SharkESP's Final Fantasy Three Low Level Game FAQ (or, how to beat this game at ridiculously low levels) Version: Final v 2.0 The low level game was concieved by people that wanted to prove they were the most skillful and patient by defeating FF3 at the lowest levels possible. Several conventions are used here because of the amazing cheapness of the game. These conditions will force one to use actual brain power and strategery in order to win the day. They are as follows: Do not use Rods as items if you bought the rod. Do not use Vanish-Doom Do not use any codes or hacking. Do NOT use emulator abilities that can not be done on the origional cartidge (except save states and the fast-forward button). NO FREEZE STATES. Psycho Cyan and sketch type glitches are prohibited. It is highly suggested you do not try this on your first run through, or even your eighth. This guide is the product of an attempt made after Seven years of experience in playing the game before attempting such a game. You have been warned. This guide will assume you have knowledge of all major locations and events in the game, as well as bosses. This consisits of three parts. The part that says what it is, the part that gives a walkthrough, and the part that gives general Advice. Advice -Run from every fight -Learn to love the veldt -Bosses do not give exp -Steal can be used to gain gp and items, but it is very unreliable, do to the factoring of his level into the Success rate -Place Every one with M Block% of less than 128 in the BACK ROW. -Hang on to whatever you find. If you know you will have no more use for it, (Star Pendant) sell it for gp. Good armor will be easy to find and hard to afford -Locke's high Speed is a Godsend in the early parts of the game. -You will need South Figaro's RunningShoes -You will never have to stop and gain a level in order to continue. Failure to continue is a preperation problem, not a level problem. -The only draining thing worth anything is Osmose -The best purchase you will ever make is Zoneseek. Make it as soon as possible (before Flying Continent) -Atma Weapon and Valiant Knife use your level to determine damage, so they are worthless (11 damage vs. Ultros?!?) -From the earliest point possible, everyone should always use a Green Beret throughout the World of Balance. Don't waste GP on other hats, the defense bonus does not make up for lost HP. -WoR: Cactrots are much safer than the veldt for Magic Points. And much more lucritive! The beginning: Narshe (characters: Vicks & Wedge 1, Terra 3) In the beginning Raid on Narshe, there are about 6 fights that are forced exp gain. However, the only character that will remain with you past Tritoch is Terra. Therefore, kill her off to begin with. Do this in the very first fight. Boss 1: Whelk Everyone knows how to beat this guy. You may revive Terra, as Whelk gives no Exp. Go nuts on the guy. After meeting Tritoch, go through until you fall and pass out in the caves. Then you will meet Locke (5). Boss 2: Marshall Send Moogle group 3 to kill as many enemies as possible, as thier exp does not count to you. Use Mog's group on Marshall himself, as the third group will be wiped out by the sixth fight. Do NOT use Locke's group AT ALL. From here on, exit Narshe. If you wish, use Locke to steal tonics from the Leafers and Dark Winds that are found outside of town. Use the recovery spring in the Training room to conserve items when you heal. Continue on to Figaro Castle. Figaro Castle: Obtain Edgar (6). Buy a Noiseblaster. Use the Autocrossbow he brings to the party on the Mtek attackers. Not much doin here. Cave to South Figaro: Leave the chest with the tincture that later becomes a Thunder Rod. Get the rest of the items. South Figaro: Pick up every item you can find. Go into the millionaire's house, and go straight down when you meet the first vertical part where Locke later finds Celes. The Running Shoes there will become Vital. Use the Noiseblaster to stun enemies around the town, and have Locke steal from them. Then take the money and buy whatever good armor you can find. Mt. Kolts: Pick up every extra item you can find. Steal where it does not put your life on the line. Give Locke RunningShoes and the Guardian found on the mountain to make things easier. Boss 3: Vargas This is the first boss to give most of us trouble. He is simple to beat, however. First main concept: it is advantageous to reduce the number of attackers hitting you as soon as possible. In other words, you take more hits trying to kill both Ipoohs at once. Go E: Autocrossbow, T:Fire and let Locke run utility work (tonics and fenix downs first, then fighting). Do the same on Vargas until Sabin shows up. Then just pummel the bum. Returners Hideout: Pick up everything here. The White cape, with it's +10 Mblock% and +5 defense, will become a mainstay of your relic use later on. Gengi Glove or Gauntlet won't matter, because without a shield you don't have defense to survive any hits. Lete River: Put Banon in the back row BEFORE YOU GO. He should be at lvl. 2, very weak. Boss 4: Ultros An excersize in frustration. Put the runningshoes on Sabin. Have Terra and Banon block and let E: Crossbow and S: Aurabolt. Ultros will first use ink on Terra. If she blocks first, she lives. Afterwards, leave Banon blocking and let Terra heal with Cure. Leave Banon alone and do not touch him until he is tentacled. At that point, have him use health once and then block again. Hopefully Sabin will still be alive at this point and with Runningshoes will get enough turns to Aurabolt away the remains of his 3000 hp. Split Scenarios: There are many questions as to which should be done and in what order. The first should be to get Terra out of the way. You gain nothing by doing this, but at least it creates less drain on your resources for later. There is nothing noteworthy about Terra's, but if you find Rune Edge, keep it to sell later. Next should be Sabin's. Sabin's Scenario: Get Shadow from the house next to you. Buy 30 shurikens and whatever other supplies you may need. Run to the Imperial camp Imperial Camp: Pick up whatever you can. Punch the one chest when it asks. Be *SURE* to fight Telstar. Boss 5: Telstar AuraBolt him until Telstar makes Sabin Berserk. Use as many shurikens as possible. Also, Running Shoes on Shadow is a big plus. None of the other battles are major. Do not fight other soldiers with Cyan at Doma. Dispatch is your best friend with Cyan (6). His only Sword Techs available will be Dispatch and Retort, and it will stay that way for a LONG time. All fights in the camp you can't run from do not give exp. Go staight on to the Phantom Train. Phantom Train: Run from every fight possible on the train. Do not try to find ghosts or shops. Run from everything you can. Prepare to use plenty of items, and as much of the dining room as you can. Open all the chests, and beat Sigfried. For the boss, use a fenix down. Barren Falls: De-equip Shadow before he leaves. Give one man Running Shoes and the other the Black Belt. Use Aurabolt and Dispatch immediately whenever Cyan or Sabin get turns. Shouldn't take too long. Veldt: Buy one dried meat from Mobliz. Get Gau and learn to love him. Gau uses some spells you will NEVER have the MP to use for free with Rages. He is THE most powerful character you will have until Thamasa. Learn as many Rages as possible. Every time you see an enemy he doesn't have the rage of, Leap. Check by choosing Rage and seeing if the enemy's name appears. Rages you will need include: Templar (fire 2) Hazer (bolt 2) Over-Mind (Elf Fire) Stray Cat (Catscratch) Pteradon (Fire-Ball) Marshall (Wind Slash) THIS ONE IN PARTICULAR! Also, be sure to defeat as many Telstars as you can find on the veldt. The Green Beret you got from Telstar was from the fight, not the chest. You will get another every time you win, and will need them. The extra 5 rages you would get from Locke's scenario pale in comparison to the advantage in HP you get from the Green Beret's. They will become THE best helmet you will get. The only two that should ever replace the Green beret are the Bard's hat for Mp and an Extra 10 Mblock and Mystery Veil (for Terra and Celes). Both are not needed until deep into the WoR, though. Red Caps give more HP, but can't be gotten for everyone and by then, you don't need to worry about HP. Use the Veldt to gain as much GP as possible. Stock up on 99 of Tonics and Fenix downs. Get at LEAST 10000 GP, and that probably will not be enough. From here, you will only gain GP from bosses and selling until you revisit the Veldt before the Sealed Gate. When you have a green beret for everyone and enough GP to last for a very long time, Go on down the Serpent Trail. Serpent Trail: Take the right paths. Don't forget you're off the veldt, so you have to run from everything again. Go through Nikeah and finish Sabin's Scenario. Locke's Scenario: Proceed through with Locke as you would normally. Obtain Celes and do not try to steal until you can reach Sabin's Cabin. Be sure to pick up every item downstairs, as you will be equipping Celes from Scratch, save the Green Beret Sabin won for her. Proceed on to TunnelArmr. Be sure to pick up the one unopened chest and get the Thunder Rod before you get to the fight. Boss 6: TunnelArmr Have Celes Runic the first turn. Whenever Tunnelarmr casts a spell, have her select Runic wheneved the spell's name appears on the screen. She should have her bar full at this point, and you should press the A button when you see her sword raise up to catch the spell. You will need to learn this timing now, because Celes is VITAL to surviving in a low level game. Have Locke in the Back Row with Guardian and RunningShoes. Make him fight every time he has enough hp to take another hit without dieing. if his hp gets too low, potion or tonic him. Celes should hold off the magic long enough for you to kill him. Narshe Revisited: Set up your 7-man army. Give everyone a green beret. Set up a first team of Celes, Gau, Sabin, and Cyan. The other two don't matter. As soon as the fight begins, go down and a little left. If you look carefully, you will find a single space where the first wave does not come next to you at all. As soon as the one on the left is past, go down and into the little space that goes d,l,d,l,l,l,wall. Let the second wave go by. Then get past Rider. If done right, you have just enough speed to hit A when you get next to Kefka and none of your other people will have to fight anything else. Boss 7: Kefka Pretty straightforward. Have Celes use the Runic tactics you HOPEFULLY perfected while fighting TunnelArmr. From there, go AuraBolt, Dispatch, and Stray Cat. Gau himself has the firepower to win, but the other two make it easier on him. Take Edgar on to the next place. Buy supplies in South Figaro, then go back and get Gau, Celes, Locke, and Cyan. Also be sure to loot the room that Lone Wolf will later appear in. Take The group straight on through to Zozo. In the first fight, have Gau use Pteradon. Now magnitude 8 can't kill everyone. From this point on, RUN! Get the chainsaw and go straight on to Dadaluma, because if you run into a slam dancer and it uses Ice 2 on everyone, You're dead. Boss: Dadaluma I suggest first that you have Celes Use Runic so Dadaluma can not use Safe. Then use Dispatch and either Stray Cat or Over-Mind. Let Locke be the utility man. Ignore the two lackeys that show up and you should be able to hurt Dadaluma enough before they hurt you. Once Dadaluma uses Safe, let Celes Use Ice on him. The espers you gain will benefit you only in thier abilities themselves, not in spells (yet, anyway) because you can not win fights to gain Magic Points. Go on to the Opera House with the same party. Opera House: Give Gau Runningshoes. Give Cyan a white Cape. The first obstacle you will face is the Rats. You must be quick to win, using Over-Mind and Dispatch accordingly. They kill Locke Quickly. This is also your first time with forced EXP Gains. Mnrogar has goten by with only 1 fight, I got by with only two. This put Gau and Cyan up to level 7. From this point, you should try to avoid them as much as possible, but remember the clock is ticking, and becomes a serious factor. If you get into a fight with 5 rats, reset. If you get three rats, you'll do with only one level gained, unless you're superman like mnrogar and get by without a single level gained. Boss 8: Ultros Have Gau rage Hazer. If you get several Bolt 2's, you'll do great. If you want, give him an earring before the fight. Ultros counters Dispatch with some bad spell i can't remember, but if you have the potions, let Locke potion him and Cyan Dispatch. Rinse lather, and repeat. Not much easier than round one, but much less frusterating. Get Celes back, remember to equip her, and go on to Vector. Vector: First, avoid the Joker's around town at all costs. Joker's have Flash Rain, an ICE element spell that will kill everyone unless Gau uses a rage that absorbs Ice. Then they smack him and you're dead. Next, go to the stall, say you hate the Empire, and run from the fight. Instant Recovery Spring! Inside the factory, pick up whatever you can. The armor is good, and the element swords add 2 to your magic power. Boss 9: Ifrit and Shiva Running Shoes on Gau. Runic whatever you can, and let Gau Rage Over-Mind. Elf Fire can take out Shiva lickety-split. Boss 10: Number 024 This one is your call. Dispatch and Runic will work well, but his element walls will make some rages ineffective. You may want Stray Cat here, if you think he'll null out Templar or Over-Mind. This will get you along Fine until the mine cart ride. Mine Cart Ride: Who you use will determine what enemies you fight. With this team and Gau on top, I only ran into blue Mag Roaders, meaning less EXP for me. Over-Mind can kill a blue in a single hit. I managed to get through with one level for Gau, one for Cyan, and 2 for Locke. This gave me just enough MP for Carbunkle, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Boss 10: Number 128 The fight before use Phantom to make your party invisible. Have Cyan have Phantom. Go with Hazer and dispatch, let Locke hit the middle a few times, and when Vanish gets removed by a spell, have cyan use Phantom again. This one will take a few tries, but eventually Gau gets into a rut of always using Bolt 2 on the middle. Over-Mind is not recommended as it is undead and the potions used to help Gau will kill him. Save when you finally win. Then go on to the Cranes. I will give the same info i posted on GameFAQ's Boards for him. It reads as follows: Boss 11: Cranes "Locke: give him Ninga gear, guardian, Sneak ring, and running shoes to max out his speed. Start by having him use Carbunkle (at level 7, he had 37 mp... one more than needed) Gau: Stray Cat Rage. Pray your first hit is catscratch right. Cyan: here's the kicker...Give him two earrings (YES TWO) and make sure he has nothing that lowers speed. Have him use the Thunder Rod you got from the South Figaro cave (If you got the tincture instead...I pity you). At lvl 8, Cyan does circa 1850 points to ths Right crane. IT MUST BE THE RIGHT! The left will absorb the damage and then kick you off the airship. Now, if you did it right, the right crane will have taken over 2000 (my gau catscratches 300+) and dies. Then, with everyone Rflected, You need only batter the right one. At this point, i had Gau catscratch (with running shoes, he pulls them off rapid fire), Cyan Dispatch, and Locke and Setzer attack. Make sure you use Locke and Setzer are HEAL FIRST, FIGHT SECOND, and don't use slots...too unreliable. Unless he gets off Magnitude8 or Giga Volt (Which is why i don't use the Hazer rage), You'll survive." As a second alternative (i.e. NO DAMN THUNDER ROD!) use the Marshall Rage elsewise you are in trouble. After this, go through the story as normal. Be sure to get the Gold Hairpin from Lone Wolf, as it is much more effective (and better on your levels) to avoid getting Mog. Also, go back to the veldt and get yerself some rages. Slam Dancer and General (Ice2 and Cure2, respectively) are good. Build up some money for supplies, restock at Edgar's Discount plaza (Figaro), and be sure to buy Golem and Zoneseek. BE SURE TO! Then, when you are confident about how many spells everyone has, go on into the sealed Cave. Sealed Cave: Don't fight Ninjas. Loot what you can. Nothing major happens. Vector again: Be sure to unlock the door with all the money inside. It's the third thing offered at the banquet. Then take Locke and Terra to Thamasa. Thamasa: Be sure to steal some Gaia Gears. Boss 12: FlameEater Once again, the voice of GameFAQs. "Terra lvl.7 have her use Ice. Strago lvl. 9 Thankfully, my first guy with over 50 MP...Aqua Rake and Bismark. Locke lvl.7 Have him use Zoneseek Esper, then keep you alive... Now, here's the lyncher...having visited the colliseum and every treasure chest imaginable, I had a Hero Ring and 3 Earrings. So, relics looked like this... T-Earring/Earring S-Earring/Hero Ring L-Sneak Ring/Running shoes (+5 speed and haste!) Now, if you use the Rod first, YOU WILL DIE! He reflects himself and either Fire 2 or 3's off the reflect and him onto you, or Fire Balls you...either kills you. But he only does this when his HP is LOW! So then, lower him to in Range for the Rod, which means this. Do 3200 damage to him without Morphing. Then Morph Terra and have her use the Ice Rod as an Item. At 44 M.pwr, you do +/- 5250. he has 8400 HP. You do the Math. A second strategy is donated here: I have a good strategy for Flame Eater. First, remember that the Flame Eater dies once MP is 0. My strategy, have everyone with Wall Rings on. Make sure Terra and Locke have learned Rasp, Osmose and Dispel. Give Strago a Hero Ring. When the Battle starts, have Strago use Aqua Rake or an Ice Rod to finish off the Balloons. Do this everytime he use Bomblett. Flame Eater counter attacks with Fire 2 everytime you do something to it, that's what the Wall Rings are for. Have Terra and Locke repeatedly use Rasp and Osmose. He may heal himself when he reflects his Fire 2 off you, but that doesn't matter, he is only wasting his MP. The worst thing that can happen to you is when he use Bomblett, he summons a Grenade. When he cast Reflect and Safe on himself, Dispel it, and continue. In time, his MP will hit 0, and he will die. Tell me if you find this tactic useful, Shark. Now, go on to the cave. Mt. Something-or-other: Boss 13: Ultros 3 Put wall rings on everyone. Be ready in case of Tentacles. I don't think they kill you yet, but it's good insurance to be prepared. Hopefully you let Terra learn some 2 spells on the veldt, along with Locke. Use them here. Terra with an Earring or two and Morph is very powerful. If you hit him with magic only, he'll only hit you with spells that will be reflected. Strago has no magic, so give him a Heal Rod. When Relm shows up, you know what to do. From here on, make final preperations for the Floating Continent. You should: Use the veldt to make enough money till you get Airship 2 Have everyone learn Rasp and Osmose Have plenty of Tinctures That said, It's time for the IAF(!): Imperial Air Force: These guys are a PAIN! A spit fire is capable of using Absolute Zero first turn, which will kill you before you move. So how does one combat this? With Locke. Giving him Sneak Ring, Guardian, Runningshoes, and anything else that increases speed. He should have just enough to use Siren before Spit Fire acts. When he uses Siren, Spit Fire is silenced, thus allowing you to live through an attempt to use Absolute Zero. Take Terra and Gau along too. Terra's Magic strength you need and Gau's exp gaining ability also. (I'll explain this later) Be sure to let Terra have Zoneseek on the whole time. The extra plus 8 in Magic power is a LOT of help later down the road. This'll take about 5 fights to complete, then Ultros appears. Boss 14: Ultros 4 and Chupon Give Terra two earrings, and let her tear into Ultros with Fire 2 till Chupon appears. Then let her tear into Chupon with Ice 2 until you are sneezed away. Boss 15: Imperial Air Force This gets Nasty. First, you need to use Zoneseek so Atomic Ray does not destroy you to the tune of 500 HP. Then, Morph Terra. If she can pull off three Bolt 2's with over 50 M.power and two earrings, You'll win before IAF launches a speck. If you see a speck, you're dead on the water. Floating Continent: Get Shadow. Don't fight Gigantos, he gives exp. Avoid Ninjas like the plague. Save before you fight AtmaWeapon. Boss 16: Atmaweapon Zoneseek for Meteo, which misses quite often. Golem for physicals. Gaia gear for quake. Everyone but Shadow should have rasp and osmose. Let Shadow keep you healed and nuke away all his MP's. It will take a short while, but when you do this he tends not to use Meteo on you (good thing!) Go on through till you recieve Celes and have 6 minutes left. Some wish to unload Gau here so his EXP won't count against the team. I choose not to, but if you wish to, do so. It is a tactic used to reach the maximum lowest levels. Enemy: Naughty If you use Bolt Two (Terra) and a Gau Rage for it (Ghost, Hazer, Joker) you may kill him fast enough. If you don't have Sprint shoes, though, Vanish-Break is the only way you can win in time. You must win against these guys and make it to Nerapa with about 1:30 left. Boss 17: Nerapa Move everyone to the front and fight. Pray for lots of catscratches. Wait for Shadow. ::pause for world destruction:: Good for you, you're half way through. Now the good stuff begins! World of Ruin: I arrived here with Celes at level 8. She ended at lvl 7, but with Gau at 11 and Terra at 10, everyone was bumped to eight if they were under it. Which started with Celes. Make it off the island. Put on a jeweled Ring. Obtain Sabin. Go to Mobliz. Fight Phunbaba for Fenrir. Boss 18: Phunbaba Celes lvl 8 spells:cure, ice, rflect, antdt Thunderblade-Gold shld-Green beret-Gaia gear Wall ring-Running shoes Sabin lvl. 8 spells:none Fire knuckle-Mythril shld-Green beret-Gaia gear Running shoes-wall ring First thing is first. He can NOT hit both of you except for bolt 2 and bolt 3, which are now reflected by the wall rings. Secondly, Running shoes will make you as fast as him. Now, you must be completely reactive in this battle. At lvl 8, 2 normal hits, Solar Plex, and Blow Fish ALL kill you. However, he can only kill you one at a time. Therefore, you will always be able to use Fenix down with the other character immediately! this way, one of you stays alive, even if only at 20 hp. So then your Priorities are as follows: 1. Fenix down 2. Potion 3. Runic 4. Aurabolt If someone dies, immediately use Fenix down. If both are alive and one hurt, use potion. Have Celes use Runic as much as possible. Now, either one of two things will happen. 1. he will have a string of missed and runiced attacks, thus allowing you to aurabolt 10,000 away at 300 a pop. 2. Runic and make him spend all his (Blow fish 50, Bolt 3 53, bolt 2 22) MP away, allowing you to Phantom and smack him around, completely untouched, since he now has no magic. Both require massive amouts of fenix down. I hope you opened the locked room at the base next to the cave, i spent over 30 Fenix downs and I won the fast way, without draining all the HP out. From here go all the way to Figaro Castle Boss 19: Tentacles. Use wall rings and Bio can't touch you. Use RunningShoes because you can't be grabbed if you don't have slow. THey die fairly quick. top left is weakest, bottom right strongest (4000-7000 hp) From here on, go all the way to Darryl's tomb like normal, except running from every fight. Darryl's Tomb: You know the drill. Get everything you can find. Boss 20: Presenter Use Shoat for TWO Dragon Claws. Boss 21: Dullihan 1. He only uses physical attacks to counter you're attacking him. Attacking is completely unnessecary. 2. Give as many wall rings as possible and Runningshoes for Celes. Use Runic immediately after every turn Dullihan does. Drain him down to where "Ice 3: Need MP" Use Rasp once. He dies when his MP runs out, and he'll only touch you if you mistime a runic (Celes + Runningshoes makes her speed= Dullihan's). If you make that mistake, all his spells that do damage are reflectable. That's what the wall Rings are for. I have been told he occasionally uses absolute Zero, but I never had it used on me. Just pray he never does it, there's really very little you an do about it at this point. Now you have an airship. Time to fly! The first stop is easy. Have Sabin visit Duncan and learn Bum Rush. Congrats! With two earrings, he can now do 2000 damage a turn at no cost! Next go buy 4 cherub downs. Dirt Dragon now can't touch you so go kill him. Just Bum Rush and realize he counters physically after every hit you do on him. The next step is to go inside the Zone eater. No, it's not time for Gogo, a lvl 10 Gogo will factor in to your levels too badly right now. Instead, just loot the place for it's sheilds and armors. Then, do the same for mount Zozo, but bring out Cyan with you. Seeing as you only have two Thunder shlds, avoid Storm Dragon. You can't beat him yet, anyway. Your next target, now that you have 5 people, should be to play on the veldt. Veldt: Bring Celes, Sabin, and Edgar. Pick up Gau (11). Make sure you learn the Rhinox rage (you met him in the Magitek factory...) before you enter the... Cave on the Veldt: Pick up the striker. Fenix down Allo Ver for the Tiger Fangs. Boss 22: Sr.Behemoth Some notes on Sr Behemoth, first. Uses Ice Magic. Hates Fire and Poison 19,000 HP Here's my party Sabin lvl 8 Tiger Fangs, Ice Shld, Red Cap, Dark Gear, 2x Earrings Celes lvl. 8 Crystal, Crystal shld, Gengi Helm, White Dress, Running Shoes, Gold Hairpin Edgar lvl. 8 (Golem) Man Eater, Thunder Shld, Green Beret, Crystal Mail, R shoes, Zephyr Cape Gau lvl. 11 Aegis Shld, Green Beret, Dark Gear, R Shoes, White Cape Have Edgar use Golem on the first turn. It will buy time by removing his Phys attacks. The eqipment listed here is unusual in some cases, but there is a theme...It Raises MBlock%! Why? Because SrBehemoth knows Meteo. That spell can't be Runiced, but it CAN miss... Mentioning Runic...DON'T Do it! You will need Gau's rage to work properly. Now what in the world Rage could be beneficial against a spell that does 1000 Damage!?! Rhinox, of course. Rhinox is the Life 3 Rage. Use It! Have Celes and Edgar keep you healed, and make them use Bio or Fire 2 all other times. Sabin is your main Damager Here. But why does he have two Earrings? Because Bum Rush uses MAGIC to determine Damage! Two earrings at lvl 8 push up Bum Rush to 2000 damage. Manage to use it 9 times and when he appears behind you, use a Fenix down. Now that Shadow's available, Bet the Stunner and go get him! You Now have Celes, Sabin, Edgar, Shadow, Setzer, Cyan, and Gau. With Terra and Locke higher then average because of the IAF, you need someone else to get besides them. Gogo and Mog are out because of higher levels. That leaves Relm and Strago. So first thing's first. It's time to go to Jidoor. Jidoor: Take the group of Celes, Edgar, Sabin, and Cyan first. The first fight against the two Dahlings is simple. If everyone lives, you have the exp space so that no one gains a level. But there's another fight that must be done. Who could win, and who would benefit from exp? Well, Gau alone wouldn't be right. We've gone so far taking all my EXP like a man, right to the jaw. So, let's take someone never used to go with Gau. Take Gau and Setzer. Vanish them so that they aren't killed by thrown attacks. Take them all the way to Still-life. Have Gau use Over-Mind or Brainpan...any undead Rage will do, so that the condemned doesn't wipe you out. It will split exp in half, thus giving setzer one level and Gau one, instead of two or three for Gau. Now, with Still life beat and a path to Chardanook open, go to the Veldt. Leap Gau so his lvl 12 doesn't count against you. Then go fight Chardanook. Boss 23: Chardanook Chardanook is an unusual boss in the fact that, unlike when fighting the other bosses when you needed to move at lightspeed to avoid being killed, Chardanook requires massive amounts of patience. You will need Sabin, for the Bum Rush, and Celes, for her runic ability. Bring your two fastest guys with you, as well. Now, if you go through the places I have designated so far, you will have two thunder shields and an Ice Shield. Chardanook's main counter attacks are Bolt Spells, and Flash Rain. Flash Rain is an Ice elemental attack, which means putting on the right shield will save your ass. Now, here's the deal. DO NOT ATTACK THE LADY FOR ANY REASON! She counter attacks with Phantasm, which will drain the HP out of you and cause you to spend time worrying about running low instead of having your fast guys sit and prepare to keep the party healthy. Have Celes sit there with a Runic on. Have Sabin sit there and do nothing. As soon as she begins the transformation to evil dude, enter the commands for Bum Rush. Have him use this as many times as possible, but only on the evil dude. Whenever he uses a runicable spell, switch to Celes and have her use Runic again. If you don't...PAIN! The shields are for insurance. The other two are to keep Celes and Sabin healthy. About 8 to 10 Bum Rushes will work. If it ain't doing enough, put a few earrings on him. Now go to the fanatics tower and get Strago. You are now left with three people you need to get: Gogo, Locke, and Terra. Mog has unusually high levels for this (13) so I decided he wasn't worth getting. I'll already have my twelve. So go pick up Terra. When you get down to it, Phunbaba is vulnerable to sleep. Now go get Gogo. He has no boss to beat. Your Next trip? Doma Castle. Wrexsoul is still vulnerable to X-zone. The only real worry here is the Three Stooges. Here's how to beat them. Boss 24: Three Stooges Celes lvl 8, Sabin lvl.8, Terra lvl. 11 Equipment notes: Wall rings for everyone, Sabin gets running shoes, Terra and Celes get Enhancer (Plus 7 M.Pwr...Yippie!), Celes gets Gold Hairpin Battle sequence: Terra, sleep-Curley (top one). Sabin Stop, Bottom front one, Celes X-Zone (kills bottom left one) Celes only has 52 max mp at lvl. 8, hence the Gold Hairpin (which you should have two of now) From here out, Bum Rush all the time, Morph Terra and have her use the stronget spell you have available (for me: Bio) on curley so he doesn't bring anyone back to life. Have Celes run utilities and make sure that they all stay sleeping/stopped. Shouldn't take too long... Next go loot Kefka's tower. Defeat the Gold Dragon because he gets stuck trying to cast Rflect and gets it Runiced every time. Bring out Force Shld, Minerva, and as Many Thunder Shlds as you want. They can all be gotten with Team 2. Then, take Gogo and Terra to Mt. Zozo Boss 25: Storm Dragon Lvl. 11 terra Enhancer, Force Shld, Mystery Veil, Minerva, White Cape x 2 (M.Block % 119) Gogo lvl 10 Magus Rod, Thunder shld, Gold Hairpin, Running shoes (rest irrelavent) With this setup, Terra will become almost impossible to hit physically, and all that can hit her special attack wise is rage. But she alone doesn't have the offense to beat Storm Dragon. So...I pulled out my Gogo! Stormy says Rage first turn. This setup allows Terra to take 180 damage...thing is, she has 241 HP...I SURVIVED STORM...I DON'T NEED Gogo TO RAGE RHINOX...YIPPIE! From that point on, morph Terra, Fenix down Gogo, and Step Mine him to death. Since Stormy can't Rage twice before you can use potion, it's a simple war of attrition, and with proper suplies, it won't belong till he keeled over. Now all that is left people-wise is Locke. Phoenix Cave: If you have problems running into a group of enemies you can't possibly run from (meaning only Phases), reset. While savestates have you fighting every same interval of steps, the intervals change randomly when you save. If you can't run, it's becuase there's a phase alive. Fenix down the two necromancrs and go after the phase (the floating Head) Boss 26: Red Dragon. Flame Shield from Gogo's...Use it! Bring Locke on out. Win the Illumina. See the narshe note below on how to get Ragnarok, and bet it at the colisseum. Set up Celes with Enhancer, Force shld, Red Cap, Force Armr, and 2 White Capes. With her M.block% at 129, she Runiced both of Didalos' flares, and he ran out of ways to hit her. Then she runs out of MP. So, after 200 hits of 61-67 hp, she finally ran him out of hp. This takes a good hour, but is worth it. Rages worth getting at this time: Karkass, Crawler, and SrBehemoth. (Bolt 3, Step Mine, Fire 3, respectively) Next is Narshe. Narshe: Be careful here. Most characters are level 8, and a good number of enemies use lvl. 4 Flare. Start by getting the Ragnarok Sword, and going to get the Illumina (see previous note on how to). Then, get the cursed Shld. After this, go pay a visit to Ice Dragon Boss 27: Ice Dragon Bring Gogo and Strago. Have Locke and Terra feed them Tinctures. Step Mine like crazy. Have everyone equipped with Force eqiuipment and/or Ice shlds. Give Strago or Gogo the Magus Rod. Go nuts. Boss 28: Tritoch See above and be ready to use Fire on your own party as needed. Boss 29: Umaro See Ice dragon. Go visit Figaro and take a ride underground. Ancient Castle: Pick up everything as usual. Get Odin. Don't change him, as Meteor is more useful than Quick (and more useable, seeing as Gogo and Strago will have the Gold Hairpins for Step Mine) Boss 30: Blue Dragon High M.Block percentage blocks all water attacks. Fry the sucker. Boss 31: Katana Soul On the third magic attack against him, he uses GP Rain, which kills everyone without Life 3...and he follows it up with a Skean. But Muddle him and he uses Slayer's Edge on himself. If only all bosses were this easy. Now leave. You can go to Ebot's rock now, but it's not nessecary. Just bring a life 3 for if you want to learn Grand Train. Fanatics Tower: Wall Ring everyone as usual. here's the weaknesses to exploit. lv 10 and 50: undead 20, 30, 70: Doom 40: Break (he vanishes himself 80: Bio 60: Mute 90: Stop (this son of a gun knows Meteor!) For Magimaster, you have life 3. Use it! ...And now that you have the safety Bit, Bet an Aura in the colliseum and set up Gogo with mimic and steal. Let him go in and try to steal from Aquila and get an Economizer. I never pulled it off, but bet the Strato you win and get another Aura...Infinite loop, anyone? Kefka's Tower: (Note, you have already beaten Gold Dragon at this point) (Note, deequip the party everytime you switch. You do not have enough equipment to survive with more than one party at a time.) Party 1: Terra, Locke, Shadow, Gogo Party 2: Celes, Strago, Edgar, Setzer Party 3: Relm, Gau, Sabin, Cyan If you run into GT behemoth Vanish him and use X-zone. The Vectaur will live and you can still run away. Boss 32: Atma For this fight, i went with the no MP kill because he has counters for the attacks i use to kill him HP wise. (Meteor!) Yes i do have Life 3, but at this point, i am not fast enough to do anything before he gets another free shot while my post-death bar recharges. Now, Rule one: BRING CELES because ULTIMA is RUNICABLE! Rule two: When a battle has everyone's bar full before you can make actions (I.e. pre battle talking), you start at the bottom and work your way up. So then, have the first three guys use Rasp, then have Celes use Runic. Runic will pick up whatever spell Atma Uses (except S.cross) and then wear off, allowing you to use three more Rasps. If Atma starts to glow, Have Celes use Rasp, then do nothing. As soon as you see the words, Ultima, do your Rasps. Ultima will be runiced. It is also important that you maintain a speed advantage by going as soon as you see the spell, before Celes even does the "Sword in the air" movement. Now, how can i possibly have a party of 3 lvl 8's and one lvl. 9 with the defense to survive? Like this. (note, you will need to take group three and get the second Aegis shld before hand) Celes:(8) Enhancer Force shld Mystery Veil Force Armr White Cape Wall Ring Edgar:(8) Illumina Aegis Shld Red Cap Force Armr white Cape Wall Ring Strago:(9) Magus Rod Force Shld Gengi Helm Nutkin Suit Running Shoes Wall Ring Setzer:(8) Man Eater Aegis Shld Red Cap Gengi armr Wall Ring Crystal Orb With two people at over 128 M.Block% and Strago and Setzer at 50 and 90 or so, Just remember to use Items Revive strago or Setzer asap when they die with at least Edgar (who is practically invincible). (By the way, At this point, Atma does not have the strength to hit and kill Setzer with a single physical hit!) finish party two up to the switch room. Take party 3 and go on through to the same switch room. For Inferno, leave the arms alive and Squat and Grunt out some Bolt 3's on the body. Take Party One through to the three party room. Go to the left and move the switch. Take Party Two to the right and hit the switch. Take Party three through to Guardian Boss 33: Guardian Perperation notes: This guy is open to attacks from only three elements; Slow, Bolt, and Water. My suggestion is to begin the battle with an immediate slow on him, followed by a Haste2 on your party. This will give you a much needed speed boost, helping you tremendously. Second, his attacks. He biegins with a basic program (missle and Tek Laser), then goes into the Ultros Battle program, leaving one of two choices. Either he will use Entwine, and slow you all down, or tentacle, and smack you all hard. I suggest using Phantom here, and if Entwine happens, go with Haste2 followed by a vanish spell or two, just in case. There's one other spell you should worry about: Heat Ray. I pumped up Relm and a Red Jacketed Sabin will take care of that though. Attacks...eguipment...attacks...equipment...lets do Equipment first... Relm (8) Magus Rod Force Shld Mystery Veil Tao Robe W. Cape x 2 Cyan (8) Scitmar Force shld Gengi Helm Force Armr W.Cape x 2 Gau (12) Aegis Shld Red Cap ("359 hp Woo Hoo!") Dark Gear W.Cape x 2 Sabin (8) Tiger Fang Gengi Shld Red Cap Red jacket Earrings x 2 Now, notice thre is a problem with this team. The lack of ability to equip Illumina makes for only ONE perfect defender (relm, at 129 M.Block %) However, by giving Red Caps out and Maxing out whatever defense and M.Block% possible (notice the six White Capes used), i was able to allow them to endure what hits were presented. For attacks: Gau used Crawler for Step Mine, currently my highest Attack at 2600 plus per use. Sabin (with double Earrings for added offense) Was in Bum Rush mode. Relm and Cyan worked Utility jobs, with Relm using Bolt 2 whenever applicable (800+ damage) Side note: Conserve Tinctures, Potions, and Fenix downs by having one team on a save point, allowing all three teams to use Tents and Save at any time. Next, Go on to Poltergiest. Boss 34: Poltergeist Setup is identical to the previous one. Poltergeist has one Glaring weakness that should be utilized to it's top most capacity: Stop Fighting this guy is like fighting the three stooges. Halt every available attacker (In this case, one) and then pound away as much as possible. Relm (my Relm) Was useless in this battle except as utility, but Cyan did nicely, constantly feeding Poltergiest a nice diet of stop. Gau Step Mined and Sabin Bum Rushed. By the way, he has two main counter spells to your attacks: Fire 3 (thank you Red Jacket!) and Flare Star (which with my setup, did an incredible 90, 90, 180, and 0 damage, each character respectively as listed in last boss) Leave party 3 on the save spot. Now all parties can use tents. Switch to Party 1 and Go after Doom. Boss 35: Doom This boy is effected by slow and Pearl. Start with slow and go from there. With locke and Terra over 128 m.block%, this guy was of very little worry. I had two that were only hittable by Demon's Rage (and that had to be forewarned by Targetting). Shadow had a fun time throwing everything including the kitchen sink at this guy, and Gogo did a nice job of Step Mine-ing him for 2600 a pop (45 MP with Gold Hairpin) A crystal orb let Gogo go SM, SM, Osmose (rinse, lather, repeat as nessecary) I tried to steal with Locke, but never succedded. he was a utility man otherwise. And Reverse polarity is a time waster, ignore it as his hits will never touch Locke and Terra and always (almost) kill Shadow and Gogo from either Row. Terra: i had mix in Pearl with Dispel when he used Forcefeild. Forcefield nullifies one element at a time and makes Rflect on him... hence the need for Dispel. My equipment and team? Terra:(11) Enhancer F.Shld M.Veil F.Armr W,Cape x 2 Shadow:(8) Stunner F.Shld R.Cap Gengi Armr M. Ring R. Shoes Locke:(9) Illumina (I love this sword) Aegis Shld R.Cap F. armr W.cape R.shoes Gogo:(10) M.Rod A.Shld G.Helm T.Robe G.Hairpin C.Orb Take them up to the glow switch. Switch to Party 2 Boss 36: Goddess Goddess is immune to all status immunities except image and clear... image and clear...why does that sound useful? Now if memory serves me, clear allows me to use any spell i want and guarentee it will hit the target. It will not always work positively, but it will always hit. For example, Vanish Break will not give a miss message, but you will not defeat the opponent if he or she is immune to petrify. You simply watch it reappear. So then, if there are no status attacks i can use benificially, then what can i do that is helpful? White magic is out (Goddess ain't undead, ya know). So then, would a normal black spell help? If i took advantage of edgar's Debilitator, i could max out my elemental damage with 1700 with quake. Not bad, but now i must float four people. The highest damage period is, you guesed it, Strip Mine, clocking in at 2617 even. Here's my problem. Every eighth counterattack is overcast, making permanent zombies out of everyone but the person with my single Safety Bit (strago). So, I must do 44000 in about 8 turns. If my max damager is 2617, i need a special damager...a percentage damager. Go back to the clear status. Use Demi after vanish, and...Maxing out the damage...quotient, i hit for 9999 the first time. And the second. And the third. The fourth? 7010. The fifth? 3500. He now uses Overcast, having been hit by enough spells to do so. So what do i do? Enter Strago. Step Mine 2617. Tincture from Setzer. Step Mine 2617 more. Wait, 2617x2 is more than 3500... For the MP needed to pull this off, I gave Edgar the Crystal orb and Setzer and Strago Gold Hairpins (another advantage of not taking Mog...) (Note: There are other ways to do this. This was simply the only successful one i could afford to use.) Now, enter the final Battle. Equip Terra and Celes for 128 Mblock, Terra with the Illumina. Bring Strago with Crystal Orb and Gold Hairpin and Magus Rod. Bring Sabin with whatever you have left and to earrings. Last Bosses: Final Fight. For 1st tier, Slow the front hand and doom the first. Step Mine and Bum Rush the remains away. Head has no weaknesses, and it's a good time to Life 3 everyone. For second tier, doom the middle part and Mute the back. The back can be lv. 4 Flared, and the Tiger responds VERY poorly to Bio. The rest is easy, cheesy, but don't beat the top right last! He ends with 10 Hits, which can kill both Strago and Sabin. You'll need them for... El Tecero: He starts right off the bat with Merton. This will kill Strago and Celes. Bring both Back, string some Bum Rishes and Step mines to the female head first. This eliminates Pearl Wind. Then take out the other half. He dies and uses Calmness, which will kill one member. If you want this party to keep going, have everyone Life 3'ed. Final Boss: His attacks are: Havoc Wing- phys and strong. Won't hit terra or Celes Train: Random status ailments. 0mp Fallen One: Hp down to 1. 20 mp Goner: 400 to 1800 damage. Strongest Magic attack period. 20 MP Replaces Fallen One at 32000 HP Hyperdrive: Real strong. 0 MP used as counter under 30000 HP Ultima/Meteor: counters after 10000 HP or less Fire/Ice/Bolt 3: random Spells Revenger: Complete Dispel 0 MP Goner happens every three turns after it begins. Two turns and one to speak, then Goner. With your current party, you shouldn't have the ability to beat him HP wise while he can use Goner. So...Rasp away his MP, if you have the time. I took 3 hours to do so. Yours could take longer. He has 38000 MP to start. Use a calculator to keep track because he can't be scanned. All his Attacks and thier costs are above. Good Luck. ---- This FAQ is the exclusive Copyright of Steve Partin. Written Saturday, August 18th, 2001. Edited on Sunday, October 20th, 2002. E-Mail me at SharkESP@aol.com All feedback welcome. You may read this and use it's advice to your hearts content. It will be on my homepage and any other web site i send it to. If i do not e-mail it to you myself, you may not under any circumstances post it on your page. "So Don't Steal my Work, )^$$$^&$$(&$&$"