Most modern role-playing games have some sort of endgame mechanic to keep the attention of players after they’ve invested hours upon hours into the main game. Star Ocean 5 is no exception to this as the Maze of Tribulations serves as one of the endgame activities you can partake. This isn’t an easy dungeon even if you’ve got a high-level party to go through it. You should have a good understanding of the game mechanics, but some portions of the maze will test your abilities to be sure.
To gain access to the maze, you must first complete the main story at least one time and have a save point just before the final battle against General Alma. Once that’s done, load up the save file and head down to the bottom floor of Kronos’s Sickle. From this point you can interact with the transport pad and travel to the Charles D. Goale G. You can then head to the Maze of Tribulations using the transporter on the starship.
The Maze of Tribulations is divided into three floors. You’ll have to traverse the Chasm of Repose, Indra’s Return and Terpsichorean Genesis to make it through the maze. There are four lesser bosses and one final bosses on each floor that must be destroyed before you can proceed to the next floor. Of course you’ll have to face off against a number of lesser enemies on your way to each boss, so this isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
Each floor is also divided into multiple areas. On the Chasm of Repose floor you’ll have to make your way through three levels before you can move up to the Indra’s Return floor. At that point you’ll have to go through four areas to reach the Terpsichorean Genesis floor where another five areas await your party. As you move through each of the zones within the floors, you’ll be going blind. There’s no map to help you through these areas, but don’t worry, it’s really a maze in name only so you won’t be getting lost. In most cases there are only two ways you can go, with on being a dead end or potentially a chest, and the other leading to the final boss.
It’s possible to use the Communicator Model G to leave the maze at any point in time. Doing so will retain your progress so you won’t have to defeat bosses over again. However, if you complete the maze in full, all of the bosses will return for your next run through. If you get interrupted while going through the maze, just know that you can leave and come back at any point without having to defeat the same bosses over and over again.
Once you’ve completed the dungeon the first time, you’ll obtain a great deal of new loot and your party will have leveled up considerably. You can then run through the maze again to find that the final bosses have all increased in difficulty, while the other enemies remain the same. Chests don’t respawn the second time through, but the bosses will still drop loot. You can run through the dungeon multiple times with the final bosses powering up with each successive run through.
As you move from floor to floor within the maze you may notice the merchant near each save point. Every time you speak with the merchant the inventory available for sale changes. In addition, each time you complete the maze more items will be added. If you complete the maze twice you can pick up some extremely powerful items from the merchant on your third time running through.
The Maze of Tribulations in Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness is a great endgame dungeon because you and run through it multiple times and pick up some of the best loot in the game. Stay tuned to Prima Games as we offer more insight into Star Ocean 5 over the coming days!
