--------------------------------Character Test---------------------------------
SAGA FRONTIER
EMELIA WALKTHROUGH
Ver 1.5
Algus Sadalfus
Endlessinstant@gmail.com

********
Bulletin
********
Feel free to email me general SaGa Frontier queries, I'd love to be of 
assistance.  It doesn't have to be specifically about Emelia's scenario
(or the Debug Room if you're looking at my Debug Room guide as well) though
if its something I already answered in my guide I may not respond.  

This is my first guide to fully incorporate a search function, yay! (?) 

************
Version Info
************
05/05/06 - Added a 'Basics' section explaining quite a bit about some of
           the mechanics of the game for beginners.  Revised portions of 
           the Recruiting Suzaku Quest.  Added stats for the Save Data
           Stat Bonus and Kylin.  Various smaller changes.  

05/04/06 - Initial Release (Project Begins 05/03/06) 

************
Introduction
************
Algus, you say, isn't it a little late to be writing a FAQ for a game like
SaGa Frontier? It came out in 1998! Well, maybe it is, but SaGa Frontier is
one of my favorite video games -ever- despite its lack of popularity.  I've
always been a fan of the franchise, starting with Final Fantasy Legends back
before I knew it was a SaGa game! 

Plus, even after all this time there still isn't a dedicated FAQ fore Emelia's
scenario besides Kain's quickie help guide for the Japanese version.  Plus,
I've managed to beat all the scenarios and unlock everything with relative
ease so I figure I've got to have SOMETHING to offer amidst the charges of
this game being to difficult.  Now, let's get on with the show.  

What this guide is
------------------
This guide takes a very in-depth look at Emelia's scenario.  It provides
strategies for powering up and successfully defeating the final boss and
completing the scenario with, what I hope is, relative ease.  The 
strategies I use can be employed effectively in other scenarios as well.

I also detail (in-depth) how to acquire all possible recruits for Emelia's
scenario and do so in such a manner that it's part of the walkthrough so
you don't have to check a lengthy appendix or just look over a short list. 

What this guide is not
----------------------
This guide is NOT a storehouse for every possible thing that can be done
in the game.   While MANY of the sidequests are discussed, I do not 
talk about several of the side areas (which I consider nonessential) or
extra bosses (which are irrelevant to completing Emelia's scenario)

If you follow my guide you should be strong enough to tackle the biggest
of these extra bosses, but there are plenty of things I will not cover as
I don't want to tread old ground (which in some ways I feel I have) 

If you are looking for more content I recommend the following FAQs:

FAQ/Walkthrough by MHobbs
Monster FAQ by Oulak
Skill FAQ by ABrea

All of these guides can be found at GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com)

********
Contents
********
About SaGa Frontier................................SAG00
About Emelia's Scenario............................SAG01
Basics.............................................BAS00
FAQ................................................FA00
Mastering Magic....................................FA01
Party Strategies...................................FA02
Walkthrough........................................WAL00
-Part One - Despair Prison.........................WAL01
-Part Two - Gradius................................WAL02
-Part Three - The Martial Arts Tournament..........WAL03
-Part Four - Baccarat..............................WAL04
--Baccarat - Good Ending...........................WAL04-1
--Baccarat - Bad Ending............................WAL04-2
-Part Five - Trinity Base Part 1...................WAL05
-Part Six - Trinity Base Part 2....................WAL06
-Part Seven - Yorkland.............................WAL07
On the Side........................................SID00
-On the Side - Character Recruitment...............SID01
Addendum - Luminous Labyrinth......................LUM00
-On the Side - Where to Level......................SID02
-On the Side - Recruiting Mesarthim................SID03
-On the Side - Acquiring Kusanagi..................SID04
-On the Side - The Runes...........................SID05
--The Runes - Vitality Rune........................SID05-1
--The Runes - Hide Rune............................SID05-2
--The Runes - Victory Rune.........................SID05-3
-On the Side - Errands.............................SID06
--The Time Lord - Overdrive and Asura..............SID07
--Arcane Tarots - IRPO.............................SID08
---Recruiting Suzaku...............................SUZ00
---Arcane Tarots - Finishing IRPO..................SID08-1
--The Space Lord - ReverseGravity!.................SID09
-On the Side - Arcane Tarots.......................SID10
--Arcane Tarots - The Gold Card....................SID10-1
--Arcane Tarots - The Saber Card...................SID10-2
--Arcane Tarots - The Grail Card...................SID10-3
-On the Side - Finishing Up........................SID11
Appendix A: Powering up for Baccarat................ADXA
Writing the Guide..................................WRI00
Credits............................................CRE00

******************* *****
About SaGa Frontier SAG00
******************* *****
SaGa Frontier is the seventh game in the SaGa franchise by Squaresoft and
was released in 1998.  The SaGa franchise has since expanded to include
several more games and while it is unquestionably popular in Japan, it's
reputation in America has been dubious at best.  

The game has a poor reputation, known for its lack of cohesiveness, high
difficulty level, and other poorly constructed elements.  Despite that, it
has been remarkably successful in attracting loyal supporters who love the
game to death.  People like me.  

Something to keep in mind while you're playing SaGa Frontier - the enemies
scale but the bosses don't so the enemies will never accurately reflect the
difficulty of the boss in whatever dungeon you're in.  

It is also not a game that you will be successful at unless you don't mind 
spending some time leveling.  Personally I find the stat building system
and combat to be very enjoyable so I don't mind power leveling but if that
sort of thing bothers you then this may not be the game for you.

*********************** *****
About Emelia's Scenario SAG01
*********************** *****
Emelia's scenario is one of the more plot intensive scenarios in the game,
though it is not very linear at all.  You have a set of missions that you
must complete in a specific order but outside of that it is pretty much
free reign.  Completing one mission with ease does not mean the next 
mission will be easy - though in my experience all of the missions up
until the second Trinity Base can be completed without spending time 
leveling up.  

Mechs cannot be used at all in Emelia's scenario but she seems to make up
for this by the ability to recruit a number of Mystics that no one else,
save Asellus can recruit.  In addition she can acquire Roufas, Liza, and
Annie much more easily then other characters which means she has very 
powerful characters right from the start.  All in all, I'd say it's if 
not the most interesting scenario, the most enjoyable scenario.  Of course,
she also has one of the most difficult final bosses to offset the advantages
she enjoys.  

Also, you should note that if you've already beat at least one scenario
and have that file on your save game data then when you start a new
Emelia file she'll have a bit of a stat boost.  This isn't enough to
make it worth skipping her scenario, but you might want to note it. 

****** *****
Basics BAS00
****** *****
I didn't want to include a section like this when I first wrote the guide since
many other guides covered things like how to gain skills and so forth very
well but I've since decided to talk about some of the basics of the game
just in case this is the very first scenario you've ever played and you don't
know anything.  

Races
-----
SaGa Frontier has four different races: Humans, Mechs, Monsters, and Mystics. 
Unlike other games in which races might at best have only subtle differences
the four races in SaGa Frontier each work in very different manners.  Each
race is good, it's simply a question of knowing how to use that race.

Humans
------
Humans are the easiest race to figure out.  They can equip up to four weapons
and four different pieces of armor.  If they attack with a sword or fist then
they have a chance of learning a skill with each attack.  Fighting tougher
monsters means they have a better chance of learning skills.  If they use
guns or magic, they have a chance to learn a new gun skill or spell at the
end of the battle.  For magic, the character must have the gift for that type
of magic to learn new spells.  Humans are the staple of the game and are the
type of character you're most likely to build a party out of.  They are the
easiest to develop.  In addition to learning skills, they will experience
stat growth depending on what type of attacks they use.  If a human equips
six attack skills and no magic he will get a "physical" crown which will 
reduce the cost of all skills by 1 WP.  This is useful for things like
DoubleSlash which only costs 1 WP as now you can make a stronger attack for
no WP! The same is true of magic - if at least six spells are equipped and
no combat skills then you get a "magic crown." This lets your spellcasters use
basic magic attacks (which can become about as strong as an ordinary attack if
not stronger) every round.  

Mechs
-----
Mechs can only learn new skills by fighting other Mechs.  At the end of any
fight in which enemy mechs were fought, you will have the chance to "download"
data from one of the defeated Mechs.  This usually results in your Mech being
fully healed but sometimes they will download a "program" which is basically
a skill.  They do not increase in stats from battle but rather their stats
are based on what items they have equipped.  Items boost stats differently then
they do for other races, so giving Mechs multiple pieces of strong equipment
can make them VERY powerful.  You should note that Emelia CAN NOT recruit
any mechs in her scenario without the assistance of a Gameshark.  

Monsters
--------
Monsters are just that - monsters, the enemies you fight turned to your side.
Each monster character can equip up to four accessories to help boost their
stats.  Their base stats are based upon their "form" which can be anything
from the puny Lummox that Riki starts as to the impressive SuzakuJr form that
Suzaku has.  At the end of battle if you have a monster it will have a chance
to "absorb" an enemy monster.  This may result in learning a new skill.  If
you have the right set of skills you will evolve into a new form.  Note that
whatever skill is in the eighth slot on the monster's skill list will be
replaced by a newly absorbed skill (this slot is colored red to help you
remember.) If you are interested in using monsters I recommend looking at
Oulak's monster FAQ at http://www.gamefaqs.com as he explains monsters and
how to get different forms very well.  

Mystics
-------
Mystics are very tricky to use in comparison to the other three races. In
battle Mystics will gain no stats no matter what they use to fight.  The 
only stats they can gain are HP, WP, JP, and Charm.  In addition they can
not learn any combat skills with weapons or their fists.  What they do have
are four slots they can use for spells.  Spells for them work just like 
spells for humans - they can gain gifts and learn new spells.  They also
will develop three "special Mystic abilities: MysticSword, MysticGlove, and
MysticBoots.  If they attack with these, they can sometimes absorb monsters.
Absorbed monsters will give the Mystics special abilities and stat boosts.
For instance if a "Xeno" (a very common starfish like creature) is absorbed
into a MysticSword then that Mystic can use the BloodSuck ability.  All 
Mystics also have some sort of armor permanently attached.  For most MYstics
this is a pretty junky breastplate type armor, though there are two 
exceptions - one of which is recruitable in Emelia's scenario.  If you know
what monsters to absorb then Mystics can get much higher stats then the other
races very easily.  

Skills
------
As I mentioned in the description for the human race there are several 
different types of skills.  Some characters are better with certain types
of attacks then others.  In general a character will come equipped with 
weapons and skills of the types they're good at.  You can equip a certain
number of these depending on what race you have: for humans there are 
eight slots - mystics have four slots (*for magic only*) and mechs have
variable numbers of slots depending on how they're equipped, their 
default type, and so forth - fortunately that won't come up in Emelia's
scenario :) You can use the "Seal" command on the Skill list to seal
unwanted abilities.  These won't be deleted, just stored in the folder
for that type of skill - you can have literally dozens of different
abilities if you spend the time building so have fun with your skills! 

Sword
-----
Only humans may learn sword skills.  If you attack with a sword, anything
from the puny knife to the Golden Lion you have a chance of learning a new
sword technique.  A number of variables go into determining what this chance
is but the best way to ensure you will learn new skills is to fight stronger
enemies.  There are some skills that require two weapons to be equipped at
the same time.  Other skills include automatic defensive skills such as deflect
and selectable defensive skills.  Most of these skills are attack skills 
though.  There is a subset of sword skills known as the "katana skills" If you
have a sword that has "Katana" in its stats (examples include the SamuraiSword
which one of the characters who joins Emelia starts with) then you might be
able to learn a katana skill with it.  You should note that there are a 
couple special swords (Asura and Kusanagi) which do not have a regular 
attack - their basic attack costs WP and is a little more fancy - they 
are both high end swords that you WILL WANT (And I will show you how to
get) but their basic attack will not help you learn new skills so when you
do get these high end weapons make sure to have a "training" weapon equipped
as the character's second weapon.  

Gun
---
Guns are slightly different from Sword and Fist skills in that you have a 
chance of learning a gun skill at the end of the battle if you attack with
guns in that battle.  There are also gun skills that require you to have
two guns equipped at the same time.  Also note that some types of guns will
not allow you to use gun skills.  These weapons are easily recognizable in
battle as they have a "special" type of attack instead of the standard single
shot.  These special guns include lasers, rocket launchers, rapid fire 
weapons and some other neat toys.  Only humans may learn gun skills. 

Fighting
--------
These skills can be learned with the basic punch ability.  They work like
sword skills except you don't need any weapons equipped to use them (Though
you can equip weapons if you want to - fighting abilities will always be
available to you) Don't neglect fighting skills - while a strong sword may
seem like it does superior damage to fighting skills - only through fighting
skills can the best attack in the game be unlocked.

Magic
-----
Only humans and mystics may learn magic (There is one exception but in that
case the spells Kylin knows function exactly like monster skills and they
can be forgotten in the same manner) There are several different schools
of Magic in the game as seen Below:

Light <-> Shadow
Arcane <-> Rune
Realm <-> Mystic
Time <-> Space
Evil <-> ????
Mirage <-> ????
Revive <-> ???? 
Mind <-> ????

Each school has an opposition school so a character that knows light magic
can NOT learn Shadow magic.  If a character does learn a spell of an opposing
type (by buying it from a store) he/she will lose ALL the spells of the 
original type.  

Note that there are some special magics: Evil, Mirage, and Revive.  Of the
three only Evil is available in Emelia's scenario.  The character Zozma has
evil magic.  

There are several other things you should know about magic.  

Gifts
-----
If a character has the "gift" for a certain type of magic then he or she can
learn new spells of that type by using that magic in combat.  For instance
a character with the gift of Light Magic can use the basic Sun Ray spell to
learn all the other Light Magic spells! This is the only way to learn the
high end spells of a certain type.  

In general you only have ONE SHOT at attaining gifts and once you do the quest
that earns that gift you can not repeat it so any characters who aren't with
you will miss out.  In the case of Light/Shadow this means a one shot dungeon
and anyone not with you will never be able to get that gift.  In some cases
this is good (You dont want your Shadow Magic users to be able to get
Light Magic after all) but in other cases this is bad (If you're planning
to recruit someone down the road and you do the gift before you get them
they WILL NOT be able to get the gift) 

Note that if you have spells of the opposing type then that character can't
learn that gift.  For instance, characters with Shadow Magic will not be
able to enter the Light Magic dungeon and therefore won't be able to get
the Light Magic gift.  

For the Arcane/Rune gift you must have the character that you want to have 
that gift for with you when you collect EACH Arcane Tarot or Rune - if they
miss out on collecting just one Rune or Tarot then they can't get the gift.

The nature of Emelia's scenario means that only Emelia, Annie, and Liza can
earn the gift for rune magic in her scenario.  Remember that.  

Mind Magic can only be used by humans.  And for some reason (that you'll find
out about in Blue's scenario) Rouge can not earn the gift for Mind Magic. 

Other types of magic you will not be able to earn the gift for this includes
Realm (only Rouge has the gift) Mystic (Only Mystics have the gift) Time (only
TimeLord has the gift) Space (Only Kylin has the gift) Evil (no one has the
gift!) Mirage (Only Rei - whom you cant recruit - has the gift) and Revive 
(only Blue can get the gift for this type in his scenario)  Anyway, as you
can see Magic is VERY complicated - but also very fun to use.  You'll note
that my walkthrough stresses optimising how to acquire magic so that no one
misses out on anything.  

Special
-------
This is generally the Mech skill type.  Any "programs" you earn will be of
the special type and only Mechs can use them.  Humans can't learn any sort
of Special abilities.  The exception is Asellus (who is actually Half-Mystic)
Her Mystic abilties (the Sword, Glove, and Boots I mentioned) are considered
special abilities and unlike regular Mystics she does not have to have them
equipped.  Asellus is recruitable in this scenario and I explain much more
about her and her special properties in the walkthrough.

Dodge
-----
Dodge skills are very interesting.  You may play an entire game and never see
your character earn one.  Other times you may not STOP learning them.  In 
general Dodge skills aren't very useful unless you specifically know that
an upcoming enemy has a certain type of attack and you just happened to earn
the dodge ability for that type of attack from somewhere else.  Anyway, if a
human has at least one free slot on their skill list (you should always keep
at least two slots free for Sword and Fighting users) and an attack that they
can "dodge" is used on them they have a VERY SMALL chance of learning the 
dodge ability for that attack which causes them to spin out of the way and
be totally unaffected by that attack.  Only humans can use these - they 
don't affect crowns so you can have them with combat skills or magic - but
they do occupy a skill slot.  Don't count on trying to learn these by the
way but if you do earn one or two enjoy them.  

Battles
-------
I love this game but it ~IS~ broken.  There is no balance in it whatsoever.
Enemies you fight in random battles scale to your character's levels. In 
some areas the enemies will naturally be "weaker" then you while in some
areas they will be "stronger" but as you increase in power so do they. The
trouble is bosses DO NOT scale so fighting through a dungeon full of weak
enemies may end with you being slaughtered by an Uber-boss while barely 
surviving to the end of another dungeon may result in you killing the
boss in a single blow.  

So what is a gamer to do? Well, my theory is to just power-level and in the
guide I show you my favorite spot.  Don't worry, the final boss will still
be suitable epic as it would take many hours to get your stats high enough
to be able to whip the boss without being touched yourself.  This does
mean you'll have to do a little power-leveling but don't worry, it isn't 
anything to serious.  

THE GOOD NEWS is that if you know how strong a certain boss is going to be
(For instance by fighting and DYING on it) then you might have a good idea
of what you need to do to power up.  

In this game ~equipment~ is VERY important.  My guide points you in the 
direction of most of the better stuff (Though not the best stuff as it can
be very grueling to get that) You can be leveling in an area and then all
of a sudden the enemies will get an "upgrade" and slaughter you because your
equipment is now substandard.  So stay on your toes.  This game is not 
difficult if you know how it works.  

And one last thing - Quicksave - hold R2 and Press Triangle to do a quick
save.  Do this frequently, it only takes like half a second to quicksave and
if you die then you can restart right where you last quicksaved.  If you're
anal and leveling among really tough enemies do this after every fight.  Get
used to it and it becomes old hat.  

*** ****
FAQ FA00
*** ****
Q: What was that stat boost you mentioned?
A: For some reason I had it in my head that if you had system data with at 
   least one cleared game then Emelia got a little stat boost at the beginning
   of her scenario.  Actually I was wrong, Emelia doesn't get any sort of 
   stat boost - but Annie and Liza do! The bonus is actually pretty good 
   insofar as it gives them a bunch of extra skills.  However, it isn't
   anything that should make you "save" Emelia's scenario for later. It's
   just a nice reward if you've already completed a scenario.  Note that
   other characters do get some stat boosts in their scenarios as well -
   just one more reason to keep system data.  Also, Liza will START with
   Suplex which is fairly helpful if you get the stat boost. 

Q: How strong is strong enough to kill Diva?
A: I always base my stats off the max hp of my team - anyway, when your
   characters have around 700 hp and high end equipment they should be ready
   to take on Diva.  Diva is one of the harder end bosses in the game so the
   more you prepare the easier it will be.  I'd definately make sure to have
   at least one character with the DSC - more if you really like to level.  
   Don't be dorky and save over your one file after you've started the Yorkland 
   mission as if you aren't good enough to tackle Diva you'll want to head back 
   to the Bio Research Lab and level some more.  

Q: Will you write a FAQ for Scenario X?
A: Probably not, there are already great FAQs for the other scenarios. My
   strategies for mastering Emelia's scenario can be applied to the other
   scenarios as well as far as I know.  If I DO write a FAQ for someone else
   though it will probably be Blue or T260 but don't count on it.  

Q: Your description of the Ingot and Scrap tricks sucks!
A: Yes, I just wrote hasty explanations of both tricks.  If you need a more
   detailed explanation check some of the other guides on here.  By the way, 
   that wasn't a question :) 

Q: In your walkthrough, you dont list all the items that can be found in a 
   dungeon, why?
A: SaGa Frontier is not a dungeon crawling game.  Yes there are dungeons and
   yes there are treasures but rarely are these goodies better then what you 
   have elsewhere.  In fact, there are only a couple instances where you can 
   find good treasure - and those instances aren't in Emelia's scenario.  I 
   leave exploring up to you, my goal is to show you the easiest ways to power 
   up and get through the scenario and running around grabbing worthless junk 
   in the Owmi Manor is not the easiest way

Q: What do you mean by Emelia's dresses and their "supposed" benefits?
A: If you haven't heard this before, let me explain.  Emelia's dresses
   are supposed to give you benefits whereby Emelia becomes better at a 
   certain thing if she has a certain dress on.  See the following chart

                         Regular Emelia - nothing
                         PinkTiger - fighting
                         Bunny Emelia - magic
                         Dancer Costume - swords
                         Commando Emelia - guns
                         WeddingDress - nothing/unknown

    I say supposed because in my experience these effects are not noticable 
    enough to be worth worrying about.  In other words, just use whichever 
    outfit you like the best.  Heck, it could be my leveling up strategies that 
    negate these bonuses.  Everyone else seems to know about them *shrug* maybe 
    its just me. 

Q: How do you suggest equipping characters? 
A: Gunners/Swordsmen should have two weapons, a shield, and a healing potion
   for emergencies.  Fighters should have three healing potions and a shield, 
   the same for magic users.  One person should have the backpack (I prefer a 
   sword user or gunner) and another person should have the healing spells.  
   This should make it very easy to keep your characters alive.  As far as 
   armor goes, I leave that to your discression - suits can offer higher DP 
   overall but armor, helms, and boots can offer other boosts that you might 
   like.  

Q: How do I get 7500 credits?
A: If you collect all your paychecks from Roufas you'll have quite a bit 
   of money.  You should be able to beat the first four missions: Koorong 
   Sewers, Shingrow, Baccarat, and Trinity Base Part 1 with relative ease - the 
   money from those missions will put you close if not at 7500.  For the rest, 
   if you don't want to use the Scrap trick you should be able to find the 
   money around Koorong, there's a bunch of credit drops.  There's also 400 
   credits in the Luminous Labyrinth. 

Q: You don't seem to like monsters, why?
A: Monsters can be very powerful, Im not arguing that.  I personally do not
   like to use them because I think they are too much trouble.  There is a 
   great FAQ by Oulak on GameFAQs that is all about monsters.  If you want to 
   know more about them I suggest you use that guide.

Q: Can I get mechs in Emelia's scenario?
A: No - unless you have a gameshark and can get to the debug room.  Emelia
   doesn't like mechs.  

Q: Wait, so you endorse the Scrap Junk Shop trick and the Gold Ingot trick?
A: I dont endorse them, I just tell you how to do them.  Its your game, you
   ought to be able to play it however you damn well feel.  If you feel they
   are bugs to be avoided, dont do them.  If, on the other hand, you dont want
   to sit around for hours farming for credits, then feel free to use them.  For
   the record I usually avoid the Scrap trick until later on when I want to
   get LethalGuns. And the gold trick was left in by testers if the rumors are 
   true so its not really an exploit just an exercise in Taconomics :) 

Q: Well, how do I get money if I dont want to use those stupid exploits that
   only people who suck at video games would use? 
A: Grinding.  Yes, grinding.  There are some drops, but hardly enough
   to give you enough money to buy the equipment you will need.  Prepare to  
   spend more hours then my best save file sitting around fighting crap monsters
   for chump change.  This is one of the reasons I do support Taconomics - its
   just not worth it whether or not playing without the ingot trick is "legit" 

Q: Am I just stupid or can I not find actual shops in this game?
A: Shops are actually few and far between.  You'll be primarily spending
   money on magic actually.  There is a potion shop in Koorong to use liberally
   as well as some armor to be bought there.  The most interesting place to buy
   things is Nelson where you can pick up Zero Swords and Warlord Armor.  There
   are also some other shops (even one in Omble!) So look around.  

Q: I have a lot of junk, how do I sell it?
A: There are "shops" that are meant just for selling things.  One place is in
   Nakajima Robotics in Shrike where they buy swords.  There are some armor
   buying places in Koorong.  These are rarer then real shops though and most
   things you find can't be sold. 

Q: Those skills you list for Liza to have equipped, why are they important?
A: Sliding, Suplex, BabelCrumble, and GiantSwing when all equipped on a 
   character will unlock a special attack called the Dream Super Combo or DSC
   which can inflict close to 20,000 damage (The attack randomly uses 3-5 moves
   and can do significantly less) at full power.  In other words, its the best
   single attack in the game and Liza just happens to be able to learn it faster
   then anyone else.  

Q: You seem to place a lot of emphasis on magic, it's not that important is
   it? 
A: For the most part you only have one shot at acquiring the gift for the
   different types of magic.  And for some kinds of magic you only have one
   shot at acquiring the basic spells.  So there are parts of my walkthrough
   written specifically to emphasis collecting all the spells.  I am assuming
   that you don't want to miss out on anything.  Again - this is not needed to
   beat Emelia's scenario but is just for the type of person that likes
   collecting abilities.  Remember, everything in the side section is just that
   side stuff.  

Q: You're always talking about TimeLord, isn't he a boss from Blue's 
   scenario?
A: I'm actually surprised by how often I see stuff like this.  Yes, TimeLord
   is a boss from Blue's scenario but in every other "human" scenario (including
   Asellus) TimeLord is a recruitable character.  Once you've acquired two of 
   the lesser Magic Gifts (Shadow/Light and Rune/Arcane) you can do the TimeLord
   dungeon in the same manner as in Blue's scenario.  When you meet TimeLord he
   offers to sell you low level time spells (stupid) Or join you (good) He comes
   with Overdrive (WIN!) and is an all around decent Mystic.  I'll explain how
   to get him in detail in the sidequest section of the guide if you're
   interested.  

Q: Why don't you like Space Magic? 
A: Are you joking? I ~LOVE~ Space Magic, I love it so much that I want 
   characters who are actually good at casting it to use it.  Yes, I know 
   Kylin has all the Space spells, but he'll never be as good at it as 
   a pure mage.  If you want all the Space Magic, play Blue's scenario
   otherwise buy your characters some wicked ReverseGravity/VaporBlast
   action.

Q: You refer to certain characters as sword-users (Gen) or gun-users
   (Mei-ling.) Why is that? Can't any character learn any type of ability?
A: Yes! See the question below as well - but I will say certain characters
   have certain tendancies.  I.e. Gen learns sword skills very easily making
   him a good sword-user.  But if you want to make Gen a spellcaster then you
   can.  That's one of the reasons I love this game. 

Q: You seem to insist on recruiting a bunch of characters that you don't
   even recommend using! Why?
A: Ahh yes, enough to form a whole party: Gen, Fuse, Fei-on, Mesarthim,
   and TimeLord.  To do the Arcane Quests you'll have to recruit Gen and Fuse, 
   you CAN pass on Fei-on, and Mesarthim and TimeLord are completely optional. 
   Each character is VERY good however.  Gen is pretty much the top sword user
   in the game, Mesarthim is probably the best Mystic in the game, Fei-on is
   second only to Liza in fists, TimeLord has one of the best spells in the 
   game, and Fuse is, well just Fuse.  He's a pretty powerful all-around 
   character.  I guess I'd just feel strange passing on them though all five
   of them are completely optional and you don't need to get any of them.  But
   they all make good choices.  Also, their recruiting methods in most other 
   scenarios is very similar to how you recruit them here so learn it, live it,
   love it, and make use of them in scenarios that dont hand out great 
   characters for free :) 

   Anyway, as I have tried to stress, and cannot stress enough, USE WHO YOU 
   LIKE.  Each character has the potential to become amazing at each different
   thing so there's no reason to be a stickler to certain characters.  Even
   someone like Lute can be turned into a powerful spellcaster given enough
   time and the right setup.  So don't feel restrained by my recommendations. 
   I'm just telling you which characters I like.  

Q: What's this about the rune sword? 
A: Yes, the rune sword and the 'cockatrice' spell.  If you didn't know,
   PhantasmShot is a mystic spell that for 3 JP randomly casts a Mirage
   Magic spell.  One character in the whole game, Rei, can actually use
   Mirage Magic - but you only get her at the end of Asellus's scenario.  
   However if you equip a Rune Sword (2850 Credits - 50 ATK can be bought in 
   the Magic Kingdom) and then equip the Stasis Rune spell the Rune Sword will 
   be able to cast Cockatrice, one of the Mirage Magic spells.  This is 
   actually VERY handy as cockatrice is a pretty good spell that does nice 
   damage and can petrify enemies.  Since there's a good chance you'll be doing 
   the rune quest in this scenario and since one of only four characters who 
   can get the rune gift in this scenario is a sword user (Annie) you'll have 
   extra excuses to use the weapon.

Q: Why would I give up a weapon slot just for one spell? 
A: Remember, you can equip more then one sword, equip a Zero Sword AND a Rune
   Sword on Annie, then you can use things like Cross Slash and still be able to
   use the Rune Sword's special abilities.

Q: It's not that good, why go to all that trouble?
A: Yeah, you're right. it isn't that good, but I just think it's kind of cool
   and I like my Mirage magic :) 

Q: Care to share your Emelia stats? 

   Sure! My current playtime is 34:38 my part is as follows:

                Zozma          TimeLord          Fuse
                Roufas         Slime             Gen
                Emelia         Mei-ling          Rouge
                Asellus        Mesarthim         Annie
                Liza           White Rose        Fei-on

    For the most part Ive got pretty solid setups, though I do have a few 
    odd things - I hadnt planned to use TimeLord so he doesnt have a
    Light/Shadow gift but I actually went to the trouble of getting both Gen
    and Fuse to have the Arcane gift. My main party is very powerful and each
    character is good at just about everything.  

    Imagine Gen using guns, Annie a spellcaster, you get the idea.  Ive built
    my characters up long enough that they have a wide range of abilities in
    every skill type.  Anyway, as you may have guessed Emelia IS my favorite
    scenario - but I've seen people on the SaGa Frontier message board who have
    had files even longer then mine.  Also, since you asked, I've had this play
    data since probably 2002 or so.  

*************** ****
Mastering Magic FA01
*************** ****
Magic is tricky, as you only get one shot at each gift and once you've done it
that's it.  You can't come back later with other characters and gain the 
gifts they missed out on.  So if you want all fifteen characters (or less
if you have monsters) to have three gifts it takes some strategic planning.

I've got this section before the walkthrough itself since there are some things
in it I want you to keep in mind but I will be referring to the character
recruitment section SID01

A quick glance shows the following magic-using characters cannot be 
recruited until you've tackled some lengthy sidequests

Fuse
Gen 
Fei-on 
TimeLord

If you plan on using any of these four you must plan very specifically
what you intend to do.  Fortunately, three of them (Fuse, Gen, and Fei-on) 
can be recruited before doing the Light/Shadow gifts though it takes some
creative work to have Gen and Fuse both learn the Arcane gift (Remember
NO ONE besides Liza, Annie, and Emelia can learn the rune gift in this 
scenario) You must recruit Gen before going to IRPO but you cant complete
Wakatu until you do IRPO, see? It can be easy to get mixed up since you
normally dont pick up Gen until you're en-route to Wakatu.  Also, Gen and
Fuse can't be recruited at all until you complete the Rune sidequest which
means if you want them to have different types of magic from the
Light/Shadow school you'll have to wait.  

Finally, TimeLord CAN NOT be recruited unless one of each Light/Shadow and
Rune/Arcane is completed.  I recommend that he be given the Light gift 
as Mega Windblast is the best spell to combine with his Overdrive (Mega
Windblast is in fact the only big damage spell he can get unless you 
just want ChaosStream)

Anyway the point Im trying to make is plan when to acquire the gifts very
carefully.  Rouge and Vermillion Sand should be able to get you by in the
magic department so that no one is left without a gift.  Then again the
other thing to consider is how overboard this entire affair is.  If you
simply want to beat the scenario and dont think you'll ever play it again then
this might not be something you want to worry about

You should -however- at least keep it in mind while you're working on the 
game and try to have some plan for how you intend to learn the magic
gifts.  After all, what's the point of a Spellcaster type like TimeLord if
he doesnt have spells? 

**************** ****
Party Strategies FA02
**************** ****
I mention this elsewhere but I recommend the new player only focus on a core
party of five characters.  This will make things much easier and will take
less time as well.  However, there are benefits to having two or three
parties.  Your characters are arranged into three columns of five characters
each for a total of fifteen.  Each column represents a battle party, and 
during battle you can select which group of characters to deploy (some 
special battles, like the final boss don't allow this)

Now the parties that don't fight will have a bit of WP/JP restored which is
very nice for long dungeons like Tanzer.  So, if you decide it is worth it
to devote the time to making sure each member of your party is useful instead
of just having a collection of "tag-alongs" you may find many of the dungeons 
in the game to be more tolerable.  

*********** *****
Walkthrough WAL00
*********** *****
Alright, we're at the main menu and we want the cute blond haired girl so pick
New Game then Emelia.  We get to rename Emelia, making her one of the more
customizable characters.  So if you don't like the name Emelia, pick something
you do like.  

Make sure to setup system data OR pick system data you've already created. You
do want to get to second div eventually right? If you're like me you've got one
memory card JUST for this game with a second card for a couple backup saves. 
Anyway, I'll leave those details to you, but definately don't slouch on that
system data.  

Also, note that when it comes to skills and how to set up your party besides
some very general suggestions (like have Liza use her fists) I leave that
entirely up to you.  This walkthrough is already long enough, I don't need
to weigh it down with rehashes of skill explanations you can find in any
other guides.  Just note that for higher range skills sometimes you have
to use medium strength attacks - for instance thrust can lead to Thunder 
Thrust and Triple Thrust.  I ~BELIEVE~ the only skill that you absolutely
cannot learn from a regular attack is Haze-to-Wheel which you must learn
by using WheelSlash.  If you use the area I suggest for leveling in the
Side Quest section of the guide you shouldn't have any trouble learning
skills.  
******** * ************** *****
Part One - Despair Prison WAL01
******** * ************** *****
"It's not too bad, although it's not my taste.  I guess it's better than
nothing." Emelia enjoys the scenery of her new jail cell, so just kick back
and enjoy the introductory cutscenes - Emelia's scenario focuses more on the
story and plot development then some characters.  Something I'm sure you 
appreciate as an RPG fan :) 

You get to meet Annie who shows part of her secret lesbian side :) (Ok, ok,
wishful thinking, so sue me.) and if you check out the top right corner, 
you'll see Liza loafing about.  

Now, if you've played someone else's scenario already (particularly Blue)
you may be familiar with what you're about to face.  This dungeon and
subsequent boss are part of the Rune Magic sidequest for every one else in
the game.  Though the boss has been toned down to take into account Emelia's
relatively weak stats.  

Alright, now once the cutscenes are over you'll appear in some piping under
Emelia's room - which you can't get back to.  Let's take a moment to look 
at our heroes. 

Name: Emelia
Race: Human             Sex: Female
HP: 50                  LP: 9/9
WP: 9/9                 JP: 0/0
STR 7                   ----------            ----------
QUI: 9                  ----------            ----------
INT: 10                 ----------            ----------
WIL: 21                 ----------            ----------
PSY: 7                  ----------            ----------
VIT: 6                  SilkShirt             ----------
CHA: 32                 LeatherBoots          ----------
DEF: 6                  ----------            ----------

Name: Annie
Race: Human             Sex: Female
HP: 130                 LP: 9/9
WP: 20/20               JP: 0/0
STR: 15                 LaserKnife            StunSlash
QUI: 17                 ----------            DoubleSlash
INT: 9                  ----------            ---------- 
WIL: 18                 ----------            ----------
PSY: 15                 FiberVest             ----------
VIT: 13                 CottonShirt           ----------
CHA: 11                 LeatherGlove          ----------
DEF: 18                 Leather Boots         ----------

Name: Liza
Race: Human             Sex: Female
HP: 100                 LP: 8/8
WP: 24/24               JP: 0/0
STR: 14+5               ----------             KO Throw
QUI: 24                 ----------             Air Throw
INT: 20                 ----------             ----------
WIL: 13                 ----------             ----------
PSY: 18                 FiberVest              ----------
VIT: 12                 CottonShirt            ----------
CHA: 20                 FangAmulet             ----------
DEF: 12                 ----------             ----------

If you've already beaten at least one scenario (and have it recorded to your
system data) then Liza and Annie will get a pretty nice stat boost:

Name: Annie
Race: Human             Sex: Female
HP: 235                 LP: 9/9
WP: 37/37               JP: 0/0
STR: 25                 LaserKnife            StunSlash
QUI: 29                 ----------            DoubleSlash
INT: 12                 ----------            HardSlash 
WIL: 25                 ----------            Thrust
PSY: 20                 FiberVest             Smash
VIT: 23                 CottonShirt           Deflect
CHA: 17                 LeatherGlove          ----------
DEF: 18                 Leather Boots         ----------

Name: Liza
Race: Human             Sex: Female
HP: 180                 LP: 8/8
WP: 35/35               JP: 0/0
STR: 17+5               ----------             KO Throw
QUI: 37                 ----------             Air Throw
INT: 28                 ----------             RollingCradle
WIL: 16                 ----------             Suplex
PSY: 24                 FiberVest              RotationKick
VIT: 16                 CottonShirt            ----------
CHA: 26                 FangAmulet             ----------
DEF: 12                 ----------             ----------

Phew, ok, now that's out of the way, let's talk about the party a bit.  Liza is
the single best martial arts character in the entire game, and you get her 
from the very beginning of Emelia's scenario which is great.  Leave her be
with her fists.

Also be on the look out for the following four skills for Liza: Sliding,
Suplex, BabelCrumble, GiantSwing.  If you dont know why those are important
then just trust me, you will like what happens when you have all four of 
those skills equipped :) 

Annie is one of the better sword users in the game so if you really like her
(I personally end up using other characters that keep her out of my main 
party) then you're set.  You may want to change your party order so that it
looks more like

Annie
Liza
Emelia

Since Emelia has the lowest HP (Only a meager 50 hp) and not much in the way
of armor or defense, she'll die quickly =( 

Your item list isnt so bad though:

Backpack      (1)
Cure          (5)
PowerCure     (1)
MagicStone    (1)
FiberVest     (1)
InfraScope    (1)

Stick the FiberVest, Infrascope, and Backpack all on Emelia.  If you really
want to give Annie and Liza one cure each but try not to waste these in 
regular battles.  You'll want them for the boss - just in case.  

I believe you HAVE to have an Infrascope equipped for a later room in the 
dungeon so just keep that in mind.  Anyway, the armor should boost Emelia's
DEF up to 20 which is nice.

If you find a weapon in the dungeon (There is a bazooka we'll get for sure 
later on, but you might get lucky and find a drop) then you might want to
hold off on giving it to Emelia.  At the boss fight if Emelia has no 
weapons then she'll be given a gun for free - not a powerful one - but if you
want to focus on Emelia's natural trait as a gun user then that might be the
way to go.  Plus having her work with her fists in the early parts of the 
dungeon might help her to build up her hp which would be nice.

Ok, let's hit the road, run South to the next room. Here you need to go left,
make sure to take the pipe to your immediate left instead of falling down
to the lower level. 

From here, take the first right and swing back around, now we're on the other
side of the downward pipe with a later to our left.  Take the ladder on up.

Now you'll be above a room with some lockers and a vent cover will be open 
that will allow you to drop to the room below.  You should do so. As soon as
you drop down, Liza will drag you into a locker just before a guard comes
in.  Once he's gone you'll head out, now head to the back of the room. The
locker in the far back to the left (it would be the fourth row if you're
counting from the door) has a LightBazooka.  As soon as you take it another 
guard will come in so turn around and enter the locker right behind you
to hide.  If the guard catches you, you get kicked back to the beginning of
the room so don't let that happen.

Alright, the LightBazooka, your first extra weapon.  As I said, you might want
to hold off on giving anything to Emelia right now in case you want the free
gun later on.  If you really want to use your new toy, give it to Liza or
Annie - though they don't need it either.  The LightBazooka is a "special"
gun that doesn't allow you to use or learn any gun skills but has an
ostensibly "powerful" attack.  With an ATK: 20 and 4 Bullets it can be used
four times and is alright for the beginning of the game though I rarely use
it myself since I prefer skills (What's a LightBazooka to a gunner with
BoundShot?) 

When you're done here, just head through the door.  As soon as you come out
you'll see a large white door with a green up arrow.  Go through this to
end up in the garbage dump.  Exit the little room you're in and head to the 
west corner where you'll see a ladder going down.  Take it.   Run through
the next room to the other end and take the ladder going up.  In this big
circular room just run across to the other side and go through the door.

Now you're in a room with some ramps that lead back the way you came so ignore
them.  But do hop down. From here you want to run to the southwest and take
some stairs leading down.  

This next room is the room where you need the InfraScope.  So make sure its
equipped and go through the door. You'll see several posts with some blocked
by laser beams.  If you touch the beams you get into a fight with some tough
Mecs so be sure to avoid the beams and work your way to the other side.  
Without the InfraScope, you can't see the beams. Once through the door 
take the ladder up.  

Now, make a save in this room and head forward.  Run to the grate for a 
cutscene and...

-----------
BOSS BATTLE
Nidheg

Just before the fight if you dont have a weapon Annie says, "Oh, oh, 
something's coming.  Take this." and Emelia will automatically equip an
AGUNI-CP1.  If you've fought this boss before you'll note he's much smaller
here and consequently much weaker.  Use DoubleSlash with Annie and AirThrow
with Liza (They should combo for more damage) and just shoot with Emelia.  If
you need to heal then tap into your cures.  You can use the MagicStone if you
really want to, it doesn't matter.  

If Liza and Annie combo, they can do close to 700 damage (They should combo
unless one of them learns a skill instead) Liza's KO Throw can also do good
damage if Nidheg tries to attack her and she counters with it.  If Emelia is
still in the front and you didn't fight much on the way here then be prepared
to lose her to Nidheg's thrust.  Otherwise you should be able to beat this
easy boss with all your characters alive. Nidheg will use SuperSonic as its
last move before it does.  This attack hurts so be ready for it.
----------------------------------------------------------------

After the fight, you drop into a room with a big rock, go up the steps and
examine the rock.  A cutscene follows and the Freedom Rune is now yours. The
warden pardons you and this first chapter comes to a close.  

One very important thing to note.  In order to get the Arcane or Rune gift you
must have a character in your party while you collect each Tarot or Stone - in
other words the only three characters who can acquire the gift for Rune Magic
in Emelia's scenario are Emelia, Annie, and Liza.  Keep that in mind if you
plan on using magic later on.  Also, Mesarthim - the mermaid - comes with
the gift for Rune Magic.  Since you'll be able to recruit Asellus, Mesarthim
will gladly join you later on and she will probably be your go-to girl for
Rune Magic unless you decide to make Emelia a spellcaster.  

******** * ******* *****
Part Two - Gradius WAL02
******** * ******* *****
Cutscenes follow.  After the scenes you can talk with some Gradius people to
learn a little bit more about everything.  Liza wont let you leave HQ though.

Roufas is hanging out in the topmost room so go speak with him.  If you
pick I'm outta here you can leave and do whatever you like but you won't be
able to advance the story until you agree to work for Gradius.  It's not
so bad, you get good characters and a steady paycheck, plus you do want to
beat the game right? :) 

After picking Work for Gradius you are treated to more cutscenes.  You'll also
get to do your first target practice.  Just shoot repeatedly until the 
"training ends." You can get stats and sometimes gun skills from this so
feel free to do it whenver you want - though fighting real monsters is much
easier.  Do note that you have to go through a training session before the
start of every mission.  So you'll get to do this a few more times in the 
scenario.

Another cutscene then you're in the sewer with Annie.  This is an easy
mission as Annie can do all the work with the monsters.  You may want to 
equip the LightBazooka on Emelia now.  Two slimes rush you immedietely so
you'll need to deal with them.  Anyway, just go north and head up the 
ladder.  Yes, you are ALREADY out of the dungeon. You're standing just 
outside Dr. Nusaken's clinic (Too bad he wont join Emelia) Head up the stairs
to your left.  You may be accosted by a Pickbird or two but its no big deal.

If you don't know your way around Koorong then just head east until you
find some stairs leading up. Up the stairs the first shop is the 
restraunt that serves as a front for Gradius HQ.  Step inside. Go talk to
Roufas for a scene.  Talk to Roufas again and he'll suggest you head to 
Devin to work on the Rune Stone subquest.  Talk to him a third time and
he'll cough up some credits.  

At this point you can start recruiting characters and have a few decisions 
to make.  There are six plot characters that you can recruit - Liza, Annie,
Roufas, Asellus, White Rose, and Zozma.  Annie and Liza can both join you if
you talk to them here in the base, definately do so.  FOr Roufas you'll have
to go all the way to Shrike and talk to him inside a dungeon there.  You 
don't need to actually start the Rune Sidequest to get him though.  

If you really want to use Asellus, White Rose, or Zozma (Personally Asellus
and Zozma are two of my favorites) then stay away from any and all magic
sidequests.  Particularly if you actually go to Devin and get the rune
pebbles you'll probably get sucked into Tanzer right away which is no fun.

This is no big deal since the characters that normally become recruitable
through the Rune Stone quest either already can or wont join you.  So unless
you want Fei-on you're set.  Also note that Emelia can NOT recruit any
Mechs.  So if you really want a Mech you'll have to use a Gameshark or 
something.  Anyway, head to the southmost room (Where you started) and get
Liza.  Then head outside and talk to Annie to have her join.  We might as 
well recruit Roufas as well so head to the port and fly to Shrike.  Note that
you have to have them in your party later on (As well as Asellus, White Rose,
and Zozma) so make sure to save six slots for all those characters.

Once in Shrike, head to the southwest where Mu's Tomb is and go inside.
Roufus is lounging around in a room to the left.  Head down the steps, through
the door and through a quick passage to find him.  A brief scene ensues where
Emelia gets mad at him for not just joining earlier.  

Anyway, here are Roufas's stats

Name: Roufas
Race: Human             Sex: Male
HP: 150                 LP: 9/9
WP: 25/25               JP: 15/15
STR: 23                 SamuraiSword           HardSlash
QUI: 15                 AGUNI-CP1              SharpShot
INT: 27                 ----------             TotalShot
WIL: 24+10              ----------             MindHeal
PSY: 11                 LaserScope             Spellbound
VIT: 26                 ArmorVest              ----------
CHA: 20                 LeatherGlove           ----------
DEF: 32                 LeatherBoots           ----------

Note that Roufas already has the gift for Mind Magic, so if you use it then
he'll learn the other spells.  Also, the SamuraiSword is considered a katana
and he can learn some special katana-only techs with it.  All in all, he's
pretty tough. By the way there is a stronger katana in Mu's Tomb (not that
far in either) that you might want to think about getting now.  It's not
that big a deal if you don't want to though.             

I'm going to take a bit of a digression here so that we can take care of 
something optional since we're already in Shrike.  As you may or may not
know there are actually two Tombs in Shrike, one is Mu's Tomb where you 
are now, the other is Sei's Tomb.  In general Sei's Tomb is a completely
optional area.  We're going to pay a visit there now as you'll want to do
it later for sure and you can score some goodies to help you with the first
couple of missions.

Don't worry about your party: the four you have will be plenty strong to
handle anything that comes up. Remember, if you swing by the Street area
in Shrike you can find a hotel that restores your health for free. Anyway,
make your way to Sei's Tomb in the northeast corner.  Hop down the cliff and 
jump across the stones into the dungeon. This place is relatively easy to
navigate

To start, run down the stairs and head southeast down another set and through
a door you can find down there. In the next room go east through the next
door. Now in this room head down the steps and turn to the northwest corner
next to the steps where the floor is cracked. You'll fall down and can follow
a short path (make sure not to jump off) until you see a rusted sword
stuck in a pedestal.  Save then check the sword.

Now you'll be in a fight with two Dead Knights, these guys can be strong but
you shouldn't have any trouble.  Use your best attacks and focus on killing
one knight at a time.  Make sure to heal if you need to.  After you defeat
the two DeadKnights you'll be awarded the Murakumo sword.  With an ATK of 33
this is a nice toy to have.  Give it to Roufas or Annie.  But keep in mind
Roufas's samurai sword can learn some special techs that the Murakumo can't
use. 

Alright, now jump off this raised area and climb up the stairs along the east
side.  Once you go through the door at the top you'll be back in the room
you fell from.  If you look in the northeast corner you'll see a something. 
Head up there to find two skeletons.  Try to check the center object and
you'll be attacked by two more Dead Knights.  Use the same strategy as before
to handle them. After this fight you'll receive the Mizukagami shield. This
is a pretty powerful shield so give it to someone who you want to have nice
defense.  Give it to Emelia for now, though when you get a dedicated healer
later on you might want to transfer it. Alright, now head west out of this 
passage and take the south passage into another chamber.  Follow the corridor
and go through the other door instead of taking the stairs.

In the next room, head down the stairs to your right and follow the path 
straight up to an alcove with a strange object.  Examine the object to fight
yet another pair of Dead Knights.  When you win this fight you'll receive
the Magatama accessory.  This item isn't as nice as the sword or shield but
you'll need it later (much later) to get a powerful sword so its best to do
this now to get it out of the way.  Retreat with your goodies back out of 
the dungeon now.  Make sure to IGNORE the colored pillars in the circular
room.  Later on we'll be placing the items we just recovered there to get
one of the better swords in the game but since you're not quite ready to face
the boss that guards the sword you don't want to do that yet.

With that out of the way lets take a look at the decisions you'll need to 
make.  If you didn't already know there are two endings to the Emelia 
scenario - a "good" one and a "bad" one.  Surprisingly, the bad one is the
one that requires more work, you'll have to fight an optional boss with just
Emelia, Liza, and Annie.  So if you want to keep a seperate save here so you
don't have to do the intro stuff over again, feel free to.  You shouldn't have
a problem tackling most of Emelia's missions now as is - so if you want
Asellus we might as well continue on with the story.  If you want to work
on your party now though skip to "On the Side" by searching for SID00

Anyway - once you're ready to go meet me back here

********** * *************************** *****
Part Three - The Martial Arts Tournament WAL03
********** * *************************** *****
Regardless of whatever choices you've made, get back to Koorong and head for
the Gradius HQ.  Head to the middle room in HQ which is actually the 
Training room.  Complete training then go talk to Roufas in the upper room.  

As soon as you enter the room a cutscene will occur where Roufas will describe
the next mission for you.  You'll be heading off to Shingrow for an event that
might be familiar to you if you've already played Red's scenario.

Emelia will change into her PinkTiger outfit during the cutscene and you'll 
be entered into the "Dance" 

Now, you've got to get in line and wait until your turn to get to the desk, as
you move by the desk the person will talk to you and register you for the 
tournament.  I do not believe it is possible to win here as the in the final
round your opponent will start using SwayBack every round after you deal
a little damage to him.  

You do get access to your weapons, so you can use that LightBazooka if you
want.  Anyway, I'll leave the fighting to you. The enemies do scale to match
your level so this might be a good barometer of well you can handle yourself
with just Emelia.  Also, try to come in with only at most six skills (for the
crown if you want it) as you might be able to learn some new skills here. 

After the fighting, you'll see Joker, then you'll reappear in the main room 
with Roufas and Annie.  Talk to both of them to have them join (Remember any 
characters you recruit can't be used during the story missions but don't worry, 
you'll get them for the final boss) 

Alright, you've got your first "special" outfit now, the PinkTiger.  When you
get back to HQ you'll be able to select between all the outfits you've 
acquired.  Each outfit supposedly make's Emelia better at a certain type of
skill.  The PinkTiger outfit makes her better at martial arts.  So if you 
want to use fists in this mission go for it.

Anyway, Liza is already with you, so you've got all of Gradius trudging along.
Should be strong enough to handle anything you find. Reposition your party
as you see fit and head west. Follow the corridor to the end then go up the
stairs. 

Head up the stairs to the walkway in this room.  South leads to the 
Arena's observation box and north will get you to the throne room.  The stairs
on the other side of the walkway lead nowhere so go north. About halfway 
through this room is a set of stairs that leads down to two doors.  Take 
the southern door.

You'll be attacked by some enemies but with your party this should be no
problem, Roufas can handle them easily by himself.  After fighting the enemies
check the urn right next to the door to reveal a hidden pathway. Run down the
steps and over to the pit, check near the wall and the pit will raise making
the sword accessible (As well as a shortcut to the entrance)

The CeramicSword has an ATK of 22 and is a little better then Annie's 
LaserKnife so I always give it to her.  If you keep the LaserKnife equipped
as well however you might learn a two-sword skill so I always give her
both.  The CeramicSword is better then Roufas's SamuraiSword (ATK 19) as
well but it isnt a katana so if you want those katana skills... 

Anyway, when you're satisfied head down the corridor with the red carpeting
along the east wall.   Follow this path to its end.  In the next room is a 
robot looking thing, the boss, so save then talk to it.

-----------
BOSS BATTLE
YellowFighter(2) 
Goblin

This really is little more then a sophisticated random battle.  Just chop
through the YellowFighters then turn everything you've got on the Goblin
he'll die quickly.  Remember Emelia if you need to heal, though you shouldn't
have to.  One or two strong combos and the Goblin is finished.

Cake.
-----

After that, Emelia says something then the mission ends and you get treated
to some Joker artwork.  Fun. 

********* * ******** *****
Part Four - Baccarat WAL04
********* * ******** *****
The Baccarat mission is the one where the endings divuldge so if you've
decided to fight the optional boss make a save before moving on here if you
don't want to deal with the Martial Arts tournament again.  

If you're curious as to where you should be if you want to fight the 
optional boss then check the appendix at the end of the guide by searching
for ADXA. 

If you're running a bit low on healing items there is a Potion shop that
sells some goodies, talk to the guy outside the Port Office that is tucked
in an alley between two buildings.  But you should probably try to conserve
your cash since Emelia can do the Gold Ingot trick relatively easily when she
gets all her paychecks.  

Inside the base in the southern room is a guy in a blue hat.  Talk to him 
and he'll say something like, "You used to be a super model right?" This guy
will let you pick which outfit you want to wear, though for now you only have
regular Emelia and PinkTiger.  Don't worry, you'll get some more if you 
like playing dress-up :) 

To get your paycheck make sure to talk to Roufas BEFORE going to the Training
Hall.  If you do training then Roufas will have the next mission lined up and
you wont be able to get credits for the last mission.  This is true for the 
whole game, so make sure not to forget.

Anyway, once you're done training meet me in Roufas's room.   After the 
briefing you warp to Baccarat and Emelia is now BunnyEmelia :) This outfit
supposedly makes her a better spellcaster, though if you've just been
rushing through the scenario to get Asellus you probably don't have any
spells just yet.  After the cutscene head up the stairs and around the corner
to find Joker.  Then just follow him.  On the next floor go to the elevator
and you'll be taken to the parking lot.  Head down the ladder and SAVE! 

This is it, this is where the path divulges.  If you intend to get the bad
ending and fight the extra boss skip to WAL04-2 otherwise keep reading

******** * *********** *******
Baccarat - Good Ending WAL04-1
******** * *********** *******
Head across the passage and through a tunnel then head west. There's a passage
in the southwest you want to take.  Through that door immedietley run against
the west wall to find another passage.  Head down the ladder and go north.

In this next room (the gnome room) you'll see a cutscene.  After that just
head back out.  Yeah, that's it.  Once you've climbed back up the ladder to
the parking lot you'll get a brief scene and the mission will end, sending
you back to Koorong.

******** * ********** *******
Baccarat - Bad Ending WAL04-2
******** * ********** *******
Note that the enemies do scale in this dungeon so be ready for that.  The
good news is you might learn a new attack or two that you can use against
the boss.

The first part of this is very similar to the Good Ending.  You need to go
to the Gnome Cave (which is where you go in the Good Ending as well) so head
across the passage and through a tunnel, then head west.  You'll see a 
passage to the southwest that you want to take.  Through that door run against
the west wall and you'll find another passage.  Head down the ladder and go
north.  

Alright, you'll see a cutscene in this room.  Now whatever you do DO NOT
GO TO THE PARKING LOT as that will end the mission and lock you into the
good ending.  Instead once you've left the gnome cave, head south past
the ladder to another chamber. Go past the steps and head north through
the opening and through a doorway into another chamber.  Follow this chamber
southwest.  Before you go through the door to the next passage SAVE! You're
about to meet the boss.

Once you enter the next room, Emelia will walk towards the center and "You
fell for it, monster-bait!!" will scrawl across the screen.  Then you'll
be in battle. 

-----------
BOSS BATTLE
Gargantu

Gargantu looks meaner then he really is.  But as I say throughout the guide,
boss fights can be very subjective in this game.  The enemies in the dungeon
may very well have given you more trouble then he will since they scale.

You probably don't need to worry about offensive buffs, just launch your
best attacks - particularly if you know they combo well.  He has less then
4500 HP so theoretically one strong combo can kill him.  If you glanced
at the Appendix then you are seeing a group that can successfully do this.

And that group only had spent about twenty five minutes leveling.  But if
you come in with substandard weapons and equipment this boss might
be very difficult.  

Something to keep in mind, while his defense is low and he dies easily, he
also has STRONG attacks, so if he is faster then you, you might have
trouble killing him.
--------------------

For your trouble, you will receive a PurpleEye which is a fairly nice
accessory.  If you like it, more can be purchased in Manhatten. You can
talk to Annie and Liza, then you just need to leave and go back to the
parking lot.  Mission accomplished.  Once in the parking lot, you'll
see a scene then get sent back to Koorong.  

********* * ******************* *****
Part Five - Trinity Base Part 1 WAL05
********* * ******************* *****
If you've been rushing through the scenario to get Asellus then don't worry,
she's coming up.  Make sure to get your paycheck and save before starting
the mission.  If you've skipped doing sidequests then the next dungeon will
be difficult (but by no means impossible.) 

Before you start this mission you may want to collect the Murakumo and 
CeramicSword from whoever has them (unless you've already powered up from
doing the optional Baccarat boss) as the weapons that Asellus and Zozma
will come with are somewhat substandard.  

Train then go to Roufas, you actually have to talk to him this time instead of
just entering the room to get the mission briefing.  Some extended cutscenes
will follow, so sit back and enjoy.

Emelia will be in her dancer outfit which apparently makes her better with 
swords, this could be your big moment :) Check out Asellus and White Rose
dancing in the southeast corner.  How'd they land that job? 

As soon as you get control of Emelia run south and make sure to TALK to
Asellus and White Rose.  You have to talk to them to get them to join.  When
you talk to them a fight ensues and it can be difficult, so be sure to save
before talking to them.  Remember White Rose knows StarlightHeal if you 
get beat up.  Neither of them have anything in their MysticSwords so you 
might be able to absorb the enemies.  Remember Asellus has to go through
Mystic Change before she can absorb enemies.

Anyway, here are Asellus and White Rose's stats - There will be SLIGHT
variations depending on what gains you receive in the battle just before
they join.

Name: Asellus
Race: Half-Mystics      Sex: Female
HP: 168                 LP: 8/8
WP: 20/20               JP: 20/20
STR: 27                 FiendRod               StunSlash
QUI: 21                 ----------             ----------
INT: 15                 ----------             ----------
WIL: 13+9               ----------             ----------
PSY: 39                 ShadeRobe              MysticSword
VIT: 16                 SilkShirt              ----------
CHA: 27                 LeatherBoots           ----------
DEF: 15                 ----------             ----------

Name: White Rose
Race: Mystics           Sex: Female
HP: 167                 LP: 8/8
WP: 16/16               JP: 38/41
STR: 16                 ----------             Fascination
QUI: 18                 ----------             PhantasmShot
INT: 25                 ----------             StarlightHeal
WIL: 19                 ----------             FlashFlood
PSY: 25                 MysticMail             MysticSword
VIT: 15                 FlowerAmulet           ----------
CHA: 28                 ----------             ----------
DEF: 24                 ----------             

White Rose also knows SunRay and FlashFire as well as having the gift for
Mystic Magic as all Mystics do.  Remember you can't remove her MysticMail. 
She will be fine attacking with her MysticSword for now, don't worry about
it.  

Asellus has the gift for Mystic Magic but no spells, you won't be able to
learn Mystic Spells with her unless you decide to do the TimeLord quest much
later.  Hopefully you haven't done it already, because once you go to 
Fascinaturu once, you can't go back.  

If you've never used Asellus before, you might not be clear on what it is that
she does.  In battle she functions as a completely normal human, learning 
skills and everything.  The only difference is she can has the gift of 
mystic magic which no human can acquire.  She also can learn the three mystic
attacks MysticSword, MysticBoots, and MysticGlove.  If she uses one of these
three attacks in battle (She can choose to have all, some, or none of them 
equipped) then she will undergo "Mystic Change" After she undergoes Mystic
Change she gets access to the stat bonuses of the monsters in her equipped
abilities as well as any powers derived from those monsters.  This makes her
the most versatile character in the game as well as the personal favorite
of many people including me.  If you plan on using her then enjoy! 

As far as White Rose goes, remember, Mystics can only equip four spells. They
can learn new magic if they have the gift for that type of magic but they can
not learn attacks from weapons or their fists.  They get access through 
special monster abilities via whatever is absorbed in their mystic skills. 
Also they don't get stat boosts from battle, but do get bonuses based on what
is absorbed in their weapons.  Some people don't like Mystics, personally I 
enjoy them.

Note Asellus's FiendRod, it's "Final Strike" power will destroy the weapon in
order to launch a strong attack on an enemy.  It's probably not a good idea to
use Final Strike.  Also, Asellus's ShadeRobe will allow you to heal in battle
which is nice.  You might want to swap out White Rose's FlashFlood for 
FlashFire which is more useful.  

One final thing about Asellus, you probably already have a good idea of how
to develop your characters - Roufas and Annie are sword users - Emelia uses
guns - Liza has fists and so on.  Obviously you dont have to stick with
characters natural tendancies at all.  Anyway, combining Asellus's mystic
skills with Gun/Sword/Fist attacks is really very cool but here's something
else to fathom.  Asellus is the single most versatile spellcaster outside
of Blue's scenario.  Why? Asellus can learn the Light/Shadow gift has the
Mystic Gift, can learn the Arcane/Rune gift, and the MIND GIFT. Yes, no other
character can combine both the Mystic and Mind gifts.  This means that 
Asellus can get four gifts whereas most other characters can ONLY get
three gifts (The exceptions of course - Blue in his own scenario and Rei who
can learn Mirage, Light/Shadow, Mystic, and Arcane/Tarot but Rei is only in
Asellus's scenario) Light's Mega Windblast and Space's ReverseGravity should
do nicely for big damage spells.  Anyway, just consider it - Asellus is good
at lots of things. 

Alright, let's go get Zozma, especially if you've been rushing, you'll need his
help.  After saving, head east and up the stairs you find.  On this floor
head west.  Ignore the first door and head into the second one.  You'll have
to fight some monsters then go talk to the guard.  He is revealed to be 
Zozma and he promptly joins you.  And he is an ASSET.  

Name: Zozma
Race: Mystics           Sex: Male
HP: 400                 LP: 9/9
WP: 40/40               JP: 30/30
STR: 19+15              FiendRod               RavaShot
QUI: 24                 ----------             PainDoubler
INT: 26+25              ----------             DeathCurse
WIL: 11+42              ----------             ----------
PSY: 32                 MysticMail             MysticSword (LiquidMetal)
VIT: 13                 Magicwear              MysticGlove (Slime)
CHA: 30                 ----------             MysticBoots (Basilisk)
DEF: 27                 ----------             

Zozma also knows SharpPain (Evil) Fascination, PhantasmShot, and GlassShield 
(all mystic) Note that he does know Evil magic and is the only character in
the game which does.  He does not have the gift for evil magic so these
four spells are the only ones you can use of that type.  I don't find it
terribly useful besides the cool factor, though PainDoubler can be pretty
handy.  Anyway, once your spells are setup the way you like, you should be
good to go.  Zozma will make battles around here much easier.

Now to get out of here, leave the room and head west.  There should be a
staircase you can use to descend to the bottom floor.  Do so.  There's an
elevator you can take.  Then follow the corridor east until you see a mech.

Make sure to SAVE.  This is a boss fight and it can give you trouble if you've
been rushing.  Use Zozma's TidusWave (You havent been absorbing crappy monsters
I hope) get Asellus to MysticChange and cast FlashFire with White Rose. Use the
Magic Stone if you still have it. Otherwise use the bazooka. The goal
is to kill as fast as possible, the mechs can combo which will cause 
you no end of trouble.  WhiteRose's FlashFire - if it gets off - should
drop the WaspMechs and Zozma can kill the last enemy with his TidusWave. Unless
you get really unlucky and lose WhiteRose before she manages to kill the
WaspMechs you should be fine.

After that go through the door the mech was guarding for a brief scene, then
leave and keep following the passage east.  Follow the passage to the 
east and take the stairs down, then head east again.  Take the elevator
down then head all the way west (The door just doubles back if you were
curious) 

In the next room you'll get a scene and the mission will end.

Alright, at this point you should start doing the sidequests if you haven't
already.  The only reason to wait this long was so that you could recruit
Asellus, White Rose, and Zozma.  The next mission isn't very difficult at 
all by the way, so if you want the last outfit (Commando Emelia one of my
favorites) then go ahead and do it.  Just be sure to avoid the enemies in
the base as they won't be fun with a weak Emelia.  

******** * ******************* *****
Part Six - Trinity Base Part 2 WAL06
******** * ******************* *****
This mission always used to get me because there is a VERY POWERFUL mech
that scales to your level that can kill Emelia in like two hits lounging
around one of the paths that you need to take to get to where you need
to be in this area.  (Actually it's the shortest path) The big trick is
though that you don't need to fight it at all! 

Anyway, once you've gotten your paycheck from the last mission and done your
training go talk to Roufas.  You'll see a cutscene then Emelia will decide
to infiltrate Trinity Base MGS style. Once you get control of Emelia, climb
down the ladder and head down the path to the south entrance.  Follow the
corridor and take the west stairs (If you're curious about the tough
mech and the shortcut just head up two flights of stairs.  Anyway, if 
you want to fight him, that's your business.) 

In the next room keep heading down the stairs.  The door leads to a room
with a mimic treasure that can clobber you even if you're built up.  I 
just pass it up, there's nothing worthwhile inside.  Anyway, head down the
steps and around the passage to a door that leads to another part of the
base.  From here head west.  In the next room go up the stairs with the
red light overhead. This will drop you off at an elevator that was
broken before and you should be in familiar territory.  Head to the room
one west over. In this room take the elevator up and head east.  Go into the
office and you'll meet Mondo and get a cutscene.  Mondo will give you an 
AngelBroach which is one of the better accessories in the game.  When you
get control of Emelia talk to your team and they'll join you. Now head back
the way you came.  In the room with the red light above the staircase there 
is an exit in the southwest corner that ends the mission and takes you
back to Koorong. 

Cake! 

Now, listen very closely.  You will DIE as you are if you haven't spent any
time building up yet.  The final boss will kill you.  Your characters will
suffer in terrible agony.  That is unless you spend time doing the sidequests.

If you've done most of the stuff I list to be done on the side already then
you should be fine.  But if you haven't, there is still a lot of gaming left
to do and a lot to prepare for.  Hopefully you're close to the 10,000 credits
or so you need to do the ingot trick (you should be.) Remember the ingot
trick can be done with as little as 7500 credits but the more you have
when you start it the less time-consuming it will be.  

If you talk to Roufas, he gives you the last paycheck.  Talk to him again
and he gives you the choice to start the final mission DONT START IT YET.  


-Quick jump to the Sidequest Section with SID00

********** * ******** *****
Part Seven - Yorkland WAL07
********** * ******** *****
DO NOT SAVE ONCE YOU START THIS MISSION!
DO NOT SAVE ONCE YOU START THIS MISSION!
DO NOT SAVE ONCE YOU START THIS MISSION!

Got it? Ok, so you can save, but just not over the only game file you have.
Once you go to Yorkland you CAN NOT GO BACK.  If Diva is too strong for you
then your entire game will be wasted.  Don't forget this. 

Before you go off, are you sure you're ready? All characters should have at 
a minimum 700 HP.  I wouldnt go near Diva with anything less then 50 DEF. 
Every character should be able to heal somehow, even if its just one potion.
Defensive buffs like Shield Tarot are nice as well but not necessary. 

My entire strategy is based on using the DSC - at least Liza should have it
by now.  If she doesn't then get back to leveling.  No joke, Diva has a heck
of a lot of hp and the DSC is the best way to kill it. Hopefully, you've got
something better then a 7 point attack - LifeSprinkler is nice.  BoundShot
of course - your gunner would probably make a good support character with
StarlightHeal and a backpack for backup.   If you have a katana like
SilverMoon then Katana techs like Tres Flores are nice.  Any big damage
spells work good: Mega Windblast, Vermillion Sands, and ReverseGravity. If 
you decide to use TimeLord then make sure to give him a backpack and 
Light Sword in addition to whatever big damage spell and overdrive you use.
The Light Sword spell will give him a strong attack after Overdrive has 
sucked his WP and JP and the backpack will make him a little more useful. You
should have MaxCures all around.  

When you're sure you're ready talk to Roufas and say Ready! You'll appear
in a jungle area (near Yorkland) This area is easy to navigate just keep 
heading east. Don't drain yourselves on the random monsters.  If you 
have other teams that can handle themselves, let them get a workout and
leave your main group of five rested. Three screens in or so you'll
run across a bridge with a mini-boss guarding it.  If you've got a
SanctuaryStone feel free to go all out on him, otherwise play it safe.  

The miniboss will start with power save which will boost his strength and
he can probably kill a character in one to two hits as he can deal upwards
of 600 damage.  Fortunately he doesn't have that much HP so you should be
able to kill him easily enough.  If he is difficult for you then you will
die on Diva.  Three or four scenes after this, you'll be treated to a bit
of dialogue by Emelia.  Head east once more and you'll be at the Church.  

SAVE BEFORE YOU GO INSIDE - but not over your slot from before you started
the mission.  Don't forget.

Inside you'll see a cutscene and Emelia will put on the WeddingDress.  After
the cutscene you'll be in a fight with...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FINAL BOSS
DIVA

This is it! Diva has multiple forms that you'll have to hack through so stay
on your toes.  You should have a routine down by now, spend the first round
activating any buffs you want to then in the second round launch an all out
assault on Diva.  You may want to save enough WP for the DSC until after 
Diva changes forms though.  

The best way to damage Diva is with combos and the DSC.  Dont use moves
that you know dont combo well.  I am rather fond of LifeSprinkler + 
ReverseGravity which seems to combo well for me and can deal close to 10k
damage.  

Diva's first form is that of a sort of floating statue with a humanoid torso
and a bunch of weapons.  This form has multiple lightning attacks that it 
shoots at you and yes it does get multiple attacks per turn.  So keep your
health up.  I'd say if you drop to 300 you should heal but be aware of how
much damage Diva does in relation to your max HP.  This form can also 
paralyze you which is highly frustrating.  I'm not sure when it changes
forms, but after you do considerable damage to it to say the least.  Also
stay on your toes for its Death Gaze which can instantly kill.  

After you do enough damage it will change forms and point its axe in the
direction of your party.  At this point it will begin using some really
nasty stuff and has a wide variety of monster attacks it uses on you:
Tornado, HeatSmash, GroundHit - so its hard to have protection from any one
specific property. 

Diva has one of the largest HP totals of any final boss in the game, I believe
its supposed to be somewhere in excess of 100,000 so it will take a while
to beat all of that HP out of Diva.  But just keep your attacks up and keep
healed.  Don't let Diva force you into competing to keep people alive.  You've
got to hold the advantage.  

The fight is grueling if for no other reason then because of how long Diva 
takes to die.  But with the proper stats you WILL prevail.  If you don't
think you are ready then level up some more.  Even if you do get killed
you'll have a better idea of what you face.  Good luck!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After Diva dies you'll get to see the ending cutscene.  If you've got the
good ending then you'll finally know the truth.  If you got the bad ending
then you should play the good ending - its easier :P 

Note - if this happens to be the last scenario you need to beat in order to
get to 2nd Div then you'll spawn in 2nd Div in the wedding dress! If you're
not quite at 2nd Div yet then you've got your work cut out for you. You can
always keep your save file around and after you make it to 2nd Div with
someone else you can come back and kill Diva again.  Well, if you're a total
Emelia fanboy like me that's what you would do...

*********** *****
On the Side SID00
*********** *****
This section is designed to be followed as a walkthrough to be read in order
however you can skip to various parts of the section if you want.  

*********** * ********************* *****
On the Side - Character Recruitment SID01
*********** * ********************* ***** 
As you're looking through this section and thinking about which characters
to recruit keep in mind that if Tanzer is attempted (And you must beat him
as well as the other rune quest to unlock a few characters) with less then
15 characters you will be FORCED to recruit Slime who joins you automatically
so if you really want characters like Fuse, Gen, and TimeLord in your party
you would be well advised to keep this in mind.  

I mention this first only because people are curious.  I think the best
way to play is to develop a core group of five characters.  That being the
case I have two party recommendations (Though I encourage you to use whoever
you like) 

Good Ending:
Zozma
Asellus
Roufas
Liza
Emelia

Bad Ending:
Annie
Liza
Roufas
Emelia
Rouge

Both these parties are powerful but if you're shooting for the bad ending
you'll want to power up before Asellus and Zozma become available.  Anyway
just keep that in mind while you're looking through who all can be recruited.
Alright, let's get down to business.  I assume you're either coming here
before taking on the Martial Arts Tournament or AFTER getting Asellus at
the Trinity Base.  In either case, presumably you want to know who you
can recruit for your party.  

First thing's first - remember Koorong lets you get to more places then 
any other town and the only way to get to Nelson is by going through Owmi
which you must get to by leaving from Koorong.  You'll grow fond of Nelson
I suspect.  It seems that even if you start the Arcane Tarot quest you still
wont be able to recruit Gen (I could have SWORN this was possible but
in my last playthrough I wasnt able to do so *shrug*) So you'll have to put
the swordmaster off until later when he's useless.  Regardless, you might as
well go to Scrap.  You can recruit Mei-Ling, Lute, and Riki if you want.

Name: Lute
Race: Human             Sex: Male
HP: 80                  LP: 10/10
WP: 10/10               JP: 0/0
STR: 7                  Knife                  ----------
QUI: 4                  ----------             ----------
INT: 10                 ----------             ----------
WIL: 2                  ----------             ----------
PSY: 13                 Yolk Hat               ----------
VIT: 4                  HardLeather            ----------
CHA: 18                 CottonShirt            ----------
DEF: 20                 ----------             ----------

Comment: Just another fighter, don't bother unless you really like him or 
really like Thunder

Name: Mei-ling
Race: Human             Sex: Female
HP: 70                  LP: 10/10
WP: 9/9                 JP: 16/16
STR: 3                  AGUNI-SSP              SharpShot
QUI: 8                  ----------             SunRay
INT: 12                 ----------             StarlightHeal
WIL: 7                  ----------             ----------
PSY: 16                 FiberVest              ----------
VIT: 7                  SilkShirt              ----------
CHA: 10                 LeatherGlove           ----------
DEF: 18                 LeatherBoots           ----------

Comment: Supposedly good with guns and magic.  Some people like her, I don't
see where you need her with all the other good story characters you have. Has
a connection to Fei-on so might be worth getting because of that

Name: Riki
Race: Lummox            Sex: Neutral
HP: 72                  LP: 10/10
WP: 16/16               JP: 12/12
STR: 8                  ----------             Tail
QUI: 8                  ----------             TailHit
INT: 8                  ----------             Heal
WIL: 8                  ----------             ----------
PSY: 8                                         ----------
VIT: 8                                         ----------
CHA: 8                                         ----------
DEF: 6                                         ----------

Comment: Its nice that he starts with heal but his form sucks.  Recruit if you
dont want Lute.  Or just skip him because you dont like monsters, like me.  

Alright, now head over to the junk shop.  If you want to do the junk shop
trick you might as well do it now.  You'll end up with enough credits for the 
ingot trick most likely, though it is time consuming

Alright, here's how it works.  Pay to get three items (300 Credits) then talk
to the guy again and choose selling.  Now try to sell a HyperionBazooka, yes
I know you dont have one, but do it anyway.  The game will beep at you since 
you dont have one.  Now go inside to get your items.  YOu can get 7 items
instead of three.  Once you get your 7 items try to sell a bazooka again and
repeat ad nauseum.

For some reason, when you sell 20 repair kits or so the items inside will
start upgrading.  Eventually you can get things like Warlord Armor and some
other goodies.  But the real goal is to get enough junk to take back to 
Shrike and sell for a tidy profit.  Anyway, I guess this is a bug so if you
don't like abusing bugs then skip this part.  Remember you can sell swords
in Shrike and armor in Koorong.  

A few notes on the Junk Shop

Sometimes it costs 600 credits instead of 300 credits.  I believe the amount
charged by the Shopkeeper is based on the items you receive.  I seem to recall
him once charging me 1,000 credits as well.  But this was when I was much
higher level.  It seems to be based on

A. How many credits you have
B. What level you are

So if he charges more, that's good :) It might be easier to get the better
items.  It also seems that it doesnt matter how MANY repair kits to sell just
as long as you try to sell them.

Anyway, I definately noticed the difference when I had more credits so try
getting swords and taking them to Shrike to sell.  This can be a lot of 
trouble without the region map though :( 

A bunch of other FAQs describe the Junk Shop better then me, so if you 
want to look at a Scrap guide go for it. ~again~ If you don't 
like using bugs then you might want to skip the Junk Shop though I tell you
if you want to use gunners then you will want to get LethalGuns this way
otherwise you might never EVER see a LethalGun anywhere. 


When you're done, head back to Koorong via the port.  If you want Thunder (and
you recruited Lute) fly to Yorkland.  

Name: Thunder
Race: Ogre              Sex: Neutral
HP: 228                 LP: 10/10
WP: 36/36               JP: 28/28
STR: 25                 ----------             BoltBreath
QUI: 11                 ----------             GroundHit
INT: 16                 ----------             Dash
WIL: 12                 ----------             Feint
PSY: 20                                        ----------
VIT: 24                                        ----------
CHA: 6                                         ----------
DEF: 16                                        ----------

Comment: Not a bad first form, a pity you need Lute to get him.  If you don't
like Lute and want a monster just stick with Riki.  

There is yet -ANOTHER- monster you can recruit, Cotton.  Cotton is apparently
an IRPO agent so you may not want to get him until you've recruited someone
from IRPO (I believe Silence doesnt have a scene, so that means you'd need
Fuse who you wont be able to get for a long time) Anyway, Cotton is in the
Bio Research Lab.  Enter the lab and head south and up the staircase.  In
the next area head up the steps and into the topmost room.  Check the shelf to
find a door, pass through it and down the ladder.

Follow the corridor south and keep going west.  See the red door north of you?
That's where you want to be.  Pass to the next area.  Head up the stairs
and through the door. Inside you'll see a scene then will be attacked by
some enemies.  They shouldn't be too difficult.  As I mentioned if you have
someone from IRPO you'll see an extra bit of dialogue with Cotton but if you're
following this to the letter, you won't have anyone yet. After the fight 
Cotton automatically joins you.  - Obviously dont do this unless you WANT
Cotton :) 

Name: Cotton
Race: Tidi              Sex: Neutral
HP: 228                 LP: 7/7
WP: 46/46               JP: 20/20
STR: 16                 ----------             Assist
QUI: 31                 ----------             Heal
INT: 12                 ----------             Needles
WIL: 22                 ----------             Supersonic
PSY: 13                                        ----------
VIT: 16                                        ----------
CHA: 21                                        ----------
DEF: 24                                        ----------

Comment: He's alright.  I only use him in Red's scenario.  What can I say?
Just another monster.  

Once you've settled on a monster (If you want one at all) head on over to
Luminous.  If you REALLY like magic, Rouge is your man.  Talk to him and tell
him you ARE searching for the gift.  He is an EXCELLENT spellcaster.  

Name: Rouge
Race: Human             Sex: Male
HP: 125                 LP: 7/7
WP: 0/0                 JP: 30/30
STR: 9                  ----------             EnergyChain
QUI: 19                 ----------             Implosion
INT: 29                 ----------             PsychoArmor
WIL: 24+5               ----------             Gate
PSY: 26+5               MasterRobe             ----------
VIT: 8                  Magicwear              ----------
CHA: 14                 ----------             ----------
DEF: 14                 ----------             ----------

Comment: The only character who has the gift of Realm Magic - one of the better
types of magic.  Naturally an excellent spellcaster and a good choice for any
party period.  Note his "Gate" spell this spell can not be used in battle
and does absolutely nothing besides occupy a skill slot.  Helpful for getting
a Magic Crown before you have enough spells to fill up his list.  This is
apparently supposed to represent the spell used in conjunction with the 
RegionMap from Blue's Scenario.  

If you go to the Magic Kingdom Rouge will leave you though he can be
picked up again from Devin or Luminous.  

And while we're on the subject of the Magic Kingdom I feel I should point
something out.  Since Rune Magic is more or less a topic of discussion in
Emelia's scenario you may want to consider picking up some Rune Swords
from the Magic Kingdom's weapon/item shop.  The Rune Sword is an 
interesting blade at 2850 credits.  It has 50 ATK which makes it pretty 
strong (though obviously the 60 ATK Zero Sword will give superior performance)
but what makes it really interesting are its innate powers.  When equipped
it gives the wielder access to the Victory Rune regardless of whether that
character has the Victory Rune equipped.  Now here's where things get
interesting - if you equip the Stasis Rune at the same time then the Rune
Sword will get a SECOND power - the Mirage Spell Cockatrice.  Between getting
Asellus (easy Mesarthim recruiting) and the very real possibility that you'll
be tackling the Rune Quest this might be something to consider for any of
your four characters that can get the rune gift.  

Also you cant go wrong with buying EnergyChain for your non-mystic magic using
spellcasters.  So you may want to make a trip or two to the Magic Kingdom
at some point.  

There is one other character you can recruit in Luminous - Silence. To get 
Silence, you'll need to acquire the Shadow Magic gift with Emelia - if you 
want her to have the Light Magic gift she will NOT be able to recruit 
Silence.  Anyway - following is a guide for the Shadow Magic dungeon so if you
don't want Silence (A mystic, you dont NEED him, but for completeness's sake) 
just ignore this next part.

Head through the door's of Luminous's Port and go to the northeast corner to
enter the Shadow Magic Sanctuary.  Talk to the person there and ask about
the gift of Shadow Magic.  They'll ask if you want to go to Omble, agree and
travel there.  Anyone with LightMagic (White Rose, Mei-ling) will not travel
with you. Note the man standing in the corner to your right as you enter the
dungeon.

Head west and up towards the steps (Not the ones to the door, but under
the bridge) There you'll find Silence's shadow.  Talk to him and offer to
help out.  Once you do this you'll be able to recruit Silence when you
beat Omble.  If you dont get Silence's Shadow now you will NEVER BE ABLE TO
RECRUIT SILENCE.  THis is important so don't forget it. 

Anyway, head back around and over to the bridge and go through the door along
the northwest corner.  Now you'll find the shadows of monsters and will have
to fight them. Head west and up the steps to the south.  Cross the bridge
and go up the west steps to another room.

Now head west along the bottom of the room and swing around into a spiral
hall.  Follow the hall into the next room where you'll see lots of shadows.
The goal here is to find your shadow and send it to the next room by touching
its feet.  

Emelia's can be kind of hard to recognize but do your best.  Once you've got
it moved, get out of there.  Go back to the first room that you entered after
crossing the bridge and head all the way north.  Now you'll be in the room
next to the shadow room and any shadows you sent over will be here.  Try to
find yours (if you sent more then one) and again touch its feet. When you do
that head north.  Now you'll be in a boss fight against the shadows of your
party.  They have identical stats to you so hopefully you know who the 
biggest threat is.  I cant offer much strategy here so I hope you know your
party.  The fight SHOULD be easy though since if you attack first with your
best attacks you will probably kill the shades.

When you win you will leave the dungeon, get any characters you left behind
back and everyone who was with you now has the gift for Shadow Magic.  Go up
to Silence and he automatically joins.

Name: Silence
Race: Mystics           Sex: Male
HP: 150                 LP: 8/8
WP: 25/25               JP: 20/20
STR: 21+31              HandBlaster            PhantasmShot
QUI: 19+17              ----------             ----------
INT: 16+14              ----------             ----------
WIL: 11+22              ----------             ----------
PSY: 24+23              MysticMail             MysticSword (Unknown)
VIT: 16                 ----------             MysticGlove (Gunfish)
CHA: 23+9               ----------             MysticBoots (Platoonpus)
DEF: 23                 ----------             

Comment: Well, I WOULDN'T get him, but I like Light Magic much more then 
Dark Magic and prefer to get that with Emelia.  With all the Mystics you
already have (and with the ones you can still get) he is pretty useless.  But
if you really like Mystics go for it.  He does have the IRPO Weapon the 
HandBlaster which is an interesting toy.

That actually just about does it for recruitable characters.  There are still
several you can get but to get them you will have to do some complicated
side quests.  Theoretically you can get Mesarthim but you have to fight your
way past a tough boss to get to her and you probably aren't strong enough to
handle him yet.  Still, you can grab her before you start the rune quest if
you like.  You'll need to buff up to deal with the Tanzer boss anyway.  

******** * ****************** *****
Addendum - Luminous Labyrinth LUM00
******** * ****************** *****
Alright, we've got a walkthrough of Omble right here, but not Luminous
Labyrinth.  If you plan on getting TimeLord, you probably won't want to
do this for a LONG time yet but here's the guide to the Labyrinth anyway. 

From Luminous's port, there is a small passage to the west next to the Light
Magic shop.  Go there and you'll be in an area with a Priestess.  Talk to her
and she will allow you to challenge Luminous Labyrinth.  Shadow Magic users
will not be able to travel with you to the Labyrinth (nor will mechs and
monsters) but everyone else who can travel to the Labyrinth with you will
be rewarded Light Magic.  Don't worry, it's an easy dungeon and you can even
score some extra goodies.  

Once you enter the Labyrinth follow the light beam into the next room.  Here
you'll see the light being directed by refractors.  The goal is to turn the 
light so that it points at the door.  Go forward and hit the first refractor
to turn the light around the other corner.  Now go up to the second refractor
that is now receiving the beam of light and flip it.  This will open the door. 

In the next room, you'll have to collect a light disc and move it to help
direct the light.  Follow the beam forward to the disc and grab it. Then
follow the beam forward and you'll see another stand for the disc - ignore
this stand, its a decoy.  Head south and you should see another disc stand
near the bottom of the room, place the disc there. Head north from the stand to
the refractor the light is running through.  Flip it. This will turn the light
beam backwards towards the disc.  There are two refractors near the disc,
one point the beam towards the wall and the other pointing it around the 
corner to the back of the room. Flip both these refractors.  Now the door is
open.  

We're almost done but this room is a bit trickier then the others. As you can
see the light is being colored by various plates.  The goal is to point a
specific color at the triangle pattern in the front of the room.  Different
colors lead to different results: 

White Light: Exit
Red Light: Fight strong enemies
Blue Light: Fight regular enemies
Purple Light: Receive a Sanctuary Stone
Teal Light: Moonlight Robe
Yellow Light: 400 credits 

I assume you want the goodies so the first thing you should do is go to the
north room.  Flip the green light refractor and this should turn the blue
light refractor teal.  Now flip that refractor and teal light is shining
on the triangle.  Go to the triangle to get the robe.  Now head to the
southeast corner where there is a light disc.  Grab it. Also flip the
refractor that was pointing the light beam at the disc.  This will make the
light hitting the triangle yellow, so go get your credits.  Remember this
setup, all you have to do now is put the light disc on the stand in front of
the red screen to open the exit. Now, flip the green refractor, then place the
disc on the stand in front of the red screen.  This will turn the light
purple and you'll be able to get the Sanctuary Stone.  If you get any one
treasure here, get the Sanctuary Stone.  After that, flip the green refractor
again and you'll open the exit.  Enjoy your door prizes and light magic
gift :) 

*********** * ************** *****
On the Side - Where to level SID02
*********** * ************** *****

So let's talk for a minute about leveling.  First off, how are you doing on 
credits? If you've done the Scrap trick you'll be ready to do the Gold Ingot
trick.  If you didn't do the Scrap trick because you dont like cheating then
you will NOT be ready to do the Gold Ingot trick.  I advise doing the Ingot
Trick even if you dont like taking advantage of bugs.  You dont get much money
from battles and sitting around fighting until you have enough money for
decent equipment is really no fun at all.  On the assumption that you need
to do some leveling though I'll take you to my leveling spot.

Save and make sure your party is positioned the way you want.  If you're 
curious my Emelia dream team is Zozma, Asellus, Liza, Roufas, and Emelia so
all this recruiting we just did would have been for naught in my case :) 

Head to Shrike and go to the Bio Research Lab.  This is the best place in the
entire game for leveling up on random battles.  There is one room specifically
that I like to use.

Go through the middle door along the eastern wall and you'll be in a circular
room with a...something... in the middle.  This room has three scientists. 
When you talk to them they turn into mystic type enemies for your killing
pleasure.  The nice thing about this room is that the mystic type enemies
you face offer no real surprises insofar as status effects and the like are
concerned.  They are strong, no question about it, but they wont hex you to 
death with crap spells so if you use your strongest attacks you are sure
to win.  When you get tired head back to town to heal in the Inn for free.

Eventually the enemies max out and wont get any stronger, but you'll find
enemies like DarkFairies regularly and that means the shot for a SilverMoon
Sword - the SilverMoon an ATK 69 Katana is one of the best weapons in the
game.  But you wont get those for awhile, you need to build up quite a bit
first. The Zyphons (which are the strongest type of enemy that appear here)
also drop WindShells which are VERY nice accessories.  So be on the look out
for both of those items.  

I will leave this to you, the building up aspect.  I will say that I like to
have around 500 hp for Emelia before tackling the fifth mission and maybe
closer to 700 hp before the final boss.  But I always liked doing battles in
this game so it didnt seem like such a chore to level up.  

Also for skills: 

Sword users should have at least a 7 WP attack - those and anything higher 
are strong enough for end game

Gun users should have BoundShot and TwoGun

Spellcasters need one big damage spell: Vermillion Sands for Rouge and
Mega Windblast for others.  You can also buy ReverseGravity later on but
that will be much later after you've done all of the rune quest.  

Martial Artists - remember the four skills I mentioned to get for Liza, this
goes for any fist user.  You will be happy :) 

Anyway, now that you've got the leveling spot down let's deal with the money
issue.  You need roughly 7500 credits to do the GOld Ingot Trick.  Once you
have enough credits, fly to Nelson via Owmi.  Talk to the guy in the bar
who will sell you gold ingots.

Buy as many as you can carry then hotfoot it back to Koorong.  Now, when you
sell a gold ingot the price on the next one goes down, see? Well, sell ingots
until the price is 520 credits.

Head back to Nelson, stock back up with the money you made, and return to
Koorong.  Now try to sell ALL your ingots.  Eventually it will get to 0 credits
but keep moving the selector until all your ingots are up for sale.  Do NOT
hit the transaction button, instead press up to reduce the number of
ingots you are selling.  The price will go up! Eventually you'll get back to
the max price.  Sell back down to 520 credits, return to Nelson for more
credits and repeat the process.  This is time consuming but eventually you'll 
be able to make in excess of 50,000 credits.  Apparently the trick glitches up
if you try to make more then 50k so be warned.  Use all this money to buy
weapons and armor.  Here is eq that I like

Zero Sword (ATK 60) - Buy from Nelson
Lethal Gun (ATK 60) - Scrap Junk Shop
ExcelShield - Scrap Junk Shop
MaxCure - Koorong Potion Shop
Warlord Armor (DEF 32) - Buy from Nelson/Scrap Junk Shop (replaced by Cyber
Suits later on)
Power Suit (DEF 50) - Buy from Koorong
Hyperwear (DEF 10) - Buy from Koorong
Rune Sword (ATK 50) - Buy from Magic Kingdom
Mirror Glass (DEF 8) - Buy from Koorong/Scrap Junk Shop
Cyber Glove (DEF 9) - Buy from Koorong 

Power Suits can be combined with hyperwear and accessories for high defense
Otherwise use Warlord Armor with good helms/boots like mirror glass etc for
different stat bonuses.  There is some better stuff out there but at this
point these are all easy to acquire goodies.  

Also, remember Suits wont let you use anything but tunics/accessories and
Mystics generally all have MysticMail permanently equipped so they cant
use tunics at all.  

Take some time to think about what kind of magic you want each character to
use.  Remember all my ranting at the beginning of the guide.  Emelia, Annie,
and Liza are the only people who will have the rune gift (And Mesarthim if
you get her - I recommend if you're going for the good ending and have
recruited Asellus, otherwise its no biggie since there will be THREE rune
magic users in your main party) 

If you really like attack spells, Rouge has the potent Vermillion Sands and
any serious spellcaster should have Light Magic instead of Shadow Magic - 
Mega Windblast and Starlight Heal are no jokes.  Shadow Magic is good for
characters who aren't necessarily pure mages.  Also, remember when I explained
how to get Silence - if you want him you need to make Emelia a Shadow Magic
user.  

Also, if you really ~REALLY~ hate leveling up and doing sidequests and just
want to get this scenario over as soon as possible then make sure to get your
sword users the gift for light magic and try to acquire the light sword spell
which will give you a very strong weapon.  Actually, this is a good idea 
period, but if you don't mind doing sidequests you'll get a couple of very
powerful swords.  

With all your spending out of the way you just need to keep those levels up
level until your heart is content.  Dont go crazy though if you plan on using
one of the characters you can recruit from the magic quests.  If you're 
curious:

Fuse (Arcane)
Suzaku (Arcane) 
Gen (Arcane) 
Fei-on (Rune)
Slime (Rune) 
TimeLord (Time)
Kylin (Space)

And of course Mesarthim.  That just about does it for recruitable characters.
As you can see, Emelia has a very wide-ranging choice.  

Also for your mystics keep in mind that at higher levels Suzakus appear 
on the lower levels of the Bio Research Lab - these creatures add +20 to
all stats and make for the best things to absorb in your mystic weapons.  
Other then that I leave the care and feeding of your mystics up to you. 

Remember that weapons/armor can make the character much moreso then high
stats.  Not that you dont need high stats for the end boss because you DO 
but for a lot of the sidequests, powerful eq can carry you further then 
stats.  If you're trying to avoid the Scrap and Gold Ingot tricks then
you can always stick with spellcasters and martial artists who dont need
expensive weapons to do good damage. 

I'll have more details about each of those characters as I explain the
subquests to get them but if you're wondering if any of them are worth 
waiting for then I'll say this - TimeLord is a great spellcaster if he
has the Light Magic gift to combine with Overdrive so if you want to use
him make sure to hold off on getting Light Magic.  Note that if you want
both Gen and Fuse to get the Arcane gift you'll have to do a little 
extra legwork.  You dont have to go to Wakatu right after recruiting Gen
so you'll need to recruit him and then travel to IRPO instead of Wakatu.  

Well, its not like Gen is a great spellcaster anyway.  If you do plan on
using TimeLord again as I said LIGHT MAGIC that means that Fei-on, Gen, and
Fuse will also all be stuck with Light Magic since you'll have had to acquire
the Shadow Gift beforehand.  

Also, dont get Mind Magic until you've recruited all your humans.  There are
still 3 humans you can recruit (Fuse, Gen, Fei-on) so don't forget about
them.  

Anyway, you know what you've got to do to prepare yourself.  So the rest of 
this section will be devoted to getting the extra quests out of the way.  
First, we'll take a look at recruiting Mesarthim.  

You can also recruit King Sei - though I wouldnt recruit him at all if I 
were you, since recruiting him means passing up on the Kusanagi - one of the
best weapons in the game.  After recruiting Mesarthim I'll talk about
King Sei. 

I should say that everything after this is entirely optional - getting better
weapons and leveling up ISNT since there's no way to beat Diva without
improving your stats.  Just keep that in mind.  I do recommend that you
finish out the rune quest if you were wondering if it was worth it.  There's
a couple reasons for this.  The most important of all is that you can get
access to Asura - one of the strongest weapons in the game - this way.  The
other is of course to simply have some of the powerful, but difficult to
acquire abilities, just to say you have them.  Anyway, if you get sick of
doing sidequests then just stop them and continue with the main scenario.  

Though personally, I like to get as much mileage out of each scenario as 
possible.  Anyway, it IS your game, so do what's fun to you.  

*********** * ********************* *****
On the Side - Recruiting Mesarthim SID03
*********** * ********************* *****
First thing's first - if you're skipping around I will say again that you
NEED Asellus before you can recruit Mesarthim.  Mesarthim is one of only
four characters in Emelia's scenario that can learn Rune Magic so she is
worth recruiting for that at least. 

As I mentioned, there is a fairly strong boss you must fight to get to 
Mesarthim.  This is the Devil Squid which you may remember from Asellus's
scenario.  However, unlike that scenario you don't have Mesarthim helping
you (since she hasnt joined you yet) and you dont have the Asura which you
wont be able to get until after you've finished up the Rune Sidequest.  

If you're not there already, get to Owmi by way of Koorong.  Head out of the
port across the bridge and north to the Lord's Manor.  In Emelia's scenario
the manor is empty (sans some goodies) but in Asellus and Riki's scenarios
the Lord of the Manor plays an important role.

Anyway, once you enter the manor, head to the right through the east door.
Follow the hall around and go down the stairs.  Follow the stairs in this
passage down and go throw the door.  In the next room the door north of you
leads to the dungeon and the stairs around the corner lead to some goodies
you can pick up.

Once you've got the RubberSuit and MaxCure head through the door into the 
dungeon. The first room is straight forward, just down the steps and across
to the stairs leading further into the dungeon. In the next room are some
more goodies to pick up: some Magi Water and a VERY VALUABLE SanctuaryStone. 
You don't get many SanctuaryStones so use it with care.  Head through the
door to the south for another room with treasures.  The JetBoots are a nice
set of armor that can help you avoid earth-based attacks.  Go through the 
door and you'll be in the room with the DevilSquid.  Save then attack. 

-----------
BOSS BATTLE
Devil Squid

As you will most likely learn, difficulty in this game is extremely 
subjective.  While this boss might be almost impossible to kill with a team
that has just walked out of Trinity Base with Asellus and co if you've spent
some time leveling and getting better equipment this boss can be a walk in
the park.

Open with your strongest attacks as always and remember it is a water-based
creature.  

The DevilSquid's Maelstrom attack will OBLITERATE your party if you don't
have any sort of protection against water-based attacks - or a lot of hp -
so don't even bother unless you can handle this attack.  At a minimum try
for 350 hp per character.  He also has powerful single character attacks that
can finish you off quickly. 

If he is too hard then you've little choice but to spend some time powering
up and returning later.  

I believe he has around 5,000 hp, but don't quote me on that.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Once you defeat the DevilSquid go down the steps and into the west room. There
you'll meet Mesarthim and she'll join your party.  When you come back out the
DevilSquid will be back (Great...) and you'll have to deal with him again. If
you just barely beat him then you might as well save and use that 
SanctuaryStone - you should be able to get him a second time as well.  If
you're curious the treasure is a trap that drops you to the bottom of the 
dungeon.  If you feel like exploring there are some more goodies to pick
up. 

Here are Mesarthim's stats

Name: Mesarthim
Race: Mystics           Sex: Female
HP: 200                 LP: 8/8
WP: 18/18               JP: 26/26
STR: 17                 ShadowDagger           Fascination
QUI: 23                 ----------             VictoryRune
INT: 16                 ----------             ----------
WIL: 12                 ----------             ----------
PSY: 24+3               BlueElf                ----------
VIT: 11                 ----------             ----------
CHA: 25                 ----------             ----------
DEF: 21                 MellowRing             

Comment: Like all mystics she has a piece of armor that cannot be removed.
Unlike other mystics its a necklace and not crappy armor so she can be
equipped with Power Suits or whatever else you like making her be able to get
the best defense of any mystic in the game! I believe it is her MellowRing that
gives her the life rain ability which, at the cost of one of her life points
restores the rest of your party.  That plus her two magic gifts by default
make her a VERY useful character.  

Im not sure what she gives you if you ask for an item - it would be silly to
do that.  Checking is on my to-do list for next time I come through that area.

*********** * ****************** *****
On the Side - Acquiring Kusanagi SID04
*********** * ****************** *****
What you really need for this next task is equipment.  As I've been stressing
equipment can make the character and in this case it is true.  Good armor
can suck the life out of Sei's attacks and make even weak characters up
to the task of handling Sei. 

Remember way back when we raided King Sei's tomb for the sword and other
goodies? Its time to return those items, hopefully you've traded up to
Zero Swords and the like by now.  Return to the circular room in Sei's
Tomb and place the objects on the pedestals.  This will open up a new
passage.  If you go inside you'll see a scene and then King Sei will
challenge you

-----------
BOSS BATTLE
King Sei (1)
Dead Knight (4)

When the fight starts, Sei will summon four Dead Knights and then the enemy
gets to take a free round.  Be prepared to heal when you finally get to
attack.  

You need to hack through the Dead Knights to be able to hit Sei. 
If you were able to get to Mesarthim, you SHOULD be strong enough to kill 
King Sei, still I recommend HP close to, if not above 500 - again good armor 
can drastically lower this number - but you may want high hp just to be safe.  
Presumably your other stats and equipment match.  I like to start with area 
attacks to mop up the dead Knights then turn my best attacks on King Sei.  
You should combo him for some large damage.  Also how is Liza doing on the 
DSC? You need Sliding, Suplex, BabelCrumble, and GiantSwing.  Keep that in 
mind in case she picks up any of those skills.  

What really makes this fight annoying is all the deflecting that goes
on.  The Dead Knights all have really good deflect rates and will constantly
deflect your attacks.  Also, don't forget that Sei can heal every round
with his Deathsynthesis.  You need to be able to inflict at least 1,000
damage on him per turn. 

Hopefully you've got at least one healer besides whoever has the backpack
to keep up the HP of anyone who gets hurt by Sei.  His best attacks are
Kusanagi (damage to one person) and MinionStrike (damage to the group) but
it shouldn't be anything you can't handle.  Sei shouldn't take too long
to fall.

Something else to keep in mind - speed and luck can contribute to killing the
DevilSquid that is protecting Mesarthim - I was lucky enough to have Maelstrom
miss Roufas and managed to get a TripleThrust off - otherwise I would have
been killed. If you barely beat the DevilSquid you probably will not be ready
to take on Sei

Sei has one ability 'Battle Song' which effects everyone, including your
team and boosts strength.  I think I get more mileage out of it then his
Dead Knights do
---------------

Now that you've defeated King Sei, he gives you a choice, he will join you 
or bestow his sword, Kusanagi, upon you.  Kusanagi is a magical sword with an
ATK of 66 - that is its basic attack costs 2 WP to use but it does more damage
then a regular swing.  You can still use moves like DoubleSlash to learn new
attacks with Kusanagi though.   I say take the sword, give it to someone like
Zozma - who as a mystic could use the extra attack - and keep on rolling.

If you REALLY LIKE monsters though you can consider recruiting Sei.  He is 
a medium strength monster so you will have to evolve him some.  His stats:

Name: Sei
Race: DeathLord         Sex: Male
HP: 444                 LP: 4/4
WP: 99/99               JP: 66/66
STR: 41                 ----------             Kusanagi
QUI: 34                 ----------             HPDrain
INT: 34                 ----------             MinionStrike
WIL: 40                 ----------             SacredSong
PSY: 34                                        Deathsynthesis
VIT: 44                                        ----------
CHA: 40                                        ----------
DEF: 35                                        ----------

Comment: I couldn't imagine passing up the Kusanagi sword for Sei, but if you
are really into monsters then he might be a good choice.  He has pretty good
stats but you'll need something stronger for later in the game.  His 
Kusanagi, MinionStrike, and SacredSong abilities are completely unique so
don't let him lose those - especially Kusanagi since you sacrificed the
sword to get him.  


*********** * ************** *****
On the Side - The Rune Quest SID05
*********** * ************** *****
At this point you might as well finish up collecting the runes.  If you've
got someone who is using magic (like Rouge) you'll probably want to get to
Kylin and learn space magic so there is no reason to delay this quest.  If 
you simply don't care about magic the rest of this is probably skippable 

Just make sure you're strong enough to deal with Diva. 

Anyway, to get things rolling fly to Devin and talk to the Rune Magic Master
about the the gift.  She'll give you the rune pebbles without asking if you
want the gift as she's impressed you already have one rune.  With that the
rune quest will be started. 

If you're worried about trying to follow the side section in order, don't 
worry - Tanzer for instance is much easier then getting Kusanagi, I simply
list Kusanagi first under the assumption you'll want to get the sword as
soon as possible.  

************** * ***************** *******
The Rune Quest - The Vitality Rune SID05-1
************** * ***************** *******
Once you get the pebbles from Devin you will get this side quest though I think
sometimes you wont get Tanzer until you've collected the other three runes.
Im not sure exactly HOW it works but regardless, to handle the "boss" you are
going to need some strong attacks.  So hopefully you've built up a bit before
trying to do this.

Fly around somewhere, to anywhere, and you'll be on a ship that you haven't
seen before.  This ship will be attacked and you'll end up in Tanzer.  A 
cutscene will ensue and you'll meet Nomad and Fei-on.  After the cutscene
talk to Fei-on.  Follow him and he'll lead you to his village.  Head to the
far passage and talk to Fei-on BE SURE TO OFFER TO HELP HIM - you've come all
this way so you might as well recruit him, he is second only to Liza when it
comes to kung-fu.  

Name: Fei-on
Race: Human             Sex: Male
HP: 160                 LP: 8/8
WP: 38/38               JP: 0/0
STR: 30                 ----------             Kick
QUI: 27                 ----------             Fist
INT: 12                 ----------             Backfist
WIL: 21                 ----------             SwayBack
PSY: 18                 Budowear               ----------
VIT: 25+5               LeatherGlove           ----------
CHA: