Select controller:Val Castle[edit]
- For more details on shops, see Val Castle's shops.
Renamed: Castle of Bal (GBA)
| Found | Container | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Hero Drink | Chest | King's Hall, west corner. |
| Telepo (spell) | Chest | King's Hall, west corner. Follow the hidden passage south. |
| Angel Robe | Chest | 1st Floor of west building, small room behind Weapon and Armor counter. |
| Great Sword | Ground | Enter the moat bottom left of the castle. Sword is hidden in the top right. |
You are now in the King's Hall in Val Castle. There is a lot to explore here since the castle is also part village. Start by going to the west end and getting the treasure there. Now exit south on the 1st Floor. Go to the east side of the room and down the stairs to B1. Make note of the save point here but do not go any further down since it is a dead end and there are random monsters there's no point in fighting yet, unless you want to grind some ABP (check the details in the sidebar). Otherwise go back and exit south to the castle grounds.
The gate to the south is locked for now but there are two other buildings. The one in the center has an inn where you can rest for 50 GP and an item shop which has the same selection as the one in Lugor. The building to the west has the weapon, armor and magic shops, but the selection is the same there as well with the exception of a new accessory. From here, go up two floors, across the roof to a staircase hidden by a tower, then down two floors to get to a small room with treasure.
Now go back to the King's Hall and up the stairs to the east. This leads to the 3rd floor with Galuf and Krile's quarters. Follow the corridor in the middle and go up to the 4th Floor, then south to a balcony where Krile is tending to the dragon.
Talk to her to learn that the dragon was still sick and the last trip to Moogle Village and back has left it so weak that it will die without help. Reina knows all about sick dragons though and quickly recommends Dragon Grass. Galuf thinks you can find some in the Valley of Dragons, but it will be a dangerous trip.
Go back to the basement to save before heading to the gate on the south side of the castle grounds. Galuf orders the guards to open the gates and seal them again once you are through. The guard obeys reluctantly and you go out as monsters approach and a battle begins.
| Abductor (castle) |
| Boss level: 29, Recommended party level: 25 |
| HP: 2500, Weaknesses: None, Nullifies: None, Absorbs: None |
| Gold: 0, ABP: 2, Drops: Tonic (rare) |
Preparation: This boss easy compared with Tyrasaurus, so the setup is easy too. A healer with Cure2 should be enough to keep your health up. The !Earth ability is useful for dealing damage and Sleep or Slow may make the battle easier. If you got the Dancing Dirk in the Moogle Village it will have an annoying habit of being the weapon chosen when you select "Optimum" in the Equip screen. While this weapon does some interesting things when you attack with it, it is probably not what you want a Job like Lancer to be fighting with. Tactics: Abductor has two attacks to watch out for. The first, Hurricane, reduces an ally's HP to single digits. The second, the Blue Magic spell Red Feast, attacks for half the Abductor's lost HP and restores the same amount to him. Near the end of the battle this could wipe out a character in full health, so it is best to either finish off the monster fast or disable it somehow. You can disable it with Sleep, or do almost as well with Slow, but it may not be necessary. If you use !Earth you have a good chance hitting the monster with Twister, which does the same thing as Hurricane. |
When you win you can leave the castle grounds and start your journey.
Kelb Village[edit]
Renamed: Quelb (GBA)
- For more details on shops, see Kelb's shops.
Go north until you reach a town in a mountain pass; this is Kelb Village. When you arrive you notice it seems to be deserted except for a few sheep. All the doors are locked except for a house toward the north; enter, cross the room and try another door which is locked as well. When you try to leave though, werewolves appear and block your way.
Kelga, the leader of the wolves comes in through the far door; he seems to be a friend of Galuf but he and Bartz are very suspicious of each other. A scripted duel begins where you do not input any commands. Kelga executes a complicated move called the Pine Attack and Bartz manages to block it. Kelga overexerts himself and rests in bed when it is revealed that the only one to ever block the Pine Attack was Drogan, whom Galuf and Kelga knew as one of the dawn warriors in the original fight against X-Death, and Bartz' father.
Galuf goes into the story in detail and there is a flashback.
Kelga orders the villagers to open the north gate so you can continue your journey. But with the village open again you should explore a bit first. Rest at the inn near the village entrance for 60 GP. The item shop is here as well and has the same selection as the one in Val Castle. Visit the weapon, armor and magic shops to the west; the magic shop has the same spells as before, but the weapon and armor shops both have new items in addition to the ones in Val Castle.
Be sure to talk to the three villagers in the northeast corner; one of them teaches you the song Requiem. when you are done, exit the north gate to continue your journey. Also before going, if you are going to use the Trainer job then talk to the villager next to the well. He says something about sounds coming from it and if you check the well an old man jumps out begging for a frog. Leave the village temporarily and catch one of the toads in the random battles. Take it back to the village, make the man pop out of the well again, and trade the toad and 10000 GP for a KornagoGourd. When equipped this allows you to Catch enemies with much higher health.
Valley of Dragons[edit]
Renamed: Drakenvale (GBA)
| Found | Container | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 5000 GP | Chest | Small cave near start. |
| Cottage | Chest | Passage between second and third ledges. |
| 7000 GP | Chest | Room below trap door. |
| Coronet | Chest | Center of cave after fourth ledge, follow left passage to reach. |
| Wind Sword | Chest | Center of cave after fourth ledge, follow left passage to reach. |
| Phoenix Down | Chest | Center of cave after fourth ledge, follow right passage to reach. |
| Bone Mail | Hidden Item | In the scattered dry bones, to the right of the cave on the fourth ledge with the trap door. |
Go north and enter the cave at the base of the mountain; you are now in the Valley of Dragons. The terrain here is very similar to that in the Northern Mountain as there you alternate between ledges on the outside and caves. The undead creatures here will be much easier to deal with if you have a Bard and use Requiem on them. The enemy Drippy here can cast the Blue Magic spell Magic Hammer if you want to pick it up.
The first cave to the north is a dead end except for some treasure; grab it and continue to the next cave. This is just a passage to the second ledge. Go up a level to the next cave and follow the passage, grabbing the treasure on the right, to the third ledge. Cross a bridge here, then enter another cave. You may start getting random encounters with Golem. If it is alone it will do a hit and run and it is unlikely you can do anything about it. But it also appears with two other monsters that quickly turn on it, and it starts to call for help. Do not ignore its call! Start attacking the other two monsters and heal the Golem when you can. If you defeat the other two monsters before the Golem is defeated, then just defend for a while and eventually it will ask to join the party. You win the Golem item which, like the Ramuh item, turns into a summon spell when you use it. You will only find Golem outside, not in caves. Though optional, this is a very useful summon so do not leave the mountain without it.
Follow the cave to the fourth ledge and you will notice dry dragon bones scattered around. Head down the slope here and go into the next cave. This appears to be a dead end but if you explore it completely you will fall through a trap door toward the far end. You land in a small room; grab the treasure here then go through the door in the lower left end. This takes you to the lower level of the previous room where you can reach a switch. Press it and a bridge forms outside. Go back, then through the previous room and find yourself back where you fell through the trap door. Go back outside where you can cross to the right and enter a new cave.
You can go left or right here and both passages are dark so you can only see a short distance around you. Start by going left to collect some treasure. Go back and follow the right passage, there is treasure here as well. There are two ways out at the bottom of the passage; start with the door on the right first which takes you to a small room with a save point.
Go back and outside via the other exit. Follow the ledge down until you spot a plant. Yes, it is Dragon Grass, but a horrible, possessed kind of Dragon Grass and you must defeat it before you can pick it.
| Drgn Grass, Drgn Bulb x? |
| Boss level: 33 (Grass), 31 (Bulb), Recommended party level: 26 |
| HP: 12000 (Grass), 100 (Bulb), Weaknesses: None, Nullifies: Bolt, Ice, Fire, Wind, Absorbs: None |
| Gold: 0, ABP: 10, Drops: Elixir, Phoenix Down (sometimes) |
Renamed to Dragon Grass and Dragon Bulb in the GBA version. Preparation: There are a number of ways to fight this battle and a variety of good setups to go with them. You probably will not need a lot of healing, but the White spell Esna will be important. Since there is a chance of being Confused in this battle, have a character with a weak weapon to slap anyone who needs it. Also, do not have many jobs and weapons that are too strong since they may be used against you. Other than these things to avoid, there are many jobs and abilities that will be useful in some way. The Bard's songs can be very useful here. Tactics: The Grass does not actually do anything except spawn Bulbs. The Bulbs attack with various forms of dust which, while doing little damage, inflict status ailments of various kinds, namely Confuse, Darkness, Paralyze, Poison and Age. If you do not try to prevent these attacks then you'll be kept busy healing statuses instead of dealing with the main boss. Probably the best way to do this is to cast Golem. Golem is purely defensive but will not only absorb all the damage from the bulbs, but keep you from getting hit by the status ailments. Watch for the stone hand that appears when Golem defends you and if you stop seeing it, cast Golem again. Even if you do not have Golem there are still a few options. One way is to keep wiping them out with group attacks. The Bulbs have very low HP so you do not need anything fancy; a Monk's Kick ability will do it. The Earth command has a good chance of doing it, and Bio, Aqua Rake, and Titan will easily do it but at the cost of some MP. The plants are immune to Fire, Ice and Lightning so the usual Black spells, Shiva, Ifrit and Ramuh will all be useless. A different approach is to disable the bulbs. A good way to do this is to cast Sleep on the entire group and then cast Sleep again on any Bulb that attacks. Eventually there will be five sleeping Bulbs while you dispatch the main boas. Another idea in the same vein is to have a Bard cast TemptSong or Love Song every turn. The Flower has a lot of HP, but this is easy to take care of by casting Demi and/or Missile a few times. You can quickly take down the Flower with physical attacks. The Flower is immune to most magic, but Bio and Earth based attacks hurt it. The Bulbs do not instantly die when the Grass is defeated. |
After the battle the Dragon Grass can be collected and now appears as a Rare item. Cast Telepo to exit the dungeon head back to kelb and return to Val Castle.
Val Castle (return)[edit]
When you reach the gate it seems that the guards took Galuf a bit too seriously about sealing the gate behind him, because now they think you're monsters and refuse to let you in. Galuf jumps into the moat while the rest of the party follows. Follow the moat to the back of the castle and press the switch at the end. You are sucked into a pipe and come out in the southwest corner of the castle grounds. Go up to Krill's room to find her sick in bed. She is delirious but mentions going to see Gill, an ancient sage. Continue up to see the dragon. Reina tries to get him to eat the grass but he refuses, so finally Reina eats some of the grass so the dragon will copy her. The dragon does and is healed, but Reina collapsed due to the plant's toxicity. Krile appears and gives Reina the antidote before fainting. She recovers soon afterwards. Krill stays behind while the rest board the dragon to find Gill.