The MagiTek Factory

The MagiTek Factory is divided into to main areas, North and South. Both feature the same enemies you may have fought in Vector. All of these enemies have the same weaknesses: Magic in general, and Thunder in specific. (All but ProtoArmors are also vulnerable to Water.) More importantly, all are highly resistant to physical damage. That is the theme of this dungeon: you've gained the ability to learn and use Magic, and now it's time to put those skills to use. However, other magic attacks such as Sabin's AuraBolt and Fire Dance, Cyan's Retort, Edgar's Bio Blaster and Flash, and any number of Gau's Rage Abilities, are equally useful. Physical attacks that ignore Defense also work well here. None of these attacks use MP, and may be favored for that reason.

The encounters differ slightly in each part of the MagiTek Factory. In the North area, you'll find Garms with Commandos and ProtoArmors with Pipsqueaks. The North splits up the ProtoArmors and Pipsqueaks into their own groups, including an Encounter with five of the latter at once.

Treasure Hunting

There are a lot of very nice Treasures to be found here, including a trio of Elemental swords and some nice Relics. You can find the Flame Sabre, which offers a bonus to Mag.Pwr, by entering the pipe west of the second staircase leading downward and following the path straight on. You'll be dumped on a conveyor belt near the chest. You can ride the nearby crane back over to the main path. Head east and you'll find a pair of pipes leading south. The right one leads to a platform with a chest containing a Tincture, while the left one leads to a conveyor belt that drops you off on a lower level next to an X-Potion. The pipe to the left of that chest leads to an elevator back to the upper area.

You can hop on the conveyor belt leading east to a platform with the ThunderBlade and a Remedy. The ThunderBlade exploits the weakness of most of the enemies here, but is nonetheless a physical weapon and generally less effective than a simple Bolt Spell. Like the other Elemental swords, it offers a bonus to Mag.Pwr which will empower your magic attacks. That's all the treasure you can find in the area for now, so hop on the conveyor which leads to the South MagiTek Factory.

If you head to the northeast corner of this area, you'll see a number of crates with a pipe off to the right. Walk between the crates to the pipe entrance and follow it south to a secret room containing the Blizzard and the Zephyr Cape. This simple but effective Relic will make the wearer avoid 10% of attacks. The Blizzard is a useful Mag.Pwr boost, especially if you have Edgar in the party along with Locke and Celes. If you follow the pipe further south, you'll (somehow) appear near where you entered the area.

Hop on the eastern conveyor belt to be transported to the lower part of this area. You'll witness Kefka laughing and talking about his maniacal plans before tossing Shiva and Ifrit down another conveyor belt. You'll have to follow them to complete the dungeon, but there are other treasures to find in the mean time. (Note that you can find all of these treasures before encountering Kefka by doing so in reverse order, but then you'll need to backtrack over the whole path because you can't take the elevator back down.)

Take the nearby elevator to the upper platform to the east to start. There's a Tent in a chest to the south. Descend to the lower level and keep an eye out for a door in the southern wall. Enter it from above, then check the top left corner of the small alcove for some Gold Armor. Further along this southern path, you'll find another room in the western corner. The chest here contains a Gold Helmet. From here, head north up the stairs and through the door back to the upper part of the area. You'll find DragoonBoots near stairs to a catwalk. Follow the catwalk north to a door that leads to a Gold Shld. You've now collected all the treasure, so once again return to where you entered this part of the dungeon (northeast from the catwalk stairs) and take the conveyor belt again. Jump on the conveyor Kefka tossed the Espers into to find them.

Ifrit and Shiva

You'll see Ifrit and Shiva standing passively in the Trash Area, with Shiva blocking the eastern door. The western one is open, and leads to a much-needed save point, so I advise heading there first. Speaking to Ifrit will trigger a heavily scripted battle. You can return to the previous floor by using the crane. This room is also filled with Flans. They are individually weak and offer little threat, with the ability to inflict Seizure and Slow alongside their moderate standard attack damage. They are vulnerable to Fire, but take extreme damage from all attack types including physical. The groups of four are nothing special, but a single Flan will be replaced by two, and then three more before battle ends. Their most notable trait is that you can steal Magicite from them if you're lucky. This interesting item summons a random Esper, which is fun but can also kill you if it happens to summon Crusader.

When you're ready, speak to Ifrit. You'll start off fighting him alone. Both opponents have similar battle styles, focusing on their basic Element (Fire for Ifrit and Ice for Shiva), but Ifrit is far more dangerous. His Blaze and Fire 2 are nasty, and if you use Magic on him three times he'll counter with Fire 3. Shiva's Blizzard Ability is much less dangerous than Blaze, and her three-Magic counter action is to cast Rflect on one of your Characters. Both Monsters have tremendous physical defense and the only Element that works on either is the other's, which is their main weakness. Defense-ignoring attacks like the Drill/Chain Saw are very effective here. The monsters will swap every five attacks you make against them. Defeating either one will end the battle, though that means dealing at least 3,000 damage.

Speak to both Espers again after the battle ends, and they will turn into magicite. They are both similar to Ramuh in that they offer access to a new tier-2 attack Spell and a powerful Elemental summon. They teach these powerful spells at ×5 rather than Ramuh's ×2 learning rate, however. Ifrit also teaches Drain (albeit at a ×1 rate) but most importantly is the first Esper with a bonus to Vigor. Shiva offers no level up bonus, but does give access to the MP-affecting Spells Rasp and Osmose. Osmose in particular is useful as it gives a Character a renewable way to regain MP.

Once you've updated your Espers, save and head through the door Shiva was blocking. This stairway leads to the MagiTek Factory proper, and features two new types of Monsters. Generals are standard creatures, resistant to physical damage like most of the other residents of the MagiTek Factory but weak only to Poison. They can inflict Seizure or heal themselves with Cure 2, and sometimes appear alongside Pipsqueaks. Your standard tactics for the area should work fine. Trappers, on the other hand, are a potential threat because of their propensity to use L.5 Doom. This will immediately Wound anyone with a level divisible by 5, so watch out. Magic, particularly Thunder, will destroy them quickly. They always appear in groups of three.

Once you reach the top of the stairs, you'll be in the MagiTek Research Facility.