Meat Transformations in Final Fantasy Legend (GB). v5.1, 20.05.02 by s/p. versions: one (original version, 20.04) two (same day): inserted capital letters for "readability". (submission guidelines.) going to have to redo the table too, but that was really not working anyway. plus, new lines forced at 72 characters. three (25.04): checked up on a few of the things i was too lazy to have checked before. added extra notes to the get-good-monsters -on-Continent section with particular reference to completing-the-game- with-one-monster strategies. fixed the meat sequence in that section, which didn't actually work. oops. table of contents made. some tiny edits here and there. new version of main transformation table using abbreviations. sei-ryu info. three and a bit (27.04): cut out lots of extraneous stuff. who needs it? four (28.04): got the info. yes! table is now complete. plus extra bits. this will be the final version, unless and until i crack the real problem of monster levels. four and a half (03.05): so near, and yet so far. i can do it, i think. watch this space. four point six (06:05): alas, my edifice! see section 3a... four.seven (8.5): stuck a few ad hoc fixes into the system. now it might work...but i'm not happy. it's aesthetically displeasing. stay tuned for results... five (11.5): final version, unless something new emerges. i have the information i need, at last! rearranged faq so it's more usable. section 3a doesn't exist now, so ignore that reference above. oh yes, and, line length has spilled out to a bit more than 72 in places. never mind. five.one (20.5): with updated contact details. s/p is: sxp@subdimension.com (v5.1: this is now not working on a regular basis. my apologies to anyone who may have tried to send messages and got no answer. try instead;) sslashp@fastmail.fm 0: Contents. 1 - Intro 2 - Transformation System 3 - Monster Information 4 - Group Table 4a - Inferences 5 - Continent Transformations 5a - Continent meat 5b - What to do with your level 13 monster 6 - Four Monsters 7 - One Monster 1: Intro. I didn't realise there was still a demand for this sort of thing, but it seems people still appreciate the classics. I still think that in many ways FFL is the best game ever. But then it caught me at a young impressionable age. A look at gamefaqs reveals no-one has supplied a transformation chart yet. (20.04.02) I could do that. (v5 note:) The meat transformations system was always the main hole in my knowledge. Now I finally feel like I understand it. I love progress. I'll be assuming you either know your way around FFL or you're willing to learn for yourself. This isn't a general FAQ. 2: Transformation System. i. Find the group and level information for the monster who's eating meat. (See section 3.) ii. Find the group and level for the monster whose meat you're eating. iii. Using the table in section 4, work out what group your new monster will belong to. iv. Take whichever is the higher of the two levels (meat or eater.) Look in the monster group your new monster will belong to for a monster at exactly this level. If there's one there, you'll become that monster. End of story. v. Otherwise, look in the group for a monster exactly one level up. If there's one of those, you'll become that monster. vi. Otherwise, look one level below, then two below, and so on until you reach the nearest level below that does have a monster in the group. vii. If you "hit bottom" without reaching a monster, you just get the lowest-level member in that group. (I don't think this ever actually applies, though.) Now the complicated bit: this doesn't always quite work. Monsters actually have two levels, a party level (which you use in steps i and ii), and a target level (which you use when looking up a new monster in steps iv and onward.) For most monsters, these are the same; for some it doesn't seem to work quite like that. These exceptions are listed below the table in section 3. Examples: You are a goblin. You eat the meat of a big eye. i. goblin is goblin group level 1. ii. big eye is eye group level 4. iii. goblin-type + eye-type = fish-type. iv. 4 is higher than 1. Check the fish group at level 4. Nothing is listed. v. Check at level 5. Nothing is listed. vi. Check at level 3 and down. Piranha appears at level 3, so that's what you'll become. You are a behemoth. You eat the meat of an ant lion. i. behemoth is redbull group level 10. ii. ant lion is ant group level 8. iii. redbull-type + ant-type = lizard-type. iv. 10 is higher than 8. Check the lizard group at level 10. Nothing is listed. v. Check at level 11. Dinosaur appears at level 11, so you'll turn into one. 3: Monster Information. All monsters you can transform into come in groups which share the same combat picture ("large pic"). More than one of these groups often share a party graphic ("small pic"). Also, every monster has a level, roughly based on how powerful it is and where in the game you encounter it. The levels are shown as numbers in brackets; a * means it's non-standard, and you should consult the footnote. Note: these numbers don't necessarily correspond to any data in the game. They're numbers I assigned to fit the available evidence and make a workable system. (I'm doing this from memory, so I might not have the names totally right. "dragonfly" always gets me.) A: goblin (1) B: skeleton (1) C: albatros (1) D: redbull (1) oni (2) red bone (4) eagle (6) rhino (4) ogre (8) dokuro (10) thunder (10) triceras (8) giant (11*) warrior (12) cocatris (12) behemoth (10) titan (13*) boneking (13) rock (13) baku (13) susano-o (14) lich (14) phoenix (14) ganesha (14) E: slime (2) F: zombie (1) G: lizard (1) H: wererat (1) jelly (8) ghoul (3) p-frog (2) werewolf (4) tororo (10) mou-jya (9) gecko (3) catwoman (6) gummy (12) wight (12) dinosaur (11) minotaur (11) pudding (13) ghast (13) salamand (13) rakshasa (13) hi-slime (14) revnant (14) basilisk (14) anubis (14) I: wolf (2) J: clipper (1) K: fly (1) L: o-bake (2*) jaguar (4) beetle (7) drgonfly (3) phantom (3) sabercat (7) ant lion (8) hornet (5) buruburu (9) snowcat (10) atom ant (9) mosquito (6) wraith (12) blackcat (13) scorpion (13) cicada (13) spector (13) fenswolf (14) scarab (14) mantis (14) ghost (14) M: gargoyle (3) N: worm (2) P: snake (2) Q: condor (3) imp (7) p-worm (7) serpent (5) raven (5) demon (11) crawler (8) anaconda (7) harpy (7) demolord (12) lavaworm (10) hydra (10) ten-gu (10) demoking (13) sandworm (13) ko-run (13) garuda (13) athtalot (14) gigaworm (14) jorgandr (14) nike (14) R: barracud (2) S: big eye (4) T: octopus (4) U: shrimp (4*) piranha (3) gazer (7) clam (6) atomcrab (5) shark (6) seeker (9) amoeba (8) crab (8) gunfish (9) watcher (12) ammonite (10) ice crab (9) elec eel (13) evil eye (13) squid (13) kingcrab (13) leviathn (14) beholder (14) kraken (14) dagon (14) V: cactus (4*) W: griffin (4) X: woodman (5) Y: medusa (5*) p-flower (5) mantcore (6) clayman (8) siren (6) garlic (7) chimera (9) stoneman (9) lamia (11) thorn (9) nue (11*) ironman (12) naga (12) f-flower (13) sphinx (13*) fireman (13) scylla (13) darkrose (14) ki-rin (14) mazin (14) lilith (14) Z: dragon 1 (7) dragon 2 (8) sei-ryu: (7) dragon 3 (10) su-zaku: (13) dragon 4 (12) Fiends2 (all): (14) dragon 5 (13) tiamat (14) Footnotes GIANT, TITAN, NUE, SPHINX: giant and nue behave as if they're level 11 (party and target). However, monsters at level 12, such as warrior, don't quite agree with this: warrior (skel, L12) + albatros (bird, L1) should look on L12 for a goblin-type, not find one, look on L13, and find titan. Instead, warrior + albatros -> giant. This means either a) giant and nue have target levels of 11 AND 12, or b) titan and sphinx are actually level 14 and so "out of range" for a warrior. If they are level 14, then all top level monsters are actually level 16 (out of range to titan and sphinx). Either way works, I think, but if top level is 16, there's nothing at level 15. I prefer it as it is. O-BAKE: o-bake has a party level of 2 but a target level of 1. This means that oni + zombie, which should look for a ghost on level 2, doesn't "see" o-bake (because it's at level 1 as a target) and moves up to phantom. But an o-bake still transforms as if from level 2. SHRIMP, CACTUS, MEDUSA: These have a party level of 4, 4 and 5 respectively, but it doesn't seem to be possible to transform into them, ever. This means either they have target levels of 3, 3 and 4 respectively (or less), or they don't have target levels at all; either way, you can't get them. Any combination that leads to their groups is good enough to reach the next highest members. MISTAKES These numbers could be wrong; I'm not perfect, and more importantly, I haven't tested every possible combination in the whole game. (Where do you fight beetles anyway?) I'm especially unhappy about that whole giant/nue thing. If there's a mistake in my system, I do want to know about it, but please try and give me the information to figure out what's wrong; ideally something like "In your system, if monster x eats meat y it should become monster z, but actually it becomes monster q". Mail to: sslashp@fastmail.fm 4: Group Table. Read the column that matches your current small pic, and the row that matches the large pic of the monster whose meat you're about to eat. The result is what will be your new group. " - " means the effect "Nothing happened" (not to be confused with changing into the same thing.) This will always happen if you eat the meat of something with the same small pic. (v3.1: table uses three letter abbreviations for all groups. It's still hard to read; people deserve better. If someone can improve on this, please, do.) (v5: I'm restoring the single-letter-for-groups table as well. You decide which works better.) Your small pic gob skl alb rbl slm ant imp wrm fsh oct man rat zmb grf liz eye fly cdr snk plt wlf gst dgn crb mds Meat pic goblin - liz skl alb rat gst imp rbl - eye mds skeleton alb - liz gob zmb - ant rat fly snk crb albatros liz gob - - rbl ant gst wrm snk imp cdr redbull rat fly slm - skl liz - alb wlf gob snk slime - gst ant zmb - alb snk fsh ant wrm plt zombie gst - rat skl liz gob slm fly wrm fsh wlf lizard skl alb gob - ant rat - wlf rbl crb grf wererat - rbl fly - gst zmb wlf gob skl liz wrm wolf - zmb snk rat slm fsh liz gst - alb gob antlion fly skl rbl liz alb - wrm snk - slm eye fly zmb rat alb ant - - rbl slm gob cdr imp ghost slm - zmb fly gob skl alb ant rat rbl liz imp cdr ant wrm gst snk wlf - skl zmb - alb worm ant fsh wlf slm fly snk gob - fsh zmb oct snake wrm slm gst fsh - rbl zmb - liz rat man condor wlf snk fsh imp wrm slm - imp alb - fly fish gob wrm - rbl wlf fly cdr liz - oct skl eye fsh cdr crb snk - imp rat - oct ant slm octopus imp crb cdr wlf fsh wrm fly eye slm - zmb crab rbl wlf eye wrm oct - skl imp cdr fly - plant oct imp grf crb cdr eye fsh crb gst - ant griffin snk eye - cdr oct plt plt oct crb wlf - woodman crb - oct mds eye grf mds cdr plt gst - medusa grf plt man eye crb oct man - imp skl - dragon plt grf - oct mds cdr crb man eye mds rbl gen-bu man oct imp plt grf dgn eye dgn mds man gst sei-ryu mds mds dgn man plt man eye grf dgn plt dgn su-zaku dgn man mds grf dgn mds oct plt man dgn fsh note on Fiends: "gen-bu" row applies to meat of Gen-Bu2. "sei-ryu" row applies to meat of Sei-Ryu, Sei-Ryu2 and Byak-Ko2. "su-zaku" row applies to meat of Su-Zaku and Su-Zaku2. Your small pic: AHI BFL CWZ DG ES JKU MQ NPY R TV X Meat pic: A - G B C H L M D - S Y B C - G A F - J H K P U C G A - - D J L N P M Q D H K E - B G - C I A P E - L J F - C P R J N V F L - H B G A E K N R I G B C A - J H - I D U W H - D K - L F I A B G N I - F P H E R G L - C A J K B D G C - N P - E S K F H C J - - D E A Q M L E - F K A B C J H D G M Q J N L P I - B F - C N J R I E K P A - R F T P N E L R - D F - G H X Q I P R M N E - F C - K R A N - D I K Q G - T B S R Q U P - M H - T J E T M U Q I R N K S E - F U D I S N T - B M Q K - V T M W U Q S R U L - J W P S - Q T V V T U I - X U - T Y S W Y Q V L - Y W V X S U T X - M B - Z V W - T Y Q U X S Y D gen-bu X T M V W Z S Z Y X L sei-ryu Y Y Z X V X S W Z V Z su-zaku Z X Y W Z Y T V X Z R note on Fiends: "gen-bu" row applies to meat of Gen-Bu2. "sei-ryu" row applies to meat of Sei-Ryu, Sei-Ryu2 and Byak-Ko2. "su-zaku" row applies to meat of Su-Zaku and Su-Zaku2. 4a: Inferences. If you're high level, it doesn't matter how weak the meat you eat is. If the meat is high level, it doesn't matter how weak you are. Meat of jelly is only better than meat of slime if you yourself are below jelly. If you reach level 13 or 14, you'll never go down a level again. Whatever group you turn into, there's always a representative at your level. If you reach level 12, you're very likely to go up, because anything not represented at level 12 appears at level 13. (Except for the giant and nue complication, of course.) When you're around levels 9-11 (World of Ruins), try to avoid the fly group, because you'll drop to mosquito. When you're level 10 or below, try to avoid the lizard group, because you'll drop all the way to gecko. The only way to become a dragon is by eating Fiend's meat. (And there's one in the last guild, I think.) The only way to reach top level (14) is by eating Fiend2's meat. You'll almost always get meat from all four Fiends2, so if you're playing with four monsters (because items are for wusses), make sure they all get a portion. Fiend's meat always "works". You'll change no matter what monster you are. 5: Continent Transformations. So much for the general transformations. Everyone knows what you really want is a guide to getting strong monsters on Continent, where monsters can be kind of a liability to the party. (v5: changed my mind *again* and cut out the random ones.) Choose wererat as party leader. (If you've already started, a goblin works too.) eat zombie -> o-bake (good time to kill Bandit) eat albatros -> oni eat zombie -> phantom (another good time) eat goblin -> gecko eat zombie -> red bone eat redbull -> hornet eat lizard -> catwoman eat skeleton -> eagle eat wererat -> mosquito eat albatros -> beetle (saw! won't work very well on Continent, though) eat zombie -> ogre eat zombie -> buruburu eat wererat -> behemoth eat skeleton -> giant eat lizard -> warrior (stop here, if...see below) eat goblin -> salamand second-highest-level monster on Continent. Now you're set up for the game. (This method chosen because it's fairly straightforward, and doesn't require, for instance, hunting round King Sword's castle for the elusive clipper, which will definitely get you killed by karateka. karateka are evil.) 5a: Continent meat. Suggestions for where to find Continent meat: goblin: world map lizard: world map (southwest) skeleton: outside Castle of Sword albatros: treasure room in Bandit's cave zombie: Bandit's cave clipper: Castle of Sword (hard to find, try King Sword's room?) redbull: Castle of Sword (first room) wererat: Castle of Sword (guards) fly: Castle of Sword (rare) p-frog: fight Bandit (only works once) 5b: What to do with your level 13 monster. Remember you can safely eat any meat you want. Recommended choices: scorpion, titan, demoking, baku (for teleport) spector, blackcat, boneking (fatal attacks) pudding, fireman (general purpose) 6: Four Monsters. This is playing the game the hard way. few points: don't fight kingswrd if you have any elemental weaknesses. You'd be walking into critical hits. Don't even attempt Gen-Bu without some firepower. Four onis is a good start, but you can do better. If you manage to get a chimera while on the world of Sky, it's ideal for killing Byak-Ko (and everything else.) That's because 3heads has the ridiculous Ashura multiplier that's three times what it should be. Don't tackle machine without some second-highest-level monsters. Preferably good ones. (But you might get away with tororos and gummies and things.) On the train, fight the evil eye repeatedly to level everyone up. Ashura: pudding. Creator: hi-slimes. or darkroses. 7: One Monster. This is more like it. Having four characters is for amateurs. But, to finish the game with one monster, you will need to cheat, or at least cheap. No single monster can deliver enough damage to Creator to beat him. (Literally. They just don't have enough moves.) So either play through with honour but don't try to fight Creator (use a pudding on Ashura, no problem), or get yourself a warrior (see above) and use saw on everything you can't beat. (why saw works: saw is a fatal attack. sometimes it misses, which is just a miss; sometimes it does No damage, which means it doesn't work. This should happen when your strength is lower than your target's defence, as in FFL2; but for some reason FFL has it backwards, so it works on anything with *higher* defence. Creator, with defence 200, doesn't have a chance.) v3.1: condensed extra advice. It's really not as hard as it sounds if you know what you're doing. Carry potions and save often. Really often. All the fights on the list in section 4 can be won single-handedly by the monster you are, although o-bake vs. albatros is a bit iffy. Use common sense and caution. There's only one of you and you're still vulnerable to things like critical hits and petrification. footnote: Final Fantasy Legend 2. (v5.1: footnote deleted. Someone *had* already done an FFL2 FAQ and it's vay good. Much better than this. You'd think I would have noticed, but I must have been off in my own little world again. Apologies to...let's see ...Amuseum.) Robert Paulson kindly points out that Nintendo Power did something very like this some time ago. So I guess many people already knew all this. But I hope I've managed to entertain you anyway. The Meat Trans FAQ was written for www.gamefaqs.com. Possibly coming soon: FFL Combat System FAQ. a website with more stuff like this on it. (check http://www.subdimension.com/community/subversion/sxp/ .) (v5.1: www.subdimension.com is down all the time. If you want to find my website, email me, because I haven't decided where to move to. Emailing me will also raise the chances of me bothering to redo it at all, because there really isn't much content yet to use. Mostly this FAQ.) Copyright s/p 2002. Reproduce the *data* as you please, because anyone could find this stuff out; but show respect for this FAQ's *content*. Because it's mine. :)