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Wai Xing Zhan Shi 2 main
When the title screen comes up press start. Then select the first option to start a new game. The second option lets you load a saved file from one of two available slots.
The game starts out in Piata and like with the Genesis version you cannot exit. There are five buildings in town. An item shop, inn, house, weapon/armor store and the Academy.
You start out with zero meseta so you'll have to grind for more. It's a bit slow and tedious. But if you are used to oldschool NES RPGs you won't be too annoyed. Chaz is at level 1 and Alys is at level 7.
Alys starts out with Anti (8 TP) and Moonshade. Moonshade causes sleep and seems to work on every non-boss enemy. It's very valuable. Chaz comes with nothing but will learn Arows at level 2.
Poison is a circle with a star like pattern and cross in the middle. Paralysis is rather like a blue cross with a red horizontal line in the middle. Sleep is a circle within a circle.
The item shop sells an antidote for 20 meseta and monomate for 40 meseta.
The inn charges 5 meseta per person. So it will actually cost you 10 meseta. Try to stave off using it for now unless you really need to. Save up for that sword!
The weapon/armor store has a kiosk on the left for weapons and one on the right for armor. This stands true for all equipment stores.
Weapons:
Armor:
Since you cannot equip two weapons I highly recommend getting the sword for Chaz as soon as you can. It gives +12 attack.
Talk to the Principal and there will be a cutscene. After that talk to Hahn by the stairs to gain entry to the basement. Hahn doesn't actually join you though.
There are three chests in the first room. I believe it's two antidotes and one monomate. I may be mistaken. The next staircase down leads to Igglanova and the battle is automatically started. So don't go in unprepared. Depending on the version you are playing it may be more difficult to win. In Wai Xing Zhan Shi 2 it is possible to beat Igglanova without any grinding but with only one free monomate down here it is possible that someone may die. But you'll also want to be prepared for what's ahead. It's up to you. But I'd take some time to level up Chaz to at least level 5 and earn enough meseta for the sword. At level 5 Chaz learns crosscut. This is invaluable for the battle with Igglanova because it does a lot of damage. And at this point Alys should be very close to level 8. So you might as well top off her level as well. At level 8 Alys learns res for 10 TP allowing her to heal one party member.
Igglanova can cause sleep. The only way to cure it is to use arows. Otherwise you must wait for it to wear off. Since Chaz has Arows and Alys has anti, Chaz is out of luck if he's inflicted with sleep. And while Igglanova doesn't spawn minions it can attack both Chaz and Alys at the same time.
At level 5 Chaz does around 55 damage to the boss with crosscut. All three uses of crosscut plus a few regular attacks by Alys will do the trick nicely if you took the grindy route rather than just going to Igglanova right away.
You may encounter a bug where Chaz attacks again after the entire party is finished attacking. This seems to happen most when he uses airslash. Although I've also had it happen with crosscut and regular attacks. It does use up one skill use. But in hard battles it can actually be beneficial.
After talking to the Principal there will be a cutscene showing Zio, people who were turned to stone and Alys extorting money from Hahn, who still doesn't join you and will not be showing up again afterwards. But you still get the meseta. The scene is rather impressive for what it is too.
Once outside things get extremely dangerous. The red crawlers and mini worms aren't too bad. But the green flies and locustas can hit for some nasty damage. But it seems that running away works almost every time. So while you need to level up it's best to choose your battles wisely for now and stick close to Piata for a bit if you wish to grind. It's worth it because at level 9 Alys will learn vortex.
A bit to the northwest of Piata there is some quicksand that you cannot cross. There's nothing to the south either. So you must journey northeast where you will soon find a ruined town. This is Molcum. If you enter now no one will be there. So just head north until you find the town of Zema.
All of the doors are locked and a man is near one of the houses. He's been turned to stone. Head north through the cave to enter Birth Valley. In the back of the tunnel you'll find a very stoned Professor Holt and a cutscene will play out. There's nothing more you can do here though. So head back to Molcum where Rune will now be.
When you talk to him there will be another cutscene. Rune actually looks really good here too. He'll also actually join your party. Unlike that slacker Hahn. He's a whopping level 17 and comes decked out with a nice set of techs and skills. Before you go further you may want to buy him the same headgear as Chaz because he won't be getting anything else for awhile. It's available in Piata for 15 meseta.
You may want to grind a bit of meseta. Especially if you bought a lot of restoratives and are under the 400-500 mark. You are going to need it very soon.
To the west of Zema is a broken bridge that you cannot cross and there's quicksand to the east. Thus the only way to go is just a little northeast. You'll see a darker spot on the mountain. That's a cave. Enter it.
Unlike the original there's no scene with Rune using flaeli. You just go right on in. Be very careful in here though. The newts aren't too bad if you've leveled a bit. Plus Rune is rather overpowered and even his physical attacks do nice damage. But there are slugs in here that can take a character out in one hit as well as cause what I think was sleep. I highly advise you to run from these. But if you really want to fight them flaeli and crosscut do well. The Abe Frogs and Toadstools are dangerous. I'd advise running from those as well.
Once you exit the cave you'll see Tonoe. It actually looks really nice too. I'm impressed.
Now you may have noticed that this cave doesn't have an entrance at the Tonoe end. Don't panic! You are most certainly not trapped. So just head into town for now. You'll see that the northwest most house has no door. Remember this. It will be open shortly.
The inn costs 10 meseta per person. So that's going to be 30 meseta in all.
At the equipment store there are lots of great (and pricey) goodies for Alys and Chaz. Poor Rune gets nothing here unless you neglected to buy the helmet in Piata. And if that's the case you might as well just give him the one Chaz won't be needing anymore. The kiosk on the left sells armor. Buy two helmets for 25 meseta each. One for Chaz and one for Alys. They offer +12 defense. There's some armor that only Alys can equip. At +30 defense it's totally worth the 50 meseta.
The kiosk on the right sells weapons. Buy Chaz the sword that costs 110 meseta. It has +38 attack. There's also a new slasher for Alys that costs 120 meseta and has +35 attack.
The tool shop sells cure paral for 50 meseta, as well as antidote and monomate. Make sure you get some cure paral to have around. If all live party members are paralyzed it's game over for you. You'll also see two items that look like wheels with wings. These are very important. The yellow one that costs 130 meseta is the telepipe. It is the only way to exit the Tonoe area since there is no entrance back through the cave from that end. So make sure that you buy one. If you pick the first option on the list it will teleport you to Zema. Which is where you'll need to go soon anyway. The blue item that costs 70 meseta is an escapipe and you already have one if you were opening chests along the way. Now it works a bit differently from the original because it will also work in towns. When used in towns it will teleport you outside of said town. So be careful not to waste it that way.
When you are done shopping go to the furthest northeastern house in town. Talk to Grandfather Dorin and a cutscene will play out. After this Rune will leave and Gryz will join you. However you'll notice that his onscreen sprite is not anywhere near as nice as it was in the house. It's rather blue and blobby. And the walking animation looks bad from the front. I suppose there's some technical reason for this. His townie sprite is bigger than the party sprites and it's far more detailed. His portrait is very nice though. It's even more detailed than Rune's. The brown around his mouth is a bit weird. But perhaps they were trying to match the shape and detail and weren't able to. The artists here are really hit or miss.
Gryz is level 19 and comes equipped with the 15 meseta helmet and an axe. He is only level 6 but has high attack. Buy him the 25 meseta helmet before going anywhere. Don't bother with the armor. He can't use it.
Remember that house in the northwest of town that was shut up? It's open now. With the new gear many of the enemies won't be much of a problem. For reference, in my game Chaz was level 10 and has learned airslash. Alys was level 11.
This really isn't a basement. In fact the stairs go up to the second floor where you find the Alshline. So it's more like a storehouse. The two floors are a maze of crates with chests scattered about. Of course you should pick up everything. Once you get the Alshline leave the storehouse and use the inn if you need to. Then use the telepipe to return to Zema.
Once there enter Birth Valley and examine Professor Holt. A cutscene will play out and he'll be cured. The door to the Bioplant will now be open. But you should go back to town first because you really need all the gear upgrades you can get.
The equipment shop sells armor that both Chaz and Gryz can equip. For 60 meseta you're getting +32 defense. Excellent deal. Also get Alys the slasher that costs 360 meseta. It has +88 attack.
If you wish to go to the tool shop it sells antidote, cure paral, monomate and the escapipe as well as dimate for 120 meseta. The inn is 10 meseta per person just like Tonoe.
After you've done all the necessary shopping it's time to enter Birth Valley yet again. With your shiny new equipment there should be no problem shredding through most battles Once you go through the now open door you'll be in the Bioplant, which has the same music as Zema for some reason. Now things have suddenly gotten much harder and you can easily die if you're not careful.
In the second room another Igglanova is standing in your path to the next door. Examine him to start the fight. He is nasty and can use a variety of attacks the first one could not. Plus he can inflict paralysis. Damage can get pretty high. So toss everything you've got at him.
If you are having trouble grind a bit. With Chaz and Alys at level 12 and Gryz at level 9 I had a very hard time. I let Chaz and Alys gain a level each plus in the process Gryz gained two.
Since Alys has the highest agility use her to heal when necessary, followed by Chaz then Gryz if you need to. Igglanova 2 uses paralysis and sleep. A bad combo. But it doesn't look like multiple status effects can be inflicted on one character at the same time. At least you'll wake from sleep eventually.
After you take down Igglanova 2 go into the third room where you'll see Professor Holt. You'll see a cutscene with him and Rika. Now despite her not actually being in the room with our hapless Professor or even following you around outside of battle she is definitely there when a battle does occur. Better than that no show Hahn. Wonder where he went off to? Coward. Anyway after this it's time to head back to town. Rest at the inn and buy RIka the 25 meseta helmet.
Rika comes with anti and double slash. But she starts out at level 5. at least her agility is good. Strangely, her age is listed as 12 instead of 1.
After leaving Zema you'll see that the bridge is now fixed and you can cross freely. You won't find Nalya, the Wreckage or Aiedo here. But if you travel northwest you'll see a cave. I really hate how hard to spot the caves are in this game. But just keep your eyes open for a dark spot that looks like a half oval on the mountain range.
The cave has three sets of stairs going down. The bottom will lead you to treasure and a staircase going up that will warp you to the entrance of the cave. The middle staircase leads to a large treasure room. If you want to get out quickly use the top staircase. The exit will be in the next room.
There are some new enemies here. But the worst are the mermen. They hit hard and don't die as fast as you'd like. And the tech users can murderize you very easily. By the end only Chaz and Rika were left standing. So if you choose to battle be careful. Run from mermen and tech users if you don't want to risk dying.
Once outside walk south and you'll see a town. It's Kadary. The equipment shop is loaded with expensive goodies and you're gonna need them. But check your inventory first if you got all the chests. The green sword might have been picked up in the cave. I actually had several weapons on me that I must have found. So always check to see what you have that you can equip. This isn't a big problem if you can read Chinese. But I can't. You might want to memorize certain characters so you know what an item is. This is important for item inventory while in a battle. Luckily as long as you have one of something it will be in the same set space.
If you don't have it buy the green sword for 600 meseta. There's also a claw for Rika that costs 200 meseta and a shiny new axe for Gryz that's an economical 180 meseta. Also buy two 120 meseta helmets. One for Chaz and one for Gryz.
The tool shop sells the usual stuff plus trimate for a currently astronomical 600 meseta. And if you want to use the inn it's 15 meseta per person.
When you're done shopping and resting exit town and head a bit southeast. That building by the quicksand is Zio's Fort. Enter. It's a bit loud with the colors but I've seen way worse. The design of the place however is pretty good given the limitations involved. The enemies here are horrendous and I recommend some grinding before taking on Juza. He's located on the second floor accessed by the left staircase. But he can dish out some major damage to the whole party. If you need to leave the second floor any of the exists will take you directly outside.
I recommend grinding at the Bioplant. With your new gear it's not nearly as bad as it was before. And Zio's Fort is just a little too dangerous right now. I found myself running back to the inn at Kadary a little too often and I wasn't making much progress that way. When you get to around level 18 Zio's Fort becomes a little easier though and you can grind there without a lot of problems. Plus at level 16 Rika learns Disrupt, which is very handy against groups of enemies. Although at this point Juza is doable. So you might not need extra levels. Just make sure you have stocked up on dimate and have Alys and Rika heal when necessary since they are the fastest.
Once the roadblock known as Juza is finally out of your hair you can proceed to the back of the room. Talk to Demi to initiate a cutscene. Zio will appear and Alys gets hit by the Black Energy Wave. Now this is where things are a little different. Since Hahn never joins and Krup doesn't exist, Grandfather Dorin will appear and Alys will be taken to Tonoe. The Machine Center is now present just to the east of Tonoe. And don't go looking to visit Alys in town. She isn't in there for some reason and neither is Grandfather Dorin.
There is a limit of three party members walking around on screen at once so Demi will only be visible in battles. But now that Alys isn't there we can finally see Rika outside of battle along with Gryz and Chaz. Demi's portrait looks pretty nice. Although she looks more mature here. So while it doesn't really look a lot like the original Demi it looks good in its own right. Demi can't use techs just like in the original game. But she has a skill that appears to be Flare. Odd for her to have Wren's skill. But it's pretty strong so I'm not complaining. She's only level 12 but has high attack and moderate defense. Sadly there's no way to heal her in battle because she never gets recover and there are no repair kits. Same goes for Wren. Although androids retain their ability to revive once the battle is over and to recover HP while walking. They're also pretty good at taking hits. I'm assuming she can't use recover since androids don't use techs and in this game techs are for healing, curing and buffing while skills are for stunning and attacking enemies. Whether this is a design choice or due to the way the game was programmed I couldn't tell you.
Head to the Machine Center and get the Land Rover. Just examine it from the bottom of its sprite. It even has the fancy Land Rover battles and some nice music too. Now at this point you'll probably have to turn the page in the items section of your inventory to access the Land Rover. If that's the case then put the cursor on the bottom item and press down. The page will change. Select the Land Rover (there's only 1 of it if that helps) and then select the top choice. You're all set! To get off just press B. That quicksand is no problem now! The only drawback of traveling with the Land Rover is that you will not get any EXP from battles. There's also only one special attack in addition to the regular one. At least the special is infinite and attacks all enemies. The damage is slightly reduced from the standard single target attack. But it's not by enough to really matter.
Of course you can't really travel anywhere with it around Tonoe because of the mountains. Telepipe to Zema and then head east over the quicksand. You'll see a town between two sand rivers. Mesoposandia? I'm not sure which town it's supposed to be actually. But given it's proximity to the next dungeon I'm going to go with Termi. I may be wrong but it's good enough.
The tool shop sells Moon Dew for 800 meseta. It revives one character. If you can afford it you might as well grab one just in case. There's a claw for 800 meseta and a 1000 meseta gun. You should buy these. You can hold off on the 470 meseta rod. But make sure you buy the robe for 630 and the helmet for 120. Rune will need the defense. There's armor for Chaz and Grys that will cost 320. For 100 meseta you can get helmets for Rika and Demi. I highly advise you to buy everything you can before heading out. If you want to use the inn it's 20 meseta per person.
After shopping and resting if you need to, hop in the Land Rover and head south through the next patch of Quicksand, then west until you're blocked by the trees. Then go southeast. You'll see a building on the peninsula. That's the Ladea Tower. Enter it and talk to Rune. He'll rejoin the party. From here you can explore the tower. You may want to grind meseta and levels a bit. Especially if you didn't have enough for the equipment listed above. While the next boss isn't too bad you will definitely want all the latest gear before tackling Zio.
The first floor of Ladea Tower has two sets of stairs.The left one leads to a small room with a chest. The right one will lead to the hall that winds around that room. From here there are two more sets of stairs. The first one will lead to the lower portion of the third floor, which contains a chest. The second staircase leads to where the boss is. It will only appear once you enter from this staircase. The fight begins immediately following some dialog. So prepare before going up the stairs.
For reference I had Chaz at level 20, Gryz level 19, Rika level 18, Demi level 14 and Rune level 21.
Gy-Laguiah can hit pretty hard and inflict poison. But overall I didn't have any real issue with this fight and you could probably tackle it at a lower level. The best strategy for boss battles is to skill spam and heal when necessary. Since Rune is pretty fast and usually goes before the other party members you can make good use of shift to up your attack.
One little note about buffing. It only lasts the round that you cast it. This means that you will not get the full benefit from deban unless the caster goes before the enemy. Saner will not benefit anyone going before the caster and is borderline useless in my opinion due to that. The only character than can use saner is Gryz and he is slow as molasses. Rune knows shift though. And he usually acts first or second and before enemies/bosses due to very high agility. So that's the buff you get the most out of. But after he acquires more skills/skill uses you may be better off just saving his TP for healing. Plus when you first get him he's extremely strong for where you're at in the game and can hold his own pretty well and has good physical damage output.
Once you've entered Zio's Fort head straight for the barrier blocking the basement level. Just examine it and afer some dialog it will be gone. You can now get into Nurvus. Rather than a large dungeon Nurvus is a single room where Zio will appear. The fight begins after some dialog.
Zio can hit every character at once for major damage and he can also inflict paralysis. Even after gaining a few levels for everyone I had a difficult time and lost Rika and Demi. Just hit Zio with every powerful skil you have, healing when necessary. Rune and Rika are the fastest and Zio usually attacks first. So keep that in mind if you attempt to preemptively heal.
After the battle there will be a cutscene showing a spaceship and both Demi and Gryz will leave the party. When you exit the dungeon you should see the Spaceport just a bit to the north. When you enter there are two green healing tiles that you can use. It's useful if you want to grind a bit at Zio's Fort. The dungeon does not collapse in this version so you can still go back there if you'd like.
After entering through the door in the back you'll be able to select your destination. But there's only one place that you can go now. Zelan. Once you've confirmed your selection you'll be taken there and a series of cutscenes will occur. There is no battle aboard the shuttle. But you will crash land on Dezolis and meet up with Raja just the same. Both he and Wren are now in your party.
You can't actually enter Raja's temple. But if you head just a bit north you will see Ryuon. Please note that the Land Rover will not work on Dezolis. So you'll have to walk for now.
The inn here is 23 meseta per person. Given the fact that you now have a full party and the latest gear will be a bit steep it may eat into your meseta grinding a little if you aren't careful.
As for shopping it's gonna cost you a bundle. Buy the blue armor for 780 meseta. This can be equipped to Chaz, Rika, Wren and Raja. Although you may want to give Chaz's old armor to Wren for now if you don't have enough meseta on you. Most likely you don't and will need to do some equipment sharing until you've gotten enough money together.
There's a sword for Chaz that costs 980 meseta. Get it as soon as you can. It's +126 attack and you are going to need it. The rod you can leave for now. While it would be helpful in terms of regular attacks for Raja it's not essential and costs 1000 meseta. Also Rune cannot equip it. I'd pass on it.
After shopping/resting head northwest to Tyler. There's a big wall of ice to the northwest of Ryuon but you can't do anything about it right now.
The inn costs 28 meseta per person. The tool shop also sells Moon Dew if you are interested and can afford it. There's a helmet at the equipment shop that costs 500 meseta and gives +66 defense. If you don't have enough meseta you may give it to Rune then give Rune's old helmet to Raja. This will give the most benefit all around in terms of defense. Since Raja won't be with us much longer it may be a waste to outfit him in all the best gear. Of course if you want to grind you'll eventually be able to afford everything. The weapons sold are pricey here. There's even another rod for 1400 meseta. Both Rune and Raja can equip this. However it has 15 less attack so it really isn't optimal for Raja. Weapons in this game only raise attack and none of the rods are trading off attack for mental so in Rune's case it's absolutely pointless. Hold off on the gun for 1000 meseta. You'll find one on Kuran soon enough.
When you are ready to move on talk to the bartender two doors down from the tool shop. This will open Tyler's grave in the western portion of town. Bizarrely there are no enemies in the Hangar's first section. There is a set of stairs on either side and they both lead to the Landale. The Landale room actually does bear some resemblance to Skure from Phantasy Star 2. So that's a little 1-up on the original. The Landale room also has very painful enemy encounters. So be careful. A poorly equipped/leveled party is doomed if they can't run away.
You must approach the Landale from the bottom to trigger the cutscene. And since you can't pass through those narrow walkways you're going to have to go all the way around from the right or the left. Once the cutscene is finished the party will be transported outside of town and the Spaceport is located a little ways south. Since you can heal for free here you can use this place as a resting station if you want to grind meseta and EXP.
After you're all set enter the Spaceport and go through the inner door. To reach Kuran you need to select the second destination on the menu. Kuran is a green palette swap on the Biosystems lab and navigation is very straightforward. The enemies look to be palette swaps of what was lurking in the Bioplant as well. There are Life Deleters here though. These big robots can kill a character in one hit. Watch out. If you can't run have Rune stun it with Bindwa. In the third room you'll find Dark Force. Just walk up to him and press A to engage the battle.
Dark Force can hit pretty hard and has an attack that will damage the entire party. So skill spam and heal when necessary. The attack order for my party was Wren, Rune, Dark Force, Rika, Chaz then Raja. Pay close attention to attack order as it will help keep you alive. Wren and Rune can be used as emergency healers if anyone will die with one more hit. Poor Raja is too slow to be of much help. Just hope his healing isn't too late. You could use shift since Rune goes before Chaz and Rika. But having him use a damage dealing skill might be a better option. He's going to need his TP for healing anyway. The battle was not difficult though. I may have been a bit over leveled and you'd probably be fine a couple of levels below mine.
For reference: Chaz lv 29, Rika lv 27, Rune lv 29, Wren lv 26, Raja lv 29. After the battle a cutscene will play out and you'll be taken back to the Spaceport menu. Select the bottom choice to be returned to Dezolis. If you want the two treasures that were behind Dark Force you can go back to Kuran. But when you do head to Dezolis open the items section of your inventory (third choice) and select the last item on the list. You may need to press down to change the page. A yes/no prompt will come up. Select the top choice and you'll be aboard the Ice Digger. You can now get through the ice blocking your way eastward. Once you're over the ice you'll see a small town surrounded by trees a little ways north.
I assume this is Zosa and Meese and Reshel have been combined. There's some equipment here but skip it for now. Pretty much the same stuff is sold in Meese plus better. The inn here is 30 meseta per person. But if you've been using the Ice Digger to travel you won't need it.
Now keep traveling east until you see another town. To the east of this town is the Forest Of Carnivorous Trees. STAY AWAY! Instead head to the town. It has the perfume shop and event trigger for Raja leaving. Yet it is partially ruined like Reshel in the original game. Obviously these towns were combined. So let's just call it Meese. If I'm wrong I'm wrong. There's great stuff to buy here but you probably can't afford it right now. That's fine. Buy what you can. You'll eventually be wanting those upgrades though. When you are finished go to the inn and talk to the innkeeper. There's no cutscene but Raja will leave the party. And if you want to stay it's 35 meseta per person.
Now go to the Forest Of Carnivorous Trees. A cutscene will play out and Kyra will join you. And let's stay far away from those trees ok? It's pretty much instant death if you get too close.
Kyra's defensive equipment is terrible and you'll want to be changing that as soon as you can. She can use the blue helmet and armor sold in Meese. You can either buy those or give her the hand me downs when you upgrade for someone else in Jut.
Head south of Meese through the ice and you'll be at a sort of icy crossroads with the Esper Mansion to the east and Jut and Gumbious Temple to the west. Head west for now then south through the ice. Go west from here and you'll arrive at the Weapons Plant. It's time to make some meseta and get a freebie.
Now the Weapons Plant looks like a town on the map. But it's not. Inside it's a pink palette swap of the Bioplant until the third section. Then it gets a bit more appealing. The 1200 meseta gun is down here. That's 1200 meseta saved right there. When you get to the end of this place you'll see that there's nothing there. Either they meant to put something here or they didn't know what else to do so they added a wall in the back. Oh well. so far this is the game's only side quest.
Now you can go to Jut and upgrade your equipment. I prefer to take care of armor first. Everything is pricey so you may want to trade between characters if someone is still lagging behind. You can grind for more meseta or move on. But eventually you'll want the best gear you can get. I'd at least recommend buying the 2200 meseta claw for Rika. It has +160 attack and she really could use the boost. The inn here is 40 meseta per person.
After this head east again through the crossroads from earlier. keep going east until you see a town. That's actually the Esper Mansion. And it's more like a dungeon so you are going to run into random encounters. Extremely dangerous encounters. This is why you want to upgrade your equipment the best you can. If you take the staircase on the right it leads to a dead end with a chest. To reach the main part of the second floor you need to head all the way to the back on the first floor.
Once you ascend the stairs you'll be in the room with a glowing blue orb. This orb won't be there if you come to the Esper Mansion before getting Kyra. Head over and examine it. A cutscene will play out and Rune will inherit the memory of the first generation Lutz. After this you should head to Gumbious Temple, which is just south of town Jut rather than just north of it like in the original.
If you visited here before you would have noticed that the temple was empty. Now there's a priest here. Go talk to him. Oddly enough he's human and looks a lot like the old Esper from the mansion in the original game. A cutscene will play out. Raja in is it for some reason. Unless his portrait is just used in place of some other Dezolisian. The Xe-A-Thoul trio will appear and steal the Eclipse Torch. After this scene you are transported outside of the temple. At this point I'd advise you to try and seal any additional gaps in your equipment. Because the next stop is the Air Castle.
Drive or telepipe back to the Spaceport. Pick the bottom choice to fly to the Air Castle. When you enter you'll see the Xe-A-Thoul illusions guarding the way to the inner sanctum. So ignore them for now since you cannot pass. The enemies here are mostly robots. If you are having trouble you may want to grind a few levels before moving on to the first boss here. On either side of the barrier there is a door. Either one will allow you to access the same areas since the path meets in the middle. But the left side of the castle is just one long dead end. So let's go right and keep going right. You'll come across a maze-like walkway that leads to a staircase that will allow you to ascend to the grey walls above. Keep to the right and you'll see the Xe-A-Thouls a level above you. Ascend the stairs and examine them to begin the battle.
With levels in the mid 30's I was able to take advantage of deban since Rika acted before the enemy. And since only Wren acts before Rune everyone else can take advantage of shift if you really want to use it. The enemy can cast sleep on you though. So be carefull. The only way to dispell it other than eventually waking up is to use arows, which only Chaz has. The battle is also a little awkward due to the enemy attacks having no animations. You just take damage. So pay close attention to your HP. Unless your level is low and you aren't wearing the latest armor you should not have a problem with this fight. Once you've beaten them the barrier will be gone.
Head back from wence you came. From here you can go back to the Spaceport and heal if you need to. In fact it's best that you do. Otherwise just go right through the middle door since the barrier has now been dispelled. Head up the stairs and you'll be in a large room with a hallway on either side. The left once again leads to a dead end. So head right. Eventually you'll come upon a large hall with many pillars. In the center you'll see Lashiec. Talk to him to begin the battle.
Rika isn't fast enough here to take advantage of deban. At least not at her level. But you can use Rune's shift to full advantage. My mid 30s levels and best defensive gear made Lashiec do little damage. Your mileage may vary. If you want a greater challenge don't grind. You can always use the Ice Digger to collect more meseta without leveling up if that's your thing. Once your levels pass the mid 30s mark the values become glitched sometimes. Although they seem to right themselves eventually. For me the battle was very easy and I won without having to even heal. After Lashiec is defeated there is no cutscene or mention of the Eclipse Torch. It's a bit confusing but the game isn't broken and you are not stuck. You'll need to walk back to the entrance now because the escapipe will not work. I assume it's just not programmed to warp you out of areas not connected to the overworld maps.
Once you get to the entrance of the Air Castle pick the third choice on the Spaceport menu to get back to Dezolis. Now head back to Meese. The fastest way is to use the telepipe. It's the third choice on the warp list. If you go east from here you'll see that the Forest Of Carnivorous Trees is gone. Head through this new clearing and you'll soon see the Garuberk Tower.
Inside it's rather large and the enemies can take awhile to wear down. Particularly the red owls and moles. If you head to the right you'll see an eye. This is a switch. You need to approach it from the bottom and press A. This unlocks the door on the left side of the first floor. The other two doors are treasure rooms. The one up top bizarrely contains Gryz's first axe upgrade that could be bought in Kadary. No idea why that would be there instead of something better for when he becomes available for the final battle. The bottom room has some now outdated defensive gear. If you don't need it you can always sell it and put the meseta towards whatever else you do need.
Once you're done treasure hunting head for the door on the far left that you opened up with the eye switch. This takes you to the room with Dark Force 2. When I first entered this room I escapiped outside. I heard a strange tone and the area around the tower plus some of the ocean to the north became glitchy looking. My party was no longer walking single file. They were a bit scattered but still walking in unison. I don't know if this is an issue with the tower itself or boss rooms in general. But it happened multiple times. The corrupted graphics fix themselves after a battle or after entering the tower or a town. You must also re-enter the tower or a town to fix the party formation. The glitch is pretty harmless though.
Press A in front of the boss to begin the battle. Although this is supposed to be the second Dark Force the enemy sprite is a Blauzen, which is an enemy you fight at Nurvus in the original game. I have no idea. Someone may have messed up here or they didn't have the corresponding sprite.
The boss acts faster than Rika, making deban useless. It also hits pretty hard. So watch that HP. Effess works well. So do shift buffed attacks. And since Rune is faster than Rika and Chaz you get a decent benefit from it. Overall I did not have an issue and Rune was only in the danger zone once.
After defeating the boss a cutscene will play out showing that the weather has cleared up and that an explosion has occurred in the direction of Gumbious Temple. When the cutscene is finished you'll be transported outside of the still standing tower. If you check the status screen you'll see that Kyra has left the party. Head to Gumbious Temple and you'll see that it's been destroyed. Enter and you'll be taken to the basement. Talk to the NPC there. After the conversation you'll appear outside. Check your item inventory. The very last item will be the Hydrofoil. Unlike the Land Rover you can actually use this one on Dezolis. Plus it can traverse the ice and is stronger than the Ice Digger. Hop on if you want. Or you can just telepipe to Tyler and enter the Spaceport. When you get there you'll see two characters waiting for you. Looks like it's Raja and Kyra. Talk to them and you'll be taken to the Spaceport menu. Select the first choice to travel back to Motavia. When you check your status or get into a battle you'll see that Kyra has rejoined you. That makes her exodus after defeating Dark Force 2 a little pointless. But there's a reason why she rejoins so early. Seth doesn't exist in this version.
You can't telepipe to Piata so hop in the Hydrofoil and go south through the quicksand. Then go east. You'll see Piata on your way. You'll also come to a lake with an island. That's the Island Cave, which leads to Soldiers' Temple. There's nowhere else you can really go on the Hydrofoil. Torinco, Uzo and Vahal Fort are absent from this game and you can only go so far out to sea before you hit an invisible wall. So enter the Island Cave.
Inside you'll find Dimension Worms, blue Stoneheads and some really easy red frog and fungus enemies. In the first room there are many chests dispersed throughout the labyrinth. But it's easy to get to the next area by heading northeast. This room is an almost exact copy of Gumbious Temple, only in a different palette. You can see the vague shape of Dark Force 3 in the back. You'll have to make your way to him by going around the wall from the right or left. There are some yellow Stoneheads in here but they shouldn't be much of a problem if you aren't under leveled.
Talk to the boss to begin the battle. At least this time he has a proper sprite.
Standard boss strategy applies here. He can cause paralysis and has an attack that can take a really nice chunk out of everyone's HP. And since he's faster than Rika deban isn't helpful. At least Rune's agility is only dwarfed by Wren's. I didn't have a big problem with Dark Force 3. But if you are under leveled and under equipped you may have one.
After you've dusted the boss you can open the chest that he was guarding. This will trigger the Aero Prism cutscene. If you are badly hurt you may want to go to Piata and use the inn before opening that chest. Because after the cutscene is over you will be automatically taken to the Silence Temple on Rykros. Some dialog will pop up from Le Roof. For some strange reason there are enemies in here. And they are very very dangerous. Be extremely careful because there's no healing tile in here. Although you can always go back to Motavia or Dezolis to use the ones at the Spaceport. Once you Exit the Silence Temple you'll be out on the planet's surface, which looks pretty nice. The BGM is nice too. Due to the possibility of encountering some very dangerous enemies mixed in with the fodder, I advise you to travel via hydrofoil. If you go west you'll hit a dead end. So go all the way east then south through the second pass. You'll come across a tall building. There's another one with a different shape northeast of here. But let's enter this one first.
This is the Strength Tower. The boss is on the third floor. The enemies are dangerous but the encounter rate seemed rather low for me. Despite looking like Sa-Lews in the tower, when you begin the battle the enemy sprite is obviously De-Vars. And this enemy is very dangerous. He has the standard single and all target attacks and they really dig into the HP. Even with levels in the mid 30s he was frustrating. To make matters worse he attacks first. His agility must be super high. If anyone looks like they are about to die on the next round try defending. It will reduce damage by half, giving the character a better shot of surviving until they can be healed. Well save for Wren who is forced to fight a war of attrition every time he gets into a battle.
After a battle that lasts about a century you'll emerge victorious and can now leave the tower. Once outside you'll most likely want to replenish your HP, TP and skills at the Spaceport and go item shopping if you need to. You can quickly get back to the Silence Temple by using a telepipe and selecting the top choice.
After you've finished enter the building northwest of the Strength Tower. You can telepipe to the Strength Tower then drive to the Courage Tower if you want to make things faster. On the third floor you'll see a sprite that looks like De-Vars. But in battle it's Sa-Lews. Looks like someone made a mistake and switched them. So I decided to use the names of the in-battle bosses to determine the towers for the sake of convenience.
This is another battle from hell. In fact, Sa-Lews can do even heavier damage than De-Vars and also acts first. It's pretty much the same deal as the last boss battle. After defeating the boss you can head back to the Silence Temple. Once inside you will see a set of stairs leading up. Take these to the second floor then ascend to the third where you'll see more dialog from Le Roof. There isn't a cutscene here and when the dialog is over you are free to leave. Check your inventory because there should be a new sword for Chaz. I think it's found up here. But I'm not sure. Maybe you get it automatically because there's no Elsydeon Cave event? Go back down to the ground floor and head to Motavia. You will see Gryz there as well as two other sprites. I have no idea who they are supposed to be. Possibly Raja and the ever missing Hahn.
Talking to Gryz will bring up a menu that lets you select a custom party of five members. Well really four since Chaz is there by default and cannot be removed. You must form a new party via the menu. Otherwise The Edge will not appear. Now this feature would be pretty cool except for one little flaw. You can only do it once. Once you've chosen your party the characters in the Spaceport disappear. If you save afterwards you are stuck with whoever you picked. Listed from top to bottom the characters are: Rune, Rika, Kyra, Gryz, Wren, Raja, Demi. It's probably best to keep a separate savestate before you make up your final party. Now for some strange reason Gryz was dead when I put him in my party. I reloaded my savestate multiple times and he was DOA every time. If yo experience this too make sure you use the healing tile to revive him. Also all characters are at the same level as they were when they left the party. That means a bit of grinding may be in order plus equipment upgrades are going to be a factor as well. I simply chose to keep the same party. It was easier that way. However, since androids can't be healed by any items or techs you may want to use an all organic party.
Once you're finished with your party preparations and have stocked up on healing items, exit the Spaceport and cross the quicksand. You'll see an opening in the ground to the east of it on a little peninsula. But you can only enter by approaching its southern side. They did a pretty nice job I guess. Less eye murder at least. But the generic dungeon theme kind of ruins it. The enemies here are strong and I had no luck running from the Sand Worms. Best to have Rune stun them because they hit hard. There are five teleporters in the first section besides the one you entered through. The one in the northwest can't be entered due to being an isolated square not connected to the rest of the floor. More on that later. The middle north leads to a hall full of treasure. But DO NOT step onto the teleporter at the other end. You will fall down a hole and get a game over. Isn't that evil? The middle south leads to a spiral room with chests. The teleporter at the end will lead to another game over pit of doom. So don't enter it.
The far south teleporter leads to another spiral room with the same deadly teleportation accident at the end. The far north teleporter leads to a zigzag room. There's a claw in here for Rika but it's an oldy and nowhere near as good as the best one meseta can buy (which you should already have). Therefore the teleporter you want is at the far north /uppermost right. Remember that teleporter at the uppermost left that wasn't connected to any other part of the floor? Well that's where the boss is. To reach it you just go through this zigzag room and enter the teleporter at the top left. Some dialog will pop up and you'll be on the isolated tile from the first room.
Now it's time to challenge the final boss, The Profound Darkness. For reference my party was as follows: Chaz lv 39, Rika lv 39, Rune lv 39, Wren lv 38, Kyra lv 39.
The boss' first form attacks first. So don't bother with deban. However shift may be useful since Rune will go before any of the human characters. Although I think shift's usefulness is debatable because it only lasts the round that you cast it on. Rune may be better off just using his own skills to maximize damage per round. Plus you may want to save your TP for healing.
The damage you receive is going to be bad. The first form has an attack that will hit all characters. If anyone is low on HP have them defend for the next round. This will greatly reduce damage taken and give them a better change at survival. This is especially true for Rune, who is going to take the most damage. For me he was targeted the most by single target attacks too.
After defeating the first form you will see a victory screen as if you've won the battle. But don't rejoice because it's not over yet. Time for the second form to rear it's ugly fugly head. At least you get 1000 EXP. If anyone needs that amount or less to level up you're in luck.
In the first round Wren was wiped out. So I guess I was right about the risk of bringing an android. So I don't exactly advise it. If you have the patience it may be better to level grind an organic character. If an android dies in battle they will be revived in the next one. But when Wren came back for form three he had a paltry 40 HP.
The second form hits hard and like the first form can target your entire party. Although it seems to prefer single target attacks, or at least during the battle I fought. Luck may have just been on my side. It can also paralyze a single target. So besides cure paral, it's best to have some moon dew and sol dew in your inventory. Because chances are someone is going to die. Possibly multiple times. You may want to designate a healer if things get too tough. And remember to have a character defend if they are in great need of healing. If your HP isn't too low you just may survive to be healed.
After another victory screen with a 1000 EXP reward it's time for the third and final form of The Profound Darkness. It's business as usual for this round too. Although I found it to be a bit easier than the second form. If you saved a lot of TP for healing now is the time for putting it to use. The final form is very fond of attacking the entire party at once. Just dump whatever skills you have left onto her and hope for the best. It's going to take awhile and it's going to be painful. If you run out of Rika's double slash just use disrupt as it will hit for the same damage. Her regular attacks don't do much.
After you emerge victorious there's a final victory screen with 1000 EXP that you'll never need because it's over. Now just sit back and watch the ending cutscene. It's not bad. Although it's pretty short compared to the original. Overall I'd say this was a pretty decent and interesting gaming experience. Not bad for an 8 bit pirate of a 16 bit game.
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