FFFFFFFFFFF C ++++++++++++++++++Brian Lundin+++++++++++++++++++ FFFFFFFFFFF E +++++++++++++++Paltheos@gmail.com++++++++++++++++ FFF S +++++++++++++Version 1.55: 6/28/04+++++++++++++++ FFFFFFF C FFFFFFF E ================================================= FFF S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FFF C ------------------------------------------------- FFF E <<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FFF S ------------------------------------------------- C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FFFFFFFFFFF E ================================================= FFFFFFFFFFF S FFF C The C.E.S. Challenge is fundamentally a game of FFFFFFF E FFVI in which only the mandatory characters FFFFFFF S (otherwise, Celes, Edgar, and Setzer) are used FFF C to complete the game with and are the ONLY FFF E CHARACTERS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO GET. FFF S FFF C Your reward for this: different black-and-white E movies at the end of the game for Celes and VVVVV VVVVV S Edgar. VVV VVV C VVV VVV E ================================================= VVV VVV S VVV VVV C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VVV VVV E Version History VVV VVV S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VVV VVV C VVVVVV E Version 1.0- First version- included rules, VVVV S advice, obtainable espers, obtainable spells, VV C Edgar's tools, suggested final equipment, E powering up, the mini-walkthrough, copyright IIIIIII S information, and credits. It still needs a little III C work though. 8/31/03 28KB III E III S Version 1.1- Obtained the answer to the 'Shadow III C issue'; fixed the guide accordingly by adding III E Starlet to the Forbidden Espers, by adding Cure3 III S to the Forbidden Magic, and by fixing the section III C on Owzer's House. 9/1/03 31KB III E IIIIIII S Version 1.2- Tweaked the boss strategies against C Phunbaba and the Tentacles; added the note about E getting a Minerva early (thanks to MeepleLard on CESCESCESCESCESCES these); am considering adding a "low level section" (relatively to how I originally did it anyway) to all the boss strategies. 9/28/03 31KB Version 1.25- Made special note that neither the Ragnarok Esper nor the Cursed Shield can be acquired within the rules of this challenge (to those of you who didn't know or weren't sure). 10/5/03 32KB Version 1.4- Redid the guide's format; added ASCII art ^_^; merged section #1 and section #2 (sort of). 1/3/04 37KB Version 1.55- Fixed several incredibly stupid mistakes and improved on other things, all at fear of being lynched >_> <_<. Expect allot of new stuff coming shortly, particularly the lower level strategies, as opposed to the strategies up as of now, in which it's obvious there's been massive powering in the Dino Forest. Judging from what I want and what I have to work with, this may result in me playing a LLG up to the end of the WoB so that I can get every drop of potential out of my characters via stat boosts from espers via leveling. We'll see... Anyway, this update's more of a quick patch-up job to take care of the most pressing problems. My apologies for not having more; it's not exactly what I wanted, but it'll have to do until I proceed, which should be fairly soon. I've finally rectified the difficulties I've been experiencing on my emulator, so I should be able to do the testing needed for what I plan soon. I've got allot of stuff to do, especially in my other guides, so it may take a while for me to get back to this, but I assure you, I will. 6/28/04 44KB ============================================================================== ``````````````````````````````````````````````` ` ` ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ` Table of Contents ` ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ` ` ` Section #1- Rules & Advice of the Challenge ` ` Section #2- Espers ` ` Section #3- Magic ` ` Section #4- Tools ` ` Section #5- Final Equipment ` ` Section #6- Powering Up ` ` Section #7- Mini-Walkthrough ` ` Section #8- Copyright Information ` ` Section #9- Credits ` ` ` ``````````````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #1- Rules & Advice of the Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- Rules ----- 1) I’ve stated this before but let me reiterate- You cannot get any non-mandatory characters. This means that they cannot be selected in the character select screen in the World of Ruin (WoR). Only Celes, Edgar, and Setzer are permitted. 2) However, this does not mean that you can’t make CONTACT with others characters. Just be sure that this contact does not bring him/her into the party. 3) All of these rules apply only in the WoR. You can play however you like in the World of Balance (WoB). ------ Advice ------ 1) With only three characters and limited equipment, it can become slightly difficult and/or frustrating, especially in Kefka’s Tower when an enemy casts a death attack on the one character in your party. Be prepared for these difficulties. 2) Attempt this challenge only once you have completed the game normally at least once (If you choose to ignore this, there are spoilers in this guide). 3) Power up with Celes, Edgar, and Setzer in the WoB. It makes the early WoR sequences much easier. 4) Take advantage of level up bonuses with espers, learn all the magic you can, and get espers and better equipment as soon as possible. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #2- Espers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Obviously, you won’t be able to get all the espers due to character limitations. The following lists which ones you can get (and their locations) and which ones you can’t. ---------------- Permitted Espers ---------------- Ramuh* Kirin* Siren* Stray* Ifrit* Shiva* Unicorn* Maduin* Shoat* Phantom* Carbunkl* Bismark* Golem: Purchase in Jidoor at the auction house for 20,000 GP after the escape from Vector. Zoneseek: Purchase in Jidoor at the auction house for 10,000 GP after the escape from Vector. Sraphim: Purchase in Tzen from the thief hidden in the trees for 3,000 GP. YOU MUST GET SRAPHIM IN THE WoB BECAUSE, IF YOU TRY TO GET IT IN THE WoR, YOU WOULD ALSO BE FORCED TO GET SABIN, AND THAT IS NOT ALLOWED. Palidor: On the beach of solitary island once you return with the Falcon. Fenrir: Win the first battle against Phunaba in Mobliz. Tritoch: Defeat Tritoch in Narshe. Terrato: Defeat Umaro in Narshe. Odin: Touch his petrified body in the Ancient Castle. Bahamut: Defeat Doom Gaze in the Falcon. Raiden: Walk 5 steps south of the right chair in the throne room of the ancient castle and press X to trigger a secret staircase. Walk down the stairs to the right, walk down more stairs and talk to the queen statue. Crusader: Defeat all 8 dragons (Yes, it can be done) in the Opera House, Mt. Zozo, Cult of Kefka Tower, Phoenix Cave, Ancient Castle, Narshe, and Kefka’s Tower (2 are there). *: Espers are automatically obtained as part of the story. ---------------- Forbidden Espers ---------------- Starlet: Defeat Chadarnook in Owzer’s House in Jidoor. (sorry, can't get this one either; thanks to Butterfly Madoushi for clearing up the confusion) Alexander: Defeat Wrexsoul in Cyan’s Dream at Doma Castle (sorry, that requires Cyan). Phoenix: Find Locke in the Phoenix Cave (sorry, that gets Locke). Ragnarok: Get from the old man in Narshe’s weapon shop (sorry again, Locke must unlock the door). ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #3- Magic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Out of the 54 magic spells in FF6, you can learn 49 for Edgar and Setzer (50 for Celes). Here they are. --------------- Permitted Magic --------------- Cure, Cure2, Life, Antidote, Remedy, Regen, Fire, Ice, Bolt, Poison, Drain, Fire2, Ice2, Bolt2, Bio, Flare, Demi, Quarter, X-Zone, Meteor, Quake, W-Wind, Melton, Scan, Slow, Rasp, Mute, Safe, Sleep, Muddle, Haste, Stop, Berserk, Float, Imp, Reflect, Shell, Vanish, Haste2, Slow2, Osmose, Warp, Quick, Dispel. --------------- Forbidden Magic --------------- Cure3, Life2, Life3, Pearl (except Celes), Ultima Alright, just a few fairly obvious comments on the spells: obviously, you can learn allot of them but unfortunately you miss out some of the best spells. You lose out on the best healing spell (though, with certain equipment setups, there are actually better ways to heal >_>), Full Life, Auto-Life, the only holy-elemental spell available to you (except for Celes), and the ultimate magic attack. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #4- Tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------- Tool List and Locations ----------------------- AutoCrossBow: You Start With It! NoiseBlaster*: 500 GP BioBlaster*: 750 GP Flash*: 1000 GP Debilitator*: 5000 GP Drill*: 3000 GP Chain Saw: Fix Zozo’s Clock in the Inn. The time is 6h10min50sec. Then grab it from the chest. Air Anchor: In the Cult of Kefka Tower, press X to activate the secret switch next to the treasure chest in the first treasure room, then open the chest in the newly open room one floor below. *: These are the prices for the tools in Figaro Castle’s tool shop in WoR. Also, remember to put Edgar in the lead when purchasing tools so that you can get a discount. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #5- Final Equipment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This equipment setup is simply a suggestion. Celes is the physical attacker, Setzer is the magician, and Edgar is a miscellaneous character covering whatever my team lacks. If you choose to use different equipment setups, then try to get in 128% M. Block setups. Celes R-Hand Atma Weapon L-Hand Excalibur(Scimitar*) Head Mystery Veil Body Minerva Relic Genji Glove Relic Offering Edgar R-Hand Aura Lance(Pearl Lance*)****/Enhancer*** L-Hand Aegis Shield Head Genji Helmet Body Force Armor Relic Ribbon/Dragoon Boots**** Relic Economizer/Dragon Horn**** Setzer R-Hand Graedus/Fixed Dice/Doom Darts/Man Eater** L-Hand Genji Shield Head Bard's Hat Body Genji Armor Relic Gem Box Relic Economizer *-Equip this until you get the other. **-Your call as to which one; either one is fine. ***-Use Enhancer if you'd prefer a Mage Edgar, the Aura Lancer if you'd prefer a Fighter Edgar. ****-Anything with 4 stars on it would be necessary for a Dragoon Edgar. Used in conjunction with Quick, that setup should breed chaos. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #6- Powering Up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you get the Falcon, you can begin to power up. The best way to go about this is to first learn every spell in the game that you can. The Cactrot enemy in the desert near Maranda provide 10 Magic Points each, and, providing you can hit one, this is the most expedient method by which to learn magic. In addition, you won't grow much stronger because the enemies give you little to no experience. If you don't have all the espers you can get yet, simply return later with those espers. Of course, fight them with the entire party. After you have learned as many spells as possible, you can head to the forests on the northeastern to fight Tyranosaurs for experience. You can do this either with one of the three characters or all of them (again, your call). To easily defeat them learn to use and love either Meteor or Vanish and Doom. Equipping experience eggs speeds this process up. Now, I won't be encouraging mass leveling any more so only level if you feel that you can't continue at your present strength. Often times, the only real trouble you'll experience can probably be accounted for by not preparing properly. At the times of being unable to proceed even with proper preparation that you may power up. Now you may simply level up here but to get the most out of your growth, it is crucial that you equip espers which give you statistic increases. This is why you learned all your magic by fighting Cactrots. So that you would gain few levels there and get more out of these level increases. If you equip your characters according to my suggestion(s) >.> in Section 6, you should give Celes Bismark or Raiden (for Vigor+2), give Setzer Tritoch or Zoneseek (for MagicPower+2), and Edgar a mixture of both (If your plan for final character setups differs from mine, you may boost your characters' stats differently.). For those of you who are concerned about speed, remember that Odin is the only Speed raising esper (Speed+1), so, if you're concerned about Speed increases, don't change Odin to Raiden until you've gotten enough boosts to feel satisfied. It's good to give each character a variety of stat boosts, so don't give all the stat bonuses to one particular attribute of each character. Focus on one but don't give it all to one stat. Here are the monsters' stats. Cactrot- Lv.27 HP-3 MP-60000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Ice,Water REWARD-Soft (sometimes) With 3 HP, the Cactrot doesn't seem that difficult an opponent. However, to compensate for his less than high HP, this little guy has a huge Evade% and MBlock%. Use Edgar's tools, Setzer's dice, Meteor, Atma Weapon + Sniper Sight for a quick kill (Yeah, >_> I know there's of stuff that ignores his defenses and evasion). Otherwise, his Blowfish attack will get you. Tyranosaur- Lv.57 HP-12770 MP-420 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Ice REWARD-Imp Halberd (sometimes) Kill Tyranosaurs quickly with the strategy mentioned above. Their Meteor and Bite attacks are deadly. Scimitar/Trump (depending on which characters, obviously) + Offering should take down individual Tyranosaurs fairly quickly as well. Bracosaur- Lv.77 HP-46050 MP-51420 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Ice REWARD-Economizer (sometimes) It is truly scary having more power than even one of the 8 dragons. Make sure you have a Ribbon on to protect against Disaster. Or he might just blow you out of the battle with Sneeze. Be sure to finish him quickly with Vanish and Doom before he finishes you with Ultima! Of course, there's always the second option: Don't fight them. They are quite dangerous, and one slip up could result in your death. Running is also suggested here. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #7- Mini-Walkthrough ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before I begin I would like to note that this is not a full walkthrough of the game because: 1) you can't do everything anyway because of the limitations, 2) this challenge is related to the WoR not the WoB, 3) I advised challengers to play the game through normally first anyway for additional ease as well as familiarity with the game and its environments. This walkthrough will simply point out places you should go, things you should do, bosses you should fight. In fact, this guide will mostly contain boss strategies. A few notes: to avoid sounding redundant, in boss strategies, 'healing when necessary' will be implied; treasures from legendary monsters (8 dragons, Phunbaba, DoomGaze, 3 Statues) will not be listed under 'Treasures'; finally, read the boss strategies before you fight the boss because some parts of the strategy might mandate changing or doing something before the battle. --------------- Solitary Island --------------- Treasures: None (for now anyway) After the fish-feeding sequence and the raft ride, you will appear on the coast of the central continent near Albrook. ------- Albrook ------- Treasures: None There's not much to do here. Buy some equipment or items and proceed north past Kefka's Tower and east onto the Serpent Trench. DO NOT ENTER TZEN. Doing so will start the sequence to get Sabin. If you didn't get Sraphim before, you can't get it now. Sorry. Anyway, head east and then north on the Serpent Trench to reach Mobliz. ------ Mobliz ------ Treasures: Ether After the sequence with Terra, you'll enter into a battle with Phunbaba. Phunbaba- Lv.31 HP-28,000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-Bolt WEAK-Poison REWARD-Fenrir With one character, this battle can be quite difficult. There are two things you can do to make this battle move along quickly and safely: 1) Continually cast Bio on him; 2) Put up a wall ring to reflect Bolt2 and Bolt3. Even with that, still be vigilant and prepared should he use Solar Plex or Blowfish. If you're still having trouble, go to Nikeah and buy an Enhancer sword to boost your magic power. And, if you're still having trouble, return after getting Edgar and maybe even Setzer to fight Phunbaba. After getting Fenrir, go to Nikeah at the other end of the Serpent Trench. ------ Nikeah ------ Treasures: None Once you find Gerad (Edgar), follow through with the story until you ride the boat to South Figaro. ------------ South Figaro ------------ Treasures: None Again, follow through with the story and then go to Figaro Cave. ----------- Figaro Cave ----------- Treasures: None Go to the recovery spring and jump on the turtle to enter a new area of the cave. Then proceed further to enter the basement of Figaro Castle. ------------------------- Basement of Figaro Castle ------------------------- Treasures: Crystal Helmet, Gravity, X-Potion, Ether, Regal Crown, Soul Sabre After collecting the treasures, enter the Engine Room to fight the Tentacles Tentacle- Lv.33 HP-5000 MP-600 ELEMENT-Bolt WEAK-None REWARD-None Tentacle- Lv.31 HP-7000 MP-800 ELEMENT-Fire WEAK-Ice,Water REWARD-None Tentacle- Lv.34 HP-4000 MP-500 ELEMENT-Water,Earth WEAK-None REWARD-None Tentacle- Lv.32 HP-6000 MP-700 ELEMENT-Ice,Water WEAK-Fire REWARD-None The fact that the tentacles are constantly seizing Celes and Edgar and draining their HP makes this fight annoying, especially because you must spend most of your time healing and little time attacking. (Fortunately, you can get around that little problem, at least for Celes, by equipping Running Shoes and Wall Rings to her. The tentacles can only Seize Slow characters!) Elemental attacks are useless as well because of their varying elements. The best you can do is use Edgar's AutoCrossBow and ordinary physical blows. This battle shouldn't be too long; simply take each tentacle out one by one. After defeating them, take Figaro Castle to the Kohlingen area. --------- Kohlingen --------- Treasures: None Head northwest from Figaro Castle to enter Kohlingen. Get Setzer and, after the cutscene, head southwest to Darill's tomb. If you need supplies, head to South Figaro/Figaro Castle where you can get a discount with Edgar in the lead. The shops there have everything you could get in Kohlingen... except Setzer's weapons... >_> ------------- Darill's Tomb ------------- Treasures: Genji Helmet, Crystal Mail, Czarina Gown*, Exp. Egg, Man Eater *-If you really want a Minerva now, you can wager the Czarina Gown and try to win a Coliseum battle for it. Sky Base is simple enough to defeat. Just equip a Wall Ring. Solve the puzzles of the tomb until you reach a save point. In the treasure chest nearby, you will find the Presenter. Presenter- Lv.31 HP-9845 MP-1600 ELEMENT-Ice,Bolt,Water WEAK-Fire REWARD-Dragon Claw For completion purposes, fight the Presenter. Attack him physically or cast Fire2 on and only on the exposed head. Otherwise, he'll smash you with a GigaVolt. Move further on into the tomb and read the inscription on Darill's grave to initiate a boss battle against Dullahan. Dullahan- Lv.37 HP-23450 MP-1721 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire REWARD-None Again, physical blows and Fire2 will suffice against this less than mediocre opponent. His attacks really aren't strong enough to be concerned about. You're other option is Rasp/Osmose. His MP is fairly low, so that method should also slay him pretty quickly. After the cutscene, the Falcon is now yours. ------- Airship ------- Treasures: None With your new airship, the first thing you should do is fly about in the skies until you encounter DoomGaze. DoomGaze- Lv.68 HP-55555 MP-38000 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire,Pearl REWARD-Bahamut He's got a huge repertoire of attacks including Aero, Ice3, Doom, and Lv.5 Doom, so the best I can suggest is to come well-protected. This is especially easy for Celes (Safety Bit + Minerva). Casting Fire2 and Pearl (if you have it, which I doubt you do unless you did some serious and unnecessary powering up) and physically attacking him seems to be your best option. It's suggested that, at this time, you power up a bit if you need to. You don't have to; you can at any time, but what's ahead might be easier if you're stronger. Check Section #6 for more details. -------------- Ancient Castle -------------- Treasures: Wing Edge, Ether, Graedus, Doom Darts, Magicite, X-Potion, Offering Punisher, Blizzard Orb, Gold Hairpin, X-Ether I'm aware that this is a dangerous area. The enemies are quite strong so don't feel hesitant to warp from random encounters to save your strength for the tougher boss fights. If you're ready, move Figaro Castle until you hit the tunnel to the castle. To find the BlueDragon and the Queen's Statue, press "X" 5 steps in front of the right chair in the throne room. MasterPug- Lv.73 HP-22000 MP-1200 ELEMENT-Water WEAK-None REWARD-Graedus His Cleaver attack can be deadly so put up Golem and Safe or just finish him off quickly with your best attacks. Also, he uses WallChange, so his weaknesses are not a constant. KatanaSoul- Lv.61 HP-37620 MP-7400 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Poison REWARD-Offering SlayerEdge, Gale Cut, and Water Edge are just some of this master samurai's attacks. Fortunately, that won't be a concern for you; one Noiseblaster will cause him to finish himself. Convenient, huh? ^_^ BlueDragon- Lv.65 HP-26900 MP-3800 ELEMENT-Water WEAK-Bolt REWARD-Scimitar Its Water attacks, Cleansweep, Flash Rain, Acid Rain, etc. can be potent, so be cautious; attach your new Offering to the character using Atma Weapon to make quick work of him and have your other characters use Bolt2. You may want to learn Meteor from Odin before you turn it into Raiden. Quick is also nice though. You can learn Meteor from Crusader later, but that is MUCH later. I would advise learning Meteor first, especially because, without Ultima, it's the best multiple enemy spell you can learn. You can always return for Raiden and Quick later. Besides, Odin is the only esper to give a speed+ bonus at level up. Now that you have two incredible weapons, a Genji Glove (I would assume), and Offering, you should do the following: equip either Celes or Edgar (preferably Celes) with Genji Glove and Offering, then equip her with Atma Weapon and Scimitar. When you choose 'Fight' in battle, she will attack 8 times doing an incredible amount of damage. I will refer to this setup from this point onward as 8 strikes. Now it's time to run a few errands. --------------- Solitary Island --------------- Treasures: (Now there's something) On the beach where you found fish to feed Cid, you'll now find Palidor. -------------------- Jidoor/Owzer's House -------------------- Treasures: Moogle Suit, Relic Ring, Potion, Ether, Remedy If you didn't get them before, you can now buy Golem and Zoneseek at the Auction House. You can enter Owzer's House and pick up the treasures, but you can't fight Chadarnook and can't pick up Starlet. ------ Narshe ------ Treasures: (without Locke, nothing really...) Almost all the doors in town are locked, so don't bother checking out the town (*IMPORTANT NOTE: With Locke outlawed, you can't get most of these town's treasures; this includes the Ragnarok esper (mentioned it before) and the Cursed Shield thus eliminating the only two ways to get Ultima*). Head straight to the snow field to fight the IceDragon and then to the cliff to fight Tritoch. IceDragon- Lv.74 HP-24400 MP-9000 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire REWARD-ForceShield It uses Surge, Absolute 0, N. Cross, and your standard ice elemental attacks and a weak physical; he's not that tough at all. Ice Shields and Minerva make this battle a joke. Toast him with Fire 2 and 8 Strikes. Tritoch- Lv.62 HP-30000 MP-50000 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire REWARD-Tritoch This esper uses similar attacks to those of the IceDragon, except that he has Rasp instead of a physical; simply use the same strategy you used against the IceDragon, and you'll do fine. Enter the hole left by Tritoch to enter Umaro's Cave. ------------ Umaro's Cave ------------ Treasures: X-Ether, Gauntlet Travel through the cave until you encounter the Pugs and then the Yeti after removing Terrato from the bones. Pugs- Lv.99 HP-14001 MP-11000 ELEMENT-Water WEAK-Fire REWARD-Minerva Whoa... that's allot of Tonberries. That translates into more deadly Cleavers, so you should not waste any time in annihilating them with 8 strikes and Fire3. Yeti(Umaro)- Lv.33 HP-17200 MP-6900 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire,Poison REWARD-None This is a boss... right? A couple of Fire3's and 8 strikes should toast him before he even has a chance to use a Green Cherry. Or, if you'd like to have some fun with him, cast Bio on him (he can also be poisoned) and watch him slowly wither to death. ------- Mt.Zozo ------- Treasures: Red Jacket, Ice Shield, Thunder Shield, Aegis Shield, Gold Hairpin Enter into Mt. Zozo after buying the Rust-Rid from the merchant in the northern part of town. Collect all the treasures here and step on the switch in the northern part of the first room to fight the StormDragon. Leave without going to Cyan's room. StormDragon- Lv.74 HP-42000 MP-1250 ELEMENT-Wind WEAK-Bolt REWARD-ForceArmor In addition to his wind-elemental attacks, he also has a fatal physical attack. Be wary of Rage (non-elemental magic that ignores evasiveness; I hope you have a high Magic Defense), Cyclonic, and a 90~% MT gravity attack >.<. Minerva and Thunder Shields should provide sufficient defense against his wind-elemental attacks. Put your party members in the back row and slam him with Bolt3s. ----------------- Cave in the Veldt ----------------- Treasures: Rage Ring, Tiger Fangs, Striker For completion purposes, you should really check this cave out as well; just be sure NOT to encounter Gau on the Veldt. AlloVer- Lv.19 HP-8000 MP-8000 ELEMENT-Poison WEAK-Fire,Pearl REWARD-TigerFangs He likes death attacks (Condemned, Doom), but he's not so tough; a couple of Fire3's should put him in his place... or just cast Life on him... he is undead after all... >_> SeniorBehemoth(Gray)- Lv.43 HP-19000 MP-1600 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire,Poison REWARD-Behemoth Suit He uses high level multiple target magic attacks. Counter with Fire3 and 8 strikes. He's also susceptible to Imp... so have some fun if you'd like. *grins* SeniorBehemoth(Orange)- Lv.49 HP-19000 MP-9999 ELEMENT-Poison WEAK-Fire,Pearl REWARD-Thunder Blade 1 Phoenix Down and POOF! no more boss. ------------ Phoenix Cave ------------ Treasures: Wing Edge, Warp Stone, Dragon Horn, Ribbon Splitting into 2 parties with only 3 characters can really weaken you. Make Celes one party and let her keep the equipment for 8 strikes. Make Edgar and Setzer the other party and have them plow through the enemies with Meteor and Ice3. Destroy every enemy as fast as possible. They have annoying status attacks. As you solve the puzzles, you'll eventually encounter the Red Dragon. Red Dragon- Lv.67 HP-30000 MP-1780 ELEMENT-Fire WEAK-Ice,Water REWARD-Strato 2 characters are better than 1, so have Edgar and Setzer fight this dragon. Temporarily transfer the equipment needed for 8 strikes over to Edgar, equip Setzer with a Flame Shield to absorb the dragon's many fire-elemental attacks (Flare Star, Fire3, Flare, L.4 Flare) and Edgar with a Red Jacket to nullify them, and attack with 8 Strikes from Edgar and Ice3 from Setzer. Warp out without going to the final room where Locke is. ----------- Opera House ----------- Treasures: None There's nothing here but another dragon. Dirt Dragon- Lv.53 HP-28500 MP-16500 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Water,Wind REWARD-MagusRod Equipping Gaia Gear will allow you to absorb all the dragon's earth-elemental attacks. That leaves you with only one worry: Horned Tusk, a powerful SINGLE physical. Just hit him with 8 strikes to kill him. --------------- Triangle Island --------------- Treasures: Genji Armor, Magical Brush, Fake Mustache, Ether, Red Jacket, Zephyr Cape, Hero Ring, Tack Star, Thunder Shield Get sucked in by the Zone Eaters on the northeastern island to enter Gogo's lair. Inside, you'll find a huge number of treasures. Just be sure not to speak to Gogo. --------------- Fanatic's Tower --------------- Treasures: Safety Bit, Air Anchor, Genji Shield, Stunner, Force Armor, Gem Box A few preparations to make before climbing the tower: all your characters know all the magic they can learn; 8 strikes is unequipped (yes, that's right!); your characters have equipment on with high MBlock% and high MagicPower; someone has Palidor equipped. Remember: you can use nothing but magic in the tower! As you climb the tower, you'll eventually meet the White Dragon, and, at the top of the tower, as you try to leave with the Gem Box, you'll fight the MagiMaster. White Dragon- Lv.71 HP-18500 MP-12000 ELEMENT-Pearl WEAK-None REWARD-PearlLance Cast Quick followed by a pair of Flares by all your characters until he keels over. For protection, you can mute him or equip Wall Rings prior to the battle. MagiMaster- Lv.68 HP-50000 MP-50000 ELEMENT-Varies WEAK-Varies REWARD-Megalixir This battle is really easy if you play your cards right. Scan him after every Wallchange until you find he's weak against an easy to hit elemental such as Fire, Ice, or Bolt and then cast Berserk. Keep using that elemental until he has almost no HP left. You may not have Life3 to defend against his final attack Ultima but simply use Palidor to strike the finishing blow and, at the same time, avoid Ultima. Of course, that's the extremely risky and unlikely to succeed method. The best (but long) way to go about the battle is to reduce his MP to 0. Cast Berserk on him and then Rasp, then Rasp... and Rasp again... with the occasional Osmose inbetween to replenish lost MP. With 0 MP, he can't cast Ultima as a final attack, and you survive relatively unscathed. Now that you have the Gem Box, you can use a trick that I call the Quick Trick. A character with X-Magic uses a magic spell and then Quick. With 2 more turns the character can cast 4 more magic spells for a total of 5 spells cast in one turn instead of 2. e.g. Fighting several enemies with high HP use the Quick Trick to cast Meteor 5 times: Meteor, Quick, Meteor, Meteor, Meteor, Meteor. ------------- Kefka's Tower ------------- This will be undoubtedly be the toughest level in the challenge. Not only must you split into 3 parties of 1, but you must also face enemies stocked up with death and unblockable status attacks (even with Ribbon on). I therefore make several recommendations: 1) get every esper you can (see Section 3); 2) learn every magic spell listed in Section 4 for every character; 3) come here at least at level 80 (I did it relatively easily around level 90) (upcoming LL section will explain how to play through the entire game without overleveling); 4) warp from or kill random encounter enemies quickly; 5) switch around good equipment when you switch parties; 6) ALWAYS use Quick in boss fights; 7) for Celes and Edgar, 128% M. Block setups are HIGHLY recommended. Once you're ready, land on Kefka's Tower. Make Setzer the 1st party, Edgar the 2nd party, and Celes the 3rd party. This was determined by the number of boss fights for each group and the quality of the character in that group. The 1st party has 1 boss fight, the 2nd party has 3 boss fights, and the 3rd party has 4 boss fights. I will use abbreviations to show which character(s) should or will fight certain bosses. The abbreviations should be easy to remember: C.-Celes E.-Edgar S.-Setzer. Good luck! E.Atma- Lv.67 HP-55000 MP-19000 ELEMENT-Poison,Water,Earth,Wind,Pearl WEAK-None REWARD-None He may be tougher than he was before, but he doesn't stand a chance against 8 strikes. You should make quick work of him. However, that strategy only works for an uber-over-powered Edgar. For a not so strong Edgar, the longer method involving Palidor/Dragoon Boots is preferable, especially when Atma's glowing in preparation for Ultima! C.Inferno- Lv.67 HP-30800 MP-9700 ELEMENT-Fire WEAK-Ice REWARD-None C.Rough- Lv.69 HP-8000 MP-770 ELEMENT-Bolt WEAK-Ice REWARD-None C.Striker- Lv.67 HP-11000 MP-2600 ELEMENT-Ice WEAK-Fire REWARD-None 5 Bolt 3s via the Quick Trick straight to Inferno should fell him fairly quickly. E.GoldDragon- Lv.62 HP-32400 MP-4000 ELEMENT-Bolt WEAK-Water REWARD-Crystal Orb Put a Thunder Shield in one hand to protect against his Bolt-elemental attacks and Atma Weapon in the other (with the Offering relic on too of course). 4 strokes of Atma should be enough to defeat him. C.SkullDragon- Lv.62 HP-32800 MP-1999 ELEMENT-Poison WEAK-Fire,Pearl REWARD-Muscle Belt (and, assuming this is your 8th dragon, Crusader) Celes could use 8 strikes, but then you'd run the risk of being hit with Disaster (as well as every negative status change in the game; I learned the hard way...). Instead, give Celes the Ribbon and Gem Box relics along with Magic Power boosting equipment. Then use the Quick Trick to cast Rasp 5 times. The final dragon dies at 0 MP. If you're concerned that the dragon might kill you before you get to your turn, replace the Gem Box with a Safety Bit to make you nearly impervious to all his attempts and kill him via 2 Rasps per turn rather than 5. S.Doom- Lv.73 HP-63000 MP-4800 ELEMENT-Ice,Poison WEAK-Pearl REWARD-SkyRender Give Setzer the Gem Box, an Economizer, and an Ice Shield and have him defeat this statue by using the Quick Trick with Flare. 5 to 10 Flares should be enough to defeat the first statue. Or you can use Fixed Dice + Offering. That combination should also result in quite a bit of damage. E.Goddess- Lv.68 HP-44000 MP-19000 ELEMENT-Bolt,Pearl WEAK-None REWARD-Excalibur 8 strikes should be enough to win this battle easily. C.Guardian- Lv.67 HP-60000 MP-5200 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Bolt,Water REWARD-None Gem Box + Quick + Bolt 3s seems to be the best way to go here. C.Poltergeist- Lv.67 HP-58000 MP-18900 ELEMENT-Fire,Wind WEAK-Poison REWARD-Aura Lance You should equip a Minerva, Aegis Shield, and Wall Ring when fighting the last statue (Those should provide sufficient defense, I think ^_^). Otherwise, smash him with Atma Weapon + Offering. On a side note, he's also weak to stop... he casts it on you... and the Wall Ring will reflect it back onto him. Need I further elaborate? Now is the time for the final battle. Modify your equipment to match the suggested final equipment in Section #6, save the game with Celes at the final save point, and have your three characters step on the three switches to initiate a spectacular cutscene and the final battle (and remember that you can now use your well stocked items carelessly now). Face- Lv.74 HP-30000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Fire REWARD-None LongArm- Lv.73 HP-33000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-None REWARD-None ShortArm- Lv.73 HP-27000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Water REWARD-None Several Meteors followed by 8 strikes should clean up here. Just be sure to keep everyone alive and in good health. Also, Long Arm is susceptible to Instant Death... >_> <_< On to the next... Tiger- Lv.70 HP-30000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-Earth WEAK-Ice REWARD-None Hit- Lv.73 HP-28000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Poison REWARD-None Tools- Lv.73 HP-24000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Bolt REWARD-None Magic- Lv.72 HP-30000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-Earth REWARD-None These many enemies are just a sign to Meteor them all. A full round of your characters (totaling 9 Meteors if it even takes that long) should be more than enough to completely wipe them out. Just keep in mind that you should keep your HP high, so no one dies from their final attacks. Side notes: Tiger- can be poisoned; Tools- can be hit with instant death *coughAirAnchorcough*; Magic- can be muted; Hit- ... er... stinks. Sleep- Lv.71 HP-40000 MP-10000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-None REWARD-None Girl- Lv.58 HP-9999 MP-10000 ELEMENT-All WEAK-None REWARD-None Alright, kill Girl and then summon Fenrir/Golem. Either will defend against Calmness, and you can 8 Strike Sleep with no worries. Depending on how Calmness treated you (if you forgot to use one of those espers >_>), you might have 1, 2, or, if you're lucky, all of your characters remaining. Here are strategies for all 7 possible scenarios. In all of the scenarios though, ALWAYS heal after Fallen One. Kefka- Lv.71 HP-62000 MP-38000 ELEMENT-None WEAK-None REWARD-Victory 1)C.- I love this trick. Use this in all of the scenarios in which Celes lives. If, when Celes' turn arrives, she is at full health, cast Quick and get in a pair of 8 Strikes. If he survives that, repeat next turn. 2)E.- This is undoubtedly the hardest of the scenarios. Cast Quick every turn followed by either Flares, physical attacks, or Edgar's tools (depending on how you raised Edgar at level ups). Cast Haste and put up defenses. Use Elixirs when necessary. Here, the dragoon boot setup for Edgar + Quick would really help out. 3)S.- The Gem Box make this too easy. Use the Quick Trick to get in as many Flares as possible to defeat Kefka. 4)C.E.- Use the same strategy here as with Celes' and have Edgar finish the job if it isn't completed after Celes' devastating turn. 5)E.S.- Edgar and Setzer's combined force only means 7 Flares per round instead of 5. That could be enough to finish Kefka in one round. Again, the dragoon setup for Edgar works wonders here and Setzer's presence only helps (Flares for backup). Or, if you don't have the dragoon setup, Edgar and Setzer's combined force still means 7 Flares per round instead of 5. 6)C.S.- 5 Flares and a Celes prepared to use a pair of 8 strikes. Kefka has no chance. 7)C.E.S.- Do I even need to say anything? This is the easiest scenario by far. Toy with him! Waste your items! There are no worries here. This fight is in the bag. CONGRATULATIONS! ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #8- Copyright Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This section is just some legal information. This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This may be exhibited only within www.GameFAQs.com and www.neoseeker.com. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #9- Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Square for making this great game. Thanks to GameFAQs and Neoseeker for featuring this C.E.S. Challenge Guide. I want to thank the bonus mode in the PSX remake for providing me with some enemy data that I couldn't get. Thanks also goes to Nintendo's Player's Guide for Final Fantasy III for providing all the items in an area (though, due to limitations, you couldn't get all the items anyway). I would like to thank my brother Mark who, as far as I know, was the one who first thought up this challenge. Huge thanks to Butterfly Madoushi for answering the Shadow issue and informing me that you can't get Starlet. It saved allot of time for me. Kudos to MeepleLard for the tips on... um... put succinctly, ALLOT of stuff, to say the very least. There's no way I could have spotted by myself the sheer number of possible improvements Meeple found. Then again, this is my first FAQ, so it's... almost understandable that I made that many mistakes. >.> The inquisition about the Cursed Shield from crzyfreak1028 reminded me to make note about being unable to get both the Ragnarok esper AND the cursed shield. Thanks. Sorry, everybody, that was just gross negligence on my part to forget about that. Finally, if any one has any questions or comments about this guide please e-mail me at Paltheos@gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Until next time, this has been Paltheos, wishing you good luck and happy gaming. -------------------------------- Copyright 2003-2004 Brian Lundin