Edea's House is located at the southwestern edge of the Centra continent in the far south, near a lighthouse. If you haven't already seen it, the Galbadia Garden is looming in the nearby forest and a showdown is inevitable. Before we confront it, let's explore the continent of the lost civilization of Centra. There are many items to obtain and a new dungeon.
Just below the orphanage, on the shore, you can find a hidden Holy draw point. We'll take a look at the new monsters inhabiting the Centra continent, now. Note: I highly recommend using Rinoa frequently during this next portion of the game. After the clash with Galbadia Garden, you will lose Rinoa for a fairly long period of time, and thus it would be a good idea for her to be many levels above the rest of the characters.
Jelleyes will be commonly found around the continent. The Healing Water item can be mugged from them. This is another one of those items for completionists; it lacks any real use other than refining to minor things like Cura and Tents.
The Blitz monster carries a trio of rare items. If you didn't use the Card Mod to create some earlier, you can now steal Betrayal Swords from them. One of these is needed for Squall's Flame Saber weapon, if you haven't created it already. Otherwise, these are only good for refining to Confuse magic.
Blitz's commonly drop Dynamo Stones, as well. With four of these in hand, you can now create Irvine's next-to-last weapon, Bismarck. Dynamo Stones can be used as a compatibility item for Quezacotl or to refine Thundaga magic, also.
If you're really lucky, you may be able to steal an extremely rare Power Generator item from Blitzs. You will find one in a dungeon later on in the game, but this is the only place you can obtain Power Generators otherwise. These are used to teach Quistis the blue magic, Ray-Bomb, and although not recommended, you can refine these into rare Pulse Ammo. Ray-Bomb is an underwhelming attack on all enemies, but much better than Ultra Waves or Aqua Breath.
Into the forest terrain now, we can find the Death Claw monster that is infrequently encountered during the game. Other than their scarcity, Death Claws are only of note for being able to, rarely, steal the Missile item from. Since the GIM52As can only be encountered in dungeons you cannot return to, this is your source for these outside of Card Modding. Missiles teach Quistis the blue magic, Micro Missile, that will be important soon. Note: Death Claw's have Shear Feathers as their normal steal, which is a better way to get them than having them dropped by Thrustaevis, at this level.
Yeah, so the Ruby Dragon...Make sure you save before you look for these. This is, without a doubt, the most dangerous encounter in the game. If you don't have high-HP junctions, I recommend attempting to steal and then fleeing the battle. They hold Inferno Fangs for you to steal. With one of these, you should be able to create Selphie's second-best weapon, Crescent Wish. Another one of these is needed to teach Quistis the blue magic, Fire Breath, too. If you want to stand your ground and fight, casting Protect on your party is a must. The Ruby Dragon's Breath attack will decimate your party without it. Casting Slow on it can be useful, as well. Summon Shiva and Diablos for the most damage output and if you want to risk it, you can draw rare Meteor and Flare magic to stock. Meteor, a powerful magic in its own right, is also one of the best spells you can junction to a character's Strength and HP.
You can refine Inferno Fangs over to Flare Stones; although not many, but it is the best way to obtain this item. They refine to Flare magic, alternately.
To find our next set of enemies, we need to extend all the way to the edge of the island Edea's House is on. If you hug the eastern side of the island, you will reach an edge you can draw from a Thundaga point.
You will eventually reach a mountain pass that the Garden cannot enter and Squall will need to disembark to venture further. Inside, we are technically in Esthar territory and there will be new monsters to encounter; along with the usual Jelleyes and Blitzs.
Grand Mantis' that we originally found in the Deling Sewers begin showing up here. Like previously, we can mug them for Sharp Spikes. These are needed for several weapons, including: Selphie's before-mentioned Crescent Wish, Rinoa's Cardinal, and Quistis best weapon, Save the Queen.
Sharp Spikes also refine over to Irvine's devastating AP Ammo, which is the best way to obtain this type of ammo. I recommend stocking up with as many of this you can; it will be useful very soon.
At the VERY tip of the southwestern portion of this area, we find a hidden Stop draw point. To the east of this point, you will find two sets of forests to look for our next encounter.
Finally: a place we can continually find Bombs. Now that we have one, you can rarely, but not nearly as rare as the Blitz's Power Generator, steal the Bomb Spirit item. If you get frustrated trying to get one, you can refine 100 of the Bomb's common steal, the Bomb Fragment, over to 1 Bomb Spirit later on when we have the necessary GF ability. Bomb Spirits can teach a GF the Kamikaze command, which is not recommend; just keep this in your inventory. On a side-note, you can find Adamantoise on the shores to the east if you haven't picked up the Whisper (Mug) item or Adamantine (Drop). Before continuing, I highly recommend you have at least 3 Adamantines in your inventory to create weapons later. Don't worry about farming these two items, though, we still need to return much later for that to refine them into other rare items, when we have the ability to.
Let's head over to the desert terrain, now. At the tip of the island, just past the desert, we can find a Firaga draw point hidden.
Cactaurs litter the desert as encounters. You can steal Cactus Thorns from them and they have a very rare drop, as well, but for now, let's just ignore that. We will return to these when we have the much-mentioned refining ability to make use of these items. However, if you can manage to defeat a Cactaur before it flees, you will receive 20AP for each one, which makes this a great way to learn Guardian Force abilities. Squall and Seifer are a guaranteed hit on them, but other character's will likely miss, so some patience will be required.
The Chimera is a VERY rare encounter in the desert; in fact, I can only seem to find it in the very north of the desert that faces the Esthar continent, but don't know if this is a coincidence or not. Red Fangs can be mugged from the Chimeras. With one of these, Squall can change over to the Twin Lance weapon at a remodel shop. Red Fangs are another Ifrit compatibility item and refine into Fire Ammo and Firaga magic, as well. If you become frustrated with encountering a Chimera, you may try the desert where the D-District Prison is located, although, they are a very rare encounter there, too.
Return to the Garden and we need to pilot it to the shore of the island located to the northeast of where Edea's House is. Coming off the shore, you will notice a strange structure: this is a new dungeon for us to explore.
Before we go inside, there are two hidden draw points on this island. From the shore, hug the right-hand-side mountains and you will eventually wrap around a mountain range that contains a Chocobo Forest. There is a Protect draw point just past it.
Continue on to the end of the island and within the debris (?) here, a Demi draw point is hidden.
Exploring the Centra Ruins now, we have a decision to make. At the end of the dungeon, we can acquire a minor-GF, Odin. When to get Odin is a much-debated topic as he is more-often-than-not a hindrance than a help to you. He will randomly appear at the beginning of battle, usually when you are looking to steal from an enemy, and instantly destroy them for you. Also, Odin, near the end of the game, will become replaced by another minor-GF, Gilgamesh, which some consider worse than Odin himself; seeing as he can arrive anytime during battle and this can ruin Angelo Searches (Which is required for an item you can get no other way). So, what to do? Myself, I'm not going to obtain Odin until just before the point he is needed to acquire Gilgamesh and I will do my Angelo Searches before then. If you don't want Gilgamesh at all, you can wait until disc 4 to obtain Odin and keep him. Whatever you decide, I'm going to go ahead and cover this dungeon for those that may want to go ahead and pick Odin up.
On the third screen of the area, there is a hidden Drain draw point on the right-hand-side of the destroyed fountain. You'll have noticed a timer for this dungeon, as well. Just ignore it and explore, for now. If it runs out, you will just be kicked back out to the world map, but your progress in the dungeon will be saved. Climb the stairs to the right from here, then inside the temple, the platform in the middle will take you up to the next area.
Climb the left-hand-side ladder to the top and go inside to activate a switch. If you take the right-side ladder, it will take you to an Aero draw point. At the bottom of the ladders, you can now hit the switch on the altar to create a new staircase on the right-side.
Circle the staircase to the next screen and climb the ladder up to the statue. Pluck its eyeball out and take the next flight of stairs up.
There's a hidden Pain draw point in the right-corner of the screen. Have Squall ascend the nearby ladder up to the next statue.
Plug the missing eye from the other statue into this one and you will receive a code, which is random: you will need to remember or write down. Take both eyes of the statue and return to the previous one.
You'll then be prompted to enter the previous code once you place both eyes into this statue. With the correct code, the door below will slide open leading to Odin's throne room, however, do not enter yet. Let the timer expire, or exit the Ruins to save your game first. His room will still be unlocked allowing you to face him with a fresh timer. To give yourself even more time, equip Diablos' Enc-None ability.
Odin, himself, is simple: he won't attack at all, you only need to deplete his HP before the timer runs out. Start by stealing a Luck-J Scroll from him. This item is incredibly rare, but you can obtain it infinitely through a grinding process of refining items. Only one Guardian Force has the ability to junction to the Luck stat, so you will need at least two of these to outfit your entire party. Odin marks the first appearance of the Triple spell to draw, as well, but may be too time-consuming to draw if you aren't able to defeat him quickly. Casting Meltdown on him and Haste on your party while just sticking with physical attacks is recommended. When the battle is over, you will receive Odin's card and he will start appearing randomly during the beginning of non-boss battles.
Whether or not you acquired Odin, let's take a look at the monsters inside the Centra Ruins. You can mug the Dead Spirit item from the dangerous Forbidden enemy. I advise casting Life or using a Phoenix Down to kill Forbiddens quickly. Once their HP gets low, they will assume a different fighting stance and use, plus counter with, an attack that instantly kills a character; even with protection against the Death status. Alternately, you can Curaga them to death.
Dead Spirits can refine into Death Stones, which is the best way to acquire those for your inventory. They can be useful for refining into Death magic, as well.
Buels, now that they are likely over level 30, can occasionally have a Circlet stolen from them. This can teach a GF the Mag+20% ability, but other than that, is just of note for its rarity.
In the first couple of screens of the Centra Ruins, you will only encounter the infamous Tonberry enemy. You can steal their Chef's Knife from them of which one will be needed for Squall's next weapon. These refine into AP Ammo and Death magic, as well. It's also the compatibility item for the Tonberry Guardian Force we are about to obtain next. If you don't have, at least, 6000+ HP, I wouldn't attempt this next part until you do.
In order to obtain the Tonberry GF, we must first lure out the Tonberry King. To do so, we must defeat 20 Tonberries, then once the 20th falls, the Tonberry King will take his place. Once you have defeated number 19, make absolutely sure you return to the world map to save, and if you have yet to defeat Odin, reset the timer. Remember: if the timer reaches 0, even during battle, you will be forced out to the world map. To defeat Tonberries quickly, I recommend a party of Squall, Quistis, and Irvine; with the latter loaded up with AP Ammo either from Sharp Spikes or Chef's Knives. Get all three of your party members into critical condition; yes this will mean that if the Tonberry counters with Everyone's Grudge, they will die, but you can quickly raise them back to critical condition by casting Life or using a Phoenix Down. When the battle begins, start with Quistis using Micro Missile for 9999 damage, followed by Irvine shooting AP Ammo, then finally, Squall using Renzokuken. Depending on how much damage Irvine's AP Ammo is doing (Mine was over 6000), it will be over in one turn. If not, use the AP Ammo one more time.
When the Tonberry King shows himself, immediately have Quistis use her White Wind limit break to recover the party, followed by casting Protect, and, if you are fighting the clock, Haste. Tonberry King has a ridiculous amount of HP, so be prepared for a lengthy battle. Cast Meltdown to reduce its Vitality and Spirit to 0, then hammer him with physical attacks. You may consider casting Aura on Squall and Irvine to activate their limit breaks for larger damage if you become low on time. It's not recommended, however, that you keep your party in critical condition as, even with Protect, the Tonberry King's Junk attack can wipe out your entire party quickly with low HP. Thankfully, if a party member is defeated, you can draw and cast Full-life from the boss to recover to full HP. If you want to risk it, and you have the time, draw and stock as many Full-life as you can; it junctions amazingly to your elemental defense and Spirit. After the battle, the party will receive a Royal Crown item and the Tonberry Guardian Force is now yours.
While of almost no use for summoning in battle, Tonberry's best skills are its shop abilities. Immediately begin to learn Familiar; we will be putting it to use next. Once you have it learned, rare and hard-to-obtain items will show up in some shops. Note: Tonberry also comes with the LV Up/Down commands already learned. You can use these to increase/decrease a monster's level, thus altering their stolen/dropped items and potential draws.
Once Familiar has been learned, set sail back to Timber. Outside the Timber Maniacs building, if you talked with the guy earlier about not giving up on his dream of becoming a journalist, he will give you a Pet Nametag; which should be your second of only two of these items in the game.
At the Timber Pet Shop, with Familiar, there are now stat-junction scrolls for sale. Depending on how you have divided your GFs, you may not need to use any, but myself personally, needed a Vit-J Scroll. While there are more side-quests to be undertaken at the moment, I recommend we continue on with the story. In the next chapter we will face-off with the Sorceress Edea in a climactic battle.
