Eternal Poison FAQ by iadler (vii.saix@gmail.com) Contents -Introduction (000) -Getting Started (001) -Characters (002) Story-Specific Characters (002a) Re-Recruitable Characters (002b) -Refugee Locations and Rewards (003) -Routes (004) Thage’s Tale (004a) Ashley’s Tale (004b) Olifen’s Tale (004c) Rondemon’s Tale (004d) Duphaston's Tale (004e) Final Tale (004f) -Majin Auras (005) -Boss Majin Locations and Unlocking Them(006) -Extra Advice (007) -Legal Stuff (008) -Version History (009) Introduction (000) This is my first attempt at a FAQ, so please bear with me on this. This is not meant to be a full FAQ with strategies for every stage of Besek with every story, but a guide for the routes to take. You know, I'd love to do one of those introductions that says "This is such a great game, I love it, blah, blah, blah" but I can't. This game drove me absolutely crazy. The only reason I finished was because I was writing this FAQ for it. It's not the worst game out there, the story and characters are good, but it's really the same thing OVER and OVER and OVER. Maybe this FAQ will make it so the game drives all you reading it less crazy than it drove me. Fair warning, this guide contains a few spoilers, but nothing too major. This FAQ is Copyright 2009 by Emily Lipkin Questions/Comments/Mistakes/Suggestions contact me at vii(dot)saix(at)gmail(dot)com -------------- Getting Started (001) Picking a tale: When the game starts, you have to go through a tutorial stage where you control Thage and Raki. If you can't beat this, trade this game in for something that will drive you less insane. (I'm mostly exaggerating here, the tutorial's pretty easy.) When you beat the tutorial, you'll get the chance to pick your story from three options;Thage, Ashley and Olifen. In terms of stories, they're all fairly self-contained, so playing one won't give you any HUGE spoilers to others’. With that said, depending on how many runs you do of Thage's story and how good your attention to detail is, Thage's story does contain a spoiler for the other two stories. In terms of ease, well that's a matter of opinion. I found Ashley's story the easiest, then Thage, then Olifen, but that's just me, so for you I'll run through pros and cons of each tale as a starting point. Thage Pros: Retica and Raki's speed are absolutely amazing. Raki's "Martyr" ability along with his high defense can be life-savers. Retica learns "Cure I" and "Cure II" fairly early on. Thage's magic is great. You have 2 main-party characters that can summon Majin. Cons: Minor story spoiler for others. Thage cannot be healed by magic and has low defense and HP. Raki's skill set cannot be expanded. Requirements for the good ending are not self-explanatory (but with this FAQ that might not mean much...). Ashley Pros: Your party leader will never be out of range of a healing spell. Good-ending route laid out explicitly. Cons: Glynne is pretty bad until level 20. Your main party has two "Pierce" characters and no "Slash" character. This makes enemies that either resist Pierce or are weak to Slash harder to beat on this story than the two others. Olifen Pros: Olifen and Marie's speed. Marie's magic. Good-ending laid out explicitly. Cons: No archer. (The one thing about leaving this story for last is I got used to having an archer with great melee power to hit enemies at a distance, but I think that the lack of an archer will still make this harder on a first run.) Your party leader is a melee fighter. Because he's stuck on the front lines, he'll be in more danger of dying, putting you at a higher riak of a Game Over. Louge's speed is terrible. You'll have to use Olifen's turns to keep him "Accelro"ed. Levatte. This entire character. His HP is abysmal, so is his defense. For a mage, he has poor magic, he SHOULD be your white mage, but he can't heal to save anyone's life, so until you get Yuri (before 5th and last step of the Second Stratum) you have no white mage. Although Olifen can summon Majin, he can only summon one one space in any direction. (i.e. it MUST be next to him when summoned) as opposed to Thage and Ashley who can summon within a 3X3 square extending 3 spaces horizontal and vertical from where they are. (i.e. Thage can summon a Majin and put it up to three spaces left, right, up, or down and two spaces on a diagonal) The second Valley is (IMO) one of the hardest fights in the game. Velnor chooses THIS story (the one where you most need a long-bowman) to be the last recruitable character. I recommend beating these three stories before you play Rondemion's as his will have a pretty major spoiler for the others (though one you might have been able to guess...). Navigating Besek: The first time through, Besek can be a little much. Basically, all stories start out in "Labyrinth" which, although the enemies are different, is structured exactly the same for each character. The rest of Besek is the same for all the stories, with the exception of the bosses found in the Valleys, making this one of the more repetitive games I've played. The Second Stratum (part) of Besek has three forks, Forest, Aether, and Desert. For Ashley and Olifen it really doesn't matter where you go here. For Thage, you have to be sure you can hit the fourth step of Aether, but you can go wherever you want before that (it's possible to hit this step no matter which path you pick first, just keep an eye on the map of Besek so you know where to cross into Aether). Most enemies in Forest are weak to Pyro skills, enemies in Aether have several different weaknesses; most commonly “Strike” or “Pyro,” but there are a good number with “Sacra” and “Malus" weaknesses too. Desert enemies tend to be weak to either "Strike" or "Aero." The Third Stratum has two paths, Sanctuary and Purgatory. Again, it doesn't matter where you start on any story. Ashley and Thage need to hit the third step of Purgatory for their good endings and Olifen needs to hit the third step of Sanctuary, but as Besek intersects after the second step it doesn't matter which path you start out on. As you might expect, Sanctuary enemies are weak to Malus skills and Purgatory enemies are weak to Sacra skills. Once you've been through Besek once you can do it with your eyes closed. Capturing Majin: If you need to capture a Majin (whether to complete the Librium Aurora or to unlock one of the "hidden” bosses, your best bet is to hit it with a combo. For Thage, a Raki/Retica combo works well, for Ashley Ashley/Renya, for Olifen Olifen/Logue, and for Rondemion, I like Rondemion/ Velnore, but if the enemy resists Pierce, go with Rondemion/Ares. You should be careful to use a combo if an enemy has “[Insert Attack Type] Evade” II or III as a skill, because high-level enemies tend to be able to evade the attacks they’re weak to, and combos are the only way to guarantee your enemy won’t evade you and get healed before you can overkill them. There are other ways to overkill (mostly Thage's or Maria's magic) but a combo's probably the safest way. Also, you should wait until the Majin has less than 10-30% of its Max HP (depending on the Overkill and Max HP values) before trying to finish it off with a combo. Use your weaker characters to chip away at the HP, then use a combo for the final blow. Also, despite how Count Duphaston makes it sound, to capture a large Majin all you need is to have your characters on two sides of it. (i.e. they can be directly kitty-corner to each other, you don't have to form an L around the Majin.) Characters (002) Story-Specific Characters (002a) Thage: Thage is a powerful magic user; her spells can OHKO and even OHOK (One-hit over kill) enemy Majin. The best and worst thing about Thage is her 100% immunity to all magic. The good news is no matter how powerful the enemy spell is, it won’t dent her. The bad news is that this applies to ally magic too, which means the only ways to recover Thage’s HP are Malus II or items. It also means that you can’t up her stats with magic like “Accelero” or use “Restore” or “Revivo” to remove ailments. As one might guess, being a mage Thage should be kept away from the front lines, especially in the first run through. A side or back attack from a Majin with high Melee powers can OHKO Thage with her low defense and HP, which means Game Over. Thage can equip books and staves for weapons and cloth armor. Overall, on a first run through I’d give Thage a 6/10 for her low defense, but for subsequent run throughs she gets a 10 because with her high magic, melee Majin won’t get close enough to hit her. Classes: Thage can focus on Dark Magic (Hellcaster) or Fire Magic (Pyrocaster). Hellcaster increases Melee power and Pyrocaster decreases it. I suggest the former because of the melee boost that class gives. Many enemies are weak to Strike, and especially after the first run through, powerful Strike melee characters are very hard to find. On the other hand, specializing in dark spells does make one of the routes through Besek much harder. Aliments to watch out for: Seal. If Thage gets sealed, you can pretty much count her out of the fight until either you remove it or it goes away on its own. As Thage is immune to all Magic, the only way for enemies to Seal her is with "Seal Attack," which might just kill her anyway (yea?) so this might not be too big of a deal. Also, watch out for Bleed. As Thage's HP can't be restored with Magic, having her lose 10% of it every time she moves or acts is a dangerous gamble to take. For party leaders, Bleed is extra- damaging as the "Lead" command will cause Bleed to take effect, so they can lose 30% of their HP in just one turn. Raki: Raki’s speed and melee power make him a powerful ally. His range of movement is also extremely helpful. The only limiting factor to him is his inability to equip weapons and armor. This means there is no way to expand his skill set. On a first run through Raki gets a 9 for his speed and movement potential and the fact that he can deal two types of melee damage (Slash and Pierce), but for a second run I’d have to give him a 7 as his inability to equip weapons really gets annoying here. Classes: Raki can focus on evasion and speed (Windrunner) or melee (Storm Seer). Aliments to watch out for: Fracture. Even as a Windrunner, Raki's a melee fighter, so Fracture's going to make him almost useless. Get rid of it ASAP. Also, as with all these characters, watch out for Confuse. Story-Specific characters tend to have better stats than Re-Recruitable ones, so they can do serious damage to your party. Retica: For someone who starts off fairly poorly, Retica’s offensive power becomes incredible. Retica can equip bows and (If you choose “Cursed One” class) long bows. He can equip leather armor. After the first run through, Retica will probably be your main healer. Retica gets a 9. He’s fairly fast, knows healing spells, has long range weapons, and “Rapid Fire” almost guarantees Overkill unless the Majin resists Pierce. Classes: Retica can focus either on Aqua/Restorative magic (Serene One) or Dark magic/Majin Summoning (Cursed One). I suggest the latter, as most high level Aqua and Restorative magic can be extracted from Majin and I found it useful to have someone other than Thage who could summon Majin. Aliments to watch out for: Really the only one to be too concerned about is Confuse. Yes, other ailments are annoying, but waiting a few turns won't leave Retica incapacitated. Ashley: The most interesting thing about Ashley is despite her white mage class, her melee powers are actually good, depending on what class you choose for her. Her magic is “Sacra” and healing spells. Ashley can equip maces and staves for weapons and cloth or leather armor. One major difference between Ashley and Thage is that Ashley has the defense to fight on the front lines, which is a very good thing. I give Ashley a 9. Her melee skills are good, but (at least if you go with "Prodigy") her magic isn't quite up to snuff. On the other hand, by level 26 Ashley will start to absorb "Sacra" magic, which can be very useful. Classes: Ashley can either focus on Magic to the detriment of Melee and speed (Matriarch) or go for a more balanced approach (Prodigy). Aliments to watch out for: Seal, Bleed, and Confuse. Ashley's your main healer on this run, so having her sealed is going to lead to, at best ally causalities and at worst a game over. As explained in Thage’s section, for party leaders, Bleed is extra-damaging as the "Lead" command will cause Bleed to take effect, so they can lose 30% of their HP in just one turn. Glynne: Glynne is a spearman. The good thing about this is that spears have a range of 2 spaces in any direction, as opposed to swords with a range of only 1. The bad thing about this is that he can only equip spears, leaving you with a party without a “Slash” fighter. Glynne’s skills are OK, but by far the most useful thing about him is his “Accelero” ability. On a first run-through, Glynne gets a 4, and that's all due to "Accelero." At level 20, at least with "Mystic," however, Glynne's stats really take off and he can deal out some major melee damage. For a second run-through I'd give him a 7 or 8. His magic damage is fair, but his skill set is limited because he can only equip spears. Classes: Glynne can either focus on magic skills (Mystic) or melee skills (Slayer). Aliments to watch out for: I don't know that there are any that are too bad. Yes, confuse will be annoying, but Glynne's generally low stats until level 20 make this one less dangerous than it is for others. Reyna: Reyna is an archer who uses longbows. He’s actually pretty similar to Retica, with the exception of healing potential. He also knows fire magic, which gives him a better magic range than Retica. Reyna gets an 8. His melee is awesome, but he's just not as good as Retica. Classes: Reyna can either focus on speed and evasion (Warden) or fire magic (Flametongue). If you go with Warden, Reyna can equip short bows, which may lack longbows offensive power, but are a definite plus in that they can be equipped with "Cure" spells. Aliments to watch out for: Confuse. Olifen: Olifen is a swordsman. He can equip Epees and One-Handed swords. He is the only member of his party that can equip two weapon types at the onset of the story. He and Raki are the only two main party members in the first set of stories that can deal out two types of damage (Pierce and Slash). Use this to its fullest when breaking Majin auras. His biggest problem is that he's a melee fighter AND your party leader. This can be a bit of trouble, so be sure to keep his HP up and maybe boost his defense. On the first run I'd give Olifen a 6. The fact that he's your party leader and a melee fighter just begs for "Game Over"s. His melee is pretty good, and he knows Accelero, but he's going to have to spend a lot of turns casting it on Logue. For later runs I'll be generous and give him an 8. His speed is great, Accelero is great, and Epees can equip some Cure spells. I'd like to see him do a bit more melee damage, but maybe I'm being picky. On the other hand, he will (as a Templar) learn "Dual Attack" which is fun to abuse. Classes: Olifen can either focus on melee skills (Templar) or magic skills (Avenger). Aliments to watch out for: Confuse and Bleed. Logue: Logue is an axe fighter. As you would expect, his melee damage is great, but that's about the only good you can say about him at first. He wears heavy armor, so he is EXTREMELY slow, even "Light Load" which reduces the speed cut heavy armor imposes doesn't help his speed much, neither will equipping leather armor, so unless you keep him "Accelero"ed he's not going to get many turns in. He has good physical defense, but almost no magic defense until he hits about level 10. I suggest keeping "Accelero" and "Magus Defense" on him at all times. Logue is a bit like Retica in that he starts off pretty bad, but once he hits the Class Change becomes a real melee powerhouse. I'd give him a 6 on the first run through because of his low speed for the first 15 or so levels. On a second run I'd give him an 8. His speed picks up and when he can equip spears his attack range doubles. The reason he doesn't get a nine is that he can't cast magic, so despite the spears, he has the most limited attack range of the party. Classes: Louge has two classes with opposite effects. He can focus on defense with resistance to physical ailments (slow, bleed, etc.) and light magic (Enlightened) or on attack with resistance to mental aliments (sleep, confuse, etc.) and resistance to dark magic (Consumed). Aliments to watch out for: Confuse, Fracture, and Slow. Logue is like Raki in that he's pretty much just melee power, so fracture's going to take the wind out of his sails. As for slow, Louge's speed is so bad that the LAST thing he needs is an ailment that makes it even worse and cuts his movement range in half. Levatte: White mage. Unlike Ashley, he doesn't have the defense to make it on the front lines, so keep him well back. Also, for some reason, he can only equip staves at the beginning. I really hate this character. For a white mage he doesn't learn many healing spells and the spells he does learn don't do much healing. Also, it took me until the boss of the second stratum to get him to a class change, which is by far the longest it's taken any character to change classes. He gets a 2 on a first run, and that's assuming you manage to level him. He is utterly useless until he hits level 15, which (for me) took until the 3rd step of the 3rd stratum. (Most characters hit 15 sometime in the second stratum.) That being said, once he DOES manage to hit 15, he becomes amazing, if only by comparison. For later run throughs I'd give him a 7, but that ranking might be bitter from how useless he was at first. Classes: When you do manage to get this waste of space to a class change, you can choose to focus on earth magic and melee power (Druid) or light magic with decreased melee power (Prophet). As he has neither the defense nor HP to make it on the front lines, Louge can deal out strike damage, and I don't think there's a single Majin aura that can be broken with Earth magic, I can't imagine the point of the former. Aliments to watch out for: Seal. As with Thage, if he's sealed he's going to be completely out of the fight until it goes away. Unlike Thage he's not immune to magic, so he's going to be more likely to get this ailment. Marie: She's a black mage. Her magic may not be as powerful as Thage's at first, but her speed and movement make her arguably the best mage in the game. Her magic focuses on Aero and Pyro, which gives her an amazing reach. My only complaint about her is that until her class change she can only equip books. If you pick "Crimson Mage" she will be able to equip staves too. Also, if you pick "Crimson Mage," her magic will do more damage than Thage's. Perfect 10 for both runs. Her spells' range dominates the field and with the Intelligence boost of Crimson Mage you have great Overkill potential, especially if the Majin is weak to fire. She is also good (for whatever reason) at casting "Malus" spells, so go ahead and extract them from Majin and equip them to her books because that makes Sanctuary SO much easier. To be fair, she can't cast "Sacra" (Sacra II had an attack value of 75 and Pyro I had a value of 190ish) but you can't have everything. Classes: Marie can either focus on Fire Magic and Intelligence (Crimson Mage) or Speed, Evade, and Casting frequency (Pale Mage). Aliments to watch out for: Seal and Confuse. Marie can do some melee damage and her defense is good for a mage, so Seal isn't as bad for her as it is for Thage and Levatte, but her power is in her spells so get them back as soon as you can. Rondemion: Rondemion (as you might expect) is a melee powerhouse. He can equip greatswords and axes (giving him two types of damage). He can equip leather and metal armor. I don't know that there's that much to say about him that can't be guessed either by looking at his equipment set or from fighting him before, great melee, high HP and defense, oh, and he can actually cast a spell or two. Also, he doesn't suffer from Logue's problem of terrible slowness. My biggest problem with him doesn't have anything to do with him or his skills, but with the set-up of his story, which I'll get into there. Let's say 8. I was going to give him a 9, but then I remembered that he can't summon Majin more than one space away. Classes: Rondemion is a little like Logue in that he can focus on offence or defense, but without the added resistances Logue gets. If you want offence, go with "Crusader"; for defense go with "Champion." Aliments to watch out for: Fracture and Confuse. Duphastion: Duphastion will join Rondemion's party after the first valley fight. He can equip books and epees (again, two types of damage potential). (On a completely useless note, the Count has the best classes ever...) He's fine. He can deal out both melee and Aero magic with fair damage, but he stops gaining new skills at about level 20. For this and because he won't keep his level when you re-run Rondemion's story, he gets a 5. Classes: The Count can't change classes; he'll just have to deal with being a Usurper. Aliments to watch out for: Like Glynne, ailments on this character are more of an annoyance than a threat. Morpheus: There's not a lot to say about this guy at this point. He's got the same skills as all the times you fought him in the valleys. Like with Rondemion, his biggest problem doesn't have much to do with him, but with his story. He's like Raki in that he can't equip anything but accessories and as such there's no way to expand his skill set. He won't get any new skills until level 20, but the skills he does have (Critical II and III, Revenge III, misc. evades) are a GREAT help in this story. For that, and the fact that you FINALLY have another party leader that can summon Majin at a distance, I'll give him a 7. Classes: As he starts the story at level 17, he's already got his permanent class, Demon Lord. Aliments to watch out for: Really just Bleed, and it's not all that bad in this story, just don't let it get out of hand. Thanks to Ezperaze for helping me fill in the class info for Reyna, Raki, and Glynne. ----------------- Re-Recruitable Characters (002b) A few notes on Re-Recruitable Characters: While your main party will keep their levels after the first run through, these characters, found in Isapolis, go back to their original level. This makes them fairly useless after the first run through. Also, any weapons, armors, and skills equipped to these characters will disappear after the last level of any run. You have been warned. These characters can be recruited at different times in different stories and will start at a different level depending on when they're recruited. Certain characters have more than one point when you can recruit them in certain stories. I've gotten Vivian, all three Koona, Ares, and Komori at different times in Olifen's story and Stein at two different times in Ashley's. I have no idea why this happens, but just to play it safe you should recruit when you have the chance. Also, these characters will never change classes. Nena: Nena is a black mage. She can equip books and staves, knows “Malus” skills, and can summon Majin. She has low HP and poor defense. She is kind of a waste of space on Thage’s run as Thage knows all her skills. For Ashley, she’s more useful as she’s your only way to get Malus for most of the first run without sacrificing Majin. Given that you have Marie, don't bother with her for Olifen. Ares: Ares is a melee fighter. For someone on the front lines, her defense is low, but she has good speed and movement range. She can equip swords and spears, and is usually worth the time to recruit. Her only drawback is absolutely miserable magic potential. For Thage and Ashley I use her on the front lines, but with Olifen I found her less useful as Olifen and Louge are both front-line fighters and you need party space for Yuri and one (or both) of the archers. Alexi: Alexi has great HP and defense, so he’s a meat shield. Or he should be. Unfortunately, he’s so slow and has such a bad movement range that after a few turns he’s too far from the front lines to do any good. Leave him be. Yuri: Yuri’s a white mage. She knows restore, Sacra, and healing spells. As with Nana, Yuri’s usefulness kind of depends on whose story you’re playing. She is almost indispensible for Thage’s first run, but after then and for Ashley, you don’t really need her, but she might be a good choice to fill out your ranks. For Olifen, she's pretty indispensable as Levatte can't heal until he gets to be level 15, which takes WAY to long for my tastes. Vivian: Now this is an odd character. She knows a variety of magic spells, but is also a melee fighter. As such, she’s not particularly good at either. She can equip Epees and books. A good thing about her is that she can summon captured Majin, but that doesn't really make up for the other shortcomings. She’s good to fill out ranks, but once you get 7 let her be. Velnor: He’s an archer, so long bows and short bows. He also knows “Accelero” which, in addition to an archer’s range, makes him a useful party member. Velnor is going to be an important addition to Olifen's party as they don't come with an archer. The Koona: There are three of them you can recruit, but none of them are really any good. Use them if you want, but IMO there are better ways to use your limited ally spaces. They also have the same problem as Raki in that they cannot equip any weapons or armor, so the skills they start with are the only ones they're going to get. Stein: He’s a mage and for some reason knows Malus, Aqua, and healing spells. I don’t ask. I think you need to be a higher level than him to recruit him, I couldn't get him on a first run through for Thage and I had to get him at the end of Ashley's first run, even though you have a chance to get him at the begining. Again, I don't ask. He’s pretty good, and can summon Majin, use him if you want. Irena: Another archer. An annoying thing about her is her attack skills require a long bow but she comes equipped with a short bow. Oh well. She knows Restore and Prayer magic, and is probably a better choice than Yuri for a secondary healer on Ashley’s story and later run throughs of Thage’s. As with Velnor, make sure to get her while playing Olifen's story. They don't have an archer, and a fighter with range can really make things easier. Komori: Komori is a lot like Vivian in that he knows various magic skills, but is still a bit of a melee fighter. Use him to fill out ranks then leave him. --------------- Refugee Locations and Rewards (003) (Thanks to neclord13 for compiling this list and sending it to me.) -----First Stratum--- --Thage Tale-- 1.) Elizabeth 2.) Musician 3.) Shockburt --Ashley Tale-- 1.) Evan 2.) Musician 3.) Zadikus --Olifen Tale-- 1.) Mana 2.) Musician 3.) Shelayla --Rondemion Tale-- 1.) Amalie 2.) Musician 3.) Kuni --Second Stratum-- --Left path-- 1.) Sebastian 2.) Xiao Mei 3.) Left Path - Nadesico 3.) Right Path - Sun Wei Yi 4.) Christina 5.) Kai/Kanat ---Middle Path--- 1.) Misty 2.) Claudius 3.) Left Path - Soleil 3.) Right Path - Masanite 4.) Dylan 5.) Xavier ---Right Path--- 1.) Irving 2.) Keiko 3.) Left Path - Nolstein 3.) Right Peth - PapaTaro 4.) Selphina 5.) Marion ---Third Stratum--- --Left path-- 1.) Chera 2.) Ducalius 3.) Alice --Right path-- 1.) Shanglon 2.) Fungus 3.) Parjava ----Refugee Rewards--- Thage: Elizabeth --- Elaborate lv 10 +20 Strike glove F Shockburt --- Veteran lv 5 +10 Strike 10% Counter Bleed glove Olifen: Mana --- Alchemist lv 10 Sleep +3 mdf +9 int +6 mind hat Shelayla --- Slippers lv 10 +1 move +50spd shoes F Ashley: Evan --- Ring lv 9 M mail Zadikus --- Driftwood lv 11 w/ Atk Spd 2 longbow Rondemion: Amalie --- Gladius lv 10 w/Blademaster sword Kuni --- The Robin lv 13 +5 int longbow F Sebastian --- Invoker lv 9 +5 int w/ Malus 2 book Xiao Mei --- Ranger lv 14 +4 Piercing w/Bowmaster shortbow Nadesico --- Troubador lv 15 Confuse +30 Wind ring F Sun Wei Yi --- Purple Pain lv 13 Bleed Greatsword Christina --- Magus lv 15 w/Hex book Kai & Kanat --- Feather lv 15 Seal +3mdf +12 int +6mind hat Misty --- Ensorcelled lv 15 +8 int Slow rapier M No capturer cursed soul Claudius --- Watchman lv 10 Hammer Soleil --- Diviner lv 13 w/Panic book M Masanite --- Missionary lv 11 w/Striking Art robe M Dylan --- Prayer lv 15 +30 Slash 30% Counter Bleed Fracture Slow glove Xavier -- Winged lv 18 +30 Slash +30 Strike +30 Piercing Bleed Fracture Disease helm Irving --- Beastslayer lv 8 w/ Meta 1 sword Keiko --- Revenant lv 16 sword M Nolstein --- Flail lV 13, Confuse mace M Papa Taro --- Lochaber lv 14 w/Wild Swing Axe Selphina --- Shadow lv 15 +30 Piercing +30% glove Marion --- Valkyrie lv 16 Slow spear F Chera --- Oracle lv 16 w/ Terra 3 rod No capturar Aquila Ducalius --- Hallowed lv 18 Disease Slow +60 Holy glove Alice --- Witch lv 21 +2 mdf +11 int +4 mind book F Shanglon --- Dragonscale lv 19 Chill lightarmor M Fungus --- Aristocrat lv 15 +15 Slash +15 Strike shoes M Parjava --- Sage lv 20 +5 Mdf +10 mind w/ meta 3 rod. ----------------- Routes (004) Thage’s Tale (004a) Suggested Party: Thage, Retica, Raki, Velnor, Stein, Ares, Irena. If you (like me) can't get Stein on a first run, use Yuri. Thage’s Story has two endings. To get the "Good" ending you have to defeat Arknos (fourth step of Aether) and Doom Shade (third step of Purgatory). To get to Arknos, you just have to be sure you can hit the fourth step of Aether, which can be done no matter which path you start on. To lure Arknos out, leave the Aquamote alive. This might be hard on a first run, as this Aquamote is an unusually aggressive Majin. To get Doom Shade take Purgatory and capture BOTH Lapis Syliphs. To beat him, you need to have captured one of the second stratum guardians (Dahlia Queen, Armihage, or Gergedus) and use one of their magic attacks to break Doom Shade's demon aura. Armihage (found in Aether) is probably your best bet for this as he attacks with light magic, which Doom Shade is weak to. If you don't defeat both Doom Shade and Arknos you get the "bad" ending, which really isn't an ending at all. (Thanks to Ezperaze for alerting me to Drakex9999's route suggestions on the Arknos front.) Thage Exclusive Fights: In the first Valley Thage will have to fight Morpheus. He's really no threat to Thage as he's pretty reliant on his Malus skills which can't touch her and Retica and Raki both have decent Dark resistances. He does have “Primal Slash” which will probably OHKO Thage on your first run, but as long as you keep Thage out of his range (and I don’t see why you wouldn’t do that anyway…) you’ll be fine. The second Valley pits you against Ashley's party. This one's harder. While Thage is immune to the light magic, Reyna's range attacks and Glynne's "Accelero" can be hard to keep up with. Go down one side, pick off the enemies there, then go down the middle and get the other side. Make sure that Retica isn't the only person in the party with a "Cure" spell. For a white mage, Ashley can be pretty aggressive, so if you get in trouble just throw everything you've got at her (Thage's and Retica's Malus skills will serve nicely in this) as the stage is cleared when she's down. Ashley's Tale (004b) Suggested Party: Ashley, Reyna, Glynne, Velnor, Stein, Ares, Yuri/Irena. As with Thage, there are two endings to this one. To get the "good" ending, beat Doom Shade (still on the third step of Purgatory). For whatever reason, you only need to capture one Lapis Sylph to lure him out for Ashley. Go figure. Also, Ashley's "Punishment" skill breaks his demon aura, so you don't need a second strata guardian. Again, go figure. The one thing is that if you DON'T have "Punishment" you'll just have to go through Besek again to get it. Don't beat Doom Shade to get the bad ending, which, again isn't really an ending. Ashely Exclusive Fights: In the first Valley you're against Morpheus again. He's a far bigger threat to Ashley than he was to Thage as she and her party don't do so well against Malus magic. Pick off all the Priests/Priestesses/Acolytes on one side first, then go down the middle as far from Morpheus as you can, take out the other side, then get Morpheus to come down and meet you. At least in the first run, expect causalities. The second Valley pits you against "Persona," who may actually be stronger than Ashley depending on how leveled she is. Even if the Persona's level is higher, it doesn't much matter as she's still got a Sacra-exclusive spell set and Ashley and her party are fairly resistant to that. The one bizarre thing is that Ashley's Persona has somehow acquired "Dark Attack," which shouldn't be too much trouble if you've got some good armor on. Just watch out as, just like with Thage, she's a pretty aggressive boss. Olifen's Tale (004c) Suggested Party: Olifen, Marie, Logue, Levatte (only cause they make you), Irena (until you can get Velnor), Yuri, Stein. Again, two endings. For the good one, beat Penumbra on the third step of Sanctuary. He's actually very eager for you to beat him, as he will come out automatically on the third step, so you don't have to bother with capturing a Zyr Phantasm (not that that's a problem with Logue in your party...). As if that weren't easy enough, he doesn't even have his usual aura, so you can let loose with whatever you feel like. If you're looking to complete your Librium, remember; Penumbra's Fire Weakness+Crimson Mage=Overkill. Don't beat him for the bad ending, which again isn't really an ending. Olifen Exclusive Fights: Surprise, surprise, the first Valley has Morpheus. Maybe it's just my third time playing this boss, this battle was surprisingly easy. Most of the other enemies don't have magic skills, making this a much more melee-intensive battle than in Thage's or Ashley's story, and the enemies just don't have the defense to stand up to Olifen and Logue. Just make sure not to get Morpheus' attention too early and you should be fine. The second Valley pits you against Rondemion. One of the biggest dangers here is the enemies' "Seal" ability. If this hits Marie or Yuri, you could be in some real trouble. The other thing you need to make sure to watch out for is "Sacrasphere" because it can cause confuse. If any of your main party gets confused, "Revivo" them IMMEDIATELY because they can cause some serious damage to each other. Rondemion is actually a refreshingly unaggressive boss for this section. Unlike Ashley or her Persona, he won't start doing anything until one of your characters gets within his range. Unfortunately, everything ELSE in the level is overly aggressive. I have never seen Priests swarm like this. There's no good way to approach this one, if you split up your party, they'll pick people off one at a time and if you keep a tight marching order, they'll hit you with "Sphere" attacks (if they hit your mages with "Sealsphere" you might as well hit the soft reset, because you're not going to win...) and get you that way. This is basically a battle of attrition. Use the extra party members as bait and keep Olifen's HP up. If you can, summon Majin with healing abilities. Make sure you kill ALL the Priests before you even consider taking on Rondemion, as they're not going to let you get close if you let them live. To take Rondemion down, you better hope Marie's still alive because his HP is very high compared to other bosses at this stage and the only thing that'll do any real damage to him is "Aero" and Marie's the only one with this skill. This is one of those you'll just have to keep trying until you get it. Rondemion's Tale (004d) Unlocking: You can unlock Rondemion's story by Clearing one of the other three (I know this will unlock for clearing Thage, but I'm fairly certain it'll work for either Ashley or Olifen too). I have heard net rumors that in order to get Rondemion's good ending you need to see the good ending of the first three characters. I don't know if this is true, as I beat the other three stories before trying this one. If anyone knows if this is true or not, e-mail me and I'll credit you. Suggested Parties: Labyrinth: Rondemion, Vivian, Stein, Yuri, Komori, Velnor, Ares. 2nd and 3rd Strata: Rondemion, Duphaston, Yuri, Stein, Velnor, Ares, Irena. If you're going through Purgatory, make sure Yuri's at a respectable level, same with Stein (or Nena if you prefer her) in Sanctuary. The single worst part about Rondemion's story is that he's your only story character that will keep his level, so you have to pretty much start over every time you re-run Besek. As I am REALLY losing my patience with this game, I'm going to venture a bit of a guess as to the requirements for Rondemion's good ending. Beat Gergedus (Guardian of Desert) and complete all secondary objectives. I say to beat Gergedus because the dialogue between him and Rondemion was unique, and that's usually a clue that it's a required fight for the good ending. I'm just guessing at the secondary objective thing, but somehow just beating Gergedus seems too simple. If someone wants to test my theory, again, let me know and I'll credit you. For the record, to get the good ending, I took Desert then Sanctuary, completing all secondary objectives along the way. (Terranus, Ignus, Gergedus, Penumbra, Luxaphel). You don't have to capture all the secondary objective Majin along the way to get the good ending. If you, like me, are losing patience, follow this route and you'll see the good ending. If you want to be daring, go ahead. Rondemion Exclusive fights: Oh, noes, a first Valley fight without Morpheus! RUN! You're up against Count Duphaston, his Koona (much help they'll do him...) and a couple of Capruses. They really shouldn't pose a problem. For a lark, make sure to check the Count's status screen, he's got my favorite class in this game. In case you haven't figured it out yet, this has got to be the easiest Valley fight ever. The Koona are useless, you've fought enough Capruses by this point to fill a Librium, and the only thing the Count has that's any threat is "Aero I" which is more a threat due to its range. Just make sure to kill most of the other enemies before you take on the Count and you'll breeze through this one. Valley 2 pits you against Thage and her party. Remember, don't even try magic on Thage, she's immune to it. The good thing about this is she won't be able to recover HP like some bosses here (Ashley/Persona). Apparently, Thage hasn't drafted Retica yet as the fight's just against her, Raki, and associated Majin. Just remember not to use a party that's too magic-heavy. You could almost clear this stage with just Rondemion and Duphaston, but I digress. Just make sure not to take on Thage and Raki until you take care of most of the Majin. Thage is also susceptible to "Bleed" which Ares should know by this point. Raki can probably OHKO some party members with "Steel Roar," but as you really don't need them it doesn't matter. Another easy fight. I'm actually starting to miss Morpheus. It just doesn't feel like Besek without him at the first Valley... Duphaston's Tale (004e) Unlocking: You must 1) Complete the Librium Aurora (capture one of each type of Majin) and 2) Clear the other 4 stories. Suggested Librium: 2 Unseelies, Ocenyx, 2 Garudas, Lapis Sylph, Heefer, Aquamote, Zerda, if you're taking Sanctuary, an Acrida'll be useful, for Purgatory, it'll be less so, and fill your last two spots with duplicates (or triplicates) of your favorites. I don't recommend using the Zyr Phantasms because they take up two spots, leaving you with one less ally and two short when they disappear. This is the most annoying story ever. The only good thing about it is that you only have to deal with the third stratum. This means there aren't many choices to make in terms of routes. Well, now that you've heard the good news, time for the bad. You've JUST got Morpheus in your party. That's all. You can't even recruit anyone, even the friggin' Koona. The game'll start you off with a bunch of Majin, and you better hope they last you through the stratum, cause you can't replace them as nothing in this story is capturable. To make things worse, these Majin are bound by all the rules of the other stories; a limited number of turns, no storable commands (even though Morpheus still has "Lead" as a command option for some reason...) which means no combos, they can't open treasure chests or equip weapons, and when they die, they're dead. If you suffer too many causalities, hit that soft reset and try again. To make things even more annoying, the Majin can't use items, so all the Majin internal organs you're going to come across are going to be all but useless, as Morpheus is the only one who can use them and you're probably better off using his turn to attack. This story is all about killing things as fast as you possibly can. Your allies' limited number of turns makes it so you can't take things as carefully as you might like to. The only good thing about this is that you don't need to worry about trying to overkill things because you CAN'T overkill anything (except Luxaphel and King Bellion, but good luck on those fronts...). Also, every time you re-run this tale, you'll get another starting set of Majin so if you didn't lose any on the first run, you'll have twice as many to play with on the second. This is probably the only time where you're going to want to split up your party. The Majin enemies are usually split into two groups on opposite sides of the area, and with limited turns to work with, the most efficient way is to divide and conquer. Just make sure that at least one Majin in each group knows a healing spell. There's only one ending to this one, take any path, cross if you want, hit Valdus with "Primal Slash" and let him bleed away his HP. Personally, I found Purgatory easier than Sanctuary, but I was using a better set of Majin there and it was my second run. Every fight in this tale is unique, but that's not saying you haven't seen them before. Every step of this run is going to pit you against 6-8 Majin usually coming in pairs. You've seen all the Majin before, just not in these combinations or locations; kill them as fast as you can and keep an eye on the number of turns remaining for your Majin. Final Tale (004f) Unlocking: Clear the 5 character's tales. All right, here it is the LAST thing you have to do. And it's actually not all that bad. You're up against Izel, 2 Sprites, 2 Bat-Majin (I'm too lazy to look them up in the lexicon at the moment), and 4 arms. You have your 5 party leaders and various Majin to accomplish this. All your party leaders will have their levels, weapons, and skills from their last CLEARED run of Besek. When I did this my levels were; Thage-30, Ashley-29, Olifen-27, Rondemion-26, and Morpheus-24, and I was fine. In order to prepare for this, you should make sure that all your party leaders are at least level 20, and for Thage, Ashley, and Olifen you might want to get them up to 25 just to be safe. Also, equip as many healing and support spells to as many of your leaders as you can. To start, set 2 Majin to enter into the battle with you. Use them and Thage to take care of the enemy Majin and use the other 4 to start getting rid of the arms. Gale arm is weak to Slash, so use Rondemion and Morpheus to get rid of it. Olifen can deal slash damage too, but you can only physically attack this arm with 2 people and Rondemion and Morpheus deal out more damage. Once Gale goes down, head up to the Blaze Arm, which is weak to Pierce and let loose with Olifen and Morpheus. You can hit this one with up to 4 characters so have Rondemion and Ashley get a few hits in too. Now go across to the other side to take care of Frost and Stone. For this, split your party. Have Thage, Morpheus, and Olifen take care of the Frost arm. Remember this arm knows "Regenerate" (permanent "Salva,") so make sure you do enough damage each turn to make up for that. The Frost Arm's only weak to fire, so Morpheus and Olifen are really just speeding things up. While they're doing that, take Rondemion and Ashley down and have them work on the Stone Arm, which is weak to Strike. Just watch out as Stone Arm's earth attacks can cause "Fracture" which makes Ashley's physical attacks useless. Not to worry, because Olifen and Morpheus can, especially if one of them is "Acceloro"ed, deal enough damage on their own to keep up with Regenerate, so you can send Thage down to help with Stone if you want. Just a note, DO NOT use your special physical skills (the ones you used to break Valdus' aura) on the arms or Majin because you're going to need them for Izel. Once the arms go down, so will her demon aura, so let's finish this. You NEED to watch out for her skill "Angelic Ray" which is a devastating area attack, and she can cast it 10 times, so she's probably not going to run out of it before you take her down or she takes you down. Hopefully you remembered not to use your physical skills on the other enemies because she'll heal 300 HP per turn. Once you get within her range, keep Rondemion, Morpheus, and Olifen attacking her, leave Ashley back to heal, and have Thage cast her highest spells. If someone’s in real trouble, use Morpheus’ “Prayer II” to heal them. On the bright side, Izel's pretty slow, so your faster characters (Olifen and Morpheus) should be able to get in two turns for Izel's one. At least for me, she looked worse than she was. Once Izel goes down, you'll see the true ending, unlock the last picture in the gallery, and have bragging rights for having the patience to actually beat this game. ----------- Majin Aura (005) All boss Majin will have a special aura around them. Most of these are self explanatory enough, but there are a few that you should know before trying to fight them. Morpheus: First Valley boss of the three original tales. For whatever reason, Morpheus has no demon aura. Hit him with whatever you want. Penumbra: “The Shade Dragon” found on the third step of Sanctuary. Thage: Hit him with an Unseelie’s light magic, so make sure you have one set before you try to take him on. Ashley: Same as Thage, hit him with one of the Unseelie's Light Attacks. Olifen: No demon aura. Go nuts. Rondemion: Unseelie's light magic. Duphaston: N/A Doom Shade: Found on the third step of Purgatory. In Thage's story he must be hit with magic from a guardian of the second stratum. This means you must first capture one, which is hard to do on a first play through. In Ashley's story hit him with "Punishment." Olifen's story is the same as Thage's, hit him with a magic attack from Dalia Queen, Armihage, or Gergedus to break the aura. Annoying, yes, but this game has worse requirements. Rondemion: Again, magic of a second stratum guardian. Duphaston: N/A Luxiphel: Found at the end of Sanctuary. Must be hit with a "Malus" spell that does a certain amount of damage (Something between 76 and 114, I'm guessing the cut-off is 100, but I'm not positive...). To check the power of a spell, look at the number that appears on the far right side of the selection box next to the skill's name. This is no problem for Thage. For Ashley, your best bet is probably using a Majin. I used Penumbra, but if you don't have him there are other Majin (Gergedus, Theefer, etc.) that have high enough Malus skills. For Olifen, equip a Malus spell to a staff or book and hand it to Marie. By the time I fought him, Marie's Malus IV spell had an attack value of over 300, enough to break the aura and take off a quarter of Luxiphel's HP. For Rondemion, Stein or Nena should have a Malus spell that'll break the aura, but being black mages, their defense is not so great so have a Malus-casting Majin in reserve just in case. For Duphaston there's no aura. Hit him with whatever. King Bellion: Found at the end of Purgatory. Must be hit with a "Sacra" spell that does a certain amount of damage (I'm guessing this is the same story as Luxiphel in terms of the exact amount of damage the spell has to do, check this in the same place.) As long as Thage is leveled up enough, you can add a "Sacra" to her skill set by putting it on a weapon and use her. Her magic is so high it doesn't matter that it's not a learned ability. If this doesn't work, use a Majin. This is no problem for Ashley. Either Yuri or Levatte should have a powerful enough Sacra spell for this in Olifen's story. For Rondemion so long as Yuri's at a respectable level, she'll be able to break the aura. As with Luxaphel, he has no aura in Duphaston's tale. King Valdus: Boss of 4th stratum. For Thage, hit him with “Last Rights” to break his aura. For Ashley, hit him with "Punishment." For Olifen; "Everthrust." For Rondemion; "Heroic Slash." (NOTE: Duphaston's skill "Grand Design" WILL NOT break the aura, I tried it.) For Duphaston, use "Primal Slash." This is actually something that's quite helpful in that it can cause "Bleed," which is REALLY going to help taking this boss down considering all the other handicaps you have to deal with on this run... ------------ Boss Majin Locations and Unlocking them (006) Moon Belator: End of Labyrinth on Thage’s run. Automatic. Otakuphant: End of Labyrinth on Ashley’s run. Automatic. Kaelrunis: End of Labyrinth on Olifen's run. Automatic. Mars Belator: End of Labyrinth on Rondemion's run. Automatic. Terranus: Second step of Desert. Capture/kill both Cancer Gigas first. Manti Gigas: Second step of Forest. Capture an Acrida. Escha Gigas: Second step of Aether. Capture both Hecta Gigas. Arknos: Fourth step of Aether. Leave the Aquamote alive, capture/kill everything else. Ignus: Fourth Step of Desert. Capture one of each type of Majin. (Worst...requirement...EVER!!!) Trinity: Fourth step of Forest. Capture Jade Sylph and Heefer. Dahlia Queen: End of Forest. Automatic. Armihage: End of Aether. Automatic. Gergedeus: End of Desert. Automatic. Penumbra: Third step of Sanctuary. Thage: Capture a Zyr Phantasm. Ashley: Capture a Zyr Phantasm. Olifen: Automatic. Rondemion: Capture a Zyr Phantasm. Doom Shade: Third step of Purgatory. Thage: Capture both Lapis Sylphs. Ashley: Capture a Lapis Sylph. Olifen: Capture both Lapis Sylphs. Rondemion: Capture both Lapis Sylphs. This is the single hardest thing to do in the entire game, so if you’re looking for a tactical challenge, here it is. This is going to require A LOT of patience and some luck. As Rondemion isn't a mage, Overkilling the Lapis Sylphs is a chore (I remember Thage's Malusphere that could overkill both of them in one go...). As if that weren’t enough, the Count is just going to be wasting space in this step as the Lapis Sylphs and Armatuses will reflect his Aero back at him and their physical defense is stronger than his attack, so you’re really fighting an uphill battle. First, you need to get rid of the Armatuses, hopefully one at a time. Once that's done, take care of the Sylphs one at a time. They know "Release," and you don't want them freeing each other. They also know "Cure II" and "Salva," which just makes things worse. If you've been using Ares and equip "Cursed Edge" to her, she'll have a good chance of sealing them with her regular attacks, but it's still safer to get rid of them one at a time. Just remember the soft reset code and try not to get too mad at the game. Luxaphel: End of Sanctuary. Automatic. King Bellion: End of Purgatory. Automatic. King Valdus: 4th Stratum. Fufill requirements for good ending for each character. You want to be sure to check his status screen every time you fight him, as his resistances will change depending on which story you're playing. I don't know why. Izel: Final Boss. See "Final Tale" section. ---------------------------- Extra Advice (007) In order to complete the Librium Aurora you do NOT have to capture every Majin in every story. As long as you have one (any level) captured by any party it will show up as captured in you lexicon. If you want to level people up, try spamming their support skills. Things like "Accelero," "Magus Defense," and the "Arts" can add up to a few extra levels over one run of Besek. This is especially good for leveling re-recruitable characters on second runs and beyond. Don't forget to equip items you've bought or found in the Twilight's Rest. If you don't equip them you can't use them in battle. I recommend keeping one extra save file at a town for each of your games, especially when going into a new stratum. You never quite know what this game’ll throw at you next. Speaking of extra saves, I recommend keeping separate save files for all the different characters. This allows you to take full advantage of the next trick. Don’t forget that the Uzaporium will stock the last 50 weapons you sold it with skills attached. This is a great way to transfer skills from one party to another. If a person dies on the battlefield, they are merely removed for the remainder of that battle. All EXP gained will remain and you can use them again at the next battle. If a Majin dies in battle, it’s gone for good. Keep a close eye on their HP especially if you only have one of them. Once a Majin’s number of turns have been used up you can’t re-summon it until the next battle. You can, if you want and have them, equip more than one of the same Majin in your Librium, so if you want to fill all 10 slots with the same Majin, go right ahead. There is a soft re-set feature for this game (Start/Select/L1/L2/R1/R2). It is your friend. Use it well. With very few exceptions, enemy Majin won't start trying to attack you until one of your party members enters its range. On your first run with any character try to pick off one or two Majin at a time as battles can get pretty out of hand pretty fast in some stages. If an enemy's Overkill HP is zero, you can't capture it and it won't show up in your lexicon. The only enemies this applies to are the bosses and enemies in the "Valley" areas, King Valdus, Majin in Duphaston's Tale, and everything in the final fight. Be sure to check enemy's status screens, especially if you're looking to Overkill and capture them. Status screens list weaknesses and strengths as well as skills and spells an enemy can use. Opening treasure chests and using items won't net a character any experience. Capturing Majin, however, will give a character experience. Except where mentioned in the "Routes" section, you don't need to complete secondary objectives to get the good ending. You do need to complete secondary objectives to rescue Refugees. Characters who can summon Majin (Thage, Retica, Ashley, Olifen, Rondemion, Morpheus, Stein, Nena, and Vivian) can summon Majin up to one level above their current level. i.e. if Stein's level 14 he can summon a level 15 Majin, but not a level 16 one. Every refugee will give you an item if you visit them enough. With the exception of Theefers, Majin cannot open treasure chests. No Majin can "Store" commands, and as such, they cannot be used in Combo attacks. For stages with treasure chests and secondary objectives, as long as a chest wasn't opened during the first fight (by either you or a Theefer) it will re-appear for the second fight, so you can grab it then. When capturing Majin, watch out for Lapis Syphis and High-level Aqua and Pyromotes, as they know the "Release" ability which un-binds other Majin and restores some HP. On a similar note, Heefers and Gilideshes will attack bound Majin and kill them, so make sure to capture your bound Majin before one of these enemies gets their next turn. The Koona speak backwards. To figure out what they're saying read right to left. Majin Auras DO NOT (at least in the American release of the game) need to be broken with an innately learned ability. I know I've broken at least 4 with abilities equipped on weapons. What matters is the power of the spell, and learned abilities tend to have higher attack values than those equipped on weapons. For fights where the goal is "Vanquish the Boss," any bound Majin will be automatically added to your Librium once the Boss goes down. If you bind the boss, the battle will continue until you capture it. For some reason I don't understand, to clear the first story you need to see both the good and bad endings, but after that a story is cleared by seeing either the good or bad ending. This game just keeps making up rules as it goes along... ------------------------------------------ Legal Stuff (008) This FAQ belongs to me, Emily Lipkin. Eternal Poison Belongs to Atlus USA. This FAQ is authorized to be hosted on Gamefaq.com, www.supercheats.com, and www.neoseeker.com. DO NOT repost any part of this FAQ on any other website. --------------- Version History (009) 1.0: Thage's Story, most Boss Majin locations given, most Re-recruitable characters explained. 2.0: Ashley's story completed. Fixed several factual errors that were pointed out to me, finished listing Boss Majin Locations and Unlocking them and added Komori to Re-recruitable Characters section. 3.0 All stories complete. Changed format of Story-Specific characters with more information on the classes, added a few more tips, "Getting Started" section, recommended parties for all stories, and a list of refugees and the items they'll give you.