First World

--- "The Mysterious Meteorite" ---

The game begins at Tycoon Castle, where a young girl named Reina is talking
with her father, the king of Tycoon. It seems that the wind hasn't been
quite normal lately, and the king is heading to the Wind Shrine to find out
the reason why. The two talk for a while, then the king climbs on his dragon
and flies off, telling Reina not to follow him. You'll then see various
scenes of Faris, a pirate; Galuf, an old man in a cave; and Princess Reina
again. Eventually, the scene will change to a forest where a man and a
chocobo are resting around a campfire. At this point, an extremely
pixellated meteor (yes, even in the PSX version) plummets from the sky and
crashes near Tycoon Castle. Curious about the 'earthquake', the man jumps on
his chocobo and runs out of the forest towards the fallen meteor to
investigate.


- Tycoon Meteor -
Treasures: Phoenix Down

You now have control of the man (whose name is just "?" for right now) on
the world map. There are no random battles, as you're riding on the chocobo,
so just head for the meteor to the east. Once you arrive there, the man will
tell his chocobo, Boko, to wait at the entrance while he goes in alone.
Follow the path until you come to two goblins who are holding Reina hostage.
The man surprises the goblins, and they attack him. This is an easy battle,
as neither of the goblins have more than 20 HP, and they can't do more than
3 or 4 damage to you. After beating them, Reina introduces herself to the
man, who reveals that his name is Bartz. (Actually, you can rename him
whatever you'd like at this point, but Bartz is the default, so I'll refer
to him by that name.)

Reina then joins you, and the two then start to leave the meteor site, but
stop when they hear a sound coming from the other side of the meteor, and
decide to investigate. It's Galuf, the old man from the intro. However, he
seems to have amnesia, and can't remember anything except his name... After
talking for a while, Reina says she's leaving for the Wind Shrine, and Galuf
suddenly remembers that that's where he was headed, too, and asks her to let
him come along. She hesitates for a moment, but ultimately agrees, and the
two of them head off, leaving Bartz alone.

Before leaving the meteorite area, walk down and right through the trees
just below where you met Galuf to find a Phoenix Down. Now leave the crater
and Bartz will automatically hop back on Boko, then you'll be back on the
world map.


--- "The Silent Wind" ---

Well, it's not much fun being alone, so...why not follow Reina and Galuf?
After all, it's not like you've got anything better to do, right? :)

Head northwest to the narrow path in the mountains. Here, the scene will
change to that of a narrow valley, where you'll see Reina and Galuf being
attacked by more goblins. Run through the valley, defeating the goblins
along the way, and rescue your two friends-to-be. After this, there's a
scene where Bartz decides to go to the Wind Shrine as well. He claims his
father's dying wish was for him to travel the world, but Galuf knows the
truth. :)  Unfortunately, the meteor's shock has blocked the way leading to
the village of Tule, but the travelers are determined to find a way through.

Back on the world map, head north. It seems a new cave has been formed in
the mountains, so save your game, then enter. Once again, Bartz will tell
Boko to wait outside while he and the others go in.


- Cliffside Cave -
Treasures: Leather Cap

Upon entering the cave, just keep heading forward until Bartz points out a
healing spring. This is a good place to stop and fight some enemies to gain
levels. The only things here are Steel Bats, and the crab-like Diablos,
neither of which are much of a threat. Build your members up to level 3 or 4
(using the spring to heal when necessary), then enter the upper door. Here,
you'll fight Stropers (weird plant-like things), but they're not any more
difficult than the other two enemies. Walk around the room, then climb the
stairs where you'll see a pirate flip a switch to open a door in the cliff.
After he leaves, you can do the same. First, though, grab the Leather Cap
from treasure chest on the left ledge. Now flip the switch, and open the
cave, which leads deeper into the cave. As soon as you enter, Bartz will
rush through the opening in the upper wall and you'll see a ship sailing
into the cove... but the wind has stopped... How can a ship move without
wind? Hmm... Worth investigating. After you re-enter the cave, continue
through the cave to the left and enter the upper door. (By the way, don't
bother with the lit cave opening Bartz ran through earlier, since it just
leads to that small mountainous dead end on the world map. You can save
here, but otherwise, there's no reason to come out here.)

You'll now be in a pirates' base, which means that strange ship you just saw
was a pirate ship... Since they need a ship to reach the Wind Shrine, Reina
suggests that they ask the pirates to give them a ride on theirs. Bartz
reminds her that these're pirates they're dealing with, and that he doubts
they'd agree to something like that. Galuf, however, has a 'better' idea...
Just steal the thing! Anyway, since there doesn't seem to be anyone around
now (that's awake, anyhow), feel free to explore the base. There's another
skull switch on the lower-left wall of the base, but it doesn't do anything
for right now. There are also two 'houses' here, both of which are guarded
by sleeping pirates, which you have no way of awakening. Just ignore these
distractions, and cross the long wooden bridge on the right, which leads to
the ship. Once onboard, you can climb down the stairs and look around if
you'd like, but there's nothing of interest there, so just examine the
ship's wheel at the far north end.

Well, you've succeeded in stealing the ship...or so it seems... Try as he
might, Bartz is ultimatly unable to get the ship to move. To make matters
worse, the pirates pick this moment to return, and you end up captured by
Faris, the captain. At this point, Reina, in hopes of persuading the pirates
to take her to the Wind Shrine, shows Faris a pendant, and reveals to the
group that she is actually the princess of Tycoon. This doesn't faze the
pirate captain much, though, as she decides that Reina would fetch a nice
ransom. She then has you thrown in the brig!

After some dialogue, the scene changes to Faris, who has the same type of
pendant as Reina... Having a sudden change of heart, Faris releases you,
saying she decided to bring you to the Wind Shrine. Reina asks how they
intend to get there, since the wind has stopped. Faris then shows the
princess the secret of her "Windless Ship"...to everyone's surprise, it's
actually being pulled by a huge water dragon hamed Hydra!  Faris then joins
the team, and you're returned to the world map, where you can now control
the ship! Sail out of the small channel, and a pirate will stop you and ask
if you want him to show you where the shrine is. If you want a guided tour,
say yes, and you'll sail there automatically. Whether you agreed to this or
not, before entering the Wind Shrine, sail west to the small village of Tule
to get some supplies.


- Tule -
Treasures: Tent x2, Tonic x2, 150 GP, 100 GP, Ether, LeatherShoes x2,
           Phoenix Down x2

As soon as you enter the village, Faris and the pirates, true to their
nature, run off into the pub. Faris will leave your party, but will rejoin
when you leave.

Anyhow, the first thing you should do here is to talk to the old man
wandering around near the entrance of town. He offers to take you to the
Beginner's Hall, which, if you're a first time player, you should definitely
accept. (Actually, you could just walk here...it's the house on the far
lower left corner of town.) Enter the house near where he 'drops you off',
and talk to the woman at the desk; tell her you're a beginner, and she'll
let you in. (If you tell her you're not, she'll kick you out. Literally. =P)
This place is something of a no-brainer. Talk to everyone for tips and info
on most of the various gameplay features, and be sure to take the items
(Tent, Tonic, Ether, Phoenix Down, and 100 GP) out of the barrels, boxes,
and jars. Upstairs, there are more people with more advice for you. The
treasure chest here contains a monster, but it's just a single goblin. After
defeating it, you'll receive a pair of Leather Shoes that you should give to
Bartz. Ok, that's all that's here, so talk to the lady at the front desk
again to leave. With that out of the way, feel free to explore the rest of
the town.

When you enter the weapon and armor shops, Faris momentarily rejoins, to
make sure she's not left out in the equipment upgrading process. :)  The
leather equipment at the armor shop is pretty weak, but it's all you can get
for now, so you might as well outfit your team with it. Also, be sure to buy
enough Broadswords for everyone. (If you don't have enough money now, build
up a little bit and buy the rest.) Since your characters can currently equip
anything, there's little reason to buy the weaker Staffs and Wooden Rods
now. There's also a magic shop in town, but since no one can use magic yet,
don't buy any of it unless you have some extra cash. If you'd like some
treasures, there's 150 GP in a barrel to the right of the inn, and a Tent
and Tonic are in some boxes near the bridge. Get the items, then cross the
bridge and enter the house on the other side. Reina will explain that this
house belongs to Zok, the man who built the waterway connecting the east and
west oceans, but he doesn't seem to be home, and there's nothing of interest
in his house, so just leave for now. Now, pick up a Phoenix Down and another
pair of Leather Shoes by examining the box and bush on either side of his
house (you'll have to walk through the woods to get to them).  The only
other thing to do here is visit the pub, so do so. Talk to all the pirates,
then stand on the left side of the stage where the dancers are. They'll
begin to dance, then jump off the stage when they're done, allowing you to
reach (and play) the piano there. Since there's a nice reward later for
doing this later on in the game, by all means, go play it! Finally, go
upstairs, where you'll find Faris, asleep in one of the rooms. A quick peek
in the captain's room drops some rather obvious hints that the mighty pirate
is actually a woman!

Anyhow... After talking to everyone and taking everything, leave Tule, and
Faris will rejoin you. From here, you have a choice of actions: You can
either head directly for the Wind Shrine, or you can return to the pirates'
cave to check on Boko. If you don't feel like going to the back to the cave
right now, just go down to the Wind Shrine section; if you want to look for
Boko, check the sub-quests section ("Boko").


- Wind Shrine -
Treasures: Tonic x5, Tent, Leather Cap, Broadsword, Staff

When you feel you're ready, sail northeast to the Wind Shrine. Upon entering
the shrine, head for the left room and talk to the people there first.
You'll learn that the King Tycoon went to the crystal room on the top floor,
but that he hasn't come down yet... You'll also learn that when the wind
stopped, monsters effectively took over the shrine. When you regain control,
examine the pot at the bottom of the room and you'll be fully healed. Now
talk to the man standing to the left of it to get five Tonics, then leave
this room, head right, and enter the door.

At this point, I suggest building your levels; you'll probably want to be on
about level 5-7 before moving on. Don't worry if you get hurt, though, since
you can go back downstairs and use the pot to heal anytime. 

But anyway, when you've had your fill of building up, go back down and heal,
then return to the second floor. Here, head left and take the chest to get a
Tent, then backtrack slightly and enter the door you just passed. This leads
to a small room with a column of light in it...this is a save point. Save
your game, then go through the lower door.

In this next section, take the door on the right to collect a Leather Cap,
then take the left door to a winding room with two doors and a big
eagle-type monster blocking another door. There's also a secret shortcut in
the left wall below the door you can see from the entrance...take it if you
want. Anyway, before confronting the "eagle", examine the two side-rooms.
The one on the right is empty, but the one on the left (near where the
secret passage is) has a treasure box containing a Broadsword. Get the sword
(and equip it if you didn't buy enough at Tule), then 'talk' to the eagle;
it will jump forth and attack you... It's not really an eagle, but rather
the Wingrapter, an eagle-like dinosaur.

- Boss Battle -
Wingrapter - Lv: ??   HP: <500>   (Don't have Scan/Check yet) 

Well, if you've played just about any other Final Fantasy game, you'll
probably already know its typical "First Boss" strategy. Well, it applies
here as well. Basically, the boss can only be attacked when it's not in its
'defensive stance', or not only will your attack fail, but you'll get
counterattacked. In this case, if Wingrapter's wings close, don't attack
him. You should probably be strong enough to beat it before it even closes
its wings, though, if you're on at least level 5 and have a Broadsword
equipped on everyone. Just watch out for "Air Wing", which does about 40
damage to the whole team... (Well, if you wanna get technical, it does
damage equal to 25% of Max HP. Bleh.)

After beating this foul fowl (ok, unnecessarily bad joke =P), continue up
through the door it was blocking and you'll come out in a room with vines
all over the walls. Before entering the center door, push against the wall
in the lower right corner and follow the invisible path to claim a staff.
Now go in the door and you'll be at the room with the Wind Crystal.
Unfortunately, though, it seems you're too a bit too late, as the crystal
has already shattered, and King Tycoon is nowhere to be found... The
following scene shows the four crystals lending their essences to Bartz and
the group, then an image of King Tycoon appears and explains the power of
the crystals, and tells you that you're the four "chosen warriors"; the
keepers of the four essences. Reina doesn't understand, and asks her father
what he means. He explains that a great evil is trying to return, and urges
you to protect the other three crystals... After talking, the image vanishes
and the shards of the crystal grant you their powers...that is, they allow
you to access the job system! You're given a set of basic jobs: Knight,
Thief, Monk, Blue Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage, then you regain control.
You're finished here, so walk around to the back of the room and touch the
swirly tile, which will warp you back to the beginning of the shrine.

This is is a good time to start using jobs. I suggest turning Bartz into a
knight, Galuf into a monk, and the remaining two should alternate between
thieves and the various mages, but feel free to use whatever you'd like.


--- "To the Eastern Land" ---

Now leave the shrine, and return to Tule. Start by buying all the magic from
the shops here if you haven't already done so, and head for Zok's house; he
is now home, so go talk to him. Reina will explain to the old man that they
need the key to Torna Canal so they can pass through to eastern Walz in
order to protect the crystal that lies therein. Unfortunately, Zok seems to
have lost the key, but he insists that you stay at his house for the night.
In the middle of the night, Bartz wakes up and walks outside and has a
flashback about his late parents talking about the crystal. He then goes
back inside and talks to Zok, who apparently had the Canal Key all along,
but didn't want to give it to you out of fear for Reina's safety. Having
seen her determination, however, he reconsiders, and decides to give you the
key. Leave town and board the ship again, there will be a short scene in
which Faris leaves her pirate crew, and you'll regain control. Before
heading east to Torna Canal, however, there's something you might wanna do.
If you have a Blue Mage, you can learn Aero from the Mauldwin enemies at the
Wind Shrine, Gob Punch from the Goblins on the world map, and Red Feast from
the Steel Bats inside the first cave.


- Torna Canal -
Treasures: None

When you arrive at the Canal, use the key to open the gate, then fight the
monsters for a while to build up your new jobs. After you've had your fill,
sail through the waterways until you come upon a whirlpool, which threatens
to suck your ship in! As you draw closer, you discover that the whirlpool
isn't natural... It was created by a giant scorpion monster called the
Karl Boss...

- Boss Battle -
Karl Boss - Lv: 5   HP: 650    Weakness: Lightning

This is a pretty routine battle. If your monk has learned Store, use it for
a quick 200+ damage. Lightning and Fire magic also work well, so if you have
a Black Mage (or someone with Black magic), use them. In general, Karl Boss'
attacks are pretty weak, but watch out for its Tentacle attack, which can
paralyze you, and Tail Screw, which reduces one member's HP to the single
digits. Overall, though, you should win without too much trouble, and you'll
earn yourself a Tent when you win.

After defeating the thing, it gets its final revenge on you by pulling
Hydra into its whirlpool! It then vanishes along with your sea serpent
friend, and without him to guide it, the ship then begins to drift... After
a few days, the ship finally comes to a halt at a rather unpleasant spot...
The graveyard of ships...


- Ship Graveyard -
Treasures: Flail, Tent, 990G, Phoenix Down x2, Antidote x2, Tonic, World Map

Unfortunately, there's no place to save your game here, but if you need to
restore your HP, you *can* rest in the bedroom on Faris's ship. Do so if
you get weak. As for enemies here, they're mostly undead, meaning Fire and
Cure magic is effective against them. The non-undead enemies (CrystSlugs and
LumbrBeasts) are also of little threat, and give you a *lot* more Exp and GP
than the enemies you've been fighting. In addition, the CrystSlugs sometimes
drop Elixirs!

Anyway, enough about general area features... Leave Faris's ship, and head
down along the broken boards until you come to a rock. Press against it a
few times and more rocks will appear in a chain below it. Jump across them
to reach a chest containing a Flail; if you have a White Mage, equip it,
then return and rest in Faris's ship again. Now go back to the wrecked ship
and enter the door. Climb down the steps and go in the center door to get a
tent, then go down through the door on the right and climb down into the
water on the left side.

Navigating this next area is easy if you're using a console, but it's
extremely difficult if you're using an emulator. There's a transparent layer
of water over the screen in the next couple of areas...this is no big deal
if you're using a console, but when using certain Emulators, all that
appears is the water. I'm aware that most emulators have button functions
that disable certain parts of the background, but unfortunately, if you
disable the water, the ship itself also disappears, meaning you'll have to
stumble around blindly in the darkness... For this such reason, I've
included two seperate walkthroughs for this area: A basic one for those
playing the console version, and a step-by-step (literally) walkthrough of
the area for those playing the ROM.

PSX/SNES Version:
You'll now be in the hold of the wrecked ship. First, climb down the stairs
and examine the crate with the skull on it to get 990 GP, then go up until
you see two doors. Take the upper one, then climb down the stairs and go
under the wooden platform to get a Phoenix Down. Leave this room and take
the lower door, then climb down the steps in front of you and go down the
stairs in the corner of the room. In this next room, go right, then up to
get a Tonic (yay), then go right and through the door (watch out for the
pitfall near it), and keep going until you reach a room with a few beds.
<Note: Unless you're curious, or for some reason want a super-detailed
walkthrough here, skip the next section and go straight to "Both Versions".>

Emulator Version:
Keep in mind before reading this, that this walkthrough leads to all the
treasures, as well as the end. And a big note here...do *not* count the
square you're standing on as a step, as if you do, the directions will come
out wrong, and you'll end up lost. Thus, when I say "down 1, left 3", it
means press down once, and left three times. Anyway, with that out of the
way... From the stairs leading down into the water, take 6 steps down, 6
steps left, and two steps down. You'll enter a staircase leading down to the
flooded hold of the wrecked ship, which is where it gets *really* dark.
(Note: I don't feel like repeating the word 'steps' over and over again, so
when I say "down 6, up 1" I mean go six steps down, and one step up.)  From
the entrance to this room, go left 3, down 3, and left 3. Now face up, and
press A. You'll get 990 Gil from a crate that you can't see. Now go left 1,
up 3, left 1, up 5, right 1, up 5 more, and right 3. This puts you between
two doors, an upper one, and a lower one (Neither of which you can see).
Head up 2, and you'll enter another room. This one is mostly above water, so
you should be able to see where you're going for the most part. Despite what
appearances would suggest, though, there *is* something in that dark water,
so walk down to the little staircase sticking out of the water on the left
side of the room. From here, go down 1, right 1, up 6, and right 1. You
should be facing an invisible chest. Press A to get a FenixDown (Phoenix
Down), then follow the previous directions in reverse (left 1, down 6, left
1, up 1, for the lazy) to get out of the water. Since that chest is all
that's here, just leave the room and return to the darkness (ok, that
sounded weird...).  Now go down 3 and enter the lower door. In this next
room, go down 12, and right 3 to go down another staircase you can't see. Go
right 2, and up 5. At the end of this path, press A to get a Potion (yay),
then go left 2 and up 5, and you're almost finished. This last room is only
partially underwater, so I'm not sure whether or not you're able to see
where you're going... Anyway, go left 1, down 2, right 1, and down 6, and
you're finally at the exit! Just watch out for the pitfall directly left of
the exit...


Both Versions:
In the "Bedroom", the group will split up and talk for a while... During
the following scenes, your suspicions are confirmed, Faris *is* in fact, a
woman! After drying off, the group will decide to rest. In the morning, go
up into the room where Reina went to change her clothes earlier. There's a
save point here (which...I don't remember seeing in the ROM)...it's been a
while since you last saved, so do so, then keep going up the stairs until
you reach the exit. Now cross the fallen mast, and instead of jumping on the
rocks, head down across the series of half-submerged wooden platforms. Now
jump on the wrecked ship on the right and enter the door. On the floor is
the World Map, a valuable special item that, for some unknown reason,
functions in all three worlds. =P  Take the map, then go down the seaweed
covered staircase on the right, collect the three chests to get a Phoenix
Down and two Antidotes. There's nothing else in here, so leave the ship, and
jump across the rocks on the right side. There's a treasure chest on this
sunken ship, but when you open it, the rest of the ship rises out of the
water! (Wow...that's some chest! O_o)  Walk across the newly-risen ship and
jump across...yep, you guessed it...*more* rocks at the end!

After the jump, you'll end up on a beach, where something rather odd
happens... Bartz's mother...or rather, someone who appears to be her...
appears and puts Bartz in some sort of trance. The same thing happens to
Reina and Faris when "King Tycoon" appears. Finally, a little girl calling
Galuf "grandpa" shows up, but since Galuf has lost his memory, he doesn't
remember who the girl is, and thus, isn't affected by her hypnosis. At this
point, a strange woman calling herself the Siren appears and attempts to
steal the souls of Galuf's three unconcious friends... Galuf then wakes up
his friends by shouting at them (and slapping them =P), which causes the
three illusionary family members dissappear. Disappointed by Galuf's
actions, Siren attacks you.

- Boss Battle -
Siren - Lv: 2   HP: 900   Weakness: Fire (When undead)

No, that's not a typo. Siren really *is* on level 2. O_o   I'm not sure if
the low level has anything to do with it, but this is probably the easiest
boss battle you've fought so far. Siren almost never attacks, preferring to
cast stat enhancing spells such as Protes and Haste on herself. She'll also
occasionally waste her turns casting Scan on you. =P  As for a plan of
attack...well, initially, magic doesn't really work very well on her, so
just stick with physical attacks. The entire battle pretty much changes
after you do enough damage, though, when Siren becomes undead. In this
palette-shifted form, Siren stops wasting time with worthless spells, and
attacks more often. She also has a higher defense, but is susceptable to
fire and curative magic. Thus, adjust your strategy accordingly, and you
should have no problem here. When you defeat Siren, you'll get 5 ABP and a
BronzeShield.

After the battle, walk up through the crack in the cliffs and you'll be back
on the world map! The first thing you should do is save...it's been a while
since you've been able to do so. With this horrible place now just a memory,
head southwest to the town of Kerwin.


--- "Dragon Quest" ---

- Kerwin -
Treasures: Ice Rod, Antidote, 1000 GP

When you arrive at Kerwin, everyone is talking about either the wind having
stopped and ships being unable to sail, or the dragon that was seen on the
North Mountain. After you've spoken with everyone, buy some supplies and new
equipment at the stores. The only new weapon you can buy is the Long Sword,
so if you have a Knight or Blue Mage, buy some. As for armor, buy a Bronze
Helmet and Bronze Armor for your Knight (you should already have a Bronze
Shield from the battle with Siren), Bronze Plate for lesser fighting
characters (Monks, Thieves), and Cotton Robes for the magic users. Finally,
there're two new spells for sale: Sleep (Black) and Protes (White). Buy them
both.

Anyhow, with shopping done, search the town for treasures! You can find an
antidote by searching the barrels in the lower section of town, and an Ice
Rod can be found in a box behind the item shop also in the lower section of
town. (You'll have to go through a hidden passageway between two sets of
boxes to be able to reach it.) Finally, a quick 1000 GP can be found in a
barrel in the pub. Walk through the wall below the two jars in the lower
left corner of the room to find it. Oh, and speaking of the pub, there's
also another piano there that you should play. After taking the items and
talking to everyone, just leave town; there's nothing else here. Next stop?
The North Mountain!


- North Mountain -
Treasures: Phoenix Down, Soft, MythrilHelmt

>From Kerwin, head to the northeast through the woods until you come to the
mountain; enter it then go straight up and into the opening in the cliff
wall. In this first section of the mountain, there're two things of note:
the first being the two chests in plain sight that contain a Soft and a
Phoenix Down, and the other being the Blue Magic "Flash" that the 'Stones',
big headstones with faces, use. The only problem is, Stones don't start with
enough MP to use Flash, so you'll have to use an Ether on them before you
can actually learn the spell. Sort of a waste if you ask me, since you can
easily get it later, but it's there if you wanna learn it. Oh yeah, you can
sometimes steal SilvrGlasses from Stones...get a few if you can, since
they're a bit better than LeatherShoes. Anyway, after getting these goodies
(or not =P), exit through the lit passageway on the left side of the room,
and you'll end up outside, on an upper ledge of the mountain. Continue up to
another small cave entrance, which is just a small tunnel leading to the
other side of the mountain. Back outside, cross the bridge and go inside the
next tunnel, but be careful of the purple flowers. As someone in Kerwin
said, these are poisonous, so if you step on one, your whole team will end
up poisoned. The only thing in this cave is a save point, so save your game,
then take the south exit.

Here, head left for a little ways, and Reina will spot her father's headgear
and rush over to pick it up. No sooner does she take it, however, then she
gets shot by an arrow and poisoned, and the cliffs start to crack. To make
things worse, a female poacher named Magissa appears, claiming that she came
here for that dragon, but that the princess of Tycoon would be a much better
'trophy'. This angers Faris, who then attempts to jump across the crack,
only to have it widen on her, making her fall in! Magissa taunts you, but
her humor is short-lived, as Faris actually manages to climb back up the
cliff! She then throws a rope across the chasm so Bartz and Galuf can join
in, and with the team back together, Magissa attacks.

- Boss Battle -
Magissa - Lv: 8   HP: 650
Faltzer - Lv: 8   HP: 850   <Shows up later>

This is a pretty ordinary battle, but Reina starts out poisoned, so cure her
immediately, then focus on Magissa. Since her Drain and Bolt spells hurt
pretty bad, it'd be a good idea to have a second healer on hand just in
case. Magissa also uses Aero from time to time; it's pretty tough to learn
it here, but you should already have it. Anyway, after a few rounds of
fighting (and assuming you didn't already defeat her), Magissa will call her
husband, Faltzer, into the battle. Now things start to get interesting...
Keep attacking Magissa, who'll likely cast Regen on Faltzer (don't worry, it
only restores his HP by like 4 points), and she'll fall pretty quickly. Once
she's out of the way, attack Faltzer with everything you have. Like his
wife, Faltzer has a powerful attack (Tackle) that really hurts you, so be
sure to keep healing. Since Faltzer has no real weaknesses, just attack him
physically, and he'll eventually fall as well. Upon winning, you'll receive
6 ABP, a Whip, and a Power Drink. (The latter will only be obtained if you
*didn't* defeat Magissa before she called Faltzer.)

After the battle, the first thing to do is equip the headgear that Reina
picked up a moment ago...it's a Mythril Helmet. Now climb up to the top of
the mountain, where you'll find the injured dragon... Fortunately, there is
some Dragon Grass growing nearby, so Reina goes over and picks it, even
though it means crossing the poisonous purple flowers... Reina uses the
precious herb to cure the dragon, then passes out. Thankful for what she did
for him, the dragon returns the favor and heals Reina, then allows the team
to fly on his back! There's a rather amusing scene where Bartz shows a
"disinterest" in heights, then you gain control of the dragon! It can fly
over land and water, but not mountains, so you can go back to anyplace
you've been previously, plus two new areas: Walz, and Tycoon Castle. If you
want to explore Tycoon, look down at the sub-quests section ("Quick Stop at
Tycoon"), but if you just want to continue the game, head south to Walz.


--- "Water Crystal Crisis" ---

- Walz Town -
Treasures: SilvrGlasses

When you arrive in Walz, head for the town first. There's not that much
here, but talk to everyone and be sure to upgrade your equipment -- the Iron
Armor is a good buy for Knights, and the Kung-fu Suits are a good buy for
everyone else. Battle Axes are the only new weapon for sale here, but none
of your current jobs can equip them, so don't bother buying one. Likewise,
the magic shop here sells Time and Summon magics, but since you don't have a
Time Mage or a Summoner yet, there's no need to buy these, either. Aside
from the stuff at the shops, the only item to find here is the SilvrGlasses
in the jar that's inside the lone house on the left side of town; take them,
then leave for the nearby castle.


- Walz Castle -
Treasures: Phoenix Down, Tent, 490 GP

Inside Walz Castle, head immediately for the throne room. Reina warns King
Walz about the crystal, and urges him to stop using the machine to amplify
its power out of fear that might shatter. The king, of course, refuses,
giving the old "There's no proof it'll happen again" speech. Before he can
even finish, however, the ground begins to shake, and another meteorite
falls from the sky, crashing down east of Walz Tower! The king and several
soldiers then rush off to investigate, leaving you alone in the castle.

After they leave, feel free to explore the castle. There isn't a whole lot
here, but you can get a Phoenix Down, a Tent, and 490 GP from the storage
room, and there're two small side areas here: the basement, and the water
tower. You're probably not strong enough to tackle either of these areas
yet, but you can try if you'd like (see the sub-quests section; "Treasure of
Walz"). Oh, and *don't* release Lone Wolf from prison, or it'll return to
haunt you later... (Though releasing the other prisoner results in a rather
amusing scene. :) Besides these few things, though, there isn't much else to
do here now, so just leave and head for northern Walz Tower.


- Walz Tower -
Treasures: Silk Robe, Maiden'sKiss, SilvrArmBand, Ether

Once you arrive in Walz Tower, you'll learn from a couple wounded soldiers
that a normally tame monster called Garula (you might have seen him in Walz
Town) has gone berserk and is trying to destroy the crystal... After talking
to the soldiers, climb up the tower, which until the fourth floor, is very
linear. On the fourth floor, you'll find King Walz, who says he was attacked
by Garula, and begs you to save the crystal. Now, instead of going in the
upper door, walk into the water on the left side of the room and climb the
vine covered pillar. You'll end up in a room with a treasure chest
containing a Silk Robe; get it, then jump back in the hole, and enter the
door. Use the save point in this room if you'd like, then take the nearby
treasure chest to get a Maiden'sKiss, and enter the next door. In this room,
you'll encounter groups of RicardMages and IceSoldiers, which are a fairly
easy to defeat, and are a good source of Exp and ABP (a group of three
RicardMages, for example, is worth 3 ABP). In the next water-filled room,
you'll fight "Y Burns" (can you say "mistranslation"? =P). They give a lot
of Exp as well, and you can steal Mythril Knives from them; just watch out
for their damaging Air Wing attack. Generally, the tower is again pretty
straightforward from here, so just keep going until you reach a water filled
room with three ivy-covered pillars in it. Like the one you encountered
earlier here, you can climb these. Don't bother with the center pillar,
since it just leads to an empty dead end, but be climb up the other two.
On the left, you'll find a chest containing a SilvrArmBand, and on the
right, you'll find a chest containing an Ether, and the door leading to the
crystal room.

In the crystal room, you'll find a foreign-looking soldier trying
unsuccessfully to protect the crystal from Garula. He's easily taken down by
the beast, however, which then turns and attacks you...

- Boss Battle -
Garula - Lv: 5   HP: 1200

Despite what his appearance may suggest, Garula isn't all that difficult.
He usually attacks several times in a row, though he doesn't do all that
much damage unless he uses the Charge. This attack averages about 80 damage,
and slowly reduces HP. A barrage of normal attacks is all you really need to
do to defeat Garula, but if you wanna get cheap, you can exploit his one
major weakness...he can be turned into a frog! =P  If you've learned it,
cast Toad Song on him (if it misses, just try again until it hits). If you
decide to do this, be sure to also cast Mute on him, which prevents him from
casting Toad on himself to reverse the effects. When you defeat Garula,
you'll get 5 ABP and a Potion.


Despite that fact that you defeated Garula, the overworked crystal still
shatters, and the orange-garbed guard who seems to know Galuf dies... Pick
up the pieces of the crystal to acquire a whole set of new jobs, which
includes Summoner, Sorcerer, Red Mage, Time Mage, and Berserker. However,
there is one piece you can't get. Don't worry about this, you'll be able to
get it later. Once you've gotten all the accessable crystal shards, Walz
Tower begins to sink and your characters are thrown in the ocean! All looks
hopeless, but suddenly, out of nowhere, who should appear but your old
friend Hydra! Hydra picks your team up and drops them off at a nearby
beach, then, having used up the last of his strength, goes out to sea to
die...

Return to Walz Castle and talk to everyone. You'll learn that a soldier
from far off Karnak was found in the meteor near Walz Tower, and he claims
that he was warped there while investigating a similar meteor that fell near
Karnak Castle. Speaking of Karnak... The bedridden king tells you that this
is the very location of the Fire Crystal, which is also in danger! Leave
Walz and return to the meteorite crater near where the tower used to be,
there's now a small opening -- enter it and pass through the small meteoric
tunnel until you come to a warp tile. Touch it and sure enough, you'll be
warped to another meteorite! Now head outside and proceed northwest to
Karnak...


--- "The Dying Flame" ---

On your way to Karnak, try to learn the '????' Blue Magic from the Wild
Dogs. They rarely use this, but even worse is that its name doesn't appear
when they *do* use it. Since ???? does damage equal to the amount of HP the
user has lost, my advice here is to turn all your members into Blue Mages,
then just sit around, not attacking, until one of them uses an attack that
looks slightly different, and seems to so nothing. 

Anyway, whether or not you learn this strange Blue Magic, proceed north
until you come to a field, then turn left and go south through the forest to
find the town of Karnak.


- Karnak -
Treasures: None

When you arrive at Karnak, you'll find that there's surprisingly little to
fo here... Before shopping, talk to the people, and you'll learn that a man
named Cid created the machines that amplified the power of the crystals.
They say that he tried to get the Queen of Karnak to shut off the one
powering the Crystal of Fire, but she refused, and he was thrown in jail as
a result. You'll also hear from the townspeople that monsters are trying to
get the crystal, including a strange werewolf, which was seen coming out of
the nearby meteorite... The last thing of note that you'll hear from the
people is that people from the Ancient Library in the south kept coming up
to Karnak for the same reason as Cid: to get the queen to shut off the
crystal amplifier. She eventually got so sick of them, that she built a wall
west of the castle to keep them out...

Hmm...the only other things of note here are the piano at the pub (be sure
to play it), and the fact that the magic shop is temporarily closed. You'll
also notice that the items in the shop are mysteriously inexpensive... It'd
be great if you could buy all the stuff you need at these insanely low
prices, but unfortunately, when you try to buy something (or even if you
cancel out of the window without buying anything) you'll be caught by some
soldiers and thrown in jail, being accused of being...a monster? Well, at
least you get to keep the one cheap item you bought. ^_^


- Karnak Castle -
Treasures: None (Actually, there're a bunch of chests here, but they're all
           blocked in one way or another.)

Well, you monsters, you're now you're in jail... There's not much you can do
to escape, so just wait until the old man in the next cell blows up the wall
next to you. He complains, saying that he used the last of his gunpowder,
and only succeeded in blasting into another cell. =P  He then introduces
himself to you...he is the legendary Cid, and he explains to you pretty much
the same thing you heard about him back in town, but he goes into greater
detail. He says that he read in a book that the crystals used to be much
more powerful than they are at present, and that he built the amplifier
machines in order to emulate that power. Unfortunately, overpowering the
crystals only caused them to shatter, and when he realized this and tried to
get the queen to shut off the machine in the castle, she threw him in jail.
After talking for a while, the chancellor shows up and tells Cid that a
crack has formed in the Crystal, then releases him, who refuses to do
anything unless Bartz and crew are also set free. The chancellor reluctantly
agrees, and sets "the monsters" free. The chancellor tells you that they
shut off the crystal amplifier machine, but the power of the crystal is
still being drained! Cid then realizes that the fire-powered steamship
outside must be draining the power, and rushes off to try and fix it.

You'll now regain control. There are a few treasures in the prison, but you
can't get them, as the Fire Crystal has been going nuts and is spewing fire
everywhere, and the flames seem to be convieniently blocking your way. Leave
the dungeon and you'll be in Karnak Castle. All the treasures and most of
the doors are being blocked by more flames, so ignore them and leave the
castle. On your way out, you'll meet the werewolf everyone was talking
about, but the guards set off a small explosion, scaring him off.

Back in Karnak City, you'll see that without the crystal, the item prices
have skyrocketed! Oh well, it's good stuff, so be sure to buy new equipment
here. There's also one new item at the armor shop: Plumed Hats. Buy whatever
you need, then head to the Magic Shop, which is also opened now. The new
Time Magic isn't all that special, but the new white and black magic is!
The White Magic store has Cure2, Raise, and Muddle, and the Black Magic shop
has Fire2, Ice2, Bolt2, and Poison...buy them all! With this new magic, you
should be strong enough to defeat Shiva at Walz Castle ("Treasure of Walz"),
or you can just head for the Fire-powered Ship.


- Fire-Powered Ship -
Treasures: Cottage, Elixir x3, Phoenix Down, Thief'sGlove, MythrilGlove
           Green Beret, Moonring, World Map (if you didn't get it already)

As soon as you board the ship, Cid will greet you and tell you the situation
of things. He says that he was right, that the engine *is* still draining
the crystal's power. Unfortunately, monsters appeared in the machinery, and
they're unable to do anything at present, so he asks *you* to go down and
stop the engine. When you regain control, enter the upper door on the ship,
then climb down the stairs. You'll be in a high-tech looking room full of
passages. There are monsters here, though none of them are very tough, and
you can learn a couple of low-level Blue Magics from some of them. You can
learn Flash from the shadowy Cool Dust enemies if you didn't get it earlier
-- they'll use it when they're alone. You can also learn Exploder from a
Mottletrap by casting Bolt on it. To find a Mottletrap, just defeat a
Defeater (that sounded weird ^_^), and it'll leave two Mottletraps in its
place.

Anyhow... Start by going in the silver door (it looks like a box, but it's
really a door) near the entrance to get a MythrilGlove, then take the ladder
to the upper level where a chest containing a Cottage lies in wait. If you'd
like a couple of Elixirs, go up the left ladder, and down the right
staircase to get two. After getting the items, take the uppermost door,
which leads to an elevator. Flip the switch, and the elevator will rise,
bringing you to an upper part of the ship. As soon as it stops, exit and
take the Phoenix Down from the nearby chest, and if you didn't already get
the World Map in the Ship Graveyard, you'll find one by the chest. Head left
through the next door; it's another elevator, this time, going down. After
riding it, you'll come out on an upper ledge with a pipe line and a treasure
chest that you can't get because the conveyor belt leading to it is running
in the wrong direction; ignore it and go in the pipe. Follow it until you
reach a ladder, then climb down it and keep going until you reach a room
with three doors and four pipes. Depending on which pipes/doors you enter,
you'll get different results...

Pipe 1: Going in here just drops you back to the room you just came from. In
other words, there's no real reason to jump in this one.

Pipe 2: This is where you want to go, but be sure and collect the other
treasures in the other pipes first. This pipe will bring you to a room with
a staircase and a door. First, go up the staircase and flip the switch, then
go in the door that appears and grab the Moonring fron the chest. (Note:
This item has no icon, and such weapons will be classified as 'other'
weapons.) This is a fairly powerful weapon, but only Thieves (and Ninjas)
can equip it, so give it to your thief for a much needed attack power boost.
Now go back and enter the door you passed earlier; you'll be faced with two
more doors. The one with the one-way conyevor belt leads back to the pipe
room, so only take it if you missed something there. The other door leads to
a room with a save point. Save, then continue through the door behind it.
(See below)

Pipe 3: This will drop you on the ledge with the treasure chest you saw
earlier, but couldn't reach. Open the box to get a Thief'sGlove, which
increases your chances of stealing something, plus gives you a nice defense
boost; give this to your thief, if you have one. All in all, the item you
get here is nice, but you have a long walk back to the pipe room...

Pipe 4: Go in this pipe and you'll end up in a room with a door, a
staircase, and a treasure chest you can't reach because of a conveyor belt.
Climb down the stairs and loop around in the pipes, eventually you'll come
out on the ledge with the treasure box you just saw, it's a Green Beret.
Take it, then go in the door, which leads back to the room with the four
pipes.

Door 1: This is where you came in. You can also leave via this door if you'd
like. ^_^

Door 2: This is where you come from if you jumped in pipe 4 and went in the
door.

Door 3: You come out of here if you take the door with the conveyor belt in
front of it after jumping in pipe 2.

After jumping in pipe 2 and passing through the save point room, you'll be
in a room full of switches and floating platforms. Start by flipping the
first switch, which moves the platform you're standing on up to the next set
of switches. Pull the first one and it'll move a small platform over to a
ledge with a treasure box on it; you can't reach it yet, but by doing this,
you'll be able to shortly. Go down and flip the next switch, which extends
the platform you're on over to the left, creating a bridge. On the other
side of the bridge, flip the two switches; one of them will break the bridge
you just crossed (you have to do this), and the other one will pull a small
platform up so you can walk down to the lower switches. In order for either
of the switches here to be of any use, you *must* be standing on the wire
platforms. The lower one will bring you back to the start of the room, the
upper one will bring you up to the ledge with the treasure chest and a door.
If you flipped the switch earlier, you can now take the treasure chest to
get an always needed Elixir. Take it, then go through the door to the ship's
engine room. Here, you'll meet the missing Queen Karnak, who seems to be
controlled by someone or something... Whatever the case, she sics the Liquid
Flame on you...

- Boss Battle -
LiqudFlame - Lv: 19   HP: 3000   Weakness: Ice

This battle is pretty tough. Liquid Flame has three different forms, each
with its own set of attacks: A humanoid form, a tornado form, and a 'hand'
form. The humanoid is probably the most dangerous of the three, as its
Blaze attack does damage equal to 25% of *max* HP to the whole team! Use
Cure2 after this happens. The tornado form is rather weak...it has a high
evade rate, but low defense, and its Magneto spell isn't very dangerous
(all it does is pull members that are in the back row up to the front row),
but it will cure itself by using Fire2. The hand also has a high evasion
rate, and its attacks are also weak. Its "Shock" attack paralyzes you, and
it can cast Fire2, which does about 250 damage to one member. The Liquid
Flame seems to change form everytime it's successfully attacked, so keep
this in mind. All three forms are weak against ice, so use Ice 2, Shiva, and
the Sorcerer's Ice 2 Sword to inflict massive damage, and, as usual, Store
also does a lot of damage if it connects. When you defeat the Liquid Flame,
you'll get 6 ABP, and a fire-related item which depends on which form it was
in when it fell: A Fire Rod if it was in humanoid form, a Fire Bow if it was
in tornado form, and a lowly Fire Skill if it was in hand form.

After beating the flame, the queen tells you that she was being controlled
by a demon, who is the *real* cause of the shattering crystals. She explains
that a demon is trying to resurrect himself by shattering all the crystals,
then tells you to try and protect the Fire Crystal. The engine of the
steamship has exploded, so go in the pipe behind it to get to the room where
the crystal is.


- Karnak Castle -
Treasures: 2000 GP x3, Elixir x6, Shuriken, LgtningSkill, HuntingKnife,
           Elf Cloak, Esna (White Magic), Ribbon

When you reach the crystal room, the werewolf that everyone in Karnak fears
shows up and greets Galuf; it seems that he's not your enemy at all, but is
actually rather friendly. The werewolf explains a bit about the crystal, and
talks about a demon. As they talk, an obviously possessed soldier enters the
room, turns the amplifier machine to full power, babbles something about
breaking some kind of seal, then disappears (I guess he dies), leaving the
crystal to shatter! Bartz runs up and tries to shut off the machine, but
it's no use...the guard has effectively jammed the switch, and it can't be
stopped! Since the machine is now at full power, and is rapidly sucking the
power from the crystal, there's no way to prevent it from shattering! The
werewolf goes over to try and stop the machine manually, but fires burst out
and all hell breaks loose! Your team tries to save him, but fails when the
room becomes completely engulfed in flames, and the floor beneath you
collapses. No sooner do you fall through the floor than the crystal
shatters, and the werewolf dies... To make matters worse, without the
Crystal of Fire to power it, Karnak Castle begins to weaken, and will
explode! You have 10 minutes to escape from the doomed castle before it is
completely destroyed, but numerous treasures and monsters will *not* make
escaping an easy task! Of course, if you're a coward, you can just escape
from the castle, but brave warriors don't fear death, and will seek out the
goodies, regardless of the danger.

You start the escape in a room with a save point, save if you want (do
*not* use your main save, though, or you may end up being trapped here),
then quickly run to the previous room and examine the jar to restore HP &
MP. After being healed, run to the right and climb the stairs to return to
the prison where you and Cid were held earlier. The fires are all out now,
so you can collect the treasures in the other cells. The one on the left
contains 2000 GP, while the other one holds an Elixir. (Note: All the
treasure chests except for the ones containing 2000 GP contain monsters, and
you'll win the afformentioned item after the battle. You will occasionally
fight Gigas enemies here- they can use both Aero and Aero 2, which are Blue
Magics, and when defeated, they *always* drop useful Giant Drinks.) Take the
right staircase up to the next floor. There're two more chests here, one
contains a Shuriken, and the other contains a Ribbon. Be sure to, at the
very least, get the latter! There are no treasures on the next two floors,
so just rush through them to the main room. Here, enter the nearby door and
you'll be in a room with several treasure boxes. Two of them contain
monsters and Elixirs, while the other one holds 2000 GP. Take the items,
then climb the upper staircase, which leads to a treasure chest containing a
valuable Elf Cloak. After getting it, return to the treasure room and take
the lower door, which is just a quicker route to the next treasure room.
This room has three Elixirs, 2000 GP, and a staircase leading to a treasure
room, which contains a HuntingKnife. Whether or not you want to risk getting
these items, go back to the main room of the castle and head down. (There is
absolutely nothing in the throne room, so ignore it.) There are two treasure
boxes here containing a Lightning Skill item and the valuable Esna spell;
collect them both (or at least Esna), then rush outside, where you'll be
attacked...

- Boss Battle -
Sergeant - Lv: ??   HP: 1000
Karnak   - Lv: 19   HP: 140
Karnak   - Lv: 19   HP: 140
Karnak   - Lv: 19   HP: 140

This seems exactly like an ordinary battle...that is, until you realize that
this isn't an ordinary sergeant... After inflicting about 500 damage to him,
he'll reveal his true form, a multi-limbed demon called Iron Claw...

- Boss Battle -
Iron Claw - Lv: ??   HP: 1000

Yes, this is actually the same battle, and it's fairly easy, although I hope
you have more than a minute remaining. Iron Claw uses the Doom Claw skill on
you a lot, which lowers your HP to single digits, plus paralyzes you as
well! You can (and should) learn this, though, as it's one of the Blue
Magics. (And you won't get another chance at it until much later.) Besides
that one spell, there is nothing in this battle that you haven't seen many
times before, so just hurry up and beat this loser before you run out of
time.

After beating Iron Claw, quickly escape from the castle. No matter how much
time you had left on the clock, the castle will explode, taking out part of
the wall to the west of the castle as well. After the explosion, you'll end
up in a field south of Karnak, where three pieces of the fire crystal will
come down and lend you their powers. You can now use the Ninja, Trainer, and
Geomancer jobs. Before moving on, though, return to Karnak.


- Karnak -
Treasures: Fire Rod

Back in town, the fires that once burned here are all gone, and the people
are devastated by the loss of the crystal and the castle. The queen managed
to survive the explosion, and is resting at the inn, but she seems to be out
of it, and doesn't say anything important. You're also told by some people
at the Pub that Cid returned to the Fire-powered ship. Before leaving town,
there's something of note you might wanna investigate. You might've noticed
earlier that there was a staircase north of the inn that was blocked by
flames. Well, since they're gone, you can climb up it and explore the top of
the wall around town. You can get a Fire Rod by checking the lone barrel at
the end of the left path, but that's...about it. Get it if you want, then
return to the Fire-powered ship.

Here, you'll find a very depressed Cid. He talks for a moment about how it's
all his fault that the crystals shattered, then retreats. You can find him
back in Karnak, on the second floor of the pub, but he just tells you to
leave him alone... Since there's not much you can do to cheer him up, just
do as he says... There's nothing more to do in Karnak, and since the wall
leading to the Ancient Library has been destroyed, I guess it's time to move
on.


--- "Knowledge and Mystery" ---

>From Karnak, head to the southeast. I urge you not to go through the desert,
as the Quadrharpies there are *very* strong. They can cast Aqua Rake, which
your Blue Mage can learn, but it does a lot of damage, and can wipe you out
if you're not strong enough. Go around the desert, then head southwest until
you find a small forest with a shrine in it. This is the Ancient Library,
but instead of going in, fight around in the forest for a bit, as the
Mithril Dragons (yes, they spelled it correctly here...don't ask why) can
use Pep Up, a Blue Magic. Since it's a healing spell, they obviously won't
cast it on you willingly...you'll have to control or confuse them. =P 
Anyway, once you have this skill, head inside the library.


- Ancient Library -
Treasures: Ether, Phoenix Down, Ninja Suit, Ifrit (Summon Magic)

The first thing to do here is talk to everyone. You'll learn that Cid's
grandson, Mid, has gone to the basement to look for something, but hasn't
returned yet. They wouldn't really be worried, though, if it weren't for the
fact that many of the books down there are possessed by monsters, so they
ask you to go down and search for him.

Before going down, though, go upstairs and examine the pot to restore your
HP, MP, and status. If you'd like, you can also go up to the roof and fight
a possessed book, but it's not necessary, since you don't get anything for
doing so. When you decide to go down to the basement, you'll have to go
through a series of strange puzzles, and fight some rather bizarre enemies.
There're several Blue Magics you can learn here, as well. First, 'Page 32'
can use Aero 2, which you can learn if you missed it back at Karnak. Second,
'Page 256' uses Moon Flute, and if you use the Cntrl command, you can make
them use Guard-Off. Finally, the Page 64 enemies use L.5 Doom. The biggest
problem with learning this skill, though, is that unlike in FF6 and FF7, you
have to get *hit* (and killed) by it in order to learn it... Since all of
your team members are probably on the same level (and will consequently all
get killed by the spell), this is rather difficult to do...well, unless you
go about it the right way. Kill off a character whose level is a multiple of
5 (probably 15 at this point), then build up the rest of your characters
until they gain a level. (If you're picky about keeping your characters
close, wait until they're close to gaining a level anyways.) Now revive your
last character, make him/her a Blue Mage or equip the Learning ability,
fight a Page 64, let it cast the spell, and proceed to win the battle.
Ta-da! Trust me, it's a lot less complicated than I just made it sound, and
learning this spell will be a *big* help later on...

Anyway, you won't fight any enemies in the first room, but there's a puzzle
of sorts here. Start by just walk straight up to the first bookshelf, and
it'll slide away, allowing you to pass. Now walk over to the left and step
in the small opening in the bookshelf, and the first bookshelf will slide
back into its original position, creating a small passage that you can walk
under on the right side of the room. Go under the small holes and climb the
staircase up to the top of the shelves. Walk to the right and keep following
the narrow path until you reach the edge, and the same bookshelf will slide
over again, creating a 'bridge' you can walk on. Go to the right, but before
climbing down the staircase, walk to the far end of the platform -- the
bookshelf will slide over one last time, allowing you to pass. Now go
downstairs and examine the loose brick on the floor, a secret passage
leading further down will appear.

This lower floor is dark, and you can only see a short distance around you,
but it's not a very big area, so it's not a problem. Head right to get a
chest containing an Ether, then go through the south exit. Here, go down the
ladder and through the next door, where you'll be blocked by a sentient
bookshelf. O_o  Since there's no way to get by it now, leave this room, and
climb the ladder next to it. Though it appears to lead nowhere, examine the
shelf at the top, and a secret passage will appear -- go through it and
walk along the top of the shelves to reach a small empty room with just a
book in it. When you go to read it, however, it bursts into flames, and
Ifrit pops out of it, saying that he'll only answer the call of those who
can defeat him in battle...

- Boss Battle -
Ifrit - Lv: 22   HP: 3000   Weakness: Water, Ice

A rather uneventful battle. Ifrit only has two attacks: Fire2, which hits
one member for 250-350 damage, and Blaze, which is the same thing Liquid
Flame used. Ifrit is weak against water, so Aqua Rake is effective against
him, doing about 500 damage, but it's hardly worth the ludicrous casting
cost, especially since he has a much bigger weakness: Ice. Both the Black
and Magic Sword versions of Ice2 do upwards of 700 damage to him, and are
considerably cheaper, too! Overall, he's not that difficult to beat, and
when you win, you'll get 5 ABP, a Fire Skill, and the Ifrit summon spell.

With Ifrit as an ally, return to the previous room where that bookshelf
blocked your way. Seeing that Ifrit is with you, though, it moves aside and
allows you to pass. Before proceeding forward, though, pass under the
bookshelf on the left (the one with the ladder behind it), and grab the
chest from the balcony to get a Ninja Suit. Equip it, then go back and enter
the upper door. This next room is also dark, but it doesn't make navigating
any more difficult. Climb down the ladder, then turn left at the fork
(there's no reason to go right, since it just leads to a dead end), and
you'll come to another fork. Go south first to get a Phoenix Down from the
chest, then go right and through the door. Right next to the door you come
out of is another door, which leads to a miniature version of the "Puzzle"
room from the beginning of the basement. All you have to do here, though,
is stand in front of the upper bookshelf, which causes to slide away, then
climb up the small ladder and search the shelf behind it, which causes the
shelf you just moved to slide back. Now, on the other side of the room,
ignore that obvious door (which leads to a dead end balcony), and climb the
small ladder near it. Examine the shelf at the top, and a possessed book
jumps out. After defeating it, a secret passage will appear where it was,
leading to a room with a save point; save your game, then take the right
exit. Enter the only door in this next area, and you'll finally find Mid.
Unfortunately, before you can actually reach him, the king of all possessed
book monsters (or something like that) jumps out and attacks. Oh well, we
needed another boss battle here. ^_^

- Boss Battle -
Biblos - Lv: 24   HP: 3600   Weakness: Holy, Fire

Argh! This is one hell of an annoying battle! First off, Biblos starts the
battle by casting Protes, rendering physical attacks nearly useless. Second,
he absorbs all elements except Holy (which you don't have yet) and Fire.
Finally, he has a whole mess of annoying attacks, including a low hit-rate,
rarely used, hard to find, and single targetting blue magic (MagHammer).
This reduces MP cost by 1/2, but he rarely uses it...still, this is the only
place you'll be able to get it for a while. His other attacks include "Wind
Slash", which does about 250+ damage to the entire team; "Thread", which
causes Slow status on one member; and the rarely used "Dischord", which
drops the target's level by 1/2. Fortunately, this has a very low hit-rate.
Oh, and for those who've played FF6...No, this isn't a Blue Magic, and it
can't be learned, so don't waste time trying. Anyway, as for attacks to use
against it...well, you don't have much of a choice here... You don't have
any Holy magic yet, so stick with Fire2, which does ~700 damage. (Fire2
Sword and Ifrit don't work as well, though...)  This works fine, but as the
Biblos starts to lose HP, he'll counter with Drain (~300 damage) when hit
with magic. After this happens, you seem to be screwed, but you actually
still have a trump card left...Poison. Yes, Biblos *can* be poisoned, and it
does like 300 damage to him everytime it takes effect. The best part is that
he won't counter with Drain when losing HP, so just sit around for a while,
healing when necessary, and the Biblos will eventually just die on its own!
When you win, you'll get 7 ABP and a Hard Body (chemist item).

After the battle, talk to Mid, who apparently didn't even realize you were
fighting behind him... (Talk about being out of it!) Before you even get to
say much, Mid tells you that he's finished down here, and opens up a secret
passage leading back to the second floor of the library. When he emerges
from it, all the scholars are surprised by his sudden appearance, and thank
you for finding Mid (who apparently didn't even realize you were looking for
him =P). Mid acknowledges you, but is rather preoccupied with a book he
found that has something amazing in it...a way to repair the Fire-powered
Ship! (How'd he even know it was out of commission? Guess news travels fast
here...) He says that Cid could easily put these plans into effect, since
nothing ever stumps him. Faris, however, tells Mid that he must be talking
about the old Cid, since the one they met seems to be making a habit out of
being stumped. Shocked to hear this, Mid runs off to have a word with him.
Might as well follow him.


--- "The New Ship" ---

Back at Karnak, pay another visit to Cid. It seems Mid hasn't arrived yet,
and Cid just gives you the brush-off once again. As you're about to leave,
however, Mid shows up and smacks some sense into the old fool, lecturing him
about not giving up just because of one failure. Cid realizes that his
grandson is right, and regains his confidence. Mid then pulls out the book
on repairing the Fire-powered Ship and shows it to Cid, and the two of them
rush off to make the repairs.

Back onboard the ship, you'll be met by Cid and Mid, who suggest that you go
below and get some rest while they finish up the repairs. Bartz agrees, and
automatically goes below deck. Almost immediately after entering, Galuf
complains that his head hurts again, then, remembering the exchange between
Cid and Mid back in town, has flashbacks of similar events between him and
his granddaughter, Krile. (Who's actually the girl Siren created an illusion
of back at the Ship Graveyard, if you'll remember. =P)  The others ask Galuf
if he's alright, and he says that he is, and that he suddenly remembered
something important...that he's not from this planet! Obviously, Bartz,
Reina, and Farisare shocked at hearing this, but after it wears off, Galuf
continues, saying he also remembered why he came here. He says that he
doesn't remember all the details, but through a series of flashbacks,
explains what he *does* remember. Thirty years ago, he and three others came
here by meteorite, and used the power of the crystals to seal away the evil
Black Mage, X-Death. He goes on to say that if all the crystals shatter,
that X-Death will revive... Fortunately, one crystal still remains, and if
they can protect it... After Galuf finishes talking, you'll regain control.
Now head back above deck, where you'll find both Cid and Mid catching a few
Z's. =P  When you wake Cid up, he says that the ship's as good as new, and
that you can use it to find and protect the Crystal of Earth. With that, he
leaves for the Ancient Library along with Mid, and you gain control of the
Fire-powered Ship! Once again, the oceans are yours for exploration!

There's a lot you can do now, including two sub-quests ("Wizard of Thunder",
and "Jacohl Cave"), but watch out, as unlike the safe waters of the inner
sea, there *are* monsters in the waters of the outer sea. Explore the ocean
if you'd like, but ultimately, you'll want to head south to Jacohl Town,
which the southernmost dot on the left side of the world map.


- Jacohl -
Treasures: None

Wow. There's a whole lotta nothing in this town, and I'm not even sure if
you have to come here... Heck, I don't even think the *game* knows what the
point of this town is, as it can't seem to get the name straight. I've seen
it called both "Jacohl" and "Jachol" at different times. I'll just use the
spelling I prefer. =P 

Anyway, aside from the piano at the pub, and some good items for sale at the
shops, there's nothing to do here. There's a lot of talk of Jacohl Cave,
which you can explore later (see sub-quests; "Jacohl Cave"), and of Crescent
Town in the far east.

Since it's obvious the Crystal of Earth isn't in this remote hamlet, let's
see if it might be at this Crescent Town. To get there, return to the ship
and just sail to the east until you find a crescent-shaped island with a
town on it. Not too difficult to guess what this is. =P

Before entering, though, and assuming you don't mind fighting a few random
battles, there're a few things you can get here. First, the pirate/hunchback
things called "Crescents" occasionally drop Death Sickles. Since items are
dropped fairly reliably in FF5, it shouldn't take long to get one, either.
While not the greatest Axe available, Death Sickles randomly cast Doom while
attacking, and have a pretty good attack power. Also, you can learn Blue
Magic "Black Shock" from the BlackFlames, though you'd already know this if
you did the Easterly sub-quest. Anyway, after getting the goodies (or not),
enter the town.


- Crescent Town -
Treasures: Str. Song (Song)

As soon as you enter, the village gets rocked by a violent earthquake. As
the townspeople run around in a panic, Bartz notices something happening
outside... Try to leave town, and there'll be a scene in which a whirlpool
appears, sinking your ship! Since you're stranded here (and consequently
have nothing better to do), you might as well have a look around... In the
house at the southeast corner of town is another piano, and a bard who'll
teach you Str. Song if you talk to him. Several people in town are also
talking about a Black Chocobo having been seen in the forest to the south.
Black Chocobos can supposedly fly...... Hmm...worth investigating.

Leave town, and head for the small circular forest in the immediate south.
There, you'll find the chocobo everyone was talking about, and Bartz
decides to catch it! It runs faster than you do, but it's actually not that
hard to catch. When Bartz commands the chocobo to fly, however, it tries,
but ends up crashing back in the forest, and the reason for this is soon
apparent, as it coughs up two crystal shards. =P   Bartz then picks up the
shards, which grant you the Bard and Hunter jobs, then jumps back on the
chocobo for another try at getting it to fly. This time, he succeeds, and
you gain control of the flying bird! It's pretty much the same as the flying
dragon, except it can fly over low mountains, and can only land in forests.
With it, you can easily reach Easterly if you decided not to bother going
there by ship, and you can also do one new sub-quest ("Hometown Memories").

When you're ready to move on, return to the Ancient Library, where you'll be
greeted by Cid and Mid. Bartz tells them that the Fire-powered Ship sank,
but they don't seem too concerned, especially since they have some good
news. It seems that King Tycoon was found! According to local reports, he
was sighted in Karnak, then headed southwest through the Desert Sand Tides,
a strange place where sand currents flow like water, towards the "Town of
Ruin" (Gorn, actually). When asked how the king made it through, Cid
explains that those who saw him said he was floating... Though the group
doesn't have an immediate way of getting past this area, they decide to
follow him through the tides anyway...


--- "Shifting Sands and Ancient Ruins" ---

Now leave the library and head along the narrow trail to the west. At the
end, you come across a huge desert...this is the Desert of Sand Tides;
enter.


- Sand Tides -
Treasures: None

You can try to move forward all you want, but ultimately, the currents of
the shifting sands just shove you back. After trying once, Cid and Mid
arrive and urge you not to give up, as they have a plan for how to get
through. It's a risky one, but it's a plan nonetheless. If they were to call
one of the giant sandworms that live here, then kill it, it should form a
bridge across the sand. They then ask if you're willing to try this; if you
aren't, say no, and go back and stock up or whatever. Otherwise, say yes,
the scientist duo uses a bell to call a sandworm. As it approaches, Bartz
and the team attack!

- Boss Battle -
Sandworm - Lv: 18   HP: 3000   Weakness: Water

This is probably the easiest battle in the entire game if you learned Aqua
Rake, as it does about 4500 damage to the worm, killing it instantly. If you
don't have this spell, however, it'll take a while longer. The Sandworm
peridocally pops in and out of three holes, and if it changes its position
before you attack, you'll swing at empty air. Just time your attacks, and
use Ice2 and other magic, and it should fall fairly easily. You'll get 5ABP
when you win, but for the first time, no cheap item. =P

After the worm goes down, it'll die in a position which conveniently lets
you enter the desert. There're actually many ways of getting through the
Sand Tides, and there're probably easier ways than what I have, but here's
one way of handling this place.

Walk all the way to the end of the bridge, and step into the currents on the
right. When you stop, walk (avoiding all currents) to the left, then down,
and to the left again until you see a long stream running down. Step into
it, and you'll be swept onto a one-square "island" with a cactus on it. From
here, cross over the one-square current to the right, then continue to the
right and stop at the currents. Now turn and go south, where you'll find a
long, narrow stream heading down. Ride it, and at the end, head left and
step into the south-moving currents once again...just a little further, and
you'll be finished! Walk left a little ways, until you spot three one-square
currents leading down. Step on any of them, and you'll be pulled to the
right, towards the exit. Walk south a bit, and...voila, you're outta here!

Back on the world map, head south until you reach a small town. This is
Gorn, where King Tycoon was supposedly headed...


- Gorn -
Treasures: None

Hmm...this town is sorta...dead, and there doesn't seem to be anyone around.
However, when you start to walk up the stairs in the center of town, King
Tycoon appears and runs off! There seems to be no pattern in where he runs
to, so just keep chasing him around until he eventually ends up inside the
house on the hill. When you approach him, both Reina and Faris will call out
to him ("Father"...), but before you can actually reach the King, a pit
opens below the team and swallows them!

After the fall, the group ends up in some strange ruins, seperated from
Galuf. (Actually, he just landed in a walled-off section of the same room,
but they don't know that. ;)  Having heard Faris call King Tycoon "Father",
Reina realizes that Faris really *is* her lost sister; Faris admits this,
and apologizes for not doing so sooner. After their 'reunion', Bartz notices
that Galuf is missing. Figuring they'll meet up with him later, the group
starts to walk out. (Check out Galuf's actions at hearing this. =P)  The old
man then jumps in a hole below him, and climbs out through another one right
below your team. He rants at you for trying to leave him behind, then
rejoins. =P

Back in control, leave this room through the only door here, and keep going
until you reach a room with a suspicious square tile on the floor. When you
step on it, your team is teleported far across the ocean, eventually ending
up under Crescent Island! During this time, there's also a short scene in
which Cid and Mid return the Black Chocobo to the nearby forest.


- Underground Ruins -
Treasures: Shuriken x2, Mini (White Magic)

No sooner do you materialize, then the device you used overloads (most
likely from age and lack of use) and breaks apart. The group manages to make
their way out of the room before it completely collapses, but are left with
no way back... The only option now is to find another way out. Start the
search by climbing up the stairs, and making your way into the big opened
room with the statues in it. Here, take the lower door, which leads to
something that would appear to be living quarters. The room on the right is
a lab of sorts, the room in the middle is a bedroom (which you can rest in),
and the room on the left is a library. You'll probably also notice a small
room with three chests hovering below the bedroom. There's a switch in the
left room that opens it, but it doesn't seem to work at first. There are
actually two ways to use it:

The hard way: A note below the switch directs you to the flowers in the
middle room. Examine the far right section of the flowerbed, and you'll
receive another note, which mentions a paper in the left room. This said
paper initially makes Bartz think this is a waste of time, but then he finds
*another* note. This one just says "Check the urn". ...Yeah, this is getting
old, but follow the directions, anyhow. The urn the note means is the one on
the far right in the left room. Check it, and a surprised frog jumps out,
runs into a bookshelf and knocks a book off it, then disappears out the
door. From the book, you'll be told to go six steps down, four steps right,
and pull. These instructions lead you...back to the switch where you
started. Pull it and the wall opens.

The easy way: When you first examine the switch, it asks if you want to push
it. Say "No". Then you get a message asking if you want to pull it. Say
"Yes". The wall opens without all that running around. =P

Grab the three chests to get two Shurikens and the Mini spell, then return
to the previous room. The upper door here is locked; the switch next to it
will open it, but it also does something else... When you press it, the
scene shifts to the Chocobo Forest, which begins to shake. A hole then opens
in the ground, swallowing Cid and Mid. =P  The scene then shifts back to the
team, and the locked door opens. The room above it has a save point in it.
Save, then continue up, and down the long staircase, where you'll find...the
Fire-powered Ship! Yep, it was actually dragged down here during the earlier
earthquake. =P  You can't actually use it, though, so cross over it, and
you'll come across a second ship. This one, with propellors on it! As soon
as you board it, Cid and Mid arrive, and are absolutely astounded by this
craft. Realizing what this is, they run downstairs to get a look at the
mechanisms...follow them. In the lowest room of the ship, you'll find the
two messing with the machinery. They explain that it's an ancient airship,
and after they get it working, everyone returns to the deck for grand
launching!

Before they can move, however, something goes terribly wrong...something
seems to be pulling the ship back down! Bartz walks over to the side of the
ship to take a look, and discovers that a monster is actually hanging from
it! Fight time!

- Boss Battle -
Clay Claw - Lv: 43   HP: 2000   Weakness: Lightning

Don't be intimidated by the higher than normal level -- this palette swap
of Karl Boss is easy. Sure, it has that annoying "Tail Screw" attack, but
given its major weakness to lightning and very low HP, it probably won't
even be able to use it. Just use Bolt 2, Ramuh, or attack it using the Coral
Sword or Lightning Bow; all do over 700 damage. Three hits, and bye-bye Clay
Claw! Note that if you don't have any magic users in this battle, nor did
you buy any lightning-elemental equipment, you can still win this battle via
lightning. How? Simple. If you have someone with the Steal/Mug skill, you
can steal a Coral Sword! Anyway, when you win, you'll get 5 ABP and an Ice
Bow.

With the beast dead, Bartz lands the airship back in the ruins. It sustained
some minor damage during the battle, but Cid and Mid quickly patch it up
using parts from the now defunct Fire-powered Ship. The two of them then
leave, saying they plan to use the materials in the ruins to continue their
search for the Earth Crystal. After they leave, Bartz takes control of the
wheel, and *you* gain control of the airship! This is truly the ultimate in
transportation! In addition to having a new view of the world while riding
it, you're now able to pass over even the tallest mountains! Furthermore,
compared to previous vehicles, this thing is blazingly fast! It can also
land on either plains or water (it turns into a normal ship if you do this).
With the airship, there's simply *no* place you can't get to! Well...except
for one enigmatic location... West of Tycoon lies a small island with a
temple on it. A temple completely surrounded by mountains. None of your
vehicles will get you inside, but don't worry, as you'll be able to visit
this place much later on.

This is a great opportunity to go back and build levels, finish sub-quests
(this makes the Jacohl Cave sub-quest a breeze, as you can bypass the
puzzles if you land in the mountains), and pick up missed Blue Magic. When
you feel you're ready, head back to Gorn. Before you arrive, though, you'll
witness a strange scene... The town itself explodes, and a *huge* building
rises up out of it and begins flying in the air!

To find out just what this is, return to the underground ruins. As soon as
you try to leave the ship, you'll be stopped by Cid and Mid. Bartz starts to
tell them about what just happened at Gorn, but they say they already know,
as they saw it happen through their telescope. Cid then pulls out a book,
and explains to you just what those ruins are... It seems that those're
ruins from the ancient Ronka civilization, and that the Crystal of Earth is
inside! What's more, he says that it's what's being used to make them fly!
Apparently, the flying machine there was disabled because cracks started to
form in the crystal, but Cid says that someone must've restarted it... Reina
and Faris consider for a moment that it might've been King Tycoon, but
quickly dismiss this theory, and Bartz asks the scientists how they can
reach the ruins. Without a moment's hesitation, Mid responds, saying they
need Adamantite to allow the airship to fly that high. Fortunately, it just
so happens that Galuf knows where to get some -- the meteorite he used to
get here! The others question just how Galuf, an amnesiac, knew that, but
decide not to debate it, and fly off to get the mineral.


- Tycoon Meteor -
Treasures: Adamantite (Story Item)

Back at the old meteor site, head straight for the meteorite, and examine
the front of it. Galuf walks over and messes with something on the side of
it, and a passage opens.

Inside, all you have to do is take the blue stone, the Adamantite, off the
back wall. Wow, that was easy. However, the story gods intervene, and you're
attacked on the way out...

- Boss Battle -
Adamantaim - Lv: 20   HP: 2000   Weakness: Ice

Since this boss has a high evade rate, high defense, and attacks twice,
you'd almost think it was difficult. And if you said that, you'd be wrong.
Notice his level? Yes, it's a multiple of five. Can you say "L.5 Doom"? =P
However, if you don't have the spell, it's still easy to win -- use Ice2 for
about 600 damage. It's not quite as fast, but it gets the job done. Victory
earns you 5 ABP and a Turtle Shell.

Once the stupid turtle is out of the way, return to the underground ruins,
and Cid and Mid will use the Adamantite to enhance your airship. After
resting, you'll be told that you can increase altitude by pressing the X
button during flight, then pressing "up" when the arrows appear. However,
Cid warns you that getting inside the elusive ruins won't be easy, as
they're protected by powerful cannons. Nevertheless, if you hope to protect
the Earth Crystal, you'll have to get rid of them...

Back in the air, follow Mid's directions to reach the ruins. As Cid said,
before you can actually enter, the cannons must be dealt with. Fortunately,
there aren't all that many -- just two on each side of the ruins, for a
total of four. Also, despite the warnings, they're not *that* dangerous...

- Boss Battle -
Rocket Gun - Lv: 23   HP: 2500   Weakness: Lightning
FlameThrow - Lv: 22   HP: 2400   Weakness: Lightning

This isn't actually one fixed battle, I just classified the enemies together
because they're so similar. When you attack each cannon, you'll fight either
two Rocket Guns, or two FlameThrowers. Flame Throwers are easy to defeat, as
their only attack seems to be Burn Ray (a Blue Magic), which does a measley
200 or so damage to a single member. Rocket Guns are a bit more dangerous,
since their chief attack is Missile (another Blue Magic), which takes 3/4 of
your HP away. They'll also occasionally use Rocket Punch, which does a bit
less damage (about 1/3 HP), but causes Confusion. Since both types of
cannons are weak against Lightning, hit them with Bolt2, Ramuh, Lightning
Skills, and Lightning-based weapons. Overall, these battles aren't really
that difficult at all.

Once all four cannons are out of commission, the "Main Gun" emerges from the
front of the ruins... You're probably beat up from fighting the lesser
cannons, so go back and rest, then return and attack!

- Boss Battle -
Soul Gun - Lv: 36   HP: <9000>   Weakness: Lightning
Launcher - Lv: 50   HP: <1500>
Launcher - Lv: 50   HP: <1500>

Ugh. This is an annoying battle. Initially, the main gun doesn't do anything
except "charge up", while the two launchers shoot missiles at you. These cut
your HP in half, and cause Old status. Since neither of the launchers have
more than 2000 HP, it's best to deal with them early on. This is easily
accomplished by using L.5 Doom. After they're gone, blast the main gun with
your most powerful lightning attacks, and hope you destroy it before it
finishes charging. If it succeeds in doing so, it'll fry you with "Beam
Cannon", a devastating attack capable of doing over 500 damage to the entire
team! Fortunately, after using it, it takes a few more rounds for the main
gun to charge back up, in which time, you should be able to finish it off.
There's no way to know exactly how much HP it has, but I estimate it's about
9000. (Note: From here on, whenever you see an enemy's HP in <brackets>, it
means that it showed up as "????" when scanned, and what I have is a rough
estimate.) When you win (and it may take a while), you'll get 7 ABP, a Dark
Matter, and two Potions.

After scrapping the cannon, all that remains where it once was is a huge
hole, which you can now use to *finally* get inside the ruins! Fly in it,
then get off the ship, and you'll be at the entrance to the Ronka Ruins...

- Ronka Ruins -
Treasures: Potion, Phoenix Down, Elixir, Gold Armor, Gold Shield, 5000 GP,
           Shuriken, AncientSword, Moonring, Power Wrist, Ether, Cottage

Once inside, start by going down through the door, then loop around the path
and go down the stairs. In this next room (as well as most of the ruins in
general), there're "invisible bridges" over the holes. You can try to find
these on your own, or you can use a Thief (or the "Secret" ability), which
allows you to see them. Anyway, head all the way to the right, then cross
the bridge leading to the lower platform; grab the chest here to get a
strong suit of Gold Armor, then go down the nearby staircase. This is where
the ruins start to become something of a maze...

Before going anywhere, though, there're two vital Blue Magics here that I
*strongly* urge you take the time to get! First off, it's important that you
have the Trainer's "Control" ability, as you'll need it to get both of them.
In other words, if you don't know it, learn it! The first of these spells is
Blow Fish, which is learned from Lamias. They never actually use it on you,
but you can force them to if you control them; just make sure you revive the
victim before the end of the battle, as they'll likely get killed by it.
(That, or just heal them, if they somehow had more than 1000 HP.) The other
Blue Magic here is White Wind. The Fan Wizards use it, but since it's a
healing spell, you have to control these guys, too, to get them to cast it
on you. Now you're probably wondering why these spells are so valuable...
Well, I'll tell you. White Wind restores the HP of all allies equal to the
current HP of the user, so if the user has high HP, it guarantees full
healing for the entire team! As for Blow Fish, its fixed 1000 damage may not
seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but it *can't be blocked*!
Yes, this spell can even take out super-armored enemies (like Harpies and
SkullEaters) in one hit! If you miss either of these spells, I can almost
assure you that you'll end up struggling later on, so by all means, take the
time to learn them!

After learning both spells, head left across the small hidden bridge, then
continue in the same direction until you come across four narrow walkways.
Skip the first and third ones (which lead to dead ends), take the second one
to get a chest containing an Elixir, then take the fourth one to reach the
other side of the chasm. Walk to the right a bit, and you'll see two flights
of stairs. Don't take the upper one yet, but feel free to go up the ones in
the lower wall, which leads to small room with just a Save Point in it. Save
if you'd like, then leave and continue to the right. Along the way, grab the
chest to get a Phoenix Down, then proceed down the long, narrow path, and go
down the stairs at the end. Go up the other staircase in the small room you
end up in, then follow the path around the room, and pick up the Gold Shield
from the chest at the end. Once you have it, backtrack to the stairs I told
you to skip a moment ago, and take them up to the next floor. Now pass
through the series of small rooms this leads to, then, in the first one you
come to where you can't immediately see the next staircase, head right and
through the door, then up the stairs in this room. Now go straight up and
get the Potion from the chest, then bypass the lower door and go down the
stairs, which eventually leads to a treasure room. In the direct center of
this small room, as well as the space to the immedate right of it, you'll
find a hidden pitfall. Avoid these by going around to the left, and claim
the chests to get 5000 GP, a Shuriken, an AncientSword, another Moonring,
and a Power Wrist. Equip the new goodies if you can, then return downstairs
and go in the door directly next to the stairs. Just go south here, and
climb down the stairs. Ignore the pitfall in the next room, since it seems
to have no real use, and loop around to the left to the next staircase. Man,
this place is monotonous. ^_^

Before doing anything else, take the lower staircase to reach another save
point; save, then go through the door and up the stairs in the previous
room. Now walk down through the door and down the steps to get two chests
containing an Ether and a Cottage. There's also a Blue Magic you can pick up
here, though not quite as essential as Blow Fish or White Wind. Aquaus,
those nasty dark blue hydras, use L.4 Quarter when you kill them. Pick this
up if you can, but it's not necessary to build levels if you're unaffected
by it. After getting these things, go back upstairs, enter the door next to
the staircase, and flip the switch on the wall to make the final staircase
appear. Yes, you're *finally* at the end! ...Well, almost. In this garden
area, you'll find the missing King Tycoon confronting a strange winged snake
monster. Though Reina and Faris are overjoyed at seeing their father, the
feeling doesn't seem to be mutual, as he just orders you to defeat the
monster blocking the path...

- Boss Battle -
Archeoavis - Lv: 21-24   HP: <7500>   Weakness: Wind (Changes randomly)

Ok...this is a weird battle. First, Archeoavis can change his weak point at
will. It starts out as Wind, but almost immediately changes. His level seems
to fluctuate randomly, as well -- it starts at level 21, but I've seen it go
as high as level 24. Anyway, on to the actual battle... This weird serpent
has a lot of powerful attacks, which include Air Wing and Blaze -- two
attacks you've likely already had the 'pleasure' of being pelted with -- as
well as an alternate version of Blaze (same name, different animation). This
new "dark" version still hits the entire team, but it seems to cause even
more damage than the original, and it also slowly reduces their HP... Since
Archeoavis's weakness changes so frequently, casting spells is generally a
waste of time, though I suggest trying to sneak in an Aero 2 early on if you
can, to do a quick 1000+ damage. Other than that, just use Monks or
Berserkers, and attack physically. After the serpent goes down, for no
reason I can see other than to make an already annoying battle even moreso,
it gets revived by the power of the Earth Crystal!

- Boss Battle -
Archeoavis - Lv: 20   HP: <3000>  

Fortunately, this second stage of the battle is considerably easier. You can
beat up the "reborn" Archeoavis normally, or you can get cheap and just blow
it away in one hit with L.5 Doom. =P  Either way, once you defeat it, it'll
(thankfully) stay dead, and you'll get 10 ABP and a Hero Drink.

After the guardian of the ruins is out of the picture, King Tycoon runs
right past you into the Crystal Room, laughing the whole time. Inside, as
the king messes with the crystal machine, it becomes quite apparent that
he's being controlled... Bartz and Galuf step forward to try and stop him,
but Reina and Faris run in front of them, refusing to let them hurt their
father. Bartz orders the girls to get out of his way, but they again refuse.
At this point, the possessed king turns around, walks towards you, and
threatens to kill you. The rather shallow threat is cut short, however, when
the ground begins to shake, and *another* meteor plummets to Earth!
Immediately afterwards, the wall in back blows opened, and Galuf's
granddaughter Krile runs in and fires a bolt at King Tycoon, knocking him
back. She then runs over to Galuf, who upon seeing the child, completely
regains his memory! As Reina and Faris run over to the injured king, Krile
tells them he should be fine, as she just used a weak spell on him. As Krile
finishes speaking, King Tycoon wakes up, and is overjoyed to see Faris, his
lost daughter. The reunion ends abruptly, however, when the sound of
shattering crystal is heard; yes, the poor overworked Earth Crystal finally
explodes, and with all four crystals gone, the seal is broken...
The scene shifts to the "Sealed Forest" on the world map, which begins
erupting with lightning. As the fireworks end, a ball of light slowly rises
out of the woods and flies off...

Back at the ruins, the ball of light appears atop the machine, and
materializes into a mysterious caped man -- the evil Black Mage: X-Death.
It was a valiant effort on your part, but alas, his revival attempt was
successful... After laughing in Galuf's face, X-Death commands the crystal
shards to destroy you! Bartz tries to go against the evil mage, but only
succeeds in getting blasted back. X-Death laughs at his feeble attempts,
then mocks Galuf, saying that the crystals of this world are gone, and that
his world is next. That said, he disappears, and the possessed shards once
again prepare to attack. Sick of this abuse, and wanting to protect the
others, King Tycoon then steps forward and begins to 'duel' with the shards!
Though he takes quite a beating, the king urges you to stay back as he
continues this strange psychic battle. Eventually, he manages to defeat the
crystal shards, but unfortunately, the 'battle' has taken a great toll on
him... He collapses, and realizing his end is near, apologizes to Faris for
never being there for her, then asks Bartz to take care of his daughters.
Sadly, despite the pleas from Reina and Faris, the brave King Tycoon passes
away... Afterwards, the crystal shards begin to sparkle, then float over to
Reina, and grant the team their last ounce of power... Samurai, Lancer,
Dancer, Chemist...

Following the tragic scene, the ground begin to shake once again...without
the crystal to power them, the ruins are beginning to fall apart! After a
close escape, the ruins crash to the ground and explode, and the team
regroups aboard the airship. Reina and Faris mourn for their father, and
Bartz confronts a worried Galuf. He asks the old man what's wrong, and Galuf
simply says that they gotta make their move now. Bartz is confused, but
Galuf fills him in... He explains that X-Death is an evil Black Mage from
his home planet that came to here 30 years ago to destroy the crystals.
Galuf continues, saying that he and three other "Dawn Warriors" used their
power to trap X-Death here, and they thought everything was fine...until
recently, that is, when Galuf realized that something strange was happening
to the crystals, and traveled to this world by meteorite. He says that he
was too late, though, as X-Death succeeded in destroying the crystals, and
has headed back to the other world. Bartz hangs his head in shame, and asks
Galuf if this is all because they overused the power of the crystals. Galuf
says that it's really the Dawn Warriors' fault, as they're the ones who
sealed him here, instead of returning him to their planet, as he begged...

After the conversation, the scene fades to Krile's meteorite, where Galuf
says he and his granddaughter are following X-Death back to their world. He
bids his friends farewell and starts to walk away, when he's stopped by
Bartz, who announces matter-of-factly that they're going with him. Galuf
sternly declines, as this is the last meteorite, and if they went, they
could never return home! He and Krile then step inside the meteorite, and
the two of them disappear into the sky in a flash of light...

Regaining control of the airship, just land. As soon as you do so, Faris
and Reina walk over to Bartz. After discussing the recent events, the
three of them agree that Galuf is one of the team, and that they should go
help their friend in his battle against X-Death. Unfortunately, there's
still that little problem of how to reach Galuf's home planet, since the
meteors no longer have enough power... With only one option left, Bartz and
the crew decide to seek help from Cid.


--- "Last Minute Details" ---

If you return to the underground ruins, you'll find the place deserted --
Cid and Mid aren't even there, and I don't believe the game gives you any
clues as to their whereabouts, either. You can wander around the world
aimlessly until you happen to find them, or you can just go to the Tycoon
Meteorite site, which is where they currently are. =P


- Tycoon Meteorite -
Treasures: None

Outside the meteor, you'll see the Black Chocobo. Since this bird seemed to
be Cid and Mid's main mode of transportation, it would stand to reason that
they're nearby. Go inside the rock, and you'll find the two. Bartz asks them
what they're doing, and Mid explains that the adamantite was emitting
abnormal levels of power. Cid finishes, saying that they just wanted to
return the stone to where they found it. He then pulls it out and shoves it
across the floor, but upon crossing the warp tile, there's a strange
reaction, and the tile begins absorbing power from the adamantite! Realizing
that this could be used to their advantage, Reina asks Cid if they could use
the stone's power to help them get to Galuf's home world. Mid tells her
there's not enough adamantite left to completely repower one meteor, but if
they could power up all four of them a little bit, then maybe...

With that, everyone exits the meteor, and the scientist duo mounts the
chocobo, and flies off in the direction of the next meteorite: Karnak.


- Karnak Meteor -
Treasures: Titan (Summon Magic)

At this next meteor site, just talk to Cid. He and Mid step inside, but
quickly retreat, exclaiming that it's become a den of monsters! They leave
it up to you to clear the place, and just wait by the entrance. Fortunately,
I don't believe there're any random battles inside, so make your way back to
the warp tile, where you'll find something sitting on it! Upon closer
examination, you'll find that it's actually a monster called Titan, which
promptly attacks.

- Boss Battle -
Titan - Lv: 1   HP: 2500

Easy, even with only three members. Titan doesn't seem to have any special
attacks; the worst he can do is about 200 damage with "Critical". Whoopee.
Just use whatever you want on him, but keep your HP up, as when his HP hits
0, Titan uses Earth Shaker, doing ~450 damage to the entire team. Oh well,
no big deal. When you win, you'll get 5 ABP, a Potion, and the powerful
Titan summon spell.

With Titan out of the way, Cid and Mid are free to power up the meteor, and
upon finishing, they fly off to the next site: Walz.


- Walz Meteorite -
Treasures: None

Here, all you have to do is talk to Cid and Mid, and they'll enter and power
up the meteorite. That's it. ...Or so it seems. Just as you're about to
leave, you're ambushed by strange bomb-like creatures...

- Boss Battle -
Byurobolos (x6) - Lv: 22   HP: 1500

Well, I suppose I should warn you. From this point on, FF5 is full of trick
battles, and this is the first of many. It seems ordinary enough, until you
defeat one of the Byurobolos, and it casts Arise, which revives *all* the
others you've killed! There're many strategies here, but the one I prefer is
simply to kill them all at once. This can be accomplished rather easily by
using Aqua Rake, Water Skills, or the Samurai's $toss. Just watch out, as if
a full-strength Byurobolos uses Exploder on you, you'll die unless you're on
an obscene level. (I was on level 31, and they still killed me. :-/)  When
you defeat them all, you'll get 5 ABP, and...that's it. No cheap treasure
this time. =P

This meteor is officially finished, so everyone now heads for the final
location: Gorn.


- Gorn Meteorite -
Treasures: None

At this final meteor site, Cid and Mid enter, but they don't come back out.
Upon investigating, you'll find that something has captured them! When it
spots you, though, it releases the scientists, deciding that heroes would
taste better. Or something. ^_^

- Boss Battle -
KimaBrain - Lv: 19   HP: 3300

Are you getting sick of these pointless filler battles? Well, this is the
last one, thankfully, but it's also the hardest. KimaBrain's chief attack is
Aqua Rake, which isn't that damaging anymore, but is still annoying. It also
occasionally uses the "dark" version of Blaze. If you'd like, you can steal
a Dragon Fang from this mutant, but other than that, there's nothing
particularly special about this battle. Just use physical attacks, magic, or
whatever, and you'll eventually win. When you do, you'll get 6 ABP and a
Phoenix Down.

Ok, you're *finally* done powering up the meteorites... Cid shows you a map,
and explains that a warp point leading to Galuf's world was created at the
point where the path of the four meteors intersect: the bird-shaped
peninsula in the center of the world. Bartz and the others thank the
scientists for all their help, then head off...

I may as well warn you now, once you leave this world, you won't be
returning for a *long* time. Furthermore, you'll never have access to Walz,
Easterly, or Rikks again. With this in mind, I've made up a checklist of
various things to do before jumping into that portal...

- Did you get Shiva from Walz Tower?
- Did you get the Elf Cloak, 2000 GP, and Speed magic from Walz Basement?
- Did you get all the treasures in Tycoon Castle?
- Did you get Ramuh from Easterly Forest?
- Did you get Mini from the underground ruins?
- Did you get Toad from Easterly Village?
- Did you learn TemptSong at Rikks?
- Did you learn Str. Song at Crescent Town?
- Did you learn Love Song at Easterly?
- Did you stock up on the cheaper items at Rikks?
- Did you learn all the possible Blue Magic?
- Have you seen all the scenes at Rikks?

Also, there are some useful items sold in the shops here that aren't
available in the second world, so stock up now. At the very least, get four
of each elemental rod before you go to the second world; they'll increase
the damage done by elemental spells. It may seem a bit excessive to get four
of each, but hey... you never know when you'll want to mess around with a
team of four Black Mages. =P  It might also be a good idea to get four of
each elemental bow, but this isn't as important as the rods. And don't worry
about the rings sold in Easterly; while they won't be sold in the second
world, you'll be able to get by without them, and you'll have another chance
to get them later, so don't feel pressed to get the huge amounts of money
needed for them right now. =P  Other than that, buy whatever you feel you'll
need.

If you're done with everything, head into the portal. Bartz, Reina, and
Faris say their goodbyes, then fearlessly jump into the portal, which throws
them into space... Farewell, Earth...

%%%Second World%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

--- "A Strange New World" ---

Following a brief flight, Bartz, Reina, and Faris find themselves alone on a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean... It doesn't seem like there's a
whole lot to do here, but every few minutes, you'll be stopped by Reina, who
suggests you rest in the tent. Since you've nothing better to do...why not?
Of course, if you don't *have* a tent, you can get one by defeating a Pao,
the only enemy on the island. Anyway, use the tent, and your team'll gather
around the campfire for a late night conversation. After a few moments of
silence, Faris says she has a question for Reina, and asks her why she
risked her life back on the North Mountain to save the dragon. Reina asks
her sister if she remembers their mother, to which Faris says she remembers
bits here and there. Reina explains that whenever she sees ths dragon, that
it reminded her of their mother. Faris asks Reina what she means, but before
she can give an answer, a winged demon swoops down from above, grabs the
girls, then flies away. It returns a moment later to claim the last
remaining member of the group...

- Boss Battle -
Abductor - HP: 22   HP: 1500

You may only have Bartz here, but it's not that difficult of a battle. The
Abductor has a nasty attack called "Hurricane" that drops your HP down to
single digits, but its attacks are otherwise relatively mild. If you're
feeling either lucky or insane, you can try to steal an Earth Robe, though
it's not necessary, since you can buy these fairly soon, anyhow. Note that
you don't *have* to win this battle, since the outcome is essentially the
same if you lose, but if you do, you'll get...uhh...1 ABP and an Ether. Yay?

If you lost the battle, all that happens is Bartz gets knocked out, then
wakes up in a prison alongside his friends. If you won, the following scene
is a bit more detailed. You'll be back in the forest with a chest in place
of the monster, but it doesn't contain treasure -- it contains gas, which
knocks Bartz out. He then wakes up in a prison alongside his friends. Gee,
that certainly was useful. ^_^

After awakening in the dungeon, the group quickly discovers where they've
been taken... X-Death's Castle! X-Death walks up and 'greets' the group, but
is interrupted when one of his lackeys runs in with news that Galuf and his
troops have already arrived at the Big Bridge. X-Death takes the news in
stride, and just orders the underling to "prepare the giant mirror". The
lackey runs out, and after it returns with the mirror, X-Death turns to his
prisoners and exclaims that they're gonna help him "defeat" Galuf...

Meanwhile, at the Big Bridge, Galuf, Krile, and a bunch of soldiers are
preparing to strike. They're stopped cold, however, when reflections of
Bartz, Reina, and Faris appear in the sky, and X-Death's projected voice
tells them to get back or their friends die. Galuf takes the threat very
seriously and orders his troops back. Back at the castle, X-Death orders
a strange ninja named Gilgamesh to watch over you, then leaves. Galuf tells
Krile he needs to borrow her dragon, then jumps on it and flies off towards
the castle, landing on the roof.

- X-Death's Castle -
Treasures: None

After climbing down into the castle, Galuf immediately grabs the stolen
crystal shards (which you never actually *see* get taken) from the nearby
chest, and you *finally* regain control!

There's actually not a whole lot to say here. The two front doors are
locked, but a Save Point and a pair of healing springs can be found by going
through the door in the back. Heal/Save if you want to, then go downstairs.
This place is completely linear, but there *are* monsters here. Turn Galuf
into a monk and give him White Magic or Chakra as a second command, though,
and he should be fine. When you reach the dungeon, you'll be "caught" by
Gilgamesh.

- Boss Battle -
Gilgamesh - Lv: 26   HP: <2500>

Surprisingly, Gilgamesh is a major wuss! I don't think he has any special
attacks, and if you changed Galuf into a monk as I recommended earlier,
you'll be able to take out this cocky ninja in two or three hits. After
doing enough damage to him, Gilgamesh runs away. =P

With the "guard" gone, Galuf frees his friends, and after a brief exchange
of dialogue, rejoins the team. There's nothing else here, so just make your
way back to the entrance. The lower of the two doors in the first room --
the one that leads outside -- is now unlocked. The upper one can't be opened
until quite a bit later, though, so ignore it and go outside.

Once you leave the castle, you'll have a chance to learn Doom Claw and Black
Shock if you didn't already; wander around here in the plains until you
fight a shadowy thing called a "Blockhead". They sometimes use Black Shock,
and if you control them, you can make them use Doom Claw on you. The
tree stump-like enemies called Trents also use Doom Claw occasionally, but
since it's not available for use by the control command, learn it from
Blockheads instead. Other than that, there's not really anything to do here,
so just head to the bridge. Save before you go in.


- Big Bridge -
Treasures: None

On the bridge, pass through the first small room, and Galuf warns you that
it's gonna be all monsters from here on. He's right, too -- as you run
across the bridge, you'll be constantly attacked. Fortunately, all the
monsters here are simple, so just keep going until you reach the building in
the center. As you try to leave through the back, you'll be stopped by
Gilgamesh, who says he was waiting for you.

- Boss Battle -
Gilgamesh - Lv: 28   HP: <5000>

Gilgamesh is a bit stronger this time, but he's...well...still a wuss. He
still only uses weak physical attacks, so there's little actual danger. The
only thing you should know about this battle is that L.4 Quarter will hit,
but it does 0 damage, so don't waste a turn trying it. Other than that, just
keep attacking him with whatever you want (and Steal a Hero Drink if you'd
like). Eventually, he'll start to ramble on about how you're "so much
stronger than he is", while casting Haste and Protes on himself, then says
he was lying, and uses Jump on you. Pathetic. ^_^  After this, just keep
attacking until he again runs off.

After beating Gilgamesh for the second time, keep running across the bridge
(fighting more wussy monsters along the way), until you catch up with Krile.
As soon as you see her, though, she warns you about "the barrier", and as if
on cue, a barrier appears around X-Death's Castle. To make things worse, the
initial force of it is so overwhelming, that it sends Bartz, Galuf, Reina,
and Faris flying into the air! After the power fluctuation ends, Krile steps
outside to look for her grandfather, but finds no one...


Meanwhile, the group lands on a small hill far away from civilization. Galuf
immediately realizes that they're in "Guroceana", or literally the middle of
nowhere, and curses their luck at ending up in such a remote location. Bartz
apologizes for showing up here, since if it weren't for them, Galuf's attack
on X-Death would've gone better... The group (minus Galuf) then jumps down
and walks away, and are followed by Galuf, who says he's glad to see you
regardless.

Back on the world map, you're...well...in the middle of nowhere, on a barren
peninsula far north of X-Death's castle. As Galuf noted, there's a whole lot
of nothing around here, so just head right until you reach a small town in
the forest.

- Lugor Bordertown -
Treasures: 100 GP x??

Well, this little country village doesn't really have all that much to
offer in the way of treasures, but there's a bunch of good stuff for sale.
The stores sell powerful new weapons and armor, the item shops sell Potions
and Chemist items, and the Magic Shops sell level 4 White, Black, and Time
magic. The Earth Robes are a good buy, since they'll increase the damage
done by Titan. Which is pretty good to begin with. =P  Buy what you can
afford, then head for the pub. Inside, through a long secret passage in the
left wall, you can reach a small room with a piano in it. Also, if you're
desperate for money, you can dance on the stage, which earns you 100 GP each
time you do. =P  It's also worth mentioning that there's a little girl in
the armor shop who lost her ribbon; while this has no real point now, it
will later, so remember her location. Finally, if you stay at the inn (which
is free the first time you visit), there'll be a fairly pointless scene
where Bartz again apologizes to Galuf for ruining the attack on X-Death's
Castle. Galuf tells him to stop apologizing, since if it weren't for them,
he'd probably have ended up getting killed, anyway. After the scene ends,
you're pretty much finished here, so just leave and head further south.

Along the way, you'll pass by an old castle surrounded by water. If you
talked to everyone in Lugor, you'll know that this Kuza Castle. It's best to
heed their warning and stay away from this place, but if you have the Cntrl
command, go ahead and enter. Inside, you'll encounter mostly Shield Dragons.
They have a massive amount of HP, powerful attacks (that can also confuse
you), inherent Reflect status, and tend to run away when their HP gets low,
but they're still easily defeated. How? Control them! Once one is under your
control, force it to repeatedly cast Blaze on itself, while the rest of the
team defends. After five hits with their own attack, the Shield Dragons die,
and you'll get an incredible 2500 Exp! Definitely a great place to gain
levels, but it's still a bit dangerous... Anyway, you can also find the
twelve legendary weapons (more about these later) on the top floor of the
castle, but they're protected by magical seals, so you can't take them now.
Thus, aside from gaining Exp, there's not a whole lot to do here... Just
leave here, and continue south.

When you run out of land, head east, then north until you come upon a small
forest surrounded by mountains. When you try to pass through it, you'll
enter an area inside it, where you'll find a strange creature near one of
the trees. If you've played FF3, FF6, or FF9, you should know what this
little guy is...a moogle! When you try to approach it, though, it quickly
runs off, and in its haste, steps on some weak ground and falls in a hole.
Deciding to help the cute little winged teddy bear, Bartz and the others
jump in after it, and land in a large underground waterway...

- Waterway Cave -
Treasures: 4400 GP, Phoenix Down

This is a really annoying area, where you'll end up getting carried from
place to place by currents. Also, like the Sand Tides back in the first
world, you'll actually be forced to fight random battles while being dragged
along!

Anyway, you don't exactly have much choice as of where to go from here, so
just step into the water, and you'll be swept east to a small ledge. Step
off it, and you'll be swept east again to another ledge. Before going back
in the water, walk over and grab the chest for 4400 GP. It doesn't matter
where you re-enter the water, since both paths take you to pretty much the
same place, and there aren't any chests along either one. After riding these
currents, you'll end up on a narrow cliffside with a chest on it. Grab it to
get a Phoenix Down, then head right and up the steps, where you'll find the
moogle being assaulted by a skeletal monster...

- Boss Battle -
Tyrasaurus - Lv: 29   HP: 5000   Weakness: Fire

This thing can be a real pain. While its physical attack and PoisonBreath
aren't that bad, it can use Blue Magic "????" on you, which given the amount
of HP it has, can prove lethal... Fortunately, it's weak against fire, so
use Fire2, Ifrit, Fire Skills, and other fire-related attacks for quite a
bit of damage. If you'd like, you can also steal a Gold Shield from
Tyrasaurus, but if you're gonna try for it, do it before you start
attacking, so you won't get slaughtered by ????. When you win, you'll get 9
ABP, but no treasure.

Though you protected it from the monster, the scared little moogle runs away
from you. Reina walks over and assures it that they're not gonna it, then
the moogle dashes outside the cave and runs erratically across the world
map, eventually disappearing into a large forest.

Back on the world map, follow the moogle! While you don't have to do
everything he just did, try not to cross the desert. There're powerful
monsters in it that have five-digit HP, and are capable of using an attack
(Maelstrom) that reduces the entire team's HP to single digits. Needless to
say, defeating a monster like this would take forever at this point, so just
walk along the plains and forests to avoid them. When you reach the forest
where the moogle disappeared, keep walking around it until you get pulled
into another area: the Moogle Village!

- Moogle Village -
Treasures: 1 GP, 10000 GP, Ether, Phoenix Down, Cottage, Dancing Dirk,
           Elf Cloak

As soon as you enter the village, the timid moogles notice you and scatter.
You can try to find them, but they'll just run away if you do... Also, all
the small treehouses are locked for right now. Just head to the east side of
the forest, and you'll find a moogle cowering behind the treehouse. This is
actually the one you just saved, and after talking to it, it realizes who
you are and calls all the other moogles back (saying you're a friend, I
guess), then runs inside the nearby treehouse. Since the moogles now know
you're not a threat, they give you free run of the village. While they're
not much for conversation ("Kupo!"), the moogles *do* have an assortment of
useful treasures lying around. In the house your moogle friend ran inside,
there're six chests which he'll let you take. Open them all to get a Phoenix
Down, an Ether, a Cottage, 10000 GP, 1 GP (uh...yay?), and a Dancing Dirk.
This is a weird weapon that randomly activates the "Dance" command when
attacking. O_o  Now go back to the west side of town and enter the two
houses here. In the one on the left, you'll find a silent moogle and a
locked chest, while in the one on the right, you'll find a moogle costume.
If you wear this, then talk to the silent moogle in the previous house,
it'll mistake you for a girl moogle, and offers you the contents of the
locked chest, an Elf Cloak, as a token of its affection!

After getting all the chests here, head back over to the treehouse with the
six chests in it, and you'll find the moogle standing outside it. Talk to
him, and he jumps on the tree and starts acting weird. Meanwhile, at a
distant castle, Krile is wandering around wondering what to do, and a moogle
runs up behind her, Kupoing like crazy. Krile then immediately runs upstairs
to a tower where her dragon is resting, and tells the soldier that her
grandfather is in Moogle Village. The soldier is confused, but Krile
explains that moogles are telepathic, and can communicate with each other
over great distances. She then stops, realizing the dragon is injured, and
wonders aloud how she's gonna get there. The dragon "speaks", and allows her
to fly on it once more... Krile mounts the dragon and flies off...

Back at Moogle Village, the moogles all appear to be doing some strange
dance, while Krile flies overhead looking for the village. Through
telepathy, the moogles inform her that the entrance is near "the nose", and
an outline of a moogle's face appears over the forest. Now easily able to
locate the village, Krile lands, and is met by a very surprised Galuf, who
asks her how she knew where they were. Krile explains simply that the
moogles told her, and says that they'd better return to the castle quickly.
Everyone jumps on the dragon, while the moogles wave goodbye as it flies
off. :)


--- "Dragon Quest 2" ---

- Val Castle -
Treasures: Hero Drink, Telepo (Time Magic), RegalCutlass, Angel Robe,
           Lamia's Harp

The dragon lands in the courtyard of Val Castle, Galuf and Krile's home. The
team dismounts, and after a brief bit of dialogue, Krile flies off to let
the dragon rest. As she disappears from view, a group of soldiers run over
to welcome back their king... Galuf!

The scene then fades to the throne room, where Galuf asks his soldiers about
X-Death's activity, and the status of the troops. They say that X-Death
hasn't made a move since the barrier went up, but that they lost a
considerable amount of troops in the battles against him and Gilgamesh...
After the status report, Bartz walks over to the throne and asks Galuf if
he's really a king. Galuf dismisses the soldiers, then turns to Bartz and
asks him if he's surprised. Bartz admits that he is, and jokingly asks the
old man if he should call him "King Galuf" from now on. Galuf laughs, and
says it's not necessary, since before they knew he was king of Val Castle,
they just knew him as their friend: Galuf. After a bit more talk, Galuf
rejoins the team, and you regain control.

Still in the throne room, the first thing to do is grab the Hero Drink from
the chest on the left, and the valuable Telepo spell from the hidden chest
below it. Once you have them, head upstairs to the dragon tower, where
you'll find a very despondant Krile. She explains that the dragon is dying,
since even though it was badly injured, it still tried to fly... Feeling
somewhat guilty about it having nearly killed itself to help them, Faris
queries about how they can help the dragon. Reina says that Dragon Grass
could cure it, but that she's not sure if there's any on this world. Galuf
tells her that some might grow in the Valley of Dragons, but that no one has
ever returned alive... Of course, Bartz isn't one to let something
insignificant like that stop him, and readily agrees to go! With your new
mission, leave the castle interior and head out to the courtyard.

First off, go into the pool of water below the shops on the west side of the
castle, and you'll get sucked into the moat. From here, go all the way
around to the other side and search to find a "Great Sword" (actually a
RegalCutlass). This is a nice, strong weapon, so equip it on anyone you're
using as a Knight or Sorceror, then head back to where you got sucked into
the moat and hit the switch to go back to the pool. Now, go into the shop
itself. With the exception of the Gauntlet at the armor shop, the stuff sold
here is exactly the same as in Lugor. Buy whatever you missed earlier, then
head up the stairs to the roof. Head straight east, and you'll go down a
second set of stairs hidden behind the turret. Go downstairs again here, and
you'll be in a small room behind the Weapon and Armor shops. Open the chest
for an Angel Robe, which only Chemists (and Travellers) can equip, then go
to the south wall. One of the sections (the one with the small switch on it)
moves aside when you touch it. Go through, then head to the counter. The
merchants get annoyed with you, and one of them gives you a Lamia's Harp to
get you to go away. =P

That's it for the treasures, but don't leave the castle yet! Instead, head
for the basement in the east wing of the castle. The RockStatue enemies here
are a *great* way to get ABP and money; they're worth over 500 GP each! If
you fight two of them at once, you'll get 4 ABP, and if you fight five of
them, you'll get 8 ABP. They're easy to kill, too; just cast L.5 Doom on
them. ^_^  If you don't have L.5 Doom, load up on Softs at the item store;
using a Soft on one of these things kills it. This obviously isn't as fast
as L.5 Doom, since you have to kill them individually instead of all at
once, but it's still a *lot* faster than trying to kill them normally. If
you *do* have L.5 Doom, start by getting everyone to learn the "Blue"
command who doesn't have it already; once that's done, give it to everyone
as their secondary command. Now start building up until you have enough
abilities to satisfy you; you won't be able to come back here for a while
once you leave, but it's not *that* long, so you don't have to overdo it.
Also, you can sometimes steal Double Lances from them, which are good
weapons for Ninjas and Thieves; actually, for a "rare" steal, they don't
take too long to get.

Leave the castle; the guards warn you that you won't be able to come back
once you leave, and ask if you're sure you want to go. If you still want to
build up in the basement or do anything else here, say No; otherwise, say
Yes. Once you do, you'll be thrust outside...and immediately attacked by an
Abductor. It's stronger than the one you fought earlier, but still easily
beaten, so I won't bother giving a strategy for it. ^_^  From here, you can
go north to a town, or northeast to find a cave; see the Gilgame's Hoard
subquest for details on the cave, though you really don't stand a chance at
it right now. So head to the town unless you're insane. =P

- Kelb Village -
Treasures: Tonic x8, KornagoGourd, Requiem (Song)

Once at the village, Galuf mentions that the Valley of Dragons should be
just beyond the north gate, and you regain control. Strangely, with the
exception of a few sheep, the village seems completely deserted, and all the
shops are locked... What's more, the gate at the north end of town is *also*
locked... With no other choice, Galuf says that they'd better ask Kelga for
some assistance. Well, you're not gonna get anywhere without opening that
gate, so you'd might as well visit this Kelga person. He lives in the large
house hear the center of town, which by coincidence, happens to be the only
one that's not locked. =P   Inside, you'll find another deserted house, and
the back door is also locked. When you start to leave, however, a voice
orders you to freeze, and three werewolves 'drop in'. Bartz prepares to
attack, but Galuf stops him, saying they're not their enemies. At this
point, a regal-looking werewolf walks in from the back door, and is greeted
by Galuf, who introduces him as Kelga, one of the Dawn Warriors! Kelga then
notices the team, and asks who they are. Galuf explains that they're from
the planet X-Death was sealed on. Kelga takes this the wrong way --
mistaking you for X-Death's henchmen, he bitches you out for breaking the
crystals and freeing the black mage. Galuf tries to set things straight, but
the stubborn warrior just knocks him aside, and challenges Bartz to a duel.
As the duel begins, the other werewolves leave, and Reina and Faris join
Bartz, only to be told by him that he'll take care of this one himself. The
girls back off, and Kelga starts off with his special "Pine Attack". It has
no effect on Bartz, though, as he easily counters it and knocks Kelga back
through the door before an actual battle even begins. =P

The scene then fades to Kelga's bedroom, as Galuf gives the injured werewolf
an earful. Kelga seems to ignore the criticism, and just whines about how
Bartz stopped his attack. Bartz just shrugs, and says he learned it from his
father. Galuf and Kelga ask what his father's name is, and facefault at the
answer: Drogan. When asked what the surprise is all about, Kelga explains
that Drogan, along with himself, Galuf, and another man named Zeza, was one
of the Dawn Warriors!

A flashback is now shown of the Dawn Warriors on Earth, gathered around a
defeated X-Death. Unable to kill him, they assume he's immortal, and plan to
seal him here. Drogan, however, is against it, as X-Death is a 'criminal'
from their home planet, and shouldn't be sealed here. The others convince
him that there's no choice now, and he reluctantly agrees. A scene is then
shown of the crystals creating a magic seal in the forest near Tule, and
X-Death disappears. Afterwards, the scene fades to inside a meteorite, which
the Dawn Warriors are using to return home. Galuf asks Drogan if he's really
going to stay on this planet, and Drogan says that he is. Galuf asks him
why, but he leaves without giving a reason... With that, the flashback ends,
and the scene returns to Kelga's bedroom. Kelga now apologizes for his
earlier actions, and agrees to open the gate for you.

After the long sequence of events is over, the villagers come out of hiding.
The streets are bustling with activity, and all the shops are now opened.
The magic shop just sells the same old stuff you've been seeing since Lugor,
but there're *two* Weapon and Armor shops here! The first set just sell the
stuff from Val and Lugor, but the second set sell new equipment. It's mainly
for Monks and Ninjas, but it's strong, so if you're using either job, buy
it! You can buy Shurikens and Skills here, too. Before leaving, there're a
couple other things you can get. First off, you can learn the useful
"Requiem" song by talking to the werewolves to the right of the north gate.
Second, if you're too cheap to stay at the inn, sit at the left side of the
table in the back room of the inn, and the werewolf there will prepare you
a free HP/MP restoring meal. He'll then throw in 8 free Tonics for dessert.
I think you can do this as many times as you'd like, too. Finally, if you
check the well, an old man will pop out and start begging you for a frog.
No, casting Toad on yourself won't impress him, so go outside and catch a
Kornago (one of the ugly orange frogs). This is a bit hard to do, since they
run away when their HP gets low; try controlling one, then casting Demi on
it a few times. =P  When you finally catch one, bring it to the old guy, and
he says that he'll give you a "pot" in exchange for the Kornago and 10000GP.
Yeesh. Well, if you decide to make the trade, he'll give you a KornagoGourd,
an accessory that increases the success rate of the Catch command.

After getting everything in town, exit through the north gate, and head
north through the forest until you reach a mountain. This is the feared
Valley of Dragons...


- Valley of Dragons -
Treasures: 5000 GP, 7000 GP, Phoenix Down, Cottage, Coronet, Wind Sword,
           Bonemail, Golem (Summon Magic)

Most of the enemies here are pretty weak; however, the PoisnEagles have a
high evade rate. Try using the Aim command to kill them easily. Also,
DrgnZombies and Skelesaurs have high HP; however, they're also undead, so
the Requiem song does quite a bit of damage to them and doesn't cost
anything to use. The DrgnZombies always drop Dragon Fangs, too; keep this in
mind if you like the Mix command. =P Also, if you missed MagHammer earlier,
you can learn it from the Drippys here. Control them, then just have them
use it on you. =P  The only other enemy of note is "????", a strange stone
robot that attacks you once and then immediately runs away. If you get the
first strike on one, you might be able to kill it, but it just runs away,
anyhow.

As for the dungeon itself, the path is fairly straightforward. On the first
screen, go into the first cave entrance you see for a chest with 5000 GP.
Then go back out and continue along until you find another cave entrance.
Go through the passage inside, and you'll come out on another part of the
mountain. There's nothing here except another cave entrance, so go in.
You'll soon see a chest; open it for a cottage, then continue along the
path. You'll be back on the mountain; follow the extremely straightforward
path to another cave. Go through it, and you'll be on the mountain yet
again. There are two things of note here: First, if you examine the pile of
bones that's directly below a rock, you'll get the Bonemail. This is
powerful armor, but it has the unfortunate side effect of making the wearer
undead. What's worse, it usually gets optimum-equipped when you change
jobs... =P  Unless you want to be thorough, don't bother getting it, as it's
just a nuisance. You can't even sell it for much. The other thing of note is
that you can get the Golem summon spell now. Remember that annoying "stone
robot" that kept attacking you and running away? Well, in this area, you'll
also randomly encounter him, only in a different sort of scenario...

- Boss Battle -
DrgnZombie - Lv: 37   HP: 4000   Weakness: Fire
Skelesaur  - Lv: 37   HP: 3000   Weakness: Fire
Golem      - Lv: 3    HP: 2500   <He's an ally! Don't attack him!>

This is a weird battle. Initially, it appears Golem found some help and is
trying to kill you, but you'll soon learn that it's almost completely the
opposite, as the monsters turn and attack Golem! Despite that he probably
annoyed you throughout the entire trip here, protect him...you'll see why in
a moment. First off, don't use Ifrit, Fire Skills, or anything else that
hits all enemies, since they'll damage Golem, too -- stick with Fire2 and
Burn Ray. The Requiem song, if you learned it back in Kelb, is also useful
here, since it hits both monsters, yet won't hurt Golem.

If you defeat both monsters without killing Golem, you'll get the useful
Golem summon. If you did kill him, don't worry, you can just fight this
battle again. =P  You can skip this for now if you want, but it'll make the
boss much easier...

Anyways, keep going until you come to yet another cave. There doesn't seem
to be anything in here except a stone door that won't open and a switch you
can't get to, but if you wander around in the upper-right area, you'll find
a hole. =P  Open the nearby chest for a Phoenix Down, then go through the
metal door to the left. This leads to the switch, which opens up a passage
outside the cave. Go back to the room where you fell in, climb the stairs,
and go through the doorway; you'll come out of the door that wouldn't open.
(It still won't; it's a one-way door. =P) Go back out and go along the new
passage to find another cave. Don't worry, this is the last one here. =P
Inside the cave, there are passages to the left and right; the left path
leads to chests containing a Coronet and Wind Sword. The right path leads
on. After following it a short distance, you'll find a chest with 7000 GP.
Shortly after, there's a small doorway in the south wall; go through it to
find a Save Point. Use it, then go back and continue along the path; you'll
be back out on the mountain soon enough. The path is, as usual, fairly
straightforward. At the end of it, the party will approach the Dragon Grass.
Reina will try to pick it... But suddenly, it grows and tosses her aside.
The party realizes that the grass must have mutated into a monster, which
is probably what killed off the Dragons. Since you need to get that grass,
you'll have to fight it...

- Boss Battle -
Drgn Grass     - Lv: 33   HP: 12000
Drgn Bulb (x5) - Lv: 31   HP: 100     <Appears Randomly>

The Dragon Grass doesn't seem to do anything except make Dragon Bulbs grow.
The Bulbs, however, are *extremely* annoying; though their "Dust" attacks
don't do much damage, they cause various status changes, including Blind,
Poison, Aging, and Charm. If you've got Golem, use it right away, and it'll
block all of the Dust attacks, making this fight much easier. If you *don't*
have Golem, it might be a good idea to bring a Dancer with a Ribbon into the
battle and use him/her to restore status for the other characters with Esna,
or the "Recvr" command if you have it. Aside from the status changes,
there's nothing difficult about this battle; so use group attacks often to
kill the bulbs while still causing some damage to the main plant. Titan
works well here. Winning this battle gets you 10 ABP and an Elixir, and
possibly some Phoenix Downs.

After defeating the mutant grass, it returns to normal, and Reina
immediately picks it. Well, you have what you came here for, but make sure
to get the Golem summon before leaving if you don't already have it. Once
you do, walk or teleport out of the mountains, and return to Val.

At the gate, Galuf announces his return, but is declined entrance, as the
soldiers believe it's just one of X-Death's tricks. Being left with no other
alternative, Galuf decides to use his 'secret weapon'...he jumps in the
moat! Nah, he's not losing it; remember when you came down here earlier?
Yep, he intends to get back inside by way of the drain! =P  Reina and Faris
immediately jump in after the old man, and after a moment's hesitation, so
does Bartz. When you regain control, walk around to the left and pull the
switch, which literally sucks you back inside. First thing you should do now
is talk to the gate guards. They apologize for not trusting you, and open
the gate, which you can now use to freely get in and out of the castle.
Anyway, with this out of the way, head back to the dragon tower. The
soldiers along the way tell you that Krile began to feel sick and went to
her bedroom to rest, so before actually going up to heal the dragon, pay her
a visit. The girl seems to be somewhat out of it, though, as she starts
babbling something about how "Gill is calling", and tells you to "hurry to
where Gill is". A rather confused Bartz asks who Gill is, and Galuf explains
that he's a 700 year old sage who forsaw the crystals shattering... He
continues, saying that Sage Gill might know of something that can help them
defeat X-Death. Krile starts babbling about how she "must visit Gill", and
Galuf agrees to go instead, then tells Krile that they managed to get the
Dragon Grass. Excited at this, she urges you to hurry upstairs and cure the
dragon! Before leaving, Bartz asks Galuf where exactly they can find Gill,
and is told that the old sage lives in a cave on a small island across the
ocean to the northwest of the Valley of Dragons.

After all the talk is finished, head upstairs to the tower. There, Reina
immediately tries to feed the Dragon Grass to the injured dragon, but it
refuses to eat it. Bartz says he isn't surprised, since it's what caused
them to go extinct, but Reina's determination is too strong, since if the
dragon doesn't eat the grass, it'll die. In desperation, and despite the
fact that it's poisonous to humans, she takes a bite of the Dragon Grass to
prove that it's safe. Seeing that there's nothing wrong with the grass, the
the dragon eats the rest of it and completely recovers. At this moment,
Krile runs up to the tower and gives Reina some medicine to cure the poison,
and after everyone finishes repremanding Reina for that stupid move, Krile
collapses. Everyone (except Bartz) panics, but she insists that she's
alright, and gets back up. Galuf tells Krile to go back in and rest, and she
thanks you for helping the dragon, wishes you good luck, then waves goodbye
as the team mounts the dragon and flies off.