Garamsythe Waterway to the Rabnastre Royal Palace
(20) You're finally on your way to the
big adventureNot much to say about that part, actually. When you arrive in the waterway, there's a save crystal waiting for you; further ahead, you must go through a couple of areas before reaching the palace: mostly wererats and bats, really, none being dangerous for you. There are also a two fish types in the last area before the exit - North Spur Sluiceway - including one rare. Now, I know I've said you're often better off leaving "friendly fiends" alone, but here, you may want to try and steal a few fish scales from them as you'll be able to exchange them a little later for better equipment and a unique type of ammo (understand, you can only get it through trading, and you'll need 2x fish scale for that). Take your time to loot all the treasures here, especially in that last area again. Once you're past the three small dead-ends on the right, you'll reach a first fork: go left first. At the end of the way is potentially an Oak Staff. If you don't get that and you already have the Rod, don't worry too much though because it's quite weaker. Then go back and upstairs, then down and again, you can choose either left or right. Left leads to another chest with a good chance to get a Mage Masher (Attack Power +19 and Silence) that you can equip on Vaan immediately (if you have the licence, that is). When you finally reach the stairs leading to the palace, you're prompted to confirm you want to go upstairs. Think carefully because this is your last chance to go back to Rabanastre before a while! When you deem yourself ready, choose twice the top option to walk upstairs
(21) Progress through the palace to
get to the treasureOk, you end up in a small ante-room (21) where you'll find a save crystal and a small, bright statue - have a closer look at the latter for the map of the palace. Save your game and enter the next room. Basically there's a lot of chests and an exit all the way north - unfortunately, there's a guard. If you approach the top end of that area, there will be a short cutscene. Now make sure you raid all the chests, except for those in the SE corner if you want a better chance to get an ultimate weapon later in the game....when you're done, go to the guard: of course, he won't let you pass through to the stairs. Go now talk to the red Seeq nearby - you'll be encouraged to trick the guard to come where you stand by pressing square. While he makes his way to where the Seeq and you are, run close to the wall either on his left or right to sneek past him and to the stairs. You can enter the next room where you'll find lots of guards that you need to move around. Take the first right and then the southernmost way. Turn around, and you'll see guards at the next intersection. You need to get them out of the way: call out to them using square again and run all the way back to the entrance. Now you can take the way before you. There's a symbol on the floor, but it's not the one you're after, so ignore it. When you reach the end of the way, go all the way north and turn left to get the guards up there out of the way again. It's boring, but don't worry, there's just one more team of guards to go. Go back on your steps towards south and take the last horizontal alley you haven't taken yet. There's another symbol on the floor. Use the Crescent Stone and a passage will open elsewhere in the room. Now you need to actually get there. Easy, just call out for the guards at the end of the way, run all the way back to the entrance. Now take left until you reach the last intersection. The secret way is on your left
(22) Meet your new friendsRun all the way north; the door is on the right, but you need to find a switch first. When you get to the very end of the way, it's located on your left (you can't see it, but the action icon will help you find it). Once you've activated the switch, you can take the way to the right: the door to the treasure room is the left panel. Enter and a cutscene will introduce you to your soon to be teammates, Balflear, who, btw, has maybe the coolest character introduction line of the entire FF series (be it in Japanese or in English!), and Fran, who you'll be very, very happy to have on your team during battle, trust me! But for now, they are after you, or rather, after the goddess' magic stone you've just taken. Run all the way upstairs, which will trigger a couple new cutscenes, including a CG, at the end of which you and your new friends must walk their way through the rest of the Garamsythe Waterway
Garamsythe Waterway - again!
(23) Adapt your party members settings Okay, you now have a party of three. You can choose your party leader simply by using the arrows up and down to highlight the name of the leader of your choice, then confirm with circle (or X depending on your version). I often choose Balflear (gee, I'm sure you all wonder why!) but this has little to no impact on the gameplay at this point of the game, so choose whoever you prefer. Save your game at the save crystal, and head downstairs. Balflear will stop you: remember Penelo's explanation about gambits? Now you're about to learn how to set them (for the details, please visit the gambit section - coming soon!), at the end of which both the "Gambit" and the "Party Members" entries will be added to the party menu. Before heading for a rather long trip in the waterway, set your gambits and check all of your members' license boards. Since the question of the necessary level and abilities at one given point of the game often shows up in forums, here's what I recommend at this point: I usually arrive with Vaan at level 6-9; Balflear and Fran will join you with one level higher (here Vaan was 7, i.e. Balflear and Fran were both 8). It's enough at this stage. As for Gambits, you should have each character heal the others using the "Ally's HP <70%" with "Cure" or Potion (I'd rather teach everyone "Cure" and go with that, except during boss fights when speed matters really, since using a spell is more time consumming than using an item). I would set that as the second gambit, behind "Foe: nearest visible" - "Attack" for the leader, and "Foe: party leader's target" - "Attack" for the others. That way, they'll finish off the enemies first and will then heal - I choose that because enemies aren't tough and it's very unlikely one of your members could get killed before they'd be cured, even that way. Also don't forget licenses. Everyone should get "White Magic 1" for Cure, and at least one person "White Magic 2" for Poisona as well. If you have enough LP left, then I recommend the HP +50 slot for everyone, boosting their HP a little (23), as well as "Potion Lore 1" (you will recover a little more than the standard 100 HP for each potion used). When you're all set, go ahead
(24) You're joined by AmaliaThe next two screens, you'll encounter a lot of random enemies, mostly the same as before, only tougher, as well as Gigantoads (charming!); don't forget to keep stealing. When you arrive at the first area after the save crystal, turn left for a map hidden in the status, as well as a treasure chest. Next area, you may find some fine equipment, in particular a Long Sword (attack +19), an Escutcheon (a shield) and a Leather Armor. There's also a small chance you'll get to steal a Leather Shield from the Rats, as well as some heavy armor from Gigantoads and Garchimaceras. Progress until the next save crystal, after which you'll help a girl called Amalia. Defeat the 4 Empire soldiers after which a cutscene occurs (24). Then walk towards the exit of the area and Amalia will join your team as a guest character. Basically, a guest character fights by your side as a fourth teammate, but their actions are totally controled by the AI. You should know that one of Amalia's gambits is "Ally's HP < 40%" - "Potion", and whatever potion she'll use will be from her own stock: basically, she'll cure everyone for free, so there's no need any character to have an "Ally's HP < 70%" - "Potion" setting: that would just be a waste of potions really
(25) There's nothing like a little fire
magic in that caseGo back on your tracks to save the game before entering the next area. Balflear's gun will be pretty useless in the next battle, so you should either equip him with a sword, or have him learn "Black Magic 1" for Fire. If you don't have enough LP left, don't hesitate to go to the previous areas to level up a little and earn more License Points. When you're ready, head for the next area. As you are about to cross it, a cutscene occurs, and you're attacked by four flans. Now there are two things you need to know about them. One is that they are extremly weak against Fire, so have Fran (25), and Balflear if you've taught him this ability, cast fire at each of them once. You can finish the job with swords and arrows, as they are weaker to physical attacks than flans in previous FF. The other thing is that they like to cast darkness against your characters - just use either the Blinda spell or an Eye Drop to cure it quickly since a character afflicted by darkness is not very efficient with a weapon. All in all, it shouldn't be too tough; defeat them all and, surprise, you'll be rewarded by a nice "Congratulation" screen, but also, you'll get to hear for the first time the traditional victory music of Final Fantasy! Before leaving the area, check it for two more chests, one of which may get you a Leather Shield (a better protection than the Escutcheon), before continuing your progression throughout the waterway
(26) Your toughest fight so farDon't hesitate to fight around a lot for some levelling up and to win more items, you'll soon be able to sell them and acquire some useful equipment. You'll eventually reach a semi circular room with a save crystal, and many doors, but most of them won't open. Save your game and prepare yourself to face the next boss. It's not too difficult, especially thanks to Amalia, but it can be more or less easy if you get the right settings. Most importantly, get both Balflear and Fran back on gun and bow if you had switched them to sword or staff/rod, so that they can stay away from the boss. Also, have Fran, or any other character with enough LP learn Slow. Now you can go through the only door you can open for now, and Firemane will show up (26). Of course, it's a fire elemental monster, which means it's mostly weak against water. Unfortunately, there's no water spell available at this stage. Now, I know most people recommend Blizzard, but honestly, it's not really more effective than physical attacks, and it takes more time, so I'd rather save my MP for healing if I were you. Of course, Amalia will take care of that as well as she can, but if you're still below level 9-10, a little help probably won't hurt. The best tactics I know of with that boss is first to have Fran cast Slow, then make Vaan the leader and have him escape until you can lure Firemane into the water - being there will cost it a little HPs at each turn. Next select either Balflear or Fran as the leader and keep them both away from the boss - the real danger comes from its special attack that it will perform probably twice or so, which deals fire damages and will probably cast bio on one or more characters, as it hits anyone who stands nearby; you'll want to cure the last as soon as possible, either with antidotes or Poisona white magick. Apart from that, keep attacking and you should eventually beat it. No sooner has it disappeared that you'll be taken as prisoners by Archadian soldiers to Nalbina
Next stop: The Nalbina Dungeons and the Barheim Passage
