Walkthrough:Final Fantasy VI/CSM's Walkthrough/Part 13

This is part 13 of the Walkthrough for the Super NES version of Final Fantasy VI.

Time for training![]

Okay, so you have four great little pieces of Magicite. What to do with these great items... Hmm... I know! Let's use them to teach our characters some spells! I recommend all your characters should learn everything Siren has to offer, as her spells are easier to learn than any other Esper in the game (its hardest to learn spell, Fire, is taught at a rate of X6!) Also, you should start teaching your characters spells from Ramuh, as his spells will be very useful in the next area. Kirin's spells are also useful (Cure), and it's the only Esper that teaches Scan and Antdot. And as for our good friend Stray, you may want to teach his spells to one character. I should probably tell you to select a blank slot in the "Espers" menu if you want to unequip your Esper. A lot of people ask that question.

Before you go, everybody except Locke and Gau should be in the Back Row.

If you brought Gau along, this is a great time to teach him some new Rages. To do this, though, you'll have to take a long trip to The Veldt. I advise you do this though, as you can learn lots of spells on the way and while you're there. To get to The Veldt, go ALL the way back to Kohlingen, and enter Figaro Castle. Go to the room with the guy that moves the castle, and tell him to make it move. Once you're done, go through Figaro Cave and climb Mt. Kolts. Make your way through the Returners' Hideout and ride a raft down the Lete River. You'll end up near the place where Sabin started his scenario. Go past Doma Castle and through the Phantom Forest, and jump down Barren Falls. You'll now be on The Veldt. Here are the Rages I suggest you teach Gau.

• Anguiform (uses Aqua Rake and absorbs Water)
• Aspik (has Auto-Float and uses Giga Volt, which is a very powerful lightning-Elemental attack. It's stronger than any Level 2 spell)
• Primordite (uses Numblade, which causes Stop, similar to the Areneid, but has different elemental and status properties)
• Gabbldegak (casts Vanish)
• Harvester (has Auto-Float, auto-Haste, and casts Haste)
• HadesGigas (uses Magnitude8)
• SlamDancer (casts Ice 2, similar to the Dark Side, but has different elemental and status properties)

Aspik and Anguiform are the two most important ones to get. Anyway, once you've gotten all these Rages, jump into the Serpent Trench and go to Nikeah, and take a boat to South Figaro (you won't be able to enter the city proper, but you'll be able to get out of it). Go back through Figaro Cave and take Figaro Castle back to Kohlingen. If you have all the spells you want at this point, go to Jidoor.

Back to snob-land[]

Now, how to get to the Southern Continent, where the Empire is? Well, this isn't FFIV or FFX, so no swimming (as much as Gau could probably breathe underwater...), and all the boats going down there probably get either searched or blown up by the Imperials. Looks like your only method is... an Airship! Luckily for you, you can go to that big house in the north end of Jidoor, and you'll find the Impresario of the Opera House running around as if the world just exploded. The star of his opera, "The Dream Oath," Maria, has been threatened to be kidnapped by "The Wandering Gambler." You'll learn that his name is Setzer, the owner of the world's only airship. Now, how to get him to take you to the Southern Continent? Locke has just the plan. To see it, please press "1" on your telephone now. Or, you could just go to the Opera House far to the south. You can take a Chocobo if your legs can't handle the pressure. Before entering the Opera House, give everyone except Celes a White Cape. Have someone equipped with Kirin and another with Ramuh. Have the Ramuh wearing character have an Earring equipped. Finally, make sure your non-Celes characters are not at a level which is a multiple of 3.

Is this the only opera that doesn't have a fat lady?[]

Well, it won't have a fat lady for you to make fun of, but it will have an ex-Imperial general who looks just like Maria. That's Locke's plan. Have Celes sing in Maria's place, and have Setzer kidnap her. Celes will flip out and insist on not doing it, but then magically she'll change her mind and run into the dressing room! Now, Square was being very evil and didn't want us to know what was going on in that dressing room, but it probably involved a naked Celes. But you do get to hear her (try to) sing. Now, you'll leave, and an old octopus friend, Ultros, will appear and give his whole schpiel on how he's going to mess up the opera. Of course no one knows about this except the player, so let's pretend we didn't hear that, okay?

The opera begins, and you'll hear some the very beautiful voice of Draco, or just some synthesizer making vocal-like sounds. But to be honest, it's better than the real vocals you hear starting in FFVII (SEPH-I-ROTH! Dun dun du-dun dun dun SEPH-I-ROTH! and crappy J-Pop ballads that completely disgrace the great name of Final Fantasy). But anyway, you'll control Locke in a minute. Sabin and Gau have funny comments if you talk to them. Have Locke go to the dressing room and he'll gawk very, very rudely at Celes and try to change the subject. You'll then control Celes. Go north and on stage.

Now comes the famous Aria di Mezzo Carattere. Your job is to fill in the missing lyrics for Celes. You have to do this in a limited time, or else you'll screw up the opera. If you screw it up four times, the game ends, and you'll live with the shame that you don't have enough acting ability to convince your own mama. These are the lyrics you have to pick:

• "Oh, my hero"
• "I'm the darkness"
• "Must I"

After that, Celes will go up to the roof, and Draco will appear. Follow his lead when he tells you to, but be quick, and be careful or you'll screw up the opera. When he stops, talk to him and he'll turn into a bouquet of flowers. Pick it up, and hurry to the top of the balcony (be fast and don't make a wrong move or you'll screw up the opera). Celes will finish her song and throw the flowers over the edge (you don't have to control her anymore).

After some more scenes, you'll control Locke again in the dressing room. He'll read a letter from Ultros, stating that he's going to screw up the opera. Go back to where your characters are sitting and tell the Impresario the bad news. You'll see some more opera scenes, and then control Locke and your two other party members. You now have a five minute timer going for you, so you may want to equip Sprint Shoes so you can run around when not in battle. Go to the area east of the balcony and hit the far right switch in the stage master's room. Now go all the way back to the left side of the balcony and enter the door. You'll be on the catwalks above the stage. There are random encounters here, but you'll have to fight whatever you touch. Each fight will pit you against some Vermins and some Sewer Rats. Get rid of the Vermin first because if the Vermin is left alone, it'll summon more Sewer Rats. Have Locke just use his physical, Edgar use his AutoCrossbow, Sabin use Fire Dance, and Cyan should use Dispatch, but you shouldn't have brought him along. Since the Vermins are weak to ice, have Gau use the Dark Side or the SlamDancer, as both know Ice 2.

Before touching Ultros, make sure Sabin is in the Front Row (I know, it's blasphemy), has the Fire Knuckle on, and is in the third or fourth slot.

Once you reach Ultros, scare him and everyone will fall down onto the stage. The Impresario and Locke will put on an acting show, and Ultros will get pissed. The Impresario will now order the orchestra to play some "battle music" and you'll have to fight Ultros.

Ultros isn't that tough, especially since you get a Side Attack for this fight. He's weak to Fire and Lightning, so have your characters cast Fire and Bolt spells (or Bolt 2 if they know it) or summon Ramuh. Also, have someone summon Kirin so everyone can get Regen. If you listened to me, you had Sabin in the third or fourth slot, so Ultros has his back to him. Have Sabin go first and hit him with a physical. You may get a free Fire casting as well!

Interestingly enough, this battle with Ultros is actually against four Ultroses, each with 2550 HP. A new Ultros will appear after every two rounds (just use Scan to figure this out!). Each Ultros has a different set of attacks. All four Ultroses use a physical, and each one has a different set of other attacks. One Ultros has Ink, which puts Blind on a character, and his signature attack Tentacle. The second Ultros casts Fire. The third Ultros uses L.3 Muddle, which is why I told you not to be at a multiple of 3. The fourth Ultros uses Mega Volt and casts Drain. You only need to kill one of the Ultroses to win the battle though.

Another reason I suggested to put Sabin in the Front Row and set him up physically is that Ultros counters any Blitz (or SwordTech, but you shouldn't be using Cyan) with Acid Rain, which is a powerful water/poison dual-Elemental attack which causes Seizure. Also, after every minute, he'll give his famous line "Imp! Pal! Buddy!" and cast Imp Song, which sets Imp on one side of the battle. Also Gau's Aspik Rage will basically weaken Ultros to the point where even the slightest attack will kill him. So have Gau use the Aspik Rage. Hopefully you'll kill Ultros fast enough by exploiting his weaknesses to avoid any of this crap, but I put it in because it's there so you won't send me nasty messages about this.

Anyway, after the fight, Setzer makes his grand entrance and kidnaps Celes, and you'll see some more cutscenes, where Celes helps everyone sneak onto the airship. Talk to Setzer when you gain control of your party, and another cutscene will happen where Celes flips a coin with Setzer to force him to help him out. Fortunately for you, the coin is Figaran (is that even how you say it?) and thus has two heads on it (Edgar's and Sabin's). You'll then travel to the Southern Continent.

Exploring the Southern Continent[]

Before doing anything, note that Celes has lost all her equipment, so re-equip her. Also, put Sabin in the Back Row again.

Before actually heading to Vector, you might as well see all the sights the Southern Continent has to offer. You'll be right next to the town of Albrook, which I suggest visiting. Go to the Weapon shop. Blossoms are worthless as equipment, but you'll want to purchase a lot of them for Throwing, as they are the most powerful wind-Elemental weapon in the game. You don't have to do this now, but you will have to before a certain event. I'll remind you to buy 99 Blossoms when the time is right. The Epee is nothing special, but you should buy them for completeness sake (but even then, you'll be getting far superior weapons for free very soon). As for the Poison Claws, you should buy one. Maybe even buy two, although that's just playing it safe really. Don't equip them though, as Sabin's Fire Knuckle is far superior. Be sure to grab the Tincture from the pot as well. Now, go to the Armor Shop. The only new thing this has is the Bard's Hat, and you may want to pick up a few. These have the same defensive stats as the Green Beret, but instead of raising HP by 1/8 they raise MP by 1/8, but their main selling point is 10% MBlock. I'll leave it up to you whether you want more HP or more MBlock. For now, though, I'd recommend sticking to Green Berets. Both of the chests in the Armor Shop are empty, so there's no use in opening them. The Relic Shop sells Wall Rings and Amulets, so you may want to pick some of those up. The Wall Rings are your first priority. You should already have one, so pick up three more. Now, all that's left to do is to check the clock in the passageway between the Cafe and the Relic Shop for an Elixir, and the barrel outside the Inn for a Potion.

Now, leave town and start fighting enemies. If you ever face a Wyvern, make sure you kill it first. Its special is Slip Wing, which gives you Seizure, but if it's left alone it will use Cyclonic, which reduces everyone's HP by 15/16. This is bad. Very bad. They're weak to Ice though, so Celes should cast her Ice spells, and Gau should use his SlamDancer or Dark Side Rages. What's interesting to note about the Wyverns is that they're...not...floating. Yes, all their palette swaps are floating, but for some weird reason the Wyvern isn't. Maybe they fixed this in the GBA version? I'm too lazy to find out. Ralphs are the least of your worries. They don't have anything dangerous, but they do take some hits. Locke can Steal a rare Tiger Mask, which is a stronger helmet for Sabin and Gau. It's much stronger than the Green Beret and Bard's Hat, and has some minor stat boosts. But you may want to stick to the Green Beret for the HP boost, but then again, you may not. It's up to you really.

Jokers are bad. Summon Ramuh or Siren or use Edgar's Noiseblaster immediately on them. If left to live for more than one turn, they use the dangerous Acid Rain, and you should know what that does by now. They also attack in groups, which is why I recommended Summoning. In the desert, you'll find the ever dangerous FossilFang as well as a new enemy: the Bug (I was expecting them to rename this "Bite Bug" for the GBA release, but they were cool and kept it as Bug). DO NOT USE PHYSICAL ATTACKS ON THEM. They have a 1/3 chance of countering any physical with StoneSpine, which Petrifies a character. They're weak to both Ice and Water, so have Gau use his Anguiform Rage on them for Aqua Rake. They can attack in large groups too (up to six of them at once!). If you didn't bring Gau, you'll have to stick to Sabin's Fire Dance and Edgar's Flash.

You may also encounter the Chickenlip. These guys attack in groups of up to five, and often show up with Ralphs and Wyverns. They are also very dangerous. Not only will they take more than a few hits to die, but their special, Lash, can Mute a character, preventing him or her from using magic. They can also cast Quake when left alone, which at this point in the game is very dangerous. If any of your characters have learned Float from Stray, cast this so Quake won't touch you. Still, it's advised to kill them first. If accompanied by Ralphs and Wyverns, make sure the Ralph is the last thing left alive. Have Gau use his Dark Side against the Chickenlips (they're weak to Ice, and the Dark Side gives Gau the Float status). Your other characters should just fight the way they always do against them.

If you want to, you can head all the way to the east and find an Imperial Base. This thing is crawling with troops, and they're all tough to kill. If you win a fight here, you'll just get chucked out of the base. You can't get to the other side either. Avoid this place for now.

Head all the way to the northern end of the continent to find Tzen. Here you can find some new stuff for sale. The Weapon Shop has Boomerangs for sale, which are an upgrade to Locke's Full Moon, if you opted to use this in the Back Row. The armor shop sells Mithril Helms, which you should never buy. These things are a waste of your money. One more point of defense is not worth giving up an extra 1/8 HP from the Green Beret (or 10% MBlock if you're using the Bard's Hat). Don't do drugs. The Relic Shop sells Black Belts and RunningShoes, but you should have plenty of both of these.

You'll find a new enemy near Tzen. The WeedFeeder is not a threat at all. Its worst threat is Flap, which just causes Berserk. It's also one of the few enemies that drops Echo Screens, if you care.

Now, head all the way to the west end of the continent. You can fight to build experience, or enter the forest near Tzen to find a Chocobo stable where you can hire a Chocobo to take you there. Here is the town of Maranda, which Celes completely torched. It was now rebuilt and it is, of course, occupied by Imperials. One of the crates near the entrance has a Revivify in it, and one of the crates in the east has a Remedy in it. The Weapon Shop sells Tridents, and I suggest picking one up now. No, don't equip it on Edgar; it's for someone else. The Armor Shop sells Mithril Mails, and if you brought Edgar (or Cyan...), you should buy one. But it's not worth replacing the Ninja Gears and White Dresses your other characters have. You really need to consider that a few points of Speed or Magic Power are worth more than a single point of physical defense, and then maybe you'll stop doing drugs. You're done here, so go to the center of the continent to find Vector.