Walkthrough V.2

Here is the Dawezy version of the Final Fantasy IV walkthrough, be warned I use some vulgar language as its just part of my nature, so if you don't like it? don't read it. lol. I'll be adding all the tables and such (from all the are information, battles, etc) at a later time, for now its basic text so I know where to fall back to. All information within is based upon the Final Fantasy Anthology (European) remake of Final Fantasy IV, so some of the Items mentioned in this Walkthrough may be different opposed to other versions.

PHASE#1: Text, complete.
PHASE#2: Tables/Images (character portraits, for now), complete.
PHASE#3: Still deciding on more imagery.

Choose a destination.

Prelude

The games starts off with a show of military strength, namely the Red Wings out on a mission, plundering crystals from Mysidia (which they are just coming back from).. but Cecil feels somewhat ashamed of what they did even though he covers his grief with the Kings orders. Along the way back they encounter a few enemies and disposed of them promptly enough with minor casualties. After the rough in with monsters they arrive back at Baron and get on with their business, Cecil on the other hand reports to the King.

Chattin to the King

On his way through to see the king he is greeted by Baigan, Captain of the Guards who seems to be a bit suspicious about Cecil when he mentions that the Mysidians didn't resist their assault (well, they did but it was no trouble at all). He and Cecil and proceed to the King, Baigan shortly asks Cecil to wait outside the door as he meets with the King, he lets his suspicions of Cecil be known to the King and the King congratulates him on making him aware. Baigan then calls in Cecil to hand the crystal to the King, he does with no argument. After the King dismisses Cecil he stops at the door and thinks to himself about the Mysidian assault and why everything is going on as it is, there-in he proceeds back to the King and questions his motives to all the Crystal gathering. But little did Cecil know that the King took this tongue the wrong way due to the recent suspicions of Baigan and demoted Cecil from his command of the Red Wings.

As understandable as it may be to the King & Baigan, Cecil was pissed off with this decision and decided to get closer to the king to throw more questions.. At the same time Kain enters the room and defends Cecil's actions but to no avail, the King then gives them their next mission [BombRing] (different name in all kinds of translations, heh). The sentries aside the Kings Throne eject Cecil & Kain from the Throne Room. After all the commotion Kain tells Cecil not to worry about it and just go sleep it off.

Here is where you finally get control of Cecil and can walk the guy around the place, so you can head south to the first hallways of the Castle and chat to other people. But you can save the fucking around and go straight to those 3 chests and receive some goodies, the 3 chests contain.. [480 Gil, Tent, Ether] which you will be using on your journey later on. After sorting out that you can now take the left exit of the area and you will see yourself on the top of the castle walkway, just keep going left and you hit the set of stairs. Down this hallway south you are stopped by Rosa whom decides to chat and worry about Cecil, being the Dark Knight that he is he doesn't show much attention to Rosa and tells her the basic deal of what they did in Mysidia and walks his way.

Once outside you can head the tower which should be directly North of you, isn't it cool that Cecil has an entire side of the Castle to himself? plus a slave woman, all the fun facts aside you get confronted by Cid whom gets surprised when Cecil tells him what the Airships are now being used for. He shortly pisses off to attend to other issues which leaves you to head up your Tower and goto sleep in your room. Once night falls Rosa bursts into the room (I personally think she wanted some action, but on par w/ the storyline she doesn't seem horny at all, heh.) and begins to question Cecil about what he was doing today.. He lays the deal down on her (mentions that soon he will lose remorse for his action, due to his alignment with the Darkness.. aww), he is feeling a tad guilty about the whole thing and mentions that he is just a Dark Knight following orders at that moment he cowers off a touch and discontinues eye contact with Rosa. Rosa then gives a "The Cecil I love doesn't talk like that" line and leaves it at that, exiting the room.

...and the night goes on.

Morning breaks as Cecil enters the main hall of the Castle and meets up with Kain, they place a bet on who will kill the beast who threatens the Kingdom over in Mist and go on their way to complete the mission (well, in several ROM patches they say that.. on the PSX they just do the "You ready to kickass!?" in reply "Hell yes, lets be off!". Kinda typical of the 2 most well known Knights of the land). Here is where you get a spiffy looking scrolling text thing with a short story review you could say, read it and move on.

Town of Baron

Bare in mind it is optional to head to the town, but it never hurts to check it out. Upon entering there are several buildings you can enter, the building to the direct right of the entrance is the Inn (where you can rest overnight to refill your HP/MP total, for a small fee, also before you enter head due right to the pot and you'll snab a [Potion]) which you can put to use, around the side of the front counter you will arrive at the back of the Inn and notice alot of NPC's. Feel free to chat to some of them but its not really required, you want those treasure chests at the upper right corner of the place.. simply examine the set of Swords on the wall and the door will open, leaving you open to pickup [Tent, Eyedrops, EagleEye]. On your way out head into the area in-between the Beds and the Front Counter and examine one of the Pots down the bottom, you'll get your hands on a [Potion].. moving back outside now.

Keep moving west and you'll come across the Item Shop, you can purchase the following items from there;

Potion ~ 30g
Tent ~ 100g
Life ~ 100g
Soft ~ 400g
MaidKiss ~ 60g
Eyedrops ~ 30g
Antidote ~ 40g
Gyshal Greens ~ 50g

At this point, all you really need has already been given to you in hidden chests.. the area you'll be heading out into isn't really a threat to either Cecil or Kain at their default level. Back out into the town head straight towards those pots next to the building north/east of the Itemshop, you'll grab a [Potion], that being done enter the house (FYI, its Rosa's house) and have a walk around. You will find a [Ether] in the book-case and a [MaidKiss] in the pot to the top/left corner. Talk to Rosa's mother if you really want to, but you get nothing but a verbal bashing from the old lady so its best not to waste your time, grumpy old bitch. Exit the house and head due north to the Weapon/Armour shop, its locked for this part of the game (which is really annoying because it has some good items and some money, lol).

Since you cant get into the Weapon/Armour shop, why not go and pillage some more treasure? go due east of the Weapons shop and cross the bridge, head north to the top of the waterfall and walk down the middle gush of water. Keep going downstream until you hit the kind of lake down the far end of the stream.. walk around in circles hitting the confirm button and you will find a [Tent, HrGlass], one is down the bottom/right and the other is just right (1 or 2 squares down) of the little canal exit there. Yum, more tents, time to head back upstream and grab more treasure. Once you reach the top of the waterfall once more, go down the path due east (your path is blocked by tree's, so you have to detour around them) and you should be at a door which leads out into a open (yet small) field. Here be a secret passage, its simple to find as you just walk around the top-end of the small block of tree's.

Path is simple enough, go east about 1 square (NOTE: this is when you are in the actual secret passage, not when you get through that door) and then up 3, then go due west until you can no longer walk.. head south then west at this point and you will be in a field full of grass, you will find yourself [Soft x2, Life]. This town has been nice to you hasn't it? all these free items, if you take the time all these items you can save the small amount of gil that you start with. After you have gotten all the treasure in the fair town of Baron there is nothing else you really need to do, you can talk to a few NPC's and see their responses.. especially the little dude who is running around, on the PSX version he goes "Ahhhhhhhhh! a Dark Knight!" which I found to be amusing. There is a "Training Room" you can visit, located pretty much center of the town, but unless your a total newb you need not waste your time.

Out into the world you go!

Monsters - Eagle, Imp, FloatEye, SwordRat.

The enemies out and around Baron are nothing for you to fear, ofcourse you'll have the occasional hit here and there but its nothing to cry over. A few things that should be pointed out that will help you further in the game;

Kain has the ability the Jump, which sends him off the battlefield for roughly 2 turns, give or take its random due to the battles and what is done. Upon his descent he deals in upwards of 200% normal damage that he would deal out.

Kain has a useful triat - x2 Damage to all flying monsters, keep it in mind.

Cecil can damage all monsters on the battlefield with his Dark Wave ability, at the cost of roughly 8-12% of your total HP, the damage to come out of the attack is mediocre but the higher your levels get, then more deadly this ability becomes.

And here we are, finally out in the wilderness. Nothing fancy so far so its best to just head due North/West until you cross some bridges, then you can head West for a short while and then North until you come to the entrance of the Mist Cavern. (alternatively if you are a lazy motherfucker, once you get out of Baron you can head due South/West to a small forest and land yourself in a Chocobo Forest where-in you can get your hands on a [Gyshal], get a Chocobo and head to the Mist Cavern without any random encounters ^.~ hehe, whatever way you wanna do it though.)

Mist Cavern

Monsters - Larva, Imp, SwordRat, SandMoth

A bit musty at first but you get used to it. As with Baron there are many treasures waiting to be picked by our good little team and they all easily accessed. Upon your entrance you have to head due east (because you physically cant walk up the wall lol) until you come to a staircase, which you naturally walk up, from here its a long walk to the West and then North on the second staircase you come across.. when you make it this far continue on going North and you will be greeted by a "strange voice" telling you to leave, but Cecil & Kain being the macho men that they are ignore the taunt and keep on walk. Keep on going north up the nearby staircase and grab a [Potion], go back down a touch and East across the bridge then a short walk to your North see's a staircase, take it and go to the East and get yourself [Eyedrops]. You can see the exit from there right? well if you want the goods go back down the way you got to this new treasure and just follow the path South, take the staircase to the South and follow the path around if you want a [Tent], otherwise keep on following the path due South/East and you will run into another Chest anyway, a [Potion] awaits you.

From the last item you head due north through a few rocky pillars and you are once again given a threat from the strange voice telling you to leave, and again Cecil & Kain ignore it and move on.. now here is where the fun starts, upon nearing the exit you are halted by this strange voice and given the option to keep on going forward, or going back. Your fucking joking? (Kain gives off a witty "Confident bastard, aren't you?") do you think that a Dark Knight and a Dragoon are going to back down from these threats? select yes and you will be drawn into a battle.

Behold, our first boss battle!

Ofcourse, being in such a early phase of the storyline this Mist Dragon is a push-over but then again it can beat you to a pulp if you don't take it seriously. It does normal attacks (which hit you for some decent damage, depends on your level) which is predictable and you cant really avoid them so these attacks aren't your worry. The thing you have to lookout for is his transformation into the Cloud of Mist where he has a auto-counter attack which hits both Cecil & Kain for some harsh damage (again, its harsh if your not leveled much) so you don't want to fuck with it. During this time you can take a breather and use some Potions given the fact that you need them, as soon as the Mist Dragon returns to his original form you can resume your attacks. A basic attack plan is suggested below;

Kain : Jump a few times, but it doesn't make too much difference on the outcome. Normal attacks are much faster and you'll probably do the same damage in the amount of time in the air, but its personal preference.
Cecil : Well, just plain well keep on slashing and don't bother using Dark Wave as its a waste of HP and does just asmuch damage as your sword does.

Mist Dragon defeated! a job well done! you can now exit the Mist Cave and return to the wilderness..

Monsters - SandMoth, Larva, Sand Man, Sandpede, SandWorm, Imp

A short walk to Mist Village, but you need to bare in mind this region has some new monsters (some of which are the same in the Kaipo area) to play with, take on a few if you so wish then enter the Village of Mist. (NOTE: Unequip Kain so you can sell his equipment later for some extra gil)

Mist Town

Few steps into town.. and what the fuck? The item that the king handed you for your "mission" has activated itself and ejects itself onto the village. Its a pack'o bombs that burn the village to the ground and well.. Cecil & Kain DID have that "what in the hell!?" look upon them, there is a bit of argument about morals and such over the incident and Cecil renounces his loyalty to Baron and the King, Kain agree's to help him on his travels but not for Cecil's sake (Kain wants to hump Rosa, incase you didn't know). Just as that fruitful conversation is over the scream/cry's are heard from a distance, Cecil & Kain run to the scene to see what's going on... they spot a dead woman and her child, they talk about defeating the Mist Dragon and its connection with the dead woman and come to the conclusion that the child must also be killed.. Cecil doesn't agree to this and decides that simply taking her somewhere else is a better idea. In doing so you get thrown into a battle. (no need for a battle information table, its story driven)

The child is invincible at this current time, but you can attack her for fun. After a short time she screams like the little kid she is a summons Titan to lay the smackdown.. but he laid the smackdown a bit TOO HARD and it crumbled the mountains around the Mist Village... nice going Cecil, really nice.

Another short span of time the scene changes to Cecil knocked out having a sleep on the ground.. he comes to after a while and looks around for Kain, yelling his name to see if there is any response... There is none so he figures he may aswell take the child to the next piece of Civilisation, which is the Oasis of Kaipo;

Monsters - SandMoth, Larva, Sand Man, Sandpede, SandWorm, Imp

As is the area between Mist Cavern > Mist Village, there are some new monsters to face and have fun with.. you can take on a small legion of them if you like, the exp will be alot better due to Cecil being the only member of the party thus getting 100% of the exp. Once your done fucking around in the desert beating up monsters you can haul ass to our next destination.

Oasis of Kaipo (aka Damcyan Desert Oasis)

As the name of the town suggests, its an Oasis alright.. infact half the village is water which is kinda cool. Doesn't matter now though, as soon as you enter Kaipo you automatically goto the Inn and you get a freebie because of the child. Cecil attempts to talk to the child and offers his protection to her from now on, he leaves it at that and they both get some shut-eye. And here we have another short delay and we have a small detachment of soldiers from Baron in hunt of the child, Cecil stops them in their path and tells them to back down... unknown to these soldiers is the fact that he IS quite a powerful Dark Knight and take him on for treason to the Kingdom (or atleast, that's what the dialog sounds like).. hoorah, another battle;

It may seem as though you are out-numbered here, but its quite a simple process believe it or not. You notice how the 3 Soldiers only attack when the General tells them to? Well all you need do here is kill the General and those 3 Soldiers now become statues ready to be pushed over and broken. Once this simple process has been completed you will get quite a nice sum of EXP for your time, it almost breaks the 900 mark last I can recall. Should I even put up a basic strategy? nah, its too easy to even waste the extra characters lol. Battle won you now gain the trust of the little child and she tell you her name... Rydia. Well met! thanks for casting Titan on me, BITCH!... heh, as much as he would've loved to say that he just went back to sleep.

Ahhh, lovely sleep.. your now free to roam the Oasis of Kaipo. Directly West of the town entrance is the "Training Room" where-in you can learn some basics of the game, you only need enter if you are a true newb otherwise you are wasting time. North of the "Training Room" we have the Armour Shop, inside you can buy a whole heap of goodies.. namely;

Leather Helmet ~ 100g
Clothes ~ 50g
Leather Armour ~ 200g
Iron Ring ~ 100g

Rydia starts off with Leather Helm/Armour and Iron Ring. If you throw her in the back row (where she will be for a long time running) her armour should suffice. But it always helps to be able to take a few hits WITHOUT being killed (considering, what, she starts with 30 HP? urk.). The building just next to the Armour Shop is the "Inn / Cafe / Itemshop".. and there-in you can purchase;

Potion ~ 30g
Tent ~ 100g
Life ~ 100g
Soft ~ 400g
MaidKiss ~ 60g
Eyedrops ~ 30g
Antidote ~ 40g
Gyshal Greens ~ 50g

Pretty much a default item listing for all the shops in this time of the game, so buy whatever you think you may need.. all you really need is some Potions and maybe some Tents but you should have plenty of those leftover from your good buddy Baron. Now you can head to the Weapons shop which is due East of the Oasis entrance, you can put your gil to use on;

Rod ~ 100g
Staff ~ 160g
Short Bow ~ 220g
Brass Arrows ~ 10g (Per Arrow)

On a personal level I'd just give her a Staff, it may be a bit more expensive then the Rod, but then again Rydia needs all the help she can get. Some may suggest you get the Bow & Arrows to start out with, but when you think about the time of the game its an expensive trade to be taking up so its best to give Rydia something to bash heads, instead of flinging valuable resources she'll never hit.

Exit the weapons shop and examine one of the Pots above the building, it contains an [Ether] which you may find yourself using occasionally on Rydia. Now you can proceed to the last building of the locale and enter, there is an old lady walking around if you talk to her she mentions a girl "mumbling something about a Cecil person" so, continue north and a scene will endure with Rosa sick in bed, she is now in a high fever from travelling the harsh deserts alone in search of Cecil. (if you ask me, Rosa was just horny again and wanted some penis.. as you know we do strange things to get some action, lol) The old man to the left of screen mentions that you need the [Sandruby] to cure her high fever.

Well, enough said! get going on your quest Cecil. If you want some tang from Rosa you should Cure her first.. to accomplish this however, we need to pass through the next area of the game. (I would recommend you level Rydia up a bit before you proceed to the next area, stick close to Kaipo so you can dash into the Inn and refill for cheap.)

Water Cavern

Monsters - Zombie, EvilShel, Waterbug, CaveToad, Pike, Gator

Mmmm.. wet humid caves, just get a lung full of that eh? Upon entering there is a bridge to your east, take it due north and you will spot 2 chests, you will receive [Potion, MaidKiss] both which will come in handy.. moving back South and to the West you will find yourself crossing another bridge, at the end there is a treasure chest to the South containing a [Tent] now you can jump North and the path will be blocked by an old man, who reveals himself (well, Cecil took a guess lol) to be the Sage - Tellah. After some conversation goes on he joins your party I'll make a note of it, he may be physically weak but his magic can really help you out here ~ Cure 2 in particular, his MP is higher then Rydia's and he has more spells at his disposal.

Continue North a touch and you can see a bridge going to the East, go along and raid the chest below with a [Bomb] inside. Keep the walk going east across multiple bridges until you come to a halt, you can see that chest above you? well you have to take the bridge South into the water then back-track North up the stream, you will receive a [IronRing] in the box (NOTE: Equip it on Tellah, as he is only equipped with a Staff and Leather Armour when you get him.. also helps to purchase a Leather Helm from Kaipo but I failed to mention that, heh) but that's not the only chest you will find in a difficult spot. Continue your travel south through the water and take a turn West until you see the big waterfall you can walk through the center of this and will find yourself in a Secret Area, 3 Chests lay within ~ [Ether2, X-Potion, Life] not bad eh? Backtrack up the bridges and take the nearest Northern bridge and go due West, its straight forward from here to get yourself to the next level.

And here we are, on the second floor (to be honest im not sure if this is going further underground or further to the surface lol) and ready for more action, keep going North and you will see another bridge heading South so take it into the water.. this time around there are no Secret Areas filled with Chests so you can take the quick detour North and grab a chest [Potion] continue your journey South and weave your way to the Bridge facing north, take those and make your way West so you come across another chest, has a yummy [Ether] within. Go back and take the bridge south, all you gotta do from there is go West and its straight forward to the door which you can burst open and take a rest inside on the Save Point. (NOTE: you can use Tents, Cabins on these Save Points and as the name suggests you can Save your progress onto your Memory Card too.) A conversation occurs between Tellah and Cecil, several issues are pointed out about their travels.. Anna running away, Rosa needing the Sand Ruby for her fever, slaying Octomammoth which blocks the exit.

How many damn floors does this place have? damn, once your outside head due East and then North a few clicks to find another chest [IceRod] which you should equip on Tellah, due to his higher accuracy (in comparison to Rydia, that is) and the fact that some monsters down here are Weak vs. Ice. Go back down South and through the water East, head up through the door and we are onto the next floor! You are greeted with many bridges to walk across you can basically look at it this way ~ East/South = Chests [580g, Bomb] ~ West = next floor. Use the first route, then the second and we have the next floor to explore. You can do the runner North and hit East as soon as you see the exit, there is a chest with a [Potion] that being pilfered you can now proceed to the exit. BUT before you do, take advantage of the secret passage beside the exit which will lead you around the North/East of the doorway, towards a cliff which hugs the East of where you were previously walking. As soon as you are out of the passage you just keep on walking South until you see the yummy chest, contains a [Feather Cap] which I would equip on... Tellah, because he has no Headgear to begin with (unless you purchased a Leather Helmet beforehand, then you can give it to Rydia if you want to.. otherwise its better on Tellah anyway, he is the stronger of your 2 new allies... for now.)

By Satan its another floor! Head on North until you catch sight of the 2 chests, proceed South down the nearby ladder and you can retrieve these 2 treasures ~ [Ether, Notus] simply backtrack your steps and head East across the larger bridge and then go due South to reveal another 2 Chests (damn, how many chests are in this place >.>) [Ether, Dark Sword], ofcourse you will be equipping this Sword on Cecil straight away unless you are a crazy foo' but moving on.. there be the exit straight back North, go through it and you will be back out in the open... huzzah! Use a tent since you will probably be a bit beat-up and short of MP, Save, and resume the adventure through the murky caves.

Waterfall

Monsters - TinyMage, Jelly, WaterHag, Octomammoth, Gator.

Hows the water? Just jump North to the stairs, then go around South then West to the stack of stairs.. proceed down these to ruffle around the 2 chests to either side of you.. [Hades Helmet, Hades Gauntlet] nice, equip these on Cecil ASAP but keep your Shadow Armour handy, you can sell it at a later date for some decent gil. Scoot back up the stairs and North/West to your next destination, the Lake, as soon as you exit this area, all you need do now is head East to open 2 Chests.. [Hades Armour, Hermes], again you need to equip the armour on Cecil to make him an all powerful motherfucker for this time in the game. Make your way North and you will see a set of tentacle waving around in the water.. walk up to them and hit the action button. Hooray, another boss battle!
 

Straight forward engagement I should say, he does deal out quite alot of damage to Tellah and Rydia, but they aren't really a powerhouse like Cecil lol.;

Cecil just keep on slashing, that's all you pretty much do here. Don't waste your HP on Dark Wave, doesn't do anywhere near asmuch damage as your normal attacks.
Tellah is on Healing duty, can use the occasional elemental spell but it does sweet fuck all damage.
Rydia is also on Healing duties, you can put her Summons to use if you like but they don't do extreme amounts of damage.. but then again, any damage is good damage.

Back to the overworld we go! welcome to... Damcyan and its general surroundings, as you walk out into the open and head due north there will be a short scene where the Red Wings bomb the hell out of the Castle. Fair enough I suppose you cant exactly stop falling bombs can you? heh.

Monsters - SandMoth, Larva, Sand Man, Sandpede, SandWorm, Imp

Damcyan

Whoa hey, those bombs did a pretty good job of turning this place into rubble. If you want to proceed with the story just keep on going up up and up and you will get an emotional scene between Anna, Edward and Tellah.. here is the place where you un-equip Tellah so you can sell his stuff later for some extra gil.. should ALWAYS remember to do that it saves you in the long run ^.~.. now, where were we? After the scene endures (its not all that fancy.. they all get emotional, Tellah leaves the group Cecil slaps Edward for not being a man.. Rydia tells him to grow up aswell, I found that to be hilarious.) and Edward joins the party.. despite all the abuse these strangers bestowed upon him.

You resume the game outside in the Hovercraft that Edward has provided, you can head straight to the cave if you so wish.. but im going to recommend you head back into the castle and take advantage of a few things. Head back up into that top room where all the commotion went on and take note of the 2 pots on either side of the room, the one on the left restores your HP and Status Ailments and the one on the right restores your MP. So its handy to know if your running low for some odd reason, back down a floor and open the chest on the top/right of the area.. [Tent] is yours, go down another floor.. infact, go down 2 lol, walk all the way down to the exit of Damcyan but don't exit just yet. Walk to the East, hugging the wall of the castle and you will will notice a small extension of the castle.. guess what? its the treasure room.

Need I say more? enter the room and you will see a injured guard interact with him and he tells you not to let the enemy get the treasure.... heh, ironic isn't it? Your here to snatch the treasure yet your not a bad guy XD.. just above where the guard was is a switch, use it and a door will open, its a semi-secret passage which leads to the many chests above you, go through it and you will find the following in all the chests (no particular order)... [Crossbow, Feather Cap, RubyRing], equip the Ring on Rydia and be on your way back to that door, before you exit take a walk down to the far South/East corner of the room and go down those stairs. Well lookie what we have here, by all means open the chests and examine the pots.. in here you will find yourself [Potion, Antidote, Eyedrops, Soft, Life, Ether, Holy Arrows (x2), Brass Arrows] and hot damn, you'd think the inventory would've exploded by now? lol

NOW you can exit Damcyan, you've done everything you can do. Get back into the Hovercraft and head due East, you will cross a small group of marshland and you will be on the piece of land off the East of Damcyan, from here you head South and stop infront of that cave you can see.. here is our next area of monster-slashing fun..

Antlion Cave

Monsters - Imp, Imp Cap, Turtle, Cream, Weeper, Basilisk, SandWorm, Sandpede

The soil is quite red/orange eh? funky, lol, this are is straight forward to the avid player but some may have difficulty navigating it. That being said we can jump right into the fun (NOTE: place Edward in the back row.. his low HP lands him KO quite often and he has ranged attacks, so he'll do the same damage regardless.. plus that first Harp he has contains the Sleep spell, w00t.), from the entrance head down the first of stairs you can see and go West a few clicks, goto the Chest and gets your hands on a [Potion], head back down and continue on to grab that other chest to the West, [Silk Web] awaits. Head back down to your South/East and take those set of stairs and go East for a while, take the path north where the bridge be snatch the chest [Potion] and head back South and go East, up those stairs and keep going until you get to another yum chest, say hello to a [Soft].

Take a walk back South and go West once you hit those stairs (I should've gone to this area first, but it slipped my mind.) until you see an open path heading South.. its a straight forward walk around the corner so I need not explain directions, take it South obviously and go around the corner and raid the 2 chests... [Tent, Potion].. backtrack to those big set of stairs we were at earlier and head due South to the exit. Again this first bit is a straight line South past a chest [Notus], then you take a U turn and head into that door.. if you need helping getting to that chest up the North end, im going to beat you.. take the [Lamia Harp] and equip it on Edward, holy shit batman! his attack power is nearly as high as Cecil's! he wont deal anywhere near asmuch damage but that Lamia Harp has quite the deadly effect on its attacks... Confusion! it really screws up the monsters in battle as they attack each other until they die or hit themselves, hehe.

Back outside into the Cave, take the path around the South of the walls and keep going North, you will notice an exit there, I'll be blunt and tell you that it heads to a Save Point with 3 chests inside [Life, Ether, Exit], so take it if you so wish.. if not, continue around the exit and get to that chest [HrGlass1], and head South/West across that bridge to another chest [Silk Web], w00t. Don't head directly West as it leads to a dead-end, instead you go back over the bridge and head South along all the sets of stairs until you see the exit, don't bother going West either its another dead-end. Continue through the exit and we are finally in the Antlion's Nest.. brace yourself we have another boss battle on the way. Just keep on heading south and a short scene will endure where Edward attempts to take the Antlion egg's (i.e., SandRuby for Rosa's high fever) but unknown to the good King (well, he is technically King now lol) is that the Antlion isn't in the mood for company.. so Edward gets attacked by the Antlion, Cecil and Rydia rush to the scene to assist the poor guy.
 

Antlion HP: 1100 MP: 68 Att: 11 Def: 3 EXP: 1500 GIL: 800

Beware the auto-counter attack by the Antlion, whenever you hit him he will retaliate with an annoying set of spikes that hit you for... mediocre damage I should say, a general strategy for you to suck up;

Cecil, what else can you do? lol, keep hitting the Fight button and you'll be fine.. though it does cause about 70% of the Counterattacks from the big'ol Antlion.
Edward, just attack as per normal.. he deals some good damage when he does critical hits surprisingly enough, his accuracy may let you down though. Use the Heal command occasionally, but using an actual Potion on its own is more effective.
Rydia, can do some of the healing (not too much to heal, but if the counter attack keeps hitting one person you'll be busy) aswell as whipping out that Chocobo summon of hers.. it deals some great damage and should be used often.

Booyah, another boss battle placed under foot and crushed like the pest it is. You have 2 options from here though, you can either walk back out of the cave (no need for me to give instructions, you got in here you can get back out just as easy) or you can use that Exit item you just picked up. Being the lazy bastard that I am I opted for option B and went on my way. Once outside you need to use the Hovercraft once again and head due South/West of Damcyan, you will see a path of shallow rocks (well, he calls them marsh's but what the hell ever lol) which the Hovercraft can drive over.. continue over these rocks and you will be back on the desert around Kaipo, so logically you go to Kaipo and land the Hovercraft. (its South/East from the rocks, incase you were wondering)

Back to Kaipo

Enter Kaipo and proceed straight to the far North/East house where Rosa was, apply the SandRuby to Rosa and another scene will occur where Rosa and Cecil get all emotional (again, I think Rosa is just horny and wanted some penis, but hey that's just me and my little twisted world of romance XD) she explains a few things to Cecil about Golbez being the new captain of the Red Wings and that he is manipulating the King somehow. More conversation endures about crossing Mt. Hobs to reach our next destination, Fabul, to defend the last Crystal on the overworld.. Rosa asks Rydia about casting Fire to melt the Ice that blocks their path on Mt. Hobs but Rydia refuses because she is scared of Fire, it burnt down her village and all so its understandable. Rosa insists to take herself on the journey, so Cecil isn't one to argue such fine looking company (although he did argue, due to her condition, isn't that nice of him? aww).

Later in the night the scene switches to Edward by the Oasis, he plays some music on his harp and sobs about Anna (pussy! stop crying!) and a monster leaps out of the nearby shrub and attacks him. In this battle the monster is infact invulnerable but that's not the issue, Anna appears in the battle and cheers Edward on.. a few more attacks on the monster and he vanishes anyway. You get a delicious 800 exp from that battle, which usually gives him a level up. (in my game, it did, gleee!) That being done Anna's spirit gives him a lecture about how NOT to be a pussy (kidding! she actually tells him to put his chin up and be brave) and disappears.

Next morning, everyone is refreshed (personally I DO think that Cecil & Rosa had sex while Edward was out, but eh, I guess it'll never be confirmed lol.) and you can now head out into the wilderness. But here lye's an argument. What should Rosa be equipped with? Staff or Bow & Arrow? I usually go for the higher attack power which I found within the CrossBow / Brass Arrows combo (well, it'd be higher with those Holy Arrows you picked up.. but save them for Mt. Hobs where the spirits dwell.) but it never hurts to keep a Staff handy incase of an ammunition shortage. Her accuracy is VERY HIGH and we pretty much never miss if you use the Aim command with every turn you attack, you should also equip her with any spare armour you may have that increases your magical strength.. the Feather Cap seemed to work well. Enough of the rambling, onto Mt. Hobs! Where is Mt. Hobs you say? Simple.

If you can remember where the Antlion Cave is, then you'll know where Mt. Hobs is.. just continue your way due East of the Antlion Cave (not in the little desert, but around the north end where the land is narrow and surrounded by water.) and you will be at a set of mountains. Dismount! and head in onto Mt. Hobs.

Mount Hobs

Monsters - Gargoyle, Cocatris, Bomb, GrayBomb, Skeleton, Spirit, Red Bone

Be sure to save at the entrance of the Mountain (just incase) and head on up. As you enter you will notice the big clutter of Ice blocking the path? Hmm.. quite inconvenient I must say, lol. Here is where Rosa encourages Rydia to chant the Fire spell, Rydia refuses for a while (due to her town being burnt down, etc etc) so they all throw some abuse it her and she finally decides to cast it. Huzzah! no more Ice! if you want you can head back outside and Save your progress, if you ever get slaughtered up here on the mountain you don't have to endure the soap opera-esque scene again. Heh, moving on. This is quite a simple path to navigate, all the way up the mountain I should say so just keep on jogging north and you will see a cave.. enter and you will be in a new area, all you need to do is head due South/West and you'll see all the chests anyway.. [Tent, Potion, Soft, 960g] aswell as a Save Point (which I would recommend you use, namely for putting a Tent to use.) once you are done pilfering all the treasure head back into the previous area and go East and head through the other cave to see yourself on the Summit.

There be a chest directly to your East, has some [Holy Arrows] in it. Continue your walk north and you will come across a scene where a lone Monk is taking on a horde of monsters (with ease, it seems) but at the back of the horde of monsters is the MomBomb.. so the party jumps in to assist, I must warn you that this battle is harder then it seems.. at the levels I'll show you shortly I was almost wiped out on about 4 occasions.

MomBomb HP: 11000 MP: 687 Att: 30 Def: 1 EXP: 1900 GIL: 543

Cecil, all you really need to do (seems to be a trend) is plain well attack, put the occasional Potion to use as Rosa and Rydia cant cover everyone at once. Dark Wave will be handy during the second half of the battle after the explosion.
Rosa, 70% of the time you will be healing hun, when the party's HP is at a safe level you can throw in the occasional attack (use Aim) to help out. Throw in a Slow spell on the pack of monsters too, anything helps.
Edward, attack attack attack, Songs don't work on this guy so don't waste a turn, Edward will have a 50/50 role of attacking and Potion using so its simple enough.
Yang, newest addition being a Monk, he is best at flat out attacking anyway.. so make him do what he is best at. Kick is a waste of a turn during the first phase of the battle, but after the explosion its handy yet not real damaging to all monsters.
Rydia, Summon and Cure, need I say more? Elemental spells do next to no damage, but during the second phase of the fight it helps to cast Sleep on the group of Bombs, you never know your luck and it'll save you some healing time.

After the battle is over, patch yourself up and head through that cave, from here all you need do is cross that bridge and head south to the bottom of the Mountain. As soon as you touch dry land, USE A TENT, damn, the journey back through Hobs was enough of a pain.. let alone the long walk you got ahead to Fabul. Its a straight walk to the East, with a few North/South diversions around Water, Mountains, you name it, you'll touch the castle of Fabul in a min or so.. depends how many battles slow your progress.

Monsters - Cocatris, Imp Cap, Needler, Imp, Gargoyle

Castle of Fabul

Ello ello, a castle with people in it! gasp! one thing I see people typically doing is running straight up to the Throne Room to speak to the king, but im here to lay it to you.. DON'T, because you will be having some battles in due time. Instead you should make better use of your time and goto the Weapons/Armour shop, and here is what they have to grab.

FireClaw ~ 350g
IceClaw ~ 450g
BoltClaw ~ 550g
Demon Helmet ~ 980g
Demon Armour ~ 3000g
Demon Gauntlets ~ 800g

This list explains itself, lol, at the moment Cecil is equipped with his Hades equipment yah? well what better items to replace it then the full set of Demon gear (besides the Shield, but I'll touch on that later) to further boost your uberness for this time in the game. While your there I'd recommend you get a IceClaw for Yang, so you have both Fire & Ice elementals on your attacks.. if any monsters are weak to either, you'll still do good damage. Out of that shop and across the hall to the Inn, has an Itemshop too;

Potion ~ 30g
Tent ~ 100g
Life ~ 100g
Soft ~ 400g
MaidKiss ~ 60g
Eyedrops ~ 30g
Antidote ~ 40g
Gyshal Greens ~ 50g

Inn costs 100 gil per night, cheap as hell if you ask me. Stock up on some potions, you'll need them. Now that's about all you can do for now, wasn't that hard was it? =P go back outside and Save your progress, then proceed back inside the Castle and chat to the good King. At first he seems a but doubtful of Cecil (due to his former allegiance with Baron, and the whole Dark Knight thing) until Yang steps in and explains the situation and settles all doubt. You can choose to commence the battles now or wait so you can prepare yourself (but you've already done that, so get on with the game damnit).. so delay no longer, lets go kick some ass, the unfortunate thing is that Rydia and Rosa get left behind for "assisting the medic" or something along those lines, as per request of the King. So its up to the men with big cohones to go into battle, being Cecil and Yang.. Edward tags along but has smaller cohones XD

Scene begins at the foot steps of Fabul Castle, all in all there is about.... 6 waves of monsters you gotta bash around the head, so I'll slap the basic deal down and then list all the battles separately aight?

Cecil, there are certain battles (with weaker monsters) where Dark Wave will come in handy, don't use it too often though as you cant heal in-between battles and there are alot of them. Otherwise just attack as per normal and use Potions when you need to.
Yang, as above Yang has the Kick ability, damages all monsters on the screen.. but its much less damage then what Cecil would dish out, so in the same sense if its a pack of weaker monsters go for it, otherwise its better off beating them with your fists. Potions will be your best friend, so use them.
Edward, his Harp w/ the Confuse ailment will help you out quite alot, actually. He may not be dishing out much damage (make sure he is in the back row) but as mentioned the ailments help turn the tide of battle. Edward will be the Potion boy though, heh.

Defend Fabul!     17 Wave 1 13 Wave 1 11 17 Wave 2 13 Wave 2 11 17 Wave 3 13 Wave 3 12 17 Wave 4 14 Wave 4 12 17 Wave 5 14 Wave 5 12 17 Wave 6 14 Wave 6 12

1st Wave - Captain, Fighter x2

2nd Wave - Weeper, Imp Cap, WaterHag

3rd Wave - Captain, Fighter x2

4th Wave - Gargoyle