*******************************************************************************
* *
* Final Fantasy X-2 -- The Last Mission *
* General Information and Playthrough Guide *
* *
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Written by Bill Russell
Final Fantasy X-2 is copyright 2001 - 2004 by Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster is copyright 2013, 2014 by Square Enix Co., Ltd.
This FAQ is copyright 2014 -- Bill Russell
This publication is protected by United States copyright law.
It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly
without advance written permission of the author. 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 wish to post this FAQ or any portion of it to
any other site, please write to me.
Questions or comments can be sent to me at auron402@gmail.com
If you intend to give this review either a "Yes" or a "No" recommendation, I
would very much appreciate it if you would read the next-to-last paragraph in
this guide before doing so.
******************************************************************************
* I. Revision History (LM01) *
******************************************************************************
Version Completed
1.00 13 October 2014
1.10 20 October 2014
* Added information about DS with long-range attacks.
* Added complete chart of Auto-Abilities, Accessory names, and AP.
* Fixed the erroneous copyright information, caused by my sloppy
cut-and-paste job from a previous FAQ.
* Thoroughly re-wrote and re-organized the Accessories section.
* Added information about the Cursed Seal, which somehow got left
out of my original list of Traps.
* Added advice about finding a secondary DS to complement your
primary DS.
1.20
* Added a couple of basic controller features that might not be
obvious.
* Added information about using the Berserker, Black Mage, and
Festivalist as your primary DS.
* Added floor-by-floor listing of enemies.
* Added information about the different Magic spells available based
on your choice of Yuna, Rikku, or Paine.
* Added a note about when secondary DS actually level up your
character.
* Added specifics about optimizing use of Accessory slots.
* Added information about enemy attacks and abilities. I haven't
double-checked this yet, so I'm sure that there are some mistakes.
I'll iron those out in the next update.
* Added some ideas for challenge runs.
* Expanded the information about Cactuars.
* Added an observation about a possible "hidden" influence on
effectiveness in battle.
* Added information about "P," "M," and "D" abilities.
* Made a whole lot of other changes that I forgot to record as I did
them.
1.30 13 April 2015
* Expanded on uses of the Songstress' Change Out ability.
* Re-wrote description of Confusion status.
* Added a "big picture" strategy.
* Added a lot of enemy Abilities that I failed to notice and/or
record on previous runs.
* Added information about Yuna's "Dig" ability, particularly
Accessories that are only available from using this command.
1.31 28 May 2019
* Added information about the appearance of the Founder.
* Added Trainer to the list of top candidates for your primary DS.
* Added some information about the attack pattern of Protean Gels
and how to approach them safely.
1.40 09 August 2019
* Outlined all of the possibilities for ending F77, F78, and F79.
******************************************************************************
* II. Introduction (LM02) *
******************************************************************************
I, like many people, played the Last Mission add-on game in FF-X2 primarily to
earn the trophies. As I embarked on my first run through the tower, I was
surprised by the scarcity of information about the game. This led to a certain
amount of frustration trying to figure out just what I was supposed to be doing
and how I was supposed to do it. As I picked up items whose purposes eluded
me, got snared by annoying traps, and lost key items at the hands of pesky
enemies, my irritation grew. In time, though, I found some useful information
about the game, and as I progressed through the Tower, I have to admit that I
began to get into the game. Upon the conclusion of my first successful run, I
had this inexplicable desire to attempt another run, even though I had already
earned all 6 trophies.
Like most such games, the Last Mission has strategies, concepts, and trade-
offs. On my second run, I began to piece together how the game worked --
information that I would have found very useful before undertaking my first
run. Additionally, I found that my experiences contradicted some of the
information that I had gathered elsewhere. In an attempt to help other
adventurers get past the game's frustrations and appreciate its strengths, I
decided to undertake my 6th game guide.
The Last Mission is actually a decent game in its own right. Similar to (but
not nearly as deep as) the Ancient Cave of Lufia II, Last Mission forces you to
use only items that you find within the Tower. Managing these limited
resources is the main difficulty of the game. With a plethora of items
available yet a capacity for carrying a mere 20 items, Last Mission
challenges you to make tough decisions at every turn. There is something very
pure about navigating a dungeon using only the items that you find within.
Even after I save my progress, planning to stop playing for a while, I find
myself running around the next floor checking out the items to see if anything
useful shows up, even though I plan on shutting off the deck, thereby losing
those items. It is that anticipation of the unknown that really draws you into
this game. This is good because, quite frankly, the challenge level is rather
low. Your chance of successfully completing your first run is probably around
90%, and your chances on successive runs are probably very close to 100% --
especially with the useful information you are about to receive.
Although I will make suggestions along the way, my intention is not to espouse
a single strategy for the game but rather to give the adventurer sufficient
information to make educated decisions. If Last Mission has replay value, it
lies within the flexibility of the game. There are 16 choices for your primary
dressphere, and each represents a strategy for reaching the apex of the Tower.
Feel free to choose a direction that appeals to you.
******************************************************************************
* III. What This Guide Is and What It Isn't (LM03) *
******************************************************************************
My primary purpose in writing this guide is to provide information about how
the game works. I will examine various elements of the game in detail, trying
to give you enough information that you can make informed decisions as you play
through the game. I will then divide the Tower up into groups of 5 - 10 floors
and describe things to keep in mind as you progress through those particular
floors. I will do my best to keep my editorializing to a minimum, although I
make no promises.
This guide is most decidedly NOT a bunch of lists. If you want lists of all
available Accessories, all Items, etc., I would refer you to the Last Mission
guide by Wnyerv, which can be found on GameFAQs.com. This guide does a very
thorough job of detailing these lists for you, and I see no reason to duplicate
those efforts. My purpose, instead, is to provide information that is not
readily available elsewhere.
******************************************************************************
* IV. Contents (LM04) *
******************************************************************************
I. Revision History (LM01)
II. Introduction (LM02)
III. What This Guide Is and What It Isn't (LM03)
IV. Contents (LM04)
V. Overview (LM05)
VI. Developing Your Character (LM06)
VII. YRP's Level (LM07)
VIII. Dressphere Levels (LM08)
IX. Choosing Your Primary DS (LM09)
X. Navigating the Tower (LM10)
XI. Traps (LM11)
XII. Stones (LM12)
XIII. Shops (LM13)
XIV. Accessories and Auto-Abilities (LM14)
XV. Items (LM15)
XVI. Inventory Control (LM16)
XVII. The Founder (LM17)
XVIII. Tower Climbing for Fun and Profit (LM18)
XIX. Walkthrough (LM19)
F01 - F10 (WF01-F10)
F11 - F15 (WF11-F15)
F16 - F20 (WF16-F20)
F21 - F25 (WF21-F25)
F26 - F30 (WF26-F30)
F31 - F35 (WF31-F35)
F36 - F40 (WF36-F40)
F41 - F45 (WF41-F45)
F45 - F50 (WF46-F50)
F51 - F55 (WF51-F55)
F56 - F60 (WF56-F60)
F61 - F65 (WF61-F65)
F66 - F70 (WF66-F70)
F71 - F75 (WF71-F75)
F76 - F80 (WF76-F80)
XX. Final Words (LM20)
******************************************************************************
* V. Overview (LM05) *
******************************************************************************
I'm going to begin by outlining the basics of the game and some of the
abbreviations that I will be using throughout this guide.
* In the Last Mission (LM) you start on Floor 1 (F1) of a Tower.
* Your goal is to reach F80 and defeat the boss there.
* Bosses also appear on F20, F40, and F60.
* You may Save your game on every 5th floor (F5, F10, etc.) or by using a
found item called a Save Memo when taking any elevator.
* The elevators on floors whose numbers are multiples of 5 but are not
multiples of 20 (i.e., F5 and F15 but not F40) are locked. To unlock these
elevators, you must meet certain requirements (which I have detailed for you
in the Walkthrough section.) These requirements are usually some
combination of defeating a certain number of enemies, using certain items,
and performing various actions a certain number of times.
* Each floor contains enemies to defeat. Doing so yields Experience (EXP) and
Ability Points (AP).
* AP are used to create Accessories that bestow abilities if equipped. Your
character -- Yuna, Rikku, or Paine (YRP) can equip up to 2 Accessories at a
given time.
* Each floor contains items that you may pick up and/or use. However, you can
only carry a total of 20 items at any one time.
* You can equip up to 5 Dresspheres (DS). You must choose one as your primary
DS (the game calls it your "Base" DS), while the other 4 are secondary.
* Each equipped DS bestows unique abilities AND contributes to your overall
stats.
* When you are damaged by an enemy, your primary DS loses Hit Points (HP.)
If a DS's HP reaches 0, that DS is destroyed and your next DS in line will
become your primary DS. You REALLY don't want this to ever happen.
* Your character YRP also has HP and Magic Points (MP). YRP's HP may be spent
on using certain abilities (such as Doom). YRP's MP may be used for other
abilities, such as recovering HP.
* Play is turn-based. A turn consists of moving one square in any direction
(including diagonally), using an Ability, attacking an enemy, using an item,
or rearranging your DS's. Once you have taken an action, every enemy in the
room can then take an action before you get another turn.
I feel that I should also mention a couple of important controller functions,
just in case you didn't read through the tutorial outside of the Tower. I'm
always amused when FAQs detail every single function of the controller -- as if
you couldn't figure out that the left analog stick causes your character to
move. However, the following functions are quite important and are not
necessarily all that intuitive.
R2 and L2 -- Rotate YRP to aim at a target. YRP must be pointed in the correct
direction in order to land an attack. When an enemy attacks YRP, she will
automatically rotate to face the attacking enemy. If she is attacked by more
than one enemy, she will face the last enemy that attacked her.
Triangle -- Calls up the menus for Items, Dresses, and the like. The Check
option at the bottom allows you to take an elevator or inspect an item under
your feet it your inventory is full. Notice also that if you scroll Right from
the primary menu, you can reach another set of options, such as checking your
character's Status, Sorting items, etc.
Circle + Select -- Allows you to pass a turn without taking an action. You're
probably wondering why on earth you would want to do this, but it actually is a
surprisingly useful tool. For example, if you're trying to enter a room but an
enemy is blocking your entrance, passing a turn might make that enemy move
aside and let you in. Once inside a room, passing a turn can be useful in
giving you the first attack. For example, if there is one empty square between
you and an enemy and you move into that square, the enemy will probably attack
you. However, if you pass a turn, that enemy might (or might not) move into
that square, allowing you to attack first and ultimately take one less hit.
I'm going to assume that you can figure out the rest of the controls for
yourself. Let's move on to ways to develop your character.
******************************************************************************
* VI. Developing Your Character (LM06) *
******************************************************************************
Your primary goal while ascending the Tower is to improve your character's
stats for the more difficult battles that lie ahead. So, let's next unravel
the mysteries about how your character's stats are calculated and what you can
do to increase them, thereby making her more powerful.
Before starting, let's make note of all available stats. Their names are
pretty much self-explanatory if you have ever played an RPG.
HP = Hit Points MP = Magic Points
PA = Physical Attack PD = Physical Defense
MA = Magic MD = Magic Defense
EVA = Evasion ACC = Accuracy
Note that there is no Agility stat. This is because play is turn-based rather
than time-based.
Gil can be found lying on the ground like other items or can be earned by
defeating defenseless Gold statues (Section XII) that appear randomly in rooms.
You do not receive gil for defeating enemies.
The stats that you have in battle work like this:
* Your available HP are the HP of your primary DS
* Your available MP are the MP that YRP has
* For all other categories, your stats are the SUM of YRP's stats and the
combined stats of all equipped DS.
As usual, stats increase by leveling up, but the way that this works in LM is
kind of unusual. Basically, you can level up YRP and you can also
independently level up your DS, as detailed in the next 2 sections.
******************************************************************************
* VII. YRP's Level (LM07) *
******************************************************************************
YRP can increase levels in two ways. The easy way is by finding and drinking
potions that increase levels. Enhancing Potion raises YRP by 1 level; Growth
Tonic raises her by 2 levels; and Evolutionary Water raises her by 3 levels.
Most often, these are found as items lying on the ground, but sometimes they
can be purchased at a Shop or stolen from an enemy. Needless to say, you NEVER
pass up one of these potions. If your inventory is full, you can still drink
one lying on the ground without using up inventory space. Unfortunately, if
you find one in a Shop you can only buy it if you have space in your inventory.
Generally, I'd advise you to sell off something that you can live without and
then buy the Potion.
The other way YRP gains level is by amassing EXP earned by defeating enemies.
This works in the usual RPG fashion. EXP points and leveling potions are both
relatively plentiful. If you are diligent about defeating enemies for EXP and
drink every leveling potion in sight, YRP's level should be very close to the
floor number you are on at any time. Please note that defeating an enemy by
using Doom does NOT yield any EXP and consequently does not help YRP level up.
Every time YRP levels up, she gains HP and MP. She will also increase ONE of
the other six stats, chosen more or less randomly, by anywhere from 1 - 3
points. I say "more or less" because certain combinations of DS will make YRP
more likely to increase one stat than the other 5. However, as long as you
keep leveling up YRP, over time your character's stats will all increase.
Remember that while YRP's MP can be used during your turns, YRP's HP increases
do not increase the HP of your primary character in battle. The HP you have in
battle are determined by your primary DS. YRP's HP are like MP -- they can be
spent to use abilities but are not decreased when you take damage from an
enemy unless you have no DS equipped.
******************************************************************************
* VIII. Dressphere Levels (LM08) *
******************************************************************************
DS level up by finding similar DS and Fusing them into a new DS with a higher
level. For example, if your primary DS is a Level 10 Dark Knight and you find
a Level 2 Dark Knight DS, you can fuse those together to make a Level 12 Dark
Knight DS PROVIDED that you have a Folio (basically a book) called "Dress
Fusion Secrets." These Folios are found as items, can be purchased in a Shop,
or can be stolen from enemies. New DS for fusing can be found as items,
purchased at the Dress Shop (again, the proper Folio is required to access the
Dress Shop) or stolen from the Founder (more on him in Section XVII.)
DS -- unlike YRP -- level up in a predictable fashion. Each DS will only
increase certain stats, one of which is always HP. Leveling up a DS will never
increase MP, as MP come exclusively from YRP's level. In a moment, I'll show
you a table of which DS increases which stats, but first we need to consider
one other factor.
Your primary DS increases stats exactly twice as much as your secondary DS.
So, for example, raising a Dark Knight DS by 2 levels will increase your PD by
1 point if that DS is in a secondary position, but those same 2 levels will
raise PD by 2 points if that DS is in the primary position! Clearly, you want
to choose your primary DS carefully and make it the primary target of leveling
up, as you get twice the bang for your buck.
I should also observe that secondary DS HP do not increase the HP that you have
available in battle, as that number is determined solely by your primary DS.
So, if your character shows a maximum HP of 300 and you increase the level on a
secondary DS, you still only have 300 HP in battle.
OK -- here is the table showing what increases you get for which stat with
which DS. These numbers assume that the DS in question is in the PRIMARY
position. Remember that SECONDARY DS will only increase half as much.
*******************************************************************
* DRESSPHERE * PA * PD * MA * MD * EVA * ACC *
*******************************************************************
* Alchemist * 0 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 1 *
*******************************************************************
* Berserker * 2 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 1 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Black Mage * 0 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Dark Knight * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 *
*******************************************************************
* Festivalist * 1 * 0 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 *
*******************************************************************
* Gun Mage * 1 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Gunner * 0 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 2 *
*******************************************************************
* Lady Luck * 0 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Mascot * 0 * 1 * 0 * 2 * 0 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Psychic * 0 * 0 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 2 *
*******************************************************************
* Samurai * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Songstress * 0 * 1 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* Thief * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 2 * 1 *
*******************************************************************
* Trainer * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 * 0 * 1 *
*******************************************************************
* Warrior * 1 * 2 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
* White Mage * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 1 * 0 *
*******************************************************************
In most cases, the stat increases for secondary DS occur when the DS goes from
an even level to an odd level. For example, if a White Mage DS in a Secondary
position levels from 3 to 4, you will see no increases in stats. When that
same White Mage levels from 4 to 5, PD, Magic, and EVA will all increase by 1.
The exception to this is DS that double up on certain stats. For example, when
a Warrior DS levels up from 3 to 4, PD will increase by 1. When that same
Warrior DS levels up from 4 to 5, PA and PD will each increase by 1.
In practice, there seems to be more to stats than I have detailed here. In
actually gameplay, it appears that increasing YRP's levels causes increases
even in at least some of the 5 stats that are not specifically leveled up. For
example, at the beginning of the game, YRP is at Level 1. Let's say for sake
of argument that at that point, your character is consistently hitting a Coyote
for 4 HP damage per turn. After a while, YRP gains enough EXP to advance to
Level 2, and let's say that the text tells you that the only stat that is
increased (other than her HP and MP) is PD. Even though PA did not
specifically increase, you will find that your character now consistently hits
Coyotes for 6 HP damage per turn instead of 4 HP. Watch closely for the first
couple of floors, and you will see what I mean. I can only hypothesize that
some other factor -- perhaps YRP's HP -- has an "invisible" effect on your
character's effectiveness in battle.
******************************************************************************
* IX. Choosing Your Primary DS (LM09) *
******************************************************************************
Part of the depth of the LM is that your choice of primary DS to a large extent
determines how your run will progress. There is certainly a school of thought
that Dark Knight is the primary DS of choice because of high HP, high PD stat
and availability of the Doom Ability. This is the strategy that I used for my
first run, but it certainly had its drawbacks. Here are a few:
* Many enemies -- mostly mechs and machina -- cannot be defeated by Doom, so
sooner or later you're going to have to slug it out with your enemies.
* Since Dark Knight doesn't level up the PA stat, your PA will be very low and
these battles become very tedious.
* You get no EXP from killing an enemy using Doom. Thus, your PA, MD, and EVA
stats aren't going to grow very quickly because YRP's levels will increase
slowly.
* You can put your Dark Knight DS in a secondary slot and still have access to
Doom when you need it, so there is no compelling reason to make it your
primary DS.
* Using Doom over and over again gets really boring really quickly. I'd
estimate that a run to the top of the Tower takes about twice as long if you
rely primarily on Doom and is at most half as fun.
If you want to try this approach, by all means do so. Here are some
observations about other possibilities.
* A good PA stat is worth developing. Regardless of the strategy that you
choose, eventually you are going to have to defeat enemies with physical
attacks.
* Don't overlook Accuracy. A huge PA stat won't do you much good if you can't
hit your target. You will want to develop ACC in almost every run.
* In general, you need to develop your character's PD or EVA but probably not
both. If you choose a primary DS that increases EVA when it levels up, you
will eventually get to the point where almost all physical attacks miss, and
you don't take damage if your enemies can't hit you. Also, if you choose a
primary DS that has a long-range weapon, you can often defeat enemies before
they can get close enough to damage you. Be aware, however, that some
physical attacks cannot be evaded, so you generally don't want to rely
solely on EVA.
* On the other hand, MD is crucial. Magic attacks ALWAYS hit, and there are
many enemies that just pound you with Magic until they run out of MP. With
a good MD stat, this isn't a problem. ALWAYS develop MD.
* If you choose a primary DS that uses a long-range attack (e.g. Gun Mage),
a high MD stat is especially important. If an enemy is in your line of
fire, then you are in his as well and some Magic-casting enemies will get in
plenty of attacks before you finish them off.
* For what it's worth, when you get right next to a Magic-casting enemy, it
will often stop throwing Magic at you and resort instead to Physical
Attacks. Some don't even have a PA, meaning that once you get right next to
them, you can pound on them at will.
* Unless your strategy is going to involve barraging your enemies with Magic,
the MA stat is of lesser importance. However, you generally want your MA
stat to be high enough to knock out a Cactuar with one spell.
Keep in mind that whatever you choose for your primary DS, it will have
weaknesses. The awesome physical attacks of the Berserker won't do you much
good if your Accuracy is so low that your attacks seldom connect. Thus, it is
equally important to find a secondary DS that has strengths to offset the
weaknesses of your primary DS. So, continuing with the example of having a
Berserker as your primary DS, both the Alchemist and Trainer DS will add to
your ACC and MD, thus helping balance out your character's stats.
All DS except Alchemist, Gun Mage, Gunner, and Lady Luck have a basic attack
with a range of 1 square in any direction. These 4 exceptions all have long-
range weapons with a reach of 3 squares in any direction. The first 3 have
long-range attacks because they are clearly equipped with guns. Lady Luck
seems to damage foes from a distance by throwing cards at them, apparently
inflicting very painful and potentially fatal paper cuts.
Here are a couple of personal favorites for your primary DS.
* Samurai -- For a well-rounded character, the Samurai is hard to beat. As
Samurai gains levels, it increases the near-perfect combination of PA, MD,
and Evasion. Add a Gunner or Thief to boost Accuracy, and you've got it all
-- strong physical attacks that rarely miss; good defense against long-range
Magic attacks; and the ability to dodge just about any physical attack. Oh,
yes and lots of HP as you level up. Perfect, especially for early runs.
* Trainer -- The only DS with a better combination of abilities than the
Samurai is the Trainer. As the Trainer gains levels, it increases PA, MD,
and ACC. Your character gets stronger and more accurate while building
defense against Magic. This DS is necessary for developing the essential
Doomproof ability and for some secondary abilities such as Lightningproof
and Detect all Traps that you may want to use occasionally. As a bonus, if
you change your main character to Yuna, you get the awesome Dig ability,
which can give you access to additional items, including the most desirable
Folio in the game. Add a Black Mage and a Dark Knight, and you will
also develop PD as well as a powerful Magic attack for defeating enemies
from a distance.
* Gun Mage -- Using a long range weapon is less of an advantage than you might
think. You have a big edge over enemies that can only execute PAs from one
square away, but you're still going to get pounded by anything that slings
Magic. I do have to admit that it is mighty satisfying to blast a Cactuar
from the relative safety of 3 squares away, but you have to be careful.
Cactuars have high Evasion and can dodge your attacks unless your ACC stat
is high, which it likely isn't the first couple of time that you encounter
Cactuars. As a rule, Magic is a more reliable way of dealing with Cactuars.
Still Gun Mage is worth trying. Leveling up still boosts PA and MD, but
also boosts the relatively useless MA stat. A well-developed Thief DS can
complement your Gun Mage by adding both Evasion and Accuracy.
* Berserker -- Although the attack animation is somewhat annoying, the
Berserker just can't be beat for raw power. Every level up gives you +2 PA
-- WOW! You also get +1 Evasion, meaning that at sufficiently high levels,
physical attacks will rarely hit you. For balance, you will need Accuracy
and MD. The logical choice is Trainer, which will also boost PA. Berserker
is pretty useless for Auto-Abilities, but Trainer is necessary for
Doomproof. Add a Dark Knight (boosts Accuracy) and a Samurai (boosts PA and
Evasion), and you will always be Doomproof and will have just awesome power
and Evasion. Trainer also has the very useful Long Shot ability that allows
you to pick off Cactuars (or any other enemy, for that matter) from ANY
distance (provided, of course, that you are in line with them) for a paltry
4 MP!
* Black Mage -- Your initial reaction to relying on a Black Mage's Magic
attacks is probably fear of running out of MP. This is easily managed by
making a Waxing Moonstone (Black Mage + Dark Knight + Gun Mage) as soon as
possible, as this Accessory will heal your MP slowly over time. What you
get in return is the awesome power of Magic attacks. The Magic element that
you get depends on your YRP choice -- Rikku comes with Thundaga, Yuna comes
with Firaga, and Paine has the Blizzaga attack. Magic will one-hit kill
just about any enemy from up to 3 squares away -- hitting for at least
double the damage of physical attacks -- and its accuracy is 100%. As a
Black Mage, you will never fear a Cactuar again, for you can reliably
one-hit kill them from a safe distance. In addition to Magic, Black Mage
also boosts the very useful PD and MD stats, so you're going to take very
little damage. Unfortunately, in the later floors you will encounter
some enemies with very high MD, and some enemies are healed by specific
Magic. Worst of all, the final boss is also healed by Thundaga, leaving
you to slug it out hand-to-hand. A Trainer is a good choice for a secondary
DS as it boosts the PA and ACC stats that you are going to need. As a bonus
Black Mage + Trainer makes you immune to Lightning attacks. Black Mage is
definitely a greater challenge than Samurai or Berserker, but it also adds a
new dimension, and for that reason is definitely worth trying at least once.
******************************************************************************
* X. Navigating the Tower (LM10) *
******************************************************************************
The Tower consists of 3 main elements -- rooms, hallways, and doorways. Here
are the characteristics of each.
ROOMS, as the name implies, are open areas. Rooms will almost always contain
enemies and may contain Traps (covered in the next section.) On your map,
enemies are indicated in red; items are indicated in white; the flashing light
blue square is your location; the dark blue squares indicate your range of
attack with your weapon or the action that you have chosen; and Traps that have
been revealed are indicated with a yellow "X." Be aware that most Traps are
concealed and will not show up on your map until you step on them unless you
have an Accessory or combination of DS that reveals them to you.
New enemies can spawn in any room. However, there seems to be a limit to the
number of live enemies on a given floor at any time. Thus, sometimes you will
run around and have enemies spawn right next to you, and other times you can
run around almost endlessly without a new enemy spawning anywhere on that
floor.
Remember that within rooms you can move in any direction, including diagonally.
If you are as inept at moving the analog stick diagonally as I am, try rotating
the view 45 degrees (right analog stick) and then moving forward, backwards, or
sideways. Even I can do that correctly!
Generally, you want to avoid being in line with enemies that cast Magic, as
they can damage you from as much as 3 - 4 squares away diagonally. Learn to
read the map and move so that you are not in their line of fire because Magic
attacks cannot be Evaded -- they connect 100% of the time unless you have an
Accessory or DS combination that makes you immune. Again, once you move
adjacent to Magic-using enemies, they will almost always resort to physical
attacks instead of using Magic. If you work on raising your Evasion stat, you
can often dodge these Physical Attacks. I find this especially entertaining
when an enemy spends a turn boosting its Magic and then never using it because
you moved next to it without ever previously getting in line with it.
Some enemies breathe fire or other attacks over a broad range of area. Just
accept that you're going to take some damage getting up next to them and move
in as efficiently as possible. As a rule, diagonal movement is the quickest
route to your destination.
HALLWAYS are those narrow corridors that connect rooms or, sometimes, lead to
dead ends. Grrrrrrr! I hate wasting time going down dead end halls. Hallways
never contain Traps, and they never contain items (unless you drop one there),
but they sometimes contain enemies. A given hallway will either contain
enemies or not. If you pass through an entire hallway without ever
encountering an enemy, chances are that enemies will never spawn in that
hallway.
Extremely long hallways that seem to go nowhere usually do. If you have Thief
+ Trainer equipped, you will have the "Detect All Traps" Auto-Ability and will
see little yellow x's everywhere that a Trap is located. If a long hallway
leads to an area with no yellow x's, chances are that said hallway leads to a
dead end since almost every room contains at least one Trap, especially on the
higher floors (see Section XI.)
The places where hallways take right-angle bends are unusual. Consider the
rather rudimentary picture below:
-----------------
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
-----------------
| 5 |
-----
Assume that this hallway continues left from square 1 and down from square 5.
If an enemy is on square 3, you can attack it diagonally from square 5, just as
if you were in a room. However, you cannot move directly from square 5 to
square 3 (or vice versa.) Either way, you must first pass through square 4.
Your enemies, by the way, CAN move directly from square 3 to square 5. Go
figure.
This is especially important to remember if you find a Cactuar in a hallway
(where they seem to LOVE to reside) and hit it with Doom. Doom has a reach of 3
squares, and the Cactuar's X-Needles attack has a reach of 1 square. Suppose
that the Cactuar is on square 1 and you are on square 3. You cast Doom (from
only 2 squares away) and the Cactuar moves to square 2. You would like to move
to square 5, but since that move isn't possible, you retreat to square 4. The
Cactuar responds by moving to square 3. You retreat to square 5. Now instead
of being 2 squares away from the Cactuar, you are only one (diagonal) square
away. The Cactuar can now hit you with his dreaded X-Needles attack, which is
exactly what you are trying to avoid. The moral is that whenever possible,
make sure that you are 3 squares away from Cactuars that you are hitting with
Doom.
DOORWAYS have "magic barriers" that prevent attacks across them. If you are in
a hallway, you cannot attack an enemy that is in a room and vice versa.
Likewise, an enemy that is in a hallway cannot follow you into a room or vice
versa. This is both good and bad.
The good news is that if you enter a room and find yourself surrounded by
enemies, you can retreat into the hallway. Having entered the room once, the
map of that room is now activated and you can track the enemies' locations from
the safety of the hallway. The bad news is that enemies have the extremely
annoying habit of hovering in front of doorways, thus preventing you from
entering or exiting a room. This forces you to pass turns (Select + Circle)
waiting for them to get out of your way. As a rule, wasting turns is not
something that you want to do until you are ready to move to the next floor.
And, let us not overlook that possibility that while you are standing in a
hallway passing turns and waiting for the entrance to clear, an enemy can spawn
right behind you in the hallway, thus boxing you in.
It is also worth noting that if you Doom an enemy and then retreat into a
hallway, that enemy's Doom counter stops once you exit the room. The counter
only goes down for turns in which the enemy has the opportunity to act against
you, whether by attacking or moving in for an attack. It is possible to run
down an enemy's Doom counter by entering a room and then exiting after the
enemy gets a turn. As long as you are not within the enemy's line of attack
when you enter, you are safe doing this. However, this can be tricky and time-
consuming. I'd advise only using this strategy for Cactuar emergencies.
Doorways are also prime locations for Traps, so let's look at Traps next.
******************************************************************************
* XI. Traps (LM11) *
******************************************************************************
I'm going to open with a rant about why I hate Traps. Feel free to skip this
paragraph altogether. Traps are a completely unnecessary annoyance in the Last
Mission. It's not like the game isn't hard enough already, and it isn't as if
you have no defense against them. I just resent having to allocate some of my
extremely limited resources defending against these totally arbitrary elements
of the game. Traps do not make the game more challenging or more fun -- they
just make it more frustrating. There -- I feel much better now for getting
that off my chest.
Traps can appear in any room (except rooms with Bosses) but never appear in
hallways. Very few rooms contain no Traps at all, and rooms with 5 - 6 Traps
in them are quite common, and I've seen relatively small rooms containing as
many as 8 Traps. It seems that they are especially prevalent on that one tile
on which you must step to pass from a doorway to a room, thus making them
unavoidable. Other times a line of 3 Traps will block passage from a room into
a hallway, again making them unavoidable.
Traps do not always activate when you step on them. Honestly, I have no idea
what determines whether Traps activate or not. When they do not activate, I
breathe a sigh of relief. When the do activate, I tend to curse out loud.
Enemies, of course, can pass freely across Traps without getting -- well --
Trapped, which really doesn't seem logical or fair. How little tiny Rikku can
set off a trap that some huge Gigas stomps on damage-free is beyond me, but
such is the Physics of video games.
The bottom line is that I despise Traps SO much that I'm willing to make the
Stealth Cape -- an Accessory that makes you immune to Traps -- a high priority
in the game. This is not so much to preserve life as it is to preserve sanity.
Thief + Trainer will give you the Auto-Ability to detect all Traps, and Black
Mage + Lady Luck will give you the Auto-Ability to detect nearby Traps. There
is also a Seeing Book Folio that will display all Traps on your map. All of
these are very nice but do you absolutely no good if, as described above, the
Traps lie in a location that you cannot avoid traversing. There is a Trap
Evading Primer that will disable all Traps on a floor, but I certainly wouldn't
waste the inventory space to carry one. If you find one of these Primers
before you get your Stealth Cape, read it to disable the Traps on that floor
but leave it behind when you advance to the next floor unless you still have
oceans of space in your inventory.
Your only true salvation is the Songstress + Thief + Psychic DS combination
that allows you to pass over Traps without setting them off. Unfortunately, 2
of these 3 DS are otherwise useless wastes of inventory space. Equip this
combo long enough to build a Stealth Cape, then discard the Songstress and
Psychic DS. Keep this Accessory equipped at all times and you will actually
feel your stress level diminishing as the game suddenly becomes much more
enjoyable.
Two types of Traps (see below) will compromise items in your inventory. This
status can only be removed with the Alchemist's "Item Esuna" ability. My
advice is to keep an Alchemist DS in inventory until you get the above
combination of DS necessary for the Evade Traps ability. Once you build
yourself a Stealth Cape, you can discard the Alchemist DS.
Below is a list of Traps, what they do, and why I hate them.
Biospray -- Inflicts Poison until it wears off (about 6 turns.) Aggravating to
be sure but not lethal.
Bomb's Wrath -- Puts a timed Bomb on one of your items. If you do not remove
that Bomb with the Alchemist's Item Esuna ability, after a certain number of
turns that item will explode and disappear. I guess that's one way to free up
space in your inventory -- just not a recommended one.
Boo! Tile -- Takes random items from your inventory and spreads them around the
room. You can pick them up and reclaim them unless, of course, you step on a
Pit Trap in the process, in which case all unclaimed items are lost forever.
Cursed Seal -- Causes one random item from your inventory to be Cursed. Cursed
items cannot be used and Cursed DS cannot be equipped or unequipped. Cursed
items can be cured using the Alchemist's Item Esuna ability or by reading a
Cursebreaking Folio. NOTE: Although Cursed items cannot be used, they CAN be
sold in Shops. So, if one of your equipped DS gets Cursed -- especially if it
is Level 1 or 2 -- and you have no means to remove the Curse, you can sell it
off at a Shop, thereby unequipping it!
Nefarious Pit -- Unequips all DS. You can, of course re-equip all of these in
a single turn. This is really only a problem if you get attacked before you
can re-equip. Again, this Trap is annoying but probably not fatal.
Pit Trap -- Causes you to fall down to the previous floor. This is the
absolute worst. Once I was literally 2 steps from getting on an elevator when
I stepped on a Pit Trap. Before I could find the elevator to get back up, I
stepped on another Pit Trap and regressed yet another floor. These things are
really -- well -- the pits.
Plummet -- Damages YRP's HP. If you are using Doom a lot and fail to replenish
YRP's HP regularly, this can cause you to be ejected from the Tower. This is a
good argument for keeping up with YRP's HP at all times.
Sticky Trap -- Immobilizes you for 6 turns. You'd think that this wouldn't be
much of a problem, but here is a counterexample. Once I got caught in a Sticky
Trap and thought, "Hey -- no big deal." After one turn, a Cactuar spawned
right next to me. Unfortunately, this happened before I learned that Cactuars
never attack unless provoked, so I foolishly attacked it. Before I could kill
it, the Cactuar's X-Needles attack wiped out my main DS. Bad luck? Sure.
Irritating? Extremely.
Trampoline -- Launches you into a different room on the same floor. I
especially love seeing these on those tiles in front of doorways leading to the
elevator. You have no way to go forward without getting flung back further
away from your destination. Truly annoying.
Wind Slash -- Does mild damage to all equipped DS and to YRP. After about F20,
the damage is hardly noticeable. On lower floors when your HP are low and
healing is at a premium, this can be more of a problem.
******************************************************************************
* XII. Stones (LM12) *
******************************************************************************
While navigating the Tower, you will encounter 2 types of stones -- regular
gray-colored ones and gold-colored ones. Both appear as red squares on your
map, although neither can attack you or do you any damage.
Gold stones can appear in any room but never in hallways. Attack them with
your weapon and your gil will increase by 1 for every HP damage you do to them.
Each gold stone appears to have a maximum number of HP, but that number seems
to increase as you ascend the Tower. You do not earn AP for defeating a gold
stone, and there is never an item underneath one.
Gray stones may appear in any room or hallway. Each time you attack one,
you do 1 HP damage, regardless of your PA stat. All gray stones (except those
in Secret Rooms) have 9 HP. Defeating one earns you 1 AP but no EXP. In
hallways, these stones are just barriers that need to be removed to continue.
In rooms, you will often see an elevator beneath one, so the stone is basically
just blocking your access to that elevator (as well as your ability to see the
elevator on your map.) However, gray stones that are in rooms but not on top
of elevators nearly always have an item hidden underneath, so be sure to - well
- leave no stone unturned.
******************************************************************************
* XIII. Shops (LM13) *
******************************************************************************
There are 2 types of shops in the Last Mission -- Item Shops and Dress Shops.
Dress Shops sell DS and can ONLY be accessed by finding and using a Dress Shop
Guide Folio as described in the section below on Inventory Control. At any one
time, perhaps 6 DS are available for sale, all either Level 1 or Level 2.
Item Shops can be accessed 2 ways:
1) Find and use a Shop Guide Folio.
2) At random times when taking an elevator, you will stop at an Item Shop
between floors. Interestingly, the locations of these shops are designated
with "0.5" floor levels. For example, if you go to an item shop on your
way from F32 to F33, that shop will show "F32.5" as its location (indicated
in the upper left corner of the screen.)
Items available in Item Shops vary considerably. Generally, you can buy
certain Folios and Potions but not DS or Accessories. The exception to this
rule concerns an Accessory called the "Special Pass." If you have this
Accessory equipped when you land in an Item Shop, certain expensive but exotic
Accessories may appear. Most of these, by the way, are useless. When you need
them, they are out of your price range, and when you can afford them you no
longer need them.
While in an Item Shop you may sell items you possess or you may buy items, but
you cannot manipulate your inventory in any way. For example, if you have 2
similar DS and a Dress Fusion Secrets Folio, you cannot Fuse those DS while in
the shop. Also, you do not have access to the descriptions of items either in
your inventory or for sale. You just have to know what everything is and does.
You can only buy one of any given item. For example, if the shop happens to
have an Enhancing Potion for sale and you buy it (as well you should!) that
spot in the item shop list goes blank, indicating that you cannot buy another
during that visit. Of course, another might appear the next time that you
visit an item shop. Also, as earlier described, you cannot then drink that
potion to free up an inventory slot. You have to wait until you exit the shop
and progress to the next floor before you can drink that potion.
******************************************************************************
* XIV. Accessories and Auto-Abilities (LM14) *
******************************************************************************
The game offers you a wealth of different Accessories that instill various
auto-abilities. Your character can only equip up to 2 Accessories at a time.
Accessories come from 3 main sources:
* Some can be purchased in Item Shops.
* Some can be stolen from the Founder.
* Some can be created by gaining AP while certain combinations of DS are
equipped.
Accessories in Item Shops are relatively rare. As previously mentioned, there
is an Accessory called "Special Pass" that makes some rare Accessories appear
in shops. However, since access to shops is so unpredictable and random, I'm
not sure that you want to tie up an inventory slot with this item. The bottom
line is that you shouldn't depend on item shops for Accessories.
For the record, the following 4 Accessories are available in Item Shops as rare
items and are not available elsewhere.
Growth Seed -- Doubles AP earned in battles.
Magic Lip Gloss -- Restores HP while walking.
Safety Pouch -- Protects items from Bomb's Wrath Traps.
Sharp Spectacles -- Lets you see the positions of all items on the current
floor.
I consider all of these Accessories to be worthless overpriced garbage, but hey
-- it's your gil so spend it as you see fit.
There are also Accessories that are only available by using the Dig Ability,
which can only be used when Yuna is your character and her primary DS is
Trainer. Once, by Digging, I obtained a "Fire King's Ring," which "Absorbs
fire damage and restores HP," and in later runs I unearthed an "Ice Spirit
Ring" that absorbs Ice damage and "Lightning Dragon Ring" that absorbs
Lightning damage.
Stealing from the Founder can yield some items that can be created using AP as
well as a couple of Accessories that can only be obtained from the Founder. To
the best of my knowledge the 3 Accessories available only from the Founder are:
Triple Tiara -- Allows you to attack THREE times in every turn. This is the
single best Accessory in the game and is not to be missed. It is available for
sure on F44 and possibly on F66 as well. For details, please refer to the
Walkthrough section.
Valkyrie Nails -- Increases the chances of critical hits. This is available on
numerous floors. Early in the game and late in the game when you have plenty
of space in your inventory, this might be worth having, but I wouldn't advise
carrying one through the middle portion of the Tower when space is at a
premium.
Ace Gloves -- Doubles the damage from Thrown objects. Ugh! What a waste of
space. Sell these when you get a chance.
When the right combination of DS is equipped, your character has the given
Auto-Ability. For example, as long as you have Dark Knight + Trainer + Samurai
equipped, you have the "Doomproof" ability. In addition, while that
combination is equipped, the AP earned by defeating enemies goes towards
creating an Accessory that bestows the same ability. Once you gain enough AP
to create the Accessory, you can either discard an unwanted DS and just use the
Accessory when you need the ability or you can keep the DS and discard (or just
never pick up) the Accessory.
Even though I said at the outset that this guide was not about lists, I
consider the list below to be valuable enough that it is worth including. The
list below shows all 41 Auto-Abilities in the game; the DS combination that
bestows each Auto-Ability; the Accessory that bestows the Auto-Ability; and how
many AP are necessary to create the Accessory.
The table is alphabetized by the Auto-Ability name.
So if, for example, you are about to face a slew of enemies such as Protean
Gels that cast Blizzard, use the table to see that if you equip Berserker +
Songstress, you will be immune to ice attacks. Very handy indeed!
Most of the Ability names I would consider to be self-explanatory. The
exceptions to this rule are marked with ( ) and are explained underneath the
table.
Abbreviations Used for DS
AL = Alchemist FE = Festivalist MA = Mascot TH = Thief
BE = Berserker GM = Gun Mage PS = Psychic TR = Trainer
BM = Black Mage GU = Gunner SA = Samurai WA = Warrior
DK = Dark Knight LL = Lady Luck SO = Songstress WM = White Mage
***************************************************************************
* DS1 | DS2 | DS3 | Auto-Ability | Accessory | AP *
***************************************************************************
* DK | SA | WA | 50% Discount | VIP Card | 70 *
***************************************************************************
* GM | SO | | Accuracy Training(1) | Third Eye Rune | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* FE | TH | | Berserkproof | Flower Hairpin | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* DK | GU | | Confuseproof | Rune of Sanity | 55 *
***************************************************************************
* FE | LL | | Curse Guard | Hex Ward | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* FE | SA | | Darkproof | Radiant Mascara | 55 *
***************************************************************************
* DK | GM | | Darktouch | Dusk Choker | 60 *
***************************************************************************
* SO | WA | | Defeat to Heal HP | Asuran Seal | 65 *
***************************************************************************
* FE | GU | | Defeat to Heal MP | Larva Claw | 75 *
***************************************************************************
* BE | TH | | Defensive Training | Fighter Headband | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* TH | TR | | Detect All Traps | Trap Sensor | 75 *
***************************************************************************
* AL | MA | | Detect Enemies | Moongoggles | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* BM | LL | | Detect Nearby Traps | Ninja's Comb | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* DK | SA | TR | Doomproof | Longevity Charm | 60 *
***************************************************************************
* FE | PS | | Double Gil | Sure Hands | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* DS1 | DS2 | DS3 | Auto-Ability | Accessory | AP *
***************************************************************************
* AL | SO | | Dress Guard(2) | Body Chains | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* PS | SO | TH | Evade Traps | Stealth Cape | 75 *
***************************************************************************
* LL | MA | | Evasion Training | Steel Sandals | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* GU | WM | | Fireproof | Extinguisher Hood | 30 *
***************************************************************************
* SA | TH | | Gil for Damage | Thrifty Purse | 60 *
***************************************************************************
* GU | PS | | Gil for EXP | Silver Spoon | 60 *
***************************************************************************
* MA | SA | | Gil Guard | Purse String | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* PS | SA | | Grace Under Pressure(3) | Swan Feather | 45 *
***************************************************************************
* GM | MA | WM | Half Damage | Soldier's Bandana | 87 *
***************************************************************************
* MA | TR | WM | HP Heal Over Time | Bandage | 65 *
***************************************************************************
* BE | SO | | Iceproof | Heating Pad | 30 *
***************************************************************************
* PS | WA | | Immobileproof | Windy Pedicure | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* BE | PS | WA | Impenetrable Front | Armored Vest | 97 *
***************************************************************************
* BM | TR | | Lightningproof | Lightning Rod | 30 *
***************************************************************************
* AL | BM | | Magic Defense Training | Spirit Emblem | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* DS1 | DS2 | DS3 | Auto-Ability | Accessory | AP *
***************************************************************************
* DK | WM | | Magic Training | Witch Earrings | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* AL | GM | GU | Marksman(4) | Sniper Cuffs | 75 *
***************************************************************************
* GM | TR | | MP Cost Protection(5) | Fiendlord Sigil | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* BM | DK | GM | MP Heal Over Time | Waxing Moonstone | 75 *
***************************************************************************
* TR | WA | | Physical Training | Wristband | 50 *
***************************************************************************
* BE | WM | | Poisontouch | Viper Fang | 70 *
***************************************************************************
* FE | MA | | Secret Items(6) | Special Pass | 60 *
***************************************************************************
* GU | LL | TH | Shoplift(7) | Thief's Card | 75 *
***************************************************************************
* BM | SO | | Silenceproof | Megaphone | 40 *
***************************************************************************
* AL | BE | | Sleepproof | Vigilance Sash | 55 *
***************************************************************************
* LL | WM | | Slowproof | Fairy Socks | 55 *
***************************************************************************
(1) Accuracy Training means that having this Accessory equipped makes YRP's
Accuracy stat more likely to increase on level-ups. Ditto for all other
Abilities containing the word, "Training."
(2) Prevents DS from being Removed, e.g., by Boo Traps.
(3) Deal double damage when HP are critical.
(4) Attacks never miss.
(5) Protects against Double MP Cost status effect.
(6) Shops will have rare items for sale.
(7) Chance of stealing items when leaving a Shop.
For me, there are 2 must-have Accessories that can be made by accruing AP.
They are as follows:
* Mascot + Gun Mage + White Mage = Soldier's Bandana (1/2 damage)
* Songstress + Thief + Psychic = Stealth Cape (Evade all Traps)
The following 3 Accessories are highly desirable but are optional depending on
what your primary DS is. Please read the last paragraph in this section for an
explanation:
* Dark Knight + Gunner = Rune of Sanity (Confuseproof)
* Dark Knight + Trainer + Samurai = Longevity Charm (Doomproof)
* Black Mage + Dark Knight + Gun Mage = Waxing Moonstone (MP heal over time.)
For the record, the Longevity Charm can also be stolen from the Founder.
You should be aware that when an Accessory is created, that Accessory is NOT
automatically added to your inventory. Instead, the Accessory will simply drop
on the ground nearby. It will show up as a white square on your map, and a
message will appear in the text box alerting you that it has been made. It is
important to monitor both the map and the text box, because otherwise you might
miss an Accessory that you spent several floors creating. From my experience,
created Accessories blend in with the floor awfully well, and it is very easy
to overlook them.
Additionally -- this may seem really obvious -- but Accessories don't work
unless you Equip them. To do so, select the item from your inventory and choose
Equip. Simple, right? Well for some reason, on my first run, I believed that
as long as an Accessory was in my inventory that I received its protection. I
had made my Longevity Charm and even remembered to pick it up, and was
strolling merrily through rooms full of Doom-casting enemies, confident in my
immunity to their diabolical attacks. Imagine my surprise the first time I saw
that counter over my head counting down! Be smarter than I was and Equip your
Accessories.
My usual strategy for Accessories runs something like this:
* In the early floors, I try to make a Soldier's Bandana. Healing is at a
premium and your character will be especially weak. This Accessory can help
you survive. Once you have the Accessory, dump the Gun Mage DS unless you
have decided to use it as your primary DS or want it for other Abilities.
* Next, if at all possible, use your AP to make a Stealth Cape. Keep it
equipped continuously until the end of the game and you will enjoy the game
immeasurably more.
* Round up the DS for Confuseproof next and have them equipped by F17,
which is the first floor where you can get Confused. However, I'm not sure
that it is necessary to actually create a Rune of Sanity. See the paragraph
below for explanation.
* By F25, have the DS for Doomproof, as you will encounter enemies that will
Doom you. Again, I'm not convinced that you need an actual Longevity Charm
because you may find it more efficient to just keep the necessary DS in
inventory.
* On F44, steal a Triple Tiara from the Founder, and keep it equipped as much
as possible. At this point you can probably unload your Soldier's Bandana.
Your HP will be high enough that you can withstand some damage, and with 3
attacks per turn, your enemies won't be hitting you much anyway. Besides
that, your 2 Accessory slots will be filled with your Stealth Cape and your
Triple Tiara, so you'll have nowhere to equip the Soldier's Bandana anyway.
* After you get the Tonberry Treasures on F61, if you happen to steal a
Valkyrie Nails from the Founder, you should consider keeping it. This
accessory can be helpful in the final battles, and at that point you should
have plenty of room in your inventory.
Let me give you an example of the trade-off between getting an ability from
your equipped DS and getting it from an Accessory. You probably want
protection against Confusion available for when you encounter enemies that can
Confuse you. Using an Accessory occupies one slot in your inventory and also
uses one of only two available slots for Accessories. You can get the same
ability from equipping Dark Knight + Gunner. I never use the Gunner as my
primary DS, but I ALWAYS have a Dark Knight available, primarily for its Doom
ability. So, by using DS for this ability, I still use one extra inventory
slot (for the Gunner DS), but instead of using one of only 2 Accessory slots, I
use one of 5 available DS slots and can just equip the Gunner DS when I know
Confusing enemies are imminent. As a bonus, the Gunner DS will increase ACC
and PD stats.
By contrast, the Evade Traps ability requires Songstress + Thief + Psychic. As
a rule, I only keep one of these 3 DS (Thief) around, primarily for its Steal
Item ability. Thus, using DS takes up 2 additional inventory slots. By using
the Stealth Cape Accessory instead, I use one less inventory slot. Moreover,
Evade Traps is an ability that I want at ALL times (except when fighting
Bosses), so I can just keep that Accessory equipped and ditch the 2 junk DS
required for the ability.
Again, I'm not necessarily trying to espouse a particular philosophy about
which DS or Accessories to use. Rather, I'm trying to illustrate how to decide
between using DS and using Accessories for an ability.
Since there are only 2 Accessory slots -- and there are usually obvious choices
for these slots -- my current mindset is to keep my inventory of Accessories to
a minimum and use inventory space for DS instead. One of those 2 slots should
ALWAYS be allocated for your Stealth Cape so that Traps don't drive you crazy.
From F44 on, the other should almost always be dedicated to the Triple Tiara.
This means that you are going to need to keep around the DS necessary for other
Auto-Abilities and just shuffle your DS to adjust for the enemies on any given
floor. For most runs, the only other Auto-Ability that you absolutely must
have is Doomproof since Doom is unavoidable and incurable. Getting Confused is
annoying, but survivable. No other status effects are really deadly, so
carrying Accessories to prevent them is generally not a good use of space.
******************************************************************************
* XV. Items (LM15) *
******************************************************************************
Aside from Accessories, there are 3 types of items in the Last Mission --
Potions, Dresspheres, and Folios (books). First I'll describe these items in
general, then in the next section I'll make suggestions about which to
prioritize in your inventory.
POTIONS
Potions are the green bottles you see on the floors of rooms. They are
generally divided into 2 types -- good and bad. Good potions cure status
ailments, boost levels, restore HP and MP, and the like. Bad potions reduce
levels or inflict status ailments.
I cannot see any possible use for potions that reduce levels. In theory, it
would appear that potions that inflict status ailments are intended to be
thrown at enemies, thus inflicting that ailment on them. My advice is to never
ever pick up bad potions. Bad potions are like personal handguns -- they are
far more likely to harm the owner than they are to harm an enemy. First of
all, they seem to have little effect on enemies (enemies inflicted with Dark,
for example, still seem to connect with Physical Attacks just fine.) Moreover
if you happen to get Confused and these bad potions are in your inventory, you
very well might drink one. The bottom line is to let these things be. If you
pick one up, put it back down immediately.
Most good potions are not good enough to warrant one of your 20 precious
inventory slots. However, you can consume them immediately to get their
benefits without tying up inventory space. While standing on the item, hit
Triangle, then choose Check > (Potion) > Drink. Very handy!
In the early floors (up to about F20), you may want to carry a potion or two to
restore MP. Your maximum MP will be rather low, and you will need MP for
Stealing and for recovering HP. Otherwise, the only exception to the rule of
not carrying potions is Elixir, which completely restores HP and MP to YRP and
to all of your DS. Keep one on hand for emergencies. Otherwise, either
consume potions immediately or leave them behind. You have more important uses
for your inventory space.
DRESSPHERES
The yellow balls you see lying around in rooms are DS. Any DS you find in a
room or in a Store will be either Level 1 or Level 2. Level 4 DS can be stolen
from the Founder. A Lady Luck Level 15 DS can be found in a Secret Room. As
far as I know, these are the only Levels in which DS occur before Fusing.
There are 2 main reasons to pick up and carry a DS:
1) You need to equip that DS for an ability or to create an Accessory.
2) You want to Fuse that DS with another like DS to boost levels. This is
usually only something you want to do with DS that you will have equipped
long-term, such as your primary DS.
For some reason, you cannot fuse a DS that is equipped. Thus, every time you
want to upgrade an equipped DS you have to unequip it, upgrade it, and then re-
equip it. Make sure that you are in a safe place when you do this. You don't
want to be attacked when you have a Level 1 Psychic temporarily equipped as
your primary DS instead of, say, a Level 16 Samurai.
Unless you meet condition 1) or 2) above, leave DS alone. In the next section,
I'll give you some guidance about which DS you probably want to keep.
FOLIOS
Folios are the books that you see lying around in rooms. Folios will have a
number in parentheses after their title, such as "Save Memo(2)." This means
that you can use this ability twice. After using it once, it will change to
"Save Memo(1)," and after a second use it will disappear from your inventory.
Some Folios are crucial to the development of your character, and others are
crap. In the next section, I'll identify those Folios that warrant your
consideration.
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* XVI. Inventory Control (LM16) *
******************************************************************************
I would like to repeat that the most challenging element of the game is that
your total inventory is limited to 20 spaces. This includes all DS,
Accessories, Potions, and Folios. Managing these 20 spaces is a constant
juggling act of prioritizing your immediate needs while preparing for your
long-term needs.
Here is my list of Items to prioritize in your inventory. I am well aware that
there are more than 20 items in this list, but it is not necessary to possess
all of these items simultaneously. I will try to also give you guidelines for
when it is okay to ditch a seemingly high-priority item.
PRIORITY POTIONS
There is only one Potion that you need to carry in inventory, and that is an
Elixir for emergencies. You may need to carry ethers for the first 20 floors
or so -- especially F13 - F16 when you will need lots of Magic so that you can
steal from Protean Gels -- but otherwise don't carry ethers -- use them as you
encounter them. Likewise, you will want to use all level-raising Potions
immediately.
PRIORITY DRESSPHERES
The first 3 DS listed (and marked with **) are indispensable and deserve
inventory space from whenever you find them until you defeat the final boss.
**Thief -- Allows you to steal from the Founder and from enemies. If you
choose Rikku as your character, you get this automatically. I would definitely
do so and keep a Thief DS from the beginning of the game to the end.
**White Mage -- Has the Curaga and Esuna abilities and is necessary for 1/2
Damage ability and Accessory. Again, I would keep this one around always, even
if you only equip it when you need it. With a White Mage in your inventory,
your need to carry healing Folios diminishes quickly as YRP levels up and you
gain more MP. As you get more accustomed to the game, you find that your need
for a White Mage diminishes as you will learn to take less and less damage, but
until then, it is comforting to have access to one.
**Black Mage -- The Black Mage's Magic attack is the single most effective
way of eliminating Cactuars. It hits from up to 3 squares away and its
accuracy is 100%. With even a modest MA stat, many enemies are wiped out with
a single Magic attack.
The rest of these DS may or may not be in your inventory long-term.
Gun Mage -- Necessary for the 1/2 Damage ability and Accessory. Once the
Accessory is created, you can dump this DS unless you want it for your primary
DS.
Mascot -- Necessary for the 1/2 Damage ability and Accessory. Mascot also has
the Mini-Demi ability which is handy for dealing with bosses, especially on
your first run. On subsequent runs, I would ditch this DS as soon as the
Soldier's Bandana Accessory is made.
Gunner -- Necessary for Confuseproof, which you will want by F17.
Dark Knight -- Necessary for the Doomproof, Confuseproof, and MP Heal Over Time
Auto-Abilities. Its Doom attack, while not the preferred way of dispatching
enemies, works on almost all enemies and hits from a safe distance. Dark
Knight is one of your most versatile DS, and I am rarely without one.
Samurai -- A top choice for your primary DS and necessary for Doomproof.
Samurai also makes a great secondary DS as it increases PA, EVA, and MD, a
great combo of stats.
Trainer -- Necessary for Doomproof. Depending on whether or not you want to
keep a Samurai DS around, you may want to equip this instead of the Doomproof
Accessory. Trainer is also a great secondary DS as it boosts PA, MD, and ACC.
Songstress -- Necessary for the Evade Traps ability and Accessory. You should
definitely make the Accessory and then decide if you want to keep the DS.
Songstress has the rather interesting Change Out ability that, for 2 MP, allows
you to change characters. For example, if you're playing as Rikku, then you
can switch to either Yuna or Paine. All items and stats remain the same. This
may seem a pointless waste of MP, but there are at least 3 reasons you would
want this ability:
1) Maybe 40% of the time that you use this ability, you will get the message,
"Changing characters has granted a perk." This means that a new item has
appeared somewhere on the floor that you currently occupy. Often, these
items are crap or are so far away as to be inaccessible. However, I have
had Growth Tonics (+2 levels!) drop right at my feet which, you'll have to
admit, is pretty awesome. There seems to be a maximum of about 5 items per
floor from using this ability, and the probability of getting a "perk"
seems to decrease as the number of perks on that floor increases.
2) Change Out allows you to get maximum benefit from your Black Mage DS which,
as previously mentioned, you will ALWAYS want to have on hand. As
previously described, The Black Mage has 3 elemental attacking spells, but
each of these is only available to one character. Only Rikku can cast
Thundaga; only Yuna can cast Firaga; and only Paine can case Blizzaga. So,
for example, if you encounter an enemy such as a Bomb that is clearly Fire-
based, you would hopefully know better than to attack it with Yuna's Firaga
spell. However, if you Change Out to Paine, you can hit it with Blizzaga,
to which it is weak.
3) The Trainer DS also has unique abilities depending on whether you are
playing as Yuna, Rikku, or Paine. Only Paine can command her pet to steal
EXP; only Rikku can command her pet to steal an item while attacking; and
only Yuna can command her pet to dig up an item. Since EXP is plentiful
anyway, Paine's ability is of questionable use. Rikku's Mug ability can be
useful against Protean Gels, who often carry Dress Fusion Secrets Folios,
but otherwise isn't a lot of help. However, some very useful items --
including Copying Techniques, the best item in the game -- can be unearthed
by using Yuna's Dig command. Be aware that these abilities are only
available if Trainer is equipped as your primary (Basic) DS.
The bottom line is that if you have a spare item slot, you should consider
carrying a Songstress DS whenever possible. If you need the space, just dump
it without regret and pick up the next one that comes your way.
Psychic -- Same as Songstress. Make the Accessory and then dump the DS.
Alchemist -- The only reason I can see to keep an Alchemist is to have the Item
Esuna ability. If you step on a Trap that either Curses an item or plants a
bomb on it, you will need this ability to liberate that item. Once you have
your Stealth Cape, you can dump this DS.
Okay -- that's 12 useful DS, but you can use and discard 6 of them, thereby
tying up only 6 inventory slots in the long term. You can afford that.
PRIORITY FOLIOS
This is where things get tricky. There are lots of great Folios, some of which
you're going to have to carry around for a LONG time.
Remember to trade up whenever possible. For example, if you are carrying a
Basic Healing(2) Folio and find an Essence of Healing(2) Folio, dump the former
and pick up the latter. I definitely would not carry more than one healing
Folio at a time except possibly at the very beginning of the game. If you find
a lesser healing Folio, use it and then leave it behind. If you find a better
one, use the lesser one to heal as much as necessary before leaving it behind
and picking up the better one.
Here are my picks for the most important Folios:
Copying Techniques -- The single best item in the game. It is available
immediately prior to entering the Tonberry Room and by using Yuna's Dig command
when she has Trainer equipped as her primary DS. Its awesomeness and use are
described in the Walkthrough portion of this guide, but do whatever is
necessary to make room for this incomparable gift.
Interesting discovery -- I originally thought that you could only get one
Copying Techniques (2) Folio per game, but in a recent run, I actually got 2 of
them! I'm not sure that I know what caused this to happen, but I can recall the
sequence of events for you. First, I followed my own advice (see WF61-F65) and
got this Folio by the usual method. I then continued to go to Secret Rooms
until I got the Lady Luck Level 15 DS from the Hexapod Special Room and the
Dress Fusion Secrets (9) Folio from the Cactuar Special Room. I continued as
usual until I got to F76, where I found a Finding Secret Rooms(2) Folio. When
I used this, it returned me to the elevator room that has exits to the O. X,
and Triangle Special Rooms. I went in the direction that leads to the Tonberry
Room elevator, and there at the entrance to that room -- exactly where I found
the first one -- was another Copying Techniques(2) Folio! When I returned to
this room a third time, the entrance to that room was empty, i.e., there was no
third copy of this Folio. I will investigate further on my next run and see if
I can repeat this process and find exactly what circumstances are necessary to
make the second copy appear.
Notebook -- Allows you to copy (almost) any Folio. Thus, if you have a
Notebook(2) and a Dressmaker(1), you can copy the Dressmaker onto both pages of
your Notebook and turn it into a Dressmaker(2) so that you now have 3
Dressmaker abilities. Unfortunately, you cannot use a Notebook to copy the
Copying Techniques Folio. As a rule, use Notebooks to duplicate Dressmaker or
Dress Fusion Secrets Folios, as these are your keys to developing your
character. However, you may need to use one to copy a Finding Secret Rooms
folio if you can't find 3 through conventional means. Never pass up a Notebook
-- it is a Folio Wild Card.
Dressmaker -- Allows you to make a Level 1 DS of any type. Absolutely crucial
for raising the levels of your DS. Never leave one of these behind. In fact,
it's not a bad idea to always carry one of these in inventory rather than use
your last one. This way, if you find a Notebook, you will have one to copy.
Dress Fusion Secrets -- Necessary for upgrading your DS. This is often the
limiting factor in the development of your DS collection. You can steal these
from Protean Gels (F13 - F16) and Amorphous Gels (F70 - F71), buy them from
Item Shops, or find them in rooms. This is a very high priority item, so carry
all that you can. Also remember to trade up. If you have a Dress Fusions(1)
and find a Dress Fusions(2) but cannot carry both, dump the (1) and pick up the
(2).
Finding Secret Rooms -- You will need 3 of these to access the Tonberry Room
and earn your Copying Techniques Folio. A fourth one will allow you to get a
Dress Fusion Secrets(9) Folio (!), and a fifth one can yield you a level 15
Lady Luck DS. Hold on to these like grim death, as they are extremely rare but
extremely helpful.
Save Memo -- Allows you to Save when using an elevator. You will need at least
2 of these to access the Tonberry Room without going insane. After you get 2
(hopefully in the same Folio so that you're only using one inventory slot), I'd
advise leaving all others behind. If you are stealing from the Founder (as you
should be) you can't use these anyway, and you can still Save for free on every
5th floor.
Hope--A Memoir - This is an insurance policy for your primary DS as it acts
similar to the "Auto-Life" ability. If one of your DS gets wiped out, this
Folio automatically restores it. You do not even have to equip this to get the
ability -- just have one in your inventory. This provides a nice safety
cushion, especially on floors that have Cactuars or enemies that cast Doom or
Damnation. I would carry one at all times and trade up any time you encounter
one with more pages than the one you are currently carrying.
Fleeing Manual -- This Folio allows you to teleport to the room that contains
the elevator. Although carrying one of these is a luxury, to be sure, having
one in my inventory always makes me braver about venturing to far-away rooms to
kill enemies and accumulate EXP. These are especially useful on those last few
floors that seem to be considerably more spread out than their lower
counterparts (although from an engineering standpoint, wouldn't it be more
logical for the floors of the tower to get progressively smaller, lest the
structure become top-heavy?) Video game physics aside, I will usually carry
one of these when I can but dispose of it with few regrets if something better
comes along to take its space in inventory.
Shop Guide and Dress Shop Guide -- These are unusual items that teleport you to
the indicated Shop. The Dress Shop Guide is the ONLY way to access a store
that sells DS. The bad news is that only about a half dozen randomly chosen DS
are available at any given time. It is possible to use all 3 pages of a Dress
Shop Guide(3) without ever seeing a DS that you need. Likewise with the Item
Shop. It seems that they are always selling Dress Fusion Secrets(2) when you
have a ton of them in inventory, but they are never selling them when you need
them.
You can use Shop Guides and Dress Shop Guides to repeat floors thereby milking
extra items and EXP from the game. Here's how: Pick up the Folio and clear the
floor of all useful items. Then use the Folio to go to the Shop and buy
anything useful that you can squeeze into your inventory. When you exit the
Shop you will go to a new floor with the same number as the one that you left
but with new layout and items. Then just repeat the process. Hopefully, you
can buy/find some DS and Dress Fusion Secrets to upgrade your DS collection
while gaining some EXP by whacking additional enemies. The same basic process
works with Finding Secret Rooms Folios, although I would advise against doing
this before you attain the Tonberry Room circa F61 (see Walkthrough for
explanation.) With Secret Rooms, you can even use a Save Folio before
returning to the Tower proper. I've spent literally hours on a single floor,
picking up some really useful items and gaining several levels in the process.
Shop Guides and Dress Shop Guides can also be used in much the same way as
Fleeing Manuals. If you find yourself a long ways away from the elevator when
you get your first message that the Founder is near (see next section), you can
just read one of these Folios to keep from getting booted from the Tower.
Most other Folios are either total crap or otherwise do not merit a spot in
your inventory. Remember that Folios, like Potions, can be used without being
picked up. Again, start with Triangle and go through the Check menu. For
example, the Bedtime Stories Folio (puts all enemies in a room to sleep) can be
really useful if you find one in a room that contains many enemies. Read the
Folio, thereby putting all enemies to sleep, and then mop them up one by one -
all without using any inventory space.
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* XVII. The Founder (LM17) *
******************************************************************************
If you stay too long on any floor (except those that are multiples of 20), the
Founder will appear. This is both good and bad. The good news is that you can
Steal some very useful items from him if you plan ahead and act very
cautiously. The bad news is that if you aren't careful, the Founder can kick
you out of the Tower, forcing you to either reset your game or start over from
F1.
I read this information before beginning my inaugural run through the Tower,
and I recall being so afraid of the Founder that I avoided him at all costs.
Having gained some experience, though, my strategy now is to encounter him at
every possible opportunity and Steal from him every chance I get. Often you
will get items that you don't really need, but the chances of getting booted
from the Tower are very slim unless you are half asleep.
You also need the Founder to transport you from F77 to F80 for the final Boss
battle, but we'll discuss that when we get there.
The items that you can steal from the Founder are generally rather random, and
you can end up with some useless items like Ace Gloves, Tidying Up Folios, and
Goon Bookmark Folios. However, you can also get Level 4 DS, and if those
happen to be DS that are in your preferred setup, you can bump up their levels
by 4 with a single Dress Fusion Secrets Folio! You can also get great items
like Enhancing Potions, Evolutionary Waters, and Dressmaker Folios. The time
investment is minimal and the returns are variable, but the good items make
this a worthwhile undertaking.
Next, I'll detail for you how to steal from the Founder. I hasten to add that
as many times as I've done this and as tricky as I know that this process can
be, I still screw it up about one time out of 10. On any floor, you have only
one chance to Steal from the Founder, so you have to make it count. My point
is that you should not take this process for granted, so follow the directions
below carefully.
I should also add that if you steal from the Founder, then you will not be able
to access your items until after you use the elevator. Thus, unless you are on
a floor that is a multiple of 5, you cannot Save after Stealing because you
won't have access to your Save Memo items.
1) As soon as you have completed your business on a given floor, head to the
room with the elevator and wipe out any enemies that lurk within. If any
further enemies spawn in that room, take them out as well (provided, of
course, that you can do so without compromising your mission of stealing
and escaping safely.)
2) I strongly advise you to have the Stealth Cape equipped so that you don't
activate any Traps. You know how I feel about Traps.
3) Make sure that you have at least one empty slot in your inventory. If your
inventory is full, you will not be able to Steal successfully.
4) Make sure that you have a Thief DS equipped.
5) Make sure that you have at least 3 MP for the Steal Item ability.
6) Once you are prepared, run back and forth in the room to use up turns.
Eventually a message will appear in the text box that reads, "Eerie
laughter rings out from afar..." This is the first of 3 messages that you
will receive about the Founder's presence.
7) Now limit your movement to no more than ONE square away from the elevator.
When the Founder appears, you want to be ON the elevator, as he can appear
very quickly.
8) Within 20 turns or so, you will see a message in the text box that reads,
"The eerie laughter is coming closer..." As soon as this happens, stand on
the elevator and pass turns (Select + Circle) until you get the third
message, "An intense aura can be felt from somewhere on this floor!"
9) This third message means that the Founder has materialized somewhere on
your current floor (thanks to alert reader "Tenshi" who pointed this out to
me.) If the Founder is not in the same room as YRP, then as you pass
turns, he will eventually warp to that room. If he is in the same room as
YRP, then he will advance one step towards her every time you execute an
action.
10) Therefore, once this third message appears SLOW DOWN! When the Founder
makes his way to your room, he materializes very slowly, often right next
to you. If you pass turns too quickly, he will materialize and then attack
you before you have a chance to steal.
11) Pass turns at about 5 -second intervals. Every time you pass a turn, look
on the map. The Founder will appear on the map in the elevator room as a
red square, but again, he materializes very slowly.
12) Once you have located the Founder, pass turns very slowly and track his
progress as he makes his way to you. When he is standing one square away
from you, make sure that you are facing in the proper direction and then
execute your Steal Item ability.
13) The Founder will then attack you, turning you into a Goon. Use the
elevator immediately to avoid getting hit again and ejected from the Tower.
Passing turns is boring and causes you to lose your focus. Have laser-like
concentration from the time that the second message appears, and you will
successfully acquire some very useful items.
Instead of actually passing turns (Select + Circle), you might consider
executing fake attacks. While standing on the elevator, hit the X button and
watch the map. The blue area that indicates your possible range of attack will
go away and then reappear when you can take another turn. When the Founder
appears, there will be a noticeable pause before that blue area reappears. You
should then see a new red square on the map, indicating the Founder's location.
******************************************************************************
* XVIII. Tower Climbing for Fun and Profit (LM18) *
******************************************************************************
Your overall plan should look something like this: Comb every corner of every
floor thoroughly for treasure. Add desired items and toss lesser items as you
go. You also want to kill as many enemies as you possibly can (thus maximizing
EXP) and still get to the elevator before the Founder appears.
Don't overdo the whole "harvesting enemies for EXP" thing. If you are even
moderately attentive to gathering EXP, YRP's final level should be around 90,
which is more than sufficient. Once you have covered every room on a floor
twice, you should be thinking about sticking pretty close to the elevator room.
If you are quite a ways away from the Elevator room when you get the first
warning of the Founder's presence, don't panic because you do have a few
options. Using a Fleeing Manual Folio is often your best option. However,
remember that Shop Guides and Dress Shop Guides will also whisk you away and
out of danger. All of these are handy Folios to keep around for such
emergencies. If you have none of these, be especially cautious about how far
you stray from the elevator room, particularly if you have been on a floor for
a while.
Finally, here are a couple of basic things to keep in mind.
1) First of all, don't be in any hurry. The journey is more important than
the destination.
2) Try to extract all valuables that you can from each floor. Be sure to
examine each treasure on every floor so that you don't miss any chances to
build up your character.
3) It is good to have a plan, but throughout the game you are going to
have to stay flexible. You may decide going in that you want your primary
DS to be Samurai, but if you get a Level 4 Berserker from the Founder on
F01, then that should be your primary DS at least for a while. In other
words, keep an open mind and make the most of what the game offers you.
4) Above all, remember that games are supposed to be fun. Laugh at your
setbacks and celebrate your turns of good fortune. Above all, enjoy
your trek to the top of the Tower.
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* XIX. Walkthrough (LM19) *
******************************************************************************
Before getting to the Tower itself, I should say a word about the storyline,
and that word is "don't." If there is anything more annoying than the Traps
inside the Tower, it is the feeble attempt at framing your quest within some
kind of story. There are scenes at the beginning and end of the game and
scattered throughout your climb to the top, but my advice is that if you wish
to keep down whatever food you last ate, for the love of God do NOT listen to
what passes for dialogue in these scenes. Without giving anything away, I can
say that the girls bicker and bicker and then they bicker about WHY they bicker
until you just want to pull the DVD out of your console and light it up with a
blowtorch.
Fortunately, all scenes can be skipped by hitting Start and then Square.
Remember this sequence -- it could save your life. Watch the scenes and listen
to the dialogue if you so choose, but don't say that you weren't warned.
As you go, I'll give some guidance about things to watch for. For each floor,
I'll list the enemies that you will encounter, and for each group of 5 floors,
I will list the attacks and abilities of all enemies encountered. For the
record, "PA (Slow)" means that an enemy's Physical Attack may inflict Slow on
YRP. I will also identify abilities using the same classifications used in the
game. The explanations of these classifications, copied verbatim from the
game, are given below.
(P) = Physical: Abilities that get stronger with higher physical attack. Does
less damage to enemies with higher physical defense. Magic and magic defense
are non-factors.
(M) = Magic: Abilities that do more damage and have stronger effects with
higher magic. Magic defense decreases damage. Physical attack and defense are
non-factors.
(D) = Double: Ability affected by both physical attack and magic. Both
physical defense and magic defense affect its effectiveness.
(-) = None: Stats do not affect the effectiveness of the ability.
At the end of each section, I'll detail how to unlock the locked
elevator.
OK -- let's climb that Tower
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* F01 - F10 (WF01-F10) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Choose Rikku as your starting character.
* Steal from the Founder at every opportunity.
* Try to gather Mascot + Gun Mage + White Mage for 1/2 damage auto-ability.
* Try to gather Psychic + Songstress + Thief for Evade Traps auto-ability.
* Beware of Lesser Drakes (F06 - F08) and their Fire-based attacks. They also
have high Evasion and can be difficult to hit with physical attacks.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F01 -- Coyote, Divebeak
F02 -- Coyote, Divebeak
F03 -- Coyote, Divebeak, Ahriman
F04 -- Coyote, Divebeak, Ahriman
F05 -- Ahriman, Lesser Drake, Sallet
F06 -- Ahriman, Lesser Drake, Sallet
F07 -- Lesser Drake, Sallet, Vespa
F08 -- Lesser Drake, Sallet, Vespa
F09 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Vespa
F10 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Vespa
Enemy Abilities:
Coyote -- PA only.
Divebeak -- PA only.
Ahriman -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range -- never misses
Lesser Drake -- PA, Flame Breath(D)
Sallet -- PA (Berserk)
Vespa -- PA (Silence)
Machina Hunter -- PA(MP x 2)
Bully Cap -- (No PA), Thunder(M)
Often in an RPG, the beginning is the hardest part. Your character is weak and
you have very few resources for restoring lost HP or dealing with status
effects. The Last Mission is no exception to this rule. For the first few
floors, you will have very few DS and very few options for strengthening your
character. You need to be especially cautious for a while and take advantage
of any opportunities presented to you.
Your first problem is that your starting DS has a paltry 25 - 30 HP and is very
vulnerable. There will be at least one Healing book on the first floor or two,
but you'd really like to have a bit more HP reserve. The easy solution is to
steal Level 4 DS from the Founder before boarding the elevators. Be sure to
choose Rikku as your starting character so that you have the Steal Item ability
from the get-go, then just steal from the Founder as previously described every
chance you get. A Level 4 DS will roughly triple your HP compared to a Level 1
DS. You may not get the specific DS you want, but YRP's stats will pull you
through these first few floors. Of course, the item that you steal may not be
a DS at all, but if it is, your life will improve noticeably.
Until you get that HP boost, though, learn the art of passing turns to lure
enemies into your attack range so that you can strike first. You are likely to
have minimal access to healing, so you need to avoid unnecessary loss of life.
Please refer to Section V if you don't understand the notion of passing turns.
You can avoid enemies like Ahriman with long-range attacks by moving towards
them so that you are not in line with them or by moving outside their
peripheral vision. This takes some practice but is worth learning.
The enemies shouldn't give you much trouble, except for Lesser Drakes (F5 -
F8). These beasts are have a fire-based attack that covers a 4 x 4 grid in
front of the critter. More annoying, their attack can even penetrate walls!
If you are fortunate enough to have the Gunner + White Mage combination, you
will be immune to their fire attacks, but good luck with that at this stage of
the game.
The Machina Hunter (F9 - F10) can hit you for 10 HP a pop and inflict MP x 2,
causing you to expend double MP for 6 turns or so, but you probably won't be
using MP anyway, so who really cares? Likewise, the Vespa (F7 - F10) can
Silence you, but again, this is no issue if you aren't using MP. Bullycaps
(F10 - F12 can be annoying because they pound you with Thunder attacks from up
to 3 squares away. If you equip Black Mage + Trainer, you will be
Lightningproof and will take zero damage from their attacks. In general, just
collect everything you find, equip every DS you find (until you hit your
maximum of 5), and don't get careless and lose HP unnecessarily.
Unlocking the F05 Elevator -- Kill 3 enemies, then perform any action except
moving.
Unlocking the F10 Elevator -- Kill 10 enemies, then perform any action except
moving.
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* F11 - F15 (WF11-F15) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Steal Dress Fusion Secrets(2) from Protean Gels
* Start building up your primary DS.
* Make sure that you have a Black Mage or Dark Knight DS by F15.
* Beware of Cactuars (F15 - 19)!
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F11 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Gecko
F12 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Gecko
F13 -- Protean Gel, Gecko
F14 -- Protean Gel, Gecko
F15 -- Protean Gel, Cactuar, White Fang
Enemy Abilities:
Machina Hunter -- PA (MP x 2)
Bully Cap -- (No PA), Thunder(M)
Gecko -- PA only
Protean Gel -- (No PA), Blizzard(M)
Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-)
White Fang -- PA only
On F13 - F15, you will encounter Protean Gels, which aren't nearly as fearsome
as they are in FFX-2's main quest. They will pound you with Blizzard from up
to 4 squares away until they run out of MP, and then are powerless. If you
equip a Berserker + Songstress, you will have the Iceproof ability, and the
Blizzard attacks will cause you no damage. Best of all, some of these
enemies carry Dress Fusion Secrets (2), which can be stolen. Since these are
often the limiting factors in the development of your main DS, stockpile all
that you have room to carry. I would advise having at least 5 of these (2)
Folios before exiting F16 and bidding farewell to Protean Gels forever.
Protean Gels have an interesting weakness, which is that there are certain
positions in the normal Magic attack grid from which they will not attack you.
Suppose in the picture below, the "g's" represent the 9 squares occupied by a
Protean Gel. The gel can and will cast its blizzard spell if you are standing
on any of the squares marked with a "+" but will leave you alone if you are
standing on any of the squares marked with a "-".
A B C D E F G H I
1 + - - - + - - - +
2 - + - - + - - + -
3 - - + - + - + - -
4 - - - g g g - - -
5 + + + g g g + + +
6 - - - g g g - - -
7 - - + - + - + - -
8 - + - - + - - + -
9 + - - - + - - - +
So, if you are standing in line with one of the Gel's corners either
horizontally (rows 4 and 6) or vertically (columns D and F), you are safe from
attack. This is a HUGE plus, especially if the Gel is in an area that is only
3 squares wide such that it cannot move laterally. Use this grid to plan your
approach when attempting to steal, always moving so that you are in line with
one of the edges either vertically or horizontally, and your character will
take considerably less damage.
On F15, you will encounter your first Cactuars. For the uninformed, these are
the scariest enemies in the game. They have high Evasion and consequently are
hard to hit. Moreover, they have an attack called "X-Needles" that never
misses and will wipe out your primary DS in one hit regardless of your levels
and stats! A Cactuar can only launch this attack from a square adjacent to
you, so you generally want to avoid getting too close.
As scary as the above prospect sounds, you will stop fearing Cactuars as soon
as you understand 3 facts about them:
Fact #1 -- Cactuars have no long-distance attacks. They can only attack you
from a square adjacent to where you are standing.
Fact #2 -- Cactuars will never attack you unless provoked. As long as you leave
them alone, they will leave you alone. However, if you attack one, Doom it,
try to steal its MP, throw something at it, or take any other action against a
Cactuar, then you'd best be prepared to finish it off, because once engaged it
will pursue you doggedly. So your next problem is how to take out a Cactuar
before it has a chance to retaliate. This brings us to . . .
Fact #3 -- One Magic attack will eliminate a Cactuar 100% of the time, provided
that your character has a decent Magic stat. If you have a Black Mage DS, all
you have to do to eliminate a Cactuar is hit it with a bolt of Thundaga. Magic
never misses, and you can cast it from the safety of 3 squares away. With
sufficiently high Magic, one shot should take out the Cactuar. Problem solved.
If you don't have a Black mage DS, then your next best option is probably the
Dark Knight's Doom (which also has a range of 3 squares and never misses.)
However, with Doom you have to spend 5 turns running away from the Cactuar,
while Thundaga ends the battle immediately AND gives you EXP into the bargain.
A physical attack against a Cactuar is generally not a good idea, especially at
this stage of the game. Your Accuracy stat is just too low to reliably
overcome a Cactuar's high Evasion, and your attacks will miss more often than
they connect.
I have read tips that advise that you deplete their Magic using Lady Luck's MP
Dice (the x-Needles ability requires Magic), but that is risky and time-
consuming. Whatever you do, NEVER let a Cactuar occupy a square adjacent to
you after you have attacked it or your primary DS may be history.
Unlocking the F15 Elevator -- Kill 5 enemies and drop (then pick up if desired)
2 items.
******************************************************************************
* F16 - F20 (WF16-F20) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Cactuars on every floor, so, as usual, BEWARE!
* F16 is your last chance to steal Dress Fusions Secrets for a LONG time, so
stock up and use whatever you can now.
* On F17, equip Gunner + Dark Knight to protect against King Takoubas, which
can confuse you.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F16 -- Protean Gel, Cactuar, White Fang
F17 -- Cactuar, White Fang, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F18 -- Cactuar, Death Dauber, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F19 -- Cactuar, Death Dauber, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F20 -- Death Dauber, Ochu
Enemy Abilities:
Protean Gel -- (No PA), Blizzard(M)
Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-)
White Fang -- PA only
King Takouba -- PA (Confusion)
Death Dauber -- PA (Silence)
Ochu -- PA only
You should be well on your way to getting your 1/2 damage accessory.
Enemy-wise, there are a LOT of King Takoubas from F17 - F22, and their
attacks can Confuse you. I have never seen a Confused character attack
herself, but Confusion can nonetheless be very damaging and potentially fatal.
Confused characters can randomly attack or use abilities, but more than
anything, they tend to Throw items from inventory. Thrown items that don't
contact enemies can be recovered after the battle ends. However, if an item is
thrown towards an enemy from 3 or less squares away, it will damage the enemy
slightly but will be gone forever! Even equipped items -- DS and Accessories -
- can be lost this way. Continued attacks from the enemy will prolong the
Confused status, often resulting in the loss of several precious items and
possibly even your primary DS! You really don't want this to happen.
You have 3 possible strategies for dealing with enemies like King Takouba that
can Confuse you. If you have a Black Mage DS, your best choice is probably to
blast the enemy with Thundaga, thus knocking it off in one turn. Second, if
you have a primary DS with a long-distance weapon (like a Gun Mage) and decent
accuracy and PA stats, you should be able to take the enemy out from a
distance. As a last resort, you can use the Dark Knight's Doom ability.
Cactuars remain your single biggest threat. Proceed slowly and keep an eye out
for them at all times, especially in hallways.
Before riding the elevator from F19 to F20, prepare for the upcoming boss
battle, because that battle will begin as soon as you ascend. In addition to
your primary DS, you probably want Dark Knight (for Doom) and White Mage (for
healing.) Cast Curaga on your primary DS and on YRP if her HP are low, and get
your Magic as full as possible.
It's also a good idea to dump any unnecessary items from your inventory. After
the battle (and the inevitable squabbling among YRP) you will have access to a
treasure chest which can award you up to 6 random items, provided that you have
the space for them. Personally, I have never received anything worthwhile from
these chests, but others have written of getting Notebooks on a semi-regular
basis. The prospect of that alone would make purging your inventory worth your
while.
The boss on F20 is an Ochu accompanied by a Death Dauber. You can Doom the
wasp or just smack it a couple of times and it will go down. If you have any
kind of PA stat at all, the Ochu will offer little resistance. You will get 3
turns for every turn the Ochu gets, and this so-called "Boss" on has about 400
HP anyway. You will be amazed at how quickly this battle ends. On a good day,
Ochu will go down without ever landing a punch.
When the "battle" is over, take the elevator up and Save. And, of course, if
you value your sanity, skip through the scene between F20 and F21.
******************************************************************************
* F21 - F25 (WF21-F25) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Armets (F23 - F26) can Berserk you.
* On F25 you will encounter Pairkas, which can cast Doom. Equip Dark Knight +
Trainer + Samurai, or your primary DS will quickly be history.
* Consider using Magic or Doom on Creepers.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F21 -- Flan Azul, Scout Machina, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F22 -- Flan Azul, Scout Machina, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F23 -- Armet, Creeper, Flan Azul
F24 -- Armet, Creeper, Flan Azul
F25 -- Gigas, Armet, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM
Enemy Abilities:
King Takouba -- PA(Confusion)
Flan Azul -- PA, Blizzard(M)
Scout Machina -- PA (MP x 2)
Armet -- PA(Berserk)
Creeper -- PA(Darkness), Kaboom(P) (see below)
Gigas -- PA(Slow)
Pairka -- (No PA), Doom(-), Thunder(M), Blizzard(M), Fire(M)
As mentioned above, a physical attack from an Armet can Berserk you. This
actually expedites disposing of the enemy, but your character will run around
the room attacking nothing until Berserk wears off. Unless you are surrounded
by enemies -- a situation you should know enough to avoid -- this really isn't
a problem.
Creepers aren't so much dangerous as they are annoying. They die easily but
are very hard to kill. (How's THAT for a confusing statement?) As soon as you
hit them once, they will latch onto you and go "Kaboom," exploding and causing
damage without having the decency to let you finish them off. Treat them like
less dangerous Cactuars. If you have a Black Mage DS, hit the Creeper with
Thundaga. If not, use your Dark Knight to "Doom and Dodge" them. Don't do
physical attacks -- even from a distance -- unless you have the muscle to one-
hit kill these vermin.
You want to be sure to be prepared for Pairkas. They cast Doom, which can be
prevented but cannot be cured. If Doom connects, your primary DS is history
unless you have a "Hope -- a Memoir" Folio in your inventory. Equip the DS
combination mentioned above. You'll get protection from Doom while building up
a Doomproof Accessory.
Unlocking the F25 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies and throw 2 items.
******************************************************************************
* F26 - F30 (WF26-F30) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Cactuars reside from F27 - F30.
* Fly Eyes can put you to Sleep, so keep your HP up.
* Pairkas are still around, so keep up your Doom protection.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F26 -- Gigas, Armet, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM
F27 -- Gigas, Cactuar, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM
F28 -- Gigas, Cactuar, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM
F29 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Cactuar
F30 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Cactuar
Enemy Abilities:
Gigas -- PA(Slow)
Armet -- PA(Berserk)
Pairka -- (No PA), Doom(-), Thunder(M), Blizzard(M), Fire(M)
Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-)
Peregrine -- PA(Dark)
Fly Eye -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range -- never misses, Sleep(-)
You have one last wave of Cactuars to survive, and then they will be gone for
the next 40 floors or so. You know the drill.
Otherwise, the only new threat is Fly Eyes, which can put you to sleep and then
pound you with their Gaze attack. If you let your HP slip, this barrage of
unanswered attacks can be fatal. Keep up your Doom protection until you clear
B28, after which you'll not see Pairkas again.
Unlocking the F30 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies and drink 2 potions.
******************************************************************************
* F31 - F35 (WF31-F35) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Relatively easy enemies.
* Use this opportunity to finish creating vital accessories.
* Continue to steal from Founder.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F31 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Canis Major
F32 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Canis Major
F33 -- Canis Major, Flan Blanco, Boris
F34 -- Canis Major, Flan Blanco, Boris
F35 -- Flan Blanco, Assassin Bee, Boris
Enemy Abilities:
Peregrine -- PA (Dark)
Fly Eye -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range -- never misses, Sleep (-)
Canis Major -- PA only
Flan Blanco -- PA, Thundaga(M)
Boris -- PA only
Assassin Bee -- PA (Silence)
Enemy-wise, these 5 floors are fairly easy. Peregrines' attacks can inflict
Dark. You can wait for Dark to wear off, cure it with Esuna, or just zap the
darned birds with Thundaga. Flan Blancos will hit you with Magic from up to 3
squares away but will use physical attacks (which you might be able to Evade)
if you are right next to them. Fly Eyes can put you to Sleep, so keep your HP
up because you may lose several turns. Otherwise, have no fear -- most enemies
will go down with 2 - 3 swats.
You should be very nearly finished needing AP. You should have a Soldier's
Bandana (1/2 damage), a Longevity Charm (prevents Doom), a Rune of Sanity
(prevents Confusion) and a Stealth Cape (protects you from traps.) You might
consider dumping your Rune of Sanity if you find a Gunner DS. Each occupies
one inventory slot, but you can trade using one of your 5 DS slots for one of
your 2 Accessory slots.
Unlocking the F35 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies; Drop 3 items; Fake 3 attacks.
******************************************************************************
* F36 - F40 (WF36-F40) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Takoubas (F37 - F39) can confuse you, so protect yourself accordingly.
* Nashorns (F37 - F39) can inflict Dark.
* Assassin Bees (F35 - F39) can Silence you, but really, so what?
* Remember to prepare for the Boss battle before taking the elevator from F39
to F40.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F36 -- Flan Blanco, Assassin Bee, Boris
F37 -- Nashorn, Assassin Bee, Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F38 -- Nashorn, Assassin Bee, Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F39 -- Nashorn, Assassin Bee, Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F40 -- Wild Wolf, Nashorn, Stalwart
Enemy Abilities:
Flan Blanco -- PA, Thundaga(M)
Assassin Bee -- PA (Silence)
Boris -- PA only
Nashorn -- PA (Dark)
Takouba -- PA (Confusion)
Wild Wolf -- PA only
Stalwart -- PA, Gigancannon (P) -- large range
You will note that most enemies in these floors inflict status effects. The
only concern should be confusion. You should have a Rune of Sanity by now to
protect against Confusion, so be sure to equip it. Your other 2 Auto-
Abilities should probably be 1/2 Damage and protection against Traps.
Nashorns look like they can breathe fire at you, but if so, I have been unable
to provoke them into doing so. They seem to only have a PA from one square
away.
At this point, I had the 4 Accessories that I wanted, so I had no further need
for AP. I sold my Songstress and Psychic DS's and equipped the Stealth Cape,
thus freeing up 2 inventory slots. This is good, because on F44, we are going
to steal a great Accessory and will need room for it.
When you get to the elevator on F39, remember to equip for battle. You will be
fighting 4 Wild Wolfs, then 2 Nashorns, then a Stalwart. None of these enemies
can Confuse or Doom you, and there are no Traps, so I'd go with the Soldier's
Bandana for sure and maybe a Valkyrie Nails if you have one lying around. You
probably want a White Mage for Curaga and/or Esuna, since you may get hit with
Dark. Mascot can be useful if you want to use Mini-Demi, but if you have been
developing a primary DS with any kind of PA stat, you should be able to
slaughter everything in sight with just your weapon.
As I advised before fighting the boss on F20, throw away any garbage in your
inventory in hopes that it gets replaced with better items after you defeat the
Boss.
The Wild Wolfs will cluster around you, but usually no more than a couple will
attack you at a time. Focus on finishing off one at a time. Two or three
attacks each should do the trick. If you get overwhelmed, cast Doom on one or
two of them, heal yourself, and then back away until they expire. If your
primary DS is a Black Mage, just cast Ultima once and everything except the
Stalwart will be gone in one turn.
Deal with the Nashorns the same way you did in the earlier Floors. If they hit
you with Dark, you can either wait it out, cast Esuna, or zap them with a Magic
spell. When only the Stalwart remains, you can either use Mini-Demi or just
attack until he goes down. My first Mini-Demi hit for about 130 HP, and my
Physical Attacks were landing for about 75, so I'm not sure that I'd waste the
Magic using Mini-Demi. As always, 5 MP for a Curaga seems like a real bargain.
******************************************************************************
* F41 - F45 (WF41-F45) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Steal Triple Tiara from Founder on F44
* Zurvan (F41 - F44) casts Doom, so protect accordingly.
* Bicocette (F43 - F46) can Berserk you with its physical attacks.
* By F45, Zurvans are gone, but Protochimeras (which can Confuse you) appear.
* Bombs (F45 - F48) will explode and damage you if you don't finish them off
in one turn.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F41 -- Wild Wolf, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM!
F42 -- Wild Wolf, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM!
F43 -- Bicocette, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM!
F44 -- Bicocette, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM!
F45 -- Bicocette, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION.
Enemy Abilities:
Wild Wolf -- PA only
Flan Amarillo -- PA, Thunder(M), Sleep(-)
Zurvan -- PA, Doom, Thunder(M), Fire(M), Blizzard(M), can buff itself with
Magic Boost and Physical Boost
Bicocette -- PA (Berserk)
Bomb -- (No PA), Firaga(M)
Protochimera -- PA (Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M)
Again, status effects are the only real annoyances here. Happily you do not
have to simultaneously protect against Doom and Confusion, so only one of those
Accessories needs to be equipped at any time. Make sure you are protected
against Doom until you hit F45, and which point change to Confuseproof.
Bicocettes can inflict Berserk, but that won't kill you, so just deal with it.
The most important thing to do is to steal a Triple Tiara from the Founder on
F44. The items that you can steal from him on a given floor are basically
random, but this one item is ALWAYS available on F44. Please refer to the
section on the Founder for details and cautions about stealing. Pass your
turns slowly and carefully, and one of the best Accessories in the game will be
yours.
The Triple Tiara allows you to execute THREE physical attacks in one turn!
Obviously, this gives you a HUGE advantage, and enemies will now go down in
just 1 - 2 turns, depending on how often your attacks miss. In fact, once you
have the Triple Tiara, you might as well sell off your Soldier's Bandana. You
probably won't be able to equip both at once, and triple attacks seem to trump
half damage.
The Triple Tiara also solves the problem of exploding enemies. With 3 attacks
(instead of just one) you can often finish off Bombs and their ilk before they
even get a turn!
Unfortunately, you probably can't have much fun with your new Accessory until
F49. Depending on what DS you have equipped, you're probably going to need to
use your 2 Accessory slots for your Stealth Cape and your Rune of Sanity.
If you screw up and miss this Accessory, another one will be available on F66,
but wouldn't you rather have its awesome power now?
Unlocking the F45 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies, read 2 books, fake 5 attacks.
******************************************************************************
* F46 - F50 (WF46-F50) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Spine Drake (F49 - F52) has an Ice Breath attack that covers a 4 x 4 grid.
Move in quickly.
* Finish collecting the necessary items for getting the Tonberry Room
Treasures -- Save Memo x 2 and Find Secret Rooms x 3.
* Once you hit F49, equip your Triple Tiara and marvel at how amazingly
powerful you now are.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F46 -- Bicocette, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F47 -- Guard Machina, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F48 -- Guard Machina, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F49 -- Spine Drake, Guard Machina, Coeurl
F50 -- Spine Drake, Guard Machina, Coeurl
Enemy Abilities:
Bicocette -- PA (Berserk)
Bomb -- (No PA), Fire(M), Kaboom (PA -- blows itself up)
Protochimera -- PA (Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M)
Spine Drake -- PA, Ice Breath(D)
Guard Machina -- PA (MP x 2)
Coeurl -- (No PA), Blaster(M) -- 3-square range, Quake(P)
As mentioned above, Spine Drake can attack over a HUGE area, so move diagonally
towards them ASAP or exit the room and let them come closer to the doorway.
When adjacent to you, they will do physical attacks.
Coeurls -- which were so scary in FFX-2 itself -- are lethargic punching bags.
They have a Blaster attack that can hit you from 2 or 3 squares away (if they
happen to notice you, which they won't if their backs are turned) but oddly
enough if you are adjacent to them they will almost never attack. Avoid
getting in line with them while moving right up next to them and you can finish
them off without taking any damage at all.
You are going to start feeling especially cramped for inventory space about
now. In addition to your Accessories, DS, and routine books that you are
carrying, you need to allocate at least 2 slots for the items necessary to
collect the Tonberry Room treasure. Trust me when I tell you that getting
these items is worth the sacrifice now. You can probably get by without any
Healing books if you have a White Mage DS, and you really don't need any
potions at all. Keep making those tough choices for another 10 floors. After
that, we'll free up some space and quadruple the level of your primary DS, so
be patient.
Unlocking the F50 Elevator -- Kill 10 enemies and pass for 5 turns.
******************************************************************************
* F51 - F55 (WF51-F55) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Bolt Drakes (F51 - F54) can hit you with a Thunder attack over a 4 x 4 grid.
* Mycotoxins (F55 - F57) can put you to Sleep and then pound you with Magic.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F51 -- Spine Drake, Bolt Drake, Agama
F52 -- Spine Drake, Bolt Drake, Agama
F53 -- Bolt Drake, Agama, YSLS-99
F54 -- Bolt Drake, Agama, YSLS-99
F55 -- Mycotoxin, YLS-99, YAU-28
Enemy Abilities:
Spine Drake -- PA, Ice Breath(D)
Bolt Drake -- PA, Thunder Breath(D)
Agama -- PA (Silence)
YSLS-99 -- PA (Slow)
Mycotoxin -- PA, Sleep(-), Thundaga(M)
YAU-28 -- PA (MP x 2)
No real changes for these 5 floors. The above noted enemies can annoy you but
certainly shouldn't kill you. Keep managing your inventory and stockpiling
items for the Tonberry Room treasures. Other than that, just move on.
Unlocking the F55 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies, read 2 books, fake 3 attacks, and
pass 5 turns.
******************************************************************************
* F56 - F60 (WF56-F60) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Pop Frys (F57 - F59) are royal pains.
* Sahagins (F58 - F59) have a Water Cannon attack that can inflict Dark.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F56 -- YAU-28, YSLS-99, Mycotoxin
F57 -- YAU-28, Pop Fry, Mycotoxin
F58 -- Pop Fry, Sahagin, YAU-28
F59 -- Pop Fry, Sahagin, YAU-28
F60 -- Sahagin, Tomb, Ultima Weapon
Enemy Abilities:
YAU-28 -- PA (MP x 2)
YSLS-99 -- PA (Slow)
Mycotoxin -- PA, Sleep(-), Thundaga(M)
Pop Fry -- (No PA), Holy(M), Meteor (P), Fire(M), Firaga(M), Blizzard(M),
Blizzaga(M), Thunder(M), Thundaga(M)
Sahagin -- PA, Water Cannon(P) -- 6(?)-square range and inflicts Dark.
Tomb -- PA, Meteor(P)
Ultima Weapon -- PA, Judgment(P), Dawn of Ruin (M), Final Abyss(D)
These floors are considerably less fun than the previous 5. I have a
particular dislike for Pop Frys. They block doorways with their huge size;
their attacks can hit from a long ways away; and they will keep hitting you
with Magic until you finish them off or they run out of Magic. The only good
news is that once their MP are depleted, they are powerless as they have no PA.
If you are more than one square away from a Sahagin, it will hit you with Water
Cannon, which inflicts Dark. Once you move adjacent to it, it will use a PA
instead. Take your punishment while moving in, cast Esuna once you are
adjacent, and then finish off these pests. Festivalist + Samurai will make you
Darkproof.
At F59, remember to equip for a Boss fight. You don't have to protect against
Traps, Doom, or Confuse. Equip your Triple Tiara for sure. If you still have
a Soldier's Bandana or Valkyrie Nails, either would be a good choice for your
second Accessory.
On F60, you will fight Sahagin x 2, Tomb x 1 and Ultima Weapon x 1 in that
order. The easiest way to finish off the Sahagins is with Magic. Even if you
get hit with Dark, one zap of Magic each should easily rid you of these pests.
I suppose you could use Doom, but really, why bother?
While fighting the Sahagins, the Tomb may chime in with a Meteor (which damages
the Sahagins as well as you,) but that attack looks worse than it actually is.
Once the Sahagins are history, move up to the Tomb, whack it a couple of times,
and it will go down.
The Ultima Weapon looks scary, but the worst thing about it is that you will
suffer many attacks before you can get close enough to land a punch of your
own. Its special attacks are called Judgment, Dawn of Ruin, and Final Abyss,
but none took more than about 50 HP off my main character. Once you get close
enough to the Boss to attack, heal if necessary before unleashing sets of 3
attacks per turn. You will find that you get 3 turns for every one that
the Boss gets. My Level 34 Samurai had a PA stat of 59, and 3 rounds of PA
with the Triple Tiara laid waste to this big lug without any further damage.
******************************************************************************
* F61 - F65 (WF61-F65) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* It is finally time to claim your Tonberry Room treasures, which will
definitely change your life for the better.
* After defeating the Tonberrys, keep stealing from the Founder. If you get a
Valkyrie Nails Accessory, try to hold on to it for the final battle.
* Until you hit another patch of Cactuars, you are pretty much invincible.
* Hug Bugs (F61 - F62) and Detonators (F63 - F64) can explode, but you should
be powerful enough to finish them off in one turn.
* Varans (F65 - F66) can cast Damnation (Doom on steroids), but you should
have easy access to Doomproof for protection.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F61 -- Hug Bug, Flan Palido, King Vermin!
F62 -- Hug Bug, Flan Palido, King Vermin!
F63 -- Detonator, YAU-71, Balivarha
F64 -- Detonator, YAU-71, Balivarha
F65 -- Iron Giant, Barbuta, Varan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM
Enemy Abilities:
Hug Bug -- PA(Darkness), Kaboom(P)
Flan Palido -- PA, Blizzaga(M)
King VERMIN! -- PA(Silence)
Detonator -- Kaboom(P), Firaga(M)
YAU-71 -- PA only
Balivarha -- PA(Darkness), Firaga (M)
Iron Giant -- PA only
Barbuta -- PA (Berserk)
Varan --PA, Damnation(-), Blizzaga(M), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Magic Boost
You are now ready to find your way to the Tonberry Room. This is going to take
a LOT of patience, but believe me when I tell you that it's worth the time and
trouble.
For the record, I'm relatively sure that the Tonberry Room can be accessed as
early as F41. However, it has been my experience that attempting to do so
prior to F61 takes much longer. In both cases, there are 6 possible Secret
Rooms to which you might be transported. Three of these are "Special" Secret
Rooms (O, X, and Triangle) that must be completed in order to access the
Tonberry Room. On F61, from my experience, you will ALWAYS encounter these in
the same order -- O, X, and then Triangle -- without ever repeating any of
them. By contrast, on F41, I frequently returned to a Special Room that I had
already completed, forcing additional resets. Every time I tried getting to the
Tonberry Room earlier than F61, I gave up from impatience. My point is that
you are free to try to claim these treasures earlier if you like, but don't be
surprised if you find the experience frustrating.
To claim your treasures, do the following:
1) When you hit F61, check the nearest room for treasures. Don't go out of
your way, since there is about an 80% chance that you will have to reset
and try this first step again, but you don't want to leave a useful DS or
Folio behind.
2) Read one of your Find Secret Rooms Folios. A teleporter will be
created. Stand on the teleporter, Check it, and choose, "Go to Secret
Room."
3) If you land in a room with enemies, reset and try again. Repeat steps 1 - 3
until you land in a room in which you are surrounded by stones in the shape
of a circle. This will probably take several tries, so be patient.
4) When you find the correct room, destroy the stone in the middle of the
arrangement. An item (a Restart Guide(9) Folio -- Yuck!) will spawn in the
room behind you. Collect the item -- or not-- and get on the elevator back
in the main room. Use one of your Save Memos to save as you return to F61.
5) Repeat steps 1 - 3 above. This time, the room you are seeking has stones
in the shape of an "X."
6) Repeat step 4. This time the item in the room behind you is a Tidying
Up(9) -- Double Yuck!) Be sure to SAVE when you take the elevator!
7) Repeat steps 1 - 3 again. This time the room you are seeking has stones in
the shape of a triangle.
8) When you find the correct room, kill the stone in the middle of the
triangle. Ignore the elevator in this room. Proceed into the next room,
picking up (or not) an item on the way.
9) Keep going forward, and before entering the next room, you will find Copy
Techniques (2), which is far and away the best item in the game.
10) Continue forward and smash the gold stone. You will be teleported
automatically to the Tonberry room.
11) You will be in a large room with 4 Mega Tonberrys and 1 regular Tonberry.
BE SURE TO EQUIP PROTECTION AGAINST DOOM because the Megas can cast
Damnation, a speeded-up version of Doom. You have at least 2 options for
defeating them. The wimpy way is to Doom them. Each counter will start at
45, and if you move too far away from a Doomed Mega, its counter will stop
going down, so this method can definitely take a while. Alternatively, if
you have even a modest PA stat, you can just slug it out with one of them
at a time. Each Mega only has about 1000 HP. Equipping Dark Knight + Gun
Mage will inflict Darkness on your enemies, and their attacks will rarely
connect, allowing you to whale on them at will. If you have done a halfway
decent job of developing your character, beating the Megas in a straight-up
fight is the easy and infinitely more rewarding way to win this battle.
12) For the record, you don't actually have to defeat the small Tonberry. After
defeating one Mega, the elevator will activate, but why give up now? When
the last Mega goes down, you will see an Accessory (Sniper Cuffs -- when
equipped, your attacks never miss) materialize in the small back room. You
may never use them, but you probably have room to carry them now that
you've used your 3 Find Secret Rooms Folios and your 2 Save Memos.
Next time you get a Find Secret Rooms Folio, you should use it to access the
Cactuar Secret Room to get a Dress Fusion Secrets (9) Folio. As before, be
sure to Save before using the Find Secret Rooms Folio, since it will probably
take you a couple of tries to land in the correct room. Once you do, you will
have 6 Cactuars to eliminate. If you have a healthy Magic stat and a Black
Mage DS, the easiest way to defeat them is to equip the Black Mage as your
primary DS and cast Ultima.
Now that you have your Copy Techniques Folio, you have at least 2 choices:
1) You can either copy your primary DS, Fuse it, and then copy it again. For
example, if you have a level 24 DS, the Copy Techniques Folio will make
another level 24 DS. Fuse them together, and you have a level 48 DS. Copy
that level 48 DS and fuse again, and you now have a level 96 DS!
2) Alternatively, you can copy two different DS once each.
If your primary DS is below about level 30, you should probably take the first
option. Your resulting DS will max out at level 99, but at that point,
depending on what primary DS you have chosen, you should be nearly invincible.
If your primary DS is more like level 35, you should consider the second
option. At level 70, your stats should be impressive in at least 3 areas. By
copying a different DS, you can develop a more balanced character by boosting
stats that are different from those that your primary DS boosts. Additionally,
you are likely to pick up additional DS over the next 20 floors anyway. You
can fuse those to your primary DS for additional boosts in your main stats.
One way or another, now that you've bumped up your DS levels significantly,
most of the challenge is gone from the game. With your Triple Tiara equipped,
you can finish off most enemies in 1 - 2 turns tops. You should have ready
access to Confuseproof and Doomproof and have total protection from Traps. My
MD was so high that the worst Magic attacks hit me for 3 HP, and my Evasion was
so high that most Physical Attacks missed. Basically, until you again encounter
Cactuars, you pretty much rule.
After clearing the Tonberry room, you should have lots of inventory space
cleared out. Try to reserve one slot for a Valkyrie Nails Accessory, which you
will almost certainly be able to steal from the Founder between here and the
final battle. This can make those last battles easier, as I will describe when
we get there.
Unlocking the F65 Elevator -- After you receive the third message that the
Founder is near ("An intense aura can be felt from somewhere on this floor!")
perform any action other than moving, such as passing a turn or dropping an
item. This will activate the elevator. If you are in the habit of Stealing
from the Founder, this will occur naturally.
******************************************************************************
* F66 - F70 (WF66-F70) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* If you missed the Triple Tiara on F44, you can try again on F66.
* Enemies are mostly beefed-up versions of earlier fiends inflicting the same
status effects as their lesser siblings.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F66 -- Iron Giant, Barbuta, Varan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM
F67 -- Hexapod, Barbuta, Shantak
F68 -- Aranea, Aculeate, Hexapod
F69 -- Purpurea, Aculeate, Taromaiti -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM!
F70 -- Assault Machina, Amorphous Gel, Purpurea
Enemy Abilities:
Iron Giant -- PA only
Barbuta -- PA (Berserk)
Varan --PA, Damnation(-), Blizzaga(M), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Magic Boost
Hexapod -- PA, Kaboom(P)
Shantak -- PA, Sonic Boom(P) -- covers a large area
Aranea -- PA only
Aculeate -- PA (silence)
Purpurea -- (No PA), Seed Cannon(D)
Taromaiti -- PA, Firaga(M), Damnation(-), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M)
Assault Machina -- PA (MP x 2)
Amorphous Gel -- PA, Blizzaga(M)
On my first run through the game, I missed the Triple Tiara on F44, but when I
stole from the Founder on F66, I got one. On my second run, I got a TT on F44,
but when I tried to get another on F66 I got an Ether instead. From this, I'm
going to speculate that you can only get one TT. If you miss it on F44, I
postulate, there will be another on F66. If, however, you grabbed one on F44,
there will not be one on F66. Again, this is just something I inferred from my
two runs.
I'm also guessing that the enemies on these floors inflict the same status
ailments as their relatives on earlier floors. I know for sure that Taromaitis
(F69) cast Damnation, and I'm guessing that the Barbutas on F67 can Berserk
you. I don't know for sure because at this point, my Evasion stat was so high
that hardly anything could even hit me. I can also confirm that Hexapods have
the same annoying habit as Hug Bugs of blowing themselves up if you damage them
without finishing them off. This is where a high Accuracy stat would be
helpful.
On F70 - F71, you will encounter Amorphous Gels which, like Protean Gels, carry
Dress Fusion Secrets Folios for you to Steal. However, about 80% of the ones
that I encountered had nothing to steal. Perhaps I just had a bad run of luck,
but these much-needed items seem less prevalent here than they were in Protean
Gels.
Otherwise, as I indicated earlier, you should sail through these floors with
little resistance. I had high Evasion, high PA, and high Magic Defense, so I
was finishing off enemies in 1 - 2 turns and was only losing HP to Magic
attacks and exploding Hexapods, the former doing about 3 HP damage and the
latter doing about 40 - 50 (because of my relatively low PD stat.) So, cruise
your way up to F70, take the elevator and Save.
Unlocking the F70 Elevator -- To activate this elevator, you must first turn
into a Goon, either by reading a Folio or by getting hit by the Founder.
However, the seal isn't broken until you perform an action other than moving
(such as passing a turn or dropping an item) AFTER you've been turned into a
Goon. So, if you're going to let the Founder turn you into a Goon, don't waste
any turns afterwards lest you get ejected from the Tower. Pass a turn and then
immediately take the elevator.
******************************************************************************
* F71 - F75 (WF71-F75) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Malboros (F71 - 72) have a Bad Breath attack (imagine that!) that inflicts
Poison, Silence, and Slow.
* Cactuars are back (F75 - F77) and are still able to wipe out even your most
advanced DS with a single X-Needles attack. Continue to treat them with all
due caution.
* Rhyos (F75 - F76) can Confuse you, but by now you should have protection
against this.
* Vertigos (F75 - F76) can put you to Sleep.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F71 -- Assault Machina, Amorphous Gel, Malboro
F72 -- Malboro, Machina Soldier, Skink
F73 -- Queen Coeurl, YSLS-Zero, Skink
F74 -- Queen Coeurl, YSLS-Zero, Skink
F75 -- Vertigo, Cactuar, Rhyos -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
Enemy Abilities:
Assault Machina -- PA(MP x 2)
Amorphous Gel -- PA, Blizzaga(M)
Skink -- PA(Silence)
Malboro -- Bad Breath(-) -- Inflicts Silence, Slow, and Poison
Machina Soldier -- PA (MP x 2)
Queen Coeurl -- (No PA), Blaster(M) -- 3-square range, Quake(P)
YSLS-Zero -- PA only
Vertigo -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range, never misses, Sleep(-)
Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-)
Rhyos -- PA(Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M)
OK -- As we near the top, we get exposed to a "greatest hits" of nasty status
effects. Malboros hit you with 3 of them, the worst of which is Slow because
the Malboro will get 2 turns for every 1 of yours. With the Triple Tiara
equipped, you should be able to finish him off in one turn. Then when Silence
wears off cast Esuna to minimize damage from Poison.
Vertigo's Sleep attack can be problematic, especially if there is a Cactuar in
the room. In one game, I cast Doom on a Cactuar -- which, of course made him
chase me. In the process of retreating, I stepped into the path of a Vertigo
and got put to sleep. Luckily, the Doom counter reached 0 before the Cactuar
got within range to use his X-Needles attack, but Needle-ss to say, this was a
bit too close for comfort.
If you have the Triple Tiara equipped and have a sufficiently high Accuracy
stat, you should be able to take out Cactuars with Physical Attacks now. One
of your 3 attacks is almost certain to connect. Even so, you should have tons
of MP at this stage of the game, and if you have a Black Mage DS, zapping the
Cactuar with Magic is still the quickest and most reliable way to get them out
of your way.
Otherwise, as long as you don't get Confused, you should cruise up to F75 where
an elevator and Save opportunity await you.
Unlocking the F75 elevator -- Kill 8 enemies, fake 5 attacks, pass 5 turns, Put
Down 3 items, and Throw 3 items. The items, of course, do not have to be
different, and you can pick them up immediately after discarding them.
******************************************************************************
* F76 - F80 (WF76-F80) *
******************************************************************************
Bullet Points:
* Cactuars will plague you all the way to the top.
* Let the Founder hit you twice on F77 to teleport you up to the final battles
on F80.
Enemies Floor by Floor:
F76 -- Vertigo, Cactuar, Rhyos -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION
F77 -- Cactuar, Volcano, Hrimthurs
Enemy Abilities:
Vertigo -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range, never misses, Sleep(-)
Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-)
Rhyos -- PA(Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M)
Volcano -- Kaboom(P), Firaga(M), Holy (M)
Hrimthurs -- PA(Slow)
Enemy-wise, from here on you need only fear Cactuars. All other enemies will
offer little resistance to your awesomeness.
The directness of your path from here to the end of your quest depends on your
actions at the end of F77, as described below.
F77 can end one of 3 possible ways:
1) You take the elevator to F78 without ever encountering the Founder.
2) You play this floor in the usual way and get hit by the Founder once and
turn into a Goon. He will say, "It is up to you whether you go any further
in that form." You think this odd, but you take the elevator to F78 as you
normally would anyway.
3) You get hit by the Founder once and turn into a Goon. He will say, "It is
up to you whether you go any further in that form." You let him hit you a
second time. He says, "Well Done, you have found the path" and you are
teleported to the final battle on F80. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!
I will outline for you what happens if you end F77 with either option 1) or
option 2) above, but keep in mind that you only want to do this if you are
stalling and don't want to get to F80 directly.
F78 can end one of 3 possible ways:
1) You take the elevator to F79 without ever encountering the Founder.
2) You play this floor in the usual way and get hit by the Founder once and
turn into a Goon. He will say, "It is up to you whether you go any further
in that form." You then take the elevator to F79 as you normally would.
3) You get hit by the Founder once and turn into a Goon. He will say, "It is
up to you whether you go any further in that form." You let him hit you a
second time, and you are returned to F77.
F79 has no elevator, so it there is only one possible way that it can end.
Eventually, the Founder will track you down, smack you, and suggest again that
"It is up to you whether you go any further in that form." (One could argue
that this isn't accurate since you only have one option here.) Since you have
nowhere to go to get away from the Founder, he will eventually find you and hit
you again, sending you back to F77. When he does, he will give you the hint
that, "There is nothing beyond here you fool."
If you are slow to catch on and wind up on F79 again, the second time that the
Founder hits you, he will ask, "Ahh, did you notice anything?"
It seemed to me that on F77 the Founder appears MUCH earlier than usual,
perhaps trying to head you off before you foolishly get on the elevator and
head nowhere productive.
Hopefully you will eventually arrive on F80, so let's prepare for what awaits
us there.
F80 has no Traps and there is no danger of Doom. However, the Boss' Quake
attack can cause Confusion, so you definitely need to protect against that. You
can do this with an Accessory if you like, but I used both Accessory slots for
offense and used DS to become Confuseproof.
You are going to have to fight this boss 3 separate times. Each time he starts
with 4000 HP. The wimpy way to fight him is to equip a Mascot DS and use Mini-
Demi until his HP get low enough and then whittle away those last few HP with
Physical Attacks. If you have developed a primary DS with a good PA attack,
you can easily beat this boss with only PA's. I survived all 3 rounds without
using Mini-Demi and without ever healing. You can too.
You'll find that you are going to get about 3 turns for every turn that the
Boss gets. If you have the Triple Tiara equipped -- and why wouldn't you? --
that gives you NINE attacks for every one of his. Some of your attacks won't
connect (unless your Accuracy stat is higher than mine was), but so what?
Outslugging your opponent by 7 or 8 to 1 is enough of an edge.
To give yourself more of an advantage, try equipping a Valkyrie Nails Accessory
to up your percentage of critical hits (each of which does 3x damage.) In each
set of 9 attacks, you should get at least 1 or 2 critical hits. As you can
imagine, this makes the boss go down considerably quicker.
In the second and third battles, the Boss (Quattour) will call in annoying
little minions called "Fractus" (I'm not sure what the plural of Fractus is --
Fracti?) They will hit you with pathetic Spark attacks that may hit you for a
deadly 3 HP, or they may sidle up to you and explode, hitting you for maybe 30
- 40 HP. Don't waste turns killing them -- they are merely distractions from
the main task at hand, and when Quattour expires, they will too. However,
remember that when they attack you, YRP will rotate towards them. Be sure to
rotate back towards Quattour before your next attack lest you waste a turn.
At the start of the third and final round, you will get hit with "Putrid
Vapor," which will Silence you for several turns. As I said, I never needed to
heal, but if you are concerned then either use an Elixir, wait for the Silence
to wear off, or be proactive about healing as the end of the second round draws
nigh.
Ultimately, if you did a decent job developing your primary DS -- or if you
didn't but have access to Mini-Demi -- these battles will be a breeze. In the
end, this final battle is somewhat anticlimactic after all that you went
through to get here, but take pride nonetheless in your successful run to the
top of the Tower.
A final scene will run, but you've already been warned about the dangers of
watching these. Enjoy your success but resist the temptation to view this
video tripe.
******************************************************************************
* XX. Final Words (LM20) *
******************************************************************************
Now that you have earned your Trophies, try going through the Tower again with
a different primary DS. Try going through as a Black Mage or as something
truly weird like an Psychic. Here are some ideas for challenge runs to try:
* Don't pick up or use the Triple Tiara.
* Don't pick up or use the Copying Techniques Folio.
* Never use Doom.
* Never use a Physical Attack.
* Use only Physical Attacks, but never use Magic or Doom.
* Reduce the number of DS you can equip to 4, then 3, then 2.
If you're looking to add some challenge to the game, I strongly recommend that
you try a run in which you equip no more than 3 DS at a time. This will allow
you to get all of the important Auto-Abilities, but you're really going to have
to put some thought into which DS you have equipped at any given time and which
DS you develop. The first 30 floors or so can be particularly harrowing,
especially if the game is less than generous in the resources that it gives
you.
You can increase challenge level by combining these conditions. For example, a
run with at most 3 DS, no Triple Tiara, and no Copying Techniques will really
keep you on your toes and make you use your knowledge of the game to survive.
Or, make up your own challenge. The depth of the game arises from the multiple
ways of approaching it. Find a way that interests you. The Last Tower is not a
great game, and it is perhaps a bit too easy, but it has its merits
nonetheless.
I hope that you find the above information useful and understandable. I have
invested considerable time and effort researching, writing, and revising this
guide to make your gaming experience more pleasurable. Although no guide is
perfect or 100% complete, I continue to do my best to make this guide the best
possible. I ask for no monetary compensation for these efforts, but if you
feel that this guide's strengths outweigh its shortcomings, I would sincerely
appreciate it if you would click on the green "Yes" button at the top of
the page, indicating that you would recommend it to others. If you are
compelled to click the red "No" button instead, I hope that you will take a
moment and drop me an email letting me know what you didn't like so that I can
try to make this guide better for future readers.
Either way, thanks for reading, and let's do this again sometime soon.