Magnetic Cavern
Welcome to the dungeon where your expensive equipment becomes a liability. Finish the nonmetal equipment check before walking very far. Metal in your inventory is fine. Metal equipped on a character is the problem. But don’t feed it to Fat Chocobo; we will want it back before leaving.
Make sure you have TwinHarp, healing supplies, and room for treasure. Put Cecil and Tellah in the back row while Cecil is using his bow. Yang and Cid can handle the front.
Use strong, focused attacks on StingRat rather than inviting several counters with weak hits. Prioritize Mage before it can use Blast. EquipmentEquippable by Cecil (Paladin), Rydia (both forms), Rosa, Cid, Palom, Porom, Edward, FuSoYa. Power 10. Attack element: Holy. Effective against Ghoul, Undead enemies. Requires a bow-and-arrow pair. are useful here, but don’t use Bolt indiscriminately: Cave Bat is a particularly poor target for it. Tellah’s MP is limited, so let the physical attackers do their jobs when a fight is under control.
If Cecil suddenly seems to be taking everyone’s damage, check for a critically injured ally. His automatic protection is helpful, but healing that ally can be better than leaving Cecil to absorb the extra punishment.
B1F and B2F
On B1F, cross the first bridge east for HiPotion. Return to the ladder along that bridge, head south across the middle island, then take the western bridge. Work around the western rock for Unihorn near the stairs down.
On B2F, follow the western side of the chasm around to the northwestern Ether1 chest. Return toward the northeastern room. Inside, follow the right side around the pit for another Ether1 and 2,000 Gil. Leave the room and continue down to B3F.
B3F
The room near the entrance, down and left, has a save point. Use a ItemField/save-point recovery, restoring up to 1,000 HP and 100 MP. At higher levels, check your remaining deficits before continuing. or Cabin if needed. It is much more pleasant to recover here than to discover halfway through the next floor that Tellah is out of MP.
The southeastern treasure room has three chests. From right to left, they contain HrGlass1, Silk Web, and HiPotion. The northwestern room holds Fairy, a claw for Yang.
Try Fairy in place of EquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Lightning. Effective against Mech enemies. while keeping EquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Ice. in the other hand. Fairy is useful against giant-type enemies such as Ogre, but if you review the equipment screen you’ll find it trades accuracy for agility. Keep the spare claw instead of assuming a new weapon makes every old one useless.
B4F and the Crystal Room
Follow the entrance bridge west, then north onto the central platform. Before entering the northern room, circle the central rock toward its northern and western edge to collect Exit from the western ledge.
Take the eastern bridge to another save room. Recover and save here. The northern doorway leads to the Crystal Room.
Boss Fight Prep
Leave the nonmetal outfit on for the first encounter. This opening fight is part of the story, not a test of whether you brought enough Elixirs. Let it play out without spending rare recovery items or reloading when things go badly.
Edward’s intervention removes the magnetic restriction and restores the party. When you regain control, open the menu before speaking to the enemy again. Cecil can put WeaponEquippable by Cecil (Paladin). Power 40; Acc 99%; Will +3. Attack element: Holy. Keep for the forging quest; it cannot be stored with Fat Chocobo. and his Paladin equipment back on, Cid can reclaim his metal hammer and armor, and Yang can restore his better arms protection. Move Cecil back to the front row; keep Tellah behind the fighters.
In the real fight, Wind can leave a character in critical condition. Have Tellah heal promptly; MagicWhite Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 18 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. is useful when one person needs a substantial recovery. Keep the rest of the party attacking.
The transformation into Dark D. adds a party-wide breath attack. Don’t let several characters sit near death while Tellah takes an unnecessary offensive turn. You don’t need powerful elemental attacks if your fighters keep dealing damage and the healer keeps them standing.
After winning, inspect the pedestal to receive Earth. (For some reason defeating its guard doesn’t put it in your pocket automatically.)
Leave the Crystal Room and use Exit to escape the cavern. Your black chocobo will take you back to its forest. Yes, directly over the mountains it supposedly can’t cross. Apparently those restrictions only apply when you’re driving. Visit the white chocobo for MP, heal HP separately, and use a yellow chocobo for the trip back to Troia.
Next: Return to Troia.
Later collection detour: this cavern’s B1F Alert encounter is two Mages, which can drop Rydia’s Mage teaching item. You can also find them normally. Leave that optional, potentially long hunt until you want it; the rare-summon notes and retry procedure explain the approach.