Phantasy Star III Solo-Hero Challenge FAQ
Written by Bryan Stewart, aka SkieFyre, aka Ragn_Charran
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Spoiler Warning
2. Legal
3. Version History
4. Purpose
5. Rules of the Solo-Hero Quest
6. Hints and Tips
7. Detailed Walkthrough
Generation 1: Rhys
Generation 2: Ayn
Generation 2: Nial
Generation 3: Sean
Generation 3: Crys
Generation 3: Adan
Generation 3: Aron
8. What the hell is the "Pron Glitch"?
9. Evaluation of Other Solo Quests
10. Credits
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1. SPOILER WARNING
As this is a challenge quest FAQ, I assume that any reader will already be
intimately familiar with the game. As well, properly detailing the strategies
required to play through will require listing names and locations of important
people and places. Therefore, this FAQ contains numerous spoilers. Players who
have not completed all four endings should not read this FAQ.
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2. LEGAL
This entire document is (C) 2006, 2007, 2009 Bryan Stewart. All trademarks are
property of their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used
without my permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your
website, making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or
making reference to any material contained within.
All the sites mentioned below have permission to do the above. Please email me
at
[email protected] to enquire about gaining permission to use this
document.
www.GameFAQs.com
http://ps3.huguesjohnson.com/
- Thanks to Michael Sarich for this Copyright -
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3. VERSION HISTORY
v1.50 - February 2, 2009:
- Added results from other character solos performed through 2008
- Added "I used the Pron Glitch" warnings to identify recommended levels for
Lashute may be understated.
v1.22 - October 28, 2007:
- Updated information on the Pron Glitch
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4. PURPOSE
The idea of the solo quest in RPGs has been around for a long time. The appeal
is very strong - it makes the game challenging, often requiring mastery of the
finest points to succeed; it completely changes the play of the game, and makes
for a great "one hero against the forces of evil" spin on the story.
Phantasy Star III has some unique elements, both story and gameplay, that make
a solo-hero quest very different from other RPGs.
- The story, particularly for the Rhys/Ayn/Sean route, is strongly suited for a
solo quest. Rhys off to find his princess, Ayn as last survivor of Cille who
can no longer trust cyborgs, and Sean as the last survivor of Azura avenging
his family, fit the models of solo heroes perfectly.
- The generation structure makes your solo character change twice over the
course of the game. While the differences between Rhys and Nial are minimal,
for all other father-son transitions the change is significant - Ayn, Adan,
and Aron gain healing techniques their fathers lacked, Sean gains melee
techniques Ayn never had, and Crys loses Ayn's healing but far surpasses his
father's physical power.
- Tied to this, you have a total of four routes to attempt, giving more choice
to the player as to how to attempt the quest.
- The usefulness of overleveling is greatly reduced, as no matter how leveled
Rhys, Ayn, or Nial are, their sons start at level 1 again.
- All hero characters have a choice of three very different class of weapons.
The choice between a sword, two knives, or two needlers will make significant
impact on your ability to finish the various parts of the game.
- Tied to weapon choice is the front row/back row system. Unless you have
equipped needlers or have very powerful melee techniques, you are forced
to kill front row enemies before you can attack those behind them.
- If you choose to ignore rule E below, the second-best equipment for your
hero is available at the end of Generation 1, with serious overleveling you
could buy the equipment and use Wren or Mieu to pass it forward to the next
generation.
- Running is notoriously unreliable, removing the "run from everything and
reach the boss at full strength" strategy prevalent in the solo quests for
many games.
- There are no misses or critical hits in this game, which brings a lot of
stability to mathematical calculations.
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5. RULES OF THE SOLO-HERO QUEST
When playing a challenge quest, you make your own rules about the limits you
place on yourself, setting the challenge level. For the purposes of this FAQ I
have placed fairly stringent rules on gameplay, specifically on the use of your
companions (since this is a solo quest, after all!). This way, if you choose to
ignore or loosen these rules, the walkthrough will still be relevant, whereas
if I had loose rules the walkthrough would not be as valuable on a harder
challenge.
A. Upon gaining a new party member, you must immediately kill them off. If your
hero is at full HP you may do this for characters with order techniques by
casting Nasak, otherwise you must enter a battle and have the hero and the
new member defend the hero and let the enemies attack until the new member
is dead. You must also kill everyone again in Generation 1 when they all
revive after Rhys defeats Lyle.
B. With the exception of gemstones, the Laya Pendant, Laya's Bow, and Lune's
Slicer, you may not use the equipment new characters come with in any way.
It may not be sold, it must be discarded.
C. You may not use the healing techniques of your companions, with two
exceptions:
- As detailed above, if the hero is already at full HP, a character
with order techniques may use Nasak to kill herself.
- During a battle in which you are killing off a character, they may
use a healing technique or item to keep the hero at or below the HP
level and poison status at which the battle was started. The hero can
take significant damage in the time required to kill off a strong
character (Lyle, Sari, and the Sean/Crys version of Kara), this
exception allows you to not be punished by having to take the time to
kill a character you are forced to take.
You may not, under any circumstances, have dead companions cast healing
techniques in the menu screen (which, in this game, they can do).
D. You may not have the other characters carry items for you. Any key items
they come with must be immediately transferred to the hero. There are three
exceptions:
First, key items that the game does not allow you to discard but are never
needed again may be transferred to another character to simulate discarding.
Specifically, these are:
- Monitor immediately.
- Sapphire once Rhys has entered the Landen - Aquatica cave.
- Moon Stone and Moon Tear once the satellite system has been repaired.
- Dragon Tear once the Aridia - Divisia cave has been entered with Sari
in party.
- Power Topaz once Azura has been reached.
- Twins Ruby once the Landen - Aridia cave has been entered with sub
parts in inventory (Note that this means Ayn CANNOT discard the Ruby,
as Sean/Crys will require it in third generation. Nial, however, can,
once he reaches Aridia).
- Mystery Star once the Aridia - Frigidia cave has been entered.
- All gems once Laya Pendant has been retrieved.
- Sub Parts once Orakio's Sword and Laya's Bow have been acquired.
- Aqua Parts once you have learned the word of power and returned from
Sage Isle.
- Nei weapons once attained. Note this includes the Nei Sword, but if
you choose to do so you may never use it again (since we are
simulating discarding it, you can't just transfer it back). Note also
that this does not mean you can transfer the legendary weapons before
transformation - they are required to receive the word of power,
which is required to trigger the transformation in Frigidia, which is
required to make Rulakir reveal his true nature, so you must hold on
to them until they are renamed as Nei weapons.
The key items required at the end of the game are the Laya Pendant and Aero
Parts. These can be discarded once Terminus and Lashute have been reached
if you have no intention of returning.
The second exception to this rule is that you may pass items to other party
members and then immediately pass back in order to arrange items in your
hero's item list.
The third exception is you may (in fact you SHOULD) transfer items to all
party members when transforming the legendary weapons into Nei weapons to
avoid the Pron Glitch (see section 8 for a detailed explanation of the Pron
Glitch).
[IMPORTANT NOTE: At the time I performed these solos I was unaware of the
defense merge secondary effect of the Pron glitch, and was not aware of what
caused the Pron glitch. Since I had no idea how to avoid it, and thought it
was only cosmetic, I allowed it to happen. As a result, each hero's defense
was 90 points higher than it should have been. I have not tested the
recommended levels without this defense boost, but they are likely
understated by at least 5 fro Rulakir and Dark Force.
I may at some later date redo these final runs without activating the glitch.]
E. Tied to rule D, you may not use Mieu and Wren's inventory slots to pass
items between generations. (Note that because of this carry-over you will
want to pass discarded key items to a character other than Wren or Mieu, or
they may end up carrying three Sapphires by the end of the game!)
F. Tied to rule D, you may not use Mieu or Wren's inventory to pass an escape
pipe forward to use the "skip Nial" glitch.
G. If you have a full inventory and find a chest, you may not open it. You must
use or discard one of the hero's items before opening the chest. The only
exception is the "last" chest in Lashute, since it does not contain an
inventory item. You know which one I'm talking about.
H. No using a cheat device, emulator save-states, or other helpful tools that
are not a part of the original game. What's the point of a challenge quest
if you're going to cheat to bypass the challenge?
The key purpose of these rules is to simulate simply getting key items from
characters and having them leave, rather than join you, and being able to
discard key items that are no longer needed.
That said, you may want to loosen these rules if you find the challenge too
difficult. Set your own achievement level! The most significant but acceptable
change would be keeping the characters dead but allowing them to carry items
and use heal techniques. This would simulate them travelling with you but not
participating in battles.
Or, if this seems too easy...
I. (Optional) No using the Force Shield, Emel, or Helm to cast Res. I have
successfully completed Sean's route using this rule, though I had
unintentionally used the Pron glitch to increase his Defense stat by 90
points. I do believe that even without the Pron glitch Sean, Adan and Aron
should be possible, though Nial would need significant leveling to defeat
Lune. I predict that Crys would be impossible using this rule, he MAY be
able defeat to Rulakir at max level but not Dark Force.
J. (Optional) Sons do not inherit any cash from their fathers. Any meseta they
have at the start of their quest is burned off by buying and discarding
garbage inventory. This has little effect on Nial, Ayn, or Sean, but does
make life a little more difficult for Crys (since he needs to buy a Force
Emel in Ilan) and Adan/Aron (since they will need to run Skyhaven without a
Planar Sword).
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6. HINTS AND TIPS
For those just looking for a bit of advice before starting out, but not
wanting to be lead by the hand, I offer these tips.
General Tips:
- Think about the strengths and weaknesses of each character and the layout of
their quests before choosing your route. Hero makes a big difference, as does
the challenges he will face!
- Run only when desperate. Running is horribly unreliable, so plan on having to
fight your way through dungeons. You need the XP anyways.
- Escape pipes are remarkably useless for most of the game.
- Think about your weapon choices and technique distributions.
- Calculate how many HP you need, and compare to how much your various healing
methods give back, and use them wisely.
- Experiment to find items that duplicate techniques you are unable to cast.
Specific Hints:
- The route difficulty, from easiest to hardest, is Adan, Aron, Sean,
and Crys. The final chapter difficulty, from easiest to hardest, is Sean,
Adan, Aron, and Crys. Crys is significantly more difficult than the other
three, as he has no healing techniques.
- Use knives until you reach Hazatak, then switch to needlers all the way
through the first two generations. For third generation, stick with
swords, even Royal Needlers aren't powerful enough, and you'll need the
defense boost.
- The most useful techniques are Res, Ner, and Zan. Keep their distribution
maxed.
- Monomate restores 30 HP, dimate restores 60 HP, star mist restores 198 HP,
trimate fills you to max, and Res restores 5 HP per power point you
distribute to it. Keep this in mind when choosing when and how to heal to
get the best use out of your limited resources.
- The items you will need to use in battle are the Force Helm (Res, 25 HP),
and Royal Bow (Fanbi), while the Force Emel (Res, 25 HP) and Force Shield
(Res, 50 HP) can be used both in and out of battle!
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7. DETAILED WALKTHROUGH
For those who want a more detailed strategic layout, I provide below. I assume
anyone attempting a challenge quest is intimately familiar with the game, so
I will not lay out directions on how to reach places or when to use items,
instead I will focus on recommended levels, equipment selection (and meseta
required to purchase them), and technique use.
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Generation 1
Rhys: The lone knight's quest to rescue his princess... (Intermediate)
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------
LANDEN - (Recommended Level: 1)
------
Start the game as normal. Once in the dungeon grab the Knife, Monitor, and 300
meseta from the chests.
Of course, you'll need to shop. With your 300 meseta and the 7 you'll get for
your Garment, you can buy a second Knife (100 meseta), Hunting Armour (125
meseta), and a Hunting Helm (50 meseta). You'll want the knives since you won't
have Mieu around to quickly clear weak enemies while you take out the stronger
with a sword, and you may as well buy the armour and helm now, since both are
the best you'll get until Aquatica. As for your remaining 32 meseta, you may be
tempted to buy some antidote or monomate, but hold off for now - there's
something you want to save for. For now, use the inn and the nurse to heal when
needed, which should be rare - the enemies here only do one damage per hit,
with the exception of a Chirper's Gra tech, which will do two.
Naturally, you can play this section exactly as you normally would. But, since
you need to level anyways, you may as well start now - hang around Landen
castle fighting Chirpers and Eindons until level 3 or so, then head down to
Yaata and speak to the boat captain. If you've managed to save up 130 meseta
(180 meseta, less the 50 meseta trade-in), you'll also want to trade a Knife
for a Hunting Knife at the weapon shop.
Next, head to Ilan and talk to the blue townsmen to make Mieu appear. You'll
need to have her with you to get on the old man's boat, but she doesn't
need to be alive! Go get her at the lake, discard all of her equipment, give
her Rhys' monitor since you never need it, and prepare to kill her off! There
are two handy ways of to do this. First, if Rhys is at full HP, casting Nasak
will kill Mieu off without violating the solo (since a full HP Rhys gains no
benefit from this). The second is to enter a battle and have both Rhys and Mieu
defend Rhys, and then autobattle. Rhys will take little or no damage in the
time it takes Mieu to die, then he can mop up the enemies like nothing even
happened. Do be careful if this battle involves a Moos - Foi packs a
punch that ignores the fact that you're defending!
Keep leveling east of Ilan until you have at least 230 meseta - 130 to trade in
your second Knife for another Hunting Knife, 30 for antidotes, and 70 for
monomates. Don't bother with an escape pipe or saving for Hunting Needlers -
there is an escape pipe early in Lyle's Cave, and you don't need group attack
capability just yet. Hunting Needlers only do Knife damage anyways.
[TIP: If you're a real penny-pincher, don't grab Mieu until you're ready to
take the ship. Having her in your party costs you an extra five meseta every
time you go to the inn!]
[NOTE: The Force Emel, which is available in Ilan, casts a level 5 Res when
used in or out of battle. However, it is not worth saving up 7900 meseta for!]
-----------
Lyle's Cave (Recommended Level: 8)
-----------
Since you're only using monomates in this dungeon, and poisoning enemies infest
the cave, try to keep yourself close to full HP if you are not currently
poisoned - once you're down 25 HP, pop a monomate out of battle. Once poisoned
you have a choice - most enemies only do two damage, but you have to watch out
for Foi from the Moos you may run into. Try to stay above 18 HP, and you should
be OK.
The chest just past the wall left of the entrance holds the escape pipe, by the
time you get to it you can probably use a monomate to free up space for it.
Take it for insurance in case you get into trouble, but you most likely won't
need it. The next chest over is a shield, which you can grab for cash if you
feel like it, since you'll probably use another monomate before reaching it.
The two chests that are actually on your route hold a dimate and an antidote,
so be sure to grab them!
Make sure you have an inventory space free to receive the Sapphire from Lyle,
then walk back out if you can - use that escape pipe if you can't.
----------------------
Landen - Aquatica Cave (Recommended Level: 10)
----------------------
Head to Ilan and trade in all of your items - including your escape pipe, if
you have one - for 4 antidotes and 5 dimates, then save. Assuming you fought
your way through Lyle's Cave, you should have gained at least two levels there,
so you should be ready to head to Aquatica.
There are no useful chests en route to Aquatica, so just run the cave. Beware
of Lobowings - they'll do around ten damage per hit!
-----
Rysel (Recommended Level: 12)
-----
Once you reach Rysel, it's time for an armour upgrade. Steel Armour is
available for 198 meseta (260, less 62 trade-in for Hunting Armour), but don't
bother with Force Boots. There is no weapon upgrade here.
Since you never again need to pass through the Landen - Aquatica cave, pass the
Sapphire to Mieu, and use the space for a sixth dimate. Once stocked up, move
on to Aridia.
Between the cave and saving the extra cash you need to buy your armour upgrade
and restock your items you'll probably gain a couple of levels.
----------------------
Aquatica - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 12)
----------------------
Just like the last cave, don't bother making detours for chests. The two that
fall right on the fastest path contain a dimate and an antidote.
Once out of the cave, watch out for Giants - they'll take five hits to go down,
and hit as hard as a Lobowing.
-------
Hazatak (Recommended level: 14)
-------
Now you have a bit of a decision to make. Laser Needlers are for sale here, and
they will make a HUGE difference in your quest. For the sake of challenge we
won't buy them just yet, but if you find you're having trouble with Wren's cave
you can come and buy one or two, as needed. They cost 1460 meseta each (1550,
less 90 trade-in for a Hunting Knife).
There's no armour upgrade available here - though Rhys can equip a Cape, it is
not as good as the Steel Armour you already have.
-----------
Wren's Cave (Recommended level: 14)
-----------
Wren awaits. Modify your usual item list a little, and bring three antidotes
and seven dimates - you'll find fewer poisoning enemies while needing to heal
more often, and an escape pipe is in a chest in Wren's Cave if you need one.
Run in, grab Wren, discard the escape pipe he comes with, kill him off, and
either walk out or use the chest escape pipe. Try to save at least one dimate
and antidote (after being at full HP) for the walk back to Hazatak. In addition
to the escape pipe chest, the chest on the far left of the cave holds a dimate,
and is usually worth the minor detour to grab it.
Two enemies here stand out. Gilatoads take four Hunting Knife hits to drop, and
do up to nine damage; Grinders only do three or four damage but take nine -
yes, NINE - Hunting Knife slashes to kill. These hits-to-kill numbers cut to
about half with two Laser Needlers.
-------------
Weather Tower (Recommended level: 19)
-------------
Unfortunately, you no longer have much choice about the Laser Needlers. Clumps
and Hoplizes are just too much for Hunting Knives. Level until you can equip
one in each hand, and Rhys never needs another weapon upgrade. Also grab the
usual healing items, and again don't worry about an escape pipe.
Stick to the main floor, unless you want to pop up the second staircase to grab
the trimate. Make sure you have a free item slot before talking to Lyle, since
you'll need to take the Moon Tear from him. Now that you have him, pass the
Monitor and Sapphire Mieu is holding to him, so she doesn't carry them into
future generations. Killing Lyle off without leaving Rhys too weak to finish
the fight can be a tricky endeavor, since Lyle starts so strong. Then quickly
fix the weather, and head to Agoe.
--------------
Agoe/Shushoran (Recommended Level: 20)
--------------
Head to the Agoe armour shop and upgrade to a Steel Helm for 165 meseta (190,
less 25 trade-in for a Hunting Helm), then Shushoran's for Ceramic Armour for
370 meseta (500, less 130 trade-in for Hunting Armour). Trimate is now
available, but for 500 meseta each they're too expensive to be worth it.
-----------------
Shushoran Dungeon (Recommended Level: 20)
-----------------
The monster to watch for here is Fearmoos. 9 damage per attack, 25 with a Foi,
and takes 3 hits to kill. Head straight for Lyle, with the exception of the
chest you can see on the left edge of the screen from the start of the second
underground section - it's another trimate.
Rhys will get completely healed (including unpoisoned) for the fight with Lyle,
so don't waste items healing before you talk to him. Lyle should go down in
three rounds, so just focus on attacking him and you'll be fine.
Annoyingly, everyone is revived after the fight, so you'll have to kill them
all off again. Remember to take the Moon Stone from Lena!
-----------------
Satellite Control (Recommended Level: 21)
-----------------
Not much to say here, just run in and fix the machine. Once done, you can
pass the Moon Stone and Moon Tear to Lyle to make room for more healing. I
recommend having two antidotes, then filling up with healing. Try to save the
trimates you've found, but quite likely you'll need to use them.
-----
Cille (Recommended Level: 24)
-----
[NOTE: The inn at Cille, once you feel you are leveled enough, is a great place
to copy your save file if you want to try both Ayn and Nial's routes!]
Once again, you have a choice. By now you're probably on level 22, and at this
point Cille is possible, with some luck. Head in with equipment and dimate/
trimate only, hope you don't get poisoned, and you've got a chance. The
alternative is to level up until you can afford Laconia Armour, which will take
5850 meseta (6100, less 250 trade in for Ceramic Armour).
Either way, run straight for the king, only detouring to grab the trimate just
left of the stairs out of the underground. Blotters will take 4 hits, and
Clopses may take five, and both can hit back pretty hard. I recommend running
from any battle with two Blotters. As for Cille himself, his Dryads will go
down with two hits, so you can clear them out quite quickly, and focus on the
boss. His Zan will do up to 25 damage, and he is fairly fast, so you'll need to
watch your healing. Still, if you can make it to him with a couple of healing
items you should do fine. He has 400 HP.
Generation One complete!
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Generation 2
Ayn: Last man standing against the cyborg hordes... (Difficult)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Cille (Recommended Level: 1)
-----
First thing is to clear up some inventory room by passing the Sapphire and
Monitor to Mieu. Then, stop by the technique shop and max out your Res. Don't
worry about dropping Anti down to one, since nothing you meet for a while is
poisonous. Later you can just carry some antidotes, and if you run out a level
one Anti still works about half of the time. Don't worry about dimates now
either, since your first trips have very short distances between inns.
[NOTE: As you know, there is equipment here that would benefit Ayn through the
whole generation, but he really doesn't need it. You can save up for Laconia
Armour relatively quickly, if you do the rest of the generation will go very
easily as your defense will be much higher and you'll be at level 10 before you
even leave Cille. If you choose to do this, change the difficulty rating of
this generation from Difficult to Easy! Keep in mind that if you do not create
the land bridge you will only battle Arachnes, which makes this saving even
easier.]
-------------------------------------
Shushoran/Rysel/Shushoran/Cille/Rysel (Recommended Level: 1)
-------------------------------------
Time for some action. I recommend saving at the inn at Cille before leaving,
just in case. At first you'll meet only Arachnes and Blinks, and neither poses
any real threat - at most you'll take 5 damage from a Zan. Around Rysel is
the first real threat, as Dogbots can do 12 damage and may take two hits to go
down. Seekers also take two hits, but only do as much damage as Arachnes so
target them last.
There really isn't much more to say, just do the required runs and keep
yourself healed. Without Wren and Mieu stealing your XP Ayn will level very
quickly.
Do NOT waste your meseta on Royal Boots!
----------------------
Aquatica - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 7)
----------------------
The only real note here is that you need to focus on taking out Agribots first,
as they basically the same strength as Dogbots. I recommend running if there
are two Agribots in an encounter. There is still nothing poisonous, so don't
buy any antidotes yet, but you should fill up on dimates, as you will burn
through your TP very quickly.
Once in Aridia, focus on Lazrbots first, as their Foi hits as hard as an
Agribot but are a guaranteed one-hit kill.
-----------
Wren's Cave (Recommended Level: 10)
-----------
Before leaving Hazatak, buy a pair of Force Needlers for 2645 meseta (1550
meseta each, less 455 for your sword) and restock your dimate (you still don't
need antidotes), then save at the inn.
There are no new enemies on this trip, so you should have much less difficulty
in this cave than the cave from Aquatica. The only drawback to the weapon
change is that it will always take two rounds to eliminate Agribots, whereas
with a sword you sometimes get a one-hit kill, but being able to take out a
group of Arachnes in one round makes up for it.
Remember to have a free item space in your inventory before picking up the
Dragon Tear, then head back to Hazatak.
----------------------
Aridia - Dragonia Cave (Recommended Level: 13)
----------------------
For the first time this generation, you'll need to buy a couple of antidotes -
nothing in the cave is poisonous, but Doomflies on the Dragonia side are. (In
fact, you'll want them to poison you, since their physical attacks do over 20
damage!) New enemies here, like Stix and Warblbots, will do up to 14 damage,
and usually take three needler attacks (so two rounds for one half of the
screen, three rounds for both). Try to stay near full HP between battles, as
you'll need to clear at least half of some screens to make healing worthwhile.
Five Warblbots and a Stix can do as much damage in one round as you will heal!
Try to use your TP first - you'll want to try and save dimates on this run.
Also, you'll often encounter three Arachnes on one side of the screen and only
one or two Warblbots or Lazrbots on the other, you need to decide which to
focus on but I usually take out the Arachnes first in this situation, unless
there is a Stix in behind the other group.
As for chests, grab the Laser Shot on your way for the 1250 meseta trade-in
value, and the Ceramic Helm just off the path in the bottom of the wide centre
portion. Don't go on the big detour for the Force Ribbon in the top right - the
Zan it casts is too weak to be useful, you don't need the cash yet, and you can
grab it on your way back after freeing Thea, when you are a bit stronger.
Once through the cave, run straight to Lensol.
--------------------
Lensol/Endora/Lensol (Recommended Level: 14)
--------------------
Stop and heal in Lensol, and sell off the Laser Shot and your old Steel Helm.
Stop off to buy Force Armour at a cost of 1190 mesta (1440, less 250 for your
Ceramic Armour). As for items, Lensol only sells antidotes and trimates, so
bump up to two antidotes and rely on your TP for healing on the run to Endora.
Make sure to stop at the technique shop to max out your Res.
[NOTE: The Force Emel, which is available here, casts a level 5 Res when used
in or out of battle. However, it is not worth the cost of 7900 meseta!]
As mentioned before the big enemy to watch for here are Doomflies, who can do
over 20 damage with an attack - be sure to eliminate them first! They take
three attacks to go down.
Sadly, there's no equipment upgrades in Endora, so just fill up on dimate -
remember two antidotes for the trip back - and talk to the townsman to have the
Lensol gate opened. Save at the inn and then run back to the castle, saving
the dimates.
------
Lensol (Recommended Level: 16)
------
Once again you're entering an area with no poisonous enemies, so don't worry
about restocking your antidotes just yet.
There are no chests worth grabbing, other than the antidote in Thea's cell if
you have the room in your item list, so just run straight for Thea. The enemies
on the surface are weaker than the Aridia - Dragonia cave, while the enemies
below ground are the same as that cave, only without Arachnes. Once you reach
Thea take the Twins Ruby, toss the rest of her equipment, and kill her off.
Make sure to pass all of the discarded items Mieu is carrying to Thea as well,
so she doesn't carry them forward to the third generation. Then run for the
exit. Oddly, the first underground section is now free of cyborgs on your walk
back.
----------------------
Aridia - Dragonia Cave (Recommended Level: 18)
----------------------
If you follwed my item advice, you should have one antidote and a mostly full
inventory of dimate for the trip back to Aridia. The single antidote should get
you to the cave, and the dimates will be more than enough to get you through
it. Remember to grab the Force Ribbon in the top right chest on the way back -
you now need the 1400 meseta it is worth.
--------------------
Aridia - Landen Cave (Recommended Level: 19)
--------------------
Now that you're back in Hazatak, it's time to finally spend all the money
you've been hoarding. You should have well over the 19225 meseta needed to
trade in one of your Force Needlers for Royal (20000, less 775 for the trade
in). Be sure to equip it in Ayn's left hand so it is his first attack. Then
make sure you have three antidotes, but don't worry about dimates just yet.
To afford a second Royal Needler, at first just run in and grab the Force Claw,
Sword, and Knife in the cave. They're worth 7745 meseta, so fight more battles
until you hit 11500 meseta, then return to Hazatak and trade in all the Force
weapons (including your Force Needler) to buy the Royal Needler.
Then refill on antidotes and dimates and head through the cave to Landen. The
enemies are limited to Arachnes, Agribots, and Commsats, so with two Royal
Needlers you'll dominate the cave.
Once on the other side, head to Landen, and save at the inn.
------
Landen (Recommended Level: 21)
------
The chests in the castle are useless, and you will have no problems with the
enemies in the dungeon, so just head straight for Sari. She's the reason why
you need the Royal Needlers - the only way to defeat her is a quick war of
attrition. Target the Zarachnes on the right on the first round, hitting Sari
as well. On the second round, if you act first, you should be able to kill
both the Zarachnes and Sari with your first attack and the Commsats with your
second (occasionally you'll need to use the second to finish off Sari).
Remember to heal both before and after the fight, and take the Power Topaz
from Sari (toss an antidote to make room if you have to). Then make your way
out (if you run into a battle on the way out kill off Sari) and save at the
inn.
Make your way to Techna as quickly as you can. Because Sean and Crys need the
Twins Ruby in their generations Ayn can't discard it once he returns to Aridia,
but he can pass the Dragon Tear to Thea once he returns to Dragonia.
------
Techna (Recommended Level: 23)
------
[NOTE: The inn at Techna is a great place to copy your save file if you want
to try both Sean and Crys' routes!]
First stop - armour shop. Spend 5380 meseta on Laconia Armour (6100, less 720
for your Force Armour), and make sure to buy a Force Shield for 3900 - it casts
a level 10 Res when used as an item either in or out of battle, healing Ayn 50
HP. Then go to the item shop and trade in all your dimates and antidotes for
trimate.
[TIP: If you want to cheat just once, this is the place to do it. Buy a second
Force Shield and give it to Mieu, so that Sean or Crys can have it at the start
of generation three. For Sean, it would make little difference, for Crys it
would be a huge shift in difficulty for the start of his quest.]
Now for the castle. Thanks to the Force Shield you can heal up during and after
every battle. Once you reach Azura, however, you may still need to use Res to
get through some fights - four Mechs and two Stickbots, in particular, will hit
you extremely hard.
Once in the Azura underground, ignore the chests and head straight for Siren.
In the first round take out his Flashes, then heal in round two, and keep
healing until you start a round with at least 90 hit points. After your second
attack repeat, and on the third attack you can finish the Mechs. Time to focus
on Siren.
Be prepared for a long battle. Siren has 1300 HP, and your attacks will only do
34 - 38 damage per round. Worse, his attack does up to 41 damage to you, and he
often sneaks in first (even if you use a maxed out Ner), so you need to heal
on any round where you start with less than 83 HP. Still, as long as you're
careful, you should be guaranteed to win at this point. Just be patient, and
eventually Siren will go down.
Generation Two complete!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 2
Nial: A spearhead slicing through the monster waves... (Easy)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Landen
------
Start by raiding Landen castle's basement for an antidote, a monomate, two
dimates, and a trimate. Sell the monomate, pass your Monitor, Sapphire, and
Moon Stone to Mieu, buy two more antidotes and fill up on dimate.
Don't forget to kill off Mieu and Wren!
---------------------
Landen - Divisia Cave (Recommended Level: 1)
---------------------
You'll find that most new enemies do exactly four damage to Nial, and Eindons
and Tsveidons do nothing - but can, of course, still poison you. Watch out for
Oozes, who can do 14 damage with a Foi, or packs of five or six Lizrds, who
will quickly 4 damage Nial to death. Oddly, walking to the cave is far more
dangerous than the cave itself! You should be able to grab the chests, none of
it is useful for Nial, but they sell for some quick cash (350 meseta for the
Ceramic Ribbon, 500 for the Ceramic Shield, and 1250 for the Laser Shot).
--------------
Divisia Castle (Recommended Level: 5)
--------------
Now that you can buy trimate...don't! Bump up to four antidotes, and fill the
other item slots with dimate. Start Divisia with a little diversion down the
far right staircase to grab a trimate - you don't really need it, but it's a
primer for the dungeon, plus it gives a bit of XP. Once you've finished this
little section, head back to restock and rest up. Now it's time to rescue
Alair! Your biggest threats will be Oozes, with their Foi, and Smashers, who
take three hits to kill and do seven damage per attack. Don't be surprised if
you need to use a dimate after every battle, so make this run as short as
possible. The only chest, which is out of the way, is an antidote, so it most
likely isn't worth it unless you've had really bad luck with the poisoning!
Once you reach Southern Divisia, you can finally upgrade your equipment. Top
priority is Force Needlers, which will set you back 5510 meseta (two at 3000,
less 490 for your Steel Sword), then Force Armour for 1190 (1440, less 250 for
your Ceramic Armour). Take only three antidotes, fill back up on dimate, and
you're ready to go.
-------------
Rebel Hideout (Recommended Level: 8)
-------------
Everything you meet en route to the cave will go down in two needler hits, as
will most enemies in the cave itself. Don't worry too much about saving your
dimates or antidotes, as nothing inside the cave poisons and healing is about
to get much easier...
Once in the cave, watch out for Primus - as well as doing 12 damage with a Zan,
they take three hits to kill. Be sure to grab the Force Helm in the top left
chest, as it casts a level 5 Res when used as an item in battle, healing Nial
25 HP. You can now use this to heal up at the end of any battle where you can
leave one or two weak enemies alive, reducing your reliance on dimate.
Virtually eliminating it, in fact - from now on, this generation is going to
be a joke!
Next, run straight for Ryan, grabbing the Force Bandanna on the way. After
seeing the cinema scene, pass the Twins Ruby to Nial, discard Ryan's equipment,
and grab all three chests in Ryan's room - you'll want the cash from the Laser
Sword and Claw - and grab the Ceramic Headgear in the far right chest on your
way back too. Throw away dimates, and then antidotes, to make room. Get greedy!
All this equipment, plus your old Steel Helm, is worth 4540 meseta.
Don't forget to kill Ryan off! Also, pass the discarded equipment you gave
Mieu to Ryan, so Mieu doesn't pass it forward to the next generation.
----------------
Return to Landen (Recommended Level: 12)
----------------
Though Northern Divisia is your last chance to buy trimate before reaching
Mystoke...don't. Seriously, just carry three or four antidotes and a few
dimates. With the Force Needlers and Helm you should have no difficulty in
making it to Mystoke, and you can toss dimates to make room to clear out later
chests you can sell for cash. Just walk through the Landen - Divisia cave and
save at the inn in Ilan.
--------------------
Landen - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 14)
--------------------
Once inside the cave, pass the Twins Ruby to Ryan, since you never need to come
through this cave again. The enemies here are identical to the Rebel Hideout,
so you won't need healing beyond what the Force Helm provides, and there are
three chests holding a Force Sword, Knife, and Claw, which you may as well pick
up too! The Force Sword casts a decent Foi when used as an item in battle, so
you can use it to get down to a single enemy for Force Helm healing when Force
Needlers would kill everything left.
Once through, watch for Slashers, who can do significant damage. Stop in
Hazatak to sell your goodies and go recruit Laya. Take her Mystery Star and
Laya's Bow, kill her off, and save before running off to Frigidia.
Royal Needlers are available here, but you don't really need them.
----------------------
Aridia - Frigidia Cave (Recommended Level: 15)
----------------------
There's a few new enemies here, but nothing you can't handle. You should have
no trouble clearing out the chests in the cave, or making it to Mystoke.
-------
Mystoke (Recommended Level: 18)
-------
Though by now (or at least by the time you leave the castle) you should have
enough money to afford Planar Armour, don't bother. Instead, spend 9000 meseta
to upgrade your needlers to Laconia (6000 each, less 1500 for each Force
Needler). The castle is barely more difficult than the last two caves, so just
roll on through with your current items. The only out of the way chest to
grab is an antidote, so I wouldn't bother. Do snag that trimate, though - one
less you need to buy before facing Lune.
Once you have the Laya Pendant, head to Aerone.
------
Aerone (Recommended Level: 22)
------
Finally, time to spend all that money you built up raiding chests...not only
can you upgrade your Force Armour for Laconia for 5380 meseta (6100, less 720
for your trade-in), but you should buy a Force Shield for 3900 as well - like
the Force Helm it casts Res, only at level 10, healing 50 HP, and can be used
out of battle as well, so you no longer need to keep one enemy alive at the end
of a battle! Fill your remaining item slots with trimate, and go kick Lune's
ass!
[NOTE: The inn at Aerone is a great place to copy your save file if you want
to try both Aron and Adan's routes!]
------
Dahlia (Recommended Level: 22)
------
For starters, ignore the chest just before the shuttle - it only has a
monomate. Just head straight for Lune. Don't grab the chests in the Aero Parts
Dungeon, since you'd have to dump a trimate to carry them and your son can sell
them off in the third generation.
For Lune himself, you should have no trouble. Take out the Cliques on the right
first - they can do more damage than the Murafires. Use a trimate on round two,
then finish the Murafires on round three. Consider the fight over - Lune can
only do up to 26 damage per round, so simply settle into an attack - Force
Shield - attack - Force Shield pattern. He has 1950 HP, so do expect it to take
a little while!
[NOTE: For more challenge, try to defeat Lune in true Orakian style - swap
your Laconia Needlers for a Laconia Sword! The start of the fight is much
harder, as you can only kill one Murafire or Clique per round you need to get
lucky with the timing of your trimates, but once you get Lune alone you'll
do twice the damage you would with needlers. An easier alternate is Laconia
Knives - just as much damage as the sword to Lune, but killing two Murafires
or Cliques per round. Nial is just as good with knives as Sari, which I suppose
makes sense since they would be half-siblings.
Both are possible - I did them with no active leveling anywhere in Nial's
chapter.]
Generation Two complete!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 3
Sean: Vengeance from the shattered moon... (Intermediate)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Aridia (Recommended Level: 1)
------
Immediately upon landing in Aridia, settle your equipment. Pass the Monitor,
Sapphire, Dragon Tear, and Power Topaz to Mieu, then head for Hazatak.
Hope you don't encounter a Gnasher on the way - they can one-hit kill, so
using them to kill off Wren and Mieu will usually result in Sean dying instead.
Once in Hazatak, head to the technique shop and max out Res and Zan (handy
for clearing weak first or second generation enemies protecting third
generation enemies in the back row), then go to the item shop to buy two
antidotes and fill up on dimate. Don't worry about buying needlers - from now
on, you will have to rely on swords, even Royal Needlers are not powerful
enough anymore, and the defense boost from the sword helps as well.
--------------------
Landen - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 1)
--------------------
Not much to do here, since Ayn cleaned the chests out. Just run through. The
most significant threat are Mortes, who can kick you for up to 22 damage -
fortunately, they go down in one sword slice. Heal after any battle where you
have less than 80 HP. That will be most of them, but Sean has more than enough
TP, and on the odd chance you run out you still have your dimates. For the
most part you should be fine as long as no powerful enemies get a surprise
attack on you.
Don't forget that even though they are a first generation enemy, Lashgulls can
do up to 18 damage with a Tsu!
Once through the cave make your way to Yaata, the overworld enemies here are
slightly weaker than the enemies in the cave, so if you made it this far you
should be fine. Restock your dimate if necessary, then save for the run to
Divisia.
[NOTE: The Force Emel, which is available in Ilan, casts a level 5 Res when
used in or out of battle. However, it is not worth the 7900 meseta!]
---------------------
Landen - Divisia Cave (Recommended Level: 3)
---------------------
The enemies get stronger once you cross the bridge, so be prepared - Tertius,
Killsats, and Grizrds all hit fairly hard in large packs. The cave, on the
other hand, has the same enemies as the Landen - Aridia cave, so it will be
easy enough that you can grab the chests on the way through. None of it is
useful, but altogether it sells for 2100 meseta, and the extra fights along the
detours mean more meseta and XP. Remember to use dimates before opening the
chests to make room!
Once through, head straight for Divisia and sell off your cave treasures. The
dungeon is free of enemies, so grab the trimate in the basement of the left
staircase and then make your way through to Southern Divisia.
-------------
Rebel Hideout (Recommended Level: 6)
-------------
Before heading out, head to the item shop and trade in your dimate for trimate.
Also stop by the technique shop to make sure your Res is maxed out. Don't worry
about antidotes, there is nothing poisonous where you're going.
The walk to the cave is remarkably easy, there are no particularly deadly
enemies. Not so for the cave! Fazrbots can be deceptive, hitting for only 6
damage on an attack but 30 with a Foi, and Robomen hit for up to 19 damage and
take two hits to go down.
Your first order of business - grab the Force Helm in the top left of the
dungeon. Just like the Force Shield it casts Res, but unfortunately at half the
strength, only healing 25 HP, and only during battles, meaning you'll need to
keep an enemy alive and heal before you end the battle. Once you have it you
can conserve your TP and trimate for emergency in-battle healing. Also grab the
Hunting Bandanna, Laser Sword, and Laser Claw that are on the way ( they sell
for 3695 meseta), and of course the Sub Parts. Don't bother with the Ceramic
Headgear on the far right, though, as its value of 750 meseta doesn't justify
the effort.
----------------
Return to Aridia (Recommended Level: 10)
----------------
Before leaving, restock your two antidotes and fill up on trimate - you're
returning to areas with poisonous creatures, and you won't get another chance
to buy trimate until you reach Mystoke. Not that you'll need it right away -
with all the leveling in the Rebel Hideout you should have no problem reaching
Yaata, then Hazatak, on Force Helm and TP alone.
Once you return to Aridia you can finally discard the Twins Ruby by passing it
to Mieu. Go through the tunnel to find Laya, and take her Mystery Star and
Laya's Bow (toss a trimate if you have to). Save at the inn before trying to
kill off Laya (remember the Gnashers!), and save again once you have done so.
If you had to use any items en route, restock before you leave for Frigidia,
and stop by the Technique Distribution shop to make sure Res and Zan are
maxed.
----------------------
Aridia - Frigidia Cave (Recommended Level: 12)
----------------------
You probably went up a few levels getting to Aridia, so this cave will be a
snap. Since you likely have a nice full load of Trimate, don't bother grabbing
any chests unless you have the free item spaces (one of which you can make by
passing the Mystery Star off to Mieu). Enemies of note on this trip are
Samurai, who can do over 25 damage with an attack, and once through the cave
Squakbots can do the same with a Foi. Large packs of Fires can also be
dangerous, but two Zans should eliminate the entire batch.
-------
Mystoke (Recommended Level: 13)
-------
Before heading into the castle, walk to the armour shop for Planar Armour - you
should have far more than the 29950 meseta (33000, less the 3050 trade-in for
your Laconia Armour) you need. Don't bother restocking your antidotes yet, as
nothing in Mystoke is poisonous, but don't fill up on trimate either - remember
there's one in a chest en route, and you need to save the free space from the
Mystery Star for the Laya Pendant.
Droidmen are as strong as Samurai (and Mechmen come close), so focus on them
first. Once you get underground the enemies are the same as the Rebel Hideout,
so just watch out for Fazrbots and their 30 damage Foi and you'll do fine. Be
sure to save your TP and trimate for emergencies.
Once back outside, restock your antidotes (but not your trimates) and head for
Aerone.
------
Aerone (Recommended Level: 15)
------
Time to upgrade to a Force Shield - and it will only set you back 2025 meseta
(3900, less 1875 for the Force Helm)! For the immediate future you will not
need trimate, so if you plan on grabbing all of the chests on Dahlia sell some
before you go. Sell at least two, so you can increase your antidotes to three
and have room for the Aero Parts.
------
Dahlia (Recommended Level: 15)
------
Cakewalk is not a strong enough word for the ease of this dungeon. Put it this
way - Aron starts here at level one, so how hard can it be? The XP is pathetic,
and you should already have all the meseta you need, so just run in and grab
the Aero Parts. Don't bother grabbing chests until your way back out (toss
antidotes to make room) and don't talk to Kara until you are on your way out,
since you have to take Lune's Slicer from her before killing her off.
--------
Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 16)
--------
Before heading in for the Aqua Parts, stop off at New Mota and drop 56500
meseta for a Planar Sword (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword). Also sell
any antidotes, since nothing in the dungeon is poisonous. Don't bother with
trimate, since you'll need the free item spaces soon to carry legendary
weapons.
There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over
50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will regularly hit first for 25 damage -
three or four of them can be a real pain. Both enemies take two hits to kill,
so they can be a challenge, and you will often need to use a Res in those
battles. Don't bother getting far out of the way chests (well, you may as well
grab the Hunting Bow that is just below the Aqua Parts and the Royal Crown just
above. They are worth 1400 and 11500 meseta respectively - not that you need
it). Then just grab the Aqua Parts and get out as quickly as you can.
-----------------
Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17)
-----------------
The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through to Landen (via Divisia)
to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to have a free item space before turning into
the water skimmer), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw (but watch for Gnashers!).
Then just make your way to the inn at Agoe. Don't bother stopping by Rysel to
upgrade your Force Boots to Royal, it's just not worth the time.
Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword, you never again need the Sub Parts,
so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too!
---------
Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17)
---------
The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do
45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab
Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. If you ditch some trimate you'll
have room to pick up the Royal Emel, Royal Sword, and Vulcan on Siren's side
of the cave as well, which you can sell for 50400 meseta - though you really
don't need money anymore, it's kind of fun to see all those mesetas!
Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to
Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through
Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip!
Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four
you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to
each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see
section 8).
-------
Lashute (Recommended Level: 19)
-------
[IMPORTANT NOTE: At the time I performed these solos I was unaware of the
defense merge secondary effect of the Pron glitch, and was not aware of what
caused the Pron glitch. Since I had no idea how to avoid it, and thought it
was only cosmetic, I allowed it to happen. As a result, Sean's defense was 90
points higher than it should have been. I have not tested these recommended
levels without this defense boost, but they may be understated by at
least 5 for Rulakir and Dark Force. Unlike the other heroes this is only
"may", not "probably", but do be aware of it.
I may at some later date redo these final runs without activating the glitch.]
Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with
trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Force
Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight
trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if
you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you
should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece, even if you don't have the
TP to attempt an Anti. Also be sure to stop by the technique shop and to make
sure Res and Zan are maxed out, and do Ner while you're at it - it's about to
finally have a use!
The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row
enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a
technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority:
Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer,
and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics
you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for
now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Sean is quite quick, and
will usually go first - but don't get cocky!
-------
Rulakir (Recommended Level: 21)
-------
Note that you won't need to level to reach 21 - if you start Lashute at level
19 you will be at level 21 by the time you reach Rulakir!
Here is where Sean proves his dominance over the other heroes, even other
healers like Adan and Aron. Until now Zan was merely a convenience and time
techniques were untouched, but they are critical to winning this battle without
serious leveling!
Through use of the Force Shield you should be able to reach Rulakir with full
healing capability, be sure to top up your HP before starting the fight. The
key is to have first strike on rounds two and three. On the first two rounds
use Zan on the front row, and if you strike first on the second round you will
kill all the Azufires and Murafires before they attack. Of course, with their
first six attacks and two hits from Rulakir, you'll be near death, so going
before Rulakir on round three is a must so you can heal yourself up. On round
four cast Ner to ensure you always go first from now on, on round five heal
again, and since Rulakir can do up to 65 damage settle into an attack - heal -
attack - heal pattern. You'll do over 80 damage per attack and he has only 1500
HP, so he should go down long before you run out of TP and trimate.
Then just head (carefully!) back to Mystoke and rest up. You'll probably be at
level 23 by the time you make it back to the inn.
----------
Dark Force (Recommended Level: 35)
----------
[NOTE: There is an outside chance that Sean could defeat Dark Force without
leveling. Having access to Ner greatly increases healing efficiency since you
never need to insure against Dark Force slipping in a first attack. However, I
have been unable to do so - the one time I made it to Dark Force (out of 20
runs - that's how deadly the enemies can be at level 23) my controller froze!]
You're almost there! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm
(you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick
up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem).
This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're going to need
it! Sell your Force Boots as well to make room for a ninth trimate - the
defense and speed boosts they give are too minimal to be worthwhile. Also make
sure your Res and Ner are maxed while you're there.
Getting to the dungeon should be no problem (unless you try it without
leveling) - the annoying people who get in the way are gone, and you can
one-hit kill Watchers occasionally. The dungeon, however, will be problematic -
Khalidas, particularly if there are two or surprise you, will make very short
work of you, and Wizards and Conjurers will do up to 70 damage with a Foi.
Still, you can one-hit kill everything. Take the Khalidas first, followed by
Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners, the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly
Sorcerers.
There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement
Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one
way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room.
Now for Dark Force. Start with a Ner - Dark Force is slow enough that once you
have Ner up you will always act first. Now to face the real problem - the left
hand (the one on your right) casts Gires 95% of the time, healing everything
198 hit points, when both hands have high enough defense to keep your damage at
around 100, and the left hand has 300 HP. Hence the Royal Bow - after 15 uses
you should be up to 150 damage per attack, meaning that if you can get in two
attacks in a row without it healing you can kill it off. This is a big gamble,
though - the hand is incredibly slow and always acts last (even if you hadn't
cast Ner), so you won't be able to slip in a double attack between two
consecutive healings. What is better is to use the Royal Bow 30 times, upping
your damage to 250 per round, then slipping in two simultaneous attacks when
you have enough HP. The right hand will do up to 45 damage with a Foi, and the
body does up to 70 with a Tsu, so make sure to heal on any round if you have
less than 116 HP. Try for a Royal Bow - Res - Royal Bow - Res pattern, but once
in a while you may have to double up on Res.
Once you have the left hand killed, you're there! The right hand only has 1200
HP and has lower defense than the left, and though the body has 8000 HP you'll
do over 1000 damage per attack (over 1300 if you were doing 250 to the left
hand).
Congratulations! You've completed your solo-hero challenge!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 3
Crys: Orakio reborn... (Hard)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[NOTE: Most of Crys' quest is only slightly more difficult that Sean's.
However, extensive leveling and a fair bit of luck is required to defeat
both Rulakir and Dark Force. In fact, Dark Force may be impossible - I
unknowingly used the defense bosst from the Pron glitch secondary effect when
I did my solo-Crys, and even then it was difficult to not run out of Trimate.
BE WARNED!]
------
Landen (Recommended Level: 1)
------
Start by passing the Dragon Tear, Sapphire, Power Topaz, and Monitor to Mieu.
Remember that you cannot pass off the the Twins Ruby yet, since you will need
it to reach Aridia. Then head down to the dungeon to grab the chests - you will
especially want the trimate inside. Then save at the inn before killing off the
cyborgs, and again once you have succeeded.
Now, before running off to Divisia, you need to make a detour to Ilan. Stop and
save in Yaata on the way (the items from the castle should get you the rest of
the way, but try to save the trimate!), then reach Ilan and spend 7900 meseta
on a Force Emel - since Crys cannot heal himself, and you will take heavy
damage throughout the quest, you need any extra healing you can have. It only
heals 25 HP per use, but it's better than nothing! Also stock up on three
antidotes and 6 dimate, then save at the inn in Yaata.
---------------------
Landen - Divisia Cave (Recommended Level: 1)
---------------------
The enemies get stronger once you cross the bridge, so be prepared - Tertius,
Killsats, and Grizrds all hit fairly hard in large packs. The cave is a little
easier though - the most significant threat are Mortes, who can kick you for up
to 22 damage, but go down in one hit. You should be able to use just your
Force Emel to heal, but just for the XP and a bit more cash use some dimates to
make room for the three chests - the equipment is useless at this point but
sells for 2100 meseta.
Once through, head straight for Divisia and sell off your cave treasures. The
dungeon is free of enemies, so grab the trimate in the basement of the left
staircase and then make your way through to Southern Divisia.
-------------
Rebel Hideout (Recommended Level: 5)
-------------
Before heading out, head to the item shop and trade in your dimate and
antidotes for trimate - you need the healing, and there is nothing poisonous
where you're going.
The walk to the cave is remarkably easy, there are no particularly deadly
enemies. Not so for the cave! Fazrbots can be deceptive, hitting for only 6
damage on an attack but 30 with a Foi, and Robomen hit for up to 19 damage and
take two hits to go down. Be sure to heal up with the Force Emel after battles,
you'll need your trimates for emergency in-battle healing.
Run in and grab the Hunting Bandanna, Laser Sword, and Laser Claw that are on
the way (they sell for 3695 meseta) - if you don't have room on the way in for
the bandanna, wait until you pass by on the way out - and of course the Sub
Parts. Don't bother with the Ceramic Headgear on the far right, as its value of
750 meseta doesn't justify the risk, or the Force Helm in the top left, since
its healing effect is no better than the Force Emel.
Once finished, head back to Divisia and save at the northern inn.
----------------
Return to Landen (Recommended Level: 8)
----------------
Before leaving, restock to two antidotes and fill up on trimate - you're
returning to areas with poisonous creatures, and you won't get another chance
to buy trimate until you reach Mystoke.
The trip should not be difficult, considering the levels gained in Rebel
Hideout, so just head back and save at Yaata. Save all the trimate if you can!
--------------------
Landen - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 9)
--------------------
The enemies are the same as the Landen - Divisia cave, so again you should be
okay using just the Force Emel to heal. Once through the cave, you need to
beware of Gnashers and their one-hit kill. Some other enemies can hit hard, but
you will soon need to free up an item space, so if you have to use a trimate
it's OK.
Save as soon as you reach Hazatak, then pass through the tunnel to find Laya.
Pass the Twins Ruby to Mieu (and discard a trimate if you have to) to make room
for Laya's Bow and the Mystery Star, then kill her off (save first - remember
the Gnashers!). Restock your two antidotes if necessary, and you're ready to
go.
----------------------
Aridia - Frigidia Cave (Recommended Level: 10)
----------------------
Similar to the Rebel Hideout, you can use the Force Emel to heal up after most
battles, but expect to need to use a trimate in battle sometimes as well. Don't
bother grabbing any chests unless you have the free item spaces (one of which
you can make by passing the Mystery Star off to Mieu). Enemies of note on this
trip are Samurai, who can do over 25 damage with an attack, and once through
the cave Squakbots can do the same with a Foi. Large packs of Fires can also be
dangerous, expect to use at least one trimate in that fight.
-------
Mystoke (Recommended Level: 13)
-------
Before heading into the castle, walk to the armour shop for Planar Armour - you
should have far more than the 29950 meseta (33000, less the 3050 trade-in for
your Laconia Armour) you need. Nothing in Mystoke is poisonous, so fill up on
trimate (remember, you don't need the Mystery Star anymore).
Droidmen are as strong as Samurai (and Mechmen come close), so focus on them
first. Once you get underground the enemies are the same as the Rebel Hideout,
so just watch out for Fazrbots and their 30 damage Foi and you'll do fine.
Between the Force Emel and another trimate to find en route you should have
enough healing.
Once back outside, restock to two antidotes and full trimate, and head for
Aerone.
------
Aerone (Recommended Level: 15)
------
Time to upgrade to a Force Shield - and it will actually gain you 50 meseta
(3900, when the Force Emel sells for 3950)! For the immediate future you will
not need trimate, so sell it off before you go and fill up on antidotes (that
you can toss if you plan on grabbing chests on Dahlia).
------
Dahlia (Recommended Level: 15)
------
Cakewalk is not a strong enough word for the ease of this dungeon. Put it this
way - Aron starts here at level one, so how hard can it be? The XP is pathetic,
and you should already have all the meseta you need, so just run in and grab
the Aero Parts. Don't bother grabbing chests until your way back out (toss
antidotes to make room) and don't talk to Kara until you are on your way out,
since you have to take Lune's Slicer from her before killing her off.
--------
Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 16)
--------
Before heading in for the Aqua Parts, stop off at New Mota and drop 56500
meseta for a Planar Sword (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword). Also sell
any antidotes, since nothing in the dungeon is poisonous. Fill up on trimate,
and hit the airport.
There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over
50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will regularly hit first for 25 damage -
three or four of them can be a real pain. Both enemies take two hits to kill,
so they can be a challenge, and you will often need to use a trimate in those
battles. Don't bother getting far out of the way chests (well, you may as well
grab the Hunting Bow that is just below the Aqua Parts and the Royal Crown
just above. They are worth 1400 and 11500 meseta respectively - not that you
need it). Then just grab the Aqua Parts and get out as quickly as you can.
-----------------
Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17)
-----------------
Before leaving Mystoke, be sure to have one antidote and three trimate - you
should be able to stop in towns often enough to not worry about poison. The
trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through to Landen (via Divisia) to
get Orakio's Sword (be sure to have a free item space before turning into the
water skimmer, toss the antidote instead of a trimate), then to Aridia for
Miun's Claw (but watch for Gnashers!). Then just make your way to the inn at
Agoe. Don't bother stopping by Rysel to upgrade your Force Boots to Royal, it's
just not worth the time.
Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword, you never again need the Sub
Parts, so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too!
---------
Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17)
---------
The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do
45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab
Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. Don't ditch trimate for the chests
(though if you have already used some, grab them) - you really don't need money
anymore, but you may need emergency healing.
Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to
Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through
Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip!
Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four
you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to
each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see
section 8).
[IMPORTANT NOTE: At the time I performed these solos I was unaware of the
defense merge secondary effect of the Pron glitch, and was not aware of what
caused the Pron glitch. Since I had no idea how to avoid it, and thought it
was only cosmetic, I allowed it to happen. As a result, Crys' defense was 90
points higher than it should have been. I have not tested these recommended
levels without this defense boost, but they are likely understated by at
least 5 for Rulakir AND DARK FORCE MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE!
I may at some later date redo these final runs without activating the glitch.]
-------
Lashute (Recommended Level: 19)
-------
Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with
trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Force
Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight
trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if
you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you
should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece.
Sadly, you're only going to Lashute right now to level - you'll get double
the XP here than anywhere else in the game. You definitely need some more
strength to take on the last bosses!
The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row
enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a
technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority:
Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer,
and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics
you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for
now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Crys is quite quick, and
against most enemies he will usually go first - but don't get cocky!
I recommend returning to Mystoke and saving every two or three levels - even
at higher levels some bad luck can wipe you out pretty quickly. If you find
Lashute too difficult at first, you can get pretty good XP from the enemies
on the surface of Terminus, but they can poison you and some - a pack of
four Goatdukes in particular - can kill you just as quickly as what you'll
find in Lashute!
-------
Rulakir (Recommended Level: 35)
-------
Before heading in to battle Rulakir, stop by the technique shop and max out
Ner. You'll need to be confident in acting first to make your limited trimate
last. Also sell your Force Boots to make room for a ninth trimate - the speed
and defense boosts they give aren't worth keeping.
Through use of the Force Shield you should be able to reach Rulakir with full
trimate, be sure you are at full HP before starting the fight! You need some
luck in this - the key is to have first strike and minimal tech use by the
enemies in the first few rounds. Try to take out at least two Azufires before
using your first trimate, and at least two more enemies before the second. If
you've made it this far, you should be OK! Kill off the last Murafires, and
you're finally one-on-one with Rulakir.
Once you are alone with him, use Ner to make sure you act first 95% of the
time. Rulakir does up to 65 damage with a Tsu, so wait until your HP are lower
than 70 before using a trimate. Crys should have over 240 HP at this level, so
you should be able to get at least two attacks in between healing. You should
do over 100 damage per round, so he will go down relatively quickly - Rulakir
only has 1500 HP.
[ALTERNATE STRATEGY - UNTESTED: In attempting Kara (Sean/Crys version) solo,
I was able to defeat Rulakir by stacking Shu onto her defense to the point
where Force Shield healing became viable. If you find you run out of trimates
before you can kill Rulakir, you may want to try bringing a Steel Knife or
Planar Claw instead of the ninth trimate, and using it to cast Shu repeatedly
once the Azufires and Murafires are defeated. While the Shu generated by these
items is likely only level 5, possibly level 10, Kara was able to make this
work with a level 19 Shu, and Crys has much higher starting defense and HP.
Do be aware that Rulakir still does up to 70 damage with a Tsu, meaning
repeated Tsus can deplete your HP rapidly, try to save one or two emergency
trimates for this possibility. Stack Shu until Rulakir's attack damage drops
to below 20 (you will need to start Force Shield healing long before this
point). Also be aware this will take a very long time - Kara needed 373
rounds to beat Rulakir with this strategy.]
Then just head (carefully!) back to Mystoke and rest up.
[NOTE: I know what you're thinking...if the key is to kill off the Azufires and
Murafires quickly, why not use needlers? While Royal Needlers will allow you to
take out one group in one round, they just aren't enough for Rulakir - two
attacks only do up to 50 damage total per round, drastically increasing the
length of the battle, and without the massive defense bonus from the Nei Sword
his physical attacks will be just as powerful as his techniques. In short, the
battle is too long to heal every three rounds, Rulakir hits too hard to make
use of the Force Shield, and sooner or later Rulakir will sneak in first
attack on a round when you need to heal. Still, if you're a gambler, or try
combining this with the Shu stack strategy mentioned above...]
----------
Dark Force (Recommended Level: 40)
----------
[NOTE: Crys requires far more luck than the other three heroes! Their
recommended level for this fight is 35, and they have a reasonable chance to
succeed at that level. With Crys, expect to take numerous attempts, even at
level 40! And that's assuming he's even possible without the defense bonus I
accidentally enjoyed from the Pron glitch!]
Prepare for the hardest challenge yet! First, a little equipment shift - sell
your Laconia Helm (you'll find a replacement later, when you have more
inventory room) and pick up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag
should be no problem). This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and
you're going to need it! Also make sure your Ner is maxed while you're there.
Getting to Dark Force should be no problem - even Khalidas, unless there are
two of them or get surprise, should be no problem. You can one-hit kill almost
everything (only Guardians and Defenders will occasionally requre a second
slash). Eliminate Khalidas first, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners,
the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers.
There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement
Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one
way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room.
Now for Dark Force. Be sure to start the fight at full hit points! Ignore Ner
for now - your immediate mission is to eliminate both hands as quickly as
possible, and Crys should be fast enough at this level to go first 95% of the
time. Start by using the Royal Bow at least 9 times. You normally can get away
with healing only every third round (and remember the first one is free, since
you start at full health) - Crys should have over 255 HP and you'll take an
average of 70 damage per round (though combined they can do 115), so you should
need only three trimate to do this, then a fourth once you're finished.
Here's where you need to get lucky. You've probably noticed the left hand (on
your right) casts Gires 90% of the time. It has 300 hit points, and even with
all those Fanbis from the Royal Bow you'll only do 150 - 160 damage to it, so
you have to hope that it will decide to attack after you have attacked it when
you have the hit points to attack it a second time! With luck, it will do this
after only the second or third attempt, and you'll hear it's death sound!
Now, count your trimates (include the star mist). You will need to attack the
right hand (on your left) at least 6 times - it has 1200 HP and you will hit
for around 200 - so hopefully you have at least 3 left. Kill the right hand as
quickly as you can, and you're almost there!
If you have a trimate left, use it, otherwise you're stuck with the Force
Shield. Dark Force's body will do between 25 and 70 damage per round, meaning
that you will net an average of 5 - 10 HP per use. Settle in for a long fight!
As soon as you are over 100 hit points at the start of a round, cast Ner - you
may have noticed Dark Force still slips in a first attack now and then, Ner
will cure that problem nicely. From then on, because Dark Force will sometimes
use Tsu five or six times in a row for 55 - 70 damage, try to be at over 175 HP
at the start of a round before you decide to attack. You will hit him for 800 -
1000 damage, and he has 8000 hit points.
[Without the defense boost of the Pron glitch, you may need to swap one trimate
for either a Steel Knife or Planar Claw, and use it to stack Shu onto your
defense. I have not tested this, and you may not have enough Trimate to keep
you alive long enough to stack enough Shus to make Force Shield healing
possible.]
Congratulations! You've completed the most difficult Phantasy Star III
solo-hero challenge!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 3
Adan: The blood of Laya rises again... (Difficult)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Landen (Recommended Level: 1)
------
First thing is to settle your equipment. Give the Sapphire, Moon Stone, Twins
Ruby, Mystery Star, and Monitor to Mieu; take Laya's Bow and the Laya Pendant
from Gwyn. Toss the rest of Gwyn's equipment. Sadly, the technique distibution
shop is abandoned, so you'll have to go to Yaata to max out Adan's Res
technique. Don't worry about taking Anti down to one point, just pack five or
six antidotes. Even if they run out a level one Anti still works about half the
time.
Make your way using the Laya Temples to Aerone. Don't forget to kill off your
companions on your way! You may be tempted to stop off for needlers somewhere,
but it's not worth it - from now on, it's swords and only swords. Also, don't
bother with healing items - your Res should be enough. New enemies like
Grizrds and Killsats will do around 13 damage, so you do have to keep an eye
on your HP.
Remember that Divisia's dungeon is now empty, so don't bother staying at the
inn in Northern Divisia.
------
Dahlia (Recommended Level: 2)
------
Make sure to buy a Force Shield in Aerone, and this dungeon should be a joke.
You won't even need trimate, just bring some antidotes that you can toss to
make room for all the chests for trade-in cash (altogether it's worth 23500
meseta, but you may want to hold on to the Force Gear for a little while, which
is worth 3100 - it casts Zan when used in battle for 40 - 50 damage, which can
be handy for taking out lines of weak enemies).
Don't talk to Kara until your way back out, so you don't have to take Lune's
Slicer (and toss your last antidote) from her until you've cleared the dungeon.
--------
Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 8)
--------
Time to spend all that cash you've been saving! Stop off in New Mota to grab
a Planar Sword for 56500 meseta (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword). Now
is also a good time to stop by the technique shop and make sure Res is maxed -
you will need it shortly! You likely won't have the meseta to buy Planar Armour
(you need 29950 - 33000, less the 3050 trade-in for your Laconia Armour), grab
it if you can, otherwise just head straight to Skyhaven.
There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over
50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will almost always hit first for 25
damage - two of them can be a real pain, four of them are death. Both enemies
take two hits to kill, so they can be quite a challenge, and you will usually
need to use a Res in those battles. The only thing left to save up for is
(maybe) Planar Armour, so only grab the Hunting Bow just below the Aqua Parts
and the Royal Crown just above, they are worth 1400 and 11500 meseta
respectively. Otherwise, just grab the Aqua Parts and get out as quickly as you
can.
-----------------
Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 11)
-----------------
You should now have the 29950 meseta you need for Planar Armour, so stop by
Mystoke and pick it up. The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through
to Landen (via Divisia) to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to free up an item space
before turning into the water skimmer), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw (watch
out for Gnashers, who can one-hit kill). Then just save at the inn at Agoe.
Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword, you never again need the Sub Parts,
so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too!
---------
Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 12)
---------
The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do
45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab
Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. If you ditch all your antidotes you'll
have room to pick up the Royal Emel, Royal Sword, and Vulcan on Siren's side
of the cave as well, which you can sell for 50400 meseta - though you really
don't need money anymore!
Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to
Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through
Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip!
Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four
you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to
each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see
section 8).
[IMPORTANT NOTE: At the time I performed these solos I was unaware of the
defense merge secondary effect of the Pron glitch, and was not aware of what
caused the Pron glitch. Since I had no idea how to avoid it, and thought it
was only cosmetic, I allowed it to happen. As a result, Adan's defense was 90
points higher than it should have been. I have not tested these recommended
levels without this defense boost, but they are likely understated by at
least 5 for Rulakir and Dark Force.
I may at some later date redo these final runs without activating the glitch.]
-------
Lashute (Recommended Level: 15)
-------
Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with
trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Royal
Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight
trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if
you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you
should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece, even if you don't have the
TP to attempt an Anti. Also be sure to stop by the technique shop and keep
your Res maxed out.
Sadly, you're only going to Lashute right now to level - you'll get double
the XP here than anywhere else in the game. You definitely need some more
strength to take on the last bosses!
The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row
enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a
technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority:
Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer,
and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics
you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for
now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Adan is quite quick, and
against most enemies he will usually go first - but don't get cocky!
I recommend returning to Mystoke and saving every two or three levels - even
at higher levels some bad luck can wipe you out pretty quickly. If you find
Lashute too difficult at first, you can get pretty good XP from the enemies
on the surface of Terminus, but they can poison you and some - a pack of
four Goatdukes in particular - can kill you just as quickly as what you'll
find in Lashute!
-------
Rulakir (Recommended Level: 30)
-------
No, that recommended level is not a typo. Rulakir himself is not the problem -
it's the Murafires and Azufires with him that wipe you out. The hardest part
is surviving the first few rounds. Rulakir can do up to 70 damage, Azufires up
to 30, and Murafires up to 25. On an average round, they will do about 130
combined damage, so the trick is being sure you are at high HP at the start
of any round you choose to attack! Take out an Azufire on the first round, as
they do more damage than their purple cousins. On the second round, heal, and
keep healing until you start a round with over 130 HP. Then take out a second
Azufire, and heal again until you have at least 110 HP. Once you take out the
third Azufire you should be okay, just alternate between healing and attacking
until you finish the Murafires. Now for the man himself. Rulakir only has 1500
HP and you'll do between 90 and 100 damage per round, so it will only take
16 hits. You should still have plenty of TP and trimate left, so no more
gambling - Rulakir is slow, but will still occasionally sneak in first, so
keep up the heal - attack - heal - attack pattern unless after an attack round
you still over 140 HP.
[NOTE: I know what you're thinking...if the real problem is the Azufires and
Murafires, why not use needlers? While Royal Needlers will allow you to take
out one group in one round, they just aren't enough for Rulakir - two attacks
only do 34 - 38 damage total per round, drastically increasing the length of
the battle, and without the massive defense bonus from the Nei Sword his
physical attacks will be just as powerful as his techniques. In short, the
battle is too long to heal every other round, Rulakir hits too hard to make
use of the Force Shield, and sooner or later Rulakir will sneak in first
attack on a round when you need to heal. In theory you could use a Shu
replicating item - either the Planar Claw or Steel Knife - to stack Shu
high enough to protect yourself. This should work, but takes forever - for
reference, it took the Sean/Crys version of Kara 373 rounds to take Rulakir
down this way.]
----------
Dark Force (Recommended Level: 35)
----------
You're almost there! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm
(you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick
up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem).
This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're gonna need it!
Sell your Royal Boots as well to make room for a ninth trimate - the defense
boost they give is too minimal to be worthwhile. Also make sure your Res is
maxed while you're there.
Getting to the dungeon should be no problem - the annoying people who get in
the way are gone, and you can regularly one-hit kill Punishers and Torturers
(and sometimes Watchers and Defenders) now. The dungeon, however, may be
reminiscent of Skyhaven - Khalidas, particularly if there are two or surprise
you, will make very short work of you, and Wizards and Conjurers will do up to
70 damage with a Foi. Still, you can one-hit kill everything down there at
level 35. Focus on Khalidas, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners, the
above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers.
There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement
Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one
way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room.
Now for Dark Force. The problem here is the left hand (the one on your right) -
it casts Gires 95% of the time, healing everything 198 hit points, when both
hands have high enough defense to keep your damage at around 100 and the left
hand has 300 HP. Hence the Royal Bow - after 15 uses you should be up to 150
damage per attack, meaning that if you can get in two attacks in a row without
it healing you can kill it off. This is a big gamble, though - the hand is
incredibly slow and always acts after Adan, so you won't be able to slip in a
double attack between two consecutive healings. What is better is to use the
Royal Bow 30 times, upping your damage to 250 per round, but you have to watch
your healing - just like Rulakir, Dark Force's other parts sometimes slip in
first. (There is an item, the Royal Bandanna, that duplicates Ner, but it has
such minimal effect it would take many uses to prevent this, more than you
can likely afford healing-wise.) The right hand will do up to 45 damage with a
Foi, and the body does up to 70 with a Tsu, so make sure to heal if you have
less than 116 HP. Try for a Royal Bow - Res - Royal Bow - Res pattern, but
once in a while you may have to double up on Res.
Once you have the left hand killed, you're there! The right hand only has 1200
HP and has lower defense than the left, and though the body has 8000 HP you'll
do over 1000 damage per attack (over 1300 if you were doing 250 to the left
hand).
Congratulations! You've completed your solo-hero challenge!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 3
Aron: The grim reaper of Dahlia... (Difficult)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Dahlia (Recommended Level: 1)
------
First thing is to settle your equipment. Give the Sapphire, Moon Stone, Twins
Ruby, Mystery Star, and Monitor to Mieu; take Lune's Slicer from Kara. Toss the
rest of Kara's equipment. Next, head down to Aerone (killing off your
companions if you hit a battle on the way) to buy a Force Shield, and go to the
technique shop to max your Res. Don't worry about taking Anti down to one
point, just pack antidotes. Even if they run out a level one Anti still works
about half the time. Don't bother with healing items - your Res should be
enough. Remember to save at the inn!
As for the dungeon, it will be a joke. You won't even need trimate, just bring
some antidotes that you can toss to make room for all the chests for trade-in
cash. Altogether it's worth 23500 meseta - the Force Gear casts Zan when used
in battle so you may want to keep it, but you'll likely need the 3100 meseta.
--------
Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 5)
--------
Time to spend all that cash you've been saving! Stop off in New Mota to grab
a Planar Sword for 56500 meseta (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword) -
save up if you have to. Now is also a good time to stop by the technique shop
and make sure Res is maxed - you will need it shortly! You won't have the
meseta to buy Planar Armour (you need 29950 - 33000, less the 3050 trade-in for
your Laconia Armour), so just head straight to Skyhaven.
There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over
50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will almost always hit first for 25
damage - two of them can be a real pain, four of them are death. Both enemies
take two hits to kill, so they can be quite a challenge, and you will usually
need to use a Res multiple times in those battles. You'll get a fair amount of
cash from the enemies, but to save for Planar Armour you should also take the
short diversion to grab the Royal Crown above the Aqua Parts (worth 11500
meseta) and the Hunting Bow below them (worth 1400 meseta). Once you have those
three chests, get out as quickly as you can.
-----------------
Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 9)
-----------------
You should now have the 29950 meseta you need for Planar Armour, so stop by
Mystoke and pick it up. The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through
to Landen (via Divisia) to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to free up an item space
before turning into the water skimmer), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw and to
pick up Laya - take her Laya's Bow, pass her Mystery Star to Mieu (and since
Aron came with one as well, you now have two) and discard her other items, then
kill her off. Watch out for Gnashers - they can one-hit kill Aron. Then just
save at the inn at Agoe. Don't bother stopping by Rysel to upgrade your Force
Boots to Royal, it's just not worth the time.
Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword and Laya's Bow, you never again need
the Sub Parts, so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too!
---------
Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 9)
---------
The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do
45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab
Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. If you ditch all your antidotes you'll
have room to pick up the Royal Emel, Royal Sword, and Vulcan on Siren's side
of the cave as well, which you can sell for 50400 meseta - though you really
don't need money anymore!
Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to
Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through
Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip!
Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four
you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to
each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see
section 8).
[IMPORTANT NOTE: At the time I performed these solos I was unaware of the
defense merge secondary effect of the Pron glitch, and was not aware of what
caused the Pron glitch. Since I had no idea how to avoid it, and thought it
was only cosmetic, I allowed it to happen. As a result, Aron's defense was 90
points higher than it should have been. I have not tested these recommended
levels without this defense boost, but they are likely understated by at
least 5 for Rulakir and Dark Force.
I may at some later date redo these final runs without activating the glitch.]
-------
Lashute (Recommended Level: 13)
-------
Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with
trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Force
Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight
trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if
you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you
should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece, even if you don't have the
TP to attempt an Anti. Also be sure to stop by the technique shop and keep
your Res maxed out.
Sadly, you're only going to Lashute right now to level - you'll get double
the XP here than anywhere else in the game. You definitely need some more
strength to take on the last bosses!
The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row
enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a
technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority:
Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer,
and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics
you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for
now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Aron is quite quick, and
once you have a few levels he will usually go first - but don't get cocky!
I recommend returning to Mystoke and saving every two or three levels - even
at higher levels some bad luck can wipe you out pretty quickly. If you find
Lashute too difficult at first, you can get pretty good XP from the enemies
on the surface of Terminus, but they can poison you and some - a pack of
four Goatdukes in particular - can kill you just as quickly as what you'll
find in Lashute!
-------
Rulakir (Recommended Level: 30)
-------
No, that recommended level is not a typo. Rulakir himself is not the problem -
it's the Murafires and Azufires with him that wipe you out. The hardest part
is surviving the first few rounds. Rulakir can do up to 65 damage, Azufires up
to 30, and Murafires up to 25. On an average round, they will do about 130
combined damage, so the trick is being sure you are at high HP at the start
of any round you choose to attack! Take out an Azufire on the first round, as
they do more damage than their purple cousins. On the second round, heal, and
keep healing until you start a round with over 130 HP. Then take out a second
Azufire, and heal again until you have at least 110 HP. Once you take out the
third Azufire you should be okay, just alternate between healing and attacking
until you finish the Murafires. Now for the man himself. Rulakir only has 1500
HP and you'll do between 90 and 100 damage per round, so it will only take
16 hits. You should still have plenty of TP and trimate left, so no more
gambling - Rulakir is slow, but will still occasionally sneak in first, so
keep up the heal - attack - heal - attack pattern unless after an attack round
you still over 140 HP.
[NOTE: I know what you're thinking...if the real problem is the Azufires and
Murafires, why not use needlers? While Royal Needlers will allow you to take
out one group in one round, they just aren't enough for Rulakir - two attacks
only do 34 - 38 damage total per round, drastically increasing the length of
the battle, and without the massive defense bonus from the Nei Sword his
physical attacks will be just as powerful as his techniques. In short, the
battle is too long to heal every other round, Rulakir hits too hard to make
use of the Force Shield, and sooner or later Rulakir will sneak in first
attack on a round when you need to heal. In theory you could use a Shu
replicating item - either the Planar Claw or Steel Knife - to stack Shu
high enough to protect yourself. This should work, but takes forever - for
reference, it took the Sean/Crys version of Kara 373 rounds to take Rulakir
down this way.]
----------
Dark Force (Recommended Level: 35)
----------
You're almost there! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm
(you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick
up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem).
This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're gonna need it!
Sell your Force Boots as well to make room for a ninth trimate - the defense
and speed boosts they give are too minimal to be worthwhile. Also make sure
your Res is maxed while you're there.
Getting to the dungeon should be no problem - the annoying people who get in
the way are gone, and you can regularly one-hit kill Punishers and Torturers
(and sometimes Watchers and Defenders) now. The dungeon, however, may be
reminiscent of Skyhaven - Khalidas, particularly if there are two or surprise
you, will make very short work of you, and Wizards and Conjurers will do up to
70 damage with a Foi. Still, you can one-hit kill everything down there at
level 35, so focus on Khalidas, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners,
the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers.
There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement
Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one
way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room.
Now for Dark Force. The problem here is the left hand (the one on your right) -
it casts Gires 90% of the time, healing everything 198 hit points, when both
hands have high enough defense to keep your damage at around 100 and the left
hand has 300 HP. Hence the Royal Bow - after 15 uses you should be up to 150
damage per attack, meaning that if you can get in two attacks in a row without
it healing you can kill it off. This is a big gamble, though - the hand is
incredibly slow and always acts after Aron, so you won't be able to slip in a
double attack between two consecutive healings. What is better is to use the
Royal Bow 30 times, upping your damage to 250 per round, but you have to watch
your healing - just like Rulakir, Dark Force's other parts sometimes slip in
first. (There is an item, the Royal Bandanna, that duplicates Ner, but it has
such minimal effect it would take many uses to prevent this, more than you
can likely afford healing-wise.) The right hand will do up to 45 damage with a
Foi, and the body does up to 70 with a Tsu, so make sure to heal if you have
less than 116 HP. Try for a Royal Bow - Res - Royal Bow - Res pattern, but
once in a while you may have to double up on Res.
Once you have the left hand killed, you're there! The right hand only has 1000
HP and has lower defense than the left, and though the body has 8000 HP you'll
do over 1000 damage per attack (over 1300 if you were doing 250 to the left
hand).
Congratulations! You've completed your solo-hero challenge!
*******************************************************************************
8. What the hell is the Pron Glitch?
The "Pron Glitch" is a strange error I found when playing through my solos.
Every time I transformed the Legendary weapons into Nei weapons, strange things
would occur. At first it seemed purely cosmetic, but eventually I noticed
something...odd...in the stats screens. So I did some testing, found the
trigger, and logged the results. Mr2 did some testing as well, here's what we
found.
While transforming the Legendary weapons to Nei weapons, you can exploit a
glitch in the game code to drastically increase the speed and defense
statistics of members in your party!
To activate the glitch, remove all items from any party member whose stats you
want affected by the main effect. Unequipping is not enough, the item list for
that person must be empty. Then speak to the old man who says "Nei is the word
of ultimate power", triggering the weapon transformation.
THE RESULTS OF THE GLITCH CAN BE UNPREDICTABLE AND NEGATIVE, SO BE SURE TO SAVE
BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE GLITCH AND CHECK THE RESULTS IN ACTUAL BATTLE BEFORE
SAVING AGAIN. I ALSO RECOMMEND KEEPING A BACKUP OF THE PRE-GLITCH FILE ON THE
SECOND SAVE SLOT.
MAIN EFFECT
The speed, damage, and defense statistics of affected members will change.
1. Speed: Depending on the character, speed will change:
Adan/Aron/Crys/Sean -> Speed drops significantly
Mieu, Wren -> Speed drops by 14
Gwyn/Laya, Kara -> Speed increases into the 180 - 220 range
This has real effects in battle, therefore Gwyn/Laya and Kara will almost
always strike first in battle if affected while your hero will almost always
go last.
2. Damage: This effect is variable, but will normally place the statistic into
the 60000 - 64000 range. Unfortunately, it does not have any effect on the
damage you actually do in battle.
3. Defense: For everyone but Kara, this effect is a reduction of the defense
statistic by exactly 140 points. Kara's effect is in this range but
variable. The important thing is if this reduction drives the statistic
below zero, it will wrap back to somewhere in the 65400 range! This carries
forward into battle, so affected persons will take no damage from any
physical attack (though techniques will still damage the character
normally). The only exception is Gnashers - the formerly one-hit kill
masters will continue to do damage. In my testing this is a "whopping" 4 HP.
However, in his testing Mr2 found that only the first person in line
benefited from the defense:
"i had laya and kara get the insane defense boost. laya would take 0 damage
from physical attacks, while kara would get killed in 1 hit by Demonesses
(+110 damage). a low level wren would take 60-74 damage from them.
i then re-did it with only kara not having any items and she then took no
damage. so it seems the glitch will make the first girl has insane defense,
while the second girl has no defense."
Therefore, it appears that on a normal playthrough, this glitch is best
used on Gwyn/Laya OR Kara only.
SECONDARY EFFECT
(Thanks to Mr2 for figuring this effect out.)
Any characters who had their Legendary weapon equipped will have the speed,
damage, and defense boost of that weapon permanently fused to their base
statistics.
Just like the main effect, the damage bonus does not carry forward into actual
damage dealt in battle, but the defense and speed changes do. This is
particularly useful for your hero, who gets a 90 point defense boost from
Orakio's Sword.
SIDE EFFECTS
The following effects will occur regardless of who has an empty item list as
long as at least one does. They do not have any effect on gameplay. Do not be
alarmed when they occur!
1. Colors become negative (Temporary): this will be reversed simply by
accessing your menu screen, something you need to do anyways to check your
statistics.
2. The last person in your party will be moved out of line (Temporary):
normally this will be exactly one "square" to the right, though sometimes it
is a partial square and/or in another direction, or fails to happen at all.
It will not prevent you from moving freely, the person will walk through
obstacles. This will be reversed when you leave Skyhaven.
3. Characters become blocky (Temporary): Any black parts of characters
(everyone's shadow, parts of Wren and Aron) will have white vertical stripes
appear, making them look blocky. This will be reversed when you save and
reset.
4. Characters will be renamed (Permanent). Many characters will have letters in
their name changed, normally having a P replace the first letter. Even
people with items in their item list will be renamed.
Specifically, these are:
Adan -> A3pn
Aron -> Pron
Crys -> Prys
Gwyn -> Pwyn
Kara -> Para
Laya -> Paya
Mieu -> Pieu
Sean and Wren will not be renamed. Note that not only is this side effect
permanent, it even carries over into your save/load screen (ie; your save
file will change from "Adan LVXX" to "A3pn LVXX")
And yes, Aron being renamed to Pron, which is in turn very similar to Pr0n,
is why we called this the Pron glitch. Yes, we know we need to grow up :-P
*******************************************************************************
9. Evaluation of Other Solo Quests
After playing through all four hero paths, I speculated on the chances other
characters would have solo. I then proceeded to try them. Mieu and Wren were
completed before the GameFAQs archive system was established, but I did write
walkthroughs for them (see my "Solo-Cyborg Challenge Guide"). Conversely, I
did not write a guide for any other characters, but a log of my progress can be
found at
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=586382&topic=40709145
These are assuming you NOT use the Pron Glitch.
Mieu: Mieu is probably the most likely of the other characters to succeed, and
is the closest one could come to a true solo, only needing another character
for the Rhys/Lyle fight (though it would take significant leveling for
Rhys). In addition to her decent attacks, she can heal herself, carry items
forward through generations, and cast Fanbi at a higher level than the Royal
Bow. Her only real weakness is her low defense.
Prediction: Mieu should be able to finish the game solo. I recommend Nial's
route, so Mieu doesn't have to face high-defense cyborgs or Sari.
Result: Mr2 performed a solo Mieu while I was working on my initial solo hero
runs, and after I finished Wren I took a run at her.
Mieu is not as easy as I expected, but perfectly doable - I'd rate her
slightly below Wren (which surprised me, as I thought she'd be much easier).
While she is better for Dark Force and can actually stand up to Khalidas,
Wren was better for most of the game and was much better for fighting Sari,
Siren, and Rulakir.
For full details, see my "Solo-Cyborg FAQ".
Wren: This is a tough evaluation. Obviously Wren's high defense and HP are a
huge strength, as is his ability to target any enemy and equip the Ceramic
Shot to take out rows and the Pulse Vulcan to take out entire screens.
Access to Zan and Ner is also a bonus. But is it enough to make up for fixed
damage and no healing?
Prediction: Wren is basically a slower Crys - but with Zan. Therefore, I
suspect he can finish! He may need to level more, but should make it. Like
with Mieu, I recommend taking Nial's route rather than Ayn's.
Result: Prior to Lashute, a solo Wren was actually easier than a solo hero! I
was also surprised to find that Ayn's route is easier than Nial's - the low
HP and high defense of cyborgs make them easier for Wren to kill, Sari can
be killed in only two attacks, and Siren was pathetic because his cronies do
almost no damage to Wren. On Nial's route, Lune was actually a bit of a
challenge, due to the potency of his helpers.
Lashute, on the other hand...220 damage is just not enough to effectively
deal with the enemies there. Going through is possible, but much harder than
with a hero. Rulakir is easier (thanks to Zan), but the dungeon is again
hell. Dark Force is a trial of patience, as you rely on 50 HP Force Shield
healing when receiving an average of 47 damage per round. I managed to blow
Dark Force away, but it took 395 rounds (no, that is not a typo).
In short, Wren is fun up to Lashute, and rather difficult after. I had to
gain 10 levels (to a Crys-like XP total) and it takes forever to finish
battles. So only try to finish this if you're a real masochist!
For full details, see my "Solo-Cyborg FAQ".
Lyle: Lyle is probably as good as Rhys - he has lower defense, but can use Zan
to make up for lack of needlers and would probably do better than Rhys
against Cille.
Prediction: Perfectly doable.
Result: Easier than Rhys. Getting out of the weather tower is a bit tricky
right off the start - not having an antidote makes for some quick running!
Saving up for equipment is also not fun, essentially using Zan to wipe out
Tsveidon packs around Shushoran, but much quicker than saving up for Laser
Needlers. But beyond those two hurdles, Lyle is pretty much a breeze, thanks
to the power of his techniques - Gra, Zan, and Tsu were all useful, with
the specifics of the dungeon determining which one I maxed. And yes, the
generation boss was much easier, two Zans cleared the front row and Lyle
could then smack the king for 70 damage per round. Lyle was level 7 when
I cleared it, with no active leveling beyond saving up for Shushoran
equipment.
Lena: Don't make me laugh. Simply keeping her alive at first would be
virtually impossible, and her level-ups and equipment selection suck.
Prediction: If you manage to keep her alive, Lena may have a chance with
obscene leveling and the purchase of a Force Emel for healing. (If I
remember correctly, she cannot equip Royal Needlers, so they can't help).
But that's a big IF and MAY!
Revised Prediction: I have given Lena some more thought. You get Lena in
Shushoran, and with raiding the now monster-free castle basement for
trimates and other goods to sell she can buy a Hunting Needler in Agoe.
This should be enough to start her leveling on Tsveidons. It will still
take forever, and she'll need to be at a higher level than Rhys, but this
may be doable after all.
Result: I learned a lot about Lena in this run, the most important being that
she seems to have an improved ability to flee - I had significantly more
success running from battles than with Rhys. Because of this, once I had
saved up for a pair of Ceramic Needlers, Lena was no more difficult than
Rhys! Of course, saving up was the hard part - Hunting Needlers were too
weak, and the Trimates only netted 750 meseta, so I started with a Steel
Knife, fleeing from any battle with an Irisa and praying I could survive
two battles so I wouldn't lose meseta (since detox plus inn stay costs 30
meseta)!
I actually completed Lena at level 22, the lowest level I managed with Rhys,
and if I remember correctly he needed a lot more luck than she did. In fact,
I almost finished the king at level 19, but was killed before I could use
my last dimate. No Force Emel was required, and Lena can't even use Laser
Needlers, so powerful weapons were not the deciding factor - her ability to
run was.
Thea: You'd never get her out of her dungeon alive. If you did, or cheated
to get her out, she would have a hell of a time beating Sari.
Prediction: Impossible.
Result: Technically impossible, yes. Not only can she not escape from the
dungeon, but even when I smuggled her an escape pipe she could not kill
anything in or around Lensol. Even once I gave her some starter XP -
enough to get her to level 12 - her start was like Lena, only able to
survive a tiny percentage of fights.
The interesting thing, however, was how quickly she gained in ability,
particularly weapon damage. Once the initial hurdle was passed, Thea began
to breeze through until Sari, who required some grinding (to level 38) but
not even as much as Mieu did. Finally, Thea's low defense made Siren a
chore but not difficult, she just spammed the Force Shield to keep herself
alive while waiting for Siren to use Tsu, the only time she was left with
enough HP to safely attack. Cleared at level 40.
Sari: How could she not? When you get her you're only a few minutes away from
getting a Force Shield, compensating for her only weakness (lack of healing).
Prediction: Easier than Ayn!
Result: There was only one nasty surprise, and that was when I tried putting a
Hunting Needler on her, thinking her insane strength would let her compensate
for the weak weapon. She barely survived that fight, and even had some
difficulty with the weaker knives, but once she got the Force Knife in the
Landen-Aridia cave she destroyed everyhting in her path. No grinding was
ever required, and I never died once. For lack of a better word, Sari is a
goddess.
Result #2: Well, not a true result, but Mr2 hacked Sari into Crys' place in
third generation, and managed to complete the solo, though it was difficult -
he hacked on an extra ten million XP for the Dark Force fight. Her stats far
exceed even Crys', but without a sword (in fact, her best weapons are
only Laconia Knives, as Royal Knives are not accessible in the game) her
defense was too low to make use of Force Shield healing on Dark Force.
Ryan: He'd be no different compared to Nial than Lyle is to Rhys, plus he has
the bonus of getting the Force Helm and Force Shield.
Prediction: Lack of needlers hurts, but with those shades, how can he lose?
Result: Oops. Forgot about having to get him out of a cave full of Primus with
just a Steel Staff. While he does have some chance - if he can make it out
of the cave, it then frees of enemies, allowing access to the Force Helm -
I never managed to do it, the Primus are very difficult to run from and too
strong to fight. With a smuggled escape pipe he was possible, but he's way
weaker compared to Mieu than Lyle was, with no attack techniques to
compensate. He cleared it, but it wasn't easy.
Laya (Nial Route): Tough call. Her healing is awesome and her ability to
target back row enemies helps, but she's just too weak, and only a maxed-out
Fanbi can make up for that. I'm not sure it's enough.
Prediction: Laya could probably make it past Lune, but only with obscene
amounts of leveling.
Result: Laya gets a few interesting starting bonuses that made her easier than
expected. For one, there is an area just southwest of Hazatak (right around
the airstrip) that only has weak first-generation enemies, which combined
with her strong starter weapon allowed her to safely level from 1. (It
turns out this was unnecessary, see the generation 3 notes below). She
still required significant leveling - I needed level 19 to be able to
reach the Ceramic Bow in the Aridia-Frigidia cave (and use an escape pipe
to get out), level 25 to raid the chests in the Landen-Aridia cave, and
level 40 to beat Lune.
Laya (Sean/Crys/Aron Route): As weak as she is for Nial's route, she's even
more overmatched here.
Prediction: Able to reach Lashute, but unable to even reach - let alone
defeat - Rulakir. That's assuming you have the patience to level her up on
first generation enemies long enough to survive in Aridia!
Result: Did you know that Forsa works remarkably well on a wide range of
enemies? And that it gives full XP and meseta for the enemies it kills?
I didn't, until I got desperate trying to level Laya in 3rd generation.
One Killer, one Forsa, and she went from level 5 to 15 (the previous
levels gleaned from the rare Tsveidon and Flayl fights). Forsa became her
weapon of choice, carrying her all the way to Mystoke, where she had to
actually fight her way through due to enemy resistance. However, Dahlia
and Skyhaven enemies sharted the same weakness, even Demonesses were not
able to stop her (though she did not run into four).
Forsa stopped working in Lashute, but with a lot of grinding (level 70) she
managed to make her way through, defeating Rulakir at level 71. Dark Force
was actually "easy" (relatively), I almost defeated him at level 72 and
finally dropped him on level 77. That was only the fourth time I had even
reached him, for Laya it's actually harder to reach Dark Force than to
defeat him.
Kara (Sean/Crys Route): Slicers just aren't enough to compensate for no
defense, low HP, and no healing. Leveling takes forever, too.
Prediction: No farther than Laya, possibly less!
Result: Very difficult. Even Dahlia was too much for her at first, I had to
run to Ilan (through Hazatak, as the Satera side of Landen was too tough for
her too) for a Force Slicer. I can't really judge her performance in
Skyhaven, because I ran from everything and escape piped out on the first
try, but even Sage Isle was hard and took multiple attempts (with multiple
escape pipes). She needed to be level 30 (which, in comparison to Laya,
Wren, or Mieu is level 75) to survive Lashute, but she did manage to take
Rulakir down by stacking enough Shus onto her defense to make Force Shield
healing viable (after about 12 she could just barely use it, I ended up
stacking 30 for safety and relatively quick healing), this took 373 rounds!
However, Shu stacking doesn't work on Dark Force, who simply overwhelmed
her. I did not bother taking her to maximum level (40), she simply does
not have the HP, damage, or defense to stand any chance. She would be
possible with extreme luck manipulation using save states, but I don't even
think the Pron glitch could save her (since even without taking physical
damage from Dark Force it still would do over 50 HP per round on average
from Fois and Tsus).
And one final, weird note - Kara jumps from level 13 to 18 in one shot. It
appears the XP table is a bit off, and it was a nice little bonus while
grinding away in Sage Isle.
Gwyn: Due to what appears to be a glitch, Gwyn's techniques do not grow. Thus
she is as physically weak as her mother, but without the powerful techniques
to compensate for that weakness.
Prediction: Could not reach Lashute, probably gets stuck at Skyhaven.
Result: We learned two very important things about Gwyn in this run. The first
is that her technique power is not permanently locked - she begins gaining
power at level 40, which puts her behind Laya in technique power but not too
weak to be of use, and the second is that she is physically stronger than
Laya (which makes sense when you think about who her father is). While the
weaker Forsa did make starting off a bit more of a challenge, by the time I
hit Sage Isle she was cruising along as well a Laya, and fared better than
her in Lashute. Using the same Shu stack strategy as Kara to make up for her
weaker healing I defeated Rulakir at level 75, and Dark Force dropped at
level 76, one level less than I did with Laya. The final stretch is where
Gwyn really shone, as she is the only person I ever soloed with who could
reliably face off against Khalidas, bypassing their Murafires and killing
them in only one hit.
Kara (Adan/Aron Route): Tough call. Kara's healing is almost on par with Gwyn's
or Laya's, and has a more useful attack but poorer defense.
Prediction: Offense is better than defense in this game, so I suspect this
version of Kara could surpass Laya. I think Kara could reach Dark
Force but would be unable to get past the left hand. And like Laya,
leveling her on first generation enemies will be a patience testing trial!
Result: Kara has a very rough start because there are almost no opportunites
to use Forsa to gain those first critical levels. I had to run all the way
to Divisia, and was trying to get to Aridia and, like Laya, Forsa a
Killer, which I managed to do a couple times but was killed before I
could save. I finally got my starter XP from a Viola, and from there I
took the same route as the other Kara to get my Force Slicer. She still had
some difficulty, but at the same time I was pushing her, running her through
Dhalia at lower levels than either Laya or Mieu. Like Thea, her defense is
her critical flaw, but she still cleared Rulakir at only level 66 and Dark
Force at level 70, putting her right up there with the heroes, Mieu, and
Wren.
Result#2: Mr2 managed this one. He actually hacked her into Mieu's spot so he
could play with her from the start, and he managed to make it all the way
through the Rhys/Ayn/Sean route. According to him, she's even easier than
Mieu!
As well, Mr2 decided to test all of the third generation characters at
maximum level, hacked in to right before Dark Force. Following are his unedited
notes:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
it turns out i was right; Mieu is better for the the solo quest; two claws and
tech's are better than the extra defense and HP.
as for the Dark Force battles (keep in mind this was not legit, maxed out
character 27M XP);
Wren; he beat dark force, but even at level 85 he had a lot of trouble (as in
nearly impossible). the base 220 attack is great for the left hand, and even
the right, but the 8000hp body takes forever to kill. i used 1 more trimate
that i shouldv'e been able to hold (i didn't simulate having the aeroparts/laya
pendant). 321hp and 413 defense are not enough (i used the royal bow 8 times).
having to hit the body about 30 times is not fun. I'd say he's slightly harder
than Crys (who i haven't tried). - 9/10 difficulty (only because someone like
Lena would get a 10/10)
Aron; he beat dark force, but even with 17 uses of the royal bow he hit the
left hand for 240 damage. Res makes this fight much easier than Wren's, but
it's a long one. still 1200-1500 hits the the body is much better than 300. -
7/10
Laya; she beat Dark Force. Yup, she beat him. not only that but it was easier
than with Aron. Having the strongest Tech helps (41 when maxed out) and more
importantly; res AND Fanbi. Casting fanbi 12 times got here to hit the left
hand for 300+ damage, and 1300-1900 to the body. HP is around 220 and defense
330 so you can't attack 2 times in a row many times. - 5/10
Kara; she also beat Dark Force. here tech is at 40 maxed out and she has more
HP than Laya or Meiu, but the royal robe means here defense is way under 300.
Fanbi 9 times was over kill; left hand damage was 450, body 2500-2800. - 3/10
Meiu; i didn't have much trouble at level 66, so at level 85 DF was even
easier. Tech is 36 maxed out, which is lower than the other girls and Aron. 4x
Fanbi is enough to take out the left hand in 1 turn, and hits the body for
1600-1900 (going with 8x fanbi and it can reach 3000) - 1/10 (i don't think
even sari would be easier).
I went in thinking HP and Defense were the most important, but it's really
Attack and techs (Res & Fanbi). Wren would need to be at level 80 and it would
be a big gamble. even maxed out at level 85 i had to abuse the save state/load
state feature.
from the stats Aron/Adon seem to be slightly better than Sean. I'd imagine Crys
is the pits, mad props to you for beating the game with him. Meiu's two claws
make the trek to DF much easier and faster than the Heroes', and Fanbi will
make quick work of dark force (i'd guess the Royal Bow cast level 10 Fanbi,
versus level 29 Fanbi for Meiu at level 66 [plus it only costs 1 TP].
my guess for the other characters versus DF (i'm fuzzy on who has fanbi);
Kara 10/10 (no healing, weak stats at high XP, and i don't think she has Fanbi)
Crys 9/10
Sean 7/10
Gwyn 5/10 (same as her mother)
Thea 6/10 if she has Fanbi, 10/10 if not
Ryan/Lyle 10/10 impossible
Lena 11/10 unpossible
Sari 206hp to start, knives instead of a fixed attack Shot, she's better than
Wren, but how much? this is one i want to hack to find out. No techs
automatically make it a 9/10, but uber stats have to knock it down to 7/10 (she
can gain like 4-5/hp per level if i remember corectly)
once again, this is just for the DF fight, i don't know if someone like Laya
can make it up to him without being atleast at level 80.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My only comments to add are that both versions of Kara get Fanbi, though for
Sean/Crys version it is much weaker, the "same as her mother" comment about
Gwyn was made before we learned that her techniques do not grow until late and
that she is stronger, and that Mr2's rankings for first and second generation
characters are based on fighting Dark Force in a hacked game, while mine are
based on completing their normal generation by defeating the end boss of that
generation.
Disagree with our assessments or proved me right/wrong? Let me know!
[email protected]
*******************************************************************************
10. CREDITS
- Sega for publishing this game and creating the Phantasy Star franchise.
- GameFAQs for hosting this.
- Mr2 (real name unknown) for extensive notes. In addition to the solo Mieu and
character testing he performed, Mr2 also corrected a few things (Blotter, not
Splatter, in Cille; Pulse Vulcan hits everything, not just rows; Mieu cannot
do a 100% solo since Rhys has to defeat Lyle.
Mr2 also was the one to discover that the Force Shield, Emel, and Claw work
outside of battle in addition to inside, and did follow-up testing on the
Pron Glitch to find the legendary weapon stats fuse side effect.
- Hugues Johnson, whose knowledge of this game is both extensive and
invaluable, check his site at
http://ps3.huguesjohnson.com/ for anything you
may need related to Phantasy Star 3.
- Eric Starbird's enemy list (found at
http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/file/phantasy_star_iii_b.txt
for boss HP (except Dark Force's Right Hand, which he erroneously lists as
800).
- Saincai, ArmorVil001, Duke Darkwood, Mr2, silentwing26, TheKomrade, Adrastia,
Hugues Johnson, Alanna82, RuneEsper, Phase35, Tio Automata, Breakdown777,
sonicfreak0221, aquarianalex, r0ykeane, kaloes, Crystalgate, Foofyhead,
Goldenguy, and anyone else I'm forgetting for following my progress logs on
the GameFAQs Phantasy Star III message board, offering advice and
encouragement.
