In an ancient era, there was a time where strength ruled the world. It was an era where evil reigned with the knowledge of Iron. An era called Zeteginea. **** * * ************* * * * ********* ** *** * * * ** * ** * ** ******** **** * *** **** *************** **** * **** * ** ** * *** ** *** *** *** * *** *** **** ** ** * ***** **** ** ** * ******** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** * *** **** ** ** ** **** ** *** * ** ***** * ** ** *** ** **** * ******* ***** ********* ** *** ******** **** *** *** ******* *** ***** * *** * **** * * *** * ** *** * *** *** *** **** ** ** ** **** **** **** **** ** ** ** * *** *** ***** *** ** ** ** * **** ** * *** ** ** **** ** ** ** *** ** ** **** ** ** ******** ** ** **** ** ** ******* ** * * ** ** ** ** *** * ** ** *** **** * ******* ******** *** ******* *** *** *** ***** *** **** *** ******* ** * **** --- Tactics Ogre FAQ --- --- Version 0.8 --- --- By Seigfried (seigfried@iname.com) --- I've been playing Tactics Ogre for a while now, and I've noticed that there are very few English FAQs, and most of those- quite frankly- are pretty bad. This is my attempt to remedy that situation. Feel free to EMail me at the above address with any suggestions, corrections, or additions. - Seigfried ** This FAQ is best viewed in a mono-spaced font. Viewing it in Courier or Courier New in 9-point font should work quite nicely. If you're on a Mac, try Monaco. Contents: I. Classes II. General Strategies III. Battle Strategies - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2L - Chapter 3L - Chapter 2C - Chapter 3C - Chapter 3N - Chapter 4 IV. Sidequests - Hell's Gate - FireSeal - Four Sisters/Forbidden Power - Gunners - Deneb - The Elusive Undead Ring - Getting the Shotgun V. Equipment VI. Tidbits VII. Legal Crap VIII. Credits Version History: Version 0.7: I worked on the Chapter 3L walktrhough a bit. I apologize for the last two battles; they were kinda last-minute. I also added the "Cannon Fodder" section to the General Strategies. I reformatted the battle descriptions slightly; now I list the Guests and Treasures available in any battle (See the note Re: treasure at the top of the Battle Strategies section). On a more personal note, this was included in the GIA's coverage of Tactics Ogre and recognized as the best Tactics Ogre FAQ out there- Woohoo! : ) Version 0.6: Well, what's new is best described by a clip from IRC: What, you're putting a walkthough update in your [TO] FAQ? * DragonFogel looks at the flying pigs Yep, that's right, I actually added the walkthough for Chapter 2L! Woohoo! Chapter 3L will follow shortly (I hope). I've also confirmed the location of the Fireseal. Other than that, I've made a bunch of the usual minor corrections and the like- nothing really major, though. Version 0.5: Includes the location of the Undead Ring (finally!). I've also added the description of the Four Sisters sidequest (thanks to Matt) and a trick to avoid the first battle at Brigantes Castle in chapter 4. The proposed method for getting a Templar Knight was disproven and has been removed. Information on the Shotgun was added, curteousy of Yulius Leonard. I made a slight change to my nick for personal reasons. Version 0.4: Well, I took Matt off the byline since he's become involved with a couple other projects and has decided not to help directly- Oh, well : ( I corrected a number of errors from the last version (Such as the fact that the first battle in Gruborza Plains was missing entirely.. Doh : P) and added the Tidbits section, which deals with the relations between Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle. I also added a few secrets to the General Strategies section, including the Necro/Rettisue trick (Thanks, Jon!) and an unconfirmed method of getting a Templar Knight in your army (If anyone can confirm this either way, please EMail me). Version 0.2: Woohoo! There's finally an actual version number! Well, the item lists are completed, the class lists are pretty much completed (I may later go into more detail on the specific classes). The Chaos path walkthrough is now completed in it's entirety. I'm currently trying to force Matt to write a section on Gameshark codes. Beta: Matt got on the FAQ bandwagon, chapter 3C completed, more classes added, Sidequests section added, started updating items from Matt's list. The phrase "Knights are dullards" was officially added to this FAQ. Alpha: The absolute first version. Contains most Classes, general strategies, Chapter 1 and 2C strategies, and a partial Equipment List. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Part I: The Classes -------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Male Classes --- Class: Soldier Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: None. Preferred Weapon: any. Magic: None. This is the basic male class. All your characters start out as this. They are decent fighters, but can't use Magic and don't specialize in any particular weapons. Upgrade as soon as possible (usually around level 6). Class: Knight Alignment: L, N Requirements: STR 45, VIT 44, DEX 46 Preferred Weapon: Swords Magic: None. Despite being better fighters than Soldiers, Knights are not very useful in the grand scheme of things. They specialize in Swords, which seems good- until you realize that Swords are weak compared to other weapons for the first two chapters. This changes somewhat in the third chapter, when Balder Swords become available (as opposed to Short Swords). On top of that, Knights are slow, have terrible statistic growth, and are generally incompetent. You're better off with Berzerkers or Beast Tamers; Knights are dullards. Class: Berzerker Alignment: N, C Requirements: STR 45, VIT 46, DEX 44 Preferred Weapon: Axes Magic: None. These are far better at fighting than Knights. Their Axes are often stronger than Swords, and they have higher attack strength and defense. They are a tad slow, however. These are the best characters for close-range fighting until the third chapter or so, when Terror Knights and the other "advanced" character classees become available. Class: Beast Tamer Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: STR 45, VIT 44, MEN 46 Preferred Weapon: Whip Magic: None. Beast Tamers are a much better class than you may at first think. The first thing you need to realize is that unlike in FF Tactics, monsters are actually useful- they can't use equipment, but they are strong enough that they don't need it. The second thing to realize is that unlike in Ogre Battle, L size creatures do not take up any more space than S size creatures do, although you can only have two of them in a battle (In Ogre Battle, an L size creature took up the same amount of space as two S size creatures). Beast Tamers make monsters even more useful by increasing their attack; Monsters will gain power when they are within three steps of a Beast Tamer. Furthermore, Beast Tamers are decent fighters on their own. While they're not the fastest of characters and their defense is somewhat lacking compared to other fighters, their Whips have a two- square reach and do decent damage. If you have a monster or two in your army, a Beast Tamer makes a good addition. Class: Wizard Alignment: N, C Requirements: INT 44, MEN 42, MP 16 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff; see below) Magic: Offensive, three spells. These are the basic magic-using class in the game. Be forewarned that they are not very powerful when you first get them, so I suggest having them sit out a couple battles until their intelligence raises to the point where useful. I suggest that you equip them with Staffs to raise their INT (Making their spells more powerful). One or two of these are a good addition to your army. As the game goes on, they will become drastically more powerful, eventually gaining the ability to use spells which hit a much larger area. Class: Exorcist Alignment: L Requirements: VIT 44, INT 42, MEN 44 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Light, three spells. This is the only male "healer" class, and also the only class which can use the "Exorcism" spell to destroy Undead characters. This is a fairly useful class- in addition to Exorcism, they can use a few other weak offensive spells like Lightbow. You will get Presance, an Exorcist, fairly early in the game, and he makes an excellent addition to your army. One of these, however, is enough- they're useful, but not as much so as Wizards or Clerics. As a side note, I don't think that enemy Exorcists ever wield the Exorcisim spell- usually just some combination of Heal and Lightbow. Class: Warlock Alignment: L, N Requirements: MP 84, INT 124, MEN 112 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Effect magic (Stun, Poison, etc.) and Elemental magic (Zoshnell, Gurza, etc.), 3 spells. Warlocks are essentially male Witches, with one not-so-important difference: They increase the power of any Golems nearby. Although you probably don't use Golems, they are a useful class anyway as they will become available at about the same time Prests do- when you will probably also want to change any Witches available into Clerics. They become increasingly important later in the game, since they can use the "charge" spell- making life easier when magic gets expensive. They can also use the HealRain spell when it becomes available, as well as Dragon Magic (including several powerful attack spells), increasing their general usefulness. They will become much more useful near the end of the game. Class: Ninja Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: STR 45, DEX 44, AGI 46 Preferred Weapon: Claw Magic: Offensive These flexible characters are not as good at fighting as Berzerkers, but they are fast, can move long distances, jump farther than other characters, and use some offensive magic. They also have the ability to equip a weapon in both hands and attack with both in the same round (The enemy will only counterattack once). They can do pretty much anything you need them to (short of killing Undead). They are not vital to your success, but they are not a bad class, either. They also get the Shiruken ability as their standard indirect attack instead of Stone; Shiruken have a longer range and better accuracy than stones. Class: Dragoon Alignment: N Requirements: STR 115, VIT 106, DEX 114 Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Offensive, one spell This class specializes in killing Dragons, and will do roughly 150% damage when attacking them. Other than that, they are a fairly basic fighting class- they're better than the incompetent Knights, but not as good at fighting as Berzerkers. Unlike Knights, they can actually do decent damage with their swords and also probably become available in the third chapter, where Balder swords are available (as opposed weak Short Swords). Although their magic power isn't as high as that of a Wizard or Siren, it does give them the ability to do some damage at long range. I generally keep one around to help with Dragons. Class: Sword Master Alignment: L Requirements: STR 95, AGI 102, DEX 126 Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Supplemental, 1 spell Between being able to attack with two hands like a Ninja and using some supplemental magic, Sword Masters are halfway decent for Lawful characters (Unlike the incompetent Knights). They are a tad slow, however, especially when equipped with two swords, and tend to have a low defense- making them especially vulnerable to attack if they're using a mantle to increase their speed. While this is not a truly powerful class, it's useful when you don't have anything else available. Class: Terror Knight Alignment: C Requirements: STR 117, VIT 114, DEX 104, 30 Kills Preferred Weapon: Axe Magic: None Terror Knights are annoying and powerful fighters. They have great attack strength and equip powerful Axes (like Berzerkers). Furthermore, they reduce the attack power of enemies within three squares of them. Their major weakness is their relatively low speed, but this can be remedied by equipping them with lighter armor (Using a helmet or pair of boots instead of a shield, for example) or having them alternate between this class and the Ninja class. They are very strong due to their combination of high HP, high Defense, and the Terror effect. They are a great asset to your team, and by far the best normal fighting class. Class: Gunner Alignment: N Requirements: STR 120, AGI 164, DEX 150 Preferred Weapon: Gun Magic: None This is a secret class, obtainable by means described in the "sidequests" section. This is a very strong class, mostly due to the strengths of their Guns, but they have a few notable weaknessess as well. Their guns have infinite range and do very good damage, and the Gunners themselves are fast. However, Gunners have low defense against essentially all types of attacks (both magical and physical), and the damage their guns do drops significantly as the defense of their target increases. There are also only two or three guns available in the entire game, and the most powerful of these is available only if you specifically attempt to get it. Finally, after a character becomes a Gunner, they cannot change their class again. Gunners are a good class, but I don't suggest that you use more than the one who joins you automatically (See below). Class: Warrior Aignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Attack, 1 spell. Vice uses this class in Chaper 3L- he has decent strength and speed and can attack with both hand. Pretty good all around, due to his high statistics and decent magical damage; this is essentially an enhanced Ninja class. He can do excellent damage when equipped with a good weapon. Class: White Knight Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: None Lans' two knights are of this class. It is basically an enhanced Knight class; they have better statistics but slightly worse defense. They are excellent fighters (Surpassed only by Terror Knights and some special classes such as Temple Commandos), but you cannot promote normal characters to this class. Class: Lord Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic Healing, 3 spells This is probably the best class in the game, but is only available to Denim. He can use three healing spells and has great attack and defense. Denim will automatically advance to this class if Kachua dies at Banisha castle. Class: Paladin Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Healing This is Lans' class. He is a devastating fighter and can use Healing magic as well. Unfortunately, your characters cannot be promoted to this class. Class: Lord Mancer Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: None Magic: Attack This is Warren's clas, a basic improved mage. He has powerful magic... Too bad you only have him for two or three battles : P --- Female Classes --- Class: Amazon Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: None Preferred Weapon: Any Magic: None These are the female equivalents of the Soldier class. Like Soldiers, they are decent characters, but should also be upgraded as soon as possible. Class: Valkyrie Alignment: L, N Requirements: STR 44, VIT 46, INT 42 Preferred Weapon: Spear Magic: Some offensive, two spells. Valkyries are good general-purpose characters. I have always found that they are good fighters, especially because of their spears, and they can use a little magic. They're relatively quick and can also move in water. As they go up in levels, their Magic becomes a very useful long-range attack. They also get stronger in storms; a wind-elemental Valkyrie in a storm is a character to be feared. One or two of these supplement your attack team quite nicely. Class: Archer Alignment: N, C Requirements: VIT 44, DEX 48, AGI 44 Preferred Weapon: Bow Magic: None. Archers are very powerful characters. Their bows do serious amounts of damage, and- if you are on the high ground- often shoot accurately beyond the indicated range. They can do more damage than almost any other character class on the same level. Their only drawback is that if you are on lower ground than your target, your range and chance of hitting is sharply reduced. Despite this, I strongly recommend having at least two of these in your army. Class: Cleric Alignment: L, N Requirements: INT 42, MEN 41, MP 16 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Healing magic (Heal, Clear, etc.), 3 spells. Clerics are, if you hadn't guessed, absolutely vital to your success. Their Healing spells are very important, as most characters don't have room to haul around even one item, let alone multiple items, or the time to use those items. You should keep at least two healers of any description in your party at all times- usually, one of those will be Presance and the other will be a Cleric. Like all other magic users, they have no preferred weapon, but you should probably equip them with Staffs to raise their magic power. Class: Witch Alignment: N, C Requirements: INT 45, MEN 41, MP 15 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff). Magic: Effect magic (Stun, Poison, etc.) and Elemental magic (Zoshnell, Gurza, etc.), 3 spells. Depending on your party, Witches may be absolutely vital or nearly worthless. If most of your party is of one or two elements, they are incredibly powerful, since they can just sit in back of your party constantly casting the spell to raise the power of that element (assuming, of course, that most of the enemy party is of a different element). Their other spells- Stun, Poison, and so on- are not as useful, since they often don't work- unlike the Oracle magic in FF Tactics, which generally worked 50% of the time, these spells generally only work 20-30% of the time. They can also use some very useful ability-enhancing spells, such as Heat and Quick. These are probably their most powerful attack in the long run. Class: Dragon Tamer Alignment: L, N, C Requirements: HP 180, STR 115, MEN 103 Preferred Weapon: Sword Magic: Offensive, one spell The Dragon Tamer is a more weapon-oriented Valkyrie- they get only one spell and their magic is weaker, but they also do much more damage with their swords. In addition to that, they increase the power of Dragons in a three-square radius, so are definitely worthwhile if you are using Dragons. Their major weakness is that their defense is fairly low- but between the fact that they can avoid most counterattacks with their Spears and have pretty good HP, this shouldn't be a major concern. Unfortuantley, this class really isn't as powerful as the Valkyrie class due to a combination of low magic power and the fact that they specialize in Swords instead of the more useful (IMO) Spears. Class: Siren Alignment: L, N Requirements: INT 75, MEN 71, MP 36 Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Offensive, 3 spells. The Siren is essentially a female Wizard. Their statistics grow slightly faster than a Male wizard's do and their magic is a little stronger, but they are otherwise essentially identical. Like Wizards, they should equip Staffs to maximize Magic power. Class: Priest (Ed's Note: Shouldn't that be Priestess?) Alignment: L (Note: Despite what the status screen claims, only Lawful characters can become Preists) Requirements: MP 70, INT 125, MEN 110, Less than 15 Kills Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Basic light magic plus Revivify, 3 spells. Priests are similar to Exorcists, but they have the ability to use Revivify instead of Exorcism. They are basically a requirement- however, you will still probably want a Cleric in your party as well, since Clerics can use the important Heal+ spell (Which affects an area), while Priests and Exorcists cannot. Class: Angel Knight Alignment: Lawful Requirements: MP 92, STR 135, VIT 122, INT 144, MEN 119, AGI 122, DEX 124 Preferred Weapon: None Magic: Any spell an Exorcist can use, 1 spell. (Plus special abilities) Angel Knights cannot be obtained through normal means- after you have them up to the above stats, let them be killed in battle, and they will randomly automatically be revived as an Angel Knight. Angel Knights themselves are not, for the expenditure it requires to obtain, that useful. While they can wield some useful healing magic (Including Exorcism), they do not make good Magic- users, as they only have one spell. They do gain two semi-useful abilities- CalmSong takes away the target's MP, while SadSong heals undead characters. However, if they have been fighters already, they will be very good with weapons and the Hell's Gate abilities. While these are not the best class in the game, they do make strong and versatile characters. Class: Shaman Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: None Magic: Two Spells, Attack, Elemental + a 'Pray' skill Sisteena, Selye, Shelley, and Olivia can all be premoted to this class if they're all on the team, and after a certain sub-quest. They're about average fighters, who can also use some magic. They each have a Pray special ability that raises the power of their element without lowering the power of the opposing element (unlike the Elemental-summoning spells). Class: Sorceress Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: ? Magic: Any non-Light spell, 3 spells. If you grabbed the MagmaGod spell when you had a chance, Deneb is an incredibly powerful character, due to the fact that she can carry both attack spells and the Charge spell. Even if you don't have MagmaGod (She's Fire-elemental), she is a decent character with her combination of Witch/Warlock and Wizard magic. Class: High Priest Alignment: N/A Requirements: N/A Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Healing magic, offensive Light magic, 3 spells. This is Kachua's class initially. It's fairly powerful, although it is essentially an improved Cleric class. Class: Dark Priest Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: any Light magic, 3 spells When Kachua works with the Dark Knights, this is her class. She may join with this class in some of the paths; I don't know. She's essentially the same as a High Priest. Class: Princess Alignment: N/A Requirments: N/A Preferred Weapon: None (Staff) Magic: Any, 3 spells In chapter 4C, Kachua may rejoin as this class. Although her statistics are a little low, she can use any magic spell (including Dragon Magic and normally restricted spells like Necro and Revivify). She will become a very strong magician if you have her pick up as many Mind and Mentality cards as possible. --- Demihuman Classes --- Class: Eagle Man Magic: None. This is Canopus' class. Canopus has excellent base statistics, plus he can fly, and he can hit most enemies from outside their range with his spear. Furthermore, at level 10, he gains the Windshot ability, allowing him to attack at a distance, and he gains the more powerful Tornado ability at level 20. He does take some damage from using these, but this tends to be in the 10-20 point range. After he joins your party, he definitely deserves to be a standard character in your army. I suggest that you keep him equipped with a two-square weapon (such as a Spear or Whip). Class: Hawk Man Magic: None. These are not as good as Canopus, but still formidable characters due to thier natural ability to fly. I suggest giving them Bows and having them attack from high points in the battlefield. Class: Lizard Man Magic: None. Lizard Men are very good fighters- they do decent amounts of damage and have very high defense- but they are also very slow, and their movement range is fairly small. They can defeat Knights with ease but Archers cause serious problems for them. If you can get one, they make fairly good fighters at any time in the game. Class: Skeleton Magic: None. These are rather weak fighters, with one important trait: They're Undead, and thus can't be killed by anyone except an Exorcist. I personally don't like Undead, since they're hard to recruit and tend to "die" rather quickly, but this is the basic fighting Undead class. I feel that I should also point out here that enemies don't actually appear (in my expirience, at least) with the Exorcisim spell, so you generally don't have to worry about bringing Skeletons or Ghosts into battle only to have then eliminated in a single spell. Class: Ghost Magic: Offensive, 2 spells This is the Wizard Undead class. It is somewhat better than the skeleton, as it can teleport at will (Allowing it to get to difficult-to-reach locations from which to cast spells), but they're hard to find and hard to recruit. They also gain the LifeSuck special attack as their level goes up and have surprisingly good physical attributes (at least early on in the game). Furthermore, they make excellent bait since they're both undead and teleporting, so it might not be a bad idea to keep one on your attack team for that purpose. Class: Lich Requirements: MP 114, INT 162, MEN 147 Magic: Offensive, 3 spells. Liches are powerful magic-users which are available later in the game. You create them by having a male character in one of the magician classes use an Undead Ring. They have the same stats that the character did, but they can use any attack spell. Class: Faerie Magic: Special Abilities These small faeries get the CuteKiss, DeepKiss, and HolyBolt special abilities. Their defense and attack are very low, so they make poor front-line fighters, but they are excellent with bows and their special abilites are useful- DeepKiss gives the target an extra turn (which I found quite useful) and HolyBolt can destroy undead characters. CuteKiss restores some HP to one character and clears up thier status, which is occasionally useful. At any rate, Faeries are fairly good support characters, and their decent missile attack and flying ability make them good bow users as well. Just be sure to keep them far out of harm's way... Class: Gremlin Magic: Special Abilities A "dark" version of the Fairy, these have some serious problems which prevents them from being good characters. Like the Fairy, they have terrible defense, and like the fairy, they have primarially close-range special abilites, but unlike the Fairy, their abiliies are offensive instead of defensive. Translation: You have to get within sword range before they can do anything, and by that time they're dead. They do, however, make decent archers if you give them a bow or crossbow. --- Monster Classes --- Class: Gryphon These half-lion, half-eagle beasts have a weak attack, but they can fly, have good defense and HP, and learn the Windshot ability at level 10. They aren't as useful as some of the other monsters initially, but become more powerful as the game goes on. Class: Golem These animated dolls have more HP than they did in Ogre Battle, but their attacks are rather weak and their defense also isn't what it used to be. They generally take 1/4 to 1/3 the damage any other character would, compared with one point of damage from virtually any physical attack in Ogre Battle. They are also fairly slow and can't move through water. They are acceptable fighters, but generally aren't that useful. Class: Octopus Octopi can move through water with ease and gain some special attacks when they are in the water. However, outside the water, their defense and attack both drop sharply. They are useful in areas with large amounts of water (The Lake stage early on is a good example), but I wouldn't recommend that you take them outside those areas. There are few enough stages which fit that description to make them essentially worthless. Class: Dragon Dragons have high defense, good attack, and a variety of special abilities depending on their element. Depending on their element, they will have a different Breath attack. These always do damage and occasionally cause a condition as well, depending on the type of attack. The most useful of these, IMO, is the Wind Dragon's Lighting attack, which randomly stuns the target. They reach only one square, but the opponent cannot counter it. Although you can only take two L-size creatures into a battle, Dragons make excellent allies. Beware, however, fighting Dragoons, who can kill the Dragons easily in hand-to-hand combat. I suggest recruiting a Dragon early on in the game. Class: White Dragon Alignment: L, N Requirements: HP 170, STR 135, VIT 90 DEX 55 This is an improved dragon class; they have the same breath attacks as a standard dragon, but gain strength and defense more quickly. White Dragons take less damage from Holy attacks. Class: Holy Dragon Alignment: L Requirements: HP 270, STR 233, 161 VIT, 95 DEX These powerful dragons use the same breath attacks, but have much higher STR and DEF and can take incredible amounts of punishment before dying. Furthermore, they are not affected particularly by dragon-slaying weapons. They are fearsome enemies and a great asset to your army. Class: Black Dragon Alignment: N, C Requirements: HP 170, STR 135, VIT 90 DEX 55 This is an improved dragon class; they have the Toxic breath attack and gain strength and defense more quickly. Black Dragons take less damage from Dark attacks. Class: Tiamat Alignment: C Requirements: HP 270, STR 223, VIT 171, DEX 105, 40 Kills These are like Holy Dragons, only they use the Toxic breath attack, have slightly lower defense, and terrify enemies around them, lowering their attack power. They are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Class: Hydra This is debatably the most powerful dragon-type monster- they can only be obtained in Hell's Gate by using the Persuade command. They have very good statistics and can use all four of the basic elemental attacks. Unfortuantly, they are a tad slower than most of the other dragon types. Class: Cockatrice These supremely annoying monsters have good defense and can petrify characters, a condition that will last the rest of the battle and still allows the character to take damage. They have decent defense, too, and lots of HP. They are much better for the enemy, because you will most likely have to reset if one of your characters dies while CPU-controlled characters can afford to be useful as cannon fodder. If you take one in your army, send it out with a group of fighters to kill anything it petrifies. Class: Cyclops These massive creatures are the successor to the Golem class; like Golems, they have very good attack and defense, but they also have higher HP than golems do and can use the Toxic breath attack. They are rather slow, however, and have a low magic defense (higher than a Golem's), making them easy pickings for a Warlock with Stun or Petrify. --- Enemy-Only Classes --- (Note: I have not included many of the Hell's Gate monsters here unless they are particularly important- most of the pallete-shifted monsters have been ommitted) Class: Templar Knight Magic: Effect These are one of the classes used by the Dark Knight troops who you will meet later in the game. They aren't all that strong, but be aware that they can cast virtually any spell that a Witch or Warlock can. They are also somewhat stronger than knights. Class: Temple Commando Magic: Effect, special abilities Most high-level dark knights are of this class. They have very high statistics and can carry some very powerful spells such as Charm and Petrify. They also come with their own special abilities: These vary, but generally do damage and cause conditions to targets up to two squares away on a straight line. Class: Death Templar Magic: Special Abilities This is Lans Tartare's class. He is a powerful fighter with excellent statistics and a typical Temple Commando-style special attack. You will only meet him in combat a few times, and I suggest that you primarially use Magic or Bows against him. Class: Bishop Magic: Healing, attack. Branta uses this class. Due to his low defense, he is not a very good fighter, but will use magic if he gets the chance. He can also summon Angel Knights as backup if he needs to. The conditions under which you fight him, however, make him an easy foe- see below for a better description. Class: Dark Element Magic: Dark magic, special abilities. This is Dolgare's class, and a very powerful one it is. Although, you'd probably expect that since he IS the last boss... At any rate, he has ludicrous statsics, very high HP (About 600 when I met him at level 35), and a variety of very powerful special attacks and spells. As if that weren't enough, he can also summon dark creatures to aid him. He's a very tough opponent, and strategies for defeating him are covered in more detail in the walkthrough. Class: Dark/Evil monsters Magic: Varies These are a particularly powerful type of enemies who you will met with some frequency in Hell's Gate and who also show up for the last battle. There are Dark varieties of many normal enemies (I've seen Cyclops, Ninja, Dragons, and Gryphons). Many of these monsters have new special attacks- the Dark variety of Cyclops, for example, has the "EvilEyes" attack instead of the usual Toxic attack. As a group, these monsters are also very fast and have abnormally high statistics. Especially beware Dark Stalkers, who can probably move faster than any character in your party and have very high evade rates. Class: Zombie Magic: Varies These are undead versions of normal characters- they are essentially the same as normal characters, but they will revive themselves after being killed as Zombies. They also have a slightly lower defense than normal characters. Zombie Wizards also have a nasty habit of using spells that they can't normally use (Such as the conditional spells). These are actually much weaker than normal characters, I find, since they can be destroyed through Exorcism. There are also Zombie monsters, but they appear under different names- usually "Death (name)"- and often wield different special attacks than they had in life. The most common are Toxic and EvilEyes. Class: Goblin Magic: None These basic fighters show up with some frequency in Hell's Gate. They are actually relatively weak; think of them as the Monster equivalent of Knights. They are decent fighters, but aren't any better than Valkyries or Berzerkers. Class: Gorgon Magic: None Gorgons are swift, have pretty good attack scores, and can petrify you. Although I've rarely seen them use the latter ability, they are fairly powerful and generally not to be trifled with. Their defense isn't all that good, but they also often carry bows to make up for it. Class: Sorcerer Magic: All attack spells These enemy-only units get ALL attack spells, including ones not normally available (Most notably LightBow). They are also slightly better at magic than standard Wizards. Class: Summoner Magic: Attack, summoning They aren't that powerful, but they are annoying because of their propensity for siccing largish groups of undead monsters on you. Their attack magic is stronger than a Valkyrie's or Ninja's, but not as strong as that of a full-fledged wizard. Class: Necromancer Magic: Attack, Dark, Summoning This is Nybbas' class. He's a decent magic user, but no more powerful than a Mage or Siren. He has low defense, so you shouldn't have too much trouble killing him with a Bow. Class: Venefik Magic: Poison, Acid When I first read the description for this class, the phrase which immediatley popped into my head was "I'm the MAD MIDNIGHT POISONER WHAT POISONS AT MIDNIGHT!", and you'll know why if you used to watch The Tick. Gameplay-wise, she is a pretty easy foe. She uses standard magic in her attacks as well as the somewhat more powerful Hazard special ability. Luckily, this ability is one- target-only, and she uses it very rarely. The only time you meet this enemy is on the top level of Hell's Gate, where they start in a terrible position. Class: Searzist Magic: Holy attack magic This character shows up at the 25th floor of Hell's Gate and specializes in Holy magic attacks. While she wields some fairly powerful magical attacks, if you're careful, she will not have time to build up the MP to use them. Watch out for Starion if she does build up her MP, though, as it can inflict serious damage to your party and kill any Undead characters with you. Class: Demon Magic: Dark attack magic No, unfortunatly, this character does not look like the cool demons from Ogre Battle- it's a lame pallete-shifted Siren instead. It appears on the 50th floor of Hell's Gate, where it is a very easy foe due to the circumstances of the battle. While it can use some very powerful attack magic (such as the Dark Law spell), it will almost never get to. Class: Death Knight Magic: None These are undead versions of some old friends, created by Nybbas. They're actually pretty weak; I wouldn't worry about them that much. They have slightly better statistics than normal Knights, but otherwise are basically the same as any other "enhanced Knight" class. Use bows to defeat them with ease. Class: Guardian Magic: Varies These are probably the toughest single monsters in the game- the Guardians of the four wind-elemental weapons in Hell's Gate. They have a variety of special abilities and vary in form, but are always yellow-colored monsters with some combination of the Thunder, Tornado, and WindShot attacks. They will leave you one of the weapons when defeated- the Notos Sword, Boleas Axe, Eros Hammer, or Zepyulos Lance. Please note that you will almost never meet all four groups of Guardians on a single trip through Hell's Gate. Class: Relics Knight Magic: None Gold-colored Terror Knights who guard the Ogre equipment and SnapShot Dragon Magic. These are fairly similar to Terror Knights and not all that much more threatening than other fighters. Be aware, however, that they do often wield bows. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Part II: General Strategies --------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Army Planning You probably want to plan exactly what you want to end up with at the beginning of the game when you first hire your army. I strongly advise that most of your male fighters have an alignment of N or C, so that they can become Berzerkers (as opposed to incompetent knights) and then either Dragoons or Terror Knights. Female fighters should have an alignment of N, which will allow them to become either a Valkyrie, Archer, or Dragon Tamer. Female Healers should be N so that they can become Clerics but still switch to a Siren or Witch if you need a little more firepower for any particular battle. Eventually, you will probably want to turn them into Priests (So that they can cast the all-important Vitalize spell), but probably contrary to your expectations, characters of any alignment may become Priests. All around, N-aligned characters are probably the most versatile, but there are a few classes available only to characters of a certain alignment- see the Classes section for more information. You should also try to make most of your characters of one or two non-opposing elements (Earth and Water, for example) so that you can use the Witch Trick (see below). In battle, I generally take five fighter-type characters (That includes some monsters, such as Lizard Men, Hawk Men, or Dragons), two Archers or Mages (includes Sirens), two Healers, and either an additional Mage or a Witch/Warlock. 2. The Witch Trick This actually works with either a Witch or a Warlock (Err, if you're using one for reasons which I cannot fathom). Essentially, the idea is this: Buy your Witch the element-enhancing spells for the two elements in your army (see above. When you go into battle, immediately stop and look at the enemies' guardian elements. If there are less than three or four enemies of one of the elements in your army, then kill those first and have your Witch retreat and constantly cast the spell to enhance that element. If you're lucky, you will soon find your characters inflicting massive damage. Furthermore, if you're lucky, a good number of the enemy will be of the opposite element- causing their attacks to weaken significantly. 3. Ganging Up This is the real secret to winning battles- in nine out of ten situations, two characters will be able to kill one. The outcome of one-on-one battles is generally determined by level- and the enemy often has the level advantage. Two characters of similar level fighting generally results in one dying and the other being wounded to the point where one of the dead character's companions comes up and finishes the attacker. I generally have my troops travel either en masse or in groups of two or three. Archers can stay alone at certain locations, as long as they're not in any immediate physical danger. 4. Preventing Counterattacks There are three ways to easily prevent the enemy from counterattacking, which is always a good thing if possible- attack indirectly, even at point-blank range, with a Bow or Crossbow, hit them from two squares away with a Spear or Whip (Assuming that they have only a close-range weapon), or attack from several height units above (I think three is the minimum height). Remember, of course, that enemies will die before counterattacking- if a counterattack will kill you, but you have a 75% chance of killing your target, save first and then try attacking. 5. Attacking from Behind This is fairly self-explanatory: Attacking from the side or behind seriously cuts down on an enemy's chance of blocking. Do so if possible. 6. Bows VS Crossbows Since Crossbows are lighter and have a higher hit rate, they are a good backup weapon for a close-range fighter like a knight. However, they cannot shoot outside their indicated range like a Bow and they also cannot shoot over obstacles as a Bow occasionally can. Bows are far better for Archers in that respect. 7. Friendly Fire There are two common instances in which characters will attack members of their own team by accident. The first is that some spells and projectile weapons (Ion Shot comes to mind) WILL hit characters between you and the target if the caster is below the target (Using Ion Shot, the bullet is actually created 2 or 3 steps above the casters head). This is not reflected in the hit chance, so keep an eye out for it. The Ion Shot in particular is also fairly wide (as opposed to Arrows or Stones) and may hit characters standing beside it's path if it goes close enough to them. Be especially wary of this when using Guns, as their long range makes you particularly likely to accidentally shoot one of your own characters. The other is when one character with a spear is near another character and is attacked- their spear WILL go through the two characters in that direction, whether one is an ally or not. Likewise, a character with a whip standing beside an ally who is attacked with a spear will hit his ally, even though the whip doesn't go through to the next character. This doesn't happen very often, but you should be aware of it. It also works on enemies, so use it to your advantage if you can. 8. Shields as an Attack Yes, you can attack with a shield, but they don't do much damage. They do, however, nearly always knock the target back- good if someone is foolish enough to be standing on the edge of a roof. Although falling damage here is not as ludicrous as it was in Final Fantasy Tactics, this can still be used to get pesky Knights out of your face or to get archers onto lower ground where they won't do as much damage. This is a good way to get rid of enemies foolish enough to stand next to a bottomless pit as well. 9. Equipping Magic When equipping Magic, keep the element of the caster in mind. Spells of their element will have a significant damage/success rate bonus. I suggest that you equip Wizards or Sirens with one or two spells of their element, then a non- elemental attack or miscellaneous spell- for example, an earth-elemental Wizard could be equipped with Acid, Meteor, and Incubus or Acid, Meteor, and Pain. Likewise, later in the game when you get Dragon Magic, Warlocks do more damage with spells of their own element- Mute is more effective when used by a Water-elemental character. 10. Gaining Experience Note: The terms in this section are misleading, but I can't think of any other semantically decent way to say this. This applies to any action done to any character (Healing a character a level higher than you gives you the same EXP as hitting them). The Attacker is the character using the attack and the Target is any character affected by the attack. The equation for EXP from attacks, as near as I can tell, is this: ((Target's level - Attacker's level) * 15) + (random number between 1 and 10) Any bonus above 100 points is rounded down to 100, and any attack which would give you negative EXP is rounded up to one. The element-enhancing spells are treated as though you were attacking yourself- in other words, you gain 1-10 EXP for casting them. I'm not sure exactly how attacking groups works; it appears that you may only get the expirience from attacking the strongest enemy in the group. Damage from killing a target, as near as I can tell, is calculated thus: ((Target's level - Attacker's Level) * 65) + (rand. num. from 10-20) Once again, this is between 1 and 100. Made simple, killing someone below your level gives you 1 EXP, killing someone at your level gives you 10-20 EXP, killing someone a level higher than you gives you 75-85 EXP, and killing anyone higher than that gives you an instant level-up. 11. Gaining Levels This is one of the most tedious parts of the game, but there is a way to make it easier. Essentially, once you have at least one character stronger than the rest of your army, you want to go into training and divide your army into two teams- high-level and low-level. Clerics should go on the high-level team (Just because they can't kill anyone doesn't mean they can't get EXP from healing higher-level characters). Then, ensure that the low-level team has enough of an advantage in numbers to defeat the high-level team, then set both sides to CPU control. Because of the combination of benefits that you get from wounding and killing enemy soldiers, you will nearly always get a level up from killing someone on the other team. Furthermore, the only involvement you need to have in the game is to occasionally glance at the screen to make sure a spell quote hasn't come up- the rest is done automatically. My suggestion is to stay in the same room as the Playstation and do something else, occasionally glancing at the screen to ensure the lack of spell quotes (I generally read during the training battles- I recommend the original Dune by Frank Herbert, the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the first Dragonlance trilogy by Margaret Wies and Tracy Hickman, or the Death Gate Cycle by the same). The one problem with this is that you will usually end up with and odd man out who's a level behind everyone else- this is fairly easy to fix. Give him a non- counterable attack of some sort (I keep a spear on hand at all times for just this purpose), and then set him against a character with weak defense, such as a Wizard or Cleric, setting both teams to player control. As you control both characters, it will be easy to simply hit the weak character in the back until they die and give you the 75+ EXP. When gaining levels for a new character, things get a little trickier. Although you will gain levels for every hit for a while, you may have only a 5% chance of hitting a character, even in the back. I generally do this by giving the level- gaining character a spear and using an exceptionally un-agile character (Knights work well here) as their "fencing dummy", removing ALL their equipment. If you still have a low chance of hitting them, try having a Witch-type character Stun or Petrify them. If you have to get a whole group of characters, you can expand this somewhat- put them on a computer-controlled team against a group of your characters who are up to speed, and then use a Witch-type character to petrify your high-level group while the low-level fighters pound away at them. This'll bring them up from level 1 quickly when the rest of your army is around level 25 or above. Also, certain classes have abilities which can be used to gain levels quickly while they're alone. Any character who can use the Charge spell, for example, can cast it on higher-level characters repeatedly to gain EXP quickly. The healer-type classes can use Cure on higher-level characters to gain a couple EXP per round. Ninja (and pretty much anyone else capable of using attack magic) can use low-cost attack spells to attack enemies. 12. Persuading Enemies Persuading enemies allows you to get good equipment and characters into your party, and also can allow you to recruit some special classes which are otherwise very difficult to get (Mainly Liches and Hydras). The real trick to persuasion is that you have to reduce the enemy to uner 20 HP (under 10 is even better) and then get behind them. This will give you a fairly high chance of persuading them. The enemy's attitude (Press select on their name) also figures into this significantly. You can persuade enemies in a story battle, but you cannot persuade the leader(s). 13. Cannon Fodder Sending a single unit into a large group of enemies is a very useful strategy for giving yourself a little extra time to prepare or some confusion to take advantage of. Of course, this could get a little expensive using normal troops. I find that Ghosts are ideal for this purpose- although they're not as quick as they could be, they can teleport and they're undead (Keep in mind that there are very rarely- if ever- enemies wielding the Exorcisim spell). Although I don't recommend equipping your Ghost with anything very heavy (They're slow enough already), giving them a sword will give them at least some counterattack damage, even if it's not that serious. 14. SnapShot Weapons These are by far the most powerful weapons in the game. They are made by having any magic-user cast SnapShot (A spell avialable on the lower levels of Hell's Gate) on himself- the spell will be consumed and they will be permanantly lost, but they will leave a sword behind. These swords have the same element as the character who originally did, and raise your abilities by half of their statistics (For example, if you snapshot a character with 100 STR, than the sword created will give you +50 STR). They are also always one-handed and have 10 WT- a very good deal. You can easily create insanely powerful weapons by hiring a soldier, having him level up through the techniques described above until they are at sixth level or so, then changing them into a Berzerker and having them get up to speed with the rest of your army. Turn them into a Wizard, SnapShot them, and you now have an insanely powerful weapon; the first time I did this, I was at level 28, and got a sword with almost +125 STR. 15. Necro/Rettisue Once you have both the Necro and Rettisue spells, there's yet another trick for producing ludicrously powerful characters. It's relativley simple, too: let a character die, then revive them as an undead with Necro. If you then cast Rettisue on them, they will be revived as a Solider or Amazon with the same statistics- at level 1! Bring them back up to the same level as the rest of your party in training and then they'll have ludicrously high statistics. 16. Supercharging While we're on the subject of characters with ludicrously high statistics, if you've got a lot of time on your hands, there's another way to bring characters up to insanely high levels with ease. If you set two healer-type characters (Anyone who's been a wizard for most of the game and can use the Heal spell) against each other (preferably under CPU control) and remove ALL of thier equipment except for the Heal spell, they'll fight pretty much indefinitley- gaining 1-5 EXP each move. If you set this up and walk away, you'll find that they each gain about 1 level every five minutes (barring spell quotes). As I stated, they'll fight pretty much indefinitley when left alone- meaning that you can easily get them up to several times your party's level and then use them to bring the rest of your army up using the methods described earlier. Now, you're probably thinking to yourself: "Uhh, Seig, didn't you say that enemies are usually around your character's levels? What good does this really do me?" Well, the thing is this: While enemies are about the same level as your army on average, they also "max out" at a certain level (which varies). The absolute maximum is around level 30- meaning that if your army is at level 50, you still have a 20-level advantage over them. Although I recommend playing the game the "right" way, if you really feel the need to massacre everyone, this is the way to go. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Part III: Battle Strategies --------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I have covered all of the story battles that I have reached here in as much detail as possible. Be forewarned that the Story Updates contain many spoilers. The leader in any particular battle is listed first, and important story characters are listed in a Name (Class) format, as are guests. Treasures are listed in an Item Name (Character carrying it) format; normal equipment (IE, items that you get randomly and can buy at that point in the game) is not listed, although buyable equipment which appears later in the game is. **** A note about the Tresure section: Admittedly, I haven't played many of these stages in a while, so the Treasure listings are probably incorrect in several places. Please EMail me with any corrections you have- there are some things that I know you win, but do not remember where (IE, the Revivfy spell in Chapter 2C)- these will be added in the next version. ---- Chapter 1 ---- ---- Are you telling me to stain my hands? ---- Story Update: Denim, Vice, and Kachua have heard that Lans, the leader of the Dark Knights who kidnapped their father, is coming through Griate City, and they hope to surprise and kill him. Griate City Enemies: Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight) Guests: Vice (Soldier), Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is the first battle of the game. You will not get to attack the enemies, as you do not have time to get close enough- after you move, Vice will move and then the battle will end with a conversation between you and Lans. Story Update: Lans, who is not the Dark Knight Lans but a Paladin exiled from neighboring Zenobia, is nice enough not to have his troop whup your asses and instead joins you to rescue the captive Duke Ronway. Those few lucky people who have played the original Ogre Battle will recognize Lans and his homeland. Armorkia Castle Enterance Enemies: Berzerker, Soldiers, Amazons Guests:Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight), Vice*, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None (* Since Vice's class can be changed, I have not listed any specific class for him) Lans and company will handle this battle for you- just sit back and listen to their advice as they demolish the enemies. Armorkia Castle Enemies: Knight, Soldiers, Amazons Guests:Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight), Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Another automated battle. Sit back and enjoy the show. Afterwards, Duke Ronway will give you some troops and send you to Griate City to save Leonard. Story Update: Now rescued, Duke Ronway hires Lans and his troop to train his army, sending Denim, Vice, Kachua, and their army (which you can name) to aid the knight Leonard, who has gone to Krizar to kill the Necromancer Nybbas. Tanmas Hill: Enemies: Wizard, Soldiers, Amazons Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is the first real battle and one of the harder ones, since you are just beginning and don't know much about the battle system. Your entire army should be at second level (Except for Kachua, who you cannot build up) before you attempt this. Canopus will join at the beginning of the battle as a guest and join permanently at the end. Keep your soldiers in groups to fight; at this point, numbers are the best protection against enemy attacks. Do not attack the Wizard until you have defeated most or all of the enemies, as he is a surprisingly powerful character and can inflict unexpected amounts of damage in hand-to-hand combat. You may well lose one or two characters in this battle; don't worry about it too much, as you can hire more at this stage in the game without having to train them exceptional amounts. Be sure that you don't lose Canopus- he's a unique character and a very good one in later battles. He joins you permanently at the end of the battle. Krizar City Enemies: Witch, Soldiers, Skeletons, Ghost Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None As you enter this battle, Presance is assaulting a group of Undead with his Exorcism magic- which is all well and good until the leader shows up and summons some more. While only Presance can destroy the undead, your characters can temporarily kill them with a minimum of effort. Once again, stay in groups. Your first order of business is to save Presance, who is a useful character and will join you after the battle. He may be able to destroy some of the Undead hanging around, but after you ensure his safety, your main concern is the living enemies and the Witch. Once you kill the Witch, Presance joins your party and any remaining undead disintegrate. On a side note, I love the music in this battle. Story Update: After this battle, you will have a short conversation with the captive Leonard. It seems that Nybbas has escaped to an abandoned fort to the south. You are given the choice of whether to attack Nybbas with your army or to return to Amorika for reinforcements. If you agree, Leonard will join you as a guest and will allow his two surviving troops, an archer and a knight, to join you permanently, and you will go to the next battle. Otherwise, you will simply skip it. Kadoriga Fort Enemies: Nybbas (Necromancer), Soldiers, Undead Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Nybbas is holed up in an abandoned fort with a small group of Undead and some living enemies- this battle is actually fairly easy. Presance can destroy any undead who are being particularly pesky, but your main goal here is to kill Nybbas. He will teleport away when he is in serious danger, ending the battle. I suggest that you mainly ignore the undead and concentrate on defeating him here. Most of my other advice still holds. Story Update: After this battle, you will return to Amorika for your next mission. Your characters should be on level 4 by this point. Duke Ronway will give you your next task: to travel to Fiduc Castle and get the Dark Knights to sign a non-intervention treaty in the upcoming war with Gargastan. Gruborza Plains Enemies: Berserker, Soldier(2), Wizard, Amazon, Cleric Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None The enemies here are pretty weak- but then again, so is your army. Stay together and take your time to defeat the enemies. The Berserker is proably a couple levels higher than your characters, so it might be wise to have Leonard fight him if possible. Be aware that the Amazon in this battle does have a bow- her attacks are long range, if somewhat weak. Even if you take a pounding here, you're at a low enough level that you can probably replace any standard troops fairly easily. Rime City Enemies: Knight, Dragon, Soldiers, Amazons, Witch Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess), Sisteena (Valkryie) Treasure: None As you enter this city, a mysterious woman is being attacked by a unit from the Valerian army. You are given the choice to save her (I have never tried answering "no" here, but I strongly suspect that it's a Communist Choice). This is a standard "kill the leader" level- the Dragon may cause a little trouble, but you shouldn't have too much difficulty eliminating the enemies. Like in the earlier battle where you met Presance, your first priority is to ensure that Sisteena- the mystery woman- survives. Killing the Dragon first is probably a good idea, and since you're actually capable of killing all the enemies for a change, you should do so for the experience. Beyond that, there's not much you have to do here beyond the usual. Although there is a Witch here, she's weak enough that her single spell- Stun- very rarely works, and only targets one character, so don't worry too much about her. There is one small secret in this battle- if you burn the grass off of the one-square island to the left of where you start and move onto it, you will find a hidden treasure. What you find is random, but you can get some decent items for this point in the game, such as Harps or the Vitalize spell. Story Update: Sisteena is a member of the Valeria Liberation Front. This is completely unimportant for the rest of this chapter, but keep it in mind in the future. There is no battle at Fiduc Castle; you meet the Dark Knight Lans and speak with him, and he agrees to sign the non-intervention treaty and sends you on your way with a lame-ass excuse for why he torched your hometown. Back at Armorkia, Duke Ronway sends you on a mission to travel to Baramus and encourage the residents- currently slave labor for the Gargastans- to revolt. Once again, Leonard will travel with you on this mission. You should spend the effort to get up to level 6 at this point, and get better classes for your characters. Bordo Lakeside Enemies: Knight, Soldier (3), Amazon (2), Wizard, Archer Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Matou Claw (Amazon) This is a rather difficult battle. Do not be lured into the water, as fighting in the marsh will usually result in your being defeated with ease. The enemies also have the high ground here, making Archers relatively weak. I found that the best strategy was to take the dry and relatively high ground on the center of the upper-right side of the battlefield and hold that position. This way, you avoid having to fight in the marsh. Of course, if most of your characters are water-elemental, you may want to stay in the marshes to gain the bonus to your damage you get there. Incidentally, one of the Amazons in this area carries a Matou Claw- get this if it's at all possible. The Matou Claw gives you a STR bonus of 24, making it the most powerful weapon you will find for quite a while. Zodo Marsh Enemies: Ganb (Beast Man), Gryphon (2), Lizard Man (3), Witch, Wizard Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is surprisingly easy after the last battle. The Gryphons are not as tough as they seem, and the Beast Man will retreat as soon as you do serious damage to one of them. Stay where you start until one of the Gryphons gets close to you, then throw everything you have at it. You cannot kill the Beast Man for his whip (He'll just retreat), so don't bother trying. Story Update: Denim has breached the defenses and reached Fiduc. You should be level seven or eight by now. Baramus part 1 Enemies: Soldier (8) Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Although the soldiers here are probably a level higher than you, this is a fairly easy battle- you have the high ground and they aren't very well-equipped. A couple may cause trouble since they have Bows, but altogether this is just a warm up. Since this is a two-part battle, be sure to get your characters as close to fully healed as possible before finishing off the last soldier (I suggest putting him to sleep with Incubus or Stunning him if you have Stun). Take two healers here in addition to Kachua to make life easier. Story Update: Even after you defeat the guards, the people of Baramus are reluctant to rebel. Duke Ronway, however, expected this, and Leonard tells you that he is under orders to kill the populace and blame the Gargastans. You are now given a choice which will dramatically affect the remainder of the game: Whether to follow orders and eliminate the populace, or do the right thing and refuse to. Your character's alignment will change depending on your choice- if you go with your orders, it will become L, and if you refuse, it will become C. I should note here that these alignments are not what you'd expect: Lawful does not mean "good", it just means that you tend to do what you're told, and Chaotic does not mean "evil", it means that you value Freedom more than the law. Of course, the character classes are a little odd in this particular- if you choose to be merciful now, you can become a Terror Knight later. Go figure. Baramus part 2 Enemies: Knight, Berzerker (2), Archer (2), Cleric/Witch*, Wizard (*- this varies depending on which choice you made earlier; if you made the Lawful choice, she's a Cleric, otherwise she's a Witch.) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Clear Staff (Cleric/Witch), Life Staff (Wizard), Great Bow(2, Archers) This battle is a very annoying one (It only occurs if you choose not to follow orders)- although the enemies are most likely on the same level as your party, you're probably still hurting from the last big fight, the enemies have the high ground, and they have better equipment than you do. The first order of business in this battle is to save, so that you won't have to do the last fight again should you lose anyone here. After that, I suggest that you have Canopus fly up as a diversion while the rest of your party makes it's way up the stairs, otherwise the enemy Archers will demolish you. Canopus will also most likely be able to do serious damage to a few enemies- especially if he still has his Spear, which allows him a two-square attack. If he can kill one of the Archers or the Witch, that's good, too. As you have probably gathered, the Archers are the most serious threat here- they have the high ground and they have powerful Great Bows. The Wizard is also a priority, since his Life staff can heal 50 points of damage and doesn't cost MP. The good thing about this battle is that if you do manage to get some of the items held by these enemies, you will have good equipment for most of the next chapter- the haul consists of Clear and Life Staffs and two Great Bows. ---- Chapter 2L ---- --- Nobody Should Blame Me --- Story Update: The Walsta Liberation Army, upon hearing of the massacre at Baramus, unite and grow in power- however, Vice travels into Gargastan and spreads the news that Duke Ronway was actually responsible for the massacre. The end result of this is that both the Walsta Liberation Army and the Gargastan army gain significantly in power. The Walsta Liberation Army needs to move against Gargastan quickly, before the truth about the Baramus massacre spreads, but they don't have enough manpower- luckily, as always, Duke Ronway had a plan. He will use Denim as a decoy to trick the Gargastan forces into splitting their army by faking an assault through Baramus. As the chapter opens, Denim's unit is moving into Baramus... Baramus City Enemies: Gryphon(2), Thunder Dragon, Hawk Man (3), Wizard Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This battle is pretty easy- although the enemies have quite a few flying units, you have the high ground. If you bring in a couple archers backed up by a couple tough fighters, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Be forewarned, however, that the Thunder Dragon which begins right near you can take a lot more punishment than the other enemy characters- you'll need to use a couple characters to defeat it quickly. The main thing you have to do here is be sure you can get a couple archers onto the roof of the tall building located down from where you start- that's an excellent vantage point to attack from. You do have to kill all the enemies here, so try to grab the Crossbow wielded by one of the Hawk Men when you do. Zodo Marsh Enemies: Wizard, Hawk Man (2), Archer (2), Solider (2), Octopus Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None If you're ready for this battle, it's also fairly easy. The major thing you need to know is that all of the enemies (well, except the Octopus) come equipped with bows. You should make sure, therefore, that most of your characters have long-range attacks or have either flying or teleportaion (Canopus, Gryphons, Hawk Men, Ghosts, etc.). Ghosts are excellent for luring enemies into postions where they're easy for you to attack. If you're having a tough time, you can go directly for the Wizard, but otherwise I'd suggest that you kill as may of the misc. characters as possible- the Great Bows they carry are fairly powerful. Ashton City Enemies: Cleric, Golem, Fire Dragon, Knight (3), Witch (3) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Once again, you start with the high ground, which makes your life easier if you've brought any bow-wielders with you. The first order of business here is to kill the Witch who has Charm- she can cause trouble for you if you're not careful. The Knights here are also fairly dangerous- although they're indavidually pretty weak, they all have fairly high attack and they tend to attack in groups. None of the enemies have any particularly powerful items, so you may be best off just to send a few flying units after the Cleric and dispatch her as quickly as possible. Story Update: As he leaves Ashton, Denim is attacked by a group under the command of Aloser- the sister of one of the innocents at Baramus. Ashton City Enemies: Aloser (Archer), Valkyrie (3), Hawk man (2), Wizard, Cleric, Knight Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None This is one of the tougher battles so far- Aloser is an excellent shot with her bow, a couple levels higher than you, and her army has the high ground. My suggestion is to use flying units to attack the enemies on her army with bows and long-range attacks (Cockitraices work well here, since they can petrify targets) while the rest of your army takes cover and waits for her to get close enough to attack. She will usually get close without much backup- at which point you should throw everything you have at her and any companions she has. If you have an undead party member you can send on a suicide attack at the beginning of the battle, that helps by giving you some more time before you have to deal with Aloser. Story Update: Aloser reveals that the Walsta Liberation Army was defeated at Swanzi Forest, leaving Denim without support- he decides to return to Amorika via the sea, passing through Kadoriga Fort on the way, where he meets a mysterious man under attack by a group of fighters... Kadoriga Fort Enemies: Berserker, Soldier (2), Ninja, Amazon, Cockitraice Guests: Zapan (Berzerker), Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Undead Ring (Cockitraice) Although it's not neccecary that you save Zapan- the Berserker under attack- it's highly advisable, and this battle is much easier than the corresponding battle in the Chaotic chapter. The key here, in short, is to get near enough to the enemies that they will attack you instead of Zapan as quickly as possible- he's also close enough to you to be in range of healing spells on the first or second round of combat. This battle is, as I've said, pretty easy- just get in and start killing the foot soliders as quickly as possible. Be aware that if you kill the Cockitraice, you'll get an Undead Ring- which can be useful for your magic-users later on. Tanmas Hill Enemies: Archer, Red Dragon (2), Knight(2), Ninja(2), Cleric, Witch Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Fire Orb (Red Dragon) There's nothing particularly special about this battle- just keep your party together. Don't take too much time killing the Dragons; they don't take much damage and have pretty high defense. After you kill most of the helpers, take out the Archer and be done with it. Be forewarned that most of the enemies here do have bows, however. Story Update: After the battle at Kadoriga Fort, Denim returns to Amorika, where he learns that the news is indeed true- the Walsta Liberation Army has been defeated. Duke Ronway makes the descision to ask Lodis for help- and throws Leonard out of the Liberation Army for resisting. Finally, he sends Denim to carry the letter to Fiduc... Gruborza Plains Enemies: Ninja, Gryphon(2), Wizard(2), Amazon(2), Soldier(2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Undead Ring (Gryphon) Once again, as long as you're on equal levels with the enemies, this shouldn't be too hard. The enemies won't move until you move closer to them (It's an odd AI glitch), so that should help you get into a better postion before you attack them- if you play your cards right, you can probably kill or seriously damage one of the soldiers before he even moves. The Ninja here is pretty tough; don't take him on until you're ready. Story Update: You meet up with Leonard in Rime, who suggests that you kill Duke Ronway- after a long chat, Denim decides to go along with it. On your way out of town, however, Vice shows up with Aloser, who starts a fight with you. Rime City Enemies: Vice (Knight), Aloser (Archer), Cleric, Knight(2), Soldier, Valkyrie(2), Wizard Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Revivify Spell (Aloser) This is a tough battle- your best bet here is to kill Vice as quickly as possible. Make sure you're at level 12 before you get here; otherwise both Vice and Aloser will be able to demolish your characters easily. My startegy here was to have my army move to the left immediatley (towards the hill with the two Archers on top) while my ghost moved to block the knights from attacking. Although the ghost 'died' fairly quickly, that allowed Vice to move out into a position where Zapan, Denim, and Canopus could attack him and drop him down to low enough health that the battle ended. It's probably best to use this or a similar strategy to kill Vice as quickly as possible- the enemies here don't carry much of use, and the longer you fight, the more likley it is that a few important characters in your party will be killed (While you can always recruit new generic characters, you're in big trouble if, say, Canopus or Zapan get killed- they're two of the more powerful helpers in the game). You'll probably need a try this battle a few times before you win- don't be discouraged if you do. Also be sure to kill Aloser, as she carries the all-important Revivify spell. Story Update: As you defeat Vice, the Bacrum army attacks Rime, complete with a group of Dark Knights. Lans Hamilton attacks their leader, while Vice and Denim retreat. Denim retreats to Gruborza Plains, preparing to attack Amorika Castle. Amorika Castle Enterance Enemies: Sorceror, Knight (3), Blue Dragon, Valkyrie(2), Cleric(2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Necro (Sorceror), Heal + (Clerics) This is a tough battle- you're really trapped into attacking from the front, and the Sorcerer and Valkries (who both have bows) here can do some serious damage from long range while you're dealing with the Knights and the Dragon (although the Knights and Dragon are indavidually fairly weak, they can absorb a lot of damage before dying). Things are made worse by the fact that this is a three-part stage- since your army doesn't recover HP between battles, you'll have to be sure you've got decent HP at the end of this one. Kill the Dragon and Knights as quickly as possible; I found that if I moved my army just a couple spaces forward, the enemies would get close enough that I could attack them the next round, and yet far enough away that they couldn't hit me. After you kill the fighters, move directly for the Sorceror- he's a powerful enough mage that he can do 50 or 60 points of damage with his magic, and he hits multiple characters, too. The good news is that his defense is rather low, so if you have a couple bow-wielders, you shouldn't have too hard of a time defeating him. If you have a couple Gryphons in your party, you may consider trying to use thier WindShot ability to dispatch him quickly. Amorika Castle Enemies: Terror Knight, Berserker(4), Wizard(2), Valkyrie(2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Fire Sword (Terror Knight) This battle is a lot easier than it looks- although there is a large force against you, the leader is exposed and will probably attack you immediatley. If you simply throw everything you have at him and switch in a group of characters which are in fairly good shape after the last battle, you will probably be able to kill him before you take any serious damage. This is one of the only stages where I recommend that you keep your chracters bunched up in a tight group- the four berserkers here won't be able to gang up as effectivley then, and the wizards probably won't get in range quickly enough to take advantage of your bunching. Be sure that Denim is in relativley good shape at the end of this battle- you'll need him as healthy as possible for the next one. Story Update: While you fight, Leonard kills Duke Ronway in his chambers- and then comes out to frame and kill Denim, not neccecarially in that order. Luckily, Vice shows up at the last minute, leading to a battle. Amorika Castle Enemies: Leonard (Knight) Guests: Vice (Knight), Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None The key here is to stay away from Leonard as long as possible- let Vice do as much of the fighting as you can. You'll probably want to equip Denim with a cure potion of some description and a two-square weapon (Denim was a Beast Tamer at the time in my game, so I used a Guard Whip). Attack Leonard from two squares away, and keep your distance so that he'll (hopefully) attack Vice instead of Denim. I thought that this was a cool battle, and it should only take you two or three tries (if that), assuming that you're prepared for it. Although Kachua is in this battle as a guest, she will usually be killed before she can do anything. Story Update: Before dying, Leonard tells Denim to blame him for the plot to kill the duke, and then go on to defeat Gargastan. In doing so, Denim unites the Walsta Liberation Army (now under his control) and the Neo Walsta Liberation Ally (Formerly under Vice's control) into one unit (which you named back in chapter one). They prepare to move against Gargastan, while Bacrum mysteriously retreats from Rime after invading it. ---- Chapter 3L ---- ---- Betrayal ---- Story Update: The new Walsta Liberation Army moves to take Coritani Castle- capital of Gargastan- by a split action- while Vice will move through Swanzi Forest, Denim's forces will move around through Burmor and Brigantes Castle, attacking Coritani from behind. Brumor Enemies: White Dragon(4), Lizard Man (4) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a rather tough battle- you'll have a hard time doing any appreciable damage if you're standing on the Ice when you attack. If you have any Dragoons or Dragon-slaying weapons, this is a good time to use them. Otherwise, my strategy here was to move to the hill to the right of my starting location and use the solid ground there to defend against the miscellaneous enemies- the hill in the upper-right corner makes an excellent place for a few Archers to stand. This may take you a few tries, but in the long run it isn't that tough. Story Update: There are two ways to enter Brigantes; through the South (the main enterance) or the West (more commonly known as the back). I prefer the West. There's no real advantage to going either way- there's no special equipment to be had here. South Brigantes Enemies: Wizard, Ninja (3), Valkyrie (2), Witch, Cleric, Golem (2) Guests: None Treasure: None You're under attack immediatley here- the three Ninja will probably go before you have the chance. You'll want to retreat far enough that the Archers won't be able to hit you. My suggestion here is that you retreat and kill the three Ninja and the two Golems (they should arrive fairly quickly), and then use magic or flying characters to destroy the three archers and the Wizard. This battle is a lot tougher than the West Brigantes counterpart; I really can't see doing it instead. If you do choose to do this battle, be sure to keep your HP up- there's another section at the end. West Brigantes Enemies: Hawk Man, Hawk Man (3), Octopus(2), Lizard Man(4) Guests: None Treasure: Aqua Hammer (Hawk Man) While the moat in this stage may appear to be a serious obstacle, keep in mind that the enemies have to cross it somehow too- if you bring your mages and archers into this battle, you'll have an easy time picking off the hapless Lizard Men and Octopi as they try to cross. The Hawk Men are a little tougher, but if you stay on the small raised area where you start, you'll probably be able to hit them with bows or spells as they cross one of the small island chains to reach you- keep in mind that your bows have much better range then their crossbows, especailly if they're wielded by skilled archers. Be sure to keep your HP up here, since there's a second part to this battle. Inside Brigantes Enemies: Knight, Earth Dragon, Berzerker, Witch, Siren, Exorcist Guests: None Treasure: None The one thing you really have going for you here is that while the enemies are all fairly tough, very few of them have missile attacks- although the one Berzerker is a good shot with his bow, most of the other enemies will have to take you on in hand-to-hand combat. With this in mind, my strategy here was to send a Ghost forward to keep the enemies occupied while I moved my power fighters into a line between the two torches near the starting place and used two Valkyries to form a "lip" around the side toward my party (to make myself more difficult to flank). One this was set up, I used an "attack by defending" strategy- I had my three fighters wait and use their counterattacks to do damage while they were supported by my two healers in the rear and my Wizards, Archers, and Valkyries attacked with long-range magic spells. I managed to hold out until the Knight came close enough that I could move forward and kill him- he is a "normal" knight, unlike most of the other story knights (*ahem* Leonard) who get huge stat bonuses. Story Update: After you liberate Brigantes, there's a scene with a group of Gargastan traitors who were imprisoned in Brigantes Castle. Their leader will say that the Gargastans are your enemies, despite the fact that they're traitors- if you respond "You're wrong!" to this, Jenounes- a powerful Dragoon- will join your party. Meanwhile, you set out for Coritani... Vahanna Enemies: Ninja, Ninja (2), Hawk Man (2), Gryphon (2), Preist Guests: None Treasure: None This is a pretty easy battle- you start with the high ground and the enemies don't have all that much in terms of magical attacks. If you have a few archers, keep them on the high ground and you should be able to kill the leader of the enemy group before they get too close- none of the others carry anything worthwhile (unless you want the Airleons carried by the two Hawk Men), so it's probably best just to end this quickly. Coritani Castle Enterance Enemies: Hawk Man, Berzerker (4), Wizard, Cleric, Witch, Hawk Man (2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is another fairly easy battle- again, the enemies here are tough, but those few of them who have missile attacks start out from a good distance away. The most dangerous enemy initially is probably the Witch- her spells will, at this point, be able to hit a large area- enough to freeze a good number of your troops with Stun. My suggestion is to move to the right of where you start and then kill the enemies as they try to cross the bridge- remember to keep your HP up here, since this is a two-part battle. Inside Coritani Enemies: Terror Knight, Terror Knight (2), Valkyrie (2), Siren, Cleric, Witch, Preist Guests: None Treasure: None If you have Jenounes with you, there's some interesting conversation between him and the Terror Knight here. Other than that, this is a fairly standard battle. If you have a Ninja or flying character, you can try and lure as many of the enemies as possible into one of the pits on either side of the "bridge" down the center- although anyone can jump in, only Ninja or Flying/Teleporting characters can get out. The lead Terror Knight is agressive enough that he should come down with the main force (although the two other Terror Knights will arrive first), so you should be able to kill him with magic or bows relativley easily. Story Update: After you capture Coritani, the Cardinal kills himself rather than be captured by the Liberation army. Meanwhile, Zaebos- a Gargastan knight- defeats the Liberation Army in Swanzi Forest and captures Vice. He sends out two of his squads to stop Denim while he retreats to Amorika castle. At this point, you have a choice of two battles- Swanzi Forest and Bordo Lakeside. They're both pretty equal in difficulty, and they both lead where you want to go. Swanzi Forest Enemies: Sorceror, Cleric, Lizard Man (4), Beast Man (2), Gryphon (2) Guests: None Treasure: None The enemies here are tough and, unlike many recent groups, have several characters with powerful ranged attacks who start out in positions where they can use them. This is still a fairly standard battle, though- I found that the enemies tended to crowd into groups on the "island" in front of your starting point- making them an easy target for magic. I found that the Stun spell was particularly effective here. If you can keep most of the enemies incapacitated, this battle shouldn't be too hard- just watch out for the Sorceror's Charm spell; it hits a large area and works a good percentage of the time. Bordo Lakeside Enemies: Summoner, Lizard Man (3), Hawk Man (2), Gremlin, Skeleton (2), Ghost Guests: None Treasure: None Interestingly, this is one of the few places where Gremlins appear in a story battle. I took the Swanzi Forest route, so I don't have all that much advice here- I do suggest, however, that you take an Exorcist to deal with the undead enemies here. Tanmas Hill Enemies: Ganb (Beast Tamer), Gryphon (2), Cockitraice (2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a fairly simple battle- if you're fast enough, you can finish it before Ganb and his ever-increasing number of pets get to move simply by having your archers and spell-casters move in and attack him quickly. This is a pretty easy battle; try to avoid killing Ganb's pets so that you can get the Rifle later. Amorika Castle Entrance Enemies: Siren, Archer (2), Berzerker (3), Terror Knight (2), Black Dragon, Earth Dragon, Witch Guests: None Treasure: Galdia Fan (Siren) This is a tough battle. Your best bet here is to stay in place for the first round; although the enemies are fairly well-equipped and do have long-range attacks, they probably won't be able to kill anyone the first round- and you should be able to do significant damage to their forces on the second. The biggest thing to watch out for here is the Witch's Stun spell- it works a good portion of the time and can hit a fairly large group of characters. Try to keep your HP up during this battle; you'll need it for the next one. Inside Amorika Castle Enemies: Zaebos (Knight), Knight (4), Valkryie (2), Witch, Wizard, Cleric Guests: None Treasure: Fafniel Sword (Zaebos) Zaebos' little group won't be able to attack you until the second round or so of this battle; I started out by using my flying characters and magic-users to attack the group of enemies which starts to the right of your starting place first. Once this group is dealt with (you should definitley kill the Witch and the bow-wielding Valkryies; you can kill the Knights if you have time, but it's not neccecary), you can attack Zaebos and his troops en masse. Assuming that you're in pretty good shape after the enterance, this battle shouldn't be all that hard. Story Update: Having liberated Amorika, you meet up with Guildus, Mildain, and Warren again- they were captured at Rime, but have since escaped. While Warren is seriously injured and is unable to help you, Guildus and Mildain join your party, along with Vice and a few generic characters (a Knight, an Exorcist, and a Preist). Meanwhile, Denim plans to attack Fiduc castle- the center of the Dark Knights' power- by going through the volcanic Wyoburi and Rime rather than going straight through the Gruborza Plains. Wyoburi Enemies: Red Dragon (2), Lizard Man (2), Hawk Man, Gremlin, Gryphon (2) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a pretty standard "eliminate all enemies" battle. The most dangerous enemies here are the two Dragons, but if you play your cards right, you can block off their access to your side of the lava river by moving characters in front of the crossings. Besides, at this point, you have just gotten a couple dragon-slaying weapons and powerful fighter to wield them. The other thing to watch out for is the Hawk Man; while he does have a bow, you may well be able to kill him before he can do any serious damage with archers. The two Gryphons here are a pain to kill, since they tend to retreat onto the high plateau across the river from where you start, but you should be able to send a few Ninja after them. You may want to consider recruiting the Gremlin here if you get the chance; they make decent archers and they can fly. Rime Enemies: Ozma (Temple Commando), Knight, Archer, Wizard, Dragon Tamer, Black Dragon, Thunder Dragon, Terror Knight, Siren Guests: Haborym (Sword Master) Treasure: Kaminari Spell (Wizard), Fenril Spell (Siren), Warp Boots (Terror Knight), Rosebud Whip (Ozma) It's a lot easier to save Haborym in this battle than it is in the corresponding battle in the Chaos path- it's still difficult, though. The problem is that Haborym will almost always go after Ozma and then attempt to hit her in the back- and, after she counters, the Archer can make short work of him. What I ended up doing, as much as I usually hate the strategy, was saving the game right before Haborym's turn and then re-loading until Ozma's attack missed. That's pretty much the only option- you can't move your troops fast enough to prevent Haborym from attacking or to defeat Ozma or the Archer. The good news is that after the first round, Haborym usually has the presence of mind to retreat away from the battle. After that, it's pretty easy to kill all the enemies for the good amounts of equipment here- I find that if I use Archers and Canopus, I can kill the Siren and the Wizard before they manage to use their attack spells (definitley advisable), and the other enemies are relatively easy to kill assuming that you have a couple Dragoons or characters equipped with dragon-slaying weapons (Vice works wonders with the Fire sword). Do keep in mind that Ozma's Petrify spell isn't just there for looks- she prefers to attack with her whip if possible, but she will use the spell on occasion. Fiduc Castle West Enemies: Sword Master, Dragon(2), Terror Knight, Dragon Tamer (2), Archer(2), Wizard, Siren, Soldier(*) Guests: None Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Siren), Ice Bow (Archer), Light Bow (Archer), Aqua Armor (Terror Knight), Wing Armor (Sword Master) This is the easier of the two battles leading to the castle. If you initially stand still, the enemies will not move- so you can use a Warlock or Witch to get the MP of any mage in your party up, then the battle with the five enemies will be rather easy as you can simply smash through them with a couple shots of Kaminari or Fenril (I recommend getting the Terror Knight out of the way first), and then you will have a couple rounds to recuperate before the Sword Master and his group reach you. The most important thing here is to keep your HP high for the battle inside the castle, and if you can kill the two Archers for their bows before you kill the Sword Master, it wouldn't hurt. You get quite a few good pieces of equipment here: two elemental bows and two suits of elemental armor, as well as the Gnome and MagmaGod spells (the Earth and Fire counterparts to Kaminari and Fenril). Be aware that Soldiers may appear as you fight here, but they are slow and poorly-equipped, and thus not much of a problem. Fiduc Castle South Enemies: Witch, Archer (2), Wizard (2), Knight (4) Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Wizard), Sand Bow (Archer), Fire Bow (Archer), Granite Armor (Knight), Pheonix Armor (Witch) Because of the positions your characters start relative to the enemies, this battle is much more difficult than the East battle, and there is no real difference in the gains. There's really no reason to take this route instead of the easier Fiduc Castle West route. Inside Fiduc Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando) Treasure: Gramrock Axe (Oz) This battle is a one-on-one between Denim and Oz. This is actually pretty easy if you got the Warp boots back in Rime- equip the boots and a bow and then warp up to the ledge above Oz and demolish him from there. It may take a while, but you'll be able to stay out of his reach in the mean time. ---- Chapter 2C ---- Story Update: The Gargastan Army, now having to deal with uprisings inside Gargastan in addition to the Walsta Liberation Army, is in serious trouble. Meanwhile, Duke Ronway has arranged for Denim to take the blame for the massacre at Baramus, putting a price on his head in hopes that he can be eliminated before he causes too much damage. Denim and Kachua take refuge in the nearby port of Ashton. Their only hope is to get through to Lans, the only member of the army that they can trust, who is currently with the army of Tanmas Hill. Ashton City Enemies: Aloser (Archer), Witch, Cleric, Knights (2), Hawkmen (2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Before you try to leave the city (which will trigger this battle), turn Denim into a Berzerker, give him a Phlanka Axe, and get the rest of your party up to level 9. This is one of the more annoying battles in the game. Aloser, an Archer with an unfortunate name who wants to avenge her brother killed in Baramus, is 10th level, has the high ground, and has several powerful backup fighters. However, the good news is that right before this stage, you can buy the supremely useful Zoshonell, Gurza, Hahnela, and Bartha spells, which increase the powers of various elements. Promote someone to a Witch, buy one of the spells which increases the power of an element most of your party has and few of the enemies do, and have your Witch stay in back and constantly fire off that spell. If you take cover until Aloser gets close and then swarm her, you shouldn't have too much trouble here. When her HP gets low, she will join as a guest after a short exchange with Denim. Zodo Marsh Enemies: Berzerker, misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None I don't actually remember much about this battle. Since you start on the high ground, it should be rather easy to defeat the enemies simply by holding that ground and using Canopus to fly out and kill any characters with long-range attacks who get close. The leader should be easy enough to kill once he gets close, particularly if you manage to kill a couple of his peons with magic or arrows before he closes with you. The trick described above with the Witch is also useful. Bordo Lakeside Enemies: Ninja, Golem, Octopus, Hawk Men, misc. Fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Matou Claw (Ninja) Again, this is pretty easy. Do what you can to knock off the Archers. The Golem is actually not that strong- anyone with decent attack power should be able to do serious damage to it. Canopus shouldn't have too much trouble flying over and demolishing the Hawk Men, if they prove to be a problem. You also have another opportunity to get a Matou Claw here from the Ninja. Tanmas Hill Enemies: Vice (Ninja), Gryphon (2), Beast Man (2), misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None It turns out that Duke Ronway has played a rather nasty trick on you: Lans is not here, but Vice is- with help and orders to kill you. If Aloser is with you, she will fight as a guest in this battle (This is the only battle where she fights with you as a guest). The Gryphons are actually a threat this time, due to the presence of the Beast Men, who will increase their strength. Kill the two Beast Men first, then kill the Gryphons. As I recall, the characters here are not all that well-equipped, but as the battle in general is fairly easy, it isn't a bad idea to kill them off for the experience and whatever you can get from them treasure-wise. The one thing you should be aware of is the fact that Vice, for no apparent reason, has a Crossbow, so make sure any seriously wounded characters are well clear of him. When you do enough damage to him, Vice will use his escape jewel to remove himself from the battle. If Aloser survives this battle, she will join you permanently. Story Update: Despite this setback, Denim and Kachua still hope that Lans can help him. Working under more reliable information that he is actually in Rime, they plan to go to Krizar and hopefully get on a ship. In Krizar, the Walsta Liberation Army have captured someone who they think is a member of your army- but neither you nor Kachua have seen him before. Krizar City Enemies: Knights (A whole bunch), Wizard Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Crossbow (Knights), Chain Mail (Knights), Slender Spear (Knights) After a short chat, the Knights decide that the best course of action is to toss the Knight in jail and attack. You shouldn't have too much trouble here; just bring a couple healers to make sure that nobody gets killed in the ensuing battle. The Wizard starts in a location where he will probably not get to attack before you either win the battle or kill him, but don't forget that he's there. A few of the Knights have Crossbows (Crossbows are not really as useful as Great Bows, of which you should have a couple by this time), most of them have useful Chain Mail, and two of them carry Slender Spears, which you should probably try to get for any Valkyries in your party or for Canopus. Story Update: The Knight who you saw earlier is actually a member of the Valeria Liberation Front like Sisteena. He can help you get a ship, but you will have to help him save his companion from pirates who have apparently moved into Kadoriga Fort since Nybbas left. Kadoriga Fort Enemies: Berzerker, Ninjas, Cockitarice, misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess), Byan (Wizard) Treasure: Undead Ring (Cockitraice) The Wizard who is trapped on top of the fort by the enemy is the Knight's companion. However, I am warning you right here that his chances of surviving this battle are slim to none- At the very beginning of the battle, he develops a Rafa Complex and will usually run into a group of enemies and get himself killed before you can do anything to help him. The biggest immediate threat here- as most of the enemies will be occupied attacking the Mage- is the Cockitrace, who can petrify your characters essentially for the rest of the battle (Usually resulting in their death). If you can stun it with Stun or Incubus, I strongly recommend that you do so, then move a group of fighters in to finish it off. Otherwise, use projectile attacks or magic if you can. If all else fails, you can kill it in hand-to-hand combat, but that's somewhat risky since it's petrifaction attack is close-range. If one of your characters is Petrified, you may still be able to win the battle, but try to draw enemies away from that character if at all possible. After that, the battle is pretty standard. You can get a Guard Whip from the Berzerker, and some of the Ninjas carry Matou Claws. Story Update: If you saved the Wizard, you are allowed an optional battle at which you can save Sisteena. Otherwise, you grab a ship and head for the Valeria Liberation Army's secret hideout. You decide to stop in at Griate for supplies on the way. Griate City Enemies: Wizard, Dragons, Witches, Archer, misc. fighters Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: Necro (Wizard) The Wizard is a bounty hunter looking for you. Big surprise. The two Valeria Liberation Front members will help you if they're still alive. Your biggest concern here is the Archer who starts on top of the house: She has a great bow and will make your life a living hell unless you kill her, ASAP. I suggest sending Canopus up after her and throwing a couple spells her way if you have a chance. Other than that, the battle is fairly basic. Look out for the Witches and be aware that the Dragons may cause trouble if you're not ready for them. Story Update: At their base in Fort Bodo, the Valeria Liberation Front's head will tell you of their plan to assassinate Duke Ronway. Kachua is indignant, although Denim considers the suggestion. The two do not join just yet, and instead go on to Rime City to meet with Lans. You should be up to at least level 12 at this point. Rime City Enemies: Zapan (Berzerker), Hawkman (2), Witch (2), Dragon (2), Lizardman (2) Guests: Kachua (High Preistess) Treasure: None Denim and Kachua approach Rime, but they are stopped by none other than Zapan, a Berzerker they fought earlier. His force starts surrounding Denim and Kachua on three sides, and the rest of your army is in a corner at least two turns away. Kachua has- literally- a 98-100% chance of being killed by the Hawkmen before she even gets to move, so be concerned mostly with Denim's well-being. Zapan can do around 90 points of damage with his Hammer and has a high defense to boot, so don't expect to be able to end the battle by just quickly defeating him. I find that it's best to retreat straight backwards and have most of your troops cluster around the large house which Kachua is hiding behind at the beginning of the scene while Canopus flies out and dispatches the Hawkmen. Attack Zapan after all or most of the enemy forces have been dealt with (especially the bow- wielding ones)- I prefer using ranged weapons or Magic against him. When you're close to killing him, he recovers with a Cure+, so be ready for it. I find that a Dragon's Breath attack generally does very good damage to him. Otherwise, just keep in mind that this is a hard battle and expect to have to try it a couple times. I eventually put up with losing one replaceable character to get rid of him. Story Update: Just as you're about to kill Zapan, the Bacrum army- complete with a group of Dark Knights- attacks. Lans engages their leader in single combat, and in the chaos Zapan takes Kachua hostage and runs off. As you are about to follow him, a Dark Knight shows up and blocks your path long enough for Zapan to escape- luckily, one of Lans' knights shows up to fight him before he decides to take on your unit. Zapan challenges you to fight him at Amorika Castle. Gruborza Plains Enemies: Summoner, Ninja (3), Cleric (2), Witch (2) Guests: None Treasure: Revivify Spell (Summoner) After the last battle, this is a cake walk. Two of the Ninja have crossbows; they should be your first priority. The Witches also have a couple new spells- one has SlowDown, which essentially paralyzes you until your next turn, and the other has Charm (Which can be the most supremely annoying spell if they manage to hit your healers with it). Also be sure to bring Presance here, as the Summoner summons skeletons with some frequency. Although he can create more monsters, the Summoner himself isn't that powerful- one or two hits should be able to kill him. You will also get the very useful Revivfy spell in this battle from killing the Summoner. Story Update: You arrive at the gate to Amorika Castle. Your characters should probably be up to level 14. Naturally, Zapan is waiting for you when you get there. Amorika Castle Gate Enemies: Zapan (Berzerker), Ninja (2), Knight (5), Golem(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The Golems here are more threatening than ones you have met in the past, but they're still the least of your worries. The Ninjas both carry Great Bows, but because of their AI, if you have several relatively quick characters, you should be able to kill them after a single move. Zapan and the large number of Knights here are the most dangerous foes- the knights are weak individually, but will overwhelm you fairly easily. I suggest that you have your fighters take up positions on the bridge and simply hold them (Do not attack; plan to do most of your damage by counterattacking and projectile attacks). Don't try to move onto the large, open area near the middle of the road you start on, as that is a sure way to get slaughtered. If you have a pair of Healers with you (as you should), they can stay back and keep up your fighters' HP. Your spell and bow-wielding characters should stay back and take out the two Knights with Crossbows ASAP, and then concentrate on the fighters attacking your position. After the rest of the troop (or a significant portion of it) has been defeated, use magic or ranged attacks to kill Zapan. I also find that Dragon special attacks work well against him- he can't counter them and they do surprising damage. This battle will probably take a few tries to get past without losing any of your characters, but it's not as hard as the battle back at Rime. Be sure to get Denim's HP as high as possible before finishing the round. Story Update: The mastermind behind the plan of kidnapping Kachua is none other than your "friend", Vice. After killing Zapan (You bastard! He was MINE!), he vents his aggressions at you for a while and then attacks you alone. Amorika Castle Enemies: Vice (Ninja) Guests: None Treasure: None As long as Denim is at full HP and has been a Berzerker long enough to get his defense and attack fairly high, this is a breeze. Vice has bad equipment and should only be able to withstand two hits from your Axe- he will walk up and attack, you will counter, then you can hit him in the back to "kill" him. Story Update: As you fight Vice, Leonard walks in with the news that Rime has fallen to the Bacrum army. After a short chat, he offers you the chance to rejoin the Walsta Liberation Army to help Walsta. If you agree, your alignment will become N and you will go on to Chapter 3N. If you disagree, you will go on to Chapter 3C. ---- Chapter 3C ---- ---- Ambition and desire is the motivation. ---- ---- Losers are called dogs and hogs. ---- Story Update: In the wake of Rime's fall, Duke Ronway increases the bounty on Denim's head. Denim, trapped between the Bacrum forces who want to kill him and Duke Ronway who wants to kill him, retreats once again to Ashton. Denim hopes to implement Selye's plan and kill Duke Ronway. As the chapter opens, Kachua runs off, objecting to your method of helping the people (Quoth Canopus: "You'd have to smack her around with a club to convince her"). At the end of the scene, a Bounty Hunter finds your hideout and you are forced to attack him. Ashton City Enemies: Berzerker, Fairy, Soldier, Lizard Man (2), Gryphon (2) Guests: None Treasure: None Although the Berzerker here is even higher-level than Zapan, his statistics are considerably worse. This is actually a fairly easy battle- most of the enemies are fairly weak. Your first order of business should be to get rid of the Gryphons, who have long-range attacks but are rather weak, and the Fairy, who is surprisingly well-equipped. Since you start on the high ground in this battle, Archers are very effective. You will most likely end up killing the Berzerker before you can kill the rest of his army. Story Update: You set off for Coritani Castle, which has been taken by Zaebos, a knight formerly of the Gargastan forces. You hope to free it before the Walsta Liberation Army, weakening their position. On a completely separate note, Balder equipment and a load of new spells become available at this point- spend some time re-equipping all your troops before you move on. Zodo Swamp Enemies: ??? Guests: None Treasure: None The strategy in this battle is roughly the same as the last chapter- hold your ground and kill anyone who gets too close. The battle shouldn't take more than two or three tries. Cortaini Castle Entrance Enemies: Siren, Dragon (2), Wizard (2), Berzerker (2), Hawk Man (2) Guests: None Treasure: Gladia Fan (Siren) The key to winning this battle is speed- if you run over the upper drawbridge, you will generally be able to stay ahead of the lower group of enemies. You may have to kill the Wizard, but that's rather easy if you have an archer standing on the nice, high structure near the upper bridge. The most dangerous enemies here are the Wizards, who are probably powerful enough to cast spells in an increased radius. The Hawk Men here are not all that much of a threat as long as you can get some Archers close enough to kill them before they get too close. I suggest that you don't attack the Siren at close-range, as her Gladia fan can confuse you if it hits you. Inside Cortaini Castle Enemies: Zaebos (Knight), Knight (2), Cleric (2), Wizard (2), Valkyrie (2), Dragon Guests: None Treasure: Fafniel Sword (Zaebos) This is a supremely annoying battle, but there is a trick to beating easily. Be sure to bring a Priest into this battle with you, as you will most likely need her Revivify magic. Your first order of business should be to kill any non-Wind- elemental mage, as they will have the ability to cast spells on a vast area- not something you want to be on the wrong end of. As you close with the enemies on the bridge, you will most likely lose a few characters- this is okay, as long as you know the trick to this battle. The thing to remember is that the pits on either side of the bride are traps- any S-size character can jump in, but only Ninjas or flying characters can get out. The easy way to win this battle, knowing that, is to lure Zaebos into the pit (I use Canopus as bait; sometimes he will also go on his own) where he cannot attack out or get out, and then kill all of his helpers (Pretty easy after you get rid of him and his Dragon). You may now wait and revive any dead characters at your leisure. When everyone is alive, use bows or magic to kill Zaebos with ease- be forewarned, however, that he will escape when he is in any danger- do NOT attempt to harm him until everyone else in your party is alive. Also be forewarned that you may need a couple tries to finish this battle- his party is strong and he has the upper ground and two Clerics who can heal people in a frighteningly large area. Vahanna Plateau Enemies: Lizard Man (4), White Dragon (4) Guests: None Treasure: None This is a very easy and rather cold battle- remember, all the enemies are water- elemental, so if you're not loaded down with water-elemental characters, use the Witch Trick. If you cast Zoshnell enough, the enemies will be rendered nearly helpless. This is pretty much a warm-up (No pun intended) for the next few battles. Brigantes Castle South Enemies: Knight, Soldier (3), Archer, Wizard (2), Valkyrie (2), White Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None This is the easier of the two battles to enter the castle, with the right strategy. The first thing you will probably notice is that the obvious way to finish the level is simply to storm up the stairway- this is, therefore, the absolute last thing that you should do. A far better strategy is to work your way around the side of the castle (in the snow). Somewhat surprisingly, when you do this, the enemies will not attack until you put yourself into an obvious location (such as on top of a wall). I suspect this is because the AI does not think that it "sees" you, which is somewhat odd considering that the Knight yells at you at the very beginning of the battle. The key here is to kill the two Mages as quickly as possible- the three Soldiers have bows, but are surprisingly inaccurate. Don't be discouraged if one or two of your characters die, since you should have Revivify by now. Keeping your HP high is the most important thing here, as in most 2-part battles. One other thing to note is that the knight here is realistic- he doesn't get any significant statistic bonuses, and therefore is incompetent. West Brigantes Caslte Enemies: Hawk Man (5), Siren(2), Archer(2), Cockitrace Guests: None Treasure: Aqua Hammer (Hawk Man) This is the other method of ingress to Brigantes Castle. While I have never attempted this path, I can honestly say that it wouldn't seem to be worth your while unless you really want the Aqua Hammer (Held by one of the Hawk Men)- the enemies have the high ground across a river, and nearly all of them have bows or crossbows. If you do decide to try this battle, I suggest relying mostly on magic to destroy enemies from the greatest possible range or changing most of your fighters into Ninja, who can walk across water. Once again, I really suggest that you take the southern path. Inside Brigantes Castle Enemies: Zaebos (Knight), Knight(3), Terror Knight, Amazon(2), Exorcist, Wizard(2) Guests: None You get to this battle through either entrance to the castle. This is a fairly tough battle, but Archers are useful as most of the fighting is on level ground. Don't bring any Undead, however, as doing so will result in their utter destruction at the hands of the Exorcist. Your first order of business is to kill the two Wizards, as usual, and then the Terror Knight, who has very good defense and reduces the attack power of anyone near him. The Amazons are also very annoying due to their accurate and painful spears. After you take out about half of his troops so that the immediate pressure is off of you, throw everything you have a Zaebos- expect to lose a couple party members in this battle (I lost two of my better fighters in this one). After the battle, you will always pick up Zaebos' powerful Fafniel sword. Story Update: No sooner do you liberate Brigantes castle and free the prisoners there than the Walsta Liberation Army takes Coritani again. Vahanna Plateau Enemies: Sorcerer, Ninja (7) Guests: Haborym (Sword Master) Treasure: Petrify Spell (Sorcerer) As you pass Vahanna Plateau again, you come upon a Sword Master running from a group of Walsta Liberation Army forces. On the logic that anything which hurts the Liberation Army is good for you, your army moves to defend him. I'm going to point out right now that it's nearly impossible to save him- The Ninja are powerful enough to kill him when they attack en masse, and he has a Rafa Complex. You also cannot revivify him, as he is not a member of your army. All in all, your best bet is to kill the Sorcerer as soon as possible- two Archer shots should be able to do the trick if you manage to get close enough to hit him. My recommendation here is to bring a Warlock or two with Quick and use it on either the archers or the Sword Master. I have also heard that you can finish this battle relativley easily by bringing a group of fast archers into the battle and having them kill the Sorcerer. Another strategy is to hit Haborym with projectiles so that he retreats behind you so that you can heal him- I personally haven't had much luck with this one (I find that the Ninja usually catch up with him before I can heal him), you can try it. If you decide that it's not worth the trouble to save him, the battle is tremendously easier- he will generally mortally wound one or two ninjas, and everyone is fairly poorly equipped. Story Update: If you saved Haborym, the Sword Master, he offers to join your army. Coritani Castle Entrance Enemies: Terror Knight, Wizard (2), Dragon(2), Dragon Tamer(2), etc. Guests: None Treasure: Fire Sword (Terror Knight) This is a pretty easy battle, once you figure out the trick to beating it. What you want to do is retreat to the small island below where you start in the middle of the mote, using Canopus or Magic to kill the wizards. Once on this island, after you have killed all the enemies, it is fairly easy to block the enemy Terror Knight from attacking while you revive any dead characters. Inside Coritani Castle Enemies: Leonard (Knight), Knight(2), Hawk Man(2), Witch, Wizard, Valkyrie(2) Guests: None Treasure: None Coritani castle is guarded by none other than Leonard himself. At the beginning of the scene, he will challenge you to a one-on-one battle- do NOT agree to this. The battle with him is nearly impossible to win. If you decline, he will summon a large group of enemies to attack you. However, this is deceptively easy- if you have a few fast archers and mages in the front row of your army, it is very likely that you will be able to kill him before he even gets to move. Just put all of the mages and archers available into the front row of your attack group and keep Canopus in the back if you have trouble, and things will be a snap. Story update: After Leonard's death, Denim decides to go to Rime in an attempt to kill the Good Duke Ronway, through the Wyoburi mountain range. Wyoburi Enemies: Ganb (Beast Man), Gryphon (2), Cockatrice(2) Guests: None Treasure: None The Beast Man here is the same one you met way back in the first chapter, and he's just as easy in this second battle. Use archery and Magic to take out his beasts, and then whatever means necessary to kill him. He's on the low ground and all four of his monsters are relatively weak. Rime Enemies: Terror Knight, Knight (2), Wizard(2), Cleric, Dragon Tamer (2), Dragon(2) Guests: None Treasure: Kaminari spell(Wizard), Fenril spell (Wizard) This battle is made very difficult be one factor: The two Wizards wield Kaminari and Fenril, two very powerful attack spells. They can demolish a single character in one casting. Be sure to kill them as soon as possible. I finished this battle by moving up from the location where I started and keeping my Priest far away from the action, where she was able to revive one or two of my characters who died over the course of the battle. Be aware that the Terror Knight wears Warp Boots, which allow him a greater movement range than he would otherwise have, and that the Knights have bows. Story Update: Vice kills the Duke and attempts to kill the Dark Knight Lans, but Lans is a step ahead of him and has Oz and Ozma for backup. Lans spares Vice while the Liberation Army heads for Amorika. At Amorika, both Guildus and Mildain, the Paladin Lans' two knights, join your army (!) as you prepare to attack Fiduc, where the Dark Knights are currently holed up. Bodo Fort (Optional) Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando), Templar Knight (5) Guests: None Treasure: None This is your first encounter with the Dark Knights in battle. The Templar Knights aren't much more powerful than regular knights, but the Temple Commando Oz packs a serious punch and has the DarkCage ability- which stuns it's targets with a 100% success rate as well as doing the same damage as a physical attack. I suggest staying in the location you start and using Kaminari and Fenril or sending Canopus to deal with enemies who get too close. When Oz arrives, you will want to have all of your party available to attack him so that you can defeat him as quickly as possible- unfortunately, he will escape before you can kill him. Story Update: The Dark Knights have your father, Plancy, captive and have killed the entire Valeria Liberation Front that you know of except for Selye, who reluctantly joins you. Fiduc Castle West Enemies: Sword Master, Dragon(2), Terror Knight, Dragon Tamer (2), Archer(2), Wizard, Siren, Soldier(*) Guests: None Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Siren), Ice Bow (Archer), Light Bow (Archer), Aqua Armor (Terror Knight), Wing Armor (Sword Master) This is the easier of the two battles leading to the castle. If you initially stand still, the enemies will not move- so you can use a Warlock or Witch to get the MP of any mage in your party up, then the battle with the five enemies will be rather easy as you can simply smash through them with a couple shots of Kaminari or Fenril (I recommend getting the Terror Knight out of the way first), and then you will have a couple rounds to recuperate before the Sword Master and his group reach you. The most important thing here is to keep your HP high for the battle inside the castle, and if you can kill the two Archers for their bows before you kill the Sword Master, it wouldn't hurt. You get quite a few good pieces of equipment here: two elemental bows and two suits of elemental armor, as well as the Gnome and MagmaGod spells (the Earth and Fire counterparts to Kaminari and Fenril). Be aware that Soldiers may appear as you fight here, but they are slow and poorly-equipped, and thus not much of a problem. Fiduc Castle South Enemies: Witch, Archer (2), Wizard (2), Knight (4) Treasure: MagmaGod Spell (Wizard), Gnome Spell (Wizard), Sand Bow (Archer), Fire Bow (Archer), Granite Armor (Knight), Pheonix Armor (Witch) Because of the positions your characters start relative to the enemies, this battle is much more difficult than the East battle, and there is no real difference in the gains. There's really no reason to take this route instead of the easier Fiduc Castle West route. Fiduc Castle Inside Enemies: Oz (Temple Commando), Ozma (Temple Commando), Templar Knight(2), Valkyrie(2), Magic-users Guests: None Treasure: GramRock Axe (Oz), Rosebud Whip (Ozma) If you approach this with the right strategy, it's a fairly difficult battle. Otherwise, it's darn near impossible. Yes, both Ozma and Oz are here, and yes, you have to kill them both. I found that the key to surviving the battle was to kill Oz as quickly as possible- if you have two mages with repeated-attack spells and Magi++ items, you should be able to kill him in their second rounds. Be sure to bring a Warlock or Witch with the Charge spell, as you will probably need to refill your MP with some frequency. After you kill Oz, the most important thing to do is take out the two Valkyries (both of whom have bows) as quickly as possible. The Templar Knights are probably the weakest enemies here; they will usually kill themselves attacking your fighters before they can do any serious damage. Also try to spread your characters as much as possible over the low floor you start on, as one of Ozma's most dangerous abilities is her three- square-radius Pertify spell. When she gets close enough, you can defeat her by the same method you defeated Oz. This is a rather tough battle; I can't count the number of tries it took me to finish it. Save once at the beginning, and make a backup save before you enter the castle. ---- Chapter 4 ---- ---- Hand in Hand ---- Story update: Depending on what path you took to get here, you will see a variety of different scenes, but the chapter itself is essentially the same. Regardless of your path, Kachua is installed as the ruler of Valeria by the Dark Knights. She is not recognized, however, by the Walsta Liberation Army (now led by Denim), but there is dissension in the ranks as a religious group takes prisoners and demands that the Liberation Army surrender to Bacrum. As the chapter opens, Denim sets off to contact their leader in Brigantes castle. I have a couple other notes here- first, random encounters will get very difficult at this point- enemies begin to appear at four or five levels higher than the average character. If you manage to survive at least one of these battles, however, you will gain quite a few levels- bring a Priest and do what you can. Vahanna Plateau Enemies: Wizard, Witch(2), Cleric, Archer(3), Exorcist, Terror Knight, Dragon Tamer, Lizardman (Note: The first time I tried this battle, there was no lizardman, but I had to leave in the middle and couldn't complete it. The second time, there was a lizardman there as well as the normal troopers. I think his appearance may be random) Guests: None Treasure: None Naturally, on your way to Brigantes, you are attacked by the survivors of Zaebos' army. This is a rather easy battle, as long as you keep track of the Wizard. Stay on the side of the river you start on and demolish the enemies with bows or magic. Since there's only one path over, you can block the Terror Knight fairly easily, and the Dragon Tamer isn't that much of a problem even if she does come across. As usual, the most important thing to do is to kill the archers quickly. Story Update: You can avoid the battles here if you remove all of Denim's equipment and spells, then send him alone to the South gate. If you do this, Olivia will stop her troops from attacking you. The down side to this is that you don't get any of the nifty equipment you otherwise would (most notably the Black Shield). The battles are both fairly messy, so I suggest that you skip them and go in the South. If you do want to fight, the west route is probably easier. South Brigantes Castle Enemies: Dragoon(2), Sword Master, Cleric, Archer(3), Wizard, Exorcist, Warlock Guests: None Treasure: Black Shield (Dragoon) No sooner do you finish explaining to the guards that you just want to talk, they attack you. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Seriously, this is a pointlessly difficult battle to subject yourself to. You start in a position where you will likely be cut down where you stand without making a move, and even if you do get to go, you end up fighting uphill against a fairly well- fortified force. The strategy you used before also simply doesn't work this time because of your position. I strongly suggest that you simply take the other path, or else bring a large contingent of Wizards and Clerics into the battle. West Brigantes Castle Enemies: Archer(3), Cleric, Exorcist, Siren, Wizard, Dragoon(2) Guests: None Treasure: Wing Ring (Archers), Black Shield (Dragoon) This battle is easier than it appears at first- if you simply wait on your little island until the enemies get into the moat, thier defense is drastically reduced while your offense is the same as always. This allows you to use your Archers and Wizards to kill any opponents foolish enough to get close. The three Archers here carry useful Wing Rings, which allow you to fly, and one of the enemies carries a Black Pearl shield which defends against magic. You may have to go to the other side of the moat to get the Cleric and Exorcist, but they're fairly weak anyway and are more of a hassle than anything else. Story Update: Denim enters the castle and speaks with the leader of the order, Olivia. She tells him that Plancy is with them, but is ill and does not have long to live. After a LONG scene, Olivia joins and tells you to seek Moruba in the Banhamuba Temple. Hedon Enemies: Warlock, Lizardman, Dragoon, Ghost, Siren, Dragon, Valkyre(2), Terror Knight, Black Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None You're assaulted by this group (including the first undead character you've seen since the first chapter) on the way to the shrine. This battle is actually fairly easy- if you play your cards right, you can block all of the fighters from moving onto your platform in the beginning of the battle, and then destroy them with bows or magic before moving on to kill the Warlock and his friends. Banhamuba Temple Enemies: Shelly (Siren), Ninja(4), Knight(2), Cleric, Dragoon Guests: None Treasure: None The enemies here are led by Shelley, the fourth sister, and I reccomend that you avoid killing her if possible so that you can get the Shamans later. This is easier than it may at first seem- you have the high ground initially, so Archers are very effective, and Shelley will rarely- if ever- use her powerful Dark Law spell (I should note that you can win Dark Law here by killing Shelley- but this is not advised, because then you are unable to complete the Shamans subquest). My advice is to hold your position on the stairs while you kill the other members of the enemy party, and then use rocks to weaken Shelley until she runs. Story Update: After a talk with Moruba, Denim decided to fake a troop movment elsewhere so that he can save Kachua from Lans. Lanbees Hill Enemies: Dragoon, Dragon Tamer (4), Dragon (2), Holy Dragon Guests: None Treasure: None This is a fairly easy battle- the Dragoon is aggressive, so he should be relativley easy to take out with Bows or Magic. Don't spend too much time worrying about the other enemies in the party; although the Dragon Tamers wield Magic, it's fairly weak. The most threatening are the two with Bows- but you should be able to kill the leader before they do too much damage. Banisha Enterance Enemies: Templar Knight (5), Golem (2) Guests: None Treasure: Non