Star Ocean 2 Cave of Trials Stategy Guide version 2.0 By Zero(webmaster@zero.b3.nu). zero.b3.nu--my game page In my opinion this is one of the best games ever made next to Chrono Trigger. One of the best parts about this game is the difficulty it can present, but if you can't pass something because of it's difficulty it just gets annoying and that is why I made this stategy guide. The Cave of Trials can be really hard if you aren't at a very high level and even then it's puzzels are sometimes hard to figure. So here it goes... Table of Contents I. Intro to the Cave of Trials II. Cave of Trials III. Extra tid-bits ------------------------------------------------------------- I. Intro ------------------------------------------------------------- To get to the cave of trials you must almost beat the game. Once you have gotten far enough to beat the first nine of the ten wise men attack. I was around level 70-80 when I first went at them and they weren't to bad, this was on the regular difficulty. Once you have beaten the first nine the last save point in the tower of Fienal is the key. Once you save there two options open up. The obviousis the cave of trials and the other is a PA with Indalecio's daughter, Filia. First you must have met her in the only PA you can do in the Port of Clik, before the tidal wave hits. If you have done this go to Central City and do a PA. She should be in the main building, with the mayor, on the first floor. She tells you about her father and reveals he has a limiter on. The limiter is automatically removed onceyou talk to her. With the limiter off Indalecio is nearly invinsable so I recommend not doing this unlessyou are planning on spending a bit of time leveling up. I had all of my character's on their master level(256) and it was still tough to take him out. To get to the Cave of Trials you must goto the stadium in fun city and talk to an old guy towardsthe back of the stadium. He'll ask you if you would like to relive your memories and if you savedat the last save point then he'll give the option to really relive memories. Say yes to his questions and you'll end up in Alria by a weird looking animal. If you talk to the pinguin like thing and say"you silly Vern Vern" you'll get knocked back to reality(Nede). Once you'll leave Arlia you'll see a handy Synard waiting for you. You can go any dungeon or city you wish a still do any PA's left, but the cave of trials is on an island on the south-western part of the map. It looks like a pyramid, but it goes deep into the ground. ------------------------------------------------------------- II. The Cave of Trials ------------------------------------------------------------- If you made it through Fienal's monster with little problem you should be alright tostart the Cave of Trials. I was still around level 80 and the monsters were still a bit of a challenge. Once you beat the cave the monster will be cleared out until you leave the cave and return. But the bosses always remane dead and the doors stay open so feel free to return to the surface and save or fill up on items, because you'll need it. -------- 1st Floor --------- Heraldic Ruins Items--Fruit Nectar, Juicy Beef, Tri-emplem, Link Stock, Wonder Drug, Blueberry, Nuclear Bomb Once in just up then turn left at the first chance. After going down there is a door on the left with a teleport to the ninth level. It doesn't work till you've reached that floor, so just go down. The next room to the left has a blue berry, then go down and to the right. If you pull the lever on the wall the door to the bosses chamber opens, but there is more treasure's to get. Straight ahead and to the bottom is a Tri-emplem and the room on the left has a Juicy Beef and a wonder drug. Go inthe right door then take a right, the room on top is empty but alittle further to the right is a nuke. Then go back to where you turned from and head up. to get the Link Stock(Increase's links abilities for everyone, it's in your precious items directory). To the left and then up is a fruit nectar, they are very useful. Now just head back to the boss and take a swing. The boss isn't that hard, but take out the knights first with anything and just use regular attacks on the witch. After she is defeated you get a nice pair of bunny shoes(the best in the game, give you ultra speed and the bunny races is the only other place they are available). --------- 2nd Floor ----------- Love Alley Items--Purity Leaf, Reflex, Link Combo, Resurrection Mist This levels puzzel is one of the toughest in the whole cave. The message by the stairs is supposed to be a clue for solving it but it's doesn't help much. The object is to point the statues in the direction of the people they like, hence the Love Alley. Here's the solution...Yufie points south, Lloyd points east, Cistina points to the south, Feria goes east, Luke points north, Milene points to the south and Sharon looks to the west. Once you have them pointing towards whom they like the sound of a door opening pops up and the boss is now available for battle.This boss is just a slime guy and he's a baddy on the next level, so if you have problems level up before the next floor. Regular attacks should be just fine. You get a Seraphic Garb for beating it. That seems to be the best armor in the game, it doesn't have the highest defense, but as your HP drops you defense goes sky high and your almost impossible to kill, especially Claude for some reason. ----------- 3rd Floor --------- Single Path Cave Items--Slayer Rings, 2 Fruit Nectars, Juicy Beef, Dream Crown, Sylvian Mail, Wonder Drug Again the name is a clue. The tiles on the floor represent the rooms on the level. To get the door open you must enter every room once and only once. to do this just go stright up and go in a then in a counter clock wise direction around the edge and then in the second room from the right on the top go down to the third room and take left, you should be back at the start with the door open. If you messed up the tile will show which rooms you were in or missed or were in twice. you can pick up any of the treasures along the way but don't of the path. Going of the path is when you actually change screens. Here's a sample path.. /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ / / / / / / < < < < < < < / < < < < < / / v / ^ / v / ^ / / v / ^ / v / ^ / /--------------/--------^------/---------------/----------------/ / v / ^ / v / ^ / / v / ^ / v / ^ / / v / ^ / v / ^ / / v / ^ / v / ^ / /--------------/------- ^ -----/---------------/----------------/ / v / ^ / v / ^ / / v / / v / ^ / / v / Start < < < < / ^ / / v / / / ^ / /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ / v / / / ^ / / v / / / ^ / / > > > > > > > > > > > > > / / / / / / /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ kind of crude, but you get the picture <>v ^=path to go The boss is the old clock looking guy, there is three of them and they all cast Dream Peace very quickly. To keep them from doing this get someone who cast attack all spells quickly, hence Rena. That spell freezes you for a bit and it can be painful. They are also baddies on the next level. You get magical drops for beating them, which does the same thing as dream peace, but it doesn't seem to work on bosses. ------------- 4th Floor ----------- Dancing God's Alter Items--Fruit Nectar, Extinction(for Leon), Resurrection Mist, Purity Leaf, Black Earring, Seraphic Garb, Peep Non This level, along with most of the rest of the levels, have walkthrough walls. Right at the begining the two treasures look like they are in sealed rooms but the front wall, about in the middle, is walk-through.Down the right hall and to the top room is the lever to open the door at the begining. The bottom of the wall is walk-through. In the previously closed room is the music god. You get the Illusive Shaminson if you play something she likes. The character you pick must have a level 10 music ability and Rena or Leon usually works best. Then to the left, way up then to the right is another sealed room with the boss. It's hole is towards the top of the wall. This boss is very fast but if you have the bunny shoes, your faster. Again regular attacks work just fine. You don't get anything for beating him. ------------ 5th Floor ------------ Lady's Revenge Items--Wonder Drug, Juicy Beef, Fruit Nectar, Fresh Syrup, Slayer Ring, Fairy Ring, Seraphic Garb Right away you can get a fresh syrup and a slayer ring. Just go all the way up, the room on the right is empty but remember it. You'll now have the pleasure of meeting puffy and her little friend. No matter what you answer to her questions you'll have to fight her pet. Just run away for now because you cannot harm him enough to kill. Even if you do things turn out the same. After she leaves go to the right, the top room is empty also. Now the room towards the top in the next area has a wonder drug. Then keep heading right. Again the room towards the top has a treasure, Seraphic Garb, and heading down a ways after that will lead you to Puffy. She's in a bit of trouble and if you choose to save her you'll then be able to beat her pet. It's just the clock guys again, shouldn't be too hard now. After you beat them Puffy will run off and drop the weird slayer. Make sure and equip it, to whom, it doesn't matter. The monster is now in the empty room at the begining of the level, I told you to remember. One shot from the weird slayer will kill it and you'll get a jewel that will open the door to the next floor. The door is down and to the right from the room that you saved puffy. ------------ 6th Floor ------------- Burglar's Nest Items--Dream Crown, Cure Poison This is the awesome room that Santa likes to hang out. Santa appears randomly, but every time I've played a new game, 4 times, he has been there on the first trip down. After that he seems to be there on a totally ramdom chance. He is a very expencive dealer, but the goods are worth it. He sells every jewel or metal to make things out of plus a couple of other goddies. The Santa Boot's he sells goes for 10 million and seems to be a complete waste of money. They are supposed to give you good item if your wearing them and stay at an inn, but I have always gotten junk and I don't always get something. The Go-Home frog is pretty useful, especially in the cave of trials. it lets you teleport back to the begining of any dungeon. And the best item he sells is the tri-emblem, it raises your stats very nicely and has high def. against all magics. They are worth the money. To get the door open in this floor you need to talk to the thief statues. The usually just say that it is a statue of a thief, but there is one at ramdom that has a switch to open the door. The boss is Funnythief lvl99. He is very fast, but when you start the battle he is not there. There are a few other monsters too, but he drops in a few seconds after the start. It doesn't really matter how you kill him, but regular attacks are, again, the most effective. For beating him you get the funny slayer, which is very useful on the next level. He is a regular monster on the next floor and comes in big groups, so the autokill it gives really helps. ------------ 7th Floor ----------- Goddess's Altar Items--Ishidaya Tes, Purity Leaf, Fresh Syrup, Ganze Sea Urchin, Yukiocho Tea, Peep Non, Cracked Jewel*, Resurrection Mist, Bunny Shoes!, Tri- emplem, Weird Slayer You'll see an alter with a message next to it, it says "Make the offering on the altar whose portal opens with the jewel's power." The portal is refering to the door just ahead, but the only jewel available is the cracked jewel and that doesn't work. The cracked jewel is at the end of the hall on the right. Once you get this all you need to do is use someones metalworking skill, preferably with level 10, and it'll turn into the Red Lotus Jewel, which will open the door. Your boss for this level is the Mithril Eater. It's the most lazy boss I have ever seen and is like the monster you get the LEA metal from. You can keep this guy from attacking at all if you get of your characters, especially Claude to continually wack the thing. No special attacks though because those rarely cause peeping(stars around the head) which stops him from attacking. You get the Million Staff from this guy for his defeat. and the bunny shoes are just behind him. ------------- 8th Floor ------------ Food God Items--Soda Pop, Wonder Drug, Ganze Sea Urchin, Amoeba Soup, Funny Slayer, Peep Non, Million Staff, Prime Toro Tuna, Lavender, Seraphic Garb, Fresh Syrup, Slime Jelly To fight this boss you need to feed the stupid wall 'O food god. It is really picky and I'm not sure quite how it works, but you need to feed it the best meal you can make, usually using the master chef specialty and mixing fish, meat or wheat works well. If it likes it give em the worst drink you have and you'll make him sick and the door magically opens. This boss is really easy but watch out because they can eat you. And when your in them it drains your HP. A big fat Gelatin Steak is you prize for this level, fitting eh?! ------------- 9th Floor ------------ Sealed Coffin Items--Valiant Boots, Wonder Drug, Resurrection Mist, Artemis Leaf To the right of the stairs are two treasure's, one in a sealed room with an invisible door at about the middle of it. To the left and going in almost a circle, you'll run past the bosses door. Inside lies a "sealed coffin," surprise, surprise. This will not open until you beat the 12th floor's boss. Here's the bosses strategy anyway. To get him to come about you must have the Holy Sword and with the coffin open just press X by it and he'll appear. It's just three wizards and if you have someone that can cast spells that hit everyone it'll keep them in check while the rest just beat them senseless. You'll get the Levantine Sword(the best in the game). Once you have both of those sword's the door opens to the 13th floor. ------------- 10th Floor ------------ Decision Point Items--read below This floor gives you the choice of which way to go and only that path. The tiles on the floor are used to open the doors to the rooms. If you mess up on which path you want you can just go back up then down the stairs and they reset. Red and Yellow romes hurt your HP and MP of your entire party while you are in them. The green rooms are normal. Here's another map with the color and treasure's of each room. /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ / / / / / / / 4 / 11 / 12-end / / 3 / / / / / / / / / /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ / / / / / / 2 / 5 / / 13 / / / / 10 / / / / / / / /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ / / / / / / / / / / / 1 / 6 / 9 / 14 / / / / / / /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ / / / / / / / / / / / start / 7 / 8 / 15 / / / / / / /--------------/---------------/---------------/----------------/ 1.green-none 2.yellow-Funny Slayer 3.red-Bunny Shoes! 4.green-none 5.green-none 6.green-none 7.yellow-Fresh Syrup 8.red-Rainbow Diamond, Sages Stone, Valkyrie Boots 9.yellow-none 10.red-Valkyrie Boots 11.green-none 12.Boss-Tri-Ace(Ashton's Best Killer Move) 13.red-Million Staff, Meteor Swarm(Celine's Best Spell) 14.yellow-Purity Leaf 15.red-Valiant Boots The boss is like the guardian's of the fields on Nede. His name is also Geo Guardian and he fights almost exactlty the same. Again regular attacks work very well, he does have quite a bit of HP. ------------- 11th Floor ------------ Dragon's Nest Items--none Anice relaxer for what you've gone through already and what your about to. The Boss is a large dragon. Most special attacks wont hit it and give him time time prepare an attack. Keep three guys on him and put Rena in a corner ready to heal. You'll get the skill Float for beating him. It is very effective against regualar enemies, but makes things harder against the last bosses. To gain access to the nest floor you must use the portal to go to the first floor and seperate. The 12th floor is only for couples and the best couple, of course, is Rena and Claude. Healing will be quite often needed and, for some reason, Claude seems to be nearly invincible with the Seraphic Armor on. It also really helps Rena. The portal on the first floor that I told you about at the begining is now available and will drop you to the ninth floor. All you need to do is walk around the third row from the top of tiles and you should hear about 4 clicks then it opens. ------------- 12th Floor ----------- Hall of Warriors Items-Valkyrie Guard, 2 Battle Suits, Bunny Shoes!! As if the trip down wasn't tough enough, the boss onm this level is in the rooms straight up from the entrance and is not easy. It's a Phoenix and guess what, they fly. So again special attacks aren't very useful. The best strtegy that I have found is to stick Rena in a corner with the strategy of Heal friends only on and control Claude using regualr attacks. Dragon Howl seems to be the best, and most often working, of the special attacks any of them have and Claude has it. And if you equip Claude with the valiant guard and only use regular attacks it should be an easy win. When the bird attacks with his Master attack Claude should block it and the bird will get the reprocusions. For this fight you get Holy Sword Farewell, which opens the coffin on the ninth. If you want you can just keep the two you have and fight him, he's not that hard, or return to the top and regather your guys. Make sure and save though. And at random, when you return to the phoenix's room he might appear and you'll have to fight him again, remember, phoenix's live forever... ------------- 13th Floor ----------- Holy Nest of Angels Items-Valiant Mail, Valiant guard, Angel Armband(behind the boss) Alright lucky 13!! This is another short level, but for a good reason... the boss. Just head down the right and left halls and at the end are two levers. Once they are both pulled the bosses chamber is opened. Gabrie Celesta In many books and sites she is referred to as Indalecio Celesta, but I believe that is just because of a bad translation. The best team for this job is Claude, Rena, Dias and Ashton. Turn off all of Ashton's specials, they really mess him up with this fight because they are so slow. Dias has a couple good one's, but illusion should be the only one you would want on. Claude's doesn't really matter if your gong to control him, but if not only have Dragon Howl on. Start off by controlling Rena and running her into a corner and turning on the hela friends only strategy again, the rest should be on conserve killer moves. The best is controlling Claude and just having him constantly hit Gabrie with regular attacks. Some times she'll get stuck between the three and you'll take off a good chunk before she gets away, but it is very hard to get her stuck. I have heard she has around a million HP. You should wear her down soon enough. When you beat her you get the Silver Trumpet and about a half a million in experience!! Behind her is the Angel Armband, verrryy useful. Now that she is beaten you are free to roam and explore. The monsters are gone until you leave so get all you missed. The bosses, including Gabrie, never come back though. ------------------------------------------------------------- III. Extra Tid-bits ------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The Silver Trumpet if used by Claude, can create the songs "Melody of the Gods" and "Evil Melody." Melody of the gods make item creation a 100% success while it is playing. The evil melody brings out Grabrie's evil sister if you are on a battle field. She has 2.5 million HP and can turn you to stone or paralyze very easily, but you get some nice stuff. Either an Angel Armband, which if you did the PA to take off the limiter on Indalecio, you will need it on every character. And sometimes you will get a Levatine Sword plus a ton of experience. 2. An easy way to make money is to use the identify all skill to make prices cheap and buy a bunch of stuff and then using it to make them expensive and selling them. You get almost twice what you payed for. This works very well with the traveling Santa. I believe you don't even need to use identify all with most of Santa's items. He sells the sage stones for 50000 and buys them back for 65000, a nice profit! 3. Another way to make money is to write a few books and give them a the publisher in Central City. Go through some thing that is really long and when you go back you might have made a good shot of money. This really only helps towards the begining of reaching Nede because the money isn't that much once you have reached a certain point. 4. If you've gotten bored with the game, by some strange chance, or just want something different to do you can try messing with the endings. On large factor's that affect feelings towards each other is seeing the other die in battle. Set up a party and let one of them die and see who you can get together. The toughest challenge is getting Claude and Rena hooked up with someone else. Books that you can write also have an affect for a bit on affections. 5. Paintings and Fanzine magazines-They really have no purpose in the game, just fun little extras. When used the paintings just show a large picture of that character. --CREDITS-- Not many in this yet, but thanx to those who have e-mailed me about the errors in this and the info about santa. Any questions or answers, you can email me at webmaster@zero.b3.nu