Secrets

When you're starting a new game, select "NEW GAME" and press ABXY all together. If you did it right, you'll hear everyone yell "Ya sa!" when you go to Cless's naming screen. The game will now be much harder than normal. This does not have any other ramifications in the game (story, ending etc.)

This trick involves the use of the Oden special food item (you must be in the Future and have the Airbirds to do this). To make a single Oden, you need five ingredients: Radish, Seaweed, Egg, Pudding, and Miso. You can get them in Venezia, Euclid, Olive Village (the man at the north end of town), and the last two from Ninja Town. Together, they cost 111,690 gold. You'll also need the Soup Pot item; you can get it from the Treasure Hunt or by fighting in the Coliseum twice. I recommend the Coliseum; it shouldn't be too hard to pull off, even early in the Future. When you have all the ingredients, head to Ninja Town and talk to the woman in the lower part of the house with the shop to get an Oden.

If you go around collecting the ingredients, make 15 Oden, then sell them all, you'll make almost 3 million gold! (300,000 - 100,000 = 200,000 X 15 = 3,000,000!) However, to do it with 15, you'll have to have over a million gold to start with (1,675,350 to be exact). You can start small and work your way up. Start by buying as many of the first three ingredients as you can, but leave 90,000 gold over. Now head to Ninja Town and buy one Pudding and one Miso so you can make one Oden. You can sell it for 300,000; then buy up more Pudding and Miso to make more Oden, etc. You'll be rolling in dough in no time!

WARHOG sent in another neat trick, though it takes longer to do. Go to Olive Village (Future) and buy 15 Eggs at 80 Gold a pop, which is 1,200 total. Now go to any nearby shop and sell them - they go for 3140 Gold each, or a total of 47,100, which means a profit of 45,900 Gald. This is a good way to get enough cash to do the Oden trick above.

POMEX gave yet another one: Put both girls in the party and use the Lipstick twice. Now buy 15 of everything. Without exiting the menu, sell everything you just bought. The selling price is bigger than the buying price!

The best place to build experience during the later part of the game is the Ymir Forest, but Arche isn't allowed in there. However, the Treant Forest is second-best, and if you just head to the Ninja Village, Arche can come with you! The Sefira and Dark Seal items (found in the Treasure Hunt, can be turned into Sefira+1 and Demon Seal using Rune Bottles. Sefira+1 raises all EXP by 120% just by having it, and if you give Cless the Demon Seal, EXP will double! However, he can't use any techs or defend when he equips it.

The following info was sent to me by Lanzz:
when you enter ymir, there are 2-3 steps you can take before reaching the guard and leaving arche. you can build levels in these 2-3 steps just as well as you can deeper in ymir; arche stays with you and gets experience too. when you run out of TP (or god forbid, HP), you walk to the guard and leave arche, then go right back and take her back; the whole exchange somehow restores full HP/TP to the whole party! you can stay there as long as you like and build as long as you've got the nerve to stand the repetitions :)

Thanks to Another Gamer for sending this in: You can completely avoid enemy encounters if you have the Scout Orb item. Every 20 steps or so, go back and re-set it to LOW. This resets the countdown and enemies won't attack for another little while. This also works with Holy Bottle bottles, but you have a limited amount of those. Also, if you're on the world map and you enter and exit a town, village, house, oasis, etc., the counter will also reset. This is useful when you try to head to Midgard before you should! 8-)

Cless can have up to 12 different classes in the game. To check Cless's class, go to his status screen. He starts off as a Squire, but can upgrade his status once he reaches the Future. To the best of my knowledge, having the different classes does absolutely nothing to the gameplay, but is a measure of accomplishment.

Classes are granted by special soldiers who look like this: There's one on the second floor of Alvanista Castle (go up the stairs then to the right) and there's a second one on the second floor of Euclid Castle (go up the stairs in the top right, then enter the bottom center room). They each grant classes based on different things.

The Euclid soldier's classes are based on side quests and special achievements. Here's a rundown of them, in no particular order:

• Samurai: You must have the Muramasa sword from the Ninja Town side quest.
• Champion: You must have finished the Euclid Coliseum once. You can get this even if you lost to Dozo and Okiyo.
• Combo Master: You must have the Combo Counter and Combo Command items. The Combo Counter can be found on the 19th floor of Morlia Gallery; the Combo Command can be bought for 5 million gold (2,500,000 if you use a Lotus Perfume) in Aegis' Workshop.
• Berserker: You must have fought at least 1,000 battles. You can see how many battles you've fought on the main menu screen.
• Druaga Mania: You're a collector of rare items, especially those from the Ishtar Legend. You need the following items:
  • Blue Crystal Rod: Found in the forest west of Ninja Town.
  • Blue Line Shield: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Blue Candle: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Excalibur: Found at the end of Morlia Gallery.
  • Golden Armor: Found on the 19th floor of Morlia Gallery.
  • Gold Helm: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Green Torch: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Hyper Gauntlet: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Jet Boots: Bought in several shops, including Euclid and Alvanista.
  • Red Lantern: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Red Line Shield: Found in the Treasure Hunt.
  • Silver Mattock: Found in the Treasure Hunt; up to three can be won from the race in Alvanista.

The Alvanista soldier awards classes mostly based on levels, techniques, and combos. Here's the rundown:

• Fighter: A full-fledged swordsman. You must have mastered both the Psion Bolt and Dual Kick techs.
• Knight: You must know all of the regular techs (not including combos, and you do not have to master them).
• Expert: You must have mastered all of the regular techs besides Soul Edge, Soul Wave, and Teleport.
• Master: I think you need to have at least 12 combos to get this. (Not master them; just get them.) However, I think the "special" combos (from Ninja Town, Coliseum, and Morlia Gallery) count for more than 1. I don't know exactly. ^^;
• Fencer: You must have mastered all skills. That includes all of the spells for Mint, Arche, and Klarth, and all of Cless's combos.
• Master Fencer: You must have everyone in your current party (you don't need the backup one) at level 99 and have mastered all skills like for Fencer.

I'm told there's one more class, Lionheart, but I have yet to get it.

After Cless completes special tasks or achievements, check his status screen. He can get up to eight green stars on his status screen, signifying accomplishments. Here's the rundown:

• Master both Psion Bolt and Dual Kick techs.
• Master a "special" combo (either the one from Ninja Town, the Coliseum, or Morlia Gallery).
• You get one after accepting each of the five classes given by the Euclid soldier (see above section).
• The last one is gotten when everyone reaches Level 99.