SaGa Frontier - Emelia: Chapter 1

 

Before beginning the scenario, you'll be given the option to load your System File; accumulating the number of times, and scenarios, that you have completed previously. While in Emelia's scenario it's not necessary to a completionist, loading a System File where your last finished game ended exactly on a battle rank of 9 grants the maximum starting bonus HP, abilities, and equipment to most characters; none of which are missable in Emelia's game, but very useful. For more information on this, along with detailed gameplay analysis of SaGa Frontier, refer to the Prologue chapter of this guide.

Emelia's scenario opens with her outside the home of her fiance, Ren. Troubled about how to approach him after their fight from the night before, she finds Ren's door unlocked and the house in silence besides the TV's static. In the bedroom, Emelia sees Ren lying on the floor and a man with a strange mask departing the scene of the murder.

Present time, she's locked up in a prison known as Despair; a classy one where everyone has different-colored prison stripes. She's joined in the shifty cafeteria by a fellow blonde by the name of Annie; who, apparently, is no stranger to life here.

 

Flashback to Emelia, being held by the IRPO on suspicion of Ren's murder, being grilled by Ren's former partner, the hot-headed Fuse. Emelia pleads with Fuse that the murderer was a man wearing a Joker-style mask and she is innocent, however, Fuse, the bad cop to Ren's good cop, has already decided she is guilty despite no evidence.

Thankfully, it's Emelia's lucky day and the Despair Warden is offering freedom to anyone who can find the Freedom Rune that is hidden within the grounds of the prison, which, of course, very few actually have. Annie, bringing along a friend, Liza, knows this place like the back of her hand and the trio are prepared to blow the joint together.

 

Checking the above screenshots, if your characters have the above HP and Annie has the sword abilities shown, you successfully imported your System Data at the maximum rank, but, again, this is just a bonus and is not necessary to completion in Emelia's scenario. Also, you'll find a Backpack item, FiberVest armor, and InfraScope helmet in your inventory; equip all three of these to Emelia. You can give the Backpack, a one-of-a-kind item, to any character, though, which allows them to use items directly from your inventory and not have to have them equipped like they would otherwise. I would recommend that you actually remove Liza's FangAmulet accessory as, if you read the Prologue chapter, equipment that boosts your stats actually hinder the natural growth of your human character's statistics. Keep this in mind going forward. You might want to move Annie's LeatherBoots over to Liza for some bonus defense, also.

 

Note: You can auto-sort your items in the Item menu by using the Select button.

Now that the game has begun, it's extremely important for those new to SaGa Frontier to understand the battle rank system the game employs. For a more detailed understanding, head back to the Prologue chapter, but to put things simply: the availability of monsters, and thus certain items, and to a much-lesser extent, abilities, have a narrow window to obtain. Battle rank (BR) rises by fighting battles and numbers between 1-9. To obtain a very rare, but gameplay-wise, rather useless, item we need to get out of Despair without raising our BR past 1, to make it easier. Generally, after this opening, you can fight all the enemies in a dungeon without issue, as long as you don't go crazy, but we need to be conservative here. Note: Despair is a one-time dungeon, so we need to make sure to pick her clean of treasure before finding the Freedom Rune.

You begin in a bit of a pipe-maze, but it's easily navigated. Watch for slimes that pop in-and-out randomly and try not to engage them in battle; they won't chase, so just wait for them to dissipate before passing. From the starting position, exit south, then enter the pipe directly to your left, before the pipes drop downward. In the next section, take the first left passage, watching for slimes, then climb the outside ladder to your left that drops you into the area seen in the screenshot above. To proceed, jump down into the locker room via the center hole, however, you can enter another pipe-maze if you go further to your left, but there is absolutely nothing there to find.

 

After jumping down, Liza will pull Emelia into one of the lockers as a prison guard inspects the room. If you look closely, there is something leaning up against the left-side locker in the upper-right corner; search it for a LightBazooka weapon, however, you'll need to quickly enter the locker on the opposite-side to hide from the guard who enters again; if the guard catches you, it's a game over! Equip the Bazooka to a weaponless Emelia and exit to the left-side. Just outside the locker room, there's a hatch with a large handle you can inspect to be sent far-down into Despair via a trash chute.

Leave the rubbish bin and dodge the bugs, if you want, and exit to the lower-right of the trash room. In the following room, there's a door you can enter to the upper-left, then jump onto the elevator inside to be carried back upward where you can plunder a nice ShellShield from the chest in the room. Leave, and dodge the mecs crowding the corridor, around to be back in the locker room. Reenter the garbage chute, but this time, use the open manhole to the left of the bins and pass through the sewer passage.

 

The sewer carries you to a room with spotlights, which you would think would get you caught by guards, or at least trigger a battle if you enter them, but alas, they do nothing, and you simply just need to exit to the left-side and jump off the platform. You can use the conveyor belt to return to the previous area of Despair, if you need to, but the goal is to descend the stairs on the far-side. The next room contains a laser trap, but since you have the InfraScope helmet (Doesn't have to be equipped), Emelia can see the lasers and squeak by to the door on the opposite-end. Contact with the lasers pits the trio of girls against a tough mec enemy, so make sure you avoid them at all costs. Past the trap, defeat the two beasts and examine the door in the following room for a small scene where Liza and Annie reveal someone named Roufas has been feeding them information from the outside and there's more to this escape than it seems. Before climbing the nearby ladder, make sure you've picked up the LightBazooka and ShellShield as you won't be able to come back to this dungeon again. Note: There are other areas of the Despair prison, but are no additional treasures. Also, remove the LightBazooka from Emelia as her being unarmed grants us a free weapon upcoming.

Search the grate in the room beyond the ladder and, if Emelia didn't have the LightBazooka or LaserKnife equipped, Annie will give her a free AGUNI-CP1 handgun; otherwise, you miss out on this freebie. The Despair Warden has a nasty insect thing, Nidheg, waiting for you. In other scenarios, Nidheg can be tough, but since this is just the scenario beginning, it's been vastly toned down. Use whatever abilities your characters started with and you may spark some new ones or, perhaps, DodgeTackle, from the nuisance. The only one who may be in danger is the HP-deficient Emelia, but hopefully the ShellShield will activate to protect her. Once you've done enough damage, the thing will flee and you'll drop down into the room housing the Freedom Rune.

 

Touching the Freedom Rune in the center of the circular room rewards the girls with their first RuneStone item and, surprisingly, the Warden is good on his word of letting them go free. Unfortunately, the fact that you have acquired a RuneStone so early in the game has some negative consequences for Emelia. First, this limits the availability of the Rune-based magic gift to Emelia, Liza, and Annie, with the exception of a party member (Mesarthim) who comes pre-loaded with the gift. Secondly, you cannot recruit any of the characters obtained from the Arcane magic gift quest until you have found all four RuneStones and obtained their magic gift; which will take a while.

The opening quest closes with their release and Emelia tries to return to normal life, however, upon trying to visit Ren's house, she's attacked outside by the Joker-masked man, but is thankfully saved by a man with the familiar name of Roufas.

 

Roufas takes Emelia back to his hideout in Koorong where she's reunited with Annie and Liza; all three of whom are members of a group known as Gradius that opposes the massive Trinity corporation. Roufas wants Emelia to join them due to her connection with Joker; which is also the reason why he devised the plan to bust her out of Despair with Liza and Annie. Both Joker and Trinity are after a power source known as Cube and Gradius is determined to stop them both from obtaining it. When left to her own thoughts, talk to both Annie and Liza for some scenes, and then Roufas who is in the far-right room of the corridor. Roufas will ask Emelia if she'll join them; which if you want the story to proceed, you'll have to accept, however, you can decline and roam around Koorong, but won't be able to leave the region until she accepts his offer.

Upon agreeing, Emelia is put to training which, apparently, is just shooting targets with the unobtainable TrainingGun weapon, but it does give you a few stat-ups. You can repeat this training through the middle door at the bottom of the hideout anytime, but I wouldn't recommend it since it more-than-likely rises your battle rank! Afterward, Annie takes Emelia down to the Koorong sewers for more "training" but you only need to climb the ladder nearby (Watch for slimes) and then the stairs back up to Koorong. There's a bag of Credits down in the sewers, but we're coming right back to this spot before long, so for now, dodge all the enemies and head back to the city.

 

The Gradius hideout is located below the faux restaurant in the northern part of Koorong. Speak with Roufas again, who advises that you take some free time to search out the rest of those RuneStones you already have one of. Talk to him again and he'll hand over 500 valuable Credits to Emelia. In the left-handed room of the corridor, you can rest for free and Liza will join your party if you invite her; likewise, Annie is outside of the restaurant and can also be invited. From here on, the world of SaGa Frontier is open to you. Your first order of business is to decide upon the 14 extra party members you want to join Emelia on her journey. Unlike most RPGs, when a character joins you in SaGa Frontier, with some very rare exceptions, they are with you for good, and cannot be replaced. That being said, it's vital to plan your character slots from the very beginning. Below are a list of all the available characters that Emelia can recruit.

Story Characters:

• Annie
• Liza
• Roufas
• Asellus (Half-Mystic)
  
• White Rose (Mystic)
  
• Zozma (Mystic)

Humans:

• Rouge
• Mei-ling
• Lute
• Fei-on
  
• Gen
• Fuse

Mystics:

• Silence
• Mesarthim
• TimeLord

Monsters:

• Riki
• Cotton
• Thunder
• Slime
  
• Sei
• Suzaku
• Kylin

Emelia does not have access to any mec characters, and for this reason, I would recommend you consider adding the "lost" SaGa Frontier character, CommonMec, to her party via codes. For more on that, refer to the Prologue chapter. Who else should you take? Well, that's up to you, but I will give some recommendations. Besides the story characters who you absolutely should take (Annie, Liza, and Roufas are forced into your party in multiple scenarios), you should count on having the Slime monster worm its way upon you as hitting the 15-member limit before finishing the Rune quest would be quite hard (And wasteful) to do. Like most scenarios, Rouge is a no-brainer for his gift of Realm magic, and the mystic, Mesarthim, is an excellent choice as it will add an additional Rune magic gift user to your party. Actually, any-and-all mystics are a good choice as Emelia's final boss mystics are inherently strong against it. Also, although you will have to wait quite a while to get him to join, Gen should be taken as he is the outlet for a one-of-a-kind and strong katana-based sword. As we go along, I will guide you towards each of these characters as they become available to us. Note that even if you add CommonMec to your party via codes, the EngineerCar still will not join Emelia.

Note: The SilkShirt that Emelia, Asellus, and if you recruit her, Mei-ling, come equipped with is a limited item in the game.

 

Note: Silence and Fuse both come equipped with the same weapon we cannot find elsewhere in the game. Thankfully, we can steal it from Fuse without him permanently joining our party. Just make sure not to fill up all 15 characters slots before then if you aren't planning to recruit Silence.

 

Note: Going forward, I'm going to introduce you to the items and magic that are available in the region shops, but I do not necessarily want you to spend your Credits on anything, unless otherwise stated. We'll be doing a lot of backtracking to these and you can decide for yourself what you would like to spend your valuable Credits on.

 

Next, we're going to take a small trip around to some regions to gather party members and items before circling back to Koorong. Visit the port on the eastern-end of Koorong and select to fly to the Magic Kingdom. Outside the region's port, enter the building with the crossing swords over its entrance. The specialties for sale here, that you won't find elsewhere, are the Magicwear shirt and BoltCrystal accessory. We'll recruit a character next that comes equipped with a Magicwear, but if you want more than one, you can purchase them here; it's not worth its Credits, however. You also won't find a BoltCrystal as treasure in the game, but they are commonly dropped later on, so don't feel like you need to spend your Credits on one for your inventory. They protect strongly against electric, but offer nothing else of value. You can, however, use it during battle to give yourself a temporary, but effective, BoltBarrier, at the loss of the accessory itself.

 

Note: If you haven't read the Prologue chapter on how armor works in SaGa Frontier, the numbered defense only refers to protection against "slash" type attacks and there are additional hidden variables for pierce, blunt, heat, cold, electric, force, and status protections. I will point these out for equipment when needed.

 

The first building, with a red roof, in the row of terrace houses to the middle-left of the Kingdom houses a shop for Realm magic; along with articles you can read about the various types of magic available in the world of SaGa Frontier. Only two characters in the game can ever have the gift of Realm magic, but you can purchase the basic Realm magic here for any human or mystic (Latter not recommended!). All three spells have their worth, but Implosion is of particular use having a chance for instant-death on an enemy. I wouldn't spend any Credits on this, right now, but don't forget they are here. There's an optional dungeon in the Magic Kingdom, also, but we will cover that much later on, so for now, return to the port and select Luminous as your destination.

Arriving in Luminous, you'll see the magician, Rouge, sitting nearby. Tell him you're searching for magic gifts like him and he'll join. He's the only character in the game, besides the main character, Blue, who has the gift for Realm magic and it is highly advisable you take him along as he is incredibly gifted with weapons, too, despite him starting with no WP at all. Rouge is also the only character you can freely remove from your party simply by traveling to the Magic Kingdom (Which is why we went there first). If you sign up 14 characters, besides Rouge, and want to save your 15th slot for a later one, you can sign up Rouge to block characters that join automatically, then dump Rouge for a later one like TimeLord or Kylin. Not advisable, but a tactic that could prove useful. After going to the Magic Kingdom, Rouge will always be right back in this spot to join-up.

The MasterRobe that Rouge comes pre-equipped with is the only one of this item in the game, so you'll want to recruit him to at least snatch it from him. It's fairly weak against physical attacks, but does provide a +25 in all other defenses and a +5 to the character's PSY stat. He's also got a free Magicwear to plunder if you want to boot him at some point. The white-haired mage has all of the purchasable Realm magic from the Magic Kingdom available to him and a unique one, Gate, that is a story-related spell only used in Blue's scenario and should be removed immediately. He'll later, naturally, gain the amazing PsychicPrison Realm magic that can reflect enemies' magic back onto them, and the powerful VermillionSand that can decimate entire groups.

Inside Luminous, the center room allows you to purchase Light-based magic. StarlightHeal and FlashFire are the standouts here, but we'll be back with more Credits later. To the left-side of Luminous, we can challenge the Luminous Labyrinth to gain the gift of Light magic, but we'll need to wait until we have gathered all our characters before we do that as it can only be entered once.

To the right-side of the region we can buy Shadow-based magic; the opposite of Light, and of the two, a character can only posses one type. Hidebehind is a spell that, because of unimplemented gameplay mechanics, is totally useless, and ShadowNet is rather unreliable, however, PowerGrab is the cream-of-the-crop; being a deadly HP-drain effect in the hands of the right character. The chance to challenge the shadowy realm of Omble to obtain the gift of Shadow magic is offered here, too, but, again, we'll need to wait until we gather all our characters for that as it can only be done once.

 

Note: To save Credits in the future, it's generally a good idea, once you have obtained a magic's gift, to just purchase the lowest-priced spell. With the gift, the character will naturally learn all the others without having to spend any additional Credits.

Now that we've got Rouge (Or not), let's move on to some other characters. Take the port back to Koorong, then select Scrap from the secondary destination menu that is available only from there. There's a Pub, with a glowing archway, on the eastern-end of the region. Inside, we have the chance to recruit three characters: humans Lute and Mei-ling, and the monster, Riki. Make absolutely sure that you want Mei-ling or Riki before talking to them: they come along without even being given a choice or not! Thankfully, Lute is a gentleman and asks before forcing his way into the group.

In, perhaps what some may consider a waste of Credits at this point, let's make a stop at the Junk Shop in the lower-right of town. Here, as your main character gains HP, you can pay an increasing price to take three, pseudo-randomly generated, items from junk piles, however, some of this stuff is rare and can only be gotten here! Since our main character is still weak, we can pick up some rare, but not necessarily great, items for our inventory at 300 Credits. What we need to get here is dependent on which characters we will have join our party. To get what we want, save before agreeing to purchase, and then use a quick-reset (L1+R1+Select+Start) and choose to quick-start and try again. We're going to be searching in the box seen in the screenshot above. Try to get, at least, two of the below items from there in one try.

• KukriBlade (Only way you can get this weapon in Emelia's game)
• Knife (If you didn't recruit Lute)
• BroadSword (If you don't recruit Gen later)
• BrokenBumper (Only place you can acquire this accessory; +1 all defenses, +11 status defense)

None of these items are good, but the KukriBlade is a katana (Has unique abilities to learn), fairly rare, and is decent for the beginning. If you want to save the Credits, you can still get these throughout the game (With a bit of manipulation for the weaker items in the pool or they can become missable), but I like going ahead and knocking out the weak items as the item pool grows, as does the price, as your main character's HP increases. We'll be returning here throughout the game as it changes.

Note: There is a glitch you can preform to be able to take an infinite amount of items from the Junk Shop and manipulate just what items you can find at any point and time. If you don't mind subverting the game's intentions, see the Prologue chapter.

Unfortunately, to get out of Scrap, we have to pay 100 Credits at the port. If you don't have that, you get to fly for free, however. Back to Koorong, with some characters on our side now, let's seek out that rare item I talked about that we preserved our battle rank for. Remember the sewer in the Backstreets of Koorong where Annie took Emelia? If you forgot, the exit out to it is to the southwest; past the stairs that lead up to the strip that houses the Gradius hideout. Climb down the stairs, trying to dodge the annoying birds, and down the manhole to the left of the door. We're here for monsters, but if you circle around to the top-right of the sewers, there is a bag of 200 Credits to snag.

 

Save your game before you turn the corner up towards the Credits bag. There are two human-type enemies to engage here. If you're still at BR1, humans will always spawn a Battleaxe monster. If you're at BR2, you'll see Swordsman and NomadFighters along with the occasional Battleaxe. If you're seeing Soldier enemies, you went WAY overboard on your fighting and the after-mentioned item is likely lost to you now. Battleaxes have the chance to spawn the mec seen in the screenshot above: D-Tractor, along with it, however, the odds aren't in your favor for this to happen. After trying both human sprites, if you don't get any D-Tractors, reload your game to keep your BR from increasing too much. This will become a necessary evil going forward.

Even getting them to spawn, the D-Tractor only has a marginal chance to drop the wanted item: the Bumper accessory. What's this thing do? Well, it can give mecs a +15 to HP, otherwise, just +3 to all your defenses. Not great, but if you fail to get this accessory now, you will miss it forever. Thankfully, there are very few items in SaGa Frontier like this that require such a BR crunch, however, choosing the correct BR to farm items can be a HUGE time saver and I hope to guide you through all these circumstances! So, don't get discouraged by the limitations of this one item.

 

Note: Battleaxes have a chance to drop Buckler shields; which are incredibly handy! I would try to pick up at least one these to save Credits, also.

 

Moving on, let's talk about the stores available to us in Koorong. Outside the port, there is a building with an exchange for GoldIngots we will make use of shortly, so take note of it now. In the crevice next to this is an item seller. Besides monster drops, you'll need to purchase any Antistone and SnakeOil items you want, while the HP-curative items are found here and there throughout. You'll find Magi-Water and XMagi-Drinks in limited amounts, so if you want multiple, you'll have to shell out the Credits for more.

The lower-district of Koorong has an inn, any of which Emelia should never use since she can rest for free at Gradius' headquarters, a shop you can sell specific leather items (Usually dropped by monsters) to make some extra Credit, and a footwear merchant near the exit to the Backstreets. You'll find LeatherBoots (As well as them being equipped to characters), RubberShoes, and JetBoots as treasure, but will need to purchase FeatherBoots at some point. Defensively, the JetBoots are the best all-around here for humans and mystics; with a +5 to Quickness and giving resistance for Tremor/Quake-type attacks, but does make you weak against anti-air on the flip-side. RubberShoes have a nice +25 electric defense and +2 to Quickness, also. FeatherBoots are best for mecs, giving a respectable +75 to HP, 15 Quickness, and 20 to Vitality.

Helmets aren't handed out very freely in SaGa Frontier, so some of these will need to be purchased. Thankfully, the game already gifted us an InfraScope from the start and we'll get a bonus LaserScope once Roufas joins us, too. If you picked up Lute, he came with a Yolk Hat for you, so you won't need to buy one. You only need to concern equipping yourself with LaserScopes and MirrorGlasses, though. The LaserScope is inferior to the MirrorGlass defensively, slightly, but offers a +10 to a user's Will, so it is a nice piece of equipment for gunners. The MirrorGlass provides a +75 to HP and a +25 to Intelligence and Will for mecs. More Intelligence equals more ability slots for our machine friends. All helmets block the user from being inflicted with the Blind status effect, also.

Next door to the headgear vendor is an "army" wares merchant that we will be returning to frequently. Emelia, Liza, and Annie already came bearing FiberVests, so you can ignore it. We'll pick up a free ArmorVest when Roufas joins, plus an additional one from a character later, so we don't need to purchase one of those; it is noteworthy for having a great +60 to piercing defense, though. The CombatSuit will need to be bought, at some point, but it is rather lackluster defensively and armor suits limit your equipment to only shirts and accessories. We'll find an ArmorGlove for free as treasure, but the CyberGlove is only found here at this shop, but can wait until you have extra Credits.

 

That leaves the other three pieces of equipment that are the best, or second-best, in the game: The PoweredSuit armored suit, Defendwear, and Hyperwear shirts. The latter two are the best you will find, but which one you prefer will vary depending on your character build. Defendwear has a +8 to physical, force, and status defenses, but a great +18 to to heat, cold, and electric. Hyperwear provides a +10 to all defenses, but a +15 to force and status ones. You can't go wrong with either, but they'll need to be purchased, although you will have a chance to get a free Defendwear much later on.

The PoweredSuit is certainly deserving of its 5200 price! It comes with a +50 to physical, heat, and cold defenses, and a +30 to electric, force, and status. On top of that, humans get an additional +10 to Strength and Quickness, and mecs an outstanding +100 HP and +20 to Strength and Quickness. I always save up and purchase this for any mecs I may have throughout the game, but it is amazing for humans, too, despite the equipment restrictions of it being an armored suit. Don't forget about this one as you go forward!

To the lower-left of the army vendor, a bit hidden, is a manhole you can descend to find two more shops down in the sewers. To the lower-left is a gun dealer. Honestly, nothing here is worth purchasing, besides for your inventory, except for the LethalGun that is, arguably, the best gun in the game for humans. You should save your Credits to buy two of these for any gunners. For completionists, you'll need to buy a AGUNI-SSP (Unless you recruited Mei-ling and she didn't have a CP1 from carrying over your data), EasyRifle, TroopRifle, EagleGun, SniperRifle, and AGUNI-MBX. The LethalGun will also give a +150 HP and +20 to a mec's Quickness, Will, and Vitality, which is solid.

 

The right-side of the sewer has a sword vendor. Annie came with a LaserKnife, Roufas will provide us a free SamuraiSword, and the Ceramic and TwinSwords will be found as treasure, so we can cross those off as needing to be purchased. A Katana will be picked up as treasure, too, but it is the best purchasable katana-style sword in the game. There's nothing unique about the Osc-Sword, but the RuneSword, that we also saw in the Magic Kingdom, grants the ability to cast VictoryRune to the bearer. Also, if your character has the Rune magic gift, and equips the StasisRune spell, you can activate the semi-rare Cockatrice spell from the RuneSword in battle, which is interesting, but not much more than that. Lastly, with a +60 attack, the ZeroSword, also available in Nelson, is the strongest purchasable sword, but lacks any kind of specialty.

 

Leaving Koorong, take the shuttle to Manhattan, next. Despite being a massive city, Manhattan has almost nothing to offer Emelia except for a small accessory shop that is on the second floor of the shopping mall. Lots of high-priced items here, but thankfully, we don't need to purchase any of them! We'll find them as treasure, or dropped by monsters, throughout the game and aren't worth purchasing early. The exception would, perhaps, be the HarmoniumEarring that protects its bearer from Sonic-based attacks and provides a +11 to all element defenses. The PearlHeart also nulls any water-based attacks and will have its usefulness in the game. I would save my Credits, however. The latter two items, the PurpleEye accessory and WonderBangle shield, you won't find as treasure, but aren't worth the cost of their Credits, and we will get them through monster drops. I'll talk about the details of all of these as they become available to us.

Note: The RING/Schemer item is never available and is a plot point for Riki's storyline.

 

Select the village of Kyo for our next destination. Outside the port, cross the bridge directly to the east and enter the gift shop to the northeast, right off the bridge. Compared to Manhattan, Kyo has basic, cheap accessories for sale. The FangAmulet grants a +5 to Strength, Wing, +5 to Quickness, Flower, a +5 to Psychic and Charisma, and Steel, +5 to Vitality. The latter, SteelAmulet, is a nice early compliment to mecs, too, with a +25 HP and +5 to Strength, Quickness, and Vitality. You got a free FangAmulet equipped to Liza and you'll get a bonus FlowerAmulet when White Rose joins you. Fei-on will also come pre-equiped with a SteelAmulet if you prefer to recruit him, leaving you with needing to purchase Wing or a SteelAmulet for your inventory, eventually.

 

The Budowear shirt here is vastly inferior to the Defend and Hyperwear back in Koorong, but if you don't care to recruit Gen or Fei-on, who come pre-equiped with one, you'll need to purchase it. However, the Lucky and UnluckyCoins are unique to this Kyo shop and need to be purchased, unlessed dropped by a monster. The LuckyCoin, that boosts a character's stats in battle, can be used to set up one huge attack, but its effect is lowered 20% with each passing turn, making it rather useless after the first one or two.

 

To the northwest of the map is a small Dojo you can enter that houses Mind-based magic, but it is limited to humans-only. I highly recommend that all your human characters carry MindHeal into battle; it will fully recover that character's HP and status. Unfortunately, they can only target themselves, so you'll still need to equip recovery items or StarlightHeal to restore others. Go ahead and put down the 300 Credits for Emelia to learn MindHeal; the other two spells aren't of much use to us. Like the previous magic places, we can challenge the Dojo to gain the gift of Mind magic, but we need to wait until we have gathered all of our human characters first.

Note: Mind magic has no obtainable opposite school like others do.

 

Let's travel to the backwoods of Yorkland, next. There's very little for us here other than a small quest later on; not even a shop, but we can pick-up a new character if Lute is a member of our party. From the port, take the road leading south into the village and circle around to the overlook next to the large windmill on the hill. If you had Lute join, his adopted brother, Thunder, a monster, will ask to join you, too.

 

Note: Also if Lute's in your party, you can view a small scene if you try to enter his Ma's house that's found via the western exit of the same area you found Thunder.

Note: If you haven't read the Prologue yet, make sure to always fight one battle with a monster's default abilities, without overwriting one with a new ability, to make sure that they all are counted toward their maximum HP correctly.

 

Return back to Koorong, then select the seaside town of Owmi from the secondary list of destinations. There's very little going on in this sleepy town other than a free inn, however, if you visit the Lord's Manor northeast of the inn, there are several treasure chests and an optional dungeon to be found. From the entrance of the Manor, climb the stairs up to the second floor. There's a semi-concealed exit to the northeast in the following corridor that leads to the eastern-wing of the Manor and then you can climb up into the attic. There are two chests in the attic containing a GhostCannon and the KrisKnife accessory. Although a very rare weapon, the GhostCannon is only really of any use against undead monsters, but is a solid beginner weapon for any mec character with a +100 to HP, +20 Will, and +10 to Psychic. The KrisKnife is, however, one of the best accessories in the game, believe it or not! It has a +3 to your physical defenses, +13 to all elemental defenses, and an excellent +43 to status protection!

Back to the Manor entrance, take the exit to the right-side this time. Follow the linear path, which passes by a large door that leads to the underground dungeon, and into a storage room. There are two more chests to plunder with a RubberSuit and MaxCure. The RubberSuit is an excellent early piece of armor, however, suits of armor can only equip shirts and accessories along with them. Offering +22 to all physical defenses, the RubberSuit grants a nice +52 defense against electric, and some marginal elemental defenses, also. We'll return later to clean out the treasure in the basement dungeon, but for now, head back to Owmi's port and select the unique destination, Nelson.

 

Nelson is another listless, seafaring town, but inside of a giant cove. The large building, with two arched entrances near the center of town sells GoldIngots for cheaper than Koorong does, to note. The small building directly to the right of the tavern holds a small shop. Here, besides the WonderBangle back in Manhattan, is the only place you can purchase shields. We already picked up a ShellShield in Despair, and hopefully got at least one Buckler while farming for the Bumper accessory, but if not, you'll need to purchase one here. Unlike the Buckler, the ShellShield can block piercing-type damage, making it a superior choice. The WarLordArmor available here is the second-best torso armor in the entire game and you won't find one in a dungeon, so don't forget they are here when you have the Credits for them. WarLordArmor has a physical defense of +32 slash/blunt, +45 pierce, with +32 to all elemental and status defense, and will provide mecs with an additional +100 HP and +20 Strength and Vitality.

 

Note: In regard to shields, the game only counts the first shield listed in your equipment, so having multiple equipped is a waste of slots unless it has a secondary effect (Like nullifying water) that some others have.

Note: If you don't mind gaming the system of SaGa Frontier, you can exploit a GoldIngot trade between Nelson and Koorong to make a huge amount of Credits. For more information on this, head back to the Prologue chapter.

 

Next, sail back to Owmi, then return to Koorong, and over to the giant casino known as Baccarat. I'll show you a trick we can use to gain some extra Credits, but at the risk of raising your battle rank. From where you get off the elevator, go down to the right-side, descend the stairs, and you'll be on the screen seen above. Use the elevator on the floor to return to Koorong. Yes; that is all we need to do in Baccarat.

 

Once in Koorong, head over to the Backstreets where the three birds are always trying to attack you. Defeat two of them, leave back to Koorong, then return to the Backstreets. This time, there will be an additional bird, carrying a bag of Credits, coming from the lower-end of the screen. Engage and defeat it to stock an extra 100 Credits. You can do this an infinite amount of times; simply return to the floor in Baccarat and it will allow the money bird to respawn after the next two defeated birds on the Koorong Backstreets screen. I don't recommend doing this too much, though, since your BR will be increasing from the encounters. To make life easier, if you aren't still carrying at least 600 Credits with you at this point, you should repeat this a few times.

We're almost done with our whirlwind trip around the regions. Next is the eccentric town of Devin where magic merchants and fortunetellers run amok. Although all the fortunetellers seem sketchy, they will play a vital role in our quest for completion in SaGa Frontier, but more on that as we go forward. First, start at the tent to the lower-left of Devin's town square. You can purchase Rune-based magic here. Have Emelia ask him about the magic gift and he'll give her three SmallStones that will need to become RuneStones at specific locations in order to acquire the magic gift. Like mentioned earlier, only Emelia, Liza, and Annie can obtain the gift for Rune magic in her game due to characters having to be present when each of the four RuneStones are obtained. Of note for purchase are the VictoryRune, that boosts your weapon's attack power (Not Strength!) and VitalityRune that grants a character HP regeneration in battle.

Note: Be VERY careful before accepting the Rune gift quest and acquiring the three additional SmallStones. Once you accept, because Emelia has already gathered one of the runes, the next time you go back to Koorong and try to leave from the port, you will be swept off to a rather large dungeon. We need to be prepared for this!

The house with the red roof, to the north of the skeleton "psychic", is home to Arcane-based magic. Arcane magic is the polar-opposite of Rune magic and thus only one type can be held at one time by a character. Ask about the gift and you'll take possession of four blank tarot Card items that, same as with the Rune quest, have to be taken to specific locations to turn them into ArcanaTarots. Once all four are gathered, characters who possess Arcane-based magic, and were in your party when each one of the ArcanaTarots were obtained, receive the Arcane magic gift. Saber is a decent offensive spell for just 1 JP and Grail can restore status effects of a character; so they are okay pick-ups. Gold, although cheap, shares the same fate as Shadow's Hidebehind and its mechanics weren't implemented into the game and is thus, basically, useless, however, it does have the potential to cause some monsters to flee the battle. If you have over 900 Credits, buy Shield for a character you would like to be gifted in Arcane magic, though. Not only does it boost the entire party's defenses against all attacks, but it never expires during battle like others, and its power grows as the character's PSY and CHA do.

Note: Once you pick up either a RuneStone or ArcanaTarot, you are locked out of beginning any of the other quests until all four have been obtained. Due to this, in Emelia's game, we have to wait until all four RuneStones are found to get the characters involved in the Arcane quest to join us. Also, you can talk with the two guys standing at the podiums near Devin's entrance to see which Runes or Tarots you still need.

That's all in Devin, for now, so select our last region to visit: Shrike. On the city map, enter the location known as Mu's Tomb to the lower-left and skip across the makeshift stone steps and enter the Tomb. Use the first exit to your left and follow it into a semi-open room with a man wearing a hat and several sarcophagus near the bottom. If you accepted the Rune quest in Devin, Roufas is also here. Talk to him and he'll join your party now and you won't have to wait for him to auto-join later on in the game. Roufas comes with the gift for Mind magic automatically, a SamuraiSword, an ArmorVest, which has an exceptional +60 to pierce defense, and a free LaserScope helmet we talked about that has a +10 Will bonus  and is one of the best in the game. We're going to return to Mu's Tomb soon, but for the moment, go ahead and exit back to Shrike.

 

Northeast of Mu's Tomb, nestled inconspicuously amongst the other buildings, but having a gold-colored roof, is the entrance to Nakajima Robotics. It is home to Shrike's only shop and you can pawn a select number of items here, too. Most of Nakajima's products are best suited for mecs, which Emelia is lacking unless you picked up CommonMec with codes, however. The ElectroArmor, which you won't find as treasure, is solid, with good defense across the board, but you'd be better off saving the Credits for the WarLordArmor in Nelson. This is also the only place you can purchase RepairKits that are your most-reliable source for restoring a mec's HP; at least for now.

 

For the weapons, the only two of note are the LaserCarbine and Bolt Thrower, but all of them will need to be purchased for your inventory since they won't be found as treasure anywhere, although the Bolt Thrower is a semi-common drop in later battle ranks. The Carbine by itself is not that great, but it is one of the few weapons that can be combined with a mec's Magnify program that can produce some huge damage. The Bolt Thrower has an excellent area-of-effect and a +125 to HP and additional +20 to Will and Vitality. The MissilePod has some decent mec bonuses, for the price, at +90 HP and +15 Strength and Will. The LightVulcan is a cheap, multiple-target weapon, too, you may consider.

 

For an Easter egg, visit the bookstore on Shrike's main street to the north of the city map (There's also a free inn at this location!). Carefully search around the middle of the center two bookcases and your main character will find a "Smut", as Final Fantasy IV refers to it, and each has a different reaction to discovering it.

There's another character we can easily recruit now, too, in Shrike. Look for the Bio Research Lab in the bottom-right of the map. Be VERY wary of the monsters here as they are always high above your current battle rank (This will be extremely beneficial later, though). They won't give chase, so it's easy to maneuver around the demented scientists. From the entrance, take the staircase to the lower-left of the screen, then enter the northernmost door on the second floor. Search the suspicious bookcase directly before you to open a "secret" passage and follow the linear passages to a stairwell. Climb to the top, squeezing by the scientists, and enter the red door in the adjoining passage. You'll get attacked by some scientists that are just basic monsters, and the grateful-to-be-rescued monster, Cotton, will join your group.

 

Note: If you wait until much later to recruit Cotton with Fuse in your party, you'll get a small scene between the two revealing that Cotton is actually an IRPO member, too!

To the northeast of the Shrike map is another Tomb; for Mu's ancient rival, Sei. There's a lot going on in this dungeon, but right now, we're here to loot a few of the treasures to make the upcoming dungeon easier. Outside Sei's Tomb, you'll need to skip across stones in the water to the opposite end after climbing down the hill. Then, head left under the Tomb's overgrowth and find another set of stones to hop further to the northwest and the Tomb's dark entrance. Try to dodge the monsters through the next two screens until you arrive in the area seen in the screenshot above (I know it's dark, sorry). From the center of the room, you'll notice, just off the stairs you came down, there is a crack in the floor to the upper-left. Walk on it and you'll be dropped to the floor below, but positioned on a narrow platform off the ground. Save your game and walk down to pluck the sword out of the blueish coffin on the edge.

 

You'll be thrown into a battle with two DeadKnights; which will be a common monster at a higher BR, but are still manageable at this stage of the game. Their ability to Deflect your attacks are the worst of it, but if you have Rouge, he can bypass this by casting EnergyChain/Implosion or Mei-ling can conjure up SunRay on the undead foes. They'll hit hard, but it shouldn't be enough to finish all five of your characters. Afterward, you'll obtain the Murakumo sword, which isn't a katana, for whatever reason, that has a respectable attack of +33 and is great for mecs, too, with +150 HP and +15 to Strength and Quickness. You can then leap off the platform and use a staircase to the right of the coffin to emerge back in the center room. This time, try to take the sparkling object in the alcove to the lower-right of the screen; again guarded by two DeadKnights. You'll walk away with the Mizukagami shield that is one of the best in the game and can guard against heat attacks and completely nullifies water-based ones. We'll be back here before long, but with these two treasures, go ahead and exit Sei's Tomb.

I know we've been running around like crazy, but we're almost ready to get on with things; just one last stop. Head back to Mu's Tomb and the area you found Roufas. There's a door nearby that takes you into a small room with three encroaching slimes with a small and large treasure chest in the corners. Both of these chests are invaluable to our quest for completion as they can be respawned indefinitely, but I'll talk about the details more as we go forward. To make things easier, dispatch the slimes and stand right next to the small chest and save your game before you open it.

Open the small chest and chances are you will battle a number of "living-style" monsters like LivingAxe, LivingLance, or LivingGlove. There are two other much-rarer possible encounters from the chest, but if you draw them, reset your game. Defeat the Living creatures and you'll be rewarded either a PowerCure or a GoldIngot from the chest; we want the GoldIngot, so reload your game and try again until you get it. We'll trade this in Koorong for Credits and additional items to prepare ourselves further.

 

For the large chest, take the same steps as before and save in front of it before opening. Here, we're looking for a battle with a giant creature known as an Ettin. This monster is WAY beyond what we can handle right now, but we've got a trump card: Rouge's Implosion spell! As seen in the screenshot, it has a good chance of instantly defeating the Ettin! Of course, you'll need to get a bit lucky and have it take effect before he destroys Rouge and the group, but it's worth it! He may drop a nice item for you, too.

 

Your odds are you receiving another GoldIngot, but we don't want that this time! Keep reloading until the chest coughs up the awesome Magihat headgear. It only provides a +6 to your physical defenses, but a great +16 to elemental defenses, plus allows the bearer to use the ability of the MagicStone during battle at no cost to WP or JP! This will prove to be extremely valuable for attacking groups of enemies and you won't find a better place to pick up a Magihat in the game. Unless using a LaserScope for the +10 Will for your gunners, the Magihat is easily the best headgear in the entire game.

With that, head back to the Shrike port and select Luminous. Purchase the FlashFire spell for Rouge, or if you prefer not to recruit him or have him use Shadow magic, Emelia, Mei-ling, Roufas, or anyone you want to be gifted in Light magic. It's pricey, but will be a huge help in the upcoming dungeon that is challenging at this stage of the game. Before you fly back to Koorong: know that you will not be able to go anywhere else until you complete the next dungeon; so if you want to go elsewhere, do so now. 

 

Once in Koorong, drop by the shop next to the port and sell the GoldIngot you found for a very nice profit. With these Credits I purchased an AGUNI-SSP, JetBoots, Hyperwear, and Defendwear from the shops, but you decide for yourself what to do with yours. Just for an example as to what I have my characters equipped with going forward:

 

Emelia: AGUNI-CP1, Mizukagami, Backpack, FiberVest, Hyperwear, Magihat, KrisKnife

Liza: AGUNI-SSP, MasterRobe, CottonShirt, LaserScope, JetBoots

Annie: LaserKnife, SamuraiSword, FiberVest, Defendwear, InfraScope, LeatherGlove

Rouge: Murakumo, KukriBlade, ShellShield, RubberSuit, Magicwear, Bumper, FangAmulet

Roufas: AGUNI-CP1, Buckler, ArmorVest, SilkShirt, LeatherGlove, LeatherBoots

When you're fully prepared, head for Koorong's port and set-off for any location.