Get ready to dive into the world of Star Ocean: The Second Story R! In this gaming guide, we will provide you with a complete walkthrough for the game that covers both Claude and Rena’s story at the same time. Whether you’re new to the game or looking for some helpful tips, this guide has got you covered. Follow along to conquer the game and unlock all its secrets. Let’s get started!
Introduction and Disclaimer
However, this guide has a separate prologue section for each character so it’s not too confusing, but later sections will be unified, with small, minor notes when there are different things that are character-based.
This guide might contain some spoilers, but I won’t mention any major story points.
I won’t be covering Private Actions as there are a lot of variables depending on who you recruit, and since they’re now tracked in the map, I don’t think it’s necessary to cover them. However, I will be covering important Private Actions where you can acquire items, Arts and trigger other events.
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The character artwork I use in the banners come from The Second Story R. All rights reserved.
Progress Checklist
This is a suggestion of progress checklist I personally follow in order to make my experience in this game smoother. This checklist is independent from character recruitment, and it’s not necessarily in order.
I’ll not be including info regarding the Goodie Box and the Sword of Marvels here because I don’t think it’s fun for a fresh playthrough, especially if you’re a first time player; I will make notes about this item in the guide, though.
⭐ Making sure that the chosen protagonist starts with the Nimble Fingers Talent, which is important for Pickpocketing. This talent can be manually learned later, but ideally you should start with it.
⭐ Maxing the Determination skill as soon as possible, before spending SP on anything else. This skill reduces the SP cost of all other Item Creation / Specialty Skills. Then getting a single upgrade of every skill to unlock all Item Creation and Specialties from the start.
⭐ Getting the Meteor Ring+ through the Challenge Mission (Break enemies’ shields 50 times). This accessory adds an extra hit to normal attacks.
⭐ Getting the Thief’s Gloves in Harley as soon as possible so you can start Pickpocketing NPCs, as well Party Members (during Private Actions). Pickpocketing doesn’t have to be maxed; level 4 or 5 is more than enough.
⭐ Acquiring Rubies to craft Berserk Rings with Claude. This accessory doubles ATK while in combat. Needs Level 3 Crafting.
⭐ Acquiring Green Beryls to craft Faerie Rings with Claude. This accessory reduces MP costs by 50%. Needs Level 4 Crafting.
⭐ Unlocking the Bunny Call Super Specialty as soon as possible to make traversal a lot faster.
⭐ Maxing Writing (with one character) as soon as possible. This Item Creation allows to write books in order to raise certain skills to level 7 without spending SP. Because of that I recommend only improving the related skills a single level so you don’t waste the SP.
⭐ Maxing Alchemy (with one character) as soon as possible. Ideally with a symbologist since they have innate access to the Blessing of Mana Talent (which increases the odds of success).
⭐ Maxing Machinist (with one character, ideally Precis and / or Opera) as soon as possible in order to get the Support Items that aid in other Item Creation and Specialties, as well powerful Combat Items. Precis and Opera can learn Special Arts through it.
⭐ Pickpocketing the Sprite’s Bracelet from Philia in Kurik before the town becomes permanently inaccessible.
⭐ Making A LOT of Fol once reaching Linga, through a combination of Contraband and Replication.
⭐ Progressively improving Customization and Replication with the entire party in order to get the Blacksmith and Remaking Super Specialties at high levels.
⭐ Reaching the finals of the Lacuer Tournament to fight Dias and acquire the Deadly Edge from Gamgee, which is used to make the Aeterna through Customization. This is Claude’s strongest weapon in the main game. If you miss the Deadly Edge in this part, it can be obtained (much) later in the game, though.
⭐ Buying the Lezard’s Flask in Centropolis, which allows more minerals to be created with Alchemy.
⭐ Visiting the secret shop, “A Few Fol More”, near Princebridge, to buy the Magical Rasp (a support item that enables more items to be made through Blacksmith).
⭐ Pickpocketing the Bunny Shoes from the Bunny-costumed employee at Fun City.
⭐ Getting the Ring of Lightspeed from Mariana after the first visit to Phynal and defeating Metatron in Armlock. This accessory functions like the Meteor Ring, but adds two extra hits instead of one.
⭐ Getting the Archangel Bracelet earlier through the Surpassing Damage Limit Combat Skill combined with the Megabomb in order to deal 99.999 damage, which completes the Challenge Mission.
⭐ Finishing the game, getting the clear save data, reloading, and returning to Centropolis for a Private Action with Philia, which will make the final boss much harder and the ultimate challenge of the game.
⭐ Getting each recruited character’s Ultimate Weapons.
⭐ Clear the Maze of Tribulations in the post-game.
⭐ Defeat Iselia Queen in the post-game.
⭐ Defeat all the Raid Enemies in the post-game.
⭐ Defeat all the Ultimate Wise Men in the post-game.
⭐ Defeat Gabriel Unlimited in the post-game.
Claude’s Prologue
You’ll start inside the Calnus, a spaceship from the Pangalactic Federation. Following the cutscenes, you’ll be on planet Milokeenia. Once in control of Claude, check the door and more cutscenes will play, showing Claude getting transported to Expel.
Before checking the door, open the Camp Menu, then go to the Status screen, and check if Claude has the Nimble Fingers Talent. This is a very important talent that affects Pickpocketing. While it can be learned manually through Crafting, it’s better to start with it; if he doesn’t have, go back to the main menu and start the game again.
Claude will be in the forest, and once he wakes up, he’ll notice Rena being chased by a monster, and will save her. After the cutscenes play, you’ll find yourself at…
Make sure to explore the town to get some items. There is an item shop here but I personally don’t recommend buying anything. If you really want, however, buy two pairs of Sandals for Claude and Rena.
Follow the scenes, which there’ll be a lot (the opening segment of this game is a bit notorious for being incredibly slow paced).
Eventually, Claude will leave Arlia alone, and you’ll have to go to Salva, which is located north of Arlia.
There isn’t much to do in Salva. Go to the large mansion north of town and watch the scenes. You’ll have to go back to Arlia. Once you get back to Arlia, Claude will find out that Rena was kidnapped and taken to… Salva. So you’ll have to back there to rescue her.
However, if you want to explore the Sacred Forest first to get treasures, go for it.
Thieving Scum
Lizard Axman
Gerel (Rare)
Get a couple of levels here. Claude will soon lose access to his Phase Gun, which will considerably reduce his firepower. So make sure to get to at least
There is a chance to find a special enemy icon here where the player can fight two bandits and a Gerel. This enemy hits pretty hard and can split itself into more Gerels. This fight can be challenging alone, but can net over 1.000 EXP.
Once you’re done with leveling, return back to Salva to rescue Rena.
Go to the mansion, which is locked. Claude will use his Phase Gun to destroy the lock, but the gun will run out of battery, and he’ll lose access to it.
Once inside the mansion, feel free to explore and pick up some treasures, then go to the room on the right. Watch the small cutscene and check the statue, which will open a path to the…
Thieving Scum
Lizard Axman
Kobold
Vorpal Bunny
Allen Tucks (Boss)
Make sure the grab the Unique Spot halway. If you’re having trouble with the enemies, reach the Recovery Save point and kill all enemies, return, save and reload; all enemy icons will respawn.
If you want to guarantee the Meteor Ring early in the game from the Challenge Mission, which requires breaking 50 enemies. You can save and reload by the Recovery Save Point and fight the enemy that stands before Allen’s Chamber; it’ll often be a pair of Vorpal Bunnies. Cast Crush and it should break their Shields in a single hit.
Once ready, continue forward and a cutscene will play. Claude will appear and you’ll face the first boss of the game:
Allen is not particularly difficult, but he hits pretty hard. You’ll be here with a Level 1 Claude, which can be tough. I strongly suggest you swap to Claude and control him yourself.
If you’ve been practicing the Counter System, Allen is a breeze. Just dodge when he’s about to swing, use three normal attacks and wait for him to attack again. With Rena constantly casting Crush he should go down in no time.
Once Allen is defeated, get ready for some very, very long cutscenes.
Back to Arlia, more cutscenes will play. Once you’re in control, exit the Mayor’s house and walk to the bridge on the top side of town, to find Rena, for more cutscenes.
Once you’re finally in control, you’ll be in the world map. Freedom, at last!
Rena’s Prologue
After the beautiful cutscenes play and Rena leaves her house, you’ll be free to explore.
As soon as you have control of Rena, open the Camp Menu, then go to the Status screen, and check if she has the Nimble Fingers Talent. This is a very important talent that affects Pickpocketing. While it can be learned manually through Crafting, it’s better to start with it; if she doesn’t have, I strongly recommend going back to the main menu and start the game again.
Make sure to get the Unique Spot near the windmill. Unique Spots give experience and often items, and one of the character’s Ultimate Weapons can be obtained by finding 30 unique spots, so make sure to get as many as you can!
Thieving Scum
Lizard Axman
Gerel (Rare)
Ghark (Boss – Claude)
As you approach the right side of the forest, a cutscene will play and you’ll meet Claude. Once in control, you can actually go back to the forest to fight enemies, however, Claude is not a party member yet so he won’t partake in battles.
There is a chance to find a special enemy icon here where the player can fight two bandits and a Gerel. This enemy hits pretty hard and can split itself into more Gerels. This fight can be challenging alone, but can net over 1.000 EXP.
Take Claude through the marked points in the map for some exposition on the village. Once done, go to Rena’s house (the one with green roof, across the small bridge) and watch the cutscenes.
Once in control, go to the newlywed house on the upper left side of town and talk to either Lou or Elmyra. Then go towards the marked point south to find Claude.
Take him back to Rena’s house and more cutscenes will play. At night, go to the mayor’s house and then back to Rena’s house. More cutscenes will play, and in the next morning you’ll be in control again. Claude is nowhere to be seen.
Go back to the Sacred Forest. If you didn’t explore it before to get the 300 Fol and fight enemies, you can do so now.
If you decide to get a couple of levels in the Sacred Forest, start spending BP on Hasten Speech as soon as you can. This is arguably THE most important Battle Skill for symbologists as it decreases cast times.
Whether you decide to grind or not, go to where Rena met Claude, and cutscenes will play. When in control, exit the Sacred Forest and another cutscene will play when about to cross the bridge to the village. Various custcenes will play Rena will find herself at…
You’ll be inside Allen’s mansion. Grab the Talisman and go downstairs. Attempt to leave the mansion, then go to the room on the right. Watch the small cutscene and check the statue, which will open a path to the…
Thieving Scum
Lizard Axman
Kobold
Vorpal Bunny
Allen Tucks (Boss)
Make sure the grab the Unique Spot halway. If you’re having trouble with the enemies, reach the Recovery Save point and kill all enemies, return, save and reload; all enemy icons will respawn.
If you want to guarantee the Meteor Ring early in the game from the Challenge Mission, which requires breaking 50 enemies. You can save and reload by the Recovery Save Point and fight the enemy that stands before Allen’s Chamber; it’ll often be a pair of Vorpal Bunnies. Cast Crush and it should break their Shields in a single hit.
Once ready, continue forward and a cutscene will play. Claude will appear and you’ll face the first boss of the game:
Allen is not particularly difficult, but he hits pretty hard. You’ll be here with a Level 1 Claude, which can be tough. I strongly suggest you swap to Claude and control him yourself.
If you’ve been practicing the Counter System, Allen is a breeze. Just dodge when he’s about to swing, use three normal attacks and wait for him to attack again. With Rena constantly casting Crush he should go down in no time.
Once Allen is defeated, get ready for some very, very long cutscenes.
Back to Arlia, more cutscenes will play. Once you’re in control, exit Rena’s house and walk towards the Sacred Forest, then back at the bridge on the top side of town, to find Claude, for more cutscenes.
Once you’re finally in control, you’ll be in the world map. Freedom, at last!
Salva and the road to Krosse
Make sure to pull your Fast Travel map often in-between story progress. Lots of Private Actions and sidequests tend to become available after the minor story advancement, and they’re marked directly in the map. It’s really hard to miss those events thanks to that, so check it often!
There isn’t anything interesting in Salva aside from some few treasure chests. The shops don’t have anything useful as Krosse will have a better inventory, and it’s important to save Fol in order to purchase the Thief’s Gloves later in Harley (which costs a whopping 40.000 Fol).
If you’re playing as Claude, there is a Private Action here which unlocks an exclusive, one-of-a-kind accessory for Rena. The Private Action takes place inside the Jewelry Shop. All you have to do is select the option to buy it for her. It’s called Leaf Pendant and increases DEF +30% and LUC +10.
This Private Action isn’t timed and can be completed at any point in the game.
Once you arrive in Krosse, go straight for the inn (you can’t go anywhere else for now). In the next morning, you can start exploring the village. Once you’re done, go to the castle, and talk to the man on the left counter for an audience with the king. You just need to talk with two random NPCs in the castle, and then progress to the upper side of the castle to talk with the king.
When walking towards the castle you’ll get a short cutscene with three-eyed man. This is important if you want to recruit Opera later.
After the many cutscenes, you’ll meet Celine at the town’s plaza. She will join the party as a Guest even if you try to refuse her offer, and the party will be tasked to go the Krosse Cave.
After Celine temporarily joins the party, you’ll unlock the Item Creation and Specialty Systems. By visiting the Guild you can get side missions, which involve crafting items. You can often get some very handy rewards, ranging from materials, to SP and BP, and even new party formations.
It’s important to note that the SP and BP rewarded are NOT retroactive to future members that join your party. So if you really want to wait until you get a more “meaty” party, you can save reporting the missions later. Personally I don’t think it’s necessary to hold on them.
There are also Challenge Missions, which are mostly unlocked by simply progressing in the game, and include things like “Use Arts X times” or “Walk a total of X steps” or “Slay X monsters”. There will net a lot of goodies, including SP, BP, Fol and even equipment.
If you’ve followed my recommendation, you should’ve unlocked the Meteor Ring+ by breaking 50 enemies. I also recommend completing the “Walk 4.000 steps” Challenge to unlock the Formation Square Shift 1, easily one of the best in the game thanks to the Super Armor at max Bonus Gauge.
I recommend buying the equipment here for Claude after completing the Guild Missions. The next dungeon has quite the difficulty spike.
It is possible to get the Goodie Box right after Celine joins as a guest, as one of the Challenge Missions reward you with this item by filling 10% of the Item Encyclopedia. This can be easily done by performing Fishing, Cooking and Crafting. Rena starts with Cooking, and Celine with Crafting.
You can start making profit at this moment by buying and cooking Eggs and Dairy, and selling the results. These are the cheapest ingredients in the game and the results can sell for a decent amount of Fol.
The Goodie Box is a consumable that grants the player three random items (out of a pool of over 200); one of these items is the Sword of Marvels, which is one of the best weapons in the game (1100 ATK and has guaranteed hits), and will completely trivialize pretty much the rest of the game until you reach some of later dungeons in Energy Nede. If you really want the Sword of Marvels, prepare to do some save scumming.
If this is your first time playing the game, I strongly recommend NOT getting the Sword of Marvels now (or if you do get it, don’t equip it until later) as it’ll ruin the experience. But you do you.
Krosse Cave
⭐Recommended Level: 8 (+12 on Universe)
This dungeon is pretty small. You’ll quickly notice a massive difficulty spike here even if playing on Earth Mode; the Star Ocean series is notorious for that, so get used to it. The Armored Knights are easily the most dangerous enemies here because of their boomerang-sword and high speed. Try to keep them away from the symbologists as much as possible. The Alraunes can pose a threat too as they often appear in large groups and can quickly overwhelm the player.
If you feel things are too intense, grind some levels outside of the cave. Around level 13 should be more than enough; Claude learns Helmetbreak at this level, which when maxed should one-shot most enemy Shields. It’s quite costly, though.
After you reach the end of the cave by the recovery save point, be careful to not open the chest on the middle (yet), and get all the chests around it for treasure, the Ancient Scripture and also your first Assault Action Cameo Character: Laeticia from Star Ocean: The Divine Force.
Make sure to get the Unique Spot nearby for three Green Beryls. You can make the Faerie Ring with Claude by getting Crafting to at least level 4; this is easily one of the best accessories in the game since it reduces MP consumption by 50%.
Once you’re ready, open the chest in the middle and prepare for…
These annoying imps are fast and hit pretty hard, especially if they go after your frail symbologists. Try to bait their attention to Claude. If you have the Helmetbreak this fight will be a breeze as a single hit will mostly likely break their Shields even on Universe.
These bosses are completely optional, so if you don’t want the hassle, feel free to ignore and come back later when you’re stronger.
Once you get the Ancient Text and return to the cave’s entrance, you’ll get a prompt to permanently add Celine to the party. I strongly recommend recruiting her; she has a potent arsenal of spells and is relevant through most of the game. She also gains access to powerful party-wide buffs later. Celine doesn’t lock out other recruitment so she’s a safe pick.
In case, for some reason, you don’t want to keep Celine, you can make some quick (and loaded) cash, by can max Celine’s Determination and then spend points on Purity, which will give you a fixed amount of Fol per level. By maxing Purity on Celine you should easily get over 100.000 Fol.
You’re now tasked to go to Kurik in order to reach the continent of Ell, but there are a couple of fun things we can do before we go there:
Bunny CallI strongly recommend getting Bunny Call as soon as possible. With the couple of levels you gained in the Krosse Cave plus the SP earned from Guild Quests, you should have more than enough. All you need to do is getting two party members to Level 4 Familiar and one with Level 1 Scouting. Bunny Call is easily one of the most useful Super Specialties for exploration as it allows you to mount a giant bunny that can ignore terrain. You can start going around all dungeons and towns and get their fast travel spots, as well exploring the world for treasure.
PickpocketingIf you plan on relying heavily on Pickpocketing, which is a very useful Specialty, you’ll want to go to Harley in order to buy the Thief’s Gloves. This is a key-accessory as it enables Pickpocketing. The cost is a bit high (40.000 Fol), but it’s worth the price. There is an unique item you can get in Kurik, and it has a very short window time; so if you want it, you must get Pickpocketing now. If you followed my early advice of ensuring Claude or Rena started with Nimble Fingers, all you need to do is level Pickpocketing around Level 4 or 5.
After this, feel free to go back to all other towns and start doing some stealing. It’s important to note that you can only attempt to Pickpocket up to three times per NPC / party member (in Private Action), unless you have the Relax Perfume item, which allows resetting the amount of Pickpocketing.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Using Pickpocket has a chance to reduce the relationship levels between ALL characters in the party slightly EACH time it’s used, whether successful or not. You’ll always get a notification when the relationship levels change. If you’re worried, always save before attempting to Pickpocket.
FishingWhile in Harley, you can also talk to Reel, the Fish Collector. You can trade fish for treasure, and she’ll also reward you once catching a certain amount of different fish types. Among her goodies you can get Raymond and Edge Jewels, adding them to your Assault Action Formation.
Still in Harley, the Henchmen found at Zandor’s Mansion and the pub all carry Forged Bills, which are items from the Contraband Super Specialty that can be sold for profit. The innkeeper also carries Premium Papers, materials used in Contraband which can be used to make Forged Checks / Bills / Documents. If you want to make some nice profit later, save those for later when you unlock Replication and get a Magical Camera / Magical Film.
Goodie BoxBefore going to Kurik, you can make a quick stop at Marze. If you didn’t get the Goodie Box early through the Challenge Missions, there is an old man next to the inn who has the Goodie Box you can pickpocket.
Whether you want to get the Sword of Marvels is up to you.
Once you’re set, go to Kurik.
Kurik
As soon as you enter town, save the game and enter Private Action Mode. Go to the plaza and you’ll see a scene with Philia; you can pickpocket her for the Sprite’s Bracelet, an accessory that periodically gives the player random items (ranging from materials to some decent equipment) every couple of steps.
The Sprite’s Bracelet is one of the few super unique items in the game, and cannot be obtained anywhere else. This Private Action is your ONLY chance to get it.
Doing this Private Action is also a pre-requirement for unlocking the true final boss in the post-game.
If you really wanna make the best out of Pickpocketing, you’ll want to steal from every NPC here, as the town will become unavailable soon. The most notable items to steal, other than the aforementioned Sprite’s Bracelet, are the Benefaction’s Card (from a pink-haired girl at the Fountain Square), and a Berserker Ring from the angry sailor near the docks.
You can shop here if you want, but Kurik has no notable items to buy aside from the musical instruments. Speaking of that, you can get a Lyre at Ketil’s house (the large mansion at the left side of the entrance).
You’ll also want to do some fishing around here as some of the fish here won’t become available until much later in the game.
Regardless your choices, talk to the captain by the docks, then follow the scenes with Ketil. After the various cutscenes, the town will become unavailable for the rest of the game.
You’ll have to go to Harley instead, but take a quickstop at Marze first.
Marze and the Forest of Symbols
If you have any unfinished business elsewhere I suggest taking care of them now. The following story section will split the party and you won’t be able to get them together until beating the boss.
Enter the town and go to the Elder’s house on the upper left side. If you didn’t recruit Celine at the Krosse Cave, she’ll be here, as this is her hometown. Watch the scenes, and things will be slightly different depending on who you picked as the protagonist:
⭐ If you started with Claude, you’ll be paired with Celine (even if you rejected permanently recruiting her) to venture into the Forest of Symbols.
⭐ If you started with Rena, you’ll be paired with Dias, her childhood friend, who’ll join at level 35 (!!!), as a guest. With him in the party, the Forest of Symbol will be a cakewalk.
Regardless of who you picked as the protagonist, make your preparations once in control (buying items, upgrading equipment) and go to sleep (at the Elder if with Claude, and at the Inn if with Rena). In the next morning you’ll receive the Mud Boots, a key item that allows to cross the swamp in the…
⭐Recommended Level: 15 (+18 on Universe)
Much like the spike in Krosse Cave, enemies here are rough. The Garuda Eagles can be annoying with their feather attack, while the Bloodworms are incredibly beefy with lots of HP. Be very careful with the Witchettes, as their Star Light can pretty much kill characters in a single cast. If you’re having troubles with them, make Silver Charms through Crafting with Silver; this accessory nullifies all damage from Light element.
Once you hit halfway the forest, you’ll start being ambushed by bandits, and fight your first battles featuring Enemy Leaders; these types of enemies will have large, noticeable sprites, and will always have some sort of “aura” effect until they’re killed. These auras can be things like increased damage for the enemy party, decreased movement speed for the player party or even things like disabling Special Arts and Symbology.
Always focus on killing the leader first; whenever the leader’s Shield is broken, it’ll trigger a chain reaction that will break all nearby enemies. In addition, if the leader is defeated before the minions, the chain break will also happen.
Bandits here will have a high chance to drop Orichalcums, one of the rare metals in the game. You’ll fight them up to three times.
Once you reach the recovery save point, walk a bit further to fight the boss, which will be different depending on the protagonist.
This boss is a palette swap of Allen. He moves pretty slowly but hits fast and deals massive on each swing. Just apply the same strategy when fighting Allen. Run around, bait some attacks, counter, retaliate. Make sure to keep him away from Celine so she can nuke him with Energy Arrow and Star Light, and he’ll go down really fast.
This boss is not hard by himself, but he’s fought alongside four Shield Knights, which can be a threat even for Dias. To top it off, the boss has a Magic Down Aura.
I recommend controlling Dias and keeping Rena in the backline while she spams Laser Beams and healing when necessary. Run around and try to bait Azam and the knights into chasing Dias to keep Rena out of harm. Spamming Air Slash from a distance is great as it pierces enemies.
After dealing it the bosses, watch the scenes unfold. As you try to leave Marze, Celine will intervene (even if she has been recruited). Watch more of the cutscenes and in the next morning Celine’s parents will see the party depart. If Celine wasn’t permanently recruited, she’ll return the party the Ancient Text found on Krosse Cave and ask Claude and Rena to find someone in Linga to decipher it.
Check all available Private Actions, and once you’re ready, depart to Harley.
As soon as you enter Harley, you’ll see an old man and a traveler at the entrance. Talking will reveal that a two-headed dragon has been causing trouble on the Salva Mines.
You can go back to the Salva Mines to explore the area, which will contain treasure and a new recruitable character, Ashton Anchors.
If you want to recruit him, follow the next part, otherwise feel free to skip to the Hilton segment.
However, The Dragon’s Lair is a pretty good place to gain some levels even if you don’t plan on recruiting Ashton.
The Dragon’s Lair & Ashton’s Quest
Once you enter the mines, check the map and go to the previously inaccessible area at northwest, which you’ll now be able to enter…
⭐Recommended Level: 17 (+20 on Universe)
This place is pretty challenging as many of the enemies come in large groups. Be wary.
Beastmaster (Enemy Leader)
Gerel
Green Gelatin
Sandglass
Scylla
Werewolf
- Gerels and Green Gelatins can split themselves, which can quickly overwhelm the player and fill up the screen.
- Sandglasses have high AVD, and their damage increases as they get low on HP, which is shown by their bodies turning red.
- Scyllas have a pretty high AVD and fast attacks, including a sickle throw that deals very high damage. They can also teleport around the battlefield.
- The Beastmaster, which always appear as an Enemy Leader, has a powerful aura that increases the attack and movement speed of all other enemies. She’ll always be fought alongside Werewolves. She can also cast Heal or Cure Light on the Werewolves and herself, as well Wind Blade and Star Light. Lastly, she has a move called Sadistic Whip, which buffs the Werewolves to further increase their damage.
- Werewolves, are very fast and their attacks can apply the Poison ailment.
Explore the place to get the treasures. Once you’re ready, go south from the recovery save point for a cutscene between Ashton and the two-headed dragon, which will result in them getting merged with him. After it, you’ll have the option to recruit him.
Ashton is one of three swordsman you can recruit. He has the highest STR growth in the game and very powerful normal attacks, on top of being able to equip some of the most powerful weapons in the lategame. However, this is offset by most of his Special Arts being painfully slow, as well a long gap between learning new Arts. He also has the lowest LUC in the game, which makes him terrible at handling most Item Creation.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Recruiting Ashton will prevent you from recruiting Opera later, and by extension, her lover, Ernest. The opposite is true; recruiting Opera locks Ashton from joining the party.
HOWEVER, even if you explore the Dragon’s Lair and watch the cutscene between Ashton and the dragons, but refuse to recruit him, you CAN STILL recruit Opera later.
HOWEVER HOWEVER, if after refusing to recruit Ashton once, you go back to the place where he was, he’ll still be there and will force himself into the party.
If you recruit Ashton, you’ll have the option to embark on his own personal sidequest to find a way to purge the dragons from his back. Before moving on, visit the Weapon Shop in Salva, and you’ll get the Twin Splicers, a pair of swords for Ashton.
If you plan taking on Ashton’s sidequest, you’ll first have to visit Marze, at the Elder’s house, where you’ll find a book that explains how to exorcise the dragons.
If you didn’t recruit Ashton, or got him and want to skip his sidequest, just skip to the next section.
After that, you’ll have to visit the king of Krosse to get a permit to enter the Mountain Palace, a dungeon located between Krosse and Kurik. To find it, follow the way to Kurik and you’ll eventually see a path to the mountains that lead to the dungeon.
⭐Recommended Level: 20 (+25 on Universe)
This place is a MASSIVE labyrinth. But follow the map and you’ll be fine.
After you reach the spot marked on the map, you’ll fight the…
This is an extremely annoying boss. She can normally only be damaged by magic attacks and will avoid all physical attacks… Unless she is broken. If you have Rena and Celine in the party just have them bombard them with spells until she’s broken, then pulverize her with Claude and Ashton.
After defeating the Succubus, you’ll get the chalice, and then you can go to the…
⭐Recommended Level: 22 (+27 on Universe)
If you want to unlock a secret ending for Ashton, there is a Private Action in Harley that starts a sidequest. This can only be done if Rena is the protagonist.
In Harley, Ashton will befriend sick young girl called Eleanor. She has a terminal disease and her doctor says that the only way to cure her is to find a herb called Metorx, found only in Lasgus Mountain.
So, if you’re interested in unlocking this secret ending, do the Private Actions in Harley and then go to Lasgus Mountain to kill two birds with one stone.
Lasgus Mountain has a lot of dangerous enemies:
- The Sorceress can cast Blood Scylla and Eruption, the latter having massive radius and easily killing characters cluttered.
- The Cockatrices can petrify the characters with the feather attacks, while the Flyray can paralyze with their tail attack.
- Savants are pretty much the same as regular Armored Knights from Krosse, but hit harder.
- Black Balloons are harmless, BUT they can suck the MP of your characters in seconds; if they appear alongside other dangerous enemies, this is a huge problem.
The Metorx herb, which is used to save Eleanor, can be found on the bottom level before climbing up. It’ll only become available after you start the sidequest.
At the top of the mountain, past the recovery save point, you’ll have to fight…
This massive bird hits fast and hits hard, on top of having access to powerful spells such as Eruption and Light Cross. His pecking attacks have a small chance to inflict Poison, and he can also use an attack calling Crushing Charge, where he quickly dives forward and deals massive damage in front of him.
Claude with Helmetbreak is strongly recommended here as he can apply a lot of pressure on Zinae and get him off the symbologists.
Ashton won’t have any anti-air Arts at this point, and his Piercing Blades will mostly miss ZInae even at point-blank range. His anti-air close range attack is very fast, though.
Once you defeat Zinae, Ashton will give up on exorcising the dragons and will carry on with the group, the new friends he made.
Once you’re ready, head to Harley to finally depart to the Lacuer Continent.
Exploring the Lacuer Continent
There isn’t much to do here if you visited it earlier. You can do a couple of Private Actions (Rena in particular has two exclusive ones), as well interact with Reel, the Fish Collector.
I’ve mentioned this earlier in the guide, but the Henchmen found at Zandor’s Mansion and the pub all carry Forged Bills, which are items from the Contraband Super Specialty that can be sold for profit. The innkeeper also carries Premium Papers, materials used in Contraband which can be used to make Forged Checks / Bills / Documents. If you want to make some nice profit later, save those for later when you unlock Replication and get a Magical Camera / Magical Film.
Once you’re ready, talk to the sailor at the right side of town and depart to the Lacuer Kingdom.
Once you arrive in Hilton, take your time to do some Private Actions, do Guild Quests and check the shops.
In the pub, you can Pickpocket a Walloon Sword and a Guthgwine (pretty decent swords for Claude) from the blue-armored men. A man in purple hood (near the weapon shop) carries a Meteor Ring.
Here you can also buy new musical instruments (Cembalo and Harmonica), as well materials that enables other Item Creation and Specialties, such as Feather Pens (Writing), Smith’s Hammers (Blacksmith), Mechanic’s Toolboxes (Machinist) and Premium Papers (Contraband).
With the Writing Item Creation you can start making books that teach / improve skills to your characters, which saves you A TON of SP in the long run, as characters can learn read books to improve skills up to level 7 for “free” (the only cost being the Feather Pens).
After leaving Hilton, you’ll have two choices: either go straight to Lacuer for the Tournament of Arms, or take a quick stop at Linga (which is past Lacuer) to start fooling around with Writing, Duplication and also having the option to recruit a new character.
I strongly recommend taking a quick stop at Linga first, especially if you have the Bunny Call Super Specialty (which you totally should have already). If you want to go for Lacuer instead, just skip to the next section.
The enemies in the world map are rehashed from Lasgus Mountain. Near the Linga region you’ll start seeing Killer Rabbits, Mandrakes and Petri Gerels, which are pretty much slightly stronger versions of the Vorpal Bunnies, Alraunes and Gerels; the former can shoot boxing-glove shaped projectiles, while the latter can petrify characters.
As you approach Linga, go to right side, across the small bridge, and towards the huge crater. You can get two Meteorites on treasure chests and another Meteor Ring from the Unique Spot.
As soon as you enter, you’ll see a small cutscene with a girl chasing a tiny robot. This is Precis, your potential new character. You can actually recruit her right after this scene by entering Private Action Mode.
The way to recruit Precis changes depending on the protagonist:
- If playing as Claude, the Private Action will start at the right side, next to the pharmacy on the right side of town, near the entrance.
- If playing as Rena, the Private Action will start inside Precis’ house, on the left side of town, also near the entrance.
Regardless of your protagonist, once you watch all the cutscenes, you’ll have a prompt to recruit Precis permanently. She’s a fighter-type character who uses a bunch of gadgets in combat, most involving her robot companion, Robbie. While she’s relatively weak in the early game, she becomes a powerhouse in the lategame.
One of Precis’ advantages is that she can actually unlock her Special Arts earlier than other characters through the Machinist Item Creation, which can be used by her to create unique items that teach her new Special Arts. She can also create some weapons for herself using Machinist.
If you’ve recruited Ashton, I strongly recommend getting Precis, as she can learn an exclusive Special Art if he’s in the party.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Recruiting Precis will prevent you from recruiting Bowman later, and vice-versa.
Regardless of what you choose, we can start making some obscene amounts of Fol here. At the item at north of Linga, crossing the tiny bridge, we can purchase the Magical Camera, a key-item used for the Replication Item Creation. We can now pull a “pro-gamer move” so you never have to worry about Fol till the end of the game:
First of all you need to unlock the Contraband Super Specialty, which is done by having at least two characters with Level 4 Pickpocketing and at least one character with Level 1 Duplication.
You can also get Group Appraising to makes results more profitable, but it’s not necessary. The process for money making using Contraband is really simple:
- Create a Forged Document (it can be done even with low level Contraband).
- Make copies of it using the Duplication Item Creation (recommended Level 7).
- Use the Group Appraising Super Specialty to increase the selling price.
- Sell all the duped Forged Document except for one.
- Rinse and repeat from step 2.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Using Contraband has a high chance to reduce the relationship levels between ALL characters in the party EACH time it’s used. If you’re worried, save before using it.
Once you’re done making money, it’s time to go to Lacuer.
Lacuer and the Armory Contest
Feel free to do some Private Actions here before progressing with the main story.
If you’ve unlocked Publication Super Specialty, you can make some decent income by selling books here and collecting the profits later. The Editor NPC is located at the entrance of Lacuer, on the right side.
Once you’re ready, go to the castle and register to the Lacuer Armory Contest. Only Claude will participate, even if you started the game with Rena. You’ll then have to choose a sponsor, which will provide Claude with a set equipment and consumables during the entire tournament. The choice doens’t matter and won’t affect the story.
The Counterpunch
Brigandine
Buckler
Plate Helmet
Silver Greaves
Mixed Syrup (x1)
Blackberries (x3)
The Knockout
Leather Armor
Wooden Shield
Leather Helmet
Leather Greaves
Mixed Syrup (x1)
Blackberries (x1)
The Straight Jab
Padded Armor
Knight’s Shield
Padded Helmet
Plate Greaves
Mixed Syrup (x1)
Blackberries (x1)
The Savage Slayer
Ring Mail
Round Shield
Iron Helmet
Iron Greaves
Refreshing Syrup (x1)
Lotion of Strength (x1)
Violent Pill (x1)
Edda’s shop is often considered the best, but Dagol’s shop is good too. After the tournament is over, you’ll receive all the equipment from the chosen sponsor as a prize.
If you’re playing as Rena and plans to recruit Dias, sticking with Edda’s shop is the best pick as the Walloon Sword is part of a Customization chain for his best weapon in the main game.
Regardless of the sponsor you pick, you’ll get the Armory Contest Badge key item. Now you have a choice to make: go straight to the Inn to start the tournament, or do anything else (like getting some levels). It’s up to you. It’s important to note that once the tournament starts you won’t be able to fast travel or leave the city, and ALL the current sidequests will be abandoned.
In order to get Claude’s best weapon in the main game, the Aeterna, you HAVE to ensure he reaches the finals to fight against Dias. More on that later.
If you want the best chances through the tournament, I recommend getting Claude to AT LEAST level 20, so he can learn Sword of Life; improve it to max level. Make sure he has Godspeed, Backstab and Power Burst.
Once you go to the Inn, things will differ a bit depending on the protagonist:
Just follow the scenes and go the castle in the following day. At the tournament counter, Dias will appear, and after a brief exchange, Rena will temporarily leave the party.
Go to the waiting room and follow the scenes. Claude will get into battle after battle from now on. You’ll have the option to enter the menu beforehand to check skills and Arts.
⭐Round 1 – Amon Rau: He fights exactly like the typical Armored Knights. If you have Helmetbreak / Meteor Palm and Sword of Life this will be a breeze.
After the first round, you’ll be in control. Go to the spectator’s area to meet with your friends (if you didn’t recruit anyone else to this point, Claude will confuse a random NPC girl for Rena instead, funny stuff). Rena will appear, and Dias’ match will be next.
⭐Round 2 – Dorr Adan: A red version of the Ghark you fought at the very start of the game. He’s slow but hits pretty hard. Perfect counter his moves with basic attacks and Helmetbreak and he’ll go down really fast.
No intermission this time. You’ll go straight to the next round.
⭐Round 3 – Woses Durahan: Another ogre-type enemy, exactly like Allen and the Snow Ogre from the Forest of Symbols. Use the same strategies from the other bosses and you’ll be fine.
After this, you’ll have freedom. Go meet with your party in the same spot as before until they call Claude for next round.
⭐Round 4 – Dias Flac: This is the final round. This is a scripted battle that you can’t win; Dias will always have the upperhand and pretty much one-hit KO Claude.
Head to the far west side of town to meet a young girl named Sufia, who’s looking for a swordsman to use her grandpa’s sword in the tournament. By taking Sufia to the tavern, some events will play and Dias will appear, who’ll agree to use the sword created by grandpa Gamgee. Go back to the inn.
In the next morning, go the castle. At the tournament counter, Dias will appear, and after a brief exchange, Rena will follow him. Go back to Gamgee’s hut at the west side of town, and then back to the tavern, where you’ll fight some thugs; with Dias in the party this will be over in seconds.
After the scenes play, return to the castle and Dias will enter the tournament. Then go to the spectators area as the scenes unfold. At some point, go meet with Gamgee at south of the spectators area and return to watch the rest of the tournament.
Pray for the Claude AI to fight properly and reach the finals against Dias. Give him Helmetbreak and Sword of Life and he should be fine.
After the tournament is over, you can get your second-place prize from the chosen sponsor, which will include all the equipment used in the tournament plus 6500 Fol; it won’t include the consumables, though, even if you didn’t use them.
After picking the second-place prize, go to Gamgee’s hut, at the left side of town. A small cutscene will play, and you’ll receive the Deadly Edge. This is a one-of-a-kind weapon that can be used to craft the Aeterna, Claude’s best sword in the main game. If you miss it, you can get another one (much) later, though.
🌟Aeterna🌟It’s actually possible to craft the Aeterna right now if you have 2 Mithrils. The easiest way to get Mithril is to improve ESP, which grants a random item whenever you level it up, and Mithril is part of the item pool; you can save scum until you get two Mithrils.
Alternatively, you can complete the Challenge Mission to upgrade Customization to level 10, which grants 5 Mithrils and 5 Meteorites. There is also a Challenge Mission to use Customization 100 times that awards 10 Mithrils; this can be easily done by going to Salva, buying a bunch of Longswords and Iron, and then using Customization on them over and over.
To get the Aeterna:
⭐Customize the Deadly Edge with a Mithril to get the Blade of Minos.
⭐Customize the Blade of Minos with another Mithril to get the Aeterna.If you don’t wanna break the game yet, wait till later to get the Aeterna.
After the tournament, if enter Private Action Mode in Lacuer while at least 4 party members, you’ll meet Welch on the way to the castle. After some talking, she’ll offer to join the party.
Welch is a melee-oriented fighter. She has the WORST early game in the cast, with weak Special Arts. However, she becomes one of the best characters in the lategame, and also has the highest LUC, which makes her great at Item Creation.
If you want to recruit Opera, continue forward. Otherwise, skip to the Linga section.
Optional: Scumbag Slayer
Follow these steps:
⭐ By returning to Salva, you’ll find a scholar near the entrance, close to the save point. His name is Ruddle, and he’s a traveler who’s trying to reach Harley. He’ll ask for directions. Tell him to go North.
⭐ Next, go to Marze, to find Ruddle once again, inside the Item Shop. He’ll ask for directions to Harley once more. Tell him:It’s further east of here.
⭐ After that, go to Hilton, to find Ruddle once again, in front of the Inn, near the food merchant. He crossed the sea, THROUGH Harley, and ended up at Hilton, and he’s still lost (not very smart for a scholar). Tell him “You just have to travel by boat again.”
⭐ Finally, go to Harley and you’ll find Ruddle at Inn. He’ll thank the player for helping him to reach Harley by rewarding them with the Scumbag Slayer.
If you send Ruddle to the wrong direction in any of the interactions, he’ll be lost forever, and so is the Scumbag Slayer he carries.
While this weapon is not a super unique, it is an extremely rare weapon that can only be found at the post-game dungeon.
Opera and the search for Ernest
After that, return to Krosse and request an audience with the King, who’ll grant the party passage to the Mountain Palace. Go there and talk to the soldier, who’ll let you go through.
This place is a massive maze, but not so hard to navigate.
Opera can be found in the mid-right section of the maze, which is marked on the map. The other mark on the map is where you need to go to progress through her quest.
After a brief introduction with Opera, you’ll have the option to permanently recruit her right off the bat. No Guest thing. If you refuse there’ll be no other chance and she’ll be gone forever.
Opera is a fighter-type character who specializes in long-range damage through her Special Arts. She can dish a lot of damage from safe distances, and most of her Arts have elemental attributes tied to them. That’s offset by her having low ATK and especially DEF, making her as frail as the symbologists. She requires a solid frontline to keep her safe.
One of Opera’ advantages is that she can actually unlock her Special Arts earlier than other characters through the Machinist Item Creation, which can be used by her to create unique items that teach her new Special Arts, most notably, Healing Star, which is the only non-symbology capable of healing the entire party globally. She can also create some weapons for herself using Machinist.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Recruiting Opera will prevent you from recruiting Ashton.
If you plan on recruiting her lover, Ernest, continue exploring the Mountain Palace (reach the other marked area on the map) and you’ll find clues about him. Otherwise, just continue to the next section.
After finding Ernest’s laboratory hidden in the depths of the labyrinth, you must go to the Sacred Forest, where Opera’s finds her broken ship.
If you found Ernest’s research and Opera’s ship, this guarantees he’ll be recruited later. Don’t worry.
You can now safely carry on with going to Linga.
Linga and the Sacred Grounds
If you didn’t come to Linga earlier for Precis and the Fol farming, feel free to check the “Exploring the Lacuer Continent” section.
Either way, go to the house between the Guild and the Item Shop for a cutscene, where the linguistic’s assistant will tell that the professor is currently too busy. After that, go to the southeastern house, the pharmacy, for another cutscene, where you’ll meet Bowman Jeane. He is a friend of Keith, the linguistic. Bowman will task the player to find a new herb species for him at the Sacred Grounds of Linga, in exchange for setting up a meeting with the linguistic.
After the scenes, exit the town and go to the large cavern east of Linga to find the…
⭐Recommended Level: 27 (+30 on Universe)
Blood Hound
Coquettish Whip (Enemy Leader)
Killer Rabbit
Mandrake
Ooze
Wolfhead
Enemies here are quite dangerous as some of them can inflict dangerous status ailments.
- Blood Hounds are pesky little wolf-type enemies that can shoot fireballs.
- Mandrakes are just like the Alraunes, but they inflict Paralysis, Stone and Poison.
- Coquettish Whip is just like the found at the Dragon’s Lair in the Salva Mines, and even has the same Attack + Movement Speed Aura. She’ll always be a Enemy Leader fought alongside Wolfheads. Her spells include Black Saber.
- Killer Rabbits are just like the Vorpal Bunnies found in the Salva Mines, but they can shoot boxing glove shaped projectiles. They can sometimes appear as Enemy Leaders alongside Blood Hounds.
- Wolfheads are just like the Werewolves found at the Dragon’s Lair in the Salva Mines. Frankly, they’re far less dangerous than the Werewolves since they don’t inflict poison.
- Oozes have high AVD and can inflict inflict Paralysis, Stone and Poison much like the Mandrakes
Depending on how much you’ve been exploring the world and if you’ve ventured the Mountain Palace, you’ll might unlock the Treasure Detector in this dungeon, by completing the Challenge Mission of opening 100 treasure chests.
This place is a bit of a maze. Your mission here is simple: find a rare herb for Bowman. You’ll find some green bushes with a blue herb in the middle; the vast majority of these herbs will be common ones, such as Lavenders and Athelas. The rare herbs are found further into the dungeon.
You have two options here: get the Clarisage, which is the less rare of the herbs, but will satisfy Bowman, or fight a boss further in and get the Dillwhip, plus some treasures. It doesn’t matter which one you get; they won’t affect the story.
Getting the Dillwhip will ensure Bowman starts with slightly higher affection levels for the whole party, should you recruit him. He’ll also give you an additional consumable if you find the Dillwhip.
The Dillwhip is found at the top of the dungeon, further in. Before getting the Dillwhip you’ll fight…
This fight is rough, mostly because of ATK Down Aura from the leader Visseya, as well the fact these enemies can cause a game-over with very little effort. Visseyas can literally swallow party members while attacking; if all party members are swallowed, it’s an instant game-over. However, by dealing enough damage or / and breaking the Visseyas, they’ll spit out the party member.
⭐ Claude can align the bosses and use Knuckle Burst to quickly rack-up damage and also destroy their Shields. It’s his safest option to avoid being swallowed.
⭐ Rena focus on healing and dropping an occasional Laser Beams or Light Cross when possible, since the bosses are weak to Light.
⭐ If you have Celine, spam Laser Beams and Star Light like there is no tomorrow.
⭐ If you have Ashton, Piercing Blades does wonders to break the bosses. He can also use Vanishing Swords to clutter them together to set up Claude’s Knuckle Burst.
⭐ If you have Precis, she can be put in the backline spamming Rocket Punch or Robbie Tossin’. If you’ve managed to unlock any of her Machinist-exclusive Special Arts, Forcefield does wonders here and can stunlock enemies.
⭐ If you have Welch, she can spam Distraction, which has a pretty long hitbox, being safe enough to protect her from the Visseya’s inhale attack.
⭐ If you have Opera, Photon Prison can keep bosses stunlocked and minimize the chances they’ll swallow other characters. If you unlocked Healing Star through Machinist, she can effectively replace Rena as the healer.
If you have any combat items like Deadly Poison Bombs, they’re great to slowly cripple the bosses. Try to focus on the main boss to get rid of the aura, while ensuring the other two stay away from the symbologists.
After you defeat the boss, get the treasures and the Dillwhip, then fast travel back to Linga.
Go back to Bowman’s pharmacy and show him the herb, then take him to Keith’s house for various scenes.
While spending the night at Bowman’s house, he’ll offer to join the party if you didn’t recruit Precis previously.
He’s a fighter-type who uses a mix of martial arts and chemical concoctions. While his damage falls behind the swordfighters, he has a lot of utility through his Arts, many being able to inflict status ailments, and even heal the party. He’s pretty balanced in general, not excelling at anything but not being bad at anything either.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Recruiting Bowman will prevent you from recruiting Precis, and vice-versa.
Once you’re ready, go back to Lacuer to progress with the story.
Once you step inside Lacuer, you won’t be able to fast travel outside of the Lacuer region for a while. Also, all current timed events and sidequests will be PERMANENTLY missed. So make sure to finish any business before returning to Lacuer.
Lacuer and the Hoffman Ruins
As soon as you step inside town, a soldier will approach saying the city is under evacuation as they’re expecting a monster attack.
Go to the castle. You’ll see Sufia and Gamgee by the stairs. Talk to Gamgee and he’ll give you a Plate Armor. After that, proceed to the right side of the castle at the bottom floor until you reach the laboratory. Some cutscenes will play, and you’ll be assigned to escort Leon to the Hoffman Ruins.
Leon will join as a Guest character, much like Celine. If you chose Claude as the protagonist, you’ll have the option to permanently recruit Leon later in the game.
Before joining the party, Leon will give the player the Combo Link, a key-item which enables linking two Special Arts in a single button press. Doing so allows to cancel the ending lag of the first Art into the second Art.
As soon as you get Leon in the party, new Guild Missions will unlock. Once you’re ready, leave Lacuer and go to Hilton, and then at the docks you’ll be able to the depart to the island where the Hoffman Ruins are located.
You’ll be at the Hoffman Coast. Make sure to fish here because you can get some rare fish. Once ready, go to the overworld towards the ruins.
Enemies in the overworld include a mix of old and new enemies. You’ll fight Cockatrices, Mandrakes and Archers. New enemies include the Axmen of Doom and Salamanders, which are also found inside the Hoffman Ruins; more details on them later. There are a couple of treasures around here so I recommend checking out.
⭐Recommended level: 30 (+35 on Universe)
Axman of Doom
Black Slime
Bowlady
Protector
Salamander
Whelp
Enemies here are tough and often appear in large groups, and most of them are notorious for having unusual high AVD. Fights that take place inside the ruins will have these minecarts that randomly appear; if they hit a player character, they’ll be dragged around the tracks while taking moderate damage.
- Axmen of Doom are like your typical Lizard Axmen. They have high AVD and hit fast, and have the terrible habit of flanking the player. They have a small chance to inflict Paralyze with each attack.
- Black Slimes are like the other slime enemies, but they looove so stay behind shooting projectiles.
- Bowladies behave exactly like the ones found in the Mountain Palace. Their spread shot is lethal at point blank range as each arrow will count, in addition of having a chance to inflict Poison. They will often appear alongside Salamanders. Sometimes also as an Enemy Leader with the INT Down Aura.
- Protectors are like the other shielded knights. They’ll mostly appear alongside Bowladies.
- Salamanders are surprisingly fast, and can use a fire breathing attack that racks up damage incredibly fast. They also have very high AVD and can inflict Paralysis with any attack. They may occasionally appear in groups of four, with one Enemy Leader that has an Aura that increases ATK and movement speed.
- Whelps are very rare spawns in the ruins. They’re essentially small and cute teddy bears, but they hit like a truck are are completely IMMUNE to all elemental damage.
Once you’re inside the ruins, watch the cutscene by the door, and proceed down the elevator. This dungeon revolves around a mechanic of activating switches to blow up walls.
As you progress through the ruins, you’ll eventually find a puzzle where you must activate these blue switches in order. It’s fundamentally very simple: you just need to look at the small “spheres” underneath the switches and activate them from the lowest to the highest number of spheres.
After you complete the final puzzle, the passage to the large Energy Stone deposit will open. After a cutscene, you’ll be ambushed by…
This fight can be pretty rough. The Halfynxes are fast, deal surprisingly high damage with melee attacks, and can cast Thunderstorm, which can easily wipe the party if everyone is cluttered.
However, if you manage to inflict Silence on the Halfynxes, they’ll be pretty much harmless for the rest of the fight.
⭐ Claude can just spam Meteor Palm to keep them at bay and interrupt spellcasting. Avoid using Knuckle Burst as bosses are resistant against Fire.
⭐ Rena focus on healing and dropping an occasional Laser Beams or Light Cross when possible, since the bosses are weak to Light. She can also cast Silence to try afflicting the bosses.
⭐ If you have Celine, spam Star Light like there is no tomorrow. Avoid using Thunderstorm as bosses are resistant against Wind.
⭐ If you have Ashton, Piercing Blades does wonders to break the bosses, while Twin Thrust and Vanishing Swords are good to interrupt spellcasting.
⭐ If you have Precis, Robbie Tossin’ is amazing to stunlock the bosses and quickly swap between one or the other to interrupt spellcasting. If you’ve managed to unlock any of her Machinist-exclusive Special Arts, Forcefield does wonders here and can stunlock enemies.
⭐ If you have Welch, she can spam Flick and Distraction.
⭐ If you have Opera, Photon Prison interrupt spellcasting, while Tracking Plasma is your to-go nuker. If you unlocked Healing Star through Machinist, she can effectively replace Rena as the healer.
⭐ If you have Bowman, Poison Pellets can effectively stunlock the bosses. Self-Medication is great for emergency healing.
⭐ With Leon, try to land an Acid Rain to cripple their defenses and spam Deep Freeze. If you managed to get a couple of levels and learn Star Light, it does wonders here.
Once the bosses are defeated, you’ll get the Energy Stone and will be free to leave this place.
If you’ve recruited Opera, found Ernest’s research at the Mountain Palace, and Opera’s ship at the Sacred Forest, you’ll see a cutscene when exiting the ruins. Ernest will appear, possessed by a ghost, and attack the party. Defeat the ghost (pretty easy fight) and after some more scenes, Ernest will offer to join.
Ernest is a mid-range fighter-type character who specializes in dishing out damage from relatively safe distances using his whip. He has a lot of very potent Shield-breaking Arts. Interestingly, he was the worst character in the original game, but was vastly buffed in the Remake and became one of the best.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️If you refuse to add Ernest to the party, Opera will leave permanently. So, if you want to recruit Opera but not Ernest, make sure to avoid finding his research lab and Opera’s ship..
Once you’re ready, go back to the Hoffman Coast and depart back to Hilton.
If you didn’t recruit Ashton, you’ll have the option to fight Zinae now atop of the Lasgus Mountain now. Same strategies from the original fight. Given your level it’ll be much easier.
There are no special rewards for defeating him without Ashton.
The Lacuer Hope
If you’re hunting the treasure chest challenge, take a detour to the left before going to the throne room and enter the King’s Chambers, to find a chest containing 5.000 Fol; this is your ONLY chance in the game to open this chest.
At the throne room, Leon will leave the party and a cutscene will play. The King will task you into helping against the monster invasion at the Lacuer Front Line Base, which is located in the far north of the continent.
Feel free to explore the place, restock and do some Pickpocketing. Once you’re ready, go into the main building upstairs and enter the Commandant’s room for a cutscene. Dias will be here.
If you chose Rena as the protagonist, you’ll finally have the chance to recruit Dias. Following the story cutscene with the Commandant, a couple more scenes will play. Once you’re in control, go downstairs and outside the building to find Dias. Talk to him and after some few more scenes you’ll have the option to permanently recruit him.
Dias is a fighter-type with impressive offensive stats, although he suffers from a relatively low DEF for a melee-fighter. While his Arts tend to have lower hit count compared to other characters, they’re very fast and spammable. He’s often regarded as one of the best, if not the best character in the game.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Dias is exclusive to Rena’s story.
If you’re playing as Claude, things play similarly and he’ll have a talk with Dias, except that he won’t join the party. Regardless of your chosen protagonist, go upstairs again and to the outside area where the Lacuer Hope is located. Some few more scenes will play, and the day will end. In the next morning, talk to at least three random NPCs and you’ll be able to progress with the story.
If you proceed upstairs you won’t be able to return to the Lacuer and Krosse Kingdoms until the post-game. If you have anything to finish, do it now.
Make sure you stock on a lot of Relaxing Perfumes. You’ll understand why later.
After going upstairs, follow the scenes and you’ll have a boss fight.
This is a scripted fight you cannot win. The battle will end after one minute has elapsed, or if you manages to break Cynne’s Shield.
Various scenes will play after the fight. Once in control, go inside the main build once again, then upstairs, then go inside the medical bay and try to leave for another attack from the monsters. More scenes will play, involving Leon.
If you have Precis in your party, Leon will gift her with this weapon.
After the display of power from the Lacuer Hope, you’ll be in control again. Go downstairs for a scene with Leon’s parents. You’ll be automatically sent to Lacuer for an audience with the king, who is organizing an expedition into the Ell Continent; Claude and Rena’s party will tag along.
Following the scenes in the boat, you’ll have to fight three Stone Statues; they behave exactly like the Gargoyles you fought at Krosse Cave. Then, after that you fight…
It’s actually possible to win this fight. Cynne’s Fohn Wind can easily hit for 9.999 damage, and he cannot be silenced. With enough damage you can actually interrupt his casting. You’ll need a lot of preparation and certain items, such as Witch’s Powder, as well Illusion Dolls. You’ll get a lot of EXP and an Emerald Ring if you defeat him.
Don’t worry about it if you don’t defeat him now. You’ll fight him again later.
Regardless of you winning or losing, Cynne will YEET the party out of the ship. After the cutscenes play, your party will be separated.
The Ell Continent and the Eluria Tower
⭐As Claude, it’ll be only him and Leon.
⭐As Rena, she’ll be with the rest of the party.
Regardless of who you chose, exit the beach and move towards the right side of the area, in the middle. You can actually fish in the beach, so check how’s your Fish Encyclopedia.
Once you reach the forest, you’ll find a small village, the…
Things will be slightly different depending who’s the protagonist but they’ll fundamentally play the same. Once the party is reunited, go talk to the village chief at the top room.
If you chose Claude as the protagonist, you’ll finally have the chance to recruit Leon. After talking with the chief of the settlement, you’ll have the option to recruit Leon permanently.
If you didn’t play around with Leon in the Hoffman Ruins, he’s a symbologist like Celine. While his spell arsenal is more limited and covers less elements, he has some of the most potent spells in the game, as well very high INT growth that surpasses Celine.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️Leon is exclusive to Claude’s story.
After talking to the village chief, go to the armory room on the left, where you can get a lot of freebies (click on the sparkles all over the place) and also restock at the shopkeeper. As you’re leaving the armory, the shopkeeper will hand you an ID Card, which will be used very soon to enter Eluria Tower. Once you’re ready, leave the settlement.
Feel free to explore the continent, fight enemies and hunt for treasures and fish. There isn’t much else to do other than some few treasures and a Unique Spot near the south coast. The enemies found here are also present in the next dungeon so I won’t cover their strategies yet.
Once you’re done exploring, go towards the colossal near the settlement, known as the…
⭐Recommended level: 35 (40 if on Universe)
Elder Wichette
Darth Widow
Defender
Frost Lizard
Goathead
Stone Statue
Timekeeper
Cynne (Boss)
Go through the long corridor until you reach the door, where Claude will use the ID Card to open it.
Right after entering the tower you’ll a treasure chest containing the Pixie’s Bracelet. It functions exactly like the Sprite’s Bracelet stolen from Philia in Kurik, but it has a larger and better item pool. Its effect actually stacks with the Sprite’s Bracelet, so feel free to equip them both.
This dungeon revolves around finding statues with numbers and letters, which spell a password used to access to middle floor. In the long corridor you’ll see two statues, one has “3-A” and the other “5-H”. Continue forward and you’ll see a save point and a teleporter to the next floor.
By going to the middle path you’ll find a statue where you must spell the password. If you don’t want to manually look at each statue across the dungeon, the word is D E A T H. You don’t actually need to find the statues in order to guess the word. After answering, you’ll get a Key Card and will be able to progress to the next floor.
Even if you don’t want to find the other statues, there are treasures and enemies you can fight for good EXP. It’s up to you. Once you’re ready, go to the next floor.
- Elder Wichettes are like regular Witchettes, but they can cast Thunder Cloud and Tractor Beam, the former being a full screen spell.
- Darth Widows are exactly like the Scyllas from the Dragon’s Lair, with more stats.
- Defenders are like the other shield knights, but frontal attacks against them deal less damage.
- Frost Lizards are exactly like the Salamanders from the Hoffman Ruins, but with reversed resistances (weak to Fire and strong against Water). They may appear as Enemy Leaders with the HP Sap Aura, which functions like Poison, ticking up down periodically.
- Goatheads are exactly like the Halfynxes fought at the Hoffman Ruins, but they can also cast Thunder Cloud, in addition to Cure All. They can also appear as Enemy Leaders boasting the Magic Up Aura.
- Timekeepers are like the Sandglasses in the Dragon’s Lair, but they can “rewind” time to heal themselves.
Approach the large door to use the Key Card. A scene will play, and you’ll be tasked to go the bottom left side of the floor. Some more scenes will play, and Claude will temporarily leave the party.
If you’re playing as Claude, you’ll be teleported to the Calnus. You’ll have a chance to get a Battle Suit, one of the best armors in the game, by pickpocketing the Cadet right next to Claude, once you’re in control. You’ll have other chances to get this armor, but this is the earliest you can get.
Remember the Relaxing Perfumes I told you about back in the Lacuer Front Line Base section? This is why.
After the scenes play, Claude will return to Eluria Tower. Go back to the door you’ve unlocked with the Key Card.
There’ll be a recovery save point here, so you know what’s coming. Keep going for a scene… And a rematch!
This time you can actually get rid of him. He has an annoying ATK + Speed Up Aura, so make sure to get rid of the Stone Statues first otherwise things can go south really fast.
⭐ Claude can just spam Rock Explosion, if you learned it. Works great against annoying flying enemies. Otherwise just use Helmetbreak.
⭐ Rena focus on healing, as usual. She should cast Delay on Cynne right off the bat to cripple his mobility. If you want her to use offensive spells, just make sure to disable Tractor Beam, since it misses on flying enemies.
⭐ If you have Celine, Star Light works good against the Stone Statues, but she can use Eruption too for better area-of-effect.
⭐ If you have Ashton, he’ll have a bit of trouble here since he lacks anti-air Arts at this level. His normal attack and close-range anti-air are great, though.
⭐ If you have Precis, Robbie Tossin’ or Rocket Punch can keep Cynne at bay. If you managed to get Forcefield, it’ll melt Cynne.
⭐ If you have Welch, Distraction is a fantastic anti-air. Once Cynne is broken, you can use Slap Combo Linked with Iron Fist for some pretty neat damage.
⭐ If you have Opera, Tracking Plasma is king. It’ll keep Cynne at bay. If you managed to unlock Hyperlauncher, it’ll melt him fast.
⭐ If you have Bowman, stick with Poison Pellets, since it’s one of his best Arts and has a surprisingly good anti-air capability.
⭐ If you have Ernest, Dimensional Whip is a fantastic anti-air and can easily interrupt Cynne’s spellcasting. You can combo link it with Spiral Lash for some massive damage.
⭐ If you have Dias, Chaos Sword and Pale Moonlight are great anti-airs. Air Slash works just fine too.
⭐ If you have Leon, cast Delay on Cynne right off the bat to cripple his mobility, then spam Deep Freeze or Star Light.
Once you finally kill Cynne, go back, save, and proceed to the next floor.
This floor is pretty straightforward. If you want to skip the treasures, just go up in the middle path.
Once you’re ready, approach the big green sphere (yes, that’s the Sorcery Globe) and get ready for some revelations and a lot of exposition. After a lot of talk you’ll fight…
This is yet another scripted fight. Just stall for a minute and it’ll be over.
More scenes will play and you’ll be sent to Energy Nede.
Arrival at Energy Nede
Anyway, once you’re ready, go back to the teleporter and go south to meet Nall, the Mayor of Centropolis, the largest city in Energy Nede. A lot more of exposition now. Nall will task the group into getting a Psynard, a Symbological creature that can fly and serve as transportation for the group.
As soon as you’re in control, exit the City Hall building. Feel free to check the NPCs here to Pickpocket. There isn’t anything truly valuable to get, though.
If you’ve unlocked Publication Super Specialty, you can make some decent income by selling books here and collecting the profits later, much like in Lacuer. The Editor NPC is located on the third floor of the City Hall.
If you want to recruit Chisato, there is an event in Centropolis that is part of her recruitment. Just go left once you’re out of the City Hall. Chisato will spot you and run.
If you miss this event, you won’t be able to recruit Chisato.
Feel free to explore the city, do Private Actions, restock on items and buy equipment. The Guild also has some new missions.
In the item shop you can find a (very expensive) key item called Lezard’s Flask, which allows more minerals to be created with Alchemy. If you’re low on cash, do some more Forged Document tricks with Replication. If you have a Cinderella’s Glass and high level of Group Appraising, it should be cheaper.
Unlocking the Unique Spot in Centropolis (“Faded City of the Future”) awards the player with the Amoeba Soup. This is one of most important consumables in the game for level grinding, so I strongly suggest you duplicate it using the Replication Item Creation.
Once you’re ready, leave Centropolis and go towards North City… At the north.
You may want to take some time fishing as well fighting new enemies. Most of them will be fought in later dungeons, so I’ll cover proper strategies later.
If you ran into Chisato earlier in Centropolis, you’ll see her again in front of the item shop (it’s really hard to miss). Approach and she’ll run away once again.
If you miss this event, you won’t be able to recruit Chisato.
Feel free to explore the city, do Private Actions, restock on items and buy equipment. It’s also worthy checking if there are any NPCs carrying anything that interests you.
The shopkeeper of the Item Shop sells all musical instruments you’ve seen so far, and she also carries a violin herself that can be pickpocketed.
At the large building at the northwest side of town, the Nedepedia, you can interact with the Operator to learn mode about the story of the Ten Wise Men and the lore of Nede in general. The Classified Information, however, cannot be accessed… Yet. Remember this place.
Once you’re ready, head to the farthest building in the north, the “Home”, a breeding center for Psynards. Talk to the receptionist and then with the Director of the facility, Artis; various scenes will play to prepare the Psynard for the party. Something will go wrong however, and you’ll have to fight a frenzied Psynard:
The Psynard has two attacks: a headbutt, and a energy breath attack that resembles the one used by Salamander-type enemies but it’s much faster, with higher range and damage.
While the fight is fundamentally simple, it’s pretty easy to mess up because of the Psynard’s attacks being pretty much deadly depending on your party’s level, especially if on Universe. Try to have a frontline character bait the attacks and avoid accordingly while the rest of the party dishes out damage.
When using Just Counter on the Psynard, don’t commit to long combos because it has the terrible habit of quickly turning around and using the breath attack.
Claude can actually solo this battle by using Sword of Life on the Z-Axis while baiting attacks from the Psynard.
Once you defeat the Psynard, Director Artis will suggest getting in touch with a specialist and find another way to get a Psynard. Follow into the transporter and you’ll be teleported to another region of Energy Nede.
Noel and the Cave of Crimson Crystals
You can actually fish inside Noel’s house, at the large vase inside his room.
While outside, feel free to explore, fight enemies, hunt down for treasures and fish. Once ready, go to the large rocky formation southwest of Noel’s house, the…
⭐Recommended level: 40 (+45 on Universe)
Hellhound
Peryton
Red Balloon
Shockray
In terms of dungeon layout, it looks vaguely similar to the Sacred Grounds of Linga, with an emphasis on exploring the top and bottom levels and also giving players some shortcuts to reach bottom levels faster. Enemies here are actually not very remarkable nor challenging.
- Hellhounds are exactly like the Blood Hounds from the Sacred Grounds of Linga. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Down Aura.
- Perytons are like the Garuda Eagles and variants. While they’re unable to inflict Stone, their feather attack has a very high damage multiplier.
- Shockrays are like all the manta ray enemies you’ve fought so far. They can inflict both Poison and Paralysis with their attacks. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Guard Rate Up Aura.
- Red Balloons are exactly like the Black Balloons from Lasgus Mountain. They have no offensive capabilities and can only drain MP from the player characters.
If you’ve saw the cutscenes with Chisato at Centropolis and North City, she’ll appear again once you approach the event icon marked on the map, at bottom level, near the Unique Spot.
She’ll fall down and drop her business card. If you go back to where she was, you can pick up her card.
If you miss this event, or see it but fail to recover her business card, you won’t be able to recruit Chisato.
Once you approach the recovery save point, get ready for a boss. Not the Psynard, but…
This fight can be pretty tough depending on your level and team. These bosses are essentially like the Scyllas and variants you’ve fought before, but they hit HARD. If you a character get flanked by both, they’re pretty much dead.
In addition, the Enemy Leader has a HP Sap Aura that periodically ticks down your entire party’s HP, like Poison, but by 10% of the max HP.
The secret of this fight is to try to clutter them together so you can hit both at the same time. And also to be wary when they teleport. If they appear next to the backline, rush to protect them; they have the terrible habit of going after the Symbologists.
Once you defeat the Arachnovias, the Psynard will be grateful and agree to help, and you’ll finally have a way to traverse, by flying, across all of Energy Nede!
Right after getting the Psynard and before leaving the Cave of Crimson Crystals, Noel will automatically offer to join the party.
Noel is the definition of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. He’s primarily a symbologist but his weapons have higher ATK compared to the other casters, and he’s also able to wear heavy armor. He also has access to both high offensive spells, as well healing, like Rena. He’s a flexible character but doesn’t excel at anything.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️If you somehow reached Energy Nede with 8 party members, Noel will not offer to join.
Back to Centropolis
Once you return to Centropolis, go back to the Mayor’s office for some more story cutscenes. He’ll task the party to explore the so called “Fields”, where they can test their mettle and confront their inner feelings in order to become strong enough to face the Ten Wise Men. Before departing, Nall will give the party a Rune Code, which allows entrance to the four Fields.
Nall will also give Claude the Phase Unit, a key item which enables back Claude’s Phase Gun, which will now have a MP cost and can be improved!
While you might’ve unlocked the Remaking Super Specialty already, it requires Re-Creation Gems, a special material. Once you talk to Nall upon obtaining the Psynard, you’ll be able to buy it from all Item Shops in Energy Nede.
If you’ve followed all the previous steps that involved Chisato (meeting her at Centropolis and North City, as well finding her business card in the Cave of Crimson Crystals), you’ll find her in the third floor of the City Hall. Talk to her to return her business card, and after some chatting, you’ll have the option to recruit her.
Chisato is mixed fighter, and a very good one. She has access to both melee and long-range Special Arts. Her melee Arts involve her signature Jingu-Style Martial Arts, with strings of punches and kicks that makes even Tekken characters jealous. Her long-range Arts involve various gadgets she somehow carries on herself. She’s arguably one of the best characters in the game thanks to her flexibility, on top of all her Arts dealing a lot of hits.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️If you’re at 8 party members when returning to Chisato, she will not offer to join.
You now have a goal in the story, but since we can fly literally anywhere, there are a couple of fun things we can do before we start going to the Fields:
Tok’s Shop: A Few Fol MoreThis is a secret place in Energy Nede that sells a bunch of rare goodies. Among them is the Magical Rasp, which enables more advanced items to be created with Blacksmithing. This is the only place in the game to obtain it.
The Magical Rasp is a very, VERY expensive item, so it’s recommended to use a Cinderella’s Glass and having Group Appraising maxed out before buying it.
To find the place, fly to the southwest part of Energy Nede. Tok’s shop can be found on a small island sitting between Princebridge and the Field of Might.
[Click on the image to expand]
Located on the eastern continent of Energy Nede, it’s an amusement park where the player can partake in various activities. In order to enter, the player must pay 75 Fol per party member. The attractions in Fun City are:
⭐ Fortune Tellers: located on a house near the information center. You can check various statistics in the game, as well relationship between characters. With the game now giving access to both these information by default, using these Fortune Tellers is essentially obsolete.
⭐ Cooking Master: located on the top right side of Fun City. It’s a rhythm mini-game where you must cook more food before your opponent does. Ideally, it should be done by a character with maxed out Cooking, as well having the Courage Talent maxed out, and having the Keen Kitchen Knife key item (which can be made through the Machinist Item Creation). Winning this minigame rewards the player with rare cooking ingredients.
Accruing enough points in this minigame completes the Challenge Mission that rewards with Ashton’s Ultimate Weapon.
⭐Bunny Race: located at the top section of Fun City, inside the giant bunny-shaped dome. Here you can place bets on which bunny will win the race in order to obtain prizes. By paying 220 Fol to Shige, the Tipster, you can get a hint of who will potentially win the race.
You can Pickpocket the guy in the bunny costume here for the Bunny Shoes, an equipment that increases the character’s movement speed in battle by 100%.
⭐Battle Arena: the highlight of Fun City, located at the top left side. Here you can engage in virtual fights against various enemies for a lot of rewards, which include powerful endgame equipment, as well Combat Skills and Battle Formations. There are three types of battle modes:
- Duel Battle: the player engages on 1v1 fights with each character, from ranks E to A. Upon beating reaching rank A, the character will obtain a powerful exclusive weapon.
- Survival Battle: the player picks a single character to partake on a gauntlet of 50 fights in a row, with ever increasing difficulty. Battles post wave 26 are particularly difficult unless you’re above level 100.
- Group Battle: the player can fight using multiple party members against specific themed battles. Some have special conditions (e.g. only women, only symbologists, etc.). More battles are unlocked as the player progresses through the story.
Located on a small island directly northwest of Fun City, L’Aqua is the headquarters of the Nede Defense Force. There isn’t much to do here, but it’ll be an important place for the story later.
By the entrance, on the right side, you can also find Reel, the Fish Collector we first met in Harley. How she got to Energy Nede is a truly a mystery…
There is also a Unique Spot inside the building.
Located at northwest of North City, in the frigid continent. While this place doesn’t have anything notable, you can pickpocket Yahma the Sentry, found at the inn, for the Wobbly Slime and the Ingredients of Yarma, two very rare ingredients. You can also get exclusive fish at the large well in the middle of town.
Here you can continue the Secret Files sidequest we started at North City, by talking to Professor Parel at the university (at the right side of the bottom floor), to uncover the true origins of the Ten Wise Men. While this doesn’t award any items, it’s has an interesting part of the lore. More on that later.
Once you’re ready and done, let’s start tackling the Fields. While you can do them in any order, it’s usually recommended to start with the Field of Wisdom first since it has the easiest.
Field of Wisdom
Located on a small island directly north of North City. It’s a weird, cube shaped construction.
⭐ Recommended Level: 45 (+55 if on Universe)
Controller
Magic Defender
Rikka
Wizard
- Controllers are a new type of enemy. While not very powerful, they’re able to “attach” themselves to player characters to temporarily control their movements while dealing periodic damage. This can be very dangerous when paired with other types of enemies.
- Magic Defenders are like the other shield knights you’ve fought, but inflated stats and capable of directly blocking frontal attacks. They also take half damage from ALL elements.
- Rikkas are a new type of enemy. It has a shocking attack that has a high chance to inflict paralysis.
- Wizards are a new type of enemy, they’re powerful symbologists that can cast Magnum Tornado, Fohn Wind and Cure All. They take half damage from all elements except Light and Darkness. They’re are also able to phase out of combat and become invulnerable, as well using a mid-range fireball attack. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Suppress Spell Aura, which disables the use of symbology by the player party. They can also drop Mithril.
This is arguably one of the annoying dungeon in the game due to its teleporting pad puzzle, especially if you’re hunting down all treasure chests. You’re tasked with finding 6 devices spread across the dungeon in order to access the final room.
You traverse by stepping on red or yellow teleport pads; the catch is that once you step on a teleport of one color, you can’t step on another teleport of the same color, only of the opposite color (e.g. stepping on a yellow pad means you can only step on a red pad).
For this part I recommend checking Quick Guides‘ video to quick traverse through the dungeon. The treasure chests are a pain in the ass to get, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhJ1MiEzMc4
After you find all the 6 devices, fast travel back to the save point at the entrance, enter the mirror in the middle, and go to to the blue teleporter pad on south.
A custscene will play, and you’ll fight the…
My recommendation is to is to change the group strategy (done by pressing Square on PlayStation, X on Xbox or Y on Switch) and set it to “Focus your attacks!” so the party members AI attack the same target you’re attacking.
This fight is fundamentally simple, but can get complicated if the party AI acts dumb. All enemies are completely stationary and will only retaliate if directly attacked.
The way this battle work is that the Boxes will periodically throw items at the Guard Hand, which enables its abilities.
The Guard Hand takes half damage from Fire, Water and Earth, and it’s the only boss that has an actual offensive capability:
- Flame Bomber: launches a single ball of fire in an arc towards a single target. Provided by the bomb-shaped item.
- Flamethrower: shoots a stream of fire in front of it, covering average range. Provided by the gun-shaped item.
- Hyper Beam: releases a massive purple laser that covers the entire length of the screen. Provided by the gun-shaped item.
- Repair Protocol: heal itself for 25% of its max HP. Provided by the potion-shaped item.
Make sure to manually move your backline fighters (i.e. symbologists) on the top or bottom edges of the screen to avoid the Hyper Beam.
The Force Box takes half damage from Fire. The Magic Boxes absorb Fire. The Guard Box takes double damage versus Fire. They have no real differences other than that and will all provide the same types of items to the Guard Hand.
Ideally you should leave that boss for last and focus on the Boxes, since they can provide the boss with a healing ability. Once all Boxes are destroyed, the Guard Hand will be completely harmless.
Once you defeat the boss, some cutscenes will play, which will differ depending on the protagonist, as it’ll show memories from their own past. After that, you’ll get the Orb of Wisdom.
Time to move to the next Field. You have two choices, either the Field of Might or Field of Courage, since they have the same difficulty and types of enemies. Mayor Nall always recommends the Field of Might as the second, though.
Field of Might
Located on the northwest of Centropolis, in the cold mountains.
⭐ Recommended Level: 50 (+60 if on Universe)
Athul Athul
Dark Crusader
Insane Lord
Ghast
Yeti
- Athul Athuls are like the typical Armored Knights, but they wield spears. They attack by either stabbing the player or hurling their spears. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the HP Regen Aura, which periodically recovers a portion of the whole enemy party’s HP.
- Dark Crusaders and Insane Lords are like the typical Armored Knights, but with bloated stats. They’re often fought alongside Athul Athuls.
- Ghasts are exactly like the ogre enemies you’ve been fighting, but they have a chance to apply Paralysis with any of their attacks. They’re incredibly dangerous when fought alongside other enemies. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Spells Suppressed Aura, which prevents symbology.
- Yetis are similar to the Ghark-type enemies. They hit incredibly hard and deal high knockback. Their attacks have a high chance to daze.
The whole mechanic of this dungeon revolves around trap rooms where the player must clear all Enemy Icons, which will unlock the rooms (these battles cannot be escaped). Players will mostly fight Yetis and Ghasts in these rooms, but other enemy types will appear. While there aren’t many enemy types in this dungeon, they come in large groups and are quite dangerous.
If you didn’t get one from the Goodie Boxes earlier, you’ll find a Sword of Marvels+ here (with the Poison Factor).
At the top are of the map, near the Unique Spot, the player can go to the edge of the map and they’ll get a prompt to shout. If they do, it’ll trigger an avalanche, and the player will have around 15 seconds to reach the nearest door, otherwise they’ll be dragged back to the entrance.
Once you reach the recovery save point, walking towards the bridge will trigger an encounter with…
This boss hits pretty darn hard. He can pretty much one shot party members even on Earth difficulty below level 60. It takes half damage from Fire, Water and Earth, but takes double damage from Darkness.
The best (and safest) way to deal with this boss is to have a solo frontline (controlled by the player) to bait the boss while the rest of party goes backline. It has multiple phases that change depending on certain HP thresholds, which changes his attack patterns.
Phase 1
- Giant Punch: the boss delivers a powerful punch that knocks characters away. Blinks red before using.
- Double Giant Punch: the boss punches forward, then behind itself. Blinks red before using it.
- Rocket Launcher: used at mid-long range. The Guardian will launch a slow moving rocket that explodes on contact.
Phase 2Once the Guardian reaches around 55% HP, both arms will be destroyed, and it’ll attack with electric currents and won’t use any of the attacks from Phase 1.
- Electric Sphere: creates a large ball of lightning in front of it.
- Double Electric Sphere: creates two large balls of lighting to each side of itself.
Phase 3Once the Guardian reaches around 20% HP, it’ll use Final Form, which causes it to explode, with only its torso remaining. The boss will be stationary and won’t use any of the attacks from the previous phases. Your casters and long-range fighters will truly shine here.
- Eye Laser: the boss shoots a thin laser beam from its head.
- Extermination: the boss shoots a radial laser beam around it that explodes.
⭐ Claude ideally should be player controlled; if not, slap him with the Phase Gun or Air Slash.
⭐ Rena focus on healing, as usual. She should cast Delay on the Guardian right off the bat to cripple his already slow mobility. Avoid Crush, Gravity Crush and Tractor Beam since the boss resists Earth. Try to make her use Power Up on the fighters.
⭐ If you have Celine, avoid Fire spells. Lunar Light works amazingly well here.
⭐ If you have Ashton, he should be controlled as he lacks a global range Art (until the post-game). You can have the AI with Piercing Blades, however.
⭐ If you have Precis, Forcefield all the way. She can actually solo this boss with it.
⭐ If you have Welch, she should be player controlled. Rapid Flick from a safe distance until the boss’ Shield is broken, then Slappity Slap spam.
⭐ If you have Opera, Tracking Plasma, as usual, is king, but Hyperlauncher is great too. Even though you can’t crowd control this boss, Gravitational Sphere deals Darkness damage, which the boss is weak against.
⭐ If you have Bowman, he should be player controlled as he lacks a long-range global Art. Stick with Poison Pellets, since the boss will resist the damage from Inferno Pellets, as it’s Fire.
⭐ If you have Ernest, Bed of Roses is all he needs.
⭐ If you have Dias, Air Slash reigns supreme.
⭐ If you have Leon, cast Delay on the Guardian, then spam Ravenous Fiends, which deals Darkness damage is great to shred the boss’ Shields. He can also cast Power Up on the fighters.
⭐ If you have Noel, have him on healing duty, though Tetanus Wind is actually pretty good at breaking Shields.
⭐ If you have Chisato, she can use 100,000 Volts from anywhere on the stage, but it deals the most damage when used at point-blank range.
After defeating the boss, more flashback scenes will play, and you’ll get the Orb of Might. Now we go to the Field of Courage.
Field of Courage
Located on the southeast of Centropolis, on an isolated island.
⭐ Recommended Level: 50 (+60 if on Universe)
Dark Crusader
Fenrir Beast
Otiph
Rikke
This dungeon is simple and very straightforward; the whole of it revolves around only walking forward (or in this case, up). If you turn back (down), you’ll be inflicted with an out-of-combat poison effect that periodically saps around 6% HP from the ENTIRE party (even those in the reserve party). It lasts until you continue going back up.
- Dark Crusaders from the Field of Might show up here too, and may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Movement Speed Down Aura.
- Fenrir Beasts are like your good and old Salamanders, but their breath attack has a high chance to inflict the Stone ailment. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the MP Sap Aura, which periodically ticks down the whole party’s max MP by around 5%.
- Otiphs are like the Gerels, and can inflict both the Poison and Stone ailments with their acid spit. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK + Speed Up Aura.
- Rikkes are exactly like the Rikkas you’ve fought previously, but with inflated stats. They can inflict Paralyze with their attacks.
Around halfway through the dungeon, you’ll find a teleporter that brings you back to the entrance, as well a statue sitting on a large pedestal, the Idol of the Warrior.
Once you reach the very end of the dungeon, near the other teleport and the recovery save point, place the Idol of the Warrior on the empty pedestal, and you’ll fight…
The exact same as fought in the Field of Might. Use the same strategy.
After defeating the boss, more scenes will play, and you’ll get the Orb of Courage. Now we go to the Field of Love, the final test.
Field of Love
Located directly south of L’Aqua, on a floating island high in the sky.
⭐ Recommended Level: 60 (+65 if on Universe)
Dark Water
Joypad
Magic Defender
Master Wizard
Niquia HG
Rikki
- Dark Waters are rare enemies only found through fishing. Their attacks are very dangerous as it can inflict Paralysis, Poison and Stone.
- Joypads are like the Controllers fought previously. They can also do the same thing where they “link” themselves to a character and the player loses control. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK + Speed Up Aura.
- Magic Defenders are exactly like the ones you’ve fought at the Field of Wisdom. They take half damage from all elements.
- Master Wizards are stronger variants of the Wizards from Field of Wisdom. They can cast Shadow Flare and Cure All, and take half damage from all elements but Earth and Light. Their normal attacks are very dangerous as it can inflict Paralysis, Poison and Stone. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Spells Supressed Aura. They can also drop Faerie Rings, but at this point you should have plenty already.
- Niquia HG are small, flying drones that are pretty much harmless. They’re incredibly fast and a bit hard to pin down the fighters (unless you’re Opera).
- Rikkis are yet another slightly stronger color swap of the Rikkas. Just inflated stats. They can inflict Paralyze with their attacks.
The whole mechanic of this dungeon revolves around growing flowers when crossing certain bridges. You have to go around and fill specific portions of the map in order to open more paths. If you somehow get tangled, you can return to the area with the stone tablet and activate the device near it, which will reset the flowers.
As you unlock the paths, the water level will slowly rise. You can actually catch exclusive fish here.
I recommend checking Quick Guides‘ video for an easier traversal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjRcUuBQjTc
Once you unlock all paths, enter the dome through the middle path, north of the recovery save point and you’ll fight the boss:
Lavarre by herself isn’t very dangerous; the problem is that she comes with a Movement Speed Down Aura, and is fought alongside two Sunbreakers (the same monster type as the Halfynxes from the Hoffman Ruins).
Despite her appearance, Lavarre has a small, but dangerous arsenal:
- Light Pillar: Lavarre raises her hands, and after around 2 seconds, she summons a massive pillar of light that deals multiple hits. This is a very dangerous attack that can easily kill characters if they take all the hits. Despite its appearance, it actually counts as a physical attack and can be parried if you have high AVD.
- Spinning Whip: a close range attack where Lavarre does a spin attack that hits characters around her. Not very powerful but has a decent range. She blinks red before using it.
- Healing Prayer: Lavarre quickly heals herself for 40% of her max HP.
The Sunbreakers can cast Star Flare and Cure All. Having equipment that has resistance against Light will prevent their Star Flare from dealing too much damage. Make sure they don’t go after the symbologists. If you can inflict them with Silence, they’ll be pretty much harmless for the rest of the fight.
Ideally, you should focus on Lavarre so she doesn’t use her Light Pillar, which can be far more dangerous than the Star Flares, on top of the Speed Down Aura being absolutely crippling. Lavarre herself is weak against Light, so capitalize on that.
After defeating the boss, more scenes will play, and you’ll get the Orb of Love. Now you’re tasked to report back to Nall in Centropolis. There isn’t anything extra to do at the moment, so just go to him.
The First Strike to the Ten Wise Men
once you talk to Nall, you won’t be able to fast travel for a little while (not very long). If you wanna take care of unfinished business before doing so, do it now.
Once you’re ready, return to Nall in City Hall of Centropolis. He’ll congratulate the party, and immediately start organizing the assault to strike Phynal, the headquarters of the Ten Wise Men.
Following the various scenes, you’ll find yourself at the Phynal Pier. You can actually catch new fish here. In the world map, the enemies you can fight are all found on the Fields. While you can’t use the Psynard here, you can use Bunny Call. Feel free to explore.
Once you’re ready, go to the large tower directly east of the pier. This is Phynal, the final dungeon in the game.
After you get past the save point, various crucial scenes will play. Eventually, one of the Wise Men, Zaphkiel, will send monsters.
- Takikodus are large robots armed with machine guns. They can use a close range stomp attack, but their most dangerous move is Dance of Bullets, which can easily kill characters in seconds. They have high AVD.
- Mirre 32 are small and nimble robots which are not very dangerous by themselves, but have high AVD and can fire rockets.
After fighting these enemies twice, Zaphkiel himself will take matters into his own hands.
This fight is scripted, much like the one against Metatron atop of Eluria Tower, except this one you have to lose rather than waiting for a time-out. Zaphkiel is completely immune to all damage.
After the crushing defeat, Mariana will stay behind to buy time for the party and Mayor Nall to retreat.
Back in Centropolis, Nall will say that the party is as strong as the Wise Men, but they lack the proper tools to fight them. He’ll then ask the player to meet him at Armlock, a town located the southeastern part of Energy Nede.
Armlock and the Symbological Weapons Lab
As soon as you arrive in Armlock, you’ll be greeted by Nall’s informant. If you didn’t come here before, feel free to explore around. Once ready, go to the north side of town to meet Nall before a large door.
After the scenes play, you’ll be at the remains of the Symbological Weapons Lab, follow the path until you reach Nall deep inside the lab.
While this place is pretty linear, there is a Unique Spot here at the forked path leading up. This will be your ONLY chance to get this Unique Spot as you won’t be able to return to this place later.
Once you’re ready, go meet with Nall in the central area of the Weapons Lab for some very important scenes. Things will differ a bit whether you’re playing as Claude or Rena, but regardless of who’s the protagonist, you’ll have to go all the way back to the entrance. After the scenes play, you’ll automatically leave this place.
You’ll be back to Armlock. Once in control go back to the entrance and enter the house to the right of the save point. You’ll meet Dr. Mirage, a renowned scientist in Nede and a weaponsmith.
Mirage will decode the files Nall and the party got at the Weapons Lab, and extract blueprints for weapons that can be used to destroy the Ten Wise Men. However, to do so, she requires a rare mineral called LEA Metal, which is only found on Minae Cave, our next destination. Nall will give you the Minae Cave Key Card, which unlocks the sealed door inside it.
The Minae Cave is located, conveniently, directly west of Armlock, sitting on a small island.
Minae Cave
This dungeon is pretty simple to navigate. More or less like the Krosse Cave. The mechanic here is that the Barchians (the weird stone creatures on the walls of the dungeon) will periodically flash their “eyes”. If the player is caught in their field of view, they’ll emit a cry that will alert ALL nearby Enemy Symbols to rush towards the player, even if Scout is turned on to “Avoid Enemies” and if the icons are green.
Enemies alerted by the Barchians will move much faster than normal. If there are no enemies near the Barchians, they will spawn.
⭐ Recommended Level: 65 (+70 if on Universe)
Dark Water
Orange Balloons
Sunbreaker
- Dark Waters are the same as the ones fought in the Field of Love when caught through fishing. They can inflict Poison, Paralysis and Stone through any of their attacks.
- Orange Balloons are like the other Balloon enemies you’ve fought in the past. Their only attack is a draining MP from the player characters, and are completely harmless otherwise. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the HP Sap Aura.
- Sunbreakers are the same as the ones fought alongside Lavarre in the Field of Love. They can cast Star Flare and Cure All.
This is actually a pretty good place to grind for levels, since enemies are not particularly dangerous and you can cause them to infinitely spawn through the Barchians; and this can be combined with the Scout to make enemies spawn like crazy.
Once you reach the recovery save point at the top right section, get ready to fight a Barchian… A BIG ONE.
This boss only has a single attack, called Pain Release, which is used when the Barchian takes a total damage that equals to around 10% of his maximum HP. It hits the ENTIRE screen and hurts LIKE HELL, easily dealing over 8.000 damage in the Universe difficulty. This attack deals physical damage can actually be blocked if you have high AVD.
If you have anyone with the Coercion Factor (inflicts a random stat debuff when breaking an enemy) you can actually cripple the Barchian if it lands on the ATK -50% debuff. You can also have your Symbologists cast Guard to increase DEF by 50% for further mitigate the damage taken.
After defeating the Barchian and getting the LEA Metal, return back to Mirage in Armlock.
Armlock and Fun City Training
You’re tasked to go to Fun City, as the Mayor has prepared a VR Training against holographic versions of the Ten Wise Men in the Battle Arena.
After the cutscenes play, Mirage will appear with the antimatter weapons created from the LEA Metal through the blueprints found in the Symbological Weapon Lab:
- Claude gets the Godslayer, his second best weapon in the main game after the Aeterna. It grants the same effect of the Faerie Ring: 50% MP cost reduction (they don’t stack).
- Rena gets the Knuckles of Hope, her best weapon in the main game, which also grants 50% MP cost reduction.
- While other party members don’t get new weapons, Mirage gives the party a key-item called Void Matter, which emits antimatter field so the party can damage the Ten Wise Men.
After that, you have the option to continue training (in simulated battles against normal enemies found all across Nede) or choose to visit Mayor Nall, which progress in the story. The enemies you can fight are:
- Athul Athul
- Controller
- Dark Crusader
- Ghast
- Magic Defender
- Rikka
- Takikodus
- Wizard
Once you’re ready, save in the nearby save point, talk to the nearby NPC and select to visit the Mayor. Some scenes will play, with three of the Wise Men, Metatron, Jophiel and Zaphkiel, will appear.
Metatron goes after Mirage in Armlock, Jophiel starts causing havoc in Fun City, and Zaphkiel comes back for Round 2!
This time you can actually deal damage. Zaphkiel is quite sturdy as he takes half damage from all Fire, Earth and Darkness. He also uses the following attacks:
- Overhead Swing: his normal attack, where he slashes forward above his head. Has a high chance to daze opponents.
- Rising Swing: his normal attack, he sweeps his sword upwards, which can slightly lift characters hit.
- Slaying Crush: Special Art. A combination of Overhead Swing and Rising Swing. Very fast and VERY dangerous.
- Cruel Bludgeon: Special Art. A more powerful version of Slaying Crush, where he delivers a third attack, slamming his sword on the ground and causing a small explosion.
Despite his raw power, he can be easily kited around as he lacks any long range attacks. If you manage to overwhelm and break him repeatedly, there’ll barely be any resistance.
After defeating Zaphkiel, you’ll be back in the main hall of the Battle Arena, go outside and you’ll see Jophiel killing civilians. He’ll then engage against the party.
He’s the polar opposite of Zaphkiel, and focuses on long ranged attacks. He has no elemental weaknesses, and attacks through:
- Solar Sphere: raises his hand and conjures a ball of energy that he launches towards the player.
- Shotgun Grapple: his only close range attack. Jophiel moves towards the player and attempts to grab them; if succeeded, he’ll shoot the character at point-blank range with his arm-cannon, launching a small burst of energy.
- Energy Rain: Special Art. Points both hands down and showers a character with various energy blasts, dealing high damage. Looks similar to Lavarre’s Light Pillar.
Jophiel is actually much easier than Zaphkiel. He can be overwhelmed even easier. However, ALL his attacks have a chance to inflict Stone.
With Zaphkiel and Jophiel gone, leave Fun City and fast travel to Armlock to save Mirage.
As soon as you arrive in town and approach Mirage’s house, you’ll face Metatron for the comeback.
Like Zaphkiel, he can be damaged now. He resists ALL elements except for Darkness, and attacks with:
- Sword Strike: a single swing of his sword.
- Shield Slam: bashes his massive shield forward, releasing an energy blast.
- Meta Block: Special Art. Uses his shield to automatically reduce damage taken by half when attacked consecutively.
- Metaguard: Special Art. Surrounds himself with blue energy barrier that negates ALL damage taken. Lasts for around 10 seconds.
Out of the three Wise Men you’ve fought so far, Metatron is arguably the most dangerous and sturdy. While his damage is not high as Zaphkiel’s, he can still flatline characters with a few swings, which, packed with his packed DEF and AVD allows him to easily interrupt attacks.
I strongly recommend facing him with a team of single frontline and three backline because the AI isn’t very smart and will continue to attack him even when he has Metaguard up.
After defeating Metatron, you’ll find yourself in Mirage’s house. After the scenes, attempt to leave Armlock and a messenger from Nall will appear, saying the Mayor is requesting the party’s presence in L’Aqua.
You can either go to L’Aqua or we can do some few optional stuff first.
Optional: Cleaning Up
Go to Fun City, enter Private Mode, then walk towards the Battle Arena. Mariana will appear. After some exchange, she’ll collapse, and the player character will take her to the Inn in Fun City.
Once in control, return back to her room and talk to her; she’ll give you a Light Cross. Talk to her again and she’ll give you a Ring of Lightspeed. This ring functions like the Meteor Ring, but adds 2 extra hits as opposed to one; these rings DON’T STACK.
This Private Action only becomes available after defeating Metatron in Armlock, and will become unavailable if the player goes to L’Aqua and talk to Nall.
Clearing the Duel Battles, especially Rank A, allows you to get a couple of really good weapons; while not as powerful as the ones you can craft with Customization, they’re still quite good.
Completing all 50 waves on Survival Battle gives you the Overload Combat Skill, which grants a chance to increasing stun time depending on how many times you’ve broken the enemy’s Shields.
The meat and bones of the Battle Arena are the Group Battles, which can reward some pretty good equipment. Among them, you can get the Symbol of Antiquity (prevents all status ailments), the Deadly Edge (used to craft the Aeterna, in case you missed it in the Lacuer Tournament) and the Square Shift 2 Formation (grants lots of EXP bonuses, which makes grinding for levels a cakewalk).
This accessory essentially turns any weapon into the Aeterna, causing it to launch stars during normal attacks. Conventionally, you can only get this accessory by tackling on the post-game dungeon, but in the Remake there is a challenge that requires the player to deal 99.999 damage in a single hit.
This can be easily achieved by:
- Maxing out the “Surpass Damage Limit” Combat Skill.
- Getting into a fight that features an enemy that has more than 200.000 HP.
- Using a Megabomb (made through the Machinist Item Creation).
The way the Megabomb works is that it will always deal fixed percentage damage based on half the enemy’s current HP, up to, you guessed, 99.999.
The best place to do it is at the Fun City Battle Arena, while in Universe Mode; the Group Battle “Jumpin’ Gelatin Infestation” in particular features Clear Gelatins, which have 230.000 HP, and are mostly harmless.
As aforementioned, in North City you can start a secret sidequest to uncover the true origins of the Ten Wise Men. However, it can only be completed after visiting the Symbological Research Lab with Nall.
While this sidequest doesn’t award any items, it’s covers an interesting part of the lore.
- Go to North City’s Nedepedia, talk to the Operator, and attempt to access the Classified Information. If you’ve been following the guide you already did it.
- Go to Princebridge, and talk to Professor Parel, found in the university, at the right side of the bottom floor. If you’ve been following the guide you already did it.
- Talk to Professor Leifath, also found in the Princebridge University, on the second floor, in the far left room.
- Go to Centropolis and talk to Chisato in her office at the City Hall. If you’ve recruited her, you’ll have to enter Private Action Mode. This interaction only becomes available after visiting the Symbological Research Lab with Nall.
- Leave Centropolis and re-enter it, then talk to Chisato again in the same spot.
- Go back to North City’s Nedepedia, talk to the Operator, and attempt to access the Classified Information once again.
- Return to Princebridge University and talk to Professor Leifath again. Read all the files until he says the final ones are blocked.
- While still in Princebridge, visit Professor Parel in his room, who’ll give you a decrypting device, the Pandora’s Box.
- Go back to Leifath and give him the Pandora’s Box.
- Leave Princebridge and wait at least 5 minutes, then return to Leitfah again and you’ll be able to access the final files that uncover the true nature of the Ten Wise Men.
Preparations for the Final Battle
⭐Armor:
Reflecting Plate (Blacksmith: Orichalcum + Magical Rasp)
Dueling Suit (Blacksmith: Damascus + Magical Rasp)
⭐Shield:
Star Guard (Blacksmith: Meteorite)
Shield of Athena (Blacksmith: Mithril + Magical Rasp)
⭐Helmet:
Odin Helmet (Blacksmith: Orichalcum + Magical Rasp)
Dueling Helmet (Blacksmith: Damascus + Magical Rasp)
⭐Boots:
Bunny Shoes (Pickpocket in Fun City; Bunny Race in Fun City)
Star Greaves (Blacksmith: Meteorite)
⭐Accessories:
Berserker Ring (Crafting with Claude using a Ruby)
Ring of Might (Crafting with Claude using a Rainbow Diamond)
Chain of Might (Craft with Claude using a Green Beryl)
⭐Armor:
Reflecting Plate (Blacksmith: Orichalcum + Magical Rasp)
Sylvan Mail (Blacksmith: Mithril + Magical Rasp)
⭐Shield:
Star Guard (Blacksmith: Meteorite)
Hand of Kali (Blacksmith: Moonstone + Magical Rasp)
Shield of Algol (Blacksmith: Damascus + Magical Rasp)
⭐Helmet:
Dueling Helmet (Blacksmith: Moonstone)
Sylvan Helmet (Blacksmith: Meteorite + Magical Rasp)
⭐Boots:
Bunny Shoes (Pickpocket in Fun City; Bunny Race in Fun City)
Star Greaves (Blacksmith: Meteorite)
Sylvan Boots (Blacksmith: Meteorite + Magical Rasp)
⭐Accessories:
Berserker Ring (Crafting with Claude using a Ruby)
Earring of Frenzy (Craft with Claude using a Green Beryl)*
Ring of Might (Crafting with Claude using a Rainbow Diamond)
*Cannot be equipped by Precis
⭐Armor:
Robe of Deception (Blacksmith: Rune Metal + Magical Rasp)*
Eagle Shawl (Blacksmith: Rune Metal + Magical Rasp)*
Robe of Ishtar (Blacksmith: Moonstone + Magical Rasp)*
Mithril Coat (Blacksmith: Mithril)
⭐Shield:
Rune Buckler (Blacksmith: Rune Metal)
Hand of Kali (Blacksmith: Moonstone + Magical Rasp)*
⭐Helmet:
Tirara of Isis (Blacksmith: Moonstone + Magical Rasp)*
Dueling Helmet (Blacksmith: Damascus + Magical Rasp)**
⭐Boots:
Bunny Shoes (Pickpocket in Fun City; Bunny Race in Fun City)
Witch’s Boots (Blacksmith: Moonstone)*
Rune Shoes (Blacksmith: Rune Metal)
Mithril Greaves (Blacksmith: Mithril)**
⭐Accessories:
Mist Insignia (Crafting with Rena using Philosopher Stone)
*Cannot be equipped by Noel
**Noel only
These are the factors I recommend:
- HP Drain on Fighter Weapons (converts 20% of damage inflicted to HP)
- Reckless Magic on Symbologist Weapons (spend 15% more MP in exchange for INT increasing by 30%)
(WIP for weapons)
Phynal: Entrance
Unlike other JRPGs, this game has no “point of no return”. You can actually teleport out of Phynal at any given time to return to Nede.
⭐ Recommended Level: 70 (+80 if on Universe)
As soon as you approach the main hall, get ready for one of the hardest battles in the entire game.
You’ll fight three Wise Men at once, and they’re all deadly and can wipe the party easily with powerful coordinated attacks and deadly symbology.
Zadkiel can teleport around the battlefield, and has a terrible habit of interrupting symbologists. He attacks with:
- Delay: decreases movement speed of a single target by 50%.
- Mental Drain: deals damage while reducing the target’s MP.
- Air Slash: Zadkiel launches a green shockwave that moves towards a target. It fundamentally works like Claude and Dias’ Air Slash.
- Sonic Wave: Zadkiel teleports near a player character and use his fork-like weapon to launch a close range twirl of energy.
Camael moves slowly, and is weak to Fire, Earth and Darkness. He attacks with:
- Delay: decreases movement speed of a single target by 50%.
- Noah Symbology. Summons a massive wave that deals Water damage on all characters.
- Eye Beam: Camael channels a thin laser from the eyes on his palms to deal constant damage quickly. Has a chance to inflict Poison and Paralysis.
- Death Ray: Camael release a large laser from his visor; slower than Eye Beam, but deals more damage per hit. Has a chance to inflict Poison and Paralysis.
Raphael can also teleport like Zadkiel, and attacks with:
- Cure All: restores the HP all allies.
- Thunder Cloud: full screen Wind element spell.
- Waving Blast: Raphael teleports near a random player character and emits a radial shockwave around him. Covers a massive range.
- Negative Gate: Raphael teleports near a random player and open his robe, revealing a black hole; a hand emerges from it and attempts to grab the character; if successful, they’ll be temporarily out of combat (similarly to the Visseya’s bosses fought in the Sacred Grounds of Linga). Dealing enough damage to Raphael causes him to “spit out” characters.
The very first thing you’ll want to do is cast Reflection with Celine or Rena, in order to mitigate the magic damage.
Focus on Camael first. He’s the slowest of the three bosses and has the least HP, but his Eye Beam’s ability to inflict crippling status effects makes him dangerous.
Next deal with Raphael first as his Waving Blast is EXTREMELY dangerous since it covers a massive radius and deals multiple hits.
While Zadkiel is potentially the deadliest of the three since his Air Slash deals a lot of damage, he doesn’t have any truly dangerous attacks like the other two.
Ideally you should isolate the bosses while keeping an eye on your backline.
⭐Claude can keep the offensive and defensive with Sword of Life, which makes him quite resilient. He can be a main damage dealer with the likes of Meteor Palms to rack up a lot of damage fast. If you don’t have him equipped with the Bunny Shoes, Helmetbreak is great to give him properly mobility to zap around and rescue the backline.
⭐Rena, as usual, focuses on healing and buffing the party. As aforementioned, she should cast Reflection as soon as possible, and then Angeal Feather. Star Flare is great to keep all bosses in check, but Gravity Crush is pretty good to help your fighters cripple the bosses Shields.
⭐If you have Celine, she should provide support with buffs and spam Southern Cross non-stop.
⭐If you have Ashton, he can keep the bosses at bay with Hurricane Slash and Dragon’s Breath. As usual, Piercing Blades offer high Shield-breaking potential at point-blank range.
⭐If you have Precis, she can serve as a backline spammer with Forcefield can’t go wrong. If you want her to take a more offensive presence in the frontlines, Frankenrobbie and Hammer Slammer are great to focus fire.
⭐If you have Welch, Slappity Slap all the way to melt the bosses. You can also use Mythril Fist (only unlockable through a Private Action with Precis in Armlock) to globally hit all bosses and help with crowd control.
⭐If you have Opera, Healing Star is excellent as an emergency healing. Even though Gravitational Sphere won’t vortex the bosses, it can deal formidable Shield damage if they’re close to each other thanks to its massive radius. Hyperlauncher is amazing here if she has frontline to cover for her.
⭐If you have Bowman, just spam dem Pellets. It’s what he does best. You can also use Neck Snap to instantly teleport to help the backline if necessary. Tornado Fist is actually not bad if the bosses are close to each other.
⭐If you have Leon, try hitting them with Acid Rain to cripple their DEF, and then either spam either Ravenous Fiends of Demon’s Gate.
⭐If you have Ernest, you can either have him as a backline spammer with Bed of Roses, or have him take the frontlines with Thousand Tails + Sonic Whip for some really devastating Shield damage.
⭐If you have Dias, Phoenix Blast + Full Moon Slash is actually amazing here if you get the chance to clutter the bosses together. Otherwise, you can have him as a single target specialist with Gale Thrust + Deadly Illusion.
⭐If you have Noel, he won’t have his most powerful spells until past level 80. He can just provide healing and use Tetanus Wind for Shield pressure.
⭐If you have Chisato, she’s exceptional with 100,000 Volts for amazing crowd control. You can also give her Tear Gas or Burning Cards to apply some pressure on Shields.
After dealing with the three Wise Men, go back and save, then proceed to the first floor of Phynal.
Phynal: Floors 1 to 5
Each floor will feature the same enemies, in addition to new ones.
Erikodus
Mirre 64
Niquia LM
Quidonya
River Slug
Takikodus
- Erikodus and Takikodus are large robots armed with machine guns. They can use a close range stomp attack and fire their guns. Takikodus can also use a move called Dance of Bullets, which can easily kill characters in seconds. They have high AVD. Takikodus have higher HP.
- Niquia LM are like the Nique HG from the Field of Love. They appear in fights featuring Erikodus, Takikodus and Mirre 64, and can use a move called Update to attach themselves to those enemies. If attaching to the Erikodus and Takikodus, they enable the use of rocket launching attacks. If attaching to the Mirre 64, their rocket attack will now be spread, and they’ll also gain a close range electric attack.
- Mirre 64 are like Mirre 32 fought before, they are small and nimble robots which are not very dangerous by themselves, but have high AVD and can fire rockets. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK + SPD Up Aura.
- Quidonya and River Slug are exactly like the Visseyas fought in the Sacred Grounds of Linga. but with inflated stats. Much like those bosses, they can inhale player characters, and if the whole party is swallowed, it’s game over. River Slugs have more HP.
The first floor is very straightforward, divided in three paths. Take the path to the left first and get the treasures on the way, then to the elevator to a section of the Second Floor that has a dead-end with more treasures.
Backtrack to the first floor and this time take the path to the right. Again, pillaging all chests, and taking the other elevator which leads to another section of the Second Floor, the right path to progress in the dungeon.
Phantom Phoenix
- The Phantom Phoenix is a beefed version of Zinae from Lasgus Mountain, but can cast Shadow Flare and Delay. If his HP is below 50%, he’ll also cast Cure All on itself.
On the right side of second floor, where you came from, the door will be closed. Continue to the left. The door in the middle will be have a red lock, but we’ll unlock it soon. Continue all the way to the other side on the left, where you’ll find a teleporter to the third floor.
Dark Crusader
Master Wizard
Medusa Lizard
Succubus
- The Dark Crusaders from Field of Might return, exact the same way.
- The Master Wizards from Field of Love return, with the exact same spells. They exclusively appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Spells Supressed Aura.
- The Medusa Lizards are like the good and old Salamanders. They have a lot of HP and their attacks can inflict Paralysis.
- Succubus are exactly like the XXX fought in the Mountain Palace if you recruited Ashton. They’re completely immune to all physical damage (but can be damage through weapons or Arts with elements attached) until they’re the broken. They attack by using spinning attacks, claw swipes, throwing explosive bats, and can cast Blood Scylla to recover HP. They only appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the SPD Down Aura. If you’re using all Fighter party at this point, make sure to have some symbologies from the Assault Action or use the paintings from Art to cast spells.
From the teleporter, go north, to a yellow-marked locked door we’ll unlock soon. Go to the left side to get some treasure, then return back to the intersection and continue to the right. You’ll reach another intersection. Go to the right again to get the treasure, then back and follow up to the next floor.
Go to the left side to get the treasure, then continue to the right. You’ll see a terminal. Interact with it and select BLUE, and the door to the north will open. Take the treasure.
Return to the terminal and select RED this time. Now return all the way back to that red-locked door on the middle portion of the second floor I mentioned earlier, and get the treasure.
Now go all the way back to the terminal on the fourth and select YELLOW. Return to the yellow-locked door on the third floor to continue to the next portion of the dungeon.
You’ll be in another portion of the fourth floor now. Go to the right and you’ll find a different terminal. Select RED, the go back and all the way to the left for the unlocked door and the elevator to the next floor.
Continue the path to reach a save point. You can unlock an alternate path all the way to the right, which nets you some treasures, by interacting the the blue terminal.
Anyway, once you’re ready, save and continue up to fight…
While this fight is against two Wise Men instead of three like before, it’s still very challenging. The bosses are sturdy and have a variety of powerful attacks.
Haniel is primarily a support that helps enable Michael through spells. He has no elemental resistances nor weaknesses.
- Giga Blast: approaches a character at mid-range and shoots a large laser from a device on his wrist. Has a chance to inflict Poison.
- Rocket Launcher: approaches a character at mid-range and shoots a homing rocket from a device on his wrist that chases the target. Has a chance to inflict Poison and Stone.
- Mental Drain: Symbology. Deals damage while reducing the target’s MP.
- Blood Scylla: Symbology. Deals damage while recovering own HP.
- Tractor Beam: Symbology. Creates a gravitational field around the target that knocks them with incredible force, dealing Earth damage.
- Mind Blast: Symbology. Haniel’s signature move. Channels a massive energy beam that covers the entire screen length, dealing multiple hits. It deals both HP and MP damage. This spell charges nearly instantly and cannot be interrupted.
Michael is incredibly resilient. He absorbs Fire, is immune to Wind, Earth and Light, takes half damage from Darkness, but is weak to Water. All of Michael’s attacks deal Fire damage.
- Burning Punch: a quick swing with fists enveloped by flames.
- Fiery: a roundhouse with his leg enveloped by flames. Usually used right after Burning Punch.
- Eruption: Symbology. Deals heavy Fire damage in a small area, dealing multiple hits.
- Explode: Symbology. Deals heavy Fire damage in a large area.
- Spicule: Symbology. Micheal’s signature move. Deals MASSIVE Fire damage on all player characters. This spell charges nearly instantly and cannot be interrupted.
- Cure ALl: recovers the HP of all allies.
This fight can be incredibly brutal if you’re unprepared. Equipping armor and / or accessories that reduce Fire damage to mitigate the damage from Michael’s attacks is key.
While Haniel doesn’t deal as much damage as Michael, his Giga Blast covers a large range and can inflict Stone, so it’s important to equip armor or accessories that negate it, such as the Soul Jacket or Amulet of Flexibility.
Ideally, you’ll want have one of the fighters focus on Haniel while the rest of the group bombards Michael. The Symbologists in general are really terrible in this fight since most elemental attacks save for Water are completely useless against Michael; Leon can put some pressure by spamming Noah, though.
Once you defeat the duo, continue to next floor.
Phynal: Floors 6 to 9
This floor has a massive puzzle revolving around the colored terminal puzzle. You select a color matching the doors, and your goal is to open the door at the top section to progress to the seventh floor. There are a couple of treasures you can get here.
I recommend following the video by “Quick Guides”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4_xCJqRcts
After activating the final switch on north and getting all colors on the terminal, the puzzle will be completed (you’ll get a sound effect as confirmation) and the teleporter to the next floor will be available.
This floor has no puzzles. From the intersection, go to the left to get the treasures, then go all the way back, and right in the intersection. You’ll reach a recovery save point, and will fight the second to last Wise Man.
Despite being a single boss fight, Lucifer is ruthless, he is quite fast and can teleport around the battlefield. He’s takes half damage from Earth and Darkness, and is immune to Water, Wind and Light. His arsenal includes:
- Godly Phasing: Lucifer teleports from anywhere in the map and reappears somewhere else. He deals damage both when vanishing and when reappearing. He starts using this more often once his HP is below 50%.
- Lightning Bolt: summons a thunder on his target, dealing Wind damage. This attack has global range, but can be avoided. He’ll sometimes use this attack in quick succession against the same target, up to three times.
- Lightning Barrage: summons multiple thunder strikes in front of him, dealing Wind damage. He starts using this after his health reaches below 60%.
- Word of Death: Symbology. Has a chance to inflict Instant Death to a single target. Lucifer will prioritize casting this on the player-controlled character; this spell CAN be Perfect Countered.
- Demon’s Gate: Symbology. Deals Darkness damage to the entire party.
- Wind of Decimation: Symbology. Lucifer’s signature move. Summons a massive tornado that deals Wind damage to the entire party. He’ll always be enveloped by wind before using this spell.
- Cure All: heals own HP by a moderate amount. Used when below 25% HP.
If you want to not worry about about Word of Death, the Silver Charm is a cheap accessory that can be made with Crafting using Silver with Claude. Equipping armor and / or accessories that mitigate Wind damage is also useful as Winds of Decimation can hurt pretty bad.
Pure-melee fighters will struggle in this fight, because his Godly Phasing HURTS, especially when he uses it in succession.
⭐ Claude can be played as either a close-range “tank” of sorts by soaking damage from Lightning Bolt through Sword of Life, or by sticking in the long-range with Phase Gun. Knuckle Burst can actually soft stun-lock Lucifer when Combo Linked with itself.
⭐ Rena won’t have much use aside from healing and buffing since Lucifer resists Earth and Darkness. Angel Feather and Reflection are musts.
⭐ If you have Celine, her arsenal is vastly limited since only her Fire spells can actually deal consistent damage. She’s best used in the Assault Action Formation with either Angel Feather or Reflection.
⭐ If you have Ashton, he can be a basic attacker with Ring of Lightspeed + Archangel’s Bracelet. Most of his Arts are slow and will put him at risk, although Piercing Blades is still useful to break Shields.
⭐ If you have Precis, Forcefield is the only thing she needs.
⭐ If you have Welch, she’ll struggle to deal damage unless Lucifer is chanting spells or is broken; but when he is, she can melt his HP with Slappity Slap. Ideally she should be player controlled.
⭐ If you have Opera, Tracking Plasma and Healing Star are great to give her a balance of damage dealer and support. Tracking Plasma can actually chase through even when Lucifer teleports with Godly Phasing.
⭐ If you have Bowman, he can safely spam Inferno Pellets as Lucifer is not resistant to Fire.
⭐ If you have Ernest, Bed of Roses is the best skill. He can also safely deal damage with Thousand Tails + Sonic Whip to apply Shield pressure.
⭐ If you have Dias, he’s best used as a backline spammer with Air Slash. Dias’ relatively low DEF will put him at risk in the frontlines. If you do want to use him in melee-range, Deadly Illusion, but carefully.
⭐ If you have Leon, he’ll struggle more than Celine since all his spells are resisted except for Dark Sphere, which has a marginally low damage multiplier. I recommend putting him in the Assault Action Formation with Power Up.
⭐ If you have Noel, he’ll struggle more than Celine and Leon combined, but he can at least provide healing. His only buff is Bless, which by this point in the game you don’t really need it anymore.
⭐ If you have Chisato, she won’t be able to use 100,000 Volts since it’s Wind-based. Tear Gas can be useful but it’s a bit slow and Lucifer can simply teleport out of it. Out of all the fighters she’ll surprisingly struggle the most.
Once Lucifer is defeated, go back to save and proceed to the next floor.
The path to the left side is locked, so proceed to the right side until you reach the teleporter for the ninth floor. Proceed through the path, looting the treasures, until you reach another teleporter, which returns you to the eighth floor, but on the left side. Follow the path until you reach the save point, but continue to the right; unlock the door through the terminal, get the treasures in the nearby room, then return to the save point. When ready, continue through the door.
Continuing to the next floor will lead you to the final boss
Phynal: Floor 10
Follow the staircase and you’ll meet the final boss and last remaining Wise Men…
In this remake you need to defeat Gabriel to unlock the post-game content, where in the original you just had to reach the final save point.
Gabriel is incredibly fast and has a powerful arsenal of abilities. He has two phases.
Phase 1
- Shining Star: Gabriel snaps his fingers and creates a small explosion of pure light on the target, dealing moderate damage.
- Stone Rain: Symbology. Unleashes a cascade of rocks on a single character, heaving Earth damage. Has a chance of lowering DEF by 50%.
- Explode: Symbology. Deals heavy Fire damage in a large area.
- Noah Symbology. Summons a massive wave that deals Water damage on all characters.
- Southern Cross: Symbology. Scorches the ground with the power of the stars, dealing Light damage on all characters.
- Star Flare: Symbology. Rains burning lights on the entire battlefield, dealing Light damage on all characters.
- Angel Feather: Symbology. Calls the divine power to increase all attributes.
- Divine Wave: Special Art. Gabriel moves towards a character and emits a radial shockwave around him. Covers a massive range and deals high damage. Functions similarly to Raphael’s Waving Blast.
Divine Wave is by far his most dangerous ability as it can easily one shot characters. While his spells are all powerful, Stone Rain is particularly problematic as it has a high chance to reduce DEF, although it is easy to avoid.
Phase 2Once Gabriel hits below 75% HP, he’ll use a spell called Time of Truth, where he’ll summon Philia, who’ll be hovering over him for the rest of the fight. This state is permanent and cannot be interrupted or cancelled. Time of Truth will increase his already impressive movement speed and allows him to chant spells while moving. He’ll also gain perpetual super armor and immunity to stagger (unless when Shield broken).
Gabriel will also gain a couple of new, deadly moves:
- Earthquake: summons a stone giant to deal massive Earth damage on all characters.
- Faerie Healing: heals for a high amount of HP.
- Song of Gods: Symbology. summons an angel of death, who expands a massive energy field, which explodes, dealing massive damage to all characters.
Song of Gods has no cast time, which makes hard to prepare for. It can hit between 6000 and 8000 damage, potentially 9999 if the party is debuffed by Stone Rain.
Gabriel will constantly use Faerie Healing when below 30% HP, so make sure to keep a tight pressure.
Reflection is pretty much MANDATORY for this battle, or at least Witch Powders (from the Art Item Creation). Victory Cards (also from Art) are quite useful as it increases the GUTS of the whole party and make you less susceptible of getting one-shot.
Mind Bombs (from the Machinist Item Creation) are incredibly powerful since it makes easier to break Gabriel since he constantly move around.
Thankfully, Gabriel doesn’t have any elemental resistances, so there are no ability or spell restrictions.
⭐ Claude can soak damage with Sword of Life, but he truly shines with Meteor Palm once Gabriel is broken. Knuckle Burst is a decent option to apply Shield pressure, even though it’s not the best. Phase Gun allows Claude to remain at a safe distance from Divine Wave.
⭐ Rena should cast Angel Feather and Reflection right off the bat, and if possible Guard and Power Up too. I would leave Rena just with support and healing spells Gabriel can easily level the party. Delay is useful to make Gabriel a bit less fast.
⭐ If you have Celine, Southern Cross all the way. If you have both her and Rena in the party she can help with casting Angel Feather or Reflection. She can also dispel Gabriel’s Angel Feather with Curse.
⭐ If you have Ashton, he’s best used as a basic attacker with Ring of Lightspeed + Archangel’s Bracelet, since his Arts are painfully slow and will miss on Phase 2 Gabriel. Hurricane Slash is pretty decent for closing the gap, while Piercing Blades works fine to pressure Shields.
⭐ If you have Precis, Forcefield is the only thing she needs.
⭐ If you have Welch, she’ll struggle to deal damage on Phase 2 unless Gabriel is broken; but when he is, she deal a lot of damage with Slappity Slap. Ideally she should be player controlled.
⭐ If you have Opera, Tracking Plasma and Healing Star are great to give her a balance of damage dealer and support.
⭐ If you have Bowman, he can, you guessed, spam Inferno Pellets. Gabriel is immune to Poison so Poison Pellets won’t work.
⭐ If you have Ernest, Bed of Roses all the way. Thousand Tails + Sonic Whip is good for Phase 1, but he’ll struggle to hit those on Phase 2.
⭐ If you have Dias, he’s best used as a backline spammer with Air Slash, which will work good for both Phases. Dias’ relatively low DEF will put him at risk in the frontlines. If you do want to use him in melee-range, Deadly Illusion, but carefully.
⭐ If you have Leon, Ravenous Fiends is amazing as usual. He can also use Power Up on the party and Delay on Gabriel.
⭐ If you have Noel, he’s actually pretty good here with Tetanus Wind to shred Gabriel’s Shield, and can also dispel his Angel Feather with Curse. Stone Rain is also pretty effective, a good way to make Gabriel have a taste of his own medicine.
⭐ If you have Chisato, she should be careful when using close-range Arts, as a single Divine Wave can delete her due to low DEF. 100,000 Volts tends to be her best Art since Tear Gas is a tad slow to pin Gabriel down, especially during Phase 2.
After the long battle, enjoy the credits, as well the endings depending on the character’s relationship levels.
After the credits play, you’ll have the option to create a Clear Data save, which, when loaded, will bring you back to the final save point on Phynal 8F. Feel free to save it over your existing save file.
You can now tackle on the post-game content, which are:
- Raid Enemies (AKA World Bosses), the huge enemy icons on the world map. There are 12 of them.
- Getting the Ultimate Weapons for the characters.
- New Group Battles at the Fun City Arena.
- Return to Expel through Virtual Reality at Fun City.
- The Secret Post-Game Dungeon, the Maze of Tribulations.
- Battle against the secret super-boss, Iselia Queen.
- Battle against the Ultimate Wise Men, which are Raid Enemies found on the world map. Defeating them allows to use them in the Assault Action Formation. You also get exclusive equipment and materials to upgrade your Ultimate Weapons.
- Battle against the true final boss, Gabriel Unlimited.
Post-Game Activities
As soon as you load the Save Clear Data after beating the game, a new Private Action will be available in Centropolis, where you’ll find Philia again inside the bottom floor of the City Hall. This Private Action can only be unlocked if you did the Private Action where you meet Philia in Kurik prior to its destruction.
Completing this Private Action will remove Gabriel’s “limiter”, which increases his HP and attributes, and pretty much puts him in permanent “Time of Truth Mode” at the start of battle. He becomes the hardest boss in the game.
Finishing this Private Action will also award you with the Tear of Israfel, a female-only accessory which nullifies Instant Death and increases all attributes except for STM.
This key item is awarded upon any of your characters reach level 100. It makes so any Breaks inflicted in normal enemies trigger a Chain Break exactly like when breaking Enemy Leaders. The Maze of Tribulations is already a very challenging dungeon, so getting to level 100 before tackling its higher floors is strongly recommended.
New Group Battles will unlock in Fun City which grant some of the best equipment in the game. The three last battles will only unlock after clearing the Maze of Tribulations, defeating Iselia Queen and Gabriel Unlimited.
You probably didn’t clear the Survival Battle since the fights post wave 26 are quite difficult, but you should be able to do it if you’re above level 100.
By going to the spectators area in the Fun City Battle Arena, you can find a “Strange Geezer”, a mysterious old man who can teleport the party to a virtual reality version of Expel.
In this version of Expel you can visit all dungeons and towns.
- Kurik will be in its destroyed version.
- Lacuer will be in its pre-evacuation state.
In VR Expel you are able to use the Psynard to fly around, which allows you reach previously inaccessible areas, which includes islands with treasures and Raid Enemies, as well the Maze of Tribulations secret dungeon, where you can get the strongest equipment in the game.
If you want to return to Energy Nede, simply return to Arlia and interact with Dumdum, the purple penguin-like creature near the item shop.
As soon as you arrive in VR Expel, while still at Arlia, go to the Newlywed Couple’s house on the large house left to the entrance to find that the couple had a kid. You can pickpocket the little boy for an accessory called the Santa’s Boots, which has a random chance of granting ANY item in the game (including some exclusive equipment from the Maze of Tribulations) whenever you stay at inns. You can later buy this accessory in the secret dungeon.
This Special Art can only be unlocked once you return to VR Expel after clearing the game.
Go back to the final floor of Eluria Tower, where the Ten Wise Men are first met, and inspect the treasure chest hidden on the left side of the Sorcery Globe, which contains a Smooth Crystal.
Use Crafting on the Smooth Crystal with Welch to create the Symbol of Gods (it’s a 100% chance), which teaches her Nibelungaling!
This Art is a reference to Nibelung Valesti, the signature attack of Lenneth Valkyrie, the protagonist of Valkyrie Profile, which is another game series made by tri-Ace.
If you didn’t catch up with fishing prior to Phynal, you can do that now. In addition, by returning to Expel you can also hunt down some of the fish you missed previously.
The final fish can only be found at the last floor of the Maze of Tribulations.
Maze of Tribulations: B1 to B3
The Maze of Tribulations can only be found on a massive desert island on the southwest region of Expel, which can only be reached with the Psynard. Enemies fought in the overworld in this island are the exact same found in the desert area near Lasgus Mountain.
Make sure to come with your best equipment (refer from the section on Phynal).
The Maze of Tribulations is composed of 13 floors, containing enemies of ever increasing difficulty, as well a boss at the end of each floor, which are the hardest enemies in the game save for the Raid Enemies and the super bosses. Most floors are also have puzzles the player must solve in order to progress.
This dungeon also contains the best equipment in the game save for the Ultimate Weapons and the gear dropped by the Ultimate Wise Men. Many of these pieces of equipment can be obtained through the Group Battles in the Fun City Arena.
While the player can still retry lost fights inside the Maze, auto-save is DISABLED while inside of it. Therefore, if the players wants to save the game, they must backtrack all the way to the first floor. Fast Travel is ALSO DISABLED.
As the player progresses through the floors, they’ll find shortcut teleporters that brings them back to the first floor.
There is also a specific NPC in the dungeon that sells an item that allows to teleport out of the dungeon.
⭐ Recommended Level: 90 (+100 if on Universe)
Enchantress
Grim Wing
Living Armor
Phantom Knight
- Enchantress are the most powerful version of the Wichettes. They can cast Light Cross, Southern Cross and their tornado attack hurts like hell. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Down Aura.
- Grim Wings are just like all the other cockatrices you’ve fought. Can inflict Poison with their attacks.
- Living Armor are a more powerful version of the shielded knights, and incredibly sturdy. They nullify damage from ALL elements, can parry frontal attacks, and can also enter a barrier stance where they emit a slight blue glow and become completely immune to ALL damage for around 6 seconds; they cannot attack while in this stance.
- Phantom Knights are deadly versions of the armored knights. They’re notable for they can throw two swords at once, which can deal heavy damage and has a high chance to daze characters. They’ll often use their melee attack twice or even thrice in succession, which can inflict Poison. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the MAG Down Aura.
This floor is very simple and enemies aren’t brutal enough, so it’s a decent place to do some level grinding. To proceed to the next floor, all you have to do is reach the bottom side of the screen and flip the switch to open the door to the next floor, and then you’ll fight the…
She’s exactly like the Succubus you’ve fought before. Completely immune to physical attacks until broken, but can be damage by magic and other elemental Arts. She’s also vulnerable while casting symbology (can use Demon’s Gate).
The hardest part of this fight are actually the Phantom Knights, and the fact the Dark Enchantress can petrify the party.
Defeating the Dark Enchantress rewards you with the Bunny Shoes.
⭐ Recommended Level: 90 (+100 if on Universe)
Cave Stingray
Giant
Hunter Slime
Phantom Axman
- Cave Stingrays are like the other stingray enemies, capable to shooting soundwaves that can easily daze characters.
- Hunter Slimes, much like the other of the kind, can split themselves. They hit incredibly hard. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Up Aura.
- Giants are exactly like the Gharks, but much faster. They may appear as Enemy Leaders with the Movement Speed Down Aura.
- Phantom Axmen are like the other Lizard Axman. They’re incredibly fast, hit hard and have high AVD.
This is the first puzzle you’ll face in this dungeon. Reading the tablet tells you a love story and the relationship of various characters. You’re tasked in finding each statue and turn them to the correct direction.
- Sharon: East
- Milena: North
- Luke: South
- Felia: West
- Yuffie: North
- Cistina: North
- Lloyd: West
[Click on the image to expand]
This fight is actually brutal for fighters because the Blood Gerel comes with the Special Arts Supressed Aura, which disables the use of ALL Special Arts. And given the fact that all enemies can split themselves, this can easily get out of hand since you won’t have enough crowd control from your fighters.
This fight can actually become a lot easier if the Blood Gerel splits since it’ll reduce his HP each time he does.
Mages truly shine here, specially Leon with Ravenous Fiends and Celine with Southern Cross.
Defeating the Blood Gerel rewards you with the Seraphic Garb, the best armor in the game.
⭐ Recommended Level: 95 (+100 if on Universe)
Blood Gerel
Enchantress
Lesser Devil
Phantom Goathead
- Blood Gerels from the previous floor appear here as normal enemies. They still hit pretty hard.
- The Enchantresses from B1 appear again, often alongside the Phantom Goatheads, and as enemy leaders bearing the MAG Up Aura.
- Lesser Devils are the ultimate versions of the Gargoyle enemies. They’re extremely dangerous because they often appear in groups of up to SEVEN at once. They’re specially lethal when appearing as Enemy Leaders, bearing the ATK + SPD Up Aura.
- Phantom Goatheads may seem harmless at first since they only cast Firebolt, but they have very high INT and can cast those like machine guns. Unless you have Fire resistance, they hurt A LOT. They can also cast Guard on themselves.
The catch about this dungeon is that, in order to unlock the door, you can only go through each room ONCE. Follow the map below for the optimal path:
[Click on the image to expand]
Once you walk through all the rooms, the door to the next floor will open and you’ll be able to fight the boss before proceeding to the next floor.
This fight is not hard per se as the Dreamcasters have low HP, although they can “reverse time” to heal their wounds.
What makes them truly dangerous is the ability to freeze time, which will render your characters immobile and vulnerable for around 2 seconds, and allows the Dreamcasters to get free damage. Characters frozen have their AVD temporarily set to zero, meaning ALL attacks are guaranteed.
Defeating the Dreamcasters rewards you with the Magic Gumdrop, a Combat Item which allows you to freeze a single enemy for a few seconds, much like the Dreamcasters.
Magic Gumdrops cannot be duplicated through the Replication Item Creation.
Maze of Tribulations: B4 and B5
⭐ Recommended Level: 95 (+100 if on Universe)
Jabberwabbit
- Jabberwabbits are the ultimate versions of those annoying hopping rabbit enemies. They fight exactly like those, except that they actually deal damage by jumping around. Their fang attack has a chance to inflict Poison. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK + SPD Up Aura.
The whole mechanic of this floor revolves around going through passages on illusion walls. You can tell which ones are are hidden by looking at the minimap. I’ve marked the ones that are hidden with the teal circles.
[Click on the image to expand]
The Gutsy Hand Stick can be found in the room with the multiple chests, which is filled with ?WEAPONS, meaning you need Appraising to identify them. The Gutsy Hand Stick will be found on the second chest, from left to right, at the top of the room. All other weapons will be the “failed” results from Customization for other characters’ weapons.
One of the chests here contain Leon’s strongest spell, Extinction. If the player doesn’t have Leon in the party, they’ll get a random treasure instead..
To go to the next floor, you simply have to follow the path to the left until you find a illusion wall. However, you can actually obtain a secret musical instrument in this floor (at the point marked with a yellow exclamation point).
Once you find the hidden lever, return to the locked door in the middle of the floor, and you’ll find the Lady of the Dance, the Goddess of Music. She’ll request you to play a song for her. Choose your character that has the Music Specialty at Level 10; having the Rhythm Sense and Acoustic Sense Talents is not necessary. She’ll reward you with the Mystical Shamisen.
Proceed to the hidden door at the top left side of the floor and you’ll fight…
This is the ultimate version of the Mirre-type enemies you’ve fought in Phynal. It moves much faster and can shoot two rocket launchers in succession, which have a chance to inflict Poison. It takes half damage from all elements and has a pretty high AVD. Other than that it’s not a very remarkable enemy on its own.
⭐ Recommended Level: 100 (+110 if on Universe)
Dragon Axman
Greater Goathead
Grim Stingray
Lady Chimera
Enemies on this floor have pretty high AVD and being able to parry direct melee attacks.
- Dragon Axmen are the ultimate versions of the Lizard Axmen. Much like others of their kind, they’re incredibly fast, hit hard and have high AVD. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the SPD Down Aura.
- Greater Goathead are like the goat symbologists you’ve been fighting. They’re notable as they can cast Silence, which they’ll do often, and also Stone Rain, which has a chance to decrease DEF by 50%. They also have pretty high AVD.
- Grim Stingrays are much like the other manta ray enemies from before. They use melee attacks more often than their sound wave attacks.
- Mighty Apes are exactly like the Giants fought on B2, but with slightly higher stats, especially, you guessed, AVD.
- Lady Chimera are like the Scylla enemies. They’re not very remarkable, especially compared with the Dragon Axmen, but actually have higher AVD. However, they may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Up Aura, which makes them pretty dangerous.
Proceed up and you’ll meet Puffy, a recurring minor character in the Star Ocean series. She’ll confront the party asking questions. The correct answers are “Puffy” and “Beast”, but no matter what you reply, she’ll pit a monster against you:
This purple version of the Salamander takes 1 HP from any damage dealt and negates ALL elements. It can also inflict Petrification with its breath attack. Your only solution is to run away.
It’s actually possible to defeat it here, but it takes forever.
After you flee, Puffy will leave with the Phantom Salamander. Continue exploring the dungeon and you’ll find Puffy again at the bottom right side of the floor, being attacked by Dreamcasters. You’ll have the option to help her. Whether you help her or not, you’ll have to fight the Dreamcasters; the fight plays exactly like the in the B2 Floor. You’ll get the Phantom Slayer after the fight is over.
The Phantom Slayer is a special weapon that instantly kill any enemy with “Phantom” in their name. It can only be equipped by Rena, Precis, Bowman, Noel and Chisato.
Now go all the way back to the entrance of the floor, and to a large room on the right (it’ll be marked on the map), equip one of the characters I mentioned with Phantom Slayer and proceed to find the…
With the character equipped with the Phantom Slayer, just smack the Salamander and kill it with a single hit.
You’ll get the Orb of Fire, which unlocks the door to the next floor (located in the room southwest where you got the Phantom Slayer).
Maze of Tribulations: B6 and B7
⭐ Recommended Level: 100 (+110 if on Universe)
Dragon Axman
Jabberwabbit
Metal Scum
Thieving Scum
- Dragon Axmen and Jabberwabbits return here, often alongside Metal Scums.
- Metal Scums are incredibly dangerous enemies. They negate damage from ALL elements and melee attacks only deal 1 damage. Their attacks are strong, but they’ll flee after a while if not attacked. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Guard Up Aura.
- Thieving Scums are exact the same as the ones found in early Expel. Puny enemies.
If you did the Ruddle the Traveler Sidequest, you’ll have the Scumbag Slayer, which instantly kill any enemy with “Scum” on their name. Alternatively, you can have a weapon with the Support Factor: Scum Slayer, which does the same thing. This can trivialize the boss fight in the floor, as well deal with the Metal Scums, which are actually a great source of EXP.
Follow the paths until you find a room filled with statues. You have to inspect the bottom right one to find a switch which opens the path to the next floor.
In this floor, in the room with the statues, you can find Santa, a merchant who sells a lot of interesting wares. His prices are quite high, so make sure to have Group Appraising maxed and some few Cinderella’s Glasses and / or Secret Accounts lying around.
ItemPriceMoonstone1.500 FolOrichalcum10.000 FolMeteorite5.200 FolMithril15.000 FolDamascus6.400 FolRune Metal7.000 FolGreen Beryl500 FolSapphire800 FolRuby400 FolStar Ruby10.000 FolCrystal500 FolPhilosopher’s Stone50.000 FolDiamond9.000 FolRainbow Diamond14.000 FolSanta’s Boots10.000.000 Foltri-Emblem5.000.000 FolJewel of the Frog300.001 FolThe Santa’s Boots is an accessory that has a chance to award the player with ANY item in the game, including equipment found exclusively at the Maze of Tribulations. You can actually get a Santa’s Boots for free by Pickpocketing the little boy inside the Newlywed Couple in Arlia in VR Expel. Multiple Santa’s Boots don’t stack the items earned.
The tri-Emblem is a powerful accessory that provides:
- Negates damage from Fire, Wind and Darkness
- ATK +200
- DEF, HIT, AVD, LUC, STM +50 each
- INT +100
- CRT +10
- GUTS +20
The Jewel of the Frog is a consumable item that instantly teleport you outside of the Maze. I recommend buying at least 5 of them.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️
None of items from Santa can be duplicated with the Replication Item Creation.
Once you’re ready, proceed to the top left side of the floor after opening the door, to face the boss:
This fight is not so challenging, EXCEPT for the fact it has a Dreamcaster. Make sure to target it first.
The Thieving Scum LV99 is an Enemy Leader with the HP Sap Aura, hits pretty hard and has high AVD, but can be killed with a single hit of the Scumbag Slayer.
Defeating the Thieving Scum LV99 awards you with… A Scumbag Slayer. If you didn’t get the one from Ruddle’s sidequest, this is your chance.
After defeating the boss, you can also find a teleporter on the next room on the left, that brings you back to the first floor so you can save your progress.
⭐ Recommended Level: 110 (+120 if on Universe)
Crimson Beast
Magus
Robinette
Thieving Scum LV99
Ultimate Avenger
- Crimson Beasts are like the other Salamanders. They take half damage from Light and Darkness, and their attacks can inflict Poison.
- Magus are a variation of the Wichettes. They have more HP than the Enchantress, but only cast Noah. They also take half damage from Light and Darkness.
- Robinettes are the ultimate versions of the Archers-type enemies. They have two attacks: a single arrow that deals massive damage is pretty fast, and a slightly slower multi-shot that hits in the Z-axis; each individual arrow deals less damage, but it’s lethal on point-blank.
- Thieving Scum LV99 reappear as normal enemies, and in groups. They can also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Up Aura.
- The Ultimate Avengers are the strongest version of the armored knights. They’re very dangerous as their boomerang sword attack can be used across the Z-axis, in addition of them throwing two at once. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Down Aura.
The goal in this floor is to find an item called Flawed Orb. The catch is that some of the doors are locked and can only be opened by going around through the upper side.
You can find the Flawed Orb in a room with an illusion wall on the right side of the floor. Use Crafting on it (doesn’t matter the level) to make the Fire Orb and deposit it on the altar located in the middle of the floor, in order to open the door.
This boss is essentially Barchian 2.0. Same strategy as in the Minae Cave. The Coercion Factor (inflicts a random stat debuff when breaking an enemy) continues to be the best option to cripple him with the ATK -50% debuff. You can also have your Symbologists cast Guard to increase DEF by 50% for further mitigate the damage taken.
Defeating the Mithril Eater will award you with the Mindhealer, which is one of the strongest Symbologist staves, and can actually be used by Leon and Noel as well, aside from Celine (but not by Rena).
Maze of Tribulations: B8 to B10
⭐ Recommended Level: 115 (+125 if on Universe)
Dreamcaster
Killer Ape
Phantom Devil
Star Protector
Vile Hound
- Dreamcasters appear as normal enemies here, often alongside other dangerous foes.
- Killer Apes are like the other Ghark-type enemies, but with inflated stats. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the MP Sap Aura.
- Phantom Devils are like Cynne. While have very dangerous attacks, can cast Demon’s Gate and heal themselves with Faerie Healing, they can be defeated with a single strike of the Phantom Slayer.
- Star Protectors are the ultimate version of the shielded knights. Much like the Living Armors found on B1, they nullify ALL elements and can become invulnerable to damage. However, they can be instantly killed by any attacks that inflict shooting stars (AKA, normal attacks from Aeterna and Archangel’s Bracelet). They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the SPD Down Aura.
- Vile Hounds are like the other wild dog enemies you’ve fought before. They have a leap attack which deals multiple hits and is potentially deadly. They’re especially dangerous when fought alongside Dreamcasters.
Make sure you have someone with high level Cooking. The puzzle is located at the top middle area. You’ll find this “God of Food”, and you must feed the types food he asks for (try to not give him the “rare” foods) until you get the option to give him failed cooking results (Bitter Juice, Old Milk) or poisonous items like Mandrake and Wolfsbane. Upon feeding the God of Food one of these, you’ll get a “revelation”, and the door to the next floor will be unlocked. But before that you’ll fight…
This is the ultimate version of the Visseya you fought at the Sacred Grounds of Linga. They have very high AVD and take half damage from all elements except Light and Darkness.
Their attacks have a high chance to inflict Paralysis and Poison, and much like the Visseyas, can inhale a character; if all characters get swallowed, it’s game over. Attacking the boss after it swallows a party member will cause it to spit them out, but they’ll be inflicted with Stone.
As a single boss enemy, this isn’t a challenging fight at all. Just bombard it with your best attacks and even if it ends up inhaling someone, the damage will force it to spit right out.
Defeating the Elysian Slug awards you with the Gelatin Steak, a food item that increases SP and BP gains by 50% for 2 battles; this item can also be made through Cooking using the Wobbly Slime or Gelatinous Slime.
⭐ Recommended Level: 120 (+130 if on Universe)
Brigand Ogre
Cockatrice King
Phantom Molusk
Robinette Captain
- Brigand Ore is the ultimate version of the ogre-type enemies like Allen’s demon form. They hit extremely hard and also have high AVD.
- Cockatrice King is the ultimate version of the harpy enemies. Their attacks can inflict Stone. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the HP Sap Aura.
- Phantom Molusk is an inferior version of the Elysian Slug that can be instant killed with the Phantom Slayer. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK + SPD Up Aura.
- Robinette Captains are exactly like Robinettes but with slightly higher stats and HP.
You’ll find a teleporter to the B1 at a small room on the left as soon as you enter this floor. I recommend coming back to save.
There are no puzzles here and the door to the next floor is already open. Feel free to explore for treasures.
⭐ Recommended Level: 130 (+140 if on Universe)
Dreamcaster
Gastric Slug
Life Flayer
Manic Gunner
Mind Flayer
Mirre 128
- Dreamcasters appear again here.
- Gastric Slugs are another variation of the Visseyas and Elysia Slugs, but they’re often fought alongside Dreamcasters, which makes them very dangerous as they can easily approach the party and swallow them up. Their attacks have a chance to inflict Stone.
- Life Flayers are by far the most dangerous threat. They’re the ultimate version of the Mirre enemies, and already come attached with a Niquia, which allows them to shoot multiple rockets in a spread. They also move ridiculously fast.
- Manic Gunners are the ultimate versions of the Takikodus and come attached with Niquia’s, which expands their moveset to include a rocket launcher. Their Dance of Bullets can easily wipe the entire party in a single go. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the ATK Up, which makes them even deadlier.
- Mind Flayers are exactly like Life Flayers, but they instead deal MP damage. A point-blank range shot of their multi-rocket attack can easily deplete 999 MP from a single character.
- Mirre 128 are like the other Mirres, but they’re more tame than the Life Flayers, but have very high AVD.
This is one of the hardest floors in the dungeon. Pretty much ALL enemies here can easily wipe the party in seconds. Getting the advantage with back attacks is imperative.
The puzzle mechanic in this floor is unlocking doors by walking over the panels on the ground to unlock the respective rooms. Each panel has a color that refers to a special effect that takes place while you’re inside it. Green is safe haven, but Yellow and Red will saps 1.2% of HP and MP of the entire party every second.
It doesn’t matter which combination you make, you’ll unlock the door to the boss. But if you want to get all the treasure, you’ll have to run this map multiple times. By exiting the floor and coming back the panels will reset.
If you want to get the extra treasures behind the locked door (a Battle Suit and 3.000.000 Fol), you have to make a path where you cross through three red rooms in a row.
Follow the left diagram to get to unlock the treasure room, and the right path if you want to avoid the red panels.
[Click on the image to expand]
One of the chests at the red room on top left side of the map contains Celine’s strongest spell, Meteor Swarm. If the player doesn’t have Celine in the party, they’ll get a random treasure instead.
Once you reach the room to the next floor, you’ll fight…
This is a stronger version of the Guardians fought at the Fields of Might and Courage. Same strategies as before apply.
Maze of Tribulations: B11 to B13
⭐ Recommended Level: 140 (+150 if on Universe)
Aulbear
Dreamcaster
Gastric Slug
Hellmaster
Mind Flayers
Phantom Mages
- Dreamcasters, Gastric Slugs and Mind Flayers return.
- Hellmasters are the ultimate versions of Cynne. Their attacks have a high chance to inflict Poison, and they can cast Word of Death, Cure All. They have very high AVD and tend to use Vampirism very often. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Special Arts Supressed Aura.
- Phantom Mages are like Wizards, and can cast Power Up, Reflection, Explode. They can be killed with a single strike of the Phantom Slayer. They have incredibly high HIT and ATK, and can actually one shot characters with their normal attack while buffed with Power Up; on top of that, this attack can inflict Stone. They may appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the Spells Suppressed Aura.
This is a pretty small and straightforward floor. No puzzles, few rooms and the boss is just straight ahead:
This is a palette swap of the Psynard. He uses the exact same attacks, all deadly; his melee attacks have a chance to inflict Poison. His energy breath attack can easily wipe the party, on top of having a chance to inflict petrify.
Much like in the Psynard battle, having a single frontline and the rest of the party be backline spammers is very effective.
Once you finish, continue moving up until you find the Door of Couples, which requires you to go all the way back to the first floor, and assemble a party with only two party members (your chosen protagonist and another one).
Use a Jewel of Frog to teleport back to B1, and attempt to exit the dungeon; the party will split and you’ll get the prompt to form a party of two. It doesn’t matter who the second character is. Use the teleporter to B9 and go all the way till you reach the Door of Couples, which will now open.
⭐ Recommended Level: 140 (+150 if on Universe)
This is another small and straightforward floor. After getting the treasures, continue up to fight…
This is a palette swap of Zinae. It has very high AVD and HIT, on top of being immune to Fire and taking half damage from Wind. It can cast Magnum Tornado and Blood Scylla.
Once you defeat the boss, you’ll get the Holy Sword Farewell.
You’ll then be required to once again return to the B1, reassemble your party, and go back to B9; just use the teleporter again.
All you have to do here is go all the way to towards the coffin located before the staircase to the next floor, and you’ll fight the previously missing boss of this floor:
Honestly, the hardest part of this fight are the Dreamcasters, as there three of them; make sure to dispatch them first. The Sorcerer takes half damage from Fire and Earth, and can cast Shadow Flare, Word of Death and Cure All. His normal attack has a chance to inflict Paralysis and Stone.
Once you defeat the Phoenix, you’ll get the Demon Sword Levantine.
Now continue until you reach floor B12 again. The Holy Sword Farewell and the Demon Sword Levantine will resonate and open the door to the final floor.
⭐ Recommended Level: 150 (+160 if on Universe)
Dreamcaster
Hell Savant
Rock Demon
Soulmaster
- Dreamcasters appear here… AGAIN.
- The Hell Savant is the ultimate version of Zinae. It takes half damage from Fire and Wind. It can cast Meteor Swarm, the second strongest spell in the game, which is devastating. However, since it’s fought alone and prioritizes using melee attacks, it won’t be much of a threat.
- The Rock Demon is the ultimate version of the Barchian, appearing here as normal enemies. Their Pain Release have a chance to inflict Poison. It can easily wipe the party.
- Soulmasters are extremely dangerous as they can cast Extinction, the strongest spell in the game which can easily wipe the whole party. Dreamcasters will show up alongside them. They may also appear as Enemy Leaders bearing the MP Sap Aura.
This is the best spot in the game to do AFK grinding once enemy icons are green. Put on Earth difficulty since EXP doesn’t scale with difficulty level.
⭐ Get the Scout Specialty and the Bodyguard Super Specialty; ideally you’ll want both maxed or at least around level 5 ~ 7. For Scout it’s better to activate on someone who has the Wild Instincts Talent (not necessary though). Make sure to turn both ON in their respective menus.
⭐ Equip two Rings of Avoidance (30% of chance to trigger Bodyguard) on each active party member. Those can be made through the Crafting Item Creation by using Philosopher’s Stone (Rena can make them).
⭐ If you want to do this earlier in the game (as getting Philosopher Stones in the early game can be tricky), you can use Intimidation Pendants instead (15% chance), which can be crafted with Crystals (also by Rena).
⭐ Position your character at the corner of the screen and watch as you get a lot of EXP and win by doing absolutely nothing.
Bodyguard might not activate ALL the time even when maxed, and you’ll may occasionally have to fight if one of the monsters manage to sneak first. Make sure that your party is potent enough to handle fights on their own.
There’ll be a teleporter back to B1 here; I strongly suggest going back to save the game. Anyway, this floor is pretty simple. All you have to do is activate the levers on the left and right side of the map.
There is no puzzle in this floor. All you have to do is interact with the levers located on the left and right side of the map, then proceed to the open door at the middle to fight the final boss of the Maze of Tribulations:
Gabriella Celesta is brutal and oppressive. She has extremely high AVD and HIT, and a deadly arsenal of abilities. All her spellcasting is nearly instant. She’s immune to all forms of status ailments (i.e. Poison, Paralysis, Stone), but is can be afflicted with status effects (e.g. ATK Down, DEF Down, etc.).
- Spin Attack: she moves towards a character and performs a quick radial attack with her scythe that deals damage around her.
- Furious Tornado: starts spinning while bouncing around the stage, dealing damage to any characters caught in her path. She’s unstoppable while using this attack.
- Air Slash: shoots a shockwave that moves through the ground, dealing multiple hits. This attack is EXTREMELY dangerous.
- Moonlight Arc: launches a chakram-like energy attack that spins near her.
- Noah: Symbology. Deals extreme Water damage to all targets.
- Fohn Wind: Symbology. Deals extreme Wind damage to all targets.
- Star Flare: Symbology: Deals extreme Light damage to all targets.
After defeating Gabriella, she gives the player the Silver Trumpet, the final music instrument in the game, which can be used to learn two songs:
⭐ Aria of the Gods: this song temporarily gives access to all Hidden Talents, meaning any character can perform any Item Creation / Specialty with high success chance.
⭐ The Devil’s Aria: this song allows the player to fight bosses fought in the Maze of Tribulations. Selecting the 13th song starts an encounter with Iselia Queen, who’s Gabriella Celesta’s counterpart, and much, MUCH more difficult. Check the related section for the full strategy.
Ultimate Weapons
Check my character guide to see how to unlock them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3069776676
In addition to the Ultimate Weapons, there is also the “True Ultimate Weapons”, which were added in the Ver. 1.10 Update (released in March 27, 2024), these are customizations of the Ultimate Weapons to unleash their true potential, becoming the definitive best weapons in the game for each character.
True Ultimate Weapons can only be made with Ash Crystals, a material that only drops from the Ten Wise Men fought as Raid Enemies, which only become available after finishing the game.
Aside from increased stats, these weapons also gain additional bonus effects (except for Welch’s).
Conclusion
I hope this guide has been useful! Feel free to check my other guides.
Special Thanks
And that wraps up our share on STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R: Walkthrough. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by ElCid, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!