Phantasy Star III Solo-Hero Challenge FAQ Written by Bryan Stewart, aka SkieFyre, aka Ragn_Charran TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Spoiler Warning 2. Legal 3. Version History 4. Purpose 5. Rules of the Solo-Hero Quest 6. Hints and Tips 7. Detailed Walkthrough Generation 1: Rhys Generation 2: Ayn Generation 2: Nial Generation 3: Sean Generation 3: Crys Generation 3: Adan Generation 3: Aron 8. What the hell is the "Pron Glitch"? 9. Evaluation of Other Solo Quests 10. Credits ******************************************************************************* 1. SPOILER WARNING As this is a challenge quest FAQ, I assume that any reader will already be intimately familiar with the game. As well, properly detailing the strategies required to play through will require listing names and locations of important people and places. Therefore, this FAQ contains numerous spoilers. Players who have not completed all four endings should not read this FAQ. ******************************************************************************* 2. LEGAL This entire document is (C) 2006, 2007 Bryan Stewart. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your website, making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making reference to any material contained within. All the sites mentioned below have permission to do the above. Please email me at skiefyre@rocketmail.com to enquire about gaining permission to use this document. www.GameFAQs.com http://ps3.huguesjohnson.com/ - Thanks to Michael Sarich for this Copyright - ******************************************************************************* 3. VERSION HISTORY v1.21 - September 10, 2007: - Updated evaluation of other solos, as I completed Mieu and Wren solo, and Mr2 managed an Adan/Aron version of Kara solo and a hacked Sari 3rd generation solo. - Minor typos corrected. ******************************************************************************* 4. PURPOSE The idea of the solo quest in RPGs has been around for a long time. The appeal is very strong - it makes the game challenging, often requiring mastery of the finest points to succeed; it completely changes the play of the game, and makes for a great "one hero against the forces of evil" spin on the story. Phantasy Star III has some unique elements, both story and gameplay, that make a solo-hero quest very different from other RPGs. - The story, particularly for the Rhys/Ayn/Sean route, is strongly suited for a solo quest. Rhys off to find his princess, Ayn as last survivor of Cille who can no longer trust cyborgs, and Sean as the last survivor of Azura avenging his family, fit the models of solo heroes perfectly. - The generation structure makes your solo character change twice over the course of the game. While the differences between Rhys and Nial are minimal, for all other father-son transitions the change is significant - Ayn, Adan, and Aron gain healing techniques their fathers lacked, Sean gains melee techniques Ayn never had, and Crys loses Ayn's healing but far surpasses his father's physical power. - Tied to this, you have a total of four routes to attempt, giving more choice to the player as to how to attempt the quest. - The usefulness of overlevelling is greatly reduced, as no matter how levelled Rhys, Ayn, or Nial are, their sons start at level 1 again. - All hero characters have a choice of three very different class of weapons. The choice between a sword, two knives, or two needlers will make significant impact on your ability to finish the various parts of the game. - Tied to weapon choice is the front row/back row system. Unless you have equipped needlers or have very powerful melee techniques, you are forced to kill front row enemies before you can attack those behind them. - If you choose to ignore rule E below, the second-best equipment for your hero is available at the end of Generation 1, with serious overlevelling you could buy the equipment and use Wren or Mieu to pass it forward to the next generation. - Running is notoriously unreliable, removing the "run from everything and reach the boss at full strength" strategy prevalent in the solo quests for many games. - There are no misses or critical hits in this game, which brings a lot of stability to mathematical calculations. ******************************************************************************* 5. RULES OF THE SOLO-HERO QUEST When playing a challenge quest, you make your own rules about the limits you place on yourself, setting the challenge level. For the purposes of this FAQ I have placed fairly stringent rules on gameplay, specifically on the use of your companions (since this is a solo quest, after all!). This way, if you choose to ignore or loosen these rules, the FAQ will still be relevant, whereas if I had loose rules the FAQ would not be as valuable on a harder challenge. A. Upon gaining a new party member, you must immediately kill them off. If your hero is at full HP you may do this for characters with order techniques by casting Nasak, otherwise you must enter a battle and have the hero and the new member defend the hero and let the enemies attack until the new member is dead. You must also kill everyone again in Generation 1 when they all revive after Rhys defeats Lyle. B. With the exception of gemstones, the Laya Pendant, Laya's Bow, and Lune's Slicer, you may not use the equipment new characters come with in any way. It may not be sold, it must be discarded. C. You may not use the healing techniques of your companions, with two exceptions: - As detailed above, if the hero is already at full HP, a character with order techniques may use Nasak to kill herself. - During a battle in which you are killing off a character, they may use a healing technique or item to keep the hero at or below the HP level and poison status at which the battle was started. The hero can take significant damage in the time required to kill off a strong character (Lyle, Sari, and the Sean/Crys version of Kara), this exception allows you to not be punished by having to take the time to kill a character you are forced to take. You may not, under any circumstances, have dead companions cast healing techniques in the menu screen (which, in this game, they can do). D. You may not have the other characters carry items for you. Any key items they come with must be immediately transferred to the hero. There are three exceptions: First, key items that the game does not allow you to discard but are never needed again may be transferred to another character to simulate discarding. Specifically, these are: - Monitor immediately. - Sapphire once Rhys has entered the Landen - Aquatica cave. - Moon Stone and Moon Tear once the satellite system has been repaired. - Dragon Tear once the Aridia - Divisia cave has been entered with Sari in party. - Power Topaz once Azura has been reached. - Twins Ruby once the Landen - Aridia cave has been entered with sub parts in inventory (Note that this means Ayn CANNOT discard the Ruby, as Sean/Crys will require it in third generation. Nial, however, can, once he reaches Aridia). - Mystery Star once the Aridia - Frigidia cave has been entered. - All gems once Laya Pendant has been retrieved. - Sub Parts once Orakio's Sword and Laya's Bow have been acquired. - Aqua Parts once you have learned the word of power and returned from Sage Isle. - Nei weapons once attained. Note this includes the Nei Sword, but if you choose to do so you may never use it again (since we are simulating discarding it, you can't just transfer it back). Note also that this does not mean you can transfer the legendary weapons before transformation - they are required to receive the word of power, which is required to trigger the transformation in Frigidia, which is required to make Rulakir reveal his true nature, so you must hold on to them until they are renamed as Nei weapons. The key items required at the end of the game are the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts. These can be discarded once Terminus and Lashute have been reached if you have no intention of returning. The second exception to this rule is that you may pass items to other party members and then immediately pass back in order to arrange items in your hero's item list. The third exception is you may (in fact you SHOULD) transfer items to all party members when transforming the legendary weapons into Nei weapons to avoid the Pron Glitch (see section 8 for a detailed explanation of the Pron Glitch). E. Tied to rule D, you may not use Mieu and Wren's inventory slots to pass items between generations. (Note that because of this carry-over you will want to pass discarded key items to a character other than Wren or Mieu, or they may end up carrying three Sapphires by the end of the game!) F. Tied to rule D, you may not use Mieu or Wren's inventory to pass an escape pipe forward to use the "skip Nial" glitch. G. If you have a full inventory and find a chest, you may not open it. You must use or discard one of the hero's items before opening the chest. The only exception is the "last" chest in Lashute, since it does not contain an inventory item. You know which one I'm talking about. H. No using a cheat device, emulator save-states, or other helpful tools that are not a part of the original game. What's the point of a challenge quest if you're going to cheat to bypass the challenge? The key purpose of these rules is to simulate simply getting key items from characters and having them leave, rather than join you, and being able to discard key items that are no longer needed. That said, you may want to loosen these rules if you find the challenge too difficult. Set your own achievement level! The most significant but acceptable change would be keeping the characters dead but allowing them to carry items and use heal techniques. This would simulate them travelling with you but not participating in battles. Or, if this seems too easy... I. (Optional) No using the Force Shield, Emel, or Helm to cast Res. I have successfully completed Sean's route using this rule, and Adan and Aron should be possible, though Nial would need significant levelling to defeat Lune. I predict that Crys would be impossible using this rule, he MAY be able defeat to Rulakir at max level but not Dark Force. ******************************************************************************* 6. HINTS AND TIPS For those just looking for a bit of advice before starting out, but not wanting to be lead by the hand, I offer these tips. General Tips: - Think about the strengths and weaknesses of each character and the layout of their quests before choosing your route. Hero makes a big difference, as does the challenges he will face! - Run only when desperate. Running is horribly unreliable, so plan on having to fight your way through dungeons. You need the XP anyways. - Escape pipes are remarkably useless for most of the game. - Think about your weapon choices and technique distributions. - Monomate restores 30 HP, dimate restores 60 HP, trimate fills you to max, and Res restores 5 HP per power point you distribute to it. Keep this in mind when choosing your healing method to get the best use out of each. - Experiment to find items that duplicate techniques you are unable to cast. Specific Hints: - The route difficulty, from easiest to hardest, is Adan, Aron, Sean, and Crys. The final chapter difficulty, from easiest to hardest, is Sean, Adan, Aron, and Crys. Crys is significantly more difficult than the other three, as he has no healing techniques. - Use knives until you reach Hazatak, then switch to needlers all the way through the first two generations. For third generation, stick with swords, even Royal Needlers aren't powerful enough, and you'll need the defense boost. - The most useful techniques are Res, Ner, and Zan. Keep their distribution maxed. - The items you will need to use in battle are the Force Helm (Res, 25 HP), and Royal Bow (Fanbi), while the Force Emel (Res, 25 HP) and Force Shield (Res, 50 HP) can be used both in and out of battle! ******************************************************************************* 7. DETAILED WALKTHROUGH For those who want a more detailed strategic layout, I provide below. I assume anyone attempting a challenge quest is intimately familiar with the game, so I will not lay out directions on how to reach places or when to use items, instead I will focus on recommended levels, equipment selection (and meseta required to purchase them), and technique use. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 1 Rhys: The lone knight's quest to rescue his princess... (Intermediate) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ LANDEN - (Recommended Level: 1) ------ Start the game as normal. Once in the dungeon grab the Knife, Monitor, and 300 meseta from the chests. Of course, you'll need to shop. With your 300 meseta and the 7 you'll get for your Garment, you can buy a second Knife (100 meseta), Hunting Armour (125 meseta), and a Hunting Helm (50 meseta). You'll want the knives since you won't have Mieu around to quickly clear weak enemies while you take out the stronger with a sword, and you may as well buy the armour and helm now, since both are the best you'll get until Aquatica. As for your remaining 32 meseta, you may be tempted to buy some antidote or monomate, but hold off for now - there's something you want to save for. For now, use the inn and the nurse to heal when needed, which should be rare - the enemies here only do one damage per hit, with the exception of a Chirper's Gra tech, which will do two. Naturally, you can play this section exactly as you normally would. But, since you need to level anyways, you may as well start now - hang around Landen castle fighting Chirpers and Eindons until level 3 or so, then head down to Yaata and speak to the boat captain. If you've managed to save up 130 meseta (180 meseta, less the 50 meseta trade-in), you'll also want to trade a Knife for a Hunting Knife at the weapon shop. Next, head to Ilan and talk to the blue townsmen to make Mieu appear. You'll need to have her with you to get on the old man's boat, but she doesn't need to be alive! Go get her at the lake, discard all of her equipment, give her Rhys' monitor since you never need it, and prepare to kill her off! There are two handy ways of to do this. First, if Rhys is at full HP, casting Nasak will kill Mieu off without violating the solo (since a full HP Rhys gains no benefit from this). The second is to enter a battle and have both Rhys and Mieu defend Rhys, and then autobattle. Rhys will take little or no damage in the time it takes Mieu to die, then he can mop up the enemies like nothing even happened. Do be careful if this battle involves a Moos - Foi packs a punch that ignores the fact that you're defending! Keep levelling east of Ilan until you have at least 230 meseta - 130 to trade in your second Knife for another Hunting Knife, 30 for antidotes, and 70 for monomates. Don't bother with an escape pipe or saving for Hunting Needlers - there is an escape pipe early in Lyle's Cave, and you don't need group attack capability just yet. Hunting Needlers only do Knife damage anyways. [TIP: If you're a real penny-pincher, don't grab Mieu until you're ready to take the ship. Having her in your party costs you an extra five meseta every time you go to the inn!] [NOTE: The Force Emel, which is available in Ilan, casts a level 5 Res when used in or out of battle. However, it is not worth saving up 7900 meseta for!] ----------- Lyle's Cave (Recommended Level: 8) ----------- Since you're only using monomates in this dungeon, and poisoning enemies infest the cave, try to keep yourself close to full HP if you are not currently poisoned - once you're down 25 HP, pop a monomate out of battle. Once poisoned you have a choice - most enemies only do two damage, but you have to watch out for Foi from the Moos you may run into. Try to stay above 18 HP, and you should be OK. The chest just past the wall left of the entrance holds the escape pipe, by the time you get to it you can probably use a monomate to free up space for it. Take it for insurance in case you get into trouble, but you most likely won't need it. The next chest over is a shield, which you can grab for cash if you feel like it, since you'll probably use another monomate before reaching it. The two chests that are actually on your route hold a dimate and an antidote, so be sure to grab them! Make sure you have an inventory space free to receive the Sapphire from Lyle, then walk back out if you can - use that escape pipe if you can't. ---------------------- Landen - Aquatica Cave (Recommended Level: 10) ---------------------- Head to Ilan and trade in all of your items - including your escape pipe, if you have one - for 4 antidotes and 5 dimates, then save. Assuming you fought your way through Lyle's Cave, you should have gained at least two levels there, so you should be ready to head to Aquatica. There are no useful chests en route to Aquatica, so just run the cave. Beware of Lobowings - they'll do around ten damage per hit! ----- Rysel (Recommended Level: 12) ----- Once you reach Rysel, it's time for an armour upgrade. Steel Armour is available for 198 meseta (260, less 62 trade-in for Hunting Armour), but don't bother with Force Boots. There is no weapon upgrade here. Since you never again need to pass through the Landen - Aquatica cave, pass the Sapphire to Mieu, and use the space for a sixth dimate. Once stocked up, move on to Aridia. Between the cave and saving the extra cash you need to buy your armour upgrade and restock your items you'll probably gain a couple of levels. ---------------------- Aquatica - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 12) ---------------------- Just like the last cave, don't bother making detours for chests. The two that fall right on the fastest path contain a dimate and an antidote. Once out of the cave, watch out for Giants - they'll take five hits to go down, and hit as hard as a Lobowing. ------- Hazatak (Recommended level: 14) ------- Now you have a bit of a decision to make. Laser Needlers are for sale here, and they will make a HUGE difference in your quest. For the sake of challenge we won't buy them just yet, but if you find you're having trouble with Wren's cave you can come and buy one or two, as needed. They cost 1460 meseta each (1550, less 90 trade-in for a Hunting Knife). There's no armour upgrade available here - though Rhys can equip a Cape, it is not as good as the Steel Armour you already have. ----------- Wren's Cave (Recommended level: 14) ----------- Wren awaits. Modify your usual item list a little, and bring three antidotes and seven dimates - you'll find fewer poisoning enemies while needing to heal more often, and an escape pipe is in a chest in Wren's Cave if you need one. Run in, grab Wren, discard the escape pipe he comes with, kill him off, and either walk out or use the chest escape pipe. Try to save at least one dimate and antidote (after being at full HP) for the walk back to Hazatak. In addition to the escape pipe chest, the chest on the far left of the cave holds a dimate, and is usually worth the minor detour to grab it. Two enemies here stand out. Gilatoads take four Hunting Knife hits to drop, and do up to nine damage; Grinders only do three or four damage but take nine - yes, NINE - Hunting Knife slashes to kill. These hits-to-kill numbers cut to about half with two Laser Needlers. ------------- Weather Tower (Recommended level: 19) ------------- Unfortunately, you no longer have much choice about the Laser Needlers. Clumps and Hoplizes are just too much for Hunting Knives. Level until you can equip one in each hand, and Rhys never needs another weapon upgrade. Also grab the usual healing items, and again don't worry about an escape pipe. Stick to the main floor, unless you want to pop up the second staircase to grab the trimate. Make sure you have a free item slot before talking to Lyle, since you'll need to take the Moon Tear from him. Now that you have him, pass the Monitor and Sapphire Mieu is holding to him, so she doesn't carry them into future generations. Killing Lyle off without leaving Rhys too weak to finish the fight can be a tricky endeavor, since Lyle starts so strong. Then quickly fix the weather, and head to Agoe. -------------- Agoe/Shushoran (Recommended Level: 20) -------------- Head to the Agoe armour shop and upgrade to a Steel Helm for 165 meseta (190, less 25 trade-in for a Hunting Helm), then Shushoran's for Ceramic Armour for 370 meseta (500, less 130 trade-in for Hunting Armour). Trimate is now available, but for 500 meseta each they're too expensive to be worth it. ----------------- Shushoran Dungeon (Recommended Level: 20) ----------------- The monster to watch for here is Fearmoos. 9 damage per attack, 25 with a Foi, and takes 3 hits to kill. Head straight for Lyle, with the exception of the chest you can see on the left edge of the screen from the start of the second underground section - it's another trimate. Rhys will get completely healed (including unpoisoned) for the fight with Lyle, so don't waste items healing before you talk to him. Lyle should go down in three rounds, so just focus on attacking him and you'll be fine. Annoyingly, everyone is revived after the fight, so you'll have to kill them all off again. Remember to take the Moon Stone from Lena! ----------------- Satellite Control (Recommended Level: 21) ----------------- Not much to say here, just run in and fix the machine. Once done, you can pass the Moon Stone and Moon Tear to Lyle to make room for more healing. I recommend having two antidotes, then filling up with healing. Try to save the trimates you've found, but quite likely you'll need to use them. ----- Cille (Recommended Level: 24) ----- [NOTE: The inn at Cille, once you feel you are levelled enough, is a great place to copy your save file if you want to try both Ayn and Nial's routes!] Once again, you have a choice. By now you're probably on level 22, and at this point Cille is possible, with some luck. Head in with equipment and dimate/ trimate only, hope you don't get poisoned, and you've got a chance. The alternative is to level up until you can afford Laconia Armour, which will take 5850 meseta (6100, less 250 trade in for Ceramic Armour). Either way, run straight for the king, only detouring to grab the trimate just left of the stairs out of the underground. Blotters will take 4 hits, and Clopses may take five, and both can hit back pretty hard. I recommend running from any battle with two Blotters. As for Cille himself, his Dryads will go down with two hits, so you can clear them out quite quickly, and focus on the boss. His Zan will do up to 25 damage, and he is fairly fast, so you'll need to watch your healing. Still, if you can make it to him with a couple of healing items you should do fine. He has 400 HP. Generation One complete! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 2 Ayn: Last man standing against the cyborg hordes... (Difficult) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Cille (Recommended Level: 1) ----- First thing is to clear up some inventory room by passing the Sapphire and Monitor to Mieu. Then, stop by the technique shop and max out your Res. Don't worry about dropping Anti down to one, since nothing you meet for a while is poisonous. Later you can just carry some antidotes, and if you run out a level one Anti still works about half of the time. Don't worry about dimates now either, since your first trips have very short distances between inns. [NOTE: As you know, there is equipment here that would benefit Ayn through the whole generation, but he really doesn't need it. You can save up for Laconia Armour relatively quickly, if you do the rest of the generation will go very easily as your defense will be much higher and you'll be at level 10 before you even leave Cille. If you choose to do this, change the difficulty rating of this generation from Difficult to Easy! Keep in mind that if you do not create the land bridge you will only battle Arachnes, which makes this saving even easier.] ------------------------------------- Shushoran/Rysel/Shushoran/Cille/Rysel (Recommended Level: 1) ------------------------------------- Time for some action. I recommend saving at the inn at Cille before leaving, just in case. At first you'll meet only Arachnes and Blinks, and neither poses any real threat - at most you'll take 5 damage from a Zan. Around Rysel is the first real threat, as Dogbots can do 12 damage and may take two hits to go down. Seekers also take two hits, but only do as much damage as Arachnes so target them last. There really isn't much more to say, just do the required runs and keep yourself healed. Without Wren and Mieu stealing your XP Ayn will level very quickly. Do NOT waste your meseta on Royal Boots! ---------------------- Aquatica - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 7) ---------------------- The only real note here is that you need to focus on taking out Agribots first, as they basically the same strength as Dogbots. I recommend running if there are two Agribots in an encounter. There is still nothing poisonous, so don't buy any antidotes yet, but you should fill up on dimates, as you will burn through your TP very quickly. Once in Aridia, focus on Lazrbots first, as their Foi hits as hard as an Agribot but are a guaranteed one-hit kill. ----------- Wren's Cave (Recommended Level: 10) ----------- Before leaving Hazatak, buy a pair of Force Needlers for 2645 meseta (1550 meseta each, less 455 for your sword) and restock your dimate (you still don't need antidotes), then save at the inn. There are no new enemies on this trip, so you should have much less difficulty in this cave than the cave from Aquatica. The only drawback to the weapon change is that it will always take two rounds to eliminate Agribots, whereas with a sword you sometimes get a one-hit kill, but being able to take out a group of Arachnes in one round makes up for it. Remember to have a free item space in your inventory before picking up the Dragon Tear, then head back to Hazatak. ---------------------- Aridia - Dragonia Cave (Recommended Level: 13) ---------------------- For the first time this generation, you'll need to buy a couple of antidotes - nothing in the cave is poisonous, but Doomflies on the Dragonia side are. (In fact, you'll want them to poison you, since their physical attacks do over 20 damage!) New enemies here, like Stix and Warblbots, will do up to 14 damage, and usually take three needler attacks (so two rounds for one half of the screen, three rounds for both). Try to stay near full HP between battles, as you'll need to clear at least half of some screens to make healing worthwhile. Five Warblbots and a Stix can do as much damage in one round as you will heal! Try to use your TP first - you'll want to try and save dimates on this run. Also, you'll often encounter three Arachnes on one side of the screen and only one or two Warblbots or Lazrbots on the other, you need to decide which to focus on but I usually take out the Arachnes first in this situation, unless there is a Stix in behind the other group. As for chests, grab the Laser Shot on your way for the 1250 meseta trade-in value, and the Ceramic Helm just off the path in the bottom of the wide centre portion. Don't go on the big detour for the Force Ribbon in the top right - the Zan it casts is too weak to be useful, you don't need the cash yet, and you can grab it on your way back after freeing Thea when you are a bit stronger. Once through the cave, run straight to Lensol. -------------------- Lensol/Endora/Lensol (Recommended Level: 14) -------------------- Stop and heal in Lensol, and sell off the Laser Shot and your old Steel Helm. Stop off to buy Force Armour at a cost of 1190 mesta (1440, less 250 for your Ceramic Armour). As for items, Lensol only sells antidotes and trimates, so bump up to two antidotes and rely on your TP for healing on the run to Endora. Make sure to stop at the technique shop to max out your Res. [NOTE: The Force Emel, which is available here, casts a level 5 Res when used in or out of battle. However, it is not worth the cost of 7900 meseta!] As mentioned before the big enemy to watch for here are Doomflies, who can do over 20 damage with an attack - be sure to eliminate them first! They take three attacks to go down. Sadly, there's no equipment upgrades in Endora, so just fill up on dimate - remember two antidotes for the trip back - and talk to the townsman to have the Lensol gate opened. Save at the inn and then run back to the castle, saving the dimates. ------ Lensol (Recommended Level: 16) ------ Once again you're entering an area with no poisonous enemies, so don't worry about restocking your antidotes just yet. There are no chests worth grabbing, other than the antidote in Thea's cell if you have the room in your item list, so just run straight for Thea. The enemies on the surface are weaker than the Aridia - Dragonia cave, while the enemies below ground are the same as that cave only without Arachnes. Once you reach Thea take the Twins Ruby, toss the rest of her equipment, and kill her off. Make sure to pass all of the discarded items Mieu is carrying to Thea as well, so she doesn't carry them forward to the third generation. Then run for the exit. Oddly, the first underground section is now free of cyborgs on your walk back. ---------------------- Aridia - Dragonia Cave (Recommended Level: 18) ---------------------- If you follwed my item advice, you should have one antidote and a mostly full inventory of dimate for the trip back to Aridia. The single antidote should get you to the cave, and the dimates will be more than enough to get you through it. Remember to grab the Force Ribbon in the top right chest on the way back - you now need the 1400 meseta it is worth. -------------------- Aridia - Landen Cave (Recommended Level: 19) -------------------- Now that you're back in Hazatak, it's time to finally spend all the money you've been hoarding. You should have well over the 19225 meseta needed to trade in one of your Force Needlers for Royal (20000, less 775 for the trade in). Be sure to equip it in Ayn's left hand so it is his first attack. Then make sure you have three antidotes, but don't worry about dimates just yet. To afford a second Royal Needler, at first just run in and grab the Force Claw, Sword, and Knife in the cave. They're worth 7745 meseta, so fight more battles until you hit 11500 meseta, then return to Hazatak and trade in all the Force weapons (including your Force Needler) to buy the Royal Needler. Then refill on antidotes and dimates and head through the cave to Landen. The enemies are limited to Arachnes, Agribots, and Commsats, so with two Royal Needlers you'll dominate the cave. Once on the other side, head to Landen, and save at the inn. ------ Landen (Recommended Level: 21) ------ The chests in the castle are useless, and you will have no problems with the enemies in the dungeon, so just head straight for Sari. She's the reason why you need the Royal Needlers - the only way to defeat her is a quick war of attrition. Target the Zarachnes on the right on the first round, hitting Sari as well. On the second round, if you act first, you should be able to kill both the Zarachnes and Sari with your first attack and the Commsats with your second (occasionally you'll need to use the second to finish off Sari). Remember to heal both before and after the fight, and take the Power Topaz from Sari (toss an antidote to make room if you have to). Then make your way out (if you run into a battle on the way out kill off Sari) and save at the inn. Make your way to Techna as quickly as you can. Because Sean and Crys need the Twins Ruby in their generations Ayn can't discard it once he returns to Aridia, but he can pass the Dragon Tear to Thea once he returns to Dragonia. ------ Techna (Recommended Level: 23) ------ [NOTE: The inn at Techna is a great place to copy your save file if you want to try both Sean and Crys' routes!] First stop - armour shop. Spend 5380 meseta on Laconia Armour (6100, less 720 for your Force Armour), and make sure to buy a Force Shield for 3900 - it casts a level 10 Res when used as an item either in or out of battle, healing Ayn 50 HP. The go to the item shop and trade in all your dimates and antidotes for trimate. [TIP: If you want to cheat just once, this is the place to do it. Buy a second Force Shield and give it to Mieu, so that Sean or Crys can have it at the start of generation three. For Sean, it would make little difference, for Crys it would be a huge shift in difficulty for the start of his quest.] Now for the castle. Thanks to the Force Shield you can heal up during and after every battle. Once you reach Azura, however, you may still need to use Res to get through some fights - four Mechs and two Stickbots, in particular, will hit you extremely hard. Once in the Azura underground, ignore the chests and head straight for Siren. In the first round take out his Flashes, then heal in round two, and keep healing until you start a round with at least 90 hit points. After your second attack repeat, and on the third attack you can finish the Mechs. Time to focus on Siren. Be prepared for a long battle. Siren has 1300 HP, and your attacks will only do 34 - 38 damage per round. Worse, his attack does up to 41 damage to you, and he often sneaks in first (even if you use a maxed out Ner), so you need to heal on any round where you start with less than 83 HP. Still, as long as you're careful, you should be guaranteed to win at this point. Just be patient, and eventually Siren will go down. Generation Two complete! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 2 Nial: A spearhead slicing through the monster waves... (Easy) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Landen ------ Start by raiding Landen castle's basement for an antidote, a monomate, two dimates, and a trimate. Sell the monomate, pass your Monitor, Sapphire, and Moon Stone to Mieu, buy two more antidotes and fill up on dimate. Don't forget to kill off Mieu and Wren! --------------------- Landen - Divisia Cave (Recommended Level: 1) --------------------- You'll find that most new enemies do exactly four damage to Nial, and Eindons and Tsveidons do nothing - but can, of course, still poison you. Watch out for Oozes, who can do 14 damage with a Foi, or packs of five or six Lizrds, who will quickly 4 damage Nial to death. Oddly, walking to the cave is far more dangerous than the cave itself! You should be able to grab the chests, none of it is useful for Nial, but they sell for some quick cash (350 meseta for the Ceramic Ribbon, 500 for the Ceramic Shield, and 1250 for the Laser Shot). -------------- Divisia Castle (Recommended Level: 5) -------------- Now that you can buy trimate...don't! Bump up to four antidotes, and fill the other item slots with dimate. Start Divisia with a little diversion down the far right staircase to grab a trimate - you don't really need it, but it's a primer for the dungeon, plus it gives a bit of XP. Once you've finished this little section, head back to restock and rest up. Now it's time to rescue Alair! Your biggest threats will be Oozes, with their Foi, and Smashers, who take three hits to kill and do seven damage per attack. Don't be surprised if you need to use a dimate after every battle, so make this run as short as possible. The only chest, which is out of the way, is an antidote, so it most likely isn't worth it unless you've had really bad luck with the poisoning! Once you reach Southern Divisia, you can finally upgrade your equipment. Top priority is Force Needlers, which will set you back 5510 meseta (two at 3000, less 490 for your Steel Sword), then Force Armour for 1190 (1440, less 250 for your Ceramic Armour). Take only three antidotes, fill back up on dimate, and you're ready to go. ------------- Rebel Hideout (Recommended Level: 8) ------------- Everything you meet en route to the cave will go down in two needler hits, as will most enemies in the cave itself. Don't worry too much about saving your dimates or antidotes, as nothing inside the cave poisons and healing is about to get much easier... Once in the cave, watch out for Primus - as well as doing 12 damage with a Zan, they take three hits to kill. Be sure to grab the Force Helm in the top left chest, as it casts a level 5 Res when used as an item both in battle, healing Nial 25 HP. You can now use this to heal up at the end of any battle where you can leave one or two weak enemies alive, reducing your reliance on dimate. Virtually eliminating it, in fact - from now on, this generation is going to be a joke! Next, run straight for Ryan, grabbing the Force Bandanna on the way. After seeing the cinema scene, pass the Twins Ruby to Nial, discard Ryan's equipment, and grab all three chests in Ryan's room - you'll want the cash from the Laser Sword and Claw - and grab the Ceramic Headgear in the far right chest on your way back too. Throw away dimates, and then antidotes, to make room. Get greedy! All this equipment, plus your old Steel Helm, is worth 4540 meseta. Don't forget to kill Ryan off! Also, pass the discarded equipment you gave Mieu to Ryan, so Mieu doesn't pass it forward to the next generation. ---------------- Return to Landen (Recommended Level: 12) ---------------- Though Northern Divisia is your last chance to buy trimate before reaching Mystoke...don't. Seriously, just carry three or four antidotes and a few dimates. With the Force Needlers and Helm you should have no difficulty in making it to Mystoke, and you can toss dimates to make room to clear out later chests you can sell for cash. Just walk through the Landen - Divisia cave and save at the inn in Ilan. -------------------- Landen - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 14) -------------------- Once inside the cave, pass the Twins Ruby to Ryan, since you never need to come through this cave again. The enemies here are identical to the Rebel Hideout, so you won't need healing beyond what the Force Helm provides, and there are three chests holding a Force Sword, Knife, and Claw, which you may as well pick up too! The Force Sword casts a decent Foi when used as an item in battle, so you can use it to get down to a single enemy without wasting TP. Once through, watch for Slashers, who can do significant damage. Stop in Hazatak to sell your goodies and go recruit Laya. Take her Mystery Star and Laya's Bow, kill her off, and save before running off to Frigidia. Royal Needlers are available here, but you don't really need them. ---------------------- Aridia - Frigidia Cave (Recommended Level: 15) ---------------------- There's a few new enemies here, but nothing you can't handle. You should have no trouble clearing out the chests in the cave, or making it to Mystoke. ------- Mystoke (Recommended Level: 18) ------- Though by now (or at least by the time you leave the castle) you should have enough money to afford Planar Armour, don't bother. Instead, spend 9000 meseta to upgrade your needlers to Laconia (6000 each, less 1500 for each Force Needler). The castle is barely more difficult than the last two caves, so just roll on through with your current items. The only out of the way chest to grab is an antidote, so I wouldn't bother. Do snag that trimate, though - one less you need to buy before facing Lune. Once you have the Laya Pendant, head to Aerone. ------ Aerone (Recommended Level: 22) ------ Finally, time to spend all that money you built up raiding chests...not only can you upgrade your Force Armour for Laconia for 5380 meseta (6100, less 720 for your trade-in), but you should buy a Force Shield for 3900 as well - like the Force Helm it casts Res, only at level 10, healing 50 HP, and can be used out of battle as well, so you no longer need to keep one enemy alive at the end of a battle! Fill your remaining item slots with trimate, and go kick Lune's ass! [NOTE: The inn at Aerone is a great place to copy your save file if you want to try both Aron and Adan's routes!] ------ Dahlia (Recommended Level: 22) ------ For starters, ignore the chest just before the shuttle - it only has a monomate. Just head straight for Lune. Don't grab the chests in the Aero Parts Dungeon, since you'd have to dump a trimate to carry them and your son can sell them off in the third generation. For Lune himself, you should have no trouble. Take out the Cliques on the right first - they can do more damage than the Murafires. Use a trimate on round two, then finish the Murafires on round three. Consider the fight over - Lune can only do up to 26 damage per round, so simply settle into an attack - Force Shield - attack - Force Shield pattern. He has 1950 HP, so do expect it to take a little while! [NOTE: For more challenge, try to defeat Lune in true Orakian style - swap your Laconia Needlers for a Laconia Sword! The start of the fight is much harder, as you can only kill one Murafire or Clique per round you need to get lucky with the timing of your trimates, but once you get Lune alone you'll do twice the damage you would with needlers. An easier alternate is Laconia Knives - just as much damage as the sword to Lune, but killing two Murafires or Cliques per round. Nial is just as good with knives as Sari, which I suppose makes sense since they would be half-siblings. Both are possible - I did them with no active levelling anywhere in Nial's chapter.] Generation Two complete! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 3 Sean: Vengeance from the shattered moon... (Intermediate) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Aridia (Recommended Level: 1) ------ Immediately upon landing in Aridia, settle your equipment. Pass the Monitor, Sapphire, Dragon Tear, and Power Topaz to Mieu, then head for Hazatak. Hope you don't encounter a Gnasher on the way - they can one-hit kill, so using them to kill off Wren and Mieu will usually result in Sean dying instead. Once in Hazatak, head to the technique shop and max out Res and Zan (handy for clearing weak first or second generation enemies protecting third generation enemies in the back row), then go to the item shop to buy two antidotes and fill up on dimate. Don't worry about buying needlers - from now on, you will have to rely on swords, even Royal Needlers are not powerful enough anymore, and the defense boost helps as well. -------------------- Landen - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 1) -------------------- Not much to do here, since Ayn cleaned the chests out. Just run through. The most significant threat are Mortes, who can kick you for up to 22 damage - fortunately, they go down in one sword slice. Heal after any battle where you have less than 80 HP. That will be most of them, but Sean has more than enough TP, and on the odd chance you run out you still have your dimates. For the most part you should be fine as long as no powerful enemies get a surprise attack on you. Don't forget that even though they are a first generation enemy, Lashgulls can do up to 18 damage with a Tsu! Once through the cave make your way to Yaata, the overworld enemies here are slightly weaker than the enemies in the cave, so if you made it this far you should be fine. Restock your dimate if necessary, then save for the run to Divisia. --------------------- Landen - Divisia Cave (Recommended Level: 3) --------------------- The enemies get stronger once you cross the bridge, so be prepared - Tertius, Killsats, and Grizrds all hit fairly hard in large packs. The cave, on the other hand, has the same enemies as the Landen - Aridia cave, so it will be easy enough that you can grab the chests on the way through. None of it is useful, but altogether it sells for 2100 meseta, and the extra fights along the detours mean more meseta and XP. Remember to use dimates before opening the chests to make room! Once through, head straight for Divisia and sell off your cave treasures. The dungeon is free of enemies, so grab the trimate in the basement of the left staircase and then make your way through to Southern Divisia. ------------- Rebel Hideout (Recommended Level: 6) ------------- Before heading out, head to the item shop and trade in your dimate for trimate. Also stop by the technique shop to make sure your Res is maxed out. Don't worry about antidotes, there is nothing poisonous where you're going. The walk to the cave is remarkably easy, there are no particularly deadly enemies. Not so for the cave! Fazrbots can be deceptive, hitting for only 6 damage on an attack but 30 with a Foi, and Robomen hit for up to 19 damage and take two hits to go down. Your first order of business - grab the Force Helm in the top left of the dungeon. Just like the Force Shield it casts Res, but unfortunately at half the strength, only healing 25 HP, and only during battles, meaning you'll need to keep an enemy alive and heal before you end the battle. Once you have it you can conserve your TP and trimate for emergency in-battle healing. Also grab the Hunting Bandanna, Laser Sword, and Laser Claw that are on the way (not that you really need it, but they sell for 3695 meseta), and of course the Sub Parts. Don't bother with the Ceramic Headgear on the far right, though, as its value of 750 meseta doesn't justify the effort. ---------------- Return to Aridia (Recommended Level: 10) ---------------- Before leaving, restock your two antidotes and fill up on trimate - you're returning to areas with poisonous creatures, and you won't get another chance to buy trimate until you reach Mystoke. Not that you'll need it right away - with all the levelling in the Rebel Hideout you should have no problem reaching Yaata, then Hazatak, on Force Helm and TP alone. Once you return to Aridia you can finally discard the Twins Ruby by passing it to Mieu. Go through the tunnel to find Laya, and take her Mystery Star and Laya's Bow (toss a trimate if you have to). Save at the inn before trying to kill off Laya (remember the Gnashers!), and save again once you have done so. If you had to use any items en route, restock before you leave for Frigidia. ---------------------- Aridia - Frigidia Cave (Recommended Level: 12) ---------------------- You probably went up a few levels getting to Aridia, so this cave will be a snap. Since you likely have a nice full load of Trimate, don't bother grabbing any chests unless you have the free item spaces (one of which you can make by passing the Mystery Star off to Mieu). Enemies of note on this trip are Samurai, who can do over 25 damage with an attack, and once through the cave Squakbots can do the same with a Foi. Large packs of Fires can also be dangerous, but two Zans should eliminate the entire batch. ------- Mystoke (Recommended Level: 13) ------- Before heading into the castle, walk to the armour shop for Planar Armour - you should have far more than the 29950 meseta (33000, less the 3050 trade-in for your Laconia Armour) you need. Don't bother restocking your antidotes yet, as nothing in Mystoke is poisonous, but don't fill up on trimate either - remember there's one in a chest en route, and you need to save the free space from the Mystery Star for the Laya Pendant. Droidmen are as strong as Samurai (and Mechmen come close), so focus on them first. Once you get underground the enemies are the same as the Rebel Hideout, so just watch out for Fazrbots and their 30 damage Foi and you'll do fine. Be sure to save your TP and trimate for emergencies. Once back outside, restock your antidotes (but not your trimates) and head for Aerone. ------ Aerone (Recommended Level: 15) ------ Time to upgrade to a Force Shield - and it will only set you back 2025 meseta (3900, less 1875 for the Force Helm)! For the immediate future you will not need trimate, so if you plan on grabbing all of the chests on Dahlia sell some before you go. Sell at least two, so you can increase your antidotes to three and have room for the Aero Parts. ------ Dahlia (Recommended Level: 15) ------ Cakewalk is not a strong enough word for the ease of this dungeon. Put it this way - Aron starts here at level one, so how hard can it be? The XP is pathetic, and you should already have all the meseta you need, so just run in and grab the Aero Parts. Don't bother grabbing chests until your way back out (toss antidotes to make room) and don't talk to Kara until you are on your way out, since you have to take Lune's Slicer from her before killing her off. -------- Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 16) -------- Before heading in for the Aqua Parts, stop off at New Mota and drop 56500 meseta for a Planar Sword (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword). Also sell any antidotes, since nothing in the dungeon is poisonous. Don't bother with trimate, since you'll need the free item spaces soon to carry legendary weapons. There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over 50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will regularly hit first for 25 damage - three or four of them can be a real pain. Both enemies take two hits to kill, so they can be a challenge, and you will often need to use a Res in those battles. Don't bother getting far out of the way chests (well, you may as well grab the Hunting Bow that is just below the Aqua Parts and the Royal Crown just above. They are worth 1400 and 11500 meseta respectively - not that you need it). Then just grab the Aqua Parts and get out as quickly as you can. ----------------- Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17) ----------------- The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through to Landen (via Divisia) to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to have a free item space before turning into the water skimmer), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw (but watch for Gnashers!). Then just make your way to the inn at Agoe. Don't bother stopping by Rysel to upgrade your Force Boots to Royal, it's just not worth the time. Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword, you never again need the Sub Parts, so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too! --------- Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17) --------- The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do 45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. If you ditch some trimate you'll have room to pick up the Royal Emel, Royal Sword, and Vulcan on Siren's side of the cave as well, which you can sell for 50400 meseta - though you really don't need money anymore, it's kind of fun to see all those mesetas! Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip! Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see section 8). ------- Lashute (Recommended Level: 19) ------- Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Force Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece, even if you don't have the TP to attempt an Anti. Also be sure to stop by the technique shop and keep your Res and Zan are maxed out, and do Ner while you're at it - it's about to finally have a use! The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority: Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer, and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Sean is quite quick, and will usually go first - but don't get cocky! ------- Rulakir (Recommended Level: 21) ------- Note that you won't need to level to reach 21 - if you start Lashute at level 19 you will be at level 21 by the time you reach Rulakir! Here is where Sean proves his dominance over the other heroes, even other healers like Adan and Aron. Until now Zan was merely a convenience and time techniques were untouched, but they are critical to winning this battle without serious levelling! Through use of the Force Shield you should be able to reach Rulakir with full healing capability, be sure to top up your HP before starting the fight. The key is to have first strike on rounds two and three. On the first two rounds use Zan on the front row, and if you strike first on the second round you will kill all the Azufires and Murafires before they attack. Of course, with their first six attacks and two hits from Rulakir, you'll be near death, so going before Rulakir on round three is a must so you can heal yourself up. On round four cast Ner to ensure you always go first from now on, on round five heal again, and since Rulakir can do up to 65 damage settle into an attack - heal - attack - heal pattern. You'll do over 80 damage per attack and he has only 1500 HP, so he should go down long before you run out of TP and trimate. Then just head (carefully!) back to Mystoke and rest up. You'll probably be at level 23 by the time you make it back to the inn. ---------- Dark Force (Recommended Level: 35) ---------- [NOTE: I suspect that Sean could defeat Dark Force without levelling. Having access to Ner greatly increases healing efficiency since you never need to insure against Dark Force slipping in a first attack. However, I have been unable to do so - the one time I made it to Dark Force (out of 20 runs - that's how deadly the enemies can be at level 23!) my controller froze!] You're almost there! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm (you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem). This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're going to need it! Sell your Force Boots as well to make room for a ninth trimate - the defense and speed boosts they give are too minimal to be worthwhile. Also make sure your Res and Ner are maxed while you're there. Getting to the dungeon should be no problem (unless you try it without levelling) - the annoying people who get in the way are gone, and you can one-hit kill Watchers occasionally. The dungeon, however, will be problematic - Khalidas, particularly if there are two or surprise you, will make very short work of you, and Wizards and Conjurers will do up to 70 damage with a Foi. Still, you can one-hit kill everything. Take the Khalidas first, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners, the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers. There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room. Now for Dark Force. Start with a Ner - Dark Force is slow enough that once you have Ner up you will always act first. Now to face the real problem - the left hand (the one on your right) casts Gires 95% of the time, healing everything 198 hit points, when both hands have high enough defense to keep your damage at around 100, and the left hand has 300 HP. Hence the Royal Bow - after 15 uses you should be up to 150 damage per attack, meaning that if you can get in two attacks in a row without it healing you can kill it off. This is a big gamble, though - the hand is incredibly slow and always acts last (even if you hadn't cast Ner), so you won't be able to slip in a double attack between two consecutive healings. What is better is to use the Royal Bow 30 times, upping your damage to 250 per round, then slipping in two simultaneous attacks when you have enough HP. The right hand will do up to 45 damage with a Foi, and the body does up to 60 with a Tsu, so make sure to heal on any round if you have less than 110 HP. Try for a Royal Bow - Res - Royal Bow - Res pattern, but once in a while you may have to double up on Res. Once you have the left hand killed, you're there! The right hand only has 1200 HP and has lower defense than the left, and though the body has 8000 HP you'll do over 1000 damage per attack (over 1300 if you were doing 250 to the left hand). Congratulations! You've completed your solo-hero challenge! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 3 Crys: Orakio reborn... (Hard) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [NOTE: Most of Crys' quest is only slightly more difficult that Sean's. However, extensive levelling and a fair bit of luck is required to defeat both Rulakir and Dark Force. BE WARNED!] ------ Landen (Recommended Level: 1) ------ Start by passing the Dragon Tear, Sapphire, Power Topaz, and Monitor to Mieu. Remember that you cannot pass off the the Twins Ruby yet, since you will need it to reach Aridia. Then head down to the dungeon to grab the chests - you will especially want the trimate inside. Then save at the inn before killing off the cyborgs, and again once you have succeeded. Now, before running off to Divisia, you need to make a detour to Ilan. Stop and save in Yaata on the way (the items from the castle should get you the rest of the way, but try to save the trimate!), then reach Ilan and spend 7900 meseta on a Force Emel - since Crys cannot heal himself, and you will take heavy damage throughout the quest, you need any extra healing you can have. It only heals 25 HP per use, but it's better than nothing! Also stock up on three antidotes and 6 dimate, then save at the inn in Yaata. --------------------- Landen - Divisia Cave (Recommended Level: 1) --------------------- The enemies get stronger once you cross the bridge, so be prepared - Tertius, Killsats, and Grizrds all hit fairly hard in large packs. The cave is a little easier though - the most significant threat are Mortes, who can kick you for up to 22 damage, but go down in one hit. You should be able to use just your Force Emel to heal, but just for the XP and a bit more cash use some dimates to make room for the three chests - the equipment is useless at this point but sells for 2100 meseta. Once through, head straight for Divisia and sell off your cave treasures. The dungeon is free of enemies, so grab the trimate in the basement of the left staircase and then make your way through to Southern Divisia. ------------- Rebel Hideout (Recommended Level: 5) ------------- Before heading out, head to the item shop and trade in your dimate and antidotes for trimate - you need the healing, and there is nothing poisonous where you're going. The walk to the cave is remarkably easy, there are no particularly deadly enemies. Not so for the cave! Fazrbots can be deceptive, hitting for only 6 damage on an attack but 30 with a Foi, and Robomen hit for up to 19 damage and take two hits to go down. Be sure to heal up with the Force Emel after battles, you'll need your trimates for emergency in-battle healing. Run in and grab the Hunting Bandanna, Laser Sword, and Laser Claw that are on the way (they sell for 3695 meseta) - if you don't have room on the way in for the bandanna, wait until you pass by on the way out - and of course the Sub Parts. Don't bother with the Ceramic Headgear on the far right, as its value of 750 meseta doesn't justify the risk, or the Force Helm in the top left, since its healing effect is no better than the Force Emel. Once finished, head back to Divisia and save at the northern inn. ---------------- Return to Landen (Recommended Level: 8) ---------------- Before leaving, restock to two antidotes and fill up on trimate - you're returning to areas with poisonous creatures, and you won't get another chance to buy trimate until you reach Mystoke. The trip should not be difficult, considering the levels gained in Rebel Hideout, so just head back and save at Yaata. Save all the trimate if you can! -------------------- Landen - Aridia Cave (Recommended Level: 9) -------------------- The enemies are the same as the Landen - Divisia cave, so again you should be okay using just the Force Emel to heal. Once through the cave, you need to beware of Gnashers and their one-hit kill. Some other enemies can hit hard, but you will soon need to free up an item space, so if you have to use a trimate it's OK. Save as soon as you reach Hazatak, then pass through the tunnel to find Laya. Pass the Twins Ruby to Mieu (and discard a trimate if you have to) to make room for Laya's Bow and the Mystery Star, then kill her off (save first - remember the Gnashers!). Restock your two antidotes if necessary, and you're ready to go. ---------------------- Aridia - Frigidia Cave (Recommended Level: 10) ---------------------- Similar to the Rebel Hideout, you can use the Force Emel to heal up after most battles, but expect to need to use a trimate in battle sometimes as well. Don't bother grabbing any chests unless you have the free item spaces (one of which you can make by passing the Mystery Star off to Mieu). Enemies of note on this trip are Samurai, who can do over 25 damage with an attack, and once through the cave Squakbots can do the same with a Foi. Large packs of Fires can also be dangerous, expect to use at least one trimate in that fight. ------- Mystoke (Recommended Level: 13) ------- Before heading into the castle, walk to the armour shop for Planar Armour - you should have far more than the 29950 meseta (33000, less the 3050 trade-in for your Laconia Armour) you need. Nothing in Mystoke is poisonous, so fill up on trimate (remember, you don't need the Mystery Star anymore). Droidmen are as strong as Samurai (and Mechmen come close), so focus on them first. Once you get underground the enemies are the same as the Rebel Hideout, so just watch out for Fazrbots and their 30 damage Foi and you'll do fine. Between the Force Emel and another trimate to find en route you should have enough healing. Once back outside, restock to two antidotes and full trimate, and head for Aerone. ------ Aerone (Recommended Level: 15) ------ Time to upgrade to a Force Shield - and it will actually gain you 50 meseta (3900, when the Force Emel sells for 3950)! For the immediate future you will not need trimate, so sell it off before you go and fill up on antidotes (that you can toss if you plan on grabbing chests on Dahlia). ------ Dahlia (Recommended Level: 15) ------ Cakewalk is not a strong enough word for the ease of this dungeon. Put it this way - Aron starts here at level one, so how hard can it be? The XP is pathetic, and you should already have all the meseta you need, so just run in and grab the Aero Parts. Don't bother grabbing chests until your way back out (toss antidotes to make room) and don't talk to Kara until you are on your way out, since you have to take Lune's Slicer from her before killing her off. -------- Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 16) -------- Before heading in for the Aqua Parts, stop off at New Mota and drop 56500 meseta for a Planar Sword (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword). Also sell any antidotes, since nothing in the dungeon is poisonous. Fill up on trimate, and hit the airport. There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over 50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will regularly hit first for 25 damage - three or four of them can be a real pain. Both enemies take two hits to kill, so they can be a challenge, and you will often need to use a trimate in those battles. Don't bother getting far out of the way chests (well, you may as well grab the Hunting Bow that is just below the Aqua Parts and the Royal Crown just above. They are worth 1400 and 11500 meseta respectively - not that you need it). Then just grab the Aqua Parts and get out as quickly as you can. ----------------- Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17) ----------------- Before leaving Mystoke, be sure to you have one antidote and three trimate - you should be able to stop in towns often enough to not worry about poison. The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through to Landen (via Divisia) to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to have a free item space before turning into the water skimmer, toss the antidote instead of a trimate), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw (but watch for Gnashers!). Then just make your way to the inn at Agoe. Don't bother stopping by Rysel to upgrade your Force Boots to Royal, it's just not worth the time. Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword, you never again need the Sub Parts, so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too! --------- Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 17) --------- The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do 45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. Don't ditch trimate for the chests (though if you have already used some, grab them) - you really don't need money anymore, but you may need emergency healing. Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip! Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see section 8). ------- Lashute (Recommended Level: 19) ------- Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Force Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece. Sadly, you're only going to Lashute right now to level - you'll get double the XP here than anywhere else in the game. You definitely need some more strength to take on the last bosses! The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority: Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer, and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Crys is quite quick, and against most enemies he will usually go first - but don't get cocky! I recommend returning to Mystoke and saving every two or three levels - even at higher levels some bad luck can wipe you out pretty quickly. If you find Lashute too difficult at first, you can get pretty good XP from the enemies on the surface of Terminus, but they can poison you and some - a pack of four Goatdukes in particular - can kill you just as quickly as what you'll find in Lashute! ------- Rulakir (Recommended Level: 35) ------- Before heading in to battle Rulakir, stop by the technique shop and max out Ner. You'll need to be confident in acting first to make your limited trimate last. Also sell your Force Boots to make room for a ninth trimate - the speed and defense boosts they give aren't worth keeping. Through use of the Force Shield you should be able to reach Rulakir with full trimate, be sure you are at full HP before starting the fight! You need some luck in this - the key is to have first strike and minimal tech use by the enemies in the first few rounds. Try to take out at least two Azufires before using your first trimate, and at least two more enemies before the second. If you've made it this far, you should be OK! Kill off the last Murafires, and you're finally one-on-one with Rulakir. Once you are alone with him, use Ner to make sure you act first 95% of the time. Rulakir does up to 65 damage with a Tsu, so wait until your HP are lower than 70 before using a trimate. Crys should have over 240 HP at this level, so you should be able to get at least two attacks in between healing. You should do over 100 damage per round, so he will go down relatively quickly - Rulakir only has 1500 HP. Then just head (carefully!) back to Mystoke and rest up. [NOTE: I know what you're thinking...if the key is to kill off the Azufires and Murafires quickly, why not use needlers? While Royal Needlers will allow you to take out one group in one round, they just aren't enough for Rulakir - two attacks only do up to 50 damage total per round, drastically increasing the length of the battle, and without the massive defense bonus from the Nei Sword his physical attacks will be just as powerful as his techniques. In short, the battle is too long to heal every three rounds, Rulakir hits too hard to make use of the Force Shield, and sooner or later Rulakir will sneak in first attack on a round when you need to heal. Still, if you're a gambler...] ---------- Dark Force (Recommended Level: 40) ---------- [NOTE: Crys requires far more luck than the other three heroes! Their recommended level for this fight is 35, and they have a reasonable chance to succeed at that level. With Crys, expect to take numerous attempts, even at level 40!] Prepare for the hardest challenge yet! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm (you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem). This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're going to need it! Also make sure your Ner is maxed while you're there. Getting to Dark Force should be no problem - even Khalidas, unless there are two of them or get surprise, should be no problem. You can one-hit kill almost everything (only Guardians and Defenders will occasionally requre a second slash). Eliminate Khalidas first, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners, the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers. There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room. Now for Dark Force. Be sure to start the fight at full hit points! Ignore Ner for now - your immediate mission is to eliminate both hands as quickly as possible, and Crys should be fast enough at this level to go first 95% of the time. Start by using the Royal Bow at least 9 times. You normally can get away with healing only every third round (and remember the first one is free, since you start at full health) - Crys should have over 255 HP and you'll take an average of 70 damage per round (though combined they can do 110), so you should need only three trimate to do this, then a fourth once you're finished. Here's where you need to get lucky. You've probably noticed the left hand (on your right) casts Gires 90% of the time. It has 300 hit points, and even with all those Fanbis from the Royal Bow you'll only do 150 - 160 damage to it, so you have to hope that it will decide to attack after you have attacked it when you have the hit points to attack it a second time! With luck, it will do this after only the second or third attempt, and you'll hear it's death sound! Now, count your trimates (include the star mist). You will need to attack the right hand (on your left) at least 6 times - it has 1200 HP and you will hit for around 200 - so hopefully you have at least 3 left. Kill the right hand as quickly as you can, and you're almost there! If you have a trimate left, use it, otherwise you're stuck with the Force Shield. Dark Force's body will do between 25 and 70 damage per round, meaning that you will net an average of 5 - 10 HP per use. Settle in for a long fight! As soon as you are over 100 hit points at the start of a round, cast Ner - you may have noticed Dark Force still slips in a first attack now and then, Ner will cure that problem nicely. From then on, because Dark Force will sometimes use Tsu five or six times in a row for 55 - 70 damage, try to be at over 175 HP at the start of a round before you decide to attack. You will hit him for 800 - 1000 damage, and he has 8000 hit points. Congratulations! You've completed the most difficult Phantasy Star III solo-hero challenge! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 3 Adan: The blood of Laya rises again... (Difficult) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Landen (Recommended Level: 1) ------ First thing is to settle your equipment. Give the Sapphire, Moon Stone, Twins Ruby, Mystery Star, and Monitor to Mieu; take Laya's Bow and the Laya Pendant from Gwyn. Toss the rest of Gwyn's equipment. Sadly, the technique distibution shop is abandoned, so you'll have to go to Yaata to max out Adan's Res technique. Don't worry about taking Anti down to one point, just pack five or six antidotes. Even if they run out a level one Anti still works about half the time. Make your way using the Laya Temples to Aerone. Don't forget to kill off your companions on your way! You may be tempted to stop off for needlers somewhere, but it's not worth it - from now on, it's swords and only swords. Also, don't bother with healing items - your Res should be enough. New enemies like Grizrds and Killsats will do around 13 damage, so you do have to keep an eye on your HP. Remember that Divisia's dungeon is now empty, so don't bother staying at the inn in Northern Divisia. ------ Dahlia (Recommended Level: 2) ------ Make sure to buy a Force Shield in Aerone, and this dungeon should be a joke. You won't even need trimate, just bring some antidotes that you can toss to make room for all the chests for trade-in cash (altogether it's worth 23500 meseta, but you may want to hold on to the Force Gear for a little while, which is worth 3100 - it casts Zan when used in battle for 40 - 50 damage, which can be handy for taking out lines of weak enemies). Don't talk to Kara until your way back out, so you don't have to take Lune's Slicer (and toss your last antidote) from her until you've cleared the dungeon. -------- Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 8) -------- Time to spend all that cash you've been saving! Stop off in New Mota to grab a Planar Sword for 56500 meseta (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword). Now is also a good time to stop by the technique shop and make sure Res is maxed - you will need it shortly! You likely won't have the meseta to buy Planar Armour (you need 29950 - 33000, less the 3050 trade-in for your Laconia Armour), grab it if you can, otherwise just head straight to SkyHaven. There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over 50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will almost always hit first for 25 damage - two of them can be a real pain, four of them are death. Both enemies take two hits to kill, so they can be quite a challenge, and you will usually need to use a Res in those battles. The only thing left to save up for is (maybe) Planar Armour, so only grab the Hunting Bow just below the Aqua Parts and the Royal Crown just above, they are worth 1400 and 11500 meseta respectively. Otherwise, just grab the Aqua Parts and get out as quickly as you can. ----------------- Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 11) ----------------- You should now have the 29950 meseta you need for Planar Armour, so stop by Mystoke and pick it up. The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through to Landen (via Divisia) to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to free up an item space before turning into the water skimmer), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw (watch out for Gnashers, who can one-hit kill). Then just save at the inn at Agoe. Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword, you never again need the Sub Parts, so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too! --------- Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 12) --------- The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do 45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. If you ditch all your antidotes you'll have room to pick up the Royal Emel, Royal Sword, and Vulcan on Siren's side of the cave as well, which you can sell for 50400 meseta - though you really don't need money anymore! Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip! Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see section 8). ------- Lashute (Recommended Level: 15) ------- Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Royal Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece, even if you don't have the TP to attempt an Anti. Also be sure to stop by the technique shop and keep your Res maxed out. Sadly, you're only going to Lashute right now to level - you'll get double the XP here than anywhere else in the game. You definitely need some more strength to take on the last bosses! The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority: Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer, and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Adan is quite quick, and against most enemies he will usually go first - but don't get cocky! I recommend returning to Mystoke and saving every two or three levels - even at higher levels some bad luck can wipe you out pretty quickly. If you find Lashute too difficult at first, you can get pretty good XP from the enemies on the surface of Terminus, but they can poison you and some - a pack of four Goatdukes in particular - can kill you just as quickly as what you'll find in Lashute! ------- Rulakir (Recommended Level: 30) ------- No, that recommended level is not a typo. Rulakir himself is not the problem - it's the Murafires and Azufires with him that wipe you out. The hardest part is surviving the first few rounds. Rulakir can do up to 65 damage, Azufires up to 30, and Murafires up to 25. On an average round, they will do about 130 combined damage, so the trick is being sure you are at high HP at the start of any round you choose to attack! Take out an Azufire on the first round, as they do more damage than their purple cousins. On the second round, heal, and keep healing until you start at round with over 130 HP. Then take out a second Azufire, and heal again until you have at least 110 HP. Once you take out the third Azufire you should be okay, just alternate between healing and attacking until you finish the Murafires. Now for the man himself. Rulakir only has 1500 HP and you'll do between 90 and 100 damage per round, so it will only take 16 hits. You should still have plenty of TP and trimate left, so no more gambling - Rulakir is slow, but will still occasionally sneak in first, so keep up the heal - attack - heal - attack pattern unless after an attack round you still over 140 HP. [NOTE: I know what you're thinking...if the real problem is the Azufires and Murafires, why not use needlers? While Royal Needlers will allow you to take out one group in one round, they just aren't enough for Rulakir - two attacks only do 34 - 38 damage total per round, drastically increasing the length of the battle, and without the massive defense bonus from the Nei Sword his physical attacks will be just as powerful as his techniques. In short, the battle is too long to heal every other round, Rulakir hits too hard to make use of the Force Shield, and sooner or later Rulakir will sneak in first attack on a round when you need to heal. Still, if you're a gambler...] ---------- Dark Force (Recommended Level: 35) ---------- You're almost there! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm (you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem). This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're gonna need it! Sell your Royal Boots as well to make room for a ninth trimate - the defense boost they give is too minimal to be worthwhile. Also make sure your Res is maxed while you're there. Getting to the dungeon should be no problem - the annoying people who get in the way are gone, and you can regularly one-hit kill Punishers and Torturers (and sometimes Watchers and Defenders) now. The dungeon, however, may be reminiscent of Skyhaven - Khalidas, particularly if there are two or surprise you, will make very short work of you, and Wizards and Conjurers will do up to 70 damage with a Foi. Still, you can one-hit kill everything down there at level 35. Focus on Khalidas, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners, the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers. There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room. Now for Dark Force. The problem here is the left hand (the one on your right) - it casts Gires 95% of the time, healing everything 198 hit points, when both hands have high enough defense to keep your damage at around 100 and the left hand has 300 HP. Hence the Royal Bow - after 15 uses you should be up to 150 damage per attack, meaning that if you can get in two attacks in a row without it healing you can kill it off. This is a big gamble, though - the hand is incredibly slow and always acts after Adan, so you won't be able to slip in a double attack between two consecutive healings. What is better is to use the Royal Bow 30 times, upping your damage to 250 per round, but you have to watch your healing - just like Rulakir, Dark Force's other parts sometimes slip in first. (There is an item that duplicates Ner, but unlike Fanbi it does not stack, and a single use from an item is not enough to make a significant difference.) The right hand will do up to 45 damage with a Foi, and the body does up to 60 with a Tsu, so make sure to heal if you have less than 110 HP. Try for a Royal Bow - Res - Royal Bow - Res pattern, but once in a while you may have to double up on Res. Once you have the left hand killed, you're there! The right hand only has 1200 HP and has lower defense than the left, and though the body has 8000 HP you'll do over 1000 damage per attack (over 1300 if you were doing 250 to the left hand). Congratulations! You've completed your solo-hero challenge! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation 3 Aron: The grim reaper of Dahlia... (Difficult) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Dahlia (Recommended Level: 1) ------ First thing is to settle your equipment. Give the Sapphire, Moon Stone, Twins Ruby, Mystery Star, and Monitor to Mieu; take Lune's Slicer from Kara. Toss the rest of Kara's equipment. Next, head down to Aerone (killing off your companions if you hit a battle on the way) to buy a Force Shield, and go to the technique shop to max your Res. Don't worry about taking Anti down to one point, just pack antidotes. Even if they run out a level one Anti still works about half the time. Don't bother with healing items - your Res should be enough. Remember to save at the inn! As for the dungeon, it will be a joke. You won't even need trimate, just bring some antidotes that you can toss to make room for all the chests for trade-in cash. Altogether it's worth 23500 meseta - the Force Gear casts Zan when used in battle so you may want to keep it, but you'll likely need the 3100 meseta. -------- Skyhaven (Recommended Level: 5) -------- Time to spend all that cash you've been saving! Stop off in New Mota to grab a Planar Sword for 56500 meseta (64000, less 7500 for your Laconia Sword) - save up if you have to. Now is also a good time to stop by the technique shop and make sure Res is maxed - you will need it shortly! You won't have the meseta to buy Planar Armour (you need 29950 - 33000, less the 3050 trade-in for your Laconia Armour), so just head straight to SkyHaven. There are a couple of enemies you need to watch out for here - Spheres do over 50 damage with a Foi, and Demonesses will almost always hit first for 25 damage - two of them can be a real pain, four of them are death. Both enemies take two hits to kill, so they can be quite a challenge, and you will usually need to use a Res multiple times in those battles. You'll get a fair amount of cash from the enemies, but to save for Planar Armour you should also take the short diversion to grab the Royal Crown above the Aqua Parts (worth 11500 meseta) and the Hunting Bow below them (worth 1400 meseta). Once you have those three chests, get out as quickly as you can. ----------------- Path to Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 9) ----------------- You should now have the 29950 meseta you need for Planar Armour, so stop by Mystoke and pick it up. The trip to Aquatica is very easy - just cruise through to Landen (via Divisia) to get Orakio's Sword (be sure to free up an item space before turning into the water skimmer), then to Aridia for Miun's Claw and to pick up Laya - take her Laya's Bow, pass her Mystery Star to Mieu (and since Aron came with one as well, you now have two) and discard her other items, then kill her off. Watch out for Gnashers - they can one-hit kill Aron. Then just save at the inn at Agoe. Don't bother stopping by Rysel to upgrade your Force Boots to Royal, it's just not worth the time. Remember that once you have Orakio's Sword and Laya's Bow, you never again need the Sub Parts, so pass them to Mieu. Sell your Planar Sword too! --------- Sage Isle (Recommended Level: 9) --------- The only real threat here is Wyrms, who will take two hits to kill and can do 45 damage with a Foi; otherwise this cave is no sweat. Just run through, grab Siren's Shot, and talk to the old men. If you ditch all your antidotes you'll have room to pick up the Royal Emel, Royal Sword, and Vulcan on Siren's side of the cave as well, which you can sell for 50400 meseta - though you really don't need money anymore! Once you're back in Agoe after talking to the old men, pass the Aqua Parts to Mieu and head to Mystoke. Be sure to save at Agoe if you plan to go through Aridia - I've been ambushed by Gnashers more than once on this trip! Talk to the old men in Skyhaven to gain the Nei weapons, then pass the four you can't use to Mieu. Be sure to first pass one of the discarded gemstones to each person in your party to avoid the Pron Glitch (for more information, see section 8). ------- Lashute (Recommended Level: 13) ------- Before heading to Lashute, you'll want to fill up your free item spots with trimate - your items should be Nei Sword, Planar Armour, Laconia Helm, Force Boots (all equipped), Force Shield, Laya's Pendant, Aqua Parts, and eight trimates. Don't worry about antidotes, as nothing in Lashute is poisonous - if you get poisoned going to, reset, and if you get poisoned on your way back you should still make it back to Mystoke in one piece, even if you don't have the TP to attempt an Anti. Also be sure to stop by the technique shop and keep your Res maxed out. Sadly, you're only going to Lashute right now to level - you'll get double the XP here than anywhere else in the game. You definitely need some more strength to take on the last bosses! The enemies in Lashute pack a mean punch, so be prepared. All of the back row enemies other than Malifics and Torturers can do over 40 damage with a technique, and Watchers can do over 70! Attack enemies in this priority: Watcher, Guardian, Defender, Punisher, Azufire/Zafira, Fire/Fatima, Torturer, and leave Malifics for last. Fires, Azufures, Fatimas, Zafiras, and Malifics you can one-hit kill, the others you will be able to at higher levels but for now they take two. The one saving grace here is that Aron is quite quick, and once you have a few levels he will usually go first - but don't get cocky! I recommend returning to Mystoke and saving every two or three levels - even at higher levels some bad luck can wipe you out pretty quickly. If you find Lashute too difficult at first, you can get pretty good XP from the enemies on the surface of Terminus, but they can poison you and some - a pack of four Goatdukes in particular - can kill you just as quickly as what you'll find in Lashute! ------- Rulakir (Recommended Level: 30) ------- No, that recommended level is not a typo. Rulakir himself is not the problem - it's the Murafires and Azufires with him that wipe you out. The hardest part is surviving the first few rounds. Rulakir can do up to 65 damage, Azufires up to 30, and Murafires up to 25. On an average round, they will do about 130 combined damage, so the trick is being sure you are at high HP at the start of any round you choose to attack! Take out an Azufire on the first round, as they do more damage than their purple cousins. On the second round, heal, and keep healing until you start at round with over 130 HP. Then take out a second Azufire, and heal again until you have at least 110 HP. Once you take out the third Azufire you should be okay, just alternate between healing and attacking until you finish the Murafires. Now for the man himself. Rulakir only has 1500 HP and you'll do between 90 and 100 damage per round, so it will only take 16 hits. You should still have plenty of TP and trimate left, so no more gambling - Rulakir is slow, but will still occasionally sneak in first, so keep up the heal - attack - heal - attack pattern unless after an attack round you still over 140 HP. [NOTE: I know what you're thinking...if the real problem is the Azufires and Murafires, why not use needlers? While Royal Needlers will allow you to take out one group in one round, they just aren't enough for Rulakir - two attacks only do 34 - 38 damage total per round, drastically increasing the length of the battle, and without the massive defense bonus from the Nei Sword his physical attacks will be just as powerful as his techniques. In short, the battle is too long to heal every other round, Rulakir hits too hard to make use of the Force Shield, and sooner or later Rulakir will sneak in first attack on a round when you need to heal. Still, if you're a gambler...] ---------- Dark Force (Recommended Level: 35) ---------- You're almost there! First, a little equipment shift - sell your Laconia Helm (you'll find a replacement later, when you have more inventory room) and pick up a Royal Bow in New Mota (the 64000 meseta price tag should be no problem). This little beauty casts Fanbi when used as an item, and you're gonna need it! Sell your Force Boots as well to make room for a ninth trimate - the defense and speed boosts they give are too minimal to be worthwhile. Also make sure your Res is maxed while you're there. Getting to the dungeon should be no problem - the annoying people who get in the way are gone, and you can regularly one-hit kill Punishers and Torturers (and sometimes Watchers and Defenders) now. The dungeon, however, may be reminiscent of Skyhaven - Khalidas, particularly if there are two or surprise you, will make very short work of you, and Wizards and Conjurers will do up to 70 damage with a Foi. Still, you can one-hit kill everything down there at level 35, so focus on Khalidas, followed by Wizards, Conjurers, Executioners, the above-dungeon enemies, and lastly Sorcerers. There are two chests to grab - the one in the bottom left is a replacement Laconia Helm, and the one in the top right is a star mist. Since this is a one way trip, you can pass the Laya Pendant and Aero Parts to Mieu to make room. Now for Dark Force. The problem here is the left hand (the one on your right) - it casts Gires 95% of the time, healing everything 198 hit points, when both hands have high enough defense to keep your damage at around 100 and the left hand has 300 HP. Hence the Royal Bow - after 15 uses you should be up to 150 damage per attack, meaning that if you can get in two attacks in a row without it healing you can kill it off. This is a big gamble, though - the hand is incredibly slow and always acts after Adan, so you won't be able to slip in a double attack between two consecutive healings. What is better is to use the Royal Bow 30 times, upping your damage to 250 per round, but you have to watch your healing - just like Rulakir, Dark Force's other parts sometimes slip in first. (There is an item that duplicates Ner, but unlike Fanbi it does not stack, and a single use from an item is not enough to make a significant difference.) The right hand will do up to 45 damage with a Foi, and the body does up to 60 with a Tsu, so make sure to heal if you have less than 110 HP. Try for a Royal Bow - Res - Royal Bow - Res pattern, but once in a while you may have to double up on Res. Once you have the left hand killed, you're there! The right hand only has 1000 HP and has lower defense than the left, and though the body has 8000 HP you'll do over 1200 damage per attack (over 1300 if you were doing 250 to the left hand). Congratulations! You've completed your solo-hero challenge! ******************************************************************************* 8. What the hell is the Pron Glitch? The "Pron Glitch" is a strange error I found when playing through my solos. Every time I transformed the Legendary weapons into Nei weapons, strange things would occur. At first it seemed purely cosmetic, but eventually I noticed something...odd...in the stats screens. So I did some testing, found the trigger, and logged the results. Mr2 did some testing as well, here are our findings. While transforming the Legendary weapons to Nei weapons, you can exploit a glitch in the game code to drastically increase the speed and defense statistics of members in your party! To activate the glitch, remove all items from any party member whose stats you want affected by the main effect. Unequipping is not enough, the item list for that person must be empty. Then speak to the old man who says "Nei is the word of ultimate power", triggering the weapon transformation. THE RESULTS OF THE GLITCH CAN BE UNPREDICTABLE AND NEGATIVE, SO BE SURE TO SAVE BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE GLITCH AND CHECK THE RESULTS IN ACTUAL BATTLE BEFORE SAVING AGAIN. I ALSO RECOMMEND KEEPING A BACKUP OF THE PRE-GLITCH FILE ON THE SECOND SAVE SLOT. MAIN EFFECT The speed, damage, and defense statistics of affected members will change. 1. Speed: Depending on the character, speed will change: Adan/Aron/Crys/Sean -> Speed drops significantly Mieu, Wren -> Speed drops by 14 Gwyn/Laya, Kara -> Speed increases into the 180 - 220 range This has real effects in battle, therefore Gwyn/Laya and Kara will almost always strike first in battle if affected while your hero will almost always go last. 2. Damage: This effect is variable, but will normally place the statistic into the 60000 - 64000 range. Unfortunately, it does not have any effect on the damage you actually do in battle. 3. Defense: For everyone but Kara, this effect is a reduction of the defense statistic by exactly 140 points. Kara's effect is in this range but variable. The important thing is if this reduction drives the statistic below zero, it will wrap back to somewhere in the 65400 range! This carries forward into battle, so affected persons will take no damage from any physical attack (though techniques will still damage the character normally). The only exception is Gnashers - the formerly one-hit kill masters will continue to do damage. In my testing this is a "whopping" 4 HP. However, in his testing Mr2 found that only the first person in line benefited from the defense: "i had laya and kara get the insane defense boost. laya would take 0 damage from physical attacks, while kara would get killed in 1 hit by Demonesses (+110 damage). a low level wren would take 60-74 damage from them. i then re-did it with only kara not having any items and she then took no damage. so it seems the glitch will make the first girl has insane defense, while the second girl has no defense." Therefore, it appears that on a normal playthrough, this glitch is best used on Gwyn/Laya OR Kara only. SIDE EFFECTS The following effects will occur regardless of who has an empty item list as long as at least one does. They do not have any effect on gameplay. Do not be alarmed when they occur! 1. Colors become negative (Temporary): this will be reversed simply by accessing your menu screen, something you need to do anyways to check your statistics. 2. The last person in your party will be moved out of line (Temporary): normally this will be exactly one "square" to the right, though sometimes it is a partial square and/or in another direction, or fails to happen at all. It will not prevent you from moving freely, the person will walk through obstacles. This will be reversed when you leave Skyhaven. 3. Characters become blocky (Temporary): Any black parts of characters (everyone's shadow, parts of Wren and Aron) will have white vertical stripes appear, making them look blocky. This will be reversed when you save and reset. 4. Characters will be renamed (Permanent). Many characters will have letters in their name changed, normally having a P replace the first letter. Even people with items in their item list will be renamed. Specifically, these are: Adan -> A3pn Aron -> Pron Crys -> Prys Gwyn -> Pwyn Kara -> Para Laya -> Paya Mieu -> Pieu Sean and Wren will not be renamed. Note that not only is this side effect permanent, it even carries over into your save/load screen (ie; your save file will change from "Adan LVXX" to "A3pn LVXX") And yes, Aron being renamed to Pron, which is in turn very similar to Pr0n, is why we called this the Pron glitch. Yes, we know we need to grow up :-P 5. Equipped legendary weapons will "fuse" to character stats (Permanent): If a character has a legendary weapon equipped at the time the glitch is triggered, the attack (and possibly defense) bonus of the legendary weapon will be permanently added to the base statistic of the character. Like the main effect, this increase to the damage statistic has no real effect in battle. The effect of the defense increase, if it occurs, is unknown. (Thanks to Mr2 for figuring this effect out.) ******************************************************************************* 9. Evaluation of Other Solo Quests After playing through all four hero paths, I'll speculate on the chances other characters would have solo. These are assuming you NOT use the Pron Glitch. Mieu: Mieu is probably the most likely of the other characters to succeed, and is the closest one could come to a true solo, only needing another character for the Rhys/Lyle fight (though it would take significant leveling for Rhys). In addition to her decent attacks, she can heal herself, carry items forward through generations, and cast Fanbi at a higher level than the Royal Bow. Her only real weakness is her low defense. Prediction: Mieu should be able to finish the game solo. I recommend Nial's route, so Mieu doesn't have to face high-defense cyborgs or Sari. Result: Mr2 performed a solo mieu while I was working on my initial solo hero runs, and after I finished Wren I took a run at her. Mieu is not as easy as I expected, but perfectly doable - I'd rate her slightly below Wren (which surprised me, as I thought she'd be much easier). While she is better for Dark Force and can actually stand up to Khalidas, Wren was better for most of the game and was much better for fighting Sari, Siren, and Rulakir. For full details, see my "Solo-Cyborg FAQ". Wren: This is a tough evaluation. Obviously Wren's high defense and HP are a huge strength, as is his ability to target any enemy and equip the Ceramic Shot to take out rows and the Pulse Vulcan to take out entire screens. Access to Zan and Ner is also a bonus. But is it enough to make up for fixed damage and no healing? Prediction: Wren is basically a slower Crys - but with Zan. Therefore, I suspect he can finish! He may need to level more, but should make it. Like with Mieu, I recommend taking Nial's route rather than Ayn's. Result: Prior to Lashute, a solo Wren was actually easier than a solo hero! I was also surprised to find that Ayn's route is easier than Nial's - the low HP and high defense of cyborgs make them easier for Wren to kill, Sari can be killed in only two attacks, and Siren was pathetic because his cronies do almost no damage to Wren. On Nial's route, Lune was actually a bit of a challenge, due to the potency of his helpers. Lashute, on the other hand...220 damage is just not enough to effectively deal with the enemies there. Going through is possible, but much harder than with a hero. Rulakir is easier (thanks to Zan), but the dungeon is again hell. Dark Force is a trial of patience, as you rely on 50 HP Force Shield healing when receiving an average of 47 damage per round. I managed to blow Dark Force away, but it took 395 rounds (no, that is not a typo). In short, Wren is fun up to Lashute, and rather difficult after. I had to gain 10 levels (to a Crys-like XP total) and it takes forever to finish battles. So only try to finish this if you're a real masochist! For full details, see my "Solo-Cyborg FAQ". Lyle: Lyle is probably as good as Rhys - he has lower defense, but can use Zan to make up for lack of needlers and would probably do better than Rhys against Cille. Prediction: Perfectly doable. Lena: Don't make me laugh. Simply keeping her alive at first would be virtually impossible, and her level-ups and equipment selection suck. Prediction: If you manage to keep her alive, Lena may have a chance with obscene leveling and the purchase of a Force Emel for healing. (If I remember correctly, she cannot equip Royal Needlers, so they can't help). But that's a big IF and MAY! Result: No, I haven't tried it yet. But I have given it some more thought. You get Lena in Shushoran, and with raiding the now monster-free castle basement for trimates and other goods to sell she can buy a Hunting Needler in Agoe. This should be enough to start her leveling on Tsveidons. It will still take forever, and she'll need to be at a higher level than Rhys, but this may be doable after all. Thea: You'd never get her out of her dungeon alive. If you did, or cheated to get her out, she would have a hell of a time beating Sari. Prediction: Impossible. Sari: How could she not? When you get her you're only a few minutes away from getting a Force Shield, compensating for her only weakness (lack of healing). Prediction: Easier than Ayn! Result: Well, not a true result, but Mr2 hacked Sari into Crys' place in third generation, and managed to complete the solo, though it was difficult - he hacked on an extra ten million XP for the Dark Force fight. Her stats far exceed even Crys', but without a sword (in fact, her best weapons are only Laconia Knives, as Royal Knives are not accessible in the game) her defense was too low to make use of Force Shield healing on Dark Force. Ryan: He'd be no different compared to Nial than Lyle is to Rhys, plus he has the bonus of getting the Force Helm and Force Shield. Prediction: Lack of needlers hurts, but with those shades, how can he lose? Laya (Nial Route): Tough call. Her healing is awesome and her ability to target back row enemies helps, but she's just too weak, and only a maxed-out Fanbi can make up for that. I'm not sure it's enough. Prediction: Laya could probably make it past Lune, but only with obscene amounts of leveling. Laya (Sean/Crys/Aron Route): As weak as she is for Nial's route, she's even more overmatched here. Prediction: Able to reach Lashute, but unable to even reach - let alone defeat - Rulakir. That's assuming you have the patience to level her up on first generation enemies long enough to survive in Aridia! Kara (Sean/Crys Route): Slicers just aren't enough to compensate for no defense, low HP, and no healing. Leveling takes forever, too. Prediction: No farther than Laya, possibly less! Gwyn: Due to what appears to be a glitch, Gwyn's techniques do not grow. Thus she is as physically weak as her mother, but without the powerful techniques to compensate for that weakness. Prediction: Could not reach Lashute, probably gets stuck at Skyhaven. Kara (Adan/Aron Route): Tough call. Kara's healing is almost on par with Gwyn's or Laya's, and has a more useful attack but poorer defense. Prediction: Offense is better than defense in this game, so I suspect this version of Kara could surpass Laya and Gwyn. I think Kara could reach Dark Force but would be unable to get past the left hand. And like Laya, leveling her on first generation enemies will be a patience testing trial! Result: Mr2 managed this one. He actually hacked her into Mieu's spot so he could play with her from the start, and he managed to make it all the way through the Rhys/Ayn/Sean route. According to him, she's even easier than Mieu! As well, Mr2 decided to test all of the third generation characters at maximum level, hacked in to right before Dark Force. Following are his unedited notes: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- it turns out i was right; Mieu is better for the the solo quest; two claws and tech's are better than the extra defense and HP. as for the Dark Force battles (keep in mind this was not legit, maxed out character 27M XP); Wren; he beat dark force, but even at level 85 he had a lot of trouble (as in nearly impossible). the base 220 attack is great for the left hand, and even the right, but the 8000hp body takes forever to kill. i used 1 more trimate that i shouldv'e been able to hold (i didn't simulate having the aeroparts/laya pendant). 321hp and 413 defense are not enough (i used the royal bow 8 times). having to hit the body about 30 times is not fun. I'd say he's slightly harder than Crys (who i haven't tried). - 9/10 difficulty (only because someone like Lena would get a 10/10) Aron; he beat dark force, but even with 17 uses of the royal bow he hit the left hand for 240 damage. Res makes this fight much easier than Wren's, but it's a long one. still 1200-1500 hits the the body is much better than 300. - 7/10 Laya; she beat Dark Force. Yup, she beat him. not only that but it was easier than with Aron. Having the strongest Tech helps (41 when maxed out) and more importantly; res AND Fanbi. Casting fanbi 12 times got here to hit the left hand for 300+ damage, and 1300-1900 to the body. HP is around 220 and defense 330 so you can't attack 2 times in a row many times. - 5/10 Kara; she also beat Dark Force. here tech is at 40 maxed out and she has more HP than Laya or Meiu, but the royal robe means here defense is way under 300. Fanbi 9 times was over kill; left hand damage was 450, body 2500-2800. - 3/10 Meiu; i didn't have much trouble at level 66, so at level 85 DF was even easier. Tech is 36 maxed out, which is lower than the other girls and Aron. 4x Fanbi is enough to take out the left hand in 1 turn, and hits the body for 1600-1900 (going with 8x fanbi and it can reach 3000) - 1/10 (i don't think even sari would be easier). I went in thinking HP and Defense were the most important, but it's really Attack and techs (Res & Fanbi). Wren would need to be at level 80 and it would be a big gamble. even maxed out at level 85 i had to abuse the save state/load state feature. from the stats Aron/Adon seem to be slightly better than Sean. I'd imagine Crys is the pits, mad props to you for beating the game with him. Meiu's two claws make the trek to DF much easier and faster than the Heroes', and Fanbi will make quick work of dark force (i'd guess the Royal Bow cast level 10 Fanbi, versus level 29 Fanbi for Meiu at level 66 [plus it only costs 1 TP]. my guess for the other characters versus DF (i'm fuzzy on who has fanbi); Kara 10/10 (no healing, weak stats at high XP, and i don't think she has Fanbi) Crys 9/10 Sean 7/10 Gwyn 5/10 (same as her mother) Thea 6/10 if she has Fanbi, 10/10 if not Ryan/Lyle 10/10 impossible Lena 11/10 unpossible Sari 206hp to start, knives instead of a fixed attack Shot, she's better than Wren, but how much? this is one i want to hack to find out. No techs automatically make it a 9/10, but uber stats have to knock it down to 7/10 (she can gain like 4-5/hp per level if i remember corectly) once again, this is just for the DF fight, i don't know if someone like Laya can make it up to him without being atleast at level 80. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My only comments to add are that both versions of Kara get Fanbi, the "same as her mother" comment about Gwyn was made before we learned that her techniques do not grow, and that Mr2's rankings for first and second generation characters are based on fighting Dark Force in a hacked game, while mine are based on completing their normal generation by defeating the end boss of that generation. Disagree with our assessments or proved me right/wrong? Let me know! skiefyre@rocketmail.com ******************************************************************************* 10. CREDITS - Sega for publishing this game and creating the Phantasy Star franchise. - GameFAQs for hosting this. - Mr2 (real name unknown) for extensive notes. In addition to the solo Mieu and character testing he performed, Mr2 also corrected a few things (Blotter, not Splatter, in Cille; Pulse Vulcan hits everything, not just rows; Mieu cannot do a 100% solo since Rhys has to defeat Lyle; and - most importantly - that some healing equipment can be used outside of battle). Mr2 also did follow-up testing on the Pron Glitch and found the legendary weapon stats fuse side effect. - Eric Starbird's enemy list (found at http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/file/phantasy_star_iii_b.txt for boss HP (except Dark Force's Right Hand, which he erroneously lists as 800). - Defaultuser's (real name unknown) strategy guide for information regarding Fanbi being stackable. - Saincai, ArmorVil001, Duke Darkwood, and Mr2 for following my progress log on the GameFAQs Phantasy Star III message board, offering advice and encouragement.