This part of the game is only available after the split, and only if you chose to go to the castle rather than follow Ridley.
Any non-human characters that you previously recruited in this game will no longer become available for missions. They will still remain in your friends list in the menu section.
Meeting at Castle
If you chose to go to the castle, you will show up for a strategy meeting. After a series of cut scenes, you will gain control outside of the castle. Make sure you don't sleep at Jack's house until you are ready to progress to the next part of the game.
You are now free to recruit some more characters, buy new weapons, etc. If you are short of money, just buy the weapons instead of the armor. You will be getting two sets of new armor for free shortly.
Once you are done recruiting who is available, you might consider leveling up some of the new characters. On the other hand, if you have been leveling up a lot, it will take a long time to raise the new characters to the current level of your party. Since will you probably be replacing them with the guild leaders eventually, you might want to keep that in mind.
Thanos will tell you about a guy in Carl's Pub who turns out to be Jasne crying about Ridley leaving. You should visit Kain, Ortoroz, and Ray C. Ross (who is the owl in the president's office of the Vareth Institute). Each of them will assign two members to work with you. You should recruit them at this time, along with some additional characters that are now available. For more details, see Recruitment: Meeting at Castle.
Leave for Wind Valley
When you are ready to progress the game, sleep at Jack's house. You will not be able to leave Radiata City by any other gate until you return from Wind Valley, so make sure you've done everything you need before this. You will see some cut scenes with Ganz, Flau, and Rynka, and then Al will wake you up and tell you about Wind Valley.
When you wake up, some new missions will be available. You can do them either before or after your trip to Wind Valley. I like to do them before since both missions give me some nice armor that can come in handy. Before you leave, read the note on recruiting Dynas in the next section.
Here are the missions that are available to you:
- Stop Lord Star
- This mission will allow you to recruit Lord Star and Sebestian, and some armor that will prevent all status afflictions. Complete this mission before the battle golem and it can help you with that fight.
- Another Battle Golem
- This mission will allow you to recruit Ursula
- Instead of getting paid, you will get some new armor that resists all status afflictions.
Once you are done with the above missions, you can recruit some characters. For more details, see Recruitment: Leave for Wind Valley.
Wind Valley
You can fight the fake transporters for experience, collect the various treasures, or go directly to the Wind Dragon.
The Strategy Guide has a map that can show you which are real and which are monsters. There might also be a map available from gamefaqs, but you really don't need any maps to tell the difference. If you approach a real transporter, the camera will turn to show you where you will be blown across to. If you approach a fake transporter, this doesn't happen.
Read the notes about recruiting Dynas before you approach the back area with the Wind Dragon. I never had any problems with the Wind Dragon, even with only three in my party. Remember, however, that I tend to level up a lot, so if you don't do that, you might want to be more careful.
For instructions about recruiting Dynas, see Recruitment: Wind Valley.
Return From Wind Valley
After the Wind Dragon has been defeated, you will get some cut scenes and end up near Fort Helencia, where you will encounter Sir Gawain. You won't be able to win this battle, so don't worry about it.
Next will be some more cut scenes where Jack is in the Castle Infirmary. After this will be a touching cut scene with Ganz and Cody. When its all over, you will gain control of Jack outside of the castle.
When you get back from Wind Valley, you can do the previous missions if you decided not to do them before. You will also have some new missions available:
- Defeat Rocky
- This mission will allow you to recruit Rocky. (The strategy guide claims you can get this after the duel with Gawain, but I got it after the monk training mission.)
- Even though Rocky is part of the Olacion Order, you don't need to recruit him in order to get Kain.
- Algandars Castle
- This will allow you to recruit Ardoph and Dimitri, and get the Demon Armor, as well as the Book of Angels that Leona is looking for.
- The Demon Mail has a very high defense, but continually drains Jack of HP. Personally, I don't care for it, but others think it is great. If you wear it, then you should either have Auto Cure equipped or have the healer concentrate on healing you.
For instructions on how to recruit more characters, see Recruitment: Return From Wind Valley.