Semitt Falls is a longer first dungeon than you might expect, with five levels and a dangerous monster at the end (as well as a second guarding treasure). Minwu's powerful spells can keep you alive, though his massively overleveled Cure 7 will drain even his considerable MP total quite quickly. Don't hesitate to Teleport out and return to Salamand if your resources get low.
If you want to maximize the growth of your own characters, you'll learn that FFII makes that a bit tricky. Leveling weapons & shields is simple enough, but leveling up your spells is not. You have very limited MP early on, and even after your maximum MP is upgraded a few times, you won't have enough to consistently cast spells. While using up your MP aggressively is wise when heading towards an inn, in a dungeon it's more prudent to conserve it. You'll need your spells against the two boss monsters on B5, and those fights will allow you to cast multiple spells and increase your chances of gaining maximum MP. Keep in mind you need to spend at least 1/8 of your total MP in a single fight to have even a small chance of it increasing afterwards.
Semitt Falls B1
The top floor of the Semitt Falls introduces an interesting new monster: the Balloon. This is the first Bomb-type monster in the game and indeed the entire series. They frequently use the Self-Destruct ability, which will only take effect if the Balloon has taken damage. If so, it will explode for significant damage, but otherwise it will do nothing. Focusing multiple attacks (or casting Fire or Thunder if you have them) on one Balloon at a time can prevent this.
You'll also see Soldiers grouped with Goblin Guards, resulting in large groups that can all use the Bow 1 ability. Even characters in the back row can take significant damage from these abilities. On the upside, this is likely to lead to increases in maximum HP. Don't hesitate to use Minwu's Life spell if needed.
You'll notice a bright blue object near the entrance to the cave, but this is (surprisingly) irrelevant at the moment and can be ignored. You can explore off the main path to find two chests containing gil. THe latter of these, in the southeast, is filled with a cool 200 gil you can no doubt put to good use. The 10 gil in the northwest corner is considerably less enticing.
Semitt Falls B2
The second floor of the Semitt Falls introduces a few annoying new concepts. First, there Green Slimes, monsters that are virtually immune to physical attacks. While you can damage them with critical hits, this is not a reliable way to defeat them or their many-colored brethren. Each type of slime has one or more elemental weaknesses to exploit. Fire or Blizzard will take Green Slimes out quickly, even if cast on the whole group.
The other new concept is the trap room. At the end of the path on B2, you'll be presented with four doors. One leads to a stairway down to B3, but the other three lead to trap rooms. These are empty rooms you'll find in every dungeon which generally contain the toughest random encounters in that dungeon and a very high encounter rate. Immediately move south towards the door. You'll usually have to fight, but consider yourself lucky if you do not.
Using the provided maps, you can easily avoid every trap room. You may want to enter them anyway to give yourself more chances to advance your characters, but be aware that they are a risk.
The three treasures on B2 are less out of the way than the two on B1. The Eye Drops in the northwest won't be needed until at least the Snow Cavern, but the two Potions are always good to have.
Semitt Falls B3
There are no new enemies to be found on B3, though Green Slimes are more common here. You'll generally find tougher random encounters in larger numbers as you progress through dungeons, and this is no exception.
You'll find a new style of trap room on B3, one where the door is on its own rather than part of a set. While such lone doors are usually traps, they do occasionally lead to treasure, so they are worth investigating. At least, if you don't already know which is which.
The treasures on B3 are disappointing. The chest south of the entrance, despite having a whole room dedicated to it, holds a single measly gil. If you continue past the three doors hiding the room with the prisoners and cross a bridge, you'll find a slightly more impressive 50 gil.
The leftmost door leads to a room where the prisoners are being held. Speak to Paul and they will escape. Continue east to find the stairs to B4.
Semitt Falls B4
The new, and mercifully rare, encounter on B4 is with a pack of Zombies. They lack any defense, but their attacks hit hard. Fire works on them, as does Cure. (This is true of most Undead.) Minwu's Cure 7 can take out an entire pack of them at once. Garlic dropped by Soldiers can also make short work of them.
The lone treasure on B4 is a Fire Tome, which is well worth picking up. Simply continue north past the first bridge. Even if you already learned Fire and don't want to teach it to anyone else, the Fire Tome casts Fire 8 when used as a single-use item, or it can be sold for 200 gil.
The sprawling layout of B4 is mostly empty. When you reach the central island, only the north bridge leads anywhere, and even then it's a long walk to reach the stairs to B5.
| Treasure |
|---|
| 9. Teleport Tome (guarded by Land Turtle) |
Semitt Falls B5
On the lowest floor of the Semitt Falls, you'll find more Zombies and a new rare encounter with multiple Soldiers. At this point, you should have a good handle on how to defeat all the enemy types that may appear, especially if you've been braving the trap rooms.
There are two ways to go on B5, both of which lead to difficult fights. Your actual goal, the Mythril, lies to the north. The western door leads to a room where you'll have to fight a dangerous Sergeant to win your prize. The Sergeant has 25 defense, a number you most likely can't consistently overcome. Unequipping shields and attacking with a single weapon two-handed can help, but you'll likely have to use spells to deal consistent damage. The Sergeant has 140 HP to get through, so make sure you have a lot of MP.
The Sergeant won't take your attack lying down, either. It has two devastating 35-attack attacks and the nasty Bow 3 ability. Minwu's Blink spell can give your characters a chance, but even with 5 extra chances to evade, they'll need a decent evasion % score to benefit fully. Don't even bother casting it on a character with single-digit evasion %. Protect would be helpful, but due to a bug, it only affects Minwu himself. Keeping him alive is useful, but he lacks the offense to win this fight on his own.
The other half of B5 is worth exploring, perhaps even first. After crossing a long bridge, you'll find a trap room and a lone chest. The chest contains a Teleport Tome, but it is guarded by a Land Turtle. The Land Turtle has even higher defense than the Sergeant, and its attacks are nearly as devastating (though it doesn't have a way to hit your back row). The only thing you really have going for you is that it is weak against Ice. Blizzard will make short work of the Land Turtle. If you don't have Blizzard, you can fight the Land Turtle with Fire in a similar manner to how you fought the Sergeant.
Return to Salamand
You are not required to head back to Salamand, but as it's the closest town and you are likely in need of a night at an inn, it's probably where you want to go. You should have considerably more money than before, so buy whatever upgrades you want before starting the trek back to Altair. Keep in mind that delivering the Mythril will make new mythril weapons and armor available, so you may want to save some of your gil to buy those.