Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete Missables Guide
Set developed by Alena, guide written by benit149
Hello, and welcome to my fourth RAGuide. This time I’ll be covering all of the missable achievements in Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, the Playstation version of the original Sega CD JRPG Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. I wrote this since I found the Lunar: Silver Stary Story Complete missables guide very handy during my playthrough, and didn’t understand why Lunar 2 didn’t have one. So, here we go.
There will be spoilers involved since some achievements rely on specific story triggers, so please don’t use this guide if you intend to enjoy the plot for the first time.
Changing Character Formations in Battle
This was a gameplay mechanic that I had not figured out until the final boss gauntlet, which turns out to be incredibly important for survival in some of the harder boss battles. When not in battle, you can change your characters’ positions by going into the System menu, then Tactics, then Order. In battle however, the steps aren’t quite as intuitive. You’d think it would be in the Tactics menu, but this isn’t the case. First you need to choose Control, then for each character, they have four options; Attack, Magic, Items, and Defend. You want to confirm the Defend option with just one button press. Notice that your character now will flash strangely and there’s a triangle above them. This is when you can adjust the character’s battle position. You can only move them on the ground where they can run on. Once you’re ready, confirm their action with a second button press.
Crest-Related Achievements
You’ll notice that there are a bunch of missable achievements related to equipping an item called a Crest. They are marked as missable because you are able to sell them, with some only found in dungeons and nowhere else, meaning you can potentially screw yourself over. The function of Crests is not explained whatsoever in the game, but you basically equip a combination of two in order to receive an additional benefit or access to some unique spells. If you wish to know more details about the Crests themselves, please refer to this GameFAQs guide.
Don’t worry about getting most of these combinations until you find one called the Goddess Crest, which greatly enhances the effects of many Crests. This is found very, very late in the game, in Disc 2’s final dungeon right before you need to switch to Disc 3. Otherwise, some are found in item shops. From my experience, I accidentally bypassed Charm Crest which available in the Zen Zone’s shop, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. Another important crest you will get during the epilogue is Gale Crest, which is the final treasure found in Dragon’s Nest.
More items related to this subset of missables are the Rusty Dagger, Yellow Pajamas, Gorgon Doll, and Rubber Boots. You need to equip Rusty Dagger + Magic Eye Crest to enable the usage of Gwyn’s debuff spells Shattered Sword and Fractured Armor. For the other three items, have them all equipped and hold down the dash button while in a dungeon field to run around longer than usual. As useful as this may sound, the character with these items equipped will always start a battle with the sleep status due to the Yellow Pajamas, so this really isn’t worth it in the long run.
For the Dyne ~ Alex ~ Hiro achievement, you need to do this in the epilogue, the reason being that Nall gives Hiro the Althena’s Sword in Taben’s Peak. Equip that, a Goddess Crest and a Power Crest, and also NOT have a Healing Ring, Gauss’ Necklace or Gale Crest equipped, then win a battle.
Several elemental combinations enable the Pulse Explosion spell, typically with elements that don’t favor each other. The possible combinations for this spell include Thunder + Water, Thunder + Earth, Fire + Water, and Fire + Wind.
Aside from what has been mentioned above, I’ll list the Crest combinations relevant for the achievement set. Goddess Crest will always be listed second so the rest can be in alphabetical order.
- Archer Crest + Goddess Crest = increased critical hit rate
- (Black Dragon Aura/Blue Dragon Aura/Red Dragon Aura/White Dragon Aura) + Goddess Crest = enhanced Dragon Magic for the equipped Aura
- Charm Crest + Goddess Crest = enables the Fatal Flirting spell
- Chiro Crest + Shiro Crest = enhanced range and speed
- Dream Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Dirt Nap spell
- Earth Crest + Fire Crest = enables Burning Quake spell
- Earth Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Call Earth spell
- Earth Crest + Water Crest = enables Icicle Break spell
- Fire Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Call Fire spell
- Fire Crest + Thunder Crest = enables Shining Flame spell
- Gale Crest + Goddess Crest = greatly enhances the number of attacks (except for Lemina)
- Gale Crest + Hunter Crest = turns melee attack into a projectile attack
- Healing Crest + Magic Eye Crest = allows wearer to absorb MP from regular attacks
- Magic Eye Crest + Goddess Crest = MP consumption halved
- Mind Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Mind Burst spell
- Mind Crest + Warrior Crest = greatly increases attack, but wearer always goes last
- Ogre Crest + Goddess Crest = allows wearer to attack all enemies
- Power Crest + (Charm/Dream/Mind/Seal/Snake) Crest = status effect added to regular attacks
- Power Crest + (Earth/Fire/Thunder/Water/Wind) Crest = element added to regular attacks
- Power Crest + Goddess Crest = increased stats + item drop chance
- Revenge Crest + Goddess Crest = increased counterattack chance
- Seal Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Super Seal spell
- Seal Crest + Warrior Crest = grants full attack power, but disables spells and skills
- Snake Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Venom Dart spell
- Thunder Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Call Thunder spell
- Thunder Crest + Wind Crest = enables Thunder Tornado spell
- Water Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Call Water spell
- Water Crest + Wind Crest = enables Mighty Mistral spell
- Wind Crest + Goddess Crest = enables Call Wind spell
After your very first battle in the game, Ruby suggests to pray to the Althena Statue. Ignore her and continue on. There is potential to get a game over, but only if you don’t heal up between battles when your HP gets low, especially against the Sand Cyclops and Sand Sharks. A couple of level ups should help trivialize this area, plus you can get Herbs as an enemy drop.
When Hiro and Gwyn witness the strange light at the Blue Spire, Gwyn will tell Hiro to retrieve his weapon from the chest in the basement. Once you do, equip it immediately. Go upstairs and talk to Gwyn after this.
Get Gwyn up to level 12 to learn his final spell, Shattered Sword. You should be able to get this through natural gameplay, but be quick about it since Gwyn permanently leaves after clearing Blue Spire.
This one is a lot trickier than what I had initially believed. First of all, to get this to trigger, Hiro and Gwyn both need to die during the Guardian boss fight, but Lucia needs to be alive. When this happens, there is a chance for Ruby to swoop in and claw the Guardian for around 40 damage, while shouting, “He almost killed Hiro and Grandpa! That big bully!” It was implemented into the English version to counteract a glitch in the Japanese version.
There is some misinformation that Ruby’s attack is a one-hit KO. That is not true. She simply does a lot more damage than usual. Hiro and Gwyn still need to get the Guardian down to enough HP, then die, then hopefully Ruby will do her attack and kill the boss. This means you’re going to need a calculator. Guardian has 550 HP, so get it down to about 39 or less HP before attempting this – be mindful of Ruby doing random weak attacks as you do this. If Lucia is killed and you don’t have an Angel’s Tear to revive her, you may as well reset. For Gwyn’s Fractured Armor, don’t cast it more than three times – any more than that, and no defense will be lowered, meaning you’re wasting your MP and a turn.
Sadly, even with all of that effort, the likelihood of Ruby doing her secret attack appears to be random, or at least 50/50. I lost count of how many times I had to redo this fight until I got a scenario where Hiro and Gwyn were killed after I got the boss down to 30 HP, but Ruby’s attack didn’t trigger. Then it did its buff move on its next turn, and that’s when Ruby attacked. If it hadn’t done its buff, it would’ve gone after Lucia instead.
For those of you curious to know if Ruby’s regular weak attack killing the boss counts for this, it does not. I had it happen during one of my attempts, and the game proceeded as normal without triggering this achievement. It is specifically looking for the special dialogue.
This has to be performed separately from The Furry Tormentor since Hiro and Gwyn need to be KO’ed for that achievement. This certainly isn’t as hard to get since all you have to do is use Hiro’s Poe Sword, while Gwyn acts as support with healing and debuffs. You can get Shattered Sword at level 12 to reduce Guardian’s attack as well, if you’re willing to put in a little time to grind. It’s not really necessary though, so long as you understand the rhythm to this boss fight. I also recommend having Hiro use any items instead of Gwyn since the old man tends to be slower than the Guardian, meaning his healing spells may lag behind the buffed damage. The only exception is when the Guardian does its buffing move, indicated by its sprite flashing white.
Hiro and Gwyn need to survive the four Guardians ambushing the party at Blue Spire’s entrance for two turns. This is going to depend on Lucia’s position on the field, which she should be at the very bottom. If she’s in just the right spot, the Guardians will try to advance on her, but won’t be able to attack due to them being blocked. If Lucia is killed in the first turn, reset. Even with defending, you can’t survive against so much damage.
In Dalton, Hiro and Ronfar will need to infiltrate the Dragonship Destiny to rescue Lucia. Upon entering the dungeon portion of the ship, the first enemy will be at the mid-point down the left hallway. Upon initiating that battle, you cannot turn back to use the Althena Statue, cannot get any party members KO’ed, and cannot leave the ship until all of the guards you can encounter are gone. Note that if the Private takes a stance like he’s blocking with his shield, do not use regular attacks. Use Hiro’s skills, and let Ronfar heal or block. Ruby’s attack bypasses this. In total, there are three enemies on the first floor, and five on the second floor (one is directly north of the second floor’s entrance that is missable).
While these guys give really good experience points, I tried backtracking to the statue once I got the achievement to see if they respawned, but they remain downed no matter what.
At Jean’s caravan, some of her friends will be kidnapped by a plant monster, namely the boss Plantella. Hiro should use Poe Sword unless his HP is low, in which case you defend. Ronfar can use Anger Dice on the first turn, but afterwards it’s healing and cleansing poison as the situation calls it. You could level him up to level 18 in Illusion Forest for him to learn Purity Litany, which heals all of a character’s HP. Jean’s regular attack is almost worthless, so stick to Bee Dance for as long as you can. Lucia’s behavior is still too unreliable, so don’t expect her to do much other than buffing her own defense or using Napalm Shot occasionally. When Plantella enters its third phase, pay attention to the damage and defend accordingly, because it hits the hardest here. I found that it targeted Hiro the most with its single target attacks, so consider defending and healing him the most.
In the town of Takkar, a strange hooded woman will tell you to go through the Ghost Manor if you want to proceed. At the eastern gate, you’ll first come upon Takkar Mountain Pass, which isn’t part of the achievement, so you can use regular attacks as you wish. There is no Althena Statue in this dungeon however, so manage your resources carefully. When you enter the manor and encounter your first enemy, that is when the achievement requirements activate. You are allowed to defend in battle, if you want to skip a character’s turn to preserve MP. Use Hiro’s Boomerang, Ronfar’s Anger Dice, and Jean’s Sleep Step for the most efficient use of your MP without needing to rely on Star Lights too much. The final monster will be just past the Herb chest. Once you’re finished this challenge, you either have the option of resetting to get your items back, or backtracking to Takkar to use the statue, buy items, and do a little more grinding.
Hiro should use Boomerang, Ronfar should stick to healing, while Jean uses regular attacks. I didn’t find this fight particularly hard, but it got a little scary near the end when Ronfar was put to sleep with low HP. Luckily Jean’s attack killed it before anything bad could happen.
Advance the plot until you reach the town of Zulan and are able to access the entrance to Zulan Mountain. You will encounter caverns blocked by ice, which Ruby will melt. Consider making multiple trips here because the monsters are deadly, especially the Razor Wolf’s AoE attack that deals about 40 damage to everyone. You’re also short a party member, so that makes this dungeon even more difficult to manage in one go. Equipping Lemina with a Fire Rod works wonders if her MP runs out. The iced-up walls are easy to spot along the way, of which there are eight in total, so just have Ruby melt them all before proceeding to the boss. Survive as best as you can, since you will receive a free heal just before fighting the boss.
If you couldn’t guess by now, speed is crucial here. If Missing Link beats its arms against its chest on the first turn, have Ronfar use Calm Litany even if everyone is at full HP. He tends to take his turn after the boss, so you’d be healing the zone damage he causes right away. Jean does the worst damage to the boss in this fight, so have her defend if her HP gets low. The most frustrating part is that the boss will encase itself in a tornado that makes it invincible for a few turns. It always acts first on that particular turn too, so you can’t sneak in any damage with Jean.
The good news is that Lucia will finally start contributing to battles as an ally, rather than just protecting herself. I’d recommend positioning Lucia somewhere in the front row so the boss is more likely to attack her, meaning she’ll get more Napalm Shot counters off. Otherwise it’s the usual routine, with Lemina focusing on Flame Shot for every round except the tornado ones, in which she’ll buff allies’ attack using Power Flame.
Ramus’ shop can be ignored while visiting Lunn’s dojo in Meribia, so take the time to pay a visit before going there. You’ll get two of Lemina’s bromides at this time too, detailed below.
AND
Acquire all of the bromides.
This is where the bromides start to become missable. I say this, but Lunar 2's bromides are nowhere near as unforgiving as Lunar 1's hilariously time-sensitive bromides. There are only two missable ones here, but for simplicity’s sake, I’ll detail where all of them are here instead of peppering them throughout this guide. The main story bromides are in chronological order so you don’t miss the two bromides in question, while the epilogue bromides can be gotten in any order you want.
Lucia 1: In Larpa. Spend the night at Ronfar’s house, then speak to the old man standing outside the house that’s above the Althena Statue.
Jean 2: In the Caravan after Illusion Woods. Once Jean joins the party permanently, but before leaving for Takkar, speak with the woman next to the northern entrance.
Lemina 3: Ramus’ shop in Meribia. Speak to the elderly man four times. This bromide is missable!
Lemina 2: Ramus’ shop again. Search the upper-left barrels after getting Lemina's other bromide. This is missable too!
Jessica: Meribia’s tavern. A philosopher in the upper-left corner has it.
Mia: Transmission Spring near Vane. The NPC near the top of the screen has it.
Lemina 1: Vane’s Magic Library, in one of the eastern shelves' poetry books. The bookshelves next to it have books that Lemina comments on, so that’s how you know you’re on the right track.
The following bromides are found during the epilogue, after defeating the final boss.
Lucia 2: Taben’s Peak. Inside the baby’s cradle on the playground balcony.
Lucia 3: Mystic Ruins. The upper right fairy in the garden gives you this.
Lucia 4: Taben’s Peak. In the basement jail cell.
Jean 1: Horam. Talk to the drunk old man in the northwest dojo.
Jean 3: Madoria Carnival. Go to the second screen, and a male NPC to the right of the entrance sells this for 3000 silver.
Jean 4: Madoria Carnival. In the same screen as the previous Jean bromide, there’s a new treasure chest behind a planter with balloons at the northeast.
Lemina 4: Meribia Sewers. The area’s free of monsters, so just head down towards the boss room, pass by it, and continue down until you can go left and up to a new chest.
Luna: Vane. Inside the house just left of the town’s entrance, speak with the female NPC.
Mauri 1: Raculi. Recruit Ronfar first, then speak with Mauri.
Mauri 2: Raculi. In a new treasure chest behind Ronfar and Mauri’s house.
Mystere: Takkar. Speak with the blue-garbed priest at the upper entrance. If Leo is in the party, he’ll have some additional dialogue.
Borgan: Vane. Recruit Lemina first, then speak with Borgan.
Borgan X: Vane. Examine the tapestry behind Borgan and alternate X and O several times until you hear a ‘ding’ sound. The bromide will show up in your inventory as a yellow question mark on a red background.
Nall: Taben’s Peak. Speak to the kid twice in the northwest part of the room with the see-saw and slide.
Ghaleon: Mystic Ruins. In the room where the party first meets Ghaleon near the roof. Leo is recruited on the rooftop itself.
Hiro: Lionhead. In the exterior room, after the room where you need to rotate platforms to pass over a bunch of spikes.
After the children are kidnapped at Taben’s Peak, you need to return to Meribia and go to Ramus’ shop to access the sewers. You can lower the bridges, then go back to the Althena Statue and restock before taking these guys on. Equip Lemina with the Water Staff since ice is their elemental weakness. Get Jean to level 26 to ensure she will be faster than the Assassins, as she will be your healer. Buy plenty of Healing Nuts, then have her use them on your allies as the situation calls it. I started with 10 and ended with 3, so that’s a good benchmark. Defend with a character if you plan on healing them later. Take the enemies down one at a time, although it can be difficult to tell them apart when they have the same sprites and are moving around all over the place.
A bit of a mouthful for the achievement’s description, but the principle is the same as previous achievements like Althena Doesn’t Seem to Mind or Magnificat~. In the town of Azado, progress the story until it is bombarded by flames. The party will only consist of Hiro, Ronfar and Leo, and Leo will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. If you have three Inferno Ghouls bunched up together, defend with Hiro and Ronfar while Leo uses Buzz Blade before cleaning up the survivors. If you have three enemies spread out, or four enemies, do the same but use Leo’s Grizzle Blade instead. Don’t hesitate to use a Star Light or two for him. Maybe get Hiro and Ronfar up to level 28 before attempting this, since I had some trouble at level 27. Otherwise, all of the enemies are on the prescribed path and should be easy to spot. Once you’re done, I recommend backtracking to the statue at port so you don’t have to pay 100 silver for the one inside the sanctuary.
As a side note, the Goddess Image dungeon is particularly vicious at this point in the game due to only having Hiro, Ronfar and Leo, and your guest member is doing a lot of the legwork here. His AoE skills are also expensive, meaning you’ll have to use some Star Lights to help you survive. The enemies don’t even give good experience, but they’re in the way in such tight corridors. I opted to dispose of them, but you can flee from battles too. I even got a game over when Hiro and Ronfar were KO’ed, and then a Dieclops paralyzed Leo (he can’t equip the Vigor Ring to prevent this), so watch out! Leo’s earth elemental spells work great against the Dieclops.
For Flame Fang itself, you want Leo to use Flash Blade for the entire battle and never let up with him. For Hiro, it depends on the boss’ behavior. If it is flapping its wings slowly, it will do either an AoE or a Zoned attack, so it is safe to attack with Poe Sword as long as Hiro’s health is high. If its wings are flapping quickly though, DEFEND with Hiro! Since he’s in the NW corner of the tactics grid by default, Flame Fang should always target him with a powerful single target attack, and it stings! Unguarded, the damage is around 150. While guarding, it’s reduced to about 80. Ronfar should heal as normal. In fact, even if Hiro’s HP is high during Flame Fang’s single target turn, use Heal Litany on him. Ronfar should act after the boss, meaning that damage will be healed up. An even greater boon is that the dungeon has a Healing Ring, so combined with Gauss’ Necklace on Hiro and you’ll get loads of additional healing each turn. This also stacks with Saint Litany, so slap that on everyone whenever you get the chance.
Advance the plot for a while until Leo challenges Hiro to a duel aboard the Dragonship Destiny. Have a bunch of Healing Nuts on hand, and unequip everything except for Hiro’s sword. At this point in the game, he should have the Platinum Blade and be around level 30. Leo uses either physical attacks, indicated by him spinning his sword, or magic when indicated by him flapping his mouth. Defend/heal during the physical attacks, and use Poe Sword during the magical attacks since they don’t hit as hard. If he takes neither stance, he is about to heal himself with a Passion Fruit. Luckily, this is the one fight where losing does not give you a game over, so you can try again as many times as needed.
The White Dragon Cave is host to Shiro Mongrels (light blue with pink fringe and have two tails) and Chiro Mongrels (light grey with green fringe and have one tail), who have some very useful crests that can be stolen from them using Lemina’s Thieves’ Staff. Shiro Crests increase the user’s range, while Chiro Crests increase their speed and allow for a character to act first if two are equipped. You obviously want Chiro Crests, so I recommend spending some time getting them, even if it’s just for Ronfar and/or Lemina.
While the Shiro Mongrels don’t run away, the Chiro Mongrels do (think of them as Lunar 2’s version of Metal Slimes), so it can be extra challenging to steal them when Lemina is so slow. Unfortunately, the Chiro Mongrels are also a rare monster, so finding them is a pain in its own right, never mind stealing from them. Don’t bother trying to kill one – it’s virtually impossible at this point in the game. If you are lucky to steal a Chiro Crest along with obtaining the one available in the dungeon’s third floor, stick them both on Lemina first to guarantee that she will always go first in battle, making stealing from future Chiro Mongrels that much easier. This will also net you the Don’t Think, Just Do It! achievement. This setup will make the rest of the game so much easier as well!
Note that I grinded here to steal 10 Chiro Crests for my final party, mostly to make regular battles go faster, so if you choose not to do this, your experience may be different from mine. Except for the final boss, I intentionally removed the crests for boss battles to find any strategies that would be useful for you. You’re welcome. :)
Erase Magic refers to a spell that Lemina learns at level 32, which clears the field of elemental magic. You want to avoid using this for the elemental fiend battles, but three of them have the ability to change the field to suit their element, which causes them to deal extra damage with elemental attacks. This is indicated by a symbol on the lower right of the screen (what symbol it is depends on the element). White Fiend will always do a non-elemental attack that hits everyone and changes the field on its first turn.
Hiro should do his regular Poe Sword routine, Ronfar uses Saint Litany and healing magic as needed, Jean uses regular attacks, and Lemina can either boost Hiro or Jean’s attack, or use Flame Shot. Don’t bother with boosting defense since White Fiend primarily uses magical attacks. Since I had done some extra grinding, Ronfar upgraded his Calm Litany to Tranquil Litany, which is highly advised for this fight for two reasons; White Fiend boosting its attack, and the elemental field buff. The HP healed is significantly better compared to Calm Litany, so if you’re having trouble, get that spell ASAP.
Knowing what White Fiend’s behavior is will be useful for planning your moves each turn. In fact, I will be listing most bosses' behaviors from now on since predicting their moves will be crucial for survival when you have restrictions in place.
- Aura ring encircles self: AoE non-elemental damage + Field: Water
- Pentagram on the ground: Raises own ATK/DEF
- Mouth agape, head bobbing: AoE water-elemental damage
- Wings and head glow white: Single target water-elemental damage + chance to sleep
Another particularly involved achievement description, but the idea is to survive the tournament under your own power without assistance from healing rings or the Althena Statue. Only Hiro, Ronfar and Jean will be available for these fights, and Saint Litany is not forbidden, so consider that as an alternative. Jean’s behavior in battle will also change – she no longer uses fans as a throwing weapon, instead equipping claws for close-range combat as well as gaining access to two new abilities; Blue Dragon Palm, and Dopple Dance. Since I had grinded her to level 39, she also has the Blue Dragon Kick ability. This might not be the case for you.
There are three battles in the tournament. The first shouldn’t pose much of a problem as long as you use Poe Sword and Blue Dragon Palm. The second fight has enemies with twice as much HP as the first fight’s enemies, can attack twice, and inflict poison. The third battle can be a bit tougher since the enemies are practically damage sponges, attack three times, and can use a hard-hitting single target attack that does about 100 HP damage without guarding. Defending and using healing items is an option if Ronfar is dangerously low on HP, since he tends to take his turn after the opponents. Make sure not to heal nor leave the area between battles! Just talk to the tournament NPC right away. Once the third battle is over, you will get the achievement.
Jean has to fight this battle alone, so hopefully you’ve stocked up on Healing Nuts. You can use the Althena Statue after the three battles before talking to Lunn. You can’t use any of Jean’s abilities here, so you’re stuck with regular attacks and healing as needed. Pray that you get some critical hits to outpace his healing. This is the pattern of Lunn’s behavior.
- Crouching with leg extended: Physical damage, about 60-70 damage
- Standing with palms extended: Physical damage, about 100 damage
- Standing with arms at side: Heals self for about 375 HP + DEF up
- Standing with arms folded: Two-hit physical damage, about 75 damage
Same principle as the battle with White Fiend. If someone gets muted, heal it as quickly as you can, especially if it hits Ronfar or Lemina. A good idea to mitigate at least the zoned attack is to equip Hiro and Jean with rings that reduce water damage, then move them in close to Blue Fiend with regular attacks. This should prevent Ronfar and Lemina from being targeted and thus muted. However, its rain-themed attack can hit really hard with the elemental field property active, which caused a reset for me because it hit Ronfar for around 230 damage that killed him. Even with the additional grinding I did, I noticed that it left Lemina with 20 HP after she was at full health (at level 41). Yikes! Ronfar does learn Divine Litany at level 42, which is an upgraded Saint Litany. Consider getting him there so you can guarantee that everyone has healing between turns. I had him at level 41 and scraped by, so it’s up to you.
Anyway, these are Blue Fiend’s patterns.
- Sucking in water with mouth: AoE water-element damage + Field: Water (the deadly rain attack)
- Arms pointing upward: Zone water-element damage + chance to mute
- Horns glowing blue: AoE water-element damage
- Pentagram beneath it: Heals about 1266 HP to itself
An interesting note about the dungeon is the Doom Rigger enemy. If you did the Chiro Crest farming earlier and/or are able to defeat this particular monster with ease, it gives around 3000 experience, which is absolutely insane for this part of the game. If you want to do some grinding, this is the ideal spot to do it. Lemina learns Magic Shield at level 42, which boosts all allies magic defense in a zone around her (she is the only one who can be targeted with this spell), so perhaps that would be worth your time.
Even though Zaback’s Althena Statue costs 100 silver to use, do so anyway to get the First Fruits ~ How Much Is Your Faith Worth? achievement. Neo-Vane’s item shop sells Anti-Magic Rings that increase magic defense, so combined with Lemina’s Magic Shield and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy as many as you can for the upcoming challenges. They’re 9000 silver a pop though, so it’s up to you. It also sells Magic Eye Crests for 4000 silver, so get two for Lemina if you can. Using magic with two crests equipped will get you The Power to Destroy the World achievement too. You lose Ronfar and Jean in Neo-Vane, but you’ll retrieve them after just one screen in the dungeon, so don’t worry about it.
These are Borgan’s behaviors during the battle.
- Left dragon head (green) expands: Siphons one character’s MP
- Center dragon head (brown) expands: Single target non-elemental damage
- Right dragon head (white) expands: Erects damage-reduction barrier on himself
- Holds staff horizontally, all dragon heads expand: AoE non-elemental damage
He wasn’t too hard for me with everyone at level 42, although characters can be put to sleep, so it could get potentially dangerous. Since you can’t use consumables, you’re stuck with whatever MP you can use that Borgan doesn’t siphon. He kept targeting Hiro with that attack though, so the others were practically free to do as they pleased. When Borgan erects the shield, just keep attacking it until it breaks.
Yeesh, this was brutal for me. This is hands down the most annoying of the elemental fiend battles because you have to defeat it in 8 turns or less while surviving its hard-hitting attacks. I’d say this is the hardest main storyline boss not named Zophar. First off, these are Black Fiend’s behaviors.
- Bobbing up and down: Lowers everyone’s MP
- Wings upright: Large zoned thunder-element damage
- Waving head, wings flashing: AoE physical damage + chance to paralyze
- Raised wings with head coiled: Single target non-elemental damage + chance to inflict various status ailments like paralyze and charm
Jean will pretty much be worthless in this fight because Black Fiend takes greatly reduced damage from physical attacks and all of her skills. Have her use Blue Dragon Palm regardless. Lemina is strictly on Crematorium duty, so have Jean use Star Lights if Lemina’s MP gets low. If you have a Snake Crest and a Revenge Crest, stick them on Hiro so his attack power rises each turn, freeing up Lemina to dish out the damage (this also gets you the Anabolic Steroids achievement). Hiro should use Cross-Boomerang instead of Poe Sword for this particular fight. Ronfar heals as usual, but keep everyone’s HP as high as possible. If Lucia gets paralyzed, heal it as soon as you can, even prioritizing her over Jean if they both get the ailment. Lucia’s Atomic Hole spell can provide some nice damage, and her Heal Litany can take some of the weight off of Ronfar.
Although Black Fiend does not change the field to suit its element, its attacks still hit pretty hard. It especially sucks when all of your characters are paralyzed, as it takes several turns to heal itself, and you’ll be dead long by then. Equip rings that prevent this, as well as any rings that reduce thunder damage. You should also change the characters’ formation so that Hiro is in front, particularly to mitigate the zoned thunder elemental attack as well as to make the single target attack more predictable so you know when to defend with him. One thing I failed to take into account is that Dragon Magic is allowed in this fight, so use White Dragon Protect if you feel you need to, but prioritize damage due to the turn limit.
This fiend is hard, so don’t be surprised if it takes you a few attempts like it did for me.
This has a very narrow timeframe, so make a save after defeating Black Fiend just in case. When you enter Raculi, you’ll spot Leo next to the Althena Statue on the hill. Don’t talk to him yet! Instead, go to the windmill in the northeast and speak to one of the NPCs there. He’ll hand Ronfar the letter from Mauri.
Same idea as previous achievements – go through Serak Palace and get Althena’s Aura without using a statue or leaving the dungeon. At least you don’t need to clear out all of the enemies this time. This is still a fairly difficult area if you’re intending on using just regular attacks to push through, so heal up after every battle. No achievement icon will show up to indicate your progress, so immediately reset if you fail any of the requirements. Once you’re done, I suggest backtracking to Raculi and using the Althena Statue there instead of paying 666 silver inside Serak.
Once you’re done with Serak Palace, you will find Leo confronting Mauri. Before starting the fight, equip Lemina with the Ice Staff. You’ll see why later. Lucia tells Ronfar to save Mauri through her subconsciousness, so he will be removed from the party and replaced with Leo. You briefly gain control of Ronfar and witness a memory of his and Mauri’s childhood, before talking with one of the five Mauris at the end. This is the only memory you want to witness, which means you need to take out all five of the heads of Mauri’s Id before it can transition to the next scene with Ronfar. You’re only given two turns to do this, which means hitting her fast and hard with AoE attacks.
Hiro does not have any meaningful AoE abilities, so he will heal Leo’s MP with a Star Light on the first turn. On his second turn, I had him use Super Cyclone. Jean needs Blue Dragon Fist unlocked, and Lemina needs to upgrade Ice Claw to Freeze Smash. Leo will use Grizzle Blade, although in my run his MP was low, requiring me to heal it with Hiro. Don’t bother with healing, since the boss doesn’t do any meaningful damage in those two turns.
Give two Warrior Crests to Jean to enhance her strength, while Lemina has the two Magic Eye Crests from Neo-Vane. Otherwise, pray that you’re doing enough damage and that Lucia will contribute with a Plasma Storm. If this isn’t the case, level up some more. My party was level 47 when I did this.
Once the five heads are down, you now face the single big head. Since Magic/Skills are off the table and Ronfar is not available for healing, you have to rely on a good stash of Healing Nuts plus Lucia’s Healing Litany. Lemina’s Ice Staff comes into play here, since it’ll replace her spells. It actually doesn’t take long to take this thing down considering the huge damage you did to the other heads, but play it smart regardless - you don’t want to screw up after coming this far!
Yawn... When is this going to end?
An interesting thing that happened to me is that I tried to collect the Holy Water chest in the Red Dragon Cave, but was barred from doing so because I had the maximum of 20 allowed. Since you can’t discard items in this game, I thus had to backtrack to Raculi and sell some, then slog through the dungeon back to that point. Don’t make that same mistake yourself.
Anyway, these are Red Fiend’s behaviors.
- Flashes white and has fire circling around it: AoE fire-elemental damage + Field: Fire
- Only flashes white: Line-ranged fire-elemental damage
- Pentagram glows beneath: Raises ATK twice for itself
- Tail flame glows white: Single target physical damage
Dispel Magic is a spell for Lemina that cancels out stat-altering spells, such as an enemy’s buffs. Since Red Fiend buffs its attack twice when it’s in its pentagram animation, you won’t be able to counter this. However! Notice that the description makes no mention of KOs! You actually are allowed to have characters die in this fight due to the tremendous amount of damage that Red Fiend causes. Since you can’t use White Dragon Protect, there really isn’t any conceivable way of mitigating such damage without characters dying, so I assume that’s why that restriction was lifted for this particular fight.
You might be feeling great about doing so much damage to Red Fiend after the paltry amount you were doing to Black Fiend. Not so fast, my eager friend. Black Fiend had 4000 HP and more defense, whereas Red Fiend just has 9000 HP. Black Fiend relied on stymieing you with status ailments, but Red Fiend just hits like a speeding train after buffing itself. Alas, stick to the usual routine and heal/revive when necessary, and you should do fine. My party was level 49 for this battle.
This is another battle where KOs are allowed. Triple Sword is Hiro’s final ability he learns at level 50, while Catastrophe is Lemina’s final spell learned at level 51. Both of these cannot be used, along with items and Dragon Magic.
These are Fake Althena’s behaviors in the battle.
- Staff raised with both hands: Raises DEF a small amount for herself
- Staff raised with one hand: AoE physical damage
- Hand on hip, one on staff: Single target physical damage + chance to poison
- Hands together in prayer: Single target non-elemental damage
- Two snakes appear on her shoulders: Line-ranged thunder-element, extreme damage
Fake Althena’s AoE attack where she throws her staff is rather painful, so perhaps have Lemina slap some Cryo-Shields on everyone since it’s physical rather than magical. I activated Jean’s Slam Dance to have her doppelganger do some decent extra damage for three turns. Otherwise, it’s the usual routine. Fake Althena can poison her target with the single target physical attack, but I don’t consider it as dangerous an ailment as others like paralysis or sleep. The absolute scariest attack to watch out for is the thunder-elemental one with the snakes. This is the reason why KOs are allowed for this achievement, since it hurts like hell without protection – it may as well be treated as a one-hit KO. She has 8000 HP, which is 1000 less than Red Fiend, so just waste her and move on.
After defeating Fake Althena, you gain access to the Goddess Tower. The Goddess Crest is found here, and it is both a missable area and a missable crest. The tower is designed similarly to Blue Spire from all the way at the beginning of the game, so just explore every nook and cranny until you find it. If you’re getting the treasure achievements, this shouldn’t be a problem.
The battle against Ghaleon is split into two parts. This one involves the first half. After the events at the Goddess Tower, Lucia leaves the party permanently and is replaced by Leo. Finally, a fifth ally whose actions you can control! Unfortunately, you’re stuck with 0 MP that cannot be recovered during Ghaleon’s first phase. You may have also noticed that Hiro’s damage is starting to struggle due to him not receiving an upgraded sword for some time. Don’t worry, that will be rectified shortly.
Ghaleon will only do single target attacks on Hiro, making this fight very predictable but potentially dangerous if you don’t act accordingly. Have lots of Healing Nuts on hand and use Jean to heal Hiro as needed. Hiro should alternate his turns between attacking and defending. Ronfar and Leo can just attack as normal. Don’t bother doing anything with Lemina besides guarding since Ghaleon’s magic defense is high. You should take him down after a few turns, which transitions into the second phase…
This is for the second half of the battle against Ghaleon. These are his behaviors.
- Holding sword with both hands: Single target physical damage
- Body and sword shine white: Single target non-elemental damage
- Body and sword glow with an aura: AoE non-elemental damage
- Hand glows with an aura: Zoned non-elemental damage
- Sword held horizontally: Single target non-elemental damage
The new restriction with Soul Blade involves one of Leo’s sword skills, which allows him to pilfer HP from an enemy. The majority of Ghaleon’s attacks are non-elemental magic, and you don’t have much of an opportunity to equip everyone (minus Leo) with magic defense rings except before all of the cutscenes that close out Disc 2. Leo gains access to a new ability called Earth Prayer, which boosts his attack and defense. Use that for him on the first turn, so Lemina can boost Hiro and Jean’s stats with her spells before doing the same for Leo. From there, it’s the standard Poe Sword, Blue Dragon Palm, and Flash Blade onslaught you must be familiar with by now. Ronfar might be slower than Ghaleon though, so if Hiro’s HP gets dangerously low, you could be in trouble. If anyone dies (or you were stupid like me and used a Healing Nut with Jean), you have to go through the first phase all over again, so play this fight cautiously, especially with Hiro.
Once you win, your sword problems will be over now that Hiro receives Ghaleon’s sword. Vane’s shops don’t have any upgraded equipment, so just buy items before speaking with Ghaleon again.
Wow… defeating 51 groups of enemies without KOs, and a tough final boss at the end? Sounds like it’s time for some serious grinding! Be patient and heal everyone up to top as needed. Be sure to buy lots of items in Vane before venturing to Zophar’s Keep, because there’s no going back once you’re there.
One of the two most dangerous enemies to watch out for is the Hades. It’s a terrible idea to just use auto attack on these guys since they resist physical damage. You’ll need to manually have Lemina use Ice Arrows on it while the others attack other monsters. They caused me several retries due to one of their attacks doing tremendous amounts of damage, which killed weaker characters like Jean and Lemina.
The other dangerous enemy is the Fiend Gate, which does around 200+ damage with its variety of attacks. They take reduced physical damage, so have Lemina, Hiro and Leo casting spells whenever you encounter one. I even devoted Ronfar to healing for a turn due to how nasty these guys are. There’s one particular formation near the end of the dungeon that has two Fiend Gates, so don’t hesitate to dish out the AoE spells!
Zophar is split up into three distinct phases, with this one using the regular boss battle theme. Before entering this fight, restore everyone’s MP with Star Lights and have Ronfar heal HP as high as you can. Also equip Hiro with the Fiend Ring, Spirit Talisman, Goddess Crest and Chiro Crest, both for these battles and for the epilogue. Zophar is known to be a really unfair final boss gauntlet, so I had everyone equipped with two Chiro Crests each (except Hiro) to ensure my characters always went before Zophar. With this setup, Zophar’s first form essentially becomes trivialized.
I also spaced my characters out so that Leo is in the NW corner, Hiro is in the center, Jean the SW corner, Lemina somewhere between Jean and Hiro in the far rear, and likewise with Ronfar between Hiro and Leo. This allows Zophar’s zoned attack to only hit at least one character, which for me always wound up being Hiro. Defend with Hiro if his HP gets low so Ronfar can heal him. From there, it’s the usual attacking routine.
This time you can’t use spells or skills, which means defending and consumables are the way to go here. You need to last for six turns until Lucia breaks free of her imprisonment. This form involves lots and lots of talking between the characters, and the song used is the same as the one heard at the title screen. First of all, everyone is bunched up together, which is extremely dangerous because of Zophar’s zoned attacks in the third phase. Move everyone around so they’re spaced apart from each other as much as possible. I relied on this screenshot for my characters’ positions, but it ultimately doesn’t matter who you put where because Zophar’s targeting is very sporadic and random anyway. The important thing is the spacing. After that, just defend, defend, defend! Oh, and throw any Healing Nuts on anyone who doesn’t have a Healing Ring equipped. My characters were level 56, and I didn’t feel endangered whatsoever.
The description for this achievement has caused some confusion. The “without Lucia” part simply means that Lucia removes herself from her imprisonment inside Zophar’s chest and changes back to her adventuring clothes. KOs and consumables are allowed here, but the mentioned abilities can’t be used, plus Zophar’s four hands have to be ignored, meaning you’re taking a lot more punishment compared to destroying them. You do want to focus on the head anyway, regardless of the restriction. Zophar and his hands have a ton of battle behaviors to keep track of, so I think it’s pointless to list them. This fight is really, really unfair, and that’s without the restrictions! I tried this at level 56, but I found that Zophar just kept targeting everyone except for Hiro, whom I intended to use as my damage sponge. I leveled up to 60 and changed my strategy.
First of all, I hadn’t used the character spacing before - this was the point in the game where I finally figured out how it worked… I’m a dummy, I know. Next, I had Leo equip a Warrior + Mind Crest combination, which if you remember from the Crests section of this guide greatly enhances attack but causes the character to go last. I chose Leo because Hiro and Jean will be on item duty during emergency situations thanks to their higher agility, and Leo is slow anyway, so he should only be attacking with Flash Blade no matter what. Everyone else gets Chiro Crests (with Hiro having Chiro + Goddess). If you didn’t do the Chiro Crest farming, you’ll have to experiment with your crests to see what works for you.
Lemina’s job is to keep buffing Leo’s attack with Power Flame, and maybe Jean’s if she has a chance. I never used her attack magic. Ronfar only heals. I did have him use Shining Litany a couple of times to drain some HP and cause damage, but it also attacks all enemies, so don’t solely rely on it. For Jean, I occasionally activated a Slam Dance, but don’t count on it too much because if she gets killed, the doppelganger goes away, meaning you wasted 32 MP. Just stick to Blue Dragon Palm and items. Hiro does the worst damage of the bunch, but his main job is to be the tank. So long as you equip the gear previously mentioned, any and all damage he takes will be reduced. He’ll just do Poe Sword and use items when needed.
Yes, this fight is hard. It took me multiple attempts before I used this setup that got me my long-waited victory. A good tip is to actually count each time Zophar does his attacks. He always has five – one for the head, and four for the arms – so keeping track of the damage he causes to whom and deciding what to do for the next turn in advance is very helpful. It’s easy to get confused with so much going on at once, so that’s what I did to help me stay focused.
During the epilogue, Hiro is able to recruit the other four party members to help him on his new quest. Here, you want to ignore the recruitment and reach the epilogue’s ending using only Hiro. Make a separate save from the file you’ll use to recruit everyone – the other party members are required for some other epilogue-related achievements. For reference’s sake, these are where the others are located:
- Leo is on top of the Mystic Ruins
- Jean is at the Madoria Carnival
- Ronfar is at Raculi
- Lemina is in Vane
This is very challenging and punishing since there’s no conceivable way for Hiro to survive the regular battles in the epilogue dungeons on his own. Luckily, you can use the flee-and-save method to make progress. In fact, I’d say it’s mandatory to do so. Hiro’s likelihood of fleeing seems to be a coin toss, and you have to do it multiple times in a row. At least the bosses are more forgiving, so long as you use the equipment setup I described for the Zophar battles. Before starting on this adventure, consider going to Taben’s Peak and getting Althena’s Sword from Nall.
There are three dungeons you need to slog through – Dragon Ruins, Water Ruins, and Star Dragon Tower. You can also bypass fighting Water Ruins’ boss and get the Left Sapphire Jewel for free, which gets you the Dive Into the Whirlpool achievement. You will have to fight the bosses in the other two dungeons though, but they are predictable and Hiro can use Healing Nuts. For the Star Guardian in Star Dragon Tower, only use regular attacks to get the Nothing Can Stop My Love! achievement. Once Star Guardian is down, enjoy your hard-earned true ending!
While this achievement is not missable, I figured it would be good to list all of the locations possible with Lucia’s Pendant, along with caveats for a couple of spots.
- Dragonship Destiny
- Gwyn’s Place
- Dragon Ruins
- Larpa
- Dalton
- Starlight Forest – go through the initial forest dungeon until you reach the screen where the party takes a break earlier in the game
- Takkar
- Nota
- Carnival
- Mystic Ruins
- Zulan
- Meribia
- Taben’s Peak – ride the elevator up, then exit into the dungeon area and go right back in
- Vane
- Water Ruins
- Azado
- Horam
- Zaback Mine
- Neo-Vane – use the teleporter in Zaback to access Neo-Vane
- Raculi
- Lionhead
- Dragon’s Nest
- Zen Zone
Another non-missable achievement, but there are 36 scenes for the Rememberizer which I will likewise list here. A majority of the scenes are tied to the same location trigger, particularly with Blue Spire and Pentagulia, but I’ll still list every scene individually.
Lucia’s Awakening: Dragon Ruins, from the very beginning of the game where Hiro and Ruby took the Dragon Eye Jewel from the dragon head statue, then were caught in a chase sequence when Hiro introduces himself. You have to return here during the epilogue to get the Right Opal Jewel.
Ruin Raiders: Same spot as the previous scene.
Dragonship Destiny: Desert area south of Dragon Ruins, where Leo first appears in the Dragonship.
The Blue Spire: In the Blue Spire, just before Althena’s Statue.
Lucia’s Arrival: The top of the Blue Spire where Lucia first appears.
Lucia’s Confusion: The steps under the Blue Spire.
Ronfar’s Entrance: In Larpa’s bar.
Lucia Reflects: At the very end of the dock in Larpa.
Jean’s Entrance: In the Illusion Woods’ clearing where the traveling troupe was before.
Althena’s Spring: Illusion Woods’ male hot spring.
Lemina’s Entrance: Go through the Haunted Manor (connected to Takkar) and reach the room where you fought the Magic Tester boss. Keep walking up until Ruby says something.
The Disguise: Madoria Carnival. The same tent where Jean and Lemina had Lucia try on a bunch of different costumes.
Punched-Out Peeps: Same spot as the previous and following scene.
Lucia’s New Clothes: Same spot as the previous two scenes.
Recorded History: Mystic Ruins. The room where you see the recorded memories of Lunar SSSC’s events and first meet Ghaleon.
The Entrance: Same spot as the previous scene.
An Old Friend: Taben’s Peak, at the spot where you first meet Nall at the entrance to the dungeon.
Moonlit Swim: Water Ruins, enter from the back entrance.
En Route to Pentagulia: Automatically unlocked when you get the Rememberizer.
The Holy City: Drive the Dragonship to the area where Pentagulia used to be.
Dragonmaster Ghaleon: Same spot as the previous and following scenes.
Audience With Althena: Same spot as the previous two scenes.
Shadow Warrior Jean: Horam. Enter the main dojo and go to the back room on the right.
Neo-Vane: Drive the Dragonship around the Blue Dragon’s mountain and south towards Zaback and Neo-Vane. It should trigger somewhere within that area.
Dragon Attack: Same as The Holy City scene.
Death of the Blue Star: Same as The Holy City scene.
Luna’s Story: Same as The Holy City scene.
Zophar’s Revival: Same as The Holy City scene.
Zophar vs. Lucia: Same as The Holy City scene.
Ghaleon’s Challenge: Find this on the roof of Vane’s Magic Guild.
Destiny Departs: Same as the previous scene.
Zophar’s Castle: Same as The Holy City scene.
Omni-Zophar: Same as The Holy City scene.
Spire in Shadow: Same as The Blue Spire scene.
Tearful Farewell: Same as Lucia’s Arrival scene.
A New Beginning: Same as Lucia’s Arrival scene.
That covers all of the missables and checklists for this wonderful game and set. Thank you to Alena for making the achievements, and thank you for reading this guide. If you find it helpful for your own playthrough, then I’m glad to have written it. Happy cheevo hunting!
- Benit149, December 2024