk in, talk to one of the walking brooms. "TCELES B HSUP" is
"PUSH B SELECT" backwards. This is spell lets you see a map of the world
when you're outside. Neat, eh? Now loot the place and talk to Matoya.
She just whines about her CRYSTAL. She's blind as a bat without it, and
some jerk stole it. And guess what, you get to find it. Now that you're
done there, you should just head south and east until you come across
the town of Provoka. By this time, you should be level four, and you
should also hope you have a lot of dough. Upon entering the town, you
will find that something's horribly wrong; pirates(arr!). And of course,
you're expected to fight them. They guys are about as tough as imps(even
less, actually), and even though there's nine of them, it's no big
whoop. However, you get 350 gold and 90 exp.(if you had a single
casualty in that fight, I feel very, VERY sorry for you. I really do.),
which is quite a bit for barely lifting a finger. And what's more is
that the Cap'n becomes a peaceful fella' and hands over his ship. Which
means you've got yourself a better means of transportation, and you'll
learn to love that boat. Now it's time to use some or all(or more) of
that hard earned green stuff. The weapons shop is your first stop. This
will make earning more money quicker. (Weapons will always be your
highest priority, then work your way down to items.) A short sword for
any fighters, and if you really want to, one for any Red mages. You're
better off just getting a Scimitar for Red Mages and Theives, however.
Hand Axes are a waste of money, and you should have picked up an Iron
Hammer back in Corneria. At the Armor shop, Iron armor and a wooden
shield for your fighter(s), gloves for mages. As for magic, ICE(black)
and INVS(white) should do. Take that boat of yours out of the bay and
along the coast. Just keep heading south until you reach a port. A short
walk south and you'll hit a town. Welcome to Elfland:Land of the High
Prices. You'll shortly find out that you need to save some sleeping
prince. They just don't give you a break, now do they? When you go to
the weapons shop, Iron Nunchucks for a black belt, a large knife for
black mages, sabre for theives and red mages, and a silver sword for
your fighter . This seems all good and nice until you notice the 4,000 G
tag attached to that sword. You'd think I must be joking or something,
right? Well, that sword will take a bit of work to earn now, but you'll
use it for QUITE a while. You'd better start working on that silver
sword now. An area a bit east of the town is packed with ogres and other
such creatures, ripe for the killing. Your best bet is to fight here
until you start getting low on hp, then sailing back to Corneria(almost
a straight line north.) to stay at the Inn. Granted, Elfland does have
an inn, but that is 100 G a stay. You can stay at Corneria's inn about
three times for the same amount, and all it costs is a short overseas
trip. Which do YOU think is the better deal? Get your fighter a few
levels and equip that silver sword, and your fighter's power practically
doubles. This is worth 4,000 G, isn't it? Well, there's more to come. Go
back out in the fields and earn another 3,000 G. I must be pulling your
leg, right? Think again. These elves are real greedy assholes, eh?
You'll need FIR2 and HRM2, pronto. Know why? You're going to fight
things that you probably should be fighting for another few towns and
major chunks of the game. And WHY exactly are you fighting them? Because
you'll start raking in the exp./G. And WHY are we doing this? Because
those damned elves have more magic and armor you need (And the sad part
is that this is one of my favorite parts of the game. Actually, this
always goes faster than you remember.)! Okay, now it's time to sail back
to Provoka. From there, head south and east until the path starts to
lead north. Once you get all the way to the top, walk back and forth
between the two spaces of the tip. Here are advanced enemies(Frost
Wolves, Giants, Trolls, Wyverns, ZomBulls), all of which are packed to
the brim with exp. or G. Make sure to have stayed at the inn in Provoka,
'cos you'll need all the magic. Use FIR2(and HRM2 if fighting Zombulls)
while using physical attacks. Attack one pack of things, win, stay at
the inn(to restore all your magic), repeat process. At first, it's
tricky, but after a while, it gets pretty easy. Keep on doing this until
you're about A)level 10. Or B)Have at least 10,000 G. Now, back to
Elfland. You need LIT2(level 3, black), FAST(level 4, black), ICE2(level
4, black), CUR2(level 3, white), and PURE(level 4, white). FAST is one
of the most important spells in the game-cast it on someone, and they're
about twice as powerful. Armor shop is easy. An Iron shield for any
fighters, a wooden helmet for fighters, theives and red mages. Black
belts, and all mages need a copper bracelet. Get anyone else without
head protection a Cap. Then go to the item shop, and get no less than
500 G's worth of pure potion, and 1,000 G's worth of heal potion- where
you're going next, you're bound to get poisoned a LOT. Now that you're
done buying, it's time for some action. From Elfland, head all the way
west, and then travel along the edge of the mountain(on the left side,
that is) until you reach some marshes. From there, walk south until you
hit the tip of the land. Enter that little hole. Welcome to the Marsh
cave, the local hellhole. If you would like to hurry and get this over
with, head downwards. If you would like to loot for a total of 1612 G,
go up. There's something really disturbing about this place. However,
the enemies are mostly wusses and shouldn't give you much trouble('cept
for the poisoning.). It's just disturbing. By the way, keep an eye out
for SCUM(enemy) - best off running from them. UPPER PATH-This room has
nothing you need, but it does have loot. A Large knife, 1300 G, and
short sword. LOWER PATH- Just follow the trail until it forks. Go down.
Eventually, you'll hit a room with a ladder. Go down it(duh). LOWER
PATH, FIRST ROOM-Go down and right until you find an exit. Nothing worth
getting in this room. LOWER PATH, SECOND ROOM-Enter the room on the
third row from the top, second column from the left. This room contains
the CROWN, which is what you came here for. However, it's guarded by
wizards. These guys are pathetic. Just let LIT2 lose on them, and a
whole pack can be dead in no time. However, they CAN do some serious
damage if they gang up on a single person, so watch out. Okay, now that
you've got that crown, get your ass out of there. If you've got a tent
or something, use it! Now backtrack to Elfland and stay at the inn.
You'll want all of your magic back. Walk all west, and then all north
until you reach a castle. Walk in, and enter the big room that's right
in your way. Now wave to the king. As it turns out, he's really Astos,
the dark elf. He also really wants that crown. You'll just have to kill
him for being so greedy. Cast fast on your best physical fighter, then
just ICE2 the sucker. Make sure to keep high hp, and other then that,
fight, fight, fight. He'll try to RUB one of your people early in the
fight, which is an instant death spell. Hope it doesn't work or just
hope it doesn't get your fighter. As long as someone has FAST on, SLO2
will be useless, and FAST is pointless unless he takes another attack.
You should be able to drop him by the third round. Guess what! You've
got Matoya's crystal back. And from rumors in town, you should know that
she can prepare an herb to wake the prince. So save your game, sail past
the bridge near Corneria, enter the port, and make for her cave. Once
she's got her crystal, she'll give you the herb. So sail BACK to Elfland
castle, and give the prince the herb. You must have seen locked doors by
now, right? Well, the elf prince is so ecstatic that he'll give you that
mystical key. Time to go on an unlocking spree. First walk along the
left, outside wall of Elfland castle to raid that little treasure room.
Since you're near Elfland, stop by Astos' castle and loot the place.
Falchon might work for red mages, Iron gauntlet for fighters, silver
hammer for white mages. Sell any other crap at the elven weapon/armor
shops. Then make for Corneria castle. Walk to the WAY back room, and
equip the Silver knife on a black mage. Sell the rest of the
weapons/armor. The temple of feinds' two right hand rooms have locked
treasures, as well. Were or Rune swords might be good for thieves and/or
red mages. I don't really recall. If you really feel the need, you can
walk ALL the way back to the bottom floor of the Marsh Cave to get a
silver bracelet(good) and a silver knife(you've already got one). It's
just not worth it, though. Now it's time to put that TNT you found back
in Corneria castle to use. Sail along the western coast of Corneria
until you reach a dock. From here, head southwest. You'll hit a cave in
no time. This is the dwarven cave. Loot the place - that silver armor's
utter crap, and the dragon sword isn't really good against
dragons(neither is ice sword against fire, or rune sword against mages.
They're just fancy names; they don't really change damage depending on
the target.). Iron helmet IS good, however(at least now your fighter is
fully iron armored up, eh?). Okay, now that you've done the usual
talking and looting give your TNT to Nerrik(far back of the cave; if you
haven't, already). Leave the cave and take a short walk back to your
ship. Head south and west along the coast again. There should be a hole
in that land that wasn't there before. This is the canal that Nerrik was
talking about. Sail a bit left...Welcome to the Western Sea! Head a bit
more west, and you'll reach Melmond. Know what? This town's weapon shop
is sportin' crap. Not even worth looking into. Know what else? This town
has no clinic OR items shop. On to White magic. LIFE, CUR3, HRM3 . Your
black mage desperately needs FIR3. If you feel like it, buy BANE. VERY
nearby, there is an area great for earning experience/gold(and you'll
need it for this town); however, I find it easier(for now) to go back to
the area near Provoka. The armor shop holds the Steel Mail. This stuff
is pretty good, for its price, but you're always hurting for good armor.
45 THOUSAND G. However, this does not take very long to earn once you
know where to fight. Also, Silver bracelets for any mages and black
belts. Other than that, you should be good in the armor area now. Okay,
now it's time to see what all this Earth Cave hub-bub is about. Leave
town and walk south westish. Once the path heads perfectly south, then
splits, take the lower route. You might want to save your game(tent)
before going in. Listen to the cool Earth cave music. If you go up,
you'll find 1975 gold. If you go left, you'll reach what is known as
"The Hall of Giants". In the hall of giants, you get attacked at every
step, by giants or their giant sidekicks. This is good for making
money/building exp., 'cos giants hold a lot of G and it also saves time
on walking. If you head down, you will hit a dead-end. If you go
down/right, you'll receive a pure potion, 795 G, 880 G, and a heal
potion. If you go right, you'll reach the stairs(something wrong with
stairs in a cave?) to the next floor. Nab the treasures if you want,
then head for the stairs. This floor has a slightly different look to
it, now doesn't it? If you want the treasures, I don't really give a
damn. Here's a brief explanation of which route to take. Down. up,
down(right), down, right, down, up(right), down(right), down,
down(right), up(right), up. This floor is the one with that vampire on
it. Just snake around to the center. If the reddish plate thing is in
view when you get attacked, you'll notice that it reveals a staircase
beneath. Neat, eh? Shame you can't get down there just yet. If you get
attacked by cocatrices, RUN! They can petrify you as casually as some
creatures poison or blind you. Once you talk to the Vampire, you realize
he sounds so full of himself that he must be so easy to beat. Anyone in
life is like that. Don't even bother with FAST; hit this thing with your
most powerful fire/harm spells, while having anyone else just fight. I
can normally drop him in one round; if my black mage goes first, then in
one turn. He's a wuss. Grab the ruby in the chest behind him, and
backtrack your way to the town of Melmond. A townsman hints about there
being something else causing the rot besides the Vampire. The Vampire
was way too easy, so you'd better believe there's something big and ugly
down that hidden staircase. Well, as you can deduce from townspeople,
this Sadra the sage guy lives past a tunnel. The catch is that there's a
ruby eating titan living in it. You've got a ruby, right? Maybe you can
give him a gift and get passed. Hey, it's worth a try. So exit town, and
just head almost completely left. Once you hit mountains, start going a
bit south. You'll hit another cave. Enter it. See that happy looking
fella'? That's the Titan. Give him a ruby and he seems genuinely happy.
I think the titan goes about his life like a small child does with a
treehouse("This is my club! Only members can get in!"), only he says,
"This is my cave! Only members can get through!" However, he forgets his
sweet-tooth for rubies. You don't really need to worry about the enemies
here; most will give you no trouble at all. In the treasure room, you'll
find some gold, a silver helmet(good for fighters) and a (not so)great
axe, which is worthless. Once on the other side, follow the trail to
Sadra's little cave. You get a nifty rod to remove the plate on the
floor in the Earth Cave. Go back to town and stock up on some
potion(make sure to have some soft, too), stay at the inn, and then go
back to the Earth cave. Hopefully, your black belt is using just his
fists now. While it may seem that his damage has only slightly risen,
he'll get multiple and critical hits more often now. Conserve your
magic; you'll need it for a big battle. Go through the first few floors
like you did before, but once you hit the Vampire's room, go to the back
and use the rod on the plate. Go down the stairs, another maze floor. Go
... left, up, left, down, up(left), left, up, up, left, down, down, up,
up and down the stairs. This is the last floor of the Earth cave. Just
go up, turn to your left, and down the narrow passage. Outside of the
door, heal up. Beyond this door is the cause of the Earth's rot; Lich.
He's the fiend of Earth, and that means once you kill him, you'll have
restored the orb of Earth. This can actually be a tough fight(however; I
have had two round versions of this battle). When you're ready, enter
the room and talk to the ball. You'll notice that when you hit fight,
you don't have to select Lich. Neat, eh? First, FAST your fighter. Then
hit him with all the fire and harm magic you've got. Keep yer HP up,
though. If/when you killed him, walk straight up. That rumbling thing
was an orb lighting up again. Walk the rest of the way up to be whisked
outside of the cave. Return to Melmond; your work here is done. Soon,
the earth will be healthy again, thanks to you. Talk to the townspeople,
crawl in your boat, and prepare to sail nearly across the globe.
However, you won't be able to come back around here so easily, so if you
need any magic still, better get it now. AFIR, AMUT, ALIT, AICE, to name
a few. Okay, from Melmond, track the coast south. Once you pass the tip
of the Earth Cave peninsula, head directly west until you hit a port.
Dock your boat there; head southwestish until you see rivers and a town.
Enter the town, duh. This nice new town is the town of Crescent Lake.
It's interesting how a townsperson says something creative: "LIGHT
WARRIORS, you can do it!" Silver mail is worthless - even Iron mail's
better. The weapons store doesn't hold anything great. Silver helmets,
shields and gauntlets are good for fighters. Bucklers should be good for
theives and red mages. The magic shops have a load of expensive magic.
LIT3, SOFT, and INV2 are all you'll need. Right now you can't learn
EXIT. And remember how you could learn WARP back in Melmond, right?
Well, you've got a bit of work to do before you can actually get able to
use these spells. Walk to the back section of the town, and talk to all
of the twelve sages. They give you a canoe and advice. To use the canoe,
just walk into a river. Make sure you have a LOT of heal potion. Follow
the river up to the Guru Volcano. Walk left and down the staircase. See
that lava all over the floor? Throughout the Volcano, try not to step on
the stuff more than necessary; with every step, each person on your team
loses 1 hp. Oh look, more lava. Joy. There's also a lot of area in those
back rooms, not to mention fights and treasure. Explore if you want to;
there's some pretty good stuff. Most of it's money, but there's some
mediocre armor(sell it) and potion, etc. in there, too. When you're
done, go down the staircase on your far left. As you can see, this floor
splits and goes two ways. Just head right and down the stairs; nothing's
on the other side. This next floor is completely covered in lava. Walk
from little safe spot to little safe spot in the general direction of
southeast. For the next floor, just walk...down, left, down, all left,
down the stairs. You're almost there. Walk along the path, and head left
when the path breaks. This should take you to a dead end treasure room.
The flame shield and the ice sword are two good pieces of equipment for
your fighter. Now walk back to the fork and go down. Keep walking until
another fork, and go down again. Trek on until you go down the
staircase. Hey, this room has eight different branches! That'll take a
while to do everything in, right? Wrong. Take the left branch first.
Enter the room, fight the dragon, get the treasure. The dragon's a wuss,
and will probably go down on the first round. The flame mail's good for
a fighter. Now go back to the middle and take the southwestern branch.
Outside the door, fill up on life with heal potion; past this door is
Kary, the fiend of fire. Yep, already at another fiend. FAST your
fighter, have your white mage or red mage cast AFIR, then INV2. Your
black mage should hit Kary with the most powerful attack spell he's got.
If it's FIR3, use it anyway. Fight shouldn't take very long, but make
sure to keep your HP up. It's not a very tough fight, but if you're not
good in the strategy department, then Kary can pose a threat to your
team. Anyway, once she's outta' the picture, walk up to restore the glow
to the orb of fire. Now that you're out, use a tent or something to save
your game. Canoe back to town, and talk to the man that was sleeping and
the sages again. Also, stock up on heal potion(99). Sail north to a
small bay with a dock. Go straight into the river, and canoe up until
you reach a cave. This icy cave is known as the Ice Cave. Clever name,
ain't it? During your stay, make sure to fill up your hp at the end of
every floor and/or whenever you need it. If you encounter wizards,
fighters, mages, or sorcerers, DO NOT try to run. Kill them as fast as
you can; most can kill you in one hit. Walk through the cave until you
hit the stairs. Once you're down, this floor splits into two paths. It
basically forms a big square. You can go down and left or right and
down. It still takes you to the staircase in roughly the same amount of
steps. Just walk to the other staircase. Walk along the wall until you
reach the door. Loot the room, then jump down a hole. Any hole. Take one
step down, and get in an auto-fight. The ice works just like lava did
back in the Gurgu Volcano. Left treasure room holds a silver gauntlet
and ice mail. Ice mail is good for a fighter, but is just as good as
fire mail. Then take the lower route, at the first fork, head down
again, at the second fork, go left and loot(just money), then leave
right. Search the chest, walk out, enter the room and grab the 10,000 G.
Walk into the other room on the far side of the floor, get the loot from
the chest, and enter the hole. Now, you're a few steps away from that
chest you couldn't reach before. Don't bother walking to it just yet.
Fill up on HP first. You're walking to it and BAM! Attacked by something
called "EYE". This is the badass you need to fight before you get your
chest. Fast up your fighter, and, well, attack. If your fighter gets
fast casted on him before his turn, the fight can be over in one round.
This guy has spells like RUB, XXXX, etc., which can kill you instantly.
Nice guy, eh? If you beat him, walk and grab the chest. What's this?
FLOATER? Seems important, eh? Yeah, it's the legendary floater stone,
which can make anything fly. What use of it do you have? Worry about
that later. Jump down a hole and you'll be in a familiar room. Exit this
one the same way you did before. In the next room, however, do not jump
down the hole in the treasure room. Instead, walk all the way to the
right and take the stairs. Guess what - you're outside! Use a tent or
something, pronto. By now, even a good player will have little or no
heal potion left, and the situation is probably looking pretty sad.
Relax, it's but a short trip back to crescent lake. You'll be there in
no time. Do the usual town stuff(Stock up on supplies, stay at the inn,
etc.), then launch your canoe into the river south of town(the one
adjacent to the mountain). Follow this southward and get off where it
hits land. Disembark and walk into the desert. Small, empty desert;
right? Use your floater stone and sit back. WOW! An airship! COOL! See
that airship? That's -your- airship. Neat, eh? What's even cooler is
that you can use it. Walk on top of it and hit "A". Whee! This thing
goes about twice as fast as the boat, FLIES, and you don't get attacked
in it. Well, time to get off your little airship high and start to use
it. From the temple of fiends, fly north, and pull left when you see
some land again. Park your ship at every island and explore the holes.
You'll find that these dragons are always blabbing about how important
courage is, and it also seems that their king will give you a reward for
proving it. That's where you come in. You'll have to fly a bit northeast
to see this castle. And notice there's no landing spot around it? Oh
poo. There are two basic ways to infiltrate this castle. A)Go back and
land your airship near your boat. Then take your boat back up to the
castle, drop your canoe out into the river, and walk to the castle from
there. B)Find a landing spot(land slightly northwest of the castle works
well) as close to the castle as possible. Once you land, this involves
lots of walking. If you're going by boat, check your map to make sure
you don't get off course(remember, PUSH B SELECT). If you're going by
land, bring a house or two. The first floor is easy; talk to the guy and
sit on the throne. Ah, and now you're taken to what we call "The Pillar
Maze". Walk on to a pillar, and it will teleport you somewhere else. At
the first break, take the bottom one. At the next split, the top one.
Left one. Take a break and grab the Zeus gauntlet from the box..what's
this? A fighter can use it? What the hell kinda' joke is this? Relax,
he'll be able to use it in no time. Now take the pillar third from the
top, and finally, the staircase. This floor is more simplistic. Follow
the path until you reach a chest. Heal staff? What good is this? As a
weapon, worthless. However, use the TRADE command and give it to your
black or white mage. In battle, they can use it from the item command to
cast HEAL on the team. Pretty good for keeping HP high when they'd
normally not do any real damage anyway. Next, you'll find a gold
bracelet(good for mages and black belts), another Ice Sword(good for
theives and red mages in about ten minutes), and an iron gauntlet(good
for black belts in about ten minutes.). In the next patch of chests,
you'll get money and a house. And hey, cool, a ...tail? Yep, this is the
proof of courage, a rat's tail. Nifty, eh? Fill up on hp and try to step
on the throne. Hey, an auto battle. Joy. Zombie Dragon. Don't even
bother with FAST-HRM3/FIR3 should drop him easily. Step on the throne,
and exit out the door. That wasn't so hard, right? Now, not only have
you earned the dragon king's prize, but you have earned the right to
say, "I ain't afraid no ghosts!" Go back to Bahamut and collect your
prize. Hey, your fighter looks a bit more buff...wait a second, that's
no fighter! Hit start. Your fighter is now a knight. Your back belt is
now a master. Your mages all turned into wizards. And your thief turned
into a ninja. You know those spells(WARP, EXIT) that you couldn't learn
before? You can learn them now. And you know that equipment you couldn't
use before? You can probably use that now. Sure, we'll miss those kiddie
looking characters, but these guys are all much better. Hell, your
knight and ninja can use some magic soon. Fly due north of the opening
of the earth cave. When you're overhead of a town, track the river a
little west to a landing spot. Take a short hike into town of Oncrac and
explore. Here, you will find they make such a big deal about having legs
and having this elusive Oxyale. A guy named Kope supposedly saw a robot
plummeting into the north waterfall. Then there's a woman with a
submarine. But to go deep enough to visit the mermaids' sunken shrine,
it needs oxyale. Better go get some, right? The magic shops have nothing
really worthwhile, unless you feel like HEL3. Leave the town and get
back in the ship. Okay, now fly your airship to the northwestern
hemisphere. More specifically, to the mountain town of Gaia. You will
soon find that a pirate(arr!) kidnapped the fairy and sold her. Why do
you care? 'Cos this fairy is the only one that can draw Oxyale. You know
what? It's been quite a while since you've bought new gear. Hey, it's
time to do that here. The weapon shop has one item: a catclaw. This is
good for a black wizard. Now the armor shop. Gold bracelets for anyone
who doesn't have anything else of the sort, and prorings for everybody.
EVERYBODY. I don't give a damn what gauntlet your knight has on already;
it doesn't protect against instant death(in case you didn't get the
message, ProRings protect against instant death attacks[RUB, that thing
sorcerers do, XXX, etc.]). CUR4 is a must, and same for ICE3. As you
recall, the pirate sold the fairie to a caravan(HINT, desert). But not
the south desert-the far, FAR away desert that a pirate wouldn't have
access to. Fly south a bit and east until you reach a small desert with
a patch of green in it. As you walk into the caravan(the little patch of
sand in the little patch of green in the big patch of desert), you'll
find that it's pretty expensive. And guess what else? Nothing much that
you have access to gives good exp. Hey, wait a second, what about that
EYE fella' back in the ice caves? 3,000+ exp. AND gold per fight. You'll
get some levels and some hard dough. And you don't have to worry about
his instant death attacks, courtesy of the ProRing. And having an
airship and EXIT makes him a bit easier to get to. And once you get
there, all you have to do is walk into the spot where he autoattacks
you, kill 'em, and walk off. Neat, eh? You'll get a level-up about every
ten to fifteen fights, and fight maybe one or two random battles per
level. Hell, I've had games where I built levels 25-35 here, and it
didn't take very long. However, this does get boring after a while.
Anyway, once you have gotten that bottle, do not, repeat: _DO NOT_ use
this bottle with the item menu. You will have to go buy the damn thing
all over again. Time to go back to Gaia's spring(back of the town), and
then use the bottle from the item menu. When you exit the menu screen,
you should see a fearie. Talk to the Fearie; she'll give you some
Oxyale. Hey, now you can go visit those mermaids. And why exactly do you
need to do that? 'Cos you CAN. Back to Oncrac with ye. Talk to the woman
in front of the sub; she'll let you use it. Nice, quick sub ride, eh?
First off, if you want about 10,000 G, loot this room. Otherwise, take
the stairs leading up(on the right). This next room is a must loot. Opal
Armor(knight), Light Axe casts HRM2 if used during battle, Mage Staff
isn't a good weapon for black wizards, but it casts FIR2 if used during
battle. Now take the stairs in the bottom right corner. Ah, and now
you're one the mermaid's floor. It's sorta' like a town- no random
battles. Just talk and loot until you're done. Give the opal bracelet to
whomever's got the lowest absorb/evade. Opal guantlet should be dropped
or sold. If you want to, cast EXIT, and sell left over crap at a town.
Otherwise, go to the base floor and head down; save your magic, as well.
You've got the fiend of water to topple. On your way down, you will find
a Ribbon. What good is this, you ask? It basicially protects agianst
ANYTHING that could happen to you(Poison, Petrify, Stun, all that
stuff), AND it has the effect of having AFIR, AICE, ALIT. However, it's
a crappy helmet. Once you reach Kraken's ball, do the usual filling up
of HP. Kraken spews a bit of big talk, and you enter combat. FAST your
fighter, use INV2 or just FADE if you have it, keep your HP high, and
blast Kraken with LIT3 when you can. The fiend of water should go down
on the second round(I find that if I'm clever, most fiends do), and
light up that orb. Now take your airship out to Melmond and talk to Dr.
Unne. Yep, quick as that, you learned a new language. Time to put it to
use. Bring at least 120,000 G with you, too. Just a bit east of the
desert south of Gaia is a little landing spot for your airship. Drop it
there, and start walking to the far off town of Lefein. Talk to
everybody. One will give you a chime, which gives you access to Mirage
tower. You're not done there yet, though. Walk to the top-right corner
of the town. There's a little hole in the wall. Walk in a straight line
right; you will find the "secret" Lefein level 8 magic shops. Needless
to say, but I'm saying it anyway, buy NUKE and LIF2. NUKE is the
ultimate black magic attack, while LIF2 resurrects any light warrior(not
during combat, however) and gives them full life. Good spells. Now
backtrack your way to your airship. Save your game, then land your
airship as close to Mirage Tower as you can. Walk into it(suprised?).
Enter the room, loot it, talk to the robot, and move on to the next
floor. Heal Helemt works just like a heal staff, and is just as
worthless as armor. Agies sheild is good for knights and protects
against being GLANCEd, etc. Thor Hammer is the best hammer in the game,
and if used in battle, casts LIT2. Sun sword is good for a ninja. Dragon
mail is good for a knight. Once you reach the third floor, however, cast
EXIT and go back to your airship. Fly to the river outside of Oncrac and
canoe up the river into the waterfall. Seems like there's a little cave
or something behind that waterfall, eh? Better loot and explore. When
you reach the treasure room in the back, make sure to talk to the robot.
He gives you the cube, which gives you access to the Floating castle.
And who but the fiend of air, Tiamat, lurks here. Conveinent, ain't it?
As for loot...Wizard Staff casts CONF(confusion) during battle.;Ribbon
is mentioned somewhere above; Defense is good for a knight and casts
RUSE when used in battle. Trek to the third floor of Mirage tower. One
step into the room and you'll be attacked by a Blue Dragon. Doesn't
require FAST or anything. Just a few physical attacks. Step into that
thing in the middle of the room. It WILL work now that you have a cube.
You're whisked away to a cool looking tower. Doesn't look very much like
it's floating; more like it's in orbit. The random encounters will be a
lot stronger now, and you will have to make several trips to town to
sell the crap(or just drop it and save time). Bane sword isn't really
good, but if you use it in battle, it casts BANE. Give it to someone
who's not a good physical fighter(black wizard). You'll also find a
black shirt(armor for black wizard - casts ICE2 in battle) and a white
shirt(white wizard's armor - casts INV2 in battle). You'll also find
another ribbon(that makes three), and a katana - good for a ninja.
ProCape is worthless. In one of the treasure boxes, you find ADAMANT,
and the special music plays. Why the fuss? Well, remember back in the
dwarven caves, the weapon smith guy, Smith, said he'd make you a sword,
but alas, his supply of Adamant was nonexistent. If you don't remember,
it's the truth(I SWEAR!). Finish looting that floor(and maybe the one
above), then EXIT. Fly back to the dwarves' cave(north of Astos'
castle), and get that sword! With a name like Xcalibar, it's GOT to be
good. But only a knight can use it. Meanwhile, back at the Floating
Castle...the teleporter to the next floor is to the left. This room has
four branches. If you start to walk in any direction, the floor keeps
repeating itself. The trick to finding the teleporter to the next floor
isn't very tricky; simply walk left two intersections, and then up two.
Or you could go left, left, down, down. Or down, down, left left. You
just need to go two horiztal and two vertical and you'll reach a
teleporter(notice I said "a". If you go left, right, up, down, you'll
wind up back where you started.). And now we find ourself on a thin
floor. This thin stretch is reffered to as "The Bridge of Warmech". Why,
you ask? Because this badass called Warmech(about as tough as fighting
the feind of water and air simultainously) only shows up here. If you
have enough luck(or complete lack thereof), you'll fight him. He gives
so much EXP/G it's not even funny. If you fight him, FAST, NUKE, AFIR,
and keep the HP as high as possible. Keep walking up and then into the
room. Yep, the ball opens and out pops the feind of air. Okay, I don't
know why they made it this way, but spells such as BANE(particularly
BANE) have an effect on him. BANE kills things instantly(poison smoke).
Don't bother with FAST. Cast BANE or just use the bane sword, use
physical attacks, and you should be fine. Wait a second...didn't you
just kill Tiamat? Hey, yeah, all of the orbs are lit, too. What's the
deal here? Better visit the sages at Crescent lake...Time loop? This
does't sound good. Yeah, but haven't got a real choice in the matter.
Stock up on potion(all the pure, soft, and heal you can hold). This is
the final trip - better be well prepared. When you're ready, go to the
temple of Fiends. The SKY WARRIORS give you a bit more insight, and then
you go back in time. The staircase is in the bottom-right corner of the
floor. I think you can find the staircase for this floor on your own.
Now walk around to the center room(door is on the bottom side). You'll
fight the Phantom as soon as you walk in. The two chests hold money. And
your rod won't remove this stone plate. Hmm...maybe that LUTE you've
been cartin' around the whole game might have some use. And sure enough,
it does. The exit for this floor is in the upper-right corner. The exit
to the next floor is also on the upper-right corner. And now you're on
the Earth floor. The exit's at the bottom-right corner. Fight some old
Earth cave enemies, and one step short of the stairs, you'll fight a
souped-up Lich. Try to conserve your magic, though. And now the fire
floor. Gurgo Volcano enemies and a PO'd Kary. Again, conserve magic. The
exit is the staircase you see right next to you when you enter the
floor. Black Shirt should help out some here. And then the water floor.
Use Thor hammer to cast LIT2 during combat; it saves time. The exit's in
the bottom right corner. Then we have the wind floor. If you go to the
very bottom right corner, you'll find the one and only treasure in the
Temple of Feinds 2,000 years ago - the masamune. The most powerful
weapon in the game, and anyone can use it. Nintendo Power suggests that
you use it on a white wizard. If you have a red wizard, they'd make good
use of it. Don't bother giving it to a black wizard- they've got better
things to do with their turns. A white wizard could make good use of it.
A knight already has an Xcaliber. A master can kick ass just as well
without it. If you have a second knight, they'd use it. A ninja could
work well as well. Walk around the room, talk to Garland a few times,
then fight Chaos, the FINAL fight in the game. FAST up all your physical
fighters, NUKE all you can, keep your HP. Chaos can use any number of
attacks, hell, he can CUR4 himself - which means he can restore his
2,000 HP. You should be about level 30 by now. Sit back, and watch the
end. You just beat one of the harder Final Fantasy games. Hope you had
fun. -Cecil faramir@netreach.net