Gamer Corner Guides

The castle Pandaemonium has arisen in place of Castle Palamecia, along with the resurrected Emperor. The people in Castle Fynn mention that you cannot enter Pandaemonium directly. Hilda will teach you about the [Jade Passage], and direct you to Mysidia to learn more. Leila reveals the actual location of the Jade Passage, near the strait east of Mysidia. (Gordon mentions that is is near Kashuan Keep, though "near" is somewhat of a stretch.) If you visit the library in Mysidia as Hilda suggests, you'll learn some more context about the Jade Passage and Pandaemonium, but at this point all you need to do is enter it and defeat the Emperor. This is easier said than done, of course.

Jade Passage B1

While the Jade Passage only has six floors to delve, you'll reach Pandaemonium at the end of it, adding 10 more floors to your trek. This is by far the longest dungeon sequence in the game, but you have a few things working in your favor. A lot of your exploration time will be spent finding treasure, so return trips should be considerably faster. If you Teleport out, you can immediately ride the airship to any town in the game to rest up. Don't hesitate to end a run and start a new one. You'll be building up stats as well as equipment as you do so.

The monsters on B1 are similar to those outside, but it's unlikely you've faced those unless you went out of your way. Hecteyes, Salamanders, and Great Malboros all appear regularly in groups. The fourth common encounter is with a White Dragon just like the one that was guarding the Black Robe in the Mysidian Tower. While not technically a common encounter, you'll see Abyss Worms as frequently as the other monsters listed here, sometimes accompanied by Great Malboros.

What all these encounters have in common is monsters with a lot of HP (over 1,000 in each case). Hecteyes are spellcasters that resist every element and can devastate your MP with Osmose 10 or turn your characters against one another with Confuse 16. Salamanders are similarly tough foes, but with an exploitable weakness to Ice. Their Blaze 16 ability will make you thankful for Fire resistance. Abyss Worms are somewhat similar in that they have a nasty Cyclone 13 attack, though you cannot resist that. They also have no elemental weakness, so stick to non-elemental spells and physical attacks. Great Malboros are the most like the later games' Malboros. While they don't use Bad Breath (we'll get to that), their attacks inflict every temporary status ailment at once and can wreak havoc on front-line fighters with insufficient evasion. They have no resistances, so use your best attacks to take them out before they cause problems. White Dragons take a while to kill due to their 120 defense and 2,500 HP, and Icestorm 16 is no joke. Hit them with Fire or even a Blood Sword.

The most dangerous monsters on B1 are fairly rare, but you'll see more of them as you descend. These are the Chimera Sphinxes, upgraded versions of the Rhyos. They also use Blaze and Bad Breath, but at levels 16 and 10 rather than 7 and 6. Anyone without resistance to Matter (granted by the Black Garb and White Robe) is very likely to be turned to Stone by Bad Breath 10. Their other attacks aren't too threatening (and Dispel doesn't do anything at all), and fortunately they lack resistances or high defense. Even their magic defense is low, so status ailment or KO spells are a strong option. The rarest encounter on B1 combines Mega Parasites and Ice Lizards. The former can cause problems with Osmose 10, but overall this is one of the less dangerous encounters on the floor.

The first floor layout is pretty simple, and you'll notice this dungeon sports a very unique look for a final dungeon. It's bright and downright tropical. There are three doors on the floor, all in the eastern half. The northern and middle doors lead to trap rooms, while the door in the southeast corner leads to B2. You can find the Diamond Mace, the most powerful staff in the game, by following the northern branch of the water. There is a Hellfire stashed in the southwestern corner of the floor, which you can collect without going too far out of your way toward the stairs down.

Jade Passage B2

B2 contains a lot more Abyss Worms than B1, but no more Hecteyes. Once again, the rarest encounter is one of the lesser ones. In this case it is a combination of Great Malboros, Ice Lizards, and Pit Fiends. This eclectic group has a large variety of attacks at its disposal, but not much that's a threat to do serious damage.

Once again, the stairs are hidden behind a door, and all the other doors lead to trap rooms. In this case, there are five doors scattered along the floor. The layout is a sinuous path, and the correct door is predictably the one at the very end of it. The first two chests just off the path contain a Hellfire and an Antarctic Wind. The third chest, in the southwest corner of the central watery area, is guarded by a Blue Dragon. Your prize is the most powerful knife in the game, the Cat Claws. The Blue Dragon is similar to previous Dragons, with a weakness to Scourge. Thunderbolt 16 deals moderate damage, but with 3,500 HP and 150 defense, the Blue Dragon will have plenty of opportunities to use it.

Jade Passage B3

You get a break from White Dragons on B3, but now you'll be fighting Abyss Worms almost 40% of the time. The rare encounter is an combination of Killer Mantises and Vampire Ladies. The Vampire Ladies can cause problems with Charm 9 (which fortunately targets a single character) and Sleep 16, but the Killer Mantises should be a pushover by now.

B3 represents the first real departure in floor layout for the Jade Passage. You'll follow a narrow path across several tiers, winding back and forth across a waterfall. The waterfall tiles are damage tiles, which give a welcome reprieve from random encounters. You'll pass three doors on your descent, all of which are trap rooms. You'll also note a guarded chest on a plateau that contains the Rune Axe, the best axe in the game. Like the Cat Claws, it is effective against the Magic family. Leon can make good use of it with his starting axe skill. To earn it, you'll need to fight a King Behemoth. This fight is manageable if you get Blink up early, because its 8 attacks are powerful but it has no other means of offense. It does have 120 defense to go with its 5,000 HP, but if you don't want to deal with that you can roll the dice on its highly volatile magic defense and try a KO spell like Toad.

The bottom tier of B3 is where things get extra tricky. While you can walk around the bottom of the waterfall, you can actually walk under it to find a secret Spell Shop. This shop sells Berserk and Haste, which until this point were only obtainable as drops, and you can also buy extra copies of Flare if you need them. The stairs to B4 are behind the eastern door.

Jade Passage B4

The bad news among common random encounters continues to grow on B4. Salamanders will no longer appear, but Chimera Sphinxes are now a common encounter instead. The rare encounter is with a powerful Green Dragon. The good news is that there's a lot of good treasure to find on B4, including a whole treasure room.

B4 has a wide open layout reminiscent of B1. There are two chests to find. The one in the middle area contains a Betrayal Fang, while the Yoichi's Bow in the northeast corner is guarded by the fourth and final type of Dragon, the Red Dragon. Fortunately, Blaze 16 is no more threatening than the Blue Dragon's Thunderbolt 16.

The door in the middle of the floor leads to a trap room, but the northern door hides the Jade Passage's only treasure room. Inside, you'll find the Aegis Shield, Dragon Armor, and Holy Lance. The Aegis Shield has the highest evasion % bonus of any shield, and resists the four status ailment elements. The Dragon Armor complements it nicely, offering resistance to the four damage elements. The Holy Lance is the best polearm in the game. It is effective against Dragons, but don't use it as an item as it will break after casting Holy 8.

Jade Passage B5

You must be getting deep, as the tileset has changed from a flooded tropical cave to a narrow path over a yawning abyss. The monsters here are arguably easier than those above. Large groups of Great Malboros will no longer appear, and the new random encounter combines Chimera Sphinxes with the far less dangerous Scissorjaws. Of course, you'll also be dealing with more Green Dragons on this floor, so the news is not all good.

The winding path is simple to navigate, and you'll find three treasures as you traverse it. The one door in the middle of the floor predictably leads to a trap room, while the one at the end leads to B6. In order, the chests contain an Hi-Potion, a Protect Ring, and a second Hi-Potion. Protect Rings are fantastic rear-row hand armor, offering a lot of defense and magic defense without a magic penalty. They offer resistance to Death, though this is almost entirely irrelevant in actual practice.

Jade Passage B6

As you near the end of the abyss part of the Jade Passage, it may seem odd that Abyss Worms finally decrease in their appearance rate. Hecteyes appear alongside them in the new rare encounter, but there's not much new to worry about here, except for the increasingly common Green Dragon. Once again, this is a very linear floor, though unlike B5, you'll find no treasure here. What you will find is a teleporter to Pandaemonium 1F. Just walk into the center of the final plateau to activate it. Note that if you return to this floor with the Warp spell, you will immediately re-trigger the teleporter and return to Pandaemonium 1F. You'll need a level 2+ Warp or Teleport to return to the surface once you pass through.