Walkthrough FAQ

Version 1.1: 09-11-01
- Update some incorrect answers and add a few more Q & A (about 10 to 15 more) commonly seen on message boards

Version 1.0: 07-22-00
- First release with the patch

This section contains real spoilers of the game. Read it only when you really get stuck, or if you don't mind to know about the details of the game play. If you only need basic game instructions or need a little help on gameplay (like how to learn tech, level up etc.), you can as well look at my other FAQs to suit your need.

You can also find other detailed walkthroughs from the links in the section of Credits. I haven't covered everything they have covered, but all the essential info that I think people need are covered in details. It is still under construction, when new info is revealed as people play the game.

A. General Quests

B. Miscellaneous

C. Quests specific to each main character

D. Tips and Tricks

E. Credits

A. General quests

  1. I really have no idea what I should do after getting into the free scenario section of the game.

    Things in general that you should always do whenever possible:


Here are some suggestions as for what quests you should do in certain levels of your character. You don't need to follow these exactly. Some of them would be easier to do if you have higher HP and have learnt more skills, and some of them may not need as many skills as I suggest depending on how you play the game. There are many places in which monsters power up as your HP goes higher, so it is hard to say whether a certain area is easier to solve at low HP. Of course, if you keep doing the four things listed above, you will be more powerful as your HP goes up.

The quests listed here are basically available for all main characters. Special quests that are only available to certain characters are covered in the next section.

Here I assume you have around 150+HP after the Prologue. The location name in the brackets indicates the location where you can begin that quest.

150 - 250 HP:
- Transport goods from Lance to Yamas/Farce (Lance)
- Find Gon in Devil King palace (Pidona)
- Get Robin. (Yamas)
- Catch most pets in West Forest (West Forest)

250 - 350 HP:
- Defeat Rats in the Offering cave (Kidlanto, Offering cave)
- The quest in dream (Pidona)
- Catch all pets in West Forest.
- Defeat monsters in Ice Lake (Justerm)
- Clear the Cave of Thieves (Stanley)
- Treasure caves near Great Arc (not the one with the dolphin statue)

350 - 500 HP:
- May try the tournament (Zweig)
- May try to challenge Arakes (Devil Palace)
- Get through the jungle to the Fire Palace (Enter from Ake)
- Get through the desert to the Mung tribe/Divine Tower (Naj desert)
- Get dolphin statue with Herman (Great Arc)

500 - 700 HP:
- Destroy dragon machine (West Forest)
- Win tournament (Zweig)
- Get Ice Sword in Ice Galaxy (Snow Town)
- The Holy King's puzzle (Lance)
- Challenge the Devil Lords and close the gates
- Solve the case in North/South Moses
- Go through the ruins in Rotten Sea and the Crystal ruins
- Defeat Maximus (Pidona, Divine Tower)
- Quests in the East

700+ HP:
- Basically anything you still haven't done (e.g. Leonid Castle, Kamsheen in King's capital, Clear the Ancient Ruins, or anything listed above)
- Abyss and the final battle

The questions below will be roughly arranged in this order of difficulties, with quests specific to certain main characters listed in another section.

  1. How can I get ____ to join?

    See DShort's FAQ for details about this. Some trickier ones can be found below. Note that you can have at most 6 people (including the main character) in the party. Characters simply won't offer to join if your party is already full, and most of the time they won't tell you why.

 

Zweig, Kidlanto, West Forest and Professor

  1. Should I sell the pets I caught in West Forest to the man in the pub in Zweig? Or should I return it to the Professor?

    Returning the last pet to the Professor will enable her to tell you something about the genius rat. This hints you to ask her for help when you later encounter problems in the Offering cave. Since you can learn about this in this walkthrough, you can sell the pets for money (note: most of the time you may have a “too cheap” option to ask the man to raise price 3 times. This will raise the original price 1.875 times) without hindering your quests with the Professors (like Rat’s Cave and the Battle Car quests).

    However, in this game there is something called the “Greed Counter.”  It is a hidden counter counting how greedy you are.  Whenever you sell a pet, the counter increments 1.  Each time you haggle for a higher price, the counter will increment as well.  As a result, if you keep on selling pets or haggling, your counter can reach 15 very fast, which is the maximum.  This has a couple of effects.  At some instances, you will automatically ask for money (e.g. when talking to Wood or the mayor in Vanguard; normally you are given choices to choose whether you want to ask them for money to do the job).  On the other hand, Wood will refuse to let you do the Ice Lake’s quest when your counter reaches maximum.  This means that you have no way to go to Aurora and reach the Snow Town and Ice Galaxy.  I think this is something bad.  So I’d suggest that you open up Snow Town before you get too greedy.  An interesting note is that if your greed counter is 0, you won’t even get the “too cheap” option.  But since most characters start out non-zero, you will probably see this option most of the time.

  2. How do I defeat the rats in the Offering cave?

    There are two ways:
  3. I have fought the rats, run, and gone back to the entrance. However, Nina does not appear, and I can't get out!

    The important step that many people miss is that one has to examine the cave door before fighting the rats. One should check the cave door at least 2 times until the dialogue remains the same. Now, one can go fight the rats. If you run and return to the cave door, Nina will appear and open the door for you.

    If you forget to do so, you can always examine the door and then fight the rats again. It's annoying to go back and forth the dungeon, but you don't have to restart the game.
  4. I got the Rat poison from the professor and went to talk to the Mayor. However, he didn't mention anything about Nina. Nina is still inside her house, and the rats are gone!

    I don't know if this is a bug or not, but this is caused by one of the two things (I'm not too sure which): you meet Paul before in the Thieves' Cave; or you have closed 1 Abyss Gate and Paul is already in Nina's house. In this case, if you attempt the to fight the rats, Nina will release you and the rats will automatically disappear. This is a bad thing because in this case you can't trigger a flag to begin the Battle Car's quest. If you want to fight the Battle Car that the Professor made, you have to defeat the rats by brute force (see question 4). Even if you do this, Paul and Nina won't appear in the endings. I would recommend that you do the Rat quest early.
  5. Nina mentions a guy named Paul. Can I find him anywhere?

    Paul will appear in Nina's house after you close the first Abyss Gate. Some characters can briefly meet him when doing the quest in the Cave of Thieves. I haven't played all 8 different main characters, but the quest in the Thieves' Cave can be different for each character. Try it out.
  6. When I enter Zweig, a car rushes by and knocks the party down. What should I do?

    You will get this scenario after defeating the rats. Go to the Professor's mansion in West Forest. She will disappear (if you have talked to her before). Now you can enter her secret room. She is downstairs and will eventually ask you to defeat the car. Go into the rightmost door to begin the battle.
  7. I keep being defeated by that Dragon machine (battle car)!

    Don't underestimate it. It is probably difficult because you only have a party of 3 with no formation, and you cannot revive dead character. It also has up to 2 to 3 attacks per round (at the beginning) and some devastating attacks which can take 300+ HP. And if you are poisoned, you can be killed in 2 rounds. I would recommend that you have a party with a minimum of 500HP or more before you challenge this crap. Equip with better armors and items (like potions) will help. Focus your attack at the back of the car, as it is the easiest part to defeat. Last time I won I had some rather strong techs like Double Dragon, Great Wheel and Earth Run, with weapon skills above 24. This will do 3000+ damage per round. And it has 10000+ HP.

Robin in Yamas

  1. Can I get Robin in Yamas?

    Yes, you can get either the thin or the fat one. When you arrive Yamas, go into the house at the north side of the dock (only one of them is unlocked) and see some scenarios. Then go to the house at the SW corner of the main town (the house is next to the entrance to the dock) and see another scenario. Finally, go into the weapon shop at the bottom of the stairs (not the one upstairs) and exit. You will see yet another (and probably final) scenario. Help Robin when time comes. After that, if you have 5 or less party members, you can go back to the house at the dock and Robin will offer to join. This can be a fat or thin one. If you don't like it, exit the house and reenter to possibly get another one.
  2. The monsters are so hard when I try to help Robin.

    The monsters change according to the number of your party members and your HP level. If you only have 4 or less party members and low HP, Robin will join the fight and the monsters would be easy. Otherwise, prepare yourselves with enough good techs and armors before the fight. Sometimes the monsters that appear here may have around 2000 HP and can do some impressive damages.  Some people even claim they see an Asura in this battle (Asura is the strongest non-boss monster in the game).
  3. How can I exit through the door in the top weapon shop?  The shopkeeper keeps saying it’s not the exit.

    So far no one has been successful going through that door.  And I have examined the source code a few times and hacked it once, but I can’t find any codes that allow you to go through that door (i.e. there is no conditional clause in the code).  Maybe it is just a few things left undone by Square.  If anyone finds something, let me know.

Quests related to Muse/Sharl, Pidona

  1. I'm searching for Gon in the Devil Palace. Where is he/How can I reach him?

    You don't need to go too deep down the palace. After going down a couple of long stairs, you will see two doors on both left and right. Take the left door. Go to the top and jump over the gap to the right with the Y button. Gon is at the corner.
  2. I know that there is a quest in dream. How do I get to it?

    You should find Muse in Pidona first. Saving Gon would be your first quest. Then if your HP is more than 250 (roughly), you will gain access to the next quest when you enter Muse's house again. See the sections on the main characters to find out how to get into Muse's house the first time.
  3. Should I go into the dream with Sharl?

    Definitely. Choose your main character as one of the 4 characters who drink the potion. It is a nice place to train your characters to 400+ HP and each character can probably learn some weapon techs and the Hypnosis evade tech here (assuming that your party is not yet this strong). The most important thing is that you can get the Silver Hand in the dream. It is one of the Holy King's equipment.

    If you choose not to go in, you won't get the Silver Hand.
  4. I’m wandering in the dream and seem to be always in the same corridor and rooms.  How can I find Muse and the Dream Devil?

Make sure that you have entered every room and get the Silver Hand and Dream Jewel etc.  In a room on the right side, there are six ladies sitting around the table.  Talk to the lady at the upper right corner, and she will disappear.  Exit the room and you will find a new place.  Note: this may not work the first time.  If it fails, leave the room, fight a few battles, make sure that you have visited all other rooms, enter the room again and talk to the disappearing lady again.  It will eventually work.  Same for the second room.

In the new place there is another room similar.  Talk to the disappearing lady again and you should enter the place where you can find Muse and Dream Devil.

  1. How do I defeat the Dream Devil?

    In either way, you should try to learn the Hypnosis evade tech before you challenge the boss, or let one character wear the Dream Jewel and put that character at the front row in Desert Lance formation.

    Method 1: by brute force when Muse does not participate the battle. In this case, the boss has about 12000 HP which takes a while to defeat, but all your characters should be strong enough after training with those beasts in the dream. And the boss has a pretty low defense.

    Method 2: let Muse fight. After hitting it for about 6000HP, you will see an interesting scenario. Then Muse will finish it with a single blow.
  2. How can I get Sharl and Muse to join?

    After finishing the dream quest, you can ask them to join any time. Remember to make room for them before you ask.
  3. Sharl and Muse are so weak!

    You have to let Sharl equip the Silver Hand. This will greatly raise his strength and dexerity. As for Muse, she is a well-rounded character who can learn basically anything in the same speed. Both Muse and Sharl can learn new techs pretty fast. Sharl is a bit slow in mastering techs, though. Also, Muse needs some time to get trained, and there are always better fighters or magicians if you only want to focus on either skill but not both.
  4. In Commander mode Muse keeps attacking other or simply refuses to attack.

I got this kind of reports but I don't know whether it is a bug or a designed feature. If you are using Commander mode, try to make Muse use magic instead of physical attack.  Some claim that Sharl has the same problem, but I have never seen that either.  Make sure he has the Silver Hand.

  1. I have decided to help Nora.  But the only clues I have are the Red Coral and the earrings.  Where can I get more clues?

    If you go to the pub in Pidona at this point, the barkeeper will tell you that Red Coral only grows in warm sea area.  This points you to Great Arc and Ake for more information.  There should be another person who can tell you that the earring belongs to Jackal the pirate, but I have never found this person (I have seen the dialogue in the rom, but never see it in real game).  Anyway, after you have defeated the Water Guardian, you can ask Herman/Black about the Red Coral, and he will tell you more about Jackal.  See the Great Arc and Vanguard sections for more details.

Justerm and Ice Lake

  1. I talked to Wood, and after I automatically ask for money, he rejects me and won’t let me do the Ice Lake quest!

    It’s because you have been too greedy.  There is a hidden Greed Counter in the game, and every time you try to do something greedy, the counter will increment.  If it has reached the maximum, Wood will not allow you to participate on the Ice Lake quest, and you can only regret about your greediness or start a new game.

    Here are some things that will increment the Greed Counter.  Try not to do them before you finish the Ice Lake quest.
    - Ask for pay when Wood asks you to help hunting (counter +2); if you ask and accept, you probably won’t have any problem.  But if you decline, your counter increments anyway, so next time you talk to Wood hopefully your counter hasn’t reached the maximum (maximum count = 15).
    - Haggle price when selling the pets (+1 for each haggling)
    - Ask for money when the mayor of Vanguard ask you for help (+2); if you are not satisfied with 3000G and ask for more, you get 5000G (+1)
    - Accept to overlook the thieves when the captain of the thieves talks to you in Thieves’ Cave (+2)

    In contrast, you can decrement your Greed Counter if you
    - Accept Wood’s request without asking for pay (-1)
    - Accept the request of the mayor of Vanguard without asking for pay (-1)

    Once your counter reaches maximum (15), you will automatically ask for pay, so you won’t be able to access Ice Lake quest using these methods to decrement your counter.  And it doesn’t seem like there is any benefit to have a Greed Counter of 0, except that you won’t be able to haggle price when talking to the merchant who wants to buy pets.

    For your reference, here are the initial values of the Greed Counter for each main character:
    - Julian, Ellen, Sara, Thomas, Katrina: 7
    - Monica: 1
    - Mikhail: 4
    - Harid: 14

    So Harid is on the brink of reaching the maximum, and other characters have much more room.  One has to be extremely careful with Harid in order to access the Ice Lake quest.
  2. After I start the quest in Ice Lake, the game won't allow me to go to another city!

    You can only go between Justerm and Ice Lake after you begin the quest. You will have to kill the boss in the Ice Lake before you can go elsewhere.
  3. I can't find the boss in the Ice Lake!

    In the Ice Lake, one of the screens has two ways to go. If you hit a dead end, try the other exit. Also, note that later you need to jump to some ledges using the Y button to reach the boss.

Stanley, Farce and the caves around

  1. Which side should I play for the war game? Stanley or Farce?

    It doesn't matter. Playing for Stanley is more challenging and fun, and you can earn more money, too. But you won't gain or lose anything other than money or satisfaction.
  2. How can I get to the Cave of Thieves?

    This is different for different main characters. In Julian's game, just talk to an old woman in Stanley (inside the house at SW corner) and it will appear in the world map. Inside the cave you will find monsters, and Paul will not appear in there. I have tried very hard to trigger the "thieves scenario" but in vain. AWJ (a guy who visited my message board) has taken some time to research on this, and he claims that the flag controlling this event increments once in several battles.  So the more battles you fight before you talk to the man in Lance, the harder you can trigger the “thieves scenario.”

    Some characters (like Mikhail, possibly because he fights less before entering the free scenario mode) can easily get into the so-called "thieves scenario". Go to Lance and find a man inside the weapon shop. He will ask you to deliver some goods to Yamas. If he mentions "highwayman", you know you are at it. Accept his offer and begin thief hunting! On your way, you will find thieves, and after defeating a number of them, they will start retreating. Catch one and ask them for information. He will open up the Thieves' Cave on the world map. You can catch the others for some money (not very much, though).
  3. What can I get by finishing the Cave of Thieves?

    For some main characters, only monsters are found in the Thieves' Cave. For some other, they can actually fight "thieves" inside the cave. In any case, I can only find some treasure chests in there, plus, a new cave will appear in the world map (for certain main characters only. For others, one has to talk to the woman in Stanley to open the new cave up). Anyway, don't expect too much. It's such an easy cave.

    In the "thieves scenario" you can accept the thief captain's request to overlook their existence. If you want money bad, go ahead and accept their offer (don't accept the first offer. Refuse 2 times and he will offer 3000 G). Then the cave will disappear from the world map. If you are a righteous man like me J, decline his offer. He will attack. Defeat him and you can get the chest behind him with 2000 G in it. Not bad at all.
  4. I reach the end of the Ancient Cave. But no matter which option I choose, nothing really happens.

    You will have to find a treasure box in the Devil King Palace (not too far down from where Gon was. Take the left stairs). It will tell you something about death. When you return to the Ancient Cave, new options will appear. Basically there is a pretty hard boss holding an item which allows you to make a Bow of Death or a Ring of Death. But it has 20000 HP, strong defense and recover 999 HP per round (because earth is the current elemental environment; you can cast a magic spell of another kind to change the elemental environment so that it won’t regenerate HP), so you need to be quite strong to do this.  Skills like Aiming that penetrate enemy’s physical defense works great here.

    In my opinion, this cave is one of the best training places, as monsters can become very strong later in the game (the stationery Gargoyle guarding one of the entrance can become Asura when your level is high.  It is the best monster which you can get very high level by fighting.)  So you may want to leave this cave until you decide to proceed to the last Abyss Gate.

Great Arc, Ake, Jungle and Treasure caves

  1. How can I reach Great Arc?

    You can only go there by paying 1000 G for a ride at the Pidona's dock.
  2. What about all these treasure caves around the Great Arc?

    Just for fun. You may find some (not too much) money and items there, and that's all. Oh, there is a Fish scale in one of the cave. It can be used to make a Fish scale armor, which is quite good in the early game. Each cave has different types of monsters, so if you want to see how the monsters evolve as you power up, these are convenient locations. The cave opened up by Herman (the pirate-looking guy) contains an important item. But it is easier to get it when you have Herman as your guide later in the game, as it is pretty big to explore and it contains many hidden passages.
  3. How do I get Herman to join?

    You can get him to join after you defeat the Water gate guardian. However, this is not good because he won't leave the party, and he is really weak. There is a way to get him to join before defeating the Water gate guardian. See the Vanguard's section for details.
  4. Is it true that there is a traveling fair in which you can find the fairy?

    Yes, you will find it in a random town. But before you can find it, you will first have to talk to Johannes/Anna in Lance about the locations of the Abyss Gate.

    There are 6 different locations in which you can find the place (judging from the source code).  I found it once in Librof, once in Stanley and once in Farce in three different games. Other people found Loanne and Moses.  I don’t know the last possibility, but never mind (maybe Mules).  When you enter a town, sometimes you will notice an unusual sign located near the left or right edge of the city. In this case, you can reach the place by walking out of the town at the exit right next to the sign. Pay 10 G to get in and go into every tent. Then leave, go to the inn of that city and choose to stay.

    At night you will hear weeping noise. Go back to the tents and examine. One of the tents has an escaped monster, so prepare for a fight. In the tent at the north end, you can see the fairy being locked inside a cage. Release her (stand at the right side of the cage and press 'A' button) and she will go away. Later if you go to the Fairy village, you can find her there.
  5. How do I get to Fairy's village?

    You get to it through the Jungle. There is only one way to reach the village. If you don't follow the right path, you will be wandering randomly within several maps or eventually reach the Fire Palace. If you are lost, you can always restart from the first map of the Jungle (just south of the Ake entrance). You may notice that it is quite easy to stumble back to this first map.

    The correct path after entering the Jungle from Ake to reach the Fairy village is: south, east (way to the end), north, west, north, and west. Some exits are not very obvious and there may be more than 1 exit in the same screen, so be careful. If everything goes well, you will reach the big tree. Notice that you can climb up the tree to the village by following the green staircases and the plants.
  6. How do I get the fairy to join me?

    First, you have to find the traveling fair and save the fairy (see question 32). Then you have to defeat the Fire gate guardian and locate the fairy village. Seek the fairy at the top left corner and ask her to join if you have 5 or less characters.

    One thing to note on the way to the fairy's chamber is that if you keep running (by pressing the Y button) all the time, you may fall off at some unexpected locations. Just walk slowly at those locations and you should be fine.
  7. How do I reach the Fire Palace?

    You can do it by chance. Actually I find this place easier to reach than the Fairy village (especially when you don't know the route to reach the village). Just follow a particular color of butterfly and you should reach it after going past 3 areas or so. In one case during my testing, I made a save-state at a certain entrance and then tried all 3 exits with different colors of butterflies, and all of them lead to the palace. This just doesn’t make sense if you need to follow a particular color to reach the place, so I think that you just have to go through enough exits with butterflies and you will eventually reach the palace.

    The fairies in the village simply confuse me. The fairy I rescue supposes to tell me the correct color. However, I follow its instruction and it doesn't bring me to the palace either. Someone suggests that I should follow the black butterflies. Someone says that following the Fairy’s instruction (the one rescued from the traveling fair) actually works.  I haven't verified these to be correct in every game, but as I say, just go in and out here and there and you'll eventually reach the palace easily.

Tournament, Podol and Leonid's castle

  1. Where is the tournament and how do you play it?

    Talk to the guards in front of Duke Zweig's castle. They will tell you the rules and let you sign in. You have to win 3 groups of monsters in order to become the champion. At the beginning, you can arrange the order of your characters. The one on top will fight first, and only a maximum of 5 characters will participate. There will be one-on-one endurance battles coming. Each character can stay as long as he/she can. If he/she is killed or escaped, the next character will come up. If all your characters lose, you will lose the battle. You win if you can defeat all 5 (or 6) monsters in the enemy's group.

    There are really not many tricks on this tournament. Just level up and use your best skills and beware since you don’t have formation that will increase your stats. Expect that the last monster for each group is most likely the strongest (except the dragon team), so it would be wise to leave the stronger characters to fight later such that they can handle the tough fight without getting damaged in the early rounds. If you face the dragon team, you should beware that you probably need 700+HP to be able to defeat the 4th dragon. For other teams, you would have a good chance in winning if you have 500+HP and some techs that can do 1000+ damage.
  2. I have reached the room at the bottom of Leonid's castle, but there is only an empty coffin! Why do I have to fight so many hard battles to reach there?

    The correct way to trigger the story line is to win the tournament in Zweig. Then go talk to Leonid about the Holy Grail. He will then disappear into his room. Now if you go down to his room, he will give you the Holy Grail and later offer to join you.

    If you simply go down without triggering the story line, there is not much you can achieve.  And all the monsters reborn after you leave.
  3. I find a Dusk robe inside the Leonid's Castle, but although I have a Physical defense value of 65, I'm still receiving a rather big damage when hit. This does not happen to Leonid. Why?

    There are two different Dusk robes in this game. Although they have the same name, their property is vastly different. The one obtained from Leonid's Castle (it is also dropped by some monsters like the Reapers as well) is kind of a fake. It actually in my opinion has 0 physical defense and magical defense power, even though it says 42/42. Leonid's robe cannot be taken off from his body. However, it can recover Leonid's HP per round and offer great protection to him, but making him unable to wear other accessories except rings. I don't think you can get this Dusk robe for other characters unless you cheat with some game genie codes.
  4. How do I defeat the last boss (Yami) in Leonid's castle? It is so hard!

    I agree that this is one of the hardest battles in the game aside from the last battle, especially when you probably want to get Leonid as early as possible. The boss has a pretty high defense and can charm, berserk and kill your characters readily, and has 2 attacks per round. Fortunately it doesn't have a very high HP. Use your best tech and hopefully you won't be charmed or made berserk in the first round. 700+ HP and the Tiger cave formation are recommended or the party can get killed within a round or two.  The Commander Mode can be useful if you have some nice group techs, as it removes your stats effects every round.
  5. I have cleared the Leonid’s castle in the way as you have suggested above, but Leonid still doesn’t join me!

    Make sure you have 5 or fewer characters.  Check that Holy Grail is in your possession.  Sometimes if your inventory is full when Leonid gives you the Grail, it will be lost and you have no chance in getting Leonid to join.  Finally, if you have joined too many characters already, some characters, including Leonid, will not join you.  See question 12 in the Miscellaneous section below.
  6. What is the use of the Holy Grail?

    Base on a friend (sorry, forget who) who wrote on the message board, you will regain 1 TP every round during the battle if you equip it.  And of course you need to have it with you in order to get Leonid to join.

Vanguard, Moses, Limit Island and Sea Palace

  1. How can I solve the murder case in Vanguard?

    Talk to the mayor ("captain") of Vanguard. Then go and sleep in the inn. Late at night the foes will appear. Defeat them. You can then report to the mayor the next day.
  2. What murder case? I haven't seen any.

    You only see the murder case after closing at least 1 Abyss Gate. Also, you have to enter Vanguard from the World Map. If you go there by ship, you won't see the murder case either.

    Actually, I find an exception to this when I play Mikhail's game recently, in which I get this murder incident before I close any gates. So try to enter Vanguard a few times if you want to get Black early.  For some characters, it simply won’t appear until you close a gate.
  3. Where can I find the entrance of the Vanguard's inner sanctum?

    When the Mayor tells you to find the entrance, leave the house and then come back. Talk to the Mayor again and he will reveal the entrance to you. Go downstairs and go through to the end to reach the control room.
  4. I have reached the control room in Vanguard. So what is next?

    Go back up to the Mayor and talk to him. He will show you a picture and ask you if the control room looks like it. The correct answer should be no, if you haven't put the dolphin statue. I haven't tried to get the dolphin statue before this, but in that case you will probably jump to the step to gather water magicians. You may not be able to get Herman to join before defeating the Water Abyss Guardian in this case.

    If you answer “yes”, you will jump to the step to gather water magicians.  However, after gathering them, Vanguard will fail to move.  Talk to the Mayor again about this, and you will have the chance to do the dolphin quest.
  5. How do I find the dolphin statue?

    If you know about its location, you can go and take it any time. The correct procedure is to "find" this out. Remember what the people in the pub say? Go talk to the pub owner and choose the "Any info?" option. Do this 3 times, until the pub owner tells you that he has sold it to someone in Yamas. Go to Yamas and go to the shop at the bottom of the stairs. You need to buy something before the shopkeeper will tell you to find Black.  If you have problems with these steps, maybe you have already got the dolphin statue and just forget to put this to the correct location in the control room.

    Now go to the Great Arc and look for the Black's treasures! You'll see a limb man who looks like a pirate. Talk to him and he will offer to join you and lead you to the cave. Beware that once you get him, he won't leave unless you defeat the Water gate guardian with him.

    In the treasure cave, he will give you directions needed to get to the dolphin. It shouldn't be too hard. At the end you need to fight a boss. If you can close the first gate then it is a piece of cake. Take the statue and leave at the right side.
  6. Is there a right way to solve the case in Moses? Should I kill Undine or Volcano?

    You can probably earn 5000 or 6000 G by killing Volcano or Undine. If money is what you want, then this is okay. However, Undine is a potential member who can join your party. Also, if you kill one of them, you won't be able to get the Devil King Shield. In either case, you can still find water magicians who are needed to move Vanguard. So don't worry about that.

    To get the Devil King shield, say "Yes" to both Volcano and Undine when they ask you to defeat the other. After that, you can go to the center of the town where the Dead Man's Well is. The magicians will leave if you talk to them. After they leave, you can enter the well.

    As you reach the bottom, you can go left and right. There is only 1 chest that you can get on the way left, but you can see the boss monster down the ledge. It is your target. Go back to the right side and go through the dungeon. It is quite short. When you reach a place where you see an entrance to the north and a staircase on the left, seek a secret passage on the left wall. You will then have to fight a boss. Beware of status attack and use your hit-all techs, as the boss will keep summoning undead monsters to fight you. Anyway, it shouldn't be a very difficult fight.

    When you exit the well, you will need to fight both Volcano and Undine. They have roughly 10000 HP, but again it shouldn't be too difficult. Use an armor like the fish scale to fang off the water attack of Undine if you have any problem.  After defeating them, everything will be back to normal. Both of them will remain alive and you can keep the Devil King shield.
  7. What can be done in the Limit Island?

    Get the coordinates of the Sea palace from one of the lobsters. If you want to use the multi-tech Galaxy, you should get the Genbu formation by joining Boston at least once here. You can go to the end of the water cave and fight a tough purple dragon to level up a bit and get some treasure chests in there.

    One thing you have to do is to defeat the water dragon. When you go behind a HUGE waterfall (it covers the entire screen) midway in the water cave, search for a secret entrance at the north side. That will lead you to the dragon. If you don't defeat it, the Limit Island will disappear after you defeat the Water gate guardian and you won't be able to get the Lobster to join you afterwards. (Thanks to Charles Jones for the secret entrance part.)  I write this here because many people will go right to the end of the cave (where there is a “small” waterfall and a hidden entrance as well) and find a tough purple dragon there and think that it is the dragon they want.  Although it is tough and a good opponent to gain level, that is not the right dragon.
  8. How do I reach the Sea Palace?

    If you get the coordinates from the lobster, you can go back to the control room in Vanguard. Now the option to go to the proximity of the palace will appear. Just go there and then start searching the palace undersea. Keep going deeper a few times and eventually you will find the palace.

Aurora path, Snow town and Ice galaxy

  1. How do I get to Aurora Path and Snow Town?

    After clearing the Ice Lake with Wood, if your HP is high enough, go talk to Anna in Lance about the Aurora. She should say something like "it will come close tonight" (if she says it won't appear, that means you are not strong enough yet). Exit the city and press X button to go to the high-level world map. Wait about 2 minutes when the sky turns red and then purple. Eventually stars and aurora will appear. Return to the normal map, and Aurora path should appear on the map. You will reach Snow Town when you get through the Aurora path. After this you will never see the Aurora path again.
  2. I reach the snow town but everything is dead.

    If you go in and out of a snow house, you may notice that some snowmen leave footprints on the floor. In fact, they are not dead. Find a particular snowman in the lower floor of one of the snow house and try to talk to it. It will jump. Try to talk to it a few times, and everything will be clear (for some main characters, you only need to talk once).
  3. Where is the Ice Galaxy?

    You can reach there by going through the "store room". It is the room right beside the entrance of the Snow Town.
  4. How do I get the Eternal Ice Crystal? What is the use of it?

    Go through the Ice Galaxy and at a certain point you will be blocked by a monster. Defeat it and examine the statue next to it to get the Eternal Ice Crystal.

    The crystal can be used as an item during battle to inflict ice attack to all enemies. It is like a Spirit Stone.  If you want to join the snowman and bring it out of the Snow town, you have to let the snowman equip the Eternal Ice Crystal.  Once you equip it, it becomes sort of an armor to Snowman and you will not be able to take it off or use it as an item.  It makes Snowman immune to fire.
  5. How do I defeat the dragon ruler at the end of the Ice Galaxy?

    Well, you just have to level up. All the dragon rulers are hard to beat, but this one should be the easiest. Use your best techs and use Tiger Cave formation to reduce damage. If you have the strongest spells like Reviver or Shadow servant, it wouldn't be too difficult.

The Holy Temple

  1. I go into the Holy Temple and there are girls blocking the entrances and saying that this is some kind of tests. Nothing happens, though. What is this about?

    First you have to close one of the Abyss gates. Then go talk to the Elder of the Holy King family in Lance. He will tell you that this is a test to select people to close the Abyss gates. Accept the challenge and then you can take the tests in the Holy King Temple.
  2. Is there any difference for choosing the left or right path in the Royal test?

    In the left path, there are quite a number of enemies that are relatively weak (still I would recommend about 500+ HP to defeat them). If you are weak, choose the left path. The right path is only guarded by 3 relatively strong monsters. Choose this one if you are strong enough and you want to reach the Holy King's item quickly (it's a good chance to level up a bit as well).

    The destination is the same for both paths.
  3. How do I pass the Test of Hunters?

    Bring a bow user with you with high dexerity (like the fairy). Try your best to shoot an arrow to the ninja at the back row. All other attacks will be useless, and will only make the ninja escape. If he escapes, all the girls around will become monsters and you have to restart the test. You need to fight the ninja 3 times with the same method to complete the test. Make sure you save before each fight. If you have the Flash Arrow or the Million Dollar tech, this would become very easy, as you will never miss.
  4. Is that all just to get two items in the temple?

    Actually, there are three, and they are all Holy King's weapons/armors. After finishing one of the Test of Royalties and the Test of Hunters, you can go to the altar at the middle of the Holy King Temple. Check it and it will reveal a staircase. Go down and take the third test.

    The first boss is easy except that it can take some LP off you. If you are fast and strong enough then there should be no problem.

    The monsters further down use a lot of status attack. The charm attack is especially tough. I would recommend using the Commander mode and the Fast mode, and hopefully you can get the first attack. In this case, you can weaken the enemies before they attack, and your abnormal status will be recovered every round. The enemies will disappear after a few rounds, but if you can win before they disappear, you will get some nice level up. You can win by defeating the middle dancer at the front row, but it has the most HP (lost count, but more than 15000).

    I don't know if there is a 4th test, but the elder in the Holy King's mansion keeps on saying that no one has passed the trial. If anyone finds out any other things to do in the Holy Temple, please let me know, though there seems to be nothing more in the source code.

Maximus and Divine Tower

  1. Where is the Divine Tower?

    Just go to the Naj desert east of Librof. You have to talk to someone in the pub of Librof to make it accessible in the world map. After entering the desert, go west 3 times and you will reach the tower.
  2. I'm pretty sure that Maximus is a bad guy, but I can't make him confess his guilt.

    To be simple, you just have to bring Herman or Black with you and go to his headquarter in Pidona. He will run and the chase will begin.

    Instead of doing this by chance, there is actually a way to find this out. First, in Pidona, you have to get Nora to join at least once (just select the option to help her). Talk to the pub owner in Pidona, and he will tell you that red coral can be found in warm sea area. A person can also tell you to search for Maximus in Great Arc and Ake, but I can't find him. Anyway, gather information in Great Arc and Ake, and you should be quite sure that Maximus is the pirate Jackal.

    Anyway, if you close the Water Abyss gate, Herman/Black will have something new to talk about. Ask him about the red coral, and he will tell you that he can recognize Jackal's face. Now you know why you have to bring him to Pidona to expose Maximus' disguise.
  3. How do I get into the Divine Tower?

    This is a part of the Maximus' chase. Bring Herman or Black to the Divine Church headquarter at the NW corner of Pidona. Then Maximus' identity will be revealed. Take the stairs behind the table (where Maximus was sitting) to get to his hideout. At the end you will fight a boss and exit in the old Pidona city.

    Talk to people in the town and they will direct you to Librof eventually. Talk to people in Librof and you will learn about the Divine Tower. See the question above for the location of the tower. When you reach the tower, talk to a man and he will sell you robes so that you can get into the tower. (If Harid is in your party, you will need to donate money to get in, as he won't wear the robe).
  4. Where in the Divine Tower is Maximus/Jackal?

    Ignore the stairs blocked by the church members and just try to reach the top. After a while, you should find Tiberius. Talk to him, and then Maximus will attack the tower. Go to the roof to defeat the monsters, and then go back to Tiberius to talk to him again. He will mention that Maximus has stopped the elevator, and you have to find the switch.

    Go back to the first floor. There is a shortcut after one of the church members leave a blocked entrance. Near the main entrance, a staircase is blocked by a seemingly church member. Approach him and it will transform into a monster. After defeating him, go up. Along the places, you have to leave your party members to hold on to some switches in order to proceed. And later, one by one your party will fall into traps, leaving you alone to face Maximus at the end. But don't worry, they will come back to help you during the battle. If you win, you will get 5 Holy King's relics from him, including the spear that Nora is looking for, and the Masquerade if you are doing Katrina's quest. Make sure you have room for them or they will simply be discarded.

    Note that if you take too long to defeat Maximus, he will summon two pretty strong servants to fight you and he himself becomes much stronger as well. Unless you are confident at your strength, finish him up as quickly as possible.

    Later if you want to get Tiberius to join, you can go back up through the shortcut.
  5. Hey, where can I get the Seven Star Sword, Masquerade, Holy Spear etc in the tower?  Someone told me that I should get it after defeating Maximus, but I couldn’t find them!

    Indeed, you should get them after the battle with Maximus.  The problem is that there are quite a few treasure chests along the way to reach Maximus, and these can fill up your inventory.  If your inventory is full, you have no space for the holy weapons which are obtained after the battle!  Don’t worry, though, since they will be put to the storeroom instead.  Go to the basement of the pub in Pidona or any storeroom to get them.

The East Kingdom

  1. How do I get to the East Kingdom?

    Go to Naj desert east of Librof. If it does not appear in the world map (usually move your pointer to the desert southeast of Librof should make the name come up), talk to all people in the pub of Librof to get access to it. Keep going east and you will reach the Dry River after changing screens 3 or 4 times. (Note: if you keep running east and never reach the Dry River, it is because you haven’t talk to a woman outside of the Divine Tower.  Go west to the tower and talk to that woman to trigger the flag.)  Go south along the water flow. Eventually you will end up in the Desert of Death. Cross it and exit east to the Great Prairie. Go north and then east to reach the Mung's village. This will be the starting point.
  2. How do I go back to the west side of the world?

    Once you go down the Dry River, you have to go to Mung's village and Xuan city to complete certain tasks before you can go back to the world map and the cities in the west side of the world.  You will know, as Yan Fan will tell you when you can leave.
  3. Where is the Neft tribe?

    It's at the south end of the Great Prairie. You can't reach this place until you talk to Bai Meiling and Zhi Lin in the Mung's village.  (In fact, you will need the helmet they give you.  So make sure your inventory is not too full.  If you lose your helmet, ask Bai Meiling for another one.)
  4. The Neft's chief says it's busy. What should I do?

    Just defeat the two enemies which stand still in two spots somewhere inside the Neft's cave. Then all the monsters will disappear, and you can talk to the chief.
  5. Where are the Zelnams?

    It's at the north end of the Great Prairie. You can't go to this place until you reach Xuan city and have talked to Yan Fan.
  6. Where is Rashkuta?

    After defeating the Zelnams, go back to Mung village once you are free to do so. One of the men will reveal the location of Rashkuta on the world map (in the swamp area west of the Great Prairie).
  7. How can I get the Elephant to join me?

    You must have Sara or the young boy with you in the party. He/She will heal the sleeping elephant, and then the blue elephant will be able to join you.
  8. Where are the Rotten Ruins and the Crystal Ruins? What can I get in there?

    The Rotten Ruins is just northwest of Rashkuta. Talking to an elephant in Rashkuta will make it accessible in world map. You will get various treasures inside, including a shield that can evade anything for a 20% chance at the end of the dungeon. But it is guarded by a Dragon Ruler.

    The Crystal Ruins is north of the Desert of Death. You can reach the Desert of Death from the Naj Desert through the Dry River, or later you can just go west from the Great Prairie and then exit north. Other than a few treasure chests and some strange slimes that can split, I don't find anything special there.  There are some giants and crystal dragons there to help you level up, but I think Ancient Cave is a better place.

The Abyss Gates and the Devil Lords

  1. Where are the Abyss Gates?

    You can get this information from Johannes in Lance. The Earth Abyss Gate is at the very bottom of the Devil Palace. The Fire Abyss Gate is in the Fire Palace within the Jungle. The Wind Abyss Gate is in Mount Taftan. And the Water Abyss Gate is in the ocean west. See the following questions for more details on each dungeon.
  2. How can I defeat xxx Gate Guardian?

    In general, if you find problems defeating them, that means you are not strong enough just yet. Train yourself up a bit before fighting them. Some strategies can be found in other FAQ's in http://www.gamefaqs.com, so I won't bother here. See the remaining FAQ's below for some specific problems.  Note that you won’t die even if you lose to a Guardian (unfortunately, not the case inside the Abyss.)
  3. I haven't gone very far in the Devil King Palace and I have already reached a dead end. I can't find the way down!

    If you can't even make it to the main hall (big hall with many monsters and doors in all 4 directions), you may have missed some hidden passages. Try to find them along the wall to continue.
  4. I reach a door, with "the ring" written on it. What should I do?

    You need the Royal Ring, one of the Holy King's relics. Talk to the Elder among the Holy King's descendants in the house at the north end of Lance. He will give you the ring. You have to go down to the door marked "the ring..." in the Devil Palace at least once before the elder will give you the ring.

    An interesting note here is that if you lose the ring (like you have sold it or equipped it on a character that cannot be retrieved), you can buy it back in a shop in Yamas (the shop at the bottom of the stairs). It will show up as Pretty Ring, but when you buy it, it will turn into Royal Ring in your inventory. Some people use this trick to earn a lot of money because the Royal Ring can be sold for 2500G, but the Pretty Ring only costs 10G. (If the Pretty Ring does not change to Royal Ring after you buy it, make sure you are not equipping it on characters that you can retrieve. You may also need to go down to the door in the Devil Palace, examine it, and then go back up for the flag to trigger.)
  5. I find some Meteor fragments by defeating some dragons in the Devil King Palace. What are these for?

    They can be used to make certain weapons and armors in the workshop in Pidona.
  6. How do I reach the Fire Abyss Gate?

    It is in the Fire Palace. Once you get in, it is pretty straightforward to find the gate. Go to Great Arc and take the ship to Ake. Exit Ake at the south end and you will reach the Jungle. See question 31 for more details of finding the Fire Palace in the Jungle.
  7. How do I reach the Wind Abyss Gate?

    First you have to close at least one gate (the Earth and Fire Gates do not need any prerequisites to close). I find exceptions for some main characters that they can access the Wind Abyss Gate without closing any other gates. But in general, there are two ways to defeat Byunei and close the Abyss Gate.

    Method 1: Talk to the pub owner in either Pidona or Vanguard. They will say that the Marquis of Loanne is gathering fighters to battle Byunei. Now Loanne will appear on the world map. Go to Loanne. If you go into the castle, you can get Mikhail to join. (If you play Mikhail as your main character, you will have to talk to the clone.) Anyway, go talk to a person in the house southwest of the town. Now, Mount Taftan will be accessible in the world map (it is southeast of Loanne, at the corner of the world map). Go there and climb the mountain. You have to use the Y button carefully in order to work successfully up. When you reach a location filled with mist, go north and you will reach the dungeon. Go through the dungeon to fight Byunei and close the Abyss gate.

    Method 2: Talk to the man with a moustache in Vanguard. He will tell you about a small village north. Go there and talk to the people in the pub and learn about the dragon Gwayne in Mount Loob, which is just west of the village. Go to Mount Loob through the world map (just west of the small village). Go through the mountain and the dungeon and find the dragon Gwayne. Select the option "Talk" and you will eventually fight Byunei on top of the dragon.  Note that the man will only open up the small village before Vanguard moves, so try to talk to the man early.

    Method 2 is probably preferred, as it is easier, and it adds a little more tidbits in the ending.
  8. I have reached the top of Mount Taftan, and there is only mist/fog.  I keep walking north but never reach Byunei’s dungeon!

    You need to talk to Mikhail about fighting Byunei (after the pub owner in Pidona tells you that Mikhail is recruiting, usually after closing a gate) before you can go through the mist/fog.  If you are playing Mikhail, you need to talk to your clone after closing an Abyss Gate (just return to Mikhail’s bedroom).  There is a possibility of a bug, as someone claims, that the clone never tells you about Byunei’s Den.  In this case, one can never go through the mist/fog, and he/she is doomed.  I would suggest that people playing Mikhail as the main character open up the small village in Vanguard as soon as you have a chance.  Then you can fight Byunei using method 2 as described above even if there is a bug.
  9. I heard that the dragon Gwayne will destroy the small village after defeating Byunei. But I went to the small village and everything is fine.

    Talk to the pub owner of Vanguard or Pidona (after defeating Byunei with the dragon) to trigger this flag. If you defeat Gwayne after triggering this flag, you get more story lines, and I think this is the only place where you can hear the Sad Tune #2. And this affects the ending, too.
  10. How do I reach the Water Abyss Gate?

    It is probably the most troublesome gate to reach. Questions 37 to 44 sum it all up.
  11. How do I get to the last Abyss Gate?

    After closing the 4 gates, Johannes will reveal the 5th gate in the east. If you haven't gone to the East Kingdom before, follow question 64 to 68 to finish those quests. Then, you will be told that the last gate is in Huang City. However, the city is blocked by soldiers. Now go back to Xuan city and talk to Bai Meiling in the north end of the city. Prepare yourself for you won't be able to return after this. When everything is ready, talk to Yan Fan and then go to Huang City again. Now you can enter.

    Yan Fan (if you haven't joined him) has to lure the enemy's army out using a so-called Pretense Attack. The idea is to hold the enemy in the battle as long as you can. However, the enemy's command is such a dubious person that he will tend to escape after a short while. If you can hold 5 hours or more, you will "succeed", and 20 hours are the best you can get, meaning a "huge success". It doesn't seem to affect what comes next except to show that how well you are at the War Game, so try your best here and don't worry too much. If you have Yan Fan in your party, another general will do the Pretense attack, which means that you won't have the special tactics Yan Fan has. The battle will then become very tough.

    After that, just fight bosses one by one until you reach the top (make sure you pick up the Gold Dragon Armor and Life Cane along the way). Fight the Abyss Naga, which should be easy. Finally, you can only choose 4 characters to go with you into the Abyss.
  12. What should I do inside the Abyss?

    Heal yourself at the entrance and go north. At the north end, you can find 4 teleporters that can teleport you to the 4 Devil Lords (the real ones!). If you decide to defeat those four before fighting the final boss (strongly recommended unless you know what you are doing), jump over to those teleporters one by one to defeat the Devil Lords. There will be a short dungeon for each teleporter, but that is just a piece of cake to get through.
  13. How do I defeat the Last Boss?

    This is where your hard work pays off. Without proper training and equipments, the last boss can be really hard. It will be easier if you defeat the four Devil Lords before fighting it. Otherwise, the thing will have 120000+ HP and very high defense. If you think you are not able to handle this kind of difficulty, better kill the four or at least a few Devil Lords beforehand. It still has around 70000 HP and is harder than any boss that you have seen so far, but its attack and defense power is lowered somewhat. (Note: it is possible to defeat the 120000 HP boss if you are really strong.)

    Here are some suggestions of items/techs/tactics needed to confront this boss. The more you have, the easier the boss will be. If you have all of them, you can possibly win the hardest version of the boss with ease, but you don't need to have all of these to win.  And of course there are other ways to defeat the guardian, so don’t treat this as the only way.


The boss has 3 different forms:


When it eventually starts to talk, you know you are about to defeat it. (Note that if you do damage too quickly, it will probably die before it even talks! I have even defeated it before it switches into the Dark form. :) )

 

B. Miscellaneous

  1. How do I get the pink hair girl to leave?

    Just go to Librof and she will leave.
  2. That pink girl tells me a different name every time she joins me. Is there a way to make her confess her real name? Is it some sort of a puzzle in order to bring her back to Librof for reunion?

    I double-checked the scripts and never find any dialogues concerning these. Also, a flag that allows her to enter Librof never properly get set anywhere that I can see. It is likely that Square hasn't finished her quest. Bladewind Draconus has dug into the Japanese walkthrough and he claims that it has to do with Thomas’ quest.  Maybe if you play Thomas as the main character and do something in the Business Game (say, maybe if you have bought her father’s company), it will trigger the flag.  Note that there is an ending for her, so there should be a way to trigger it.  If anyone knows the truth, please tell me.
  3. How do I get the poet to leave?

    The poet joins if you select to listen to his song while your party is not full. Once he joins, you have to close an Abyss Gate with him in the party before he is willing to leave. You can make him leave in the pub after closing a gate. You can choose to stick with him till the end, though. Note that he will have a new song after closing each gate with him!
  4. How do I get Herman to leave?

    You have to beat the Water gate guardian with him in the party so that he will transform into Black. You can part with him at a pub then. Otherwise, he won't leave until you go into Abyss or kill him.
  5. I have defeated the Water gate guardian with Herman in my party, but he doesn't change into Black. Now what should I do?

    If you want Herman to transform to Black, you can't leave the water gate the last (of the 4 Abyss gates). The program seems to have switched to the incident on Sara and the young boy and completely ignores Herman. I fall into this trick the first time I play, but when I close the water gate early in my second game, he does transform into Black. (It would be nice if he explains why he suddenly transforms.)

    If you have already fallen for the trick, there is no way to make him leave until you enter Abyss or kill him. You can survive nicely, though, with the other 5 characters.
  6. I can't find the items necessary to make new weapon/armor in Nora's shop!

    I did make almost every special weapon/armor, but I don't have any records. Dshort has written a nice FAQ on this. Try reading it instead.  If you play Mikhail as your main character, you can pay 50K to make two of each weapon/armor.
  7. Who is that boy with dark skin who appears in almost every town? Can I get him to join?

    He was born without a name and is known as "Young Boy". You can learn more about him in Rashkuta.

    As stated in Dshort's and Matthew Weng's walkthrough, you can get him to join early if you play Sara as your main character. Or you can get him if you have room after closing the 4th Abyss gate. Otherwise, you can only get him when you enter the last gate.  He will leave at the end anyways, so I just won’t bother training him.
  8. How can I play the Business game?

    After saving Gon from the Devil Palace (see quests related to Sharl and Muse in section 5.2.1), enter Thomas' house with Thomas in the party. Talk to Thomas' uncle, and he will tell you that a guest is waiting for Thomas. Go north and go to the rightmost room and you should see Fullbright waiting. Talk to him and accept his requests. Then you can start phrase 1 of the Business Game.

    If you are not sure about your objective, you can choose the Event option in the sub-menu to take a look. After the game starts, there will be one person in each city who will open up the Trading menu for you. You will have to take some time to find these people out. If you happen to accomplish phrase 1 (to obtain 100 million G assets), Fullbright will reward you at his room. After that you can ask Fullbright to join. However, if you want to play phrase 2 and 3 of the Business Game, you have to leave him alone later. After closing one or more Abyss Gates, go to Wilminton and talk to him again. Choose the 2nd of the 3 options available (if there are only 2 options, come back later). You can then play the phrase 2 of the game. Similarly, you can get to play phrase 3 after finishing phrase 2.
  9. Where can I get the ultimate spells?

    The ultimate Fire, Water, Wind and Earth spells can be obtained free of charge from Anna in Lance. Each one will be available after the corresponding guardian is defeated.

    The ultimate Sun and Moon spells can be bought for 9999G in Xuan City. Talk to an old man in the pub.
  10. Where are the ultimate multi-magics?

    They are in the treasure boxes or skeletons of the palaces where the four gates reside. They are not that difficult to find as long as you try to open all the treasure boxes/check all skeletons.

    Galaxy (Byunei's dungeon): check a skeleton in an open area where a lot of "holes" block your way. The area is close to the Gate entrance.

    Tempest (Forneus' dungeon): check a treasure chest in a room near the big hall which leads to the Gate entrance.

    Light Wall (Arakes' dungeon): check a treasure chest in a room south of the 2nd red crystal, again near the Gate entrance. You can teleport through the red crystal as you enter the dungeon and reach this place very quickly, or you'll have to walk a long way.

    Crimson Flare (Aunas' dungeon): check a treasure chest in a big room with fire/lava under your feet. It is at the far left of the room.
  11. I'm in the final phase of the Business Game, and I need to buy the last company in the Abyss Ring. Its location says it is in Divine Tower, but I can't find any agent in the area. How can I finish the game?

    The fat merchant standing in the middle is the agent. If he offers to sell you a robe instead of opening the trading menu, then you are in trouble. It turns out that after you trigger the chase of Maximus in Pidona, the man will offer you the robe and will never open the menu even during the Business Game. I double-check the Japanese version and it's the same. I may correct this by hacking it, but if they design it this way, they may have a reason. My advice is that finish the Business Game early and do the Maximus quest late. If you are already in trouble, you have to give up the Business Game for there is no way to buy the last company.
  12. How come I can’t get xxx to join me?

    There are several reasons:
    - Most characters are not ready to join you immediately.  You may need to solve some quests or have some special items in your possession before they will join.  Some harder ones are included in the earlier sections based on their locations.  Also look at other walkthroughs if you are stuck.
    - Your party is full.  Many characters don’t even offer you to join when they see that you don’t have space.  Try to remove a character at the pub and then talk to the person again.
    - The game allows only a certain amount of characters to join (looks like 15 from the source code; maybe less if you try to get Tiberius).  Once a person joins you, a counter is incremented, and he/she will be able to join again and again throughout the game (except Julian/Monica after the shipwreck scenario, or if they die, like Boston and Snowman).  But if you have joined more than the maximum value already, many characters will stop offering to join you.

C. Quests specific to each main character

Specific to Julian

  1. Monica is abducted by Godwin. What should I do?

    You will be transported to a cave. Avoid the enemies to get to the second area, where you will see the Poet. You may get him join you by listening to his hymn. To finish the scenario, get Monica at the top right cave. You can then leave the cave through the entrance or go deeper into the cave to talk to Godwin. There is more fun to do the latter.
  2. I find Godwin in his cave. But after talking to him, he said something like "how about this" and then disappeared. Nothing happened. Why?

    If you talk to Godwin before getting Monica, it will end up like this. You should then get Monica and exit the cave to finish this scenario. If you get Monica before talking to Godwin, you will get thrown into a dark cave (an earth slide has happened?) and see some extra dialogues. Depending on whether the Poet is with you, the dialogues are different.
  3. I play Julian as my main character. After the shipwreck incidence, Monica is gone! Can I get her back?

    I have finished the game with Julian twice and still can't find out where she is (she is not in Loanne castle). May be it is not possible to get her back. (If anyone knows the truth, let me know.)
  4. I play Julian as my main character. Is there any way to get Monica into my team?

    Yes. Just avoid the shipwreck scenario if you want to get her. After the scenario in which Monica gets abducted by Godwin, talk to Monica instead of Mikhail. If you talk to Mikhail, you will play the shipwreck scenario instead. It is more dramatic and fun, but I have yet to find a way to get Monica back after that.
  5. I try to enter Muse's house, but it is locked. I don't recall this kind of thing when I played last time.

    You have to follow Thomas in order to enter Muse's house. When you reach Pidona the first time, go talk to Thomas (his house is on the left when you walk from the south town to the north town). When you exit his house, you should barely see him walking south out of North Pidona. Follow him. Get into a shop or an inn on the left. When you exit, you should see Thomas exit South Pidona from the left. Follow him to the Old Pidona, and you should be able to enter Muse's house (a ragged house at the southwest corner).

Specific to Thomas

  1. I go to Muse's house and it is locked. How can I get in?

    In Thomas' scenario, you have to get through this sequence. First talk to the butler in Thomas' house. He will tell you to find someone in the pub. Follow instructions given by this man and some people later on. Eventually they will tell you that Muse is in old Pidona. Then you can open that door.

Specific to Mikhail

  1. The game won't allow me to leave Loanne! And I'm bored with the ruling game. What should I do?

    Just go to Mikhail's room (upstairs in the middle). Note that his room is divided into left and right portions. Enter the room from the door on the right side. He will then call a clone to replace his presence. You can then leave Loanne.

    If you want to play Ruling Game later, you have to talk to your clone first.
  2. How can I win battle xxx in the War Game? How can I find money to continue my Ruling Game?

    This will be covered in the RS3 pictorial FAQ site done by Bladewind Draconus or RPG Classics.  You can also link from my site.

Specific to Harid

  1. In Justerm, I ask Wood about my pay and he simply gets pissed off. I can't get to the Ice Lake!

    Sorry, but you can't ask for pay if you play Harid. You probably have to restart.  Check the info on greed counter in question 22.
  2. Where is the King's Capital?

    Only Harid can reach this place. You have to talk to a guy in the pub of Librof to reveal it on the map. It is south of the Divine Tower.
  3. How can I go up to the door on the left ledge near the entrance?  And what are the plates on the floor for?  I step on it and nothing happens.

I haven’t found an answer to this.  Maybe these are unfinished stuffs.  King’s Capital seems crude if you ask me.

  1. When I played another main character, I get some church clothes from a merchant outside the Divine Tower in order to get into the tower. But Harid refuses to buy one!

    You have to donate 10000 G to the person blocking the tower in this case. You have to do this even if you play another main character but have Harid in your party. This is because the Divine Church destroyed his home country and his beloved Princess. Of course, if he is not your main character you can make him leave your party to save the 10000G.

Specific to Sara

Sara is slightly unique in that she is one of the Destined Children.  She can get the young boy early (just talk to him), and in the end she has to focus her power so that the other 5 characters will fight the Destroy in a special commander mode.  Other than these, her main quest is similar to other characters, and the FAQ in the main section has basically covered her quest.

Specific to Ellen

So far I have seen no question that is unique to Ellen.

Specific to Monica

  1. Monica is kidnapped by Godwin. I'm in a cave with a very strong monster guarding the entrance. How can I get out?

    The monster guarding the entrance is pretty strong in early game. You should join the Poet to strengthen your team. If you haven't trained much before this scenario, you can go to the cave at the lower right corner. Inside, you will find a few monsters which you can train yourself up a bit. Eventually you have to beat the monster to get out. It is not too difficult if you level up yourself (to about 150HP, or even less if you are skilful), especially when Julian shows up and block the first devastating attack.
  2. I play Monica as my main character. After the shipwreck incidence, Julian is gone! Can I get him back?

    To be determined. Like Julian's scenario, you can get Julian into your party if you skip the shipwreck scenario by choosing to escape with Julian (go talk to Julian instead of accepting Mikhail's request). But after the shipwreck, I don't seem to find Julian anywhere.
  3. How can I get to Leonid's castle? It disappears from the map!

    After the shipwreck incident, many places will be removed from the world map. Normally, one should win the tournament in Zweig and the duke will then show you the way to Podol. However, since Monica is not allowed to participate in the tournament, there is no way to get back to Podol. This also means that you can't get Leonid to join.

    If you skip the shipwreck incident, Podol will remain on the world map, but you still can't get Leonid to join because the flag can only be triggered if you win the tournament. Monica can't participate the tournament in any case.

Specific to Katrina

  1. What should I do after Monica escapes?

    You have the freedom to choose how to proceed. Just exit and return to Monica's room and choose "wait" to see the next scenario. Before that, you can
    Hide your items. If you don't do this, you will lose all of them later, which is pretty bad. You can hide the items in several places around. Explore and find your favorite place.
    Get the cell key and hide it. To do this, go to the prison using the stairs at the lower left corner on the main floor. Examine the key on the table. Then examine the rightmost cell. Later when you are locked inside the cell, you will be able to escape and help Mikhail. If you don't do this, you will have to wait for someone to rescue you. And you don't get the fun to fight a challenging boss. If you choose to escape, remember to get your belongs from where you hid them.
  2. How do I beat the boss in Mikhail's throne room?

    The key is to heal often and keep your HP high. Each person should have at least one potion. Use them, especially on Katrina since her HP is the lowest. Mikhail also has a Life Cane which can heal, too. If Katrina has her Masquerade, she can use a powerful tech doing 300+ damage (you have to make the sword bigger using the tech Awakening first). Use it whenever possible.
  3. How do I get the Masquerade back?

It's a long quest. You have to defeat Maximus (Jackal) to get the sword back. See the general section on Vanguard and Divine Tower for more information.

  1. I have heard that you can change her hairstyle back to the original one.  How?

    After you get the Masquerade and re-enter the Loanne castle, talk to Monica and you may change the hair back.

D. Tips and Tricks

  1. Once you reach a city (by ships or through a tough route), you can always access that city through the world map. You don't need to take the original route. For example, once the Divine Tower appears in the world map, you don't have to go through the Naj desert to reach that place again.
  2. Watch your inventory often so that they won’t get full, or you won’t be able to hold any new items.  If you find that you lose an important artifact (like you can’t hold all the items dropped by Maximus after defeating him) due to this, often you can find it in the storeroom or buy it from the shop in Yamas.  There are some items that will be lost forever, so still be careful.
  3. To keep the Dream gem, equip it on a person and get that person killed (reduce LP to 0).  He/she will disappear from the dream after getting killed, but later you can rejoin them in the real world.  The Dream gem will still be equipped.
  4. The Tiger Cave formation is useful in the late game. Although characters are slower, it halves the damage inflicted to the party. You will want to be in this formation if you fight some enemies who can do 600+ damage to the party under normal circumstances.
  5. As soon as you defeat a gate guardian, the strongest spell of that particular element will be available for free from Anna in Lance. The strongest spell of Sun and Moon magic is available in Xuan city, but they are very expensive.
  6. In Commander mode, you can change formation on the fly by the 'B' button. This is useful if you run into monsters and lose your formation. The only thing is that you can't use the special techniques of the new formation until next round.
  7. If you use the Light Wall multitech (in Tri Anchor formation) in Multitech mode, you will get 9 GP next round! You can then do your favorite 3 GP attacks.
  8. After Nora joins you, you can leave her and she can be asked to work on the weapons/armors research at her shop. This may speed things up a bit, in case you get stuck in finding special items to continue the research. I'm not sure if you can get her to rejoin later (seems like you can’t).
  9. When you reach a big hall at the bottom of the Devil King Palace, go south and you will find a teleporter. Defeat the monster guarding the teleporter, and you can later go up and down through it. (The monster is not easy, though. You should have 300+ HP to try.)
  10. If you are annoyed by the number of monsters in the Abyss Gate dungeons, you can leave the treasures aside and go straight to the Gate. After you defeat the Gate Guardian and close the gate, most of the monsters will disappear. Now you can take all the treasures without fighting too many battles.
  11. If you play Sara, your final battle will use a super special combat mode. In this mode, you can use multi-techs like the commander mode, but it also allows the characters who are not involved in the multi-tech to choose their own attacks. (Thanks to DShort's FAQ for this info.)
  12. If you lose your Royal Ring, you can buy it back at the weapon shop in Yamas (the one below the stairs). You can lose the ring by selling it (for 2500G!) or if you give it to Lobster and the Lobster Island is destroyed. People use this as a way to "get rich quick", as one can buy it back for 10G (as a Pretty Ring) and sell it for 2500G infinite number of times.
  13. Based on the reports from various people, when a character's LP becomes 0 (other than the main character), he/she will disappear from the team, but you can get him/her back at the usual location where you found the character. And according to PhilW's FAQ, in Abyss, team members will be fully healed instead of disappearing (after battle) even if their LP drops to 0.
  14. In Mikhail's scenario, you can make special weapons/armors (the ones you usually make in Nora/Ken's workshop in Pidona) by paying 50 KG for each weapon/armor. The good thing is that you don't need to find the special item required for some weapons/armors, and you get 2 pieces of weapons/armors instead of one. Bad thing is that 50 KG is not easy to get without cheating.
  15. May be you haven't noticed that after using Star Burst, the Seven Star Sword will turn into another sword (yeah, the secret Seven Star obtained by messing with Harid, a trick mentioned in other FAQs). This sword has an attack power of 60, so if you use Split Attack with this sword, the damage will be huge!
  16. A good sword user can do a 9999 attack every round rather easily by the following method:

The sword skill level should be high (like 36+, I got 42). If this is still not strong enough, you may consider using the Star Burst trick mentioned above to strengthen your weapon. But if you are strong (like Harid, wearing strength enhanced equipments), you can do 6000 to 9000 damage without even casting Shadow Servant. Note that some monsters have especially high defense to sword so that you won't get 9999 damage for every monster. I tried everything on the super-high defensive Destroyer and it only gave 8000-9000 (weapon level 42, all the tricks applied, with the best swords), but it's still great, considering that normal Split Attack only does about 2000+ to the defensive Destroyer. (The Destroyer can lower its defense slightly about every other round, so you can still do 9999 damage every other round.) I guess you can still do 9999 damage if your skill level reaches 50.

E. Credits