Xenogears/Stalactite Cave

Stalactite Cave
🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴
 * Items
 * 1) Gold Nugget
 * 2) Iron GWhip
 * Enemies
 * Medusa
 * May Fly
 * Nomad Fix Bot
 * Sand Man
 * Tin Robo

Turns out your pirate has a name, Bart, and has now joined your party. This is the first Gear dungeon you'll face, and most of the enemies here are Gear-sized, so if you try to fight them without, they will kill you easily. Head SOUTH until you reach a hole in the wall blocked by a large boulder. The chest to the SOUTH has a (1) Gold Nugget inside, which sells for a lot of money. It will come in handy very soon. Go WEST into the tunnels. Follow the path down.

A note on the Nomad Fix Bots. They do pitiful damage (~5), and have very little HP. That said, they will heal your Gears' HP and fuel if you let them. When you face them, sit and Charge as they slowly restore your HP and fuel. A few psx: t attacks will take care of them when you're healed up.

Once you get to the room with the waterfalls, follow the path until you find the Infobot. After talking to it and finding out about the area, head WEST and follow the path to the ledge you can jump onto. Jump to the farther ledges to get an (2) Iron GWhip, an improved weapon for Brigandier. Head SOUTH into the next room. Save at the save point, then exit your Gears (using psx: r2+psx: l2) and enter the cave nearby.

After meeting Old Man Bal, you can buy Gear parts from him. When upgrading Gears, priority goes in the following order: engines, frames, armor. That is, ALWAYS upgrade the engine first, and get the one with the highest output. The engine is the main determiner of damage, so it's imperative that you always have the best engine available. Then, go for the highest HP frame. Finally, if you have money left, upgrade the armor. Do as much upgrading as you can now; you're going to need the best Gears you can get very soon.

There are two Sand Sensors that need to be deactivated. For the first one, you have to venture back to the beginning part of the cave, but you can't just backtrack since it's on a ledge that you can't reach by jumping. After leaving Old Man Bal's cave, start jumping up ledges to the NORTHEAST and you will find a path that takes you above the rooms you were in before. Follow it around and head WEST to find the first sensor. Drop down from here and head SOUTH, through the lower path again, and find the Infobot. Head WEST again to where you found the Iron GWhip earlier, and you'll find the sensor on the middle platform.

Head back to Old Man Bal's place and he'll open the sand barrier for you. Upgrade your Gears if you need to. Head SOUTHWEST through the barrier, then approach the gondola on the EAST side. Exit your Gears and take it up. Turn on the generator and go back to your Gears. Take the elevator down and go SOUTH, climbing the wall, until you reach the save point. Save here and take the elevator down. Boss time!

Head SOUTH and leave this dungeon.