Walkthrough:Final Fantasy VI/Drake/Part 3

Part 3 of the GBA walkthrough of Final Fantasy VI, by Drake Clawfang. Let's see, we left off at Part 2 in the mountains...

Still Don't Know What They're Returning...[]

Welcome to the Returners' Hideout. Talk to the guy and follow him to Banon’s room. Here, Banon rips off the story of Pandora’s Box, gets it confused with the story of the Seven Deadly Sins, and this in turn confuses Terra, which come to think of it doesn’t seem very difficult thus far. Once it’s all over, you’re in control of Terra in her room. Talk to Locke and enjoy his little speech, then take the Phoenix Down. Head back to Banon’s room and take the Hi-Potion and talk to Edgar. Go back to the main room and talk to Sabin, take the Green Cherry from the pot above him, then check the item shop. Buy what you need – enemies ahead like using Blind, so you may wish to take some Eye Drops, but then, you won’t be using physicals that much, so really, only buy them if you hate that Blind look. But be sure to buy several Tents at least, along with some Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs. Below the shop is an Inn.

Head up past the door to your room. Open the chests to find a Knight’s Code, Air Knife, another Phoenix Down, then check the pots for an Antidote and Ether. Now, head right, down and right into the wall to find a hidden passage with a White Cape, which gives a +5 bonus to Defense and Magic Defense, a +10 boost to Magic Evade, and blocks Imp and Silence. It was better back when the Evade bug was around, but still pretty good now. Talk to the man at the entrance of the hideout now, and talk to Banon. If the guy won’t let you leave, you missed talking to one of your party members, he only moves once you do that.

Now, Banon will take a cue from the US Political System by giving you the illusion of choice. You can accept his offer, and get a Gauntlet, a Relic that gives a character the Two Hands power, doubling the strength of their weapon (well, most weapons, not all of them) and not letting them equip a shield in exchange. This leads into a long and annoying meeting scene. I personally prefer to deny him three times and skip the scene. You get a Genji Glove, which lets a character Dual Wield and equip two weapons at once. Alternatively, you can say no once, then go to the back room, receive the glove from a Returner there, then say yes. Both the Gauntlet and the Glove come in limited quantities, so it’s up to personal preference – I like the Glove myself. Honestly, the Gauntlet isn't that good late-game, because the Genji Glove lets you dual-wield and thus get stat boosts from two weapons. On the other hand, Genji Gloves can be farmed from enemies, if with difficulty, the Gauntlet can't. Ultimately the game progresses the exact same way regardless of what you do. See, illusion of choice…

A Returner stumbles in to report South Figaro has been invaded by the Empire, and they’re coming your way. Locke flirts with Terra, pissing off Celes’ fans I’m sure, then runs off to delay them. Edgar, Sabin, Terra and Banon decide to head for Narshe via the river. After this, you end up in the back chamber of Banon’s room, and Banon has joined you.

TEMPORARY PLAYABLE CHARACTER - Banon

Banon doesn't stick around for long, but he's a powerful character for the time he's with you. His attack is only mediocre, but Banon's ability is Pray, which casts Cura on the party for free. With this power, you're all but invincible to normal enemies. Banon should serve as healer for the next part of the game while Terra uses her Fire spell since her healing duties have been filled.

Put Banon in the back row (actually, you may want to put everyone there), then leave the Hideout. Go to Mt. Kolts and level up outside the entrance to strengthen Banon. Then go back to the Hideout, and save in his room, then go back through the cave to the river and hop on the raft. From here on out, if Banon dies, you lose. So keep him in the back row to prevent that. Have him use Pray every turn to keep the party strong.

Up The Creek[]

At the first fork, all the paths lead forward. The enemies here are no match for Edgar, who should be firing his crossbow every battle. A follow-up Fire attack from Terra will take out anything that survives, and Sabin should Blitz. Let the river carry you into a cave with a save point. Ignore it and leave. Now, the left path leads forward, the upper one is a loop. Tale the left path to another cave with another save. Hey, that rhymes! Save and use a Tent, then hop on the raft again. Take it down the waterfall to meet a boss.

Boss
Ultros
HP	MP	Dangerous Attack
3000	640	Tentacle
Steal	Morph	Drops
Can't Steal	Can't Morph	None
Weakness	Resistance	Difficulty
Fire, Lightning	Water (absorbs)	2.5/5

Ultros is a pain in the ass, and unfortunately you never get to kill him. See, Ultros is armed with a Character Shield +5, that blocks anyone from killing him until he runs away. So, this ultimately means that, like Bowser, Ganon, Cortex and Gilgamesh before him, Ultros will die and come back for more. The difference is that those four examples are cool characters: Ultros is a giant pain in the ass and should be pounded like a rusty nail. How come it always seems like it's the really annoying characters who never die, and the really awesome ones that die too soon? FF VI: Ultros lives, Leo dies. There is no justice in this world!!!

There’s a fairly simple pattern to beating the squid: Crossbow, Blitz, Magic, Pray. Just have Terra cast Fire while Banon Prays and the brothers Figaro use their special skills. Ultros’ tentacle does over 200 damage, and there's a pattern to how he uses it, too. He'll attack Terra, then Sabin, a group Tentacle with a follow-up single on a random character, and then he attacks Banon. Hope the group follow-up doesn't hit Banon, because it may kill him. Ultros also likes using Ink to Blind you, but none of your characters are using physicals, so that means nothing. Once the octopus kicks the can, Sabin jumps off the raft for some reason, and gets washed away.

Okay. Now there are three scenarios. Locke’s involves you escaping South Figaro, Terra and Edgar’s continues the rafting trip to Narshe, and Sabin’s involves the kingdom of Doma and a whole bunch of other stuff. Now, I find no respectable difference in the order of completion, so you can do whichever ones you want in whichever order. Locke’s scenario recruits a new character, so you can see her stats and equipment when you buy things as Sabin. Edgar and Terra’s is just boring as hell with nothing really important, but Sabin’s introduces two new characters and is the longest. As mentioned, there’s no real difference, but there are some. If you do Locke and Terra’s scenarios first, you can find the enemies they fight on the Veldt in Sabin’s scenario. So do them however you like, I'll cover them in the order I did them. Part 4 will cover Locke's scenario, Part 5 is Edgar and Terra's, and Parts 6 and 7 will follow Sabin's.