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* Lufia II -- Rise of the Sinistrals *
* *
* A Guide to Defeating EVERY Enemy in the Ancient Cave *
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Version 1.00 -- Completed 30 March 2005
1.01 -- Completed 23 April 2005
Added information about harvesting
Enhanced section on Fatal Pick
Cleaned up formatting on bullet points (Thanks, Chad!)
Fixed numerous typos attributable to nosy kittens climbing on
the keyboard.
1.02 -- Completed 07 June 2005
Refined information about harvesting
1.03 -- Completed 21 Aug 2005
Additional information about the movement of Genies
Added information about Capsule Monster Darbi
1.04 -- Completed 03 September 2005
Added "Defense first" paragraph in Section XII
1.10 -- Completed 17 Sept 2005
More detailed information about Genies
1.11 -- Completed 12 November 2006
Corrected some factual errors and add a bunch of other stuff
1.20 -- Completed 30 November 2006
Revised Section IV, replacing Dekar with Artea and updated
other sections to allow for this change.
1.50 -- Completed 07 November 2008
MANY changes in section XII about weapons and the battles
against Metal Dragons.
1.60 -- Completed 17 May 2009
Added specific information about the probabilities of finding
Iris items and Quick Reference guide to key enemies.
1.70 -- Completed 11 July 2009
Added section on augments.
1.71 -- Completed 26 December 2012
Corrected apparently false information about the Master's HP.
1.72 -- Completed 24 September 2016
Added information about Zeppy's Energy Wave ability.
1.73 -- Completed 30 November 2016
Added information about Freeze Balls and Sleep Balls.
Added a note about items that should not be fed to your CM.
1.74 -- Completed 28 May 2018
Corrected a mistake about the elemental weakness of Serfacos.
Added profiles of all 6 characters.
Written by Bill Russell
This FAQ is copyright 2005 -- Bill Russell
This publication is protected by United States copyright law.
Permission to post this FAQ is granted solely to GameFAQs.com.
It may not be placed on any other web site or otherwise distributed publicly
without advance written permission of the author. Use of this guide on any
other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright. If you wish to post this FAQ or any portion of it
to any other site, please write to me. My email address appears at the end of
this FAQ along with guidelines for messages.
==============================================================================
Table of Contents
I. Introduction [IDC]
II. The Basics [BSC]
III. A Word About "Harvesting" [HVS]
IVa. Your Optimum Party [YOP]
IVb. Agility Rules! [AGT]
This is REALLY important, so please read this!
Ivc. Profiles of all Characters [PFL]
V. Capsule Monsters [CPM]
VI. The Iris Items [IIT]
VII. Blue Treasure Chests [BTC]
VIII. About Providence [PVD]
IX. Augments [AMT]
X. The Big Picture [TBP]
XI. Quick Reference to Key Enemies [QRF]
XII. Starting Out [SRT]
XIII. Speed Collecting [SPC]
XIV. The Final Descent [TFD]
a. Overview [OVW]
b. Floors B01 - B29 [20s]
c. Floors B30 - B39 [30s]
d. Floors B40 - B49 [40s]
e. Floors B50 - B59 [50s]
f. Floors B60 - B69 [60s]
g. Floors B70 - B79 [70s]
h. Floors B80 - B89 (Dragon Mayhem) [80s]
i. Floors B90 - B98 (The Final Approach) [90s]
j. Floor B99 -- The Giant Jelly [GTJ]
XV. Closing comments/credits [CCC]
===============================================================================
I. Introduction [IDC]
When Lufia II -- Rise of the Sinistrals hit the gaming world in February of
1995, it immediately became an immensely popular game and, in the eyes of many,
an instant classic. Although hampered by two-dimensional characters and the
limited graphics quality of the day, the game was light-hearted, rich with
puzzles ranging from the simple to the insanely difficult, and -- well -- just
plain fun to play. As is the case with many RPG's, though, the replay value of
this game is directly proportional to the quality of its side quests. The
Ancient Cave side quest of this game is one of the most famous and challenging
ever created, and it is one of the primary reasons that gamers are still
playing this game nearly 10 years later. Often imitated (in Parasite Eve and
FFX-II for example) but never duplicated, the Ancient Cave stands alone as an
RPG icon -- lengthy and challenging without being boring or repetitive. Or
repetitive. Or boring. In fact, this is one case where a side quest within an
RPG actually can require more time to complete than the main quest of the game
itself!
On the surface, the quest seems simple -- hack and slash your way through 98
floors of monsters of ever-increasing difficulty so that you can face a boss on
floor #99 and, hopefully, receive a reward. In fact, though, there is much
more to this dungeon than that. As much as anything else, the Ancient Cave is
about collecting extremely powerful items which will aid you in the game's
primary quest. In addition, the Ancient Cave quest is intertwined with the
pursuit of the ten rare Iris items which can be found only in this Cave. Above
all, the Ancient Cave has uniquely high replay value because every run is
different. In most games, you find the same items in the same chests in the
same locations time after time. Not so with the Ancient Cave. For example,
sometimes you will find a healing spell on the first floor; other times you may
have to find ways to survive 60 or 70 floors without any healing spells
whatsoever. Such is the beautiful randomness of the Ancient Cave. It
challenges you to use your wits and your knowledge of the game in different
ways every time that you play it.
The difficulty of this quest in the original SNES game was truly imposing, for
there was no place to save your progress during your descent. Sadly, the ROM
version of the game allows you to save anywhere, taking much of the excitement
-- and potential sense of accomplishment -- out of this quest. Knowing that
losing a single battle could mean forfeiting 8 - 10 hours of battling, those of
us who played the SNES version proceeded with much more thought and
deliberation than is necessary today in the ROM version. Nonetheless, even
with the save-anywhere feature, reaching and defeating the Giant Jelly in B99
is no simple task, and the purpose of this guide is to help you do just that.
Primarily, my guide is directed toward the novice spelunker who has not yet
completed the Ancient Cave. The strategies that I describe are designed to
maximize your probability of success while increasing your knowledge of how the
Ancient Cave works. Not all of these strategies are absolutely necessary. For
example, the systematic accrual of Blue chest items described in Sections XII
and XIII is not necessary for completion of the Ancient Cave. In fact, there
are those who eschew this approach as making the quest too easy. However,
time-consuming though it may be, I absolutely feel that accumulating Blue chest
items is the best way to ensure success and therefore should be used until you
gain more familiarity and are ready to attempt more challenging approaches.
For the record I have personally cleaned out the Ancient Cave of every single
treasure and monster in the SNES version multiple times. In so doing, I have
necessarily developed my own patterns and strategies for addressing the
challenge of the Ancient Cave. I have subsequently found that there are
several other FAQs posted for the Ancient Cave, some of which are very good and
thorough indeed. However, I have yet to find another FAQ that takes the same
approach to this side quest that I do. I consider it a testimonial to the
enduring quality of Lufia II in general and to this side quest in particular
that so many gamers can take different tacks on this dungeon. Thus, I am not
claiming that my FAQ is any better or worse than others, only that it is
different.
I would like to make one last point before proceeding. I have read "Tips" from
other gamers who exploit the "Save-Anywhere" feature of the ROM version to
expedite the exploration of the Ancient Cave. While this approach may appeal
to some, I am definitely NOT an advocate of such methods. I consider myself
more of a purist who believes that the game should be played the way the
designers intended. I similarly eschew the use of Game Genies or similar
adjuncts which lessen the challenge of games. Personally, I play games for the
challenge of accomplishing something difficult, and I feel that this sense of
accomplishment is directly proportional to the effort you invest in the game.
Those of you who seek only to get to the end as quickly as possible will
probably find little of use in this walkthrough and would probably do better
looking elsewhere. Having said that, I feel much better and am ready to
proceed.
===============================================================================
II. The Basics [BSC]
The following points describe the basic way that the Ancient Cave works.
* As mentioned earlier, the dungeon consists of 99 floors. The only thing on
floor #99 is the boss, to which I will henceforth refer as the Giant Jelly
(although in the actual battle he is designated as "Master").
* The layout of each floor is randomly generated and will differ with each
trip into the Cave. So for example, on one trip, the tenth floor may have
several rooms and treasure chests, and on the next trip it may consist of a
single room.
* You enter the Ancient Cave with all of your characters at level 1,
regardless of their levels in the outside world. You have access to any
capsule monsters that you have acquired, but they too are at level 1.
* When you enter the Cave, you leave virtually all items, weapons, and armor
outside. The only items you bring with you are 10 potions plus any BLUE
treasure chest items that you procured either in the game's primary quest or
during previous trips into the Cave.
* Items collected from RED treasure chests in the Cave may be used during the
particular trip through the Cave in which they were found but are forfeited
when you exit the Cave. The only exception to this rule is that Iris items,
which are found in red chests, may be taken with you when you safely exit.
* BLUE treasure chest items are yours to keep even after you exit the Cave
provided, of course, that you exit the Cave alive. If your whole party dies
in the Cave (prior to B99), you relinquish ALL items you picked up during
that trip down -- even Blue chest items and Iris items.
* The one and only way to exit the Cave alive is to use an item called
"Providence". Providence is generally found in a red chest somewhere after
B20 but before B30. For more information about Providence, please refer to
section VIII of this guide.
* As originally designed for the SNES, the Ancient Cave has NO save points or
Inns. You will occasionally encounter a health-restoring icon beneath a
bush (it will look flatter than normal bushes.) However, to the best of my
knowledge, there are no magic-restoring points in the English version of the
Ancient Cave. Alert reader "Fralinur" recently wrote and informed me that
this is a glitch in the original (English) version of the game and that
later versions of the game (the German one, for example) do indeed have MP-
restoring icons, but only in the last few floors. Since I have never played
the German version personally, I can neither confirm nor deny this
statement. However, I have no reason to doubt the truth of his statement,
and it would certainly explain the conflicting reports that exist concerning
these icons. (Actually, I would really like to know how these green
"bushes" manage to photosynthesize hundreds of feet below ground and far
away from the Sun. I think somebody needs a refresher course in Biology.)
* There are no hidden passages behind vines, so don't bother looking for them.
* Although enemies on the Dungeon screen cannot move "through" a treasure
chest (that is, the chest will block their passage), you will occasionally
find a screen where the enemy BEGINS in the SAME space as a treasure chest,
so look closely before attempting to open such a chest.
* When you step on the stairs and are transported to the next lower floor, it
IS possible for you to be deposited adjacent to an enemy and thus be thrown
immediately into battle, so always be prepared before stepping on stairs.
===============================================================================
III. A Word About "Harvesting" [HVS]
Several gamers have written about a technique that they call "harvesting" as a
method of improving your chances of surviving the Ancient Cave by elevating
your characters' experience levels above that which you would normally acquire
by merely defeating all of the enemies. They suggest doing this by prolonging
those battles where enemies "Call Companions", thus giving you more enemies to
defeat and therefore increasing the amount of experience that you receive.
I have gone through the Cave both using this technique and not using it. Based
on my experience, I would like to suggest that harvesting is neither necessary
nor a good use of your time. Consider the following points:
* If you do not harvest enemies but do fight every available battle and defeat
each enemy as quickly as possible, you will arrive at B99 with your party
somewhere around level 82. This is MORE than adequate for reaching and
defeating the Giant Jelly. In fact, you really need the increased levels
for getting to the Jelly more than for defeating it. Specifically, you will
have trouble defeating the Silver and Gold Dragons that inhabit the last 20
floors of the Cave if your characters' levels are too low. However, even if
all of your characters are at level 99, there is still a very real chance
that a pair of Gold Dragons can wipe you out. Thus, any additional levels
that harvesting might provide are of very little benefit to you anyway.
* Secondly, I would like to suggest that in most instances it takes huge
amounts of time to increase your final levels significantly by harvesting.
At best, an hour's harvesting can yield enough EXP to raise your FINAL
levels by only 4 or 5 (I know that your CURRENT level will go up by more
than that, but this spike in your levels evens out as you get closer to the
final floor.) Enemies that can be harvested generally are worth around
500 - 1000 experience each. The difference between level 82 (where you
would end up anyway) and level 83 (the next level up) is around 150,000
experience points! That is, you would have to harvest 150 - 300 extra
enemies to raise your final level by 1. This does not seem like a good use
of your time.
* I will admit that there is one place in the game where it is possible to
gain EXP at a significantly higher rate than this by harvesting, and when
you get there, I will notify you of this opportunity and will give you
directions about how to do so. If you are curious, you can go there now by
searching this document for the words "Wizards (B50-B52)" (without the
quotation marks). Feel free to try harvesting if you wish, but keep in mind
that the additional EXP you will receive by doing so is completely
unnecessary.
* Finally, harvesting is just plain boring. There are plenty of enemies to
fight in the Ancient Cave -- I see no reason to go looking for more.
Overall, if you use the strategies that I discuss in this FAQ, you should have
no trouble accomplishing your goals without using harvesting, so basically why
bother?
===============================================================================
IVa. Your Optimum Party [YOP]
Assuming that you are tackling the Ancient Cave in the normal flow of the
game's primary quest, I firmly believe that you will have your best chances of
surviving the Ancient Cave using the party of Dekar, Guy, Selan, and Maxim.
Dekar and Guy are the two strongest characters in the game, and both can wield
the necessary weapons to finish off the Giant Jelly in B99. Selan has modest
physical attack power, but she has very high intelligence (which translates
into strong magic) and will have over 500 MP by the time you get to your last
real battle on B98. Maxim is a good balanced character who can use magic but
also has better attack power than Selan. It is possible to complete this quest
with other parties, and you may want to try other combinations of characters if
only for challenge and/or variety. However, the general consensus seems to be
that this is one of the best possible parties.
If you want to use this awesome assemblage of powerful characters, you have a
very narrow window of opportunity in the normal progress of the game. You will
need to take on the Ancient Cave sometime after you get your ship from Jyad in
Aleyn but before you complete the Karloon North Shine, since Dekar becomes, um,
unavailable after the Karloon Shrine. Of course, if you have completed the
game twice and have the "Gift" option, you may take almost any party that you
wish into the Cave. (I say "almost" because you are required to have Maxim as
a member of the party.)
Part of the fun of the Ancient Cave is attempting it with different parties.
At the end of this section, I'll give brief profiles of the 7 main characters
to help you choose the party you want to use.
IVb. Agility Rules! -- This is REALLY important, so please read this! [AGT]
UPDATE --It has been over a year and a half since I originally posted this FAQ,
and during that time I have spent literally hundreds of hours in the Ancient
Cave. This additional spelunking and my conversations with Ancient Cave
enthusiast Squeeealer have led me to re-think my above comments about your
optimum team, primarily because of one consideration -- Agility.
You will probably have trouble believing what I have to say next (as I myself
doubted it when Squeeealer wrote it to me) but I now firmly believe beyond any
doubt that the most important statistic that your characters possess is
AGILITY. That's right -- not Strength or even Defense (which is a distant
second) but Agility. Here is why.
Agility determines the order in which your team members and your enemies act in
each turn. This is of paramount importance in your decisions! If all of your
enemies are faster than all of your team members, then they will all get their
turns before any of your members do. Think about the ramifications of this.
Suppose, for example, you are confronted by two Archfiends, an enemy with very
high Agility and one that get two attacks each per turn. You program all of
your team members to attack one of the enemies. You will then be attacked four
times before you get to do your attacks. Assuming that you do not kill both
enemies, you will then get attacked at least twice more before you have the
opportunity to heal the damage that you took in the first round. One way to
counter this is to program Selan to heal in the first round (I call this
pre-emptive healing), but who do you have her heal? You haven't even been
attacked yet, so how do you know who is going to need healing? You can have
her cast a healing spell on all four members just to be safe, but then you are
giving less healing to each member. What if one member of your team is the
recipient of all four attacks? Or, worse yet, what if Selan is killed before
having a chance to cast her healing spell. Do you see the problem?
Now, replace Dekar with Artea, the character with the second highest Agility in
the game. Play the first round as before -- you tell all four of your team
members to attack. Artea will attack first because of his high Agility, then
the Archfiends will pound you four times, then your last three team members
attack. Now, at the beginning of the second round, you can have Artea heal the
team member(s) that need it most, knowing that this healing will occur BEFORE
you get attacked again. This dramatically reduces the likelihood of having a
team member die off.
High Agility allows you to do something that is possibly even more important
than healing, and that is escaping from battle. I don't mean permanently, but
rather temporarily. Allow me to explain.
First of all, understand that you are only guaranteed of being able to escape
from a battle if ALL of your team members (except your Capsule Monster) have
Agility that is higher than ALL of your enemies' Agilities. You may get away
sometimes if only three out of 4 members have higher Agility, but don't count
on it. You want to have guaranteed, safe escape from battle as an option as
often as possible.
Consider your battles against the Metal Dragons of the last 20 floors. You
have a tremendous advantage over them if you "Get in First" AND have higher
Agility than they do, for this gives you a total of EIGHT actions before the
Dragons get to do anything. However, positioning yourself so that you can move
directly into the back of these enemies and get a sneak attack is something of
an art -- it can be done fairly reliably if you are very patient, but if you
are inexperienced or impatient it is likely that you will engage them either
from the side or head-on and will not get that extra round of attacks before
they act. Trust me when I tell you that you really don't want to run the risk
of engaging Metal Dragons without the advantage of a sneak attack. If your
Agility is lower than theirs and you try to run, they will get to attack you
before you escape and could very easily kill off your entire team in the
process! However, if you have superior Agility, you will not be attacked
before you escape. This means that it is okay to engage the enemies from the
side, which is relatively easy to do. This will give you a sneak attack about
half of the time. However, if you do not "Get in First" you needn't worry.
Your superior Agility will allow you to escape from this battle without being
damaged so that you can try again.
This strategy of engaging the Metal Dragons and then escaping from battle has
an additional benefit. As detailed in section XIVh, the Silver and Gold
Dragons have certain weaknesses but, due to a glitch in the game, the Copper
Dragons do not share this weakness. This means that you need to have different
weapons equipped for fighting Silver or Gold Dragons that you do for fighting
Copper Dragons. Unfortunately, these enemies look identical on the Dungeon
Screen. Doing a risk-free engagement on the enemy allows you to see what you
will be fighting before you commit to battle, thus allowing you to escape and
then change weapons if necessary. (BTW, in case a Copper Dragon is paired with
either a Gold or Silver Dragon, equip weapons that are most effective against
the more powerful Gold or Silver Dragons, as you are primarily concerned with
eliminating them first.) Again, I cannot begin to tell you what a HUGE
advantage it is to be faster than the Metallic Dragons. With superior Agility
and a little bit of luck in finding a Lizard Blow and/or a Flying Blow in red
treasure chests, you can dramatically increase your chances of killing off all
Metallic Dragons and getting to the last floor of the Ancient Cave.
Hopefully, I have convinced you of the important role that Agility plays in
your quest to complete the Ancient Cave. You now need to understand that
Dekar, powerful though he is, is the one member of your team who will never
have sufficient Agility to be faster than the Metal Dragons (or much of
anything else), no matter how you equip him or build his levels. Consequently,
for your first attempt at completing the Ancient Cave, I now reverse my
original suggestion that you include him in your party and strongly recommend
that instead you take your final party of Maxim, Selan, Guy, and Artea. Put
Maxim and Guy in front and keep Selan and Artea in back for most battles.
For enemies who are just ridiculously fast, you can equip him with a
Dragon Spear and increase his Agility by another 50 points, thus keeping him
faster than just about anything else in the game. He also has the ability to
use bows, which can attack all enemies in a single turn and are especially
effective against flying enemies. Overall, Artea is easily your best sidekick
in the Ancient Cave.
Now that we have established that Agility is the key to success in the Ancient
Cave, the next question is, "What can you do to increase Agility?" Well,
Agility rises with levels, but unless you undertake the boring process of
harvesting, there is a limited amount of Experience available for leveling up.
I have already mentioned the Dragon Spear, but only Artea and Selan can equip
it and their Agility is already pretty high. What about your other team
members?
The best item in the game for boosting Agility is the largely overlooked Twist
Jewel. It can be equipped by anyone and boosts Defense by 35, but moreover it
boosts Agility by a whopping +30! This may not seem like much, but remember
that your Agility stat is one of the lowest in the game. While your
characters' Attack and Defense stats will easily top 500, Agility of 145 is
sufficient to be faster than all Metal Dragons. You can see that +30 Agility
(compared to a "normal" value of 120) is comparable to +125 Attack (compared to
an ambient level of 500 or so) -- just do the math!
Twist Jewels can be procured from a couple of different sources. They are
found in Blue Chests, but since there are over 50 different Blue Chest items,
your chances of finding one there is pretty low. Fortunately, Brinz Lizards
drop them fairly regularly (about 30% of the time). Brinz Lizards can be found
on floors B45 - 47 of the Ancient Cave or in the Divine Shrine in the game's
primary quest. Remember that if you get Twist Jewels -- or any Blue Chest
items -- in the game's primary quest, you can take them into the Ancient Cave
with you. Thus if you are attempting the Ancient Cave from "normal" mode (as
opposed to Retry or Gift mode), then it is well worth your while to go to the
Divine Shrine (which is located just south of Eserikto) for a few minutes
before you undertake the Ancient Cave. The first enemy sprite that you will
encounter -- sort of a blue flying salamander thing -- is a pair of Brinz
Lizards. Equip fire-based weapons and defeat the enemies. Carefully read the
screen at the end of the battle to see whether or not they dropped a Twist
Jewel for you. If they did, equip it right away. (Due to a glitch in the
game, if there is already a Twist Jewel in your Items inventory -- not
equipped, but in the inventory -- you may receive one after battle but it will
not show up on the after-battle screen. Squeeealer and I call these "Phantom
drops". The point is that if all of your Twist Jewels are equipped, then you
will always be notified at the end of the battle if you received one.) Exit
the Shrine to reset the enemies, re-enter, and repeat until you have 4 Twist
Jewels -- quick and easy!
Strictly speaking, Guy is the only team member who absolutely must have that
+30 AGL bump. For your other characters, a +20 increase is generally plenty.
There are five jewels that will give your characters a +20 Agility boost. They
are the Silver Eye, Black Eye, Bee Rock, Mysto Jewel, and Hidora Rock. The
first two can be found in Blue treasure chests, although the Silver Eye is also
very rarely (about 1%) dropped by Silver Dragons, which is probably too late in
the game to do you any good. Bee Rocks are dropped by Armor Bees (about 30% of
the time); Mysto Jewels are dropped by Asashins (about 5%); and Hidora Rocks
are dropped by both High Hidoras and Sea Hidoras (about 30%). In a pinch, you
can equip any of these on your faster allies (Artea and Selan), but you really
want Twist Jewels for the guys in your party. They are easy enough to get and
are well worth the effort, so one way or another take the time to accumulate
them and equip them.
Finally, be aware of other items that you can equip to increase Agility. The
Sea Ring (found in Blue Chests) increases Agility by 10, and the Magic Scale
armor (a red chest item that can be equipped by anyone except Guy and Dekar)
provides excellent Defense (+110) as well as a +10 Agility boost. Remember
that you can afford to sacrifice a few defense points for the extra agility --
it can make the difference between survival and extinction!
IVc) Profiles of all Characters [PFL]
Maxim -- As previously stated, Maxim is definitely your best all-around
character. Only Guy and Dekar have higher STR, maximum HP, DFP, and ATP.
However, Maxim has many advantages over those two brutes. Most notably, his
AGL is very good, which is always an important consideration. His INT is not
very high, but in a pinch he can cast healing spells. He can also equip a wide
variety of weapons and armor. His Silver Sword can do major damage to undead
enemies, and he alone can equip at least one major weapon with each of the 4
major elemental attributes, which is a huge plus when fighting Genies. It is
no wonder that he is your one required character.
Tia -- The only possible reason for including Tia in your team is if you want
to add some challenge. Her greatest asset is AGL, but even in that category
she is outclassed by Artea. Otherwise, she is lowest of all the characters in
HP, STR, ATP, DFP, and GUT, and it's that low HP that will drive you crazy as
you try to keep her alive against the tougher enemies. One hit and down goes
Tia. I recommend leaving her on the bench until Ancient Cave runs just get way
too easy for you.
Guy -- Although Guy doesn't have Maxim's ability to sling Magic and he can
equip a narrower range of weapons, he's a great addition to just about any run.
Only Dekar has more HP and ATP, but, unlike Dekar, Guy has a decent AGL stat,
especially when bolstered with the proper equipment. Feed him any Speed
Potions you find and give him your best AGL uppers, and he will be faster than
the Metal Dragons in time to battle them. There are precious few element-based
weapons that he can equip, but even with neutral weapons, his attacks pack a
wallop. I especially like his weapons like the Heavy Lance that have an IP
attack that, for 26% of maximum IP, will damage all enemies. Even though he
can't hit as hard as Dekar, I frequently put him on my team because of his AGL.
Selan -- Having Selan on your time requires a bit of patience. Her relatively
low HP and AGL at low levels make her something of a pain at first. However,
once she gains a few levels, her AGL grows quickly and she really begins to
shine as a team member. In addition to being able to equip the "girls-only"
weapons like whips and staffs, she can equip a good assortment of both neutral
and elemental swords. The wide variety of light-based weapons that she can
equip makes her a strong ally against undead enemies. Her INT stat is second
only to Lexis', and she can carry more MP than any other character. Coupled
with her high AGL, this makes her a good healer, allowing her to get cast her
healing spells before most enemies can attack again. Although her physical
attacks can't match those of the heavy hitters, her versatility makes her a
popular choice for most of my runs.
Dekar -- For raw power, no one beats Dekar. He leads all other characters in
HP, DFP, STR, ATP, and GUT. He is also incurably slow and will almost always
get his licks in after everyone else on both sides has done so. With a few
exceptions, he can equip the same weapons and armor as Guy, but he alone can
wield the Dekar Blade, which is the single best weapon for defeating the Master
at the end of the Ancient Cave. In the end, though, I rarely use Dekar because
he is so darned slow. With him on the team, you can never run from a battle
without getting clobbered first, and often it seems that his power goes to
waste because enemies are dispatched before he even has a turn. Still, it is
fun using him from time to time just watch him shrug off the damage from most
enemies while returning their attacks with compounded interest.
Lexis -- Lexis definitely has his limitations, but he is possibly the most
underrated of the 7 characters. Lexis is a slightly weaker but smarter and
more agile version of Maxim. He has the highest INT of any of the characters,
meaning that he can do remarkable healing even with the lowly Strong spell and
can cause impressive damage with elemental spells. Unfortunately, of all the
magic casters, he can carry the fewest MP, which means that you have to keep
refilling his MP regularly. He is also very limited in both weapons and armor
that he can equip, so his DFP will often be quite low until you find some
decent armor for him. His unique weapons are tools (wrenches, I guess) some of
which can damage all enemies, which is always a plus. Lexis is also the only
character other than Artea who can equip the Launcher, a bow-like weapon that
attacks all enemies and does heavy damage to any flying foes. If you find a
Launcher before encountering the bees in the Bee-20's, you will sail through
these otherwise difficult floors. Lexis isn't as versatile as Selan, but he
definitely makes an occasionally entertaining replacement for her.
Artea -- Arty is arguably the best support character in the game. Arty has the
highest MGR of any of the characters, but his best trait is his superior AGL,
which is also the best of all the characters. This means that he can get in
his actions before almost any enemies, allowing him to heal, buff, or attack
first. He can equip rods and staffs like Selan, a few swords, and the few
powerful bows (like the Launcher described above) that can show up in Red
Chests. Only Selan and Lexis have higher INT, and he can carry a mess of MP.
Arty is also the only character that can use the 2 light based magic spells,
Fry and Zap, both of which can be very handy against undead enemies. All in
all, he is my top choice for Maxim's sidekick and is the character I replace
when I want to increase the challenge of a run.
===============================================================================
V. Capsule Monsters [CPM]
The Capsule Monsters that are available to you in the Ancient Cave are those
that you have discovered in your journey to that point in the game. If you are
playing in Normal mode and have made the decision to use the party that
includes Dekar, you will be limited to four capsule monsters -- Jelze, Flash,
Gusto, and Blaze. Which Capsule Monster to use is very much a matter of
personal choice and it changes the "flavor" of each run. I will give you my
preferences and let you decide for yourself which direction to take.
I nearly always begin the game with Flash as my CM because he is the only CM
with healing powers. Although you won't suffer much damage in the first 30
floors or so, as you level up, your characters' maximum HP will go up, and it
is handy to have Flash filling those in for you. Once I find a healing spell
(such as Strong or Stronger) or item (such as a Tough Hide or a Light Dress), I
generally dump Flash and switch to a CM who can help more with the attack. Of
the other three listed above, Gusto has to be my first choice. He has very
high agility, allowing him able to act early in each turn and dodge many enemy
attacks. As with many CM's, his Class I and Class II forms don't have a lot of
oomph to their attacks, but at Class III and above he rocks.
If you are playing later in the game using Artea instead of Dekar or in "Gift"
mode, you can use any of the seven Capsule Monsters. In this situation you may
want to consider using Darbi. His first two forms are pretty useless; he
doesn't have a lot of HP; his Gut stat is low, so he tends to flee from battle
as soon as he gets hit just once; and his Dark attribute makes him unable to
damage undead enemies. However, his Class III and Class IV forms have some
really awesome attacks that can either cause instant death or damage an entire
party of enemies. Best of all, the Gold and Silver Dragons in floors B81 - B98
are light-based and consequently are especially vulnerable to Darbi's Dark
attacks. Be patient with his untimely exits from battle and his
ineffectiveness against the many undead enemies that you will face, and you
will soon find that Darbi is your favorite CM.
If you are thinking about harvesting Wizards for extra levels, you should
consider using Zeppy long enough to get him to Class III. At that level, he
has an ability called "Energy Wave" which can significantly boost your team's
attack power. The specifics of this are detailed in Section IX -- Augments.
However, let me say that you will generally have more than enough surplus
equipment to raise Zeppy to Class III while also raising Darbi to Class IV, so
you really don't have much to lose by developing Zeppy in addition to your
primary CM, whoever that may be.
In many ways, Sully is the most powerful CM in the game. He has high gut so he
hardly every runs from battle, and he has lots of HP and ATP. Even his Class
II form has a couple of significant attacks, and his Class III and Class IV
forms are simply awesome. Unfortunately, he has very low agility and he seems
to choose "Defend" about 50% of the time, meaning that when you really need him
to do something he will either do nothing at all or will not get a turn until
it is too late. Nonetheless, when you witness Sully's raw power, you will be
very tempted to use him as your travel companion. However, be aware that if
you have Artea in your team instead of Dekar and are using Sully as your CM,
you may have a very difficult time defeating the Master of the Ancient Cave in
the final battle. I will explain why when we get to Section XIIj), but suffice
it to say that Sully's tendency to Defend may prove to be your undoing. If you
have Artea in your party and are serious about winning that final battle, I
strongly advise against using Sully.
It is no secret that each Capsule Monster can morph into a "Master Class" by
feeding him the proper fruit when he is in a certain form. The list below
gives the particulars.
Change to Master when the CM is To change him back,
CM Class by feeding a Class feed him a
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jelze secret fruit IV secret fruit
Flash dark fruit II holy fruit
Gusto earth fruit IV wind fruit
Zeppy flame fruit III charm fruit
Darbi holy fruit II dark fruit
Sully wind fruit IV earth fruit
Blaze charm fruit III flame fruit
Let's be sure that we understand the third column. In order to transform a CM
to Master Class, you must first elevate him to Class IV, at which point the box
that normally displays his preference for food will read, "I'm not hungry."
Only then can you transform him to Master Class by changing his class to the
required level and feeding him the designated fruit.
I bring this up because I am going to advise you NOT to change your CM to
Master Class. In the first place, there is little to suggest that a Master
Class CM is markedly better than a Class IV version of the same CM. True, most
Class V CM's have at least one unique and devastating attack. However, it
seems that they will use that attack very rarely. Moreover, since fruits are
very difficult to get in the Ancient Cave, this change to Master Class may well
be irreversible. In many ways, I prefer the Class III Darbi to his Class IV
counterpart, largely because Class III Darbi has the "Destruction" ability
which brings instant death to one enemy with a very high likelihood of success.
Raising Darbi to Master Class denies you access to this attack; keeping him at
Class IV allows you to switch back and forth at will.
As far as feeding goes, you want to remember the primary rule for feeding
Capsule Monsters which is to always feed them the weakest items that they will
accept. Once they get a taste for the finer things in life, they will shun
these lesser items with a contemptuous, "Ughh -- Yuk!" and the item will go to
waste. As I will describe later on, this is only a problem on your final
descent to the very bottom of the dungeon.
===============================================================================
VI. The Iris Items [IIT]
The quest for the Iris items overlaps with the quest to complete the Ancient
Cave. Nine Iris items are rarely and randomly found in red treasure chests
exclusively within the Ancient Cave. These are as follows:
Iris Ring Iris Armor Iris Helmet
Iris Shield Iris Sword Iris Tiara
Iris Pot Iris Staff Iris Jewel
Each of these items can be collected only once per game.
The tenth Iris item is the Giant Jelly itself.
The Iris items cannot be equipped by any of your characters, nor do you receive
any tangible reward for finding them all. (I have read rumors to the contrary,
but have yet to see any substantiated report of a benefit of collecting all ten
items. Thus, in the absence of any concrete proof to the contrary, I will
proceed, assuming the accuracy of my original statement.) So why, you might
ask, should you spend your time looking for them? Well, the only possible
reason would be bragging rights. Collecting them all is very time-consuming
and to accumulate all ten is a great honor. Beyond that, there is really no
reason to try to find them.
Should you encounter one of these rare items and successfully exit the dungeon
with it, take it to the woman in the basement of the tavern in Gruberik. She
has two tables where she displays them for you. When you collect all ten, she
will say, "You brought back all the Iris Treasures!? You must be the best
treasure hunter in the world!", but sadly that is all that you get for your
efforts.
If you decide that you want to accumulate all of these treasures, keep in mind
the following:
* When I say that they are found "randomly", I mean that they are just as
likely to be found on B1 as they are on B91. I will explain later how this
factors into our strategy.
* When I say that they are found "rarely", I mean that even if you open every
red treasure chest from B1 to B98, you most likely will NOT encounter all of
the Iris treasures that you are missing.
* From the previous two points, it follows that you should avoid the rationale
that if you go just a couple of floors deeper that you will surely find that
last Iris item. This is faulty logic, somewhat akin to reasoning that if a
tossed coin comes up heads ten times in a row, then the eleventh toss is
bound to be tails.
* From my experience, there can be HUGE stretches of time where you find NO
Iris items. Sometimes you will find two of them in the first twenty floors,
and other times you can make multiple trips covering hundreds of floors and
not find a single one. Such is the nature of these rare items, and it this
very scarcity that makes it all the more exciting when one of these items
appears. Once recently, I had found 7 of the 9 red chest Iris items in a
reasonable span of time, but it took me probably 30 hours to find the eighth
one. Once I found the eighth one, number nine came quite quickly. My point
is that it may sometimes be a LONG time between Iris items sightings, so be
patient and resist the urge to cross over to the Dark Side and join those
who would procure these items by less than ethical means.
I posted a question on the GameFAQs discussion board about Iris item
probabilities, and I got a very concise and knowledgeable reply from Gunty.
His reply was a bit mathematical for most readers, so I will condense and
simplify it a bit to try to make it a bit more accessible. If you have found
none of the nine Iris Treasures that appear in red chests, the probability that
an Iris item will be found on a given floor is just a tad below 2%. That
probability goes down in a linear fashion as a function of the number of Iris
items that you have found. That is, the probability of finding the ninth Iris
item is roughly 1/9 the probability of finding the first one, or about 0.21%.
This should give you some idea of how long it can take to find all nine Iris
Treasures, even if you ignore the reality that to KEEP that Treasure, you have
to get out of the Ancient Cave alive. One other oddity is that if Providence
spawns on a given floor, then that floor cannot contain an Iris item since, for
some reason, Providence and Iris items are mutually exclusive. In any event,
many thanks to Gunty for helping me understand how these probabilities work.
===============================================================================
VII. Blue Treasure Chests [BTC]
Fortunately, as you search for Iris items, you will also be collecting items
from the Blue treasure chests. As mentioned previously, you get to keep these
items even after exiting the Ancient Cave and can use them for subsequent
forays into the Cave as well as for continuing your quest beyond Gruberik. In
many cases, these items are among the most powerful of their kind available
anywhere in the game. Take for example the Gold Eye which can only be found in
the Ancient Cave. In addition to raising your attack power by a whopping +40,
your defense by +30, and your magic resistance by +20, its IP attack (Stardust
Blow) causes major damage to all enemies. Many of these items also have unique
qualities against specific enemies. For example, the Fry Sword is highly
effective against undead monsters. When you begin your final descent into the
Ancient Cave, you want to have all of your characters equipped exclusively with
these Blue chest items if possible, so one of our goals is going to be to
accumulate as many of them as possible.
There are 41 different items that can be found in the Blue chests. These items
and their attributes are listed in the table below:
Weapon name Equip IP ATP |DFP |STR |AGL |INT |GUT |MGR
Blaze sword S Celestial 400 | | | | 20 | | 20
Gades blade G,D Octo-strike 200 | | | | | |
Snow sword S,T Deep freeze 380 | 50 | | | | | 50
Fry Sword G,D Sizzle 410 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10
Sky sword M,G,D Skysplitter 450 | 25 | 50 | | | |
Sizzle sword M,S Firestorm 400 | | | | | 20 |
Mega ax G,D Thundershriek 400 | 20 | | | | |
Air whip S,T Arctic freeze 400 | | | | | | 20
Water spear A,L Torrent 400 | | | | 20 | |
Dragon spear S,A Flood 380 | 25 | | 50 | 25 | | 25
Spark staff S,A,T Phoenix blow 350 | | | | 50 | | 50
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armor name Equip IP ATP |DFP |STR |AGL |INT |GUT |MGR
Ruse armor S,T Regeneration |140 | | | | |
Mirak plate M,G,D Magic rebirth |120 | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shield name Equip IP ATP |DFP |STR |AGL |INT |GUT |MGR
Water gaunt S,A,T,L Waterscreen | 75 | | 10 | | | 10
Flame shield M,G,D Flame block | 80 | | | | 10 |
Cryst shield S,T Holy shield | 80 | | | | | 10
Bolt shield G,D Thunder block 10 | 85 | 10 | | | |
Dark mirror All |150 | | | | |
Apron shield M,G,D Holy wall 10 | 85 | 10 | | | | 10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Helmet name Equip IP ATP |DFP |STR |AGL |INT |GUT |MGR
Agony helm M,G,D Flame return | 80 | | | | 10 |
Boom turban S,A,T,L Thunder turn 10 | 85 | 10 | | | |
Ice hairband S,T Ice mirror | 80 | | | | | 10
Hairpin S,T Dark mirror | 80 | | | 10 | | 10
Aqua helm S,A,T Aqua mirror | 85 | | 10 | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ring name Equip IP ATP |DFP |STR |AGL |INT |GUT |MGR
Dia ring S,T Zap 30 | 30 | | | | | 20
Sea ring All Vortex | 25 | | 10 | 10 | | 20
Earring S,T Thunder | 5 | | | | | 5
Engage ring S,T Courage | | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jewel name Equip IP ATP |DFP |STR |AGL |INT |GUT |MGR
Water jewel All Frost | 10 | | | 20 | 10 |
Thundojewel All Voltage bolt 30 | 5 | 10 | | 10 | |
Earth jewel All Ground shock | 20 | | | | | 20
Twist jewel All Twister | 35 | | 30 | | |
Gloom jewel All Dark force | | | | | | 50
Tidal jewel S,T Tidal wave | | | | | 20 |
Catfish jewel All Mega quake | | | | | 20 | 20
Camu jewel All Buster attack 20 | | | | 20 | | 20
Spido jewel All Spider web 10 | | | | | | 20
Gorgan rock All Combo attack 20 | 50 | 20 | | | | 20
Black eye All Gloomsplash 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | | 20 | 20
Silver eye All Diamond dust | 10 | | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20
Gold eye All Stardust blow 40 | 30 | 20 | | | | 20
* IMPORTANT NOTE: The Dark Mirror is cursed. However, if you lift the curse
on it, its protective power is cut in half and, moreover, you will lose it when
you exit the Ancient Cave! Since it is the strongest shield in the game (+150
Defense!), you definitely do NOT want to lose it! The only benefit of lifting
the curse is that an uncursed Dark Mirror protects the user against instant
death, such as Perish and Destroy. Other than that, there is no down side to
leaving it cursed. When you exit the Cave, it will automatically be un-
equipped and available for future use if you so desire.
Frankly, I don't understand why some of these items are dignified by being
designated as blue chest items, which one associates with highly desirable
equipment. Specifically, I consider the following to be essentially useless
items: the Earring (as if you would notice +5 on DFP and MGR); the Spido Jewel
(only marginally better than the Earring. At least all 7 characters can equip
it); the Tidal Jewel (+20 GUT for the girls only? Please!); Gloom Jewel (MGR
is just not that big an issue in the Ancient Cave or in the game's main quest
for that matter); and the Catfish Jewel (combines the worst of the Gloom Jewel
and the Tidal Jewel). The Earth Jewel is borderline -- +20 DFP is helpful if
you don't have a better Jewel, but Tartonas drop these pretty regularly, so
you'll end up with a bunch of them anyway. I hate to waste a perfectly good
blue treasure chest on garbage like the Earth Jewel. The Engage Ring is very
helpful in the game's main quest, but it is completely useless in the Ancient
Cave itself. I guess my point is that all blue chest items are not created
equal. You want to accumulate the useful ones and may feel free to sell or
merely sneer at the lesser ones.
In addition to being found in Blue treasure chests, some of these items listed
above are dropped by enemies at the end of a battle in the Ancient Cave. For
example, the aforementioned Gold Eye can be found in a Blue chest but it is
also occasionally dropped by a defeated Gold Dragon. You still get to keep
these items after exiting the Cave even though you won them in battle rather
than finding them in Blue chests. You should also be aware that you can collect
more than one of each of these items. Blue chest items are also randomly
distributed, so you may end up with 3 sets of Ruse Armor (which, of our four
chosen adventurers, only Selan can equip) yet no Mirak Plates (which the three
dudes can equip.) Sometimes there is simply no equity in the world.
Observant reader Laurens Stormer reminds me that some of the Blue chest jewels
can also be found outside of the Ancient Cave in the game's primary quest.
These upper world items MAY be taken into the Ancient Cave with you. These
jewels are the Earth Jewel, Twist Jewel, Gloom Jewel, Thundo Jewel, Gorgan
Rock, Water Jewel, Catfish Jewel, Camu Jewel, and Spido Jewel. Some of these
are very rare in the upper world, some are not available until after you lose
Dekar. Only one of these (the Twist Jewel) will be among our list of preferred
items to equip for the final run. Also notice how many of them are on my
garbage list in the previous paragraph! However, any of these that you can use
during your first few runs through the AC will facilitate your passage, however
minimally, so let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Alert reader Carlos
Sanchez also reminds me that with a bit of leveling, it is possible to defeat
Gades early in the main quest of the game, and for your efforts you win a Gades
Blade that you can take with you into the Ancient Cave. Besides being a big
power boost during the early floors, the Gades Blade is very effective against
Silver and Gold Dragons in the last 20 floors. Finally, if you are playing in
"Gift" mode, this information is not relevant as you will be unable to collect
these items prior to descending into the Ancient Cave.
===============================================================================
VIII. About Providence [PVD]
As previously mentioned, Providence is your only way of escaping from the
Ancient Cave, and it generally appears between floors B21 and B30 inclusive.
Being good, thorough explorers, you and I always make sure that we pick up
Providence and hold on to it until we need it. However, I've always wondered
what would happen if one were less conscientious.
For example, if you were careless enough to not open the chest containing
Providence, I wondered, would it then appear later on in another chest or would
you just be unable to exit the Ancient Cave and therefore be screwed? To
answer this question, I proceeded down to B21 in a ROM version of the game.
I saved as soon as I arrived on B21, then I walked around opening chests. When
I found the one containing Providence, I re-loaded the game and proceeded as
usual but I purposely avoided opening the chest that I knew contained
Providence. Around B29, I was convinced that it was gone forever, but much to
my surprise, it appeared in a chest on B29! Even if you miss Providence, it
seems that it will show up again later.
The next obvious question is, if you miss Providence a second time, will it
then appear on a floor below B30 (which is considered to be the lower limit for
its appearance)? The answer to this is, "Yes". I bypassed Providence three
separate times between B21 and B29, and darned if it didn't show up on B31. So
apparently as long as you do not open the chest containing Providence, it will
continue to show up in a red treasure chest somewhere else.
Finally, I have read elsewhere that if you drop Providence or feed it to a
Capsule Monster that it is gone forever. To test this hypothesis, I picked up
Providence on B31 (as described above) and then went to my Item inventory and
dropped it. I then proceeded all the way to B99. Before fighting the Giant
Jelly, I checked my inventory and Providence was still not among my Items. I
defeated the Jelly, got the Ancient Key, checked my Items, and was rather
surprised to see that Providence had magically reappeared in my inventory! I
repeated this process except that I lost the battle with the Giant Jelly, and
once again, Providence was put into my inventory at the end of the battle.
Apparently, you just cannot go wrong. If you are strong and virtuous enough to
make it to B99 and fight the Giant Jelly, you will be allowed to exit the
Cave. The one exception to this is if you are stupid enough to throw away
Providence after battling the Giant Jelly, it will not reappear in your
Inventory and you will be stuck in the Ancient Cave for all eternity or until
you push Reset. Interesting stuff, n'est-ce pas?
===============================================================================
IX. Augments [AMT]
In your adventures, you will encounter several spells and items that
temporarily boost specific attributes of your characters. It is worth taking a
moment to consider the benefits of using these spells and items. For
reference, all percents mentioned below refer to percents of the ally's
original (not boosted) stats.
Let's begin with the items -- Magic Guard (DFP), Mind Gourd (INT), and Power
Gourd (ATP). Each raises the value of one ally's attribute by 15%. Honestly,
I have never found a use of any of these. The boost obtained is relatively
low, and you have to waste one player's turn to boost the stat of one ally.
That simply isn't worth the investment. I'm sure that Squeeealer can cite many
times that he has used these, but as far as I'm concerned, these are junk items
that are not worth using.
The stat-boosting spells can be somewhat more useful, and they all work about
the same as each other. The first casting of the spell will increase the
targeted ally's stat by a fixed percent. Each successive casting within a
given battle will have precisely one-half the effect of the previous casting.
For example, the first time you cast Trick, each ally's ATP is increased by
20%. If you cast it again in the same battle, each ally will receive an
additional ATP bump of 10% (of that ally's ORIGINAL -- not augmented -- ATP
stat.) This is independent of whether the spell targets one ally or the whole
party, and it is independent of the caster's Magic stat, meaning that if you're
going to use these spells, you might as well target your whole party.
Now that we know how the spells work, let's consider how worthwhile each is.
There are two spells to increase DFP -- Bravery and Courage. The initial bump
from Bravery is 20%, and the initial bump from Courage is 30%. Although +30%
DFP sounds pretty good on paper, in practice it generally is not worth the turn
that it takes to cast it. If you followed my advice and stocked up on shields
and helmets for all of your characters, you really should not need further DFP
bumps. If you did not stockpile Blue Chest items, then you are probably a
veteran spelunker and don't need the DFP anyway. On a challenge from
Squeeealer, I took a party of 3 all the way through the Ancient Cave, killing
every enemy without using any instant death weapons or spells and without
equipping any armor except for rocks found along the way. My point is that
high DFP gives you a nice cushion when you are still learning about the AC, but
protection beyond that provided by a good shield, helmet, and set of armor
simply isn't necessary.
The Shield spell does for MGR what the Bravery spell does for DFP, with an
initial boost of 20%. I have never used it and see no reason to waste a turn
on it. If you are facing an enemy with an exceptionally dangerous magic
attack, your priority is to kill that enemy, not to lessen the effects of its
attacks. You should have no trouble surviving pretty much any enemy's magic.
Having done so, you can restore lost HP with a healing spell and get some IP
for your trouble. Ergo, Shield is a junk spell.
I'm more ambivalent about the Fake spell. As previously stated, in the Ancient
Cave Agility rules, and the Fake spell can boost this all-important stat
significantly. Like the Bravery spell, the initial boost is 20%.
Unfortunately, there is an annoying 1-turn delay before the effects of Fake
kick in, and for me this is usually enough of a drawback to offset the spell's
benefits. Let me give you an example.
Suppose your team consists of Artea, Maxim, Selan, and Guy. You are facing an
enemy with AGL of 110 and Guy's AGL is 100. As your first action in battle,
you have Artea cast Fake on all allies. Guy's AGL is now 120, which you would
think would allow Guy to attack before the enemy gets a turn, right? Wrong.
The attack order for that first turn is established when you enter the battle
and is not affected by actions taken in that first turn. This means that Guy
will not go before the enemy until the second round. By then, the battle may
be over. At the very least, you do not get the full benefit that you would
expect from the spell because of this delay.
Despite this drawback, there are times that using Fake can be beneficial. For
example, the Mega Cyclops -- an enemy with a bunch of HP, no weaknesses, and
decent (112) Agility will often cast Fake on itself, an action which can, in
some cases, make him faster than some of your team members. Because of the
Mega Cyclops' large number of HP, these battles tend to last several rounds,
meaning that the target gets the benefits of the spell for several turns. As a
counter measure, I sometimes cast Fake on my team just to preserve the attack
order and to keep from getting behind in the battle. Other than this, though,
I rarely use Fake, primarily because of the aforementioned delay.
Trick is the one stat-boosting spell that I use regularly. Its initial boost
is 20%, and this can make a significant difference in how some battles
progress. Specifically, it can shorten the number of turns that you will have
to face the toughest enemies in the game, thus increasing your chances of
survival. In addition, unlike the Fake spell, the enhancements from using
Trick takes effect immediately with no one-turn delays.
As an example, suppose your team consists of Artea and Selan in the back row
and Maxim and Guy in the front. Somewhere in the early 80s, you encounter a
pair of Silver Dragons with 2800 HP each and everyone except Guy has a higher
AGL than the Dragons. Let's assume that Guy has a Gades Blade that you brought
Into the AC with you, and you found a Flying Blow for Maxim. Artea and Selan
have conventional weapons. You engage the Dragons from behind and get in a
sneak attack.
From the back row with wimpy weapons, Artea and Selan will hit for maybe 150 HP
each. Maxim and Guy may shave away 600 HP each. If your CM does a physical
attack for maybe 100 HP, you have whittled away roughly 1600 HP in the first
round. Artea, Selan, and Maxim repeat their attacks for another 900 HP, and
the Silver Dragon that you have been attacking still has 2800–(1600 + 900)=300
HP. This means that before Guy has a chance to finish off the Dragon, these
very dangerous enemies will get FOUR actions against you. If two of those
actions are Diamond Dust, you are probably toast. If three are Diamond Dust,
there is no "probably" about it – Game Over.
Now let's try the battle a different way. Instead of attacking, Artea uses his
first turn to cast Trick on the entire team. Selan now hits for about 200 HP,
and Maxim and Guy can do more like 750 HP damage each. With a physical attack
from your CM, that is about 1800 HP in the first round, an improvement of 200.
More importantly, look what happens in the second round. Artea and Selan each
hit for 200 HP, and Maxim hits for 750 or so. You have now inflicted
1800+200+200+750=2950>2800 HP of damage, and the first Silver Dragon goes down
before the enemies get to take a single action. You are now facing a maximum
of two actions from the Dragons instead of four. Although it is possible that
you will still get hit with two rounds of Diamond Dust, it is MUCH less likely
than when the Dragons had 4 actions against you, and you absolutely won't get
hit with 3 Diamond Dusts.
As useful as a 20% ATP boost is, even greater increases are possible. If you
are fortunate enough to find a Trick Ring, the person who wears it can bump the
entire team's ATP by a whopping 40% with a single casting! Needless to say,
this can up your chances against Metal Dragons considerably. There are also
three shields -- Mini Shield, Anger Brace, and Slash Shield -- that have the
Battle Lust IP ability that, for a mere 13% of your IP points, will also
increase ATP by 40%. The bad news is that it will only target one ally at a
time. In case you were wondering, you can NOT increase ATP further by casting
Trick after using Battle Lust. If you try to do so, you will get a "miss"
message, indicating that no further bump in ATP is possible.
So, from the preceding it would appear that 40% is the maximum amount that you
can boost an ally's ATP. It turns out that is not the case. If you cast Trick
first and then Battle Lust, you can get more than a 40% boost in ATP. For
example, if you first cast Trick (20% boost) and then Battle Lust, the IP
ability will not give you the full 40% extra, but it will give you an
additional 30% for a total of 50% boost! If you cast Trick twice (for a total
of 30% boost) and then use Battle Lust, you get an additional 25% for a total
of 55% boost. In fact, if you cast Trick successively to boost a player's ATP
by a total of P percent, Battle Lust will add (40 - P/2) percent, for a total
of (40 + P/2) percent boost!
One additional place to get boosts in ATP is from Zeppy's Energy Wave ability.
Zeppy learns this automatically when he reaches Class III, and if you are
considering harvesting Wizards on floors B50 - B52, you should consider
elevating him to that level. It can be especially helpful if you get to B50
and have not yet found the Trick spell or if you are playing with a weaker
party. Energy Wave works similar to Trick only with twice the power to
increase ATP. The first time Zeppy uses it, your entire party -- including
Zeppy himself! -- gets a 40% ATP boost. But wait -- there's more! Like Trick,
successive uses of Energy Wave continue to increase ATP by half the previous
amount. Thus Energy Wave can increase ATP by 40%, then by 20%, then by 10%,
and so on for a cumulative total of +80%! Wow! Although using Zeppy when
harvesting makes it much easier to one-hit kill the summoned enemies, it does
create a couple of additional problems, but I'll describe those when we get to
the section on harvesting in Section XIVe.
Obviously, this is of limited use. Most battles are over quickly enough that
you will have neither the time nor the inclination to spend so many turns
upping ATP. It is generally easier just the whack the enemies and move on to
the next battle. However, an argument can be made for using this in battle
against Metal Dragons especially if you are fighting Copper Dragons, which have
beaucoup Hit Points and no weaknesses. In the second round, Artea isn't going
to do much damage from the back row anyway, so if he is equipped with a Mini
Shield it makes a certain amount of sense to have him up Maxim's ATP by another
30% by invoking Battle Lust. The additional damage that Maxim can do from the
front row with this boost will likely exceed anything that Artea could have
done from the back row. After that, healing will likely be Artea's top
priority anyway. Meanwhile, Maxim maintains that extra ATP until the Dragons
are whittled down to size, often making the battle go much faster.
You might be wondering whether all of these amazing increases in ATP can be
experienced by Dekar. You may have noticed that as you near the bottom of the
Ancient Cave, a sufficiently powerful weapon can raise Dekar's ATP to the
maximum possible of 999. If you then hit him with Trick, will he really get
1199 ATP, or will it remain 999? I can tell you from observation that it
appears that he does indeed benefit from the Trick spell. Although his base
stat tops out at 999, the actual ATP that determines the damage he dishes out
in battle can, in fact, be boosted beyond that limit. Dekar's lack of AGL
drives me crazy, but give him a serious weapon and throw a Trick spell and/or a
Battle Lust his way, and he can do some major damage in each turn.
===============================================================================
X. The Big Picture [TBP]
It is inadvisable to try to complete the Ancient Cave in a single descent.
While this may be possible (especially if you are playing the ROM version),
doing so will deprive you of many powerful items found solely in the Ancient
Cave. Rather, you will want to make several trips down to about B21 - B30
accumulating Blue chest items and Iris items as you go, and then use Providence
to return to the surface. The number of times you do this depends on what you
are trying to accomplish as well as how lucky you are, but 50 or more trips
into the Cave would not be uncommon. Your strategies for these initial
descents will differ depending on what items you have found. For purposes of
describing these different strategies, I will divided these descents into three
groups which I will categorize as "Starting Out", "Speed Collecting" and "The
Final Descent".
Throughout your spelunking, you should remember two of the basic principles
from the main quest. The first is the front row - back row concept. Remember
that allies in the back row will give and receive less damage than those in the
front row. This will pretty much take care of itself when you initially
position your party members as described in the next section. If you should be
so unfortunate (or careless) as to be the victim of a surprise attack, remember
that your front and back rows will be automatically interchanged. You can put
them back to their original configuration (after your enemies thrash on you for
one full round!) without using up a turn and you are strongly advised to do so.
However, keep this same concept in mind when you are planning your attacks.
Make note of which enemies are in the foreground, for they will be easier to
dispatch than those in the back. This can help you minimize the damage that you
suffer while maximizing the damage that you inflict. (Note -- sometimes it is
not so obvious whether an enemy is in the front or the back. If you are
uncertain about this, simply look at the enemies' shadows and their positions
should become clear.) For the record, this front row - back row concept
applies only to physical attacks and not to magic attacks, which are basically
independent of position.
The other concept to remember is to be constantly aware of the elemental
properties of your equipped items and of the specific enemies that you are
facing. The "best" weapon for a particular battle is not necessarily the one
with the highest ATP stat but rather is the one to which the particular enemy
is most vulnerable. For example, the Thunder-based Sky Sword (ATP = +450) is
generally useless against undead enemies, but the light-based Silver Sword (ATP
= 314) will slice through them easily. Similarly, it will take you a long time
to whittle down a fire-based Salamander with a fire-based Sizzle Sword (ATP =
400), while the humble Mist Rapier (ATP = 283) will make short work of him.
More specifics will be given as we progress, but in general, before entering
into any battle take a moment and make sure that you have an appropriate weapon
equipped for the enemy that you are facing. Try to learn the elemental
weaknesses of enemies and the elemental properties of weapons as you progress,
either by trial and error or by referring to a guide such as Iron Knuckle's.
A corollary to the above point is this: do not automatically feed Red chest
weapons to your Capsule Monster just because you have a weapon with higher ATP.
For example, the only Blue Chest weapons available for Maxim are the Sizzle
Sword (fire) and the Sky Sword (Thunder). Therefore, you should also keep the
following for Maxim if you can find them: Silver Sword or Silvo Rapier
(light),Freeze Sword(ice), Mist Rapier (water), Flying Blow or Lizard Blow (for
Dragons), and Zirco Sword, Myth Blade, or Old Sword (neutral). Try to
accumulate a similar variety of weapons for your other party members and
remember to equip them for the appropriate battles.
If we were being really thorough, we would be applying the same logic to
equipped armor, but if you follow the guidelines outlined in this FAQ, you
should be able to survive handily by merely equipping the "strongest" defensive
items and keeping them equipped. Our accumulations of Blue chest shields,
rings, jewels, and headgear will have our characters over-protected against
most dangers that lie ahead, so there is no reason to overly obsess about
equipping the most appropriate defensive equipment.
It should be noted that certain elemental defensive items can adversely (or
positively, for that matter) affect the elemental attack properties of your
weapon. For example, the "Sea" properties of an equipped Sea Ring -- a
generally recommended piece of equipment -- will override the special attack
properties of the awesome Lizard Blow. Therefore, for maximum effectiveness
the Sea Ring should be de-equipped (or, preferably, never equipped in the first
place) prior to using the Lizard Blow against Dragons. A comprehensive
discussion of this concept is beyond the scope of this guide. However, if you
are interested in learning more about this, please check out Iron Knuckle's
Walkthrough (also on GameFAQs.com) for better information on how best to equip
armor, rings, and shields.
===============================================================================
XI. Quick Reference to Key Enemies [QRF]
In the table below, I have organized some information about some of the key
enemies you will encounter. These enemies are arranged in the order in which
you encounter them. The legend appears below the table.
My original intent was to highlight the benefits of equipping Twist Jewels on
all party members, showing the advantage that this Agility boost gives you over
your enemies. For example, notice that without any Agility uppers, only 2 of
your party members will likely be faster than the deadly Silver Dragons.
However, with the added speed boost of the Twist Jewel, Maxim and Guy --
generally your two strongest sluggers -- should each get an extra swipe before
the Silver Dragons get a turn. This can make the difference between survival
and elimination!
Anyway, at Squeeealer's suggestion, I added a column for HP and made this
something of a Quick Reference guide to dangerous enemies. When all of your
characters are faster than all of your enemies, your chances of annihilation
are relatively low. Thus, when considering your strategy against a given
enemy, your primary consideration is how fast they are. The HP column gives
you some idea of how much damage you have to do to eliminate the enemies before
they get a turn. You get the idea.
I know that my choice of enemies to list here is pretty arbitrary, but I have
chosen those that cause me to mutter under my breath whenever I encounter them.
Feel free to add to this list as you see fit.
==============================================================================
| Enemy | S | A | HP | F | Maxim | Artea | Selan | Guy |
==============================================================================
|Mega Moth | N | 44 | 50 | 7 | 31/61 | 48/78 | 25/55 | 18/48 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Mimic | Y | 40 | 60 | 7 | 31/61 | 48/78 | 25/55 | 18/48 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Wispy | N | 160 | 82 | 13 | 50/80 | 88/118 | 40/70 | 27/57 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Winger | Y | 160 | 110 | 19 | 56/86 | 88/118 | 48/78 | 29/59 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Armor Bee | N | 120 | 150 | 23 | 58/88 | 92/122 | 50/80 | 30/60 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Ammonite | Y | 90 | 198 | 28 | 69/99 | 116/146 | 72/102 | 37/67 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Lion | Y | 104 | 204 | 28 | 69/99 | 116/146 | 72/102 | 37/67 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Blue Mimic | N | 132 | 365 | 29 | 69/99 | 116/146 | 72/102 | 37/67 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tengu | N | 120 | 475 | 34 | 72/102 | 130/160 | 86/116 | 41/71 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Vampire | Y | 138 | 292 | 36 | 76/106 | 132/162 | 88/118 | 43/73 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Armor Dait | N | 96 | 302 | 37 | 76/106 | 132/162 | 88/118 | 43/73 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Asashin | Y | 168 | 220 | 37 | 76/106 | 132/162 | 88/118 | 43/73 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Samurai | Y | 138 | 329 | 39 | 81/111 | 134/164 | 92/122 | 43/73 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Ninja | Y | 132 | 340 | 44 | 83/111 | 143/173 | 104/134 | 51/81 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Cokatoris | N | 132 | 365 | 45 | 87/117 | 147/177 | 106/136 | 51/81 |
==============================================================================
| Enemy | S | A | HP | F | Maxim | Artea | Selan | Guy |
==============================================================================
|Serfaco | N | 154 | 440 | 54 | 98/128 | 161/191 | 124/154 | 63/93 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Sly Fox | N | 180 | 654 | 55 | 98/128 | 161/191 | 124/154 | 63/93 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Crow | N | 160 | 867 | 57 | 100/130 | 164/194 | 124/154 | 63/93 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Black Dragon | Y | 126 | 1200 | 61 | 102/132 | 167/197 | 129/159 | 71/101 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Salamander | N | 188 | 692 | 62 | 102/132 | 167/197 | 129/159 | 71/101 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|White Dragon | Y | 190 | 550 | 64 | 115/145 | 181/211 | 146/176 | 95/125 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Leech | Y | 220 | 542 | 67 | 115/145 | 181/211 | 151/181 | 97/127 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Orky | Y | 128 | 2800 | 70 | 118/148 | 185/215 | 152/182 | 103/133 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Archfiend | N | 166 | 1450 | 73 | 130/160 | 188/218 | 156/186 | 108/138 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Hades | N | 156 | 1790 | 73 | 130/160 | 188/218 | 156/186 | 108/138 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Wind Genie | Y | 182 | 1274 | 74 | 130/160 | 188/218 | 156/186 | 108/138 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Silver Dragon | Y | 140 | 2800 | 81 | 132/162 | 190/220 | 160/190 | 110/140 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Dark Sum'ner | Y | 300 | 540 | 87 | 140/170 | 193/223 | 164/194 | 112/142 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Gold Dragon | Y | 142 | 2780 | 87 | 140/170 | 193/223 | 164/194 | 112/142 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEY
S = Is it possible to get in a sneak attack on this enemy, Yes or No?
A = Enemy's agility
HP = Enemy's hit points
F = First floor where this enemy is encountered
abc/def => abc is the ally's typical base agility with no agility boosts when
the particular enemy is first encountered
def is the ally's agility with a Twist Jewel equipped.
Obviously, there is some leeway in the allies' agility numbers, depending on
experience levels, use of Speed Potions, and other equipped items. These are
just the numbers the I observed in a recent run.
===============================================================================
XII. Starting Out [SRT]
Your first few trips into the Ancient Cave will be tough, since you start with
nothing except 10 potions and any Blue chest jewels collected in the main quest
(which will likely be few in number). Place Guy and Dekar in the front row
with Maxim and Selan behind them. Even without armor, Guy and Dekar have
naturally high defense and their strong attacks will do more damage from the
front row. You may want to adjust this arrangement as you find items. For
example, if you find the Ruse Armor, equip it on Selan and place her in the
front row instead of Guy -- low-level enemies won't be able to even scratch her
when she has +140 defense!
Obviously, you want to open every treasure chest that you see. Immediately
equip any weapons or armor that you find. Remember also to read the script
that goes past at the end of each battle. You may find that the defeated
enemies dropped a useful rock, armor, or weapon that you can equip.
During these first few trips, you definitely want to fight every enemy that
you encounter, PROVIDED that you can easily defeat it without taking a lot of
damage. This is because you will need the experience to survive until you find
Providence. OUR OVERALL GOAL HERE IS TO GET PROVIDENCE AND THEN GET OUT! If
you are fortunate enough to find both the Absorb spell and the Strong spell
within the first few floors, you should fight everything you see. Otherwise,
go after the low-hanging fruit (easy pickings) and avoid enemies that can hurt
you. Be patient -- you'll get your chance to beat up on them soon enough.
***IMPORTANT NOTE***
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* From here on, I will be citing relevant statistics about many of the *
* enemies that you will encounter in the Ancient Cave. I did not figure *
* these out on my own. All of the stats mentioned from here on were *
* provided with kind permission by Iron Knuckle, who reminds me that HIS *
* enemy lists were compiled with the assistance of Relnqshd. I thank you *
* both for allowing me to use this information. For a link to Iron *
* Knuckle's FAQ and more shameless groveling by me, see section XIII at the *
* end of this FAQ. *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here is a quick rundown of the particularly pesky enemies that you will
encounter in the first 30 floors:
Mimics (B7-B9) -- Until you get some serious protection, these guys can cause
you some major damage. They look like red treasure chests only somewhat
brighter and will chase you if you get too close. Avoid them until you can
crank up your stats a bit.
Wispy (B13-B15) -- These enemies have high agility (160) so their turns will
always precede yours. Their "Flash" attack can damage your entire party and
they can call replacements if allowed to do so. On a positive note, they are
vulnerable to ice. Overall, I would avoid these until you get to section XI,
"Speed Collecting".
From about B20 - B30, you will encounter many enemies with particular elemental
weaknesses. You should take the time to learn these and capitalize on them.
For example, many of the enemies (Deadly Swords, Deadly Armor, Skull Lizards,
Sand Gorems, and Pugs) are weak against ice. If you are fortunate enough to
find a Freeze Sword, be sure to equip it for these battles. Failing this, a
water-based weapon (such as the Dragon Spear) is generally your weapon of
choice against these enemies. Most of the sea creatures (Drill Shells,
Cancers, Ammonites, etc.) are weak against fire, so if you have a Burn Sword or
Red Saber, use this in conjunction with Maxim's Sizzle Sword. Eventually,
you should be powerful enough to overpower any enemy even if you use the exact
wrong weapon. However, you will find that the battles proceed more quickly if
you equip the proper weapon. Besides this, if you ever decide to attempt a
"challenge" run, you will need to be familiar with these vulnerabilities. If
you are interested in pursuing such a challenge, I strongly recommend the "Gift
Mode Challenges FAQ" by Squeeealer, found right here on GameFAQs. The author
is the most fanatical Ancient Cave enthusiast I have ever encountered, and I
guarantee that his FAQ will give you a whole new perspective on the game!
Winger (B19-B21) -- Like Wispy, these guys have high agility, have an attack
("Twister") that can damage your whole party, and can call in other Wingers.
Unless you can get in first, I would avoid these guys until the next section as
well.
Sand Gorems (B20-B22) -- Can be tough to damage if you have the wrong weapon
equipped, but are vulnerable to water and ice. Their Sandstorm can damage the
whole party.
Bees (Bee23-Bee26)--High agility and can damage and/or paralyze all members of
your party. Bee-ware! You would bee well advised to steer clear of these
pests until you get some defensive Blue chest items lest you get stung.
Pugs (B25-B27) -- Easy to kill if you remember that they are fire-based and are
vulnerable to ice. They can damage the whole party with Incendiary and can
call other Pugs to join the fray. Some gamers use them for harvesting, but at
only 592 EXP each, I wouldn't bother.
Blue Mimics (B29-B31) -- Look like Blue treasure chests. Unlike their red
counterparts, these will not pursue you. However, they are truly formidable.
With high agility (132), high attack and defense, an attack that targets your
whole party, no weaknesses, and plenty of HP (365), these guys can cause you
beaucoup damage before you even unsheath your sword. Avoid them until you are
better equipped.
When you get about 15 floors down, you should pause for a moment and feed your
Capsule Monster all the extra junk in your inventory that you do not need to
equip. I advise AGAINST doing this prior to B15, for two primary reasons.
First, there is no sense in taking the time to feed him until you can bump him
up a class. Moreover, if you wait until you have collected more items, there
is a higher probability that you will have in stock the item that he requests,
thus giving him more growth from fewer items. Do NOT under ANY circumstances
feed him a Blue chest item, even if it is a duplicate item that you do not
need. Those items are worth LOTS of cash up on the surface, so save them and
sell them topside instead. (The only exception to this rule is if you are
playing in Gift mode, in which case the money you would receive from selling
these items would do you no good anyway.)
What we are hoping is that by the time you find Providence you will find at
least one and possibly two Blue treasure chest items so that we can take them
to safety and then go down again a little better equipped than the time before.
Resist the temptation to descend beyond where you find Providence!
If your party dies, you will forfeit any Blue chest or Iris items that you
found, so take no chances here. You are weak now, but your growth -- from
finding increasing numbers of Blue chest items -- will be slow but perceptible.
Continue covering floors B1 - B21, killing most enemies in your path, until you
can equip each of your characters with at least two good defensive items
(armor, helmet, shield, ring, rock) from Blue treasure chests. Then proceed to
the next section.
===============================================================================
XIII. Speed Collecting [SPC]
Now that you have two good defensive items -- and hopefully a Blue chest weapon
as well -- equipped on each party member, you will find that most enemies on
the first 20 floors cannot harm you. Therefore -- and here is where my
thinking diverges from the conventional wisdom -- THERE IS REALLY NO REASON TO
FIGHT THEM! Even though you will be at Level 1, your ATP and DFP stats will
more closely resemble a character whose level is in the 20's to 30's. Thus,
you can now easily make it all the way to Providence without having to worry
about raising your levels. If you don't need experience, then why fight?
Realistically, some encounters will be unavoidable. In those cases, go ahead
and fight and get it over with. The one battle that you will want to actually
fight is against the Red Cores that are found on B11 - B13. The 2222
experience each that you can get if you are lucky enough to kill one of these
things before it runs away makes this a good use of your time. Otherwise, your
goal here is MAXIMUM TREASURE CHESTS IN MINIMUM TIME. We really want two
things from these descents: enough Blue chest items to completely equip all
four party members and (if you are pursuing this quest) Iris items. That's it.
Since you do not need experience, don't seek it out. Basically, leave no chest
behind but do not engage enemies unless absolutely necessary or unless, as with
the Red Cores, a very brief battle will significantly raise your stats.
A corollary to this is that I see little reason to take the time to try to beef
up your Capsule Monster on these intermediate trips. You really don't need him
anyway, either for offense or for healing, so again why take the time to feed
him items? Let him rest for now -- you'll give him plenty to do on your Final
Descent.
Once you find Providence, you might consider continuing for a couple of more
floors, with the understanding that you do NOT want to fight ANYTHING. The
battles will become more difficult and therefore more time-consuming and
therefore will be lowering our ratio of chests opened to time spent. If a
cluster of red chests is protected by a swarm of enemies, leave it be. Most of
them probably contain junk like Potions anyway. Remember -- those Iris items
you lack are just as likely to be on floor B1 on the next time through as they
are to be on B29. The best use of your time is to exit and start over again
when you will be among enemies that cannot harm you. If you would like to see
this principle quantified, please refer to the table in section " XII a.
Overview:" for more specific information on how your progress slows as you
descend deeper into the Cave.
One last warning is that on floor 28, you may see things that look like Blue
treasure chests except that the yellow bands are suspiciously light and shiny.
These are the Blue Mimics I described earlier, and you would be wise to avoid
them for now. They have very high agility (132), HP (365), attack power (222)
and defense (240). They will therefore get in all of their turns before you
get even one, and some of their attacks will hit all party members. These
things can bring an untimely end to your quest, so I would postpone fighting
them until we are better prepared.
I know that my pacifistic approach is unconventional, but when you think about
what you are trying to accomplish, it makes perfect sense. More than half of
your time will likely be spent in this phase of your quest, so it is only
logical to try to Maxim-ize your efficiency. Continue covering floors B1 - B30
or so until you have as many Iris items as possible as well as a more-or-less
full complement of Blue chest items. At the very least, make certain that you
have the following Blue chest items before beginning your final descent:
* Blue Chest shields and headwear for all of your characters -- This
absolutely is your top priority. Good body armor is found throughout the
Ancient Cave, but red chest shields and helmets are only found on floors 1 -
10 inclusive. As emphasized below in section XIIIa, having a good shield
and helmet for each character can roughly double your DFP stat, allowing you
a HUGE cushion for things to go terribly wrong without your party dying.
There are red chest substitutes for pretty much everything else listed
below, but it is very unlikely that you will find a decent shield or helmet
as you pass through the Ancient Cave.
* Gades Blade -- Its IP attack will allow Guy or Dekar to attack 8 times in
one turn. If you have both Guy and Dekar in your party and you want to be
absolutely sure of defeating the Giant Jelly in B99, have two of these.
This is also one of your best weapons against Silver and Gold Dragons.
* Fry Sword and Blaze Sword -- More enemies in the Ancient Cave are weak
against Light weapons than probably any other, so it is important to have
powerful ones. The mighty Fry Sword is the only Light weapon other than the
meager Gladius that Guy and Dekar can equip, so it is a real plus to have
at least one. Likewise, finding a Blaze Sword for Selan is comforting but
not necessary. Red Chests hold several good light-based weapons that she
can equip. Maxim and Artea will just have to use whatever Light weapons
appear in Red Chests, as there are no Blue Chest Light weapons for them.
* Sizzle Sword and Spark Staff -- Fire vulnerability ranks second behind only
Light vulnerability, and these are the best Fire weapons available. Both
Selan and Maxim can equip the Sizzle Sword, and both Selan and Artea can
equip the Spark Staff. The Spark Staff has the added bonus of boosting
intelligence by a whopping +50, augmenting both healing magic and attack
magic.
* Sky Sword -- I suppose that this is optional, but besides having an
impressive +450 attack power (the most of any AC weapon), the Sky Sword is
Thunder elemental. A couple of the most dangerous enemies in the AC (Orkys
and Sly Foxes) are weak against Thunder.
Really the list could go on and on, but the preceding items are definitely at
the top of the list. You also need 4 good jewels -- any four (including
duplicates) from this list: Twist Jewel, Gold Eye, Silver Eye, and Black Eye.
As mentioned in section IVb of this FAQ, the Twist Jewel is definitely the
jewel of choice because of its +30 AGL bump.
You will notice that I am not requiring rings. The only Blue chest rings
(other than the useless Earring and the Engage Ring, which is useless inside
the AC) are the Sea Ring and the Dia Ring. The Dia Ring provides excellent
protection for the female characters, but Sea Rings are often more trouble than
they are worth. Since a Sea Ring can negate the elemental or special properties
of weapon, you will have to equip or unequip them depending on the enemies you
face. In the long run, your characters might be better off without them rather
than run the risk of forgetting to remove them before certain battles. Sadly,
the only useful rings are found in Red Chests and only on the first 10 floors.
If you are lucky enough to find one, equip it; if not, don't sweat it. Rings
simply are not necessary.
I am going to suggest that you be able to equip your characters as follows.
This is not set in stone, but it is certainly a good place to start:
Dekar Guy Maxim Selan
Weapon: Fry Sword Fry Sword Sizzle Sword Spark Staff
Armor: Mirak Plate* Mirak Plate* Mirak Plate* Ruse Armor
Shield: (still-cursed) Dark Mirrors are preferred for all; if not, see below
-----------Apron Shield or Flame Shield ----------- Water Gaunt
Helmet: Agony Helm Agony Helm Agony Helm Boom Turban
Ring: ----------------------Don't bother---------------------- Dia Ring
Jewel: -Any of the four mentioned above but preferably Twist Jewels for all-
Extras: Gades Blade Gades Blade Sky Sword Snow Sword
-------Mega Ax or Sky Sword ------ Blaze Sword
* If you don't find 3 Mirak Plates, you can equip Dekar and/or Guy with
whatever armor you find during your descent. There will be plenty.
Once you have your party members equipped more or less as described above, you
are ready for your final descent into the Ancient Cave!
===============================================================================
XIV. The Final Descent [TFD]
XIV a. Overview [OVW]:
OK, we have completed all necessary preliminaries, and we are ready to try to
make it all the way to B99 and defeat the Giant Jelly. This Final Descent will
take somewhere around 8 - 12 hours, so we want to be prepared. You should
have most or all of the equipment detailed above, and hopefully the first nine
Iris items as well. Originally, I wrote that I had personally experienced
difficulty with finding Iris items after beating the Giant Jelly. However,
after posting this guide I soon heard from T. Oreochimaru who reported finding
the Iris Helmet after defeating the Giant Jelly. Since hearing from him, I
myself found the Iris Pot after collecting the Giant Jelly's carcass, so I can
now say with confidence that my original theory doesn't hold water and, in
fact, it is NOT necessary to collect the first nine Iris items before making
this Final Descent. I know that I am glad that we got that resolved.
Before beginning your Final Descent, please be aware of the following dictum --
The second most important component (behind Agility) to a smooth and successful
passage through the Ancient Cave is DEFENSE. By cranking up your defense
through equipping Blue chest items, you are taking a crucial step towards
completing your quest. I KNOW that it requires massive amounts of time to
accumulate enough Blue chest items, but you must believe me when I tell you
that it is worth it. For example, a level 50 Maxim with only his best body
armor equipped has a DFP stat of around 285. However, if he adds Sea Ring,
Gorgan Rock, Agony Helm, and Dark Mirror to his equipment, his DFP stat jumps
to an impressive 590! Properly equipped, you will never again fear a Blue
Mimic, a Bee, a Mega Cyclops, or much of anything else. You will be tempted to
try your Final Descent before you accumulate the necessary gear, and I would
encourage you to be patient. I have received many emails from adventurers
whose journeys ended prematurely, and the vast majority of these aborted
missions are attributable to insufficient preparation. If you really want to
make it to B99, invest the time to get the gear. You know how, in most RPGs,
you spend massive amounts of time leveling up your characters? Well, you can't
actually level your characters up in the Ancient Cave, but by seeking out Blue
Chest items you are accomplishing the same end. Consider this time well spent.
The bottom line is that if you capitalize on all of the resources available to
you in the Ancient Cave -- the Defensive and Offensive power of accumulated
Blue Chest items; Red Chest items; a full party of four; a Capsule Monster; the
awesome Agility boost provided by Twist Jewels; and instant death spells and
weapons -- you will actually be significantly overpowered for your final
descent. In fact, to prove this point, I recently undertook a run allowing all
of the above advantages EXCEPT instead of a full party of four, I went into the
Ancient Cave using only Maxim and his weakest (but highly Agile) sidekick, Tia.
I was able to wipe out every single enemy in the Ancient Cave and hardly broke
a sweat while doing so. Clearly, such a run is not advisable for the novice
spelunker whose first priority is to maximize his chances of success. Believe
me when I tell you that even with minimal experience, the adventurer who has
all of the above assets has an extremely high probability of success.
A typical timetable for going all the way to B99 while defeating every enemy on
the way (but without harvesting) is shown below. Of course, your actual pace
will vary from this depending on a number of factors, such as the particular
floor configurations that you get and how long you spend wandering around after
clearing a floor trying to remember where the stairs were. However, the
following should give you a good general idea.
At the end You will be Average
Of Hour # on Floor # EXP Level Floors/hr* Levels/hr*
1 B23 22 23 22
2 B37 31 14 9
3 B50 38 13 7
4 B57 45 7 7
5 B68 51 11 6
6 B74 58 6 7
7 B82 63 8 5
8 B89 68 7 5
9 B93 75 4 7
10 B97 81 4 6
10.5 B99 85 4 8
*These numbers represent rates for the current hour, not averages for the
entire trip. For example, for Hour #2, the rate of 14 floors/hr means that
you covered (37 - 23) = 14 floors in the one hour span from t=60 minutes to
t=120 minutes.
Notice that you can clear out the first 23 floors roughly 2 - 3 times as fast
as you can clear out subsequent floors. If you are "Speed Collecting", you can
actually get all chests from the first 23 floors in about 45 minutes. This is
why I encourage you to return to the surface as soon as you find Providence in
the first two phases of this quest.
Anyway, for this phase of our quest, these are going to be our strategies:
* You now definitely want to kill everything in your path with the possible
exception of those pathetic creatures on the first few floors. If you miss
out on a couple of hundred experience points, it really won't make much
difference compared to the 150,000 or so that you would need to advance
another level. On the other hand, perhaps you should take the few minutes
necessary to obliterate them just so you can say that you killed EVERY enemy
and opened EVERY chest. In any event, this time through you really want the
experience.
* The fundamental rule for the Final Descent is going to be, "Know Your
Enemy". Become familiar with each enemy's weaknesses and attack patterns,
and especially with which enemies are faster than you are. This way you can
equip the proper weapons and also plan your moves so that you can maximize
damage to your enemies which minimizing damage to your party.
* You are going to pause periodically to feed your capsule monster because
somewhere around B60 or so you want it to reach the Master Class. However,
be very careful not to part with red chest items that you are going to need.
For example, be sure to retain at least one good neutral weapon (that is,
one not associated with fire, ice, light, or any other special attribute)
for each member of your party. This is because you are going to encounter
enemies that are resistant to all elemental weapons. Likewise retain one
each of the following (if you find them): Silver Sword (Maxim's best Light
weapon), Dekar Blade (really helpful in the final battle), Lizard Blow
and/or Flying Blow (powerful against Dragons). Also, as I advised in part
X above, hang on to any strong elemental weapons (such as the Freeze Sword
and the Mist Rapier) that have no counterparts in blue chests.
* If you don't have some kind of recovery spell (Strong, Stronger, Champion,
Valor) by about B30 - B35, you are going to consider using Providence and
trying again. It is preferable to have Strong and either Valor or Champion.
I have completed the Ancient Cave when Strong was my only recovery spell,
but there were definitely some exciting moments.
* It is clear that finding Absorb or getting a Bat Rock will solve all of your
magic supply problems, but perhaps less obvious is that fact that neither is
necessary. Although magic is at a premium in the Ancient Cave, your super-
protective armor minimizes damage, thereby minimizing the amount of healing
that you have to do and conserving magic. It is hard to believe, but the
Hi-Magics, Ex-Magics, and Miracles that you find will be more than enough to
supply the necessary magic not only for healing and resurrecting, but also
for attack and support magic. My point is that you don't want to be
wasteful with magic, but neither should you hesitate to use it when the
circumstances warrant it.
* After about B30, you will start taking some damage, which means that your IP
gauge will fill up. Don't be shy about using it. The gauge will fill up
again fairly quickly after you spend IP, so get the most from your IP. Use
it to attack an especially loathsome party of enemies or use it to fill
Selan's magic gauge. Remember that if a character dies, his/her IP meter
goes to ZERO, so use it or lose it.
* As you open chests and defeat enemies, you will pick up stat-building
potions such as Brave and Life Potions. Remember to use these right away
and use them on the most appropriate character. I would recommend that you
give any Brave potions to Maxim (for reasons that I will detail below).
Selan gets the Mind Potions and the Spell Potions for obvious reasons plus
the Life Potions since her HP will be the lowest. You can decide whether to
give Power Potions to Guy or Maxim (don't waste them on Dekar -- his ATP
stat will max out at 999 anyway.) Give any Speed Potions to Guy, especially
if you are using Artea instead of Dekar. Getting his AGL above 145 before
B81 will be a challenge, but a necessary one. While I'm on the subject, use
your Charred Newts and Magic Jars just to get them out of inventory. Most
items containing the word "Gourd" or the word "Ball" are relatively useless,
with 3 notable exceptions. The first is the Terror Ball which can work
like the Perish spell but is probably better fed to your Capsule Monster who
may occasionally request one. The other two are the Sleep Ball and the
Freeze Ball. I used to just throw these away, until Squeeealer reminded me
that they are 100% effective against enemies who are not immune to these
status effects. This can be VERY handy when fighting a pair of Orkys. For
details, please see section XIV-g of this guide.
Brave potions are the only way -- other than equipping certain items -- to
increase a character's Gut stat, and there is some controversy about just what
the Gut stat does. The official Lufia 2 Instruction Booklet claims that, "it
also will increase the effect of the IP of any weapon or item." However, it
also claims that "Guts increases with experience," which is a bunch of hooey.
Gut absolutely does NOT increase with levels, so I have my doubts about the
Booklet's other statement about Gut. Iron Knuckle states, "Guts, the higher
the number the faster your IP bar will grow," and I tend to believe this
interpretation. Iron Knuckle has done extensive investigating into the
underlying code of the game, so although I have personally collected no data on
the matter, I put a lot of faith into his conclusions.
There is one additional strategy that I would like to include and leave to your
discretion. During your descent, you will almost certainly find in a red chest
a weapon called "Fatal Pick." Its attack power is 0 (yes, zero), only Selan
(and Arty and Tia) can equip it and it is cursed, making it, you would think, a
prime candidate for food for your Capsule Monster. However, it can cause
immediate death to virtually any enemy (except undead monsters), it requires no
MP to use, and it works more consistently than either Perish or Destroy! (The
best information I have received on the effectiveness of these instant death
spells is that, when cast on a single enemy, Perish succeeds 25% of the time
and Destroy succeeds 50% of the time, regardless of the caster or the enemy.
When the spell is cast on multiple enemies, these percentages go down
considerably.) By contrast, the Fatal Pick's success rate is a solid 80%! As
with most things in life, however, this weapon has its positive and negative
qualities. To wit:
* Once you equip it you do not want to un-equip it. To un-equip it, you must
lift the curse on it, and once you lift the curse on this weapon, its
instant-kill ability is severely diminished. I have personally collected
data that confirms the 80% success rate for the cursed Pick. Uncursed, its
success rate is only 20%. This would indicate that if you want to get
maximum benefit out of it, you need to commit to keeping it equipped on
Selan.
* If you are planning on harvesting, do not equip the Fatal Pick until you are
finished doing so, around B53. The enemies you will be harvesting are
immune to this weapon, and you will need Selan (with her high AGL stat) to
do much of the harvesting for you with her Blaze Sword.
* On the positive side, the cursed version of this weapon is highly effective
against the most dangerous creatures in the Ancient Cave. Archfiends,
Genies, and Metallic Dragons are all susceptible to this powerful weapon,
and using it can seriously quicken your descent and improve your chances of
survival through the last 20 floors or so. In fact, it really almost makes
these battles TOO easy. I would guess that the Fatal Pick can account for at
least 80% of your Dragon killings in the final 20 floors.
* As previously mentioned, though, it will not cause any damage to undead
enemies. However, when confronted by undead enemies while equipped with the
Fatal Pick, Selan can either replenish her magic (with Absorb or a Bat
Rock), use her Diamond Ring IP attack to cast Zap, increase her allies' ATP
by casting Trick, or heal the other party members. All of these options are
preferable to having her launch a fruitless physical attack.
I have gone through the Ancient Cave both with and without using the Fatal
Pick. Using it reduced my time from 10.5 hours to just over 8 hours -- a
pretty significant reduction and the journey seemed much easier. Still, I sort
of felt as if I were cheating, and ultimately my success was somewhat less
satisfying as a result. As with most such matters, gentle reader, I leave to
you the decision of whether or not to use the awesome power of this weapon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the following section, I will rather casually discuss the wisdom in certain
circumstances of using the spells Absorb and Destroy. Of course, if you have
not yet found those spells, you will have considerable difficulty following my
advice. Be aware that neither of these spells is necessary for success. As
described earlier, magic can be replenished with a Mirak Plate or Bat Rock or,
lacking both of these, from found items such as Ex-Magics. Instant death
spells (Destroy and Perish) are mostly last resorts to use in the event that
you do not have the proper weaponry to eliminate your enemies in a timely
fashion. They are time-consuming, undependable, and ultimately less satisfying
than simply pounding your enemies into submission. I encourage you to avoid
using instant death spells unless absolutely necessary.
There will be more, but we can discuss the rest as we go. For now, decide on
ONE Capsule Monster that you want to accompany you to the end, equip him, and
stick with him. Then proceed through the first 30 floors.
XIV b. Floors B01 - B29 [20s]
You should be very familiar with these floors by now, as you have done them
many, many times already. With each ally equipped with a Blue Chest shield and
helmet, a Twist Jewel, and a Blue Chest weapon, you are invincible for at least
the first 20 floors. Your Twist Jewel will up your Agility so much that all
four members of your party will get turns before most enemies even get one.
Your weapons are so powerful that you will obliterate everything in your path
with a single hit, even if you have the exact wrong weapon equipped for a given
enemy. Should an enemy manage to get a turn, your armor is so strong that you
will suffer no damage at all with the possible exception of magic damage from
the highly agile Wispys. Until you get to the Bees and the Blue Mimics in the
mid to late 20s, you should sustain virtually no damage whatsoever.
Sadly, by the time you get to B29, you will no longer be invulnerable, so you
are going to want to have a recovery spell of some kind. If you have found any
of the 4 recovery spells, you are good to proceed, and if you also have Absorb,
then so much the better. This is not absolutely mandatory. I have made it as
far as B80 and beyond without having a healing spell, but it wasn't much fun
and it certainly isn't advisable for beginners. Sometimes it is better to
start your run anew rather than continue despite lacking a recovery spell.
I'll let you decide for yourself.
In a moment, you are going to feed all excess items to your Capsule Monster.
However, before you do, please READ THIS. I am going to give you a list of
items that you should not feed to your CM. At this point in the game, you will
probably not have any of these, so consider this to be general advice for the
duration of your run. Do NOT feed your CM any of the following: Dekar Blade
(unless, of course, Dekar is not in your party), Lizard Blow, Myth Blade, Fatal
Pick, Flying Blow, or Hidora Rock. The Lizard Blow and Flying Blow expedite
your passage through the last 20 floors as they are awesome against Dragons.
The Fatal Pick is a surprisingly useful weapon as explained above. The other
items are potentially useful against the Giant Jelly in B99, so you want to
keep them around just in case. Also let me remind you that you should not feed
most Blue Chest items (except useless crap like the Earring) to your CM, so
make sure that you know which items those are.
(November, 2016) -- Upon re-reading the above paragraph, I realize that there
are literally dozens of items that should be in the above list but are not. I
considered adding a comprehensive list of items that should not be fed to your
CM, but got overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project. Instead, let's keep
things simple. If you are uncertain about whether to feed an item to your CM -
- DON'T! You will get plenty of junk equipment that you can easily spare.
Don't risk giving up something that you might need later.
Assuming that you are going to continue, feed your Capsule Monster, beginning
with the weakest items first. If he has a special request, think carefully
before accommodating him -- you don't want to spoil the creature as you have a
long ways to go still. If he snubs an item that you think he should accept,
you can lower his standards by feeding him three pieces of junk from your
inventory. I consider junk to be items such as Rapier, Knife, Apron, Frypan,
Magic Guard, and Freeze Ball that you will simply never use but also no self-
respecting Capsule Monster will EVER accept as growth food. You should surely
be able to promote him to Class II and possibly to Class III. Having bumped
him up, let's proceed.
I will divide the next part of this narrative into groups of 10 floors each,
describing the more insidious enemies that you will encounter as well as some
tips on how to deal with them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
XIV c. Floors B30 - B39 [30s]
Overview:
You will encounter a lot of undead enemies on these floors, suggesting that you
should equip Fry Swords on Guy and Dekar. Equip Selan with a Blaze Sword if
you have one for her. Remember to adjust your weapons according to the enemies
you encounter. For example, Tengus are weak against ice, so Selan should equip
her Snow Sword for these battles. In general, if you find that one of your
characters is causing considerably less damage than usual, it is probably
because his/her weapon has an elemental attribute against which the enemy is
strong, suggesting that a change is in order.
Key Enemies:
Dark Skulls (B30-B32) -- Can cast Perish, but it seldom works. These guys are
vulnerable to fire and light. Remember that you Sky Sword will not damage
them. Fry Swords, on the other hand, make short work of them.
Necromancer (B32-B35) -- Can cast Perish (although it seldom works) as well as
Bolt and Dark Aura which can damage all party members. They can be tough to
eliminate as they tend to call companions. Fry them with your Fry Swords.
Asashin (B37-B39) -- These enemies are very hard to avoid as they move much
faster than you do, and their high agility (168) gives them a big advantage in
battle as well. Their "Terminal Blow" attack can wipe out one of your
characters (AND all of his IP!) and actually does so with alarming accuracy.
Hope for the best when they attack and then make short work of them with your
Fry Swords and other Light-based weapons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
XIV d. Floors B40 - B49 [40s]
Overview:
First of all, you should pause for a moment and feed your Capsule Monster
again, hopefully elevating him to Class IV. Follow the guidelines described
above in section XII b.
Enemy-wise, these 10 floors are a stroll through the park, especially compared
to some of the floors ahead. Most enemies aren't that bad, but my two least
favorites of the lot are:
Key Enemies:
Bone Gorem (B41-B43) -- These don't jeopardize your health much even though
each attacks twice per turn, but their high HP (330) and high defense (261)
make them tough to wear down. They are weak against Thunder and Hard-based
weapons, so you can equip Sky Swords and/or Pounder Rods and make short work of
these twerps. (Is it just me, or do these guys look like they are carrying
tennis rackets?)
Iron Gorem (B46-B48) -- High defense (271), plenty of HP (377), and no
weaknesses make taking down a group of three of these foes a tedious task.
The Fatal Pick is useful against them, but remember that equipping it now
necessarily precludes harvesting. If you use the Fatal Pick, be sure to have
Selan target one enemy and have everyone else target another. That way, if the
Fatal Pick is successful, then your other three characters will all target the
same enemy as each other. Using the Pick, a group of three Iron Gorems should
go down in two rounds. Otherwise, you will be hacking away at these guys for a
while. One last thing -- these guys, like the Gold Gorems that you will
encounter later, are very resistant to elemental weapons, so try to equip your
strongest neutral weapons. The Crazy Blade, (uncursed) Lucky Blade or Luck
Rapier, and Pounder Rod are all good choices. However, remember that if a
member of your party has a Sea Ring equipped, its elemental properties override
the neutral quality of your weapon and you will not be able to do much damage
to these enemies. Consequently, always remove Sea Rings before attacking Iron
or Gold Gorems.
Hades Skull (B48-B50) -- Hades Skulls themselves are slow and really can't hurt
you very much. The problem is that they can confuse your characters, and your
allies can do a LOT of damage to your team if confused. Worse yet, each HS
gets two actions per turn. The good news is that these enemies are weak
against both Light and Fire. Make use of your Agility advantage and use proper
weapons to eliminate as many of these guys as you can before they get a chance
to wreak havoc with your team.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
XIV e. Floors B50 - B59 [50s]
Overview:
Now things start to get more interesting. You will find that these floors will
take longer to clear than those before. If you haven't already done so, you
should also take a couple of minutes to feed your Capsule Monster up to Class
IV. Remaining low-level items can be discarded or fed to a different CM so
that your inventory does not fill up. Occasionally I like to equip a different
CM (who is at Level 1) just for one fight around B50 to see how many levels he
can go up -- provided, of course, that he survives the battle. However, keep
one of your Capsule Monsters at level 1 -- we will need a uselessly weak
Capsule Monster when we get to B98, as I will explain when the time comes.
Key Enemies:
Wizards (B50-B52) -- If you are going to try "harvesting" (see section III of
this guide), this is the place to do it. There is actually little to lose
except maybe some time, all of your MP, and possibly your sanity, so you might
want to try it and see what you think. Harvesting during battles against
Wizards is especially fruitful because they can call two companions per turn,
and the most of the "Called Companions" are worth around 2400 EXP each and can
be taken out with a single blow of a Fry Sword, Blaze Sword, or Sizzle Sword.
Although I am not an advocate of harvesting, I tried it again recently and
found that in these particular battles you can reap in excess of 1,000,000 EXP
per hour without breaking a sweat. If you want to give this a try, here are
some tips:
* First of all, be aware that for this process to work with any semblance of
efficiency, you absolutely MUST have a Fry Sword for Guy and a Blaze Sword
for Selan. For optimum efficiency, you must also have an agility-increasing
rock (Twist Jewel, Black Eye, or Silver Eye) or spell (Fake) and the spells
Absorb and Trick. If you lack any of these items, you can harvest enemies,
but your EXP yield per unit time will be noticeably diminished.
* Put Guy and Selan in the front row because you want them to do most of your
fighting for you. Equip Guy and Dekar with Fry Swords, Selan with a Blaze
Sword, and Maxim with a Sizzle Sword. You will need to boost Guy's agility
above 84, so equip him with a Twist Jewel (+30 AGL) if you have one. If
not, use a Black Eye or a Silver Eye for +20 AGL. Selan is going to need
all of the ATP that she can muster, so equip her with a Gold Eye or a Gorgan
Rock. If you do not have Absorb, you may want to equip Selan with a Bat
Rock instead so that she can Absorb all of the Wizard's MP, but this will
lessen her probability of killing Nosferatos in a single blow.
* Replace your designated Capsule Monster with one who has been sitting on
the bench and has about 10 HP and hardly any ATP power. You want to
carefully control your attacks lest you slay the "golden goose" here, so it
is best to have your CM die off early, even though that means that he will
miss out on all the EXP you will garner.
* When the battle begins, kill off all enemies except ONE Wizard, preferably
one in the BACK row (I'll explain in a minute), but be absolutely sure that
you do leave one of them alive. It is better to launch fewer attacks and
take some damage than it is to accidentally kill that last Wizard. If he
dies, the whole purpose here is lost.
* Why do you want the surviving Wizard to be in the back row? Suppose the
Wizard summons two companions, one in the front row and one in the back row.
If you then kill the front row companion first, the remaining companion will
be considered to be in the front row now and will be easier to kill. If the
Wizard is in the front, it will take a heavier hit to clear that last
companion from the back row.
* If you have Absorb or equipped a Bat Rock, have Selan Absorb all 365 of the
Wizard's MP away (Maxim will not be much help here, as he will only Absorb 1
MP at a time). Otherwise, the Wizard will cast Perish and might wipe out
one (or more!) of your party members. You do not want this to happen.
Meanwhile, if you have Trick, have Maxim cast it repeatedly on all party
members until it has little or no effect. The first time you cast Trick it
boosts each player's ATP by 20% of its initial value and each successive
casting produces one-half the effect of the previous casting. In all, you
will be able to boost each character's ATP by 40% of its initial value
(because, as we all know, the sum of an infinite geometric series with
initial value x/5 and common ratio 1/2 is 2x/5 and x + 2x/5 = 7x/5 = 1.4x =>
a 40% increase. QED!)
* On most turns, the surviving Wizard will summon two companions. Our plan is
to kill off the "Called Companions" BEFORE they get a turn. Given a chance,
Hades Skulls will try to Confuse your characters which can really louse up
your plans, and Nosferatos will Absorb away your MP and/or your HP. This is
especially annoying if you do not have Absorb, because it makes you use Hi-
Magics and Ex-Magics to regain the MP you will need for healing. Thus, you
must walk a fine line here. Too few attacks will allow these guys to have
turns; too many attacks will kill off the Wizard. The general rule is this:
the number of attacks that you input in any one turn should be equal to --
but NEVER greater than -- the number of "Called Companions" you are trying
to kill. Following this philosophy, your enemies may occasionally get a
turn, but you run almost no risk of killing off that last Wizard.
* Now let's consider the dynamics of the harvesting process. Wizards only
call four different companions -- Hades Skulls, Demises, Jurahans, and
Nosferatos. Refer to the chart below for the relevant stats of each:
Name HP DFP AGL EXP
Jurahan 205 142 42 780
Demise 402 285 82 2458
Hades Skull 362 305 70 2389
Nosferato 614 300 84 2455
The DFP stat isn't that relevant because of the enemies' vulnerability to
the weapons you will be using, but I threw it in anyway. Clearly, Jurahans
aren't a problem. They are slow and have few HP, so any of your characters
will beat them to the punch and take them out in a single whack, even from
the back row. (Also note that you don't get as much EXP for them.) Also
note that you need to be sure that Guy's AGL is above 84 so that he is
faster than the Demise and the Nosferato. Properly equipped and placed in
the front row, Selan and Guy should each be able to easily dispatch the
Demise and the Hades Skull. The real problem is the Nosferatos. Their
614 HP each is not a problem for Guy, but it is a bit of a stretch for
Selan. Since Guy is the stronger character and hopefully has higher AGL
than any of these enemies, our general rule is to assign him the tougher
enemy. Any time you are facing a Nosferato, let Guy handle him. If you are
facing two Nosferatos (probably the toughest combination you will face),
assign the one in the back row to Guy because he will be harder to kill.
If you are facing a Nosferato and a Hades Skull, assign the latter to Selan
and the former to Guy, even if the Hades Skull is in back and the Nosferatu
is in front. You get the idea.
* Soon, you should get in a smooth rhythm where in each turn Selan and Guy
each kill an enemy and Dekar and Maxim Defend. If the Wizard attacks, you
can have Maxim periodically heal rather than Defend. Occasionally, when you
face two Nosferatus, Selan may fail to hit it for the requisite 614 HP and
it will survive (as long as Selan is not trying to kill a back-row
Nosferatu, though, this event should be extremely rare). The Nosferatu will
then perform two actions, probably two rounds of either Absorb or Contact
(basically Absorbing HP rather than MP). This will slow you down a bit, but
just take it out in the next turn and have Maxim replenish any lost HP. If
you get a round where you are facing at least one Hades Skull, you can have
Maxim and Selan change positions and Maxim can take out the Hades Skull from
the front row with his Sizzle Sword while Selan Absorbs back any lost MP.
* I suppose if you want to speed things up, you can kill off Dekar and then
bring him back to life just before you conclude your harvesting. He really
isn't going to be doing anything anyway, and he will get the full amount of
experience as long as he is alive when the battle concludes. If he is dead,
at least you won't have to keep entering a command for him to defend nor
will you have to wait for him to do so each round. It seems kind of cruel,
but I guess it improves your efficiency a bit.
* If you are using Artea instead of Dekar, you may need to re-think your
strategy slightly. Artea can help Absorb away MP during the setup, but he
probably won't be as effective as Selan at killing off enemies. His
Strength stat will probably be a bit higher, but unfortunately there are no
light-based weapons in Blue Treasure chests that he can equip. If you are
fortunate enough to find him a Rune Rapier in a red chest, you might check
his stats and see if he has more ATP than Selan, but her Blaze Sword will
probably trump anything that you will find for Artea. Sadly, you may just
have to have him Defend every turn once the harvesting begins.
* If you don't have Trick or if your team or weapons are especially weak, you
might consider using a Class III Zeppy for your CM. I alluded to his
usefulness in the previous sections on Capsule Monsters and Augments, so
I'll not repeat the specifics of the awesomeness of his Energy Wave ability.
Unfortunately, using Zeppy creates at least 2 new problems. First of all,
he will attack your one remaining Wizard, and although he probably won't
kill it off right away, you are going have to cast healing spells or toss
curative items at the Wizard to keep him from dying off. This slows things
considerably, so once Zeppy has boosted your ATP sufficiently, you are going
to want to kill him off. This raises problem #2, which is that there is
really no way for you to attack him, and you're going to have to wait until
your enemies' attacks do the job for you. Because of this, you want to be
careful not to over-level Zeppy, as he will be too hard to get rid of.
Still, despite these drawbacks, allies with +80% ATP have absolutely no
trouble taking out summoned enemies with one hit. Once Zeppy is gone, you
can harvest to your heart's content.
* Since the setup for harvesting -- killing off excess Wizards, casting Trick,
Absorbing the Wizard's MP, etc. -- takes a certain amount of time, your
overall efficiency (EXP gained per hour) will increase the longer you
harvest in a particular battle. Therefore, it behooves you to stick with
one harvesting encounter for as long as you care to harvest. If you find
that Selan is having difficulty taking out a front-row Nosferatu with a
single hit, you can harvest for a while, finish that battle (leveling up
your characters significantly), and start again with a different group of
Wizards. However, if you followed our plan and killed all enemies in the
first 49 floors, this should not be an issue.
* I admit that it is really gratifying at the end of the battle to see those
huge EXP numbers, but I am going to predict that at the end of the day most
of you will agree with my original premise that harvesting is simply not
worth the effort. At risk of bludgeoning you mercilessly with my aversion
to harvesting, let me give you an example. I recently spent an hour and a
half harvesting, and in so doing amassed roughly 1.2 million EXP. When I
reached the Giant Jelly, my characters were at Level 91 rather than Level 83
or so. However, I cannot think of a single time in those last 46 floors
(B53 - B98) where the battles seemed easier or my progress seemed faster as
a result of this additional EXP. There are many factors that influence the
facility with which you pass through the Ancient Cave, but I would put EXP
(above and beyond that which you would normally acquire) low on this list.
* One last thing to keep in mind is that Wizards only appear on 3 floors (B50-
B52 inclusive), so these battles are rare and are not to be wasted if you
are planning on harvesting. It is possible that you will encounter only one
or two such battles, so be prepared and use them prudently if you are
planning on harvesting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nosferato/Vampire combination (B50-B52) -- These suckers (ha, ha) are really
obnoxious, not because of their attacking power but rather because they will
absorb your MP from you. Nosferatos can use this "Vampire" spell twice in one
turn. Selan's high MGR makes her more resistant to this spell, and her high
INT makes it easier for her to Absorb her MP back. However, if these enemies
target Maxim, they can wipe out his MP entirely in one turn. Try to "Get in
First" (which is fairly easy), and focus your attacks on the Nosferatos so that
you can take them down before they drain your carefully conserved MP.
Fiend (B51-B53) -- A royal pain, these guys. Each has over 800 HP, they can
attack twice per turn, they cast Perish on a regular basis, and sometimes it
even works. The good news is that they are even slower than Dekar, so you
should get all four of your turns before they strike. They are susceptible to
the Fatal Pick, and their elemental weakness is Light. Neutral weapons have
little effect on them. If you are really lucky, you can get one to drop an
Evil Jewel. The Evil Jewel is cursed, and equipping it means giving up the
Agility boost of a Twist Jewel, but it is hard to resist the +120 Attack power
that they provide. Last time I got one, I equipped it on Artea (who didn't
need a Twist Jewel since he has plenty of Agility anyway,) and the results were
impressive!
Serfaco (B54-B56) -- It is not possible to "Get in First", and each one can
attack THREE times per turn. These guys have AGL of 154, and if you don't have
at least one character has higher AGL than they do, then preemptive healing is
probably a good idea. The good news is that they are weak to Flying-based
weapons like the Flying Blow and Launcher. If you have Artea and a Launcher,
he can do a lot of damage before the Serfacos get a turn. Otherwise, just use
your best weapons and/or IP attacks and try to take out one of them ASAP,
because otherwise you are facing the possibility of SIX attacks every time that
they get a turn.
Sly Fox (B55-B57) -- One of the fastest (AGL = 180) enemies in the AC, and you
cannot get in a sneak attack on them. They will probably go before most of
your characters, and each Sly Fox can either hit with two pretty brutal
physical attacks or blast your whole party with a powerful Thunder spell. If
you cannot get anyone's AGL above 180, pre-emptive healing will be necessary.
Oddly enough, their weakness is Thunder, and they are also weak against Flying
attacks (Flying Blow, Dive Bomber IP, Launcher, etc.) Treat these guys with
caution, as they can be very dangerous.
Sea Hidora/High Hidora combination (B57-B60) -- These guys have 600-700 HP
each, and if you fail to take them out in time, the High Hidora will attack you
FIVE times per turn (the Sea Hidora merely attacks your whole party at once)!
They are weak against Ice and are pretty easy to get behind so that you can
"Get in First", something that I definitely recommend trying to do. In fact,
you should practice Getting in First on Hidoras because their movement on the
Dungeon Screen is identical to that of the Dragons of floors B81 - B98. The
good news is that they can drop a very useful Hidora Rock.
Venus Fly (B59-B61) -- These usually arrive in groups of 4 and have nearly 500
HP each. Their only real threat is that they can confuse your characters,
causing them to attack each other. Their weakness is fire, or a good round of
Stardust Blow will eradicate them tout de suite.
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XIV f. Floors B60 - B69 [60s]
Overview:
As you get ever closer to B99, you will notice that the enemies are getting
increasingly tougher. Your key to success is to be ever aware of your enemies'
strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly. Equip the proper weapons for
each battle and watch out for enemies that are faster than you are, and you
should do just fine.
Key Enemies:
Salamander (B60-B64) -- Beware! These things have agility of 188, which is
probably even higher than Selan's. They can hit you with two Firebird spells
(or their Sizzle Breath attack, which is even more devastating) before you even
get a turn, and, if you do not plan ahead, they can hit you with four whole-
party attacks before you have a chance to heal. This can be sufficient to bring
a premature end to your quest! Therefore, I advise you to equip Selan with the
Dragon Spear and check to make sure that this boosts her agility above the
Salamanders' 188 agility. If not, you can equip the Twist Jewel (+30 AGL) or a
Silver Eye (+20 AGL) to reach the desired level. As an extra bonus, the Dragon
Spear is water-based thus targeting one of Salamanders' weaknesses. Salamanders
are weak against Water and Ice Weapons as well as Flying weapons (such as the
Flying Blow and Launcher.) Defensively, a Flame Shield can also lessen the
damage to Maxim, Guy, and Dekar.
Gold Gorems (B64-B68) -- So you thought that the Magma Gorems were tough?
Well, their Gold counterparts have more HP (521), higher defense (342) and NO
weaknesses. As if that isn't enough, you can run into them on FIVE floors
rather than the usual 3. Their physical attacks are quite powerful and they
can perform two physical attacks per turn. Their "Golden Mist" attack hits all
party members, and if all three enemies do it, this can seriously sap your HP.
If you have found some Apron Shields, they will protect Maxim, Guy, and Dekar
from Golden Mist, so equip those if you have them and aren't too lazy.
Offensively, you have three main options -- the Fatal Pick, instant death
spells such as Destroy and Perish, or physical attacks. If you choose physical
attacks remember to equip neutral weapons, as Gold Gorems, like the Iron
Gorems, are highly resistant to weapons with any elemental attributes. Again,
remember to remove and Sea Rings that you have equipped before fighting them.
The good news is that it is really easy to "Get in First" on these enemies, as
they move exactly like the Genies that will be found on B72 - B88. For more
detailed information on how to get in a sneak attack, scroll down a few
paragraphs or perform a search for the words, "So how should you actually
battle these annoying pests?"
White Dragon (B64-B68) -- These are the "cold" counterparts to the Salamanders.
With agility of 190 and an attack (Cold Stream) that can damage your entire
party, these guys can cause you lots of damage before you even have a chance to
heal unless you are prepared. They are weak against Fire as well as Flying
weapons and attacks (Flying Blow, Launcher, Dive Bomber, etc.) If necessary,
equip Selan with the Dragon Spear to put her turn before theirs, and have her
cast Firebird or Incendiary (IP attack of the Flame Jewel) on all three White
Dragons. Coupled with physical attacks from your other three characters
(Maxim's Sizzle Sword can take one out in a single hit), this should finish
these fiends off in one round. If you "Get in First", you can swat these
oversized flies before they can launch a single attack.
Squid (B65-B67) -- These guys will either attack your whole party with "Ten-
Legger" or try to confuse you. Fire is their weakness. (I'll bet that you
didn't know that squid have 10 legs, did you? It's true, it's true!)
Leech (B67-B86) -- Leeches scare me to death. They can wipe out your entire
party before you even know what hit you and rank among the two or three
deadliest enemies in the AC. Their high Agility (220) virtually ensures that
they will go first, and their attacks are devastating. Their physical attacks
(of which they will get two each per turn) can inflict status effects such as
sleep, which renders the attacked ally useless, and confusion which makes your
allies potentially lethal to your party. They can cast the Ice Valk and Black
Thunder spells that can cause severe damage to all party members or the Destroy
spell that can cause instant death.
Rule One with Leeches is to ALWAYS get in first so that you can take out at
least one before they get a turn. They will teleport around the room when you
are far away from them, but when you are relatively close to them, they move
like so many other enemies, moving one step for every 3 of your steps. With a
little practice, you can get behind them with relative ease either way. Be
aware that they love to teleport into doorways where they are hidden from your
view, so don't let them trap you there. Leeches have only 542 HP and are
vulnerable to Light weapons, so be sure to have proper weapons equipped and use
your IP attacks liberally if you do not get in first.
I am generally too lazy to equip different armor for different battles, but in
the case of Leeches, I make an exception. Selan should always wear Ruse Armor
if possible because it provides protection against instant death. For your
other team members, Bright Armor is a good choice because it protects against
paralysis.
Mega Cyclops (B68-B73) -- These guys hit hard with physical attacks and carry
1533 HP each, but fortunately they only attack once each per turn. On the down
side, they have no weaknesses. Fighting Mega Cyclops is a good way to fill
your IP meter or to use Absorb to fill your MP without much danger of dying,
although I would recommend killing off one of them before doing either of the
above.
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XIV g. Floors B70 - B79 [70s]
Overview:
For the last 30 floors, you aren't going to get many breaks. Most of the
enemies from here on are going to be a royal pain. The battles will take
longer, and you will have to use more recovery magic. Delay in dispatching
your foes can be very costly, so be sure to equip the best weapons for a battle
before initiating conflict. If you get the enemies pared down to just one, you
can have Selan cast Absorb or use a Bat Rock to replenish her MP.
Key Enemies:
Orky (B70-B72 and B76 - B78) -- It takes a lot of sword-swinging -- or one good
swat with the Fatal Pick -- to whittle away all 2800 HP that one of these
beasts carries. Thunder is it weakness, and Stardust Blow does considerable
damage to it. If you are fortunate enough to have a Lizard Blow, Orky is also
weak to its Dragon elemental attribute, and the Dragon Rush IP attack is
capable of wiping one out in a single blow. When Orkys attack, they usually
attack EIGHT times each, and if your defensive equipment is less than optimal,
the cumulative effect of sixteen physical attacks from 2 of these very powerful
enemies can be devastating. This is when your Sleep Balls and Freeze Balls can
come in very handy. Get in first, pound one Orky for the first round, and at
the start of the second round, throw one of these items at the Orky that you
haven't hit yet. It will then sleep or stay paralyzed at least until you can
finish off the first one, and often throughout the entire battle, possibly
allowing you to emerge unscathed. As usual, thanks to Squeeealer for this very
handy tip.
Genies (B72-B88) -- Few enemies are as annoying as the various Genies that will
plague your descent for the next SEVENTEEN floors. Each has over 1200 HP,
defense of over 300, an attack that will hit all of your party members, and
a fondness for using a very powerful Absorb spell that will drain your magic
users of vital MP. Although Genies present minimal threat of wiping out your
party, these guys are a royal pain. It is really irksome to carefully conserve
your precious MP, using them ever so wisely for battle after battle, only to
have one of these lugs suck 100 MP away from you in one turn. This is no major
problem for Selan, since her INT is high enough that she can Absorb them back
quickly. Dimbulb Maxim, however, loses MP by the hundred and regains them 20 -
30 at a time. I usually don't bother refilling his MP until I get past all
genies around B89, preferring not to give the Genies the satisfaction of
Absorbing them all away within a couple of turns. As if all that is not bad
enough, you get a lousy 4500 EXP or so for each Genie in these tedious and
costly battles. About the only good thing about these pests is that they tend
to waste a lot of turns either defending or trying to Absorb from someone who
has no MP.
Be especially wary of Wind Genies. With an AGL stat of 182, these guys are
probably faster than everyone in your party except possibly Selan, and their
Voltage Bolt attack can cause considerable damage to the entire party.
Since Genies are elemental, each type of Genie has a particular weakness, but
it can be tricky equipping weapons which will capitalize on this for two
reasons. First of all, you cannot tell from the Dungeon Screen what type of
Genies you will be facing as they all have the same Blue "Cyclops" image.
Secondly, Genies often appear in mixed groups, for example two Earth Genies and
one Flame Genie.
Fortunately, magic, unlike weapons, does not have to be chosen prior to battle.
Thus, Selan can use elemental magic to target the weaknesses of the individual
Genies (detailed below):
Type of Genie Weakness Spells to use Weapon for Maxim
Earth Thunder Flash, Bolt, Thunder Sky Sword, Boom Sword
Flame Ice Gale, Blizzard, Ice Valk Freeze Sword
Wind Water Droplet, Vortex, Dragon Mist Rapier
Well Fire Spark, Fireball, Firebird Sizzle Sword
One Thunder spell, for example, can cause about 300 HP damage each to a group
of 3 Earth Genies. If you get a mixed group -- for example two Earth Genies
and one Flame Genie -- have Selan target only the Earth Genies, and deal them
each around 400 HP damage. Obviously, there are also numerous IP attacks that
have these elemental properties. Use these if you like, but I prefer to use
magic for these attacks and save my IP. When you get to the Dragons from B81
on, you will want your IP for fighting them, so get in the habit of using your
magic.
So how should you actually battle these annoying pests? First of all, learn
how to "get in first" on Genies. Observe that if you stand at least five
spaces away from them and swing your sword, they will not chase you but rather
will stay in place and slowly rotate, facing each of the four cardinal
directions for three swings of your sword. When they are not facing you, they
cannot "see" you and consequently will not chase you. You can use this to
sneak up behind them rather easily. Stand five paces away (that is, with four
spaces between you and the Genie), swing your sword, and wait until the enemy
turns from facing you to facing 90 degrees to either side of you. Walk
straight up to the Genie, and by the time that you get to him, his back will be
towards you, and you will get in first. Needless to say, this gives you a HUGE
advantage! If you mess up and the Genie begins to chase you, you have two
options. First, you can lure him into a bush or a treasure chest, which will
stop his movement and allow you to regain the necessary buffer. Alternatively,
you can duck into a doorway and back off a bit to get the Genie to start his
rotations. You can then begin your advance when he is facing to the side and
will get in just about right.
Now that you have a free turn, use it to see what type of Genies you are
battling. You probably have the wrong weapons equipped, but that is okay.
Simply escape from battle, equip the proper weapons, back off the necessary
five steps, and repeat the procedure described above to get in a sneak attack,
this time properly prepared for battle. (You will probably have trouble
finding the correct elemental weapons for Guy and Dekar because neither of them
can equip a water-based or ice-based weapon. In that case, equip them with the
best neutral or light-based weapon you have. Maxim's best weapons are listed
above.) Have your guys hammer away at the Genies while Selan either attacks
with a (still-cursed) Fatal Pick (probably your best option) or casts the
appropriate elemental spell (detailed above). With any luck, you can
take out at least two Genies before they ever get a turn -- and, may I add, you
will find it immensely satisfying to do so.
Now that we have mastered the art of ridding the Cave of Genies, let's continue
our discussion of noisome enemies.
Archfiend (B72 - B87) -- Be especially careful with Archfiends as they are one
of a very few enemies with a serious chance of ending your run. They are
arguably THE mostly deadly enemy in the Ancient Cave. Archfiends have 1735 HP,
high (166) agility (meaning that they will probably beat everyone to the punch
except Artea and Selan), and get two actions per turn. To make things worse,
you cannot get in a sneak attack on Archfiends. The actions include casting a
very powerful Thunder spell on all of your characters, strong physical attacks,
and casting Destroy on individual characters. The Archfiend-Leech combination
is especially deadly, since Leeches will act first and can inflict status
ailments such as sleep that immobilizes your characters and keeps them from
attacking or healing. Both Archfiends and Leeches are weak against Light, so
use this to your advantage and don't hold back. Use your Light-based IP
attacks liberally and keep in mind that if put to sleep or Destroyed, your
characters may never get a chance to take the action that you intended. If the
first round goes badly, don't be afraid to escape and try again.
Archfiends are also sometime paired with Hades enemies. Besides having an
abundance of HP and relatively high (156) Agility, Hades can execute an attack
that paralyzes the targeted ally, making this an especially dangerous
combination. Treat this combination of enemies with extreme caution.
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XIV h. Floors B80 - B89 (Dragon Mayhem) [80s]
Overview:
The game designers saved the best for last, for the final twenty floors of the
Ancient Cave are infested with the infamous Copper, Silver, and Gold Dragons,
Collectively referred to as the "Metal Dragons". There are those who advocate
running from these beasts, and I must admit that I myself did just that in my
early adventures. In time, though, I have found that although there are no
guarantees here, it is not only possible but it is in fact desirable and not
that difficult to defeat every one of these scaly fiends. In the following
paragraphs, I will describe just how to do so.
Dragons may appear solo or in pairs, and the pairs may be matched or not. The
attributes of all three types of Dragons are very similar. The most important
numbers are that each has about 2400 - 2780 HP, 328 - 370 DFP, and Agility of
around 140. The big difference in their attacks is the number of actions per
turn -- Copper Dragons only get one, Silver Dragons take two, and Gold Dragons
get three actions per turn. Thus two Gold Dragons get a total of SIX actions
per turn! These actions may be straight physical attacks, offensive magic such
as Zap (Gold Dragons only) or support magic such as Trick, Mirror, and Bravery,
but these don't really worry us much. What DOES concern us is that each has a
deadly attack that targets all four characters, these being Cinder Blast
(Copper), Diamond Dust (Silver), and Stardust Blow (Gold). When fighting
Dragons, you must be constantly aware that IF YOUR PARTY GETS HIT BY DIAMOND
DUST AND/OR STARDUST BLOW A TOTAL OF THREE TIMES IN ANY ONE TURN, THEN YOUR
PARTY WILL SURELY DIE REGARDLESS OF YOUR LEVEL OR EQUIPMENT! I doubt that
there is any more common cause of premature ending of an Ancient Cave quest
than these multiple all-party attacks by Dragons. What we want to do to
maximize our likelihood of success is make the probability of being thus
demolished as low as possible.
Why do I advocate fighting these deadly beasts rather than letting them be?
Well, for three main reasons:
1. Experience -- You get from 18,980 - 26,980 EXP per Dragon. This can bump
you up one level for every 3 - 4 battles.
2. Inevitability -- Some of these encounters are unavoidable. By battling
every Dragon you encounter you will build both levels and confidence so
that you will be better prepared both physically and mentally for those
encounters that you cannot avoid.
3. Bragging rights -- Don't you want to be as boastful as I was at the
beginning of this guide and be able to say honestly that you wasted every
single enemy in the Ancient Cave?
Besides, you do get to work your way up -- Gold Dragons do not appear until
B87, giving you time to practice on their less lethal brethren. Are you
convinced now? Good -- here are some tips:
* First and foremost -- always assume that you are about to encounter your
worst nightmare combination of two Gold Dragons. Enter the battle with all
characters at maximum HP and preferably with one least one of your front-
line fighters having a full IP gauge.
* Always try to "Get in First". Dragons move slowly and with fairly
predictable movements, and with a little practice, you should be able to
accomplish this nearly every time. However, under NO circumstances
should you allow yourself to be the victim of a "Surprise Attack", for
obvious reasons.
* There are at least three strategies for defeating Metal Dragons: Instant
death, Dark Power, and Dragon-specific weapons. Instant death weapons
(especially the Fatal Pick) and spells (Destroy and Perish) are quite
effective against these beasts, but when they miss you do zero damage.
Dark weapons (Gades Blade) and attacks (Darbi's Terminate, Sizzle Smash,
and Evil Aura) do tremendous damage to Silver and Gold Dragons. Dragon-
specific weapons (Flying Blow and Lizard Blow) and attacks (Swoop and Dive
Bomber) are likewise very effective against Silver and Gold Dragons. Be
aware that due to a glitch in the programming, Copper Dragons do not share
the others' vulnerability to Dark attacks or to Dragon-specific weapons.
However, since Copper Dragons aren't going to wipe out your party unless you
simply are not paying attention, it is best to equip yourself for the more
threatening Silver and Gold Dragons and just hack away at the Coppers as
best you can.
* In case you missed this before, I will state for the record that far and
away the easiest way to defeat Dragons is to equip Selan with a (still-
cursed) Fatal Pick. If you do this, you can pretty much ignore most of the
rest of these bullet points because Selan will single-handedly wipe out
virtually every Dragon that you encounter without even getting her hair
mussed. If, for whatever reason, you do not use the Fatal Pick, then skip
the next bullet point and read on from there.
* If you are using Artea instead of Dekar, have a Fatal Pick equipped on
Selan, and everyone on your team has AGL of at least 145, you can defeat all
the Metal Dragons with virtually no risk whatsoever. Engage the Dragon
sprite from the side or the rear. If you do not "Get in First", then escape
from battle and try again. Once you "Get in First", try a round of attacks.
If there is more than one enemy remaining after the first round (that is, if
the Fatal Pick attack failed as it will do 20% of the time), escape and try
again. If there is just one Metal Dragon left, then continue on to the
second round confident that unless things go just horribly wrong there is
practically NO chance that you will be wiped out. This is the advantage of
superior agility that I described in section IVb) at the beginning of this
FAQ. In theory, this same strategy can be used with the Destroy or Perish
spell instead of the Fatal Pick, but since the effectiveness of those spells
are 50% and 25 % respectively, completing each battle will require many
tries and great patience. The beauty of the Fatal Pick is that its success
rate is so high.
* Equip your characters with suitable weapons. Conventional weapons -- even
Blue chest weapons -- will have little or no effect on Dragons. The best
weapons against Gold and Silver Dragons are the Flying Blow and the
Lizard Blow (which can be equipped by all characters) and the Gades Blade
which can be equipped by Guy and Dekar. Despite its apparent low attack
power, the Gades Blade has a Dark power to which Silver and Gold Dragons are
especially susceptible. The bad news is that the tempting Octo-Strike IP
attack of the Gades Blade does not deliver 8 Dark attacks but rather 8 non-
elemental attacks,and therefore it does not have the devastating effect that
one might expect. On the other hand, the Lizard Blow's Dragon Rush IP
attack is one of the most effective attacks against Gold and Silver Dragons
and should be used against them whenever you need to knock one down in a
hurry.
* Don't overlook the less obvious weapons against which Dragons are weak. For
example, the Attack power on Artea's Launcher is fairly low, but with it he
can attack all enemies, and Dragons are weak against this weapon. Likewise,
the Crazy Blade has rather modest (+263) attack power, but Dragons are weak
against its Dive Bomber IP attack. Anyone except Guy and Dekar can equip
it.
* When you run out of the above weapons, equip your strongest weapons, keeping
in mind that Gold and Silver Dragons are immune to the attacks of Light-
based weapons such as the Fry Sword and Blaze Sword.
* Remember that an equipped Sea Ring will negate the special properties of the
Flying Blow and the Lizard Blow. Consequently, you should probably un-equip
Sea Rings from anyone using these weapons before proceeding. You will lose
10 AGL points which is a shame, but any other losses will be more than
offset by gains in damage done to enemies.
* Agility is going to play an important role in these battles. By B81, Maxim
and Selan should definitely have AGL at or above that of the Dragons (145),
and with a Twist Jewel equipped, Guy should be very close. This is where it
is to your advantage to use Arty instead of Dekar. Dekar's AGL will never
get above 145, but Arty's will get there long before B81.
* Watch the Dragons' actions carefully. If a Copper Dragon casts Mirror (as
they will do quite frequently), do NOT cast Destroy on that Dragon or your
spell may backfire on you!
* Concentrate all of your efforts on the most dangerous Dragon until he is
eliminated, then turn your attention to the other one. If the two are
identical, pick one to attack and stick with it.
* When you reduce your enemies to a single Copper or Silver Dragon, don't be
in a hurry to finish him off. You will be completely safe from extinction
unless you just are not paying attention. In this case, you may want to
prolong the battle long enough for Selan to cast Absorb (to replenish her
magic) and perhaps even let the Dragon cast Cinder Blast or Diamond Dust
to fill up your IP gauge for the next battle. I know that it is counter-
intuitive to invite damage, but it does serve a purpose and, as mentioned,
your chances of being wiped out are virtually nil.
* Try to ensure that at least two of your characters go into every Dragon
battle with full IP and make sure that each has either a Flying Blow or a
Lizard Blow. For example, if Maxim uses up his IP, then for the next battle
pass the Lizard Blow to Selan, making sure that her IP is at least two-
thirds full (Dragon Rush only uses 65% of your IP). If you encounter two
Gold Dragons, don't be reluctant about emptying two characters' IP -- it is
better than having your entire party perish. You can always refill your IP
as described in the previous bullet point.
* Be liberal with your healing magic in Dragon battles. If your party is hit
by Diamond Dust or Stardust Blow, then have either Selan or Maxim cast Valor
or Champion. If you have neither of these healing spells you can have Selan
use Regeneration, the IP ability of her Ruse Armor.) My point is that you
can easily afford the 30 or 16 MP required to cast these spells because if
you need healing, that means that you took damage, which means that your IP
gauge is filling up, which means that whoever is wearing a Mirak Plate can
cast Magic Rebirth and refill the user's MP.
* Since these floors are also inhabited by enemies other than Dragons, be sure
to remember to equip the proper weapons on your characters before beginning
a battle. Laziness in this domain can be lethal. Fry Swords work great
against Dark Sum'ners (see the fifth following paragraph), but against a
Silver or Gold Dragon they will miss every time. You do NOT want to face
these beasts with weapons that never connect!
* Finally, don't forget that running from a battle that starts poorly is
always preferable to dying. If, for example, you "Get in First" on a pair
of Gold Dragons but fail to kill one of them in the first round, it is okay
to run and try again. Of course, you should be aware that the Dragons may
well attack you before you have a chance to escape (because of Dekar's low
AGL), but the probability of surviving these attacks is very high.
There are nine possible configurations of Dragons to battle in the final 20
floors. In increasing order of deadliness they are as follows:
Copper Silver Gold # of actions per turn
1 0 0 1
0 1 0 2
2 0 0 2
0 0 1 3
1 1 0 3
1 0 1 4
0 2 0 4
0 1 1 5
0 0 2 6
Really, we only need to worry about the last two combinations. The likelihood
of being wiped out by a party of Dragons with 4 actions per turn is very
slight. The ones, twos, and threes -- which, you will note, account for 5/9 of
the possible combinations -- are really gimmes.
How you fight these battles really depends primarily on two considerations ?
the team that you have chosen and the weapons that you have found. In the best
possible scenario, your party consists of Selan, Maxim, Guy, and Artea (all of
whom have AGL of 145+), you are using Darbi for your CM, Darbi has learned Evil
Aura, and you have found at least two weapons against which Dragons are weak.
I would guess that the odds of this are around 50 ? 50, maybe a little better.
Under these conditions you can very reliably kill two Gold Dragons (or, for
that matter, any lesser combination of Golds and Silvers) before they ever get
a turn.
If you took my "Agility Rules" comments to heart and are using Artea instead of
Dekar, fighting the Metallic Dragons is almost too easy. Just follow the
guidelines below:
* First of all, make sure that all of your characters have an Agility stat of
at least 145. If you have a Twist Jewel equipped on each character,
everyone should easily be above this threshold except possibly Guy. If Guy
is above 145, you have no worries because you can now engage the enemies to
see what you are confronting and then escape damage-free. If this is the
case, you can only die now if you are not paying attention!
* Engage the enemy from the side or behind. If you do not "Get in First,"
then escape from battle and try again until you get in a sneak attack.
There is no reason to face these powerful enemies without the advantage of a
sneak attack if you have superior Agility.
* If you are facing two Copper Dragons (the most likely combination), just
equip each character with his/her strongest weapon and whale away until both
enemies are dead. They really can't do you any harm that you cannot heal
immediately. The worst case scenario is that both Copper Dragons will use
Cinder Blast, but that shouldn't kill off anyone if all of your characters
begin with full HP (as they should.)
* If you are fighting at least one Silver or Gold Dragon, equip your
characters accordingly. Give your best weapons (Lizard Blow, Gades Blade,
or Flying Blow) to your front row attackers first and distribute the rest as
best you can.
* If your enemies have 3 or fewer actions per turn (see the above chart),
focus your attacks on the more powerful enemy first, and then go after the
other one once it is destroyed. The probability of being wiped out by this
combination of enemies is pretty much zero if you heal completely at the
beginning of each turn.
* If your enemies have 4 or more actions per turn, you are going to have to be
more aggressive, as the probability of getting wiped up goes up
dramatically. Once you get a sneak attack, have Artea or Selan cast the
Trick spell (if you have it) on everyone and then have everyone else attack
the more dangerous Dragon or the one in front. If you do not have Trick,
have everyone attack. Do NOT use any IP attacks yet. There is a very good
chance that either you will get a critical hit from Maxim or Guy (the Lizard
Blow and Flying Blow have very high critical hit rates) or Darbi will do a
special Dark attack that will heavily damage at least one Dragon. Either
way, one of the Dragons should go down. If not, you can safely escape and
try again, having wasted only the 5 MP necessary to cast Trick. If the
remaining Dragon is Gold, hit it with a Dragon Rush because you REALLY don't
want it to survive this round and attack you. If it is Silver or Copper,
just whale on it until it dies. Under these conditions you should NEVER
risk letting a Gold Dragon have a turn, and you can kill 100% of the Dragons
with 100% safety.
If you skipped section IX -- Augments, you might want to go back and read it
now. It contains some useful information about the Trick spell.
Notice that the strategy detailed above does not require use of any instant
death weapons or
spells and conserves IP by using it only when a Gold Dragon remains after the
first round.
With Dekar on your team, Dragon battles get a bit more complicated because you
lose the guaranteed ability to escape safely from battle. Under these
conditions, you may need the benefit of instant death. Again, because of its
high rate of success, swinging the Fatal Pick is the attack of choice, but in a
pinch, Destroy or even Perish can get the job done. In any event, make sure
that you have proper (Dragon-killing) weapons equipped before proceeding.
Getting in a sneak attack is still of paramount importance. With Dekar,
though, you only get one chance at this, so you MUST get directly behind the
sprite. If you observe the sprite's movements, you will see that, like many
enemies, Dragons move one step for every 3 of yours. Also remember that
swinging Maxim's sword counts as a step. Stay two steps away from the sprite
that you want to engage (this way, it can never engage you!) and follow and
observe its movements around the room at a distance of two total steps.
Eventually it will run into a wall or other obstacle. If it turns and faces
the wall, you will have two moves to get in behind it before it makes another
move, thus giving you a guaranteed sneak attack. There are many variations on
this, many of which use obstacles to your advantage. Experiment a little bit
and find different ways to get in guaranteed sneak attacks. Remember that
above all you MUST avoid letting the Dragon turn the tables on you and get in a
sneak attack. If two Gold Dragons get the drop on you, you are probably dead.
UPDATE -- November, 2008: I have asked Squeeealer to post a video on YouTube
showing various ways to get in sneak attacks on Dragons. He seemed interested,
but as of today he hasn't yet completed this. However, since he may have done
this subsequent to this update, you should consider going to YouTube and doing
a search on his name. He has many other videos posted, but look for one about
sneak attacks.
Now that you have a sneak attack, look at what you are facing. If you are
confronted by only Copper Dragons, you want your strongest weapons equipped
(since they have no weaknesses), but you can prevail easily with Gades Blades
and Flying Blows. It just takes longer. Thus, you have two options. The
first is to escape, equip weapons with the highest possible Attack power, and
re-engage. The second is just to beat the Copper Dragons down with your
Dragon-killing weapons. Since it takes some effort to get in a sneak attack,
this second option may be your best one.
Once you have the correct weapons equipped and initiate the battle, there is no
turning back since you probably cannot escape unscathed. You no longer have
the luxury of launching a leisurely attack and then seeing how it goes. You
are committed. Remember that your number one priority is to avoid ever giving
a Gold Dragon a turn. If you have the Trick spell, have one of your back row
characters cast it since that person won't get in much of an attack from the
back row anyway. If Selan has a Fatal Pick equipped, have her attack the more
powerful enemy; if not, your next best option for her is an instant death spell
(Destroy or Perish). Guy and Dekar can perform physical attacks from the front
line. If you are facing a Gold Dragon, you should probably consider having one
of them perform an IP attack such as Dragon Rush or Swoop. Remember that this
is the only turn that Dekar will get before the Dragons begin their attack, so
make it count.
If there is only one enemy standing after the first round, you are almost home
free. If two enemies are still standing after the first round, you have some
work to do before they get a turn, but all is not hopeless. In this instance,
you might consider switching Maxim and Dekar, giving Maxim (who will get a turn
before the Dragons strike) a more powerful attack. Selan can repeat her
instant death attack, and Guy and Dekar again do physical attacks.
Counting the attack by your Capsule Monster (hopefully Darbi), you should get a
total of 8 turns before the Dragons get one. This should be plenty to get rid
of at least one Gold or Silver Dragon. This is largely dependent on what
weapons you have available, but unless you are very unfortunate indeed, the
worst-case scenario should leave you facing a single Gold Dragon. One Gold
Dragon has the capacity to wipe out your party, but this will not happen very
often, and odds are that you will be able to wipe it out before it obliterates
your party. With the loss of the Agility edge that Dekar brings there is a
certain amount of risk, but I will say that it has been a long time since I
lost a battle against Dragons. If you "Get in First" and address the Dragons'
weaknesses, you face a very high likelihood of success.
Other Key Enemies:
Dark Sum'ner (B87-B97) -- These guys are really fast (AGL = 300) and get two
actions per turn. They like to cast Perish and Dark Aura (which damages your
whole party), and they summon the Hades, Hades Chariot, and the ever-popular
Leeches to join them. The good news is that it is really easy to "Get in
First" on them, so you definitely should do so. (Note -- be aware that these
guys can teleport through doorways, sometimes making them impossible to see
until you have unknowingly engaged them in battle. Be very careful about going
through doors through which Dark Sum'ners have teleported.) Light weapons such
as your Fry Swords and the Blaze Sword will make short work of their 540 HP
each.
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XIV i. Floors B90 - B98 (The Final Approach) [90s]
Overview: From here on, the only enemies that you will face will be Dragons
and Dark Sum'ners (and, of course, any companions that the Dark Sum'ners call
to their assistance.) You should be highly skilled at defeating these enemies
by now, and your characters should all be at or above Level 70 or so. Since
you have now defeated all of the Genies, you may now safely use Magic Rebirth
to fill Maxim's MP to capacity without worrying about the Genies sucking away
all of these MP.
As you get nearer to B99 where the Giant Jelly resides, there is one more
important thing to keep in mind: YOU WANT TO ARRIVE AT B99 WITH EVERYONE'S IP
GAUGE 100% FULL! This is going to require some patience and a little luck on
B98. If your last battle is against two Gold Dragons, you don't want to
prolong the battle (that is, make it Drag-on) to the point where you risk
extermination. Ideally, you want to face a single Copper or Silver Dragon last
(since the probability of losing this battle is essentially zero), but since
all Dragons look identical on the Dungeon Screen, this may take some
reconnaissance.
First of all, before engaging in any battles, try to walk around as much of B98
as possible to sort of get the "lay of the land." Go ahead and defeat all the
Dark Sum'ners that you find -- you do NOT want to fight them last because they
can cast Destroy which, if successful, can wipe out a character and his/her
carefully hoarded IP. After eliminating all Dark Sum'ners, get a feel for how
many Dragon battles you have remaining. Then pick any of the remaining Dragon
battles and try to "Get in First" so that you can see what kind of Dragons they
are. If you find a battle where the Dragons get at most two actions total per
turn (either a single or double Copper Dragon battle or a single Silver Dragon
battle), escape from that battle (to save it for last) and REMEMBER ITS
LOCATION! Of course, if you encounter an especially difficult battle, such as
two Gold Dragons do NOT try to escape -- just dispatch them immediately and
figure that easier pickings await you elsewhere. Once you have located your DP
(Designated Patsy) -- the battle that will fill your IP while your characters
patiently Defend -- go ahead and whack the rest of the Dragons on that floor,
then come back to your DP.
Before entering into your final battle against your DP, be sure to change your
Capsule Monster to one that has been sitting on the bench throughout this quest
and has about 10 HP and no offense. You do not want your CM to wipe out your
DP before you get your IP gauges completely filled! Once in battle, have all
of your characters except Selan defend until all four IP gauges are completely
full. I said "completely" -- 99% isn't good enough. Without full IP for at
least all of your male characters, you are going to be hard pressed to defeat
the Jelly. If you are not sure that an IP gauge is full, let that character
get hit again. Selan can spend her turns healing any damage you take. Don't
worry about conserving her magic -- you won't need it in the final battle
anyway. If you have a particular character who especially needs to take damage
because his IP is very low, you can have him use Items (Potions, etc.) rather
than Defend (since Defending reduces damage from physical attacks). Sure, you
are wasting items, but you can't take them with you anyway and you definitely
won't need them for the final battle.
Once you have filled everyone's IP gauge, finish off any remaining Dragons and
then pause for a moment to consider what lies ahead.
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XIV j. Floor B99 -- The Giant Jelly [GTJ]
After all of that battling to get to B99, it is now time for the payoff. If
you can defeat the Giant Jelly, he will give you the Ancient Key and you can
claim the three treasures that you have seen in the entrance to the cave. We
have but one more battle to go.
Until recently (Dec, 2012), I had some misconceived notion that the number of
HP that the Giant Jelly (aka, "The Master") has was not a constant but rather
depended on the levels of your characters. Apparently this is not true. I
found two independent sources that state that the Master has exactly 9980 HP,
and I have no evidence to contradict this. Consequently, I now proclaim that
the Master has 9980 HP, and I'm sticking with that number until I have good
reason to believe that it is inaccurate. Never let it be said that I am
unwilling to admit when I am wrong. Anyway, the trick to defeating this boss
is that you have to do so within THREE ROUNDS. After that, the Jelly runs
away, and you are left standing in B99 with no one to fight and no alternative
except to exit and try again. You can walk around B99 calling, "Here Jelly,
Jelly" all you want, but he will not return no matter how much you cajole,
insult, or curse. The good news is that the Giant Jelly will not attack you,
so you do not need to worry about defense or healing. In fact, in its first
two turns, the Jelly will heal all of your HP and MP for you -- not that you
will need either, but it's a nice gesture anyway. (In case you were curious,
his third turn will be "Checking Situation").
Historical aside: In the days before ROM's and online FAQ's (when we had to
play our games on wood-burning computers), most of us were taken unpleasantly
by surprise when the Jelly ran after three rounds. I remember spending days
and days descending into the Ancient Cave with NO saves (praying that we would
not experience a power outage), eluding Dragons as best I could, and finally
making my way triumphantly to B99. I thought I was ready for anything. I
expected a long, difficult battle similar to the Egg Dragon fight, and I
settled in for an extended campaign against the mighty Giant Jelly. For my
first turn, I had Selan cast Valor and I had Maxim cast Courage because I
expected to be hit hard and fast, and I was not going to lose this long-awaited
battle for lack of foresight or any other reason for that matter. Imagine my
surprise and disappointment when the Jelly fled after only three rounds! It
took me a long time to get sufficiently past my irritation with the game to try
again, and I know that several other gamers of the time had a similar
experience. If only I had had access to a guide as detailed and well written
as this one! :)
Your best weapons against the Giant Jelly are those that take a fixed
percentage of the enemy's remaining HP. In order of preference, these are:
Weapon Attack Fraction of remaining HP IP required
Dekar Blade Fatal Blow 1/2 100%
Myth Blade Battle Fury 1/4 76%
Old Sword Battle Cry 1/6 51%
Deadly Sword Battle Cry 1/6 51%
Gorgan Rock Ax Attack: 1/8 65%
Unfortunately, all of these items except the last (and weakest of the lot) are
red chest items, so you may or may not have access to them.
You will also want at least one weapon or item that allows multiple hits in the
same turn. For example:
Item Attack Description IP required
Gades Blade Octo-strike 8 attacks in a row 100%
Hidora Rock Triple Attack 3 attacks in a row 77%
Fry Sword Sizzle Attack followed by Zap spell 100%
Sky Sword Skysplitter Attack followed by Thunder spell 100%
Dragon Spear Flood Attack followed by Dragon spell 100%
Snow Sword Deep Freeze Attack followed by Ice Valk spell 100%
Spark Staff Phoenix Blow Attack followed by Firebird spell 100%
The good news here is that the most powerful of this lot -- the Gades Blade --
is a Blue chest item. This is why I advised you earlier to get two of these if
you wanted to be absolutely 100% certain of defeating the Giant Jelly.
The weapons that you choose will depend on which red chest items you found.
If you found a Dekar Blade, this battle is incredibly easy. However, even if
you did not, if you followed my advice and got two Gades Blades from Blue
chests before beginning the final descent, this battle is a gimme.
Equip Guy with a Gades Blade. Give Dekar a Dekar Blade if you have one; if
not, give him the other Gades Blade. Equip Maxim with the best "fixed percent"
weapon that you have from the above list. Finally, equip Selan with a Hidora
Rock if available; if not, then any of the last three weapons in the second
list above will do just fine. You may want to adjust the rocks/jewels that you
have equipped to maximize ATP. Remember -- defense is not an issue here since
you will not be attacked.
The general rules for attacking the Giant Jelly is to do percent attacks
before multiple attacks in order to maximize damage. Start the battle by
having Selan cast Trick on everyone (assuming that you have it). With your
strength thus enhanced, two Octo-Strikes (eight attacks each from Guy and
Dekar) will knock off around 8000 HP (without Trick, you will get more like
7000). If you precede this by having Maxim shave off even 1/8 of the Jelly's
HP (about 1000), you will be at worst a couple of hundred HP from finishing him
off in the first round. At the very worst, a round of physical attacks should
finish the job. If you have prepared properly and know what to expect, this
battle is really easy and, if anything, is something of an anticlimax after all
you went through to get here. If you have the Dekar Blade, have Guy hold off
on his Octo-Strike until the second round (since Dekar is slower and we want
him to do Fatal Blow first). The Giant Jelly will fall before Guy lands all 8
hits in the second round.
UPDATE: The preceding four paragraphs appeared in my original FAQ and were
written under the assumption that you had Dekar in your party. Now that I have
adopted my "Agility Rules" mentality and tend to use Artea instead of Dekar, we
are going to have to re-think our assault on the Giant Jelly, since Dekar will
be available for neither a Fatal Blow attack nor an Octo-Strike, the two most
powerful attacks available. Don't panic -- we can still win this battle, but
it isn't going to be quite so cut and dried. Since I can't predict the
resources that you will have available -- since many of your best items are
either drops or can be found only in red treasure chests -- I am going to have
to describe this battle in conditionals.
Without Dekar, the Trick spell is really important. You will want to boost
everyone's Attack power as much as possible, and you especially want to boost
Guy's ATP before unleashing the Octo-Strike. If you do not have Trick, this
battle can be really close and can hinge upon the actions of your Capsule
Monster, but your chances of winning are still better than 50 - 50. There is a
pretty high likelihood that you have either a Myth Blade or an Old Sword, and
you should equip this on Maxim. The attack of choice for Artea and Selan is
the Hidora Rock's Triple Attack, but again you want to wait until their Attack
power has been boosted. If you only have one Hidora Rock, equip it on
whichever of the two has the higher ATP stat. Your remaining character will
have to settle for one of the last three items in the second list above.
Remember to move your primary attackers in each turn to the front row before
the turn begins. This way you get maximum effect from your strongest attacks.
Also remember that when casting Trick, you want to cast it on everyone in your
party -- it does not diminish the effect at all, so you might as well cast it
on everyone.
Assuming that you have at least one Hidora Rock and the Trick spell, your
battle should proceed as described below. If you do not have Trick, replace
those commands with physical attacks and be sure to cross your fingers and hope
for really devastating attacks from your Capsule Monster. (BTW, This is why,
back in Section V, I advised against using Sully. Depending on what items your
have at your disposal, you may be hard pressed to finish off the Jelly in the
required 3 rounds, and you need your CM to be attacking, not Defending.)
Round One -- Maxim and Guy in front
Artea -- Cast Trick (boosts everyone's Attack Power by 20%)
Selan -- Cast Trick (boosts everyone's Attack Power by 10%)
Maxim -- Fractional Attack (Battle Fury or Battle Cry)
Guy -- Physical Attack
Round Two -- Artea and Selan in front
Artea -- Triple Attack or IP attack
Selan -- Triple Attack or IP attack
Maxim -- Cast Trick(boosts everyone's Attack Power by 5%)or Physical Attack
Guy -- Physical Attack
Round Three -- Maxim and Guy in front
Artea -- Physical attack
Selan -- Physical attack
Maxim -- Physical attack
Guy -- Octo-Strike
As you may be aware, there is a second way of winning the Ancient Key, although
it is through a rather unorthodox method. If you manage to kill off all of
your party members within the allotted three rounds, the Giant Jelly acts as if
you defeated it and gives you the Key. Although I'm not sure that I fully
approve of this strategy, you may want to try it at least once just for fun.
All you really have to do is un-equip everything except one really powerful
weapon from each character (Sky Swords don't seem to work very well, so I would
advise using Fry Swords and Sizzle Swords). If you have the Dark Mirror
equipped, don't bother un-cursing it to de-equip it. Just have Dekar direct
one of his attacks at whoever is carrying it (his ATP will be 999!), and you
should be able to wipe out your party and keep the shield. If you are using
Flash as your Capsule Monster, you need to replace him, lest he augment the
very HP you are trying to diminish. In the first round, have the front-line
characters attack the back line characters and vice versa. After that, if each
character attacks him/herself twice, you should accomplish your mission.
Please note that you will have to deplete each character of his/her maximum
number of HP. Entering the battle with low HP will not help you, as the Jelly
will fill up everyone's HP as his first order of business. This is really not
a problem, though, as wiping out your party is not that hard to accomplish. If
you want to make this process easier, I suppose that you could enter the battle
with all of your members already dead except one, but again this really is not
necessary.
Having defeated the Giant Jelly one way or another, you will receive the
Ancient Key, and the Jelly will vanish. If you have already defeated him once,
he will invite you to return any time to fight again. After winning this
battle for the first time, I remember wandering around B99 for a LONG time
looking for an exit before my darling daughter reminded me that I still had
Providence. So, as any idiot except a parent could easily deduce, you should
use Providence to return to the entrance to the Cave. Lift and move the crate
that is blocking your access to the locked door, and enter the door to claim
your prizes, consisting of one each of the following: Light Jewel, Dragon
Ring, and Brill Helm. Compared to some of the Blue chest items, these items
admittedly are less than impressive. Considering how much effort is involved in
accessing and defeating the Giant Jelly, you would expect a reward more on a
par with the mighty Egg Ring. However, we did not take on this challenge for
the tangible rewards. We climbed this mountain because it was there. Having
accomplished our mission, we now return to town, not only with our collective
"heads held high" but also with the satisfaction of having completed this
difficult quest without electronic assistance of questionable ethical purity,
vanquishing our foes by our wits and skills alone.
The one last thing to do is to return to the basement of the Tavern in Gruberik
and talk to the woman there. She will take the defeated Jelly from you, put it
on display with the other Iris items, and will give you a nice verbal pat on
the back for all of your trouble. Enjoy the compliment, because it is all that
you are going to get for countless hours of slaughtering monsters and hunting
treasure. But, hey -- we had some fun, didn't we?
===============================================================================
XV. Closing comments/credits [CCC]
I have to say that I learned a lot from writing this FAQ. Although I have been
through the Ancient Cave several time previously, each time I attempt it I see
new ways to improve my strategy. I'm sure that in reading and following this,
you found some improvements of your own. I would be happy to hear any such
comments, provided that they are communicated according to the following
guidelines:
* Courtesy first. I do not pretend that I am anything but an amateur gamer
nor that this is any kind of "ultimate" guide. Although I have gone to great
pains to see that this guide is accurate and comprehensible, I am sure that
among the over 128,000 characters that I have typed here, there are some
mistakes. I am genuinely interested in fixing any such errors in fact or
format, but this is only my second FAQ so I would appreciate it if you would
cut me some slack. Please refrain from profanity and abusive language in
any communiques. Thank you.
* I really prefer emails that are written with proper spelling,
capitalization, and punctuation rather than the indecipherable drivel that
passes for written communication sent over the Internet these days. I
invested a lot of effort in writing and proofreading this FAQ so that you
could understand it. If you have something to say, take the time to say it
articulately. I am not going to spend my time trying to decode your
comments. Trust me when I say that in general, clearly written comments
carry much more weight than "OMG, uR FAQ is Teh R0><orz!1!1one!!1".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All accomplishments are team efforts, and this work is no exception. Without
the help of some very special people, this guide would not be as complete or as
entertaining as it is. I am therefore deeply indebted to the following people:
* My darling dorky daughter Erin. Although Erin occasionally fails to see the
immense wisdom behind my gaming decisions, she is extremely patient about
listening to me explain my logic to her. She is also never shy about
telling me in no uncertain terms when I have missed something incredibly
obvious. Despite being my most vocal critic, Erin is my favorite co-
explorer and, for that matter, my very favorite person in the world.
Without her, I may have taken on this quest, but it wouldn't have been
nearly as much fun.
* Iron Knuckle, who was kind enough to let me use the enemy stats that appear
in his incredibly in-depth FAQ about the entire Lufia 2 game. His guide can
be found at
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588451/11045
His lists of enemies, weapons, armor, items, etc. are the most comprehensive
that I have found, and I encourage you to check out his guide and write him
to tell him what a great job he did.
* Relnqshd, whose assistance was invaluable in helping Iron Knuckle compile
his exceedingly thorough enemy lists.
* Beastman, who I was unable to reach by email, but whose excellent and
extremely thorough guide to the Ancient Cave can be found at
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588451/8997
If you want really thorough floor-by-floor information about enemies, rumors
about the game, and lots of other interesting stuff, I encourage you to read
his guide. I know that I certainly found a lot of information in this guide
that was useful during my first ROM-based ventures into the Ancient Cave.
* Squeealer, who is definitely the most crazed Ancient Cave aficionado that I
have ever encountered. Squeealer has become so proficient at navigating the
many perils of the Ancient Cave that just to keep things interesting, he not
only refuses to use accumulated Blue Chest items, but he also sends Maxim in
to the Cave ALONE! I have probably learned more from him about the workings
of the Ancient Cave than I have from anyone else, and I really enjoy being
able to talk to someone who understands my fascination with the AC. His
very informative FAQ can now be found here on GameFAQs at
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588451/43439
Thanks for everything!
* The good if somewhat overworked people at GameFaqs.com. I honestly have no
idea who processes all of the information that is posted on their site, but
whoever does it, I tip my hat to you (well, I would if I actually owned or
ever wore a hat.) Here in the information-bloated age of the 21st century,
we tend to take such things as this wonderful web site for granted. Some of
us, however, remember the day when getting stuck in a game meant that you
had to call an 800 number (or worse yet, a 900 number that charged you by
the minute)or fork over big bucks for a printed guidebook in hopes of
getting the answers that you needed. Your walkthrough postings are
invaluable tools to the gaming community, and I cannot adequately thank you
for providing this free service to the crazed game players around the world.
I am honored to be a tiny part of what you do.
In case you want to contact me, my name is Bill Russell and my
email address is
[email protected]
In case you hadn't figured it out from my various allusions to ratios,
probabilities, direct proportions, and my overall obsession with numbers, I
teach high school mathematics and I love doing so (a bit too much, my students
sometimes suggest.) RPG's such as Lufia II are primarily just applications of
math, so the next time you are tempted to say that you don't like math or that
you aren't very good at it, remember that your success in this quest belies
both of those premises.
Thanks for reading -- I hope that you enjoyed reading this guide as much as I
enjoyed writing it and that you found my guide helpful.
Now, put down that controller and go get some real exercise before all of your
muscles atrophy from lack of use!
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* *
* -- THE END -- *
* *
* *
* *
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