Two brave warriors, one epic quest... __ __ | \ | \ | | |__/ | | | |__/ e w | r i s m Threads of Fate/Dew Prism Unofficial Complete Walkthrough and Game Guide Version 1.20 By Sky Render =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NOTE: This walkthrough employs the QuickFind system! To locate data about a particular part of the game, simply search for the QuickFind code listed in the table of contents (found in brackets at the end of each entry)! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Table of Contents --------------== Introduction Foreword [IFOREWORD] Legal Tripe [ILEGAL] Revision History [IREVISION] Special Thanks to [ITHANKSTO] Game Review [IREVIEW] Character Overviews Rue [ORUE] Mint [OMINT] Walkthroughs Rue's Story Beginning [RWBEGIN] Underground Mystery [RWUNDER] Mel's Atelier [RWMEL] Rue's Memory [RWMEMORY] Haunted Temple [RWHAUNTED] Raging Mountain [RWRAGING] Bond with Prima [RWPRIMA] Lake Ruins [RWLAKE] Maya's Arrival [RWMAYA] Claire's Shadow [RWCLAIRE] Aim for the Sky [RWAIMSKY] Soar into Battle [RWSOAR] I'll See You Soon [RWSEEYOU] Mint's Story World Domination, Baby! [MWWORLD] Underground Trap [MWTRAP] Fancy Mel [MWMEL] Starlight Duke [MWDUKE] Upstream Adventure [MWGAMUL] Dragon Battle [MWDRAGON] Together with Prima [MWPRIMA] Relic, Here I Come! [MWRELIC] Maya's Here! [MWMAYA] Maya's sooo Dead! [MWSODEAD] Get the Cannon Orbs [MWCANNON] Final Battle [MWFINAL] Aftermath [MWAFTER] Sidequests and Secrets Rue's Sidequests [SQRUE] Mint's Sidequests [SQMINT] Misc. Secrets [SQSECRET] Beastiary [BLIST] Conclusion [CCONCLUDE] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Introduction =========-- Foreword [IFOREWORD] -----== Dewprism (aka. Threads of Fate) is one of those delightful Square games that seems to have no complete guides for it. This guide has been written to remedy that situation. Legal Tripe [ILEGAL] --------== This guide, being written by me and all that, is my property. I claim no rights to the game or making it, and give full credit to the company which made it, Square. If you wish to distribute this guide, it must remain unmodified, and cannot be distributed in a medium that must be payed for without express consent given by me beforehand. You may use the materials in this guide for your own guide, as long as you give me proper credit for all materials used. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Revision History [IREVISION] -------------== Version 1.20 (21 April 2004) * Finally got around to revising and updating the guide * Added a few sidequests for Rue that I forgot to add originally * Fixed all instances of Rod's Black Tornado being called Black Typhoon Version 1.10 (29 December 2002) * Added some notes on previously thought to be mandatory battles which have turned out to be optional * Fixed my spelling of "atelier" throughout the guide (whoops...) * Various minor fixes and updates to the walkthroughs * Forgot to add some info in the original release to the secrets section * Removed a secret that does not in fact work Version 1.00 (10 September 2002) * First release of the guide Special Thanks to [ITHANKSTO] --------------== Most every walkthrough is comprised not solely of information gathered by one person alone, but rather by information gathered by many, with one contributor offering the most (that person being the author). This is a list of all of the people that helped make this walkthrough and game guide what it is today. Game Review [IREVIEW] --------== Quick Quip: A fun action RPG that's far too short. Graphics: 9/10 Although they're not exactly the hyper-textured style present in games like Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy IX, the graphics in Dewprism are quite good, and (more importantly) quite fitting for the game's environment. The game is displayed in the PSX hi-res mode, making them look even more crisp and clear. Sound Effects and Music: 8/10 The sound effects in the game are all very appropriate and well recorded. The music, on the other hand, is very mellow and lacking in depth. One song is only 10 notes long, and contains only one instrument, in fact. But what the songs lack in depth, many make up for in their atmosphere and feel. Story: 7/10 The story of Dewprism is quite cliche, and even a bit preachy. Most of the events can be seen coming from a long way off, since every character fits nicely into a stereotypical role. Even so, the plot of both stories manages to keep you paying attention, and even laughing sometimes. Gameplay: 9/10 If not for the mini-game sequences, this would be a full 10. The regular gameplay is extremely fun, in both characters' story lines. This is truly where this game shines best. Challenge: 6/10 This game is hardly challenging. Along with the ability to continue against bosses even if you die with no real penalties via Coins of Life, most of the monsters pose little to no actual threat. Translation: 10/10 The translation is incredible, put simply. Dialogue flows smoothly, items are translated properly, and even the jokes and cultural references have been given an accurate American equivalent. By far, the translation is the best that Square has ever done for a PSX title. Replayability: 8/10 Given how little time it takes to win (as little as 5 hours in the new game + mode), and that you can continue to beef up your characters and make them even more deity-like, the replay for this game is pretty high. Overall: 8/10 Recommended For: A player who likes action RPG's, and doesn't mind a short and sometimes predictable story. Overall Balance: 35% gameplay, 10% story, 30% graphics/sound, 25% execution (The ideal game would score 25% in all categories, indicating perfect balance) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Character Overviews ================-- Rue [ORUE] -= Rue is primarily a physical attacker. He has the ability to morph into monsters that he defeats. Rue is much easier to start out with, but proves to be a difficult character to work with later, since he doesn't have the advantage of magic that Mint does. Weapon: Arc Edge Monster List: _______________________________________________________ / Monster Name T Attack X Attack Special \_____________ | Pollywog Tail Slap Bite \ | Saber Tiger Thrust (1MP) Bite High speed | | Mandola Bloom Seed (3MP) Immobile | | Stinger Rolling Spine Spine | | (1MP) | | Gargoyle Sonic Wave Kick Double-Jump | | (1MP/Green) | | Ootang Scratch Stone (2MP) Climbs trees | | Gudon Flame Tail Slap | | (4MP/Red) | | Imp Shooting Star Strike | | (4MP/White) | | Fungie Sparkle Head Slam | | (4MP/White) | | Cockadoo N/A Peck Double-Jump | | Puppet Combo Strike | | Specter Water Ice Blow | | (6MP/Blue) (8MP/Blue) | | Skeleton Fall Apart Strike | | Fire Blob Sparks Head Butt | | (16MP/Fire) | | Bubba Hammer Head Butt Final Strike (Hold T) | | Wabbit Duck Wing Slap Double-Jump | | Pumpkin Blowup (30MP) Collide | | Witch Spin (1MP) Pumpkin Cannon Immobile | | (2MP) | | Shaolon Lightning Thrust (1MP) | | (10MP/Yellow) | | Hellhound Ice Blow Flame | | (9MP/Blue) (11MP/Red) | | Jinn Tornado Tail Whip Double-Jump | | (18MP/Green) | \____________________________________________________________________/ Mint [OMINT] -== Mint is a magic user. She gains new magical abilities as she progresses through the game, and can gain new ways to cast her magic, as well. She isn't as good as Rue is at attacking physically, and she's a harder character to start out with, but she can excel much more easily than Rue. Weapons: Dual rings Magic List: ____________ / Blue Magic \_________________________________________________________ | \ | Droplets (Normal) - Raindrops (2MP) Very useful early on, but it gets | | outdated pretty fast. | | Cutter (Wide) - Triple Blades (4MP) Probably the least useful attack | | spell in the entire game, hands down. | | Ripple (Power) - Wave Shot (4MP) An okay move, but easily outmatched. | | Icicle (Super) - Drop Ice (4MP) One of the best spells there is. | | Crystal (Circle) - Diamond (6MP) Good if you're surrounded, but | | otherwise, I can't recommend it. | | Restore (Hyper) - Restore HP (100MP) Useful in hard boss fights, but | | that's about it. | \______________________________________________________________________/ _____________ / White Magic \________________________________________________________ | \ | Vulcan (Normal) - Rapid Fire (1MP) Not bad, but not really all that | | great, either. | | Spread (Wide) - 5 Way Shot (4MP) Second-least useful attack in the | | game. | | Arrow (Power) - Piercing Shot (4MP) Powerful against bosses, but not | | as useful as many other spells are. | | Satellite (Circle) - Orbit Shot (10MP) The best for when you get | | surrounded. Not helpful for boss fights, though. | \______________________________________________________________________/ ___________ / Red Magic \__________________________________________________________ | \ | Burner (Normal) - Fire (2MP) Like Droplets and Vulcan, limited in | | usefulness. | | Bullet (Wide) - Low Fire (4MP) Not really worth using. | | Flare (Power) - Fireball (6MP) Great for boss battles. | | Napalm (Super) - Wildfire (6MP) Extremely cheap for Rod duels and any | | time you're surrounded by enemies. | | Delta (Circle) - Triple Flame (6MP) I don't suggest you use it. | | Fire Heart (Hyper) Fire Coat (80MP) Fun to use, but all in all, very | | limited in application. | \______________________________________________________________________/ _____________ / Green Magic \________________________________________________________ | \ | Wave (Normal) - Wind (3MP) Like all the other Normal spells, this one | | is limited in function. | | Typhoon (Wide) - Whirlwind (2MP) It's okay, I suppose. Not a hugely | | tactical move for most bosses, though. | | Gale (Power) - Low Wind (3MP) I never really use it, myself. | | Impulse (Super) - Circle (6MP) Another spell that works well when | | surrounded, but nothing special. | | Cyclone (Cicle) - High Wind (3MP) Kinda fun, I suppose, but not all | | that practical for bosses. | | Nightingale (Hyper) - Invincible (80MP) Surprisingly, this spell is | | one of the less handy ones, despite it's invulnerability. | \______________________________________________________________________/ _____________ / Black Magic \________________________________________________________ | \ | Bomb (Normal) - Blow-up Rocks (5MP) Best to use it only to destroy | | boulders; it sucks as an attack spell. | | Dark Mist (Wide) - Black Smoke (6MP) Stupid and worthless are two | | words that come to mind when considering this move. | | Graviton (Power) - Black Ball (6MP) Slow, but effective. | | Dynamite (Super) - Explosion (10MP) Way too slow. Seriously. | | Drill (Circle) - Big Drill (6MP) I can't recommend it. | | Shadow Strike (Hyper) - Deadly Dash (50 MP) A move that kills enemies | | outright, if your blows don't already. I suggest you ignore it. | \______________________________________________________________________/ ______________ / Yellow Magic \_______________________________________________________ | \ | Cracker (Normal) - Double Shot (6MP) Eh. Just eh. | | Spark (Wide) - Chase Enemy (5MP) This can actually be useful for fast | | enemies. Too bad most are so slow. | | Bolt (Power) - Lightning (10MP) Good against bosses. A pity you get | | it so late. | | Trine (Super) - Triple Chase (8MP) As with Spark, it'd be better if | | enemies were faster and harder to hit with slow magic. | | Forces (Circle) - Loop (8MP) I've never used it, for some reason. | | Final Flash (Hyper) - Big Burst (100MP) This move, while spendy, is | | arguably the best in the entire game against bosses. | \______________________________________________________________________/ ____________ / Gold Magic \_________________________________________________________ | \ | Valiant (Cosmos) - Hold Barrier/Release Fire (10MP) It's cheap, it's | | effective, it's fast. It's like three spells in one, too! Likely to | | be your main spell on replays. | \______________________________________________________________________/ NOTE - All of the Hyper moves, except Shadow Strike, take all MP present (with a minimum of the MP listed) to cast. The more MP used for Hyper magic, the more effect the spells have. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Walkthroughs =-=-=-=-=-= Rue's Story ========-- Beginning [RWBEGIN] ------== The game opens with a brief shot of a few Pollywogs floating around a forest, and a shadow scaring them off. Before long, you'll be in control of Rue, inside the small log cabin that he and Claire live in. Feel free to explore about the house and get used to the controls a bit, as well as checking the menu out. Before long, the game will take over, and the story will progress. Once the story sequences are over, you'll find yourself at the docks in Carona. Feel free to talk about town, and explore the locales. You can find a Silver Coin in the back alley of town (between the inn and armor store), and another Silver Coin down near the riverside, next to the cave with the strange red vehicle in it. Once you're ready, go to the gates of town, and enter Carona Forest. Location: Carona Forest Suggested Stats: 60HP, 60MP, 24 Str, 16 Def Items: Bronze Coin x3, Silver Coin x2, Moon Stone x2 The first time you enter Carona Forest, you'll have to go through a mini tutorial on how to play the game. It's not difficult at all, just pass on through it (be sure to grab the treasure box with 3 Bronze Coins in it near the far side of the tutorial area). Then, it's into the forest proper. The first real screen of the forest is not difficult. Pick up a Saber Tiger coin for Rue to morph into, and increase your HP by fighting enemies and letting them damage you. You can recover HP by picking up the blue potions they drop (the red ones restore MP). I suggest you get your HP up around about 75 or so before entering the next area of the forest. As you enter the clearing, you'll see that those two bandits from the ship are picking on a pink-haired girl. Transform into a Pollywog, and then go and bite the one holding the girl hostage. You'll want to transform back into Rue quickly, so that the bandits (Smokey and Blood) don't do excessive damage to you. Focus on killing only one of them, as you'll win once one of them falls (not both). When the bandits are gone, you'll see another story sequence, and be back on the path, with Elena telling you to follow her. You don't actually have to follow Elena, though. Run ahead of her, and jump across the ruins from the topmost part. Then, take the shortcut path to the exit. If you manage to make it fast enough (ie. before Elena), she will reward you with a Silver Coin. If you morph into a Saber Tiger to do this, though, you won't get said coin. Keep going, and watch as another short story sequence takes place. Before long, you'll be down on the cliffs below the forest, on a quest to reach the atelier. Fight your way down the cliffs (the small hedgehog-like monsters are best defeated with a T attack (horizontal slash)). Once you reach the bottom, you'll see a small spring off to the right, with strange glowing white dots on it. Use that to recover your HP, if necessary. When you're prepped, head up to the golden emblem at the far end of the clearing. Defeat the two gargoyles that appear, and use their form to transform while facing the gargoyle statue. This will make the stairs to the atelier appear. Once at the top, try to enter the atelier. Surprise! Now you'll have to fight the first real boss of Threads of Fate, the Nightmare. Boss: Nightmare HP: ~100 Difficulty: |--*-------| NOTE: The gague above for difficulty indicates how hard a boss is. The further to the left the * is, the easier the boss is to defeat. Strategy: To defeat the Nightmare, focus on attacking it three times in quick succession (ie. the chained hits with the X button), and then running out of it's range quickly. When the mare jumps, keep moving so that it doesn't land on you (or hit you with shockwaves). Once the shockwaves have dissipated, attack it again. Keep this up until the boss is defeated. With the Nightmare out of the way, the plot can continue. Enter the atelier, and grab the three treasures (2 Moon Stones and a Silver Coin). Check the vault near the center of the first floor to continue the story, and when Elena starts calling for you, go outside and speak to her. Go back inside after that and talk to Klaus. A brief encounter with Mint later, you'll be back in Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 80HP, 65MP, 24 Str, 16 Def Items: Silver Coin Once you regain control, go down to the docks and jump over the crates on the lower right side of the docks. Follow the pier to the end and nab the Silver Coin. Once you've got that, head back up to town, and sell your monsters collected (and the Moon Stones). If you can afford it, buy the Silver Belt. If not, buy a Bronze Bracer and Bronze Belt. (NOTE: At this point, high defense is more important than high offense) When you're all prepped and ready, talk to Klaus down in his basement, and then head on out of town to the underground ruins. NOTE: If you're feeling brave, you can try taking on Rod right now (he's down in the grasslands by the river). He's VERY difficult at this point, though, since you have such low stats. I suggest you wait until you've completed the underground ruins before challenging him, myself. Underground Mystery [RWUNDER] ----------------== Location: Underground Ruins Suggested Stats: 80HP, 65MP 24 Str, 16+8 Def Items: Bronze Coin x4, Night Stone, Moon Stone, Rare Wine, Legendary Sword, Tiara, Cube Go ahead and enter the ruins (after a brief chat with Mint, who is still incredibly confident and somewhat annoying). The underground ruins are essentially just the same two screens repeating endlessly. To get through them, first head straight up to the far northern exit in the first tunnel. You should hear water running. Go to the right-side exit to the area (there's one exit for each direction in each area). Follow the path across the two waterfalls, and take the rightmost exit again. From here, go right again, and get the Moon Stone. Go north, and then right again (to get the Night Stone). After that, go left, and cross the small waterfall scene to the hole down to the next floor. On this floor, the goal is simple: gather the six platforms to reach the next floor down. To do this, you need to cross four areas with poisoned ground and crates over the poison. I suggest that you turn into a Pollywog to cross the poison unharmed, and take out the Gudons up on the crates via a jumping tail smack. Once you reach the end of each of the poison rooms, be sure to check the room on the far north for one of the six platforms. At the top of the tunnel, go into the north room in the final branch to get the fifth platform, and then take the right path. Turn into a Gudon and melt the ice block to get the sixth and final platform. Before you leave, though, you may want to melt the other two ice blocks. This requires about 110MP, so you'll probably want to boost your MP a bit (and your HP; I suggest a good 125HP at this point). Don't skip out on melting those two blocks; they lead to the Rare Wine, an incalculably valuable item that you will thank yourself many times later on for getting it now. Leave the ice tunnel, and jump down the corridor to the entrance (no need to go through the poison tunnels this time). Jump across the platforms in order, from the rightmost all the way across to the leftmost (in a half- circle motion). Once done correctly, the path up to the exit to the next floor will be revealed. On the next floor, you'll find that the left path is blocked by a wall, and the right path by a boulder (with Mint in front of it). Talk to Mint three times, and prepare to run! You'll definitely want your sound on for this sequence. When you hear a crunching noise, jump quickly to avoid being slowed down by falling debris. You may want to hug one of the walls to reduce the debris dodging a bit (I suggest the left side). Once you get far enough down the tunnel, you'll see an alcove off on the left side. Quickly dive into that to avoid getting crushed, and then go back up to where Mint fell down. Keep going right to find an HP recovery spring, then go all the way left into the lake chamber. After a short (and amusing) scene, you'll be presented with a new challenge: to jump on all of the platforms in the right order as they are rotating over the lake. First things first, jump straight across, ignoring the flashing platforms, and get the Legendary Sword. Then, jump back over, and start jumping in sequence on the platforms. It may take a few tries, so don't get too mad if you fall into the lake a few times. You'll know which platform to jump on next, as it will be flashing. Once you've completed the sequence, you'll be taken down below the lake, into a small (and pit-laden) room. As you cross the platforms to the far side, you'll find yourself having to deal with the boss of the underground ruins, the Skull Beast. Boss: Skull Beast HP: ~100 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: This boss, while marginally more difficult than the Nightmare, is still not very hard. Jump out of the way of it's small fire streams, and jump over the arcs of flame that it spits out. When it starts jumping around, avoid being on the same platform that it lands on (it will aim for whatever platform you're on or closest to when it jumps). When it starts panting and flickering white, attack it. It may take a while, but the boss will eventually die. With the Skull Beast out of the way, jump across the platforms and down to the atelier of Grand Magician Elroy. Go ahead and ride the platform on up. Be sure to check all of the rooms, and search their floors; each room has at least one coin in it. The room with the HP-restoring fountain has a Gold Coin hidden between the two black monuments on one end of the room, a handy find. In all, there are four Bronze Coins here, as well as the Tiara and Cube. Once you have everything, and have healed up, head back down to the elevator. Of course, as luck would have it, you'll have to fight a boss before you can leave. Boss: Duke HP: ~100 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: While not overly difficult, Duke can still be dangerous. His main tactic is to dodge your attacks, so don't go swinging out with the triple-hit combo unless you know it's going to hit. When Duke separates into multiple forms, just start swinging like mad; he'll return to one form and try to attack, but will get caught up by a sequence of attacks from Rue before he can hit. Before long, you'll defeat him. After the battle, you'll have to go back up, and chase after Duke and Belle. But look who returns to fight you! This time, the Skull Beast cannot actually be defeated. Just get him panting and then hit him; you'll be able to take the elevator up after that. Once you do, you'll find yourself on the stairwell you saw while going down the first time. The trick here is to just keep running up! You'll be assaulted by large spiked balls as you head up, so be sure to jump over them (this won't work if the balls are on the inner edge, as you should be). Hopefully, you'll reach the top before the Skull Beast reaches you (and thus won't have to do it all over again). After the Beast croaks, jump on the platform and you'll head back to Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 130HP, 115MP, 24 Str, 16+8 Def Back in town, go and save at the inn. Then, go talk to the owner of the curio shop in the back alley. Give him the Rare Wine, and you'll recieve a 25,000G discount on his wares (substantial, and worth it). For now, the wares aren't worth buying, though. Go back into the town proper, sell your monsters and the Stones you got in the ruins (do not sell the Legendary Sword, though), and buy yourself a Silver Bracer. Now would be a good time to challenge Rod, since you should have the hang of the game now. You can fight him up to 5 times (which I actually recommend), and he'll give you 900G (remember, you have to pay him 100G to fight him) every time you win. You'd be wise to save after you win each time. Once you've beaten him 5 times, he'll give you a Gold Coin. Afterwards, go and visit Klaus again. He'll tell you that you need to go seek the help of Fancy Mel, a somewhat insane mage living on the outskirts of Carona Forest. Mel's Atelier [RWMEL] ---------== Location: Mel's Atelier Suggested Stats: 130HP, 115MP, 24+8 Str, 16+8 Def Items: Bronze/Silver Coin x3 As you progress into Mel's part of Carona Forest, you may notice that she has, ah, interesting tastes in decor. Go on up to the atelier, and try the door. After Rue realizes that Mel's not home, you'll have to talk to and play with the three dwarves running around the outside of the atelier. They each force you to complete an annoying mini-game in order to continue with the plot. If you wish to kill Square for this, I wholeheartedly agree with you, trust me... Mini-game #1: Giant Balls What to Do: First things first: get yourself an Imp so that you can get through this accursed sequence. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you have an enemy sitting on a platform you need to be on, use the Imp's shooting star ability to get them off that platform. At one point, you need to jump off the back of one of the gigantic balls that the Fungies are riding to continue. Do NOT try to run and jump off it; just get on the far corner of it and jump off. Also, the last part of that same chain of blocks starts to fall when you land on it, so jump over when the Imp on the far side jumps, and kill both him and his cohort. It's a straight run (past another ball-riding Fungie) to the exit. Sub-Mini-game #1: Whack-a-Fungie How to Play: Thwack Fungies only when they're above ground; if you don't, they'll knock you out. They tend to all get up at once, so a chain of X attacks tends to work well. A score of 250-490 will net you a Bronze Coin, and a score of 500 or higher will net you a Silver Coin. NOTE: You may want to use the Cockadoo behind the atelier to save at this point, and after the next mini-game; the urge to kill somebody while doing this sequence gets pretty high, and you may want to take a half-hour break from it after each mini-game. Mini-game #2: Giant Swings What to Do: By far, this one is the most annoying. Jump across the stage via the gigantic swings (keep in mind that they move; you'll have to move with them so that you land on them properly), and attack enemies that get in your way accordingly. You'll want to turn into an Imp at two different points when there are enemies blocking the platform you need to land on, and at one point, you'll have to wait for a bit on a falling block so that you can land properly on the incoming swing. Once you finally reach the end, you'll have to play the next sub-mini-game. Sub-Mini-game #2: Collect the Balls How to Play: Just run around and pick up colored balls that the large tube launches. Avoid the black balls, though. If you manage to pick up a ball that's the same color as the last ball, you'll get 30 points instead of 10 points. As with the first sub-mini-game, 250-490 will net you a Bronze Coin, and 500+ will net you a Silver Coin. NOTE: Save again, for sake of sanity... Mini-game #3: Fungie Trumpets What to Do: This stage is quite annoying. A few pointers: don't jump when a Fungie is about to land and blow the trumpet, you'll have to start the map over. The teeter-totters can move horizontally as well, and one of them you have to use like a teeter-totter to continue with the stage. Be sure to switch to an Imp and kill the Cockadoo near the exit, so you don't get pecked and have to do the entire level over again. Sub-Mini-game #3: Scaring Cockadoos What to Do: When a Cockadoo gets too close to a trumpet, jump on the small disc in front of the trumpet to scare it off. Do this quickly, or the mini-game will end pre-emptively. As with the last two mini-games, 250-490 points gets you a Bronze Coin, and 500+ gets you a Silver Coin. At last, they're over! Go ring the doorbell again, and watch as the story unfolds even further. Exit Mel's Atelier, and head back out. But wait, is that Duke standing near the far end of the path? Go talk to him a few times, and help him up. You'll have to fight him, now! Boss: Starlight Duke HP: ~150 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Avoid Duke while he's walking/spinning about, and when he falls on his back, hit his suit's back with the Arc Edge. It may take a few tries to get the right rythm down, but once you do, Duke proves to be quite easy. Once Duke's down, he'll try to squish you by jumping and landing hard on the ground when he starts falling towards the ground again, jump to avoid taking 20 damage as he lands. NOTE: You don't have to fight Duke just yet. If you want, you can ignore him and return to town. Take note that you will still have to fight him as Starlight Duke, though, albeit in the next chapter. After Duke's defeated, you'll return to Carona. Go to the inn, save, and head to Carona Forest. Location: Carona Forest Suggested Stats: 125HP, 115MP, 24+8 Str, 16+8 Def Go back to the large altar where you found Elena originally, and you'll see Smokey and Blood picking on the Poppel Purrel you were sent to find. Once more, you'll have to fight them. Don't worry, they're still as weak as they were when you first fought them. Once they're down, you'll return to Carona, at night. Go visit Rod if you want to find out more about Rod's history. After that, just go to the inn, go to your room, and sleep. After a short dream, you'll wake up the next morning. Save, and head on out to Mel's Atelier again. Rue's Memory [RWMEMORY] ---------== Enter the atelier, and witness as more Rue's past is revealed. This is a long sequence, so sit back and enjoy. Once you regain control, you'll be back in Carona. NOTE: This is your LAST CHANCE to fight Rod with Silver Breeze! If you haven't gotten the Gold Coin from him yet, do so now! NOTE: If you didn't beat Duke earlier, you'll have to beat him when you leave Mel's Atelier. Nothing is different about the fight than the one listed in the previous chapter, save that you have a spectator. Go back down into Klaus' basement, and watch as more plot is revealed, and a new quest opens up. Before you leave for the Ghost Temple, be sure to buy yourself a Gold Belt and Gold Bracer (if you can afford it), and of course, sell any excess items and monsters you may have on hand. Once you are prepped and ready, go to the temple. Haunted Temple [RWHAUNTED] -----------== Location: Yordaf's Atelier (aka. Ghost Temple) Suggested Stats: 125HP, 115MP, 24+12 Str, 16+12 Def Items: Moon Stone x2, Night Stone, Left/Right Sollerets, Left/Right Gauntlets Once you're inside the temple and in control, check either door. The one you need to enter is the one on the right. Shortly, you'll see three of the most common (and least valuable) monster type in this area walk by. Go follow them to open the door to the next area (ignore the Specter in that room; you'll want to get it's coin later, but not yet). Follow the path until you reach a side-room, and enter it (unless you have a Saber Tiger in your transform list). Jump across the pit, and take the left door. Get the Ootang's coin, and then leave the side-room back into the main hallway. Turn into a Saber Tiger, and jump across the gap. Turn into a Puppet, and kill the puppet standing on the pedestal there. Then, jump up on the pedestal and trigger the door lock as a Puppet. Go ahead and enter, and prepare to fight the first boss of the Ghost Temple. Boss: Chimera HP: ~200 Difficulty: |-----*----| Strategy: Attack twice, jump back and to the side when it swings it's sword at you. Repeat until it's other head pops out, at which point it's defense goes down. Keep attacking and jumping away (be careful; the middle head likes to breathe fire at you), and before long, the Chimera will fall. After defeating the Chimera, you'll get the Left Solleret. One down, three to go. Continue into the next room, and once you reach the area with poison pits on the floor, just jump your way all the way to the next door. If you haven't gotten a Skeleton coin, get one now, as you'll need to be able to turn into a skeleton to activate the second door. Heal up before entering the door, and prepare to face the second Chimera. This one has the same attacks and tactics as the last one, so no worries. Victory will net you the Right Solleret. Continue along, and be sure to get a Specter coin from the two Specters in the next hallway. Turn into that Ootang you got earlier, and jump over the high wall to the skeletons. Kill the skeleton on the right, and turn into a skeleton yourself. Stand around the center of the pedestal and hit T. Just wait, you should reassemble, and the door will unlock. Turn back into Rue, and go face off the third Chimera. This one can call lightning to hit you, so you'll want to keep close to it for the first three or four bolts, and jump away quickly after the fourth has struck, so you don't get hit. Defeat the Chimera, and get the Left Gauntlet. As you exit the Chimera's room, you'll find yourself in another hallway. Extinguish the four torches with the Specter form, and then enter the door. Back where you started... Exit the area from the door you entered it in, and then go take the left door in the main entry hall. Go ahead and follow the passage, until... Hmm, what's that? Why, it's Elena! A short (and silly) story sequence later, you'll be trapped in that hallway with Elena trailing you. Press T to call Elena at any time. Go ahead and go back to where Elena was hiding (be sure to call her to follow you on up to the locked door on the far upper side of the passage). Hit the switch in the alcove where Elena was, and the door will open. Go on through, and watch another cute story sequence. In this next area, you need to go jump on the center platform, and call Elena. After that, you'll have to fight five monsters (just skeletons and Puppets), and then go into the hidden rooms behind each wall. Defeat all of the monsters on each side, and be sure to break the wall on the right swing wall, to get the Moon Stone (and a Stinger coin). Go back out, and talk to Elena a few times to get another Moon Stone. Then, jump across the pit and call Elena to follow you. Walk up to the hole, and turn into a Stinger. Go into it, and use Rolling Spine (hold T and move foreward) to take care of the opposition in the tunnel. Be sure to get the Night Stone halfway down the tunnel! Once you've reached the far end, turn back into Rue and hit the switch to let Elena through. Continue through the next area, and hit the switch. Call Elena, and go into the next room. Hit the switch in there, too (ignore the white teleport pad for now), and go through that door. Now you need to get back to Elena, so go into the left door, kill the Puppets and Specter (get a new Puppet and Specter coin, if necessary). Turn into a Puppet, and jump onto the white pad. Then, hit the switch and go into the room where you left Elena. Jump onto the teleport pad where the Puppets abducted Elena, and then go back to the room where you first teleported, and back into the hallway before the first teleport pad. Backtrack to where you fought the monsters behind the shaking wall-doors, and go through the right door (which is shaking again). After defeating the enemies in there, you'll have to kill three skeletons (who break through the door you found the Stinger in earlier). Go through the door and reclaim Elena. Now, backtrack to the room where you broke the switch, and Elena will suggest (somewhat backwardly) that you hit the door. Walk up to it, then walk up to it again and hit it with the Arc Edge. Down goes the door! You can also just wait for Elena to jump-kick it, if you want (it's kind of funny when she does). Continue into the next hallway, and jump across the rotating discs. Call Elena, and instruct her to jump when appropriate. Don't worry if she falls, she'll just appear back on the far side (much like you would if you fell). Once she's across, enter the next room. The switch here can't be hit, and the upper door has a wall blocking it, so take the left door, and go into the next room at the end of that hall. There, you'll find Duke slaying the fourth Chimera. Now, you have to fight Duke. Boss: Duke HP: ~175 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Try to deal with Duke in a secondhand manner: use the crates and vases about the room, by drawing him close to them, and then attacking the crate/vase so that it explodes. If you get out of the way, or hit it far enough away, Duke will be damaged while you'll remain unhurt. Once you run out of crates and vases, turn into a Specter and take him down from a distance with ice breath. After Duke is down, Elena will treat his wounds (silly, silly Elena), and the wall will start to move. Once you regain control of Rue, start hitting the small barred door with Arc Edge via the triple-hit X combo, over and over again. You should have the door open by the time the wall hits the halfway mark of the room, or close to it. If you don't feel like doing that, don't worry; Elena will figure out how to open the door just in time. After that, some more amusing story sequences will play out, and you'll be back in Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 175HP, 125MP, 24+12 Str, 16+12 Def Go sell your monsters and excess items now. Go visit Klaus, and then stay at the hotel (not the inn). It's 500G to rent the room, but trust me, it is worth it for this particular bit. Grab the Dream Stone from the lower right corner of the room, and then sleep in the bed. You should see a short dream of an Ootang jumping into a tree stump. Leave the hotel and go to Carona Forest. Go down the tree stump in the first area of the forest, and make your way to the halfway point (be sure to keep your Specter form; it's critical for this!). Turn into a Specter, and blow ice onto the small Mandola until it grows up into a full-sized (and tame) Mandola. Jump up onto the ledge above, and grab The Last Hero. Now, go back to town via the Go-Home Frog on the cliff edge of the forest, and give the book to Rod. He will give you 4 Strength Ups, taking your base attack power up to 28! If you can afford it, go buy a Platinum Belt and Bracer from Tonio's shop. Also, be sure to challenge Rod a few times to get another Gold Coin from him (which you might as well sell for 2,500G; you really only need Bronze Coins). Another thing you may want to do now is go back to the Ghost Temple and explore the room that was exposed by the wall moving and almost crushing you earlier. Do NOT hit the switch you saw earlier; instead, just go into the upper room that a wall was blocking before. The room contains a Moon Stone, a Silver Coin, and a Mysterious Statue. Sell the coin and stone, but hang onto the statue. You can sell it to Marcum later for 6,000G (he'll offer 4,000G first, just tell him to forget it and offer to sell it again). When all that's finished, save again (of course), and go onward to Raging Mountain! Raging Mountain [RWRAGING] ------------== Location: Raging Mountain Suggested Stats: 175HP, 125MP, 28+16 Str, 16+16 Def Items: Silver Coin, Legendary Shield The first part of the mountain is very straightforward. Just go straight across (collect monster coins if you want; none in the upper area are of any real value), and jump down to the lower area once you reach the far side (just jump straight out towards the screen; it may seem like you can't, but you can). Kill the Bubba down there and claim its coin. Now, you can smash the myriad of large boulders which block your path on Raging Mountain! Just turn into a Bubba whenever you find one and hit T to swing it's hammer and shatter the rock. You'll have to do that to get back up to the area which you were jumping across before, anyway. Once you're back up and into the cave on the far end of the area, go ahead and break the rock up there. Get the Silver Coin from the chest, and kill the Specter that appears. Go back over to the other boulder (two Pollywogs appear near it), and break it, too. Keep going across the steam pits, and into the lava chambers. If you want, you can take the second moving platform here over to the healing spring, but it may be smarter not to. Once you've reached the far end of this cavern (it's a bit tricky; you have to wait for the platforms to line up close enough so you don't jump into the lava), you'll be out on a windswept plateau. Out here, just make your way across, killing as you see fit. Before you try to jump any gaps, take a test jump. If the wind blows you back too hard, wait a second and try again. Do NOT try to jump when the wind pushes you back hard, you'll never be able to make it across that way. Be sure to restore your HP and MP before you enter the next area via potions dropped by monsters, you'll want at least full HP for the coming boss(es). After a short (and ever silly) story sequence, you'll be fighting both Duke and Belle, simultaneously. Boss: Duke and Belle HP: ~125 and ~150 (twice) Difficulty: |------*---| Strategy: This is tough early on. Focus on beating up Duke (and avoiding getting thrown off the cliff by Hexagon). Once Duke is down, then turn on Belle and her flying contraption. You'll have to jump away from the grip of the Hexagon, then quickly jump in between the hands and do a jump-hit to Belle. Once she jumps off, she'll start running around and casting magic at you. To counter this, keep your distance until she's finished casting her magic, then run up and hit her hard. Eventually, you'll win. With Belle and Duke taken care of, you'll be in the next area of Raging Mountain. Go straight left, and use the healing tile (you'll probably need it after that boss fight). Once you've done that, go on up the cliff, and jump across the platforms above the healing tile to reach the treasure box with the Legendary Shield. Go back to the path, and walk all the way up to the fiery bowl of the volcano. Be sure to heal up before you reach the upper path, though, as you have a boss fight coming up. At the top, you'll meet up with Wylaf, lord of dragons. A few brief exchanges of words later, you'll be fighting Wylaf, to prove your worth to him. Boss: Wylaf HP: ~300 (you only have to do about 150 damage) Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Wylaf is considerably easier to deal with than Belle and Duke were. Attack regularly when Wylaf lands (ie. 3 X attacks sequenced), and avoid his fire breath and cyclones while he's in the air. This fight is a bit long, but not difficult. When he orders you to stand down, stop attacking him immediately, or he'll kill you (regardless of your HP, I might add). After winning, Wylaf will award you with the Phantomite, and send you on your way. You'll automatically be taken back to Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 200HP, 125MP, 28+16 Str, 16+16 Def Upon returning to Carona, you'll have another run-in with Smokey and Blood, the moron bandits who can't win no matter how hard they try. After they leave, go trade in your monsters and extra stuff. As with the Sword, don't sell the Legendary Shield. Buy yourself a few Defense Ups (at least so that your Defense is up to 20 or so), and if you haven't already, go save. (Note that this next sequence is optional; you don't have to respond to the bandits' challenge at all.) After that, go to Carona Forest, and back to the altar around the middle of the forest. Pretty soon, you'll be fighting Trap Master. Boss: Trap Master HP: ~200 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Pah, this is pathetic. Wait for Trap Master to jump onto a platform, and then jump over to a platform nearby that one (or right onto his platform, doing a jump hit to him; that will cost you 10HP, but it works). When you're on a platform right next to Trap Master, just hit T or X to smack him. Be sure to get off your platform if it's glowing, or has a shadow over it (to avoid trap damage). It won't take long to defeat Trap Master. After that's over, Smokey and Blood will attack again. They're still as unskilled as ever, so beat one up to end the fight quick. Go right back to the forest, and make your way to the cliffside (be sure to keep the Bubba coin from Raging Mountain, and have it in at least the third slot). Kill a Stinger on the path down to the atelier and collect it's coin. Then, jump over across a gap on the right side of the cliff (you'll see it pretty clearly) to a large boulder. Turn into Bubba and smash the boulder, then turn into a Stinger and enter the hole. Turn back into Rue quickly, as you have to kill 20 Small Bats here. Just use the chained X attack constantly, and you should have 20 kills shortly. Nab your prize from the treasure box that appears (a Star Stone), and then go back into town. Go ahead and visit Klaus now (note that this is your last chance to fight Rod with his Golden Gale before he switches to a new weapon), and then go to Mel's Atelier. Talk to Mel, and then go find the Poppel Purrel that you saved earlier outside (he's behind the atelier). He'll offer to take you to Gorotan, accept his offer. Talk to the little flying diamond-thing to start the fight. Boss: Gorotan HP: ~250 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Gorotan has very high defense when his shield is around him, but even so, you can still do some damage by attacking then. When he releases his shield, attack him like mad. He'll die fairly quickly. With Gorotan's powers in hand, you can now fully power up Prima Doll. Go back to Klaus' house and do just that. After Prima is fully powered up, go to the lakeside. Bond with Prima [RWPRIMA] ------------== Location: Lakeside Suggested Stats: 210HP, 125MP, 30+16 Str, 22+16 Def Upon reaching the lake, you'll see Elena and Mint there. The three will talk for a bit, and you'll be presented with a choice. Answer however you wish, and watch the scene play out. Then, go back to Carona and visit Klaus again. Go back to the lakeside with Prima Doll (you can do other stuff in town while Prima is following you, as well; try visiting Rod and Johnny Wolf, for example). If you want to win the race with Prima, just hold down the directional button or analog stick upwards. If you want to cheat, just walk in front of him (which is pretty mean). After the race, and some more story, you'll be back in Carona. Go visit Klaus again, and watch as Prima is completed at last! Now you need to get a ride to the lake ruins. Go down to the grassy field and visit Rod. He'll want a fight with you, so oblige him. After you defeat him with his Black Tornado, you'll get your ride to the lake ruins. Lake Ruins [RWLAKE] -------== Location: Lake Ruins Suggested Stats: 210HP, 125MP, 30+16 Str, 22+16 Def The Lake Ruins is a serious story point, so I won't be spoiling anything here. Suffice it to say that you'll have no control over what happens here at all, and by the time it's all over, you'll be back in Carona. Once in town, feel free to go visit Rod, and find out more about his past. Then, go to the tavern and find out just what Mint was up to, and why Belle and Duke were at the ruins with her. After that, just head back to the inn and rest up. Maya's Arrival [RWMAYA] -----------== Go ahead and leave the inn. Tonio's shop is now carrying the Mythril equipment, so be sure to upgrade there. Also, you can now challenge Rod with his Black Tornado. Once you've defeated him 5 times, he'll give you a Platinum Coin (well worth the effort; they sell for 15,000G at Hobb's curio shop). Also, now is a good time to build up your stats and cash reserves by going back to Raging Mountain and collecting Bubbas to sell. At this point, they're the most valuable monster (selling at 90G each). Note that this isn't critical, but certainly recommended. When you feel ready, go back to the lakeside. Of course, now the lakeside is blocked by the tower, so Rue will return to town (after a brief look-in on what Doll Master is up to). Go visit Rod out on the grassy fields, then go to the inn and rest up. When Rue wakes up in the middle of the night, you'll have to chase Claire's shadow all over the place. First, follow her into the dark alleyway. Then, go down to the docks. Next, visit Rod in the fields. Then, follow her up to the church. There, you'll have to fight another boss, Psycho Master. Boss: Psycho Master HP: ~225 Difficulty: |-------*--| Strategy: Psycho Master has a seriously unfair advantage: his psychic attack ignores your defense, and always does 35 damage. As well, he'll automatically counter with this attack if you try to attack him in the front, and he won't take any damage at all! Instead, try to get behind him, and attack him in the back. You can usually get in two hits on him before he teleports away. When he starts floating around, avoid him at all costs, or he'll use his psychic attack on you. If he just stands there, he'll release an easy-to-dodge shockwave (jump over it). Be careful, and victory will be yours. After the fight, you'll find that it's daytime outside the church already. Go ahead and save at the inn, and then go to the Tower of Maya. Note that this is your last chance to fight Rod with his Black Tornado, so if you haven't gotten your Platinum Coin, do so now! Claire's Shadow [RWCLAIRE] ------------== Location: Tower of Maya Suggested Stats: 215HP, 125MP, 35+20 Str, 25+20 Def Items: Gold Coin x7, Star Stone x2, Legendary Helmet Enter the tower, and head up. Trap Master will taunt you a bit at the entrance, but he's hardly a big concern. The enemies in the tower are not difficult, but don't turn your back on the Pumpkins, they like to blow up when you do. Hack and slash your way up to the first landing, and grab the chest with 2 Gold Coins. Beat up the four Pumpkins that roll out of the door to the next area, and go right in. Inside this room, you need to jump across the pumpkin platforms to the far side. Three of the pumpkins are fakes, and they're rotating counter- clockwise. If you don't want to track that, the trapped ones are the leftmost pumpkin in the first pair, and both of the pumpkins on the right of the trio of pumpkins. You'll also have to deal with a Witch shooting pumpkins at you, so be sure to pay attention and jump when it's appropriate. Once you reach the other side, kill the Witch and claim your prize (2 Star Stones). Heal up on the panel, and head upstairs. In this next area, there is a treasure box on the ground floor near where the stairs you just came up taper off. It contains 3 Gold Coins. Once you have that, head up the stairs, and be careful of the Witches: they like to trap you so that you can't attack them unless you first jump out of the way of their pumpkin cannons. Keep going up, take the elevator (just swing constantly to deal with the Pumpkins until you reach the top floor), and on the next landing, grab the treasure box with 2 Gold Coins. Deal with the Pumpkins as before, and enter the doorway. In this room, you need to ride the platforms sitting in mid-air to reach the far end. Don't stay on any given platform TOO long, or you'll be hit by the platform spinning around, and take a bit of damage. You'll have to get the Wabbits off of each platform you need to take, so it's not tough to figure out what platforms you have to ride. Once you reach the far end, take advantage of the healing tile, and grab the Legendary Helmet. Go up the stairs, follow the pathway up (more Witches to be dealt with), and use the healing tile up there. Then, enter the final chamber. More story will take place, and you'll shortly have to fight Doll Master, who reveals himself to be... THE ARM OF DEATH! Now you have to fight him. Boss: Arm of Death HP: Infinite Difficulty: N/A Strategy: What strategy? You cannot win this. If you really want to look fancy, hit him twice with X, then block with T to take less damage from his attack. Don't get too angry when you lose; he's impossible even with 200+ attack and defense power... After your severe beating at the hands of the Arm of Death, more events will take place, and before you know it, you'll be inside the Book of Cosmos. A little more story will unfold, and you'll find yourself fighting Atenacius. Boss: Atenacius HP: ~300 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: He's hardly what you can call "tough", seeing as you do twice your normal damage while Rue isn't wearing his hat. Attack Atenacius' beard relentlessly, until he rushes back away to the other side of the Book of Cosmos. Jump across the platforms to reach him (this can be tougher than it looks, since Atenacius shoots stuff at you), and resume attacking. This fight should be short and uneventful. After the fight, tons of story unfolds, and about half an hour later, you will regain control of Rue (yes, the story sequence is that long; this game was made by the Xenogears team, can you tell?). Back in Carona, with the Fortress of Valen flying overhead, you have a new mission: to get up to that fortress and stop Valen! Aim for the Sky [RWAIMSKY] ------------== Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 225HP, 125MP, 35+20 Str, 25+20 Def A lot of options open up to you at this point. First off, I suggest you go buy a Brave Bracer and Black Belt from Tonio's shop. Also, you should give the Legendary items to the owner of the pub (save before you do this; it's easy to accidentally say "Forget it", and that can't be undone without loading from a saved game). Then, go hunt down 250 Pollywogs in Carona Forest (best spot: the ruins with the pool of water, on the ledge above the water; two Pollywogs spawn at once there), and 150 Gudons (best spot: right at the entrance of the underground ruins; there are three all lined up in a row, essentially, that keep respawning). Have Jargen make you 5 Pollywog Souffles, and 5 Gudon Liver Soups (he offers dishes randomly, so this could take a while). That will boost your Strength and Defense by 10 each! Be sure to talk to Jargen after you get your 10th dish, to claim a Platinum Coin (worth 3 more power-ups at Hobb's shop). Reinforced as you are, go save at the inn and challenge Rod. He has a new weapon: Dark Hurricane! Fight and beat him 5 times to get another Platinum Coin, and trade that in for 3 more stat enhancers. By now, you should have about 225HP, 125MP, 48 base Strength, 36 base Defense, and a bonus of 24 to both Strength and Defense via the Brave Bracer and Black Belt. Once you're all prepped and ready, it's time to find a way up to the fortress in the skies! Go to Raging Mountain, the obvious choice. Location: Raging Mountain Suggested Stats: 225HP, 125MP, 48+24 Str, 36+24 Def As you progress through Raging Mountain, you'll have to fight both Trap Master and Mode Master. First off, you'll find Trap Master in the steam cavern near the entrance of the mountain. Boss: Trap Master HP: ~300 Difficulty: |--*-------| Strategy: Trap Master is easier than before, due to the enhanced stats you should have now. He likes to set tiles to explode if you land on them, so avoid landing on any tiles that Trap Master does. Hit him like before (at a distance from an adjacent platform), and he'll be down in short order. With Trap Master defeated, continue onwards into the cave. Go ahead and use the healing point in the lava chamber (it comes in handy, seeing as you have another boss fight coming up), and make your way to the wind tunnel. You'll have to fight Mode Master first, though. Boss: Mode Master HP: ~300 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Attack normally. Due to your higher stats, Mode Master won't be able to do much damage to you in her initial form. She'll start morphing into monsters in your list of monsters once you do about 100 damage to her, but she's certainly no threat, even then. With Mode Master defeated, the way is clear. Go on up to Wylaf, and claim your prize: dragon wings! Now, upon returning to Carona, a new option becomes available at the gates: Valen's Fortress. When you're prepped and ready, go ahead and leave for the fortress. Before you do, though, you may want to build up stats, visit the tavern, and generally prepare. Once you have visited everybody you want to, it's time to soar off to Valen's Fortress! Soar into Battle [RWSOAR] -------------== Location: Valen's Fortress Suggested Stats: 225HP, 125MP, 48+24 Str, 36+24 Def Items: Bronze/Silver/Gold Coin x4 (special) After you find Prima at the fortress, you'll automatically be taken to the first "arena". The path here is pretty straightforward: your goal in the first arena is to find the right teleporter to the next area. Nothing in the first arena is difficult (save Behemoths, and they're too slow to pose much of a threat), so you should be able to reach the elevator to the next area shortly. The elevator leads you up to a special mini-game: platform hopping. If you can make it across to the other side with 75% or more of the time bar left, you'll get a Gold Coin. If you can make it across with 74-50% of the time bar left (and don't fall more than twice), you'll get a Silver Coin. If you make it across with 49-25% of the time bar left (and don't fall more than four times), you'll get a Bronze Coin. If you can make it across with at least some time bar left, you'll get your HP restored. Otherwise, the elevator will simply take you up to the next floor, without rewards. Note that any missing HP you may have will be healed by decreasing the time bar when you get on the elevator. As such, it's in your best interest to keep your HP high before entering this area. Next is Arena II, or the second arena. This area is simple, as was the first area. Here, you'll need to gain the abilities of certain monsters (to be exact, a Bubba and a Hellhound) in order to progress far. There is little challenge to this; simply explore and find the appropriate monster for the current blockade, and then progress. Take note, though: there is only one version of each blockade along the proper path! If you come across a blockade that's the same as the last one, it's a trap. Completing Arena II takes you up to another mini-game like the last one, with different platforms moving about. Then, it's on to Arena III. Arena III is a lot like Arena I, except that there are now Jinns running around, and a wrong turn will force you to fight 3 Shaolons instead of 3 Gargoyles. It's still not difficult or map-worthy, though. After this arena is complete, you'll have another mini-game like the last two, and be in Arena IV. Arena IV is the simplest of them all. Go to each teleporter on either end of the main area, and defeat the two Behemoths that you can summon in each one. This will re-activate the elevator (after you beat another Behemoth at the elevator point), and allow you to progress to the final mini-game, and on to the next area of Valen's Fortress. Be sure to use the save point here, and then take the teleporter to the last puzzle area. This next area has very simple: light all of the torches in each room so that they match the initial setup of the first room: the two middle torches lit. Some rooms are trickier than others in this task (the first room being a prime example; put one torch out and re-light it to solve the puzzle in that room). In the two rooms to either side of the first room, the puzzle is simply to put out or light torches so that they match the original room. When you solve the puzzle in a room, the screen will flash, and a stone will drop onto the floor. Grab the stone each time this happens, and run back to the main room (as you can't fight or carry other stones while you have a stone over your head). The room furthest over is a bit tricky, though. You have to put out the lit flame in the left corner, light the middle left torchiere, and use a Jinn's wind attack to bring the small flame to life on the middle right torchiere. After all four stones are in place, you'll be teleported automatically to the next area. Here, you'll have to defeat Psycho Master again to progress. Boss: Psycho Master HP: ~350 Difficulty: |-----*----| Strategy: Same rules apply as the last time you fought Psycho Master, but this time, he has the added advantage of his barriers. The barriers also ignore defense, and he frequently hurls you against them, causing a total of about 55 damage to you. This being so, avoid running into him, and take him out from the back as quickly as possible. Once Psycho is down, it's on to the Cursed Crossways. Location: Cursed Crossways Suggested Stats: 250HP, 125MP, 48+24 Str, 36+24 Def Here, you'll have to fight previous bosses. If you're running short on HP and/or MP, visit one of the top/bottom corner nodes. These contain regular monsters, and never run out. The top-center portal leads to the Nightmare, the left-center portal leads to the Skull Beast, and the right-center portal leads to a Chimera. Defeat all three, and the path to the final area of Valen's Fortress (as well as the last save point) will be revealed. Save and move on. In the next area, you'll come face-to-face with Ruecian, aka. Doll Master, aka. Arm of Death. Now is your final battle with him. Boss: Arm of Death HP: ~400 Difficulty: |------*---| Strategy: Avoid getting hit by the arm (it still ignores defense), and do NOT let him grab you (as that will cut your HP by 1/5th, quite painful). Attack him with two chained attacks, then retreat quickly so he can't grab you. Repeat until he dies. With Ruecian down, you'll progress into the chamber of the Dewprism, and Valen's sanctum sanctorum. More story and events will unfold, and you'll find yourself fighting Valen himself, as well as an ever-regenerating guardian called Dew RedMoon. This is sort of a pseudo-boss fight. Attack Valen normally when he comes in range: this will damage his barrier. As well, keep killing Dew RedMoon, as Dew RedMoon will heal Valen after a bit if it's left alive. Once you've destroyed the Morning Dew, more events unfold, and you'll have to fight Valen's final form. Boss: Valen HP: ~500 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Valen can only be hurt in his upright form, when his underbelly is exposed, and he starts shooting a stream of constant fire at you. His other forms are impossible to hurt, and your best tactic is to dodge and avoid when he does transform. This mostly involves running rapidly in the opposite direction, and jumping about when Valen fires at you. When he does expose his underbelly, run or block until he stops firing, then quickly jump-slash his underbelly. Five or six slashes should kill him. With Valen down, the world is safe! Now begins a very dramatic escape sequence (I refuse to spoil any of it), and once you're back in control, you'll find yourself at the inn at Carona. I'll See You Soon [RWSEEYOU] --------------== Feel free to save (I certainly did), and then go about town and talk to people. Be sure to visit Klaus' shop, too. Once you're satisfied, visit Klaus again, and watch the touching ending to Rue's scenario. Congratulations, you've finished Rue's story! End of Rue's Story Mint's Story =========-- World Domination, Baby! [MWWORLD] --------------------== Mint's story begins at East Heaven Kingdom, on the day of Mint's exile from her home. Feel free to check the menu and see her stats, as well as taste the dishes on the table (if you'd like). Before long, the story will take over, and Mint will run away from her seriously demented little sister and her maniacal ways. Once the story sequences are over, you'll find yourself at the docks in Carona. Feel free to talk about town, and explore the locales. You can find a Silver Coin in the back alley of town (between the inn and armor store), and another Silver Coin down near the riverside, next to the cave with the strange red vehicle in it. Once you're ready, go to the gates of town, and enter Carona Forest. Location: Carona Forest Suggested Stats: 60HP, 60MP, 24 Str, 16 Def Items: Bronze Coin x3, Silver Coin x2, Moon Stone x2 The first time you enter Carona Forest, you'll have to go through a mini tutorial on how to play the game. It's not difficult at all, just pass on through it (be sure to grab the treasure box with 3 Bronze Coins in it near the far side of the tutorial area). Then, it's into the forest proper. This first real screen of the forest is a cinch. Feel free to take some time here and get used to Mint's magic controls, as well as building up your HP and MP to around 75 or so. Once you've got the hang of it, go ahead and enter the next area. As you enter the clearing, you'll see that those two bandits from the ship are picking on a pink-haired girl. Mint will initiate a fight with them, so get ready. They're close-range attackers, so keep your distance from them, and pound on one of them heavily with magic (Vulcan works well here). When the bandits are gone, you'll see another story sequence, and be back on the path, with Elena telling you to follow her. You don't actually have to follow Elena, though. Run ahead of her, and jump across the ruins from the topmost part. Then, take the shortcut path to the exit. If you manage to make it fast enough (ie. before Elena), she will reward you with a Silver Coin. Keep going, and watch as another short story sequence takes place. Before long, you'll be down on the cliffs below the forest, on a quest to reach the atelier. Fight your way down the cliffs (the small hedgehog-like monsters are best defeated with magic, not physical attacks). Once you reach the bottom, you'll see a small spring off to the right, with strange glowing white dots on it. Use that to recover your HP, if necessary. When you're prepped, head up to the golden emblem at the far end of the clearing. Defeat the two gargoyles that appear, simultaneously. You have about 2 seconds after one dies to kill the other one. Once you succeed, stairs to the atelier will appear. Once at the top, try to enter the atelier. Surprise! Now you'll have to fight the first real boss of Threads of Fate, the Nightmare. Boss: Nightmare HP: ~100 Difficulty: |--*-------| NOTE: The gague above for difficulty indicates how hard a boss is. The further to the left the * is, the easier the boss is to defeat. Strategy: To defeat the Nightmare, focus on attacking it three times in quick succession (ie. the chained hits with the X button), and then running out of it's range quickly. When the mare jumps, keep moving so that it doesn't land on you (or hit you with shockwaves). Once the shockwaves have dissipated, attack it again. If you want, try shooting magic at it; but magic isn't much more effective than regular attacks here, so there's really not much point. With the Nightmare out of the way, the plot can continue. Enter the atelier, and grab the three treasures (2 Moon Stones and a Silver Coin). Check the vault near the center of the first floor to continue the story. Once everything's done, you'll be back in Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 80HP, 65MP, 24 Str, 16 Def Items: Silver Coin, [Red Magic] Once you regain control, go down to the docks and jump over the crates on the lower right side of the docks. Follow the pier to the end and nab the Silver Coin. Once you've got that, head back up to town, and sell your monsters collected (and the Moon Stones). If you can afford it, buy the Silver Belt. If not, buy a Bronze Bracer and Bronze Belt. (NOTE: At this point, high defense is more important than high offense) When you're all prepped and ready, talk to Klaus down in his basement, and then head on out of town to the underground ruins (with a new magic type in hand, as well). NOTE: If you're feeling brave, you can try taking on Rod right now (he's down in the grasslands by the river). He's VERY difficult at this point, though, since you have such low stats. I suggest you wait until you've completed the underground ruins before challenging him, myself. Underground Trap [MWTRAP] -------------== Location: Underground Ruins Suggested Stats: 80HP, 75MP 24 Str, 16+8 Def Items: Bronze Coin x5, Night Stone, Moon Stone, Rare Wine, Legendary Sword, Tiara, Cube, [Super], [Power] Go ahead and enter the ruins (after a brief chat with Rue, who Mint fears is going to jeopardize her treasure monopoly). The underground ruins are essentially just the same two screens repeating endlessly. To get through them, first head straight up to the far northern exit in the first tunnel. You should hear water running. Go to the right-side exit to the area (there's one exit for each direction in each area). Follow the path across the two waterfalls, and take the rightmost exit again. From here, go right again, and get the Moon Stone. Go north, and then right again (to get the Night Stone). After that, go left, and cross the small waterfall scene to the hole down to the next floor. On this floor, the goal is simple: gather the six platforms to reach the next floor down. To do this, you need to cross four areas with poisoned ground and crates over the poison. I suggest that you jump on the crates, and use magic (Bubbles works well) against the Gudons on the platforms. Once you reach the end of each of the poison rooms, be sure to check the room on the far north for one of the six platforms. At the top of the tunnel, go into the north room in the final branch to get the fifth platform, and then take the right path. Switch to Burner (Red - Normal) and melt the ice block to get the sixth and final platform. Before you leave, though, you may want to melt the other two ice blocks. This requires about 110MP, so you'll probably want to boost your MP a bit (and your HP; I suggest a good 125HP at this point). Don't skip out on melting those two blocks; they lead to the Rare Wine, an incalculably valuable item that you will thank yourself many times later on for getting now, and a new magic type, [Super]. Leave the ice tunnel, and jump down the corridor to the entrance (no need to go through the poison tunnels this time). Jump across the platforms in order, from the rightmost all the way across to the leftmost (in a half- circle motion). Once done correctly, the path up to the exit to the next floor will be revealed. On the next floor, you'll find that the left path is blocked by a wall, and the right path by a boulder (with Rue in front of it). Talk to Rue three times, and prepare to run! You'll definitely want your sound on for this sequence. When you hear a crunching noise, jump quickly to avoid being slowed down by falling debris. You may want to hug one of the walls to reduce the debris dodging a bit (I suggest the left side). Once you get far enough down the tunnel, you'll see an alcove off on the left side. Quickly dive into that to avoid getting crushed, and then go back up to where Rue fell down. If you completed the boulder run without getting smushed, you can steal a Bronze Coin from Rue by talking to his fallen form from the rear. Keep going right to find an HP recovery spring, then go all the way left into the lake chamber. After a short scene of Mint musing, you'll be presented with a new challenge: to jump on all of the platforms in the right order as they are rotating over the lake. First things first, jump straight across, ignoring the flashing platforms, and get the Legendary Sword. Then, jump back over, and start jumping in sequence on the platforms. It may take a few tries, so don't get too mad if you fall into the lake a few times. You'll know which platform to jump on next, as it will be flashing. Once you've completed the sequence, you'll be taken down below the lake, into a small (and pit-laden) room. As you cross the platforms to the far side, you'll find yourself having to deal with the boss of the underground ruins, the Skull Beast. Boss: Skull Beast HP: ~100 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: This boss, while marginally more difficult than the Nightmare, is still not very hard. Jump out of the way of it's small fire streams, and jump over the arcs of flame that it spits out. When it starts jumping around, avoid being on the same platform that it lands on (it will aim for whatever platform you're on or closest to when it jumps). When it starts panting and flickering white, attack it with Bubbles. It may take a while, but the boss will eventually die. With the Skull Beast out of the way, jump across the platforms and down to the atelier of Grand Magician Elroy. Go ahead and ride the platform on up. Be sure to check all of the rooms, and search their floors; each room has at least one coin in it. The room with the HP-restoring fountain has a Gold Coin hidden between the two black monuments on one end of the room, a handy find. In all, there are four Bronze Coins here, as well as the Tiara and Cube. Once you have everything, and have healed up, head back down to the elevator. Of course, as luck would have it, you'll have to fight a boss before you can leave. Boss: Belle HP: ~100 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Belle is a real pain to beat. She likes to surround herself with a ring of Vulcans, and then launch them all at you. Avoid her while she's encased, and then start firing your own Vulcan at her when she launches hers at you. If she jumps up in the air, jump afterwards, unless you want to get hit by a firestorm. This fight is annoying, but really not all that difficult. After the battle, you'll have to go back up, and chase after Duke and Belle. But look who returns to fight you! This time, the Skull Beast cannot actually be defeated. Just get him panting and then hit him; you'll be able to take the elevator up after that. Once you do, you'll find yourself on the stairwell you saw while going down the first time. The trick here is to just keep running up! You'll be assaulted by large spiked balls as you head up, so be sure to jump over them (this won't work if the balls are on the inner edge, as you should be). Hopefully, you'll reach the top before the Skull Beast reaches you (and thus won't have to do it all over again). After the Beast croaks (with Rue's help), you'll be taken back to Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 130HP, 115MP, 24 Str, 16+8 Def Back in town, go and save at the inn. Then, go talk to the owner of the curio shop in the back alley. Give him the Rare Wine, and you'll recieve a 25,000G discount on his wares (substantial, and worth it). For now, the wares aren't worth buying, though. Go back into the town proper, sell your monsters and the Stones you got in the ruins (do not sell the Legendary Sword, though), and buy yourself a Silver Bracer. Now would be a good time to challenge Rod, since you should have the hang of the game now. You can fight him up to 5 times (which I actually recommend), and he'll give you 900G (remember, you have to pay him 100G to fight him) every time you win. You'd be wise to save after you win each time. Once you've beaten him 5 times, he'll give you a Gold Coin. Afterwards, go and visit Klaus again. He'll tell you that you need to go seek the help of Fancy Mel, a somewhat insane mage living on the outskirts of Carona Forest. Before you go there, though, go back to the underground ruins and examine the fallen Skull Beast. You'll recieve a new magic type, [Power]. This is well worth the effort. Fancy Mel [MWMEL] ------== Location: Mel's Atelier Suggested Stats: 130HP, 115MP, 24+8 Str, 16+8 Def Items: Bronze/Silver Coin x3 As you progress into Mel's part of Carona Forest, you may notice that she has, ah, interesting tastes in decor. Go on up to the atelier, and try the door. After Mint gets told that Mel's not home, you'll have to talk to and play with the three dwarves running around the outside of the atelier. They each force you to complete an annoying mini-game in order to continue with the plot. If you wish to kill Square for this, I wholeheartedly agree with you, trust me... Mini-game #1: Giant Balls What to Do: Load up Vulcan, and be prepared to use it. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you have an enemy sitting on a platform you need to be on, use Vulcan to get them off that platform. At one point, you need to jump off the back of one of the gigantic balls that the Fungies are riding to continue. Do NOT try to run and jump off it; just get on the far corner of it and jump off. Also, the last part of that same chain of blocks starts to fall when you land on it, so jump over when the Imp on the far side jumps, and kill both him and his cohort. It's a straight run (past another ball-riding Fungie) to the exit. Sub-Mini-game #1: Whack-a-Fungie How to Play: Thwack Fungies only when they're above ground; if you don't, they'll knock you out. They tend to all get up at once, so a chain of X attacks tends to work well. A score of 250-490 will net you a Bronze Coin, and a score of 500 or higher will net you a Silver Coin. On replays, using Sattelite (White - Circle) is exceptionally effective here. NOTE: You may want to use the Cockadoo behind the atelier to save at this point, and after the next mini-game; the urge to kill somebody while doing this sequence gets pretty high, and you may want to take a half-hour break from it after each mini-game. Mini-game #2: Giant Swings What to Do: By far, this one is the most annoying. Jump across the stage via the gigantic swings (keep in mind that they move; you'll have to move with them so that you land on them properly), and attack enemies that get in your way accordingly. You'll want to launch Vulcan at two different points when there are enemies blocking the platform you need to land on, and at one point, you'll have to wait for a bit on a falling block so that you can land properly on the incoming swing. Once you finally reach the end, you'll have to play the next sub-mini-game. Sub-Mini-game #2: Collect the Balls How to Play: Just run around and pick up colored balls that the large tube launches. Avoid the black balls, though. If you manage to pick up a ball that's the same color as the last ball, you'll get 30 points instead of 10 points. As with the first sub-mini-game, 250-490 will net you a Bronze Coin, and 500+ will net you a Silver Coin. NOTE: Save again, for sake of sanity... Mini-game #3: Fungie Trumpets What to Do: This stage is quite annoying. A few pointers: don't jump when a Fungie is about to land and blow the trumpet, you'll have to start the map over. The teeter-totters can move horizontally as well, and one of them you have to use like a teeter-totter to continue with the stage. Use Vulcan to kill the Cockadoo near the exit, so you don't get pecked and have to do the entire level over again. Sub-Mini-game #3: Scaring Cockadoos What to Do: When a Cockadoo gets too close to a trumpet, jump on the small disc in front of the trumpet to scare it off. Do this quickly, or the mini-game will end pre-emptively. As with the last two mini-games, 250-490 points gets you a Bronze Coin, and 500+ gets you a Silver Coin. At last, they're over! Go ring the doorbell again, and watch as the story unfolds even further. Now you'll have to go find the Poppul Purrel. If you talk to Klaus, you'll get a big hint. Go to Carona Forest. Location: Carona Forest Suggested Stats: 125HP, 115MP, 24+8 Str, 16+8 Def Go back to the large altar where you found Elena originally, and you'll see Smokey and Blood picking on the Poppel Purrel you were sent to find. Once more, you'll have to fight them. Don't worry, they're still as weak as they were when you first fought them. Once they're down, you'll return to Carona, at night. Go visit Rod if you want to find out more about Rod's history. After that, just go to the inn, go to your room, and sleep. After a short dream, you'll wake up the next morning. Save, and head on out to Mel's Atelier again. Starlight Duke [MWDUKE] -----------== Enter the atelier, and enjoy as Mel essentially belittles poor Mint. Quite unlike Rue's scenario, this is not long or painful. Once you regain control, you'll be walking down the path away from Mel's Atelier. Talk to Elena, and then talk to Duke. Now, you'll have to fight him. Boss: Starlight Duke HP: ~150 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Avoid Duke while he's walking/spinning about, and when he falls on his back, hit his suit's back with magic. It may take a few tries to get the right rythm down, but once you do, Duke proves to be quite easy. Once Duke's down, he'll try to squish you by jumping and landing hard on the ground when he starts falling towards the ground again, jump to avoid taking 20 damage as he lands. After Duke's defeated, you'll return to Carona. Go to the inn and save, as usual. NOTE: This is your LAST CHANCE to fight Rod with Silver Breeze! If you haven't gotten the Gold Coin from him yet, do so now! Go back down into Klaus' basement, and watch as more plot is revealed, and a new quest opens up. Before you leave for the Gamul Forest, be sure to buy yourself a Gold Belt and Gold Bracer (if you can afford it), and of course, sell any excess items and monsters you may have on hand. Once you are prepped and ready, go to the gates. But what's this? Gamul Forest is way too far away to reach by foot! There's an easy solution, though: Rod has an ACV (armored carrier vehicle) that can get you there far faster! Go on down to the grasslands, and fight Rod. Once you've won against his new Golden Gale, he'll agree to take you to Gamul Forest. Upstream Adventure [MWGAMUL] ---------------== Location: Ginema's Atelier (aka. Gamul Forest) Suggested Stats: 125HP, 115MP, 24+12 Str, 16+12 Def Items: Brooch, Earrings As you enter the forest, you'll notice something's very, very wrong here. The atelier is gone! The small pot nearby restores your MP (not a big worry right now, as your MP is automatically refreshed when you get here). Check the small book in one corner to resume the plot. Of course, now you have to fight a boss, but that's life. Boss: Belle HP: ~125 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Dodge Belle and her strange vehicle, Hexagon, until she causes several platforms to rise up. Then, jump on one of the platforms and jump- kick Belle. Repeat until Belle's down. You can use magic if you'd like, but it's a lot harder that way, since Belle shoots magic at you. With Belle down, check her body to get [Green Magic]. Go refresh your MP with the pot nearby, and then switch to the normal green magic, Wave. Use that on the fan (after examining it) repeatedly to cause an elevator to drop down. Now you can enter the forest proper. The area that you arrive in is very straightforward, and devoid of any enemies (unless you attack any of the Gamulians; then they'll gang up on you). Make your way to the far end, and use wind magic on the propeller at the far end of the screen to bring an elevator down. The elevator takes you to a rail of sorts (why the heck can't Mint just walk across this part? Ah, Square logic, no wonder...). The switch here should be facing left, so if it isn't thwack it. Then, jump on the lift, and enjoy a short trip to nowhere. The goal here is to get to the far end of the area, and hit the switch. This can be accomplished by using wind magic to get the platform moving, and then jumping to the far side. Dispatch of the Ootang, and hit the switch. Since the platform has probably stopped moving, just fall into the pit that it crosses; you'll automatically reappear on the far side that way. Ride the lift, cross the first area again, and take the rail ride again (be sure the switch near the ride itself is facing left, remember!). The next area requires you to hit only the leftmost switch. Leave the rightmost switch alone. Get back on the elevator, return to the railway, and ride it again (should still be set to take the left fork). In the area that this takes you to, you need to cross not one, but two platforms. This is deceptively easy, though. Use wind magic to get the fan you can reach up to top speed, then run over and ride the lift it activates, jumping on the far platform and hitting the switch over there. Then, just fall in the pit to reappear on the far side again, minus a bit of HP (and a lot of frustration). Ride the elevator back to the main area. Once again, return to the rail area, but this time, hit the switch up there to the right. Hop on, and if you didn't hit the right switch in the area with two switches, as I suggested, you'll get the Brooch. The lift will then descend to the final stretch of the forest. Here, just bully your way to the far end, and watch the amusing scene that follows. Shortly afterwards, you'll be fighting the Cloud Whale. Boss: Cloud Whale HP: ~200 Difficulty: |------*---| Strategy: The Cloud Whale is not easy, that's for sure. He has three things he does: fly past and cause a wave of water to launch at you, shoot energy at you, and try to swallow you. DO NOT GET SWALLOWED! If he eats you, you lose HP, and he regains HP! Gamulians will randomly fall onto the raft you're standing on, providing you with some much-needed HP and MP restoration (if you're lucky). The Cloud Whale is immune to all attacks while generating waves, so just focus on jumping over said waves (don't worry if the whale touches you in this state; it can't hurt you). When the Whale flies up with it's head glowing, prepare Flare (Red - Power), and shoot it at the glowing spot before it can launch a Vulcan-like attack at you. If it comes up to the edge of the raft without it's head glowing, or tips the raft, launch a Flare at it's glowing part in it's mouth as close as you can stand to be, and quickly start running the opposite direction. It will take a while, but eventually, the nasty whale will croak. With the Cloud Whale down, you've succeeded! With the Earrings in hand, you'll return to town, and get to watch an amusing sequence involving Belle and Duke. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 130HP, 125MP, 24+12 Str, 16+12 Def Go sell your monsters and excess items now. Go visit Klaus, and then stay at the hotel (not the inn). It's 500G to rent the room, but trust me, it is worth it for this particular bit. Grab the Dream Stone from the lower right corner of the room, and then sleep in the bed. You should see a short dream of an Ootang jumping into a tree stump. Leave the hotel and go to Carona Forest. Go down the tree stump in the first area of the forest, and make your way to the halfway point. Shoot water at the small Mandola until it grows up into a full-sized (and tame) Mandola. Jump up onto the ledge above, and grab The Last Hero. Now, go back to town via the Go-Home Frog on the cliff edge of the forest, and give the book to Rod. He will give you 4 Strength Ups, taking your base attack power up to 28! Note that you can do this earlier, if you wish. If you can afford it, go buy a Platinum Belt and Bracer from Tonio's shop. Also, be sure to challenge Rod a few times to get another Gold Coin from him (which you might as well sell for 2,500G; you really only need Bronze Coins). If you want, you can give the Brooch to Anette, in the pub. If you do, you'll get a significant discount on the drinks sold there. It's really not worth it, though, so just sell it to Marcum later. Dragon Battle [MWDRAGON] ----------== Location: Raging Mountain Suggested Stats: 130HP, 125MP, 28+16 Str, 16+16 Def Items: Silver Coin, Legendary Shield The first part of the mountain is very straightforward. Just go straight across, and jump down to the lower area once you reach the far side (just jump straight out towards the screen; it may seem like you can't, but you can). Jump over to the far side where there's a boulder and a treasure box, and open the box. It's a new magic ability, [Black Magic]! Now, you can smash the myriad of large boulders which block your path on Raging Mountain! Just set the magic to Bomb (Black-Normal) and blow up the rock. You'll have to do that to get back up to the area which you were jumping across before, anyway. Once you're back up and into the cave on the far end of the area, go ahead and break the rock up there. Get the Silver Coin from the chest, and kill the Specter that appears. Go back over to the other boulder (two Pollywogs appear near it), and break it, too. Keep going across the steam pits, and into the lava chambers. If you want, you can take the second moving platform here over to the healing spring, but it may be smarter not to. Once you've reached the far end of this cavern (it's a bit tricky; you have to wait for the platforms to line up close enough so you don't jump into the lava), you'll be out on a windswept plateau. Out here, just make your way across, killing as you see fit. Before you try to jump any gaps, take a test jump. If the wind blows you back too hard, wait a second and try again. Do NOT try to jump when the wind pushes you back hard, you'll never be able to make it across that way. Be sure to restore your HP and MP before you enter the next area via potions dropped by monsters, you'll want at least full HP for the coming boss(es). After a short (and ever silly) story sequence, you'll be fighting both Duke and Belle, simultaneously. Boss: Duke and Belle HP: ~125 and ~150 (twice) Difficulty: |------*---| Strategy: This is tough early on. Focus on beating up Duke (and avoiding getting thrown off the cliff by Hexagon). Once Duke is down, then turn on Belle and her flying contraption. You'll have to jump away from the grip of the Hexagon, then quickly jump in between the hands and do a jump-hit to Belle. Once she jumps off, she'll start running around and casting magic at you. To counter this, keep your distance until she's finished casting her magic, then launch your own magic in counter-attack. Eventually, you'll win. With Belle and Duke taken care of, you'll be in the next area of Raging Mountain. Go straight left, and use the healing tile (you'll probably need it after that boss fight). Once you've done that, go on up the cliff, and jump across the platforms above the healing tile to reach the treasure box with the Legendary Shield. Go back to the path, and walk all the way up to the fiery bowl of the volcano. Be sure to heal up before you reach the upper path, though, as you have a boss fight coming up. At the top, you'll meet up with Wylaf, lord of dragons. A few brief exchanges of words later, you'll be fighting Wylaf, to prove your worth to him. Boss: Wylaf HP: ~300 (you only have to do about 150 damage) Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Wylaf is considerably easier to deal with than Belle and Duke were. Use Icicle (Blue-Super) when he's on the ground until he takes off into the air, and then just dodge his flaming breath and tornados. This fight is a bit long, but not difficult. Be sure to stop attacking once he tells you to, or he'll kill you regardless of your HP. After winning, Wylaf will award you with the Phantomite, and send you on your way. You'll automatically be taken back to Carona. Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 150HP, 125MP, 28+16 Str, 16+16 Def Upon returning to Carona, you'll have another run-in with Smokey and Blood, the moron bandits who can't win no matter how hard they try. After they leave, go trade in your monsters and extra stuff. As with the Sword, don't sell the Legendary Shield. Buy yourself a few Defense Ups (at least so that your Defense is up to 20 or so), and if you haven't already, go save. (NOTE: This next sequence is entirely optional.) After that, go to Carona Forest, and back to the altar around the middle of the forest. Pretty soon, you'll be fighting Trap Master. Boss: Trap Master HP: ~200 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Pah, this is pathetic. Wait for Trap Master to jump onto a platform, and then jump over to a platform nearby that one. When you're on a platform right next to Trap Master, launch a spell like Icicle at him. You can try taking him out at a distance, but he jumps around a lot for that. Be sure to get off your platform if it's glowing, or has a shadow over it (to avoid trap damage). It won't take long to defeat Trap Master. After that's over, Smokey and Blood will attack again. They're still as unskilled as ever, so beat one up to end the fight quick. Go right back to the forest, and make your way to the cliffside. You'll see that there's a boulder a bit out of place near the top. But that's not the boulder that we're after here, the one we want is in an alcove further down. Launch Graviton (Black-Power) at the rock, and if you've got the right one, it should break and reveal a treasure box. Now for the tricky part: jump over across a gap onto the platform. It's not easy to do, and may take a few trips to the forest to pull off, but it can be done. Once you succed, you can get the magic type [Circle] from the treasure box. Go ahead and visit Klaus now (note that this is your last chance to fight Rod with his Golden Gale before he switches to a new weapon), and then go to Mel's Atelier. Talk to Mel, and then go find the Poppel Purrel that you saved earlier outside (he's behind the atelier). He'll offer to take you to Gorotan, accept his offer. Talk to the little flying diamond-thing to start the fight. Boss: Gorotan HP: ~250 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: Gorotan has very high defense when his shield is around him, but even so, you can still do some damage by attacking then. When he releases his shield, attack him like mad with your magic. He'll die fairly quickly. Defeating Gorotan nets you the last normal type of magic, [Yellow Magic]. With this in hand, you can now fully power up Prima Doll. Go back to Klaus' house and do just that. After Prima is fully powered up, go to the lakeside. Together with Prima [MWPRIMA] ----------------== Location: Lakeside Suggested Stats: 150HP, 125MP, 30+16 Str, 22+16 Def Upon reaching the lake, you'll see Elena and Rue there. The three will talk for a bit, and you'll be presented with a choice. Answer however you wish, and watch the scene play out. Then, go back to Carona and visit Klaus again. Go back to the lakeside with Prima Doll (you can do other stuff in town while Prima is following you, as well; try visiting Rod and Johnny Wolf, for example). If you want to win the race with Prima, just hold down the directional button or analog stick upwards. If you want to cheat, just walk in front of him (which is pretty mean). After the race, and some more story, you'll be back in Carona. Go visit Klaus again, and watch as Prima is completed at last! Now you need to get a ride to the lake ruins. Go down to the grassy field and visit Rod. He'll be reluctant, but after Mint offers to ask Miria to make him a lunch, he gives in. Go save and do any last minute preparations or sidequests you have left open, and then go down to the grassy fields and tell Rod you're ready to go. Relic, Here I Come! [MWRELIC] ----------------== Location: Lake Ruins Suggested Stats: 150HP, 130MP, 30+16 Str, 22+16 Def The Lake Ruins is a serious story point, so I won't be spoiling anything here. Suffice it to say that you'll have no control over what happens here at all, and by the time it's all over, you'll be stuck in prison. Once you regain control, examine the sink to resume the plot. A few scenes later, you'll be looking at a pit full of platforms, with Rue offering to guide you across. Tell him you can do it on your own, and jump across. Even if you fall a few times, it doesn't really matter. If you do refuse Rue's help, you get a free Gold Coin along with your weapons and magic! The next area is pretty straightforward: jump out of the way when one of the Witches tries to shoot you, and then launch Flare at them. Once you're at the top, the plot takes over. Back in town, feel free to go visit Rod, and find out more about his past. Then, go to the tavern and find out why Belle and Duke helped Rue, and a bit of Rue's past. After that, just head back to the inn and rest up. Maya's Here! [MWMAYA] ---------== Go ahead and leave the inn. You'll be visited briefly by Psycho Master, but that's hardly significant. However, Elena running in and telling Mint that her mother has been cornered in Carona Forest is. The game takes over at this point, so don't panic. Just work your way through Carona Forest, and don't worry too much about the Specters and Puppets running around. At the altar near the center of the forest, you'll find those two idiots, Smokey and Blood, cornered by Puppets. Go ahead and save them, it'll net you a free Silver Coin. Just keep going through the forest, and once you reach the cliff edge, the game will take over. Once you regain control, you'll be back in town, in Klaus' basement. The plan is simple: put a stop to those infernal dolls. But before you head to the Underground Ruins, there are some things you may want to do in town first. Tonio's shop is now carrying the Mythril equipment, so be sure to upgrade there. Also, you can now challenge Rod with his Black Tornado. Once you've defeated him 5 times, he'll give you a Platinum Coin (well worth the effort; they sell for 15,000G at Hobb's curio shop). Also, now is a good time to build up your stats and cash reserves by going back to Raging Mountain and collecting Bubbas to sell. At this point, they're the most valuable monster (selling at 90G each). Note that this isn't critical, but certainly recommended. When you feel ready, go to the Underground Ruins. (NOTE: If you want to beat Rod with his Black Tornado, this point is your ONE AND ONLY CHANCE! Don't pass it up!) Location: Underground Ruins Suggested Stats: 17HP, 150MP, 30+20 Str, 22+20 Def Items: Moon Stone, Star Stone As you enter the ruins, you'll see a brief conversation between Psycho Master and Maya. Go on in, and follow the same path as you did the first time through the ruins (straight forward, left, left, forward, forward, grab the treasures in both side-rooms). The waterfalls are all dead, so you can't find your way by sound this time. Also, the platforms have been removed, meaning that you'll have to collect them again. This isn't at all difficult, just tedious. Once you've got them back, jump on up them and down the pit (doesn't that pit seem illogical? It's right over the hallway where you collect the platforms, you'd think it'd just take you back down there). Go ahead and go into the lake room, and watch as Maya goes insane on you. Before long, you'll be back in Carona, and fighting Psycho Master. Boss: Psycho Master HP: ~225 Difficulty: |-------*--| Strategy: Psycho Master has a seriously unfair advantage: his psychic attack ignores your defense, and always does 35 damage. As well, he'll automatically counter with this attack if you try to attack him in the front, and he won't take any damage at all! Instead, try to get behind him, and attack him in the back. You can usually get in at least one spell on him before he teleports away. When he starts floating around, avoid him at all costs, or he'll use his psychic attack on you. If he just stands there, he'll release an easy-to-dodge shockwave (jump over it). Be careful, and victory will be yours. After the fight, you'll find that Prima has been kidnapped by Doll Master, and that Rue is just one step too late. Go ahead and visit Rod now, and you might also want to visit the tavern, briefly. Then, go back to the inn and rest. Maya's sooo Dead! [MWSODEAD] --------------== Before you take off for the Tower of Maya, be sure to challenge Rod with his Dark Hurricane at least until you get his Platinum Coin. This is your one and only chance to fight him with it (unlike Rue's scenario), so don't hold back thinking that you can fight him later. Also, upgrade your stats via Hobb's shop a bit, if you can afford it, and complete any stray side- quests you might have left open. When everything is prepped and ready, head for the Tower of Maya. Location: Tower of Maya Suggested Stats: 180HP, 155MP, 32+20 Str, 25+20 Def Items: Gold Coin x7, Star Stone x2, Legendary Helmet Enter the tower, and head up. The enemies in the tower are not difficult, but don't turn your back on the Pumpkins, they like to blow up when you do. Blast your way up to the first landing, and grab the chest with 2 Gold Coins. Beat up the four Pumpkins that roll out of the door to the next area, and go right in. Inside this room, you need to jump across the pumpkin platforms to the far side. Three of the pumpkins are fakes, and they're rotating counter- clockwise. If you don't want to track that, the trapped ones are the leftmost pumpkin in the first pair, and both of the pumpkins on the right of the trio of pumpkins. You'll also have to deal with a Witch shooting pumpkins at you, so be sure to pay attention and jump when it's appropriate. Once you reach the other side, kill the Witch and claim your prize (2 Star Stones). Heal up on the panel, and head upstairs. In this next area, there is a treasure box on the ground floor near where the stairs you just came up taper off. It contains 3 Gold Coins. Once you have that, head up the stairs, and be careful of the Witches: they like to trap you so that you can't attack them unless you first jump out of the way of their pumpkin cannons. Keep going up, take the elevator (just attack constantly to deal with the Pumpkins until you reach the top floor), and on the next landing, grab the treasure box with 2 Gold Coins. Deal with the Pumpkins as before, and enter the doorway. In this room, you need to ride the platforms sitting in mid-air to reach the far end. Don't stay on any given platform TOO long, or you'll be hit by the platform spinning around, and take a bit of damage. You'll have to get the Wabbits off of each platform you need to take, so it's not tough to figure out what platforms you have to ride. Once you reach the far end, take advantage of the healing tile, and grab the Legendary Helmet. Go up the stairs, follow the pathway up (more Witches to be dealt with), and prepare to fight Trap Master. Boss: Trap Master HP: ~300 Difficulty: |--*-------| Strategy: Trap Master is easier than before, due to the enhanced stats you should have now. He likes to set tiles to explode if you land on them, so avoid landing on any tiles that Trap Master does. Hit him like before (at a distance, or from an adjacent platform), and he'll be down in short order. With Trap Master down, now you have to go face off Maya. Boss: Maya(?) HP: ~300 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Maya likes to turn you into a pumpkin, but that's about it for her most devestating attacks. Focus on blasting her with Flare or Icicle, and she won't last long at all. You can all but ignore the pumpkins she summons. After beating Maya, you discover that she's not Maya at all! You'll find yourself having to figure out which Maya is the real Maya shortly. Don't worry, though; even if you hit the real Maya, you'll still end up getting it right. If you really must know, the Maya on the right is the real one. After Kirielle reveals herself again, she and Narcius will take off, after giving Maya back the Book of Cosmos. After that, you'll be back in Carona, with yet another new goal: get up to Valen's Fortress! But first, go visit Mel, and get a free Cannon Orb. Trust me, you won't regret it. Once you've done that, go back and visit Rod. Get the Cannon Orbs [MWCANNON] ----------------== Location: Carona Suggested Stats: 180HP, 165MP, 32+20 Str, 25+20 Def As Rod will inform you, you now need to find 5 Cannon Orbs. Well, you already have one, so that leaves four to go! Before that, though, go sell your stuff, and buy yourself a Black Belt and Brave Bracer. Save about 5,000G, though; you'll need it in a little bit. Before you go hunting the Cannon Orbs, visit Wylaf again on Raging Mountain. He'll offer you [Hyper] magic if you can defeat him in battle. Boss: Wylaf HP: ~300 Difficulty: |----*-----| Strategy: He hasn't changed at all from the previous fight; you just have to take away all 300 or so HP of his this time. Not a difficult task at all, by now. After the battle, you'll have the ultimate magic type, [Hyper]! [Hyper] is great for building up MP, seeing as all but one of the spells that use it take all MP to use. A note: this is a good time to go give Jargen the legendary equipment (but save before you do; it's far too easy to accidentally select "Forget it", thus causing you to forfiet a potential +20 stat boost). With the cooking gear in hand, Jargen can make specialty dishes that raise your stats! The only ones that are really worth it are Polywog Souffle (50 Pollywogs), and Gudon Liver Soup (30 Gudons). Go kill 250 Pollywogs and 150 Gudons, and get yourself five of each dish. This will give you +10 to both Strength AND defense (quite nice, hmm?), and by talking to Jargen again after he cooks the tenth dish, you'll get a Platinum Coin. Sell it and get some more stat boosters. Go visit Hobb's shop, and when you're given the choice of what to do, put on an act. This will make it so that you only have to pay 5,000G to get the Cannon Orb. If you choose to snatch it, it'll cost 10,000G, and if you threaten him, it's 15,000G. Next up on the list is Klaus' home. Talk to him, and he'll give you a Cannon Orb, all for a little conversation. What a nice guy! Last on the list, go visit the pub, and Belle and Duke will give you a Cannon Orb in exchange for helping Rue out. After that, just go visit Rod, and the game will take over. If you forgot to get the Cannon Orb from Mel earlier, go back to her atelier now and talk to her. She gave it to one of the Poppel Purrels. And that means that you'll have to find which one, and go through their mini-game again. Hating the designers of this game yet? At last, it's time to take on Valen's fortress! Before you head out, as a standard precaution, save your game. Then, go talk to Belle and Duke, and you'll be off into the skies! Final Battle [MWFINAL] ---------== Location: Valen's Fortress Suggested Stats: 200HP, 175MP, 48+24 Str, 36+24 Def Items: Bronze/Silver/Gold Coin x4 (special) After you find Prima at the fortress (who gives you the currently useless [Gold Magic]), you'll automatically be taken to the first "arena". The path here is pretty straightforward: your goal in the first arena is to find the right teleporter to the next area. Nothing in the first arena is difficult (save Behemoths, and they're too slow to pose much of a threat), so you should be able to reach the elevator to the next area shortly. The elevator leads you up to a special mini-game: platform hopping. If you can make it across to the other side with 75% or more of the time bar left, you'll get a Gold Coin. If you can make it across with 74-50% of the time bar left (and don't fall more than twice), you'll get a Silver Coin. If you make it across with 49-25% of the time bar left (and don't fall more than four times), you'll get a Bronze Coin. If you can make it across with at least some time bar left, you'll get your HP restored. Otherwise, the elevator will simply take you up to the next floor, without rewards. Note that any missing HP you may have will be healed by decreasing the time bar when you get on the elevator. As such, it's in your best interest to keep your HP high before entering this area. Next is Arena II, or the second arena. This area is simple, as was the first area. Here, you'll need to use magic to break through various types of obstacles in order to progress far. There is little challenge to this, even less than in Rue's scenario, since you don't have to hunt any monsters down. Take note, though: there is only one version of each blockade along the proper path! If you come across a blockade that's the same as the last one, it's a trap. Completing Arena II takes you up to another mini-game like the last one, with different platforms moving about. Then, it's on to Arena III. Arena III is a lot like Arena I, except that there are now Jinns running around, and a wrong turn will force you to fight 3 Shaolons instead of 3 Gargoyles. It's still not difficult or map-worthy, though. After this arena is complete, you'll have another mini-game like the last two, and be in Arena IV. Arena IV is the simplest of them all. Go to each teleporter on either end of the main area, and defeat the two Behemoths that you can summon in each one. This will re-activate the elevator (after you beat another Behemoth at the elevator point), and allow you to progress to the final mini-game, and on to the next area of Valen's Fortress. Be sure to use the save point here, and then take the teleporter to the last puzzle area. This next area has very simple: light all of the torches in each room so that they match the initial setup of the first room: the two middle torches lit. Some rooms are trickier than others in this task (the first room being a prime example; put one torch out and re-light it to solve the puzzle in that room). In the two rooms to either side of the first room, the puzzle is simply to put out or light torches so that they match the original room. When you solve the puzzle in a room, the screen will flash, and a stone will drop onto the floor. Grab the stone each time this happens, and run back to the main room (as you can't fight or carry other stones while you have a stone over your head). The room furthest over is a bit tricky, though. You have to put out the lit flame in the left corner, light the middle left torchiere, and use a wind spell to bring the small flame to life on the middle right torchiere. After all four stones are in place, you'll be teleported automatically to the next area. Here, you'll have to defeat Psycho Master again to progress. Boss: Psycho Master HP: ~350 Difficulty: |-----*----| Strategy: Same rules apply as the last time you fought Psycho Master, but this time, he has the added advantage of his barriers. The barriers also ignore defense, and he frequently hurls you against them, causing a total of about 55 damage to you. This being so, avoid running into him, and take him out from the back as quickly as possible. Once Psycho is down, it's on to the Cursed Crossways. Location: Cursed Crossways Suggested Stats: 210HP, 180MP, 48+24 Str, 36+24 Def Here, you'll have to fight previous bosses. If you're running short on HP and/or MP, visit one of the top/bottom corner nodes. These contain regular monsters, and never run out. The top-center portal leads to the Nightmare, the left-center portal leads to the Skull Beast, and the right-center portal leads to another Cloud Whale. Defeat all three, and the path to the final area of Valen's Fortress (as well as the last save point) will be revealed. Save and move on. In the next area, you'll come face-to-face with Ruecian, aka. Doll Master, aka. Arm of Death (although the first and last names you probably wouldn't know unless you'd gone through Rue's scenario first). Now is your final battle with him. Boss: Doll Master HP: ~400 Difficulty: |------*---| Strategy: Although he flies, that hardly matters, seeing as magic in this game is enemy-seeking. Use Final Flash for a quick end to the battle. With Ruecian down, you'll progress into the chamber of the Dewprism, and Valen's sanctum sanctorum. More story and events will unfold, and you'll find yourself fighting Valen himself, as well as an ever-regenerating guardian called Dew RedMoon. This is sort of a pseudo-boss fight. Attack Valen normally when he comes in range: this will damage his barrier. As well, keep killing Dew RedMoon, as Dew RedMoon will heal Valen after a bit if it's left alive. Once you've destroyed the Morning Dew, more events unfold, and you'll have to fight Valen's final form (but not without benefits; now you have the power of [Cosmos], the one and only Gold spell in the game). Boss: Valen HP: ~500 Difficulty: |---*------| Strategy: Valen can only be hurt in his upright form, when his underbelly is exposed, and he starts shooting a stream of constant fire at you. His other forms are impossible to hurt, and your best tactic is to dodge and avoid when he does transform. This mostly involves running rapidly in the opposite direction, and jumping about when Valen fires at you. When he does expose his underbelly, use Valiant (Gold-Cosmos), and hold it until he's shot at you for about two seconds. Launch it off at him, and although you'll take a hit or two, he'll be hurt a hell of a lot more. Four or five Valiants should kill him. With Valen down, the world is safe! Now begins a very dramatic escape sequence (I refuse to spoil any of it), and once you're back in control, you'll find yourself at the inn at Carona. The Aftermath [MWAFTER] ----------== Feel free to save (I certainly did), and then go about town and talk to people. Once you're satisfied, visit the hotel, and tell Gramps that you're ready to go. Congratulations, you've finished Mint's story! End of Mint's Story =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sidequests and Secrets ===================-- The main story is pretty short, and not too surprisingly, many of the sidequests are, too. Even so, it's well worth it to take care of these sidequests, since their benefits tend to make the game significantly easier. Rue's Sidequests [SQRUE] -------------== Monkey's Playground: Return to Carona Forest either with an Ootang coin from the Ghost Temple, or use the Mandola to lure the nearby Ootang in the altar area closer, then seed-shoot it to death and collect its coin. Climb up into the trees via the Ootang form. You'll find a bonus area up there, but no items (that I can find, anyway). Rare Wine: When in the Underground Ruins, build up your MP to around 115. Use the Gudon form to melt all three ice blocks in the path where you find the last platform, and you'll find the Rare Wine in a treasure box in the room on the far side of the ice blocks. The Last Hero: To get this book, return to Carona Forest after viewing a dream at the hotel (grab the Dream Stone in the lower corner of the hotel room for this to happen), and use the Specter's ice breath on the shrunken Mandola inside the tree stump that you saw the ape drop into during the dream sequence. Climb up the Mandola once it's grown up (it takes a few shots for this to happen), and grab The Last Hero. You can get 4 Strength Ups from Rod with this. Note that you can't do this until you've gotten through at least the Ghost Temple. Mysterious Statue: Return to the Ghost Temple, and enter the room that the crushing wall revealed. DO NOT HIT THE SWITCH OUTSIDE THE ROOM FIRST! Go inside, and claim the statue (along with the other items). You can sell the statue for 4,000G (or 6,000G, if you refuse the first time) to Marcum, or you can give it to Klaus to get an extra 10 MP. The Bat-Cave: This one is tricky to get to. You need both a Bubba and Stinger coin. Go to the cliffs in Carona Forest, and find the outcropping that leads far to the right, to a single large rock. Switch to Bubba and smash the rock, then switch to a Stinger and go into the hole. Hold down T and roll about to kill the Small Bats that charge at you in there, and you will get a Star Stone for your efforts once all 20 bats are dead. Legendary Equipment: If you collect all three of the legendary equipment items (Legendary Sword, Legendary Shield, Legendary Helmet) and give them to the owner of the bar, you can get ten free meals there. After the tenth meal, you can get a free Platinum Coin by talking to the bar owner again. The meals and their effects are as follows (the first two are especially valuable, as they give a greater boost than the stat-raising items sold at Hobbes' shop do): Pollywog Souffle (50 Pollywogs): +2 Strength Gudon Liver Soup (30 Gudons): +2 Defense Minced Fire Blob (50 Fire Blobs): +10 HP Mushroom Soup (60 Fungies): +10 MP Rod, the Blade Star: You can fight Rod at various points in the game, with him using various weapons. Here's an overview of each weapon, and at what point each is used. SILVER BREEZE - Twin shortswords. The best strategy here is to avoid him while he's running around and twirling, and jump-strike him while he's recovering. Sometimes he'll knock himself out (literally), which will give you a ton of free hits and pretty much guarantee your victory. It's fairly rare, though, so don't count on it. Rod uses Silver Breeze from the start of the game on up to just before you leave for the Ghost Temple. Defeat Rod 5 times with Silver Breeze to get a Gold Coin. GOLDEN GALE - Twin scythes. Focus on bullying into Rod. He'll counter- attack, but Golden Gale is actually weaker than Silver Breeze, so this does little in terms of damage to you. Rod uses Golden Gale from after the Ghost Temple on up to before you take Prima Doll to the lakeside. Defeat Rod 5 times with Golden Gale to get a Gold Coin. BLACK TORNADO - A gigantic hammer. Avoidance is the key here. When Rod is swinging, you want to be as far away as possible. When he's done swinging, you can jump-strike him to do your damage. If Rod slams down his hammer and fins pop out, run the other way as fast as possible, unless you want to have your defense lowered. Rod uses Black Tornado from the point just after returning with Prima Doll from the lakeside to just before entering the Tower of Maya. Defeat Rod 5 times with Black Tornado to get a Platinum Coin. Note that your first fight against him with this weapon (to get a ride to the ruins) doesn't count. DARK HURRICANE: A segmented scimitar of sorts. Rod seems deadly with Dark Hurricane, but he's really not. The key is to tempt him into attacking, then jumping off to the side and forward in order to attack him with a jump-strike. If he starts charging his water cannon, rush him with a 3-hit combo. If you're feeling brave, you can try ganging up close to Rod and focusing only on 3-hit combos. Rod uses Dark Hurricane from after the Tower of Maya right on up to the very end. Defeat Rod 5 times with Dark Hurricane to get a Platinum Coin. Every 5 victories afterwards that you fight against him with Dark Hurricane nets you a lesser coin (Gold, then Silver, then Bronze). He stops giving coins after Bronze, but you can keep fighting him regardless. Mint's Sidequests [SQMINT] --------------== Rare Wine: See the section on Magic type [Super]. The Last Hero: To get this book, return to Carona Forest after viewing a dream at the hotel (grab the Dream Stone in the lower corner of the hotel room for this to happen), and use Droplets (Blue-Normal) on the shrunken Mandola inside the tree stump that you saw the ape drop into during the dream sequence. Climb up the Mandola once it's grown up (it takes a few shots for this to happen), and grab The Last Hero. You can get 4 Strength Ups from Rod with this. Brooch: In Gamul Forest, when faced with the two switches on the small platform during the trolley puzzle, hit only the leftmost switch (so the two levers face one another). This will allow you to later get the Brooch as you're going towards the boss. You can sell the Brooch for 4,000G (or 6,000G, if you refuse the first time) to Marcum, or you can get a discount on all drinks at the pub by giving it to Anette. Legendary Equipment: If you collect all three of the legendary equipment items (Legendary Sword, Legendary Shield, Legendary Helmet) and give them to the owner of the bar, you can get ten free meals there. After the tenth meal, you can get a free Platinum Coin by talking to the bar owner again. The meals and their effects are as follows (the first two are especially valuable, as they give a greater boost than the stat-raising items sold at Hobbes' shop do): Pollywog Souffle (50 Pollywogs): +2 Strength Gudon Liver Soup (30 Gudons): +2 Defense Minced Fire Blob (50 Fire Blobs): +10 HP Mushroom Soup (60 Fungies): +10 MP Magic type [Super]: To get the [Super] spell effect, build up your MP to about 115 in the Underground Ruins, and use Flame (Red-Normal) to melt all three ice blocks in the ice cavern. This will also net you the Rare Wine. Magic Type [Power]: Return to the Underground Ruins, and search the body of the Skull Beast. You'll get [Power] from it automatically this way. Magic type [Circle]: To get [Circle], use Graviton (Black-Power) on the rock trapped in an alcove along the cliffs in Carona Forest, and jump across to claim it. This can be very difficult, but it is possible. Magic type [Hyper]: Return to Raging Mountain after completing the Tower of Maya, and defeat Wylaf once more. He will give you [Hyper] as your reward. Rod, the Blade Star: You can fight Rod at various points in the game, with him using various weapons. Here's an overview of each weapon, and at what point each is used. SILVER BREEZE - Twin shortswords. The key here is to use Wildfire on him repeatedly (Red-Wide). It knocks him back, and does multiple hits to boot. Sometimes Rod will knock himself out (literally), which will give you a ton of free hits and pretty much guarantee your victory. It's fairly rare, though, so don't count on it. Rod uses Silver Breeze from the start of the game on up to just before you leave for Gamul Forest. Defeat Rod 5 times with Silver Breeze to get a Gold Coin. GOLDEN GALE - Twin scythes. The Wildfire tactic works even better with Golden Gale. Rod uses Golden Gale from after Gamul Forest on up to before you take Prima Doll to the lakeside. Defeat Rod 5 times with Golden Gale to get a Gold Coin. Note that your first fight against him with this weapon (to get a ride to Gamul Forest) doesn't count. BLACK TORNADO - A gigantic hammer. Wildfire doesn't work quite as well, but Flare (Red-Power) or Icicle (Blue-Power) should do quite well. If Rod slams down his hammer and fins pop out, run the other way as fast as possible, unless you want to have your defense lowered. Rod uses Black Tornado from the point after saving Miria in Carona Forest to just before entering the Underground Ruins, an extremely small frame of time. Defeat Rod 5 times with Black Tornado to get a Platinum Coin. DARK HURRICANE: A segmented scimitar of sorts. Rod seems deadly with Dark Hurricane, but he's really not. Just about any spell will do well against him, especially if it's a fast spell. If he starts charging his water cannon, use a fast-but-powerful spell to disrupt him. On replays, Rod is very easy in this form, as he runs at you frequently, and Valiant acts as a shield that does massive damage to things that run into you. I think you get the picture. Rod uses Dark Hurricane from after the return to the Underground ruins to just before entering the Tower of Maya, also a very small frame of time. Defeat Rod 5 times with Dark Hurricane to get a Platinum Coin. Every 5 victories afterwards that you fight against him with Dark Hurricane nets you a lesser coin (Gold, then Silver, then Bronze). He stops giving coins after Bronze, but you can keep fighting him regardless. Misc. Secrets [SQSECRET] ----------== * There are coins lying about the town at various points in the game. Note that not all times of appearance are known, nor are all of them exactly the same for both scenarios (although they're quite close, in all cases). They are as follows... Silver Coin - Found in the back alley, in the dark corner next to Hobb's shop. Only there before going to Carona Forest. Silver Coin - Found in the grassy fields, near the cave with Rod's ACV. Only there before going to Carona Forest. Bronze Coin - Near the fountain in town. Appears after returning from the lake ruins. Bronze Coin - Down by the docks, along the uppermost pier. Appears after returning from the lake ruins. Silver Coin - Down by the docks, on the far right past some crates. Appears after returning from Carona Forest. Gold Coin - Upper-right portion of the docks, in front of the wooden plank. Appears after returning from the lake ruins. Silver Coin - In the path leading to the back alley. Appears after completing Raging Mountain. Bronze Coin - In front of the path leading to the docks. Appears after returning from the lake ruins. Silver Coin - In front of the red banner in front of the hotel. Appears after returning from the lake ruins. * By talking to Johnny Wolf and then to Rod while Prima Doll is following you, you can run about with all three of them trailing you. This only works while on the grassy fields where Rod fights you, though. * After winning the game in either scenario, you can save again, and load that save to play the other scenario. After beating the second scenario, every time you win the game from then on out (including that time), you'll get to watch a special second ending, which acts as an epilogue of sorts. * Just a few small bits of information... The four ateliers around the Carona area that Rue and Mint visit were owned by various magicians: Cadomon (Carona Forest's atelier), Elroy (the Underground Ruins atelier), Yordaf (the Ghost Temple), and Ginema (Gamul Forest). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Beastiary [BLIST] =====-- Monster Name Locations HP Weak Point Value Pollywog Carona Forest ~15 None 10G Raging Mountain Saber Tiger Carona Forest ~25 Fire 30G Mandola Carona Forest ~20 Fire 15G Smokey** Carona Forest ~50 None 100G Blood** Carona Forest ~75 None 200G Stinger Carona Forest ~20 None 20G Ghost Temple Gargoyle Carona Forest ~35 Thunder 50G Ootang Carona Forest ~50 Fire 40G Gamul Forest Raging Mountain Nightmare* Carona Forest (atelier) ~100 None 1000G Cursed Crossways Gudon Underground Ruins ~50 Ice 40G King Ant Underground Ruins ~75 Ice/Fire 50G Skull Beast* Underground Ruins ~100 None 2000G Cursed Crossways Duke* Underground Ruins ~100 None N/A Belle* Underground Ruins ~100 None N/A Imp Mel's Atelier 1 None 20G Fungie Mel's Atelier 1 None 20G Cockadoo Mel's Atelier 1 None 20G Starlight Duke Mel's Atelier ~150 None N/A Puppet Ghost Temple ~50 None 20G Underground Ruins Specter Ghost Temple ~80 Fire 70G Raging Mountain Underground Ruins Skeleton Ghost Temple ~60 None 50G Underground Ruins Chimera* Ghost Temple ~200 Ice 2000G Cursed Crossways Duke* Ghost Temple ~150 None N/A Hexagon/Belle* Ginema's Atelier ~125 None N/A Gamulian Gamul Forest ~40 None 20G Wabbit Gamul Forest Tower of Maya ~60 None 100G Cloud Whale* Gamul Forest ~200 Fire 4000G Cursed Crossways Trap Master* Carona Forest ~200 None N/A Fire Blob Raging Mountain ~50 Ice 50G Bubba Raging Mountain ~150 None 90G Hexagon/Belle* Raging Mountain ~125 None N/A Belle* Raging Mountain ~125 None N/A Duke* Raging Mountain ~150 None N/A Wylaf* Raging Mountain ~300 Ice N/A Little Bat Carona Forest (cave) ~15 None 25G Gorotan** Mel's Altier ~250 Wind 5000G Psycho Master* Carona's church ~225 None N/A Pumpkin Tower of Maya ~30 Ice 20G Witch Tower of Maya ~50 None 150G Arm of Death* Tower of Maya N/A None N/A Trap Master* Tower of Maya ~300 None N/A Raging Mountain Maya(?)* Tower of Maya ~300 None N/A Atenacius* Book of Cosmos ~300 None N/A Mode Master* Raging Mountain ~300 None N/A Shaolon Valen's Fortress ~75 Wind 150G Behemoth Valen's Fortress ~150 None 250G Hell Hound Valen's Fortress ~100 None 150G Jinn Valen's Fortress ~125 Thunder 200G Psycho Master* Valen's Fortress ~325 None N/A Arm of Death* Valen's Fortress ~400 None N/A Doll Master* Valen's Fortress ~400 None N/A Valen (form 1)* Valen's Sanctum ~500 None N/A Dew RedMoon* Valen's Sanctum ~300 None N/A Valen (form 2)* Valen's Sanctum ~500 None N/A NOTE: All regular monsters appear at Valen's Fortress, as well. NOTE2: * indicates a boss. ** indicates a sub-boss. NOTE3: Valen's first form takes 8 hits, no matter how much damage you do. Even on replays, when you can do 300+ damage per hit to him. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Conclusion [CCONCLUDE] =======-- It's been a long haul, but it's been fun, too. I hope this guide proves itself useful to somebody other than myself. Copyright 2002-2004 Sky Render