Arc the lad II - Development.txt

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*Arc the Lad II: Character/Item Development FAQ* by TopperCopVersion 1.03, Last Updated 2003-08-22 View/Download Original File

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Arc the Lad II / Arc Arena Character and Item Development FAQ

This FAQ is copyright 2003 by Paul Sche. No part of this document maybe altered. Distribution of this document is free of charge and maynot be included as part of a transaction. Posting of this document,

either in part or in its entirety in sites other than gamefaqs.comrequires the consent from the author, whom can be contacted by email [email protected].

Version 1.00January 31, 2003-This is the first time I've written a FAQ. Althoughthis is the first version, all sections are completed. However, feelfree to email me if there is a mistake somewhere, or if you have someinformation to contribute (see the end of the FAQ.) Credit will beacknowledged to where it's due.

Version 1.01March 22, 2003-Added contents in section II-Arena Battles, section III-

In Game Rare Items and section VI-Secrets. Information on obtainingLight Pole is contributed by Orlandu17 and is described in section III.

Version 1.02June 18, 2003-Added contents in section I-Item Modification Facilities,section II-Arena Battles and section VI-Secrets. Information ongaining control of human and summoned monster characters in the ArenaTeam Battle is contributed by Ed Perkowski.

Version 1.03August 22, 2003-Added contents in section V-Wanted Monsters Locationsand Treasures and VI-Secrets. Corrected a mistake in section I-Item

Modification Facilities. Information on obtaining Docsun's Ruby iscontributed by Daniel Dainwood.

Among the three games in the Arc the Lad Collection, Arc the Lad II hasthe unique property to convert saved data to and from the Arc ArenaMonster Tournament. The development of characters and items is one ofthe most important aspects of the game rather than blindly leveling upby consuming copious amounts of Full Power Fruits, Rubies, and theYellow Ribbon. Yet there are very little addressed in this regard.This is partially due to the planning of the game- that there areadequate challenges for those who seek them, but still allow casualplayers to complete the game and enjoy the full story by designingextraordinarily high level and HP limits, with easy ways to gain levels

or parameters. Unlike in ATL I, each character can gain hundreds oflevels in a very short amount of time by duplicating and using itemsthat actually increase levels. There are not too many games that aim


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to satisfy players with such a wide range of caliber. It is natural totake the most obvious way out, but then beating the game would betrivial and I wouldn't be writing this.

Instead, the purpose of this FAQ is to focus on the actual developmentof the characters. A character equipped with fully developed weaponsand accessories, and completed training of all of the skills is easily

a match for the same character dozens of levels higher, but poorlyequipped and poorly trained. The 1P vs. 2P battle in Arc Arena is alsoonly applicable to characters with limited levels and HP to competesince there is no way to finish a fight within the turn limitotherwise.

Contents

I. Item Modification Facilities- Combine Shop and Smith ShopII. Arena Battles- Team Battles, Tournament Battles, and Arena PrizesIII. In Game Rare ItemsIV. Character Development, Deployment, and Optimal Equipment

V. Wanted Monsters Locations and TreasuresVI. SecretsAcknowledgements

I. Item Modification Facilities

During the early parts of the game, utilizing the combine shop is thebest method of obtaining items with reasonable power and modificationpotential. Later on, however, many of these items will become obsoleteand take up valuable inventory space. Thus, combined items that areobsolete should be removed from the inventory as the game progresses.However, these items are free of charge and can be sold for a handsome

profit. On the other hand, having well developed smith shops isabsolutely essential to unlock the true potential of weapons andaccessories.

Combine Shop

The combine shops; both in-game and in Arc Arena, do not requirespecial preparations to unlock options. Simply bring the necessaryingredients (they must be in your inventory, equipped items don'tcount) and choose to combine. Without considering a particular glitch,the opportunities of procuring most ingredients are listed below. (Forinformation on the glitch, see the Secrets section.) IMPORT requiresthat the item be found in ATL I with the data converted into ATL II.Collect these items in the in-game Chongara Shop.

Combined Item Ingredient First Available Location

Spatha Kaiser Glove Arc Arena 3-team battle #3 Small Sword Yudo Village Native's Hut

LightLong Sword EarthLong Sword Drop- see Rare Items section IceLong Sword Southern Tower 4F FlameLong Sword Arc Arena 3-team battle #15 WindLong Sword Balbalard S.R., lower left path.

Falchion EarthLong Sword Drop- see Rare Items section Long Sword Gallarno's House (before defeating Slasher.)


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Taburl Crown Ax Yagos S.R. B2 Gale Bandanna Aldia Skyport (talk to hostage right after the first fight.)

Silent Massacre Warpick Gruga's initial equipment Scimitar Arc Arena 3-team battle #4

Beam Ax FlameHand Ax Arc Arena 5-team battle #13 Drowned Ax Arc Arena 3-team battle #14

Dual Ball Light Flail Prodias East Shop- purchase Spark Flail Romalia Chimera Lab (Lieza and Gogen's scene)

Assassin Dagger Dark Smasher Arc Arena 5-team battle #2 Gladius Arc Arena 3-team battle #2

Dual Knife Slasher After returning from Yagos Isle, in

The morning following Shante's intrusion, check Shu's bed where Lieza slept before leaving the room or accessing the save diary. Defender Yagos S.R. B1

Magic Nail Brass Knuckle Zariban S.R. B5, path north to the guardian's force. Spirit Seed Steal from Balzack.

Stone Boots Crush Boots Lost Forest (from the first screen in the forest, go one screen up and then one screen right.)

Mirror Arc Arena 3-team battle #5

Dagger Boots Tri-Shot Arc Arena 3-team battle #13 Scale Legs Arc Arena 5-team battle #6

Dragon Boots Needle Shoes Palencia Tower 32nd floor Super Boots Past Misro- complete statue pushing puzzle.

Salamander FlameSnake Whip Arc Arena 5-team battle #10 Scale Legs Arc Arena 5-team battle #6

Fibre Stick Wood Club Prodias East Shop- purchase Light Pole Drop- see Rare Items section Nuru-nuru Dropped by Mummy in Yagos S.R.

Astral Pole Fibre Stick Combine-must have acquired the Light Pole (see Rare Items section) Studded Club White House, first door after sewers.

Mirage Wand Change Staff Arc Arena 3-team battle #9 Purple Mem Grass Arc Arena Chongara Shop- purchase

Extra Rod Scale Wand Drop- see Rare Item section

Battle Stick Banza Mountains

Micro Bomber Killer Sound Graunoln


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Tower Guard Romalia Inner City

Double Moon Light Sickle Clenia Isle Clenia Shop- purchase Dark Weapon Graunoln

Poisoner Arsenic Mask Clenia Isle Training Rock Poison Arc Arena Chongara Shop- purchase

Antidote Nut Drop- various poison using monsters

Elven Chain Wind Robe Arc Arena 3-team battle #11 Violet Necklace Arc Arena 5-team battle #8

Light Robe Decorator Clenia Isle Vacant House Cape Arc Arena 5-team battle #4 Ruby Arena Exchange- 4600 Seum

Light Charm Earth Charm Arc Arena 5-team battle #5 Ice Charm Arc Arena 3-team battle #1 Flame Charm Arc Arena Tournament 14 wins

IMPORT Wind Charm Arc Arena 3-team battle #8

Chaos Tanzanite Tanzanite Clenia Isle Training Rock Sleepless Card Arc Arena Tournament 10 wins IMPORT Sunglasses Arc Arena 5-team battle #3

Romancing Stone Romancing Stone 1 IMPORT Romancing Stone 2 IMPORT Romancing Stone 3 IMPORT Romancing Stone 4 IMPORT

Smith Shop

1. Training the smith shops

The two types of smith shops, Novice and Master serve different roles.The in game novice shop is located in Prodias and the in game mastershop is located in Brakia. However, since the two shops are locatedaway from each other and their individual accessibilities are oftenrestricted by story flow, it is better to develop the ones in Arc Arenainstead. After Lieza and Paundit joins you, the Arc Arena is availablewhen these two characters are in your current roster in a save file,even after you have entered the final dungeon.The smith shops will not offer much variety at the beginning. Thesmiths must be trained to be able to provide additional services. Toaccomplish this task, repeatedly have them perform the task of raisingitem levels. (See bwong's ATL2 FAQ for more detailed description ondeveloping the smith shops. I'm not the first to describe thisprocedure.) The well-known item duplication trick does not allowtransfer of funds. However, you can duplicate items and then sell themfor money. The first time Arc Arena is accessed, the most valuableitem in your inventory is probably the Gale Bandanna, obtained afterthe first story battle. Duplicating this item and selling them willallow reasonably quick cash flow. You must then purchase a lot ofcheap items, hundreds needed in total, and raise their levels to

maximum before selling them to create inventory space. To save onfunds, create a file for 2P and stock it with duplicated cheap weapons.Transfer them to your main file for 1P and raise the levels of these


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weapons to their max. Then load the 2P file to transfer moreunmodified weapons and repeat the cycle. Continue until the desiredoptions are unlocked, and SAVE your game to keep the developed smiths.

The options you want to open up are the "Increase Max Level" for thenovice smith and "Increase Off. /Def." For the master smith (There isan additional unlockable option for the master smith shop- Personalize,

but it is more of a bane than a boon. Items personalized can neitherbe transferred, unless equipped on a captured monster other thanPaundit, nor shared by other party members.) Once these two optionsare unlocked, which could cost a couple hours, you will be finally ableto develop items to their full extent.2. Development caps

For each item in the game, there are three characteristics listed underinformation. The current level, the maximum level, and the primaryparameter of the item (offense value for a weapon, defense value for anaccessory or a consumable item) shown as a fraction: current value /

value at max level. The effectiveness of the item is primarilygoverned by these three values. When the options in the smith shop areunlocked, each of these values can be increased for a fee, therebyincreasing the effectiveness of the item.

Development of an item, however, is often interrupted, as the itemwould be declared "maximum level reached." The message indicates thatthe item has been locked with at least one of the four developmentcaps. These four development caps limit item development and areinterconnected to each other in a particular pattern:a. Level cap- this cap occurs when the current item level equals themax item level. Further increase of item level is impossible.

Incurring this cap also results in the addition of the Max Level cap.

b. Max Level cap- further increase of the maximum level of an item isimpossible. This cap is imposed if current level equals max level, orif max level equals 15.

c. Max Off/Def cap- further increase of the maximum offense/defensevalue is impossible. For items with the description "Name + number",the cap occurs when the number equals 9. For items without a numberdescription, there is still a fixed value that is more difficult todetermine.

d. Random cap- this annoying cap occurs randomly during a smithoperation (either during "Increase Max Level" or during "Increase MaxOff/Def and disables both options.) This is the cap that will testyour patience.

In short, cap a results in cap b, and cap d results in both cap b andcap c.

The most logical sequence of item development (in Arc Arena) istherefore as follows:

a. Develop the Max Level of the target item. Check after eachoperation. If cap d is incurred, go back to Sania and LOAD the game,

if cap d is not incurred, go back to Sania and SAVE the game. Continueuntil the Max Level equals 14, and cap d is not in effect. That is,both "Increase Max Level" and "Increase Off/Def" are still available.


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Skip this step if the intended item already has its item level matchingits max item level.

b. Develop Max Off/Def to maximum, with cap c incurred. Check aftereach operation. If cap d is in effect, go back to Sania and LOAD yourgame. If cap d is not in effect, SAVE your game instead. Todistinguish cap c from cap d, check after the operation for both the

options to "Increase Max Level" and "Increase Off/Def." If the optionfor "Increase Max Level" is still available but the option for"Increase Off/Def" is not, the development cap incurred is cap c. Ifboth options are not available, the development cap is cap d. As foritems with cap a incurred (and therefore cap b also,) the only way totell if you have reached the maximum is to repeatedly try. If aparticular upgrade step results in a cap twenty times in a row, it isfairly certain that the maximum has been reached.

c. Continue finishing the development for "Increase Max Level" andmaximize the effectiveness of the item. It doesn't matter if cap d isincurred in this step.

d. For certain items, the option to "Increase Item Level" will alsoincrease a secondary parameter (i.e. Leveling up a Tanzanite may giveadditional status protection, leveling up a MagicIllusion Robe mayincrease its magic parameter bonus.) Perform the operation on thistype of items and make sure that the secondary parameter has alsoleveled up similarly. To view the value of the secondary parameter,choose to equip the item on a character with a blank slot and note thebonuses.

e. The entire procedure requires a large amount of Goz as well as timecommitment. Obviously you should only modify one copy of one item at atime and later duplicate it. Since there are a wide variety of items,

see the Optimal Equipment section for information on which ones tomodify.

The efforts for fully developing an item are well rewarded since mostitems will not grant parameter bonuses anywhere close to the maximumvalue when you first obtain them. Even the most powerful weapons suchas the Corpse Edge (Atk+77 / Increase Offense on level-up,) Red Shoes+9 (Atk+74 / Range+2,) or Fabulous Sword (Atk+71 / Inflicts Confusion,Sleep, Poison, Darkness, Silence) only provide a small fraction oftheir full power if left undeveloped. However, don't wait for powerfulweapons to appear before commencing development. During the openingscenes even though the weapons you can buy in Indigos right after Liezajoins are very weak, once fully developed they would serve you welluntil you acquire the Silver Noah.

II. Arena Battles

There are three types of battles in the Arc Arena. The team battlesfeature selecting characters in your party to battle arena teams usingAI. The tournament battle allows manual control of your characters,but the battle is a test of endurance with no opportunity to replenishinventory during the battle since enemies do not drop items at all andmonster capture is impossible. The 1P vs. 2P battle allows charactersfrom two different save files to compete against each other.

1. Team battles

There are two versions of the battles- the 3-team battle and the 5-team


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battle. The basic difference between the two is not the number ofteams, but the selection of characters. The three-team battles onlyallow captured monsters to participate, while the 5-team battle allowsanyone in your active roster to participate. Since the AI normallycontrols the actions of your team as well as the enemy team, there isno combat strategy involved. Rather, it is the type of characters andthe equipment and abilities equipped that determines the outcome (a la

FFVI coliseum.) Therefore, your goal is to assemble a team of monstersthat even a moron can use to win. However, once you have unlocked thehuman and summon monster characters, controlling your own characterbecomes possible (see Secrets section), which is a good thing considerthat the AI is not capable of using these characters, which aregenerally weaker but diverse in options.

The recommendations to the earliest capture monsters for the roles ofcombatants go to the Freezy monsters found in the White House Sewers.Simply catch a single Freezy and keep it in your roster. Once youprogress to the point where Lieza returns to Forles along with a fewsummon monsters, you will find the Power Fist equipped on one of them.

This weapon, when fully developed, gives an attack bonus of almost 50points. Simply equip this on your Freezy, enter the Arc Arena andduplicate the monster (until you have eleven.) For monsters lower thanlevel 40, these are some of the most effective monsters to use in theteam battles and will give you very high chances to win each fight inthe 3-team battle. However, if absolute domination is your goal, youmight want to hold off until you have a fully developed Meow Fang inyour possession.

The 5-team battle is trickier. Unless your human characters and summonmonsters are extremely powerful (the enemy team matches your ownlevels, so equip powerful weapons and accessories rather than levelingup,) they will probably not be effective under AI control. Choose the

first three teams to be Freezy armies (and Paundit) and hope to grabthree winning rounds first. With the Meow Fangs, the attacks of yourmonsters (either physical or breath attacks) will be quite deadly. Ifyou do not gain the three wins before your monster teams are exhausted,don't count on the human characters to save the day.

2. Tournament battles

In this configuration, you can select a number of teams. But only thefirst team will decide how far you go. By the time you get to yoursecond team you won't have anything in your inventory to support itsmembers. The characters are to be manually controlled and attempt tosurvive as many enemy parties as you can use only what you can carry.Notice that if you have used a character in the team battles earlier,you would need to change their controls back to manual during the pre-battle menu. The best prize is offered if you can defeat 50 enemyparties. The limited inventory is the least of your concerns. Sinceeach successive team surpasses the previous one by 4 to 5 levels, atlater battles, the enemies will be around 200 levels above your own.Your physical attacks won't even touch them! You can't even afford tomiss since there is a turn limit on each of the battles.

Due to the difficulty of winning 50 battles, the choice of yourstarting team is extremely important. You should place all your betson the very first team that you assemble and equip accordingly. The

best choices to pick for the first team are Arc, Elc, Gruga, andSania/Hemo-ji. Make sure that Arc, Elc, and Gruga have all learned L.3Invincible. This skill grants the user invincibility against physical


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attacks and magical attacks. (The only attack that penetrates theInvincible skill is the bombardment of the Graunoln, encountered in theGreyshinne Border after Sania joins.) Elc learns Invincibleautomatically, but Arc and Gruga can add the skill once their levelsare high enough, above 110 or so. Do not attempt this challenge ifyour levels are too high. (Pitting L.250 characters vs. a L.400 healerwith over 1500HP? All the battle turns in the world won't get you

anywhere.) Merely learning the Invincible skill is not enough, youmust also train them to L.3. Simply relying on counterattacks will notget you far; you must be able to actively attack to finish each battlewithin the turn limit of twenty. Instead of using magic skills, it isrecommended to also obtain L.3 Extract (which is not an option for Arc.Use another skill instead so pay attention to enemy elementalaffiliations) along with a fully developed powerful weapon, a RomancingStone (if you didn't convert ATL I data, or if the data doesn't containall four fragments, forget about taking this challenge), and a MegaRevival Dust+9 equipped for each of the three characters. As for thefourth character, you can either choose Sania for her Transfer ability(works even for characters under the effect of Invincible) or Hemo-ji

for its L.3 Chongara Bomb ability. Equip this character similarly asyou can't afford to run out of MP during battles.

For the arena selection, keep in mind that the enemies in later battleswill always move before you do. Therefore you want to choose a widearena without obstacles with your characters positioned as close toeach other as possible. This way, after their initial move, you willbe in range for the first act-L.3 Invincible. Follow suit for twoturns of L.3 Extract over as many enemies as you can position in theeffect range (for Arc, use the most damaging skill you have accordingto enemy element affiliations.) The fourth character either transfersturns to the character with the most damage potential (for Sania) orsimply use L.3 Chongara Bomb over and over while retreating to the back

corners of the arena (for Hemo-ji.)

Even with these tactics, sometimes, the enemy party will include ahealer (i.e. Gepettoh) who can heal damage and waste your turns. Thebest courses of action are 1) to damage the healer moderately, whileseverely damage another character not too close to the healer. Thehealer will be drawn to heal the severely damaged monster. This isyour cue to finish the healer within the turn once and for all, or 2)cast Arc's Magic Shield on the healer and deplete its HP before MagicShield wears off.

Once you rack up 50 consecutive wins, simply allow your teams to bewiped out to exit the tournament. Be warned that each of yourcharacters in the first team will probably have gathered 50 levels orso, making them extremely unbalanced in normal game play. So you mightwant to save this on a separate file and transfer the prizes to yourearlier save instead to avoid the imbalance.

3. 1P vs. 2P

This battle mode allows you to pit characters in a save file againstthose from another save file. The choice of characters is rounded downto the more inexperienced side. If both files have human charactersand summoned monsters enabled, then the match will allow selection forany character. If at least one of the two files does not have that

option enabled due to failure to complete the three-team battles, thencharacter selection of both sides will be restricted to capturedmonsters only. The battle allows wager of an item, a monster, or


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nothing but pride itself before a match.The hidden feature of this battle mode, however, is the ability tocontrol both parties at the same side. This allows the discovery ofmany hidden secrets (i.e. magic defense is determined by the base valueof Mag. Ability only, because equipping Sania with a Magic Card and twoFabulous Rings do not reduce magic damage received.) Although your

characters can't technically die, any action performed in the Arc Arenawill not count towards the magic experience of the characters. Nomatter how many times you attack with or receive effects of magicskills, you won't be gaining any progress towards leveling up existingskills or learning new ones.

4. Arena Prizes

Tempting as it may be to take everything in the warehouse, you onlyhave a limited space to stash away any items or monsters you have won.The combine list in Section I include ingredients unlocked as prizes(Look up Billy Lee's Walkthrough/FAQ if you are interested in the full

list of item and monster prizes.) Frankly, the majority of the itemprizes are not worth a slot in your limited inventory space. The mainreason for completing the 3-team and 5-team battles is to acquire thepowerful Mega Revival Dust+9. Of course, once you finish these twochallenges there is no reason to keep that army of Freezys. IncludingPaundit, you only have space for twelve monsters. So which ones shouldyou keep?

Since you're getting rid of your Freezys, there is no reason to keepany monsters that are worse off. You can complete the game with levelsin the low 80s, without getting any HP bonuses or using the parameterenhancing items, even if you've converted data with all ATL Icharacters at level 60. Hence there is no reason to acquire monsters

with levels higher than that. Remember that monsters cannot equipaccessories, so the choice of weapons and MP capacity must besufficient to ensure usefulness. Finally, the abilities of the monstershould match the parameters and be useful right off the bat. (Monsterswith skills depending on their magic ability need to have high Magicparameter and high MP. Monsters using mainly physical attacks needsufficient Defense and Agility parameters.)

The top three monsters recommended are:

1. Chimera, L.68, HP 234, MP 121, Atk 50, Def 40, Mag 15

This is a flying monster with the Cure spell and the immobilizingMesmerize Breath. Once you equip it with a fully developed Meow Fang,the power of both of these skills will quadruple in power. Inaddition, it has solid attack and defensive parameters as well asmaximum reaction abilities to withstand enemy strikes. The variousaddable elemental breaths are useful to take advantage of the enemyelemental association. Even bosses can be taken care of with just afew breath attacks. If you run out of MP, simply fight a couplebattles physically with the Styx equipped.

2. Arch Knight, L. 76, HP 276, MP 163, Atk 43, Def 40, Mag 20

A physical oriented monster capable of equipping a Sword. The short

range is not really a disadvantage since it can use the Invincibleskill. By equipping a powerful sword, it can charge a couple times insafety, move into range and avoid damage by invoking Invincible, and


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release the power on a boss to take it out in a single strike. Thevarious immobilization skills are useful against regular enemies.

3. Arch Gargoyle, L. 60, HP 272, MP 162, Atk 35, Def 33, Mag 17

A flying monster capable of using spears, an indirect weapon type. ItsHP levels are easily on par with monsters 20 levels higher. If you

have converted ATL I data, this monster will not cause a levelimbalance at all. In battlefields with out-of-the-way chests, thismonster will be more than capable of retrieving them while dispatchingenemies en route. Its usefulness increases, as more of its innateskills are unlocked.

Changing the classes of monsters is not just a superficial distinction.It also affects which skills the monster will acquire after gainingsufficient magic experience. So you will get different skill setsdepending on whether you kept the monster in its original class orchanged to a different class.

III. In Game Rare Items

In Arc II, the best items in the game are not necessarily purchased orfound in chests. Items with the highest potential for development areoften dropped or stolen from monsters. Since there are well over 300monster types and many of these treasures are rare drops, acquiringsome of these treasures could take a considerable amount of effort.

To maximize the chances of acquiring them, the first thing to do is toacquire the two accessories that have the description of increasingmonster drop rate- the Unicorn Horn and the Shell. Take heed thatalthough the description of the two items are identical, I suspect thatthey actually serve different purposes. Characters with both

accessories equipped are far more likely to cause a rare drop upon akill than characters equipping two copies of the same accessory. Thesources of these two accessories are a) in-game Chongara's Shop if youhave imported converted data, or in the Forbidden Ruins if you haven'tor b) the Seum exchange in the Clenia and Misro Arenas. The listingprice of the Unicorn Horn is 9000 Seum while the Shell will set youback 8200 Seum. Instead of accumulating the total of 17200 Seum,simply save a game with 9000 Seum, exchange for one item and save thegame in a second file and transfer the item in Arc Arena. Load thegame with 9000 Seum and exchange for the other item and transfer itagain. This way, you can obtain both items without losing any Seumcollected.

Since there are only two slots for accessories per character (excludingcaptured monsters, who do not have accessory slots, and Diekbeck, whocannot equip any accessory other than Power Units) equipping bothaccessories will necessarily take up both slots, leaving the charactervulnerable to status attacks, among other things. To partiallycompensate for this, it is useful to fully develop these twoaccessories, as they will each grant 30 points of defense rather than 7if left undeveloped, before duplicating them for your active party. Arare drop is more likely to happen by a character equipping both theUnicorn Horn and Shell destroying a monster. Physical attacks seem togive a higher drop rate than area effect magic skills.

The following chart is a partial list of rare item drops. Instead ofjust listing the monsters to kill for the drop, the locations are alsonoted. It is important to remember that the same enemies appearing in


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different locations drop different items. Skeletons in Ruin Town dropdifferent items than those in Yagos S.R. or those in White HouseSewers. Items stolen from a monster are marked with (S) preceding themonster name. Bounty monsters are not listed with their locations (seethe section on Wanted Monsters for information on that.) Notice thatsome areas listed, such as the White House Sewers and the RomaliaChimera Lab, are scenario dungeons accessible before the two

accessories can be acquired. In order to spelunk in these dungeons,you must transfer the accessories (and perhaps a few good weapons andcaptured monsters) to an earlier save file so you can retry the dungeonwith these accessories equipped.

Item Added Effects Location (monster example)

[List of Weapons]

Ancient Spear(1) Paralysis Lost Forest (Red Skeleton, Trent)

Andel Claim Mag. Down (S) Gualde

Backus Sword(2) Off. & Def. Down The Heap (Rabid Bat)

Bear Flail Cause critical hits Training Rock (Wild Hemo-ji)

Change Staff Fels Highland (Grim Stalker)

Claymore (Add: Def. Down Belzack Magic Defense Wpn restore HP)

Corpse Edge(3) Incr Off on Level-up Holn-Lieza's House(Death Druid)

Crusty Pads Golgon

Damocles Blade Incr MP on Level-up Nien Forest (Dark Hemo-ji)

Dark Blade On atk, take dmg Southern Tower (Blue Phantom)

Dark Smasher Rng. Down Alatos S.R. (Killer Wolf)

Dark Stream Dabano Belladonna

Death Crimson Sleep (Poison, Clenia Vacant House Silence, Confuse, (Arch Knight) Darkness gained as Item levels up)

Dragon Claw Gia

Drowned Ax GravisEarthLong Sword Earth weak Gallarno's House (Necromancer, Blood Fiend) Yagos S.R. (Vampire Bat, Skeleton)

Earth Slicer F.R. B53 (Iron Golem) F.R. B67 (Sword Eater)


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Elven Boots Incr Movement Romalian Tunnel (Mud Battler, Earth Devil)

Fate Sword On atk, take dmg (S) Grovis

FlameGrizzle Fang Anan Flats, Noyam Plain, Rutar

Plain (Death Wizard, Soul Knight)

FlameKnife (Add: Sleep, Banza Mountain (Mud Goblin) Magic Defense)

FlameSnake Whip Azenda Highland (Poison Ivy)

FlameWonder Card Dalcios

Gale Edge Zanag Plains (Sphinx)

Gladius (Add: Sleep Ruin Town (Skeleton, Magic Defense) Soul Flame)

Gold Beak Water Shrine (Dark Paladin, Iron Golem) Past Water Shrine (Golem Master)

Golden Dragon Incr Def. Ability Castle Ruins (Dark Wraith, Soul Flame, Shako) Past Castle Ruins (Black Knight)

GroundKnife (Add: Sleep (S) Shamus Magic Defense)

GroundWonder Card Temple Square (Master Mummy)

Hyper Stick Brakia S.R. (SA-200, PA-200)

Ice Saber Holn-bridge (Barbarian)

IceSnake Whip Holn Chimera Lab(Great Dragon)

Instant(4) Incr Off on Level-Up F.R. B2 (Rabid Dog) F.R. B19, B24 (Dark Fang) F.R. B21 (Hydra) F.R. B26 (Death Devil) F.R. B28 (Black Dragon)

Iron Beak Past Saryu Tribe Ruins (Dwarf)

Izuna Steal MP Houfion II (SA-100)

Kaiser Knuckle Incr Magic Defense Quina Hill (Death Hound, Dragon Zombie)

Light Pole Romalia Battleship (Demi Monk)

The last battle before the Hanger, where five soldiers transform into monsters and


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attack. The drop rate is low so save right before this battle and you can try it over and over. It may take a dozen tries even with the Unicorn Horn and Shell equipped.

Mad Builder Darkness (S) Garop

Meow Fang(5) Incr Magic Ability Mt. Amaidar, Past Mt. Amaidar (Red Phantom) Past Touvil (Kobold, Super Hemo-ji, Wolf Zombie) Misro (Dark Wizard)

Meow Shoes(6) Increase Agility Pyramid Entrance (Flesh Golem)

Meow Sword(7) Increase Defense (S) Tianus

Metal Balls Ruvag Woods, Razen Pond (Slime Bomber) Nicarus Forest (Werejackal)

Metal Pads Shvaidel

Miranda Ragi

Mystic Knife Incr Magic Ability Madeta Hill (Poison Cloud, Earth Giant)

Neutrino Blade Incr flying mons dmg Yagos S.R. (Mummy, Vampire Bat)

Paralyzer Paralysis (S) SA-200SP

Pity (S) Kish

Scale Legs Darkness Menan

Scale Wand (4) Raiden Ruins (Berserker) Salyan Desert (King Lizard, Acid Cloud)

Scimtar Ruin Town (Robber, Fighter)

Scorpion Boosee

Silk Belt Incr Exp Pts received Gia Temple Attic (Mage Smog)

Sixteenth Night Greyshinne S.R. (Living Armor, Ghost)

Strong Spear Off. Down Palencia Tower I (Medusa Lizard)

Styx Steal MP Queger

Tri-Shot Houfion (Jackal, Werejackal)

Whirlwind Edge Incr Movement Bishamon


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Wind Knife (Add: Sleep Salba Desert (Robber) Magic Defense)

Wing Spear Kiba

[List of Accessories]

Blue Jewelry (9) Blue Phantom (Southern Tower) (S) Blue Phantom (Past Mt. Amaidar)

BlackRobe White House Sewers (Skeleton)

Chain Guard (9) Lich (F.R. B49) (S) Lich (F.R. B49)

EarthRobe Gia Temple (Demi-Zombie)

Green Jewelry (9) Golden Slime (F.R. B69) (S) Golden Slime (F.R. B69)

Magic Guard(8) Incr Magic Defense Romalia Chimera Lab(Ghoulgoyle)

Melody Cap(6) Increase Agility Romalia Chimera Lab(Ghoulgoyle)

Moon Stone Random positive stat Zariban S.R. (Mummy Lord, Mutant Fly)Red Jewelry (9) Red Phantom (Oil Rig, Past Mt. Amaidar) (S) Red Phantom (Oil Rig, Past

Mt. Amaidar)

Senior's Wish Increase Defense Zanack

Slayer Heavy Suit(4,9)(Add: Dodge, Frost Giant (Northern Tower, Magic Ability F.R. B59) Magic Defense) (S) Frost Giant (Northern Tower, F.R. B58) (S) Golgon

1. This is not the same Ancient Spear with the Poison attribute, whichcan be found in a treasure chest.

2. The Backus Sword comes already personalized by Tosh, thereforecannot be transferred between players.

3. Although both the Corpse Edge and the Instant are described toincrease offense on level-up, the Corpse Edge is twice as effective.Tosh with neither equipped gains 9 points in 15 levels. With theInstant equipped, he gains 12 points in 15 levels. With the CorpseEdge equipped, he gains 15 points in 15 levels. Fractional bonuses doapply here.

4. The Instant can be found in the Oil Rig, and you can eventuallypurchase the Scale Wand and the Slayer Heavy Suit. But since the

Instant has a high development potential and offense bonus, the ScaleWand is useful to combine, and the Slayer Heavy Suit can be modified toincrease Dodge or Magic Defense, it is worth the efforts to get them as


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soon as possible.

5. Some items such as Meow Fang, Meow Sword, MagicIllusion Robe providesecondary bonuses that increase as the item levels up. The tricky partis that the bonus increment could be a range of fractions so it isimportant to take the effort to fully develop these weapons. Mypersonal record for a fully developed Meow Fang is Atk+38, Mag+46. Any

monster equipped with this weapon will have a killer breath attack,often reaching three to four times the normal power.

6. Meow Shoes increase Agi by 20. Melody Cap increases Agi by 10.Although equipping a Meow Shoes and two Melody Caps theoreticallyincreases the Agi of a character by 40, the maximum agility for anycharacter (base Agi + bonus Agi) is 51 as dictated by the game.

7. My personal record for Meow Sword is Atk+27, Def+32. This is not avery useful weapon. If you have a captured monster capable of using asword and in dire need of extra Defense, however, feel free to use it.I wouldn't recommend using a physically inclined monster with weak

Defense parameters at all, though. If you want to protect a monster,either use L.1 Invincible or equip a powerful weapon and kill anynearby enemies before they become trouble.

8. This Magic Guard is a type of shoulder protector, not the sword withthe same name found in a treasure chest.

9. Although most of the items dropped are considered floor items, whichare the rare drops of a unique item common to all enemies appearing inthe same map floor. Some items, such as Red Jewelry, Slayer HeavySuit, and various medicine, may be monster specific as they are droppedby, and often stolen from, the same monster types throughout the game.They sometimes take priority over the floor item of the area (i.e. Red

Phantoms in Past Mt. Amaidar drop both the Red Jewelry and the MeowFang, with a much higher rate for the former one), and that no othermonster in the same floor drop these items (i.e. Red Jewelry is droppedby only Red Phantoms and Blue Jewelry is dropped by only Blue Phantoms,even though both types appear in Past Mt. Amaidar.) Medicine thatcounteracts a particular status ailment is usually dropped by an enemythat can inflict such a status. (i.e. Killer Wolf in Alatos S.R. candrop Rue's Medicine.)

IV. Character Development, Deployment, and Optimal Equipment

1. Development

The development of characters does not simply mean the process oflevel-up. Rather, the development of skills is the most importantaspect of character development. The skills of each character alsogains experience by using and receiving magic skills. Although themagic experience can be gained from using Full Power Fruits, Rubies, orthe Yellow Ribbon, the increase is very small and by the time allskills of a character is unlocked, the character will be a hundredlevels above the rest.

A discrepancy in levels among characters in an active team places aserious threat on the weaker characters. Anyone who has converted theATL I data with the original characters maxed out at level 60 will

learn it the hard way. During the scene where your charactersinfiltrate the Romalia Chimera Lab, the prospect of having a level 60Gogen and a level 40 Lieza with captured monsters of even lower levels


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facing off a level 60 Fake Tosh, or having to fight off six copies ofFake Tosh with weak characters is a very dangerous situation. (Thereare no save points in that facility! Once you lose a character or twothe fight is pretty much over.)

To develop the skills of a character fully without having to level up,arrange a party of five and enter the Yagos S.R. (any place in game

with undead enemies is OK. But the low levels of threat of enemyattacks, proximity to a Skyport and the nearby village with freerecovery spot make it the best place to do. Notice that I said ingame. Battles waged in the Arc Arena do not allow accumulation ofmagic experience.) At the first battle, arrange the formation of yourfive party members in a cross formation and simply cast support magic,such as Ground Shield or Cure, over all five characters over and over.The undead enemies may attack and be countered. But since they cannotattack under the HP1 status, the battle does not end unless you takethe initiative to attack. It may also be wise to keep Light alignedcharacters or characters equipping weapons with Light alignment awayfrom the undead (preferably at the center of the cross formation) as

their physical attacks bypass the HP1 condition. With the exception ofOdon, all characters have eight innate skills and six addable ones.Some of the later innate skills, such as Iga's Cure spell or Elc'sInvincible skill, are extremely important to learn. As for monsters,the skill set a monster acquires depends on its class at the time ofacquiring a skill after collecting enough magic experience. Trainingthe same monster in different classes will get you different sets ofskills (until all skill slots are filled.)

2. Deployment

All characters are not equal. This is especially important to rememberin dungeons where a party of up to five characters is chosen at the

entrance. If a character in the active party is not suited to handlethe enemies and/or the topography of the battlefields in the dungeon,he will become a liability during battle. The game manual, and thestrategy guide for that matter, does not describe the parametersclearly, so I will attempt to remedy this.

Offense: This is the parameter that determines the basic physicalattack power (base+bonus) as well as any physical skills, such asExtract. Actual damage is affected by target Defense, elementalassociations, critical hit, and blocking by the target.

Defense: This is the parameter that determines the reduction ofphysical damage (either from direct attacks or physical skills)received (base+bonus.)

Magic Ability: This parameter determines not only the basic magicattack power, but also the basic magic defense. The most strikingdifference between the two traits is that the magic attack power isdetermined by base+bonus, but magic defense is determined by the basevalue only. Equipping weapons and accessories with the description of"Increase Magic Defense", however, can reduce magic damage received.The percentage of reduction is additive with a maximum of 62.5%reduction (i.e. cutting the damage received to just over one-third.)Take Diekbeck for an example, equipping Power Units with higher numberswill increase its magic attack power. But there is nothing you can do

to augment its abysmal magic defense (except by casting Invincible orMagic Shield.) Notice that magic attacks also include the variousbreath attacks.


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Agility: This parameter also determines two different traits. Withina given battle turn, the order of commands for both allies and enemiesis determined by base+bonus (maximum 51) for every participant in thatbattle. However, the response of a character (accuracy and dodgingabilities) is determined by the base value only. Equipment with thedescription of "Increase Dodge Ability" can be equipped to augment this

trait. Again using Diekbeck as an example, as the story progresses itwill be increasingly difficult for Diekbeck to actually land asuccessful physical attack on its target. This will become painfullyobvious in a certain sequence where Diekbeck becomes the only characteravailable in battle.Since almost every story character is unique (except for Fujin /Raijin, and captured monsters) consider grouping characters intoseveral categories for easier decisions:a. Healers: Arc, Poco, Iga (after learning Cure,) Lieza, Shante,Diekbeck (after acquiring Power Unit 19,) Kelack.

b. Direct Physical Attackers: Tosh, Choko (regular form.)

c. Indirect Physical Attackers: Arc, Iga, Elc, Shu, Gruga.

d. Offensive Mages: Gogen, Sania, Fujin, Raijin, Choko (Akura form.)

e. Resistant to magic: Elc (after learning L.2 or L.3 Invincible,)Fujin, Raijin, Choko (Akura form.)

f. Weak against magic: Tosh, Shu, Gruga, Diekbeck.

g. Immobilizing: Tosh (paralysis vs. 1,) Gogen (sleep vs. area,) Lieza

(added skill,) Sania (added skill,) Fujin (added skill,) Raijin (addedskill.)

h. Specialized skills: Arc (recovers both HP and conditions,) Gogen(teleportation,) Lieza (capture monsters,) Shu (stealing,) Sania(sacrifice her turn to allow another party member to take an extraturn,) Diekbeck (can change abilities between battles,) Hemo-ji (fullscreen attack. The Chongara Bomb ability is so ludicrous that it isthe only outlawed skill in the Clenia and Misro Arena matches,) Odon(change form, including assumption of a flying movement type,) capturedmonsters (various reasons- flying movement, HP1 protection, peculiarskill combinations, to name a few.)

The trick to clearing dungeons without having to expend extra effortsto level-up is to assign appropriate characters for the job at hand.For example, during the assault on Graunoln, remember to assign healersand physical attackers in both parties. In dungeons with powerfulmages (i.e. Warlocks in Alatos S.R. and Arch Mages in Romalia InnerCity,) include characters resistant to magic and avoid those who areweak against it. In dungeons littered with obstacles or gaping holes,remember to assign flying characters.3. Optimal Equipment

The key to winning wave after wave of enemy onslaught is to minimize

enemy character's moves and maximize that of your own. Therefore thechoice of weapons should favor heavily on weapons allow for indirectattacks which prevents enemy counterattacks along with the added


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effects for causing immobilization to further reduce the number oftheir regular turns. In ATL II, the bosses are not immune toimmobilizing status such as paralysis. Taking advantage of theseeffects will make for less hassle since most bosses have devastatingattacks. Counterattacking is only possible if the attacker is directlyadjacent to the target. For example, if both the attacker and thetarget are equipping spears, counterattack is possible if the attack is

made on a square adjacent to that occupied by the target, but not ifthe attacker is one square away from that the target is on even thoughthe attacker is still within range of the target's weapon strike. Ofcourse, not every character can use indirect weapons. For thesecharacters, it would be best that even though they must equip directattack weapons, the immobilizing effect can sometimes cancel theenemy's counterattack.

Indirect Weapons:

The weapon types that allow indirect physical attacks are listed below.O denotes the position of the attacker; X denotes squares being

targeted when the attacker aims towards the top of the screen.

Type 1: X Attacks enemies from one square away horizontally or X vertically without risking a counterattack. O

Spear, Short Sword, Gun2, Diek's Gun, Card

Type 2: XXX Attacks enemies from a corner. Can attack two O enemies at once if they are separated from each other by one square without risking a counterattack. Highly effective against enemies attacking an ally from opposite sides.

Stick

Type 3: XXX Attacks enemies from even further away. Highly X effective against enemies lined up in a single file O or enemies surrounding an ally on three sides.

Gun

Immobilizing Weapons:

Name Immobilizing Effect Type Power

Paralyzer Paralyze Gun Lv15, Atk38Ancient Spear Paralyze Spear Lv15, Atk41Shadow Stitch Paralyze Short Sword (appears too late to be useful)Death Crimson Sleep (+ Confuse) Gun Lv15, Atk38(Elemental) Knife Sleep Short Sword For ShineKnife, Lv15, Atk44Fabulous Sword Sleep (+ Confuse) Sword Lv15, Atk71Stone Boots Stone Kick (no potential for development)

The Diek's Gun and Stick type weapons do not have a variety that

feature immobilization properties. Note that although the Power Unitsare accessories equipped only by Diekbeck, these items are notpersonalized so transfer between two players in Arc Arena is possible.


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V. Wanted Monsters Locations and Treasures

In ATL II, wanted posters are found in Hunter Guilds across the world.Aside from duplicating items of high resale values and sell the copies,completing bounties is the quickest way to amass a sizable wealth.However, most of the posters do not contain adequate information on thewhereabouts of the monsters and absolutely no information on the items

these monsters cough up. This section lists all items stolen from ordropped by the wanted monsters, many of which unique treasures, as wellas the location of appearance. They are listed in alphabetical orderwith respect of the town with its wanted poster.

Monster Stolen Drop Location

(Ajarl)

Dalcios Recover Fruit FlameWonder Card Razen Pond

Gorgas Cheer Nettle (none) Nicarus Forest

Kish Pity (none) Nien Forest third battle

Grovis Fate Sword (none) Oil Rig blocked room near the top entrance. It is unblocked during the evacuation sequence

(Elzark)

Maios Bitter Leaf (none) Zariban S.R. third level

Tasman Recover Fruit (none) Ishima Rocks

Shvaidel Antidote Nut Metal Pads Salyan Desert

Zanack Cheer Nettle Senior's Wish Raiden Ruins. [Stop the Desert Thieves II]

(Gooz)

Garop Mad Builder Earth Charm Banza Mtns. first side area

Gigas Recover Fruit (none) Banza Mtns. fourth area in the main section

Dabano Magic Apple Dark Stream Banza Mtns. first area in the main section

Dreyper Recover Fruit (none) Banza Mtns. first

area beyond the room to clear the tracks


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(Houfion)

Gravis Bomb Drowned Ax The Heap. After the Romalia Chimera Lab is destroyed

SA-200SP Paralyzer Rage Weaken Dust Houfion Resistance. After the soldiers followed Danny.

Jackal Herb Tri-Shot Houfion. [Slay the Nocturnal Monsters]

Dorarosh Tem's Grass Nuru-nuru Clenia Isle Vacant House.

After acquiring the Silver Noah

(Indigos)

Aju Power Jelly (none) Sewer

Shamus GroundKnife (none) Sewer. After defeating the fake Gallarno.

Slasher (Shu unavailable) (none) Gallarno's House Main Auditorium

Hoysler Nuru-nuru Nuru-nuru Salba Desert third area. After discovering White House

Docsun (1) Jump Nettle (jewelry)(2) Indigos [Indigos Ruby Paralysis Apple Jewelry Robbery]

Arc (can't fight him) (can't fight him) (can't fight him)

(Misro)

Gigmunt Full Power Fruit (none) Misro Arena. Talk to the person in front of the left statue ten times.

Tosh Bomb (none) The Heap. During Shu and Tosh's duel.

Negdus (none) (none) Misro Arena. [Monster in the

Arena] The real Negdus is not in the first set.


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It has a black EXP bar rather than a red one.

Queger Herb Styx F.R. first level

(Morea)

Dolgon Bronze Guard (none) Madeta Hill

Golgon Slayer Heavy Suit Crusty Pads Madeta Hill

Belladonna Cheer Nettle Dark Stream Amigue S.R. second level

Darry Recover Fruit Nettle Amigue S.R. fourth level

(Muhad)

Darius Bitter Leaf (none) Kanara Desert

Gualde Andel Claim (none) Tukae Cave

Guadiras Cure-All Mint Balbalard S.R. second level

(Palencia)

Ragi Spirit Seed Miranda Raus Plain

Kiba Herb Wing Spear Quina Hill.

After acquiring the Silver Noah

Shako (none) Golden Dragon or Castle Ruins. Green Mem Grass After acquiring the Silver Noah

Diros (Shu unavailable) (none) Castle Ruins Basement Lab

Gia Cure-All Dragon Claw Raus Plain

(Paysus)

Kido Herb (none) Anan Flats

Bishamon Cheer Nettle Whirlwind Edge Rutar Plain

Flame Brothers Magic Apple Magic Apple or Mt. Amaidar Strengthen Fruit [Monsters in Amaidar]

Hell Spawn Magic Apple (Jewelry)(2) Anan Flats. [Play Cupid]

(Prodias)

Golza Jump Nettle (none) Ruin Town


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Abandoned House

Leland Cheer Nettle (none) Ruin Town streets. After returning from Yagos Isle

Boosee Power Jelly Scorpion Wastelands. After defeating fake Gallarno

Balzack Spirit Seed Claymore Lost Forest. After discovering White House, go back and choose "Who are you?"

Menan Tem's Grass Scale Legs Yagos Isle S.R. second level.

After defeating the fake Gallarno

Tianus Meow Sword (sword)(2) Gallarno's House/ Vacant House first door on the right wing

(Ramul)

Jad (Shu unavailable) Cheer Nettle Holn. After Gogen joins before reaching

the village

Balguli Recover Fruit (none) Fels Highland

Dillinger Herb (none) Calmio Hill

Gaucrow Neba-neba Speed Bottle Azenda Highland

(1) Items stolen and won from Docsun depends on whether he steals thejewel before you steal from him. If you let him take the jewel fromits display stand first, you can steal a Ruby from Docsun. It's one ofthe first level-up items you can get in the game.

(2) The jewelry and the sword are nameless when received. Using thenameless jewel on a character add 0 levels and resets all experiencegained towards the next level. The nameless sword may not even stay inyour inventory. These are most likely dummy items not removed from thegame.

VI. Secrets

1. Combine Shop Credits

This is a glitch in Arc Arena that gives credit for items yet to beacquired. Load a file for Player 2 and go to the Smith Shop to

Combine. Browse through the combine list and you will discover thatcertain ingredients are highlighted even if you do not have one in yourinventory, thus allowing you to combine as long as the other


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ingredients are in your inventory.

2. Bypassing HP 1 Protection

The undead monsters in the game are protected by the HP 1 condition.This condition allows the monster to survive a normally fatal attackwith 1 HP left. To bypass this condition, either a) attack physically

using a Light aligned character equipped with any weapon (i.e. Gruga orKelack,) b) attack physically using a character equipped with a Lightaligned weapon (i.e. Fabulous Sword, ShineKnife, etc.,) or c) attackusing a skill with Light attribute (i.e. Divine Judgment or HolyBreath, etc.)

3. Immobilizing Bosses

The bosses in ATL II, even major ones such as Andel, are not immune tostatus ailments like paralysis. Therefore it is to your advantage toequip immobilizing weapons and use immobilizing skills to reduce thenumber of their turns. Many of the latter bosses have dangerous skills

such as L.3 Death, which can be completely protected only by skillslike Invincible or Magic Shield. Using such protective skills,however, pose a significant risk since the affected character cannot behealed by magic. Reducing the bosses' turns give them less opportunityto attack with such skills. As for stealing, I had no luck with any ofthem so don't waste your time and prolong the battle for that purpose.

4. Secret Shops

There are a number of secret shops in ATL II that requires certainconditions to be met before the shop opens.

Prodias: The shop in the second floor in the Smith Shop opens once the

job "Exterminate the Weapons Thief" is completed. Simply go throughthe back door of the smith shop and go up the stairs. Turn left at thetop of the steel ladder to enter.

Palencia: The park shop opens only at one point in the entire game.After Elc awakens in the Sabatico Shrine, a certain sequence will havehim traveling with Poco to the basement lab in the Castle Ruins. OncePoco gives you the Leaf Bead, use it to return to Sabatico Shrine.Talk to Kukuru and choose to return to Palencia and she will give youanother Leaf Bead. Once you return to Palencia, do not exit town anddo not enter any buildings. Head directly to the park shop and youwill find it open.

So you have missed that opportunity already... If you really wantanother Illusion Robe, complete the job "Find the Ancient Treasure II"and return to the old man in the bar who gave you the job. He willoffer you Illusion Robe+0 in exchange for 1000 Goz.

Silver Noah: After crashing into the Romalia Sky Castle, you canreturn to the Silver Noah anytime to recover without having enemiescleared to re-spawn (except for certain trap rooms.) The second floorof the Silver Noah offers the Combine Shop, both Smith Shops, MotherClaire (assuming you found her in the game,) and Diekbeck's experiencedividing machine in addition to the Shop selling new items.

5. Diekbeck's Test

The special job "Return the Sea Dragon's Egg" is offered in Ajarl only


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after the guild member notifies you in the Indigos guild backroom. Toenter this room, you must retrieve the God Hunter Crest from theProdias guild backroom once you have satisfied the merit requirement.Since the crest is neither usable nor can be equipped, only retrievethe crest after defeating Andel and before you enter Romalia SkyCastle, during the window of opportunity for the job. Once you takethe job, you may safely discard the crest, as it no longer serves any

purpose.

Go to Yagos Isle to have the good doctor repair the submarine you gotfrom the Oil Rig. When he tells you to return later, simply exits tothe world map and reenters Yagos Isle. You may then board thesubmarine and search the ocean. During the search keep diving and ifenemy subs approaches, prepare for battle and choose to evade theirattacks. Keep diving until the shrine is located while disregardingthe pressure alarm and choose to enter the Shrine. Enemies in theShrine will demand that you hand over the egg. Listen to their reasonand refuse each time they ask. Be aware that the high level slimes canuse status altering breath attacks and the fearsome Death skill. But

overall these are not difficult battles. The real challenge, however,starts once you complete the job. The first requirement is to obtainPower Units 00-18 (you don't have to keep all of them, but they must beremoved from the Sealed Ruins.) Be prepared to reserve a dozeninventory spaces for Magic Apples (and perhaps another few forStrengthen Fruits.) Return to East Shrine via the submarine andinclude Diekbeck in your party. Inspect the door on the left andchoose to accept the test as Diekbeck (it must appear as your mapmodel. Cycle through your characters until it appears.) In the firstfew battles, keep Diekbeck in the back to conserve HP and MP and defeatthe enemies with your other party members because there are threebattles Diekbeck must complete on its own. Once you get to those threebattles, there are basically two strategies to choose. If you decide

to rely on L.1 Invincible (make sure you have the correct Power Unitequipped,) you will discover that it is very difficult for Diekbeck toactually land a blow. So you may end up wasting a lot of turns keepingup the Invincible skill. If you decide to use Diekbeck as an offensivemage, the enemies will be quickly dispatched but you may find yourselfout of MP halfway through the test. Either way, put the Magic Applesto use when you need an MP boost and recover with Strengthen Fruits ifyour HP runs low. After you reach the Guardian's Force, prepare forthe battle against Judgment, which is an easy battle as long as youdon't position your characters in a straight line. This battle mustinclude both Arc and Elc, but Diekbeck cannot participate. OnceJudgment is defeated, Diekbeck will receive Power Unit 19, whichinvokes recovery spells and the highest bonus of any Power Unit.

6. Choko's Transformation

Once you complete all of Choko's side quests (described in detail inBilly Lee's FAQs) and defeat Akura in the lowest level of the ForbiddenRuins, Choko can access the Stimulant skill and transforms into Akuraform. There are a few interesting differences between the two forms.Aside from the obvious skill set difference (The Akura form cannot useany of Choko's normal skills and must rely on Vanish and the skillsadded from Mother Claire,) the less obvious differences include thatthe equipment Choko can equip in the two forms are different (i.e.Frey's Headdress can not be equipped in Akura form, but if you have it

equipped before the transformation, it will still be equipped althoughthe name of the item will gray out. Personalizing an item for Choko,however, will allow either form to equip.) Parameter wise, the Akura


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form features an increase in Magic Ability in exchange for reducedOffense and Defense, which will prove useful against enemies with highmagic power. Also, despite the appearance, Choko's Akura form is not aflying character, and therefore cannot fly over open spaces or land onobstacles. It is interesting to know that all flying characters in thegame have a Jump value of zero (even for Odon after using Transfer.)

7. Leaf Bead Crash

This is another Arc Arena glitch, only not as useful as the previousone (at least I haven't found a use for it.) After acquiring theSilver Noah, return to Seirya and obtain the Leaf Bead from Kukuru togo to Palencia. Make a save file in the Inn and load this file in theArc Arena. If you have developed the smith shop to unlock "Add ItemEffect" you can select the Leaf Bead. The effect to add is "Warp toTouvil." Adding this effect will allow you to use the Leaf Bead fromthe menu in Arc Arena. However, the game will crash, presumablybecause there is no data of Touvil in Arc Arena.

8. Gogen's Leap

As a human character, Gogen is one of the more versatile mages in thegame as he can wield spells from the four elements as well as putenemies to sleep. Unfortunately, there's a handicap associated withhim-His Jump level will not improve no matter how many levels he gain.To remedy this, make sure to duplicate Romancing Stone 1 and equip iton Gogen before you combine it with the other fragments. He is now atJump level 2. Combining this increase in jump ability and his L.3Teleport skill will allow him to cover an incredible distance duringeach turn, even on battlefields littered with obstacles. If you didn'tconvert the data from ATL I, or if you missed it, its too bad.Although equipping the Temporary Shoes sets his Jump level to 1, it is

too shabby a weapon to prove its worth.

9. Team Battle Character Control

Normally in Arc Arena, the 3-Team Battles and the 5-Team Battles areexclusively AI controlled. Once you unlock the human and summonmonster characters but clearing all of the 3-Team Battles, you canregain control of the human and summon characters. If the teamcurrently fighting, in either 3-Team or 5-Team Battle, includes one ormore of these characters, simply wait until the AI has started to movethe character (movement range appears on the map) but BEFORE an actionhas be chosen (target range appears on the map) by pressing start andselect at the same time. If successful, a colored square will appeararound the character and you have regained control of this characterfor the rest of the battle. Repeat this for each human/summon monstercharacters in your team. Captured monsters, however, cannot becontrolled in this fashion.

10. Secret Floors in Palencia Tower

During the second visit to Palencia Tower, in order to access theelevator to the top of the tower, a switch in floor 38 must beactivated. However, if you continue turning on and off the switch, youwill gain access to floor 77 (the ninth time you press the switch) andfloor 44 (the 19th time you press the switch). There will be a message

notifying activation of express elevator to the designated floor ineach case.


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Floors 44 and 77 have no side rooms besides the main hall. Floor 44features a single battle against eight monsters, but floor 77 holds sixtreasure chests including a few rare items such as the Book of Marin(personalized by Shu, improves success rate of stealing) and the ParadeCoat (clothes for all characters except captured monsters, not verystrong but can be duplicated and sold for a large sum). Be sure toaccess these floors before you reach floor 100 since the Palencia Tower

will be inaccessible once the story progresses.

11. Odds and Ends

There are yet still many secrets in the game undiscovered. Do thethree colored jewelry (Red, Blue, and Green) serve any purpose? Doesit make a difference if you've completed all jobs and collected everybounty? Many more secrets await discovery!

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Orlandu17 for the information about the floor items and the

location of the battle with the Light Pole as a dropped floor item.

Thanks to Ed Perkowski for the information on regaining control ofhuman and summon monster characters in the Arc Arena Team Battles.

Thanks to Daniel Dainwood for the information on stealing a Ruby fromDocsun once he takes the jewel in the display stand.

Arc the Lad Collection is developed by G-Craft and released by SCE Inc.in Japan. The series is localized and compiled by Working Designs.All work done on this FAQ is by the author, except for sourcesreferenced in the FAQ to reduce redundancy.

*Arc the Lad II: Character/Item Development FAQ* by TopperCopVersion 1.03, Last Updated 2003-08-22 View/Download Original File

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Arc the lad II - Development.txt

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