FAQ

Q. Why can't I see anything underwater in the Ship Graveyard and the sunken Worus Tower?

A. In the zSNES menu, go to "config", then "video" and make sure that the video mode is set to one of the 16-bit color modes. I think pretty much all video modes in the latest version of zSNES support transparencies nowadays, though, so this may not be an issue anymore.

Q. I'm stuck on Hiryuu Mountain in the 2nd world! What do I do?

A. In the dead end room, there is a trap floor you must fall through. Change one of your party members to an elementalist to see it, or just wander around till you fall in.

Q. What's the best place to gain Experience, Gil and AP?

A. The best place for AP and Gil is in the Void. Any enemy there gives you tons of Gil and AP. The Movers are the best for those... you get 50000 Gil for every Mover you beat, plus a whopping 199 AP... but you'll need to beat them quickly, otherwise the battle will simply end and you won't get anything. As for Exp, go to Dimension Castle and proceed towards the final floors. Don't go all the way, but go to the last screen before the final floors. Walk around in here and you will encounter enemies that are worth a LOT of Exp. The best possible encounter is with 2 Iron Giants. You can wipe out both of them immediately with Odin most of the time, and at the end of the battle you'll receive 5000 Exp for every party member. (thanks to Chris for the bit on Experience)

Q. Where are all the piano's?

A. You can find them in pubs in the following towns:

* Tule (sit on the stool to get the dancers out of the way first)
* Carmen
* Karnak
* Crescent (this one's not in a pub, it's in the Bard's house)
* Jacole
* Rugor (follow a secret passage left of the pub's entrance)
* Mua
* Mirage (this one's also not in a pub, you can find it in one of the underground passages)

After playing all 8 piano's head back to the Bard in Crescent and play the piano there again, then talk to the Bard to get the Power Song and Hero Song. (If you do this when you've played only 7 piano's, you only get the Power Song.)

Q. I can't find one or more of the following spells: Chocobo, Remora, Sylph, Drag, Heal/Esna, Toad, Size, Exit, Float. Help!

A. That's not even a question. Oh well... you can buy all of these (except Heal/Esna I think) in Mirage in the 3rd world. However, you can get them all earlier as well.

* You can buy Chocobo, Remora and Sylph in the town of Worus' Magic Shop. Yeah, it's that obvious... makes you wonder why it's such a frequently asked question. Oh well.
* Drag: You can find it in Worus Castle's Basement, but beware of Garkimasra who lurks nearby! Almost nothing will hurt this guy, you're probably better off using !Escape or !Smoke to run, or, if you have it, use the Blue spell Level 5 Doom to kill it.
* Heal/Esna: When Karnak Castle is about to explode, search one of the treasure chests near the Castle's exit. You can also buy it in of the 1st world's towns... Lix I believe it was.
* Toad: Go to Istory. A little girl there says she found something nice while running through the flowers in a circle. So find the circle of flowers and walk through them in a circle, touching all the flowers on the way. This will cause a toad to jump out of the center. Check the hole he left behind for the Toad spell.
* Size: When you're in the Ancient Base, go to the central room (where the beds are). Don't head towards the beds, head left instead, and proceed south past the shelves. You'll see a lever on the wall. When asked to push it, select no. When asked to pull it, select yes. The wall will slide open revealing some treasures. One of them is the Size spell.
* Exit: In Bal Castle's throne room, there's a short secret passage southwest of the throne leading to the chest with Exit.
* Float: In Surgate Castle, make your way to the library. An old lady will ask you to put the books back on their rightful place. So get a book from the table and place it on the right shelf: Secret of Lonka goes on the "STU" shelf, Monster Encyclopedia on the "MNO" Shelf, and Forbidden Book on the "DEF" shelf. After that, talk to the old woman again and she'll open up a passage. Follow her and you'll find a storeroom with some goodies and a passage leading outside the castle. Take this passage, and when outside walk under the bridge to reach another storeroom which holds the Float spell.

Q. I can't get through the door in the Jacole Cave! How do I open it?

A. Search the open treasure chests nearby. One of them holds a switch which opens the door.

Q. How do I beat Omega?

A. Okay, this method takes quite some time, but this way is the most likely to succeed.
1. Master Ninja and Archer for three characters, and make sure they have the ability to use level 5 Sword Magic. (Have them reach at least level 6 in the Mystic Knight job)
2. The other character should be able to use Jikuu Magic and White Magic, both of Level 5 or higher.
3. Turn the three first characters into Suppins with X-Fight and !Mgcswrd (Lv. 5+) as their abilities. The fourth character should be a Mimic with !Jikuu (Lv. 5+) and !White (Lv. 5+).
4. In the first round of combat with Omega, have the Suppins cast the "Bolt3" Sword Magic, while the Mimic casts "Haste 2".
5. In the following turns, have every Suppin attack, and the Mimic cast "Cure 3" on the party. Keep doing this until Omega is defeated. It helps to equip everyone with Flame Rings, they'll absorb some of Omega's attacks.

Q. How do I beat Shinryuu?

A. The easiest way to do this is by doing the following:
1. Occasionally, you'll meet Crystal Dragons in the Void. Steal from them to get a Hiryuu Spear. If you get something else, cast "Return" and try again. Try to get 8 Hiryuu Spears.
2. Master Ninja for all characters. If you already used the above tactic to beat Omega, this shouldn't take too long. They also must have access to the !Jump ability.
3. Make all characters Suppins, with !Jump as one of their abilities.
4. Equip them all with two Hiryuu Spears and a Coral Ring.
5. When the battle starts, Shinryuu's opening attack will be absorbed by the Coral Rings. Have everyone !Jump. Shinryuu should be beaten when they all land.

Q. What do the words "Hiryuu" and "Jikuu" mean?

A. Hiryuu means 'Flying Dragon' and Jikuu means 'Space-Time'.

Q. If "Hiryuu" means 'Flying Dragon', how about "Shinryuu"?

A. To the best of my knowledge, Shinryuu means something like 'Sacred Dragon', 'God-Dragon', or maybe 'Heart Dragon'.

Q. What does the scrolling text at the end of the game say? It's all in Japanese!

A. That's probably because you have an old version of the FF5 English patch. Get the most recent version!