FFXII Strategy Guide

words: Thomas WildePS2

Final Fantasy XIIWe break down the toughest boss fights and show you how to power level like never before

strategy guide

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02Final Fantasy XIIcontents

strategy guide

Contents

GettinG Started

Controls

WalkthrouGh

Nalbina fortress

Rabanastre

Dalmasca estersande

Rabanastre

Giza plains

Rabanastre

Garamscythe waterway

The royal palace of rabanastre

Garamscythe waterway

Nalbina dungeons

Barheim passage

Dalmasca estersand

Rababastre

Bhujerba

Ihusu mines

Bhujerba

Dreadnaught leviathan

Bjujerba

Dalmasca westersand

Ogir-yensa sandsea

Nam-yensa Sandsea

The tomb of raithwall

Light cruiser class airship shiva

Rabanastre

Giza plains

Ozmone plain

Jahara - land of the garif

The ancient city of giruvegan

The great crystal

The port at balfonheim

The ridorana cataract

The pharos of ridorana

The port of balfonheim

The sky fortress bahamut

Ozmone plain

Golmore jungle

Eruyt village

Henne mines

Golmore jungle

Paramina rift

Mt. bur-omisace

Stilshrine of miriam

Mt. bur-omisace

Nosphoran highwaste

The salikawood

Phon coast

Tchita uplands

Sochen cave palace

Old archades

Imperial city of archades

Draklor laboratory

The port at balfonheim

The feywood

Henne mines

The feywood

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strategy guide

03getting started

Final Fantasy XII

GettinG startedFinal Fantasy XII doesn’t play a

thing like any other Japanese RPG of this, or any other generation. It works a bit like an odd beerslam of Vagrant Story and Knights of the Old Republic, where you can have as much or as little control over the combat activities of your characters as you see fit. Balancing micromanagement against micromanagement is at least half the game, if not more.

ControlSWhen you’re “in the field,” you

control a party of up to three characters. You can set up their behavior according to a series of Gambits, which are basically programmable character macros. You can buy new Gambits in shops in cities or find them in the field; a given Gambit may determine the circumstances under which the character targets a given opponent or ally, or the action taken under those circumstances.

You can also disable Gambits entirely, but we don’t recommend that. Fights in FFXII are frantic, and it’s

easy to forget about a Gambit-less character entirely in the heat of the moment.

We recommend keeping your party leader’s Gambits off so you can use that character as you see fit. Keep your two other characters’ Gambits enabled. It’s a very good idea to keep every character equipped with high-priority healing Gambits at any time, because damage mounts up quickly in FFXII. You’ll be relying on area-effect heal spells like Cura for most of the game.

In general, FFXII tends to play a bit like an MMORPG. Running away is always an option (hold down R2 to leave “combat mode”), and while you cannot dodge many attacks, you can avoid some by simply getting out of the enemy’s effective range. Status effects like Disable, Immobilize, Silence, and Blind are all also much more useful than they’ve been in the past, so try to change up your fighting style accordingly.

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alkthroughFinal Fantasy XII

WalkthrouGh

nalbina FortreSSIt’s difficult to lose here. This is the

tutorial mission, so the local enemies are fairly easygoing, and you’re backed up at all times by a squadron of friendly soldiers. Reks is also a better spellcaster than you’d expect an armored type like him to be, so if you get into trouble, drop a couple of Cure spells.

tip: treaSure CheStSUnlike past Final Fantasy games,

most of the treasure chests you encounter in the field are randomized item drops. The good news is that they’ll often respawn when you reenter an area; the bad news is that the quality of the drops tends to vary wildly. You’ll get small sums of money or common items more often than not. Given the relative scarcity of cash in this game, this still makes treasure chests worth getting, but it also means you shouldn’t explore everywhere the way you had to in past games.

The exception is when you find special Urns that are scattered throughout the game world. Urns are consistent from game to game, but they usually only contain a map of the area you’re in.

Play with the controls a bit, then move forward as directed to get into your first boss fight. The Air Cutter Remora is a tough nut to crack, but your allies will do most of the heavy lifting. If you enter melee at all, simply run away when the Cutter readies

Remora Strike. When it’s driven off, press forward into the fortress. There’s really only one way you can go, and your eventual destination – the throne room – is labeled on your map.

rabanaStreKill the three Dire Rats. Once

you’ve done that, you’ll start a series of cutscenes that’ll end with you, as Vaan, in downtown Rabanastre. Go to Migelo’s shop, the Sundries store located on your map, and he’ll send you to the Sandsea tavern.

tip: Your Map iS Your FriendPress Select to bring up your map.

This will automatically fill in as you explore an unknown area, making it one of your best and most reliable

tools over the course of the game. It’ll also inform you what your next storyline goal is, and will often label the area you need to visit. This walkthrough refers to areas by the names they’re given on the in-game map.

When you reach the Sandsea, talk to Tomaji. He’ll give you the Clan Primer, a Writ of Transit, and an Orrachea Armlet. Equip the latter as directed, then visit Rabanastre’s North End. The shop with the sign labeled as “???,” on the west side of the area, is Clan Centurio’s meeting hall. Speak to the Suspicious Bangaa to get in, then talk to Montblanc the Moogle at the top of the stairs. He’ll give you three Potions and welcome you into Clan Centurio.

tip: liCenSe pointS and the SpendinG thereoF

You’ll get at least one License Point (LP) any time you defeat an enemy, even if the enemy is well below your level, and bosses only give you LP.

As a general rule, you’ll want to play to each character’s strengths right up until near the end of the game, when you can start to move into other parts of the License Grid. That means fighters should learn Battle Lore, Shield Block, and weapon proficiencies. Mages should pick up Magical Lore, Martyr, and Warmage ASAP; the latter two abilities will help them regenerate MP faster.

tip: outFittinG VaanFor most of the game, Vaan is a

middle-of-the-road fighter-type, with

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no real areas of specialization. His Magic score will start to creep up a bit as he gets around 40th level, but he’s clay in your hands for most of the game. At the moment, keep him equipped with a decent sword and a shield; as you get further in the game and better weapons become available, use a two-handed weapon like a spear or pole to compensate for his relatively low Strength.

tip: liGht arMor VS. heaVY arMor

Light Armor tends to work by giving you a small Defense boost and raising your maximum HP. Heavy Armor, conversely, gives you more Defense but no HP bump.

Mystical Armor, on the other hand, raises Magic and Magic Defense. A character who’s equipped with a full set of Mystical Armor will have devastating spell power, but will die approximately twice every fight unless you’re very careful.

With all this in mind, it’s a good idea to mix and match your armor depending on a character’s designated role.

tip: MontblanC’S reWardSOnce you’ve joined Clan Centurio,

Montblanc will offer you the option of going on specialized hunts. As you get into battles, you’ll earn Clan Points, and with enough points, your clan rank will go up. Whenever your clan rank goes up, return to Montblanc for a special gift to commemorate the occasion; typically, this will be a couple of healing items and a few Teleport Stones.

More importantly, every time you defeat a boss or accomplish other relevant goals, such as obtaining your first Summon, he’ll pass on special gifts that various special interest groups throughout Ivalice have sent for you. This’ll usually be a small sum of gil.

Once you’re done exploring Rabanastre, leave town via the Eastgate.

dalMaSCa eSterSandFight the Wolves and Cactoids to

build up some experience and LP, but avoid the Wild Saurian. It’s far too powerful for you, and will be for some time. (Most of the wilderness and “dungeon” areas in FFXII have at least

one monster that’ll be far too powerful for you to defeat at the level you’ll be when you first enter the area. Here, it’s the Wild Saurian; in other places, it’s often an Elemental of some kind. Keep a Bangle equipped or keep renewing your use of the Libra Technick to know when it’s a good idea or not to fight.)

tip: pennY-pinChinGAs you may have noticed by now,

money is hard to come by in FFXII. You should expect to spend a lot of extra time level- and money-grinding in areas like the Estersand over the course of the game. Otherwise, you won’t be able to afford the better equipment that you need to survive.

The Rogue Tomato you’re here to fight is usually hanging out on the bluff to the northeast of the entrance to Rabanastre’s Eastgate. Damage it a bit, and it’ll hop off the cliff. Chase it down to continue the fight, but keep Vaan’s HP above 30 or so in case the Tomato uses Flame Breath. Vaan will take some Galbana Lilies.

rabanaStreReturn to the Sandsea. Tomaji will

give you the Rogue Tomato’s bounty: 300 gil, two Potions, and a Teleport Stone. Now’s a good time to upgrade Vaan’s Licenses and equipment; if nothing else, get the Cure spell and the License for it before you move on. (Since MP regenerates in FFXII and items go off almost immediately upon use, you’ll want to have both around. Magic is great for healing outside of combat, while items work better for emergencies.)

Use one of the gates throughout Rabanastre to reach Lowtown, then visit Old Dalan’s Place to the south. Once you’ve received your marching orders, use the large gate outside Dalan’s house to get to Southgate.

Giza plainSA brisk jog south will take you to

the Nomad Village. Talk to the woman standing in front of the large black

ONCE yOu’VE jOINED CLAN CENTuRIO, MONTBLANC WILL OFFER yOu THE OPTION OF gOINg ON SPECIALIzED HuNTS TO EARN CLAN POINTS

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crystal to get your next task: finding her son jinn. Penelo will join the party as you leave.

tip: outFittinG peneloPenelo can be developed into the

best spellcaster in the game with relative ease. Equip her with a mix of Light and Mystical Armor, a staff, and the best Black Magic you can afford, and she’ll wreak havoc. It’s also a good idea to get her more than one Quickening ASAP, as knowing two or three Quickenings will automatically double or triple a character’s available MP.

tip: QuiCkeninGSThere are isolated areas on the

License grid that host “Quickenings,” special super moves that are roughly equivalent to past FFs’ Limit Breaks or Overdrives. To use a Quickening, a character must have full MP, and using the Quickening will consume all his MP. Fortunately, a character who knows multiple Quickenings will also get a special multiplier for his or her MP score, allowing you to charge up multiple Quickenings.

Finally, you can chain Quickenings together if more than one character knows them, in a specialized minigame. use R2 to “shuffle” the characters until you get the Mist Charge option, then fire off another Quickening with the indicated button. Using more than three Quickenings in a single turn will fire up a special move, Inferno, which will whack an entire enemy party with massive damage.

The local badasses on the giza Plains are the Werewolves, which can probably drop each of your characters in two hits. Steer well clear of them as you search for Jinn.

The boy in question is sitting by the Save Crystal in the southern plains, in the Crystal Glade between the southeastern and southwestern areas. Talk to him and explain the situation to get a Shadestone.

To turn your Shadestone into a Sunstone, do as Jinn notes and go expose it to the Sun Crystals throughout the Giza Plains, each of which is helpfully labeled on your map. If you’re lucky, you won’t have to visit all four of them to fully charge the Sunstone.

Once you have a Sunstone, return to Jinn. Jinn’s mother will reward you with 50 gil, two Potions, and two Teleport Stones.

rabanaStreRemove all of Penelo’s equipment

just before you return to town, as she’ll leave the party once you enter Lowtown. Talk to Old Dalan to receive the Crescent Stone.

Go shopping for spells (you really want the Blizzard spell about now, even if you don’t intend to make Vaan any kind of combat magician) and better armor in Rabanastre, then go meet Kytes in Storehouse 5 in Lowtown. He’ll give you two Potions and four phials of Eye Drops.

GaraMSCYthe WaterWaY

Slay the mighty rats and bats as you work your way around to the northeastern side of the Waterway. Once you’re there, leave the first map,

go west, then follow the passage as it turns north. This’ll take you to the palace.

If you’re not confident in your abilities or equipment right now, turn back and hunt monsters in the Waterway for a while, then upgrade in Rabanastre before entering the palace. Once you go inside, it’ll be a long while before you can get back to a shop. It’s also worth noting that if you’re ever going to get any use out of the Brawler license, a fight where you’ll want it is coming up.

the roYal palaCe oF rabanaStre

Open the Urn to get a map of the Palace, then leave the cellar and go north, speaking to the servants as you go. When you try to go upstairs, the guard will stop you, but one of the nearby servants will take an interest. Speak to the servant, who’ll help you out. Shout for the guard, then cautiously walk around him as he approaches the servant and run upstairs.

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The Lion Signet you’re looking for is one left turn and one right turn away as you enter from the cellar, but you’ll need to distract the guards first. Move to the intersection south of them and press the Square button to shout. The guards will move to that intersection in pursuit of you, then give up the chase, allowing you to reach the Signet. Note that the Hawk Signet painted on the floor is a red herring.

Use the Crescent Stone on the Lion Signet to light up the wall at the end of the northwestern hallway, then lure the guards away and head over there. In the ensuing darkened hallway, go straight ahead and hit the switch on the wall, then examine the suspicious-looking wall to open another secret passage. Afterward, you’re near the Garden Stairs. Go ahead and climb them. It’s about to get cutsceney in here.

GaraMSCYthe WaterWaY

When the smoke clears, Balthier and Fran have joined the party, you have the Goddess’s Magicite, and you’ve landed in a heretofore unexplored part of the Garamscythe Waterway. Go downstairs from here to learn more about Gambits.

tip: outFittinG balthierBalthier begins the game equipped

with a gun. While guns do have a much lower Attack rating than other weapons, they also ignore a target’s Defense rating. Thus, their Attack is roughly equal to that of a much more powerful sword or axe. On the

negative side, some enemies, such as Slimes or Bombs, are partially immune to gunfire.

While he is possessed of a nearly Fonz-esque cool, Balthier isn’t a particularly remarkable character. He tends to have more HP than anyone else in the group, which would make him a good meat-shield in another type of game. We used him as a ranged-combat specialist. You can get Silence Shot from one of the sales in the Bazaar, which will allow you to neutralize spellcasters with ridiculous ease.

tip: outFittinG FranFran is a great magician from the

word “go,” and it’s useful to keep her equipped with a bow throughout the

game. On the negative side, she tends to have the lowest HP of anyone in the group. She needs Light Armor and the HP bumps on the License grid if you don’t want to be resurrecting her every fifteen seconds. As with Penelo, it’s a good idea to teach Fran multiple Quickenings so you can multiply her effective MP.

Examine the fallen soldiers, then go south. Take a left as you enter the next screen to find another urn containing a map of the local area, then continue to work your way south. You’re pretty much headed back to Rabanastre’s Lowtown, but you’re going the long way around.

The next time you see a Save Crystal, use it. You’re about to get into a huge fight with a bunch of Imperial Swordsmen, with Amalia sitting in as a guest combatant. They haven’t gotten much more impressive since Reks fought them, although they may give you a bit more trouble. Head over to Amalia once the fight’s over. She’ll join the party as a guest for the time being. It’s not a bad idea to save the game again, as you’re about to head into a boss fight.

tip: preparinG For CoMbatOne of the advantages to the new

combat system is that you can set up protective spells like Protect, Shell, and Haste before a battle even starts. One of the disadvantages, naturally, is that the enemy can do that too, which makes the White Magic spell Dispel a must-have.

The four Flans you’ll face know a couple of spells, like Cure and

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Blind, and take up a lot of room. Set Fran’s Gambit to cast Cure on any party member who falls below 70% of their HP, then go after whichever Flan Amalia’s carving up at the time. If someone catches a Blind spell, fall back long enough to use Eye Drops or cast Blindna on them. The Fire spell is extremely effective.

After that, it’s all over but the shouting. Continue to fight your way across the Waterway until you reach the half-circle-shaped room with a Save Crystal in it. That room’s northern door leads to the Overflow Cloaca. There, you’ll fight the most dangerous enemy yet: Firemane.

This will be much simpler if you thought to buy the Blizzard spell the last time you were in Rabanastre. That way, Fran can stand back and blast Firemane while everyone else scrambles to stay alive. Otherwise, this’ll be a long battle; the Firemane has a lot of HP, a lot of attack power, and can inflict Poison status on anyone in melee range. That means Amalia, naturally, and possibly Vaan if you’ve taken him down that road. Naturally, attacking with the Fire spell will heal Firemane, so… don’t do it.

Start looking for ways to even the odds. If you’ve got the Protect spell, cast it on Amalia and Vaan; if you’ve got Potions to burn, use them. Fortunately, Firemane will tend to go after anyone that’s in melee with it, so Fran and Balthier can more or less stand back and go nuts on it as long as Vaan and Amalia are still standing. One major asset during this battle is that as long as she’s a guest in the party, Amalia apparently has a near-infinite supply of Potions tucked into her miniskirt.

Of course, even when you win this battle, you lose.

nalbina dunGeonSGo sorting through the dungeon

around you for treasure chests. They should contain Knots of Rust, which are single-use items that’ll cause

direct damage to an opponent. These come in handy throughout the game.

The reason you need those is because when you leave the Stockade area via the northern exit, you’ll wind up in a bare-fisted struggle against the Banga’a prisoners Daguza, Galeedo, and Gwitch, with only Balthier on your side. Happily, none of them have too many HP, nor are they terribly difficult to defeat. Just the same, it’s a good idea to be able to use spells like Cure or Protect, and the Knots of Rust may help if Vaan is still underdeveloped.

When the smoke clears, run towards the Save Crystal to get your weapons and equipment back, then progress onward. Your goal in the next area is the central northern part of the room, where you’ll come along just in time for the Judge to undo the locks on the door. Follow him in.

barheiM paSSaGeAfter your daily dose of cripple-

beating, you’ll have a new guest: Basch. Since he’s unarmed and unarmored, about the best thing that you can say about him is that he’ll provide the enemy with another moving target.

Check the Timeworn Device to find out that it’s a Power Relay, then save the game and move on. Go downstairs and talk to Burrogh to get the Tube Fuse. Upgrade your equipment and buy new spells from Burrough – be sure to get Thunder and Blizzard if you don’t have them already – before going upstairs and installing the Tube Fuse in the Power Relay. With that done, hit the switch on the gate switchboard to

open the gate by Burrogh.In the dungeon beyond, make it a

habit to rush straight to any Battery Mimics you see in the area and kill them before they can shut the lights off. The Blizzard spell works well on them; otherwise, they’re pretty durable opponents, and they have a habit of regenerating quickly if they’re near a power source. If they aren’t near a power source, they’ll run like hell until they’re near one, and then come after you with a Thunder knockoff called Discharge.

Press on to the south until you hit a massive gate. Inspecting it will cause a gear icon to appear on your map; go visit that area. Around now, Flan should be popping up fairly often, so toast them with Fire spells. You may also run into the occasional Bomb, but these aren’t worth fighting; they’re durable, they have no real weaknesses, and they can easily drop two or three characters with Self-Destruct. Fortunately, Bombs aren’t hostile when they initially appear. Make sure your characters’ Gambits are set up so they’ll only start attacking if your leader does, to avoid unnecessary conflict.

When you return to the open gate, Basch will equip himself with a dead soldier’s equipment. Now he’s actually worth having in the party. With his support, the next stretch of the dungeon should be a cakewalk. Keep following the tunnels, and all the way to the south, you’ll run right into the lair of the Mimic Queen.

The Queen itself will attack with electrical spells like Thunder, as

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you might expect. Worse luck, it’ll spawn Tiny Batteries constantly throughout the fight to go munch on the local electrical conduits, dropping the Energy level. use gambits to keep Balthier and Fran focused on damaging the Mimic Queen with Blizzard spells and gunfire while Vaan runs around the edges of the room killing the Tiny Batteries.

Keep your characters’ HP up during the battle. The Tiny Batteries can inflict mild damage at best, but once the Mimic Queen has been injured, she’ll begin to cut loose with high-powered offensive skills like Earth Shaker.

dalMaSCa eSterSandGoing southwest from your present

location will take you back to the Outpost, which you may have visited while you were pursuing the Rogue Tomato. From there, it’s just a Wolf-infested hop, skip, and jump back to Rabanastre.

rabanaStreThe party will split up as you return

to the Westgate. You can now use the Moogling to teleport throughout the

world, if you decide that’s what you’re into.

Do some shopping (you’ll definitely want a method of curing Silence status, as well as the Libra Technick). Go see Montblanc, then enter Migelo’s Sundries to talk to Kytes. Next up, return to Lowtown and visit Old Dalan. He’ll give you the Sword of the Order, and ask you to deliver it to a house in western Lowtown. Go to the location marked on your map and talk to the guy sitting on the crate.

When all that’s over, Basch will have joined the party. Balthier is, predictably, at the Sandsea tavern in the East End, on the balcony. When you’re ready for more high adventure, go to the Aerodrome in the Westgate. Speak to Fran, who’s standing outside, and then to Balthier, who’s inside.

tip: outFittinG baSChAs you might expect from his

performance in the Nalbina Dungeon, Basch is a specialist in melee combat. As such, he can get a lot of mileage out of heavy armor, a sturdy shield, and the Shield Block Licenses, which will enable him to avoid damage a surprisingly large amount of the time.

Consider equipping Basch with an axe or hammer; hitting an enemy with one of these is a sort of crapshoot. You may do single-digit damage, or you may level the opponent with one hit. It’s also a good idea to buy the Licenses allowing him to wield bows, so he can help out against Flying enemies. (You could also teach him the Telekinesis Technick, but it’ll be a long time before you can find that for sale.)

bhujerbaLeave the Aerodrome and you’ll

encounter Lamont, who’ll join the party as a guest. Afterwards, all you need to do is follow the street, as most of the exits from the city have been blocked off by soldiers. Do some shopping on your way through the city, though, as the stores here offer better equipment than what you saw in Rabanastre.

lhuSu MineSYou can use Libra to detect the traps

that’ll occasionally be set throughout the mines (and, indeed, throughout the hostile environments that you’ll enter for most of the rest of the game). If you don’t have Libra or a Bangle handy, you may wish to remedy the situation ASAP. Like Amelia before him, Lamont is carrying an infinite store of Potions, which allows you to be a bit more reckless than usual.

In the Shaft Entry, you’ll need to work your way around using the westernmost tunnels to circumvent the barrier that’s been placed across the mineshaft. Your eventual goal is the northeastern cavern in Site 2, which you’ll find directly.

Once you’re there, Lamont will leave the party, and you’ll wind up being chased by Ba’Gamnan and his allies. A quick look at their stats should be enough to tell you that you can’t win this fight; the weakest of them have maybe five times your HP, and they’ll be buffed to the gills the moment this “battle” starts.

Hold down R2 and run for it,

yOu CAN uSE LIBRA OR A BANgLE TO DETECT THE TRAPS THAT WILL OCCASIONALLy BE SET THROugHOuT THE LHuSu MINES

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ignoring the random monsters as you pass all the way back through the mines. You’ll shake the banga’a loose when you reach the mines’ entrance. Leave the mines the same way you came in to catch back up with “Lamont.”

bhujerbaRun around town claiming to be

Basch until your notoriety reaches 100%. One good place to do it is in the Cloudborne tavern, which you can now reach. Once you hit that magic number, you’ll automatically be taken into custody. Do some shopping, then go to visit the marquis. After a series of cutscenes and the introduction of this game’s Cid, you’ll be taken captive. Again. It’s getting to be a habit.

dreadnauGht leViathan

Hey, it’s Ashe. Who knew.Vossler will join the party as a guest.

Let yourselves into the West Block, and listen to his advice about the red webs of light. Of course, Vossler tends to break them for you half the time. This can be a problem. When an alarm goes off, you’ll abruptly be hip-deep in Imperial Swordsmen, backed up by a couple of Magi and a Mastiff. The damage adds up fast in a situation like that, so set up your Gambits for a conservative, defensive style of play.

It’s your choice how you get to the Airship Berth Access from the West Block. The northern route takes slightly longer to get through, but if you come in from the south, you’ll have

to trigger at least one alarm to get to where they’re holding Ashe. Before you open that last door, restore your HP and MP; you’re about to get into one hell of a fight, pitting your crew against a pair of Judges with Imperial backup.

The best thing to do, regardless of what Vossler tells you, is to clear out the small fry before you try to deal with the Judges. If you have any items like Blue or Red Fangs, or Aero Motes, use them to damage all your enemies at once. It’s also not a bad idea to let Basch and Vossler handle the melee while Vaan and Fran or Balthier stand back, use items, and cast buff spells like Protect and Haste. This is a surprisingly difficult battle, given what you’ve been facing up until now, and

you should be careful.When you win, you’ll get the No. 1

Brig Key. In the cellblock, open the first two cells to find a Save Crystal, a merchant Moogle who’s open for business (you may want to buy some extra armor and weapons from him, since Penelo is going to rejoin the party shortly), and an urn containing a Systems Access Key. grab and/or use all of the previous, then open Ashe’s cell. She’ll join the party.

tip: outFittinG aSheInterestingly, Ashe fits the mold of a

typical Final Fantasy protagonist better than Vaan does. She’s a well-balanced character who’s equally comfortable as a combatant or a spellcaster, and her natural Magic score is high enough that she can wield spells fairly well even if she’s wearing heavy armor. Giving her a sword and shield allows her to play a swing role in combat, alternating between roles as the situation demands.

Arm and equip Ashe as you see fit, because the moment you leave the cellblock, you’ll send the entire Dreadnaught into an ongoing state of alarm. This is great if you’re looking to build experience, but lousy if you’re just trying to get out of here in one piece. Go back the way you came, through the West Block; you’ll eventually run into Penelo, who’ll join the party at the same time Vossler leaves. (Doesn’t seem fair, does it?) Penelo is armed exactly as she was back when she left Vaan at Southgate, so equip her accordingly and expend all the LP she has in reserve.

When you reach the airship bay

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you’ve been driving for, you’ll run straight into Judge Ghis and his entourage of Imperial Swordsmen. As with the previous judge fight, use items like Aero Motes or Blue Fangs to clear the Swordsmen out, allowing you to team up on Ghis.

Alone, ghis is a talented melee combatant who can deal out impressive but not overwhelming damage. His big move is Aero, which is powerful enough to nearly drop one of your characters in a single hit, and if you’re unlucky, it can nail more than one target. A good tactic is to let your party leader draw Ghis away from your casters, so they can knock Ghis’s health down from afar without any risk of being slammed by Aero, while somebody like Basch keeps Ghis busy. When you’ve knocked Ghis down to about 20% of his total health, you’ll end the battle. Congratulations: you’ve won one of the hardest battles yet!

bhujerbayou’re back in the local Aerodrome.

Conduct whatever city business may be necessary, such as re-equipping Penelo. If you need funds, you can

use the Aerodome’s Save Crystal to get back to Rabanastre and go on a few hunts. When you’re done with your preparations, go visit the Marquis.

dalMaSCa WeSterSandBefore you enter the Sandsea, you

definitely want to get the Cura spell from the magic shop in Bhujerba. Be sure to use the Teleport Crystal at the Westersand exit, so it’s added to your network of teleport contacts.

oGir-YenSa SandSeaClimb the staircase and follow the

old oil platforms to the west. The Alraune are deceptively formidable opponents, so be cautious.

As you step onto Platform 1, Vossler will rejoin the party as a guest combatant. The urutan-yensa will also appear to get in your way; these gunmen aren’t too much to worry about, but they’re usually Hasted. They’re useful enemies, though; the Urutan-Yensa appear in such numbers and so consistently that you can use them to string together an impressively long Chain, enabling you to stock up on items like Phoenix Down and Teleport Stones at their

expense. They’re also among the few “wilderness” opponents that drop gil upon their defeat.

This is a lucrative opportunity, but it’s also somewhat dangerous. You need to be self-supporting before you can make this run. It may pay off to run a circuit through the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea a couple of times, backtracking to the Teleport Crystal in the Westersand every time you’ve built up enough gil and LP to upgrade your characters, then going to Bhujerba and buying spells like Raise, Esuna, Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara. Incidentally, if you see a Salamand Entite, run the hell away. It’s this area’s Monster You Can’t Beat. Finally, when you’re done using this area for a cheap grind, work your way west.

naM-YenSa SandSeaIt’s business as usual until you get to

the Withering Shores, where you’ll find the giant turtle that Moogle by the save point mentioned. The urutan Eater will go after the urutans fighting it first, as a matter of preference; it’ll only come after you once all the Urutans are dead.

Vossler will put a crimp in this plan, as is his wont, by charging in face-first. While the urutan Eater deals with him, use long-distance tactics and offensive spells to whittle away at the urutan Eater’s HP, pausing occasionally to prevent Vossler’s death via a well-timed Cure spell. Of the available options, Fire spells seem to work best.

After defeating the urutan Eater, return to the Moogle and talk to him. He’ll inform you that the urutan with your reward just went back to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. Return there and head up the first ramp to see a cutscene. Head back to the Nam-yensa to see another sequence. At the end of it, pick the Eksir Berries from the bush.

When you reach the end of the Trail of Fading Warmth in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea, talk to Dyce, the merchant

ALONE, gHIS IS A TALENTED MELEE COMBATANT WHO CAN DEAL OuT IMPRESSIVE BuT NOT OVERWHELMINg DAMAgE - HIS BIg MOVE IS “AERO”

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on the chocobo, to unload some of your loot and invest in new items. Having done that, turn around and backtrack to the cave you passed to get to him, then enter. This is Simoon Bluff, and the only real reason to come in here is to hunt Bagolies. One Bagoly should be worth around 150 EXP to you at this point in time, and while they’re dangerous, you can handle them, even if all you’re doing is standing there and throwing buffs and Cure at Vossler while he carries the mail. It’s worth using the Simoon Bluff to level-grind for a bit before you move on.

the toMb oF raithWallUnless you’ve been doing a lot

of power-leveling, the Garuda will probably be a bit much for you. It’s a Flying opponent, meaning you can only hit it with guns, bows, Quickenings like Red Spiral, and Black Magic. Plus, it has insane amounts of attack power. Vossler will pull out a new Technick called Telekinesis, allowing him to damage the Garuda, so you just have to worry about the rest of the group.

using the Eksir Berries on the Garuda will slow it down considerably and lower its attack power a bit, which’ll bring this fight within the realm of possibility. Send in a high-Defense melee type like Basch to eat most of the Garuda’s attacks, while mages and snipers whittle down the Garuda from afar; Fran and Balthier work very well in this battle. Don’t forget to occasionally heal Basch (or whoever) while you’re doing so.

After the battle, you can climb up and use the Teleport Stone to backtrack, if you like. Once you’re ready, use the Ancient Device to enter the Tomb. The Way Stone in front of you is presently useless. Walk down the long bridge to trigger the appearance of the Demon Wall. You don’t have anywhere near enough room to fight it here, so turn and run to the door on the other side of the room.

In this area, you’ll battle a second Demon Wall, but here, you actually have enough room to beat it. You can use the Altars of Contemplation along the bridge to either stop or speed up the Demon Wall; if you speed it up, run to the next Altar as fast as you can.

Fortunately, while it has many, many HP, the Demon Wall doesn’t do much actual damage compared to some bosses. It’s mostly interested in

slowing you down or preventing you from damaging it, so it can crush you against the far wall. Towards that end, it’ll use spells that inflict Doom, Blind, and Silence.

One handy trick, if you’ve learned Reflect or have an item like a Reflectga Mote, is to use such to protect your entire party once you get through the first door. The Demon Wall will try to use Blindga early on, and will promptly reflect it back on itself. With it Blind, it almost cannot damage you at all, so all you have to do is wear it down.

When it’s at about half its health, the Demon Wall will use a spell called Telega to dispatch one of your characters. This isn’t “death” so much as it’s “banishment” to the X-zone (remember that from Final Fantasy VI?) and as such, cannot be reversed until the fight’s over and you leave the area. If Vossler gets hit by it, you’re SOL; if another party member gets hit, just tag him or her out.

Continue west from this point to run into a cutscene. Afterward, open the Urn for a map of the area. Now you can explore the Tomb more or less at will. Of the local inhabitants, be particularly wary of the Ragoh, who can Self-Destruct if a fight isn’t going their way.

Your new goal is to get to the center of the Northfall and Southfall Passages and activate the pedestals at the center of either one. When you activate both, you’ll lower the altars that are found in either area with the pedestal, allowing you to descend into the Cloister of Flame via a secret

passage. There, as you might expect, you’ll find a demon that throws a lot of flame around: Belias. He does heavy melee damage, but his big trick is using Firaja; this will inflict heavy Fire damage on all party members, and may inflict Oil status on top of that. Teach your casters the Water spell before you come down here, and use it to quench Belias’s flames.

Victory earns you the right to summon Belias, the Esper. Montblanc will reward you for this. Keep going west to find the Dawn Shard, then teleport back to the entrance and leave the Tomb.

liGht CruiSer ClaSS airShip ShiVa

The traitor will come after you with a trio of Imperial Swordsmen. The latter have been beefed up a bit since you plowed through so many of them aboard the Leviathan, but it shouldn’t be enough to really slow you down. The traitor, on the other hand, will drop Reflect, Haste, and Shell on himself early on, making it difficult to bring him down. Once the Swordsmen have been dealt with, bring in heavy hitters like Basch to grind the traitor’s HP down, bit by bit.

rabanaStreStock up, make your rounds, and

head out.

Giza plainSDuring the rainy season, the Giza

Plains’ entire map changes, and the Nomad Village clears out. Even better (worse?), the local monsters have

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gotten a lot more powerful. Linger here for a while, building levels, before you move on to the south.

ozMone plainHunt the Mesmenir. They drop Iron

Carapaces, which are worth decent money, and you’ll want a fat purse when you hit jahara. The Mesmenir do go straight for any character who uses magic against them, so be careful. It’s easy to get a caster killed.

jahara – land oF the GariF

Talk to zayalu, who’s on your right as you walk into the main part of town. He’ll give you a jaya Stick to give to Supinelu, who’s hanging out by the northern bridge. Give Supinelu the Jaya Stick, then continue across the bridge to meet with the Galufs’ great-Chief. Larsa will join the party as a guest, and as you leave, Supinelu will give you a Bowgun and a quiver of Onion Bolts. If you go speak to judge Hausen, standing at the south end of the village near the War-Chief, he’ll give you three Hi-Potions and an Ether.

ozMone plainYou can hire a chocobo for free on

your way out of Jahara, and it’s well worth doing at least once, if only to hear the new remixed Chocobo theme. You do have a three-minute time limit while you’re on a chocobo, though, so watch the clock. Make your way east. You’ll run into quite a few monsters while you’re here, but none of them can touch you as long as you’re on your chocobo. Don’t get off of it, though, unless you plan on running the rest of the way.

GolMore junGleBring your anti-status White Magic.

The golmore jungle is full of Panthers, Gargoyles, and those crowd-pleasing favorites, Malboros, all of which are fond of inflicting statuses like Slow, Blind, Poison, and Petrify.

The urn containing the map of Golmore Jungle can be found near your entry point from the Ozmone Plain. Take the first left you come to, then take the first right to find the urn at the end of the path. Don’t venture too far to the south from this point, however, as Hellhounds, which may be a bit too powerful for you at this point, can be found on the prowl down here. If you keep going south regardless,

you’ll find an entrance to the Feywood, which you definitely can’t handle yet.

Instead, go east. Don’t be afraid to backtrack through the Ozmone Plains to sell loot and upgrade equipment in jahara. The Coeurl Pelts that the Panthers drop are worth 454 gil apiece, so hunt them to fatten your wallet. When you get a certain distance east, Fran will step in and transport you to Eruyt Village.

eruYt VillaGeTetran the Moogle is selling some

great spells, like Esuna and Curaga. grab them if you’ve the means. To find the Viera you’re looking for, just keep going north until you hit the Fane of the Path, then keep going. You’ll run into jote eventually. After speaking with her, leave the village again to get your marching orders.

You can help the wounded Imperial just outside the Ozmone Plains – Golmore Jungle exit, and he’ll let you borrow his chocobo for the usual three-minute span. Leave to the west to get to the Field of Light Winds, then follow the chocobo trail south through the underbrush. You’ll wind up on the south side of the Shred. The southern cavern leads to the mines you’re after, but you may want to stop back at jahara first to buy a lot of Smelling Salts.

henne MineSHit the first gate Switchboard and

move south. Talk to the wounded Imperial, then hit the second Gate Switchboard. You’ll be ambushed by Jellies, which are vulnerable to Fire

but tend to inflict Confusion rather often. A powerful caster can use Fira to destroy the lot of them at once, but they can do a lot of damage before they go.

go either east or south to find the urn containing the Henne Mines’ map, then return to the Pithead Junction A and go west. In order to reach Ore Separation, the room at the end of the Mines, you’ll need to take Crossover A’s northern exit, go through Crossover B, and come into Pithead Junction B from its northern entrance. There, hit the gate Switchboard to open the door from Crossover B to the Staging Shaft. Doing so will drop a small army of Jellies on you, so be very careful or be ready to run.

Reaching the Ore Separation area will get you into a fight with Tiamat, a large dragon that absorbs Wind attacks, such as Aero or a gladius, and will occasionally whack your entire party with Disablega. Defeating her is a matter of using powerful melee combatants to whittle down her HP, while your casters stand well back from the fray and buff your melee attackers. Larsa and his infinite bag of Hi-Potions will be a big help during this fight, so make sure to keep him upright. Defeating Tiamat will automatically return you to Eruyt Village. you’ll receive Lente’s Tear. Shop with Tetran before you leave; he’s offering Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, and Haste.

GolMore junGleWith Lente’s Tear in hand, you can

continue east through the jungle. Right

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after the Teleport Crystal, you’ll run into the Elder Wyrm.

Open with a few Aero spells to drop the Wyrm’s Treant bodyguards, then settle down for a long, deeply annoying fight. The Wyrm’s a powerful melee combatant with more HP than the planet you’re standing on, and a slightly unnerving love of negative status effects. Whenever you knock off a notable fraction of its HP, the Wyrm will use Sporefall to hit one or more of your characters with Sap, Confuse, Blind, Silence, Slow, and Oil.

Esuna will take care of all of these statuses but Slow and Oil. Oil can be dealt with by bringing a number of Handkerchiefs with you, which you should probably use as fast as you can. The Wyrm will often follow Sporefall up with multiple uses of Fireball, which can do around 900 points of damage by itself. When combined with Oil status, it’ll drop a character more or less instantly. If the game tells you that the Wyrm is readying Sporefall, run away so your leader, at least, dodges the effect, then drop Esuna a couple of times to help out any characters that got hit. Larsa will spend this entire fight

throwing Hi-Potions around, so for the most part, you don’t have to worry about healing.

Another option is to hang out in the jungle for a while until everyone you plan on taking into this fight has the three Remedy Lore Licenses, thus enabling you to cure Sporefall simply by using a Remedy, but that’ll take a little while. You also probably don’t have quite as many Remedies as you’d like. It’s an idea, though.

If you can handle Sporefall, then you can handle the Elder Wyrm. Simply rip into the Wyrm with a few powerful fighters. After that, it’s all over bar the shouting. Just keep going east.

paraMina riFtAs one of the pilgrims will tell you,

your goal’s to the northeast. The monsters here can be a pain, as most of them have the ability to inflict annoying status effects like Confuse, and you’ll run into an occasional, predictably devastating Ice Elemental.

Mt. bur-oMiSaCeThe traveling merchant at the base

of the mountain has better weapons and armor for sale than what you’ve

been able to get before now, so stock up if you’ve the means. Hunting Panthers or Mesmenir in the Golmore Jungle or Ozmone Plain, respectively, are still the best ways to make money at this point in time.

If you’re enjoying having Larsa along for the ride, now is your last chance to bring him with you on any clan hunts or other sidequests.

When you’re ready, head up the mountainside into the temple, and approach the temple’s high priest. After the ensuing series of cutscenes, Larsa will leave your party, taking the Manufacted Nethicite with him. Return to the Paramina Rift and go south until you hit the Frozen Brook. Leave that area via the southwestern exit, then continue traveling south until you reach the Stilshrine of Miriam.

StilShrine oF MiriaMTake out the local population of

Redmaws, then go to the Pedestal of the Dawn, near the front of the Ward of Measure. Have your party’s leader equip the Dawn Shard, then opt to touch the device. You’ll be teleported to the Ward of Velitation. A disproportionate number of monsters in the Stilshrine are vulnerable to Aero and similar effects, so keep that in mind. This is particularly valuable against the various kinds of Miriam Guardians.

Use Blizzara from a distance to take out the Dragon Aevises, then move forward. Circle around the balcony to find another Pedestal of the Dawn. Use it as you did the last one to reveal a secret passage, back the way you came in the Ward of Velitation. It’ll take you to a strange-looking Save Crystal. It is, in fact, a spellcasting Crystalbug; use blunt weapons like a War Hammer and smash it to bits. It’ll blast you with Watera and Aeroga, so use Reflect or Shell to prevent or minimize the damage. Defeating the Crystalbug will “unlock” a normal Save Crystal.

Continue down into the tomb. You’ll run into a few Gigases and

uSE BLIzzARA FROM A DISTANCE TO TAKE OuT THE DRAgON AEVISES, THEN CIRCLE AROuND THE BALCONy TO FIND A PEDESTAL OF THE DAWN

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a Darkmare, the latter of which almost qualifies as a midboss; simply surround it and heal frequently as you cut it to ribbons. It often drops a suit of Demon Mail upon its defeat. Examine the large Sword of Judgement past it to open the Ancient Door across the chamber. That’ll reveal a Way Stone that’ll take you to the Ward of Measure. The Ancient Doors on either side of the room are now unlocked.

Going south, then west from here will take you to the Walk of Prescience. Against the west wall of the room, equip the Dawn Shard again and rotate the statue so it’s facing east, towards the Sword of Judgement, then go south to the Walk of Reason. Rotate its statue so it’s facing north.

Finally, go south, then east from the Walk of Measure to find the Ward of Steel. Here, you’ll encounter Vinuskar, a boss that’s surrounded by a powerful magnetic field. Any character who’s wearing more than one piece of Heavy Armor will be slowed down to the point of near-immobility while fighting Venuskar. Thus… don’t use Heavy Armor. Simple. Once that’s dealt with, you’ve got a low-Defense, high-Attack boss who can safely be cut to ribbons by any light-armored warriors you have handy.

Once the Vinuskar’s been defeated, go past it to find another statue, and turn it so it’s facing west. This will fix all three statues in place, and cause the Sword of Judgement to rise from where it was blocking the path earlier. This will clear the path for you to face the most annoying boss in the game yet: Mateus.

Mateus herself will open the bout by casting Reflect, and will then summon a quintet of Ice Azers. These floating motes are both vulnerable and immune to wind, weirdly enough; they’ll also throw out Blizzard and Sleep spells by the bushel basket, making it difficult if not impossible to attack them or Mateus. About your only hope is to bring in three characters with Quickenings and use a long chain of Mist Attacks to weaken or destroy all the Ice Azers at once. If they’re still intact after that, destroy them before moving on to Mateus. Knots of Rust work very well on them.

Mateus herself isn’t a big deal, unless she uses Blizzaja. This’ll inflict heavy damage and Sap on the entire party at once, which, as one might expect, is no fun. You’ll need to use Esuna to remove Sap after Blizzaja goes off, so it’s a good idea if all your active characters know and can use the spell. You can help mitigate the massive amount of MP you’re burning by teaching all the active characters Martyr and Inquisitor via the License Grid.

Defeating Mateus will let you acquire her as an Esper (Shiva must’ve had a previous engagement). you’ll also be able to continue south and get the Sword of Kings. When you get back outside, however, you’ll discover that you’ve got a new problem.

Mt. bur-oMiSaCeYou can teleport straight to the

refugee encampment at the base of the mountain using the Teleport Crystal at the Stilshrine of Miriam.

Pause to sell off your loot and upgrade your armor, then head up through the former refugee camp to the temple proper. Cast a few buffs before you enter.

you’ll wind up fighting judge Bergan, with three more Judges appearing from behind you as the battle begins. All the judges are immune to Fire, and will use area-effect spells like Water to whittle you down. Your best bet is to bring in a powerful caster and level them as fast as you can with Aero or Thundara, so you can concentrate on Bergan.

Bergan is tough. He’ll frequently attack multiple times in one turn with his twin swords, doing 500-600 points of damage a hit, and he has a high counter rate. You’ll want to set up Gambits to throw out Cura or Curaga the moment anyone hits 50% HP or lower, and settle in for a long, bloody brawl.

Afterward, speak to one of the Acolytes outside the temple for the Stone of the Condemner, then return to Rabanastre via a Teleport Crystal. The shops have gotten in new shipments of decent items, so report in at Clan HQ, upgrade your equipment, and head back out. Your next stop’s at the other end of the Eastersand. go east to the Nalbina Fortress to find some better shops than what you may be used to, then head north.

MoSphoran hiGhWaSteFight your way north until you hit

the Babbling Vale, where a merchant awaits. Upgrade equipment if you can, then keep heading northwest. The path is infested with Vultures, which are Flying enemies with some serious attack power. It’s a good idea to invest in a powerful bow or crossbow for your fighters, just in case.

the SalikaWoodContinue north, just as before.

When you reach Trunkwall Road, investigate the southern path to find the Urn containing the Salikawood Map.

When you reach the Salikawood’s Teleport Crystal, you’ll also find a Moogle Overseer complaining about his lazy crew. At this point, do not go west; you’ll run into an optional boss, the Bomb King, which is extraordinarily tough to beat. (You can probably come close to winning at your current level if you play your cards right and equip anti-Oil accessories, but the Bomb

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King uses Renew on itself whenever it hits 20% of its HP. you need to either be able to pull off a long Quickening before that point or be powerful enough to kill the King in just a few hits.)

Defeating the Bomb King will allow you to reach the northwestern Salikawood, and eventually, the dead city of Nabudis. These are optional areas, populated by monsters that are far too tough for you at this point in time. You’re better off skipping it for now. Instead, go all the way east, to the Living Chasm, and talk to the Moogle Boss. He’ll mark his nine lazy apprentices on your map. Go speak to them to get them to fix the gate. After they’ve done their job, talk to the Moogle Boss to get a pair of Quasimodo Boots.

phon CoaStUnless you’re dramatically

overleveled, this is going to be tricky for you. Pyrolisks are the big threat, as they’re flying enemies that can do a tremendous amount of damage in a short period of time. Use this opportunity to level-build, but first, fight your way southeast until you hit the Hunters’ Camp. Once you’re there, sell off your loot, buy some of the outlandishly expensive armor the hunters’ merchant is offering, and use this as a base from which to build some levels. Once you’re in a position to survive the rest of the trip, head northeast.

tChita uplandSFortunately, the Uplands don’t have

Pyrolisks in them, so it’s somewhat easier going once you reach this area. Talk to the kid standing near the Teleport Crystal to get the Soul Ward Key. Go east as far as you can, then go north and look for the tiny tunnel entrance in the side of the cliff.

SoChen CaVe palaCego north, fending off zombie

Knights and Imps, until you reach the Gate of the Soul Ward. Use the Soul Ward Key to open it and let yourself into the Palace proper. You’ll run straight into a battle with the Mandragora Prince, Pumpkin Star, Topstalk, Onion Queen, and Alraune King. This fight is set up to make you regret having Gambits, as with them, your characters tend to run off like idiots in all directions, then get whacked with three statuses and

die while they’re out of your healers’ range.

Turn gambits off and stay in a corner of the room, casting buffs and generally waiting for the bosses to get impatient. Once that happens, keep one party member ready with a missile weapon, another on Esuna duty, and a third to melee the hell out of whoever comes near you. The Pumpkin Star and Mandragora Prince will probably go down first; after them, target the Topstalk, an annoyingly quick brawler with a penchant for inflicting Sap status. Sic your missile-wielding fighter on him. Finally, dismantle the Onion Queen, who likes to throw buff spells and hit everyone around her with Pollen (inflicting Sleep, Silence, and Slow), before isolating and destroying the Alraune King.

Once you’ve defeated the Mandragoras, if you teleport back to the Tchita uplands Teleport Crystal and talk to the boy, he’ll give you 1000 gil and three Remedies. Unfortunately, after you defeat the Mandragoras, the next Crystal you see is a Crystalbug, much like the one you fought in the Stilshrine of Miriam. Dispatch it to reveal a Save Crystal.

From this point onward, simply forge north through the dungeon. The Wendigos and Strikers drop Maggoty Flesh, which is a surprisingly valuable bit of loot, and they’re worth decent EXP on top of that so make a few trips. At the end of Destiny’s March, through the northern door, you’ll encounter another boss: Ahriman. Nothing ever comes easy, does it?

Fortunately, Ahriman’s nowhere

near as difficult to defeat as the Mandragora quintet were. He’s content to mix it up in melee with you, casting spells like Toxify, Thundara, and Doom, and attempting to cause Confuse status with his Phantasmal Gaze. Once you get him down past half his HP, he’ll add Immobilizega to his repetoire, and as he approaches death, Ahriman will occasionally strike out with a very high-powered blast called Maser Eye.

Ahriman will also sometimes teleport a fair distance away and summon at least one duplicate of himself, and does this more frequently as his HP dwindle. Should that happen, send one fighter after each duplicate, or attack multiple copies with spells or a chain of Quickenings. Hitting the real Ahriman will dispel the illusionary version(s).

Past Ahriman, you’ll have to battle through a short passage full of Imps and Strikers before you can reach the Chamber of the Chosen. Activate the lift to take you up to the Skybent Chamber. Open the stone door at its north end to finally reach the capital.

old arChadeSThe merchant by the Sochen Cave

Palace entrance has a couple of interesting accessories. Offload your goods, then go east in the Alley of Low Whispers to talk to the ex-broker. Afterward, speak to everyone you meet, just in case.

Head west to reach the stairs to the city proper. Talk to the guards, and you’ll find out you need credentials to get in. Afterward, you’ll meet jules the

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Streetear. Pay him 1,500 gil and return to the Alley. Fresh Ardent is sitting on the stairs near the middle of the area. Speak with him, then return to Jules.

iMperial CitY oF arChadeS

Continue down the street, and Balthier will leave the party. Work your way west, outside the weapon and armor shop, and try to ride the cab. Jules will appear again. Pay him 2500 gil to learn about this whole chop thing Archades has going on.

You’ll need to ferry information back and forth around the city to get the nine chops you need to ride the cab uptown. You can memorize one story at a time. If you then tell it to the other person in the neighborhood who might be interested in that story, they’ll reward you with a Pinewood Chop.

Getting nine Pinewood Chops will allow you to ride the cab; getting twenty-eight of them, which will require you to match all the stories in Archades with the appropriate parties, will allow you to trade your chops in for a Sandalwood Chop at any shop in Archades. This will allow you access to Central Archades, which is presently off limits.

To get all the Pinewood Chops in Archades, consult the following list. Note that the titles for bystanders given here are the titles they will get after you talk to them; many of these individuals, before you speak to them, will be labeled as Archadean gentry or Archadean Ardents. Further note that no story is of interest to anyone outside the district where you’ll find the storyteller.

leGend:District: Storyteller (Story)Person Interested In That Story

Nilbasse: Gentleman Onlooker (Working Up A Sweat)Eager Crier

Nilbasse: Senior Researcher (Words of Encouragement) Failed Researcher

Nilbasse: Worried Husband (Wages Halved)Materialistic Woman

Nilbasse: Athletic Woman (A Grand Line of Gamesmen) -> Avid Reader

Nilbasse: Aspiring Starlet (The Path to Stardom) -> Faded Star

Nilbasse: Determined Researcher (Time to Leave) -> Ex-Researcher

Rienna: Philosopher of Cuisine (A Revolutionary Dish) -> Dangerous Chef

Rienna: Good Brother (What She Wants) -> Waiting Woman

Rienna: Tarot Reader (The Misfortune Teller) -> Happy Novelist

Rienna: Lucky Man (An Epistle to Love) -> Romantic Lady

Rienna: Lazy Profiteer (A Gambit For The Market) -> Researcher’s Wife

Rienna: Greenseller (Out of Ears) -> Vegetable Seller

Rienna: Tour Leader (The Aerial Gardens) -> Bhujerban Lady

Trant: Historian (A History of Empire) -> Perceptive Man

Trant: Music Appreciator (The Lutenist) -> Lutenist

Trant: Farce-Goer (A Ticket to the Farce) -> girl on an Errand

Trant: Builder (The Artisan Architect) -> Artistan Architect

Trant: Smitten Man (The Client’s Daughter) -> Smitten Woman

Trant: Boutiquere (The Boutique) -> Moneyed Gentleman

Molberry: Proud Mother (The Tutor) -> Tutor

Molberry: Ardent Woman (The Eight & Twenty Chops) -> Ardent Man

Molberry: Daughter-in-Law (A Trinket From Giza) -> Man from Giza

Molberry: Talented Woman (A Knack for Magick) -> Akademician

Molberry: Would-be Judge (To Be A Judge) -> Judge’s Wife

Molberry: Reminiscing Lady (The Mummer) -> Family-Minded Girl

Molberry: Poor Husband (The Anniversary) -> Poor Wife

Molberry: Avid Traveler (The Traveler) -> Traveling gentleman

Molberry: Look-Alike, West (The Master of Disguises) -> Look-Alike, East

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The final chop requires a bit of explanation. There are two Look-Alikes in Molberry, one of whom is usually standing further to the west than the other. The western Look-Alike is the one that’ll tell you a story.

Once you have at least nine Pinewood Chops, take the cab to the Tsenoble district. you’ll catch up with Balthier. Go north to see a cutscene, then go back south for another one. Go talk to the Cab Guide, and tell him “you know where to go.”

draklor laboratorYSomeone has politely cleared

house for you. Take the North Lift Terminal to the 67th floor and open the door at the end of the northeastern corridor. Inside the C.D.B. you’ll find a deeply thickening plot, as well as a Lab Access Card and a map of the Laboratory.

When you get outside, you’ll find several bulkheads are newly open, and that your new card allows you to open several previously locked doors. go to Rm 6703 East and open the blue bulkheads using the control console. This’ll trigger the arrival of soldiers like Swordsmen and Hoplites, which’ll be

around level 36. Be careful.Along the way, you can enter the

small rooms off the halls, where you’ll sometimes find treasure chests. More frequently, though, you’ll find enemies, such as large swarms of Lab Rats or a single Judge.

Take the lift up to the 68th floor. use the console in Rm 6803 East to open the red bulkheads, then work your way around to the west side of the building. In Rm 6804 West, there’s an identical console that’ll allow you to open the blue bulkheads. Use it, then go a bit further south. Use the console in Rm 6811 West to open the red bulkheads again and continue making progress, and you’ll reach the South Lift Terminal. Take it up to the 70th floor.

Go straight forward up the stairs to deal with Dr. Cid. He’s wielding a gun, which is a slight problem; it can do some serious damage. Like all guns, it ignores Defense and has a high critical rate. His big threat, however, is the quartet of Rooks orbiting him. They can cast buff spells, do some small damage, steal MP with Osmose, and heal Cid. More importantly, while they’re in circulation, they’ll renew a Paling on Cid to prevent you from

inflicting any damage whatsoever on the good doctor.

Each Rook must be destroyed before you can take Cid himself out, and problematically, they’ll usually have Reflect up, which will prevent you from simply walking in and cleaning house with high-powered Black Magic. That said, you can sometimes find an Opal Ring for sale in the Bazaar. If you equip that on Penelo or Fran, they can come in here and blast the Rooks with Thundara or Aeroga, which will speed the fight up considerably. The best idea is to start the battle with a powerful chain of Quickenings, then destroy the Rooks with characters who don’t rely on attack magic to do their damage, such as Basch.

Once the Rooks are out of the picture, Cid isn’t a big problem. Most of the time, he’ll just shoot you. He’ll also occasionally cut loose with Tokamak, a huge cannon blast that can hit each party member for 1000 points of damage or more regardless of their position on the battlefield. If he starts walking determinedly towards the door, he’s going to use the cannon, so heal accordingly. Cid will get the hell out when he’s at about 25% HP.

the port at balFonheiM

The armaments/protectives shop here is top-notch, and the magic shop in the marketplace finally, belatedly, has the –aga family of spells for sale. Be sure to upgrade your equipment before you set out. Dyce is standing by the Teleport Crystal, and he’s got Teleport Stones for sale, which is a rare opportunity.

You can get to where you need to go by heading west out of Balfonheim, across the Cerobi Steppe, which connects to the Tchita uplands. The problem with that is that the Cerobi Steppe is populated by some of the most dangerous monsters so far, such as Bandercouerls and immensely powerful Shield Wyrms. It’s a great place to get a level or two, but you’re

EACH ROOK MuST BE DESTROyED BEFORE yOu CAN ATTACK CID DIRECTLy, SO TAKE THEM OuT WITH A POWERFuL CHAIN OF QuICKENINgS

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that; it can Call for Help to summon other monsters such as Malboros, or inflict various statuses like Sleep and Slow, but a powerful party of melee combatants – Vaan, Basch, and Ashe, for example – should have it halfway dead before it knows what’s going on. Bring plenty of items.

In the area past the Rafflesia, White Magick’s Embrace, check the southeast corner of the map for an Urn containing a Feywood Candle, which will reveal hidden areas of the map.

In the next area, the Ice Field of Clearsight, go into the first gazebo and examine the etchings on the floor. Rotate the camera using the right thumbstick, and you’ll see that one of the views through the archways isn’t of the ice field outside. go through that archway and head straight until you reach the next gazebo, then repeat the process. You’ll eventually be able to get to the Edge of Reason. Repeat the process of moving from gazebo to gazebo through illusions; here, the first gazebo with an etching on the floor is the one in the middle of the area. This will eventually take you to a large, locked gate. To open it, summon Belias the Esper, then opt to touch the gate. Belias will open the door for you, unsealing Giruvegan.

the anCient CitY oF GiruVeGan

Move west, into the city, and use the Way Stone. Go a bit further west, and you’ll fight Daedalus, a really powerful physical brawler. Dispel his Haste spell, then use two melee-types to keep him occupied while

your spellcaster stays well out of the fray. He doesn’t heal, thankfully, but he dishes out damage like nobody’s business. Keep using Curaja or high-powered Cura spells to restore HP, or you run the risk of getting into one of those annoying vicious Phoenix Down cycles where you’re too busy resurrecting to fight the guy. The closer he gets to death, the higher his Defense gets, so use Black spells like Bio to finish him off.

With Daedalus dismantled, you can use the new Way Stone to teleport deeper into the city. On the Trimahla Water-Steps, use Blizzaga spells to defend yourself from the Behemoths, and work your way down into the labyrinth. Hit the gate Stone near your starting point, then go down to the southeast, at the end of the tunnel. you’ll find two Mythril golems on either side of another gate Stone. They’re powerful spellcasters, so prepare accordingly. If you protect your party with something like Reflectga, the Golems will happily participate in their own destruction. Use the Gate Stone to drop the force field you passed on the way down here. At the end of the ensuing path, you’ll encounter two more Mythril Golems. Defeat them to cause a bridge to appear, then cross it.

You’ll soon encounter another pair of Mythril Golems. Defeat them, then use their Gate Stone. Continue onward, do this a second time, and then climb the ramp next to the force field. you may need to lure out the Drakon Entite that patrols up here so you can pull it away to a quieter place; you can probably take it if you’re at or around level 40,

more likely to get your face caved in.If you’re an impatient sort, you can

get to the Feywood much faster by simply teleporting to Eruyt Village, then heading south through the golmore jungle. There’s also an entrance to the Feywood in the Paramina Rift.

the FeYWoodPut your best mage and best

fighters in the party; this is going to get bloody. go southeast, fighting Deadly Nightshades and Golems along the way, until you find the exit. you’ll find the Urn containing the Feywood’s map in a dead end on the northeastern side of the Walk of Stolen Truths.

On the Walk of Dancing Shadows, trade out your mage for another fighter, or equip an Opal Ring. The local Mirrorknights will either be Reflective the moment you see them, or will cast the spell the first chance they get. When you’re done exploring the area, go west through the Walk of Dancing Shadows. You’ll reach a heretofore unreachable area of the Henne Mines.

henne MineSUnfortunately, this shaft is inhabited

by powerful Abysteel bats, which are rocking out at level 65. You may need to make a run back to civilization for better equipment, or at least to level-grind in the Feywood for a while. There’s nothing you can do here at the moment, though, so you may as well head back to the Feywood.

the FeYWoodgo to Antiquity’s End, the small

southeastern area where the Save Crystal is located, and try to go south. You’ll see a cutscene, and the curtain of mist will part.

Unfortunately, it’s only to give way to a boss. The Rafflesia opens by setting a field in place that slowly drains your MP, making it difficult to use Mist Knacks or Summons. Fortunately, it has precious little game beyond

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but it’ll be a long, tough battle. It’s worth it, though, as you’ll clean up on EXP.

When you hit the last Gate Stone in the Aadha Water-Steps, go back to the northwestern path, as per your map, to find two last Mythril golems at its end. Defeat them both to make another bridge appear. If only one shows up, try leaving this Waterway and returning here. It’s a fairly common glitch, apparently.

Cross the bridge, open the Bulwark, save your game, and enter the Gate of Fire. Here, you’ll need to find the hidden bridge to the northeast, where there’s no railing. Cross it, and you’ll get to deal with the powerful Tyrant. Its first action will be to neutralize the use of all Technicks during this battle; it also starts the fight buffed to the gills, and knows a spell called Piercing graviga. This spell can punch straight through Reflect, and will hit all characters for 75% of their current HP.

Hit the Tyrant with Dispel, use your own buffs like Protect to help compensate for the amazing amount of hand-to-hand damage the Tyrant can inflict, and press your assault with ice spells. Blizzaga does a lot of

damage to the Tyrant, which is a big help. Defeating the Tyrant opens up another Way Stone.

the Great CrYStalyour map is AWOL here. you cannot

open the gate Scorpio on your first visit to this area, so leave this platform via the created bridge that slopes downward.

In the Kabonii Jilaam Pratii’vaa, defeat the two Oses, then take a left at the trap. You’ll create another bridge, this one leading to the Kabonii Jilaam Avaa. Destroy two more Oses, then create yet a third bridge. You’ll be taken to a Way Stone.

In A Vikaari Kabonii, there are three paths you can take. The middle leads to treasure; the left leads to a gate Stone that’ll unlock the gate Cancer; the right leads to the Gate Cancer. Open and go through the Gate Cancer to find a Way Stone.

It will teleport you in front of the Gate Pisces, which, like the Gate Scorpio, you don’t have to deal with right now. (You can open it if you want, but it’ll just take you down a very long, linear path and send you right back to the gate Scorpio.) go up the path

across from the gate Pisces to find the Aries gate Stone, then return to the Gate Pisces’s platform and use the only other exit there. You’ll go by the Pisces Gate Stone en route to another Way Stone, which will take you to a much-needed Save Crystal.

Save the game and use the nearby Way Stone. You’ll be teleported into the presence of Shemhazai, a powerful spellcaster. Equip Rose Corsages on your healers, then do your best to keep your HP high as Shemhazai levels you with her way-too-fast normal attack. She also knows Silencega, which can be a problem, and Flare, which will be a problem. Shemhazai is resistant or outright immune to most magical attacks, and absorbs Wind, so don’t bother with offensive casters (or a melee combatant who’s wielding a zephyr Pole). As she gets down to her last few HP, her Defense will go through the roof, and she’ll start inflicting Disease status any chance she gets. At this point, use a Quickening or a few Knots of Rust to take her out.

Defeating Shemhazai will unlock her as an Esper. use the Empyrean Way Stone she was guarding. When it’s all over, you’ll have the Treaty-Blade, and you’ll be standing in front of the Tellurian Way-Stone. use it to teleport back to Giruvegan.

the port at balFonheiM

Report back to Reddas, but shop first. you’ve probably got a lot of valuable loot, and all the shops have gotten fresh goods in. After you speak to Reddas, he’ll join the party as a guest. You can also now access Balthier’s ship, the Strahd, from any Aerodrome. Speak to the lady at the counter for Private Airships.

With travel throughout Ivalice easier than ever before, now is a good time to go on hunts, pursue side-quests, and build up levels for a run on your next goal. It’s a long dungeon, so you should be as prepared as possible.

SHEMHAzAI KNOWS SILENCEgA AND FLARE, ALONg WITH HER WAy-TOO-FAST NORMAL ATTACK. uSE ROSE CORSAgES ON yOuR HEALERS AND PRAy

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the ridorana CataraCt

Follow the path east, then go north until you hit the Save Crystal. Keep Libra going throughout this area, as there are a ridiculous number of traps here. After the Save Crystal, it’s just a matter of going east.

the pharoS oF ridorana

you’ll run right into Hydro, a boss, as you enter this area. He’s another boss who’s way too fond of inflicting Disease, which, as Shemhazai taught us, is not cured by Esuna or Esunaga. Bring a load of Vaccines or souped-up Remedies to cope with this, and equip Tourmaline Rings on your active characters.

Hydro is, unlike a lot of bosses, undead. As such, you can damage him with healing magic, and heal him with Dark. If you’re not doing enough damage with your usual attack routines, have a character with the Potion Lore Licenses drop back and start throwing X-Potions down Hydro’s neck.

With Hydro defeated, go east for a cutscene, then enter the Pharos. In the first Ascent, you’ll need to use Black Jewels on the three altars in the center area. The local enemies may drop these jewels after you defeat them, so run around kicking ass until you have the jewels you need.

Activate all three altars to open the eastern door. Save the game, then go through the door. After a short jog, you’ll hit the next boss: Pandemonium. He likes to inflict Blind and Petrify statuses, which necessitates an appropriate response. There’s little else to remark upon about Pandemonium, except that when he hits 50% of his HP, he’ll suddenly become immune to all damage for a short period of time. You more or less just have to wait for this to wear off.

Defeating Pandemonium will activate the dead Way Stone in the front hall of the Pharos. Return there and use it to reach a new area. Defeating the Kojas will create bridges for you to cross. When you reach the next area, you’ll need to start being careful. The Kojas will still raise parts of the bridges for you, but the Didras – enemies with a red flame flickering atop their heads -- will actually cause part of the bridge to collapse. Be ready to run if it looks like one of your

fighters – by which we mean Reddas, of course – is about to kill a Didras.

Continue to kill Kojas and cross bridges until you reach the next Save Crystal. Go downstairs from it and use the Way Stone to reach the next boss. Sharit is a powerful physical attacker. Fortunately, however, you can inflict both Slow and Oil status on him, which sets him up nicely for a barrage of Firaga spells. A few doses of that should sort him out in no time. He’s guarding yet another Way Stone, which’ll take you to the next Ascent.

Use one of the altars here to open one of the doors. However, the altar you use will seal one of your abilities: Attack, Magic, Items, or the map. If you have your head on straight, it’s easiest to seal the map. Otherwise, opt to seal Magic, tag out your spellcasters, and just rely on items to do your healing for the next little while.

Once you’ve opened the door, head upstairs. you’ll find a Save Crystal as you go, just before you find another Way Stone. It’ll teleport you into a battle with Fenrir, a powerful attacker with no real vulnerabilities. Use Protect and Bubble to up your survival rate, then get in there and beat him down. There’s not much to this fight, but it does tend to get bloody.

Post-Fenrir, activate the altar you chose upon entering this Ascent. This’ll unseal that command and call an elevator down. Take the elevator up to find a Save Crystal and a Way Stone, which’ll take you to the final Ascent. In the third Ascent, you can use the crests to teleport around the area. If you use the wrong crest

twice, though, you’ll be teleported into an area with a number of powerful monsters and the Urn containing a map of the third Ascent.

Choose the black crest first, then move forward until you hit the dead end. Examine the wall to destroy it, then use the green crest. Afterward, examine the walls again and use the red crest. Once you’ve reached the eighty-fourth floor, pick the crest that corresponds to whatever altar you picked back at the beginning of the second Ascent. This’ll bring you to another area full of suspiciously fragile walls, behind which you’ll find the Way Stone you need.

Continue onward until you find the elevator, then take it up. You’ll wind up fighting Hashmarim, an Earth-centric boss who likes to hit you with a number of completely unimportant spells. These are unimportant, you see, because any character with Float cast upon him or her can pretty much ignore Hashmarim’s entire offensive routine. use such mojo to avoid Hashmarim’s attacks, then wait out his barrier spell and finish him off.

Hashmarim will become your newest Esper at this point. Continue onward and use the Save Crystal; this is important, because you’re about to run a gauntlet of powerful bosses. Afterwards, use the Way Stone to reach the top of the Pharos… and after the ensuing cutscenes, you’ll face Gabras.

The temptation here is going to be to nuke him into next Tuesday, but as you’ve got a series of other battles coming up, play it safe. Use Basch and Vaan to pummel him into submission, and only use spells or items if they get into trouble. When Gabras drops – and

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he’s not that great a fighter – you’ll wind up in a rematch with Dr. Cid.

He’s suspiciously wimpy, even compared to your previous encounter with him. He still has access to that oversized cannon he used back in the Draklor Laboratory, but Cid shouldn’t give you too much trouble… until you get him down to half health or worse. When you do that, he’ll summon Famfrit, and things will get dramatically more dire.

Cid will spend most of the ensuing fracas casting protective spells on Famfrit. You can use Dispel to get rid of them, making your job easier and forcing Cid to renew them; this, in turn, means he’s not shooting you. Cid is invincible while Famfrit – a powerful physical attacker who can inflict damage and Silence on the entire party at once – is in play, so equip Rose Corsages and take Famfrit down with extreme prejudice. Once his summon drops, Cid is once again vulnerable. Drop him.

the port oF balFonheiM

This is your last chance to conduct business before starting the endgame. you can now opt to fly to the Bahamut with the Strahd, and doing so will put

you on a collision course with the endgame. Worse news: there are no Save or Teleport Crystals in the Bahamut. (Someone noticed how much trouble they were causing, I guess.) When you’re as ready as you’re going to be, take to the air.

the SkY FortreSS bahaMut

Go north and upstairs for some (more) cutscenes, then go southwest and take the elevator. Gabras is here to greet you, and he’s turned his game up a notch. Sadly, he didn’t think to buy a Goggle Mask or anything, so you can neutralize him with a Blind spell. When Gabras hits 50% health, he’ll heal himself, but that just means you get to beat him down all over again.

Once he’s been dealt with, take the elevator again to go toe-to-toe with Vayne himself. Larsa will join the party as a guest to help you take his brother out, but you almost don’t need the help; Vayne isn’t much to speak of.

As per series tradition, however, Vayne will use Cid’s stones to power himself up once he’s been defeated, becoming Vayne Nous. use a flurry of high-powered area-effect spells to

take out his backup, then pound on Vayne with whatever comes to hand. You’ll have Gabras on your side for this battle, which helps somewhat; you can also use Slow on Vayne to expedite the process. Vayne can do a lot of damage in a hurry, so keep Curaja spells flowing throughout the battle.

When he’s defeated for a second time, Vayne will run away. Take a moment to restore your HP and MP, then chase him down for the final battle of the game: you vs. the Immortal One, the final mutated form of Vayne Solidor.

He doesn’t have a health bar, which means you won’t have any real idea how much longer the fight will persist. He’ll use one of those annoying invincibility effects when he takes about 25% of his total HP, however, which can help. Dispel his Haste effect, keep your HP high, and feel free to expend everything you’ve got. This is the final battle, so there’s no reason whatsoever to hold back.

When the Immortal One has been defeated, you’ve won Final Fantasy XII!

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FFXII Strategy Guide