First thing back in Iselia, head over to the classroom to find that Raine has somehow beaten you back here. She'll drop the news that she is going to be joining Colette on her journey and Genis will show concern earning him the Brotherly Love title. This title has a 10% chance to raise TP and/or Defense.
Swing by Colette's house, which is the largest one on the eastern-side of town, to have Lloyd and Genis walk-in on Iselia's nameless Mayor discussing the plan for Kratos and Raine to accompany Colette on her quest to regenerate the world. This doesn't sit well with Lloyd and Genis who want to go too, but Kratos belittles Lloyd and tells him that "children should stay home", of which the Mayor agrees. Phaidra, thankful for Lloyd and Genis' help at the Temple, gives the group the Collector's Book item that details, with percentages, how many items in the game you have obtained. Dejected, the two friends leave, but Colette will stop them to apologize and the guys promise to see her off tomorrow and bring their gifts for her birthday. Genis then asks Lloyd if he can accompany him part of the way to his home to visit a friend. After this scene, look for the skit "Sole Redeeming Feature" around Iselia.
First, make the trip to Genis and Raine's house, on the western-end of town, to pick up some free ingredients for cooking the Sandwich recipe; along with a short tutorial on Cooking, if you'd like. You can also check the bookcase in the house for a short scene.
Try to leave the village to the south where Lloyd's "dog" Noishe is introduced. Before exiting out to the world map, make sure you have gotten the Brotherly Love title from the schoolhouse because it is missable.
On the world map, our destination is a short distance to the west: the Iselia Forest, but try to venture farther south and you'll get a small skit where Lloyd complains about always having to transverse the forest to get home.
Inside the Iselia Forest, Noishe will bolt at the sight of monsters, then check for the skit "Genis' Friend" to pop-up before continuing.
You'll have to battle with just Lloyd and Genis, which won't be much of a problem, but you can't go back and let Frank heal you right now, so just be wary of fighting too much. If you haven't gotten at least one Beast Hide item, Rabbits are encountered here, and we'll be making use of them soon.
For this short dungeon, climb the hill to the right-side, then to the upper-left, look for a chest containing an Apple Gel that is partially-obscured by trees. After, keep climbing to the right-side to find a Life Bottle treasure, then follow the linear path to Genis' stop and a save point.
Genis' friend (Not a dog, in fact) is inside the Desians' Human Ranch? Despite both knowing better, Genis manages to goad Lloyd into it being okay since the "Desians" had attacked the Martel Temple. Inside, look for Genis' friend, Marble, on the left-side of the Ranch. Marble, a Desian slave, saw the appearance of the Tower of Salvation and is hopeful that Colette will be able to complete her journey and defeat her Desian captors. Lloyd interrupts that Marble appears to have a Exsphere, with no keycrest, attached which can have deadly consequences for the user. When Genis' asks for Lloyd's dad, Dirk's, help, you can respond "Fine" to increase affection with Genis, or "But..." to lower it. Unfortunately, the Desians spot Marble's apparent slacking off and take her away to be beaten...Marble will tell the two boys to run, of which Lloyd saying "But..." will raise affection with Genis, and "...Okay." will lower it.
The duo will agree to attempt to help their elderly friend. Move toward the hills to the upper-right of the Ranch and you'll be able to hop up the cliffs, snagging an Orange Gel treasure to the right, before reaching an overlook of the area to the left. Lloyd devises a plan for Genis to use his magic on the guards, then Lloyd will distract them while Genis escapes back to the village.
When Genis trips and ruins the distraction, Lloyd will be forced to battle two Whip Master enemies. Use a Magic Lens, if you have a spare one, but you'll have a later opportunity to do this. Once defeated, the friends will escape back down towards Iselia, but the Desians, including their leader, now know Lloyd's identity. Genis apologizes, but Lloyd assures him everything will be fine and sends him back to the village while Lloyd, himself, needs to get home too.
You'll be back in control near the save point outside the Human Ranch. Exit north, and continue north until you come to a left-right fork. Climb the hill to the left to plunder an Apple Gel chest and to the right, near the edge of the river, is an obscured chest containing a Leather Glove for Lloyd; which acts as a shield/gauntlet for him. Head back south, then take the first right you passed, and use the upper-portion of the loop to snag another Apple Gel, then cross the bridge to the eastern-side.
After the bridge, there's a chest with 500 Gald inside nearby, then continue to trek north, passing under a fallen tree, then open the cloth bag laying upon to pocket an Orange Gel, then exit north to the world map.
After the scene with Noishe, whether you exited out towards Iselia or Dirk's House, you'll be prompted with the "Restless Noishe" skit out on the world map. Once seen, Dirk's House lays in the center of the forest; just to the north of the exit.
Dirk, Lloyd's dwarven, adopted father is waiting for him inside after Lloyd speaks to his mother's grave. Lloyd asks for a keycrest to be made for Marble, but Dirk sees right through Lloyd's attempts to falsify who it's for. Despite the fact that it's for a good cause, Dirk is furious that Lloyd was anywhere near the Desians' Human Ranch and hopes they didn't see his unique Exsphere. It's then revealed that Desians killed Lloyd's mother in order to get their hands on it; a revelation that brings out shock and anger in Lloyd. Lloyd, not thinking clearly, flees the house when Dirk tries to strike him to knock some sense into his thoughts about fighting the Desians.
Outside, Lloyd finds Genis and the regeneration journey group waiting for him. Colette, on her last night in the village, wants to go up to the terrace to speak with him. Select "Just a minute." to open up several options in affection building. Choosing to wait doesn't effect Colette's values in any way, to note. Lloyd can then raise his affection with whichever character he chooses to speak with first afterwards. Also, talk to Noishe for a bit of foreshadowing. Up on the terrace, Lloyd apologizes again for not finishing her birthday gift in time and wishes that he could join her in the journey. Acting a bit questionably, Colette tells Lloyd that they will be leaving at noon the next day and the group will say goodbye and return to Iselia.
The next morning, with Lloyd having finished Colette's necklace, talk to Dirk at the gravesite. Lloyd, not able to forgive the Desians, will be resolved to join Colette; a fact that Dirk had already knew. He'll give Lloyd 2 Apple Gels, a Life Bottle, 500 Gald, and the Sylvarant Map to begin his journey, but as he sets off to find Colette at the village, Genis and Noishe appear and tell Lloyd that Colette and her group left a long time ago. Something doesn't seem right...
The two automatically return to Iselia, needing to speak to Colette's grandmother, Phaidra, about why Colette lied about the time they were leaving. As soon as you gain control, the skit "Dirk, the Craftsman" appears. Then, near Colette's house, another skit "What is Colette Hiding?" is available, however, before we enter her home, it's important we visit the shop first. This will be the last chance we'll have for a while to visit the shop in Iselia and we need to pick a couple of things up for the future. You should already have several Magic Lens from enemy drops, but if not, make absolutely sure you are carrying at least three, for now. Also, buy three of Colette's Charkams and one additional Nova for Genis. This isn't entirely necessary, but will save you a lot of Gald in the future. Note: You need to reequip Genis as they dumped his equipment onto Lloyd when he previously left.
At Colette's house, Frank gives Lloyd a letter she left for him. Apologizing for lying to him, she wishes him well in life which sounds a lot like she's not coming back; success or not. Frank is about to spill the beans on the truth of the matter when an explosion rocks the area. Outside you find that the Desians are setting fire to the entire village! In the midst of the fire, look for the skit "Desians Attack".
The goal is to proceed to the village entrance, but there a few other things we can do first. To start, from Colette's house, confront the Desians lighting fire to the home next door to get into a battle with a Whip Master and Bowman. Use a Magic Lens on the Bowman, and the Whip Master if you didn't during the battle at the Human Ranch. If you only have one Magic Lens; save it, you will have a few chances to add these two to your Monster List later, but one Magic Lens is required for an upcoming boss.
From there, don't continue to the left toward the entrance; instead, move counterclockwise around. Outside the schoolhouse, two Whip Masters are harassing one of the village's militia members; defeat the two enemies and he'll give you an Apple and Orange Gel. Afterward, move west toward Genis and Raine's house for a small scene where Genis mourns the loss of the first home they've had. Down to the entrance now, the Desian leader, Forcystus, is calling for Lloyd to step forth. Guilty of having broken the treaty, while pronouncing they had nothing to do with targeting the Chosen at Martel Temple, he sentences both Lloyd and the village to judgment and produces a grotesque monster for the duo to battle.
Immediately have Genis toss a Magic Lens on the boss; named Exbelua in the Monster List. It has a rather high amount of HP, but as long as you take advantage of opportune guarding with Lloyd, it is rather easy to deal with. Genis should continually cast any spell he has, while deploying Apple Gels if Lloyd's HP gets low. At first, the boss will just swipe at Lloyd, which he can guard and counterattack with a combo, but as its HP gets lower, its attacks will knock Lloyd away and onto his back if you don't recover in mid-air. To avoid this, strike swiftly, guard, then counter, but only with a tech or two basic hits before returning to your guard. If the boss starts to develop a dark aura around itself, move Lloyd out of range and wait until it dissipates to return to fighting.
Having defeated the creature, the wrap around Lloyd's Exsphere will have been lost during the fighting and Forcystus immediately recognizes it from the Desians' Angelus Project. Moving in to take it, the creature returns, grabbing Forcystus from behind, and begging Genis and Lloyd to run. As suspected, this inhuman creature is, in fact, their friend Marble. She sacrifices herself to wound Forcystus, and the Desians flee Iselia, but with a promise of coming after Lloyd's Exphere in the future.
The nameless Mayor of Iselia places the blame of what has happened solely upon Lloyd; despite Genis' insistence that it was, in fact he, that talked Lloyd into going to the Human Ranch. Most of the gutless villagers agree with the Mayor and the decision is made to exile Lloyd from Iselia, with Genis staying by his friend's side and being thrown out along with him. Phaidra and Frank will encourage the two to meet up with Colette and help her on the regeneration journey and surely that will change the hearts of the villagers. Genis, finding Marble's former Exsphere, combined with Dirk's keycrest, will decide to bear it upon himself for the sake of the journey. As they depart the village, Lloyd receives the Drifting Swordsman title which has a 20% chance to increase Strength and Defense, with a 10% for HP. As you might expect, you will be unable to enter Iselia for quite a long while.
Alone on the world map now, a little southeast of Iselia, encircled by a forest, you'll see the temporary placement of Nova's Caravan. The Caravan will play an important role later in the game, but for now, enter for a small scene and Lloyd and Genis will be able to rest here for no charge. Also, look for the skits "Why Do Desians Exist?" and "Lonely Departure" to trigger back out on the world map, as well. If you fight a couple of battles with just Lloyd and Genis, the skit "Get Strong!" should occur, too. Continue south, along the road stretching from Iselia to the desert, and you'll automatically see a scene where Lloyd finds a letter from Dirk that explains the usage of EX Gems and also adds the section to your Training Manual.
Further south, along the road, you'll come across a House of Salvation that you'll find scattered throughout the world. Enter for a scene where the two friends ask a traveler if they have seen the Chosen, which leads to him teaching them about Guidepost Monuments and activating the one around Iselia for them, allowing use of Long-range Mode. On the world map, once a Monument has been found, you can ride Noishe with the X button allowing you to have a greater view of the area and more-easily avoid monsters. However, the downside is you won't be able to see objects like treasure chests or relationship circles unless you dismount.
Almost directly northwest of the House of Salvation, you'll see the slight presence of a treasure chest sticking out of a forested area. Walk over it for your first EX Gem.
If this is your first play, and you move east from the House of Salvation, you'll find a circle of light along the ocean. A conversation between Lloyd and Genis will occur. Responding "You Did?" will raise Genis' affection, with the option "Oh." having no effect. If you are on a new game+, this light circle is NOT there. Why? I have no idea. It's the only one of its kind that does not reappear. It may be connected with one of the Grade Shop options, but I don't know.
Further south from the House of Salvation, as you reach the desert, the skit "I Don't Sleep in Class" will automatically activate. Afterwards, don't dally in the desert as the enemies can be overwhelming for just Lloyd and Genis by themselves, so immediately head for the nearby town of Triet. However, before entering, camp outside a bit and wait for the skit "Evidence of Colette" to appear.
It looks like the Desians are already looking for Lloyd in Triet and have hung a rather shoddy-looking wanted poster of him. Search the poster for a scene, then again afterwards to see the skit "The Wanted Poster".
To the right of the wanted poster, enter the inn and climb the stairs and examine the object past the two doors. The Wonder Chef will appear and teach the party how to make Cabbage Rolls, that slightly restores TP, and gives them some sample ingredients to go along with the new recipe.
Back outside the inn, the shop area is located on the western-end of town. The item shop sells new Holy Bottles, that basically keep enemies from seeking to engage you for a short period of time, and while you're here, stock up on Magic Lens as you have some new, upcoming monsters. From there, the customizer will flag Lloyd over to teach him about customizing items if you have a Beast Hide in your inventory that you hopefully got from the Rabbit enemies. With a Beast Hide, he'll give you a free Soft Leather armor, then you can combine it with the Beast Hide to create the new Hard Leather armor for Lloyd that he should equip.
To the left of the customizer is the weapon store. Purchase the Knight's Saber for Lloyd, at a minimum, and the Fine Star for Genis.
The armor shop is nearby, as well. Buy a Cape accessory for both characters, and the White Cloak and a Beret for Genis, if you gave the latter to Kratos.
Beside the armor shop, you'll notice the familiar-looking outline of Colette in the wall. Inspect it for a small scene, where obviously, the Chosen has already been here before you. Also, for another scene, talk to the main just outside the entrance of Triet.
North of the entrance, you'll find the Katz Exploration Team hanging out, and will likewise find them in just about every town going forward. My advice is: don't waste your time with them. If you're following my guide, their services will not be necessary, however, one of the Katz can trade your Grade for EX Gems. This also will be unnecessary as the game provides you more than enough EX Gems, as long as you are conservative with them, and your Grade is better spent on things later on.
Continue past the Katz team and out to the oasis. In the corner of the area is the Desert Rose recipe ingredient shop. I recommend stocking up on Cabbage, Pork, and additional items used to make Cabbage Rolls to recovery your party's TP. Of note is the Red Satay spice, as well. This is only sold in a handful of stores in the game, and although you don't need it at the moment unless you carried over your recipes from the Grade Shop, it can be hard to come by later on in the game.
Lastly, enter the tent at the end of the oasis' path and give 100 Gald to the fortune teller to learn that Colette's group has headed toward, basically, the Seal of Fire near Triet. When you've prepared from the shops in town, attempt to leave Triet to begin the search for the Chosen.
