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| Final Fantasy VI copyright Square Enix. Images used for educational purposes only. |
World Map
- Assuming you don’t want to head north and collect your first party member, found in Tzen, guide Celes northeast. You’ll find a bridge that leads to the now high-and-dry Serpent Trench. To the east, towards the tail, is another party member whom you can’t possibly collect just yet; to the north, towards the tail, is the town of Nikeah. Go north. The enemies along the way aren’t too tough, but it’s wise to use Celes’s most powerful spells to avoid sustaining much damage in battle. Equip a Ribbon to maximize your chances of avoiding status effects.
- Upon arrival at Nikeah, assuming you’re playing a later version of the game, you’ll find a man with a tip about Espers waiting. Otherwise your path is clear. Check with the locals for a new array of weapons and items, then head into the Pub. There’s an assortment of ruffians here. Speak to them until they leave. Follow them to the dock, then head back to town.
- There’s a man who looks remarkably familiar looking at the goods here. Keep talking to him and following him to the port. This will get you onto the local ferry…
- … which ships you off to South Figaro. Once there, check the locals for weapons and armour yet again, then enter the Inn. Your target, Gerad, is in one of the rooms. Speak to him and he’ll take off.
- Follow him out of town. Just west of South Figaro is the South Figaro Cave, as small as ever. Meander inside, fight off the enemies within (I found Fira most effective), and make your way to the rejuvenation spring with the turtle. Gerad and his bandits will show you how to ride the turtle deeper into the Cave. Beyond are some rather fruitless stone corridors…
- … and you’ll come out in Figaro Castle. Huh. Follow Gerad into the engine room.
- This path is pretty straightforward until you hit a room with four chests. They contain a Gravity Rod, a Crystal Helm, a Hi-Ether and an X-Potion. Go through the left door from here and you’ll find stairs leading up to a Royal Crown, then backtrack to the chest room and go through the central door. Beyond is Gerad… or, you know, he may be Edgar… and a fight with a rather nasty beast.
Tentacles
A four-target boss, the Tentacles all look identical and act identical, but offer different attack-based opportunities. Offensively the Tentacles spend most of the battle either slapping your characters around or slowing them. If a character is slowed, the Tentacle can then grasp them for a short period of time, absorbing health and MP all the while. Casting Haste - or, better, wearing Hermes Sandals - will effectively negate this attack, making the battle much easier. Otherwise it can be rather annoying to wait while the Tentacles suckle your health.
The trick to this fight is to capitalize on weaknesses. The bottom-right Tentacle absorbs fire but takes double damage to ice, while the bottom-left Tentacle is the opposite. Use your spells and elemental swords to maul these two, then switch to non-elemental attacks (Tools are good here) to wipe up the remaining two Tentacles. Poison is also rather effective against the upper-right Tentacle. Pretty simple overall, so long as at least one character can remain consistently free of the grip of these stupid things. Make sure you keep a close eye on your HP - the Tentacles can’t inflict much damage at any one time, but the draining effect remains in place for a while.
- Once the Tentacles bite the dust Edgar will rejoin your party permanently. Check the suit of armour in the back room for a Soul Sabre, then return to the engine room and Figaro Castle will emerge on the surface once again. Speak to the man in charge of travel and he’ll send you to the Kohlingen area for further recruitment efforts.