you’ll need him to complete most of the subquests in Chapter IV. Musty’s

equipment is all gone, so be sure to re-equip him. Also, if he learned any

skills while he was a Guest, they’re gone for some reason.

The route back through the fenlands disappears. Take the ship (well, just walk

across the ocean) over to the Port City of Warjilis. Upon getting off the

ship, you’ll see a FMV sequence with Delita. After that scene’s ended, you can

explore the town. There’s no new equipment available, but to make some easy

money, go to the bar and accept the errand (to find the Highwind!), then go

back to Goug and get the job there as well. (There will be a cutscene with

Delacroix’s scheming when you leave Warjilis the first time). Just go back and

forth between the two cities until both jobs are complete. If you weren’t able

to afford all the equipment you wanted in Goug or elsewhere, you should be able

to get it now.

There’s also a new Rendezvous Mode mission, Lost Heirloom, that will have

appeared after you completed the story battle at Goug. This new mission is

pretty difficult if you don’t have a good defense, and the enemy Thieves can

charm female characters. If you have a female-heavy party, you may want to

wait until you get to Chapter III and can buy equipment that protects you from

Charm.

Now that you have Mustadio, a good general trick for leveling up quickly is to

use Arm Shot or Leg Shot to debilitate the last enemy in a battle. Then,

you’re free to let the other enemies turn into crystals/chests. Crystals from

human enemies are often a good source of new abilities. Also, while the last

enemy is Disabled or Immobilized, you can have your characters attack each

other to raise JP. If you use the right strategy, you shouldn’t really need to

grind in this fashion, but it’s an efficient way to raise levels if you decide

to do so.

Now go up to Balias Swale, where you’ll find another fight. You’ll deploy

two squads here to save Agrias from Delacroix’s Gryphon Knights. This is a

really easy fight, so you might want to deploy some weaker characters to

give them a boost. Agrias will rejoin, this time as a controllabe, non-guest

character. Again, if you want to complete all the sidequests in the game,

don’t dismiss her or let her get killed.

After getting Agrias, if you head back down to Warjilis, you’ll find the shops

have a few new items available. Most notably, you can replace your Power

Gauntlets with the Diamond Bracelets, which gives you the Power Gauntlet’s +1

Physical Attack but also +1 Magick Attack and immunity to Slow. The latter

ability is pretty handy in the upcoming battle, so buy some for your main

squad. You can also upgrade your Wizard Clothing to the Brigandine, which

gives you a few more HP. (You’ll probably want to keep magick-oriented

characters on the Wizard Clothing or robes, though, for the magick bonus.)

There’s also the Mage’s Staff, and, in the unlikely event you have a Samurai,

the Osafune katana.

Your next stop is Golgollada Gallows. Make sure you’re ready; this is a tough

battle. The execution turns out to be a trap, and you have to fight

Gaffgarion. Bring your Diamond Bracelets!

After you attain victory at the Gallows (it may take a few tries!), you’ll see

a scene back at Lionel Castle in which you find out more about Ovelia’s past

and Delacroix’s plans. Then you’re back on the map. When you move back up to

Balias Swale, you’ll see a cutscene with Wiegraf.

Now, you can now wander around the map again. Next up is the final battles of

the chapter, which occur at Lionel Castle. However, if you want to travel

elsewhere, you can do so. If you click on any of the destinations PAST

Lionel Castle, you can walk right through the castle without getting into a

fight. Just don’t click on the castle ITSELF until you’re ready to fight.

To prepare for the upcoming fight, you’ll want to make sure that Ramza has

either the Teleport movement ability (Time Mage) or Chakra (Monk). If you’re

using Chakra, you can either make Ramza into a Monk or by assigning Martial

Arts as a secondary action ability. It’s also probably a good idea to equip

the Archer’s Bane rection ability on any characters that have it. When you’ve

done all that, it’s time for the final battles of the chapter.

When you click on Lionel Castle, you’ll have no choice but to attack the

gate. As Ramza tries to open the gate, Gaffgarion shows up yet again and

surrounds the castle. If you thought the Gallows was bad, here’s more fun.

Actually, the gate isn’t as bad if you play your cards right (see the battle

strategies). The save game screen will pop up at the conclusion of the battle

-- there’s another couple battles right after this one. It’s your call as to

whether you should save. I’d recommend saving in a separate slot in case you

need to go back to get more JP.

After saving, you cut back to Delita at Zeirchele Falls with Ovelia. There’s

an easy battle here against the Order of the Northern Sky, but you get to

control Delita during it :)

Afterwards, you’re given another chance to save (again, don’t save in your

main slot). Then your roster screen shows up, allowing Ramza’s crew to learn

new abilities or change equipment (which might be necessary if the Knights at

the gate used Rend on you.) When you leave the formation screen, you’ll

immediately go to the next battle and start deploying your characters. This

time you’re up against Delacroix, who uses his Zodiac Stone to turn (with some

pyrotechnics) into Cuchulainn. Beat him and he’ll blow up (with more nifty

effects) and drop another Zodiac Stone.

Delita delivers Ovelia to Duke Goltanna, while Duke Larg maintains Orinus as

the heir to the throne. As the War of the Lions begins over these claims to

the throne, Chapter II draws to a close, and you’re again given a chance to

save.

%%%CHAPTER III: THE VALIANT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk3

Three months into the War of the Lions, things are looking bad for both Larg

and Goltanna. After a scene of Goltanna’s council of war, we cut back to

Ramza, whose new mission is to convince Zalbaag that someone is manipulating

Ivalice into the war.

You’ll start the chapter positioned at Dorter. The shops have a lot of new

stuff--as weird as it seems, those Croakadile Bags are *really* powerful,

although expensive. The Headbands are also a great buy; not only do they

increase your HP over the previous hats, they also give you a physical attack

boost. (You may want to keep your magick users with the Wizard’s Hats, though,

as those boost their *magick* power.) Now that you’re in Chapter III, you can

also buy X-Potions, so you’ll want to learn the corresponding ability with any

item-users you have.

The Poachers’ Dens are also now open. You can now use the Thief’s "Poach"

ability to poach enemies and get items from them at the Poachers’ Den. Poached

items are cheap; you can buy them for half their usual price! You can also get

some rare items from poaching that you can’t get anywhere else! Note, though,

that Poachers’ Dens are only found in Dorter and Warjilis, not other cities.

(Sal Ghidos, which you’ll reach in Chapter IV, also has a Poachers’ Den.)

For additional shopping opportunities, visit one of the castles, Lionel or

Eagrose. There you can pick up the Ancient Sword, a strong sword that can also

Immobilize enemies, the Mythril Bow, and some other stuff. The Fire Shield and

Ice Shield absorb fire and ice, respectively, which lets you do a handy trick:

Cast a fire or ice spell that targets both enemies and an ally with the shield

-- you’ll damage the enemies, AND heal your character! Not only does this let

you get around the "friendly fire" effects when fighting in close quarters, it

even replenishes your HP!

All this new equipment is expensive, so luckily there’s a whole slew of new

errands, at least one in every town. If you’re short on cash, I recommend

spending a while completing them, buying stuff, and building up your

characters. If you’re offered any "contest" errand, take it right away,

because you won’t have the chance for very long.

A new Rendezvous mission, The Fete, is available. This one can be a little

difficult if you haven’t yet learned Shirahadori (see below), but with a

Summoner you should be able to win. There’s also the Lost Heirloom mission

from last chapter if you haven’t done that yet; the Nu Khai Armbands that you

can now buy will make this battle easier by protecting you from Charm.

There are some abilities you’ll need at the end of Chapter III that it’s a good

idea to start learning now. You don’t need these abilities just yet, but

if you build your characters towards those abilities now, you won’t have to

spend time grinding for them later. Specifically, you’ll really want Ramza

toi have Focus and Tailwind (both Squire), and Auto-Potion (Chemist). If you

have the chance to unlock the Ninja job for him, that’ll also help out a lot,

although it’s not strictly necessary. (It can be a bit of pain to unlock,

though, as it requires Ramza to at least have Archer at level 4, Thief at level

5, and Geomancer at level 2.) For your other characters, acquiring the Dragoon

or Ninja job on as many as characters as possible is helpful, but also not a

must-have. Combining the Ninja’s inherent speed and double attack with the

Monk’s Brawler ability makes for an incredibly strong and quick fighter.

You may also want to start developing a stealing specialist, if you haven’t

already. You’ll be encountering more and more enemies with rare equipment

that you can’t buy in stores, so you may want to swipe it :). It’ll be a big

help if you can learn the Thief’s Steal abilities, and either Concentration

(Archer) or Brawler (Monk), either of which will improve your stealing success

rate. If you don’t get to this until Chapter IV, though, it’s not a big deal.

Some other abilities that you want to work towards over the course of the

chapter are the Samurai’s Shirahadori reaction ability, the Ninja’s Dual Wield

support ability, and the Time Mage’s Teleport movement ability. Shirahadori

blocks physical attacks outright and, if combined with a high Bravery stat

(which you can boost with Ramza’s Steel ability), can render you virtually

impervious to physical attacks. It’s one of the best abilities in the game.

If you haven’t already unlocked the Samurai job, though, you’ll need to get a

character with Knight level 4, Monk level 5, and Dragoon level 2 to become a

Samurai. The Ninja’s Dual Wield ability is also great as it allows you equip

two weapons at once and effectively double (or come close to doubling) your

attack power. Finally, the Time Mage’s Teleport is helpful both for navigating

battlefields with tall walls (as it allows you to essentially warp right up

them), for teleporting through enemy forces blocking your path, and for

extending your move range in a pinch. If you try to teleport long distances,

it’ll probably fail, but this ability is still extremely helpful for navigating

heights and crowded maps. If you have a Summoner, the Golem summon will also

help out in a battle near the end of the chapter.

Lastly, if you haven’t been using Ramza’s Steel to work on building up your

Bravery, try to do so when you get a chance -- having a high Bravery will make

your Reaction Abilities a lot more useful (such as the aforementioned

Shirahadori).

When you’re ready to get on with the game, equip your team with gear that

boosts their Move or Jump ranges. Safeguard may also be helpful. Then go up

from Dorter, across the Zeklaus Desert, to the Mining Town of Gollund. There’s

a fight here where you have to rescue Orran (although I can’t imagine he’d need

much rescuing). Black Magick and Thieves are handy here. After you save

Orran, you’ll chat briefly, and then he’ll head off to the south, sadly

depriving you of his super-powerful Celestial Stasis spell.

There’s no new equipment in the Gollund shops, so just head straight on to

Lesalia. There’s no fight when you first get here, just a short chat with

Zalbaag. However, as soon as you leave, you’ll have to fight Zalmour. It’s a

pretty easy battle. Alma then joins up as a guest. When you have a chance,

de-equip her Healing Staff, Barette, and Red Shoes. The Healing Staff and

Barette are items you can’t ever buy in shops, and the Red Shoes won’t be

available to purchase until much later. (It’s safe to de-equip all her gear

since, despite being a guest, she won’t actually participate in any more

battles.) The Healing Staff is an interesting "weapon" in that it actually

restores HP to the character hit by it. Equipping it on a magick-oriented

character can be quite useful since they probably won’t be doing much fighting

anyway and it gives you a free source of healing.

If you want to complete some errands easily, you can take the ones at Gollund

and Lesalia and then just walk back and forth until they’re done. Before

leaving this region, you can also stop at the store in Lesalia to buy new

heavy armor. Then go down to Dorter; there’s some new equipment here as well.

In particular, the Jujitsu Gi is a great set of clothes for fighting-oriented

characters as it also boots your physical atack power, and the Celebrant’s

Miter is a hat that boosts your MP. (You’ll probably want to keep your

fighters using the Headband for the attack boost.) Depending on what jobs

you’re using, there may be weapon upgrades as well.

A more powerful gun, the Mythril Gun, is now available for sale. Since Goug is

the only city that sells guns, though, you’ll have to walk all the way down

there if you want to buy it. (Note that the sea route between Goug and

Warjilis has vanished as of Chapter III.) It’s 2 points stronger and a

stronger guns never appears in stores, so it’s worth the trip if you didn’t

get the chance to steal them during the Gollund battle.

Purchase anything you want, then head to Orbonne Monastery. Note that

once you enter, you’ll be locked into a series of three battles, so make sure

that you’re well stocked with supplies. You could also pick up a few of the

Jade Armlet accessory, since they’ll be helpful in an upcoming battle, but

they’re fairly expensive and not really necessary.

At Orbonne Monastery, enter the Monastery Vaults (it’s the only option

available), where you’ll find Simon wounded. He tells you about Funebris’s

plot, and Ramza chases after the troops looking for the Virgo Stone. You’ll

have a chance to save your game. All you’d have to repeat if you died is that

short scene with Simon, but if you want to save, save in a separate slot

since you’re locked into a series of battle. The roster screen will come up,

then you will go down to the second floor and have a fight.

After beating the second floor, you have another save opportunity. Again,

save in a slot separate from your main file. For the next battle, you may want

to equip any accessories you have that boost your Jump statistic. After you

leave the roster screen, you’ll go to the third floor for another battle

against Isilud. Upon winning it, there’s yet another save point, and then the

last of the three battles, this time with Wiegraf. This time, equip any Jade

Armlets you have to protect yourself from his sword attacks. Afterwards,

Isilud escapes with a friend and your Zodiac Stones captive. Outside, Wiegraf

transforms in a rather frightening scene and Simon then shows up to give you

the Scriptures of Germonique.

Back on the map, go to the Chronicle option and check out your Artefacts.

Examine the Scriptures of Germonique and press Triangle to read it. After you

read it (which takes a while), go to Dorter. A mage will demand the Scriptures

and ask if you’ve read them. It doesn’t seem to matter what you say. When he

leaves, the route to Riovanes Castle will open. Try to leave Dorter (just

click anywhere on the map) and you’ll see an FMV scene with Delita and Ovelia.

After the scene concludes, go into Dorter and check out the shops, which once

again have some new equipment. The Power Garbs are a great buy; they’re good

new clothes that also raise your attack power. And don’t miss the White Robe

for your magick-users; you’ll have to scroll down through all the clothes to

find it. However, you may want to keep your Headbands and Celebrant’s Miters

instead of buying Black Cowls, since the Cowls don’t have any special stat

boost. Similarly, the Diamond Shields are not an especially great shield since

they don’t have any elemental properties, nor the magick block rate of the

Aegis Shield.

There are also a few new errands available down at Lionel Castle and the

Castled City of Zaland, as well as at Eagrose Castle. Taverns also offer a

new Rendezvous Mode mission, Desert Minefield. This one is relatively easy,

although tough to clear with just a few characters.

It’s now time to head north to Riovanes. As you head up through the Zeklaus

Desert, you’ll run into a fixed battle. Deploy your characters; if you have

anyone who can Poach or Entice/Tame monsters, they’re good to bring here.

There will be a CG scene, as Ramza jumps in to help Luso, and then the battle

starts. Defeat or recruit the enemy Behemoths and Luso will join up. (Luso is

the lead character from the Nintendo DS game Final Fantasy Tactics A2, not

coming to North America until later this year ... he’s just moonlighting here

:) .) He’s basically a clone of Ramza, but he has an intrinsic Poach ability

(no ability needs to be equipped for it). This makes him very handy for

treasure hunting, especially during the monster-laden random battles. (Story

battles, of course, contain mostly humans and Poach doesn’t work on them.)

On the other hand, you may want to de-equip Luso’s Icebrand sword and give it

to Agrias -- it will make her Holy Sword techniques extremely powerful!

If you poached any of the behemoths, you may want to go back to the Poachers’

Den in Dorter to see what you got, since a lot of these items can be quite

useful. If you recruited any of the behemoths, you’re even better off; you can

keep one behemoth on your team, have it breed other behemoths, and poach

*those*.

After helping out Luso, continue on up to Lesalia, where there is more new

stuff (bows, daggers, and swords). Then continue to the Grogh Heights. Equip

some accessories to boost your Jump and smash your way through here (I actually

felt kind of bad killing those guys off) and you’ll meet up with Orran again.

You’ll receive a Mythril Gun in spoils from the battle, so if you didn’t

bother to go to Goug to buy any Mythril Guns, equip this one now.

Your next stop is the Walled City of Yardrow. Here you’ll encounter Marach

(the guy you met in Dorter) and Rapha. You have to save Rapha from Marach and

the Riovanes soldiers. Deploy lots of healers and magick-users; skip the

archers. After the fight, Rapha discusses her past. (Why the Grand Duke wants

Rapha and Marach’s powers so badly is one of FF Tactics’s great unsolved

mysteries ;) .) Marach, meanwhile, delivers a amphibian ultimatum.

Rapha joins up as a guest for the next couple battles. She probably won’t be

all that helpful, though, since her Sky Mantra abilities only strike random

tiles in their effect radius and can’t be targeted too precisely.

Before you leave Yardrow, stop at the Outfitter and pick up some better

equipment for Rapha. But do NOT equip her with any "rare," non-buyable items

like the Barette or Healing Staff; if you do, you’ll lose them when Rapha goes

from being a Guest into a regular character.

There’s also good gear for your magick users: the Gold Hairpins, which raise

both your HP and MP a lot, and the Black Robe, which strengthens the power of

any of your fire-, ice-, or lighting-elemental spells. (You may want to keep

healers on the White Robe, since it’s got elemental defenses and they don’t

need the offensive capability.) There are also some new accessories; pick up a

pair of the speed-boosting Hermes Shoes for later use. The Bracer is also

available. It’s really expensive (50,000 gil), but it gives you a huge +3

attack boost, so buy one or two if you can afford them.

When you leave town, there will be another Delita battle. It’s a piece of

cake.

Back with Ramza’s squad, if you want to do further shopping, you can go back

down to Lesalia to buy new helmets, the Platinum Sword, and the Assassin’s

Dagger. If you have Ninjas, Samurais, or Dancers in the party, you may even

want to trek all the way back to Dorter, as you will find new weapons for those

three jobs there.

Clearing the battle at Yardrow also opens up another Rendezvous Mode mission,

Littering, which pits you against ten enemy Ninjas. If you bring characters

with the Sticky Fingers reaction ability, you can catch the weapons that the

Ninjas throw, which is a great way to build up your stock of weapons! You can

also start winning rare equipment from this mission, although your experience

level probably isn’t high enough yet for these items to appear.

When you’ve completed your shopping and catching spree, fight through the

Yuguewood and its undead inhabitants. Deploy Mustadio and his Seal Evil

ability will make quick work of them.

Don’t go on to Riovanes Castle just yet. It contains some very powerful

bosses, so you need to make sure you’re prepared. For Ramza, you’ll want the

Focus and Tailwind Squire abilities, as well as Auto-Potion from Chemist. Buy

a healthy stock (30+) of X-Potions. You’ll also want at least one pair of

Hermes Shoes and a Green Beret. (If you sold all your Green Berets, you can

buy another one at Yardrow.) Also helpful are Jujitsu Gis and Chameleon Robes

(both of which protect against instant KO) and Jade Armlets (protection against

Stop), particularly if you want to try to learn Ultima at Riovanes as opposed

to later. Since the Jade Armlets are pretty expensive, you may not want to

bother buying them unless you’re set on going for Ultima. (If you don’t get

Ultima now, you can also get it in Chapter IV.) Finally, if any characters are

close to reaching the Dragoon or Ninja jobs, you may want to bring them up to

those jobs, as they are quite helpful. Zeklaus Desert is a good place to level

up if you need to earn more JP.

When you think you’re ready, save your game, then pay a visit to Riovanes

Castle. You’ll see a scene with Barrington and the Templars, then have a

chance to save. Be SURE to save in a separate slot from your main game, so

that you can get out of the castle if you need to go back and level more/buy

stuff. If you save in your main slot, you may wind up STUCK and have to start

again from scratch!

You then go to the first of a series of three battles. Strip Rafa of all her

equipment; if she gets taken out quickly in the upcoming battle, Marach will

also disappear. Equip the Archer’s Bane or (preferably) Shirahadori ability on

any characters you can, as well as the Ignore Elevation or Teleport movement

abilities. If you have someone with the Golem summon, it’s also helpful.

Finally, equipping shields or capes for evasion may also be helpful. After you

defeat everyone outside the gate, a wounded Knight will crawl out, warning of

the Lucavi’s rampage.

Now, make sure you’re prepared. You’re about face a two-part battle against a

Zodiac-charged Wiegraf, and he is rather powerful. However, if you’re reading

this walkthrough and coming prepared ;), he isn’t that hard to beat. Before

the battle starts, set Ramza with the Mettle action ability and Auto-Potion

reaction ability. Next, you need to drop all your Potions and Hi-Potions. On

the roster screen, click on any character and go to Equipment. Choose View

List, find your Potions and Hi-Potions and select Discard. Throw away ALL of

them, so that you can only use X-Potions when Auto-Potion activates. As for

your othercharacters, make them into Dragoons or give them range weapons. Keep

Agrias as a Holy Knight if she has the Hallowed Bolt ability. (If your Ramza

is quite strong, you may not need such preparation--just give him Dual Wield or

Jump.) When you think you’re set, close the party roster screen and you’ll be

thrust into the battle against Wiegraf. (If you find yourself stuck in the

castle without these recommended abilities, I’ve listed some other alternate

tactics in the battle strategies below.)

If you win both rounds of the battle, you’ll go on to the last of this sequence

of battles, on the roof. Be sure to save again. For this battle, make Ramza

into a job with a high Speed stat (Ninja if available, otherwise Geomancer,

Thief, or Monk), and equip him with a Green Beret and Hermes Shoes to boost his

Speed as high as possible. Equipping the rest of the team with accessories

boosting Speed or Move is helpful as well.

You can also try to learn the Ultima spell during the rooftop battle. To do

so, you’ll need to deploy Luso (in his Game Hunter job), and equip the whole

team with Jade Armlets and either Chameleon Robes or Jujitsu Gis. (Keep Ramza

with the Hermes Shoes, though.) Or, if you took Alma’s Barette, you can also

equip that to protect a female character against both Stop AND KO. It’s pretty

challenging to learn Ultima here. There are other opportunities to learn the

spell in Chapter IV where you don’t have to contend with a suicidal Rapha and

will have a much easier time. So, unless you really like a challenge, I would

recommend waiting until Chapter IV.

Anyway, after you (eventually) ward off Elmdore and his assassins, Rapha will

use the Zodiac Stone to restore her family to a happy ending. You’ll get your

Zodiac Stones back, along with Wiegraf’s Aries stone and Isilud’s Pisces

stone.

Finally, Rapha and Marach will offer to join. You’ll probably want to take

Rapha, as her low Bravery makes her ideal for using Treasure Hunter. Marach

basically sucks, but if you don’t have a full roster already, there’s no harm

in signing him up. He’s pretty similar to Rapha in that his abilities strike

random tiles. What’s interesting is that they do more damage to enemies with

LOW Faith and get stronger when Marach has LOW Faith, the reverse of most

magick abilities. (Rapha’s abilities simply ignore Faith entirely.) If you

have an Orator lower Marach’s Faith, you can use Marach to attack the enemies

with magick while being resistant to magick himself, but the randomness of his

abilities still makes him not too useful.

%%%CHAPTER IV: IN THE NAME OF LOVE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk4

Chapter IV picks up right where Chapter III left off. After a brief scene

in Zeltennia Castle with Orlandeau and Orran, you’ll be plopped back on the

world map -- haven’t seen that for a while, huh? -- outside Riovanes.

Ramza’s appearance has changed again, giving him the ability to equip knight’s

swords, powerful weapons that you’ll start acquiring soon. He has also has a

new ability available (Shout), so be sure to learn that. You’ll note that

Squire does not appear as a Mastered job even if you learn all the abilities --

that’s because Ramza is missing the Ultima spell. If you managed to have Luso

learn it back on the roof, you can now have him cast it on Ramza in any battle

to teach it to Ramza. Otherwise, you’ll have a chance to learn Ultima for both

characters later on.

Be sure to change back to your normal jobs if you’re still altered from the

fights in Riovanes Castle. While you’re still at Riovanes, you can do a bit of

equipment upgrading. There are new swords, shields, and armor available. If

you visit Dorter, you can also buy new a ninja blade, katana, clothes (Gaia

Gear), the Yagyu Darkroods shuriken, and the Angel Ring accessory. Pick up

weapons you might need for you current jobs (and if you’re using Throw, stock

up on Darkroods). There are also a number of errands you can take in the

various towns, but many of them aren’t worth the time they take (and you

sometimes LOSE money on them), so it’s probably not worth the bother.

Now that you’re in Chapter IV, you can start accessing the game’s side quests.

First, assuming you still have Mustadio, you can head down to Goug to start the

Gollund Colliery quest, which will net you two great new characters (Beowulf

and Construct 8) as well as one OK one (Reis the Holy Dragon). This quest is

covered in the Gollund Colliery section below -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00col

to jump there.

Second, you can also access the event to earn the Tynar Rouge accessory ...

that is, IF you still have Mustadio, Agrias, Alicia, and Lavian on your team.

It occurs on 1 Cancer, which follows the month of Gemini, which follows Taurus.

So, if you’re in Gemini or Taurus, keep your head up about that. See the

Agrias’s Birthday section below for the full scoop on how to complete that

mission.

Finally, there’s a new Rendezvous Mode mission available, Shades of the Past.

This one is pretty easy if you have a good physical defense. If your level is

sufficiently high, you may start winning rare items from Rendezvous Mode!

If you don’t complete these sidequests now, don’t worry--they all have no

expiration date and you can always complete them later.

You’ll notice that a couple new routes have opened up from Riovanes: a shortcut

back towards Eagrose Castle, and another down towards Dorter leading through

the new Mount Bervenia location. You’ll need to visit Mount Bervenia later if

you’re doing the Cloud Subquest, but there’s not much to see there now.

Instead, you’ll want to head towards Zeltennia, where Ramza hopes to meet up

with Delita to discuss the Church’s plot. Go up to the pass near Lesalia.

This is a routine battle against the Order of the Southern Sky. Whip through

here and continue on towards the Free City of Bervenia.

Before you enter the town, equip the Safeguard ability on everybody who has it.

Archer’s Bane or Shirahadori, Jump, and Ignore Elevation or Teleport are also

helpful. In Bervenia, you’ll encounter -- and fight -- Isilud’s sister

Meliadoul, accompanied by some Summoners and Archers. She has some very useful

pieces of equipment (the Defender knight’s sword and the Chantage perfume), so

you may want to deploy someone with Steal and try to snag them, especially the

Chantage. (See the battle strategies for more tips on stealing.) If you don’t

get them here, there *are* other ways to get them, but it’s certainly worth

taking a shot at acquiring them here.

When you win the battle against Meliadoul, she’ll teleport away and you’ll be

able to visit the shops in town. The Outfitter doesn’t have anything new, but

if you were able to steal Meliadoul’s Defender and/or Chantage, equip them.

The Defender is the first knight’s sword you will have come across, which can

only be used a select few jobs (Knight, Dark Knight, plus Ramza’s Squire job

and Agrias’s Holy Knight job are the only ones who can use it now.)

Also, now that you’ve completed the battle at Bervenia, you can begin the

subquest to recruit Balthier. It requires trekking back down to Gollund and

later to Dorter, so you can either do it now or just wait until you pass

through that way a few battles later. For the full scoop on the Balthier

quest, see the Recruiting Balthier section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00balt to

jump down there.

When you first leave Bervenia, there will be another intermission with Delita

and Ovelia. Move on to Finnath Creek for another battle. You may want to

bring an Orator or someone else with Speechcraft and Beast Tongue as you may

able to recruit a Pig here. Instant-KO attacks (e.g. the Black Mage’s Death)

or petrification attacks (the Mystic’s Induration or Beowulf’s Break) will also

be helpful here.

After crossing the creek, you can finally get to Zeltennia Castle. Ramza will

go to the church, where he’ll meet Delita again. In an FMV scene, Delita

explains more of the church’s plan. Zalmour then shows up, and it’s fight time

(did you really think you could go somewhere without one?). With Delita’s

help, it’s quite easy. After the battle, you’ll meet with Valmafra, then

Delita will leave (bummer).

Strangely, the shops *still* don’t have anything new. But restock your items;

you’ll need lots of X-Potions. You may also want to grab a couple Aegis

Shields for any shield-using characters, if you don’t already have some in your

inventory. Then go to the Beddha Sandwaste, south of Bervenia. Here you’ll

encounter another Knight Templar, Barich, in a tough battle. To prepare

yourself, you may want to equip White Robes and Aegis Shields to protect

against enemy magic; deploying someone with the Esuna White Magick spell may

also be helpful. This is one the last difficult encounters of the game, as

pretty soon you... well, you’ll see.

After beating Barich (it may well take you a few tries), go to Fort Besselat.

You’ll have a choice as to whether to attack the south or north wall. Each is

a different battle. I find that the south wall is easier, especially if you

don’t have characters with a good Jump rating. Still, a good Jump stat is

useful for either battle, as are Shirahadori and Archer’s Bane.

Whichever way you go, you’ll end up at the floodgate. Save your game in a

different slot, then continue. There’s a second battle at the sluice. After

Ramza blows up the sluice, he, Orran, and Valmafra will rescue Orlandeau.

Orran goes back to Zeltennia to guard Ovelia, but Orlandeau THEN JOINS YOU!