The Bazaar (buy fast or buy last)
The Bazaar: The bazaar goods system isn't nearly as convenient as it tries to sound. You may have noticed that certain smaller products (i.e. Potion Pack) can be repeated. It should prove obvious enough from selling the loot needed to produce the repeatable good that selling multiple pieces of loot will not ensure that the Bazaar has enough loot in stock to form all of the items you want them to. Selling multiple pieces for the Potion Pack (which needs only two Cactus Fruits) or for the Hi-Potion Pack (one Rainbow Egg) will not produce, for example Potion Pack x2... and after buying the original Potion Pack/Hi-Potion Pack, there will be no replacement Potion Pack until you've once again sold the loot necessary to create it. So if you sold 7 Rainbow Eggs, that ends up wasting 6 Rainbow Eggs. The same applies to every other item that becomes available in the Bazaar upon selling the necessary loot. Multiple products require some of the same loot to become available and it's possible to sell limited supplies to obtain everything. For instance, you could sell "Wolf Pelt x2, Tanned Hide x2, Dark Stone x5, Iron Carapace x3" and unlock both "Assorted Leathers" and "Golden Garb". However, if you buy the Assorted Leathers before the Golden Garb becomes available, you'll have to sell Tanned Hide x2 and Dark Stone x5 again... or at least Tanned Hide x1 and Dark Stone x2. This is only an example so it may not seem like much since Tanned Hides and Dark Stones are easy enough to come by. But later items are not so easy to obtain (even the Iron Carapace is a headache early on), thus having to acquire or reacquire loot you've already worked so hard to obtain can be a real bummer. Two suggestions can help alleviate this problem. One is a little harder, like an alcoholic in a liquor store, after selling your loot, do not buy the Bazaar goods that become available. Option 2 is to sell only the loot that you know you can gather easily and in great quantity. For example, if you see that you're constantly gathering around 50 of a piece of loot just from "taking a walk", sell them. Do not sell the loot you've already had a hard time obtaining until later in the game. Of course, this means that you won't be able to acquire certain stronger weapons and armor until later in the game (as the story would seem to prefer) but you won't have to back track to places and hack'n'slash or steal or poach until you finally obtain the few pieces of loot you need when you realize you'd already had them once.
Demon Shield, Durandal, Arcturus, Ultima Blade, Artemis Bow, Venetian Shield, Golden Axe, Tournesol, Holy Mote
When visiting the Bazaar, you'll need to have sold a Halcyon from every Entite to obtain each of the items above (except the Tournesol which requires Feystones to make High Arcana).
Crystals and Feystones are the most likely prizes from the Entites whether by Stealing or as a Drop. It usually takes hours of repetitive play to steal a Halcyon even with the Thief's Cuffs. In certain cases, such as fighting the Gnoma Entite in Westersand, it's possible to raise the likelihood of a Halcyon drop to much greater percentage than that of stealing with the Thief's Cuffs. The Gnoma can be found in a couple of places, most notably in Midfault near the entrance to Windtrace Dunes. Usually, this proximity to the next zone makes it easier to attempt a steal and runaway but it doesn't guarantee hardy loot. In a situation where you need to chain Entites for higher drop rates, it's best to cast Immobilize or Sleepga on nearby enemies to make sure they don't leap into your line of fire (it seems they're all immune to Disable). It helps to turn off Gambits or activate one that automatically attacks the highes level monster present (usually the Entite) with whichever element the Entite is weak against. In my experience, it's best to go full melee, since Entites are immune to most elements and can become temporarily immune to the element that normally harms them. Naturally, possessing the Sage's Monograph (obtained from the Bazaar by talking to merchant's at least 100 times) will increase the drop rate as well. Other spells which can be used to eliminate nearby monsters without effecting chain are Poison/Toxify (+Bleed preferrably), Stone, and Countdown. These are attacks that destroy enemies indirectly. Don't use Warp. It'll create a new chain for some reason. Another spell that may help if the enemy is capable of doing significant damage to its own allies is Confuse. Now if only it would last beyond a single self-blow.
(How come the confused main party constantly attacks allies, but confused monsters immediately self-blow=remedy themselves? Confuse is actually the most useless spell in the game due to this.)
