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Title: Supplimental Guide for FF4(J)
Game: Final Fantasy IV (Original SNES Japanese Version)
Patch: J2e Translation (really old, if it has been updated in the last 10 years)
Date: Aug 18, 2007
Author: masamune_blade <[email protected]>

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IMPORTANT NOTE
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This guide is best used as a suppliment with other well done guides and may contain spoilers for new players (FF 4 has new players? lol). This gives a raw look into what some call the most challenging battles in the game and puts a different concept on the situation making them easier to beat than anyone claims hense eliminating much need for "level preparations" (level walking, where you roam needlessly for exp to prepare for whats ahead).


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Table of Contents
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I. Introduction
II. Battle Theory
III. Money
IV. Items
V. Levels
VI. Sealed Cave Situation
VIa. Demon Wall
VII. Cave of Summons
VIIa. Ashura
VIIb. Leviathan
VIII. Slyph Cave
IX. Visit The Moon
IXa. Journey to Bahamut
X. Giant Of Babil
XI. Odin
XII. Lunar Underground
XIIa. Wh. Dragon
XIIb. PudPrinces
XIIc. Plague
XIId. Lunasaurus (2)
XIII. Moon's Core
XIIIa. Tidarthian
XIIIb. Dk. Bahamut
XIV. End Game

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I. INTRODUCTION
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To start off with, this is literally the cut and dry guide of FF 4(J). If you need LISTS like enemies, weapons, location of (insert anything).. or a walkthrough find another FAQ/Walkthrough to suppliment with this one. Final Fantasy IV isnt brain surgery, but some guides make it seem like it. This guide encourages going as fast as you can without wasting time in the early stages of the game concerning yourself with leveling up so the enemies later on give you no challenge. First, you want a challenge, thats the fun of playing this version, second, the EXP later in the game is WORTH the challenge, you will level up nicely around then. THIS IS NOT A TIME ATTACK GUIDE. Play the game, talk to people, get your items, etc.

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NOTE
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This guide WILL NOT take advantage of the item duplication trick, no tricks in this guide, you will find almost every FAQ telling you to "throw some excalibers", well, there is no Excaliber(*S*) in this game, keep the one you have till the end. Dont throw Hellwind or Shiruken till the end either. None of this is necessary, nor is it necessary to be above level 50 by the time you enter the Lunar Underground. A majority of FAQ/Guide writers OVER PREPARE to avoid a real challenge, this guide will bring you through the challenges by offering suggestions for what some call (or exaggerate to be) the hardest battles.


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II. BATTLE THEORY
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First off, one of the biggest mistakes is level gaining early on. Think of it like this, if you gain lots of levels early on, you wasted a lot of time on lower level enemies. No need to waste time on weaklings, don't consider "walking around" for levels until this FAQ says so, and when I say so, its not really walking around, the enemies are obvious. Progress through the game as normal until you reach the Sealed Cave portion of the game, in which case you will fight enemies needlessly for EXP, but you wont be walking around in circles for them.

Lastly, in true Final Fantasy fashion, goto your Menu, goto Config, where it says Bat. Mode, change it to ACTIVE. This allows enemies to attack when the ready to attack "meter" (which you cannot see) reaches is "ok attack" level, rather than its default setting "Wait" which is typically taking the wind out of the true Final Fantasy battle by having Enemies wait their turn to fight, although it seems to merely slow their actions down, not necessarily let you take an hour looking at your items. Could be wrong, I havent played in "Wait mode" in a really long time.


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III. MONEY
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Much like leveling up early to avoid "complication" remind yourself youre playing the "hard type" of this game. You do not need to hunt for money very much, there is some plentiful treasure boxes laying about, battles and sales you can make on old equipment. Places you might need to walk for money is Mystia and Troia, you might need money for Palom and Porum and the Dark Elf excusion respectivly. Thereafter the money situation is minimal as you are granted some nice equipment via some fights resulting in treasure box/post-battle rewards.


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IV. ITEMS
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Make sure you are on the up and up with items. As much as armor and accessories help you defend against damage not every enemy is favoring your level of defense based on these items, such as Rubicant and AssaultDoor/TrapDoor, instant death enemies do occur. Make sure that in your money budgeting youre budgeting for Max Hi Potions, Phoenix Down, Tents (Or Cottages). In the case of Tents, you might need to use multiples, as levels and money permit, get cottages. You'll find early in the game that stat changing items (for when you are poisoned, piggy, etc) are more important but less important later on, stock these items accordingly.. no need for insane amounts. As I mentioned above, you shouldn't be leveling up with weaklings, especially ones that leave you in post-battle spending of money and use of items unnecessarily. Dont fear a challenge and know the fact that enemies later in the game have less post-battle status effects to fix.

To mention now, as well as later.. save those berserk items you will acquire throughout the game, sometimes using items vs. a spell is the way to go, time can be of the essence. Don't use Silver/Golden/SomaDrop apples on the strongest players, use them on the weakest. Notably your Summoner, she has a hard time gaining a good MaxHP and will be with you end of the game. SomaDrop probably good for the Wh. Wizard as to have the best edge on your ability to heal HP.


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V. LEVELS
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If 10 hours have passed and you are not in (or near) the sealed cave part of the game you probably didn't follow my advice about not preparing for fights and walking in circles for EXP.

Battle on throughout the game, no level walking, money if needed, but not levels... run from problematic weaklings that dont give EXP worth a dime, stay focused on the stronger guys. 10 crappy battles vs. one good battle is worth the wait for the good one, press on in the game as fast as you can, until...


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VI. SEALED CAVE SITUATION
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You literally don't need to hunt for levels, ever, until about the Sealed Cave task. Even then, the hunting isnt proper, the enemy is the doors. The AssaultDoor/TrapDoor enemy isnt difficult at a low level, but you need a proper level to make a monster NOT pop out of the "door" (this isnt always possible). Between the damage layed out by AssaultDoor/TrapDoor you dont want the enemy to pop out, it deals damage to the whole party w/ the Blaze attack, which with a party full of a Phoenix Down level of healing this is not good. *DO* FIGHT ALL THESE DOORS. DO NOT SKIP THEM BASED ON *ANY* FAQ OR WALKTHRU YOU READ THAT TELLS YOU WHICH DOOR HAS IMPORTANT ITEMS. FIGHT THESE FOR EXP ALONE, THE ITEMS ARE A SIDESHOW COMPARED TO THE EARNED EXP.

Follow this general outline.

SIDE NOTE: In the area that has a lot of doors (maybe 8 or so) in the north area of your screen.. the SECOND to last door heading LEFT, is a SAVE POINT, attack that door first, then hit the last door for Ninja equipment, THEN DONT LEAVE the other doors behind, they hold nothing GREAT but ATTACK THEM for EXP NOW. By the time youre done following the below outline, it will become easier.. and easier.. to defeat them.

Recommended minimum levels to execute proper damage to AssaultDoor/TrapDoor:

Paladin, level 29-32
White Wizard, level 29-31
Dragon Knight, level 31-32
Summoner, level 29-31
Ninja, level 27-29

Dont heal, this enemy uses instant death attacks, use Phoenix Down which if you followed this guide, you have plenty of. If by chance you have time to heal the characters killed by Dimension9 attack, go ahead, use ONLY the WHITE WIZARD to heal (unless she dies), the rest should be heading the battle with the following attacks EVERYTIME on AssaultDoor/TrapDoor enemy.

(front) Paladin: Attack
(back) Wh. Wizard: Phoenix Down (Primary move) and Cure (If able)
(front) Dragon Knight: Jump
(back)Summoner: Titan
(front) Ninja: Attack


In the case that the enemy emerges from this "door", you are now in the "do what you have to" way of fighting, you just want to WIN with ALL your characters ALIVE. This enemy (and what might pop out) earns some respectable EXP points. Dont use Fire/Ice/Thunder, use Titan for Summoner, as planned. Use Hi Potion during the battle if you must, as outlined, do what you must, but heal them big if you failed to defeat the Door by itself.

My Personal end result after all doors defeated:

Paladin, started w/ lvl 29 done with lvl 35
White Wizard, started w/ lvl 29 done with lvl 34
Dragon Knight started w/ level 31 done with lvl 35
Summoner, started w/ level 29 done with lvl 34
Ninja, stared w/ level 27 done with lvl 33

Some lived.. some died.. per post-battle. EXP skews respectfully. Do your best to keep the whole party alive during these battles by the end. The Door enemy got easier and easier, faster and faster.. this is where you NOT level walking before comes in handy. Sure, its a challenge, but again, youre playing FINAL FANTASY IV (J), NOT FINAL FANTASY II (US)...your levels should be very respectable now.


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VIa. DEMON WALL
----------------------------

This guy is NOT as hard as the other FAQs say he is. First off, dont waste all types of your throwing stars, or swords. We're gunna use our trump card, Berserk Spell/Items.

NOTE: If you don't already know, the berserk spell/item will make your character automatically attack as much as it can, the advantage is that this item will boost your attack power, some attacks in this battle being 2x more powerful. This really does make all the difference in this battle with a low leveled group. This battle is better off using the items, so the Wh. Wizard can tend to other important matters in the battle aside from casting Berserk, if anything have her cast it 1x and use 1 item to save round time.

When the battle starts off, use Berserk on the Ninja and Paladin. Wh. Wizard uses Haste (or Berserk first) on the Summoner and Slow on the Demon Wall, as Slow spell wont slow his movement toward you, I do think it slowed his "CrashDwn" attack when he was ready to do so,so cast it when he's about mid screen. Have the Summoner cast Titan, then watch this guy go down, if he is lucky he might be able to pop off one CrashDwn attack which if he keeps going, is instant death to the party.

Once you complete handing that guy whats left of his ass, leave that room (Dejon dont work), then use Dejon till you can't (you will be at the front enterance), DONT MOVE, unequip the Dragon Knight's equipment, he's leaving. At any rate, the items he has can be sold for some good coinage.


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VII. CAVE OF SUMMONS
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In typical fashion plow through this place with what you have, keep in mind that from room to room you will need to casts Wh. Wizard's Levita spell to float over the floor that deals damage when walked on. So you will need to level up or go to the moon to pick up FuSoYa to aquire additional levels, however if you've been plowing through the game without EXP walking, you should still be able to have the levels required by the time you get to the Town in the Cave of Summons you will probably need to heal. If you want to get ripped off, head to the Inn, otherwise goto a room that has a star in the northern area of the room, and place a cottage down (2nd area, top middle room).

Hidden room, first floor in the town in the Cave of Summons, bottom of area, brownish square. Go there treasure, collect, equip. Leave.

Arguably another place that people think you need to walk for EXP to prepare for, you don't, especially not for your battle w/ Ashura and Leviathan, they are literally pushovers. You will want to arrive at the area where you fight them with the Reflect spell, they are in 2nd area basement in the library.


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VIIa. ASHURA
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Cast reflect on her right away, then have the Paladin and Ninja use normal attacks, have your Wh. Wizard and Summoner defend as they are probably equiped with arrows that dont need to be used (if you are not using Bow/Arrow with them, you should be). As the battle might take a minute, this will also save your MP and needless arrow spending a little bit, Ashura will continually heal you with Heal 3 due to the reflect spell and trying to heal herself so you don't have to more than likely.


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VIIb. LEVIATHAN
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As long as you can withstand his "Big Wave" attack you will be all set in this battle. First, have the Paladin and Ninja use Berserk items on themselves (or have Wh. Wizard cast it), have your Summoner cast Titan and your Wh. Wizard cast Heal 3 every round. After the heavy handed attacks from your berseked characters, a handful of Titan summons this guy is toast and noone should've died during this battle thus earning the nice EXP attached with earning the summon Leviathan.


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VIII. SYLPH CAVE
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Probably the most annoying part of the game if you get victimized in there. The enemies in this cave dish out status effects and one of them dishes all of them out. Carry a useful stock of status healing items, nothing overboard, even 25 a piece might be overkill depending on your luck. Don't forget you have the Paladin and Wh. Wizard's Esuna spell that heals all status effects as well. Plow though this and use the Levita spell to get the treasures and talk to the Sylph fairies to begin the mini-quest to get Yang to wake up and earn the summon Sylph and the most powerful Dart item, Cleaver.


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IX. VISIT THE MOON
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Travel to the big crystal castle on the moon, snag FuSoYa. At your option if you want to acquire some EXP or new equipment go ahead into the Phantom Beast Bahamuts cave and fight a Behemoth or two, teleport out when youre all done. If you think you can make it to and earn Bahamut Summon at this point, go ahead and try. Return to earth or begin the..

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IXa. JOURNEY TO BAHAMUT
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You have two options here, fight with FuSoYa and have a better chance of having more than one person alive by the end of this, or fight after the Giant of Babil and not have FuSoYa as a helper. Bottom line, Bahamut isnt as hard as it will be actually getting to him since you have to handle about five Behemoths in which each battle with those will probably leave you healing some dead characters. Nonetheless they are possible to beat w/ some Berserk spells, haste, slow on Behemoth, jumping, heal 4, etc. You might wanna even throw in a chance w/ the Ashura summon during these battles.

After those are dealt with you'll be faced with the God of the Phantom Beasts, Bahamut. Dont heal HP, only make sure you got enough MP for Reflect to cast more than enough times. His attack takes to a count of 5 each round to attack you, you will die. However one can be spared, the Wh. Wizard. using Reflect (and FuSoYa if you brought him). My recommendation is to keep the other 3 or 4 players dead, focus on reflect for those who have it, then after you've reflected about 6 of Bahamuts attacks, try seeing if you can revive anyone and get reflect on them before it wears off on yourself. Like I said, its a long shot, and I figure it's not a big deal if the Wh. Wizard gets all the EXP as you can get one step closer to the Wh. Wizard's offensive attack.. Holy spell and highly useful healing spelling, Arise (Raise + full HP). Also it dont matter if FuSoYa gets a level in this, its actually a waste if he were to earn any EXP in this, he will be leaving for good, shortly. It's your call on how you want to handle that, either way, you are guarenteed the win and the Bahamut summon if you keep Reflect active on ANYONE the entire battle due to Bahamut not having any physical attacks.


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X. GIANT OF BABIL
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This entire thing is a cake walk, as long as youre healing, using Berserk spell in tough fights, you can hammer out the normal enemies, and the reincarnation of the Four Fiends that are now in a much more pathetic state as far as a challenging battle.

After you stomp the Four Fiends, head back to the save point, heal, save and go ahead and attack the core of the giant, FuSoYa will note, you must destroy the defense computer first or it will heal the control system.. true.. but what he doesn't mention is that if you kill both the defense and attack system, the control system will definatly hand you your ass. So save your arrows and kill the defense system (easy to do) then in a tedious fashion go ahead and attack the control system with the Paladin and Ninja, leaving the attack system alone 100%. It has reflect casted on itself so remember, no magic. After you kill the control system go ahead and peg off the attack system (easy).


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XI. ODIN
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Goto Baron Castle, right tower, downstairs. There you will meet King Baron who has been reincarnated into the Phantom Beast Odin! Much of this is perfect timing, you have an estimated 60 seconds or less to polish this guy off or he uses his attack on you, which kills the entire party, no questions asked. Dont waste your throwing stars or knives, it's not necessary. If you were a good player you should've also picked up the Excaliber sword which will help a great deal in this battle. DONT THROW IT!!

First, Wh. Wizard casts Slow on Odin. Dragon Knight jump jump jumps! Get the Paladin and Ninja attacking but as soon as the Wh. Wizard gets a new turn CAST BERSERK on the Paladin, this will likely deal the blow that makes the whole difference in the fight when the Paladin attacks again, you wont get a second chance to cast Berserk on the Ninja, so be fast in all your movements. This method earned Odin with noone in my party above level 42. Not one round of battles was made to prepare for this.


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XII. LUNAR UNDERGROUND
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My recommendation before venturing in too far is to stock up on Hi Potions, and I dont mean 99. I mean about 3 sets of 99 (been a good spender/item saver?). These will be your post-battle HP healers, don't use magic after the battle is over, ever, and there is a fair amount of enemies that can be a handful so you wanna reserve the MP for sticky situations.


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XIIa. WH. DRAGON
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One of the primary weapons you'll be hunting down is near the beginning of the Lunar Underground, the Muramasa, which is guarded by the Wh. Dragon. All in all, this battle is all out hard hitting, he will get you if you dont hit back even harder. His maelstorm attack does the usual tornado style of minimizing your HP to a dangerous level. Use Heal 4, don't be shy. Use all your biggest attacks, drain that MP! After the battle is done, you will be passing the enterance to the Lunar Underground, go back out to the Crystal Room and heal via the heal pots on the left and right, or outside w/ a Cottage.. then back to the task at hand.

After this battle you'll find random treasure boxes with difficult enemies, but nothing too harsh. After you venture out too far from the Lunar Underground enterance start to guard your MP use. Don't use powerful spells all the time just to get the job done as fast as you can. You only need enough HP to win, then use all those Hi Potions I had recommended buying after each battle as needed. At minimum try to keep everyone alive at the end of a battle, the EXP is fairly high all around this place, and rewarding since you're level should be around 42-43 on arrival.


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XIIb. PUDPRINCES
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First, save, use that Alert item.

With a little experimenting, and playing on an emulator, It seems you can change the items you win after the battle by reloading the game, give it a shot. I certainly dont care enough about the armor to sit there and try to get it, but what I did see what that the items EtherDry and Elixer were swapping back and forth randomly. For whatever reason anyone thinks this battle is worth it, try it this way if youre really investing time w/ this. I saved right on the last blow to the last PudPrinces. Maybe you want to save a little before that, could help with the randomization of the item. The downside is as follows, I dont know if the battle at ANY point calculates if the Pink Tail will EVER be rewarded or not, hense why my personal reloading not exactly panning out to a 1 in 64 chance of gaining the item. Someone who really cares about this hidden secret in the game might want to investigate.


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XIIc. PLAGUE
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This fight is a little odd yet not difficult but you have no way around doing it this way (some FAQs have mentioned mashing the "A button" need I remind such authors that this isnt Street Fighter II) or you wont last. Go fight a random enemy, get your party members killed except the Wh. Wizard. Go on and fight this boss for the Holy Lance. First thing he does is cast death, 10 count begins, around the time its half over you will have wanted to cast Arise (Phoenix Down and Raise are fine too) on another party member, I suggest the Summoner. Restoring another party member make Plague cast Death again, hense restarting the 10 count. Do this for the entire battle making sure to keep ANYONE alive. If you choose to put focus on the Summoner you hopefully have went out and got Bahamut. So use that as much as you can, then get the Paladin awake to attack w/ Excaliber, which hopefully you went out and got as well. With this cycle of attack and revival you should be done with this guy in a few minutes. Go back to the save point next door and use Cottage and save.

Backtracking there is a boss that at this state of your characters progress you cannot beat. Proceed forward. By this time you should have the Crystal Helmet, Gauntlet and Armor for the Paladin, FireBute for Summoner, an as just rewarded, Holy Lance for the Dragon Knight. Other scattered items are about like Menerva, Defense Ring (2x), going back for, Ragnarok (Crystal Sword), hidden passage on Lunar Underground, Floor 5 (on the way is that 2nd Defense Ring, go pick that up and return back if you want). Now for a battle that depends on strength, speed and luck, the ...


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XIId. LUNASAURUS (2)
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This fights victory is based on a lot of luck depending on what attacks they use and how frequent they hitting the same character. First rule of thumb, no offensive Summons. Secondly you might want to have Wh. Wizard use Heal 4 every round, even if its a waste also go for the Summoners Ashura summon to chance Heal or Raise while another Heal 4 could be on its way. Dont worry about magic waste, we just hopped back on a save spot thats seconds away, we will go back there again. After a lot of physical attacks w/ your other three characters these guys should begin to die, aim all your attacks to one Lunarsaurus at a time. If youre lucky try to pop off a Berserk spell or item w/ your Paladin. With any luck they didnt kill off your healing characters by reflecting Bio off themselves. The Flame attack is less harmful yet just as dangerous as it hits all your characters and at times they are continuously using it. Dealing about the same damage as Bio in speed, except to the whole party. Keep that heal up! Once you've killed one, you should be able to focus on making sure all your characters are alive for the post-battle victory. Enjoy the Ribbons. My characters were not above level 48 or below 46 by this time.


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XIII. MOON'S CORE
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It's really up to you if you wanna endure battles with the enemies found in here, they can be really difficult and lay you out with no MP and a travel back to the last save spot near Plague and Lunasaurus'. My suggestion is that since you're at a good level but not at an advantage, fight the Behemoths. No shame in running away and what good does all that Gil have for you at this point anyways? You should have 10+ Elixers, a handful of EtherDry and Ether, everything thats "Dart'able", you don't want to be using any of those. The Ninja will be darting everything he has at the end of the game. You want everything you can to heal MP at the end of the game too, it won't hurt.

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XIIIa. TIDARTHIAN
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As long as you can withstand his dual Big Wave attack you should be able to make it out of this fight with everyone alive with minimal problems on defeating him. What you need to do, even if its a waste, Heal 4 from the Wh. Wizard, Ashura from the Summoner and physical attacks from the rest over and over. With any luck the Ashura summon will cooporate and heal you at those times when you really could use it before the next dual Big Wave. After you crush this heavy hitter go back to the save spot we used for Plague and the Lunasaurus area.

Between the battles w/ Plague, Lunasaurus', Tidarthian and randoms inbetween, you should be leveled up enough to go snag the Ragnarok from Dk. Bahamut, secret enterance, Lunar Underground, level 5, where there is 2 staircases right next to eachother and near the one on the left has a pennisula sticking out of the side, walk across it, its an invisible bridge, save point and sword are easy to find from there.

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XIIIb. DK. BAHAMUT
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I kept this part in the Moon's Core area because you shouldnt goto him until you've got the masamune from Tidarthian.

He's gunna use M. Flare, and probably kill some characters. Get ready to use Arise and Ashura spells if you can pull them off. He will only cast M. Flare one time, unless, you summon Bahamut on him, then he will counterattack w/ M. Flare again, so dont. Wh. Wizard and Summoner should for the most part be healing w/ Heal 4 and Ashura while the other guys handle the physical attacking. All in all the battle isnt hard if you managed to not get your characters that can heal killed right off the bat w/ his opening M. Flare. After victory, you might see a character or two venturing into level 50.

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XIV. END GAME
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End game area.. enough FAQs have covered this to my standards and I will not reiterate their own words. At any rate, if you followed THIS supplimental guide along side other well written guides you will have a tremendous amount of hi-potions, ethers, etherdrys, and elixers as well as a plethora of throw items and more than enough to WHOMP the final boss.

This post has been edited by masamune_blade on 10th September 2007 01:50

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NOT a Final Fantasy VI fan.. omg NOOO

First off, spell-check. This adds a lot of credibility to any FAQ or guide. (Hint: the apostrophe key is the same as the comma key; you just have to hold shift.)

The thing that annoyed me the most was how you compare yourself so much to other FAQs and walkthroughs. Obsessively, almost. You wrote in another thread, about this FAQ, that we should use it to come up with our own ideas but you're very adamant about doing things your way (ex, "*DO* FIGHT ALL THESE DOORS. DO NOT SKIP THEM BASED ON *ANY* FAQ OR WALKTHRU YOU READ THAT TELLS YOU WHICH DOOR HAS IMPORTANT ITEMS." Or the whole battle theory bit.)

Speaking of whch, you repeat frequently not to level up excessively. Yet your levels are fairly low for anyone who hasn't played through the game once or twice in the past. Not everyone plays like you or has the same familiarity with the game. This, money, and game time are things you leave up to the player, not something you impose on them.

Making it to the sealed cave in under 10 hours when you've never played the game before, talk to everyone in town, hunt for hidden items in pots and the underbrush, explore dungeons and look for hidden passages, is impossible. You'd be better off simply "wasting time" gaining a few extra levels to enjoy the game more and take your time. It's a game, not a competition; you yourself said this wasn't a time attack guide, so why be so strict with the player?

Overall, aside from the above, the faq isn't too bad. It's fairly bare-bones and none of the strategies are any outstanding or detailled, but what it does cover offers decent advice people can build on.

What I don't understand though, is how you mention other FAQs have covered the game well enough and that this is merely a supplement, but you don't actually talk about anything that isn't already covered by other FAQs...

Edit: On re-reading, it seems I misunderstood your intentions. Is this really just a FAQ to impose your gaming ideals on other FF4 players? Cuz... it doesn't really do much else than talk about how you *MUST* do "this" and "that", other than covering a few tough spots near the end.

Advice and instructions are two different things. You may want to keep that in mind next FAQ you write. It's unpleasant having a playing style imposed on you. Nor does being so adamant about your convictions give anyone any room for personal thought (coming from me, that's bitter irony right there. )

Edit 2: About the Tail, games generally keep a "pool" of 256 random numbers and an index into them. Every action that calls for randomization increments this index by 1, moving to the next number in the pool (and cycling back to 0 after it hits 256.) This means that if you save-state RIGHT as you're giving the final blow, the item will not change. Ideally you'd want to put yourself in a situation where you can take as many actions that will screw with the index as you want before ending the fight so you can act, save, kill the thing, reload, act again, save, kill, reload, etc...

This post has been edited by Silverlance on 10th September 2007 22:31

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Quote (Silverlance @ 10th September 2007 22:22)

First off, spell-check. This adds a lot of credibility to any FAQ or guide. (Hint: the apostrophe key is the same as the comma key; you just have to hold shift.)

The thing that annoyed me the most was how you compare yourself so much to other FAQs and walkthroughs. Obsessively, almost. You wrote in another thread, about this FAQ, that we should use it to come up with our own ideas but you're very adamant about doing things your way (ex, "*DO* FIGHT ALL THESE DOORS. DO NOT SKIP THEM BASED ON *ANY* FAQ OR WALKTHRU YOU READ THAT TELLS YOU WHICH DOOR HAS IMPORTANT ITEMS." Or the whole battle theory bit.)

Speaking of whch, you repeat frequently not to level up excessively. Yet your levels are fairly low for anyone who hasn't played through the game once or twice in the past. Not everyone plays like you or has the same familiarity with the game. This, money, and game time are things you leave up to the player, not something you impose on them.

Making it to the sealed cave in under 10 hours when you've never played the game before, talk to everyone in town, hunt for hidden items in pots and the underbrush, explore dungeons and look for hidden passages, is impossible. You'd be better off simply "wasting time" gaining a few extra levels to enjoy the game more and take your time. It's a game, not a competition; you yourself said this wasn't a time attack guide, so why be so strict with the player?

Overall, aside from the above, the faq isn't too bad. It's fairly bare-bones and none of the strategies are any outstanding or detailled, but what it does cover offers decent advice people can build on.

What I don't understand though, is how you mention other FAQs have covered the game well enough and that this is merely a supplement, but you don't actually talk about anything that isn't already covered by other FAQs...

Edit: On re-reading, it seems I misunderstood your intentions. Is this really just a FAQ to impose your gaming ideals on other FF4 players? Cuz... it doesn't really do much else than talk about how you *MUST* do "this" and "that", other than covering a few tough spots near the end.

Advice and instructions are two different things. You may want to keep that in mind next FAQ you write. It's unpleasant having a playing style imposed on you. Nor does being so adamant about your convictions give anyone any room for personal thought (coming from me, that's bitter irony right there. )

Edit 2: About the Tail, games generally keep a "pool" of 256 random numbers and an index into them. Every action that calls for randomization increments this index by 1, moving to the next number in the pool (and cycling back to 0 after it hits 256.) This means that if you save-state RIGHT as you're giving the final blow, the item will not change. Ideally you'd want to put yourself in a situation where you can take as many actions that will screw with the index as you want before ending the fight so you can act, save, kill the thing, reload, act again, save, kill, reload, etc...

Quote is in reply:

A) Spell check?

Sorry I did this in notepad, live.

I don't compare my style as much as you might think.

The guide isnt to put down FAQ /guide writers nor any comment was to do so, as I mentioned the existence of well done guides.. I respect the detail they put forth, mine is supplimental and meant to be something someone looks at when a FAQ/Guide dont work, it maintains a low-level strategy so something even inbetween can observe.

I felt the Sealed Cave was the best level up situation. I wasn't narrowing peoples methods but merely using my guide as a SUPPLIMENT to others, if one suggest do one thing, maybe suggest another... thats my right to suggest a plan B, as my plan does yield excellent level results and boss wreckage to unprepared low-levels. THIS IS NOT A TIME ATTACK GUIDE.

Setting Active is excellent in all FF games that allow it. I believe fully in this.

C) Dont level up? PLUS Sealed Cave in 10hrs?

Correct, they are not catered to anyone who hasnt played before, this is a supplimental guide, assuming most replayers dont need much advice. First time players can save a lot of time not wasting themselves with a combination of my advice, and the advice of other FAQs and guides.
Note my inkling for "FF4 has new players?" at the top. I dont assume such things. Its a FF (in general) savvy guide.. honestly. Its something for the FF2US and FF4J semi-interested to experts to view.

D) These techniques are in other guides/FAQs?

This is why Im responding really. Please provide a FAQ that takes advantage of Berserk at the most difficult times. I felt Berserk in other guides was neglected and not used to WIN a battle at a low level. It does offer an excellent DIFFERENCE in battles that bring you to not lose, or win w/ more than one character. These are LOW LEVEL wins, with a lot of LUCK based on a lot of factors that you and I know of in FF4. However I've never seen these tactics and I'd be overjoyed to see my tactics explained in other FAQs and guides as my tactics are NOT the product of another author. This are organic to my own mind with excellent results.

E) My intentions
Not pushing, suggesting.. there is no linear way to play FF4. I merely suggest that you DONT need to level walk, DONT need to prepare for any battles, WHAT COMES on the way will offer a challenge, and the EXP points are good enough required to press on.. I mention one thing, FF4 for the non-japanese readers is designed to hit FF2US hard. Killing enemies w/ no challenge is NOT the point. No "hard type" should be played to be overly protective but rather test your skill, in this case, Final Fantasy IV. Im pushing challenged wins to the reader.

Your FF skill, my suggestions, others suggestions will additionally craft FF experts, like other guides/FAQs may have. Hoping to see additional tactics in addition to my supplimental style of guide writing. No longer do we need top-to-bottom guides, they covered a lot of that for the bulk of older FF games.

F) Your suggestions
I never imposed, its a supplimental guide, if it was my intentions to enforce, id call it a THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT guide and discredit well done guides. This is merely MY experiences on a cut and paste from the notepad guide that ive ONLY submitted here.

Sorry you felt ill at some points of my intentions. I didnt mean to do so, I dont demand someone do things. Its suggestions, caps mean emphisis, thats all, no demands lol.. jus opinions man.

To play the whole game and know you dont have to prepare for the next battle, to me, seems like excellent advice, cuz you dont. You can talk to townspeople, read all the scene dialog and do subquests without feeling like you lagged in your game play. As I said, this is not a time-attack style guide. PLAY ON!

Edit: Thanks about PinkTail.. I was never sure (or cared). Sure its hardcore to seek out but I never felt this measure was required to win, in fact, I never had this item, so I know its not required to win. Always been an interest but never a gain. Oh well Im not a fan of hour wasting.

This post has been edited by masamune_blade on 11th September 2007 02:31

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NOT a Final Fantasy VI fan.. omg NOOO