Walkthrough

After Byuu makes his sexy entrance, go find some items. The top crate to the left of the house has a Uniuji. Go up the walkway to the right of the house and go to the end to get 5 Magic Gins (you don't even have to press A). Now head inside the house. The right side of the wardrobe has a Drawer Thing, and the left spear holder has a Genius Notebook. The top barrel has a Sweet Wine. Go into the bed and face down to get a Porno Mag. Talk to Matelite. Whatever you pick, he'll pack out. Examine the chest he was in front of for a longish cutscene. Your answers here don't matter. You'll get both a Sweet Memory and a Bitter Memory when it's over.

Go back outside now. Go to the new dragon on the left (Thunderh) and name him. Talk to Zora to get 5 Ice Grass, 5 Thunder Grass, 5 Poison Grass, 5 Life Grass, and 1 Earth Grass. Feed the grasses to their respective dragons (fire to Salmando, thunder to Thunderh, etc.) You can talk to Sendak to get a flashback from when Byuu left. Once you're finished feeding everyone, get on Salmando to reach the battle. You'll note that you can't change formations or dragons here, but you can equip people with any spoils you got from the last battle.

Here your objective is just to get rid of the boss, but you'll find it far easier if you blaze through the other enemies first (good EXP, too). Just plow through them and have Zora's party heal you when you need it; you shouldn't have any problems.

When you're done, you'll be inside Kahna's flagship! Go up (you'll never be able to get those chests, ignore them). Talk to Hornet, then go up again. Go up the left side and onto the bridge. Before you get there, Sendak will ask you to name the flagship (default is Farnheit). Another short scene will ensue. Welcome to your new home!

You'll start with a cutscene, then go back to the Farnheit. Talk to Gunso (the guy in gray armor) several times to get a Gunso's ??? item. (You can do this in almost any chapter.) Talk to Rush and tell him you'll wait for Matelite to get the ball rolling. The "fast" version is the same as the "slow" version except Matelite will dash around and get out of breath. 8-) After that he'll tell you to press various directions. Even if you get them all right, he'll trick you in the end, so it doesn't matter. 8-)

Taicho will then offer to explain about Formations. If it's your first time playing, by all means, listen to what he says. The Dragonkeeper will then appear. Talk to him and he'll jump out the window; climb the right staircase and jump out too. 8-) You'll land on the deck. Talk to the Dragonkeeper again. If you already know all about dragons, skip the explanation. Follow him around and keep talking to him; at the end, you'll get another dragon, Twinhead!

The shops don't carry anything really interesting right now (just the lowest-level weapons and armor). I'd tell you to save your money for the time being. The weapon salesman has a tip about elementals if you like. Going north gets you back to the room below the bridge. You can also speak to the crewman here and enter Yoyo's room. Inside, he'll sell you some notebooks. These you might want to stock up on a bit, especially Genius Notebooks. They're great dragon food; Wisdom's a very important stat.

When you're done, you can go back south to the deck and feed the dragons if you like, or go north back onto the bridge. First talk to Frederica, who's collapsed. Tell her you'll take the medicine, and you'll get 5 Drugs, 5 Heals, and 5 Litancibles - very useful! Talk to Sendak, then head to the captain's room south of the bridge. Talk to Sendak in bed, then go back to the bridge and talk to Hornet. Get the ball rolling! Before battle, you can now reorder your formation and change which dragons are associated with which units. The first thing you should do is put Thunderh with Matelite's group (otherwise his Inspire skill won't do much damage early on). Secondly, you should group the three Priests together along with a Lancer (and make sure they're with Molten), and put a Light Armor in the Heavy Armor group. Then head into battle!

The playing field has a lot more enemies now, so it won't be so simple! Also be careful about the forest in the middle of the field. Using fire techniques on it will start it burning. This means that enemies standing on it will be damaged, but so will your units. You'll have to go around the forest anyway if you want to make any decent progress. You should set your dragons on "Come" for this battle; there are too many enemies for them to deal with by themselves. You'll probably have to beat all or most of the enemies before reaching the boss, again. Use fire techniques against the ice mages (Flame Hit, Flame Gaze, etc.); you can do that long-range or hand-to-hand. Shouldn't be too difficult, just methodically make your way north.

Talk to Sendak to call your dragons, the Dragonkeeper (who'll explain about types of food) and a salesman. Feed the dragons (I still don't think you should buy anything). If you won weapons or armor in battle, talk to the salesman and equip them on your party, then feed the old stuff to the dragons. If you got any elemental grasses, first feed them to the dragons who already have that elemental; it's better to get one strong attack than a bunch of weak ones. When you're ready, talk to Sendak again.

This battle has two added complications: first of all, the various walls and structures will heal enemies at the start of their phase. Second of all, those big cannons will be a big pain to you. Head for them as soon as you can. Use Thunder Gaze or Inspire on the field to destroy the structures they're standing on and cancel their HP regain. Also, make sure not to use Dance near the bridge, or you may get unlucky and destroy it! ^^; Use ice magic to get across again if that happens. Groyer has no long-range attacks, so soften him up from a distance then go in for the kill.

Talk to Rush twice (as usual, it doesn't matter what you answer), then enter the prison and keep talking to the soldier until he leaves the room. Go south, feed the dragons, then south again. Talk to Lukia to get the salesman to appear. Re-equip your party and feed the leftovers to the dragons (you should have a bunch of Burning Axes and Flame Vests by now). Talk to Lukia again to enter battle.

OK... ignore the mages to the bottom right, and ignore Palpaleos at the top right (he'll leave after three rounds). Just head left towards Zomberd. Once you reach the top right, beat the Cure Mages first! Get them from a distance, because unless you're very quick in battle, they'll just heal themselves. You'll notice that the other units up here consist of old bosses. 8-) In particular, Zomberd is accompanied by two Groyers. You can let your dragons deal with the other units around him; just go in and get the Cure Mages, followed by Zomberd (again, he has no long-range attacks, so weaken him from a distance as well). Your dragons should be substantially stronger by now, so that should help.

The battlefield salesman has finally updated his wares. Buy all new stuff for your folks (there's no way you can afford it all, but you'll have time), then talk to Bikkebakke. Call the dragons and feed them your old stuff (just make sure to have one Flame Vest around until you reach chapter 8). If you see yourself having lots of Drugs, go ahead and feed a few to each dragon (you wouldn't want it going up to 99 and being unable to get more, would you?). When you're done, talk to Bikkebakke again.

This one's a bit different: you have to beat ALL the enemies to continue. None of them have long-range attacks, so your dragons can be very effective in disposing of them. Watch out for the poison swamp in the middle of the field. You can use White Drug to turn it into a regular swamp, but even so it'll take forever to get past it. Just go around it. The Triphids can drain your HP, so concentrate all your attacks on one of them before going for the next one. The Vampire Bats can be hurt with healing skills, but using normal ones will probably do more damage. The Chimera at the top of the screen is a semi-boss; he's Fire-elemental, so don't use Fire attacks on him. Also be sure to have a healer nearby to deal with his Fire Breath attack.

After the battle, talk to Sendak, then run up and talk to Matelite. You'll enter a boss battle with Sauzer, but don't worry; you can't win this one. Just lose gracefully. 8-) Don't use any items or anything. After the battle, walk north, then go up to Yoyo from below and talk to her.

Well, you're back on the Farnheit. First, head into Yoyo's room. Talk to Sendak, then Yoyo, then Taicho. When everyone leaves, go into Yoyo's bed, face down, and hit A to get a Princess's ??? item. This is one of only five such items in the game. DO NOT feed it to your dragons now. The form they turn into is useless until you give them at least three or four of these items, so you might as well just keep them around for now.

There are some new items to be had on the Farnheit. Going down the stairs from the bridge, remember those two rooms that had nothing in them? The left one is now the men's quarters, and the right one is the women's quarters. In the men's quarters, talk to Gunso a few times for another Gunso's ??? item. The book shop is in here too. Bikkebakke is now walking around at the bottom of the room; talk to him and tell him you'll help him out, and he'll open his mushroom store. Strange as it may seem, mushrooms are really cheap and they're great dragon food; they help raise Life, Thunder, Poison, and Dexterity, some of the hardest to raise stats.

Before returning to the bridge, go back to the shops and buy up more equipment to give to your characters. When they're all fully equipped, go feed your dragons. Now return to the bridge and talk to Yoyo. Go into the captain's room (south of the bridge) and examine the bottom of the bed for a Botched Cookie. The left side of the closet has a Drawer Thing, and the flower pot has a Uniuji. Now keep talking to Yoyo until she says "...", then talk to Sendak. Back in the bridge, talk to Yoyo, then Hornet to start your attack.

You'll notice that Side Quests are now available. Doing a Side Quest brings you back to the bridge of the Farnheit with the dragons and salesman; however, as of now, you can't buy any mushrooms or books this way. In your formation, make sure to put Yoyo in the same party as Sendak (get rid of a Mini-Devil). It's probably a good idea to pair up the three Wizards with a Knight, Lancer, or Heavy Armor, and Yoyo and Sendak with two of the same.

Zomberd's back with his buds. Make your way north decimating the enemy. Watch out for the gunpowder; DO NOT stand on it or right next to it, or any spells that hit you will be amplified by 10 levels! You can use it to your advantage too, though. Also make sure not to use thunder techs on the bridge. If you end up destroying it, bring in your wizards quickly to ice it over again so you can pass. When you get close to him, he'll bring in eight more and stronger units, so keep your units together when you go through! You'll probably still find it far easier just to head for Zomberd and pound him, ignoring the other parties besides for the Cure Mages.

Back on the bridge. Talk to Zora for a small scene. Talk to Anastasia, then Hornet. What you choose doesn't affect the game, but it will affect Ectarina's dialogue for the rest of it. ^^; Head down into the captain's room for some more items: the right side of the closet has a Ship's Log, and the bottom of the bed has a Bitter Memory. The wine cabinet in Yoyo's room has some Bitter Wine. Talk to Yoyo for another scene. Now go and buy up more equipment for your party, feed the old stuff to the dragons, then talk to the Dragonkeeper twice to start the battle. You'll probably want to do a sidequest or two to get some decent cash, since the stuff sold is currently really expensive.

This battle introduces the incredibly annoying Auto-Cannons. Put your wizards or Matelite's party forward and have them get rid of those cannons as soon as they can. Anyone who sits within three squares in front of the cannons will be hit with an attack on the whole party, so be careful. You might get lucky and create a Presenter when you use thunder techs on structures. They're easy targets and drop very nice items, so go after them! If a Blitz Magus poisons you, just go into your Party menu and use a Heal before taking your turn. Ignore the folks at the top left and head up, right, and up to Zomberd. Get rid of Cure Mages first and cannons second, then go after the boss, who's slightly more powerful than the last time you fought him. Kupo mentions that if your dragons are strong enough, you can just put them on Go! and let them attack Zomberd; the enemies won't come towards you if you don't cross the long bridge. 8-)

Item time! Look at the top crate next to the lower right house for a Sweet Honey; the top barrel next to the lower left house for a Life Grass; the left barrel next to the pub for a Uniuji; the top crate next to the pub for a Poison Mushroom; and the right barrel next to the upper right house for a Heal SP. Go up into the castle.

Go down the lower left staircase into the dungeon, and go into the bottom cell and talk to the queen. Talk to Sendak, then go out of the castle. The doors in town are now open. The lower left house has a Handmade Cookie in the right side of the closet, and it also has Matelite's new weapon and armor shop! Talk to Barclay to enter the shop. Buy the armor as soon as you can, because it's one of the best in the game until the very end. The axes aren't as great, though.

In the lower right house, read the letter on the chair twice to get a Letter item. Examine the upper right barrel for a Sweet Wine. In the middle-right house, the left side of the closet has a Drawer Thing; and the lower left nighttable has a Difficult Book; and the upper right one has a Sweet Memory. The upper right house has a Heal SP in the spear rack at the top left. Talk to Bikkebakke, then the old man, then Bikkebakke again and tell him to give the old man all his money; you'll get some more free cash much later in the game if you do so.

Enter the pub and talk to the bartender, then go up to the second floor. Examine the spear stand for a Porno Mag. Talk to the guy in bed and hit him to wake him up, then talk to Zora. No matter what you say, you'll get a new Lancer, Zora's Son, and a new dragon! Talk to it to name it (Munimuni), then exit. You should be all done here; talk to Truce at the south end of town to return to Farnheit. Talk to Yoyo. You'll get another two characters: Joy the White Mage and Nelbo the Wizard. You now have six full parties!

This one's kind of weird... you get to choose how many hours pass. Going in one-hour increments will let you see several scenes, while going in three-hour increments will let you skip most of them. You should choose them all, though, because you can get some very good items! Yoyo will come to you three hours in. Here's the items you can get based on how you answer her.

• "I'm busy." - Nothing.
• "Thanks!"
  • "This is fit for a dragon..." - 10 Botched Cookies
  • "Delicious!"
    • "Yes, of course!" - 30 Botched Cookies
    • "This is a man's job!!" - 20 Botched Cookies

Four hours in Sendak will come with a similar situation. 8p

• "Thank you, Sendak." - 30 Handmade Cookies
• "I don't need any, you old man!!" - Nothing.

Five hours in or later you'll be attacked by the Empire! AAAAHHH! The dragons will all come into the bridge along with the salesman. 8p And Sendak wants to tag around with you too. O_o I'd tell you to feed Munimuni any Poison stuff you have, since he starts out with no elemental attacks and no other dragon starts out with Poison. (Uniujis are good.) By now you should have a slough of great items to feed them. Get rid of them all (don't bother trying to save them; you're stuck with these six dragons for a LONG time, so might as well feed them up as soon as you can!) Vitality is especially important; you should have a few extra armors after buying Matelite Armor. When you're ready, talk to Salmando and get on him, then talk to Hornet to go to the pre-battle menu. Note that from now on, if you do a side quest, you can buy Matelite equipment, books, and mushrooms on the Farnheit deck when you're done. Formation-wise, I'd tell you to split up your White Mages into two groups of two (generally their magic power ends up being stronger than you need right now). Put the two Mini-Devils in one party, as well. You should buy up as much stuff as you can so you're party's fully equipped, because the shop's contents are about to change.

Your strategy here depends on how strong your dragons are. If their vitality is high enough (say 40 or higher) put them on "Go!" and let them deal with the enemies. Move your units to the left so it's ready for the boss when it comes. Generally speaking long-range techs are more useful here than going in and fighting. You shouldn't have too many problems here; and you should now have two parties with White Mages so you'll have ample time to heal.

A few scenes, then you'll be on the deck of the Farnheit in the rain. Talk to Truce to hear a very nice plan about the coming battle. 8-) As promised, the salesman's wares have changed; they're even more expensive now! O_o A sidequest or three might not be amiss here, especially since the enemies are also leveling up in the next few battles. Buy up as much as you can, feed your dragons (some should have their level 10 elemental attack by now, so start them on a second elemental attack), then talk to Sendak to leave.

OK... this is going to be a long battle. You should have one party with Matelite, two Knights/Heavy Armors and one Light Armor. Take that party up north along with a party of White Mages, and take the rest of your crew west. The western party should set its Dragons on "Come!" and try get to just west of the bridge, while the northern one makes its way up to the large gate with its Dragons on "Wait", battling past the enemies there. (Note that you have to go through the small floodgate to get to the large one; you can just walk over it.) When you reach the gate, stand in the middle of it to release the water and heavily damage all the enemies (make sure your own people aren't in its path!). After that, have the west party immediately go in and try to kill the Cure Sorcerers from a distance. When that's done, get their dragons all on "Come!" or "Go!" and go in to get Lestat. The north party won't be able to do anything any more (by the time they go down that little path, the battle should be over), so just set their dragons on "Go!". The little round structure near Lestat will release a Presenter(8) when hit with a Thunder tech; they drop good items!

Head north. The left barrel next to the house has a Guardian (I don't think there's any way to get to that crate). Inside the house, the left side of the closet has a Nimbus Robe. Head south. The crate next to the house has 5 Sweet Wines. Try to enter and a hilarious sequence will ensue. Help Donfan up. No matter what you tell him, he'll join your party, as will Jeanne the Light Armor knight! They rock! 8D Help Donfan up *again* and your dragons will appear. First head into Donfan's house and check out the left side of the closet for 6 Earth Grasses. Buy up more stuff (make sure to equip Donfan and Jeanne), feed your dragons, then talk to Sendak to start the next battle.

A few new things in this fight. First are the Stone Statues with glowing eyes. Any party that lands in front of it will have 1/3 its HP shaved off, so watch out! Destroy them with Thunder techs. Second are the treasure chests. Just stand on top of them, and when your turn's over, you'll get a cool item... either that or be caught in a trap! The lower right chest is a sandstorm trap, so stay away. Third are the spikes. There's no way to destroy them, so just be careful. Your dragon might step on them by mistake, though. Now, as for the enemies... put your dragons on "Go!" for a few rounds, because they can soften up the large amount of enemies to the north. Also note that Master Maguses are useless against Dragons (both spells). Before attacking a party containing a Gerumpel, hit X on them to see what Elemental they are, so you can know what not to use. As always, attack the Cure Sorcerers before any other enemies. Make sure not to kill Lestat before picking up the top two treasure chests! Put your dragos on "Wait!" if necessary.

Get out of bed and examine the right side of the closet for 6 Drawer Things, then examine the spear stand for 2 Strategy Books and a Prodigy Notebook. Talk to Gunso a bunch of times for a Gunso's ??? item, as usual. Now go out of the house (it's Donfan's, in case you hadn't noticed). Talk to Bikkebakke above you, and you can fish for an octopus. O_o Hit left, down, and right continuously (i.e. LDRLDR etc.), then when Bikkebakke prompts you, hit A a bunch of times to reel it in. After the scene, talk to the octopus to get a Bastard Sword and Aurora. Now head inside the top left house; examine the table for 3 Sweet Wines and 2 Super Vodkas. Examine the right side of the closet for 3 Drawer Things. Bikkebakke's mushroom shop and the weapon/armor/item salesman are at the lower left along with the dragons. You know the drill, equip, buy, feed, then talk to Sendak to leave. At this point I had all dragons with Fire at 100, so if I ever got any more Flame Grass I just sold it (it's good money!).

This one's pretty straightforward; you'll have to smash your way through more or less all the enemies before reaching the boss. Have dragons on "Come!" to help you out. They should get rid of the ladies quickly; the Colossuses (Colossae?) are one-trick ponies; they're strong with a lot of HP, but they're not hard. Have your dragons take care of the Tentacles and work your way up to the boss, who's pretty much a pushover.

After the battle, head up into the door. From now on, Yoyo and Sendak can summon Leviathan!

This one's pretty neat. 8-) Anyway, you get to choose between four people to do a spy operation. Choosing Donfan gets you to a hilarious scene with the females of the Empire (I recommend doing this just to see it, then restart.) Choosing the crew member will result in his death... I'm not sure if this affects anything later on. Choosing Sendak gets you an extra scene. Choosing Matelite (Taicho will actually go) gets the same scene, but with an added bonus: before the chapter ends, you'll have a scene with Yoyo in which you can get your second Princess's ??? item. So I'd tell you to choose Taicho. In any case, after the longish scene, jump down to the deck. Go back inside and talk to the item salesman to get a Letter. Equip, buy, go back out, talk to Taicho (only if you picked him, but if you did, this is important!), feed, battle.

The battle here is pretty hilarious... if you've been feeding and fighting right, each of your dragons should have at least two elementals powered up to level 10, and if you've been feeding them mushrooms like a good boy they should have strong Life as well. You can almost sit back and let your dragons take care of everything themselves! 8-) That's almost a good idea because the going is so slow. No matter which side you choose it'll take you forever. One way goes through a poison swamp; even if you clean it by using White Drug on it, you can still only move one square per turn through the swamp. O_o Going down the left side puts you in a strange corridor; it closes every other turn, and any characters inside will be trapped and unable to move (they can still use techs, though). I say just put your dragons on Go! and see if you can catch up with them by going through the corridor. Along the bottom there's another poison swamp, but there isn't any real way around this one. However, the bottom side of the swamp is only two squares wide instead of one. You'd still have to queue up to go through it... anyway, let your dragons take care of this battle. ^^; One more thing: don't hit the little orange rock-looking things with any attack spells or techs, or they'll spew out a poison swamp!

If you picked Taicho for your spy, you'll have an extra scene now. Keep talking to Yoyo till she tells you to "get out", then she'll go into the terrace. Go into her bed, face down, and hit A for your second Princess's ??? item! Follow her into the terrace and talk to her from below. After the conversation, follow her back to her bed. Try to follow her back to the terrace, then exit the room.

After the scene, equip, buy, feed, and leave. At this point I had all my characters equipped to the max that the shops would sell. I also had all dragons maxed out on Fire and Ice.

Plow your way through the undead to reach a whole slough of Incubators. Some of these release enemies when destroyed with a thunder tech; others give some great items. If you wait 10 turns, though, the incubators start hatching enemies themselves! Here's the list of what has what (items are in bold). They're given from left to right.

Bottom row: Spinal x3, Phantasm x3, High Drug
Second row from bottom: Phantasm x3, Drug Rod, Maximilian, Phantasm x3, Nimbus Robe
Bottom row inside moat: Deflesh x3, Diseaser x1, Deflesh x3
Top row inside moat: Holy Grass x5, Strategy Book
Bottom left of moat: Deflesh x3
Top left: Phantasm x3
Far left: Sleipnir
Far right: Nulnim

Only release the Diseaser if you want an extra challenge; its Dark Breath can make mincemeat out of your characters! You'll also find lots of auto-cannons and structures around to heal the enemy, so use lots of Thunder techs this battle; they're your friend. 8-) Now for the other enemies... the Blade Guards and Magic Guards are identical except that the Blade Guards can't be hurt by any physical attacks, and the Magic Guards can't be hurt by any magical attacks (note that the special techs of Knights, Heavy Armors, Light Armors, Lancers, and Matelite are all physical attacks, while Dances are magical attacks). Remember that you can freeze the moat to get across if you like. You should send one party of Wizards to the left and one to the right to pick up the treasures there, while setting their Dragons on Go!. But make sure not to kill Radia before getting them! Try to get Radia from a distance, because she'll keep summoning helpers if you go close-up.

OK, watch out for a secret character here! Just follow my lead. 8-) Start out by talking to everyone on the main screen, including Yoyo (twice). Examine the barrel she was next to for a Brunhag. Now head to the top left. Examine the bottom left crate for 6 Sweet Honeys. Examine the crate next to the top house for a Dark Grass. Now enter that house and check the right side of the closet for a Holy Grass. In here are the shops; they've finally got new stuff, but you can wait till later to buy it. Now enter the top right house to see a scene with Donfan. After it's over, examine the table for an Assault. Now go back down and enter the Pub. Examine the right side of the long table to the left of the closet for 7 Poem Diaries. Examine the flowers at the top left for a Stealth Armor. Now return to the lady by the tree in the middle of town and talk to her. If you've spoken to everyone else outside, Donfan should drop down and she'll walk off. Now enter the top left house, talk to the guy, and go up. Examine the left side of the closet for an Elixer. Talk to the lady, and after a scene, Mist will rejoin you! And if you talk to her again, you'll get a secret message from Neill. 8-)

OK, now enter the bottom right house (Melodia's). Examine the right side of the left closet for a Bitter Memory, then check the flowers for a Master Rod. Finally, talk to Melodia's grandpa. The dragons are now outside in the square. Equip and buy up the new stuff at the shops, feed them, and talk to Sendak to leave. Don't forget to put Mist in a party! You also now have a full party of Mini-Devils (Munyo and Wagahai have also joined) so if you're so inclined to have a Uni Uni, they're the perfect party for it.

I hope you've brought some people with Earth techs (if not, do some more sidequests) because you'll need it to reach all the treasure. Ignore the chest to the lower right, it's a trap. (However, you can still use it for a shortcut! Use an Earth tech on the crumbled wall above the chest and you can bypass the poison swamp above. This can save a lot of time!) Take two parties up the left side, battle through the enemies, then use an Earth tech on the crumbled wall to open the way to three treasures; use Ice techs to get to them. (The left one is a Sigrun, middle is a trap - avoid it; the right one has a Dark Grass.) The other three parties should go up the middle (or use the abovementioned shortcut). Take one of the three who knows Ice magic up to pick up the chest with an Aurora at the top; the rest continue right. Have them wait by the entrance to the narrow corridor while your other characters catch up with you (the enemies won't follow you yet). When you're all together, proceed east. Watch out for the Cottontails, who can turn you into rabbits... although that's not necessarily a bad thing! 8-) Rabbits have a random critical hit technique that can do major damage with no MP cost if it's successful! However, they have zero attack and defense. If you don't like 'em, though, just use a Heal in the Party menu before moving. Pick up the Black Burn in the nearby chest before killing the boss. Watch out for his poison attack, but you should be able to kill him in one round if you gang up on him with all your characters and dragons.

After the battle, Yoyo and Sendak will be able to summon Garuda.

A crewman will sell books and mushrooms south of the bridge, and you can buy Matelite equipment from Barclay in the men's quarters. Talk to Gunso a few times for a Gunso's ???. If you try going into Yoyo's room you'll get Melodia or Lukia winking at you, but you can't enter. Go down to the shops, equip, buy, go down and feed your dragons, then return to the bridge and talk to Hornet to go to battle. Your dragons should be starting to really get buffed up; one or two should be near the Holy/Dark form threshold. Now would be a great time to do one or two sidequests and spend ALL the cash on mushrooms to beef up Thunder, Life, Poison, and Dexterity.

For this battle, you won't be able to use Yoyo. Reorganize your parties a bit. This one's a bit tougher, but again your dragons will be doing a lot of fighting for you. If you want to make a shortcut, just use ice techs on the center of the Antlions to make them disappear. As always, beat the Cure Sorcerers first. You'll probably want to go after the Wespes once they're gone (remember not to use Thunder techs), followed by the Lazenlords. You'll find your new Garuda spell very useful, even though you only have one Summoner. Now... you don't really have to beat Palpaleos to finish this chapter, but he gives good experience and money, and it shouldn't take long if your dragons are there to help you. Gang up on Sauzer with at least two or three parties, and it's probably better to attack using field attacks (until he's almost dead, anyway). Use at least one Thunder tech on the field, too, since he's standing on a structure and he doesn't move. Every so often in this battle, a sandstorm will attack every unit (both yours and theirs) for about 2-300 HP (any units inside structures/palaces won't be hurt by it). Heal up the round after that (though your dragons should start being very helpful in this regard by now).

OK, exploration time! First talk to the guy who comes up next to Truce and tell him you're not popular (you'll see why soon). Examine the top barrel next to the lower left house for 20 Uniujis(!). Inside that house, the box at the top left has 11 Drawer Things. Next go to the house just to the right of this. In here, the lower jar has 5 Super Vodkas, and the top right box has 5 High Drugs. In the barrel to the far lower right, pick up a Dark Force, and you'll also get a message from Dark Force (the DeJap one, that is). 8p Ignore this house for now.

Next go up a bit. The guy here sells you copies of Resistance news for 100 PR each... they're funny. 8p You can get four of them. Examine the blue barrel at the top, second from left, for a Master Rod. Check the jar just to the right of that for a Mach Vest. Now enter the house to the right. The guy in here imitates Taicho's Celine scene. 8p You can see it by checking the "grave" after buying all four Resistance News. Ignore what the old lady has to say now and steal 3000 PR from the top left and bottom right barrels. 8-) Now go north and try to enter the library to get 10 Long Swords. Head into the far top left and check the cliff wall for 5 High Magic Gins. 8-) 'Kay, that's it.

Now talk to the man in front of the lower right house and pick the second option ("I'll be really cool too!"). Enter the house. Look closely and you'll see people hiding behind the barrels at the right of the screen. Talk to them. Choosing the Optional won't affect the game, but it will give you a funny scene depending on who you pick. It'll cost you 3000 PR, though. Now talk to Libero at the top. Tell him you'll help. If you're finished wandering around, tell him you're ready. After the scene, you'll have to catch up with the king. He's fast, but doesn't move too far away, so keep chasing him and mashing the A button. Finis!

Talk to Rush to see a scene and get your dragons to appear. Go to the lower left, face down, and hit A to jump onto the roof, where the salesmen will appear. Equip, buy, feed. Bikkebakke has his mushroom shop, and talk to him when you're ready to leave. Because of all the cool loot I got in the last few battles I was already fully equipped by now. 8-) Whenever that happens, buy up mushrooms to feed to your dragons (even if the elementals are at the max, the Rotten Mushrooms also raise Dexterity, and Gross ones raise Mind.)

Yoyo's back, so be sure to put her and your new assassins into formation. This is a good battle to bring Mini-Devils with... if they happen to do Complete Heal All, you'll heavily damage most of the (undead) enemies and completely heal yourself and your MP! Don't forget that your Priests (if there's at least three in one party) can use White Drug to do major damage against the Revenants and Wraiths. Get the Royal Chimera from a distance until it's almost dead. It's probably better to go in up close for the Soul Cage; use fire attacks or Holy attacks (if you have them). All in all this isn't too tough.

After the battle and the scene, run upwards, then talk to Yoyo twice, then go up again. After this chapter, Yoyo and Sendak can summon Jormungand.

This chapter's kinda weird... keep talking to Rush and he'll take you on a tour of the shops and dragon feeding. You can only enter each shop once, and only feed each dragon once. You should be starting to stock up on Litancibles, High Drugs, and maybe a few Magic Gins around now with your excess money (you should be finished or almost finished maxing out all your dragons' elementals, Mind, and Dex by using mushrooms). Make sure you have at least 20 Litancibles, but save some of your money for next chapter (you'll need it for a one-time shop). This is the perfect chapter to do at least one sidequest, since you can shop and feed to your heart's content once you have done so. 8-)

This is far more of an all-out slugfest than you're used to. You'll have to plow through most of the enemies to get to the boss. However, I recommend against wasting time with the grunts. First try to get to the Heal Glaives if possible, followed by the Mage Glaives. Both Glaives have very low HP. (The Garuda summon can deal MAJOR damage in this fight since the enemies are so close together.) By that point it'll probably be the enemy's turn, so fight back as best you can. Heal up before moving next (remember you can use Litancibles and Drugs inside the Party menu before moving). The other enemies do give good EXP and PR, so you may want to pick them off before tackling the boss. Watch out for the Temple Knights and Evil Beasts, though: if you try to get them in melee combat, they have a good chance of Self-Destructing. Not only does that kill a character, it also denies any EXP and PR to the party! So get them from a distance if possible, or if their HP's *really* low (like under 2000), go in and use techs to kill them quickly.

Been a while since you could explore Farnheit, eh? As usual, talking to Gunso will yield a Gunso's ???. The book shop is hiding on the lower left of the men's quarters. Bikkebakke is hiding in the lower right of the screen above the shops; he's also selling XXX Porno Mags; this is the only time you can buy them, so maybe you should stock up. ^^; They raise Strength astronomically when you feed them to your dragons, so if you have enough cash you can get them all to Holy/Dark forms by now. Talk to Rush in front of Yoyo's room to get a scene. If you try feeding your dragons, you'll note that Munimuni is gone for now. Get on Salmando to get another scene. You'll end up on the balcony. Talk to Yoyo, then Munimuni.

Go downstairs and talk to Yoyo again to be treated to a recap of the memory you saw in chapter 1. Once it's over, head into Yoyo's bed, face down, and hit A to get your third Princess's ??? item! Two left... I still don't think you should feed it to anyone yet. Anyway, equip, buy, feed, and talk to Hornet to get started. Yes, he says it's the final battle, but it's really far from it. 8-) By the way, if you paid your assassins to kill Yoyo, they'll try to do so now but miss. 8p

This is almost identical to the last battle, with a few exceptions. First, the enemies are far more spread out, meaning you'll need more stamina this time round. Second, there's an Alchemic on the lower right guarding that way up. He's a bit of a challenge (his Burning Earth can hit a large area and burn forests, too). Gang up on him if possible; he's in front of a good way to go to get rid of the Heal Glaives and Mage Glaives first. He also gives GREAT EXP and PR. Third, Palpaleos is in this battle as an NPC. Enemies won't attack him but he'll attack them! If you're really patient, you can let him kill everybody while you wait and rack up EXP. 8p Don't worry about using up your MP; waste it all on the Alchemic and the boss. Don't use MP/SP on grunts or mages, though.

After the battle, talk to Yoyo, then talk to Palpaleos twice. Keep walking north. As usual, what you choose in any of these conversations doesn't matter. 8-) Walk back out south after it's over. Going back in shows the two lovebirds smooching. O_o Talk to Salmando to end the chapter.

The shopkeepers finally have new stuff, so equip, buy, and feed yer dragons. Note that Palpaleos is now in your party! 8-) When you're ready, talk to Matelite. If you told the assassins in chapter 16 that you wanted them to kill Matelite, choose the second option for a funny scene. 8-) Then talk to Palpaleos.

Wow, all the generals are here! If you're fairly strong (i.e. you have a whole complement of Holy/Dark dragons, which you should have by now) just roll up towards Gudolf, kill the Cure Comrades, and gang up on him. But where's the fun in that? 8-) You can get major EXP, PR, and items by getting rid of the generals first. Concentrate on one at a time, though. Make an ice bridge over the left, get Lestat and Zomberd, then up towards Irvine and Barbarela (get Barbarela first). Then hang a right towards Gudolf. Maybe bring a party of Mini-Devils to keep trying to get Complete Heal All once most of the enemies are dead. ^^; If your dragons' Wisdom is at 100 (it definitely should be) they can make mincemeat out of most of these jokers. A fun trick is to make the ice bridge to the left and put one group out to lure the enemy onto the ice bridge. Then burn it out from under them and let 'em drown. 8p As for Gudolf himself, watch out once you whittle him down to 9999 HP. He'll start using much more dangerous spells. Still, you should be fine with your dragons to help out. If you beat him with a Holy tech, you may win an Excalibur!

After the battle, talk to folks (as usual, what you say don't matter) then talk to the Dragonkeeper. Follow him outside and talk to him. You'll now get to choose two parent dragons. First use the shops to equip your characters and buy equipment, then feed your dragons to the hilt. Now choose the dragons with the best stats overall. In other words, if one dragon has very high Strength and Dexterity and another has very high Vitality and Mind, those are the ones to mate! The baby dragon will have more or less the same as the highest stats of either of his parents. If you have two Master forms, go for those. Note that if you choose Molten as a parent and talk to Palpaleos before talking to the Dragonkeeper, he'll tell you something... er, not very pleasant. O_o

Once you choose the two parents, talk to the Dragonkeeper. After that, talk to one of the salesmen to get a Gneisenau, Imperator, Black Prince, 2 Iron Dukes, Pax Kahna, XXX Porno Mag, and your fourth Princess's ??? item! Now talk to Palpaleos. First choice doesn't matter, choose the second option in the second choice to continue. (The shadow who rushes up to Yoyo is Matelite, who gives her a dress, by the way.) The first choice doesn't matter, but if you choose to dance 'til you drop you'll get a slightly longer scene next. 8-)

Talk to Bikkebakke, then Munimuni to return to Farnheit. As usual, talking to Gunso several times yields a Gunso's ???. Talk to Rush twice and listen to Matelite's speech. Now head down to the dragons. The baby's been born! You can fool around with him, but tell him to Come to advance the scene. After you name him, he'll drop a Dragon Dung. O_o Pick it up; it's excellent dragon food. If you taste it, you'll see a scene involving Bahamut. Walk to the right to meet him.

Equip, buy, and feed your dragons. If you're dead set on getting an Unknown Form in your party, you can do it now; he won't be as wimpy as before. The weapon shop owner will give you a look at the enemy warship Trafalgar. The book shop is in front of Yoyo's room. If you've been smart (as in buying up XXX Porno Mags a few chapters ago and feeding dragons lots of mushrooms) you should have several dragons in Master form already. If all your dragons have maxed out a particular stat, sell items that raise only that stat. Buy Litancibles and Magic Gins instead, and feed some Magic Gins to your dragons. Note that there's a new statue on the deck near the dragons; picking from it will give you a random mushroom for free. I don't know if anything bad happens if you do this. 8-) Make sure to feed Puppy a lot of mushrooms before using him, because he'll have very low HP otherwise. Some Magic Gins for his MP would be nice too.

Before you leave, take a look at the statue off on the left (go to the very end, face up, and press A.) You'll get a choice of two presents. The one from Hornet contains a Scharnhorst, Dreadnaught, and Dillinger. The one from the crew has a Destroyer, 2 Kaiser Rin, 2 Martial Nays, Prinzeugen, and XXX Porno Mag. Hornet's present is the strongest weapons for Knight, Cross Knight, and Ninja, but you get a lot more variety and almost-as-good weapons from the crew's present. Your choice. When you're ready, go to the bridge, examine the controls, and choose Take Off! You've got a new side quest now, one that I don't recommend even trying unless you're in Ex-Play. O_o

Long but not hard. First off, watch out for the security systems. Anyone who passes above them will be damaged. Destroy them with Thunder spells. Make sure to attack the Cure Comrades first (preferably using field attacks), followed by the Gran Gunners. You do have to beat Barbarela to continue; the doors will open when you do. Your dragons should be at a high enough level to help out immensely here.

After the battle, go south and examine the door for a message from Tomato, the translator. 8-) Go north to see a scene, then talk to Yoyo, then examine the door to the north. After the scene, Yoyo and Sendak will be able to summon Hyperion.

Talk to Sendak in Yoyo's room, then Sauzer, then exit the room and talk to Yoyo. Go to the captain's room south of the bridge, and talk to Sendak again. Go up to the bridge and talk to Yoyo. Now you can explore again. Truce is in the women's quarters by mistake. 8D As usual, talking to Gunso yields a Gunso's ???. Bikkebakke in the men's quarters sells books, mushrooms, and Matelite equipment. The item shop now carries Royal Drugs, by the way. At this point in the game I had all Master Dragons, although it's nothing to be ashamed of if you don't get it for another two or three chapters. ^^; It's very possible, though, if you do smart feeding (see the Tips section for details). Or do a sidequest or two to get the requisite cash and items. Puppy will have very low levels and HP, so you should put him in your party whenever you do sidequests and make sure he does lots of actions to raise EXP. And feed him Drugs, too.

When you're ready, go back to the bridge and talk to Hornet. Go up to the left window, then talk to Hornet again to leave.

This is a pretty easy battle if you figure out what to do. 8-) Go after the Psychic Dolls first, preferably from a distance; if not, they'll heal the boss completely and give him lots more turns when it's their phase! Put your Summoners with a Light Armor to get rid of them quickly. 8-) After that go after the bunnies (don't worry about them turning you into rabbits; just use Heals in your Party menu before moving). After everyone's dead, go after the boss. Not tough at all. You can even bring a party of four Mini-Devils in here; since the enemies are numerous and weak, it's the perfect battle for them.

After the scene, Yoyo and Sendak will be able to summon Bahamut! And Yoyo's class will change to Dragnar, although it doesn't really make a difference as far as her abilities (her stats will go up a bit, that's all).

Don't worry, it isn't really. 8-) Anyhoo... like always, get a Gunso's ??? from Gunso. And as in last chapter, Bikkebakke sells mushrooms, books, and Matelite equipment in the men's quarters. Head to Yoyo's room and talk to her. You can ask her the last two options if you want, but ask about the doorway to continue. Go to the bridge, talk to Hornet, and tell him to fly to Granbelos. Talk to Rush, then go to the men's quarters and talk to him again to get the fifth and last Princess's ??? item! Go to the captains' room south of the bridge and talk to Sendak. Go back to the bridge and talk to Hornet. Do all your shopping and feeding (you can make a full-fledged Behemoth now if you wish for some reason, and make sure you've got a bunch of Magic Gins for the next fight), then talk to Hornet.

This is probably one of the toughest battles in the game (if not THE toughest). Bring lots of Wizards and your Assassins along and spread them out in your parties. This is not a Mini-Devil battle, by the way! Your main problem is cannons. Lots of cannons. O_o The big ones are absolutely deadly. Use thunder techs to destroy cannons and walls. First keep your dragons on "Come!" and beat the magicians on the front line (remember not to use Fire attacks against them, including Bahamut). Pulverize any auto-cannons blocking your way with thunder, along with some walls, and move on.

At this point you might want to set your dragons on "Go!" and let them soften up the huge cannons up ahead, but be sure to pull them out once their HP gets low (say below 3000). While they're dealing with them, have your folks duke it out hand-to-hand with the little cannons. Remember to use at least one thunder tech on them from the field, or the structures they're on will heal them! As you go up, make sure not to go further north than you absolutely have to, or you'll come within range of the big cannons earlier than you need. Also try to spread out as much as possible; those big cannons have a huge effect range! Use ice techs to freeze the rivers, allowing you greater mobility. Use Litancibles and Drugs BEFORE moving all your units, or your dragons may waste a precious attack on healing you.

Concentrate on one side at a time as you move up, but keep your units as far apart as possible while pounding on the cannons. If any unit gets hit by more than one cannon in a turn, they are TOAST. Once both the first two big cannons are gone, quickly move up towards the top. Beat the Cure Comrades first, then (while still being spread apart) go for the Ziegfried. Ignore everyone else; beating Ziegfried is your main option at this point! If it's under 10,000 HP, just go in close. It can't hit back during melee attacks.

Once Ziegfried's gone, beat any cannons left and get the Lenderbaffe. Then go up to confront the bosses. Just go in close and pound them, but again try to space out your characters, since the bosses' field attacks have a large effect radius as well. If you're lucky and/or patient, you can catch one of the bosses on the bridge and use thunder to shoot it out from under him; he'll drown in three rounds. However, the EXP, PR, and items you get from beating him make it worth your while to do so. You'll get an Excalibur after beating Irvine's party.

If you gave Bikkebakke's money to the old man in Campbell, you'll get 1000 PR now. Yay. 8p Equip, shop, and feed (you can now buy Heal SPs in the shop, but I doubt you'll ever need to use them), then talk to Yoyo to start the battle.

You'll meet some old friends on the terrain here: the Stone Statues who hit you with a Mega-Beam if you stand within three squares of them; spikes; switches and traps; and chests. You should have your dragons on "Come" to help you out as you make your way north. It's probably a good idea to have your parties with Light Armors wait for the slower ones so you stay together. This is actually a good battle for Mini-Devils, since they have a chance of fully healing your party once you've gotten past the first wave. 8-) Don't bother about the trap switches; chances are they won't be of any help to you. Do get rid of the Stone Statues with thunder, though, because they can be annoying. The chest at the lower left has a Reconquista and the middle right one has a Chobham Armor. When you reach the top, first let the Lazengrafs come to you and beat them off, then head up and have two parties go after the Cure Comrades while the rest concentrate on the cannons. (Watch out for the stone statues! Use thunder if you need to.) After that beat the mages and head for Gudolf. The top left chest has an Invincible in it and the top right one has a Prinzeugen.

As usual, you can get a Gunso's ??? from him. Zora's Son will tell you his true name if you want to know. 8-) Bikkebakke sells mushrooms, books, and Matelite equipment. The shops have brand-new equipment, so stock up! Talk to Palpaleos in Yoyo's room to get an Empress Kahna and Royal Gown (equip them on Yoyo). Equip, shop, and feed (by now you should have more or less all Master Dragons, though) then talk to Hornet on the bridge to continue. There's a new sidequest, Situation Critical, and unlike Hard Dungeon it's actually doable (and you'll get tons of EXP and PR doing it). If you have all Master Dragons you should definitely try it at least once. 8-)

You can more or less ignore the Dark Stalkers; let your dragons and Summoners deal with them. Even better, bring along a Mini-Devil party and a Black Dragon and keep dancing until you use Complete Heal All, which will do some nice damage to them and heal you! 8-) First go after the Ring Crafters (they can create new Dark Stalkers), then the Ring Commanders, then the Ring Tracers. As you make your way right and down, DO NOT stand in the forest (or if you plan on it, you may want to first burn it yourself using Bahamut and then freeze it using ice magic or Leviathan to make it disappear). Get the Alchemic close up, and put Salmando on Go! to have him duke it out with Veltim; chances are Veltim will waste his turn using Bagdem on Salmando. 8-) When the Alchemic is gone, gang up on Salmando. Your HP should be high enough that his Bagdem, even if it hits four units, won't kill you all, and a dragon or Priest party can use Refresh at the start of a turn to recover your HP. Once you start beating on Veltim, do NOT dance or you'll risk using Complete Heal All and lose all your time... he has TONS of HP so it'll take a while to beat him.

Walk right past the bridges until a person appears. Talk to him. After he disappears, talk to the kid that appeared during the conversation. Now buy stuff (fron now on Rush will have the weapon, armor, and item shops, and Bikkebakke will have the mushroom, book, and Matelite equipment shops), equip, and feed (the only thing you should have left to raise is MP; do so by feeding them Magic Gins). Then talk to Palpaleos to continue.

Spread out your Wizards among four parties. Looks pretty simple, don't it? Look again. There are no less than 21 Stone Statues out there, and if you fail to destroy them with Thunder techs, they'll get turned into nasty Radamantises! You'll still have to deal with a bunch of those, but destroy as many statues as possible first! Use your Black Magic to do so. Set your dragons on Go! to get rid of the ones that do arise. The Assassins' instant death attacks seem to work pretty well against them, too. Once you reach the top, use Summons to attack the four parties (get rid of the Ring Commanders first with your other parties). Now... the lower right boss here is real, and the other three are fake. DO NOT attack the non-bosses; it'll just keep replicating itself. O_o Or if you do, make sure to lower both their HP simultaneously and beat them both in the same battle. Keep Byuu away from them, because they're smart and they'll target him! If he gets hit by two Gigashocks in a row, you can kiss the battle goodbye.

Equip, buy, feed if you got it, and talk to Matelite when you're ready.

Keep a low profile at the start of this battle. You can use Mini-Devils if you like for this battle. Have all dragons on "Come!" and use your Summoners to help systematically get rid of the small fry, preferably starting with the Heal Glaives and then Ring Commanders. Let them come to you. Assassins' insta-death skills may still prove useful in battle against the Dark Sceptres; especially watch out for their Self-Destruct. When they're all gone, that's when you heal up and go for Alexander. He's at X11, Y05 (the lower right part of the head). Stay as far apart as possible while still in range, and be sure to heal up at the start of each turn using items in the Party submenu. A good strategy is to keep Byuu all by himself on one side of the field (still within range) and everyone else attack from the other side. That way, Alexander will just target Byuu during his phase! All you have to do is heal him up with items (or even better, let Salmando cast Refresh) at the start of every phase that way. 8-) If you're using Mini-Devils, once you defeat the little folks, don't do any Dances! You shouldn't have too many problems, methinks, especially if you brought lots of High Drugs to use at the start of your phase.

You know the drill by now. When you're ready for the final battle, talk to Matelite!

OK, we've got four heads to beat (all of which have infinite MP, in case you're wondering). The upper right one is the healer; the upper left one does dragon spells like Ice Breath; the lower one does status effects, and the middle one does Summons(!). You can't hurt the middle one until you've beaten all three of the other heads, but once you do beat the middle one the battle's over. Mini-Devils are a definite no-no for this fight, and you shouldn't use Assassins either. Stick with tried-and-true: two parties with a Cross Knight, a Knight, a Heavy Armor, and a Light Armor; one with four Wizards, one with four Priests, one with two Summoners and two others (doesn't matter since you won't be using them in melee fights at all, but you'll be left with Lancers so you might as well use those); and the last would probably also be good to have Matelite, a Knight, a Heavy Armor, and a Light Armor.

At the start of every phase, go through your units and use Heals, Litancibles, and Magic Gins if you have to, and use one or two Royal Drugs (or four or eight High Drugs) if you're nowhere near a good spot to be hit by a White Drug from your Priests. Keep your parties at or near maximum HP at all times. Also, if you beat a head, be sure to equip any good items you win on a character (and you can win some great items, so save and restart if you don't get a good one).

Start by getting rid of the top right head (at X19 Y05). It has the least HP and it's the least dangerous. After that, go for the upper left head (X11 Y06). It'll take a while, but you can beat it. While you do, though, keep your party as far away from each other as possible, since the middle head's Summons can do nasty damage to many characters. You'll actually be using your Priest party in this battle, unlike most of the previous others. Once that head is gone, head to the lower head (X09 Y14) and start hitting it. The lower head is actually the least nasty, since its status effects are easily countered by using Heals in the Party submenu, but eh. Your main problem during this time is that your dragons will be targeting the middle head even though it won't do any damage! Once the lower head is gone, spread out your magic parties and go in close with your physical parties to attack the middle head (X10 Y10). It has 50,000 HP, so it'll take a while, but if you keep healing yourself with items, you shouldn't have any problems. Since it'll only get one turn per phase, you shouldn't lose any of your units. When the final head's gone, sit back and go with the flow for the ending! Congrats!

But we're not quite finished yet. ^^; If you like, once the ending is over, return to the start screen; there's a new option, Ex-Play. Similar to New Game+ from Chrono Trigger, you can pick a saved game (here it would be your chapter 27 game) and you can start with your characters and dragons at the stats they were at that savegame! You'll also keep all your money and items. There's an extra option, too, in the Inventory menu: you can now see what the effects of each item would be if you fed it to a dragon. Finally, your Summoners can summon Alexander right from the start of the game (it absolutely rocks). You may want to give the Hard Dungeon a try as well!

This sidequest is available from chapters 24-27. It's actually MUCH easier than the Hard Dungeon, even though it's available later. Basically, as long as you have two or three Master Dragons, you can let them do most of the work and use Summons, spells, and Swordtechs from afar.

As stated before, there isn't much strategy here. Just keep hitting people. 8p Oh, and use items to heal if you need to.

Welcome to one of those optional battles that requires you to be WAY stronger than necessary to beat the last boss, and gives lots of good rewards except for the fact that you don't need them because to be able to beat this battle you need to be uber-strong anyway. 8p To give you an idea of the difficulty level here, the weakest enemy has a higher level than the final boss, and can kill you in two hits. This sidequest is available from chapter 20 onwards, but wait at least until chapter 21 so you can buy more items.

Preparation for battle: First of all, you'll either need to be in Ex-Play, or have done about a gazillion side quests. The Alexander Summon is invaluable here. Also, you'll need to have six Master Dragons, each with 9999 HP and at least 450 (preferably up to 550) MP. You'll also need at least 40 Litancibles, 60 Royal Drugs, 75 High Drugs, 99 Heals, and preferably 99 Magic Gins. (You can buy all of this stuff at the item shop.) Try to have even more than what I put down here, because you do not want to worry about skimping on item usage! You'll also want a Behemoth (i.e. five Princess's ??? items). Your average experience level for characters should be at least 55 (60 if you're not in Ex-Play). Dragons should have average level of 60.

Battle Formation: Here's the formation that worked for me. This dungeon is crazy hard (as it says), so you need a very specific strategy to get through it. It'll take you probably close to an hour to finish without frameskipping (thankfully you can save in the middle).

Two parties of Cross Knight, Knight, Heavy Armor, and Light Armor
One party of Royal Guard, Lancer, and two Assassins. They're not as useful as (say) four Wizards, but the Pax Kahna equipped on Matelite will prove a lifesaver.
Three Mini-Devils and a Light Armor, paired with a Behemoth (or failing that, a normal dragon, NOT a Black Dragon): this should be PARTY 4 (this is important for the very start of battle).
Four Priests. Big Burst does as much damage as Armageddon, and White Drug and Cleanup are invaluable in a pinch.
Summoner, Dragnar, and two Wizards, with the first two equipped with Royal Gowns and Empress Kahnas.

General Tips:

• Keep your dragons on Come! at all times. This is incredibly important, because the major thrust of the strategy I present here consists of you luring enemies away from their friends. A misplaced dragon can screw everything up.
• Use items to heal up at the start of every player phase. This way your dragons won't waste any precious moves on healing.
• Always use your strongest possible attacks against enemies. Just keep using Magic Gins every few turns to keep your MP high.
• Note that I divide your parties above into two types: up-close (those without Light Armors) and long-range (those with Light Armors). I'll be referring to them below.
• The Cross Knight parties can do far more damage inside melee battles; however, melee battles are incredibly dangerous in this dungeon. I'll let you know when it's more-or-less safe to go in melee.
• Keep your Priests for the last move in a phase; if something backfires (the Mini-Devils do Damage All or a melee battle ends up with badly hurt comrades) they can use White Drug to prep everybody back up.
• All you need for any unit is to survive the Enemy Phase with one character at 1 HP. If you have that, you can use items to restore it to full fighting spirit instantly. You'll have to carefully figure out how much punishment you can take without dying. Generally, the main characters (Byuu, Yoyo, Matelite) can take just a little bit more damage than the others, which means you'll have that extra edge you need to survive.
• Every single enemy here is Poison-elemental, which means they're healed when they walk on Poison Swamps. Use White Drug liberally to change Poison Swamps back into normal Swamps. Also note that Poison attacks will heal enemies as well. And be careful: if a Swamp is hit by a Poison spell, it'll return to being a Poison Swamp.
• Many enemies are also Death-elemental. This means that neither Poison nor Drug attacks will work on them; however, healing attacks will indeed damage them (albeit with far less damage than a normal attack). One good thing about this is that the Mini-Devils can Dance near them without any real fear of healing them.
• Speaking of which, always have the Mini-Devils Dance in the field near the enemies. If you have your Behemoth you may heal them for about 3000 HP, but you also have a good chance of doing over 9000 HP damage to them, which can really turn the tides in this battle.

OK, now a rundown of the enemies. Fighting each enemy by itself isn't all that tough; the problem is when they gang up on you.

• Strider: The easiest enemy. They have an instant-kill attack, but the chances of it getting everybody at once are very slim. Go up close and personal with them.
• Overlord: Has the least MP but can be absolutely deadly, especially since you have to deal with four parties at once; probably the most dangerous part of the battle. NEVER go in melee battle with them. See the walkthrough for how to deal with them.
• Moth Queen: Not too bad, but has an annoying ability to poison you. Don't bother going in for a melee attack since it has a very high evade stat and will duck most attacks.
• Schwarzen: Pretty nasty. If you're equipping Fire- or Poison-resistant armor, you'll have an easier time with him. Go up close to get rid of him quickly.
• Naga: The easiest of the three nasties just listed. None of its attacks can do major damage by itself... but coupled with two Infernos from the King of Pain is a ticket to a painful death, so watch out!
• Judit: Incredibly annoying. By themselves they don't do much, but they're helpers to the King of Pain. They can give him an extra turn, or heal him. If you're damaging the King of Pain, that'll basically nullify their turns, since they'll keep trying to heal him (and only getting about 1500 HP healed each time) instead of giving him a deadly extra turn.
• King of Pain: The final boss is death if you leave both Judits alive. Once he's by himself you'll have no real problems. But that's the hard part. 8-)

OK... the first part's tough. The Striders aren't too bad (you can even take them on in melee battles) but do NOT ever attack the Overlords inside battle; they'll make mincemeat of you. Use field techs and keep up your MP with Magic Gins. Now... the major danger comes when the Overlords gang up on you. Basically, you can (barely) survive a Bagdem from a total of two Overlords, but not three. So if there are more than two (e.g. one party of two and one of one), it's very dangerous. Bagdem has huge range, too! So you want to get rid of the two-Overlord parties as quickly as possible. Make sure you SPREAD OUT while doing this; it raises the chance that the different Bagdems will strike different parties, so everyone can survive.

The problem is that there are four Overlord parties. You really have to get them quickly. The best way to do this is to have your Priest party use Starfall on the crumbled wall and break it, then take your Mini-Devil party up to the two leftmost Overlord parties and Dance. If you're lucky you'll do over 9000 damage to both parties, and your other characters/dragons can then finish them off. (Even if you just beat the two-Overlord party this way, you should be able to survive the others for the first round.) If you don't do the right dance (i.e. an attack dance), just take Byuu up there and die quickly so you can retry from the beginning.

Now, take your long-range parties (those with Light Armors) up the left side and finish off those three Overlord parties, one by one (if you haven't already). Try using Trick with your Matelite/Assassin party; it seems to work pretty well (but make sure not to use a Swordtech afterwards, or they'll wake up again). DO NOT take the chest; it's a trap. In the meantime, take the short-range parties to the right, beat the Striders and grab the chest with 9 Elixers (keep as far south as possible so as not to attract the last Overlord party). While the short-range parties are working, the long-range parties should finish up what they're doing and head right to beat the last Overlord party.

OK, now the next bit is different, but no less dangerous. Basically, you can't deal with more than one or (possibly) two of these enemies at once, or you're fried. The only exception is the Naga, who isn't too bad, and the Judits. The Judits aren't too dangerous in and of themselves, but they can be deadly in that they let the King of Pain have an extra turn! Your primary goal is luring the nasties AWAY from the King of Pain. Attack the nasty guys Moth Queen, Schwarzen) from the field; don't go into battle. The main problem is that all of these guys have ASTRONOMICAL HP.

OK. Start by bringing everybody to the top right. At this point, the Moth Queen and Schwarzen should start coming towards you. Let them come (if you're lucky a Judit will join them). Lure them down towards the south (don't go trigger-happy and start beating up on them until you're well to the south, or they'll start going back north and sniping from afar, and you DON'T want that.) In fact, make sure you're all the way to the bottom of the screen before you start hitting them; if you're even hugging the top wall of the bottom part, they can hit you from above the wall. Even all three of them together shouldn't be enough to instantly kill any party, so heal up at the start of each Player Phase. Wail away with Dances and Alexander Summons against them; you can go up close with the Schwarzen, but I don't recommend doing so with the Moth Queen, since it has a high evade rate. It'll take a LONG time until they're defeated, but hang in there with the Drugs and Gins. Don't forget to use White Drugs to clean up the poison swamp, or it'll heal them.

Once that's done, have everybody go back to the right, just below the crumbled wall. Break the wall and go up. Fight the Naga and (when she comes down to you) the Judit. Don't venture to the left at ALL until they're defeated! Again, it'll take a while, but since it's only two of them you shouldn't have as many problems. Even if you didn't manage to get a Judit follow you south before, the Judits themselves aren't too bad; you can even take them on in melee battle if you like. First go after the first Judit (if you didn't get her yet), then the Naga. After that, go after Judit and the King of Pain at the same time. If you keep damaging the King of Pain, Judit will just cast White Drug on him for her turn! However, concentrate on Judit first. Once she's out of the way, take your long-range parties around to collect treasure (you'll need to use earth techs to break down the crumbled walls to get to them). Put their dragons on Go! in the meantime. When all the treasure's collected, just go whole hog on the King of Pain. Just use Royal Drugs or Heals at the start of battle and you'll be just fine. You're done!

Just a listing of the treasure:

Bottom-right chest: Elixer x 9
Bottom left chest: Trap (Nightmare 99)
Mid-left chest: Reconquista x 4
Mid-right chest: Chobham Armor x 4
Left enclosure, left to right: Royal Gown x2, Empress Kahna x1, Kaiser Rin x4
Middle closure, left to right: Powered Suit x4, Trap (Silent Voice), Energy Suit x2
Right closure, left to right: Trap (Bionics), Dreadnaught x4, Iron Duke x4