=================================== Final Fantasy VI Advance Soul Shrine FAQ, 2nd ed. by STobias shinwatori@yahoo.com Not to be reproduced anywhere outside of GameFAQs.com in any form. ©2007-2009 All rights reserved. =================================== Contents 1. Introduction (int01) 2. Recommendations (rec02) 3. Glutturns (urn03) 4. Walkthrough (wlk04) 5. Glossary (gls05) ----------------------------------- Introduction (int01) ----------------------------------- The Soul Shrine is an additional challenge unlocked after clearing the game. There are no random encounters or puzzles to solve, and no groups to break up into, just four of your characters against a marathon of 128 battles. You will get a few breaks in between to heal and change your equipment, which you may want to do in response to the battles ahead. What do you get for completing the challenge? Nothing exciting, unfortunately. However, during the run, you will have the opportunity to get extras of some rare items that can be only obtained in this way. You can use the tags listed in the table of contents to jump to a specific part of the FAQ. If you see a term that you are not familiar with or want more information on, check the glossary at the end. Terms listed in the glossary will be marked with a star (*). There is a significant amount of randomness involved with the battles within this event. I consider this to be a collaborative document and I welcome your contributions should you have new information from reproducible results or if you present a reasonable, viable strategy. References for in-line citations can be found at the end of this document. Before we move on with the FAQ proper, I should note that with regret I do not directly answer questions about the game; all of the information you need is either here or elsewhere on GameFAQs. Do not neglect the message board or the collection of Final Fantasy III FAQs hosted on the site. Information found in either location is typically valid. ----------------------------------- Recommendations (rec02) ----------------------------------- - Characters Chances are, if you've fully explored the Dragon's Den, that you will have at least four characters who possess a lot of magic and are fairly high level. When selecting your characters for this, keep in mind that this is a marathon and you will be fighting difficult encounters in strings of ten in a row or more without a break. As such, you want characters that have both high HP and some measure of durability. It is for this reason that I highly recommend that you include Mog in your run. Equipped with the Snow Scarf(*) and other good equipment, you will not have to worry about physical attacks on him. Whether you build him for magic or physical attack, I suggest giving him (and your other party members, as well) a wide array of magic to boost his utility. I also suggest using the Lightbringer(*) sword on this run, so you will need either Terra, Edgar, Locke, or Celes to use it. You probably also want to bring someone who has a special that always hits (that is, Sabin, Edgar, or Cyan), since you will be up against a lot of monsters with high evade, and the relic slot that a Sniper Eye would take is best left for other items. Also consider Terra and/or Celes because of the Minerva Bustier(*), which has elemental protections that will come in particularly handy on your run. I do not recommend using Umaro or Gogo. They are both wildcards somewhat, and their weaknesses outweigh their benefits for this run. Gau also has his positives and negatives; you can set him up in a magic-using Snow Scarf build, but you probably always want to keep a Ribbon on him to prevent him from being controlled or confused, and end up in Rage. Out of your four characters, you should have at least one heavy magic user. If you are interested in acquiring some especially rare items, you will need Gogo, Locke, or someone in a Thief's Knife(*) build to do so (see the section on Glutturns below). Your party should be, at a bare minimum, level 60. Several enemies in the run cast Lv. 5 Death, so avoid having several of your party members at such a level. You should have at least two characters at or near 9999 HP, Which you can achieve before level 99 via equipment or Esper boosting. The higher your HP here, the better your chances; your other stats are not as important. - Equipment First off, Ribbons are absolutely essential. You don't need them on every character, but I would suggest having Ribbons equipped on at least two party members. If you haven't already done so, take the time to get your Paladin's Shield(*), which is probably most useful here for its elemental protections, but has solid benefits overall. You should have a Soul of Thamasa(*) on your magic user, which, of course, works well when paired with the Celestriad. However, you will have a number of opportunities to Osmose MP from your enemies, so there may be times when you wish to opt for a Ribbon instead of the Celestriad. HP will be your most important stat here, so using a Muscle Belt in a free relic slot is not a bad idea if it pays off. Zephyr Cloak(*) always makes an excellent addition all-around, but is not essential. You may have other preferences. So, here's a sample build, without leveling all characters to 99: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mog - Gungnir - Paladin's Shield - Red Cap - Snow Scarf - Ribbon - Zephyr Cloak Terra (back row) - Lightbringer - Aegis Shield - Red Cap - Minerva Bustier - Ribbon - Zephyr Cloak Celes - Save The Queen - Genji Shield - Genji Helm - Minerva Bustier - Celestriad - Soul of Thamasa Sabin - Godhand/Tigerfang - Aegis Shield - Royal Crown - Red Jacket - Master's Scroll - Ribbon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note that this build will allow you to handle castings of Meltdown unharmed. Keep this sort of tactic in mind, as you will run into enemies that cast the spell. Of course, high level characters can use something other than the Red Cap. Terra and Celes are arguably more useful than Edgar or Locke due to their use of the Minerva Bustier, and furthermore Terra also can enter Trance mode for a boost when needed. Mog is virtually untouchable with his gear, and Sabin's blitzes give him some extra utility in hectic situations. The other characters have their merits, however. Sabin has fairly weak defense with this build, and Celes' Runic ability will not be very useful. Sabin's Godhand represents one example of a problem with the higher-end weapons in this game; non-elemental weapons are better in many situations. While several enemies are vulnerable to Holy attacks, many absorb Holy damage, including some who will confuse or berserk your character. This can lead to significant problems, so if you intend to use Sabin or Cyan, be sure to have non-elemental weapons on-hand to switch to as necessary. - Magic On all characters, you should have the following, at a minimum: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Curaga - Arise - Reraise - Esuna - Hastega - Rasp - Osmose - Imp - Reflect - Dispel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any character that will not be using physical attacks in difficult situations should have Ultima. There will be a couple of monsters that change elemental weaknesses, so having Libra and a variety of elemental attacks at your disposal will also be useful. You may also want Quick on your Dualcast user for some cheesy Ultima casting as well. Valor and Berserk could also have uses. Essentially, you should just build on your existing single-group strategy. You don't need to completely change your mindset for the run, but you will need to tweak it a bit. - Espers While most Esper summons are limited to damage, healing or other support magic that has long since been surpassed by your characters' abilities, there are a few unique ones that may be of use: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Phantom Casts Vanish on all party members. While this makes them especially vulnerable to magic, this can be a handy way of avoiding heavy physical damage, such as from the Ether variety of Glutturns (1). - Quetzilli Provides a free round of physical attacks (2). This can be helpful when facing encounters that are vulnerable to direct attack but dish out a lot of damage. - Zone Seeker Increases magic defense. This summon may have occasional utility (3). ----------------------------------- Glutturns (urn03) ----------------------------------- You will run into a new type of enemy in the Soul Shrine, all of which look like the Magic Urn from the Cultists' Tower. At the start of the battle, they will demand an item, and if you do not provide them with the item after a time or attack them, they will attack. Often times they will demand more of the item. You can end the encounter this way, but chances are, you won't want to give up your hard-earned items. When they turn to combat, these encounters are arguably the most difficult in the game, and while it is possible to defeat them, they will put up quite a fight. Glutturns show up randomly throughout the run and at specific times. Overall, you will probably encounter them three or four times per complete run. However, what is probably the most important aspect of these creatures is what you can steal from them (see below). They also provide a large amount of experience and gil. All Glutturns will flee after a certain amount of damage has been dealt. For the most part, Ultima is the best way to deal damage to them. Here are their attack patterns: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glutturn (demands Ether) Steal: Force Shield - Per turn: Physical attack x4 - Upon fleeing: Physical attack x10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This one is not very difficult. It does hit hard, so you will need to keep your health up, but it will take magic and physical damage fairly easily. Vanish can be helpful to avoid damage (1). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glutturn (demands Hi-Ether) Steal: Celestriad - Per turn: Punish x2 (instant KO) - Upon fleeing: Blaster ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Possibly the most difficult of the four, you will need to stay ahead of its casting and do damage at the same time. Hi-Ether Glutturn has fairly high physical defense, so you should stick to Ultima for damage. You should spend the first couple rounds of combat casting Reraise and Hastega on your party. Don't bother using Arise for obvious reasons, and hopefully you have good enough equipment to survive the Blaster. An alternate strategy is to use Vanish or summon Phantom to go invisible. However note that this will make your party vulnerable to Blaster, so have Reraise up (6). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glutturn (demands X-Ether) Steal: Master's Scroll - Uses a combination of Berserk on all party members, Overture(*), Entice(*), and finally, Cloudy Heaven(*). Not pretty if you don't have Ribbons equipped. - Upon fleeing: Disaster, Diabolic Whistle (number of status effects on the party) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There's not much to worry about here if you have Ribbons on at least two of your party. If the rest of your party is not equipped with elemental weapons, you may be able to take this one down swiftly. If you accidentally went into this fight without Ribbons on, well, enjoy the show. Use special physical attacks or magic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glutturn (demands Elixir) Steal: Soul of Thamasa - Per turn: Ultima - Upon fleeing: Heartless Angel(*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another urn that you will have to keep up with; here is where a character or two with high magic comes in handy for healing. Reraise is useless here; use the free turns to Haste and heal damage from previous fights. You will probably need to stay above ~6000 HP to survive each casting of Ultima. Have a Curaga and some offense going every round. Ultima will penetrate Reflect, Shell, and magic defense, so it's really just you at the mercy of the caster's magic power. Make sure you stay on the attack and don't let up; this guy can be quick at times on the casting. Heartless Angel will also give you trouble during your next fight. ----------------------------------- Walkthrough (wlk04) ----------------------------------- The list provided here should only serve as a rough guideline to you as to where you are, and how far you have until a break. It is important to note that there is randomness involved in the run; up until last few battles, encounters from the Dragon Den may show up at any time. Anything is fair game, from those annoying girls that cast Overture to the mini-bosses such as the Dark Behemoth and Earth Eater. You may also run into Glutturns randomly, as well. Should you be tracking your progress, also note that the random encounters are substitutes (4). -Start- 1 - Imperial Soldier x2, Magitek Armor 2 - Zaghrem, Trillium, Spritzer x2 3 - Nautiloid, Exocite, Lesser Lopros 4 - Satellite 5 - Oversoul, Living Dead x2 6 - Opinicus Fish set, followed by Rhizopas 7 - Angel Whisper, Living Dead, Cloud x2 8 - Hell's Rider 9 - Heavy Armor, Corporal x2 10 - Paraladia, Vulture, Iron Fist 11 - Veil Dancer, Gobbledygook x3 12 - Hill Gigas, Harvester 13 - General, Onion Knight x2 14 - Chaser, followed by Trapper x3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 15 - Death Warden Death Warden, as the name implies, will cast Death on you and could very well succeed, depending on your build. It is otherwise not difficult, though. You will get another Tigerfang here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 16 - Murussu, Baalzephon 17 - Bomb x6 18 - Io 19 - Fossil Dragon, Bug x3 20 - Zombie Dragon, Outcast x2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First Break You will be taken back to the room with the ghost. You can go to your menu, heal, change equipment, espers, and so forth. Note that if you leave, you will reset your run. Continue the run by talking with the ghost. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 21 - Balloon x6 22 - Adamankary, Bonnacon x2 23 - Mega Armor, Proto Armor 24 - Gigantos x2 25 - Brainpan x2, Misfit, Apocrypha 26 - Behemoth, Misfit x2 27 - Ninja x2, Platinum Dragon 28 - Grenade 29 - Land Ray, Peeper x2 30 - Black Dragon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 31 - Daedalus, Ahriman This battle may come as a bit of a surprise considering the previous set of battles. Ahrimans are always a pain, of course. Daedalus will cast Lv. 5 Death, too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 32 - Intangir You may or may not have run into Intangir in the World of Balance. He is invisible and can only be hit by magic attacks while invisible. He will recast invisibility every time he is uncovered, so this is primarily a magic fight. He is also good to Osmose from too, as he has a lot of MP and this is a fairly controlled battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 33 - Vector Chimera x2 34 - Lenergia x2, Destroyer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 35 - Glutturn On every run I have done, this is the Ether Glutturn. Not especially difficult, just keep yourself healed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 36 - Landworm 37 - Neck Hunter, Cruller, Humpty x2 38 - Dante 39 - Dropper x3 40 - Borghese, Cloudwraith x2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 41 - Tonberries x3 As you may remember, the Tonberries have high evasion. If you are lucky, a Minerva Bustier drops here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -break- 42 - Skeletal Horror 43 - Malboro, Exoray 44 - Knotty x4 45 - Punisher x2, Devil Fist 46 - Glasya Labolas, Mugbear, Devil Fist 47 - Gorgimera 48 - Primeval Dragon, Great Malboro 49 - Test Rider 50 - Magna Roader x2 (large purple, small red) 51 - Magna Roader x3 (large yellow x2, small brown) 52 - Blade Dancer x2, Crusher x2 53 - Rafflesia x3 54 - Mahadeva 55 - Sorath, Warlock, Creature 56 - Armored Weapon 57 - Enuo, Devil, Figaro Lizard 58 - Pluto Armor, Schmidt 59 - Weredragon, Parasite x3 60 - Alluring Rider, Pandora x3 61 - Coco, Samurai, Suriander -break- 62 - Tyrannosaur x2 63 - Greater Mantis, Sprinter, Lycaon x2 64 - Basilisk x2, Leap Frog 65 - Great Behemoth, Great Malboro, Vector Lythos 66 - Purusa, Gloomwind 67 - Face, Zeveak, Necromancer x2 68 - Clymenus x2, Necromancer 69 - Chaos Dragon, Ouroboros, Seaflower x2 70 - Amduscias, Covert x2 71 - Baalzephon x2, Shambling Corpse x2 72 - Wartpuck, Kamui ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 73 - Level 10 Magic, Level 20 Magic One surprising thing you will notice, now that you can use physical abilities, is that the monsters from the Cultists' Tower have especially high physical defense and/or evasion. You will need to use mostly magic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 74 - Level 30 Magic x3 75 - Level 60 Magic, Level 30 Magic, Level 10 Magic x2 76 - Level 70 Magic, Level 50 Magic, Level 40 Magic 77 - Level 90 Magic, Level 80 Magic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 78 - Glutturn This will be your first real challenge. Heal up at the end of 77 to get a headstart here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -break- 79 - Angler Whelk 80 - Dadaluma 81 - Crane x2 82 - Number 024 83 - Number 128, Left Blade, Right Blade 84 - Glutturn 85 - Air Force, Laser Gun, Missile Bay 86 - Master Tonberry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 87 - Brachiosaur The rare encounter from the Dinosaur Forest(*), Brachiosaur uses Ultima, so stay healed. There is a small chance of a Celestriad drop here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -break- 88 - Gamma 89 - InnoSent x3 90 - Junk x3 91 - Demon Knight, Yojimbo 92 - Muud Suud 93 - Prometheus, Fortis 94 - Duel Armor, Death Machine, Fortis 95 - Outsider x2, Dark Force, Cherry 96 - Mover x3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 97 - Fiend Dragon x2 Not the easiest fight. You will see Heartless Angel used liberally here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Break: Dragons Here you will be up against the original eight Dragons. Nothing much to worry about. All of these dragons will drop the same items they did earlier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 98 - Ice Dragon 99 - Storm Dragon 100 - Earth Dragon 101 - Gold Dragon 102 - Skull Dragon 103 - Holy Dragon 104 - Blue Dragon 105 - Red Dragon -break- 106 - Tentacle x4 107 - Dullahan 108 - Humbaba 109 - Malboro Menace 110 - Curlax, Laragorn, Moebius 111 - Samurai Soul 112 - Magic Master 113 - Hidon, Erebus x4 114 - Deathgaze -break- 115 - Inferno, Ketu, Rahu 116 - Guardian 117 - Demon 118 - Goddess 119 - Fiend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Break: Dragon's Den Now you will fight the dragons again, but this time it will be their Dragon's Den versions. Refer to KinieWings' Dragon's Den Walkthrough for strategies if you need them. Ribbons are highly recommended at this point. Like the original dragons, these will drop the same weapons that they did in the Den. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 120 - Ice Dragon 121 - Storm Dragon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 122 - Earth Dragon Try to be healed at the end of this fight, as the Gold Dragon won't let you cast magic next fight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 123 - Gold Dragon 124 - Skull Dragon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 125 - Holy Dragon There is a little luck involved here. Just take this fight slowly, since you don't want to go up against the Blue Dragon right after a Heartless Angel. Don't forget to cast Reflect on it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 126 - Blue Dragon 127 - Red Dragon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 128 - Kaiser Dragon It has been mentioned elsewhere but deserves repeating; Kaiser Dragon is very dangerous if it shifts to Ice. Try to get Hastega up as soon as you can in case this happens. Don't forget to put up Reraise as the battle winds down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Defeating the Kaiser Dragon gets you the Master's Crown (not equippable) and bragging rights. A full run will also get you a bunch of experience, a Master's Scroll, a Muscle Belt, some more Force gear, and a lot of weapons. And if you are feeling lucky, you can steal some goodies from the urns. ----------------------------------- Glossary (gls05) ----------------------------------- Cloudy Heaven A curse that inflicts Doom status on all party members. Unprotected characters will be inflicted with zombie status upon death or when countdown timer reaches zero. Dinosaur Forest A small forest found north of the Veldt in the World of Ruin. A popular spot for level building. A common strategy is to use two party members with Growth Eggs; a couple of characters can gain 40 levels in short order using this method. Entice Causes one party member to randomly attack other party members. More difficult to deal with than Confuse. Heartless Angel Reduces all party members' HP to 1. Unblockable. Lightbringer A sword with excellent stats that uses MP to deliver critical hits. Equally as effective from the back row. Obtainable from the Colosseum by bidding the Ragnarok sword. Minerva Bustier Armor that can only be equipped by Terra or Celes. Provides a bonus to maximum MP and negates or halves damage from all eight elements. One is found in Kefka's Tower, another may be found from Tonberries fought in Umaro's Cave. Also may be obtained from the Colosseum by bidding a Regal Gown. Overture Causes one party member to defend all standard physical attacks made against caster. Special physical attacks (such as Blitz or Tools) and magic bypass the effect, as well as specially enhanced physicals (such as those used with a Master's Scroll) (5). Paladin's Shield A shield that grants immunity to elemental attacks, teaches Ultima, and has high defensive stats. Created by dispelling the curse on the Cursed Shield, found in Narshe. The curse is dispelled by getting 256 victories with the shield equipped. Snow Scarf Armor with very high physical defense. Combined with sufficient defensive gear, allows for physical attacks to be reduced to nearly zero damage. Also halves fire damage and absorbs ice. Equippable by Mog and Gau. Obtained by bidding a Behemoth Suit in the Colosseum. Soul of Thamasa Found at the top of the Cultists' Tower, this allows two magic spells to be cast in one turn. By casting Quick, this allows a caster to attack multiple times in one turn. This may be an essential strategy for some of the more difficult battles during this run. Thief's Knife Used as an alternative method of stealing items, this works best when paired with the Master's Scroll. Without assistance, this method allows Shadow to steal items. When a Merit Award is equipped, several other characters can use this item as well. Zephyr Cloak Purchased from the child merchant in Nikeah, this relic increases physical and magic evasion, and also randomly evades physical attacks. Generally the best option to fill in relic slots. ----------------------------------- References ----------------------------------- 1. Contributed by Adam Michaud, via e-mail. 2. ibid. 3. ibid. 4. Contributed by Duncan, via e-mail. 5. Contributed by Solomon, via e-mail. 6. Contributed by Adam Michaud, via e-mail. -- End of file --