Ys 5 Expert: FAQ/Walkthrough (c)2001 Casey Chilbeck (mgnash@cport.com) Last update: 7/10/01 (v1.0) Table of contents: 1. Legal notices and disclaimer 2. Game notes and Version History 3. Controls and Screen Layout 4. Combat 5. Walkthrough (incomplete) I : Sandoria II : Foresta III : Foresta Cave IV : Foresta Revisited V : Sandoria Revisited VI : Marsha's Cabin VII : South Wood VIII : Kokiriko IX : North Wood X : Swamplands XI : Nedo's Cavern XII : Kokiriko Revisited XIII : Ramzen City XIV : Sebe Ruins XV : Ramzen Revisited XVI : The Rapids XVII : The Jungle XVIII: The Waterfall XIX : Felte and the Desert XX : The Oasis and the Kefin Shrine XXI : Sandoria Captured! XXII : Felte Revisited XXIII: Kefin, the Lost City; part 1 XXIV : Kefin, the Lost City; part 2 XXV : Kefin, the Lost City; part 3 6. Item and Equipment Lists 7. Magic List 8. Time Attack 9. Acknowledgements 10. Contact Info -1. Legal notices and disclaimer- This document (c)2001 Casey Chilbeck First off, this document may not be used in any way shape or form in a for-profit publication; it may not be sold as part of a package or set. Use of this document in either of these ways violates copyright laws. All mentioned names are copyrights of their respective owners. You may post this document freely (as in for free) so long as this disclaimer remains intact, unchanged, and you have the author's permission. -2. Game Notes and Version History- Ys 5 was released in 1996 by Nihon Falcom; it never made it to US shores, much the same as the other games in the Ys series. Unfortunatley, I've only played Ys 4: Mask of the Sun and Ys 5, so I don't know much of the background story, but I do know that Adol Christian has been the central character in each of the games, and that Ys refers to a civilization. Ys III, IV and V were all for the SFC console. v0.1: Started up the controls and such, some help with the menu for the Japanese-disabled. Added some background info on the Ys series (not much, but it's there! I'll have to play the others before I'll be able to expand that). Added a disclaimer (before I forget). Began bare-bones walkthrough, all the way up to and including Marsha's Cabin. (6/27/01) v0.2: Walkthrough up to and including Nedo's Cavern completed; reworded some things so they sounded clearer. Began item lists, filled in with what I remember from beating the game the first time. I think most of the items are in there, but if I miss any I'll put them down when I find them. (6/28/01) v0.3: Walkthrough up to and including Ramzen City completed. Added the Magic list - mostly imcomplete, as I don't have enough elemental stones to check all the combinations (and I did list them all... quite a few spells! That's gonna take a while). Expanded items a bit. Added acknowledgements and contact info section. (6/29/01) v0.4: Well, I knew I'd screw up somewhere - when I was figuring exchange rates, I didn't have Dark Pearls or Pearls to actually see how much they were worth, so I went off the regular pattern - turns out they're overvalued the way I had them down. So, I fixed it. Walkthrough up to the Jungle completed. Also clarified poison a bit. Added shopping menu help. Got rid of some redundant entries in various lists; filled in some blanks on the magic/item lists. Big update for one day, eh? (7/1/01) v0.45: Moved the equipment and item lists down below the walkthrough. Walkthrough up to and including the Waterfall complete. Added a Table of Contents for easier viewing. (7/2/01) v0.5: Walkthrough up to and including the Kefin Temple completed; filled in more blanks in the magic list. I suspect not all of the combinations are used, so expect that list to shrink; filled in more blanks in the item lists, and added a few missing entries. Confirmed the names of those last two elemental stones. (7/3/01) v0.7: Got a lot done this time... walkthrough up to and including Kefin part 1 completed; magic list finished, just have to get the spell effects in. Item list almost complete, barring key items (which I plan to do later). Oh, and happy Independance Day for all you Americans out there. (7/4/01) v0.9: Finished walkthrough (yay), got most of the spell effects I can get in one play. For all intents and purposes I'm nearly done, just need to get a few stray spell effects in, as well as key items. Oh, and a bit of info on Time Attack as well. (7/5/01) v1.0: Got all the spells in there, cleaned up a few typos. Also added a section on time attack. Pretty much finished unless I missed something (and I don't think I did, but it's very possible I'm wrong). (7/10/01) -3. Controls and Screen Layout- Directional: Moves Adol around the screen. Pad A button : Attack. Different swords do one of three kinds of attacks, each with a different range. Example, the Long Sword does an overhead, slightly arcing slash that hits in a narrow arc on one side and directly in front of you, while the Freesa sword sweeps in a wide arc directly in front of you, but with less distance. If your spell power is at 100%, this casts the currently selected spell if you have enough MP. B button : Jumps. Jumping can be a bit difficult to control at first since you can't change direction in mid-jump, but it can be gotten used to. Y button : Defends if Adol has a shield equipped. You only defend directly in front of you, and some attacks can't be blocked this way. Learn to use this, though - it'll save you tons of damage. X button : Opens the menu. Cycle through the options with the control pad until the one you want is behind Adol (and it's icon/description are shown in the window on the top of the screen). Start : Unused. Select : Brings up the map; the small Adol is approximately where you are. This doesn't work in Kefin until you find the Kefin map. L button : Switches between spells equipped on your sword. R button : When held, charges up your spell power. If you let go, your power will steadily decline back to 0; you can only cast spells when you reach 100. This doesn't work unless you actually have a spell equipped. On the bottom of the screen are a large bar, and three numbers; the bar and the first number are Adol's HP; the number is your current HP, and the bar gives you an idea of how much you have left. The second number is Adol's current MP. This, of course, goes down as you cast spells. :) The third is your spell power. It remains at 0 unless you hold down the R button, in which case it begins to build up; when it reachs 100, you can press A to cast a spell; note that you can only cast spells at 100 power, but not all spells will take you back down to 0. Menu options are: Item : Two things here; the one on the left are your key items. You can use one of these at a time, but not all of them really do anything. The one on the right are your "regular" items, including potions, elemental stones and such. You really only use potions in this way though. The icon looks like a tag of some sort, by the way. Equip : Looks like a guy holding a sword and shield. From here, you equip your weapons and armor (duh). The top-left one is sword, the bottom-left is shield, the top-right is armor, and the bottom-right is ring. You're probably going to want to equip the strongest stuff, naturally, but pay attention to the rings; each has a different effect, so you'll probably be switching a lot. Magic : Looks like jewel. From here you can switch what spells you have equipped on your sword; note that you can reach this menu from the Equip menu as well by selecting sword, then highlighting the same sword you have equipped. To equip magic, select a "slot" on your weapon, and pick the magic you want equipped - the description tells you what magic does what spell, but if you don't understand Japanese, look at the magic list toward the bottom. Quick Save: Looks kinda like a box with an arrow pointing down into it. Quickly saves your game, which I think means your current experience levels and items, but not position (as in you'll start back at the last place you actually saved your game); I'm unsure if this actually saves the game as in if you turn it off it'll still save everything, or if it just applies to saving whatever you get in case you die. This option is pretty useless for emulator users, but if you're actually playing on an SNES/SFC unit you'll want to use this often. Customize : Changes various things about the game. The topmost option is... not sure what this one is, actually. The next one down is message speed; then button assignments (only A, B, X and Y though); then sound (Stereo/Monoraul); then player clothing and armor color; then window color; and lastly, HP meter visuals. If you're a thorough explorer, you can also open an option to change the color of Adol's hair, similar to clothing and armor... Saving the game is pretty simple, just find an inn or someone who will save your game. Shopping is done much the same way as it's done in any console RPG; for the Japanese-illiterate, though, the options are, from left to right, Kau (buy), Uru (sell), Kankin (Not sure what this means, but it's where you exchange jewels for GP), and Deru (end). Select whichever one you want and press A to move to that sub-menu; Buying's pretty self-explanatory, just select what you want, and press A. Note that you have to press it twice, as the first time it'll ask you if you're sure. Selling is virtually the same. Money exchange works just as easily, as it will show you the jewels you have, and the current exchange rates. The number on the bottom-right corner is the total you'll get for that exchange. The only thing you can select is yes or no, the left option being yes. Be sure to check the different exchange rates between shops, as that can mean the difference between getting a shiny new sword, or being forced to stick with the same thing you've already got. Of course, since I'm providing exchange rates, you don't really need to waste time walking around, do you? :P -4. Combat- Combat works pretty much the same way as Secret of Mana and The Legend of Zelda; you just hit enemies with your weapon by hitting the attack button, and try to avoid getting hit yourself! How you hit the enemy may result in different amounts of damage, however. Hitting an enemy from the sides or behind will result in more damage; you can score loads of damage on bosses by being quick enough to slice them in the back! This also applies to you, however! So don't let anything knock you in the back. Some enemies defend themselves in a manner similar to you; you won't be able to hurt them unless they drop their guard or you hit them from the sides or back. Magic is not the usual select-and-cast-spell deal in this game; instead you have to hold down the R button until the third number on the bottom of the screen reaches 100, then hit attack. You can *can* defend while charging up a spell, but you must stop defending to actually cast it. Some spells are basic projectile effects that do damage immediatley after they hit, but some, most notably the strongest spells, take a long time to cast, and don't immediatley harm the enemy; this makes casting them rather risky as often times enemies will run offscreen before they get damaged. You learn new magic by using three elemental stones at a magic shop; I'll cover the combinations a bit later. When normal enemies are defeated with your sword, they drop various jewels; be sure to collect these. Enemies don't drop gold in this game, rather they drop jewels which you can exchange for gold at any shop except a magic shop. Some shops give better rates than others, so be sure to see what you get before exchanging - it can mean the difference between getting a great new sword or being a few coins short. The various gems, in order of value, are: Tapas (Isn't it supposed to be Topaz? Anyhow, it looks like brownish quartz), Seruria (blusish sphere), Rubia (red chunk), Rald (Don't they mean Emerald? Looks like an irregular green chunk) ark Pearl (black sphere), Pearl (bluish-white sphere). If I'm missing something, feel free to orrect Me. Note that you do not receive a jewel if you defeat an enemy by magic. Also note that some enemies may instead drop apples which restore 5HP. On the field these are rather useless since you can regain all the HP you need without lifting a finger, but in dungeons it would be prudent to snatch these up whenever they appear. Some enemies may poison you; if you've got a lot of HP and are on the field, you may simply wait it out. It wears off after a bit and you can regain the HP you lost. In a dungeon, though, I would quickly use a Poison Antidote; the toxins will quickly sap your HP, and you'll have to dip into your valuable potions to refresh yourself. Levels come in two flavors; weapon levels, which occur after killing enough enemies with your sword. These raise your HP, and physical attack/defense quite quickly, but only marginally increase your MP and magical attack/defense. Alternatley, killing enemies with magic will beef up your magic level, which speedily raises your maximum MP, and magical attack/defense, but likewise only slowly raise your physical stats. Both work off of separate experience values, so you shouldn't have any trouble building them both up. On the field maps, you can stand still for a while and Adol's HP will climb back up. This is very useful as it pretty much removes the need to use healing potions on the field. This does not work in dungeons unless you have the Healing Ring, though, and you won't get that until you're nearly done with the game. -5. Walkthrough- I. Sandoria: "It sure ain't Mos Eisley!" As the game begins, you're on a ship in Sandoria harbor. Can't miss yourself, you're the guy in the armor! ;) Anyhoo, you'll automatically walk off the ship after a bit of talking, and proceed north. You can talk to the people here, none of them say anything particularly important from what I can tell; you can't enter the building, however (the sailor nearby the door apparently complains at you). Proceed north between the two guards, and they will stop you, then knock you out. The screen will fade back in at a back alley, and someone, a woman by the name of Rije, will shoo the troops away, and you may go back south to the harbor. This time, you may freely go between the two guards. Once you get into the main town, you're free to have a look around. Note that the item shop close to where you came in is closed; it'll be open later. Shops in Sandoria: Weapon Shop: Exchange rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Long Sword: 500G Talwar : 1000G Freesa : 10000G Armor Shop: Exchange rates: Tapas : 45G Seruria : 90G Rubia : 180G Rald : 360G Dark Pearl: 540G Pearl : 720G Buy: Radi Shield : 500G Round Shield : 4000G Leather Armor: 1000G Chain Mail : 6000G Item Shop: Exchange rates: Tapas : 55G Seruria : 110G Rubia : 220G Rald : 440G Dark Pearl: 660G Pearl : 1100G Buy: Healing Potion : 240G Poison Antidote: 30G Note that you have 100G at this point, so you really can't buy anything. Don't panic, you'll get some much needed cash shortly. Head to the pub, then talk to the guy reading the sign near the back. Once he moves, read the sign yourself. Seems like a guy named Dorman's looking for someone to undertake a job. Once you've read it, you can talk to other pub patrons. The bartender can give you some information, but so far as I can tell you don't need to listen to any of it. When you try to leave, someone will come in and talk to you, then go sit down. When you're finished, go to the westernmost section of town, then north until you see this huge house. That's Dorman's place; go up to the door, and Dorman's butler, Parker, will greet you and take you to Dorman. Dorman will talk for a bit and and some point will ask you if you want the job. The top option is yes; select that one, so we can move on with the game. Dorman will be grateful, and will give you 1000G for supplies. Whoo! Dorman will also show you a crystal, mentioning that there should be one like it in Foresta to the north. Once he's done, leave his room, but don't leave the manor just yet; stay on the second floor, then go to the west room with the empty fireplace in it. Check the fireplace for a free healing potion, you'll need it. Also, go in the door under the stairs and look for Dorman's Room (the one with the fancy bed) - search the bed for another Healing Potion. Then leave Dorman's home. Once back in Sandoria, it's time to pick up some equipment! If you're not confident about fighting just yet, get a Radi Shield and and Long sword; if you think you can manage without the defense, skip the Radi Shield and get a Talwar. The Talwar's a bit harder to use than the Long Sword because you hit in such a narrow line, but it's much stronger. Leave town through the north to enter the field map. Once you reach the field map, I would fight enemies on this first screen a lot; as you'll quickly notice, even these, the weakest enemies in the game, can kill you in just a couple of hits, so some level building is in order! I'm one of those obsessive types who has to have the best equipment before moving on, so I kept fighting until I had the Freesa sword, Chain Mail and Round shield, reaching weapon level 7 or so. You don't have to be quite that high, but I would at least reach level 3 or 4 before moving on, and at the least try to have a Talwar sword, Leather Armor, and a Radi Shield. The spiders will periodically spit at you, and this attack can poison you. If this happens, try to tough it out, but if it looks like it might kill you, high-tail it back to town for a quick healing. Other than that, you merely have to watch out for the crabs on the beach, which have the annoying tendancy to block your hits, and strike back quite hard. When you're set, move on by heading east, the north, then west two screens, until you see some wooden poles in the ground. That indicates the entrace to Foresta; head north to enter the village. II. Foresta: "Well, DUH it's a forest!" Immediately after you enter, the three villagers who were gathered near a stone monument will run off. Adol will automatically walk up to where they were. Examine the monument, and you'll read the inscription (sorry, can't translate it). After it's done running through, the guy who spoke to you in the Sandoria pub will walk in and talk to you for a bit. The villagers that ran off will walk back on after this and say something, then leave again. After a bit more conversation, Tsuet will run off, leaving you to explore the village. Shops in Foresta: Weapon Shop: Exchange rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Long Sword: 450G Talwar : 900G Shamshir : 36000G Armor Shop: Exchange rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Radi Shield : 450G Round Shield : 3600G Leather Armor: 900G Chain Mail : 5400G Note that you can search the house in the northeastern part of the village for a "Tawashi" (whatever that is). Also of note is that you can buy a Shamshir here! It's exorbitantly priced at 36000G, but if you can afford it you'll be disgustingly powerful for the next little while. It attacks exactly like the Long Sword. I wasn't able to get it the first time around, but the second time I played the game I managed to snag it. Other than that, the shops are very much the same as Sandoria's, albeit 10% cheaper. If you haven't gotten a Talwar, Leather Armor and Radi Shield at the least, do so now; you'll need them shortly. If you have them, though, feel free to upgrade. Don't forget to sell off your old stuff. When you're done wandering around town, go up toward the northern section of town, but don't bother talking to the person blocking the path; instead, head west to a small section with a statue and a little kid nearby. Talk to Willy and he'll dance around a bit. Note that if you picked up the Tawashi, he'll buy it for 20G. Not that it matters much, I think. Anyhow, leave this screen after that, and the villagers will be gathered near the blocked path. Someone got hurt inside the cave, and it sounds like someone's trapped in there. The village people will talk amongst themselves for a while, and eventually one of them will ask if you can help. Being the heroic-type-person you are, say yes (top option). Go north after this toward the Foresta Cave. Once up north, you'll notice a door and a button. Standing on the button will open up part of the wall, but it will close once you step off (and not a pillar or block in sight!). Instad, examine the door. Willy from the statue area will come up and stand on the button for you, so walk into the now-open section of wall. III. Foresta Cave: "You go first." "AIEEEEEEE!" *splat* "Hmm... we go different way now." The first thing you should notice is that there are rocks dropping from the ceiling. These hurt a bit if they hit, so avoid them. The next is that the enemies are stronger; if you have the equipment I recommended or better, this shouldn't be that tough so long as your weapon level is at least 4 or so. One thing to watch out for, though, is that your HP does not regenerate in here like it does on the map; you only have one healing potion, too, and there's a boss at the end of this all too, so save it. Try to avoid getting hit at all costs, and defend a lot. You'll also get your first exercise in jumping, right near the entrance. Jumping that first gap just takes you to an area with a skeleton, though, so I'd skip it. Keep on the low path and follow it north, then on the next screen west until you have to jump up. Go up and around to the other end of that high path, then drop down; it looks like a dead end, but you can go under the high path on the right wall; it can be a bit tricky to actually start moving through that tunnel, but stay as close as you can to the ledge back up and you'll go through. Once through, you have three choices of doors. One is immediatley north; it leads to a treasure chest with a heal potion. Grab it, then go back out and go east a bit. Ignore the first door you see, then jump up the ledge and follow the path until you reach the door at the end. Go through to find another room with a heal potion in a chest. Snatch it, then go back to that door I told you to ignore just a second ago. Inside is an unconcious girl. Talk to her and she'll wake up. Someone will run in and ask her if she's okay (or something like that). Turns out she's Nina, the girl who runs the Item Shop in Sandoria. Once the villagers take her out of the cave, Willy will run up north telling you there's something up there. Follow him, and you'll hear him yell. Jump up onto the ledge and kill the skeleton standing on the tile (you don't actually have to fight it, it dies after one hit). Willy will thank you. Stand on the tile once that's over and done with, and you'll be teleported to some elaborate room with mystical-sounding music. This, of course, means this room is important. :) Anyhoo, head to the top of the stairs and examine the pedestal. Note that up above there's a woman encased in crystal or something. Told you this place was important. :P After seeing this, something drops down from out of nowhere, and a voice speaks. A man swathed in black appears, and introduces himself as Stoker, a spirit from 500 years in the past. He talks for a bit, mentioning Foresta (Is he referring to the village? Can't tell), then gives you that thing he dropped. I can't tell what this thing is... is it a circlet? A ring? What? Who cares, it's a key item by the way. Once he's done, leave to the south. This area just has more of the same in the way of enemies and such. Head directly south, and when you go to the next screen, the door closes off and the music changes... that can only mean one thing. Boss Fight! Boss: Waltemos This turtle-like enemy shouldn't be difficult. Even with substandard equipment he doesn't pose too much of a threat, but don't get too cocky. Note that you have to go around to the right side of the platform to actually get on it and battle him. His attacks are a roar which causes stalactites to fall from the ceiling, an effect which chases you around. Keep moving to avoid that one. Every so often, that third eye on his forehead will open and shoot a red beam that causes fire on the ground. Just move away from him and it won't hit you. Lastly, he will shoot fireballs out of his mouth at you. You can block these, so just hit Y. You need to whack him in the head to cause any damage; touching him anywhere else results in you getting hurt. He should die after taking around 300 or so points of damage. Once you defeat Waltemos, Stoker will appear and talk to you again. Leave the room by going south. Remember that bridge you saw in the first couple of sections of the dungeon? This is how you get onto it; it leads directly outside. There's no enemies along the way either, so this is a short breather. IV. Foresta Revisited: "Again?" Once outside the cave, the only place you really need to go is the house in the southeastern part of town. The guy who got hurt (Ropora) is in here, as well as Willy; talk to the latter and he'll tell you Nina went back to Sandoria. He'll also give you a Water Elemental stone; you can't use this yet, but it'll become important later. Head back to Sandoria. V. Sandoria Revisited: "I'd say something witty but I'm hopped up on Dr. Pepper." Once you make it back to Sandoria, there's someone waiting for you at the southernmost portion of this screen. Attempt to leave south and he'll talk to you for a bit. Head south again, and you'll hear someone playing an instrument of some sort. Head toward the item shop and... it's Nina! She'll speak to you a bit, then go inside the shop. Head in after her. When you talk to her, you have three options; the top one allows you to shop. If you haven't exchanged the jewels you got inside the Foresta Cave yet, do so now, Nina gives you some pretty good rates. You can also buy the ever-important healing potions here for the first time, so load up. You may want to invest in some poison antidotes as well. The second allows you to ask Nina about a few things, these being (top) about Nina's Ocarina, and (middle) Stan, Nina's father. The bottom backs out. Once you're done here, go back and talk to Dorman. He'll go on for a bit, then give you the Luminous Crystal. It's another key item, but it doesn't do a thing. Go ahead and leave Dorman's house; Parker will stop you on the way out to give you an Earth Elemental stone. These stones will become useful in a short while, so hang tough ;) When you pass by Nina's shop again, you'll hear her scream. Go check on her, and she's apparently alone, but on the floor... hm. Go into the back room, and someone named Carion is there! He'll talk for a bit then disappear. Nina will run in and ask you if you're okay, then look around. Her father's medal turns out to be missing, so we can safely assume Carion stole it. Leave the shop. When you leave, Willy runs up to you; you can ask him about Stan's medal and Kefin's temple (I *think* it's temple...). When you're done, choose the bottom option and he'll run inside the shop. You can ask him about these things again later, if you forget. Your next order of business is to find Marsha, whom Willy mentions somewhere in all that talking. She's supposed to be in the woods to the north... well, let's have a look-see, shall we? VI. Marsha's Cabin: "Marsha sans John." If you haven't gotten the Talwar yet, tsk-tsk. Do so now, as the Long Sword will be hideously weak from here on out. The Freesa would be better, but if you can't afford it that's fine. I would seriously consider upgrading your Leather Armor to Chain Mail now, or at least change for a Round Shield - if you can get both, you're set! From Sandoria, head east three screens, then take the northeastern exit on that screen. From there, hop up on the ledge directly above you and head west. Head northwest on this screen, the head north. You'll see Stoker run into the woods; follow him. Well, well! Look who we found! It's Marsha! She'll greet you, then you'll be in her cabin. She'll take the two elemental stones you already have and add a Fire stone to them; these three will combine to make your first spell, Avalanche Rock! It shoots a small fireball forward. You'll get it automatically equipped, and then you'll get to test it on a rock. Hold down the R button until that third number on the bottom part of the screen reaches 100, the hit A. Once that's done, you'll end up in Marsha's cabin again. Leave after she's finished talking. When you leave the vinicinity of her Cabin, Stoker will appear again and talk a bit more, again mentioning Foresta. You may want to go out and build up some magic levels now, and that would be a good idea. I would shoot for Level 4 for now, and leave it at that. Anyhow, when you're ready to move on, head west from Marsha's Cabin. VII. South Wood: "It's the woods... it's south... fair enough." Here, you enter a forest. The enemies in here are pretty much the same thing you've been fighting for the last little while. Head north on the first screen, drop off the ledge then take the southern exit to the left of the one you came in from. Then hop up the ledges and take the northern path. Head directly north, the follow the path you're on. Near the end of the path, you'll run into two men and a little girl. They'll threaten the girl, who asks you to help her. The two bandits will accost you and demand 9,000G to save her. Your response doesn't matter from what I understand, save that if you actually have the 9,000G and agree, you'll lose it - so I wouldn't agree. One bandit will kick you, then direct you to the left. Go down that path, and the path once again becomes blocked and the music changes - boss fight! Boss: Dezeltulf This wild boar presents some difficulty, especially if you're still using the Long Sword. His only attack is to charge at you, and he does this a lot. Do NOT, under any circumstances, stay in front of him like you could with Waltemos - he'll quickly massacre you. Instead, try to lure him into charging then strike him as he passes by. This takes some practice, as he moves quite quickly, but it is by and far the safest way to beat him. This is easier to pull off with the Talwar's thrusting attack, but if you have the Freesa or the Shamshir (good luck having that last one by now), they will make it even easier because of how much damage they can pull off. Dezeltulf will die after receiving about 250 points of damage - less than the last boss, but much more difficult because of how much effort it takes to hit him! Magic does work on him, but it's difficult at best to land a shot of Avalanche Rock, so you're better off doing without in this case. Once you've made dinner out of this pig, the two thieves and the little girl will show up again... and what's this? Seems like that girl's really just a part of the gang! They'll talk to you for a bit, then run off (one of the bandits is a little slow and takes a second to realize his comrades have run off! ^^;) Go up the steps on the western side of the platform, then follow it east until you see an exit north. VIII. Kokiriko: "Why, oh why couldn't they have used a NORMAL name for once?" This village is a small outpost in the forest. It consists pretty much of the screen you enter on and one large building to the east. Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Poison Antidote: 50G Heal Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Round Shield : 4000G Leather Armor : 1000G Chain Mail : 6000G If you haven't gotten the Chain Mail and Round Shield yet, do so now; the enemies in the next few sections are capable of doing a good deal of punishment. Note that you can buy Magic Potions here for the first time; most other shops in the game also sell these, so you don't have to stock up completely, but do so if you can. Near the large building, head to the southeastern corner. Search the small alcove between the stairs and the wall to find a Fire Elemental Stone. Enter the building from the westernmost entrance, then head into the room with all the boxes and jars; one of the jars in the northern part of this room has a Heal potion in it. In the part of the building with the and item merchant, you can talk to the guy at the right desk to get some information. I'm not quite sure what he's saying though. Something about a cave up north, I think. Note that you can't leave Kokiriko right now except the way you came in. When you're done, go to the large room of that building and talk to the guy in the red pants with his arms crossed (Rod). Once you've spoken to him, go back to the entry area. You'll see a merchant in a cloak has come into the village, and is talking to the guard of the northern entrance. After a bit, the guard will ask you to take him to Rod. Agree. In the next sequence, the man will say he's delivering some medicine (it's actually called the "Kameria no Tsubomi" - no idea what a "Tsubomi" is though) to someone in the northern swampland. Rod will say he will take the medicine up himself, and receive the medicine from the man. Once Rod leaves the room, you can take the northern exit yourself. Go to it. IX. North Wood: "Isn't this the same place?" This area is pretty linear, just follow the path on the first screen. After that, you'll meet up with Rod, who got hurt along the way. He'll ask you to take the medicine to the cabin up north; agree, and he'll thank you. Leave north once you've gotten the Kameria no Tsubomi. Here, you'll encounter some tree like enemies. They're easy though, because they're so slow. Feel free to skip them if you think your levels are high enough, or kill them if you want. Again, this area's pretty linear, so just follow the path, until you reach the Swamplands. X. Swamplands: "Alright, I Drain Life you for... wrong game." Bridges, bridges, everywhere! Most of them are broken though. Head west and the north, following the bridge. Beware of the mermen though, they jump out of the water with little warning. They also spit at you if you ignore them, and that saliva can poison you - I'd advise killing them unless you like getting spit at. Once the bridge heads offscreen to the west, go west. You'll see a cabin and a Merchant. Shops in the Swamplands: Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 60G Seruria : 120G Rubia : 240G Rald : 480G Dark Pearl: 720G Pearl : 960G Buy: Healing Potion: 400G Magic Potion : 600G Talwar : 1000G Round Shield : 4000G Chain Mail : 6000G This guy gives some good rates for the area, so exchange what you have. You should already have the equipment he sells. If not, get it NOW! I mean it this time! ;) Other than that, just buy healing potions if you think you'll need them. When you're done, enter the cabin. Inside, you'll notice a girl sleeping in bed in the northern part of the house. While you're looking around, check the barrel in the northeastern corner of the room for a Fire Elemental stone. Then speak to the man near the stairs. When you get the question prompt, pick the top option to give him the Kameria no Tsubomi. He'll thank you for it and administer the medicine to his daughter. You can talk to him to save the game after this. Leave the cabin, then head back out onto the bridges. When you get back to the main screen, head over to that merman head statue you should have noticed before. Whack it and it'll turn around, and the ground will shake! Go back toward the entrace and head east. Note that the missing section of bridge has been replaced by a large stone block. Walk across it and follow the bridge; there's really only one path you can go on. When you reach the end of it, there's another head switch. Whack it and go back a bit. Another stone block will have come up; go across it and head north. The path will fork for a bit here; take the upper one, as it leads to the switch you need to hit. Walk up to it and hit it, and a raft will appear on the lower path. Loop around and hop on the raft. It'll take you to another path which leads to the bridge you saw earlier. Keep following it until you reach *another* switch. Hit it, then head south on the staircase. The chest here has a Fire Elemental stone in it. Head back toward the cabin, but instead of going to the cabin, take the path beyond the first switch you hit. The dead end is now filled in by a stone block. Go across and you'll see a door, but it won't open. Examine it anyhow. Then, head back to the cabin. Once inside the cabin, that little girl has recovered (damn, that's some strong medicine! :) Talk to her (note that she refers to Adol as "Oniichan" - "Big Brother". How cute. :), and she'll say something (I *think* she's talking about the door you looked at - in any event you can't do anything about it until you talk to her, so I think it's safe to assume that's what she talks about). Go back to the door and examine it. You'll get the same message as before, but don't despair - hit A to examine it again. A timer will appear and you have to hit the A, B, X and Y buttons in the correct sequence to open the door. The sequence, in case you're curious, and even if you're not, is: A, X, Y, B. XI. Nedo's Cavern: "Insert witty comment here." You'll encounter some new foes in here as well, notably those irritating large bats that split into two smaller bats after you kill them Also, don't use Avalanche Rock on the slimes - it heals them. Ignore the westernmost path at the entrance; it just leads to a dead-end. Instead, take the eastern one. Head east again on this screen. Then go north into the room with two chests. One has a Nedo no Hiyaku (Nedo Remedy) and the other has a Water Elemental stone. Snatch both of these, then head back to the entrance. Take the middle path by hopping up on the small ledges. From here, head west. Drop down, and head to the northern part of the room. Crack open the chest to snag a Heal Potion, then head east. From here, go North. Yet again, the music changes. BOOOOOOOSS FIIIIIIIGHT! Boss: Hyudol This oversized jellyfish should be handled with caution. I found it maddeningly difficult to avoid some of his attacks. For the first part of the battle, he just goes in a circle around the central platform and periodically stops to shoot in four directions, either the cardinal directions or diagonally. Neither of these is particularly tough to avoid. He might shoot lasers in a spread pattern, but this too is fairly easy to avoid. However, after suffering around 250 points of damage, he discards what apparently is a shell and starts waving his arms about. This form isn't even remotely fair... when he sweeps by the platform, he'll lay down some purple stalagmites that shoot downard at you if you're below them; the only way to avoid these is jump, but your jumping is messed up in this current (it constantly forces you backwards, slowing you down), AND he'll shoot purple shots everywhere that go just about everywhere. While you can block these, they have the irritating habit of hitting you in the back. This form also dies after about 250 points of damage. Magic doesn't seem to work on him. My weapon level was about 6 when I knocked him down; magic level is largely irrelevant since all his attacks seem to be physical in nature, but I had it up to 4 here. Once he's beaten, you'll be taken to another section of the cave. A woman will appear out of the water, introducing herself as Nedo. She'll ask you to take care that the crystal doesn't fall into the wrong hands (or something... couldn't really understand this part). Adol will walk up to the crystal automatically, when someone shouts "Wait!" It's... those bandits you met near Kokiriko! One of them tries to jump up on a pillar like the others, but falls off. ^^; Anyhoo, they introduce themselves as the Ibuuru Gang (Evil Gang). They talk about about Dorman (Are they working for him or against him? Curse my poor Japanese.), then say they're going to the Sebe Ruins next. The girl takes the crystal, then they all run off. From here, just exit the cave. When you get back to the swamplands, note that it's stopped raining. From here, head back to Kokiriko. XII. Kokiriko revisited: *burp* Once you make it back to Kokiriko, go talk to Rod - he's back in the same place you first saw him. Some conversation will follow; when Rod is done talking, take the eastern exit you couldn't use before (the guard would stop you). From here, you'll end up in Ramzen Field. There are some new enemies on Ramzen Field; notable are new versions of those bugs that look like flowers until you get near them. These spit balls of what I'm guessing is pollen at you in addition to moving annoyingly fast. Be sure to block all of their attacks; you'll notice they do quite a good bit of damage for the area. No, your equipment shouldn't be outdated yet (unless you're STILL using Leather Armor - how many times have I told you to ditch that stuff by now? ^^;), but upgrading it soon would be a good idea. Hang tough, you'll get just that chance in a minute or two. Since fighting in this area can be somewhat dangerous right now, you'll want to head straight for the nearest town. From Kokiriko, head east twice then north. XIII. Ramzen City: "Alright, we gotta get the heck out of... what's this place again?" Immediatley after entering, an old woman will ask you wait, telling you she has some information. She'll charge 500G; if you don't have it, though, agree anyway and she'll spill without taking anything. You can get 500G pretty easy, so it's no big loss if you do pay up. Anyhow, she'll talk about the Sebe Ruins a bit, then leave. Turns out she's with the Evil Gang. Go fig. ^^; Once this is over with, you're free to explore the town. Shops in Ramzen City: Weapon Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Round Shield : 4400G Heater Shield: 16500G Chain Mail : 6600G Scale Mail : 22000G Armor Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Talwar: 1100G Freesa: 11000G Item Shop 1: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 55G Seruria : 110G Rubia : 220G Rald : 440G Dark Pearl: 660G Pearl : 880G Buy: Poison Antidote: 50G Healing Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Item Shop 2 (merchant in the inn): Exchange Rates: This gal doesn't change your gems. Buy: Poison Antidote: 50G Healing Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Selceta Remedy : 10000G Be sure to pick up a Selceta Remedy if you can afford it - it fully restores your HP and MP, and check between the two shop buildings for a Wind Elemental stone. Also, search the boxes in the northwestern corner of the first section of town. There's a Fire Elemental stone in them. In the northern section of town, near the river, check the boxes on the left side for a Healing Potion. There's a Water Elemental stone on the boxes close to the river, just to the left of the dock, as well. And, as if that wasn't enough madness for you, you can also put to use some of the elemental stones you've gotten thus far in one of the houses along the southern portion of this screen - talk to the wizard-looking guy in black in one of the houses. Talk about of the Sebe Ruins is abound in this city! You can get quite a bit of info from everyone, but pay special attention to the books in the library - one of them details how to operate the water sluice. I'm unsure if it's strictly neccessary to read this to use the sluice, but better safe than sorry, eh? As far as equipment goes, I would strongly advise getting the Freesa sword at this point at least. If you can afford it, be sure to get the Scale Male or the Heater Shield; both would be best, but considering their high cost, you'll probably only be able to get one, if either. Of course, you can always fight enemies on Ramzen field; they all drop Ralds, which should add money quite steadily to your total. ;) As far as the magic goes, that's strictly up to you. By this point you'll have 3 Fire Elemental stones, which is enough to get Combustion, the strongest Fire spell you can get, but considering the amount of MP it sucks up, combined with the time it takes to actually damage a foe, you might be better off ignoring it for now. Personally, I saved what I had so that, y'know, I might finish the magic list sometime. ^^; If you do get magic, don't forget to equip it on your sword so you can use it. You won't be able to proceed very far into the Sebe Ruins until you've spoken to Masara in one of the houses along the riverfront (it's directly left of the magic shop). When you get the option to talk to her, take the first option, and then the second. She'll go dig up a key that her father (or is it grandfather? I ask 'cause when you meet the guy, he looks pretty old) had. She'll give you the Suimon no Kagi (Water Gate Key). Having done this, you can now go to the Sebe Ruins. XIV. Sebe Ruins: "AUGH! Not ANOTHER switch!" *groan* From Ramzen, take the southeastern exit on this screen; then go east on the next screen, and east again on the next. Here, you'll notice that you're entering some ruins. Three guesses as to which ruins they are. :P Anyhow, head east to actually enter the ruins. This place, like the Swamplands, counts as a dungeon, so you won't be able to regain HP easily here, and some parts of it are particularly difficult. Go east again on the next screen. Here, you actually get to do some bona-fide switch hitting. Follow the path east, then slightly north. When you see the door, walk up to it to open it. Go inside this small room, and walk on the switch. Water will flow into the channel near you; from here, go out, then follow the path northward. Ignore the stairway leading down for now, and keep following the path until you reach a platform with another switch and a flaming lizard on it. Walk on this switch, and the gate just above it will open, letting the water into more areas. Go south, and step on the switch there, and another gate will open. Go down to the next screen, and follow the path until you reach yet another switch. I think you know what to do with this one. ;) However, the upper gate which is blocking the water won't be opened by this one. Go back to the previous screen, and fall off the bridge so you end up on the platform underneath. Now, here's where I kinda got stuck the first time; go under the bridge, and head south. You'll go through a hidden (and fiendishly well at that) tunnel that leads to the switch that will open the gate that's blocking the water. Go back north, then follow the path until you reach the stairway you passed by before. Go down it now, and stand on the large tile, and wait for a raft to float by. Step on it, and hold right. You'll go downstream to another large tile. Now, if you aren't holding right, you'll go past this and be automatically dumped off at the beginning of this area. Once you're off the raft, head north until you see another switch. Do what you're supposed to do with switches, and another gate will open. This will open a door directly south of you. Go into it and go south. This room has four flaming lizards in it, but you don't have to kill them to leave the room; my advice would be to ignore them and head south, but there's nothing wrong with fighting them. In the next room, head south, then west to exit. In the northeast corner of this next room, there's *another* switch (boy, aren't you tired of hitting switches by now? ;). Hit it to open the door just west of you, then go in. Follow this path south. Ignore the door you see along the way; the other side's blocked by stone pillars. Keep going south until the path bends east, then follow it that-a-way. Go to the next screen, and when take the first door heading north. At the end is a chest containing a Water Elemental stone. Go back and take the next door, which leads to a switch surrounded by four statues. You can't enter the door to the north yet, so jump on the switch. You may have to wiggle around a bit to get the thing to trigger. When it does, it'll go down and the four statues will start to attack you. Kill them, but be extremely careful of their attacks - they HURT! This is a snap if you have Combustion, though- one or two shots of that should take them all out, if you have the MP to manage that. Once the door's open, head through it. Follow the hallway north, and when you see a door that leads into the adjacent hall going south head through it. Hit the switch - it'll lower those stone pillars you saw earlier as well as the ones nearby. Take the chest at the end of this passage for a Fire Elemental stone; then go back to the north wall and open the door on the right. Search the jar in this room for a Water Elemental stone. Go all the way back to where you saw that door blocked by pillars. Now that you can go through it, do so; here, you have two choices of switches, both surrounded by statues. Hit the left one; the door to the north will open and the statues will remain dormant. Standing on the right one will cause the four statues in that tiny room to come to life, and believe me when I tell you it's hard fighting all of them in that small a space! Go north. The large room here has some tricky jumps, but it isn't that difficult. Step on the switch in the northwestern corner to open up the door on the right wall. Hop over to it and enter. Follow the hall east and drop off the ledge, then exit. Note that you're near where you stepped on the switch to lower the pillars. Also note than an old man runs over a new block over the water and into the room with the bed. Follow him. Gram, as the old fart's called, has a lot of information. You can ask him about Masara (who is his daughter or granddaughter, can't really tell. I hate Kanji :P), but mostly of note is that he will tell you that Kefin destroyed Sebe. Go over the bridge that Gram just crossed. When you see a room with a chest inside it, go in, but be ready to fight the flaming lizard that shows up directly in front of it! Inside is a Fire Elemental stone. Go back out of this room and take the pathway west, then south, then east. At the end of this path is a chest containing the Power Ring, your first ring! Equip it right away (might as well, not like you have any other rings yet :P). Go north, then down the stairs and through the door. Follow the hall north, and outside for another Boss battle! Boss: Agony Hyuma This boss is a dragon that pops out of one of four holes in the ground. Strictly speaking he's easy as bosses go so long as you're on your toes, but considering that you can get maybe one hit in each pass, he takes a while to defeat. His attacks consist of flying straight at you, something that's pretty easy to avoid. Every so often he'll belch a ball of fire that, when it impacts with the ground, splits into four smaller fireballs. His worst attack is when he flies to the north of the battlefield; he'll cause some large fireballs to swirl around. Avoid this by moving south. Once he takes about 600-700 damage, he'll spit small fireballs every time he flies around. You can block anything he spits, but this is largely irrelevant because of how easy it is to merely move out of the way. Just stay alert and moving, and he should be no problem. He dies after about 1,200 points worth of damage. If he's still giving you trouble, try to see to it your weapon and magic levels are around 7 or 8. Once you've beaten the Hyuma, go north. The flames that were blocking your path during the battle are gone now; go up the steps and claim the red crystal (I think it's called the "Red Agony" - someone care to correlate or refute this?). Gram will come in and congratulate you, saying he can finally go home. Once he's through talking the scene switches to Dorman talking with Rije (remember her from the beginning?). I couldn't really understand the dialogue, but it seems like they're plotting something... anyhow, once that's done you're automatically taken to Gram's home. After some talking, Masara goes into the back room to get some scrolls Stan found. The game scrolls the text by, then you're free to leave. XV. Ramzen revisited: "Wither the blue-haired one?" Once outside of Gram's home, Dorman comes to you and starts talking. When he's done, leave Ramzen and take the northwestern exit. Then, go north four screens; here, you'll reach a cabin with a river nearby. Jump into the river near the cabin and search the small alcove next to the cabin's porch and the waterfall for a Water elemental stone. Inside the cabin, check the flower pot in the northwest room for a Gin no Coin (Silver Coin). Then check the room the room on the right just to the south of that one for an Earth elemental stone. There's also a magic creation man in here if you need to use any stones. Talk to the blue-haired man to save your game (top option), or shop (middle option): Shops in the cabin: Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 55G Seruria : 110G Rubia : 220G Rald : 440G Dark Pearl: 660G Pearl : 880G Buy: Heater Shield : 19500G Scale Mail : 26000G Healing Potion : 520G Magic Potion : 780G Poison Antidote: 65G Yeow, the prices are a bit high here... but if you don't have the Heater Shield and Scale Mail just yet, you're going to have to bite the bullet and pay - you'll need those. The prices on the potions and such here are exoribtant, so I would just not buy them here unless you really have to. When you're all set here, head north to enter the rapids. XVI. The Rapids: "Squeal like a pig!" The first thing you'll notice when entering this area is the sound of rushing water. That'll get annoying pretty quick, but it should be a good indication of how fast that water's moving - so don't fall in. Falling in takes you all the way back to the cabin, so be careful when jumping in this area. Go slightly west then jump up on the ledges, then jump over on the ledge to the west. Then, hop on the ledge just below you. Jump to the west, then follow that ledge north. At the end of it, jump on the ledge to the right, then south, and keep hopping over the small ledges to the east. Follow the path of ledges to the north, then go over the log bridge, then go northward. At the end of this path, you can go left or right; go left and open the chest there for a Shield Ring! Once you've gotten that, do an about-face and head right until you see a path leading up. On the next screen, hop over to the east, then to the north once you've reached the edge. Keep going along this path. Ignore the chest you see along the way for now - you can make the jump, but it's extremely risky, and you can get at it later anyway. Fall down off the ledge just across from it instead, then jump eastward, then north. NOW grab the chest, which contains a Fire Elemental stone. Go north and into the cave. Inside the cave, head north twice. Here, you'll see another altar. Go north and stand on the large tile. Adol will automatically walk off (you can't come back this way), and Stoker will appear again to speak to you. When he disappears, go north twice again to exit the cave. You'll be in the Jungle. XVII. The Jungle: "Junnnnngleeeeeee! Riverrrrrr! Arrrrrgh!" More new enemies here, the most dangerous and annoying of them being those tree-looking things. If they attach their roots to you, they drain some HP from you and can very easily poison you. What makes them so irritating is that no matter how well you place yourself, if you're anywhere near that root you get hurt. Your best option is to block. Most of the enemies here drop Dark Pearls, so this would be a good place to get cash. Once you reach Felte, you're going to need cash in abundant amounts both for equipment and items, so get used to fighting. From where you start, head north to the next screen. Then take the western fork of this path, which bends north. Hop up on the ledge and go north. Jump up to the next ledge, and search the bushes to the north for a Wind Elemental stone. Then go east. Keep following the pathway east (take care not to fall off when fighting the tree monster that will show up), until you reach the next screen. Here, you can go south through a hidden path in the bushes, or follow the path east then north; both take you to the same screen, just different locales. Either way, on that screen head toward the east a little bit and go under the rock bridge, then south a bit. Jump up on the ledge and take the westward path, and follow it. Here, you'll reach a new area. XVIII. The Waterfall: "Told you there was a river!" The tree enemies you'll find here are not the same as the ones in the jungle - they don't drain you and are thus far less irritating. Of more note are the red crabs, similar to the brown ones you met near Sandoria. These not only block most of your attacks, they shoot lasers and are much more maneuverable. You may want to kill them, though, as they drop the very valuable Pearls, the most valuable jewels in the game! Follow the ledges east then south. When you see a cave on a lower ledge, drop down and go in. You'll come out on a ledge with a chest that you can see on the main path; kill the crab monster if you want, but be sure to crack the chest open for a valuable Magic Ring! If you use magic a lot, equip this quick, as it will halve the MP you need to cast spells. Get back on the main path and go north, then take the U-turn to the south. Once you go all the way south, you'll reach a cabin. Here, search the boxes on the left of the cabin to find a Wind Elemental stone. Go inside and you'll automatically talk to the old codger there, Sarabato. He'll go on for a bit, then the scene switches to that night. Stoker will be there reminiscing; you'll see a short scene inside the Foresta Cave. When it switches back to the cabin, Adol will step out and Stoker will talk to him. When Stoker disappears, the kid you saw outside the cabin before will come out again, say good morning, and go back to where he was. Be sure to talk to him to save your game, by the way. Leave west when you're ready. Out in this next area, you'll see some spinning blueish tornados. Avoid these at all costs. You can't kill them, and if they touch you, they do 150+ points of damage... OUCH! Check the small alcove in the northeastern portion for a Kin no Coin (Gold Coin). Then, go to the southwestern portion of this screen and leave west. Now, I got kinda stuck here for a bit, but it seems like you have to whack a given number of bugs before the rock on the northern path disappears. I just kept going until I got bored and the rock had opened... anyhow, be careful - these bugs are fast and hit hard. When the rock is gone, go north. This screen's annoying; tornados (not like the ones earlier; these are killable and do less damage) appear out of nowhere and ram you, and periodically sylphs will appear out of them and toss some scythes of wind at you. Combined with those annoying crabs, this is probably one of the sections that will guaranteed give you a headache. Just plow through as best you can. Be sure to search near the corner of the cliff in the northwestern edge of the screen; there's an Earth Elemental stone there. Leave east. Go east and hop up on the ledges. When you reach the rocks, get out of the shadow that appears. Now you get to fight a grim-reaper looking foe. This guy isn't very hard; he appears with two duplicates. Your job is to kill the real deal. If you don't hit the real one in time, he causes meteors to drop on you! So act fast. You'll have to do a load of damage to finish him off... I lost track of how much. He disappears again each time you hit him, so you can only knock him around once each time. Be patient. When he dies, the rocks disappear. Head north, and once again, it's time for another episode of BOSS FIGHT! Boss: Azoto This guy's a serious pain in the butt. Really. You have to hit the red eye or jewel or whatever that is that appears on his head as he's about to attack. Speaking of attacks, he can create two tornados similar to the ones in the first area of this grueling gauntlet, albeit less damaging. These can be avoided by standing somewhat between them and a bit below Azoto himself. Periodically, he'll also toss some brown, swirling discs at you. You can block these or simply avoid them. Lastly, he can cause rock spikes to shoot at you out of nowhere. Keep moving to avoid these. He'll die after around 1,500 points of damage. To actually hit that eye, you'll have to jump and slash; this makes it kinda tricky to both hit him and dodge the incoming attack. If your physical level is around 10, and your magic is around 6 or 7, this guy shouldn't be terribly hard. When you win, you'll get the Earth Crystal (It's called something else... couldn't recognize the kanji though), and you'll be taken back to Sarabato's cabin. He'll talk for a bit... when he's done, get ready, save and whatnot, and talk to him again. He'll take you to a dock you may or may not have seen earlier, depending on wether or not you wandered around in that gauntlet. In any event, he'll call up a raft and send you on your way. You'll float by, passing through Ramzen, and farther... then a sandstorm will blow you off your raft! XIX. Felte and the Desert: *hack* *cough* As you float downstream past a desert town, a woman will fish you out of the river. You'll wake up in her home. Welcome to Felte, the desert town! The woman who rescued you, Efi, will talk for a bit once you get up. You're then free to explore the place. Right inside her home is a magic creation guy, so if you want to make some magic feel free to do so, you're going to start finding lots of elemental stones these days... Shops in Felte: Weapon and Armor Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 75G Seruria : 150G Rubia : 300G Rald : 600G Dark Pearl: 900G Pearl : 1200G Buy: Talwar : 1000G Freesa : 10000G Round Shield : 4000G Heater Shield: 15000G Chain Mail : 6000G Scale Mail : 20000G Item Shop 1: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 75G Seruria : 150G Rubia : 300G Rald : 600G Dark Pearl: 900G Pearl : 1200G Buy: Poison Antidote: 50G Healing Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Item Shop 2 (Merchant outside the inn): Exchange Rates: Tapas : 40G Seruria : 80G Rubia : 160G Rald : 320G Dark Pearl: 480G Pearl : 720G Buy: Majunomi : 8000G Desert Mantle : 6000G Seimei no Kusuri: 120000G Lots of stuff to do now. If you can get a Seimei no Kusuri in spite of it's outrageous cost, do so - it's like an extra life and will prove extremely handy. Be absolutely certain you by a Desert Mantle, though - without it, going into the desert will sap your HP at an alarming rate. Note that the weapon and armor shop has some really good exchange rates - even the lowly Tapas is worth 75G here, and any pearls you got will rake in the dough. For goodies in the town, head north toward that exit leading to the docks, but instead run around hitting A behind the building to the right. Somewhere back there is a nameless guy. He does something... actually, it opens up another item in the Options menu to change the color of Adol's hair. It also defaults to number "2" on this list, apparently, which gives Adol the flaming red hair he had in the previous Ys games. Pretty nifty, eh? Check the barrel in the northwest corner of town for a Fire Elemental stone. In the house just south of that, go inside and check between the beds for a Wind Elemental stone. Next, go inside the inn and up to the second floor; check the chest for your first Light Elemental Stone. Talking to people will cause a lot of them to speak of someone named Mahaba. He'll become slightly important later; anyhow, you can go into the east desert if you want; skip ahead a few paragraphs if you want to do so. Now, you can instead head west if you want to enter Felte's wilderness. You don't have to go here yet in the game, and as such the enemies are going to be a bit tough; however, every enemy here drops Dark Pearls and Pearls, which you can now exchange for a good amount of cash. Plus, your levels can skyrocket here if you're patient. What's most important, though, is that there are a couple shops at the end of this wilderness canyon that sell the best purchasable items in the game (you'll find stronger stuff in Kefin later). I recommend getting it now to make the game easier, at least until you get to Kefin. I would also powerlevel right here if you can. If you want to get the equipment now, head directly west, then south. Jump up to the ledge and go east, then south to the next screen. Head south here. On the next screen, head south again, taking the exit west at the end. Here, go southwest, under the rock arch, until you see an enemy on a small rock. Kill it (as making the jump with something trying to kill you can be a bit tough), jump on the rock, then over to the nearby ledge. Follow the pathway around, then south to exit. On this last screen, you'll see some greenery; you can go west to see the broken bridge near Sandoria; or, you can go east to reach a pair of tents. Along the way to this area, there are only two enemies - boulder-slash-flower like things that grab you with their tentacles to take you in and chew on you for some damage, and cavemen- looking creatures that hit you with clubs. Neither is particularly evil in getting at you, but if they hit they can do some crazy damage - well over 100 if they get you from behind. When you get to the tents, search the first rock you see for a Fire Elemental Stone. The tent on the left contains little more than a man who can save your game. The one on the right has another magic creation man, and a shopkeeper in blue. Shops in the Felte Wilderness: Equipment and Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 90G Seruria : 180G Rubia : 360G Rald : 720G Dark Pearl: 1080G Pearl : 1440G Buy: Healing Potion: 400G Magic Potion : 600G Shamshir : 40000G Metal Shield : 30000G Plate Armor : 50000G Get the Shamshir if you come here at all. The armor doesn't matter that much; with the Shamshir, you'll kill stuff in the next areas so quick you won't really notice even if you're lacking in armor a bit. If you can snatch the Metal Shield or the Plate Armor along with that, or best of all both, do so. You'll still take damage, but not nearly as much as you did. The high prices shouldn't scare you - even a few pearls will net you 10000G at this shop, which has some of the best exchange rates around. When you're done, head back to Felte and take the eastern exit out of town into the desert. Be absolutely sure you have a Sand Mantle out here. If you don't, go into the wilderness and fight enemies until you have the cash to pick it up (6000G). When you do have it, select it in the left side of the Inventory menu (so the green border surrounds it). Otherwise you will lose HP constantly as you wander around here. That being done, go north. Up here, you'll see a man being attacked by a flaming lizard. It's significantly weaker than others you've fought, by the by - one hit will kill it, for starters, and it does single-digit damage (at least it did for me). When you kill it, the man will mumble something, then get up. He's Mahaba. You'll automatically go back to Mahaba's home, and Efi, who's his daughter, will welcome him back. Mahaba will talk for a bit, then you're free to move around again. Now, this part was tricky for me. Head into the desert again and go directly south twice. Here, you'll reach an area where the sandstorm is really strong... try to go south and you'll be blown back to Felte's gates! You can wander around the desert and try this from different entrances, but the same thing happens. Instead of getting frustrated, though, go back into Felte and talk to the guy near the gate. He'll tell you about the Sage Eye, which Mahaba has, that can help you see your way through the sandstorm. Pay Mahaba a visit and after a bit of talking, he'll give you the Sage Eye. Now, go back to that area where you got blown back, but instead of going blindly south, go to your Inventory and select the Sage Eye. When you go back to the map, note that the screen has darkened, and there's a path where there's no sand blowing. Follow this path... but act quickly! You'll lose the Sand Mantle's protection as long as you have the Eye equipped, so move fast to avoid getting killed by the storm! Once you reach the next screen, go west then north to reach the Oasis. XX. The Oasis and Kefin Shrine: "Wow! An oasis that didn't disappear when I dove into it!" First thing you should notice is that this is a peaceful area, so take a minute to recuperate - you've got a dungeon coming up, and it's a confusing, slightly difficult one to boot. There's a chest on a high pedestal, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get to it the first time I played through. It's really easy though... jump on the shorter pillars like stepping stones until you get up high enough. When you're making the jump to the chest, you might think the chest itself would keep you from landing on the platform, but it's easily doable. There's a Fire Elemental Stone inside. From here, you can also head west to find another pair of tents. Shops in the Oasis: Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 40G Seruria : 80G Rubia : 160G Rald : 320G Dark Pearl: 480G Pearl : 720G Buy: Nedo Remedy : 6000G Majunomi : 8000G Selceta Remedy : 20000G Seimei no Kusuri: 120000G The shop gives crappy exchange rates... argh. And he has such useful items, too. If you can manage to pick up Nedo Remedies here, get a bunch, more healing items will help during the last battles, and all through Kefin as well... and yes, you'll be getting to the fabled city before too long. Majunomi's aren't neccessary, but helpful if you use a lot of magic. I would recommend keeping a Seimei no Kusuri at all times at this point, since even if you're classed as "high level" for the area, you'll still take moderate amounts of damage from enemies, unless you're a really good fighter. I did some minor powerlevelling in the wilderness before I got here, so I had both physical and magical levels at 15... The upper tent has a guy who dispenses information for you, as well as a magic creation person. Search the jars near the man in black for a Water Elemental stone. When you're set, head back to the Oasis. Go inside the building to the north. Inside you'll see several odd-looking creatures that speak intelligibly. They don't seem to have any incredible information, though. You might also recognize this place as the ruins that Stan was examining during the intro, by the by. Search to the right of the podium for a Fire Elemental stone. Go to the eastern room and go up the stairs. You'll meet some new foes in here, as well. You'll see new versions of those annoying living armors here, and they're the strongest ones you've met yet. Noteworthy for being just as irritating are those will-o-wisps, which shoot lightning in four directions when you get close. Easy foes nonetheless though, especially if you took my advice and levelled up a bit and got the equipment from the wildnerness traders. In this first room, avoid the pit. It's a quick trip down the bottom level, and a bit pointless, since it takes you to the wrong spot on the bottom level. North of that is a door which you can't open from that side... ignore it for now. Instead, take the door into the left room, and go down the left set of stairs. From here, head south and dodge this pit as well, and go down the stairs at the bottom. From here, head north, dodge ANOTHER pit, and head down the stairs. Go north to the dead end and search the torch on the left; you'll get an Earth Elemental stone. Head back up one floor, and go back to the wall with all the stairs on it; head all the way to the right and take the stairs there. Head northward and go up again. Go down the stairs directly right of where you came up. The head all the way to the southern wall of this room and go west down the stairs. Crack the chest down here open for a Time Ring. Go back upstairs, and go back north, taking the set of stairs going down that you passed a minute ago. Then go south and down the next set of stairs. Go north from here. If you take the stairs on the right, you'll reach a ledge where you can drop off; this is where you'd end up if you got down here using pits. Go down here and taking the stairs directly north; on the way up, you'll see a chest surrounded by three wisps. Open it to get a valuable Dark Elemental stone! This is the quick way out of the Shrine though, so you may want to hold off for just a bit. Take the left stairs, drop down and follow the path to reach a door. Open it, then go in. You'll see another door. Open it up, and get ready for a boss fight! Boss: Ni... something. Couldn't get the name, sorry. ^^; This is one of those multi-part bosses. You can get rid of the hands to reduce his ways to attack you, and I recommend getting at least one out of the way. He will either shoot his hands at you, or create a ball of energy to shoot at you. A hand will die after about 600 points worth of damage. If he doesn't have two hands, he can't shoot that ball of energy. You can block the ball, by the way. Neither does an incredible amount of damage unless you're underlevelled or didn't get the equipment I recommended earlier. The battle couldn't get any easier than that though, could it? Wrong. If you stand close to him, he'll radiate a green circle that damages you a lot, and screws up your controls! So take one or two shots then back off while he does that confusing attack. Similar to Azoto, he dies after about 1,500 points worth of damage, but due to his attacks, he can be considerably more difficult to kill, but I found him rediculously easy in comparason to nearly every other battle in the game. When this guy's gone, go north. In this room, go north and grab the Dark Nyukusu (what do they mean by "Nyukusu" anyway? Sounds like Nuke, but I can't imagine something being called a Nuke if it's not a missile... ^^;) From here, just leave. Back out on the desert, let the storm blow you back to Felte and go back on in. Once there, Mahaba will tell you that something's going on in Sandoria, and give you a key (I couldn't figure out what this thing was called for the life of me). He then goes back home, and your next task is to head to Sandoria. XXI. Sandoria Captured!: "Hey! The music kinda reminds me of the Imperial March..." To get back to Sandoria, you get to take the easy way. You can't go back the way you came, though, since you were blown off a raft downstream, and there are several ledges that you can't jump over... so how you gonna get there? Remember that broken bridge on the Foresta Plains way back in the beginning of the game? It's now fixed. To get to it, go through Felte's wilderness (if you want directions, check back toward the section actually in Felte) and instead of going east to reach the trader's camp, head west to reach the bridge. Once you get there, you'll run into Willy (remember him? ^^). He'll talk a lot, saying that apparently Dorman's let the troops commandeer the down, and that Nina is missing... after all that, he'll drag you off to Marsha's cabin. Marsha will talk for a short bit, then the scene will switch to Dorman and Rije... after the two schemers trade a few words, you'll enter Nina's home with Marsha. A note will be on the back wall. Dorman has captured Nina and demands you hand the crystals over in exchange for her life. You knew something like this was going to happen, right? After all, the game just wouldn't be interesting without the obligatory plot twist. ^^; Once you go outside, you'll notice the whole place is darkened and the music's a bit ominous. There are now soldiers around Sandoria, and they are indeed out to kill you. They all carry shields, so you can only hit them when they try to hit you, which makes them among the most annoying enemies in the game. As far as the sword-wielding ones go, the only way I've found to get them without getting hit yourself is to knock them from the back or sides... you can block their initial attack and slice them once if you're swift, but this takes some quick reflexes. The crossbow troops are considerably easier, just block their shot and swing, and repeat - they attack slower than the swordsman and this pattern makes them easy kills. Sandoria now counts as a dungeon, so you can't regain your HP by standing still. The only buildings you can enter now are the Inn and Nina's shop. You can run around town fighting the soldiers (they give decent levels and drop Dark Pearls) if you like, but it's not really neccessary unless your levels are below 12 or 13. You can still save at the inn, but not regain your HP and MP. A woman in blue on the second floor there can sell you things. Shops in Occupied Sandoria: Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Poison Antidote: 50G Healing Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Buy what you need. When you're set, go down to the basement of the Inn. If you went here at any other point in the game, the door here would be locked as it is now. Go to your items and select the key you got from Mahaba (it's the brownish one), then go up to the door to open it. Inside Sandoria's tunnel is are more new foes to fight, among them things that look like clumps of eyeballs. These can do some major damage if they hit you from the back, and they spit. Go up to the chest to the right of the stairs and snag the Selceta Remedy inside - it'll be real handy in the places to come. The go south, follow the pathway east, then down the stairs. Ignore the thing that pops up out of the water - to the best of my knowledge you can't kill it. Just block the water it spits and move on. Keep going on the lower path north, then do the U-turn and go south again. Go up the stairs and go west. I couldn't find a use for what is apparently a switch, so ignore it for now. Here, you'll reach a peaceful zone. Drop down to the south then follow the road west then north. You'll see the Evil Gang in prison now - seems like they were working for Dorman to get the crystals from you, and instead Dorman turned around and tossed them in here. ^^; One of the gang is bashing up against the wall... He fails miserably though. The old granny, though, tries twice and busts a hole in the wall! Go up to the bars and east, then go on the steps, up and jump to the right. Then go north. You'll come out in Sandoria, near a back entrance to Dorman's mansion. Follow the hallway to the Pantry, then go in the next door leading north you see. Go in and you'll see... Dorman and Rije, holding Nina captive! Dorman will taunt you for a bit then walk off. Rije will summon three mage-looking guys who zap you down to the floor. The crystals are then stolen from you. You're then captured... Meanwhile, the Evil Gang's about to escape on a boat, when Marsha stops them to ask them for help... Two soldiers will row up to an island on a boat, with Adol in tow. You'll be taken to a room with six pedestals. Dorman will talk, then set the crystals on the pedestals, which will rise up and shine with a light appropriate to the crystal. After that, he goes to the center of the room again and you'll get another classic Epilepsy Moment(tm). Marsha will come in and stop Dorman, who sends the two goons to capture her as well. At the moment, though, the Water Crystal breaks! Dorman's surprise is only added to as Tera of the Evil Gang runs in and knocks down both soldiers with one shot from her slingshot. ^^; Dorman will say something, then after some weird talking, a flashing Dorman and some heartbeat sounds, he changes into a reeeeeal ugly boss. Boss: Adeptos Dorman JEEZ this guy's ugly! He's another multi-part boss, almost identical to the one in the Kefin Shrine, except more difficult to actually kill. In his first form, his hands die after about 300HP worth of damage. You can only harm him once that cover opens and reveals his eye. This form dies after about 1,000 points of damage. His hands can both ram you, or shoot a rather weak laser. The laser's blockable. When Dorman descends and his eye opens, he'll shoot a fireball at you. Block this then slash him as much as you can. This part's easy. In his second form, though, he's even worse. The hands are still there, and die with about the same amount of damage. However, the lasers don't go straight down and make a 90-degree curve at you, instead they shoot at pretty much every angle. He still descends and shoots the fireball as before, but now he shoots some green things at you as well. Lastly, he will periodically open some red eyes on those new horns of his that shoot red lasers that angle themselves to hit you. It's really hard to avoid getting hit here. He dies this time after about 1,500 points of damage. I had my Physical and Magical levels at 17 each here, so this guy was pretty easy overall, but if you're below 14 he's capable of doing some serious punishment... so be patient! When you get rid of Dorman, Alga, the leader of the Evil Gang, will come in and speak for a bit. Then Rije will come in and laugh. She knew the Water Crystal the Evil Gang gave Dorman was a fake! She summons the real one out of Alga's hands, and it spins around as Rije talks. Then, Karion takes the crystal and puts it on the stand, activating the gate that leads to Kefin! Rije and the three mages go in the gate... taking Nina with them! You get there a bit too late though. Go back south. Marsha will ask what happened to Nina, and the classic "..." bubble appears. Alga and Tera talk as well, and after a bit, the whole place starts shaking. The place is crumbling! Go north after everyone else, past the gate room. The statue that was blocking the way before is now gone - go north! Go east in this room, and take the northern path to reach a pair of chests. The upper one has a Wind Elemental stone, and the bottom has a Water Elemental stone. Get them, then take the lower path and leave south. Drop off the path here and go up the stairs. Follow this path to reach a switch that opens the door below. Drop off to the left and go back and drop off the path again, and go to through the door you just opened. Leave to the west. Tera will be here and yell at you to hurry up. Go west after here. Go across the bridge, and you'll fall! It's dark in this next area, but the sequence is automatic, so fear not. ;) Tera will go north ahead of you then run into a monster. Adol will ever-so-slowly walk up to it and kill it in one shot. Heh. Mewh-heh. Too bad you can't actually do that... ^^; Anyhow, you'll next end up in Nina's home. You'll talk with the Evil Gang and Marsha, and then everyone will leave. From here, you need to head back to Felte. You should have no problem getting there, since you've been through the Wilderness and Foresta Plain before. XXII. Felte Revisited: "Why does this not surprise me all that much?" Once you enter Felte, a sandstorm will whip up and bury the whole town! The only building you can enter is the Inn, and from the second floor at that! Inside you can find a merchant who can sell some items. Shops in Buried Felte: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 50G Seruria : 100G Rubia : 200G Rald : 400G Dark Pearl: 600G Pearl : 800G Buy: Healing Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Poison Antidodte: 50G Majunomi : 4000G Seimei no Kusuri: 60000G This would be a great time to buy a Seimei no Kusuri, as it's actually affordable this time around. Be sure to save your game downstairs as well. When you're ready to move on, talk to Marsha. PLEASE NOTE: You CANNOT go back to any other place once you've done this - you'll be stuck in the next area for the rest of the game, so if you've got any unfinished business in other areas, do it NOW. When you talk to Marsha, you'll go to the Oasis. The Evil Gang's already there, and there's a gate open! Marsha will say something, then the gate will completely open. Everyone steps inside, Adol included. XXIII. Kefin, the Lost City; part 1: "Of course this mythical city nobody's seen exists!" Okay, this is one huge place. I've divided it into chunks to keep things from becoming too confusing. Your first task is to find the main city. You'll have to go underground to do that. You could use the map on the overworld to figure out approximatley where you were on the continent, but in Kefin you can't do that yet - you'll need to find the map first. You'll get it eventually, but for now you have to find the actual city. Take the way down in the southwest corner of this screen. Down here, you'll see enemies you met in the Jungle cave. They're harder to beat though, as they do more damage and have much more in the way of HP. Go south through the tunnel and west a bit. Go up the stairs onto the upper area. Search the torch directly left to get a Fire Elemental stone. Then search the one on the right for another Fire Elemental stone. If you don't have Combustion already, you've got no excuse after all of these you've been finding. ;) GO northward and down the stairs, then through the door up there. Here, just take the stairs up to the main town. The town itself is peaceful enough. This will be your base of operations for the remainder of the game, so familiarize yourself with it's layout. There's shops and such here, so make good use of them. Shops in Kefin: Item Shop: Exchange Rates: Tapas : 60G Seruria : 120G Rubia : 240G Rald : 480G Dark Pearl: 720G Pearl : 960G Buy: Healing Potion : 400G Magic Potion : 600G Seimei no Kusuri: 60000G Shamshir : 40000G Metal Shield : 30000G Plate Armor : 50000G If you didn't get the Shamshir, Metal Shield and Plate Armor in the Felte Wilderness before, here's your chance to do so. You don't have to get them now though - you'll find some of the powerful Ishio equipment soon, which is better than these items, so you needn't get them if you think you can last without, but I would recommend doing so anyway, at least getting the Shamshir. Other than that this is a pretty humdrum town. In the Item Shop, search the boxes on the left for a Fire Elemental stone. In the house just to the right of the northern exit, search the stove for another Fire Elemental stone. Search under the bed in that same house for *another* Fire Elemental stone. In the house just next to that, there's a chest containing a Light Elemental stone. Go through the north exit of town to reach the castle, then go north again. Here, search statue on the left for another Light Elemental stone. That being done, go back to the underground using the entrance you came out of. From there, go south. Then go and take the southwesternmost stairs in this room. Go out and try to enter the building here. Two guards will stop you; talk to them afterward. One says that Nina's being held in there(?) and another talks about Rije. From here, take the exit in the northwestern part and go back down. Here, go up the stairs to the left up to the upper level. Search the torch on the left for a Fire Elemental stone. Then go north. Take the stairs just to your left and go back up to town. Now, go take that northern exit again. When you arrive, some bells will be ringing. Talk to the people and one of them will apologize for bumping into you (or something), and all those people will enter. Try to enter yourself, and someone named Nazo stops you. He'll tell you that he's with a resistance group - the Partizan - that opposes Rije. He'll tell you the reason people are going in that building is because that the place is used for sacrifices! You'll be taken to the Partizan hideout, which is in the back of the Pub. Here, Nazo will ask where the leader is, and he's not there. A lot of talking happens. When it's done, go grab the map on the table - it's the Kefin map. You will need this to find out where you are in the labrynthine underground sections, so don't forget to check it periodically with the Y button. When you leave the room, Nazo will ask you if you're set. Reply yes (top option) to leave. Now, go take the western exit out of town. Go south then take the southeastern stairs and go up. You're back at that tower... note that the guards are missing. Go on in. ;) The guards will come back, thinking they've caught you now... but those two men from the Evil Gang come up and knock the guards out! Inside the tower, search the left statue for a Fire Elemental stone (tired of finding these yet? ^^;). Go directly north and take the middle door. You'll find the extremely valuable Healing Ring. Wear it as soon as you can, as it will let you regain HP in dungeons as though you were on the field - handy! Then take the right door and search the shield decoration for a Water Elemental stone. Then take the left door and go upstairs. Upstairs, immediatley head to the left part (go south a bit), and open the chest - the Ishio Shield, the best shield in the game, is in it! Equip it now and look at your defense go way up! Then go south and out the door to the outside ledge. This seems like a dead end, but search the left alcove for an Earth Elemental stone. Go back in, then go upstairs. Check the wierd demon looking decoration just south of the stairs for another Earth Elemental stone. Then go west, and then upstairs. On the next floor, go directly east and flip the switch (top option). It'll open the door to the south, but it will also cause the floor to vanish underneath you! You'll fall to the floor below. Go back up and through the door. Go upstairs. Then, go directly north and upstairs again. Up here, you'll notice a large room. Go east then through the door. Baruk is here (he's one of those three mages). He'll taunt you for a second, then those two from the Evil Gang will peek from behind the pillars. You should note that Baruk has Nina captive... he'll keep taunting you, and during this the Evil Gang will take Nina away. All the while, Baruk is shooting lasers from his eyes (Where's some kryptonite when you need it? ^^;). When Nina's been taken back, Baruk will attack you. Boss: Baruk For a shrimp, this guy poses something of a problem if you're low level. He'll appear and disappear around the room. Each time he appears, there's two of him. One's a fake, the other obviously isn't. The real one will swoop and dive at you, which is a Physical attack. If he lands, he'll shoot lasers from his eyes, which is a Magic attack - so as you can see, if you haven't kept up on both levels at this point he can do a lot of damage. I was Lv. 16 for both types here, and the most damage he did in one hit was 50 (lasers). You may need to jump to strike him at some points. He dies after close to 2,000 points of damage. After winning, Baruk will make a death speech, then die in a flash of fire. Leave the tower. Nazo will greet you afterward. He will have located his leader. Go take the northwestern exit from this area. On the same part of the underground, take the northwestern stairs up. Here, search the northwestern corner of the area near the house for a Water Elemental stone. Inside, you'll meet the leader of the Partizan resistance. Some talk will go on, and eventually Oueru will ask if you will help them. Answer yes (top option). Inside, search the leftmost boxes for an Earth Elemental stone. Then check the fireplace under the huge boiler for a Fire Elemental stone. Then leave. Oueru will say something, then you can actually leave. This begins the next major part of Kefin - the four switches. XXIV. Kefin, the Lost City, part 2: "What, you thought we were done with switches?" When you're set, go to the small shack just east of Oueru's home. Talk to the man standing next to it and he'll open the door. Go into the underground from here. Follow this path (it's linear). There's items in the area below, but you can't get them from here; you'll go through later so don't worry just yet. Go upstairs to enter the Secret Facility. Take the catwalk. At the end of it, you can go east. The the door there won't open though. Instead go west and down. Here you'll see a conveyer belt. Go to the east then through the tunnel south. Leave to the east. Go up the steps and you'll see Abis, another of those mages. He'll talk a bit... note that he speaks almost entirely in Katakana, which is the equivelant of speaking in all capitals in English, kinda like Zoah from Chrono Cross. ^^; Anyhow, when he's done, you might think you'd have to fight him. Wrong. Someone comes down from above and chops the guy in two with one slash! He'll talk to you for a while. He's Stan, Nina's father! You'll go back to Oueru's home. There, a whole lot of conversation ensues, but basically you're asked to trip the four switches strewn about Kefin. You'll be asked partway through if you understand. Say you did (top option) to proceed, or you didn't to hear the bit again. When you understand, you'll get the Switch no Kagi (Switch Key). Stan will leave, then the other Partizan member who was there. Do the same. Now, you can tackle the four switch in any order, but here's the way I did 'em. Switch number 1: Southwest section. When you enter the underground from Ouero's home, go take the southwesternmost exit in the room. You'll enter a stone area. Go around the wall. Search the second pillar in this area for a Dark Elemental stone. When you're set, go south and flip the switch. The area will close off and you'll fight another grim reaper monster similar to the one you fought just before Azoto. Fortunatley, only one appears at a time, but he can be anywhere in this area. Move quick and attack him to force him to vanish again. If he appears between the two walls, you'll need to jump to hit him. Act fast, because each hit with a meteor will cause around 80 damage. It takes about 1,000 points of damage to kill it. Switch number 2: Northwest section. Go back underground from here. Go north (through the northeastern exit) to the section under the main city. Take the northwestern exit in this room. Now you're in that lower area you saw before; search the torch nearest the way you came in for another Dark Elemental stone. Take either of the underpasses you wish, they both ultimatley lead to the stairs in the northwest part of the room. Go up. Go around and down to the area with the switch. Before hitting the switch, crack the chest open for the Ishio Blade, the best weapon in the game! It attacks like the Talwar (thrusting), so it takes a bit of getting used to, but that long reach will help in things to come, not to mention the damage. Flip the switch and kill the reaper monster that appears - it's virtually the same as the last one you met in spite of the different color scheme. Switch number 3: Northeast section. Go back underground and take the southeastern exit in the room to get to the central section again. Take the northeastern exit here. Go slightly east then open the door and go north. Take the stairs in the northeast portion of the room up. Here, search the pillar in the lower part of the room for a Wind Elemental stone. Then search the one in the upper part of the room for a Light Elemental stone. Flip the switch and kill another reaper monster. Again, it's the same thing, just a different color. Switch number 4: Southeast section. Go back to the central section again. Take the southeastern exit (not the stairs). Now take the stairs in the southeasternmost part of this room. Once upstairs, go around and jump over the gaps (it may take a couple tries because the perspective makes one of the jumps look a bit weird). Open the chest for the Ishio armor, the game's greatest armor! Then trip the switch and again kill the reaper monster. Now you're done with the switches! XXV. Kefin, the Lost City; part 3: "Are we done yet?" Go back to the Partizan hideout in the main city. You'll automatically talk to a few of the people inside. The scene will switch to Stan. He'll hear Nina playing her ocarina... the scene switches to the Evil Gang, who are listening intently. One of them asks her to stop. She apologizes, then suddenly collapses, muttering that her head hurts. Again the scene switches. Nina wakes up and a whole bunch of talking happens. Then, the game scrolls some text by... I couldn't understand it too well, unfortunatley. --; When you regain control of Adol, head back to Oueru's home, then back to the facilities. Remember that door that wasn't open before? Now it is. Go through and you'll be in Kefin's castle. The left and right halls both lead to dead-ends. Go straight north. Follow the hallway on this area, until you reach the door. Go in. Now, this puzzle is dangerous. You have to step on sections of carpet to remove the blocks blocking your way, but stepping on the wrong space drops a rock on your head for around 400 points of damage... OW. If the blocks are arranged like this: A B C D E F G X being a block, step on the spaces in this order: 1 X X X X D5, B3, F1, D3, D1 2 X X X Stepping on any other space that isn't occupied by a block will either 3 X X X X do nothing or cause a boulder to drop. ALWAYS approach the spaces from 4 X X X the outside, or jump over the spaces to avoid getting smashed. 5 X X X X Once you go in the door, you'll run into Stan! He's wounded though. The scene will switch to Karion, who will order some soldiers out for whatever reason. You're then back in the Partizan hideout, and more talking ensues. When it's all over, Oeuru will ask if you understood. Pick the top option to continue. Stoker will appear and talk for a small amount of time. Now, go save your game, use whatever elemental stones you have left... you're going to the last area, and you can't return once you've entered! If you don't have 10 Healing and Magic potions, as well as a Seimei no Kusuri, earn enough to buy them. If you have and Nedo remedies saved, as well as Selceta remedies, you'll up your chances of winning the last few battles. Make use of the healing ring in this area. When you're set, go to the inn and speak to Oueru. Say yes to his question (top option), and you'll go the human sacrifice area again. This time, you go in. Adol will automatically step up to the machine, and it will activate! It will fail to suck Adol up, however. Oueru will make a speech, and Stan will kill one of the guards. When you regain control of Adol, go up the stairs on the right and hop off. Go follow the catwalk north. You'll be on the other side of the conveyor belt in the facilities. Take the stairs slightly to the right and follow the underground path to the Castle. The left hall in the castle's a dead end. Go right instead. Follow this path (it's linear), and when you open the door, you'll run into Karion. He'll make the usual Number 1 Flunky speech, and then you fight him. Boss: Karion This guy is HARD. Harder than the final boss. He zips around the room and has several attacks. First, he can try to slash you with his sword. Basic stuff, and you can block it. At other instances he'll try to use some glowing red whip on you. If you hold still, it'll knock to twice. This can be blocked, but it seems to hit you from the sides. Secondly, he can shoot some yellow projectiles that will home in on you for a short time before returning. Periodically he'll shoot purple projectiles which seem to fly randomly around the room. Also note that he will sometimes create duplicates of himself and appear to surround you. Just dodge this, holding still results in some damage. Also, he can create a line of himself, one of which (the real one) attacks you. All these attacks combined, this guy gave me a lot of trouble at first. If your level are both at 19 or 20, he doesn't do enough damage to kill you quick though. He'll die after around 2,500 points of damage. After that, take the southwestern exit from this room. Follow the linear path until you reach a large hallway. Go north. You'll see... a crystal room? Some light will flash, and Stoker will appear, circling around you and talking. The scene will switch to Marsha and Oueru. They open a gate to evacuate the citizens. Then you see Stan running around looking for other people, including Nina. It again switches to Marsha and Oueru. Oueru also leaves, but Marsha stays behind to see to it everyone else gets out okay. Stan comes up and they leave to look for Nina. You then regain control of Adol. You're in... the Foresta Cave? The color's messed up though. Anyway, you'll see some soldiers. They'll talk, and go north. Incidentally, you're in the area where you fought Waltemos. Go north after the soldiers. Go north again on the next screen to reach the crystal room. You'll see Stoker being attacked by the soldiers. Don't dawdle, go up and help him! Attack the soldiers - one hit kills them. You'll disappear before Stoker and Foresta (the woman, apparently Stoker's lover) can thank you. You drop, however, the ring or circlet or whatever it is that Stoker gave you. You reappear in the room you were in. Leave and go south. Marsha will come up to you and tell you that the Evil Gang and Nina are still in Kefin. So, you get to help look for them. Yay. Rije will come up and taunt you for a second, then shoot some kind of spell at Marsha to knock her down. She then goes back to the crystal room. After her! Back inside, you'll notice a stairway. Go down, then save before the door. Enter and you'll see Rije. She's caught the Evil Gang and Nina and frozen them in crystal! She shoos them away, then leaves north. Lightning flashes, and some old guy appears in the middle of the screen. The text, by the way, says that they're trying to resurrect some king or something...? Anyhow, when the path closes, a boss appears. Boss: Jabil Koron Not sure what's up with this guy. However, his battle music is the same as Dorman's... hm. Anyway, his attacks depend on the color of the crystal he leaves when he disappears. Green means he shoots a greenish shockwave at you. Dodge this. Yellow means he shoots four small blades at you. You can block these. If it's black, he'll shoot two huge blades at you. Dodge these as best you can. Red causes a meteor shower, similar to the one the reaper monsters use, but it doesn't track you. Brown causes several small explosions to happen underneath you. Blue shoots icicles from the top of the screen. You can block the yellow blades and the blue icicles, but you have to dodge everything else. Each time you hit him, he appears on the opposite end of the battlefield. You can't harm him while he's attacking, so concentrate on defending them. He takes around 3,000 damage to dispose of. This takes a while, so be patient. When you're done, go north. You'll reach the Evil Gang and Nina, and they will be freed from their bonds. Adol automatically goes north to Rije, who talks a lot. Nina goes up and tries to tell Rije that she's doing the wrong thing, but being an evil villain-type-person, Rije doesn't listen. The thing you fought before - Jabil Koron - is the old man that appears out of some gate. He proclaims himself to be some kind of ruler, and Nina of course tries to talk him out of it. Jabil shoots a green fireball at Nina, but Stan jumps in to take the hit. After a bit more talking, Jabil unleases his true form. Final Boss: Jabil Okay, like Dorman, this guy got reeeeeal ugly. He's also fairly difficult. If your levels are sub-15 or so, you have utterly no chance of beating him. If you're around Lv. 17 in both cases, you can beat him, but it'll be tough. Lv. 20 or so, he becomes an even fight. He has a large array of attacks. His hands have two colors - red and green. If they're red, they shoot a spray of lasers that you can't block. Dodge them as best you can. If they're green, they shoot a quick green shot at you which you can block. Sometimes the hands will attempt to ram you. Avoid them. If the hands a dark red, lasers will form in midair and shoot at you. Dodge them. Sometimes, the main body will shoot a black star that becomes a black hole when it hits the ground. Move in any direction away from it - if it sucks you in, it hits you repeatedly for big damage - letting this get a direct hit then not moving will kill you, guaranteed. The hands each have 1,000 HP. Knock just one out, and Jabil will change attack pattern. His hands in the second pattern look like balls of energy. When they're green, they shoot several blades which you can block, but otherwise are kinda the same. He now moves around, by the way, and this means you can now damage the main body. You have to jump to hit it. The hands now die after around 500 points of damage, but he'll create more. He can also shoot those lasers by himself, as well as he also uses that black hole more. Be patient - this guy has around 5,000-6,000HP. When he dies, you've won! That's pretty much it - now you can watch the ending. END. -6. Item and Equipment Lists- Weapons Long Sword (attack + 2) Talwar (attack + 8) Freesa (attack + 20) Shamshir (attack + 35) Ishio Blade (attack + 70) Armor Leather Armor (defense + 4) Chain Mail (defense + 12) Scale Male (defense + 19) Plate Armor (defense + 30) Ishio Armor (defense + 55) Shields Radi Shield (defense + 2) Round Shield (defense + 9) Heater Shield (defense + 14) Metal Shield (defense + 25) Ishio Shield (defense + 50) Rings Power Ring : Raises physical attack power by 20% Shield Ring : Raises physical defense power by 20% Magic Ring : Halves the MP used to cast spells. Time Ring : Slows down monsters, but drains MP as long as it is equipped. When MP reaches 0, monsters move at normal speed. Items Healing Potion : Heals your HP by 60% of your maximum. You can buy up to 10, but can carry more if you find them. Magic Potion : Heals your MP by 60% of your maximum. You can buy up to 10, but can carry more if you find them. Nedo Remedy : Fully restores your HP. You can buy up to 10, but can carry more if you find them. Majunomi : Fully restores your MP. You can buy up to 10, but can carry more if you find them. Selceta Remedy : Fully restores your HP and MP. You can buy up to 10, but can carry more if you find them. Seimei no Kusuri: If you die with one of these in your inventory, you are revived with full HP/MP. You can only have one at a time, though. Poison Antidote : Removes "Poison" status. You can buy up to 10, but can carry more if you find them. Weird stuff Tawashi : Not sure what it is, but Willy will buy it for 20G if you have it when you first speak with him. Gin no Coin : Silver coin. Not sure what it's use is, but it sells for 4000G. Kin no Coin : Gold coin. Not sure what it's use is, but it sells for 8000G. Elemental Stones Fire Elemental : Used to make magic. Seems to be the most common. Water Elemental: Used to make magic. Wind Elemental : Used to make magic. Earth Elemental: Used to make magic. Seems to be the rarest of the basic 4 elements. Light Elemental: Used to make magic. Dark Elemental : Used to make magic. Harder to find than Light. -7. Magic List- The elements of each spell is determined by the stones used to make it. Also note that the more of a single element a spell contains, the more powerful it is - an Earth/Earth/Earth spell has way more power than a Water/Water/Fire, and even more than a Fire/Wind/Light. MP costs and the spell power taken vary based on the spell and your magic level. Unfortunatley I was unable to get any of those values checked as by the time I had this much of the list done, my magic level was 19 :( Earth/Earth/Earth- "Kirukinusu" - Catastrophe Adol jumps high up, and conjures a boulder, which falls down and smashes into the ground creating a huge earthquake and shockwave that damages everything. Kinda weak compared to the other single-element spells, but still quite good. Earth/Water/Fire - "Sekusuta" - Avalanche Rock Adol attacks with his sword which shoots out a basic fireball. Weak, but it's your first spell! Make good use of it. Earth/Fire /Fire - "Kaeruma" - Heat Sand Adol holds his sword up for a bit, then slashes down. A small eruption centered on him damages anything nearby. Decent damage, but by the time I got it, it was pretty weak. Earth/Fire /Wind - "Abyss" - Sand Storm Adol jumps in the air, then comes down, doing some damage to anything around him. Earth/Fire /Light- "Korunba" - Volcanic Rock Adol holds his sword up, and a ray of light shoots around, causing explosions in it's path. Earth/Fire /Dark - "Bikutoru" - Heat Coal(?) Adol holds his sword down and turns black, as a shockwave spreads out around him. He turns white, and the shockwave fills in and turns red. Then, he holds his sword up and several balls of fire spew up from the ground. Water/Water/Water- "Antoria" - Freezing Adol swings his sword around a bit, then holds it overhead as a blue sphere rises up and off the screen. He swings his sword downward, and a wave of freezing water sweeps the screen clean. Kinda slow but great for cleaning out those annoying flaming lizards. Water/Water/Fire - "Induce" - Calent Flame Adol holds his sword up and a black sphere rises up, striking everything around him. Hits repeatedly and actually does a surprising amount of damage total. Water/Fire /Fire - "Uera" - Rabafurou Adol holds his sword up and a dome of fire appears around him, damaging anything inside. This spell is a joke. The dome's pretty small so you have to get in close to hit anything, and even then it doesn't seem to be spectacular damage. You're better off with Calent Flame. Water/Fire /Wind - "Bikushitsu" - Ravine Adol swings his sword around, then holds it up. The screen turns white and some blueish flames wave around the screen. Not sure what this does. Water/Fire /Light- "Urusa" - Heat Boil Adol swings his sword around, then holds it over his head. he shoots a blackish ball of fire straight ahead, similar to Avalanche rock. Semi-slow, but excellent damage if your levels are high enough. Water/Fire /Dark - "Rakuruta" - Dark Boil Adol holds his sword up, and some black light erupts from the ground. Short delay between cast and damage. Fire /Fire /Fire - "Dorado" - Combustion Adol holds his sword up high, and it glows. A huge sphere of flame erupts around him, damaging everything on the screen. Long delay between casting and actual damage. Fire /Fire /Wind - "Kiguna" - Heat Wind Adol spins around, faster and faster, and slashes to shoot a blade of hot wind forward. Long delay between cast and attack. Fire /Fire /Light- "Ikureus" - Heat Flash Adol holds his sword up, and energy gathers onto it. A sphere of greenish light appears, and expands, shooting rays over the screen. Slow to actually cause damage. Fire /Fire /Dark - "Rinkusu" - Dark Flash Adol holds his sword up, and the tip glints a bit. One nearby foe gets caught up in an eruption of dark energy. Fire /Wind /Light- "Botesu" - Flame Thunder Adol swings his sword forward twice, then holds it over his head, attacking forward. If you can actually land this, it seems to do okay damage, but you're better off getting a different spell. Wind /Wind /Wind - "Forunakusu" - Megatoru Net Adol spins around, creating a huge swirling wind, damaging everything on the screen. Moderate delay between cast and damage. 8. Time Attack Once you've beaten the game, a small "mini-game" opens up. Simply reset the game at the "Fin" screen and take a look. In addition to the normal "New Game" and "Continue" options, you can also select "Time Attack"! Time Attack is basically a time-trial to see how quick you can beat every boss in the game. You begin with Dezeltulf, then fight Waltemos, then Hyudol, and so on until you've beaten every one. Your level is predetermined, as is your equipment. You do get healed after each battle. When you select this option, you're in a small room with Alga and Tera from the Evil Gang. You can speak to Alga to see the current top five rankings, or talk to Tera to actually start. Tera will give you *ONE* healing potion to last the whole way (so this is a pretty tough thing if you're used to making suicide runs and just healing constantly), and there are no real stops to take a break. I don't know if there's any real benefit to doing this, but it can be pretty fun if you're one of those obsessive types who has to completely beat the game before they can put it down (like me :) 9. Acknowledgements Nihon Falcom for publishing this game. I'm a big fan of Zelda-like games, so this one hit the spot. ;) CJayC, the tireless caretaker and maintainer of GameFAQs for hosting this and a multitude of other documents. (http://www.gamefaqs.com/) The local AM/PM for keeping me in Dr. Pepper while writing this. 10. Contact info If you have anything you'd like to contribute, mail me at mgnash@cport.com. Anything I've missed would be appreciated, as well as catching me on any typos and grammatical errors, etc. If you want to use this FAQ/Walkthrough, be it the whole thing or just a part of it, please ask - I'll usually agree, just so long as I know where it's being used and why.