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This section deals with the initial part of the game. You will do the following tasks, regardless of which path you will be taking after the split.

Contents 1 Before the Split 2 Friends List Created 2.1 Recruitment: Initial Friends List 3 First Missions 3.1 Recruitment: First Missions 4 Jack's Promotion 4.1 Recruitment: Jack's Promotion 5 Large Man in Vancoor Square 5.1 Recruitment: Large Man in Vancoor Square 6 Ridley's Birthday Party 6.1 Recruitment: Ridley's Birthday Party 7 Jack's Choice - Human or Non-Human Path

[edit] Before the Split

At the very beginning of the game, it is mostly cut scenes, with some minimal ability to control Jack. Sit back and enjoy the movie; it will help set up the characters. The next time you play this game, you will recognize most of the characters in the selection tournament.

You can't win the fight with Ridley, so don't bother trying. If you put up enough of a fight, you will see her use her volty command. You will eventually get accepted by the Knights and placed in the Rose Crochon (French for Pink Pig) Squad with Ganz and Ridley.

Later in the game, Ganz and Ridley will at times be able to appear in your party (actually, be required to be in your party), but they won't be in the final battle, so don't bother spending a lot of time leveling either up, or get too attached to how they fight.

When you finally get control again, you will be in your room. Save your game. You don't want to go through all those cut scenes again if something goes wrong.

Your first task is to go to a meeting on the third floor. If you try to wander somewhere else, Jack will remind you. (This is typical throughout the game, when there is a specific task to be done.) Another good habit to get into is to press R1 to look at the map. It will show you where you are (sort of), where any save points might be, as well as a swirl to indicate your destination. If you are in a building or dungeon, you can use the up and down buttons on the directional pad to see the other floors. The map is very handy, but it seems to be a bit off. If you compare your location on the map with your location in the world, there seems to be some differences.

When you get to the meeting room, another set of cut scenes will take over. There is no way to cancel a cut scene, but if you click "X" during a dialog, it will cancel the rest of the dialog. So, if you keep mashing the "X" button, you will reduce the total time a bit.

When all the cut scenes are over, you will get some training from Ganz (if this is the first time you played the game.) Followed by some more cut scenes. (The number of cut scenes gets much less further into the game. Don't get too discouraged at this point.) Eventually you will be starting off on your first mission. You won't be able to explore the castle until you get back.

You will be given some missions to accomplish:

• Escort a Dwarf

This mission will take you to the Dwarf Village in Earth Valley.

This is the first real chance you get to fight and level up. Take your time getting there, fighting everything you can. If you come across some people, you can kick them to duel them.

Once you get to Earth Valley, go to the large gold building, and then save your game. You can spend as much time as you want leveling up at this point, as long as you don't sleep. You should start out by dueling the shop owners. The blacksmiths and miners are much stronger. If you are brave (or already have the Auto Cure Skill), you can wander into the Dwarf Caves and gain some experience. After your first game, this is a great way to level up in the early parts of the game. By equipping the Auto Cure status, you can duel just about anyone. If your HP gets low, then just run around for a while avoiding getting hit until your HP is back up. If you got the Tri-Emblem skill, you probably want to keep that equipped most of the time, and switch to Auto Cure if your HP gets low. You can stretch this mission out indefinitely if you don't sleep or talk to Ridley and Ganz.

Visit the pub to get a solo mission and earn an item. Talk to the bartender, agree to help, visit the bar when it is closed, and go back and talk to the bartender. When asked, be honest. When you get back to the Castle, you can wander around kicking things. Make sure you get the Knight's Edge sword in the locker next to the training room, and the Strength Berry in the sub-basement "Path of the Spider". Sleep to progress the story.

• Deliver a Letter

You will be asked to deliver a letter to the leader of the Light Elves. You will be told to meet with Genius, who is on the way there. Genius will be in your party, but you can't recruit him until much later on the human path.

Talk to Ganz when he is standing near the cellar in the Dark Elf village to get some money. Talk to Chatt, and answer "Rich", "No way!", "Master Chef", and "Veggie Soup".

Most of the elves are magic casters, so when dueling them, keep hitting them so they can't cast their spells. A few fight like monks, so be prepared for a good battle from them. You can't recruit anyone at this point in the game, so don't bother trying.

This is also the mission that causes you to get fired from the Knights and sets up the plot for the split later in the game.

Once you get back from your first mission, you can explore the castle kicking things to find items, but the most important ones are the Knight Edge in the locker near the training area, and the strength berry at the end of "The Path of the Spider" in the sub-basement of the castle. Don't forget to kick everyone in sight so you can level up by dueling people. Even characters you think won't be much of a challenge can be a surprise. If you kick one of the little kids in the castle, they will call some guards to fight you. (See if you can find the ghost.)

At some point after your second mission, when you leave your room you will run into Al, who is acting strange. Follow him west and down the stairs to the next door. (These are the same stairs that lead to the Path of the Spider). Go into the dungeon for a cut scene, you can then leave. Before you progress the game, visit the store room (item shop) to get another solo mission.

When you get strong or bored enough, sleep in your room to progress the game. This is a normal way to progress this game. If it doesn't work, try sleeping again. Some things take several days before they trigger.

The game will progress by Ganz visiting you in your room. Just watch a series of cut scenes and save if you ever see a small blue flag. (This is another good general rule to follow.) The first fight with Jarvis will be very easy (he only has a small percentage of his HP). The fight with Gerald you can't win, so don't worry.

After another series of cut scenes, you will end back at Theater Vancoor and get assigned to a squad led by (you guessed it?) Jarvis. You will have to fight Daniel I'm not sure what happens if you lose this fight, so you might want to make sure you have saved at some point before this. He isn't very strong, and his HP is only around 300, so you shouldn't have any trouble, assuming you did at least some leveling up.

[edit] Friends List Created

The beginning of the recruitment period starts when Clive shows up and writes his name on your Friends List. You can then recruit a number of humans in Radiata City, as well as farmers and some non-humans (e.g., dark elves). The complete list of characters you can recruit at this time are listed below. The earlier you recruit a character and put them in your party, the higher level they will be later in the game. For example, when you first recruit Aidan, he isn't very useful, but as he gains levels, he becomes a decent mage.

You can't start recruiting characters until Clive turns up and writes his name in your Friends List. Clive is recruited automatically, and signals the start of the recruitment process. Work on getting your starting party first. Once you are happy with your party, you can work on recruiting the other characters. Most of the characters in this group can be recruited at any time, even towards the end of the game, so it isn't imperative that you recruit them now, but it is best to get them out of the way before you forget about them.

Once Clive has joined, you can continue to recruit people for about a day and a half, at which time you will be automatically sucked into the Crocogator mission. However, once you start on that mission, you can still take some time to recruit people, and wander around and level up. You will only have Jack and Jarvis in your party, however.

You won't be able to use any of the people you recruit until you get some solo jobs, which will be after you return from the Crocogator mission.

You might want to start out by buying better armor and weapons, buy and read some books so you can give commands to your party, and probably some cure items. The Dead End Armory in the Void Community has the Wind Garb, which is the best armor. Buy that and the best weapon you can afford. I find the lance to be very good when fighting monsters, since you can use a wide sweep and hit multiple enemies with one swing. For boss fights, I tend to use the sword, but you might want to experiment with other weapons to see which ones best fit your fighting style.

When choosing weapons, don't concentrate strictly on the attack value, but look at the side effects as well. A weapon that causes some status affliction can, in the long run, do more damage that a weapon that has a higher attack value but no side effect. This is especially true for afflictions such as petrify, which takes the enemy completely out of the battle for a while as you continue to hit them, and poison, which will continue to drain HP from the enemy. In fact, once you have poisoned an enemy, you might want to go and attack a different one, and let that one die a slow death.

Another factor to weapons is the types of attacks that you use. Some attacks will affect all enemies within a certain area. This makes it easy to get rid of a bunch of enemies in short time. You can switch weapons and/or attacks several times in the middle of a battle, so if one approach isn't working, try either a different set of attacks, or a different weapon. For example, you can start with a lance and wide swing (like wild spin) at the beginning of a battle. Then, once you have a single strong enemy left, you can switch to more powerful attacks, or knockdown type attacks.

At some point in the game, you will have to decide on the human or non-human path. Once this choice is made, no characters in the other group can be recruited, and none of the other type that you previously recruited will be available. Remember this before you spend a lot of time to build up a character that you will later lose.

Once the game is over, there is a bonus dungeon where you can recruit an additional character. She will only be available during post-game events, but you can learn a great skill by recruiting her.

Even though a character may become unavailable later in the game, there are still times when you might want to recruit them. This is especially true the first time you play the game and are trying to learn skills. For example, Donkey is the only character available at the start of the game that has the "Absorb HP" skill. This is a very useful skill to have, so you should think about recruiting him and using him long enough to learn that skill.

While you are recruiting people, you will be required to go on a few missions with your squad. Normally, you will have some time between missions when you can recruit characters, but you can often do some recruiting while you are on the mission as well. For example, during the Crocogator Mission, you will be able to travel anywhere and recruit characters before you encounter a Crocogator. If you get into any fights, you will only have yourself and Jarvis in your party, so if you didn't level up Jack earlier in the game, you might want to put off any of the more difficult areas.

Here are the squad missions you will take part in:

• Crocogator Mission

This is the first mission, and will start automatically at some point. No matter where you are and what you are doing, Jack will say something about checking out Theater Vancoor and you be taken back to there.

You will only have yourself and Jarvis for this mission. Daniel refuses to go.

Like most missions, you will be told where to go and what to do. You can usually talk to Thanos and get some hints as well. If you are inside the city and use the map, it will show you which gate you want to use. Once in the world, use the map to see the actual destination.

Just go where the map tells you and do what Jarvis says, and you should do fine. How much you get is supposed to be random, but I have always gotten the low pay.

Once you have completed this mission, you should go to Morfin's Clinic and talk to the sick kid. Keep this up if you want to recruit everyone from the Olacion Order.

Once you are done with this mission, you can work on solo missions with your party. Check with Thanos each time to see what is available. Just remember to not sleep at Jack's house until there are no more missions available, or you might miss some.

Even if you are going to take the non-human path, these missions are a good way to get experience and money. You can have all non-humans in your party, which means you can be building up your party before the split.

[edit] Recruitment: Initial Friends List

Once your friends list has been created, you can start recruiting characters. For more information on what characters to recruit and how to recruit them, see Recruitment: Initial Friends List

[edit] First Missions

Once you get back from the Crocogator mission, you will have some free time on your hands. At various points during these missions, you will see some cut scenes about Ganz. During this time, Flau and Rynka may not be keeping their normal schedule, since they are part of the cut scenes.

You can take any (or all) of three missions:

• Pick Up Weapons from Earth Valley

This is very simple and straight forward. Just talk to the owner of the weapons shop just across from the front door of Vancoor Theater.

Talk to Gregory before you leave, and you can work on recruiting him at the same time.

• Collect Smilodon Fang

Go to the Ocho Region, follow the path until you see a bone arch.

Take that path and fight the tiger-like monster.

Jack talks about coming back to make money. Don't bother, you can't sell them. (Actually, you won't get them.)

This region is fairly tough, so if you haven't leveled up much, consider going to Septem Cave a couple of times first.

• Monsters at the Bridge

You will battle a king snake and some trees. Take out the trees first, and then the snake.

You must accept this mission to recruit Elef, Hip, and Ryan, who are non-guild humans.

You probably want to do them in the above order, since the first doesn't involve any fighting, and the third is probably harder than the second. Avoid going to your house during the day to prevent the game from progressing before you are ready. Enter your house after 9pm and leave before 8am to save your game. Remember not to sleep until you are ready.

If you go to the top floor of the Morfin Clinic, you will see a sick kid on a bed. Talk to him, and he asks you to come back again and tell him stories. The stories he wants to hear are the Crocogator mission, the Smilodon Fang mission, and the Rats in the Vareth Institute mission (which won't happen for a bit.) These stories are a critical part of recruiting his sisters Adina and Elena, who are from the Olacion Order.

[edit] Recruitment: First Missions

Having gone on your own mission opens up a few more recruits, or at least you can start recruiting them. For details, see Recruitment: First Missions.

[edit] Jack's Promotion

Once you are promoted, you will no longer be dragged into any missions with Jarvis and Daniel. This is much like the free-time missions your took earlier, but it opens up a number of new recruits, since you are more famous (and respected) now.

You should avoid Vancoor Square for a while, since that will trigger a new event. If you talk to Thanos, he will mention a strange man there, but ignore it for now. Also, stay away from your house during the day; don't enter until after 9pm, and don't sleep there. (The only reason you should ever sleep is when you want to force the game to progress.)

[edit] Recruitment: Jack's Promotion

For more details on who you can recruit at this time, see Recruitment: Jack's Promotion.

[edit] Large Man in Vancoor Square

When you want the game to progress, enter Vancoor Square, where you will find a large man wandering about. The game will walk you through most of this.

Once you have met this large man, you have a couple days before the next part of the game will kick in. You can postpone this by not going into your house during the day. Wait until at least 9pm before you enter the house, and you can postpone the game from progressing. You can use this trick to make sure you complete all the missions before the game moves on.

Be very careful about avoiding Jack's house during the day. If you mess up, you could lose the opportunity to recruit Gerald, which in turn means you won't be able to recruit Elwen and Nyx.

You will have these missions available:

• Visit the Bridge that was being built

This isn't an official mission, but you should do this if you want to recruit the builders.

They will ask you to fetch a copy of their blueprints. Their hotel is right behind the lottery in the Olacion Order section (across from the general store).

• Visit Club Vampire

This is another "unofficial" mission, but you need to do it if you want to recruit Gerald.

See the recruitment details for Gerald.

• Creature in the Sewer

If you have been exploring the sewers, you have probably wondered what was the purpose of that large dead end area you get to from the right door near the fountain area. It is for a boss fight.

This mission will allow you to recruit Tony.

• Goblin Graveyard

The recruitment suit that you get at the end of this mission continually heals you, which is a nice feature. It is also essential for recruiting a few black goblins on the non-human path, so don't skip this mission. (The black goblin area isn't available except on the non-human path.)

When you first get to the green goblin area, you will get an opportunity to recruit the Goblin Trio. When given the chance, decide to let them go.

Before you go to the cemetery, I suggest you take the first left branch to reach the Travel Pig. This will let you return here easily. Also, just past this left turn on the main path you might see a yellow glow. If you do, stand near it and kick to fight the Dagol Turtle, who will give you a lot of money. It isn't there that often, but make a habit of looking for it each time you are there.

Explore the various paths and look for treasures or use the map to go directly to the cemetery. When you get the rainbow crystal, don't sell it if you are taking the non-human path. You will need it to recruit Row. If you are taking the human path, then you can sell it.

If you travel through the village and across the bridge towards fire mountain, you will be able to fight some flame lizards once. They won't appear on subsequent visits.

• Attack Golem

The first of two fun fights with the latest "ultimate weapon". If you keep doing these challenges, you will get some nice armor, and be able to recruit Ursula.

• Monsters in the Dwarf Caves

If you wondered what that large empty area at the end of the dwarf tunnels was for, it was for this boss fight.

[edit] Recruitment: Large Man in Vancoor Square

For details on who you can recruit at this time, and how to recruit them, see Recruitment: Large Man in Vancoor Square.

[edit] Ridley's Birthday Party

When you are ready to progress the game, enter your house during the daytime. You will get a visit from Leonard, who will give you an invitation to Ridley's birthday party.

You will have a little bit of time before you will automatically go to the castle. Hopefully, you have already done everything you could have before this event.

[edit] Recruitment: Ridley's Birthday Party

After the party, you will be able to recruit two characters from the Void Community. For details, see Recruitment: Ridley's Birthday Party.

You will also have some new missions available, once you get another cut scene with Genius and Ridley and Zane. (Remember to keep away from your house during the day.)

• Find a Stone for the Olacion Order

If you haven't already recruited Garcia, Wal, and Bran, now is a good time to do it.

If you took my advice and have been visiting this cave often to level up, things should go pretty easy for you. Even if you are blinded by the monster, you will still be able to continue hitting it.

This mission will kick off some cut scenes once Jack returns the stone to Kain.

• Secret Mission

You will have to fight several robbers on your own. They look like the ones near Earth Valley.

• Go to Dwarf Valley with Donovitch

This isn't a normal mission. Once you are done with the above missions, go to sleep at Jack's house to initiate this event.

Most of this is cut scenes, so sit back and watch. When it is over, check with Thanos for a new mission.

• Help Train Olacion Monks

If you aren't sure you can beat Achilles, then you should save before you try this mission. (That means you should wait until dark before you can save.)

This mission will allow you to recruit Vitas, Miranda, and Achilles. It also opens the possibility of recruiting Rocky.

If you haven't talked to any of the characters before in this game, Achilles will give a short bio of them, otherwise, they will just say hello to each other.

After the training mission, you can start to recruit more people. For details, see Recruitment: Monks Trained. Avoid entering Jack's house before you are done recruiting people. This will prevent the game from progressing.

When you are ready to progress the game, enter Jack's house.

[edit] Jack's Choice - Human or Non-Human Path

If you enter Jack's house during the day, the game will progress. This will be the set-up for a major decision: which path will you take in the game. You will get an invitation to go to the castle that evening. You have until around 7pm before things kick in automatically. You will be back in your room, deciding to leave for the castle. Before you leave, Ridley will show up and tell you she is going to the City of Flowers.

This is where you decide whether you will take the Human Path (Go to the Castle), or the Non-Human Path (Follow Ridley). It is recommended to take the Human Path the first time through the game, and then the Non-Human path the second time.

If you are thinking of saving the game someplace else, and then reloading it to take the other path, don't. The only way you get credit for recruiting all characters will be to start a new game using an already completed game. For the second game, you will start out with all your money, all your skills, and some of your items. This will make it much easier to get through it the second time around.