Completed Town Ship
Getting to (and into) High Fort
High Fort
Tunlan
Mt. Maori
Fatty Hunting
Gandaroof's Mind
Memory Tower
Sky Tower
Fog Valley
Farm Town
Namanda
Preparation for the Test
Windia
The Test
Armory
Fishing
If you haven't done so already, talk to the Carpenter in Town Ship; he'll offer to expand the size of Town Ship for 1000 coins. Now that you've done this, keep exiting and entering Town Ship until it changes in appearance. It'll now have six houses. If you got the Cook carpenter, you should now go looking for two particular tenants. Daiye, who will open a fish store, is in the Windia Inn. Hanz, who opens an Item shop that sells Condition Up, Medicate, and several Etc. items, is located in the house next to yours in Home Town. Keep checking it periodically if he isn't there. No matter who you want, leave House #4 open. Note: You may need need to fill the 1st 3 houses before the next 3 can be built. I always have the 1st 3 filled by this point.
If you've been to Tunlan, you met a man who told you that you need the famous flute of High Fort. If you haven't talked to him, you won't be able to get in. As for getting there: 1st, be sure to bring Sten (Fire shaman him; he better be level 20 or higher), and/or someone who can cast Warp. Spar's normal form would work fine for the trek. Your party should include a healer, of course. Now, head south of Town Ship until you see a beach with a house nearby. The house doesn't have anything useful in it. Make landfall and go east. You'll soon be in the desert, and soon you'll see a plateau. High Fort as at the top of it. South of the lake you'll see is the Thieve's Tomb and a Maniro site (you might to actually go here before going to High Fort; you can buy Brass Staffs, a Lop Off Whip, and some other good stuff here). Make your way to the top of the plateau when you're ready to enter High Fort. Be sure to actually enter it, so that if you now need to Warp back to Town Ship to get Sten (or Shamanize Spar, if you're going to use it), you can still Warp. If you're at High Fort, have talked to the guy in Tunlan, and have Sten and whoever else you want in your party, then go in and have Sten reach across the gap.
Monsters: Basilisk, Dark Bringer, a critter that resembles a Deathpede, and Pharoah. Pharaohs can cast Freeze, so they're easily the most dangerous creature around here. If Sten gets hit with a Freeze spell, he'll probably lose his shamanization.
Once you're in High Fort proper, watch the cinema scene. Sten will leave your party. Now, just have your party keep going north and you'll reach the throne room, which is occupied by General Shupkay. She'll pull a lever that dumps your party down a hole.
You'll now return to Sten, who'll wondering what happened to his friends. You'll now control him. Go down the steps, and get what's in the chests. Equip the Quick Cloak. Go back up once you have anything; hopefully you won't be attacked by a Pharoah. Now, go up to the entrance chamber, and save your game with the Idol (you can't change party members at this Idol). Continue along the path to Shupkay, and you'll meet Trubo, an old comrade of Sten's who's totally PO'd at him. I hope your vigor is at or over 85; the Quick Cloak will guarantee that if your at level 20 and have it equipped. If you aren't faster than Trubo, you're probably toast.
Trubo's special ability is that he can Egg beater. This is a 2-part fight. For part one, Trubo will end the fight instead of attacking once he's taken enough damage. I can't remember the exact figure, but it'll be after two or three attacks. After Trubo attacks you twice, use a Help Ball to heal up. For part two, Trubo will say the special command that'll blow up the bridge. You now have three rounds to vanquish him. Cast Bomb three times in a row or just attack; whichever does more damage. You'll drop into the moat and Sten will pull Trubo to safety.
After the cinema scene, drink from the Fountain in the building and save your game. Go west, and make your way along the path until you enter the building. I don't remember any monsters on the first floor. Collect all the treasure, and head up. Since I can't remember the exact route, I recommend that you thoroughly explore each floor in order to get all the treasure. Only Pharoah is a real threat to you. You're nearing the end when you see where your friends are confined. Once you've gone up far enough, you'll find Shupkay and the Princess of High Fort. Shupkay will dump Sten down a hole, which will reunite him with the rest of the party.
Use Sten to cross the gap, and continue you on to the maze section of High Fort. Your destination is the stairs up in all of these (except the last one), but go along the northern perimeter to find exits that lead to treasure. When you find an exit that leads to both treasure and a Dragon Fountain, you're nearing the end. When you reach the room with three teleporters, take the center one (I originally said left one; correction owed to jcarson). You'll soon find Trubo, who's trying to defeat a force-field type affair. Sten will knock him out of the way and you'll fight it.
This creature is healed by attack magic. Put your weakest attacker on healing duty, and just have everyone else attack (it isn't worth a Dragon Attack). It can cast Typhoon, but this is rare. Just keep whacking away, and you'll triumph. Now continue forward, and you'll once again find Shupkay and the Princess.
Shupkay will turn into a demon, and attack. When you win, watch the cinema scene. Most of High Fort will be demolished and you'll get the Famous Flute. Go to the entrance and talk to Sten. You'll leave, and you'll never be able to enter High Fort again. Sten will refuse to do so if you try to reach over the gap to enter.
Go into the castle, and talk with everyone. The old woman in the queen's bedroom will tell you what's wrong with the queen, and tell you where to go. Mt. Maori is on an island north-east of Tunlan. Just look for two mountains side by side. If you go north from Home Town, you'll see it almost immediately. Bring Katt or Nina with you. At Mt. Maori, enter the cave you'll immediately see. There's a Dragon Fountain in it, and the next chamber contains the man you must see. Put Katt or Nina in the lead, and talk to him. Now return to the queen's bedroom. Talk to the old woman, watch the cinema scene, and return to Mt. Maori. You must bring Sten!
Meedid can use Sweet Breath, while the Gangas (interior only) can cast 8.0. Casting Drain on a Ganga can prevent it from casting 8.0. Banbhand can Zombify characters. Venus Fly-traps can build up strength to power attack. C. Sludge will often run away, and is very fast. Atlas will make a critical hit as their normal attack.
1st, go to where the old man was and talk to his assistant. Remember the mushroom he shows you. Now, leave the cave and go west along the mountain path. When you reach the bend and go up, ignore the cave and start going east. You'll eventually find a cave. Enter and claim the treasure. Now, return to the cave that you bypassed. Enter it.
Head up along the path until you reach a fork; going south will bring you to a treasure, while going east takes you to the next fork. West to treasure, east to exit.
Now, just go along the path (there's a gap to cross), and enter the cave. The exit that you'll see right off leads to treasure. Continuing along the path leads to a fork; west takes to an exit that goes onto a ledge. Go the left side and press down to jump off down to a chest (Hush Ring, if I remember right); repeat to get back to the cave entrance. Going east at that fork leads to another fork; go south around the bend for a chest, and go west to reach an exit. Going west from there leads an exit that takes you to the top of the mountain.
Continuing from that first exit: moving along beings you to a 3-way fork -- north (dead-end), east (treasure), or up and east. Going up and east leads to an exit which will take you to the top of the mountain.
At the top: Make your way along to the left side and cross the gap. The mushroom you want is the right-most one on this little island. Pick it, and you'll warp back to the assistant, who will look at your shroom. If it's the right one, he'll give you the Mirror. Once you're done here, you'll never actually need Sten again -- though his Efreeti form essentially breathes new life into him..
Make a party with your favorite healer, warrior, and sorceress, and return to Tunlan. Go up to the queen's room, and talk to the old man. You'll shrunk and placed inside the queen's body to hunt down demonic fats and proteins.
Ryuusight and Hemoglobin are very easy to kill; they only have 30-40 HP or so. Pepshun is a good deal more dangerous; it has around 200 HP and can use Fire Breath. Fatty is found only in the left part of the body. A Fatty has around 500 HP, is quite likely to run away, and is worth a lot of experience. Death the suckers if you can.
How this works is pretty simple: when you enter each chamber, remain in it until your monster meter (that bobbing goblin on the menu screen) is sleeping, which will mean that there are no more monsters in that chamber. You'll know you've entered the left part of the body when everything shifts from red to blue (oxygenated blood to de-oxygenated blood). You can use the Mirror to leave, though you'll have to start all over if you do so.
When you've cleared out everything, you'll automatically leave the queen's body (I think you have to return to some chambers that you cleared and re-clear them to finish the process; I'm not sure, though). Watch the cinema scene, and go down to the treasury. Talk to the guard to get the Therapy Pillow (she took it out of the chest, for some strange reason).
You MUST bring Spar (water-shamanize it). You should also bring a healer and your favorite sorceress; Bleu will be of more use than Nina will be against the boss of this area. You can change characters once you're in the Mind, but you'll still be stuck with Spar. If you have Hanz in Town Ship, go ahead and buy some Medicate.
Just having Spar talk with Gandaroof will bring you in. Enter the 1st town that you see and talk to everyone. Now go east, enter the town there, and talk to everyone. Now, head north and talk to everyone. You'll find Barbose at the Inn (if you haven't already filled House 4). Accept him to Town Ship. One of the kids in the shop will offer you the chance to leave the Mind when you talk to him. You might wish to leave the Mind so that you can get the Missile spells that Barbose can teach.
There's a variety of monsters in the outdoors area of the Mind, though few of them are of any real threat. Keep an eye out for the monsters that look like D. Flies (Snapper Wing?), since they can drop the Slicer Dagger -- Sten's 3rd best weapon.
Once you've been in the third town, entered the first town will bring you into Memory Tower.
This place is a pain. You can't see anything that's right next to you, with the exception of chests and people. This place is home of the infamous Road Slug, which you have probably heard of. Road Slugs usually cast Thunder or S. Boom. Consider killing them to be top priority. The Seenate type critters should be killed by use of an item; there's no other way to kill them rapidly (you'll just have to keep whacking away at them, otherwise). P. Eater is probably the least dangerous thing in here. Use both Spar's magic and your healer's magic to perform healing, when necessary.
1st floor: The old man closer to you will tell you what's up with the vision; the old man farther away from will take you to the steps leading up for a fee. Accept his offer, and then talk to him again. For a fee he'll take you out. Accept, and he'll mess up and take you to those chests. Collect the treasure. Keep talking to the old man until you're back at the steps up.
At the second floor, just go right and up to go up to the steps to the 3d floor. The 3rd floor is a maze. You'll need to look ahead and plan your way through it. Get the treasure if you wish. The 4th floor is the same as the 2nd floor, if I remember right. 5th floor is another maze.
6th floor: just make your way to the exit at the north side. You can talk to the old men, but there really isn't any point. Go through the exit. In this new room, heal the party, max-out Ryu's AP, and then talk to the old man.
The Memory Eater will reveal itself, and attack.
When you win, cast Exit, unless you wish to remain in Memory Tower for some reason. Go to the child town and talk to the appropriate person to leave the Mind.
Go ahead and ask Gandaroof about everything you can. You're next destination is Sky Tower, if you haven't gone there already.
First off, you need to go to the fog-shrouded valley south of the Sea of Trees and talk to the guy there if you haven't already. You can enter Sky Tower at any time after you've done so. As always, bring a healer and your favorite sorceress.
Sky Tower is in the ocean west and north of Gate. Just steer the whale into it to enter. Go down the steps in the center and talk to the Priman. If you think your're ready to enter, say yes.
You'll be underwater a lot in here. You can remain underwater for 3 minutes (there'll be timer; this timer won't count down while you're in the menu screens) without drowning. Entering a room full of air resets the timer. This timer will count down during battles. I recommend using a Smoke item and going ballistic with lightning magic whenever you're in a fight. Amonica is immune to magic, while Needles are weak against fire.
Getting the wind shaman: From the entrance, head west, and take the north exit. Go up the steps, and then take the south exit. Go along the passage, go through the exit at the end, and take the stairs. Go through the exit, go through the passage and take the exit. You should now be in a room with four strong currents surrounding some stairs. Make your way to the steps and go up. Keep going up until you reach her.
Getting some equipment: Go east from the entrance, and you immediately run into a current. Go through the exit you see to reach air and to buy some equipment. Leave this room, make sure you're against the wall opposite this exit, and continue against the current until you reach the south exit. Now, go through the west exit, continue through, and talk to the Priman. Heed his warning. If you wish to continue, go down the steps. Go through the east exit, and fight the current until you go through the exit. Now, head head up to the current, and go west to reach the chest(if you're in the current itself, go north when you reach the chest to avoid being swept back down the hall). The exit in this hallway leads to a chest containing the Goblin Sword. The Goblin Sword is better than a Brass Sword, if I remember right. Now make your way back -- hopefully you won't drown.
The Wind Shaman will grant you access to Sten's Efreeti form, and is also one of the best shamans to use with Nina. Always use it on her when she's in your party unless you want the Efreeti.
When you're done here, you can now enter that valley. Once you've cleaned up Gandaroof's mind and finished here, head through the Valley.
You'll need Spar to navigate the Sea of Trees, just so that you can get here. Take a healer and a sorceress. I can remember two monsters here: B. Ogres (pull no punches; these suckers are tough) and Cyclops (950 HP; Death always works on them). If you've been suing Nina, she should have Death by now. There's no treasure here, so just keep going south until you're through here.
Now go south from the valley, and enter the first town you see. This is Farm Town.
Rand's home town. Be sure to talk to the Dragon Idol and put him in your party. Go in every house and talk to everyone. When you enter the house of Rand's mom (Daisy) you'll see here her chase out a messenger of the Church of St. Evans. Talk to her with Rand in your party. You'll get a rest and you'll now have to plow her field. To deal with the Bushes, Trunks, and the Rock, just Auto-battle.
The Stone Idol is another matter. It can use Fire Breath. I've heard that using attack magic in the field will keep you from getting the Earth Shaman, and I've also heard that's BS. If you're going to use attack magic, Dragon Attack and use cold magic. If you're not going to attack magic, then just keep attacking normally until it dies; use Medicate, Octopus, or Attack-Up if you can. Heal (with magic or with items) when necessary.
Once you've cleared the fields, Daisy will ask you to go to Namanda. Namanda is the weird thing on that ledge northwest of Farm Town. Jean could hop right up there; Rand can make his way around there in a hurry by rolling. Or you can just walk around to there. The path to get up onto that ledge is northwest of Namanda.
At the entrance, just talk to the people. Just go along the path until you reach a monk blocking an exit; he'll move aside if you talk to him. The hallway beyond him does have monsters in it, though nothing that you can't handle with impunity. The first exit you see brings you to some monks that are training; keep going to reach the exit that leads to the alter.
At the alter, donate at least 20 times (2000 coins). This is necessary to get the Earth Shaman.
Return to Farm Town, and you'll find the messenger that Daisy chased off in her field. Talk to him with Rand in your party. Rand will attack him.
Rand is slower than the messenger, so remember that when timing your healing. Attack or cast Missile (if Rand's got it, and you wish to use attack magic). When the messenger goes down, you'll have a cinema scene.
Return to Town Ship and talk to Nina in her room. Put her in your party now. If you haven't been using her before, you'll now need to build up her level, and you may wish to build it up even if you have been using her.
The best spot for this is Monster Island. Have Sten in your party in his Efreeti form, if you wish to have a means to escape K. Sludges. Nina should have around 150 HP when your level is high enough; if you have the time and patience, go ahead and build her up until she can cast Bolt X >:). Wouldn't hurt to cook up a Dinker batch for her, as well. When you have sufficient power, Wind Shamanize her and go to Windia.
Talk to the guard in front of the castle. Watch the cinema scene. Now, find Nina's dad and talk to him. You can now take the Test. Enter the test by going through the east-most door at the entrance area (the one bracketed by torches). Talk to the guard. He'll lower the gate. Go down the steps to enter.
The fish-like things are the least dangerous. Gargoyles have a decent attack and a lot of HP. Barracudas are very fast, can Egg beater, and can be slain with a single Typhoon spell.
From the entrance: If you go north, you can get the Storm Ring. Just keep going along the path until you reach some steps down. Now you're in a little maze. Correct path is 3rd passage going north and 2nd passage going south, if I remember right. Go up the steps, and go up again. Open the chest (you saw it while exploring the castle). You can get it before or after taking the real Test, but don't leave until you get the Storm Ring -- you won't be able to go back for once you complete the Test and leave the dungeon.
To take the Test, go west from the dungeon entrance, and go through the exit. Have Nina talk to the statue to enter the Test. Nina will be going solo. Talk to the statue that you arrive in front of to leave.
Same monsters, though there will only be one monster in any encounter. Nina should be faster than the fish and Gargoyles. Use Death on them. Against a Barracuda, Nina should cast Typhoon or she'll probably be dead in two rounds. If Nina is defeated, she'll reappear at the Statue where the rest of the party is waiting with one HP. Use a Help Ball or Unagi whenever it's needed. You may wish to use a Smoke.
The biggest annoyance here are some rocks that move a step whenever Nina does. They'll force you to go around a lot. Talk to the statues if you like. The chests at the northwest and northeast corner hold a Wind Bracelet and a Wind Robe, though I can't remember which holds which. You don't need.
The big platform that's top center is your destination. Go through the exit, and Nina will face the Guardian, which has around 150 HP. The only attacks I've ever seen it do is a normal attack and casting Agility-Down.
Nina should be faster than it is, if she's Wind Shamanized. If you have Bolt X, then blow it away. If you don't have it, cast Freeze. A critical hit with Freeze or 2 Freezes will defeat it. You now have the the Mark of the Bird. Get out of there.
If you the Mark and the Storm Ring, go talk to Nina's father. Watch the cinema scene. Nina's little sister Mina will become the Great Bird, so that Nina won't have to (Nina tries to prevent this).
You can summon the Great Bird whenever you're traveling the world, if Nina is leading the walking order. You no longer need Spar.You can now go just about everywhere. Here's some things you should check out:
This is on Night Rider Island (do NOT try hunting Night Riders!). There you can buy the Holy Shield, the Sun Mask, and the Mother Robe. This is the best armor you can buy, with the exception of the Holy Shield -- you can buy something even better than that. Everyone but Rand can equip this stuff.
There's a building (an inn) south of Evrai. Enter it, and search the top floor until you find the Charm Rod, which is the best fishing rod. With it, you can now "catch" treasure chests without much trouble.
To get the Empire Sword: go east of Town Ship, and atop at the landing place (you want the part that juts into the ocean a little). Keep fighting until a fishing spot appears. You can get the Empire Sword at this spot. You MUST have the Great Bird to reach it. It's a lightning -based weapon, and can be used to cast S. Boom.
To get the Life Armor: Go to that plain just west of Gate, and keep fighting until a fishing spot occurs. The Life Armor is here. Ryu regains 1 HP with every step when he wears it. Note: you can get here by using Spar to go through the forest south of the Monster Hunters' home, and then going through the cave. If you decide to come here as soon as you get Spar, then I have just one thing to say: the Kimiara (989 HP, very fast, high damage, Fire Breath) is going to have you for lunch. If you have the Great Bird, you should be able to handle these things; they're Deathable.
Ultimate Maniro sites: The one you don't need the Great Bird for is the one between the cat's house and the west side of the Sea of Trees. You can buy Fast Shoes, Holy Scarves, and some other Etc. items here. The one you have to be able to fly to reach is at an island dead southwest of Guntz. Be sure to fight on the right edge of the island. You can buy the Worth Ring here.
The most difficult to get is southwest of Cot Land, which is the town south of Farm Town. It's the right-most island dead southwest of it, but you can't trigger it if you're on the island. You have to be on the main land about southeast of the island. If you can trigger it, use the Great Bird or Jean's Frog Form to get over there pronto. Here, for a kingly sum of 50,000 coins, you can buy the Medusa Shield, the best shield in the game. Rand can equip it, and it can be used to cast Attack-Up.
This ends Part III of my walkthrough.
Next time I play through, I'm going to take care of all those "if I remember right" statements.