final fantasy 12 walkthrough

2006-12-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

                              Final Fantasy XII
                            -------------------
                              FAQ/Walkthrough
                               Alex Eagleson
                            November 1st,  2006

                                 ** NOTE**

thank you alex from gamefaqs from all kamra cym casablanca gamers

       This guide covers the main game from start to finish, however
       in terms of extra content and quests, is still incomplete.



         __________________________________________________________
          ================== TABLE OF CONTENTS ===================
      
          1. Read before You Begin......................... [0000]
          2. Walkthrough................................... [A000]
               1. Nalbina Fortress......................... [A001]
               2. Rabanastre............................... [A002]
               3. Dalmasca Estersand....................... [A003]
               4. Rabanastre............................... [A004]
               5. Lowtown.................................. [A005]
               6. Giza Plains.............................. [A006]
               7. Garamsythe Waterway&..................... [A007]
               8. Royal Palace............................. [A008]
               9. Garamsythe Waterway...................... [A009]
               10. Nalbina Dungeons........................ [A010]
               11. Barheim Passage......................... [A011]
               12. Dalmasca Estersand...................... [A012]
               13. Rabanastre.............................. [A013]
               14. Bhujerba................................ [A014]
               15. The Lhusu Mines......................... [A015]
               16. Bhujerba................................ [A016]
               17. The Leviathan........................... [A017]
               18. Ogir-Yensa Sandsea...................... [A018]
               19. Nam-Yensa Sandsea....................... [A019]
               20. The Tomb of Raithwall................... [A020]
               21. The Shiva............................... [A021]
               22. Rabanastre.............................. [A022]
               23. Giza Plains............................. [A023]
               24. Ozmone Plain............................ [A024]
               25. Jahara.................................. [A025]
               26. Golmore Jungle.......................... [A026]
               27. Eruyt Village........................... [A027]
               28. The Henne Mines......................... [A028]
               29. Golmore Jungle.......................... [A029]
               30. Mt Bur-Omisace.......................... [A030]
               31. Paramina Rift........................... [A031]
               32. The Stilshrine of Miriam................ [A032]
               33. Mt Bur-Omisace.......................... [A033]
               34. Mosphoran Highwaste..................... [A034]
               35. The Salikawood.......................... [A035]
               36. The Phon Coast.......................... [A036]
               37. Tchita Uplands.......................... [A037]
               38. Sochen Cave Palace...................... [A038]
               39. Old Archades............................ [A039]
               40. Archades................................ [A040]
               41. Draklor Laboratory...................... [A041]
               42. Balfonheim Port......................... [A042]
               43. Feywood................................. [A043]
               44. Giruvegan............................... [A044]
               45. Balfonheim Port......................... [A045]
               46. Ridorana Cataract....................... [A046]
               47. Pharos.................................. [A047]
               48. Balfonheim Port......................... [A048]
               49. Bahamut................................. [A049]
          3. Hunts (Incomplete)............................ [B000]
          4. Optional Espers (Incomplete).................. [C000]
               1. Adrammelech.............................. [C001]
               2. Zalera................................... [C002]
               3. Cuchulainn............................... [C003]
          4. Sidequests (Incomplete)....................... [D000]

          ________________________________________________________
         ==========================================================

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[0000]                      Read Before You Begin
==============================================================================

Hello!  This is just a brief introduction to get a few important bits of
information out before you begin the game.

First things first, the guide uses a small amount of MMORPG terminology.  For
those unfamiliar with the terms, here are some quick definitions:

Aggro - Used to refer to enemies who are aggressively attacking you.  An enemy
       wandering around minding its own business is neutral.  The second you
       get close and it starts attacking, you have "aggro'd" the monster.

Tank(ing) - The tank is a character whose main job is to take damage.  Having
           one person "tanking" can help quite a bit because you can give
           them a shield and cast spells like Protect and Regen.  If the
           monster can't bring down your tank, it won't be doing much to the
           rest of your party either.

Those are the two main terms.  Here are a few others to throw around: to
"Buff" a character is to cast protective magic on him/her.  Magic described as
"AoE" is Area of Effect magic that hits multiple enemies in a specific area. 
To "pull" a monster is the same as aggroing it.  That about covers it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, to focus specifically on the game there are a few general tips that are
incredibly helpful to know before you begin the game:

#1 - You don't have to upgrade your equipment every time a new set becomes
    available.  Money is scarce in this game.  New gear appears ALL the time.
    It doesn't hurt to use the same set of armour through a couple of
    dungeons, and it will save you plenty of money in the long run.  The same
    applies to spells.  If you don't need new spells, don't buy them, you
    can always pick them up later.

#2 - Don't sell the Great Serpentskin when you get it as a reward for doing a
    hunt.  If you do sell it, you --> CAN <-- still complete the sidequest
    (there was a rumour that you couldn't).  The only difference is you don't
    get a bonus item, and the bonus item tends to suck anyway.  Try not to
    sell the skin, but if you do, don't sweat it.

#3 - Status effects in Final Fantasy XII and ten times better than every
    other Final Fantasy game.  Spells like Protect and Shell are great, but
    unlike previous games, toss Blind and Silence on enemies (even some
    bosses) and suddenly they can't do shit to you.  Rule of thumb: Blind,
    Silence, and Berserk kick ass in this game.  Who'd have thought.

And with that, we are ready to begin the game...

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A000]                           Walkthrough
==============================================================================
______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A001]                         Nalbina Fortress                       
==============================================================================

The game's basic tutorial is designed in such a way that it will literally
hold your hand through even the most intuitive aspects of the game's
mechanics.  Everything from how to speak to an NPC to how to fight your first
battle is spelled out in such a way that there's basically nothing I could
possibly add to it.  Allow yourself to get familiarized with the controls as
you make your way up toward the first "boss."

-----------------------
BOSS: Air Cutter Remora
-----------------------

Your only job is to balance standing next to the boss and attacking, with
monitoring your own hit points.  Your party will almost certainly toss you a
heal if you're about to die, however if you still wish to take care of it
yourself, both the Item command and Magick allow you to use Potions and Cure
Magick respectively. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following the first boss fight you will have the chance to explore the
fortress.  Use the minimap at the top right corner of your screen as a basis
for following all directions in this guide.  You will find nothing down the
hall to the left, so proceed north a the first fork.

After a battle with a few Imperial Swordsmen, make a right just up from the
first fork in the path and you'll notice an odd-looking treasure chest.  Open
it up to get a Potion.  Continue up and make a left, then run all the way to
the furthest north corner of this area.  Another chest is found here
containing another Potion.

Backtrack a little to the staircase leading up to the next floor.  Make sure
to take advantage of the Save Crystal located here.  Now ascend to the top
floor.  Here you will be forced to take on three Imperial Soldiers alone.  No
doubt you will at least have to cast Cure once during this battle.  Follow the
linear hallways from here to reach your destination. 


______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A002]                            Rabanastre
==============================================================================

As Vaan, you have a new mission: rid the waterways rats.  You won't have any
difficulty taking them down, especially considering each of them is marked
with a red icon on your minimap.  Following the completion of this task is a
rather lengthy cutscene.

Migelo's place (your destination) is relatively close to where you start.  Of
course you're more than welcome to wander around at your own leisure, but
assuming you want to start getting your hands dirty right away, Migelo's is
the place to go.  Head east and make a southward arc when you can until you
see an urn icon on your minimap.  That's Migelo's.

Your task is to go find Kytes at the Sandsea.  The Sandsea is located at the
north corner of the East End (where you are at the moment.)  When you arrive
there a short cutscene occurs and you are introduced to the Notice Board
system.

In this case, the "Rogue Tomato" as it is known has been stopping couriers
from reaching there destination.  If you would like to know more about the
Hunts, agree to Tomaj's offer to explain in more detail.  He gives you a Clan
Primer which allows you to keep track of Hunts.  In addition to this he also
offers an Orrachea Armlet.  This leads to another detailed explanation of the
game's Licensing system. 

Finally Vaan is awarded a Writ of Transit which will allow him to leave the
city.  Make sure to open up the menu and equip the Orrachea Armlet you just
received, then exit the tavern and head to the southern end of this area. 
Take the west exit and descend the large stairs leading east.  Save your game
and continue east to the Dalmasca Estersand. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A003]                        Dalmasca Estersand                           
==============================================================================

Bear in mind that this is the first area in the game where you will have the
opportunity to casually fight enemies and built up your level and License
Points.  Battles in Final Fantasy XII are not random, see feel free to engage
foes at your leisure.

Just a note about treasure chests in Final Fantasy XII: first of all, the
contents of treasure chests in this game are random unlike other Final Fantasy
games.  Chests has a certainly probability of actually appearing or not, a
probability of having Gil or not, and a probability of having one item or
another (if not Gil).  Most chests also respawn if you leave the area and run
far enough away before returning.

This makes it very difficult if not impossible to direct the player to chests
which may or may not even exist for them.  For this reason I will make a
variety of comments regarding chests when appropriate, which ones should be
sought out (and which should even be avoided), but I will not direct the
player to every insignificant respawning chest.

So anyway, to get back on track, head toward the large rock on the southern
side and proceed northeast from there.  Among the two trees with the pink
coloured leaves you will find your target, the Rogue Tomato.

------------------------------------
BOSS: Rogue Tomato - HP: 134 - LV: 2
------------------------------------

Use a Potion on Vaan (assuming he's hurt) before engaging the Tomato.  After a
few strikes the Rogue Tomato will drop off the edge of the cliff and begin to
gradually regain its HP.  Run around the side and follow the Rogue Tomato down
below where you can freely finish it off.  For defeating the Tomato Vaan
receives some Galbana Lilies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're looking for somewhere to progress with the License system, I would
suggest starting with White Magick and Cure. 

Make absolutely sure not to engage the T-Rex you see wandering around this
area.  The colour of the HP bar above an enemy's head will indicate whether
the enemy will attack or not.  Red is aggressive, green is neutral.

Feel free to explore the rest of this area to collect all the remaining items
of little to no consequence.  With the Rogue Tomato taken down and your Hunt
complete, it's time to make your way back to the Sandsea.  Be sure to save
your game along the way.  Locate Kytes who is standing near the gate and speak
with him to trigger a cutscene. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A004]                            Rabanastre                           
==============================================================================

Run east and head south to reach the Sandsea again.  Speak to Tomaj over by
the bar.  Your reward for successful completion is 300 Gil, Potion x 2 &
Teleport Stone.  He also suggest you go speak to a particular Bangaa in the
North End.  The next Hunt which is available to you may be a little difficult
at this point, so let's put it off for the time being.  All subsequent Hunts
from this point onward are entirely optional.

Assuming you followed my advice and spent your LPs on the White Magick skill,
it's time to go and actually learn the Cure spell.  The wand icon on your
minimap just southwest of the Sandsea indicates where the Magick shop is
located.  Speak to the person at the counter and learn the Cure spell.

Gil isn't exactly plentiful in this game, so you may want to hold off on
throwing it around on anything you are unsure you will actually use.  Don't
forget to sell all the vendortrash you accumulated from all the mobs you
defeated in the Dalmasca Estersand.  Anything you received as part of a quest
reward (Teleport Stone for example) I would suggest you hang onto. 

Make your way to the North End of town (I don't believe specific directions
are necessary, just use your map).  The building identified as ??? when you
select the North End is exactly where you want to go.  Speak to the
Conspicuous Bangaa outside and tell him to let you in. 

Speak to Montblanc at the top of the stairs in order to join the Centurio
Clan.  Speak to him a second time and you will receive a special prize for
joining, three Potions.  Leave the Clan Hall and head southwest to the Muthru
Bazaar.  Continue from here to the Southern Plaza and take the southern exit
from there.  You'll find the door to Lowtown (your destination) on the east
side of this area. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A005]                             Lowtown                           
==============================================================================

ZODIAC SPEAR ALERT - There is an interesting point to note here: a weapon
exists in this game which can only be obtained under very specific
circumstances.  In order for this extremely powerful weapon to appear later in
the game, you must refrain from opening four specific treasure chests.  The
first of these four chests is the one directly north of the entrance to
Lowtown.  Its contents are totally inconsequential, don't touch it.

The facial portrait icon is Dalan's house, but you may want to leave it be for
the time being and explore Lowtown for the various treasure chests and item
vendors.  Enter Dalan's house when you are ready. 

Now, make your way south to where you originally entered Lowtown from.  Exit
here and save your game.  Before going to the Giza Plains it maybe in your
best interests to pick up a map.  One can be purchased (among other maps) from
the Moogle at the northwest corner of the Southern Plaza.  When ready, head
south from here to reach the Giza Plains.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A006]                            Giza Plains
==============================================================================

Keep in mind that while the majority of chests in this area are more "quantity
over quality,"  I still encourage you to seek them out yourself, if for no
other reason than to increase your item haul.

The first thing you should do is run straight south to reach the Nomad Camp. 
Speak to the elder in front of the tent and then to Masyua, the lone nomad
behind the tent.  Listen to the offer and it will trigger a scene with Penelo. 
She joins Vaan which adds another member to your party. 

Take the west exit out of the camp and Penelo will give you 3 Potions and 2
Tufts of Phoenix Down.  Additionally this allows you to issue leader commands
and change the party leader.  None of this is particularly complicated, no
doubt you will grow accustomed to it simply by experimenting with these
commands in the battles around the plains.

From here, make your way down past the enemies to the southern exit.  Continue
south from here and open the chest below the bridge for a chance at obtaining
an Escutcheon.  Be careful not to pull the Werewolf enemies a bit further
south of here.  You can see by the bright red colour of their name when
targeted that you stand very little chance.

Your destination lies to the east.  Speak with Jinn who is standing beside a
large stone.  Explain the situation to him and he'll offer you a Shadestone
which can, in time, be transformed into a Sunstone.  Save your game and begin
your trek toward the Dark Crystals. 

Take the east exit and check the chest at the bottom right corner for a chance
at obtaining a Broadsword.  Now make your way north.  I would suggest you try
to avoid fighting too many of the neutral bunnies, they have a nasty tendency
to start fleeing and aggroing every other monster in the area.  They also Cure
you from time to time which is nice. 

Examine the Dark Crystal in this area to start filling up your Shadestone. 
You will likely need to find two more after this one.  There is a treasure
chest on the bridge directly to the east, however I suggest you avoid picking
it up for the time being.  It will not respawn if you do, and there's a chance
it will have much better contents if you return later in the game.

Make your way north to the next section where you will find yet another Dark
Crystal.  Assuming the Shadestone isn't entirely full, head west through the
Nomad Camp and then south to find the third Dark Crystal.  Your Shadestone
should be full at this point (and be a Sunstone), however if you do need the
fourth one, you can find it in the far northwest section.

Your reward for completing this is 50 Gil, 2 Potions and 2 Teleport Stones. 
Now it's time to head back to town and locate old Dalan again.  Speak to him
to get the Crescent Stone.  Leave Dalan's house and head all the way to the
north end of Lowtown.  Head a little west and north again to find Storehouse 5
(it's just to the right of the Traveling Merchant).

Before going down into the Garamsythe Waterway, Kytes hands you 2 Potions and
4 Phials of Eye Drops which will undoubtedly come in handy.  Open the door and
proceed down into the waterway.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A007]                       Garamsythe Waterway
==============================================================================

Use the Save Crystal to save the game, then climb the stairs and follow the
path north.  The way to go here is relatively straightforward.  There is a 
basic chest on the western side, with a bridge crossing over to the east. 

Continue east and cross a series of shallow water trenches.  Keep an eye out
for any chests which may appear along here.  Follow the path toward the
northeast where you'll find an exit to the next section.

Examine all the northern alleys for treasure chests as you make your way left.
Cross the makeshift metal bridge and ignore the stairs for the time being. 
There is a staircase to the south leading up to a chest, which if it appears,
has a chance of containing an Oak Staff. 

Ascend the stairs to the west and go down the opposite side.  Go down the
stairs and turn around, this path also leads around to a corner on the western
side with a chest that has a very high probability of containing a Mage
Masher.  Make your way back around and head for the northwest corner.  It's
now or never, so if you're ready to enter the palace, then do it.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A008]                           Royal Palace
==============================================================================

ZODIAC SPEAR ALERT - Do not open the treasure chest in the furthest southeast
corner of the Cellars, the room just above the one where you start.  You will
notice that two treasure chests are located in the southeast corner, and while
you should technically be able to open the one on the right (right when FACING
THE CAMERA SOUTH) without consequence, it has nothing special so I would
suggest you not touch either one to be on the safe side.  Note that if you
open one and receive an Elixir, it means you blew it.  Reset the game.

Save your game and take the map from the urn.  Feel free to collect the rest
of the chests in the Cellars room for some half decent items.  As you approach
the north end it will trigger a short scene.  Attempt to climb the stairs
(which you are forbidden from doing) then speak to the Palace Servant nearest
the stairs.  He'll help you get past.

Press the square button while standing where you are to call the guard. 
Fortunately for you, the guard seems to be lacking in both intelligence and
peripheral vision, so "sneak" by him by running in an extremely conspicuous
circle along the wall and up the stairs.

There is a relatively simple puzzle here which gives you the ability to press
square and call the guards, gradually moving them from place to place so that
you don't actually have to come into contact with them.  Make a right at the
first fork, run to the east side and call the guards to the north down toward
where you are standing.  Now run back west toward where you entered.

At the first fork, press square to call the guards down, then run right.  The
Hawk Signet here will not react with your Crescent Stone, so you need to keep
looking.  Head east, make a left, then another left to find the Lion Signet. 
Use your Crescent Stone here to lit the path to the secret chamber. 

Proceed west to the fork and call the guard to the north down to where you
are.  Run back east to the opposite side, then up, and finally left to safely
reach the hidden chamber.  Approach the wall and press X to reveal the room. 

There is a hidden switch on the wall at the far west end.  After pressing it,
examine the suspicious wall to reveal yet another passageway.  After a quick
scene Vaan receives the GODDESS'S MAGICITE.  From this point all that is
necessary of you is to climb an additional set of stairs to trigger quite a
magnificent cutscene.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A009]                       Garamsythe Waterway
==============================================================================

A somewhat detailed explanation of the game's Gambit system awaits you at the
bottom of the stairs.  Examine the corpses of the fallen soldiers and then
proceed south.  Turn left, and inside the urn you will find the map to the
Garamsythe Waterway. 

Head west, but ignore the stairs (unless you want a chest with no chance of a
decent item).  Follow this path around and up the stairs.  Continue around and
make your way south until you reach the next area.  Oh the way down keep an
eye out for a chest which may appear in the eastern alley and contain a Hi-
Potion.

Keep moving south in this area and make a left at the bottom.  You'll soon
reach a section of walkway which forces you to run around a sort of
rectangular shape (in addition to encountering your first large toad enemy). 
Keep an eye out for any chests that spawn along this path, there's a chance
they could contain a Long Sword and Escutcheon.

There's a set of stairs at the end of this walkway.  Climb up them and ignore
the next stairs going down as you proceed south to a dead end with a possible
chest.  If it appears, it may contain Leather Armor.

Descend the stairs leading south and once again, up another set.  The north
path here takes you down a walkway parallel to the one with the previous
chest, though this chest contains nothing special.  Your destination lies
still further south from here.  Proceed into the next area.

We are now in the East Sluice Control (as determinable by pressing the select
button and looking at the map).  Follow this relatively linear path until it
leads you to a Save Crystal (which you should use).  If you think you are
prepared for a battle, then simply descend the nearby stairs.

Four Imperial Soldiers drop down to do battle with both you and the mysterious
woman.  While this is by no means a boss battle, there are a few important
points to keep in mind if you wish to stay alive:

I would suggest making Vaan the primary healer of this battle assuming you
have already had him learn Cure.  While it will still be your responsibility
to target and attack enemies, make sure to keep an eye on the health bars (or
values) of the rest of your party. 

Both Balthier and Fran should already have gambits which tell them to attack
the leaders' target (your target).  The girl will attack whomever she pleases,
though the battle will be easier if everyone focuses on one target at a time,
so try to focus your attacks on any soldier the mystery girl is fighting.

After the battle, she (Amalia) joins the party as a guest character (similar
to a Final Fantasy Tactics guest  in that you cannot control their actions). 
With the battle complete it would probably be in your best interests to save
your game again (thus healing your party entirely).

Take the west exit and note the wide open battlefield-esque area, along with
the ensuing fight you saw coming from a mile away.  The Flans serve as the
hardest battle you have faced thus far, but you should be prepared for it
regardless of how your party is setup. 

The most important point to note is that the Flans have an extreme weakness to
Fire.  Vaan may not yet have Fire Magick, but Fran comes with it by default. 
Open the menu and change Fran's Gambit from attacking the leader's target, to
casting Fire on it. 

Now do your best to target everyone on a single Flan and start attacking. 
They will inevitably cast Blind on your party which can be dispelled using Eye
Drops.  Make sure that you or some member of your party is configured to heal
when the HP of others gets low.  The Flans too will heal each other, but you
should be able to rack up enough damage to easily offset this advantage.

With the Flans dead, I would once again suggest going back to the Save
Crystal.  It saves you from having to use items to heal or cure the Blind
ailment. 

Check both the east and west sides of the battlefield for chests that have
good probabilities of dropping a Leather Shield and Dagger.  Take the west
exit and keep an eye out for a chest here which will inevitably contain a Tuft
of Phoenix Down. 

Take the stairs to the south up to the higher level.  Do not forget to change
Fran's Gambit back to a regular attack before pulling any enemies here.  Now
proceed north to the next area. 

Check the western paths for chances at finding a Cotton Shirt in one of the
chests.  I find that it's very dangerous to take on some of the enemies in
this area, especially the ghosts, as they will teleport away and pull huge
groups of mobs to pound your party into submission.  Just my experience.  It's
always good to exercise caution.

Continue up and take the east path.  Notice you will come to a section of
walkway that makes the shape of a "D" on your minimap.  On the southeast side
of this "D" there is a chance of a treasure chest appearing with interesting
contents: the new Gambit "Foe: Targeting Self."  If you consider the chance of
the chest appearing, the chance of it having an item, and the chance of the
item being the Gambit, it's only roughly 25%. 

Keep in mind if you don't get it here, you can get it very easily later. 
There is no point in this game where you have to worry about resetting over
and over until a chest drops a particular item, everything you can find in
this manner can still be found elsewhere. 

Head east and use the Save Crystal in the middle of the Central Waterway
Control.  When you're ready to fight the boss, examine the Overflow Cloaca on
the north wall of this room.

---------------------------------
BOSS: Firemane - HP: 3571 - LV: 7
---------------------------------

You'll find a surprising challenge awaiting with the game's first boss.  A
hefty stock of healing items will be necessary to maintain your characters' HP
totals throughout the entirety of this battle. 

Firemane attacks primarily with a couple of basic melee strikes that will
typically necessitate at least one Potion or Cure from some member of the
party.  I would suggest placing Vaan on almost exclusive healing duties here. 

When Firemane teleports around the field you may have to target the boss again
in order to keep people attacking.  The most impressive (and most dangerous)
attack the boss will unleash is called Bushfire, and it hits each member of
your party for a substantial amount of damage while also having a chance to
inflict Poison.  Be ready to use Antidotes, and remember to cycle between
party members while doing so, Vaan does not have to administer every item
himself.

Amalia is automatically configured to use a Phoenix Down if anyone dies, so
the only time you have to worry is if she herself dies (or if you run out of
Phoenix Down).  She will also administer Potions frequently to injured party
members, but it's not enough to balance the damage, so Vaan will still have
his hands full doing the same thing.  Let Fran and Balthier be your primary
sources of damage and you should do fine.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A010]                         Nalbina Dungeons
==============================================================================

Vaan finds himself along with Fran and Balthier down in the Nalbina Dungeons
Stockade.  Let's begin by finding us a few Knots of Rust shall we?  The first
is in a chest located down at the southwest corner.  The second can be found
against a pillar on the northwest side of the raised area in the middle.

The final two Knots of Rust can be found in chests down in the southeast
corner.  Once you have all four, use the Save Crystal on the north side, speak
to anyone you wish to talk to, and then take the north exit.

The battle you are dropped into is not a difficult one by any means.  You
should have no trouble taking them down solely using firsts, however even so,
both Magick and those Knots of Rust are options for more powerful hits from a
distance.  Cure if necessary, but you really shouldn't have any trouble.

ZODIAC SPEAR ALERT - Following the next scene you will come across all your
equipment and gear.  After recovering them, make absolutely sure not to open a
single one of the chests here in the Confiscatory.  Doing so will blow your
chances to find the Zodiac Spear later in the game.

Save your game and proceed east.  Make tracks for the stairs at the southeast
corner, then follow the walkway to the west end where you'll find a chest that
may contain Chromed Leathers.  Return to the previous floor and check the
various corners of the room for a number of treasure chests. 

Follow the hall leading west up at the northwest corner.  Make a left turn and
stay close to the southern wall to find a chest which may contain the Gambit,
Ally: HP < 60%.  Another chest can be found directly north of this one.

Head for the centre of the north wall to find the floor Fran was speaking of. 
A scene will interrupt you at this point.  Proceed through the now-open door
to further the story. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A011]                          Barheim Passage
==============================================================================

Use the Save Crystal in the corner and save your game.  Examine the Timeworn
Device in the centre of the room, then descend the stairs near the crystal and
speak with the creature below to get a Tube Fuse.  Return to the previous
level and check the room at the far east to find three chests, each containing
a fair bit of Gil.

Use the Tube Fuse on the power relay in the middle to activate the lights. 
Now pres the switch on the wall beside Burrogh while will deplete the charge
down to 70%.  He explains that you need to maintain a good level of charge in
order to actually make it through this area.

Take the southern exit and prepare for another quick tutorial.  Your primary
goal should be to eliminate the Battery Mimics as soon as possible so that not
only do you stop them from draining charge, you actually replenish some that
was already lost. 

Assuming you have the Libra effect equipped you can see that the Battery
Mimics have a substantial weakness to ice magic.  For this reason one of the
first things you will want to do whenever you see one is target it with
Blizzard magic. 

Take down this first Mimic and continue around the path.  As you progress down
the stairs, you may wish to ignore the small Mimics in favour of going after
the Battery Mimic at the bottom first.  Defeat the enemies and proceed east. 

There are at least two Battery Mimics in this next room, and not necessarily
close together.  Quickly eliminate the first and then ignore all other enemies
as you run south to locate the second.  Afterwards you are more than welcome
to run back and look for any chests you may have passed.

Ignore the first fork leading southwest (after disposing of the Battery Mimic)
and head straight south to another fork.  The more eastern fork leads to
another battery Mimic and potential treasure chest.  The other fork will take
you a little further south.  When the opportunity presents itself, take the
other path back north to find an with the map to this area inside.

A pointless room with a couple more Battery Mimics awaits you to the west, you
are under no obligation to clear it.  Your real destination lies to the south. 
When you enter this area, quickly dispose of the first Battery Mimic you see. 
The second hides in a room at the end of the east hall, though you will have
to circumnavigate a couple of Flan enemies in order to catch him quickly. 

From this room you can climb the stairs and take sort of a northern exit off
to the side.  This whole room is filled with Flans and battery Mimics.  Your
goal is to make your way toward the far northwest corner where a gate switch
can be found at the top of the stairs.  It require 30% charge to activate.   
When you're ready to proceed further, what you need to do is return to Special
Op Sector 3 (the previous area) and head south.

Save your game and continue south.  Keep an eye out for Mimics disguised as
chests.  You will also watch to keep hunting down Battery Mimics whenever
possible.  Use the slowly depleting charge to determine whether one is nearby,
and the red icons on your minimap to find them.

There are quite a few Battery Mimics in the area south of this one, three to
me exact.  The best course of action to take is to begin by targeting both
that start near the entrance with a Blizzard spell and proceeding to wipe them
out for there.  The third is located in a rather inconvenient place, you must
run south to the bottom of the ramp and then northeast to the top where the
final one is found.

Make sure to go back down and open all of the many chests found in this area,
including the possibilities of some equipment and new Gambits.  Travel up the
slope to the northeast corner where you will find the exit.  Save your game
and prepare for another boss battle.

-------------------------------------
BOSS: Mimic Queen - HP: 4073 - LV: 10
-------------------------------------

Configuring your Gambits well is important for this fight.  I would suggest
setting up Balthier and Fran in the following way: both should have the
primary duty of casting Cure when Ally HP < 50%.  Balthier's secondary duty
should be to attack the leader's target while Fran's should be to cast
Blizzard on the leader's target, and her tertiary to attack normally.

The boss has a weakness to ice, but the purpose of only setting one of your
two party members to cast it is so that the Balthier still has the Mp to heal
when Fran's is depleted.  Vaan can act to sort of balance it since ideally you
will be controlling him.

If you find that you do not have much charge to last you through this battle,
you may need to focus a little more energy on eliminating the small minions
that deplete it.  For the majority however, the charge bar will only act as a
timer for you to defeat the boss herself. 

Since it is difficult to find a decent camera angle, your best bet is simply
not to worry about it and just slash the abdomen repeatedly.  The occasional
Blizzard spell from Vaan certainly won't hurt either.  Keep the heals up and
watch out for the ground-smashing attack, and everything should work out fine.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0012]                        Dalmasca Estersand
==============================================================================

Take the west exit and explore this area for various treasures.  You will find
that the enemies here are laughable easy.  I would suggest that it is well
worth it to kill each one you see, if not for the pathetic amounts of
experience, then at least for the quick LPs and vendortrash items.

Don't let your guard down too quickly, around behind the rocky wall of the
northwest corner you will find a cockatrice named Nekhbet.  Despite looking
almost no different from any other enemy you have faced, this creature is more
difficult than some bosses! 

The damage from its attacks start at around 80 and just go up from there.  It
has nearly 4000 HP and the ability to cast slow on your party.  Be ready with
plenty of Phoenix Downs and make sure to give it your all because this
creature nets you more than 200 XP when killed.

Your destination is Rabanastre to the south, so that's the direction you
should be heading.  Continue pounding the life out of defenseless wolves as
you make your way southwest toward the X on your map. 

Bear in mind that you still don't stand a chance against the T-Rez roaming the
area, however if you're feeling exceptionally brave and happen to enjoy the
pleasant ambience of the game over screen, then by all means give it a try.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0013]                            Rabanastre
==============================================================================

It's time to catch up on everything you have missed.  I would suggest the
first thing you do is take a trip to the East End and visit both the weapons
and equipment ships.  Magicks couldn't hurt either.  Once you're done
upgrading your equipment then it's time to move on to other tasks.

Since you only have Vaan in your party at the moment, I would suggest putting
off any new Hunts for the time being.  One thing you will definitely want to
do is visit Montblanc in the Clan Hall.  Montblanc has a nice little habit of
offering you a reward for every boss you take down. 

In your case this includes not only the Firemane and Mimic Queen, but even the
Flan ambush from back in the waterway.  You'll be awarded 150, 200 and 300 Gil
for each of these three bosses. 

Now make your way down to Migelo's Sundries.  There's a quick scene, but you
won't find Penelo there.  Pick up some of the new items available here and
then head for the Southgate and the entrance to Lowtown.  Enter Dalan's place
and speak with him.

Dalan gives you the Sword of the Order and instructs you to deliver it to a
man named Azelas.  Locating him should not prove difficult (especially give
that it is marked on your map).  Head for the northwest area and speak to the
Rabanastran sitting on the crate. 

When Basch joins the party it's time to distribute the many License Points
that he comes with.  Leave Lowtown, save your game, and make tracks for the
Sandsea tavern.  A short scene occurs on your way there.  Climb the stairs
inside the Sandsea to trigger another scene with Balthier.

Use the party menu to choose the three members you wish to fight with, then
prepare them accordingly.  Before doing as Balthier says, I think this would
be a fine time to catch up on some Hunts.  I imagine you could likely finish
the first four Hunts at this point.

Head for the Westgate of Rabanastre and then go north from there into the
Aerodrome.  You will find Balthier near the top end standing on a set of
stairs leading down into a little viewing area.  Tell him you're ready to go,
and that's that.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0014]                             Bhujerba
==============================================================================

Feel free to poke your nose around the majestic sky city at your leisure,
there is no hurry to get to the mines.  You'll find mostly the same shops here
as you would in Rabanastre.  One thing you will certainly need is a map of the
place.  That can be acquired easily from the Cartographers' Guild Moogle
standing right in the crossroads of Travica Way.  Pick up a map of the mine
while you're at it.

You can see on that map that the entrance to the Lhusu Mines is found at the
northeast corner of the city.  Make sure that's where you head once you're
done wandering around.  Use the Save Crystal and proceed north into the mines.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0015]                         The Lhusu Mines
==============================================================================

Enter the mines and watch the initial scene.  Proceed west along the tracks
until the fist opportunity to head south presents itself.  Continue south
along the road until it turns west.  At this point you may go south again
(leads to two potential treasures, and a gated dead end) or continue west to
the end.  Going south from this point will take you to the exit leading to the
next area.

Do note also that if you see a pillar of light erupting from the ground, avoid
it at all costs.  This is a trap and it means you have the Libra effect on at
least one character.  Those who do not have the Libra effect will not see
traps, but are still perfectly capable of tripping them if encountered.

Keep an eye out for a chance spawn of a miniboss enemy similar to the
cockatrice you fought earlier.  There is a bat named Aerieel that spawns on
this bridge which can prove quite difficult for your party. 

Continue west to reach the Transitway 1.  There is a gate blocking the western
path, so take the northeastern route (follow the tracks, as opposed to the
other path, for a chest that by chance may containing a Killer Bow). 

You need to be very careful with your pulls in the Shunia Twinspan.  Up to
five or six skeletons can spawn right at the entrance to the bridge section
alone.  Make sure to take them out little by little as they appear, and wait
until they are defeated before progressing further. 

Enter the next area and follow the linear road around and up the stairs. 
You'll find a number of chests in this next room.  Head north through this
hallway to trigger another scene.

Balthier offers some sound advice here, and that is to run.  You are not meant
to strike down these foes, so hold down the R2 button and get those legs
moving.  You'll need to run through at least three or four areas before they
finally stop cashing you, at which point you can slowly grind your way back to
the beginning and exit in Bhujerba.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0016]                             Bhujerba
==============================================================================

Climb the stairs and watch the scene.  A little "minigame" in which your duty
is to increase Basch's notoriety through running around town shouting that he
lives. 

No doubt you will find this task relatively easy.  Simply run around town
standing amongst as many people as possible pressing the square button.  The
one thing you do need to keep an eye out for are the NPCs titled "Informed
Sainikah."  You can easily identify them from the helm they wear.  Shouting
about Basch in their presence will drastically reduce your Notoriety meter.

Certain NPCs like "Parijanah" will increase the meter far faster than some
random nobody leaning against a wall.  In fact I would go so far as to say
these are the only people worth speaking to.  Note also that only NPCs with
the talkie icon above their heads will count.

The fifth Hunt is available on the Cloudborne Notice Board, though defeating
the monster is quite difficult at this point in the game.  I would suggest
waiting at least until after the next area.  You will return to this city
immediately after.

When you are ready to proceed, check your map for the destination marker and
make your way there.  A lengthy scene will follow before you are transported
to the next area.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0017]                          The Leviathan
==============================================================================

Vossler joins your party as a guest wielding an extremely powerful two-handed
sword.  Save your game and exit the Port Launch.  Throughout most of the rest
of the ship you will encounter various hallways blocked by a laser grid alarm. 
Stepping through this grid will prompt a number of guards to appear and ambush
you.  Do your best to avoid them whenever possible.

The Dreadnought Leviathan is a maze of hallways and dead ends.  Fortunately
for you, a map is automatically given right at the beginning so it is never
very difficult to reach your destination.  Rather than turning this section of
the guide into a mess of wests, norths, lefts and rights, I will instead allow
you to traverse the long (but relatively linear maze) yourself simply by using
the map.  You will find it ends up being quite easy.

Navigate to the middle of the Airship Berith Access.  Upon arriving you will
encounter a number of enemies, including a couple of more powerful Judge type
enemies.  While you may be fighting six at once, the battle will end
immediately when the two Judges are killed, so I would recommend you focus all
of your attacks on them and just weather the beating you'll take from the
remaining foes.

For completing this challenge you are awarded the No. 1 Brig Key which works
on the door only a few feet away.  Inside the brig you will find a Save
Crystal, an urn containing the System Access Key, and across from that a nice
Moogle willing to restock your inventory (for a price, of course). 

Ashe is in one of the remaining two cells.  Once you free her she will
automatically join the party.  Now your goal is to get back to the Port
Launch, but once again your progress will be impeded by dead ends and alarms. 
So many alarms in fact that enemies will seemingly come continuously.  There
is a point where I would recommend just holding down R2 and fleeing the whole
way back.  How much you want to fight depends entirely on how much extra
experience and LP you want to gather.

The one important thing to keep in mind is that before reaching the Port
Launch, make sure to heal your party and cure any lingering status ailments. 
What follows is one of the first boss battles that doesn't come directly after
the use of a Save Crystal.

------------------------------------
BOSS: Judge Ghis - HP: 4120 - LV: 14
------------------------------------

Unlike the previous battle, I would suggest you take down his lackeys first
before focusing on Ghis himself.  Ghis is one nasty son' bitch, pounding
anyone in his field of vision with a variety of attacks, all of them lethal. 
You'll need someone on permanent healing duty this fight, but given how
quickly MP depletes, you might have to cycle who that person is.

If you do happen to have the MP to spare, I find that the Dark spell is very
effective, especially at the beginning for helping to quickly eliminate the
guards.

Ghis doesn't seem to have any discernable weakness, so I would suggest just
focusing on physical attacks and perhaps Quickenings if you've learned any by
this point.  One positive aspect of this battle is that you don't actually
have to kill him, the battle should automatically end if you can manage to get
him down to about 25% HP.  It's still difficult of course, but at least this
gives you some advantage. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Bhujerba, this would probably be a fine time to undertake that fifth
hunt (though it will still be very difficult).  Your main destination at this
point is Marquis Ondore's place, the same place you headed to before being
brought aboard the Leviathan.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0018]                        Ogir-Yensa Sandsea
==============================================================================

You will find the sandsea just west of the encampment where you start.  It is
made up of a series of large metal connecting structures, and of course, lots
of sand.  Head south and climb up the first tower, then begin your
southwestward trek.

You will encounter a familiar face as you travel west between the towers here. 
Climb down this tower to the ground below and eliminate any of the... "sand
people" there.  While it may lead to a dead end, you will nevertheless want to
climb the west tower in order to find the map of the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea inside
of an urn.

Back on the ground again, proceed up the north ramp to the top of that tower. 
Head west from here until you reach a point where (if you look at your map)
you will see that there are three possible branches you can take.  The fastest
way to go is to head southwest and make tracks for the Yensa Border Tunnel,
but you'll find many battles and treasure among the towers in each of the
other directions as well.  While you may not find anything described as "one-
of-a-kind", there is still appeal in taking the longer route, and thus it
remains your decision.

If possible I would suggest avoiding the middle path leading west.  You're
liable to run into the level 45 elemental fire enemy.  This enemy shouldn't
aggro, but I believe it automatically will if any Magick is cast.  Regardless
of WHY it attacks you, the point is that should it choose to, you'll be
looking at 3000 damage a hit.  That's game over right there.  Steer clear.

Avoid the Zertinan Caverns for the time being.  It is unlikely you will be
able to survive in there and it's not somewhere you need to be anyway.  If
you're wondering, that's the name for the ??? location in the centre of this
area.

Assuming you made it to the southwestern Yensa Border Tunnel, you'll have a
chance to stock up and save your game before heading west again to the Nam-
Yensa Sandsea.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0019]                        Nam-Yensa Sandsea
==============================================================================

There should be a fair number of chests in this area with some half-decent
loot, so I suggest you wander the border keeping an eye out for any of those
which happened to spawn.  Over on the northwest side of this area you will
find a couple of bridges.  Take the more southern of the two to find the map
of this area inside of an urn. 

The more northern of the two leads ahead.  You will now find yourself in an
area called the Withering Shores.  There's a little out of the way trip you
can make now, but I highly recommend you do so.  All you need to do is run
north from here, through the Urutan-Yensa Sea area to reach the other Save
Crystal encampment (called the Sandscale Bank on your map).

Arriving there you will find a Moogle who asks if you are interested in
offering assistance.  He tells you about a giant tortoise he'd like you to
take care of.  No problem.  Backtrack west through the Urutan-Yensa Sea to
reach the Withering Shores again.

The difference between this visitor and your last one is that now a giant
tortoise named the Urutan-Eater occupies the area.  Fortunately you have about
five or six "guests" assisting you with this battle, the same mobs you've been
beating down the whole time you've been out here.

Your real guest, Vossler, has a nasty tendency to focus his attacks on the
Urutan rather than the Eater.  Hopefully you can get to him take aim for the
tortoise before too many of your allies have fallen.  The tortoise will focus
primarily on them so there's a good chance if you can hit hard enough, you
really won't see any damage to your party until the thing is almost dead.

The sheer amount of defensive armour on this thing makes exploiting its
magical weakness (Wind) very appealing indeed.  If you happen to have the Aero
spell at your disposal then use it like crazy.  If not, you'll need to rely on
weak physical attacks (or Quickenings) to slowly deplete its health.

With the Urutan-Eater dead, it's time to make yet another trip north to the
Sandscale Bank.  Speak to the Moogle there and then continue east back to the
Ogir-Yensa Sandsea.  Climb the first ramp and a scene will occur.  Afterwards,
head back west (again) and watch another scene. 

Examine the flower that remains where the gathering took place to receive a
bunch of Eksir Berries.  Speak to the Moogle twice to learn that a monster,
Garuda, is particularly un-fond of this flower.  We'll keep that information
in mind and be able to put it to practical use soon enough.

Time to finally get back to the mission.  Make tracks for the Withering Shores
where you fought the Urutan-Eater, and head west from there up the ramp. 
Continue west to the next area, then climb down and cross one of the bridge
leading south.

As you head west from here, you will once again have two possible paths you
can take.  The north path (blocked by a number of traps) leads to an ambush of
sand fish and also a dead end.  There's a chest there with a chance of holding
the Gambit Foe: HP < 1000.

When you reach the Trail of Fading Warmth, there is an optional area full of
treasures and enemies you can explore if you wish.  To reach the Simoon Bluff,
simply take the northeast path at the fork (as opposed to northwest.)  Be very
careful of all the traps you encounter immediately upon entering the area.

This area is full of feathered fiends you may find a little more difficult
than what is typical of this area.  Irregardless, it is doubtful you will have
any difficulty against them (assuming you don't aggro more than two or three
at a time.)

The one enemy of note in this area is a flying creature that you won't be able
to damage without the use of guns, bows or magic.  It has a weakness to water
magic, and so the Water spell should do between 400 - 500 damage when used by
any proficient caster.  Take this creature down for a whopping 2 LP!  The
remainder of the area is populated by the same enemies as before and offers
quite a few chests to find.  Be sure to look around.

Once finished in the Simoon Bluff, head back down and take the northwest oath
from the Trail of Fading Warmth.  You'll find a Chocobo-mounted merchant just
before you reach the entrance to the tomb.  While no Save Crystal is found
here, the game will automatically prompt you to save when you progress to the
next zone.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0020]                      The Tomb of Raithwall
==============================================================================

--------------------------------
BOSS: Garuda - HP: 6754 - LV: 14
--------------------------------

Begin the battle by immediately using the Eksir Berries that you got for
finishing the Urutan-Eater miniquest.  As the Moogle described, the Garuda
does not like them and the berries should deal a fair amount of damage to the
boss. 

Once those are out of the way it's time to move on to ranged attacks (since
this boss flies you won't be able to hit it with melee weapon swings).  It has
no elemental weaknesses so all Magick is equally effective here.  Whoever is
wielding a gun (Balthier?) should be attacking normally and ideally with the
Silence Shot equipped so that you have a good chance of hindering the boss'
ability to basically do any damage to you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Climb the stairs ahead of you and use the Save Crystal.  Touching the Ancient
Device will teleport your party to the inner section of the Tomb of Raithwall.
Head west, past the second device and down the small set of stairs.  A scene
will trigger here and a giant Demon Wall will begin advancing on your party. 

This wall is an optional boss, you are not expected to beat it, you are
expected to run.  There is no shame in running like a coward to the end of the
hall, sweat dripping as you panic-strickenly try to mash the X button and
squeeze through the door, permanently etching your pathetic defeat in stone
for the rest of eternity.

For those dying to know if pitting themselves against such a powerful creature
yields any worthwhile rewards, let me just say now that it does.  It does.

--------------------------------------------------
BOSS: (Optional) Demon Wall - HP: Too Much - LV: ?
--------------------------------------------------

It's going to be a hell of a task trying to take this guy down, but I know one
method (aside from hours of powerleveling) that should help you get through
the battle.  That is of course, the biggest chain of back-to-back Quickenings
you can possibly muster. 

You're going to need one of two things: either a lot of Ethers, or a
Quickening on each of your characters.  This won't be difficult assuming you
(like myself) allow LP to pile up on the characters you don't use.  Make sure
as many members of your (six person) party have Quickenings before the battle
begins.

The first thing to do (go figure) is to use a Mist Quickening.  You're looking
at ideally trying to chain eight hits or more (though sometimes that's just
impossible).  Actually I've seen six hit chains do more damage than 8 hits on
occasion, so there is a random element there as well.

4000 damage (or less) is bad.  8000 damage (or more) is great.  6000 damage is
acceptable.  Use that as a gauge for how you are doing.  I would estimate the
boss' total HP at around 20,000. 

After the first Quickening, wait.  Wait until someone is hit with the X-Zone
effect and removed from the battle.  This will inevitably happen every time. 
After that, start replacing that X-Zone'd person with whoever is on reserve. 
Now use their Quickening, then sub them with another, use their Quickening,
etc.  This should ideally yield four Quickenings without using any Ethers.

Boss still isn't dead?  Resort to Ethers.  Use them on anyone with low MP (so
it fills it to the max) and then use another Quickening.  Given the randomness
of Quickening chains and damage, if you fail the first, second or even third
time, there's no reason you won't win on the fourth.  Keep trying.

** An interesting point to note is that the boss' speed seems unaffected by
battle speed, thus increasing the battle speed to maximum should give you a
serious advantage (it won't make any difference while you are spamming
Quickenings.) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the battle is over, don't worry about your reward just yet.  Warp back
to the beginning and save your game, then proceed through the door at the end
of the hall where you fought the boss.  Assuming you merely ran, it'll be the
same door.

-------------------------------------------------
BOSS: (Necessary) Demon Wall - HP: 10332 - LV: 16
-------------------------------------------------

The difficulty of the Demon Wall brings back memories of a similarly difficult
boss in Final Fantasy VII, however this time around we have a few more tools
at our disposal to ease the plight.  Your goal is to stop the boss (by killing
it) before it is able to either cut your party down, or smear them into a thin
paste against the wall. 

First and foremost are the Gambits you will need to set up.  This boss will
constantly inflict negative status ailments on your party, the most
debilitating of which is Sleep.  A sleeping party member is one more party
member not mowing this boss down before the inevitable paste-ing. 

Create a Gambit to automatically use an Alarm Clock on the sleeping character,
or (if you find yourself in my shoes) and have none, create a Gambit for your
weakest character to attack any sleeping party members.  Just remember you may
need to manually do it yourself should the character with the Gambit succumb
to Sleep.

An interesting aspect to this battle are the torches on the side of the path. 
When you examine and touch them, they will either speed up or slow the boss'
movements.  Obviously this can be either good or bad.  I'm not sure whether
the effect is random, but I will just say that in my case (starting from the
door and toward the boss) the THIRD set of two both slowed the boss down.  You
can experiment with them as you see fit, just remember you can still easily
take him out without the help of torches.

Offense-wise, just stick with the usual tricks.  MP should be saved for
powerful Cure spells like Cura.  Avoid Cure like the Plague in this battle. 
If you want a quick heal, use Potions, if you're going to die, use Cura.  You
don't have the time to sit around charging weak spells like that. 
Additionally, since the boss' defense is relatively average, your best bet for
the most damage in the least amount of time is simply normal physical attacks.

Finally, I would note that this is a perfect battle to let loose some insane
chained Quickenings right at the beginning.  They may deplete your MP, but
with any luck you'll be looking at between 5000 - 10000 damage (assuming you
chain at least a few of them.)  With that much of a punch from the start, you
won't even need the lost MP to heal.

** As I mentioned above from those who did not fight the previous boss, an
interesting point to note is that the boss' speed seems unaffected by battle
speed, thus increasing the battle speed to maximum should give you a serious
advantage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, for those of you who managed to defeat the first boss, it's time to claim
your reward.  For those who didn't, skip ahead a few paragraphs to the dashed
line.  One would think that defeating a powerful enemy would suffice on its
own, but no, there is one final obnoxious obstacle you must overcome (that
obstacle being your own impatience).

Head back to where the first wall was originally located and examine the jewel
in the wall.  Doing so will raise the platforms on both the north and south
sides of this room, connecting the staircases which previously led to dead
ends.  Now return to the entrance and save your game.  This step is important.

Regardless of which path you choose, either the north or the south path, they
both lead to the same place eventually.  I am of course talking about the
paths you just connected by touching the jewel.  Follow one of them west,
through the next room and down the stairs.

At the bottom here you will encounter a number of fire blob monsters.  Hold
the R2 button and ignore them.  Make your way to the exact middle of the path
where the blobs spawn (between the two staircases.)  In this location, there
is a 70% chance a treasure chest will spawn. 

If you don't see a chest here, press start, return to the title screen and try
again.  If you DO see a chest, open it.  You have a 45% chance of receiving
Gil from the chest.  If you get Gil, press start, return to the title screen
and try again.  If it's not Gil, you have a 50% chance of receiving a Holy
Mote.  The Holy Mote is completely useless.  If you get it, press start,
return to the title screen and try again.

Now you understand the patience factor. 

The remaining 50% of the time the chest will contain a Demonsbane.  The
Demonsbane is a one-handed sword with 59 attack power.  To give that value
context, keep in mind that the average weapon at this point in the game has an
attack power in the mid 20's.  That means more than double damage.  That means
you'll go from doing roughly 150 per strike, to more than 400.  That is your
reward.

Not only that, but the chest actually respawns.  Once you get the Demonsbane,
why not run back, save the game and try for another.  For the mathematically
challenged, that is a 15.75% chance of getting the Demonsbane every time you
reset, or 1 in every 6.34 tries.  Good luck.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From where you fought the second Demon Wall, climb the stairs and go through
the west door.  Watch the scene then descend the stairs and take the map of
the Tomb of Raithwall out of the urn.

There are three Way Stones here, one blue, one red, and one green.  The blue
one takes you back near the entrance, so use that one if you wish to heal and
save.  Neither the green nor the red Way Stones work at the moment, so you
will have to wait.  Head down the stairs to the south.

Before long you will have a choice of two paths.  Ignore the stairs leading
down and continue to follow the path you are on all the way around to a door
leading south.  Make a right (west) in this new area and follow the path from
here.  The path remains entirely linear and should lead you to a row of three
chests containing variety of items (or Gambits).

Just a few rooms further you will find a green jewel in the wall which
activates the green Way Stone and (partially) lowers the Mystic Altar.  It
also triggers a battle with some Lich enemies.  After dispatching them, use
the green Way Stone to return to the central platform.

This time take the north route, and again, ignore the first staircase leading
down assuming you want to get the treasures.  If not, the staircase route is a
little shorter.  Make a right (east) and just follow this linear path, past
the chests, to reach the middle room.

Again, touch the jewel and battle your way through some Zombies.  After the
battle is over, it is of the utmost importance that you use this Way Stone,
followed by the blue Way Stone to reach the entrance and save again.  There is
a boss coming up and you're going to be shit out of luck if any of your
characters still have some of that Oil lingering on them.

Head back and take either the green or the red Way Stone to the large door
that you opened.  There is a quick scene in the next room and all that remains
is a simple path with no enemies to the boss.  Keep an eye out at the bottom
of each staircase for chests (that don't respawn) that contain a variety of
items including a potential for two Elixirs. 

---------------------------------
BOSS: Belias - HP: 15934 - LV: 20
---------------------------------

Your very first battle with an Esper.  There are a few things that may
surprise you about this battle.  The first surprise comes when your basic
intuition that shouts "Ice spells against fire enemy" yield damages in the 30
- 50 range.  For whatever reason, Blizzard (and to extend that, almost all
magic, especially Fire) is ineffective against him.  If you want to do damage,
stick with physical attacks and Quickenings.

The second surprise is how utterly slow this boss is.  He attacks maybe once,
for every two or three attacks you do, and while it may be powerful, you are
just as likely to end up blocking it and go for lengthy periods of time
without taking any damage at all.

That all changes of course when he charges up and explodes into a fiery
inferno, damaging every character on the field.  This attack seems devastating
until you casually drop a single Cura spell only to realize your party is
nearly at full health again.  

There's no substitute for a good offense here, and while I still assert that
his attacks are weak considering his size and status, they will no doubt get
the better of you if you let the battle drag on too long. 

Obviously those wielding the Demonsbane will have this boss down cut down six
ways from Sunday with their sword slashing efficiency.  For the majority of
players, you'll have to play the patience card.  Just gradually whittle down
Belias' HP and don't forget to stop and heal whenever he musters up the energy
to bash you with that giant metal doily of his.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Belias can now become your first Esper.  Like Quickenings, only one person can
learn an Esper on the License board, after which it will disappear from the
boards of all other characters.  It is a good idea to spread out the Espers
between your party to keep things balanced, though obviously they are no good
on characters you never use.

Keep an eye out for two more treasure chests on either side of the area where
you fought Belias.

Continue through the door and down the stairs.  Don't touch the Way Stone,
keep going forward and watch the ensuing scene.  Once you have the Dawn Shard,
you can take your leave of this place by touching the Way Stone.  Save your
game and exit to trigger a scene.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0021]                            The Shiva
==============================================================================

---------------------------------
BOSS: Vossler - HP: 9318 - LV: 20
---------------------------------

This battle is a cakewalk almost regardless of how you slice it.  How have so
many potential advantages to aid you that you almost have to go out of your
way to lose.  Let's examine just a couple of those.

Here's an idea: have the character who spent a whopping 10 LP on him, summon
the Esper Belias.  Belias will quickly make short work of all the guards then
go straight for Vossler.  Vossler will spend half the battle trying in vain to
weaken the powerful Esper as he is hit over and over again for 800 - 900
damage.  You can basically sit there and twiddle your thumbs while Belias wins
the battle for you.

If that doesn't suit you, then why not chain a few Quickenings.  Sure enough
it will wipe the floor with the guards immediately, and has the potential to
eliminate Vossler in a single strike if you get lucky with the chaining.  More
than likely you'll have a few leftover hit points to pound out of him while he
begs for mercy.

Those who, for whatever reason, choose neither option will be left with a
battle that proves only marginally more difficult than a typical fight.  More
healing is obviously necessitated given Vossler's powerful strikes.  The real
danger comes once his HP drops to around 30% and he uses Enrage, which gives
him the Shell, Haste and Reflect statuses. At this point Magick is totally out
of the question, so just beat him down with the weapons you have available.

Keep in mind also (if you use her) that you won't have control of Fran for
this battle, she'll still help, but she's not interested in following orders.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A0022]                           Rabanastre
==============================================================================

Note that at this point in the game, you can now freely go and battle three
of the optional Espers.  I am not necessarily saying that you can win, but the
option is available to you.  Check out the Optional Espers section of the
guide and look for any that say "Available: After the Tomb of Raithwall."

The very first thing you will want to do is head for the Clan Hall.  Montblanc
has a number of rewards for your accomplishment, and in addition to that, a
couple of hunts for you to undertake. 

Even if you don't plan to hunt the monster right away, I suggest accepting
them anyway since many of the petitioners you need to speak to can be found as
you proceed with the next section of the main game.  This goes for the Sandsea
tavern Hunts too.

ALERT - At this point, a sidequest is available that (if you invest enough
time into it) can net you a brand new sword.  If you went through the trouble
of getting the Demonsbane in the tomb, don't be too quick to think you're
overpowered yet with your 59 attack.

Players who want to be TRULY overpowered will scroll on down to "The Barheim
Sidequest" section to learn how to obtain as many Deathbringers as they want. 
The Deathbringer is a one handed sword with 90 attack power.  Nice.

Make sure to stock up on new spells, equipment and Gambits.  When you're ready
to proceed, head for the Southgate, save your game, and enter the Giza Plains.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A023]                            Giza Plains
==============================================================================

You've been here before (though it wasn't quite so wet at that time).  Your
goal is to eventually reach the southern exit of the Starfall Field in the
southwest corner.  How you choose to get there is entirely up to you.

Stop off at the Nomad Village if you accepted the Croakadile hunt.  There you
will find Sadeen who gives you the contract (the Croakadile is an extremely
difficult enemy found beside the bridge in Starfall Field).  There's also a
Save Crystal here for your convenience.

For those interested in getting a head start on a sidequest, you will notice a
number of "Withered Trees" in the Giza Plains.  The first can be found
directly north of the north entrance to Nomad Village.  When you strike the
trees they fall into the water.  Six trees in total exist here. 

Once you cut all six trees down it creates a bridge to an island where you
will find a few chests and an item for a later sidequest.  There is little
reason to do this now aside from knowing you will likely want to do it later. 
If you just want to proceed normally, skip to the dashed line below.

I already mentioned the first of the six trees.  The second is inside Nomad
Village itself, on the southeastern side.  The next one is found in the Gizas
North Bank, on the far north side, east bank.

For the fourth tree, head to the Toam Hills section and run to the furthest
east point you can possibly reach.  Take the south exit to Starfall Field and
you will see the fifth almost immediately if you look east.  The final tree is
found by heading east to the Crystal Glade.  It is just north of the Save
Crystal.

Once all six trees are cut, head to the Gizas South Bank.  The trees have made
a bridge over on the east side.  The Silicon Turtles you see are level 36 and
extremely difficult to defeat at this time.  You might be able to take one of
them down if you summon Belias (since they are weak to fire) but there is
little reason to do so (aside from 1000 EXP and 2 LP).

Your goal is to run to the southeast corner where you will find an urn
containing Feather of the Flock.  That is the item you will need for the
sidequest.  Once you have that there is nothing else to do here (aside from
collect a few chests).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whatever you do, don't cast Magick around the elemental enemies in this area. 
They will remain neutral until Magick is cast.  You may think because their
level is close to yours that you might be able to take them down.  You would
be mistaken (unless you can survive bursts of 800 damage to everyone in your
party... repeatedly.) 

The entrance to the Ozmone Plain can be found by taking the south exit out of
the Starfall Field.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A024]                           Ozmone Plain
==============================================================================

Your goal is to make your way south through the next few areas.  It's not
difficult to locate the exit, though you will find some half decent treasures
over on the west side of the Field of Fallen Wings. 

There are not one, but TWO rare spawns in the exact same area around here. 
Both the Bull Croc and the flying Aeros can be found in The Shred.  Get there
by heading east of The Switchback to reach The Greensnake.  From there, take
the south road around to the east exit and you'll find it.  The Bull Croc hits
hard and Aeros flies, making both of them tough enemies.  Given the difficulty
of attacking fliers, I would suggest saving summons and Quickenings for that
enemy (assuming it spawns for you). 

I suggest you wander around these areas, perhaps leveling up a little in the
process.  The werewolf-esque enemies in the Dagan Flats are difficult, but
yield 2 LP per kill which is nice.  Eventually your goal is to head south to
the Haulo Green and then take the west exit from there to reach Jahara.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A025]                              Jahara
==============================================================================

Maps for these areas can be purchased from the Cartographers' Guild Moogle
standing beside the bridge here.  Talk to the Garif Warrior standing in front
of the bridge and you will be allowed through. 

Head for the northeast corner where you will find High-Chief Zayalu.  He gives
you a Jaya Stick for the War-Chief.  You will find the War-Chief by the bridge
at the northwest corner.  Give him the stick and agree to his offer.

When you arrive in the next area, those of you who accepted the Hunt "The
Defense of Ozmone Plain" will find your target, Sugumu, on the north side. 

Approach the Great-Chief's tent and meet with him.  A rather lengthy scene
occurs at this point, and upon its end, you'll get a nice little prize and a
free Chocobo ride.  Use the Chocobo and ride it up through the Ozmone Plain
and head to the eastern area of Dagan Flats.  Continue east from there.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A026]                          Golmore Jungle
==============================================================================

Make an immediate left when you get inside (northeast) and follow the path to
a fork.  Turn right here and hack past the Malboro enemies to reach an urn
with the map of Golmore Jungle inside.  This will make your trip through the
area significantly easier.

Proceed east from the urn and then follow the path south when you can.  This
will take you to The Needlebreak zone.  Make an immediate right (west) here
and then a left (south) followed again by another left (east).  Just a little
bit ahead you'll find an area with a few chests.  If you're interested in
picking up more crappy treasures, a similar stash of chests can be found in
the far southwest corner of the Paths of Chained Light.

From here, keep going east until you reach a barrier.  Fran will perform a
little magic ritual, opening up a separate path for your party to take.  A
scene occurs when you arrive.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A027]                           Eruyt Village
==============================================================================

Speak to the Moogle near the entrance and be sure to purchase both the Esuna
and Curaga spells from him.  Speak to the Moogle next to him and purchase a
map of the village.

Enter the main area of the village and speak with the people you find there. 
Your destination is the upper level, the Fane of the Path as it is called. 
Speak to Jote and return to the village entrance for another scene. 

Make your way back through the jungle again and when you get outside, you'll
find a Chocobo wandering around with an injured guard nearby.  Speak to the
guard and offer him a Potion.  In return you will be permitted to use the
Chocobo.

Take the Chocobo one screen west and almost immediately on your left you will
see a grassy area you can ride through with the Chocobo (there are a number of
other Chocobos already standing around here).  This is a secret path to the
other section of The Shred with the entrance to the mines.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A028]                          The Henne Mines
==============================================================================

The basic concept of this mine centres on the use of various blue and red
gates, which open and close alternatively through the use of switches. 
There's not much beyond that you need to know, I'll let you know which
switches to press and when.

The first one is located just inside the mine on the left side of the track. 
It's blue by default, press the switch to change it to red.  Now head south
and go through the gate.  Speak with the wounded solider here.

Pressing the switch to open the blue gates will cause a number of slime
enemies to drop from the ceiling.  After eliminating them, take either of the
two exits now available to you.  Get ready to take on an insane number of bats
as you fight your way to the urn containing the Henne Mines map.

Loop back around to where you came from using either path.  Press the switch
again and take the west exit.  Follow the road to the Phase 1 Dig.  You'll
need to navigate a few sharp corners here.  Keep an eye out for a couple of
chests (if they spawn) before you come to a 4-way split.

You may find a couple of chests down at the southwest corner, and another
couple if you go all the way south, then east to that dead end.  Obviously you
can see (by looking at your map) that to reach your destination, you must go
south at the 4-way, then turn left (east) at the first chance you get.

Time to do a little circular looping.  Run all the way to the north end,
ignoring the east track, and take the east exit door up there.  Continue
around to the northeast of Crossover B (where you are) and go south from there
to reach Pithead Junction B. 

Press the gate switch, and prepare for an insane slime ambush.  You may have
to resort to desperate measures (Belias, Quickenings, etc) since there are so
many, and you really don't want to die after all you've done.

With the switch pressed, take the west exit.  You'll find yourself in a
familiar area and realize you've looped around.  Once again head to the north
end and take the east exit.  The path now will be slightly different due to
the gate switch.  Take the north path which is no longer blocked.  Make sure
to save your game.

---------------------------------
BOSS: Tiamat - HP: 49993 - LV: 25
---------------------------------

Despite its reliance on physical attacks, the Tiamat makes for a very
difficult boss.  Its extremely high defense coupled with an equally inflated
HP total will likely make this a lengthy fight.

A couple of things you'll want to set up before the battle.  In terms of
Gambits, Curaga for sure.  On pretty much anyone who can use it.  I would also
suggest manually casting Protect on your tank (whoever is taking the bulk of
the hits) to really give you an edge for the battle.  It'll save you a lot of
healing.

An extension of this strategy is to totally buff up your main attacker before
battle with not only Protect, but spells like Regen (to keep his/her HP up)
and Decoy as well to keep the boss attacking that character.  A combination of
all these will give you an enormous advantage.

If you have any Jackboots in your inventory, now would be the time to equip
them.  Tiamat is very fond of using Disable on your party members and
Jackboots will protect against it.  If you only have one pair then equip them
on whoever is in the best position to cast Esuna and remove Disable from
anyone else. 

Use whatever attacks you find most effective against this boss.  That
certainly includes your most powerful Quickenings.  If possible, it might be a
good idea to save at least one Quickening for the end of the battle.  When the
Tiamat's HP drops to about 15% it will give itself a huge defense boost,
making it even more difficult to deal damage than it already is.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A029]                          Golmore Jungle
==============================================================================

Before leaving the village, make sure to speak with the Moogle again and
purchase as many Golden Amulets as is necessary to equip them on your entire
party (even your reserves).

With the tear in hand, the barriers that blocked your path previously in the
jungle are now no longer a nuisance.  Return to the jungle and take the east
exit near the entrance to Eruyt Village to reach the Whisperleaf Way.  Follow
this path and make sure to use the Save Crystal.

-------------------------------------
BOSS: Elder Wyrm - HP: 71692 - LV: 27
-------------------------------------

If you thought the Tiamat was hard, the Elder Wyrm is going to have a field
day with you.  He certainly has no interest in fighting fair.  We'll begin
with the basics: start the battle by launching a Quickening chain.  This
serves two purposes: one to deal MASSIVE DAMAGE to the boss, and second to
eliminate those two treants he starts off with.

Buffing up your party prior to the battle is once again, a good idea.  He has
a regular assortment of physical attacks which aren't particularly powerful,
there are two main attacks you need to watch out for:

The first is a fireball blast which seemingly comes out of nowhere.  This is
really only dangerous if the party member it hits is currently covered in Oil
(which, given the boss' pattern of attacks, will likely be most of the time). 
You're looking at damage between one and two thousand that can easily wipe a
single character at full HP.  Be ready with Phoenix Downs.

Speaking of being ready, you'll want at least two characters to "be ready"
with the Gambit "Any ally: Esuna" given the boss' most dangerous attack:
Sporefall.  Similar to Bad Breath in previous games, this inflicts a variety
of negative status effects on every member of your party.  Esuna will wipe the
slate clean, but you may have to be ready to use an Echo Herb on someone so
that they can actually cast it.

Nail the boss with your hardest physical attacks.  It has a lot of life, and
so this is going to take a lot of work, but if you keep these tips in mind
then you'll at least have a fighting chance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Head back to the crystal and save your game again.  Now, take a look at your
map.  You will see that there are two paths leading east and both end at the
same location.  Take the more northern of the two, the only difference s that
it has a couple of chests.

In the Paramina Rift, stay on the main path as you make your way east.  Ignore
any branches leading further south.  Eventually this road will take you
northeast to Mt Bur-Omisace.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A030]                          Mt Bur-Omisace
==============================================================================

Start by picking up a few things from the vendors here as well as speaking to
the Cartographer's Guild Moogle on one of the crates and buying his maps. 
Afterwards, continue north to reach the temple.  A scene occurs when you
arrive. 

Before leaving here, if you have the money, I suggest you purchase light
armour for all of your characters (or mystic).  As long as it ISN'T heavy
armour.  Also, get Ice Shields.  It's certainly not a necessity, but it will
make an upcoming boss fights easier.  Now it's time to return to the Paramina
Rift and head south.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A031]                          Paramina Rift
==============================================================================

Proceed south from the entrance to Mt Bur-Omisace to reach the Frozen Brook. 
Be careful of traps in this area.  Keep an eye out for Ice Elementals in this
area, and don't cast any Magick if you see one.  They won't aggro if you
don't.

Head for the southwest exit of the Frozen Bank, it's the only one that will
eventually lead to the Stilshrine.  It also places you in the proximity of a
handy Save Crystal.  After saving your game, take the other exit and make
tracks for the southern area.  This leads you directly to the Stilshrine.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A032]                     The Stilshrine of Miriam
==============================================================================

When you get inside, head down a little bit and locate a pedestal on one of
the east-west walkways.  Touching this pedestal will spawn three zombie
enemies and have no other effect.  In order to make it work as it is supposed
to, you must equip your lead character with the Dawn Shard (which will reduce
his/her MP to 0), so you probably won't want to keep it equipped for long.

Get ready to take down some large guardian creature when you appear in this
area.  There is a chest here (behind a trap) which will not respawn.  It has a
50% chance of containing either an Elixir or Megalixir. 

You will also have to face three difficult enemies in the next room, so be
prepared with AoE attacks (Dark, "-ara" spells, etc) and perhaps a Quickening
chain.  The large stone heads will come to life on the west side when you
approach them.

Climb the stairs and approach the pedestal on the east side.  You will need to
re-equip the Dark Shard before touching it again.  Return to the room below
and take either of the new staircases down.

The green crystal in this room is in fact an enemy that will spawn upon
examination of the crystal.  Defeating it will transform the crystal into a
regular Save Crystal.  In the next room, you need to run down to the south end
and examine the "Sword of Judgment."  Doing so will unlock the door at the
north end.  Head up there and examine the Way Stone to teleport back to the
dungeon's entrance.

A bit of an "atypical" situation is coming up.  That is, a boss without a save
point prior to it.  For this reason, I suggest you go outside to save your
game now.  Once that is done, return here and go to the northeast corner. 
Take the stairs down to the door that is no longer locked, then take the east
exit from the Cold Distance. 

-----------------------------------
BOSS: Vinuskar - HP: 15138 - LV: 27
-----------------------------------

During your time in Mt Bur-Omisace I mentioned picking up a set of light
armour for your party, well this battle was the reason.  Anyone wearing heavy
metal armour will be automatically burdened by a Slow effect, making their
attack turns take almost three times as long as another character clad in
light armour.  Make sure to equip it.

This is an interesting boss because he really isn't all that... difficult. 
You might think that his HP total is a typo, but it isn't.  Almost all your
attacks will really pound down his health bar, especially guns which penetrate
all defenses.  Your main goal is to just keep pounding this guy down with the
heaviest attacks you have,  His Sword Dance might cut you up a little, but
it's nothing that Cura can't fix.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take the west door and examine the statue in here.  Examine the statue, then
rotate the statue counterclockwise once to face it west.  Also, don't miss the
urn with the map inside against the south wall.  Now, exit from here back to
the Cold Distance and go north to the entrance. 

Save your game once again, and this time take the stairs leading down from the
northwest corner of the Ward of Measure.  Take the west exit from this area to
reach the Walk of Prescience.  Make an immediate right (north) and follow that
walkway west.

When you come to the statue at the end of the room, turn it clockwise once so
that it faces east.  Now descend the stairs to the south. 

Follow the path and go through the first door, then continue east through the
second.  If you want treasure, head south and find the treasure room at the
southwest corner.  Since it leads to a dead-end, come back here when you're
done (ignore the staircase on the way).

Proceed north and go up.  You will have the choice of either going up more
stairs (south) or staying on this second level (north.)  Take the stairs up to
the third floor and go north.  Beyond some enemies you'll find another
treasure trove. 

Now head south to find another statue.  Rotate this one counterclockwise once
to face north.  From here, head east and the north.  You may find a couple
more chests (if they spawn) on your way up toward the north corner where the
exit to the Cold Distance is found.

Head back to the Ward of Measure and take the Way Stone teleporter at the
south end.  You will definitely want to make a quick trip east to the Save
Crystal (a much more difficult enemy that the "miniboss" Vinuskar awaits). 
Once that is done, run to the south end of the Ward of the Sword-King.

---------------------------------
BOSS: Mateus - HP: 34259 - LV: 30
---------------------------------

You may find this to be quite the challenging fight, but I've got a few tips
that should be enough to turn the tides in your favour.  Your first concern
(of course) is dealing with the little elemental friends that the boss summons
at the beginning of the battle.

The easiest and most efficient way to eliminate all of them is to run right in
the middle, pull as many of them as possible and let loose the biggest
Quickening you can chain.  This should be more than enough to take everything
down (or leave you in a position where you can finish it off easily yourself).

If, for whatever reason, that is not a viable option, your next best bet is
the Thundara spell.  On the plus side, the minions are weak to Thunder and
will all take quite a bit of damage, on the flipside the boss is protected by
Reflect and this won't likely be a very pleasant experience for the caster.

Here's how to survive the onslaught of enemies at the start of (and
throughout) the battle: equip your main tank with an Ice Shield (which I told
you to buy) and as many other characters as possible with one two.  This will
already halve the ice damage you take.

In addition, a helpful tactic is to equip the tank with the Dawn Shard.  The
bonus of 20 Magick resist will often yield a wall of 0 damage hits as the ice
spells come pounding in.  It certainly couldn't hurt to cast Decoy on him/her
either to alleviate the stress on the rest of your party.

Now that everything is under control, it's time to dive in and pound the boss
with physical attacks (remember, Reflect, avoid magic).  With only about 35000
HP, you've pounded down larger foes in your time.  It's all about maintaining
control at the beginning.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take the southern door and approach the large glowing object to trigger an
event.  The Sword of Kings that you acquire here is an enormous and impressive
paperweight.  As impractical as a paperweight may sound in the context of this
game, it still remains a better option than swinging this dull blade at an
enemy.

Return to the entrance and leave the Stilshrine of Miriam.  Doing so will
initiate another cutscene.  Use the crystal to save your game and then
teleport back to Mt Bur-Omisace.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A033]                          Mt Bur-Omisace
==============================================================================

All you need to do is head up toward the temple at the north end.  When you
arrive there, a scene occurs followed by another boss battle.

---------------------------------------
BOSS: Judge Bergan - HP: 17200 - LV: 30
---------------------------------------

Begin the battle by focusing all your attacks on the Judges near the door. 
Hopefully you can take most of them down before Bergan arrives.  When it comes
down to just Bergan alone, cast Decoy, Regen and Protect on your main tank. 
All of Bergan's attacks are basic physical hits and this will make it
extremely difficult for him to take any one of your party members down.

Bergan will use Battle Cry to increase the damage he dishes out while
decreasing the damage he takes.  He likes to counter attack quite often, so
whoever you buffed up should also be one of the main attackers since he or she
would be best able to weather the counters.  Another character might be best
set as a dedicated Curaga caster while the third can do support damage on the
side.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following the scene after the battle you will find yourself outside the
temple.  Wandering around just above you is an NPC labeled "Acolyte."  Speak
to him and he will give you the Stone of the Condemner which is used in a
sidequest.  (See the Zeromus Esper in the sidequests section).

Return to the nearest crystal and teleport to the town of Rabanastre.  Head
for the Dalmasca Estersand.  From here proceed northeast through the area,
beyond the Outpost and take the eastern exit from the Yardang Labyrinth.  Stop
off in Nalbina Town before taking the northwest path to the Mosphoran
Highwaste.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[A034]                       Mosphoran Highwaste
==============================================================================

You wont have a map for this place now, but fortunately the path is relatively
linear.  Regardless of which forks you take, as long as you keep moving
northwest you will never get lost.  Head northwest to reach the Summit Path. 
Stick to the west wall and take the northwest path here (as opposed to the
northern path on the east side). 

Climb down the leafy bridge to reach a nice resting point with a Save Crystal
and a merchant to boot.  Look around for a Moogle on the west side who is
willing to sell you a map of the area for only 2400 Gil. 

If you have Gyshal Greens and are interested in riding  Chocobo, one can be
found wandering around in the area northeast of here.  That aside, your
destination lies to the northwest of the Babbling Vale.

Watch out for traps when you enter the area.  Make a right at the fork (up the
hill) and take that route around to the east side.  Behind the trap in the
southeast corner of this map you will find a conspicuous rock labeled
"Weathered Rock."  When you examine it you can knock the rock loose and create
a bridge to the south east area.

The remainder of the route is completely intuitive, just take the path leading
to the northwest corner and exit from there.

==============================================================================
[A035]                          The Salikawood
==============================================================================

Follow the first path until it leads you to a Save Crystal.  In the next area
(Trunkwall Road) make sure to make a right turn at the fork and head east. 
Make another right turn when you get the chance and follow that road around to
find the map inside an urn at the fork. 

Take the eastern road from here to the Diverging Way, then take the southern
road east through there to reach the Living Chasm.  The Moogle Boss is here,
and he knows they're never going to get anywhere unless they gather all nine
of the Moogles (that's your job).

The nine Moogles are situated in four different locations.  Fortunately those
locations are now designated on your map.  Begin by heading back to Trunkwall
Road and speaking to the Moogles there, then catch up with all the Moogles at
the north.  Finally, come back down and use the Save Crystal, then speak with
the three Moogles here.  You can automatically go with them to the gate.

Speak to the Moogle Boss again and he'll hand you a free pair of Quasimodo
Boots.  Nice.  Welcome to the Phon Coast.

ZODIAC SPEAR ALERT - Remember the most powerful weapon in the game I've been
periodically alerting you to throughout the walkthrough?  Well if you think
you're strong enough, you've got a good chance to pick it up right now.  Check
out the sidequests section regarding the Necrohol of Nabudis for more
information.

==============================================================================
[A036]                          The Phon Coast
==============================================================================

Welcome to the beautiful Phon Coast.  There are many sections to explore and
poor quality treasures to be found all over!  The first few areas are merely
generic stretches of land with nothing of any particular note.  Feel more than
welcome to wander around at your leisure and eventually make your way
southeastward toward Hunter's Camp.  You'll find the exit leading there at the
northeast corner of The Hakawea Shore.

A cutscene will occur upon your arrival.  There is some great new equipment
available here at the merchant, and a Save Crystal nearby.  You need to be
extremely careful if you're buying heavy armour because the Mirror Mail has an
auto-reflect status built into it.  This can be helpful in some cases, however
you may want to opt against it so you can still heal your party with magic.

Northwest of the Save Crystal at the top of the hill you can purchase a map of
the Phon Coast from the Moogle.  When you're ready to leave, take the north
exit.

ZODIAC SPEAR ALERT - The southeast exit from Caima Hills takes you to The
Vaddu Strand.  Over on the far east side (not up the hill) you will come
across 16 treasure chests in a 4x4 grid.  One of these chests cannot be
touched if you wish to get the Zodiac Spear.  Rather than attempt to explain
which one and chance having you get it wrong, I will instead say not to open
ANY of them (nothing but stashes of 200 Gil or Knot of Rust) until you have
the spear.  Once you do, then you can come back and get the pathetic amounts
of money they hold.

With all this out of the way, it's time to progress north toward the Tchita
Uplands. 

==============================================================================
[A037]                          Tchita Uplands
==============================================================================

Note that all treasure chests in this area have a very low chance of appearing
(only 10%), but their contents will typically be above average, so if you've
got into the habit of ignoring out of the way chests, you might at least want
to make a few detours while you're here.  Don't worry, there's still nothing
unique that you will miss if you don't.  Most of them contain either a Hi-
Ether, a piece of armour you could purchase at the Phon Coast camp, or around
a couple thousand Gil.

Take the east exit from the first area (as opposed to southeast.)  In this
next section, cross the southern bridge and make your way to the southeast
section to find an exit that leads to a Save Crystal.  Speak to the boy beside
the injured Bangaa and accept his Hunt to get a Soul Ward Key.

Proceed east from here and remain close to the northern wall.  Before long you
will come to a path leading north.  Run to the northwest corner where you will
find the entrance to a cave.

==============================================================================
[A038]                        Sochen Cave Palace
==============================================================================

Take the right branch at the first fork and keep an eye out for a chest again
the east wall.  Continue north and stay very close to the east wall.  There
are some very dangerous traps in the middle which can confuse your party
members and potentially wipe your entire group.

There may be another chest in the northeast corner that you hit here.  From
there, go west as much as possible, another two chests may spawn around here
as well.  At this point your goal is simply to head north.  Be sure to heal
your party before zoning to the next screen.

--------------------------------------------
BOSS: Mandragoras - HP: 9069 (each) - LV: 37
--------------------------------------------

What a fun little battle we have here.  There are two entirely opposite
strategies to consider for this battle depending on how prepared you are. 
Given that the Mandragoras run around the field and attack at random, it makes
it difficult to face this boss as you would any other typical one. 

The first school of thought is for those of average level, or perhaps a little
underpowered.  These people need every advantage they can get and thus, don't
have a lot of room for error.  The best thing you can do in this case is
intentionally avoid the enemies and cast Decoy on your main tank (who should
be holding a shield).

Get yourself into an area as equally distant from every one of them as
possible, and wait for them all to come after you at once.  Try to get at
least four of them as close as possible, then of course, launch your biggest
most powerful Quickening attack to nail them all.

If you are in a stronger position, capable of dishing out heavy damage
quickly, you may find it more advantageous to hunt each one down individually
and pound on it as you would any normal foe.  Considering that they heal quite
often, the intense focus on one will allow you to wear it down before it has
any chance to counter.  Pick them off one at a time as you run around the
field.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Defeating the Mandragoras not only nets you 1000 Gil and Remedy x 3 from the
boy who gave you the Hunt, it also allows you to join the official Hunt Club
located back at the Phon Coast Hunter's Camp.  Feel free to return there if
you wish, though you can certainly wait to do so until later.

Take either the east or west door.  Make sure to heal your party.  Both paths
lead north toward a fake Save Crystal.  As you have experienced before, you
must defeat the bug in order to transform it into a real Save Crystal.  Save
your game and proceed east.

Go through the north door and make a right at the first fork.  What you want
to do is hug the eastern wall and continue in this direction until you reach
an urn with the cave's map inside. 

Head north from here to reach the next screen.  Now, a secret room exists on
this map, but it requires you to take a minor detour.  From here, head back
south to the previous screen.  Now, run all the way to the far west side and
go north there.  Doing so should trigger the message "the course of the
waterfalls has changed."  You're on your way now.

Run north, a little east, and take the first northern exit you come to.  What
you want to do now is run east, through the door, and then out the southeast
door.  Keep going east from this door until you reach the far east side.  The
exit you want is NOT the furthest east one, but the second-to-furthest east
exit.  Take that one south to reach the falls of time again, and once again it
should say "the course of the falls has changed."

Run DIRECTLY south from here to reach the Mirror of the Soul again.  There are
a lot of paths leading north from this map.  You want the second-to-furthest
west one.  Take that and again, the falls will change.

Now for the final part.  Take the north exit that is almost directly above
this one.  It is the second-to-furthest west exit leading north to Destiny's
March.  Once again, go through the room to the east, and this time take the
very first exit south on the other side of the room.

This marks the final waterfall change.  The door leading south in the middle
of this room is finally open.  Open the Pilgrim's Door and get the chest.  It
will contain one of two things, either an Iga Blade or a Koga Blade.  Neither
is more powerful than the other.  Keep in mind that Ninja Swords will combo
far more often than normal weapons, so attack power isn't the only variable to
consider.

There is a boss battle with no save point coming up soon, so you may want to
head back and save before proceeding north.  Zoning from Destiny's March to
the Hall of Shadowlight will trigger the boss battle.

----------------------------------
BOSS: Ahriman - HP: 62149 - LV: 38
----------------------------------

You may find yourself spending much of the battle fighting against your own
party rather than the boss itself.  Ahriman uses a plethora of status effects
on each one of your party members, forcing you into a constant statue of
Esuna-casting and defending against confused allies.  Make sure you have a
full complement of status healing abilities before you begin.

The boss himself is able to split up into clones, all but one of which are
fake.  The fakes will go down in just a couple of hits, so when this occurs
just hit everything in sight until only one remains.  his other main attack is
elemental Magick like Blizzara and Fira, though someone wearing mystic armour
and ready with the Cura spell should be sufficient to keep your HP up.

This is one of those fights where if you can't seem to win, your best bet is
probably to level up more.  Given his lack of real weaknesses, much of the
outcome is based on your ability to hit hard between heals.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following the battle, make sure to heal your party, then take the east door. 
You need to navigate a final passage filled with both traps and enemies, so
healing prior is very important.  Examine the pedestal at the top of the hill
and ride the lift out of this dungeon.

==============================================================================
[A039]                           Old Archades
==============================================================================

Speak with the merchant here and pick up three Embroidered Tippets.  You may
yet still prefer the Golden Amulets, but no doubt you will want to purchase
them eventually. 

Make your way west until you eventually reach the next area, the Alley of
Muted Sighs.  Right when you arrive, speak to one of the nearest Archadian
Villagers (talking to a Bangaa).  This "Lucky Man" as he is called will tell
you about a Bag 'o Coin. 

Now, head for the southern gate on the west side just beyond the Save Crystal. 
Speak to the guard and choose either option, this will trigger a scene with
some scruffy looking man.  When he requests 1500 Gil for his help, you have no
choice but to agree. 

Talk to Jules since you have already heard about the Bag 'o Coin.  He'll
direct you to a person named Beasley, who just happens to be only a few steps
west of the Bag 'o Coin man.  After talking to him, head back and talk to
Jules (who may have moved a little).

==============================================================================
[A040]                             Archades
==============================================================================

The first thing you are going to want is the map of the city.  Head west to
Molberry and then up to the northwest corner shop.  The Cartographer's Guild
Moogle is located in here. 

There are a number of shops and whatnot to visit in this large city.  Just
keep in mind that regardless of what money you spend, you will soon need
another 2500 Gil to purchase further information from Jules again.

When you're done shopping, speak to the Cab Guide south of the equipment shop. 
Basically, here is how chops work: you speak to one person with a highlighted
phrase, memorize it (the option will appear) then find the person it matches
with.  Every time you do this you will get a Pinewood Chop, and you need nine. 

Your best bet is to head up to Molberry and do all of the little matching
quests there.  A total of nine of them exist in that area, and since the two
people are ALWAYS in the same area, you won't have to go anywhere else. 

After collecting enough chops and riding the cab, use the Save Crystal and
head north for a scene.  Try to go back and another occurs.  Speak to the
cabbie and tell him "you know where to go."

==============================================================================
[A041]                        Draklor Laboratory
==============================================================================

Begin by heading west and then north repeatedly until you reach an elevator. 
Examine the North Lift Terminal and ride it to 67F.  Proceed east to a fork
and north at that point to reach C.D.B.  A quick scene occurs here which nets
you a Lab Access Card as well as a map.

The minimap no longer works, however that is of little consequence given the
map you just found.  Enter the west room (Rm 7704 East) and use the Save
Crystal in here. 

The Bulkhead Controls in the room just below this one will switch the doors in
a manner similar to that of the mines you visited previously.  Open the blue
bulkheads and backtrack to the elevator.  Ride the lift up to 68F.

Your goal now is to locate room 6803 on the east side of this floor.  Press
the button to open the red bulkheads.  Now what you want to do is head north
and then immediately west down the hall.  Go south upon reaching the next hall
and enter the first room, room 6804.

Press the Bulkhead Controls to open the red doors again, then head south,
west, south, west and so on until you eventually find room 6811 down in the
corner.  Press the control button here to switch things around a third time. 

Head east, north up the hall, then east again when you get the chance.  This
will lead you to another elevator that can be used to reach 70F.  Use the Save
Crystal before ascending the stairs to the boss.

-------------------------------------
BOSS: Doctor Cid - HP: 72989 - LV: 40
-------------------------------------
Helm Rook - HP: 9859

Definitely the toughest boss you've faced in a long time, you're going to get
your ass handed to you if not properly prepared.  Fortunately, with the right
strategy this guy can be fairly easily taken care of.

Begin the battle with your inactive party.  Let loose a chain of level three
Quickenings on one of the Rooks, NOT on Dr. Cid since the Rooks protect him
and it will do far less damage.  This point is very important.  You need to
eliminate those Rooks first and quickly, a difficult task given their defense
and HP.

After launching this Quickening with your inactive party, switching your main
members and begin attacking the Rooks individually while keeping your HP up. 
You might think that using powerful AoE Magick on all of them will help bring
them down faster, but note that they cast Reflect on Doctor Cid, meaning this
Magick is going to come right back at you.

Keep your party healed and just keep attacking the Rooks.  Don't even think
about touching Doctor Cid until all four of them are down.  By this time he
will no doubt have Protect, Shell and Regen on himself making the fight just
that much more difficult. 

Fortunately by this time he is also running low on offensive ideas.  He
attacks with a gun, so you can't block it, but guns have a slow attack speed
and it's very easy to keep up with the damage being done.  The exception of
course is when he launches his giant explosion attack, but mystic armour and
Cura always make for a great recovery combination.

Set a dedicated healer and two dedicated damage dealers, and once the Rooks
are down it is very unlikely you will have trouble with the rest of the
battle.

==============================================================================
[A042]                         Balfonheim Port
==============================================================================

Wander around the port at your leisure, picking up whatever new equipment and
abilities you need.  Your destination for now is the area at the northeastern
corner, there are a number of important things to find there. 

Just south of the Save Crystal is the Cartographer's Guild Moogle from which
you can buy some maps.  Just behind him is a nice chest containing 5040 Gil. 
With those two things taken care of, your next task is to use the Save Crystal
and teleport to Eruyt Village.  If you need Teleport Stones, the nearby
merchant sells them.

Enter the Golmore Jungle and make your way through down to the south end. 
There you will find the entrance to the Feywood.

==============================================================================
[A043]                             Feywood
==============================================================================

Your goal is simply to make your way to the southern end of the wood.  Take
the southeast path to the Walk of Stolen Truths first.  You lose your minimap
at this point so listen closely.  Turn immediately east and run straight in
that direction.  You will soon find the map of the Feywood inside of an urn. 
Use this map to navigate south without the help of your minimap.

Make sure to save your game at the Save Crystal in Antiquity's End.  If you
proceed any further south you will run into a boss.  Make sure you have a full
complement of items before you take on this particular foe. 

------------------------------------
BOSS: Rafflesia - HP: 73393 - LV: 43
------------------------------------

Proper preparation is paramount to success in this battle.  When the fight
begins, a Magick draining field is put into place.  All members of your party
will instantly find that their MP is slowly draining away.  Before long there
will be nothing left to cast Magick with and thus, you want to make sure you
launch everything you need to right at the beginning. 

The most important spell here is "Dispel."  By default, the boss is protected
by Reflect, Haste / Regen and Shell.  Dispel will remove all of these buffs at
once leaving the boss more vulnerable to your attacks. 

Rafflesia will attack with just about every negative status effect your can
think of.  Aside from Confuse (which is quickly removed by an attack), the
worst of these is "Disable."  If you are aiming to choose an accessory to
equip here, the Black Belt would be my first choice.

After Dispelling Rafflesia, launch the most powerful attacks you have that
require MP.  Whether this be Quickening chains or Magick spells is ultimately
your decision.  Regardless of how you act, it is inevitable that you will be
left without MP.  You may want to consider equipping your magicians with
strong melee weapons for the duration of the fight.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No doubt your party will be in disarray following that fight.  Head north and
use the Save Crystal to replenish your health before proceeding further. 
Heading south of where you fought Rafflesia will tae you (not surprisingly)
into southern Feywood.  This area is considered different enough to
necessitate another map.

You'll find the urn with the map (candle) in it in this area (White Magick's
Embrace), down in the southeast corner.  Watch out for the rare Juggernaut
enemy that can spawn here.  His HP total is ridiculously high.  but he does
net you 12 LP.

There is a relatively simple puzzle to be found in this area.  Note that when
you look at your map you will see four star-shaped designs.  These represent
the four shrines in this area.  Make your way to any one of them and stand in
the middle.  Eventually one of them will prompt you to press X.

Doing so will give you a message: "In this sanctum shall the pilgrim find
truth and illusion both.  Illusion betokens the true way."  After reading
this, spin your camera around and look between each of the pillars.  One of
them will appear as a beautiful forested path.  Head through it and proceed
right in that direction to the next shrine.

Repeat this same pattern over and over and eventually it should point you
southwest toward The Edge of Reason.  Trying to access this area anytime
earlier will find you looping backward on the map.

Before repeating the exact same process here, head southwest toward the four
"points" on your map, rather than the six that indicate a shrine location. 
Just southeast of here there is a chance of a chest appearing that contains
the "Ensanguined Shield." 

This extremely powerful shield will inflict a number of negative status
effects while equipped, but offer incredible protection.  Once acquired the
chest will never respawn, but until you find it, it always have a 1-in-4
chance of appearing on this map as long as you move away about two or three
maps and come back to check.

Anyway, do the same shrine puzzle you did on the previous map until it directs
you west toward the exit.  There is a large door here which when examined,
will call you the summoner of the "Gigas."  It is referring specifically to
Belias.  Summon Belias and then touch the gate.  This is how you unlock it. 

==============================================================================
[A044]                            Giruvegan
==============================================================================

Head for the Save Crystal located west of the main entrance.  Further west you
will find a Way Stone.  Touch the device and warp to the Gate of Water. 
Directly ahead of you is a boss.

-----------------------------------
BOSS: Daedalus - HP: 65644 - LV: 42
-----------------------------------

Think of this as just a more difficult random battle.  It's a battle to see
who can hit harder, with the boss having one advantage: Haste.  Turn his
advantage against him by starting the battle off with Dispel and haste on your
entire party.

The boss attacks with powerful physical combinations and elemental attacks
that hit the entire group.  One of the main attacks is elemental Earth so
anyone equipped with the Dragon Shield will shrug it off with a nice 0 damage.

As the battle goes on his attacks will get increasingly powerful, to the point
where it is almost impossible to survive anything he does when his health is
15% or less.  I suggest you save a powerful Quickening chain for just this
occasion and let it loose when it seems all hope is lost.  You would be
surprised how quickly it turns the battle around.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take the new Way Stone here to reach the Water-Steps.  Head directly south
down the ramp and examine the device at the bottom called Avrio Gate Stone. 
This will open up the southern path.  head as far south as you possibly can
and take out the two Mythril Golems.  After doing so, touch the Chthes Gate
Stone.

Now from here, head all the way north (straight north, stay on this path, use
the map if necessary.)  At the top of the ramp you will find a chest
containing either White Fang or Elixir.  Now go back down the ramp, a little
west, and north from there.

Follow this path around to a second chest containing a guaranteed White Fang. 
Since this route is a dead end, you need to go back a little take the south
path (look at your map, it should have enough filled in to show how to reach
the western area.)  Take the glowing green path south to the next area.

At the bottom of the ramp you will find the Paron gate Stone near two Mythril
Golems.  Make sure to touch it.  Head northeast now and follow this road until
you inevitably reach the Parelthon Gate Stone guarded by another couple
Mythril Golems. 

After touching it, run north of the stone until you are wedged in the corner. 
The road you want to take is the one west of here, not the one you took to
reach this place.  Note at the bottom of the ramp there is a gate.  Remember
how to get back here, but keep running west ALL the way to the end.  Now start
zig-zagging south.

Before long you will reach the Tychi Gate Stone.  This is the final one.  If
you continue in the direction you are going you will find a chest with a 50%
chance of containing an Elixir.  Your ultimate goal however is to turn around
and return to that gate on the west side I told you to make note of. 

Down at the bottom there are two Mythril Golems and what seems like a dead
end.  Try to run west out onto thin air and a magic path will appear in front
of you.

Proceed through the gate and use the Save Crystal as you travel west.  Make an
immediate left in the next area and go up the ramp.  Make a right (northwest)
at the top and do the following: run your character along the northeast edge
of this path.  Like before you will unlock a hidden invisible path leading
northeast.  At the end, is a boss.

----------------------------------
BOSS: Tyrant - HP: 180428 - LV: 43
----------------------------------

A Magick field envelops the party: you cannot use Technicks!  I can only
assume that you, like myself, how found that virtually all available Technicks
at this point (side from perhaps Charge) are entirely useless.  If you're
going to be taken down in this battle, Technicks won't be the reason.

The insane HP total of this boss will ensure a lengthy fight, so hopefully you
are well equipped and stocked with both items and MP.  The most important
thing to do, like previous battles, is cast Dispel right away.  The Regen,
Protect and Shell surrounding this guy make him a little too powerful for the
average party.

With Curaja at your disposal the fight is long, but manageable.  Elemental
protection helps as well, but it really isn't necessary.  He'll attack with
magic, melee strikes and the powerful Graviga spell.  Just set one dedicated
healer and have the other two players hit as hard as they can.  If you happen
to have the Zodiac Spear, make sure to cast Haste on whoever is wielding it to
ensure massive damage!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use the Way Stone to warp to "A Prima Vikaari."  Your map for this area is
inaccurate to say the least.  It is going to be very difficult to guide you,
so listen closely. 

Find "Gate Scorpio" here in the starting area.  Turn left and go down the
first hidden path you find.  Examine the object in the middle (trapped) to get
either a Black Mask or an Elixir.  There is another hidden path here that
leads downward.  Once again there is a hidden path, this one leads down to a
Way Stone.

There are three hidden paths here, side by side.  The one you want is the one
in the middle.  Examine the chest at the top to get either a Knot of Rust or
some White Robes.  Now take the other path leading down to reach the Cancer
Gate Stone.  Kill the Mythril Golems and examine it. 

Take the other path leading up to reach the three-way fork once again.  The
path you want this time is the one on the far right.  Continue past this
platform down the next road to reach Dha Vikaari Trahk.

Locate Gate Pisces and then take the first path on the left that leads down. 
Continue further down from there.  Here you will find the Aries Gate and the
Pisces Gate Stone.  Touch the stone and backtrack two areas up to the top
again.

Take the path in the left when you reach the top.  It is the only path of the
three that leads up.  Examine the object in the middle to get either a Knot of
Rust or a Holy Lance.  Turn around and go straight across the previous
platform in this direction.  If you get turned around, I mean to take the path
on the right (leading down) at the intersection of three (in A Vikaari Bhrum).

Use the Way Stone here and watch the scene.  Take the path in front of you
down and use the Save Crystal.  Finally, take the Way Stone next to the Save
Crystal and you will arrive in the Gate of Wind (where both your map and
minimap work again.)  From here it's a linear road to the boss.

------------------------------------
BOSS: Shemhazai - HP: 91136 - LV: 45
------------------------------------

No big surprises here, though this is by no means an easy boss.  You will
likely have to alter your strategy a little because this Esper makes it very
difficult to use magic.  First of all, Shemhazai absorbs all but one magical
element, and by the time you find what that element is, Shemhazai has changed
it to something else.  Forget magic.

Secondly, even if you wanted to use magic, the boss casts Silencega often
enough so that it becomes very difficult.  For this reason you will want to
swap your Esuna Gambits for Echo Herb Gambits, or if not that, then at least
use an Echo Herb on your main healer so he or she can keep you alive.

None of the boss' attacks are really noteworthy with the exception of Flare
which does heavy damage to one person (often enough to take them down at full
health.)  Fortunately this won't happen often enough to really put a kink in
your plans.  Just keep hitting with your most powerful physical attacks, and
AGAIN I must say that Dispel works wonders at the start of battle for getting
rid of that pesky Haste effect.

Like Daedalus and countless bosses before, Shemhazai's defense gets so
outrageously strong as its HP depletes toward 0 that the game almost forces
you to finish off the final 15% or so with a Quickening chain.  So... do just
that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a Way Stone south of here that you can use.  Read the inscription and
touch the stone.  You will obtain the Treaty-Blade following the scene.  Touch
the Way Stone again after the scene.  You will find yourself at the entrance. 
Use the Save Crystal here to teleport to the Port at Balfonheim.

==============================================================================
[A045]                         Balfonheim Port
==============================================================================

I don't think I need to tell you what a wonderful opportunity this is to
update your Magick and equipment.   No doubt you will have an abundance of
cash thanks to your trek through Giruvegan.  Sell your loot and pick up some
new gear.

Once that issue is taken care of, your destination is the red X marker on your
map (far west side).  Speak to the watch and choose to enter the Manse.  This
will trigger a scene.  After it ends, your next destination is the aerodome. 
Head there and speak to the woman at the desk near the entrance to board the
Strahl.  Choose The Ridorana Cataract to the southeast.

==============================================================================
[A046]                        Ridorana Cataract
==============================================================================

Use the Save Crystal at the entrance and begin your journey into the cataract. 
There is nothing particularly interesting in the first area aside from a few
poor quality chests and some typical enemies.  Two exits can be found in this
area, one to the northeast and the other to the southeast.  The southeast exit
is the one you want.

Make an immediate left in the Colosseum and be careful of the multitudes of
traps found in here.  Go down the first steps you find and make a left at the
bottom.  This path will lead you to a dead end where you will find the urn
with a map inside. 

At this point you can wander around the Colosseum picking up chests full of
worthless items, or you can backtrack a tiny bit to the stairs you just came
down, and this time head north to reach the Colosseum's exit. 

Head north along the path until you come to a fork in the road.  Down the
small set of stairs to the northeast is a nice little treasure room.  Once
you've emptied it out, continue east to reach the Path of Hidden Blessing. 

At the top of the stairs you will find a Save Crystal with a line of about
five or six traps leading to it.  Make sure to avoid these, but even if you
don't, at least the crystal is there to heal you.

==============================================================================
[A047]                              Pharos
==============================================================================

Do not enter this tower without the Esunaga spell.  That's all I'm going to
say.  If you don't have it, turn around.  Also, while you're at it, make sure
you've got the Float spell handy as well.

Secondly, you should be aware just how outrageously long this dungeon is.  It
will take hours, even with the guide.  Just take the length of this guide
section as an example of how much there is to come.  Bear that in mind before
you settle in.

---------------------------------
BOSS: Hydro - HP: 203800 - LV: 47
---------------------------------

As I have repeated many-a-time before, the battle best begins with a quick
cast of Dispel Magick.  You will find yourself falling victim to spells like
Immobilizega (or whatever it was called) that Immobilize your party so it is
best to get them into position right away (thus you really won't care that you
can't move).

In addition to this, poisons, Sap, MP drains are all fair game for this boss
as he sets out to both crush you and annoy you at the same time.  Be ready
with an Esuna Gambit at all times and that should be more than enough to keep
his Magick at bay.  The boss' high HP is about his biggest advantage, but you
can counter that by casting Haste on your heaviest hitter and just waiting it
out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't bother going back to save your game.  Just ahead you will find another
Save Crystal.  It is at the northeast corner of the next room.  As you wander
around this floor you will periodically collect items called Black Orbs from
slain foes. 

I will now direct you to the inconveniently located map urn.  Take the south
exit out of this room and run to the far east side where the next exit is
located (but don't take it).  Instead, go up the small set of steps here and
navigate through these rooms toward the centre again.  You should reach a
lengthy rectangle shaped area where the map urn can be found on the west side. 

Now with the map in hand, let's take a look at what we have.  The northwest
exit of this room leads to the circular centre area.  Take this exit.  Here
you will an object called the Altar of Night.  Place one of the Black Orbs you
have found into it, then return to the previous room.  If you have no Black
Orbs, it means you weren't killing enough enemies.

Now, take the north path up to the next area.  Technically it isn't a
different room since the Wellspring Labyrinth is so big.  Your goal is to
reach the northeast corner.  From the northeast corner you can see there is
another exit toward the centre, this one leading southwest.  Take it.

Place another Black Orb into the Altar of night and return to the previous
room.  With this  out of the way your goal is now to navigate back to the
entrance room with the Save Crystal.  Down the southeast walkway you will find
the third and final Altar of Night.  Use a Black Orb to unlock the door.  Now,
save your game and head to the far east end of the Wellspring Labyrinth to the
door that was previously locked.

Go up the desert hill and approach the rock at the top.

---------------------------------------
BOSS: Pandemonium - HP: 116678 - LV: 45
---------------------------------------

A nice break from some of the more difficult fights you've faced recently. 
This boss attacks like a very large, but very basic enemy.  He relies almost
entirely on slow, powerful, physical attacks.  For this reason there is one
strategy that absolutely cannot fail.

Take your main tank character, equip him/her with a shield and the Gauntlet
accessory.  Cast Protect, Regen and Decoy (maybe even Bubble) on this
character and voila!  You are practically invincible. 

The only noteworthy occurrence here is the inevitable shield the boss uses at
the 50% mark to make him invincible to all attacks for a period of time. 
During this time, focus on casting magic like Protectga and other positive
status magic to buff your party up.  After a minute or two the shield
dissipates and never returns.  He's all yours now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Pandemonium dead the Way Stone is now active.  Return to the entrance and
save your game, then use the stone.  In this new area, head northeast into the
large room and take the north path.  Run all the way north to the dead end
where it will give prompt you at the wall labeled "Fool's Facade."  Choose to
break the wall and you might find a chest inside (Hi-Potion or Elixir).

Climb the east stairs and defeat the enemies to form a section of bridge.  Now
cross the bridge and head south.  Make sure to kill all the Brainpan enemies
you see.  As you climb the next sets of stairs you will encounter two of them
(forming two sections of bridge.) 

The remaining two can be found up the stairs near the bridge.  One is hidden
in a corner at the top, the other is in one of the small rooms.  Ascend the
stairs on the other side.  When you finally reach a set of rooms near the top,
you'll find the first Brainpan hiding in the corner (like before.)

The second is found inside one of the small rooms, again, identical to one of
the previous ones.  There is a Fool's Facade next to the Brainpan leading to a
chest.  Climb the next set of stairs to find the third Brainpan on 21F.  There
is another Fool's Facade on 23F.  It leads up to 24F. 

The next floor contains the final three brainpans you need to create the
bridge.  Cross it and go up the stairs.  You may notice a lone chest you
cannot access.  Ignore it for now, I'll tell you how you can get it soon.

Climb the stairs and take out the Brainpans on 29F.  You will now encounter a
new type of enemy: the Deidar.  They are identical to Brainpans, except red,
and they destroy bridges rather than create them. 

Ascend the north stairs and break the Fool's Facade to find a chest.  Open the
ancient door a little to the south and defeat the Brainpan inside.  You'll
find another Brainpan at the top of the stairs to the south.  Now climb the
stairs to the east, ignore the red guy and kill the final Brainpans.  After
stepping on the bridge (to turn it to stone) you can take out the Deidar and
it will have no ill effect.

Take out the Brainpan on 32F (fleeing from the Deidar) and look for the next
two Brainpans on 34F.  Take the east path and get the Brainpan at the top of
the stairs.  Two more Brainpans can be found at the end of the hall, with one
Deidar.  If you've done everything correctly you will be able to cross the
bridge now.

On the other side you may see a red bridge if you've been killing Deidars
after forming bridges.  You may not be able to cross it now, but it gives you
a clue that before long you'll be able to come back to get some missed
treasures.

Take out the two Brainpans on 36F and skip the Deidar.  Another brainpan can
be found on 38F.  Go through the rooms on 40F to find an additional Brainpan. 
Another is found up the stairs to the west and finally.  Keep climbing further
to 46F.  In one of the rooms you will find a Fool's Facade.  with a chest
inside.  A Brainpan waits in the opposite room.  You'll find another Brainpan
and the bridge on 47F.

Now, here's what you can do: continue up to the next floor and use the Save
Crystal.  If you like, you can head all the way back down, killing all the
Deidars you see and fleeing from all the Brainpans.  Doing so will net you the
following: A red bridge on 35F (leading to a Fool's Facade) and chests
containing a Dueling Mask and a Zeus Mace.  These chests only have a 70%
appearance rate, so you may need to run a few screens away and come back.

Back down on 25F there will be a red bridge leading to a (possible) chest
containing Holy Rod.  It is EXTREMELY annoying when these chests do not
appear, as if what you have already accomplished wasn't enough to reward you
with the item.  Note that these aren't even the best equips of their type, so
if you pass them up... it really doesn't matter.

Back to the Save Crystal, head for the stairs on the southwest side and take
them up.  Once again you'll find yourself in an odd location.

-------------------------------
BOSS: Slyt - HP: 92661 - LV: 47
-------------------------------

For the first time in a long time, Dispel is useless.  While the boss is
healed occasionally by its Regen effect, Dispelling it will only cause it to
reappear seconds later. 

There isn't much to say about this battle.  Like Pandemonium before him, Slyt
is quite fond of melee attacks.  Cast Protectga on your full party and start
to hit as hard as you can with the most effective attacks you have. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the top of the stairs you will find a Way Stone that warps you to floor 67. 
So begins the second ascent.  There is a Save Crystal over on the northwest
side you will want to use.  Now you have to make a choice.  Each of these four
doors leads further up the tower, however they are all different in some
manner.  Each path will put you at some disadvantage, with each disadvantage
depending on the path.

For example, the "Threshold of Steel" forces you to fight without weapons. 
There are four total that remove the four following options: weapons, Magick,
items, minimap.  I will choose the minimap option since the game still lets
you use the map.  Items would be another viable choice.  If you choose
weapons... well, good luck.

Head southeast for the Threshold of Knowledge and examine the altar near the
door.  Touch it to unlock the door.  Make your way around to the stairs and
climb up to 61F.  Remember to open the map constantly.

Your goal here on 61F is to reach the west side.  Go down one room from where
you entered, then straight west and straight north.  No problem.  You've
reached 62F already.

Head straight east on this floor and go out toward the inner circle walkway. 
Take the small steps at the northwest corner of the circle.  Go straight north
and you will find a door that cannot be opened from this side.  What you have
to do is go east through a long hallway, then look at your map.  See another
long hallway just north of the one you took?  Go north and run west along that
hallway (watch out for the trap).

On the far west side, also known as the very furthest northwest corner of 62F,
is the urn with a map inside of it.  That door you couldn't open from the
other side can be opened from this side.  Take a look at your full map now. 
Your goal is to get from here, to the far southeast corner and take the stairs
up from there to reach 63F.

Your goal on this floor is simply to reach the northwest corner where the
stairs are located.  To get there, you must actually go to the northeast
corner and take the "furthest north" hallway leading west.  From the far west
corner now, go south and up the stairs.  If you try to go any other way you
will get stuck behind one-way doors.

This "safe" floor has a Save Crystal up near the northwest corner.  Use the
crystal and then take the stairs on the southwest side to 65F.

----------------------------------
BOSS: Fenrir - HP: 189992 - LV: 49
----------------------------------

Start by Dispelling the boss to get rid of his Haste and Bravery, then dig in! 
You've faced similar foes already, both Pandemonium and Slyt were heavy on the
physical front, Fenrir is even more so.  His combination attacks are
devastating.

Fortunately his defense is extremely weak, so physical attacks on your end are
very effective.  Set someone up to tank the boss by casting Decoy and Protect
on them, then equipping them with a shield.  This is one of the only ways to
survive his powerful onslaught. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enter the Threshold of Sacrifice and locate the altar in the equivalent
location to where it was on the floor below (southeast for the Altar of
Knowledge.)  Touching the altar will give you your powers back.  This raises
an elevator on the west side you can use to ride up to 67F.  Save your game
here and take the Way Stone to enter the Third Ascent.

Make sure you do exactly what I say.  Choosing the wrong sigil can lead to a
trip into the demon pit.  Not a pleasant experience.

The correct sigil to take is the Way Stone - Black Sigil.  Touch that and then
head east.  Run down to the southeast corner and approach the wall to find a
Fool's Facade.  The chests in here (if they appear) will contain either a
Dragon Whisker or a Rubber Suit.  Touch the green sigil in here.

Make your way down one of the halls, breaking through the Fool's Facades as
you go.  Touch the Way Stone - Red Sigil at the end to be warped to a hidden
area.  There is a chest here containing a Circlet.  Now examine the purple
"Sigil of Sacrifice" and it will warp you to the northwest area (Spire Ravel -
2nd Flight.)

Head up the path leading north and break the Fool's Facade leading west.  Use
the Way Stone in here to warp to another area.  Now you are almost done. 
There is a Way Stone beside you right here.  Use the stone to teleport and go
through the south door.  You will find the urn with the map here.  Once you
have the map, go back up, take the Way Stone and use the east elevator to
reach 90F.

-----------------------------------
BOSS: Hashmal - HP: 209060 - LV: 50
-----------------------------------

This Esper makes for a rather interesting boss fight.  Start by Dispelling his
Protect status and then get ready as he Roxxors you right into the ground. 
Literally.  Protectga is a great spell to have here, but it's not the only
one.

As his health dwindles down below 50% he will prepare his massive limit break
attack.  It most likely has a name, but the name escapes me for the time
being.  The point is that there's a great way to avoid it entirely -- Float. 
Like most Final Fantasy games, Earth-based attacks are totally nullified by
the Float status.  if you don't have Float, you may have the Dragon Shield
still kicking around in your inventory, it has the same effect.

Aside from that, you've beaten bosses before, you know how to do it again. 
Without the aid of his most powerful attack spell he's going to find it very
difficult to wipe out your party.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time for a lengthy boring trip around in a big circle.  As you walk a scene
will take over automatically.  Use the Save Crystal and prepare for even more
boss fights after using the Way Stone.

-----------------------------------
BOSS: Gabranth - HP: 64049 - LV: 47
-----------------------------------

You've faced Judges before, this one is no different.  He casts Protect on
himself to start, so Dispel it.  You will spend most of the battle exchanging
physical blows and healing your party without any surprises. 

Half way through Gabranth stops to talk to Basch, the readies new attacks like
"Guilt" and such, but they're nothing you can't weather.  Just keep hitting
him.  Like Judges before him, you don't even have to get his HP bar down to
zero.  If you have trouble with this guy, you may think about leveling up a
little, because it's just going to get harder in a second.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------
BOSS: Dr. Cid - HP: 82093 - LV: 50
----------------------------------
Famfrit - HP: 149060

Dr. Cid starts the battle with Protect, Shell and Haste.  Sounds like a
perfect time to cast Dispel.  Cid hits relatively hard, and from time to time,
readies his powerful (and hilarious) Gatling Gun attack which does moderate
damage to all party members.  You'll definitely need a Curaja after that.

Once you get his HP down to about 50% Dr. Cid summons the Esper Famfrit.  Now
you will have no choice but to focus all your attacks on it.  The first thing
you will want to do (besides Dispelling it) is to cast Shell on your party. 
Famfrit's most powerful attack is the Waterja spell which (if you're weakened)
can potentially wipe out your entire group.  Shell lessens the damage here.

Have someone ready to cast Dispel because Dr. Cid will remain active and cast
spells like Haste, Shell and protect on his Esper.  Keep an eye on Famfrit's
HP bar which appears below him, not at the top of the screen.  Once the Esper
finally goes down you should have no trouble finishing off the remainder of
Dr. Cid's HP. 

Remember that Dr. Cid uses guns, so it is not necessary to cast Protect on
your party once the Esper has been downed. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations on finally finishing one of the longest dungeons in the
universe.  Watch the scene and prepare for the end of the game.

==============================================================================
[A048]                         Balfonheim Port
==============================================================================

This is your final stop before the end of the game.  If you want to head off
and do sidequests, now is the time.  Stock up on whatever you think you need
and head for the Aerodome.  Your destination is Bahamut.

==============================================================================
[A049]                             Bahamut
==============================================================================

You may be surprised to hear that this isn't actually a dungeon.  Pharos was
the final dungeon, this is just a string of bosses.  make an immediate right
and go through the door.  It's not actually necessary to fight the guards. 
You won't be leaving, so there's no reason to level up.  Just flee past
everything.

At the bottom of the stairs make a left at the fork and go up to the central
ring.  Run straight ahead (southwest) to the even more central ring and head
west from there.  Heal your party (no Save Crystal) then examine the Lift
Controls. 

-----------------------------------
BOSS: Gabranth - HP: 70719 - LV: 49
-----------------------------------

Dispel his Haste effect, then start pounding.  Gabranth is able to cast the
Renew spell after taking a certain amount of damage.  By doing so he actually
becomes more powerful.  Offset his new attacks by casting Protectga to lessen
the damage to your entire party.  Once again, this fight is far too similar to
previous Judge battles for you to really be unprepared.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Engage the lift and ride it up. There is nothing left to do now besides fight.

--------------------------------
BOSS: Vayne - HP: 76755 - LV: 50
--------------------------------

The first incarnation of Vayne is a physical brawler.  He will use a lot of
very cinematic attacks, but for all his theatrics, he seems to have difficulty
actually finishing you off.  This is especially true if you protect your party
with Protectga Magick.

Physical attacks are more than adequate to beat Vayne.  His HP in this form is
quite low and this battle serves mostly as an "introduction" if you will to
the coming fights. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------
BOSS: Vayne Novus - HP: 104210 - LV: 53
---------------------------------------
Sephira - HP: 12121 (each)

Now it starts to get hard.  Start by Dispelling all the powerful buffs Vayne
begins with and then send your entire party after him.  Obviously the two
schools of thought question whether it is best to focus on him, or eliminate
his swords.  I found it somewhat unnecessary to destroy the swords and instead
chose to focus on him, but you might think otherwise.

Gabranth with inevitably focus mostly on the swords.  You can ignore him. 
Keep hitting Vayne as hard as you possibly can and be ready to Curaja
constantly.  You need to keep you MP up so try to rotate the Curajas between
party members if you can.

After each of Vayne speeches you might want to check him again, his Protect,
Shell and Haste will periodically reappear and need to be Dispelled.  If you
can keep those off him you can drastically increase your chances of winning. 
He doesn't have any weaknesses to exploit, and he raises a Magick shield half
way through, so it's physical attacks all the way.  Before using items,
remember the most difficult battle is still to come.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------
BOSS: The Undying - HP: 228299 - LV: 55
---------------------------------------

The lack of HP bar for this boss makes the fight not only difficult, but
confusing.  You never really know what's going on unless you pay attention. 
The Undying will give clues as to its HP level by its shielding actions. 

When the boss is half dead it will bring up a shield that protects it from
physical attacks.  You'll have to move on to Magick at this point.  Flare,
Holy, whatever you've got.  The shield wears off after a period of time so
don't feel obligated to waste all your Magick.

Here's something you can do during this time: cast Protectga, Shellga and
Bubble on every member of your party.  That will give you a huge advantage. 
Another thing to do is to keep an eye out for when the boss casts spells like
Faith and Bravery.  Use Dispel Magick when this happens, otherwise the boss'
attacks are going to increase in power by quite a bit.

The majority of The Undying's attacks are big epic-looking explosion-esque
blasts that just... do damage to every member of your party.  With the scope
of the spell animations you might expect it to tear a hole in the fabric of
space, but no, you're basically just looking at about 1000 - 2000 damage to
every party member.  Nothing much if you cast Bubble, and especially so if you
have Curaja Gambits on everyone.

Here's something very important to keep in mind: the game is over, you are
done, and there is absolutely NO reason to hang onto ANY item in your
inventory.  Use Elixirs and Ethers like basic Potions if you need to.

When the boss casts Dispelga, get those Protectga and Shellga spells back up!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations on successfully completing Final Fantasy XII.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                              Hunts                           
==============================================================================
______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                     Red & Rotten in the Desert                    
==============================================================================

-------------------------------------
TARGET Rogue Tomato - HP: 134 - LV: 2
-------------------------------------

300 Gil, Potion x 2, Teleport Stone

The Rogue Tomato quest will automatically be completed during the main events
of the game.  Leave Rabanastre through the eastern exit to the Dalmasca
Estersand.  The Rogue Tomato is found roughly around the centre among two
trees.  Beat on the Tomato until it drops down below and follow it down so
that you may finish it off. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                         Wolf in the Waste                    
==============================================================================

----------------------------------
TARGET: Thextera - HP: 380 - LV: 6
----------------------------------

500 Gil, Headguard, Teleport Stone

Head for the Dalmasca Westersand by taking the west exit out of Rabanastre. 
Upon arriving in the Westersand, head directly south as soon as the path opens
up.  Stick to the east side and follow a little pathway going around to the
side.  No doubt you will soon happen upon the larger icon on your minimap.

Quickly eliminate the small wolves as fast as possible so they do not
interfere with the main battle.  The boss has a weakness to wind, though it is
unlikely you will be able to exploit this at such an early stage in the game. 
Generally the tactics require nothing more than basic attacks and healing.  If
you are unable to defeat the boss it is most likely a case of too low a level,
or not enough people in the party.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                      Dalmasca's Desert Bloom                    
==============================================================================

-------------------------------------------
TARGET: Flowering Cactoid - HP: 755 - LV: 4
-------------------------------------------

500 Gil, Potion x 10

Take the northeast exit from the Outpost and continue northeast in the next
area.  Take a look at your main map for this area.  You will see that from
where you entered, if you just kept going north you would reach the Sand-Swept
Naze before long.  Do note however, the two smaller paths leading east in the
Yardang Labyrinth (where you are).  The more northern of these two paths hides
the Flowering Cactoid.

The Flowering Cactoid has one main attack "run away and aggro everything
else".  Just keep pounding it with every attack you have, it only has 755 HP. 
As it gets close to death you will see a message "Flowering Cactoid is
readying 1000 Needles."  This attack will do 1000 damage to one of your party
members (and no doubt kill them).  It's possible to kill the cactoid before it
unleashes this attack, but I wouldn't count on it.

Speak to Dantro to get your reward.  The Cactus Flower you received leads to
another sidequest, however you cannot complete it at the early stage of the
game, so you may need to put it on hold for the time being.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                         Waterway Haunting                    
==============================================================================

---------------------------------
TARGET: Wraith - HP: 5146 - LV: 9
---------------------------------

500 Gil, Ether, Gauntlets

Enter the Garamsythe Waterway (the east door) and go down the stairs.  Wander
around in the middle of the Overflow Cloaca (first room) a bit and the Wraith
should reveal itself before long.

The Wraith is an interesting boss because the majority of its attacks are
actually quite weak.  It instead relies on a spell called Doom which puts a
slow counting timer of 10 on one character, which instantly kills them once it
hits 0.  You can remove this effect with a Remedy, though since it will
inevitably just be put back on, I would suggest waiting until the timer gets
as low as 3 or 2 before using one.

Assuming you have no Remedies then the timer will simply act as a time limit
for the fight, which ends up being little more than battle of attrition.  You
won't need to heal all that often until near the end of the fight, so just
launch your most powerful attacks against the boss and try to take him down as
quickly as possible.

When the battle is over your characters will still be affected by the Doom
status.  Here's a good suggestion to help rid them of it: quickly run out of
this area back to Lowtown.  The Doom status will remain, but since Lowtown is
not a battlefield, the timer won't count down here.  Run to the Southgate
outside of Lowtown and touch the Save Crystal to fully heal and cure your
entire party.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                       Marauder in the Mines
==============================================================================

-----------------------------------
TARGET: Nidhogg - HP: 6079 - LV: 10
-----------------------------------

600 Gil, Rose Corsage, Balaclava, Great Serpentskin

Nidhogg is a powerful foe with both strong defense and strong offense.  Most
of its attacks will rage from 100 - 200 damage making healing a very important
part of this battle if you undertake it early in the game.

Make sure you are ready to cure poisons as well, Nidhogg will use them
frequently in conjunction with the rest of his attacks.  While he may have
both a powerful offense and defense, his magic resistance leaves something to
be desired.  Those characters who are not fully dedicated to healing should
let loose the most powerful Black Magick you have available to you at the
time.

I personally took care of this boss quickly and easily by chaining three
Quickenings and ending with a powerful Inferno blast.  An explanation of
Quickenings can be found elsewhere in this guide, but nevertheless, performed
properly and with a little luck, just one can take out the boss in a single
hit.

Do NOT sell the Great Serpentskin you get for doing this Hunt.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                       Lost in the Pudding
==============================================================================

-----------------------------------------
TARGET: White Mousse - HP: 69469 - LV: 15
-----------------------------------------

2800 Gil, Yoichi Bow, Sluice Gate Key

After speaking to the Moogle at the Westgate, head for Lowtown and enter the
Garamsythe Waterway.  Make your way from the Lowtown entrance down to the far
southwest corner.  There is a large square shaped section in the West Sluice
Control area.  That is where you will find the creature.

The White Mousse focuses exclusively on Magick, so it may not be a bad idea to
go into this battle with Shell on every member of your party.  Be ready to
counter the Slow effect with Haste Magick, and aside from that, brute force is
the most effective attack strategy.  The creature has almost no physical
defense so your attacks are going to hit quite hard.

Take the Broken Key that the creature drops and bring it back to Sorbet. 
Along with the two primary rewards you will get the "Sluice gate Key" which is
required in order to complete some of the game's later content.  You won't be
able to acquire the Cuchulainn Esper without it.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                     For Whom the Wyrm Tolls
==============================================================================

---------------------------------------
TARGET: Ring Wyrm - HP: 128648 - LV: 32
---------------------------------------

200 Gil, Moon Ring, Icebrand

Once you have the Hunt, your goal is to enter the Dalmasca Westersand and head
west to the Windtrace Dunes.  When you arrive at the dunes, there must be a
sandstorm going on at the time.  If the weather is calm you won't find the
Ring Wyrm.  Sandstorms can be triggered by moving from place to place while
waiting a certain length of time (hopefully not very long).  If you run back
and forth from Rabanastre, I can't promise it will be quick, but eventually
the sandstorm will begin.

The Ring Wyrm itself is a typical foe.  High leveled players will find it very
easy to defeat simply by casting Dispel (to remove its protect) and then
wailing on it with physical attacks while curing periodically.

Lower leveled players should just as easily be able to take down this foe by
taking advantage of one aspect: the fire breath attack.  Summon your trusty
Belias Esper at the start of the battle (Fire element) and allow him to tank
the boss while both you and the boss itself heal the Esper.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                       A Scream From the Sky
==============================================================================

----------------------------------------
TARGET: Wyvern Lord - HP: 18669 - LV: 18
----------------------------------------

1000 Gil, Longbow, Shell Shield

To reach this boss, teleport to the Tomb of Raithwall and exit to the east. 
Head to the nearby Simoon bluff and head for the northern corner (on the
ground level).  You should see the creature flying around (perhaps off the
north edge of the cliff) and you'll need to get close in order to pull it.

What makes this enemy so difficult (annoying) is that it has a lot of HP and
it flies, so depleting that HP won't be easy.  Gun and bow attacks are
effective, as is the water spell.  This is assuming you want to spent forever
fighting the battle.

Ah yes, as always, it's Belias and Quickenings to the rescue.  One of the two
should suffice (I prefer Belias personally).  Even if he can't hold the boss
on his own, he should be able to do enough damage to leave you an easy mess to
clean up.  Whoever summons Belias should simply spend his/her time healing
whoever is tanking the enemy.  Throw basic potions constantly on yourself or
the Esper until either the wyvern dies or the Esper's time runs out. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                         A Tingling Toast
==============================================================================

------------------------------------
TARGET: Marilith - HP: 54921 - LV:38
------------------------------------

2200 Gil, Serpent Eye, Teleport Stone x 3

After speaking to the Tavernmaster, head for the Dalmasca Westersand.  Your
destination is the Shimmering Horizons area.  There you will find an exit to
the Zertinan Caverns. 

What you need to do now is remain in the initial area (Invitation to Heresy). 
Head down to the southern central part of this map.  It is difficult to
describe, but right down at the bottom you can see on the map there is a very
small area in the chap of a lowercase "c" with the left side stuck onto the
rest of the map.  There is a little patch of grass in this corner.

What you need to do is stand somewhere in this area and basically do nothing
for a few minutes.  Leave your characters and go get a drink.  When you come
back, assuming enough time has passed, when you approach this grassy patch a
snake will pop out.  That is Marilith.

The enemy is extremely easy.  No effects to Dispel, just throw a Blind status
on him and he won't be able to touch you.  Pound what little health he has
down and bring the musk to the Tavernmaster to get your reward.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                    The Defense of Ozmone Plain                    
==============================================================================

--------------------------------------
TARGET: Enkelados - HP: 18709 - LV: 22
--------------------------------------

1100 Gil, Ether, Golden Amulet

You will find the creature in "The Shred" area of the Ozmone plain, right
around the middle of that area.  If it doesn't appear, just leave and re-
enter. 

The beast is strong, but slow.  It will use mostly physical attacks and cast
both Protect / Shell on itself to halve your damage.  The best tactic you can
utilize here is to dispel these effects (if you have the spell, which you very
likely will not).  Aside from doing this, there's very little else to say.

I would note that the Golden Amulet you receive is a very nice reward indeed. 
Make sure you learn the license to equip it. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                        A Ring in the Rain
==============================================================================

---------------------------------------
TARGET: Croakadile - HP: 19449 - LV: 24
---------------------------------------

1200 Gil, Serpent Rod, Teleport Stone

Note that Sadeen only appears during the rains in Giza Plains.  The same
applies to the Croakadile.  You will find it down in Starfall Field near the
bridge.

The Croakadile is an extremely powerful foe.  His attacks are so strong that
if you are not overleveled (relative to the time you get the Hunt) then more
than likely you won't have time to attack between all the healing you will
need.

Counter this disadvantage by summoning Belias at the beginning of the battle. 
The best way to win this fight is to allow him to do most of the damage, but
he will be hit hard, which is why Cure magic and Hi-Potions (on Belias) are
going to be very important.

The Croakadile uses a number of status effects on your characters, including
Sap to slowly suck away all their HP.  Near the end of the fight he will go
sort of "berserk" and become about twice as powerful as he is at the start. 
At this point you have no chance in hell of winning a battle of attrition. 
Your best bet is to launch a final Quickening and hope it's enough to take him
down.

Bring the ring back to Sadeen to get your reward.  There is an additional
quest that follows from this one.  Bring the ring to the elder when the rains
stop, and then back to Sadeen again during the rains.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                   The Dead Ought Sleep Forever
==============================================================================

----------------------------------
TARGET: Ixtab - HP: 22564 - LV: 24
----------------------------------

1300 Gil, Ether, Soul Powder

Enter the Henne Mines through the main entrance and use the switch near the
start to make it red.  Take the south path and hit the next switch to swap it
to blue.  Either of the paths you just opened now lead you to the mark.

The boss itself is fairly straightforward.  It attacks by inflicting both the
Doom and Stop status effects on your party, but it attacks so slowly that it
practically begs to be pounded into the ground.  If you have the necessary
items to cure these conditions, you're totally set. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                     Befoulment of the Beast
==============================================================================

--------------------------------------------
TARGET: Feral Retriever - HP: 22559 - LV: 28
--------------------------------------------

1500 Gil, Recursive Crossbow, Teleport Stone x 2

You will find this mark in the Paramina Rift south of Mt Bur-Omisace.  Head
south past the Save Crystal in the Path of Firstfall to reach the Spine of the
Icewyrm.  You should find the enemy right near the entrance.

All you need for this battle are either a bunch of Remedies or the Esuna
Magic.  The only dangerous attack the Feral Retriever has is the Blaster spell
which inflicts Sleep, Silence and Blind on a single ally.  Throw a quick
Remedy on them and cut that beast up.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                         The Mine Flayer
==============================================================================

---------------------------------------
TARGET: Mindflayer - HP: 31161 - LV: 35
---------------------------------------

2200 Gil, Carmagnole

Enter the Henne Mines through the main entrance and use the switch near the
start to make it red.  Take the south exit and then go immediately west. 
Continue along the linear path from here until you reach the Phase 1 Dig area. 
At the furthest south end, right in the middle, is the mark.

Dispel the creature right off the bat (if you have the ability).  It will
really help to get rid of his Faith status.  Even if you can't, it makes
little difference.  You're going to be hit with a variety of Magicks, so just
protect your party with Shell before going in and you'll do fine.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                  Little Love on the Big Plains
==============================================================================

---------------------------------------
TARGET: Cluckatrice - HP: 7509 - LV: 15
---------------------------------------

1000 Gil, Jackboots, Rainbow Egg

Head to Giza Plains during The Dry.  There is a Seeq in the Rabanastre south
end that identifies himself as sort of a "weather man" who will tell you how
close you are to the next cycle or rains / dry.  You may have to stand and
wait while periodically moving between transition zones until it changes.

After speaking to the girl in Nomad Village, take the southeast exit to find
the Cluckatrice.  Here's how to make the creature appear: wander around this
area (Gizas North Bank) killing ALL the creatures that appear as red dots on
your map.  I'm not positive that you have to eliminate the neutral bunnies,
but I did, and that worked so it certainly can't hurt.

Return to the nomad Village and immediately come back to this map.  You will
find the Cluckatrice in the middle ripe for the picking.  At the beginning of
the game you will need Gold Needle items and a solid amount of healing items
to back them up.  The enemy can inflict the Stone status on your party and
that's not pleasant at all.

Later in the game, this is one of the easiest fights in the universe.  It all
depends on when you choose to take the hunt. 

Here's something important: make SURE you go around and kill all the little
Chickatrices as well.  The Hunt will not count as completed until you do.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                       The Cry of Its Power
==============================================================================

--------------------------------------
TARGET: Rocktoise - HP: 17548 - LV: 16
--------------------------------------

1200 Gil, Hi-Potion x 2, Heavy Coat

This hunt comes very soon after you get Belias, and I must say that he does a
very good job of bringing this boss down on his own.  Bring a few Hi-Potions
with you to this battle and start out by summoning Belias. 

Periodically a few undead creatures will spawn, perhaps whoever summoned
Belias can work on eliminating them while the Esper focuses on Rocktoise. 
Don't just use Hi-Potions to heal yourself, make sure to keep your Esper
healed as well and he will have no problem doing the necessary damage to this
boss before the time is up.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                       Crime and Punishment
==============================================================================

------------------------------------
TARGET: Orthros - HP: 87141 - LV: 34
------------------------------------

3800 Gil, Horakhty's Flame, Unpurified Ether

After speaking with the petitioner, enter the Garamsythe Waterway.  Examine
the No. 10 Waterway Control and choose to close the sluice gate.  Now head
west from here and cross over to the west side.  From here, go south to the
West Sluice Control where you fought the White Mousse.

Orthros only appears if you have an all female party.  While in the West
Sluice Control, switch out your current party for Fran, Penelo and Ashe.  Now
enter the Southern Sluiceway to the east.  If all goes well, you have met the
conditions, and the boss will drop.  You are now free to switch back to
whatever party you were using before.

The slime creature attacks physically and he is helped immensely by his
Bravery status.  If you have it, Dispel him immediately to make this fight a
piece of cake.  Protect or Protectga and even Shell will serve to simplify
things further for you. 

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[B000]                           Paramina Run
==============================================================================

--------------------------------------
TARGET: Trickster - HP: 61321 - LV: 44
--------------------------------------

4800 Gil, Deimos Clay

Once you have spoken to the petitioner in Mt Bur-Omisace, you need to head
south into the Paramina Rift.  Enter the frozen brook area and you will find
that NPC from Rabanastre who is now willing to help you with the mark.  He
will act as sort of a guest-esque character.

The Trickster is quite tricky to find.  I'm not quite sure what the exact
qualifications are, but I just had to keep leaving and coming back until
eventually it was there.  The Trickster is found in the Frozen Brook area, but
doesn't always appear.  At one point I went south to the Karydine Glacier,
killed a bunch of enemies there and came back.  Immediately upon arrival the
guest character said "The Trickster" has finally appeared (or something along
those lines).

Making it show up is only half the battle.  The other half is the high
difficulty level of the fight.  While the Trickster likes to attack with
powerful physical hits and the Choco-Comet (1000 - 1500 damage to everyone),
the worst aspect of the fight is that it is constantly running away.

Begin the battle by casting Dispel (if you have it) to remove the Protect
effect.  Now pound it into the ground with all the physical attacks you have. 
When it gets down to around 1/3 Hp it will use "White Wind" which makes it
immune to all status ailments.  This is your cue to let loose the biggest
Quickening chain you can do.

The reason for this is as follows: around 1/4 HP the Trickster sets up a
permanent physical immunity shield.  Not only that, all elemental magic will
heal the creature, except for one chosen element, which will periodically
change.  This could potentially make it next to impossible for you to kill it
(which is why the Quickening chain is so important).

There is one final note however.  If the Trickster does put up the immunity
shield, I found that the Scourge magic is always effective and does heavy
damage, without ever being absorbed.  The downside is that this magic is only
available near the end of the game.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[C000]                         Optional Espers
==============================================================================
______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[C001]                           Adrammelech
==============================================================================

Available: After the Tomb of Raithwall

Head for the Ozmone Plain.  Your destination is The Switchback area which has
an entrance to the Zertinan Caverns.  Proceed north through this area up to
The Undershore.  Continue north through here until you reach the transition
line to the next area.  Heal your party and prepare for battle.

--------------------------------------
BOSS: Adrammelech - HP: 39630 - LV: 39
--------------------------------------

Adrammelech is one tough customer.  Even players who have leveled well above
the average for this point might be surprised at just how difficult this fight
can be.  Fortunately there are a few tactics that can really turn things
around.

The first thing to do before you go into the battle area is to buff up your
party.  Shell is extremely important, but Haste and protect never hurt anyone
either (just make sure you have shell).  Depending on how far you are in the
game, you will also want to have either the Blizzara or Blizzaga spells ready
on all of your characters.

Run into the battle and prepare to fight.  Zombies will spawn constantly
making things even more difficult for you.  In fact, I would probably say the
zombies account for at least half this battle's difficulties.  Here's a nice
tip you can try: take the character with the most powerful melee weapon and
cast the Berserk spell on them.  This will help you cut down the zombie
population significantly.

Adrammelech is a flying foe so it will be hard to dish out the required damage
sometimes.  It would be a good idea to have your backup party ready with
Quickenings and switch them in periodically for extra damage (and to wipe the
zombies).  Cast Blizzara or Blizzaga on Adrammelech constantly, this will have
the added bonus of cutting down zombies (as they are weak to ice).

When the boss starts getting low on HP it will do two things: the first is
launch and extremely powerful Thundaja attack.  If you don't have Shell on
your party at this point you are in a lot of trouble.  This also inflicts the
Stop status, so anyone low on Chronos Tears is likely to get hit pretty hard
at this point. 

The second thing it does is raise an immunity shield granting it temporary
invulnerability.  Don't bother attack during this time, just re-buff your
party with Shell, heal, and focus on the zombies.  Before long you will see a
message saying the shield is gone and you can finish Adrammelech off.

If you need a Save Crystal, take the east exit.  Just look at your map, you
can't miss it.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[C002]                              Zalera
==============================================================================

Available: After the Tomb of Raithwall

Get the Reflect spell before you begin this section.

You must first complete the "Barheim Sidequest" before you can initiate this
one.  You'll find coverage of this sidequest in the Sidequests section of the
guide.  Note that you do not have to go as far as getting the Deathbringer
sword, just get the key to the Barheim Passage. 

Teleport to the Save Crystal in the North-South Junction.  Head south from
there and go west.  Take the northwest path leading to the East-West Bypass
(as opposed to the west path leading to Special Op Sector 5).  Head as far
south as you possibly can in the Zeviah Span.  When you cannot possibly go any
further, look on the west side for a "Precarious Cart."  Knock the cart down
to reveal a path.

Get ready to fight a ton of skeletons and ghosts as you make your way south
here.  The path isn't necessarily hard to find, but it is a little out-of-the-
way.  Eventually you will reach a Save Crystal.  Use it and prepare for a
boss. 

---------------------------------
BOSS: Zalera - HP: 72248 - LV: 40
---------------------------------

The fight with Zalera sets up a number of interesting obstacles that make it
difficult for you to actually finish this boss.  One such obstacle  is the
timer (Five minutes) that you must beat, otherwise you will be thrown out of
the battle. 

Zalera has a number of attacks, most of which revolve around the killing of
party members.  I don't mean in the same sense that all enemies do, I mean
Zalera has an actual ability called "Kill" that just... kills someone.  The
Esper also uses Lv multiplier abilities, the worst of which is an instant kill
for prime number leveled allies.  Ideally you should fight the boss at a level
that is a multiple of 2, but not a multiple of 4 (46 for example.)

As for the fight itself, winning is the easy part, but you have to listen
carefully and follow these instructions.  Since the boss likes to summon
minions (which protect the Esper from physical damage while they are alive)
you will want to focus heavily on magic damage.  We all know you can dish out
heavier hits physically, but in this situation, that's not the case at all.

Before entering the battle (or right off the bat) cast Reflect on every one of
your party members (or Reflectga if you have it).  Now that you have that on,
cast Cura (or Curaja if you have it).  All three of the heals will bounce off
your party members and pound the (undead) boss for heavy damage.  This is
especially true if whoever casts Cura has a lot of mystic armour on, but your
entire party should cast the spells.  Just watch the boss twist in agony.

That is the general tactics for victory in this battle.  You will still have
to revive and re-Reflect your party frequently, but with that much damage
being dished out, it's only a matter of time.  Five minutes is more than
enough.

When the battle is over, escape by taking the west path into the Garamsythe
Waterway.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[C003]                            Cuchulainn
==============================================================================

Available: After the Tomb of Raithwall

You cannot acquire this Esper until you have completed both "Waterway
Hunting" and "Lost in the Pudding" Hunts.  They are detailed in the hunts
section of this guide.

For fans of Final Fantasy Tactics, better known as Queklain: The Impure King. 
If you are doing these in order and just finished Zalera (now in the
Garamsythe Waterway) you are in a good position.  Open the urn near the Save
Crystal to get the candle that reveals hidden areas on your map.

On your way through Lowtown, purchase three Black Belts.  This is absolutely
imperative, regardless of level.  You can buy them from the merchant sitting
in that lowered round area.  They only cost 600 Gil apiece. 

From the Lowtown entrance, here is how you find the Esper: head south to the
Save Crystal in the Central Waterway Control and use the Sluice Gate Key (Lost
in the Pudding Hunt reward) on the No. 3 Waterway Control so that both the No.
3 and No. 10 are closed, while the No. 4 and No. 11 are open.

Look at your map and proceed southwest to the No. 3 Cloaca Spur.  Down near
the southern corner you will find a device called the No. 1 South Waterway
Control.  Close that one.  Now head back to the original controls.

You want the opposite effect of what you have now.  Open numbers three and
ten, then close numbers four and eleven.  Head for the No. 4 Cloaca Spur and
look for the No. 1 North Waterway Control at the end.  Close that one too. 
Now head back to the Save Crystal. 

Make sure number four and number three are closed.  Make sure the other two
are open.  Now save your game and equip those Black Belts.  Take the south
exit and run to the south end.  Down one of the two staircases will be an open
door leading to a shallow square shaped area.

--------------------------------------
BOSS: Cuchulainn - HP: 126165 - LV: 45
--------------------------------------

Cuchulainn will hand you your ass on a silver platter.  Don't even attempt
this guy if your level is lower than 40.  Yes, it can be done and many people
have done it, I simply see no reason so subject yourself to such torture. 

There is an HP draining field in place here which acts independently of the
Sap effect, so don't bother trying to get rid of it with Esuna.  make sure to
buff your party and equip three Black Belts before entering battle.

Depending on how far you are in the game, you will want to attack primarily
with physical hits and magic whenever the Foobars are spawned.  Use the
Scourge spell if you have it when the Foobars spawn, or settle for Firaga if
you don't.  Just make sure you do at least expel some energy on taking out
these minions.

Cuchulainn's HP total is quite high, so you will need to be able to withstand
a lot of punishment for a fair length of time.  This means having one
dedicated person casting Curaja periodically, or failing that, Cura
CONSATNTLY.  Esunaga also really comes in handy here, it's pretty much a waste
of time to try and single Esuna everything unless you have a Gambit for it on
everyone.

If you find yourself falling behind, don't be afraid to drop a few items and
even a Megalixir if it comes down to it.  Your Mp will likely fall almost as
fast as your HP does, so you'll need to come up with something better than
Charge to get it back up.  If all else fails, level up some more.

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[D000]                            Sidequests
==============================================================================
______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[D001]                      The Barheim Sidequest
==============================================================================

Your first task is to complete the Hunt: "Dalmasca's Desert Bloom."  The
Cactus Flower that you get from this Hunt is a necessary element.  In addition
to this you will also want to complete the Hunt: "Marauder in the Mines." 
Make sure not to sell the great Serpentskin.  This can still be completed
without it, but the rewards will not be as good.

It begins with Dantro who is located in the Dalmasca Estersand (at the camp). 
He's the one who gave you the Dalmasca's Desert Bloom quest.  Make sure not to
do this until after you have completed the Tomb of Raithwall.  He'll tell you
to head for the village on the south bank of the Nebra. 

Take the east exit from here and begin heading very far north.  About three
screens or so north, just above the Banks of the Nebra.  Dantro's wife is the
villager standing in front of one of the houses.  In return for the Cactus
Flower you will get a Bundle of Needles. 

Leave the village and then immediately come back in.  There is now a group of
people waiting by the dock at the north beach.  Speak to the kid on the dock
and agree to accompany the boy. 

On the other side, go and speak with Ruksel.  After learning about the
Cactoids, it's time to set sail back across the river.  Speak to Dantro's
wife, then go around behind the house (make sure to use the Save Crystal here
so you can teleport to it later.)

Examine the flower and a cactoid will pop out.  Cross the river again and
speak with the cactoids there.  For returning their precious baby you are
awarded 1000 Gil and a Pouch of Wyrmfire Shot.

Cross the river (again) and speak to Dantro's wife.  She says that in order to
subdue the pain she needs some Semclam Shells.  Just walk along the beach and
keep an eye out for anything sparkling.  Examine it to get a shell.  Get at
least two of them and you should get a Golden Amulet as a reward for this
quest.  Take them to Dantro's wife.

She wants you to go speak with Dantro, so head back to his little encampment. 
Talk to Dantro and then examine the phial sitting atop the big pile of crates
in the middle.  With that in hand it's time to return to his wife in the
village.

Now she wants some Valeblossom Dew which will be a little harder to obtain. 
Cross the river to the north side and leave the village through the west exit. 
Head north through this area to the Broken Sands.  The enemies here are quite
difficult, so you may just need to hold R2 and run (though in some cases you
may actually find that more dangerous given the number of enemies you will
pull).

When you enter the Broken Sands you will reach a fork in the main path.  Take
the left branch and go north.  Around the (exact) middle of this area there is
a rock, that when examine, can be knocked loose to connect the two paths.  A
few steps west of this rock, stand right against the south cliff overlooking
the area below and you should be a prompt of something "glimmering."  That is
the Valeblossom Dew.

Bring the dew back to Dantro's wife and give it to her, along with the Great
Serpentskin.  Now you need to play the waiting game.  I'm not quite sure what
variables are involved in the passage of time (perhaps just time?) but I would
still suggest you at least get a reasonable distance from the area while
waiting.  Head a couple maps in either direct and just fight stuff for a
little while.  Five or ten minutes should be more than enough.

Speak to the traveler around back and get the Barheim Key.  You'll also get
another item for your troubles.  The sidequest is now complete.  For those
who are here for the sake of acquiring the Deathbringer sword, read on below
the dashed line.  For those who are here to find the Zalera Esper, proceed
now to the Zalera heading in the "Optional Espers" section of the guide.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, let's get that Deathbringer Sword.  Just a quick note:  I would highly
recommend you bring a half decent stack of Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs with
you.  Trust me on this one, even if you think you're overleveled.

Take the south exit out of the village (after saving your game) and take the
southeast passage out of the area (leading to the Murmuring Defile.

Use your map to see where to go in here.  Head southwest at the start, then
north from there.  Keep going north until you find a Save Crystal.  Set the
battle mode to "Wait" and the battle speed to the absolute minimum, then turn
off everyone's Gambits.  Now make absolutely sure to save the game. 

Return south to the previous area (Great Central Passage) and proceed directly
west.  When the rails fork in two directions, you want the west route (as
opposed to northwest).  Use your map.

Don't even try to fight anything in here, the enemies are simply too powerful. 
This is a run-in, run-out operation from here on.  Here's what you do: run
west past the first two turtle enemies.  They won't follow for long if you're
holding R2.  Stay along the south edge.

Soon enough you'll see an enormous turtle.  This is your cue to hug the north
wall and go north to the railway tracks the first chance you get, hopefully
avoiding this monster.  It won't follow you onto the tracks even if it does
get off an attack or two.

If your party is damaged, heal now.  Just up ahead (west again, on the tracks)
you will see two rocks on either side.  Behind the rock on the right (north
rock) there is a chest for a chest to spawn.  There is also an enemy usually
walking back and forth beside it.

Very often no chest will appear there.  If it doesn't appear, press start,
return to the title screen and try again.  The vast majority of the time when
it does appear, it will only contain Gil.  If it contains Gil, press start,
return to the title screen and try again.

The remainder of the times (being generous, I'd estimate one out of every 10
or 15 attempts) the chest will be fake!  A mimic enemy will burst out.  This
is exactly what you want.  Now comes the hard part. 

All your Gambits should be off.  You need to "kite" the mimic back to the
entrance where you came into this area on the east side.  For those unfamiliar
with that terminology, this means you have to run back to the entrance, but
slowly, so that the mimic keeps following.  If you get too far ahead he will
turn around.

This is difficult because of the insane damage enemies deal here.  The Hi-
Potions and Phoenix Downs I told you to bring will come in handy because they
are instant use.  You don't have time to cast magic, but you will definitely
need to heal. 

If the mimic stops chasing, have someone throw a Blizzard spell or something
to pull it back to you.  The mimic will chase you further than any other enemy
will, so you don't need to worry about the entire room following you.  All
enemies EXCEPT for the mimic will eventually turn around.

Once you have managed to kite the mimic to the entrance, pull him right up to
the "transition" line between "Special Op Sector 5" and the area east of it
where you came from.  Now leave Special Op Sector 5.  When you go back in, the
mimic will be right there waiting for you.  Don't go back in yet.

Stand beside the transition line and heal everyone to max health.  Now, turn
on all their Gambits and create the following Gambit on all three characters:
"Any foe: Steal."  When you're ready, zone back to Special Op Sector 5 where
the mimic is waiting and start stealing like mad.  This is how you get the
Deathbringer sword.

If your level is low, I suggest letting each of your characters try to steal
once, then run back and heal.  It will take longer, but it's safer.  If you
want to be quick, you can have them steal over and over again while someone
heals them.  It's faster, but dangerous.  Should take about 10 - 20 tries to
steal the sword.

Once you have the sword, run back and save!  You can get as many of these as
you want, but you have to repeat the whole quitting and reloading process to
find a new mimic again.  The swords do insane damage for this point in the
game (1300 - 1500) and they also sell for something like 8000 Gil, so it's a
potential moneymaker to boot.

If you managed to get through all this and get the sword, congratulations!

______________________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
[D002]                      The Necrohol of Nabudis
==============================================================================

This dungeon houses not only a number of optional bosses, but also the game's
most powerful weapon, the Zodiac Spear.  In order to claim the Zodiac Spear
you must have avoided opening four specific chests throughout the game.  There
is no indication which chests these are within the game and thus, it has
become an area of contention among some gamers.  Nevertheless, that is the way
it is.

The chests are located in the following areas: Lowtown (Rabanastre), Royal
Palace (Rabanastre), Nalbina Dungeons and The Phon Coast.  Details as to which
chests in particular can be found in their respected sections in the main
walkthrough of this guide.

The intent of this section is to guide players who have already met the
conditions to find the spear (and fight the bosses) to the Necrohol of Nabudis
and walk them through the dungeon.

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First things first, how to get there.  You need to head to The Salikawood, the
area of the game right before you reach the Phon Coast.  Head either east from
the Garden of Decay area or northwest from the Diverging Way to reach the
Quietened Trace where a Save Crystal can be found.  The northwest exit leads
to an optional boss you must first defeat:

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BOSS: King Bomb - HP: 37596 - LV: 34
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The one preparation you will want to make before this battle is to purchase
the Fire Shield for any character you have able to equip it.  It will make the
battle quite a bit easier.

Your first goal as per all such battles is to eliminate the minions first.  Do
so using whatever means you have at your disposal, multi-targeting water
spells and the like.  The boss' HP is deceptive, it's actually quite a bit
higher than that if you take into account his Renew ability.  Renew is a spell
he will periodically cast to heal al the way back to full health.

There are two ways to get around Renew: the first is to keep pounding him
despite the spell, because after he uses it about four or five times, he won't
use it again.  This method is only effective if you have significant offensive
weapons and abilities.

The second choice is to get him down to around 50% HP (if you wait any longer
he is sure to Renew).  Before the King Bomb starts to cast Renew (not after)
let loose a fully charged Quickening.  You're going to need at least a seven
or eight chain of mostly level 2 and 3 Quickenings in order to dish out the
20000 damage or so you will need.

The last thing to point out is that since this is an optional boss, unlike
scripted bosses, you can run away like any other normal foe.  It's certainly a
better option that seeing the game over screen if you know that you can't win.

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With the King Bomb defeated, head directly north to reach the Nabreus
Deadlands.  I would advise you of the difficulty of the enemies you will face
in this area.  Not to be taken lightly, especially if you are attempting this
during the course of the game where you have only reached The Salikawood.

Descend the winding path to reach the Vale of Lingering Sorrow, then take the
northeast exit from there to Echoes of the Past.  Continue north when possible
to reach The Slumberland.  The northeastern exit from here will lead to what
you may think is a Save Crystal, but is in fact a powerful foe.

Take the north exit to the Lifeless Strand and make a left.  When you can no
longer head west, go north and follow this path east to reach the exit.  You
will likely pull a lot of aggro here so hopefully your defense is good. 

We have finally arrived in the Field of the Fallen Lord and have almost
reached our destination.  The field is even more dangerous than previous areas
to make sure you go out of your way to avoid pulling enemies.  Take the
southeast exit to reach the Necrohol of Nabudis. 

Those who have come here exclusively for the Zodiac Spear (presumably at a
relatively low level compared to these enemies) read on.  Those who are here
at a more appropriate level with the intent of battling the bosses, skip ahead
to the dashed line below.  The section below the dashed line will also cover
the acquisition of the Zodiac Spear as well.

Make an immediate right when you get inside and follow the path down to a
fork.  Go south at the fork, then make a left (east) into the circular room. 
Now run southeast and take the east path, ignoring the room to the south.

When the main path turns south, follow it and make an immediate right (west)
to reach the staircase here.  Since you have just changed zones and no longer
have aggro (assuming you've been running), take a moment to heal your
characters now (and it couldn't hurt to cast Protect / Shell either).

This next area takes a number of twists and turns, so if you're sprinting,
you're much better off following your map than trying to interpret a bunch of
textual turns that I give you.  Ignore the flashing orange (locked) door on
your map and keep running south to the next transition.

We're almost there.  Leave this room (carefully) and turn south,  You should
be able to avoid pulling any enemies for a decent ways right now.  As you head
west, inevitably you won't be able to get past some of them.  Now, here's what
you do: keep running west until you reach a fork in the path (not a fork as
in, path one way and dead-end room the other, I mean fork as in the main path
splits).

At this fork, go north and then immediately left (west) into the first room. 
If all goes well you will lose aggro when you enter and the enemies will run
back.  This is the infamous treasure room.  Take off the Diamond Armlet if
it's equipped, and you want the Zodiac Spear.

If you successfully met the conditions for getting the Zodiac Spear, facing
the camera north, let's label the chests 1 - 4 across the bottom (X axis) row
and 1 - 4 upwards from the bottom left chest to the top left chest (Y axis). 
The Zodiac Spear is in chest (4,2) using the (x,y) system (over four, up two). 
One of the two closest chests to the room's entrance.

The reason I tell you exactly which chest has the spear is so you don't open
the others.  They will only have Knot of Rust as a default, but if you have
the Diamond Armlet, they will all contain Dark Matter (a much better item). 
If you don't have the armlet, leave the chests and come back later (since they
don't respawn).

If you got the spear, congratulations!  Now the trip back out is just as
dangerous, if not more so, than the trip inside. 



Incomplete, more coming before too long.