The Imperial City of Archades — Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age eGuide

OBJECTIVE

Find a Way to Sneak Inside the Draklor Laboratory

It’s not easy to get inside an Imperial weapons lab. Trade information to earn the “chops” you need to reach Draklor.

Action Checklist

1. Shop to upgrade your equipment, gambits, magicks, and technicks.

2. Talk to the Cab Guide.

3. Earn three chops by passing information between citizens.

4. Take the taxi to Tsenoble.

Shop for Upgrades

Yes, it’s time for more fun consumer frenzy. The most important pick-up here is probably Thundaga for 7000 in the magick shop. Before you start throwing your gil around the posh Imperial city stores, however, know that you should keep 2500 gil for a payment to Jules later. If you don’t have the gil for Jules, then you can’t move on to Draklor Laboratory. Instead, you’re forced to go back down to the Sochen Cave Palace to hunt until you get another 2500 gil worth of loot to sell.

First, proceed due west from Trant into Molberry. (On the way, Balthier takes his leave to attend to some business, promising to meet up again later.) Go all the way to Bulward’s Technicks in the northwest end of the district. Find the Cartographers’ Guild moogle upstairs on the second floor and buy a map of Archades. (You can also buy a map of the Tchita Uplands, if you have the extra gil.)

Now it’s time to check out the other establishments in the city. Save the combined Weapons/Armor shop (called Vint’s Armaments) in Nilbasse for last, then walk over to the taxi stand directly across the street and talk to the Cab Guide.

The Cab Guide says a taxi ride is a million gil! It’s either that, or three chops. For just 2500 gil (a bargain), Jules explains how to get chops in Archades.

The Cab Guide states that you’ll need at least three “chops” to ride this cab—either that, or a million gil. Fortunately, Jules intervenes again and says that Balthier is waiting for everyone in Central. Jules then demands 2500 gil for the info you need regarding chops.

Select “Pay up.” Jules explains that a chop is a mark of status, and it can be used as a writ of transit. You’ll need 3 chops to get to Central. The way to earn them, he says, is to talk to people and pass on information.

Play the Archadian Match Game!

Now start talking to people. Each of the four districts in Archades offers opportunities to earn chops. The tactic is to talk to a citizen with a phrase highlighted in yellow in their dialogue text. You can choose to “Commit this tale to memory” or “Do nothing.” If you commit it to memory, the highlighted phrase of dialogue appears in the upper-left corner of the screen.

After “memorizing” a phrase, your task is to find the citizen (who is always in the same district) with a matching story. If you find the correct match, you earn one chop. If you talk to someone with an unrelated phrase also highlighted in yellow, you can choose to memorize that phrase instead and start looking for the corresponding person. You can only have one phrase “memorized” at a time.

The memorized phrase is listed at the upper-left corner of the screen. If you find the matching person, you can elect to relate the tale and earn a chop.

Each of the four Archadian districts has several pairs of people you can match up to earn one chop. The breakdown is as follows:

Molberry: 9 chops
Rienna: 7 chops
Nilbasse: 6 chops
Trant: 6 chops

Remember that you only need three chops to buy the ride to the Central area, called Tsenoble. So if you just match up all the pairs available in Molberry alone, you’ll have more than enough for the taxi.

The Molberry Matches

This section lists the nine Molberry dialogue matches, listing the topic and the two citizens who match. Important! The first citizen listed is the one you must talk to first, because he or she is the person who provides the topic to “memorize.”

1. “The Anniversary” (Poor Husband and Poor Wife)

2. “The Traveler” (Avid Traveler and Traveling Gentleman)

3. “The Mummer” (Reminiscing Lady and Family-Minded Girl)

4. “To Be a Judge” (Would-Be Judge and Judge’s Wife)

5. “A Knack for Magick” (Talented Woman and Akademician)

6. “A Trinket from Giza” (Daughter-in-Law and Man from Giza)

7. “The Eight & Twenty Chops” (Ardent Woman and Ardent Man)

8. “The Master of Disguises” (Look-Alike and Look-Alike…yes, they’re both the same)

9. “The Tutor” (Proud Mother and Tutor)

Again, there are other matches in other districts, a grand total of 28 in all. Each successful match earns you a Pinewood Chop. The game will indicate when you have the requisite three. When this occurs, go to the Cab Guide back in Nilbasse, select "Take me to Tsenoble," and head north upon arrival to trigger an event.

Side Quest: Have You Got the Chops?

If you collect enough Pinewood Chops to trade for a Sandalwood Chop, you can access the elite portions of the city: Grand Arcade and Highgarden Terrace. To get enough chops for the trade, you need to match up all of the pairs of citizens in all four districts (Trant, Molberry, Nilbasse, and Rienna), for a total of 28 matches.

Gaining access to this area is a key part of the “Hunt Club” side quest and the Cockatrice Hunt. You will eventually return here to speak to Otto for part of the hidden medallion quest.

Go back south to trigger another event. Jules says that a squad of Judges is at Draklor, but his connections are cold as to the actual research being conducted. He’s arranged a cab ride, though.

Balthier meets the party in Tsenoble. Save your game at the nearby Save Crystal, then go northeast to the other end of Tsenoble to trigger an event. The Imperials are thinning out, but they are still present.

When the scene ends, the party appears at the taxi platform. Talk to the Cab Guide and select “You know where to go.” Confirm your selection by choosing “Let’s go,” and you’re off to Draklor.