Final Fantasy 4 Walkthrough with Dagger

[Dagger Dias]

Time to leave the Tower of Bab-il. Unfortunately we say goodbye to another party member during the process. Their replacement, who also happens to be your fourth permanent party member, soon joins though.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]BQhOvPsF268[/YOUTUBE]

After defeating the doctor you get a Tower Key. Take this back to the long stairway and unlock the door. Unequip Yang before going inside, this is his last battle in your party. Inside are some monsters who are about to shoot the dwarves. The party attacks them before they can use their Super Cannon.


BATTLE: Dark Imp (3)

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

DIFFICULTY: Very Easy

This is the easiest boss in the game, if it can even be called a boss. Dark Imps have been random encounters during your entire time underground. If you somehow lose during this fight, something is very wrong. The ironic thing is Yang's first fight was against Imp Captains, so his last fight is against a very similar enemy. I like to have everyone else defend and let Yang fight his last fight with us earning the victory all by himself.


Yang kicks everyone else out of the room once you defeat the imps. He tries to destroy the cannon and the party thinks he is dead. Don't worry, he comes back in a non-playable role later. Unfortunately he will never be playable again unless you are playing the GBA version. The climb down to the first floor gets a little tougher without Yang. Hopefully you kept his claws. Yang's replacement can use them and they come in handy during a boss fight later on. On the first floor Golbez destroys the stairway and you fall out, but Cid flies in to save you on his airship. An enemy airship follows you, although Cid is able to lose them by jumping out and detonating a bomb to close the hole you used to reach the underground. He had told you to go to Baron, do so.

In Baron you'll need to speak to Cid's mechanics. To reach them go right in the main hall and follow the path outdoors, they are wearing blue. They attatch a hook to the airship. Now go fly to My Hobs to pick up the Hovercraft. Literally. You can use the hook to fly it to Eblan. That is your next destination although the game really never tells you. Eblan is south of Toroia. You can enter the castle which is optional, but I recommend you wait until you have your next party member. He will need the experience you get from going there anyway. Fly on the shallows to the Eblan Cave.


CAVE OF EBLAN
Party: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

You get your fourth permanent party member here and the path to reach him is actually very straightforward. Ignore the chests and any exploration for now. He joins on a low level so he desperately needs the experience you gain from fully exploring this place. I'll skip up to where he joins and then we will do the full exploration. You'll find a ninja fighting Rubicant of fire, he loses.


BATTLE: Rubicant

PARTY: Edge

DIFFICULTY: N/a

Edge loses this no matter what you do, it is scripted. Look how low his HP count is. He joins on a really low level....


Meet your new party member, Edge. Rosa heals him and he hits on Rydia before joining. The two like each other. He will be in your party for the rest of the game.


PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER 4 of 5: Edge

CHARACTER CLASS: Ninja

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Katana, Boomerang, Shuriken (Thrown only)

COMMANDS: Fight, Dart, Sneak, Ninja, Item

Edge is an awesome character. He is the second best fighter type losing only to Kain in usefulness. Edge can throw items at the enemy. You lose a thrown item forever. I guess the game wants you to think it shatters once thrown, or something. Shurikens and Ninja Stars can be thrown and are only useable this way but do a ton of damage. He can also steal using the Sneak command but it is almost 100% useless, I never bother with it. Edge has some Ninja magic exclusive to him. It's weaker than Rydia's, but can be useful sometimes. He is a good attacker. Edge can attack from the rear row using Boomerangs or in the front line with Katanas. He has awful defense for a fighter but his offensive capabilities make up for that. Rosa will be busy healing him for the remainder of the game, but he's worth it. Edge also has the coolest graphic out of anyone in the game.


As I already stated a couple of times, Edge joins on a very low level if you have been following my advice on when to level up. He has a TON of catching up to do. Out of all of the leveling sprees I go on in this game, this is probably the one that takes the longest. It would benefit you to catch Edge up, otherwise he does not stand much of a chance at staying alive in the next event. I recommend exploring the Eblan Cave as well as Eblan's castle. There's a Namingway in the "town" area of the cave, or you can just fly to any previous town after casting Exit to get out of here. You'll want to do that so you can go back in and explore the cave from the start, unless you already did that without Edge.

Next time we will explore the rest of this cave as well as Eblan's castle.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Time for an optional quest, exploration of Eblan's Castle. We'll also get all the items that were skipped last time in the Eblan Cave.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]dV3W64-lQYk[/YOUTUBE]

Go to the right and down into the right tower upon entering the castle of Eblan. Go through the wall in the top left corner. Follow this path to reach the chest on the left that seemed to be blocked off, it has 600GP. Go back through the wall and up the stairs. Flip the switch to open the door. You can go down one line below where the stairs are so it's not blocked off although it seems like it might be. Items in here include a Cabin in the right chest, an Ether1 and a Cute2 in the left chests, as well as a Life potion in a jar. A path to the right of the jars goes into the wall which you can use to get the chest that seemed to be impossible to reach due to the hole. Monsters are in the chest.


BATTLE: BlackCat (2), Lamia

PARTY: Depends on when you do this sidequest

DIFFICULTY: Easy to Medium (depends on when you do this sidequest)

If you did this way back when you got the airship, this fight might give you a little trouble. If you waited until you got Edge then it's pretty easy. Have Rydia summon or cast an advanced spell on them while everyone else but Rosa attacks.



You get a Drain Lance from the fight. Now jump downstairs. The hole led you to the other chest that seemed to be blocked off. It has 800GP. Now you're in the basement. These chests have two Ether1 potions, and monsters in the one on the right. Do not open it unless you are fully healed! Edge (or Yang if he was still in the party) should be equipped with the Charm Claw and Cat Claw. Cecil should have the Ogre Axe (if you have it, chances are you don't yet) heal everyone to full health before opening it.


BATTLE: Mad Ogre (3)

PARTY: Depends on when you do this side quest

DIFFICULTY: Medium to Hard (Depends on when you do this side quest)

These guys will probably kill you if you did this side quest early. If you waited like I recommended you did then have Edge equipped with the Charm Claw and Cat Claw attacking them. Cecil should also attack. Kain should Jump. Rosa MUST be ready to heal or revive as needed. Rydia should summon Titan. The Mad Ogres hit hard so kill them as quickly as you can.


You get an Elixir from that fight. Follow the path to be outside of the castle. You're not done yet. There's still the left tower and the main hall. Go back inside. Head upstairs from inside the left tower. There is a Cure2 in a jar, and a second inside a jar that seemed blocked off. Go through the hole in the wall in the empty space in between two other jars to get to it. You can further follow this path to get to the two chests that seemed blocked off. They have Mute Arrows and 2000GP in them. There is what seems like a little path leading to a wall on the left side of the room, go through that wall to see a hidden path to one of the "blocked off" chests downstairs. Open it for an Ether1 potion. Go back downstairs and head right through a hole in the wall one space above the door to the outside. Follow it to a chest that has more monsters.


BATTLE: StaleMan, Skull (4)

PARTY: Depends on when you do this event

DIFFICULTY: Easy to Medium (depends on when you do this event)

These guys aren't so bad. Use the same strategy you had against the Black Cat and Lamia party. Nothing to really watch out for unless you did this event too early then they might give you a little more difficulty. In that case have everyone attack. The StaleMan is weak against Ice so Edge (or Yang if you have him) can be equipped with the Ice Claws to be more effective.


That fight gave you a Slumber Sword for Cecil. Return outside and now go in the main hall. Ignore the wall that seems to block a chest to your right. Walk through it to get a Cure2 potion. In the throne room upstairs go through the wall to find a path leading downstairs on the left. This was the set of chests on the left side that seemed blocked off. They have a Heal potion and Cure2 potion. Do the same to the right of the throne. The chests in the room it leads to have a Cure2 potion, Life potion, and a Cabin. The Cabin was in one that looked like you couldn't get to it. Walk through the wall one space to the right of the other chests.

That's all you can do here. Now for the items found in the Cave of Eblan....

The hidden path from the entrance to the right leads to a Shuriken and a Heal potion. The chest in the lower right corner of the first room has 1200GP. The next room has the townspeople in it. Sleep at the Inn if needed and go to the weapons and armor shop if you had not already. Buy Ice Armor and an Ice Shield for Kain. If for some reason you missed them in the Tower of Bab-il, buy a Blizzard Spear for Kain and an Icebrand Sword for Cecil. Rosa can get a Power Staff here if you do not want her using arrows, go ahead and buy that. Edge can fight from the rear row using Boomerangs, buy him two of those. They do the same damage as the katanas he comes with and he will take less damage in the back row. Unlike the katanas fighting in the back row will not decrease the damage a boomerang does. There is a Namingway in the room where people are resting, if you would like to rename anyone (looking at you, Edge!) at the moment. Go upstairs when you are ready.

Grab the Ether1 potion and the Tent along the path. South of the Tent chest is a "hidden" path leading to a Cure2 potion. Head to the next room. There is a Cure3 potion in the upper right corner of the room. A "hidden" path just before the stairs has a Shuriken. This next room has a lot of items and they are all easy to grab. 2 Cure2 potions, a Cabin right by the door. Follow a "hidden" path to get two Elixirs. Now follow the path and go left for 1650GP and two Life potions. The next room has a Life potion in it and an Ether2 potion by where Edge joined. Don't forget the door to the south leading to a save point. Use a Cabin there and save. There is a chest to the right of the save point you can get to through a "hidden" path. It has monsters but they are easy compared to the ones from Eblan Castle. Use a similar strategy. It gives you a Drain Sword which you can give to Cecil. Kain can use it but he can also use the Drain Lance which is stronger. You'll now have fully explored this cave and if you fought every fight along the way you should be ready for the Tower that follows. Edge should have broken 1000 health if possible, I recommend you level up if he has not.

Next time we go up into the tower and fight the fourth elemental fiend, Rubicant of Fire.

 

[Dagger Dias]

At this time we return to the Tower of Bab-il through the secondary entrance and fight Rubicant the elemental fiend of Fire.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]ao_TPyYcFZc[/YOUTUBE]

TOWER OF BAB-IL (OTHER SIDE)
PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

Climb up the long stairway and Edge will show you how to get inside. The monsters in here are tough if you have not been leveling up. Edge needs to be in the rear row fighting with two Boomerangs. Even if you got him up to 1000+ HP, he will still struggle a bit here. His defense sucks for a fighter. There's a Cure3 potion right by the entrance. An additional Cure3 potion is by the door to the next room. The chest in the next room has monsters in it, heal up before opening it.


BATTLE: Mad Ogre (4)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Yeah, these guys again. This time there's 4 of them. Cecil should also attack. Kain should Jump. Rosa MUST be ready to heal or revive as needed. Rydia should summon Titan. Have Edge defend, attack from the rear row with Boomerangs, or throw Shurikens. The Mad Ogres hit hard so kill them as quickly as you can.


You get an Ogre Axe when you win. Give it to Cecil. The chest in the following room has 2000GP. Proceed to the next room and grab the Middle Katana for Edge. Keep his Boomerangs equipped for now, but he will soon need that katana. The room after that has a teleporter that you are unable to comprehend how to use. It looks just like the one Rubicant used in the room where you fought the doctor. Clearly this is how Rubicant moved between the two sides of the tower. Too bad you can't use it. The first door contains a save point. SAVE! A hard boss fight is coming. Use a Cabin too to restore while you're over there. Now go upstairs through the other door. Go over to the left first, do not cross the bridge. There is a chest with 82,000GP. Be sure to grab that, the next town has expensive equipment. NOW go cross the bridge. You find Edge's parents, but they are mutated!


BOSS BATTLE: K Eblan, Q Eblan

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is somewhat scripted. Just have everyone attack except for Rosa who should heal just in case they do too much damage to you. Eventually they die on their own, although it is possible to kill them yourself.


Rubicant shows up and claims the doctor was the one who mutated Edge's parents. Edge becomes infuriated learning Blitz and Flood in the process. At this point you gain control over your party again, it is HIGHLY recommended that you go SAVE before speaking to Rubicant again. This fight is hard and you don't want to have to sit through the fight with Edge's parents again if you lose. Equip Cecil with his Icebrand Sword and Kain with his Blizzard Spear. This will help A LOT. If you had gotten rid of them, go all the way back to the Eblan townspeople to buy new ones. It's worth it. Did you save? Ok, now let's go fight Rubicant. Oddly enough he likes to have a fair fight, he restores you to full HP and MP before the fight begins.


BOSS BATTLE: Rubicant

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Hard

Rubicant is by far the most difficult elemental battle. The awesome music plays again here like with the three other elementals. He is weak against Ice, being the fire fiend. Kain should Jump for massive damage. Have Rosa cast Bersk on Cecil (provided he has the Icebrand Sword equipped) and be prepared to heal every single round after that. Edge should throw Shurikens from the back row. Rydia should cast Ice-3. Rubicant's worst attack is Glare which is strong enough to kill even Kain or Cecil in one hit. When his cloak is open he is a lot weaker, that is when you relentlessly attack and cast Ice-3 on him. If this fight is giving you a hard time, level up in the tower.


Rubicant dies after the fight, turns into a fireball and fades away. Soldiers from Eblan show up to help Edge but you had already won the fight. Edge tells them he wants to fight Golbez instead of help rebuild the castle. They leave. That little scene is rather pointless. Anyway, go through the door to find the crystals. You fall through a hole before you can grab any of them though. Now you're in the underground. A Cure2 potion is right above where you fell. Another Cure2 potion is at the top of the long stairway in the next room. Now go into the door on the left and you find.... an airship!? Edge names it The Falcon and flies you out. Fly to the Dwarven Castle.

That will be it for today. A familiar face returns next time and a couple of side quests become available.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Side quest time. We'll go to the Cave of Summoned Monsters.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]STTgRFaT6JQ[/YOUTUBE]

You landed at the Dwarven Castle in the Falcon which Edge had flown out of the tower, but it cannot fly over the magma. Speak to the king. He gives you the Luca Key, it is what opens up the Sealed Gate which is where the final crystal is. Do NOT go there yet though. It is the most difficult event in the game and you will want to go through a couple of side quests available at this time first. Head to the nursing room and Cid will be in there complaining about the dwarves' food. He offers to modify the airship for you and makes the two red dwarves help him when they try to stop him from resting. A silly little scene plays out with Cid, Edge, and the two red dwarves working on the airship. One of the dwarves stands on a space off of the bridge at the end, must be a glitch they never fixed.

Now you can fly over the magma! A few places are now available to explore that were not before. The Sylvan Cave is to the upper left corner of the underworld map, but save that for later. The Sealed Gate to the lower left region, save it for later as well. There is a town near there called Tomra full of purple dwarves and some new equipment you might want to buy. The home of a blacksmith is to the lower right corner of the map. Finally, the cave of summoned monsters is on an island west of the dwarven castle is. Just keep flying west until you find it. That is where you will want to go next. It's optional but has great rewards for those who wish to do it now.

If you want, you can head to the town of Tomra first for some supplies. This town is completely optional. First some items.... The house in the top left has 1440GP, a Cure2 potion, and a Cabin. There's two purple dwarves in there and one has the most pointless line in the entire game. "I'm a farmer". Wow. How groundbreaking and important. Now go to the armor shop. The Diamond gear (Shield, Armor, Helmet, Gauntlets) is available here. Buy two of all of the above. One for Cecil and one for Kain. It's VERY expensive but you will need it whether you are completing the two side quests in this part of the game or going to the Sealed Gate. You won't regret it. If you are low on money, go gain some levels and then you should have more GP to spend on these items. After you're finished here, go to the Cave of Summoned monsters.


CAVE OF SUMMONED MONSTERS - OPTIONAL
Party: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

This is a fun event. Rosa will need to cast Float on the party each time you are in a new room. There are red spots on the floor that damage you if you walk over them, I think it's supposed to be lava or something. Float also helps you if you encounter Arachnids who like to cast Quake. Most of the enemies here are no major threat, you'll want to fight all of the encounters you run into though for the experience.

There is a chest with a Life potion north of the entrance. A hidden path left of that takes you to a chest with an Ether1 potion. South of where the Life potion was is a Cure2 potion. Go left and down the stairs. Remember to have Rosa re-cast Float each time you go up or down a set of stairs. To the right of the stairs is a Cure2 potion. North of the stairs is a Cabin surrounded by a ton of the red spots. Along the path in the next room is a Life potion. To the right of that is a Cure3 potion.

Use the hidden path to the right of that chest and go down, to the left. That path leads you to three chests that seemed to be blocked off. They have a Cure2 potion, a Ninja Katana for Edge, and a Poison Axe. Give the axe to Kain but he will have to lose his shield, it is a two handed weapon. Edge will be able to fight in the front line now that he has stronger weapons. Keep him in the back row equipped with the boomerangs though if you still feel he is taking too much damage. Return through the hidden path but go north when you reach the fork. It leads you to a chest surrounded by a ton of red spots and it has monsters in it so heal up then open it.


BATTLE: Warrior (5)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This isn't bad. They have a lot of health but as long as Rosa keeps healing everyone you will be fine. Kain should Jump, Cecil and Edge should attack. Rydia should summon or cast advanced spells. The fight will be over before you know it.



You get a Defense Sword when you win, give that to Cecil. It boosts his attack by a lot more than the Icebrand Sword or the Ogre Axe. That's the end of the cave and the warp tile you'll end up at takes you to the town where summoned monsters live. This is where Rydia was while she was away from the party. Does Rosa know Wall? If she does not, gain levels until she does. You'll need it during the next boss fight.

That's it for tonight. Next time we explore the town and get two summons for Rydia.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Rydia gets a couple of new summons and the town of summoned monsters gets explored.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]bOVmx7cUGj4[/YOUTUBE]

Town of Summoned Monsters
PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

This place is so cool. There's something about towns of friendly monsters, no matter what game they are always enjoyable events. Feel free to talk to anyone here without fear of being attacked (unless you talk to either of the individuals in the basement of the library, save them for last!). Just to the left of the warp tile that led you to this town is an Ether1 potion and 2000GP. Step on the warp tile to the right of those chests, then step on it again after you have warped, but immediately walk down. This is how you reach the chest with the Rat Tail in it. While it seems to have no use now, this ends up being very important during an optional quest later to get a powerful sword. Step on the warp tile, warp back, and this time immediately go up. Now go to the right. There's a chest with another 2000GP and one south of that with 3000GP.

See the tile that looks just a tiny bit different than the rest of the floor a few steps north of where you got the 3000GP? Go stand on that. You'll end up in a room with 4 treasure chests! They have Samurai Arrows, an Elixir, an Ether2 potion, and a Samurai Bow. Give the Samurai Bow and Samurai Arrows to Rosa, unless you prefer to have her equipped with a Staff as they never run out of uses. Do NOT step on the tile at the southernmost spot in this room, it makes you warp out to the world map again and there's still more to do here. Unless for some reason you want to go through the cave to reach the town again.... Return to the warp tile that was in the way of you grabbing the Rat Tail and use it, this time stay in the area it warps you to.

South of the warp tile is an armor shop run by a bomb monster. He sells Aegis Shields and Light Robes. You might want to sell any items you no longer need to clear up room if you have too many for "sort" to fix the lack of space problem. Rosa can be equipped with the Light Robe and Cecil as well as Kain can replace their Diamond Shield with an Aegis Shield. There is a weapon shop to the left of the armor shop. The main thing you'd want to buy there is a Blitz Whip for Rydia. You're done shopping now. The item shop at the north end of the map has an Inn in it too. This is where you'll be resting if you level up around the entrance to town. Rosa is going to need Wall before you begin the boss fight in town. A house to the left of the inn/item shop has a save point in it (random!) as well as chests with a Heal potion and Life potion in them. This is where you'll be saving until this event is completed. I save in this house a lot during this time as a long leveling spree often takes place here. Wall is one of the last spells Rosa learns.

Has Rosa learned Wall? Ok, good. Head to the library, the building with the chocobo in front of it. There is a Namingway in there although I doubt anyone needs a name change if you've been picking permanent names for everyone. Go down into the basement. The old man says he is not the king. He actually is, you just have to earn the trust of the queen first. She attacks you. Boss time!


BOSS BATTLE: Asura

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Medium

As long as you know what you're doing, this fight is much easier than it may seem at first. Rosa needs to cast Wall on Asura immediately. Now if she tries to heal herself it will reflect and heal one of your characters. The spell that Asura uses that round depends on what face she is showing you. The red face uses Armor/Protect (Cure4 in the FF2 SNES version), the blue face uses Life1, and the face that looks human uses Cure3. Cecil and Edge should both be attacking. Kain should Jump. Rydia cannot cast spells without them being reflected, but she can still Summon so have her summon Titan or the Mist Dragon. Rosa needs to be healing and if the Wall wears off, cast it on Asura again. Repeat all of the above until you win.



There, that wasn't so bad, now was it? Rydia learns how to summon Asura. Go SAVE! If you talk to the old man, who turns out to be the king of summoned monsters Leviathan, a fight with him might start and if you are not ready it could end in a quick loss. Go back to the house with the save point in it and rest at the Inn if needed. Now go back to the library and speak to the king. He will see if you are worthy for forming a pact just like Asura did.


BOSS BATTLE: Leviathan

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This is a little tougher than Asura. He is weak against Thunder so Edge can cast Blitz instead of attacking if you'd prefer. Cecil should attack. Kain should Jump. Have Rydia casting Lit-3 every round. Rosa will need to be healing each round as usual. Leviathan can use a tidal wave attack on you, Rosa has to be ready to heal otherwise this can mean the end of the fight. As long as Rosa is able to heal in between the tidal waves, Rydia and your three fighters are able to take care of the rest.



Afterwards Rydia learns how to summon Leviathan. This comes in EXTREMELY handy during the Sealed Gate quest, which is quite honestly the hardest in the game. You're done here. Return to that room that had the 4 chests that you got to by stepping on the different looking tile. Walk south to the different looking tile in that room and it warps you out to the world map. One sidequest down, one to go! Both are helpful before the Sealed Gate so I recommend doing the next one now as well.

Next time we will be going to the Sylvan Cave.

 

[newwaveknight]

Dagger Dias, I know you're a big fan of Cloud. I'm real happy for you, and I'mma let you finish, but Cecil Harvey was the best Final Fantasy protagonist of all time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Dagger Dias, I know you're a big fan of Cloud. I'm real happy for you, and I'mma let you finish, but Cecil Harvey was the best Final Fantasy protagonist of all time.

I wouldn't call him the very best.... I have to give that to Cloud. Cecil ranks very high on the list though. Here is how I rank the protagonists of each game from the best hero to the worst. I based it mainly off character development and heroic actions.

1. Cloud (FF7)
2. Cecil (FF4)
3. Lightning (FF13)
4. Zidane (FF9)
5. Terra (FF6)
6. Tidus (FFX)
7. Squall (FF8)
8. Serah (FF13-2)
9. Yuna (FFX-2)
10. Vaan (FF12)
11. Firion (FF2)
12. Bartz (FF5)
13. Luneth (FF3)
14. Fighter (FF1 - My favorite class but none of them have backstories so any of the 6 can be listed here)

Cecil's changes throughtout the game, especially after he becomes a Paladin, played a part in it. He had a ton of character development. I don't think Cloud can ever be topped though. He is an iconic legendary character, there is a reason he became the standard every RPG hero after him has tried to live up to. Very few have, and none come from a Final Fantasy game.

Next update should be up soon. Oddly enough, this is where the original version of this thread from 3 years ago left off. I plan on finishing this one though. I got busy with wedding planning, finishing school, and then just forgot about it. I have some more side quests, two more monster lairs, the final palace on the moon, and then an analysis on the events exclusive to the GBA version. We are near the end.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This sidequest is the Slyvan Cave. To find it fly to the upper left corner of the underworld map.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]NXs7oeSps7I[/YOUTUBE]

SYLVAN CAVE
PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

There's no boss here, but the enemies encountered are tougher and it has far more damage floor spaces than the Cave to the Summoned Monsters did. Make sure Rosa casts Float on everyone each time you go up/down a staircase. There are blue spots on the floor that damage you if you walk over them. I believe it is supposed to be acid or something since this place resembles a swamp in newer versions. The worst monster in here by far is the Molbol (Malboro in newer versions) he can use a Breath attack to inflict every single negative status effect on you at once. Have Rosa or Cecil cast Heal immediately on the victim once this happens. Another annoying one is the ToadLady. She has TinyToads who fight with her that cast Toad on you. Rydia can reverse this by casting Toad again on the victim, or have Cecil/Rosa cast Heal. If all three are inflicted then have someone use a Heal potion.

Go to the right from the entrance to find chests with a Cure2 and Charm Arrows. There is another chest but you need to use a hidden path to reach it. Go downstairs. There is a fork in the road here. Take the souther path first. When you go up the stairs there is a Save Point there, for some reason, to your right. Above the save point is a hidden path leading to the third chest from the first room, it has an Elven Bow. To the left of the save point is the stairway to the next room but go above that first for 1000GP and a Cabin. Now go downstairs. There is a bit of a fork here. Go all the way to the top of the room and through the hidden path to grab a chest guarded by monsters.


BATTLE: ToadLady, TonyToad (6)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Easy

Not difficult at all, just incredibly annoying. Have Rydia cast Toad or have Rosa/Cecil cast Heal on any victims of the Toad spell. That's all you really have to watch out for. Otherwise it is an easy win.


You get a Mute Knife after the fight. Now go back to the stairway leading upstairs. The 5 chests up there give you a Cure2 potion, an Ether1 potion, Lit Arrows, Ice Arrows, and Fire Arrows. Return to the room you were in before that and go down the stairs by where the hidden path to the Mute Knife was. Go left for an Elixir. There's a house down here! And it has floating creatures living in it. These are the Sylphs. Yang is in there resting in a bed. Talk to Yang, although he does not respond. It is important for another side quest later that you try to talk to him. Also grab the Cat Claw and Poison Claw from the chests. Then take the stairs and you will be warped to the world map.

You aren't done yet. Sell some items if your inventory is getting too full. You can do that in Tomra, the Dwarven Castle, or in the town of Summoned Monsters if for whatever reason you decided to go all the way back there. Fly to the Dwarven Castle to restore your HP/MP and then head right back. There's still a whole other half of the cave you didn't explore yet. Remember that first fork in the road in the second room? This time go downstairs in the path above you. There's a Cure2 potion and a Heal potion above you in the next room and if you take the hidden path you can also get a Charm Rod. Take the hidden path by the stairs you entered this room with, the right path within that path takes you to the stairs into the next room. There's a TON of damage tiles in here. Four chests along the way give you a Cure2 potion, Heal potion, and 5000GP. There's 5 more at the bottom of the screen that give you a Cure2 potion, a Cure3 potion, 2 Heal potions, and an Ether1 potion. Jump down the hole. Now follow the path to the warp tile.

This is the last room of the cave. Every single space in here is a damage tile though so Rosa must cast Float in here if you have been neglecting to do so in the other rooms. Each chest in here unfortunately is guarded by monsters. You get some nice items from it though so I recommend fighting them even though you don't have to. Begin with the chest to the upper left.


BATTLE: Ghost (6)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Easy

They are very weak against Ice so have Rydia cast Ice-3 or summon the Mist Dragon. You could also just have everyone attack. They are not tough at all.


You get an Elixir for fighting them. Next is the chest in the bottom left.


BATTLE: Molbol (2), Dark Tree (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Very frustrating. Defeat the Molbols as quickly as possible!!!! If they use Breath on anyone, have Cecil/Rosa cast Heal on the victim or have someone use a Heal potion if both Cecil and Rosa are inflicted. This skill inflicts every single negative status on you. It is SO annoying. Once the Molbols are gone the Dark Trees are easily taken care of. Do not hold back on them, you want to win this fight quickly.


It was worth it. You won Edge's Full Moon Boomerang. This is a great weapon, equip Edge with it after the fight. The upper middle chest has 6 more ghosts, defeat them to win another Elixir. The lower middle chest has more monsters.


BATTLE: Molbol (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This requires a strategy identical to the previous fight, although there are no Dark Trees this time. You'll still want to defeat these guys quickly.


You win an Avenger Sword from defeating them. Cecil can equip it, but he does not need it. You get a much better sword soon. Keep it so Edge can Throw it against upcoming difficult bosses. Next is the lower right chest. Which has once again, more monsters.


BATTLE: Centpede (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Easy

Compared to the Molbols, these guys are an incredibly simple fight. Just have everyone attack with Rosa healing if needed. No major strategy is necessary here.


You win Medusa Arrows from that. The last chest is the upper right one and it has 6 more Ghosts guarding another Elixir. Grab that, step on the warp tile to the right and you're finally done with this place. Well, for now. You'll actually have to return here once more during ANOTHER side quest. That will have to wait for another day though. It's not available yet. You might want to heal up and go sell some items if your inventory is getting full.

That's all today. Next time we head into the most difficult monster lair in the entire game, the Sealed Gate!

 

[newwaveknight]

Damn, you're already to Edge being added to the party!

And that protagonist list is pretty similar to mine. I put Tidus higher than Terra and Zidane simply because he has more personality (to me) than Terra and he actually resolves his past. It's been a while since I played IX. But it seems to me that when Zidane found out he was a Genome, he was confused, sad, even angry, but then just dropped it all like, "Fuck it, YOLO bitches!"

...I'm totally paraphrasing that last part.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Damn, you're already to Edge being added to the party!

Yeah, it's near the end now. Even if you include all the side quests and the GBA content, you're more than 75% in by the time Edge is recruited. For those in a hurry to finish the game and skip each optional quest.... Only 3 monster lairs remain after he joins, including the final one. I do every single optional area in the game. It's more fun that way, you level up more, and being a completionist the game does not feel done if you skip the optional stuff. Some of those events are more fun than a good portion of the main quest too.

And that protagonist list is pretty similar to mine. I put Tidus higher than Terra and Zidane simply because he has more personality (to me) than Terra and he actually resolves his past. It's been a while since I played IX. But it seems to me that when Zidane found out he was a Genome, he was confused, sad, even angry, but then just dropped it all like, "Fuck it, YOLO bitches!"

...I'm totally paraphrasing that last part.

Zidane has more personality than both Terra or Tidus. He also resolves his past just as they do. There is a very emotional scene where Zidane goes from being in emo-mode to having his friends snap him out of it, reminding him that he is not alone in his destiny to save the world. At that point he embraces his role as the hero whereas before he was just a womanizing rogue with feelings for the princess.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This is the toughest monster lair in the whole game.... It is none other than the Sealed Gate. To get there you need to fly to Tomra (south of the Dwarven Castle if you still do not know where that is) and continue left until you see a cave surrounded by mountains. Enter the cave. Save first.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]Rg6V9IFNPx8[/YOUTUBE]

SEALED GATE
PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

With the exception of the Tower of Zot, nothing else even comes close to how tough this place is. I hope you have visited the town of Tomra for upgraded equipment, completed the two underworld sidequests (Cave of Summoned Monsters, Sylvan Cave), and been leveling up. Everyone should be approaching (preferably over, other than Rydia) 2000 HP by now. If you answered no to any of the above, then OH MY GOODNESS are you in for a difficult event. This is place is so hard it's not even funny. The main reason it's hard is due to the fake doors. Every single door in this temple is an imposter, a monster in disguise named Trap Door. It is also home to one of the very few bosses in this game that I rate at a "Very Hard" difficulty.

Upon entering you are blocked off by a door. You need Luca's Key which you should have gotten from the king of the dwarves. Holy energy shoots down a bolt of lightning and the door opens for you. It's a pretty cool animation considering this game is more than 20 years old. Now you can enter. That was the only door that is not a monster in disguise, all the others in here are. You have been warned. Honestly, you'll want to fight each and every single one of them. For the EXP you get in return. It's a pain, but totally worth it.

If you see ropes and walk parallel to one, you'll automatically climb down/up. If it goes nowhere, you automatically climb back the way you came. The random encounters aren't as bad as you may think at first, other than the Mantcore. These guys are horrible! Rosa MUST be ready to heal every round as he has a deadly Blaze ability that can defeat a low level party in one or two hits. Do not hold back against them. From the entrance go down and use the rope. There is a chest with a Life potion. Right next to that is a fake door and your very first fight with a Trap Door monster! It will be the first of many, get used to it, there's several.


BATTLE: Trap Door, Mantcore

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Hard

This is all about time. He will pick someone in the party and then instantly kill them in a few moments. Rosa will need to revive them. If she is the victim, use a Life potion to bring her back. Kain should Jump. Cecil should attack. Edge should attack or throw Shurikens. Rydia should use Leviathan if you have it, Titan if you do not. Rosa should be healing/reviving. If you do not defeat it fast enough, it turns into a Mantcore! These guys are awful. Rosa will have to be ready to heal because of the deadly Blaze attack they use. Don't hold back if the Mantcore shows up. It's possible to use Wall to reflect the Trap Door's instant death ability on it, although the timing has to be perfect and sometimes Rosa does not get her turn fast enough even on high levels. You get a ton of EXP for fighting these guys, so I recommend fighting them all.


The room behind the Trap Door has chests with a Long Katana for Edge and and an Ether1 potion. Continue to the left and fight the Trap Door. This one is not optional unlike the first one. Inside is a chest with a Cure2 potion. Next to that are 2 Trap Doors that each guard pointless empty rooms, fight them anyway for the experience. Grab the Ether1 on your way downstairs. Take the left rope down to get the Life potion and climb back up. Another Life potion is across the bridge. North of here is a long hall of Trap Doors waiting for you. You only have to fight the last one, but you get some nice items and a TON of exp if you fight them, so do that. The first guards a pointless empty room. The second guards a Light Sword. Give that to Cecil immediately. The third guards Ninja Stars, an Elixir, and 5000GP. The fourth guards another room with nothing. The fifth guards a save point. SAVE HERE! The sixth guards a Long Katana and a Ninja Helmet. The seventh and last guards the way to the next room.

Grab an Ether1 from the chest on the way. Downstairs are a Cure2 potion and a Life potion. There is another Trap Door in here that you do not have to fight (but you should) he guards a room with nothing in it. Go downstairs. Cross the bridge to the south and then head right. Don't go down the rope yet. There's a chest at the right edge of the cliff with a Life potion in it. To the left of that is another optional Trap Door fight. He guards another room with nothing. Don't you love those!? At least you have been getting a great amount of EXP from these fights. Now take the rope. To the right is yet another Trap Door. He guards a room with an Ether2 potion and Cure3 potion. Head to the left now and go downstairs. There is a save point here. SAVE NOW! The good news is, no more random encounters in the last couple of rooms. The bad news is that a boss who is hard as hell is coming. In the next room walk around the path and down the stairs, the ropes go nowhere. You'll cross a bridge and fight one last Trap Door.


BATTLE: Trap Door, Yellow D

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This is a little different than the other Trap Door fights. It starts out the same, but if you do not defeat him fast enough then instead of those dreaded Mantcores, a Yellow Dragon will show up. Do not underestimate him as he can still kill you if you let him, but he's nowhere near as dangerous. Go ahead and defeat him quickly though as he has some strong skills of his own.



Feel free to go back up to the save point to use a Cabin and Save one last time. There are no random encounters in this room or the one before it. Once you are ready, enter the crystal room. Grab the Crystal of Darkness, the final crystal of the game. Make certain that everyone is at full HP and full MP before you leave. When you try to cross the bridge again, you are attacked by one of the game's most difficult bosses, The Evil Wall!


BOSS BATTLE: Evil Wall

PARTY: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Very Hard

This boss is going to give you an extreme amount of difficulty, no matter what level you are on!!!! Hold nothing back and show no mercy. The "hurry" music is playing for a reason here. Time is not on your side in this fight. The Evil Wall moves closer to you at every turn. Once he reaches your party members he will instantly kill one each time he gets a turn and you CANNOT survive it. Once all 5 are dead, you lose. This is why I recommended you complete the Cave of Summoned Monsters and the Sylvan Cave before coming here AND why you needed to fight all of the Trap Doors. Cecil will have his Light Sword to exploit the weakness to holy. Edge will have better equipment to Throw as well as to attack with. Kain should Jump, as always. Rosa should cast Bersk on Cecil and then Holy/White if she knows it to attack. Rydia should Summon Leviathan if you have it or cast Nuke if you have it. Titan will suffice if you have neither. Kain should Jump. Pull out everything you possibly have in this fight, otherwise you run the risk of him reaching your party and instantly killing you one by one. You can do it. If you have trouble, level up. If you didn't complete the side quests or fight the Trap Doors, do so and then try fighting The Evil Wall again. While it's not THE hardest boss battle in the game, I rank it as the hardest of the required battles in the game. The only tougher fight in the game is an optional one.



Upon your epic victory in vanquishing that horrendous boss, you can leave the room. Make your way back to the entrance, but unequip Kain before you make it to the first room. He will be leaving the party in a shocking betrayal. Kain steals the crystal and returns to Golbez. The party members are all disappointed in him. Exit the Sealed Gate and you will certainly want to save unless for some reason you want to fight the Evil Wall again.

A couple of more side quests will open up as available to play through after this event ends. We'll pick up with a few of those next. That's all for tonight though.

 

[Wally Dangerously]

I downloaded FF IV today for the Wii and I'll be using your walkthrough as I go through it. Great job with this walkthrough; it brings back fond memories of this game.

In your last post, you mentioned how tough the Evil Wall is to defeat (and I totally agree), but you commented that it wasn't the most difficult boss battle and that the most difficult boss battle is optional. So...

Do you consider the fight against Odin to be the most difficult boss battle?

You can PM me the answer if you don't want to give anything away. Odin is the first to pop into my mind, but there's one other optional battle that I can think of that I'd also consider very hard.

Anyway, good thread. Keep up the good work!

 

[Dagger Dias]

I downloaded FF IV today for the Wii and I'll be using your walkthrough as I go through it. Great job with this walkthrough; it brings back fond memories of this game.

Hopefully I'll be done by the time you catch up to me. Editing the footage for the videos takes forever with deleting all the random encounters and making sure they are under 9 min each.... Due to that I will probably be doing screenshots in future walkthroughs. It's too time consuming to do videos.

In your last post, you mentioned how tough the Evil Wall is to defeat (and I totally agree), but you commented that it wasn't the most difficult boss battle and that the most difficult boss battle is optional. So...

Do you consider the fight against Odin to be the most difficult boss battle?

No. Odin is hard, but not very hard. There are only 5 battles in the entire game that I rank as very hard. The Three Sisters, The Evil Wall, The Elementals rematch, The Plague, and the Wyvern. You already know it's not any of the first three as they are required and I already stated that The Evil Wall is the toughest required boss. Click the spoiler tag to find out who I rank as bar none the toughest battle in FF4.

Spoiler

Wyvern is the toughest. This boss can use Meganuke at any given moment, you do not have 5 turns worth of warnings like you do with Bahamut. The fight is an absolute nightmare. Evil Wall and Plague are a close 2nd and 3rd due to time being your enemy in those fights.

The Elementals rematch with all 4 one after another is borderline hard and very hard, leaning toward very hard. It's horrible for those who are still on a low level, plus you can get permanently stuck in that event if you make the mistake of saving in there without being strong enough to clear the two boss battles. Even for a party in the 40-50 level range taking advantage of each elemental's weakness (Milon - Fire, Rubicant - Ice, Kainazzo - Lightning, Valvalis - Holy) it's still rather tough.

Hope to have another update up tonight. I've been trying to cut and edit video footage and all of these up until the Sealed Gate have been posted for 3 years or so, now that I have to finish the video creation it will slow down the last string of posts. They are coming though, it will all get done.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Time for few more side quests before we go to the moon.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]dY1mLDDVzNA[/YOUTUBE]

Before you can do anything else, upon exiting the Sealed Gate you have to return to the Dwarven Castle. You are stuck underground and cannot get out. Speak to the king and Cid will enter the room offering to attatch a drill to the Falcon airship. Another silly little scene plays out on the airship with Cid, Edge, Cecil, a blue dwarf, and two red dwarves working on the airship to modify it. Cid falls down at the end when they are finished and is taken to the nursing room. Now you have a drill to dig back up to the world map with!

This is entirely optional, but I recommend it so that Cecil can get an extremely powerful sword. It would be his best weapon other than one not available until the final event of the game. The first place you will want to go is to the other airship, it is most likely still around Eblan. Grab the hovercraft as well using the hook. Now fly to Silvera/Mithril which is north of Mt Ordeals. Use the hovercraft to reach the cave nearby.

If you have the Rat Tail from a chest in the town of Summoned Monsters then give it to the guy in the cave by Silver/Mithril. If you do not have it, see the section on the Cave to the Summoned Monsters side quest for info on how to get it. He gives you the Adamant Ore in return. Return to the underworld and fly to the lower right corner of that map. A tiny house icon is there that you might miss if not actually looking for it. A blacksmith lives here and he is upstairs in bed, give him the Adamant and Cecil's Legend Sword. It takes him roughly one event completion to modify the sword. If you do it now, it's ready when you receive the Lunar Whale. If you do it after you get the Lunar Whale but before meeting FoSoYA, it's ready after the Giant of Bab-il. If you wait until after the Giant of Bab-il you'll have to complete a sidequest in order for it to finish, otherwise I believe it will not be possible to get the sword. Do it now, it will come in VERY handy due to the weakness of an upcoming boss.

Return to the world map and go to Mysidia. The elder will greet you at the town entrance and he takes you to the tower of wishing. The elder and several mages wish for the Lunar Whale vehicle, which emerges from the water. You can now take it to go to the moon! Don't do that yet though. Head back down to the blacksmith in the underground. Your sword is ready! Excalibur is Cecil's second best weapon and it will skyrocket his attack at this point.

Are you up for another sidequest? Go to Fabul and speak to Yang's wife. Make sure you have been to the Sylvan Cave BEFORE the Sealed Gate AND spoken to Yang. His wife will give you a Frying Pan to hit him with for spending time with the Sylphs. Yang is unable to fight with you so the Sylphs teach Rydia how to summon them. It's not that useful of a summon, really. They drain some health from the enemy to heal you with but Asura heals more than they do. Now return to Yang's wife. She gives you the Spoon which is Edge's ultimate throwing weapon. It will do 9,999 damage NO MATTER WHAT. GUARANTEED. Save it for a difficult boss later, I will tell you exactly when to use it, so don't waste it. You only get one.

One last side quest before we go to the moon. This is actually in the next video, but I do all of these sidequest together so I will include it here. You'll need to return to Baron Castle. You can do this now, or you can wait until the end of the game. If you are on a high enough level you can do it now. Go to the right tower and down into the basement. The king will show up in spirit form and attack you, he is Odin!


BOSS BATTLE: Odin

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Hard

This is tough, unless you are on a VERY high level then I recommend you wait until the end of the game. I usually level up a lot and am able to get through this fight at this point in the game. You have to be fast. He will hold up his sword eventually, this is your warning. He is going to use an attack on you that most likely will kill everybody. It's powerful. Have Cecil attacking, Edge throwing Shurikens, Rosa casting While/Holy if she has it or attacking. Yes, even Rosa needs to attack. Time is your enemy in this fight like with the Evil Wall but your time runs out faster. Rydia needs to cast Lit-3 due to Odin's weakness. If he defeats you, wait until after the Giant of Bab-il event and return when you have the final party. You'll have a 5th character and a group who is on higher levels.



If you defeated Odin then Rydia will learn how to summon him. I never use Odin. I just do this event for completionist reasons. His skill either instantly kills enemy targets, or does nothing. Most end-game enemies are immune to instant kill abilities so it's really not worth wasting MP on. Stick to Leviathan until you learn Bahamut, which you will be able to soon.

Next time we head to the moon and get a new party member.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Time to go to the moon!

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]I4WBOAq5Tt0[/YOUTUBE]

The video begins with the Odin fight but since I already covered that in the last post, we move on to the moon.

So get onboard the Lunar Whale. There is a large chocobo in the back who can store your items for you if you have too many. I never bother using that, everything that I don't use either gets sold or thrown by Edge if not equipped. Above the large chocobo are futuristic beds you can sleep in for free to restore your HP/MP to maximum. Above that is the most important part of the ship, a crystal that makes you travel between the main planet and the moon. Inspect it to go to the moon, inspect it again to return to the main planet. To the left and right of the crystal are the exits. Finally, above the crystal is the wheel for if you want to fly but not travel between worlds.

Upon arriving at the moon, fly to the left a few spaces and down a few spaces. You should see a crystalized palace. That is where the final event takes place. You're not quite at the very end though. You can't get to the crystal palace this way though, you must land above one of the steps to the right of it and then go through a couple of tunnels. The path is fairly straightforward. Ignore the chests for now as there are monsters hiding in some and you will soon get a 5th party member who can assist you in the battles. If you encounter grenades have Rydia cast Lit-1 on them, it makes them detonate and it kills every enemy at the same time. The Red Worms hit hard and despite their appearance are actually weak against Fire. Once you reach the crystal palace save and enter. Go to the left and walk up to reach a tile where you can restore your HP. Inspect the tile just as you would do to open a chest and a very strange battle begins.


BATTLE: Red Giant (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is the strangest battle in the game. It has to be some type of glitch. Every other Red Giant uses a different skill set, these two do nothing but try to petrify you. Have Rosa healing and everyone else attacking for an easy win.



Now go to the right side and the tile there restores your MP! Go up into the center and you will meet FuSoYa! He joins the party offering to neutralize the shield surrounding the Tower of Bab-il. You can go into the back and speak with the crystals if you'd like. They tell you some interesting information regarding the game's story if you wish to read it. The tile in the middle is sealed right now, it is the entrance to the final temple. You'll be returning there shortly.


NEW CHARACTER: FuSoYa

CHARACTER CLASS: Lunarian

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Staff, Rod

COMMANDS: Fight, White, Black, Item

FuSoYa joins on a very high level and has access to every Black as well as every White spell in the game. His stats SUCK is the major downside. Honestly, he is the 2nd worst character in the game losing only to Tellah. Rosa and Rydia outclass him in White magic and Black magic so bad that he's simply pathetic in comparison. He makes a good backup healer or offensive caster, although I'm glad he's only in the party for a brief while.


That is where the video cuts off but since I ran into some technical issues with the Bahamut side quest video and have lost the footage sadly. I will include that event here in this post. This is always when I attempt that event anyway. If you would like to rename FuSoYa, now is your ONLY chance! Return to the Lunar Whale and fly to a cave surrounded by mountains. It is full of Namingways. One of them changes your names, one sells items, and the others either hum at you or say random things. Fly to a cave with a circular mountain around it. That's the Bahamut Cave.


BAHAMUT CAVE - OPTIONAL
PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

The enemies in here are not too bad for the most part. You will, however run into the real version of the Red Giant that you faced in the room you met FuSoYa in. See how they don't just sit there petrifying you like the supposedly glitched ones did? Be careful with them, they explode if taken too much damage. Head south of the entrance to grab the Samurai Gauntlets. The graphic for it when you equip it has the same graphic as any other gauntlet does, but for some reason in the textbox for when you receive them from opening the chest it looks like a strange grey version of Cid's mugshot. Head right of the entrance and look for a "hidden" path leading to the chest with a Samurai Shield. Give that to Cecil for now. Edge should be equipping the rest of the Samurai gear, with his low defense stat he desperately needs better gear. The armor and helmet can be found in the next room and the path is straightforward. You'll face not one, but THREE Behemoths on the way to Bahamut.



BATTLE: Behemoth

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: Hard

These guys are dangerous and the game forces you to fight 3 of them before Bahamut. Luckily it is one at a time and you can heal in between the fights. Behemoths counterattack if you attack them. So if you lose too much HP then simply stop attacking. He'll still attack, but at least you won't have to worry about the counters unless you hit him again. He is also strong against most spells. Be extra careful. I recommend leaving the cave to save upon defeating each Behemoth. You only have to face three of them and once one is defeated he is gone. The bad news is, they are random encounters in the final temple. So, get used to them. There's plenty more.



You'll make it to Bahamut who has a strange looking graphic in the field screen as well as a random boy and girl standing nearby. Speak to him and he tests you for worthiness of forming a pact to summon him.


BOSS BATTLE: Bahamut

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Bahamut is actually much easier than the Behemoths guarding him. Have Rosa and FuSoYa cast Wall one by one on every party member. Bahamut does a countdown resulting in a Meganuke attack on the whole party. The walls reflect it on to him for a ton of damage. Cecil and Edge should attack in the meantime while Rydia can summon Leviathan (or Titan if you do not have Leviathan). Repeat as necessary.


Rydia learns how to summon Bahamut, which is her best ability. Meteo takes longer to cast, costs more MP, and the two do similar amounts of damage. The animation for Bahamut's attack looks awesome too.

Next time we will go to the Giant of Bab-il. I have to work on the video footage for that as well as the final temple some so it might be a few days. It's coming though.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This time we go to the Giant of Bab-il, a difficult monster lair.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]y2yRhWR6ceI[/YOUTUBE]

Make sure you have renamed FuSoYa, attempted the Bahamut sidequest if you wish, and purchased any supplies you might need (a Namingway at the Hummingway cave sells items). If not do so NOW. I recommend leveling up until Rydia learns Meteo, which is around level 60. If you do so before moving forward then you will not only be ready for this event, but for the final palace as well as any side quest that remains. Level up in the Bahamut Cave until you are prepared. The Giant of Bab-il quest begins the moment you return to the main planet's map. Inspect the crystal in the middle of the Lunar Whale once you are ready. A massive robot appears and begins trying to destroy the world. Tanks and airships driven by allies such as the dwarf king, Yang, Cid, Edward, and elder of Mysidia are onboard the tanks or airships. You also find out that Palom and Porom have recovered from their petrification. Cid flies your party into the giant. That's right. You're going into the robot itself to battle its core.


GIANT OF BAB-IL
PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

The scenery looks a lot like the Tower of Bab-il, only with red tiles instead of blue. This place is tough. The worst part about this event is that it is possible to permanently get stuck here if you are not careful, As in you'd have to create an entirely new game file if you make any huge mistakes. No worries, I will point out later on the only major fatal error you can make that would cause that. Cecil equipped with the Excalibur and a party in the 60's will still have a bit of difficulty. The enemies are really not that bad for the most part.... The one you do want to watch out for is D-Machin. These guys are mean! Run away if you encounter one. It's not worth it. Cecil and Edge have to be in the front row while the three casters are in the back. The music that plays here is pretty cool. The chambers have been named after body regions (other than the randomly named "passage") to give you an idea of where exactly you are since the giant is humanoid in appearance.

Neither the first room nor the neck have anything relevant in them. Next is the chest. The chest right by the start of the chest has a Shuriken. Follow the path and grab the Cure2 potion and Ether1 potion along the way. There's a fork. Right goes to a chest with Samurai Arrows. Left leads to a chest with a Cabin as well as the tile that takes you to the next room. Now you're in the stomach. Go up for a Life potion. Return to where you entered the stomach and follow the path. The path to the right has a Life potion and then it ends, so take the left path after opening the chest. Proceed to the tile and you will be in the passage which is the only room in here not named after a body region. Follow the path until you reach a chest, it has a monster in it.


BATTLE: Last Arm

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: Easy

Even though he looks like the Alerts you faced in the Tower of Bab-il, he does not send constant helpers into the battle. Just use your best skills and be done with it, a Save Point is nearby. Last Arm is kind of a strange enemy and does not do anything particularly dangerous. I always unleash spells like White/Holy, Bahamut, etc on him.


You will win an Elixir after the fight. Follow the path until you reach the Save Point to the left. You might or might not run into a D-Machin in here, by the way. This is the only room I have ever encountered them and they might kill you even at a high level, just run! So, hopefully you have a couple of Cabins in your inventory. Use one at the Save Point.


*********WARNING!!!!*********
THE FOLLOWING PIECE OF ADVICE IS CRUCIAL IF YOU WISH TO NOT RUN THE RISK OF BEING STUCK IN THIS EVENT FOREVER AND HAVING TO BEGIN A BRAND NEW GAME FILE!

DO NOT SAVE YET!!!!!!!!!

Make sure that you have a save file spot available OTHER than the one you have been using. Save the game over THAT one. NOT the one you have been using!!!!! Unlike most monster lairs, you CANNOT leave until the event is completed. So if you saved over your game file but have no other saves, one of the upcoming bosses kills you, and you are unable to defeat them, guess what? You are stuck here forever. Don't want that, now do we....?

So.... use a Cabin, Save the game data over a separate file you no longer need, and then proceed onto the tile to the north. This is where the first boss battle in here takes place. Due to video footage issues, it's in a different video. I'll be posting it and the rest of this event's strategy in a moment.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Giant of Bab-il Part 2 of 2. This will be the boss fights.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]w1Yyn-SPEnY[/YOUTUBE]

Go north from the save point in the Passage and step on the tile. You'll be in the Lungs. Equip Edge with two Fire Claws before walking across the bridge. You'll see why in a moment. You did keep all of Yang's claws, right? The upcoming boss is the reason you needed to. Once you reach the middle of the bridge something unexpected happens. Rubicant of Fire shows up! He says he has learned how to join forces.... the other three elementals show up too! You'll have to battle them all again, one after another without stopping! Rubicant is nice enough to restore your HP and MP to maximum before the fight begins.


BOSS BATTLE: Elementals

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: Very Hard

Even a party at level 60+ might struggle with this fight. It's not as bad as the Evil Wall, but a significant amount of preparation is needed. If ever there was a fight in this game where the epic music fits, this is it. The same song you heard when fighting the elementals before plays again here. I had recommended you keep all of Yang's Claws. This is why.

Milon is first and he is weak against Fire. Edge should attack with the Fire Claws. Rydia should cast Fire-3, as should FuSoYa. Rosa should cast Bersk on Cecil, who will then be attacking relentlessly for the remainder of the fight. Rosa should then be ready to heal if needed. Milon is worse than he was on Mt Ordeals, but is the easiest of the four this time around. He can inflict the Curse status on you, Rosa or FuSoYa should cast Heal on the victim.

Next up is Rubicant. Have Edge switch from Fire Claws to Ice Claws as soon as he gets a turn. Go to the Item command and select the Ice Claws, move all the way up and his equipped gear should show up. Select the equipped weapon to replace it. Cecil is under Bersk status for the rest of the fight if you followed my advice, he just attacks again and again for thousands of damage. Rosa has to be ready to heal. Rubicant will use Fire-3 or Glare on the whole party as his main attacks. Glare isn't as big of a problem as last time but the fact that his spells are hitting all of you can cause problems. FuSoYa can be a backup healer or cast Ice-3. Rydia needs to cast Ice-3. The faster you eliminate Rubicant, the better!

Kainazzo is after him. Edge needs to switch to Thunder Claws now. Cecil is of course still under Bersk status. Rosa's importance as the healer remains as crucial as ever. FoSoYa and Rydia should cast Lit-3 on him for his weakness. FuSoYa might be running low on MP by now. Use Ether potions or an Elixir if needed. Kainazzo is the second easiest this time around, not quite as weak as he was the first time. He will soon fall and you will be down to the last of the four.

Last is Valvalis. She is MUCH harder this time! Edge should switch back to his Katanas now and throw Shurikens. Rosa AND FuSoYa need to be ready to heal. Valvalis can cast a deadly ability on you that reduces everyone to below 10 HP. Rosa or FuSoYa need to cast Cure4 immediately once that happens. Her weakness is Holy. Cecil under Berk status, equipped with the Excalibur, around level 60, can hit her for over 8,000+ damage. He is the real MVP here. Keep Cecil alive long enough and he will take care of her himself, but do not underestimate her. Valvalis is the worst of the four this time around, even tougher than Rubicant. Once she dies, it's over.


Once the battle ends each of them die one by one and the animations look cool. Milon has a grey cloud, Kainazzo has a water animation, Valvalis has what looks like an explosion, and Rubicant has a fireball animation. I highly recommend you go save, unless you want to do that fight again. I personally keep a save file here to allow a rematch whenever I wish. Some might want to never do that fight again, and I understand that, it's tough. I enjoy the challenge personally. Follow the advice from my last post and save over a file you aren't using. One more boss remains in here. Unequip FoSoYa before proceeding beyond where the elementals were. He will be leaving the party after the next boss. Go ahead and put him in the front row with Cecil and Edge too. Your next and final party member goes into whatever slot FuSoYa was in for the formation and he is a fighter type. In the core you find the CPU, it attacks you.


BOSS BATTLE: CPU, Attacker, Defender

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This is much easier than the elementals. The fight is going to be long though. The CPU has Wall so you cannot cast spells on it other than Rydia's Summons. The Defender will heal it for around 2,000 damage each turm so kill it first. The Attacker can attack you, but not for more than Rosa is able to negate by healing each round. FuSoYa should assist her in the healing. Do NOT defeat both of the nodes before the CPU itself. If it is left without either of its nodes the CPU will use an attack called Globe199 to instantly kill some of the party. Instead, kill the defender first. Cecil and Edge should keep attacking while the casters heal. Rydia cannot really do much until the CPU is close to dying. It has around 20,000 health so once 9,000 or less remain, feel free to cast Bahamut or Meteo. You run the risk of being hit by Globe199 if it kills the Attacker but not the CPU though.



After the fight Golbez shows up FuSoYa helps him regain his sanity. You find out the game's biggest spoiler here. Spoiler alert! Check the tags at your own risk.

Spoiler

Golbez is Cecil's older brother.

FuSoYa leaves with Golbez to return to the moon to defeat Zemus, who had Golbez under his control up until now. He is also the one responsible for Kain's betrayal. Speaking of Kain, he shows up to help you escape when the giant is no longer functioning. Edge is very suspicious of him, but Kain tells him to go ahead and kill him if he gets hypnotized again. The party all forgive him and he rejoins you.


PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER 5 of 5: Kain

You should already be familiar with his skills by now, considering this is his third run in the active party. Nothing changed other than that he gained a ton of levels (or as many as you did from the moment he left at the Sealed Gate) and he has no new abilities.


So you now have the final party. Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, and Kain. Oddly enough, it is a party lineup you have already had before. It's a good choice for a final party, really. None of the other characters playable in the GBA version (they come back at this point, by the way) are as powerful as the canonical final 5. The members of your active party will never change again, unless you count one in-battle cut-scene during the final palace or playing the GBA version. The only remaining event now is the last one if you have been following my advice on when to attempt the sidequests. Unless you are playing the GBA version of course. As I stated earlier, this is where a huge difference takes place. Cid, Yang, Palom, Porom, and Edward can be re-recruited at the tower in Mysidia.

Next time I will pick up with an analysis on the GBA exclusive events, and then we'll head to the moon for the final palace. It's going to take a while due to editing the videos, the final palace is very long. We are almost done.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Alright, I have talked about it numerous times in this walkthrough.... Here is where the big change finally takes place. If you are playing the GBA version you will be able to re-recruit Cid, Palom, Porom, Yang, and Edward in the tower in Mysidia as soon as Kain has rejoined after the Giant of Bab-il has been shut down. In any other version of the game you are restricted to the 5 canonical final party members. You were never able to change who was in the party so the fact that you could in this version was amazing. In the original SNES version Cid even asks you to take him with you but the game does not let you change who is playable.

When you try to change the party for the first time you will notice two things. The first is that you cannot remove Cecil from the active party. The second is that a brand new side quest has opened, it is a special quest exclusive only to the GBA version of the game. A cave opens behind a door at Mr Ordeals. In order to truly get the full enjoyment out of this event you should bring Cecil, Yang, Cid, Palom, and Porom. Replace Palom/Yang/Cid with Edward and bring him a second time through. Each of the optional characters has a boss fight meant just for them.


OPTIONAL CHARACTER: CID

Cid can be a good replacement for either Kain or Edge in the canonical final 5. He has the highest HP of anyone in the game and can equip better armor than any of the optional characters. He's nowhere near as useful as Kain or Edge though. I don't know why you'd want to replace Kain at all as he is the best fighter type. Edge's low defense stat could make some want to replace him although his Throwing far outweighs anything Cid can bring to the table in the end. If you want to bring him, replace Edge with him, unless you plan on bringing Yang too then you may need to leave Kain behind as well. The party should remain somewhat balanced as far as casters and fighters are concerned.



OPTIONAL CHARACTER: Yang

As cool as Yang was, he might not bring as much to the table in the end as you may think. Yang could be a replacement for Edge in the final lineup although Edge can equip Yang's claws and Throw is a lot more useful than Kick in the final event. Plus Yang's HP randomly caps in the 6,000 range. He remains fun to play as though. Edge and Yang in the same party can be interesting, but it is really better to have Cid or Kain in there instead for their higher defense and HP. He is useless in the back row and you do not want to have too many fighters in the same party. You'll need casters in the final event. He does make a worthy alternative for Edge if you want someone different and do not mind not having access to Throw.



OPTIONAL CHARACTER: Edward

Everyone hates on Edward. The truth is, he's the least useful of anyone available at this point in the game. He's better than both Tellah and FuSoYa but they are both gone for storyline reasons. Bring him only if you wish to have a challenge. Edward is better than people give him credit for and once you get a chance to finally level him up significantly, you'll see that he can manage to do some damage to enemies in the final event. Apollo's Harp makes him finally become a bit useful. Until you get it though he is useless. His Songs are as useless as ever though and he cannot cause as much damage as any of the other optional characters, let alone the canonical final 5. Replace Edge in the final party if you plan on bringing him, as you'd need Kain or the casters more. Unless you want a challenge it's honestly not worth it. He's better than he is given credit for, but he does suck compared to who else is available.



OPTIONAL CHARACTER: Palom

Palom is outclassed by Rydia but can replace her as the offensive caster if you wish. There is no point in bringing them both. You only need one offensive caster in the final event and too many casters risks you placing any of them in the front line where none of them stand a chance at survival against powerful monsters.



OPTIONAL CHARACTER: Porom

Porom is outclassed by Rosa but can replace her as the healer if you'd like. Do not bring them both though, for the same reason as you shouldn't have brought both Rydia and Palom. You need one offensive caster and one healer, that is it. You might as well replace Rosa and Rydia with the twins by bringing each of them. No point in separating them. While they aren't as skilled in their respective schools of magic as Rosa and Rydia are, they provide an alternative for those who want something different than the canonical final party members.



The new event is the Cave of Trials. Inside you encounter enemies from the other side quests such as The Sylvan Cave, the Cave of Summoned Monsters, and the Sealed Gate. It is the perfect place to get your alternative characters caught up to the canonical party members in terms of levels. You'll find some equipment in the chests in there that they will be able to equip. Give all of these items to the new characters as the equipment found in the final palace is meant for the canonical party members. The path is fairly straightforward and in the last room you will face bosses that guard the ultimate weapons of the alternative characters.


OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE: Gigas Worm

PARTY: Cecil, Edward, three others

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Have Edward hide once he gets his turn. Chances are he has not leveled up enough to be able to survive. The Gigas Worm counterattacks every time he is attacked and fighters do better in this fight than casters. Edge, Yang, Kain, or Cid can join Cecil in the front line to attack continuously. Rosa or Porom should be the 5th member of the team and have them ready to heal if anyone's health gets too low. You win Edward's ultimate weapon the Apollo Harp after the fight.



OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE: Death Mech

PARTY: Cecil, Cid, three others

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This guy really does not pose any major threats. Rosa or Porom need to be healing if anyone gets weak.... Other than that just have the rest of the party attack until you win. He's far less intimidating than he looks and has never given me any trouble. You win Cid's ultimate weapon the Thor Hammer after the battle ends.



OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE: Storm Dragon

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, three others

DIFFICULTY: Hard

This might be tough. The Storm Dragon can reduce everyone to single digits, just like Valvalis in your rematch against her in the Giant of Bab-il. He can also do heavy damage to everyone at once. Rosa and/or Porom must be ready to heal every round. Beyond that, just have your fighters fighting each round. I'd bring both Rosa and Porom in the back row for the most effective strategy. You win Yang's ultimate weapon the Hand Of the gods afterwards.



OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE: T-Rex

PARTY: Cecil, Porom, three others

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is the easiest of the bosses in the Cave of Trials. Porom should cast Float in case he decides to use Quake. Now just have Porom or Rosa healing if needed while your fighters attack. Very simple. Your prize is Porom's Seraphim Mace.



OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE: Master Flan, Black Flan (2), White Mousse (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, three others

DIFFICULTY: Hard

This is a pain! It is the hardest of the Cave of Trials bosses. Have Palom and/or Rydia casting spells on each of the slimes, but do it one by one. Don't kill them all or else Master Flan will bring them back to life. Master Flan casts Wall if you try to cast spells, so that is a waste of time. Master Flan uses some strong magic so have Rosa/Porom healing every round just in case. The fighters must be attacking the boss every round, as Palom cannot cast anything on the boss due to the Wall. It will be over eventually and defeating the boss will result in you getting Palom's Triton Knife which is his ultimate weapon.



That's it for tonight. Next time I might do some thoughts on the many different party combinations before we get into the final palace or the other GBA exclusive side quest which is the Lunar Ruins.

 

[Dagger Dias]

PREPARING FOR THE FINAL EVENT

Alright, at this point you should have completed every single sidequest and only the last event of the game remains. Before we go there, let's make sure you are fully prepared. If you are playing the GBA version you can pick a party and I'll assist you in creating one. If you're playing any other version you WILL be using the team of Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, and Edge. Regardless of which version you're playing, I'll speak a little about each character in order to help you know what you need to do before returning to the moon.


CECIL

Cecil will be in the party no matter what you do in any version. He'll need to be in the front line and it is highly recommended that he be equipped with the Excalibur Sword. One other legendary blade is available for him, but not until you defeat a ferocious optional boss (the hardest in the game, I might add) in the final palace. If you don't have Excalibur, refer to my strategy on the sidequest you complete in order to obtain it.


KAIN

Kain is highly recommended if you're playing on the GBA. He needs to be in the front line with Cecil. The equipment he comes with after rejoining in the Giant of Bab-il is fine. He gets a better spear after facing a tough optional boss in the final palace, though.



RYDIA

You'll need an offensive caster in your final lineup and Rydia is the better of the two who are available if you're playing on the GBA. Palom, of course is the other one. She needs the following spells in order to be ready: Asura, Sylph, Leviathan, Bahamut, and Meteo. She learns Meteo at level 60. The others are obtained by completing side quests. There are also some secret summons she can learn from VERY rare items left behind by their respective enemies. Imp, Bomb, Mage, and Coctric. None are that useful but for those who want to complete everything, add that to your list of things to do.



ROSA

You MUST bring a healer or else you stand no chance whatsoever. Rosa is the better of the two, Porom being the alternative if you are playing on the GBA. If she has learned White/Holy, Life2, and Cure4 then you're ready. Level her up if she is missing any of them. The 50-60 range should be fine.



EDGE

Edge should be in the front row with Cecil and Kain. He cannot withstand as much damage as them so have your healer prepared to be healing him a lot in the final event. To fully prepare Edge you'll need The Spoon. If you have not obtained it, refer to the section on how to get it. It is too late at this point if you haven't already gotten it. Also, visit the blacksmith after Kain has rejoined and speak to the purple dwarf behind the counter. Buy Ninja Stars. As many as you can possibly afford. Throwing those is what Edge needs to be doing against the bosses. Two bosses in the final palace guard his two ultimate weapons, so be on the lookout for those once you are there.



EDWARD

If you plan on bringing him in the GBA version, complete the Cave of Trials and make sure he is in the back row equipped with Apollo's Harp.



YANG

Make sure you have completed the Cave of Trials and equipped him with the Hand Of the gods. He should be in the front line if you bring him in the GBA version.



CID

Make sure you have completed the Cave of Trials and equipped him with Thor's Hammer. Put him in the front line if you plan on bringing him in the GBA version.



POROM

An alternative to Rosa in the GBA version. Make sure she has learned White/Holy, Life2, and Cure4 before proceeding if you want to bring her.



PALOM

An alternative to Rydia in the GBA version. He should be leveled up until he has learned Meteo if you want to bring him, by then he will be ready.




PARTY SELECTION
I plan on doing an analysis on how you should play any possible party combination in the GBA version, just for fun, but that can wait until after I have finished the walkthrough itself, I'll do that last. Here I'll just share some thoughts on my favorite and least favorite lineup choices. Find what works best for you. I recommend Cecil (since he must go), a healer (Rosa or Porom), an offensive caster (Rydia or Palom), a fighter who can withstand a lot of damage (Cid or Kain) and a third figher (Edge or Yang).



CECIL, ROSA, RYDIA, EDGE, KAIN
The canonical lineup, and it is honestly the most powerful party. Recommended, but many will want to try something different.


CECIL, ROSA, RYDIA, KAIN, YANG
This was the team used in the Tower of Bab-il. It works out very well and although Yang can't do as much damage as Edge's Throwing can, he can withstand more damage and this is a very fun team to play as.


CECIL, PALOM, POROM, KAIN, EDGE
A great alternative to the canonical team with the twins replacing the two main casters. Recommended for a try, but a little bit less useful than the canonical team.


CECIL, PALOM, POROM, CID, YANG
The true alternative party. This is the best you can do without the canonical characters. The twins will be in the back row healing (Porom) and casting offensive spells (Palom). Cid and Yang should be in the front line with Cecil. It is a little tougher to clear the game with, but certainly works if everyone is leveled up enough.


CECIL, PALOM, POROM, ROSA, RYDIA
While it sounds like the casters dream team on paper, it actually sucks. You're forced to place at least one caster in the front lines with Cecil and he or she is in deep trouble in the final palace. None of the casters stand a chance if they are in the front line. If you want to try it for the challenge, go ahead, but the last few floors will be a nightmare.


CECIL, EDWARD, YANG, CID, EDGE
The worst possible party combination. Why is that? No one can cast offensive spells against monsters who have resistance to melee fighting other than Edge's Ninja magic which is not worth it at the end of the game. You also have to rely on Cecil's basic restorative magic or your potions for ALL of your healing. If you insist on trying this lineup then put Cid and Yang in the front with Cecil. Edge can still Throw from the back row and Edward should always be back there no matter what. I beat it with this team once but I have no desire to ever put myself through that again. Having no healer is awful! Don't even bother with this combination.



Alright that should be all you need in picking a GBA team or preparing your canonical party. I've begun working on the video footage for the final palace but it will take a while to get these posts up. It will get done though. Next time we begin collecting the canonical team's ultimate weapons and face a string of optional bosses.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The Lunar Subterrane will end up having around 4 parts, this is part 1.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]62jT6ZJbyqM[/YOUTUBE]

You should be able to make your way back to the crystal palace where you originally met FuSoYa. When you get there step on the tiles at the left and right to fully restore your HP and MP. Now go through the door in the middle to where the crystals are. You can talk to them and they say interesting things although none of it is important. A very cool animation takes place as you are transported to the Lunar Subterrane. Make sure you are prepared for the end before going inside. See my previous post for preparations recommended before entering the final quest.


LUNAR SUBTERRANE
Party: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

You've arrived at the path that leads to the last boss. The monsters in the first several floors are really not too bad if you have been leveling. One to look out for is the Tricker. You'll recognize him as he looks just like the Imp monsters only he wears yellow. He tricks you as his name implies, into casting Lit-3 on him. He's weak against it but if he survives he begins casting powerful spells on you afterwards. The rest aren't too bad. It's further down that the really awful monsters begin showing up. The music that plays in the first several rooms of this place is the very same as the song that played at the very start of the game upon you choosing the "New Game" option, which is a nice touch. The first room has three different paths you can go. South takes you further down the path toward your final destination. Right takes you to a chest, I'll come back to that in a moment. Go left through the path in the wall. It leads to a tile that takes you to a door you should enter. Inside is a chest which has monsters in it.


BATTLE: Warlock (2), Kary (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFIUCLTY: Easy

This is the easiest of the battles in this place. Just have the three fighters attacking while Rosa heals if needed and Rydia summons Bahamut. It should be an easy win. If for whatever reason this gives you any trouble, you are in for a VERY difficult time against the other optional fights in here.


You receive a Life Staff when you win. If you want Rosa to not be equipped with Arrows, then this is what you'll need to equip her with. Unlike most of the other staves in the game this one does not have a huge chance of missing. Follow the path through a couple of more rooms and you will find yourself in a room that has a sword on a pedestal in between two pillars. This is one of Edge's two ultimate weapons. Are you ready for an optional boss? Have Rosa cast Float on everyone before trying to take the sword.


BOSS BATTLE: Pale Dim

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This boss has one of the stupidest names in video game boss history. PALE DIM!? Who in the world came up with that one!? Hey, the awesome battle music is back at least. It plays during all of the optional boss battles in here. Anyways. Rosa needs to cast Float on her first turn if you did not have her do it before the fight began. After that have her healing if needed. Cecil should attack. Edge should throw Ninja Stars. Kain should Jump as always. Have Rydia summon Bahamut. You can also have Rosa cast Holy/White to add more damage if you feel your health is close enough to maximum if you want. Pale Dim might cast Quake, that is why you needed Float. The fight should end soon.



After the battle has ended you receive the Murasame, which is Edge's second best weapon. Equip it on him immediately and watch how much his attack stat goes up. Make your way back to the entrance. Now go through the right path. It leads around the wall to a chest, which is guarded by monsters.


BATTLE: Red Giant (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This is not like the strange glitched(?) fight with two Red Giants at the tile by where you met FuSoYa. These ones are the real thing. At this point they shouldn't be too much of a threat though. Cecil and Edge should attack. Kain should Jump. Rydia can summon Bahamut but wait until they have taken a large amount of damage. If they survive being hit by powerful spells they will Explode and try to kill you as they die in a last resort. The closer they are to zero health, the less damage the explosion can do. Rosa should be healing. Their regular attacks are not bad, the threat of the explosion is the only reason this does not get rated as an easy difficulty.



After defeating them you get a Ninja Robe. Give that to Edge. Make your way back through the path to the entrance. This time take the only path left that you have not taken yet, which should be south. You'll find yourself in a room with a hidden path being your only option to move forward with. Grab the Flame Whip from the chest on the way, that is Rydia's ultimate weapon. No monsters guarding it, oddly enough.

That's the end of part 1. Next time in part 2 we challenge the most difficult boss in the game to an optional fight for Cecil's ultimate weapon!

 

[Dagger Dias]

This is the 2nd part of the Lunar Subterrane.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]nryM-6xb1bA[/YOUTUBE]

LUNAR SUBTERRANE (CONTINUED)
PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

Follow the path from where the Flame Whip was. Grab the Dragoon Shield from the chest by the door, this is Kain's best shield so equip it now. In the next room go through the hidden path in the southern wall to get the Dragoon Helmet, Dragoon Armor, and Dragoon Gauntlets. These are the rest of Kain's ultimate armor, equip them all. He should now have all of his ultimate gear other than his best weapon, which is further down in the path. Go back through the hidden path in the wall and go through the door. In the next room you'll find Artemis Arrows for Rosa in a chest to the right by the first set of stairs. Do not equip those yet, conserve them for upcoming bosses. Go down the stairs and inside the room to the left is an Elixir. Go right and head down the stairs, go through the door.

In this room you'll find a Cure3 potion in the right corner and a second one to the left of the door leading into the next area. There is a chest just outside there with a Behemoth inside it guarding a Stardust Rod. Fight him for the experience, you won't really need the rod. Rydia's Flame Whip is better. See the section on Bahamut for a strategy on Behemoths, no need to repeat it again. Go downstairs and you'll pass a sword that you cannot reach.... yet.... There is a chest by the door with more monsters in it.


BATTLE: Red Dragon, Blue Dragon

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Hard

These guys can easily kill you if you are not prepared. Rosa must heal every round, so do not enter the fight without being at full HP and preferably full MP too. Both of the dragons can use attacks that hit everyone for a ton of damage. The Red Dragon uses a fire based attack and the Blue Dragon uses an ice based attack. Both are strong against their respective element. Stick to non-elemental spells for Rydia such as Bahamut. All three of the fighters should attack. It will end eventually, but is arguably the toughest of the optional fights inside a treasure chest in the game.


You'll get Cecil's Crystal Shield for winning. Equip it right away as it is his best shield. The next room has a chest with a Protect Ring in it. Give that to Edge. He needs it the most. There is a path to the south out of this room, take that and go outside. Fight another Behemoth in the chest to win Cecil's Crystal Armor, which you need to equip on him immediately. Now take the northern exit. There is a chest with two Red Dragons in it guarding Cecil's Crystal Gauntlet. Refer to the strategy on the Blue & Red Dragon fight. It takes a very similar strategy to win this fight, only it's two of the same dragon. It's still quite tough. Go through the door to the left and grab the White Robe from the chest, this is for Rosa. Leave the room. Go to the left and open the chest to fight more monsters.


BATTLE: D Fossil, Warlock

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Easy

Compared to the Red/Blue Dragons and Behemoths this is nothing. Just have the fighters attacking until they both die and have Rosa heal if needed. Rydia can summon Bahamut to make it go by faster but you don't really need her in this fight.


You get Cecil's Crystal Helmet when you win, equip him with it. The room to the right has a Cabin. Go downstairs. In this room you'll find more Artemis Arrows for Rosa and Ninja Stars for Edge. Take the stairs on the left side and keep walking even though it appears to be a dead end, there was an invisible path that takes you into a new room. Grab the Cabin in the chest first. There is a Life potion by the entrance in the next room. By now you might have begun running into Blue Dragons as random encounters, if you do just run. It's not worth it. Keep following the path and you'll find a chest with yet another Behemoth. He is guarding a second Protect Ring. Give this one to Rydia. Use the tile to find yourself in a room with a Save Point. Use a Cabin and then save your game here. When you walk out of the southern exit you will find the sword from earlier that you could not reach, and in order to grab it you must face the game's toughest boss!



BOSS BATTLE: Wyvern

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Very Hard

This is the hardest fight in the entire game. No matter what you do, no matter what level you are on, no matter how prepared you possibly think you might be, it will be an absolute nightmare. This boss can use MegaNuke on the whole party for thousands of damage to everyone. Bahamut used this same move, but you have roughly 5 rounds worth of warnings before he did it. This boss, on the other hand, can use it AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT! He can also cast Wall on himself and attack using the Nuke spell which is nowhere near as bad as MegaNuke. You know it's bad when a top tier offensive spell is the attack you SHOULDN'T be worried about. Rosa MUST use Cure4 every round. If someone dies she needs to revive them but healing has to be her top priority. Cecil, Kain, or Edge (in that order depending on who is alive) can assist Rosa by using Life potions if anyone dies and she has to heal. Cecil can assist with using Life potions if someone dies. Otherwise have him attack. Rydia should summon Bahamut. Have Kain Jump unless Cecil is dead and Rosa is unable to revive a dead party member. Edge should Throw Ninja Stars unless Rosa is unable to heal a dead party member and neither Cecil nor Kain are able to assist with potions. I fight this battle around level 62 and it's still horrendous. If you want Cecil's ultimate weapon, it is the only way.


You'll win Cecil's Crystal Sword after that awful fight is over. Go save, as I doubt you'll EVER want to fight that guy again. That's it for tonight. Next time we will pick up on part 3 of 4 to grab Kain's ultimate weapon and do more optional fights.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This post will be the Lunar Subterrane: part 3 of 4.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]ZVNuRaTF42A[/YOUTUBE]

LUNAR SUBTERRANE - CONTINUED
PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

Make your way back through the path that led you to where the Wyvern boss was. Remember where there was an invisible path to the left of two stairways? Head back to that and this time take the visible path and go to the right, enter the door. The chest in this next room has monsters in it. Don't worry, it's not another Behemoth or Red/Blue Dragon.


BATTLE: Warlock, Kary (3)

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Easy

You've fought these before. Rydia can make short work of them by summoning Bahamut or casting Meteo if you have either. Or simply have all three of the fighters fighting and Rosa healing as needed until all have been defeated. After the Wyvern this is pathetically easy.



You'll win a Heroine Robe after the fight, give that to Rosa. Now go through the door to the right. The next room is one that I have spent countless hours in during all of my many play through's of this game. You see three rooms along the path, and then one more at the very end of the hall. The one at the end leads to the crystal tiles that cover the path to the core of the moon, this is where the last boss is waiting for you. Don't go down there yet. The other three doors lead to a save point on the left, Kain's ultimate weapon in the middle, and two ribbons on the right. The middle and right doors also have boss battles in them. Let's do the more difficult one first. Go save, then head over to fight the Plague over Kain's Lance of White.

Remember how I said to save Edge's Spoon for a specific boss? THIS IS IT! That item guarantees 9,999 damage but only has one use. You are about to fight a boss that you must inflict as much damage as you can in less than one minute.


BOSS BATTLE: Plague

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Very Hard

Some may consider this the game's hardest boss. I quite honestly rank Wyvern as the worst. This guy comes in 2nd place. Even though you have less than a minute (around 20 seconds to be exact) to win, that's not as bad to me as having to endure constant MegaNuke attacks from the Wyvern. Even a party on level 60+ struggles there whereas here a high level party can get through this fight without it being as nightmarish. If you are on a low level, it's impossible to win, though. This fight is all about doing as much damage as possible. Cecil needs to attack. Kain needs to Jump. Edge should Throw his Spoon first, then Ninja Stars on other turns. Rydia should summon Bahamut. Rosa needs to cast Holy/White on the Plague. EVERYONE MUST ATTACK EVERY SINGLE ROUND. DO NOTHING ELSE BUT CAUSE AS MUCH DAMAGE AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN! Why is this? He puts a death countdown on you once the fight begins. When the countdown reaches zero, everybody dies and it's game over. You have around 20 seconds to win this fight. The higher your level the better so if you are struggling, level up and then try again.


After that ordeal you win Kain's Lance of White. Equip him with it immediately and go save.... unless for some reason you'd like to fight this boss again. Now go into the room on the right to fight two D Lunars over two Ribbons.


BOSS BATTLE: D Lunar (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Compared to the Wyvern and the Plague, this is quite simple. They can heal themselves significantly with a Remedy spell and cast Wall on themselves. Other than that, it's not difficult at all. Have Kain Jump on the one in the back. Have Cecil attacking the one in front. Edge should Throw Ninja Stars on the one in the front. Once the one in the front dies, Cecil and Edge can assist Kain with fighting the one in the back. Rosa needs to be healing as needed. I wouldn't have her casting Holy/White because it risks being reflected by Wall. Rydia should summon Bahamut.


When you have won you'll get two Ribbons. Give one to Rydia and one to Rosa. Now go save once again and use a Cabin. Head down the hall and go through the door to the crystal tiled area.

The music from the Giant of Bab-il plays in here. This also marks the location where the monster difficulty skyrockets. For some reason the monsters in here all have the boss music playing when you fight instead of the battle theme. The enemies encountered in the remaining rooms are more difficult than most of the bosses you have fought! Behemoths now become regular encounters, as do Red Dragons and Evil Masks. Run away from every fight in here. It's not worth it. Once you're around level 70 or higher you can fight in here to level up toward 99 if you want. Other than that, these fights are NOT worth it.

You'll find one chest along the way that has Ninja Stars in it for Edge. Look for a sword by the stairway. That's Edge's ultimate weapon, the Masamune. Make sure everyone is at full HP and full MP then prepare to fight another tough boss.


BOSS BATTLE: Ogopogo

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Hard

This guy fights almost EXACTLY like Leviathan did. He also looks just like him only with brown and black instead of purple and red scales. His name in other versions is Tidarthian, which is much cooler than Ogopogo. Not as bad as Pale Dim but still a rather dumb name. Anyways.... He'll use Tidal Wave on you quite often and it hits for thousands of damage so it can defeat a low level party (assuming a low level party made it past all the Behemoths, Dragons, and Evil Masks in the room) in one or two rounds. He'll also use Blaze sometimes, about as often as Leviathan relied on Ice-2 instead of his own Tidal Wave. Cecil should attack, Kain should Jump, Edge should Throw Ninja Stars, Rosa must be healing/reviving every round, and Rydia can summon Bahamut. That strategy should win you this fight and Edge's 2nd legendary Katana.


Edge should now have both of his legendary katanas equipped, Murasame and Masamune. This should also have been your last item on the list of ultimate gear to procure. I highly recommend you head back to the save point next to the rooms you fought Plague and the D Lunars in. Use a Cabin, save, and begin a leveling spree until you are at level 70. I'd even recommend 75, if you want an easier time against the final boss. He is all that remains now. I personally max everyone out at this point, you don't have to do that though. It's up to you.

Next time we will fight the last boss of Final Fantasy 4. That won't be the end of this thread though, there's more GBA content and an analysis on 100+ different party combinations you can do in that version. I might even throw in thoughts on changes in the DS version. More on that later though.

Lunar Subterrane part 4 of 4 and the final boss will be the next post, I have a ton of levelling up to do and one last video to edit footage for. That will be the last video. For the GBA epilogue I'll be doing screenshots instead of videos. The editing for those is just too time consuming. Expect the final boss battle in a week or so. Anyhow, that's it for tonight!

 

[Wally Dangerously]

I completed the game last night!

I finished in under 20 hours for the first time and was treated to the complete ending. My average level was 50 at the end so I thought I was going to get destroyed by the final boss, but I managed to tough it out and outlast Zeromus on the second attempt.

I used the walkthrough several times over the course of the game when I couldn't find a few items. Thanks and keep up the good work!

 

[Dagger Dias]

I completed the game last night!

I finished in under 20 hours for the first time and was treated to the complete ending. My average level was 50 at the end so I thought I was going to get destroyed by the final boss, but I managed to tough it out and outlast Zeromus on the second attempt.

I used the walkthrough several times over the course of the game when I couldn't find a few items. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Very impressive! Zeromus is tough for a party below level 60. I'm guessing it may have been for the Dwarven Castle or Eblan that you needed help locating items in? Those are where some of the more elusive chests were in my opinion. Were there any particular areas or bosses that gave you trouble? Some such as Wyvern, Plague, the Evil Wall, or the rematch against the elementals will give even veterans of the game a difficult fight.

I'll have the final boss strategy up shortly. After that there's more GBA content that I'll get into and I'll end it with an analysis on the 100+ party combinations you can use in that version.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Decided to not go with any video footage this time around to not spoil the content of the last battle (other than the boss' identity) or what takes place in the ending, as in this post we will be facing the final boss of the main quest in Final Fantasy 4. This is part 4 of 4 in the Lunar Subterrane.


THE FINAL BATTLE
PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

Beginning from where you picked up Edge's Masamune from Ogopogo, go over to the stairs leading down to the next room. Here is a funny, although useless, little thing you can do here. Go back upstairs but without leaving the stairway immediately go right or left. You are able to stand on the tiles by the stairs. This accomplishes nothing, but it looks odd. Anyway, in the next room you'll be able to grab a few more treasures. There is an Elixir to the right after the first set of stairs. Continue running away from the Behemoths, Evil Masks, and Red Dragons here. They are NOT worth it unless you're in the level 70+ range and want to level up further. Follow the path and you will find a chest with a Whistle. This summons the large Chocobo if you would like to store some of your items or take out some you had him store for you previously. I honestly never use the large Chocobo at all. I sell every piece of equipment I do not need other than end-game weapons which I save for Edge to Throw if he runs out of Ninja Stars; and some restorative potions in case Rosa dies or runs out of MP.

Go downstairs into the next room. This room is VERY tough. You now face groups of 2 containing combinations of Behemoths, Evil Masks, or Red Dragons. You might even encounter 3 Red Dragons at once! This is the room you will want to be in if you plan on maxing out everyone's level, otherwise you'll want to get the treasures and quickly leave. Follow the path and along the way you can grab some items from the last chests of the game. They contain Ninja Stars for Edge. Go downstairs and this last room has two enemies you have not seen anywhere else before, Mind and Breath. Breath is not so bad, he will just use Peep/Scan on you endlessly. Keep using regular attacks and he will be quite easily defeated. Mind is a completely different story. He can inflict multiple characters with confused status and what happens next isn't fun. If you see one, just run away. Once you see the tile at the bottom left corner, you're a few steps away from the last battle.

****WARNING!!!!****

Before attempting the last battle, make sure you have the following:


CECIL

Crystal/Ragnarok Sword, Crystal Shield, Crystal Armor, Crystal Helmet, and Crystal Gauntlets.


KAIN

Lance of White, Dragoon Shield, Dragoon Helmet, Dragoon Armor, and Dragoon Gauntlets.


EDGE

Masamune, Murasame, Protect Ring, Ninja Robe, Ninja Helmet.


ROSA

Artemis Bow & Arrows (or Life Staff), Ribbon, Heroine Robe, and your strongest ring available.


RYDIA

Flame Whip, Ribbon, your strongest robe available, and a Protect Ring.


Those are recommended, other pieces of equipment can suffice for the slots I did not account for. If you are using Yang/Cid/Palom/Porom/Edward in the GBA version then make sure you have obtained their ultimate weapons from the Cave of Trials sidequest. Being on level 60+ helps too. I personally max everyone out at this point.

Are you prepared now? It's time. Step onto the tile. First a cool little scene plays out involving Golbez, FuSoYa, and Zemus.

TEMPORARY CHARACTER: FuSoYa

FuSoYa has been in the party before and other than having a little more HP and being computer controlled for the next two fights before he leaves the party again, nothing else has changed about him. He and Golbez will face Zemus first, before you fight the last boss.


TEMPORARY CHARACTER: Golbez

YES. You read that correctly. Golbez joins the party, for a grand total of two battles, one of which he loses. He is computer controlled though. He uses advanced Black magic spells during the fights he is in the party for, although his equipment and character class are unknown. His in-battle graphic looks awesome.


Alright, so FuSoYa and Golbez had beaten you to Zemus and they fight him first as your party members watch. The computer controlls them, it's a really cool scene.


BOSS BATTLE: Zemus

PARTY: Golbez, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: N/A

I really wish you could control them in this fight, getting to play legitimately as Golbez would have been so cool. It's still a rather awesome scene though. FuSoYa mainly relies on supportive spells other than White/Holy while Golbez unleashes more offensive ones. Then they both use Meteo on him and they win. This is a scripted victory.


Golbez and FuSoYa win. The group thinks that it is all over. They could not possible be more wrong. Zemus' hatred appears, having taken on its own form calling himself Zeromus. Golbez and FuSoYa approach Zeromus to finish the job.


BOSS BATTLE: Zeromus

PARTY: Golbez, FuSoYa

DIFFICULTY: N/A

This time it is a scripted loss. Golbez and FuSoYa both cast Meteo and it doesn't even scratch Zeromus. Golbez tries to use a crystal, but it has no effect. Zeromus casts Meteo and defeats them both in one shot.


The other characters in the Mysidian Tower wish for you to be safe, and this restores your health. It's time. Have Cecil use the crystal on him like Golbez told you to, and his true form will be revealed. Are you ready? I'll go ahead and spoiler tag the last battle. The game is 20+ years old, but still, some people may not want to see what the last boss looks like without some type of warning if they haven't played yet.


FINAL BOSS ----> Click spoiler tags for details.

Spoiler

FINAL BOSS: Zeromus

PARTY: Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Hard

The last boss of the game is massive, he takes up nearly the entire screen. The background graphics were amazing considering this game is over 20 years old. He is rather tough. Not as bad as Wyvern or anyone I ranked as "very hard", but if you are not fully prepared you may be in trouble. Edge should be Throwing Ninja Stars non-stop. If you run out, have him Throw old weapons you no longer need. If you cannot Throw anymore, have him attack. Kain needs to Jump non-stop. Rydia should summon Bahamut non-stop. Cecil should attack. I'd even have Rosa cast Bersk on him so he attacks even more relentlessly. Rosa MUST heal every single round with Cure4 after that. Zeromus' favorite attack is called Big Bang and it causes a ton of damage. She can cast Holy/White if you wish, but you risk getting defeated if Zeromus gets in multiple Big Bang attacks before you get a chance to heal. He also uses Black Hole which negates any status effects currently in place. If you are playing other versions and have cast Protect or Shell, this removes those. Cast them again if so. That should be enough to get you through this fight. If not, level up and try again. My honest recommendation is 75+ but it can be done on lower levels. As I have stated multiple times, I max out before this fight. It's the final battle so why hold anything back?

I'll go ahead and include strategies for the other characters. Cid and Yang should be attacking if they are in the party. Have Rosa or Porom cast Bersk on them so they inflict even more damage. Palom should cast Nuke/Flare every round. Porom needs to follow a strategy identical to Rosa's unless they are both in the party then one can heal while the other casts Holy/White. Edward can do some damage from the back row if he has his ultimate weapon, if he doesn't then he's mostly useless in this fight.

I will NOT speak of the ending whatsoever. Play the game (or re-play it for those who have and forgot what happens) and see for yourself.

I hope you enjoyed the SNES content walkthrough. This ends the original version's walkthrough, but there is still some more optional GBA content remaining and I want to do an analysis on the GBA party combinations, so this thread is hardly over. More to come soon.