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3. WALKTHROUGH
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The vast majority of the treasures in FFXII are random, so it doesn't

make sense for me to list them in the walkthrough. With that said,
you should check all the obvious dead ends and so on the map, since
it will often lead to treasure for you. You can even find things like
Gambits occasionally, so collect as much as you can.

Upon selecting New Game from the title menu, you'll be given a quick
version of the Config screen. Here you can change everything under
the System heading (Controller Vibration, Screen Vibration, Subtitles,
Flicker Filter, Sound, Screen Position). When you're done, simply
choose the top option (ゲームを開始) to start the game.

After the opening movie, you'll be given some quick history and
narration. Incidentally, you can skip most movies and cutscenes
simply by pausing with Start, and then pressing O to skip. This can
be extremely helpful if you have to replay a section, or if you're
on your second time through the game.

NALBINA FORTRESS
You'll begin with a quick tutorial, with Basch telling you about the
basic controls in the game. You're playing a soldier named Rex. Basch
will tell you to look around with the right stick. Go ahead and pan
the camera around. Next he'll tell you that the left stick is used
for movement. Tipping it slightly will make you walk, while full tilt
causes you to run. Run up to Basch. Now he'll tell you about the little
smiley face above his head. People with these icons can be spoken to.
Get up closer to Basch until his name and a O icon appear over his
head, then choose O to begin the conversation. While talking, you
can use the T button and scroll up and down to see previous snippets
of a conversation, in case you scroll through something too quickly.
Basch will now tell you to go and talk to the other soldier in the
distance. Go and do so.
Now you'll have to open the door and head inside the fortress. Again,
to open the door walk up to it and wait for the icon prompt to pop up,
then hit O. Inside you'll have your first battle. You'll have several
friends join you, so don't worry about it. Dispatch the troops and
press onwards. One of the flying battleships, a Remora, will now come
and harry you. Your group will attack. It has a "Remora Bomb" attack
that can hit several people at once, but it's nothing to worry about.
Once you have it down to half health or so, Basch will finish it off
automatically with his Mist Knack.
Keep going and you'll be inside the fortress. You can press Select
at any time to check the map. You'll need to head up the stairs.
Remember to check the corners and such for some treasures. Soon you'll
encounter a save point, which take the form of a giant blue crystal. After
awhile, you'll get a small event where the rest of the party goes on
ahead, leaving Rex alone to fight some soldiers by himself. They're
really nothing to worry about. Once you reach the top floor, there
will be an event, and the prologue ends.

ROYAL CITY OF RABANASTRE

王都ラバナスタ
As the game proper begins, you'll be controlling Vaan, killing rats in
a cellar. Isn't that typical of an RPG? Once you do so, after talking
with Penelo a bit, you'll get the World Map option added to your menu.
Head towards Miguero's item shop (marked by a green pouch on the city
map) for another event. You'll be told to go find your younger brother
at the bar. It's a ways north from the item shop, so go on over there.
Inside you'll encounter Tomaji, who will give you a beginner's guide
on how the License system works; you'll also get a Clan Report to keep
track of your progress. For more details on how Licenses work, see
the gameplay section above. In any case you'll get an Orakea Bracelet
free from Tomaji, which raises your max HP by 25. Tomaji will also
give you a message, as well as induct you into the Mob Hunt system.
You'll be asked to go out to the Eastern desert and hunt the Stray
Tomato monster.
Before you go out East, there's a couple more things you can do in
town. Most of the shops are open for business. Also, if you go up to
the west side of the northern district and talk to the Banga
guarding the door marked as "???", you'll show him your Clan Report
and he'll let you inside. Talk to the Moogle, Montblanc, on the
second floor of the building and you'll be inducted into the Clan,
Clan Centrio. Now you can come back and get rewards for your clan
ranks as well as utilize the clan shop, which is in the area just
south of the clan HQ. Speak to Montblanc a second time to get three
Potions for free.
Your map will tell you where to go. In the area with three gates to
the west, south, and east, only the east gate will be open at this
time. In this area speaking to one of the Banga merchants will get you
a request to deliver a package (たのまれた届け物). Speak to the guard
in front of the east gate and you'll eventually be let outside. Here
you'll find a save point as well as the merchant you are supposed
to deliver the package to. When you're ready, head out into the
desert itself.

DALMASCA ESTERSAND
東ダルマスカ砂漠
The enemies here aren't threatening at all. You can use Vaan's Steal
command (盗む) to get items from the monsters, which you can use or sell for
money. Soon, you should find your target, the Stray Tomato.

MOB: Stray Tomato

134 HP
Weak Against Water
This guy isn't too tough. Once you take down some of his health, he'll
hop down the cliff in an attempt to run away. Circle around down and
intercept him. He can use fire magic that takes off 20-30 HP, so be
careful and watch your health.

With that Mob Hunt done, it's time to head back to town. Vaan will
automatically spot a rare blossoming Galbana Flower and take it before
you go. Now is a good time to get more license points if you should
want. However, watch out for the Wildsaurus (ワイルドザウルス) monster
lurking around here. He is way too high level for you and can do
thousands of damage per hit, which of course will kill you. So keep
your distance from him. He won't aggro unless you really get in his
way.

ROYAL CITY OF RABANASTRE

王都ラバナスタ
At the door you'll have another short event with your brother. After some
hoopla with the gate guards you'll finally be let back into town. From
here on you can leave town freely, as well as go to the Downtown district.
The stairs to Downtown are marked as green staircases on your map; there
are several of them. But before you do, talk to Tomaji back at the bar
and report your success in ridding the world of a fierce tomato. You'll
get 300 Gil, 2 Potions, and a Teleport Stone.
Your goal now is to talk to old man Daran, who lives in the southern part
of Downtown. But before you do, you might as well put your hard-earned
License Points to good use. I recommend learning the licenses for Libra
and Cure. Keep in mind that after learning those licenses, you also have to
buy them, from the skills shop and magic shop respectively, to actually
use them.
Vaan will ask Daran how he can sneak into the palace. You'll be told that
there is a way in, but you'll need the power of a sunstone (太陽石) to do
so. To find one, you'll have to go out to the Giza Plains to the south.
When you're finished up in town, head out and south now.

GIZA PLAINS
ギーザ草原
A short ways south of the southern gate, you'll find a camp set up
with some people inside. You'll need to talk to the leader, Mashua
(マシュア). Seems that one of the kids who normally goes out to collect
the sunstones hasn't returned yet. Your turn to go and find him.
Penelo shows up and she'll go with you. Talk to Camina (カミナ) for
info on how to find the kid.
Upon leaving the camp Penelo will give you 3 Potions and 2 Phoenix Downs.
Handy! You'll also be able to choose Gambit now (though you won't be able
to customize the Gambit system triggers yet), as well as choose a party
leader (press up or down on the directional pad). Your goal is a small
area to the south You can choose either east or west to loop around and
get there. Once you do, you'll find Jin. He'll tell you he's alright, and
that he just needs to rest a little. In the meantime he'll ask you to
complete making the Sunstone. He explains that the giant crystals in the
area that radiate light are used to charge the Sunstones. He'll then
give you a Shadowstone (陰石). If you look at your map, you'll see the
locations of the glowing crystals now marked on your map. You need to go
to each of them and examine them to charge your stone. The amount you get
charged is random; if you're lucky you could get it charged in as little
as two crystals. Either way, charge it to 100%. You'll be taken back to
Jin. Afterwards back at the camp, Mashua will thank you and give you one
of the Sunstones as a reward (it's what Vaan wanted in the first place),
as well as 50 Gil, 2 Potions, and 2 Teleport Stones.
With all that done, head back to town.

ROYAL CITY OF RABANASTRE

王都ラバナスタ
Penelo will depart from your party now. Boo. Go back to Daran's and hand
over the Sunstone. Daran will tell you about a hidden passage into the
palace and give you an item necessary to find the treasure you seek,
the Crescent Stone (クレセントストーン). To get to the hidden passage, you'll
need to go to the storage room #5 on the north end of the Downtown
area. This small room has two doors. The one to the east simply leads
to the area where Vaan was killing rats earlier. The one to the west
will go into the Garamscythe Waterway, which is the way into the palace.
Once you enter, you will not be able to return to town until you finish
the next portion of the game, so be prepared before going in. If you
don't have Cure and Libra yet, now is the time to buy them.

GARAMSYTHE WATERWAY
ガラムサイズ水路
Use your map frequently. There's generally only one way to go, so it's
not too confusing. If you Steal from the bat-like enemies here, you'll
occasionally get a Teleport Stone. Not only are these useful, but they
also sell for 100 Gil apiece, which is a big deal at this point in the
game.
It's a long way to the palace, but as long as you have Cure you should
be fine. Just don't let too many rats gang up on you at once. Once
you reach the end, you'll emerge in the Palace cellar.

THE ROYAL PALACE OF RABANASTRE

ラバナスタ王宮
Speak to the servants mulling around, then try and go upstairs. A
guard will block your way. Talk to the nearby servant, and he'll
introduce you to a minigame of sorts. Press S to call the guard over,
then slip around him without getting too close and go up the stairs.
Yeah, it's the worst minigame ever conceived. On this floor, you'll
need to pull the guards out of the way. You're looking for a lion
seal on the ground. You'll find it near the top. Again, press S to
move the guards from one side of the hallway to the other, and don't
get too close, or you'll be booted back to the beginning. The guards
on the east side cannot be pulled away from the stairs, but they also
won't bother you either unless you run into them.
Once you find the Lion Seal, examine it. You'll see a small scene
where a strange light begins glowing in the wall. Go over to the
northwest and examine the wall that you just saw. A secret passage
will then open. Continue down the corridor here. The door is locked,
but behind you there is a switch on the wall.
Inside the treasure room you'll get your first introduction to Balflear
and Fran. Vaan will take a random treasure, the Goddess Magic Stone
(女神の魔石), and run. When you're back in control, run up the stairs
for a short while to see another scene. After the chaos subsides, you'll
end up back in the Garamsythe Waterway with a full party of Vaan,
Balflear, and Fran.

GARAMSCYTHE WATERWAY
ガラムサイズ水路
At this point you can now customize Gambits. Chances are you won't have
too many triggers to work with, though. Fran and Balflear both start
out with ranged weapons, so they'll generally hang in the back while
you do your thing. Fran also comes with Cure as well as Fire, which
will be quite helpful in a bit.
Just outside the first area, head east and you'll find a treasure pot.
It has a map to the area inside, so pick it up and use the map often.
Head generally southwards. After awhile, you'll see another event
with somebody under attack. She'll introduce herself as Amalia, and
you'll get her as a Guest character. Guests do not take orders and
you can't change their equipment. Still, Amalia's set up quite well
and you'll have an easier time in the upcoming fights. With that said
your first fight will immediately be against some knights. These won't
be too hard, just gang up on one at a time to take them down.
A little bit further on, you'll get an actual boss battle, against
a nostalgic FF monster, the Puddings.
BOSS: Pudding x4
280 HP
Weak Against Fire
There is one bigger Pudding (プリン A in the enemy list) and three smaller
ones. The smaller ones have less health, and also cast Cure on the
large one, so take out the smaller ones first. Fran's Fire is
extremely effective against the Puddings.

You're not done yet. Once you reach the end, past another save point
is the real boss of this area.

BOSS: Bushfire
3571 HP
Weak Against Water
Here's where things can get rough. This boss uses an attack, also
called Bushfire, which does fire damage plus poison effect. Hopefully
you'll have several antidotes (毒消し) handy; if not, keep those Cure
spells coming. Don't let Fran cast Fire, either; it won't do much.
Whittle it down while you can and don't be too afraid to use healing
items. You should have plenty of Potions by now.

After defeating the boss, you'll get another series of events. One
thing leads to another, and your characters get thrown into jail.

THE NALBINA DUNGEONS

ナルビナ要塞地下牢
After some more scenes of your new home, go north for even more scenes
and you'll get into a fight with three wardens. This battle isn't much
fun at all. All of your equipment is gone, so you're down to punching
people. Hopefully Vaan has Cure, or else you'll be in real trouble.
After the battle, you'll get some scenes with a menacing Judge as well as
a Banga who's out for Balflear's head for some reason. You'll get your
equipment back. You'll also automatically get a map of the area.
Proceeding onwards, you'll find Basch, who's supposed to be dead. The
years certainly haven't treated him well. It turns out that Rex, who you
played in the beginning, is Vaan's older brother; Vaan blames Basch for
Rex's death. Basch will join your party only as a guest at this point;
now it's on to the underground way out.

THE BARHEIM PASSAGE

バルハイム地下道
Here's your first dungeon that's a little tricky. In the first area,
examine the switch in the central platform. It's not working. Downstairs
you'll find a shopkeeper. He'll note that the power in the dungeon
is low, and therefore the doors won't open. He'll give you a Fuse.
Take it to the machine upstairs and start up the machine. This will
charge up the energy to 100%. Opening the doors require 30% of the
charge.
Here's the catch in the dungeon. There are enemies called Battery Mimics
(バッテリミミック) which chew on the power cables here, slowly diminishing the
energy supply. If you defeat a Battery Mimic, the energy will recharge
somewhat. Thus, it's often better to charge straight for the Battery Mimic
and ignore other enemies until the Battery Mimic is dead. These guys
use an electrical area attack and can also use the energy to heal
themselves for about 200 a pop, so be careful. If the battery ever reaches
zero, some very hard monsters will pop out, so avoid this if at all
possible.
Once you obtain the map of the area (in a path that dead ends north in
the first large area you come to), you can see the location of the exposed
cables, so you should be able to tell where the Battery Mimics are going
to go. In any case, press onwards. Basch is extremely weak at this point,
and will probably die. In many cases it's easier to just leave him dead,
rather than waste items on him. He'll come back soon enough.
In the next area there are two different exposed wire locations, so
keep an eye on your power. Also, Puddings will drop from the ceiling at
points, so be careful of ambushes and use Fire on them (they're highly
resistant to most weapons). Go northwest from here.
The Gear marking on the map is the location of a switch to open the door
in your path. Again, opening the door will consume 30% of the power gauge,
so make sure you have plenty to spare. This will also cause some Bombs
to spawn in the path back. Bombs start out neutral, but if you use magic
near them they become hostile, so careful.
Keep onwards and you'll get a scene where Basch salvages some equipment
from a dead soldier. If he was dead, he'll magically come back to life.
He's also now MUCH better as a character. He'll probably do more damage
than the rest of your party. The rest of the dungeon should be a snap.
Keep heading south. Again, the last area has a boss fight in your way.

BOSS: Mimic Queen

??? HP
The Mimic Queen spawns a bunch of Tiny Mimics which will try and eat
away at the power supply around the room. Take out the Tiny Mimics first;
they have very little health, and the lower the power gets the more powerful
the Mimic Queen gets, so they should be your first priority. She'll
periodically spawn more as the battle progresses, so be on watch. As
you whittle down the Mimic Queen, she may use an attack called Thunder
Burst which does lightning damage and poisons, so again have those
antidotes or Poisona handy.

Once the Mimic Queen is dead you'll finally arrive aboveground again,
somewhere in the desert east of Rabanastre.

DALMASCA ESTERSAND
東ダルマスカ砂漠
Nothing too tricky here. Just get back to Rabanastre by heading southwest.
If you want to speed things up, remember to hold down R2 while moving
to trigger Escape mode. During Escape mode your party members will not
attack enemies. If you go north instead, after a little bit you'll find a
small camp with an item shop and a teleport-active save crystal. You don't
have to come here if you don't want to take the detour, though. You'll
also pass through another small camp on your way back to the city.

ROYAL CITY OF RABANASTRE

王都ラバナスタ
Upon entering Basch, Balflear, and Fran will all leave your party. Don't
worry, you'll be getting all of them back soon enough. Go to Miguero's
item shop for an event. Penelo's gone missing, hmm... Go and visit
old man Daran again. Vaan will ask him about Penelo. In the meantime
Daran will ask him to deliver a sword to somebody. Head to the
indicated location on the map and talk to the man there (Balzac バルザック) to
be let into a secret meeting of sorts.
After another event where Basch shows that rumors of his demise were
mistaken, Basch joins your party again. There's also news about Penelo -
she's been kidnapped. Time for a rescue. You'll now want to find Balflear
and Fran. They're hanging out in the bar. Talk to them and they'll join
your party. Balflear will say that when you're ready to go to your next
destination, the sky city Bhujerba, to go to the airship terminal near
the west gate.
At this point the Mogsee system in town will become activated. You can
use the Mogsee stations situated around town to teleport around. Now is
also a good time to restock, learn new abilities, and so on. Catch up
on Mob Hunts and so on if you'd like.
When you're ready, go to the airship terminal and speak to Balflear in
the back. Choose the first option twice to confirmt hat you're ready to
go. Once you leave for Bhujerba, you won't be able to come back
to Rabanastre for awhile.

THE SKYCITY OF BHUJERBA

空中都市ビュエルバ
When you first arrive, most of the doors are sealed, herding you to where
you want to go. Proceed for an event. A boy naming himself Ramon will ask
to come along with you to the mines; he'll join as a Guest. Keep on
following the only path you can and you'll arrive at the Luce Mines.

THE LHUSU MINES

ルース魔石鉱
This is quite a large area. Libra is even more important here, as not
only does Libra tell you enemy information, it also reveals traps on
the map. If you see a red pillar of light, do NOT get near - it's a trap
that will damage your party.
You'll want to find the Second Mining Area (第 2 鉱区採掘場) here. You
can always check the map to see which area you are currently in.
After an event, Ramon will leave your party, and you'll be attacked by
the Bangas after Balflear's head.

BOSS: Baggamonan, Fuuji, Gijuu, and Rino

As you can tell if you have Libra on, you aren't meant to win. While
theoretically possible, it doesn't change the story anyway. What you're
supposed to do is run to the entrance (remember, hold down R2 for Escape
mode so that your party members don't try to fight.)

After you shake of the pursuers, reenter the city. You'll see another event
where it turns out that "Ramon" is actually Larsa, Vayne's little brother.
Seems that he's found Penelo as well.

THE SKYCITY OF BHUJERBA

空中都市ビュエルバ
Your party tries to get in touch with the resistance movement. They decide
that the best way to do so is to use Basch's name to try and catch the
resistance's attention. Thought the palace call-the-guards-over minigame was
lame? Get ready for an even lamer one.
Your goal here is to spread rumors about Basch's reappearance. A 'rumor
meter' will appear on screen, and your goal is to get it to 100. What you
need to do is get nearby townfolk and press S to fill the meter up. The
meter slowly degrades over time. Also, if you spread a rumor near a guard,
the meter actually goes down instead.
The key point here is that the Bhujerba Guides (ビュエルバガイド) spread news
quickly, so just by spreading a rumor near one of them you can easily get
30%-40% of your gauge filled. So just find them (usually standing in the
doors to shops and so on) and mash away.
After some more events, it's time to meet your contact, Marquis Ondore. Go
to the guards marked on the map and talk to them to be taken to him. In the
end, Ondore will pretend to arrest you and you'll be taken aboard the
Battleship Leviathan.

DREADNOUGHT LEVIATHAN
戦艦リヴァイアサン
One of Ondore's contacts, Wossler, will join you here as a Guest. He's got
a big greatsword and will be quite helpful here. A nearby ornate pot has
a map of the ship. There are several laser sensors around the ship.
If you touch one, an alarm goes off, and basically all of the enemies in
the area will converge on your location. Although you can still handle
them all (especially with Wossler by your side), it can get hairy pretty
quickly. You basically have two choices to get to your destination marked
on the map. If you approach from the north, you'll have to press switches
in two of the areas (Middle Deck Eastern Block 中層東ブロック and Subcontrol
Room サブコントロールルーム) to open some doors. If you approach from the
south, there aren't any locked doors to handle, but there are a mess of laser
sensors. I suggest the north, it's just easier. There are still lasers
here, just not quite as many.
Reach the lower deck and you'll be forced into an event battle. You'll be
facing several knights, a mage, and two Judges. I'd take out the mage
(帝国軍魔導士) first. Then work on the knights, then the Judges. It
shouldn't be too bad - just keep on top of healing.
After the battle you'll get a First Cell Block Key (第 1 営倉の鍵). Use
the Cell Block Key to open the nearby door and head in.
Here you'll find a welcome save point and a System Key (システム制御キー).
There's also a merchant in another cell, as well as Ashe. Ashe joins your
party for real this time. She comes with an accessory that has a permanent
Libra effect on her. No big deal, but quite convenient, if you ask me.
At the merchant you might want to invest in some Green Magic, particularly
Shell.
In any case after busting her out, the alarms will begin to go off
regardless of whether you touched any beams or not. This will cause
enemies to mob you constantly. You need to make your way to the Gear icons
on the map. Here you'll be able to use the System Key to temporarily
shut down the alarm system for 60 seconds at a time (pick the first
option, then the second option in the next menu, then the first option
to confirm.) Use that time to rush for the next room and look for the
next gear icon.
Once you've arrived at the western area, Wossler leaves your party.
However, you'll be reunited with Penelo, who will join. You'll receive
the 'Artificial Hamaseki' key item from Larsa as well. You now have
all 6 of your party members, hurray. It's too soon to celebrate,
though. You'll be stopped from leaving by Judge Geese.

BOSS: Judge Geese, Empire Swordsman x3

??? HP
Strangely, Libra doesn't work on Judge Geese, so you'll have to estimate
how much HP he has left. Take out the Swordsmen first. The biggest thing
to watch out for is Judge Geese's use of Aero. Aero can hit several party
members at once for several hundred damage, so it is definitely your biggest
threat here.
If you've taught somebody Shell already, it'd be a great time to use it.
Otherwise, just keep the Cures coming. Once Judge Geese gets low on
health, he'll use a Mist Knack on you, that cheater. Make sure your
health is near full and keep on beating on him until he succumbs.

Judge Geese manages to get away, and you'll arrive safe and mostly sound
back in Bhujerba. Restock in Bhujerba, then go to the guards that brought
you to Marquis Ondore before. After some more events, including one where
Balflear shows off his ship's communication system's ability to imitate
other people's voices, Ashe will decide she can't just sit around and wait,
and will ask Balflear and co. to 'kidnap' her. She can't do much without
proof of her royal heritage, though. And unfortunately, Judge Geese has the
proof that Vaan stole from the Palace. Ashe knows where another one is,
however, so it's off to the Tomb of Raithwall, to the far west across the
desert. Balflear and Fran will land and cloak their ship, since the skies
over the western part of the desert aren't navigable, and you'll have to
continue on foot. Use the shop and save crystal here to prepare before you
head off. If you need to, you can teleport back to town as well.
Proceed westwards to enter the Sandsea Ogir-Yensa.

THE OGIR-YENSA SANDSEA

大砂海オグル・エンサ
Proceed westward along the platforms to the second zone. Here you'll
get a short conversation event and Wossler rejoins your party as a
Guest.
The enemies here are a little stronger than what you're probably used
to, so keep an eye on your MP. Wossler does help a lot, at least.
The little red plant-like enemies here have a very valuable steal
(~350 gil) so if you need money farm them.
Keep going westward across another two zones and you'll arrive at
the next part of the Sandsea. If you go southwest instead, you'll
eventually arrive at a small zone with a teleport-active save point.

THE NAM-YENSA SANDSEA

大砂海ナム・エンサ
You'll see a save point straight away. Use it! Unfortunately this one
is not teleport-active, so if you want to return to town you'll have
to backtrack across Ogir Yensa or use the teleport point in the south
of that area. Speak to the Moogle loitering around here and you'll
learn that a large turtle-like monster is hunting the Urtans (the
little critters that kept attacking you along the way) in the next
area.
Proceed past a few more zones and you'll come across the monster
itself, the Urtan Eater (ウルタンイーター). He's quite tough, but you'll
actually be helped by several Urtans, and the Eater will go after the
Urtans first. Try and take him out before he kills all of the Urtans.
If you can't, you can always rezone and come back; he'll still have
his HP depleted.
Upon killing him return to the Moogle. He'll mention that the Urtan
who sought out his help went into the Ogir Yensa to get a reward for
you. Go back out that way (to the East). After a short bit of
travelling you should see a scene where the Urtan and the Moogle
talk. If not, rezone into where the Moogle was, then head out east
again. Once you see the scene, return to where the Moogle was to see
another cutscene. Seems like not all the Urtans are grateful for your
help...
With that done, examine the flower on the ground to get an important
item, the Ixiro Fruit (イクシロの実). With this in your possession, the
way to the Tomb of Raithwall is now clear. Proceed west across the
desert, bending southwest as you need to. Be careful; some fish-like
enemies (the Yensas) pop out of the ground here, surprising you. They
aren't too hard if you're not mobbed, though. You should also find
an ornate pot that contains a map to the entire region. With this
in your possession it's a matter of heading straight westward. In
the area right before the Tombs, the Road Where Warmth Disappears
(ぬくもりの消える路), you'll find a shopkeeper on a chocobo. Restock if you
need to. As you progress to the next screen, you'll be given a free
heal and asked if you want to save, even though there's no save point
here. You should do so.

THE TOMB OF RAITHWALL

レースウォール王墓
As soon as you step in, you'll be attacked by a flying monster. Boss
time.

BOSS: Garuda
??? HP
This boss is again, immune to Libra. Quite annoying. The main problem
here is that he's extremely powerful. You have a trick up your sleeve,
however. If you use the Ixiro Fruit (イクシロの実) that you picked up
earlier on him, he becomes vastly weaker and much easier to handle. He
is flying, which means that normal melee attacks will not reach him.
Therefore you should bring people with bows/guns/magic attacks in order
to damage him. Once you use the Ixiro Fruit, he's quite easy, so you
shouldn't have any problems with him.

After defeating him the strange device on top of the stairs begins to
glow. There is a teleport-active save point here. Also, the vendor
who you just saw has now come inside. His merchandise has mysteriously
expanded; he's got tons of stuff he didn't have earlier, so feel free
to check him out. Or, use a Teleport Stone to return to town. When
you're ready to go, examine the glowy object and pick the first option
to be teleported inside.
Here proceed down the stairway and start down the hall. You'll get a
quick event and a nasty surprise that should be nostalgic for those of
you who remember playing FF4 - a Demon Wall is trying to crush you!

BOSS: Demon Wall

??? HP
This guy is tough. You actually probably won't be able to beat him when
you get here. He's got far too much HP and defense, and though he doesn't
do much damage, if he pushes you to the end of the hallway, he'll crush
you and insta-kill your party. Just run to the end of the hallway and
take the door through.

With that done, go down the stairs for another surprise. This time a
Demon Wall is coming TOWARDS you! He's in your way, so you're going to
have to kill it.

BOSS: Demon's Wall (#2)

??? HP
This guy doesn't have quite the high HP/Defense of the first one. Plus,
there is a very handy trick to use here. Along the side of the corridor
are a number of torches. If you examine them and choose to operate the
switch (second option), you can extinguish the flame, which wall cause
the Wall to stop moving momentarily. Hammer on it as hard as possible
while it's standing still. When it starts moving again, find another torch
and repeat. Be careful though; if instead of the flame disappearing, it
turns blue, the Demon Wall actually SPEEDS UP, so find another switch
quickly.
The boss can be quite annoying as he frequently casts Sleep; he can also
inflict darkness and death sentence conditions on you. Having people
with Remedy Knowledge on their License Board (increases the number of
conditions cured by rememdy) can be useful. At some point the Wall will
also probably cast Dateleport on one of your characters, which warps
them to another dimension. This is effectively an instant kill, plus it
cannot be cured by normal means such as a Phoenix Down. If this happens,
swap in another party member right away. As long as you keep using the
switches to stop the Wall's progress, you should be able to take this
one out.

Once it's dead, head onwards. You'll see three teleport switches very
quickly. The ones to the north and south aren't functional yet; the one
in the middle takes you back to the beginning (so you don't have to face
that first hostile Demon's Wall again) so use it to get back to the
save point and heal if needed. There is also a treasure pot here, which
contains the map of the dungeon.
With the map of the dungeon you should see your goal, off to the left,
and two large rooms to the north and south. You need to activate the
altars in the center of the north and south areas to proceed. It doesn't
matter which order you do it in. At the center of each area, you'll
find a colored switch in the wall, which you need to activate, plus a
teleport device. Upon pressing the switch, a few monsters will appear.
Defeat them. The teleport device takes you back to the central area
with the three devices.
Once you've gotten both of them, the wall will have lowered enough for
you to pass, which brings you to a secret passage. These lead to the
seemingly inaccessible room on the left side of your map.
Enter and you'll get a scene where Fran and Penelo note the existence
of the Mist. The Mist, which powers magic, is so thick here that it is
actually visible. What this translates to for you in game terms is that
you'll notice your MP refilling at a much faster rate than usual, which
is helpful.
Head down the stairs and you'll see a big monster blocking your way.
It's time for another fight...

BOSS: Velias
??? HP
Well, he's big and fiery, so obviously avoid using fire magic on him.
As he gets down in health he'll start using his special skill, Firaja.
This does damage to everyone, plus gives them "Oil" status, which makes
fire spells hurt more. Get rid of Oil status with Oil Remover
(あぶらとり紙) or you're in for a world of hurt the next time he uses it.
You can try and use some Mist Knack chains to take him out quickly, as
he'll buff himself as he gets low on health. Other than Firaja, he's
not that dangerous.

After the fight, you'll gain the ability to summon Velias, as long as
you learn his spot on the License Board. Summons work similar to Mist
Knacks, in that if one person learns a Summon that square disappears from
all other characters' License Boards. So choose who you want to learn
Velias wisely.
With that done proceed onwards to get what Ashe was looking for, the
Fragment of Dawn (暁の断片). Now use the teleporters (the one here is
one-way only, to the beginning) and leave.
As soon as you step outside, Empire ships are waiting for you. D'oh.
You'll be taken into custody yet again by your old friend, Judge Geese.

LIGHT CRUISER CLASS AIRSHIP SHIVA

帝国軍軽巡洋艦シヴァ
After some events you'll be forced to turn over your hard-earned Fragment
of Dawn to Judge Geese. D'oh. Don't worry. He'll learn soon enough that
messing with these stones is risky business. After the event, you'll
attempt to escape, but that traitor Wossler, acting on a misguided
principle of loyalty, will try to stop you.

BOSS: Wossler, Empire Knights x3

??? HP
Of course, take out the lesser knights first. During this battle, Fran
will go a little crazy and basically be in permanent Berserk status.
Take her out if she becomes a liability. Once the Knights are gone,
you can focus on Wossler with relatively few problems. He's not too
tough at all. Once he gets low, he may cast Reflect on himself, so keep
that in mind if you've been trying to fry him with spells. He goes
down easily enough under melee attacks, though.

After Wossler's defeat, there'll be a few more events. You'll regain

the Fragment of Dawn (hurray) and Judge Geese will get what's coming to
him. Long cutscene time. There's lots of political goings-on; in the
end, Ashe will hold off on revealing that she's still alive, and it's
back to Rabanastre you go.
Here Ashe decides that the next step will be to investigate how the
Fragment of Dawn works. It is said that the Garif race, who live to
the south, may have some idea on how to go. Restock in town and when
you're done, head out south.

GIZA PLAINS
ギーザ平原
The first thing you'll notice is that it's now raining. The Giza Plains
now will be quite different from the one you knew earlier; several paths
are gone, new paths have opened, the encampment in the middle is now
mostly deserted, etc. The most important issue here is that the monsters
are now stronger as well.
You'll want to make your way to the southwest area, the Starfall Plain
(星ふり原), which has a path leading south to the next area. One thing
to watch out for in this entire region is that there are lightning elements
(just look like balls of electricity) scattered around. They are extremely
strong, but they aren't aggressive. If you do draw aggro on one, either
by attacking it directly or casting spells nearby, you need to run, as
a single Thundara from them can easily wipe you out. Make your way down
to reach the next area, the Ozmone Plains.

OZMONE PLAIN
オズモーネ平原
The most annoying thing about this area are the Zus, which are flying
enemies and therefore cannot be hit by melee attacks. Bows and guns
are helpful here, since otherwise you'll have to use magic.
Go down south two zones to reach the Hauro Greenlands (ハウロ緑地).
You'll see a Garif fighting enemies here. Help him out if you wish.
This zone has a path leading south which will lead you to your destination,
the homeland of the Garifs.
JAHARA, LAND OF THE GARIF
ガリフの地ジャハラ
There's a teleport-active save point here. Hurray! Speak to the guards
blocking the bridge. They're reluctant to let you in, but the Garif you
saw earlier attests to your battle prowess and vouches for you. Go on in
to the first part of the village. Speak to the various elders (長老)
here. They'll know nothing, and eventually they'll tell you to try and
speak to the Great Elder (最長老). While you're here, you can buy some
new stuff if you want.
Try to head west again and the Garif from before, who introduces himself
as Warrior Chief Spinel (戦士長スピネル), again vouches for you. Go inside
and speak to the Great Elder to kick off a series of events.
After that is all done, your old pal Larsa with his infinite supply of
Hi Potions rejoins you as a guest. Awesome. On your way out, Warrior
Chief Spinel will also give you either a Killer Bow or a Bowgun, plus the
appropriate ammunition. Free stuff is always nice.
Since the Garifs know nothing, Larsa would like you to try and stop impending
hostilities between his country and another country to the east. He thinks
Ashe's political clout will help. So it's off you go to the east, with
your eventual destination the holy city of Bur-Omisace.
In the exit area to Jahara, you can buy a map of the Ozmone Plains. Also,
you can (for one-time only, thanks to Spinel's help) rent a chocobo for
free. Chocobos can be quite helpful since you won't be attacked, plus
you can travel faster than you normally would.
Head across the Ozmone Plains, Chocobo or not, in a northeasterly
fashion. As you get to the last area here, you'll see a short conversation
between Ashe and Basch, and then some scenes back in the Archadian Empire.
Seems a couple of factions are vying for power.
With that done you'll be presented with a save crystal. The traveler here
mentions that there are strange seals blocking the paths in the Golmore
Jungle up ahead. Of course, that is where you must go, so onwards.

THE GOLMORE JUNGLE

ゴルモア大森林
Dark in here... the Couars can petrify you, so be sure to have Stona
or Gold Needle items handy. Deeper in you'll also find the notorious
Molbols, which can cause a host of status effects on you.
Proceed along the path eastward. Blocking the way to the next zone,
you'll see a bluish seal. You'll get an event here with Fran, and a path
will open up. Follow the newly opened path to get to the secret village
of the Viera, Eruyt Village.

ERUYT VILLAGE
エルトの里
There's a teleport-capable save point here, as well as a shop. Check out
the new wares. There isn't that much, but you should definitely invest
in some of the new magic, such as Esuna and Curada. Fran will tell you
to go find a Viera girl named Myulin.
You're not very welcome here. Go into the deepest part of the village
to get another event with the leader of the village, Yote. Myulin is
missing; after some arguments, Yote tells you that Myulin went westwards,
into a Hume mine.
Go back out now. Larsa mentioned that Yote probably means the Henne Mines.
Return to the screen just before the Golmore Jungle. On the screen with
the save point, you'll now find a wounded Empire soldier. He begs you for
a potion; give one to him. In exchange, he'll lend you a chocobo, which
you'll need to get to the Henne Mines.
From the save point, go one screen westwards, then immediately go through
the brush to the south. On the chocobo, you should be able to go through
the secret path to the next zone. Incidentally, there are many paths like
this which can only be traversed by chocobo; look around the ground for
chocobo tracks as a sign of these paths.
On the next zone head south a little further to find the main entrance to
the Henne Mines. You need to dismount your chocobo in order to enter. After
a short event at the entrance, you're free to go inside.

THE HENNE MINES

ヘネ魔石鉱
A little ways in you'll find some closed gates and a switch. The switches
here toggle between having the blue-lit doors open and the red-lit doors
open; you can't have both open at the same time. Also, when you flip the
switches it spawns a whole mess of Jelly enemies, so don't flip them
needlessly.
To begin, flip the first switch in the North Gate (北通用口) area,
then head south through the blue doors. In the small crosswalk section,
the only way you can go is west, so keep following that. Head around
to reach Tunnel #1 (第 1 期坑道) and continue until you reach Mine #1
(第 1 期採掘現場). From here proceed to reach Train Connecting Line A
(区間連結ライン A), then go north to Train Connecting Line B
(区間連結ライン B). Loop east and to the south to reach another small
cross-shaped area. Hit the switch here to open the red doors, then
go through the west door to get back to Train Connecting Line A. Make
another loop north to Train Connecting Line B and this time you should
be able to take the northwest door here to the next area, which has
a handy teleport-active save point. This should tip you off that a
boss fight is coming, so heal up and get ready. After an event where you
find Myulin, sort of, a boss attacks.

BOSS: Tiamat
??? HP
This isn't terribly hard, especially with Larsa and his infinite potions
helping you out. The only danger is if Larsa dies or otherwise gets
taken out with Petrify and such. If you have the Dark Magic Decoy by now,
by all means use it to draw attention away from Larsa. (You'd also
want to buff whoever has Decoy on them with Protect/Regen/etc., of course,
so that they survive.) As long as Larsa is safe and at least one other
party member can back him up on the healing, you should have no problem
whittling this boss's HP down.

After the boss fight, the party recovers Myulin. You'll automatically be
taken back to Eruyt Village. After some more talking, you'll get the
key item Tear of Lente; this will allow you to go through those seals
you saw earlier.

THE GOLMORE JUNGLE

ゴルモア大森林
With the Tear of Lente in your possession it's time to continue on
towards Bur-Omisace. Go through the seal just south of the entrance to
Eruyt and proceed eastwards. Soon you'll come across another small area
with a teleport-active save point. What's this, another boss? You
guessed it.
BOSS: Elder Dragon, Treant x2
??? HP
Unlike the Tiamat, this is an extremely tough battle. Take out the Treants
first; they have rather high HP, but it's easier to clean them up first
rather than have them bother you for the entire fight. The main problem
with the Elder Dragon is the host of status effects he can cause on
you, including his favorite Confuse. His HP is extremely high, so you
won't be able to take him out with 2 Mist Knack chains like you might
have cheesed some of the other bosses with. The worst part is his special
attack "Shiole Spore" which causes a host of conditions (Confuse, Slow,
Silence, Darkness, Oil, and Slip) to a large area. He'll use it much
more often than you'd like. Esuna is a must for this battle. Esuna won't
take care of the Oil, either, or the Slow. The Oil is worse because he'll
often follow up with a Fireball attack, which will easily do 1500-2000
damage against an Oil'ed character.
Spread out as much as possible. Have at least two characters who can use
Esuna, and make sure you have plenty of Phoenix Downs and Oil
Removers (あぶらとり紙). If he's simply too tough for you, use the forest
as a good place to level up and come back again later.

With the Elder Dragon dispatched, go east for a few more zones and
you'll arrive at the Paramina Rift.

THE PARAMINA RIFT

パラミナ大峡谷
There's a save point first thing here. The people here will tell you
that to get to Bur-Omisace you should head northeast. So just follow
the north wall eastwards in each zone and you'll arrive at your
destination sooner than you'd expect.

MT. BUR-OMISACE
神都ブルオミシェイス
First things first, there's two vendors in this area with a ton of new
merchandise for you, as well as a teleport active save point. There are
two very useful accessories sold here, the Gold Amulet (which doubles
gained LP) and Thief Cuffs (which improves the items that you can steal),
so invest in some if you have the money - they're expensive. Larsa
is about to leave your party, as helpful as he was, so if there's stuff
you want to do while you still have him, like catch up on some Mob
Hunts, feel free to teleport elsewhere and wrap things up before
proceeding.
When you're ready to move on, continue on up to the grand chapel up
on the mountain face. Time for another series of events. You'll be
introduced to the Grand Priest Anastasis, as well as the pimp - I mean
nobleman - Al-cid. Al-cid notifies you of some political goings-on. The
emperor of Archadia has been assassinated; Vayne has assumed control.
Seem like Ashe and Larsa's plans for peace are foiled yet again.
Anastasis tells Ashe that if she is so determined, she should seek out
the other legacy left behind by Racewall, the Sword of the Conqueror
King. To do so, you'll need to go to the Stilshrine of Miriam, down
to the south.
From the city, go south two zones, then take the southwest exit to
reach a small corridor with a save point. From here, proceed down another
two zones to reach the Stilshrine.

THE STILSHRINE OF MIRIAM

ミリアム遺跡
After using the teleport-active save point here, head inside to the
Shrine proper. The first thing you need to is equip a character with
the Fragment of Dawn (暁の断片) and have them examine the altar up
here, marked on your map with some gears. This will teleport you to
a different part of the shrine. Since the Fragment of Dawn reduces your
MP to 0, equip it on somebody you don't plan to have active in your
party.
In the next area, again use the character with the Fragment equipped
to examine the next altar. Be careful, there are many strong dragons
here, and the faces in the walls also animate and attack. Don't be
reluctant to use R2 and run away if things look bad. Once the altar
is activated, a new set of stairs forms in the previous room. Take it
down to a new corridor.
Here you'll see something odd - a green save point. Except it's not
a save point at all. Examine it and it'll attack. Defeat it and it'll
leave a real save point behind in its wake. Odd indeed. In any case,
heal up and proceed westwards. In this new area, go south first
and examine the end of the giant sword stuck into the ground. This
will open a door on the north end of the hall. Inside is a teleporter
that will take you back to the first hall you arrived in. There is now
a door open on the west side of this entrance hall.
In this next area your main goal is to find three statues and rotate
them to face the center of the shrine. The first area you'll come
across has a statue to the west. Examine it and choose the second
option to manipulate it, after which you can choose to rotate it
clockwise (first option) or counterclockwise (second option). Either
way, have the statue face towards the east. Now proceed south.
In this next long looping corridor with many zombie fights you'll
have to go from a northwest-to-southeast fashion in order to reach
the second statue. Have it point north, then go out the north exit
in this area to reach the next corridor.
Go out the east door and down the stairs. Before you open the next
door, be prepared for a boss fight.

BOSS: Venuskara
??? HP
This guy isn't hard at all. The only tricky part is that he lays down
a magnetic field. Any party members who are equipped with anything from
the heavy armor class will be slowed an incredible amount. Thus, just
make sure that the characters you use are equipped with light or mage
armor. With that done, you should be able to take him out in no time.

Beyond this boss's room is the third and final statue. Have it face
westwards. This will cause the giant sword you examined earlier to
rise from the ground.
Go back to the main entrance hall just by going north, then use the
teleporter on the south side. Head straight south and you should now
be able to go through a new path. Before you go through the door here
again, another boss awaits, this one much harder. (But not that hard.)

BOSS: Mattheus
??? HP
The first thing you need to do is take care of the five ice minions
Mattheus has. If you don't, they'll constantly spam Sleep spells on
you, which gets very annoying very quickly. If you can, the easiest
thing to do is start a Mist Knack chain on Mattheus. Although the Mist
Knacks themselves only hit one target, the final magic burst that
occurs if you chain together at least 3 Mist Knacks will hit all
enemies in the area. If it doesn't kill the ice minions, at the very
least it will make them much easier to kill.
With those out of the way, just focus on Mattheus. He (yeah, Mattheus
is a male, he just has an ice goddess as a living shield, according
to the Hunt Catalog) isn't too tough by himself. His only big move
is Blizzaja, which causes ice damage and slip status to a large area,
but as long as you have the Curas coming he's nothing to worry about.

Defeat Mattheus and you'll be able to summon him now, as soon as you
learn him on the License Board (just above Dagger 3). Continue on
to the back and, after some more events, you'll receive the Sword of
the Conqueror King.
Exit the shrine for some bad news. Empire ships are in the area, and
Fran notices a column of smoke coming from Bur-Omisace. Either
walk or teleport back there.

MT. BUR-OMISACE
神都ブルオミシェイス
Head to the back to see the aftermath of the Empire's attack. You'll
be attacked by another Judge, Judge Berga.

BOSS: Judge Berga, Judge x3

Three unnamed Judges attempt to attack you from behind; take them
out to show them the error their ways. They aren't tough at all. If
you can zap them all at once with black magic, so much the better.
With Berga left, you should be alright. His attacks are powerful, so
try casting Decoy on one of your characters, plus Protect and Regen
so that he gets distracted away from your healer(s).

Another series of events ensues. Your party decides to take the fight
to the enemy. It's of course impossible to enter the Empire from air
or sea, so you'll have to travel by land, making your way through
Nalbina Fortress.
Speak to the priest just outside the main chapel to receive the
Convict's Magic Stone (断罪の魔石). You can use this later to challenge
another summon back in the Stilshrine of Miriam, but chances are you'll
want to hold off until you're higher level to attempt it.
Make your way back to Rabanstre however you choose, then go out the
east door. In the "Sand Crest Labyrinth" (砂紋の迷宮) zone,
go out the northeast exit to get to Nalbina Fortress.

NALBINA FORTRESS
ナルビナ城塞
There are many good (but expensive) things for sale here, so check
them out. Otherwise there isn't anything to do here, so when you're all
done go northwest to the Mosphoran Highwaste.

THE MOSPHORAN HIGHWASTE

モスフォーラ山地
Keep going northwest here and you'll reach an encampment with a teleport-
active save point. There's also an item shop here. Continue northwest
for several more zones and you'll reach the Salikawood.

THE SALIKAWOOD
サリカ樹林
A couple of zones north you'll see a save point. From here, go north and
then east a few more zones and talk to the Moogle boss here. The door is
broken, and he and his assistants were sent to fix it, but they seem to be
goofing off in the forest rather than helping out. You'll need to find
the nine of them and tell them to quit slacking off.
Luckily even though there's nine of them they're clustered in groups,
and their location is marked on the map for you. Just go around the forest
to the four exclamation marks to talk to each one. Along the way you'll
probably run into another save point, this one teleport-active, next
to a zone transition leading northwest. That way leads to a boss (the
Bomb King) and eventually leads to Nabudis, which is not related at all
to your goal; ignore it for now (we'll get to it in the Sidequests).
Once you've found the fourth and final group of moogles, they'll ask you
if you want to be taken back to the moogle boss, the first option being
yes. Either way make your way back, and the door will be fixed. Talk to
the boss again for a reward (Quismoit Sandals), then proceed out the
next zone to make it to the Phon Coast.

THE PHON COAST

フォーン海岸
Not much to do here either. Those of you who played the demo will probably
recognize this area. Go southeast for several zones and you'll come
across another encampment, as well as a cutscene with Balflear and Ashe.
Again, there isn't much to do in this entire area except travel. Restock
at the item shop in the hunter's camp if you need to, then go north
several zones. Just past a save point is the next area, the Tchita
Uplands.

THE TCHITA UPLANDS

ツィッタ大草原
There's actually a little more to this area than just travelling.
Head eastwards and you'll come across a small area with a save crystal
and a rather odd individual. He'll give you an unofficial mob hunt
(it doesn't appear in your Clan Report) as well as what you really need
him for, the Soulseal Key (封魂のカギ). With this in your possession,
now travel north. Soon you'll get to a creepy looking cave, which is
where you want to go. Proceed in north for a ways and you'll come
across a locked door. Here's where you need to use the key. Open it
and you'll find the odd monsters that the odd invididual from before
wanted you to kill.

BOSS: Mandora Prince, King Araune, Onion Queen, Pumpkin Star, Tomato
Captain
??? HP
These guys are more annoying than threatening. They don't do much other
than inflict status effects on you (Esuna as needed) and run around
at random. Don't chase them too much, just try staying in one area and
attacking each one as they come near.

With that odd series of bosses defeated, you can return to the odd man
from before and he'll reward with a 1000 Gil and some remedies. Or you
can just ignore him... continue on into the palace proper.

THE SOCHEN CAVE PALACE

ソーヘン地下宮殿
In the area north of the room where you fought the Mandoras, there's
a save point. This one is also a fake one; defeat it and a real save
point will show up. Use it and proceed east. Go in a generally
northwards direction from here, and eventually you'll come across
a diamond shaped area with a door leading north. The door north
leads to the real boss of this area, with no save point nearby, so
be fully prepared before you go on in.

BOSS: Ahriman
??? HP
He's got a number of annoying attacks, the most dangerous of which are
Confuse and Death Sentence statuses. Have the appropriate curative
items handy, or equip accessories that prevent them. As he gets lower
in health, he'll begin to create fake copies of himself. These fake
copies don't have that much HP (around 2500, perhaps) so focus on the
copies one at a time, then return your attention to the real Ahriman.
Or, you can use a Mist Knack chain at the end to blast all of them at
once.

Once he's gone, continue north. This next area is home to a bunch of
traps, including one right in front of the door. Cast Levitaga
immediately, or at the very least have Libra on, so you can see the
traps - the last thing you need is to die to some traps and have
to fight the Ahriman over again. You'll eventually reach an elevator
area. Take it up to find a teleport-active save point, then take the
exit to your destination, Old Archades.

OLD ARCHADES
アルケイディス旧市街
Welcome to the slums! Go westwards and talk to the gate guard blocking
the way to the rest of the city. Seems like he won't let you in.
An old acquaintance of Balflear's, Jule, pops up and offers you his
help - in exchange for some cold hard cash. Give him 1500 Gil, and
he'll tell you to go around and talk to people. How helpful. Talk to
a man in the northeast area of that district - you'll know you have
the right one because some of the text he says will be colored in
gold. Return to Jule and Jule will tell you to go talk to another man,
Pizle (守銭のピズレ). He's nearby the first guy you had to talk to. Talk
to him, and return to Jule, who's moved slightly from his initial
position. With the guards thus distracted, you'll now be a ble to
go on into the city proper.

THE IMPERIAL CITY OF ARCHADES

帝都アルケイディス
Upon arriving, Balflear will leave your party temporarily. There's
a bunch of shops around, so check them out. In the southwest district,
there's a taxi that'll take you to where you're supposed to go.
However, you're not qualified enough to ride the taxi. As it turns out
the citizens of Archades have these things called Leaves which is a
measure of their status. Without at least nine leaves, you won't
be able to get in. Jule shows up again and swindles you out of another
2500 Gil - and once again, the only thing he says is to talk to people.
Gee, thanks a lot, Jule.
Now get ready for the most annoying minigame in the game. You thought
spreading rumors was stupid? Welcome to White Leaf collecting. The basic
premise is simple. You need to talk to some people, who have juicy
info for you, and then relay that info to other people who'll reward
you by giving you a White Leaf. The problem is that Vaan must be an
idiot or something, because he can only remember one piece of info
at a time. So there's going to be a lot of running around to do. I
recommend using the northwest district, Moleberry (モールベリ区)
as there are exactly 9 pairs of info givers/receivers here, so you
can get all the Leafs that you need without having to change zones.
The pairs of people you need to talk to are as follows. Keep in mind
that until you talk to a person at least once, they'll just have the
generic label of "Archades Citizen".

Mage Girl (魔道士の女) -> Academy Gentleman (アカデミーの紳士)

Feather-Seeking Girl (フェザーを目指す女)
-> Feather-Seeking Guy (フェザーを目指す男)
Accessory Woman (アクセサリの婦人) -> Giza Man (ギーザの男)
Bored Woman (ホロッときた婦人) -> Family Daughter (家族思いの娘)
Necklace Man (ネックレスの男) -> Necklace Woman (ネックレスの女)
Travel-loving Woman (旅好きな婦人)
-> Traveler Gentleman (旅の生活の紳士)
Judge-seeking Man (ジャッジになりたい男) -> Judge's Wife (ジャッジの夫人)
Home Instructor Woman (家庭教師の婦人)
-> Home Instructor Gentleman (家庭教師の紳士)
Look-alike Man (そっくりの男) -> Look-alike Man (そっくりの男)

Now you should have nine White Leaves in your posession. Take the
taxi and head on out to the next area. There's a teleport-active
save point here. Go north for a short event. Foiled again! Return
down south for yet another event, where you learn the extent of Jule's
asshole-ness (Balflear had given him enough Leaves for you, but he
decided to make you run-around and get some yourself). In any case,
your next destination is the Droklor Laboratory. You can go there by
talking to the taxi attendant and telling him you want to go to
"that place" (例の場所). Be warned that once you go in, you can't leave
until you clear the entire dungeon, so be sure you are fully stocked
and equipped.

THE DROKLOR LABORATORY

ドラクロア研究所
Thankfully, you'll start at the 66th floor. Would've sucked to have started
from the bottom... A little ways in you'll see some collapsed soldiers.
Looks like somebody else got here first. Go north and take the elevator
here to the 67th floor. You have to operate the console to the left and
select the floor with up/down to do so. On this next floor go up to the
northeast area. There's a save point here, and in the lab you'll get a map
of the area and a lab card key.
Unfortunately this is one of those areas where your minimap goes on the
fritz and it's hard to tell where you are, but you can always press Select
to see where you are on the big map. In any case, go to 67E Area 03
(E means it's on the east side) and operate the panel inside to open the
blue doors. Like the Henne Mines before, you can only open either the blue
or the red doors at once, but not both. With the doors open, go back to the
elevator and now take it up to the 68th floor.
Proceed to 68E Area 03 and now open the red doors. Loop around north to get
to 68W Area 04 and now open the blue doors. From here, go to 68W Area 11
and again reopen the red doors. Now you should be able to head to the south
central area which has the next elevator. Take it up to the 70th floor.
There's a save point here, and you know what that means. Go on in to find
the head of the Laboratory, and also Balflear's father, Dr. Cid.
BOSS: Dr. Cid, Rook x4
??? HP
Weird to see Cid as a bad guy, isn't it? In any case, he cheats. His guns,
like all guns, ignore defense, and what's worse, until you destroy the
four Rooks circulating around him, you can't hurt him at all. The Rooks
all have Reflect on them, so don't try and nuke them. Take them out
one by one while keeping an eye on your HP - those guns and lasers hurt.
The Rooks also try and drain your MP, so be careful that you don't run out.
Once all the Rooks are gone (they have about 10000 HP) it's time to take
out the good Doctor. He's still kind of tough, and he might use his
big move, the S27 Magic Cannon, which can do about 1000 damage, so keep
your HP high.

Once you've defeated Dr. Cid he runs off, telling Ashe she should go
to Giruvegan if she really wants power. The 'somebody else' who was here
first introduces himself as Reddas, another air pirate, hailing from
Balfonheim. For the moment at least, your goals are the same, so it's
off to Balfonheim you go.

THE PORT OF BALFONHEIM

港町バーフォンハイム
New town means new shops. Check out the new wares, then go northeast
to find a teleport-active save point. If you go northwest from here,
you'll pass through the Cerobi Steppe and eventually end up at the Tchita
Uplands. However, there's a much faster way to get to Giruvegan.
Teleport to the Stilshrine of Miriam and exit to the Paramina Rift
by going north. Now continue north, go east past the small area with
the save point, then immediately go north and west again. In the new
zone go southwest, and you'll reach the Feywood.

THE FEYWOOD
幻妖の森
Once again your minimap is on the fritz here. Hug the east wall and go
down southwards. You should encounter a treasure pot with a map here
as you go. Continue southeast and south past another zone to reach a
small area with a save point. Save then attempt to go south. A thick
collection of Mist blocks your path; you should get an event where it
opens up. If you don't, change zones a few times and come back to try
again. In this area is a boss.

BOSS: Rafflesia
??? HP
This boss cheats, and by cheats I mean "lays down a field that drains
your MP". Since you're going to run out of MP very quickly anyway,
you should probably just start off the battle with a Mist Knack chain
to inflict as much damage as possible. This boss also loves status
effects. Remedies (万能薬) are pretty much required for this battle.
As he gets low in health, he summons in some Molbols as well, though
they aren't really anything to worry about him compared to him. You
can ignore them if you want. Keep pounding away at him and keep a close
eye on your item stock.

With him gone, it's time for the second part of the Feywood. Go south.
In this next area, go down to the southeast corner for another treasure
pot. This contains a 'candle' that adds the hidden areas of the Feywood
to your map. Continue south and you'll reach a large blizzard area where
it's hard to see. If you check your map, you'll see several star-shaped
monuments around the map. Go to the closest one, in the northeast. What
you need to do in each of these monuments is stand in the middle and
rotate the camera with the right stick. You should see that one of the
doorways has an illusion of something other than a blizzard, like forests
or a mountain. When you see this, go straight in that direction. This
should lead you to the next star-shaped monument, and you should repeat
until you get to the next zone.
The next zone works pretty much in the same way, although in this one
you need to start with the monument in the middle and not the one in the
northeast. Once you reach the last area, a giant door blocks your path.
Unfortunately, human strength cannot open it. Summon Velias (魔神ベリアス)
with whoever has him learned, then try opening the door. It should
open now, leaving the way to Giruvegan clear.

THE ANCIENT CITY OF GIRUVEGAN

Use the save point here; feel free to teleport back to town and restock
if you need to. When you're ready use the teleporter on the west side.
You'll immediately come across a boss.

BOSS: Didolos
??? HP
This guy isn't too tough at first, but as the battle goes on he does more
and more powerful stuff. He's got extremely high defense, so make sure
your equipment is top notch, and keep the heals coming. The worst thing
he does is that when he gets below about 25% health, he'll start using
an attack that does upwards of 1500 damage to all party members. Of course,
you want to stop him from doing so. Probably the best thing to do is
whittle him down to about 25% with normal attacks, and then unleash a
chain of Mist Knacks on him in hopes of killing him before he gets to use
his move. If that doesn't kill him, you can even switch in some of your
reserves and use their Mist Knacks as well. One other thing to try is
that Confuse status can work on him, so if you keep him Confused as much
as possible he becomes easier to handle.

With him gone, use the teleporter that appears to be warped elsewhere.
Go down south and you'll find a switch. You need to release the seals to
the gates so that you can move on. This entire area zigzags; once you've
released the Gate Kutes seal (ゲート・クテス制御装置) go to the southwest tip
of this area. You should see two Mithril Golems here. Defeat them, then
step onto the area between them. Though it's not on the map, a hidden
path should suddenly appear.
In this next area you'll have to do the same sort of thing, although there
are no less than three locks in the area to deal with. You'll have to
backtrack a few times, but it shouldn't be too hard finding them all; use
your map if you get lost, the switches are conveniently marked. Go to
the north side and westwards once you've gotten them all, and again defeat
the Mithril Golems and step on the hidden path westwards.
There's a small area with a save point here, so heal up. Then check the
door to move to the next section. This area is symmetrical as you'll soon
see on the map; what you'll want to do is go between the two halves and
head northeast; there's another long hidden path that will take you up
to the next teleporter. Before you can take it though, there's another
boss to deal with.

BOSS: Tyrant
??? HP
The unusual bit about this fight is that all of your Skills are sealed,
meaning you can't use them. You can still use Magic and Items, though, so
you shouldn't have too many problems. His biggest attack is "Piercing
Graviga" (貫通グラビガ), which does half max HP damage to your characters.
Unlike normal Graviga, this ignores the effects of Reflect status, so
that won't help you. Keep your HP high to counter this powerful spell.
Like the Didalos before, you can also try confusing this boss.

With that done take the teleporter to be warped to the next area. This area
is very bad as things go; there is no minimap, and the main map is mostly
unhelpful. The only thing that helps is it tells you the name of the area
you are currently in in the upper left, so pay attention. You'll start
out in Ah Grand Shift (ア・グランド・シフト). To one side of the circular
area you'll see a sealed gate (Gate Scorpio). You can't open it on this
visit; that's for the sidequests. Take the opposite end and proceed on
the only path past two more circular platforms. You'll arrive at a third
platform with a Teleporter VII (転送装置 VII) on it. Take it to be warped
away.
This next area has three possible paths. Take the middle one for some
treasure, then return. Now take the one on the left; this leads to a
switch that will open Gate Cancer for you. Gate Cancer is on the right
of your starting point. Take it and you'll find Teleporter V.
You'll arrive at another area with another Gate, Gate Pisces. You don't
actually need to deal with it. Take the path furthest from Gate Pisces.
Two platforms away, you'll find a switch that opens Gate Aries. Take
Return to the platform with Gate Pisces and now take the path to the
Gate's left. Continue on and you'll find another platform with the
switch to Pisces (which you can ignore) and Gate Aries. Just past
Gate Aries is Teleporter III.
Take it and you'll arrive at Crystal Core. There's a save point on
the next platform, and a teleporter which will take you back to the
ancient city itself. There's only one way to go now, and a boss awaits
at the end.

BOSS: Shumihaza
??? HP
This gal uses some powerful magic, but the thing to watch out for more
is her Silega. Either have plenty of healing items (やまびこ草) or make
sure your healer has protection against silence. She also absorbs pretty
much every element, so don't use magic yourself against her. As long
as you can protect yourself from Silence, she isn't too hard.

Defeat her and you'll gain her License for summoning. Hurray. Take
the final teleporter now to the last area. You'll see some more story
events with Ashe and receive the Sword of the Contract (契約の剣).
With all that done, you can take the teleporter here which is a one-way
warp to the beginning.
Return however you wish to Balfonheim and report to Reddas. With the Sword
of the Contract in hand, it's time to head to the Pharos of Ridorana,
where Ashe must make the decision on whether to destroy the source of the
antimagic stones or use its power for revenge against the Empire. Reddas
joins you as a guest for this next dungeon, and you'll be able to take
Balflear's ship to Ridorana now. Go to the airport terminal and speak
to the Personal Ship Attendant (個人用受付) in order to access your ship.
You can actually go anywhere whose name is in white. The next dungeon is
long, so you may want to take the time to stock up, do mob hunts, etc.
When you're ready, go to the Ridorana Cataract (リドルアナ大瀑布).

THE RIDORANA CATARACT

リドルアナ大瀑布
There's a save point in the first area here. Go eastwards. There's nothing
too tricky about this area. Go north to the next zone, then follow the
north wall eastwards to reach another path. This path has a save point,
but it also has a mess of traps near it so be careful. From here it's just
another zone transition eastwards to get to the lighthouse itself.

THE PHAROS OF RIDORANA

リドルアナ大灯台
The first thing you'll encounter as you step inside is a boss. Lovely
reception, eh?

BOSS: Hydro
??? HP
This boss loves using poison and virus (makes it so you can't be healed)
statuses. Have Esuna handy. One thing to note about this boss is that
he's undead. This means you can cast healing spells and such on him
to damage him. To target him with a healing spell or item, just press R1
when the target selection window is up (R1 changes the 'group' of
targets, between party members, reserves, and enemies). Sadly you can't
Elixir him to insta-death him, like you could with certain bosses in
previous FFs... as long as you have poison and virus statuses under
control, he's not too much to worry about.

Continue east for a short event at the the door, then go inside the
Pharos itself. The Pharos is split into three sections, which the game
dubs 'Ascents'.

FIRST ASCENT - HORIZON OF FIRST LIGHT

The teleporter in the front here doesn't work yet. There's a teleport-
active save point here as well. The middle circular area has three
altars (黒封の祭壇) that you'll need to manipulate. To activate them,
you'll need Black Jewels (黒の珠). As you defeat enemies around here,
sometimes they may leave a little blue sparkling light behind. Examine
those to receive the Jewels.
The circular area is broken up by debris, so you'll need to enter
the circular area from three different ways (main hall, from northeast,
and from southeast) in order to activate all three. Once you do so,
the sealed door to the east will open. Save before you go in and
then step inside to be warped to somewhere unknown. After walking for
a little bit, you'll be attacked by the next boss.

BOSS: Pandemonium
??? HP
Pandemonium uses petrify and blind statuses, so have the appropriate
counters. The trickiest thing about this boss is that at about half
health, he'll use "Absolute Defense" and "Absolute Magic Barrier",
which will cause any and all damage sources to be nullified. The only
thing you can do is wait for the effect to wear off. Use the time to
focus on healing and defense buffs. Once it wears off, use your
newly buffed team to finish the job.

With him gone, the teleporter back in the main entrance hall is now
active. Return, heal and save, and then take the teleporter up.
This next area is home to a large number of gaps that you'll need to
make bridges for. In order to make the bridges, you need to defeat
enemies called Kojas (コジャ), which are the Face-type enemies with a
green flame on top. Defeating one causes a bridge segment to be laid
down. In this first area, just defeat two Kojas and a bridge will
form to the east. Continue around the path and defeat four more to make
another bridge to the north. Cross it and go to the next zone.
Now you'll need to defeat six Kojas to make the next bridge. Still pretty
simple.
Things begin to get tricker in the next area. The game tries to fool
you by adding enemies called Didras (デイダラ), which look exactly like
Kojas except they have a red flame on top. If you mistakenly defeat
a Didra, a bridge segment actually disappears. Thus you need to stop
your party members, especially Reddas, from attacking them. Use R2 to
enter escape mode and pull your allies away if you need to.
In any case defeat six Kojas to make the first bridge. In the next area
loop around the square corridor in the southeast until you've killed
ten Kojas. This makes another bridge north. The next area is quite long,
looping all the way from east to north to west, but you only need to kill
four Kojas here. Take the newly-made bridge again to reach the next set
of stairs.
There's a save point here, which should be a warning sign to you. Use
it, then go down south to the next set of stairs. At the next room,
another weird warp and a boss await.

BOSS: Sharit
??? HP
Sharit is weak against Fire, as well as Oil, so you can nuke him to the
best of your ability. He's also susceptible to Slow status, which helps a
lot. His attacks do hurt a lot, but thanks to the Oil+Fire combination
you should be able to destroy him pretty quickly.

With him out of the way there's just one teleporter left to get to the next
Ascent.

SECOND ASCENT - REACH OF DIAMOND LOW

This area starts off quite mean. There's four locked doors here, and
four altars. To open a door you have to activate an altar, but when you
do, one of your abilities will be sealed.
Fight sealed - 戦封の祭壇
Magic sealed - 魔封の祭壇
Item sealed - 具封の祭壇
Map sealed - 知封の祭壇
Probably the easiest thing to do is seal items, as long as you have
the necessary magic to compensate. Either way choose carefully, as you'll
have to fight the next boss with the seal in place.
In any case this will open a door, so continue upstairs. On the 61st
floor, go to either the northeast or southwest corner for some more stairs.
The 62nd floor is the opposite; the stairs up are in the northwest
and southeast. On the 63rd floor, you'll need to go northeast and then
west from there (the door northwest from the center area is locked).
The 64th floor is simple; there's a save point here, and then the stairs
up are to the south.
You know the drill by now - weird teleport, boss time.

BOSS: Fenrir
??? HP
This guy is pretty much all physical attacks. Have somebody with a high
defense and evade out in front, and cast Protect on them. Then
just attack away. Regen helps a little but the main thing is to use
Curada if your tank gets even close to dying.

With the boss gone, you'll reach another wide open circular area. Find
the altar that you chose before and activate it; this will unseal
your command as well as call an elevator for you. The elevator's on
the west side of the central circular area; take it up. Here you'll
find another save point and a teleporter, which will take you to the
third and final ascent.

THIRD ASCENT - METE OF DESTINY

There are a number of crests here that will teleport you around. The trick
here is that if you pick the wrong crest twice, you'll be teleported back
to the beginning, in a locked room, with tons of enemies. You won't be able
to leave until you defeat them all. On the other hand the treasure pot
with the map for this ascent is in this room, so completists may want to
screw up on purpose.
In any case on the 80th floor pick the Black Crest (黒の紋章). Continue
from here and in the seeming dead end you can break one of the walls by
examining it. Find the Green Crest (緑の紋章) to continue. After
teleporting, again break the walls to find the Red Crest (赤の紋章).
Once you're on the 84th floor, you'll need to pick the one that
corresonds to whatever you chose to seal back in the Second Ascent.
In the case of Items, pick the yellow one on the right. (I don't know
what you need to pick if you sealed something else yet, sorry.)
Afterwards all you have to do is continue breaking walls around the
north side until you find the teleporter.
The rest is straightforward. Take the elevator to the 90th floor.
Another boss awaits you here.

BOSS: Hashmarim
??? HP
Hashmarim likes using some dangerous earth attacks, such as Quaja
(damage and slow status to all) and Rock You. The key point here
is that using Levitaga can make you avoid all of those attacks. And
you thought Levitaga was only good for traps. With those attacks of
his rendered worthless, he isn't too tough at all. Once he gets close
to dying, like Pandemonium he'll use an absolute defense skill that
nullifies all damage. Wait until it runs out, then finish him off.

With Hashmarim gone, you can now learn the license to summon him.
Hurray. Continue on and you'll find your last save point here.
There's a couple of boss fights coming up, so be sure that you are
in top condition before moving on. Teleport up to the top floor.
After a number of events, your old friend Gabras shows up.

BOSS: Gabras
??? HP
He's actually pretty easy. He can only attack one person at a time,
so use your tank tactics. Since this is the first in a series of
boss battles, the thing you'll want to keep in mind is to try and
conserve your MP as much as possible here. After some point he'll use
Absolute Magic Barrier, so magic won't affect him at all; however,
you can and should use physical attacks to finish him off.
After a little more conversation, Dr. Cid arrives.

BOSS: Dr. Cid

??? HP
He's pretty wimpy now compared to how he was before, so again, conserve
your MP. He does have a special attack that hits everybody for a
little less than 1000 damage, so keep your party healed. The real battle
begins when you get him down to about half health. You thought you
were the only ones with Summons?

BOSS: Dr. Cid and Famfrit

??? HP
Now this is much harder. First of all, Cid will once again cheat and
make himself invincible to any and all damage. You'll have to defeat
Famfrit first. Of course, Cid will be attacking you all the while. He
also buffs Famfrit with Protect, Shell, and Haste. You can Dispel
it, but Cid will recast it. This may be good, though, since it stops
Cid from doing other things, such as shooting you. On Famfrit's side,
the danger lies in his move that hits everybody as well as Silences
them. Make sure you have the appropriate countermeasures for that.
He's not terribly tough otherwise; just make sure Dr. Cid and Famfrit
don't gang up on one of your party members.
Once Famfrit goes down, Cid will no longer be invincible. However, he
does suddenly do a lot more damage with his attacks. Still, once
Famfrit is gone Cid is much easier to handle, so pummel him for all the
grief he's caused you so far.

You'll get another series of events now. Cid's master plan was actually
to release huge amounts of Mist to power the Empire's other secret
weapon, the Sky Fortress Bahamut. Reddas manages to stop it, but at a
cost. The Bahamut is still in operation, though not nearly as powerful
as it would've been, and your last goal is clear - you must charge
the Bahamut itself and stop Vayne.
You'll end up in Balfonheim once again. You can now fly to the Bahamut,
which is next to Rabanastre on the map, with your airship at any time.
However, once you enter, you will not be able to leave. There's also no
save points inside (don't worry, it's actually quite short compared to
the couple of hellaciously long dungeons you just finished.) Therefore
you should finish up all the loose ends that you want now. Mob Hunts,
Side Quests, shopping, etc. - it's your last chance. When you're all
good and ready, choose to fly to the Bahamut.

SKY FORTRESS BAHAMUT

空中要塞バハムート
A couple of nice movies shows you the state of the war. Marquis Ondore
is attempting to hold his own with the resistance army, but the Bahamut
proves to be too much. Ashe and company arrive, and Ashe manages
(along with Vaan pretending to be Larsa...) to convince Ondore to
let them sneak aboard the Bahamut and finish things once and for all.
After all the movies, go north and around the corner, up the stairs
to the southwest.
You'll get some more events. Proceed straight southwest to the central
circular area, then enter the small room, which is actually an elevator,
here. Activate the panel to go up. When you do, you're greeted by Gabras,
who survived the events at the Pharos after all. Time for another
fight.
BOSS: Gabras
??? HP
He's upgraded his attacks since the last time you saw him, with the
ability to do more damage to more people at once now. Nevertheless,
he is vulnerable to a host of status effects, including Slow and Blind,
so make full use of it. He does cheat a little in that once he gets
to about half health, he'll taunt Basch (even if he's not in your
party...) and heal himself to full HP once again. He doesn't get anything
new or tricky, though, so continue fighting as before.

After you've defeated Gabras, examine the panel again to continue upwards.
Now it's time to confront Vayne face-to-face. Larsa joins you as a guest
for this battle, hurray.

BOSS: Vayne
??? HP
He's pretty weak. Conserve your MP. His most powerful attack only does
about 1000 damage each, so fight conservatively and don't overuse your
MP or items.

Surely you didn't think that was it? Vayne uses the power of the
artificial stones made by Cid and becomes Vayne Nous.

BOSS: Vayne Nous, Sefira x5

Gabras joins you as an ally in this fight. The Sefira around him
can be annoying, but they aren't that bad so you can focus on Vayne
if you so wish. Slow works on Vayne, so by all means cast it;
the "Defense Break" and "Magic Defense Break" skills also work on
him. Use them to speed things up. This still isn't the final battle,
so don't use up everything you have. His specials now can do about
2000 HP damage, so stay above that. From time to time he may use
the absolute barriers you've already seen from some of the other bosses;
again, the only thing you can do in such a case is wait until it expires.

Some more events. Gabras deals a big blow to Vayne, so what does he do?
Runs away. Once your party catches up to him, his transformation is even
more severe - not good news for the airships in the area. Time to
finish things once and for all.

BOSS: Immortal One

??? HP
You won't be able to see how much HP he has left, even in bar form,
which is kind of annoying. Still, at about 75%, 50%, and 25% health
he'll temporarily become invincible to physical attacks, magic
attacks, and then both, so you can use this to estimate about how
much more fighting you have left.
His magic ignores Reflect, so don't bother. He starts out with Haste,
so Dispel that. You CAN use Defense Break and Magic Defense Break,
which helps a little. His best attacks will probably do around 2000
damage, so keep yourself healed above this amount. Other than all of
this, just fire away to the best of your ability. There is nothing
after this, so use up all your elixirs and so on; Mist Knack him
to death and use elixirs to do lots of damage.

With Vayne gone, enjoy the ending. You've deserved it. So ends Final
Fantasy XII.