============================================== XENOSAGA EPISODE II: JENSEITS VON GUT UND BOSE ============================================== GS Campaign 32 Guide v1.00 By spoony_bard_ol, spoonybardol (at) gmail (dot) com ---------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 2. STRATEGY I - ORGULLA 3. STRATEGY II - ROD BLONDEL 4. STRATEGY III - THE PATRIARCH 5. FINAL NOTES 6. CREDITS AND CONTACT INFO ---------------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION Hello Xenosaga fans. This is an FAQ for the GS Campaign #32. The game has saddled you with the monumental task of paying off Captain Matthews' debt, a whopping 10000000G! Normally this can be quite frustrating, and take quite a long time to do. There are several methods that are popular, which I'll cover, but the point of this FAQ is to highlight probably the fastest and most effective method, and one people seem to frequently overlook. Of course I'll also outline the other methods as well, so you can choose your own poison. The main method this FAQ will outline, however, will allow you to pay off the debt as soon as you can return to Second Miltia after completing the Ormus Stronghold. ---------------------------------------------- 2. STRATEGY I - ORGULLA This is, in my experience, the quickest and most effective way to pay off Matthews' debt. But it's something you need to prepare for when the Second Disc starts. If you've already entered the Ormus Stronghold, it's really too late to effectively pull it off. This strategy will allow you to steal 20 (or 21 rather) Awakening II items off of Orgulla. They sell for 500000G each, so 20 of them will pay off the huge debt. First and foremost: HAVE PSYCHO POCKET!! You get it by completing GS 01, which is started by talking to Jacqueline outside the clinic in the First District of the City Sector on Second Miltia, anytime after the Moby Dick scene with Shion, Jr, chaos and Jin. You HAVE to complete this GS campaign BEFORE diving into MOMO's Subconscious. Or else you will not get another chance to get Psycho Pocket until AFTER the Ormus Stronghold. If you're already past that point and don't have Psycho Pocket, then it's too late to use this strategy. GS 01 is really straightforward, and Psycho Pocket comes in handy during the entire Subconscious Domain, especially in stealing an important item off of Albedo at the end. Also make sure Shion has Medica 2 and Focus I. Granted she can always go to the nearby Save Point to heal, and the enemies won't be dealing TOO much damage to her, but you never know. They could get lucky and hit her with a critical. Besides, giving her Medica 2 and Focus I will help out later on when you face Orgulla. Medica 2 is easy enough to get, but Focus I requires that you have unlocked Segment Address 06. But, since you really cannot miss that one, it's the first one you're presented with in Second Miltia, if you're missing Focus I, then you're probably not in good shape to tackle this strategy anyway. While Shion is alone on the Dammerung, take time to level her up to about Lv40 or Lv45. It may seem daunting when she starts off there at probably Lv21 or so, depending on how you played the first disc, but it really doesn't take as long as you would think, so long as you follow the right pattern. At any rate, what you have to do is find the room in the Dammerung that is made up of several smaller rooms, all of which you fall down into from the Conveyer Belt room above. Before you start actually leveling in here, go up to the Conveyer Belt room (via the catwalk and block puzzle in the adjacent room, which you open up by using the tank's guns. I'm operating under the assumption you at least know your away around the Dammerung, look at one of the several walkthroughs if you're having trouble finding your way) and drop down hole #4 in order to unlock the door to the stairs. This makes the process go by a bit faster. The room is organized like this ASCII map... ------------------------ | | | | | | | | M1 - M4 = Monsters 1-4 |M1 M2 | Stairs 1 = Leads out to main Dammerung room | | Stairs 2 = Leads deeper into the Dammerung, | | | | you fall in here from hole #4 in |-------| |------| the room above | |||||| | | \ = Segment Address 07 | ----- | |Stairs2 | | | | | |-------| |------| | | | | | M3 M4 | | | | | | | |-------| |------| | | | | | | | | | | |-------| |------| | | | | | | |Stairs1 \ |--| | | | |--| | | | ------------------------ This room is the optimal place to level Shion. Start at Stairs 2, and take out the four Mecha enemies in the four smaller rooms in this larger room. Return to Stairs 2, leave the room, then reenter, and they'll have respawned. Rinse and repeat. As for the battles themselves, there's one important thing to keep in mind. There are three different types of enemies. VSS Emissive - HP 1840 - EXP 880 - Class Points 15 - Skill Points 44 VSS Fresnel - HP 2720 - EXP 1180 - Class Points 15 - Skill Points 48 VSS Rayleigh - HP 960 - EXP 800 - Class Points 15 - Skill Points 40 The VSS Emissive is the most frequently encountered enemy, which is a good thing. If it starts a battle with one of the other types, preferably the VSS Fresnel, it will summon another when the first one is defeated. It will only do that once, however, so you cannot farm a single battle for tens of thousands of EXP, unfortunatly. But it's still ok. The optimal battles are ones with VSS Emissive and VSS Fresnel. Always target the Fresnel (or Rayleigh when they show up) first. The VSS Emissive never attack anyway, so they're harmless. Once the Fresnel or Rayleigh is down, another will be called. Once you take that out, then you can destroy the Emissive and move on. All of these enemies are weak versus Thunder, which is present on all of Shion's attacks, so killing them will not prove difficult. Especially when she reaches Level 30 and above, they'll be dropping like flies. Out of the four monster encounters in the room above, M4 is the only one which is different. M1-3 will always give you the same set of battles. They'll either be a lone Emissive, or an Emissive with a Fresnel (sometimes you'll be pincered between the two). But M4 will either give you a lone Fresnel, or an Emissive with a Rayleigh. Once you're used to fighting them, it won't take very long. Just run through the room, killing the four of them, exit and reenter. If you need to save, exit through Stairs 1, there's a Save Point out in the main Dammerung room. For me, it took about an hour and a half to get Shion from Level 21 to Level 43. It will depend on the frequency you encounter the battle party with a VSS Emissive and VSS Fresnel, since that's the optimal enemy encounter for maximum experience. Once you're at around Lv40-45 complete the Dammerung and continue on. Again, refer to another walkthrough if you don't know what to do. I should note that even when you get to the Elsa, you can still return to the Dammerung via the UMN and level up some more. Up until you tell Matthews to go to Old Miltia Shion will still be in the party alone. Just use the UMN Dive Device and return to the Dammerung to do more leveling if you'd like. But once everyone else in the party rejoins after you tell Matthews to go to Old Miltia it'll be too late. When every one else joins Shion, their levels will have increased as well. They'll be a level or two behind Shion, but still significantly higher than they were at the end of Disc 1! That makes this method of leveling building worth doing even if you're not using this strategy for GS 32. The only downside to this is that the three ES's will not have leveled up with the characters. So the first part of the Ormus Stronghold will not be made any easier, but it's not an overly difficult section anyway. I'll assume you're familiar with the Stronghold itself, it's considerably longer than the Dammerung, but with your Lv40-ish party the enemies you encounter on foot won't prove to be much of a challenge. Refer to another walkthrough if you need help getting through it. Save right before the battle with Orgulla, now it's time for the main event. And now, the battle with Orgulla itself. Personally I start the battle off with Shion, KOS-MOS and Jin. I later switch Jin out for MOMO. Make sure at Shion and MOMO both have Medica 2, Revert, and Focus I. Medica All would also come in handy. Giving those skills to KOS-MOS as well would make things much easier. Also, it may be useful to give one of them Boost I. It would also be useful to give MOMO and Shion Blade Coat, Pierce Coat and Ice Coat, if possible. Orgulla tends to frequently target the party members with lowest HP. Having the skill which increases resistance to Poison helps too, because she uses that a lot when in her normal stance. I'll stress it here, Focus I is a MUST for your healers, otherwise you're going to run out of EP long before you're finished with Orgulla. Also give Psycho Pocket to at least two characters, I had it on Shion and MOMO. Don't pull any punches when the battle starts. Stock Shion, KOS-MOS and Jin to full. While you're doing this, use Psycho Pocket until you steal the Awakening II item. You can also get a Skill Upgrade E. Once you've done that, when Jin's turn comes up have him use the BC combo, Boost KOS-MOS, and have her follow up with BB to Zone Break her, then use her stocked attacks. Boost Shion in the process and have her empty her stock, then do the same for Jin. Keep boosting if you wish, if you have extra boosts to use. Even single attacks do more damage while she's still Aired. Either way it is likely that the assault will leave her with around 10000 HP, give or take 1000. At this point she'll likely go into Manes mode. Here I switch Jin out for MOMO (but it's all up to preference. I use MOMO for her higher Ether Attack and healing abilities. But with her low HP she's frequently targetted by Orgulla.). Keep attacking Orgulla, but DON'T KILL HER! You don't need be attacking her to get her to shift from Normal mode to Manes mode, but I've found that the lower her HP is the more frequently she shifts modes. At one point in the battle she'll probably use Medica on herself to restore 4500 HP, but in my experience she only does that ONCE. I personally got her HP down to about 2000, then left her alone. Eventually she'll go out of Manes mode, and back into Normal mode. When that happens you can steal Awakening II again. You want 21 of these items (20 to sell, 1 to use) so make sure and keep track! Once she returns to her normal stance she follows a set pattern. First she'll use Quick, then she'll up the effectiveness of her Poison. Then after a few attacks and scatter shots she'll shout something like 'Repent for your Sins, Pigs!' and a message will say her eyes shine blue. Anytime after this point she'll revert to her Manes stance, so be sure to steal Awakening II before then. If you haven't stolen the item by the time the message about her eyes shining blue comes up, start boosting if you have to, but get it stolen before she enters her Manes stance. Else you'll have wasted an entire cycle, and we don't want that. This is where having Boost I comes in handy. While in her Manes stance she'll use lots of Ice Attacks, and frequently target the character with lowest HP. She also frequently Boosts (even when she doesn't have any in her Boost Gauge!) and can Air your party members to do even more damage. You really need to be at Lv40 to even survive her onslaught long enough to steal the items you need. Having Focus I is critical here because you'll be healing, a LOT. And doing nothing but stocking in the turns inbetween. Once you get used to the pattern of Stocking, Healing, and Stealing, it's not difficult. Note that you can't steal Awakening II while she's in her Manes stance (but you CAN get a Skill Upgrade E, so do it if you get the chance). You can only steal it from her Normal (Green, Poison Sword) stance. Her Manes form is much more chaotic and unpredictible, but she doesn't tend to stay in it long, especially when her HP is low. So heal when you need to, Stock when you're doing nothing else, steal as soon as she returns to her normal stance, and do not kill her. Keep her HP low, around 2000, and she'll switch between her two stances frequently. It took me two hours to get 21 Awakening items. It's a long battle (make sure you got the time to sit down and do it when you start) but it's worth it. Altogether, with preparation and execution of the Orgulla strategy, it took me three and a half hours to get the necessary items to complete GS 32. That's still faster than the other more popular strategies. And since all the leveling that you do on the Dammerung comes in handy anyway this really is the best strategy. Once you're finished with Orgulla and have the items (go one over if you think you lost count, better to have one more than you need than one LESS) be sure to go out and save BEFORE destroying the pillars in her room. Once you do that the room outside technically changes and the Save Point is gone. You certainly don't want to mess up and die while trying to escape the Stronghold, or while fighting the ES Issachar. Once you're finished, and done with watching all the cutscenes you'll be back in the Durandal. Return to the Elsa and ask Matthews to go to Second Miltia (Be sure to have spoken to the droid on the lower level of the Elsa to begin GS 32) and then talk to K2 to the right of where you enter the Space Port from the Elsa. Give him 20 of the Awakening II items and that's all you need. The 10000000G debt paid off. Return to the Elsa and speak to Kamikaze near the Weapons booth to claim your reward! ---------------------------------------------- 3. STRATEGY II - ROD BLONDEL The first strategy is the most efficient, but it may not be your cup of tea. Or perhaps you're already past the Ormus Stronghold and still want to pay off the debt. Well another good strategy is by exploiting Rod Blondel. You face this enemy by starting GS 14, which you can access by talking to Kate in her apartment in City Sector One on Second Miltia, AFTER you visit Old Miltia. Get the campaign started and return to Old Miltia 14 Years Ago via the UMN, and you'll find Rod Blondel near Segment Address 14. The trick to Rod is that you can run from him, and you can steal a Skill Upgrade D and Skill Upgrade E from him. So all you need to do is steal from him, flee, and fight him again and repeat the process. Skill Upgrade E's are very handy anyway, so it's worth doing even if you're not working on GS 32. The downside to this trick is that the Upgrades don't sell for nearly as much as the awakenings. Skill Upgrade D's sell for 2000G, and Skill Upgrade E's sell for 10000G. So you'd need 1000 Skill Upgrade E's to cover the debt. And you can only carry 99 at a time. So it would take a long time to get what you needed. This strategy isn't as practical as the first one, but it can be done as soon as you reach the Submerged City on Old Miltia, and is worth doing if you were unsuccessful in the first strategy (or were unable to do it, and don't want to start a new game). Keep in mind you can't fight Rod again if you kill him in the battle. The reward for GS 14 is pretty good too. You recieve the Inner Peace skill which is one of the better ones to give to the entire party. ---------------------------------------------- 4. STRATEGY III - THE PATRIARCH This is the strategy you're all probably most familiar with. It's certainly the most popular strategy for completing GS 32. It's also the most time consuming, and you're unable to do it until you finish the game once. When fighting the Patriarch, you can steal the Awakening IV item off of him. It's too bad that you can only do it once, unlike Orgulla. The Patriarch has two forms, but the game will only let you steal it once. If you could do it twice it would shorten things considerably, but alas. I won't get into strategies for the Patriarch, as that has been covered elsewhere in greater detail. Basically you steal from him, then beat him, watch the ending, save your clear data, then load that up, replay the Omega System and face the Patriarch again, and repeat the process. Awakening IVs sell for the same price as Awakening IIs, so you need 20 of them. Suffice to say, the process of replaying the Omega System, beating the Patriarch, and watching the entire ending (you can skip a lot of the scenes, but not the credits or the final scene) and doing that 20 times takes up a LOT of time. Well over 10-15 hours at least. The upsides to doing this is that the Patriarch gives you a LOT of experience and Skill and Class points. Also the return trip through the Omega System has virtually all the obstacles and enemies removed from your path. You should only need to fight one group of enemies before fighting the Patriarch, depending on whether or not you take the on foot route, or the ES route near the end. You can certainly level up like crazy fighting the Patriarch, but it will take a huge chunk of time to get 20 Awakening IV items. But if you're at the end of the game and can't rely on the other two methods, and don't want to start a new game, then this is really your only other option. ---------------------------------------------- 5. FINAL NOTES Finishing this GS campaign is well worth it, even if you aren't a completionist. The rewards are great. 40 Skill Upgrade Es, Ziggy and MOMO's Double Tech, KOS-MOS's X-Buster, and Jin's Swimsuit. If you follow the first strategy you'll have all that before even going to the Submerged City. You'll be at a high level, with plenty of Skill Upgrade E's to spend on your party, and with some new toys to have fun with. The rest of the normal game should pose no problem, and you'll be in good condition to tackle the extras once you finish the game. Not to mention Ziggy and MOMO's double tech, Power Strike, is hilarious. While it may be dull to run around in one area level building for an hour and a half, then spending two hours fighting one boss it is still the best way to complete the GS 32. ---------------------------------------------- 6. CREDITS AND CONTACT INFO I'd like to thank Namco and Monolith Software for making this fine game. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. If you have any questions or queries regarding this FAQ, please feel free to email me at spoonybardol (at) gmail (dot) com. Copyright 2005