Arc the Lad Twilight of the Spirits for Sony PS2 Advice by Pete Karsanow pnet = = = Advice for "Plot" battles These are the battles that usually occur only the first time that you enter an area. In a few cases, you may get one of these upon re- entering an area you've been to earlier. The major difference between these battles, and the "random" ones, is the presence of known specific enemies of fixed level and breakable items on the battlefield with known contents. So, if you suspect that you're in one of these battles, then before your first character takes a turn, use the square button and R1/L1 to check the entire battlefield for breakable items. In some battles, the items are placed well away from the combatants. Don't worry about things that look like breakable items, but don't get highlighted as you scroll around. These are just part of the background. Breakable items like tree stumps and wood or metal boxes will either be empty or contain some treasure(s). Metal barrels, metal drums and gunpowder barrels will explode when they take enough damage, so attack this kind from a distance. They may contain treasure as well, just not very often. Some of the exploding kind will do so only if hit by a melee attack rather than a ranged one. To avoid missing out on these items, keep at least one enemy alive until you've broken the item(s) and collected their treasures. Because the "cannon fodder" enemies are usually the weakest, and carry the least valuable treasure, you're best off keeping one of those alive. The "officer" or "special" enemies often carry better treasure. While these are tougher to kill, getting the better treasure should be worth the trouble. In some cases, an enemy will give a different item if Maru's Steal skill (either one) or Darc's Steal succeeds, compared to the item it would drop when killed. In "boss" battles where it's impossible, very difficult, or just very annoying, to keep a minion enemy around until the end, just keep trying a Steal skill unless you're sure the boss will drop what you want. One particular example: After the first battle in which Kharg can use Big Owl (to destroy the fortress guns), the very next battle has a Dilzweld Commander that should drop a Sapphire Coating. But if you Steal, you'll get a Great Herb. Also, there's a Steel Box far off the battlefield that contains a Power Berry when broken; you're not likely to notice this just scanning the area with the joystick, you have to use the R1/L1 to step through everything. Most enemies will not bother to circle around behind a character they are fighting. But if another character is facing away and not too far away, they will often rush over for a back attack. In almost all the battles, the fighting doesn't end until the last enemy is dead. However, in a few cases, killing a particular enemy ends the battle. Some examples: Darc & company vs. the Argewalt. When trying to stop Droguza's evolution, destroying all the towers ends the battle. As this is more likely to happen in "plot" battles, I'll just mention here that the Resurrection (or equivalent) spell/special move/item will first show you a list of dead characters. Hopefully you have only one. After selecting the corpse, you get a targeting circle. Use this to place the revived character back on the battlefield. This threw me the first time I saw it, because I thought it was asking me to find the body, which had disappeared. Also, Poison status seems to do 10% of the max HP each time the character/enemy has a turn. Although it's supposed to wear off in a few turns, in practice I've never seen that happen. Extremely annoying to have Diekbeck be poisoned... While the exploding barrel or gunpowder can may appear in a random battle, it's more likely in the plot ones. Damage done by these is always 50 HP, regardless of target DEF; only distance avoids the explosion. === Advice for random battles Rely on these for level building or accumulating money, items or Spirit stones. Breakable items on these battlefields will rarely have anything useful. Levels for the enemies are fixed, but an area can have more than one defined group of enemies for you to fight. If you want to have another random battle in an area, just press the X button again on the map screen; you don't have to move away and back. If the secret character is allowed to participate in the battle, then it's a random one. ==== Items you could easily miss There are quite a few unique items in the game that you only get one chance to obtain. This doesn't count Arena prizes or those found only in a chest; I assume you won't miss those. Kharg - starting town of Yewbell - Talk to Butch in building at bottom left of town, then talk to Banjo in shop, to get a Knuckle Guard for Kharg (Darc can use this much later). Darc - starting town of Orcoth - after Densimo joins, talk to Orcon girl about 5 Wonders, answer "600-800" to get 10 Healing Herbs. Darc - Chapter ?, ?church ruins? - don't leave Densimo for last, or else Steal to get the Blood Anklet for Delma. Kharg - starting town of Yewbell in Chapter 2+ - talk to man in upstairs of inn to start sidequest for Spirit dictionaries. Darc - Chapter 2, Asheeda Forest - in battle with Tatjana her drop item is Gorgeous Ring (doubles money drops or sells for 12000), but her Steal item is High Heels (for Choco, much later). Kharg - Chapter 3, Parenz Ruins - before the Shinobi Gang shows up here, look for hidden Ziekbeck on far left, don't believe story to get Shadow Talisman. Kharg - Chapter 3, Parenz Ruins - when you fight the Shinobi Gang for the first time, Steal a Stone Crusher for Paulette from the Supreme Ninja. Darc - Chapter 3, Rueloon - in the first battle with Droguza, you can Steal a Swordsman's Blade, but there is no drop item. Darc - Chapter 3, Dragon Bone Valley - Life Ring is in a destructable item in this battle with Dilzwelds Darc - Chapter 3, Dragon Bone Valley - after defeating Dilzweld enemies, get the Ancient Tablet near the cave entrance before you go inside. Darc - Chapter 3, Dragon Bone Valley - it may take several tries to Steal the Dragon's Wrath from the Gold Dragon, or Storm Talisman from the Silver Dragon; luckily if you kill one it should drop the expected item, so you're only going to have to tolerate one attacking you while you try to Steal. Darc - Chapter 3, Thunor Point - the second time you fight Droguza, Steal a Bountiful Fruit or expect nothing to drop. There's also a Barbed Wire in one of the Steel Boxes. Darc - Chapter 4, Drakyrnia - when you talk to Williwo, respond with "Because he's our friend" to get the Dragonia Ring; the other responses each get a nice but not unique item. Darc - Chapter 4, Chaos Forest - just before getting to the exit, there's an Ancient Tablet #7 on the ground. Darc - Chapter 5, Barbadoth - speak with an Ogre in the market twice, give 1000 as charity to get a Romantic Earrings (can't be bought anywhere). If you don't actually have the 1000, you lose out! Darc - Chapter 5, Pyramid Ruins - when you fight the Mummies, either the third or fourth one on the left has a Lark Coat of Arms to Steal, and I think one on the right has a Life Tree Berry. Darc - Chapter 5, Maluise Tower - Steal from Droguza to get Mad Warrior's Skull for Volk. Kharg - Chapter 6, Peisus - go back into where the Sutra used to be after getting it translated in Milmarna, talk to Diekpeck and don't believe him, then answer trivia questions correctly (see walkthrough!) for one of 3 items; the Diek Screw (+40 SPD) for correctly answering 1 to 5 out of 10 is probably the best if you have Diekbeck. You get a Clivis's Book (immune to all status effects) for correctly answering 6 to 9 questions. You get a Spirit Amulet (all elements but Dark are 100 defense, for Kharg & Darc only) if you answer all 10 questions correctly. (ANYTHING FOR ANSWERING 0?) Kharg - Chapter 6, Lamda Temple - when Maru fights the 5 Lamda Monks alone, Steal from the middle one to get the Attack Disk (+10% ATT, +10 CRI, longer attack range) for Diekbeck. Kharg - Chapter 6, Mt. Lamda - one of the Skeletons has a Shoulder Spikes and another has a Broken Sword (sell), better Steal from them all to make sure. Kharg - Maluise Tower - Steal the Burst Blade from Darkham. either - Chapter 7?, Flying Castle - Steal from Altimas to get Bear Stuffed Animal for Bebedora and Golem Mask for Maru. Kharg - Isulo Forest (bridge battle) - Dilzweld Commander drop/Steal Broken Sword (sell for 1200) (possibly Amethyst Coating instead) Kharg - Scrappe Plateau - ditto Darc - Asheeda Forest - ditto Kharg - Asheeda Forest - ditto Kharg - Sulfas Main Plant - ditto Darc - Coleopt Shrine - ditto Darc - Dragon Bone Valley (before Dragon Ordeal) - ditto There's supposed to be a "Broken Gun" item that's just for selling for 3500, but I don't know where you can get it. The Suskle Squirrel is also supposed to drop the Broken Sword, but I don't know where/when. Kharg - Cathena - cat-finding mini-game, is pure luck? Nothing special happens with the alley full of cats in Dilzweld Empire slum? Press square button before enemy attack to dodge? Characters will accumulate SP in every battle until their unspent total reaches 9999. Normally, this won't be a problem as it will usually take the equivalent of raising a character from level 1 to over level 30 to get this many. Choco has an inherent element defense of 50 against everything except Light.