- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - L U F I A 2 R i s e O f T h e S i n i s t r a l s Supplementary FAQ: Capsule Monster Feeding Guide v1.1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Put together by Trucidation. Since HegemonKhan found it too troublesome to write this up in FAQ style, here's the Capsule Monster feeding FAQ. Version 1.0 - July 2009 - original release 1.1 - July 2009 - fixed soonest vs economical - other magic fruit locations - confirm: long swords for class 3? - todo: shop items feed table This guide can only be posted on GameFAQs. Period. Yes I know GameSpot overlaps, they're the same place, sortof. If you need to get hold of me, I always keep an eye out on this mailbox: "truecidation [at] gmail.com". I've had that mailbox for several years now so it's safe to say it's not going to be abandoned any time soon - I use it for quite a number of forums and similar crap. Replies may be longer in coming though; that's not the only mailbox I have, and it gets much less traffic than, say, my fic mailboxes. Heh. But rest assured that I do eyeball it pretty frequently; at least once every 2-3 days. Also, using an appropriate subject line will prevent your mail from being immolated by the filter. Insert obligatory copyright notice here. Please don't rip this off, because we can immediately tell this came from GameFAQs. Not interested in your advert-ridden hobby site or your slick corporate portal. No thanks. GameFAQs is where it's at. Not a diss, merely a statement of fact. ===== [ TABLE OF CONTENTS ] ===== - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [INT] - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [OVR] + Feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [FED] - Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [BAS] - Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MEC] - Lowering Craving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [LOW] + Feed List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [LST] - One Bar Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [1BA] - Eight Bar Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [8BA] - Feeding Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [$$$] + Master Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MAS] + Misc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [---] + Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [CRE] This is one of the shorter guides I've assembled so you can probably scroll through the whole thing to find what you want, no problem. If you do want to navigate easier, though, just search for the appropriate section tag listed in the table above. ===== [ INTRODUCTION ] ===== - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [INT] In Lufia 2 you can collect up to seven sidekicks called Capsule Monsters (CMs). Although they appear beside your party in battle, they are however not counted as a party member and are accessed separately in the game menu. They fight independantly of you (i.e. you can't give them direct orders) and will often run away when they take too many hits. You can't target them with items or spells (thus no buffing or healing), but they are immune to most status effects, and they start each battle with full hp. They have no mp to drain and do not use it to activate their skills, which are used in a pretty much random fashion. Finally, you can only have one CM active at any time, although you may switch between them freely using the menu whenever you are not in battle. So what good is an uncontrollable ally? For one, their attacks can be quite strong. Not being able to cast on them also means they aren't an additional drain on party resources, i.e. casting a healing on everyone will not further dilute the heal points to include the CM. They also present the enemy with an additional target, potentially drawing fire away from hurt characters. By the way, this guide will only cover the feeding aspect of CMs. If you need any pointers on how to actually obtain the CMs in the first place, or what their skills are, their stats, elemental affinities, strengths and weaknesses, etc... those are all covered in other guides available on GameFAQs. This is just meant to be a quick-and-dirty lookup for CM feeding. - [ Overview ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [OVR] Capsule Monsters start off at class 1. Instead of just having levels, a CM also has classes - these classes determine what skills a CM has at any particular point in their evolution. There are a total of 5 classes for each CM, from 1 to 4, then a Master Class form. Generally speaking a CM increases in strength the higher class it is in. Not just "strength" though, all base stats are improved by evolving your CMs. Also, each class evolution usually comes with an additional ability for the improved form. This means it is almost always in your best interest to advance your CMs as much as possible. To advance from one class to another, you need to "feed" the CM with an item. Think of them as somewhat finicky item disposal units (haha). In essence, this is what this guide is all about - what items to feed your CMs together with some explanation of the mechanics of the process. Read on :) ===== [ FEEDING ] ===== - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [FED] There's no pressing need to "max out" your CMs. In fact you can plow through the entire game easily enough on your own, and just give them the leftover items your party no longer needs. That's perfectly fine. However, since you're reading this I assume you've got more than just a passing interest in the evolution of your CMs. Since this is a feeding guide, I won't go into the details of each CM's forms and skills available in what particular form. All that information is available in the walkthroughs available here on GameFAQs. Here I will just be explaining how exactly feeding works, and comparing between efficient and economical ways of going about feeding your CMs. Economical? Yes, that's right. It's certainly possible to just feed your CMs with the most expensive, "tasty" items to quickly fill their feed meter - but common sense makes it obvious that you will need to give them rare or very expensive items to do so, and that the availability of such items will almost certainly be limited to later in the game. The final way is to use the earliest available items - this will appeal to the type of player who likes to get things finished as fast as possible with less regard to cost and tediousness. - [ Basics ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [BAS] Let's get some things cleared right off the bat, it'll make things easier. One, all CMs follow the same feeding guidelines. Although I haven't personally verified whether each CM wants different things to eat at different stages in their evolutions, others have already confirmed that all CMs adhere to the same rules when it comes to satisfying their hunger. That is, you won't have CMs craving for wildly different things. In fact, we can use a single progression list when outlining what our friendly neighbourhood sidekicks should be fed. Naturally, this simplifies things greatly as you won't have to start worrying about collecting separate piles of "favourite" junk food for each CM. The only item they differ in is the final item which allows them to advance into their Master Class form. Fortunately, you only need one of these and it's a pretty much fixed requirement, so we can simply list it down after we've disposed of the other feeding requirements. Alright, first things first. When you access the menu, you can view what the currently selected CM desires to eat, as well as a gauge indicating how much left until it has eaten enough to evolve into the next form. We shall refer to the item it wishes to eat as what it is "craving". The gauge, if you look closely, is made up of 32 separate indicators, which we shall refer to as "bars". So basically the feeding gauge is made up of 32 bars, and to feed your CM is to "fill" these bars. - [ Mechanics ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MEC] Simply put, feeding an item to your CM will fill several bars, and once all 32 bars are filled, the CM will evolve to the next class. When the 4th class of evolution is reached the CM's craving will not show any item but say "I am no longer hungry" instead. Only when this "not hungry" condition is reached can you feed it the unique item which will allow it to evolve to its master class. Not all CMs evolve into master class at class 4, but since they have to be full (that is, no longer hungry) you still have to feed them up to class 4 in any case. With that out of the way, the only question that remains is what to feed the CM at each class. Fortunately, this isn't a very complicated issue either. When feeding a CM something, depending on the quality of the item it will fill anywhere from 1 to 8 bars. From this you can infer that you need at most 32 of the least craved items (32 x 1 bar = 32) or 4 of the best items (4 x 8 bars = 32). This is what it boils down to, basically. Depending on how many bars a particular item fills you will get a reaction from your CM. 0 bars = Ughh - Yuk! 1 bars = Mmmm - Good! 2 bars = Yummy! 4 bars = Yummy, Yummy! 6 bars = Thank you!! 8 bars = Incredible!" If you look at your CM's feeding screen you will see that it lists the item it is currently craving. This doesn't mean that it will only eat that item; it merely means that feeding it this specific item will guarantee some growth, that's all. - [ Lowering Craving ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [LOW] There's a catch though (there's always one...). If you feed your CM with something that fills several bars, it's craving will increase to a higher quality item than what it is currently craving. So, you can't simply feed it with an 8-bar item and then follow that up with a 1-bar item: as an analogy, having tasted prime rib your sidekick will be unwilling to show much enthusiasm for a mcburger. Anecdotal experience from players shows that it will crave an item of similar quality, i.e. once you start feeding it 8-bar fillers your CM will demand no less than 8-bar items. In all likelihood, this is something you want to avoid - unless your party is rich and has access to high quality stuff - like an endgame town's item shop. So how do you go about lowering your CM's craving? Simple, feed it low quality items until it craves the lowest possible quality item for that class. Note that I said "for that class". You can't lower the craving to as low as the previous class' craving. For example in class 1 CMs will settle for battle knives, while class 2 CMs will want apple ciders at the minimum. You can't fill any bars for a class 2 CM with battle knives - they'll only give you the "Ughh - Yuk!" reaction. The lists below are of the earliest available / lowest quality items with which to feed your CMs with right off the bat, so "overfeeding" and the subsequent necessary craving lowering should not be a concern. This is most likely only an issue when feeding CMs in the Ancient Dungeon, where you won't have bunches of low level stuff on hand to feed them. This makes it nearly unavoidable to raise their cravings while your party is adventuring in there. ===== [ FEED LIST ] ===== . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [LST] And now for the actual item lists. We'll start with the earliest available item option, i.e. the fastest route. This will appeal to you if you're aiming to max out your CMs as early in the game as possible. Of course, it entails quite a bit of tedium especially considering how tight money is so early on - meaning you've got to grind for it. On the bright side, you'll be gaining exp as well. - [ One Bar Items ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [1BA] Class: 1 to 2 Item : battle knife Where: buy in Sundletan ($200 ea) Cost : 32 x $200 = $6,400 Note : Sundletan is the second town; yes, the price is outrageous at this point, but seriously... an evolved CM is overkill here. Class: 2 to 3 Item : apple cider (no, the $800 long knives don't work) Where: buy in Sundletan ($1,000 ea) Cost : 32 x $1,000 = $32,000 Note : 32k isn't something to sneeze at this early on. You may probably want to delay feeding just a little further. Class: 3 to 4 Item : bee rock Where: Ruby Cave Cost : 32 x low drop chance = x_x Note : These are a 5% drop chance, and yes it's a pain to collect 32. However, this is a somewhat decent spot to grind for the $32k you need to buy apple ciders, and having two class 3 CMs this early in the game is more than good enough. (alternatively) Class: 3 to 4 Item : bronze sword Where: buy in Bound Kingdom ($5,000 ea) Cost : 32 x $5,000 = $160,000 Note : If you grinded some levels to defeat Gades prior to reaching this town, I daresay you'll have more than enough money. (alternatively) Class: 3 to 4 Item : war rapier Where: buy in Narsysus ($7,600 ea) Cost : 32 x $7,600 = $243,200 Note : You may be thinking omfgwtfbbq, this is more expensive than bronze swords! Narsysus is a couple of towns after Bound Kingdom though, and according to some players it works out cheaper here since the battles here are tougher and therefore award more loot. Class: to Master Item : (unique) Where: see master class section below Cost : 1 x drop = free Note : Each CM wants a different particular item for its master class. The CM must also no longer be hungry. - [ Eight Bar Items ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [8BA] This is easy. Magic fruit. It works for any class CM. Be prepared to keep feeding it more magic fruit though, or an equivalent 8-bar item (which I haven't, unfortunately, figured out yet - testing pending). Class: 1 to 4 Item : magic fruit Where: drops Cost : (4 + 4 + 4) x drop = free Note : these only drop from Groupies, which are one of a boss' "call companion" summons. However, magic fruits are also a recurring Ancient Cave treasure. Therefore, we can infer from this that magic fruits are mainly how to raise your CMs while going through that dungeon. P.S.> It's come to my attention that there are several monsters on the unnamed islands accesible later in the game that drop various fruit. I see drops for the other types of fruit, not "magic fruit" - so I'll need to cross-check this with some other guides. Certainly, I'll confirm with my own observations when I get the chance to do so. - [ Feeding Costs ] - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [$$$] Without taking the master class requirement into account (drops are free anyway): 32 battle knives + 32 apple ciders + 32 bronze swords = (32 x $200) + (32 x $1,000) + (32 x $5,000) = $6,400 + $32,000 + $160,000 = $198,400 per CM. Some players may prefer to purchase the class 3 feed items at a later town because, even though it looks like it costs more, you get more loot from battles at this point so it actually works out easier. 32 battle knives + 32 apple ciders + 32 war rapiers = (32 x $200) + (32 x $1,000) + (32 x $7,600) = $6,400 + $32,000 + $243,200 = $281,600 per CM. Of course, it's easy to see the bulk coming from the 3rd requirement. If you are hardcore enough to grind for the drop, the cost is reduced to: 32 battle knives + 32 apple ciders + 32 bee rocks = (32 x $200) + (32 x $1,000) + drops (i.e. $0) = $6,400 + $32,000 = $38,400 per CM. Definitely cheaper (and is actually the earliest option, to boot!), but I am obliged to caution you that trying to obtain that many drops at the given low rate may be hazardous to your mental health. Keep sharp objects and annoying siblings away when attempting this. ===== [ MASTER CLASS ] ===== . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [MAS] As mentioned earlier, each CM has a specific item requirement in order to access its master class form. Also, not all CMs transform to master at class 4. This is shown in the following table: CM Item req. Class Transform back ----- ------------ ----- -------------- Jelze Secret fruit 4 Secret fruit Blaze Charm fruit 3 Flame fruit Flash Dark fruit 2 Holy fruit Gusto Earth fruit 4 Wind fruit Zeppy Flame fruit 3 Charm fruit Darbi Holy fruit 2 Dark fruit Sully Wind fruit 4 Earth fruit Why do we need a "transform back" item? Simply put, CMs in master form are "locked" in that form - you cannot freely change them to their previous class forms at will like you could before. So to change them back, feed them the item from the "transform back" column above. You may not need to do this often, but occasionally you may have a use for an ability not present in a CM's master class form. To obtain these items, refer to the following table: Drop Monster Location ------------ --------------------- ------------------------------------ Secret fruit Wood Gorem Treasure Sword shrine Charm fruit Evil fish, Merman Tower of Sacrifice Dark fruit Black dragon "Fruit Island" Earth fruit Sand Gorem, Behemoth Northern Labyrinth Flame fruit Pug Tower of Sacrifice Holy fruit White dragon Tower of Truth, "Fruit Island" Wind fruit Green Clay, Serfaco Northern Labyrinth ===== [ MISC ] ===== . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [---] ...and that's it. Yep, told ya it was gonna be short. I only assembled this guide. The information was already out on the forums and guides on GameFAQs. I know I left a lot of detail out, but I didn't think the extra examples or the superfluous mathematical detail would be interesting to everyone. I threw in the "total cost" thing as a concession to that, but that's about as far as I think the average player will be interested in. If there are any inaccuracies or mistakes in this guide please don't hesitate to contact me with the corrections. Your contributions are greatly appreciated! I put this thing together in PSPad, a kickass freeware text editor, while listening to the Tokyo-3 Middle Daughters on Winamp. Ironically, no food was consumed during the creation of this feeding guide. I did, however, nibble on the rear end of an indigo UniBall Signo Bit 0.18mm pen. For the curious, no, it did not fill any of my bars. >_> ===== [ CREDITS ] ===== . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [CRE] Thanks goes to HegemonKhan for contributing those feeding guide threads (I dipped from all 3 of 'em), as well as further corrections. - www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=588451&topic=49984802 - www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=588451&topic=50106174 - www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=588451&topic=49978737 Thanks to _Clinton for the summing up in one of the threads mentioned. Thanks also to Iron Knuckles, the fruit tables were sourced from his walkthrough/FAQ. A shout out and thanks to the regulars on the Lufia 2 message board. It's always nice to know other people who have the same great taste in games ;) My humble apologies if I forgot to mention anyone. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = * Hino Rei * Aoyama Motoko * Tsukamoto Yakumo * Aikawa Hinako * = = = EOF = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =