The game starts at Orbonne Monastery. A band of enemy knights shows up, and

you have to fight. This battle is pretty much automatic, as everyone except

Ramza is controlled by the computer. Gaffgarion and Agrias will take care of

most of the enemies without any trouble, so you can have Ramza just do pretty

much whatever you want. It’s possible that one or more of your weaker

teammates--Alicia, Lavian, and Ladd--will get KOed. Don’t worry; none of them

can die permanently in this battle. After Gaffgarion and Agrias finish wiping

out the enemies, there will be some story scenes, and Ramza will enter into an

extended flashback.

%%%CHAPTER I: THE MEAGER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk1

All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza’s days as a knight-in-training with

the Order of the Northern Sky. You (Ramza) and Delita will be at the academy

in Gariland, where you receive the assignment to defeat some thieves entering

the town. You are automatically joined by four squires and two chemists, then

the first battle begins. See "Battle Strategies" for tips on this and other

specific battles.

I’ve also added some general gameplay information to the "Basic Mechanics and

Tactics" section, which you might want to check out to help you get started if

this is your first Final Fantasy Tactics experience. (Some of this information

is in the tutorial, but you’ll also find some additional tactics.) Press

Ctrl+ F and enter 00begin to jump down there.

After you win the battle against the thieves, you will go to the map screen.

You can click on Gariland to visit its shops. The Tavern is used to hear

information about the game’s story and world, and later to run Errands for

extra JP and money and to enter the multiplayer mode. The Outfitter is used to

buy items. Finally, the Warriors’ Guild allows you to recruit new human

characters to your roster.

You may want to stop at the Warriors’ Guild recruit some new characters. In

particular, look for characters with reasonably high Bravery, especially if

your current characters don’t have very good Bravery. Bravery affects the

your chance of using Reaction Abilities and the strength of some attacks --

higher is better, of course! (Although there are abilities to raise everyone’s

Bravery later, you probably won’t get them right away.) You may also want a

character or two with high Faith to turn into a magick-user. A second thing to

look at is the character’s Zodiac sign. Taurus and Capricorn characters will

be particularly effective against the bosses in this chapter and the next, so

getting some of those signs on your roster will give you a bit of a leg up.

If you want to spend the time, you can mine the Guild until you get just the

character you want. If you don’t like the character that appears; simply

select "Don’t Hire." You won’t be charged anything and you can select Male

Soldier or Female Soldier to roll another character. You can keep doing this

until you get some high Bravery characters -- though it’s certainly not

necessary to spend the time here if you don’t want. Note that female recruits

are 100 gil cheaper and probably more useful in the long run since some of the

game’s most powerful items can only be used by female characters.

This is probably the only time in the game that you’ll want to use the

Warriors’ Guild. If you lose any of your main team members later in the game,

you’re probably better off resetting. It’s tough to replace characters who

have already been built up with a lot of abilities!

Stop by the Outfitter’s in Gariland to buy some Potions. If one or both of

your Chemists has enough JP to learn the Phoenix Down ability, learn that

ability and then buy a few (1-2) Phoenix Downs at the store. Phoenix Downs are

great to have as they allow you to revive a KOed character. You’ll also want

to equip one of your Chemists with the Mythril Knife you picked up as a Battle

Trophy in the first battle; it’s stronger than the Daggers they already have.

Save the game by pressing Triangle and choosing Data, then head west to

Mandalia Plain. As soon as you leave the city, you’ll have a flashback (yes, a

flashback within a flashback) to the death of Ramza’s father Barbaneth. After

that sequence has ended, you’ll be back in Gariland. Click on Mandalia Plain

once again and this time you’ll actually get there.

At Mandalia Plain, you’ll meet Argath, under attack by the Corpse Brigade. You

can choose whether or not to help him (bottom option) or just go after the

Corpse Brigade (to option). This has no long-term impact on the storyline;

it only affects the victory conditions for the upcoming battle:

- If you choose not to help Argath (top choice), your goal is just to defeat

all the enemies. It doesn’t matter if Argath is KOed during the battle

or not. Choosing this option also adds 10 points to the Bravery score of

every character in your current squad, including Delita. 2 points of this

change will remain even after the battle.

- Choosing to help Argath (bottom choice) adds an additional requirement to

the battle: you’ll have to keep Argath from getting KOed during the battle.

This option has no effect on your team’s Bravery.

The first option both makes the battle easier AND gives you a boost in Bravery.

High Bravery is pretty useful since it increases some weapons’ attack strength

and your chance of using Reaction Abilities. There’s no benefit at all from

choosing the second option, so choose the first!

When the fight concludes, Argath will join as a guest regardless of which

option you choose before the battle. Back on the map, go on up to Eagrose

Castle. You’ll have a brief chat with Dycedarg, then Zalbaag will send you to

rendezvous with his spy at Dorter.

At this point, you might want to consider changing some of your characters to

new jobs. Chemists are really more useful than either White Mages or Black

Mages, so keep your Chemists as-is. But you might want to change some of your

Squires to Knights, since Knights have more HP and damage potential than

Squires. (Archers are also available at this time. They’re good in

general, but I’d skip them for the next few battles as melee combat is best

for them.) I made Ramza into a Knight at this point. It’s probably a good

idea to keep at least one Squire, though. Why is that? As long as you have at

least one Squire active in battle, everyone will earn some JP towards that job,

and that will help you buy useful Squire abilities like Counter Tackle, Move

+1, and JP Boost. Move +1 and JP Boost are particulary useful -- JP Boost

increases the amount of JP you earn, and will help you learn all the other

abilities faster--it’s a good investment! At any rate, if you do change

jobs, be sure to buy (and equip) new gear for those characters.

Before you leave Eagrose, stop by the Outfitter. There’s new equipment for

sale here. Stock up on Potions, then arm your characters with the new gear.

Make sure all your Squires and Knights have Longswords, the best weapon

available to them right now. In particular, if you changed any of your

characters’ jobs, be sure they have equipment that goes with the new jobs. You

can safely skip the Mythril Knife, though--it’ll just increase a Chemist’s

attack power by 1 point, and they don’t do much fighting, anyway. The shop

also sells Battle Boots, which increase your movement range by 1 tile. As

handy is this, they’re pricey, so you won’t be able to afford them for your

whole team. If you buy them for anyone, give them to your Chemist, so he/she

can get around the battlefield quickly enough to heal people.

Also stop by the shop at Gariland, which sells different items than the one at

Eagrose. The Eagrose has equipment for Knights and Archers, but the shop

offers Plumed Hats and Leather Clothing, which is better armor for your Squires

and Chemists. Pick up these upgrades as well; you want to make sure your

Chemists stay alive so they can heal people! (Unlike in a lot of games,

armor in FF Tactics doesn’t actually reduce the damage you take; it gives you

more HP or MP. Still, it helps you stay alive longer!) Don’t forget that

you change Delita’s and Argath’s equipment, too, despite the fact that they’re

guest characters. You can (and should!) have them learn new abilities, too!

You may want to gain some levels before proceeding. You can do this by

strolling back and forth across the Mandalia Plain until you get into a random

battle. Note that while Ramza is required in story battles, you do NOT have to

deploy Ramza during the random battles. (Also, since Delita and Argath are

Guest characters, they won’t participate in random battles, only story ones.)

By the way, it’ll help you out in some of the future battles if you’re able to

teach Argath a simple Black Magick spell. This is pretty tricky, though, since

he doesn’t participate in any of the random battles and can only earn JP in the

story battles. So, the only way to do this is to have your Chemists take

enough actions during the story battles that Argath gains some JP in the

Chemist job and is able to unlock the Black Mage job. It’s cool if you can do

this, but don’t worry too much about it if you can’t; it’s not *necessary*.

Your next story destination is the Siedge Weald, to the east of Gariland. Head

down that direction.

When you get to Gariland, you’ll see a scene at the Tavern about the game’s

multiplayer modes. Both of these modes are now unlocked, and you can play them

by visiting a Tavern in any town. Melee Mode is a "versus" mode that pits your

party against another player’s. Rendezvous Mode is a co-op mode in which you

team up with another player to challenge various missions that will become

unlocked as you play through the game. Right now, there’s only one mission

available, "Chocobo Defense." Both modes allow you to earn and keep JP and

items; when you get to a high enough experience level, you can even obtain

items that you can’t get anywhere else. Another nice thing about these modes

is that you can’t permanently lose any items or characters, so they’re risk-

free. (Melee Mode does cost gil to play, though.) You can check them out now

if you want, although at this point, the Rendezvous Mode mission may still be

pretty challenging. Check out the Multiplayer Modes section below for more

information on the modes’ rules and for strategies for the Rendezvous Mode

missions. (Note that both modes are playable only over a local, "ad hoc"

connection.)

If you don’t have a chance to play the multiplayer modes, don’t worry, you

definitely don’t need to play multiplayer in order to complete the single-

player game.

Continue on to the Weald and complete the battle there. Before proceeding on

to Dorter, make sure your Chemists have learned both Potion and Phoenix Down.

You can skip the abilities for all the individual condition-curing items,

though; most of the conditions aren’t that bad and when you get Remedies, those

will cure *any* status change. Other good abilities to learn are Stone and

Rush. When you get the JP, pick up Move +1, Focus, and Counter Tackle. Ramza

can also use the Tailwind ability, which you’ll want to get as well. Chemists

should have Potion and Phoenix Down.

When you enter Dorter, there will be a cutscene, and then you’ll be tossed into

a battle at the Dorter Slums. This is a pretty tough battle. If you don’t win

at first, try again, or build up your levels first. Upon your victory, you’ll

be able to visit the town. There’s no new equipment to buy, but stock up on

items. You’ll want at least 10 Potions and 4 Phoenix Downs. Potions are cheap

(50 gil each), so there’s no reason not to carry plenty. Also, winning the

battle at Dorter Slums netted you an Iron Sword, which is a better weapon than

anything you can find in stores. Equip it one of your characters.

Again, you may want to build levels before proceeding to the next battle.

When you’re ready, go on up to the Zeklaus Desert, where you’ll have a battle

at the Sand Rat’s Sieve. This is a difficult fight--the toughest in Chapter

I--so it may take you a couple tries. After you win, you’ll rescue the

Marquis. You’ll also pick up a Blind Knife. It’s not stronger than the other

knives you already have, but it does inflict Blind status on enemies (lowering

their hit rate), so give it to a Chemist.

Return to Eagrose Castle. You’ll meet Duke Larg, and then Dycedarg will let

Ramza and friends in on the next mission against the Corpse Brigade. The

shops at all three towns will now be stocked with new items. At Eagrose, you

can buy Iron Swords for both your Squires and Knights, as well as

Escutcheons, Iron Helms, and Bronze Armor for any Knights you have. Gariland

has better light armor, used by jobs other than Knights. If you’re using

mages, you can buy new magick weapons at Gariland and Dorter, as well as Hempen

Robes, which will raise their MP max. All towns also carry a new accessory--

the Shoulder Cape, which will boost both your physical and magick evade rates

by a little bit (10%). It’s not really as useful as the Battle Boots, though.

The most important new item isn’t actually an equipment--it’s the Hi-Potion,

which is now for sale under Items! Hi-Potions restore 70 HP instead of the 30

you get from a regular Potion, and since you should have a lot more than

30 HP now, you’ll need the healing boost. You can’t use Hi-Potions unless

you’ve learned the Hi-Potion ability (under Chemist), so be sure to have your

Chemist(s) learn this ability.

Buy as much of the new gear as you can. There’s a lot to buy, so you might not

be able to afford it all. Aside from restocking your item supply, the

priorities are probably the Iron Swords and Bronze Armor at Eagrose, and the

Leather Plate at Gariland, as well as restocking your item supply.

After you’re done shopping, your new destination is the Brigands’ Den, south of

the Mandalia Plain. You may want to bring more male characters than female

ones here, as there’s a chance that one of the enemies can charm a female

character--but it’s pretty unlikely, so don’t go out of your way to adjust your

roster. Also, if you happen to have any characters on your roster who are

Tauruses, Capricorns, or male Pisces, they’re good to deploy here. You’ll be

facing your first boss character here, and she’s a female Virgo. The three

Zodiac signs listed above will do the most damage to her. Again, it’s

definitely not essential to have them, but it’ll help you out if you do.

The Brigands’ Den is easier than the Sand Rat’s Sieve, so if you won

there, you should be able to attain victory here. Victory here nets you a

Bronze Shield, which is a more effective shield than anything else you’ve got

at this point. Following the battle, there will be a cutscene at Eagrose as

the Corpse Brigade strikes back.

Strip Argath of all his equipment, as he’ll be leaving your party shortly. Go

back up to Eagrose. A series of scenes will follow in which Ramza and Delita

decide to rescue Tietra, and Argath leaves.

At this point, you’ll probably want to start changing jobs, if you haven’t

already. If you change any of your characters to Monks, do so; they’re very

strong fighters. If any of your characters have enough JP to buy the Knight

abiity Equip Heavy Armor, a good strategy is to learn that ability and then

make the character into a Monk--the heavy armor will make up for the Monk’s

otherwise poor HP count. It would also help to have a Black Mage and Archer.

However, you will still want to have a healer, so give one of your characters

the Items ability. Before switching out of the Chemist job, you need to learn

(and equip) the Throw Item ability ... otherwise, your items will have a range

of 1, and, as Sonic would say, that’s NO GOOD!

After you’ve finished changing jobs, be sure to buy matching equipment for

them. If you’re just now switching to Archers, I’ll explain the difference

between bowguns and regular bows: bowguns only require one hand, allowing you

to equip a shield, but bows deal more damage. Since Archers are usually in the

back line and don’t get attacked too much, a shield isn’t too important, so I

almost always use regular bows.

Note, also, that the Flame, Ice, and Thunder Rods (for Black Mages) boost the

damage dealt by your Fire-family, Blizzard-family, and Thunder-family magicks,

respectively. A good trick, then, is to buy a particular Rod and then learn

some of the spells that go along with it (e.g., buy the Ice Rod and then try

to learn Blizzard and Blizzara). This will increase the damage you can do with

your magick. These rods also sometimes cast Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder when

executing a physical attack, if your Black Mage happens to get caught in a

melee.

Return to Gariland. As you cross Mandalia Plain, an animated cutscene will

play. Once you get to Gariland, buy plenty of Hi-Potions (12 or so) and

Phoenix Down (6 should be sufficient). If you weren’t able to purchase all

the equipment upgrades you wanted before the Brigands’ Den, you could do so now

as well, but you’re probably better off saving your money--there are even

better items coming soon. But if any of your equipment was stolen by the

Thieves in the last battle, be sure to replace it.

Go north from Gariland to the Lenalian Plateau. You’ll have another battle

against Milleuda (Wiegraf’s sister). She is of course still a female Virgo,

so any Taurus, Capricorn, and male Pisces characters you have will be the most

effective against her.

After you win the battle at the Plateau, the shops will again update their

shelves with new equipment. As before, you’ll find heavy armor and most

kinds of weapons in Eagrose, and lighter armor in Gariland and Dorter. Buy

what you can and replace any items that Milleuda may have broken.

Also, at this point you should be in great shape to win the Chocobo Defense

mission in Rendezvous Mode, so if you’d like to check that out, you can earn

some extra items and JP. Strategies for these missions are available in the

Rendezvous Mode section.

Forge on from the Lenalian Plateau to Fovoham Windflats. At Fovoham Windflats,

you’ll square off against Wiegraf and his Chocobo Boco (a reference to Final

Fantasy V). This battle isn’t too difficult if you have good jobs. If you

want to exploit your Zodiac signs to maximize damage against him, he’s a male

Virgo, so Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces will be the most effective.

Nothing is added to the shops after the battle at Fovoham, so if your item

supply is okay, you can continue directly on to Ziekden Fortress, the final

battle of the chapter. You’ll probably want non-basic Jobs (particularly a

Monk or an Archer) for this battle. A Black Mage with Blizzard family magicks

will be quite useful, especially if paired with an Ice Rod. And, again,

Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces characters will be good against the boss.

If you need JP, you can always go to the Siedge Weald or the Mandalia Plain to

fight some random battles.

At Ziekden Fortress, you’ll find Tietra being held captive by a Gragoroth, a

Corpse Brigade knight. Argath arrive with some troops, and you’ll find

yourself battling an unexpected enemy. After you kill him, there are a couple

FMV scenes, the fort blows up, and the chapter ends. The game will give you a

chance to save, and then you’ll move on to Chapter II.

%%%CHAPTER II: THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk2

You now return to the present, at Orbonne Monastery. Your current mission is

to rescue Princess Ovelia.

After a brief chat, you’ll be given a chance to add Ramza’s fellow mercenary

Ladd and both of Agrias’s Knights (Alicia and Lavian) to the party. There’s no

real reason not to take them along, so sign them up! They start with a bare

minimum of abilities, though, so they probably won’t see much use compared to

the characters you’re carrying over from Chapter I.

Note that to do one of Agrias’s Subquests in Chapter IV, you MUST keep Alicia

and Lavian (as well as Agrias, of course) on your roster until the subquest,

even if you never use them in battle. Don’t dismiss them or let them get

killed if you want to complete all the sidequests.

Agrias and Gaffgarion will also join as Guests. You still have all your

characters from Chapter I (except Delita) as well.

You’ll see that Ramza’s appearance has changed at the start of the chapter.

His Squire job is now able to equip heavy armor and shields, plus he has a new

ability to learn, Steel. Steel gives a character a +5 Bravery boost during a

battle, and some of this increase will remain even after the battle. Raising

your Bravery makes your Reaction Abilities and some attacks stronger, so this

is a good ability to learn. If Ramza has some spare turns near the end of a

battle, you can spend them using Steel to boost up characters’ Bravery.

If you have any abilities to learn, get them. Since the Guest AI can be

somewhat poor at targeting spells, you may want to de-equip any spellcasting

abilities (Black Magick or Mystic Arts) that Agrias may have equipped. When

you’ve got your team organized, go north to the only location available to you:

Dorter, where a battle awaits you. Win it (well, obviously) and you’ll have

access to all of the map again.

At this point, you should have had all your characters upgraded from the

beginning Jobs (Squire or Chemist) to more advanced ones. In particular,

you’ll want to have a Monk, Archer, Black Mage, and White Mage somewhere in the

party. I like making Ramza into a Monk; you’ll want to have him learn either

the Monk’s Chakra ability or the Time Mage’s Teleport for use in a battle near

the end of the chapter. An Orator can also be useful to have on the team, but

might take some time to get, as you have to get the Mystic job up to job level

3, and Mystic itself requires job level 3 of White Mage. If you want to take

the time to get it, you can also get the Thief Job, which is unlocked by

getting Archer to job level 3.

You now have the ability to take Errands at taverns. You can earn a lot of gil

and some JP from these jobs, so take them up (never more than one at a time,

though). Always choose to spend the maxinum number of days possible. While

the characters are away, you can continue on without them, or you have the main

group build up job levels with random battles. Or, if you just want to pass

time, you can walk back and forth between two blue dots on the map, which will

never trigger any random battles. (You can use Eagrose & Ziekden Fortress, or

Dorter & the Monastery.)

Also, two new Rendezvous Mode missions are now available in Taverns: Chicken

Race and Treasure Hunt, which offer better items than the Chocobo Defense

mission from chapter I. Chicken Race can be completed quite easily by a small

party of Chemists and is great for collecting items at this stage. Treasure

Hunt is a bit harder, but if you pick up the chest on the map, you’ll get a

good piece of equipment.

All the stores have new equipment, so pay them a visit to gear up your

characters. Remember that you’ll have to hike back to Eagrose to purchase

heavy armor and most weapons. Conversely, you’ll only find lighter armor at

the other two cities. Don’t buy any equipment for Gaffgarion. (It’s OK

to get stuff for Agrias, but her equipment is already really good.) Stock up

on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs.

Note you can have random battles at the Fovoham Windflats and the Zeklaus

Desert that occur on entirely different maps from the story battles there.

They also feature some advanced monsters, so try recruiting them with a Orator.

Just make sure to keep an eye on the number of eggs they produce; wipe out the

majority of eggs before they clog your roster.

This is a good chance to build up your characters if you want. As long as you

have the Jobs I recommended above and new equipment for your main squad of

characters, you should be fine. When you feel confident that you’re done

preparing, go to Araguay Woods, east of Dorter. Here you have to save Boco

the chocobo from goblins. As when you met Argath, you’re given two options,

which will affect your victory conditions:

- If you choose not to help Boco (top choice), your goal is just to defeat

all the enemies, and you don’t have to keep Boco from being KOed. However,

you’ll also suffer a 10 point PENALTY to everyone’s Bravery; 2 points of

which will remain even after the battle.

- Choosing to help Boco (bottom choice) means you must keep Boco from getting

KOed during the battle, but does not penalize your Bravery.

This time, the top choice still gives you an easier battle, but you’ll take a

hit to your Bravery for selecting it. Since protecting Boco during the battle

isn’t hard at all, choose the second option to keep from losing Bravery. After

the battle, Boco will join.

Back on the map, go into your roster screen and change Gaffgarion into a Time

Mage or another crummy job. If you have the auto-equip feature on, be sure to

also strip off all his gear. Equip it on one of your other characters. He has

good armor, and the Power Gauntlet will give you an attack boost. (It’s great

for an Archer, or another character who doesn’t need the movement bonus of the

Battle Boots.) Then continue on to Zeirchele Falls. It’s pretty here, but

there’s still a battle awaiting you. Be sure to deploy an Archer for it.

After the battle, Delita will leave you with Ovelia. Ramza sets a new course

for Lionel Castle, so Fort Besselat disappears from your map, not to return

until much later in the game. Back on the map, help yourself to Gaffgarion’s

equipment if you didn’t earlier. If you need items, go back to Dorter.

There’s also some new equipment for sale at Dorter and at Eagrose, so it’s

probably worth making the trip as you’ll want the new gear for the next battle.

However, you may want to pass on the Poison Rod for your Black Mages. While

it does a little more damage physically (and sometimes poisons its target), it

doesn’t boost the power of any of your Black Magicks like the Flame, Ice, and

Thunder Rods do. Since your Black Mages usually attack with magick most of the

time (I assume ;) ), you’re probably better off sticking your existing rod.

While Ovelia is listed on your roster as a Guest, she won’t actually

participate in any more battles. So, you’re safe de-equipping her Wizard’s

Hat and Wizard’s Robe and giving them to another character. The Wizard’s Robe

is an especially nice pick-up since you can’t buy them stores yet. It raises

your magick attack, so give it to one of your mages. However, she WILL be able

to use some of her abilities later. So, go into Ovelia’s ability screen and

teach her as many abilities under Princess as you can, then equip them.

They’ll come in handy in a few battles later down the road.

The next battle is a tough one, so be prepared. You’ll want Archers and Black

Mages, and, if you don’t include a White Mage in the party, one of the

characters should have White Magick as a secondary ability. A Black Chocobo

also be helpful, if you can get one. (Boco will randomly lay eggs and they may

hatch into Black Chocobos, but there’s obviously an element of luck/randomness

to this.) I ended up using Ramza, two Archers, and a Black Mage. If you don’t

have the abilities you want, you can move back and forth across any green dot on

the map to fight random battles and earn more JP. When you’re ready, go south

past the falls to the Castled City of Zaland.

You’ll meet Mustadio, who is being chased by some bad guys. Once again,

you’re given two options for the upcoming battle:

- Choosing the first option means that you DO NOT have to keep Mustadio from

getting KOed during the battle. This option raises the Bravery of each

character on your current squad (including Agrias) by 5, 1 point of which is

permanent.

- Choosing the second option means that you DO have to keep from getting

Mustadio from getting KOed. However, this option raises all the characters’

Bravery by 10, 2 points of which are permanent.

In other words, you’ll get a Bravery increase either way, but you’ll get a

BIGGER increase for helping Mustadio. Of course, this also makes the battle

harder. So, there’s no clear "best option" here. It’s up to you which you

choose. Since this battle can be pretty challenging, you might want to just

pick the first option; it makes the fight quite a bit easier and you’re only

missing out on 1 extra point of Bravery. Again, no matter what you pick,

Mustadio joins you afterwards as a Guest.

When all the talking is finished, you’re now able to visit the stores in

Zaland. There’s not very much in the way of selection, but if you didn’t

upgrade your equipment after Zeirchele Falls, the Adamant Vest, Wizard’s Hat,

and Serpent Staff are all for sale here. (There’s nothing brand new.) There

are also a pair of new Errands available at the Tavern, and a new Rendezvous

Mode mission.

Your next stop is Balias Tor. When you first try to leave Zaland, there will

be a cutscene. Afterwards, you’ll be back on the map, but Balias Tor is still

red. Travel there for real this time, and you’ll get into a fight. Following

the fight, a cut scene will pop up back at Eagrose Castle with Dycedarg and

Gaffgarion scheming.

You can now finally get to Lionel Castle--don’t worry; there’s no fight!

You’ll chat with Delacroix and learn about the Zodiac Stones. Agrias and

Ovelia will then leave the party. Then you get to go shopping! There is a lot

of really powerful equipment you can get here, so load up on it (you should

have a lot of money by now). The Lightning Bow is a great weapon for any

Archers you have; it has a fairly high attack power and sometimes casts the

Thundaga spell. The stores also have a lot of new accessories -- you might

want to pick up a Mage’s Cloak or two for your magick users. Finally, you can

now buy the Remedy item in all stores. It can cure any status ailment, so now

there’s really no point for your Chemists to learn the abilities for any of the

other status-restoring items.

Buy any stuff you want in Lionel now, as you won’t be able to do so later.

Since your access to the shops will be blocked off later, it might be a wise

idea to buy some spare pieces of heavy armor and helms. That way, if any of

your gear gets stolen or broken, you have a replacement.

Now that you’ve reached Lionel Castle, you’ll be able to deploy 5 characters

in both story and random battles, instead of just 4. If you’ve been using a

core team of just four characters, be sure to get a fifth equipped.

Also, you may want to send some of your characters out on a errand if you

haven’t been doing them -- you can earn a lot of money from some. Again,

walking between Dorter and Orbonne Monastery is an easy way to pass time and

complete the errands while avoiding random battles. Be sure to complete all

the errands before heading on to Goug, though. Once you get to Goug, it will

be a while before you can go back to the other towns to retrieve your

characters.

If you go back up to Zaland, you can also buy some new light armor: Green

Berets and Wizard Clothing. Keep your magick users equipped with Wizard’s

Hats, though, as those raise their magick power.

If Mustadio has enough JP, pick up the Seal Evil ability for him if you haven’t

already--it’ll be handy in the next battle, as it turns undead to stone.

On to the fenlands. This should be a pretty easy battle as you fight your way

through here on to Goug. However, there’s a small chance that you may

encounter a Pig monster here in the initial story battle. (It does not appear

during random battles.) If you have an Orator, deploy him/her so that you can

recruit the Pig if you see it. You can use that Pig to breed monsters from the

pig family and then use the Thief ability Poach to kill them, which will yield

great rare items. (Unfortunately, you won’t actually be able to pick up the

items until the Poachers’ Dens open in Chapter III.) The next opportunity to

get a Pig won’t be until Chapter IV, so if you’re particularly intent on

getting a leg up on the enemy, you could keep entering the battle over and over

and resetting until the Pig appears and you can recruit it. But, that’s

definitely NOT necessary; you can skip the Pig entirely and do just fine!

Upon arriving in Goug, there will be a brief scene and then you’re back on the

map. The store doesn’t have much of anything, but if you’ve got a Orator or

Chemist, be sure to buy them a Romandan Pistol. The Romandan Pistol has a

great rangeoverall, and is especially useful if you have a chance to pair it

with the Knight’s Arts of War abilities -- you can use it rend enemies’

equipments or stats at a distance! Goug also has a number of accessories

Make sure you’re stocked up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs; you’ll need them.

You may also want to equip the Archer’s Bane ability on any characters who have

it.

Try to leave the city and you’ll be immediately thrust into a battle. Deploy

your Orator (if you have one), somebody with a bow, and somebody with Black

Magick. Ludovich, the leader of the Baert Company, will appear with Mustadio

and Besrudio (Mustadio’s father) captive. Mustadio reveals the location of the

Zodiac Stone. Ramza forks it over and you find out that Delacroix was in on

the plot. It’s fight time.

After a fairly tough battle, you check on Besrudio. Mustadio reveals that the

Zodiac Stone that Ludovich got was really a fake. Mustadio will now join as

you a normal party member -- now you can control him! The only downside to

this is that he can now be permanently killed. Be sure to keep him alive;