SaGa Frontier - Emelia: Chapter 5

We'll start the next chapter off with exploring the items and abilities of rank 7. Having pushed through the Sewers and Natural Cave, you are undoubtedly past 7 and on your way to 8. Thankfully, rank isn't too much of an issue anymore as 7 creatures can still be found, although a bit rarer, once you hit the maximum rank of 9. First, let's head back to the the before-mentioned areas and the shortcut I hinted at to reach them. Fly to Mosperiburg from Koorong and climb the stairs through a few doorways to meet Virgil. Tell him you came for nothing and don't know who he is and the Ring Lord will banish you back down to the Natural Cave, near where you found the AngelArmor.

 

Make your way back to the cave where you found the Hide Rune and Quakeworm. Considerably weaker Wormbroods can be fought indefinitely there and hold, arguably, the best glove in the game: the HarmoniumBangle. It grants a +7 to physical defenses, which is only a few points lower than other gloves, but a fantastic +27 to heat, cold, electric, and force defense! Plus, it renders the bearer immune to sonic-based attacks! It's the perfect compliment to other physical-based armors and you can always return here to farm them for your characters! The Bangle gives a mec a +100 to HP and +20 Strength, also.

 

Note: You're likely to get several ShellShields while farming Wormbroods which could be nice if some of your characters are still using basic Bucklers. 

 

Have your monsters pick up the semi-rare, but mediocre, ElfShot ability from the Broods, also. If you happen to get PoisonGun, which is rarer than ElfShot from this enemy, that is a nice get, too, but not necessary as there is a better enemy later to learn it from.

 

Exit the Cave and back up to the Sewers. You'll recall I mentioned that the circular, first screen upon exiting the Cave, populated by female mystics that create other monsters, always produce level 7 encounters. Most of the time these are beast-types; which are what we want! Beast rank 7's are Unicorns and hold the invaluable LifeRain ability for monsters (The same as in Mesarthim's MellowRing). Every monster, unless they are deficient in LP (Sei's DeathLord, unfortunately...) should have this ability. It recovers HP to the entire party, sans themselves, at the cost of 1 LP. A fantastic emergency provision to always have at your disposal. Unicorn's can drop a rare accessory, the UnicornTear, as well, but we will find one later as treasure and it offers little value to the party.

 

Unicorns are a tremendous bonus to Mystics, also. Absorbing them into any weapon provides a +18 to Quickness, Intelligence, Will, and Charisma. While all three weapon type absorbs give great abilities, the Sword has MagicHeal and Glove the above-average, offensive SpreadBlaster. Lots of good stuff in this little area!

 

If you want additional StardustRobes, the female mystics that are creating the monsters in the area produce Succubus encounters that can drop them. They'll also cough up the great Magihats, too, but those are best gotten in Mu's Tomb. In addition, monsters can get the FireKiss ability from them, which is a much-more effective version of HPDrain/Bloodsucker if you are using them for undead monsters.

 

Regrettably, the fairies don't create undead or male mystic encounters which we need for our next set of rare items. You can go back down into the Natural Cave and use the exit to your lower-right, down the vine, to find a room with a few undead inside for farming. The deadly Lich monster holds the DarkRobe armor. It's largely forgettable, with awful defense other than for pierce, force, and status ailments, but even those are only +26. It does have +5 to Psychic and protection against blind, however.

 

Note: If you plan to take Emelia into Omble for the Shadow gift (Which has to be decided between it or the Light gift's dungeon), you can purchase a DarkRobe at a shop there.

 

The next two items we need to seek out male mystic enemies (My go-to is still the Lord Manor basement in Owmi). Look for the FatDevil's, that aren't much threat, but hold two rare items. The first is a +52 power sword, the TwiggyRod. Like The FiendRod, it comes with the FinalStrike ability, but the weapon is destroyed upon its activation. You can equip it to a mec for a +80 HP and +16 to Strength/Quickness, as well. A solid weapon.

 

Note: Succubus also drop TwiggyRods, but you're much more likely to land several of these from the FatDevil trying for the next item...

 

The FatDevil's Obsidian sword is, however, a gem and one of the best in the game. It comes with a +64 attack, which is higher than anything we are likely to have at the moment, besides King Sei's Kusanagi. Equipped to a mec, it bolsters them with a +200 HP and +25 Strength/Quickness. Excellent piece!

 

Note: One other additional rare item you can get at rank 7, is the Twin Dragon katana, but only if you want more than one as we will procure one as treasure later. It's got a +41 attack, so decide for yourself if you want to go after one now. The SickleBugs from the bug-type drop them, as well as the excellent GaleAttack and Oscillation skills for your monsters. In addition, excellent HyperScale armor is carried by them.

 

Here are my suggestions for Mystic weapons and abilities at rank 7. Recommended weapon type absorb, for the ability, is in parenthesis:

• Unicorn (Beast): +18 Quickness, Intelligence, Will, Charisma (Sword/Glove)
• Lich (Undead): +42 Intelligence (Boots)  

Monster Abilities:

• Unicorn (Beast): MagicHeal (Sword), SpreadBlaster (Glove) 
• SickleBug (Bug): Oscillation (Sword), TitasWave (Boots)
• Cockatrice (Bird): Crystallizer (Glove)

Let's continue with the semi-finale of Emelia's story for our next stop. It's quick, simple, and will provide us with some Credits and an awesome accessory! Talk to Roufas at the Gradius hideout and he'll inform you that Trinity Base has a new commander and wants Emelia, solo, to infiltrate and throttle him for information on Joker and Cube. Probably to avoid being drugged and shipped off there again anyway, Emelia agrees and dons a new Commando outfit for the operation. Slip down the ladder and into the base via the left-side entrance. This place is now crawling with mecs, and Emelia is all alone, so it's in your best interest to avoid all of them, which is fairly simple, thankfully. If you're like me, and just have to eliminate everything, your fellow Gradius members will join up for your escape.

 

From the entrance, carefully evade the mec in the narrow corridor, then ascend the stairs covered by the yellowish light. If you want this to be extra-quick, you can just climb the stairs to the next level and fight the extremely likely rank 9 R&R guarding the door, but you can avoid this battle by approach from the opposite end of the base. To get there, exit to the lower-right, then use the elevator. Run through the mec-filled corridor and into the actual entrance to the base; using the red-lit stairs to move inward next. After the elevator, leave to the left, then use the lift, before the stairs, that the mec is near. This will carry you to to the passage containing the commander's room (The center door in the corridor). 

The new commander inside easily spills the beans that Joker has hightailed it to an old chapel in the mountains of Yorkland where he's attempting to decipher Cube's code. Trinity WANTS Gradius to kill Joker for them. Even more confusing is the revelation that Emelia personally knows who Joker is! Before leaving, the mysterious new commander gives Emelia the AngelBroach accessory and Roufas, Annie, and Liza rejoin the party. Limited to Emelia's game, the AngelBroach is the best all-around accessory in the entire game. It prevents mess, charm and angry statuses, with an exceptional +5 physical defenses and +15 to elemental. It is the perfect upgrade to any KrisKnife you have equipped.

 

With some extra help now, you can battle around the Trinity Base, but all of the rooms are deserted and everything is exactly the same as when you were last here. To find the Base's exit, return to your left (You can battle the mec that was guarding the opposite end by leaving to the right, though, if you want) and descend the lift. Exit to your lower-right, then use the elevator again, before the stairs, that brought you to this level. The Base's entrance is at the bottom of the stairs with the metal walkway. Go back and speak to Roufas to get 2500 Credits added to your funds. From here on out, the final dungeon of Emelia's scenario is open to her by talking to Roufas, but it's a one-way trip from which you cannot return to Koorong. There's still plenty of SaGa Frontier left to explore, though!

 

Note: Emelia's new Commando outfit provides no bonuses. Bummer. Also, save your Credits! There are two shops coming up that you will only have one chance to buy from.

 

Next, we're flying out to Luminous to complete the Light and Shadow magic gifts. With the Rune mastery already, completion of these will further open up other areas and characters to us. It's important to note that while both gifts can be obtained for your party, only the dungeon chosen for your main character's gift-type can be entered. (You can't forfeit your gift after one and enter the other). Also, only characters with at least one spell from that magic set can enter the dungeon with your main character; monsters and mecs cannot travel with you there, either. You'll need to choose wisely: both dungeons have at least one rare item, but the Shadow gift dungeon has a special shop (But not anything great) and you can recruit an additional Mystic character to join you there. When ready, purchase the cheapest magic spell of the type you want that character to receive the gift for, then ask the shop keepers about the gift to enter their unique dungeon.

 

Upon entering the shadow region of Omble, Emelia's own shadow makes a break for it and you'll have to track it down in order to obtain the gift. You can talk to the shadows in the area, one of which is of a man named Silence who apparently received some faulty intel and is stuck here. Agree to help and you'll have the option to recruit him once his shadow has returned to his body. Proceed further in using the northwest door.

 

The rest of the shadows in Omble are hostile, but the stationary ones hold treasures. Up the first set of stairs, and in the corner under the terrace, is a 200 Credits shadow. Work your way around the room, using the lower-right stairs, and through the door to the north on the upper-level that overlooked the Credits. 

In the following room, exit directly to your right and speak to the merchant shadow. Of note here are the ShadowDagger and DarkRobe; neither of which can be purchased outside Omble. The Dagger was a treasure back inside Mu's Tomb, but if you want more than one, this is your best opportunity. We talked about the DarkRobe earlier in the chapter, so buy one if you didn't get it as a drop already.

 

Use the left-side exit when back out into the previous room. Follow the narrow corridor and you'll enter a split room with multiple human-like shadows mulling about; one of which is Emelia's. Get near them and they'll flee to the opposite end of the room, through the wall. You only need to find Emelia's shadow, but that is rather difficult, so just send them all.

 

Hurry back to the center room and ascend up the steps to the north. A stationary shadow here contains a Magi-Water item; grab it and use the stairs. You're now on the eastern-side of the split room with the humanoid shadows again. This time, if you touch one that isn't Emelia, you'll be thrown into battle. You can just eliminate them all until you find the right one which will flee further in. Make absolutely sure you save your game before pursuing it!

 

The boss of Omble are identical Shades of your battle party; down to every piece of equipment and abilities. Needless to say: extremely deadly! Thankfully, they have the same HP as you, too, so if you can pull off your strongest abilities first, they're toast (Unless they deploy their shields!). In perspective, if one of the Shades has a LethalGun and uses TotalShot, or an Obsidian/ZeroSword and GaleSlash, you're in a lot of trouble! It's very easy to lose this battle, but most of the time the Shades will act totally random instead of using their best abilities. Destroy all of the doppelgangers and the Shadow gift is handed over to all the characters that ventured into Omble with you.

 

Once you're out of Omble with the gift, speak to Silence who you no doubt spotted lingering behind the pillar in the upper-right corner and he'll join with no dialogue, because he's, you know, silent. A Mystic, and IRPO member like Fuse, he comes with the unique one-of-two HandBlaster weapon. As you might expect, Silence cannot obtain the gift for Shadow magic, but is prime for the Light gift. Fellow Mystic, Mesarthim, is terrified of Silence, so if you haven't recruited, or gotten the SeaStone item from her already, him being in your party usually closes that door for good. This is normally the case, but I am unsure if having Asellus, which is unique to Emelia's game, takes precedent over Silence being in your party and will still join/give you the accessory despite that.

 

With the gift for Shadow magic, your characters can now learn the following new spells:

• DarkSphere: This is a a force-based attack spell, in the vein of Lifewave, however, the sphere size and damage increases upon the combination of the character's Intelligence, Will, and Psychic stats making it very effective to a magic-based character. Besides that, DarkSphere has a very unique side-effect of canceling any statistical buffs an enemy uses on itself.
• ShadowServant: This incredible spell, essentially, creates a double for your character that mimics their attack! Double damage! It will protect the character from the next enemy attack also, but then dissipates and needs to be recast. It takes a hefty 9 JP to cast, however. It will not mimic the DSC, just to note.

Those destined for the Light gift have to first solve the puzzles of the Luminous Labyrinth. For whatever reason, you can't save or look at your items in the menu when inside. The general idea is you have to guide the beam of light, via stationary and rotational mirrors to the sigil on the door to open it. Later, prisms come into play.

In the first puzzle room, simply turn the center mirror, then the one to the upper-left. 

 

A prism comes into play for the second puzzle. Walk north a bit and take the prism off its pedestal and place it in the location of the screenshot above. Flip the northwestern-most mirror, closest to the double sigil doors in the far-upper corner. Next, activate the mirror directly to the left of where you set the prism. Lastly, flip the mirror to the upper-right of the prism to break open both doors and proceed further.

 

The third, and final, puzzle room now has stationary prisms and multi-colored beams, but is fairly simple to navigate with direction. Directing the various colored beams to the northern-most sigil produces either a battle, item, or the completion of the dungeon when touched. The first color, dark blue, has an encounter with an elusive artifact-type monster. All you need to do is flip the mirror seen above once without touching anything else.

 

To get the next color, light blue, leave the dark blue beam pointing towards the sigil, then activate the mirror in the screenshot above. This nets you a rare Moonlight Robe. It's not bad at all: with +27 pierce, electric, force, and ailment defenses, but only +17 for slash/blunt/heat. It shines against cold, however, with a robust +62 while also giving bonuses of +8 to Psychic/Charisma and protects against palsy and sleep. For those that went to Omble, or want more than one, this is available as a monster drop at rank 8.

For the color yellow, keep the light blue beam focused on the sigil and flip the mirror in the screenshot to turn the beam yellow where you can collect 400 Credits. 

 

Next, rotate the mirror that you used to turn the beam light blue, which was down and to the left of the sigil, to turn the beam red. The red beam throws you into a battle with an ultra-rare giant-type monster. This would be extremely useful if we could one, save, and two, bring monsters, but since neither are options, it's mostly an anomaly.

 

The light still red, collect the prism located in the lower-right of the room and place it in the location of the screenshot above. This turns the beam purple and you can snag a SanctuaryStone item. Finally, to acquire the Light magic gift and exit the Labyrinth, simply trigger the mirror, again, that is down and to the left of the sigil to turn it dazzling white.

 

Note: I've never understood the purpose of the small room on the eastern-side. No matter what color light you direct into it, nothing happens. Left on the cutting room floor?

 

Accepting the Light gift makes possible two new, incredibly powerful spells to learn:

• LightSword: At first glance, using a spell to create a sword seems like a waste of a slot and turn, however, this spell is absolutely amazing! Not only does it have a power of 80, but it boosts all your stats by +10! You don't even need to use the sword itself; just have it available to reap the benefits. Cast LightSword, then SoulRune/Awakening for a serious statistical advantage. Furthermore, the LightSword has its own innate Deflect ability that activates based upon the user's Intelligence, Will, and Psychic unlike the typical ability. It's even able to activate for Mystics who cannot use abilities like Deflect normally. Remarkable!
• MegaWindblast: A powerful, all-encompassing spell that is comprised of heat, cold, and electric elements, but still extremely damaging even against an enemy with one of those resistances. It's costly at 9 JP, though.

Having completed either gift's dungeon, ask about the opposite side's gift and the characters who have a spell of that magic learned will automatically acquire the gift by themselves due to your main character being barred from entering the opposing region.

 

Note: If you plan to recruit Fuse or the Mystic, TimeLord, wait for them to join before you send your other characters to obtain the gift opposite of your main character; otherwise, they will be forever left without a gift for either magic type!

 

Now that we have the Rune and Light/Shadow gifts, the areas for Time and Space magic become available. We'll start with Space magic since it is quick to complete. Fly to Devin and head for the shrine atop the huge flight of steps in the eastern-end of town. Talk to the purple-haired girl and ask about Space magic to be whisked away to Kylin's (Kyrin in the menu) Paradise. You're now in some sort of Candyland-like utopia complete with frolicking youngsters. The "tent" with the flower-like thing on top of it in the northeast of the starting screen is where Kylin dwells. This horse/unicorn thing asks if it can test you; agree and you're sent to a sugary hellscape in the form of a maze. Walk across the waffle-like platforms to the east and pass through the purple-ribbon'd passage.

 

There are two different exits on this screen; take the doorway down and directly behind the one you entered from. You're now in this bizzaro space seen above. Exit north, then west, and pick up the shamrock-shaped key (Not an inventory item) on the circular platform. Return back into the space, then south, west, and back out. Follow the straightforward paths to a locked door that opens with the key you just found. Passing through the doorway puts you underneath the walkways!

 

You only have one direction you are allowed to move when walking upside down. When you reach the above screen, passing through the underside of the center door resettles you topside. Search the vase at the bottom of the walkway to shrink your character down to enable them to pass through the smaller doors you have seen scattered around. Exit via the tiny door and wrap around the familiar area to the other small door on the opposite side. You're then in a different space-like corridor that is pinkish. Exit west, then south.

 

Activating the lever on this platform slides open the teacup in the lower area, allowing access. Heading back, leave east, then south, and squeeze through the last tiny doorway at the bottom of the screen. Climb across the teaspoon and jump in the teacup to catapult to a higher area. Follow the candy-laden path across to the upper-left and pass through the pearly gates to exit the maze and meet Kylin once again.

 

Kylin agrees to listen to your plight which prompts you to either ask it to join your party or "don't bother". The latter opens up a magic shop where the beast will sell you lesser Space-type magic. You must choose one or the other. Joining your party, Kylin is a monster-type, who comes in possession of every Space magic spell in the game, including those not available for sale, but they have to be handled as monster abilities which is a major negative. This late into the game, it's also a challenge to raise Kylin's prime HP by seeking out monster abilities that are hard to come by at higher battle ranks.

 

The KylinJr form, itself, which you can stabilize by keeping its one-of-a-kind Kylin'sSong (Boosts Quickness/Will of entire party) ability, is solid, but its statistics, and hidden equipment, change after transforming to a different monster, then back to KylinJr a second time. These statistics are noted in the screenshot above. KylinJr's special form's equipment makes it strong against heat, ailments, and completely protected against palsy, sleep, psychout, gaze, sonic, ground, instant-death, AND water-based attacks. Needless to say, you'll want to keep Kylin in its Jr form if you draft it into your party.

 

Below is an overview of Space-type magic spells:

• Light/DarkShift: Both of these alter the battlefield affecting a multitude of factors, none of which are worth carrying it on Kylin or a spell slot. The most common use would be to add/negate the HP regeneration of monsters using Death/Photosynthesis. You can get rid of these with other abilities like DirtyFang and sometimes TrickShot. DarkShift is limited to Kylin, but I'd dump it anyway.
• VaporBlast: Single-target, piercing-based attack spell that is very solid for 1 JP. It will heavy damage any floating monsters, also. Always keep this on Kylin!
• Vanish: Attempts to cause faint/instant-death on one enemy. Good for high-rank enemies that are actually susceptible to it like Krakens. Worth keeping on Kylin, but it has a negative in the fact that you won't receive any Credits/items from a monster defeated by it.
• Vortex: This spell cancels every effect, positive, negative, and any status changes on both friend and foe. It's only useful for status effects on your party, honestly, because DarkSphere already does damage and cancels positive effects when it is needed. Even though this is Kylin-only, I'd considering getting rid of it. If you want to remove status effects from the party, teach it MagicHeal instead, but it's still a useful spell you can never get back.
• ReverseGravity: A blunt-based spell, that can stun, against all enemies. Solid spell and should be kept on Kylin always.

To get out of Kylin's Paradise, speak to the girl at the bottom of the circular platform. She graciously disposes of you at the bottom of the Koorong Sewers, however, now that the advanced magic areas are open, Virgil in Mosperiburg will no longer dump you down to the Natural Cave anymore to use as a shortcut, but you can use this option from Kylin's Paradise instead by going back through the shrine at Devin. Speaking of Virgil, to seek out Time magic now, head for Mosperiburg and his throne room.

 

Question Virgil about Time magic and he'll send you to the TimeLord's Region. Unfortunately, time itself has become frozen here and you cannot interact with anything. The Region is linear and without threat or items, so make your way through the area until you come across the culprit: a broken hourglass. Examine it, then turn back to the entrance and step on the glyph to return to Mosperiburg.

 

Virgil says you can repair the hourglass by getting a SandVessel from someone named Gozarus in Facinaturu; specifically, a village called Rootville. Before you agree to leave for the region, be aware you can only visit Facinaturu once and it is your one chance to purchase Mystic magic, so have Credits on-hand. The Mystic magic shop is the building to your upper-right, from the center of Rootville. GlassShield is, as always, amazing and PhantasmShot is solid, as well, but keep in mind that Realm and Mystic magic cannot coexist, so a character can only have one or the other.

 

Gozarus' workshop, to the left-center of the Mystic shop, presents an incredibly difficult decision. See, Gozarus trades items for your main character's LP. Yikes. One of which is the SandVessel item (Which will turn into an accessory soon) that is needed to reactivate TimeLord's Region. It costs 1 LP, and you don't have to buy it, but without it you cannot fully explore TimeLord's Region. Even if you don't want to purchase basic Time magic or to recruit TimeLord, you still want to get the SandVessel simply because TimeLord's Region becomes a haven for easily farming rare items and monster abilities that would otherwise cause you a great headache to find (Like Riki and T260's games...).

 

Compounding matters are the Asura sword and Tao-TiehPattern accessory you cannot find anywhere else in the game. You can forget about the ShadeRobe (Asellus came equipped with one, plus is available as a drop at rank 8). The Tao-TiehPattern isn't worth 1 LP, nonetheless 2. It does provide a +23 to force/ailment defense and negates psychout attacks, but that's it. I only consider this with a high LP character for completion.

 

The Asura is the best sword in the entire game for Mystics, and as potent for humans, too. Just equipping it boosts all your statistics by +7, comes with an attack of 60, and can inflict instant-death with its basic attack! With the sword drawn, if an enemy directly attacks you, the character automatically counters with the devastating AsuraRevenge that can instantly kill and cause heavy damage. The downsides, besides the LP loss to obtain it, is the Asura's unique attack requires 4 WP to use and it cannot spark any sword abilities other than Deflect (You can still use other sword abilities with it, however). If given to a mec, they receive a +150 HP and +30 to Strength/Psychic. You can see why this weapon could conceivably be worth 3 LP, but think long and hard before deciding.

 

Personally, I can't resist taking the Asura with Emelia and giving to Zozma, one of my favorite characters. The red blade of the Asura looks fantastic with him! This will leave Emelia with 5 LP, however. Emelia has the second-most maximum LP of all the main characters, tied with Red at 9 (Lute has 10), and not including T260 and Riki who cannot visit Facinaturu. It's an incredibly tough decision. Ideally, you would want take the Asura in Asellus' game, who can get it extremely early and has many Mystic allies, but this would leave her with only 4LP. Lute is the best choice, though, but I prefer to saddle him with the Tao-TiehPattern just to have the item on one of my save files.

 

The perfect scenario for all of Gozarus' items is if you are playing Blue. Near the end of his scenario, you can have him intentionally lose to Rouge in the magic duel and thus have Rouge take over as the main character. Beforehand, Blue can sacrifice all of his LP for the Asura and Tao-TiehPattern, then lose and become Rouge, and Rouge will all of his LP intact. Sneaky, but effective! Anyway, enough about this...

 

When ready to leave Facinaturu (Once you bought the SandVessel, you can never return) take the stairs next to the lower-left building into the tavern. Ask the pilot inside for help and he'll direct you to a secret, underground passage that you can enter into from the house below the tavern. The slime inside will slide the bookcase aside revealing the entrance to the Facinaturu Floor dungeon. There are no items to find here, and it is straightforward with no differentiating paths, so battle your way through southwest to find the pilot and his plane waiting. Back in Koorong, return to Virgil in Mosperiburg to be sent back to TimeLord's Region. At the base of the hourglass, collect sand into the Vessel, then jump from above onto the hourglass to bring the Region back to life. The SandVessel item then becomes an accessory that protects against stone, but only a paltry +18 to force/ailment defenses. If equipped, the QuickSand ability is able to be used, also, that can damage and potentially stun enemies, but the area-of-effect is limited to around the user.

 

With the hourglass fixed, through the door to the northeast, you can now inspect the drawbridge to lower it and enter TimeLord's chambers. As with Kylin, you have the choice for TimeLord to join your party, or to purchase basic, Time-based magic from him, but not both. TimeLord is a fantastic member of your group, generally, due to the brokenness of the OverDrive spell that only he has access to (Outside of Blue's game), however, this is tremendously stifled in Emelia's game because he cannot access the Rune gift and the StasisRune spell. Without StasisRune, TimeLord is much-less desirable of a recruit.

 

Below is an overview of Time-type magic spells. Time and Space magics are polar-opposites, so you can only have one of the either types on a single character. 

• TimeLeap: This spell attempts to cancel the enemy's turn; like stun, but it can effect enemies that usually immune to it. However, Quickness is needed to perform it before the opponent's turn or it's useless.
• TimeEclipse: Attempts to turn one enemy to stone, and if it fails to do so, causes force-based damage and lowers their Quickness. An excellent spell for taking out high-rank monsters lacking stone immunity, which is most!
• TimeTwister: Casting this on an ally allows them to preform their schedule attack twice in a row (Even the DSC). It does not need to occur before the targeted character's turn, either, as they will repeat their attack at the end of the turn. This spell is limited to TimeLord.
• DelayOrder: Lower's one enemy's Quickness. Might as well try TimeEclipse.
• ChaosStream: A force-based spell that targets all enemies for damage and attempts status effects including stone, palsy, blind, and possibly others.
• OverDrive: In most games, the best spell you can have coupled with StasisRune, which as stated, TimeLord lacks in Emelia's scenario. For a full explanation on how ridiculous OverDrive/StasisRune is, head back to the Prologue chapter. OverDrive gives the caster upwards of 8 turns in a row, depending on a combination of their Intelligence, Will, and Psychic stats. When OverDrive ceases, the character is stripped of all their WP, JP, and bullets, so the vanilla spell is one-and-done for the character since you cannot use Mag-Waters in battle. I recommend using it in case of emergencies without StasisRune when defeat is immanent. Consider a rank 9 Suzaku as a Mystic weapon absorb to increase the statistics effecting OverDrive. Obviously, this spell is TimeLord-only.

Arguably, for completionists, the best reward for going through all this trouble is the unsealing of the monsters sitting upon the constellation glyphs throughout the Region. All of the TimeLord Region's battles produce the same monsters each time; both weak and strong, making it ideal for targeting monsters for drops and abilities with the certainty you don't get from regular battles. I will cover these in detail in an upcoming chapter, but if you want to get to work right now, you can jump ahead to Chapter (Placeholder). You can always get back to the Region by visiting Virgil in Mosperiburg anytime.

SaGa Frontier - Emelia: Chapter 4

We've spent a lot of time farming for items and monster abilities there, but it's now time we fully complete Mu's Tomb and claim the VictoryRune within. Trying to enter the eastern-side of the fork at the entrance of the Tomb greets the character with a warning in English, German, AND Spanish. Ignoring the theatrics, enter anyway and slip by the two bug monsters and search the stone door to your lower-left to proceed.

Just past the room with two bug-types, you'll find a smaller one with a slime monster and a treasure in the left-side corner holding a ShadowDagger weapon. If you didn't recruit Mesarthim, or have one dropped from a Shadow enemy, this is your first of this weapon. At only +9 attack, it is almost useless offensively, but has the added benefit of a +3 to a character's Psychic making it a decent choice for one of your mystic's unused weapon slots, for now. This weapon also holds the unique ShadowHold ability, which simply attempts to paralyze the target, and isn't of much use, in my opinion.

Exit south, then down a set of stone stairs, passing a mystic and beast, and into a room with multiple exits and monsters. Using the steps to your right, you can exit to the south, or further southeast. Before deciding, take the treasure positioned between the paths for a Katana. Buyable in Koorong with a +34 in attack, it will likely be your go-to katana-type weapon with stronger ones being very rare finds. Remember the stairs heading south, as these lead to the boss and VictoryRune, but the exit to the right of the Katana takes us to more treasures. Southeast, snatch up the Credits bag worth 200 and windup the stone steps nearby; taking the lower-left stairs into the next area that is to your west of the upper-portion of the room.

 

The following area has four nearby doors that lead to the same interconnected room. There's a bag of 500 Credits to pick up and a chest with a BloodChalice accessory. Besides the outrageous cost of 4000 Credits in Manhattan, the BloodChalice is a forgettable piece with a +5 to Psychic and protects characters from instant-death attacks (But not all), at the expense of lowering your heat, force, and status resistances by -15. The exit to the upper-right takes you back out to the area you came from (A one-way door), which is ideal for returning to the the area that leads toward the VictoryRune. You could, however, if wanting to fight some more or needing to heal at the Shrike inn, go back out to the narrow corridor and venture further west on a linear path that eventually places you outside of a crypt (Another one-way door) near the entrance.

To find the VictoryRune, retreat back to where you found the Katana and take the steps down. For whatever reason, there's a completely empty large structure in the center of the room, so turn southwest to a corridor that is flooded with monsters. Fight your way through and into the doorway at the end. The next room looks like it should hold some kind of treasure, but is void of such, so just exit to the north and into the boss room. Before reaching the center, make sure to save and bring a character with the JackalSword equipped and any mystics that have learned GlassShield to make this battle rather simple. If you want to be totally prepared, equip any FireCrystal accessories or the SeaStone for some extra heat-based protection, the Shield spell, and any gun-users that know the CrossShot ability, but these are not really necessary.

 

Approaching the VictoryRune throws the party into a battle with...a pile of bones? The thing is totally immune to all attacks in the first round, so use your supportive abilities; Shield, GlassShield, VitalityRune, PsychoArmor: whatever you would like. When the round ends, the Skulldrake roars (literally) to life. A bit later in the game and coming with the JackalSword, this thing is easy. Use DirtyFang to prevents its 1000 HP regeneration each turn and deploy your gunners to use CrossShot for heavy damage. The majority of the Skulldrake's attacks are physical, so any mystics that are targeted with GlassShield intact will launch a devastating counterattack on it. If you get unlucky, you may get sprayed with fire-based attacks instead, but it shouldn't be anything you can't recover from. Overall, not a challenging boss unless faced early in the game.

 

Call an ambulance! But not for me.

Although not necessary, try to snag another excellent EMES Tag accessory, that we talked about in the previous chapter, from the boss. The drop isn't incredibly rare, but be prepared to reload your save a few times to get it. Afterwards, the party secures the VictoryRune and only the HideRune remains to obtain the Rune magic gift. 

 

If you fought your way through every monster in the Ruins, you've likely pushed past rank 6 and on your way to 7 now, so let's take a break and farm a few items and monster abilities as the next dungeon will be another trek that will be filled with battles. The good news is 6 is the final rank you need concern yourself with specifically stopping your game progress to look for rare items. Once you reach the maximum rank of 9, rank 7 monsters will still be available, albeit rarer than 8 and 9 ones. For rank 6, let's start by looking for male mystics. My preference is Owmi's Lord's Manor basement or the Shingrow Ruins, taking the right pathway from the entrance.

 

We're searching for Gremlins whom have two rare items to drop and some abilities, as well. The most likely, and useful item, is the SilverSpread sword. Its +22 attack is decent, but it also grants the same number in bonus to a character's Psychic. In terms of statistical bonuses, the SilverSpread is, arguably, the best weapon in the entire game for a mystic to equip as the +22 to their Psychic will aid their magic abilities greatly. I would try to get one for each mystic in your party, but thankfully, there are more opportunities to find this later on, however, you're likely to get a few searching for the next item... 

 

Note: The SilverSpread has a special ability when combined with the Arcane-based Fool spell, however, I will cover this when we obtain the Arcane gift.

 

The Gremin's SplashSword is one of the rarest drops in the game to acquire; so be prepared for a potentially long grind. The thing is strong, however, at a +49 attack, and gives you the additional ElementDissolve ability that attempts to instantly destroy an enemy. It's very nice for a mec, as well, providing them a +100 in HP and +20 to Strength/Psychic. Be vigilant in trying to get one to drop!

The Gremlin has the Junk accessory that is a 100% chance to drop if it does not cough up one of its other items. You'll find one as treasure, and it is also a common item from the Junk Shop in Scrap, so this is only noted if you wanted to pick up multiple of it. It has a +2 defense against all types, with a +12 to status defense, so it's not totally "junk". While searching, bring your monsters and grab the Chop ability from the Gremlin; it can be a bit of a rare find later, also, its GremlinTouch ability can wreak havoc upon mec-type monsters and is easy to procure from the winged critter.

 

Note: Gremlins show up fairly frequently with other creatures at later ranks, but with the SplashSword being so rare, you don't want to have to depend on trying to find one later.

Look for a plant-type monster, next. There are several at the very bottom of the Lord's Manor and also a very easy to find one right at the entrance of the Ancient Ship in Shingrow. Pick a fight with a Treant and have your monsters absorb its Beat ability. Nothing fancy here: just a basic, physical attack, but it's surprisingly rare.

Head for Koorong and into its backstreet sewers (By the demented Dr.'s office) to find two human-types wandering around we want to hunt. The dangerous Gunbird is our target in this awful place. Be wary: if the Gunbird decides to use his ReactionShot ability, he can put a hurting on the entire party AND cancel their attack if he is targeted. We need to hunt him down for his KillerRifle, though, and it's surprisingly common to drop. It has a +25 attack, which isn't much better than lower-end, purchasable, guns like the TroopRifle, but Emelia can only obtain one through drop.

 

Gunbirds also hold two buyable-only weapons to drop, too: the AGUNI-MBX and the LethalGun; the latter being the best, or second best, depending on ammo count, gun in the entire game. I would try to get at least one of each to outfit your gunners and save some Credits, otherwise, they are buyable back in Koorong.

 

Rank 6 is an important rank for one specific area of the game: the Koorong Backstreets. The one with the three bird-type monsters that sometimes carry a bag of Credits (See Chapter 1 for that) and the spooky doctor's office. Once you've hit rank 6, it caps, and battles here always spawn a Wyvern monster and a pair of useful cronies. The Wyvern has two rare items and some useful abilities. The first item is the superb WindShell accessory. It's the strongest physical defense accessory in the game with a +5 to slash/blunt and +15 to pierce. Its elements are solid, as well, with a +25 to force/ailment, +15 electric, and +5 to cold/heat. A bonus of +5 Quickness/Will is given, also. They are fairly easy to acquire, too, given the Wyvern will always be encountered from now on once you reach rank 6.

 

The other item is an excellent piece of armor, CelestialLeather. If you haven't purchased any Electro/WarLord Armors or a PoweredSuit, this is the best overall armor at this point in the game. It provides a +34 to pierce, blunt, heat, cold, and electric defenses and +24 to slash, force, and ailment. I would consider farming a few of these for your humans, if you don't have any of the former-mentioned pieces. In addition to the items, you can pick up the GliderSpike and Windblast monster abilities from the Wyvern that are very useful.

 

Frequently spawning with the Wyvern is a unique T-Walker mec. The T-Walker is the only basic encounter in the entire game that has a Board-type item as a drop: the SecretBoard. We're actually going to get one of these a few paragraphs down, and it is not particularly useful for generally mec-less Emelia, but for other main characters and item collectors is it worth noting. I'll talk about its parameters when we pick it up as treasure below. Mecs can also steal the extremely-powerful Magnify ability from the T-Walkers and is unique to them.

 

Encountering a Wyvern is a cornucopia of other useful monsters that only spawn at lower ranks. The K9Mec can drop WaterCannons (One found as treasure), buyable LaserCarbine, and excellent ExcelShields. ElectroSheep are guaranteed to drop BeastLeather if no other item is and can be sold back in Koorong for 100 Credits. They also can very rarely drop a soon-purchasable HEAT Bazooka or Thunderbolt weapon. The Platoonpus drop Egg Hats, which are decent, and only available via drop, but a later encounter will fill your inventory with them so they shouldn't be prioritized. Trapvines have the Sweep monster ability if you didn't get it earlier from the Whipjelly. The Armorpilla has SpiderNet in place of the KillerBee from an earlier chapter. Lastly, the Battlefly can make an appearance with Wyverns to pick up the Painpowder and Pheromone abilities from the previous rank.

Note: At rank 6, mec-types produce the Hermes encounter. They have the BigMissile and HEAT Bazooka weapons for drops, and although they can be purchased in a shop soon, if you want to save several thousand Credits, you can attempt to get these to drop now, also.

 

Now, let's take a quick look at some suggestions for your Mystic weapons at rank 6. Recommended weapon type absorb, for the ability, is in parenthesis.

• Manticore (Beast): +16 Strength, Will (Glove)
  
• Treant (Plant): +18 Intelligence, Psychic (Sword)
  
• Trisaur (Aquatic): +20 Strength, Vitality (Boots)
• Slugger (Bug): +18 Strength, Vitality (Sword/Boots)
• Wyvern (Bird): +17 Strength, Quickness (Boots!)
• Ankheg (Undead): +15 Strength, Quickness (Sword!)

Monster Abilities:

• Treant (Plant): MagicHeal (Sword)
• Trisaur (Aquatic): Tremor (Boots)
• Slugger (Bug): Bloodsucker (Sword), Quicksand (Boots)
• Wyvern (Bird): Assassinate (Boots)
• Ankheg (Undead): GriffithScratch (Sword)
  

To find the last RuneStone we need to return to Koorong and the alleyway outside Gradius' hideout. Exit out to the lower-left and you'll be on the northern-side of the city's drenched backstreets. Attempting to climb down the stairs has our hero confronted by two muggers who want us to pay 100 Credits to get by. Yeah, right. Refuse and you'll have to fight a BlueFighter (What happened to the other one?).

 

While incredibly easy, these BlueFighter ruffians have a chance to spawn rank 1 monsters with it that have long since disappeared from battles. None of are particular note (No, the D-Tractor won't show up, unfortunately) except for the beast-type Rocky. The Rocky is the only enemy in the entire game your monsters can absorb the Psychout ability from. It's a useless one, but if you want your monster's maximum HP to be the highest it can, you'll need to bring them to this battle. Thankfully, Psychout is not tough to absorb; the hard part is getting a Rocky to actually spawn with the BlueFighter.

Like the Mu's Tomb chests, these muggers can be infinitely respawned and fought by drawing fortunes in Devin, so you can get Psychout absorbed with all of your monsters by doing so. To bring them back, visit the skeleton psychic in the center of Devin, near the fountain, and draw the weather being either "beautiful", "raining", "snowing", or "cloudy"; any one of these will force the muggers back out onto the rainy backstreets. Remember: you can change your fortune by simply entering and exiting Devin's skyport.

 

Note: The BlueFighter can drop a semi-rare piece of armor, the RubberSuit, you should already have one of, but there's a better place to obtain them in another dungeon.

 

At the bottom of the staircase, you'll uncover two manholes you can enter: the one closest to the descent places you in a small, dead end space with two aquatics; so use the one further in the back. Wrap around to the north, past the dropping, ambushing slimes, and grab the bag of 200 Credits before exiting to the lower-left.

 

Outside, climb the stairs, past a red, unopenable door, then across a plank. In the screenshot, you can walk through and down into a concealed passage to find a scientist.

 

He'll try to hawk you a special item for 200 Credits, but there's a catch! Refusing, leaving the screen, then returning to talk to him will see him lower the price to 100. Repeat this and the next time he will drop the price to the final one of only 50. This nets you the SecretBoard accessory for mecs. Unless you are using CommonMec, this is of no use to Emelia, who cannot recruit any mec characters, but will keep you from having to get one from a drop. It provides a +100 HP, +20 Quickness, +15 Intelligence, and +20 Wisdom. To the northwest of the hidden passage is the manhole that takes you further in. To the upper-right, past a swath of monsters, is another mec board treasure: the rare MemoryBoard. This one boosts a mec by +100 HP, +20 Quickness, and +25 Intelligence.

 

Just to the left of the entry ladder is the exit. Outside, you can't see it, but there is an opening back into the sewers to the left of where you start. Run past the ladder and to the northeast to pick up an IceCrystal accessory. These are for sale in Manhattan, but is probably your first to find. These don't do much other than providing a +25 to Cold defense, however, you can use them during battle to create an IceBarrier over the character, but the accessory itself is lost in the process. Ascend the ladder you passed back onto the rainy streets. There's another red door here, but this one can actually be opened!

 

Unless you like to use mec weapons with other character types, this armory won't interest Emelia players too much. Unfortunately, if you want them, every single one will need to be purchased as none of these weapons are found anywhere else (Although some can be dropped, but not easily). Here are the stat bonuses when equipped to mecs:

• Flame Thrower: +125 HP, +20 Psychic/Vitality
• SonicCannon: +150 HP, +20 Quickness/Will
• Thunderbolt:  +125 HP, +20 Will/Vitality
• HEAT Bazooka: +200 HP, +30 Will
• BigMissile: +150 HP, +20 Strength/Will
• GrainCannon: +150 HP, +30 Will, +10 Strength/Vitality
• MachineVulcan: +150 HP, +18 Quickness/Will/Vitality
• HyperBlaster: +175 HP, +25 Quickness/Will

The Flame Thrower is exactly like the Bolt Thrower, but fire-based, with a wide-range of effect and extremely useful. SonicCannon has 16 shots, but is otherwise a bit forgettable. I would completely skip over Thunderbolt. The rest of the weapons are good, although HEAT Bazooka only has two powerful shots, and MachineVulcan is weak but has nearly limitless ammo and a huge area-of-effect. I would really only concern myself with the HyperBlaster which is one of the best mec weapons in the game when balancing power/ammo.

 

Note: As stated earlier in the chapter, Hermes, of the mec-type, have BigMissile and also HeatBazooka for their drops at rank 6 if you want to save the Credits for them. The Thunderbolt and HEAT Bazooka are very rare drops from ElectroSheep sometimes seen with the Koorong Backstreet Wyverns, as talked about earlier in the chapter, and also show up at many different ranks/types later on. Because of this, I would count on having to purchase them. At rank 8, you will have a shot at the GrainCannon and HyperBlasters from the Skylab mec if you want to wait (And is smart to do so).

 

Back outside the armory, the pitch-black opening to the door's right takes you further in. Climb down the manhole inside, then the craggy, broken steps to the lower-right. Due east is a ladder that is always sealed, so pass it and grab the FireCrystal treasure at the far, lower-end of the path. Just like the Ice version, it is buyable in Manhattan, gives a +25 to Heat resistance, and the FireBarrier during battle at the expense of losing the accessory. The passage off to the right before the FireCrystal takes you back to the Koorong skyport, but only one-way, so use it if you need to recover at the inn.

 

Note: To the lower-right of the ladder, near where the slime falls, a prompt appears where the character can attempt to cross over to opposite side, but this is limited to Red's game.

 

Return back up to the two-way area with the broken road, then descend the left-side manhole. This area is extremely special! There are mystic-type monsters here that produce: beast, plant, mec, and bug types when you get near, but that is not the special part. What makes this unique is that the battle rank caps here at 7; making it the ideal place to grind for items and abilities at the rank. In the next chapter we'll cover rank 7 in-depth, but for now, circle the islet and enter the green-lit opening into the Natural Cave.

 

Right inside the beautiful, waterfall-flowing Natural Cave, there is a bag with 200 Credits. This screen is populated by a couple of human-type enemies and, as they are hard to come by, is an excellent place to farm them besides the previous Sewers. There are three beast-types here, that are somewhat rare, too. The Natural Cave may seem like a difficult place to get to farm, but there is actually a shortcut we can use I will show a bit later.

 

There are multiple exits on the first screen, but we want the one to the upper-left. Near where the mec enemy is, there is a hidden bag of 300 Credits obscured by the rocks. Head down the ramp descent and take the exit there.

 

An undead-type will try to ambush you when you try to proceed inward. There are vines you can use to climb downward to the lower-right of the center of the room. There is another hidden bag of 500 Credits where the mystic is waiting at the bottom.

 

A rare StardustRobe armor is waiting through the passage at the bottom. It's an okay piece with bonuses of +5 to Will, Psychic, and Charm. It also has a +51 defense against Electric attacks, but average to below-average other defenses. It does provide protection against instant-death attacks, though, making it useful in some situations. Back where you used the vine, the upper-right exit takes you back to the Cave's entry screen. Battle past the human and beasts and use this exit to the southeast, this time.

 

The following room is loaded with stalagmites and monsters. In the lower portion you can see a glowing Magi-Water treasure to snag, then exit to the northwest. Climb the vines and you'll come across a chasm to jump across, however, don't run: instead, walk off.

 

You'll drop down to an otherwise-inaccessible area where an AngelArmor treasure awaits. This great piece of armor completely protects wearers from Tremor/Quake-type attacks and has a bonus of +10 to Quickness. It provides a +27 defense against all physical attacks, but drops to +17 for elements. It's very solid for a mec, also, providing a +100 HP and +20 to Quickness/Vitality. Leaving the area to the south places you at the top of a barren room, but you can slide down to another area that exits out to the large stalagmite room. This time, jump across the chasm and follow the linear path, but make sure to save in the room with the mec/aquatic monster. Equip the AngelArmor and any JetBoots you have, or not if you want to try to learn the DodgeTremor ability with some characters. Equipping any multi-target attacks is advised, also. When prepared, exit to the west to find the HideRune.

 

The Quakeworm and its Wormbrood brethren aren't too different than the slimes back in Tanzer. The Wormbroods protect the Quakeworm, and itself, by constantly casting Magicheal, and Assist, while at the same time, recovering HP at the end of every turn. You can use DirtyFang on each one to stop the HP regen, but you'd likely be better off trying to combo as many multi-target abilities to wipe them out quickly. Make sure Shield is cast before all three Broods are defeated as once they are out of the way, the Quakeworm begins to uses Quake, which can spark DodgeTremor, but will completely whiff a character with the AngelArmor or JetBoots equipped. Besides Quake, it may pull out Oscillation, but otherwise, you should be able to dice up the Quakeworm easily without his cronies.

 

Note: The Quakeworm can drop a fairly rare GolemSuit or HyperScale if you want to try for one, but they can be gotten from other monsters later on.

 

Emelia, Liza, and Annie now have the gift for Rune magic (Mesarthim also automatically has the gift if you recruited her). By using Rune magic during battles, you can learn the other buyable Rune spells along with 4 additional, advanced ones that I will cover below.

• WallRune: This works similar to the Mystic's GlassShield, but only against attacks of the piercing-type (Generally most long-range attacks like bullets); and has no devastating counter-attack. Not really worth an ability slot unless in certain circumstances.
• DwarfRune: Lowers one enemy's attack power. Like most buff/debuffs it degrades by 20% each turn, making it pretty much a waste.
• SoulRune: Boosts a multitude of the character's stats. The great thing about this spell is that the effect does not reduce every turn, but rather just expires after your fifth one, so it can be very useful.
• StasisRune: Totally useless in Emilia's game or any game outside of Blue's where you don't recruit the TimeLord and have access to the Overdrive spell. Even if Emelia recruits TimeLord, he can't get the Rune gift, but anyway...This spell freezes the targeted enemy and caster for several turns and the latter losses all their JP. You can use a SnakeOil to "unfreeze" your character, but the loss of all your JP renders it without much practical use.

Note: If you equip the StasisRune, and then the RuneSword weapon, the stone-inducing Cockatrice Mirage-type spell becomes available for use. It's the only way to use this spell outside of Asellus' game, but hardly worth wasting the spell slot.

You can return back into the Quakeworm's den to infinitely fight Wormbroods, which has some worthwhile benefits, but we'll cover that when we come back to the Cave and Sewers for rank 7 (There's a shortcut, as I mentioned before). Unfortunately, you still have to fight your way out of Cavern and Sewers to get back to Koorong. Remember: If you take the path down the broken road, just up the manhole and to your right from the Natural Cave exit, you can use the shortcut to the Koorong skyport.

 

Now that we finally have the Rune gift, which previously locked us out of all the Arcane quest's characters, they are now open for us to recruit, but for item collecting purposes, if you still have at least one empty party slot, fly out to the IRPO from Koorong. Talking to the receptionist begins the Shield Card quest and Fuse joins your party, which is temporary, as long as you purposely loss to the boss at the Mountain's summit.

 

Note: If you recruited Rouge, and need an extra character slot, try to visit the Magic Kingdom and he will leave. Afterward, you can pick him up again back in Luminous.

 

Note: Unless you want two of the same item, if you decide to recruit the character Silence, you won't need to do this as he comes with a HandBlaster also.

Fuse comes equipped with the ultra-rare HandBlaster, of which there are only two in Emelia's game. Strip him of all his equipment (The Defendwear is awesome, too!). If we were able to get it earlier in the game, the HandBlaster would be fairly decent, but at this point, it's just for our inventory. It has three different attack varieties: one pierce, the other slash, and the Paralyzer that attempts to render Palsy on all enemies. Having pilfered Fuse's items, we need to rush to the summit and avoid as many monsters as we can. The Mountain is almost entirely linear, but you'll need to avoid the dragon-filled cave on your left-side on the second screen, and then when inside the mountain, take the exit to the upper-left, then continue north a few screens to inspect the flowers at the top of the fiery mountain and fight the Suzaku boss. Intentionally lose and you'll be back at IRPO, but without Fuse, and can continue the quest at anytime.

Although the option is entirely yours at this point, I do not recommend recruiting Fuse with Emelia; if at anything, because of his accusations that she murdered Ren (Which he conveniently forgets here) and is quite boorish about it. Also, the Mosperiburg Mountain is home to two incredibly difficult bosses other than the Suzaku at its climax, but at the same time, another recruitable monster character (Suzaku Jr.) that requires you to fight one of said bosses is available, too. If you want to attempt to fully do this now, head over to Chapter (Will update when completed). You can use this same method of losing to the Suzaku boss to keep the Suzaku monster in your party while at the same time dumping Fuse, but you'll need to keep two party member slots open until that time comes.

 

The other Arcane-specific character is one of SaGa Frontier's most beloved: Gen. Attempt to fly to Wakatu from Koorong and the attendant will warn you that you require a native to travel there. Talk to the skeleton near the shops in the lower-left portion of Koorong and he'll tell you about a swordsman (Who can cut a rope with a lead pipe!), probably from Wakatu, getting sauced in Scrap, apparently.

 

Sure enough, Gen is from Wakatu and will join your party after he sizes you up a bit. His drinking buddy, T260, still won't join you, though. Even if you have all your character slots filled, the game still counts Gen has joining, so you can travel to Wakatu without him. Gen is woefully behind your other characters at this point, but if you can build him up before you head to Wakatu, you can obtain the second-best (And one-of-a-kind) katana.

 

Note: After this, return and talk to the Skelton for a humorous scene with Gen.

 

Now that we have every human character available to Emelia, it's a good idea to acquire the gift for Mind magic. Head over to Kyo and the Doujou in the northwest of the town map. Make sure every character has MindHeal, or one of the other spells, purchased and ask the teacher about the gift. Each character will have to fight a battle by his/her self, which shouldn't be too difficult, and just like that, every successful battle has acquired the Mind magic gift for that character. You can only attempt this once! So make sure you win all your battles. If you recruited Gen, it may be difficult to win his battle, but with powerful equipment and picking the right battle for him, it is completely doable now.

 

Note: Rouge can never acquire the gift for Mind magic. This is explained in Blue's game. Also, if you still plan to recruit Fuse, he already has the gift for Mind magic.

 

The gift for Mind-type magic gives access to two additional spells you can learn:

• Lifewave: You probably have already used this with Roufas, but it is an excellent attack spell to use against undead monsters.
• Awakening: This is a lesser version of the SoulRune spell: boosting all stats and lasting for five turns.