STAR OCEAN POWER UP GUIDE Version 0.3 BY: LBL Copyright 02/17/2004. Version 0.2: 01/16/2004 Version 0.1: 02/17/2000. Version 0.3: Generally fixed most of the "characters chances for getting [X] talent" information. Dispelled a couple of myths in the Miscellany section. Working on getting a complete endings guide. I. INTRODUCTION II. CHARACTERS III. POWERING UP IV. CHARACTER TALENTS V. MISCELLANY VI. THANKS I. INTRODUCTION Well, nearly four years after this FAQs first release, and over six years since I first started playing this game on my trusty SNES, it finally happened: Star Ocean 1 is available to play in English form at last. In ROM form that is, with the help of DeJap's translation patch. RPG enthusiasts finally get a chance to play one of, if not the last, great RPG from the golden days of the SNES era. A little history about Star Ocean: the same group of programmers who made Tales of Phantasia developed this game. They were called Wolf Team back when they made ToP, but afterwards they branched out on their own and called themselves Tri-Ace. If you've played Tales of Phantasia, you will immediately recognize the numerous similarities between ToP and Star Ocean like spell names (Ray, Tractor Beam, Extinction, etc.), the sound test menu, and the inclusion of a challenging bonus dungeon. Weighing at a hefty 48-megs, Star Ocean was the biggest RPG made for the Super Famicom (other than ToP), featuring extensive voice acting and a special decompression graphics chip (which was why it took so long to emulate the game correctly). As an RPG, Star Ocean is very fun, but hardly up there with the best of the best. The game is very short, with about a 15-20 hour run through max (even less if you know what you're doing). The story is hardly anything to write home about. The challenge in the game is definitely lacking. The endings, like it's sequel, are not rewarding. And in general, the game definitely feels like a rushed project, especially towards the end and the numerous amounts of bugs associated with the game. But despite all this, Star Ocean is extremely fun. The unique, fast-paced battle system is very enjoyable. The charismatic and truly interesting characters are quite memorable. The item creations are just a blast to experiment with on your own. And being such a short game, the replay value due to the need to try multiple character combinations and acquire the multiple character endings is very high. This is one RPG where a replay is actually frequently welcomed and done. But I'm sure you already know all about this, so onto the guide. II. CHARACTERS Star Ocean's cast is crammed with personality and charisma. Here I'll give my assessment on each character's battle usefulness. Also included for each character is the likelihood each character has of starting off with a certain talent based on my experience. You can hold up to 8 characters, but you must have Ratix, Milly, Iria, and Ronixis in your party in every game. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ RATIX FARRENCE _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Well, as the main character in the game, it's not surprising that he's the strongest character in battle. He moves extremely fast, has a powerful attack that has both range and speed, plus he has the best Killer Technique in the game: 7-Star Twin Slash. His Dragon Rage Ougis (especially the Blue Dragon Rage because no enemies can absorb ice elemental) are extremely useful for hitting all enemies on the screen instantly, stunning the enemies for the other characters rush in and to kill. Since Ratix can't be removed from the party, he'll most likely end up with the highest level of all your characters and become even more powerful than he already is naturally. So since you're always stuck with him, you might was well abuse his superior battle prowess. If during battle you switch manual control to a character other than Ratix, he will just stand there, as he has no AI being the main character. TALENTS: Originality: ALWAYS Sense of Taste: AVERAGE Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: NEVER Love of Animals: AVERAGE Sixth Sense: AVERAGE Blessing of Mana: NEVER BEST TECHS: 1. Air Slash 2. Spirit Blast 3. 7-Star Twin Slash 4. Dragon Blast 5. Blue Dragon Rage _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ MILLY KILIET _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ The game's only, and thus best, dedicated healing character. In a normal play through, Milly is invaluable in boss fights because of her supreme healing and status curative spells. However, if you power up your characters to obscene levels, Milly quickly becomes obsolete because your strong characters are plowing through all enemies and bosses without the threat of getting damage in return. Thus Milly's healing is unnecessary at that point, and her presence takes up a spot that could go to a more offensive character that can help finish battles even more quickly. But in this guide, Milly's usefulness is still in tact because she can still do her job as a healer, status curer, and enemy-stunner in the Gabrielle fight. TALENTS Originality: DIFFICULT Sense of Taste: AVERAGE Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: DIFFICULT Sixth Sense: DIFFICULT Blessing of Mana: ALWAYS _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ IRIA SILVESTOLIE _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ A very good fighter if you rely on her Killer Techniques, a mediocre fighter if you rely on her normal attacks. Iria's got average speed in battle, but she's got a painfully slow normal attack where she runs up to the enemy, pauses, then does a somersault kick. Not too much of a problem when fighting normal enemies, but when you're fighting the Gabrielle, such a slow attack is almost suicide unless Gabby was distracted by another fighter. Iria functions best with her projectile Killer Techniques done in rapid succession such as her Chi Fung Fist and/or her Dragon Fist Ougi, because her other Killer Techniques leave her too vulnerable when missed or blocked. Both those two projectile moves come out really fast and keep her at a safe distance from the enemy. Later, when she gets her Sakura-Zhang and Sakura Flash Ougi techs, she can afford to get closer to the enemy, as both those moves protect her entire front (Sakura-Zhang is the better one though, because the kick at the end of Sakura Flash can be blocked thus leaving her potentially vulnerable). TALENTS Originality: NEVER Sense of Taste: AVERAGE Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: GOOD Writing Ability: GOOD Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: DIFFICULT Sixth Sense: DIFFICULT Blessing of Mana: ALWAYS BEST TECHS: 1. Chi Kung Fist 2. Dragon Fist 3. Sakura-Zhang _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ RONIXIS J. KENNY _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ One of the game's two attack mages, except unlike the stereotype of most RPG mages, Ronixis is pretty good at physical attacks too. In fact, Ronixis' normal attack is very good and spam-worthy. Once you power up your characters to Level 100+, magic users generally tend to lose their usefulness, as fighting characters will do more damage, more quickly. But spamming on Ronixis' powerful bows allow him to continue to do very respectable damage from a distance, stunning enemies from long range so that other up-close fighters can go in for the kill. If Joshua is in your party, Ronixis can pick up the Elven Bow, which is very useful in the first early fights against the Gabrielle to fend off the Hound-Forms surrounding her. He's not too useful in the later Gabrielle fights because at higher levels he'll tend to cast spells which heal her instead of harming her. Pray that he starts off with the Originality talent; if you're the impatient-type, I'd doubt you'll be willing to sit through the whole long scenario on the Federation Space Ship after resetting to see what new talents he's gotten (frame- skip or not). TALENTS Originality: AVERAGE Sense of Taste: NEVER Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: NEVER Sixth Sense: NEVER Blessing of Mana: ALWAYS _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ CIUS WARREN _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ I guess Cius could be compared to Dias of Star Ocean 2; really powerful but slow in battle. Cius' regular attack is indeed strong with excellent range, but unfortunately it's painfully slow. Not as slow as Iria, but definitely not as fast as Ratix's either. His running speed isn't good either, and it takes a while for him to run to an enemy when most other characters have already probably dispatched of the enemies already. His Killer Techniques are strong, but not incredibly useful. His best techniques are probably Flash Whirl or Dragon Whirl; though Spirit Blast is pretty darn useful as a ghetto Iria-like Chi Kung Fist. All his other techniques are quite slow coming out and leave him quite vulnerable when missed or blocked. Surprisingly one of the less useful fighter-type characters in the game, but he's still passable in battle if you like using him. Keep resetting the game right before getting him until he has the talent Originality, or else it'll be pretty hard to try to develop it later in the game. TALENTS Originality: DIFFICULT Sense of Taste: DIFFICULT Manual Dexterity: NEVER Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: GOOD Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: AVERAGE Sixth Sense: GOOD Blessing of Mana: NEVER BEST TECHS: 1. Spirit Blast 2. Flash Whirl 3. Dragon Whirl _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ ASHLAY BARNBELT _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Ashlay cannot be in the same party as Cius and vice versa. So if you want one, you gotta give up the other. Ashlay isn't particularly useful in my eyes. He starts off with significantly more HP than your other characters, but the tradeoff is he has the lowest MP in the game. Contrary to Ian Kelley's FAQ, I don't think he starts off light years ahead of the party, rather his HP boost makes him last just a little longer in battle. In battle, he's pretty good in the beginning, but unimpressive in the long run. He's got decent speed, and his normal attack is pretty well ranged and fast. He starts with 3 Ougis, but unfortunately doesn't ever gain a single useful Ougi Technique. The best reason to recruit Ashlay in your party is for Ratix to gain his three Dragon Rage techs he otherwise wouldn't have learned if Ashlay weren't in the party to give Ratix the Dragon Ougi. Ashlay will only give Ratix the Dragon Ougi if his Approval Rating for him is high enough though, so keep that in mind. TALENTS Originality: GOOD Sense of Taste: DIFFICULT Manual Dexterity: NEVER Design Sense: NEVER Writing Ability: GOOD Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: GOOD Sixth Sense: GOOD Blessing of Mana: NEVER BEST TECHS: 1. Blaze Sword 2. Dragon Blast 3. 7-Star Twin Slash _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ FEAR MELL _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ "Second best fighter in the game." That's the title usually given to her, but I beg to differ. Rather, I'd say she has the second best normal attack in the game, right behind Ratix's attack, but as for her overall battle effectiveness, she's good, not great. Her normal attack is what really makes Fear shine because she tosses 2 boomerang-like swords at her enemies that can cover a very big portion of the screen. But what keeps Fear from true greatness is that her Killer Techniques, for the most part suck. The more useful ones are very similar to her normal attack, but allow for the boomerang-swords to hit on their return path. However some weapons already have the innate ability to hit on their return path, making a lot of Fear's Killer Techniques unnecessary. Fear's best tech is a toss up between Aqua Spread and Galaxy God Breath. GGB is stronger, but seems to be blocked more often. Both are relatively slow on release compared to some of the other fighters. Her Ougi techs are even a worse lot, being very weak in attack power (Sylvan Shot) or leaving her very vulnerable (Unholy Terror and Victory Terror). And the ultimate reason she does not deserve all the praise she gets is that, strength-wise, she is pretty weak. A lot of the stronger enemies in the game will block or take no damage from her Killer Techniques or Ougis, leaving her only with her normal attacks to rely on. And towards the end of the game, a lot of the other characters already have very strong Killer Techniques or Ougi techs that are much more abusable than Fear's normal attack. Still, let me stress that Fear is still a good character, because her normal attack is very useful throughout most of the game. TALENTS Originality: GOOD Sense of Taste: AVERAGE Manual Dexterity: GOOD Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: DIFFICULT Sixth Sense: GOOD Blessing of Mana: NEVER BEST TECHS: 1. Aqua Spread 2. Galaxy God Breath _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ JOSHUA JERAND _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Joshua is the other attack mage of the game, who is also part healer. Joshua, like most RPG magic users, has terrible attack power and defense to make up for his magic wielding abilities. You'd think with wings he'd be able to move a little faster on the battlefield, but unfortunately he kinda just floats leisurely towards where ever his destination is. This fact makes Joshua as good as dead if Gabrielle has her sights on him and is closing in towards his direction. For the Gabrielle fight, Joshua is good for 1) Allowing Ronixis access the Elven Bow, 2) Casting Earth Grave to stun Gabrielle, and 3) Casting Heal All when desperate healing is needed. After you power everyone up however, like the other two magic characters, Joshua can't do the big amount damage as quickly as the fighter-characters can, so in boss battles he pretty much is dead weight. But he's still useful in some normal battles if you level up his Motor Mouth skill so that he can semi-instantly (when Motor Mouth works) stun all enemies on the screen with a hit-all spell when necessary (usually at the beginning of battle). TALENTS Originality: NEVER Sense of Taste: DIFFICULT Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: GOOD Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: NEVER Sixth Sense: DIFFICULT Blessing of Mana: ALWAYS _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ MARVEL FROZEN / _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Probably the most underrated character in the game. Most people dismiss her as trash without ever knowing how really strong she is in battle. Her conditions on joining is a bit strange: 1. If either Ashlay or Joshua is in your party, Marvel will automatically join 2. If Cius is in your party, Marvel will not join 3. If neither any other characters have joined your party (no Ashlay, no Joshua, no Cius, no Fear), Marvel will only join if Ratix chooses not to drink If Joshua is in your party, you have the option to permanently remove Marvel from your party, should you desire you needed her spot for another character. Well, let me put it this way: If you are using Marvel to actually run up to the enemy and attack them with her regular attack; you are not using Marvel. Marvel has horrible running speed, her normal attack is pathetically slow and short-ranged, and her strength is not gonna rock your world either. But, Marvel is the best- long range fighter in the game, and easily the most abuseable character you have. Two words solidify her supremacy in battle: Hail Orb. When you level up her Link Combo skill enough, (and use the Link Combo Range Restriction cheat), you can have Marvel doing four successive Hail Orbs from anywhere on the screen. What makes Hail Orbx4 so abuseable is the fact that she tosses them out extremely quickly and has basically no recovery time afterwards; and the fact that no enemy is immune or will absorb its ice-elemental damage. Which means if you want, you can constantly have a stream of Hail Orbs pelt an enemy and keep it from ever moving. Let me repeat: HAIL ORBx4 WILL KEEP AN ENEMY FROM EVER MOVING. Her Ougi Techs are very good too, but they cannot be thrown out in quick succession like Hail Orbs can because she pauses after doing each one. However, her Seven Star Ougi and Southern Cross Ougi are instant, so she can also instantly hit all enemies to stun them if needed (Her Galaxy Ougi tech is also instant, but the animation is too long for my tastes). So don't be in such a hurry to dismiss Marvel before seeing how truly over-powering she can be. TALENTS Originality: DIFFICULT Sense of Taste: AVERAGE Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: AVERAGE Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: GOOD Sixth Sense: AVERAGE Blessing of Mana: ALWAYS BEST TECHS: 1. Hail Orb 2. Seven Star 3. Southern Cross _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ TINEK ARUKENA _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Tinek is an interesting character. You don't hear much buzz about him, other than he's a nerdy, but cool-looking werewolf. In battle, he's really fast, probably tied with Perisie as the two fastest characters in the game. But what he has over her is that his normal attack has much longer reach than hers. Even better, it is a really fast normal attack too (moreso than I originally gave credit for). His normal attack is very spammable like Ratix's. As for Killer Techniques, they are all really fast, but they aren't really bringing down the house in terms of impressiveness and usefulness since the other characters can do what he does, earlier. Hurricane Staff is cheap, fast, and effective most of the time. Hailstorm is nice too for filling the screen with snowflake crap; but unfortunately it's blocked a little more than it should be. Tinek's Sakura-Zhang, although sharing the same name as Iria's, is actually nothing like hers and is a decent speed projectile. IMO Sakura-Zhangx4 is probably his best tech combo because he can spam on it and have a ghetto Iria-like Chi Kung Fistx4 attack (ghetto because it's slightly slower and not as MP friendly). 7-Star Rumble is good and fast too for distracting the enemy while a strong fighter like Ratix or Iria can run in for the kill, but it is blockable too. The problem with Tinek is that most of his special attacks can be blocked and most of his moves leave him vulnerable to be hit when they are blocked. Tinek definitely excels more spamming his normal attacks in battle and using his great speed to get around quickly. TALENTS Originality: GOOD Sense of Taste: ALWAYS Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: NEVER Rhythmic Sense: AVERAGE Pitch Sense: AVERAGE Love of Animals: DIFFICULT Sixth Sense: GOOD Blessing of Mana: NEVER BEST TECHS: 1. Hurricane Staff 2. Hailstorm 3. Sakura-Zhang 4. 7-Star Rumble _/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ PERISIE _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Perisie is the epitome of cuteness, as she is sickeningly adorable. Although when you recruit her, she starts off at a measly level 5, with precious little equipment and a penchant for dying quickly in battle, with some quick leveling fighting the Gabrielle (the reason for this guide in the first place), Perisie quickly rises to one of the better fighters in the game. In battle, she is lightning fast; she and Tinek can RTSD (rush that shit down) in seconds because both have the fastest running speeds in the game. In contrast, while Tinek has the better normal attack (range + speed); Perisie has a more abuseable and damaging Killer Technique to be discussed shortly. To be honeset though, most of her Killer Techniques are laughably lame but irresistibly cute. However she does have one specific Killer Technique that redeems her completely in battle: Charming Pose. Charming Pose sends a semi-heat-seeking heart balloon to every enemy on the screen. These hearts do serious damage if they hit and the best part is they are unblockable. Even better, if the hearts don't touch anything, they linger around the screen for quite a while before finally disappearing. Maxing out Perisie's Link Combo skill and using the Link Combo Range Restriction cheat, Perisie can do Charming Posex4 from anywhere on the screen and fill the entire battlefield with multiple damaging cute crap. The only downside to Charming Pose is that there is noticeable start-up before she actually tosses the hearts out, so the best time to actually throw them out is when Perisie is far away at the beginning of battles. Perisie also has Prismic Dance, which heals all allies for about ~2500HP, not bad if Milly or Joshua is not around. However the healing is not instant since you have to wait for the "healing sparkles" to disappear before HP is actually restored, so don't rely on it in a pinch. As for her Ougi techs, they won't be much use for you because they are pretty much worthless. Perisie does have one more important fact about her: recruiting her allows you the opportunity to get the Bunny Whistle item, which allows you to travel on the "overworld" map without facing random enemy encounters. TALENTS Originality: AVERAGE Sense of Taste: AVERAGE Manual Dexterity: AVERAGE Design Sense: AVERAGE Writing Ability: NEVER Rhythmic Sense: ALWAYS Pitch Sense: ALWAYS Love of Animals: GOOD Sixth Sense: GOOD Blessing of Mana: NEVER BEST TECHS: 1. Charming Pose 2. Prismic Dance III. POWERING UP The basic concept of making your characters extremely powerful is continually fighting Gabrielles summoned by the Clarinet 2 song, since winning that battle will give you an incredible amount of experience points that will quickly raise your characters' levels to obscene heights. Then you can use the Skill Points gained through each level up to max out your character's Skill Menu (and all the stat boosts that come with it) and item creation powerful weapons. You can start this process as soon as you reach Ionis (the town you meet Marvel). Of course, there are some preparations first. Also keep in mind that I am writing this guide with the assumption that you have just reached Ionis; so basically this guide is how to Power Up as soon as possible. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ PREPARARIONS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 1. It's important that you not spend any Skill Points until you reach Ionis (except for the 1 SP necessary to for Dash). Also try to purchase all the skills you come across. The Battle Skill set 3 from Astral are really expensive, so you can skip them, but try to purchase all others you come across. 2. Ratix must have won the C Rank in the Tatory Arena. The 7-Star Ougi, as well as the Trumpet you win from the arena prizes are very important. 3. It's really helpful if you've gotten the Dwarven Sword from the secret cave on Mt. Metox and mined out some ores (Orihalcon and Mithril especially), but not absolutely necessary. 4. Make sure you've grabbed the Rainbow Diamond in the pirate hideout. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 1. AUTHORING _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Creating an author. Make sure someone in your party has the "Writing Ability" talent and at least 200 skill points to spare. Now use 191 of those Skill Points to raise this character's Writing skill to level 10 proficiency, so that you have level 10 Authoring proficiency. Then use the remaining 9 points to gain level 1 proficiency in the skills: Sketching, Musical Notation, and Performance. If you have 6SP leftover, gain level 1 proficiency in the skills: Mineralogy, Forging, and Workmanship. Purchase 20 Research Pens (400 V) at the Item Store in Ionis. And try to write 7 Books on the Skill Sketching ("Soul of the Artist" books). After you've gotten 7 "Soul of the Artist" books, go on to the next section. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 2. DUPLICATING _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Creating an artist. Now you'll need to get money to fund all the item creations you're about to undergo. First you need someone in your party with the "Design Sense" talent, preferably someone who also has 270 skill points to play with. Use all 7 "Soul of the Artist" books to on this character with Design Sense in order to raise his/her Art item creation proficiency to level 7. If this character has extra SP left over, use it to gain further levels of Sketching proficiency (it takes 270SP to get to level 10 from level 7). Now purchase as many Magic Colors (2000 V) you can. If you can only afford small amount (less than 5), I'd suggest you save before you try to item creation in case all of the Magic Colors fail, you can reset. Now use the Item Creation "Art" and duplicate as many Trumpets you can (you won the Trumpet in the lower levels of the battle arena). Sell all Trumpet duplicates except one and repeat the process until you have enough money to purchase the Violin in Edcart (the previous town). Now you can repeat the duplication process with the Violin and gain as much money as you want. Use some of this money to purchase all the instruments you don't already have. This Violin-duplication-reselling process will be THE method of gaining obscene amounts of money for the rest of the game. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 3. MUSIC _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Creating a musician. Now have your author character try to write 7 books in both Musical Notation ("Music Encyclopedia") and Performance ("Music for Beginners"); 14 books total. These books are difficult to write successfully, so keep purchasing Research Pens and trying. Ideally, use all 14 of them on a character with the both the talents "Rhythmic Sense" and "Pitch Sense". If none of your characters have both "Rhythmic Sense" and "Pitch Sense" talents, then use it on a character that at least has "Rhythmic Sense." If none of your characters are rhythmically inclined (unlikely), you will have to wait until you get Perisie (who always starts with both musical talents) or another new character to join. The reason Rhythmic Sense is more important than Pitch Sense is that in order to successfully write songs for your instruments, you need to have the Rhythmic Sense talent. Now, assuming you used the 14 books on someone who at least has the "Rhythmic Sense" talent (although ideally you should use it on someone with both Rhythmic Sense and Pitch Sense), have this character (your musician) try to write the songs Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, and Violin 2. Keep purchasing Creator Pens until you have written all three of these musical pieces. And be patient, as writing songs is one of the more difficult item creations. Finally, if your musician character has only Rhythmic Sense, but not Pitch Sense, now is the time to try to get them to develop their Pitch Sense talent. Refer to the "Gaining Talents" part further in the FAQ. It's important that one character have both Rhythmic Sense and Pitch Sense because song effects only work when the character playing the instruments have both musical talents; and ultimately you will need to be able to successfully play the Clarinet 2 song to summon Gabrielle. Assuming you now do have a character with both Rhythmic Sense and Pitch Sense, continue on to the next section. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 4. MAKING MARVEL POWERFUL _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ This part is optional; you don't have to do it but it really helps. First step is to make sure Marvel has the talent "Originality." She probably didn't start off with it, but that's okay. It's quite easy to develop it through the Customize item creation; refer to the "Gaining Talents" section further in the FAQ if you need detailed instructions on how to develop her Originality talent. Basically you will be duplicating 20 Rainbow Diamonds, and attempting to customize them with Marvel while the Violin 2 song is being played. Assuming Marvel now has the Originality talent, have your author character to write 7 books on the skill Workmanship ("Dwarven Techniques") and use all 7 of those books on Marvel. Then have Marvel use 50SP to raise the skills Esthetic Sense and Functionality to level 1. This should give Marvel an overall Customize item creation proficiency of level 3. Have your artist character duplicate 20 Rainbow Diamonds from the one you found in the Pirate Hideout event. Save the game, and have Marvel continually use the Customize item creation on the Rainbow Diamonds until she can make a Holy Orb. Only customize 19 times (you don't want to use up the last one), and if she failed all 19 times, reset and try again. Eventually Marvel should be able to successfully make the Holy Orb, which, with 900 ATK power, will make Marvel a powerhouse, this early in the game. And no, it does not automatically keep her Stamina at zero forever, so don't worry. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 5. CREATING POWERFUL WEAPONS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Creating a weapon-smith. This part is also completely optional. If you've gotten the Dwarven Sword in secret cave of Mt. Metox, then this part isn't necessary. However most likely you probably haven't even attempted the Mt. Metox caves yet. Basically, in this section you'll want to try to forge powerful weapons from the Smithing item creation. Have your author character write 7 books on the skills: Mineralogy ("Minerals Lexicon") and Forging ("All About Weapons"). Use all 14 books on a character any character (previously I thought you need Originality to succeed at Smithing but you don't). This character will now be your weapon-smith. Although unlikely, if your weapon-smith character has any SP left over, try to gain some more proficiency levels in Mineralogy to increase his/her Smithing item creation level. Have your artist character, duplicate 20 Long Sword +1 you found from the Astral Cave boss (if you never beat the Astral Cave boss and thus don't have a Long Sword +1, you'll have to make a Long Sword +1 from a regular Long Sword + Damascus). Duplicate 20 Meteorites you've found in a treasure chest on the way to the town Tropp. Purchase 20 Smith Hammers and save the game. Have your weapon-smith character try to forge a "Duel Sword" from a Long Sword +1 and Meteorite. This particular item creation is very difficult to pull off successfully, but it will be very helpful if it works. Give the Duel Sword to Ratix. Ashlay can also use one, but I'd try to make a Mithril Sword (Long Sword +1 and Mithril) for him instead since he'll be able to customize the Mithril Sword later. Similarly, if Cius is in you party, you can attempt to make a Silver Sword for him using a Claymore +1 and Mithril. First make the Claymore +1 using a regular Claymore and Damascus, then attempt to forge the Claymore +1 and Mithril to make the Silver Sword. Cius can customize the Silver Sword later. If you want to be really anal, you can attempt to make a Metal Fang for Iria by forging a Knuckle +1 and Rune Metal. First make the Knuckle +1 by combining a regular Knuckle or Hard Knuckle with Damascus. Then forge the Knuckle +1 with Rune Metal to make the Metal Fang. Ronixis can customize the Metal Fang later to get Iria's best weapon. Just remember NOT to use up your last mineral (especially the Meteorite), since you'll want to keep at least 1 copy around for easy duplication. All you really need is a strong weapon for Ratix. I suggest after you've gotten 1 Duel Sword for Ratix to continue on. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 6. GETTING RATIX'S OUGI TECH _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ First and foremost, you absolutely need the 7-Star Ougi for Ratix, found by having him win Rank C of the Tatory Battle Arena. Then raise Ratix's "Edarl Style" skill to at least level 5 (the higher, the better though). Assign the Killer Technique "Twin Slash" in one of his technique slots and save the game. Have your musician play the Clarinet 1 song to summon 4 Black Slimes. In battle, have Ratix continually use the "Twin Slash" technique until he learns the Ougi tech "7-Star Twin Slash." It might be helpful to put the other 3 characters on a "Protect Yourself" strategy. That way, Ratix can kill the Slimes himself for maximum Twin Slash use. The risk of doing this is that the 3 characters doing nothing have a far greater chance of being killed (the Black Slimes are usually much stronger than you characters at this point), but then again, this increases Ratix's chance of gaining the Ougi Tech through Anger Explosions. Hopefully Ratix will gain his Ougi Tech soon. Rest at the inn after the battle, save, and try again. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 7. FIGHTING THE GABRIELLE _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ This is what all the preparation has been done for. This *WILL* be the most difficult battle of the game, since you'll be fighting a very powerful boss that you aren't really supposed to be fighting this early in the game. You should be at around level 30 for Ratix to have a decent chance; fight Black Slimes from Clarinet 1 if you're not. Definitely bring Marvel into this fight if you've powered her up with the Holy Orb. Ronixis equipped with the Elven Bow is also useful. Duplicate 20 Resurrection Bottles (or buy 20 at Van I Il if you've been there), duplicate 20 Liqueur Bottles (or buy them at Van I Il), equip Ratix with the 7-Star Twin Slash Ougi Tech, buy 20 Blackberries, save the game, and pray for victory. Have your musician character (remember, both Rhythmic Sense and Pitch Sense talents are necessary) play the Clarinet 2 song... Gabrielle: 32000 HP Hound-Form (x3): 3100 HP I've found the "Lower Square" formation with Ratix at position #1 to be the most useful formation for this fight. Gabrielle is *VERY* strong and she basically will kill you with one hit from either: 1) the long- range swing of her staff or 2) the force shield she puts around herself. To compound this problem, her hits often petrify her targets; so often you have to cure BOTH death and petrifaction after she hits a character. She comes with 3 Hound-Forms which, although are nowhere near as dangerous as Gabby, are still problematic since they too can do lots of damage to your characters at this stage in the game and can paralyze your characters as well. This battle relies heavily on your ability to quickly and efficiently switch manual control between all four of your characters at any given moment; and of course it relies on some much-needed luck. The strategy for winning this battle is having Ratix continually use 7-Star Twin Slash on Gabrielle non-stop, hoping that she becomes and stays dizzy from the first two swinging hits. Most likely, the only damage you'll inflict on Gabby is from the two fireballs that shoot out at the end of 7-Star Twin Slash. The problem is that since Ratix will probably be the only one who can damage Gabby, if she kills him, you're basically screwed... and there's MANY ways for her to kill Ratix. 7-Star Twin Slash eats up a LOT of MP, so you have to be constantly keeping an eye out for Ratix's MP total. You will need to be able to comfortable switch manual control over to one character (more likely two characters) that will have to be constantly supplying Ratix with Blackberries to keep his MP up. Those Hound-Forms aren't going anywhere either, so another character will have to be dealing with them too. Listed below are the strategies I would use for the following characters: (Keep in mind that I'm writing this from the perspective of just getting to Ionis, so Tinek and Perisie won't be included because they can't be acquired yet). - Ratix: Basically run up to Gabrielle and do repeated 7-Star Twin Slash. Hope that the first two sword swings dizzies her and that you avoid her force shield/staff swings during the jumping portion of 7- Star Twin Slash. Each fireball shot at the end of 7-Star Twin Slash should be doing around 1000-1500 damage; more if Ratix gets an Anger Explosion. - Iria: Have her use Chi Kung Fist to get rid of the 3 Hound-Forms as quickly as possible. Then either manually have Iria run up to and use Chi Kung Fist on Gabrielle (it does only 100-200 damage, but more importantly it puts Gabrielle in hit-stun animation) or have her supply Blackberries or status recovery items when needed. - Cius: If you have him with the Silver Sword, have him physically attack the Hound-Forms until they're gone. Then have him supply Blackberries or recovery items when needed. - Ronixis: If you have him with the Elven Bow, have him physically attack the Hound-Forms until they're gone. Then have him constantly casting the spell "Earth Grave" at the Gabrielle (again, it causes only around 200-500 damage, but it puts her in hit-stun animation which allows Ratix's attacks to land). Use Blackberries or recovery items when needed. - Ashlay: If you have him with the Mithril Sword, have him physically attack the Hound-Forms until they're gone. Then have him supply Blackberries or recovery items when needed. - Marvel: If you have her with the Holy Orb, have her physically attack the Hound-Forms until they're gone. Then have her supply Blackberries or recovery items when needed. - Joshua: Have him constantly cast "Earth Grave" on Gabrielle. Use Blackberries or recovery items/spells when needed. - Fear: Have her physically attack the Hound-Forms. Use Blackberries or recovery items when needed. - Milly: Have her constantly cast "Press" on Gabrielle or use recovery items/cast recovery spells when needed. PROBLEM #1: The most common problem. Gabrielle kills/petrifies Ratix, while the other characters are trying to revive/cure him, Gabby runs over to them and kills them. Nothing much you can do about it. PROBLEM #2: Also very common. The Hound-Forms kill off a character, Ratix (or another character) gets an Anger Explosion right next to Gabrielle, she hits and kills him/her as he's/she's getting angry. Nothing much you can do here either. PROBLEM #3: Gabrielle undizzies and hits Ratix, leading to Problem #1/#2. You can actually do something to alleviate this problem. Basically have other characters that can do damage to Gabrielle constantly attack her. Attacks like Iria's Chi Kung Fist, Ronixis' and Joshua's "Earth Grave" spell, Milly's "Press" spell, and later Marvel's Hail Orb all do pitiful damage to Gabrielle, but they all cause her to go into that very important hit-stun animation. If you constantly barrage her with these attacks, she'll stay in this hit stun-animation indefinitely, and thus Ratix and hit her without threat of retaliation. It will be quite hectic constantly switching between characters and controlling them characters at once, but you will just have to learn to deal with the constant pausing. You have to be making sure Ratix is constantly doing 7-Star Twin Slashes while making sure you're using every opportunity to have the other characters do damage to Gabrielle. PROBLEM #4: Ratix runs out of MP from doing too many 7-Star Twin Slashes. As Ratix is waiting to get his MP charged, Gabrielle kills the whole lot of them. This can be solved as well by having characters not participating in damaging Gabrielle continually supplying Ratix with Blackberries. Don't let Ratix's MP fall below 50 (75 to be safe). Remember, if Ratix runs out of MP, he'll just stand there in front of Gabby as good as dead. If you do manage to beat Gabrielle, you'll gain a LOT of experience and gain several levels. Plus, Gabby sometimes drops Extravagant Swords (720 ATK for Ratix, Cius, Ashlay, or Fear) or Extravagant Armors (60 DEF, 30 EVD for Ratix, Cius, Ashlay, or Fear). Rest at an inn, save the game, and repeat the process. Once you've gained a few more levels, this battle becomes much easier due to the following: 1. Equipping the Extravagant Swords on Ratix and the other characters allow them to finish the Hound-Forms with ease. 2. Equipping the Extravagant Armor greatly reduces damage from the Hound-Forms, but Gabrielle can still kill in one hit... 3. Link Combo (make sure you go back to Astral and buy it if you haven't already) allows you to do Ratix's 7-Star Twin Slash and other characters' important Killer Techniques (Iria's Chi Kung Fist and Marvel's Hail Orb) in succession without the pain of having to do each one manually. 4. Marvel's Hail Orb(x2/x3/x4) and Iria's Chi Kung Fist(x2/x3/x4) done constantly in Link Combo can keep Gabrielle in hit-stun animation forever. 5. After Ratix gains up to around level 40, the first two hits of 7- Star Twin Slash will damage Gabrielle, making it easier to beat her. Plus he'll have enough MP to finish the battle without fear of running out of Blackberry supplements. One more tip for the future fights: Do not level up the battle skill "Flip." This skill allows fighting-type characters to sometimes run behind an enemy and attack them in their backs so that the enemy can't block. In normal fights, this is mildly useful. However in the Gabrielle fight, it is dangerously annoying since at any moment Ratix might stop his 7-Star Twin Slash barrage to try to run behind Gabrielle, or Iria might stop her Chi Kung Fist barrage to do the same thing. However there is a very real threat that Gabby can put up a force shield while someone is trying to run behind her, basically killing or petrifying the character attempting the "Flip" Gabrielle. Later, in fights versus those Eye-type monsters that can petrify you, you can face a similar situation of being attacked while trying to run behind them. And since you cannot turn off skills like in Star Ocean 2, it's better just not to learn "Flip" at all. Once you get into a nice, comfortable routine of killing Gabrielle quickly, you can use all the extra SP you gained in those numerous level ups to max out your skills, item create even stronger items and accessories (Dream Crowns from Crafting for instance), finish the battle arena with everyone to gain good armor (Mythril Mesh and Star Guards), and go on a Violin duplicating spree to purchase Tri-Emblems in Sylvant for all your party members. IV. CHARACTER TALENTS Each time a new character joins your party; he/she is randomly given certain talents. The number of talents can range anywhere from zero to a maximum of four. If that character didn't join with a particular talent you had in mind, you can reset the game, acquire that character again, and he/she will have a brand new set of talents. The only thing you have to be careful about a character joining as an NPC (non- playable character). Milly during the beginning of the game, and Iria/Ronixis during the rest of the game's introduction will officially join the party (you can see them in character slots in the menu), but they join as NPCs. This means you cannot check their status screen to find out what talents they have. More importantly, this means that if you save the game during a time when an NPC is in your party, when you finally can check their status screen to see their talents, it won't change if you reset the game. This is because their talents have already been decided the moment they joined you. For these special cases (Milly, Iria, Ronixis), you have to save the game before those characters join your party as an NPC, in order for you to be able to reset their talents should you need to. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 1. POINT TO SAVE BEFORE "RESET-TO-GAIN-NEW-TALENTS" WON'T WORK _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ This section just tells you where to save the game so that if you get a character and don't like his/her talents, you can reset the game and he/she'll have new talents. Since most of you are playing the game on emulator and thus can frame-skip, I have removed the time information which used to show approximately how long the processes of "reset to gain new talents" took if you skipped all dialogue as quickly as possible. Most of them are rather short now, but Milly's, Iria's, and Ronixis' are still quite lengthy, frame-skip or not. 1. RATIX - Point: Start of a new game - Notes: Always starts with "Originality." Never acquires "Pitch Sense" or "Blessing of Mana." If you plan to Power Up early following this guide, the best talents Ratix should start off with are "Rhythmic Sense," "Writing Ability" or "Design Sense," and optionally "Sixth Sense" (because it is such a bitch to learn). 2. MILLY - Point: Start of a new game (NPC rule, can't check her talents until after she wakes up Ratix in the middle of the night) - Notes: Always starts with "Blessing of Mana." One of two characters (the other being Marvel) that can learn all 10 talents with relative ease, but make sure she starts with Sixth Sense though because it is so hard to learn. 3. IRIA - Point: On Mt. Metox, right before she beams down - Notes: Never acquires "Originality" or "Blessing of Mana." If you plan to Power Up early following this guide, it will be helpful if Iria starts off with "Writing Ability" or "Design Sense," whichever one Ratix lacks. Most likely Ratix and Iria will be your authoring and artist characters because they are practically your first two REAL characters, so it's helpful if they both start off with the correct talents. 4. RONIXIS - Point: On Mt. Metox, right before he beams down (NPC rule, can't check his talents until after the party sneaks back onboard Ronixis' ship to time travel back into the past) - Notes: Always starts with "Blessing of Mana." Never acquires "Sense of Taste," "Love of Animals," or "Sixth Sense." If you have the patience, you should keep resetting until he gets "Originality" (because you do not want to try to develop "Originality" through Customization with him... or anyone). 5. CIUS - Point: Outside of Hot, right after you saw him push the weapons merchant against the wall - Notes: Never acquires "Manual Dexterity" or "Blessing of Mana." You should keep resetting until he gets "Originality." Since "Sixth Sense" is almost impossible to learn, it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep resetting until you get both. 6. ASHLAY - Point: Outside of Tatory, after you've talked to him and had Ratix participate once in the arena - Notes: Usually starts with "Originality," "Writing Ability," "Love of Animals," and/or "Sixth Sense." Never acquires "Manual Dexterity," "Design Sense," or "Blessing of Mana." 7. FEAR - Point: 1. Save before you visit Astral to gain the Astral Emblem [Cius or Ashlay is in your party] 2. Save outside the southern entrance of Astral before you break Fear out of jail [neither Cius or Ashlay is in your party] - Notes: Never acquires "Blessing of Mana." As seen above, you can acquire Fear two different ways depending on your party composition. Point 1 is the "normal" way of getting Fear and happens when you have either Cius or Ashlay in your party. Take extra note that even though Fear joins your party temporarily if you have Cius in your party and you can check her status screen at that time; Fear will actually get a brand new set of talents when you get her permanently later on. Point 2 is if you decide to not to recruit Cius or Ashlay. You'll get to recruit Fear much earlier than most people this way, however the downside is Fear can never return back to Astral and thus can never get her War God Ougi from the King when the party returns to collect the Emblems. As always since "Originality" and "Sixth Sense" are so difficult to learn, you might want to keep resetting until she starts off with them. But unlike most characters, her Customize special weapon is not her strongest. 8. JOSHUA - Point: 1. Right before you meet him at the entrance of Parj Temple [Cius/Fear/only Ratix&Iria is in your party] 2. Right before you meet him again and save him inside Parj Temple [Ashlay in your party] - Notes: Always starts with "Blessing of Mana." Never acquires "Originality" or "Love of Animals." Joshua will only offer to permanently join your party at the end of Parj Temple if you have one of the Astral characters (Cius, Ashlay, Fear) in your party. If your party is lacking a musician, or lacking someone with "Rhythmic Sense," Joshua makes a good candidate to keep resetting until you get some musical talents. 9. MARVEL - Point: Right before you enter Ionis for the first time - Notes: Always starts with "Blessing of Mana." One of two characters (the other being Milly) who can learn all 10 talents with relative ease, but make sure she starts with Sixth Sense though because it is so hard to learn. Marvel joins automatically if your party contains Ashlay or Joshua. If you have Cius (but no Joshua), she will not join. If you have none of the above, she will ask Ratix to join only if Ratix did not get drunk at the bar. You have the option of removing Marvel permanently from your party if you have Joshua in your party. 10. TINEK - Point: Outside of Tatory right before you fight him in the arena - Notes: Always starts with "Sense of Taste." Never acquires "Writing Ability" or "Blessing of Mana." Like most characters, it would be wise for him to start off with "Originality" and "Sixth Sense" because they are difficult to learn. You cannot lose the battle against him. 11. PERISIE - Point: Right before you start a Private Action in Clatos Village - Notes: Always starts with "Rhythmic Sense" and "Pitch Sense." Never acquires "Writing Ability" or "Blessing of Mana." Assuming you meet the requirements for Perisie to join (have the Ocarina and an empty character slot and Milly), you still can only initiate the Perisie's recruitment private action during the "dead times" of the story plot; meaning when your party has no specific mission. For instance, you cannot initiate the private action during the middle of your quest on collecting the continental Emblems. Therefore IMO, the best time to recruit Perisie (and Tinek) is as early as possible: after finishing the Trial Cave in Van I Il, but before talking with Sylvant's King (which means if your party combination made Milly rejoin at Sylvant, you gotta hike your butt all the way back to Clatos Village before you step foot in Sylvant Castle after getting her). Like most characters, it would be wise for her to start off with "Originality" and "Sixth Sense" because they are difficult to learn. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 2. GAINING SPECIFIC TALENTS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Here's how I would go about learning the talents. I am assuming that you're using the Violin 2 song to help you develop your talents where applicable (I'll note it for each one), because playing the Violin greatly enhances the chances of developing new talents. Be aware of the bug that's associated with the Violin in the "MISCELLANY" section of the FAQ. 1. ORIGINALITY - VIOLIN USE: Yes - Notes: With the exception of Milly and Marvel, it's usually in your best interest to keep resetting the game until your characters start with "Originality." If they don't start with it, they'll have to develop it through Customize, and you'll usually have to forge the (unduplicatable) customizable weapon through Smithing, which hardly ever works. All leading to the conclusion that it's better for a character to start off with "Originality," rather than develop it. Iria and Joshua will never learn this talent. RATIX: Starts with MILLY: After creating a Magic Persia from Crafting using a Rainbow Diamond, duplicate 20 copies and start customizing while Violin 2 is playing IRIA: Never learns RONIXIS: Customize Metal Fangs while Violin 2 is playing CIUS: Customize Silver Swords while Violin 2 is playing ASHLAY: Customize Mithril Swords while the Violin 2 is playing FEAR: Customize Bloody Swords while Violin 2 is playing JOSHUA: Never learns MARVEL: Duplicate 20 copies of Rainbow Diamonds and start customizing while Violin 2 is playing TINEK: Customize Spinning Spears while Violin 2 is playing PERISIE: Customize Neko Fangs while Violin 2 is playing 2. SENSE OF TASTE - VIOLIN USE: Yes - Notes: Ronixis will never learn this talent. Use the Cooking item creation with any ingredient repeatedly while Violin 2 is playing. 3. DEXTERITY - VIOLIN USE: Yes - Notes: Cius and Ashlay will never learn this talent. Use the Crafting item creation using any mineral (iron is the cheapest) repeatedly while Violin 2 is playing. 4. DESIGN SENSE - VIOLIN USE: Yes - Notes: Ashlay will never learn this talent. Use the Art item creation with the Magic Canvas repeatedly while Violin 2 is playing. You could also use Magic Paint and try to duplicate items, but Magic Canvas is cheaper and faster. 5. WRITING ABILITY - VIOLIN USE: Yes - Notes: Tinek and Perisie will never learn this talent. Use the Writing item creation for any skill repeatedly while Violin 2 is playing. 6-7. RHYTHMIC SENSE and/or PITCH SENSE - VIOLIN USE: No - Notes: Ratix will never learn Pitch Sense. Developing these talents is surprisingly easy. Go into the Music menu of a character, select the second option "Perform," and play any song. If he/she did not learn a talent, get out of the menu, SWITCH TO ANOTHER CHARACTER, go into this new character's music menu, and repeat the process until someone learns Rhythmic Sense/Pitch Sense. It's easier if the song being played is "Trumpet 1," since it's the very first song on the list at the top of the menu. You can do these all these steps pretty fast if you're quick at pressing the D-pad and buttons. You'll never learn these talents through writing music, only through playing instruments. Remember, you can't just stay on one character's music menu and play songs. If you didn't learn a talent, you have to go to another character's menu, and have that new character play a song before you can go back to the original. Also, you do not have to wait until the song is done before switching. You will learn the talent immediately when you start playing a song if it happens, so feel free to switch quickly if you did not learn either talent. 8. LOVE OF ANIMALS - VIOLIN USE: Yes - Notes: Ronixis and Joshua will never learn this talent. Use the Familiar ability and attempt to make a purchase while the Violin 2 is playing. The tricky thing is that you can only use the Familiar ability outside on the world map, and only failed attempt per screen. Furthermore, there's another restriction that you must move pass 2 more screens before you can use Familiar again after failing the first time. This makes learning "Love of Animals" more annoying that most of the other talents. However, there is an ideal location for learning this: Sage Rock Peninsula (or that's at least what I call it). It's the peninsula on your way to Sylvant with 2 treasure chests at the tip (one of which was a Sage Rock). From the town of Sylvant itself, the peninsula is just a couple of screens west of the town's entrance. The reason why this place is of particular interest is because the exit of the peninsula screen and the next two screens are very close to each other. Putting this information together with the restrictions on Familiar, you can see that you can play the Violin 2 song while on the peninsula screen, attempt using Familiar and making a purchase, let the bird fly off the screen, walk down from the peninsula screen to the next screen (1 screen passed), then quickly walk right to the following screen (2 screen passed), then try the Familiar ability again. If you do learn the talent, it will happen as soon as you confirm the "Call Pigeon" after attempting to make a purchase at the "Familiar Shop" menu. 9. SIXTH SENSE - VIOLIN USE: ??? - Notes: This talent is almost impossible to learn. You have an incredibly slim chance of learning it when you change the enemy encounter setting in your character's Scout ability. I believe that once changed, you have to wait a while before you can attempt to do it again, but I'm not entirely certain about that. Since this talent is so difficult to develop, I suggest you keep resetting until your character starts off with it if you truly wanted this talent. 10. BLESSING OF MANA - VIOLIN USE: No - Notes: You can't learn this talent. Milly, Ronixis, Joshua, and Marvel will automatically start off with it. V. MISCELLANY _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 1. LINK COMBO RANGE RESTRICTION CHEAT _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ This trick is extremely useful because it negates the annoying range restrictions placed on your fighting characters' Killer Techniques and Ougi techs. To bypass the restrictions though, you need to have leveled the Link Combo skill to at least level 2, so that you have more than one "page" of Killer Techniques available. Equip any technique in the short and long slots on the "first page" of your character's Killer Techniques menu. Go over to the "second page" of your character's Killer Techniques menu and equip the desired technique on the slot it normally can't be equipped on (since techs done in combos do not have any range restrictions). For instance, Ratix's 7-Star Twin Slash is normally a short-ranged attack only (except in combos), so equip 7-Star Twin Slash in the LONG-range slot of Ratix's SECOND page. Now go back to the first page and remove the long-range killer technique that you initially put there before. Now leave Ratix's Killer Technique menu completely and then return to it. 7-Star Twin Slash (which you had just put in the LONG-range slot of the SECOND page) will now be in the LONG-range slot of the FIRST page where it normally can't be placed! _/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 2. BUGS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 1. THE VIOLIN If you've read Ian Kelley's FAQ, you'd know that using the Violin to learn new talents will result in the game freezing if you pushed any button while the "gained-a-new-talent" music is playing. And you probably also read that the way to avoid it is to wait for the music to end before you push the "A" button to continue on. But what Ian forgot to mention was that you CANNOT BE STANDING INSIDE A TOWN, CAVE, OR DUNGEON. If you tried to acquire a new talent while inside any town, cave, or dungeon the game will still freeze even if you waited until the talent music was over. To avoid the bug, stand in the "overworld" map screen (if you can call it that) if you want to use the violin to learn talents. 2. UNRELIABLE INN/HEALING SPRING Resting at an inn or drinking from the healing fountain on Mt. Metox is usually supposed to cure you of all status ailments. But occasionally, if your character is inflicted with both the death and petrify status (such as after a Black Slime/Gabrielle fight), the inn/healing fountain won't cure that character to maximum health. In such cases, you'll have to use an item or spell to cure the petrifaction first, and then rest at the inn/drink the water again. 3. DUNGEON MUSIC REPEATS Sometimes the dungeon music will suddenly stop and repeat itself when it's not supposed to. Nothing special about this bug. This is different from the bugs associated with playing the game on an emulator, discussed later. 4. OFF THE SCREEN This happened several times to me when fighting the Gabrielle. Gabrielle can move off into the top of the screen and not come back. None of my characters had any attacks that could reach her, but she could still cast Meteor Swarm on my party. 5. FIGHTER'S MAGIC When a lot is happening in battle, especially when you're constantly bringing up other character's menus trying to manually control them. Sometimes when you try to pull up a character's combat menu, it'll be invisible. Well, several times when this happen, I was able to go into what appeared to be Marvel and Iria's magic menu! There were no spells listed of course, but it was an interesting bug nonetheless. 6. FILE ERASES I'm not sure if this is a regular bug or if it's just a problem of my copy of Star Ocean, but my game files have erased several times, resulting in me having to start over again. Just a warning. Of course, this warning means nothing to the 99.9% of the people playing this game, but to the 0.1% of us who have the cart too, well, be careful. 7. EMULATOR MUSIC PROBLEMS Sometimes the music will stop suddenly. When this happens, be very careful because the game might freeze. Reverting back to recent save states might still reproduce the bug. I hear you have to revert back to a normal game save to continue, or try to exit onto anther screen as quickly as you can. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 3. THE VAN TRIAL CAVE PUZZLE _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Everyone has trouble with this part because the way Ian Kelley words the solution to the puzzle is very difficult to understand. So here's a more straightforward solution: Hit the switches in this order: 6, 4, 3 and the door in middle should open. 1 2 3 Door 4 5 6 _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 4. MILLY WHERE ARE YOU? _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ A point of much confusion for people is, "Why isn't Milly appearing in Edcart like Ian Kelley's FAQ says she will?" The answer is: depending on your party composition by the time you first reach Edcart, Milly will either meet up with your party in Edcart (earlier) or Sylvant (later). Ian Kelley used 2 party combinations to write his walkthrough, but both of them resulted in Milly appearing in Edcart, therefore he never mentioned the possibility that Milly could appear elsewhere. Here are the possible party combinations by the time you reach Edcart and where Milly will rejoin the group as result of them (Ratix and Iria of course always included): 1. CIUS ONLY: Edcart 2. CIUS and JOSHUA: Edcart 3. ASHLAY ONLY: Edcart 4. ASHLAY and JOSHUA: Sylvant 5. FEAR and JOSHUA: Sylvant 6. NO ONE (just Ratix and Iria): Edcart Note that "FEAR ONLY" is impossible, because you must agree to go to Parj Temple for her to stay with you (you can't skip Parj Temple), and if you refuse to let Fear join after finishing Parj, Joshua will leave as well. "JOSHUA ONLY" is also impossible because he will only offer to join if you have an Astral character (Cius, Ashlay, Fear) already in your party. Also keep in mind that if Milly rejoins the party in Sylvant, you can never do her special PA where she gives Ratix the "Charm" accessory. That will only occur if she rejoined in Edcart, and apparently only if she has a high Approval Rating with him too (so buy her that damn earring!). _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 5. KILLING NEO JIE REVORSE IN 2 SECONDS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Is it really possible to kill the last boss in just 2 seconds? Of course it is. Power up your guys to at around level 90 or higher you'll know when they're gods). Bring Ratix, Marvel, Iria, and Perisie into the fight, all in Free Form formation. As soon at the battle starts, (using the Link Combo Range restriction cheat), make Ratix do 7-Star Twin Slashx4; Marvel do Hail Orbx4; Iria do Sakura-Zhangx4 (or Sakura Flashx4); Perisie do Charming Posex4. If all the attacks hit at the same time and Jie did not put up his shield, he'll go down in a mere couple of seconds. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ 6. APPROVAL RATINGS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ There are really only two ways to change Approval Ratings between characters: 1) Private Actions and 2) in battle. IMO, Private Actions have a much greater effect on Approval Ratings than battles do. I think some Private Actions that lower AR between certain characters can do unrepairable damage between the two. For instance, I think viewing the Private Action in Tatory involving Joshua and Marvel's conversation will utterly ruin any chance of a specific paired ending between the two of them. And since the endings are based heavily on the final AR ratings between characters, be very careful about not only what decisions you take during Private Actions, but also which Private Actions you end up viewing. In battle, you can raise AR between characters by using any type of curative spell or item on a character; whether necessary or not. However, I think the change is very small and won't have as much as an effect that Private Actions do. Occasionally, when you do use a curative spell or item on a character, the healed character will actually give some sort of voice clip to indicate a sort of "thank you," (be it actually saying "Arigato," "Thank You," or just a sigh of relief). Not all characters thank each other though. Here's my observations: 1. RATIX: Thanks everybody 2. DORN: Thanks Ratix and Milly 3. MILLY: Thanks Ratix and Ronixis only 4. IRIA: Thanks everybody but Milly 5. RONIXIS: Thanks everybody but Milly 6. CIUS: Thanks everybody but Milly 7. ASHLAY: Thanks everybody but Milly 8. FEAR: Thanks everybody but Milly 9. JOSHUA: Thanks everybody but Milly 10. MARVEL: Thanks everybody but Milly 11. TINEK: Thanks everybody but Milly 12. PERISIE: Thanks everybody but Milly This is mostly from memory, so I might have to update later with corrections, but I do know Milly seems to be the most disliked character, with Ratix being the only one who thanks her for any kind of healing. Maybe everyone just takes her healing for granted? But looking at it the other way, Milly's not giving her share of thank yous when she's getting healed back either. Maybe she's just spoiled? _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/7. DISPELLING SOME MYTHS _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 1. Required Talents for Successful Item Creation Well one myth that has been dispelled is the need for Originality for the Smithing item creation. Simply, it is not needed and it makes sense why. All item creations/abilities that have a talent associated with it, you can learn the talent through repeated use of that item creation/ability. Repeated use of Smithing will learn you nothing. Also, just try it out, characters that don't have Originality can be just as successful creating powerful weapons as characters without it. Here is a list of all the talents and what item creation/ability they are associated with: 1. Originality: CUSTOMIZE 2. Sense of Taste: COOKING 3. Manual Dexterity: CRAFTING 4. Design Sense: ART 5. Writing Ability: AUTHORING 6. Rhythmic Sense: MUSIC 7. Pitch Sense: MUSIC 8. Love of Animals: FAMILIAR 9. Sixth Sense: SCOUT 10. Blessing of Mana: ALCHEMY Notice that each TALENT is only associated with only one item creation or ability. Also take note when you back-to-back same item creations. The game automatically cycles through only characters with the highest proficiency and the correct talents. All other item creations and abilities (Compounding, Identifying, Smithing, Oracle, Training) do not require any talents to be successful. 2. Marvel's Holy Orb Another myth that has been circulating around is that equipping Marvel with her ultimate weapon, the Holy Orb, will cause her Stamina to drop to zero. This is false. What is really happening is that Holy Orb carries with it a -10 stamina penalty. And since Marvel starts off with only 10 STM, if you were to equip her with a Holy Orb right away, her stamina will indeed drop to zero. But this does not mean that anytime you equip her with the Holy Orb her STM will fall to nothing. The -10 STM penalty quickly becomes irrelevant when you begin to level her up. VI. THANKS _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/1. Ian Kelley _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Obviously for writing (at the time) the only walkthroughs for the game. I used his FAQs to get a lot of the Japanese Technique and skill names with this guide's initial release. I also used his hiragana/katakana charts back when I first played Dragon Quest 6 and Star Ocean back in 1997/1998. English patch or not, you still gotta give respect for the guy who wrote the most comprehensive Star Ocean guide to date out of the kindness of his own heart. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/2. Sherwin Tam _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ I kinda borrowed the format he used for the talent portion of his Star Ocean 2 guide. I modified it a little, but I'll credit where I got the idea. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/3. GameFAQ message board _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ For being a helpful source of new information and gameplay help; especially informing me about Fear and Joshua's recruiting conditions. Email me at lelbx@hotmail.com for any comments, corrections, contributions, and all that kind of stuff. Until Star Ocean 3 (comes out in the US)...