The Last Remnant
Walk through
This guide is currently only allowed to be on GameFaqs.com.
The walkthrough for this guide is complete.  Additional information will
come at a later time.
The Last Remnant is an RPG of epic size.  While the strict storyline of the
game is actually fairly short, the entire game will captivate you for many
hours, perhaps even over 100, if RPGs are your thing.  This game is driven by
battles, more so than story or graphics.  The game is pretty straightforward
and direct.
First things first:  Install this game to your hard drive!  This game tends
to suffer from massive slow downs if you do not.  These slowdowns generally
come at random, so best install the game.  Additionally, disconnecting from
XBox Live helps as well with lag issues.
Table of Contents:
1.00 : Game Mechanics and Pointers
2.00 : Side Quests
- 2.01 A Days Beginning
- 2.02 Baulson
- 2.03 Mr. Diggs
- 2.04 Athlums Witch
- 2.05 Bravery & Loyalty
- 2.06 Celapaleis Witch
- 2.07 The Dreaming Rose
3.00 : Guild Quests
4.00 : Places to visit outside the storyline
5.00 : Skill List
5.10 : Skill Info
6.00 : Unique Leaders
9.00 : Walkthrough (Disk 1)
- 9.01 World Map
- 9.02 Athlum
- 9.03 Gaslin Caves
- 9.04 Robelia Castle
- 9.05 Dillmoor
- 9.06 Athlum: With Added Powers!
- 9.07 Celapaleis
- 9.08 Athlum: David's Summon
- 9.09 Blackdale
- 9.10 Athlum: Summon to the Congress
- 9.11 Ivory Peaks
- 9.12 Elysion
- 9.13 The Catacombs
- 9.14 Emma
- 9.15 Heroic Ramparts: To Nagapur!
- 9.16 Nagapur
- 9.17 Next of Eagles
- 9.18 Return to Nagapur
- 9.19 The Aquaducts
- 9.20 Wyrm's Keep
10.00 : Walkthrough (Disk 2)
- 10.01 Fornstrad
- 10.02 The Academy
- 10.03 The Tablet of Marion Marshall
- 10.04 The Numor Mines Revisited
- 10.05 Emmy's Request
- 10.06 Six Bases and Koeingsdorf
- 10.07 Base 1
- 10.08 Base 2
- 10.09 Base 4
- 10.10 Base 5
- 10.11 Base 3
- 10.12 Base 6
- 10.13 Say Hello to my Little Friend...?
- 10.14 Koeingsdorf
- 10.15 Athlum: What do we do now?
- 10.16 Darken Forest
- 10.17 Undelwalt
- 10.18 The Holy Plain
- 10.19 Begin the Finale
- 10.20 Seibenbur
- 10.21 The Sacred Lands
11.00 : Contact Information
=====
1.00 : Game Mechanics and Pointers
=====
The Last Remnant is a bit more of a complex game compared to other turn based
RPGs.  The basics of battle are actually a bit more complex than what merits
them being the basics.
Your party consists of you, Rush, other generals of your choice, and Athlum
Soldiers, which can be hired at the Recruitment NPC in Athlum.
Your generals are the real backbone of your party, providing most of the power,
HP, defense, and life of the union.  Every union must have a minimum of one
general in it.  Rush must always be in a union (even if he isn't leading,) he
must always be in battle.
Battles will be the main thing you spend your time doing while playing The
Last Remnant.  Around, literally, 95% of your time playing the game will be
battling.
Unlike most RPGs, you do not need to gear any of your other players.  They
will take items that they need when they drop from monsters; of course, you
can stop this process and take the items for yourself.
Most battles are fairly difficult once the game begins to pick up pace.  You
will generally be chaining 2 or 3 monsters together, minimum, to save loading
times.  Sometimes when you're feeling risky, you may end up doing chains of
over 10!
You do not directly command your units.  You give them general commands, and
they carry them out.  By pressing X while selecting commands, you will be
shown what commands exactly will be carried out, but you have no control over
what actually happens.
The amount of people you can use increases over the course of the game.  When
you first really take control of Rush, you can only have 3 characters (all of
which are generals), and two unions.  This eventually increases to five unions,
and 18 people in battle -- up to 6 generals.
Quests are the main drive of this game.  If you try to go through just the
story, you won't make it.  Your characters will simply be too weak to hold a
candle to the monsters you will fight.  Quests are most commonly found at Pubs,
but a consistent thing amongst all quest givers is the red bubble over their
head with a "...!" meaning they have something important to say.  If you are
at a loss for where to find quests, one of two things can be done:
1.) Hire a Unique general.  You can see these when you're in the Recruitment
screen in the guild and there's a description of the general.
2.) Talk to the bartender's assistant.  If he says something along the lines
of "nothing is happening," then, most likely:
- You finished all the quests you can currently undertake.
- The only quests left are given by special generals, generally not found in
pubs.  (These generals must be recruited by you for you to recieve special
quests.)
Soldiers hired at the Recruitment officer in Athlum have many different
strengths.  Generally, a soldier only has access to one type of special skill,
and later in the game, they'll be proficient in two.  For example, you may
find a mercenary that is good with Herb skills, but doesn't have any melee
skills (which you can learn through having them fight.)
You don't (exactly) gain levels in The Last Remnant.  After every battle, you
will get a list of any stats or skills that have leveled up or been acquired,
any items that have been strengthened, which, in turn, decides what your
"Battle Rank" is -- Battle Rank can be thought of as a collective level
between all of your units, and as such, if you use multiple soldiers and
generals, your individual characters would be weaker than if you used just
generals and had only one or two unions.
In general, in normal battles, it is best to have multiple unions, as you
normally fight a large number of monster unions, making it easy for them to
attack you from the Flanks, or even Rear Assault, and rarely, a Massive Strike.
Deadlock: A head-on attack between two unions.  Breaking deadlock is a good way
to get yourself Raidlocked or Rear Assaulted, depending on your actions.
Generally not recommended unless you absolutely need to.
Raidlock: A long-ranged-head-on-strike, in which, one union was trying to
stay in place, and another union forces it into deadlock.  The union that
forced deadlock recieves a damage boost.  The most typical cause of this is
the commands "Get Your HP UP" (when it breaks deadlock,) "Stay On Your Toes,"
and "Heal The Others" (when it breaks deadlock, mostly)
Multi-Deadlock: Large monsters and bosses can do something very annoying called
Multi-Deadlocking.  This means that they can frontal strike multiple unions
(generally 3,) and counter attack.  This can be dangerous when a boss will
deadlock 3 unions and use Area of Effect (AoE) attacks, sometimes this can
wipe out all of your unions at once, making for a quick gameover.
Flank Attack:  To Engage in a Flank Attack, a union must already be deadlocked.
Bosses can be flanked usually after 3 unions deadlock them, or through the
command "Wait for a chance" or "Strike from the Sides!"  Being flanked means
that the person being flanked takes additional damage, and doesn't get a turn
to fight back.
Rear Assault: After 2 unions flank another union, a third union will do a
"Rear Assault."  This has a massive damage boost.  If you break deadlock to
deadlock another union, and the previous union attacks, they will automatically
Rear Assault you, which can be painful.  You can rear assault bosses through
the command "Strike them from behind!" which generally comes up after flanking
a couple of times or after a boss breaks deadlock with you to deadlock someone
else.
Massive Strike:  The most dangerous of them all, Massive Strike happens after a
union is deadlocked, flanked twice, rear assaulted, any additional unions will
do a Massive Strike, resulting in frightening damage increases, and usually
certain death.  Massive Striking a multi-deadlocker doesn't seem to be a
possibility.  You simply never have enough unions.
Having multiple unions reduces the chances of recieving flank and rear assaults
during battle, and usually eliminates the possibility of a massive strike when
you use 4 or 5.
====
2.00 Side Quests
====
Side quests are VITAL to this game.  You should do them, all of them.
Otherwise, you will have issues with beating the game.  Big time.
To find sidequests, go to a Pub, and talk to the bartenders assistant.  They'll
tell you the talk of the street, and if they say something along the lines of
"Life is boring" then there are no sidequests available.
Honestly, once you get to the part in this guide where side quests open up
(Around Celapelais,) you should check back after each story event (every single
9.XX progression.  Seriously.)  Side quests take you to places in the game
you don't even go to normally!  I will explain this later.
How to read this section:
First, a number is given to the sidequest.  This number is based on the order
that -I- did them in at their earliest possible availability and completability.
This means that YES, these are done in succession.  If I say that quest 15 is
available after you clear the Catacombs in Elysion, that means, unless otherwise
indicated, quest 16 is also available at that point and may or may not rely on
having completed quest 15.
Obviously this is under construction.
If I list a town name, that means the quest giver is in the towns pub.
Otherwise, I will say where the giver is at.
2.01 A Days Beginning - Athlum
This sidequest is done in the main story.
2.02 Baulson - Athlum
Availability: Immediately after quest 2.01.
You will automatically be transported to the Gaslin Caves.  Walk to the end of
the cavern (same place you went with Blocter) and you will fight a boss.  It's
easy.  Just have Rush attack the minions and have Baulson engage the boss.
The support should die in one turn.
I suggest you hire Baulson after this.
2.03 Mr. Diggs - Celapaleis
Availability: Talk to the craftsman in Celapaleis, then he will go to the inn.
You will automatically be transported to the Gaslin Caves.  Walk up the path
past the Rosefly's, then you will see a dig point on the wall.  Check it, and
this quest is finished.
====
After you talk to David and he tells you that Congress will hold a meeting
====
2.04 Athlums Witch - Town Square
She's right next to the recruitment officer.  She asks for 500g and gives you
some items.
2.05 Bravery and Loyalty - Athlum
Talk to Emma in the pub (make sure you've hired soldiers.)
This will take you to Robelia Castle.  A new path is opened up.  You will go to
the second floor.  Go left, and at the end of the left path you will find a map,
continue around to find more treasure/dig points.  You will end up near where
you came in from.  Go downstairs.  You already have the map for this area.
Just walk to the furthest room.
Boss: Soldier + 2x Darkwings
This battle can be a fair challenge.  The Darkwings cast curse, a status
ailment which causes your characters to die at random.  They only cast it once,
though.  The most basic strategy is to have your unions storm the boss and just
take him out as he will drop in two turns.  If you have your mind set on killing
the Darkwings, make 3 unions and have each engage each enemy union.
2.06 Celapaleis Witch - Grants Way
Just go to the first area in Celapaleis.  She asks for 1000g this time, and
gives you items.
2.07 The Dreaming Rose - Celapaleis
You will be transported to the Ivory peaks.  Walk down the path, and take
the first right you possibly can.  One you do, turn right again and head down
the path.  You will get the area map.  If you go to the opposite side of the
depression, you will get a new weapon for Torgal (he will take it at the city/
world map.)  To finish the quest, go to the far corner of the depression that
ends with a flat wall.  You will fight an easy boss.
====
3.00 Guild Quests
====
Guild Quests are very basic.  They're in a few categories: Fetch Quests,
Monster Killing, Rare Monster Hunting, and Leadership quests.
Fetch quests are quests in which you get certain items.
Monster killing requires you to kill xx amount of monster **** in base ####.
Rare Monster Hunting requires you to kill a rare monster.  There are rare
monster faqs, so refer to them for more information.
Leadership quests require you to meet certain requirements, like have a party
member with 26+ STR, or have a "Swashbuckler" in the party.  I don't have any
clue how to get a lot of the classes you are asked of in this game... so, I
can't really help you there.
Guild quests reward you with money, formations, blue prints, and "Weekly"
items, all of which will be useful.  Do them at whatever point in the game
when you're bored or short on cash.
====
4.00 Places to visit outside of the main story
====
Oddly enough, the main storyline in The Last Remnant only takes you to about
one-half of the World in The Last Remnant.  This is how you get to other
places:
Balterossa: When you get to Elysion for the first time, talk to the bartender
and ask about Neighboring cities.  You will have to cross the southwestern
plain to reach Balterossa.
The Great Sandsea: When you get to Balterossa, go to the pub and accept the
quest about the ghosts in the Sand Sea.  Even if you don't finish the quest,
you will have access to the Great Sand Sea.
Lavafender: Once you get to the great sand sea, go to the exit that is left of
the entrance (really far to the left.)
Royotia: Pass through Lavafender.
The Great Subterrae: Accept a quest in Royotia to reach this place.
Vale of the Gods: Pass straight through The Great Sandsea (go south) to reach
Vale of the Gods.
Baluuk: Pass through the Vale of the Gods to reach Baluuk.
Crookfen: Accept the quest in Nagapur to search for the maiden.  This will
place you in Crookfen.
Melphina: Cross over Crookfen to reach Melphina.
Siebenbur First Path: Talk to the Warrior Qsiti in the Golden Chalice guild at
Celapaleis for access to this area.  Can be accessed once you talk to David
about the summon to Congress.
Siebenbur Third Path: Talk to the Warrior Qsiti in the Undelwalt Golden Chalice
guild.
Siebenbur Fourth Path: Get Roberto's quest in Melphina.
Siebenbur Fifth Path: Get the quest to find the Arco Iris.  Given in Royotia.
Seibenbur The Second Path: Talk to the Yama behind the special shop/special
guild in Athlum
Darken Forest: You can accept a quest in Celapaleis to gain access to the
Darken Forest in Disk 1.
Ghor: If you go straight left in the Heroic Ramparts you can gain access to
Ghor in Disk 1.
Yvalocks Nest:  In disk 2, take the quest from the Scientist in Melphina.
Flaumello Tower: In disk 2, take the quest in Balterossa.  This requires you to
have completed the quests Glenys gives you in Disk 1.
====
5.00 Skill List
====
This skill list doesn't include some special skills (since I do not have them
all,) but it should provide all of the skills you will normally acquire through
the main story.
One Handed:
Knee Splitter
Cutting Lunge
Blue Streak
Double Slash
Cross Slice (Sword Specific)
Requiem (Sword Specific)
Reverse Delta (Axe Specific)
Crushing Hit (Mace Specific)
Helm Split (Katana Specific)
Power Grip:
Smash
Crossbreak
Switchback
Dragon's Flight
Dragon's Tail (Sword Specific)
Victory Sweep (Sword Specific)
Moonset (Katana Specific)
Cyclone (Axe Specific)
Hyper Hammer (Maxe Specific)
Dual Wield:
Devil's Due
Bladedancer
Resonance Edge
Acala's Wrath
Moulinet
Two-Handed:
Double Strike
Thunderclap
Cascade Strike
Dragon Crush
Crush (Mace Specific)
Fleche (Spear Specific)
Quad Wield:
Quad Slice
Four Winds
Slice & Dice
Quadrille
Dual Power Grip:
Fury Blow
Bonecrusher
Twin Gimlet
Retribution
Dual Two-Handed:
Flash Strike
Focus Strike
Earthrender
Scattered Petals
Invocations:
Spark
- Can cause shock
Wind Shear
Doubletime
- SPD up
Caustic Blast
- Can hit multiple unions, causes Acid Burn
Permafrost
- Hits everyone in a union, causes Frozen
Evocations:
Mystic Missile
Flash Arrow
Silencer
- Can cause silence
Eclipse
Snare Shot
- Can cause blackout
Remedies:
Restore
- Recovers HP
Refresh
- Cures ailments
Rejuvenate
- Cures stat debuffs
Revitalize
- High HP Recovery
Support
- STR, INT, SPD up
Kiss of Life
- Cures death
Second Chance
- Cures all ailments and full restoration
Herbs:
Restorative Herb
- HP Recovery
Vivification Herb
- Cures death
Life Powder
- HP Recovery (everyone in the union)
Restorative Tincture
- Massive HP Recovery
Vivification Tincture
- Cures death (with massive HP recovery)
Potions:
Red Potion
- STR up
Blue Potion
- INT up
Yellow Potion
- SPD up
Power Potion
- ATK up
Explosives:
Flash Bomb
- Can cause blackout
Poison Bomb
- Can cause poison
Smoke Bomb
Traps:
Stun Trap
Land Mine
Retreat Flare
- Lowers Morale
Hexes:
Poison Gas
- Can cause poison
Paralyze Gas
- Can cause paralyze
Smoke Canister
Silent Gas
- Can cause silence
Dispirit
- Lowers morale
Lotions:
Antivenin
- Cures Poison
Eye Cream
- HP Recovery (whole union)
Throat Salve
- Cures Silence
Invigoration Cream
- Cures Paralyze
Wards:
Orphic Ward
- Immunity to 1 magic
Protection
- Immunity to 1 melee
Psionics:
Bluff
... that's the only one I got...
Remnants and Special Skills:
Omnistrike, Talismans Gift, Cyclops - Rush
Gae Bolg, Ex Machine, Snowblind - David
Hundred Flowers, Namul Niram - Emmy
Lugh's Revenge, Cerulean Rain - Torgal
Megalore, Daisy Chain - Pagus
Beowolf, Lob Omen - Jager
Heaven's Gate - Caedmon
Swordflash - Glenys
Omnistrike - Irina
I do not have all the special skills.  Cerulean Rain, Snowblind, Daisy Chain,
Swordflash, and Heaven's Gate are end-game content skills.  You probably will
not acquire them unless you do a lot of The Ancient Ruins.
====
5.10 Skill info
====
In The Last Remnant, you get a lot of skills.  As you continue to use skills,
they become more powerful -- they level up, and sometimes, get additional
attributes.  Leveling up skills have different effects on them.
- Leveling up physical attacks increases the damage.
- Additionally, physical attacks can get "Might," "Nimble," "Peerless," and
"Swift," which buffs the attack.  Might adds damage.  Peerless adds a lot of
damage.  Nibmle adds speed.  Swift adds a lot of speed.
- Leveling up healing magics increases the amount they heal.  Same goes for
items.
- Leveling up skills like Refresh, Rejuvenate, Kiss of Life, and Second chance
make them cost less AP.
- Leveling up skills like Poison Gas, Dispirit, make them deal more damage and
make their effect more powerful/more likely.
- Leveling up Psionics makes their effects more powerful/more likely.
====
6.00 Unique Leaders
====
This is under construction.
This will cover leaders you do not get naturally in the game.
Baulson - Hire at Athlum after finishing his quest.
Baulson is a very powerful general.  Torgal and him are easily the two most
powerful in the game, though people can't agree on which is the stronger.
Loki - Hire at Athlum after receiving after the summon to Elysion.
I don't really like Loki.  He gives you a quest in the second disk which gives
you an achievement.  You don't need to hire him in the first disk to gain
access to the quest.
Caedmon - Hire at Batlerossa.
Caedmon is a very useful and versatile general.  He's not as powerful as Torgal
or Baulson, but he's definitly up there.  He also gets Remedies, which allows
him to be an effective healer.  He has effective magics as well (silencer is
really good throughout the game)
====
9.00 : Walkthrough
====
So, you press new game, and then after setting the options, of course, you get
the introduction video.
Then, after the intro, you're launched into the introductory battle -- don't
worry, you can't possibly lose this.  After the first round, David will shoot
the Gae Bolg, effectively eliminating everything on screen.
More stuff happens, and you find yourself alone with Emma.  She'll explain
treasure chests to you, and you get your weapon.  Then you will go through
some Basic fights and about how pushing R2 allows you to activate battles
when you're close to monsters.  Walk towards the light (No, you're not dead.)
Then, you'll fight a boss, who probably won't even hit you.  You'll go a few
rounds then get a special battle command, and it'll die.
Go out, and you'll get to the world map.
====
9.01 - World Map
====
The world map in The Last Remnant is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics,
without the random battles.  You just hover over a location and select it,
and you will be put into the location.  Towns have a very distinct look; a
circle with their flag in it.  Dungeons and fields show up as blue on the map,
and strictly battle maps show up as Red, and cannot be entered unless a story
event dictates it -- naturally on this line, you will never go to the Yamarn
Plain ever again.
====
9.02 - Athlum
====
You will start off in Xiphos Way in Athlum, and Emma will leave you.  This is
your shopping district.  The weapon shop will have a picture of two Swords
crossing over it, the item shop will be a Pot or a Leaf, and the Item Forge
will have a smith hammer as the picture.  You cannot use the Forge yet, so
just go to the weapon shop.  Now, you have a choice, and I suggest you pick
one and stick with it:
One-Handed: You can use one-handed weapons, equipped with a shield or not.  If
you use a shield, you will have additional evade and magic evade, and the
possibility of preforming a Shield-Bash, which is a bit weaker than a counter,
but does cause Black-Out on a foe.  If you do not use a shield, you will chance
to Power-Grip, which makes you a little bit stronger, but also allows you to a
cces 1-handed and 2-handed Sword Skills.
Power-Grip: Mainly, Two-Handed Swords fit this category.  They will be
significantly more powerful, even if the attack is the same, but attacks take
longer to execute.  You cannot use one-handed skills with a Power-Grip weapon.
Dual-Swords: Equipping two One-Handed weapons will allow you to dual wield.
This gives you access to one-handed, power-grip, and dual wield specific skills
and is the strongest wield style, however, you will probably go last every
turn, and it will be very rare for you to dodge (but your counter attacks,
holy hell will they deal damage.)
Polearms: Polearms are Spears and Rods.  They get the same skill setup, and
Spears are also fairly powerful.  Rods are mainly for magic casting, but you
can still use skills.
Well, your decision can be delayed for a bit if you don't really know.  I used
Two-Handed Swords the entire game through, and ended up hitting for about
10,000 damage a hit at the end.
Anyways, press the back button to call up the city map, and go to Virtus
Parish.  There will be a pub here.  Go inside it, and you'll notice a "...!"
bubble I mentioned before.  Talk to the bartender.  And uh, this bartender...
well, he's a bit... flowery... anyways, he'll end up telling you David is in
the castle.  You can pull up your map again and access Athlum Castle.
Talk to David, and then you'll have an option between going with Blocter or
going with Pagus.  Blocter takes you to the Gaslin Caves, the easiest location
in the game.  Pagus takes you to Robelia Castle, which is a fair bit more
difficult and mobby than Gaslin Caves.  You can go to either one.  If you're
unfamiliar with RPGs, definitely go with Blocter, the big ugly Yama thingy.
If you want to start off with a little more of a challenge, go with Pagus,
whom will also provide you with an Orb that allows you to use Invocations!
You will learn the magic "Spark" with this orb, and eventually you will end up
learning very powerful AoE spells.
====
9.03 Gaslin Caves
====
This area is very straightforward, especially since Blocter provides you with
a map.  Obviously, you need to go to the furthest area to end this base, but
go off into the side tracks to find some treasure chests.  The monsters here
are just Rosefly's and Manticore's.  Very easy enemies, and to add to that,
they're weak to physical damage, so just try not to get surprise attacked and
you'll be fine.  The Manticore's will dig themselves up out of the ground.
They cannot engage in battle until they're fully out, but be sure not to get
surprise attacked.
At the end of the base there will be a boss fight, preceeding a peculiar green
orby gyroscope thingy.  This isn't a treasure chest, it's actually a
teleporter.  It will warp you to the World Map if you so wish, however, we
want the boss fight!  Let Blocter's union target the actual boss itself (it's
hp will be displayed as -???-,) and let Rush's union pick off the small fries.
After the battle, head back to the teleporter, and go to the world map, then
Athlum.  Talk to David in the castle, then you will be off to Robelia Castle.
====
9.04 Robelia Castle
====
At the beginning of this base, Pagus provides you with an Orb which will allow
you to cast magic.  Magic is a useful asset in this game, and until you hit
the second disk, magic is -generally- stronger.  This Orb only allows you to
use the "Invocations" set of magic, though.  You will be obtaining orbs mainly
from Side-Quests in the game, the last one being in the second disk, allowing
you to cast Psionics.
If you go right or left, you will find some battles that are a little more
challenging than Gaslin Caves.  Just make sure not to let Rush get swarmed by
monsters.  Head up through the big doors, look around in this area for monsters
and treasure, then head to the left.  Follow the path down into a large room
with two exits -- the north exit has a key remnant which unlocks doors, so get
it, then proceed through the other door.  The side opposite to the stairs has
a treasure chest, so check it, then head upstairs.
I suggest saving now.
You will be in a long hallway, with 3 doors.  The door to your left can
possibly hold a number of Chimera monsters -- be careful, this battle will be
HARD.  If you open the door and seem them, I suggest a hasty escape.  The door
to the right contains a chest.  Follow up to the large doors at the end of the
hall, opening this will launch a boss battle.
Same way to fight it as before.  Let Pagus engage the boss, and have Rush kill
the minions.
Once you finish, there will be a teleporter.  Activate it, and go to Athlum.
Talk to David, and he'll direct you to Dillmoor.
====
9.05 Dillmoor
====
At this point in the game, Torgal will ask you about your Talisman.  You will
find out that the Talisman allows you to slow down time.  You can now use the
Time Shift ability!  Press the RB button to activate time shift.  You can now
mark monsters for encounters, then hit RT to launch a battle -- your time shift
must be activate for the battle to include marked monsters.  They do not need
to be in encounter range, though.  Another good thing about this (potentially)
is that it also makes monsters "Vehement" towards Rush.  They will follow you
where ever.  This will allow you to create massive chains!  However, don't do
stupid stuff.  If you wanna try a large battle link, be SURE to save your game
first.
If you head straight from the entrance, there will be a few battles to play
with, and a treasure chest.  Heading left from the entrance will take you up a
slope, and around to a bridge.  Cross the bridge, there will be a teleporter
before you.  In MOST cases, the Teleporter is your cue to save it.  To the left
will be a boss fight.  A fairly easy boss, at that.  Take note to what he looks
like -- this kind of monster will not attack you until you attack it, so take
advantage of that.  Take out the minions, then fight the boss.
====
9.06 Athlum: With Added Powers!
====
Now you're back in Athlum.  You gain access to the union board, and can have 3
units (and 3 leaders) in battle, amongst two unions.  Go to the guild and hire
people, then I'd suggest making one union of those 3 leaders (Rush + two
others.)  The Guild is called Union of the Golden Chalice -- it is behind the
pub in Virtus Parish.
The Guild also gives you Guild Quests, which are automatically added.  These
quests provide a special item, called Blueprints.  The Union of the Golden
Chalice will give you Blue Print 1.  You use these for high level item creation.
Some quests will also give you "Weekly" items, which allow monsters of that
type to drop rarer loot.  And finally, some quests (generally Rare Monster
Slaying) will give you new union formations!  Spawning rare monsters is a REAL
pain in the ass, as I've personally tried to spawn the Dominator like 100
times and never succeeded.  Sometimes you'll luck out and they'll be there on
your first run through of the base (to see if it is a rare monster, push right
or left on the D-Pad and it'll move a cursor over the monster.  Normal mobs
have their name in White.  Rare monsters have their name in Green.  Ultimate
monsters have their names in Red.)  Guild quests also provide money and gears,
so if you can do them, do them.  There is a rare components FAQ up on this
website, so, head over to it and search for the items you need and it'll show
you what drops it or where you can dig it!  Be sure to check the guild tasks.
You've probably completed a few.
Now, head to the pub, and there will be a woman with a "...!"  This is
technically a side quests -- however, you have to do it to progress with the
game.  This sidequest is loleasy, so just get it over with, and you'll
automatically return to the pub.  You get rewarded.  Talk to the bartender and
he'll tell you about Celapaleis.  Call up the World Map (press Back twice) and
Celapaleis will appear.  Additionally, you can go back to Dillmoor.  There was
a treasure chest behind where you fought the boss, so you may as well go grab
it.
====
9.07 Celapaleis
====
Firstly, you will want to talk to the forger to your right.  You will see a
small scene, then go ahead and check out the shops if you need anything new.
Talk to the craftsman again and he'll tell you he needs some Light Metal.
From here, call the city map up and go to the Lamberro District, and go to the
pub.  You will recieve a quest here that is important!
Look for the person with the "...!" and take his quest and take Mr. Diggs with
you.  Now, you will be ported to Gaslin Caves.  To dig, find a spot with a bit
of a shine to it, generally with a "!" over it, then check it with A.
Mr. Diggs will come out and dig the spot, and you will get items (or sometimes
you won't.)
After the first dig point, you will be warped back to Celapaleis and the quest
will be done.  A soldier with a "...!" will be in the pub to tell you that
you've been summoned by Lord David.
Before that, go ahead and check out the Apprentice Craftsman.  You can now have
them forge items!  The items you need are generally kind of a pain to find,
though, and most forging takes place in the second disk sadly, but you can still
do a fair bit of upgrading or creating in the first disk, so feel free to do so.
Also, a guild quest that tells you to get "2x Commemorative Medals" requires
you to Dissasemble 2x Broadswords to get the medals.
====
9.08 Athlum - David's Summon
====
A soldier in the Athlum pub will tell you that Lord David has summoned you.
Go ahead and talk to him when you're ready, you'll get guests, make sure you
have hired some help by now, then call up the World Map.  You now have access
to Blackdale.
Save it.
====
9.09 Blackdale
====
Go into blackdale, a scene will play, then you will fight the boss Jager.
He's a fairly easy boss, but there will be a fair number of reinforcements, so
if you feel threatened, take out Jager immediately.  Boss fights generally end
when all the unions with -???- are killed (all of the bosses.)
Now you can explore blackdale.  To the right will be a big rock, which will be
gone later (and you will be able to access a fairly difficult area if you are
a low battle rank.)  So go left.  Your goal here is to go to the bottom of
blackdale, so likely going anywhere else will provide treasure chests or
digging points.  Do note that some digging points are not always present!
Rare monsters will cause different dig spots to spawn, so you may need to
check back multiple times to dig up everything.  Continue downward, branches
off to the side whereever you wish.  Make sure to save your progress before
entering new areas!
At the very bottom of blackdale will be a boss battle.  This boss is still
pretty easy, but make sure to save it, and if needed, gain a few battle ranks.
Do note the Fiery Idol has some AoE attacks, so if you swarm him with all your
unions, he will damage all of them, which can be troublesome.  But still, this
boss is fairly easy, so just kill the minions, and refrain from
multi-deadlocking the Idol until the end.  You'll return to Athlum.
====
9.10 Athlum - Summon to the Congress
====
In Athlum, you will see a soldier with a "...!" over their head.  Talk to them
to recieve a summon to Lord David.  Go to Athlum Castle, and talk to him.  You
will now be heading to Elysion.  Now you will recieve a boost to your unions!
9 People in Battle, with 4 Generals.  I personally used 2 unions, one of 5 and
one of 4, obviously.  You can hire Athlum Soldiers in Town Square at the
recruiter, so talk to him.
Also, a note: Athlum Generals are honestly some of the best generals you will
get in the game.  Torgal is my favorite, he gets TONS of HP and is the first
general to max out on STR.  For end game content he also gets -really- powerful
weapons really easily, and access to his special skills Cerulian Rain.  I'd use
Torgal and David throughout the game, Pagus is really good support as well,
along with Emma, however, I chose not to use Emma.
==== Spoiler Alert ====
Since you will probably see this even if you try your best to skip over it, I
shall leetly code this spoiler.
NGDEKJHMUIOMHHQA  FEQDHJEIKJSELMKS.
Read each forth letter to decode this spoiler.  Sadly I had foreknowledge of
this and this is why I did not use the general.
==== End Alert ====
====
9.11 Ivory Peaks
====
This map is really straightforward (literally.)  Just scout out the sides for
some treasure chests and some fights.  Nothing here is particularly challenging
to fight, so just continue through the field, fight all of the battles, and
find the chests, you will reach the end fairly quickly.
To go through this map directly, just walk straight.  You can go down into the
chasm for some digs and chests and battles, and to see a Remnant on the wall.
Watch out for the Royal Guard monster.  It looks just like a Rosefly, but has
close to 10k HP and uses Pinprick, which either deals heavy damage or instantly
kills whoever it hits.
====
9.12 Elysion
====
Check around town for a bit, then head up to the Assembly Plaza to get to the
Academy.  In the academy you will see a woman with a "...!" at the front desk.
She will tell you your parents are stuck in the Sacred Lands.  You can talk to
people in here, there will be one person that will give you Academy Visistones,
key items that tell a story.  I will include the entire story later on.
Go to Tula Street for more cutscenes.  Then, go back to the Plaza, and head up
to the Ark Gate.  Talk to the lady with the "...!" and trigger more scenes.
You will now be in the Sacred Lands.  This area is linear, no battles or
anything, so just walk through it.  Check the devices to open stuff up.  Walk
through a massive door for a cutscene.
Now, back in Elysion, head to the Genaade District, into the Temple of Elysion,
and talk to the person guarding the door.  He will let you into the Catacombs.
He will have a "...!" over his head to indicate you need to talk to him.
====
9.13 The Catacombs
====
Save it.  The difficulty jumps at this point in the game.  Normal mobs will
have more AoE attacks, and will black out people fairly often!  Make sure you
have people with Restore or Restorative Herb in each union!
First, head straight through the doors.  Go to the Eastern door and open it to
get to a new area.  Follow down, and eventually you will go through a door and
the doors will slam shut!  You will be trapped.  You have to kill all the
monsters in here to proceed.  Fairly easy task.  Just timeshift engage them
and wipe them out.
Continue onward, you'll soon come to an T-Intersection.  To your right, there
will be a foggy area; this fog makes you walk slow.   VERY annoying as monsters
are -not- hindered by this, so they can easily ambush you.  Continue onward.
You will come to another room where one door shuts and another opens.
You will see a quisti, and two moth monsters called Nymphalidae.
Save it.
These moth monsters are actually really difficult.  They have lots of AoE
attacks.  I suggest you timeshift, and tag one monster, run back, and launch a
battle.  Do this for all three monsters.  If you're feeling kinda risque, or
you're a fairly high rank, go ahead and chain them.
Continue onward, and soon you will get the map for the area.  Use your map to
see where you need to go, and to see parts that trail off the main path to see
where potential treasure chests and digging points will be.  You will head into
a central room (other paths will take you to treasure so be sure to check them
out!) You end up in a massive fog area with some monsters that can run fairly
quick, so be sure to launch battles when needed.  Keep going on, through a set
of doors, continue down the path, and you will hit a room with a transporter:
you know what this means by now.  You will soon see a door being guarded by
four Albic Qsiti's.  Make sure you have saved it, then engage them in battle.
This can be a fairly difficult fight depending on the actions the enemies take.
More cutscenes through the door.  Aww, Rush is so cute with his family ties
and such.
====
9.14 Emma
====
You'll be back in Elysion.  Go talk to Emma with the "...!" over her head.  She
wishes to go with you (only you) to the Numor Mines.  You will be taken there
automagically.  Now you have only Rush and Emma.  I chose to split them into
two unions so I could end battles quicker.  The monsters here will be
significantly weakened, and will probably die in one skill/magic.
This dungeon is, to no surprise, straightforward.  Go straight.  On the right
will be an elevator, go check the handle, then operate the elevator.  You have
to hold Up or Down on the analog stick.  Sometimes the elevator will stop
moving, so just release the analog and push it again.  Once you hit the bottom
of this area you can turn right to get some stuff, then go back left to
continue on with the stage.  Continue on the main path until you hit another
elevator, which takes you to the Undeveloped Zone.  You'll find another
elevator in this area.  It will stop at multiple locations, so jump off and
get whatever is there, then go back to the elevator and continue downward.  If
one of the flying Dagon's gets onto the lift, you will be forced to engage
them.  You can avoid this by being careful, but it's not really worth the
effort.
At the bottom, continue on the path, some of the side paths will contain dig
points, and a treasure chest.  At the very end of the path will be a teleporter,
so yeah.
Save it.
You may wish to combine Emma and Rush into one union for this fight.  So long
as one attacks and one heals you'll be fine.  I kept them seperate and had
Emma constantly heal Rush while he fought the boss.
Enter the door, and you will see a scene, then be in a boss fight.
Namul Niram is a fairly easy boss.  Just pound on it and make sure not to die,
is all.  Omni Strike whenever you can.
More scenes ensue, then you will go back to Athlum for more scenes!  You
recieve an upgrade to 12 people per battle, 5 leaders.  Go ahead to the
recruiter and recruit more people.  At this point I used three unions of four,
one union only having a single leader.
====
9.15 Heroic Ramparts: To Nagapur!
====
Call up your world map and the new area Heroic Ramparts will become available.
If you so wish, when you enter, go left, up through the gate at the far left,
then continue left.  You will return to the World Map and now Ghor will be
accessible.  If not, just continue upward through the gate.  To the left will
be a chest, then look for the other gate, and go to it.  Look around for any
dig points, and make sure to check around the gates for dig points and treasure
chests.  Through the second gate will be a number of Jhana's.  They're pretty
easy, but they do have access to more magics now.  Continue onward past the
gate, search around, then head straight to the world map.  Nagapur will now be
unlocked.
====
9.16 Nagapur
====
You'll start out in Flussbahn.  Walk down to the docks and talk to the boater
with a "...!" over his head.  Scenes, then you will need to go gather
information.  You don't seem to actually need to do this, but yeah.
Call up the city map and check out both new areas, talk to Emma and Pagus when
you see them there, tell them you've heard everything.  Then you will need to
go back to Sudenalm, you will see a person named Oswald with a "...!" over his
head.  Talk to him.  Go back to Flussbahn.  You'll see a cutscene.  Now you
must return to Athlum.  Emma will leave your party, so reorganize if needed.
====
9.17 Nest of Eagles
====
Ok.  So, on the world map you will now have access to the Nest of Eagles, where
you will fight the conquerers army.  God, this battle can be HARD if you have
not been keeping up with sidequests!  Make SURE you have at least 2 people with
the Item Skill Vivification Herb!  This resurrects parties/members.  You will
fight two bosses here, Castanea and Roeas.
Castanea is a big threat.  His HP towers over 20k, he has Hammerspin, Kilohit,
and Catapult -- ALL OF THEM ARE AoE ATTACKS!  Catapult he can only use while
Roeas is still in battle, but, note, once you kill one of them, the other one
will cast a move called Overdrive -- this is a DANGEROUS skill.  It allows the
caster to take FIVE actions in one turn, usually meaning certain death for
whoever attacks the person.  If you're lucky, you will get to use the Gae Bolg,
which will help tremendously, however, they will recieve reinforcements, which
can be excessively annoying.
I suggest taking Castanea down first.  If you kill Roeas and Castanea uses
overdrive, it is very likely he will wipe you in a single turn by spamming
kilohit and hammerspin!  Do NOT multideadlock EITHER of them when they
overdrive at ALL costs!  Try to use area or magic attacks from afar, keep
healing, ANYTHING to keep as few units as possible deadlocked.  I personally
beat this battle on my first try (I was like battle rank 50 lol, I did every
sidequests, I did massive battle chaining, etc etc.) but my brothers who also
played this game were a lower battle rank and they got squished by Castanea, so
be extra careful!
Roeas doesn't multideadlock, so preferably, take Castanea out ASAP, then fight
Roeas.  One thing you can abuse here is if a unit dies while in deadlock, the
next unit will not be struck back (unless the boss is in multideadlock) which
can be very helpful if you decoy with the guest union!
After this battle, you will see a very badass cutscene.  I watched this like 5
times!
You recieve an upgrade!  15 people in battle, 6 leaders!  Do note that 6 is the
max amount of leaders you get!  I did 2x leader + 3 Soldiers per union.  You
may want to try 4 or 5 unions if you like chaining battles to prevent
flank/rear attacks.  You also recieve a new leader.  I suggest using her, she
gets a Remnant, and she has the skill "Hundred Flowers" which is very very
strong!
====
9.18 Return to Nagapur
====
At this point in the game, you will be going back to Nagapur.  Go back to where
you talked to Oswald, and you will see a set of stairs with the gate opened.
Emmy will be at the entrance.  Go down, talk to David, and you will enter the
Aquaducts.
====
9.19 The Aquaducts
====
There is a difficultly jump here as well, so I suggest you be sure to have
gained some levels and finished off lots of quests.  The aquaducts is a fairly
simple base to get through, you walk a fairly straight path, and whenever you
see a switch, check the switch, and continue walking.  This consists of two
areas: the first area where you will be going over the high ground, then the
second area where you will mainly walk through the bottom.
When you first enter, make sure to save it and make sure you stocked up on
Vivification and Restorative Herb components.  Walk along the path, and check
the device.  It'll move a platform to you.  Cross it, and walk down.  You can
take a left here to get some treasure.  Continue on the straight bath and you
will see some Barbossa.  These are fairly difficult, they have Hammerspin, and
can multideadlock!  They also use bomb items, which in my opinion are SEVERELY
overpowered.  Bombs generally wipe out a union.  Go down the path, there will
be another platform to call, go across it.  You can also take another left so
that you can get some treasure and some dig points.  If you continue down, you
will reach the second area of the base.
This area is really straightforward.  Go, climb down the ladder, walk down,
then climb up the other ladder.  If you go straight you will fight a hydra
guarding a treasure chest.  If you go left you will continue on.  There will
be another ladder -- don't go down it yet.  Go to the left again and check the
device to move the platform.  Then, climb down, and go through a long
passageway.  If you stay at the bottom, you will eventually get to the final
area of the map.  You can climb up some of the ladders to get treasure.
Once you reach the third area, there will be two crabs you can fight, then a
ladder.  Climb up this and check the treasure chest to recieve the Defender, a
really really good two-handed sword.  Save your game, and continue down.
You will see two large doors.  Enter them to initiate some scenes, and then a
boss battle.
In this battle you will fight a number of Harpylia.  They're not too
challenging, but they do have the skill "Blaster," which is a real pain in the
ass.  It can instant KO a unit, paralyze, poison, and silence a union, and deal
massive damage.  I don't think it can actually KILL a union, however, it can
do a lot of damage.  Just engage each union with a union of your own, and pound
on them.  If you use 4 or 5 unions, have one stay back and heal the others.
This battle shouldn't be too hard to get through.
Some scenes will ensue, then you will be plunged into another battle.  This
battle... well, this is probably one of the hardest fights in the game.
Seriously.  This boss is freaking annoying, and has LOADS of HP.
The boss fight against Hell's Gate will probably take more than one attempt,
and you have no chance to save after the previous battle, making it
additionally annoying.  I found Cup of Celapaleis and the Cascade formations
to be very useful in these battles!
When the fight starts, there will be a number of Hypno's.  Engage them.  Rush's
union will be unable to do anything for two turns.  He will try to use
omnistrike, but fail.  The next turn, he will do something veeery nice...
Once you summon the Cyclops, you will have control over Rush again.  Be sure to
wipe out all the Hypno's before even touching Hell's Gate -- he'll idle until
he's either attacked or until all the Hypno's die.  Preferably, let the Cyclops
Deadlock him first -- do note, Hell's Gate can multideadlock.  Do your best to
keep very few unions engaged with him.  If you get the Option "Wait for a
chance!" USE IT.  This will allow a union to Flank him so long as ONE union is
Deadlocked with him.
Hell's Gate has a few moves:
Hellfire -- an AoE attack that will hit unions directly surrounding himself.
This can deal a good bit of damage.
Blue Blazes -- his normal attack.  This hits everyone in a union, so naturally
Cyclops will take low damage, but full unions will take high damage.
Pandemonium -- this skill is horrible.  He will Enthrall your unions.  This is
a new status effect -- it's kind of like confusion, only worse.  The unions
will automatically attack the nearest party member, and will most likely kill
them, easily.  What you do when this happens is a command called "Save them
even if it kills them!" you will approach them, kill them, then resurrect
them.  This is why you need max Vivification Herb components.
Grenade Impact -- A union attack that pretty much spells instant death.