Gamer Corner Guides

There are a number of powerful creatures to be found dwelling in the world's rivers. When you first get the Canoe, some of these fights can be rather difficult. Many river monsters are weak to Lightning, but strangely none are of the Aquatic family. In the original NES game, the southern continent had easier encounters than the northern continents, but due to an apparent bug in the Playstation version, rivers everywhere use the tougher encounters. This makes River travel extremely dangerous, though it is also a very good way to earn a lot of experience quickly.

Late in the game when you're supposed to fight these encounters, they are fairly challenging. Fighting them shortly after reaching Crescent Lake for the first time can be downright deadly. Crocodiles are quite common and have vicious attacks. Hydras can do a number on lightly armored characters, but both they and Ochus are fairly weak compared to the other monsters you'll encounter. Piranhas are little threat, but their Red cousins are hard to kill and hit pretty hard. Neochus mercifully only appear alone, but hit ridiculously hard and can nearly one-shot your mages. They are worth the fight, though, yielding little gil but a ridiculous amount of experience. White Crocs are even nastier versions of normal Crocodiles, dealing a bit more damage and soaking up hits with their nearly 300 HP. Don't be ashamed to run from these encounters early in the game, since you're not supposed to be fighting them anyway.