 IV. Disc Two |
First off, notice that Laguna has 3000 gil. While this cash won't carry back over into Squall's inventory, any items you buy here will. So stock up.
Visit the Pub and talk to Kiros. Exit the Pub. At the bottom of the stairs on the lower right side of the square is a hidden Dispel Draw Point. Head south. Where the paths intersect on the right, just at the top of the junction, is a Drain Draw Point. Take the path to the right. On the next screen, to the left is a hidden Reflect Draw Point. Go down the slope and off the screen to the left. Go left a little bit, then down the path to the Item Shop. (If you go in the restaurant/inn on the right, take a close look at the map in the back, under the stairs. It's of the real Earth. Weird.)
Buy stuff if you want, then head back to the pub by going north several screens. Go in the Pub, and upstairs, and talk to Raine. Then go next door and take a nap in Laguna's bed.
Zell wakes up with his friends Selphie and Quistis. Talk to them, Rinoa last. Some guards come in and harass you. Squall wakes up, wondering why he's not dead, and his cell is moved. The guards come back, beat up Zell, and take Rinoa. Seifer tortures Squall. A moomba comes into Zell and company's cell with some food. Be nice to this and all the other moombas you encounter. Seifer tortures Squall for a while, then leaves the job to the Warden. When given the choice, don't lie.
As Zell, talk to Quistis. You come up with a plan where you fake out the guard and break out. Make sure you're junctioned, then leave your prison room, go down one floor to a Save Point. Next head up to the 8th floor to find your weapons. You have to fight a couple of guards to get them. The scene switches to Squall briefly, where he's rescued by some moombas, who call him "Laguna". Zell returns to the cell and gives Selphie and Quistis their weapons. Biggs and Wedge show up, bragging, then you beat them up again.
These guys are really easy. Feel free to Mug them and Draw from them. A fun thing to do is to cast Confuse on one or the other to see their reactions.
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After the fight, It's time to get some loot. Go all the way down, checking each cell to find stuff. On the bottom floor in the room on the right is a hidden Save Point. I highly recommend using it. Now head back up, following the moombas up to the 13th floor. Be sure to stop at every cell along the way to pick up some loot. There are even some card players being held, and you can play them, for a price. The items you get from defeating them vary in quality. The Combat King 001 can be found in the door on the right on the 1st floor. You can buy stuff from the prisoner on the 8th floor. The guy on the 10th floor, right door will give you the Character Report if you beat him. What that'll do is tell you detailed information like how much you use a particular character, how many enemies they've beaten, etc. Not necessary, but still fun to have. In the left door on the 10th floor is a Save Point.
Once on the 13th floor, head around to the right and talk to the moombas. Open the door on the right, and rescue Squall, who's being held in the next room. After some dialogue, Leave the junctions on Zell for the time being, and use the elevator by hitting the red button on the control panel in the middle of the room. When the elevator/room reaches the bottom, head right through the doorway. Continue forward until you reach another doorway, and press Execute to make the doorway implode. As Zell, run around to the right, away from the Warden who sends endless guards after you.
Next, rescue Zell from the prison guards. At some point here, you need to split into two parties. Switch parties (and junctions), and take Squall's party to the top floor, saving along the way. Junction Irvine's party, then take them to the 3rd floor. As Squall's party, go up a few more screens. Go outside, fight some guards, then go back inside. Talk to Irvine's party through the intercom, and bring them up on the elevator. Go back outside again, across the platform. After some awesome FMV, you'll find Squall hanging from a ledge. Just hold Right to reach safety.
The teams reunite after the collapse of the prison, then split up again. One team heads to Balamb Garden, while the other goes to the Galbadia Missile Base. Junction the Balamb team and head to the train station, where you steal a train. The scene switches to the Missile Base team.
Junction your team, then drive the stolen vehicle along the road to the Missile Base, located south of Deling City. Park the vehicle, then go in the small building on the left. Inside, at the base of the stairs, is a Save Point. Use the control panel, then go in the door on the left. Throughout the base, you'll end up talking to a lot of soldiers. The idea is to not be found out, so just play it cool and follow orders. If all goes well, your SeeD rank will increase.
Follow the catwalk around to the right, through the next two screens. Save. Go under the stairs to the left, to the Observation Deck. Before you talk to the two soldiers on the right, note that there is a Blind Draw Point on the left. After speaking to the soldiers, go back to the screen with the Save Point on it. Go in the door in the middle top of the screen. On the left, in front of the container labeled "03" is a Full-Life Draw Point. Talk to the maintenance soldier in this room, telling him to "Go on ahead". Then go back to the Observation Deck and speak with the soldiers there again.
Go back to the previous screen and up the stairs you came down earlier, and talk to the guard in front of the door. In the circuit room, choose "just hit whatever" a couple times, until you cause a blackout. Leave the room, and you're confronted with the maintenance soldiers from earlier. Choose "Talk your way out", then "We were just about to call", then "It's a mess". Head back to the room with the containers in it, and help out there. Go out to the room with the Save Point in it, and use the control panel to the right of the door. Here you need to select "Target", then "Set Error Ratio". Hold Right to set it to maximum. Next select "Data Upload", then "Yes". While you're on this panel, you can see some soldiers dancing by going to the Equipment Inspection screen. Hold down Cancel and Talk, then press Up or Down for the secret dance.
From the missile control panel, save, because this is the last time you can here. Exit the stairs to the right, then go in the door in the back of the circuit room. Fight the Command Leader, then examine the three panels and disable the Missile Launch control panel, so nobody else can mess with it. Next you need to set the self-destruct. Go in the room above, and it's the panel on the left, up one from the bottom of the screen. If you think you're good enough, set the timer to 10 minutes. If you defeat the upcoming boss and leave the base by then, your SeeD rank increases. So set the timer, exit through the door to the right, then up the stairs and out. Try to leave the base to the right, and you fight a boss.
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If you have time, you can Draw Protect to limit the damage done by this boss. If you're short on time, just summon Quezacotl and other GFs to pound it. Even though it's weak against Earth, avoid summoning Brothers due to the length of the animation. After you defeat BGH251F2, two Galbadian Soldiers and an Elite Soldier crawl out of the tank to continue the battle. They're not that strong, so finishing them on time shouldn't be a problem.
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You will lose this battle and the game will end if: 1) time expires while fighting the boss; 2) you lose the battle; or 3) you didn't set the Error Ratio to maximum. When you do win, there's some cool FMV and some dialog, then the scene switches to the Balamb party.
Junction your party. Upon arriving at Balamb Garden, you find that things are not as they should be. For the time being, say you're with Norg. Visit each part of the Garden, battling monsters and helping the students you find. Be sure to talk to folks, as they tend to thank you by giving you items. Make sure Zell is in your party, and go to the library. The girl with the pigtails will give you a Mega Phoenix. In the Quad, don't lie to your fellow SeeDs: tell then you're on the Headmaster's side. Once you've made the rounds, go up to the second floor and talk to Xu. Note that she'll only appear if you've been to each area and helped everybody out. Now go to Cid's office and talk to him.
Cid tells you the scoop, and asks you to delve into the bowels of the ship (er, so to speak). Talk to him again, and he'll act like a Save Point. Go into the elevator, and open the panel in the floor. Climb down the ladder a couple screens, then through the passageway at the bottom. Go forward, then open and go through the hatch at the bottom of the screen. Drop down, then exit up and to the right. Go down the ladder on the right, then across the floor and through the door on the left. It's kind of hard to see, but there's a valve in the middle of the screen. Walk up to it and repeatedly hit Execute really really fast. Hopefully you can open it with just Squall. If not, the rest of your party helps you. Embarrassing.
Go back out the door. Notice how the floor is gone? Go down the ladder at about the 11 o'clock position. Continue down the ladder, and down the stairs and catwalk. At the base of the stairs, just to the right, is a Full-Life Draw Point. Go around to the left of the column in the center of the screen. Climb up the ladder here, until it snaps, sending Squall flying through some glass and into a control room. Hit the controls on the right, then find a way down by climbing down the tilted ladder.
Head towards the bottom of the screen to the green light on the outside of the railing. Fiddle around in that area until the gate slides away, then climb down that ladder. At the bottom is a Save Point. Save, then search around just to the right of that for a switch. The doors at the back of the room open, and you fight a boss.
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There are actually two of them. If you get hit with one or more of their nasty status effects, simply Draw Esuna from them. Defeating them is easy. You can take Squall's advice and equip everybody's Elem-Atk-J ability with Fire-type magic. Or, even easier, summon Ifrit a few times.
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After the fight, go through the big doors to find, surprise, another ladder! Go down it. Exit to the left, then walk up to the strange machine and hit the switch on the panel in front of you. Lots of really big gears and stuff start moving.
Now go up to the 2nd floor deck. To get there, go past the classroom door and out the door at the end of the hall. After that, return to Cid's office. You take a nap.
Rinoa wakes you up. You give her a tour. In the Library, let her look around, then go to the back area and talk to Ellone. In the Infirmary, pretend to be Rinoa's boyfriend. By the directory, a Garden Member will tell you to take the elevator down. Do so. You see the tail end of a conversation between Cid and Norg. You talk to Norg, and he gets mad and fights you.
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Once you destroy the barrier protecting Norg, Draw the GF Leviathan from NORG himself. That being said, there are two ways to defeat this boss. Notice that the two orbs on either side of Norg's Pod change color to indicate spell readiness: blue is least ready, yellow is almost, and red is ready. The first method involves having two of your characters focus on the pods to keep them from casting, while the third attacks Norg. For the second method, cast Carbuncle on the party. This sets up a Reflective shield which blocks most of the left pod's and Norg's magic. The right pod tends to cast Dispel, so keep one character focused on it to prevent your shield from disappearing.
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After the fight, you can find a hidden Bio Draw Point in front of the wreckage. Return to the upper part of the Garden.
Rinoa wants to go for a walk, but Cid got a little shook up during the battle, so go pay him a visit in the infirmary. Next, go to the Directory and speak with Xu. Head to the 2nd floor O-deck and meet the White SeeDs. They want a girl named Ellone. Go to the library and talk to the girl with the pigtails. Go to the back part of the library to find Ellone, and bring her back to the White SeeDs. After some FMV of Balamb Garden moving, it crashes into Fisherman's Horizon.
The Garden will take some time to repair, so in the mean time, you get to wander around Fisherman's Horizon for a while. If you're a card player, and you haven't already gotten the Seifer Card from Cid, do so before you leave, as this is your last chance. After Cid gives you your orders, you can challenge him to a game.
From the entrance to Balamb Garden, go right, then down the stairs. On the next screen, take the ladder down to the crane-like apparatus on the left, below the deck you come in on. Once out there, talk to the Master Fisherman. When given a choice, choose, "What are you talking about?", and he'll give you the Occult Fan III magazine. Talk to him again, and he'll ask you to find his apprentice.
From here, head back up to the catwalk, then around the big cylinder to the right. Take the moving platform down, then continue on to the right. Go past the stairs in the middle part of the screen, and save on the next screen. Down and to the right of the Save Point, just next to the corner of the rusted train car, is a Regen Draw Point. Backtrack halfway back on this screen, and follow the ramp down.
On the left part of the next screen, just below some green junk, is a door that leads to the Inn and Junk Shop. The computer on the right side of this room can give you some news. When you're done here, head up the stairs. In this room, on the ground in front of the cabinet in the upper left (or just to the right of it), you can find a copy of Timber Maniacs.
Leave the Inn/Shop, and go out the dock to the right. On the right side of the next screen, the dilapidated building is a Junk Shop. To the lower right is a Shell Draw Point. Talk to the kid on the boat, and tell him the old fisherman you say was cool. Keep talking to the kid until he almost kills the shopkeeper. Now return back to where the stairs going down into the big shiny dish are, and go down them.
You'll end up at the center "island" platform. Go in the door at the top of the screen, then up the stairs inside. Over on the right of this screen, amidst the gears and junk, is an Ultima Draw Point, that you can't get to yet. Talk to the mayor. Leave, and go back to where the Inn is. Save on your way there. This time follow the tracks up to the next screen. Go up the ramp on the right, and into the blue-ish door on the right. Inside, just at the base of the shallow steps leading up to the podium is another issue of Timber Maniacs. Go back outside, and down the ramp on the left. Here you'll rescue Mayor Dobe, then fight a boss.
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Somehow this thing managed to survive your treatment at the Missile Base, and found its way here. Be sure to Mug some Adamantine from it, as that item will come in handy later. Use the same tactics on it that you did last time: Quezacotl, Thunder magics, and physical attacks. At least this time you don't have a time limit to worry about.
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After the fight, Selphie's party crawls out of the wreck and joins you. Talk to Rinoa, then the Mayor. Go up the stairs on the left, and into the train station proper. Just past the ticket machines, on the left is a Haste Draw Point. Return to the previous screen and talk to the folks here. If you've previously spoken to the cafeteria lady, you find out that one of the guys here is her son. If you keep talking to him, you can convince him to return to Balamb Garden.
On your way back to the mayor's house, or even before then, if you run into an enemy called SAM08G, you can Mug an item called Running Fire from it, with which you can teach Quistis some Blue Magic.
Talk to the fisherman's apprentice again, and he'll ask you to talk to the old man. Do so. Irvine joins up with you on your way to the Master Fisherman's perch. Talk to him, and he'll ask you to meet him at the Inn later. Go to the Inn, and upstairs. Listen to his whole story. Follow him when he leaves and goes outside. If you stick around to hear the whole story, he'll give you a Megalixir. When you go back to the perch where he used to hang out, you'll find a Full-Life Draw Point.
Go to the Grease Monkey's house. Talk to him and the Soldier. Go outside, then back in. The Grease Monkey will tell you the Soldier escaped, and give you a Mega Phoenix. Back to the right of the Mayor's house, you can find Martine, the Headmaster of Galbadia Garden. He's an excellent card player, and he holds all of the Level 7 Boss cards. You can also challenge the Mayor himself for the Quezacotl Card. The Ultima Draw Point in his house is now accessible. After speaking with the Mayor, return to Balamb Garden.
Go to the Quad and talk to Selphie. Choose "Let Irvine handle it". Go to the bridge and talk to Cid. Go to the Mayor's house. At some point you'll have to choose instruments for people to play. To get the Irish Jig, choose Guitar, Violin, Flute, and Tap. For the Slow Dance (which makes more plot sense), choose the Sax, Electric Guitar, Piano, and Bass Guitar. When anyone except Irvine is trying out an instrument, you can control him and wander around.
With Irvine, leave Balamb Garden and go to the Grease Monkey's house (the one with the blue-ish door above where you fought BGH251F2). You'll find that a rogue Galbadian Soldier is trying to get the Grease Monkey to fix his destroyed machine. Talk to both men, then exit, and go back in. Talk to the Grease Monkey to get a Phoenix Down, and search the Galbadian Soldier to find several types of Ammo. Go back to the quad.
While controlling Squall, explore to the right of the stage to find the magazine Irvine was talking about earlier. Enjoy the show, and the dialog. In the morning, go to the library. Talk to the receptionist and the conceited SeeD. Then make your way to the bridge, and pilot the now mobile, and fully functional, Balamb Garden north to the town of Balamb.
If you're into cards, now's a good time for the CC Members Challenge (see Part VII.E: CC Members Challenge for more info). Now is good because not that many rules are in effect.
Go to the library with Zell, and answer the survey they're taking about him. Beach Balamb Garden near the town. Dismount, and enter, making sure Zell is in your party. Talk to the soldier between the car and the Rental Car Shop window to get in. You'll find while you're here that you can't stay at the Hotel. Go to Zell's house, and he'll cave in and let you visit his room. Once up there, you'll get a different reaction depending on what party members you have. Also be sure to check out his punching bag.
Anyway, your goal here is to find the Captain. There are several ways of doing this. The easiest is to wait around for a really long time. Just set the controller down and go have a snack or something. After about 15 minutes, the Captain should have returned to the hotel. Just go there, or go talk to the dog on the dock, and he should lead you to the hotel.
Method number two is to locate a hidden reporter. He's hiding on the dock behind the vehicle closest to the bottom of the screen. You can pay him increasing amounts of gil to get better clues as to the Captain's whereabouts.
The proper method is to follow all the free clues until you find the Captain:
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Raijin you get to fight twice. The first time, he's accompanied by two Galbadian Soldiers. You might want to kill one and keep the other to draw his Cure magic. Drawing Protect from Raijin and using it on your party will also help. You can Mug Raijin for a Str Up Once he's defeated, he returns, this time with the help of Fujin. Start this round by drawing the GF Pandemona from Fujin. Mug Raijin a couple more times for more Str Ups. You might want to keep Fujin around for awhile so you can draw Cure from her. Hit them with physical attacks and GFs, except for Wind- and Thunder-based attacks and GFs, as those will cure them. If you accidentally have one of your characters junctioned with one or more of those magics, you can use him/her to draw Aero from Fujin and cast it on Raijin, and/or draw Thunder from Raijin and cast it on Fujin.
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After the fight, leave town. Make sure Zell is in your party, then go back in. Talk to the girl at the entrance to town, who's wearing a cadet uniform. Next, travel northeast to Trabia Garden.
Trabia Garden is located pretty much due north from Balamb. It's on the map, and therefore easy to find. While you're wandering around lost trying to find the place, you'll probably encounter an enemy called Gayla. It carries Mystery Fluid which you can Mug from it, or wait until it drops it. This item will teach Quistis some Blue Magic.
Once you're in Trabia Garden, you'll need to hop the wall. Go up the next screen, to the screen with the statue in the middle. In front of the statue is a Thundaga Draw Point. Talk to Selphie and her friend, who are standing near the statue.
Head off the screen to the right, to the graveyard. Near one of the gravestones is an issue of Timber Maniacs. To the right of that is a Zombie Draw Point. Go back to the statue screen, and exit to the left. Go right from here and use the Save Point. Go right one more screen, and talk to the student holding the book. The book says a treasure is hidden five steps south of the Gargoyle statue. Follow those directions, and you'll find the Weapons Monthly August issue.
From the statue area, go left two screens. At the top of some stairs is an Aura Draw Point. Left one more screen is the basketball court, where you'll wait for Selphie. Talk to everybody, then try to leave to the right. While you're controlling Squall's ghost, go in the door to the let and talk to his younger self. Then go out the door Irvine went through. Outside, talk to the young Squall again, then go down the stairs to the left, down to the beach. Talk to everybody.
After some long and confusing dialogue, you end up on the World Map. If you go back inside, Selphie's friend is still hanging out near the statue, and you can challenge her for the Selphie Card.
At this point you can continue on to find the orphanage, or if all this plot business is making your head spin, you can do some side-quests. I would recommend waiting until later, on Disc 3. You'll see why when you get there, but you can try some stuff now if you want. (see Part VII: Secrets and Bonuses for all the stuff you can do)
Head towards the orphanage. The easiest way to get there is to go west around Trabia Continent, then due north to wrap around to the southern part of the map. Continue north until you make landfall, then follow the coast west until you find a lighthouse at the tip of a small peninsula. Next door is the orphanage. You can get out and examine the building, but you can't go in yet. Notice that there is a "ship" hovering northeast of the orphanage. Equip your party, save, then get back in Balamb Garden and ram the thing to initiate an encounter.
The view will switch to the bridge, where you'll split into two teams. Always make sure the active party is properly junctioned. Junctioning Death to Status-Attack will kill most soldiers in a single blow, and Thunder to Elemental-Attack will seriously damage the mechanical enemies you'll encounter here.
When Squall is on the bridge, you'll need to give orders. If you give too many orders, or forget to give a critical one, Nida will scold Squall (although the comment about the hot dogs is funny). To avoid the verbal abuse, stick to preparing for the attack, defending Balamb Garden, and taking care of the junior classmen. Next, take Squall's party to the Quad, then head back to the bridge when called.
Zell's party is now active. Don't forget to check their junctions! Go to the Quad and take care of some business, including watching Rinoa slip off the side of the garden. Find Squall at the front gate. Now head up to the classroom on the 2nd floor and fight off the soldiers there. Talk to the SeeD girl on the right, then return to the Bridge and talk to Dr. Kadowaki. Go to the 2nd floor observation deck. Be sure to talk to all the people on the 2nd floor, as they're likely to give you items. On your way to the O-deck, talk to the SeeD standing by the elevator. Approach the boy on the ground. As he runs off, you're accosted by a paratrooper. Press Execute and you're given several options. Choose "Look around for another option", then "Press the button for the emergency exit". You end up in a special battle outside.
You have three commands here: Punch, Kick, and Block. Deathblow will appear if you block enough. The best strategy is to weaken the enemy with some quick Punches and Slow kicks, then Block until Deathblow is available. If you loose, you get a hint, and the option to try again. When you win, you rescue Rinoa, then end up outside. Talk to her, choose "Let's go", then go inside. Talk to your friends, form a party, then use the Save Point.
Your goal here is to find three card keys. Go right, then right again and up the stairs. Talk to Raijin and Fujin, then go left. The first key is being held by a student in the room on the right. From this room, go back out into the hall, and down, then down the stairs. Exit off the bottom of the screen at the bottom of the stairs, then go down the hall, left, save, continue left, and take the door on the left. At the far end of the hockey rink is a Protect Draw Point. In the door at the top left of the area is a Life Draw Point. Exit through the door at the top right of the rink. Go across the hall and through the door into a classroom. A student here has key card #2.
Exit the classroom and go out the door at the bottom of the hall. Go down again and Save. Go right, then up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Unlock the door at the top of the stairs, go left, then jump down to the basketball courts. There's a Shell Draw Point in the upper left of this screen. Continue left two screens, then down two screens to the main hall. Use the Save Point in the lower right. If you want another GF (I recommend it), battle Cerberus, who's sitting in the middle of this room.
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Before the fight, make sure nobody has Thunder junctioned, as they'll just end up healing the boss. Start the fight by Mugging a Spd-J Scroll from him. Also stock up on Triple. If Cerberus uses Triple on himself, counter with Dispel.
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To get to card key #3, exit the mail hall to the left, and enter the classroom on the left. A student there holds it. Head back to the main hall and save. Exit to the top left. Go up one screen, then up the stairs on the right. Go left, then use the last key card on the elevator door. You arrive in a backstage-like area. Use the Save Point on the right, then approach Seifer and fight him.
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Watch out for his "Demon Slice" ability, which causes about 1500 damage. Start the battle by Drawing Haste from him and casting it on your party. Then use whatever you want on him. When he starts getting weak, he'll begin using Hi-Potions, but they won't help him.
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After the fight, you need to get to the auditorium for another boss fight. Save, then go back down the elevator, and past the stairs where you came from earlier, to the right. Take the catwalk around either side, and use the Save Point at the bottom. Also make sure to heal up. Go in the door in the lower right part of the area. If you get the chance, there's a hidden Double Draw Point at the base of the podium.
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To get to Edea, you have to fight Seifer a second time. While he has less HP, his attacks are stronger. Use the same tactics on him that you did before. When you get the chance, Mug a Hero from him. Once Seifer is out of the way, it's Edea's turn. Start out by drawing the GF Alexander from her. You can also Mug a Royal Crown from her. Summoning Carbuncle to set up Reflect won't do much good this time around, as most of her spells get right through. She likes to cast Death when her HP is low, so junction that spell to your Status-Def to avoid one-hit kills. Physical attacks and Diablos will wear her down.
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