By Jordan Carmack First, note that this is a very detailed, handholding walkthrough/FAQ written for players just beginning their first game. I will submit another for those of you who have played through once or twice and just want quick reference material. Second, note that it is in the order that the story mode list is, not chronological. Table of Contents: Legal Crap Important notes before you begin Chapter 1 - Beginnings Verse 2 - To the Castle (ground) Verse 3 - Dragon (movie) Verse 4 - The Way of the Sword (ground) Verse 5 - A Pact (movie) Verse 6 - Shared Battles (aerial) Verse 7 - Quarry Chosen (aerial) Verse 8 - Hate's Strength (ground/strafe) Verse 9 - Pact Price (event) Verse 10 - Infestation (ground) Verse 11 - A Goddess Saved (event) Verse 12 - Inuart's Song (movie) Chapter 2 - Complications Verse 1 - The Voice (event) Verse 2 - To the Elf Village (aerial) Verse 3 - The Untrod Path (ground/strafe) Verse 4 - Despair (event) Verse 5 - Ominous Words (event) Verse V - A Distant Sound (event) Verse 6 - Last Words (event) Verse 7 - A Hidden Shrine (aerial) Verse 8 - A Secret Plan (ground/strafe) Verse 9 - The False Country (event) Verse IX - Liberation and Slaughter (event) Verse X - A Lonely Battle (aerial) Verse XI - Leonard's Lament (movie) Verse XII - Mockery (event) Verse XIII - After the Torching (ground) Verse XIV - Feeling in the Dark (event) Chapter 3 - Chance Encounters Verse 1 - Reunion (event) Verse 2 - To the Dungeon (aerial) Verse 3 - Prisoners (ground/strafe) Verse 4 - Verdelet Released (event) Verse IV - Regret (event) Verse 5 - The Temple in the Desert (aerial) Verse 6 - The Seal (ground/strafe) Verse 7 - Dark Creatures (event) Verse 8 - Sacred Remains (ground/strafe) Verse 9 - The Harp (event) Verse IX - An Unquiet Voice (event) Verse X - Gaol (aerial) Verse XI - Laughter (event) Verse XII - An Invitation (movie) Verse XIII - Release (aerial) Verse XIV - Found (ground/strafe) Verse XV - Arioch Lives (event) Chapter 4 - Betrayal Verse 1 - Inuart's Confession (event) Verse 2 - Pride (movie) Verse 3 - The Holy and the Profane (event) Verse 4 - Strength Remains (aerial) Verse 5 - Violent Lands (ground/strafe) Verse 6 - Caim's Past (event) Verse VI - Seere's Sister (event) Verse 7 - Forbidden Places (ground/strafe) Verse 8 - The Last Seal? (event) Verse 9 - Voice of Stone (ground/strafe) Verse X - A Mother's Farewell (event) Verse XI - Survivors (movie) Verse XII - Seere's Friend (event) Chapter 5 - Destruction Verse 1 - War (movie) Verse 2 - Turning Point (aerial) Verse 3 - Rapture (ground/strafe) Verse 4 - A False Peace (event) Verse 5 - Pandemonium (movie) Verse 6 - The Gods Speak (event) Verse 7 - Emergence (ground/strafe) Verse 8 - Menace (aerial) Chapter 6 - An Old Enemy Verse 1 - Love Debased (event) Verse 2 - A Black Dragon (aerial) Verse 3 - Destiny (aerial) Verse 4 - Unholy Prayers (ground) Verse 5 - Mute (event) Chapter 7 - Tragedy Verse 1 - Realization (movie) Verse 2 - For Her (event) Verse 3 - A Decision (movie) Verse 4 - The Sorrowful Sky (aerial) Chapter 8 - Seals Verse 1 - Things Inhuman (aerial) Verse 2 - Living Myths (aerial) Verse 3 - The Capital (aerial) Verse 4 - Joy Unknown (ground/strafe) Verse 5 - A Peaceful Casket (ground) Verse 6 - Struggle (movie) Verse 7 - Unrelenting (aerial) Verse 8 - Sin (event) Verse 9 - A Soul Sealed (movie) Chapter 9 - Requiem Verse 1 - Dragonfire (aerial) Verse 2 - In the Name of Love (event) Verse 3 - Sowing Seeds (aerial) Verse 4 - Encounter (movie) Verse 5 - The Demon's Wings (aerial) Verse 6 - Goddesses (movie) Verse IV - Sleep (event) Verse V - Providence (event) Verse VI - Under a Dark Sky (ground) Verse VII - Light (movie) Chapter 10 - Astray Verse 1 - Barriers (aerial) Verse 2 - Ark (aerial) Verse 3 - A Lull (ground) Verse 4 - To Drink Poison (event) Verse II - Hear the Ocean (ground) Verse III - The Gods' Will (event) Chapter 11 - Partings Verse 1 - Maze (ground) Verse 2 - Dreams and Truth (event) Verse 3 - Falling Petals (movie) Verse 4 - Anger Checked (event) Verse II - Hide and Seek (ground) Verse III - Betrayal (event) Verse IV - Loved (movie) Verse V - Paradise (event) Chapter 12 - Chaos Verse 1 - A Little Thing (movie) Verse 2 - Extermination (aerial) Verse 3 - Toward Truth (ground/strafe) Verse 4 - Gaia's Laughter (event) Verse 5 - Different Endings (movie) Verse 6 - Abnormal (ground/strafe) Verse 7 - The Great Time (event) Verse 8 - A Little Hero (event) Verse 9 - Awakening (aerial) Verse 10 - Seere's Solace (movie) Chapter 13 - Truth Verse 1 - A Journey (event) Verse 2 - New World (movie) Verse 3 - The Greatest Battle (aerial) Verse 4 - Recursion (movie) Leonard's Regret (takes place between chapters 2 and 3) Verse 1 - The Forest of the Seal (aerial) Verse 2 - Smells (event) Verse 3 - Grief (ground) Verse 4 - Uncommon Mercy (event) Verse 5 - The Memories of the Faeries (aerial) Verse 6 - Gleanings (ground) Verse 7 - Dragon's Rest (event) Arioch's Madness (takes place between chapters 3 and 4) Verse 1 - The Soughing of the Waves (aerial) Verse 2 - Her Favorite Things... (event) Verse 3 - Lantern Fishing (aerial) Verse 4 - Playing Alone (event) Seere's Prayer (takes place between chapters 4 and 5) Verse 1 - A Stony Path (event) Verse 2 - Remote Giants (ground/strafe) Verse 3 - Tossed About (aerial) Verse 4 - To A Friend (event) Verse 5 - A Journey (ground/strafe) Verse 6 - A Silent Place (event) Verse 7 - Gone without a Trace (aerial) Verse 8 - Pursuit (ground) Verse 9 - A New Sword (event) Verse 10 - Coliseum (ground) Verse 11 - Gratitude and Carelessness (event) Free Expedition Mode Ground Missions Aerial Missions I. Legal Crap First off, I want to say that legality means nothing to me. Take this FAQ/Walkthrough and do whatever you want with it, so long as it remains whole and unchanged, and you must remember to leave my name on it, because taking credit for someone else's hard work and spent time is just plain dirty. Now that that's said and done, let us begin. a. Important notes before you begin: Only Caim's Sword can be used in event missions. Most weapons must be obtained on Normal difficulty. You will never need to erase your game and start from scratch for any reason. You can go back if you missed something. Your dragon WILL NOT LEVEL UP BY EXPERIENCE. The dragon grows at set points in the game, no matter what experience it has. The enemies with sixty-second timers over their head do not give experience. When killed, they drop an orb that adds a certain number of kills to the weapons you are carrying, perhaps every weapon you have obtained, I'm not sure. Use physical attacks when they are blue (remember to use a finishing blow if the weapon you are using is fast and weak, since they will deflect normal attacks and counter them after too much pounding), and magic when they are red (spells such as that of the Butcher's Joy or the Skull Banquet are all but useless against them, as they do negligible direct damage and your physical attacks will be blocked by a barrier.) Missions numbered with Roman numerals will lead to endings other than the one in chapter 8, and can only be played after meeting certain requirements. The difference between Easy and Normal difficulty is that on Normal, enemies have more health and deal more damage per attack than on Easy. Also, in Easy mode, enemies drop only health orbs, and the length of the chains required to get enemies to drop the orbs is smaller. In normal mode, enemies drop health orbs if you are not at 100% health; otherwise, they drop orange orbs that explode on contact, damaging all enemies in the blast radius with damage equal to one attack from your weapon, doubled, tripled, etc. according to the length of your chain when the orb was dropped. At the moment your chain length reaches 100 hits, a black orb will appear that greatly increases your attack strength for a period of about 30-45 seconds (probably because if you can get a 100-hit chain, your weapon is way too weak and the strength increase is almost necessary for your survival). The level 3 dragon's locked shots reach much farther than the Chaos dragon's. Finishing blows are performed by pressing Triangle on the swing in which an orange orb of light bleems off your weapon or the swing immediately after. Either way, there will be one more normal attack after the orange light before the finishing blow is performed, and the blow will be considerably slow, so watch out when enemies are all around you; you may be interrupted. Attacks do not harm you while you are casting magic, but will return to dealing damage as soon as you can attack again. Events in which you can take no action can be skipped by pressing Start twice, the same as movie scenes, though I do not recommend this, since you will miss much of the story by skipping scenes and events. Enemies impervious to magic will receive full damage from allies' magic with no return fire. Some enemies are more susceptible to jump attacks than they are to normal ones. Increasing Caim's level will only increase his hit points and consequently the dragon's. It will not cause attack strength to increase. Once a weapon reaches level 4, it can be equipped and/or viewed on any level. Weapon weight determines attack speed. The heavier the weapon, the slower Caim will swing it. When using slow weapons, it sometimes helps to begin attacking before the enemy reaches you, that way they have less chance of hitting you before your first swing. To make things easier, once you get to the middle of the game and pretty much all after that, take the stronger weapons that you find and go back to one of the earlier missions, such as chapter 1 verse 2, and kill all the enemies you can, ignoring the fact that you only have one hour to complete the mission. Usually these weapons will destroy such weak enemies in one hit; thus making kills and consequently weapon levels easier to obtain. There is no truly fast method to strengthen your weapons, but this one is the fastest way. This will make combat in the later missions much easier. Max level for Caim is 99, achieved at 2,000,000 experience. The dragon also maxes out at 2,000,000 experience. Utilize dash attacks when facing groups of powerful enemies. In aerial missions, locked shots can still miss, and they do less damage than a dumb shot even if they all hit, but are preferable for use against large groups of relatively small enemies, since one shot, even locked, usually kills these, and locked shots build up your magic gauge faster. In aerial missions, magic attacks may and likely will seek out enemies not even on your radar if they destroy all the ones on radar before they burn out. In ground missions, magic attacks from the dragon attack the entire radar area, though the torch portion of the attack focuses only on the half in front of you. Enemies with dots by their health bars are leaders of a unit. Killing them will make the enemies around them weaker and less intelligent, so take them out ASAP. Treasure chests that do not appear as a result of something you did, but are there from the start of the mission, contain orbs that fully restore your health. Search for these when in bad need. Now then, that's done and gone, so, what say you to moving on to the actual walkthrough? That's what I thought. Chapter 1 - Beginnings Verse 1 - The Blooding Simple, just watch and enjoy the battle FMV, but be prepared to take part in this awesome combat. Verse 2 - To the Castle All right, your very first mission. For now, you don't want to seek out every enemy on the map. You can come back when you have more HP and do that. This time just cut a path forward and eliminate the targets in front of the bridge. I suggest you use finishing blows whenever possible. Now that you've had your first taste of blood, cut your way through to the next to targets; knights on horseback. Jump attacks are the way to go here. When you have killed those, two more targets will appear by the front gate of the castle. Fight your way to them, keeping in mind that you want to keep as much health as you can. This pair is quite nasty. Unusually large heavy infantry brandishing great swords and tower shields. Again, finishing blows are recommended, and you would do well to take them on one at a time, since they have this talent for knocking you down. Once you have destroyed these nuisances, a treasure box will appear in the vicinity of the front gate, but not exactly close to it. Check your map and go to the blue box. Touch the chest to open it, then grab the key and go back to the gate. Congratulations, you have successfully completed your first mission. This will earn you a new weapon, the axe Bonebreaker. This will be your best tool against stronger enemies such as black soldiers, heavy cavalry, and knights for a while. Verse 3 - Dragon If you want to see a very frightening individual, do not skip this movie scene. You will see how Caim's hate for the Empire was sown in his heart, and he makes quite the intimidating face. This is also the first you get to see of the dragon. Verse 4 - The Way of the Sword Easy enough. Just kill everything. Switching back and forth all the time between weapons is not advisable, for it empties your magic gauge. Stick with the Bonebreaker for now, unless you like a good challenge or are partial to speed. When every enemy in the bailey has been slain, heavy cavalry will appear on both ends of the room. Bonebreaker, finishing blows, magic if and when necessary. Once you're through with them, go to the head of the mighty but maimed beast. That's two missions down. Verse 5 - A Pact Movie time! Now then, let's find out just how a pact is made. Whoa, sounds like it hurts, huh? Yeah, well, look at the result. Now you have your dragon! Time for some baptisms by dragonfire! Verse 6 - Shared Battles Welcome to the wonderful world of aerial combat. To lock on to enemies (up to four locks for now), hold down Square and move your crosshairs over the enemy you wish to lock on to. This mission, however, is ill suited for locked shots, so stick with dumb fire. R1 and L1 cause the dragon to strafe right and left respectively, and both together cause it to whip around and go the opposite direction, a 180-degree turn. Use R1 and L1 to evade incoming cannonballs; the bullets don't hurt you, they just knock your aim off. If you get into dire straits, try using locked shots and evading like heck until your magic gauge is full, then unleash the runic bowels of hell on your enemies. All in all, this mission shouldn't be too hard. Just make flak out of every airborne enemy. Verse 7 - Quarry Chosen Now you get to encounter your first enemy airship, and in this level there are more than one. Use the same strategy as the previous mission, with the exception of these airships. To destroy them, you must disable every pair of cannons on them. Locked shots and magic as soon as it becomes available will put these big boys down in a heartbeat. Again, all airborne enemies must be dropped. After that, just go to the spot marked with the target icon and you've beaten the mission. Verse 8 - Hate's Strength This one was my favorite for a long time...then I went back and played verse 2. Anyway, your first chore will be to go down to the southwestern corner of the map and lay waste to all who dare oppose you until not one of the forty is left standing. A treasure box will appear, and within you will find your next weapon, Skald's Song. Unfortunately, you can't equip it until you beat the level, so let's hurry up and kill some Empire scum! The most reliable method for this task is to mount your dragon, fly to a target, jump off your dragon, waylay anything with your Bonebreaker that stands between you and the target, it included, hp back on your dragon, and repeat until there are no more targets. What!? The army's been reinforced!? Work work work, that's all we get to do. After killing the last of the five targets, you find that swarms more have appeared. The Bonebreaker shall live up to its name! Or maybe you'd just like to stay on your dragon and risk being knocked off by arbalesters (soldiers with crossbows and flaming arrows) to burn them all to ash as the dragon suggests. Either way, you should be fine if you use magic attacks when arbalesters appear. You can regain magic in just a few shots, so don't be sparing with it. Now that the reinforcements have been thwarted, fly to the front of the castle, ignoring all else, and run inside. Congrats on the new long sword. Verse 9 - Pact Price Good, you've made it back into the bailey. Kill everything as you proceed straight ahead, the way you were facing at the start. So THAT'S why you didn't answer. You couldn't. You are officially mute, and you have a neat little tattoo branded onto your tongue to show it. Now, on to... Verse 10 - Infestation No dragons allowed in the castle halls, sorry. That's all right, we'll be fine on foot. First, let's slice our way up to the northeastern most room with our shiny new Skald's Song and head up those stairs. This should trigger the appearance of a treasure chest containing your first spear, Knight's Vow. When it tells you a treasure box has appeared, check your map if you can't find it. Get the weapon and go back downstairs, then head to the westernmost room, empty it of the Imperial jackals, and proceed again to the second floor. From here, you will be forced to slaughter your way down the hall. Take the only turn available when you get to the end, then hang another left as soon as you get the chance. Now you should be in a square pathway with exits on all sides. In one of these side rooms somewhere you should find four fat silver enemies. Kill them to get another treasure chest to appear containing Glory's Bane. It'll show up in one of the armory rooms, but you'll have to find it on your own, since your map won't show it. Best to use the Bonebreaker here, due to hefty axe-wielders. Proceed to the north hall, then go up the stairs. This part might be a tiny bit rough, but not much. The Bonebreaker should be more than capable of handling the heavy infantry ahead. These guys have hammers, not swords, and they swing them faster than should be possible, so I would suggest entering the fray with a jump attack against one, then getting some distance form them, and doing it again until only one or two remain. Pick up the key from the magical-look-at-me-I-can-appear-out-of-thin-air treasure chest and go forward again. Lots of enemies waiting for you in here, and a good sum of them are black-armored soldiers, so yet again, it's a situation for the Bonebreaker and finishing blows. Magic is good for this part, too, if they start to surround you. When all have been put to rest, go to the target door. Mission complete. Verse 11 - A Goddess Saved Another event mission. Kill the scant enemies that stand in your way, then run against a wall until you start to dash. Go onward and use your dash attack as soon as the last enemy is in range, about ten to fifteen steps before you reach him, otherwise you won't really get to kill him, though the next scene will still show Caim stabbing him relentlessly. You can't get to where he is without ending the mission, so like I said, hit him with a dash attack from a distance. It doesn't hurt to hit the button to early and miss, but hitting it too late means you don't get to try again. Ah well, it's only one or two experience. Verse 12 - Inuart's Song Watch this nice little movie scene where Inuart plays his nice little harp and sings a nice little song...NOT! Personally, I think he sucks, but that's just me. Chapter 2 - Complications Verse 1 - The Voice Woohoo! On to the next chapter! Went by fast, didn't it? Just ignore everyone else and go talk to Inuart. Mission complete. Verse 2 - To the Elf Village Aww, man. The elves are under attack. You now take to the air to get there, hopefully in time to save at least some of them. Or is it just that you hope to catch the Empire rats before they move on? Probably the latter. Use locked shots and magic attacks to take out the giant bats. Next, follow the white arrow to the enemy airship and blow it apart with the same method you used on the bats. Looking up and to the left, you will find two epitaphs with bats wings and three little lights flying around each one. These lights will deflect your every attack, but one light is removed for each block. Just keep shooting dumb shots at them, but watch out for the lights that move faster and turn red, they're getting ready to launch at you as homing missiles. Wait until they're just about on you, then strafe to the side they're not coming from, or dash and strafe either direction if they're coming from the front. Two more enemy airships. You know what to do. Evade and use those locked shots and magic. One airship, lots of bats, locked shots and magics all the way, and a lot of evasive maneuvering. Now speed-fly to the target and you're done here. Verse 3 - The Untrod Path First, use your dragon to get to the ballistae, then either dismount and kill the soldier working the thing or blow him up, your choice, though staying on the dragon means increased threat from the arbalesters surrounding the contraption. I suggest using the dragon and building up it's magic gauge before you approach, then unleash the rain of fire on the heads of arbalester and target alike. Don't dismount yet, 'cause you're not done. Head for the new targets and burn them to cinders, but don't let them get off your radar if you don't kill them instantly, as they regenerate, and DO NOT go near or over the bridge until they are all dead. This should get a treasure chest to appear, containing the Tyrant's Hammer. Burn the enemies off the bridge, then go over on foot and head into the forest. Kill only the enemies that get in your way as you proceed to the flashing yellow icon on your map. This icon indicates a target location you must reach any time it appears on your map. Once you get there, mission complete. Verse 4 - Despair Another easy-peasy event mission. Just watch out for the five arbalesters and the fat soldiers and you'll be fine. Verse 5 - Ominous Words Almost pointless if it didn't develop the plot further. Just go to the dead soldier with words by him written in his own blood. Verse V - A Distant Sound Just the same as above, but if you have Leonard, he will show up and give you a new option. Also, you should first check the huts in the starting area to find the mace called Iron Scraps. Verse 6 - Last Words Check the damaged huts to find the Maiden's Kris, a new sword. Then go to the dying elf. Verse 7 - A Hidden Shrine Aerial mission yet again. You should know the drill by now. The first wave is a mass of those annoying cubes and the equally annoying giant bats. Locked shots and magic attacks will take care of these in a hurry. Next you'll come across four of those zeppelins that die with one normal shot each. Here's a hint; wait until the circle turns red, and then inside it a smaller circle of illegible runes will appear. This is your cue that your shot will kill it. This is not always so with some enemies, but for these and for towers, it always works. After these, four more appear to the left. Then, you'll encounter a single griffon. It's easy, locked shots (at least two, more to be sure at least two of them hit) or normal shots will put this baddie to the ground. Left again, eight more zeppelins. A little to the right, you'll find a set of three griffons. No big deal. Kill them off, then head for the target location. Good job! You have slain a total of 68 enemies. Verse 8 - A Secret Plan This one is the first potentially trialsome mission you have come across. As soon as you start, do a 180 on your dragon and scorch the arbalesters behind you, then wheel around and lay waste to the enemies in the area on or off your dragon. If you go on foot, use a fast weapon. Your Bonebreaker won't come into play this time. Bet you were just waiting for me to not mention it, huh? Anyway, Caim's Sword, Skald's Song, Glory's Bane, these are all acceptable weapons to use, though Glory's Bane is a bit weak at this point. When you get to the end of this little niche in the mountains, watch out, because there's a huge catapult waiting to barrage you for not-at-all-nice damage. Also, this is your first encounter with red-armored foes. DO NOT use magic on them, and don't try your dragon, because it counts as a magical creature with magical attacks. These enemies must be taken out with nothing but physical might, but since they are not heavy in health, light weapons such as those above will do fine; though they may have a tiny bit more health than normal silver soldiers. Arbalesters surround the catapult, so get the weapon with the longest reach and jump attack them to crap when you get there. Kill the soldiers operating the catapult to disable it, then head for the next one. Along the way, you'll meet nothing but red troops and maybe an arbalester group or two closer to the riverbank. You know how to kill them by now. Take out the second catapult operators. Now the silver soldiers are coming back into the picture, but not enough to merit a slow weapon. Stick to a sword and lay waste to the new targets, but be prepared and try to keep your health as high as you possibly can. It won't kill you to exercise a little patience and precaution. There's a full health chest on the closest bridge if you need it, but I'd save that for what's coming up. A wizard will appear upon destruction of the targets. Evade his magic balls and kill him. One hit from anything will do it. Oh no, what's this!? Thirty more of them have appeared!? Use your longest reaching weapon and pretend they're rapid-firing arbalesters. Evade and try to single them out, so you don't get caught in a deadly crossfire. Go back and get the health from the bridge if you need it, and I think there's another health chest in the shrine. Don't be ashamed, I'm on level 99 and down to about 51% health at this point (max 400 HP). Once you've killed them all, go back to where you found the first one and there you have it, mission success. Verse 9 - The False Country Simple event mission. Just bum rush the wizard and hit him one time. He'll get several in on you, but you should be able to survive if you just charge him directly. Verse IX - Liberation and Slaughter Same as verse 9 above, but this verse leads to a different ending. Verse X - A Lonely Battle Aerial time again. Four zeppelins will great you first, though behind them you can see the hated airship waiting for you. Dumb fire on the zeppelins, locked shots for the airship. Don't use your magic attack yet. The next wave of the welcoming committee will be eight zeppelins (which by now if you haven't guessed is another word for a crude blimp). After they die, you'll be heading almost straight up to encounter another airship and three winged epitaphs. Now would be a good time to use that magic attack you've been saving up. That should wipe them out in a hurry. If not, kill off whatever remains. Next wave, six zeppelins and another airship. Again, you should by now know exactly what to do, but do try to conserve your health and be sparing with the magic attacks if you can. 68 airborne scum suckers shot down, and now you're heading to the target location that heralds the end of the mission. Nice going, Ace! Verse XI - Leonard's Lament Personally, I think this goody-two-shoes is a coward and a wimp. Coward for trying suicide, wimp for not going through with it. And just listen to him whine. Well, think what you want. To each his own, eh? Verse XII - Mockery I detest the faerie more even than the man, but this is how Leonard was forced into a pact with a teeny tiny little faerie pissant. How I loathe them both... Verse XIII - After the Torching Ever wonder what goblins are really like? No? Then kill them quickly so you don't have to find out. This is the same location as verse 8, but you start at the shrine. Fly to the niche you started in on verse 8 and kill every single enemy therein to get a hidden treasure chest to appear by a rock near the northeastern bridge (that is, the bridge on the northeast part of the map, check the compass-thing on the corner of the map). The first bunch of groups are arbalesters, while the second are red soldiers, so go with a light weapon. Once you're done here, go find your weapon, Wisdom, then fly back and go after the targets. Watch out for arbalesters near the riverbank, as on verse 8. Go with one of your light weapons for the first wave of targets, using magic to take out the one group of axe soldiers. Now, for the second wave, primarily goblins, stay with something relatively light, but I wouldn't suggest Glory's Bane or something else with ridiculously weak attack power. Caim's Sword, Skald's Song, something like that. Back from the dead is the suggestion of finishing blows, specifically the kind that hurl a ball of energy forward rather than creating a shockwave, that way you can throw a finishing blow into them before they ever get to you. Dash attacks are also highly recommended. Once you've massacred all the targets, head to the target location and voila! You're home free and you have a new staff. Verse XIV - Feeling in the Dark Cut your way along the dirt path. Enemies all have humorously low HP in event missions, so don't worry about how scary those big guys look, one or two cuts puts them down like a dog with severe heartworms. Easy enough. Now you can watch how you get Leonard in the first place. Chapter 3 - Chance Encounters Verse 1 - Reunion You meet with Furiae, she tells you Verdelet and Inuart were taken prisoner, you stupidly run off and leave her completely alone to go save them, blah blah blah. Verse 2 - To the Dungeon Aerial, aerial, dum dee dum dee dum! First, a pair of griffons. Shoot them down with dumb fire or locked shots (if you want to build your magic gauge up), then head for wave two. This will be directly in front of you, and you will arrive to find yourself facing off against 108 flying cubes in four cube formations. Locked shots and two magic attacks should rid you of these pests, or darn close, anyway. Next, hang a right and head to the next batch of dead enemies flying. Griffons, quite a few this time. Now is a good time to use locked shots on these, since there are more than usual. Very near to you, there should be a set of two towers, and then another one nearby. One dumb shot apiece takes care of that little issue. By this time, more griffons will have close in and begun trying to attack you. Maneuver out away from them and launch a magic attack to get the aggravating buggers out of your way. This leaves the path to the target location open, so go there and relax, 'cause you've just beat the mission. Easy, no? Verse 3 - Prisoners You start out on your dragon. Take advantage of this and go take out those most annoying ballistae so you can focus on your targets. Arbalesters plague the ground, so just hop off your dragon once you've taken care of the ballistae and go to town on anything that gets in swinging range, preferably with a heavy weapon and finishing blows. This mission introduces the spear infantry. We don't like those. They have more health, do more damage, and knock you down a lot. Knock them down first. Start off with a dash attack, then go in and kill them off as quick as you can before they get the chance to stand up. If more than two manage to stand again, use another dash attack. Note the chest on one side of the prison. Put that health to good use if you have to. Once you rid yourself of all the present targets, three more will appear, protected by arbalesters. Mount the dragon and make quick works of the arbalesters before they can create a problem, then just go back and forth over the targets with the 180-degree turn, raining dragonfire down on them with each pass. Mission complete once again. Verse 4 - Verdelet Released Go and talk to Verdelet. It's that simple. Verse IV - Regret As above. This mission leads to a different ending than verse 4. Verse 5 - The Temple in the Desert If you don't like flying by now, you have severe self-control and should lighten up a bit, 'cause this is just too much fun. First off, give those cubes and that epitaph a big, warm, fiery hello for me with some locked shots and magic. Then, slip on over to the right a ways and repeat the greeting for their identical twins. Another right turn, another epitaph, a few stationary cubes, and several cubes that drop from above you around the others and try to ram you. Best not to speed into the midst of these, rather, hang back and use locked shot, then unleash the magic attack as soon as you get it. Right turn yet again. Three epitaphs, lots and lots of moving cubes, though some of them will die when the epitaphs do. Once again, locked shots, magic attack ASAP. Now head for the target location. Verse 6 - The Seal Fly straight to the targets, burn the silver ones to obsidian oblivion, then dismount and take care of the red fatties melee style with a heavy weapon and finishing blows when you can safely perform them. Be warned, these can be fatal foes if you're not careful, due to their fast and constant attacks. There are four arbalesters by each corner of the temple that may create a problem for your dragon, so you might want to take them out as well, along with a few nontarget foes for experience. Arbalesters will now appear to the north. Wipe them out on foot with a light weapon or use your dragon. Either way, fly past the fatties to get to them. Break out one of your heavy weapons before flying to the next targets. They are red fat ones, so you'll want to utilize your dash attacks and finishing blows as much as you can. Now that you've gotten a little melee training, flee away back to the temple again. Onward and upward to... Verse 7 - Dark Creatures Before you heed the dragon, go west northwest to find a treasure chest by a single solitary rock. This chest contains the Swordsmasher, quite a dandy little blade if you ask me. Now listen to the dragon and cut your way to the temple. Verse 8 - Sacred Remains This will be your first encounter with the undead. Make sure they remember your name. These foul beasts react to large movements such as running or walking quickly, and attacking, so sneak up slowly from behind, strike one down, then get away and repeat. They're pretty healthy, so you might want to use one of your more powerful weapons. Once you kill all twenty-four of them, enemy hoards will appear outside the temple. The targets are obese but elite soldiers, thankfully still susceptible to magic, while the nontarget groups are axe soldiers and red fatties. Best advice: wield a large weapon and rely primarily on dash attacks, finishing off the survivors normally if there are fewer than three. Or, if you like, you could abuse the gift of the dragon some more and fry them all like eggs! Most newbies will prefer this method for its safety, only going to the ground to deal with red enemies, and that only if you want experience, for they are not targets. Next up, elite (black) heavy infantry wielding great club and round shield. Only one word is required to indicate the best strategy here: dragon. That's right, burn those blundering idiots. Use magic attacks when arbalesters get in your way. More of these big nasties will appear in the temple once you've killed the ones outside. No choice but to go melee. Or not. As you try to go in and fight, you find yourself.... completing the mission! Verse 9 - The Harp Go and talk to Furiae. There's nothing else for you here. Verse IX - An Unquiet Voice Same as above. This leads to a different ending than verse 9. Verse X - Gaol It's pronounced the same as jail, and that's pretty much what it is. In this aerial mission, you will first run into a mass of cubes, but with them is an enemy you have not faced before (if you came here early, that is). These statues can only be destroyed while they are open before, during, or after firing at you. Get a single lock on each one, one at a time, and fire when they open. Then, you can take out the cubes in the usual manner. Next, you'll be heading upward to face off against another new enemy (only new if you came here early, as before), the wraith. These are also invulnerable until they perform an attack in which they hurl their scythe at your dragon. Stay a bit away from them; they'll swing it normally if you're close enough, and it really hurts. As with the statues, lock on and wait, holding down R2 to stay facing it even as it dodges and evades your aim. Next up, six statues and a batch of ramming cubes. Lock and wait, lock and wait, and of course dumb fire if you're close to them when they open up. Right around this time, your dragon gets very upset with you for wanting to kill them all and yells all intimidating-like. It's cool. Anyway, head for the next group of the damned, eleven statues and two wraiths, and take them out, using a magic attack if you become impatient, though the wraiths can block even that. That's that, you're all done with such tiresome troubles for now. Verse XI - Laughter Heh heh heh, funny Imperial soldiers. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh... Verse XII - An Invitation Those are the spirits of fire and water, Salamander and Undine. The chick is Arioch. That one is NUTS, man. Completely, wholly, entirely, ineffably, kills-and-eats-small-children out of her ever-loving mind. Whoever wrote her personality has a sick, sick mind and probably masturbates to beastiality rape stuff. Okay, that's enough ranting for me. Verse XIII - Release Another flying mission to sate your pyromaniacal lust! Meet the Imperial black dragons. They're big, scaly, fast, and they don't like it when a crimson dragon uses dumb shots on them. Yet, dragons that they are, they too can use locked shots, and will do so almost all the time. Serious evasion is required here. When these six fall dead to the earth, proceed onward to the six *gasps* zeppelins (been so long since I saw those things last...) awaiting you. Dumb fire as usual for these. Next up, four more zeppelin and three black dragons. Easy enough, dumb shots all the way!! Your next job is an airship guarded by six black dragons. If you have a magic attack, use it now. After this, you will be pitted against four zeppelins and another airship. This time go with locked shots on the zeppelins and hopefully you'll build up a magic attack to take out the airship with. If not, locked shots on its cannons will do the trick fast enough. With the last poopheads destroyed, make your way to the end of the level. Man, we're getting pretty far here, aren't we? Verse XIV - Found The first thing you want to do here is kill all the initial targets. The best way to do this is to use your dash attacks after getting rid of the arbalesters, because these targets are red big fellas with clubs. When this is done, more targets will appear. Fly over and kill all of these to make more appear around the gaol. Kill approximately half of these by relying solely on your dragon and heavy weapon dash attacks, since they prove a slight challenge even for me at 100% game completion. This will cause enemies to spawn in the cave to the west of the inside of the mountain range surrounding the gaol. Go there and kill the only heavy knight who is not a target. A treasure chest will appear inside the gaol on the eastern side, containing the Crimson Hood, quite a mighty axe. Get it before killing any more targets. Now that this has been done, finish off the remaining targets. The big red soldiers are weak against jumping attacks from heavy weapons. Keep this in mind if you cannot dash attack them. Once all have been killed, go back to the gaol and approach the front gate. Mission accomplished. Verse XV - Arioch Lives First, head southwest to a certain burning building; wherein lies a chest containing the weapon Wolf's Plague. Now just follow the white arrow. Chapter 4 - Betrayal Verse 1 - Inuart's Confession The winky-dink underdog warrior returns. Curse him and double curse him. Verse 2 - Pride A really awesome FMV, but there's no way in hell he could've taken Caim, even with a black dragon in Chaos form for a pact beast. Just wouldn't happen. Furiae pimped that punk, though! Verse 3 - The Holy and the Profane Nothing happening here but Verdelet complaining about being unfit to preach now and...nothing happening here at all. Verse 4 - Strength Remains Darn right it does! Let's go get that son of a [EXPLETIVE DELETED] who dared kidnap the goddess and kiss her! Now, as you can tell by the dots around your crosshairs, you have up to six locked shots at a time available to you. This makes many things much easier. Your first run-in will be with six zeppelins. Dumb fire is best here, but remember to dodge the cannonballs. Next, take out the two towers (no, not Orthanc and Barad'Dum). Now you can safely move on to the airship and three zeppelins to your right. Oh, I forgot to mention that you have two magic gauges now, so you can, if both are filled, launch two consecutive magic attacks. That won't be necessary here. Just do the usual dumb fire on the zeppelins and use your new and improved locked shots on the airship. Two more towers to destroy now, one dumb shot each. Now then, on to the two groups of four zeppelins. Dumb fire or locked shots will suffice here. If you've been smart, you should by now have both magic gauges full. Use one on the next enemies, two epitaphs and two groups of four zeppelins. Go dumb fire on the next two epitaphs, then cut loose some locked shots or a magic attack on the bats. Now you should be coming up on four black dragons and an airship. Fill up one magic gauge and unleash the fury on them. Now you will be able to either go ahead and finish the level, or seek out the remaining tower and then finish the level. It's your choice. Verse 5 - Violent Lands First and foremost, skip ahead, ignoring all enemies until you come to the place on your map where there is a narrow path next to a lone hill. Kill all enemies in the path. This will earn you a chest containing Fheng's Glaive, a nifty poleaxe. Check your map if you can't find it. Now, I suggest going back to the beginning of the enemy line where you started from and blazing away with your dragon. If you decide to go on foot, use a light weapon and lots of dash attacks. More and more enemies will appear as time passes even if you kill every single one on the map before more show up. The second wave will come in from behind where you started. Again, the dragon is suggested, but if you choose melee, repeat the above process. The third wave must be battled on foot, for it consists of pig-men toting cannons, and red goblins, both well prepared to defend against a dragon attack. The pig-men with cannons can only be hurt by dash attacks, magic, or from behind. I'd go with the behind option, and use dashes against the red goblins. The fourth wave appears near the third, and is best dispatched by the dragon, or dashes and magic. The fifth and final wave is definitely one for the dragon, since these commanders swing fast, hit hard, and love knocking you down. I would not recommend hand to hand with them, but if you truly must, go strictly magic until you run out, then try to dash attack and get out quick. Proceed to the target location, and you're done here. Verse 6 - Caim's Past Cut your way through the pig people with dashes and magic. Verse VI - Seere's Sister Do the same as in verse 6 only AFTER getting the Ravenfeeder to the upper left of your starting point between some trees. Different ending than verse 6. Verse 7 - Forbidden Places Take your dragon and run along the enemy line until it is gone. Arbalesters will pose a problem only if you neglect the use of magic attacks when they show up. Once all the targets in the line have been destroyed, head to the new row that appears on the other side. Wipe these out on foot with a heavy weapon, using dash attacks against the goblins. The trolls can be dealt with now by simply hitting them with finishing blows from a distance. Now get back on your dragon and fly to the ogres attacking the village. Use a magic attack to get rid of the arbalesters, best used directly over the camp/village thing. Then, just burn down the ogres at your leisure. Congratulations on getting here! Those are the spirits of fire and water, Salamander and Undine. The chick is Arioch. That one is NUTS, man. Completely, wholly, entirely, ineffably, kills-and-eats-small-children out of her ever-loving mind. Whoever wrote her personality has a sick, sick mind and probably masturbates to beastiality rape stuff. Okay, that's enough ranting for me. Those are the spirits of fire and water, Salamander and Undine. The chick is Arioch. That one is NUTS, man. Completely, wholly, entirely, ineffably, kills-and-eats-small-children out of her ever-loving mind. Whoever wrote her personality has a sick, sick mind and probably masturbates to beastiality rape stuff. Okay, that's enough ranting for me. Verse 8 - The Last Seal? Just watch. Verse 9 - Voice of Stone Go up the row of targets and enemies on foot; these are basic enough to allow it, and by now Caim is hurting for experience. These you can kill however you like, but try jumping attacks and dash attacks on those annoying arbalesters. Once you take these out, head north and go inside that narrow, winging path through the mountains. I would not suggest the dragon here, since goblins aren't that big a deal to worry about and the wizards come only one at a time and resist magic. When you first get in, follow the river straight ahead, then turn right when it is no longer possible to go straight. From here, head due south and taken the second available left turn, then hang the next right. Go south again and take the second right turn, then a left and another left directly after that. South yet again, then hit up a right and stick to that path without turning again. This will take you to the target, a giant stone golem. Evade his projectiles and kill the wizards nearby to get a clean opening, then mount your dragon and take him out, since nothing else works on him. Once he goes down, dismount where he was and continue south through a thick concentration of enemies to the final target location. Take the first right turn after the left for less resistance. Verse X - A Mother's Farewell This is your introduction to your final ally, Seere. Listen to how his mother dotes upon him before she dies. Seere must be the spoiled child. He does have a tendency to use the "poor me" attitude to relinquish himself of responsibility, but then again, he's only six years old. Verse XI - Survivors Is that another golem? Oh wait, this is a good guy, and he's made a pact with Seere. Verse XII - Seere's Friend The dragon seems to know this golem as...Golem. Looks like Seere gave up his ability to age for this pact. Oh well, on to the Empire. Chapter 5 - Destruction Verse 1 - War Look at how they run so nice and disorderly, only to turn and flee before ever getting to the enemy! Ha ha! Looks like you and the dragon have some serious work to do. Verse 2 - Turning Point The very first thing to do is dive down and use locked shots on the batch of cubes to build up your magic gauge. The cyclops will be in attack range, but though these big nasties pose a lethal threat to the Union infantry, they take forever to fire and only get one ballistic shot each time, so just evade him for now and kill the cubes. Once you do this, turn to the cyclops. He can only be damaged from the back while building up a shot, since his charge deflects attacks from the front, so speed-fly behind him and use your 180 turn to get off one or two dumb shot to the back of his ugly head and repeat this until he dies. If you worked this out right, you should have a pair of full magic gauges. Unleash one on the next set of enemies, a cyclops and some flying squid things which are normally handled much the same as griffons. You won't take out the cyclops, but his annoying guardians will fall so that you can do as you did to the last one and break him down without much trouble. Now you'll be heading up high again to try your skill against the flying squid things. Locked shots will make quick work of them and help build back your magic. Descend once more to low altitudes and unleash another magic attack to clear away the squids and cubes, then use your 180-strafe strategy again to kill the cyclops. Now just go on over to the target spot and you win this one. Verse 3 - Rapture Talk about a battle! This is one for those of you who've been waiting to kill lots of things, but it may be a good idea to go back and build up your weapons in early verse such as 1:2 (over 1500 enemies) and 1:8 (1081 enemies and 2 timed enemies). First, find the catapult in the southeastern portion of the map and kill the operators. Best to fly to save time. The next catapult is in the north central area, and the last is in the southwestern vicinity. Once you've killed these, presumably on dragonback, proceed to slay anything and everything as quickly as you possibly can, amassing a kill total of at least 200 before ten minutes of play time on this mission pass. In other words, if you kill the catapult operators and amass a kill count of 200 all in under ten minutes, a chest will appear containing the Holy Mace, and trust me, you want this weapon (personal note: I got 427 kills in under ten minutes by taking out the catapult operators and then going straight back to the targets, dismounting, and waylaying the targets and any enemies in my haphazardly ordered but direct beeline to those targets). Now that you have it collected, fly back to the area where your targets are waiting and dismount. There are too many arbalesters to fly safely here. I recommend use of a medium-weight, decently powerful weapon here, such as Knight's Vow or Fheng's Glaive. Try to split yourself about 50/50 between melee with finishing blows, and dash attacks, throwing in jumpers for the arbalesters. Proceed in this manner and eliminate all targets. Keep in mind that these foes are, though similar in abilities, much stronger than the ones in the earlier chapters. More than likely you will not have the time, the health, or the attack power to take out more than a third of the enemies in this mission, so try not to engage in unnecessary combat if you can safely avoid it. When all the initial targets are gone, new targets appear in the southwest corner of the map, so fly straightaway over to them. Stick with Fheng's Glaive or Knight's Vow and dismount to engage these red axe soldiers with dashes, maybe finishing blow combos, but mostly dashes. Again, try to avoid unnecessary combat if you can safely do so. You may try the Tyrant's Hammer, but I suggest going with what has worked thus far. I can honestly say that, for the 99 hours 6 minutes 58 seconds I've put into this game, I have never once used the block function, but for you the L2 button might come in handy once in a while, so remember that. It's better to evade, but block if you can't. Now then, once you've eradicated the targets from this area, still more will appear around the hill in the center of the map. These are not, however, resistant to magic, so mount your dragon and, keeping a close eye out for arbalesters, turn them from soldiers into charred racks of flesh in melted armor. They're the fat black ones, so they will take two to four shots each depending on your aim and your dragon's attack power. When these nuisances have been sent to the afterlife, the enemy commanders, elite (black) knights, will appear in the east central area, surrounded by arbalesters to make a strafing run nearly impossible. You can either show them up with a magic attack, or go on foot and use jump attacks against the knights with Knight's Vow or Fheng's Glaive, but since dragonfire doesn't do a whole lot to these, I suggest the latter. Take out the arbalesters on foot with light weapon dashes if you want to strafe the knights. There is a health chest in between the rock and the bush in front of the middle knight if you need it. If you want to take a little time to test your limits, kill all but one knight, then go around killing everything else by fire or on foot to gain some much needed experience, but be sure to head back and finish off the knight when you only have two or three minutes left if you can't kill all the enemies (note that, with Caim, the dragon, and every weapon in the game maxed out, killing all 2281 enemies in this mission took me 44 minutes 8 seconds on Easy difficulty). When you're ready, dispatch the final knight and this one's finally over with. Note: I have been informed that I neglect the use of allies. I would suggest using Seere if you have him, just for his magic (because his physical attacks do pitiful damage). If you don't have him, go with Arioch, and if not her, then certainly you must at least have Leonard. Verse 4 - A False Peace Nothing to do here but go and talk to the target soldier, then watch as this chapter lives up to its name in... Verse 5 - Pandemonium Holy crap! That's just awesome, even if it is raining down on your army!!! Look at those explosions... Whoa, I can tell you I won't be messing around with the Empire any time soon. Fortunately, Caim doesn't feel the same way. Verse 6 - The Gods Speak Talk to the soldier sitting on the ground directly in front of you twice and he will cause a chest to appear containing Nobuyoshi, a very useful katana that you should take back to 1:2 or 1:8 and level up, maybe even max out, before continuing. But in order to do that, you have to pick it up and go talk to Verdelet. Verse 7 - Emergence First off, check your map. The red dots that aren't strewn with flashing yellow target circles are arbalesters and should be destroyed with your new Nobuyoshi. Once this is done, go ahead and keep that sword out, assuming you leveled it up a bit before coming here, and go lay waste to the target soldiers in each of the four groups. Conserve your health, for with every group of targets you kill, a group of undead spear soldiers will appear in their place closer to the hill. These are best dealt with using the weapon with the highest attack power, by way of dashes and finishing blows from as far away as possible. Take out the undead soldiers as soon as they appear, before moving on to the next set of silver targets. This helps to keep your HP up, since you can get chains on the weakling normal silver and red soldiers and make them drop health orbs if need be. But be aware that these undead enemies have very high HP and should not be dealt with up close if it can be done any other way. Once the last of the undead soldiers returns to the dust, you're done here. There's health by the crater in front of the southern gully. Verse 8 - Menace Here you will begin by going almost dead ahead. Kill the strange eye creatures with locked shots, but beware of incoming fast homing projectiles when they die. Destroy the squids next in the same way, locked shots. More strange eye things. Kill them with locked shots and evade when they die (these projectiles go a long, long way before dispersing, so you may be hit from behind a while after dodging). Next is a mix of squid and eye things, so master that evasion and work those locked shots. Magic is ill-advised due to problems with dodging so many incoming projectiles at once. You'll now find a mass of bats, which you haven't seen in so long, but don't really care to see again, so give them a magic attack. Now for some more bats and eyes. This time it's safe, so go with locked shots until you get a magic attack, then use that and be ready to dodge. Now the enemy should be behind you, but if not, just follow you radar. Peek-a-boo Squids, bats too. I predict locked shots from you. Let them know just who is who. A magic attack or two? No harm t'will do, so go ahead and make them shoo. Now they're all dead, no boohoo. Chapter 6 - An Old Enemy Verse 1 - Love Debased Just watch as Inuart seemingly forgets who Furiae is. Funny, he wanted power to win her love, and now that he has, he doesn't know who she is anymore. What a knucklehead! Verse 2 - A Black Dragon This will be your first encounter with Inuart and his black dragon in the air, but there will be plenty more. This guy just refuses to die. Locked shots are all but useless against him, so just evade his attacks until he puts himself in a bad spot and then give him a dumb shot right in the mouth for Furiae! He is especially vulnerable when he jolts almost straight upward and prepares to fire his own dragon's magic attack, so try to hit him at least twice at these times, but keep evasion in mind as well. He's pretty mean. As long as you keep getting him with the dumb fire, and maybe a magic attack if you get lucky, he'll go down soon enough; before you if you remember to dash and dodge at the same time (this increases the distance that you dodge and makes it much harder for homing projectiles to hit you). Verse 3 - Destiny Another aerial mission. This one's actually pretty darn rough because you have to fly through the winding maze that is the sky fortress with no map and destroy all the cannons. First order of business, get rid of those enemy dragons so they can't chase you through the fortress. Due to their numbers, locked shots are the way to go, and you can fire the magic when you get it. Magic attacks also go through walls, so you may want to save the second one to use once you go to the cannon left of where you started. Get right over it and launch the magic, then get to the center of the fortress and kill the few cannons that remain. That, my friend, is how you use glitches to your advantage. Verse 4 - Unholy Prayers Twenty minutes to get through, enemies everywhere, and a weapon to be found in this level. First off, just hack your way as hurriedly as you can through here. You don't even need to kill them, just get them out of your way and run your butt off all the way around this place and go up to the second floor. Now, since you've saved some time ignoring the idiots now below you, have a little fun and kill every single thing that moves, breathes, and/or blinks on this floor. This will cause a chest to appear containing the long sword, Flamberge. Now, go to the next set of stairs leading up and...go up! Now just go to the door and you're done. Verse 5 - Mute Proceed onward, cutting through any of the negligible enemies you want. This part sucks. You've been working your ass off and here you find the slip dead as a wedge. But how could that little girl have managed to drive the dagger into Furiae's bosom? Who knows...or cares? It's there, the goddess is dead, and the last seal is broken. What a... Chapter 7 - Tragedy Verse 1 - Realization Skip this if you want. I find it pointless and worth nothing to the story. Except that Inuart snaps out of it...kind of. Verse 2 - For Her Grown men do cry sometimes... Verse 3 - A Decision Necrophiliac sicko!!! Verse 4 - The Sorrowful Sky Remember how I said there'd be plenty more encounters with Inuart and his black dragon? This is one of them. He hasn't really improved, except that he dodges dumb shots now, too, and has more HP, so just use the same method as you did the first time with the exception of firing at him at any time other than when he is about to launch magic. Tap R2 if he gets too far away form your crosshairs and hold it until he's back in or near them. Dodge like you've never dodged before and give him serious dumb fire when he's using a magic attack and you should crush him again after several minutes. Patience is the key. Chapter 8 - Seals Verse 1 - Things Inhuman The first thing you'll see that isn't landscape or your dragon is a hoard of statues, cubes, and epitaphs. Just what you needed, huh? As previously stated, lock on to the statues and wait until they open, then let go and watch them drop. Cubes need no explanation; any method is a good one for these. You already know the drill with the epitaphs, too, four dumb fire shots each, or wait until they launch the light, evade, then give them one shot. Magic attacks with go about 60% wasted here, but you're free to try it and hope it's your lucky day. The next wave is high up, so go ahead and gain yourself some altitude before you head their way. I suggest rising in a circular motion so you don't get too close or too far away. These skulls don't really seem to react to locked shots, so give them dumb fire. I really hope you've been saving up your magic attacks. You'll need maybe two here, but use no more than that. The next group will call for one, too. Bats and cubes. Next is a single- file tower of statues guarded by dragons and skulls. Take out the skulls first, then the dragons, leaving the statues for last. Dodge a lot, since the statues will constantly be launching their homing projectiles at you. After the skulls and dragons perish, take care of the tower of statues with dumb shots as they open, starting from the top and working your way down. That's it, you're done here. Verse 2 - Living Myths The little bug enemies do almost no damage. He'll usually call all his little minions to him and form a small orb after being hit with enough ballistic attacks, but without his buggies he just forms the orb. Give him locked shots until he opens back up, and be ready to dodge anything he throws at you. More little bugs will be spawned each time he reopens if you killed any, so just ignore them and focus on the big guy himself. Once I learned that ballistic fireballs do more damage than locked shots do, this mission went, for me, from near impossible to almost ridiculously easy. You just have to evade. As with all aerial bosses, patience is the key. He'll die soon enough. Verse 3 - The Capital Three aerial missions in a row. Very good for the dragon. Start by locking on to as many bats as possible and repeat this until your magic gauges are all three full or all the bats are dead (that'll probably be the case). You have eight locks available if you haven't noticed that already, so this should be gravy. Once your magic is full or all the bats have been burned, bust one loose on any remaining bats and/or head for the next wave. Use locked shots on the squids and ballistics on the epitaphs for best results. Next wave: statues, squids, and eye creatures. With a bunch like that, the strategy should be obvious. Locked shots all the way to hell and back. Another wave awaits you, so go on and face the dirty bats, statues, and epitaphs. A magic attack would serve well to soften them up, possibly ruin the bats and epitaphs so you can focus on the statues. Buckle up and drop down on the statues, skulls, and wraiths waiting beneath you. I did best taking out the skulls, statues, and wraiths in that order. Dumb shots for the skulls, locked shots and waiting on the statues and wraiths, but you might try busting off whatever magic attacks you have left, since this is the final wave. Now head for the target location and your home free...in enemy territory. Verse 4 - Joy Unknown Lots of arbalesters and red spear knights at the start, so dismount and get one of your medium speed, good strength weapons and break through the enemy wish dashes to get to the targets, but watch out, because before you can get to them, you have to go through or around a pair of dual-wielding ogres who just hate heavy weapons that knock them down. Four target undead knights will appear at each spot indicated on the map as housing a target. These goons are, as usual, quite healthy, and do perilous damage. Utilize dashes, finishing blows, and magic, avoiding close-quarters combat as much as you can unless you are using a weapon that knocks enemies down with each hit. If you need it, there is health in the first target street to the left, just go onto that street and take the first available right turn. Once you kill a group, their key will appear in a chest somewhere very close. Kill the four groups and get the four keys and another chest will appear in one of the side streets. It holds the Moonfire, one of the best-balanced long swords in the game. One you've gotten it, go to the new targets, yet again four to an indicator. These are packed tightly together, so you'll really have to be slick here. Suggested is a weapon with a shockwave type finishing blow that can kick in, at the earliest, on the third swing, meaning that you should only have to hit square once, then triangle, and your third swing will be a finishing blow. This should help to keep enemies off your back, but there is no way to guarantee complete safety. Just keep at it and look in the side streets for another health chest if you get too beat up. Pick up the fifth key and head for the target. Verse 5 - A Peaceful Casket Hit R1 as soon as this level starts to evade the incoming heavy infantry soldier. Man, that was unfair. Get out one of your heavy weapons and jump attack any that approach you, then go and beat each one to death in turn. Use of a heavy weapon is absolutely necessary so that they don't counterattack. It's that or use a smaller weapon and rain finishing blows down on their heads. Whatever you do, keep knocking them down. As stated in the notes, a dodge can be performed at ANY time, so if you start to swing at one and find another about to attack from behind, cut your attack short with a dodge to the direction where the least amount of enemies are. If you lack dodging skill, you lack life on this level. There is health to the left of the dancing Manah if you get badly hurt at any time. The second wave of enemies is six pairs of undead soldiers. Use the same basic tactics as you did on the heavy infantry to rid the world of these, but remember if you go combo with them that they will block the killing blow from anything with an attack power of 32 or less unless you throw in a finishing blow somewhere or by some freak chance knock them down before then. The third wave is the same as the second, but they're spawned closer to the middle of the hall. Try to stay on the outsides and pick them off. Again, the fourth wave consists of six pairs of enemies, undead and heavy infantry together, but this time they are in the middle of the hall and in front of the door (as if you'd try to escape...hah!). Keep it up the way you've been doing, sticking to the outside and taking them one by one, no more than two at a time if you can help it. Fifth wave, eight ghosts and two greater wizards divided equally into two groups. Do your best to ignore the ghosts and kill the wizards summoning them, though these greater wizards have unusually high HP in comparison to their lesser counterparts and can counterattack. Just bust them up with the most damaging weapon you have, and if it's slow, use jump attacks, watching out for ghosts. Sixth wave, three heavy infantry by the door that are to be dealt with after the two lesser wizards in the center of the hall that have drastically lower HP than the last ones. You know how to kill the infantry by now, so for the wizards, normal combos with fast weapons, adding a finishing blow when their ghost buddies get too close. Seventh wave, seven ghosts will appear, arranged along both sides of the hall rug. You know how to do this; the same way you did at the desert temple. Slow, small movements, then spring on them. One at a time is the best plan. Eighth wave (getting redundant, aren't they?), three lesser wizards with ghosts. Ninth and, thanks heavens, final wave, two lesser wizards and their summoned ghouls. Finally!! Verse 6 - Struggle Watch as Verdelet becomes the one true blue IDIOT on this planet and stops you from cutting that little cuss in half, instead trying to seal the evil within her. No dice, Verdelet, now thanks to you, we go to... Verse 7 - Unrelenting Isn't Manah a bit young to be hitting her growth spurts? Oh well, blast her back down to size. Her fighting style changes as her HP decreases by 33%. DO NOT USE MAGIC UNTIL THIS STYLE. The first is no biggy, just fire ballistics into her when she isn't encased in a black orb, and dodge her attacks, but DO NOT USE MAGIC UNTIL THE THIRD STYLE. Simple enough. Her second style is a bit more challenging. She begins emitting horizontal rings of runes that damage you pretty heavily on contact. Just fly over or under these rings and try to keep your distance while relentlessly pounding her with UNlocked shots. DO NOT USE MAGIC UNTIL THE THIRD STYLE. Her third style is emitting rings in every direction. NOW USE THE MAGIC!!! Bust her arse with however many magic attacks you've built up at this point. If she doesn't die, just try your best to keep out of range of the rings and hit her with locked shots and magic when you get it until she dies. Good work, friend!! You got her! Verse 8 - Sin Still not dead yet!? Shut up, kid!!! I personally would love to oblige, but unfortunately, they are not me. Fortunately, the dragon is much crueler. And, quite kind, actually. Such a nice dragon, to offer herself as the seal, and if you didn't know, there was some affection for Caim there, as blatantly shown in... Verse 9 - A Soul Sealed Watch the dragon become the goddess seal. Watch Caim cry for the first time we know of. Listen as the dragon gives Caim her name...finally. AND CELEBRATE BECAUSE YOU JUST OBTAINED THE FIRST OF FIVE ENDINGS!!! Chapter 9 - Requiem Verse 1 - Dragonfire The first wave here is of dragons, and should be dealt with by unlocked shots. The second wave is the same and should be dealt with the same. The third wave is yet again identical, so you know without my saying what to do. Now just go to the target location. That was way too easy, huh? Verse 2 - In the Name of Love Cut your way through, but watch for side streets near the end of this unusually lengthy event mission. After about two to three minutes, start checking each side street you come across. In one of them rests a chest containing the mighty Foul Blade, a potent axe. Once you've found it, continue on to the end. If you have not found the axe, yet you reach a very wide-open area, you have gone too far, because that's the end of the mission. Backtrack and check every little niche for the axe, and remember, most weapons, this one included, can only be obtained on Normal difficulty. Verse 3 - Sowing Seeds Inuart has gone completely mad. Take him out quick using the same strategy as always, unlocked fire when he makes himself vulnerable. Verse 4 - Encounter In a way, that's cool and ironic because he got what he had coming to him, but more than that it's just sick and wrong. How could the writers do that!? It's not fair. And when did that sick necrophiliac change Furiae's clothes back to her white gown? Verse 5 - The Demon's Wings She's not Furiae anymore, so don't burden yourself with grief over having to scorch the flesh right off that pretty face. This battle is extremely difficult, however, if your dragon isn't good and beefed up. I would suggest at least 1.2 million experience before doing this. She fires, as her normal attack, a set of vertical blades of light, then a horizontal set, and they really sting. If that weren't trouble enough, she has another attack in which she creates a ring of swords around her form, waits for a while, then fires them at you for massive and almost guaranteed damage. Dodge her light blades and hit her with ballistic fire until she creates the swords, then use locked shots to take those out, or a magic attack if you are fortunate enough to have built one up. If even one sword remains, she'll hit you for the full amount of damage. I cannot stress enough the importance of the elimination of those swords. Also, when the swords are around her, she is invulnerable. If you work this out right, you should be able to silence her, but you have to be slick with those dodges and when the swords appear, hit circle to take your lock off of her so your camera will turn with you. This helps in locking onto the swords, though the camera will set itself on her again if your crosshairs go too near her. All in all, evade, hit her with unlocked shots, hit the sword with locked shots, and you should come out severely beaten but nevertheless victorious, but then... Verse 6 - Goddesses It would seem the other Seeds took information from the first and birthed Furiae-demons of their own. What a lousy way for humanity to go...but you did get a new ending. Verse IV - Sleep Inuart lies down beside Furiae and dies, and then the dragon senses that Manah is at the altar trying to sow one of the Seeds. Off you go. Verse V - Providence Goodbye, Manah. I hope you had a decent flavor. Verse VI - Under a Dark Sky This mission is a definite whopper. You face the dragon in the form that grants it the highest attack power. Woohoo! Finally, a real challenge! The weapon of choice for this mission is Hymir's Finger, level 4, with a whopping 62 attack power and 45-kilogram weight. Equip this and bum rush the dragon, taking cover behind columns when she attacks, then either run up and jump attack her head or stay behind the column and throw finishing blows at her, since they go through walls while her fireballs do not. After a few hits, she'll fly to the other end of the hall. Follow her and repeat whichever strategy worked better for you. Again, after a few hits, she'll take off to the other end of the hall. Now instead of fireballs, she's using a breath attack that sweeps the whole hall for a troublesomely long way and out to each side, but yet again she cannot get to you behind the columns. Now it is advised that you stay hidden and throw finishing blows. It may take a bit longer, but it's better than ending up barbequed warrior. Once again, she'll switch ends of the hall after a certain amount of damage has been done, but now each time she takes off, these very, very, very annoying little balls of light trace the lines between the floor tiles, seeking you out and knocking you over if they hit, and that's all she does now; land, wait, and take off again. To best avoid these nuisances, bunny hop your way to her and beat her about the head and...head, with Hymir's Finger before she takes off again. After a while, she'll start using locked shots on you. Just stay out of the locked shot circle thing that appears on your screen and keep trashing her out in between her attacks. Eventually you'll deal enough damage to get her to say, "Forgive me, Caim. It is for the survival of all life." As I am playing it now, I can confirm that she is simply standing there, shifting from foot to foot, waiting to be hit. She may not do this for you, but oblige the dying creature either way. There is health at the southeast corner of the hall if and when she breaks you down too much. Keep this up and you'll kill her in good time. Congrats on yet another ending. Verse VII - Light The dragon tells Caim the obvious, then the lights in her eyes go out and she dies. Caim destroys the wretched seed, then goes out into the awesome light to face the dragon's kin. Chapter 10 - Astray Verse 1 - Barriers Kill the dragons before you with unlocked shots. Now, either neglect all else and evade like heck while destroying the towers, or leave them until last. If you choose the latter, take out the ships with unlocked shots aimed at their cannons while evading groups of locked shots from the towers in reach. Dragons should be put down with unlocked shots as well. Make sure when you dispatch an enemy to hit circle and take your camera focus off the nearest tower. Once you've taken all the enemies out, turn to the towers and evade their attacks while aiming unlocked shots at the shiny things on top of them. When the towers have all fallen, you may either go straight to the target location, or first eliminate the dragons with ballistic shots or a nice magic attack. Now go to the target and you're in. Verse 2 - Ark You weren't fast enough. Enemy reinforcements have arrived. As always, take out the zeppelins with unlocked shots. Now drop down and show the same "service" to the Imperial flotilla. I hope they like big fireballs raining down unguided on their cannons. You will find that some of those ships have six cannons instead of just two. These should be blown to smithereens first. Once you have thus taken care of the nearby ships, it's back to the sky for more zeppelins, then immediately back down for two more six-gun ships. Get rid of them and continue on to the dirigible waiting for you back in the sky and tear it down with locked shots. Now then, straightaway back down to the ocean again, you find still more enemy vessels awaiting destruction. It's rude to keep people waiting. With these final enemies gone, you've nothing left to do but follow the white arrow and end the mission. Verse 3 - A Lull Completely and utterly devoid of all life. Yet for some reason there are TWO weapons to be collected here. Run nonstop straight to the stairs to the second floor, but don't go up. You only have two minutes, and the first chest will appear containing the axe Poisontongue when you get near the stairs to the second floor. Check your map and backtrack to it, then go to the second floor. Here, in most devilishly tempting fashion, waits the chest containing the poleaxe Widow's Death. Ignore it, you'll have to play the mission again to have time to get it. Go straight forward up the stairs to the next floor, then proceed dead ahead into the hall marked as a target. You win without ever lifting a finger. Verse 4 - To Drink Poison ...is weird and unhealthy, but anyways. Just run as fast as you can in the direction you were facing when this mission started. There are still no enemies. Stupid Leonard, leading you on a wild goose chase that doesn't even result in a swung blade. Verse II - Hear the Ocean Identical to the sky fortress, the place is riddled with vast amounts of enemies and you only have twenty minutes here. Head to the third to last room as quickly as you possibly can and eradicate all enemy presence in it. I suggest using the Moonfire for this task and simply waylaying everything in whatever manner pleases you. A chest containing the dandy axe Lovekeeper will appear back at the start of the stage in that small room with entrances/exits on all four sides. Now proceed hastily to the second floor and make the fastest work of 42 red map dots you've ever killed in your history with his game. If all goes well, you should have time enough to do this with a heavy weapon and lots of dash attacks. I managed to do this mission with Hymir's finger, level 4, and get both weapons in 6 minutes 41 seconds, so you should be able to handle it with twenty minutes available to you. Verse III - The Gods' Will The chest containing Sorrow's Companion is directly left of you, staring you right in the face. Pick it up and cut your way to the door. Chapter 11 - Partings Verse 1 - Maze >From your starting point, equip a weapon with powerful and long-range attack magic, then check your map, then proceed through the corridor on the right. Pass through this room, dispatching or ignoring foes at your own whims, and treat the next the same way. Go north through this long, narrow hall filled with shield-charging enemies, taking the first available left, the one that keeps you in the network of narrow halls. DO NOT go to the northeastern most room yet. Take that left I just told you about and fight your way to the four-way junction and go right, not setting foot even one step any other direction. Pass through the next room and go through the hall on the east side, though there is health in this room if you need it. Taking this exact path will cause enemies to spawn in the northeast room that you have now entered. Kill these enemies to cause a chest containing the infinitely invaluable sword Kingsblood to appear. Pick it up and head to the next floor, preferably along the path of least resistance and packing a weapon that has magic to stop those stinking shield-soldiers in their tracks. Here on the second floor, just fight your way through with a heavy weapon until you get to the second narrow hall of considerable length, then use your long range power magic weapon again to get through the shield soldiers. Try to clear out all of the enemies along the path you have taken; at least to the point where you can run through and dodge their lunge attacks without running into another one. You'll be back. Once you get to the end, go downstairs and be ready to immediately begin battling against four heavy infantry soldiers. Dodge left or right to start out with, then go combo on them, only hitting as much as three times before throwing in a finishing blow (you'll need to equip a weapon that emits an orange light on the first swing for this). Eventually this'll take them out without too much harm done to you, and get the chest with the key to appear. DO NOT GO THROUGH THE DOOR YET!!! Go back upstairs, check your map, and proceed to the circle-shaped room to get the treasure chest containing the staff Edacious, but DO NOT head for the target indicator on this floor at least until you have the staff. Once you've got it, go to the target on this floor (Manah) or head back to the last floor and go through the door. That is the normal way; Manah leads to an alternate ending. Verse 2 - Dreams and Truth Keep going northeast until you can do so no more due to a broken northeast and southeast bridge (upper right and lower right). On the part sticking out on one of these two is a chest containing the poleaxe Reaper's Scythe. Pick it up and go on ahead to the end, but watch out for red shield soldiers. Verse 3 - Falling Petals I really don't like this, but suicide is a coward's way out, so thus Furiae must be a coward in her heart of hearts. Verse 4 - Anger Checked If I were the dragon, I would've encouraged you, 'cause I just don't like that little turd. Time to go stop the sowing of the Seeds. Verse II - Hide and Seek This verse is for those of you who chose to go to Manah instead of going back down to the door, and is fairly simple, but before you go chasing Manah down, there are two weapons in this level. The first must be gotten by running your butt off to the south end of the top floor (you can tell you're on the top floor when there are no more stairs that go up, goofball), into the large room you started in in verse 1, and then killing every single enemy in the room before your mission timer reaches 55:00 (get there and kill them all in under about five minutes). Waste no time on the peons along the way, unless to get them out of the way. The chest will appear in this room upon emptying it, and it contains the poleaxe Devilscale. The second chest will appear when fifteen minutes have passed, not including pauses and map checks, at the room connected to the south end of the long north/south hall on the east side of the map (this too is on the top floor), containing the mace Skull Banquet (this weapon has the single greatest support spell in the game, Demon's Whisper). Now just equip one of your heavy knock-downers and bash your way through to the circle-shaped room where you got Edacious, and that's that. Two more weapons for you. Verse III - Betrayal Admit it. For a little guy, Seere's got guts. Even if she is his twin sister, she's still got that magic and all... Verse IV - Loved Well, that's most definitely the end of Manah. Verse V - Paradise Inuart still doesn't get it, does he? This guy is, as I have said in another way before, completely nuts beyond all hope of redemption. A sad end for Furiae, to be sure, but the writers of this game had apparently condemned the poor girl to die no matter what you do, so don't mourn too enthusedly. This is only the beginning of the... Chapter 12 - Chaos Chapter note: Be prepared for this chapter to more than live up to its name. You will see things that managed to turn even my stomach, and if this chapter alone doesn't prove these people to be the ultimate victims of Murphy's Law, I don't know anything in the world that does. Verse 1 - A Little Thing What in the name of reality and reason is that!? Definitely not a Seed, that's for sure. Which means Furiae can't possibly be dead. That's something to keep in mind as you watch the story plummet from tragedy into just plain wrongness or no other reason that this kind of thing just shouldn't happen to a guy. Verse 2 - Extermination As I recall, you only need to drop fifty of these, but they're quite dangerous. First, do a 180 and get out of the mix. Now, come back in SLOWLY and pick them off one by one with unlocked shots. Note that a new one appears for every one you kill, no telling where though. Just try to hang around the outside of the mass and take them out one at a time, dodging their uber potent electric shadow balls until you build up a magic attack, then cut loose and hope for the best. Usually the magic attack with put you over the 50 mark, but if not, just stay out of the crossfire and keep blasting them down one after another until you reach 50 or get another magic attack. Locked shots are fairly pointless here, since these things neither evade nor do they move of their own will any other time. Verse 3 - Toward Truth Dismount at the start. Now, before you go throwing down heavy weapon judgment on the undead targets, use your map to seek out every single one of the grotesqueries in the side streets. This will cause a chest to appear containing the Takamasa, one of my favorite long swords (and I have them all). In order to battle these, I suggest using the Moonfire and using nothing but jump attacks. You can use a dash attack to soften them up first, if you can run around their shadow balls without stopping your dash, but they are really vulnerable to jump attacks due to their size, which makes it possible for the attack to hit twice before you reach the ground if you're facing them right on the money. It is important to understand that, if you act a fool and try to toy with them, you WILL be hurt badly. They can counterattack, are impervious to magic, and though if there is only one they do not attack rapidly, they have commendable aim and do enough damage per hit to make a smart level 99 Caim worry about dodging. Anyway, once you get the Takamasa, again hold off on dispatching the undead targets. Go back out into the courtyard where they await you and take care of the grotesqueries here first, then fly over the targets to the northernmost area and kill the grotesqueries here as well. Another chest should appear containing Balberith's Tears, possibly the best spear in the game. If at any time you get in a bad way, don't hesitate to summon your ally (Arioch or Leonard, preferably). NOW you can kill the targets, preferably with a heavy weapon and/or finishing blows. Don't grab the health by the northeast corner of the destroyed building in the middle of the courtyard just yet, unless you have less than 15% health remaining. When the undead are taken care of, three groups of five grotesqueries will appear in the next courtyard. As if one at a time wasn't bad enough. Try using a sword or long sword with jump attacks, but do not under any circumstances stay in the midst of these for more than two attacks. After two at the most, haul tail out of there and get as far as you can without letting them out of radar range, zigzagging widely to avoid being hit. Keep repeating this tactic until at least three are dead, four if the last two are not both damaged at least 45%, then kill off the remaining one or two with constant jump attacks back and forth from one to the other to prevent either one from getting a shot off at you. If you haven't gotten that health already, keep saving it until either your health is 15% or lower, or 40% or lower and you're on the last set. If you did get it already, don't worry too much. There's another at the northernmost part of the map in front of the stairs to the shrine. However, since this is only the first wave of target grotesqueries, I disadvise grabbing these health chests too early. Sticking to the strategy above should keep you from harm for the most part, save one or two lucky shots. Once the first three groups are gone, two more sets will appear to the south end of the map. Again there are five apiece, so stick with what got you this far and dispatch them. Get health now if you have a chest left. The third and final wave consists of only one group, so once you're done with them, breathe a sigh of fleeting relief, because you're done here AND you now boast two more weapons. Verse 4 - Gaia's Laughter Arioch is clearly a very stupid elf. Verse 5 - Different Endings This is one of the parts that nearly made me sick. I agree completely with Verdelet for once. But the dragon makes a good point, too. And is that...a grown one? Leonard also meets an unjust fate here, but it's worth it to get rid of that blasted faerie, and I do literally mean BLASTED...just like all those grotesqueries. Verse 6 - Abnormal Each and every single red dot on your map is one or five grotesqueries. Bearing this in mind, carefully cut them down with jump attacks, remembering the strategy against groups. Let fifteen minutes pass in this way. If you get low on health, there is a chest in the southwestern most side path in the south end of the north/south ministreet crossing the main one (if you were as far south as you could be and were heading north, this would be the first available left turn, and then another left turn into the first short, dead-end street you come to along this narrow road), and another in the eastern side path that adjoins the south and central courtyards (the chest is in the middle of the south 4- way junction). When fifteen minutes have passed, a chest will appear containing the hammer Souldouser. Grab this and make your way to the north end of the map as quickly, yet safely, as possible, ignoring or beating aside grotesqueries as necessary. Don't hesitate to backtrack and grab a health chest if either remains at this point, because from personal experience I can tell you that the way one plays this part with drastically low health, jumpy and overly anxious, causes mistakes. Best to try and go back for the health. If you die, you probably would have on the way to the target anyway, and if not, you now have full health and restored confidence. Run on, able warrior! Verse 7 - The Great Time That gutsy little commando! They're going in! Too bad he has to be the sacrificial lamb, though. Verse 8 - A Little Hero This is a neat addition to the story, Seere getting to live his dream of being the Little Hero portrayed in his mother's tales, but it really has no bearing on anything, and you can take no action in this event, so watch or skip as you like. Verse 9 - Awakening Don't even bother firing a shot unless there's one right in your direct beeline to the target location. My goodness, what a belly. Just evade like you were trying to impress your fiance! I say this because you'll automatically dodge like your life depended on it, 'cause it does, but that's not enough. They WILL break you down in less than a minute if you're not perfectly careful or playing on Easy here (in which case you wouldn't even really need to dodge). Crush that X button, too. Never let it go. If you're slick enough, you should be able to span the great distance between you and the queen-beast alive. At the lowest possible altitude, I made it through without ever having to touch the L1 or R1 button, and I did it completely unscathed. Verse 10 - Seere's Solace Though you, the dragon, and little Seere were all sacrificed in the process, you did manage to save what's left of the world...and more importantly, you got the fourth ending. Good job! Chapter 13 - Truth Verse 1 - A Journey If you've gotten this far, you're a freak who is obsessed with this game and driven to master it completely...welcome to the community! Just watch this little scene and get your trigger thumb ready. Verse 2 - New World ...Or maybe it's just modern-day Tokyo? Either way, you and the dragon somehow chased the queen-beast through a rift in time and ended up here. Now she becomes a statue. Did you get that thumb nice and loosened up? Let's hope so, you'll need it for... Verse 3 - The Greatest Battle If greatest means hardest, these guys aren't kidding. For a while you will only be using two buttons, triangle and square. Your dragon is set on a fixed circuit around the statue, so don't bother trying to move. You CANNOT speed fly, dodge, 180, face your target (R2 if you forgot), or un-target the statue (circle). The enemy cannot be attacked, so it has no health bar, rendering L3 useless, and since this is an aerial mission, you have no map and cannot use weapons, leaving R3 out of the picture as well. Select is disabled for obvious reasons, so that leaves us with Start, triangle and square. Square launches a white runic ring out from you, while triangle fires a black one. The object of this mission is to survive until time runs out by blocking the statues white rings with your white rings, and her blacks with your blacks. Note that you will be unable to fire for two seconds if you hit her ring with one of the opposite color, and this will mean death toward the end, since one hit kills you automatically no matter what. Everything up until the last 27 seconds or so is simple enough. First, she will fire four whites in very slow succession, then four blacks at the same speed. Now get ready, she speeds up just a little here and begins to alternate. She'll start with a white, black, white, black, white, black combination, then throw in three blacks in a quick row, and pause for a brief moment, after which she gets her thinking or whatever done and launches a white, black, white, black, white, black, white combo, followed shortly after by a quick three whites. Essentially, this is what I just said: First wave: w...w...w...w...b...b...b...b...w, b, w, b, w, b, b,b,b, w, b, w, b, w, b, w, w,w,w. (w = white) (b = black) (... = seconds between rings where on period is one second) (comma w/space = normal-length pause) (comma w/o space = shorter pause between shots than comma w/space) (hyphen w/space = shorter pause than commas with no spaces, but still a very brief pause) (hyphen w/o space = no pause between shots) Now the second wave is a bit more difficult, but not too much to handle if you have average hand-eye coordination and reflexes. She'll wait for a good while after the end of the first wave before starting, so take this time to pause, rest your thumb or fingers a bit, and possibly look ahead a little here to see what's coming up. Second wave: (from first).....b, w, b, w, b,b, w, w, w-w-w, b, w, b, w, b-b-b, w, w, w-w-w, b,w,b,w,b,w,w, b,w,b,w,b,w-w-w-w, w, w, b-b-w, w, b- b-w, w, b-b-w,b-w-b-w-b-w-b-w-w That one got a bit scary toward the end, didn't it? That's NOTHING compared to what you're up against now. I think you ticked her off, getting this far. Now it took me a total of eight hours of trying this two-minute-twenty-two-second mission to figure out that, unless you have superhuman hand-eye coordination and equal reflexes to go with it, there's no possibly way to do this part. It was then that I learned, hey, if I can't speed myself up, I'll just slow it down. Pause for now while I show you the pattern and rhythm, then tell you how to beat the unbeatable. Final wave: (from second)...b....b, w,w,w,b,w,w,w,b,w-w-w-w,w,b,w-w-w- w,w,b,b-w-b-b-w-b-w-b-w-b-w-b-b-w-b-b-w-b-w-b-w-b-w-b-w-w-w-b-b-b-w-b-w- b-w-w-b-b-b-w-w-w-b-w-b-w-b-w-w.......b Holy freaking cow, man!!! Just the continuous chain is forty-nine rings long without all the stuff before it that throws you off!!! Yeah, so what if I tried to predict what you were saying. It's what you should be saying. Well, fear not! Or have you forgotten about that other button that still has a use. That's right, my friend, I'm talking about Start and the almighty pause function! My suggestion to you is that you start using it at the second black ring in this wave (the whole wave, not just that doozey of a chain). This will give you time to look and prepare for what's coming. You might try to be brave if you want, but I personally recommend pausing after blocking the second black of this wave, then looking at what's next in line before unpausing, firing immediately, then instantly pausing again. You might take two or three shots at a time, but any more than that is 80% suicide, a number that grows rapidly the longer you go without pausing. It's statistics; with no break, you're bound inevitably to screw up somewhere and I guarantee those rings won't be far enough away for you to recover. I did it one at a time myself, and I have no patience whatsoever. However you choose to do this is completely up to you, though (as if I could make you do it my way or something...ha!). Verse 4 - Recursion That just sucks all kinds of butt cheek!!! Bunch'a knucklehead ingrates! *fumes* See? This is why no one does good things for strangers anymore. Well, I guess giving you the privilege of having obtained the last ending is enough to merit the ignorance...this time. Leonard's Regret Verse 1 - The Forest of the Seal Take out the first group quick, using locked shots on the bats and ballistics on the griffons, as always, and treat the next ones the same way. For the three dragons coming up next, go with unlocked shots to put them down with one or two each, then turn around and give those bats who dared intrude in your dragon-killing and let loose your magic attack. Now fly at normal speed once you get to the next group and give the bats long-distance locked shots to build up your MP and unleash another magic attack here. Smear the griffons across the landscape with unlocked shots, then turn on the bats that yet again came in from the side while you were busy and interrupted. Make them pay in sets of four with your locked shots, again using the magic attack when you get it. Dragons will come in at you while you're doing this, but an unlocked shot each will shut them up. Verse 2 - Smells Just chase the white arrow. Verse 3 - Grief Pull out a light weapon and take out the arbalesters in front of you, then evade the ballistae shots as you work up to and kill the operator. Now turn around, but DO NOT go for the targets yet. Go all the way west and get out a weapon with high attack power, then use jump attacks to kill off all the knights in this area. A chest will appear containing the mace Carrion Maker. Get out a light weapon and fight or flee your way back to the targets. Use dash attacks and finishing blows against these, with magic whenever you get enough MP stored up. While these conscripts have somewhat lesser HP than their adult counterparts, they are more skilled in attack and defense and can throw three-hit combos. When the first four trios are done away with, eight more will appear in two units. Kill one unit of four trios and another will spawn. Ignore these new targets and finish off the second unit to make yet another appear. These are the last two, so finish them off and be done with this mission. Verse 4 - Uncommon Mercy There's a chest containing the long sword Demonbane out in the open next to a set of stairs, so get it FIRST and then continue on. Make a fool of Leonard and slay the ghosts as they come. Since this is an event mission, one to two hits should make them fade away again. Death to the undead, a strange but applicable concept. Verse 5 - The Memories of the Faeries No new enemies here, so just do what you always do to whatever enemy shows its face. Don't worry about saving magic attacks. Use them whenever you want. Verse 6 - Gleanings This mission is a good one for Demonbane. Traverse the map with this your new sword and destroy EVERY SINGLE CHILD CONSCRIPT ON THE MAP to make a chest appear containing Apostate's Misery (pole axe or spear, don't remember). Now head to the west section of the map and take out the heavy cavalry there. The best method is to max out the magic gauge of a strong weapon and single one out, using jump attacks and magic if he charges to stop him in his tracks. Take out the ballistae first, though. Once you kill them all, three more should appear. Take care of them and yet another wave appears. This is the last group, so make quick work of them and head for the target location to be done with this mission. Verse 7 - Dragon's Rest The faerie king, perhaps even more annoying than Leonard's pact-partner, tells you in an annoyingly cryptic manner that Furiae has been taken to the desert. Arioch's Madness Verse 1 - The Soughing of the Waves First, make ash of the four zeppelins with dumb fire. Now beneath you there are three small warships that only need two shots each, one for each cannon. With ships, it is best to stay on one side of them or the other, but not the front or back, since that leaves you in firing range of both or all turrets. When you've sunk these, four more pop up a little ways off. You know what to do. Unlocked shots. Finally you get to go back into the real sky again, but only for a pair of zeppelins, which should be downed first, and then a trio of dragons. Three more dragons await you once you finish these, and when they've been killed, it's back to the water for three more ships and you're done. Verse 2 - Her Favorite Things... Arioch killed all the little kids. What's wrong with this bi....oh. Thanks, Salamander and Undine, for that little bit of enlightenment. Verse 3 - Lantern Fishing First of, use unlocked shots to down the three ships below you to the right a little. Next, a group of four, and one of them is a big ship. You should have a magic attack, so use it. This'll soften up the big one and easily take out at least one of the smaller ones. Dispatch whatever remains with ballistic shots and proceed on to the fleet of five. Once again there's a large one here. Kill the small one behind it, then let loose your magic from where it was. This should destroy 4-5 turrets on the big one. Finish it off and blast the remaining three with dumb fire. Now take it back to the sky for four skulls. These are best busted with unlocked shots, but you'll need to use your R2 button a lot to keep your aim up with them, as they are quite fast. These are the last enemies, so head for the target spot and you've beaten this little dainty of a mission. Verse 4 - Playing Alone Too late. The seal is already broken, so you just wasted your time in coming here, except for those who want 100% game completion. Seere's Prayer Verse 1 - A Stony Path This is not an action event. Just watch and you'll see what you're up against in... Verse 2 - Remote Giants First, get out of the way of the wizards' magic missiles and check your map. In the big niche in the hills to the south, you should find a chest containing the sword Dragonhook. Get this and proceed to the nearest set of wizards and a golem. Pull out one of your faster weapons with a good reach (i.e. Kingsblood level 4) and evade the magic missiles of the wizards to get to the blue one. Killing him should cause the golem to sink into the ground. Now dispatch the other four wizards and repeat this process on the other three groups. Simple enough. You're done here. Verse 3 - Tossed About Welcome back to the sky. You will notice the massive horizontal four- line column of cubes before you. Locked shots will do just fine until both your magic gauges are full, then you can unleash one on them if enough remain to merit it in your mind. If one doesn't kill them all, go back to locked shots and fill the emptied gauge again. You'll need at least one when you reach the end of this column to take out the ramming cubes and epitaphs there. When they're all finally disintegrated, two more epitaphs will await you a little to the right (unless your facing puts them behind you or to the left). Try using locked shots to get rid of their little lights before they can launch them at you, then give them each a good dumb blast. Oh my, more ramming cubes dropped in on you, you say? Give them your remaining magic attack. Now you'll be heading for a group consisting of epitaphs, one or two dozen stationary cubes, and more ramming cubes than I care to count. The biggest threats are the epitaphs, so get rid of the one in front first, then blast off locked shots relentlessly to get through the cubes to the other epitaphs, letting loose magic attacks if and when you get them. Now that the skies are clear again, go to the target. Verse 4 - To a Friend Golem starts to act weird for a second, but when he feels Seere's pain, it snaps him out of the wizard's control. Be ready for some really, really annoying combat next. Verse 5 - A Journey Before you even start this mission, you should make sure you have a good, strong weapon with decent speed and long to very long reach. I used Windsinger level 4. Also, have Arioch set as your ally. Chances are you won't have a good enough weapon if you've not gotten some from Free Expedition mode, which I will discuss later, so summon your ally whenever you get in the thick with them. Anyhow, when this mission begins, equip the weapon you have that best matches the criteria above. In order to get the weapon from this mission, you must kill all 264 goblins on the map in less than six minutes. As long as you have a weapon that can kill a goblin in one hit while not leaving you too vulnerable to the other seven in the group (or less if your swing was well aimed), and unlike me you remember that you have an ally to summon whose magic does full damage to red enemies, you should be okay. Just remember that if the distance between you and the next closest dot on the map is more than about half an inch, you would do better to fly to it. Most of your time is lost not in fighting, but in getting to the fight to begin with. If you manage to kill them all without destroying all the wizards as well, a treasure chest will appear containing the staff Philosopher's Staff. Now you can turn your attentions to the wizards, who are easily enough gotten rid of; just use a weapon with long or very long reach and evade your way up to them, then cut them down. When they're gone, three blue wizards will appear, each controlling a golem. Ignore the big hunk of rock and eradicate its controller. End of mission. Verse 6 - A Silent Place First, head northwest, sticking to the wall and ignoring enemies unless they get in your way. Eventually the wall will turn east and you'll notice a big brown rock and behind it there should be a chest containing the spear Battlelust. If not, just keep following this path until you find it, though I believe this is where I located it. If all else fails, just search the whole area. When you find it, kill the enemies and watch as a griffon captures Seere. Verse 7 - Gone without a Trace Start with locked shots on the bats until not one remains. There will appear another wave of them, but amongst them are four eye monsters. You might as well use that magic attack now. There should be just enough bats left to get you another one, so use locked shots on them and then turn to the next wave. More bats!? Oh well. They're alone this time, so stick strictly to locked shots and fill up your magic. Bats, eye monsters, bats, and squids. Sounds like a magic attack would be perfect medicine for this infection, doesn't it? Go ahead, cut one loose. Use locked shots on whatever survives and move on. Blast it, it's those wraiths. If you don't know by now, the two best ways to go are: wait until they throw their scythe and then try to hit them with an unlocked shot before they catch it again, or lock onto them as many times as possible while you wait, then release when they throw. Your choice. After they fall, take the short trip to the target location. Verse 8 - Pursuit The first thing to do is ignore the goblins and take out the ballistae to the north, then the one to the west. When this is done, you may turn to the goblins. Kill all the goblin leaders on the map to make a chest appear near the coliseum gates containing the poleaxe Twin's Fang. Goblin leaders are identifiable by the dots next to their health bars and the axes that only they carry. Now to kill off those two target trolls. These guys are pretty mean, and you are without aid from your dragon, so instead use a heavy weapon capable of knocking enemies down, for they can counterattack, and try to take these two on one at a time. A dash attack is a good way to soften them both up beforehand. When they die, a chest will appear. Get the key from it and go up to the gate. Mission complete. Verse 9 - A New Sword Don't let the name fool you. It's only a metaphor for Caim using his blade to help instead of destroy. This event is skippable without loss to the storyline. It's just a pig-man and a goblin showing off Seere as a prize and then you break in and stop the proceedings. Verse 10 - Coliseum This mission consists of ten waves of enemies, which you must defeat in less than five minutes if you want the weapon from here. The first is sixteen goblin leaders. A strong but fast weapon is preferable to deal with these. Wave two is a lone black ogre, best put down by heavy weaponry that knocks enemies down, finishing blows thrown in to shorten the process. The third wave consists of five giants who are quite similar to the black ogre in that they are best killed with heavy weapons and finishing blows, though they have small enough health to use a combo from a weapon of 32 attack power and be killed without counterattacking if one finishing blow is thrown in somewhere. The fourth wave is ten red goblins and three red pigs with magic missile capabilities. Kill them first using a weapon like Kingsblood, Moonfire, Slaughterism, or Takamasa to make things easier on you whilst you obliterate the goblins the same way you did in verse 5, rememberign that you do have an ally to summon if you can't take care of them fast enough. The fifth wave is sixteen goblin leaders and two trolls. Cut down the goblins with something strong and fast, then switch to a heavy weapon and do these trolls like you did the ones before. The sixth wave is more or less just a joke, consisting of three red goblins special only because they have twice the health of a normal one, so take this time if you are badly hurt to run straight ahead into the tunnel thing and grab the full health, then come back and kill off the goblins. The seventh wave is a black ogre and a giant. You know how to kill both of these already, so I'll only say that you should try to get them both at once as much as possible to save time. The eighth wave is made up of eight red goblins and 12 goblin leaders, both of which can be sent to oblivion with consistent combos from a powerful light weapon. The ninth wave is another laughable one, boasting only a troll and a goblin leader, so you should be fine just killing the goblin and using finishing blow combos on the troll. Finally, the tenth and final wave is composed of 16 goblin leaders, two trolls, and two black ogres; the only formidable wave in this crackpot coliseum. Crush the goblins first, as they can be annoying interruptions when trying to get rid of one of the large enemies. Now focus on the trolls to get their fast, heavy attacks out of the picture. The black ogres should pose little to no threat now, so kill them as quickly as possible. If you did all this in under five minutes, a chest will appear containing the MASSIVE long sword Hymir's Finger and the mission will not end until you collect it. Verse 11 - Gratitude and Carelessness In return for saving Seere....you get to watch this little event!! Hurray!!! Free Expedition Mode Ground Missions The following are ground/strafe missions in FEM containing weapons: Crimson Mountains - The Impassable Valley: Simply use the method in the walkthrough above to kill all five black ogres. A chest will appear containing the long sword Greed's Reward. Crimson Mountains - The Coliseum: To get the chest to appear in this mission containing the poleaxe Windsinger, you must defeat nine of the ten waves of enemies in under nine minutes. The Forest of the Seal - The Imperial Garrison: After twenty-five minutes pass, a chest containing the long sword Writheheart will appear near the last target. The Ocean - Inside the Ocean Fortress: Throughout this level you will find treasure chests containing keys. There are seven on the first floor, two on the second floor, and one on the third floor. Get all of these and a chest will appear on the first floor containing the spear Ozymandia's Might. The Imperial Capital - The Altar in the City: Ignoring the enemies, run against the first painting on the right wall, then the first on the left, then the seventh on the right, and lastly the seventh on the left to make a chest appear containing the hammer Treasure Builder. The Imperial Capital - The Destroyed City: Jump on your dragon and fly dead ahead to the end of the map. A chest will appear containing the poleaxe Sorrowborn. The Sky Fortress - Inside the Sky Fortress: This is an easy one, just kill one hundred fifty enemies and the chest containing the Sotrmgiver will appear on the first floor. The Blue Mountains - The Highlands: Lay waste to twelve hundred fifty foes to make the chest containing the staff Magi's Sorrow appear. The Winter Wastelands - The Hidden Mountains: Kill all ten black ogres in the winding mountain maze to make the chest containing the axe Executioner's Song appear. The Desert of the Moon - The Temple of the Desert: After twenty minutes have passed, the chest containing the mace Spiked Wisdom will appear in the prison. The Silent Forest - The Valley of the Faeries: Upon killing every enemy around the shrine, the chest containing the mace Dragonstroke will appear within the shrine. The Silent Forest - The Elf Village: Checking the map, you will notice a thin strip of land near the bridge to the south after you cross it. Killing all the enemies on this thin strip of land will cause the chest containing the spear Victor's Spoils to appear at the end of it. The Castle of the Goddess - The Castle Environs: From the start, check the map and head east. Destroy the line of enemies; including those inside the mountain pass to make the chest containing the sword Hunter's Joy appear. The Castle of the Goddess - The Castle Keep: You start on the third floor. Go all the way back down to the first, where you started in chapter 1 verse 10. Now, on this floor there are three sets of stairs upward. Ruling out the one you came down to this floor by, there are two sets left. One of these leads to a room full of enemies that is your current target. Try both sets of stairs and kill every enemy in the room you end up in. One of them will cause the chest containing the spear Robber King to appear on the first floor. Aerial Missions The Castle of the Goddess: Kill all enemies, towers included, to receive the sword Deathdance. The Silent Forest: Kill every last enemy in under two and a half minutes to receive the "sword" Butcher's Joy (it's really a meat cleaver). The Desert of the Moon: You must eliminate any and all opposition in under three minutes without the use of magic attacks at any time to receive the spear Mermaid's Feast. The Winter Wastelands: All enemies must fall within three minutes and twenty seconds for you to receive the long sword Injustice. The Blue Mountains: Same as the Winter Wastelands, but you cannot use magic attacks. The Sky Fortress: Just finish the level with at least 75% of your HP left to receive the spear Broken Dogma. The Imperial Capital: Maintaining at least 50% HP, kill all enemies in under five minutes to receive the sword Scream. The Ocean Fortress: You must have at least 25% HP upon completing this mission and kill all enemies in under three minutes and forty seconds before doing so if you wish to receive the mace Pupil's Club. The Temple on the Ocean: Kill all enemies in under eight minutes, maintaining at least 25% health without the use of magic attacks to receive the Dragonstorm. Forest of the Seal: Complete this mission in four minutes and ten seconds without using magic to receive the long sword Soldier's Sword. The Crimson Mountains: Treat this mission the same as the Forest of the Seal but with the use of magic attacks to receive the mace Mage's Promise. Credits Thanks to James Odonnell for helping me get 100% completion and for the requirements to obtain the weapons. Thanks to Square Enix for this most awesome game. Thanks to GameFAQs for being around to help gamers around the world get the information they need. Thanks to Aneesh Roy for reminding me about the availability of allies. I never use them myself, but don't let that discourage you. It makes things a lot easier at certain points. Contact If you have any suggestions, questions, comments, problems, corrections, or feedback, e-mail me at fam4god@mycitycable.com or nomad_the_wandering_healer@yahoo.com. Extra special thanks to Revolution reader Jordan Carmack!
Explore the galaxy in the franchise's first open-world game.
