_ __
| |/ /__ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ___________
| / _ \/ __ \/ __ \/ __ `/ _ \/ __ `/ ___/ ___/
/ / __/ / / / /_/ / /_/ / __/ /_/ / / (__ )
/_/|_\___/_/ /_/\____/\__, /\___/\__,_/_/ /____/
/____/
XENOGEARS
Speed Guide
Version 1.4
Metempyschotic Memory
06-16-99 thru 04-08-00
----------------------------------------------------
Xenogears and subsequently mentioned
characters are the property entirely of Square.
Square is part of the "Holy Trinity."
Capcom, Konami and Square. Don't mess with them.
(Zangief, Ken, and Blanka belong to Capcom)
----------------------------------------------------
J.R. Kerr wrote this faq. This is my intellectual
property. No one may edit any version of this faq
that is to be shared. For your own personal use on
one computer, you may edit out all this jargon or
select bits of the tips you need. I will not profit
from this faq in any way. Anyone may distribute or
post this faq anywhere they like provided my name
remain on it. I will use powerful internet voodoo
to eat the soul of anyone who posts my faq without
my name on it. I will only answer e-mail with no
attachments, sizes under 6k at:
[email protected]
I am also at geocities.com/jamesrkerr
----------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS :
----------
[01] Why did I decide to write this?
[02] Prerequisites for reading this FAQ.
[03] Disc One Character Strategies
[04] Disc One Gear Strategies and Definitions
[05] Disc Two Character Strengths
[06] Disc Two Gear Set-Ups
[07] Special Notes on Rico
[08] 12 Omnigears/Relics + Recipient
[09] Ether Response and Alignment
[10] Credit and Thanks
---------------------------------------
WHY DID I DECIDE TO WRITE THIS FAQ?
---------------------------------------
[0] People can get to Solaris in 40 hrs with EVERYTHING.
From there it is your call to finish inside another
15 hours or fully explore for another 40.
So if you want to replay, you can do it in
65 hours or 80. Its up to you.
The middle third of the game is a big long story tunnel
and I recommend getting a rapid-fire controller and taping
down the x button for 12 hours.
[1] The number one reason is that the purchasable english
strategy guides and net-available FAQs seem to ignore
certain "hidden" attributes of both the characters and
then later the gears.
It is as if the Japanese-to-English Square USA team
decided to "dumb it down" for us again.
[2] Even though the game is fairly linear and
doesn't offer many "choose-your-own-adventure" moments,
there are many "points-of-no-return" where you can
miss certain items.
[3] The average polled run-thru times I see are at 100 hours
whereas I am finishing under 70 on replays.
The game is fun to explore fully the first time,
but when you want to run back thru, it'll be much
easier if you know what's really going on.
[4] Moreover, all the FAQs/Guides tend to be shy about
"who is the best." Obviously, Fei is a perfect "10,"
but then I believe Stier, and Crescens to be "10"s also.
---------------------------
PREREQUISTES FOR THIS FAQ :
---------------------------
[1] I recommend the Brady guide for maps, names and places
but I suppose any guide will do.
[2] Other FAQs. I haven't picked a favorite yet,
they all seem to cover the incidentals of like,
"grab the necklace from the dresser" and such.
[3] A healthy disregard for the character design of
Citan, Bart and Siebzehn. These characters/gears
are not possessed of much upgradability in the
attributes that I find key to a quick success.
[4] A forgiveness of Chu-Chu's lame character design,
because she winds up being the most important anchor
with +50,000 hit points and the ability to heal your
other gears during battle.
[5] An unrewarded love of Rico, there is more to him
than you might guess. His gears are the best.
[6] A comfortable feeling with getting to the Rico jail scene
with little help; it isn't that messy up to this point.
[7] Believe me when I tell you: Rico and Emeralda are the
characters you want on screen almost always. Some
level gaining with Chu-chu is necessary for the end;
but she'll only cost you an extra hour at the end to get
her pumped up (with the Hercules Ring).
-----------------------------
INITIAL CHARACTER STRATEGIES:
-----------------------------
[00] Decide before you start playing if you want the badges;
the reward at the end of the game is minimal for them,
a Power Ring S and an S charger which you can just buy.
So I almost recommend skipping them.
If you have a saved game where you missed one
(I missed the H+S the 1st time) don't re-start!
[01] Don't leave the first town without the Mermaid's Tear,
all the stuff at the bottom of the well and the spider web.
[02] Don't leave Citan's hill without the spider and
Midori's ring.
[03] Don't hit the forest without better hat and clothes
and two deathblow combos. Rings? enh, you pick.
[04] Unequip Elly before she runs off, if you are a completionist
freak like me and want to have one of everything in your
inventory; the pilot's items do not come back with her.
[05] Weltall's "Old Circuit" is the bomb.
You'll only ever have a few. Keep it on him until
you can get Simp Circuits for everybody (much later on).
Response and Defense are nebulously defined and you won't
see the attributes change on the gear menu~ but they will
always perform better in battle with Old or Simp Circuits.
[06] Make Bart fight out of his gear in the cave. His whip is enough
to kill the big jellyfish and throughout the game, you'll notice
the gear-size monsters tend to ignore out-of-gear people if there
is another gear on screen. Cool, huh?
[07] Don't fuss with earning lotsa money from battles
early, because the shops will continue to sell the same stuff
on the first continent until you start the Billy versus
the Wels ship subquest.
[08] Play the "merry-go-pop" games and such until you
also get the iron helmet etc. It is inexpensive to play
and you can sell the stuff you win at a profit.
[09] Do give the little boy a loan. He will sell you meat later
that is easy to score $200,000 from when you resell at the
end of the game at the Kaiser town's vending machine.
[10] The beret wearing girl in the tournament is the best
place to stall. Go easy on her, no combos/deathblows.
Even heal her sometimes. She will get angry and poison you
worse if you weren't nice to her in the tent and then
stalling during her battle. Big Joe is easy to stall too,
but has that weird sometimes one-hit crowd kill.
The "stalling" should allow you enough time to expore
the sewer with Bart and get the nugget out of the fishtank.
[11] Let Rico beat you after you knock 1000 HP off him.
He is particularly vulnerable to ether attacks.
Yes, I know the girl before drains EP. You have Rosesols
and an Ether Doubler, right?
[12] You should have a backup save prior to trying to
remove your collar. Whether Hammer will offer to buy it
is totally random (like chocobo breeding), so reset and
try again. It is like $5000.
[13] Sewer hunting is the first place you want to "waste time"
gaining levels. You have Citan and Rico. Get started now
with building up Rico's combo attacks. He is the hardest
to complete for these. Fei gaining huge levels will mean
that Maria/Emerelda/Elly/Chu-Chu join your party at
signifigantly higher levels and they won't need as much
screen time. Bart gets left out of the mix a little, but
his fuel economy sucks so you don't want him later anyway.
[14] AS SOON AS YOU GET THE SUBMARINE:
Go back to the southeast shore of the continent and
drive up into the sand, use the secret road to Nisan.
Go back to buy AT LEAST 4 ETHER DOUBLERS AND 2 HOLY PENDANTS.
If you don't have money for it, try to fight
sea battles for the sellable drop items.
These items are not purchasable later (only one more
of each is win-able and it takes FOREVER to earn the Battle Points).
[15] MAKE RICO FIGHT OUT OF HIS GEAR:
Keep at least one gear on screen:
the enemies will tend to hit the big gear and ignore the
little Rico whacking for no damage but many points toward
learning combos. This is good for Fei too.
Stop when they have everything subsequent to the 7 pt combos.
[16] INITIALLY USE ELLY FOR YOUR "ANCHOR"
If things go awry: Elly's character has ether doubler
and such equipped on her person and E Circuits/Power Magic
filling her gear slots, so that even a low-level Elly
can whack 10,000 points of damage off with magic or Aerods.
Never let Elly take a turn, and if she does don't use fuel
on anything but Aerods. If her fuel is spent, swap to Billy's Gear.
[17] The elusive "Simp Circuit" is a drop item from a rarely occuring
gear enemy called Shinobi. This gear part is exactly like an Old
Circuit.
Every Gear should use one or the other equipped in the first slot
at all times. The "defense" circuitry continues to be worth it all
the way through the end of the game. Shinobi occurs in the cave
north of Nortune when you go to steal the big battleship.
[18] YOUR GOAL IS TO ACQUIRE MARIA/CHU-CHU/EMERALDA AT LEVEL 60 OR BETTER
Boost everybody all the way up on combos during the
Wel fights and Sea Battles.
Also: you need Fei at level 80 for "Yamikei" the coolest deathblow!
[19] BILLY:
Is really cool on the ground as a character fighter, but even
with the ether doublers has a sub-standard gear, since all his best gun
attacks are elemental based. (It is a nightmare to bring him thru
the Final Seraphim dungeon). His fuel economy is also really bad
and he isn't even very fast.
The Jesse Gun isn't as strong as Aerods/Yggsadril/2nd Infinities.
You really want his "heal everybody" spell as soon as possible,
it comes sooner than Citan's "affect-all"/"heal."
[20] WHEN FEI LAYS DOWN, HURRY TO GET HIM BACK:
His X,T,X is key for mutliple sellable duneman isle drop items.
He should hit level 95 to 99 by end-game for speed's sake.
If he scores his last 6 pointers early, have faith that he's
earning points toward 7 pointers you can't see.
[21] BEFORE YOU ENTER SOLARIS:
Have at least one 7 pointer on Fei.
You may want some higher Elly combos as well, but
concentrate on her spells-learned, she's got them all, right?
[22] EMERALDA IS THE BOMB:
There is nearly no disadvantage to her.
She only suffers in that, although she gets mad and has infinities
ready all the time; they use a lot of fuel for her gear
and with few HP, she'll need to waste too much fuel to heal
(But she is perfect when paired with a +50,000 HP healing Chu-Chu).
Take extra time to play cards for her dolls.
You want them equipped on her person EVERY TIME she is in a gear!
You get truly wacky miraculous things out of her gear
when she has Billy/Fei/Elly dolls equipped (but leave a slot
for an ether doubler).
[23] Don't leave the Flying City without the
stuff out of Wiseman's Room.
[24] There is crazy money to be had wandering back down
into the vent pipes after you get Maria OUT of your party.
Let Emeralda go nuts!
[25] YOU ARE SAVING MONEY FOR AT LEAST 4 POWER MAGICS.
Personally I like to have 6 for 2 on each person
with an added Simp Circuit; but you may like to keep
1 Simp 1 Frame HP50 and an Ether Armor on Rico's.
(Rico's Gear Magic is really bad).
[26] Cheat at the card games by using rapid-pausing.
Queenie is tougher than the "penguin" at the end.
The Goggles and Shoes for Citan you need to keep him
equipped with all the way thru the game:
attack/evade percents aren't drive-able.
--------------------------------------
INITIAL GEAR STRATEGIES / DEFINITIONS:
--------------------------------------
[00] GENERAL STRATEGY:
Have ALL characters when in gear equip
1. Holy Pendant = double infinity use
2. Ether Doubler = double ether machine effect
note: the MPG are the same on all gears for
light, mid, and fierce hits; but Frame HP usage
and sp. options, etc. are way different!
[01] DON'T WASTE A DIME ON HEIMDALL:
It is all for naught, since you won't need this gear at all.
Save it all up for FENRIR later (if you like Citan).
[02] FORGET SIEBZEHN:
Siebzehn can buy all he needs.
But he sucks anyway: He does have infinities but he doesn't get "mad"
like Stier and Crescens, you'll see so few that it is like they aren't
there.
He is really slow and his MPG is almost as bad as ANDVARI's.
[03] BART'S 1st GEAR IS BETTER:
It matches punch for fuel quite well and has good well-rounded
attributes. The ANDVARI is a gas-hog and is way over balanced
for offense over defense. Stop playing with Bart after he gets
Omnigeared.
[04] ELLY IS YOUR FIRST ANCHOR:
She needs all spells quickly, then she lives in VIERGE with
every available upgrade until the Thames, when you should stop
buying for her. Her combos are funny, but they are all elemental
so you may not even want to bother with her. Robot guards dislike
her elemental attacks.
[05] RESPONSE IS THE BEST NON-MAGIC ATTRIBUTE:
It'll be your turn slightly more often and you won't miss/might
be able to dodge the full percent of damage.
Old Circuit/Resp Circuit/ Magnetic Coat on at all times.
Response is better than A/B/C/D cicuits at environment compensation.
The O2 canister doesn't work as well as the regular circuit.
Also, the Simp Circuit is a drop-item that boosts
both response and defense. It proves to be nearly as useful as
the Magnetic Coats.
[06] EQUIPPED CHARACTER ITEMS AFFECT THE GEAR:
Most notably the ether doubler and ether veil.
The speed shoes don't seem to help.
[07] BILLY'S GEAR, RENMAZUO:
Only use the ether mid hits.
Never use the elemental light hit pistol!
Use ether doublers and E Circuits/Power Magic (x2?)
for HUGE, CRAZY damage! The AA mid gun is the one that isn't elemental
so wait til you have it for Renmazuo.
[08] ONLY ONE ETHER DOUBLER PER GEAR:
More is wasted. But you CAN double up the Power Magics/E Circuits
for insane magic damage.
The reason you buy many is so that you can lose Elly's if you use
her fighting Hammmer (disc 2). Magic/Aerods will bring him right down
for the
Trading Card.
[09] ARMOR IS NEAR A TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE:
Except for the later Anti-Angel Armor, you will never need to
waste a slot with extra armor. Keep selling all your extra
dropped item armors.
(Ether Armor is only really helpful versus Kahr's Omnigear)
[10] RICO'S GEARS ROCK:
Either Stier needs little help.
He won't even use half an 8000 fuel tank to hit a Frame HP70/90.
His MPG rules! You can be sure that you want to hit his
Zangief-like infinites as often as possible.
(and they come almost as often as Emeralda's)
He has other built-in attributes on his gear, check them by
comparing his gear unequipped to other people's
(Citan's Fenrir has these too).
-------------------------
DISC TWO CHARACTER GUIDE:
-------------------------
[00] You have both the Deathblow Gainer (Wizardry) rings, right?
Get Rico/Emeralda pumped! It's okay to score
Billy/Citan too, but I would skip Bart's altogether.
Their 7 point char deathblows feed their type-less infinity gear
combos.
[01] You get people again in the Relic Caves.
Quit working on Elly and Bart.
DON'T FORGET TO HIT THE YGG CANNON FIRST
on the super-dimensional Gear Yggdrasil IV!
It uses up 9000 Fuel, so if you wait, you won't get to see it!
[02] Keep Rico and Emeralda on, with mild
switches for Chu-Chu just to keep her within
15 levels of Fei.
[03] Take special note of the bots that guard the hall
down to Billy's relic. You will return for them later.
[04] NOTHING BRINGS HAMMER DOWN LIKE ELLY AND EMERALDA
Hit him repeatedly with the girls' magic
while saving up with Fei for infinites.
YOU'VE GOT TO GET THE T-CARD!
(Yes, you get the Rico heir "lines" with Rico there, but
it doesn't help him reclaim the throne or anything).
[05] Once the T-Card is yours, return to the bots mentioned earlier.
They routinely drop Cast Ar when you have T.Card which resells like
Gold Nugget. You also get 3 at a time!
The bots are also a good place to earn up your combo points.
This should be the second time you "waste time" building levels.
[06] The money you need is not only for Big Joe's
gear upgrades (which are not always the best)
but more importantly for the HP boosters.
Feed all of 'em to Chu-Chu.
Her "gear" is a muliplication of whatever her "character" has
so that she can wind up with WAY OVER 50,000 HP.
[07] The magic attack DRIVE is good for
pumping Emeralda and Chu-Chu, but remember that
Chu-Chu can use an Ether Doubler with the Goddess Robe and Chu-Chu Idol
for humongous heals on the gears, so she doesn't need
much magic pumped.
[08] Swap Mermaid's Tear for Mermaid Ring.
Always keep this on Emeralda unless its Gear Time,
and then you swap for 2 dolls and an ether doubler.
[09] Let Emeralda grow up.
There is good stuff back down there anyway, so you
might as well. You won't feel like such a pedophile
anymore, either.
[10] After enough bots-for-dropped-then-sell-money; change over
to Duneman Isle level-gaining.
[11] Fei should be dropping the big dragons with three hits
at nearly 5,000 pts of damage a pop.
Citan and Bart are exceptionally badly equipped for Dragon fights.
The dragon will appear randomly and with different
elemental status so that sometimes fire heals him and
sometimes wind will heal him. grrr...
Use Emeralda for support-fire and Billy(or Chu-Chu's) heal/speed magic.
NOTE: Chu-Chu's spells are NOT element based even though
they have names like "forest wind", etc.
She can beat the hell out of elemental monsters.
[12] You can get multiple drop-items: Blessed Helms, Kaiser Helms,
Swords, etc. They sell for a huge amount.
-----------------------
FINAL CHARACTER SET-UP:
-----------------------
[00] I know it seems cocky to suggest all the following, but just set it up
as such and then compare what it does to stats. I had a hard time
letting
go of stuff like the Memento Chain, and letting Rico-not Fei have the
Dark Armor~ but it works way better that way!
[01] FEI - Manly Mantle
Power Crisis
Trader Card
Why? Because he's tough. He gets so strong with Yamikei he doesn't
need his gear anymore. The Manly Mantle + Power Crisis work great
together!
If Fei's the last guy standing, his defense and attack go up!
He is also the only character that really has room for the T.Card.
[02] CITAN - Mumyo Sword
Hero Costume
Super Goggles
Premier Shoes
Why? Because the attack/evade attributes are the only attributes that
can't
be "sourced" with Drive. Moreover, Citan has a huge HP advantage, so he
does
not need the armor like the other characters do. Likewise, he's the
best
recipient for Hero Costume, because his Renki/Sazanami will keep
everyone
alive, so his defense won't drop.
[03] BART - Death Adder
Kaiser Helm
Kingly Armor or Golden Vest
Evasion Ring
[04] RICO - Dark Helm
Dark Armor
Momento Chain or LongDarkCoat
[05] BILLY - Godson
Kaiser Helm (the dragons drop them, you can have three)
Kingly Armor or Golden Vest
Ether Doubler
The above three get lumped together because you kind of need to decide~
okay I'm not going to play with one of 'em. There is a deficit of
cool armor for the male characters. Rico kind of needs the Dark Armor
to survive the Dragon eth attacks. Billy kind of needs more defense to
compensate for poor HP. Bart doesn't need much, but his HP is low
enough
to make evasion a must. He is not that fast either and doesn't pack a
wallop
like Billy's middle guns with eth doublers. So I tend to leave Bart
alone
and set up Rico for defense and Billy for offense. The LongDarkCoat
does
NOT give Billy a +10 to his attack! agh!
Jessie Blasta and Cannon will damage at 9,999 with 3xPow Magics
Rico can hit Frame HPs with a bonus economy on fuel consumption.
Bart's Ygg Cannon is bizarre. Higher ether doesn't help it hit harder.
the only advantage to Bart in/out gear is "wild smile."
[06] ELLY - Pyscho Rod
Angelic Robe
Starlight
Ether Doubler
3x Power Magic on Vierge (Aerods go BOOM)
Okay. You can let her leave the party
with the above items equipped. You will find better items later.
Just make sure that you have 6 more power magics for Emeralda and
Billy!
She leaves the party for a long time immediately after fighting Hammer
so you won't have time to unequip her, and you need to use her for
Aerods
to drop Hammer before he self-destructs.
[07] MARIA - Blessed Helm
Blessed Habit
Maria does not get helped or hindered with much else~ there is little
to both her and Siebzehn. You will never see a 9,999 attack from her
unless she is using an infinity combo. And she in/out of gear is SLOW.
[08] CHU-CHU - Goddess Robe
Ether Doubler
Chu-Chu Idol
Chu-Chu never has great attacks. But with DRIVE she can withstand
Angel Attacks no problem and then heal your gears for between 1,500 and
6,000
HP at a time. Then her MP is refillable, so that you can't lose and you
have
all the time in the world to save up for infinity combos if you want to
see everyone's.
[09] EMERELDA - Executor's Gown (only if T.Card at Miang)
Vivid Turban
Mermaid Ring
CRESCENS - Fei jr. Doll
Elly jr. Doll
Ether Doubler
--------------------------
DISC TWO GEAR STRATEGIES :
--------------------------
[00] GENERAL STRATEGY:
Have ALL characters when in gear equip
1. Holy Pendant = double infinity use
2. Ether Doubler = double ether machine effect
GEAR EQUIP:
1. GNRS50
2. Z Charger
3. FrameHP 30
[01] WELTALL 2 IS WAY BETTER THAN XENOGEARS:
Enjoy it while it lasts.
Hitting your Infinities will never come easier.
[02] IFF FENRIR:
You won the Citan goggles/shoes from the card game, right?
Keep them on for "critical" Gear Sword Hits.
Don't miss the gear-sword re-forge Kishin to Kijin the best one.
[03] IFF ANDVARI:
Don't put Big Joe's crazy engine on him or he'll
run out of fuel faster than anybody.
You are essentially bound to keep a Z charger on him.
[04] IFF SIEBZEHN:
What are you nuts? There's no reason to use him.
Infinities come seldom, bad MPG, no magic; and special options
that don't always work? His fierce, X, hit: always misses!
[05] ELLY'S:
No spoilers, but don't bother upgrading her gear.
Her uh, second gear, will take care of itself.
[06] RICO'S:
STIER the OMINIGEAR RULES! even Kahr's isn't as good.
The best MPG! He can with the 8000 fuel tank hit Frame HP70s
two or three times!
Keep the Better Buyable Magic Defense Armor on!
Always keep at least a Frame HP50 on him.
This omnigear will be READY FOR INFINITIES almost
at a par with Emeralda, only Rico won't run out of
fuel after 2 pops.
It is kind of sad that there aren't hard-enough
enemies for Rico at the end of the game.
His "Iron Kaiser," "Drill-Kaiser," and Zangief-like piledriver
are the reason for the season.
[07] EMERALDA'S:
oh baby. magic to cry over. She is so fierce and so fast
with so many critical hits and infinity-readiness; that it
doesn't matter that she has poor HP. She'll never fall.
(Especially if you use Chu-Chu just to heal her every round)
I swear that it almost feels like you can beat the
Nephtali (Alpha Weltall) gear with Emmy and Chu-Chu. I took near
200,000 hit points off him before I gave-in to his invincibilty.
Remember to keep 2 dolls on her character with an ether doubler
and then 2 Power Magics and a Mag Coat on her. (IFF Chu-Chu)
[08] BILLY'S:
Jessie Cannon is good for 9,999 damage on one enemy.
Sometimes.
The mid hits with eth doub and 3xPowMagics can give you
instant 5,000s sometimes, but many times it will heal who you
are fighting if they absord ether (many at the end do).
[09] Chu-Chu. man.
Equip the idol, the ether doubler, and the Goddess Robe.
You'll be healing like 5 to 6K hp for every shot
that a boss can steal that much.
Remember to have boosted her HP with Big Joe's HP drive.
I think her max is 60,000 HP but you'll be fine with
over 50K. She'll never fall.
Yes, I know she is worse than pokemon for design, but she
really does have it in healing gear ability. (She can refill
her EP during battle and doesn't have to "charge" for fuel).
----------------------
SPECIAL NOTES ON RICO:
----------------------
[01] Number one thing is that his MPG makes his gear the best.
He also has all-terrain advantages over the other gears.
Then his infinities will be ready more often and wreak more
havoc.
[02] His character deathblows don't earn up in order:
You gotta mix up his previous 3 to earn the last 2.
Then his character based fire-lariat moves will get
you in trouble with elementals.
(unless they are suited in which case an ether doubler makes
it go BOOM. Good in a gear too.)
[03] His mother's necklace.
Keep it on him for the whole game.
[04] Set it and forget it:
Knight Helm and Knight Mail with Momento Locket~
put them on during the sewer fights.
He'll be over-defended at first, but he gains so much Defense each
level~
that you never really have to change his equipment all the way until
the
end of the game. If you need him for Duneman Dragons~ the Dark Helm,
Armor
and Coat round him off nicely.
[05] His ending.
There isn't one?
argh! I find the lack of a scene with his dad recognizing him
as irritating as an un-resurrectable Aeris.
Square rushed this game? Cut his scene for more CG?
grrr... I'd have voted for less CG and more story!
[06] The "M-Project" has renamed Rico
as "Sufradi." He is serving as an experiment for the
transfer of altered types into alignment with the omnigear relics.
[07] "Drill Kaiser" is a wind-based elemental infinity.
Try to hit "Iron Kaiser" instead.
[08] I anticipate the flood of e-mails that will
complain about Rico's speed versus Citan's.
Before you send any: ask "Do I like Ken better than Blanka?"
If you like Ken better, don't e-mail me.
If you otherwise feel I am being unfair to the
wicked slicing sound of Citan's swords, we can debate
the built-in attributes of FENRIR vs. STIER.
-----------------------
SPECIAL NOTES ON BILLY:
-----------------------
[01] Oddly, the LongDarkCoat will not give Billy +10 attack~
it just gives him +10 eth defense.
[02] The Jessie Cannon is a great attack! It is almost as
good as Aerods if he's got Eth Doub and 3 Pow Magics.
Likewise his mid shot will come off like a lev 3 attack
with no waiting.
Not as good as Aerods becuase it only targets one enemy, not all
enemies.
Same with Jessie Blasta on Disc 2.
[03] There is no ammo for his good guns after you get to Babel Tower.
It is as if they force you to stop playing with him for a while.
Then the godson ammo becomes available long before you can buy the gun~
so that they remind you later, "okay, you can play with Billy again."
[04] When Billy (and also Rico) get their Omnigears~ take note that their
engines and armor get downgraded. You may not want to waste money on
better
than what they have prior to the Anima Caves. It is money wasted.
----------
SUMMARILY:
----------
[01] This game is really fun, but it is irritating that unlike a
Konami or Capcom game~ you can't skip through the story scenes
if you want to replay.
[02] The game just isn't hard enough.
Tricking out the magic means you wallop 9,999 off enemies
starting at Elly level 40.
I wish there were Ultimate Weapons like Emerald and Ruby.
[03] I wish we could have played through the Mass Driver/ Soylent Sufal
bits and not just gotten flashbacks and boss fights.
Oh well.
[04] I wish there were more monsters. It is boring to have only 2 monsters
per area at the end when there are only maybe 10 areas open.
[05] However, I'll never save over my "First and Last" file~ the
battling arena with the jukebox and Fenris unlocked are nice things
to go back and play with later.
-------------------------------------
TWELVE OMNIGEAR / RELICS + RECIPIENT:
-------------------------------------
[01] JUDAH = KRELIAN
[02] ZEBULUN = RAMSUS
[03] NEPHTALI = GRAHF
[04] REUBEN = note: these four were aligned
[05] SIMEON = 500 years ago: one to
[06] LEVI = RENE and one to
[07] ISSACHAR = MIANG. Other two?
[08] DINAH = ELLY
[09] ASHER = CITAN
[10] DAN = BART
[11] JOSEPH = BILLY
[12] GAD = RICO
NOTE: Fei's Weltall I + II, then Xenogears are NOT Omnigears!
Fei is the Anonelbe which is more powerful than persona elements
(relics).
In other words, he doesn't need a slave generator since he made
his own contact with the Zohar wave existence.
-----------------------------
ETHER RESPONSE AND ALIGNMENT:
-----------------------------
RESPONSE ALIGNMENT CATALOGUE NUMBER
-------- --------- ----------------
[01] FEI infinite infinite 001589750
[02] ELLY infinite infinite 6920188-Z
[03] CITAN 240 98 584921547
[04] BART 210 90 221589542
[05] BILLY 290 92 321658-11
[06] RICO 160 85 M-PROJECT SUFRADI TEST MIXTURE #
000-215914
[07] MARIA 170 74 unusable-54109854
[08] EMERELDA N/A N/A
[09] CHU-CHU N/A N/A
--------------
BIG JOE NOTES:
--------------
[00] There is a newspaper in the store underground.
Read it multiple times to find the story of
Joey Balboa, a 4000 year old athlete.
[01] This newspaper also has specs on the
Engine specs for the Eldridge.
---------------------------------
RESPONSE TO A RECENT FAN INQUIRY:
---------------------------------
[1] How in the heck did you do 1000 points of damage to Rico even with an
ether doubler and guided shot? I played it several times and had several
different equipment set-ups. Ether Doubler and ether stone was the most
powerfull it seemed and was not even reaching 200 points per guided shot.
Any hint’s on level to do that? And does it make much of a difference or is
it just to say you did?
well, I seem to remember that this was the first time I played through so that
my levels were ridiculously high. I had to have had an ether doubler on and
whatever else makes magic hit harder... isn't there a magic up spell?
I think I just used Fei's simple ether shot too... I can remember his hands
together praying... it wasn't his kung fu.
[2] Which is better Simp Circuit/Old Circuit or Resp Circuit/Magnetic Coat?
And in the beginning what else should gears be equiping? Before getting
Frame fixes is there a batter setup than 3 old Circuts or 3 Magnetic coats
or should I not completely avoid the other stats. I do tend to get a lot of
misses from the enemy but when they hit seesm to hit harder. The reason I
ask is that you get Magnetic Coats before you get simple circuts, and as
soon as you can de-equip Heimdal you have 3 Old Circuts including the one on
Weltall, are Simp circuts any better than the 3 I’ve already got or are they
just so that every gear can have one on them?
I believe simp and old circuits are the same. The simp circuit is a drop
item from those musha (bug) samurai robots whose name escapes me.
They are in the cave north of the Jail city. So, if simp is better, its mainly
because you can get more than three of them. Also, don't forget that you
need balance on your team. You'd be best off with only one dedicated magic user
in the back row and then one bruiser (all armor) guy in the front row.
Billy and Fei are the two easiest guys to keep out of their gears.
[3] What Merry-go-pop game and what kid needs a loan? Even with a
walkthrough I don’t see what your talking about for that part of the game.
When you control only Citan during the fight show... walk into the middle
section of the town. This is where those scary purple golem guys have tents
set up for you to play games. Citan can go into their tents which are bigger
outside than inside and then play these weird/hard games.
In fact, success at merry-go-pop is the only way to acquire some piece
of armor in the game. It was either iron helmet or iron armor.
[4] What does MPG mean? Miles per Gallon?
yes. Rico can use FrameHPs for a fraction of the fuel cost compared to others.
[5] For being a guide that says you are trying to get people to Solaris in
40 hours it doesn’t seemlike there is much in the way of help for people
before Solaris and it is mainly written with the idea of finishing the game
at least equipment wise. Or maybe your just trying to tell people what they
want to do at the end of the game so they don’t wasste time on things they
won’t need before they get their.
well, the game is kinda linear before that and I also felt like I didn't
need to repeat things found in other purist walkthrus. Many of the other
FAQs will spend a long time telling you how to get the wedding dress and
so on; therefore I felt I might even be plagiarizing if I mentioned all that.
[6] I really enjoyed your guide. It put’s a lot of opinion into the game and
it is a complete opposite to what the other FAQ’s say about Rico and Stier
at least, but at least you backed it up and showed how to do what you say
you do and even though I havent gotten their yet Rico is already a favorite
of mine. Not really a question just thought you hsould know
thanks
[7] Do you have any hints on what to do and what not to do to get through to
the Rico jail scene any faster without wasting time on something I won’t
need later? I can’t use them now but I’m already planning on replaying the
game after I beat it and a few other games I still need to finish.
Considering that I have not played thru in a long time... I can't
really advise farther than to say that the most important things
about the jail business are to eat lots of the ether cooking, get the
necklace from the kaiser's bedroom, and get the hammer bounty for
safely removing the collar (random).
--------------------------
SPECIAL CREDIT AND THANKS:
--------------------------
[01] Beth for letting me play.
[02] Square for giving me escape.
[03] Alex for his years of video-game co-insanity.
[04] Dave "my controller is broken" Wallin.
[05] Ben "Pokum Taco" Groves for always floating me quarters.
[06] CJayC
[07] Kao Megura for killing Ben Lansing.
[08] Amaloo
[09] Old Man Murray
[10] Whoever designed Notepad. Bless You.
