Meat Transformations in Final Fantasy Legend (GB).
v5.1, 20.05.02
by s/p.

versions: one (original version, 20.04)
         two (same day): inserted capital letters for "readability".
(submission guidelines.) going to have to redo the table too, but that
was really not working anyway. plus, new lines forced at 72 characters.
         three (25.04): checked up on a few of the things i was too
lazy to have checked before. added extra notes to the get-good-monsters
-on-Continent section with particular reference to completing-the-game-
with-one-monster strategies. fixed the meat sequence in that section,
which didn't actually work. oops. table of contents made. some tiny
edits here and there. new version of main transformation table using
abbreviations. sei-ryu info.
         three and a bit (27.04): cut out lots of extraneous stuff.
who needs it?
         four (28.04): got the info. yes! table is now complete. plus
extra bits. this will be the final version, unless and until i crack
the real problem of monster levels.
         four and a half (03.05): so near, and yet so far. i can do
it, i think. watch this space.
         four point six (06:05): alas, my edifice! see section 3a...
         four.seven (8.5): stuck a few ad hoc fixes into the system.
now it might work...but i'm not happy. it's aesthetically displeasing.
stay tuned for results...
         five (11.5): final version, unless something new emerges. i
have the information i need, at last! rearranged faq so it's more usable.
section 3a doesn't exist now, so ignore that reference above.
oh yes, and, line length has spilled out to a bit more than 72 in places.
never mind.
         five.one (20.5): with updated contact details.

s/p is: [email protected]
(v5.1: this is now not working on a regular basis. my apologies to anyone
who may have tried to send messages and got no answer. try instead;)
       [email protected]


0: Contents.
 1 - Intro
 2 - Transformation System
 3 - Monster Information
 4 - Group Table
 4a - Inferences
 5 - Continent Transformations
 5a - Continent meat
 5b - What to do with your level 13 monster
 6 - Four Monsters
 7 - One Monster




1: Intro.

I didn't realise there was still a demand for this sort of thing, but
it seems people still appreciate the classics.
I still think that in many ways FFL is the best game ever. But then it
caught me at a young impressionable age.
A look at gamefaqs reveals no-one has supplied a transformation chart
yet. (20.04.02) I could do that.

(v5 note:) The meat transformations system was always the main hole in
my knowledge. Now I finally feel like I understand it. I love progress.

I'll be assuming you either know your way around FFL or you're willing
to learn for yourself. This isn't a general FAQ.




2: Transformation System.

i. Find the group and level information for the monster who's eating
meat. (See section 3.)
ii. Find the group and level for the monster whose meat you're eating.
iii. Using the table in section 4, work out what group your new monster
will belong to.
iv. Take whichever is the higher of the two levels (meat or eater.)
Look in the monster group your new monster will belong to for a monster
at exactly this level. If there's one there, you'll become that monster.
End of story.
v. Otherwise, look in the group for a monster exactly one level up. If
there's one of those, you'll become that monster.
vi. Otherwise, look one level below, then two below, and so on until
you reach the nearest level below that does have a monster in the group.
vii. If you "hit bottom" without reaching a monster, you just get the
lowest-level member in that group. (I don't think this ever actually
applies, though.)

Now the complicated bit: this doesn't always quite work. Monsters
actually have two levels, a party level (which you use in steps i and
ii), and a target level (which you use when looking up a new monster in
steps iv and onward.) For most monsters, these are the same; for some it
doesn't seem to work quite like that. These exceptions are listed below
the table in section 3.

Examples:

You are a goblin. You eat the meat of a big eye.
i. goblin is goblin group level 1.
ii. big eye is eye group level 4.
iii. goblin-type + eye-type = fish-type.
iv. 4 is higher than 1. Check the fish group at level 4. Nothing is
listed.
v. Check at level 5. Nothing is listed.
vi. Check at level 3 and down. Piranha appears at level 3, so that's
what you'll become.

You are a behemoth. You eat the meat of an ant lion.
i. behemoth is redbull group level 10.
ii. ant lion is ant group level 8.
iii. redbull-type + ant-type = lizard-type.
iv. 10 is higher than 8. Check the lizard group at level 10. Nothing
is listed.
v. Check at level 11. Dinosaur appears at level 11, so you'll turn
into one.




3: Monster Information.

All monsters you can transform into come in groups which share the same
combat picture ("large pic"). More than one of these groups often share
a party graphic ("small pic").
Also, every monster has a level, roughly based on how powerful it is and
where in the game you encounter it. The levels are shown as numbers in
brackets; a * means it's non-standard, and you should consult the
footnote.
Note: these numbers don't necessarily correspond to any data in the
game. They're numbers I assigned to fit the available evidence and make
a workable system.
(I'm doing this from memory, so I might not have the names totally
right. "dragonfly" always gets me.)

A: goblin   (1)  B: skeleton (1)  C: albatros (1)  D: redbull  (1)
  oni      (2)     red bone (4)     eagle    (6)     rhino    (4)
  ogre     (8)     dokuro   (10)    thunder  (10)    triceras (8)
  giant    (11*)   warrior  (12)    cocatris (12)    behemoth (10)
  titan    (13*)   boneking (13)    rock     (13)    baku     (13)
  susano-o (14)    lich     (14)    phoenix  (14)    ganesha  (14)

E: slime    (2)  F: zombie   (1)  G: lizard   (1)  H: wererat  (1)
  jelly    (8)     ghoul    (3)     p-frog   (2)     werewolf (4)
  tororo   (10)    mou-jya  (9)     gecko    (3)     catwoman (6)
  gummy    (12)    wight    (12)    dinosaur (11)    minotaur (11)
  pudding  (13)    ghast    (13)    salamand (13)    rakshasa (13)
  hi-slime (14)    revnant  (14)    basilisk (14)    anubis   (14)

I: wolf     (2)  J: clipper  (1)  K: fly      (1)  L: o-bake   (2*)
  jaguar   (4)     beetle   (7)     drgonfly (3)     phantom  (3)
  sabercat (7)     ant lion (8)     hornet   (5)     buruburu (9)
  snowcat  (10)    atom ant (9)     mosquito (6)     wraith   (12)
  blackcat (13)    scorpion (13)    cicada   (13)    spector  (13)
  fenswolf (14)    scarab   (14)    mantis   (14)    ghost    (14)

M: gargoyle (3)  N: worm     (2)  P: snake    (2)  Q: condor   (3)
  imp      (7)     p-worm   (7)     serpent  (5)     raven    (5)
  demon    (11)    crawler  (8)     anaconda (7)     harpy    (7)
  demolord (12)    lavaworm (10)    hydra    (10)    ten-gu   (10)
  demoking (13)    sandworm (13)    ko-run   (13)    garuda   (13)
  athtalot (14)    gigaworm (14)    jorgandr (14)    nike     (14)

R: barracud (2)  S: big eye  (4)  T: octopus  (4)  U: shrimp   (4*)
  piranha  (3)     gazer    (7)     clam     (6)     atomcrab (5)
  shark    (6)     seeker   (9)     amoeba   (8)     crab     (8)
  gunfish  (9)     watcher  (12)    ammonite (10)    ice crab (9)
  elec eel (13)    evil eye (13)    squid    (13)    kingcrab (13)
  leviathn (14)    beholder (14)    kraken   (14)    dagon    (14)

V: cactus   (4*) W: griffin  (4)  X: woodman  (5)  Y: medusa   (5*)
  p-flower (5)     mantcore (6)     clayman  (8)     siren    (6)
  garlic   (7)     chimera  (9)     stoneman (9)     lamia    (11)
  thorn    (9)     nue      (11*)   ironman  (12)    naga     (12)
  f-flower (13)    sphinx   (13*)   fireman  (13)    scylla   (13)
  darkrose (14)    ki-rin   (14)    mazin    (14)    lilith   (14)

Z: dragon 1 (7)
  dragon 2 (8)           sei-ryu: (7)
  dragon 3 (10)          su-zaku: (13)
  dragon 4 (12)          Fiends2 (all): (14)
  dragon 5 (13)
  tiamat   (14)


Footnotes

GIANT, TITAN, NUE, SPHINX:
giant and nue behave as if they're level 11 (party and target). However,
monsters at level 12, such as warrior, don't quite agree with this:
warrior (skel, L12) + albatros (bird, L1) should look on L12 for a
goblin-type, not find one, look on L13, and find titan. Instead,
warrior + albatros -> giant. This means either a) giant and nue have target
levels of 11 AND 12, or b) titan and sphinx are actually level 14 and so
"out of range" for a warrior. If they are level 14, then all top level
monsters are actually level 16 (out of range to titan and sphinx). Either
way works, I think, but if top level is 16, there's nothing at level 15.
I prefer it as it is.

O-BAKE:
o-bake has a party level of 2 but a target level of 1. This means that
oni + zombie, which should look for a ghost on level 2, doesn't "see"
o-bake (because it's at level 1 as a target) and moves up to phantom.
But an o-bake still transforms as if from level 2.

SHRIMP, CACTUS, MEDUSA:
These have a party level of 4, 4 and 5 respectively, but it doesn't seem
to be possible to transform into them, ever. This means either they have
target levels of 3, 3 and 4 respectively (or less), or they don't have
target levels at all; either way, you can't get them. Any combination
that leads to their groups is good enough to reach the next highest
members.


MISTAKES
These numbers could be wrong; I'm not perfect, and more importantly, I
haven't tested every possible combination in the whole game. (Where do you
fight beetles anyway?) I'm especially unhappy about that whole giant/nue
thing.
If there's a mistake in my system, I do want to know about it, but please
try and give me the information to figure out what's wrong; ideally
something like "In your system, if monster x eats meat y it should become
monster z, but actually it becomes monster q".
Mail to: [email protected]




4: Group Table.

Read the column that matches your current small pic, and the row that
matches the large pic of the monster whose meat you're about to eat.
The result is what will be your new group.
" - " means the effect "Nothing happened" (not to be confused with
changing into the same thing.) This will always happen if you eat the
meat of something with the same small pic.
(v3.1: table uses three letter abbreviations for all groups. It's still
hard to read; people deserve better. If someone can improve on this,
please, do.)
(v5: I'm restoring the single-letter-for-groups table as well. You decide
which works better.)

        Your small pic
        gob skl alb rbl slm ant imp wrm fsh oct man
        rat zmb grf liz eye fly cdr snk     plt
        wlf gst dgn         crb     mds
Meat pic
goblin    -  liz skl alb rat gst imp rbl  -  eye mds
skeleton alb  -  liz gob zmb  -  ant rat fly snk crb
albatros liz gob  -   -  rbl ant gst wrm snk imp cdr
redbull  rat fly slm  -  skl liz  -  alb wlf gob snk
slime     -  gst ant zmb  -  alb snk fsh ant wrm plt
zombie   gst  -  rat skl liz gob slm fly wrm fsh wlf
lizard   skl alb gob  -  ant rat  -  wlf rbl crb grf
wererat   -  rbl fly  -  gst zmb wlf gob skl liz wrm
wolf      -  zmb snk rat slm fsh liz gst  -  alb gob
antlion  fly skl rbl liz alb  -  wrm snk  -  slm eye
fly      zmb rat alb ant  -   -  rbl slm gob cdr imp
ghost    slm  -  zmb fly gob skl alb ant rat rbl liz
imp      cdr ant wrm gst snk wlf  -  skl zmb  -  alb
worm     ant fsh wlf slm fly snk gob  -  fsh zmb oct
snake    wrm slm gst fsh  -  rbl zmb  -  liz rat man
condor   wlf snk fsh imp wrm slm  -  imp alb  -  fly
fish     gob wrm  -  rbl wlf fly cdr liz  -  oct skl
eye      fsh cdr crb snk  -  imp rat  -  oct ant slm
octopus  imp crb cdr wlf fsh wrm fly eye slm  -  zmb
crab     rbl wlf eye wrm oct  -  skl imp cdr fly  -
plant    oct imp grf crb cdr eye fsh crb gst  -  ant
griffin  snk eye  -  cdr oct plt plt oct crb wlf  -
woodman  crb  -  oct mds eye grf mds cdr plt gst  -
medusa   grf plt man eye crb oct man  -  imp skl  -
dragon   plt grf  -  oct mds cdr crb man eye mds rbl

gen-bu   man oct imp plt grf dgn eye dgn mds man gst
sei-ryu  mds mds dgn man plt man eye grf dgn plt dgn
su-zaku  dgn man mds grf dgn mds oct plt man dgn fsh


note on Fiends: "gen-bu" row applies to meat of Gen-Bu2.
"sei-ryu" row applies to meat of Sei-Ryu, Sei-Ryu2 and Byak-Ko2.
"su-zaku" row applies to meat of Su-Zaku and Su-Zaku2.



           Your small pic:
          AHI  BFL  CWZ  DG   ES   JKU  MQ   NPY  R    TV   X
Meat pic:
A          -    G    B    C    H    L    M    D    -    S    Y
B          C    -    G    A    F    -    J    H    K    P    U
C          G    A    -    -    D    J    L    N    P    M    Q
D          H    K    E    -    B    G    -    C    I    A    P
E          -    L    J    F    -    C    P    R    J    N    V
F          L    -    H    B    G    A    E    K    N    R    I
G          B    C    A    -    J    H    -    I    D    U    W
H          -    D    K    -    L    F    I    A    B    G    N
I          -    F    P    H    E    R    G    L    -    C    A
J          K    B    D    G    C    -    N    P    -    E    S
K          F    H    C    J    -    -    D    E    A    Q    M
L          E    -    F    K    A    B    C    J    H    D    G
M          Q    J    N    L    P    I    -    B    F    -    C
N          J    R    I    E    K    P    A    -    R    F    T
P          N    E    L    R    -    D    F    -    G    H    X
Q          I    P    R    M    N    E    -    F    C    -    K
R          A    N    -    D    I    K    Q    G    -    T    B
S          R    Q    U    P    -    M    H    -    T    J    E
T          M    U    Q    I    R    N    K    S    E    -    F
U          D    I    S    N    T    -    B    M    Q    K    -
V          T    M    W    U    Q    S    R    U    L    -    J
W          P    S    -    Q    T    V    V    T    U    I    -
X          U    -    T    Y    S    W    Y    Q    V    L    -
Y          W    V    X    S    U    T    X    -    M    B    -
Z          V    W    -    T    Y    Q    U    X    S    Y    D

gen-bu     X    T    M    V    W    Z    S    Z    Y    X    L
sei-ryu    Y    Y    Z    X    V    X    S    W    Z    V    Z
su-zaku    Z    X    Y    W    Z    Y    T    V    X    Z    R


note on Fiends: "gen-bu" row applies to meat of Gen-Bu2.
"sei-ryu" row applies to meat of Sei-Ryu, Sei-Ryu2 and Byak-Ko2.
"su-zaku" row applies to meat of Su-Zaku and Su-Zaku2.




4a: Inferences.

If you're high level, it doesn't matter how weak the meat you eat is. If
the meat is high level, it doesn't matter how weak you are. Meat of jelly
is only better than meat of slime if you yourself are below jelly.
If you reach level 13 or 14, you'll never go down a level again. Whatever
group you turn into, there's always a representative at your level.
If you reach level 12, you're very likely to go up, because anything not
represented at level 12 appears at level 13. (Except for the giant and
nue complication, of course.)
When you're around levels 9-11 (World of Ruins), try to avoid the fly
group, because you'll drop to mosquito. When you're level 10 or below,
try to avoid the lizard group, because you'll drop all the way to gecko.
The only way to become a dragon is by eating Fiend's meat. (And there's
one in the last guild, I think.)
The only way to reach top level (14) is by eating Fiend2's meat. You'll
almost always get meat from all four Fiends2, so if you're playing with
four monsters (because items are for wusses), make sure they all get a
portion.
Fiend's meat always "works". You'll change no matter what monster you
are.




5: Continent Transformations.

So much for the general transformations. Everyone knows what you really
want is a guide to getting strong monsters on Continent, where monsters
can be kind of a liability to the party.

(v5: changed my mind *again* and cut out the random ones.)


Choose wererat as party leader. (If you've already started, a goblin
works too.)
eat zombie -> o-bake  (good time to kill Bandit)
eat albatros -> oni
eat zombie -> phantom (another good time)
eat goblin -> gecko
eat zombie -> red bone
eat redbull -> hornet
eat lizard -> catwoman
eat skeleton -> eagle
eat wererat -> mosquito
eat albatros -> beetle (saw! won't work very well on Continent, though)
eat zombie -> ogre
eat zombie -> buruburu
eat wererat -> behemoth
eat skeleton -> giant
eat lizard -> warrior (stop here, if...see below)
eat goblin -> salamand

second-highest-level monster on Continent. Now you're set up for
the game.
(This method chosen because it's fairly straightforward, and doesn't
require, for instance, hunting round King Sword's castle for the
elusive clipper, which will definitely get you killed by karateka.
karateka are evil.)




5a: Continent meat.

Suggestions for where to find Continent meat:
goblin: world map
lizard: world map (southwest)
skeleton: outside Castle of Sword
albatros: treasure room in Bandit's cave
zombie: Bandit's cave
clipper: Castle of Sword (hard to find, try King Sword's room?)
redbull: Castle of Sword (first room)
wererat: Castle of Sword (guards)
fly: Castle of Sword (rare)
p-frog: fight Bandit (only works once)




5b: What to do with your level 13 monster.

Remember you can safely eat any meat you want.
Recommended choices:
scorpion, titan, demoking, baku (for teleport)
spector, blackcat, boneking (fatal attacks)
pudding, fireman (general purpose)




6: Four Monsters.

This is playing the game the hard way.
few points: don't fight kingswrd if you have any elemental
weaknesses. You'd be walking into critical hits.
Don't even attempt Gen-Bu without some firepower. Four onis is a good
start, but you can do better.
If you manage to get a chimera while on the world of Sky, it's ideal
for killing Byak-Ko (and everything else.) That's because 3heads has
the ridiculous Ashura multiplier that's three times what it should be.
Don't tackle machine without some second-highest-level monsters.
Preferably good ones. (But you might get away with tororos and gummies
and things.)
On the train, fight the evil eye repeatedly to level everyone up.
Ashura: pudding.
Creator: hi-slimes. or darkroses.


7: One Monster.

This is more like it. Having four characters is for amateurs.
But, to finish the game with one monster, you will need to cheat, or
at least cheap. No single monster can deliver enough damage to Creator
to beat him. (Literally. They just don't have enough moves.)
So either play through with honour but don't try to fight Creator (use
a pudding on Ashura, no problem), or get yourself a warrior (see above)
and use saw on everything you can't beat.

(why saw works: saw is a fatal attack. sometimes it misses, which is
just a miss; sometimes it does No damage, which means it doesn't work.
This should happen when your strength is lower than your target's
defence, as in FFL2; but for some reason FFL has it backwards, so it
works on anything with *higher* defence. Creator, with defence 200,
doesn't have a chance.)

v3.1: condensed extra advice.
It's really not as hard as it sounds if you know what you're doing.
Carry potions and save often. Really often.
All the fights on the list in section 4 can be won single-handedly by
the monster you are, although o-bake vs. albatros is a bit iffy.
Use common sense and caution. There's only one of you and you're still
vulnerable to things like critical hits and petrification.



footnote:
Final Fantasy Legend 2.
(v5.1: footnote deleted. Someone *had* already done an FFL2 FAQ and it's
vay good. Much better than this. You'd think I would have noticed, but I
must have been off in my own little world again. Apologies to...let's see
..Amuseum.)



Robert Paulson <[email protected]> kindly points out that Nintendo
Power did something very like this some time ago. So I guess many people
already knew all this.
But I hope I've managed to entertain you anyway.

The Meat Trans FAQ was written for www.gamefaqs.com.

Possibly coming soon: FFL Combat System FAQ.
                     a website with more stuff like this on it.
(check http://www.subdimension.com/community/subversion/sxp/ .)
(v5.1: www.subdimension.com is down all the time. If you want to find my
website, email me, because I haven't decided where to move to. Emailing
me will also raise the chances of me bothering to redo it at all, because
there really isn't much content yet to use. Mostly this FAQ.)
Copyright s/p 2002.
Reproduce the *data* as you please, because anyone could find this stuff
out; but show respect for this FAQ's *content*. Because it's mine. :)

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