Rabanastre and Lowntown
| Key Events | Locations | Fiends | Sidequests |
| Talk to Old Dalan in Lowtown South Sprawl | Rabanastre, Rabanastre Lowtown, (Dalmasca Estersand, Giza Plains, Nalbina Town, Dalmasca Westersand) | - | Clan Centurio, Mob Hunts |
(14) After some more cool CG, you
discover a new part of the cityYou'll see a few more scenes, including a CG [14], before Vaan decides he wants to see someone who is located in Lowntown. Yep, if you thought Rabanastre was big already, there's a whole new level to the city that's now available! But there's no need to head downstairs just yet. Apart from shops (while you don't have much money at this point, you may want to buy at least Cure for your next trip outside town at Yugri's Magicks - just sell the loots you've gotten from your visit to Dalmasca Estersand), there are two places of interest. One is the Clan Centurio's headquarters if you haven't joined the clan yet (please see chapter #1.1 and the Clan Centurio Subquest page for more details); the other is the Sandsea bar to get your reward for defeating Rogue Tomato guy from Tomaji. You can find him standing by the bar now. You'll get 300 gils, 2xPotion and 1xTeleport Stone (while they appear in your loot inventory, don't sell them, they'll come in handy quickly! more about those in a little while). You can already get your new Hunt contract by checking Noticeboard, then talk to the guy sitting nearby on the ground who happens to be the petitioned of the Thextera hunt. You may want to try and complete it within the next hours of the game....
When you're done, there's a choice open to you now: you can either move along the storyline and go to Lowtown or you could venture outside again. Now all the gates around the Souther Plaza are open, allowing you to go to the Dalmasca Estersand (which is open beyond the Outpost), Giza Plains and the Dalmasca Westersand (please refer to maps for how to get to each region). Now if you move along the storyline, you'll quickly find yourself in the Giza Plains with a new party member, which does help. But the thing that you have to consider is that levelling up alone means the character gets all the EXP points received for each fiend defeated, and thus levels up quicker than if there are two characters in the team. On the other hand, tackling the best area to level up at this stage (Dalmasca Westersand beyond Galtea Downs) is tough if you're alone. Actually, it's tough even for two until they're both levelled up a little. What I would recommend? Get Vaan out there to level up some. I typically give the Dalmasca Westersand a try around level 6 with two characters, so I have him level up alone up to that level, then move the storyline until he's joined by another character: when they join, their level will be the same as Vaan, whatever his level is, so you can head straight to the Dalmasca Westersand to do some real fast level up there. See below the Extra Hints section for more tips about what to do out there. Whenever you feel like it, head towards Lowntown Rabanastre (see the bottom frame [14] for one of the ways to get there - the stairs on the right in the Northern Section)
(15) Visit Lowntown before heading
to Giza PlainsBefore we go any further: if you want to get the most powerful weapon in the game the easy way, do not open the treasure chest in front of Old Dalan's house (check the map if you're unsure). In all, there are four chests that should not be open or you'll lose your best chance to get your hands on the famed Zodiac Spear, and the one opposite Old Dalan's House [15] is the first you'll encounter
Now that this is clear.....Once in Lowntown, you can visit a little around. There are a couple of shops, but nothing of great importance at this point. Go inside the house at the bottom of the South Sprawl and talk to Dalan. There's a lot of talk about stones before he tells you that you need to get a Sunstone before going any further. He's kind enough to point out that you may get one in Giza Plains, which is, as you guessed, your next destination: luckily, the exit is just outside Old Dalan's. Outside awaits a crystal: you'll notice that it isn't blue but orange. Those crystals offer you, on top of the save option, the possibility to teleport, but it will cost you one teleport stone. You've received one from Tomaji, but it's not worth using it now. Just exit this screen to enter the Giza Plains
Giza Plains
| Key Events | Locations | Fiends | Sidequests |
| Talk to Masuya in Giza Plains' Nomad Village Penelo joins the party(receive 3x Potion and 2x Phoenix Down) Talk to Jinn at Giza Plains' Crystal Glade (receive Key Item Shadestone) Get back to Nomad Village after filling up energy gauge (receive Key Item Sunstone, 50 Gil, 2x Potion, 2x Teleport Stone) | Giza Plains | Hyena, Alpha Hyena, Happy Bunny, Urstrix, Slaven, Wild Snake, Werewolf, Sleipnir | Clan Centurio, Mob Hunts |
(16) Once in Giza Plains, head first for
the nomads VillageGiza Plains is actually a pretty big region, but head first to the southern exit to reach Nomad Village. You'll encounter a few Hyenas and Giza Rabbits on the way. If you look closely, you'll see the Giza Rabbits have a green bar, very much like the Tiny Cactites in Dalmasca Estersand. I'd recommend not to kill them, especially if you haven't bought Cure yet, because not only do they not target you unless attacked, but they might actually heal you when your HP become low and you stand not far away from one! When you enter the Village, you can buy a map of Giza Plains from the moogle at the entrance if you haven't already done so in Rabanastre. It's only 30 gils, so don't hesitate. There's also a shop. If you haven't updated your gear since the beginning of the game, you may be tempted to get the Broadsword, but don't do this - you'll find one in one of the chests around Giza Plains. Go talk to the woman standing alone called Masyua [16]. She'll send you looking for a young boy called Jinn. Penelo also happens to be here and joins your party: you're not fighting on your own anymore, yeah! Exit the settlement to look for Jinn: Penelo will stop you to give you 3x Potion and 2x Phoenix Down. She will also explain to you the principles of gambits that you can now turn on or off in your battle menu for both characters (but you can't set them up yourself yet). Have them on for both characters since it will save you from having to select "attack" - but remember to steal items from your enemies as it is a command you will still have to input.
(17) It looks impressive but you
shouldn't have any difficulty against itIf you bring up your map, Jinn's location will be clearly indicated in the small southern area called Crystal Glade. But before covering that part of your mission here, let's explore the area a little, as Giza Plains is a good place to level up a little if you haven't done so yet, as well as win and steal some loots you can sell to make more money and buy equipment; there are also quite a lot of treasure chests, including one with the Broadsword in the southernmost chest of the southeast area (Giza South Bank). You will meet new enemies here, but no matter how big, you shouldn't have much problem; there's one exception though. Don't even think of trying to take on the two big werewolves that keep walking around idle in the southwest area - you are no match for them at this point. If you ever come too close and they target you, run, it's your only hope, really! Also, remember when I told you about chests you shouldn't open at the moment? There's another one of them, in Giza South Bank: there are chances you'll see a treasure chest in the middle of the easternmost bridge. You can open it now, but know you'll miss on 50,000 gils later on, as it won't come back once opened. It's up to you....beyond that bridge, there's a passage to an area that's outside the Giza Plains region. It's part of the Dalmasca Estersand, and you can also visit there for more chests and some more levelling up. However, the enemies found in the region west of Giza Plains that you can reach from an exit of the Starfall field area may prove much more challenging....
(18) Listen to Jinn and don't hesitate
to bring up the map to help youBack to the task at hand: head for Crystal Glade. You'll see a young boy sitting by a black stone on the ground: talk to him and he'll hand you Key Item Shadestone. It's not quite what you need to bring back to Rabanastre though. To get Key Item Sunstone, you need to expose the one you have to dark crystals scattered throughout the Giza Plains to fill up the energy bar that appears on your screen [18]. Bring up the map and the four dark crystals available will be marked neatly. Usually, exposing your Shadestone to three out of four is enough to fill up the bar up to 100% - once this is done, you're automatically brought back to Jinn and from there to Nomad Village where you get your reward from Masyua: 50 gils, 2x Potion and 2x Teleport stones. You also get to keep the Sunstone. Mission accomplished, you can head back to Rabanastre
Back to Rabnastre Downtown
| Key Events | Locations | Fiends | Sidequests |
| Talk to Old Dalan (Penelo leaves party, receive Key Item Crescent Stone) Talk to Kytes in Lowtown North Sprawl (receive 2x Potion, 4x Eye Drops) | Rabanastre Lowtown | - | Clan Centurio, Mob Hunts |
(19) Prepare to head for the
Garamsythe WaterwayBack to Rabanastre, enter the Lowntown area by the door on the side of the South Gate area. Approach Old Dalan's house to trigger a scene, at the end of which Penelo leaves your party for the time being. Talk to the old man and you'll receive Key Item Crescent Stone. Your next goal is the Garamsythe Waterway (the place where you started as Vaan). Before that, it is strongly recommended that you acquire a few things if you haven't already made a visit to the shops, especially since you're gonna be away from Rabanastre for a little while. Head upstairs: go ahead and sell your loots - you should have a lot of fire and wind stones, as well as wolf pelts. Selling them may actually allow you to access special trade items (more about this above and in the trading section - coming soon!). As for what you'll need - you don't have to buy any weapon, armor or accessory (see however the suggestions in the Extra Hints section above) but buying some Magick, and in particular White Magick, is recommended. Cure is your priority if you haven't bought it already, and that even if a character that will join your party soon has it already - you might need it in the meanwhile. Don't hesitate also to acquire Blindna and Poisona that cure Blind and Poison status respectively. Remember that in battle, consuming an item takes less time than Magick, but you may run out of items, in which case you'll be very happy to have these spells. I know it is often recommended to buy Blizzard for the boss in the next section, but I think Slow is more useful - however, get both if you can afford them, as well as Protect. You don't have to buy Fire since you'll soon have this ability through a new team member. Same for the "First-Aid" Tecknics, so don't waste your gils on that. Once you're all ready, head to Lowntown again: in the north-west quarter of the district, you'll see a few kids sitting on crates before a door: behind the door awaits Kytes who will open the entrance to the Garamsythe Waterway; he'll also give you 2x Potion and 4x Eye Drops before you take the left door
Next stop: The Garamsythe Waterway and the Royal Palace of Rabnastre
