~B
Daniel Thompson's
Seriously Unofficial Romancing Saga 3 Faq of Stuff
v1.11
Wait a minute... I just starting figuring... hey, why bother writing
a mini-faq when I can go all the way and make a big-as heck faq that
will make people stand up and say, "Hey, this is a big-as heck faq!!"?
So anyway, here it is, the much much bigger Seriously Unofficial
Romancing Saga 3 Faq of Stuff!
It has a few Romancing Saga 3 mp3's buried in there somewhere. :)
******TABLE OF CONTENTS******
I. Updates
II. List of Playable Characters
III. Frequently Asked Questions
IV. Guide to the Four Gate Guardians
V. Guide to the Final Boss
VI. Mega Newbie Guide
I. ***UPDATES***
Update v1.3- Woah! I didn't expect this to happen! My FAQ just got
Absolutely HUGE! 37K up from the 7K it was at
v1.1! I hope all the new info about the Gate Guards
and the Final boss come in real handy to all of you.
Update v1.2- A hello goes to Dimetric Houston for his letter... and, uh...
Well, his letter is the basis for the new section I added
after the Q/A. It's called the Mega-Newbie section. It is
for people who know literaly nothing about the game. Read it
if you are one of those people.
Oh.. and uh... should I just start calling this a FAQ? It's
gotten pretty darn big. What do you guys think?
Update v1.11- I added a question or two to the bottom. Also, thanks go to
Hassan and his FAQ for giving me a few names for my list.
Update v1.1- I figured out a few new things... as I am now playing as Sarah.
This ought to be interesting.
II. ***CHARACTER LIST***
This is a list of all the characters in the game I know about that can be
put into your party. Why do this? Just so people know who I'm talking about
when I'm talking to them about the characters. :)
Total Known PCs- 31
Total Suspected PCs- 4
Known PCs:
Julian (The Grean haired Guy. Main Character)
Thomas (The guy in an orange cape. Main Character)
Harid (The only black character. Main Character)
Michael (Wears big purpleish armor. Main Character)
Elen (Big Pony-Tail, blue pants. Main Character)
Sarah (BIG poofy hair. Wears yellow. Main Character)
Katarina (Messy White Hair. Purple-Blue-Green Outfit. Main Character)
Monica (Wears Pink and a short lil skirt. Main Character)
*Poet (Wears a green and yellow outfit)
Tatyana (Big pink hair, all her stats start at 0!)
*BlackSmith (Found in Pidonia, kinda reminds me of Sarah)
Herman (The Pirate who hangs around the Great Arch)
Black (Herman changes into this guy after you beat the Water Guard)
Robin (The Superhero, a very good character!)
*Sidekick (How do you get this dofus??)
Boston (He's a lobster.... Get over it.)
*Snowman (Not a good character... but pretty funny looking)
*Fairy (You'll have to rescue her from the cages at the sideshow)
Zo (The Elephant)
*Jap Girl (Old Jap. Lady put her in your party to go do a task)
*Old Jap. Lady (She causes a lot of commotion in the ending)
Yung Fan (Yung Fan possibly?)
Wood (Big red cowboy outfit, powerful but slow.)
Leonid (The vampire, 0 LP! Can't permenantly die.)
Shonen (The VERY important child, only Sarah can get this character)
Paul (Has something to do with the cave with the rat boss)
Sharl (Guy with a spear from the ruins section of Pidonia)
Muse (Sharl's Wife, all stats at 0... yuck. :)
Fullbright (Cool green hat, Must be a secret character)
*Magicain (You have to fight her, maybe there is a way around this?)
*Old Guy (Don't ask me, he was in the ending. :)
Suspected characters (aka, the ones I'm betting are PCs)
*Cute Scientist (She built the tank you have to blow up later)
Nina (She lets you out of the Rat cave, Pauls' girlfriend)
Anna (From the town Lance...)
The Profesor (Same deal as Anna)
III. ***Q/A SECTION***
Q. Can you get Shonen into your party before the end of the game? How?
A. YES! You can only get him in your party if you are playing as Sarah though.
Q. How do you get new Formations?
A. Certain characters when they join will give you formations for your party.
For example, when you let the Lobster join your party, you get the formation
necicary to cast Armageadon. Odd isn't it... that a lobster would bring upon
armageadon... er... These people I know give you formations: Sharl, Fairy,
Boston, Herman, Robin.
Q. Can anyone tell me the ABSOLUTE BEST single attack to use on the final boss?
A. Best I've found right now is the Rapid Dragon punch attack, shown in the
ending. Any better ones would be appreciated.
Q. What are the special Magical attacks and how do I get them?
A. The Special Magic attacks, which I call Triple-Magi-Techs (because three
magic users are needed), are "secret" spells which are generaly concidered
the most powerful in the game. That's true... and for the most part, they are
the most powerful single attacks in the whole game. Armageadon, for example,
requires only 3 Group AP and does 6000 damage to everything on the screen,
and is not counter-attackable. Pretty cool eh?
Anyway, to use these spells....
1) You must find a special treasure chest that contains a scroll with the
proper formation and spell positioning of the particular spell you are trying
to cast. Most of the time you'll just stumble upon it and wont have any idea
which spell it is. It's doesn't matter... just write down all the possitions
and stuff... blah blah.
2) Aquire the correct formation. For Armegeadon, it's a formation that looks
like the mass-arrow formation... but the top and botton characters are squished
in a little. The Lobster has this formation. To do the strange Pyramid
Raise-your-group-AP-to-9 spell, you'll need the formation Robin gives you
(You can also cast Comet with this!) The other two Triple-Magi-Techs use the
same formation... and you should either start with this one, or get it in the
Sharl Subquest. I'm not sure which.
3) Put the proper characters (with the proper magic types) into the formation
posisions for whatever spell you want to cast. Make sure your using Multi-Tech
battle mode, of course! :)
4) You'll have to not use any Group AP in battle for 2 or 3 turns inorder to
save up enough to be able to cast the spell. Once you do, watch out. KABOOM!
Q. The Forth Gate Guard/Forth Demon is unbeatable with that protective counter
attack! What do I do??
A. Simple... remember this little tip from me: You can't counter attack a
Multi-Tech. Therefor, switch to the multi-tech battle system before the fight,
and use Armageadon, and other powerful attacks you have! The Forth Gate Guard
can be a real hassle if your HP isn't at least 650, but the Forth Demon can be
real hard stuff even if your up to 999HP! Just watch out, the Forth Demon is
probably harder than the final boss. Beat it, and the final boss shouldn't be
any trouble (assuming you have everyone with a powerful Singletech. ;)
Q. Whats with the weapons and armor they show in the intro movie?
A. I think those are the "ultimate" weapons. I've found a few of these while
playing through. The Ice Sword is found near the snowman village (it's secret,
no duh :). Ultimate Axe and Sheild are found in an underwater castle near the
elephant village. Ultimate Light Armor is found in Leonids Castle in a secret
room (damn good armor). Sorry, I don't know of any others. :(
Q. Infinite money?
A. Er... this is a little cheat someone found. Go to the town you met Robin in,
after you have beaten the first gate guard. Go to the store that sells rings.
Sell your Ancient ring for 2500 gold. Now, go buy a Pretty ring for 10 gold
(it's the last ring on the list). The ring turns into the Ancient Ring, and
you can sell it for 2500 gold again. I've never used this trick, and you
shouldn't either! :)
Q. In several of the intros, I go to a creepy castle near a snowy village.
What's with this place and the enemies in it?
A. This is Leonid's Castle. She's a vampire... but a nice one, don't worry.
The Dungeon inside the castle contains some DANG nasty enemies in it! You
wont be able to beat this until you have a good 500-600 HP. Just go and fight
the monsters if you CAN... but don't go to deep.
To get Leonid to take you to back to Micheal's castle and thus end the intro,
just keep sleeping in the bedroom and talking to Leonid. Sooner or later,
it's time to head off. Good job, intro over. :)
Q. So, I beat the intro. Now what?
A. Now you are free to explore the surounding lands. Just talk to everyone
in town (even if you don't know what they are saying) so you can find
new places to go to.
However, I know that certain characters have extended intros... which go
on after the main game has started. Monica and Julian have these, I know.
They aren't very hard usualy, just get through them and you'll be off
to do what you want. Anyway...
First, find a route to Pidonia, which is a town near the center of the map
where Thomas, Sarah, Sharl, his wife, the Blacksmith, and Tatyana can all
be gotten. Not only can you get lots of characters here, but go to the boat.
A huge list of towns is there, and I hope to be able to tell you which
choice takes you where. That shall be later.
IV. ***GUIDE TO THE GATE GUARDIANS***
The Gate Guardians in Romancing Saga 3 take up probably 3/4ths of the story
line. This hard as heck bosses are guarding, what else, the chaos gates.
These gates NEED to be closed to prevent death and destruction of all that
is good and blah blah blah...
You get the point. Anyway, there are 5 gates in the world that need sealing
in order to win the game. The first four are guarded by the gate guardians.
Now here is the fun part, the guide to where these suckers are and how to
defeat them all.
Guardian Numero Uno:
The first guardian is the guardian of Earth. He is located in the Tomb of
the Dead King, in the town of Pidonea (you'll find Thomas, Sarah, Sharl,
and his wife in this town).
To get to this guardian... it requires a bit of work, and a lot of level
building. Here are the steps I usualy take to get to him:
1) Go to Pidonea and talk to Thomas and Sarah. Go to the Inn and the pub
in the southern part of town, and you'll see Thomas heading to the west.
Follow him. Then, in the house in the very lower left, you'll find Thomas
with Sharl (and Sharl's wife of course). After a brief talk, a child will
come in and say that another child (Sharl's been busy :) has gone to the
Tomb of the Dead King. Well, it's YOUR job (of course) to rescue the child.
It's no big task actuly, just go to the Tomb, head down the stairs on the
Left, continue down the many stairs and check in all the doors for the child.
One of the rooms near the beggining has the child in it. Get him, and return
to Sharl.
(By the way, if you have one or two open slots in your part, Sharl and his
wife will join your party.)
2) Now, you'll have to return to the Tomb and head to the bottom of it. Near
the bottom, there will be a large room with crystals, demons, and neked
harpies. You will have 4 exits, north, south, east, and west. East and
west head back to the surface. To the south is a group of 5 Lamias guardian
a teleporter. Defeat these Lamias and you'll get an instant teleport
between the top and bottom of the Tomb. VERY helpful.
3) Head north from the Lamia area. Eventualy, you'll be outside again, and
then back inside. Keep heading north past the room with tons of crystals.
You'll find a large door, but, darn it, it's locked! Now, head out of the
Tomb and back to the surface.
4) Go to the town of Lance (it's where you can get Ellen). In one of the
houses there (everyone has purple hair in it) there will be a man on the
second floor who will give you a ring. This ring can be used to unlock the
locked door in the Tomb.
5) Head back to bottom of the Tomb and to the door. You can now enter the
door and get to the First Guardian Lair! This is a long and twisted
doungeon... and it's pretty hard too! There are lots of Mini-bosses,
like red dragons, giants, and other evil things. If you keep going,
eventualy you'll get to a room where there are two ladders heading down,
and an evil looking door. In this door is the first guardian. You'd best
be prepared!!
(Note- for a shortcut to the guardian, from when you first enter the Lair
and see the big red crystal, enter the crystal. Then, head north through
the door and you'll be right at the guardian.
6) The first gate guardian has no real trick to him. A few things to point
out though... first, he always gets two attacks per turn. Second, he'll
always kill someone who's trying to cure someone else. Third, using the
Multi-Tech battle mode will work much better than the Single-Tech, do to
the fact he can cause a lot of status effects, and the auto-heal helps a
lot! Other than that, good luck.
The Second Guardian is the guardian of air, and a bit of a googie. There
are two ways to fight this guardian, depending on which character you
are playing as. I will explain both below.
1)Go to vanguard and talk to the man in the pub (select the first and
third things). Then, check around in the most upper left portion of the
map (where Vanguard is) and you should be able to select the mountain.
Head to the top of this mountain and head through the cave. At the end
is a large dragon. Select the second thing on the list of things to say
to the dragon. Two things will happen at this point...
2A) The Dragon will have your main character jump on his back. From there,
your main character alone will have to fight the Second guardian, with
the help of the dragon of course. It shouldn't be a very hard battle if
you are powerful enough... just select your attack and then the dragons
attack (the power spike attack is the best...)
2B) The Dragon will say something to you and nothing more. Now, you can
either talk to him again and choose to fight him (BAD BAD BAD idea)... or
leave. Just leave... trust me on this. :) Now, head over to Michael's castle
and talk to him. The mountain to the south east of the castle will be your
alternate path to the second guard guardian. Head to the top of the mountain
and into the misty area. Just head north. If you end up still in the mist...
you missed something. If you end up on another mountain... just keep heading
onward. Eventualy you get into an area with a lot of pulsing walls and floor
and icky stuff. Welcome to the second lair!
3B) Head through this lair, and avoid the fetus bosses as much as possible.
If you keep heading through this place, you'll wind up at a mini boss...
which is three wierd looking creatures... one has a tuba or some brass
instrument... another is a big bird.. and one is a minotuar or something.
Just beat em up and head through the door. One more door to the north and
poof! Time to fight the second guardian!
(Secret- Somewhere hidden in this Lair is the key to being able to cast
Armageadon. Finding it makes this guardian a whole lot easier. KABOOM)
4B) This path can be much more difficult if you aren't strong enough. The
guardian will start out easy, but as you do damage to it, the screen will
flash and another head will form on the guardian. After you get all three
other heads formed, you'll have a bit more to go, and then poof! No
more guardian!
The third guardian, the guardian of water, can be either very hard.... or
not quite as hard. Dealing with him can turn from looking life you have
very good chance to being downright terminated.
1) If you haven't already, head to the beach town called the Great Arc.
There, talk to the pirate (His name is Herman), and he'll show you to a
cave. At the end of this cave is a dolphin statue. Grab it and go.
2) Now, head to Vanguard. If you haven't already delt with the Murder...
go spend a night at the inn. Then, talk to the old man (he's in one of
the houses). He'll open a staircase to a dungeon. Get through the dungeon
ASAP, don't go after the treasure. At the end will be a wussy little boss.
Hit the switch and head up the stair case. Now you'll be in the techno
water place. Head back through the dungeon (it's empty of monsters now,
grab the treasure) and talk to the old man. Now, head to the dual-village
to the south of vanguard and enter the pub. Deal with the guards, and talk
to the green haired mage lady. Now, head to the southern part of the town
and deal with those guards in the pud. Head up the stair case in the pub
(keep going) and you'll end up next to some guy in red. Talk to him and
get ready to fight. Take care of that dope. Now, head to the northern part
of town and talk to the green haired mage lady and fight her guards.
3) NOW, head into the inn in the northern part of town and talk to the
lone mage. Head back to vanguard and talk to the old man again. Head
back through the dungeon and into the techno-water place. Go to the middle
orange sphere and place place the dolphin statue on it. Now, stand on the
center dolphin platform and you'll make the Vanguard float. WHEW!
4) There are two selections when you step on the dolphin platform now.
Select the first one. Now, head outside and onto the boat. You'll be taken
to a lobster village. Talk to all the lobsters here (Boston is here), and
one will tell you some coordinates to go to. Go back to the vanguard and
select the new choice on the list of places to go. Now, select the same
choice and down into the deep you go. Keep selecting the first choice till
your in the dungeon.
5) Work your way through this place. It's annoying!! It would take a long
long time to describe how to get through this place, so I wont. Once your
at the end and at the Guardian... the REAL challenge starts. The trouble
with this one is that he has a nasty shockwave attack that randomly damages
or kills your characters. PAIN! Fight this and fight it quick! Heal, fight,
do 9999 damage multitechs (there are some, trust me) and just hurt it
quick! If you don't, your toast.
This guardian is hard. Not just hard, HARD. Getting here takes time, and
powering up enough to be able to kill it takes more!
1) Head to the Great Arch. Go to the boat guy, and select the second thing
on the list. This will take you to Ake. Head south and into the jungle.
Now... there is a way to get through this easy, but I don't know it. Just
randomly walk around until you happen to stumble into the fairy village.
Once there, talk to ALL the fairies and grab all the treasure boxes. Then,
leave.
2) Go wandering through the jungle again. If you keep at this for long
enough, you'll end up at the first palace. Whew.
3) Inside the first palace are lots of monsters and treasures. Grab what
you can, but keep moving. Near the end, you'll come to a room with lots
of blue flames, and a big blue fire blocking you. Walk into the fire, and
you'll fight a Pyro Hydra. It's not a big challenge sence they are normal
enemies. Once your through it, you'll be at the fourth Gate Guard.
4) The problem is the majority of your single techs will be counter attacked
when you use them. So... just remember my little tip: You can't counter a
multi-tech. So, do nothing but multitechs, and PRAY you can kill that son
of a $#!^% without anyone dieing. This battle can either be HARD HARD or
just moderately hard. I advise you have at least 700HP to fight it.
Good luck!!
You've done it! Thats the last of those bastards! Now you can go on to the
last Gate and close it! yahoo!
V. ***FINAL BOSS INFO***
Whew, she sure is a tough one! The Final boss of Romancing Saga 3 can be
very hard. The first time I beat it was with a party with 999HP each. So
you've gone to the final area and jumped into the final battle... then,
poof, your dead. WELL, if you do it that way, you CAN'T win. I've tried,
it doesn't work!
The real trick is that before you enter the final chamber, there are 4 blue
teleports around one of the orange teleports. Hold down the run button and
jump into one of the teleporters and you'll get taken to a rather firmiliar
place. At the end is one of the four Demons mentioned in the intro! These
suckers are basicly mega-powered up versions of the four gate guardians.
I generaly Concider the order of the Demon difficulty to be: Water, Fire,
Air, Earth. You might want to do them hardest-first, because if you can
take down the hardest, the rest shouldn't be nearly as hard.
So... what does killing the demons have to do with the Final boss? WELL,
after a bit of fighting with the final boss, It will randomly morph into
one of four forms, corisponding to one of the demons. If you kill that
demon, it can't morph into that form! So, kill all the demons, and you wont
have as much of a challenge with the final boss. (Hey, if your strong enough
to take out the demons, your strong enough to take out the final boss)
Here are the six forms of the final boss:
The initial form. You'll see this as soon as the battle starts. She'll
morph back into this after you take out of of her 4 random forms. This
form starts out incredibly easy. The more damage she takes, however, the
harder it gets. Later on, she generaly gets 3 or 4 attacks, including the
Fire-ball, Ice-Ball, and 4-hit-lit attacks. Not to mention the mass-drain
spells, and heaps of stuns and sleeps. This is the second hardest of all
the forms.
The Earth form. When she goes to transform, she'll use Black orbs. This one
isn't as hard as most of the others. It does have a lot of life though, so
be careful. Hit it enough and eventuly she'll morph back.
The Air form. She'll use Blue Orbs to morph into this one. This one can be
nasty... as it retains the air-guards tri-attack ability. Look out for
this one!
The Water form. Uses Gree Orbs I belive (correct me if I'm wrong). This
one can be REALLY nasty.... which goes without saying when you get hit
with the Mega-Shockwave hit (Random people die, others take around
300 damamge).
The Fire form. She uses Red Orbs for this. This is the third hardest of
all the forms. Every time you hit it, it hurts you back. Get someone
invunerable to Fire to pound this thing. If you are strong enough though,
you can take it out in 1 round. Thank goodness!
The FINAL form. She looks a bit like the initial form, but does a special
transformation, and looks REALLY pissed off at you. This one is the hardest
of all of them! But, it can also be the shortest to kill, if you've done
enough damage to it before it morphs into this sucker. Basicly, this is a
combonation of all the other forms in one.. and she randomly picks a set of
attacks to do on you. She also has a fifth attack, a large blue shockwave.
This one is a SERIOUS pain! If you have a powerful enough attack and you
have enough people alive and at good health when you get to this form,
you might make it!!
(Secret note: If you have beaten all 4 demons before you get to the final
boss, she'll morph into her Final form VERY quickly! However, a bit through,
she'll do a Mega-Cure spells, which cures all your characters, and her, by
999HP. This helps you SOOOO much more than it helps her... trust me. After
she casts this spell, she'll go back to her initial form. Just keep
pounding her, and eventualy, you'll get her good!)
Once you've finaly stomped down this final form... it's all over. Watch the ending and have fun.
VI. ***THE MEGA NEWBIE GUIDE***
Here are a few questions asked by Dimetric Houston that need answering for all
you totaly new players out there. I hope you call thank me for this. I hope he
doesn't mind I clipped all the text from the message I sent him. :)
> Ok, so now you know that I know no Japanese, and so will be thoroughly
> lost on this game.
I didn't either when I first started playing. I still don't know to much.
The real trick is to look at the Japanese and just memorize it. Not what it
means, just try and memorize it so you can remember it later... like, if
you get a special attack, and you memorize what the symbols look like (it
gets a lot easier as you keep playing, trust me), you can recall that later
to use. It's difficult at first, but if you stick at it long enough, you'll
get it.
Don't worry about being lost either... I know I was dead lost the first
time I played it through. I had to get lots of help when I was playing it.
> Yet, I have some serious questions that I need to ask of you. The
> questions you put in your Mini-FAQ brought up some facets of the game
I've
> never heard of. What is this "group-tech" you are talking about?
> Also, I never knew anything about the formations. What are the "techs"
> that you keep mentioning (singletech, tripletech)?
Er... this is a bit complicated...
What I refer to as "Techs" are special attacks your character will some
times learn during combat. You'll know you've learned one when a little
light bulb apears above one of your characters heads and he does something
rather different. These can range from Giantic Meteorite Smash attacks to
Healing Attacks (er... I think you understand).
Now, you must realize there are TWO kinds of battle systems in Romancing
Saga 3. The Single-Tech Battle System, and the Multi-Tech Battle System.
The Single-Tech Battle System (STBS) is the kind used in final fantasy and
such. This is when you issue each of your characters a seperate attack or
command, and they go do it. It's rather simple.
Now, the Multi-Tech Battle System (MTBS) is unique, as far as I know. You
can get into this mode when you have 6 people in your party. Now, you can
only ever have 5 people on screen fighting... so if you have 6 people in
your party, one always has to sit out. Now, if you make that person the
main character you selected at the beggining of the game, you will get into
the MTBS. In this mode, basicly you issue a set of general commands to the
other 5 people who are on screen. You can do such things as tell everyone
to defend, tell everyone to attack, or tell everyone to do their most
powerful special attacks. There are lots of choises... many of which are
unimportant. Also what you choose is the specific attack command. This
Specific attack command makes two or more characters forget the general
commands and do a special Multi-Tech. (Multi-Tech of course meaning,
Techniques that require more than one person to do. Anywhere from 2 to 5
people in this game). Now, these Specific commands are learned randomly
over time, just like normal Techs are. And, depending on your formation,
you can use different specific commands.
NOW, Formations. There are about... 12 or 14 formations in the game. You
start with 4, I belive. There are different formations depending on how
many characters you have in your party (going from 1 to 6 people of
course). These formations are used to allow you to put your big attacking
guys in front and keep the weaker Bow using characters and Mages in the
back. You can move your characters about in the possitions of the
formations to put them where they need to be.
In the MTBS, the formations allow you to do different kinds of Multi-Techs.
In one formation, you might be able to have all 5 of the on-screen
characters shoot massive amounts of arrows at the enemies (like what they
did in the intro...). Or, in another, you could cause a stream of comets to
hit the enemies for lots of damage. Whew...
Also, check my FAQ about how to get new formations.
As for Group-Techs... thats just another name for Multi-Techs.
> Ok, let me slow down here. I'm pleading at this point. Can you just
> explain how the controls work? What will I see on the menu screens?
> Can you give me a list of them, so I'll have
> some idea what they are, how to get them, what the AP cost is, and all
> that? Basically, I need the whole she-bang. It's too much to ask
> (especially seeing that you just made a mini-FAQ), but can you just give
> me something to help me understand this game? Please.
Okay, the controls...
the A button is usual the Do button. Like, click A to talk, or click A to
select a command or menu item...
the B button is usual the Cancel button. When selected a wrong menu and you
want to exit it... push the B button to get out.... stuff like that. :)
the Y and X buttons are special buttons. when just walking around like in
Final Fantasy, Holding the Y button makes you run. The X button is used to
Quickly exit a building or town. This sends you out of the town or building
without haveing to walk out. (handy). This only works in friendly places
though, hostile areas like doungeons and such don't let you use that
button.
When in Combat, the X button, when held, will pop up all the HP and LP
levels of your characters. This is nice, because there is no menu at the
bottom like the Final Fantasy games where you can just look down at your
life.
In Combat, if you are using the STBS, Y... as far as I dang well can
remember, won't do anything. In the MTBS, Y will bring up the list of
General attack commands... like, attack at will, or defence, or do max
power attacks... I already told you about those.
ALSO, if you push the B button in combat before you have issued any
commands in the current turn (if you didn't know, it's a turn based combat
engine. You issues all your characters commands first, then they do all
their stuff, and you issue the next set of commands), AND you are in the
MTBS, you get a list of the formations you know. You can choose one, and
poof, your guys change formation Mid-battle. This is a GREAT tool to use.
:)
Oh yeah... in the STBS, you can push L to tell that particular person to
defend. in both the STBS and the MTBS, you can push R to run away.
oops... two more...
On the normal walking around screen, you can push start to pause the game,
and select to bring up the menu.
NOW... for the Menu screen. When you push select to bring up the menu,
you'll see all your guys to the left, and a list of menu items to choose on
the right. I hope I have these all right... or you'll be in some deep
stuff.... :)
First- Equip Weapons and Armor onto your characters. Basicly, pick a
character and it'll bring up a list of the slots he can equip to and what
he has equiped. The first four are Weapons/Shields/Items/Scrolls. (You only
need to worry about the Weapons and Shields, sence the others are pretty
worthless to equip.) The second four slots are for armor... which come in
these varieties: Light Body Armor, Heavy Body Armor, Gauntlets, Boots,
Helmets, Shirts, and Necklaces. Necklaces are special kinds of armor that
can give you special protections, like from Water attacks or Fire
attacks... The other ones are pretty ovius what they do.
Now, when you look at a Weapon or Armor, it will have either 1 number
(shown in the description box) for weapons, or 2 for armor. the number for
the weapons is the power level of that weapon. basicly, the higher the
better. (I've seen as high as 40 with the secret weapons). With armor, you
get two numbers. I have no idea the difference between them... All I know
is that, the higher, the better. Although, if you use really heavy stuff
like the Heavy Body armor, you slow down a lot... and your attacks become
less acurate and weaker... NOT a good idea.
Okay, the second choice on the Menu is Equip of Techs. You see, when you
learn Techs randomly in battle (these are single techs only, you don't have
to worry about managing multi-techs), they are put in your list of
currently equpied techs. You can have quite a few, trust me.
Now, if a tech is in Red, that means that specific character can use it
himself. However, if you use that Tech enough, it may become mastered, and
it will turn black. this means, ANY character you have can use this tech if
they equip it.
On this tech equip screen to the right is a list of all the different
catagories of Techs (I'll explain later). Basicly, you pick a catagory, and
select a tech, and it's equiped. you can now use that tech in battle, as
long as you have a weapon of the right type equiped, of course.
Third menu choice is the Equip Magic. This is a menu that is completely
unimportant. Don't even bother waisting your time on it.
Fourth one is your inventory list. You can drop items, use them.. move em
around, all that.
Fifth is a list of the Goals you need to acomplish, but this is irrelevant
to you and me both... don't worry about it.
Sixth is the formations window. You can use it to change your formation and
move characters around in it. This is also (if you have 6 characters in
your party) where you can move your main character out of group of 5
onscreen characters and thus getting you into the MTBS.
Seventh is the options menu. there isn't anything important in here.
the last one is the save menu. Use this to save your game. (You can at any
time.)
That's it for the menu.
>How do I learn these "techs?"
As I said earlier, you randomly learn them in battle when you just do a
normal attack. (There are some exceptions to this. One sword Tech can only
be learned if you randomly get it while using another Tech... er.. maybe I
confused you more... if so, ignore this part.)
>What is AP cost?
Okay... this is important to know. There are 4 point numbers in Romancing
Saga 3.
HP- Hit points. A characters current life. That character dies if this hits
0.
LP- Life points. When a person's life hit's 0, he looses one of these. When
he looses one of these, that's bad. If that person completely runs out of
LP, that character is DEAD. Not just dead, but dead and gone. there is NO
WAY to get a character back if his LP hits 0. If your main character hits 0
LP, the game is OVER!
AP- Ability Points. Most Techs require at least 1 of these. When you do a
Tech, you amount of these goes down by however many points the Tech needed.
JP- Job Points... I think. This is basicly the same as MP is in other
games. You need it to cast Magic. Simple enough.
All of these Points can be easily brought back up to maximum by going to an
inn and sleeping. Even your LP goes back up to max.
Here are a few more things about the game you didn't ask about, but you
need to know:
Your character's abilitys with a certain kind of weapon goes in a range
from 0 up to... 40 I belive. When your character uses a certain weapon in
battle, he has a possibility to gain a point in his ability to use that
weapon. These take a long time to raise! Just keep at it! If you ever
manage to hit 40, that character will just be DANG good that weapon type!
So, the damage a character can deal with a weapon is determined by these
things: The power level of that weapon, That characters place in the
formation, and his skill with that weapon. There you have it.
Now, the different kinds of weapons are:
Blade, Pole, Bashing, Arrow, Fist. These are what you gain skill in.
HOWEVER, you don't gain Tech in these catagories... there are sub
catagories. which you gain the Techs in. Here are the lists of different
catagories of Techs:
Short Sword - Blade - Includes short swords and curved blades.
Long Sword - Blade - Includes long swords and the Katana sword.
Spear - Pole - Incudes just spear weapons.
Lance - Pole - Incudes just lance weapons. (Don't use these. Use Spears
instead)
Hammer - Bashing - Includes just hammers
Axe - Bashing - Includes just Axe type weapons.
Bow - Arrow - Just bows. There is only one catagory for these.
Fist - Fist - Same as the bow. Don't underestimate these.
Dodge Techs - Special - These are a different kind all together.
Dodge Techs are rather odd. Sometimes, when one of your characters is
attack, a light bulb will apear over his head, and he will spin out of the
way of the attack. This is a dodge tech. If your character uses it enough,
it gets mastered, just like other dodge techs. I Generaly just find which
ones are usful and never un-equip them.
Okay, another note on the STBL battle system for all you... When you are
issuing commands, you will have a list of choices. The first on the list is
always the basic attack. The later ones on the list (if any) are the Techs,
and usualy require AP to use. If you push left and right, you can switch
between other weapons you have equiped! which means you can have a Spear
and a Sword equiped and use either one during battle. Also, by pushing left
and right, you can find magic spells, if any, and and items you may have
equiped.
Well, that's about it for the Mega-Newbie section.
Thats all for now. If you want anything added, just Email me at
Grasscrab@geocities.com
FAQ contributed by Gabriel Teodorescu - gabiteo@bx.logicnet.ro
