| Chapter VII Summary |
| Far to the north, the Cardian Islands are home to the exiled Dragons. Bahamut, King of the Dragons, will bestow a great honor upon you if you can enter his old home, the Castle of Ordeals, and retrieve the Tail of a Rat as proof of your courage. |
| Before you do anything else, fly your new Airship to the very upper-right corner of the world, to the town of Gaia. Gaia is nestled in an isolated valley, in the middle of nowhere. It is virtually untouched by the rot that has plagued the rest of the world. Consequently, Gaia is a prospering town. The Level 7 spells are here, but don't get them yet. They're very expensive, and chances are your mages aren't at high enough levels to use them yet anyways (and they won't be for awhile, either). You are here for one thing only, in fact. The ProRings. |
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Remember all the monsters in the Ice Cave that use RUB on you? Well, there are a lot of those monsters for the rest of the game. If you want to survive, for very long later in the game, you'll need ProRings. ProRings protect their wearer automatically from RUB and XXXX spells. So buy each of your characters one. You can't wear any gauntlets or gloves while wearing the ProRing, so sell them.
If you can afford it, you should also get a Gold Bracelet for each of your mages. If you can't afford it, don't worry about it; you can pick a few up later.
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| There's not much left to do in Gaia for now, but you'll be coming back here later in the game. Now it's time to make a quick stop at the Cardian Islands. Hop in your airship and head west. |
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Magic
For a complete list of magic see the Magic section
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CUR4
HRM4
ARUB
HEL3
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ICE3
BRAK
SABR
BLND
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FADE
WALL
XFER
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STOP
ZAP!
XXXX
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| II. The Cardian Isles |
Cardian Islands treaure:
Cabin, 575G, Soft Potion, 10G, House, 500G, 160G, 9500G, 2750G, 1520G, 2750G, 1455G, 2000G
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The Cardian Islands are the home of a civilization of Dragons. Don't worry, they're friendly dragons, you won't have to fight them or anything. In fact, they can be a great help to your party.
There are many different entrances to the islands from the World Map. You should go down each hole; many of them lead to rooms with lots of treasure. The most important one, however, is this one.
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This hole leads to a very long leading south. It's kind of ridiculous how long that hallway is, really. At the end of it is a staircase leading up. Take it. |
| The stairs lead to a ridiculously large room. There are a couple Dragons in here; talk to them, and they will introduce to you Bahamut, King of the Dragons. |
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Bahamut is a nice enough guy, for a dragon at least. He says something about bringing back proof of your courage, and mentions bestowing on you the honor due to true warriors. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Better go look for some proof of your courage. Maybe some of the other Dragons will know something about it? Leave this place to go find some more information. |
| This is a good place to start looking for info. By some unwritten RPG law, the harder it is to get somewhere, the more likely you'll find something Important inside. So land your Airship on this square and walk through the swamp to the hole in the ground. |
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Sure enough, inside a Dragon comes right out and tells you what you need to do. The Castle of Ordeals is apparently the place to find proof of your courage. That's good to know. But let's talk to the Dragons in the other islands before you go there. |
| This Dragon says something about mechanical castles and big palaces in the north. There are no palaces or castles in the north, as you can see on the World Map. So either he's drunk, or he's talking about that lost civilization you've heard about in a few other places. |
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Here's some really useful (<----sarcasm) info. The proof of your courage could be anything. No kidding. |
| Mr. Redundant here has no useful information, either. It seems that NO ONE has any information on what the proof of your courage could be. It's either a secret, or no one has ever tried to find this "proof" and survived to tell about it. Probably the latter... Oh well. The Castle of Ordeals is your next destination. Make sure you've taken all the treasure from the Dragons' lairs, and head for the airship. |
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| The Castle of Ordeals is right here. Fly straight north from the Temple of Fiends and you'll pass right over it. You'll notice right away that there are no grassy landing sites for your Airship anywhere near the Castle. In fact, the nearest landing site is FAR to the east. |
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This is where you'll have to land to get to the Castle. The walk is very long and very dangerous; along the way you'll fight some of the strongest monsters that appear anywhere on the World Map. Fighting is pretty much not an option, in fact; RUN from every battle you encounter along the way. |
| There is, fortunately, an alternative to this long walk. Notice the river right next to the Castle? You can go get your Ship, and dock right there. Sure, the Ship is pretty slow compared to the Airship, but the long ship-ride is much safer than the long walk from the Airship. It's up to you, really, which means of transportation to use. But if you do decide to take the Ship, sail SOUTH from Crescent Lake; it's a much shorter distance than sailing north along the coastline. |
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If you decide to take the Airship and walk the distance, here's where you'll start. Head west from here, through the desert. |
| There are some mighty beasts in this desert. If you find any Sand Ws, RUN! Those things can wipe out your entire party with their QAKE attack. Don't bother fighting Ankylos either; they're only worth 1 G. |
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If you made it this far, you're on the right track. Keep heading west. |
| Here's the place you would've started walking from had you taken the Ship. Cross that river and keep walking west, then circle the mountains and head south to the Castle of Ordeals. |
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| IV. The Castle of Ordeals |
Castle of Ordeals treasure:
L1: None
L2: Zuess Gauntlet
L3: Gold Bracelet, Ice Sword, Iron Gauntlet, Heal Staff, House, 1455G, 7340G, TAIL
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| Well, here it is. The Castle of Ordeals. The Castle isn't a particularly long dungeon, but it can be kind of tricky. Of course, you should SAVE before entering, and make sure you're at full HP (and preferably full MP too). Level 16 is about where your characters should be to have a good chance at surviving the Castle. |
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There are three floors in the Castle. And the first floor doesn't have any monsters on it at all! Piece of cake, right? He he he... Talk to that old guy and he'll tell you that you need a Crown to enter the Castle. Good thing you kept Astos' Crown, eh? |
| In the upper-left corner of this floor, you'll find a throne. Step on it and you'll be transported to the second floor. Now for the hard part... |
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The second floor is kind of tricky. There are all sorts of columns in here that transport you all over the place. What's worse, sometimes you'll have a choice between two or more columns; pick the wrong one and you have to start all over! |
| That wouldn't be so bad, if there weren't so many strong monsters in the Castle. Many monsters here should be considered very dangerous. Amongst them are the Mancats and R.GOYLEs. They use FIR2, which hits all of your characters; if a group of 6 R.GOYLEs each uses FIR2 on you, your entire party will be dead in one round. |
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You'll also find Medusae on this floor. Those familiar with mythology can guess that Medusae petrify your characters. Finally, your old pals from the Ice Cave, the Sorcerers, make another appearance here. Needless to say, run from them. You might also find some ZombieDs; you cannot run from them, so just use FIR3 and HRM3 to take them out quickly. |
| And now, on with the column maze. The first couple rooms are easy, there's only one choice. |
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Next room, same thing. Only one column, so take it. |
| In this room, take the column on the bottom. |
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Only one way to go here. |
| Again, take the column on the bottom. |
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There's a long walk to this column, so be prepared to fight some random monster encounters. |
| Once again, the column on the bottom is the one you want. |
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This is the last room. And it's a biggie. There are four columns to choose from this time! What would you do without me? Before using any of the columns, though, make sure to pick up the Zeus Gauntlet from the room in the upper-right. |
| The Zeus Gauntlet is the first of many items that you'll find that cast a spell when used as an ITEM in battle. If you use the Zeus Gauntlet in battle, it will cast LIT2. This is VERY handy; it's free to use, anyone can use it, and it never runs out! Give it to a non-mage and watch the monsters die. |
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Anyways. The correct column to take is this one. |
| And there are the stairs to the third floor. Trust me, that column maze is a lot harder to do without someone telling you the right columns to take. :) Take the stairs. |
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Thankfully, there are no more columns on this floor; it's all straightforward. Head north, through the door, and go get the treasure chest. You'll have to fight some Nitemares for it, but they're easily slain. |
| Inside the chest is a Heal Staff. This Staff heals ALL your characters when used during battle as an ITEM; needless to say, that thing is going to come in handy! Give it to your White Mage; even though she can't use it as a weapon, anyone can use it as an Item in combat. |
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Go west from here. There are a couple more treasure chests here. One of them has the Ice Sword in it. That is a great weapon, better than the Flame Sword; equip it right away. Another chest contains a Gold Bracelet. Give it to a Mage. |
Head south to get some more treasure (a couple thousand G, or so). Then head west to the final chest. Don't walk up to it yet! Heal first.
That chest contains the proof of your courage that you need to give to Bahamut. But you must prove yourself first, of course. You must fight the ZombieDs.
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The ZombieDs are not hard at all. Use FIRE and HARM magic on them, and they will fall rather quickly. I often use this place to gain some levels (I easily brought all my characters up to level 18 here). Whether you face just one Dragon or two is random, but even two don't pose much of a threat. (see my Bosses page for more info) |
| With the ZombieDs out of the way, the contents of the chest are yours! The proof of your courage turns out to be.... the Tail of a rat? Yes, I think that's kind of bizarre, too. But whatyagonnado. You're dealing with Dragons, after all. Maybe they're all afraid of rats. Step on the throne to be teleported back to the first floor of this Castle. Now you can leave and go get your reward from Bahamut! |
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| Once outside of the Castle of Ordeals, SAVE right away, then head back to your Airship (or Ship). If you brought your Ship here, you're going to have to go all the way back and get the Airship again, so that you can reach the Cardians Islands. If you brought your Airship, just head for the Islands right away. |
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This is the way to get to Bahamut, in case you forgot. Go downstairs, and once again, walk the ridiculously long hallway to get to Bahamut. |
| With the Tail in hand, talk to Bahamut. He proudly bestows upon you the honor due to true warriors. That's right; it's the Class Change! |
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All of your characters are now advanced in their job. Fighters become Knights, Thieves become Ninjas, Black Belts become Masters, and Mages become Wizards. What does this mean, you ask? Well, it means that your Knights and Ninjas are now able to use low-level magic (if their levels are high enough). It also means that your Mages are now able to learn ALL the spells! (Red Wizards can learn more spells now, too, but not as many as White and Black Wizards, unfortunately). And, ALL of the characters can now equip stronger and better weapons and armor! Finally, all your characters' pics change into much cooler-looking, more mature pics (the Black Wizard without his hat looks really cool, doesn't he?) This is a glorious moment for the Light Warriors, indeed. |
| There is a lot to do now that your characters have advanced. First of all, get in the Airship, and head for Melmond, to pick up the WARP spell. This spell lets you teleport to the previous level in any dungeon. It's very handy for getting out of a dungeon without having to walk. |
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Next, head for Crescent Lake, and pick up the EXIT spell. This spell is even better than WARP; it lets you exit a dungeon immediately, no matter what floor you're on! Quite handy. |
If you have a Black Wizard in your party, and 65000 extra G, head for Gaia. For sale in the weapon shop there is the mighty CatClaw, the strongest weapon for the Black Wizard in the whole game. Make sure to pick it up as soon as you can afford it.
While you're here, if any of your Wizards can use 7th level spells yet, you might as well pick them up. If not, don't worry, you can come back for them later.
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Finally, stop at Coneria, Pravoka, and Elfland, and pick up all the Level 1-4 spells you want for your Kinghts and Ninjas. (Knights can use only White magic, and Ninjas can learn only Black.)
With your newfound powers and high-level party, it's time to go after the next Fiend. That'd be the Fiend of Water.
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| Optimal equipment by the end of Chapter VII |
Ice Sword, Ice Armor, Silver Helmet, Ice Shield, Proring
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Ice Sword, Flame Armor, Silver Helmet, Flame Shield, Proring
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Catclaw, Gold Bracelet, Cap, Proring
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Silver Hammer, Gold Bracelet, Cap, Proring
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Area Enemies
A complete list of enemies can be found in the Enemies section
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| 110 |
| 20-40 |
| 603 |
| 800 |
| N/A |
| FIR2, SLOW, DARK, SLEP, FIRE, LIT, CURE |
| FIRE, ICE, LIT, QAKE, BANE, STUN, SLEP, DARK, |
| 176 |
| 64-128 po |
| 1257 |
| 800 |
| N/A |
| FAST |
| LIT, ICE, FIRE, RUB, BANE, BRAK, STUN, SLEP, DARK |
| 80 |
| 30-60 |
| 300 |
| 300 |
| FIRE, HARM |
| N/A |
| QAKE, LIT, ICE, RUB, BANE, BRAK, STUN, SLEP, DARK |
| 200 |
| 30-60 |
| 1272 |
| 700 |
| ICE |
| SNORTING |
| QAKE, FIRE, RUB, BANE, STUN, SLEP, DARK |
| 188 |
| 43-86 sl |
| 984 |
| 1000 |
| FIRE, HARM |
| N/A |
| ICE, RUB, BANE, BRAK, STUN, SLEP, DARK |
| 224 |
| 40-80 |
| 1050 |
| 1050 |
| FIRE, HARM |
| N/A |
| ICE, RUB, BRAK, BANE, STUN, SLEP, DARK, DARK |
| 268 |
| 56-112 SN |
| 2331 |
| 999 |
| FIRE, HARM |
| N/A |
| QAKE, ICE, RUB, BANE, BRAK, STUN, SLEP, DARK |
Catclaw
Gold Bracelet
ProRing
