SaGa Frontier Meeplelard, version 0.1 7/11/05 Table of Contents: Version History Legal Stuff 1. Overview of the Game 2. Basic Info 3. Characters 4. Tips for raising Characters 5. Walkthrough 6. Equipment 7. Frequently Asked Questions 8. Credits Version 0.1: FAQ is created. I don't think I need to say much more. Version 0.2: Long awaited update, walkthrough section finally started. Legal Stuff: This FAQ is a copyright of Meeple Lard. It can be found on GameFAQs and only GameFAQs. If it's found anywhere else, then note that I did not give permission for them to use it. People who wish to use information from this FAQ for their own must first have my permission, and give credit where Credit is due. If you wish to contact me for such occasions, my E-mail is DbzFFlord@aol.com. My less used one, in case you're curious, is MeepleLard@hotmail.com. If you wish to speak to me directly, my MSN is MeepleLard@Hotmail.com and my AIM is DbzFFLord@aol.com. That's about it for this boring legal stuff. ------------------------------ 1. Overview of the Game ------------------------------ Some of you might be wondering "What is SaGa Frontier?" Well, if you are, that must mean either you've never played the game and are reading this FAQ because you are considering playing it, or you are randomly bored. That, or I'm just making random assumptions, and thus am being a jerk, but who knows? Anyway, SaGa Frontier is a role-playing game for the Playstation made by Squaresoft, the company responsible for famous RPG titles such as the Final Fantasy series. SaGa Frontier is many ways a unique RPG. Like the rest of its series (most of which is unavailable in the US), it takes the standard turn- based system that many RPGs use, as well as other standard features, and then puts a few twists on them, including a unique means of leveling up and gaining skills. The game also has a different kind of plot; instead of giving you one story to play through, with one main character and a bunch of supporting characters, there are a total of 7 characters with unique stories, quests and characters to choose from. Which one you choose to start with doesn't matter, since they are all available from the get-go, and you can replay them as many times as you want. Because of this, SaGa Frontier tends to be a game centered mainly around gameplay, and replayability, instead of plot and character development. Some quests you might like, others you might abhor, and then there are those you might just plain not care about one way or the other. Well, that's about it for the basic overview of the game, if I go further, I'd get into depth, so I probably should just get into the next section. ------------- 2. Basic Info ------------- This section will give you the heads up about basic concepts that you might like to know about playing SaGa Frontier. I mean, if you didn't know how to play the game, then beating the game might be difficult or something. Note that you can see explanations of a lot of this stuff in the game by going to Config -> Menu Explanation. Game Controls: Control Pad: Moves the character, and selects options in menus Circle: Action/Accept X: Dash/Cancel Square: Menu Triangle: Displays character status in battle R1: Brings up the "Defend" Command in battle L1: Accept (in battle only) R2: Shift battle camera to the right L2: Shift battle camera to the left Start: Pauses game, brings up battle speed menu in battle Select: Nothing STATISTICS SaGa Frontier keeps track of 12 statistics for each character. They are: HP = Hit Points LP = Life Points JP = Jutsu Points WP = Waza Points Str = Strength Qui = Quickness Int = Intelligence Wil = Will Psy = Psychic Vit = Vitality Chr = Charm Def = Defense HP AND LP Hit points are the old RPG standby – lose them all and you die. From there, it gets a bit more complicated. Every time a character loses all their HP, they’ll lose one Life Point and be unable to act until they are healed (any healing item/spell will work) or the battle ends. If an enemy attacks a “dead” character (and multi-target spells count here), he/she/it will automatically lose 1 LP. If LP hits 0, the character won't restore after battle, and you will be forced to heal their LP with special items or full-healing locations like an inn. WP, JP AND LP There are two types of attacks in SaGa Frontier: physical techs and magic spells. Physical techs cost WP, while magic uses JP (Jutsu Points). This works exactly like traditional MP, if it was split into two stats. If you don’t have enough JP/WP for a particular move, it will be greyed-out in combat. In battle, move costs are displayed in the upper-right corner of the screen. The first number shown is the cost of the attack, and the second is how many points you have left. A sword icon in that box means the technique costs WP, and a staff icon means JP. MENUS (AND STUFF) When you open the menu, you'll see all characters you have in every team; each column represents one team. You'll notice 4 numbers next to the characters, which can be changed with the control pad, to cycle through 3 sets of numbers. These are your characters stats, which I'll get to later. The 3 sets are: HP/LP/WP/LP Str/Qui/Int/Wil Psy/Vit/Chr/Def For the first menu, after HP, it'll list 2 numbers. The first is your current amount, the 2nd is the maximum for that character. If the character currently has less than the maximum, the stat will be displayed in yellow. The Abbreviations for the last 8 stats are: Str = Strength Qui = Quickness Int = Intelligence Wil = Will Psy = Psychic Vit = Vitality Chr = Charm Def = Defense What these mean, I'll brush up on later. To the right hand side, you'll notice the menu itself. You can have this disappear to see characters being covered by it by pressing the Triangle Button. Going in order, each option on the menu goes as such: Status: Shows the characters status you choose. The status menu will look like this: Name Magic/Physical dependency (Humans only) Race: Human, Mec, Mystic, or Monster Sex: HP: The character’s Max HP LP: Current LP/Max LP WP: Current WP/Max WP JP: Current JP/Max JP Strength: Base Strength + equip bonuses Quickness: Base Quickness + equip Bonuses Intelligence: Base Intelligence + equip bonuses Will: Base Will + equip bonuses Psychic: Base Psychic + equip bonuses Vitality: Base Vitality + equip bonuses Charm: Base Charm + Equip Bonuses Defense: Defense Race determines a great many things about the character, from what skills they can learn to how many equipment slots they have and how it affects them. Equipment bonuses, if it’s not obvious, are the yellow number listed next to the base stat To the right of your stats, you can see your equipment. If you press Up or Down, you can see what skills that character has equipped. Item: Opens up a menu of all the items you have in your inventory, and tells you what each do. Position: Allows you to alter your team's setup. You have three battle teams of up to five characters each, divided by columns in the position screen. The first column is Team A, the second is Team B, and the third is Team C. Before battle begins, you can choose which of the three teams to send in. Your main character is fixed in Team A. Equip Weapon: Opens up a list of items you can equip. For Humans and Mystics, the first four slots are for weapons (Swords and Guns), Shields, and Items, and the last four are for all defensive equips. You can use any combination of weapons/items in the first four slots – if you equip three swords, for instance, you’ll be able to use them all in combat. However, you can only equip one of each type of armor – Body Armor, Boots, Helmets, Shirts, and Gloves. If you equip a Suit, it counts as Body Armor, Boots, Helmet, Shirt AND Gloves, so you'll only be able to use that and any accessories you want to. Which symbol represents which kind of equipment should be obvious. Mecs can equip any item, weapon, accessory or armor they want to anywhere with no restrictions. They can equip multiple armors of the same type, including multiple suits. Monsters have only 4 equipment slots, and they can only equip accessories. If a character’s equipment is displayed in red, it means that their equipment is locked, and can't be removed or changed at all. Equip Ability: Allows you to set up your character’s skillsets for battle. No matter how many abilities a character knows, he or she can only use the ones equipped. To equip a physical ability, just choose the type of skill and then the skill you want. To equip a magic spell, you must first choose a “school” - Light, Shadow, Realm, etc. If you have the Gift for a type of magic, it will be marked with a star. Only characters with Gifts can learn magic naturally – otherwise, you have to buy new spells. Gifts can be learned by completing side quests. Humans, who have the most skills to worry about, have 8 ability slots. To the right of the screen, you'll see your skills split into Swords, Guns, Fighting, Magic, Special and Dodge. Swords, Guns and Fighting all count as Physical abilities, and Magic counts as magic (Duh?) Dodge and Special are totally neutral. There is a small bar at the top right corner of this screen. As a character equips physical skills, it fills with blue, and magic skills fill it with red. If a character equips six skills of one type (physical or magical) and NONE of the other type, the bar will have a crown in the center, and all skills of that type will cost 1 less WP or JP. This ONLY applies to humans. Config: Brings up another submenu which has the following: Menu Explanation: Sort of a tutorial to the game; explains how you use menus and such. Menu Items: Lets you switch the order things are displayed in at the main menu screen Display Color: Lets you alter the background colors for different parts of the game Other: Lets you change sound, game speed, and window positioning For Mystics, the first four slots are can be filled with whatever you want, the same as Humans (typically, Mystics will use Magic). The 3 bottom slots are reserved for the Mystic Weapons (Mystic Sword, Mystic Glove, and Mystic Boot) that all Mystics use automatically, and all you can do is check what monster is absorbed into them. For both Humans and Mystics, if you wish to clear room for more skills, use the "Seal" command, and it'll de-equip the selected skill. Mecs have a varying number of skills to work with based on their equipment. To use them, just select the skill you want and equip it in a free space. If you kill a Mec in combat, any Mecs in your party can “download” it after the battle, with a chance to learn a new skill. Monsters are more complicated. They don’t learn, abilities naturally, by any method – instead, after you kill a monster in combat, monsters in your party will be able to “absorb” it and learn a new skill (which skill you learn. That skill will be placed in the eighth spot on the monster’s skill list, regardless of what was there already. If it was an empty slot, you got a free skill. If there was a skill there already, you’ll lose it. Make sure to move any skills you want to keep out of the eighth slot! That skill slot will be in red, for extra emphasis. As a fun fact, a way to remind yourself of what race each character is that all Races will have a different colored backgrounds for their Equip Ability screen. Humans are black, Mystics are red, Mecs are blue, and Monsters are green. Save: Lets you save the game. You can save on either of your memory cards, or do a quick save. A quick save is a temporary save file stored in the Playstation’s memory. You don’t need space on a memory card to save one, and it can be loaded instantly, but turning off the system will erase any quick save you’ve made. At this point, you're probably wondering what I'm talking about with all these "Humans" and "Mystics" and such, so…I’d best get into that now. SaGa splits its characters into four different races: Humans, Mystics, Mecs, and Monsters. Each race is different. Humans: Humans are the most common race in SaGa. They gain stats naturally at the end of fights based on the actions they did in battle. For example, using guns will increase quickness frequently, but loweres strength growth. They also learn techs through their actions in battle. They can learn any tech involving swords, guns, fists, magic, or dodging. NWhen a character uses a gun skill or magic spell in combat, there’s a chance he or she will learn a new skill when the battle ends (only if they have the appropriate magic gift, of course). Sword and fist techniques are learned randomly in battle based on what attacks the character uses. When a human learns a new technique, a light bulb appearing over the character's head, and he or she will immediately use the new attack instead of the one you told him/her to perform. Dodge techs are randomly learned when the character is hit with a specific attack; for example, every time a human carrying a sword is hit with an attack, there’s a chance he/she will learn Deflect. Every human has different tech learning rates, so some will learn magic faster than others, while others characters will be better with swords, etc. These values are hidden. Mystics: Mystics are the only class besides humans who can use magic, and they learn it the same way as humans. However, they can't learn any of the weapon skills, and none of their stats besides HP, WP, JP, and Charm increase naturally. Instead, they have to absorb monsters to increase their stats and learn new skills. Each Mystic gets three Mystic weapons – Mystic Sword, Mystic Glove and Mystic Boots. When the Mystic kills a monster with one of those weapons, the monster will be absorbed into it, giving the Mystic a set of stat boosts and teaching them a new skill. Note that on the status menu, the game treats absorbed stats as equips, so they'll be listed in yellow numbers next to addition to the base stats. A Mystic can have three monsters absorbed at once – one in the sword, one in the glove, and one in the boots. Absorbing a new monster into a weapon that already has one will “overwrite” the old one, replacing both the stat boosts and the skill from the old monster. While Mystics can't learn techs from weapons, they can still use them like humans normal humans. They can also use any skills innately attached to those weapons. Mecs: Mecs have no natural stat growth whatsoever. Instead, their stats are totally reliant on what equips they currently have on. Due to this, Mecs have far more flexibility than any other race – they have no restrictions on the equipment they can use, and each one can have wildly different effects. Equipping an item on a Mec will have an effect completely different than it would have on any other race. For example, a certain item might give +10 to strength for a Human/Mystic/Monster, but on a Mec it might have no effect at all on strength and raise quickness by 5. For skills, Mecs often come with a few innately learned moves, and then learn the rest by defeating other Mecs, and absorbing them after battle. Each time they absorb another Mec, they have a chance to learn a new move. Note that unlike the other Races, each Mec is has a completely unique list of skills that it can learn. Absorbing a Mec might teach your Mec a new skill, but that skill will come from its own list, so two Mecs will often gain two completely different skills from the same type of opponent. Monsters: Monsters are a tricky race in general. They have very restricted equipment, and absolutely no natural stat progression. Monster's stats are based on what form they are currently in, which is determined by the combination skills they have at the moment. Monsters learn skills by killing other monsters, and then absorbing them, which allows them to learn a new skill, depending on what monster was absorbed. Because of how they learn their skills, and since their basic stats are determined by their form and not anything unique to them, all monsters are essentially the same except for their starting skills. LEARNING MAGIC As a final thing, allow me to explain just how magic works for Humans and Mystics. First and foremost, a character will not learn any magic unless you teach it to them, and they won't learn it naturally (that is, at the end of battle) unless they cast a spell of that school during the fight, AND have the Gift for that kind of magic. Every school of magic has about 3 or 4 spells that can be bought, and the others can only be learned through Gifts, so if you want a character to learn every spell in a school, they must have the Gift. Also, it is imperative that you know that every type magic has an opposite, and a character can’t know two spells of opposite schools at once. If the character has the Gift of one school, they can never learn any magic of its opposite, let alone obtain the opposite Gift, even if they don’t know any spells of that type. The chart of opposing magic goes as such: Shadow <-> Light Arcane <-> Rune Mystic <-> Realm Evil <-> Mind Space <-> Time Life and Mirage have no opposing schools of magic. Well, so much for all the boring stuff about basic gameplay info and such, but anyways, onto something FAR more interesting! COMBAT If you hit an enemy in a dungeon, you engage a Battle. The first option that pops up in battle is "Select Team." A team consists of 5 characters, and you have 3 teams total. Once you select a team, you'll use it to fight the entire fight, and if that team, no matter who is in it, dies, it’s game over. The main character of the story you choose does not have to participate in battle. However, he/she/it will ALWAYS be in the first party, and cannot be moved - so if you plan on using your main character in combat, you must use Party 1. Also, all boss fights force you to use Party 1, no matter what you want, so it'd be a good idea to put your strongest characters in Party 1. You can change who’s in which party at will (besides the main) in the menu by using the "Position" command. After you select your party, you'll be prompted to enter commands. You won’t be picking from just one list, though – the available commands are divided into multiple lists, and you switch between them with the left and right buttons. There’s one list for items, one for magic, one for bare-handed attacks, and one for each weapon you have equipped, so you can choose which one you use for your attacks. Here’s an example: Let’s say you’ve got Gen, a human character, equipped with a SamuraiSword, a LaserKnife, and some healing items. And, in addition, he also knows a few magic spells. He’d have five lists, and they’d look something like this: LaserKnife DoubleSlash GaleSlash SwallowSlash This is Gen’s list of sword techniques he can use with the LaserKnife. Picking a command from this menu makes Gen attack with the LaserKnife instead of the SamuraiSword. Selecting the “LaserKnife” option would perform a basic slash. SamuraiSword DoubleSlash GaleSlash SwallowSlash ShadowCounter This is the list of sword techniques Gen can use with the SamuraiSword. Note that it’s got everything the LaserKnife menu has, plus the “ShadowCounter” skill. ShadowCounter can only be used with katana-type swords, so it won’t even show up on the LaserKnife’s menu. Fist This is the option to attack with a bare-handed punch. Any martial-arts attacks Gen knows would also show up in this list. StarlightHeal SunRay WindBlast This is Gen’s list of magic. It’s pretty simple – pick one, target it, and it gets cast. SnakeOil MagicStone These are the usable items Gen has equipped. Again, pick one and target it to use it. After you choose an action, you'll be forced to choose a target. Every attack has its own means of targeting, including single-target, multi- target, hitting only a certain area, and hitting in a line. Each move will hit either your characters or your opposition, but (generally) not both. The X button is the cancel command; it undoes the action of the last character you gave input to, After entering the last character's action (typically, that'll be the fifth) the turn will play out. Once all actions are finished, another turn will happen, assuming there are monsters (and PCs) still alive. The display uses standard RPG conventions - white numbers in battle are damage done, while green numbers show healing. If a red number shows up on a character, then they’ve lost LP, or life points. Usually you won’t see red numbers higher than 1, but there are exceptions. The object of battle is simple – kill the enemies. Well, except in specific fights which require you to do special tasks, but those will be covered later. Losing a fight can happen in a few ways. First is if all characters are permanently incapacitated. This means if everybody is dead (0 HP) or hit with the Stone status. You also lose if your main character, whoever that may be, loses all of his/her/its LP. How this can happen will be explained later. SKILL LEARNING When a human uses a fist or sword attack, occasionally you’ll see a light bulb appear over his or her head, and the character will use a new technique instead of what you told him/her to. To put it simply, this is how humans learn new fist and sword skills – every time they use an one, they’ll have a small chance to learn a new one (what skills they can learn depends on the skill you tell them to use). Once a character learns a new skill, they can use it at will (as long as you keep it equipped). Learning new skills is an extremely important part of building a human character, and each character will learn different skills at different rates. ------------- 3. Characters ------------- SaGa Frontier has a TON of characters to recruit, many of them hidden away or available only in a few quests. Depending on how you like to play, and which races you prefer, you can build a wide variety of parties. This is a complete list of characters in SaGa Frontier, their races, some information on them, and how to get them. This is just going in alphabetical order, if you're wondering. As for the ratings? That's just what few friends and I agreed to give characters, rating it out of 100 since some characters just don't feel right having the same exact numeric rank or something. Note that the rankings are relative values, and not absolute, so having a high score here doesn't mean the character is close to absolute, game-crushing perfection – they’re just one of the best in the cast. Anyway, onto the actual characters! Note: If a character's quest is not listed for a character, than that quest can not get that character. If you see something like "All Other Characters" than that states that all quests not specifically mentioned can get this character in the same way. Remember that you can only recruit 15 characters at a time. Choose carefully! ~~~~~ Annie ~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Female Sprite Description: Blonde hair, green outfit. Rating: 60/100 Availability: Emelia - Start the game off with her. She will be forced into your party from time to time. To have her join permanently, speak to her outside of the bar in Koorong at any point of the game. Riki - When searching for the Hermit Ring, talk to Annie outside of the bar in Koorong, and she'll join. All other quests - After completing the other 3 sections of the Rune Gift side quest, talk to her outside of the bar in Koorong. Red's Alternative - In addition to the normal method, Red can get Annie by giving her dinner and allowing her to take him into BlackX's base. Comments: Annie is a fairly standard human who tends to do well with swords. She's not a bad character, but she hardly stands out. Being available early in Emelia's quest makes her decent, but she's probably not worth building in other quests (besides maybe Red's) since it requires going through the majority of a large quest. You can use her, as there's no penalty, but don't expect stellar results. ~~~~~~~ Asellus ~~~~~~~ Race: Half-Mystic Gender: Female Sprite Description: Green hair, pink dress Rating: 92/100 Availability: Asellus - This is incredibly difficult. What you have to do is press start, choose new game, choose Asellus as your main, and give her a name. Emelia - When you infiltrate Trinity's base for the first time, leave the room when you finally have control of your character. Asellus (along with White Rose) will be standing outside. Note that Asellus will replace the character in the last slot (along with White Rose who joins with her) if you had 15 characters already. Red - When the Cygnus is under attack, find Asellus in one of the rooms (along with White Rose), and she will join. Note that she is only temporary though, and leaves when this sequence ends. Comments: Asellus is one of the best characters in the game, no questions asked. She's the only character in the game with a completely unique race (the "Half-mystic"), which is actually a combination of the Human and Mystic Race. In other words, she can learn all techs humans can learn, she has natural stat growth like a human, AND she can absorb monsters to increase her stats and use their abilities. Note, however, that she can only gets those stat boosts in combat after she uses "Mystical Change" in battle (activated by Asellus using one of her Mystic Weapons). She doesn't start off as much, but given time, she can be raised into quite a beast. Not a character to take lightly at all. ~~~~ BJ&K ~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Tin can moving on four little ball things Rating: 70/100 Availability: Red - When Cygnus is under attack, find it in one of the rooms. It will join instantly. Comments: BJ&K is quite helpful in Red's quest for the early game, when he doesn't have many characters to work with, and could use some strong back up (especially since he can transform into Alkaiser with Mecs in the party). Beyond that, he's a solid Mec overall, with the unique Med Kit ability to heal your non Mec friends. Overall, a solid Mec, and a decent character, for all that better choices exist. ~~~~ Blue ~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Long blond hair, blue clothes Rating: 100/100 Availability: Blue - Start the game, and…well, yeah, do the math <_<; Comments: Blue is ridiculous. He starts the game off fairly standard, but after one part of the game, his stats (the relevant ones) skyrocket to hell, and he gets almost every magic Gift in the game, breaking the very balance of it. The variety he has is ridiculous, and then there's the little Overdrive + Stasis Rune combo which makes losing boss fights damn near impossible. All in all, the best PC in the game, quite handily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Captain Hamilton ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Female Sprite Description: Greenish-grey clothes, blonde hair Rating: 60/100 Availability: Lute - Go to Owmi and talk to her in the bar. Then go to the port and head to Nelson. The game will shift to you being on her ship. Head to the captain's room and speak to her, and she will join. NOTE: Speaking to her does NOT require continuing the plot; you can still get off her boat after having her join by speaking to the helmsman. Comments: Captain Hamilton has good starting stats, and comes with the ability "Two Gun," which is always nice. She's otherwise a very generic human with nothing special about her who is available in only one quest. ~~~~~~ Cotton ~~~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Purple and white fur with green, tentacle-like things coming out of it Rating: 2.5/10 Availability: All quests - In the Bio Lab at Shrike, find the experiment room. You will immediately engage in a fight, and once you win it, Cotton will join. Comments: Cotton is an utterly generic monster with nothing that stands out. Not a character I'd really bother getting, unless you want an easy-to-get monster in quests where you can't get Riki and don't want to start the Rune quest. ~~~~ Doll ~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Female Sprite Description: A woman with light purple hair and purple clothing Rating: 72/100 Availability: Red - In Shingrow, on your second visit, you'll find her standing in one of the rooms. Speak to her and agree to help her find her brother and she'll join. Comments: Doll is a human who starts with mystic magic, which is quite an odd combination. Regardless, she has excellent tech learning rates all around, and due to that, stands out compared to most other humans. It’s a pity she's only in one quest, but she's worth using regardless. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Nusakan ~~~~~~~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Male Sprite Description: Pale with long black hair and a white lab coat Rating: 83/100 Availability: Blue - Get the Rune Stones from Devin and then head to Koorong and find his lab in the bottom pathway to the alley (the first area of the Koorong dungeons). Talk to the head, and you'll be able to enter the room. Talk to Nusakan to have him join. Riki - Go to the billionaire's house in Yorkland and fight the demon. After the fight, Mei-Ling will tell you of a doctor in Koorong. Head back there, and find him in his office and he'll join. Comments: Nusakan is one of the best Mystics around. In a sense, he feels like compensation for Blue and Riki not being able to get Timelord, but that's another story altogether. A few main things make Nusakan stand out though. First, he comes with Arcane spells, including Death - a Gift spell - despite him not having the Gift. Next, he has Mystic Wear as a fixed equip, not Mystic Mail like most other mystics. This means he can use Armors and Suits but can't change his Shirt class armors. This is more advantageous than it seems at first, since the Mystic Wear has excellent elemental defenses, and can be as an item in combat to restore HP to any party member, as many times as you want. So he gets a very good shirt that’s unique to him, and doesn’t have to use the (very bad) Mystic Mail. In turn, that frees him up to use the game’s good body armor and suits, which no other Mystic can. He’s definitely one of the best mystics in the game, and one of the best characters overall. You should at least consider using him when you play Riki and Blue's quests. ~~~~~~ Emelia ~~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Female Sprite Description: Long blonde hair, green and blue clothing Rating: 75/100 Availability: Emelia - No comment… All other Quests - Start the Arcane quest and head to Baccarat. Find the blue bunny girl with blonde hair. Speak to her, and you'll be forced to follow a gnome. After following him to the parking lot, try to enter the manhole nearby. She’ll stop you. Talk to her again and she’ll join. Comments: Emelia is a respectable human whose main advantage is that she's in every quest, so she's typically a good choice to use anywhere. While she starts with guns, she isn't half bad with swords or fists either. In her own quest, she'll be able to change costumes, which effectively change her tech learning rates to match those of another character (Which costume does what will be covered later), so it’s nice if you want her to specialize in a specific weapon class in her own quest. While standout character, she's defiantly not a bad one either, and being accessible in every quest means she's always an option worth considering. ~~~~~~~~~~~ EngineerCar ~~~~~~~~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Car-like robot with two guns on the front Ranking: 50/100 Availability: All Quests - Go to Shrike and talk to it with any cec in your team, and it'll join instantly NOTE: Asellus and Emelia cannot get any cecs in their quests, and thus cannot get EngineerCar. Comments: EngineerCar does a nice job of helping you tank out the early game – it’s easy to get quickly, and like most mecs, it’s easy to build him up with readily available equipment. Otherwise, it's hardly an impressive mec. There’s no harm in getting him for the early game, though, and he could end up actually decent if you put enough time into him, but there's usually much better options around. He does have some use in a two-Mec party, since his RepairPack lets you heal other Mecs as many times as you want. ~~~~~~ Fei-On ~~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Bald with a black braid, wearing a green gi Ranking: 43/100 Availability: Riki - After you get to Koorong, try to go to any dungeon you desire, and you'll get swallowed by Tanzer. You'll eventually meet up with Fei- On in a plot sequence. Follow him to his "town,” talk to him in his room and let him join. All other quests - After you get one Rune from the Rune quest, get on your ship and go anywhere; you'll be swallowed by Tanzer. After a plot scene, you'll be forced to follow him to his "town" where you talk to him and agree to let him join. NOTE: Blue cannot get Fei-on to join, so don't try. Comments: Fei-on is an unimpressive human. His main schtick is being a good fist fighter, but even then he's not that special. He starts with decent stats, and a few skills, but there's one major flaw; he doesn't learn DSC (the ultimate fist technique) all that easily. Given that DSC is one of the main reasons to even consider using fist fighters, it knocks his usefulness down quite a bit. If you want a good fist fighter, stick with Liza or Fuse. ~~~~ Fuse ~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Long blond hair, greenish-black uniform Fuse: 77/100 Availability: All Quests - Start the Arcane quest, and head to IRPO. Talk to the woman at the desk and you'll be sent to the Mosperiburg Mountain, where Fuse will join temporarily. If you leave the mountain before finishing his quest (he wants you to find a flower…don’t ask), he’ll leave your party. Once the quest is complete, he's yours for keeps. Red's Alternative – Fuse joins temporarily for the part of the game where the Cygnus is under attack. He can be gained permanently simply by speaking to him in Manhattan later in the game. Note that getting him this way means you won't get to go to Mosperiburg Mountain. While you can still complete the Arcane quest (Fuse will just give you the card you need, no questions asked), you can't get the secret stuff on the mountain; that means giving up the character "Suzaku" and a fight with two optional dragons (and gaining the treasure they guard). Comments: Fuse is one of the best fist fighters in the game. He starts with the Mind Magic gift and a few spells, and one of those spells is Awakening (a gift spell that can be a slight pain to get, so he gets a great boost over most other physical fighters. He also comes with some nice martial-arts techniques. If it’s not obvious, Fuse is a fist fighter (you'd expect a cop to use guns, granted), and he's one of the best in the game. He learns most fist moves, including all the DSC moves, fairly fast, which is really nice. He’s a solid PC who you can get in every quest, and an excellent choice if you want a fist fighter. ~~~ Gen ~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Tan skin, white bandana, brown hair, brown pants, and a white shirt Rating: 75/100 Availability: Riki - When you get to Scrap early in the game, talk to Gen and then try to leave; he'll force himself into your team. T260G - Joins through a forced plot event early in the game All other quests - Start the Arcane quest, and talk to the skeleton in Koorong who normally talks about the guy who used a pipe like a sword (he sits near the man who buys leather, and the in the same screen as the entrance to the inn.) Head to Scrap, and find Gen in the bar. Speak to him and he'll join. Comments: Gen is quite possibly the best of all the swordfighters in SaGa Frontier. He learns almost every sword tech fast, and he comes with a bunch of useful skills. As an added bonus, he doesn't make a half bad fist fighter either, for all that he probably should stick with swords. He's easy to get in every quest (and joins very early in T260G and Riki's), so he's always an option. Overall, if you want a solid good swordsman, Gen should be your first choice. ~~~~~ Ildon ~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Male Sprite Description: Green Hair, pale skin, purple robe Rating: 45/100 Availability: Asellus – Nominally joins early in the game (meaning he's in your team, but you can't use him in any battles), but leaves after a while. He’ll join permanently later on in a forced plot event after you beat Lion Princess. Comments: Ildon comes in with a bang, so to speak. He has overall the best stats of any Mystic, and comes with a few monsters already absorbed (most Mystics come with none), so his stats are quite high when you first get him. His downside? That's all he has. This makes him really just a normal Mystic with better stats than most, which, for a Mystic, isn't worth much. Use him if you want to, since there's no penalty, but there's better options available, especially for Mystics in the quest you can get him (Mesarthim, Timelord, and Zozma all come to mind…) ~~~~~ Kylin ~~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Just imagine a poodle spliced with a flower and a unicorn. Rating: 50/100 Availability: All quests - Finish either the Arcane or Rune quest, and get either the Shadow or Light gift. Then, go to Devin and talk to the woman who tells you about Time and Space magic. Ask about Space magic and you'll be warped to Kylin's world. Complete his maze, and then ask him to join. NOTE: Blue cannot get Kylin to join under any circumstances. If he goes to Kylin’s world, he will fight Kylin and learn his Space magic. NOTE 2: If Asellus recruits Kylin, she cannot recruit Rei later in the game. Comments: Kylin is probably the single best monster in the game. While most monsters require work to be good in combat, Kylin comes in with what can already be considered an ultimate form, and it’s a form that's completely unique to him to boot. He also is noteworthy because he comes with every Space spell (especially noteworthy since no monster can learn any magic, ever, so him just having magic, let alone the gift, says a lot.) Compared to other races he's not that great, though; for starters, getting him means you can't buy Space Magic from him for your other party members, and the gift spells of Space magic aren't really that good, so there's no real reason to get him unless you like monsters. Overall, he’s not a character I'd really consider unless you desperately need the instant fire power (for instance, in Riki’s quest). ~~~~~~~ Leonard ~~~~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: Male (well, sort of) Sprite Description: Yellow Robot with what seems to have a human face painted on Rating: 65/100 Availability: T260G - After completing the section of the plot that requires going to Shingrow, return to his lab and speak to him, and he'll join. Comments: Leonard is a solid Mec. He gets a few nice skills, has the usual easily-boosted stats of a Mec, and has only 3 fixed equips, which means he's quite flexible by Mec standards. He's only usable in one quest, though, and you get a lot of Mecs in that one, so he's not that special in that regard. He also joins pretty late, while the other Mecs can be recruited early, further hurting his use. A decent character, all things considered, but wouldn't go as far as to call him great. He does have the ability to restore other Mecs’ WP for free, which can be extremely helpful in the long boss battles T260G has to deal with from time to time. ~~~~ Liza ~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Female Sprite Description: Purple hair and a red blouse Rating: 77/100 Availability: Blue - Start the Rune quest, and recruit Roufas. Then head back to the restaurant in Koorong and speak to Liza and she will join Emelia - Liza will join temporarily in the beginning, and then be forced into your team at certain plot events. To get her to join permanently outside of those events, talk to her in the restaurant in Koorong at any time. Red - After Annie joins you and takes you to Shuzer's base, go back to the restaurant in Koorong and you'll have the option of choosing between Roufas and Liza. Choose Liza to have her join. NOTE: Red can still get Roufas to join even if you don't choose him here, whereas this is his only chance to get Liza. Comments: Liza is the fist user’s answer to Gen. She starts with a nice selection of fist techniques, and learns new ones like mad. She even learns DSC easily. If you want a fist user, and are playing Red, Emelia or Blue's quest, Liza is defiantly someone to consider, since it's hard to find a better fist user (Fuse is probably the closest substitute). Plus she's only available in a few quests, so you might as well take advantage of her. ~~~~ Lute ~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Blue hair, red and white striped pants, and a lute on his back…and a weird little hat. Rating: 35/100 Availability: Lute - No, you can't get him in his own quest. I'm sorry, it’s not happening. T260G – When you go to Scrap, speak to him in the pub and proceed to the factory. Enter the bottom door there, fight some monsters, and he’ll join. All other quests - Speak to him in the bar in Scrap, and he'll join. Comments: Lute is one of the worse humans in the game, if not the outright worst. His starting stats are atrocious, he comes with no skills but Stun Slash, and his starting equipment is very basic. He has good tech learning rates, to be fair, but otherwise is not a very good character at all, since while he's good at learning most things, there's always a handful of people who are better - Gen with Swords, Liza and Fuse with fists, etc. – he can become pretty good at just about anything, with enough work, but without a lot of luck he won’t be better than “pretty good.” My advice is don't use Lute unless you just need to fill an empty character slot. ~~~~~~~~ Mei-Ling ~~~~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Female Sprite Description: Purple hair, black and red clothing Rating: 70/100 Availability: Riki - She joins automatically in Scrap’s pub, before the quest’s first dungeon. NOTE: In Riki’s quest, Mei-Ling will leave you literally right before the final battle. If she was in your party at this point, you will have to face Riki’s final boss with only four characters. THIS IS BAD. All other quests - Speak to her in Scrap's pub and tell her your story, and she'll join. NOTE: Red and Asellus cannot get Mei-Ling to join under any circumstances. Comments: Mei-Ling is a standard human and decent in most ways. Her starting stats aren't much, but she's easy to get and learns techs pretty well. She comes with a few Light Magic spells learned, too. Not a bad human to consider, especially since you can get her very early in the game, but she's not all that special either, and considering the stunt she pulls in Riki's quest, she's a complete waste of time to build up in that quest – pretty ironic, since she’s second only to Riki in importance to the plot. ~~~~~~~~~ Mesarthim ~~~~~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Female Sprite Description: A mermaid, I think that should be enough. No? Fine. Blue fish's tail, grey skin, and white hair, and completely topless. Happy? Rating: 85/100 Availability: All Quests (except T260G) - Find her in the Lord's Manor basement, and talk to her with a Mystic in your team. NOTE: Asellus does count as a Mystic in this case, but Silence does not (probably because he doesn't talk; she’ll only join if a Mystic convinces her to) NOTE 2: Since T260G cannot recruit any Mystics in his quest, he can’t get Mesarthim either. Asellus' Temporary Alternative - Mesarthim will join for a short time in the Lord's Manor basement part of Asellus' introduction, and leave at the end. Comments: Mesarthim is one of the best Mystics in the game, and the only Mystic besides Dr. Nusakan who is not forced to use the terrible Mystic Mail. Instead, she has the MellowRing locked on. It’s a standard accessory, meaning she has full range of equips, and it grants her permanent water immunity (she's a freaking mermaid, of course she'll be immune). If that's not enough, Mesarthim also comes with the Rune Gift automatically obtained (kind of a blessing and a curse, since it means you won't have to go through that quest, but she also can't get Arcane Magic if you want to give it to her), which is a nice bonus. Oddly enough, what makes her REALLY stand out is one of her two unique abilities; Liferain. At a cost of 1 LP, she can pretty much fully heal your entire team, making her easily the game's best healer. All in all, she's defiantly worth using if you want a Mystic, or if you just want a good character in general. I’m not sure what's scarier: how good a character she is, or the fact that she's not even the best Mystic in the game. ~~~~~ PzkmW ~~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Looks like a green box on yellow legs. Rating: 42/100 Availability: T260G - Talk to him in the shop where you can get Hyper Blasters in Koorong after Leonard joins. Note that once you do this, you can't access this shop again. Comments: A mediocre Mec. He has no skills that stand out, no really special equipment, average stats, and only four equipment slots to work with. What’s worse, getting him means you can't buy any more Hyper Blasters for your precious Mecs in T260G's quest either, and it’s the most Mec-heavy of the quests. I wouldn’t recommend recruiting him unless you really want another Mec. ~~~~~~ Rabbit ~~~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: N/A Sprite Description: A flying ball, basically Rating: 70/100 Availability: Red - Find him in Kyo and speak to him Comments: Rabbit is a solid mec, all things considered. Satelite Linker is his main quirk, and it gives him some good, if tough to set up, damage. His equipment flexibility is fairly standard for a mec, with five open slots, for whatever that's worth. Mind, he's only available in one story, but if you happen to be playing that story, Rabbit certainly isn't a bad option. ~~~~ Red ~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Light blue hair, white shirt, red pants Rating: 92/100 Availability: Red – Guess. Comments: Red is a fairly good human all around, skilled with swords, guns, and fists. However, that's not what makes him stand out. Red has the unique ability “Alkaiser Change,” which he can use, for free, only when all his allies are some combination of dead, blinded, messed (confused), or mecs (since mecs have no personalities). That ability turns him into the masked superhero Alkaiser, with a whole range of new abilities and massively increased statistics – including HP! He’s also fully healed by the transformation. Unfortunately, once you get a full party it’s pretty tough to manipulate things so Red can transform, but when you’re lucky – or when the plot forces Red to transform, which happens every so often – Alkaiser is a powerhouse. The one downside is that Red gains no stat points after battle if he transforms, so it’s not a good idea to use the Change against weak enemies. ~~~ Rei ~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Female Sprite Description: Purple hair, yellow shirt, pink pants Rating: 40/100 Availability: Asellus - While in Chateu Aguille, in the beginning of the game, go to her room with White Rose but NOT Ildon, and White Rose will explain a bit about Rei. Later, before White Rose leaves, go to Devin, and speak to the woman standing in front of the temple. After White Rose leaves, go back and talk to her, and Rei should join. Comments: Rei could have been half decent if she only joined earlier. As it stands though? She joins with HP you'd expect from someone who joins at the beginning of the quest (yes, that bad), no absorbed enemies, and next to no WP. Her stats aren't all that special either, outside of her excellent INT. She does have unique magic in Mirage Magic, but it’s basically just Phantasm Shot split into 5 different spells, allowing her to control which status she hits enemies with and that's really all she has going for her. I personally would stay away from her; the rewards you get are just not worth the hassle, and she requires quite a bit of training to get up to par. ~~~~ Riki ~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Looks like a little kid with Green Hair, and a tail. Rating: 20/100 Availability: Riki - *whistles nonchalantly* All other quests - Speak to him in Scrap's pub and tell him your story, and he'll join. NOTE: Red and Asellus cannot get Riki to join under any circumstance. Comments: Riki is a generic Monster. He also has the WORST starting form of any monster in the game, statistically speaking. The main thing going for him is that he starts with the skill "Tail Hit," which is required to get the Black Dragon form (arguably the best generic form of any monster) but beyond that, he's not much. He's a fairly big liability in his own quest with the low LP that most monsters tend to have, as well as just being unimpressive before he turns into one of the late-game forms. In other quests, there are usually monsters that have better starting forms, so it’s probably better to just use one of them. If you’re dead-set on turning somebody into the Black Dragon, though, Riki’s your guy. ~~~~~~ Roufas ~~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: Blackish-green suit, blond hair, and sunglasses Rating: 70/100 Availability: Blue - Start the Rune quest, and then find Roufas in Mu's Tomb. Talk to him and he’ll join. Emelia - Roufas will join temporarily from time to time in different parts of her quest. To have him join permanently, talk to him in Mu's Tomb at any point in the game. Lute - Start the Rune quest, and then find Roufas in Mu's Tomb. Talk to him and he’ll join. Red - Roufas can join temporarily when the Cygnus is under attack if you talk to him in his luxury suite on the top floor of the ship. To have him join permanently, you can either speak to him in Mu's Tomb, or enlist him (instead of Liza) after taking care of the BlackX base that requires getting Annie. I recommend that you go to Mu's Tomb, as that way, you can still get Liza, since you can’t get her any other way. Comments: Roufas makes a fine gunner and a solid swordsman. He comes with good skills for both, along with the gift for Mind Magic. That means he can fit into most offensive strategies from the get-go, so he's good for filling a hole in your party as a mage or a fighter. His starting stats are also pretty good by human standards, which doesn't hurt. ~~~~~ Rouge ~~~~~ Race: Human Gender: Male Sprite Description: White hair, pale skin, red jumpsuit. Rating: 80/100 Availability: Blue - Lose the duel with Rouge, and Rouge will replace Blue as your main character. NOTE: Rouge does keep all of Blue's stats and spells, but he doesn't retain Blue's LP loss (GOOD THING), or his non-magic skills (bad thing). Just thought I'd throw this out. All other quests - Talk to Rouge in Luminous and he will join. Note that once Rouge joins, do NOT go to Magic Kingdom or he will leave, and go to a randomly chosen town, where you will have to find him to recruit him again. Note: T260G and Riki cannot get Rouge under any circumstances. Comments: Rouge is, simply put, the best human mage in the game, period (except for Blue, but he doesn't count). If you want a mage, Rouge is a very good choice, especially if you don't like Mystics. What's more, Rouge makes an excellent gunner, and the stat boosts from guns are very useful for spellcasting. For some unknown reason, he makes an oddly good fist user, although generally it’s not worth giving up his magic. It doesn't hurt that Rouge is one of the easiest characters to get, even though you can't go back to Magic Kingdom afterwards (not that much is there anyway), and he's one of the only two characters to have the Gift of Realm magic, to boot. ~~~ Sei ~~~ Race: Monster Gender: Male Sprite Description: A skeleton with a red cape Rating: 5/100 Availability: Riki - Complete the trials in Sei's Tomb, and talk to Sei to get his Ring. Sei will join automatically. All other quests - Complete the trials of Sei's Tomb, and then talk to Sei. You will be forced to fight him. After you win, you will have the choice of taking the sword Kusanagi or letting Sei join. Choose the latter (obviously) and he’ll join. Comments: Sei is possibly the worst character in the game, period. For starters, he's a monster, and while his starting form is relatively good, it’s nothing to brag about, especially since by the time you’re strong enough to beat him you should be able to train monsters to be much stronger than Sei. What's worse is he requires you to give up some very nifty items just to recruit him – the three treasures scattered in Sei’s Tomb are useful, and the Kusanagi is one of the game’s best swords. I definitely would NOT use him, especially since being a monster with no particularly good starting skills makes him utterly generic, and thus replaceable by any other monster. ~~~~~~~ Silence ~~~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Male Sprite Description: Orange hair, brown suit Rating: 30/100 Availability: All Quests - Go to Luminous and talk to Omble to begin the quest for the Dark Gift. Find Silence’s his shadow in the first room. After completing this dungeon, speak to Silence – he’s standing right outside in the same room the person who sent you to Omble is in - and he will join. Note: T260G and Riki cannot get Silence under any circumstance. Comments: Silence is, simply put, the worst Mystic in the game. To be blunt, take Ildon, and remove his awesome stats, and make him a bit more universal. Silence himself might not be that bad, besides being the most generic Mystic in the game by far, but there are some things that put him below the others. First off, he's the only Mystic in the game who cannot recruit Mesarthim. Next, he forces your main character to get the Dark Magic Gift, which means you not only can't give the generally-superior Light Magic to your main characters (if you wanted to), but you can't give the Dark Gift to anyone who joins later (like Timelord, someone who really benefits from Dark spells). All in all, just avoid Silence; he's usable, but not worth it by any stretch. ~~~~~ Slime ~~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: A grey puddle of…umm…Slime? Rating: 17/100 Availability: All Quests - Start the Rune quest and find one rune. The next time you travel between cities, you will end up in Tanzer. When you finish this dungeon, Slime will join automatically at the end, with no message that it does. I'm not kidding - it literally just appears in your character screen with no warning. Note: Riki cannot get Slime to join under any circumstances. Comments: All things considered, Slime is just a variation of Riki, with slightly better starting stats, and no Tail Hit. Something tells me that's a losing trade…which is sad since there wasn't much to lose to begin with. I'd stay away from Slime, if I were you. ~~~~~~ Suzaku ~~~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: A firebird Rating: 27/100 Availability: All Quests - Start the Arcane quest, and go to IRPO. Talk to the receptionist and you will be sent to Mosperiburg Mountain. On this mountain, in the area with three wild boars, you may sometimes find a snowman at the bottom of the screen (if it’s to the left, it’s a fake). If he's not there, go back to the first area and fight the fairy floating around there. Keep coming back to the snowfield and trying again until the snowman appears, and then fight it. Beat it and then find Suzaku in one of the ice-covered rooms in the cave and it should join. Comments: Suzaku is an obscure monster who’s a pain in the ass to get, and not really worth the rewards either. Sure, his starting form is impressive as starting forms go, at least stastically, and it is unique to boot (yes, other monsters can get the Suzaku class, but this version is special and unique). Unfortunately, this version has bad starting skills, and learning new ones will eventually force Suzaku to change to another form. Once he does, he can’t go back to his original one, making that "quirk" little more than a novelty. I'd personally not bother with Suzaku, as it's not worth the effort. ~~~~~ T260G ~~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: N/A Sprite Description: A trashcan with a head and arms Rating: 90/100 Availability: Blue - Talk to T260G in the bar in Scrap, and it will join. Lute - Talk to T260G in the bar in Scrap, and it will join. Riki - T260G will join automatically early on through a plot sequence in Scrap. T260G - I'll let you figure this one out on your own. Comments: T260G, not surprisingly, is the best Mec in the game. In its own story, T260G can take on the form of any other Mec you choose, getting all their special equipment, their stats, their weapons, and even learning their unique skills (which can transfer to other forms, letting you pick just about any Mec skill you want for T260G). Furthermore, at the end of the game, it can unlock an extra unique body called "Omega" which has amazing stats and the amazing "V-MAX" skill. That skill increases T260G's stats incredibly, and allows it to use Cosmic Rave, one of the most powerful attacks in the game. The only downside is that after six turns of V-MAX, T260G is hit with V-END, which weakens it tremendously. Outside of its quest, T260G is a Mec with *seven* open equipment slots, more than any other Mec – in short, you can throw more stat-boosting items onto T260G than any other robot, and for that reason alone it’s a great character. It doesn't hurt that its skill draw is quite impressive too. Definitely a worthwhile character, especially in its own story. ~~~~~~~~ Timelord ~~~~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Male Sprite Description: White-grey hair, red suit Rating: 99/100 Availability: Red, Emelia, Asellus and Lute’s quests - Complete either the Arcane or Rune quest, and get either the Light or Dark Gift. Go to Mosperiburg and ask Virgil (the androgynous person in the throne room) about Time Magic. He will send you to Timelord's domain. There, examine the broken hourglass, then leave and talk to Virgil again. He will send you to Facinataru. Go to the shop, and buy a Sand Vessel – be warned, your main character will have to pay for it by losing a point of *maximum* LP. Then head back to Virgil, and he will send you back to Timelord's domain. Gather the spilled sand by the hourglass, and then go around to the top and examine it. Time will start again, and you can head to the end of the area to find Timelord himself and speak to him. He will offer to sell you Time magic or join your team, as you choose. Note: In Asellus' quest, you must get the Sand Vessel in Facinataru before leaving the first time or you will not be able to re-enter until the end of the game. Other than that, the process continues as normal. Note 2: T260G and Riki cannot go to Timelord’s realm at all. Blue can go through the quest as normal, but instead of recruiting Timelord he will fight him. Comments: As far as I’m concerned, Timelord is the only character in the game other than the seven mains who manages to hit the top tier – hell, he’s arguably the best character in the game. His main skill that he’s the only character – aside from Rouge and Blue in Blue’s quest – who can use the Gift of Time, and that is an amazing set of skills. And if you do the Arcane and Light quests before recruiting him, you can go back and teach him Dark and Rune magic, getting him the same set of spells – ShadowServant, StasisRune and Overdrive – that make Blue so amazingly powerful in his own quest. Basically, in the four quests where he’s available, Timelord is a must-have. The only exception would be if you like making life harder on yourself, or you pity the game. ~~~~~~~ Thunder ~~~~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Giant orange ape with black shorts Ranking: 35/100 Availability: All quests - Find him in Yorkland and talk to him with Lute in your team. Note: In Lute's quest, you will have to leave Yorkland and return before you can recruit Thunder. Comments: Thunder is another standard monster. While his starting form isn't much, he starts the game just one skill away from becoming the very strong Trisaur. One of his early moves, Ground Hit, is fairly strong to boot. This ends up making Thunder one of the better monsters in the game (probably second-best overall, after Kylin), although he’ll get steadily worse a sthe game goes on and your humans, Mystics and mecs get stronger than he is. He's good for filling up a slot early, but it’s probably better to ditch him for someone else later on. ~~~~~~ Turnip ~~~~~~ Race: Monster Gender: N/A Sprite Description: …A Red turnip with a face on it… Rating: 15/100 Availability: Asellus' quest - When you get to the Dark Labyrinth, talk to him before you finish it. Once you finish that dungeon, Turnip will join. Comments: Turnip is…well, Slime with better stats (isn’t that amazing?), but it joins much, much later. So much so that by the time you can get him, he’s useless. Unless you really like the idea of a turnip as a death machine (not that he really has potential to be one), I suggest you ignore him. ~~~~~~~~~~ White Rose ~~~~~~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Female Sprite Description: Brown hair, with a white rose hat and a blue dress. Rating: 50/100 Availability: Asellus' Quest - Joins automatically early on. She will leave permanently after the Dark Labyrinth section of the game. Emelia - When you infiltrate Trinity's base for the first time, leave the room when you finally have control of your character. White Rose (along with Asellus) will be standing outside. Note that if you already have 15 characters, White Rose and Asellus will replace the last two in the list. Red - Joins temporarily (along with Asellus) when the Cygnus is under attack. They will leave permanently after this sequence. Comments: White Rose is an excellent character early in any of the quests where she joins, mostly because she comes with a few Light spells learned. She’s particularly good for Flash Fire, which is cheap, effective multi-target damage early on. Unfortunately, as the game goes on she doesn’t keep up with the rest of your party, and eventually becomes one of the worst Mystics you’ll get. It also hurts that you can't really raise her seriously in Asellus' quest since she's going to leave permanently. If you're playing Emelia's quest, use her if you want to, but again, note that there are likely better options available. ~~~~ ZEKE ~~~~ Race: Mec Gender: N/A Sprite Description: Looks like a miniature jet Rating: 68/100 Availability: T260G - Find the robotic mouse in Sei's Tomb and bring it back to Nakajima Robotics. They will let ZEKE join you from there. Comments: ZEKE is a solid mec, all things considered. No real flaws, and its main quirk, Kamikaze Crush, despite the fact that it drains one LP every time you use it, isn't half bad – especially since mecs have huge LP totals. Not exactly what I'd call "the best" or anything close to it, but it's certainly not bad. ~~~~~ Zozma ~~~~~ Race: Mystic Gender: Male Sprite Description: Red hair that looks a lot like Akuma's from Street Fighter, with a tan-ish suit. Rating: 80/100 Availability: Asellus - Get the sequence with Zozma in Asellus' room early on in Facinataru. He will automatically join after the Dark Labyrinth sequence. Emelia – In Trinity's Base, search for a soldier in a room who is under attack. If you recruited Asellus and White Rose, rescue him and he will reveal that he's really Zozma, and join you. Comments: Zozma is at first glance a standard Mystic. His stats aren't that special, and he only comes with a few extra spells from the Evil magic school. However, one of those spells is absolutely brutal: Sharp Pain. It casts Stun on all enemies, canceling their actions for the turn, it’s incredibly accurate (easily above 90%), it always goes first…and it only costs 1 JP. With this, random encounters suddenly become a joke, making him good for not only clearing dungeons quickly but making it easy to keep weaker characters alive in battles with high-level enemies, raising their stats faster. An excellent mystic with a unique advantage over just about any character. ------------------------------ 4. Tips for Raising Characters ------------------------------ I'll be dividing this up by races, since you raise each one more or less totally differently. I won’t talk about specific characters, since that'd take forever. If you're wondering how to raise a particular character, just check the character in the FAQ and it'll tell you what they are good at. ****** Humans ****** When raising a human, it’s important to decide ASAP what kind of character you want. Which of the character's stats increase, and how quickly depends primarily on what type of attacks they use in battle. There are four kinds of human abilities: Sword attacks Gun attacks Fist attacks Magic I'll say this now: it is NOT a good idea to raise a character in everything. It’s better to have a few really high stats and the rest mediocre or bad than to be average at everything and extraordinary at nothing. Next off, if you use both magic and physicals, you can't get the “crown” for either of them either of them. Crowning a certain area will yield better growths for that type, along with a one-point decrease in ability costs, so typically, you want to crown if possible. That goes double for magic, since there are some 1 JP spells that are pretty useful through the whole game, and those spells are completely free after the crown bonus. Also, note that despite the fact that they certainly look like guns, cannons, lasers, bazookas, etc. don’t count as guns for stat growth or tech learning. They give only HP and WP growth (possibly Charm too), and can't learn techs. Other than losing a slot you could use on another weapon or shield or something, there's no real downside to using one of them as a supplement to another weapon. Just don't be surprised if you're relying on them and you don't get any stats. Anyway, you should generally pick one skill set per character and stick to it. If you want to raise a character in two sets, I'd normally recommend against it. There are pairs whose stat boosts work well together, but you’re better off geting used to SaGa's battle system first, and waiting for your second playthrough to build a dual-type character. If you must dual raise, I suggest guns and magic, or swords and fists, for reasons I'll explain later. In any event, onto the advantages and disadvantages of each raising method! Note: When I note characters are good at something, this does not mean ONLY these characters are good at it; it’s an example of a few good characters good to raise that way. ~~~~~~ Swords ~~~~~~ Swords have the closest thing to a "balanced" skill set in SaGa. They'll get good strength and vitality, a nice supply of WP, and moderate growth in all other stats. Swords tend to be balanced for what skills they'll learn. They have lots of single-target damage, some stun moves, an instant death attack, some multi-target and area-of-effect damage, and even a few defensive moves. Raising a character with swords is often a good idea if you want them to cover several areas in combat. Swords have two sub-categories with attacks you can only get in certain ways. The first is double-sword skills. If you have two swords equipped at once, they can learn moves that use both of them, like Cross-Deflect and 2GaleSlash. They can only use those moves with two swords, of course. Also, bear in mind that the strength of the attack depends only on the weapon you're using the attack with; if you pick 2GaleSlash from a LasterKnife’s attack list, it would be a very weak attack, even if your other sword was, say, Lord Heart – the second-best sword in the game and a killing machine. You can equip two-sword skills on a character with one sword, but they can't actually use them – it’s a waste of a skill slot (those skills will still count towards a crown, though). The other type of unique sword skill is katana techs. Some weapons are classified as katans; these weapons have a different look for their basic attacks, will raise stats that normal swords don’t, and can learn and use a few moves that normal swords can’t, including as Blizzard and Tres Flores. The game won’t tell you which swords are katanas, though (Aside from the Katana. That’s a katana.). For a list of all the swords that qualify, check the "Equipment" section of this FAQ; if the weapon is on that list, it can learn/use katana techs. A sword user should equip six skills at once, leaving two slots open for learning stuff. This way, you can learn up to two moves in one battle (not that you necessarily will), and you’ll still always have an active crown, so your learning rate increases a bit, and your skills are cheaper. Of course, if you’re not worried about learning skills, feel free to equip seven or eight. Here is a list of some of the better sword techs to try and pick up along the way. I’m not going to mention single-target techs that just deal damage, since those are straightforward enough for you to judge for yourself. Deflect: In any turn where the character attacks with a sword, they have a chance to block any single-target physicals targeted at any of your characters. It’s a useful defensive feature, essentially an evade boost to your whole team at the cost of one skill slot. Kasumi: It’s basically an improved Deflect – when it activates (which is random) the character will dodge certain moves (aimed at them only, unlike Deflect) and counter them with a reasonably damaging physical attack. It’s tough to learn, especially since it relies on your enemies doing the “right” thing, but it’s worth considering. Deadend: A decently powerful physical attack that randomly causes instant death. Good for gunning down certain annoying enemies (most notably Krakens) if you don't feel you can outslug them. Double Slash: Not a strong move, but mentioning it mainly cause if you Crown physicals, it'll cost 0 WP, so you can use it every turn instead of your basic attack. It’s especially useful on weapons like Asura consume WP just to use their normal slashes. Wheel Slash: A decent area of effect attack, especially early on. Not much else to say about this. Gale Slash: Good multi-target damage throughout the entire game. The damage will taper off compared to the higher-level skills, but it works nicely with combos. If you’re using two swords, it can also lead to 2GaleSlash, which is a stronger multi-target attack with the same WP cost. Haze to Wheel: It’s the strongest multi-target sword attack. It’s also learnable only by using Wheel Slash, and the odds aren’t good. Still, it’s a great attack. Life Sprinkler: It’s the strongest sword attack, period. It’s also practically undodgeable, meaning it’ll easily hit enemies who use shields or Deflect to cancel physical attacks. If you get this, you have very little reason to get any other single-target sword skills. Tres Flores: The katana equivalent of Life Sprinkler. It’s a bit weaker, and doesn’t combo as well, but neither “weakness” is enough to really matter. If you have a strong Katana this is typically a fine substitute for Life Sprinkler. Good sword users: Gen, Annie, Red, Lute ~~~~ Guns ~~~~ Raising a character under Guns is typically the other main way to go for physicals. Raising them this way, they'll get amazing speed, and excellent Will and Intelligence, but they'll have laughable strength, and their Vitality won't be very stellar either. Gunners also won't get as much WP as Swordsman or Fist users. However, there are several advantages to using Guns. First off, you learn Gun techs by winning battles with a Gun used, having a random chance to learn some skills. Next off, Guns work beautifully with mages, since it boosts the same stats that increase magic damage. It also improves speed, which is one of magic's bigger flaws. Also, gun techs have several support abilities that affect all gun attacks, such as Two Gun (which increases the damage of any Gun attack if you have two guns equipped), or Quick Draw, which lets the character always go first when using a gun. Gun techs are somewhat limited compared to fists, magic, and swords, but they're also cheaper overall, less redundant, and end up being easier to raise. Also, due to a bug, guns will NEVER run out of Ammo (this does NOT apply to cannons and the like, though), unless the gunner uses the Overdrive spell. Here's a list of some good gun techs: Bound Shot: Typically the best damage a gun tech can get. It’s especially reliant on stats, since the higher your stats, the more "bounces" the shot will have, and the more damage it does. Combine this with Two Gun for brutal single-target damage that's surprisingly cost efficient too. Total Shot: A gunner’s main, if not only, source of multi-target damage. It couldn't hurt to use this. Quick Draw: If you use a gun, you go first. Makes things die before they can kill you. Two Gun: I'll say this now: gunners aren't worth using unless you get this move. The damage Gunners have will be somewhat disappointing in the late game unless you get Two Gun and equip a second gun. You’ll be able to see the skill working in combat – a character using Two Gun will be shown with a gun in each hand in their “ready” pose. Note that the damage increase isn't quite double – it’s more like 1.8 times the normal damage (a significant increase nonetheless). Cross Shot: If you can somehow get your gunner to have good strength, use this instead of Bound Shot. It’s generally not that useful because it does damage based off Strength, which guns don’t boost; most gun attacks use Will to determine damage. If you have high enough Strength, Cross Shot's damage can become ridiculous (my friend said he had it out damaging Life Sprinkler, for example). Typically you won't get a high- strength gunner, but it’s something to note if you somehow do. Good gunners: Emelia, Roufas, Rouge, Blue ~~~~~ Fists ~~~~~ I'll be honest; I don't like Fists at all. I personally find them a pretty bad way to raise a character, unless maybe you also raise them with swords for a bit more speed and strength. Fists yield similar boosts as swords (more strength and speed, less on the magic stats), but their techs are far worse. For example, swords give the nifty utility of Deflect as a defensive skill; the fist equivalent is Sway Back, which can't guard your allies and won’t block every kind of physical attack. However, there’s one big advantage they do get: Dream Super Combo, or DSC. It’s one of the strongest (and most expensive) moves in the game, and the huge cost is worth the damage it does. If you want to raise a character purely in fists, your goal should be to teach them DSC. How to learn DSC: Dream Super Combo, by far the strongest pure-damage attack in the game, isn’t learned the way normal techs are. It’s a combination of four weaker attacks – Sliding, Suplex, BabelCrumble, and GiantSwing. When you equip all four of those on a character, that character will also be able to use DSC. The move won’t show up on the status screen, but it will show up as a separate entry in their skill menu in combat, and won’t take up a skill slot (so you can have up to nine skills equipped on that character, instead of just eight). It’s also important to note that the damage for DSC is random. When you use it, your character will hit for anywhere from three to five attacks. Even the three-hit version of DSC is strong, and the five-hit version is absurdly powerful – more than twice as strong as other ultimate moves. You'll find a lot of the other Fist techs disappointing, or just inferior clones of sword techs. Fist techniques are learned the same way as swords’. Fist users, like sword users, should aim to equip six skills at a time. Here is a list of some good fist techs: Kick: It’s more or less the same as Punch, the basic fist attack, except that it can combo, and using it will learn more techs faster. I suggest using this instead of Punch once you get it. Air Throw: It’s a decent attack that can stun the target and it’s dirt- cheap, if nothing else. Sliding: If only because its one of the four DSC techs. Babel Crumble: Same as Sliding, basically. Giant Swing: See Babel Crumble. Also, it can instantly kill enemies. Suplex: The fourth DSC tech, and that’s about it. DSC: The strongest physical attack in the game. That should be all I need to say about this move. Sky Twister: The highest-damage fist tech, outside of DSC. Use it the same way as you would Life Sprinkler for swords or Bound Shot for guns (Although Sky Twister isn't nearly as strong as either of those). Last Shot: An alternative to Sky Twister. Its elemental properties make it stronger against a few enemies due to how SaGa damage works, and it has a rare chance of instant death too. Good Fist Users: Liza, Fuse, Fei-On ~~~~~ Magic ~~~~~ Magic probably wins the award for worst overall growth among the human abilities. Not that this should discourage you from using it; magic's main advantage over the other means of training characters is that it is the most versatile of the options around. It covers multi-target damage far better and more efficiently than any of the physical techs, and has a bunch of fun effects like stat boosts, healing, status, and more. Unlike the above methods, you can’t teach a single character all the magic in the game, though. One character can only learn half the spells in SaGa because of the School system. For this reason, when you raise a mage, you should decide which Gifts you want to give them ahead of time, since there's no turning back. A Mage should exist mainly to cover a variety of areas; if you just try to pump pure damage out of them they won’t work as well. For the most part, if you want a pure mage, it's usually better to choose a Mystic for the job; you can create a good Mystic mage without harming their stats like you do for humans, and they get all the benefits of using Magic, except that they can’t use the Realm school (all Mystics automatically have the Mystic Gift, which opposes Realm). They can’t get the Gift for Mind magic either, but neither is that big of a deal. One advantage to a human mage does have over a Mystic is that they have more skill slots to work with, so you can be more flexible. However, if you ask me, if you want a human mage, dual raise them with guns; this gives them actual stats (most notably a good speed score), and doesn't hurt the stats magic gives them at all. Also, most humans tend to specialize better in one of the physical types than in Magic, for whatever that's worth. Magic is learned two different ways. You can either buy a particular spell outright, or teach a character a Gift. If the character has the gift, they'll randomly learn spells from that school of magic if they use another spell of that school (so casting Arcane spells will let you learn random Arcane spells at the end of battle, but no other type of magic). Good magic spells to look for: (The word listed after the spell name in parentheses is the School it’s from) NOTE: Since magic is such a varied skillset, and there's a lot of useful spells out there, I'm only choosing a handful. The general rule with magic is to try every spell out and see how it works in your strategy. NOTE 2: Some of the most powerful spells are for Mystics or specific characters only. I am ignoring them, since this is for general human skills only. Mega Wind Blast (Light): Generally the best consistent damage you'll get from a spell, and it's multi-target to boot. Awakening (Mind): Boosts your stats tremendously for a few turns. Also doubles JP/WP costs. Typically a useful move, especially for characters with no other way to increase their stats in combat. Soul Rune (Rune): Effectively a variation of Awakening, but it makes you lose LP every so often. Tower (Arcane): Does damage based on your current JP score; this is especially useful if you also give the character guns; Tower willdeal massive damage, and you’ll still have attacks you can use with no JP. Also, if you have a crown in magic, spells that cost 1 JP, like StarlightHeal, will be usable even if you have no JP remaining. Reverse Gravity (Space): A store-bought spell that does oddly good multi-target damage. It’s not quite as good as Mega Wind Blast, but the fact that it’s store-bought makes it arguably more useful, and easier to get quickly too. As an added bonus, this move randomly inflicts stun. Good Mages: Rouge, Doll, Blue So…now that you know about raising Humans, you should be able to decide what you want to do with them. I'll get to the unique humans (like Red) later, since it’s hard to apply general principles to them, One last note regarding humans: In the middle of battle, humans can randomly learn dodge techs regardless of what they are using, as long as they have a free skill slot. Dodge techs will make them immune to certain kinds of attacks – for example, a human with DodgeGaze will always dodge any “Gaze” attack. For the most part, dodge techs aren't worth it; they hit very specific attacks (DodgeGaze evades the highest number of skills, and it only hits four or five), so they tend to be a waste of a skill slot. Unless you’re in a dungeon where a lot of enemies use that kind of attack, I would personally just ditch the dodge tech ASAP. ******* Mystics ******* Mystics have far fewer options than humans, because they’re based entirely around absorbing monsters. A Mystic has three mystic weapons; Mystic Sword, Mystic Glove, and Mystic Boots. Those weapons are actually more like Skills that cost 0 WP, and are automatically equipped (once they’re learned; it takes a few battles). When a Mystic kills an enemy with one of these weapons, they can absorb it into the weapon (as long as it’s the right kind; bosses, and some non-monster enemies, can’t be absorbed), and they’ll get stat boosts and special abilities based on what enemies are in their weapons at the time. That is the only way they’ll raise most of their stats – HP, WP, JP and Charm may increase at the end of battle like a human’s, but their other stats can only be increased by equipment and absorbing monsters. Typically, the stronger the enemy, the better stats it gives. When you absorb an enemy, its boosts will appear in the status screen in green next to the Mystic’s base stats, the same as equipment bonuses – that’s why Mystics appear to have stupidly high equipment bonuses. The only techs a Mystic can learn without absorbing something is magic, which they learn the same way humans do (and they all get the Mystic gift, just for starters). Typically, magic will be a Mystic’s main source of offense, since they generally get higher magic stats than physical. A Mystic's unique skills are learned based on what absorbed enemies they have, and which weapons those enemies are absorbed in. For example, if a Mystic Absorbs a Dullahan into his Mystic Sword, he’ll learn the Griffith Scratch skill. But if he absorbs it with the Glove, he’ll learn Crystalizer, and absorbing it into the Boots will teach Assassinate. So when you absorb a monster, it’s important to plan which weapon you’ll use to kill it, and not just what you are absorbing. And, of course, you can only have one monster per weapon; absorbing something new will “overwrite” whatever was in that weapon before, replacing its stats and skill with those of the new monster. That makes it possible to correct a mistake – say, replacing a super-powerful Suzaku with a Slime – but it also makes it fairly easy to make those mistakes if you’re not paying attention. For this reason, I strongly suggest giving a Mystic at least one normal weapon to use against enemies you don’t want to absorb or spend magic/skills on, even though they won’t gain stats or skills from using it. Mystics might not be as complex to raise as humans, but they are arguably harder, especially since they have low HP, JP and WP. The main advantage of using one is that you get one later, you can get their stats and skills up to par fast, if you're willing to take a bit of extra time that is, so don't worry about late game Mystics too much. Also, note that Mystics will have only 4 open skill slots for magic spells Magic (absorbed skills don’t consume a slot), so they’re not as flexible as humans. As one last comment, all Mystics have a locked defensive equip; for most of them, it’s the Mystic Mail body armor. The exceptions are Dr. Nusakanm who has the Mystic Wear shirt, and Mesarthim, who uses the MellowRing. Noteworthy Mystic Absorptions: Suzaku: The best absorption for raw stats, and it’s not all that hard to get. When these things start appearing (likely in the Bio Lab), I highly suggest absorbing one for each Mystic weapon immediately, even if it’s a bit difficult (do NOT both trying to absorb the one in Mosperiburg, though; it gives the same bonuses as a normal Suzaku but has ten times the HP – it’s just not worth the time). Early on, those stats are worth it. The skills admit aren't much, so use this on a Mystic who has a good selection of Magic to draw from, or some good weapon equipped like the Asura. Dullahan: Probably best overall absorption for skills. It has good stat boosts overall, and allows Mystics to learn their highest-damage skill, Griffith Scratch, if it’s absorbed on the Sword. On the Boots, it yields Crystalizer, a moderately accurate petrifying attack useful for random battles, and on the Boots, you get Assassinate, a decent instant-death attack with passable physical damage early on. There are other fine absorptions out there, but these two are probably the overall best. If you find ones you like more, by all means use them. For noteworthy magic…just check the humans, as Mystics are pretty much the same in that regard (except that they can’t use the Mind Gift, so strike Awakening from the list). Good Mystics to look out for: Timelord, Mesarthim, Dr. Nusakan, Zozma **** Mecs **** Mecs are probably the least complex race to explain, since all their stats are based entirely on the equipment they use. To raise one, just equip a bunch of stuff, and see what yields stats most to your liking. For weapons, you’ll want to give Mecs the non-gun projectiles, like cannons and lasers. Mecs have high stats, and their better skills are generally hard to get. High-end weapons like the Hyper Blaster or the Hyperion Bazooka deal great damage with no skills, and yield excellent stat boosts, which will push that damage even higher. A mec's stats, including HP, are entirely based off what it has equipped, and can equip any kind of equipment in any slot, with no restrictions – a mec can use six weapons if it wants to, or seven pairs of boots, or a suit and a piece of body armor (or five!). Each mec has a few fixed pieces of equipment that can’t be removed, giving each one a different number of slots to play around with, unique abilities like MedPack and LightVulcan, and slightly different “base” stats (although the difference is usually minor). They also have a set number of skill slots which varies from mec to mec. That number can be increased with “board” accessories, which can also unlock certain high-power skills. All in all, while mecs are totally reliant on equipment, they're also flexible beyond all reason, so take advantage of this. Afterall, two Power Suits means you get double the defensive bonuses, letting you make some really nasty tanks. As far as skills go? Just absorb every single enemy mec in sight – you’ll be prompted to at the end of every fight where you killed at least one robotic foe. Every time a mec absorbs an enemy mec, it has a chance to learn one of its innate skills. The only case not to absorb one is if you are using more than one mec, and only have one to absorb in a fight, since two mecs can’t absorb the same enemy. Even if it doesn’t teach you a new skill, absorbing an enemy refills a mec’s WP, so it’s always a good thing. It’s hard to get into much detail about mecs, since their stats are completely customizable and their skills are completely unique. Just say play around with them until you find a setup you like. They're the easiest to work with in that regard, since nothing beyond the way they start is permanent, and they can change on a whim. ******** Monsters ******** Raising a monster is the polar opposite training up a mec. Mecs can do fine if you just throw good equipment onto them and wait for their skills to show up, but monsters need good skills IMMEDIATELY to become remotely good in combat. The only equipment monsters can use are accessories, which they have four slots for. They’re all totally generic, beyond their starting form, and maybe a unique starting skill here or there (or in Kylin's case, coming with the whole Space Magic set), so there’s really not much to distinguish one monster from another. It’s more a case of using who you feel like. A monster’s stats are based on what form it is currently in, and their forms are based on the skills they know. Each form has certain lists of skills it uses, when a monster learns all of those skills, it will change into that form. All of its stats will change to fit that shape – a frail mage with high JP can easily become a powerhouse physical brawler at the drop of a hat. To get new skills, monsters must absorb other monsters at the end of a battle. Each monster type has a different list of skills it can teach, but you won’t know which one you’ll get until you absorb it. That skill will be placed in the eighth spot on the monster’s skill list, regardless of what was there already. If it was an empty slot, it’ll just be added to the list. If there was a skill there already, you’ll lose it. Make sure to move any skills you want to keep out of the eighth slot! That skill slot will be in red, for extra emphasis. If you already know the ability, you won’t learn it (even if it’s not in the eighth slot). Absorbing a new kind of enemy for the first time will increase a monster’s maximum WP by five, permanently. This is their only permanent stat growth. Some good skills for monsters to get: NOTE: Means of getting these skills to appear in update. Magnetic Storm: Excellent multi-target damage for a monster, which is rare since Monsters aren't very good on damage in general. Life Rain: Monsters in their better classes tend to be tankish but a bit lacking on damage, so they're better off being used as healers. Naturally, with Life Rain they can heal an entire party rather nicely. They also tend to have low LP, so don’t use this too liberally. Monster forms worth noting: Means of getting these monsters to appear in an update. Black Dragon: Arguably the best form in the game. It’s a great tank with good stats to back it up. Try to get this ASAP. Dullahan: A bit less tanky than a Black Dragon, but has a free Dullahan Shield to compensate, giving them extremely high evasion. The only monster generally agreed to rival a Black Dragon. Kylin Jr: This form is Kylin's starting form and it’s a darned good one too. The only monster who can get this is Kylin himself, so I suggest you take don’t change it if you use him. ***************** Unique Characters ***************** This is far a few unique characters who deserve "Special" raising treatment. ~~~~~~~ Asellus ~~~~~~~ Asellus's unique race lets her have the best of both worlds, human and Mystic. Raising her human side is easy enough; just treat her like you would any other human. However, her quest has three endings – “Human,” “Mystic” and “Half-Mystic”, and raising her Mystic half cuts you off from seeing the human ending. Anyway, first, to raise her Mystic side you must have a Mystic weapon equipped on Asellus; she starts with Mystic Sword in Emelia and Red's quest, and needs to learn the others like any other Mystic would. In her own quest, she gets the Mystic Weapons from plot events, so you can’t just fight battles and learn them. Normally, though, even after she absorbs enemies into her weapons, she won’t get stats and skills from them like full Mystics do. In every fight, she’ll start off as a normal human, with no boosts from her Mystic side. When she uses one of the Mystic weapons, she’ll perform “Mystical Change,” and get access to her Mystic abilities and stats for the rest of the battle. Until she changes, Mystic weapons will be treated like normal weapons, and won’t absorb enemies or perform special attacks. Unlike normal Mystics, Asellus has to equip her Mystic weapons, instead of always having them available. However, she does NOT need to equip all three at once; if she equips just one, she'll get all the benefits of everything she’s absorbed. Of course, you can’t absorb something new into, say, the Mystic Boot if you don’t have it equipped. If you want Asellus to use her Mystic side, you should use only one slot for a Mystic weapon (after absorbing monsters into the other two) and use the other seven for weapon skills and magic spells. This will make it hard, if not impossible, for Asellus to get a skill crown, so I'd make her a Gunner/Mage, since the Mystic absorption gives her the raw stats to make her effective that way, and she isn't half bad with either weapon class. Even so, Asellus works well for most weapon classes, since her Mystic stat bonuses mean she doesn’t get hurt by bad stat patterns. That makes her one of the few characters who can be really effective with two (or more) skil types, although it’s still a pain to learn all the useful ones. *** Red *** While Red is a normal human, he does have a full set of unique skills that no one else can use, namely the Alkaiser abilities. Raise Red as you would a normal human, only try to get his Alkaiser skills too. Alkaiser skills can only be learned and used when Red is in Alkaiser mode. Until the end of the game you won’t be using Alkaiser much outside of boss fights, so teach him as many abilities as you can when you do have him transformed. Alkaiser learns new skills like a normal human, with a few exceptions, and has both sword and fist abilities. Anyway, your first goal should be to get Bright Fist, which is randomly learned from Ray Sword (Alkaiser’s unique weapon). This should happen very fast, possibly in the game’s first fights. From there, use Bright Fist a lot to get a bunch of the other skills. Most aren't really a big deal, beyond being quick damage boosts, but the one you want to try to get is Al-Phoenix. Not only is Al-Phoenix strong, but very late in the game it can evolve into Re-Al Phoenix, one of the most powerful attacks in the game. The best way I found best to get Al-phoenix was to get Al- Blaster quickly, then start using that whenever possible. Once you have that, be sure to have it available so you can learn Re-Al Phoenix. As noted above, if Red wins a fight as Alkaiser, he can't gain any stat boosts. Try to win as many fights as possible without Alkaiser, and only use Alkaiser as a last resort, or if you need to learn new Alkaiser attacks. ****** Emelia ****** Emelia, like Red, is almost a totally normal human. Her twist is that, in her own quest, she gets the ability to change costumes, lets her change which skills she’s likely to learn. Specifically, each costume gives her the tech learning rates of another character. Here's how it breaks down: Normal: Emilia’s normal rates, as she appears in the seven other quests. Emelia's normal growths are the same as Asellus' and Mei- ling's, as a note. This tends to be an overall balanced form for learning skills (though most people train her in guns, not that she does badly with them.) Cat Fighter: Copies Liza. Basically, use this form if you want to train Emelia as a fist fighter, especially if you want DSC. Bunny Costume: Identical to the normal one in every way. This is a purely aesthetic change. Dancer: Copies Annie. Best for training Emelia in swords, if that's what you want. Commando: Copies Roufas. Best for training Emelia in guns. ***** T260G ***** T260G in any other quest is a totally normal mec. However, in its own quest, T260G can use different bodies, each changing what its fixed equipment is, and what skills it can learn. Each body copies the equipment and skills of another mec. Note that it can use any skill it learned in other forms after it changes, so you can learn another mec’s unique skills, and then switch them over to a better body. The only body that doesn’t copy another robot is the Omega Body, which is the best mec in the game. Check a later update to see exactly which Model is what. -------------- 5. Walkthrough -------------- This will be ordered alphabetically, cause its easiest that way! >_> Anyway, note that I myself didn't write these walkthrough. Frankly, I suck at those kinds of things, and very few people can survive THAT much "Meeple" writing, let alone comprehend it. So I had friends who were willing to replay the game again write those. These people should be commended for their efforts and time put into it. Also, note that cause its different authors, the writing style and layout may vary, so yeah, don't expect complete consistency. Also, I've told these people to avoid describing actual plot events, for spoiler purposes. There are some spoilers that are impossible to avoid for an in depth walkthrough, unless you want vague titles for bosses which can add to some confusing situations given the non linear nature of SaGa Frontier. As such, expect SOME spoilers, though the major ones we've made an attempt to avoid. ======= ASELLUS ======= Written By: OblivionKnight Welcome to Asellus's part of the walkthrough section! This is a very short preface, but I figure I should get it out of the way: there are spoilers, as mentioned earlier, but they will be kept to a minimum. I'll note plot triggers to catch characters, as well as "one chance" things in the actual walkthrough (one-chance meaning, "do it now or it's gone"). It's generally up to you to choose which characters you want to use, though I will make a few suggestions. Asellus has a solid draw of characters (Mesarthim, TimeLord, Zozma, etc.), so you really can't go wrong in most instances. Anyway, that should do it, so on with the show! ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 1: The Awakening ++++++++++++++++++++++++ *Note that these chapter names are just things I came up with, so don't take them too seriously - the game doesn't actually name the sections you progress through* Checklist of Important Stuff: [] Went to Rei's room with White Rose [] Went to Asellus's room and met Zozma [] Exchanged LP for any items you wanted with the ugly green goblin guy Once you have control, head south to the next screen. Watch the little scene, then keep going south. Go down the stairways until you get to a split path. Go left here, as going right is a waste of time for the moment. (If you take the right path and go all the way until you get into a room you'll find Harmonium Armour, PowerBelt, SilverMoon(Katana), HarmoniumEarring and LightRifle. Unfortunately, Asellus really needs to work out a bit more, so she can't lift them. Save this room for later.) After heading left, you'll look like a midget - you're outside of the castle, and there are many stairwells you can follow to get around. First, go to the upper right, towards the tower. You should end up on a bridge of sorts. Follow that bridge until you see a man with red hair. Talk to him and watch the scene. Return to the left, and to the midget screen again. Head to the far left (past the door you originally came out of), and up the winding stair case to the northwest tower. Enter it and walk into the blue pool of water at the centre of the room. You'll be teleported to a new room. Exit to the south. You'll see a scene where Asellus compliments the master of the castle on his decorating skills. It becomes apparent, now, that the master of this castle is none other than the Fab Five! Unfortunately, before you can realize this masterpiece of deductive reasoning, someone will appear in the room with you and give you a new perspective on the matter. Watch the short scene, then, once you regain control, head to the right and you'll *gasp* come across that special someone from a minute ago! Well, apparently Asellus is part dog, because you'll have to listen to him when he says to "leave". Head back to the pool of teleportation, and exit this tower. Head down to the very bottom of the area (go down past your room), and enter the door. You should appear at the top of several descending staircases. Follow them all the way down to the next screen. From here, head right into the somewhat open area (the main hallway), then directly north through the open door. Well, get ready for some exposition! You'll learn who you are, why you're here, and much more! Yay! Anyway, after this fun-filled episode, Ildon will join you in your quest to buy a dress. Head south out of the throne room, and further south out of the castle. You'll be in Rootville (which is pretty damn small). Head to the house to the far south, with the yellow lights above it, and enter. Asellus will proceed to get naked and change her clothes. Sadly, for all you perverts out there like myself, this is done entirely tastefully offscreen. DAMN! Anyway, when you've watched the little scene, you'll have control of Asellus once more. Now, with the dress on, she runs normally. Proceed to practice your new running ability by heading north back to the castle. Once you enter the main hallway, head to the right, all the way up the staircase, and to a rose platform (gee, a flower? who would have guessed?). Now, you'll enter your first battle! There's no tutorial, but it should be pretty simple. You can ignore the "choose team" feature for the moment. Hit circle, and just attack the beast with the knife you now magically have equipped. You should kill him in round two with no problems. If you need a refresher on the battle system or a bit more help, check the beginnings of the FAQ. Anyway, this will continue for a bit (yeah, battles are bit boring now, but they'll get better). Once you get your ass kicked, you can leave. If you return to the rose platform, you can fight some more, but for now, I'd suggest you take the time to do some other things. First, return to the main hallway, and head to the left, up the flights of stairs until you reach midget mode again. Go to the upper right tower (over the bridge where you met the red-headed man earlier), and head to the interior room. Search the coffin, and out pops a princess! Damn, if only Prince Charming knew it worked this way too. Anyway, White Rose now joins you. Leave the tower and return to Asellus's room (i.e., where you began the game). White Rose and Ildon will leave you. Return back to the upper right tower and talk to White Rose. A scene or two later, and she'll be in your party. -------------------------- !!!!!ONE CHANCE ALERT!!!!! -------------------------- With White Rose in tow (and only White Rose), head to the lower left tower on the midget screen. Enter the main room with the single coffin (like you did when you met White Rose), and a scene will play out. Talk to White Rose and you'll hear a little bit of plot detail. ***THIS IS REQUIRED IF YOU WANT TO GET REI IN YOUR PARTY LATER IN THE GAME***. There's more to it, but that's it for now. ------------------------------ !!!!!END ONE CHANCE ALERT!!!!! ------------------------------ With that out of the way, return to the training room (the room with the rose platform) and talk to Ildon so he returns to your party. This time, exit to the midget screen and head to the lower right tower. Go to the main coffin room and you'll hear about the Lion Princess. Once this is over, return to the main hallway, and exit the castle to the south. Back in Rootville, head to the top centre house with the white flower stems in front of it. Enter it, and you'll find someone who looks like a goblin (green skin and what appears to be a hard hat). Talk to him for a quick scene, after which you'll receive a CharmNecklace (+1 DEFENSE! GODLY!). Talk to him again, and he'll offer to sell you some nice items at the cost of your max LP. Yes, buying these will lower your LP permanently. However, at least two of them are genuinely worth it: ***Asura - 3 LP ***SandVessel - 1 LP Tao-TeihPattern - 2 LP ShadeRobe - 1 LP The Asura is a sexy sword and well worth the LP loss. The SandVessel is required to get TimeLord on your team later on. Note that if you don't get it now, you CANNOT RECRUIT TIMELORD UNTIL THE END OF THE GAME. You can still recruit him, but not until you basically enter the last dungeon. So you should definitely pick up the SandVessel right now, and the Asura is also a solid pick-up at this point. Leave the Tao-TeihPattern and ShadeRobe - they're not worth it. If you head to the upper right house, you can also buy magic for real money, but unless you've been training incessently, you won't have enough. Skip it for now and return to the castle. In the main hallway, you'll see Rastaban (the only other guy in the castle, who is apparently constantly happy) standing around. Talk to him for a quick scene. After that, you're free for a bit. -------------------------- !!!!!ONE CHANCE ALERT!!!!! -------------------------- Another!? Yep, but this one's a bit easier. Return to Asellus's room, and you'll meet the red-headed guy from earlier! His name's Zozma. You'll see a quick scene with him, where he tells you he is teh aw3s0m3. ***THIS IS REQUIRED IF YOU WANT TO GET ZOZMA IN YOUR PARTY LATER IN THE GAME***. ------------------------------ !!!!!END ONE CHANCE ALERT!!!!! ------------------------------ Anyway, with that done, return to Rootville (sans comrades) and enter the dress shop again. Head to the second floor and speak to the girl in white standing there. Follow her up another floor and speak to her again. The girl's name is Gina. After the short conversation, return to the first floor and talk to the man behind the counter. Once that's done, return to the castle, and as soon as you enter the main hallway, Ciato will stop you and give you a spanking...er...talk. Ciato will give you a bit of information for some random reason, so, as is your duty in any RPG, you must do exactly as the random guy says. Yep. Head back to Rootville, and head to the far, upper left house (past the ugly green guy's house). Talk to the guy at the table, and the plan to escape Facinaturu will be underway! Return to White Rose's room, and watch the short scene. You now have GOLD! Yay! Anyway, White Rose will join you again. Now, if you want to train a bit, head to the hill behined Asellus's room. To get there, head to midget view, and look at where the bridge from the upper right tower leading left stops. Head north from there, into the area behind the main tower where Asellus's room is, and you'll find the hill. Run up and down, training a bit. Note that if you're using the Asura, do be careful: it will eat up some WP, so keep that knife equipped for weaker enemies. Train all you want (but be careful not to head too far up the mountain - there's a boss that will probably kill you at this point - big, giant white thing standing in the space between two stairwells a fair ways in), but when you're ready, return to Rootville. At the lower left corner of the "town", there's a small house. It was locked at the beginning of the game, but now it's open, so head on in there! Talk to the slime, and proceed through the path. I'd give you directions, but there's not anything to actually direct you around, so just head on forward down the only path ("Follow the only road! Follow the only road!" If you're familiar with South Park, you know what I mean >_>). Enemies here are...pretty weak. Hit them with a knife attack twice and they'll die, and techs tend to kill them in a single go. Once you reach the end of the "dungeon", watch the scene, and then you're out of Facinaturu! Yay! Hopefully you've done everything you wanted to do. With that out of the way, it's time for Part II of Asellus's walkthrough. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 2: Not So Little Mermaid ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You'll end up in the town of Owmi. Thankfully, the goddamned repetitive music of Chateau Aguille is gone for a long while, so enjoy what you've got now. Anyway, you'll be in a room with the pilot who brought you here. Talking to him yields nothing important, so head south out of the building into the city proper. Enjoy the new, pretty surroundings. There's not much to do on this first screen, so head left over the bridge, and White Rose will pop out and explain to you a bit about Water Mystics. Obviously, this will have some bearing on your quest. Anyway, after crossing the bridge, there's not too much to do. The people of the town will tell you that about, *gasp*, a Water Mystic being cared for by the Lord of the town. See, I'm psychic? Anyway, the first building over the bridge, with the fountain outside of it and girl with the red hat standing outside is the inn. Staying here heals you, like in most RPGs. It's free and quick, so do it whenever you need. If you talk to the girl in the red hat, she'll tell you that "the Lord's Manor is this way". While she won't be very helpful and point, she has this staring problem, and so, if you follow the way her head turns, and head off straight north after crossing the bridge (off to the right side of the inn) and past the fire hydrant, you'll come to the Lord's manor. Wow, big. Anyway, enter the house uninvited and you'll be greeted by the Master of the House ("Master of the House, isn't worth my spit, comforter, philosopher and life long"...uh...ahem). After a bit of a verbal argument, he'll lead you up to the room where he's keeping the Water Mystic locked up. Walk up to the bed/water she's floating in and talk to her. You'll talk a bit, and then the Water Mystic (named Mesarthim) will join you! Exit the room and talk to the Lord standing in the hallway. Don't leave the house, mmm? Guess what our next mission is, my friends! But before we start that, we have some looting to do! From the exit to Mesarthim's room, head all the way to the end of the hallway to the upper right, and then into the "doorway" exiting out to the right (it's hard to see, but look for a small indentation in the wall). You should be in a hallway with 2 statues standing in front of a large door. Go past them, straight down the hallway to another "doorway". From here, circle around up the stairs to your left, and you'll end up in the attic. Head up the stairs and pick up the GhostCannon and KrisKnife (not to be confused with a CrysKnife) in the brown chests. Return to the hallway with the two statues in it, and enter the large door they're standing in front of. Talk to the Lord and he'll tell you that the basement "isn't safe! Don't go there!". Obviously, this is our next destination. From Mesarthim's room, head out down the hallway, but not all the way to the end. Go straight across from the painting on the left wall down the staircase to arrive at the entrance to the house. Circle down the staircase and veer down to the right to enter another "doorway". Follow the path up and around to a large opening. Go into that opening, head down the stairs, and head left when you reach the bottom through a door. Ignore the boarded up door with the lock on it, and instead run straight to the end of the hallway and turn north past the Menorah and up the stairs. In here, grab the two chests containing a RubberSuit and MaxCure. Now, return to that boarded up door, search it, and you'll be in the basement. First real dungeon time! From the entrance, run down the stairs and into the giant open doorway. In the room you enter, run around, fight if you want, but make sure to grab the Magi-Water and SanctuaryStone (note that the "chests" in this dungeon look like pirate booty, gold with a sword sticking out of it). Note that you might want to fight the gunfish enemies a bit, as they have a chance of dropping the PearlHeart, which nullifies water attacks. If you get one, it'll come in handy soon, but it's not necessary. Anyway, to continue on, head into the "doorway" near the platform where you found the SanctuaryStone. In the next room, grab the RottenMeat and JetBoots. The exit to the next screen is to the right, above the platform where you found the JetBoots. However, you should save before you head that way (what? just a good idea >_>). Also, I'd suggest taking Mesarthim's BlueElf armour off and equipping it on Asellus. Equip a PearlHeart, if you have it, on White Rose. Head to the next screen, and you'll see a giant squid! Run down into him and prepare for your first boss fight! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: DEVILSQUID ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Note that I'm not listing boss HP; it varies based on party HP, so there's not much of a reason to list it, as, considering the nature of SaGa Frontier, party stats will differ widely. I like calamari. It's one of my favourite seafood dishes. Nice and tender, lightly breaded...absolutely delicious! Ahem...anyway, despite the lack of any type of fitting boss music (w00t! random battle music!), this is your first boss. If you have a PearlHeart on White Rose, this battle is pathetically simple. Without it, he's still not tough, but might actually kill someone. His worst attack is Maelstrom, a powerful water attack that strikes all allies, which probably will kill anyone in your party at this point...except for the fact that you have at least two water-nulling equips at this moment: Mesarthim's locked MellowRing, and her BlueElf armour (which you should have put on Asellus, as White Rose can't equip it). With these equipped, Maelstrom shouldn't scare you at all. His other attacks are pretty tame, as they're all single-target: Ink and Feeler are pretty weak, and while MightyCyclone is decent, it still only hits one character. White Rose's StarlightHeal revives downed characters, so make use of it if someone drops. If you got the Asura like I recommended, Asellus can kill this thing by round 3 all by herself. You probably learned DoubleSlash by this point. Use it on the beast to inflict 1000+ damage, which is a huge chunk of his HP all at once. White Rose and Mesarthim probably don't have too much in the way of damage right now. Mesarthim's LifeRain is godly if you need it, but you probably won't. If either Mesarthim or White Rose have a decent absorb, they can do decent damage (with something like Lance or Blade), but the majority of the pain will be dished out by Asellus. Since you can kill him so fast, there should be little problem even if White Rose dies - he'll likely only get one more attack off, and it's not likely it'll kill anyone. *Note: if you exit the room and return, DevilSquid will also respawn, if you wish to fight him again. So, with that out of the way, aren't you proud?! First boss: dead! Badass! Now, to finish up this dungeon. First, don't go near the "chest" in the room the DevilSquid once inhabited - it's a trap that'll drop you down a few levels. Instead, go past the "chest", and into the large door near it. Here you'll find a load of treasures: to the right of the entrance is a MaxCure, for starters. Head to the left, then up at the intersection to acquire an ArmourGlove. Now, off to the left, you might notice a raised platform. Run on to it and head left until you can't see Asellus anymore. Search, and you'll get the JackalSword. Now, keep going up to another platform to grab a ShellBracer. Now, head directly south through the "double doorways" to new room. Head south while hugging the eastern wall, and you should end up on a path heading east that leads to another MaxCure. Now head all the way west, and you should see another "chest". Grab it for RubberShoes. Now, exit the room you came in. From where you come out, head directly west to a new screen. Head west, then south up onto the raised platform to pick up a PearlHeart. Then head west to a "chest" with LeatherBoots. That's everything! Return to where you fought the Devil Squid. Unequip Mesarthim of everything (except her MellowRing, which you can't remove). Run to the far left, and you'll go through another of those blasted "doorways". Run up to the water, and watch the scene. Mesarthim is gone! Nnnnooooo!!!! You'll next be treated to a scene with Orlouge and Ciato (as well as some hinted lesbianism between White Rose and Asellus...ooooohhhhhhh yeah!), where Orlouge tells Ciato to capture White Rose by "any means necessary". Ominous, ain't it? Anyway, you'll be back in Owmi. Head to the inn if you lost any LP, especially on Asellus (and especially if you spent some early on). Then, head to the far southeast of town, past the house with the green door, to return to the pilot. Choose "Board the plane". You'll be taken to Shrike, where Asellus grew up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WALKTHROUGH NOTICE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At this stage in the game, you can technically start the "Interlude" section, as I call it. Basically, now you can start recruiting characters, building up your stats, going on quests, etc., if you so desire. If you want to do so, skip down to the Interlude Section (Chapter 3 of this walkthrough). I don't typically do this, as the plot flows better going straight to this next area and fighting a boss, but it's totally feasible. The choice you make is up to you. I'm going to assume you don't, but as I said, feel free to skip down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END WALKTHROUGH NOTICE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Exit the area you're in by heading to the lower left. Save (yes, another major hint). From where you are, walk down a bit, following the curve of the road, then up to the brown little house. Text should appear saying "My House". Enter it by pressing accept. Watch the short, but kick-in-the-balls scene. Ominous music begins to play, and you'll be thrust into a battle against the first of Ciato's warriors! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: FIRESAGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yay! Boss music! Real boss music! Now for another battle. FireSage has less HP than DevilSquid, and no cheap mass death trick (Maelstrom). You'll instead be dealing with straight-up damage, which shouldn't threaten to kill you at all. HeatSmash is his strongest, but you should easily be able to take at least 1, probably 2 at this point. Once more, if you got the Asura, this boss is a pushover: DoubleSlash from Asellus with the Asura will obliterate him, dealing around 1000 damage to him per hit. White Rose should use StarlightHeal if needed, or any other attack if no healing is needed (MysticSword, or any absorbtion she might have; WaterCannon is good for around 250 damage). Not too much strategy here - just beat him up. After defeating the FireSage, you'll see three lines of text, and then be thrown back to the world map. Congratulations, Chapter 2 is done. Now, the long part this way comes... ++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 3: Interlude ++++++++++++++++++++ Checklist of Important Stuff: [] Recruited Characters [] Did Quests [] Went to Devin and spoke to the woman in front of the temple ***WITH WHITE ROSE IN THE PARTY*** [] Decided on which ending you want And now we get to SaGa Frontier's main feature: the open game! There's a whole bunch of stuff to do right now, and it's my job to explain it to you. So, here's an explanation of some important things you should do, then an analysis of your options. 1) First thing's first, to get it out of the way, head back to the port (where you started after coming to Shrike) and talk to the man at the counter. Go to Devin. Exit the building you start in (and enjoy the music!), and head to the right, where all the signs point. Keep heading right, exiting this screen in the lower right corner. You should see a giant staircase - guess what you need to do here? Yep! Run up it! You'll come out in front of the temple area (it's also apparently Fall here), with a girl standing off to the left. Talk to her for a short scene. ***THIS IS REQUIRED IF YOU WANT TO GET REI IN YOUR PARTY LATER IN THE GAME***. After that, head back to the Devin port. 2) Ok, character recruitment time! Lots of stuff here. Asellus has a decent draw of solid characters she can grab, and you'll want to pick up at least 4-5 of them. Note that Asellus can't pick up any Mecs in her quest, so they're all right out. Also, if this is your first time through the game, I wouldn't recommend trying to train any monsters (and heck, even if this is your 2nd or 3rd time through the game, I wouldn't suggest doing much with monsters >_>). So, here's a list of the characters available to you in Asellus's Quest. Who you choose is entirely up to you in the end, so go with what you want: My Favourites: *Gen - Human *Emelia - Human *Fuse - Human *Rouge - Human *TimeLord - Mystic (See Below) Other characters: *Annie - Human *Cotton - Monster *Fei-On - Human *Kylin - Monster (See Below) *Lute - Human *Riki - Monster *Sei - Monster (See Below) *Silence - Mystic *Slime - Monster *Suzaku - Monster *Thunder - Monster Special Characters: *TimeLord - Mystic (see the Time Magic Sidequest section) *Kylin - Monster (see the Space Magic sidequest section) *Sei - Monster (see the Sei's Tomb sidequest section) Ok, that's the whole list! Now, for a bit of extra exposition! You can have a max of 15 characters (your main + 14 others). Since you have White Rose and Asellus forced right now, you can pick up 13 more. I do not advise you pick up 13 more characters, unless you really want to put the work into 15 different characters. There's a list of how to acquire the characters earlier in this FAQ, so I'll just default you there to save space (granted...I might add to this in the future). Regardless, make sure you pick up at least 4 more characters. Why 4, you might ask? Well, you'll want to replace White Rose later. Use her now, but once you've got 4 more solid characters, unequip her and bench her, as she'll be leaving 80% of the way through the quest. For characters, I recommend grabbing Rouge (grab him immediately), Emelia, Fuse, Gen (all of whom can be grabbed on the same quest in quick succession), and TimeLord (the latter will take a little work, but is well worth it - ***YOU MUST HAVE THE SANDVESSEL FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME TO RECRUIT HIM***). If you can't grab one of them, Annie is a decent replacement if you need someone else, and Lute, Kylin or Fei-On will work in a pinch. 3) With new characters, you need equipment! The easiest way to do that at this point in the game is to head to Scrap (where you'll find Gen). Once you hit midget mode, head to the lower right building, called "Junk Shop". There's an explanation of the Junk Shop Trick later in the FAQ, but for now, here's the rundown: Buy your way into the junk shop (cost varies, but should be affordable right now), grab 3 items, return to the shopkeeps, go to Sell, click on the HyperionBazooka like you'd want to sell it, cancel out, then go grab 7 more items. Repeat ad nauseum. The "chests" you're looking for are the barrels and other assorted junk in the top centre of the screen (there are 6 different places total: 1 for a junk weapon, 2 for junk guns, and 3 for junk armour). There's some good stuff here: WarlordArmour, ExcelShield, LethalGun, etc. Make sure to sell any RepairKits you get, as selling them increases the quality of the items you pick up over time. An hour of this should net you plenty of equipment and a bit of money for later. This should equip your characters for the trials to come. 4) Quests! Things like the Arcane Quest, Rune Quest, quests for the gifts in several magics, etc., are available now. If you want to get TimeLord (above), then you'll have to finish one of the Rune or Arcane Quests, as well as one of the Light or Shadow Quests. So do them! Before doing these quests, make sure the characters you want to acquire the gifts are in your party - if you start the Arcane Quest, then grab Rouge, he can't get the Arcane Gift, for instance. Doing these quests will strengthen your characters, and they typically won't take too long, so do as many as you like. 5) Endings! Asellus has 3 different endings to choose from. You might have noticed that Asellus learned a skill called MysticSword after beating FireSage (if she didn't don't worry, you can get it later - just make sure you have a free ability slot next time you fight a plot boss). You might have noticed Mesarthim and White Rose had the same skill, and potentially a MysticGlove and/or MysticBoot skill as well. The FAQ has a solid explanation of how Mystics work, but I'll elaborate on a few points that concern you here. Basically, Mystics don't gain stats like Humans or Asellus does. Their stats are fixed. Using a Mystic skill on enemies can "Absorb" enemies. This is how Mystics boost their stats, as well as gain additional skills. You might have experimented with this a bit ago. Now that Asellus has the Mystic skills, she can start working on boosting her Mystic side by absorbing enemies. Depending on how many enemies you absorb (as well as an upcoming event), the ending of the game changes: A) Don't absorb any monsters for Asellus + "Save" = Human (has one extra boss fight compared to the other two endings) B) Absorb any monster for Asellus + "Save" = Half-Mystic C) Don't absorb any monsters for Asellus + "Don't Save" = Half-Mystic D) Absorb any monster for Asellus + "Don't Save" = Full Mystic Human, Half-Mystic and Full Mystic are the 3 different endings. The "Save" event occurs at near the end of the game, which I'll elaborate on once we get to that point. Anyway, about now is when you'll want to start thinking about which ending you prefer. The Half-Mystic is canon (much like the Bad Ending in the Shadow Hearts series), but I personally prefer the Full Mystic ending. The choice, as always, is yours. Anyway, take as long as you like sidequesting, or as short as you like. At a minimum, I'd suggest grabbing more characters, and picking up some new magic and equipment (Junk Shop!). Then you should be ready for the next part of the game! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 4: A Series of Unfortunate Events +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Checklist of Important Stuff: [] Defeated WaterSage [] Defeated GreenSage [] Defeated LionPrincess [] Met Ildon [] Defeated Ciato [] Finished the Dark Labyrinth There's a bunch of boss fights, as you can see. Now, you might ask how you access them. As tends to be the case with SaGa, it's "Find the Story" time! To move through the game now, you'll have to visit places to encounter the bosses mentioned above. Since it's generally "search around and hope you find it", I'll give you these places to save time. Aren't I awesome? Anyway, these 11 places are where you can encounter these bosses/events. It's random which specific place it'll happen, but these are the places to go. *Mu's Tomb (Shrike) - Head left and around the grassy area until you reach the entrance to the tomb. You'll come out to a fork where there's a man standing. From here, head down the left path and enter the first door (it's off to the left of the path, before you get to the exit to a screen filled with coffins). *Sei's Tomb (Shrike) - Assuming you can find the damn entrance (it's under the trees slighty to the right of the rock face you start on), follow the path down the stairs into the next room. You're now in the altar room. Head past out the exit in the lower right to a new room where there's a shield on the wall and two skeletons in the upper right corner of the screen. You are there! *Luminous (Uh...Luminous >_>) - Exit the port. *Space Shrine (Devin) - Where Princess Rei is atop the many stairs. This is typically a good place to start if you're looking for some enemies to kill. *Swamp (Yorkland) - From entering Yorkland, head south until you reach the intersection. Go left, and you're there. *Garden (Kyo) - From exiting the port, take the first path north, then east to the centre section of midget mode, the little area surrounded by red flowers. It's the garden >_> *Alley (Koorong) - From entering Koorong (exit from the port), head left until you see a staircase going down. Head down. Upon entering the next screen, head down until you can go left, then head all the way left to the next screen, and you're there. *Lord Manor (Owmi) - Uh...go to the entrance >_> *Parking LOt (Baccarat) - Go to where you had to recruit Emelia (if you got her). Take an elevator down to the parking level. *Shingrow - Head north out of the port. On midget mode, head to the ruins in the northeast section of the map. Enter them, and you're there. *Wrecked House (Wakatu) - YOU MUST HAVE GEN TO GO HERE. Talk to the skeleton north of where you start. Head north through the giant doors, then head left. Gen will then pop out and tell you to "follow him". Head north until you can go east, then do so. Continue heading east, up the stairs, then north to the next screen. You're there. At any of these points you can see the events above. They occur in order, so when you're ready, search around for your next boss! Also, make sure Asellus has at least one free skill slot at the end of this battle, as she'll learn a new skill from it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: WATERSAGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mmmm...first fire, now water. No, there isn't a HeartSage, sadly. Anyway, fun stuff. WaterSage is tougher than FireSage, due to having the dreaded Oscillation skill. It hits every character for solid sonic-type damage. This is the toughest part of the battle; if you can survive Oscillation, you can easily take this battle, as his other attacks are pretty weak. Before fighting him, you probably want to head to Shingrow, then head to the ruins to grab the Harmonium equipment, which nullifies sonic attacks. There's not really too much to this boss other than Oscillation - if you can live through it, you can easily paste him. Hit him with your strongest attacks (you should have some decent mid-power techs and spells right now - if not, you might be in trouble coming up), and heal yourself if needed. The Asura on a solid sword-user with a strong skill will make WaterSage cry (see, the Asura is easily worth 3 LP early on!): it's quite possible you'll one-round him if you get off a good combo attack. One down, 5 more events to go! Start searching for the next event at any of the listed places, and get ready for another battle! Once more, make sure Asellus has a free skill slot, as she'll learn a new skill once this battle is over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: GREENSAGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHY COULDN'T IT BE THE EARTHSAGE OR SOMETHING!? MY CAPTAIN PLANET NAMING SCHEME IS NOW RUINED!!! Ahem...anyway, I hope you're still packing the sonic protection for this fight. The GreenSage is a bit different than his friends. First off, he doesn't have Oscillation, but instead can double-act each round. He still has a sonic attack, Scream, that hits an area. Not as strong as Oscillation, but still nasty if he uses it intelligently. He also has Ectoplasnet, which inflicts Instant Death with a high success rate. I'd suggest you have the Harmonium stuff, as well as BloodChalices on everyone possible (sonic protection and instant death protection, respectively). Finally, he counters all close-range attacks (most sword techs and martial arts techs) with Counter Fear, which inflicts Red Mess. As with WaterSage, beat him with your strongest techs, as his HP aren't much better, so he should fall quickly (also, you should be getting stronger, so that's part of it >_>). What challening bosses Ciato sends after us. You should now have all 3 Mystic skills for Asellus (if you're missing one, don't worry - you still have a few more boss battles to acquire them in; just make sure she has some free slots to learn skills with). Once again, search the previously mentioned spots, and you'll face yet another boss! This one actually gets some screentime, and you've probably learned about her if you explored Facinaturu last time you were there, so... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: LIONPRINCESS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLOT DEVICE TIME! Also, enjoy the new, sexy major boss music. Granted, she's not that tough, all things considered. First, she's the first boss you'll notice with a shield, meaning she can block your attacks. You'll want to use techs like Throws, which ignore the shield blocking. In addition, like with GreenSage, avoid close-range attacks: she'll counter with Kasumi, very likely killing your character. Other than that, she has strong physical attacks like Heaven/Hell, but these are blockable, so it's easily survivable. She's also got FireBreath, ArcticBreath and some other magic-esque attacks, but these aren't too much to worry about. She alternates between using the physical attacks and magical attacks - first round, she'll use physicals like Heaven/Hell; second round she'll use FireBreath and the like. This should help you predict what to do to counter her. LionPrincess gets pasted pretty fast, like the last few bosses - just make sure you avoid her counterattacks, and you should be fine. Gunners completely maul her, for instance. Well, that sequence of bosses is out of the way. And we're halfway done with this section! Yay! Anyway, head to yet another event point, and you'll be greeted by...*gasp*! Ildon!? He'll give you a little bit of a story about Ciato, and warn you that he's coming after you next. Then he'll join you! He's probably a bit weaker than your other characters, but an extra body if you want it (or if you like Mystics in general). Anyway, guess what time it is again? Yep! Time to play "Find the plot" some more! So, go to the event locations some more, until you find the next boss! Time to face your old pal Ciato in combat! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: HUNTERKNIGHT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wow...what's with the plot-hyped bosses...sucking? Anyway, Ciato's damaging attacks shouldn't worry you. Your biggest threats here are PhantasmShot and Fascination, which inflict random statuses and charm, respectively. Like the rest of the bosses you've fought, he falls fast. Hit him hard and he'll go down before you know it, before the status attacks become anissue. Not much to say here - he's in the same mold as the rest of the bosses you've fought. You'll get a short scene after beating Ciato, explaining how powerful Orlouge is. Now, you've got one thing left in this chapter, and to accomplish it, guess what? Yep, this is the last time you'll have to wander around to those event locations! Yippee!!!!! Wander around to the event locations a bit (if you had trouble with some of the boss fights, build your characters up a bit). You'll know you've hit the next event when you...uh...appear somewhere randomly >_> Anyway, you're now in Orlouge's Dark Labyrinth! Yippe! Apparently no one leaves without making a sacrifice! Yay! Why am I happy?! I don't know! The quest is nearly over, so let's get through this! It's actually, for a massive labyrinth, pathetically easy to get around. Or, you could do what I did my first time and just wander around randomly! No? Really? That your final answer? Ok...spoiled sport! First, head to the northeast green door (there are only 2 doors on this screen that are green, one in the northeast, the other in the southwest). After exiting, take the only other green door on the screen (i.e., below and to the left of where you start). On the next screen, take the green door to the far northwest corner of the screen. -------------------------- !!!!!ONE CHANCE ALERT!!!!! -------------------------- Yes! Another! Don't worry, this is the last one for this walkthrough. Anyway, slightly off to your left, you might notice a floating...turnip? Talk to him (wow, for a vegetable, he's a smartass), and he'll join you once you leave the dungeon. He's a monster, but hey, he's a TURNIP!!! WHAT COULD BE MORE AWESOME THAN A JACKASS VEGETABLE!? ------------------------------ !!!!!END ONE CHANCE ALERT!!!!! ------------------------------ Now that you've talked to/not talked to the cute little turnip, head to the door directly to the southeast of Turnip (southwest of the door you came in), which is dead centre of the screen. Congratulations! Thou hast defeated the Dark Labyrinth. Thy gold increases by...*gets shot* But what's this!? Something is wrong! White Rose will no longer be in your party, for reasons I shall not explain. Suffice to say, I hope you weren't training her heavily or relying on her. Note that there will be a point where the screen goes dark - hit the accept button to make it go away (I thought the game glitched on me first time through). At this point, Turnip will become your replacement for White Rose if you talked to him (but why wouldn't you!?). Also, if you did what I mentioned way back in Chapter 1 of the Walkthrough (remember that!? Oh, it was so long ago!) and went to your room and had a conversation with Zozma, he'll join you too. He'll also hype lesbianism for all, which makes him a complete badass in my book. Congratulations! You're now done with all those events, as well as Chapter 4 of the Walkthrough! Now, for the final chapter to begin... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 5: How to Handle a Woman ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Checklist of Important Stuff: [] Recruited Rei [] Recruited Mesarthim [] Save/Don't Save Gina [] Defeated Ciato [] Defeated LionPrincess [] Defeated Orlouge Final chapter, baby! First, before we head to the final battle, let's grab 2 last characters (both are optional, but hey, you've worked most of the game towards them, so I say grab them!) First, head to Devin and head up to the Space Temple. Ildon will reappear, and your party will rejoin you (if you didn't notice, they were missing after the Dark Labyrinth)! Now, talk to that girl, and she'll reveal herself as Princess Rei (if you did everything I noted earlier - went to her room with White Rose in Facinaturu, and talked to her with White Rose after leaving Facinaturu). Just let her join you, and she's yours! Now, head back to Owmi, and return to the Lord's Manor. Remember where Mesarthim left your party? You don't? HOW COULD YOU!? Anyway, head through the Lord's basement until you get to the DevilSquid. Kill him, then head left to the pool of water. Go up to the water, and Mesarthim will come swimming back up to you. Mesarthim will now become your sex sl...er...ally. Yes, ally. Now, finish any sidequests or other adventures you want. When you're ready, head to the port in Owmi. Talk to Mr. Pilot (wow, he hasn't moved from that spot since you talked to him at the beginning...he's like the guards at Buckingham Palace), and tell him you're going to Facinaturu. You'll end up at the exact place he picked you up the first time, i.e., in the cavern below the slime house. Head up through the short passageway, back into Rootville. Once you exit the slime house, head right over to Gina's house. Upon entering, her father will yell at you! He thinks you took Gina away for nasty, evil things. Huh, I think he forgot he lives in a land ruled by nasty cross-dressing lesbians, but hey, what do I know? Anyway, head up to the castle. Your first stop is back near your room. Remember that split path I talked about with treasure you couldn't pick up? Yeah, go there, and now you can magically pick up the treasure! Grab it, as it includes the strongest gun in the game, as well as the SilverMoon, a badass Katana. When you're done, exit the room, and get ready for one last decision. As I mentioned in the Interlude section, Asellus has 3 endings you can see: Human: No Mystic Weapons filled with absorptions, save Gina Half-Mystic: A) At least 1 Mystic Weapon with an absorption, save Gina B) No Mystic Weapons filled with absorptions, don't save Gina Full Mystic: At least 1 Mystic Weapon with an absorption, don't save Gina At this stage in the game, you need to decide if you want to save Gina or not. If you want multiple endings, just make multiple saves. Anyway, I'm going to walk you through saving Gina, as that's the long way around all this. If you don't intend to save Gina, then don't fight the first two bosses, and just continue on the way up to the 3rd boss. Anyway, from your room area, head towards the upper right tower, but instead of turning right, keep going up, and you'll end up at a spiraling staircase. Follow it up (the only path you can) to a cave. Once again, follow the only path here to end up outside the cave. From here, follow the only path up until you get to a two-way split. Take the left path into another cave (the right path is a dead end). Exit this very short cave by following the only path. After exiting this short cave, follow the only path up until it splits again. To the left, inside the cave is a healing spot (go up to the crystals and press accept). Use it if you need. To the right is the path you need to follow. Notice the...thing, sitting there? If you hug the bottom section of the stairs and follow it, you won't touch him (and therefore won't fight him). I'm going to assume you do, however... ***NOTE THAT YOU MUST BEAT HIM IF YOU WISH TO SAVE GINA*** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: GIANT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wandered too far early on, you might have met this guy. Guess what? If he kicked your ass then, now it's time to return the favour. Booya! Anyway, like most of the other bosses in this quest, Giant is...frail. Also, by this stage in the game, you should have Deflect on your swordsmen, as well as shields. Every one of Giant's attacls are evadable, and having Deflect and a shield on all your characters makes this a cakewalk, as he'll likely never hit you. Also, for kicks, he's vulnerable to instant death. If you feel like being malicious, try to get DeadEnd's instant death effect to hit him! Note that the Giant does have a shield equipped, so he might dodge some of your attacks...which MIGHT make the battle take 3 turns instead of 2! Anyway, after defeating the Giant, walk into the little grate thingy that he was standing in front of. It'll now open. Uh...ok, what was that for? Well, head back to the cave you were in before coming to this screen. You'll see a bit of light shining on a door far to the left. Enter that door to fight... ***NOTE THAT WINNING THIS FIGHT WILL MAKE YOU INELIGIBLE FOR THE FULL MYSTIC ENDING*** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: GRIFFIN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Uh...see Giant, except he's even frailer. Yeah, I'd love to give you help with this boss if you need it, but I'd just be insulting your intelligence if I did. After defeating the mightiest of flying beasts, return to the healing room near where the Giant was. Heal up, and now prepare for the final showdowns. Head beyond where the Giant was to a new screen. Head up the spiral staircase (the only path you can) to a door at the top. Enter it. You'll find yourself in a very familiar place: where Asellus got stabbed brutally early in the game. Head through the field of flowers to the right, and to the next screen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: BATKNIGHT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ciato's bbbaaaacccckkkk!!!! And with awesome music too! And, like the past few bosses, he's pretty weak. Once more, you're more likely to die from a status effect than from actual damage here, even with Ciato's support bats. Even if every enemy gangs up on one person, they're not likely to die (...). Also, as was the case with the last 2 bosses, Ciato will die pretty fast. Use a multi-target attack like VermillionSand or HazetoWheel to take out the bats and damage Ciato at the same time. The bats regenerate 1 each round, up to a max of 2, but they'll probably never get a turn, so this is mostly trivia. Beating Ciato up will eliminate the bats as well. Just use your strongest techs, and he'll go down fast. You've finally disposed of Ciato once and for all! Rejoice, yon peasants! Continue heading up the stairs and...well, another boss! Who would have expected this? One more reunion for the show... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: LIONPRINCESS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once more, with feeling! LionPrincess continues the fine tradition the past 3 bosses started of dying horrendously fast. She follows the same alternating attack pattern as last time (physical one round, then magical the next round). She still also has Kasumi, so watch those close-range techs. But other than that...same mold as last time, but you're so much stronger you'll likely paste her in one round. Real pathetic, plot device... After defeating LionPrincess, you'll be given the GoldenLion, the strongest sword in the game. Badass. Now, head up the next flight of stairs to meet another (and final, I promise!) old friend. It's Rastaban! Whether or not the following battle takes placed depends on if you're in line for the Human ending or not. If you're getting the Human ending, you fight him. If not, you don't fight him. In case you're getting the Human ending, here he is! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOSS FIGHT: BLACKKNIGHT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He's a bit tougher than the last 4 bosses, but you should still nuke him pretty fast. The attack of note here is Selection, which inflicts Stone, Palsy, Sleep, Berserk, and Venom all at once on an ally. Other than that, he's generally in the same mold as the last 4 bosses, so handle him accordingly. He has better HP than the other 4 bosses, so you might actually need 3-4 rounds to kill him! Fight him or not, you'll acquire the PlutoArmour afterwards, the strongest armour in the game. Now, head to the left, and to the next screen. Heal up with a SanctuaryStone, and walk to the door. Ildon will jump out and ask you if you're ready. Say yes, and you'll enter the door. ***DO NOT SAVE HERE, AS YOU CANNOT LEAVE!!!*** Follow the stairwell up to a tulip platform, then down to the next screen. Head to the left, and speak with Orlouge. After the conversation, head right, and back through the door. Run up to the tulip platform and speak with Orlouge to begin the final battle! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FINAL BOSS FIGHT: ORLOUGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finally! A competent boss. Took long enough. Also, cool and fitting final battle music (probably my favourite of all the mains). Of course, to be competent, he has a few oddball tricks. So, prepare for an actual in-depth boss strategy for an actual enemy worthy of the term "boss"! Orlouge has 3 phases: 1) Behind Orlouge are 3 figure-heads. Each round, a random one acts (Orlouge doesn't). 2) A random figure-head acts each round. Orlouge can also, randomly and rarely, act to use the Selection skill (same as Rastaban had). 3) All 3 figure-heads either act individually while Orlouge uses Selection, or the combo attack 3Mistresses is used (high damage to all your characters, and lowers their Strength and Will). So, now you know what he can do. Each figure-head has different attacks, and there's a huge variety between everything, so guarding everything is very hard. I'd suggest guarding against Stone status, as it takes priority over all other status effects that Selection inflicts - either that, or make sure to have access to your inventory and loads of restorative items. Guarding sonic might not be a bad idea, as one of the figure-heads does have Oscillation. Make sure you have a solid healer (Mesarthim is excellent if you've worked with her, as LifeRain is completely awesome for this and any battle) for this fight: try to give any Humans Mind Magic so they have MindHeal for full healing whenever needed. Make sure you have some strong techs learned (BoundShot for the gunners, RosarioImpale or above for swordsmen, MegaWindBlast for mages, etc.), as you do need to damage Orlouge to defeat him. Strike Orlouge hard and fast, but keep healed. Orlouge has the lowest HP of the SaGa Frontier main bosses (what is it with Asellus's Quest and low HP bosses?), so he's a bit esier than you'd expect him to be, despite the oddball bunches of tricks. Keep up the pressure and take it slowly and easily, and you'll win this fight. With Orlouge out of the way, the ending you get depends on the factors I mentioned at the start of the chapter. Enjoy your ending, and play again to get a new one! Thanks for reading this! I'll be back again for more! ==== BLUE ==== Coming soon ====== EMELIA ====== Coming Soon ==== LUTE ==== Coming Soon === RED === Coming Soon ==== RIKI ==== Info Written By: Infinity Dragon NOTE: I apologize for the bad format, however, the info there is still good and should be complete. I'll try to spice it up so its less bland later, though no promises. Again, while the format and writing style might not be that great, the info is still adequete. -Fight Pink Lummox (Foxy Sisters) until Riki has learned ElfShot, Chop, Claw, and Feint. Probably need to devote one slot to each, otherwise you'll just trade off. Don't worry, can switch out for better skills shortly. KEEP TAIL HIT -Talk to Mei Ling, talk to Gen. Leave Bar, Gen joins. -Go to Factory, watch scene. Automatically returned to Bar. Talk to T260, joins Talk to Lute, he leaves to get information Talk to Gen, say you're ready Watch Scene -In Factory Pick up bag of 400 Credits Talk to Lute and Mei Ling if you want. Leave to South -Enter middle-left building, pick up KukriBlade (Give to Lute) -Enter top-left building, pick up bag of 400 Credits -Lower right building is enter -Enter Factory Main to the north Will likely encounter Xeno. Absorb Fang from them, and keep it for remainder of game. Fight or avoid the two nearby Mechs, then press the orange switch towards the far right. Go through door on right near the switch just pressed Go up the stairs, then left through door. Press nearby orange switch. Return back to first switch, then head left to another switch. Time pressing 0 when crane above the gunner. Kill Human to south, then examine far left crate for a PowerCure Kill Undead, then examine crate to far left for a SteelAmulet Press switch at top left to move a crate to second floor. Return to second floor Go across catwalk, kill two Human enemies. Press switch on top to take out another enemy. Return to first floor. Clear out any enemies. Talk to Caballero Boss fight -Take out a tractor first, then concentrate on the main boss. Having a solid form, such as a razor back, makes this very easy. -Head to the port, pay 10 CR to return to Koorong. KOORONG -In Koorong, talk to Mei-Ling, choose whatever you want, there isn't any effect. -You can go do some training in the Koorong sewers, or you can continue the story. -After finishing with Koorong, take a ship to any destination (Doesn't matter) -En route, Tanzer eats you. TANZER -Fight the Undead group, then talk to Fei On -Mei Ling leaves, follow her and talk to her. -Head left, kill the Insect group and Undead group, follow path south, kill Aquatic group and go down the ladder. -Kill the Fairy type (If Banshee, work towards getting CounterFear). -Go down ladders. Kill a Beast and Bird. Exit left. -Kill Mech, left, kill Aquatic, down kill mech, talk to Fei On. Follow him south. -You're now in a “town”. The “inn” (LP only) is in the top right middle door. Far right will be Fei On. Talk to him. Talk to him again, say “yes”. Follow him out back to the “dungeon” -Go north to Fei On, follow him. -Kill Undead (If GhostRider, work on obtaining Siren), head north, kill Insect. Exit north through weird looking door. -Kill Mech and Fairy types. Don't go through the valve-door (It'll take you back to the room with two Undead). Exit North. -Head to upper-right where Fei On is. Follow him north. -Go through the valve where Fei On is standing. -Head south, kill Undead. Continue south and go through valve-door. -Head north and exit through valve-door. -Kill Demon type. Head north and exit through valve-door. -Kill Undead. Go south and talk to Fei On. Walk onto the slimy spot next to Fei On's left. (Using the valve-door to the north-east to reach the Rune won't work. Instead of fighting the Slimes, you'll be taken back to Fei On.) -Head to the top-right to Fei On. Exit north via the ladder. -After the dialogue, kill the big group of 3 Undead and 3 Humans. Exit north. -Exit right. -Kill the three Humans and the Aquatic. Nab the “Magi-Water” and go back to the left. -Exit North -Kill the Undead and the Mech. Grab the “MisslePod”. Go back outside. -Kill the Undead and the Aquatic, continue left and kill the Mech. Upper left door only contains a Mech and Aquatic with no treasure, so skip it. Exit to the lower left. -Kill the PlatyHooks and RazorBack. Not a challenge. If you're lucky, you'll absorb BoomerangHook from PlatyHooks. Examine the dresser for a “SanctuaryStone”. Exit through the manhole in the lower left. Tell Fei On you're ready. -Head south killing the Plant type. South past the ladder, kill Undead type. Continue south, kill Plant type. Continue path to the door. Nomad screams for help, start boss fight with Tanzer. TANZER BOSS: Siren + BearCrush = 2500 damage. Bound Shot = 1000. BearCrush = 700. Just keep up the pressure and he should die before you lose anyone. Absorb Tanzer for HP Drain. AFTER TANZER -Now may be a good time to collect party members. First to get is Nusakan. Head to Yorkland. From the port head south into town. Enter the big house in the middle of town. Fight the Mollasite, shouldn't be hard at all after taking on Tanzer. Just use your best Techs and he should run after 2-3 rounds. Back in Koorong, go to the back alley on the lower level (With the three Flying types). -Enter the office on the lower level. Talk to the skeleton thing, then enter the door. Nusakan joins. -Replace Fei On with Nusakan. -Return to Yorkland. Head to the house, Nusakan tells you how to deal with Mollasite. BOSS FIGHT MOLLASITE -Now its probably a good time to get Mesarthim. Head to Manhattan. From Port head to Shopping Mall. Head upstairs and go into the Accessory shop. You'll see that the schemer ring has been bought by the Lord of Owmi. -Head to Owmi. From town head north to the Lord's Manor. Fall down the trap. -Kill the two slimes. Head west, kill 3 plant type. Head upstairs. -Kill two Fairy type and 3 Mech type. Pick up “PearlHeart” in middle of room and “LeatherBoots” in the upper left. Exit to the lower right. -Kill two Demon types. Pick up “ArmorGlove”. Head up, kill Insect, grab “ShellBracer”. Head down, kill Insect. Grab “MaxCure”. Exit down (Don't take stairs yet). -Kill Beast type. Head to lower right and kill Beast and Bird type. Pick up MaxCure. Head left and kill another Bird type. Pick up “RubberShoes”. Exit north. -Go up stairs. -Ignore both the Squid and the treasure. Exit to the left. -Run up to the water. Since Nusakan is in the party, Mesarthim joins (Make sure you let her join and don't ask for an item). Now replace Lute with Mesarthim (She's FAR superior). Exit back to the squid. -Go up to the squid to start a fight. Equip as much Water protection as possible. BOSS FIGHT DEVIL SQUID -Not too hard. Maelstrom is your biggest worry, and if you have two PearlHearts, only one character will take damage (Move Mes's BlueElf to Nusakan). Siren + BearCrush slaughters (2500). -Go up stairs. -Kill two Aquatic types. Pick up “JetBoots” and “RottenMeat”. Go up stairs. -Kill Demon and Aquatic. Pick up “Magi-Water” (Upper left) and “SanctuaryStone” middle. Kill another Demon and Aquatic. Go up stairs. -Kill insect. Go up stairs. -Go up the stairs in the back. -Open the chests for “RubberSuit” and “MaxCure”. Go back down stairs. -Exit to the far right. -Go up stairs. -Follow hall out door. -Back in the ante-room. Go up stairs and through the door. -Take the upper door (Not visible). -Ignore big north door for now, exit to the right. -Go up stairs. -Open chests for “GhostCannon” and “KrisKnife” -Go back down stairs to the hall with big door. Go through the door. Watch scene and get ring. Exit mansion, then head back to Port. Go back to Koorong. -Talk to Mei Ling to hear about a ring. Automatically taken to Baccarat. -Head downstairs and enter first door. Watch scene with the guy hanging. -Chase the rat around Baccarat. At top floor, chandelier crashes. -Go into the sewer. -Fight insect. Head right. Follow mouse south to. Fight insect. Exit south. -South, fight Mech. SLOWLY head south, getting mouse to run into southeast corner. SLOWLY move forwards to trap it. When close, examine it to get the ring. FIGHTER RING -Head to Shrike, to Sei's Tomb. -Follow path to tomb entrance. -Kill Fairy, and two slimes. Follow path to door. -Can't do anything in chamber, exit right. - Just left of the stairs is a cracked floor. Stand on it to drop down a level -Follow ledge to sword. Examine it to fight some Undead. Receive “Murakumo” after winning. -Jump off the right side. Exit room via stairs to the right. -Back in upper room. Head right to the purple sparks. Examine it to fight some more undead. Receive the “Mizukagami” after the fight. Head to the south-most door. -Exit through the nearby upper right (Only enemies in rest of room, no items) -Go to the southeast part of the room to the weird '9' shaped object. Examine it to begin a fight. Receive a “Magatama” after winning. Return all the way back to the room with the three altars. -Place the three items you received on the altars to open the door. Go north through the door. -Go up and examine the coffin. Watch the scene. You get the Fighter Ring and KingSei joins. -Return to Koorong -Talk to Mei Ling and say you want to go to Despair. Lisa overhears you and tells you to talk to Annie. -Go talk to Annie (Blond girl in upper section of Koorong). -Watch the scene. Go left and enter Despair. -Follow the path right. -Follow annie up the ladder. -Go across the pipes to next room. -Go up the ladder. Follow the upper pipe over the lower, then go down the ladder. Exit right. -Room with 2 Birds and a Fairy. Take them out. Go up the north ladder to next room. -Go down ladder, kill beast. Jump off ledge. Follow Annie up the ladder. -Go right, fight some Beasts. Go downstairs, fight an Insect. Go down to the green door. Kill beast, go through the door. -Watch scene. Get Ring. MOSPERIBURG -All that remains is Mosperiburg. Before tackling the final dungeon, equip everyone with the best gear, learn solid techs, and do any sidequests you wish to complete. -Fly to Mosperiburg, head up the central path and go through the door. -Head up the stairs and exit through the open door. Watch scene, get teleported back to the entrance chamber -Go left (without going down stairs) and go through the door. -Take the north branch. -Room 1: Pac Man Maze (Orange) -Go around the room collecting all the money bags. -Kill any nearby Slime enemies (4 total) -After all money bags are collected, a chest falls. -Open the chest for a key. -Leave the maze -Now take the western branch -Room 2: Barrels (Purple) -This rooms requires you to find a mouse holding the ring (ala the ring in Baccarat) -Easy way: Open the middle barrel on the protruding ledge. -Normal way: Open barrels until you find the ring. Any barrel not containing the ring triggers a fight. -Leave the room. -Exit to the right. -Now head to the far right, through the door (cannot see) -Take the southeastern branch. -Room 3: Bowling (Blue) -Kill all the enemies (Water, Undead, Beast, Plant). -Blue ring appears after defeating the last one. -Ignore the occasional speeding Insect type. -Exit the room. -Now take the northeastern branch. -Room 4: Spike Maze (Red) -This one is as annoying as hell -The floor is invisible. If you run off the path onto a spike, a battle starts. -First part is the trickiest. A spike section blocks you from the main path. Go to the end of the entrance and go just slightly below halfway. Push up against the spikes, if you trigger a battle, you are too high. Press 'O' and you will jump onto the path. -Use the map below to help guide you. General directions are: -Up against the wall, collect 400 C in alcove. -S 3 full steps, E 4 full steps, N 6 full steps, W 1 step, N 2 steps, E 1 step, N 1 step, E 4 steps, S 1 step, SE 1 step, E 1 step, N 2 steps, E 3 steps, collect 400 C, W 3 steps, S 2 steps, W 1 step, S 3 steps, E 1 step, NE 1 step, E 2 steps, S 4 steps, collect Key. -Exit west. -Go downstairs, go through the southwest door. -Take the west branch. Go through the door. -Room 5: Graveyard (White) -Go down the stairs -Examining some of the graves make some Undead appear. -Examine the top-middle grave to find the key. -Exit the room. -Take the north branch -Room 6: Tournament (Purple) -Beast, Fairy, Demon, Machine -Enter the platform from any of the four areas. -You'll be in a single elimination tournament. -Beat both rounds. -Exit the room -Exit back to the entrance chamber. -Go through the southeastern door. -Take the northern branch -Room 7: Game Show (Teal) -Enter the room and a game show starts. -As the rules say, you need to compare the prices of items. If the second one given is higher, choose HI, otherwise choose LOW. -If you answer wrong, you will fight a battle. -Answer correctly 8 times. -Osc Sword -> GrainCannon (HI) -> Aguni SSP (LOW) -> HardLeather (HI) -> ArmorVest (HI) -> PoweredSuit (HI) -> ElectroArmor (LOW) -> SamuraiSword (LOW) -> LightningCannon (HI). -Get key and LightningCannon. -Leave room. -The final room can be tough, so I'd recommend healing, then returning to the castle. -After healing, go back to the southeastern door in the foyer, then take the easter exit. -Room 8: Magma Slimes (Yellow) -This room is painfully annoying. Hopefully have a high LP form for Riki. -Head down to the middle of the platform. Get attacked by magma slimes. -Must defeat 6 waves of 5 MagmaSlimes -MagmaSlimes spam MagmaTouch which deals 1 LP of damage. Initiative. -Have Riki use the ThiefRing if he is in trouble of dying. -Have solid MT attacks, such as ShockSoldier, MegaWindblast, and Haze to Wheel. -After defeating the slimes, exit the room. -Time to face off with Virgil. First, heal up, since you'll likely need full WP for this fight. -After healing, head back to Virgil's room. BOSS FIGHT: VIRGIL -In order to defeat Virgil, you must deal combos, which are scored as followed. Vergil's attacks aren't very threatening. Tornado is the worst, which can be healed easily by MysticWear. -2 Hit Combo: 0 Points -3 Hit Combo: 2 Points -4 Hit Combo: 3 Points -5 Hit Combo: -DSC counts as a combo for as many hits as it lands. -Need to score 10 points ===== T260G ===== Coming Soon ------------ 6. Equipment ------------ This portion of the FAQ gives you info on all equipment in the game. Right now, I'm sorry to say I don't have modifiers when the item is used on a mec, but I'll be sure to add that in when I get it. Credit to InfinityDragon for finding out the stats for me, and sending them. ***************************** Equipment Statistics- Weapons ***************************** Name- Name of the weapon. Attack- Attack power of the weapon. The number following a '*' is the number of bullets the weapon has. Stat Bonus- Bonus to the character's stats when weapon is equipped. Skill- Skills that can be used when equipped with the weapon. Enemy Drop- Enemies that can drop the weapon. ------ swords ------ NAME ATTACK STAT BONUS SKILL ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Knife 7 ShadowDagger 9 PSY +3 ShadowHold LivingGlove, Shadow BroadSword 11 FiendRod 13 FinalStrike DeadKnight, DemonGoat, SirDemon LaserKnife 15 TwinSword 20 TwinSword CeramicSword 22 SilverSpread 22 PSY +22 SilverFang Airfolk, Gremlin, Shaman, StraySheep Osc-Sword 30 CancerMec, LadyBlade Murakumo 33 JackalSword 33 DirtyFang Glirandly 42 ALL +10 FinalStrike LivingSword SplashSword 49 ElementDissolve Mellow RuneSword 50 VictoryRune, Cockatrice* Lordstar 51 BraveHeart TwiggyRod 52 FinalStrike DeadKnight, FatDevil, Succubus, Titania ZeroSword 60 Obsidian 64 FatDevil, Giant, LadyBlade Kusanagi 66 Kusanagi** Asura 70 ALL +7 Asura** DragonSword 72 Thundragon GoldenLion 75 IronPipe 15 MiracleBlade 39 RaySword 45 LightSword 80 ALL +10 'Deflect' *Cockatrice is only enabled when the StasisRune ability is equipped. **Kusanagi and Asura replace the standard attack. Techniques cannot be learned when these abilities are used. ------ Katana ------ NAME ATTACK STAT BONUS SKILL ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KukriBlade 10 SamuraiSword 19 Katana 34 TwinDragon 41 LadyHawk, SickleBug CometBlade 55 MillionDollers SilverMoon 69 Mimic, Darkfairy ---- Guns ---- NAME ATTACK STAT BONUS SKILL ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AGUNI-SSP 9 *15 AGUNI-CP1 12 *13 Solider, SwordMec, VulcanII, Zombie EasyRifle 13 *8 TroopRifle 22 *8 KillerRifle 25 *5 Gunbird, Platyhooks, Shuzer, Soldier EagleGun 28 *6 SniperRifle 31 *6 AGUNI-MBX 36 *20 CrimeLady, Gunbird, LivingRifle 42 *4 WIL +9 LivingMusket ZenGun 45 *16 BehemothRifle 47 *7 Chimera, Gargantu, Gaeatoad, Shuzer DuelGun 55 *1 LethalGun 60 *5 LightRifle 88 *1 PSY +20 AbyssBat TrainingGun 0 BrokenRifle 1 *0 Guncart ---------------- Rocket Launchers ---------------- NAME ATTACK STAT BONUS SKILL ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- JunkBazooka 10 *1 HE-Rocket DOBBYBazooka 10 *6 RandomBaz AutoBuffer, MecDobby, MecDobby100 MisslePod 12 *8 Missle LightVulcan 15 *60 Vulcan BirdMec, CancerMec, ElectroSheep, Vulcan LightBazooka 20 *4 HE-Rocket CancerMec MachineVulcan 30 *40 Vulcan Hermes BigMissle 44 *4 Missle Hermes HEATBazooka 55 *2 HE-Rocket Hermes SuperMissle 70 *3 Missle R&R HyperionBazooka 85 *2 ProtonRocket EarthDragon ---------- Laser Rays ---------- NAME ATTACK STAT BONUS SKILL ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GhostCannon 5 *12 GhostCannon DemonGoat HandBlaster 15 *10 Blaster, Paralyzer BlasterSword WaterCannon 20 WaterCannon K9Mec BeamCannon 20 *6 BeamCannon LightningCannon 20 *6 MagnaBlast LaserCarbine 25 *10 Blaster SonicCannon 25 *16 SonicCannon Thunderbolt 25 *4 BoltCannon Skylab IonCannon 27 *10 PlasmaBullet FlameThrower 33 *3 FlameThrower BoltThrower 33 *3 BoltThrower BirdMec, MecDobby100, Skylab GrainCannon 45 *8 PlasmaBullet Shuzer, Skylab HyperBlaster 50 *7 DestructionBeam Skylab HG-Cannon 60 *5 PlasmaBullet MecDobby100 ************************************ Equipment Statistics- Defensive Gear ************************************ Name- Name of the armor. SLA- Slashing defense of the armor. Also the displayed defense value of the item in-game. HIT- Bludgeoning defense of the armor. PIE- Piercing defense of the armor HEA- Heat defense of the armor COL- Cold defense of the armor THU- Thunder defense of the armor LIG- Light defense of the armor CON- Condition defense of the armor. Skill- Skills that the armor grants while equipped. Bonus- Bonus stats or traits of the armor. Enemy Drop- Enemies that can drop the armor. ---------- Body Armor ---------- NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BeastLeather 6 12 12 2 12 2 2 2 ElectroSheep, Gargantu, KittyClawer KittyKicker, Razorback, RockBaboon Rocky, SonicBat, StraySheep, Trisaur FiberVest 8 8 12 8 8 8 8 8 swordsman DarkRobe 8 8 26 2 8 8 26 26 PSY +5 Banshee, Ghost, Ghostrider, Lich Null Blind ShadeRobe 9 9 9 24 24 24 24 24 WIL +9 Shrieker, Treant Protector 10 10 15 5 5 5 5 5 Armorpilla, BlackDragon, IronHopper, Ogre MasterRobe 10 10 10 25 25 25 25 30 HardLeather 12 16 22 12 12 12 12 12 BoneBreast 13 13 1 -7 13 13 5 5 Ankheg, DeadKnight, Nidheg, NidhegJr Skeleton, Skulldrake, Skullasaurus FireLeather 16 16 16 48 16 16 16 16 Hellhound, Minidragon, RedDragon, Suzaku StardustRobe 16 16 26 26 26 51 26 26 WIL, PSY, CHA +5 Mystic, Succubus Null Faint MoonlightRobe 17 17 27 17 62 17 17 17 PSY, CHA +8 Lamia, Mollasite Null Sleep, Palsy GlowRobe 18 18 28 53 18 28 28 28 PSY, CHA +7 Sunflower Null Stone ArmorVest 18 22 60 18 18 18 18 18 BlueElf 20 20 20 25 25 25 25 20 Null Water FrillNeck, Waterfolk MysticMail 23 23 23 13 13 13 23 23 CelestialLeather 24 34 34 34 34 34 24 24 Basilisk, Butch, Chimera, Cockatrice Griffin, Hedgehog, Manticore, Sphinx Wyvern HarmoniumArmor 24 24 24 20 20 24 40 40 Null Sonic Arachne, CrystalTree, Kylin, ElectroArmor 25 25 33 35 35 35 35 25 Chariot, LadyBlade LivingArmor 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 LivingArmor, RockScout, AngelArmor 27 27 27 17 17 17 17 17 QUI +10, Float Kylin, SpearValkyrie GoldenFleece 28 28 28 38 38 38 38 43 Null Sleep, Palsy RedDragon HyperScale 30 20 30 20 10 20 20 20 Iceworm, Kylin, Quakeworm, R&R, Sicklebug Zeroworm WarlordArmor 32 32 42 32 32 32 32 32 MBlack PlutoArmor 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 Null Faint BlackKnight, Dullahan -------- Clothing -------- NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerBelt 1 1 1 6 6 6 1 21 Null Palsy, Sleep Berva, Flamefolk, Giant, Grappler STR +20 Minotaur CottonShirt 3 3 7 3 3 3 3 3 Platoonpus, Wonderdog, Zombie SilkShirt 3 3 3 3 11 3 3 3 Magicwear 4 4 4 14 14 14 4 4 WIL +5 Shaman Budowear 7 12 7 7 7 7 7 7 Battleaxe, Grappler, WereRhino Defendwear 8 8 8 18 18 18 8 8 Mysticwear 8 8 8 21 21 21 21 21 'MagicHeal' Hyperwear 10 10 10 10 10 10 15 15 Ladyhawk ------- Helmets ------- Note: All Helmets nullify Blind status condition attacks when equipped. NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- JunkHelm 4 6 6 4 1 1 1 1 Chariot YolkHat 5 5 5 2 10 2 2 2 Aperider EggHat 5 5 5 10 5 5 10 10 CHA +5 AbyssBat, Platoonpus, FiberHood 6 6 6 2 2 2 2 2 InfraScope 6 6 6 2 2 2 2 2 See Defense Grids CrimeLady Magihat 6 6 6 16 16 16 16 6 'SpiritStone' Succubus, Unicorn LaserScope 7 7 7 3 3 3 3 3 WIL +10 MaskCat MirrorGlass 8 8 8 4 4 4 4 4 ----- Boots ----- NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LeatherBoots 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 swordsman DanceShoes 4 4 4 14 14 14 14 4 'MysteryTap' Dancer, KittyKicker RubberShoes 5 5 5 5 5 25 2 2 QUI +2 NomadFighter, Slugger Catsocks 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 21 KittyClawer, KittyKicker, StraySheep FeatherBoots 7 7 7 2 2 2 12 12 JetBoots 7 7 7 7 7 2 7 7 QUI +5, Float IronClogs 8 8 8 8 8 0 8 8 'IronClogShot' OgreLord SH-Anklet 10 10 10 10 10 -10 10 10 Ankheg, Berva, DevilSquid, LiquidMetal WereRhino ------ Gloves ------ NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LeatherGlove 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 swordsman OgreGlove 5 5 5 2 2 2 2 2 STR +10 DevilSquid, RockBaboon, Yeti ShellBracer 6 6 6 3 3 3 3 3 HarmoniumBangle 7 7 7 27 27 27 27 7 Null Sonic FireSage, GreenSage, Mimic, Siren SpearValkyrie, WaterSage NornsBangle 7 7 7 4 4 4 4 4 PSY +10 Null Sleep, Palsy ArmorGlove 8 12 12 5 5 5 5 5 LivingGlove CyberGlove 9 9 9 9 9 4 9 4 SH-Armlet 10 10 10 10 10 -10 10 10 Ettin, LiquidMetal ---------- Body Suits ---------- Note: All Body Suits nullify Blind status condition attacks when equipped. Note: When a Body Suit is equipped, the character cannot equip any other armor types except Clothing and Accessories. NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CombatSuit 15 10 15 20 20 10 10 10 Mystic RubberSuit 22 22 22 12 12 52 12 12 BlackFighter, BlueFighter, GreenFighter NomadFighter, PinkFighter, RedFighter Slugger, YellowFighter JumpSuit 25 15 25 30 30 15 15 15 GolemSuit 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 EarthDragon, IceWorm, MecGod, QuakeWorm WereRhino, ZeroWorm CyberSuit 36 36 36 21 36 21 21 21 ALL +5 PoweredSuit 50 50 50 50 50 30 30 30 STR, QUI +10 SprigganSuit 55 55 55 35 35 35 35 35 +1 Mec Skill Slot DragonLord, EarthDragon ----------- Accessories ----------- NAME SLA HIT PIE HEA COL THU LIG CON Bonus ENEMY DROP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FeatherCharm 1 1 11 1 1 1 11 11 CHA +5 AxeBeak, Ettin, Harpy, FangAmulet 1 1 1 6 6 6 1 6 STR +5 Chimera, Dragonpup, Hedgehog, Minidragon Rabbat, Razorback, Trisaur, TrisaurJr Xeno WingAmulet 1 1 1 6 6 6 1 6 QUI +5 Battlefly, Cockatrice, Ettin, Harpy KillerBee, Pickbird, SonicBat, Sphinx FlowerAmulet 1 1 1 6 6 6 1 6 PSY, CHA +5 Banshee, Shrieker, Sprite, Trapvine Treant SteelAmulet 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 VIT +5 Gargoyle, Ghostrider, LiquidMetal LivingAxe, LivingLance, LivingMusket PrimaBronza, PrimaMaska KrisKnife 3 3 3 13 13 13 13 43 DarkFairy, LivingMirror BrokenBumper 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 A-Tractor Junk 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 12 FlyMec, Goblin, Gremlin, LivingAxe LivingLance Bumper 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 VulcanII WindShell 5 5 15 5 5 15 25 25 QUI, WIL +5 AbyssBat, Griffin, Wyvern, Zyphon CharmNecklace 1 1 1 11 11 11 11 11 CHA +10 'Seduction' Magatama 1 1 1 11 11 11 11 11 'SacredSong' FireCrystal 1 1 1 25 1 1 1 1 'FireBarrier' FireCrystal, FireSage, Flamefolk Hellhound, Platyhooks, PlatyKing RedDragon, Siren, Skulldrake SolGrail 1 1 1 100 1 1 1 11 FireCrystal IceCrystal 1 1 1 1 25 1 1 1 'IceBarrier' IceCrystal, Jotnar, Platyhooks, PlatyKing Snowfolk, SpearValkyrie, Waterfolk, Yeti SleetCoin 1 1 1 1 100 1 1 11 IceCrystal, Snowfolk BoltCrystal 1 1 1 1 1 25 1 1 'BoltBarrier' CrystalTree, Dragonpup, Gelatin IceCrystal, PlatyKing, Siren, Thundragon ThunderCharm 1 1 1 1 1 100 1 11 Gelatin MellowRing 1 1 1 21 21 1 1 1 Null Water 'LifeRain' PearlHeart 2 2 2 2 -7 3 2 2 Null Water Fishman, FrillNeck, Gunfish, Lamia Mellow, Snakeman, Undine SeaStone 3 3 3 23 23 3 23 23 Null Water Genbu, Kraken PSY, VIT +7 'WaterCannon' 'Maelstrom' HarmoniumEarring 1 1 1 11 11 11 11 21 Null Sonic Arachne, CrystalTree, KittyClawer Manticore PurpleEye 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 14 Null Stare BlackX, Cyclops, Jotnar, SonicBat PSY +7 Unknown 'PhantasmShot' BloodChalice 1 1 1 -15 1 1 -15 -15 Null Faint Ankheg, Ghost, Lich, Nidheg, Nightshade PSY +5 SonicBat, SandVessel 2 2 2 2 2 2 18 18 Null Petrify 'QuickSand' EMESTag 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 15 Null Petrify Golem, Skulldrake, Skullasaurus UnicornTear 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Null Poison Unicorn PSY +1 Tao-TiehPattern 3 3 3 3 3 3 23 23 AngelBrooch 5 5 5 15 15 15 15 15 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- RING/Guardian 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 31 Raise Ally Defense RING/Merchant 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 CHA +10 'Temptation' RING/Thief 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 QUI +10 Hide All Allies RING/Schemer 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 INT +10 Random Status to Enemy RING/Hero 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 WIL +10 Null Status to Party RING/Hermit 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Null All Effects RING/Healer 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 VIT +10 Restore Party HP RING/Fighter 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 STR +10 Raise Party Weapon RING/Lord 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 PSY +10 Restore Party WP&JP ****************************** Equipment Statistics- Shields ****************************** Name- Name of the shield. Evasion- What type of attacks the shield blocks. Bonus- Bonus effects the shield grants while equipped. Enemy Drop- What enemies can drop the shield. NAME EVASION BONUS ENEMY DROPS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Buckler Physical Battleaxe, Goblin ShellShield Physical Armorpilla, Harpy, Iceworm, KillerBee, Scorpion, Shellworm Wormbrood, Zeroworm ExcelShield Physical K9Mec, Soldier, SwordValkyrie GenbuShield Physical Null Water Genbu, Giant, WaterSage Mizukagami Physical, Heat Null Water DragonShield All BlackDragon, DragonLord, DurahanShield All STR, VIT +5 Dullahan 'DeathGaze' WonderBangle Piercing, Bullet 100% Evasion Airfolk, Lamia, Zyphon Mec specific equips, and bonuses Mec's gain when equipping items to be completed in the future. ----------------------------- 7. Frequently Asked Questions ----------------------------- Coming Soon ---------- 8. Credits ---------- This is the boring "Meeplelard thanks a bunch of random people" that I doubt people care about, but I'm obliged to do it so it doesn't look like plagiarism or something. Anyway, first off, thanks to Square for making such a great game. Likewise, thanks to CjayC for making Gamefaqs, and accepting this FAQ. A big thanks to Alex Jackson for finding all that info about SaGa techs and Character Skill Growth Rates. Makes suggesting different character growth methods easier and such. Thanks to InfinityDragon for getting the stats on all equipment. And thanks for letting me just C+P it from your file as is to save me a lot of time <_< Thanks to superaielman for inspiring me to do this FAQ, and helping me every step along the way. A thanks to SageAcrin for helping out in random areas too, and for being a fine voodoo doll of sorts to kill when I need to vent my anger <.<. Thanks to Laggy for helping me with deciding character rankings as well. Thanks to Shale for going through the pains of this entire FAQ and "De- meeping" it so it’s a lot easier to read. If you've read any of my other stuff, you'd know how much of an accomplishment this is. Big thanks to OblivionKnight for writing out some of the Walkthroughs, and making them a more interesting read that I likely could have. Lastly, thanks to the RPG Duelling League. If it weren't for it, and some crazed fans here, I'd have never played SaGa Frontier, and thus, never had ever actually had a chance to experience this fine game…as well as being the place where I spend too damned much of my life. And a big thank you for reading my FAQ. Why? I dunno, it just feels right, and if I didn't do that, random people would complain to me about not giving them credit for wasting time reading this pile of junk? …ok, now I'm just paranoid, but that's besides the point! With that, my FAQ comes to a close. If you wish to ask me questions about the game, or just talk with me randomly one on one, you can IM me at Dbzfflord on AIM, or Meeplelard@hotmail.com on MSN. If you prefer E- mail, you can do either dbzfflord@aol.com (and hope it doesn't get lost in all the junk I get), or at Meeplelard@Hotmail.com. If you do E-mail, make sure its clear you are NOT a spammer of sorts, so label your message "SaGa frontier question" or "Regarding your FAQ" or something that makes it clear I know you aren't a random spamming jerk.