Mt. Zozo


If you follow the pigeon from Maranda to Zozo, you'll find it near the entrance to the town. If you try to interact with it, it will fly up to the top of the Cafe. You may remember that there was a rusted door you could not open up there. That door remains sealed, so you should take the advice of the man in Maranda who advised you to find the one man in Zozo who tells the truth. As you explore, you will be attacked by the same Monsters that were present in the World of Balance, which should pose no threat to you now.

The man who tells the truth can be found wandering outside the Inn, north of the Cafe. He tells you that the rusted door leads to Mt. Zozo, and offers to sell you Rust Rid for 1,000 GP. Take him up on his offer, then climb the Cafe. Take the eastern door at the top of the stairs, then use the Rust Rid to open the western door on the top floor outside.

Encounters in Mt. Zozo

There is a minor theme of theft among the Monsters of Mt. Zozo, as you might expect given that Zozo itself is just below. You'll run into many Ursi in the interior caverns, and you should make it a priority to defeat them as soon as possible. They will Steal a large amount of GP from you, but unlike previous thieving enemies, they will run away in the second round, taking your GP with them! They have high Defense and Mag.Def but only 2,409 HP and a vulnerability to Fire, so you should be able to get them before they sneak off. Aside from Stealing normally, they can also do so as a counterattack.

A Punisher may appear alongside an Ursus, though they should be left alone until the Ursus is dealt with. Punishers can Steal, but they only do so in response to your own Steal attempts, and they don't run away to keep your GP. They have powerful physical attacks, and will use the double-damage Pummel as part of a combo every three rounds. This combo can score as many as three hits. Punishers are human, and vulnerable to Poison.

The other Monster dwelling in Mt. Zozo's caverns is Borras, a giant that attacks twice per round. Its normal attack is bad enough, but it will use Uppercut for quintuple damage on occasion. If the battle drags on long enough, it may even use Uppercut twice in the same round. Despite their size, they are considered human and thus vulnerable to the Man Eater, and they also have a weakness to Poison. It will likely take a few attacks to get through their 4,771 HP.

The outside Encounters also feature Borrases as well as two new enemies, Luridans and Scrappers. Near the Gold Hairpin chest, you'll even see a Borras teamed up with a Ursus and a Scrapper on occasion. Scrappers are straightforward enemies that have auto-Haste and use a combination of basic attacks and Knife specials for 50% extra damage, both as normal attacks and as counters. They are human like many of the denizens of Mt. Zozo, but absorb Poison rather than take extra damage from it. They have no other specific weaknesses.

Luridans are strange creatures that use a double-damage Horn special as well as their basic attack. They have a tendency to use Harvester to heal the Status of their group, as well as Kitty to grant them Haste. They don't appear with other Monsters but you will be attacked by as many as six of them at a time. Physical attacks won't do much damage to them, but they are vulnerable to both Fire and Wind.

Exploring Mt. Zozo

You start off in the northern part of a large Cavern that's divided into two parts. The nearby chest contains a Red Cap, while the chest to the west has an Ice Shld. The Ice Shld is a nice piece of equipment that absorbs Ice and prevents Fire damage while also teaching Ice 2 at a ×5 rate. Unfortunately it does give the wielder a weakness to Wind, which will become relevant in the near future. The Red Cap is somewhat lacking in Defense and Mag.Def, but offers a +4 Vigor bonus along with a +3 Speed bonus and +25% maximum HP. It's a good fit for offensively-minded physical attackers.

You can't jump between bridges, so the only path forward are the stairs near the Red Cap. They lead to the southern part of the East Cavern, a winding path with a Thunder Shld on it. Similar to the Ice Shld, the Thunder Shld absorbs Thunder, negates Wind, and halves Fire and Ice damage. As you might expect, it teaches Bolt 2 at the same ×5 rate. Continue on the path back to the northern part of the cavern where you'll find yet another shield, the Aegis Shld. It gives no Elemental protection, but does offer 40 MBlock%, almost as much as the Force Shld but with solid Defense as well.

At this point you'll see two doorways to the slopes of Mt. Zozo. The nearer door leads to a small area with a Gold Hairpin, a valuable Relic that halves MP consumption. Best of all, you don't need to sacrifice Mog to get it this time! The doorway further north leads to a long outdoor bridge. You'll pass over to the West Cavern where you'll see a conspicuous switch on the ground and a save point. You definitely want to save before hitting the switch, as it will release one of the eight legendary dragons, the Storm Drgn. The Storm Drgn will circle several times before attacking, so make sure you're well prepared. It has several powerful Wind-based attacks, so make sure you're using the Thunder Shld and not the Ice Shld.

Storm Drgn

The Storm Drgn is one of the toughest of the legendary dragons due to its intense damage output. Fortunately, it's an entirely optional battle, so you can always skip it and come back later if you're unprepared. The Storm Drgn has no counters, but all of its attacks are dangerous. Normal physical hits are the best case scenario because they hit only one Character at a time. Wind Slash and Rage will both deal heavy damage to the whole party, and while the Thunder Shld will protect you from Wind Slash, Rage is non-Elemental. Those are the only attacks you'll need to deal with for the first 26,640 of the Storm Drgn's 42,000 HP.

Once the Storm Drgn reaches the 15,360 HP threshold, it will start using Aero, Wing Saber, and Cyclonic instead of its previous Abilities. Aero is the least threatening of these, while Cyclonic is absolutely devastating if it hits. It is highly inaccurate, so high MBlock% (which is generally useful in this fight anyway) will help. Wing Saber deals tremendous damage and is likely to take out a Character in one shot.

This will be a long fight, so stay healed, use any Wind protection you have (the Force Shld you may have won from the Ice Dragon is another possibility), and pound the Storm Drgn with Thunder. Shell and other magic defenses can also help blunt its attack. When you are victorious, the Storm Drgn drops a set of Force Armor. This is powerful body Armor that isn't quite as intensely magic-focused as the Force Shld, but offers great Mag.Def and halves damage from five Elements (the three basic ones as well as Wind and Earth).


Once you've dealt with the Storm Drgn, or simply not released it at all, head south to another outdoor area. This leads to a room filled with silk flowers and a confession letter from Cyan to Lola. There is a chest here as well, but it is locked at the moment. Head outside to find Cyan sending a letter (not the confession, it should be said). He will rejoin the party, and advise you to seek out Gau on the Veldt. He'll also clean up the evidence of his correspondence with Lola.

If you want to open Cyan's chest, return to the outdoor area where you found him. You'll see a glowing light in the upper left corner of the area, which is the key to the chest. You'll find some of Cyan's Books within. Oddly, if you search the chest again, you get the notification that it's empty, but only once. When you're done here, either walk out or use Warp to leave quickly.


If you return to Maranda with Cyan in the party, you can get some closure on the Lola subplot. If you examine the letter on her table. Cyan will swap it with his confession letter. If you speak to her, she'll reveal that she knew something was up, though she'll do this even before you've actually swapped the letters, so maybe Cyan isn't as smooth as he thinks? You gain no tangible reward from doing this, but it sheds some light on Lola and Cyan's characters.