Star Ocean Walkthrough

By Meh1
Email: meh271@yahoo.com

Copyrighted 2004 to Meh1.
So don't rip it off or
post it at your site w/o
my permission. Thank you.



Version 0.8: This is my first version. There are probably some mistakes. But
             it will be a while before I can play the game again to find
             them. So I figure I might as well try to subit this one.


After playing and loving Star Ocean 2nd Story, I was quite thrilled to see
DeJap translating this game. As it allowed me to finally play the first
installment of the series. As I looked around on gamefaqs, I noticed that
the walkthroughs tend not be too detailed. So I figured I'd write one of
those step-by-step walkthroughs.




Note: Use the Find tool to search through the guide quickly.

*Section 1: Main Walkthrough*

  1.1 Introduction and the Moore Continent

    1.1.1 Intro
    1.1.2 Clatos
    1.1.3 Hot
    1.1.4 Portmis
    1.1.5 Pirates Hideout

  1.2 Continent of Astral

    1.2.1 Otanim
    1.2.2 Tataroy
    1.2.3 Astral Castle
    1.2.4 Astral Cave revisited
    1.2.5 Parj Temple
    1.2.6 Tropp

  1.3 Continent of Van

    1.3.1 Edcart
    1.3.2 Joshua's Side Quest
    1.3.3 Ionis
    1.3.4 Van

  1.4 The Four Emblems

    1.4.1 Sylvalant
    1.4.2 Getting Perisie
    1.4.3 Mt. Metox Cave
    1.4.4 Moore Emblem
    1.4.5 Astral Emblem and Getting Tinek
    1.4.6 Sylvalant Ruins

  1.5 Parj Temple and Final Preparation

    1.5.1 Parj Temple Inner Sanctum
    1.5.2 Final Preparation

  1.6 Return to the Future

    1.6.1 Demon World
    1.6.2 Space-Time Lab
    1.6.3 Revorse Tower

  1.7 Epilogue

    1.7.1 Oracle Room
    1.7.2 Bonus Dungeon: Seven Star Ruins(walkthrough coming soon...)

*Section 2: Information on Different Aspects of the Game*

  2.1 Private Actions
  2.2 Approval Rating
  2.3 Battle Arena
  2.4 Skills

*Section 3: Character Analysis*

  3.0 Recruiting Choices

  3.1 Ratix
    3.1.1 In-Battle Information
    3.1.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.2 Milly
    3.2.1 In-Battle Information
    3.2.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.3 Iria
    3.3.1 In-Battle Information
    3.3.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.4 Ronixis
    3.4.1 In-Battle Information
    3.4.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.5 Cius

    3.5.1 In-Battle Information
    3.5.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.6 Ashlay
    3.6.1 In-Battle Information
    3.6.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.7 Fear

    3.7.1 In-Battle Information
    3.7.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.8 Joshua

    3.8.1 In-Battle Information
    3.8.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.9 Marvel

    3.9.1 In-Battle Information
    3.9.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.10 Perisie

    3.10.1 In-Battle Information
    3.10.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.11 Tinek

    3.11.1 In-Battle Information
    3.11.2 Non-Battle Information

  3.12 Dorn

*Section 4: Item Creation/Specialty*

  4.0 Go through the Process

    4.0.1 Starting off
    4.0.2 Making money
    4.0.3 Upgrading to Ultimate Weapons

  4.1 Alchemy
  4.2 Art
  4.3 Authoring
  4.4 Compounding
  4.5 Cooking
  4.6 Crafting
  4.7 Cusomtize
  4.8 Dash
  4.9 Familiar
  4.10 Identify
  4.11 Music
  4.12 Oracle
  4.13 Scout
  4.14 Smithing
  4.15 Training

*Section 5: Credits*


Section 1. Main Walkthrough


1.1 Introduction and the Moore Continent

/1.1.1 Intro/

Items: Ressurection Bottle, Flare Bomb, Necklace, Savoryx2, 200 Fol, some

Before starting, you should consider looking at the character list. There
are several times when your decisions should be based on who you'll want in
your eventual party. So it's best to decide that now. Also, on occasions
when you don't want random encounters(which will happen often), the code to
turn off encounters is 7E028800.

After watching the opening sequence, you gain control of your party. Go into
the menu and look around. Personally, I'd take the message speed up to max.
Also look at the status menu. You can press A again to change the name.
Press X to look at your talents. Ratix should have at least 'Originality'.
And hopefully something else. 'Design Sense' and 'Writing Ability' are ones
you'll eventually need. If neither shows up, you might consider resetting.
Or you can just try to get them from other characters later.

Open the 3 treasure chests in the room, and exit. You'll meet up with some
thieves. Run into them for fights. Just bang the A button for easy wins. If
you've never played other Star Ocean games, the battle system might seem
strange. Don't worry too much about it now. You'll get used to it.
Afterwards, you'll fight the boss. Again, the battle should be easy. There's
no strategy involved. If you find him tough, use your flare bomb to deal
damage, and ressurection bottle to revive dead allies. It's possible for you
to die if you're a first time player and isn't used to the system. Just
start over. There's a lot of luck involved in these battles, as you'll soon
realize. Of course, the save-state system is pretty handy for situations
like this(for those who like to abuse it ^_^). A scene will follow.

When you gain control of Ratix again, you can now explore around. Before
talking to Milly on northeast part of the town, you can exit Clatos on the
south side. Save your game on the "world map". There's a blueberry and a
necklace here. There are random encounters too, which is good practice for
you. When you're ready, go up to Milly for another scene.

Now you have to follow Milly. Exit the town north to arrive at the world
map. The path is pretty much linear, so you shouldn't have many problems.
Besides, it's not a bad idea to gain some levels right now. But don't overdo
it. Dorn will leave you soon, so there's no point to level him up. On the
road to Cool are 2 Savories, Blueberry, and 200 Fols. None are a big deal.
So don't worry if you don't get them.

Upon reaching Cool, enter the house on the northeastern corner for a scene.
You now have to go to Mt. Metox. It's north of Cool. So go to Cool, exit
the town north, and you'll eventually reach Mt. Metox. Now go to the peak
for a loooooooooooong scene.

/1.1.2 Clato/

Items: Spectacles, 420 FOL, Blackberry

After waking up, Iria joins your party. Walk to Clato, and Iria will tell
you to find her some appropriate clothing. I believe a positive response
will raise her Approval Rating(AR for short, see General Information Section
for details) for you. AR isn't all that important, but there's no point in
lowering them if you don't have to.

Once in Clato, go into the first house you see on the right. Ask for clothes
and buy it. If you're really cheap, you can get some clothes for free from
an old lady in another house. But there's really no point. 10 Fol is nothing
in this game, and you get a rise in AR this way.

The treasures on on the east edge of the town. Grab them and walk back out
to give Iria her clothes. When she's finished dressing, you'll be able to
access Private Actions(PA for short, see General Information Section for
details). Basically, it allows you to enter town with your party split up,
so you can see what everyone does. Most of the time, you don't see much. But
there are some important scenes which can cause major changes in AR. It's
also necessary to get Perisie and several items.

When you're done in Clato, exit north to Hot.

/1.1.3 Hot/

Item: Flare Bomb

Here you'll see a swordsman talking to the weapon salesman. When he's gone,
explore around. But DON'T exit the town north, since you have no weapons and
would get clobbered by enemies. If you talk to Raddle the Traveler, tell him
Portmis is to the north.

Eventually, you'll want to go to the item store. First, buy all the skills
from the skill shop. For those who haven't played the other Star Ocean
games, I suggest you read the skills section of the guide. To get a hang of
it. For right now, just spend 1 SP on Gale to learn Dash. Now you can run by
holding down the B button. You can also use 1 SP to learn one level of
kichen knife. But don't bother spending more until you get the skill Effort,
which is much later in the game. I strongly recommend that you don't spend
any more SP point until you reach Ionis. You really don't need the skills

Now talk to the item shop owner and hear his proposal. Accept the job, and
he'll say you have no weapons. Now, if you want to recruit Cius into your
party, go back outside and save(IMPORTANT!). Now talk to the weapon shop
owner and agree to buy the sword. The swordsman will stop the transaction.
Return to the item shop for a scene. And Cius will join your party.

If you want Cius permanently, check his talents. Unless you don't care to
get his ultimate weapon, MAKE SURE he has the Originality talent. If not
reset and start from your last save. Note that his talents get decided after
you try to buy the sword. So you can't abuse the save state to try to change
his talents. It might take a while, as Cius doesn't start with Originality
often. But trust me, it's still much quicker than the alternative. If you
don't want Cius permanently, then it doesn't matter what he has.

Now go to sleep in the Inn. When you wake up, ask the item shop owner for
the pass to Portmis. Now exit the town north.

/1.1.4 Portmis/

Item: Ressurect Bottle x2*, ?Herb*, Spell Potion
*Found on the way to Portmis.

Go north and you'll reach Mt. Metox. On first screen, there's a hidden path
just a bit northeast of the stone tablet you immediately see. Walk left from
there and you can enter the Abandoned Mine. DO NOT run around in that place
unless you have a death wish. With your current equipment, you probably
can't survive the place until around lv40. Not even going all-out against
the weakest enemies will be possible(unless you've leveled up obscenely). So
don't even bother. But do remember this place for later on. For the cheaters
among you, go ahead and turn on the no-encounter code to loot the place(do
not run into the boss). Too bad there are several ?Guards in the dungeon,
and you'll need a decent level(3+ is good) identifier to use them. So you
can't use those for a while.

Mt. Metox is pretty linear. If you're going to keep Cius or you're a pretty
crappy RPG player, I suggest you level up around the healing spring right
now. Otherwise, wait for Cius to leave your party before leveling up. So it
will be more efficient. Either way, you'll need to gain some extra levels
for the upcoming dungeon bosses.

Going north from Mt. Metox will eventually get you to Portmis. Make sure
when you come across a fork between a bridge to the west and stairs to the
north, take the northern route. The bridge leads to a dead end.

There are several things to do in Portmis. If you gave Raddle the Traveler
the right directions, he'll be here and give you a Spell Potion. Go to the
Skills shop and buy the new skills. Go to the item shop and get some
blueberries(10 is a good number) and aquaberries(5 or so). Now go to the
weapon shop to receive your delivery item. Then upgrade all your equipment

Backtrack to Hot and give the statue to the owner. If you don't want to keep
Cius, de-equip him first. I know his stuff isn't worth much money, but it's
just the spirit of things. :) Now Cius will ask if you want him on your
journey. Make your decision and head back to Portmis.

/1.1.5 Pirates Hideout/

Items: Oops, forgot to write them down. Will add later...

Go to the Portmis port and try to ride the ship. You'll be told about the
pirates. Tell the sailor you'll take care of them. If you're not fully
healthy, rest first. When ready, take the boat to the hideout.

Make sure you save before entering, especially if you haven't been leveling.
There's a semi-rare random encounter of Velcant in this cave, which is
pretty difficult. Also, if you don't want to make a trip back to Portmis
beforehand, set your fighters so they don't use techniques.

There are three doors in the first room. Go to the right one first and grab
the chest. Return and enter the middle door. It won't open. But if you dash
towards it, the door will break down. Now go down to the 2nd level.

On the 2nd floor, take the south path and exit. Now go right and grab three
chests, and then take the bottom path. Press the switch to the right will
open the door south. Go through the door down to the 3rd level. Here, save
at the save point. Make sure Ratix has the Blaze Sword technique. And have
Iria and Cius(if you have him) AIs set on "Use All Your Strength". Then
break open the door for a mini-boss.

Boss: Velcant(2550 HP Weak against Fire), Bushwacker(450 HP), Robber Ax(500

First thing to do is to kill the Robber Ax, which can deal pretty hefty
damages if you don't have high levels(~17+). Iria is the best candidate to
do this, since her Chi Kung Fist keeps her a safe distance from any
attacks. If the AI does this with her automatically, you're set. Otherwise,
Iria will probably die from a few strikes. You can also attack him using
Ratix, but you might run into trouble if it blocks your attacks. After that,
kill the Bushwacker, which should be quick.

Now go after Velcant. Ratix can deal much more damage than Iria with his
Blaze Sword. So use him to attack. If you do, chances are the Iria/Cius AI
will just sit there. And only help you out if you're getting killed. If you
think this is stupid... you're quite right. But you just have to deal with
it. Make Iria/Cius the healer by having them giving Ratix blueberries to
keep his HP up. If you don't know how to do this, first press the B button.
Now press left/right to switch characters, and then press the X button to
bring up the item menu. If Ratix run out of MPs, give him a blackberry or
move him out of the way, and switch to Iria(making Ratix the healer).

Anyway, there's definitely luck involved in this battle, especially without
Cius. If you want to reduce the chance of getting screwed, then level up
some more. It took me three tries on my first game here, with just Iria and
Ratix at lv13. With Cius, I beat them at lv11 the first try. But that's with
a game's worth of experience.

Don't worry, boss battles in this game will become much easier later on.
Seems weird? Not really. It's just that you can power yourself up in many
other ways, rather than just by tedious leveling.

End Boss

Now open the three chests. Equip the flintstone. Now remember the gas you've
come across? Use the flintstone on the gases will cause them to explode, and
open up new passageways. But make sure you're not inside the gas area when
you use the flintstone, or you'll take damage.

But first, you probably want to go back to Portmis to heal. When you're
done, reenter the hideout. This time take the left door, detonate the gas,
and open up the chest. Return to the center door and go down to lv2 again.
Detonate the gas here to open up a passage right. In the next area, DON'T
detonate the gas. Go across and grab the chests. Now take the left passage
down, unless you want to lose HP to the spikes... Take the stair down to
the bottom. Here you'll see a save point. First go left and open the chest.
Return to the save point and go right, through the wall, to open another
chest. Now save your game. If you're weak, you might consider going back to
Portmis for another rest. Otherwise, bang through the door in the north. At
the fork, there's nothing on the left side. Bang the door on the right to
open up a boss fight.

Boss: Velcant Boss(5200 HP) Velcant(2550 HP, Weak against Fire)

Take on the Velcant yourself first. Pray that Iria or Iria/Cius don't get
clobbered by the Velcant Boss in the meantime. When Velcant's dead, attack
the boss and have your other fighters heal. This is a pretty tough fight
with just Iria and Ratix, unless the AI decides to have Iria just unload
with techs. With Cius the fight's easier, as both Cius and Iria will gang up
on the Velcant Boss, keeping him relatively occupied to dish out big damage.

Again, some luck's involved unless you have high levels.

End Boss

After defeating the boss, keep going for a room full of chests. Make sure
you grab all the chest first, and then talk to the little girl. You'll
automatically be transported back to Portmis. When the girl leaves, pick up
the Ocarina she dropped(just to the left of where she fell down). The little
boy in the port will also give you a St. Elmo if you talk to him.

Now take the ship to Otanim.

1.2 Continent of Astral

/1.2.1 Otanim/

Item: Poison Check

Not much to do here. There will be a scene if Cius is in your party. Visit
the skills shop and weapon shop for new stuff. There's a Poison Check in a
hidden chest on the northeast corner of the town. You can have the would-be
artist draw you, but all I've gotten were scribbles. :P There are also some
girls here who'll sell you their magazine. I've yet to find any use for
them, personally. When you're ready, leave to go to Tartory.

/1.2.2 Tataroy/

Item: Ressurection Bottle

Tataroy is a pretty important town, as the battle arena is here. Check out
the battle arena section for details on that. For right now, head to the
skills shop to buy new skills. If you want, you can try the battle arena
right now. How far you can get is totally dependent on your levels. Just
think of it as good practice and as leveling up. The good prizes are for
winning rank F and rank C. F gives you the trumpet, which is very helpful
for getting money. C gives you the arguably the best equipment in the game,
Star Guard(a shield) and a very powerful armor, especially at this point in
the game. But C is probably out of your reach right now.

NOTE: If you do somehow manage to get Rank C, Ratix will learn the 7-Star
Secret Skill. It will appear in his skill menu. Refer to the techniques
section on getting secret skills.

If Cius is not in your party, you can now recruit Ashlay. First go to the
audience section of the battle arena. He'll be there watching. Talk to him.
Now leave town to save your game. Reenter and go to the port on the right.
Talk to him again to have him join your party. Make sure he has Originality
before you go on the boat. You'll arrive in Astral Castle Town.

If you have Cius, or don't want to recruit Ashlay, you should now go to
Astral Castle Town. There are two ways. One is to go to the port and ride
a ship there. The other is to go there through the Astral Cave(exit to the
left side of the screen). I suggest you just take the boat unless you want
some blah treasures right now. If so, use "Part 2" of the Astral Cave

/1.2.3 Astral Castle Town/

Here three different(but similar) events can happen depending on your party

A) If Cius is in your party

Exit the dock for an event. When it's over, choose to explore the town. Buy
all the stuff you need. If you need money for Combat Skill 3, you can sell
an extra trumpet if you have more than one. Otherwise, just skip it. You
really don't have the SP to level up the powerful skills anyway. When you're
ready, go back to the inn and sleep. You'll wake up in the middle of the
night for an event.

When the event's over, you'll be in the Astral Cave. Fear will temporarily
join you. Don't worry about her talents. She gets a new set when you recruit
her permanently later on. For now, just be amazed at her ridculously good
regular attack, one of the best in the game(along with Ronixis').

B) If Ashlay is in your party

Exit the dock for an event. When it's over, choose the explore the town.
Try to enter the northeast door on the first floor of Ryas' mansion. You'll
see a scene. Buy all the stuff you need. If you need money for Combat Skill
3, you can sell an extra trumpet if you have more than one. Otherwise, just
skip it. You really don't have the SP to level up the powerful skills
anyway. When you're ready, go back to Ryas' Mansion and sleep. A scene will
follow, and you'll need to go to the Astral Cave. Exit south from the city.

C) If only Iria and Ratix are in your party

Choose to explore around. If you need money for Combat Skill 3, you can sell
ready, go back to the inn to sleep. Something will happen overnight. The
next day, you find out that Fear is in jail for murder. If you want to
recruit Fear, go to the jail cell in the castle. Talk to Fear and break her
out. Now you have to escape from Astral Castle Town. Do so through the
Astral Cave. Note that if you get Fear this way, she'll never acquire one of
her secret abilities. Not that the ability's any good. But I know how anal
many RPG players tend to be with these things.

If you don't want to recruit Fear right now, just leave town. I don't
believe you need to go through the Astral Cave. So it's up to you whether or
not you want to go in.

***NOTE: I have played up to this point in a game with neither Cius nor
Ashlay. However, I lost my save-state due to a boo-boo. So I'm not too sure
exactly what will happen for this next part. If any of you have completed
this part, please tell me what happens exactly. Thank you.

/1.2.4 Astral Cave/

Part 1: Going Downwards...

Items: Reverse Doll, Poison Charm, Spectacles

Enter the cave and head down. There's a healing statue here, but you
shouldn't need it. Save your game and exit on the southeast corner. Then
head down and right into the door. Grab the Reverse Doll, exit, and go down
stairs. Go right over the bridge and down the stairs. Now go straight down
into the next room. Keep following the path until you reach an intersection.
Go down first and into the door you see. Follow the path to a Poison Charm,
and return to the intersection. Now go north and down the stairs.

In the next part, first go into the left door you see. Flip the switch. The
bottom door leads to a Spectacles. You'll then see a save point. Save and
do your normal boss fight preparation(i.e. change AI settings, heal to full
HP, etc.) Now exit right and follow the path for a boss fight.

Boss: Black Widow(10,000 HP), Stroper x2(800 HP)

This should be an easy fight. Kill the Stropers first and go for the Widow.
Her attacks are nothing a good blueberry won't cure, and you can pretty much
stun her most of the time. Fear probably deals out the most damage right
among your party members(if you have her). Although she is a bit weak
defensively. Otherwise, use Ratix.

End Boss

If you have Ashlay, you'll have to walk back to Astral Castle Town(since you
automatically skipped this section earlier). If you have Cius, you'll be
transported back automatically. IN which case, head down to the Parj Temple
section. I'm not sure what happens if you have just Fear in your party.

If you do have to walk back out, use Part 2 below.

Part 2: Going Upwards...

Items: 1200 FOL, Fresh Bottle, Saber, Necklace, Claymore, Hard Knuckle,
       Flare Bomb

Return to the save point. Take the north path upstairs. At the intersection,
go down to reach a chest with 1200 FOL. Return to the intersection and go
right, up the door, and upstairs. In the next area, head straight down and
exit. Keep going until you reach a room with four paths(you should've came
in through the northwest door). Go down through the southwest door first
for three chests. Now take the northeast door, go right, exit north.

The next area has a save point. Save and exit north. The next room is fairly
complicated. There's a switch in the middle, along with 4 exits. Right now,
only the east exit is open. If you press the switch, the south exit will
open, and the east exit will close. Press it again, and only the west exit
will be open. If you just want to leave, press the switch three times will
open the north door. Exit through the north to leave the cave. Meanwhile,
going through the other paths will lead to some treasures. East path leads
to a Claymore, South leads to a Hard Knuckle, and West to a Flare bomb. So
basically, all crap.

When you open the north door, head straight up to the next room. Follow the
path to a room with the save point and a healing statue. Exit the cave

If you're doing this after defeating the Black Widow, go to the castle for
your scene.

NOTE: You will get a reward for killing the monster. One of the items is a
Cinderella Vial. Do not use it until I tell you. There are only a few in the
game, and you'll want to maximize their usage.

/1.2.5 Parj Temple/

Items: Moonite*, Ruby*, Smith Hammer*, Iron*, 1000 FOL*, Lion Statue*,
       Resist Ring, 18 SP(per person), Spell Potion, Ressurect Bottle.

*On the way to Parj Temple

During the scene following the Astral Cave, Fear will tell you about the
Parj Temple. You have a choice to go there or not. It's your choice. But you
can't get Joshua if you don't go there... The treasures are ok, but not that
great. The enemies are pretty good for leveling. But then again, you might
want to save your leveling until you get all the party members, so you can
choose who'll be in your permanent party. Anyway, it's up to you. If you
decide not to go to Parj Temple, then head down to the next section(Tropp).

Anyway, leave Astral Castle Town using the boat or, if you're in love with
the cave, Astral Cave. Head out Tataroy. The path is pretty linear at first.
There's a chest with a Moonite on the way. When you reach a fork, take the
north path. At the next fork, go right for two chests, then head left two
screens, before going up. Follow the linear path to two caves. Go into the
left one for two chests. Go into the right one to keep going. You'll come
to a wide area. There's a chest in the southeast corner. Then take the
stairs to the north. Ignore the west exit.

If you have Cius and want to recruit Joshua, you might consider save here,
so you can reset if you don't like his talents. With Ashlay, you can wait a
bit to get a save-state later. If you don't have someone with Rythmic Sense,
and don't plan on picking up Perisie, try to get Joshua to get this talent.
Otherwise, he really doesn't come with anythin too important. Originality
isn't a big deal, because Rods are all found, not customized.

Once up the stairs, you should get a scene. If you did not, it's either
because you chose not to come here when prompted, or only Iria and Ratix are
in your party. If that's the case, you can't go in the temple.

If Cius is in your party, you'll be prompted to make a choice during the
scene. If you choose to stop them, Ratix will break them up. If you don't,
Iria will do so. There's probably some AR involved, but not sure exactly...
Afterwards, Joshua will join.

If Ashlay's in your party, Joshua will go in by himself. Follow after him.

Note: The blue spheres in this place teleport you to earlier parts of the
temple. So try to avoid them.

Once in the temple, head up and go into the left door. Flip the switch on
the wall, exit, and head into the right door. Go up and left, into the door.
Take the Resist Ring and touch the crystals for 6 SP total. Return to the
fork and head up, through the door.

The next room has a bunch of blue spheres. Don't touch them unless you want
to start from the beginning of the room again. Eventually, you'll want to
reach the upper-right corner door. Going directly right and up is shorter,
but has a greater density of spheres. Going left is easier, but longer. Just
follow the blue spheres to avoid them. Make sure you don't stop at an
intersection, or you might run into another sphere.

Once you're through to the next room, go left and up the door. Now enter the
right door. Go up and right into the door. Flip the switch. Exit and head up
now, though the door. Head left and up through the door. Flip the switch and
exit. Go south through the door. Now head down and left. The doors here
should now be open. If not, then you haven't flipped the two switches. Go up
the stairs.

You'll eventually reach the room with a save point and a tablet. The tablet
gives you a hint. Basically, avoid the red spheres. Save and exit north. Now
go right and up through the door.

The two doors leads to crystals. One with 6 SP and the other for healing.
When done, head right. You'll come to a room with lots of red spheres. Don't
touch them. Instead touch the blue sphere in the middle.

Before you go up for the boss fight, note that it will be a surrounded
attack. 3 dogs in front and one in the back. So make sure Joshua isn't far
back. And be ready to have Ratix attack the one enemy in the back

Boss: 4 Wolf Shape(5000 HP)

Have Ratix attack the lone Wolf Shape behind you. Your other two fighters
should attack the other three. As long as Joshua's fine, he should provide
more than enough healing. So be sure to help him out whenever a Wolf Shape
gets close to him. It shouldn't be hard. If you can't beat them, try
controlling Joshua whenever you need him to do something. This will let you
deal some extra damage and heal more efficiently.

End Boss

Go up the door for a scene. You'll get to choose whether you want to keep
Joshua in the midst of it. Afterwards, head into the door to the north, into
the Parj Temple main entrance(this is where you'd be had you taken the west
path back at the beginning). Go up and exit through the right door. Now head
right and up into the door. Flip the switch and return to the main room. Now
take the left door for 6 SP. Exit and try to find a hidden path on the left
side of the room here. It's right below the third pillar down on the left
edge. Now exit the temple. There's nothing more here. Now go back to the
intersection with the signs, and head to Tropp.

/1.2.6 Tropp/

Items: Ressurect Bottle, Liquor Bottle, Iron, Stink Bomb, Sour Syrup,
       Cinderella Vial

Whether or not you went to Parj Temple, you'll need to eventually go to
Tropp. Go west from the intersection with the signs. On the screen with the
trees and water, you can search for 3 chests. On the next screen, you'll get
a scene. I haven't found the difference between the two answers. Either way,
go to Tropp.

Visit the shops in Tropp(you should know the drill by now). There's a
Cinderella Vial here. The port will have a ship to Portmis. So you can go
back and visit the crash site. I'm not sure if you can skip this, because
it's really annoying to have to backtrack all the way from Clato. Anyway, to
make things easier, here's the no-encounters code again. 7E028800. It's not
really cheating, because none of the monsters here can kill you now anyway.

When you're ready, get on the boat to Portmis. Backtrack to the crash site
near Clato. Note that now you might be able to take on the cave on
Mt. Metox. At least, you can take on some of the enemies in here. If you
don't mind using save-states, then try to have two alternate save states
after every battle. This way, you can reload if you find the tough enemies
impossible to beat. If you just want to dash in, grab some stuff, and leave
before getting killed, I suggest the following route. Otherwise, refer to
Mt. Metox Cave guide in section 1.4.6.

Head into the cave. Go down and exit right. Go right and down for a ?Guard.
Ignore the stairs. Now head up and exit to the right. On the next screen, go
right and up for a Darwven Guard, and down for a Cinderella Vial and Darwven
Sword. The sword is the most important item for right now, as it provides a
major attack boost. Now exit the cave.

Now head to Tropp again. You can also stop by the battle arena on the way
back. But if you wait a while, the battle arena will be easier. Your choice.
Take the ship to Edcart.

1.3 Continent of Van

/1.3.1 Edcart/

Once you arrive at Edcart, you may get a scene with Milly, depending on who
is in your party. If you see her, go to the inn to get her into your party.
If you don't, she'll show up later, so don't worry.

Not much to do in this town. Note that there are two item shops here. One
sells instruments. You'll need to come back here later to buy them. But you
don't have the money right now. Also, you should now have a complete set of
skills after buying the skills here. If not, you missed one earlier. Don't
worry too if you missed some. Just get them later.

When you're finished, exit south to go to Ionis. If you don't have Joshua in
your party, ignore the next section. Go straight to 1.3.3.

/1.3.2 Joshua's Side Quest/

Items: Forgot to write them down... :( But they're very good. Definitely
       worth the trip.

If Joshua's in your party, you'll get a scene soon after leaving Edcart. So
follow his directions and go left(the path's sort of hidden). Follow the
trail to meet Joshua's savior, Foster. You'll get a scene. Tell him you want
to clean out the monsters. Exit the house, and go up into the forest.

The monsters in the forest are fixed encounters. None of them should be
hard if you even decent levels. One kind of monster here can multiply. If
they aren't doing much damage to you, can wait a while before killing them,
to get extra experience. Clean out the place as the treasures are VERY good.
If you killed all the monsters, talk to Foster to get an Elven Bow. This
will be Ronixis' best weapon until the final dungeon.

/1.3.3 Ionis/

Items: Magic Card, Ressurect Bottle

Before you enter Ionis, do the whole saving deal if you're getting Marvel in
your party. VERY VERY important that she has Originality. If she does, you
can have her customize her ultimate weapon almost right away. Personally, I
think Marvel's one of the best(if not THE best) fighter in the game. So if
you're going to recruit her, you really should put her in your party. Note
that if you have Cius but not Joshua, you can't get Marvel. On the other
hand, if you ahve Ashlay or Joshua, she's basically forced into your party.
If none of them are around, you have a choice in the matter.

!!!NOTE: The item shop in this town carries all the items needed for item
creation. Item creation is the key to making your characters powerful.
From this point on in the game, you can start using it. But you probably
can't do all things you want to do right now. Read the Item Creation section
to see all the things you can do. Or you can try to mess around yourself.
Personally, I think you should at least try to start making tons of money.

Ok. So once you're done with all the item creation stuff you want to do,
leave town for Van. If you didn't do the Joshua's side quest, then Ronixis
won't have a weapon for right now. So don't put him in your party until you
can buy a bow.

Also, if you're not a skilled RPG player, I suggest you level up Milly a bit
right now(if you haven't already). Try to have her learn 'Cure All' before
advancing further. Then again, if your fighters have high levels(~30), you
probably won't be needing her healing much.

/1.3.4 Van/

Items: Spectacles, Emerald Ring*, Ressurection Mist*

*In the castle

On your way, when you come across a screen with many pillars on the bottom,
take the northern pass. Going west leads to a dead-end for now.

First do your shopping. The traveling salesman has Ressurect Bottles, which
could be helpful for next dungeon. The weapon shop has bows for Ronixis if
you want him in your party. Also, rest at the inn if you need to heal up. A
dungeon's coming up. When you're done, go up to the castle for a scene. Then
you'll be brought to the Trial Labyrith.

Trial Labyrith

Items: Stone Charm, Mithril

You can leave the place any time you want by going upstairs. In case you
need to rest or anything.

Also, if you're fighting against mages, have Ratix take them out quickly.
The spells they cast here can be really annoying. It's also the reason why
ydou'd want Milly to have Cure All if she's in your party.

First, go into the door to your left. Head up a bit, go left, and down into
a secret door. Follow the path to another door. Now head up and into the
first door you see. Grab the treasures and exit. Now go up and into the next
exit. Go through the door to your right. Keep going until you reach a fork.
Head up and right, through the door. There's a save point here. Save your
game. Keep going, flip the switch, and through the open door.

You'll now be in a room with lots of doors. There are seven total. I'll
number them 1 through 7 from left to right. They look like this.

    3   5
1 2       6 7

Door #4 leads to the boss and the exit.  But it's closed right now. The
other doors all have a switch. To open the middle door, flip the switch in
#7, #5, and #3 IN THAT ORDER. Note that you got a hint on a tablet earlier.
On the tablet, the 'O's represented the doors you need to open, and 'from
where the sun rises' meant you need to start from the east.

Once door #4 opens, you might want to go back and save again. Make sure you
are not in a formation where the mages are way in the back, because you
might get a surrounded attack. Also, give Ratix the Blaze Sword to deal
lots of damage. The boss is in the next room. When ready, go through door
#4. Keep walking and you'll be drawn into a seemingly-random battle, except
it's the boss. :)

Boss: Peryton(6800 HP Weak against Fire) 3 Whispers (3000 HP Weak against

Not too difficult, especially if you're using Joshua. His Ray spell should
deal lots of damage to all enemies. If you don't have Ray, use fire spells.
Take out the Whispers first, since they have less HP. Then go against
Peryton. His attacks are pretty strong, so a fighter may die. But who cares?
You can buy Ressurect Bottles now, so feel free to use them whenever needed.
As long as your healer doesn't get in trouble, this is an easy fight.

End Boss

Follow the path to the exit. You'll get a longish scene. Afterwards, go back
to the castle for some items. There's also a funny Romeo&Juliet parody in a
room on the top floor. :)

Now you'll have to get the emblems from the other three kings. You can get
them in any order, but it's much quicker to start with Sylvalant.

1.4 The Four Emblems

/1.4.1 Sylvalant/

Items: ?Gem(Sage Stone)*, Diamond*, Magic Card*, Charm**, Ressurect Mist,
       Blueberry, Damascus

*On the way to Sylvalant
**Milly's suppose to give you this at the exit if you open up a PA here, and
don't have Ashlay in your party. It does depend on her AR towards you
though. So if you don't see it. Do some PAs elsewhere which let her AR for
Ratix rise. The best one is in Hot, provided you didn't do the Jewelry PA
with Iria earlier.

Leave Van and head left at the fork. The guards will now let you pass. Once
you're in the cave, the enemies change. Depending on your levels, they can
be quite difficult. So make sure you have your AIs on their most aggressive
settings. And save often. Follow the signs and you'll arrive at Dulce. Dulce
has nothing new to offer. So rest if you need to. And then exit.

Now head left and follow the path. Two screens later, there's a semi-hidden
path to the north with 3 chests. Continue and you'll arrive at Sylvalant.

There are plenty of things to do here. But first, go to the castle to get an
audience with the king. Then search around the castle for some chests. When
you're done, leave the castle.

There are several noteworthy things about this town.

1. This town has the best weapon shop in the game. Granted, you'll find
better stuff later on, but for right now, this will do. If you plan on
getting Fear, buy a Baselard for her. If you plan on getting Perisie, get an
extra Cestus, and a Cat Suit. If you're getting Tinek, buy a Halberd. For
Fear, get a Baselard.

2. If you have Cius in your party(or perhaps only the lack of Ashlay's
required, not sure), open a PA and talk to Milly. She'll give you a Charm
when you exit town. She'll give you one every single time. So get two. Charm
is an accessory that only Ratix can equip. It's the 2nd best accessory in
the game, second only to Tri-Emblem. So until you can cough up the money for
the Tri-Emblems, this will serve as a good subsitute. Also, once your levels
are really high, you can equip one charm and one tri-emblem to cover all the
elemental protections. If you have Ashlay in your party, Milly can still
customize this item, with Ruby Persia I believe.

3. There's a hidden salesman in this town. To find him, first go to the
stairs to the castle. There are two trees to the right. He stands right
behind one of the trees. Talk to him to get an eye-popping item selection.

The important items here, of course, are Santa Boots and Tri-Emblems. Both
cost a ridiculous amount. Santa Boots has a chance to give you a random item
every time you sleep at the inn(got to equip it though). I've never gotten
anything good out of it. But then again, I'm impatient and only tried like
30 times. If you got something good from it, e-mail me. I'm sure there's
at least one super-rare item you can get to justify the high price.

Tri-Emblem, on the other hand, is very much worth the price. Remember the
Cinderella Vials I told you about? That's what' they're for. Using a
Cinderella Vial brings the price of Tri-Emblem down to 6,000,574. Now, if
you have 9,999,999 FOL, and 20 Violins in your inventory, you have the
equivalent of 11,999,999 FOL. Sell some other junk and you can easily
match the 12,001,148 price of TWO Tri-Emblems. This way, you can get two
discount Tri-Emblems for one Cinderella Vial. As far as I know, the best way
to make money is to duplicate Violins through art(read the item creation
section for details). I STRONGLY recommend that you get *at least* 6
Tri-Emblems. 8, of course, is optimal. 7 is fine if you have Fear or Joshua
in your party. Yes, the item is THAT good.

When you're done in Sylvalant, you can now go to either Moore or Astral.
If you're the type for wants to be fully prepared, journey back and forth
between Sylvalant and Otanim to get yourself all the Tri-Emblems you have
the patience for. Otanim has the Magic Colors you'll need to repeatedly
duplicate Violins. I suggest you get at least 2 Tri-Emblems, so you can get
all your fighters through Rank C easily. You'll want at least 4 Star Guards
to go through the rest of the game.

This walkthrough will take you through the Moore Kingdom first. This is more
efficent for those with pretty good levels(meaning you had no problems with
the enemies on your way to Sylvalant), or those who has managed to get a
good number of Tri-Emblems(which has got to be worth 10-20 levels).
Otherwise, I suggest you go down to 1.4.5 first, before returning to 1.4.2
to 1.4.4. Some battling in the Battle Arena, both in terms of experience and
equipment, will help you out.

/1.4.2 Getting Perisie/

Obviously, ignore this section if you don't plan on getting Perisie. Also
ignore this section if you don't have the Ocarina, since you need it to get

Note: It seems as if Perisie might not join if you don't have many members
in your party. One time, I tried to get her with only Cius and the four core
members, and the PA wouldn't show up. Once I recruited Fear and Tinek, I
could do the PA again. Perhaps there's AR involved in this. Not sure... If
someone can help me out, I'd be very grateful.

So basically, I suggest you create a save in Portmis. If you can't open the
PA in Clato, go down to 1.4.5 first and get the Astral Emblem. Then come
back and check. You'll want to get Perisie before you get the Moore Emblem,
so she'll get her secret skill.

To get Perisie, just go back to Clato. Again, stick on the no-encounter code
for those who can't stand the battles. Save your game at Clato, now open a

You'll see Milly and Iria standing with a cat. Talk to Milly and she'll ask
you to name the kitty. You'll want to call her Perisie, but other answers
will lead to some funny comments. So try the other ones if you want, but
eventually Perisie. After you've named her, equip Ratix with the Ocarina and
press A near them. You'll get scene and Perisie will join. If she doesn't
have Originality, reset and try again. Perisie's complete set of music
talent is quite useful if you're not into unlocking hidden talents.

/1.4.3 Mt. Metox Cave/

Items: Emerald Ring, Blueberry, Aquaberry, Dwarven Boots x2, Dwarven
       Guard x2, Dwarven Sword x2, Dwarven Helm x2, Dwarven Mail x2, Sweet
       Pot, Cinderella Glass, Astral Sword, Orihalcon x3, Rune Metal x3,

Remember this cave from way back in the game? If not, here are the
directions again. But be sure to buy Pickaxe from Hot or Portmis before you
go. Now go back to Mt. Metox. From the healing spring, walk right, down, and
left. There's a tablet here. The hidden entrance is a bit northeast of the
tablet. Just walk left and you'll run into the cave. Note that you will get
Dwarven Swords in this cave. They are Earth elemental, which will heal some
monsters in here. So keep whatever weapon you had except for the boss, or
until you leave the cave.

Once in, go all the way left and up to the dead end. Press A by the wall to
get a Rune Metal. You need to equip the Pickaxe for it to work. Now head
back down and go northeast at the fork(the bottom path has nothing). Then
head down at the next fork. Grab the chests. Go back up a bit, and right to
the next room.

Grab the chest and go up at the intersection. At the dead end, use the
pickaxe again for an Orihalcon. Go back to the intersection. Now head right
to the next screen. When you come to an intersection, go up and left for a
chest. Then all the way right to get pickaxe a rune metal. Go back to the
first intersection. Go right for a chest, and then down for three more
chests. Return to the previous screen. This time, head left, down, and down
the stairs.

Follow the path to a fork. Go left to the next screen. Now head up to
pickaxe an Orihalcon. Return and head up at the fork. Go up again at the
next fork to the next screen. Now head left for two chests, and then right
and up to pickaxe a rune metal. Return to the previous screen.

Now go right and take the upper path for two chests. Return and take the
lower path to the next screen. Here, go up to the next screen to pickaxe an
Orihalcon. Go back all the down, follow the path to another screen, and a
save point. Save your game and head up for a boss fight.

Boss: Punkponk(11,400 HP), Cunicuius x2(3,300 HP)

If you managed to make it this far into the cave and is still alive, this
boss is easy. Your healer will be enough for all the healing. Since the
bunnies tend to jump around, they won't be attacking very often. So just
concentrate on the Cunicuius first before going for the big fat one. :)

End Boss

Now head up and grab the chests. You can pickaxe a Mithril on the upperleft
corner. That's it for this cave.

/1.4.4 Moore Emblem/

Items: Extravagant Sword x3*, Extravagant Armor*, Extravagant Robe x2*,
       Extravagant Staff*, Ancient Scroll x2, Cure Paralysis, Cure Stone,
       Ressurect Bottle, Cat-Fu Secret Skill(for Perisie),

*Lost upon leaving the treasure room.

Go to Portmis and save outside. Rest if you need. Now head into Portmis and
go up to the castle entrance. You'll get a scene and be transported into a
dungeon. Once you've gotten the Extravagant equipments, DO NOT exit until
you've completed the cave. Because the chancellor will take them away. :(

Ok, the directions... Head up, right and into the door. Grab all the chests
and equip them. The Extravagant Swords should be your best weapon at this
time, provided you didn't go berserk on customizing. Also, note that Fear
can equip this weapon, even if it isn't a "short sword".

Now leave and head up the next door. Again grab/equip everything. Exit and
continue on. In the next room, you'll see another set of doors. The first
one has an Ancient Scroll(use it on either Iria or Tinek to learn a secret
skill) and two other chests. The second has Perisie's secret skill. Although
she must be in your party to learn it. The third one has nothing. Now exit
downstairs at the end of the path.

Here, go all the way down and turn left at first opportunity. Then follow
the path left and down(ignore the door) and go into the second door you see.
You'll get a second Ancient Scroll. Give it to Iria/Tinek. If you don't have
Tinek and want to recruit him, don't worry. The chancellor won't collect it.
Now exit and go right, down the stairs. Save at the save point. Go up for a
boss fight.

Boss: Succubus(25,800 HP), Shadow Beast x2(5,700 HP)

A pretty easy fight. Go for succubus yourself as your other party members
should be able to take care of the Shadow Beasts. The only attack that deals
major damage is when Succubus unleashes several arrows at you. Try to attack
her out of it. But if you can't, it still shouldn't kill you(unless your
levels/equipment absolutely sucks). So have Milly/Joshua heal you. If you
have top-notch equipments like double Tri-Emblems and Star Guards on
everyone, it should be a joke of a fight no matter your levels.

End Boss

You'll get the Moore Emblem after the fight. Exit the castle. If you have
Perisie, I suggest you do this little side quest to get the Bunny Whistle.
If don't have Perisie, skip this next mini-section.

*Getting the Bunny Whistle*

First, do a PA in Portmis and talk to Perisie at the castle gate. Do Save
first though, in case you die... Anyway, agree to get the treasure with her,
and you'll be transported into the treasure room. There are eneimes here,
which will be hard now that you only have two people and none of the
'Extravagant' equipments. Re-equip Ratix if you haven't done so, because you
don't have the Extravagant equipiments anymore. Now head up and go into the
second door you see. You'll get a scene and be transported back out.

Now, go to Hot and do a PA. Enter the item shop for an event. You'll now get
the Bunny Whistle. It allows you to ride the bunny, which goes extra
fast(try dashing with it ^_^). The biggest benefit is that there's no
encounters(!!!) while riding it. Too bad you can't use it in dungeons. You
can reuse this item however many times you want.

*End Bunny Whistle Quest*

When you're done in Portmis, take a ship to Astral(if you need the Astral
Emblem), Van(if you want to complete the quest now), or Sylvalant(to do the
optional Sylvalant Ruins). Head to the appropriate section.

/1.4.5 Astral Emblem and getting Tinek/

To get to Astral, take a ship to Otanim and walk to Tataroy. If you want to
get Tinek, just have Ratix fight in the Battle Arena. He'll show up on the
boss fight of rank D if Ratix is currently on rank D or lower. Otherwise,
he'll show up on the first boss fight you have. Beating him should be easy.
With 2 Tri-Emblems equiped, he should do 0 damage. Oh, and be sure to save
before fighting him, so he'll get Originality.

Take a boat to Astral Castle Town when you're ready. You can recruit Fear
here if you want. Don't worry too much about her talents. Her best weapon,
Extravagant Sword, is only permanantly obtainable from beating Gabriele(she
might randomly drop one).

If you've gotten the four emblems, you can now either go to the Sylvalant
Ruins, or directly to Van. Sylvalant Ruins is optional. So if you're in a
hurry to finish the game, go to Van.

/1.4.6 Sylvalant Ruins/

Items: Moonite, Sweet Syrup x2, Shadow Flower, Mithril Mesh x3, Mithril
       Greaves x3, Mithril Helm x3, Mithril Guard x3, Iria's Secret Skill,
       Dark Circle(magic for Joshua/Ronixis), Ignite Sword, Star Ruby, Air
       Blade x2, Reverse Doll x2, Rainbow Diamond

Note: This is an optional quest. You don't have to do this. As for the
treasure quality, it's not a big deal unless you want the spell and secret
skill it has to offer. The other treasures aren't great. However, if you
have Marvel or Marvel&Joshua, there is something very interesting in the
ruins. At the bottom of the ruins, you'll get a scene. This scene is pretty
uninteresting without Marvel. With her and not Joshua, it becomes a longer,
but semi-strange scene. With Joshua, you'll get a pretty major scene. But
Marvel will DIE afterwards. So if you want to watch it, make sure you save
beforehand. Unless you want Marvel to die, of course...

Ok, enough that, here are the directions. To get to the ruins from
Sylvalant, just exit the town and head right. Eventually you'll come to a
bridge. Just past it is a hidden path. So head up and run left into it to
enter the ruins. There's nothing of note further up this path, at least I
haven't found any. You'll just find the real ruins entrance(blocked), and
a place for plot elements later on.

Once inside the cave, go up and left all the way. There are two exits going
down here, with a combined 3 chests. Now head all the way right, and up
through the door. Go up and through the door, grab the chest. Now retrace
your steps all the way back to the entrance. Head up through the door. Now
go all the way left and up to the door. Grab the chest. Now exit and go
through the south exit.

Follow the path and you'll see two exits, one up and one down. The one down
leads to a switch that says you can't use, and I haven't figured out any way
to get it to work. So it's a dead-end. Head up through the door. The path
should be linear until you get to a save point. Save. Now go right and up,
through the door.

At the next intersection, go up for two chests. Then return and head right.
Keep going to find a semi-hidden chest on the way. Head up at the fork(going
left leads back to the exit). Grab the two chests. Now return all the way to
the save point.

Now head left and up through the door. Follow the path until you come to a
room with three doors. First go through the bottom door. Now go left to the
door on your left. Grab the chest, and return to the room with the three
doors. Now go through the upperleft door. You'll go through a long, linear
path. Until you reach a save point. Save your game, as a boss is coming up.
When you're ready, go left and up, through the door.

Boss: Ruin Guarder(25,000 HP)

This guy only has two attacks, one deals around 800 damage to all allies.
It's "magical", so defense won't affect the damage. I also don't think it
has any elemental properties, because even with all elements protected,
Ratix took the damage. It's possible that he'll use it twice in a row. So
it's best if your characters have over 1,700 HP. But if you don't, you can
still beat him(just some luck involved). Milly/Joshua AIs both should be
casting Cure All after this attack. So just concentrate on attacking and
keeping him stunned.

End Boss

Now loot the treasures in the rooms behind him. And return to the room with
the three doors. Go through the upper-right door. Keep going until you see
an intersection. Head right for a chest. Now go back to the intersection.
There's a semi-hidden path left here. So go left to the next room. Follow
the path downstairs. In the next room, there's nothing on the bottom. Take
the northern door to a room with an intersection. Go right and grab the
chests. Now go all the way left and grab the chests.

If you have Joshua and Marvel in your party. SAVE(easy for the 99% of you
using emulators) before you take the path going up. Because you'll get a
scene, and Marvel will leave your party afterwards. So unless you want to
ditch Marvel for another character, you'll want to reset after watching the
scene. When you're ready, go up. Note that if Marvel's not in your party,
you can "kill her" by choosing to help the girl in ice. If you don't help
the girl in the ice, nothing will happen. :)

When you're done, leave the ruins. Here are the directions for the quickest
manner. Go back to the room with the three doors. Head up the stairs and
go right. Enter the door above the save point. Follow the path until you
come to a fork. Go right, and up through the door. Now head right again, and
go down through the door. Head down to exit the ruins.

Now if you have all four emblems, go to Van to continue with the story.
Otherwise, finish collecting the emblems.

1.5 Parj Temple and Final Preparation

/1.5.1 Parj Inner Sanctum/

Items: Sweet Syrup x2, Fairy Ring, Mandrake x2, Lunatic Ring, Artemis Leaf,
       Meteorite,  Sour Syrup x2, Savory x2, Aqua Ring, Flare Ring, Rock,
       Fairy Potion, Wine,

Go to Van and talk to the king. He'll tell you to go to Parj temple. Do so.
If you've been here already, go all the way to where you met those floating
ladies. If you've never been in here, go back and read the section on Parj
Temple earlier. You'll get a scene and be transported to the Parj Inner

This dungeon, and the next one, are going to be major pain in the asses.
They are big and confusing. So if you ever get lost, put on the no-encounter
code so you won't get messed by the constant battles. If you have someone
with Sixth Sense and Scout ability, you can also avoid encounters. At lv10
Scout, you're pretty much guaranteed no encounters(at least I never got

From the entrance, head up and right. Go up the ramp and follow the path.
On the way is a chest. Keep going and down the stairs. Follow the path until
you see a fork. First, go down the stairs for two chests. Return and keep
going right and down the stairs. The door here is locked. There's a chest
semi-hidden here. Get it and then follow the lower-left path down.
Eventually, you'll reach a room with lots of doors and a save point. The
first door has a chest. You can't open the other doors yet. From the first
door, go up and right, down stairs.

Here you'll see three "switches" on the floor. Step on the top two, but not
the third one. Return to the previous room. Two of the locked doors here
will be open. Take the chests inside, and head up. Through the door you see
and down the stairs. Follow the path until you see a fork. Go to the left
first. Open the two doors on the way for two chests. Keep going to the end.
Where you'll open a chest for a Sour Syrup. Press A in front of the computer
in this room to get security card R.

Return to the intersection and head right this time. Grab the chest in the
door on the way. At the next fork, go up for a chest, and then left to reach
a locked door. Use the card on the flashing red light by the door to open
it. Then go down stairs.

In the next area, head left and up to grab two chests. Now go right and
follow the path, getting a chest(Savory) along the way. At the fork, first
head left to step on the switch. Then return and go up the stairs. Go down
the stairs when you can and head down to make sure the door's open. If it's
still locked, go back and step on the switch until it opens.

Now comes the really annoying part. You'll have to backtrack. *Sighs*
Here's the quickest way. Go down the path to the left of the now opened
door. Go up the stairs and head left(right leads to a chest containing an
useless Rock). Go through two doors and head right at the fork. Then go up
the first door you see, and up stairs. At the next screen, follow the path.
Keep going right at the intersection. Head up at the next fork(it's where
the three doors are). And go up stairs.

Follow the path and go right when you can. Head down stairs. Now you can
step on the bottom switch. Use the key on the red thingy by the door to open
it. Go back upstairs. Go into the now opened door for a chest. Then get the
blue key card at the top of the room. Now leave the room. Go left and down.
Then go left again to go up stairs.

Follow the path until you see a door with blue light by it. Open the door
with your card and grab the chest. Head up stairs and follow the path now.
Ignore the first stair. Go down the second stair and continue your trip of
going back up. Eventually, you'll reach the entrance. Head upwards from
there. The path is linear. Eventually, you'll reach a point where you'll
need the blue card. Use it and head down. Flip the switch. Now return to the
point where you started the backtracking. So read the directions backward
and you'll get there. :P

Go through the door and head downstairs. If this door isn't open, step on
the switch nearby. In the next room, if the door isn't open, you need to
step on the switch at the end of your backtracking just a moment ago. Now
you'll reach a save point(Thank God that's over, eh?). Save and go up to the
door. You'll get a puzzle. If you want, try to figure it out yourself. If
not, look down.


Here are the four sayings.

1. Thy fate thou ust not grieve.
2. Until the era of future generations.
3. Have courage.
4. Remain steadfast and resilent.

Take out the "helmet" meant the first first letters. So you end up with
"T", "U", "H", "R". Yeah, I know "Ruth" might be the first word to come to
your mind. But it's incorrect. Now try sounding out "Urth" and you might
find it sound like a word we know. :) Anyway, type URTH in to open the door.
You'll get a long scene. Yes, the snowman is now forever gone. :( :( :( ^_^

/1.5.2 Final Preparation/

First, you should pay a visit to the Demon World by going to Deserted
Island. Don't worry, you're not going through the dungeon yet. After getting
inside. Walk up to get a scene. You'll get into a boss fight.

Boss: Del Argasi(15,600 HP)

Pretty easy boss. His attacks shouldn't do much. And he doesn't have any big
devastating attacks(at least he never used any on me).

End Boss

You'll get a scene, and then another boss fight.

Boss: Del Argas(15,600 HP)

He's still easy. Attacks very slowly and easily just whacked to death.

End Boss

Now you'll get two Force Swords. Unless you've done Customization, they are
the best weapons you have. It's definitely a big attack boost for Fear, as
her attack is pretty weak.

Ok, you should probably do some preparation before going to the Demon World.
Yes, you can return from there, but you wouldn't want to considering the
hassles(remember the backtracking you did in Parj Temple Inner Sanctum?). So
might as well not even plan on the return trip. You do reach the point of no
return when you fight the boss there, though. So remember that you can't do
any of the next stuff at that time.

So, things to do...

1. Stock up on items. Actually, you probably won't need them if your levels
and equipments are good. I know I didn't. But you never know. Anyway, here
are my recommendations.

A) Spectacles x20: This is the most important item. There will be plenty of
armors in the final two dungeons that you'll need to identify. I will tell
you what each item is, so you don't have to use identify on all of them. Of
course, if you use Familiar(need Love of Animals talent), it's not a big

B) Ressurection Bottles x20: Less important if Milly has Raise Dead.

C) Blue/Blackberries x20: Backup healing

D) Cure Paralysis/Stone x20: Especially if you don't have Milly. If you do
have her, it's just backup.

2. Get Tri-Emblems if you want them. This is the last chance.

3. Customize weapons. Unless you've been cheating, you should've leveled up
a lot in Parj Temple. There should be enough SP for you to customize your
weapons now. It's not necessary, of course. The final dungeons aren't
difficult. But if you want to go through the bonus dungeon afterwards, these
weapons will come in handy. Might as well get them early. Look at my

4. Get your 4 Star Guards. From beating Rank C at the Battle Arena. You
should've done this a long time ago. But just in case...

5. Look at your equipments. You should be wearing Dwarven/Mithril Gear,
equipment won from battle arena, and bought from Sylvalant(or shoes from

6. The best place to level up is in the Demon World. Just stay near the
entrance. You can try to get some treasures from here. Before going on your
final trip. Then again, you probably don't need the levels.

The Return to the Future

/1.6.1 Demon World/

Items: Mandrake, Lavender, Berserk Sword, Slayer Sword, Rock, Orihalcon,
       Misty Symbol

You can always touch the statue to return to the outside world. Now head up
and left to grab a ?Herb(useless Mandrake) if you want. I wouldn't use a
spectacle for it, personally. Return to the main path and keep going up.
There's another useless ?Herb(Lavender) to your left along the way. At the
top, go left if you have Cius to get him some weapons. Otherwise, exit

If you went left... On the next screen, head all the way up for a
?Weapon(Berserk Sword). Then go left for another ?Weapon(Slayer Sword). Now
return to the previous screen and exit right. Keep going all the way right
for a ?Gem(Rock... no joke) if you're in the mood. If not, go generally to
the northeast direction. And exit the screen on the NE corner. Grab the
Orihalcon. Now return to the previous screen. Exit at the northwest corner.

On the next screen, go left and up for a Misty Symbol. Go head right, save,
and exit the screen. You'll get a scene here, and enter the Time & Space

/1.6.2 Time & Space Lab/

Items: Reverse Doll, Blackberry, Duel Suit x2, Protect Ring, Star Emblem,
       Blueberry x3, Sweet Syrup x2, Cure Paralysis, Duel Helm x2, Artemis
       Leaf, Stun Half, Sylvan Mail, Sylvan Helm, Cure Stone, Star Ruby,
       Cinderella Vial, Fairy Ring, Star Ring, Mithril

If you thought Parj Temple Inner Sanctum was torcher, you haven't seen
nothing yet. This place will make you want to kill yourself. Again, use
scout if you ever just get tired of battles. Your levels and equipment
should be good enough for the boss fights anyway.

Enter and grab the chest. Head up the stairs. Follow the path and go right
at the fork(or go up if you want a blackberry). Keep going, and take the
Duel Suit(equip it) along the way. Ignore the stairs and keep going left.
After a pretty long road, you'll see an intersection. Go left(going down or
right leads to dead ends). Grab the chest. Now return all the way to the
stairway. Head up the stairs when you see it. Follow the path, ignore the
stairs you see, and head north at the fork. Then follow the path and down
the stairs. Now. First head up and right for a Protect Ring and a Star
Emblem. Now go up the nearby stairs. Head right. If you want a blueberry,
head down the first set of stairs you see. Otherwise, keep going right, then
down, and finally go down the second set of stairs you see. Follow the path
to the next room.

Here, keep going right, ignore the door for now. Exit the screen to your
right. At the intersection, go straight right for two chests. Now return
to the intersection and head up. Keep going up on the next screen and you'll
see a door. Enter to get a Duel Helm. Return to the intersection and go back
left. Go into the door on the next screen. Follow the path upstairs. Go down
at first opportunity. Keep going to get a Duel Helm. Now return to the fork.
Go left now to exit the screen. Follow the path to the next room.

It's a bit hard to navigate around here. There are three exits. First head
down and take the exit on the lower-right if you want a ?Herb(Artemis Leaf).
Otherwise, go to the upper-left part to get a Sweet Syrup. The exit leads to
nothing. Now retrace your steps and take the left exit to the next area.

Keep going left at the intersection, as the other paths leads to nowhere. On
the next screen, ignore the door and keep going. Grab the chests. Identify
the ?Guards for a Sylvan Helm and Sylvan Mail. Now go back and up through
the door you passed up. Save your game and head up for a scene. You'll be in
a boss fight.

Boss: DARKEYE(25,800 HP), Death Charona x2(800 HP)

The Darkeye here is different(or at least seems that way) from the one in
the Battle Arena. It never managed to stone me, or even attack much. Anyway,
it's only a boss fight in name only. There's no way you could've made it to
this point in the game and have trouble with them.

End Boss

Now save again. And go through the door.

Also, note that this is the last chance you have to return to the real world
before you defeat the final game boss(you can return afterwards in a sort of
an epilogue). So if there's anything more you want to do, do it now.

When ready, go through the door. Head up and right, down the stairs. Go downa
and right. Exit the screen right. Grab the 3 chests. Backtrack up the
stairs. This time head all the way left, and down the stairs. First head
left and down for a blueberry and a ?Jewelry(Fairy Ring). Now return and
head right. Keep going right at the fork to reach two chests for a
?Gem(the rare Mithril) and ?Jewelry(Star Ring). Now return and head up at
the fork. At the next screen, save your game using the save state if you're
using an emulator. A boss fight's coming up.

Note: Going up is the point of no return. You'll have no access of the
outside world once you fight the next boss. So if you want to do anything
else, now's the time to do so.

When you're ready, Go up and through the door. You'll get in a boss fight.

Boss: Asmodeus(28,000 HP)

He has pretty high defense. So unless you have a pretty high attack power,
you'll deal pretty little damage. But Asmodeus is such a huge target, and
his attacks aren't terribly strong. So it's a pretty easy fight overall.

End Boss

You'll get a long scene. When you gain control of your party, heal if you
need. Walk up for two fights, and more scenes. You'll enter the Revorse

/1.6.3 Revorse Tower/

Items: Sour Syrup, Star Cloak x2, Star Guard, Magical Bikini, Reflex
       Armor x3, Doom Blade, Elven Cap x2, Meteor Swarm(Spell for Joshua and
       Ronixis), Hermit Helm, Marvel Sword, Sylvan Bow x2, Cat Band, Elven
       Boots, Duel Suit

Head up to a healing statue. Then keep going for a save point. At the fork,
exit the screen left. On the next screen, go into the first door to open the
four chests. The ?Guards are a Star Guard and a Magical Bikini. The Magical
Bikini has less defense than Duel Suit. So if Perisie has that on, don't
bother equipping it. Star Cloak might have less defense than Mithril Suit
for your magic users. But the extra evade and the elemental defense makes it
better overall, in my opinion.

Exit the room and head keep going left. Go up the next door for three more
chests. I'll mark this place as X. Now keep heading left to enter the next
door. Go through the upper door at the next fork. Keep going for two chests.
Now head down and go to the room right below where you came out. Grab the
chests. Now head back to the "X" I marked in my walkthrough earlier. Head
down and go through the first door you see. Grab the three chests. Now leave
and go into the door to your left.

Follow the path until you get to a fork. The bottom door's locked. So go up
through the door. At the next fork, head up first to grab three chests. The
?Guard is a Cat Band, which you should already have. There are 2 Sylvan Bows
for some weird reason, because only Ronixis can equip bows. Programming
error perhaps?

Now head down and follow a linear path for a while. When you reach a fork,
go down first for two chests. Now head all the way back up to hit a switch.
Remember the locked door I talked about earlier, the switch opens that door.
So backtrack to there and go through the door. Walk up the stairs to the
next level.

In the room with two doors, go through the left one first. You'll reach
three doors. The bottom-left door leads to nothing, but the other two leads
to chests. Go back to the previous room and head through the right door. Go
up stairs and save your game. Head up.

You see a switch here. It's part of a puzzle. The puzzle's pretty stupid, so
here's the answer. Ignore the first switch. Go through the left door. Ignore
the switch here, and go up through the door. Press the switch you see. Now
head backtrack to the previous room. Press the switch. Backtrack to the
first switch. Press it. Go into the right door. Press the switch. Go up
through the next door, and press the switch. Now head left, and the door
here leading up should be open. If not, you didn't press the switches in the
right order.

Head up the stairs for a save point. And be prepared for the final boss.
Then keep going up for a scene.

Boss: jie Revorse(31,000 HP)

This is the first of the final two bosses. Revorse hits fairly hard, but
usually only towards one person. So Fairy Light is enough for healing. His
defense is pretty much non-existent, so the high HP is easily taken off.

End Boss

After some more talking, you'll fight Revorse again.

Boss: Neo Revorse(32,000 HP)

He hits much harder than jie Revorse. Because he hits multiple times in
quick succession. That can quickly kill off a character. But if you keep him
stunned, that shouldn't be a problem. After all, you should have a pretty
high Link Combo now to do your multi-hit barrages. Just make sure you revive
anyone who dies.

Oh, and Neo Revorse has a magical attack that deals damage to all allies.
But none of my characters took damage, so I'm not sure which element it is.
Probably one of the elements covered by Tri-Emblems.

End Boss

Congratulations. Now you've beaten the game. Watch the ending. You have to
wait til the whole ending's done. And go to the next section for you can do

1.7 Epilogue

After you win the game, there will be a star by the last save of your game.
Load it. Now if you haven't done so, let someone learn the Oracle specialty.
Just level 1 is enough. Click Execute to enter the Oracle Room.

/1.7.1 Oracle Room/

You'll enter a room with five doors above you, and two exits. The exit on
the left leads to Tataroy Battle Arena, and by extension the rest of Roak.
The exit on the right leads to the screen just before you fight Revorse.
The doors leads to the game's programmers, who'll say different things to
you. The five doors require Oracle lv2, lv4, lv6, lv8, and lv10. They're not
really worth the SPs if you still want to go through the Seven Star Ruins.
otherwise, it's not like you need the SP for anything else.

There are some treasures in the room where you fought Asmodeus. It's not
much. But you might decide to go get them. The items are a Duel Suit, a Cure
Stone, and a Mithril.

/1.7.2 Seven Star Ruins/

Exit the Oracle room. From just where you enter in the Battle Arena, go up
one single step and you'll enter the Seven Star Ruins. Remember this place,
so you can come back whenever you want. You might want to do some
preparation before taking on this place. For those who have played Star
Ocean 2, this is the equivalent of the Cave of Trials. There are no save
point here, which shouldn't be a problem for emulator users. Otherwise, you
might want to be really prepared.

At this point in the game, attack magic has probably taken a back seat to
fighters, who can deal more efficient damage by linking your techniques.
Also, try to only use non-elemental weapons if you can.

<Detail walkthrough coming soon>


Section 2: Information on Different Aspects of the Game


2.1 Private Actions

At the entrance of a town, most of the time you'll see a sign for private
actions. If you press the Y button at this time, your party will split up
and enter the town.

In a way, private actions(PA for short) are optional quests for the plot,
similar to optional dungeons for gameplay. Most of the time, you'll just get
to see your fellow party members stroll around the city, and get a feel for
how they like to act. However, several PAs can lead to more important

A) Changing approval ratings

If you enter a PA where you have to make a choice, it will likely have an
affect on the approval ratings among the characters involved. A negative
response will make your fellow member approve of you less, and a positive
response will get the opposite result. However, it's not always that simple.
But generally, you can figure out what the results are after seeing the
whole PA. Personally, I'd recommend saving before engaging in any PA. So you
can reset if you get a bad response. Using the save-state is much easier, of
course. Especially if you want to purposely see some bad results just for
fun. :)

B) Getting Items

While I'm sure there are more, here are the ones I've found.

1. Bunny Whistle: To get this, first recruit Perisie. Then get the Moore
Emblem. Now do a PA in Portmis(save first) and talk to Perisie at the castle
gate. Agree to get the treasure and you'll be transported into the treasure
room. There are eneimes here, which will be hard now that you only have two
people and none of the 'Fantastic' equipments. But you only have to go all
the way into the second door. Hopefully, you won't run into any enemy. But
if you do and get killed, you can reset(hence the save). When you're done,
Bunny Whistle. It allows you to ride the bunny, which goes extra fast(try
dashing with it ^_^). The biggest benefit is that there's no ecounters(!!!)

2. Charm: You can get this if Cius is in your party. You can't get this if
Ashlay's in your party. I'm not sure what happens if you have neither.
Anyway, open a PA in Sylvalant. Talk t

3. Dragon Summon Secret Skill: You can get this if Ashlay's in your party.
Open a PA in Sylvalant right before going to fight Asmodeous. Ashlay will
tell you to see him(if his approval rating for you isn't bad). He's in the
castle somewhere, can't remember where... look around. Talk to him to get
the Dragon Summon Secret Skill.

2.2 Approval Rating

What you do in battles and during PAs can affect the approval rating(AR)
between characters. You can pretty much figure out whether the effect's
negative or positive fairly easily. Fighting together will raise AR. During
battles, helping one another will help with AR. Ignoring a character while
s/he's getting killed will hurt AR.

AR determines several things, like whether Milly gives you the Charm, or
whether Ashlay will teach you the Dragon Summon Secret Skill. During
battles, it determines how often a character will go "berserk"(turns red and
get boosts in attack power) in battle when someone else dies. I think it
also affects whether you get the "together endings" for Marvel/Joshua and
Cius/Fear. They'll only be seen together in the ending if they have good AR
for each other. Otherwise, they'll have single endings.

2.3 Battle Arena

The battle arena is in Tataroy. It there are 8 ranks, from H(easiest) to
A(hardest). There are 5 fights for each rank, with a "boss fight"(including
the obligatory boss music) in the fifth fight. You get a reward after winning
each rank.

I won't much bother with the enemies, since the strategy is stuff you can
figure out by yourself. And it's quite dependent on your level/equipment.
Do note that you'll fight Dragon Eye as the last fight of Rank A. He can turn
you to stone(instantly lose) with each attack, So make sure you only use long
range attacks. Ronixis with his bows(as long as he doesn't kill you while you
reload). Tinek with just his normal attack. Link Combo involving Marvel with
Hail Orb, Ratix with Air Slash, Perisie with Charming Pose(or several of her
other long range techs), Iria with Chi Kung Fist. He does have TONS of HP, so
be sure you're at a high level if you're relying on techs. Otherwise, your MP
will run out fast.

Here are the rewards worth mentioning.

Rank F - Music Set: You'll get an instrument and a music book. The instrument
                    is quite useful early in the game as a source of money.
                    And to duplicate using art, making you more money.

Rank D - Jewel Set: The important jewel here is the Mithril, which you can't
                    make through Alchemy, nor duplicate. So there are only a
                    set amount in the game you can get. Mithrils are needed
                    to make several ultimate weapons.

Rank C - Armor Set: You'll get either a Dwarven Mail or a Mithril Mesh, along
                    with a Star Guard. Star Guard is something you'll want 4
                    of as soon as you can get it. Not only does it give
                    insane Evade bonus, but it shoots off stars when you
                    block an attack. Plus, EVERYONE can equip it. It is the
                    best shield in the game.

Rank B - Cat Set: Only useful if you have or plan on getting Perisie. For
                  some characters, winning only gets you fairly useless Ruby
                  Persias. Some get you a Cat Band, and some get you Cat
                  Suit. Cat Suit can be bought, but Cat Band is Perisie's
                  best helmet, as far as I know.

Rank A - Deluxe Jewel Set: I think this also changes depending on who's
                           fighting. I've seen Rune Metals, Rainbow Diamonds,
                           and Orihalcons. None of them are a big deal if you
                           use the cooking trick for Smithing/Customize.
                           And Rainbow Diamonds can even be duplicated.
                           Pretty lame for a top prize.

2.4 Skills

Skills are needed to boost stats, set off combat skills, use Item Creations,
and use Specialties. You raise a skill level by spending SPs on them. SPs are
gained at level ups. The higher the level, the more SP you gain at level up.
The max level of any skill is 10.

Let's look at how you can use skills.

Stat Boost: Some skills will raise your stats when you level it up. For
            example, Kitchen Knife will raise your Str by 2 pts when you
            level it up once. At the max level of 10, you gain an extra 20
            Str to that character's stats.

Combat Skills: Combat skills are meant to help you in combat. Most combat
               skills are randomly applied during battles actions, with a
               higher chance of triggering at higher levels. For example,
               the skill Feint let your attack be unblocked. If it triggers,
               then the enemy will not block your attack. If it doesn't, the
               normal use of your accuracy stat, the enemy's evade stat, and
               some randomness will determine if your hit was a success.

Item Creation: This is outlined in section 4.

Specialties: Also outlined in section 4.

One thing to note is that there's a skill called Effort, which lowers the SP
needed to raise other skills. If you're the patient type, you might consider
raising this to level 10 before going into other skills(reading books and 1SP
skills notwithstanding). It does save SP in the long run.


Section 3. Character Analysis


3.0 Recruiting Choices

One of the major decisions in the game is to choose who you want in your
final party. There are four mandatory party members in this game. They are
Ratix, Milly, Ronixis, and Iria. Everyone else is optional. Of the 7
optional characters, you can only fit 4 into your party. Here's how to get
each one to join.

Cius - He'll offer to join after the delivery to Hot.
Ashlay - Talk to him in the Battle Arena audience section. He'll offer to
         join if Cius isn't in your party.
Joshua - Decide to go to Parj Temple when Fear asks you about it(imposssible
         if you decided not to recruit Fear, Cius, or Ashlay upon first
         reaching Astral Castle). Joshua will ask to join after finishing
         the temple
Marvel - Automatically joins if you have Joshua or Ashlay. Won't join if you
         just have Cius. Given the option to join(don't get drunk in Ionis)
         if you have none of Cius/Joshua/Ashlay.
Fear - If you have Cius or Ashlay, she'll ask to join on the Emblem quest.
       You can break her out of jail on your first trip to Astral if
       Cius/Ashlay are both not in your party. But you miss out on one of
       her secret techniques(which really is pretty crappy).
Tinek - After starting the Emblem quest, go to the battle arena. If Ratix
        is on rank D or below, you get a chance to fight Tinek on the final
        D battle. Otherwise, he'll show up on the final fight of the level
        you're currently on. Beat him and he'll ask to join. He's pretty
Perisie - After returning from the pirates base, pick up the Orcana after
          the cat-girl drops it. Once you start the emblem quest, return to
          Clato and open a PA. Talk to Milly, name the cat Perisie, and play
          the orcana there. Perisie will join.

I'd like to point out that there's a side story concerning Marvel and
Joshua. If you want to see every side to the story, you have to play the
game three times. Once with Joshua and Marvel in your party. Once with
Ashlay and Marvel in your party, and once w/o Marvel in your party. This
does not pertain to the other characters.

3.1 Ratix

/3.1.1 In-Battle Information/

Ratix is the main character in the game. And there is one major difference
between Ratix and your other characters. That is, he DOES NOT have an AI.
This means that if you're not controlling Ratix, he literally just stands
there doing nothing(or getting killed). For this reason, you will be
controlling Ratix most of the time.

Because any competent player can control characters better than the AI,
Ratix is seemingly a better fighter than others. The fact that he's always
in your party, and should have a higher level than other characters, doesn't
hurt this illusion. But the truth is, Ratix is only above average as a
fighter. And if Ratix had an AI, you won't find Ratix to be all that great.

Ratix's one of the best normal attack in the game, nice speed and range. For
the early parts of the game, you can get away with just banging the A button
in most battles. Even later on, you'll find yourself using his normal attack
quite a bit to save MP. I never found most of his techniques to be much use.
Blaze Sword is pretty good against the Pirate boss early. Later, I find Twin
Slash(later upgraded to 7-Star Twin Slash with his secret skill) and Air
Slash to be his best techs.

Twin Slash does a quick two-hit combo with fast startup and recovery time.
Each hit dealing damage same as his normal attack. Link it and the enemy
will unlikely have any recovery time between your Twin Slashes.

Air Slash should remind some of Dias' Airslash from Star Ocean 2. Ratix
slashes his sword and a wave comes out of his sword, aiming at the enemy.
This technique is great for several reasons. One, you can use it anywhere
on the field, provided it's not too close to the enemy(in which case Twin
Slash is better anyway). It has a fast startup time and a fast recovery
time. Link it together and you'll keep the enemy stunned far away. The wave
itself moves pretty fast, but can miss an enemy moving away.

Ratix's other techniques tend to be too slow for my taste. However, I
probably haven't given all of them a fair shot. If you think another of his
techniques is very useful, e-mail me and I'll try them out.

/3.1.2 Non-Battle Information/

Ratix always starts off the game with the talent Originality. 1/3 of the
time, that will be his only talent. Other times, he will randomly come with
another talent. I've never seen him start off with three talents. But that
might just be me. Since he should have the most SP of any characters, you'll
want him to invest for some item creation things. Authoring(uses the talent
Writing Ability) and Art(uses talent Design Sense) are two I'd pick.
Although Scout(uses talent Sixth Sense) is also good, in case you don't
recruit the characters who usually starts off with them - Cius, Tinek, and
Perisie. Starting off with Originality means he'll always be able to
Customize or Smithing. So that's always a plus.

3.2 Milly

/3.2.1 In-Battle Information/

Milly is the healer(Final Fantasy equivalent of White Mage) in this game.
She appears briefly in your party early in the game. Then disappear for a
long time, before rejoining in Edcart or Sylvalant(depending on your party
makeup) As the only dedicated healer of the game, Milly is fairly important.
Especially late in the game and in the bonus dungeon.

Unfortunately, she's not nearly as useful as her counterpart Rena of Star
Ocean 2. Not only does she not have quick attack-all spells to stun enemies,
high-powered healing in this game also isn't as important as in Star Ocean
2. Most of the times, Preisie and Joshua provide ample healing in terms of
damage. But Milly shines through her Dispel(gets rid of annoying Stone and
Paralysis conditions) and Raise Dead(Revives an ally). Her super healing is
also quite important for those taking on the bonus dungeon or Gabrielle.

Personally, I'd say if you want to just beat the game and want Joshua in
your party, don't bother with Milly. For those who want to do everything,
Joshua might be lacking.

If you're going to use Milly, make sure to turn off all her useless spells
like Deep Mist and Silence(use the Y button to do so). These spells are just
a waste of MP and space. You might want to turn on some of her status-up
spells for boss fights, as well as Press(to stun the boss). Otherwise, just
keep her healing spells and you're fine. For the really tough boss fights,
you should manually take control of Milly at times so she doesn't slack off.

/3.2.2 Non-Battle Information/

Milly always starts off with Blessing of Mana(no big deal), and usually 3
other talents. Don't worry too much about which ones she gets. And just use
her in item creation based on what she does have. Milly can also learn
all the talents fairly well(although still too slow for most people,
probably). So she's definitely quite flexible. If you want to use her for
the duration of the game, make her use her SP on item creations. This saves
up SPs of fighters, who needs to unload lots of SP on combat techniques like
fighting style, link combo, etc. On the other hand, Milly just needs to
level up Loudmouth to get her spells off quicker.

3.3 Iria

/3.3.1 Battling Information/

Along with Marvel, Iria probably would benefit most from an AI option of
"Always Use Techniques". Iria's normal attack is absolutely terrible. She
runs really close to the enemy, PAUSES, and then does a slow back-kick. So
lots of the times, she gets herself whacked before she can pull it off. In
contrast, her techniques tend to be really fast. And several put some
distance between her and the enemy. The problem is, the AI would use her
normal attacks 1/3-1/2 the time even on the most agressive setting. And when
she's not using her techniques in boss fights, she's a good candidate to die

Personally, I've found her very first technique, Chi Kung Fist, to be the
most useful. Iria has to set up an exact distance away from the enemy,
before she unleashes a projectile blow at the same damage as her regular
attack. It's very fast and easy to link for heavy, quick damage. Later, she
can get the upgraded Dragon Fist secret technique.

/3.3.2 Non-Battle Information/

Iria doesn't customize her own weapon. So it doesn't matter if she has
Originality. She has a good array of item creation talents.

Because Iria's with you for basically the whole game, she should rack up the
second most SP when you get to Ionis to begin your item creation. And she
seemingly always starts off with writing ability or design sense. So use her
for item creation if you want to do it early.

3. Ronixis

/3.4.1 In-Battle Information/

Ronixis is the attack mage of the game. But unlike most attack mages in
RPGs, Ronixis can also deal good damage with his bow. This would be
ridiculously useful in a Final Fantasy game, where Black Mages basically
hang around during normal encounters. But in Star Ocean, spells don't take
up many MPs, and MP recovery is pretty cheap and easy. Besides, the AI for
mages in the game tend to slack off a lot, rather than constantly using

Ronixis' bow is quite powerful, and has a very fast reload rate. And of
course, it has the incredible benefit of being able to attack from anywhere
on the field. The problem, though, is that Ronixis doesn't use his bows all
that often. I've personally tried all his settings. None of them seem to
make Ronixis do much shooting in battle. This is a shame, because if he does
attack at the rate of fighters, Ronixis would be much more useful. As it
stands, he's average to below average.

Ronixis' spells are a mixed bag. Most of his spells are elemental in nature,
which means you never know when he'll cast a spell which might heal the
enemy. He also slacks off a lot when it comes to spellcasting. So if you're
in a boss fight, it's a good idea to take control of him often to make sure
he's always doing something. Ronixis' spells also become less and less
useful as you level up. Because fighters' damage dealing capability rises at
a much quicker pace.

Motermouth is very important for Ronixis. If it suceeds, Ronix can usually
get in a spell at the very beginning of battle, dealing good damage and
stunning the enemies for a moment.

One note about Ronixis is that he absolutely shines in the battle arena. The
reason is simple. His bow allows him keep away from the enemy. And by just
banging the A button, he can kill most enemies without them even coming
close to Ronixis. This is actually quite useful, as he can easily win the
C level. The win gets you the all-important Star Guard, and a Mithril Mail,
which is very good at the time you get Ronixis. Having him first go through
the Battle Arena will make it much easier for other characters after him.

/3.4.2 Non-Battle Information/

Even worse than Iria, you can't check Ronixis' talents until midway through
the game. Despite the fact that it's chosen at the beginning. While he
doesn't customize his own weapons(all bows are found or bought), he is
needed to make Iria's ultimate weapon. It is going to be a *painful* process
to get him to unlock Originality. So hope that he'll get it. He can't unlock
hidden talents Sixth Sense, Love of Animals, or Sense of Taste. But that
shouldn't be a big deal.

3.5 Cius

/3.5.1 In-Battle Information/

Cius is kind of like Ratix, except his normal attacks sucks big time. It
looks good, it has good range, but it's slow as hell. He has some specials
similar to Ratix's. Most of them tend to be close range, and not the fastest
around. He does get to equip the heaviest armor types. But that's balanced
by his close-range of his attacks. Cius also for some reason has the most
weapons found in dungeons of any character in the game. It's as if half the
weapons found in the final two dungeons are for just him. Pretty weird...

Note that I haven't managed to get all his secret techniques. So one of them
might be more useful. But as of right now, I haven't seen any quick enough
attacks from Cius to make him really useful. Spirit Blast is ok, but his low
running speed makes it hard to execute.

/3.5.2 Non-Battle Information/

Do try to get Cius to start off with Originality, so he can get his ultimate
weapon, Cius Special. He does tend to start off with Sixth Sense, which is
good for people who hates random battles. Otherwise, don't expect much out
of him in terms of item creation.

3.6 Ashlay

/3.6.1 In-Battle Information/

Similar to Cius, except with a quicker regular attack. Like Cius, I haven't
found much use for him. Too slow in battle and too little MP. He does have
more HP than others, but his defense lags a bit. Especially in the
beginning. If you have some good combos for him, e-mail and I'll try them

/3.6.2 Non-Battle Informaton/

Ashlay's pretty much a non-factor in the item creation business. Just make
sure he has Originality, so he can customize his own ultimate weapon. Sixth
Sense is also a good talent to have, Ratix didn't start with it.

Ashlay's also useful for teaching Ratix his final secret skill. So recruit
him over Cius if you're a completionist.

3.7 Fear

/3.7.1 In-Battle Information/

I'm not sure how I should feel about Fear as a battle character. She has
arguably the best normal attack in the game. Fear would ran(pretty fast) at
the enemy, stops at a distance, and shoots out two flying short swords to
deal TWO hits on the enemy. She has several useful techniques, which
basically deals more hits with her sword. Raven Sword does damage on the
return, to possibly deal 4 hits. 3-Way shoots out three swords in three
different directions, which is pretty useful against multiple enemies. But
overall, only slightly above average in terms of damage potential.

Fear has two big downsides. First is that she only has one accessory slot to
use. Which means one less Tri-Emblem, or a Berserk Ring, or any other
accessory you might want to equip.

/3.7.2 Non-Battle Informaton/

You tend to get her pretty late in the game, and therefore won't really need
her talents. I haven't reseted much for her talents, so I'm not sure which
ones she tends to start with. Originality isn't a concern, since she can't
customize(as far as I know). Otherwise, just try to cover talents that you
don't have yet.

3.8 Joshua

/3.8.1 In-Battle Information/

Joshua is a mage with both healing and attack spells. Compared to Ronixis,
he has less attack spells, but not really that much worse off as an
attack mage. As a healer, Joshua lacks the top healing spells: Fairy Heal
(Full HP recovery to one character), Fairy Light(Full HP recovery to all
characters), Raise Dead(Revives Character), and Dispel(cures all statuses).
He also lacks stat-changing spells, which aren't very useful in the first
place, so it's not a big deal.

Joshua makes a fine healer for most of the game. But begins to lack towards
the end. Even worse in the bonus dungeon Seven Star Ruins. His attack spells
might be useful for random battles, but much less so in boss fights. He also
lacks a second accessory slot like Fear.

If you use Perisie, who has the healing tech Prismatic Dance, you can make
up for Joshua's lack of high level HP healing spells. You can also use
Ressurection Bottles and Cure Stone/Paralysis for status cure. But both are
much less efficient than Milly, especially if you have Motormouth at a high
level. Personally, I don't think the healing spells he lack are enough to
make up for his attack spells.

/3.8.2 Non-Battle Informaton/

Joshua tends to start with music talents. Try get him both music talents to
start off if you don't plan on getting Perisie. Otherwise, it really doesn't
matter what he starts with. Just use him for whatever his talents are good

3.9 Marvel

/3.9.1 In-Battle Information/

Like Iria, Marvel's regular attack sucks big time. Well, at least she
doesn't pause before her attack, and it's fairly quick. But she has to be
very close to the enemy to attack. Which is quite annoying as Marvel runs(if
you can call it that) VERY, VERY slowly. It's like she runs in place.

Marvel's techs are a much different story. She uses her orbs to generate
different projectiles at the enemy. They are long-ranged and other than
Raven Orb, can be thrown anywhere on the screen. If you link them together,
they tend to be thrown in very quick successions. Hail Orb's the best of the
bunch, with the best speed and fewest enemies with Ice elemental resistance.

At later parts of the game, Marvel can become a powerhouse. You can throw
Hail Orbs(linked x3/4) pretty much forever at bosses until it dies. She is
especially great in fights where you can't afford to take any damage at all.
Like the Gabrielle fight.

Another thing about Marvel is that she has the easiest obtainable ultimate
weapon in the game.

/3.9.2 Non-Battle Informaton/

Try to have her start with Originality. I know you have to wait a while for
the dialogues, but frame-skip should make it much quicker. You can then
immediately make her a Holy Orb. Making your battles easy. Otherwise, not
much to say about Marvel. She can unlock all the hidden talents(minus
Blessing of Mana, of course). So let her learn one if you're lacking.

3.10 Perisie

/3.10.1 In-Battle Information/

Considering how late you get her, Perisie starts at only lv5. So you have to
level her up. This isn't a big deal if you've bought some Tri-Emblems, which
allows her to stay alive quite easily. She should catch up quicker than you
might think. With SPs to work with than those starting at higher levels.

Provided Perisie isn't at a level deficiency, she's a very good fighter. She
runs very quick around the field, with a very quick regular attack. The
downside is, her regular attack has very short range, and can easily be
hammered if she gets blocked. It doesn't help that her defense isn't so
great. Her best weapon does get a +80 Accuracy though. Which makes up for
that a bit.

As for her techniques, I've found quite a few useful ones. She shines more
in random battles, because they tend to hit multiple enemies. Charming Pose
is probably her best technique. She releases one "heart" for every enemy on
the field, which has a decent tracking mechanism. It deals for around 2-3
times the damage of a regular attack when it hits. Link it to make quick
work of random encounters. Her effectiveness decreases somewhat for boss
fights. Or maybe it's just that I haven't found the best combination.

Overall, I think Perisie is a very good fighter. If you put her and Marvel
in your party, they'll barely have to move before dispatching all the
enemies with Link Combo.

/3.10.2 Non-Battle Informaton/

Perisie starts with both music talents. So she can start composing and
performing musics as soon as you get her. Also get her to start with
Originality. So she can make her 'Q Power Punch *'(best weapon name in the
game). She also tends to start with Sixth Sense, which is always useful in
the final dungeons.

3.11 Tinek

/3.11.1 In-Battle Information/

Like Perisie, Tinek has great running speed. His regular attack is a bit
slower, but has VERY good range and recovery speed. You can pretty much
keep the enemy stunned with his regular attack if you don't get blocked

Tinek's techniques are less impressive. None of them hit for too much
damage. And tend not to get all the hits in.

Tinek does shine in terms of pure stats. He has very good strength,
constitution, agility, and stamina. The high strength is somewhat tempered
by his lack of a good non-elemental weapon. His best is the Mecha Halberd,
which only has a 600 Atk Rating. His most powerful weapon, Offering, also
has the annoying property of being thunder elemental. Which tends to heal
quite a few enemies.

/3.11.2 Non-Battle Informaton/

Try to get Originality if you want to customize an Offering. Otherwise,
you only need Smithing to get Mecha Halberd. He tends to start with Sixth
Sense. So if you need it, this is pretty good. Otherwise, not of much use
outside the battles.

3.12 Dorn

Dorn is in your party for about 10 minutes at the beginning of the game. So
it's fairly pointless to level up with him in the party. Otherwise, he's not
too shabby. Basically Ratix w/o any techniques. Not that you actually need
any at that point in the game.


Section 4: Item Creation and Specialties


4.0 Go through the Process

This section basically tells you which item creation you should invest in,
and the order to use them most efficiently. To get the details of each
item creation/specialty, refer to each section on them.

/4.0.1 Starting Off/

You should put off item creation until you get to Ionis, where you hopefully
has bought all the skills(at least all the non-combat ones). You can start
later if you need more SPs, but not earlier.

First thing you should do is create an Author, who needs to have Writing
Ability as a talent. Level the author's Authoring up to level 10(or at least
8 or 9 if you don't have the SPs). You should probably level up some Effort
beforehand if this is a character you'll want to continue using. To save SPs
in the long run.

Now that you have your Author, have him/her start writing books. Do note
that you can only use books for level 7 or lower.  Write some books for
music(Musical Notation and Performance) if you want a musician. Write some
sketching books to create an artist. There are some skills you can't write
book for. But you can write a surprisingly high amount of skills. Biology
and Pyschology are two very useful(and expensive) skills you can just write.
Basically, try to write and feed books on all the skills which gives stat
boost. This will save up SPs for other skills.

You should also immediately create an Identifier, if you haven't already
done so.

You should eventually create a musician, a scout, a cook, a Smith, and an
animal lover(Familiar).

Also, have those who you'll want to customize ultimate weapons learn
Customize. You only need it at lv3. So lv7 Workmanship, lv1 Esthetic Sense,
and lv1 Functionality will work. See the Ultimate Weapons section on how to
go through the process.

****Cooking Trick****

I really should thank the gamefaqs board members for this trick. You'll need
it to successfully Smith and Customize in any decent amount of time. Here's
what you want to do. Go into the item creation menu. Save your state.
Perform your item creation. If it fails, load state. Cook once(doesn't
matter if it succeeds or fails). Now save your state. Try your item creation
again. If it fails, load your state and cook again... Repeat until you're


/4.0.2 Making Money/

To start off the moneymaking process, it would be best if you have earned
some instruments from winning Rank F of the Battle Arena. You tend to get a
trumpet for a win, although I've also gotten a sax and a harmonica from it.
Try to win two instruments on your first trip to Tataroy. Ratix should have
no problems beating Rank F, regardless of your level at that point in the
game. Iria is a bit iffy if you haven't leveled up much, since she's so
reliant on her techs. But personally, I have no difficulty making it through
with Ashlay, Cius, or Fear. So there's two instruments. If you recruited
none of those people, then well... you probably want to make a return trip
here before you start going. Instruments are the key because they can be
sold for so much money.

The second thing you need is an artist. If you have an author, have that
character write 7 sketching books. Then spend as much SP as you have to
raise your artist's level. Eventually you'll want your artist to be at level
10. But unless you want the money for Tri-Emblems, lv7-8 is more than

Now that you have all that settled, you'll want to buy some magic colors.
I know Ionis and Otanim have them, but not sure of other places. Duplicate
your trumpet/sax until you run out of magic colors. When you've earned
200,000 FOL(which should be quick), head to Edcart and buy a Violin. Then
just start duplicating Violins until you're satisfied with your money
supply. You might as well buy all the other instruments at this point.

Note: To make the process efficient, make sure to reorder the items by "New"
after you've duplicated your first instrument. This will bring it to the top
of the menu, allowing you to duplicate items just by pressing the A button.
Then you can just do some other stuff on the computer(like reading online
articles or something) while hitting the A button on your computer.

Later in the game, you might find you have the money to make Sage Stones out
of Alchemy. Sage Stones sell for more money than Violins, 150,000 to 100,000
Fol. But they're also extremely hard to make. But if you can somehow make
them at a similar success rate as Violins, it would be a better method of
making money.

So what to do with your money when you've gotten them? 1,000,000 FOL or so
is more than enough to buy basically everything you'll need for the rest of
your game. Except for Tri-Emblems and Santas Boots. These two items are sold
by a semi-hidden salesman in Sylvalant(see walkthrough for exact location).

Tri-Emblem is the best accessory in the game, although less useful at really
high levels when you take on the Seven Star Ruins. But even so, spend some
time buying them gives you a HUGE advantage for much of the game.

I've never found anything good in Santas Boots. But I'm sure there are
certainly items which are REALLY good, but the odds of getting them is just
too low for most people's(or at least my) patience. Feel free to try them if
you want.

Oh, and you should save your Cinderella Vials for this. The 25% off is
basically 2 million Fols off a single Tri-Emblem.

/4.0.3 Upgrading to Ultimate Weapons/

Note: Use the cooking trick(outlined in 4.0.1) will make this process much

A) Ratix: Aura Blade, Meteor Crash, Duel Sword

Duplicate your Longsword until you have a few. More if you also want to get
Ashlay's ultimate weapon.

Longsword+1 & Orihalcon -> Sylvance(Smithing)
Sylvance -> Aura Blade(Customize)

Longsword+1 & Meteorite -> Duel Sword(Smithing)

Aura Blade(1000 Atk Power, Light-Elemental) has the best attack power of any
of Ratix's weapons. However, you have to deal with occasionally healing and
enemy. Because it has elemental properties.

Duel Sword(760 Atk Power) has the best attack power of Ratix's non-elemental
weapons in the regular game. You can get his best non-elemental weapon,
Meteor Crash(820 Atk Power, +20 to Accuracy) in the bonus dungeon.

B) Ashlay: Murasame

Longsword+1 & Mithril -> Mithril Sword(Smithing)
Mithril Sword -> Murasame(Customize)

Not much to comment on. It's bar none the best weapon for Ashlay.

C) Cius: Cius Special

Claymore & Most non-buyable minerals(Damascus works) -> Claymore+1(Smithing)
Claymore & Mithril -> Silver Sword(Smithing)
Silver Sword -> Cius Special(Customize)

D) Tinek: Offering, Mecha Halberd

Buyable weapons for Tinek & most non-buyable minerals(Damascus works) ->
Long Spear+1(Smithing)
Long Spear+1 & Orihalcon -> Spinning Spear(Smithing)
Spinning Spear -> Offering(Customize)

Long Spear+1 & Damascus -> Mecha Halberd

Offering(1000 Atk Power, +10 to Accuracy, Thunder Elemental) has the
strongest attack power. But has the downside of being elemental in nature.
Thunder is not a good elemental property to have on a weapon.

Mecha Halberd(600 Atk Power, +50 to Accuracy) is Tinek's best non-elemental
weapon. But pretty crappy ultimate weapon in general.

E)Perisie: Q Power Punch *(Yes, there really is a star at the end ^_^)

Buyable knuckles & Most non-buyable minerals -> Knuckle+1(Smithing)
Knuckle+1 & Orihalcon -> Cat Fangs(Smithing)
Cat Fangs -> Q Power Punch *(Customize)

Q Power Punch *(1000 Atk Power, +80 to Accuracy) is the best ultimate weapon
of any character. Also the coolest name.

F)Marvel: Holy Orb

Rainbow Diamond -> Holy Orb(Customize)

Holy Orb(900 Atk Power, +10 to Accuracy, Stamina = 0) is the easiest
ultimate weapon to get, but also the most annoying with the drop in stamina.
It's fairly easy to get this weapon right after you recruit

G)Ronixis: Sylvan Bow

Found in the final dungeon.

H)Iria: Kaiser Knuckles

Knuckle+1 & Rune Metal -> Metal Fang(Smithing)
Metal Fang -> Kaiser Knuckle(Customize by *Ronixis* NOT Iria)

I)Fear: Extravagant Sword, Force Sword

Extravagant Sword is her best non-elemental weapon. It can be dropped by
optional boss Gabrielle. Force Sword's given to you during the story.

J)Milly/Joshua: Crest Rod

I think this is their best rod. You can't Smith or Customize any of the rods
in this game, as far as I know. I also do not know of any way to get
Extravagant Rods outside the Moore Treasury. Then again, unlike the weapons
in Star Ocean 2, Milly/Joshua's weapons will never increase their
intelligence(magic power). And there's no situation where you'll actually
want them to attack, Try getting them to die in the Battle Arena
notwithstanding. :)

4.1 Alchemy

Required Talent: Blessing of Mana
Required Skill: Technology, Fairy Lore, Minerology
Required Item: Iron

Alchemy lets you make minerals out of Iron. You can make any mineral other
than Mithril. You get a greater selection of minerals as your Alchemy level
increases. Here's a list of what you can make for each level. Note that it's
cumulative, so a lv5 Alchemist can make everything listed from lv2-lv5.

If you use the cooking trick, you probably won't need to ever use Alchemy. If
you play on a cartridge, or don't want to use save states, you'll need tons
of minerals to support your Smithing. The rare minerals tend to have
ridiculously low success rate. Count yourself lucky if you can get 2-3
Orihalcons from every 20 Irons you use.

level 1: Nothing
level 2: Silver, Gold
level 3: Ruby, Sapphire
level 4: Green Beryl
level 5: Crystal
level 6: Diamond
level 7: Star Ruby, Damascus
level 8: Rune Metal
level 9: Rainbow Diamond
level 10: Orihalcon, Sage's Stone

4.2 Art

Required Talent: Design Sense
Required Skill: Sketching
Required Item: Magic Color, Magic Card

Art lets you duplicate items. Each try costs you a Magic Color, a pretty
expensive item. Of course, you can't duplicate everything in the game. But
many items are worth duplicating. Instruments can be duplicated to get you
tons of money. Weapons can be duplicated so you can try more times at
Smithing. Unfortunately, the weapons you need for Customize tend to be
unduplicable :(

The Magic Card lets you make various items you can use in battle, as well as
portraits of your characters. Since you can't see the portraits in detail,
that's pointless. The items for battle that I made were pretty useless.

Art is also useful whenever you just happen to run out of something and needs
more of. Overall, strongly recommended that you have a level 10 Artist.

4.3 Authoring

Required Talent: Writing Ability
Required Skill: Writing
Required Item: Research Pen

Writing is one of the best abilities in the game. Each book you write can be
"read" by any characters, and raise one level on the skill for which the book
was written. For example, if you write a book on Kitchen Knife, then the
reader will gain a level in Kichen Knife. This only works up to level 7 of
each skill. And not all skills can you write books on. You can also only
write a book in a skill which you have at least one level of.

The books you write will help you save TONS of SP. Almost all of the
non-combat skills can be written. Even some of the big SP users, like
Biology. Try making sure your author have at least 1 level of every ability.
And have level 10 Writing for fastest book-writing.

4.4 Compounding

Required Talent: Not sure. Probably none, but maybe Blessing of Mana
Required Skill: Biology, Herbal Medicine, Psychology
Required Item: Various plants, like lavendar or Artemis Leaf(used up)

Compounding is where you take two plants, like mandrake or lavendar, and
combine them to make a potion. Basically ones you use in battle, whether for
stat changes, damage dealing, or healing.

I've never tried this much. I've read some lists on other FAQs about what you
can get. And none of them impresses me. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if
there's a particularly useful combo.

4.5 Cooking

Required Talent: Sense of Taste
Required Skill: Kitchen Knife, Recipe, Good Eye
Required item: Food ingredients, like Meat and Seafood(used up)

Cooking is a very cheap item creation ability, and one of the least useful.
What it does is make food out of raw ingredients that you buy in stores:
seafood, veggies, meat, etc. The result, if successful, is a food that's
fairly potent in healing. But only useable outside the battle. Unless you're
making a big, long trip into a dungeon where you'll have trouble healing,
which is usually never... this is pointless. But because the ingredients are
so cheap, you can use it to make it easier on other item creations(see
cooking trick in 4.0.1).

4.6 Crafting

Required Talent: Manual Dexterity
Required Skill: Mineralogy, Workmanship, Esthetic Sense
Required Item: Minerals(used up)

You can make different accessories out of different jewels. I've tried lots
of things and most of the results are crap. A good one is the helmet Dream
Crown(+40 Def, Elemental Defense of Fire, Thunder, Darkness, and Light). You
can make it from Rainbow Diamond. Another one you might like is the Berserk
Ring. It lets you be in "berserk" mode in battle, which doubles attack power.
But you also loses 1/2 defense. Useful in boss fights where you're really
outmatched, and your only hope is to kill the boss before he gets off his

4.7 Customize

Required Talent: Originality
Required Skill: Workmanship, Esthetic Sense, Functionality

Customize is the last step in making the best weapons of the game. It's
ridiculously expensive to level up SPwise. Both Esthetic Sense and
Functionality are expensive and can't be written into books. Thankfully, you
don't really need this at a high level. Just level 3(level 6 Workmanship,
level 1 Esthetic Sense, level 1 Functionality) is fine. Then use the cooking
trick(4.0.1) to get your weapons. As for what you can get with Customize,
check 4.0.3.

4.8 Dash

Required Talent: None
Required Skill: Gale

Dash allows you to, well, dash. If you have this skill(at ANY level), you can
run by pressing the B button. This is the only skill where level doesn't
matter, as long as it's greater than 0. :) So just spend 1 SP on Gale when
you buy the skill sets at Hot. You'll be able to dash for the rest of the

4.9 Familiar

Required Talent: Love of Animals
Required Skill: Animal Training, Whistling
Required Item: Bird Feed(used up)

Familiar opens up an "item shop" anywhere. Useful in deep dungeons(like
Revorse Tower or dee in Seven Star Ruins). What you can buy is dependent on
the level you have for Familiar. And you need more blackberries or something.

4.10 Identify

Required Talent: None(as far as I know)
Required Skill: Item Lore, Minerology, Herbal Medicine
Required Item: Spectacles(used up)

Identify is something you must have in this game. But you don't need it at a
high level. It lets you use spectacles to identify what those items that
starts with a '?' is. Success rate depends on the Identify level, and the
type of item. Powerful armors, for instance, are much harder to identify than
a mandrake.

While the first levels are pretty cheap, you still might want to
wait til Ionis before investing, because of the skill Effort. None of the
unidentifiable items before then are much good, anyway.

4.11 Music

Required Talent: Rythmic Sense, Pitch Sense(only in the Performance aspect)
Required Skill: Musical Notation, Performance
Required Item: Various Instruments, Composer's Pen(used up)

Playing music is a 2-step process. First you must write a song, then you can
perform the song. Writing the song requires Rythmic Sense. Just choose to
compose a song in the menu and the character will try to compose it. The
success rate's not great, but not terrible either. There are only 2 songs per
instruments, so don't try to compose any more than that.

Most of songs are pretty self-explanatory in the description. But I do want
to make notes of the Clarinet and the violin.

Violin 1 and 2 helps out with chances of successful item creation and chances
of learning a secret talent. Not too sure about them exactly.

Clarinet 1 will put you in battle with 4 Black Slimes(those in the Dwarven
Mines), provided you're in an area where you can battle, like the world map
or a dungeon. Pretty useful when you just reach Ionis, as you can gain gain
lots of exp by letting the slimes split.

Clarinet 2 will put in battle with Gabrielle and 3 Hound-Forms. Make sure to
SAVE before you try playing this, as Garielle is likely to obliterate you.
I have yet to find a good strategy for beating her(unless you cont high
levels and luck as 'strategies'). I'll have my own section for beating
Gabrielle once I have the time to study the fight.

Oh, and if you do manage to beat Gabrielle, she gives tons of experience and
sometimes an 'Extravagant' item.

4.12 Oracle

Required Talent: None
Required Skill: Radar, Piety, Playfulness

Oracle is only useful for game files which have the * by them, indicating
you've beaten the game with that save file. If you have an Oracle level of at
least 1, you can 'Execute' it to enter the Oracle Room(see 1.7.1 for
details). At higher levels, you can enter the locked doors in the Oralce
Rooms. Where you get to hear stuffs from the developers. Make sure you spend
your SPs on raising oracle levels only if you don't need it for anything
else(or save, go into the doors, and reload the save). Because the SPs are
better used elsewhere.

4.13 Scout

Required Talent: Sixth Sense
Required Skill: Danger Sense

This allows you to change your encounter settings in the menu. You can choose
to have more encounters, or less. And the effect depends on the level of
Scout. I don't believe the character with Sixth Sense is required to be in
your active party. Just as long as someone has the talent.

Very useful in big dungeons or revisiting early parts of the game. Unlike
Scout for Star Ocean 2, Scout can let you have almost no encounters at level

4.14 Smithing

Required Talent: Originality
Required Skill: Forging, Minerology
Required Item: Smith Hammer(used up), A Mineral(used up), A Weapon(used up)

Smithing gives you the mid-level weapons in the game, some of them needed to
customize your ultimate weapons. Look at section 4.0.3 for specific
combinations. You will use up a Smith Hammer every time you use Smithing.

4.15 Training

Required Talent: None
Required Skill: Effort, Perseverence, Patience

It gives extra experience in battles, in return for lowering your stats. I
never saw any difference myself...


Section 5: Credits


I would like to thank the other FAQs on this site, which I used to figure out
many of the things I can't figure out. Especially to IKelley and LBL.

Also, I'd like to thank the posters on the Gamefaqs message board. Many of
them are much better at the game than I am.

Major thanks to DeJap, who did a marvelous job at translating this game and
many other games. Allowing American players like me to enjoy these games
which never made it to the US. Thanks for all the hard work they put into
this translation.

Also thanks to CJayC for such a great site.


Copyright 2004 to Meh1