Gamer Corner Guides

Back in Narshe

With all three scenarios complete, a long cutscene will begin. The party will be united, and you'll find yourself in control of Terra in a snowy labyrinth. Your other six Characters stand to the south; speak to them to swap them with your current character. In this way, you can (and should) update everyone's equipment and Relics. Don't forget to use the save point before committing to anything. When you're ready, tell Banon you're prepared to begin a multi-party fight similar to the one you fought with Locke and the Moogles earlier in the game.

Once you're ready, you'll be given an optional tutorial, then you'll need to arrange your seven Characters into three groups. You have a lot of leeway here. You can make one full-size group and concentrate on that, trying to end the scenario quickly; you could make two three-person groups and leave one character hanging; or you can split the party as evenly as possible (3:2:2). I'd recommend either the first or last option, but they can all work. (You can leave characters out entirely if you want, but you must create three parties.)

Your characters each have different strengths in this scenario. Edgar's Bio Blaster is effective for clearing out enemies, and Terra's Fire spell works well on support dogs. Celes's offensive magic is not terribly effective here, but Runic is very useful against Kefka and the Cure spell will save on healing items. I'd recommend splitting up Terra and Celes to maximize your healing.

You'll be fighting 11 advancing imperial soldiers, each of which will respawn once when initially defeated. There are also two different bosses, for a possibility of up to 24 (!) battles to be fought here. Six of the advancing soldiers are green, while the other five are brown. The brown soldier patrolling in front of Kefka represents the first boss, the Rider. If you reach and defeat Kefka himself, the scenario ends. If any of the soldiers reach Banon, it's game over.

Every soldier encounter will involve at least one Trooper, basic enemies without any particular strengths or weaknesses. They can counter basic Fight commands with a double-damage Swing, so take them out with special abilities or spells. Edgar's Bio Blaster is particularly effective due to their vulnerability to Poison. Green soldier battles occasionally include a Bounty Man. These are tougher than Troopers but take more damage from physical attacks. They will flee if both Troopers encountered with them are defeated first.

The brown soldiers have more dangerous support units. In most cases this means a Fidor. Like Bounty Men, they are more susceptible to physical damage than magic damage. However, you don't want to leave them alone, as it will cause them to use their powerful Pounce attack exclusively. Finally, you will sometimes see a HeavyArmor, which you may recognize from Locke's scenario. They are vulnerable to magic, but will put up Reflect with TekBarrier if Celes is in battle with them. Magical special attacks like AuraBolt can't be Reflected and can be very useful in these fights. Also note that if you have a four-person party, HeavyArmors will use Missile in addition to their other attacks.

Because there are so many enemies on the field, this scenario quickly becomes a test of endurance. Terra and Celes are invaluable due to their Cure spells. Tonics and Potions will have to suffice for parties without a healer. Make sure to heal up between fights. Given enough time, or an aggressive assault, you'll eventually reach the Rider.

The Rider is vulnerable to Terra's Fire spell and Edgar's Bio Blaster, but otherwise has strong defenses and 1,300 HP. His normal attacks are powerful and he can use SilverPike, a nasty triple-damage attack, on the first turn. He can use Virite to Poison the whole party on the fourth turn, and he'll repeat this sequence every four turns. He also has two counterattacks to be aware of: he'll counter Fight by sometimes using R.Polarity to reverse the rows of your party members, and he'll counter Steal with SilverPike. It's worth Stealing anyway if you have Locke on hand, as he carries a nice Mithril Vest. He won't counter Suplex, which is very effective in this fight. Once the Rider is defeated, you can heal up or even switch parties for the final fight. If you lose, the defeated party will respawn back at the save point with 1 HP per character.

Kefka

Kefka uses a lot of magic, cycling between three sets of spells. First, he'll either use Poison or a basic attack. This will be a long fight due to Kefka's 3,000 HP, so be sure to cure Poison. He'll follow up with a basic attack, Bolt, or Ice 2. Ice 2 is his most damaging spell. Finally, he'll choose between Muddle, Drain, and Ice. Muddle can cause problems for your party, especially if it has few members. Drain can deal a lot of damage while undoing some of your hard work. On the whole, you're hoping to see Ice.

The good news is Kefka is susceptible to physical damage. Hit him hard with attacks like Pummel, Dispatch, AutoCrossbow, and basic attacks. If Celes is in the party, she can use Runic to counter most of Kefka's attacks, but keep in mind she can also absorb Terra's spells (including Cure). Without Celes, you're basically in a damage race with Kefka. Kefka is immune to most status effects, but he has a vulnerability to Stop that Gau may be able to take advantage of, depending on what Rages you have available. Locke can steal a valuable Ether, and you'll earn a Peace Ring when you are victorious.

Aftermath in Narshe

Once Kefka is defeated, a cutscene will begin. It will end with Terra gone, and you needing to choose up to four of the remaining Characters to create a party. See the next page for more details about party composition. You will also finally have the ability to fully explore Narshe. Grab the Elixir in the clock before you leave the Arvis's House if you didn't earlier. There are a number of new treasures to find as well as any you may have skipped earlier in the game. Note that if you want to change party members for any reason, you can return here to do so.

The Old Man's House south of Arvis's House holds a bunch of treasure, and the owner tells you to take it. You'll find 5,000 GP, Earrings, a ThiefKnife, a Wall Ring, a Sneak Ring, a Hyper Wrist, and a locked chest you can't open. If you head over to the Elder's House (take the stairs west of the Relic Shop) you can find another Elixir in his clock.

If you're too cheap to pay 200 GP for the inn, you can rest for free in the back room of the Weapons Shop. Narshe's shops contain mostly familiar items, but there are a number of new ones worth looking at. The Armor Shop has Silk Robes available, in case you didn't buy one for Celes in Nikeah. They also sell Mithril Shlds, the best purchaseable shield in the game for most characters. From here on out, everyone with a shield should be using at least a Mithril Shld.

The Weapons Shop has two new items and is the first place you can buy an Air Lancet, though the ThiefKnife you can find in town is a better weapon for Locke. The Flail is an interesting weapon for Celes. It's a significant damage upgrade over the RegalCutlass and deals full damage from the back row, but prevents her from using Runic. The Full Moon presents a similar conundrum for Locke: it's more powerful than the ThiefKnife and deals full damage from the back row, but it lacks the ThiefKnife's +3 bonus to Speed and +10 MBlock%, not to mention its ability to randomly steal items from Monsters it hits.

There are no truly new Relics available at the Relic Shop, though the Barrier Ring and MithrilGlove are available for sale here for the first time. They are cheap, but generally not that useful. The Item Shop is similarly devoid of anything new, though you may want to restock on healing items after the snowfield battle. Once you're fully stocked, it's time to begin the trek to find Terra.