Ruid and The Grindery
Ruid
First Floor: Go back to the fortress and enter via the left wall. The room on your
right has a Silver Light . The chest in the room up and left from that has a chest
with a Star Light . The next set of rooms has nothing, but the rightmost room above
that has a Fortune Ring . Continue up and you'll get in some back to back battles. You
can't go through the door the enemies came from, but you can head off to the right.
Take the first path down and go to the far right to grab the Dark Mace for Jessica.
Grab that, then head back into the room you passed, exit at the top and go to the
next area.
Second Floor: Head left and then head up. There is room here with two chests. The
left has a Silver Light and the right has a Healing Nut . The room right and slightly
up from that has a chest with a Fire Armlet for Mia. Head down from that room to go
through another building. Follow the path up and to the right to get to the next area.
Third Floor: Head up and fight some battles, then grab the Tri-Ring out of the
chest. Equip this to Alex - it protects against ALL status abnormalities. Head out
the door to the upper right, then quickly go around to the bottom of the pillar and
take the stairs up. Head right to the stairs on that side. Go around the pillar on
the next screen and head up one more flight of stairs.
Fourth Floor: NOTE: Before doing anything, make sure you're healed up and able to
cast magic. Anything you can equip to decrease fire magic attacks would be advisable.
When you're ready, head forward to trigger a cut scene, then start a boss battle. I
deployed my troops the same way this time as the last time:
- Power up Kyle and Alex, then have them use powerful magic attacks.
- Mia: Attack up magic on Alex and Kyle, then use her most powerful magic attacks.
Throw items as needed.
- Jessica: Start with Saint Litany if you have it, and have Jessica heal and use
items as needed. If there's nothing to do, have her defend rather than attack.
I didn't need to use any magic restoration items other than the ones I used to
prepare. I did have Kyle throw Healing Nut items to folks when he ran out of magic,
though. When the fight is over, follow the dude up the stairs and out the door to
your left. Follow the path and watch the cut scenes. When they're over, walk out the
way you walked in, but when you get to the place that looks like train tracks, follow
them to the bottom of the screen.
Notice on the world map that the Grindery has conveniently carved a path through
the mountain for you. Follow it out and head to the town of Talon near by. Make your
way to the spot where you saved the guy and talk to everyone here until they repeat
themselves. You should receive Xeonbia's Bromide.
Optional: Level up - This is actually an OK place to level up. If you enter via the
northern exit to the mine and have Alex attack all while everyone else just does
regular attacks, you should be able to get all the way to the place where the music
changes - just above the place where you saved someone earlier. From there, you can go
back and climb a ladder to fight enemies that are over 3k XP. You can then have Nash
use his thunder-all magic to weaken (or kill) enemies, and the go back one screen to
reset. Repeat until Nash is out of MP, then head back toward the Althena statue. This
time, have everyone use regular attacks but have Mia use Fire all. She should have
enough magic to should get everyone back to the Althena statue and you can rinse and
repeat so your folks level up.
When you're ready to move on, head to the airship.
The Grindery
Prep Work: When you next have control you'll be in Vane. Head down through one door,
then all the way right to get to the classroom. There's a student at the lower edge of
the screen that will provide you with Mia's Bromide 2.
Leave the magic guild and head to the entrance of Vane and pick up Nash, then head
back and talk to Mia by the door to the silver spire (the left hallway in the magic
guild.) When your party is back together, head through the door and follow the path.
Watch the cut scenes.
Optional: Ghaleon's Tear . If you followed the earlier advice to visit the town of
Lann and talk to the village elder, use the Dragon Wings to teleport to Lann and talk
to him again to receive Ghaleon's Tear .
Optional: Lily's Gale Ring . If you followed the earlier advice to talk to Lily in
Reze multiple times during your first visit, use the Dragon Wings to fast travel there
and talk to her again to receive the Gale Ring . This powerful ring will increase the
number of attacks a character has.
Optional: Damon's Hell Ring . Use the Dragon Wings to fast travel to Iluk, then head
east to Damon's Spire. Climb the Spire (should be trivial with your attack-all magic
at this point) and talk to Damon a few times to receive the Hell Ring . This powerful
ring cuts the MP cost for spells in half. That means Mia can cast Flameria for only 15
MP, and Alex can cast the over powered Dragon Protect for only 30 MP. You can't use
the Dragon Wings to fast travel from here, but you can use Jessica's magic to warp to
the start of the dungeon, then head down to go outside and fast travel from there.
Optional: Item restocking. If you picked up a ton of extra items in the Frontier,
you can sell them off now. If you used a bunch of Star Light items, you can take this
opportunity to restock them. Use the Dragon Wings to head to Meribia and head to
Ramus' store.
When you're ready to move on, fast travel to Althena's Tower and walk towards it.
You'll fight a few battles then you'll enter the grindery. There are red portals you
can jump in here. When you do that, you'll end up somewhere else. You can't go back
through them, so be careful not to miss any treasure by skipping too far ahead. My
general rule here is to give the Hell Ring to Mia and have her cast fire-all magic
while everyone else attacks. When she runs out of magic, I transfer the ring to Nash
and have him cast thunder-all while everyone else physically attacks. I can usually
take out all the enemies before they get a single shot in at this point, so I don't
even have to use my Healing Nut or Star Light items (there's a HP/MP refresh spot on
the fourth floor.)
First Floor: Head all the way left and hop in the first chute. There's a chest in
this area with a Healing Nut , and another portal chute. Jump in that to go to an area
with a chest containing Saint Clothes for Jessica. Equip that and head through the
chute here and follow the path to a chest with a Silver Light . Follow the path down
until you see a chute that has an up arrow on it. Jump in to head to the second floor.
Note: Taking this path means you skip a chest with a Healing Nut . If that bothers you,
head up from the entrance and take the first right until you find a room with a chest.
Grab the Healing Nut and jump in the chute. There's another Healing Nut in the next
area, and a chute taking you to the place where you found the Saint Clothes above.
Follow the path from there to get to the second floor.
Second Floor: This first area has two chutes in the upper left, a chest with a
Silver Light in the upper middle, and another chute in the upper right. Grab the item
then take the left chute in the upper left. Follow the upper wall (past a chute) until
you get to a room with a chest hidden in the lower left corner with an Angel Ring .
Head right to a room with a chest containing a Stone Bracelet for Nash. The chute you
passed earlier just takes you back to this area, so head down and left until you find
a chute with an arrow point up. Take that to get to the third floor.
Third Floor: Head down, then all the way left, then down and into a chute. There
are two chutes on this level. Take the left one, then head up on the next screen and
take the chute at the top. Head right, then up until you can jump into a chute heading
left. Go left from there and watch the dialog. Head left and open the chest for Kyle's
Insane Shield . Continue along the path down to reach a chute to the Fourth Floor.
Fourth Floor: Look around, talk to the folks, and restore your MP/HP here. Go
through the door on the left, and head right, the down until you see a barely visible
chest. Open that for another Healing Ring . Given the number of Healing Nut items you
get in this area, you probably won't need it, but there you are. Continue down, then
take a left and head up through the second doorway to find the stairs to the fifth
floor.
Fifth Floor: Head right, the look in the last room up to get a Holy Bandana for
Nash. Equip that then head back to the left. All the way left and down you'll find an
Insane Helmet for Kyle. Equip it and go right, then up to find the stairs to the sixth
floor.
Sixthe Floor: Head all the way right, then down. Go all the way left to find a
Phantom Ribbon for Mia. Equip it then head up the stairs.
Seventh Floor: The left chest has a Star Light and the right a Healing Nut . Grab
those then head up. Watch the dialog then head up the stairs. Make sure your folks are
healed, save your game, then head up. For this battle...
- Alex: Vigor, then sword dance.
- Nash: Thunderbolt unless someone needs an item.
- Mia: Power Drive on Alex and Kyle, then Ice Shell on everyone.
- Kyle: Power Up, then Power Slash unless someone needs an item.
- Jessica: Saint Litany, then defend, heal all, or use items as needed.
When the battle is over, head up and watch the cut scenes. After that you'll have
another battle. For this one, just have everyone attack. Don't worry about healing or
replenishing magic. You'll play a few rounds, then after the battle watch the cut
scene.
Althena's Fortress
Prep Work: You'll wake up in Meribia. Head to Ramus' shop. You can basically get
anything for free here now, but you probably only care about Star Light at this point.
Sell any old gear and stuff you don't need, then buy as many Star Light as you need.
When you're ready to move on, head to the pub over by the docks in the lower right of
the city screen. Talk to Nash and Kyle until they repeat themselves, then head back to
the palace and talk to Mia and Jessica. Return to the pub and talk to them to advance
the plot. When Laike shows up, agree to fight. Despite what Nall says, Ramus doesn't
have anything new. Just talk to Laike. Watch the cut scenes have Alex grab the
sword and watch more cut scenes.
First things first, have Alex equip Althena's Sword . If you give Alex the Hell Ring
too, he should have 5 attacks per turn now. For battles with three enemies, I didn't
need to use any magic. Regular attacks killed them off before they could hit my party
once. For more than that, a single thunder-all or fire-all was all I needed to add to
the mix.
First Floor: Head into the tower and walk forward until you start to encounter
monsters. Head up and then right. The up and down paths have nothing, so keep going
right until you find a chest with a Silver Light . Head up the stairs to the second
floor.
Second Floor: Follow the path until you find a chest with a Holy Mace for Jessica.
Straight down from there is a chest with a Dragon Cane for Mia. Take the left path up,
then at the next branch continue up until you find a chest with a Starlight Bow for
Nash. Once you have those all equiped, follow the left path to the third floor.
Third Floor: Follow the path until a dialog, then continue to the next area. From
here until you defeat Royce, you're going to start each battle with a random subset of
your party asleep.
Forth Floor: Follow the path until you reach a chest with Insane Armor for Kyle.
Continue to the fork in the path. You can get an Angel's Tear if you go down, but you
probably have enough of those by now. Take the path up to get the Aegis Robe for Mia.
Head down the left exit and follow the path left to the next area.
Fifth Floor: Follow the path until. You'll notice when you enter a room that a
purple barrier prevents you from moving on. Defeat enemies in this room to unlock the
barrier then take the other exit from the room. Repeat that process through two more
rooms until you come to a chest with Holy Clothes for Jessica. Continue along the path
to the next area.
Sixth Floor: Make sure you are healed up and ready for a boss battle. Here's how I
deployed folks:
- Alex: Vigor, then sword dance.
- Nash: Healing items.
- Mia: Attack up magic for Alex and Kyle, then Defence up magic on everyone.
- Kuyle: Power up, then power slash.
- Jessica: Heal or items
Seventhn Floor: After the battle, head through the door and heal at the shrine.
Continue along the path until you get to the area with different music. You'll see a
pattern of colors on the ground White, Red, Blue, Black. If you continue up through
the doorway with the round top, you'll see the same colors on the floor by a button in
each corner. Touch them in the order they appeared in the pattern. (Lower right for
white, Lower left for red, upper left for blue, and upper right for black.) After
touching them, head to the center area and jump on the portal.
Eight Floor: In this room, you'll start another portal. Step on the portals in the
same color order and climb the stairs in the next room.
Ninth Floor: On this floor you'll hear a dialog with Blue, Black, Red, White. Step
on the portals in that order and you'll end up in a small room with a switch to flip
and a chest containing...:
- Blue (upper left): Sage's Robe for Nash (don't forget to step on the switch before
stepping on the portal!)
- Black (lower left): Detonator Armlet for Jessica (then switch, then portal)
- Red (upper right): Spook Armlet for Mia (then switch, then portal)
- White (lower right): Insane Sword for Kyle (then switch, then portal)
You should now see a new portal on the main floor up from the one you came here
via. Take that to head to the next area.
When you first get here you'll hear the order White, Red, Blue, Black. I don't know
why, though. You can only step on the switches that are activated, and that means
heading left to the Red switch and following the path counter clockwise around the
room (Red, White, Black, Blue). Then head to the bottom of the screen and go up the stairs.
Tenth Floor: There is a statue here and enemies. Clear out the enemies, restore
HP/MP, save your game, and head through the door at the top of the screen (or level up
a bit - see below).
Optional: This is a decent place to level up before the final battle. By the time I
got here I could kill all these enemies with one thunder all and one fire all attack.
Because Boss stats are based on Alex's level, I prevent Alex from getting XP by having
him run from battle while Kyle and Jessica defend. If you find Alex doesn't get to try
and run before the battle is over, you can give him two of the Chiya's Tail
accessories and make sure neither Nash nor Mia have one. On my game Alex managed to
run often enough that the other characters averaged 2-3 times as many levels. The
enemies never got an attack. After killing all three groups here, just warp back to
the previous area and immediately warp back here. Touch the statue when you need.
These three enemies are worth almost 22k XP. I last played this game on an emulator
that lets me speed up the game. With that, all my characters go up a level in less
than 5 minutes (well, up through about level 70 anyway). If you get Alex to level 64
he'll have 4 attacks (6 with Althena's Sword and the Gale Ring .) When Mia hits level
72, you can equip two Crystal Pendant accessories to her. At that point she should be
able to take out Stone Creep enemies with a single blast of her fire-all magic. That
means you don't have to use Nash anymore, which makes things go a bit quicker. By 77
(actually, probably earlier) you can swap one of the Crystal Pendants for the Hell
Ring, so she can do twice as many attacks before you have to recharge.
Eleventh Floor: There are barriers on either side at the bottom of the screen. Go
stand close to one and the enemy patrolling on the other side should break the barrier
trying to get to you. Head through the doorway at the bottom of the screen.
Twelvth Floor: Make sure you have room in your inventory, then open the chest here
for a Spirit Talisman . Break the barrier the same as before, then loop around to the
exit.
Thirteenth Floor: There is a button you can step on toward the top of the screen.
This opens and closes the path leading up. Open the path and grab the Silver Light
from the chest on your left. Head through the exit.
Fourteenth Floor: There are four staircases leading up - one in each corner of the
room. Take the lower left, then head up and grab the Silver Light from the chest.
Break the barrier as before and head through the exit.
Fifteenth Floor: There are no chests here. Follow the path down and left until you
see the exit. Heal up, prep for a boss battle, save your game, then head through the
exit.
Sixteenth Floor: Head forward to watch a bunch of cut scenes, stay positive, walk
toward Luna, then begin the boss battle. You probably know the pattern by now...
- Alex: Vigor, then Sword Dance. Depending on your equipment and level, it's
possible regular attack will do more damage than sword dance. For me, Alex can do over
200 damage with each of his 6 hits. Even if one misses, it's still over the 999 damage
limit.
- Nash: Thunderbolt and use items as needed.
- Mia: Power Drive on Alex and Kyle, then Ice Shell on everyone, then Flame Bomb or
throw items as needed.
- Kyle: Power Up, then Power Slash or use items as needed.
- Jessica: Saint Litany, then heal or use items as needed.
After the battle, makes sure you restore your HP and MP. The next room is the final
battle, so don't be afraid to use your best items. Nall can't use items any more after
this, so clear out his stash first if you need. Head forward a few screens, watch the
dialog and cut scenes. Same prep and attack pattern as above.
Watch the dialog and cut scenes, then go talk to Luna and watch more cut scenes.
Eventually you'll hear the ocarina music play. That's your not-so-subtle cue to open
your inventory and use it. After that, climb the tower and watch more cut scenes.
Epilogue
When you have control again, you can wander around Meribia. Talk to Ramus in his shop,
talk to Mia and Nash on Black Rose Street, and talk to Jessica and Kyle in Mel's
mansion. After that, head to the port and talk to Laike to trigger the ending
sequence. Depending on which version you're playing, you may end up listening to some
outtakes.
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