TALES OF SYMPHONIA Rune Bottle FAQ v0.90 By Ultra Sloth Email: romeoj123@hotmail.com Created: July 31, 2004 Last modified: August 13, 2004 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ TABLE OF CONTENTS \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ I. Version History II. What is a Rune Bottle? III. Item Transformation i. Items ii. Accessories IV. Drop/Steal Rune Bottle V. Become a God Strategy i. Rapid HP/TP growth ii. Defense growth VI. About the Author VII. Legal VIII. Thanks /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ I. VERSION HISTORY \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ August 13, 2004 (Ver 0.90) - Finished monster section. Cleaned up typos. August 8, 2004 (Ver 0.85) - Added a few missing locations and graphics to the monster section. Added Defense growth to the Becoming a God strategy. August 3, 2004 (Ver 0.75) - Added more to the monster section. Added legal info and an acknowledgement section. Added Becoming a God strategy. July 31, 2004 (Ver 0.50) - Created intro about Rune Bottle, created the transformation tables, and started the monster section. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ II. WHAT IS A RUNE BOTTLE? \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ A Rune Bottle is an item that allows the player to transform one item into another using 1 Rune Bottle. For example, an Apple Gel can be transformed into a Lemon Gel using a Rune Bottle. Not all items have the option of being transformed, Items and Accessories can be transformed. It is useful as a means of upgrading your items, such as a Sage to a Red Sage. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ III. ITEM TRANSFORMATION \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ==================== i. ITEMS ==================== (a "<->" denotes transformed item will yield initial item) ITEM | TRANSFORMATION ________________________________________ Apple Gel | Lemon Gel Melange Gel | Miracle Gel Orange Gel | PineApple Gel | Acuity Bottle | Guard Bottle Guard Bottle | Flare Bottle Flare Bottle | Acuity Bottle Dark Bottle <-> Holy Bottle Shell Bottle <-> Syrup Bottle Panacea Bottle | Miracle Bottle Energy Tablets | Spirit Bottle | Aqua Quartz <-> Purple Quartz Green Quartz <-> Yellow Quartz Red Quartz <-> Blue Quartz | Saffron | Red Saffron Sage | Red Sage Bellabane | Red Bellabane Lavender | Red Lavender Rosemary | Red Rosemary ________________________________________ ==================== ii. ACCESSORIES ==================== ACCESSORIES | TRANSFORMATION _______________________________________________ Spirit Bangle <-> Heal Bracelet Talisman <-> Blue Talisman Guardian Symbol <-> Warrior Symbol | Spirit Ring <-> Holy Ring Protect Ring <-> Resist Ring Reflect Ring <-> Force Ring Magic Ring | Defense Ring Defense Ring | Attack Ring Attack Ring | Magic Ring | Sephira | Blue Sephira Blue Sephira | Reverse Doll Reverse Doll | Sephira _______________________________________________ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ IV. DROP/STEAL RUNE BOTTLE \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Rune Bottles, as far as I know, can't be purchased. The following is a list of monsters that carry the item. This is what the info for each monster looks like: ============================== [No.] [Name] Drop ("drop" label will be present item is dropped, absent if not) -F (first item) or -S (second item) Steal ("steal" label will be present if possible to steal, absent if not) Loc -[ ] (location of monster) Graphic -[ ] (field/dungeon graphic to find monster in) ============================== ------------------------------ No.28 Chimaera Drop -F Steal Loc - Fooji Mountains(after saving Raine and Genis) Graphic - Beast ------------------------------ No.43 Undertaker Drop -S Steal Loc - Gaoracchia Forest Graphic - Skull ------------------------------ No.113 Storm Claw Steal Loc - Ymir Forest Graphic - Bird ------------------------------ No.132 Sliver Drop Steal Loc - Outside Flanoir Graphic - Field Map Large *rare to encounter ------------------------------ No.167 Cutlass Steal Loc - Torent Forest Graphic - Flower, Slug ------------------------------ No.169 Man-Eater Drop -S Loc - Torent Forest Graphic - Slug, Flower ------------------------------ No.170 Sheldra Drop Loc - Latheon Gorge Graphic - Slug ------------------------------ No.173 Drake Drop Loc - Near Gaoracchia Forest/Meltokio Coliseum Graphic - Field Map Large in grass area/Advanced Singles Match *rare to encounter ------------------------------ No.245 Remiel Drop -S Loc - The Final Seal Graphic - Boss Battle ------------------------------ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ v. BECOME A GOD STRATEGY \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Probably for a good reason, enemies that drop stat increasing items are conveniently placed in the same area, often within the same battle encounter. Rune Bottles are never far, either. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================= i. RAPID HP/TP GROWTH ========================= ------------ Pre-Strategy ------------ Get all your characters' HP and TP to the absolute max VERY QUICKLY! (Quick as in it beats the hell out of leveling up, and equipping titles for their HP increases.) First, put Colette in your party, equip the EX Skill "Item Finder." In case you don't have it, it requires the following: EX Gem LV 1: Tough EX Gem LV 1: Sharp-Eyed This skill will speed up the process immensely. And always strive for a high grade and Technical Smashes on the enemies you want the item from, as this helps tremendously. -------- Location -------- Now go to the Temple of Darkness, located in Tethe'alla south of Meltokio. Journey into the temple to the first save point, located where you initially brought the 5 fragments of Summon Shadow. There should be a Skeleton Head and Beast monsters on this floor. The main monster of interest is the Skeleton Head. The Skeleton Head encounter has two monsters to look for: --------------- No.44 Coffinmaster Drop: Sage --------------- No.95 Druid Drop: Savory --------------- Every encounter is guaranteed to have a Druid, and the Coffinmasters often come in pairs. You see the potential. -------- Strategy -------- Simply fight it, leave the room by running down the path in the back that leads further down the dungeon, and walk back to make the monster reappear. Sage increases MAX HP by 5%, Savory increases MAX TP by 5%, but by using your Rune Bottles on these two item, Sage becomes Red Sage, yielding a MAX HP increase of 10%, and Savory becomes Red Savory, yielding a MAX TP increase of 10%! When you run out of Rune Bottles for this strategy, the ideal place to go is the Fooji Mountains, located just north of the Shadow Temple(where you are). Jack the Chimaeras. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ==================== ii. DEFENSE GROWTH ==================== ------------ Pre-Strategy ------------ Not really as useful to use on every character(or rapid, which is why I didn't tack that word on), this tactic of stat booster and Rune Bottle is good for beefing up your magic users, especially for individual battles like the Meltokio Coliseum. Again, Colette's Item Finder EX Skill and Technical Smashes and Grade are key. -------- Location -------- The golden location is none other than Gaoracchia Forest, located near Sybak. Venture into the forest up to where the Sealed Memory Circle is, which is in the screen right of where you fight the Sword Dancer for the second time. The monsters of interest... ------------------ No.15 Boxer Iris Drop: Bellabane Graphic: Flower ------------------ No.43 Undertaker Drop: Rune Bottle Steal: Rune Bottle Graphic: Skull ------------------ -------- Strategy -------- While in the screen with the Sealed Memory Circle, go left to enter the screen where the Sword Dancer was. Almost immediately there is a Flower enemy. That's the target. Many battles have TWO Boxer Iris monsters. Fight it, and leave to the right when your done. The area WITH the Sealed Memory circle has a Skull enemy, which has the Undertaker, who conveniently drops Rune Bottles, as well as charitably lets you steal it from him. Take advantage. Simply toggle between screens to obtain Bellabanes and Rune Bottles to your heart's content. Using Rune Bottles on your Bellabanes yields Red Bellabanes, which boost Defense by 3! Using 20 Rune Bottles on 20 Bellabanes results in a defense boost of 60! ...Which is close to 100! (Not really, but keep that in mind to make it seem faster.) /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ VI. ABOUT THE AUTHOR \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ After years of simply taking for granted the laborious efforts of more dedicated gamers, I decided to return the favor with MY FIRST FAQ EVER!!! I decided small and specific was the road to go to get my feet wet. There will be more to come... My name Sloth comes from my high school cross country days. I thought it would be funny if I had a slow name and fast legs, but as it turns out, I'm just slow, hence the name. Ultra was tacked on for availability reasons. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ VII. LEGAL \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Verbatim from GameFaqs... This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. I can be lazy, but you can't! (If you don't mind.) /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ VIII. THANKS \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ -NAMCO for FINALLY bringing a note-worthy RPG to Nintendo since the SNES! -Tos for advertising (and delivering) the removal of 80+ hours of my life. -GameFaqs and those responsible for such a helpful site! Copyright 2004 Romeo Juarez.