Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song copyright 2005, Square-Enix walkthrough and FAQ copyright me, weekendrisktaker@hotmail.com 2005. This FAQ is for use on the GameFAQs website only. If you wish to show this on another site, please ask first. 20/8/2005- www.CheatCC.com added this FAQ to their site with permission. This is not intended to be an in-depth, or even a complete, guide or walkthrough for this game. This is a description of some of the quests I have experienced since I started this game, and some of how the game works, which perhaps might be of some help to those just starting. I cannot claim to know everything about this game, or even a significant percentage of what's in the game. This is just what I do know. ToC 1-The Legend 2-The Heroes 3-The Warriors (recruitable characters) 4-Battle System --Leveling up --Formation --Weapons and Magic --Altered Attacks and Combos --Getting Around & Map Skills --Run Away! 5-Getting Started --Choices Choices... 6-The World --The Frontier --Kjaraht --Rosalia --The Knights' Dominion --The Dry Lands --Walon Island --The Coral Sea (Sangokai) --Bafal Empire --Ligau Island --Valhallant 7. Lists of info. --”Jin” combos --Magic List --Combined Magic List --”How To”... some random explanations =================The Legend================ In the beginning, the creator god Marda gave birth to this world, Mardius. Upon this earth there walked three deities of greatest evil: Death, Saruin, and Sheraha. These three waged war upon the other gods, led by Elore, the All-Father. In time, Death and Sheraha were both subdued, but Saruin was stronger, and had to be bound by Elore himself, using the power of the ten “Destiny Stones”, and the aid of the human hero Mirsa, who, while killed in the battle, was then raised to heaven as a god himself. That was a thousand years ago.... The Destiny Stones have been scattered across the world, and once again the power of the evil gods rises. As in times past, heroes must combat this evil. Eight champions have been chosen. From all across the wide lands of Mardius, they must create their own legends. For the Gods made man, but man must make his own saga.... ==================The Heroes==================== Albert – The Young Prince Albert is the youngest child of the lord of the Isthmus, and his family's pride and joy. One day, monsters appear in the caves under the Isthmus, and he is forced to flee as his home and family are destroyed. What future awaits him, all alone in the world? Aisha – The Lost Nomad Aisha's family, the Taral Tribe, live on the Steppes of Galessa. Strange powers are gathering there, brought on by servants of Darkness, and Aisha's tribe is forced to flee. She becomes separated in the attack, and now must discover what fate has befallen her people. Jamil – The Clever Thief Jamil is a thief in Estamir, the great port city of Kjarat. He lives on his wits and the contents of other peoples' pockets. He has heard tales of a legendary treasure, the “Destiny Stones”, and dreams of one day finding them himself. Claudia – The Forest Child For as long as she can remember, Claudia has been raised by the mysterious witch named Owl who lives in the Mazewood of Bafal. She is good friends with the forest creatures, but knows nothing of the outside world. One day, she encounters a stranger in the forest, one who bears a request for her. It is time to leave the forest, but who will protect her from the real world? Captain Hawk – The Great Pirate Captain of the pirate ship Lady Luck, Hawk is one of the most successful pirates of the northern seas. The greed and treachery of others forces him to abandon that life, and take on a greater task instead. Sif – The Warrior Woman From Valhallant, this amazon is sworn to protect her village from all danger. What could make her leave to travel the wide world? Gray – The Solitary Warrior Gray wanders the world, without home or cause, seeking to become the strongest, the best swordsman there is. What will he do once his goal is realized? When he finds a cause that won't let him go? Barbara – The Wandering Dancer Barbara dances. That is her life and livelihood. But there are things at work in the world which she cannot ignore, and which can't seem to stop involving her somehow... =================The Warriors===================== --Mains (name) – (where to find) Albert – the Isthmus, later in Crystal City Pub. Sometimes in Altours Aisha – Secret Room in N. Estamir (sometimes), later in Tarmitta Jamil – the Pub in Loban, Bruelle, Yeoville, Tarmitta... Claudia – the Pub in Melville Hawk – Uso, the Drylands Sif – Pub, various places in Rosalia. Gray – Pub, Melville Barbara – shows up in various towns on the New Road Other characters: Herman – starts with Barbara, Pub in West End Galahad – starts with Gray, Mirsa's Temple in Crystal City Myriam – starts with Gray, Pub in North Estamir Doud – house in South Estamir, need Jamil to get Sylvan – a wolf, starts with Claudia Brau – a bear, starts with Claudia Jean – castle, Melville Diana – various port towns in the north Gella'ha – a lizardman, starts with Hawk, Northpoint Pub Rafael – Eugenstadt Castle, in “Theodor's Madness” Theodor – Mirsaburg Castle, after “Theodor's Madness” Freilei – the Frozen Castle, if you defeat her with 4 people Patrick – at his house in Melville, after Gold Heist event Neidhart – at the Crystal Palace, if you give him the Aquamarine Dragon Knight – at the Dragon Valley, if you finish his quest properly Fanna – at her house in S. Estamir, if you do her quest early on Capt. Silver – at the Pirates' Coast, after defeating the Silver Dragon The Minstrel – talk to him a few times in any Pub, and he might join Red Mage – this mysterious treasure-hunter wishes to explore the Frozen Castle. Will you help him? Also, there are several classes of “nameless” warriors who can join you in Pubs around the world. After a while (50-60% completion?), they won't show up anymore, but the story characters will appear in their usual places still. ==================Battle System======================= Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song works on many levels similar to both the original and to SaGa Frontier: characters' stats are raised individually, weapon techniques cannot be pooled and shared, etc. LP has been introduced (didn't exist in the original), but the original formation setup has been left largely unchanged. As above, stats increase individually, usually according to what you use most, i.e. weapon-users gain strength faster, magicians get intelligence, etc. Stats can also be raised (or lowered) with various equipment. The stats are as follows (as seen in the menu): Strength (STR) Vitality (VIT) Dexterity (DEX) Agility (AGI) Intelligence (INT) Will (WIL) Compassion (COM) Charm (CHA) The first six are pretty self-explanatory, but the last two... no idea right now. Some new things in this game, however, are BP, and EP. Battle Points (BP) have replaced WP and JP (or SP) from earlier games as the power behind your attacks. All your weapon arts and spells require a certain amount of BP which varies between abilities. Each character has a max and starting amount of BP, which increases over the course of the game. In battle, your BP goes up by a set amount (in parentheses) each round. Energy Points (EP) are specific to the weapon, and are equivalent to Use Points in SaGa Frontier II or the early GameBoy SaGas. Each weapon has a set amount, usually 30, but sometimes higher or lower, that shows its endurance. Different attacks can use up some of the weapon's EP. When the EP reach zero, then the weapon is no longer usable (until you can restore them at an Inn). Some weapons do not have EP, but instead use LP, so watch out. Some high-level spells and martial arts also use LP if your skill level is too low. -----------SKILLS---------------- Now, instead of semi-randomly gaining skill levels in various weapons or magics, you have to purchase them with jewels won from monsters. The skills offered vary from town to town, but are usually included as a set, with every part of the set advancing to the next level together (so if you have 2 level-one skills and a level-two skill, you have to bring the first two up before you can level up the last). Once you reach a certain point with a skillset (usually level-two for everything), that character can change classes. Different classes have different bonuses attached, including lower BP or EP use for certain weapon types, increased damage with weapon of choice, better use of items or Map Skills, etc. In many of the previous games, there have been 8 basic divisions of weaponry: Swords, Great Swords, Rapiers, Spears, Clubs (or Staffs), Axes, Bows, and Martial Arts. In this game, the first six have been further split up into all sorts of sub-types, many of which have techniques specific to their type. Most techniques, however, are pooled between all weapons that can use them. For example, Hawk Blade can be used with fencing swords, great swords (one- or two-handed), long swords, curved swords, one-handed axes, two-handed axes, etc. EP & BP bonuses brought on by skill levels or current class are only applied to the specific weapon you're using, not to the techniques, so the actual cost of the technique can vary on one character. -------MAGIC------- There are 10 types of magic in Mardius, each part of a mutually exclusive pair: Fire – Water Earth – Air Illusion – Arcane (what I call them; similar to Mystic and Realm in SF) Light – Dark Force – Evil There are 6 spells of each type, and you must purchase these spells in magic shops throughout the land, few of which carry the same magics. I have yet to find where you can get Dark or Evil magic, though you can get skill levels in the Assassin and Red Mage classes.... --------------------Altered & Combo Attacks------------------- There are several attacks which can spontaneously alter in mid- battle into stronger attacks. There are two types of these. Musoku attacks make your character have a 100% hit rate, with upped damage, and unblockable. Musoku attacks only happen for “dash-type” attacks, like Cut In or Charge, where the character actually runs up to the enemy and whacks them. The second sort, kageki attacks, add to the total number of hits given out by this attack... well, you get the idea. For example, Blade Roll normally hits everything twice, but Blade Roll Echo hits everything four times. There are certain classes which make these attacks much more common. --Combos There are three basic types of combos listed in the manual. The first one involves two or more weapons attacks. The second mixes weapons and magic. The third is with those suped-up versions of attacks. Its after this that things get interesting. There's a special kind of combo attack possible, for two or more people, that results in a massive special attack being performed. You'll know it when all the people involved rush up to the enemy, stand around it, and then a diagram appears in the ground. After all the attacks and pyro- technics are over with, the enemy will definitely be hurting. The actual special effects tend to differ depending on the number of people involved, and their positions in formation. I'll put more info on these at the end of the file. Finally, there's Divine Providence. This occasionally happens when you've got a character with near-terminally low LP. The God of Light shines down upon them, and they have a few LP restored in mid-battle. This is NICE.... when it happens. Other effects include the Sea God zapping everything with lightning, the Earth Mother healing your entire party, Death showing up for some wholesale slaughtering, or even Sheraha appearing and... ??? no idea. ---------------------------Getting Around-------------------------- Simple enough. Arrow buttons to walk, joystick to run, triangle button takes you out of an area instantly (unless there are monsters). There's a Quicksave function that acts as your anywhere-save. You can only have one Quicksave at a time, but it's to your memory card, and won't vanish if you turn off the PS2. Otherwise, you can make multiple save files at the Inn. Map Skills are new. These are special skills you can learn from the skill merchants. They share a pool of Map Points, which can be replenished for free at an Inn. They come in several groups: Search Skills: Find Chest Find Stones Find Plants Find Buried Treasure Find Fake Walls These four skills are used to locate hidden items on maps. If your Search Skill level isn't high enough, then you only see the silhouette. All these skills are written in kanji, so it might take some trial and error before you figure out which is which. Get Skills: (ok, not the best name, but...) Mining Harvesting Dig for Treasure These skills work with the Find skills mentioned above. Once you find those useful rocks or herbs, you need the proper skills to take them back with you. As before, these are all in kanji. Hide Skills: Stealth Shinobi Step (Tiptoe) These skills keep enemies from noticing you. Stealth works on visually-oriented enemies (Beastmen, beasts, reptiles, birds, undead), while Shinobi Step works on hearing-oriented ones (insects, fish, demons, and plants). Slimes/amorphous enemies are not affected. Stealth is written in katakana, while Shinobi is in hiragana. Also, the Dinosaurs of Ligau Island won't notice you if you're tiptoeing. This is a good thing to keep in mind.... Survival Skills: Jump Climbing These are pretty self-explanatory. If you come to an obstacle, you'd better have these equipped. Sometimes you need a specific ability level to be successful with these. Both are written in katakana in this game. Manipulation Skills: Lock Pick Trap Disarm These two are very useful when exploring castles, and pretty self-explanatory, too. Lock Pick in Japanese includes “kagi” written in katakana, while Trap Disarm has “wana”, also in katakana. This should help a bit to find them on your menu. Negotiation Skills: Trading This skill allows you to trade items with monsters in the field. You can sometimes get good stuff with this. The rest.... I haven't figured out yet, ;) -----------------------Traveling in Style------------------------ Three of your characters have special ways of getting around. Barbara has a wagon, Aisha has her horse, and Hawk his ship. The first two can be used to avoid enemies (run 'em over!), and Hawk's ship allows you to navigate the Coral Sea. The wagon can only be used on the New Road near West End, unfortunately. -------------------------------RUN AWAY!!--------------------------- Easy as pie. On any character's battle commands, keep going left or right until you get to a command list with two items, one of them with a glowing red number attached. The first option is Defend. The other is Run Away. That glowing number is the LP cost for running away. Yes, there is a definite price in terms of getting away safely. For every character in your party, that's one LP more that your chosen character will lose when you successfully get away. So, running away like crazy is definitely not a viable strategy here.... -----------------------Resting Up----------------------------- There is quite a range of rooms available at all the Inns. Here's what you're getting for your hard-earned gold: Free: restores Map Points, but nothing else. Cheap Room: Map Points, and Life Points Normal Room: MP, LP, and restores EP on equipped items Expensive Room: MP, LP, EP on all weapons, healing items replenished. If you get a room for more than 150 gold, you're paying for the extras, not for anything worthwhile. Though sometimes you get items out of it too... Any rest at an Inn will allow you to save. ===============GETTING STARTED============== OK, first thing to decide on is, who will you be? I've already listed the main characters, so it's up to you there. After this you get a few choices, such as renaming the character if you wish. Then, you'll be asked if you want the in-game tutorial on or off (you can change it later), and you'll get to enter your name and gender (if you so desire), so you can keep track of who's playing what character, I guess. There's no Game Data, like in SF, that keeps track of all your playthroughs, but this seems to be in a similar vein. Just punch it all in, and get started! You'll also be asked to choose a starting class for your character. For your first game, there will only be two choices, but after you've cleared the game a few times, you should have most major classes available for your new main characters. This will have a big impact on starting stats and equipment, so have fun, ;) ===================THE WORLD================ Here's a list of places to go, and things to do. This is by no means a complete list. It also does not include any main-character starting quests, sorry. All quests are listed by where they are started, regardless of where you end up over the course of the quest. Note, I've tried to keep this reasonably spoiler-free, but read on at your own risk anyway. -----No set region---- --Fairy Woods ---Scenario: Faerie King Lost. You need to find the five elemental essences of the lost king (fire, water, earth, wood, metal), and return them to the throne in the heart of the wood. The location of the wood changes frequently. Essence locations: Tree: Mazewood, along the west side Earth: the Great Pit, fifth sub-level (go down past Adylice's room) Fire: somewhere in Mt. Tomoe Water: Water Dragon's Palace. Get it BEFORE you open the last room for his second quest. Metal: After you have the first four, talk to a faerie near the end of the Faerie Woods to get this last essence. --Marlynn (found in ports all over the world) ---Scenario: Find the Nymph Statue! Specifics in Kjaraht and Bafal. ---Ukomu's Secret Temple in the Black Sea. Talk to Marlynn after the Nymph quest is over. There's a short fish battle at the start, then you go through the floors of a fairly linear temple. Watch out for the holes in the floor. They're pretty obvious if you take a minute to look, but if you're busy dodging birdies, then down you go... There's a giant turtle at the end, guarding another room with... the Black Diamond of Darkness (Destiny Stone!!). Go all the way back to the exit (the holes help), exit the temple, and fight a Minion of Saruin. --The Unhappy Woman ---scenario: Who's that woman? You see her in random Pubs around the world, but she's always so sad.... Why? This will take at least three playthroughs to complete (it carries over between games). Remember, after you find her and bug her for a while, she'll disappear. REMEMBER TO TALK TO THE BARTENDER after that to ensure that the sequence continues.... She shows up three times in the first game, two more in the second, then there'll be a showdown in the third. --Dark ---scenario: Who am I? You find this mysterious, dangerous-looking fellow in many towns, but who is he? Not even he knows anymore, but he wants you to help him out! Only available after two playthroughs? -----FRONTIER----- The Frontier is a wild, sparsely populated area in western Mardius, and borders Kjaraht. To get there, find out about the New Road from the people in Tarmitta. Travel along the New Road, and West End is on the other side. --West End. If you're playing as Barbara, you start here. The folks in the Pub and around town will give you some good info on the rest of the area, including the other towns. Barbara will receive the Illusory Amethyst (Destiny Stone!) for her dancing here. Note: that applies only to Barbara's quest. --Yassi. A town precariously suspended above a canyon. ---Yassi Caverns. The local monster haunt. Easy pickings for early adventurers. --Saoki. A typical mining town. ---Saoki Caverns. Monsters have begun gathering here, at the command of a Minion of Saruin. There are three set battles in this cave, but nothing special, besides a few good items and money. --Vampire Caverns. The source of many monsters. There are three mini-boss battles involving vampire villagers, one werewolf, and the Vampire himself. He's not an easy battle, but there's an exit near the end, thankfully. If you have troubles with the Vampire, talk to the folks in West End Pub. They'll mention how there used to be a Vampire in Estamir a long time ago... So now, go to North Estamir and talk to the people in the Pub. Apparently this Vampire was defeated over a hundred years ago by Agnes of Amut's Temple. Talk to the priestess of Amut to hear how Agnes' Holy Grail was buried with her in the Catacombs. Check the headstones in the Catacombs to (eventually) find the Grail. Quicksave before you start this, because there'll be the chance of you hitting a trapdoor before you find the thing... Anyway, the Grail item has 10 BP and can only be recharged at Nisa's hidden temple. However, its first ability does MASSIVE damage to undead and demon monsters, and you get a bonus dialogue with the Vampire if you bring it into the battle. ---The Jewel Beast. After the game reaches 60-80% completion (variable depending on how many Frontier bosses you've eliminated), the Jewel Beast will appear, destroying Saoki, Yassi, and West End in turn. This thing is WICKED difficult, so don't take it on without a lot of planning and major spell reinforcement. It IS possible to head off the destruction, however. Finish the Water Dragon's 2nd Request (monster-bashing) to find out the location of the Jewel Caves on the Frontier. Alternately, you can also get this location by defeating the Assassin's Guild early on, but if you do it that way, then apparently the Jewel Beast will already be awake when you get there. In any case, there are also the Jewel Beast's guardians to consider, a Lamia and several Rotting Dragons, and those are hardly easy pickings either, except in comparison to a fully-powered Jewel Beast. Do not expect to successfully complete this mission on your first game. As Niu on the RS:MS board has put it: “the best way to fight that battle is simply Over Drive and Quick Time abuse. No.. I should say that entire Jewel beast quest is telling you to abuse those spells.” Wise words... and it really IS that tough... -----------------KJARAHT----------------- This is an ancient and powerful kingdom of the south. About a century ago they acquired the smaller kingdom of Estamir, which has become an important part of the country. The current leader, the Lee, resides in North Estamir. --Tarmitta. A city on Lake Malar. Protected by the Dragon God. ---Lake Malar. A lake with a temple at its heart. --South Estamir. One half of the great trade city. Sewer passages connect it to North Estamir. There are various ruffians and street urchins who will shake you down for money. Tell them off, fight them, or give them money, your choice. --Assassin's Guild. This hidden fortress is home to the most evil killers in the world. Scenarios: --Nymph Quest 2 (NQ1 is in Bafal) Talk to Marin in Ukomu's Temple (S. Estamir), then talk to the Pub Owner in N. Estamir. Go into the Sewers and follow Marin to the bottom. Defeat the fish monster to get the Nymph Statue. --Royal Sacrifice. Talk to the Pub Owner in S. Estamir, then the man at the bar to meet the head of the Thieves' Guild. Repeat this to get in contact with the Lee, the ruler of N. Estamir. The ruler of Tarmitta has taken his daughter to be a sacrifice to the Dragon God. Go to Tarmitta and stay at the Inn. Late at night, the tides of Lake Malar fall, revealing a secret entrance. Explore the palace until you find the throne room. Instead of finding the Lord of Tarmitta however, you get his “shadow warrior”, who turns out to be a demon! Once it's defeated, talk to the soldiers to learn that their lord is in the Dragon Temple. Go to the lake and “borrow” a boat. Once in the Temple, head down and right, taking the door at the bottom of the stairs. You'll be in a room with four statues and an open (for now) door. Quicksave here, then go through. There are two battles you have to fight: a group of soldiers, and the Lord. Don't take Lord Tuman up on his offer of clemency; he's a liar. After disposing of them and getting the Water Dragon Ring, talk to the Dragon. Three options: 1) Leave (with the Ring) and let the Dragon have the Princess. 2) Do a favor for the Dragon, get the Princess back. 3) Fight the Dragon. I don't recommend #3. The favor for the Water Dragon involves getting a certain item (the Amaguro Armband) from Adylice, the Earth Dragon. See Adylice's Request (in Bafal) for more details. -Assassins' Guild Spend the night in S. Estamir (after talking to the Thieves), and you'll be attacked by an Assassin. Beat him, and he'll reveal the location of his Guild. The Guild itself is a magic maze, with one main room, cross-shaped. You have to follow the way the lights lead, even if that means going back the way you came once or twice. In the end, you find yourself in a beautiful illusion, which is the narcotic bliss of the assassins. The Assassin Leader offers to let you be an Assassin and live here forever, but you refuse. In the battle, the Leader is revealed to be a Lamia, and her helpers are Gargoyles and Mummies. All have attacks that match their appearance, nothing special. After they're dead, you meet one of the Minions, who casually blasts you across the room before exiting. Ouch. -Water Dragon's 2nd Request. First, you have to get back to the Dragon. The door in the Four Statue Room is now closed, but the door near the entrance to the temple is now open. Go through it to find a series of waterways. Go through the drains on the far right, next to far right, and far left, as well as check the alcoves for hidden chests. You're looking for four gemstones which you'll place in the four statues. Once done, the door to the Water Dragon opens. Talk to him, and he'll ask you to rid the lake of certain monster types. He wants you to raise the ranking of aquatic monsters, so you'll have to target the occasional flying or insect monster group that appears on the Lake. It has to be on the lake, I'm afraid. I don't think the monsters in the Temple count.... When you get things to his liking, the Water Dragon will give you the Water Dragon Sword, which can be used to cast Water spells in battle. -------------ROSALIA---------------- --North Estamir. Part of Kjarat, but on this map. Get there easily from South Estamir. Boats to Yeoville and Bruelle. --Yeoville. The major port of Rosalia. Boats to Estamir, Bruelle, and Mirsaburg. --Altours. A sleepy country town in Rosalia. There's a man there who'll ask you to rid his orchards of bug monsters. The shopkeeper's got some really expensive goods for sale... --Crystal City. The glamorous capital of Rosalia, it possesses temples to Nisa and Mirsa. The palace is off-limits. ---Crystal Lake. Near the city. The Aquamarine Destiny Stone is rumored to be beneath its waters... --Mount Scurve. This mountain is home to a giant fowl, a veritable king among birds... named Tiny Feather. --Isthmus Castle. Albert's quest starts here. The castle has recently been overrun by monsters. Hear about it in Loban. Scenarios: --The Aquamarine Technically, this is part of the Neidhart series of quests, but you can do it without ever talking to him. Learn about Crystal Lake from the people in town. Sailing is off-limits on Crystal Lake, but that won't keep you from trying. Maneuver around the guard boats, while looking for ring- shaped ripples disturbing the surface. There are four caves you can reach here. The first three (A, B, & C) have some monsters and treasure. The Aquamarine Cave D is what you're aiming for. It's guarded by a fairly strong fish monster, and you have to take it on early in the game. Around the halfway point of the game, this scenario will close, as Neidhart will have grabbed the Aquamarine before you. It's possible to get around the fish monsters guarding the entrance. Simply go down to take a look, go back up, and then pull a fast U-turn with your boat, and look again. With any luck, you'll find the entrance unguarded. The cave itself is fairly simple, but does require the Jump map skill, so be sure you have it. At the end, you'll find a blue glowing stone, which will warp you back to near the beginning, but a certain set of doors will now open for you. Walk through them to get the Aquamarine (DESTINY STONE!). Oops, you didn't think it would be that easy, did you? BOSS! Ghost Ship This giant octopus boss is a little unpredictable at times. Its tentacle attack might hit once, or twice, or even three times in one round. It has a really nasty hit-all attack called Maelstrom, an ink attack, and various water magics. --Rumors of a Giant Bird Climb Mt. Scurve (requires level 5 Climbing skill) and find Tiny Feather's feather to complete this quest. --Tiny Feather's Request If you can make it to the top of Mt. Scurve, the King of Birds has a request to make. Get something for him, and he'll help you in return. He wants the Fire Defense Circlet from the Flame Tyrant. --Mummy Man! Talk to a man in the Pub to hear all about the Catacombs under the city. He'll ask you if you could escort him down there to have a look. Go down the sewers, find the Catacombs (from the N. Estamir entrance, go down, right at the T-intersection, then the first stairs you find). The man will inspect the Catacombs and take one of the Mummies. He will pay well for your time. --The Isle of Evil There's an old man in Yeoville who once visited the Isle when his ship was wrecked in a storm. He made it out alive, but his friends were never heard of again. Now he's old, and curious to find out just what happened. He'll lead you to the Isle, and you help him get through. I recommend you take Lock Pick (lvl 3 or higher) and Jump (lvl 2). There are two areas you pass through on this island. The first one is a series of floating platforms connected by moving ladders. If you fall off the ladders, you end up back on the platform. There are two chests, one of them locked. Second area is a snowflake- shaped group of platforms, with a barrier in front of the transporter out. Six orbs are guarded by a rotating eyeball. Grab all six orbs before the eyeball's magic spell grabs you, and you can proceed. There are two chests here as well, one locked and the other trapped. After the second area, you have to go through the first again, but with faster ladders. Then second area revisited, with more spells out to trap you. Then go through it all a third time, again faster. FINALLY you make it to the top, where you meet the Sorceror. He remembers the shipwreck, and even kept mementos... the old man's friends! The Sorceror will run away instead of fighting, the sneak.. To get the Sorceror to stick around, be sure to talk to Sophia in the Light Temple after the Emperor's Illness scenario, but before the Pirate Attack scenario. ---------------THE KNIGHTS' DOMINION----------- Long ago, this region was founded by the comrades of the great hero Mirsa who fought against Saruin. The northern city, Mirsaburg, is named for him, while the southern, Eugenstadt, is named for his closest companion. There's a third city, Weiserheim, which is home to the fairy warrior Flamma, a veteran of the ancient wars. --Mirsaburg. Theodor's city, it is one of the Knights' headquarters, and principal port. ---Pagan Ruins. A mysterious place sacred to Saruin. --Eugenstadt. Heinrich's city, and southern stronghold. --Weiserheim. Flamma's city, and a center for magic warriors. ---Konstantz. The cave where monstrous kidnappers lurk... Scenarios: --Star-crossed Courtship. First, talk to Heinrich in Eugenstadt and hear how his son Rafael is being held in Mirsaburg. Go to Mirsaburg and talk to Theodor, then go to the prison cells in the basement and talk to Rafael to hear how Theodor's daughter Konstanz, Rafael's fiancee, was kidnapped. Talk to Theodor in his bedroom on the 3rd floor, and he'll tell you to talk to Flamma in Weiserheim. In Weiserheim, go to Flamma's Tower. There are no stairs in this tower, only transporters. Take the red transporters to go all the way to the top. Talk to Flamma to get the location of the kidnappers, you can also ask about the Fire Ruby, which she protects. Also, you'll be able to open the chests in Flamma's Tower now. A Flame Rod and a Mage Staff! These are nice, but they'll use up LP instead of EP, so be forewarned. The Flame Rod will let you cast any Fire magics you may have learned, even if you've made them inactive in favor of Water magic, while the Mage Staff will do the same for Illusion spells. You'll also receive the Scarlet Robe, which is a fine addition to your magic-user's wardrobe. In Konstanz' Cave, you'll find a statue. Move it to the corners of its square to open various doors in the passageway to the left (do NOT put it on the upper-right corner). Only one door can be open at a time. Behind the doors you'll find items, and another statue. Push the statue all the way down the passageway to the right of the first statue to another square pattern. Push it to the right switch to get an item, and to the left switch to reveal some monsters and Konstanz (top and bottom switches are monsters). This boss battle includes a pair of Ogres, so hit hard and fast (esp. if you're low in levels). KO attacks like Blood Freeze and Hilt Hit (great sword) are good for taking the Ogres out of the action for a little while. Once you've rescued Konstanz, return her to Mirsaburg and get your reward. You'll even get an honorary knighthood, if you accept. Also, Flamma will not be in her tower for a while, so if you want the higher-level Fire spells early on, grab them before you finish this scenario. --Theodor's Madness. This one happens later, after the wedding. Theodor has... changed, mentally and emotionally. Now he's turned conqueror, and has direct his army to attack Weiserheim! Talk to Heinrich and Konstanz in Eugenstadt to learn more, and to get the Knight's Key, which will let you in the back door of Mirsaburg Castle. Inside, the castle is swarming with monsters. There are many chests here, most all trapped, and only one of which can be opened after the monsters are gone, so you'd best grab them now. In Theodor's room you'll find a map that shows you the Pagan Ruins. Some monsters will then discover your presence, and attack. Easy battle. If you go back to Eugenstadt now, you can get Konstanz to tag along with you, as a non-active party member. Storyline only, so you can't see her fight in that gravity-defying dress of hers... (thanks to whoever first mentioned this on the boards... I forgot who it was though, sorry... :( ) The Pagan Ruins are another of those annoying one-repeating-room levels. Keep going up until all six candles are lit, then go through the door with the statue facing towards it. You can go through the doors earlier, and get various treasures before finishing the level, but you have to go through the main hall 6 times before the proper door will take you where you want to go. In the little hallway, take the RIGHT path to get to the end, where there's a... RED DRAGON? Good luck. When you (eventually) beat it, there's a large round room beyond with many copies of Theodor behind glass doors. Only one is real, and the rest are undead. Check out the statue in the center, and figure out which door it's looking at. There's Theodor. Once rescued, he'll go back to Mirsaburg, and you can proceed to Weiserheim. If you have Konstanz tagging along, defeat one undead enemy, and then she'll find the real Theodor for you. Now, we get a really cool-looking cutscene as Theodor's evil twin is confronted... and becomes something much uglier. Boss Battle! BOSS! Efreet This thing is nasty for the inexperienced. It has an inherent Self-Burning spell in place, so all direct physical attacks will result in your character getting scorched to a crisp. Plus, he leads off in the first round with a FireBird spell, which could just take everyone out by itself if you're unlucky. Strategy- get Self-Burning yourself, and some speed-upping equipment. Have two healer characters in far back, where the damage from FireBird is less, and have your frontliners cast Self- Burning. Hopefully, they'll get it out before the Efreet can kill them. Self-Burning protects from all fire attacks, and causes a lot of damage when physical attacks are used. Wind Cutter will still do damage most of the time, though, and any and all long- range attacks are encouraged. Round Moon Slice, Tomahawk, and Fly By (all for Axes) are long-range, as is the Double Dragon spear technique and all bow attacks. I'm not sure which (if any) sword attacks count as long-range, and it's possible none of the martial arts attacks count. Once the Efreet is dead, you'll be back in Mirsaburg Castle. Answer “of course” to Flamma's question (1st answer, I believe), and she'll give you the Fire Ruby (Destiny Stone!!) Flamma will be back in her tower now, and you can by as much Fire magic as you like. --------------------THE DRYLANDS---------------------------- North of Rosalia is the Steppes of Galessa, which eventually fade into the Kaklim Desert. To the east, beneath the mountains, the New Road continues to its northern terminus at Northpoint. --Uso. A wide spot in the New Road, where merchants meet and sell their wares. There's a small shrine here, and lots of information. --Steppes of Galessa. The wide grasslands to the west. Home of Nomads. ---Stone Circle. This strange grouping of stones has been the center of much monster activity lately... ---Temple of the Sun. This ruin has long lain abandoned. Only the Gods know what it was for... ---Taral Encampment. The Nomads' home. Aisha starts here. It's abandoned now. --Kaklim Desert. This forbidding place holds a secret known to the Taral Tribe, as well as their only hope of safety... ---Mother Nisa's Temple. An ancient temple dedicated to the Earth Mother. The Earth Topaz (Destiny Stone!!) is hidden here. --Northpoint. This far end of the New Road is a bustling port town, and often frequented by pirates. --Oldcastle. Here be Giants.... Tread carefully. Scenarios: --Temple of the Goddess. (Aisha primary quest) To do this quest, you first have to find the Temple, which is not so easy. Head to the north edge of the Kaklim Desert. It's easiest to enter from North Point, and follow the edge of the desert around to the right. Avoid the two large sand-streams heading into the desert. Those are going the wrong way. Instead, find the third stream, heading the opposite direction. This will take you to the above-ground, ruined section of Nisa's ancient Temple. The Temple is built around an oasis, with lots of monsters wandering about, and a set of Rocs perched on the pillars. When you get close to the Temple, the Rocs will try to grab you and throw you in the water, so you'll have to be quick. On the section of the temple closest to the ground, on the left side (not on the outer wall), you should find a small ladder leading down. It's not easy to see, so you might get dunked a few times before you actually find it. Once inside, head straight down the hallway. There aren't any big splits in the path before you get to the staircase. Go down to the next floor. At the first intersection here, turn right, follow the passage and then take the right form, to find a set of five pedestals. Each of these is a transporter, and most lead to treasure chests, including a decent staff and the map for this dungeon. You'll need the Find Chest Map Skill in order to get several of the items. Back the way you came, and from that first intersection, go left. There will be a few more chests to grab, and at the end of the hallway, there's a mini-boss, a Bagar and some friends. Defeat them to go downstairs. This is the first part of Mother Nisa's Caverns. No monsters here, but Nisa's Defenders, a religious militant sect, stands guard over many chests. No one will talk to you except for the commandant, who orders you to leave, or suffer the consequences. They don't suffer temple-raiders lightly around here... Go on past the commander to the second part of the caves. Again, very straightforward, lots of little cul-de-sacs, but no major branches. Eventually you'll come to another mini-boss, a Bagar and friends again, and they're about the same challenge as last time, too. Past the mini-boss, and you'll have a pleasant surprise, if you're playing as Aisha: Taral Tribe! This is where they hid out after they had to leave their encampment. This place is the Legendary Lake in the heart of the Kaklim Desert, a sacred place for the Earth Goddess, Nisa. On the other side of the cave is Nisa's secret Temple, where you can find the Topaz (Destiny Stone!!). You have three options here: leave the Topaz, take the Topaz, or pray to Nisa. Pray first, and Nisa will talk to you about Saruin. Then, you can take the Topaz. As you're leaving, talk to the commander of Nisa's Defenders and choose the first answer (Stop Saruin!), since this is what Nisa told you to do. The Defenders will accept you as Nisa's Warrior, give you the Earth Sword, and move out of the way so you can get all the items they've been guarding. --Soul Drain You first hear about this from the villagers in Uso, during their festival honoring Death (yes, the Dark God) for saving their ancestors from a soul-devouring demon. Later, you might hear rumors of strange happenings up on the Steppe. Go look around the Steppes, check out the monsters running in circles among the standing stones, etc. then return to Uso. You'll get a scene where two morons sneak in close to the stones at night. One of them gets his soul sucked out, and the other one flees. Back in Uso, talk to the odd... man? standing by the dancing circle up on the hill. He'll tell you all about the true power of the Circle, and how it's going to eventually swallow up the souls of everyone in the area. It's best to take it out ASAP.... You'll receive Death's Blessing, which will protect you from Soul Drain's nastiest attack for five rounds... in theory, but in practice it seems to protect you indefinitely. Now, whenever you return to the Steppe, you'll get an automatic scene where 16 monsters finally succeed in summoning Soul Drain, giving up their own souls in the process. You'll go right up to it and attack. Good luck. Boss Battle! BOSS! Soul Drain This thing has a semi-useful shield attack called Black Ice. It does quite a bit of damage and petrifies the attacker, but doesn't seem to work every single time. Still, until it wears off, you're best bet is your axe-wielder's long range attacks. This thing is a ghost, so arrows have almost no affect. Fire attacks are good, though. Or have someone with the second water spell, Recovery Water, to cure petrification whenever your warriors get whacked by Black Ice. Soul Drain also has an imposing-sounding attack called Life Break, which doesn't seem to do anything, which buys you the occasional round to recover. Death's Blessing protects you from it. He has some physical attacks, a sleep-causing, one-target attack, and Shockwave, a multi-target Arcane attack which will cause most of the damage in this battle. When you finally kill it, talk to the Bard in Uso to get a nice reward for your victory. --Trials of Elore After a certain amount of quests completed, the Bard will tell you about the ancient trials Mirsa underwent in order to become champion of the Gods. The gate to these Trials was an ancient temple in the Steppes of Galessa. Remember the old sun temple? Yeah. Go there, examine the altar, and a glowing staircase will appear. Ascend to meet your maker, literally. This level is a series of boss battles, mostly. There are wandering amorphous enemies, but these all seem to be single Fire Elementals, who're easy pickings. Anyway, since there's no way back for now, be sure to conserve EP and LP as much as possible. I can't quite recall all the bosses, but several of them are optional, guarding treasures. These are some really nice treasures, though, including the Bow of Eris and the Left-handed Sword. There's no Game Over if you lose to these bosses, but it behooves you to take them all out the first time, since you can't restore EP or LP while you're up here. Bosses include: -Ogre Champion (Beast Man) There's a map after him. -Frozen Body (Undead Giant) Guarding a Mechis Gauntlet -Grendel (even nastier version of Bagar enemies) -Zaratan (giant turtle) -King Moku (Tiki King! beware, it uses petrify attacks) Guarding the Eris Bow -Jasconi (can be knocked out with Blood Freeze) -Dinosaur (JUST like the ones on Ligau Island. Easy.) -Amur-Amut (a giant Egyptian cat with a really nasty evade rate) it guards the Left-Handed Sword. -WyrmFounder (powered up pterodactyl) -Alastor (one BIG Demon) And at the end, a Gold Dragon. Full power this time. This thing uses multiple elements, including fire and thunder hit-all attacks. It can do double or even triple combos with itself, which can result in huge LP loss for your characters. Finally, once the Dragon's gone, you can continue to Elore's personal temple in the sky... The God will greet you personally, and explain why he needs you mortal folk to help him defeat Saruin. He'll also reveal where the final battle is to take place. Go get 'em! ===============WALON ISLAND================= Walon Island, home of lizardmen and lots of vegetation... and buried treasure! --Godongo. The main trade port on the north side of the island, where humans and lizardmen cohabitate. Diana can be recruited here sometimes. --Jungle Entrance. A short route through the Jungle that connects Godongo and Wape. From here you can also reach the inner jungle and the Gekko Village. ---Jungle Interior. Here be treasure and Temples... ---Gekko Village. Due to certain troubles in Wape, humans aren't welcome here right now. --Wape. This is the official trade port with the Bafal Empire, and largely run by the same. Scenarios: --The Gekko Tribe. First, in order to talk to the Tribal Elder at all, you'll need Gella'ha in your party. Recruit him in Northpoint. Talk to the Elder, and you'll find out how many Gekko went south to work in Wape, and were never seen again. Go south to Wape and talk to the folks in the Pub. It seems they've been hearing Gekko voices near the new weapons shop... Go to the shop and confront the owner, who calls out the guards on you. It turns out the shop is a front for Capt. Butcher, and the Gekko are working as slaves. Beat the enemies (easy), and you'll free the Gekko. In return, the Tribal Elder will give you something good... --Capt. Silver's Treasure. (Hawk primary quest!) This might appear on your Event List before the Gekko Tribe, but you can't do it until that one's finished, because the Elder gives you a map to Capt. Silver's treasure! Not that it's a very good map... Well, before you get started on this, you need to make sure you've got the right Map Abilities. First, Trap Disarm is HIGHLY recommended for this part. Second, you'll need a particular Search Skill which finds fake walls. I can't remember how to say the kanji, but there's a fake wall in the cave right before Gekko Village. Just load up on all your Search Skills in the village, and check to see which one can be used to find that wall (and get the treasure behind it). Keep that one, and Find Chest, then put Trap Disarm on (if at all possible, make it high-level). Now, in the Jungle Interior, you'll be prompted to see the Gekko Map every time you exit a cave. It's annoying, yes, but it can help. The cave you're looking for is appropriately marked by a skull on that map. First, take the cave on the far right, go straight through to find the Two Moon Temple (not important at this point), and the area map for the Jungle. Back at the boat, take the middle cave, go up to the second intersection of the tunnel, and take a right. You should come out in an area with two marked exits on the official map. In the lower section, to the left of the second exit (not the one you enter from), there should be some hidden chests, and right around there is the secret entrance to Capt. Silver's treasure cave! It's intentionally difficult to see, because of the camera angle. Inside the cave, head straight all the way to the end of the first tunnel to get the map, then head back to the entrance. You might notice that the map shows another branch-off, with an exit, which you can't see. Time to make use of that fake-wall-finding Search Skill. Continue down. On the second floor down, watch your step, because there are falling rock traps set in front of most of the chests, and where the tunnels meet at intersections. They'll take 1 LP off of everyone, every time. It's easiest to just Quicksave at the beginning of the tunnel, and if you get hit too many times, then go back to the save and try to avoid them the next time around. The floorplan's pretty simple, so find the down staircase. Third floor down, you'll see an exit and a large, square room on the map. The exit takes you outside, but the room is where the goodies are. They're guarded by some fairly innocuous plant enemies in unfortunately large numbers. Still, not too hard a battle. You'll find many, many chests behind them (SCORE!), but be careful, most are trapped with Explosives (take 1 LP off everyone). When you open the first, the door to the next room opens, revealing still more goodies. Again, many of these are trapped with Explosives, Blasters, enemies (slimes), even an Alarm Trap. Open the first one on the right to open the next door. And behind door number 2 is.... trouble. Big Trouble. In the form of a Dragon. Boss Battle! BOSS! Silver Dragon. It would seem the enigmatic Capt. Silver, who never did return after stealing the treasures of Melville, has found a unique way of guarding her treasures... by turning into a Dragon. This thing isn't as bad as the Golden Dragon, but it's still nasty for people who're still early in the game. Its Blizzard Breath attack should kill everyone pretty fast without adequate protection. Thankfully, being defeated does not result in Game Over, so you can go back to the Jungle from the nearby exit, if things don't pan out the first time. But if you DO beat the Silver Dragon, you get the Wind Opal (DESTINY STONE!!) for your troubles. Capt. Silver will return to her original form and have a few choice words to say to Elore for making her atone in this manner. You can recruit her in the Pirates' Coast now. --Mummy Merchant After helping this guy out, you might've seen him trying to hawk his embalmed buddy along the New Road, but apparently he wasn't getting any buyers. So now he's in Wape, about to catch the next boat for Melville, where it can fetch a good price. Talk to him, then get on the boat yourself. En route, the usual travel scene cuts to the inside of the ship. Your character is walking around when s/he hears a cry. Run over there to find the Mummy Merchant slumped over, apparently a victim of a suddenly blood-thirsty Mummy. Now begins the hunt. Run around the inside of the ship, warning everyone you meet, and keep heading downstairs. Eventually you'll be in a dead-end room, and the Mummy will attack. First, you have to fight off a couple of Animated, basically Zombies. Nothing much. The second battle is against another Animated, and the Mummy (which has a special name in kanji for this battle, but is otherwise a normal mummy enemy). If you beat it, you'll get the Mummy as a key item, which you can then sell in Melville for a good price, or convert into an LP restoring medicine (good!). Possibly, you can return it to the Catacombs in Estamir, but I don't know about that... If you lose to the Mummy, then instead of Game Over, there's a scene where the hull breaches, washing the Mummy away. Your heroes wind up on a raft in the middle of the Coral Sea, eventually landing on Mask Island. There's not much to do here, so wait till night, when a strange light appears in the trees. Go through the opening to find the Faeries' Grove. Talk to everyone if you've never been here before, then exit to find yourself elsewhere. ===============CORAL SEA=================== Arr, the Coral Sea (Sango-kai).... Home of pirates, hiding spot for more treasure than a man can imagine... and really, really difficult to get to if you make the wrong choices early on. To get here, you need to finish the Gold Heist scenario in Bafal, then talk to the pirates in Bafal sewers after the Pirate Attack on Melville. --the Pirates' Coast. This colorful port town is the center for pirate activity. It is currently under the iron fist of Hawk's rival, Capt. Butcher. --the Coral Sea. If you have a boat, you can wander around the sea, possibly garnering the attention of pirates or Imperial Navy vessels (depending on what colors you're flying). --Mask Island. There are many stories about this mysterious isle, but no one seems to have actually gone there... scenario: --Capt. Butcher (Hawk primary quest) This is the only real scenario I'm sure of in this area. Defeat the evil Captain Butcher and take control of the Pirates' Coast for yourself! There has to be more here... I'll let you know once I manage to get back... ===============BAFAL EMPIRE================= Ancient and powerful, the Empire of Bafal extends its influence a bit farther than most other lands, with outposts on Walon and Ligau Islands, and a running war going on with the pirates of the Coral Sea. There are three major cities, plus the goldmine town of Aurefont, and a vast forest in the heart of the land. It has a long-standing rivalry with Rosalia over borders, and with Estamir over trade. --Melville. Capital of the Empire, and the trade hub of the east. ---the Imperial Palace. ---Temple of Elore. The one and only. ---Temple of Ukomu. Much nicer than that one in Estamir, of course... ---Imperial Library. Home to more knowledge per square foot than any other place in Mardius. ---the Sewers. Like Estamir, Melville has it's own underground waterways. Much nicer, of course... --Aurefont. A small boomtown built up around the mines. ---Gold Mines. Their wealth has drawn all sorts to the area, including monsters... --Bruelle. The Empire's western seaport, it has a bustling trade with Yeoville in Rosalia. --Loban. This northern town holds the not-so-friendly border with Rosalia, at the Isthmus. Scenarios: --The Temples of the World. In the Melville Library, read all about the Temples of the various Gods, in Melville (Elore & Ukomu), Crystal City (Mirsa and Nisa), and Estamir (Ukomu in S. Estamir, and Amuto in N. Estamir). Visit each one to finish the quest...? In theory. I can't seem to get it to work. --The Destiny Stones. In the Melville Library, read about the 10 Destiny Stones, and a little about their locations. The Ruby is in Weiserheim, the Aquamarine in Crystal Lake, the Topaz in the Kaklim Desert, the Moonstone in the Temple of the Two Moons, the Emerald on the Isle of Evil, and the Obsidian in the Frozen Castle. The whereabouts of the Amethyst, Opal, Diamond, and Black Diamond are unknown. Presumably, find all 10 to finish this quest. --Mystery of Life. In the Melville Library, read about the various monster types and their ecology. I have no idea how to clear this quest, but it possibly involves the Four Kings quests. --Gold Heist Go to the mines EARLY in the game. Really early, because this one closes pretty soon into the game. Go to the gold storehouse to run into a bunch of thieves. After they escape, and you give a statement to the military guys, go to the Melville sewers and hunt around until you find some disreputable-looking guys with a crate. Defeat them, take the stuff, then continue up the stairs behind them. You'll find yourself in Patrick's house. Following the next scene, you'll get a reward, and you can go back to Patrick's house and recruit him whenever you'd like. --The Innkeeper's Daughter & The Mysterious Murders Two scenarios, but exact same course of action, so I list them together. First, talk to the Innkeeper. He's very upset, and won't even let out a room to you while this quest is open. After him, talk to one of the shopkeepers on the lower level of central Melville for more info. Next, go to upper level and talk to one of the other merchants to hear about the strange man in black and red who's sometimes seen at night. You'll wait until dark (stakeout!). Follow the black and red clad man into the sewers. He'll thoughtfully stay just in sight of you, leading you directly to the secret Temple of Saruin that's hidden under Melville. Confront the priest and his minions and defeat them to rescue the Innkeeper's daughter and earn the acclaim of Melville. --Nighttime Butterfly. Available later in the game. First, read the notice in the Melville Pub. Someone wants help with a problem, and is willing to pay. Go to the house (automatically) to hear her story. A strange butterfly has been visiting the house every night of the full moon, ever since her mother died, and it's freaking her out. Talk to her a bit more, and then leave. When you get back to Melville center area, you'll see the butterfly headed out of town. Follow it to the Mazewood. Navigate through here by looking and listening for the butterfly's passing. Follow it through two screens and you should find a clearing full of strange flowers and a skull. The butterfly will disappear above the skull, so examine it to find a pendant. Examine the flowers as well. Leave the forest, and go back to the house. Show the items to the woman, and she'll realize what happened to her father (whom she assumed was a deadbeat for running out on her mom when she got sick). She asks to be taken back to the site. Oblige her, and after a sad scene, she'll give you your reward. Yay. End of scene. --Nymph Statue I. This can be done either early (before Goldmine Monsters scenario begins) or after the mine's been rid of monsters later in the game. Talk to a guy named Louie near the entrance to Aurefont, and he'll pay you 1000 gold upfront to escort him to the Temple of Ukomu in Melville. There, you'll have to stay the night before the priests will see you. In the middle of the night, fish monsters attack! Easy battle. The next morning, Louie takes the package back to the Temple, where it is revealed to be one of the missing Nymph Statues. Suddenly Marlynn rushes up with fish-monster allies. Louie tries to make a break for it with the statue, but is trapped by the fish, who take the statue forcibly to their lord Ukomu, and Louie with it. Sad... if only he'd let it go... Anyway, Marlynn will then ask you to come with her to S. Estamir, to look for the other statue. --Owl's Voice. (Claudia major event) To start this one, recruit Claudia and then rest at the Inn (can't be a free rest). In the night, the voice of the Forest Witch, Owl, will call out to Claudia, and asks her to come back with all haste. Choose to go with her, if you're not playing with her as the main. In the Mazewood, head roughly north and west until you see a large rock with a gap between it and the nearest tree. That should be the entrance to Owl's home. But it really isn't too hard to find in any case. Go into Owl's tree-house, and watch a scene wherein Owl reveals Claudia's past. Rather shocking for Claudia. Afterwards, Owl disappears, leaving behind her staff and hat, both of which have nice INT or WIL bonuses for your magicians. --Rescue Jean! ---This quest is started by talking to Duncan inside Elisabeth Palace, so it's possible this is a Claudia-only event. Jean was sent on a reconnaissance mission to the military compound in Loban. It seems that the general has been acting suspicious lately... But Jean hasn't returned, and Duncan is getting worried. So you have to go find him. When you get to Loban, talk to Monica in the house just outside town, and give her the password (something about the east wind, I can't remember right now). She'll tell you about a secret passage in a house in town. Go to that house, talk to the guy to reveal the passage, and then defeat him once he reveals himself to be an Army soldier. Once inside, explore around a little to find Jean, who will join you if you have four or fewer people in your party. You need to explore the under- ground waterways until you get to the exit. After that, go back to Melville if you ever want to recruit Jean again (despite his whiny voice....). --The Emperor's Illness. (Claudia primary quest) ---This quest requires you to finish the Owl's Voice and Gekko Tribe quests before you can finish it. Also, it takes a while, so don't feel like you need to ignore everything else in order to finish it. You will definitely need to do other quests to build levels before the end... However, if the “Pirates Attack” scenario begins, this scenario is automatically failed, so there is a time limit here... Have fun! ^_^ Read the Melville Post (poster in Melville Pub) to hear about the Emperor's illness. Talk to the priest in Elore's Temple to find out that what you need is the Moonstone, one of the Destiny Stones. Read up in the Library to find out the location of the Moonstone, the Temple of the Two Moons, and where this place is to be found, in the Jungles of Walon. You can get to the Temple of the Two Moons through the Jungle Cave A (first on the right from the boat when you arrive). But if you've already been exploring around here, you'll have already found it, and probably remarked on how it seems to be shut tight. Now, find Capt. Hawk and buy a special scroll off of him. If you're playing as Hawk, you need to talk to a Gekko in Gekko Village who'll sell it for 10,000 gold pieces. Hawk will charge you 15,000, but he'll also give you the option of recruiting him instead. The scroll is all gibberish, though! Go back to Melville Library and check out the ancient languages section (back of the room, on the left). Read through all the entries to decipher the text. You need two symbols of the two moon goddesses to open the way. Amut, Goddess of Love and the Red Moon, has a Temple in N. Estamir, so go there first. Talk to the priest to receive the Amut Symbol, and information on the other. Now, go back to the Maze- wood, and go to the area behind Owl's place. There will be a huge tree. This is Cyril, God of the Forest and close friend of Eris, Goddess of Beasts and the Silver Moon. Talk to Cyril, and wait for nighttime. Eris will show up personally to give you her symbol, though your character might not recognize her. There's a special scene with Claudia, if she's your main. Now that you have both Symbols, back to the Two Moon Temple. Be sure to save before you go. As you approach the Temple, cue the music and cutscene, because a Minion of Saruin is on hand to keep you away from the Temple. Boss Battle! BOSS! Minion Wile Not a terribly difficult opponent, if your HP and healing spells are up to par. If they're not, expect to be in for a rough ride. He uses Wind Cutter (2nd type, multi-hit), Hellfire, and Spell Enhance. For an easier battle, be sure to have Id Break to cut his Intelligence down a bit. After he's defeated, you can enter the Temple and retrieve the Moonstone. If he defeats you, he'll take the two Symbols away, and you effectively fail the entire quest. Too bad, so sad. The inside of the Temple is... weird. In any given room, there are lifts built into the floor, which can be used to take you to different exits leading to side items/trials, or to the next main room. To unlock the lifts, you have to defeat certain monsters in that room. Always the same type of monster in each room, and you'll hear the mini-boss music play in those battles. There are at least four rooms like this, with multiple side-rooms with trials (defeat all monsters to get a nice item). At the veeeeery end of the Temple, there'll be one last trial. Defeat the Chimera for the Moonstone! If you've lasted this long, then this shouldn't be too difficult. --Goldmine Monsters Later on, a large group of monsters takes over the mines. Talk to the Imperial Army guys at the mine entrance to be recruited into the action! I recommend taking the Find Stone and Mining map skills, because you can get a lot of stuff out of this scenario. There are ten groups of monsters in the caves, one for each type, plus a Gold Dragon. The monsters tend to be a little stronger than whatever the current standard is in your game, so be careful. Exiting the mines will bring the monsters back. All the monsters are in the exact same places every time, so don't bother bringing the stealth skills for this one. To make the Gold Dragon easier: it's possible to use the mine's elevator system to sneak up on this thing from behind. I strongly recommend you do this. It doesn't seem to use the breath attack when you take it by surprise... Anyway, once you've cleared out the mines (and rescued all the miners), you'll get a nice cash reward. Yay. --Pirates Attack! This scenario opens up around the 50-60% mark in completion, and starts automatically when you enter Melville (after reaching that mark). A really neat cutscene shows the pirate incursion into the capital, while your party is at the Inn. The lower section of Melville is full of pirates. Easy pickings by this point. Going to the alley, the port, or the upper section of Melville will activate the second half of the scenario. Apparently monsters are taking advantage of the attack (or are accomplices), and invade the city through a hole in the floor of the Light Temple. They attack Elizabeth Palace, so you need to go save the Emperor! --Elizabeth Palace. There are monsters everywhere, but there's no penalty for leaving the palace to rest if you're having trouble, thankfully. There are chests in rooms on the first floor and basement area which you can't get to at any other time, so take advantage of the confusion and do some looting! When you're finished, go to the second floor. The hall to the left leads to another chest, while the way to the right leads to the Emperor's throne room. You're given the task of protecting the Emperor while the others go for help. It doesn't seem so hard, until the Pterodactyl comes in through the window.... Still, if you've survived this long, then the boss won't be too much of a problem. Take him out, and get a choice of rewards. If you choose “nothing” as a reward (when playing as Claudia) you get a special scene (thanks to Niu for mentioning this to me). --Adylice's Request #1 Adylice, the Elemental King of Earth, lives at the very bottom of the Great Pit, a huge cavern beneath the Bayre Plateau. If you can get him the Jet Boots, currently owned by Tiny Feather, he will give you the Amaguro Armband. --Adylice's Request #2 Adylice wants you to rearrange the balance of monsters on the Plateau. Kill everything but insect monsters, pretty much. If you raise everything enough, you'll get a weapon from him. =================LIGAU ISLAND================= Ligau is a wild, strange place, very backward compared to the other reaches of the Empire. However, the traditionally forged katana of Ligau are world-famous for their strength. --Jelton. The only settlement on the island, it is famous for its katana. The local culture is unique to Mardius (and vaguely reminiscent of Okinawa). --The Plains. This wide are is dotted with numerous holes that are all connected, for the most part. Dinosaurs, ancient relatives to dragons, still wander the countryside. Try not to get on their bad side... --Mt. Tomoe. This great volcanic crater dominates the southern end of Ligau Island. The Flame Tyrant, one of the Four Kings, makes his home here. Legend says he guards something terrifying... Scenarios: --Buried Treasure! (Gray major event) Note: You do not have to talk to the villagers to do this quest. There are many stories of buried treasure on the Plains, and the locals are more than willing to tell any gullible tourists who feel like living dangerously. In the dinosaurs' nest, there are eggs hidden away. These things fetch a nice price on the market, but heaven help anyone caught in the act.... The actual quest, however, has to do with a real treasure hidden away in the plains. Talk to the bartender for more info here. Apparently there's one hole surrounded by flowers which is not connected to the rest. Search there. There are some areas that require level 3 Climbing, but you don't have to venture there yet. Near the end you'll find an old katana stuck in the ground. Take it, if you want (you don't have a choice, with Gray). A little farther along you'll encounter a group of Goblins. Beat them to get the treasure and end the quest. --The Old Katana (Gray primary quest) The old katana you found in the treasure hole is pretty rusty and beat-up, but you can change that... This quest focuses mainly on customizing your weapon until it is the best. If you're playing as Gray, you'll receive advice (from the katana....) as to how you should customize it. Start with the Ligau metal in Jelton, and do whatever the katana tells you. Note: the katana only talks to Gray. If anyone else is the main character, well, they might be able to copy most of the customization, but I don't know if they can complete the quest. It doesn't matter that much, I think. --Monsters Invade! (Flame Tyrant's Request #1) If you visit Jelton with any other main besides Gray, the town will be overrun with monsters. Talk to the bartender (only person left in town) to find out they came from Mt. Tomoe, to the south. ---Mt. Tomoe. Before you go in, know that you need level 2 Jump to get around here. If you take the southern exit from the Plains, you can use the world map to leave the island. The level itself isn't too long or difficult, it just needs the Jump ability to complete. Talk to the Flame Tyrant at the end to hear his request. In order to halt the eruption of the volcano (which is sending the monsters northward), he'll need the Ice Sword. Go get it. You can now take the shortcut between the entrance and the Flame Tyrant (it was blocked by a pair of Lava Beasts earlier). Now, the Ice Sword... where have we seen that before... Oh yes. Altours. Go to the shop in Altours, where the shopkeeper was hawking his over- priced wares. It seems that someone was actually willing to cough up the 20,000 gold pieces for the Ice Sword! Talk to the woman outside the store to find out the identity of this big spender. This man, Galahad, will now appear at the north side of town. You may have already met this guy. You might even have recruited him earlier. Now you need to convince him, by any means necessary, to give up a 20,000 gold investment. Boss! Galahad Yup, there's no way but the hard way this time. He's got less than a thousand HP, but the trouble lies in getting him before he gets you. Somehow, he's gotten his hands on the Blizzard spell, and if he lets it off before you can kill him, then you're all dead. Your best bet is to have your two fastest people use dash attacks, and hope to do a Kyougeki combo. That should take him out immediately. It's all or nothing here. Give the Ice Sword to the Flame Tyrant, and the monsters will leave Jelton. You'll also get the Fire Defense Circlet as a thank-you gift. --Flame Tyrant's Request #2 Like the other Elemental Kings, the Flame Tyrant wants you to rearrange the monster population a bit. This time it's plants on the Plains. Don't kill them, just everything else (I'm pretty sure Dinosaurs are not included in “kill everything”). --The Netherworld If your faith in the dark gods is high enough (through things like the Soul Drain scenario, killing Galahad, or using the Three Pillars combo attack enough times), then the Minstrel will tell you about Meifu, or the Netherworld. This is the realm of the dead, ruled over by Death himself. He might have some useful information as to the whereabouts of his younger brother... Note: you can also get to the Netherworld by killing Flame Tyrant, but in that case Death won't tell you anything. Make sure you have Jump ability equipped, then talk to the Flame Tyrant, who'll open the gate for you. The trip is a little surreal, and worth about 12 jewels just for the jumping around you'll have to do, but there are no monsters here. You can talk to Julius, former historian of Bafal and now Chronicler of the Dead, as well as some warrior spirits who constantly practice in the Halls of the Valiant. You can even see the entrance to the Rengoku (Hell), a thousand-story super-dungeon, but the big thing here is Death himself. His entrance video is one of the coolest in the game... You can do several things in Death's chamber. You can ask him about Saruin (if you came here the legit way); you can offer up one of your companions as a sacrifice to get cool weapons and armor (I'm serious...), or you can even trade one of your own LP to bring a dead comrade back to life. If you choose one of those options, and then balk at the last minute, however, you'll have to fight Death himself, and it won't be pretty.... Beating him will, however, complete a different quest that probably showed up on your list as soon as you entered Meifu or talked to Death.. Don't remember when it shows up.... ==================VALHALLANT================ The icy land at the base of two continents, Valhallant was supposedly once a great kingdom whose history is now lost to the ice and monsters. The few who live there are a hardy, strong folk, and don't often leave the area. --The Shiverlands. This large ice-field dominates the western end of the land. If you want to get anywhere in Valhallant, you'll have to go through here. --Gato's Hamlet. The only inhabited human settlement in the area, this sleepy town was founded by Gato, who is now comfortably retired from a life of adventuring and serves as the village elder. --West, East, and South Caves. These three caverns (all of varying sizes) are all full of monsters. --The Frozen Lake. This body of water covers the southeastern part of Valhallant, as well as a sizeable castle whose origins are lost to legend. scenarios: --Monsters in the Caves. Gato asks you to eliminate the monsters in the East, West, and South Caves. Get to it! From the World Map entrance, head alongside the left-side cliff and follow it until you find the West Cave entrance. I recommend having the Jump ability equipped, or you might miss out on some treasures. There are two branches from the start, but one is blocked off by stalagmites. Follow the other one all the way to the end and confront a trio of demons. Easy pickings. After that you can jump the gap behind them to get a Gothic Armor. To get to East Cave, from the World Map entrance head straight and a little to the right. The cave is very small, and has only one enemy, an undead. Again, easy pickings. Back in the Shiverlands, head far, far to the right of the World Map entrance, hugging the southern edge. You'll eventually find two trails leading south. The outer one (southernmost) will lead to several trails. Look for some trail markers (wooden posts) to find the entrance to South Cave, since the camera angle probably won't help any. This cave is a simple ring pattern. Follow it to the end to get to another weak boss. Congrats, cleared all three caves and the quest! There are more quests to be done in the West and South Caves, but they seem to be linked to game completion, and I must have missed out in my last game... I'll add those later, promise. --Frozen Fairy Go to the Frozen Lake. To get there, take the trail just to the left of the one leading towards the South Cave. Follow a short trail down to get to the lake surface. Slide straight across the lake to get to the entrance... but it's blocked! Examine it to find a fairy. She's been here for half-past forever, and would really like to be elsewhere. Obligations keep her here, however, so instead she wants you to take a lock of her hair to the Legendary Lake under the Kaklim Desert. If you've already grabbed the Topaz, then you know the place. In the town near the lake, just go on the bridge, face towards the lake and press the O button to finish the quest. Odd note: This quest seems to be repeatable, after some time passes. --The Frozen Castle This ancient palace is rumored to have been built because of a bet between a demon and a king. Whatever the reason, when you do what the Frozen Fairy asks, the next time you walk to the Castle, it'll defrost rather spectacularly. Not too far inside, you'll meet a Red Mage, a unique but nameless character. He's looking for treasure now that the castle's unfrozen, and asks if he can join you. Your choice. The dungeon is pretty large, but not incredibly complex. There are several slides that are difficult, but not impossible, to run back up, and icicle traps throughout. At the end is something interesting... a statue of a woman warrior slaying a dragon. Except it's not a statue. There'll be a scene with the Red Mage (even if he doesn't join), and then the statue defrosts, and the woman pulls the sword out of the dragon's head.. BOSS: Freilei and the Dragon. You would think they would be more difficult. Freilei uses sword attacks, and the dragon has elemental breath attacks as well as its normal physical attacks. By the time you're likely to get to this point in the game, you should be able to defeat her easily. After you beat her, she reveals that she is Freilei, sister to Flamma and Elore's appointed guardian of the Obsidian Sword (DESTINY STONE!) She'll give it to you now. If you have only four characters in your party, then after the battle you can have Freilei join you. Otherwise, you won't see her again, even though she says she's going to her sister's place. The passage to the west of Freilei's room should be a shortcut back to the main entrance, but it never defrosted for me. Strange. Anyway, once you leave the castle, the Red Mage has a little surprise for you... BOSS: Minion Hate Whether you recruited him or not, the Red Mage, or rather the Minion, still wants that treasure for his master, and he's ready to blast everything to kingdom come to do so. Use the same strategy as you did on Strife and Vile. Hammer him with INT-downers, and rack up the combos. Oh, and enjoy the wonderful special boss music, :D There might be other things to do in the Frozen Castle, but I'm not sure. Some rooms don't seem to have anything to do with anything, even though there's obviously supposed to be a puzzle there. Also, you might find a treasure map for inside the castle. In any case, if you return to the castle after a while, you'll probably find it iced up again, and you'll have to repeat the Frozen Fairy quest to defrost. I'm not complaining, since that's a fairly easy 200+ jewels each time... ===============OTHER STUFF=================== ----”JIN” COMBOES---- The five "jin" combo attacks vary according to position in formation, it seems.... And two of them, Sanchoujin and Seijuujin, have to have the characters in a specific order as well... Kyougekijin (2 person) – Pincer Formation This attack requires both characters to be using a dash-type attack, such as Cut In or Charge. Majin (3 person) – Magic Formation Apparently requires 3 magic users in three rows Sanchoujin (3 person) – Three Pillars formation Requires three characters using three different attack types, such as dash, missile, and magic. Hakubajin (3~5 people) – White Horse formation Seijuujin (3 person) – Holy Beast formation -----MAGIC LISTS---- There are 10 types of magic in this game, each part of an exclusive pair. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Illusion, Arcane, Light, Dark, Force, and Evil. Spells increase in power with the user's Intelligence and Will stats, and physically change, with new animations and possible effects (such as multi-hit on one target). --Fire Magic Hellfire. A basic fire attack. Second form attacks from several directions, and the third's a pair of large fireballs. Life Flame. A regeneration spell. Can be used to counteract poison. Lasts a limited number of rounds before it has to be used again. Self-Burning. A shield attack that prevents many magic attacks, and counters physical attacks with fire damage. Usually runs out after a while. Elemental. Creates a Fire Elemental to stand in for the user. Firebird. A massive fire attack to all enemies. Reviver. When cast on a character, they are automatically restored when brought down to 0 HP, with no LP loss. --Water Magic Heal Water. Always useful, it heals HP. As it gains in power, the fish get bigger and/or change species. Water Gun. A minnow rushes out to hit the enemy. At higher power, it turns into a series of attacks from a pair of swordfish. Recovery Water. Removes bad status ailments from one character. Very good to have. Elemental. Creates a Water Elemental to stand in for the user. Time Deceiver. Causes enemy to lose a turn in battle. Jikantouketsu. Time Freeze. Time is stopped for everyone except the caster. --Wind Magic Wind Cutter. A powerful wind literally rips through the enemy. Second version hits multiple times, while the third is a large tornado. Bow Mastery. Ups the power of a character's Bow attacks. Blood Freeze. Just like it says, a freezing attack that hits for multiple times. It can also knock out the target (yellow stars) Elemental. Creates a Wind Elemental to stand in for user. Missile Guard. Protects entire party against long-range attacks. Fubuki. Blizzard. A powerful cold attack that hits all enemies. --Earth Magic Rock Crush. Throws a large rock at the enemy. Camouflage. Reduces the chances of being targeted by enemy. Earth Hand. Tries to snare all targets and prevent attacks that round. Elemental. Creates an Earth Elemental to stand in for the user. Crack. Causes a small earthquake that can stun all targets. Aegis Shield. Creates a magic shield for the caster. --Illusion Magic Fiery Illusion. A phantom beast burns the enemy. Icy Illusion. A phantom beast freezes the enemy. Electric Illusion. A phantom beast zaps the enemy. Sand Illusion. A sandstorm tries to blind the enemy. Lullaby. A phantom sheep tries to put enemies to sleep. Phantom Fighter. Creates a body-double to stand in for user. --Arcane Magic Energy Bolt. A blast of pure energy is directed at one target. Weapon Bless. Ups the Attack Power of one character. Armor Bless. Ups the Defense Power of one character. Spell Enhance. Ups the Intelligence of one character. Shockwave. Hits all enemies, can shock them to cancel spells. Psycho Blast. Powerful hit-all attack, lowers Will stat. --Light Magic. Sunlight Arrow. Basic Light attack, upgrades to multi-hit. Moonlight Heal. Good healing spell. Starlight Bit. Makes the caster very difficult to hit. Earth Light Bind. Tries to bind and stop all enemies. Starlight FS. Attacks one enemy from all directions. Cosmic Tide. Hits all enemies for Light damage. --Dark Magic. Shadow Bolt. Dark power wells up from the ground to attack one person. Black Cloud. Tries to blind all enemies. Dark Sphere. An attack that cancels out magic shields. Abyss. A strong one-person attack that can kill instantly. Dark-light Web. Can prevent all enemies from attacking. Black Ice. A shield spell that can petrify enemies that attack it physically. Can also block spells, sometimes. --Force Magic Defense Up. Just like it says... Will Up. Yup, increases Will stat. Attack Up. Again.... Increases Strength stat. Aura Blast. A little more interesting. It concentrates the user's life energy into a single magic attack. The only attack spell in the Force magic category. Focus Energy. A very useful self-healing spell. Kakuseiin. Power Up. Increases all stats for a major one-time attack bonus. --Evil Magic. Pain. A short burst of evil energy damages and stuns the target. Weakness. Drains the enemy of their strength. STR down. Evil Whisper. Phantom muttering confuses the target. Energy Steal. Drains health from the target. Curse. Simple enough, curses the target. Animate. If cast on a defeated opponent, that character comes back to life, under the control of the caster. There is no way to reverse this, except to kill them again, and revive them before the enemy has a chance to use it again. =============COMBO SPELLS==================== If your character is a Rosalian Mage or Imperial Academy Mage, they have the opportunity to combine and improve their spells. Go to that character's magic menu and press TRIANGLE to mix and match spells for different effects. Usually you can increase attack power, lower casting costs, or add a special status effect to a spell pretty easily. There are also some unique spells you can only get from this. Note, you can only have one mixed spell on your character's menu at any given time... Imperial Mages can combine two spells at once, while Rosalians can mix three at a time. -------------Three-Spell Combos--------------- There's a bit of leeway in the combo spells. The order of spells used doesn't have to be exact, and several spells can be substituted (in one case, the entire set of Light spells can be used for the same effect) Here's my list. in no particular order: Overdrive - Time Deceiver, Psycho Burst, Time Freeze (other possible combinations) --- Causes multiple actions in one round. Simulacrum - Elemental (Wind), Elemental (Water), Blizzard/Fubuki or Wind Cutter --- creates a snowman to fight in your place Crimson Flare - Hell Fire, Reviver, Rock Crush --- major fire attack that lowers Intelligence Soul Song - Life Flame, Self-Burning, any Elemental spell except for Water. Regeneration to all. White Out - Blizzard/Fubuki, Cosmic Tide, any other Light spell --- for quick getaways.... Delta Petra - Earth Hand, about half the Arcane spells and/or Hell Fire. --- Fan-targeting petrification attack Life Rain - Focus Energy, Time Deceiver or Time Freeze, most any Force Spell (any except Defense Up), or most any Force Spell plus Heal Water and Recovery Water. very variable combinations--- Sacrifice LP to heal the entire party. Quicktime - Time Deceiver, Blizzard/Fubuki, Blood Freeze or Bow Mastery. Possibly other combinations --- Ends current turn, party attacks first next turn. VERY easy to abuse with fast characters, if it's anything like the spell of the same name in RS2 Wall-Breaker - Crack plus any two of the first four Force spells. --- Raises vitality by a LOT Dream World - Lullaby, Time Deceiver, Heal Water ---I have NO idea what this does, except that it apparently affects everything? Or rather, targets everything, but does nothing? Guardian Beast (not sure on the name) - Phantom Fighter, Reviver, (Fiery Illusion, Icy Illusion, Starlight Bit, Will Up, Earth Fire or Wind Elemental) --- Creates an illusion to protect you in battle. Anti-Magic - Armor Bless, Self-Burning, Reviver --- cancels out magical enhancements? Need to test it.... Shield-Breaker - Shockwave, Crack, Hell Fire --- destroys one enemy's protective spell Andromeda - Starlight FS, Lullaby, Recovery Water --- For one turn, NO ONE takes ANY DAMAGE from ANYTHING. This includes the enemies >_<. Very cool animation, though. Galaxy - Sunlight Arrow, Cosmic Tide, (Bow Mastery, Blood Freeze, or Missile Guard) --- Massive Light Damage! Whoo! Anyway, those are the names as I make them. I would like to thank Approx on the RS:MS board for some of these spell combinations! ============TWO SPELL COMBOS================= The two-spell combos work about the same way, but are much more limited as to the spells combined, and actual number of combinations. As far as I know, there are only 5 two-spell combo spells, and none of them are unique to the Imperial Academy Mage class. All of the following work exactly the same as they did with a 3-spell combo. Delta Petra: Rock Crush + PsychoBurst Crack + (Spell Enhance, Psycho Burst, or Time Freeze) Anti-Magic: Armor Bless + Spell Enhance (and vice-versa) Spell Enhance + (Earthlight Bind or Focus Energy) Galaxy: Cosmic Tide + Bow Mastery Life Rain: Focus Energy + Recovery Water Soul Song: Life Flame + (Self Burning, Fire Elemental, Reviver, Missile Guard, Strength Up, Aura Bolt, or Power Up) Quicktime: Time Deceiver + Fubuki =====================HOW TO....?================== Q: How do you use a treasure map? A: Make sure you have the Map Abilities “Find Buried Treasure” and “Dig for Treasure” equipped. Check the level of the map and make sure your Search skill is at or above that level. Go to the area mentioned on the map, and search each section/floor, keeping an eye out for a blue arrow on your compass (lower right-hand corner). If you see it, the treasure is close. Just follow the arrow until a message pops up. It should say something like “Treasure is near...” Use the Find Buried Treasure skill to locate the exact spot, then use the Dig skill where you saw the flash of light. Claim whatever gold, jewels, or items happen to be in the chest. Q: How do I raise shop levels? A: Easy, buy and sell stuff. The higher the price, the more points are added to the tally. The shop level is derived from the levels of all three major trading houses (max level 10 for each). The levels for each shop might vary slightly depending on which trading house they're affiliated with. Q: How do you access the Legendary Classes? A: Meet their skill level requirements. No, I do not know the skills needed for each class, but I would guess level 5 skills would be necessary in any case. If you manage to raise the appropriate skills that high, you can access some of the Legendary Classes at various towns in the game (only one class per list, often), or all of them at the Giants' Village. However, you won't find a town that sells the Legendary Classes' skillsets specifically. Q: How do you combine spells? A: If your character is the right class, just go to the Magic menu and press Triangle. That opens up the spell combination menu. Q: How do you use the Trading Skill? A: In the item menu, press Triangle to open the Trading Box. Any items you put in there will be available for trading. In the field, if you have the Trading Skill set as a map ability, some monsters may glow green. Get close to them, have the Trading Skill ready, and press the X button to open negotiations. You choose one item, and the monster will choose one of yours. If the monster accepts your item, you'll get something in return. Having a character in the Merchant class might help for getting better items.