Arriving in Wyndia, despite insisting that her father would honor Ryu if he helped her investigate the syndicate at Syn City and resolve the issue at the Plant, Nina decides instead to take Rei to the castle to try to swindle a Passport. Not a good look, Princess. Speak with the castle guard with Nina to be ushered into an audience with the King. Nina gives her report, including Rei's involvement, and a Passport is promised for his heroic actions. While it is prepared, Nina offers to show the Woren around the castle.
Note: All of the items inside Wyndia Castle, with the exception of the basement, become missable once this section of the game is over! To double-check all the items, head back to the beginning of
Chapter 5. If you didn't get the Coin item on your first visit, which is inside the Queen's room, it can no longer be accessed, unfortunately.
For a humorous scene, sneak up into Nina's bedroom and have Rei search the Princess' dresser. Social etiquette is tough when you've been a thief all your life!
You'll need to first visit Nina's controlling mother on the second floor; staircase located to the left of the dinning room, and just accept that Nina has to bite her lip, at least for now. Afterward, head for the basement, whose staircase is to the lower-right of Nina's room. Nina tells Rei about Ryu's imprisonment here, leaving out her naivety allowing Balio and Sunder loose to make their life hell, but maybe she was getting to that when Honey interrupts. Scooping the chrysm solder up, descend down into the prison. Using Rei, we can now unlock the cell with that elusive chest that has been taunting us. It contains an additional Laurel helmet for either Nina or Momo. Next door are the rotund triplets you may have seen at the Contest of Champions, and further on former-mayor McNeil continues to be interrogated (They didn't even bother to remove his ropes!).
Note: A soldier is stationed by the stairs leading down into the Wyndian Catacombs and the area cannot be accessed again.
Leaving the basement, a banquet is held for Rei, but Nina insists that he has pressing business in the eastern lands and must be on his way. Rei is given a new Passport, but before he can leave, a flustered guard rushes in and informs the Queen that the dastardly Ryu was spotted talking with Rei earlier and the royal family goes ballistic! Thankfully, Nina has had enough and lambasts her parents over the kind of man Ryu truly is; with Rei getting some shots in, too! They're not about to relent after that tongue-lashing, so you're gonna have to follow Honey, again, to escape! Make way down into the wine cellar and the sealed door beneath. Honey punches some numbers into the ancient machine and a portal opens in which Nina and Rei manage to flee through after some parting words for the Queen. You'll find yourself beneath Durandal's dwelling outside the walls of Wyndia. Exit and you'll be reunited with Ryu and company, but need to hurry to the checkpoint to Rhapala before the King sends notice (Which he never seems to get around to doing).
Note: The Old Passport item is gone and replaced with the Passport again. Wyndia is also temporarily unavailable to enter, but that won't last long. You can use the underground device beneath Durandal's shack to return to the basement of Wyndia castle, but for now, there is nothing to do there. Additionally, the control panel at the castle transporter can send you to Emitai's house or the Yraall Region for a shortcut.
Passing through the eastern checkpoint, carefully look behind the border wall to spot Lee.
There's nothing at all going on in Rhapala, at the moment, but you can stop by the Wharf and talk to Shadis, who now has a daughter with the new Guildmaster, Beyd, for a scene. Now is a great time to start someone appreciating under Giotto, also (Ryu heavily suggested). The blockage on the road around Mt. Zublo has been cleared, so you can use the path along the left-side to get to the Urkan Region instead of the volcano route.
Our destination is Angel Tower, but let's make a stop in Junk Town before that. At the lower-end of town, in the corner just outside the reddish-clothed door, Wynn is hiding. She is the last of the four hide-and-seek players, but since Wyndia is currently closed to us, we can't reap the benefits yet. Equipping the Coupons, consider the weapons for sale here, too. The Barbarossa and Thunder Rod (casts Jolt as item) are electric-element and the game's next dungeon features many monsters weak against that element, however, as stated before, all of the weapons here are unreasonably heavy, and therefore I prefer not to use them, personally. The Barbarossa is found in a treasure chest a bit later, also, but the Thunder Rod and Garr's Gigantess will need to be purchased. There's a great weapon for Ryu in the next dungeon, and Garr actually receives, arguably, his best weapon shortly after said dungeon. Both characters can obtain weapons more powerful than the Junk Town ones at a manillo shop a bit later on, as well. If you have gotten the HiddenDagger from the Faerie Village shops, it makes a much better weapon for Nina than the Thunder Rod, also, in my opinion, with its instant-death possibility, so consider all of these things when deciding whether to purchase the weapons now or wait until later.
With Garr in your party, enter Angel Tower. After, seemingly, giving the watchmen a final farewell, Garr will automatically lead Ryu to the apex of the Tower; explaining more about the relationship between God and the Guardians. Garr kneels in prayer, but is met only with the words that "God will not come here" and the visage of the women sealed below Angel Tower appears before them. She exclaims that to meet God she, who Garr calls Deis, must be released and to seek Guardian Gaist. Confounded, Garr points us toward the Patriarch of Urkan Tapa for some insight. Talk to him with Garr to learn that he has heard that a Guardian who has given up fighting lives beyond the Tidal Caves to the west, but Sudama cautions Garr to hold on to his Faith in God and not become like Gaist.
Note: Don't forget about Hondara if you waited to apprentice a character under him.
Good news: Wyndia is open to us again and there are FIVE new masters waiting! All four of the now-found hide-and-seek siblings will mentor you if you ask. These masters are a bit unique though, offering only a very minor, one-stat bonus, and no skills, but instead battle formations, and an item. Below are the breakdowns; required levels in parenthesis:
- Bais: Power +1, Chain Formation (3)
- Lang: Defense +1, Cupid's Lyre accessory (3)
- Lee: Intelligence +1, Magic Formation (3)
- Wynn: HP +1, Refuge Formation (3)
The Cupid's Lyre is an accessory that, outside of battle, regenerates 1 HP per step the character takes. In battle, you get a minuscule 1 HP regen after each turn, but even though this can stack with other HP-regeneration items, Refuge formation, or Peco's natural regen, it can never add up to anything substantial. In addition, you can trade for the Cupid's Lyre at a manillo shop late in the game, which makes wasting three levels for it unnecessary besides feeling good about having "mastered" all masters. Information about the three new battle formations, which are underwhelming, too, are as followed:
- Magic: Position 3's Intelligence is boosted by 50%, while the other two has theirs reduced by 25%. Position 3 is also less likely to be targeted by enemies. Even for a heavily Intelligence-trained Nina or Momo, the damage can never begin to compare to offensive characters in Attack formation.
- Refuge: The party recovers 1 HP per turn and position 1 more likely to be targeted than the other two, with 3 having the most shelter.
- Chain: Point character shares their Agility stat with the rest of the party, however, the entire group has their defense cut in HALF. Unlike the other two, this one actually has some useful applications, but certainly not for a long-term choice.
The fifth master is Wyndian castle chef, Hachio, who's kitchen you can access again via the ancient device beneath Durandal's hut around back of Wyndia city. His acceptance of you is dependent on you bringing him several items, however: Beef Jerky, Swallow Eye, Angler, and a MartianSquid. You can steal Beef Jerky from Cerebus at Angel Tower, Swallow Eyes (Remember: I kept telling you to keep one in your inventory!) can be very rarely dropped by Slashers on the Ogre Road, but there is another one as treasure a bit further into the game if you need to wait. Anglers can be fished-up at the fishing spot to the south of Urkan Tapa and MartianSquid are swimming around the hole near Mt. Myrneg.
Hachio is an solid master, very similar to Bunyan, but without the heavy hit to Intelligence. The big cat's teachable skills leave much to be desired, though. Apprenticed, the character's Power and HP will raise by 2, Defense by 1, with a reduction of -2 AP and -1 Intelligence and Agility. For a bonus, Hachio disciples receive an additional 3% chance of a critical hit on top of their default values. Skills you learn from Hachio are below:
- Mighty Chop (2): Almost exactly the same as Spirit Blast, but a little stronger. Nevertheless, it's still nearly useless. Mighty Chop does a small fraction of the damage of a basic attack, but being that it ignores the defense of the target, it can inflict some damage on extreme high-defense enemies, but in every situation you'd be better off with a magic attack instead of this.
- Demonbane (4): A standard weapon attack that does increased damage on a devil-type enemy. There have been very few of these types thus far in the game (Cerebus, Phantom, and Mikba), but they become more prevalent in the final dungeon where it has its most use, if any.
West, along the shore from Angel Tower, are the Tidal Caves. A relatively short, but quirky dungeon, the manillo at the entrance tells us that navigating the tide changes of the Caves are necessary to reach the other side where Gaist lives. It may seem a bit complicated, but it's not at all: there are only two levels of the tide and they rise/fall depending on the number of battles fought, so pretty simple, but some patience is required.
Note: Equipping Light Bangles/Life Sandals and/or Changeblock inoculations are recommended for the Tidal Caves.
Enemies inside the Tidal Caves are a mixed bag, but electric weakness is prominent for almost all of them, so Nina/Rei will be helpful characters casting Lightning, as are the heavy, but electric-based weapons from Junk Town. BombSeeds have a new, but utterly useless skill to learn: Sacrifice. To get them to use it, you'll need to first lower their HP by half where afterward the message "BombSeed is angered!" appears and usage of Sacrifice will occur on their next turn. Sacrifice is, basically, Bunyan's Disembowel skill which tries to drop an enemy's HP to 1, but targets the entire enemy group, and results in the death of the user, effective or not, instead of reducing their max HP. It's a death-based attack so if the enemy has total immunity (like bosses) it won't work at all and the higher the immunity it's even less likely to hit. Throw this into your skill notes as soon as you learn it. Use Charm on BombSeeds, also, to improve odds of getting an Ivory Dice from them.
The aptly-named Sleepy is another opportunity to learn the Snooze skill if you didn't pick it up from the Eye Goo's very early in the game. When not sleeping, they'll try to confuse your party. Spikers will use Venom Breath, which along with Sleepy's Hypnotize, is the reason for the recommended accessories and inoculations. Be very careful with BarbBulbs, also, who counter almost every attack and cast a Might-like ability on their first turn, then defend. Don't attack them with low-HP/Defense characters!
The first tide change occurs as soon as you walk past the manillo. Enter the cave and then the next one on your right, across from the dock. Move through the jagged caverns to a fork, then proceed right and around to a semi-concealed Fish-head treasure where the water is pooling. From the fork, head left, then at another junction, continue left, then down and to your right where you can exit out to another treasure: a Coin lure.
Return to the fork, proceeding north, and following the cavern around to yet another fork. Left is a dead-end, whereas right takes you back to the Caves central hub, but on the opposite-end. At the lower-end is a dock. Have Ryu cut the rope to drop an extended plank to the side. If the tide is highest, you can ride the raft back to the entrance as a shortcut.
Note: Tide changes after battle only occur in the caverns around the central, raft area.
When it's low-tide, in the central area, descend the ladder to the right of the previous cave exit, then ignoring the second ladder, loop around to the upper-right to a Thunder Ring treasure chest. This accessory is the only piece of equipment in the game that protects you completely (Absorbing as HP) electric-based damage. Copying them in the Faerie Village is recommended since you will not find another anywhere else.
Using the second ladder now, pass the cave and step on the docked raft to ride it to the west. Get back on the raft a second time to sail south. Docked, there is an exit back outside the Caves to your upper-right. Climb the hill to pick up the Deadly Blade. The only one in the game, the Deadly Blade boosts Ryu's critical hit chances to 13%. While not nearly as strong as the Barbarossa, I prefer it due to the much-lower weight.
Inside, get back on the raft again and enter the cave just off; not the exit directly across from it. Turn left within the new cavern, then hug the wall to the upper-left; where it turns noticeably green from algae, to locate a skeleton holding a Hawk's Ring accessory.
To complete the dungeon, use the exit across from the raft outside. Climb the ladder, then proceed down through the passage to the outside wall of the Tidal Caves. Before the exit back out to the world map, Ryu can pick up the Gross gene. When spliced, Gross grants an additional 30% increase to all statistics with the exception of AP/Intelligence. You can even double this by combining it with Thorn. Gross, like other enhancement genes, only effect "base" dragon forms, though, such as Whelp, Dragon, Warrior, and Behemoth, and will not apply to more advanced transformations like Fusion Hybrids and later creations.
Just before you get to Cliff is an isolated fishing spot. Mostly filled with Octopus, among them is the Devilfish: a new catch that casts the ultra-powerful, electric-based Myollnir spell when used as an item. Denizens of the fishing hole are below:
- Octopus x12 (Worm - 70cm)
- Angler x4 (Worm - 100cm)
- Devilfish x4 (Worm - 120cm)
- Manillo x1 (Coin - 200cm)
Contents of the spot's manillo shop are nice, but ultimately not needed due to the Faerie Village's Copy shop, although you should trade for a Speed Boots if you didn't get the one way back at the Contest of Champions. The Soul Gem, Bell Collar, and Holy Mantle can also be easily purchased from merchants at the Village, as well.
Cliff is tiny shanty town inhabited by society's outcasts and on-the-run criminals. Garr will be required, so make sure he is a part of your group. There are a few dwellings to enter, with an inn and very basic item shop, but no items to find, however the fish bones on the floors are a nice decorative touch. Gaist lives in the "home" at the far-end of town. Gaist scoffs at Garr's attempts to find the truth about their God's war on the Brood, but is somewhat compelled to help you free Deis. Alone with Ryu, Gaist provides some more history on the war, revealing that it was actually God that started the war, and not the Brood, and he actually sympathizes with how Garr feels now, but was too much of a coward to face the doubts he had in his actions, so he fled here and became apathetic. Gaist tells Ryu to speak with Garr again and return alone if he is serious about questioning God.
Outside, Garr also questions Ryu about his determination. Pick whichever option you like, however, saying "Is it that important?" followed by "Yeah...who cares?" almost sends Garr into the stone of sleep earlier than he expected. Either way, you need to head back inside to face Gaist one-on-one. You don't need any special preparation, but make sure to save.
With the right dragon splicing, Gaist is laughably easily. Gaist absorbs fire-based attacks, evident by the Torches healing him with Flare each turn, and very weak against ice. You can decide to either approach the battle conservatively, almost guaranteeing a win, or go straight offense with a bit of risk. For the conservative approach, splice the Flame, Ice, and Thunder genes together for the Trygon form. Immune to fire, but having Frost Breath, one use of it will destroy the Torches and heavily damage Gaist. From there, you can continue with Frost Breath or slug it out with normal attacks until he falls. He can confuse you with Howling, but this is mostly an attempt to get you to waste your turn and AP, since you can't attack yourself. Alternately, splice the Warrior, Frost, and Gross genes together (You can replace Gross with Shadow to give you 75% resistance to Howling). Frost Breath on the first turn to eliminate the Torches, then Frost Claw him to death, however, you will take HEAVY damage from his Corona ability, but he'll likely die before Ryu runs out of HP.
Note: Gaist possesses the Sanctuary and Risky Blow skills, both normally taught by masters. If you want to try to learn them, make sure Ryu has the Ring of Fire and Light Bangle (With added-on Changeblock inoculation) equipped.
As it turns out, Gaist life was holding the seal on Deis. He places the burden of truth, and protection of Ryu, in Garr's hands before turning to sand. Search Gaist's remains to acquire the Beast Spear for Garr; arguably his best weapon in the game. It has an absurd, at this point in the game, 150 attack, but comes with two major drawbacks: 15 weight and Garr loses 5% of his HP each turn (You have to listen to him grunt about it, too!). The Cupid's Lyre, then later some other equipment, can counteract the HP drain somewhat (More so by walking outside of battle), but you are mostly left to deal with it.
Note: If you fail to search the remains before leaving the room, the Beast Spear is lost!
Return to Angel Tower, with Garr in-tow, of course. Deis' sealed chamber is down the staircase to the south of the stairs that lead up into the Tower itself. An immodest, but freed Deis immediately assaults the Guardian! She lectures him on the folly of he and Gaist blindly following God's orders to exterminate the Brood, which ultimately led to her being sealed when she joined the Brood's side. Deis says she'll take him to meet their God, but the spirits of the slain dragons is too strong here, they need to talk elsewhere: Mt. Zublo.
You'll likely recall the mysterious room with the undecipherable characters etched into the wall on the Rhapala side of Mt. Zublo. Touch the wall with Ryu as party leader to be "shifted" into Deis' new abode. Now in her true, snake-like body, when prompted, make absolutely sure that you select the reply: "I like you this way", otherwise this locks you out of obtaining Deis as a master! Deis brings Garr in, too, but regrets to inform them that she is far too weak to take them to God. Instead, she bestows upon Ryu, "Prana", the "Eye of God", and that by following its direction, far to the north, across the outer sea, they will find God. Looks like you'll be needing a boat for that, but thankfully, Rhapala has been a source we can count on for that. At the Wharf, talk to Shadis to shockingly discover that the boat isn't running, AGAIN, and that Beyd went to Junk Town to investigate.
Now that I think about it...
Gen?! Anyway, at Junk Town, you'll spot Beyd at the base of the town. You are then allowed to follow him out to a new section of the world map.
The bay below Junk Town has several new areas to visit, including two additional fishing spots. Along the shore west of Steel Beach is one that claims to have "the best fish in the world". Packed with Sea Bass, mostly, the new Spearfish is found here, also, but you'll need a lvl 3 sinker, popper, or some tec to snag one. Spearfish, as an item, recover the entire party by 240 HP, like the Brandy, as well. Below are the bed's contents:
- Sea Bass x12 (Worm, Sinker, or Popper - 60cm)
- Devilfish x4 (Worm - 120cm)
- Spearfish x2 (Sinker/Popper - 120cm)
Even further west, around back of a fisherman's cottage, lies another fishing spot. This one is a smorgasbord of many fish, with no new ones, but does have a valuable manillo shop.
- Man-o'-War x3 (Any - 30cm)
- Flying Fish x3 (Popper - 20cm)
- Blowfish x3 (Worm, Sinker, or Popper - 20cm)
- Sea Bream x3 (Sinker - 40cm)
- Sea Bass x3 (Worm, Sinker, or Popper - 60cm)
- Black Porgy x2 (Frog - 60cm)
- Octopus x2 (Worm - 70cm)
- Angler x2 (Worm - 100cm)
- Devilfish x2 (Worm - 120cm)
- Spearfish x1 (Sinker/Popper - 120cm)
- Manillo x1 (Coin - 200cm)
The location's manillo shop offers two very powerful weapons and is the only reliable place in the game to get most of the lvl 4 lure types. Ryu's Demonsbane is exceptionally more powerful than the Barbarossa and will be his strongest weapon until near the end of the game. With the exception of the Beast Spear, Garr's Aries Spear is his most powerful weapon until the game's end, as well. Both weapons function like Hachio's Demonbane skill and deal increased damage versus devil-type monsters. Note that these weapons can be found in chests very late into the game if you just can't be bothered with the fishing required. As for the lures, the only one that has to be traded for is the Dogwalker; it cannot be found anywhere else. You should already have a Heavy Caro, Fat Frogs can be stolen from an enemy in the game's final dungeon, and a Deep Diver is in a treasure later. Copies can be made at the Faerie Village instead of having to trade fish, if you need more.
When done fishing, enter the ? location that has been looming nearby. Inside the cottage, there's a Swallow Eye in the chest of drawers (If you needed one for Hachio), but if you turn the camera to look behind the partition, Ryu can find the ??? gene. Useless on its own and most all splices, the ??? gene can combine with a specialized few to allow Ryu to access some unique dragon forms. One of which is the advanced form of the Momo Hybrid created through the Fusion gene. Since we now have all of the genes necessary to create each character's advanced Fusion form, I'll talk about them in just a second.
Another new form you have access to via the new gene is the Mammoth by splicing ??? and Miracle together to form a unique Behemoth creation. The Mammoth has a godly 1000% increase in HP, but lacks any sort of defensive boost, and loses some Power and Agility compared to the basic Behemoth form. With that amount of HP, you can MeteorStrike most everything to death long before you lose HP. Enhancement genes like elemental, Defender, and Gross, will not apply to the Mammoth due to it being a unique form, unfortunately.
Remember the Bow look-a-like fishing at the cottage! When your fishing class nears its highest, he will reward you with advanced fishing gear and later, a vital item (Good luck!).
Turning to the Fusion Hybrids, the Nina version can be accessed by a party consisting of her and either Peco or Garr. Purely magic-based and immune to wind, this form only receives a 20% bonus in HP/Power, but offers 50% increased Agility, and boosts Intelligence by more than double, however, adding Eldritch to the Fusion splice creates an amplified version that triples Intelligence instead. The Eldritch Nina Hybrid has access to all the game's strongest elemental spells and an ability that is unique called Temptation. This ability causes no damage, but attempts to reduce the entire enemy party's Power, Defense, and Speed, along with confusing them, and can stack twice to, potentially, debilitate the opposition. It can be a useful form for Ryu, but magic is, regrettably, never the force it should have been and can never match other dragon physical capabilities.
The Momo Fusion Hybrid is ascended to with a party of Momo and either Peco or Nina. At first, it appears to be almost purely a support-based magic form, able to heal and buffer stats, but is actually quite an all-around package like Momo herself. The Hybrid has +50% HP/Power, 20% Defense, and over doubles Ryu's Intelligence, but like with Nina, adding ??? to your Fusion splice creates an enhanced Hybrid and triples his Intelligence along with adding the Vitalize and Ragnarok spells to the arsenal. Ragnarok, which Momo learns at later levels, can be quite devastating despite it sharing the same properties as Magic Ball and being reduced by both the enemy's Intelligence AND Defense. Momo's Hybrid's real gem is the unique Combustion ability, though. With the triple Intelligence splice, it causes massive fire/wind damage to the entire enemy party. Overall, this form is superior to Nina's unless the opposition has resistance against the fire and wind elements.
Peco's Fusion Hybrid form is found with a party of him and either Garr or Rei. Compared to the other four, it is very underwhelming, however. It does offer 2.5x bonus HP and a 50% increases in Power and Defense for Ryu, while dropping his Agility slightly. Splicing the Shadow gene along with Fusion creates an amplified version of the onion knight that grants him Peco's natural HP regeneration and the advanced, earth-elemental Gaea'sBreath. The earth-based breaths are unique to this dragon form, but outside of those, it doesn't offer any real advantage over using breath attacks with the HP-heavy Behemoth or Mammoth.
The shining star of the Fusion Hybrids is Rei's; created with a party of him and either Nina or Momo. The winged tiger has double Agility, 50% bonus HP/Power, and 20% extra Defense. Throwing the Force gene into the Fusion splice bestows on the form an incredible 30% increase in critical hit and dodge, plus the special Hurricane ability. Hurricane (and the lesser Tempest) are wind-elemental breath attacks which are unique to this form like Peco's earth-based ones are to his. You won't need them, though, because this form has Shadowwalk: a guaranteed critical hit skill that never misses, and with the form's double Agility, you will almost guarantee an EX turn against most enemies. Needless to say, this form can rival most Warrior creations, and Shadowwalk requires much less AP than Aura.
Note: Garr has no Fusion Hybrid form (Understandable, I suppose). Also, all Fusion Hybrids are considered unique dragon forms, as such, adding a third gene to the splice, like an elemental or Gross, will have no effect.
When ready to proceed with the story, put Momo in your party and head over to the Dock just across from Junk Town. You'll find Beyd and company at the pier discussing the status of the ship. They're short on parts and someone to properly fix the ship, so I'm sure you know where this is going. Have Momo talk to Beyd who volunteers to tinker with the ill-fated boat while the party goes searching for spare parts. She hands Ryu the Memo vital item and suggests asking the Guild in Junk Town where to search for the parts. Momo will be temporarily unavailable, so you'll need to pick a new party member, and since Garr will be required soon, be sure to add him. Trek back up to Junk Town and enter the building with the red-partitioned door at the base of town and speak with the Guildmaster (The one I said looked like Gen from SaGa Frontier earlier!). He's feeling particularly apathetic about their search for parts, so he grants you admission to Steel Beach to the north.
Note: Don't miss the Romeo and Juliet sea louses on the Dock! Crustacean love: how romantic!
Note: A boss is shortly upcoming. Equip the Thunder Ring on Garr along with a Light Bangle/Life Sandals and Changeblock inoculations for everyone are good ideas, but not necessary unless you have been struggling during some of the previous bosses.
Steel Beach comes off as a very melancholy place, so thankfully we don't have to hang out here long! At the far-end of the coastline, Ryu can find yet another dragon gene: Mutant. This one is a total gimmick and has no real application: when chosen, it ignores any other genes you place in the splice, and randomly selects three genes to use. The only purpose of this, that I can tell, is a lower AP consumption since you only pay the very low cost, and upkeep, of the Mutant gene. It can never create a unique dragon form, though, so this even further diminishes its usefulness. There is an outlier, however: if spliced with the ??? gene, Ryu becomes the unique Pygmy form. The Pygmy gets triple bonuses to Agility and Intelligence, but Ryu loses almost all his Power/Defense and gets no additional HP. The HP is even more bewildering since Pygmy's specialty is a Magma Breath ability that is limited only to this form. It's more of a novelty form than anything, I guess.
With Garr in the lead of the group, talk to the Ox doppelganger wearing the nice hat. He won't let you into the freighter to look for parts unless you prove your mettle. How so? By pulling up salvage from the ocean floor! You're then forced into a very simplistic, but annoying mini-game that's similar to red light, green light. When the red flag is raised, pull the rope as Garr, then stop when the flag is lowered or the white flag is is raised. If the distance between the two men's length of rope exceeds 2 meters, either way, you'll have to try again. The foreman does not care one bit about success, though, and will actively try to exceed the 2 meter limit, so you will often have to curve your pulling to match him. It's not overly difficult if you are patient and have good timing. You don't need to make it to 0, either, because halfway through they discover they've been pulling up a nasty creature!
The Angler is a fairly easy boss, with status effects, particularly poison and confusion from Bone Dart, being the main concern. You can win quickly with Ryu transforming, but will likely need a few turns to learn a new skill before that. Begin by stealing its Fish-head item, then have Ryu cast Barrier on any low-Intelligence character that doesn't have a Thunder Ring (Garr, Peco, Rei). The learnable Thunder Clap skill is surprisingly effective, but being that it only targets one character, isn't much cause for concern. Once Thunder Clap is yours, have Ryu ascend with a Force, Shadow, and Thorn splice, then attack normally or with Aura. The Shadow mix will give Ryu immunity to the Angler's poison and confusion effects. The ugly thing has no weakness, so have your other characters handle any residual poison and confusion as they occur while Ryu dishes out most of the damage.
Note: Thunder Clap is, essentially, the Lightning spell, but only directed at one target. This differs from Wall of Fire/Fireblast, which have noticeably damage differences. You can also remove Garr from your party now, if you wish.
For whatever reason, there are now parts all over Steel Beach to pick up before we enter the freighter to look for more. Part A is along the shore above where the foreman stands.
Part B is sitting upon a heap of junk to the right of the entrance boardwalk.
From Part B, hug the bottom wall along to the right to find the concealed Part H.
Part G is obscured a bit up and to the lower-left of the entrance boardwalk.
Part F is outside the freighter entrance, above where the welder is working. That's all the parts outside the freighter, but before heading inward, I suggest bringing Nina along. Also, replace any Magma Armor you may have equipped or equip a Ring of Ice on them.
Only on the top portion of the freighter are enemy encounters found. There we're introduced to the Bolt gang; cousins of the Nuts. Of the usual sword, archer, and mage types, they've developed resistance to magic compared to the Nuts, so we won't be able to Burn them away easily. Nina, however, should have enough spell power to take them out. The Target and Multistrike skills have some use here against their frequent dodging, surprisingly. If you failed to get Frost Strike at the Contest of Champions, the sword-wielding Bolt has it to learn, while the BoltArch uses Blind. Try to take the BoltMage out as quickly as possible since their Iceblast and Jolt spells are quite formidable.
Note: Bolts very rarely drop the Royal Dagger weapon that is purchasable in the Faerie Village. Outclassed in power now, it can cast Protect when used as an item. Mages, also infrequently, drop the Robe of Wind, which we're about to find one of, and copying them for more is a better method, but leaving this note for those it may interest.
Sticking close to the sidewall from the entrance, we can pick up a Part D hidden at the end. Travel further in, where there is eventually a locked door, to find a Part B on the floor.
Descend the multitude of ladders to the south down to the freighter's base. To the right of the ladder is a lever you should hit twice to elevate the narrow rail even with the two platforms above, then underneath, take the Part C.
To the upper-left is another lever and high-above rail. Pass under it to the left first and procure the Part D, then activate the lever twice to bring it down even with the crate. Around the border, opposite of the lever, is a Part H that is hidden from view.
Further north is yet another switch which needs to be handled twice so that it is all the way even with the highest crate. Pass under the rail and shift the camera around shortly thereafter to find the easily-missed Part G.
To the upper-left of Part G, wedged near the last two crates on the left side, is a Part C.
At the point of the northern, right-most crate is Part E.
Around the corner from Part E is a concealed treasure chest with the Robe of Wind armor for Nina. Finally a replacement for her Crepe Cape, the Robe of Wind makes Nina completely immune to earth-based attacks and nearly-immune to wind-based ones, while also offering a 50% reduction in electric-type, has no weight, AND casts Speed as an item!
Head back up the first set of ladders, then work your way around the room, clockwise, using the rails and crates as walkways, to pick up a Part A, then to Part C on top of the very last crate at the end. Return back to the switch below where you just found Part C, lower the rail twice, then retrace your steps back around to pick up the final Part F.
This should now be what your Parts inventory looks like. When you have them all, you can start heading back to the Dock.
Note: In case you were wondering, the Part items cannot be copied at the Faerie Village.
Take the parts down to Momo below the ship, but for completionists, make absolutely sure your Parts distribution looks exactly like the screenshot above. The ones that are grayed out (Plus x1 Part F) are the only Parts required to fix the ship; the others stay in your inventory and are only wasted if turned over to Momo.
The ship fixed, the group begins to sail back towards Rhapala. Ryu can go down below and talk to his party members, and then ultimately, Nina outside. The sailors tell Beyd about how the boat became damaged from being accosted by the mysterious Black Ship just as Ryu and Nina spot it ominously looming nearby. Reaching Rhapala safely, Beyd turns the boat over to Ryu, but Zig interjects and demands to pilot it for you! Journey at sea awaits.
