Crimson Gem Saga (Imagine that there’s some snazzy ASCII art right here.) Author: Penguin of Doom E-Mail: fvck_th3_vv0r1d@yahoo.com Guide Release Date: June 8, 2009 Don’t steal my stuff, bro. I’m only posting this on GameFAQS.com Just search for the CGS** part and it’ll take you to that part of the guide. Table of Contents: CGS1 – Introduction CGS2 – Tips CGS2.1 – Critical Hits CGS2.2 – Skills/SP CGS2.2.1 – Learning Skills CGS2.2.2 – Combination Skills CGS2.3 – Escape CGS2.4 – Ambush CGS2.5 – Healing CGS3 – Walkthrough CGS3.0 – Prologue CGS3.1 – Chapter 1 CGS3.2 – Chapter 2 CGS1 Introduction: First off, my layout is kind of crap right now. This is my first guide and I will clean it up as soon as I can. Right now, I’m working on going through the game to get the meat of the guide done, then I can give it a face lift afterwards. Just envision some awesome asterisks and pound signs all over the place and it’ll be cool. I’ll try to post as few spoilers as possible, but where they are necessary to be clear, I’ll have to use them. This guide is written pretty much as I go. It will not be the most complete guide and I may miss some things along the way. I’ll try to get everything I can and give as much info as possible, but all of this information, for the most part, will be of my own work. If I miss something major, you have a better strategy for a fight, or anything that might make my guide better, send me an email. I’m not going to pretend to be the master of this game, so questions might be better handled by the board right now. With that said, understand that this is very much a work in progress and I’m doing the best I can. With my interest in as few spoilers as possible, I’m worried about the layout of my Table of Contents giving away something. I’ll just list the CTRL+F codes for the chapters and you can look down from there or search for the specific place you are looking for. I’ve labeled each place when you get there, for the most part, so it shouldn’t be too hard to “Find Next” a few times and get to where you want to be at in the guide. If I feel it’s too much hassle this way, I may change it in the future. CGS2 Tips: CGS2.1 Critical Hits Critical Hits are interesting. Not only do they do more damage than a normal hit, they have a chance to allow you to do more hits. If you land a critical and the enemy survives the hit, you have the chance to press X when the alert pops up at the bottom of the screen to do more hits. Different characters have different amounts of hits and timings, so a little patience and practice is required to master it, but it’s not really that hard of a system to get the hang of. CGS2.2 Skills/SP Skills can level be leveled up by using Medallions. There are Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Medallions and each corresponds to a Skill level. Bronze increases level from 1 to 2, Silver increases level from 2 to 3 and so forth. Your move will become stronger with each increased Skill level, but cost the same amount of MP. You can farm them, so don’t be too nervous about which skills you use them on. Obviously, use the Medallions on the skills you use the most. There is no real “wrong” skill to upgrade, but there are better skills. CGS2.2.1 Learning New Skills: To learn new Skills, go to the Skills tab in the menu and then press Triangle to access the Skill Tree for that character. Each character comes with some skill learned, some know multiple skills when you get them. A learned skill says “COMPLETED” under the name. A revealed skill has a bar that shows how much SP you would need to spend to learn that skill. An unrevealed skill has “???” as the name and a bar to show how much SP you would need to spend to reveal the ability. What’s interesting is that, by revealing a skill, you can skip it if you don’t like it and reveal the next abilities in the tree. Once a skill is revealed and you decide you want it, you’ll have to invest SP into it to learn it. It seems a little strange to spend SP to just get a name of a skill we could get if we wanted, but that’s just how it goes. This means you could only learn the final abilities for each character and nothing in between, just reveal the name and go down the list never learning anything. You don’t have the SP to do them, but you could learn them. I’ll use Killian as an example of how to use the Skill Tree. Killian starts off with Justice Blade learned, as evidenced by the “COMPLETED” at the bottom of the tab for it. Down the tree, Cross Slash and Quick Fix are revealed. The names are shown and the bars are empty. Go onto their tab and you’ll be shown how much SP is required to learn that ability. Further down the tree we see tabs with “???”, indicating these are yet to be revealed. Go onto one of these and you’ll see “Skill Unknown ** SP needed to reveal skill.” The ** indicates how much SP is needed to reveal that skill. Invest the SP to reveal the skill and it’ll look like the Cross Slash and Quick Fix tabs, meaning if you invest more SP into them, you can learn the ability. CGS2.2.2 Combination Skills: There are also Combination Skills you can use. The first and easiest to get is Wave Strike with Spinel and Killian. In their respective Skill Trees, learn the Wave Strike skill with both of them. It’ll tell you in the Skill Tree Menu [Killian Spinel Combination]. Learn the skill with both of them and head into battle. In order to use the skill in battle, they have to have consecutive turns. So, if Spinel starts the battle and Killian is next, you can have Spinel cast Wave Strike. The 30 MP required for the spell is pulled from both people, but Killian will still get his turn. This can eat your MP very quickly, so keep an eye on how much MP you have, as it may be better suited being used for a different ability. CGS2.3 Escape: Escape is interesting in CGS. When you attempt to escape, a wheel pops up with circles on it. A few of the circles become golden and the wheel spins. You have 5 seconds to stop the wheel on one of the golden circles to escape. If you land on a golden circle, you escape and the enemy disappears. If you fail to land on a golden circle, that character loses that turn and the next unit to get a turn goes. If you are getting your ass kicked, then you can always use a Smoke Bomb and get away. Smoke Bombs are 100% on escaping. CGS2.4 Ambush: You see every enemy in the game. There are no hidden enemies and stuff. This gives you a good advantage against the enemies. If you approach an enemy before they notice you, you will ambush them. Against one enemy, in a place you should be in, you will do huge damage against them. Against multiple enemies, you’ll do strong damage against all of them. It’s a nice boost at the start of a fight and can save your life. Conversely, if you fight the enemy while they have “!!” over their head, it’ll be an even start and neither of you get the advantage. And lastly, if you are spotted and the “!!” has time to pop up and then go away, the enemy will Ambush you. They will do damage to all of your characters and this can be a real pain. Most enemies will catch you if you run. You can run into a new enemy and not be ambushed. If you are close to the screen exit, you can also run through and not get ambushed. Early into Ch. 2, you can buy some boots that increase on-screen run speed and make running past enemies a lot easier. CGS2.5 Healing: You get a lot of food and potions from towns and enemies. Healing in battle shouldn’t happen until the first “real” boss fight. With that said, the game gives you tons of Biscuits to heal outside of battle and you level a lot. The good thing about leveling is that not only do you get stronger, you get a free health and mana refill. Keep this in mind when thinking about healing. CGS2.6 Saving: Just to make it very clear, you can save pretty much anywhere. Use this to your advantage. Saving often is always a good idea and CGS makes it easier than ever. My only complaint is that I can only have 3 saves at a time. Oh well, plenty of backups on my computer. CGS3 Walkthrough: Watch the intro. CGS3.0 Prologue Area: Shern Village Treasures: 100 gelders, 5 Bicuits, 5 Biscuits, Caffeine, 10000 gelders, 10000 gelders, 70 gelders, 1 Leather Armor, 1 Soothing Water, 1 Tent, 1 Small Bomb Watch the scene and meet our protagonist. Our first quest is given to us: Green Hill Graduation. But before we head to the ceremony, let’s check out the town first. Head back upstairs in the Inn and check the drawer between the beds for 100 gelders. Head outside the southeastern door of the Inn/Bar and the mailbox near the entrance to bar has 5 Bicuits in it. Inside the nearest house, there are two chests. One is locked and the other has 5 Biscuits. The clock in this house has a Caffeine as well. Head outside and up the nearby steps. To the right of the nearby Item shop is a hidden little path. Take it and talk to the monk at the end for 20000 gelders. A nice bit of pocket change to start the game with. The mailbox in front of the Weapon shop has 70 gelders. Head into the weapon shop and upstairs to check the coat rack for a Leather Armor. Go ahead and buy a Broadsword and Leather Boots while here and equip all your new gear. Head outside and to the northeast from here. Check the well for a Soothing Water. Head into the Book store and upstairs to find a chest with a tent inside. Head outside and take the southwest exit from this screen. Head to the southeast part of this map to find a bridge with a chest on the other side. Inside of the chest is a Small Bomb. Head to the northwest exit to initiate the next scene. During the scene, we complete our quest: Green Hill Graduation. Then more scenes ensue. We get a Letter of Recommendation and our next quest: Join the Excelsior Force. Once you regain control, talk to the guy standing where the Principal was standing during the ceremony. Of course you have what it takes! Agree to do the mission and get the side quest: Galorin Hunting. We’ll need 5 Galorin Horns to complete this quest. Head back to near the Bar and take the southeast exit. Area: Shern Entrance Treasures: 2 Light Mana Potions, 600 gelders, 10 Biscuits Enemies: Hwal Galorin, Cal Galorin Take the upper path at the intersection and head a little ways to see a house. Behind the house is a chest with 2 Light Mana Potions. From here, head east a little ways and then south. Take the southeast exit on this screen. All of the enemies in this area drop Galorin Horns for the Galorin Hunting quest. Not too often unfortunately, but it’s not that bad. You get a little info on the battle system. Long and short, you have to fight pretty much any monster you come near. It’s pretty unlikely you will be able to outrun them. It’s best to try to get to them quick and from behind to initiate an ambush. Against one enemy, you get a free turn and against multiple enemies, you do crap damage to all of them. With more people, you’ll do more damage, but that comes later. If a monster has an exclamation point over its head, then get to it quickly. After a few seconds, the exclamation point goes away and combat with that monster has a chance for you to get ambushed. After a battle is concluded, you are “invisible” for a few seconds. Use this time to run into the next monster you see and you will ambush them. You’ll probably finish the fight before the enemy has a chance to do anything. Another note on fighting; you will level up a lot right now and each time you level up, you refill your health and mana. Use your skills and don’t waste items if you are about to level. Follow the path a little and then take the branch to the south. There is a chest with 600 gelders inside. Head back to the intersection and take the east exit from this screen. You’ll be fighting two enemies per fight on this screen. Still not much to worry about, but ambushes are much less useful to you now. Keep following the path and then take the first southern branch to find a chest with 10 Biscuits inside. You can take the east exit to the next screen, but stronger monsters fight here. Stay on these first two screens fighting Galorins until you have 5 Galorin Horns and then return to the Drill Instructor. You complete the quest Galorin Hunting and receive 3 Bronze Medallions. Head back to the screen with the chest with 10 Biscuits and take the east exit. Area: Vardenhoff Field Enemies: Hwal Galorin, Cal Galorin, Mosquito As the game tells you, the enemies are a little tougher now. Still not much to worry about. The Mosquitos can take two hits to kill, so just use Justice Blade to take them out quickly. There’s a little ramp that leads to a dead end with a few monsters on it. I’d recommend fighting them for the exp and SP, but it’s really your call. There are no items on this screen, so fight if you want or just take the southeast exit. The north path leads to a scene. After the scene follow the path and take the east exit. Area: Vardenhoff Bridge Go ahead and purchase Cross Slash and heal up and make sure you have at least 45MP to use Cross Slash. This screen has a bridge and our first boss battle. Walk up to the bridge and check out the situation. Watch the scene and then it’s battle time. Boss: Jeffrey Jeffrey has two sidekicks with him. Use Cross Slash on the first turn and both of the underlings are dead and maybe Jeffrey if you leveled a little extra. Jeffrey will hit you for a small bit of damage and then you can use a regular attack to finish him off. You get a Joker Card and a Bronze Medallion for winning. More scenes on the bridge. But she didn’t really take the pouch. Anyway, follow the path east into the town of Vardenhoff. Area: Vardenhoff Treasures: 850 gelders, 3 Cayenne Peppers, 3 Acetylsalicylic Acids, 1 Small Bomb, 670 gelders, 3 Golden Eels, 3 Milks, 1 Riding Boots, 7 Red Bean Buns, 1 Caffeine Pill, 1850 gelders, 5 Small Bombs, 4 Soothing Waters, 3 Golden Eels, 5 Red Bean Buns, 3 Smoke Bombs, 1 Liger Bomb, 2 Fish Cakes, 1 Hamburger, 2 Milks, 3 Spicy Rice Cakes Search the barrel near the door of the Weapon/Armor shop for 850 gelders. Go into the shop for a little spending. Buy a Baselard, Ballock, 2 Leather Armors and a pair of Leather Boots. Go into the house right to the south of you and go upstairs and loot the chest for 3 Cayenne Powders. Search the plant closest to the window for 3 Acetylsalicylic Acids. Head out and south, then search the trough for a Small Bomb. Take the eastern exit from this screen. On the new screen, go to the east side of the Bar and search the box for 670 gelders. Head east a little and loot the chest for 3 Golden Eels. Head south and search the barrel right against the east side of the Inn for 3 Milks. Go inside the Inn and immediately to your left is a small chest. Loot it for a pair of Riding Boots. Loot the drawers in the middle of the two beds for 7 Red Bean Buns. Go upstairs and loot the drawers near the stairs for a Caffeine pill. Two chests near the beds hold 1850 gelders and 5 Small Bombs. Head outside of the Inn and keep heading south into the next screen. There’s a gap in the fence around the lake near you, search it for 4 Soothing Waters. Head southeast a little and search the trough that the two horses are eating from for 3 Golden Eels. Head into the nearby building for a scene. The Join the Excelsior Force quest gets update with a new location to head to. Head back out and take the southwest exit from this screen. The southwest corner of this screen has 5 Red Bean Buns and 3 Smoke Bombs in a chest. Head inside the house and search the shelf near the stairs for a Liger Balm. Go upstairs and loot the southeastern shelves for 2 Fish Cakes, then the northeastern drawers for a Hamburger, then again for 2 Milks, and yet again for 3 Spicy Rice Cakes. Search again and you’ll return all of the food. Head outside and take the north exit from this screen and then the northwest exit from that screen to be back on the screen with the bridge. Go immediately north to see some stairs carved into the rocks and go up them. Area: Vardenhoff Field Treasures: 700 gelders, 5 Red Bean Buns Enemies: Hwal Galorins, Mosquitoes Equip the Baselard and Riding Boots on Killian now. The path on this screen is obvious and the enemies are just some Hwal Galorins, which you kill in one hit. Go onwards to the next screen. The next screen brings back Mosquitoes, which you’ll need two hits to kill or a Justice Blade. They do small damage and we have plenty of Biscuits, I don’t waste MP on them. Again the path is fairly straight forward. Follow the path up at the first intersection and then to the west. Right before the exit, take the path up the stone stairs to a new screen. Head west on this screen to a chest with 700 gelders and 5 Red Bean Buns. Head back to the east and then take the west exit from this screen. The path on this screen is, yet again, very easy to follow. Head northwest and exit. New screen and the next scene. Completed the Join the Excelsior Force and more scenes. CGS3.0.1 Chapter 1 Enjoy the scenes. And thus, the grand story truly begins. Equip Spinel with the Ballock, Leather Armor and Leather Boots. Spinel is the thief type, quick with decent damage. She excels when she gets in a critical. Since Killian is in the front row, I leave the Riding Boots on him, but it’s not too big a deal if you give Spinel the little extra Defense boost. Head into the Vardenhoff Bar and down the stairs in the northeast. The Spinel’s Friend quest is completed and we get some scenes. Acquire the Master Cane and the Reclaim the Wicked Stone quest. Next stop, Dead Man’s Spire. Take the western exit out of Vardenhoff and then back up the stone stairs. Head back to the place where we met up with the Excelsior Force . This is the entrance to Dead Man’s Spire. Head to the northeast part of the screen for a chest with 2 Angel Feathers. Head to the bottom center of the spire and a scene will commence. Head inside the newly opened cave. Area: Dead Man’s Spire Treasures: 1200 gelders, 2 Angel Feathers, 1 Riding Boots, 1 Sapphire Staff Enemies: Redclaw, Gelatinous Blob, Alpha Snail Another scene and a new lack of an exit. Take the east exit follow the path on the new screen all the way to the exit. We’ll get another scene, an easy fight and a new character. Equip Henson with the Leather Armor and Leather Boots and move him into the back row. Henson is the attack magic character. He excels at attacking elemental weaknesses. Head back to the intersection on this screen and then head to the east exit. Head east and loot the chest for 1200 gelders and 2 Angel Feathers. Back to the intersection on the previous screen and head to the south. Follow the path all the way south and into the next screen. Another straight forward screen, so just follow the path all the way around to the northeast exit. We’ll get a scene and another boss battle… that we can’t win. Boss: Undead Knight (Larmont Marksai) You’ll miniscule damage to him and he’ll kill each of your characters in a single turn. Just let him wipe you out. After the fight, we find out the name of Undead Knight. Once the scene concludes, head through the northwest exit. Follow the path to an intersection and take the north path to an exit Go until you hit a chest with Riding Boots and a Sapphire Staff inside. Riding Boots go to Spinel and the Sapphire Staff to Henson. Head back to the previous screen, south at the intersection and go until you hit the exit. Area: Mirage Village Treasures: 5000 gelders, 5 Strong Healing Potions, 2000 gelders, 2 Gas Masks, 2 Smoke Bombs, 10 Milks, 3 Fish Cakes, 2 Spicy Rice Cakes, 3 Spicy Squid Whoa… There’s a town in here!? Watch the scene. Head into the house to the northwest and loot the chest for 5000 gelders. Head out and down and behind the house a little for a chest with 5 Strong Healing Potions. Nothing else on this screen, so head across the bridge. Head into the Weapon Shop and buy a Claymore, a Blade of Glory, a Gambeson and 2 Brigandines. A pair of boots is coming soon enough. Go out and update everyone’s respective equipment. Head to the east and round the path a little to notice a square patch in the road with some grass inside of, near the south house. Loot that patch for 2000 gelders. Head over the east bridge and northeast for a chest with 2 Gas Masks and 2 Smoke Bombs. Head into the nearby mansion and upstairs for 10 Milks in a chest. Head outside and back to the previous screen and take the southwest exit. Inside the south house is a chest with 3 Fish Cakes, 2 Spicy Rice Cakes and 3 Spicy Squid. Head outside and into the Bar for a scene. Head through the north exit from this screen and then east, towards the Shop, and you’ll notice the lady that waved at you. Talk to her for a scene. We get the quest: Message from Aneris. We need to find the pieces of the tattered letter that scattered around the town. Head north a little and you’ll notice a sparkle on the ground, obviously, the letter is now covered in magic dust to let us know where to look. Go pick it up. Take the north exit that’s nearby and then to the west of the Inn is another piece. The next piece is through the south exit and south a little ways. Obviously, you’ll see it. The fourth and last piece is to the west of the mayor’s house. Take the west exit from the clock tower and head towards the mansion and you’ll see it. All four pieces done and… Who tears a note into four equal parts, honestly? Finished putting the message together and updated the current quest. Head to the statue a little southwest of you and search. The Message from Aneris quest is completed and we get a scene. Boss: Zombie Mayor The Zombie Mayor has 2 flunkies with him. Open with Cross Slash and both of them should go down and then a Justice Blade should finish off the Zombie Mayor. If the initial Cross Slash doesn’t kill both Zombies, which it should or you need to do a little leveling, then you can toss a Small Bomb out to finish them off. Bronze Medallion is the reward. Area: Ghost Village Treasure: Hobnail Boots A scene happens and the Reclaim the Wicked Stone quest is updated. The town is very Halloween now. Go around the north side of the statue and follow the path to a chest with Hobnail Boots inside. Killian is my suggestion for the boots, but it’s your call. Head to the Shop for some new gear. An Emerald Staff for Henson is nice. Get an Iron Hammer, Riding Boots, and head out. The accessories and amulets are not really worth it right now. They eat your gelders like candy and don’t help too much. The 2 accessories add 5% and the amulets add 10% to their respective stats. Nice, but not that big of a boost right now. You feel like spending the gelders for them, then go for it. I didn’t. Head out the exit to the south of the statue and you’ll get a scene and a fight. Area: Dead Man’s Spire Treasure: 5 Small Bombs, 3 Medium Mana Potions, 1 Claymore, 1 Brigandine Enemies: Spiky Skunk, Alpha Snail, Guh Mi Boss: Gelts Three Justice Blades and a normal attack later, you are victorious. Yet another Bronze Medallion. And scene! Gelts is the healer of the group. He’s also, right now, not too shabby on the melee end of things. Useful all around. Equip him with the Iron Hammer and Riding Boots. At this point, I spent some of my SP to learn a few skills. I picked up Deadly Attraction for Spinel, Blaze for Henson and First Aid with Gelts. Personal preferences, but solid choices in my opinion. That was about the extent my SP at this point. Deadly Attraction is nice single target damage with a chance for confusion. Confusion lasts the entire fight, isn’t broken by damage and causes the enemy to attack allies. In my experience, it lands enough to warrant using it. Blaze is Char, but on all enemies. First Aid is a Quick Fix for the entire party. Can save you if you’re in a pinch. Head up the stairs to the next screen. Due to the nature of this section of dungeon, you will get into quite a few fights. Try your best for ambushes. Ambushing the enemy will save you some trouble in the long run. Fire is usually a good choice for Henson, but the Guh Mi spiders are resistant. On this screen, follow the path farther up. Yet again, nothing but heading up. Follow the path a little for a scene. Continue on and head out through the hole in the wall. Follow the path to the exit. Head forward and nab the chest with 5 Small Bombs and 3 Medium Mana Potions and then into the exit. Back inside and heading up the stairs again. New screen and more stairs. Then yet another new screen with more stairs. A chest along the way has a Claymore and a Brigandine. Killian already has a Claymore, so just give the Brigandine to Gelts. Head onward to the next screen. You’ll enter into a room with Nephelta in the center. Before moving, fill up your health and mana. Go back down the stairs and try to fight until 3 of your people are close the leveling. Approach Nephelta for a scene. Boss: Larmont Ice is horrible against Larmont, so have Henson stick to Char as his attack. Use First Aid a lot with Gelts, because Larmont likes to use an AoE Ice spell. Killian and Spinel use Justice Blade and Deadly Attraction, respectively, and heal a little if the extra is needed. Larmont can, and will, do some big damage on occasion. You are better off playing a little safe and making sure everyone is going to survive. You’ll be rewarded with a Joker Card, Bronze Medallion and a Dark Gem. After the fight, we get a scene and another fight. Hopefully some of your team leveled after last fight. You’ll need the little help it would provide. Boss: Nephelta She has two spider lackeys with her for the fight, so start off with Wave Strike, Cross Slash, heal Killian’s mana with Gelts and then Blaze with Henson. Round two should be Small Bomb will Spinel, Cross Slash, Small Bomb or heal with Gelts, Blaze with Henson. That’ll do a good chunk of damage to Nephelta and should kill her underlings. Nephelta likes to poison you as well, so keep an eye on your health throughout the fight and make sure to heal if there’s any risk of death. Other than that, pick away until she goes down. Her normal attacks can kill anyone in your party, barring Killian, even at full health. In my experience, she will occasionally kill 3 people in a row or never melee attack at all. It really is luck of the draw. Whether you revive your members or not is your call. If you can finish her with one hit and 3 of your team are dead, I’d say to finish her off. You’ll be rewarded with a Silver Medallion and an Ice Gem. How sweet… but I love Halloween Town. Where will Jack Skellington live now!? Ahem… Scene… The Reclaim the Wicked Stone quest is updated. You saw that chest, so head west and then take the north exit a little into this screen to get it for a Might Ring and 4 Tents. Head back into Vardenhoff and into the Bar for a scene. The Reclaim the Wicked Stone quest is completed. CGS3.0.2 Chapter 2 Area: Habsburg Treasures: 5 Milks, 4 Takoyaki, 3 Medium Bombs, 1 Gas Mask, 8 Takoyaki, 10 Hamburgers, 3 Emergency Potions, 4 Medium Bombs, 7000 gelders, 2110 gelders The scene continues and we’ll get the Monastery’s Wicked Stone quest. Lahduk is the monk archetype. He has high melee damage and health with low defense. Lahduk comes into the party seven levels higher than Killian. I kept the original party together, but you can swap Lahduk in for anyone but Gelts. Always need the medic on hand. Once you regain control, head into the building almost directly south of you. Move to the back of the building and loot the chest for 5 Milks and 4 Takoyaki. Head out and into the building to the east that looks like a + sign and loot the chest inside for 3 Medium Bombs. Head out and west through the exit here. Head northwest a little to spot the Bar. The flowerbed to the north of the door has a Gas Mask in it. Inside the Bar, you can order a drink, play the piano and talk to the singer to get a pig squeal played. The piano costs 10 gelders to play, but you can either waste your money or get 100 gelders in tips for playing well. You have no control over how you play, but it seems like you will play well more often than not. It’s a good way to make a few gelders, but it’ll take a long time to really make a fortune. If you like hours of monotony for a little extra boost, then be my guest. As for the drinks from the waitress, Northern Coziness and Barrowman’s Gin refill HP and MP, while Bacchant Merlot and Holder’s Hefeweizen refill HP. Head out and into the house northwest of the Bar and search the fireplace for 8 Takoyaki. Go upstairs and loot the chest for 10 Hamburgers. Head around the south side of this house for a chest with 50 Emergency Potions… but Killian drops the box and you only get to keep 3 of the potions. One of the many funny touches to the game are the couple talking near you. Their names are Romeo and Juliet and they are talking about the irony of being in love with those names. Head to the east and into the square around the fountain. The lamp post behind the painter has 4 Medium Bombs. On the opposite side of the fountain is a couple talking. Talk to the older man in the hat, his name is Don Gerald and he spends his money like water. Each time you talk to him, you’ll get 1 gelder. Take the southwest exit out of this screen. Head into the mansion to the west of you and loot the chest on the first floor for 7000 gelders. Go upstairs and search the vase to Killian’s left for a little exchange we are all thinking. Talk the Englehyde, the Drill Instructor for before, for a side quest called Monastery Backyard. Head downstairs and outside and then head east to see an Item Shop. Go inside and buy the Monster Compendium. This handy little thing tells you information about an enemy in battle, such as HP and elemental weaknesses. Very useful when you have Henson around. Outside the Item Shop and to the west you’ll notice a lamp post and a bush right below it. The bush contains 2110 gelders. Head into the nearby Mirror shop and go into the door in the back and accept the offer. You’ll get a quick scene and a battle. Boss: 2 Brownie Captains and 2 Brownies Cross Slash from Killian and Blaze from Henson. They do 1 damage to you and they won’t last 2 full rounds. Neutrality Gem is rewarded for victory. During the scene, choose whatever you want. 20000 gelders is the reward. Not too shabby. Head over to the Weapon Shop. At this point, I had just enough gelders to upgrade my main party and then I sold my old equipment and finished upgrading. Exit out of Habsburg to the southwest. Area: Habsburg Entrance Immediately to you your north is a person in front of a teleporter. This teleporter costs 1000 gelders to use and takes you into the Ziggurat Tower. The Ziggurat Tower is an excellent chance to earn some levels, gelders and SP. The first floor is easy enough and you’ll average 400 gelders and 50 SP per fight. The Ziggurat Tower is optional right now and you can’t climb to the top right now anyway. I’d recommend spending a little time inside getting a few levels, but it’s not required to go on any further. Ziggurat Tower is explained in detail later, so go down to that section if you want to know more. To be continued.