Nalbina Dungeons
(1) I told you, total class!After a strange cutscene, Vaan wakes up in Nalbina Dungeons, which you're about to learn is a place full of dirt and dead corpses: charming! You are also temporarily bereft of all of your equipment, including items, which is even more charming. Anyway, go have a look around, pick up a few items along the way and head all the way north until you get to the save crystal. Save if you wish and go to the next area. A scene occurs where you learn a) that Vaan loves to walk into trouble even when told not to, b) a bit more than you wanted to know about the traditional welcome party for new inmates in that place and c) how to fight weaponless and outnumbered while still being totally cool, courtesy of Balflear (1). Fight the three Seeqs: it should be easy, just make sure both attack the same one at a time. You can also steal a potion from each of them. When you're done, more cutscenes follow - it's time to think of getting out of this place. You'll find yourself in a hallway. Make a few steps and Fran will spot your equipment: you get everything back. There are also a few treasures in that room. You're better off not touching them if you want easy access to one of the ultimate weapons later on. Continue your way and in between cutscenes, looting treasures, notably for a couple useful gambit settings if you're lucky, and fights against Archadian soldiers (which you may want to try and avoid as much as you can if you're still below level 8), you'll end up in the Barheim Passage, with Basch as guest character on top of it all
Bahreim Passage
(2) With the fuse in place, you can
now open the gateRun downstairs; on the right, there's a passage that leads to a circular room where you can get some gils, then go back on your steps. Before reaching the save crystal, you'll spot a wooden bridge to a platform, and a switch. The switch won't work, and Balflear explains that you'll need a fuse. Luckily for you, if you go all the way down, you'll meet with a Bangaa sitting on the floor (2) who just happens to be a DIY fanatic and who managed to make a fuse: isn't that sweet? Head back upstairs to place the fuse in and activate the switch. An energy bar shows up at 100%. Back downstairs, activate the switch by the Bangaa to open the gate. Energy goes down to 70%, but it's nothing to worry about....yet. Before heading into the passage, take some time to buy some equipment from the Bangaa if you feel like it. You should especially consider buying the gambits "Ally's HP < 50%" and "Ally's HP < 30%" and maybe some protections, if you have enough money
Ok, I'd like to explain a few things about this place before we go ahead: Barheim passage is definitely more tricky than the places you've been through yet. In most areas, there will be enemies called "battery mimics" that chew away at the electricity cables, causing the energy to go down. You need to keep an eye on the energy bar - if you see it going down, that means there's a battery mimic in the area, even if you can't spot it by then. The normal course of action is to find and kill those first - if you have a hard time locating the mimics, just bring up the map and any that's currently affecting the energy level will be indicated there. As long as you keep the energy level above 50%, your enemies will be mimics, bats and flans. If the energy level goes below 50%, undead enemies will start to show up. Go below 30%, and you'll battle against spectres as well in the northern half of the Passage
(3) You'll encounter mimics, flans and
bats mostlyRight, now that you know what's in store, let's head through the passage you've just opened. You'll immediately spot a battery mimic, and the power will be brought down to 30%, and will keep diminishing until you kill it. A zombie or two will also show up, since the power is low, but keep focusing on the battery mimic first. Once you've done this, the power will raise again to above 50%. Finish off the rest of your opponents in the area. If you keep an eye on the energy bar, you've already realised that it keeps getting lower again - that's because there's yet another battery mimic within the same area. Continue on your way until you encounter it (bring up the map if want - its location will be indicated). Once it's done the power will be back to 100% or almost if you have hurried a little, and will stay so until you exit for the next area. There are four battery mimics in the latter which happens to be pretty big. At the first crossroads, take right to take on one battery mimic, then go back to take the other way, until at another bifurcation you go left for a third battery mimic. Back to the main road, you can continue all the way south until you reach one last fork that will take you back north a little: at the end of this passage, you can get the map to the Barheim Passage. Now you're about to walk for a while until you almost reach the exit to the next area. Before that, take the couple of stairs on the right that lead to a platform and then an exit. Two other battery mimics are located there. Get rid of them and head back to the old railroad, then proceed to the next area
(4) The location of the gate mechanismNow you'll need to go right to another area where you'll find a mechanism upstairs (4) before you can proceed. Kill also the two battery mimics there, and don't forget to look around for treasures (see Equipment section above). You may meet with a few bombs from now on, but those shouldn't bother you unless you attack them. You can beat them, but you must be quick or else they explose and deal a lot of damage to all of your characters standing close. Now go back to the previous area and exit south. A cutscene occurs, after which you can save. The next two areas will see a new type of mimics that may be familiar to regular FF players - those look similar to ordinary treasure chests, but examin them and you're prompted into a fight against a mimic. You can tell them apart from regular treasure chests though if you look closely, as mimics' imitations have a blue undertone to them that the regular thing doesn't have. In the second area, you'll encounter also surianders (which actually look like giant toads): while they are pretty big, they shouldn't be a problem at this stage. The last battery mimic you need to get rid of is close to the exit of the area. Proceed and you'll arrive at the Terminus no 4 Adjunct which offers you a last chance to save before the next boss. If you want to level up some more before facing it, this is your last chance to go back and visit the Barheim Passage in a while
(5) I hope you're not afraid of spidersThere aren't many things you should do specifically to prepare for that battle. The only recommendation I'll make is to have both Balflear and Fran on long-ranged weapon, so that they won't be hit by the mimic queen's special attack "thunderburst". You'll see that there are, on top of it, tiny mimic that will chew at the power. You can go after them if you wish, but you can also just focus on the mimic queen. Just keep an eye on everyone's HP and try to keep them above 200 to stay on the safe side. If you keep Balflear and Fran in the background, that also means only two of your characters may be hit by its special attack, which will make surviving easier. It's weak against Ice, and therefore, Blizzard is especially efficient against it, but you may prefer to keep your MP to heal, especially if your levels are low and that you have few healing items. In that case, just keep attacking until you have depleted all of its 4073 HP, and you'll find yourself out of the Barheim Passage and back in the Dalmasca Estersand region
(6) They leave your party, but not
for longOk, your next destination is Rabnastre, but you don't have to go back just yet if you'd rather tour the area a little. You can even visit the Nalbina Outerward (for that, head north, then head for the east exit of the next area - you'll get to see a CG scene the first time you try to enter the city). You can also head for Giza Plains or even the Dalmasca Westersand if you want to - the monsters in the later should be less of a problem now, even though you may still want to be a little cautious - and I'd strongly suggest you don't try to enter the Zertinan Caverns. Finally, you may also choose to head north in the Dalmasca Eastersand and teleport to Rabanastre from the village by the beach. Anyway, wherever you come from bears no impact on the fact that everyone will leave the party (6) at this point....luckily, you won't be on your own for long
Coming next: The Royal City of Rabnastre - The Sky City of Bhujerba and the Luhsu Mines
