================================================================================ Grandia III ================================================================================ Complete US Version Walkthrough 1.0 by: glennkcl ----------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 01. Version History 02. Introduction 03. Tips 04. Walkthrough 05. Extras a) Mana Egg Fusion b) Arrange Dice c) Aerial Combos d) Seeds e) Easter Eggs and Bloopers 06. Contact 07. Thanks/Credits -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 01. Version History »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02/14/06 Version 1.0: (Complete) This walkthrough should be fairly complete by the time the game releases in the states. Although this is a complete walkthrough, it is by no means comprehensive. Readers will notice that I don't include things like an item list or treasure chest locations, but I'm positive the many other splendid authors will fill the void. As the first guide for the US version of Grandia III, I trust that it can be use- ful for at least a few people until the community has spent some time with this game and start coming up with better and more informative text. As always, I'm gonna take a leap of faith and say I've written down all I CARE to write down for this game, and I'm not planning on updating for another version, but feel free to write in and shower me with rants or raves. =) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 02. Introduction »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next chapter in the Grandia series returns with Grandia III, and comes back with arguably one of the best RPG battle systems ever seen in any game. Comple- menting this outstanding combat system are gorgeous visuals that paint the world of Grandia III in rich colors and wonderful detail. Add to that mix a cast of characters with complex histories and tragic fates, and you have the recipe for what could be one of the best RPGs of the year. I read somewhere that this game could be completed inside of 25-30 hours. Now, despite what can be said about my skill as a gamer, let me assure readers that your first time playing this game WILL PROBABLY YIELD MUCH MORE than 25-30 hours. The first disc starts off easy enough, but once you reach the last few levels, this game is under no circumstances easy. Without taking the time to develop some of your characters strengths and skill sets, this game can be downright nasty. A more accurate estimate would place this game at around 35-40 hours for beginners. From the Grandia III website: "Sky Captain Schmidt was a legendary flyer who flew faster and further than anyone in the world. Although he has faded from the memories of most, he is still an inspiration to a generation of aspiring young pilots. On Titalos Island in the middle of the great Belion Sea is a peaceful village called Anfog. Tucked away in a corner of this village is a simple garage from which the sounds of hammering can be heard. Inspired by tales of Sky Captain Schmidt, a young man named Yuki is building his own airplane. "Someday I'll leave this village and fly over the sea, all teh way to the mainland!" he thinks to himself. His eyes grow distant, imagining the vast sky stretching out in front of him. Nearby, a flaming arrow slices through the night. A horse-drawn carriage races through the forest just ahead of its pursuers. "I must get to Arcriff...!" This thought alone allows Alfina to face her fears and take this dangerous journey. Fate brings these two young people together just as the world is about to fall apart..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 03. Tips »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Always try to stun an enemy before engaging it. - Use Special Moves often to develop their maximum potential. - Kill the Lucky Mink. - Extract skills from books you will no longer use. - Always fuse weaker eggs into stronger ones. - KILL the Lucky Mink. - Some items, like Sheepskin, exist for no other reason that for being sold. - Try to defeat enemies with an Aerial Combo. Rare items drop more frequently. - KILL THE LUCKY MINK (you'll see). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 04. Walkthrough »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Game begins in Anfog Village, a small village in the woods whose residents stake their claim to fame as skilled potters. Yuki, the main character, is also expected to grow up as a potter, but his dreams are to follow in the footsteps of his idol, Schmidt. He works day and night, occasionally neglecting other responsibilities to realize that dream with his buddy, Rotts. Together, they make plans to take to the air once more... ================= Anfog Village ================= Your first task is to retrieve a flight unit from Miranda. Head to Miranda's house to find it, but you can speak to NPCs along the way to discover a little more about the village and its residents. When you reach Miranda's house, speak to Miranda and check the cupboard in the kitchen to obtain what you're looking for. There is also a save point if you wish to save. Return to Rotts' Garage, and prepare for takeoff! ----- event ----- =============== Anfog Woods =============== After the event, Miranda and Yuki will encounter their first battle. A tutorial will give basic instructions and introduce all the major elements of the battle system. After the battle, walk down the path until you reach the crash site of the carriage for another event. ----- event ----- After you regain control of Yuki, save the game and head down the path that takes you to the southern-most tip of the map. ----- event ----- ================= Anfog Village ================= When the event finishes, you'll find yourself back at Miranda's house in Anfog Village. Head to Rotts' Garage to get a Healing Herb from one corner of the room. Return to Miranda's house and enter her room to meet Alfina. ----- event ----- A series of events occur and Yuki's attention is demanded outside. Save the game in Miranda's house and go outside to do battle with Kornell +---------------+ | Boss: Kornell | +---------------+ Your first encounter with Kornell will be a pushover. The game is still slowly introducing a few gameplay elements, so you will be guided through this battle with a lot of help text. After you defeat Kornell, the shops in the village will be open. Visit the magic shop and general store to equip yourself to your liking, and speak to Miranda when you're ready to leave the village. =============== Anfog Woods =============== Make your way through Anfog Woods and wrap up some final tutorials as you go. There are a few items to be found in chests and mushrooms, so take the time to interact with all the objects. There is a save point near the end of the map, and your exit is to the southwest. ====================== Anfog Woods - Camp ====================== The group sets up camp for the night in this part of the woods. You continue after a short event. During the dinner scene, cycle through each of the characters to advance the dialogue. When you've reached the end of the dialogue, an arrow marked "end" will appear of the head of one of the characters. ----- event ----- As you leave the campsite, you will trigger another short event, which leads into a battle with Kornell. +---------------+ | Boss: Kornell | +---------------+ This fight with Kornell is much tougher than your last bout with him, if only because he brings along his henchmen with him. Begin by dispatching of his two henchmen as soon as possible, and then concentrate on his Iron First. Without it, Kornell's offensive power becomes much weaker. If your characters are paced fairly evenly apart on the IP gauge, you almost always cancel his attacks, thereby removing any chance for him to hurt you. Nonetheless, watch your HP during this battle, and keep your party healthy. ======================= Anfog Woods - South ======================= More of the same here in the southern part of Anfog Woods. The path is long and fraught with peril, but there is a save point about halfway through. Make sure you open all the chests and destroy all the mushrooms for the goodies they hold, and exit to the south to reach Sabatar Coast. ================= Sabatar Coast ================= An event begins as you approach the coast, and you are introduced to Alonso, a swashbuckling, demi-human sailor. ----- event ----- After the event, feel free to save near the exit, then continue to the next area. ========================= Sabatar Coast - Beach ========================= The enemies are stronger here and occasionally attack in groups of 4 or more, so be careful as you proceed through this area. Try to begin each fight in a better strategic position by catching monsters off guard before you engage them. Alonso is actually a very welcome addition to your party, so use his strengths to your advantage. A few detours off the beaten path take you to chests. Explore the area completely before you leave. ================== Sabatar Harbor ================== You'll arrive at a small encampment populated by what seems to be a troupe of sailers, gamblers, and entertainers. The main attraction here is Bianca's Casino, which Alonso seems to have history with. Enter the casino tent for an event with Bianca, and witness a table game between Bianca and Alonso. ----- event ----- If you enter the other tent, you'll find a man who will sell you the Burnstrike fire spell for 168G. If you have the funds, help him out by buying the spell, but it isn't really necessary for the next few areas. Another man, who sells skills, is much more worthy of your patronage. By now your characters should each have a couple of skill slots, so make sure you boost their stats properly according to the role you want them to play in your party. There is a save spot here, but there's also one at your destination as well. Head to Alonso's ship to find it. ================= Alonso's Ship ================= When you enter the cabin, another event begins. ----- event ----- After the event, head down the cabin to reach the sleeping quarters where you'll find a save spot. Speak to Alonso to receive a medal, which you can use at the casino. Return to the casino to learn the rules of Arrange Dice, and play a few rounds. When you've had your fill, speak to Miranda to call it a night. The next morning, head back to the casino and watch the events unfold. ----- event ----- Bianca's been run outta town, but the casino has been put under new ownership. You can still play a few games if you're feeling lucky, or glean the praises of the locals as you walk around. Return to the ship and make ready for the wide open seas when you're ready. ----- event ----- Speak to Miranda to rest. Head back out onto the deck and walk to the bow to trigger a battle with a horde of enemies. +---------------+ | Boat Swallows | +---------------+ Individually they're pretty weak, but because boat swallows come in large numbers, your party can easily be overwhelmed if you don't have a proper strategy in place. Additionally, you fight them in two waves without time to heal in between. Nevertheless, if you haven't been avoiding every monster encounter, your party should be at a pretty good level to take them on at. Yuki can make short work of most of the swallows in each group with his Whirlwind special attack, and anyone who is equipped with Tremor can practically wipe out the whole group at once. Enemies left over should be easily overpowered. ----- event ----- Ulf and Shiba come to the aid of the party, and Yuki is instantly fascinated the strange red dragon. Speak to Shiba a few times, and return to the cabin to start a dinner event. Like the previous dinner event, cycle through each person's dialogue by placing the cursor over someone's head and pressing the confirm button. When you've reached the end of their conversation, look for the arrow marked "end" over Alonso's head. ----- event ----- When you wake up the next morning, the rest of the group is already outside bidding farewell to Ulf and Shiba. Head back out to the deck and say your good- byes for now. You'll be seeing them again soon. In the meantime, Randoto Island lay just ahead. ----- event ----- =================== Randoto - Inlet =================== As you head towards the caves, there is a save point. Use and/or proceed. =============================== Randoto - Underground Caves =============================== In this network of caves and corridors, you'll encounter a couple of new enemies that can be pretty tough. The Zoea is a lobster-like crustacean that has one very annoying move called the Lobster Quadrille. It hits for multiple times, but also has a chance to putting the character to sleep as well. Fishmen are creatures that look exactly as they sound - half fish, half man. Their attacks are fairly powerful, but can also put the entire party to sleep with the Snooze skill. Keep your party members healthy, however, and you shouldn't have any trouble making it out on the other side. Along they way, use your search ability to locate treasure chests. ============================ Randoto - Northwest Wall ============================ Not more than a few steps beyond the exit to the caves, a strange earthquake jolts the party. Discover its source by heading up the mountain. As you proceed, you'll see a chest sitting on a ledge separated by a seemingly uncrossable gap. Make clever use of the large boulder just at the top of the hill and collect bounty afterwards. This area is mostly infested by boat swallows of the same variety you've fought before, so nothing should be too terribly unexpected here. The worst part about boat swallows is their penchant to do a mating call, which summons one or more of their brethren into the field. ========================= Randato - Mountaintop ========================= The Lem tree is just around the corner at the top of the mountain. Before you can obtain the lem fruit tho, you'll have to do battle with a Minotaur and a group of minions. Save the game first, then approach the tree for battle. +----------+ | Minotaur | +----------+ If the fight was four against one, the Minotaur wouldn't stand a chance. His IP gauge speed is slow, so you can cancel most of his attacks before he manages to get one off. The problem, however, is that he enters this battle surrounded by fishmen. And no ordinary fishmen either; they're stronger and tougher, and more prone to sway from your attacks. Because the Minotaur has heaps of HP, concentrate on defeating the fishmen first. Use area damage magic and skills to deplete a lot of HP in as short an amount of time as possible, because the fishmen will cast Snooze on your party often. If Alfina is playing the role of healer, make sure she keeps herself healthy so she can cast curative spells on the rest of the members when necessary. Even without help, the Minotaur can still do devestating amounts of damage with his Ground Crush attack. If your party is evenly distributed around the IP gauge, however, you might not even need to worry about it at all. Just whittle away at his HP with critical attacks, and watch him fall in no time. After you defeat the Minotaur, pick up a lem fruit near the base of the tree. When you do, another mysterious earthquake happens, and the party gets separated for the time being. ===================== Strange Wasteland ===================== Follow the path around its bends and corners, and you'll eventually stumble upon a strange girl playing a stringed instrument. ----- event ----- During the dialogue, you discover you've been taken to the Verse Realm. The strange girl helps Yuki and Alfina find their way back to their own world, but as soon as they arrive, they find Miranda and Alonso surrounded by strange new monsters, and a particular creature called the Excise Sigma. +--------------+ | Excise Sigma | +--------------+ Like the Minotaur, the Excise Sigma isn't particularly strong by itself, but with a small group of the strange black Pico Alphas, he can be a downright nuisance. His strongest attack is the Anode, which is an lightning elemental attack aimed at one person. Fortunately, neither the Excise Sigma nor the Pico Alphas are as strong as their counterparts in the battle against the Minotaur, so your party shouldn't have too much trouble bringing them down. ----- event ----- You'll find yourself back in the small inlet, which you should then reboard Alonso's ship and set sail for Mendi. ----- event ----- ================= Alonso's Ship ================= Another dinner event, another round of dialogue. ----- event ----- ===================== Mendi (et cetera) ===================== Mendi Harbor is the port of entry to Mendi, and an event begins as you get off Alonso's Ship. ----- event ----- The party finally arrives in Mendi, a sprawling port city on the north continent that plays hosts sailors, travelers, merchants, and even a few pilots. As you look for Schmidt, you'll run into a variety of interesting characters hawking products, breaking up, telling stories, etc. Head into the South Street District to trigger another event. ----- event ----- As you head into Park Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Mendi, you'll find stores that hold a variety of new and useful items. Swap out your equipment for some stronger ones, and upgrade your magic spells and skills. Schmidt's Garage is located at the end of the block on the north side of town. Once you find Schmidt, you'll have to convince him to offer you his services. Speak with him a few times in order to plead your case, and eventually Schmidt will agree to help you. Once he does, you can head back to Alonso's Ship to break the news to Miranda and Alonso. ================= Alonso's Ship ================= Once you enter the ship, an event plays. A dinner event follows. Rest for the night, and take your party back to Schmidt's Garage in the morning. ----- event ----- ==================== Schmidt's Garage ==================== When you enter Schmidt's Garage, Schmidt will be waiting for you near the giant flight unit against the wall. After a short dialogue and a few words of encouragement, Yuki steps outside and sees his new plane. The next time you see Alonso and Miranda will be in the closing events, so farewells are in order. Mother and son share a tender moment, and Yuki takes off into the blue skies above. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- Once you're in the air, you'll be given momentary control of the plane so you can get a feel for it. The flight trajectory is locked towards Arcriff temple, so there's not much you can do to stray, but it's a simple prelude to your flying lessons later on in the game. When events continue, Alfina and Yuki encounter an ominous figure in the skies, and crash in the woods before they can reach Arcriff. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- ----- event ----- ================== Arcriff Forest ================== Luckily, the plane crashes near a rainbow save point, where you can recover from future battles. In the wide open area to the south of this map, there are three chests scattered about, as well as a few Baabaas. Look for a fallen tree to cross the gorge separating you from the path that takes you through the forest. Pick up the herbs that you find lying on the ground along the way. You'll encounter a few Dragonoids before you reach the end of the path, and the antidotes are definitely useful against the poison they can inflict on your members. ====================== Arcriff Temple Road ====================== Enjoy the view. That's pretty much all there is here. ========================= Arcriff Temple Square ========================= Safe from the dangers of the forest, you can take a moment to speak to a few priests in the square to learn a little more about Arcriff and it's people. Two shops are open here, a Magic Shop and a General Store, but the General Store only sells items - no new equipment is available in Arcriff. The Magic Shop, however, offers a few new spells that you may want to pick up if you have the money for it. Head north into Arcriff Temple - Lobby afterwards. ========================== Arcriff Temple - Lobby ========================== Forward... through the doors... into the Cathedral... ========================================== Arcriff Temple - Cathedral (et cetera) ========================================== Speak to the Bishop in front of the steps to have Alfina reaquaint herself with her grandfather, who promptly has a room prepared for the two. Before you can rest, head over to hallway in the east and take the stairs up to the second floor to find the Communicator's Room. While in this room, examine the diary on the table to trigger a few text scenes. These scenes shed some light into the mysterious betrayal by Emelious to his people and duty, but so upsets Alfina that Yuki suggests they turn in for the evening. The rooms are at the north end of the western hallway, but before you go to sleep, it's not a bad idea to explore the rest of Arcriff Temple. You'll never get another chance to do it, since...tragedy...will befall the temple soon. In addition to speaking with the Temple clergy, there is a Library just south of the sleeping quarters where various volumes of books tell the tales of Arcriff, Communicators, Guardians, and other lore. Additionally, there is also a hall of portraits in the east where Alfina's ancestry is proudly displayed. When you are truly ready, speak with the priest standing in front of the rooms. ----- event ----- Yuki will be alone in the room after the event, so return to the second floor of the Temple and head to the Waiting Room just west of the Communicator's Room. Here you'll watch the festivities for the day unfold. ----- event ----- The Waiting Room has been reduced to rubble, and you must lead Alfina safely out of the Temple. Take note of the two treasure chests and the save spot, because a battle is about to take place. As a matter of fact, it happens as soon as you exit the room... The Excise Sigma is only slightly stronger this time around, but your party is sans two members as well. It makes for a pretty good battle without the help of Alonso and Miranda, but shouldn't pose to much of a threat if you use the same strategies as before. Anode and Dark Fist make their reprise as the greatest threats against you, so make sure Alfina keeps everyone healthy. After the battle, you'll find yourself in an utterly destroyed and abandoned Arcriff Cathedral. Most of the exits have been blocked off, so return to the second floor and toward the North Tower to find your only way out. ================================ Arcriff Temple - North Tower ================================ Yuki and Alfina still have a bit of a fight left before they can leave the fallen temple. The four chests that lay before Yuki contains items that may make that fight a bit easier, so grab them before you proceed any further. As for the rest of the map, the collapsing roof will occasionally force you to detour and backtrack, but it's fairly linear and you'll all but walk through every single corridor as you make your way out to the north. A spiral walkway will take you outside the temple ----- event ----- ================== Arcriff Temple ================== Arcriff Temple is now hardly recognizable and overrun with Dragonoid monsters, but the good news is that treasure chests have been scattered all over the area. While doing battle against the Dragonoids, take care to cure the poison status they tend to inflict. If you found and equipped the Aromatic Root on Alfina, you can use its inherent abilities to cast cure for free on your party members during battle! ================== Arcriff Forest ================== The path back to the plane hasn't suffered much in light of Emelious' attack on the temple, so no need to expect anything new. Just head back to the plane and take off for Mendi once more. ----- event ----- ============== Mendi City ============== After crashing onto the landing strip behind Schmidt's Garage, take the couple to the Inn, where Alfina leaves you for a moment to gather her thoughts. When Yuki exits the Inn, he'll run into an old friend. ----- event ----- Try and convince Shiba to take you to Randoto again by speaking with him. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- ============================ Randoto - Southeast Wall ============================ The path up the mountaintop on this side of the cliffs is much shorter than the Northwest Wall. You'll get to see Ulf for the first time as well. Since he's naturally inclined towards fire magic and techniques, make sure you equip him with an egg and book that will properly boost his potential. Zoea's and Fishmen continue to patrol this area, and they are STILL out to put your party to sleep. Counteract Snooze and Lobster Quadrille with an accessory, and make your way up. ========================= Randato - Mountaintop ========================= A wall of rock momentarily blocks your way, so you use the explosive flower to clear a path. From there, you can examine the crater that the Versesphere left behind the first time Yuki and Alfina were transported to the Verse Realm, tho not much has been left behind. When you're done, approach the Lem Tree, where two Minotaurs guard the Lem Fruit this time around. +-------------+ | Minotaur x2 | +-------------+ No squad of Fishmen flank the Minotaurs this time around, which is a shame because it might've made this battle a bit more exciting. This pair is practically identical in stats to their previous brother, only you'll be dealing with both of them at once. Cancel their special moves whenever you can, which shouldn't be outrageously difficult with Yuki's Aerial Slash upgraded to it's second Secret Method. Ulf joins your party with his very powerful Rockbreaker as well, and with a few fire spells in his inventory, he'll turn out to be a very powerful warrior for you indeed. Due to their enormous strength, all of their attacks can cancel. If Yuki or Ulf get hit while they're in the blue, they'll be knocked back a few notches. If they get hit while they're in the COM, however, it's guaranteed that you'll have that attack canceled. They're not weak against any elements, but any 3-4 star spell will do a healthy amount of damage to them. As with the first Minotaur, you'll especially need to worry the Tornado Horn, which inflicts two very critical blows on one party member. Recover as fast as you can if nails you, and continue to concentrate your blows on one Minotaur until it falls. A lone Minotaur should then be a cinch...again. After defeating the Minotaurs, grab the Lem Fruit and take it back to Schmidt for another offering. ----- event ----- ========================== Mendi City (et cetera) ========================== ----- event ----- Walking towards the garage triggers an event. After that, return to the inn to pick up Alfina. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- While still in the city, you should make sure Ulf has been rightly equipped if you didn't do it previously. There is also a case that Otto the Boy Detective is working on. If you have any leads, or can help him solve the case, speak with him in the westernmost edge of town. He'll give you an item to show his appreciation. Otherwise, you may return to the airstrip and board your new plane for Dragon Valley. ++++++++++++++++ + About Flying + ++++++++++++++++ At this point, you'll have control of Yuki's plane for the rest of the game. It will be your primary method of travel around the world, but as a general rule, you may either head to the next area to advance the game, or revisit areas that you've already cleared. Even without being able to land everywhere, however, all the major landmarks on the map can be examined for more information by pressing R1 as you fly by. The map is pretty, and there is quite a lot to see, so you can spend a bit of time exploring the islands before you move on. If you ever find yourself lost, you can always pull up an overhead view of the map which marks your current location by pressing START. Take Yuki all the way up into the clouds, and see if you can find a strange creature that won't make an appearance anywhere else in the game! ================================ Dragon Valley - Rocky Cliffs ================================ ----- event ----- ----- event ----- After some drama between Ulf and his people, the group finally touches down in Dragon Valley. As you navigate through the lush hills of Dragon Valley, you'll come across boulders that you need to push in place to transform the terrain to make it passable. There are one or two treasure chests off the regular path as well. Venom Birds and Hill Lizards are native to Dragon Valley, and Venom Birds have a propensity to call on their friends during battle. They both like to inflict poison on your party as well, but if you've outfitted someone with the Cure spell, you can counteract it. Additionally, if you were able to find Alfina's Aromatic Root in Arcriff, Cure is yours for free. THe other enemy that you can find here is the Thunder Dragon. It's Thunder Breath has a chance of paralyzing who it hits, but again, Cure will negate its effect. ============================== Dragon Valley - Windy Path ============================== Lycanthropes are powerful, agile warriors capable of using wind magic. Related to them are the Lycan Knights who charge out from the side of the cliff shortly up the path. They're nothing more than Lycanthropes mounted on Thunder Dragons, but you'll notice that both the Lycan Knight and Thunder Dragon have a tremendous amount of HP compared to their single counterparts. If you manage to defeat one, however, the HP of the other drops dramatically, so concentrate your attacks on one or the other while doing battle with them. From where the Lycan Knights came out, there is a large cavernous space on the side of the mountain where a few eggs and a piece of armor lies. The rest of the way up is uneventful but still guarded by many enemies, so continue to be careful and save your game up at the top. ================================= Dragon Valley - Rocky Terrace ================================= It's a good idea to use your search function constantly while going through this area because there are many objects to interact with. The land masses here are split by the streams that flow down from the waterfall at the peak of the mountain. You can only get across a few places by chopping down trees and letting them fall into the water for a makeshift bridge. There is a unique pair of monsters to this area that you'll first encounter in the southwest corner called the Green Man. They have a lot of HP, and they're pretty quick so waste no time using your strongest techniques to defeat them. Additionally, the Lycanthropes will come in larger groups here, so make sure you replenish your health and/or MP after each battle. It's also a good idea to save before entering the next area. ========================================= Dragon Valley - Sanctuary of the Wind ========================================= Walking forward will trigger an event scene. ----- event ----- Head down the narrow path and speak with Drak to obtain your first Guardian Orb. The massive Drak will bestow upon you his awesome fiery power, which will come in quite handy in future battles. After your retrieve the Orb, Drak will clue you in on your next task. It's time to go find the "People of the Corridor" in Baccula. ====================== Baccula Settlement ====================== Many things are of note in Baccula Settlement, but before you can wander deeper into this desert town, you will trigger a cutscene. ----- event ----- Your destination is the Chief's Tent in the westernmost part of the settlement, where you will meet Dahna. After an unfavorable first encounter, however, you will be forced to spend the night at the Inn before Dahna will speak to you again. When you enter the Inn, speak with the Innkeeper to trigger a dinner event. Another event follows when you exit the tent. ----- event ----- Dahna automatically joins your party after the latest event, and you may elect to view another dinner event with Dahna in your party, or go explore the rest of the Baccula Settlement. As mentioned above, there are a few things of note in Baccula Settlement. Of particular interest is the Mana Egg Fusion Machine found in the Magic Shop. It's the first and one of the few places where you can actually fuse Mana Eggs, which is necessary in itself to create more powerful eggs to use. By now, you should possess quite a few extra Mana Eggs in your inventory. The Fusion Machine will always tell you the output of your combinations before you fuse your eggs, so there's little danger in making a mistake. If you head back into the Chief's Room in the Chief's Tent, you can examine the Chief's Emblem sitting in the back of the room. This is an item you'll have to get later. Additionally, the shops in Baccula all contain a wide variety of equipment and goods that can't be found anywhere else this early in the game. Outfit your party appropriately and head out to the Baccularn Desert. =========================== Baccularn Desert - West =========================== The Baccularn Desert is home to the desert versions of flys and lizards. As you would expect, most of the enemies here have a natural resistance to earth and fire spells, but oddly enough have no weaknesses to ice elemental magic. There's really not much else here besides the baddies, but if you're up for an insanely difficult fight at this stage in the game, look for a wandering blue monster that patrols the southwestern region of this map. The Desert Lord might give you what you're looking for. At this point in time, since it's certain death to challege the Desert Lord, we'll skip it and proceed right into Baccularn Desert - North ============================ Baccularn Desert - North ============================ More of the same barreness here in this part of Baccularn Desert, that is, until you get to the wall that runs along the north part of this map. There is a rainbow save point near the rock formation, so it's a good idea before you head up the sandy path to Yoat. ============================== Baccula Ruins - Sandy Path ============================== Rabid bunnies. That's one of the dangers on this journey to Yoat. Well, to be fair, there are more threatening enemies on this sandy path, but the bunnies man... Anyway, use the map to make sure you explore every nook and cranny in this area, because even dead ends may yield treasure. Eventually make your way to the exit in the north. =============================== Baccula Ruins - Sand valley =============================== There's a short bridge across the cliffs before you reach the Earth Shrine where Yoat resides. A few Baccula Condors patrol the skies here, but nothing that would keep you from the door to the shrine. If you take a look at your map, you will notice a part of the cliffs you can't get to from your current location, but no matter. You'll be headed there in a bit anyway. ================================ Baccula Ruins - Earth Shrine ================================ The interior of the Earth Shrine resembles the sandy path you took to get here, and share the same set of enemies. The first thing you should do is follow the path out to the lower eastern exit. This will take you out to the other part of the cliffs in the previous map, where a few treasure chests await your plunder. Be careful tho... a few rabid bunnies may impede your progress... um... yeah... When you return, your goal is to eventually reach the exit to the north. There is a four-way crossroads just underneath the steps that lead to a save point and the exit, and both the path to the east and the path to the west lead to a few goodies that shouldn't be passed up. Using the Ram statue in the middle of the crossroads alternate access between the two paths. One, however, should take particular care when walking down the western path. Eventually your party will arrive in a chamber where the golem heiroglyphs will come to life and surround your group. At that point, it'll be one battle after another against two very ornery golems. +--------+ | Golems | +--------+ I wouldn't call the golems bosses as we know bosses to traditionally be. Nevertheless, I feel they may be tough enough to warrant some sort of strategy displayed on the part of the player, especially since you have to fight two of them at once *nearly four times in a row.* They're fast, they're strong, they're quite resistant to physical attacks, and they're apt to cancel your attacks. The golems use their Lightning attack that inflicts paralysis unless your characters are properly outfitted, and oh, did I mention that they can cancel your attacks? Fortunately for you, this series of encounters are only as difficult as you make them out to be, and if you've been adequately equiping and leveling your party, you shouldn't ever feel like you're being overwhelmed. As mentioned, physical attacks don't do much to the golems, so magic is your friend for the next few minutes. The eggs you equip your characters with should enhance the element that they naturally lean towards. Yuki is a wind user, and if you've given him eggs that boost his skills and magic, he can inflict quite a bit of damage not being your primary magic user notwithstanding. Ulf is naturally predisposed towards fire, so likewise make sure his equipment complements his skills. Any magic is deadly in Dahna's hands, so cast away with her most powerful spells. Finally, Alfina won't be able to do much damage to the Golems with her attacks nor skills, so have her regularly cast healing spells to keep the party healthy. Right away, you should be able to make short work of the first two golems if you use Drak's Orb (no sense in saving it). In between battles, you should also be able to enter the menu to heal or re-equip before your momentary invicibility wears off. After you defeat the golems, collect your spoils along the rest of the western path, and exit to the north. As you do, an event starts. ----- event ----- ================================= Baccula Ruins - Sacred Valley ================================= Head up the steps and through the door. Another event reveals the return of Kornell and his new companion, and your next official boss battle begins! ----- event ----- +----------------------+ | Kornell and Violetta | +----------------------+ Kornell and Violetta are a nasty duo with very nasty weapons. Kornell is still sporting his Iron Fist, and you'll soon learn all about Violetta's Demon Scythe. They're both very capable magic users, possess very powerful skills, but by far their most painful move is Rumble, where they team up to pummel you with their weapons. The worst part of it all is that they can revive each other once one is defeated! The only good news in light of all this is once you break their weapons, its gone for good, and you seriously hamper their offensive capacities. But it STILL doesn't mean they're a pushover. If by some stroke of luck you have Drak's Orb fully charged, use it immediately. Right away, you can take off a huge chunk of HP from each of their weapons, as well as some from Kornell and Violetta themselves. Have Alfina cast Diggin' on the party to take some of the sting off their attacks, and use your most powerful spells and skills to quickly remove the threat of their weapons. Once they're disarmed, you can revert back to the standard strategy where Yuki and Ulf attack, Alfina heals, and Dahna supplements both. After winning the battle and receiving the spoils, witness the event. Once that is over, you'll be able to obtain Yoat's Orb. ----- event ----- When you exit the Sacred Valley, you're immediately taken to "Baccularn Desert - North", so it saves you the trouble of traversing back through the shrine. ============================ Baccularn Desert - North ============================ Just comin' thru... ============================ Baccularn Desert - South ============================ With Yoat's Orb, you may be tempted to take on the Desert Lord now, but it's likely that your characters are still not strong enough to make it through the battle. Just head back to the Baccula Settlement for now. NOTE: If at this point you are holding Galactic Bang (through a series of egg fusions and extractions), you can equip Dahna with it, and go to town on the Desert Lord. If you can give both Dahna and Alfina one, this will be over in a matter of minutes. If you don't possess Galactic Bang at all, it's best to avoid this fight altogether right now. ====================== Baccula Settlement ====================== Head back into the Chief's Tent where you first met Dahna and retrieve the Chief's Emblem from inside the room. You'll need it to get to Heresell. The inventory at the shops haven't changed since the last time you were here, so if you have a few new eggs that you'd like to fuse, the Magic Shop is pretty much the only shop you might need to revisit. With the Chief's Emblem in your possession, approach the western gate to Baccularn Desert - South for a departure event. ----- event ----- ============================ Baccularn Desert - South ============================ Not much different in this part of Baccularn Desert - South. Just head to the in the south. ============ Herasell ============ This arcane-looking holy ground is a gateway to the Verse Realm. When you insert the Chief's Emblem into the receptor on the ground, you'll trigger an event that takes you to a few of Dahna's flashbacks. ----- event ----- After that, jump into the portal and its off the Verse Realm you go! ----- event ----- * At this point, you have completed disc 1. Save your game and swap discs, * * then restart the PS2. * ========================= Verse Realm - Caverns ========================= It's been a while since you've seen the Pico Alphas, and they're a little stronger, but in the big scheme of things, you're A LOT stronger now, so they shouldn't pose any threat. The Pico Gammas are slightly upgraded versions of the Alphas, but they too shouldn't be too tough. Follow the path through the caverns to get to the exit, opening chests along the way. ============================== Verse Realm - Glass Forest ============================== From top to bottom, the glass forest is infested with Pico Alphas, but a few groups patrol with Aton Betas as well. The Aton Betas are deadlier than the Picos, and their Needle Lancer attack is painful for any one character. Be on guard as you fight them. There are many chests to be had here, so don't forget to open them before you leave. Then take the lift to Terrarium. ============= Terrarium ============= Terrarium is home to Hect, the girl playing the violin you saw earlier. Tough times have befallen the people of Terrarium as a being named Xorn has inflicted a terrible curse on them. Speak with Hect at Hect's House to learn more. She can be found in the terrace at her house. ----- event ----- After the event, head to the plaza in the middle of the town for another event scene, and speak with Hect again when you regain control. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- After Hect leaves the courtyard, return to her house and speak with the butler. He won't let you see Hect again for the time being, but he does invite you to kick up your heels for the night and have dinner at the house. After another dinner event, spend the night at the house. Definitely take the time to stop by the various shops in Terrarium. New upgrades for your characters can be found. When you're ready, take the lift at the end of the southeastern path to get to Surmania Zero. =============================== Verse Realm - Silver Stream =============================== The Silver Stream path to Surmania Zero is actually a fairly dangerous place to be. There are no save points in this map, and the enemies here are the toughest you've faced yet. It's necessary to make sure your characters are properly equipped and boosted so they don't take too much damage from the new enemies who can really put the hurt on. If you bought the Hellburner spell from the Magic Shop at Terrarium, it could make short work of many enemies in the hands of your most powerful magic users. This is important, because almost all the enemies here have techniques that can paralyze you from moving. This is troublesome, because the enemies of Verse Realm can already move much faster than you to begin with. During an encounter of four or more enemies, it is entirely possible for your foes to take two turns for every one turn that your party members take. The Pico Gamma's use Paralyzer and the Verseshrooms have their Stun Spores. When they're coupled with a few Aton Gammas and/or Gigas Thetas, the tables can easily turn quickly indeed. The treasure chests they guard are definitely earned here. =============================== Verse Realm - Doomed Garden =============================== The Doomed Garden is a small garden teeming with life, seemingly untouched in Verse Realm by Xorn's curse. Head inside the house to speak to Femuto, and have him tell you about the history of Surmania Zero and how it came to be in it's current state of affairs. There is also a save point outside the house. It's a good idea to save before you head any further. ============================== Surmania Zero - City Ruins ============================== The once great city of Surmania Zero has now been reduced to a large barren crater. As you approach the center of the crater, you'll find Hect. ----- event ----- After the event, you're pretty much gonna have to fight your way back to Terrarium, going back the way you came. ============= Terrarium ============= Back at Terrarium, your first order of business is to see Hect's butler. Speak to him at Hect's House, and you'll receive a full nights rest. In the morning, head outside to the terrace and speak to Hect. ----- event ----- Your time at Terrarium is coming to a close, so you can either choose to spend one more night and engage in a dinner event, or simply take the lift out from the southwestern path. There's nothing new in the shops, so gather what you need for the trip out if you must, and prepare to head back home. ================================ Verse Realm - Silver Spring ================================ Lots of tough groups of enemies lurk here, but lots of treasure chests to be had as well. A save point lies just south of the exit. =================================== Eternal Corridor - Giant Cavern =================================== The Giant Cavern is umm...a giant cavern...fraught with peril. In addition to your regular rogues gallery of Gammas and Thetas, there are a few deadly enemies here called Excise Psis. Thankfully, most of your encounters against an Excise Psi is solo, which means he appears all by himself, but its not as if he needed the help. To begin with, these guys are fast. *Very* fast. They're faster than any enemy you've ever faced before, boss or not. The only way you can keep up is if you have Runner cast on your allies, and even then you're just pacing it. The Excise Psi has very, very, very powerful attacks that border on being unfair. If a Psi ever uses Pluto Killer on one of your party members, they will either be dead or severely crippled. Another deadly attack is the Demon Claw, which will damage a small radius with a dark substance. Excise Psis are also apt to use Fiora, which makes casting defensive magic that much tougher. The good news is that they're extremely weak against fire. This makes Ulf and your other fire magic users indispensable. Hellburner is particularly nasty against the Excise Psi if it has been correctly boosted, so let loose your strongest fire spells against them. One REALLY bad encounter pits you against an Excise Psi, a Gigas Theta, and a few Aton Gammas and Pico Gammas, so its a party and everyone's invited. Bring punch (Ha ha, get it? Bring "punch," like a fist, as in fighting. That's funny to me...). As if traversing this area wasn't tough enough, when you exit to the north, you'll be taken to a boss battle. Save first! ============================ Eternal Corridor - Heart ============================ +--------------+ | Mother Breed | +--------------+ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle against Mother Breed is actually pretty fun and none too difficult in the greater scheme of things. Mother Breed spends most of her time spawning the enemies that you've grown familar with during this time spent in Verse Realm, and doesn't actually attack you herself much of the time. When she does attack, she uses earth magic - usually Quake. Like most of her children, she's weak against fire spells, so that will be the key to defeating her quickly. If your spells are strong enough, you may not even need to bother with the spawns, but let too many of them stick around and it could give you a headache. Ulf has a few fire element area attacks, and if you have magic users who can complement him with a few spells of their own, you'll finish this battle in no time. After you defeat Mother Breed, a versphere will take you back to your own world. Jump in and you'll find yourself in Nautica Plains. ----- event ----- ================== Nautica Plains ================== This wide open map is home to all sorts of dangerous bunnies and sheep. If you will brave these perils, then try and collect all the chests around the perimeter. But be careful. We are talkin' bunnies and sheep here after all. ================================= Nautica Plains - Walled Ruins ================================= Skeleton Knights, Blood Demons, and Angry Spirits, oh my! We've got some spell casting bad guys here. Use your search ability often because many chests are tucked away in the ruins. Make your way to the top of the steps at the north end and enter the Ruined Courtyard ===================================== Nautica Plains - Ruined Courtyard ===================================== +-------------------------+ | La Ilim & Undead Dragon | +-------------------------+ In this quasi-boss battle, you face off against La Ilim and his pet, the Undead Dragon. It's quasi in the sense that you don't have to defeat them. La Ilim runs away if you take away half his HP, and the Undead Dragon follows suit if you allow his master to escape. If that happens, you technically "win" the fight, but of course lose all credibility as a gamer. Therefore, the more appropriate way to do battle is to, of course, kick as much booty as possible (which in this case, is the defet of the Undead Dragon). Your efforts, in addition to your pride, is a cool 5K of EXP. Not too shabby at all. Your best bet is to focus all offensive strategies on the Undead Dragon, and only waste a move on La Ilim if it will cancel something he's trying to do. For the most part, he won't bring out all his weapons during this fight, so you've got the green light to concentrate on his pet. The Undead Dragon has a two notable attacks: Hellfang and Chaos Fury. Hellfang targets one party member and Chaos Fury hurts inside of an area. Both aren't *terrible* meaning they won't guarantee instant death, but thats only if you keep your party nice and healthy. The Undead Dragon isn't weak against any element in particular, but by now your most powerful spells and techniques should be more than enough to put this bad boy down. A quick casting of Diggin' by someone in the beginning wouldn't hurt either. After the fight, proceed through the courtyard and into the Dig Site. ============================= Nautica Plains - Dig Site ============================= The Gilled enemies that roam the Dig Site can be pretty obnoxious. The Gilled Runner is the only one of its kind that has any known weakness (earth), but otherwise these creatures are fast, powerful, capable of very strong magic, and travel in packs. The Dig Site is worth travelling through very slowly - there are some very good items to be had in the chests here. More importantly, however, there are quite a few encounters in the Dig Site, and if you take all of them head on back to back, you'll give yourself more work than you really need. Scattered throughout the Dig Site are exploding flowers. By now, you know that enemies caught in its blast radius are momentarily stunned, giving you a slight advantage if you engage them then. Unlike stunning an enemy with your sword, stunning them after they get caught in a blast gives you a first strike opportunity, allowing you to get off all your hits before they can even take one. In occasions where you can't catch them with an exploding flower, watch their patrol route and stun them while their backs are to you with your sword. Make sure to heal between each encounter - you may think you have enough HP and MP for the next battle, but always better to err on the safe side. It may be a good idea to equip your party to protect against paralysis while you take them through the Dig Site. The Gilled Snipers have a nasty habit of using May Showers, which can inflict paralysis on the entire party. While fighting a group of them, you can easily be overwhelmed if this skill is invoked over and over again. =========================== Baccularn Desert - West =========================== Things should start to look pretty familiar here. By now, none of the enemies here should be any challenge to your party, and you can even take on the Desert Lord and put him in his place if you see fit. Come back after you've saved at Baccularn Settlement. +-------------+ | Desert Lord | +-------------+ Assuming you're anywhere in the neighborhood of level 30 (give or take), the Desert Lord is really more like the Dessert Lord, which is to say, a big softie. Well, I exaggerate a bit. Maybe not exactly a big softie, but definitely managable. This time around, you have Yoat's power on your side, a few new learned techniques, and not to mention a whole lot more battle experience on your side. Best of all, he's not really a boss, so he'll respawn every time you reenter the area. 4000 EXP may compel you to do so. His magic is still powerful, and his speed is still unmatched, so its up to you to put him under as soon as possible. The Desert Lord has one unique move, Quicksand, where he'll plunge his tail into the ground for a massive attack that damages all. Unfortunately, he's not particularly weak against anything, but the bright side to that is everything hurts him equally. Powerful magic and your strongest special techniques can make short work of him, but keep an eye out for your party's overall HP. Don't let anyone dip underneath half and you'll be in good shape. ====================== Baccula Settlement ====================== Because of the "revolution," the inventory in a few of the shops have changed. Now would also be a good time to fuse stronger Mana Eggs or extract better spells from them. Ultimately, your task is to see Ruilia in the Chief's Tent. After you get what you need from her, go to the Inn for a dinner event followed by a night of rest. In the morning, return to your plane and take off for Vejas Jungle. ============================ Vejas Jungle - Outskirts ============================ You land in the outskirts of Vejas Jungle near a save point. After you save, head deeper into the jungle. =========================== Vejas Jungle - Entrance =========================== Vejas jungle almost has no redeeming qualities. The enemies are tough but don't yield too much EXP. There aren't too many chests here, and the save points beyond the outskirts are the regular green ones that don't recover any HP or MP. There are a few forks in the road, but they all lead to the east. Go east, young man. ================ Vejas Jungle ================ As you head into the heart of the jungle, the path splits. At each intersection, large square blocks stand in your way. You must push the blocks into the cavities carved out around the block, which will usually reveal two paths. It really doesn't matter which paths you take, because they all end up connecting. A couple of Sasquatches can be found in the south, and they're pretty mean, but you might as well get used to fighting them now. You're guaranteed to run into more up ahead. ============================== Vejas Jungle - Jungle Path ============================== The Arlaune that habitates this area is no ordinary plant monster. This one is carnivorous, and to your misfortune, it happens to travel with its favorite kind of food, the Giant Crawfish. Once it gets a hold of a Giant Crawfish, it becomes *much* faster and *much* more resistant to magic. If at all possible, prevent it from eating a Giant Crawfish. Of course, sometimes you won't be able to, and it will suck. Fortunately, by now your party members shouldn't be slouches, with more than enough tricks up their sleeves to prune a plant. ========================= Veja Ruins - Entrance ========================= A temple lay just ahead. Enter. ============================ Veja Ruins - Jade Temple ============================ The Jade Temple yields many treasures and many dangers. Within its walls, you may find useful eggs and equipment and items, but all are guarded by very tough groups of monsters. The Sasquatch packs appear in full force here, and may even force you to heal as often as you attack. At the lower levels of the temple, four Forest Protectors guard the key to the inner sanctuaries where Seiba resides. +-------------------+ | Forest Protectors | +-------------------+ The Forest Protectors seal the exits as soon as you enter their chambers. Just like the Golems in the Earth Shrine, the Forest Protectors come coupled in four sets. And like the Golems, their defeat is not necessary but warrented for the EXP they give. 1000 EXP per Forest Protector will net you 8000 EXP if you defeat them all, and 8K of EXP at these levels is nothing to scoff at. The Forest Protectors don't seem to be affected by magic. Don't even bother using spells against them because its just a waste of a turn. Instead, use your strongest techniques to do damage. As you might have guessed, they're resistant against most status effects too, but strangely enough, are susceptible to Fiora. This is well and good, because the Forest Protectors have two attacks, Forest Stench and Omni-Laser, which you'll definitely want to prevent them from using. Omni-Laser is a huge area effect attack that showers your party members with frickin' laser beams. Forest Stench is a multi-hit gas attack that has a chance to stun a party member. Between Alfina and Dahna, if they take turns casting Fiora and keep the Forest Protectors silenced, Ulf and Yuki should have enough time to dish out enough punishment until they fall. Look for a step on the ground to reveal the secret door, and trigger the switch to open the doors at the top of steps in the main hall. Head up the steps and take the lift to the next area. ======================= Veja Ruins - Cavern ======================= Seiba awaits. Receive his guidance by going up to him. ----- event ----- After you collect the orb, exit the temple. ----- event ----- ================= Alfina's Mind ================= While unconscious, Alfina digs up some of her memories buried deep within the crevices of her mind. Examine the doors to "remember" the memories. When you've walked through all three, head through the last door and Alfina will come to. By the way, little Alfina... adorable. Little Emelious? Mmm... not so much... ----- event ----- The group is taken to the outskirts of Vejas Jungle, where Yuki's plane await the party. =========================== Melc Ruins - Sky Castle =========================== The Sky Castle is easy enough to find. You've probably seen it already from flying around in Yuki's plane. It's a large floating castle above the waters between Samaram Island and Vejas Jungle. When you land, save your game, then proceed through the door. ========================= Melc Ruins - Entrance ========================= Head up the steps to a room full of cogs and gears, and take the lift to the center platform. The Melc Crystal will be there to greet you. +----------------------+ | Melc Crystal A, B, C | +----------------------+ This battle is NOT good times. It's nowhere NEAR good times. You would not BELIEVE how difficult this boss is if you don't have a good strategy in place. The Melc Crystal actually comes in two flavors - a ground form and an air form. While it's in it's ground form, it resembles a strange alien ape and attacks with *outrageous* power. In it's air form, it takes the shape of a giant bird and is *ridiculously* fast. Both forms are extremely punishing, almost to the point of being unfair. If there is a better time to use Yoat's Orb, I don't know it. If you're typical, you may be tempted to use Drak's Orb to deplete a large amount of HP from this boss. Under normal circumstances, the a-good-defense-is-a-strong-offense philosophy usually works, but the Melc Crystal dares you to try it. Unless you're completely confident in your party's capacity to defeat the Melc Crystal inside of 30 seconds, you'll need Yoat's Orb just to *barely stay alive*. That said, your most powerful spells and techniques will get a lot of screen time during this battle. By now, hopefully you've obtained the Ultimate Method for your strongest moves like Yuki's Dragon Slash and Ulf's Dynamite. You'll also want to make sure that Alfina can replenish everyone's SP gauges with her Energy Drive. Dahna, who is most likely your deadliest magic user, should be equipped with various five star+ spells. If you've taken the time to obtain Force Attack, it gives its wearer a multiple hit critical. If you have powered up Dahna's Dancing Cards skill, and have given her Force Attack, she can nail him with a 3000+ hit while doing critical. Additionally, Force Attack pretty much guarantees a cancel, which you'll want to do regularly where possible. By casting Runner on one more members, you can negate a lot of damage while pulling off effective aerial combos at no cost to your SP or MP. With the first signs that your party is in trouble, use Yoat's Orb and you'll revive anyone who has been KO'd, replenish the entire party's HP, and be cured of any status afflictions. During this time, when you have Yoat's assistance, you'll need to do your best to destroy at least one of the Melc Crystal's appendages - either B or C. If you've used up a lot of SP, have Alfina use her Energy Drive to restore it, and keep hitting the Melc Crystal with your strongest weapons. A good rule of thumb: while the Melc Crystal is in its bird form, don't bother trying to attack. You CANNOT keep up with it, so make sure your party stays alive and healthy until it returns to its ground form. While it's in the air, each part will take multiple turns before you get one, so you'll to do all you can to stay alive. Endurance may negate the damage from minor spells like Zap, but this birdy can also use Ripper and Feather Blizzard and those you *will* feel. Against its land form, you'll have to play a smart game, going between offense and defense. You can fend off most of its regular attacks, but when it does Megaspark or Hellspinner, heal, heal, heal. And by the way, if you destroy Part A while the Melc Crystal is in its land form, it cannot use Cluster Change and take to the air. Take the lift to the upper levels of Melc Ruins afterwards. ======================= Melc Ruins - Center ======================= The labyrinth of Melc Ruins is all hallways, corridors, and rooms. Strange floating statues and rotating gears inhabit a few of these rooms, not to mention new enemies who are out to get you. To the east, west, and south are exits that take you back outside, where a circular walkway surrounds the structure. It is necessary to go outside to get to different sections of this area, and your first door is to the northeast. =========================== Melc Ruins - Sky Castle =========================== The outer perimeter of the Sky Castle connect the inner rooms to each other. You will have to make the short hike to either the south or northwest entrance to visit another part of the central chamber. Along the way, there are three towers connected to the walkway by a short bridge. At the base of two towers are chests that are worth picking up. Watch out for the Lich enemies. They have a lot of EXP and cast very powerful magic spells. ======================= Melc Ruins - Center ======================= Whichever door you decide to re-enter the Center from, you can now look for switches around the room to open secret doorways in the walls to connect all the corridors. One can be found on the floor in a hallway, another will be found on the floor between two gears in a small room. As you proceed, you'll likely encounter an enemy called the Red Beast. It is a fire elemental monster, so as expected it is weak against water spells. This enemy has a lot of HP as well, so you may be in for a tougher fight than the usual lizards and demons you run into. Of particular note is one lone treasure chest that sits way off in a corner just south of the northwestern exit. When you approach it, the trick wall gets pulled to the front of the map. The resulting action is a much longer hallway that reveals previously unaccessible rooms, stocked with treasure. And, that treasure chest way at the end? Yeah, it's not a treasure chest. It's an enemy called Mimic. The worst part about Mimic is that it's completely resistant to all elements and status effects save silence. If you defeat it, you'll net a lot of money, but otherwise its just a nuisance. Head up the exit to the north to reach the next level of Melc Ruins. ============================= Melc Ruins - Hall of Time ============================= The Hall of Time is perhaps one of the most lucrative areas in the game. Chests can be found both inside the circular rooms and on the ring that surrounds them. However, the most valuable treasures here are fiercely guarded by the Hydras. Two Hydras sit right at the entrances to these treasure rooms, and there is no way to enter without fighting them. You can, however, enter the fight, flee, and then walk past them that way (AHEM...WUSS...). The worst trick they do is Regeneration, which replenishes their HP at ludicrous speed. With each tick of the Regeneration spell, each head of the Hyudra can recover upwards of 450 HP. The rate of recovery is about one tick *every second*. Your success depends on the utter and complete annihilation of this creature as soon as possible. If you even stop attacking for a turn, the Hyudra can virtually recover all of its HP, no matter how close it was to death. To give it a quick death, concentrate all your efforts on the middle head, since the rest of it dies when you defeat the middle. It is IMPERATIVE that you don't waste too many turns healing. Even at the cost of resurrecting a KO'd member, if you see an opportunity to kill it, don't waste it. It may be one of the few you have. ================================ Melc Ruins - Spire of Heaven ================================ Here in the next level of Melc Ruins, you'll encounter a very peculiar enemy called the Lucky Mink. At first glance, you may think it's just another useless bunny put in for cannon fodder. When you try to kill it, however, you'll find that your work is cut out for you. they almost always manages to escape the battle before you can attack. Even if you could, they have a perfect defense against any and all elemental attacks or status effects. They have low HP, but low HP is more than enough if you can't put a dent in them. Most people will be inclined to ignore them, but in case you're curious, the reward for bagging one of these Lucky Minks is a flood of EXP. Somewhere north of 16,000... (!!!). When you take the steps up to the top of the Spire, you'll find thin bridges of light connecting the pillars in a grid pattern. Make your way to the other side and take the final steps up to the Guardian. =============================== Melc Ruins - Hall of Flight =============================== Home stretch. Just walk up, save, enter door, and ride lift. ================================ Melc Ruins - Guardian's Tomb ================================ Here you meet the fourth and final guardian, Unama ----- event ----- After the event, you'll automatically obtain Unama's Orb. When you leave, you'll be taken back to the entrance. At this point, since you're in the last few hours of the game, you may want to take the time to revisit some of the old towns, gamble a bit at 'The Money' Casino, solve a few cases with Otto the Boy Detective, or any of the other things you can do in the world of Grandia III. You'll get more chances before the game ends, but now that you've obtained all four Guardian orbs, it feels like the right time to take a break. When you're ready, however, take Yuki's plane and head for the skies. Surmania Zero awaits. ===================== Surmania - Tunnel ===================== You'll leave Shiba and the plane behind here as you venture into the Caves. ==================== Surmania - Caves ==================== The Aton Lambdas and Gigas Pis that lurk in the caves are just derivatives of enemies you've seen before. They're stronger, obviously, but so is your party, so the strategies you've picked up still apply. The new enemies are the Zeptol Phis that look insects. Other than the few chests scattered about this area, nothing else is worth a fancy, so exit out with the lift to the north. ===================== Surmania - Chapel ===================== A rainbow save point sits ominously in the room ahead. Save, for your next battle will be against Violetta. +----------+ | Violetta | +----------+ Violetta has incredible defense but not a lot of HP. The Demon Scythe she uses has a ton of HP, but takes damage as it should. The combination isn't as lethal as you think it could be. At about level 40+, Yuki and the rest of the party is a force to be reckoned with. If you're comfortable with a longer battle, reduce the damage Violetta is capable of inflicting by focusing on her Demon Scythe. It is susceptible to paralysis and silence, but they only last for about a turn. Single focus attacks like Dynamite Rush will cause a lot of damage, but because you'll be taking out Violetta anyway, strong multi-hit attacks are good too. If you'd rather try the faster approach, focus solely on Violetta and only deal with the Scythe if it needs to be Cancelled. Use big single-target spells and skills like Galactic Bang and Blade Storm. Just win the war of attrition as you damage her big and she damages you right back. Both Violetta and her Scythe are very fast, but now that you have Unama's Orb an extremely valuable action has been added to your benefit. Unama's Orb stops time, and during this window you can do massive damage, boost attributes, and heal teammates all without consequence. It's probably not necessary to waste an orb on Violetta, but if you want to experiment with Unama's Orb, she's not a bad candidate at all. Her attacks are moderately damaging. Her Burn Wall technique surrounds her with rotating fireballs to protect her (causing big problems for attacking characters), and both Chant of Despair and Freeshooter summon magical particles to either rain down damage from above or have a shotgun effect. Chant of Despair also lowers defense, so it can cause some problems when she decides to follow it up with high level spells. Nevertheless, you shouldn't come out of this battle with too many bruises. ===================== Surmania - Castle ===================== As soon as you enter, an event between Raven and Emelious begins. Afterwards, you'll find yourself in Surmania Castle. ----- event ----- The Duamutef is a new enemy here with a lot of defense. It's also capable of using Erebos, which you should be familiar with by now. The rest of the enemies are stronger iterations of previous enemies, now prefixed "King." The King Drake uses Burst Breath, which is nasty against anyone weak against fire. That said, most enemies here are inclined towards one type of magic, so it's quite hard to equip accordingly with Divine Charm's for everyone. ======================== Surmania - Courtyard ======================== Walk further along the path and you'll trigger another scene between Raven and Emelious. ----- event ----- ======================= Surmania - Entrance ======================= Save the game first, and enter the round platform where La Ilim awaits. +----------------------------------------+ | La Ilim, Crystal Skull & Undead Dragon | +----------------------------------------+ Round two against La Ilim and the Undead Dragon can guarantee that it will be nothing like your first encounter, which ended with La Ilim running away. This time, La Ilim's Crystal Skull is also a target, but hardly defeatable because of it's unholy defense. Better to concentrate on La Ilim and the Undead Dragon instead. The Undead Dragon, once again, is quite weak compared to its master and should perish with a few direct hits of your strongest techniques. The problem, however, is that La Ilim has quite an attachment to his pet, and is not quick to let it stay dead... er... undead... for too long. Once his Crystal Skull uses Rebirth you'll be saying hi to ol' dragy again. Fortunately, the Undead Dragon falls quite easily, and getting rid of its presense makes the front against La Ilim much easier and it's in your best interests to do so. La-Ilim's strongest attacks, such as Comet Cannon and Energy Drain, can't be used without the Dragon. Without the Dragon he's reduced to much more manageable attacks, such as Crackle and physical attacks. Casting Diggin' on the party will reduce your need to waste too many turns to heal, so let that be a priority during this fight. Physical attacks usually don't have much of a place during boss battles now, so you're going to be using your strongest spells and techniques once more. Dahna's Mana Spring will ensure that powerful magic continues to rain down on La Ilim, while Alfina's Energy Drive will keep Yuki and Ulf in the running with SP to use. All in all, this encounter shouldn't be too much of a headache, and victory is attainable even without the use of Orbs. Their defeat this time is final. After you defeat La Ilim, head down the rest of the walkway and take the lift up to the next level. ================================== Surmania - Top of Cursed Tower ================================== Save your game once more, and enter the giant double doors that leads to a showdown against Emelious. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- +-----------------------------------------------------+ | Emelious, Orb of Darkness, Demon Sword & God Slayer | +-----------------------------------------------------+ There is one very important thing to remember during this battle against Emelious: The God Slayer sword he wields must never be allowed to reach ACT on the IP gauge. If it does, your battle is over. It moves along at a snail's crawl on the IP gauge, but with the frenzy of battle on you, its easy to forget that certain death lurks just a step away. Regardless of God Slayer, Emelious still has attacks that can pretty much guarantee death. His Orb casts a few powerful dark magic spells that send groups of projectiles towards one person. Dimension blade is a fast and painful slash of his sword, and perhaps the move that generates the biggest OUCH factor in the game, Spirit Wall, will almost always KO a single person. Once Emelious falls, the rest of the parts go with him, but it is far too dangerous to try to defeat Emelious without paying attention to anything else. This battle is best won in calculated steps, and your first order of business is to destroy the Orb. It's the easiest one to break, and you'll likely take a fair share of damage before you get rid of it, but it is entirely possible to do so without using an orb. This is important, because you'll need to use Unama's help to get rid of the Demon Sword. Once again, Mana Spring and Energy Drive play pivotal roles in Emelious' defeat. By now, I should sound like a broken record when I say casting powerful magic in conjuction with Mana Spring is central to your offensive strategy. You'll still want to use single target spells and techniques to get rid of each part as soon as you can, but if you toss in an area attack every once in a while, it will only make the next target easier to kill. After the Orb is gone, you take away Emelious' ability to use his dark magic. Nevertheless, his most deadly attack is still available as long as the Demon Sword exists, so get rid of that next. This is where you use Unama's Orb, which will both give you a chance to heal completely and launch an offensive wave which should almost destroy the Demon Sword. When the effects of Unama's Orb wears off, you should be able to break the sword with a few more turns. Emelious, now alone with his God Slayer, has been seriously handicapped. It's just a matter of chipping away at his HP now, as he has a ton of it, but there's nothing too terribly threatening left about this battle. He is still capable of using Dimension Blade, but with both Dahna and Alfina casting Healer+ and Alhealer, you should be able to stay fairly healthy as you whittle away at Emelious. Remember to keep an eye out for the God Slayer, and cancel it's turn as soon as it gets too close for comfort to the ACT line. ----- event ----- ================================ Raflid Alps - Mountain Slope ================================ You end up crashing in a new area, Raflid Alps, and have lost Alfina to the clutches of Emelious. As you make your way back to civilization, you'll encounter White Bunnies and Bigfoots. Don't let the harmless look of the White Bunnies fool you - they are quite capable of their own mean streak. Up ahead on the path is a snowman and a chest. The map reveals another path that you can travel, but is blocked off with snow. For the moment, just head into town and rest up. =============== Raflid Town =============== Event plays on entry. ----- event ----- You'll have to make your way to the Temporary Workshop on the west side of town, where Rotts exits the house as you approach. ----- event ----- The team has scattered about the town after the event, but instead of rounding everyone up, your job is to talk to Rotts at the stack of logs. ----- event ----- Look for the source of the violin music at the top of the hill. Here, you'll reunite with Hect. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- ----- event ----- ================================ Raflid Alps - Mountain Slope ================================ Once the series of events ends, Yuki will find himself alone in the part of the alps that was previously unaccessible. Return to town by walking up the path, battling White Bunnies along the way. As you approach a rock in the path, you'll stop to collect a necklace. =============== Raflid Town =============== Yuki collapses at the entrance to Raflid Town, and Ulf and Rotts take him to the inn. Meanwhile, Schmidt seems to recognize the necklace that Yuki recovered... ----- event ----- ----- event ----- When Yuki recovers, the party regroups and adds Hect to the roster. Hect is a little weaker than Alfina as far as physical stats go, but is far and away a much stronger magic user. She comes equipped with Magica Esoterica, a skill that adds cancel to magic spells. The rest of the town offers slim pickings, as there is nothing in the magic and skill shops that offer anything you haven't seen before. When you're ready, head out to Raflid Alps from the path east of the log stacks. =============== Raflid Alps =============== Three chests can be found in this area, along with a plentiful bounty of White Bunnies and Bigfoots (Bigfeet?). This area provides a very good arena to test Hect's powers and a chance to boost one or two of her techniques. ==================================== Raflid Alps - Northern Mountains ==================================== Schmidt's old plane sits at the base of the Northern Mountains, and along the way you can pick up a few goodies, but there are a plethora of Gilled enemies that lurk here. When you get to the plane, examine it and you'll be taken back to town for an event. ----- event ----- Rotts demands that you get some rest before the big day in the morning, so head to the inn to spend the night. The next day, head back to the airstrip. ----- event ----- ----- event ----- ============================= Xorn Shell - Breach Point ============================= The Xorn Shell is eerily quiet...that is, until you meet with Omega Breed shortly up the path. +-------------+ | Omega Breed | +-------------+ Omega Breed should remind you of a certain boss you've faced off against in the past. Like Mother Breed, Omega Breed is still also against fire. Much of your previous strategies against Mother Breed still apply, as she spends most of her turns spawning children to fight for her. With Hect in the party, Heaven's Gate and Armageddon should make sure yours is a quick fight, and a few strong fire spells should all but finish her off. As for the rest of the level, it'll be a long, hard path to Surmania Ruins. The enemies here resemble the groups you faced in the Verse Realm, but they're definitely tougher. Hopefully you remembered to restock on items in Raflid, because you'll most likely be running on empty by the time you get to the end. ======================================== Xorn Shell - Surmania Ruins Entrance ======================================== As always, a rainbow save point usually means danger ahead, Will Robinson, so make sure to save before going any further. +-------------+ | Omega Breed | +-------------+ Yes, it's her again. Yes, she has more HP. No, your strategy won't change much. Yes, she will cast Meteor Strike. No, it doesn't hurt that bad. Yes, Heaven's Gate will still suck for her. No, you won't need to use an orb. Yes, it will be the last time you face her. No, Bill Gates hasn't invented some email tracking program that will pay you to forward your email. STOP IT PEOPLE. Ulf's Red Lotus skill is good for clearing a swath of enemies and doing some decent damage to Omega Breed. If you find yourself swamped by enemies, Hect's Armageddon skill is fantastic. Other multi-targeting spells are good too (think Quake or Burnblaze). Otherwise, target the Omega Breed solo and watch her HP disappear. Once the last Omega Breed is out of the way, walk up to the nucleus and destroy it. ----- event ----- And with that, the skies of Grandia return to normal. Your journey is almost at an end, but you're not much of a hero if you don't save the damsel in distress now are you? Proceed through the rest of Surmania Ruins to find Alfina held captive by Emelious atop a strange structure. ===================================== Surmania Ruins - Underground Maze ===================================== The Underground Maze is a network of passages and gates that may be opened by activating triggers located on the floor. Some triggers will open the gates that will allow you to advance through the maze, others will open the gates to cells that hold enemies captive. It's usually fairly obvious which ones do what, so if you want to battle as many enemies as you can to level up, don't miss the ones that open cells. It should go without saying, but if you haven't learned the Ultimate Method for all of your techniques by now, you should probably use them as much as possible here. Ulf's Dynamite will be second to none once you've completely boosted it, and Hect's Armageddon is exactly that - Armageddon for your enemies, but only after it's gone through a few stages of upgrades. Of course, here is where you'll need these upgrades the most. Enemies like the Demon Lord and Calibus don't pity your cause, but are eager to enroll you in their very own school of hard knocks. Before you can approach the exit to the maze, the ground will give and you'll fall into the floor below. ----- event ----- When you can continue, look for the lift back up to where you were, and the rest of the way to the exit. ============================================= Surmania Ruins - Heart of Undergroud Maze ============================================= Three gates prevent you from reaching the final corridor before the last battle. Each of the gates yield a different obstacle, if you can call a treasure chest an obstacle, but there a couple of groups of Calibus' to overcome before you can reach the save point. The last room is deceiving. The map suggests that its a small entryway with the exit on the north end. In reality, it is a multi-tiered corridor with hidden hallways and the exit is at the bottom. Your rewards will be the best equipment in the game, but it will certainly come at a great effort. The lift at the bottom takes you to the last few encounters. ----- event ----- NOTE: Don't even bother with the Lucky Minks unless you've got your Orb charged. With Unama's Orb, it's a piece of cake to freeze time and then take down a Mink... or three. One of the U-shaped areas has a room with minks, one of which is a battle with three Minks. Attack it with your sword to surprise it, then use Unama's Orb and blast as many as you can. If you get all three, we're talking over 49,000(!) experience. ================================= Surmania Ruins - Cursed Tower ================================= This is one of the smallest maps in the game, but one of the most difficult to make it out of alive. The Last Keeper, Excise Omega, Gigas Omega, and Demon Lords conspire to keep you from your mission. Worse yet, you've just gone through hordes of enemies that must've seriously taxed your inventory, so you're practically running on empty. If you're anal about defeating every single enemy you have your work cut out for you, but the few extra EXP towards a new level will definitely help. The Excise Omega is a real jerk - he'll Auto-Cancel just about anything targeting him unless it's going to Cancel him. You can try to target other enemies with spells and hope he gets caught in the crossfire, but chances are you'll need to set Yuki and Ulf to do a whole lot of regular attacks, with the others joining in, Defending, or Cancelling. Note that he sometimes Auto-Cancels All-targeted spells and skills. Making him even more of a jerk. The Last Keeper is a big softie, especially if you manage to cancel his Magic Immunity up front. Otherwise, good use of skills will take him down. His Power Slam does a lot of damage, but like the Duamutef he's slow to act. ======================================== Surmania Ruins - Top of Cursed Tower ======================================== Finally! A save spot that will recover your HP and MP! You'll need to use it to start fresh against the final boss, Xorn. Alfina rejoins the party, and make sure you take a quick look at her outfit to be certain that she's outfitted with the new equipment you've picked up in Surmania. Afterwards, speak with Hect to receive Armageddon for your two dedicated magic users. Cross the light bridge to enter the final battle. If you're feeling unprepared, you can talk to Hect again and go back to the plane and fly elsewhere. Raflid can Fuse and Extract some mana eggs, for example. You probably don't need to level up any more, though. ======================= Hall of Nothingness ======================= Examine the Soul Slayer to confront Xorn. +------+ | Xorn | +------+ Xorn, being the final boss, isn't as hard to beat as you would assume, but you do want to have your party be at least in the mid 40's before facing Xorn. First off, Xorn is only one icon on the IP gauge. That means that he doesn't have more than one chance to attack, unlike Emelious who had four. To make up for those lack of turns, Xorn's INI is very high. Your strongest magic will be spells like Heaven's Gate, Absolute Zero, Galactic Bang, and Meteor Strike. If you've taken the time to obtain the ultimate method for the rest of your skills, your strongest attacks should be doozies. Take care, though. Once Xorn loses about half his HP, he'll start using his stronger attacks more often. There are several attacks that you want to watch out for, the first being "Death Knell". When you see Xorn use Death Knell, you'll notice that it doesn't activate right away, but you'll see a small circle underneath one or more characters who have been unlucky enough to be the target of Xorn's scorn. This is your warning flag to get out of that circle of wind, because anything in that circle will positively die when Death Knell activates. Another attack that you want to look out for is Dimension Gate. Dimension Gate is a single target attack that can easily take out 50% or more of your character's HP. A good Defend when you see it coming will help a great deal. Darkness is arguably the most devastating attack because it damages the whole party a great deal. The damage probably won't kill you, but don't forget that Xorn's INI is very high. If you don't heal, it's very easy for him to use another moderate-damage spell or skill and then you're left with three party members. And taking time to resurrect your party is time that you could spend dealing damage to Xorn. Dark Hymn is a single target attack that can cancel and does a good amount of damage. Despair is a single target effect that removes all of your stat boosts (ATK UP, DEF UP, and SPD UP) AND prevents you from recasting those boosts on your characters until Despair wears off. Either way, Despair is a hassle but you'll probably prefer it over Xorn using another big-damage spell. Erosion is a single target status effect. Status effects shouldn't be a problem if you have accessories that nullify them like the Spirit Ring. Thunder Clap is a single target multi-hit spell that is not too strong at all. And to finish it off, Xorn has a normal attack, which is a bunch of dark orbs that hit ALL of your party members about four times for about 70-80 HP per hit. Whew! Now, the key strategies to defeating Xorn are very simple, and there are different ways to defeat him, but the concepts are the same. One thing you want to make sure you're constantly doing is cancelling attacks like Darkness and getting out of the way of the Death Knell. Cast magic like Heaven's Gate and Galactic Bang to deal a lot of damage. Use Yuki's Flash skill and double your combo attacks. Yuki's Dragon Slash won't play much of a role in this battle because 99SP is a lot to spend on one enemy. Ulf's Flame Spike and Dynamite techniques, however, will be very often used, and Dahna will be your magic nuker as usual. Mana Spring should be on tap so she doesn't lose MP. Alfina reprises her role as the healer and will be in charge of boosting the party where possible, refreshing SP with Energy Drive, and weakening Xorn with Armageddon (which will slow him down for a short time as well). Orb usage isn't entirely necessary, but it can come in handy. If your party is having a rough time dealing with Xorn, use Unama's Orb to freeze time, get your act together and deal damage with no interruptions. Yoat's Orb will revive characters if they die, allowing Alfina to ignore healing and focus on Armageddon and Energy Drive. Other orbs are pretty much useless at this point. Rinse strategy and repeat. After an epic battle, you'll conquer Xorn once and for all. ----- event ----- ---------- staff roll ---------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 05. Extras »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================== a. Mana Egg Fusion ====================== You'll first hear about the mysterious art of fusing mana eggs in the Mendi City magic shop, but won't actually get to fuse anything until you reach Baccula. Fusing Mana Eggs is perhaps one of the most important pasttimes in Grandia III. Not only does fusion create more powerful Mana Eggs to boost your elemental attacks, but some high level magic spells can only be obtained through extracting them from certain eggs. Most low level eggs are easy to come by, since enemies will occasionally drop them during your battles. In fact, later in the game, when you obtain the Legendary Thief Skill, they are even more readily obtainable. This is important, because from the first four Magic Level 1 eggs, YOU CAN CREATE ANY OF THE OTHER EGGS. This, of course, is good news for those of you who want to spam Galactic Bang in your battles until your head pops. Theoretically, you could even farm eggs from the start to have at your disposal some of the strongest spells in the game right from the get go. Again, using Galactic Bang (an eight star spell) as an example, it can be yours by simply farming five Flare Eggs and performing a series of fusions. How? Let's refer to figure 1 (haha): - Figure 1 - 1. Flare Egg x Flare Egg = Blaze Egg 2. Blaze Egg x Flare Egg = Volcano Egg 3. Volcano Egg x Flare Egg = Calamity Egg 4. Calamity Egg x Flare Egg = Cluster Egg Extract Cluster Egg >>> *GALACTIC BANG*, Quake As you can see, extracting a Cluster Egg produces Galactic Bang, and you even get Quake thrown in as a leftover. If you're a gambler, you could actually *win* the Volcano Egg at the casino, and then you'll only need two Flare Eggs to produce your desired result. Since it is entirely reasonable that you'll have at least two Flare Eggs by the time you reach Baccula, you'll be completely set up to make a very powerful spell, very early in the game. Of course, Galactic Bang is only one extreme. With the previous information in mind, one can actually fuse any number of in-between spells and still be very well equipped after leaving Baccula. Refer to the Egg guide for all the possible fusion combinations. =================== b. Arrange Dice =================== Oh if only Vegas had a game like Arrange Dice... In this mini-game, the odds are entirely in your favor, boys and girl. Like Vegas, if you sit at a table long enough, the money WILL eventually concentrate on one side of the table. Unlike Vegas, YOUR fortune grows the LONGER you play. You will still lose much more often than you will win, but it is the payout of your big wins that more than make up for your losses. You can lose 40 hands in a row, but that 41st roll might pay out 100x what you bet, effectively more than doubling the money you lost, and then some. Why do you want to play Arrange Dice in the first place? Well, like Alonso says, it's a man's game (har!), but gambling is the only way you can obtain some very special items, including the best book in the game - the Master Book. Rules --------- To play Arrange Dice, you must purchase medals at the casino. Alonso also gives you one medal to start off when you first arrive in Sabatar. Arrange Dice seems like a complex game but actually has a very simple premise. Beyond the fancy looking table, peculiar dice, and decorative cards, Arrange Dice boils down to nothing more than a number matching game. The player picks seven cards from a stack of nine, each card numbered from 3 to 11. These numbers represent the potential sum of any roll for two die. Numbers 2 and 12 are excluded because they are special sums that will be discussed later. The player then arranges his seven cards on the table, and rolls a pair of dice five times. For each roll, if one of the cards match the sum of the dice, the card is "lifted." The player's goal is to "lift" at least three cards in a row from the five rolls of the dice. If you manage to lift more cards for a longer row, the payout is, of course, higher. Special Conditions ---------------------- Of course, sums that have already been rolled cannot be used again. On top of that, the sums 2 and 12 are special because of the lowered probability of the player hitting that sum. Rolling a 2 (or "snake eyes") will result in a 10x multiplier PROVIDED you win, and rolling a 12 (or "boxcars") will result in an automatic loss. Additionally, the 3 and 11 cards are marked red, and are bonus multipliers if used to complete a row. Probabilities ----------------- The above special conditions make sense mathematically, as not all sums are created equally. With a regular pair of six-sided dice, there is only a 1 in 36 chance that you'll roll either a 2 or 12. Additionally, there is only a 1 in 18 chance that you'll roll either a 3 or 11. To make sense of this, consult the following chart: - the following chart - 1 2 3 4 5 6 ------------------ 1 | 2 3 4 5 6 7 | 2 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 3 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 4 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 | 5 | 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 6 | 7 8 9 10 11 12 As you can see, there is only one combination of rolls that will result in either the sum of 2 or 12, and only 2 combinations of rolls that will result in either the sum of 3 or 11. Everything else has a 1 in 12 chance or greater of hitting, with 7 being the most probable combination - a 1 in 6 chance of occuring during each roll. If you like to play the odds, cards 6, 7, and 8 should always be on your table. Does this mean you should ignore the red cards? Not in the least bit. This is gambling after all, and sometimes if you want to win big, you have to take the risks. And like I said in the beginning, when you win, you'll want to win big enough that the payout covers your previous losses, and then some. Multipliers are the way to do it. Playing the red cards is the only way you'll qualify for some of the larger payouts. Payouts ----------- "Lucky" means you've used at least one red card in your row. "Fever" means you've used both red cards in your row. 3-Card Row: x2 Lucky 3-Card Row: x4 Fever 3-Card Row: x8 4-Card Row: x15 Lucky 4-Card Row: x30 Fever 4-Card Row: x60 Absolute 5-Card Row: x100 Lucky Absolute 4-Card Row: x200 Fever Absolute 5-Card Row: x400 Don't forget, the red cards aren't the only multipliers in Arrange Dice. If during any roll you get snake eyes, it's a 10x multiplier provided you win. This means if you roll snake eyes twice, it's a 100x multiplier if you manage to hit three cards in a row during the same turn. If you make a Lucky 3-Card Row and roll snake eyes twice, it's a 400x payout. If you make a Fever 3-Card Row and roll snake eyes twice, it's an 800x payout!!! ==================== c. Aerial Combos ==================== Here's a complete list of the Aeriel Combo move that each character executes. Initiates are actions (aside from a critical hit) that can lead to an Aerial Combo, and Terminals are actions that cannot be chained with another Aerial Combo: Yuki - Swallow Slash (doubled w/ Flash) Alfina - Mana Stinger Miranda - Flying Kick Alonso - Breaching Ulf - You're Finished (bottom damage doubled with Shadow Warrior) Dahna - Gatling Shot Hect - Thunder Call Initiates: Howl, Crackle, BOOM!, Tremor, Quake (yes, Tremor and Quake) Terminals: You're Finished, Breaching ============ d. Seeds ============ Here is a quick, incomplete list on where to get specific seeds if you're into farming them to raise stats: Surmania Entrance - Life, Magic Seeds Excise - Magic Seeds Zeptol - Resistance Seeds Gigas - Defense Seeds Demons - Life Seeds Gate Keepers - Resistance Seeds Minotaur - Power Seeds =============================== e. Easter Eggs and Bloopers =============================== I'm pretty sure half of the following tidbits weren't intended to be Easter Eggs but simply goofs on the programmer's parts, but there are a few surprising things scattered throughout the world of Grandia III that may give you a chuckle or two. - In the Mendi City in, head upstairs to the rooms and look for a portrait hanging on the wall. The silhouette of this portrait looks *remarkably* like a certain US president...who made a proclamation...about emancipation...and followed it with a certain...address...at Gettysburg...and that should about do it. - In the same Inn, if you're on the 2nd disc, you can check one of the locked doors to hear about what happens to Bianca. - Towards the second half of the game, if you speak to the old lady in the tent in Sabatar Harbor, you can hear what eventually happens to Jerry from the "Jerry and Nina" love story. - In the last meal dialogue that includes Miranda and Alonso (before the party breaks up for the first time), Miranda mentions that Yuki used to sleep with his Flight Unit when he was three years old. However, while in Anfog, Yuki mentioned that he and Rotts had to work really hard to make the money for their first Flight Unit. The discrepancy? Miranda and Yuki didn't arrive in Anfog (and thus met Rotts) until Yuki was five years old. - Talk about a *Magic* Shop! In Anfog Village, if you step inside the Magic Shop, you'll notice that there is a window to the right of the door. There is sunlight pouring in through this window. Now try to find that same window on the outside of that shop! - There is a whale in the sky. Dude. No joke. - Perhaps the single largest blooper in Grandia III occurs near the start of the game. After saving Alfina from soldiers and encountering Raven, Yuki and Miranda take Alfina back to their house in Anfog. After Yuki obtains a Medicinal Herb for Miranda, he walks into the room to check up on Alfina. Now, pay very close attention to the scenes that take place. When you first see Alfina on the bed, you'll notice that she is underneath the blankets and they are pulled up to her waist. In the *very next* scene, they are nicely folded at her foot, and she is sitting atop a perfectly made bed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 6. Contact »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feel free to email me at: glennkcl@yahoo.com (and be nice...) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »» 07. Thanks/Credits »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author: Dat be me, yo. et al: SQEX Aquila team: GM,AY,SW,RC,TP,JK,KK,LS,ST,TD,RD Thanks to: Square-Enix for being groovy the reader for being peachy keen Copyright (c) 2006 Glenn Lee. All Rights Reserved. This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, or private use. This document may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without expressed written concent of it's respective owner. Use of this FAQ on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. SQUARE ENIX, GRANDIA III and other names of products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Co, Ltd. in Japan and/or other countries. All rights reserved. -----------------------------widest-point-80-characters-------------------------