November 19, 2009 - Version 8
Added more stats for characters that were missing. Everyone should
have their level 99 stats now, but there's still some gaps in the
data on the way. I currently don't have data for those levels; hoping
to get it soon. Also updated some spell descriptions.
September 27, 2009 - Version 7
Cranberry here! Starting with this update, the "torch has been
passed" and I'll be continuing this guide. Updated character stats
for Rydia, Luca, Cid, Edge, Gekkou, Izayoi, Zangetsu, Tsukinowa,
Palom, Leonora, Ceodore, and Rosa. Contributor recognition updated
with those that contributed character data. Slightly updated
copyright notice. Added to FAQ section. More to come soon!
August 10, 2009 - Version 6
Added mostly-complete data for Porom's chapter, Edward's chapter, and
Lunarians chapter. Restructured the table of contents a bit to show
the chapter each character is from. Moved the level 15-30 data for
Cecil, Cid, and Rosa to temporary characters for Ceodore's chapter
since anything you do with them has no bearing on anything else later
in the game. Removed Cecil from the "Holy War" comparison for now
since if he returns as a permanent character he will probably have
some differences from the temporary version. I need to do some rework
of the comparison stuff anyway. Please let me know if I missed any
data for the new chapters, I tried to get everything together ASAP
so I might have missed something.
July 31, 2009 - Version 5
Completed Calca and Brina (finally), added a bit to Rydia's chapter
strategy. Finished the chapter strategies for Yang and Palom. Added
statistics quick reference charts to Section 7 (check these out!).
Completed the comparisons in Section 7 - I think you'll find these
very interesting. If anyone can think of some additional comparisons
of similar "character roles" they would like to see an analysis for,
let me know! Added the Hooded Man's stats and completed Kain, which
has some interesting notes about his HP and MP.
July 24, 2009 - Version 4
Completed Edge, Gekkou, Izayoi, Tsukinowa, Zangetsu, and evil Kain.
Finished the chapter strategies for Ceodore's, Kain's, and Rydia's
chapters. Updated some hosting authorizations for this guide.
July 22, 2009 - Version 3
Finished spell levels for Cecil and Rosa, finished level 30
capped stats for Cecil, Rosa, and Cid, plus Cecil's calculated stats.
Updated notes for White Mage and Black Mage. Recorded the starting
stats for evil Kain, and started info for Edge, Gekkou, Izayoi,
Zangetsu, and Tsukinowa. Recorded some interesting information about
leveling differences between the Hooded Man and Holy Dragoon Kain.
Currently, King_Tetiro is working on leveling the Hooded Man to 50
for me to get his full range of stats before Holy Dragoon status.
Updated Section 2 regarding HP and MP gains. Added a note to each
ability of each character to indicate how it is treated with regards
to moon phases (this is in progress, not finished). Added a section
for chapter strategies, wrote the strategy for Edge's chapter.
July 17, 2009 - Version 2
Updated ending stats with info provided by King_Tetiro, and
levels for magic spells for a few characters with info provided by
dark_deity9. Updated level 70 estimate calculations based on the new
ending stats. Completed the information for Palom and Leonora. Fixed
some of Yang's review, and info for a couple Bands.
July 15, 2009 - Version 1
Finally got this into a good state to submit. More updates
to come as I revisit Ceodore/Kain's chapter and Rydia's chapter to
get a bit more info there, and as I finish playing through Palom's
and Edge's chapters. I'll have that all done before the next set
is released, so I can focus on the new ones when they come out.
What is this FAQ? Basically, detailed information about the abilities and
stats for the characters in this game. The purpose is to provide some fun
comparison and contrast between characters who can serve similar roles in
an end-game group, and provide some exploration of possible combinations.
Each character will include stats from the initial level, their max level,
level 40 (a common chapter-end level cap), and an estimate of level 70
based on the character's apparent growth rate in their stats from start to
cap (listed as "Avg. Gain"). In the original Final Fantasy IV, stats were
gained at random from level 71-99, so I am running with the assumption that
it will be the same in this game. Thus, you do not see an estimate of level
99 stats, since it would be impossible to estimate random gains.
HP and MP information is provided without the use of items which increase a
character's maximum HP or MP (Silver Apple, Golden Apple, Soma Drop). The
"Avg. Gain" in the case of HP and MP is a bit misleading, since for reasons
unknown, a character's HP and MP increases are lower at lower levels, and
higher at higher levels. As a result, the estimated level 70 values for HP
and MP may be significantly less than the character will actually have, but
the overall proportions character to character should be similar to the
estimates.
"Moon-Proof Attack" - What is it? This is a situation which occurs when a
character has a special ability which deals physical damage using their
equipped weapon (like Attack), but counts as a special ability regarding
the moon phase. Such characters can therefore fight without being hindered
by the moon phase! During Full Moon, when Attack is penalized, or during
New Moon, when special abilities get a bonus, use the special ability.
During Waning Moon when Attack gets a bonus, use Attack. During Waxing
Moon, use either. Basically, you can avoid ever having a penalty to attack,
and half the time you'll get a bonus.
Why doesn't my HP and MP match the charts? There is some random variance in
HP and MP gains. As a result, the HP and MP values are approximations and
probably will not match your character exactly. They should be close
though. These estimates assume no HP or MP increasing items have been used.
All characters in this section will be available for possible use in your
end-game party. Most of these characters are from Final Fantasy IV, but often
have somewhat different stats or abilities compared to the original game. All
statistical data presented below is from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years,
not taken from the original game.
The "Avg. Gain" is the character's growth rate in a stat, based on growths
from the character's initial level through their chapter's level cap. This
average can then be calculated outward to estimate the character's stats at
level 70 (noted as "Level 70?"). In the case of Cecil, I have also estimated
his level 40 stats, for the sake of comparability with everyone else.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.1 One/All, minor HP recovery
Libra L.5 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Protect L.12 One/All, physical defense up
Raise L.14 One, revives with low HP
Cura L.15 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Esuna L.20 One, removes status ailments
Float L.25 One/All, adds Float
Shell L.34 One/All, magic defense up
Blink L.40 One, avoid next two physical attacks
Reflect L.45 One, adds Reflect
Haste L.47 One/All, speed up
Curaga L.49 One/All, superior HP recovery
Awaken : Fully heals Ceodore and doubles all stats for three
(n/a) combat turns or until the end of combat. When Awaken
ends, Ceodore's HP are reduced to less than 10.
Bands
Cross Slash (7 MP each, one enemy)*
Ceodore (Event) Physical damage which is a little higher than
Hooded Man (Event) the combined normal attacks of both. This
Band cannot be used if Ceodore uses a bow.
Notes: Very useful against tougher enemies,
but considering the charge time and MP
cost to Ceodore (the Hooded Man doesn't use
his MP for anything else), attack-spamming
is probably more efficient.
*This band disappears when the Hooded Man
becomes the Holy Dragoon.
Cross Slash Prime (20 MP each, one enemy)
Ceodore (Attack) Physical damage which is much higher than
Kain (Attack) the combined normal attacks of both. This
Band cannot be used if Ceodore uses a bow.
Notes: Very useful against tougher enemies,
but not really any more damaging than
having Ceodore attack and Kain use Jump.
The MP cost is also a bit high. Avoid.
Divine Heal (28 MP each, all allies)
Ceodore (White Magic) Extreme HP recovery, similar to Curaja but
Rosa (Blessing) available much sooner.
Notes: This is a great Band before Rosa gains
Curaja. Even then, it seems to have a lower
charge time than Curaja, and uses less MP
from Rosa (at the cost of Ceodore's MP and
his turn, though).
Rocket Launcher (12 MP each, one enemy)
Ceodore (Attack) Deals superior fire damage based on Ceodore's
Cid (Analyze) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against fire, such as the Curse Dragon at
the end of Kain's Challenge Dungeon.
Strategy & Notes
Ceodore is the star of his chapter and is always present, except
during a brief segment when the player controls Cecil. His chapter
is the "main story" and ends after completing the Mist Cave. In the
original version of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, there was a
Challenge Dungeon for Ceodore and the Hooded Man at this point. In
the Wii version of the game, Ceodore's chapter flows seamlessly into
Kain's chapter, and the items from Ceodore's Challenge Dungeon are
included in Kain's Challenge Dungeon instead.
Ceodore is neither a white mage, nor a warrior, and thus excels at
neither. For a "hybrid" character, however, he is quite effective,
and with stat-boosting gear can become more focused on fighting or
magic, if the player wishes.
His selection of spells is sufficient for providing the party with
a variety of buffs, and for very efficient spot healing.
The primary advantage of Ceodore compared to other healers is his
high speed, meaning that in some situations he may be able to fill
gaps in healing due to the main healer's slowness.
As a main healer himself, Ceodore would need to be with an armored
group which will take low damage. In such a group, his moderate
healing abilities would be sufficient, and his fighting skills would
add to the prowess of the team. Some of his effectiveness as a main
healer will depend on the spells he gains after level 50, which at
this point, nobody knows. If he eventually learns Curaja and Arise,
he would be a very good choice.
His ability Awaken, while possibly useful during boss battles, is
hindered by the dramatic self-inflicted damage when it expires. The
best tactical use of the ability is to use it when Ceodore is about
to die, since it fully restores his HP and can buy the player a few
turns of improved healing (due to the stat boost) to get the party
back onto their feet and prepared to heal Ceodore when Awaken
expires.
If he were paired with Cecil, and the party were fighting mainly
enemies who use physical attacks, Awaken could be used liberally.
Cecil would simply intercept the attacks aimed at Ceodore. Magic
attack would kill Ceodore quickly in this case, though.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.15 One/All, minor HP recovery
Cura L.15 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Esuna L.15 One, removes status ailments
Teleport L.15 Exit a battle or dungeon
Haste L.15 One/All, speed up
Blink L.15 One, avoid next two attacks
Hold L.15 One, adds Paralyze
Jump : Leap into the air and land on an enemy for greater-
(Skill) than-normal physical damage. The bonus damage is much
greater if a spear is equipped, so one should always
use a spear with Kain, even if a better sword or axe
is available.
Bands
Cross Slash (7 MP each, one enemy)*
Ceodore (Event) Physical damage which is a little higher than
Hooded Man (Event) the combined normal attacks of both. This
Band cannot be used if Ceodore uses a bow.
Notes: Very useful against the Tunneler and
Octo Mammoth bosses in Ceodore and Kain's
chapters. If you don't need to use Ceodore
to heal, this is a good move.
*This band disappears when the Hooded Man
becomes the Holy Dragoon.
Cross Slash Prime (20 MP each, one enemy)
Ceodore (Attack) Physical damage which is much higher than
Kain (Attack) the combined normal attacks of both. This
Band cannot be used if Ceodore uses a bow.
Notes: Very useful against tougher enemies,
just like Cross Slash. Since both Ceodore
and Kain have high Speed, you won't often
have one waiting around for the other to
be ready. The MP cost is high, though.
Saint Dive (30 MP each, all enemies)
Rosa (White Magic) Hits all enemies with Kain's Jump attack. May
Kain (Jump) be doing Holy damage, will need to check.
Damage is similar to Kain's normal Jump.
Notes: Very useful for clearing out large
enemy groups, but the MP cost is very high.
If you're loaded up with Tents or Cottages,
use this to help grind up to the level cap,
but it's MP cost makes it a poor choice for
normal regular use, unfortunately.
Aiming Trust (12 MP each, one enemy)
Cid (Analyze) A physical attack which seems to be roughly
Kain (Attack) equal to Kain's Jump attack in damage. May
cause instant-death to the enemy.
Notes: Why wouldn't you just have Kain Jump
for no MP cost, and have Cid attack? The
instant-death chance doesn't seem worth it,
since most enemies would die from one or
two regular attacks anyway. This might be
more useful in later chapters, though.
Strategy & Notes
Kain joins Ceodore as the Hooded Man after Ceodore's airship crash-
lands, and remains with Ceodore for the rest of his chapter, and
is the main character of his own chapter which immediately follows
Ceodore's in the "main story".
Until the end of Kain's chapter, he is under the guise of the Hooded
Man, and does not have access to his White Magic or Jump. During a
story event at the end of Kain's Chapter, he gains access to Jump,
and after the story event is over he has access to White Magic.
I played through the main story twice, one using the Hooded Man until
he was level 50 before finishing the chapter (to get his level 50
stats without having changed to the Holy Dragoon), and the other with
the Hooded Man in KO status for the entire chapter up until the end
battle with Evil Kain (in order to see how the Holy Dragoon would
fare, leveling up from 15 to 50, and determine at what level he gains
each of his spells).
Surprisingly, the Holy Dragoon has all of his spells right away after
transformation, even at level 15. Upon transformation from the Hooded
Man into the Holy Dragoon, Kain's Strength, Speed, Stamina,
Intellect, and Spirit all change to the Holy Dragoon's values for the
same level. His HP and MP, however, remain at whatever value they had
when he was the Hooded Man.
As some on the GameFAQs boards surmised, the Holy Dragoon has better
HP and MP gains than the Hooded Man. Comparing the above stats, we
can see that this is an understatement! The Holy Dragoon would get
around 900 more HP, and nearly double the MP of the Hooded Man. This
is very important, since he would be better able to make use of Bands
and his new White Magic, and the HP benefits are nothing to scoff at
either.
Naturally, the power-gamer will want to keep Kain at the lowest level
possible (either by keeping him in KO, or just rushing through the
game) so that he can get the most benefit out of the Holy Dragoon's
superior HP and MP gains. However, even if he changes to the Holy
Dragoon around level 30-35 (a typical level at which one would end
the chapter under normal circumstances), Kain should have about 3400-
3600 HP and 150-160 MP at level 50, which is fine. Remember, you can
always use Silver Apples or Soma Drops to give him a boost if you
feel the need to do so.
Generally, Kain's White Magic is weak for healing, but importantly,
he has Haste and Blink, two very excellent buffs for your party. This
makes his White Magic notably better than Cecil's, since he can help
the main healer with buffs at the beginning of a tough boss fight.
Jump is a mediocre, occasionally useful special ability. In addition
to making Kain have "Moon-Proof Attack" (see Section 2: Notes and Q&A
(S.02)), while in the air he cannot be affected by enemies (though he
will also miss out on any effects from allies), and the attack deals
additional damage if he is using a spear. The downside is, it takes
time to charge up, and while in the air, he's not using his high
defense and HP to help absorb hits that instead will hit his allies
since he's not present to be a target. The main benefit is to reduce
the enemy's number of possible counter-attacks, if any.
Unfortunately, his useful Bands will deplete his MP quickly, limiting
their potential. Even so, Kain has high stats, and is fast, so he
can kill enemies rapidly even if just attacking.
Abilities
Analyze : Displays the enemy's current and maximum HP, and
(n/a) any elemental weaknesses. It's just like the spell
Libra, except with no MP cost.
Risk Strike : A low-accuracy attack, but if it hits, it's an
(Skill) automatic critical hit.
Bands
Rocket Launcher (12 MP each, one enemy)
Ceodore (Attack) Deals superior fire damage based on Ceodore's
Cid (Analyze) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against fire, such as the Curse Dragon at
the end of Kain's Challenge Dungeon.
X-Chaser (12 MP each, one enemy)
Rosa (Aim) Strong physical damage, may cause instant
Cid (Analyze) death to the enemy. Requires Rosa to be
using a bow.
Notes: Cid and Rosa are both pretty slow, so
if you don't need Rosa to heal, and she has
a bow, why not let them work together to do
a strong attack? This Band's a good choice,
but likely only during Kain's Challenge
Dungeon, since most people probably will
not use Cid in the later chapters.
Aiming Trust (12 MP each, one enemy)
Cid (Analyze) A physical attack which seems to be roughly
Kain (Attack) equal to Kain's Jump attack in damage. May
cause instant-death to the enemy.
Notes: Why wouldn't you just have Kain Jump
for no MP cost, and have Cid attack? The
instant-death chance doesn't seem worth it,
since most enemies would die from one or
two regular attacks anyway. This might be
more useful in later chapters, though.
Strategy & Notes
Cid joins Cecil during his segment in Ceodore's chapter, and then
joins Ceodore during Kain's chapter at the end of the chapter. He is
present during Kain's Challenge Dungeon, also.
Cid's level cap during Cecil's segment is 30, and during that time
any levels gained by Cid are only for the purpose of making the end
battles of Cecil's segment easier. His levels and equipment do not
carry forward into Kain's chapter when he rejoins. Interestingly,
during this time Cid gains no MP, and has no improvements in his
Intellect or Spirit.
When Cid rejoins, he is automatically level 30, with a new set of
equipment. As you can see on the stats table above, his MP is much
higher than it would have been at level 30 during Cecil's segment,
and his HP is slightly higher, enough so that it cannot be blamed on
the random nature of HP gains.
Cid hits hard and can take a lot of damage, but his speed is so poor
that Ceodore and Kain get two attacks for every one of Cid's, meaning
that Cid is doing half as much damage as either of them. His low
speed also hinders his attack and defense. Most of the time, random
battles can be finished entirely before Cid even has an opportunity
to act. Yikes.
Analyze is useless here, because Ceodore, Cecil, and Rosa all have
Libra. It's too bad they didn't give him the ability he had in the
Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV, which made him able to use
elemental-damage items to make his physical attacks do elemental
damage... at least then he'd be able to be a boss-killer.
Risk Strike is, as it says, risky. Most of the time it just misses,
but when it hits, it hits hard. Over time, the bonus damage and the
times when it misses more or less balance out to making Risk Strike
roughly equal to just attacking. The key point of Risk Strike is that
it's a special ability, which means it gives Cid "Moon-Proof Attack"
(see Section 2: Notes and Q&A (S.02)). However, considering Cid's
terrible speed, wasting his turn missing with Risk Strike is painful.
You're probably better off just attacking even if you have a moon
penalty on Attack.
My only hope for Cid is that in the later chapters, he has a useful
Band with Luca that can make up for his poor performance otherwise.
If he doesn't, his main use in the game will be warming the bench.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Hold L.30 One, adds Paralyze
Libra L.30 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Sight L.30 Zooms out world map view
Protect L.30 One/All, physical defense up
Slow L.30 One/All, decreases speed
Cure L.30 One/All, minor HP recovery
Raise L.30 One, revives with low HP
Cura L.30 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Esuna L.30 One, removes status ailments
Berserk L.30 One, adds Berserk
Teleport L.30 Exit a battle or dungeon
Blink L.30 One, avoid next two attacks
Confuse L.30 One, adds Confuse
Shell L.30 One/All, magic defense up
Curaga L.30 One/All, superior HP recovery
Mini L.30 One, adds/removes Mini
Silence L.30 One/All, adds Mute
Dispel L.33 One, removes all status effects
Haste L.36 One/All, speed up
Float L.38 One/All, adds Float
Reflect L.40 One, adds Reflect
Curaja L.45 One/All, extreme HP recovery
Arise L.55 One, revives with maximum HP
Holy L.60 One, extreme Holy damage
Blessing : Recovers HP and MP for the entire party. The amount
(n/a) recovered seems to be based on Rosa's Spirit. The HP
portion is somewhere in between Cure and Cura, and
the MP portion seems to be about 10% of the HP cured.
This ability doesn't always work, though considering
the MP recovery, one can refresh a party easily with
a little patience (see strategy below).
Aim : Requires a bow to be equipped. After a charge time,
(Skill) Rosa attacks an enemy with 100% accuracy. Since this
is a bow ability, it can be used from the back row
without penalty.
Bands
Divine Heal (28 MP each, all allies)
Ceodore (White Magic) Extreme HP recovery, similar to Curaja but
Rosa (Blessing) available much sooner.
Notes: This is a great Band before Rosa gains
Curaja. Even then, it seems to have a lower
charge time than Curaja, and uses less MP
from Rosa (at the cost of Ceodore's MP and
his turn, though).
X-Chaser (12 MP each, one enemy)
Rosa (Aim) Strong physical damage, may cause instant
Cid (Analyze) death to the enemy. Requires Rosa to be
using a bow.
Notes: Cid and Rosa are both pretty slow, so
if you don't need Rosa to heal, and she has
a bow, why not let them work together to do
a strong attack? This Band's a good choice,
but likely only during Kain's Challenge
Dungeon, since most people probably will
not use Cid in the later chapters.
Saint Dive (30 MP each, all enemies)
Rosa (White Magic) Hits all enemies with Kain's Jump attack. May
Kain (Jump) be doing Holy damage, will need to check.
Damage is similar to Kain's normal Jump.
Notes: Very useful for clearing out large
enemy groups, but the MP cost is very high.
If you're loaded up with Tents or Cottages,
use this to help grind up to the level cap,
but it's MP cost makes it a poor choice for
most situations, unfortunately.
Strategy & Notes
Rosa joins Cecil during his segment in Ceodore's chapter, and then
joins Ceodore during Kain's chapter at the end of the chapter. She is
present during Kain's Challenge Dungeon, also.
Rosa's level cap during Cecil's segment is 30, and during that time
any levels gained by Rosa are only for the purpose of making the end
battles of Cecil's segment easier. Her levels and equipment do not
carry forward into Kain's chapter when she rejoins.
When Rosa rejoins, she is automatically level 30, with a new set of
equipment. As you can see on the stats table above, her MP is much
lower than it would have been at level 30 during Cecil's segment,
and her HP is slightly lower also. The HP difference is small enough
to blame on the random nature of HP gains, but the MP difference is
rather unfortunate, since she clearly deserves more.
Rosa generally has two strategies: Focus her as a healer, or make her
capable of healing and some battle offense. The main difference is in
the items you equip. If she uses a bow, and armors that improve her
speed and strength, she can be a competant attacker. If she uses a
staff, and armors that improve her spirit, she will be a better main
healer. For someone who wishes to micro-manage, carry two sets of
equipment for Rosa, and use the bow and strength armors during random
fights, and before a boss switch to the staff and spirit armors.
Blessing is a great skill, in my opinion. Although it doesn't always
work, one can quickly replenish an entire party's HP and MP with a
bit of patience. The idea is to find a random battle with a large
number of weak enemies (as opposed to a small number of strong ones).
Kill all the enemies but one, then hit it with Slow, Hold, or Stop.
Use Haste on Rosa, and then just sit and use Blessing repeatedly
as much as you like. She's like having a tent with legs!
Aim is less useful for random battles than in the original Final
Fantasy IV, since in The After Years, you cannot set the game to
remember your cursor position, so you have to select it manually
each time (instead of just button mashing your way through random
battles). However, because it is a special ability, it gives Rosa
"Moon-Proof Attack" (see Section 2: Notes and Q&A (S.02)). That's
a big benefit for a healer.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.15 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.15 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.15 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.15 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.15 One/All, adds Poison
Stop L.15 One, adds Paralyze
Toad L.15 One/All, adds/removes Toad
Warp L.15 Escape battle, or move up one floor
Fira L.15 One/All, moderate fire damage
Blizzara L.15 One/All, moderate ice damage
Thundara L.15 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Pig L.20 One/All, adds/removes Pig
Osmose L.26 One, reduces MP and restores caster's
Bio L.32 One/All, non-elemental damage, Sap
Drain L.36 One, reduces HP and restores caster's
Blizzaga L.41 One/All, superior ice damage
Firaga L.42 One/All, superior fire damage
Thundaga L.43 One/All, superior thunder damage
Break L.45 One/All, adds Petrify (instant death)
Quake L.51 All, superior earth damage
Death L.55 One, instant death
Tornado L.58 One, reduces HP to under 10
Flare L.60 One, extreme non-elemental damage
Meteor L.65 All, extreme non-elemental damage
Summon : Calls an Eidolon to create an effect.
(n/a) Goblin From "Goblin" rare dropped item
One enemy, weak physical attack
Cockatrice From "Cockatrice" rare dropped item
One enemy, physical attack, adds Petrify (partial)
Mindflayer From "Mindflayer" rare dropped item
One enemy, physical attack, adds Paralyze, Sap
Bomb From "Bomb" rare dropped item
One enemy, superior fire damage
Chocobo From "Chocobo" item during Gathering
One enemy
Sylph From event during Gathering
Ifrit From event during Gathering
Shiva From event during Gathering
Ramuh From event during Gathering
Titan From event during Gathering
Dragon From event during Gathering
Odin End of Gathering after Cecil fight
Asura Subterrane battle
Leviathan Subterrane battle
Bahamut Depths battle
Bands
Lightning Brain Buster (7 MP each, one enemy)
Rydia (Black Magic) Deals superior thunder damage based on Luca's
Luca (Attack) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against lightning, but there are none in
Rydia's chapter. Generally better to have
Luca attack or Big Throw while Rydia uses
magic.
Strategy & Notes
Rydia is the star of her chapter and is always present.
In the original Final Fantasy IV, Rydia was both a summoner and a
black mage. However, due to the events of The After Years, her usual
summoning abilities have been blocked, so she can only use black
magic. There are four summon spells she can obtain from items dropped
by enemies, however, but this requires a substantial time commitment
since the drop rates of the items are very low. She is perfectly
capable of completing her chapter without them, so it's up to the
player's discretion whether or not they wish to hunt for them. In my
opinion, it's not worth it, her black magic is fine and she will
likely regain her other (read: much more useful) summons in later
chapters, rendering the time spent on the dropped summons wasted.
In her chapter, Rydia has three interesting combat options. The best
is probably to equip rods and focus on improving her Intellect for
more potent Black Magic. The player might also choose to use a whip
for better random battle attack-spamming (whips can be used without
penalty from the back row, and can paralyze the enemy), or use a
Dancing Dagger (available from Kokkol's forge), which can cause good
damage when used as an item in battle.
Once she obtains the Osmose spell, life becomes easier. Particularly,
enemies of the Lamia type are vulnerable to Stop, and have a nice
pool of MP which Rydia can Osmose out of them. Battles with a Lamia
quickly become like a visit to the gas station, you just take a
moment and fill up, then move on.
When Rydia gains Bio, the chapter becomes quite easy. Unlike most of
her spells, Bio has an extremely short casting time, and does very
good damage.
Rydia's primary weakness is that she has poor defense and HP, and
since the only healer in her chapter (Brina) is unreliable and can't
heal outside of combat, stock up on lots of potions.
One should also take full advantage of healing pots in Rydia's
chapter, for easy leveling (free maximum HP and MP). There is a
healing pot located in the back entrance of the Dwarven Castle, and
a healing pot in the Agart Mines on the surface. I recommend hanging
out at the dwarven castle healing pot until the entire party is at
least level 20 and you have bought 99 Potions and 99 Hi-Potions, just
for safety. The healing pot in the Agart Mines is a great place to
get Rydia and Luca up to level 30, or beyond with some patience.
Abilities
Analyze : Displays the enemy's current and maximum HP, and
(n/a) any elemental weaknesses. It's just like the spell
Libra, except with no MP cost.
Big Throw : A regular physical attack that can be used from the
(Skill) front or back row without penalty. The game claims it
does higher-than-usual damage, but it doesn't.
Bands
Lightning Brain Buster (7 MP each, one enemy)
Rydia (Black Magic) Deals superior thunder damage based on Luca's
Luca (Attack) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against lightning, but there are none in
Rydia's chapter. Generally better to have
Luca attack or Big Throw while Rydia uses
magic.
Go! Calcabrina! (10 MP each, all enemies)
Calca (Jive) Deals moderate physical, fire, and thunder
Brina (Dance) damage (three separate attacks).
Luca (Analyze) Notes: Very effective, if the party doesn't
need Brina to be healing. Slow charge time
reduces it's efficiency, though.
Strategy & Notes
Luca joins shortly after the start of Rydia's chapter, and remains
with Rydia for the rest of her chapter.
A powerful physical attacker, Luca can choose to remain in the front
row to benefit her Attack, or can fight from the back row using her
Big Throw ability. If she remains in the front row, she benefits from
"Moon-Proof Attack" (see Section 2: Notes and Q&A (S.02)). If the
player acquires a Tomahawk for her from Kokkol while still in the
underworld, she can also Attack from the back row without penalty,
meaning she also has back-row "Moon-Proof Attack".
While Calca and Brina are present, their defense is much lower than
Luca, so it's generally best to put both of them (and Rydia) in the
back row and use Luca in the front row. Once the group has left the
underworld and it's just Luca and Rydia, stick Luca in the back row
with the Tomahawk.
For an easy Tomahawk, just collect 4 Kokkol Ores (there are 12 in the
underworld, so this should be easy) and loot the Battle Axe from a
chest in the Sealed Cave. You can exit the Sealed Cave and get the
Tomahawk right away, or, just wait until after you finish the Sealed
Cave, you don't need to leave the underworld immediately.
In Rydia's chapter, Analyze is actually a decent ability, since there
are no characters with White Magic around to use Libra.
Abilities
Focus : At the cost of some charge time, Yang deals
(n/a) additional damage to a single enemy. NOTE: The game
does not indicate that Focus is affected by moon
phases, but since it is just an augmented "attack",
it seems logical that it inherits the benefits or
penalties applied to "attack" during moon phases.
Kick : After a charge time, Yang attacks all enemies. This
(Attack) attack does less damage than his normal attack, but
is very useful for clearing out weak enemies.
Cover Counter : Select an ally to cover (other than Yang himself).
(n/a) If the ally is the target of a physical attack, Yang
will jump in the way, taking the hit himself, and
countering with a normal attack of his own. Very
useful during boss fights. NOTE: The game does not
indicate that Cover Counter is affected by moon
phases, but it seems logical that the damage of the
counter-attack, since it is just a basic "attack",
inherits the benefits or penalties applied to
"attack" during moon phases.
Bands
Five Star Crimson Palm (9 MP each, one enemy)
Yang (Attack) A very strong physical attack, Basically as
Ursula (Tenketsu) potent as the two abilities used to cause
it, but seems slightly stronger. Reduces
the enemy's speed. May cause instant-death
to the enemy.
Notes: Possibly good, but only if the timing
is such that Ursula is not stuck waiting
for Yang to charge up. The main benefit is
the debuff to the enemy's speed, which in
Yang's chapter, cannot be accomplished by
Yang or Ursula any other way aside from
using a Spider Silk.
Twin Wing Frenzy (6 MP each, one enemy)
Yang (Event) A strong physical attack, slightly more
Ursula (Event) potent than two separate attacks.
Notes: Possibly good, but only if the timing
is such that Ursula is not stuck waiting
for Yang to charge up.
Strategy & Notes
Yang is the star of his chapter and is always present, except during
the Adamant Isle Forest when he and Ursula operate separately.
Although somewhat slow, Yang hits hard, and can take a beating. His
combat mechanic is unique in that by switching out his claws in the
middle of a fight, the player can change what elemental damage or
status effect will be added to his attacks, including Focus and Kick.
This provides a great deal of flexibility and enables Yang to easily
strike his enemy's weak point if the player knows what it is.
Focus is a powerful skill, but due to the charge time, it may work out
that Yang would do more damage over time just attacking. Even if that
were the case, Focus is still very useful against enemies who counter-
attack, since Yang can get a larger hit per enemy counter. According
to one report, this ability is not counter-attacked by enemies who
are able to do so. I'll need to test it.
Cover Counter, however, is an excellent ability, since it enables
Yang to get in a few extra hits on the enemy, at the cost of his HP,
which are high enough to endure the extra hits. During Yang's chapter
this should be used on Ursula to help her stay alive, and she can use
Chakra if needed to heal Yang.
Abilities
Kick : After a charge time, Ursula attacks all enemies. This
(Attack) attack does less damage than her normal attack, but
is very useful for clearing out weak enemies.
Tenketsu : At the cost of some charge time, Ursula attacks a
(Skill) single enemy. This attack might deal normal damage,
might deal improved damage, might be changed to the
enemy's elemental weakness, or might have an instant-
death effect. The benefit of this ability seems to
be random, but generally useful.
Chakra : Ursula quickly unleashes a moderate heal to a single
(Skill) ally (or herself), which also removes some status
ailments. The amount healed seems similar to Cura.
Bands
Five Star Crimson Palm (9 MP each, one enemy)
Yang (Attack) A very strong physical attack, Basically as
Ursula (Tenketsu) potent as the two abilities used to cause
it, but seems slightly stronger. Reduces
the enemy's speed. May cause instant-death
to the enemy.
Notes: Possibly good, but only if the timing
is such that Ursula is not stuck waiting
for Yang to charge up. The main benefit is
the debuff to the enemy's speed, which in
Yang's chapter, cannot be accomplished by
Yang or Ursula any other way aside from
using a Spider Silk.
Twin Wing Frenzy (6 MP each, one enemy)
Yang (Event) A strong physical attack, slightly more
Ursula (Event) potent than two separate attacks.
Notes: Possibly good, but only if the timing
is such that Ursula is not stuck waiting
for Yang to charge up.
Strategy & Notes
Ursula joins early in Yang's chapter, and remains available for most
of the rest of the chapter, except during the invasion of Fabul, and
the Adamant Isle Forest when she and Yang operate separately.
Ursula is tough, strong, and fast, able to hit hard and quick. Her
combat mechanic is unique in that by switching out her claws in the
middle of a fight, the player can change what elemental damage or
status effect will be added to her attacks, including Kick and
Tenketsu (though Tenketsu's effect may over-ride the element, but
this would always be in the player's favor if it does). This provides
a great deal of flexibility and enables Ursula to easily strike her
enemy's weak point if the player knows what it is.
Chakra would also be an excellent pinch-heal in a full party, and
Ursula has the Spirit to make it potent. Presumably, there may be
equipment available to her later which will improve her Spirit, in
addition to improvements to her physical stats.
Tenketsu is a very good ability, although somewhat random in effect.
The overall damage potential of the ability is superior to a normal
attack (if you average the "normal damage" instances with the higher
damage occurrences), though of course it has a charge time. The most
important benefit is that it gives Ursula "Moon-Proof Attack" (see
Section 2: Notes and Q&A (S.02)). Sadly, she doesn't learn it until
the end of Yang's chapter, but she can use it during the Challenge
Dungeon, and presumably the later chapters of the game.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.13 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.13 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.13 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.13 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.13 One/All, adds Poison
Pig L.13 One/All, adds/removes Pig
Blizzara L.13 One/All, moderate ice damage
Fira L.13 One/All, moderate fire damage
Thundara L.13 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Break L.13 One/All, adds Petrify (instant death)
Warp L.19 Escape battle, or move up one floor
Toad L.22 One/All, adds/removes Toad
Osmose L.25 One, reduces MP and restores caster's
Drain L.29 One, reduces HP and restores caster's
Bio L.30 One/All, non-elemental damage, Sap
Stop L.32 One, adds Paralyze
Blizzaga L.41 One/All, superior ice damage
Firaga L.42 One/All, superior fire damage
Thundaga L.43 One/All, superior thunder damage
Quake L.45 All, superior earth damage
Death L.46 One, instant death
Tornado L.48 One, reduces HP to under 10
Flare L.50 One, extreme non-elemental damage
Meteor L.55 All, extreme non-elemental damage
Bluff : Reduces the stats of all enemies a bit, and increases
(n/a) Palom's Intellect. Both effects are temporary. This
ability's effects can stack up to three times. The
benefit of this ability is to make Palom's Black
Magic more powerful due to the Intellect buff.
Bands
A Little Black Magic (10 MP each, all enemies)
Palom (Bluff) Casts a random elemental magic spell, from
Leonora (Black Magic) Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder, ranging from
the most basic spell to -ra or -ga spells.
Sometimes it will cast Leonora's initial
training version of the elemental spells,
for very weak damage.
Notes: Not bad in random battles, the MP cost
is reasonable for -ra spells and good for
-ga spells, but poor if it uses a lower
spell. Palom can keep up with the MP cost
of this better than Leonora can, however.
Particle Bomb (20 MP each, one enemy)
Palom (Event) Superior non-elemental damage, looks like
Leonora (Event) Palom casts Fira and Leonora casts Blizzara
but none of the damage is elemental.
Notes: Very good against bosses, and seems to
do very good damage. Useful since it's non-
elemental.
Strategy & Notes
Palom is the star of his chapter and is always present.
Although he can be leveled before entering Troia Castle, the
overworld enemies don't give very high experience compared to those
in the Tower of Trials. It's best to just pick up Leonora and head to
the tower. The tower contains healing pots on several floors which
restore all HP and MP for free. Particularly, hang out on the bottom
floor for awhile, since every enemy encountered there is vulnerable
to fire. This makes the random battles a snap - just use Fire, over
and over, for both characters, and you can get to level 20 rapidly.
Bluff is not a particularly useful ability. The debuff to enemy stats
is minor, and Palom does great damage with his spells without it, but
it stacks up to three times, so it might be useful against bosses.
The trick will be considering whether or not the improved damage over
the remainder of the battle totals higher than the damage lost using
three turns to use Bluff repeatedly. In a short boss battle, this is
probably not a good ability to use, but in a long battle, go for it.
Sadly, Palom doesn't learn any new magic beyond level 32, but like
Rydia in her chapter, Palom's Bio pretty much shreds enemies.
A Little Black Magic seems to be unpredictable, but Particle Bomb is
very powerful. It may be useful in the later chapters, though it's
not so good to use against the boss of Palom's Challenge Dungeon.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.3 One/All, minor HP recovery
Raise L.3 One, revives with low HP
Teleport L.3 Exit a battle or dungeon
Esuna L.3 One, removes status ailments
Libra L.5 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Sight L.8 Zooms out world map view
Hold L.11 One, adds Paralyze
Cura L.12 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Slow L.13 One/All, decreases speed
Protect L.17 One/All, physical defense up
Silence L.19 One/All, adds Mute
Berserk L.23 One/All, adds Berserk
Shell L.25 One/All, magic defense up
Mini L.32 One, adds/removes Mini
Confuse L.35 One, adds Confuse
Blink L.38 One, avoid next two attacks
Float L.40 One/All, adds Float
Dispel L.42 One, removes all status effects
Curaga L.45 One/All, superior HP recovery
Haste L.51 One, speed up
Reflect L.54 One, adds Reflect
Curaja L.57 One/All, extreme HP recovery
Arise L.62 One, revives with maximum HP
Holy L.70 One, extreme Holy damage
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire Event One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard Event One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder Event One/All, minor thunder damage
Poison L.15 One/All, adds Poison
Sleep L.22 One/All, adds Sleep
Stop L.30 One, adds Paralyze
Drain L.36 One, reduces HP and restores caster's
Osmose L.39 One, reduces MP and restores caster's
Fira L.41 One/All, moderate fire damage
Blizzara L.44 One/All, moderate ice damage
Thundara L.47 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Firaga L.78 One/All, superior fire damage
Blizzaga L.80 One/All, superior ice damage
Thundaga L.82 One/All, superior thunder damage
Flare L.85 One, extreme non-elemental damage
Bands
A Little Black Magic (10 MP each, all enemies)
Palom (Bluff) Casts a random elemental magic spell, from
Leonora (Black Magic) Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder, ranging from
the most basic spell to -ra or -ga spells.
Notes: Not bad in random battles, the MP cost
is reasonable for -ra spells and good for
-ga spells, but poor if it uses a basic
spell. Palom can keep up with the MP cost
of this better than Leonora can, however.
Particle Bomb (20 MP each, one enemy)
Palom (Event) Superior non-elemental damage, looks like
Leonora (Event) Palom casts Fira and Leonora casts Blizzara
but none of the damage is elemental.
Notes: Very good against bosses, and seems to
do very good damage. Useful since it's non-
elemental.
Strategy & Notes
Leonora joins early in Palom's chapter, and remains available for
the rest of the chapter.
She begins weak but gains levels quickly, especially if the healing
pots in the Tower of Trials are used effectively. Out of curiousity,
I will be leveling her to 15 before entering the Tower of Trials, to
see if she learns Poison even though she hasn't gone through the
story events in the chapter to begin her Black Magic training.
Her White Magic is potent, but I was surprised that she didn't learn
Curaga. This causes significant concern about her potential as a main
healer in later chapters, but for all we know she learns Curaga at
level 41, so that wouldn't be so bad.
One very important point for Leonora is that she learns Osmose, which
provides her with the ability to recover her MP and keep healing. No
other user of White Magic has this ability.
Functionally, Leonora is something like a Red Mage, with stronger
White Magic, but weaker armor and attack. It'll be interesting to see
how much further her Black Magic develops in later chapters.
Abilities
Ninjutsu : Secret ninja techniques for offense and defense.
(Skill) Flame L.15 One/All, moderate fire damage
Flood L.15 All, moderate water damage
Shock L.15 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Gale L.15 One/All, moderate wind damage
Smoke L.15 Escape from battle
Heal Pill L.17 One, minor HP recovery
Shadowbind L.25 One, adds Paralyze
Mirage L.32 Self, avoid next two attacks
Blast L.42
Frost L.45
Blitz L.48
Tremor L.50
Throw : Throw an unequipped weapon at an enemy for physical
(n/a) damage. There are also throwing-only weapons which
cannot be equipped, but can be thrown. This ability
can be used without penalty from the back row.
Smash & Grab : A normal physical attack against one enemy, plus a
(n/a) chance to steal an item. The item stolen is usually
a common "tool" type item (Potion, Echo Herb, etc.)
but can sometimes be a rare "tool", weapon, or armor.
Unlike "Steal", this ability does not provoke a
counter-attack from the enemy if the steal fails.
Bands
Blazing Moon Ring (7 MP each, one enemy)
Edge (Ninjutsu) Superior fire damage, seems to be based on
Gekkou (Shuriken) the physical damage of the characters.
Notes: Very good against bosses or strong
enemies who are weak against fire. Low
enough MP cost for general use, also.
Frozen Moon Dance (8 MP each, one enemy)
Edge (Attack) Superior ice damage, seems to be based on
Izayoi (Ninjutsu) the physical damage of the characters.
Notes: Very good against bosses or strong
enemies who are weak against ice. Low
enough MP cost for general use, also.
Wild Moon (12 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Attack) Physical attack, seems to be based on the
Tsukinowa (Attack) physical damage of the characters.
Notes: This Band is very useful against large
groups of enemies, especially since both
characters have very high speed, so you can
probably use this at the start of the fight
and soften up the enemies so that the other
characters can finish them off.
Gale Twin Break (14 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Ninjutsu) Moderate fire and thunder damage, seems to be
Zangetsu (Human Kite) based on the physical damage of the
characters.
Notes: Not as useful as Wild Moon, since
Zangetsu has lower speed and this attack
does elemental damage. Against enemies weak
to these elements (such as undead and fire)
this can be an excellent opening move.
Ultimate Art: Advent of Phoenix (20 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Smash & Grab) Variable non-elemental damage, based on the
Gekkou (Shuriken) total current HP of the party versus the
Izayoi (Illusions) total maximum HP of the party. The lower
Tsukinowa (Steal) the party's HP, the more damage this does.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Supposedly can break the damage limit.
Notes: This Band could be very useful, but
the various speed differences in the party
would mean that faster ninjas would be
waiting around for the charge-up of the
slower ninjas, thus wasting potential for
damage from normal attacks. Plus, if the
group has low enough HP to make this Band
do extreme damage, maybe you should think
about healing them before they die.
Strategy & Notes
Edge is the star of his chapter and is always present, once the sub-
chapters for Gekkou, Izayoi, Tsukinowa, and Zangetsu are finished.
Fast and strong, Edge is a very useful warrior with some unique
skills. In the original Final Fantasy IV, he seemed a little fragile,
but in this game he seems to have been given an improvement in his
HP and defense.
His elemental Ninjutsu techniques are not particularly damaging, but
Shadowbind is very useful for disabling a tough enemy, allowing the
group to defeat the enemy without opposition. Mirage is also useful,
but Edge has enough HP to withstand a few hits.
Throw is a very useful skill that seems to be based on Edge's
Strength, plus the attack power of the weapon thrown. In his chapter,
Shuriken can be bought for very little gold, easily able to be bought
in a full stack of 99 by the time the ninjas cap. The main advantage
of Throw is that it ignores the enemy's rows, regarding damage, so it
can be used to full effect against enemies who are in the back row.
Smash & Grab seems to have limited usefulness, since it seems like
most enemies are carrying only ordinary "tool" type items. Even so,
it could be useful to get a few extra items.
Both Throw and Smash & Grab are not affected by moon phases, giving
Edge "Moon-Proof Attack" (see Section 2: Notes and Q&A (S.02)).
He can also equip boomerangs, which deal full damage from the back
row. Reportedly, equipping only one Boomerang applies this to the
whole attack, even if the other weapon is not also a boomerang, but I
haven't tested this.
Edge's main downside is that the attack power of his weapons is low,
since he equips two of them at once. Even in this case, his typical
damage seems to be less than other warriors with similar stats and
total attack power.
Given a decent pool of items to Throw, or with Strength and Speed
boosting equipment, Edge would be an excellent character overall.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Hold L.10 One, adds Paralyze
Slow L.10 One/All, decreases speed
Libra L.10 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Cure L.10 One/All, minor HP recovery
Sight L.10 Zooms out world map view
Raise L.10 One, revives with low HP
Cura L.10 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Protect L.12 One/All, physical defense up
Silence L.15 One/All, adds Mute
Berserk L.18 One, adds Berserk
Teleport L.19 Exit a battle or dungeon
Esuna L.20 One, removes status ailments
Blink L.23 One, avoid next two attacks
Confuse L.25 One, adds Confuse
Shell L.29 One/All, magic defense up
Dispel L.31 One, removes all status effects
Mini L.31 One, adds/removes Mini
Curaga L.33 One/All, superior HP recovery
Haste L.38 One, speed up
Float L.40 One/All, adds Float
Reflect L.44 One, adds Reflect
Curaja L.48 One/All, extreme HP recovery
Holy L.52 One, extreme Holy damage
Arise L.56 One, revives with maximum HP
Pray : Recovers HP for the entire party. The amount of HP
(n/a) recovered seems to be about the same as Cura, perhaps
slightly higher. This ability doesn't always work,
but it's not a bad way to get a free heal. NOTE:
Porom does not have Pray when she is a child, but
gains it automatically once using her pink-haired
sprite. The magic's in the pink hair, of course!
Bands
Twincast (20 MP each, all enemies)
Porom (Default) Causes one of two effects, randomly:
Palom (Default)* "Flare": Superior non-elemental damage
"Meteor": Extreme non-elemental damage
Notes: The damage here is superb, and the MP
cost is reasonable for the damage. However,
the charge time is very slow, making this
band less useful overall.
*This is for the temporary Palom in Porom's
chapter. Presumably this band can be used
in the end-game, also, but we'll see.
Strategy & Notes
Porom is the star of her chapter and is always present.
During the first part of her flashback portion of her chapter she is
still a child, as we last saw her in Final Fantasy IV. As a child she
has a level cap of 20, and does not have the Pray ability. Her level
cap becomes 40 when she becomes an adult at the end of the childhood
flashback, and she gains the Pray ability. I have tested leveling her
to 20 as a child, and also keeping her in KO until she becomes an
adult and leveling her to 20 then, and it makes no difference in her
HP, MP, or stats.
All things considered, Porom is a very potent healer, but she is a
bit fragile and doesn't have much offensive potential. In her chapter
this is compensated for by having her teamed up with a wide variety
of temporary characters. In the end-game, she'd be part of a group,
so her lack of offense wouldn't be as noticeable. She can use a bow
like Rosa, but doesn't have the Strength to make the most of it, so
I would say she's best with a staff to make her magic as potent as
possible.
Pray is a very useful ability and can be used regularly for free
healing during random battles. The healing seems more potent than
Rosa's Blessing, but unlike Blessing it doesn't restore any MP.
Abilities
Bardsong : Sing to one/all allies/enemies for an effect.
(Skill) Healing Harmony Allies, minor HP recovery
Life's Althem Allies, moderate HP recovery
Guardian's Ballad Allies, physical/magic defense up
Hastemarch Allies, speed up
Alluring Air Enemies, adds Confuse
Silent Verse Enemies, adds Mute
Lullaby Enemies, adds Sleep
No effect. Does nothing.
Salve : Use a restorative item on all allies. This ability
(n/a) will use one of the item per ally on your team, so
be aware that it can rapidly deplete your supplies.
Equipment that boosts the effectiveness of item use
also boosts the effectiveness of Salve, since it is
just using items.
Escape : Evade all effects from all enemies and allies by
(n/a) hiding off-screen. While hidden, Edward cannot make
any action except to stay hidden or return to the
fight. If he is the only character left alive, he
will return to the fight automatically.
Bands
Feast of the Land (20 MP each, all allies)
Edward (Bardsong) Recovers HP and cure some status ailments.
Harley (Gil Toss) The amount of HP restored seems to be based
on the same factors as the damage of the
Gil Toss ability.
Notes: Edward and Harley don't have any other
use for their MP, so why not? It's slower
than just using Salve, but if you're not at
risk of getting killed quickly, save the
potions and use your useless MP.
Strategy & Notes
Edward is the star of his chapter and is always present.
Although his stats make him a bit fragile, he has decent Strength and
Speed, which are generally easily improved with Light armor types, as
we've seen with the ninjas. Edward also benefits in that his harps
deal full damage from the back row, or to back row enemies. The bad
thing is, though, that harps seem to do poor damage overall. However,
they always have a nice status effect, and seem to have a high chance
of inflicting it on the enemy.
Bardsong is unreliable against enemies, and seems to often attempt to
use Silent Verse against enemies who don't even use magic. Weak. On
the other hand, when used on your allies it's quite beneficial, even
though the healing effects are somewhat poor. I would imagine that
using equipment which boosts his Spirit would help that, though. The
ability to Haste, or simultaneously Protect and Shell, the entire
group is a very useful ability, though.
Salve is very good, especially if paired with the Economical Ring, an
accessory that Harley comes equipped with that doubles the effect of
any healing item, and also works for items used through Salve. The
main use of Salve is that it has very low charge time, and can dish
out a lot of healing quickly. With the Economical Ring, Edward can
basically instantly restore 1,000 HP to the entire party, or 4,000 if
he uses an X-Potion (though this would be serious overkill in his
chapter). The downside is, it actually uses one of the item for each
party member, so you'll run out of items rapidly.
Escape is a mixed bag. It's normally not useful, but if you were in
a fight with a boss who had some sort of timed super-attack, if you
paid attention to the timing you could have Edward use Escape to
avoid the super-attack, then return to Salve the party. Nice.
Altogether, Edward's much more useful than he was in Final Fantasy
IV, which is a very good thing. He might make a decent choice for a
support character in a final party.
I intend to make a list of which items he can use with Salve, so
check back in a later version of the guide if you're interested.
Abilities
Piercing Sight: Dispels beneficial magic effects from an enemy, and
(Skill) gives the enemy a random elemental weakness. It might
not work, though. Use the Libra spell, Beastiary
item, or Analyze ability to determine the new
elemental weakness.
Gil Toss : Non-elemental damage to all enemies. The damage seems
(Skill) to be respectable, but I'm unsure if it's based on
her level, or your total gil, or some other factor.
This ability costs you gil to use - the exact amount
is 30 gil multiplied by Harley's level, multiplied by
the number of targets. Suffice to say this can lower
your gil significantly if you overuse this skill.
Bands
Feast of the Land (20 MP each, all allies)
Edward (Bardsong) Recovers HP and cure some status ailments.
Harley (Gil Toss) The amount of HP restored seems to be based
on the same factors as the damage of the
Gil Toss ability.
Notes: Edward and Harley don't have any other
use for their MP, so why not? It's slower
than just using Salve, but if you're not at
risk of getting killed quickly, save the
potions and use your useless MP.
Strategy & Notes
Harley joins Edward's group when they find her at the Impact Crater,
but departs once the group reaches Kaipo. She rejoins once Edward
returns with a Sand Pearl and is present for the remainder of the
chapter and Challenge Dungeon.
Interestingly, Harley seems to have better stats than Edward in most
respects. I was particularly puzzled by her very high Intellect,
since although this is fitting for her personality, she doesn't seem
to have any abilities which make use of it. This is a shame, since
her Intellect beats Rydia and Golbez at level 40. Perhaps Gil Toss is
based on her Intellect, I can't really tell.
Whips can be used without penalty from the back row, and against back
row enemies, so this is a nice advantage. There are many whips in the
game, too, as opposed to Final Fantasy IV's somewhat meager amount of
whips for poor Rydia.
Piercing Sight would be a great skill if she were paired with a black
mage who could make use of the new elemental weakness, and with a
white mage to use Libra, or Luca or Cid to use Analyze, to determine
what the weakness is.
Gil Toss, overall, is a nicely damaging ability with a quick charge
time, and can quickly end fights with numerous enemies. Just be aware
that it gets very expensive as her level rises, and the cost is based
also on the number of enemies being targeted, so watch out or you'll
run out of gil quickly.
As a side note, Harley comes equipped with an Economical Ring, which
doubles the effectiveness of any healing item she uses. You could opt
to give this to Edward since it works with his Salve skill too, and
give her Edward's Gil Ring.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.30 One/All, minor fire damage
Fira L.30 One/All, moderate fire damage
Firaga L.30 One/All, superior fire damage
Blizzard L.30 One/All, minor ice damage
Blizzara L.30 One/All, moderate ice damage
Blizzaga L.30 One/All, superior ice damage
Thunder L.30 One/All, minor thunder damage
Thundara L.30 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Thundaga L.30 One/All, superior thunder damage
Bio L.30 One/All, non-elemental damage, Sap
Osmose L.32 One, reduces MP and restores caster's
Drain L.35 One, reduces HP and restores caster's
Quake L.42 All, superior earth damage
Flare L.55 One, extreme non-elemental damage
Meteor L.60 All, extreme non-elemental damage
Pressure : Affects one enemy only, adds Paralyze. It's like
(n/a) using the Hold spell, with a similar charge time but
no MP cost.
Taunt : All enemies will attack only Golbez with their single
(n/a) target attacks. If the enemy uses a group attack it
will still hit all party members, though. This seems
to last until Golbez takes any other action, so you
could use it to indefinitely use him as your "tank".
Bands
Double Black Magic (30 MP each, all enemies)*
Golbez (Event) Causes one of four effects, randomly:
Fusoya (Event) Double Firaga: Extreme fire damage
Double Blizzaga: Extreme ice damage
Double Thundaga: Extreme thunder damage
Double Meteor: Ultimate non-elemental dmg.
Notes: Powerful, but very slow to use, and
the Double Meteor effect doesn't happen all
that often.
*Since Fusoya is a temporary character, this
Band will not be retained in the end-game.
Strategy & Notes
Golbez is the star of the Lunarians chapter and is always present,
except during brief flashback battles, wherein the player controls
the temporary flashback version of Golbez.
Look at his stats. What a beast! He has a great spell selection at
level 30, too, and quickly gets Osmose to back it up. Okay, he lacks
some Black Magic spells like Pig, Poison, etc, but who really uses
those that often anyway, right?
Of note, he gains no HP during any of his levels, which people have
said is due to his extremely high starting HP. Rumor has it that he
will start to gain HP after a certain level in the end-game, though,
so don't worry. I'd imagine he'll still have superior HP to the other
Black Mages, given that they are all very low in HP.
Pressure is a useful skill and makes up for his lack of the Stop
spell, especially since it costs no MP. Taunt, on the other hand, is
an amazing ability, I can imagine it being very powerful in the end-
game if Golbez has strong armor and maintains high HP (or has been
given lots of Silver Apples). It seems like you could use him as the
mainstay of a group of all mages, and he'd absorb the damage for the
team. Interesting concept.
I don't recommend using the Band with Fusoya. It's slow, and the
elemental effects come up most often, with no control over which one
you will get. As such, you can't use it to efficiently wipe out
enemies with elemental strengths, or try to hit elemental weaknesses.
You're probably better off using Bio on both characters - less damage
but instant cast time, so you'll probably get to use it twice or more
in the time that you'd get off one Double Black Magic.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.15 One/All, minor HP recovery
Sight L.15 Zooms out world map view
Libra L.15 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Cura L.15 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Teleport L.19 Exit a battle or dungeon
Esuna L.24 One, removes status ailments
Cover : Select an ally to cover (other than Cecil himself).
(n/a) If the ally is the target of a physical attack, Cecil
will jump in the way, taking the hit himself. Very
useful during boss fights.
Cover Critical: This passive ability is not on his command list.
(n/a) When an ally is in Critical status, Cecil will
automatically take hits for them, using his Cover
ability. This does not interrupt his normal use of
Cover, if you have used it to select someone else.
Bands
Holy Blade (20 MP each, one enemy)
Cecil (Attack) Deals superior holy damage based on Cecil's
Rosa (White Magic) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against holy, but there are none in
Cecil's segment. You'll need Rosa to be
healing, anyway.
Machine Break (7 MP each, one enemy)
Cecil (Attack) Physical damage a bit higher than the normal
Cid (Analyze) attacks of both.
Notes: Supposedly does additional damage
against machine enemies, but as far as I
can tell there aren't any available for
Cecil to fight, so I can't test this. Just
have Cecil and Cid attack, Cecil doesn't
need to be slowed down waiting for Cid to
charge up for this. Avoid this Band.
All characters in this section may or may not be available for use in your
end-game party, depending on specific conditions for each character. If the
conditions are met, then the character is a permanent character, just like
any other permanent character. If the conditions are not met, then the
character is gone forever after their time in their own chapter.
The "Avg. Gain" is the character's growth rate in a stat, based on growths
from the character's initial level through their chapter's level cap. This
average can then be calculated outward to estimate the character's stats at
level 70 (noted as "Level 70?").
Abilities
Jive : Causes a random "Blue Magic" effect on enemies.
(Skill) Thermal Rays All, non-elemental damage
Flamethrower All, fire damage
Frost Blast All, ice damage
Lightning All, thunder damage
Earthquake All, earth damage
Pollen All, minor damage, adds Sap
Bloodfeast One, damage, adds Sap
Sleeping Gas One/all, adds Sleep
Poison Gas One/all, adds Poison
Curse One/all, adds Curse
Bad Breath One, adds many status ailments
Slap One, adds Paralyze or Curse
Blaster One, adds Paralyze or kills
Constrict One, adds Paralyze
Petrify Glare One, adds Petrify (partial)
Stone Touch One, adds Petrify (partial)
Hex One, adds Pig
Glare One, adds Confuse
Tongue ?
Gaze ?
Bile ?
Bands
Calca and Brina (10 MP each, all enemies (except as noted))
Calca (Jive) Creates a random effect:
Brina (Dance) Fire-Punch: Moderate fire damage
Ice-Kick: Moderate ice damage
Thunder-Beam: Moderate thunder damage
Self-Destruct: Kills Calca and Brina, but
causes superior non-elemental damage
Recover: Moderate HP recovery, all allies
Limb Dance: Physical attack to one enemy
Notes: Not very useful considering the chance
of instant death to both. Just use Jive and
Dance separately.
Go! Calcabrina! (10 MP each, all enemies)
Calca (Jive) Deals moderate physical, fire, and thunder
Brina (Dance) damage (three separate attacks).
Luca (Analyze) Notes: Very effective, if the party doesn't
need Brina to be healing. Slow charge time
reduces it's efficiency, though.
Strategy & Notes
Calca joins the party early in Rydia's chapter, and leaves at the end
of the Sealed Cave for the rest of the chapter.
Calca will be destroyed via a story event, and if not repaired, will
be unavailable in the later chapters. To repair Calca, the player
must find the Mithril Spring, Mithril Bolt, and Mithril Nut in the
Agart Mines. If all three items are in the inventory when the chapter
is finished, Calca and Brina will be saved. This can be done even if
the chapter has already been completed, the player will simply need
to repeat the ending sequence.
The Mithril Spring is found in a chest. The Mithril Bolt
and Mithril Nut are random drops from Quarto Doll which can be found
in a rock-filled room on B4 of the Agart Mines during Waxing
Moon. The Mithril Nut is the most rare, and may take many battles
to acquire.
As a character, Calca has some interesting strengths and weaknesses.
Like Brina, Calca equips "Clothes" type armor, which give major stat
adjustments. Strategically, Calca will get the best use out of the
Warrior's Clothes or Mage's Clothes.
If using the Warrior's Clothes, the potency of Calca's Jive ability
will be decreased due to lower Intellect, but his attack and defense
will be substantially improved. However, his HP will never be high,
and his attack and defense will be less than most other characters.
Even so, in Rydia's chapter this can be a decent strategy, since as
you can see above, his stats develop with a focus on strength and
stamina, so he seems destined towards being a "warrior" who happens
to be able to use Jive on the side. Calca can also use a Headband if
you get one as a dropped item, to improve his attack a bit more, but
cannot use a Power Armlet. He might be able to use a Giant Glove, but
I wasn't able to get one to use for a test.
If using the Clown's Clothes, he'll be quite a bit faster, which
means more frequent attacks or Jives. Since Jive is unpredictable in
it's usefulness, and he can boost his overall damage about the same
by using Warrior's Clothes, leave the Clown's Clothes for Brina.
If using the Mage's Clothes, the potency of Calca's Jive ability
will be increased due to higher Intellect. This mainly applies to
Jive abilities which cause damage, although it may have some affect
on the chance of success using status effects. Since the benefits of
Jive are so unpredictable, this may be less useful in Rydia's chapter
than the Warrior Clothes, but if you like Jive, then go for it.
For those curious about the damaging effects of Jive, they seem to be
HP-based, like the enemy skills of the same name. The closer Calca's
HP are to his maximum, the more damage the skill can do. A level 40
Calca with full HP wearing Mage's Clothes during a neutral moon phase
did, in my test, just over 700 damage with "Lightning" against the
Demon Wall boss.
Calca's level does not seem to impact the chance of getting any
particular result from Jive.
Generally, the band "Calca and Brina" is not useful, due to the
random chance of getting the Self-Destruct effect. While it may seem
like a good way to damage groups of enemies, consider just using Jive
and Dance separately, to enjoy both an offensive and defensive effect
instead of just one with a risk of Calca and Brina's death.
However, the band "Go! Calcabrina!" is much more useful against
bosses, assuming the party has enough HP to not need Brina to use
Dance. It's not bad in random encounters, either, but since bands
take time to activate, it may not be efficient.
Generally, Calca seems less useful than Brina, since many of his
Jive abilities cause status effects which may not be useful in speedy
plowing through random battles, and may not affect bosses at all. He
will probably not be very useful end-game, for these reasons.
Abilities
Dance : Causes a random White Magic effect on allies.
(Skill) Cure Dance All, minor HP recovery
Heal Dance All, HP recovery between Cure & Cura
Cura Dance All, moderate HP recovery
Curaga Dance All, superior HP recovery
Curaja Dance All, extreme HP recovery
Raise Dance All, revives with low HP
Esuna Dance All, removes status ailments
Protect Dance All, physical defense up
Shell Dance All, magic defense up
Blink Dance All, avoid next two attacks
Haste Dance All, speed up
Bands
Calca and Brina (10 MP each, all enemies (except as noted))
Calca (Jive) Creates a random effect:
Brina (Dance) Fire-Punch: Moderate fire damage
Ice-Kick: Moderate ice damage
Thunder-Beam: Moderate thunder damage
Self-Destruct: Kills Calca and Brina, but
causes superior non-elemental damage
Recover: Moderate HP recovery, all allies
Limb Dance: Physical attack to one enemy
Notes: Not very useful considering the chance
of instant death to both. Just use Jive and
Dance separately.
Go! Calcabrina! (10 MP each, all enemies)
Calca (Jive) Deals moderate physical, fire, and thunder
Brina (Dance) damage (three separate attacks).
Luca (Analyze) Notes: Very effective, if the party doesn't
need Brina to be healing. Slow charge time
reduces it's efficiency, though.
Strategy & Notes
Brina joins the party early in Rydia's chapter, and leaves at the end
of the Sealed Cave for the rest of the chapter.
Brina will be destroyed via a story event, and if not repaired, will
be unavailable in the later chapters. To repair Brina, the player
must find the Mithril Spring, Mithril Bolt, and Mithril Nut in the
Agart Mines. If all three items are in the inventory when the chapter
is finished, Calca and Brina will be saved. This can be done even if
the chapter has already been completed, the player will simply need
to repeat the ending sequence.
The Mithril Spring is found in a chest. The Mithril Bolt
and Mithril Nut are random drops from Quarto Doll which can be found
in a rock-filled room on B4 of the Agart Mines during Waxing
Moon. The Mithril Nut is the most rare, and may take many battles
to acquire.
As a character, Brina has some interesting strengths and weaknesses.
Like Calca, Brina equips "Clothes" type armor, which give major stat
adjustments. Strategically, Brina will get the best use out of the
Angel's Clothes or Clown's Clothes.
If using the Angel's Clothes, the potency of Brina's Dance ability
will be increased due to higher Spirit. Since the benefits of the
Dance ability are generally very useful, this is a good choice for
keeping the party mended. In Rydia's chapter, Brina is the only
source of these White Magic type abilities, so it's important to keep
Brina in her healing role. As you can see above, her stats seem to be
focused on high Spirit anyway, which means more potent healing.
If using the Clown's Clothes, the potency of Brina's Dance ability
will be decreased due to lower Spirit when compared to using Angel's
Clothes, but her naturally high speed will be substantially improved
to the point of her getting two turns to everyone else's one turn.
This means that Dance can be used more often, providing more effects
or healing to the party. In general this seems to be more useful than
the increased potency of Dance abilities granted by Angel's Clothes.
Higher speed also makes it easier to fully heal the party for free by
having Rydia use Stop on an enemy, then sitting in battle and using
Dance repeatedly until healed. Also, improved Speed affects her
attack, so if you don't need her to heal, she might be able to attack
effectively instead, and quickly.
Some may argue that the Warrior Clothes would be a good outfit for
Brina, but since she is the only source of healing for Rydia's party,
it's more strategically beneficial to focus her in the healing role
and let Calca use the Warrior Clothes.
Brina's level does not appear to impact the frequency of various
"Cure" dances appearing. The result of Dance is simply random.
Generally, Brina seems more useful than Calca. In Rydia's chapter
she's the only healer, but thinking about the end-game, she might be
useful for easy and free party healing. The unpredictability makes
her likely a poor choice for a main party, but she'd make a great
assistant when working on leveling up under-leveled characters.
On the other hand, depending on what items she could equip, if she
had some decent stuff to use alongside the Clown's Clothes, she'll
end up lightning-fast from her naturally high speed plus the boost
of the clothes, so, being able to rapidly spam random beneficial
effects might be useful. We will have to see!
Shuriken : Throw an shuriken at the enemy. Requires a shuriken
(n/a) (or other throwing-only weapon) to be in your
inventory. Unlike Edge's Throw ability, this ability
cannot be used to throw normal, unequipped weapons.
This ability can be used without penalty from the
back row.
Bands
Blazing Moon Ring (7 MP each, one enemy)
Edge (Ninjutsu) Superior fire damage, seems to be based on
Gekkou (Shuriken) the physical damage of the characters.
Notes: Very good against bosses or strong
enemies who are weak against fire. Low
enough MP cost for general use, also.
Phantom Lightflies (9 MP each, all allies)
Gekkou (Ninjutsu) Moderate to superior HP recovery, seems to be
Izayoi (Illusions) similar to the Heal Salve ninjutsu skill.
Notes: Very useful, since there are no other
multi-target healing abilities during
Edge's chapter. The healing potential of
this Band is sufficient to keep the entire
group with high HP.
Wheel of Elements (15 MP each, all enemies)
Gekkou (Shuriken) Moderate fire, ice, thunder, and wind damage,
Izayoi (Illusions) seems to be based on the Ninjutsu damage of
Tsukinowa (Steal) the characters, but improved.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Notes: Not as useful as it sounds, because of
the relatively poor effectiveness of the
damaging Ninjutsu skills. The damage of
this Band didn't seem to be superior to
just attacking with each character.
Ultimate Art: Advent of Phoenix (20 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Smash & Grab) Variable non-elemental damage, based on the
Gekkou (Shuriken) total current HP of the party versus the
Izayoi (Illusions) total maximum HP of the party. The lower
Tsukinowa (Steal) the party's HP, the more damage this does.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Supposedly can break the damage limit.
Notes: This Band could be very useful, but
the various speed differences in the party
would mean that faster ninjas would be
waiting around for the charge-up of the
slower ninjas, thus wasting potential for
damage from normal attacks. Plus, if the
group has low enough HP to make this Band
do extreme damage, maybe you should think
about healing them before they die.
Strategy & Notes
Gekkou joins during his sub-chapter during Edge's chapter, and can
rejoin Edge in the Tower of Babil if he survives his sub-chapter.
If you want to be able to use Gekkou during the main portion of
Edge's chapter, and in the end-game, he must survive his sub-chapter.
If he dies during his sub-chapter, he is permanently gone.
Overall, Gekkou has great Strength, Stamina, and HP, but he's quite
slow compared to the other ninjas. He can equip any of the typical
ninja equipment which improves Speed, however, to compensate for this
flaw. I call him "Gecko", because of the irony that geckos are fast,
and he is not. He also wants to sell you auto insurance, but don't
do it, Progressive has better rates.
His Flame Ninjutsu technique is not particularly damaging, but Flash
is excellent for a quick attempt at blinding all enemies, and Payback
Wave can do excellent damage if Gekkou's HP are low. Since he has
such high HP to begin with, that gives him many opportunities to do
great damage with Payback Wave.
Shuriken is a very useful skill that seems to be based on Gekkou's
Strength, plus the attack power of the weapon thrown. In Edge's
chapter, Shuriken can be bought for very little gold, easily able to
be bought in a full stack of 99 by the time the ninjas cap. The main
advantage of Throw is that it ignores the enemy's rows, regarding
damage, so it can be used to full effect against enemies who are in
the back row. Unlike Edge's Throw, however, this skill can only be
used with weapons specifically designed to be thrown.
Throw is also not affected by moon phases, giving Gekkou "Moon-Proof
Attack" (see Section 2: Notes and Q&A (S.02)).
He can also equip boomerangs, which deal full damage from the back
row. However, since he can only equip one weapon (unlike Edge and
Tsukinowa who can equip two), and the attack power of katanas and
boomerangs is low since they're meant to be dual-wielded, it's best
to keep Gekkou equipped with an axe or hammer.
All things considered, Gekkou isn't a bad character at all, and does
very respectable damage with reasonable defensive ability. The main
drawback of Gekkou, his speed, is very noticeable in Edge's chapter,
but may not be much of a hindrance in the end-game, especially if he
equips items that boost his Speed.
Abilities
Ninjutsu : Secret ninja techniques for offense and defense.
(Skill) Flood L.7 One/All, moderate water damage
Heal Pill L.7 One, minor HP recovery
Heal Salve L.15 One, moderate HP recovery
Smelling Salts L.25 One, moderate HP recovery
Stealth Kill L.40 One, instant death (may fail)
Frost L.42
Illusions : Single target, attempts to add Confuse. Seems to work
(Skill) fairly regularly, with a modest charge time.
Bands
Phantom Lightflies (9 MP each, all allies)
Gekkou (Ninjutsu) Moderate to superior HP recovery, seems to be
Izayoi (Illusions) similar to the Heal Salve ninjutsu skill.
Notes: Very useful, since there are no other
multi-target healing abilities during
Edge's chapter. The healing potential of
this Band is sufficient to keep the entire
group with high HP.
Frozen Moon Dance (8 MP each, one enemy)
Edge (Attack) Superior ice damage, seems to be based on
Izayoi (Ninjutsu) the physical damage of the characters.
Notes: Very good against bosses or strong
enemies who are weak against ice. Low
enough MP cost for general use, also.
Wheel of Elements (15 MP each, all enemies)
Gekkou (Shuriken) Moderate fire, ice, thunder, and wind damage,
Izayoi (Illusions) seems to be based on the Ninjutsu damage of
Tsukinowa (Steal) the characters, but improved.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Notes: Not as useful as it sounds, because of
the relatively poor effectiveness of the
damaging Ninjutsu skills. The damage of
this Band didn't seem to be superior to
just attacking with each character.
Ultimate Art: Advent of Phoenix (20 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Smash & Grab) Variable non-elemental damage, based on the
Gekkou (Shuriken) total current HP of the party versus the
Izayoi (Illusions) total maximum HP of the party. The lower
Tsukinowa (Steal) the party's HP, the more damage this does.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Supposedly can break the damage limit.
Notes: This Band could be very useful, but
the various speed differences in the party
would mean that faster ninjas would be
waiting around for the charge-up of the
slower ninjas, thus wasting potential for
damage from normal attacks. Plus, if the
group has low enough HP to make this Band
do extreme damage, maybe you should think
about healing them before they die.
Strategy & Notes
Izayoi joins during her sub-chapter during Edge's chapter, and can
rejoin Edge in the Tower of Babil if she survives her sub-chapter.
If you want to be able to use Izayoi during the main portion of
Edge's chapter, and in the end-game, she must survive her sub-
chapter. If she dies during her sub-chapter, she is permanently gone.
Izayoi has decent Strength and good Speed, but her attack potential
is not particularly potent. Her main strength is her healing Ninjutsu
techniques, but this benefit is only potent because there are no
White Mages in Edge's chapter. Check out her stat growths, and you
can see that the only one over 0.60 is Strength, and not by much, and
her weapon selection is limited, so she's not likely to make much use
of high Strength anyway.
Her Flood Ninjutsu technique is not particularly damaging, and her
Stealth Kill technique seems to only work very rarely. Her healing
techniques are useful and potent, but she doesn't seem to have the MP
to use them constantly.
Illusion, on the other hand, is a very potent ability that seems to
have a high chance of afflicting an enemy with Confuse. Against tough
enemies, this can help turn the tide of a fight in Edge's chapter,
especially since Illusion requires no MP to use.
She can also equip boomerangs, which deal full damage from the back
row. However, since she can only equip one weapon (unlike Edge and
Tsukinowa who can equip two), and the attack power of katanas and
boomerangs is low since they're meant to be dual-wielded, it's best
to keep Izayoi equipped with a bow or whip. This is particularly true
since she has low HP and poor defense, so it's good to keep her in
the back row.
Overall, Izayoi seems to be of limited use even during Edge's
chapter, so, unless she learns some additional Ninjutsu techniques
that are particularly potent, I don't think she's a good choice for
an end-game character.
Lastly, like all the ninjas, I have a fun nickname for her. Izaboi.
Why? Well. "Boi" is a stupid way to spell "boy" (yet, despite it
being stupid, people do it), so, Izaboi is her way of saying she's
actually a boy. Which makes sense, since in-character she doesn't
want to be called a woman. Also, it's just funny to imagine she's a
cross-dressing male Geisha. You know you love it.
Abilities
Ninjutsu : Secret ninja techniques for offense and defense.
(Skill) Gale L.5 One/All, moderate wind damage
Mirage L.5 Self, avoid next two attacks
Heal Pill L.9 One, minor HP recovery
Restore Weed L.21 One, removes status ailments
Smoke L.33 Escape from battle
Tremor L.42
Steal : Attempts to steal an item from an enemy. The item
(n/a) stolen is usually a common "tool" type item (Potion,
Echo Herb, etc.) but can sometimes be a rare "tool",
weapon, or armor. If the steal attempt fails, the
enemy counters with a physical attack.
Bands
Wild Moon (12 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Attack) Physical attack, seems to be based on the
Tsukinowa (Attack) physical damage of the characters.
Notes: This Band is very useful against large
groups of enemies, especially since both
characters have very high speed, so you can
probably use this at the start of the fight
and soften up the enemies so that the other
characters can finish them off.
Gale Rush (12 MP each, all allies)
Tsukinowa (Ninjutsu) Increases the group's speed, similar to the
Zangetsu (Ninjutsu) Haste spell, except on all allies.
Notes: An excellent Band. The only reason to
not use this is if the enemies could be
killed just as quickly by having Tsukinowa
and Zangetsu attack.
Wheel of Elements (15 MP each, all enemies)
Gekkou (Shuriken) Moderate fire, ice, thunder, and wind damage,
Izayoi (Illusions) seems to be based on the Ninjutsu damage of
Tsukinowa (Steal) the characters, but improved.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Notes: Not as useful as it sounds, because of
the relatively poor effectiveness of the
damaging Ninjutsu skills. The damage of
this Band didn't seem to be superior to
just attacking with each character.
Ultimate Art: Advent of Phoenix (20 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Smash & Grab) Variable non-elemental damage, based on the
Gekkou (Shuriken) total current HP of the party versus the
Izayoi (Illusions) total maximum HP of the party. The lower
Tsukinowa (Steal) the party's HP, the more damage this does.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Supposedly can break the damage limit.
Notes: This Band could be very useful, but
the various speed differences in the party
would mean that faster ninjas would be
waiting around for the charge-up of the
slower ninjas, thus wasting potential for
damage from normal attacks. Plus, if the
group has low enough HP to make this Band
do extreme damage, maybe you should think
about healing them before they die.
Strategy & Notes
Tsukinowa joins during his sub-chapter during Edge's chapter, and can
rejoin Edge in the Tower of Babil if he survives his sub-chapter.
If you want to be able to use Tsukinowa during the main portion of
Edge's chapter, and in the end-game, he must survive his sub-chapter.
If he dies during his sub-chapter, he is permanently gone.
The main strength of Tsukinowa is his very high Speed, which can be
raised further by equipping items that add more Speed. It should be
possible to raise his speed to nearly, or higher than, 50 during
Edge's chapter - this would give him two actions to Gekkou's one.
Be sure to note that his Strength is just higher than the Black Mages
and actually lower than the White Mages. Owch, lil' guy. Owch.
His Gale Ninjutsu technique is not particularly damaging, but Mirage
is good as a defensive move, since Tsukinowa has poor HP and defense.
While it may seem that his healing techniques are useful, Restore
Weed seems to cure very few status ailments for the MP cost, and
Heal Pill doesn't heal very much.
Steal seems to have limited usefulness, since it seems like most
enemies are carrying only ordinary "tool" type items. Even so, it
could be useful to get a few extra items. However, if it fails to
steal an item, the enemy might get an extra attack against Tsukinowa,
and with his low HP and defense, that hurts.
I recommend equipping Tsukinowa with boomerangs (at least one, the
second weapon can be whatever gives him the best overall attack or
stats) and keeping him in the back row. His HP simply do not permit
him to take many hits. Since his boomerangs look a lot like bananas,
I like to call him "Monkey-nowa". Go ahead. Have him attack with
boomerangs and try to deny that he looks like an angry monkey.
As an overall character, I would discourage the use of Tsukinowa in
an end-game group. While his supernatural speed gives him the
ability to do potentially very high damage over time, he has very
few other benefits. We'll see, though - maybe he'll get some useful
Ninjutsu skills at later levels.
Human Kite : Leap into the air and land on an enemy for greater-
(Skill) than-normal physical damage. The bonus damage is much
greater if a spear is equipped, so one should always
use a spear with Zangetsu, even if a better katana,
boomerang, or knife is available.
Bands
Gale Rush (12 MP each, all allies)
Tsukinowa (Ninjutsu) Increases the group's speed, similar to the
Zangetsu (Ninjutsu) Haste spell, except on all allies.
Notes: An excellent Band. The only reason to
not use this is if the enemies could be
killed just as quickly by having Tsukinowa
and Zangetsu attack.
Gale Twin Break (14 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Ninjutsu) Moderate fire and thunder damage, seems to be
Zangetsu (Human Kite) based on the physical damage of the
characters.
Notes: Not as useful as Wild Moon, since
Zangetsu has lower speed and this attack
does elemental damage. Against enemies weak
to these elements (such as undead and fire)
this can be an excellent opening move.
Wheel of Elements (15 MP each, all enemies)
Gekkou (Shuriken) Moderate fire, ice, thunder, and wind damage,
Izayoi (Illusions) seems to be based on the Ninjutsu damage of
Tsukinowa (Steal) the characters, but improved.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Notes: Not as useful as it sounds, because of
the relatively poor effectiveness of the
damaging Ninjutsu skills. The damage of
this Band didn't seem to be superior to
just attacking with each character.
Ultimate Art: Advent of Phoenix (20 MP each, all enemies)
Edge (Smash & Grab) Variable non-elemental damage, based on the
Gekkou (Shuriken) total current HP of the party versus the
Izayoi (Illusions) total maximum HP of the party. The lower
Tsukinowa (Steal) the party's HP, the more damage this does.
Zangetsu (Human Kite) Supposedly can break the damage limit.
Notes: This Band could be very useful, but
the various speed differences in the party
would mean that faster ninjas would be
waiting around for the charge-up of the
slower ninjas, thus wasting potential for
damage from normal attacks. Plus, if the
group has low enough HP to make this Band
do extreme damage, maybe you should think
about healing them before they die.
Strategy & Notes
Zangetsu joins during his sub-chapter during Edge's chapter, and can
rejoin Edge in the Tower of Babil if he survives his sub-chapter.
If you want to be able to use Zangetsu during the main portion of
Edge's chapter, and in the end-game, he must survive his sub-chapter.
If he dies during his sub-chapter, he is permanently gone.
Oh, Fail-getsu, where do I begin. If you can't guess from my happy
little nickname for him, he's quite awful. But, let's have a go at
finding a bright side to the old buggar.
Zangetsu has respectably average stats, which means with various
equipment loadouts he could be specialized toward strength or speed,
or possibly even intellect to make his Ninjutsu arts a bit better.
His poor stat growths guarantee that he will be a mediocre character,
with his only reasonably decent growth in Strength. If he had a very
good weapon, he might do alright attacking, but...
His Shock Ninjutsu technique is not particularly damaging, but Flash
is excellent for a quick attempt at blinding all enemies, and
Shadowbind is very useful for disabling a tough enemy, allowing the
group to defeat the enemy without opposition.
Human Kite seems to be identical to Kain's Jump skill, just with a
different name and a rather silly visual effect - an object that
looks like a pillow drifts down to Zangetsu, who leaps backwards
onto it, and is carried upward off the screen, only to dive-bomb the
enemy a few moments later. Amusing once or twice, but ultimately not
a very useful skill.
However, unlike Kain, Zangetsu can't take much punishment from
enemies, so keeping him off-screen for awhile with this skill can
save him from some damage. It can also be used from the back row, so
if you make constant use of it (instead of attack), you could save
him from even more damage by putting him in the back. Further, Human
Kite gives Zangetsu "Moon-Proof Attack" (see Section 2: Notes and
Q&A (S.02)).
He can also equip boomerangs, which deal full damage from the back
row. However, since he can only equip one weapon (unlike Edge and
Tsukinowa who can equip two), and the attack power of katanas and
boomerangs is low since they're meant to be dual-wielded, it's best
to keep Zangetsu equipped with a spear, especially since his Human
Kite skill benefits from a spear.
Frankly, Zangetsu just doesn't deliver in any way. He doesn't have
a particularly high stat, he doesn't have great HP or defense, his
main special ability isn't very good, and he shares the use of Spears
with Kain, which means you'd have to choose between the two when you
find a great new spear. His only positive side would be his two very
useful Ninjutsu skills (and the high MP to use them often), so, maybe
if he learns some more, he'll be viable. Otherwise, Fail-getsu fails.
All characters in this section will not be available for use in your end-game
party, they are incidental characters who exist solely to assist the player
with areas of the game which may be challenging without them. Their presence
can make the game a little easier if they are used effectively. Temporary
characters are factored into the game's calculations for experience gains in
battle, even if the temporary character cannot gain levels or has reached
their level cap.
NOTE: In every case, temporary characters are absolutely not necessary! The
player may opt to "kill them off" and continue play with only permanent
characters. This will result in increased experience gains for the permanent
characters, but the game may be somewhat more challenging. However, the
increased experience gains for the permanent characters will ultimately mean
increased levels, so this option ends up being no more difficult than normal.
Ceodore's Chapter (Main Story)
(T.01) : Biggs
(T.02) : Wedge
(T.03) : Cecil
(T.04) : Rosa
(T.05) : Cid
(T.06) : White Mage
(T.07) : Black Mage
Kain's Chapter (Main Story)
(T.08) : Kain - Dragoon
Yang's Chapter
(T.09) : Monk A - "Anderson"
(T.10) : Monk B - "Brown"
(T.11) : Monk C - "Coleman"
Porom's Chapter
(T.12) : Palom
(T.13) : Rydia
(T.14) : White Mage
(T.15) : Black Mage
(T.16) : Kain - Dragoon
(T.17) : Elder
Edward's Chapter
(T.18) : Guard A - "Ashley"
(T.19) : Guard B - "Bruce"
(T.20) : Guard C - "Campbell"
Lunarians Chapter
(T.21) : Golbez - Flashback
(T.22) : Fusoya
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.12 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.12 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.12 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.12 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.12 One/All, adds Poison
Toad L.12 One/All, adds/removes Toad
Stop L.12 One, adds Paralyze
Pig L.12 One/All, adds/removes Pig
Fira L.12 One/All, moderate fire damage
Bands
Vibra Edge (10 MP each, all enemies)
Biggs (Attack) Physical damage to all enemies, seems to be
Wedge (Attack) roughly equal to their normal attack.
Notes: Use this constantly for easy battles.
Strategy & Notes
Joins at the start of the game, but leaves after the first floor of
Ceodore's trial. Rejoins after Ceodore finishes his trial, but leaves
permanently when Ceodore exits the Adamant Isle Grotto.
Biggs provides some useful damage support for Ceodore during his
early levels. If you use starting money to buy some tents (since the
inn at the starting town will not be useable until you finish
Ceodore's trial), you can use Biggs (and Wedge) to help gain a few
levels for Ceodore with safety.
When facing enemies aboard the airship after Ceodore's trial, Biggs
can use Fira for big damage compared to the physical attacks any
of the characters can achieve.
The player can also pilfer equipment from Biggs to give to Ceodore.
This can be done with Wedge instead, but, Biggs has a higher level
and better stats, so he can more easily afford the loss of equipment.
Players wishing to try to acquire the Cockatrice and/or Goblin
summons during Ceodore's chapter (to give to Rydia at the end of the
game) can work on this during the time when they have Biggs and Wedge
in the team, and speed up the battles significantly versus having
only Ceodore.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.10 One/All, minor HP recovery
Cura L.10 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Bands
Vibra Edge (10 MP each, all enemies)
Biggs (Attack) Physical damage to all enemies, seems to be
Wedge (Attack) roughly equal to their normal attack.
Notes: Use this constantly for easy battles.
Strategy & Notes
Joins at the start of the game, but leaves after the first floor of
Ceodore's trial. Rejoins after Ceodore finishes his trial, but leaves
permanently when Ceodore boards the airship to leave Adamant Isle.
Wedge provides some useful healing support for Ceodore during his
early levels. If you use starting money to buy some tents (since the
inn at the starting town will not be useable until you finish
Ceodore's trial), you can use Wedge (and Biggs) to help gain a few
levels for Ceodore with safety.
Wedge's usefulness is much less than Biggs, since Ceodore can also
use White Magic, and is quickly superior with it.
The player can also pilfer equipment from Wedge to give to Ceodore.
This can be done with Biggs instead, and, Biggs has a higher level
and better stats, so he can more easily afford the loss of equipment.
Players wishing to try to acquire the Cockatrice and/or Goblin
summons during Ceodore's chapter (to give to Rydia at the end of the
game) can work on this during the time when they have Biggs and Wedge
in the team, and speed up the battles significantly versus having
only Ceodore.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.15 One/All, minor HP recovery
Sight L.15 Zooms out world map view
Libra L.15 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Cura L.15 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Teleport L.19 Exit a battle or dungeon
Esuna L.24 One, removes status ailments
Cover : Select an ally to cover (other than Cecil himself).
(n/a) If the ally is the target of a physical attack, Cecil
will jump in the way, taking the hit himself. Very
useful during boss fights.
Cover Critical: This passive ability is not on his command list.
(n/a) When an ally is in Critical status, Cecil will
automatically take hits for them, using his Cover
ability. This does not interrupt his normal use of
Cover, if you have used it to select someone else.
Bands
Holy Blade (20 MP each, one enemy)
Cecil (Attack) Deals superior holy damage based on Cecil's
Rosa (White Magic) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against holy, but there are none in
Cecil's segment. You'll need Rosa to be
healing, anyway.
Machine Break (7 MP each, one enemy)
Cecil (Attack) Physical damage a bit higher than the normal
Cid (Analyze) attacks of both.
Notes: Supposedly does additional damage
against machine enemies, but as far as I
can tell there aren't any available for
Cecil to fight, so I can't test this. Just
have Cecil and Cid attack, Cecil doesn't
need to be slowed down waiting for Cid to
charge up for this. Avoid this Band.
Strategy & Notes
Cecil is present during a segment of Ceodore's chapter in which the
player controls Cecil, and eventually a temporary version of Rosa and
Cid. This segment is short, and when it finishes the player resumes
control of Ceodore.
Cecil is an effective warrior, and a poor healer. His healing will be
mainly useful in recovery after a fight. If his segment is played
through quickly, his healing will be almost necessary to defeat the
battle sequence he faces at the end of his segment. If his group has
reached or surpassed level 20, though, the battle sequence will be
easier and his healing will probably not be needed.
Cecil's armor makes a great upgrade for Ceodore, but the player may
want to equip Cecil with some old armor from Ceodore's inventory.
The inventory list is shared between them, so all you need to do is
make sure to have a set of armor (perhaps from Biggs and Wedge) in
the bag to swap out. Cecil's sword can be used by only Cecil (and
Kain during a very brief moment in his fight against his evil form,
but it's pointless), so leave it on him.
Currently, it's unknown whether leveling Cecil to 30 will have any
impact on future chapters. If Cecil is to return as a playable
character in the final chapters, it is reasonable to assume based on
the treatment of Rosa and Cid, that Cecil will begin at a preset
level with new equipment. Therefore, do not be concerned with his
level during his segment in Ceodore's chapter, the only reason to
level him up is to make the battle sequence at the end of his segment
easier.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Hold L.15 One, adds Paralyze
Libra L.15 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Sight L.15 Zooms out world map view
Protect L.15 One/All, physical defense up
Slow L.15 One/All, decreases speed
Cure L.15 One/All, minor HP recovery
Raise L.15 One, revives with low HP
Cura L.15 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Esuna L.18 One, removes status ailments
Berserk L.20 One, adds Berserk
Teleport L.21 Exit a battle or dungeon
Blink L.23 One, avoid next two attacks
Confuse L.24 One, adds Confuse
Shell L.29 One/All, magic defense up
Curaga L.30 One/All, superior HP recovery
Mini L.30 One, adds/removes Mini
Blessing : Recovers HP and MP for the entire party. The amount
(n/a) recovered seems to be based on Rosa's Spirit. The HP
portion is somewhere in between Cure and Cura, and
the MP portion seems to be about 10% of the HP cured.
This ability doesn't always work, though considering
the MP recovery, one can refresh a party easily with
a little patience.
Aim : Requires a bow to be equipped. After a charge time,
(Skill) Rosa attacks an enemy with 100% accuracy. Since this
is a bow ability, it can be used from the back row
without penalty. NOTE: This temporary version of Rosa
has this skill, but there are no available bows in
the chapter through this point, and she has a staff,
so she will not be able to use this skill.
Bands
Holy Blade (20 MP each, one enemy)
Cecil (Attack) Deals superior holy damage based on Cecil's
Rosa (White Magic) attack damage, but a bit higher.
Notes: Would be useful against a boss weak
against holy, but there are none in
Cecil's segment. You'll need Rosa to be
healing, anyway.
X-Chaser (12 MP each, one enemy)
Rosa (Aim) Strong physical damage, may cause instant
Cid (Analyze) death to the enemy. Requires Rosa to be
using a bow.
Notes: Cid and Rosa are both pretty slow, so
if you don't need Rosa to heal, and she has
a bow, why not let them work together to do
a strong attack? This Band's a good choice.
Strategy & Notes
This temporary version of Rosa joins Cecil during Cecil's segment of
Ceodore's chapter. She leaves at the end of Cecil's segment.
Although Rosa can be improved to level 30, this will have no bearing
on her starting level when she returns as a permanent character at
the end of Kain's chapter. The only reason to level up Rosa is to
make the battle sequence at the end of Cecil's segment easier.
I recommend removing Rosa's equipment before the battle sequence at
the end of Cecil's segment. Rosa can do fine without it, even if
she has not been leveled up. The equipment can be given to the White
Mage temporary character, or can just be sold for some extra gil.
Her stats at level 30 are equal to the level 30 stats she has as a
permanent character, aside from some deviation in HP and MP. Oddly,
when she is level 30 as a permanent character she can use the spell
"Silence", but as a temporary character does not seem to learn that
spell as of level 30.
For additional information about Rosa, please see her entry in the
permanent characters section.
Abilities
Analyze : Displays the enemy's current and maximum HP, and
(n/a) any elemental weaknesses. It's just like the spell
Libra, except with no MP cost.
Risk Strike : A low-accuracy attack, but if it hits, it's an
(Skill) automatic critical hit.
Bands
Machine Break (7 MP each, one enemy)
Cecil (Attack) Physical damage a bit higher than the normal
Cid (Analyze) attacks of both.
Notes: Supposedly does additional damage
against machine enemies, but as far as I
can tell there aren't any available for
Cecil to fight, so I can't test this. Just
have Cecil and Cid attack, Cecil doesn't
need to be slowed down waiting for Cid to
charge up for this. Avoid this Band.
X-Chaser (12 MP each, one enemy)
Rosa (Aim) Strong physical damage, may cause instant
Cid (Analyze) death to the enemy. Requires Rosa to be
using a bow.
Notes: Cid and Rosa are both pretty slow, so
if you don't need Rosa to heal, and she has
a bow, why not let them work together to do
a strong attack? This Band's a good choice.
Too bad Cid runs out of MP after one use.
Strategy & Notes
This temporary version of Cid joins Cecil during Cecil's segment of
Ceodore's chapter. He leaves at the end of Cecil's segment.
Although Cid can be improved to level 30, this will have no bearing
on his starting level when he returns as a permanent character at
the end of Kain's chapter. The only reason to level up Cid is to make
the battle sequence at the end of Cecil's segment easier.
If Cid is sufficiently leveled up, I advise removing his armor before
starting the battle sequence at the end of Cecil's segment, since it
can be sold by Ceodore for a bit of extra gil. Leave his weapon,
though, so that he can attack during the battles. If you time it well
you could remove his weapon before the last enemy dies, however.
His stats at level 30 are equal to the level 30 stats he has as a
permanent character, aside from some deviation in HP and MP. Of note,
the temporary Cid does not ever gain any MP, but suddenly has a big
boost in MP as a level 30 permanent character, and gains more MP with
each level increase.
For additional information about Cid, please see his entry in the
permanent characters section.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Hold L.10 One, adds Paralyze
Libra L.10 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Protect L.10 One/All, physical defense up
Silence L.10 One/All, adds Mute
Esuna L.10 One, removes status ailments
Slow L.10 One/All, decreases speed
Cure L.10 One/All, minor HP recovery
Cura L.10 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Raise L.10 One, revives with low HP
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Ceodore after speaking to Porom in Mysidia, and leaves
permanently after entering Baron Castle from the tunnels.
Useful to heal Ceodore and the Hooded Man, but Ceodore can also heal,
so this usefulness is limited. It does free up Ceodore to focus on
attacking, however, so it's not useless. Generally, only Cura and
Raise will be of much use, and those could be replaced by Potions
and Phoenix Downs.
Equipping the White Mage with a bow is a decent choice to get a bit
of added attack damage. This is particularly useful once the party
reaches Baron and Holy Arrows can be purchased. The player can then
re-enter the Devil's Road and spam Attack to great effect against the
undead, for a few easy levels for Ceodore and the Hooded Man.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.10 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.10 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.10 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.10 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.10 One/All, adds Poison
Stop L.10 One, adds Paralyze
Fira L.10 One/All, moderate fire damage
Blizzara L.10 One/All, moderate ice damage
Thundara L.10 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Ceodore after speaking to Porom in Mysidia, and leaves
permanently after entering Baron Castle from the tunnels.
The Black Mage is very beneficial for multi-target death during his
time with Ceodore, just as Biggs once was. Unfortunately, many of
the enemy groups encountered during his time with the party will
consist of enemies with opposing weaknesses, such as zombies and
ghosts (one of which is weak to fire, and the other absorbs it). So
this usefulness is limited, and further limited by a lack of Osmose
to easily recover MP.
Equipping the Black Mage with a bow is a decent choice to get a bit
of added attack damage. This is particularly useful once the party
reaches Baron and Holy Arrows can be purchased. The player can then
re-enter the Devil's Road and spam Attack to great effect against the
undead, for a few easy levels for Ceodore and the Hooded Man.
Abilities
Jump : Leap into the air and land on an enemy for greater-
(Skill) than-normal physical damage. The bonus damage is much
greater if a spear is equipped, so one should always
use a spear with Kain, even if a better sword or axe
is available (see strategy and notes below, however).
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins during Kain's chapter during a few short sequences in which
the player controls Kain, rather than controlling Ceodore and the
Hooded Man. Leaves permanently after encountering Edward at Damcyan
Castle.
Just look at his beastly stats. He's like Ursula with heavy armor
and a bad attitude. Thankfully, his stats are outclassed by the
Hooded Man and Holy Dragoon versions of himself, so there should be
no reason for people to miss him, other than his rad armor.
Evil Kain's regular attack kills any enemy he encounters with ease.
Somehow, evil Kain has the same inventory items as Ceodore and the
Hooded Man. Since Ceodore can also use spears, one can improve
Ceodore's attack significantly by taking evil Kain's Wind Spear away
and replacing it with one of Ceodore's old swords. Even if this is
done, evil Kain will still easily defeat any enemy he fights.
Any levels gained as evil Kain do not matter in any way when he
merges with the Hooded Man, so feel free to run from his battles if
desired. The only reason to fight battles as evil Kain is for the
gil or possible dropped items, since his experience gains and level
gains do not matter.
Changes in evil Kain's equipment or levels do not affect the fight
between evil Kain and the Hooded Man in Baron Castle. For that fight,
evil Kain will have a spear even if it had been taken away, and will
have far greater HP than his playable version had. It's somewhat
amusing, actually.
A big thanks to Biifcake (GameFAQs) for helping me out by leveling
Kain up to 50 and sending me the stats. I appreciate it!
Abilities
Kick : After a charge time, Monk A attacks all enemies. This
(Attack) attack does less damage than his normal attack, but
is very useful for clearing out weak enemies.
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins at the start of Yang's chapter, and can be used for most of
the chapter. Monk A is not available for Yang's Challenge Dungeon.
Useful to absorb hits and deal some extra damage, and having so many
characters able to use Kick is quite entertaining, even if most
fights could be completed more quickly by just attacking.
An interesting challenge is to try to beat Yang's Chapter without
using Yang or Ursula (whenever possible). In this challenge, the
player could only use Monk A, Monk B, and Monk C, except during some
sections of the Adamant Isle Forest.
NOTE: "Anderson" is a name used for this monk by the forum members at
GameFAQs. The joke is that "Monk" is the character's first name, and
the appended A, B, and C are abbreviations of their surnames.
Abilities
Kick : After a charge time, Monk B attacks all enemies. This
(Attack) attack does less damage than his normal attack, but
is very useful for clearing out weak enemies.
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins at the start of Yang's chapter, and can be used for most of
the chapter. Monk B is not available for Yang's Challenge Dungeon.
Useful to absorb hits and deal some extra damage, and having so many
characters able to use Kick is quite entertaining, even if most
fights could be completed more quickly by just attacking.
An interesting challenge is to try to beat Yang's Chapter without
using Yang or Ursula (whenever possible). In this challenge, the
player could only use Monk A, Monk B, and Monk C, except during some
sections of the Adamant Isle Forest.
NOTE: "Brown" is a name used for this monk by the forum members at
GameFAQs. The joke is that "Monk" is the character's first name, and
the appended A, B, and C are abbreviations of their surnames.
Abilities
Kick : After a charge time, Monk C attacks all enemies. This
(Attack) attack does less damage than his normal attack, but
is very useful for clearing out weak enemies.
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins midway through Yang's chapter, and can be used for the rest of
the chapter. Monk C is not available for Yang's Challenge Dungeon.
Useful to absorb hits and deal some extra damage, and having so many
characters able to use Kick is quite entertaining, even if most
fights could be completed more quickly by just attacking.
An interesting challenge is to try to beat Yang's Chapter without
using Yang or Ursula (whenever possible). In this challenge, the
player could only use Monk A, Monk B, and Monk C, except during some
sections of the Adamant Isle Forest.
NOTE: "Coleman" is a name used for this monk by the forum members at
GameFAQs. The joke is that "Monk" is the character's first name, and
the appended A, B, and C are abbreviations of their surnames.
Further, the forum members have determined that Monk Coleman is a
warrior and gentleman of renown, and beyond compare, similar to the
common internet jokes about Chuck Norris.
* I recorded level 13 stats to compare to his
permanent version - looks the same to me.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.10 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.10 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.10 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.10 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.10 One/All, adds Poison
Blizzara L.10 One/All, moderate ice damage
Fira L.10 One/All, moderate fire damage
Thundara L.10 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Break L.10 One/All, adds Petrify (instant death)
Pig L.11 One/All, adds/removes Pig
Warp L.19 Escape battle, or move up one floor
Bluff : Reduces the stats of all enemies a bit, and increases
(n/a) Palom's Intellect. Both effects are temporary. The
benefit of this ability is to make Palom's Black
Magic more powerful due to the Intellect buff.
Bands
Twincast (20 MP each, all enemies)
Porom (Default) Causes one of two effects, randomly:
Palom (Default) "Flare": Superior non-elemental damage
"Meteor": Extreme non-elemental damage
Notes: The damage here is superb, and the MP
cost is reasonable for the damage. However,
the charge time is very slow, making this
band less useful overall.
Thunderstorm (25 MP each, one enemy or two enemies)
Palom (Black Magic) Superior thunder-elemental damage. Might also
Rydia (Black Magic) be partially ice-elemental damage based on
the visual effect.
Notes: I need to test this further.
Strategy & Notes
Palom joins as a temporary character at the beginning of Porom's
chapter as a child, and continues onward as an adult, until the group
leaves the Passage of the Eidolons on Cid's airship.
As a child, Palom does not have his Bluff skill. The skill is present
once he becomes an adult.
There does not seem to be any difference in his stats or HP and MP
gains, regardless of if he is leveled as a child or as an adult.
Considering that Porom is also capped at level 20 during the
flashback when they are children, Palom is basically required in
order to defeat the Cooler Mammoth boss. To make the battle easier,
consider leveling both characters to their cap of 20.
After Rydia joins, Palom becomes redundant and can be KO'ed to
increase the experience gains for Porom, if desired.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.15 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.15 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.15 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.15 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.15 One/All, adds Poison
Stop L.15 One, adds Paralyze
Toad L.15 One/All, adds/removes Toad
Warp L.15 Escape battle, or move up one floor
Fira L.15 One/All, moderate fire damage
Blizzara L.15 One/All, moderate ice damage
Thundara L.15 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Pig L.20 One/All, adds/removes Pig
Summon : Calls an Eidolon to create an effect.
(n/a) Chocobo Rydia starts with this summon
One enemy, moderate physical attack
Shiva Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, superior ice-elemental damage
Ramuh Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, superior thunder-elemental damage
Ifrit Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, superior fire-elemental damage
Titan Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, superior earth-elemental damage
Dragon Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, superior holy-elemental damage
Sylph Rydia starts with this summon
One enemy, drains HP and heals all allies
Odin Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, instant death (may not work)
Leviathan Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, extreme water-elemental damage
Asura Rydia starts with this summon
All allies, uses Curaga, Curaja, Protect, or Raise
Bahamut Rydia starts with this summon
All enemies, extreme non-elemental damage
Bands
Thunderstorm (25 MP each, one enemy or two enemies)
Palom (Black Magic) Superior thunder-elemental damage. Might also
Rydia (Black Magic) be partially ice-elemental damage based on
the visual effect.
Notes: I need to test this further.
Strategy & Notes
Rydia joins during Porom's chapter, during a flashback when Porom and
Palom visit Mist. She remains until the group leaves the Passage of
the Eidolons on Cid's airship.
You'll be excited to know that she has her full range of summons
available for use, since they have not yet been sealed away. Have fun
using them to annihilate the enemies in the Passage of the Eidolons,
since there's a healing pot on the airship outside to restore your
MP any time.
This temporary Rydia could probably learn the summons for Goblin,
Cockatrice, Mindflayer, and Bomb, but the enemies which can drop
the items required to learn those are not available in Porom's
chapter until after Rydia has departed. Oh well.
Her presence makes the temporary Palom redundant, since she can wipe
out any enemy group easily with her summons. It's a good opportunity
to get Porom up to level 20 or higher with ease.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Hold L.15 One, adds Paralyze
Slow L.15 One/All, decreases speed
Libra L.15 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Cure L.15 One/All, minor HP recovery
Protect L.15 One/All, physical defense up
Cura L.15 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Silence L.15 One/All, adds Mute
Raise L.15 One, revives with low HP
Esuna L.15 One, removes status ailments
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Porom before her departure to Mt. Ordeals, and remains for the
rest of the chapter, except for the final battle where Porom fights
alongside the Elder.
The White Mage is present during Porom's Challenge Dungeon, also, but
is of limited use due to a low level cap, low HP, and poor defense.
I advise equipping the White Mage with the best bow you can buy in
Mysidia, along with Holy Arrows or Fire Arrows, for physical attack
effectiveness on Mt. Ordeals. Cure and Cura are also very effective.
Once Kain joins Porom, the White Mage can simply be KO'ed in order to
improve experience gains for Kain and Porom, if desired.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.15 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.15 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.15 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.15 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.15 One/All, adds Poison
Stop L.15 One, adds Paralyze
Fira L.15 One/All, moderate fire damage
Blizzara L.15 One/All, moderate ice damage
Thundara L.15 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Porom before her departure to Mt. Ordeals, and remains for the
rest of the chapter, except for the final battle where Porom fights
alongside the Elder.
The Black Mage is present during Porom's Challenge Dungeon, also, but
is of limited use due to a low level cap, low HP, and poor defense.
I advise equipping the Black Mage with the best bow you can buy in
Mysidia, along with Holy Arrows or Fire Arrows, for physical attack
effectiveness on Mt. Ordeals. Fire and Fira are also very effective.
Once Kain joins Porom, the Black Mage can simply be KO'ed in order to
improve experience gains for Kain and Porom, if desired.
* I recorded level 30 stats to compare to his
other temporary version - looks the same to me.
Abilities
Jump : Leap into the air and land on an enemy for greater-
(Skill) than-normal physical damage. The bonus damage is much
greater if a spear is equipped, and in this case,
there are no other possible weapons for him anyway.
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Porom at the peak of Mt. Ordeals, and is present for the rest
of the chapter, except for the final battle where Porom fights
alongside the Elder.
His level 40 stats are virtually the same as the other temporary
Dragoon version of Kain, except for a variance of 1 point in his
Strength. His level 30 stats are identical. Both sets have very
minor variances in HP and MP.
Kain is present during Porom's Challenge Dungeon, also, and that's
for the best since Porom, the White Mage, and the Black Mage would
get slaughtered without him. However, there are no items in the
chapter that he can equip that benefit him, other than his initial
equipment, so his effectiveness doesn't ever scale upward much as
he increases in level.
Although he can reach level 40 like Porom, it requires much more
experience, and he is not playable in later chapters anyway. I advise
advancing Porom to level 40, clearing the items from her Challenge
Dungeon, and not worrying about Kain's level as you do so.
Since his durability and HP are often all that saves the others in
the group from getting beaten to death quickly, I do not recommend
ever making use of his Jump ability, unless he ends up alone in the
fight - but if he does, consider running instead, if you can.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Hold L.30 One, adds Paralyze
Silence L.30 One/All, adds Mute
Confuse L.30 One, adds Confuse
Blink L.30 One, avoid next two attacks
Protect L.30 One/All, physical defense up
Shell L.30 One/All, magic defense up
Slow L.30 One/All, decreases speed
Haste L.30 One, speed up
Berserk L.30 One, adds Berserk
Reflect L.30 One, adds Reflect
Dispel L.30 One, removes all status effects
Libra L.30 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Cure L.30 One/All, minor HP recovery
Cura L.30 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Curaga L.30 One/All, superior HP recovery
Curaja L.30 One/All, extreme HP recovery
Esuna L.30 One, removes status ailments
Raise L.30 One, revives with low HP
Mini L.30 One, adds/removes Mini
Teleport L.30 Exit a battle or dungeon
Sight L.30 Zooms out world map view
Float L.30 One/All, adds Float
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
The Elder of Mysidia is present in Porom's chapter for only one
battle, and is not available at all outside of that battle. Thus, the
data available to me is very limited. However, since he is playable
for at least the one battle, I have chosen to include his data here.
One note of interest: He has the exact same spell list as Rosa does
when she is level 50. For a moment I thought he might be somehow tied
to her in the game's internal database or something, but I checked
in the fight and he cannot equip bows, so I guess not.
The Elder's level and base stats are not able to be viewed normally
in the game, but JDWitchDoctor (GameFAQs) was kind enough to give me
the stats from the game's source code. Great Spirit, but the rest of
his stats make me wonder why he's the Elder. Even Fusoya is better!
Strategy & Notes
Joins Edward when he first leaves Damcyan, and is present until
Harley becomes ill in Kaipo. Returns to the group after Edward cures
Harley with a Sand Ruby, and is present for the Challenge Dungeon.
With only Attack and Item, the strategy here is simple... just use
Attack and let Edward worry about healing. Keep the guards in the
front row.
Once Edward and Harley get strong enough, the player should consider
KO'ing the guards and letting them fight by themselves, to improve
their experience gains. Otherwise, getting Edward and Harley to their
level cap can take a long time.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Edward when he first leaves Damcyan, and is present until
Harley becomes ill in Kaipo. Returns to the group after Edward cures
Harley with a Sand Ruby, and is present for the Challenge Dungeon.
With only Attack and Item, the strategy here is simple... just use
Attack and let Edward worry about healing. Keep the guards in the
front row.
This particular guard has the best Strength and Speed, and thereby
the best Attack damage, so put all the best equipment on Guard B.
Once Edward and Harley get strong enough, the player should consider
KO'ing the guards and letting them fight by themselves, to improve
their experience gains. Otherwise, getting Edward and Harley to their
level cap can take a long time.
Strategy & Notes
Joins Edward when he first leaves Damcyan, and is present until
Harley becomes ill in Kaipo. Returns to the group after Edward cures
Harley with a Sand Ruby, and is present for the Challenge Dungeon.
With only Attack and Item, the strategy here is simple... just use
Attack and let Edward worry about healing. Keep the guards in the
front row.
Once Edward and Harley get strong enough, the player should consider
KO'ing the guards and letting them fight by themselves, to improve
their experience gains. Otherwise, getting Edward and Harley to their
level cap can take a long time.
Abilities
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.30 One/All, minor fire damage
Fira L.30 One/All, moderate fire damage
Firaga L.30 One/All, superior fire damage
Blizzard L.30 One/All, minor ice damage
Blizzara L.30 One/All, moderate ice damage
Blizzaga L.30 One/All, superior ice damage
Thunder L.30 One/All, minor thunder damage
Thundara L.30 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Thundaga L.30 One/All, superior thunder damage
Bio L.30 One/All, non-elemental damage, Sap
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
This version of Golbez is playable only during the flashback battles
during the Lunarians chapter, and has an armored sprite. He does not
have the Pressure and Taunt abilities of the permanent Golbez, and
his HP differs, so I felt it reasonable to list him separately.
He comes equipped with a sword called Ebony Blade, which has poor
attack power compared to other swords in the Lunarians chapter, but
gives him +3 Intellect and +3 Spirit. Be sure to unequip in battle,
so you can equip the sword on the permanent Golbez if you want the
boost to stats rather than a more damaging sword.
This Golbez's level and base stats are not able to be viewed normally
in the game, but JDWitchDoctor (GameFAQs) was kind enough to give me
the stats from the game's source code. He has two points less Spirit
than the permanent Golbez, and a few less HP.
What's interesting is, although he cannot be leveled up by any means
normally available in the game, JDWitchDoctor found in the source
code that he is capable of leveling up to 45 like the permanent
Golbez. There's just no way to normally make it happen, because he
never gets any experience points. Supposedly, his level 45 stats end
up with 2 additional Stamina, but 4 less Spirit. He also does not
ever learn any new magic spells at any level. This info is just
trivia, though, since you can't ever legitimately level him.
Abilities
White Magic : Restorative and beneficial magic.
(White) Cure L.30 One/All, minor HP recovery
Hold L.30 One, adds Paralyze
Slow L.30 One/All, decreases speed
Libra L.30 One, reveals HP & weaknesses
Sight L.30 Zooms out world map view
Raise L.30 One, revives with low HP
Protect L.30 One/All, physical defense up
Cura L.30 One/All, moderate HP recovery
Silence L.30 One/All, adds Mute
Berserk L.30 One, adds Berserk
Teleport L.30 Exit a battle or dungeon
Esuna L.30 One, removes status ailments
Blink L.30 One, avoid next two attacks
Confuse L.30 One, adds Confuse
Shell L.30 One/All, magic defense up
Dispel L.30 One, removes all status effects
Mini L.30 One, adds/removes Mini
Curaga L.30 One/All, superior HP recovery
Haste L.30 One, speed up
Float L.30 One/All, adds Float
Reflect L.30 One, adds Reflect
Curaja L.30 One/All, extreme HP recovery
Holy L.30 One, extreme Holy damage
Arise L.30 One, revives with maximum HP
Black Magic : Damaging and debilitating magic.
(Black) Fire L.30 One/All, minor fire damage
Blizzard L.30 One/All, minor ice damage
Thunder L.30 One/All, minor thunder damage
Sleep L.30 One/All, adds Sleep
Poison L.30 One/All, adds Poison
Pig L.30 One/All, adds/removes Pig
Blizzara L.30 One/All, moderate ice damage
Fira L.30 One/All, moderate fire damage
Thundara L.30 One/All, moderate thunder damage
Stop L.30 One, adds Paralyze
Bio L.30 One/All, non-elemental damage, Sap
Toad L.30 One/All, adds/removes Toad
Quake L.30 All, superior earth damage
Drain L.30 One, reduces HP and restores caster's
Warp L.30 Escape battle, or move up one floor
Blizzaga L.30 One/All, superior ice damage
Firaga L.30 One/All, superior fire damage
Thundaga L.30 One/All, superior thunder damage
Break L.30 One/All, adds Petrify (instant death)
Osmose L.30 One, reduces MP and restores caster's
Death L.30 One, instant death
Tornado L.30 One, reduces HP to under 10
Flare L.30 One, extreme non-elemental damage
Meteor L.30 All, extreme non-elemental damage
Bless : Gradually restores HP and MP for the entire party,
(n/a) based on each character's maximum HP and MP. The
amount restored each "tick" is equal to about 5% of
max HP and 1% of max MP. Fusoya focuses on this skill
for three "ticks" and then becomes available for
command again.
Bands
None.
Strategy & Notes
Fusoya joins Golbez in the Lunarians chapter once Golbez reaches the
Crystal Palace, and is present up to the end of the chapter. However,
he returns for the Challenge Dungeon, so that's nice.
Like Final Fantasy IV, he does not gain any MP at level increases. He
also has a level cap of 40, even though Golbez has a cap of 45.
With every White Magic and Black Magic spell at his disposal right
away, and comparable Intellect and Spirit at all levels (since he
doesn't change) to any other Black Mage or White Mage, Fusoya is a
force to be reckoned with, only hindered by his comparably poor MP,
very slow speed, and frail defense. Even so, he is an excellent
companion for Golbez. There are two possible useful strategies for
them, in fact - see their chapter strategies for details.
Bless is a useful ability, though the benefits are low. It will only
recover 1 MP per tick for Fusoya since his MP are less than 200, but
if you find a Soma Drop and don't mind wasting it on him (since he is
not a permanent character) you can boost his MP to 200 and Bless will
then give him 2 MP per tick, doubling it's effectiveness for Fusoya.
Overall, he would not be very useful as a permanent character even if
he could be one, because of his lack of stat growth or MP growth. In
just a few levels the other characters would rapidly overshadow him.
This section discusses general strategies to use during each of the game's
chapters. I have not provided a detailed walkthrough for the chapter, though I
may include general strategies for defeating boss enemies. The purpose of this
section is to give the player some ideas for using their team effectively.
Since the prologue rolls directly into Ceodore's chapter, even in
the original Mobile version of the game, I'm going to just consider
it to be part of Ceodore's chapter. In case anyone wondered.
Ceodore begins as a complete wimp, but he's faster than the enemies
on Adamant Isle, and can kill any of them in one hit. Roam around
outside town until he's level 10, then do his trial. On the way in,
take equipment from Biggs and give it to Ceodore. On the way out,
use Biggs and Wedge to help Ceodore plow rapidly through fights until
Ceodore hits level 15, and then unequip Biggs and Wedge so you can
sell their stuff later.
The "boss" fight on the airship is easy, have Biggs use Fira for a
quick win (should take 2-4 turns depending on Ceodore's level, if you
also use Awaken).
In Cecil's segment, grab treasure, of course, but don't bother trying
to gain levels. Equip Cecil with armor you took from Wedge, so that
later, Ceodore can use Cecil's armor. Yes, despite the groups being
in different places, they share an inventory bag. Nice!
Cecil's three-battle "boss" fight isn't so bad. The first fight, just
attack and heal. The second fight, Cecil and Cid attack, and Rosa
should wait until the floating eye uses Doom, then Haste, and then
Rosa should use Slow on the ally who has Doom and Haste. After that,
she and Cecil can use their Band, along with Cid's attacks, to drop
the floating eye before their Doom'ed ally dies. The third fight,
attack the birds and Slow the large bird, then just keep healed while
attacking. Win.
The rest of Ceodore's chapter is a peice of cake. Equip Ceodore with
the armor from Cecil for a nice defense and Spirit boost (which makes
his White Magic a bit better). The White Mage and Black Mage make the
Devil's Road and Baron waterway easier, but if you want, KO them and
you'll get better experience for Ceodore and the Hooded Man.
Be sure to buy Eye Drops in Mysidia, they won't be available in Baron
and some of the later enemies can use Blind attacks. It'll suck to
have to waste MP to use Esuna just to cure Blind.
The main tactic is just to attack and attack and attack, neither
character can do much else. Ceodore can use Cura if you want, or just
use potions. It doesn't really matter. Consider equipping Ceodore
with the Power Armlet from the Hooded Man if you want to even out
their attacks a bit, but the Hooded Man is still going to be superior
until you start finding swords, in which case, you can potentially
make Ceodore a little better than the Hooded Man if you use the best
available sword on him, and the hand-me-down on the Hooded Man.
Make sure to buy a bunch of Spider Silk in Baron. At least 10, just
in case you need them sometime. Skip the elemental attack items, but
don't sell the ones you find as loot, you'll want them later.
You should be level 25 before you fight the boss of the Mist Cave,
because this will allow Ceodore to use Float (use it before you even
start the battle, to save a turn). He should use Spider Silk on the
boss, and then you can just Cross Slash it to death, or attack as the
Hooded Man and heal with Ceodore.
That's it. In the Mobile version, I've heard that Ceodore had his own
Challenge Dungeon, but in the Wii version the game just rolls right
into Kain's chapter without stopping.
Basically, attack, attack, and then attack some more. Enemies go down
easily enough that you shouldn't need to use Cross Slash, or use
White Magic during battles.
During the sequences where you play Kain, just attack. Everything
dies in one hit anyway. Some people say to unequip Kain's Wind Spear
and give it to Ceodore (and give Kain an old sword), but you'll find
a Mithril Sword and then Sleep Sword soon enough, so don't bother,
it's a very short-lived improvement.
The enemies on the Mist Cliffs give very good experience, especially
the Goblin Captains, so stick around and gain a few levels if you
wish, but it's not really necessary.
When you reach the end of the Underground Waterway, you'll fight
Octo Mammoth. You should have one or two White Fang and Red Fang,
have both characters use one each of these right away to wipe out the
tentacles instantly, then Spider Silk the main boss and Cross Slash
it to death. If a tentacle comes back to life, just ignore it. The
main boss will go down soon enough. Worst case, if three tentacles
are back, use fangs again (or lesser elemental items if necessary)
and resume killing the boss.
The Challenge Dungeon isn't so challenging. First, stop by Baron to
see if you want any of the items at the weapon and armor shop,
they're new. You can also loot the items behind the counters now.
Explore the ruins area of the Challenge Dungeon and clear it of loot,
while working on getting Rosa to level 36 so she leans Haste. One
chest in the ruins resets whenever you enter, but it has just "tool"
items, so don't be concerned with it.
Once your group, or at least Rosa, have reached level 36 you should
proceed into the cave portion of the Challenge Dungeon. The enemies
will be tougher but you should be fine. Collect the loot, and at the
save point before the boss, use Tents until it's New Moon, then save.
The key to the Curse Dragon is that Kain's Dragoon Lance does Holy
damage, which the Curse Dragon happens to be weak against. He has
two forms, one of which requires about 10,000 HP, and the other about
20,000 HP. At the start of the fight, Kain will probably act first,
but switch to Ceodore when he comes up, and use a Spider Silk. Then,
wait for Rosa, and have her use Haste on Kain. Finally, have Kain
Jump, for very effective damage, especially considering the moon
phase. Use Cid to heal or revive with items (or Ceodore/Rosa with
items or magic, if they're available). When Kain's ready, Jump again.
Basically, repeat this until it changes form. Then, have Ceodore use
a Spider Silk again (good thing you can buy those in Baron). Repeat
the Jump cycle, and heal and revive as needed. If Kain dies, be sure
to hit him with Haste from Rosa (or Ceodore if you're high enough in
level). The boss will die easily enough.
At this point, you can just run the Challenge Dungeon repeatedly to
gain levels if you fight every battle on the way to the boss, or, to
gain loot quickly if you flee from every battle on the way to the
boss. If you opt to flee, use magic to heal, since you can use a
Cottage just before the boss anyway. Either way, you should get all
the good items and become level 50 pretty smoothly.
Oh Rydia. Without your summons, you are so screwed. It's easy to get
through the Eidolon cave, though, and meet up with Luca, Calca, and
Brina. Calca and Brina are a mixed bag. Calca's abilities are very
unpredictable, but Brina's are almost always useful since they tend
to heal a lot of the time.
There are two general strategies here:
Option 1: Use the dolls for Jive and Dance. In this case, stick them
in the back row, and equip them with the Angel's Clothes and Mage's
Clothes, when those items become available. You could also opt to use
the Clown Clothes instead, and whichever doll has those will just get
to Jive or Dance more often, but a bit less effectively. Collect all
eight Kokkol Ores which are available without going into any dungeons
and use them to make a Battle Axe, followed by a Tomahawk, and Luca
is set for the rest of the chapter. Hooray! You can use the final
four Kokkol Ores to make a Dancing Dagger for Rydia later, or a
Mithril Hammer for Luca if you want (though in my opinion the
Tomahawk is far superior). This setup also permits Luca to be in the
back row, but, don't do that until after the Sealed Cave, since the
other three characters are much more frail than she is.
Option 2: Use the dolls for attack! In this case, put them in the
front row with the Warrior's Clothes and Clown Clothes. Use the Clown
Clothes on Brina so that if you need a heal, you can try for it more
often. Use the eight easy-to-get Kokkol Ores to make two Dancing
Daggers so your dolls can kick some ass (or, at least as best as they
can manage, anyway). If you want, you could put them in the back row,
since Dancing Daggers can do a nice "Big Throw" style attack if used
as an item in combat, but if you ask me, that's a pain to have to
select that every time you want to attack. The final four Kokkol Ores
should be used alongside the Battle Axe from the Sealed Cave to make
Luca a Tomahawk. Luca will need to be in the front row until you get
the Tomahawk, and then she can go in the back.
I recommend Option 2, but you can do whatever you want, of course.
Either way, use the dolls for their purpose as you choose from the
ones above, and Luca also. Luca's main thing is attacking, if you
didn't guess. Or Big Throw, if the moon phase favors it over attack.
Rydia should try to support with magic, if you can guess the enemy's
elemental weakness. Or use Stop. If you power-level her up to 32
while still underground, her Bio spell will kill any enemy group in
just one shot, except for the doors and boss of the Sealed Cave.
If Rydia needs MP, use Osmose on Lamias, once she learns it at level
26. Lamias have around 150 MP and are eager for Rydia to take it
away! Use Stop to make them sit there helplessly, and then turn them
into giant Ethers. Once they're drained, Luca can finish them off.
A good strategy for healing is to defeat all the enemies in a fight
except for one. Either make sure it's a weak enemy and can't hurt you
much anyway, or have Rydia use Stop on it. Then, just have Brina use
Dance over and over until you're healed. Sometimes this goes quickly
and sometimes not so much.
The back entrance to the Dwarf Castle has a healing pot. Consider
grinding some levels on the overworld near here, until all of your
characters are over level 20. This will be time-consuming, but will
make the rest of the chapter much easier.
Against the door enemies in the Sealed Cave and Challenge Dungeon,
just use Stop, and it's an easy fight. If you reach a high enough
level you can kill them with Bio plus one attack from Luca. It's
faster, but costs a bit more MP.
The Demon Walls are a bit more annoying. If you're under level 32,
use a Spider Silk, and have Luca use attack or Big Throw (whichever
is favored by the moon), and Rydia use any -ara spell. If you're
level 32 or higher, forget the Spider Silk, just use Bio and Luca's
moves stay the same.
If you want to get Calca and Brina to level 40, you'll need to do so
before you defeat the Demon Wall in the Sealed Cave. Or, to be more
precise, you can defeat the Demon Wall if you wish, but then you have
to grind out any remaining levels without leaving the Sealed Cave. So
it's best to just do it before killing the Demon Wall.
While in the Agart Mines, you can find a very convenient healing pot,
which makes it an excellent spot to grind out some levels.
If you want to repair Calca and Brina, do so at the Agart Mines. See
their sections above for details.
The Challenge Dungeon is a peice of cake. There are guides for how
to get through it, so I won't detail that here. The boss is super
weak. Have Luca kill two of the Minion Gobby's, and then use Bio on
the Boss Gobby and have Luca use Hi Potions to heal. When it dies,
finish the last Minion Gobby. If you accidentally kill all the Minion
Gobby's while the Boss Gobby is alive, he'll use magic to improve
his attack and defense. Defeat him the same way, it just takes more
time. So, be careful and do it the easy way.
Run the Challenge Dungeon a few times for the loot and you'll easily
reach level 40 in the process. Since the enemies in the Challenge
Dungeon are tough, you might consider waiting until level 40 to
advance to the end.
There's not really much to say about Yang's chapter. Attack and/or
Kick everything to death. It's glorious.
Monks A, B, and C are pretty handy if you choose to level them up
and pay for equipment for them. Or, KO them and enjoy the extra
experience points for Yang and/or Ursula. Whatever you like.
The first boss, Mom Bomb, is a peice of cake. I recommend having
Yang use Cover Counter on Ursula, and Ursula can use Chakra to heal
as needed, while everyone else just attacks and/or kicks. Victory.
Continue attacking and/or kicking your way through the chapter. When
you return to Fabul, be sure to outfit everyone you're using in all
Metal Knuckles since they give a nice Strength bonus. Keep some of
the elemental claws in your inventory for fast attack element changes
since this is one of the biggest benefits of monks in the game. In
later chapters it will no doubt be beneficial to be able to change
attack element against bosses as needed.
Try to get your party to at least level 20 before leaving on the boat
from Fabul.
Once in the Adamant Isle Forest, you should... attack and/or kick.
Did you guess it? If you didn't, we'll try again later.
The turtle boss (there was also a turtle end boss in Rydia's, is
Square Enix just in love with turtle bosses or what?) isn't so bad
once you get Tenketsu, use that and Focus and he's toast quickly.
And now... the Challenge Dungeon. Your main strategy in the Challenge
Dungeon is... wait for it... wait for it... attack and/or kick.
Seriously though, it's basically long hallways full of random battles
which you handle in pretty much the same way as any other random
battles. Everything up to the first treasure chest should be super
easy. Take your time past that on the way to the second treasure
chest and fight a few extra battles. Test yourself against the enemy
and see if you can beat them fairly easily and if they give decent
experience for your level. If they're easy and give poor experience,
then advance past the second chest to the third set of halls and do
this again until you find a good spot to grind some levels. If you
need to exit, there's a door for that in any chest room, but be aware
it will require more fighting to escape.
Once you're level 30 you should be able to survive to the end of the
Challenge Dungeon. Buy lots of Potions and Hi Potions. Grind your way
through the Challenge Dungeon to the end, get your reward item, and
grind your way out. Repeat this until you're level 40, or have gotten
all the reward items you want, or both.
Palom, Palom, Palom... tsk tsk. You certainly haven't spend the past
seventeen years learning anything at all towards your goal of being a
great Sage, have you? Look at your pathetic spell list and your tiny
level. Weak, bro. Weak.
The early goal in Palom's chapter is to level up Leonora so she isn't
useless. The healing pot on the first floor of the Tower of Trials is
practically made for this. All the enemies on this floor are weak
against Fire, and can be taken down with just one or two uses of Fire
depending on your level and the moon phase. Regardless, "fire away"
and use the healing pot. You'll want to get Leonora to at least level
12 so she learns Cura, but feel free to stay longer. If you can deal
with the boredom, I recommend staying there until both characters are
at least level 20. This will make the rest of the chapter easier.\
If you're really hardcore you could stay here until Palom reaches
level 30 and gets Bio, at which point the rest of the chapter is
super easy.
Zip through the rest of the tower. The tactic here is easy. When you
learn a new spell for Leonora, most enemies on that floor are weak
against that element, or the previous elements you learned. The mini-
boss fights you face as Leonora, always use the spell she learned
most recently. Easy as that.
Leonora does not become any more offensively potent than she is now,
so rely on her for healing and use Palom for killing. Don't forget
that she can use Slow, arguably one of the best spells in the game,
and once she learns Osmose, use her healing liberally after battles
since you can get her MP back anyway.
The Troia waterway is nothing to worry about. Magic your way through
it. There are some unique enemies here that did not appear in the
original Final Fantasy IV, which seem to be resistant to magic, but
you can kill them. They just sort of force the fights to take a bit
longer than they should. Or, just run from everything in the Troia
waterway and speed your way through it.
Before going to the magnetic cave, be sure you don't have any Silver
Armlets anymore. Get Rune Armlets, they're better anyway. The cave is
as easy as the Troia waterway, just make your way through, using your
magic along the way. Easy. Also, if you have the gil for it, go ahead
and purchase the membership cards and such in Troia, you'll be
getting a lot more gil in just a bit.
The last save point in the magnetic cave is in a room with a healing
pot. Make use of this healing pot and get your group up to level 40.
While you could wait to do this until you reach the Challenge
Dungeon, the enemies there tend to put a hurting on your defenseless
mages pretty easily, whereas these enemies aren't quite so tough, and
the healing pot makes leveling a breeze. Plus, this will get you lots
of gil, so you can get the second membership card when you get back
to town.
The dark elf is also easy, especially if you're level 40. Just Bio
and heal as needed. He'll go down quickly.
The Challenge Dungeon awaits! You'll have three random floors and
then the boss. The boss is a real pain in the ass, though. His
signature move, Venom Breath, does about 400 damage to both Palom
and Leonora, and then heals himself. The healing is based on his HP
before the heal, it seems to be something around one fourth to one
third of his current HP. He sometimes opens the fight with this move,
and also uses it if you use any magic or effect (including Bluff) on
him which is not elemental-based.
Start the fight by using Slow from Leonora and a Hi Potion with Palom
on Leonora since she has less HP. The next turn, Leonora should use
Cura on all allies or just one to heal, and Palom should use any -ra
spell. This will do around 800-1200 damage (depending on equipment
and moon), and will start the boss's main theme - random barrier
changes. He'll move off-screen for a second, and now will be
vulnerable to only one element, the other two will heal him.
This is easy to counter. Wait a moment until both Palom and Leonora
are able to act, and in the meantime, the boss should use a -ra spell
of some element against one or both of your characters. Immediately
(like, while the boss is casting) have Leonora use a basic version of
one of the other two elements that the boss didn't use, and as she is
casting, open Palom's black magic and be ready. If Leonora's spell
did any damage to the boss, have Palom use the -ra version of the
same spell. If Leonora's spell did not damage the boss, have him use
the -ra version of the last remaining element.
The boss will take heavy damage, and will change barrier again in a
moment, so you'll have to repeat this process. In between, use
Cura and/or Hi Potions to heal up. After you've hit the boss's weak
element three times, the next turn use the Particle Bomb band to
finish him off.
The annoying part is that you'll have to do this battle a dozen or
more times to collect all the Challenge Dungeon rewards. Oh boy!
Be sure to unequip Edge before starting the sub-chapters for his
pupils, as Edge's equipment will greatly benefit them. Likewise,
before finishing a section for each pupil, unequip the pupil, except
for their individualized weapons which other pupils could not use.
If you want to be able to use the pupils in the rest of the chapter,
and at the end of the game, do not allow them to die during their
sub-chapter, as this results in the permanent death of the pupil.
Fight your way to level 20 as each pupil before completing their
sub-chapter, so that they will be on-par with Edge when they return.
Strategic info for each pupil can be found in their information in
the Optional Characters section, above.
Once the chapter has returned to Edge, equip him with the best gear
obtained from the sub-chapters of all the pupils, and make sure one
of his weapons is the Metal Boomerang acquired during Tsukinowa's
sub-chapter. You can thus put Edge in the back row and he will deal
full damage (this is true even if his other weapon is a katana). Put
Edge's Flame spell to good use against the undead in the Eblan Cave,
and try to reach level 20 before advancing into the Tower of Babil.
Once the group re-unites, put Edge, Gekkou, and Zangetsu in the
front row, and Izayoi and Tsukinowa in the back row. Gekkou should
be equipped with an axe, Zangetsu with a spear, Izayoi with a bow or
whip, Tsukinowa with boomerangs, and Edge with katanas. You could
put Edge in the back row with a boomerang, but his high HP make him
able to take a hit or two. If you have trouble, equip Zangetsu with
a boomerang for awhile and stick him in the back row, since his HP
are generally lower than Gekkou or Edge. This will make his attack
much weaker, though, so it's not advised except if he is behind in
levels.
The enemies of the Tower of Babil shouldn't be any trouble if your
team is level 20 or higher. Basic attacks should win most fights. Try
to reach at least level 25 before fighting the Mysterious Girl, you
can teleport back to the entrance of the Eblan Cave from within the
Tower of Babil (at the entrance of the tower from the cave, and, at
the save room just before the Mysterious Girl), and return to Eblan
for supplies if needed.
After beating the chapter, check out the Challenge Dungeon. You'll
need to be fast to get the best gear at the end, so don't worry about
that for now. Each floor has two equippable items that can randomly
appear in the treasure chests, as well as normal "tool" items and
shuriken. Play through each floor until you have collected all the
equipment, and use an Emergency Exit (you can buy them in Eblan) to
escape and heal. Once you have collected the equipment for a given
floor, then advance to the next floor and do the same.
Getting killed in the Challenge Dungeon? Remember, you're playing a
group of ninjas, not a group of fighters. Use their abilities to even
the odds with tough enemies! Izayoi's Illusions works pretty well to
confuse an enemy - try using this on a Coeurl and watch it use it's
Blaster skill to paralyze or kill other enemies. Shadowbind is a good
spell to use against Mad Ogres and other tough foes. Flash also works
well, since you can target the full group. Mirage is nice to help
avoid a few hits. Once the enemies are properly paralyzed, confused,
and blinded from the first round of battle, you're ready to attack.
Also, remember that Izayoi's bows and Tsukinowa's boomerangs do extra
damage against flying enemies.
By the time you have collected all the equipment from all floors, you
should be in your late 20's or early 30's in level. Run your way to
the fourth floor of the Challenge Dungeon, and on the right side you
can find a tile that restores all HP and MP. This is the spot where
you want to stay until you reach level 40.
Once you're level 40, you're ready to make speedy runs through the
Challenge Dungeon to try and get the best treasure from the final
chest. Run or use the Smoke spell to achieve the best results.
Examine the graves in Kaipo, then buy some Tents and head to the
underground waterway. Don't worry about buying any other equipment
or items.
Fight only the battles against toad groups (use Blizzard), zombie
groups (use Fire), or the groups that have a fish and two shellfish
(use Thunder). Any other battles will require using more than 5 MP to
finish the battle, so just run and don't worry about it. Porom can
heal with Cure or Cura as needed.
When you get to the small overworld area, save and backtrack back
into the waterway area you just came from. This floor is a great
spot to build levels by fighting the toad groups and zombie groups.
The zombie groups here are larger and will require a Fira to wipe
out, but it's worth it. You can get both characters to their cap of
level 20 in a very short amount of time. Then, save and continue
onward.
Cooler Mammoth is easy. Porom should open with Slow on the group, and
Palom with Sleep on the group. Porom should then Silence the group,
and Palom should use Sleep again if more than one set of arms and the
head resisted. Otherwise, use Fira on the head. From here, just keep
using Fira on the head, and use Porom to heal, and you'll win in a
few rounds.
Be sure to get all the treasures from Mist and the Dwarven Kingdom,
but don't bother buying any items.
When you get to the Passage of the Eidolons, fight random battles and
use Rydia's Shiva summon to efficiently wipe out the enemies with
ease, and use Porom to heal. You can KO Palom if you want to make the
leveling go faster, since he won't gain any more levels anyway. The
goal is to get Porom to level 25. There's a healing pot outside on
the airship, so use it as needed. Then, run to the bottom of the cave
and return after the story bits. Remove the equipment from Palom and
Rydia before you take off on the airship.
In the present you'll get a White Mage and Black Mage. Take the
Sage's Surplice from the White Mage, and buy a Great Bow, Holy Arrows
and Rune Armlet in town, and a ton of tents.
On the way to the top of Mt. Ordeals, just run from the fights. Grab
the treasures on the way up for a Sage's Miter (very important for
Porom since it reduces damage from undead, and boosts Spirit) and a
Psycho Spiral staff (which will be useful later).
Once you get Kain, save at the peak and KO the White Mage and Black
Mage. Equip the Great Bow and Holy Arrows, and have Kain and Porom
fight undead on the peak. Stay on the peak, the best enemies appear
there. Once Porom reaches level 33, save and use tents until the
moon phase benefits White Magic. Equip the Psycho Spiral, and have
Kain KO himself, and kill all the undead with Curaga. Save. Now Porom
can wipe out undead groups all by herself with Curaga, and get very
good experience. Fight your way to her cap at level 40, using tents
as needed to recover MP and restore the moon phase to benefitting
White Magic.
Once she's level 40, Raise Kain and save, then descend the mountain
and head back to Mysidia. Go through the story stuff, finish the
chapter, and save.
Now for the Challenge Dungeon. This one's complex, and there are good
guides for how to solve the "puzzle" of it all, so I'll focus on the
battle aspects. Keep the White Mage and Black Mage in KO, they will
die quickly anyway due to their low levels. Do not have Kain use Jump
under any circumstances, Porom will probably be dead before he lands.
In general, run from every fight, since fights use up your time limit
quickly. For the fights you have to help people with, make use of
Slow or Hold as needed. The only hard fight is the Dreamer ghost, who
hits hard and hits fast. Use Slow, and then repeated uses of Curaga
while Kain fights until it dies.
If you need to heal outside of battle, use potions or Hi Potions, or
use a Phoenix Down to revive the dead White Mage and let him heal.
You need to conserve Porom's MP until you've helped all three of the
old men who will need her to cast spells on them. Once you have
helped all three, then she can use her MP to heal your group too.
Porom's Challenge Dungeon takes awhile to get all the good items, but
it's not really very challenging.
Buy a Thorn Whip in town, and a ton of the basic elemental damage
items. I didn't notice that the enemies at the Impact Crater had any
particular elemental weakness, but if someone finds one, let me know.
Head east, and enter the antlion den. You're not supposed to be here
yet, but who cares. Somewhere inside, you will find a Lamia Harp in a
chest. Give it to Edward. Clean out the treasures in the place, and
depart. Edward and the guards will probably gain a level or two.
Now visit the Impact Crater. It's a fairly linear path through it to
Harley, so follow along. Go quickly and ignore the chests for now,
and once you have Harley, pick up the chests on the way back. That
way if you get into extra fights from the detours, she can benefit
from the experience. Give Harley the Thorn Whip.
On the way out, stop at the healing pot and battle until Harley
reaches level 10. Then, unequip the guards and KO them. You will have
to KO them again each time you use the healing pot, but that's okay.
Fight enemies until Edward are both at least level 20. Make use of
their band for healing, since they have no other use for MP anyway.
If you are facing a big group of enemies, have Harley with her
Economical Ring use an elemental damage item to help soften up the
enemies. You'll get to 20 before too long.
Return to Damcyan. Stock up on potions and basic elemental damage
items, and head to the underground waterway. Don't KO the guards, but
be sure to fight every battle. You can use the guards later in the
Challenge Dungeon, so it doesn't hurt to let them get some
experience. Just remember, they cap at level 20 anyway.
When you reach Kaipo, some stuff happens, and now Edward's alone. The
entire time he's alone, just run from all your battles. Fighting solo
as Edward takes a long time. So, run your way through the waterway,
run your way in and out of the antlion den, and run your way back
through the waterway. Hooray. Now you get Harley and the Guards back.
Head to Baron. Upgrade Edward and Harley's equipment as needed, but
leave them with the Gil Band and Economical Ring even if there are
better accessory armors. With remaining funds, upgrade Guard B, and
then upgrade Guard A and Guard C if you have any gil left.
The enemies outside Baron are tougher, and give decent experience.
Fight them as your full team until all the guards have reached their
cap of level 20. Remember to use Edward and Harley's Band, since they
have no other use for MP anyway. You can buy more elemental damage
items in Baron if you need them for Harley. Once the guards are level
20, save, unequip their armor, and KO them, and do the fights as just
Edward and Harley. You should be able to survive at this point. I
suggest staying there until at least level 30, but you can easily
make your way all the way to 40 if you wish.
Check the shops again and finish equipment upgrades and item restocks
as necessary, then head to Baron castle and go through the stuff to
complete the chapter.
Ah, the Challenge Dungeon. Edward's is a really interesting dungeon,
which I won't chronicle in great detail except to make a few points.
First, any gil you acquire inside, you can't take out with you. Make
a few runs wherein your goal is not to open any of the ending chests,
instead use the gil to stock up on the -ara elemental damage items
sold in the Challenge Dungeon, as well as some Remedies since this
is the only place in the game so far where they can be bought.
If Edward and Harley are not level 40 yet, try to find fights with
bats, since they are easy and give good experience.
When you're ready to make a serious go of the dungeon, plan always to
just get the 50,000 gil chest, and use any excess money to buy more
-ara elemental damage items or Remedies.
It'll take patience... supposedly people have been in Edward's
Challenge Dungeon for over half an hour per trip. Yikes!
One tip is to load up on Remedies, then sell them outside in the
main game world, to get your Gil up to maximum, then save, and enter
the challenge dungeon and rush to the final room. Once there, open
the 50,000 gil chest. If you don't get a "good" item, reset, and
fight a battle before entering the Challenge Dungeon again, to try
and change the item it'll give you. Then try the Challenge Dungeon
again, once again rushing through to the end, and trying the 50,000
gil chest. Some have reported that this technique works well.
During the first flashback fight, unequip the Ebony Blade from the
flashback Golbez.
Make your way to the Crystal Palace and get Fusoya - the Lunar
Subterrane is easy enough, make use of healing pots and Bio and
you will be fine. There don't seem to be any random battles, so be
sure to explore fully and get all the items, especially the Mithril
Helm, Mithril Shield, and Mithril Gloves.
There are two good strategies for using Golbez and Fusoya:
1. The Tank strategy: Have Golbez equip all the Mithril armors, and
give him the Protect Staff from Fusoya. He can use it along with a
shield, which is interesting. He will have very high defense. Have
Golbez use nothing but Taunt in battle, and use Fusoya to heal or
use Black Magic as needed to kill the enemy. If Fusoya needs MP, he
can Osmose from Golbez since Golbez isn't using it anyway.
2. The Mages strategy: Equip Golbez with the Ebony Blade, Mithril
Shield, Mithril Helm, and leave his other two armors as they started
out. The goal here is to boost his Intellect, so don't worry about
his Attack damage or defense much. Put him in the back row with
Fusoya, and use both of them to kill enemies with Black Magic, and
Fusoya can heal as needed. Both can Osmose MP as needed, also.
Once you have Fusoya, carefully explore the tunnels near the Crystal
Palace to get a few items, and return to the Crystal Palace to use
the tiles to recover HP and MP. Generally, one cast of Firaga should
end most random battles in this chapter, but feel free to try Bio if
you want, since it casts more quickly and uses less mana.
If you need to recover MP mid-dungeon, and Osmose isn't helping much,
try killing all enemies in a fight except one. Keep that enemy under
the effect of Stop, Hold, Sleep, or Golbez's Pressure skill, and have
Fusoya use Bless over and over until you're restored. It's slow-going
but reliable.
Next, go to the Lair of the Father, and explore for a few treasures.
Count Malboro battles can be finished quickly, have Golbez use Bio
and Fusoya use Holy. You can recover MP by using Osmose on Medusas,
they have 61 MP each and occur frequently in random battles.
By this point you should have some gil, so head to the Hummingway
Abode and get a ton of Hi Potions and some Cottages, this will ease
the burden of healing from Fusoya. Battle outside the Crystal Palace
until Golbez is at least level 35, so you can use the tiles inside to
heal and recover MP. Then, head to the Impact Crater.
In the Impact Crater, most enemies have MP for you to Osmose. Battles
with two Fell Turtle and two Ice Lizard are a good choice, have
Fusoya use Slow, then Sleep, on the enemy group and you can Osmose to
replenish quite a lot of MP.
When you fight the Mysterious Girl and Asura, don't bother attacking
Asura, just focus on the Mysterious Girl. Golbez should use any of
the -aga spells, while Fusoya uses Haste on Golbez and himself, then
healing or using Dispel to remove Shell from the Mysterious Girl. She
drops pretty easily.
When you return to the Crystal Palace be sure to heal and restore
your MP. You're about to have another fight with the Mysterious Girl.
In the second fight she summons Leviathan. Just as before, focus your
assault on the Mysterious Girl herself, and use Fusoya to heal and
Golbez to deal the damage. Use Haste on both characters, and keep
your HP high, Leviathan's Tidal Wave does over 1,000 damage, and the
Mysterious Girl can use Meteor for over 1,000 damage also.
Be sure to recover your HP and MP, and save, before heading into the
Lunar Subterrane. While inside, Lamia type enemies are great to
Osmose, so keep your MP loaded. I recommend making heavy use of the
healing pots, and getting both characters up to their level caps. It
should go pretty quickly.
Battle your way to the end, and the final battle is easier than it
seems. Zeromus has about 30,000 to 32,000 HP, and your new Band does
quite nice damage to him, but at the cost of preventing Fusoya from
healing duty. I recommend just having Golbez use his -aga spells and
Fusoya can use Haste on both, then focus on healing, or throw out
an occasional damage spell if timing permits (Holy works well).
There are two Challenge Dungeons here. The first you enter by talking
to Challengingway in the Hummingway cave. It's fairly straightforward
so just plow through to the boss, Kirin. Use Float before the fight
to avoid Quake. Kirin uses -aga spells, Quake, and physical attacks,
which can hit one or both characters, as well as sometimes countering
your magic with Holy. Don't use Reflect, though - his Holy spell will
cure him. Open the fight with Slow, then just whack him with -aga
spells while keeping your HP over 2,000 with Fusoya's heals.
When you get the Proof of Courage reward from the first Challenge
Dungeon, head to the Lunar Face, which you may have seen east/west of
the Impact Crater earlier. Before you go, stock up on Gold Needles at
the Hummingway cave. Talk to Challengingway inside and he will let
you visit the second Challenge Dungeon.
Some of the chests on the way to the boss reset each visit, but seem
to drop only ordinary items. There are several hidden paths but make
your way through, loot chests, etc, and get to the boss, Armstrong.
The first thing to remember about Armstrong is that he has very nasty
counter-attacks to any magic spells, and he has about 34,000 to
36,000 HP. He doesn't counter physical attacks, though. Be sure to
equip the Enhancement sword you should have gotten from the first
Challenge Dungeon, and if you have one, give Golbez a Power Armlet or
Giant's Glove (you can get these from Mad Ogres, found on the Lunar
Subterrane, but they're rare drops, so it may take a long time).
When you start the fight, Golbez should be up first. Have him use
Taunt, followed quickly by Fusoya casting Slow. Armstrong will use
his Piercing Laser counter-attack, which deals damage proportionate
to his remaining HP (less current HP = less damage). This will hit
Golbez since he used Taunt, and will kill him. Fusoya should then
cast Arise on Golbez. Have Golbez continue to use Taunt for now, and
have Fusoya use Haste on himself, then Haste and Berserk on Golbez.
Then use Fusoya to heal, and let Golbez hack away at Armstrong until
Armstrong is dead. If Fusoya needs more MP, Osmose Golbez. If the
boss uses Stone Touch, use a Gold Needle to counter it, since Esuna
costs a lot of MP and will also remove Golbez's Berserk. Take your
treasure and repeat until you have everything.
This section investigates the differences between characters who have similar
character "classes" or are otherwise apparently intended to fulfill a similar
role in the game. The purpose is to enable the reader to see, at a glance, a
comparison of these characters for consideration in forming a final team.
NOTE: Sadly, I cannot consider Bands for the sake of comparison yet, because
the final chapters and their bands are not released. After the release of
the final chapters, you can expect this section to receive significant
updates regarding the usefulness of party members on the merit of their bands
with others.
* Kain's stats are based on the earliest possible class change to the
Holy Dragoon at level 15. If you advanced to the Holy Dragoon at a
later level, your HP and MP values will be lower than the values
above. All other stats presented here assume he has completed his
class change, since some stats change when this occurs. See his
character section (P.05) for specific details.
* Kain's stats are based on the earliest possible class change to the
Holy Dragoon at level 15. If you advanced to the Holy Dragoon at a
later level, your HP and MP values will be lower than the values
above. All other stats presented here assume he has completed his
class change, since some stats change when this occurs. See his
character section (P.05) for specific details.
* Kain's stats are based on the earliest possible class change to the
Holy Dragoon at level 15. If you advanced to the Holy Dragoon at a
later level, your HP and MP values will be lower than the values
above. All other stats presented here assume he has completed his
class change, since some stats change when this occurs. See his
character section (P.05) for specific details.
Based on their raw stats, Kain is an absolute beast and outdoes the
other two in every respect, except for being a single point less than
Ceodore in Spirit, and three less than Cecil in Stamina.
As a warrior, Cecil just doesn't measure up. Kain will have pretty
much the same attack and defense as Cecil, but has much higher Speed,
which will make a huge difference in damage over time. Even though
Ceodore is less strong and durable than Cecil, Ceodore is quite fast
also, meaning he will very likely match Cecil's damage over time, or
even exceed it. This is especially true when you consider the stat
bonuses of equipment. At level 70, Cecil could only benefit from up
to 24 points of added Strength before hitting 99, and any further
bonus would be wasted. Ceodore, however, could enjoy up to 34, and
would still be faster, giving him a noteworthy advantage. This is
also true if you compare Ceodore to Kain.
Magically, Cecil also doesn't measure up. His spell selection is poor
even compared to Kain, whose only two truly useful spells are Haste
and Blink. Although Kain's Spirit means his spells should be as
effective as Ceodore's, Ceodore has much more MP, and has a vastly
greater spell selection.
Jump, while useful to minimize the impact of enemy counter-attacks
(since, in about double his attack time, Kain can do double damage
with a single attack, thus getting only one counter instead of two),
is not a very useful ability. Kain has very high defense and HP, so
it makes sense that one would wish for him to remain present and able
to take attacks. If he is using Jump, then he is not taking hits, and
his natural defense and HP benefits are not as well-utilized.
Cover, however, is somewhat more useful, especially given Cecil's
high defense. His HP would probably be significantly higher than
estimated (see my notes on him for why), so that benefits the use of
Cover also. Plus, he automatically covers critical allies. However,
given his other shortcomings, I couldn't recommend using Cecil just
for the sake of Cover.
Awaken, on the other hand, is a very useful skill under certain
situations. If Ceodore has critical HP, use Awaken for an instant
complete healing, and doubled stats for three turns. Just remember to
time a heal on him at the end of that period, so that he won't die.
The stat boost could give him significantly more damage potential or
healing potential, depending on the needs of the group. Also, Ceodore
makes up for the lack of Cecil's Cover, by being able to just heal
his critical allies rather than taking hits for them. Sure, Cecil can
heal too, but seriously, have you seen his healing? It's lame.
The winner here would seem to be Ceodore. Kain would not be a bad
choice, either, but Cecil is probably worth avoiding.
Oh hammer and axe wielders, who decided that wielding an axe or a
hammer automatically makes a person a slow, muscular idiot? It's
like some sort of stereotype. Sigh.
Aside from the capacity for harvesting lumber and building structures
(that's a joke, folks, don't get any ideas), these three are actually
quite able warriors. Universally they have high HP, high Strength,
and high Stamina.
Statistically, Luca and Gekkou are almost the same, except that Luca
has less HP, but also higher defense since she uses heavy armor. On
the other hand, Gekkou has higher MP, which means more use of Bands,
though his MP must also be used by his Ninjutsu, whereas Luca's are
for Bands only. Cid, well... his Strength is just insane, but his
Speed is just terrible. Even if he had Haste, the other genuinely
fast party member choices who did not have Haste would still give him
a tough chase. Plus, Cid's crazily high strength is probably going to
get capped too easily by items, and thus the potential bonus strength
from some of those items would end up wasted.
What about Luca and Gekkou? Luca's lower HP and higher defense would
probably balance out. Gekkou should have a wider selection of armor
that would boost his Strength and Speed, though, since he uses light
armor suitable for monks and ninjas. Since Luca can use shields, her
evasion would probably be around the same as Gekkou's (his would be
high due to light armor), unless Luca is using a two-handed weapon,
in which case, no shield.
Analyze... this gives Cid and Luca no points. They may as well not
even have this ability. How many characters have White Magic, and get
to use Libra? It's crazy. So don't even consider Analyze when making
a choice, you won't use it anyway. I mean seriously, you're using a
character guide, so, if you need info on a monster, look up a FAQ
that has monster info, right?
Risk Strike is one of my least favorite new abilities. Why didn't
they give Cid the ability he had in one of the handheld FF4 releases
where he could use elemental magic items to enhance his physical
attack? That would have been better. Risk Strike just seems to miss
a lot, and the times it does hit, if you consider the amount of
possible hits you could have had just attacking, you'd do more damage
just attacking. Plus, when you're as slow as Cid, can you afford to
waste a turn missing? No. The battle would end and you'd be a failure
of an old man.
Big Throw isn't a bad ability, but since Gekkou has Shuriken, and
they both can be used from the back row, and both can do full damage
to back row enemies, these abilities even out. Big Throw could maybe
do more damage, though, if Luca had a good weapon, and Gekkou had
only the crappy basic Shuriken available... but, Shuriken seems to
fill it's charge meter and activate more quickly than Big Throw. So.
Lastly, we have Ninjutsu. Currently, Gekkou's only decent skill here
is Payback Wave, but if he had more Intellect from equipment, Flame
might be okay to use against enemies weak against fire. Flash isn't a
bad ability either, low success chance but it can hit all enemies.
My personal choice here is Gekkou, because he has more flexibility
than Luca, especially if he learns more Ninjutsu moves. Luca isn't
bad, though, if you need someone else with heavy armor... but, there
are other, much better heavy armor users (such as all of them).
You know what's super funny... whenever I read Ursula, since Yang
is Asian, I always pronounce her name (in my head) with a really bad
Asian accent, like Urusoora. Go ahead. Imagine it. Sound it out. You
will never read her name the same again. Muahahaha!
Okay, now, for serious. Yang is a behemoth but he's only of average
Speed, whereas Ursula is a fast character but doesn't quite have the
brawn and defense of Yang. Their MP is pretty much even, and their
Intellect and Spirit don't matter for comparison's sake, since Yang
gets no use out of either and Ursula only needs Spirit for Chakra
which Yang couldn't use anyway.
One thing to consider here is that if there's a lot of Strength
enhancing equipment in the later game, Yang will obviously cap out
very easily. I mean, he's looking at 90 at level 70... only 9 points
(two Cat Claws, for example) and he's capped. Ursula, however, could
use two Cat Claws, a Kenpo Gi, a Giant's Gloves, and a Green Beret,
and would reach the same cap of 99 at level 70, but still have the
advantage of 25% more speed. However, Yang has insane Stamina and HP
too, whereas Ursula is a bit more fragile. If you have some Apples,
you could make up for the HP, though.
Both have Kick. It's a nice skill. It follows the same basic rules as
Attack, so... Yang uses it less often but for more damage, Ursula can
use it more often for less damage.
Focus is basically the same as Jump in that it's mainly useful for
minimizing the enemy's chances to counter-attack. Otherwise, just
doing two Attacks is the same damage and probably faster (not to
mention more flexible).
Tenketsu is a neat ability, which if you're lucky can do nice extra'
element-based damage to a boss. It can instant kill but you should
just be using Attack or Kick on random fights, and the instant kill
won't harm a boss, so... Also, the elemental damage? You could just
swap out Ursula's claws mid-fight if you wanted. Though, that would
mean getting rid of the stat bonuses of her "good" claws in favor of
using the plain elemental claws, whereas Tenketsu would let you have
the stat bonuses and do the elemental damage, but just for one hit,
and only if you get lucky. An iffy ability, but definitely better
than Focus.
Chakra heals a pretty nice chunk of HP and is a nice side ability for
a warrior character. It certainly heals more HP than a Hi Potion, so
it's automatically a useful "emergency heal" for a single character.
Ah, Cover Counter. This ability here is perhaps the one that not only
saves Yang's butt in this comparison, but also makes Cecil look like
a schmuck. Not only will Yang block the attack aimed at his comrade,
but he'll then hit back. This is a great way to make Mr. Average
Speed get in an extra attack or two, especially if you're up against
large enemy groups who do many physical hits.
So who wins here? Frankly, both are great characters. You can't go
wrong using either or both of them. If you had to choose, base it on
the others in the group. If you need some defense and hard offense,
go with Yang, and make good use of Cover Counter. Try to equip him
with items that boost Speed rather than Strength. If you need a good
general warrior who has flexible options and acts quickly, Ursula's
your girl. Both are excellent choices for a group.
Pew Pew, for those of you not "in the know", is slang for ability to
make something die from a distance. The origin is essentially the
silly sound effects used for laser weapons in science fiction films.
Truth be told, sound waves can't travel through a vacuum (such as
space), so they really wouldn't make any noise... but, y'know.
Anyway! I thought Rydia was fairly slow compared to other characters,
but as it turns out, she's the fastest of the black mages. Yikes. On
the other hand, Palom's got her beat in raw effectiveness of his
spells, because of his superior Intellect (he'd probably say that to
her, too). Their MP and HP are roughly similar, though.
One thing to bear in mind is that Rydia gets the ability to Summon,
also, which while nigh-useless without substantial grinding to get
the dropped items in her chapter (or RNG use at the end of her
chapter, when the summon spells are least needed anyway), will most
likely get restored to the usefulness of Final Fantasy IV in the end
game content. This is also why Rydia has a respectable Spirit, since
several of her summons provide beneficial, White Magic type effects.
So. Of the two heavy-hitter black mages, Rydia seems more flexible,
and Palom seems more potent. But what about innocent little Leonora?
To be frank (Hi, I'm Frank! Not really. But, ha ha, y'know), her
black magic selection is terrible in the current content, so she's
not really much of a contender. However, if she learns additional
black magic in the end-game content, even if she learns it at late
levels, she could still be an excellent choice.
You might ask yourself why... her Intellect isn't very amazing, now
is it? The trick is, she can use a pretty wide variety of mage armor,
so you could opt to equip her with items that boost her Intellect
quite a bit. Many such items also boost Spirit. Her MP isn't as high
as the others, though, but when you've got Osmose (as all three of
these characters do), MP becomes less of an issue. There's always
Soma Drops, too.
The main benefit of Leonora is that she can also use White Magic (and
quite a bit of it, so far), so she has a lot of flexibility. If she
does end up learning more black magic, this could be what makes her
superior to the others, but for right now that's just speculation.
Bluff is an interesting move, but it doesn't work against every
enemy, and if it doesn't work against the enemy, Palom doesn't get
the buff to his Intellect. Possibly useful if it's effective against
a boss, but not useful in random battles since you'd plow through
quickly enough anyway. Also, his Intellect is pretty high without it.
The verdict? As it stands, Leonora's a poor black mage, and Rydia has
poor Summons, and her black magic isn't as strong as Palom's. Though
we can speculate about the future of Leonora or Rydia, judgment based
on the here and now must go to Palom.
Healers, the most essential, yet most pointless, class of character
in any RPG. Why do I say that? Well, healers essentially exist to add
HP to your characters, in response to losing HP from enemy attacks.
So, if the developers of an RPG simply decreased the damage of enemy
attacks, or increased the HP of characters, they could get rid of
healers and have the same net effect in gameplay and challenge. I bet
you didn't think of that... Kinda makes you wish you could have a
fifth party member who was more than just an HP battery, doesn't it?
Well, you can, in this game. Spirit, the stat of choice for healers,
is highest on Rosa, so far the game's only "real" healer, in that she
is more or less dedicated to the role. Leonora's not far behind,
though, and with equipment boosts, a 6 point difference won't matter
too much. Ceodore has the lowest of the possible dedicated healers.
As of level 40, Ceodore and Leonora are both limited to Cura as their
healing spell of choice, while Rosa has Curaga. This is an important
distinction. We know, also, that by level 50, Ceodore gains Curaga,
and Rosa gains Curaja, proving again that her spell selection is the
best we are aware of for healers.
For other spell notes, Leonora does not have Blink or Reflect as of
level 40, and Ceodore does not seem to learn any of the offensive
white magic spells such as Confuse or Slow. Generally, Leonora and
Rosa have a wider spell selection than Ceodore.
Rosa and Leonora also have more MP than Ceodore, but this can be
mended with Soma Drops if desired. Regardless, Leonora gains a big
benefit here because she learns Osmose with her black magic, and that
means unlimited MP, if you use it on enemies who have MP to take.
Rosa can use Blessing to restore a little MP to the whole party,
though, so that's helpful - if it works... it can fail sometimes, and
occasionally several times in a row.
Blessing is, however, a very useful ability, enabling Rosa to heal
the party and restore MP, for free. If her Hold spell works, or if
she is paired with a black mage using Stop, or a ninja with the great
Shadowbind, it's easy to keep a lone enemy locked in stun while she
sits, with Haste on herself, using Blessing over and over to totally
refresh a party. It might take awhile, but if you're patient, it's
like a Cottage you can use anywhere.
Aim... let's just say you should have Rosa equipped with a staff if
you're trying to maximize her healing. If you're fighting random
battles to gain levels, though, a bow is a good choice. Even then,
just have her attack. You'll want her turn to refresh as soon as it
can so she can heal if needed, there's no sense waiting around for
Aim to charge up.
So what are Ceodore's advantages, then? First and foremost, he's fast
and can keep up with the other fast characters you can team up with.
He also can use heavier armor, though heavy armors will probably not
have Spirit bonuses that can match the light armors (but maybe I will
be proven wrong). Most importantly, he can use a shield, which means
a nice boost to defense, even if you have him wearing mage armors for
the Spirit benefits. You might see that his Strength is on par with
the other two at level 40, but his growth rate is higher, and as you
can see, by 70 (estimated) he will surpass them quite a bit. Combine
this with his use of swords or spears, and he makes a good warrior
on top of his healing, especially if he uses a weapon that gives a
bonus to Spirit.
As healers go, though, Rosa's obviously your girl... for now. We'll
have to see how Porom stacks up by comparison, and, if Ceodore or
Leonora gain more magic, if they can catch up in overall usefulness
as the group's main healer.
The games, Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, are
Copyright Square Enix Corp, and I make no claim to any trademarks or
copyrights held by them which may be included in this guide.
The contents of this guide are Copyright 2009 ExaltedBen (specifically, the
real-world person who has the account ExaltedBen at GameFAQs) and Cranberry
and may not under any circumstances be reproduced by any individual or
group, or hosted on any website, without permission as noted below.
Individuals or groups authorized to reproduce or host this guide:
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Special thanks to contributors:
King_Tetiro (GameFAQs)
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Biifcake (GameFAQs) - Extra big thanks for all your help!
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