Chapter 4: The Monster in the Alleyway 2

Town

Duval 2—Fractured

Skits

Duval

Duval Fractured

The Informant’s Rumor

When you arrive in Duval, the informant is waiting at the train station. Her name is Jolyne and it should sound familiar if you’ve been to the Job Bulletin. Jolyne spins a yarn about some “demon” in the alleyways of Duval. Go to the Downtown area to check out the rumors.

Wander around the alleys until a band of agents ambushes your group. The resulting conflict will trigger another dimensional shift, but your group will still be in hot water.

Rowen shows up to save your team from the ambush, but in this version of Elympios he’s not the friendly old traveling buddy Jude remembers.

BOSS ROWEN (?)

You’ll end up fighting an alternate-reality Rowen. He’s weak to your hammer strikes, but he’s too fast to make it easy for you to land a hit. Instead, wait until he begins casting a spell arte or attacks one of your allies and then let him have it. When he runs low on HP, he’ll enter Over Limit and repeatedly cast powerful artes. Use Linked Artes after a successful Power Hit to deal massive damage and quickly finish him off.

Welcome Rowen to the Party

When the alternate Rowen is dispatched, your group teleports back to your world. The real Gaius and Rowen arrive to break up the previous ambush by the agents. The dimension-hopping episodes are getting out of hand and Rowen asks to join your journey to find out more about them.

Debt Repayment Interval 4–5

Elite Monster info

Skits

Interval from Marksburg

This is a very short interval if you went to Marksburg first because there are no new areas to explore. Still, some new random jobs are available at the Job Bulletin for Alest and Torbalan Highroads. It’s worth checking them out if you want to grind some monsters or finish item deliveries with items the cats dragged in. When you’re done with odd jobs, head out of Trigleph to Torbalan Highroad to run into Nova. She gives you a “family heirloom” known as the Item Sphere. This home shopping network special unlocks the Auto-Items function that allows characters you aren’t controlling to use items. Once the debt for the interval is paid, you have to walk through all three sections of Torbalan Highroad to reach the Helioborg Research Station to start Chapter 5.

Interval from Helioborg Research Center

If you went to Helioborg as Chapter 4, you would have already run into Nova and acquired the Item Sphere. Helioborg is sort of a hub to many new areas of the game, and once it’s completed there are a lot of new places to check out.

Debt Repayment Interval 4–5

Field

Rusalle Highroad

Enemies

Gun Tortoise

Cave Chirpee

King Cockatrice

Cave Plant

Rummage Through Rusalle Highroad

During this interval, the enemies are not as tough as they will be later on. The King Cockatrice have a long-range Spit Fire attack, so use free run to get in back or up close quickly and slash them continually with dual blades to cancel their attacks. The Cave Plants are also weak to slash attacks and the speed of your blades can make short work of them, even though they have the highest HP of the enemies in this area.

Make sure to switch to the sledgehammer to deal with the Gun Tortoise as they are stout creatures. If you have any wind-related artes, it will be even easier to exploit their weakness.

Rusalle Highroad

There are two cats to locate in this area. Keke is getting some shade under a tree in the South Region and Keisha is inside a cave on the eastern wall of the Central Region.

Debt Repayment Interval 4–5

Dungeon

Tatalian Abyss

Enemies

Neo Dragon

Burrow Goblin

Blade Beak

Lizardman

Tatalian Abyss

Proceed with Caution

This is a very tough area to tackle early on. In fact, the enemies are 10 levels higher than those in the previous areas! It’s probably a good idea to hold off on this section until your party hits a higher level, but if you have been grinding there is about 14000 gald and there are lots of items to collect. If you are brave enough to venture into this dungeon early, make sure to use wind artes to take advantage of all the monsters’ weaknesses in this area.

The Neo Dragon is the most dangerous foe in this area and should be avoided unless you are up to the challenge. It has powerful attacks and tons of HP to absorb damage. When it is encountered in a mixed group of enemies, wipe out the weaker foes first and let the whole team tackle the dragon. If the massive monster dives underground, immediately block to avoid its surprise attack. Aim for its head, which is its weak spot, and try to capitalize when it is knocked down with an all-out assault.

Not only are the creatures tough to contend with, this area is somewhat tricky to navigate. Luckily the first cat, Pebbles, is easy to find as it is near the entrance on a glowing tree.

Deeper in the dungeon’s lower levels, there are a lot of cliffs and platforms to explore. Many treasures, as well as a brave kitty named Torche (barely peeking out over the ridge of the tallest pillar), can be found on the top of the series of platforms.

Debt Repayment Interval 4–5

Dungeon

Dimensional Breach

Dimensional Breach

This intimidatingly named area is actually a very peaceful place—at least until the Elite Monster shows up. At the northern end, Swagmo the cat is lounging under a tree. The other important thing to note about this place is that there is a lot of Elemental Ore in close proximity with no monsters to deal with. Each time you enter the area, the ore will respawn in several spots, making this a good place to upgrade your skills.