Ocean
You're now free to explore the wide ocean and its islands and shoreline; use the world map to find your way around. There are random monsters on the ocean unlike the inland sea in the eastern continent. The toughest of these monsters is Corbett; two of these can easily wipe out your party. The monsters on the islands and shoreline vary from place to place and range from extremely easy to shockingly difficult. So if you decide to go exploring be sure to save often and escape when necessary.
If you travel to the edge of the map then you wrap around to the opposite edge in typical vintage video game fashion. This can be a useful shortcut if you want to get from one side of the map to the other.
There are two optional towns you can visit now; it's highly recommended you do so because of items and spell available there. The order given here is arbitrary.
Easterly Village
Land on the northwest corner of the western continent, cross a bridge if necessary to a small island to reach Easterly Village. Talk to the villagers to pick up gossip; some of them mention a waterfall that won't be reachable until later on. There is also some talk about an old man in the forest to the east.
Rest at the inn near the entrance for 30GP. The Item shop next door has the usual inventory; for some reason there is a secret passage to the right of the counter but it doesn't seem to lead to anything interesting. There are no new weapons here; in fact there's no weapon shop at all. So go to the armor shop behind the inn; this offers three very expensive rings. You can't buy on credit so you'll probably have to save up and come back if you want them. There is a man at the end of the room you can tell you what the rings do for you. The Magic shop is across the bridge to the east and has the same Time spells that were in Karnak.
Go to the patch of flowers on the hill northwest of the armor shop. Make a complete loop through the flowers to startle a frog that was sleeping in the middle. The frog leaves the "Toad" spell behind, this is a B. Mage version of the BlueMage spell ToadSong which you may already have.
Finally, cross the bridge to the east and another one behind the magic shop to find the sheep pasture. (One of the sheep here is actually not a sheep. For a bit of fun, see if you can find it.) Go to the west side of the field and locate the ram that's standing still in the corner. Approach from behind and talk to him; this will startle him so much that he kicks you over the fence to a woody area north of the pasture. Talk to the minstrel here, tell him you're trying to save the crystal (of course) and you learn "Love Song". You don't have a Job that can use it yet but that will change soon. Follow the path east to exit town.
Before leaving the area, there is an optional boss here you may want to try taking on. Go to the forest next to the village and starting moving around; do not cross the bridge though. You should get Ramuh here as a random encounter. In fact you can escape from this battle but the music says it's a boss so we'll treat it like one.
| Ramuh |
| Boss level: 21, Recommended party level: 19 |
| HP: 4000, Weaknesses: None, Nullifies: None, Absorbs: None |
| Gold: 0, ABP: 3, Drops: Ramuh |
Preparation: This fills out the trilogy of element based monsters that started with Shiva (Ice) and Ifrit (Fire). Like those two he likes to attack with his favorite element, Bolt. So you need to be prepared to heal damage from Bolt2 which is about similar in strength to Ice2 and Fire2. So a healer with Cure2 and at least one backup healer is needed. Unlike Shiva and Ifrit, Ramuh has no elemental weakness, so a B. Mage isn't too much use here. Instead have a TimeMage for Demi spell and Regen. Have at least one fighter type as well. Tactics: Cast Demi several times early in the battle. If needed, alternate this with Regen to reduce the load on your healers. As usual, make sure everyone stays at nearly full health so you don't lose anyone to the Bolt2 spells Ramuh likes to cast. As with Ifrit, Ramuh also casts spells that damage the entire party, so you'll need to counter with group cures once in a while. Once Ramuh's HP is down to less than 1000, Demi is not effect and it's up to your fighter to finish him off, but if other chances to do damage come up then don't waste them. |
When the battle is over, Ramuh will have a conversation with Ifrit, the meaning of which is somewhat vague. Unlike the Shiva and Ifrit spells, you don't just learn the spell when the battle is over. Instead you get the item Ramuh as a drop and you then have to use it in the character screen (not in battle) to learn the spell.
Jachol Village
Sail to the southeast corner of western continent, then follow a valley east to reach Jachol Village. The villagers speak of Crescent Island, which you'll be visiting soon, and the waterfall near Easterly village, which was already mentioned in Easterly.
Stop and rest at the inn for 30GP. There is a back door to the west that leads to an old woman who mentions Crescent Island. The Item shop has the usual items; go upstairs to find the Pub. There is some gossip here about a cave to the north. You can complete another part of the Pianos subquest here, and talk to the dancer for a bit of fun.
The other shops are to the north. The Weapon shop has new gear, some of which you don't have Jobs to use at the moment. The Armor shop mostly has items that you should have found already as treasure. The Magic shop has the same White spells that were in Karnak.
Jachol Cave
On the way back to the ship you may want to explore the cave to the north. You might think the monsters here are laughably easy at first because they're just the squirrels from the area around the Wind Temple. The catch is that every once in a while a nasty mutant squirrel called SkullEater appears which can kill one of your characters with one attack. So be sure to save before entering the cave and have Flee or Dustb available. SkullEater's HP is only 1, so if you can hurt it at all then you win the battle, but it's defense is very high so even just that is a challenge. SkullEater reacts to any magic used on it by calling a bunch of its friends for help
After you enter, activate the button to the southwest to move the wall out of the way. Once past the wall you need to move it back, but now there are eight buttons that appear and disappear. This alternates between them all flashing on and all off except for one. You need to press the one button, which changes each time, to move the wall and continue.
Crescent
When you enter this island and the city, the first civilian will panic from an earthquake. When you exit the city (and there's not much else you can do now), you will see your ship sink. When you return, Cresent is back to normal. There are a few new weapons and items, which are meant for upcoming jobs.
The bard's house is located in the south-east corner. He can teach you a few songs, such as the "Life Song". You can also use the piano from this location as well.
The Inn also contains a man that mentions the Black Choboco, located in the forst to the south. To catch him, you need to set Butz to use the Thief job, or otherwise give the Dash ability. After catching the Choboco, he will first have trouble flying, but it's discovered that he swallowed two crystal shards. You will now have the Bard and Hunter jobs.
With the Black Choboco, you can head to Lix, Butz's home towm, or return to Cid to continue the main quest. Cid will report they found King Tycoon, who was entering the Quicksand Desert.
Quicksand desert
When you first enter the quicksand desert, you can only get as far as the entrance when the sand pushes you back. If you already spoke to Cid about King Tycoon, he will help attract the sand worm, who will bridge the entrance.
Unlike what Mid gives as advice, the Sandworm can be attacked with Physical attacks or magical (but if you choose magic, retreat after killing it and use a tent.) It only uses a weak attack, but it constantly jumps from hole to hole, and attacking an empty hole will cause a counter attack that halves the health of a target.
Ruined City
There's no monsters in this section, giving some breather time from the difficult quicksand desert.
Approach the stairs in front - when you do, you will spot King Tycoon. He will flee to the east. Give chase, and he will head to the north. To catch up with him, head to the center building just past the stairs. When you approach, a trap door will bring you to an underground area.
After landing, continue left and go through the door. The platform will make a one-way teleport to an underground area beneath Cresent island. When you exit the destination and climb the stairs, head to the south and push the lever at the bottom of the room. This will send you on a short scavenger hunt, where you need to check the plants in the center room, the paper on the right, and the pot in the left room. After reading the book, you can retrieve two Shurkiens and the Size spell.
Return to the stairs, and head north by pushing the lever. Continue along past the Steamship (which you can visit if you want), and to the Airship. It will launch once you speak with Cid inside the ship itself. After it launches, speaking with Cid will alert you to the ship being pulled down: Crayclaw will attack.
Crayclaw is a Level 48 boss with 2000 HP. It first attacks with Tailscrew, which reduces a target a critial HP amount. Tailscrew will fail if the players are between 1-9hp. However, it is vulnerable to thunder, and should not take more than three hits from Bolt2. When it is defeated, the skys are now yours for good.