--STRATEGY--

The demons here are actually quite a bit more powerful than Zalbaag and use a

variety of strong magick attacks. So, unlike most boss battles, you’re

probably better off killing at least two of the demons first, and *then* going

after Zalbaag. The Ultima Demon here is your last chance to learn Ultima; if

you haven’t gotten it yet, deploy Ramza or Luso in their base job (Squire or

Game Hunter) and you can learn the spell should the Ultima Demon cast it on

them.

Zalbaag frequently flees into a corner, plus he uses Lifefont to recover his

HP with each move. Hitting him with an Immobilize (e.g. from Leg Shot) will

stop both of these. In fact, if you can Immobilize him right away, you may be

able to just focus your attacks on him and finish him off before the demons

hit you with too much magic. Physical attacks are not that effective against

him since he has Defense Boost, but he’ll go down eventually ... and if you take

out the demons first, he can do very little to hurt you.

Zalbaag can (and probably will) turn your characters to vampires, but you can

cure this with Holy Water. Construct 8 is useful in this battle as it is

immune to vampirization (though the raw damage from the Vampire ability can

still hurt it) and has a very long range.

Ironically, if Zalbaag tries to vampirize a character who’s already a vampire,

the Vampire attack will backfire and cause *Zalbaag* to turn into a vampire!

This will prevent him from recovering HP with Lifefont. But, the odds on this

are a bit too low to really bank on.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Elixir

---Battle 53: Monastery Vaults - Fourth Level----------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x3, Archer (male) x1, Monk (male) x2

--STRATEGY--

Your first priority is to kill off the guys down on the floor on the other side

of the room, especially the Monks. Most range attacks will work from atop the

central "ridge" of books, and reasonably agile melee fighters can climb over

the ridge to reach the enemies. Characters who can’t easily climb over the

ridge should just stand atop it -- there will be enemies coming that way soon

as well.

The Knights’ behavior will depend on how quickly you advance. If you quickly

moved most of your team across the ridge, they’ll probably descend under the

archway to fight you there. But if you still have some characters on the

higher levels, they may try to cross the narrow walkway up top. In this case,

they’ll vulnerable to a Divine Ruination or Shockwave that can hit several of

them in a line. Unyielding Blade techniques (Meliadoul and Orlandeau) are also

useful against all the enemies here. Overall, this isn’t a particularly hard

battle.

You can steal Yoichi’s Bow, which is even stronger than the Artemis Bow, from

the Archer ... of course, since you’re past the point of no return, there’s no

need to bother with this unless someone in your current team can use it.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 54: Monastery Vaults - Fifth Level-----------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Loffrey, Black Mage (male) x2, Time Mage (male) x1,

Summoner (male) x2

BOSS: Loffrey [Capricorn] - lv 54 Divine Knight - Bravery 60, Faith 68

Equipment : Save the Queen, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Armor,

Germinas Boots

Abilities : Unyielding Blade, Magicks, Parry, Defense Boost, Ignore Elevation

--STRATEGY--

Now it gets interesting. The enemy forces are magick-heavy here, so adjust

your defenses accordingly -- Aegis Shields are good, as is Magick Counter and

cloaks that give a good boost to your magick evade rate. Counter, Shirahadori,

and First Strike are totally pointless. Construct 8, being immune to magick,

is good to deploy if you have it--it won’t be able to navigate the holes well,

but Dispose has such a long range that it doesn’t need to travel very far!

The floor is laded with holes (the black spots) that impede your movement. If

you have Fly or Winged Boots, however, you can simply hover right across them.

You can also jump across the holes with a good jump rating. If you can’t jump

across, there’s a looping path around the outsides of the map that lets you

walk all the way, but it’s slow and you’ll keep getting hit by magick on the

way. Avoid this route if you can.

Deploying lots of characters with range attacks is useful as you can just blast

away regardless of the gaps in the floor. Loffrey’s Save the Queen sword gives

him a permanent Protect spell that makes him slow to kill. So, try to KO the

other guys (especially the Summoners) first before you take on Loffrey.

Loffrey uses Unyielding Blade techniques to crush your gear, but equipping

Safeguard will both preventing him from breaking your equipment and spare you

from the HP damage. Speaking of Crushing, using Crush Weapon on Loffrey is a

great tactic; destroying his sword will remove his Protect as well as prevent

him from using his sword techniques. (You can also use Rend Weapon or steal

it.)

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 55: The Necrohol of Mullonde-----------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES:

1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others

2nd Squad - 2 others

ENEMY FORCES: Cletienne, Time Mage (male) x2, Ninja (male) x2,

Samurai (male) x2

BOSS: Cletienne [Gemini] - lv 54 Sorceror - Bravery 51, Faith 81

Equipment : Zeus Mace, Lambent Hat, Black Garb, Featherweave Cloak

Abilities : Magicks, Magick Boost, Arcane Defense, Fly

--STRATEGY--

The 2nd squad starts some distance away, so fill it with fast characters or

characters with long-range attacks.

Cletienne has really strong spells and a range of the whole battlefield. Since

he starts close to you, just forget the other enemies and rush him. If you can

pounce on him on quickly, you can probably to wrap this fight up very quickly.

Cletienne’s Magick Boost reaction ability allows him to gain magick power when

you hit him. So, don’t try to wear him down with weak attacks. Instead, try

only attack him with your strongest attacks so that you can take him out in as

a few hits as possible. Or, you can simply use MP-draining abilities--

Orlandeau’s Duskblade works especially well--on Cletienne to take away all his

MP, so that he can’t even use his magick.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 56: Lost Halidom-----------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES:

1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others

2nd Squad - 2 others

ENEMY FORCES: Barich, Chemist (male) x1, Dark Behemoth x1, Hydra x1,

Greater Hydra x1, Tiamat x1

BOSS: Barich [Sagittarius] - lv 55 Machinist - Bravery 64, Faith 62

Equipment: Blaster, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, Featherweave Cloak

Abilities: Aimed Shot, Counter, Brawler, Lifefont

--STRATEGY--

This can be a tough fight. Barich and his crew start on a separate piece of

land from you. Barich and his Chemist can shoot at you from afar, but if you

jump over to his portion of the battlefield, his monsters will tear you to

shreds.

Barich, as before, will use Aimed Shot abilities to try to Immobilize and

Disable you, but this time, if you’re equipped with Thief’s Caps, you’re immune

to this. Shirahadori is also great for defense, as it allows you to block the

shots from the enemy guns (only in video games...), even though shields/cloaks

are of no use. Auto-Potion is also helpful for dealing with the enemy gun

attacks.

The second squad starts pretty far away from Barich. A good tactic may be to

fill the first squad with characters with medium-range attacks (e.g. sword

techniques). They should be able to move forward and target Barich across the

gap without having to jump over the chasm. Meanwhile, deploy characters with

long-range attacks such as guns, Arithmeticks, or a long-range Jump in the

second squad. On their first turns, have them move up towards the first squad

and start targeting Barich with their range attacks. If you completed the

Gollund Colliery quest, Beowulf and Construct 8 will both be of great use here

for their long-range attacks (Vengeance and Dispose, respectively). Barich may

try to hide behind his monsters (and/or the Chemist), in which case you’ll have

to take them out first in order to shoot him. Unfortunately, Barich’s own

Thief’s Cap prevents you from Immobilizing HIM.

Barich’s Hydras will usually spend a turn or two advancing along Barich’s

portion of the battlefield without attacking you. After that, they’ll fly over

and land on your side! At this point, you may want to jump over Barich’s side

and start attacking him directly--if you’ve done enough to damage to him

already, you can probably take him out with a few attacks. (He does use

Lifefont to regenerate his HP, though.)

If you completed the Nelveska Temple and restored Reis to human form, you could

also try putting Reis in the second squad. Have her run up to the little

"bridge" connecting the two halves of the battlefield and use Dragon’s Charm

to charm the enemy Tiamat. Not only will this prevent the Tiamat from

attacking you, it will turn it against Barich! However, it usually takes a

turn or two for the Tiamat to come within range, so this may not be the most

efficient strategy -- and you have to watch out for the Dark Behemoth in the

mean time! If you DO use this strategy, you may wish to change Reis to a job

other than Dragonkin and equip Rubber Boots so that the Tiamat’s Tri-Thunder

attack won’t kill her before she can charm it.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 57: Airship Graveyard------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Hashmal [Bringer of Order; Leo]

--STRATEGY--

Hashmal’s two main attacks are Bind, which puts Stop on a group of characters,

and Quake, a fairly powerful area attack spell. Of course, equipping Jade

Armlets will protect you against the former. Since completely protecting

yourself against Stop will cause him to JUST cast Quake, one strategy is to

leave one character unprotected against Stop as a decoy. Hashmal will probably

try to Stop him/her, buying your other characters time to attack. Using this

strategy, you can probably defeat him before casts more than one Quake (perhaps

before he casts ANY).

And, if you completed the Gollund Colliery quest, you have an ace up your

sleeve: Construct 8, who is immune to both magick and Stop!

Although Hashmal’s spells are strong, with 5 of you versus 1 of him, you

shouldn’t have too much trouble taking him down. Just rush him. As always,

Lich and Graviga are effective against him. He only has 1500 HP.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Ragnarok

---Battle 58: Airship Graveyard------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Alma [guest], 4 others

ENEMY FORCES:

1ST PHASE: Ultima [High Seraph; Virgo], Ultima Demon x4

2ND PHASE: Ultima [Arch Seraph; Virgo]

--STRATEGY--

Be sure to deploy your best characters for this, the final battle. Since both

versions of the final boss have a lot of HP, attacks that do damage

proportional to the enemy’s max HP are quite effective. This includes Lich,

Graviga, and Beowulf’s Drain Spellblade. Ultima likes to cast a lot of status

ailments on you, so equipping female characters (and Cloud) with any hair

adornments (Cachushas, Barettes, or preferably Ribbons) is also a great idea.

Alma will fight as a guest in this battle. She starts off with only 1 HP, so

toss her an X-Potion or cure spell to keep her alive. She will first cast

Aegis on herself, then start casting on the rest of the team. Aegis includes

a number of useful buffs, so this is actually pretty helpful. Note that if

Ramza or Luso casts the Ultima spell on Alma, she can learn it. This is not

advised, however; you want her casting Aegis, which is quite a bit more useful!

(You can toss Alma an Ether or Hi-Ether if she starts running out of MP.)

Note that the terrain here has changed a bit since the battle with Hashmal.

The mast pieces have disappeared and it’s a bit more open.

The Ultima Demons can do more damage than Ultima, so try to defeat them first.

They don’t have all that much HP, so you might even be able to take them out

with group attacks. If you’re using Orlandeau, Shadowblade is also handy since

it restores his HP at the same time as doing damage.

Ultima has several different attacks. There’s a physical attack, which is

fairly strong but otherwise nothing special, the Grand Cross spell, which

inflicts random status conditions, and an souped-up Ultima spell that is

still rather weak and slow to charge. Note that this Ultima spell has a

"friendly fire" effect and can damage Ultima’s own units (and Ultima herself).

You can use this to your advantage; if you see her charging the spell up, move

the targetted unit close to some enemies and they’ll take damage too. (You

can recognize Ultima because it’s the only spell she charges up that shows

estimated HP damage in the preview -- Grand Cross is a status attack only.)

Ultima can also teleport around the battlefield, often putting her out of your

reach (which is another reason not to try killing her before the Demons). She

does NOT have a counterattack, so you’re free to any physical or magick attacks

you want -- although you should probably have a better way of attacking her

than physical attacks!

If the battle drags on, the Ultima Demons you took out early on may start

turning into crystals. Grab these as soon as they appear. Ultima will try to

claim them, and, if she does, her HP will be completely restored!

It only takes about 1200 points of damage to defeat Ultima’s first form. Of

course, like all good final bosses, Ultima has a second form that appears

after the first is defeated. This one has over 3000 HP (!), but it’s probably

easier, since there won’t be any Ultima Demons around to harass you. Attack

her with the aforementioned Drain attack (Beowulf), Lich, Graviga, and sword

techniques. (Again, she has no counterattack, so physical attacks are also

safe.) Fortunately, Ultima is pretty slow, and you have quite a bit of

time to heal up and attack between her moves, especially if Alma has been

casting Haste on you via Aegis. And, if Alma has been casting Aegis on your

party, Ultima may well waste her turns using Dispelja to remove the effects of

Aegis, and not even inflict any damage on you.

Again, Ultima teleports around the battlefield on each of her turns. If she

moves out of range, just wait in the center of the ship and on her next turn

she should move in range again.

Once you defeat Ultima’s second form, you win the game. Congratulations!

%%%SUBQUEST BATTLE STRATEGIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bssub

---Gollund Colliery Battle 1: Gollund Colliery Floor---------------------------

YOUR FORCES:

1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others

2nd Squad - Beowulf [guest], 2 others

ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x5

--STRATEGY--

For some reason, you are being attacked by a large band of Chemists. (Note

that there’s one hidden under the staircase right next to where you start!)

Since the Chemists exclusively fight with guns, there’s no need for any type of

magick defense. And since guns always have a 100% hit rate, boosting your

evade rate is pointless; leave behind the cloaks and shields and go for dual-

wielded or two-handed weapons and other accessories. Finally, close-range

reaction abilities like Counter are pointless; choose reaction abilities like

Auto-Potion or Adrenaline Rush that are useful at any range.

The key to this battle is to close the distance between you and the Summoners

as quickly as possible. Fast characters or those with a high Move rate will

be good for this. You can also use Arithmeticks, Summons, Jump, or your

own guns to hit from a distance. If you use Arithmeticks, note that Blizzard

family magicks will be particularly effective because it’s snowing.

Since the Chemists all have Items, they can keep healing themselves and

reviving their KOed comrades, which gets a little annoying. If you have

Orlandeau and/or Meliadoul, using their Crush abilities to break the Chemists’

armor will reduce their maximum HP and limit the amount they can heal

themselves. (Rend and Steal abilities work for this, too, but they often miss

and don’t do any direct damage!) You can also use Summons to strike a whole

area and wipe all the critical-HP Chemists who have just been revived.

Reviving any of your *own* KOed can also be difficult--because the Chemists

have guns, they’ll immediately shoot and KO any character with critical HP.

You’ll need Arise to effectively revive characters. Of course, if a KOed

character’s death counter is getting low, you may need to toss a Phoenix Down

or Raise on them anyway--even if they just KOed again, you’ve at least reset

their counter and saved them from permanent death.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Bow, Mythril Shield

---Gollund Colliery Battle 2: Gollund Colliery Slope---------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Beowulf [guest], 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x1, Thief (male) x2, Behemoth x1,

Behemoth King x1

--STRATEGY--

This battle has a similar setting as the previous, but there’s only Chemist

and, instead, two Thieves and two behemoths. (The Behemoth King is hiding in

the cubby-hole behind the Thief near your start position.) With a more

conventional assortment of enemies, this should actually be a more

straightforward battle.

The Chemist here has a Glacial Gun that you may want to steal -- though if he

happens to start with the Maintenance ability, you’re out of luck. He can do

quite a bit of damage from it and you can’t reach him to attack right away, but

equipping Ice Shields will protect you from the damage. The Thief on the top

level has a tendency to just sit in the corner until you come very close,

making him a sitting duck for magick or Jump attacks.

Since the Behemoth King is a somewhat rare monster, you may also want to Entice

or Tame it onto your team. Alternately, Poach it and you’ll score either an

Artemis Bow or a Cherche perfume.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Knife, Mythril Spear

---Gollund Colliery Battle 3: Gollund Colliery Ridge---------------------------

YOUR FORCES:

1st Squad - Ramza, Beowulf [guest], 2 others

2nd Squad - 2 others

ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x2, Blue Dragon x2, Pig x1

--STRATEGY--

This time, you’re fighting two Chemists, two Blue Dragons, and a dancing pig

(huh?). The Pig is safe to leave ’til last; it can’t do any harm. The Blue

Dragons, however, can and WILL harm you. Equipping Ice Shields will defend

against their Ice Breath attack, but even their physical attacks are strong.

The Blue Dragons are weak against fire, so use fire attacks for extra damage.

Do NOT use ice attacks (including Geomancy, the Icebrand, and the Glacial Gun),

as they will absorb the ice and gain HP! Special sword techniques are your

best offense (as usual).

If you Entice the Pig to your team, you can breed and Poach pigs for great

items, so this is a great opportunity to recruit one! If you already have a

Pig on the team, you can just axe this one.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Sword, Mythril Armor

---Gollund Colliery Battle 4: Gollund Coal Shaft-------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Beowulf [guest], Reis [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Syneugh [Archaeodaemon], Plague Horror x3, Ochu x2

--STRATEGY--

You need to keep Reis, the Holy Dragon, alive in this battle. Be sure to bring

someone who can heal her.

In order to get into Reis’s area, you need to climb up onto the upper level and

pass through the narrow doorway. If you use jobs or accessories that get your

Jump score up to 4, you can jump directly up onto the ledge, which helps you

close the distance quickly. Otherwise, you’ll have to take the long route up

by using the stairs behind where your party starts.

The Plague Horrors will turn you to stone or cast Doom on you if given the

chance, so kill them first -- both the Plague Horrors and Ochus are weak

against ice, so use ice attacks! If the enemies get lined up in the narrow

passage, use Shockwave (Monk) or Divine Ruination (Agrias/Orlandeau) to hit the

whole line of them. Reis will probably also rip into them with her Ice Breath.

After taking out the Plague Horrors, go after Syneugh. (Reis should be

able to handle the two Ochus.) Make sure to keep Reis healed. Syneugh uses

Gigaflare a lot, which hits a wide area but isn’t nearly as powerful as it

looks (although it does do a number on the frame rate ^_^). It also hits his

own teammates if they happen to be standing in your vicinity! Syneugh doesn’t

have very much HP; if you have Orlandeau, he might able to kill Syneugh in

one shot. This battle isn’t really as tough as it may look -- just make

sure Reis stays healed!

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Balthier Subquest Battle: Dorter Slums--------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Balthier [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Archer (male) x3, White Mage (female) x1, Monk (male) x1,

Thief (male) x1

--STRATEGY--

The bulk of your team will start away from Ramza and Balthier, so it may be

helpful to bring characters with a high Move range or guns, so that they can

join the fray quickly. You’ll need to make sure Ramza doesn’t get separated

and surrounded. Balthier won’t fight on the frontlines, but he has a super-

strong gun and will assist from the rooftops. Unless Ramza gets surrounded,

this should be an easy battle.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Nelveska Temple Battle: Nelveska Temple-------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Construct 7, Cockatrice x3, Hydra x2

BOSS: Construct 7 [random Zodiac] - lv 66 Automaton - Bravery 50, Faith 00

Abilities : Tasks, Counter, Defense Boost

--STRATEGY--

The enemies here will hit you hard and fast. When deploying characters, put

Orlandeau on either the far left or far right. If you have another character

with an automatic Haste (e.g. from the Tynar Rouge), place her behind

Orlandeau. Together, they can probably KO one of the Hydras on the pillars

before it has a chance to move.

The Hydras will attack you first. Watch out for their Tri-Attack, which hits

both the unit in front of them as well any to either side. Try to kill off one

of them before the Cockatrices reach you. The Cockatrices have relatively

little HP, so you may be able to take them out with group attacks (e.g.

Hallowed Bolt). Since all the enemies are fairly close by, you often don’t

need to move attack to them. Remember that not moving gives you your next turn

faster, so don’t move unless you need here. Since you’re getting assaulted

from all sides here, Orlandeau’s Shadowblade attack is quite useful here -- it

both deals damage AND restores a lot of his HP, keeping him healthy.

Construct 7 will probably come out of its nook in the temple to attack you.

It attacks are brutal and can do 300+ damage to you. Try to thin out the

other monsters a little bit first so you won’t be swarmed while you’re wearing

Construct 7 down. Once you’ve taken out at least half the other monsters, rush

Construct 7. It has NO Faith, so magick attacks are useless, and it’s also

immune to all elements except Lightning, so even non-magickal attacks that do

elemental damage (like the Monk’s Shockwave) don’t work. Regular physical

attacks and sword techniques will work. In addition, Construct 7 IS weak to

non-magickal lightning attacks, so Reis’s Thunder Breath attack will do quite a

bit of damage; it should take off more than half the Construct’s HP! When you

KO Construct 7 the first time, it will come back with 1 HP, so KO it again and

the battle will end.

However, there are ALSO a bunch of hidden items that you can find during this

battle. If you want to get them, you have to get them during this battle, as

you can’t come back here after defeating Construct 7.

On top of the two pillars where the Hydras start, you’ll find the best polearm

(right pillar) and shield (left pillar). They’re called the Javelin and

Escutcheon, but they’re really totally different items. The lower your

Bravery, the better your odds of discovering them; otherwise, you’ll end up

with a regular Javelin and Escutcheon, the WORST polearm and shield. To get up

on top of the pillars, move Construct 8 or Reis next to the pillar as a

stepping-stone. You’ll need at least a jump of 4 to get up using the stepping-

stone method. (Ignore Elevation and Teleport are not usable because you need

their ability slot for Treasure Hunter!)

There are also two other hidden items: the Sasuke’s Blade ninja blade, and the

Nagnarok sword, a sword that turns enemies into Toads. The Nagnarok has only 1

attack power but a high evade rate when used with Parry. Both these items also

require low Bravery, or you’ll get Elixirs instead.

Sasuke’s Blade is hidden in the grassy area behind the temple. When you’re

facing the temple, on the right side, you’ll see a staircase-like cliff that

you can use to climb up on top of the temple. Once you’re on top of the

temple, continue moving away from your starting point into the green and brown

grassy area at the back end of the map. The specific tile is near the very far

back. Face the temple and move the cursor the upper-left corner of the map.

Now, move the cursor one tile to the right and one tile down. You should be on

a tile with a height of 4. This is the tile with Sasuke’s Blade.

The Nagnarok sword is much closer to where you start. When the battle starts,

you’ll see that Construct 7 is in the "doorway" of the temple just in front of

where you start. It’s a black area with pillars on either side. You’ll have

to lure Construct 7 out of the way. Once Construct 7 moves out of the way,

move into that "doorway," as if you were walking inside the temple. This is a

narrow passageway -- move the character as far back in the passage as the game

will let you in. The tile deepest inside the temple has the Nagnarok.

This can be a tough battle in its own right, and trying to claim all these

items will make it even harder. Bringing as any many women with Chantage as

possible will help keep you alive, of course -- and even Angel Rings (which

only give you Reraise once per battle) are useful. If your Treasure Hunter is

relatively weak, try equipping him/her with the Invisibility Cloak found on

Mount Germinas. As long as the character doesn’t take any actual action and

just moves around picking up items, s/he should be left alone completely.

KOing one or both Hydras at the very start of the battle will leave their

bodies atop the pillars, preventing you from climbing up there until they

crystallize ... but go ahead and KO them anyway. You’re being attacked by so

many enemies at the start that it’s easier to take them out and then just wait

for them to crystallize once things have settled down.

The biggest concern when item-hunting is Construct 7 and its strong attacks.

Unfortunately, it’s immune to most of the status conditions you might want to

inflict; instead, use Rend Speed over and over to whittle down its speed and

minimize the number of turns it gets. Once you’ve taken away all its speed,

you can then use Rend Power on it to make it even weaker. (Note that if you

combine Arts of War with Dual Wield, you get two Rends per turn.) If you’re

doing the Rends at close range, you will have to endure Construct 7’s

counterattacks, which is why Chantage will be helpful. Beware of accidentally

killing Construct 7 with any counterattacks you might have; you don’t want the

battle to end prematurely! (And, keep in mind that all of Construct 7’s

special attacks decrease its own HP a little bit.) You’ll probably need to

stand by and keep healing Construct 7 while you continue item-hunting. The

other enemies can (and should!) be safely killed, of course.

Because the Javelin II and Esutcheon II have the same names as the crummy

Javelin and the Escutcheon, it’s hard to tell during the battle which one

you’ve picked up. The Javelin II is gray instead of silver and has a fatter

point, and the Escutcheon II has gold trim (instead of silver) and an extra

vertical bar on its face. These details can be tough to spot in the few

seconds the item is displayed, though. An easier method is to put Reequip on

your Treasure Hunter, which will allow you to examine the items list during

battle. As long as you have "Display Unequippable Items" set to "On" (under

Options), you can see your entire list of equipment. Press Select to check the

stats. If the Javelin or Escutcheon has great stats, it’s the one you want; if

it has terrible stats, it’s the "regular" version. (You can reset if you don’t

get what you’re looking for.) You needn’t even use up a turn to use Reequip

in this way; just cancel out of the equipment menu without changing anything

and you can take another action.

If you’re not shooting for ALL the items, the Escutcheon II is generally the

best to pick up since it can be equipped by many jobs and cannot be found

anywhere else in the game. (The Javelin II and Sasuke’s Blade can eventually

be caught with Sticky Fingers, and a Sasuke’s Blade can be stolen in another

subquest.) The Javelin II is probably second-best, since it’s the strongest

polearm, whereas Sasuke’s Blade is inferior to the Koga and Iga blades found in

Midlight’s Deep. The Nagnarok is the lowest priority, since it is of rather