Going for it, but some advice is welcome

[Elpizo]

Alright, took me long enough, but at last I'm about to enter Sylx Tower and the Forbidden Land of Eureka. But I need advice, I don't want to get pwned.

I know that you need to buy Shurikens. I heard that: If you're in the Dark World without 2 Ninja's and 2 Sage's and without Shurikens => get out. Okay, I'm going to buy Shurikens, currently I have around 700 000 coins of money (Shame I need to do it al laway, sniff). How many Shurikens do I need to buy and how many monsters do I need to butch for that?

Those Shurikens, do I need to use them on Ahriman, Echidna, Cerberus and 2-headed Dragon or do I need to spare em all for Cloud of Darkness?

Currently, my party exists out of a Warlock, 2 Mystic Knights and a Shaman, is this party enough to survive the trip through Eureka and get the Gods of fighting and magic? Everybody is lv 40, does it need to be much more?

Lastly, any personal advice before I'm going to butch my way towards the end of the game?

Oh yeah, maybe some advice about how to beat Zande, personal advice, could come in handy, too. I know there's a walkthrough, and I'm using it, but those don't say anything. Luckily, I have maps of every area in FF III, helps a LOT. ^^

Thanks in advance, advice from FF veterans is always better than a simple walkthrough.

[Zeromus_X]

wtf. I just typed this out and Firefox crashed. ****.

Anyway, you'll level up ALOT in the final dungeons. Alot. Like the Moon in FFIV. If you aren't feelign confident, hang out in the first floor of Sylx to level up, and rest in the Invincible. Immediately go to the Forbidden Land Eureka first, to raid it of the legendary equipment, among other items. (You'll go through more of those trademark false walls, of course. Alot of those in the final dungeons.) You'll collect Excalibur, Masamune, the works, along with the 'ultimate' jobs, Ninja and Sage.

At the end of Eureka, you'll find a shop that sells the best equipment in the game, as well as other items, magic (Including Bahamut and Leviathan if you got them previously), and Shuriken, of all things. I want to say they cost 20,000 Gil, but I'm just not sure. They're expensive, but you can easily raise money (and levels!) by going through the dungeon multiple times. I bought around 20 Shuriken, and they carried me through the final bosses just fine.

I changed my party to two Sages and two Ninjas (how original), and leveled to the 50s. (Lv~55 should do you fine for the final bosses.) For Zande, I didn't use any Shuriken. I just Hasted the Ninjas and smacked away. (Two Weapons/Haste= Big Damage.) He may waste a few of your party members, but you'll win eventually. You may want an occasional Bahamut (I bought an extra for my second sage), but chances are you'll be spam-healing Cure 4 because healing sucks in this game. (Zande has powerful global attacks like Meteo, of all things. Ow.) Savestate, if you aren't against that.

In the real final dungeon, the World of Darkness, you'll encounter four more bosses. I held back from using Shuriken until the 2-Headed Dragon. I put everyone in the back row so we don't die in one hit. Ahriman and Echidna were reasonably tough, but the 2-Headed Dragon was horrible. (~9,000 Damage an attack!) Haste the Ninjas the first turn, and then chuck stars at it for major damage. It should die in a few turns, but you don't want it to drag on long anyway.

In the final dungeon, you'll find four chests with Ribbons, probably the ultimate headgear for all classes. You'll need to fight a Zande Clone to get them; but he's vulnerable to death so just cast Death to spare yourself a draining battle.

Finally, for the Cloud, Haste on the first turn, and chuck stars until you run out. It (she?) only has ~45,000 HP, so it won't last too long. No Bahamut for this, only spam healing. It casts Flare Wave every turn, it isn't creative, it just wants you dead. If you run out of Shuriken, use two legendary weapons, and keep smacking her. Eventually you'll witness that trademark 'dissolve into nothingness' that every final boss has to deal with at some point in their existence.

That's all I can think of. Good luck, and enjoy the music, it's awesome.

[Elpizo]

wtf. I just typed this out and Firefox crashed. ****.

Anyway, you'll level up ALOT in the final dungeons. Alot. Like the Moon in FFIV. If you aren't feelign confident, hang out in the first floor of Sylx to level up, and rest in the Invincible. Immediately go to the Forbidden Land Eureka first, to raid it of the legendary equipment, among other items. (You'll go through more of those trademark false walls, of course. Alot of those in the final dungeons.) You'll collect Excalibur, Masamune, the works, along with the 'ultimate' jobs, Ninja and Sage.

At the end of Eureka, you'll find a shop that sells the best equipment in the game, as well as other items, magic (Including Bahamut and Leviathan if you got them previously), and Shuriken, of all things. I want to say they cost 20,000 Gil, but I'm just not sure. They're expensive, but you can easily raise money (and levels!) by going through the dungeon multiple times. I bought around 20 Shuriken, and they carried me through the final bosses just fine.

I changed my party to two Sages and two Ninjas (how original), and leveled to the 50s. (Lv~55 should do you fine for the final bosses.) For Zande, I didn't use any Shuriken. I just Hasted the Ninjas and smacked away. (Two Weapons/Haste= Big Damage.) He may waste a few of your party members, but you'll win eventually. You may want an occasional Bahamut (I bought an extra for my second sage), but chances are you'll be spam-healing Cure 4 because healing sucks in this game. (Zande has powerful global attacks like Meteo, of all things. Ow.) Savestate, if you aren't against that.

In the real final dungeon, the World of Darkness, you'll encounter four more bosses. I held back from using Shuriken until the 2-Headed Dragon. I put everyone in the back row so we don't die in one hit. Ahriman and Echidna were reasonably tough, but the 2-Headed Dragon was horrible. (~9,000 Damage an attack!) Haste the Ninjas the first turn, and then chuck stars at it for major damage. It should die in a few turns, but you don't want it to drag on long anyway.

In the final dungeon, you'll find four chests with Ribbons, probably the ultimate headgear for all classes. You'll need to fight a Zande Clone to get them; but he's vulnerable to death so just cast Death to spare yourself a draining battle.

Finally, for the Cloud, Haste on the first turn, and chuck stars until you run out. It (she?) only has ~45,000 HP, so it won't last too long. No Bahamut for this, only spam healing. It casts Flare Wave every turn, it isn't creative, it just wants you dead. If you run out of Shuriken, use two legendary weapons, and keep smacking her. Eventually you'll witness that trademark 'dissolve into nothingness' that every final boss has to deal with at some point in their existence.

That's all I can think of. Good luck, and enjoy the music, it's awesome.

Thanks a lot! i'm looking forward to a good challenge. Shurikens might be expensive, but currently, I have 1 000 000 + when it comes to gill. ^^ So I think I can buy quite some Shurikens from that.

I heard about 2-Headed Dragon, well, I heard about those Dark Crystals. They say Echidna, Ahriman, Cerberus and 2-Headed Dragon are the hardest FF bosses ever devised... And I think that's true.

The enemies in Eureka aren't that hard, my Mystic Knights can kill most of them in one hit. God bless Square Enix for inventing Mystic Knights + Dual Sword Weelding. And I stocked up on Highpotions too, to spare my magic for bosses. I have about 99 highpotions. My hopes for Dark World are very high, I heard the music is awesome.

[Tavrobel]

Shuriken cost 65000 GP. For each one. Make sure you clean every inch of your pockets.

You want at least 20, if not AT LEAST 30 for the final battles. You will need much more money. You should be able to have all the money you need by the time you are done raiding Eureka. If not, get more money.

You should be able to finish the game at around level 40 (don't argue, it is true, anything above 50 is highly unnecessary, as Shurikens do enough damage to kill anything in great amounts, and Cure4 on all with two Sages is more than enough to keep you alive). Get yourself the weapons that you get as prizes in Eureka (Ragnarok, Excalibur, Masamune, and FullMoon), and use those against the normal enemies in the DarkWorld.

The only otherway to deal effective damage is with Bahamut (so get yourself a copy of him from the Floating Continent, and after you raid Eureka, buy another copy).

Ahriman, Zande, and Echinda all use Magic is their primary forms of attack, such as Meteo and Quake (and Zande uses Libra every other turn). Prepare accordingly. Attack with Bahamut on the first turn, and then spam Cure4, while your Ninjas throw Shuriken in one hand, and another weapon in the other.

Cerberus and Two-Headed Dragon use primarily physical attacks, so stick everyone in the back row, and attack with Shurikens in one hand and Ragnarok/FullMoon in the other, as they all ignore back damage restrictions. However, Cerberus is slightly more lenient in his attacks, and usually opts to use an elemental attack that hits all four characters. Punish him for his kindness.

The 4 are most certainly NOT the most difficult bosses ever divised. They just like being little bitches.
In between the battles, use the Cure1/2/3 to heal your party up if you run out of Hi-Potions. It's not like you will be using the Mp anyways.

DarkCloud = use everything. Shuikens in both hands (which you have to reequip every turn), and Bahamut/Haste on the first turn, and then Cure4. You won't have the time to cast another spell, because you need the Cure4. Inventive, indeed. If you run out, hope the DarkCloud dies before you do.

[Sefie1999AD]

I know you've been given a lot of hints already, but here's a couple of tips too. Go through the Forbidden Land of Eureka first. That place is probably the hardest part. You'll take a lot of damage and you'll need to use Cure spells a lot. Hopefully you won't run out of them. Don't open any chests yet, just make it to the end where you get Ninja and Sage classes. Then change to them (I'd recommend two Ninjas and two Sages) and heal yourself on the healing springs.

The Shurikens cost 65,000 gil, and if you equip both Ninjas with double Shurikens, that means you'll spend 4 shurikens, i.e. 260,000 gil, on one turn if they both attack. You can get a lot of money by leveling up in Eureka. Go and get the treasures of Eureka and defeat the bosses guarding them. They shouldn't be too hard now that you have Ninja and Sage classes. Buy some Shurikens when you can afford them, 14+ should be enough.

When you've leveled up, walk through the Sylx Tower and different branches to get all the treasures, though before you go to the room-of-no-return (you'll know when you've reached it since the music stops playing there, and you can still exit the room unless you've wandered too far in the room), you may want to make your way back to the Airship or the healing springs of Eureka and also save your game.

Fight your way through Sylx again, it should be easier on the second time. Defeat Zande by having your Sages cast Haste on your Ninjas on the first turn while Ninjas attack, and have Ninjas attack while Sages use Bahamut or other strong spells or summons. Zande might die before he gets to cast a single spell on you, and you don't even need to use the Shurikens yet. Don't worry about the next battle, you'll lose it anyway.

When you're in the dark world, get the Ribbons (if you already have one, you'll only need to get three of them). ZandeClones are easy to defeat if your Sages both have staffs that petrify the enemies. Just have them attack, and the ZandeClone is defeated. Cerberus shouldn't be too hard, just Haste the Ninjas and have them attack while Sages cast offensive and healing spells. Go to the back row when fighting the two-headed dragon. He can only attack one character at a time, and he can't kill anyone with one hit if you're on the back row. Don't bother with Shurikens, just Haste your Ninjas and have them attack (they'll still do some pretty good damage) while Sages cast Cure3/4 spells.

Echidna and Ahriman are the hardest bosses, especially if they cast Meteo. Use the Shurikens on these. If you want, you can cast Haste on Ninjas before they throw their Shurikens, but just a word of warning: after tossing the Shurikens, you'll need to re-equip new ones, and at least to me Haste wears off when you re-equip your Ninjas. This means that if the Sages manage to cast Haste on your Ninjas and they use their Shurikens, they'll probably do 9999 damage, and when you re-equip them, the Shuriken damage goes back to 5000-6000. But if the Ninjas throw their Shurikens and Sages cast Haste on them after that, casting Haste will be useless as they'll just keep doing 5000-6000 damage. It's up to you. I'd probably just keep casting Cure spells, Bahamut and spells with my Sages rather than casting Haste.

Those Shurikens, do I need to use them on Ahriman, Echidna, Cerberus and 2-headed Dragon or do I need to spare em all for Cloud of Darkness?

I think Echidna and Ahriman are the hardest bosses, so I'd save my Shurikens on them. Dark Cloud is easy in a way that she(?) has only one attack. If you have Shurikens left, you can use them on her, but I can defeat her without any Shurikens. Here's how:

Turn 1 - Ninjas (with normal weapons) attack, Sages cast Haste on the Ninjas.
Turn 2 - Ninjas (with hasted weapons) attack, Sage1 uses Cure4 on himself, so does Sage2.
Turn 3 - Ninjas (with hasted weapons) attack, Sage1 uses Cure4 on Ninja1, Sage2 uses Cure4 on Ninja2.
Turn 4 - See Turn 2.
Turn 5 - See Turn 3.

And so forth, until Dark Cloud dies. It shouldn't take too long. If you need to use Elixirs to restore your HP or MP, go ahead since this is the final battle. Good luck with the final dungeons! You'll need it, or Echidna and Ahriman's attacks will destroy your party (two Meteos on a row = game over). When you beat Dark Cloud, enjoy the ending after that. ^^

[Elpizo]

I found Eureka not that hard at all! I'm through it without dying once, without using MP (sept for bosses) without using all my Highpotions and without all that big damage. I now have 2 Ninja's and 2 Sages and I only need to defeat Guardian for Ragnarok. My money is now reduced to 1 000 000 because of buying some things for my Sages.

Well, maybe I should go through Eureka a couple of times to lv up and get money. Oen battle regulary gives me 10 000 gil. ^^ So after 100 battles, I can buy 10 Shurikens. ^^"

Now I'll defeat Guardian, get Shurikens and then Sylx Tower awaits.

[Hayabusa]

I spent time in the bottom floor of second to last floor of Euraka cuz they have those 2 dudes with 6,000 gil per battle - then on the 7th - they had that recovery spring...I bought 41 shurikens...sure it took time, but I was playing a CD while I did it lying on the floor - so it was cool - I ended the game with maybe...7 left? -

For me, 2 headed Dragon was the hardest- Cerberus is a joke, I didn't even shuriken him - Ahriman, 2 shurikens - and then the other one I probably used some , but the 2 headed dragon is/was the hardest to me, that's why I got so many - which I'm glad I did. Hope you rock it!

[Elpizo]

I spent time in the bottom floor of second to last floor of Euraka cuz they have those 2 dudes with 6,000 gil per battle - then on the 7th - they had that recovery spring...I bought 41 shurikens...sure it took time, but I was playing a CD while I did it lying on the floor - so it was cool - I ended the game with maybe...7 left? -

For me, 2 headed Dragon was the hardest- Cerberus is a joke, I didn't even shuriken him - Ahriman, 2 shurikens - and then the other one I probably used some , but the 2 headed dragon is/was the hardest to me, that's why I got so many - which I'm glad I did. Hope you rock it!

Finished it two days ago, and it was EASY. Very EASY. even the 'almighty' four were not hard at all. And I was only lv 48 with everyone! Two sages and two Ninja's. I never died once during my battles agains Zande, Cerberus, Echidna, 2-Head Dragon or Ahriman. Zande came down quickly with two hasted Ninja's + Sage bahamut + Sage Cure4.

Cerberus was a laugh.

Echidna quite easy with two hasted Ninja and some Cure4. Even though his Meteo was deadly, it didn't kill anybody and I killed him before he could strike again. Easy.

2-Head Dragon was not a real joke like Cerberus but easy enough. Just everyone in the backrow and a hasted Ninja, plus a Ninja with Shurikens. Bam, score: Dragon 0, Light Warriors: 1.

Even Ahriman was not hard. He casted Meteo twice but I always got time to recover enough. 4 Shurikens + a hasted Ninja were enough to take him down.

Cloud of Darkness was a bit harder but Cure4 every round + Using up all my Shurikens killed her quickly.

Awesome music for Dark World, amazing gfx for it as well.
Music for Cloud of Darkness a bit of a let down, a bit too soft IMHO. But the overall game was great and I can't wait for the DS version.

Is it me or is Cure4 WEAK and I mean VERY VERY VERY WEAK in this game? Healing only 550 to 600 hp for everyone, while Cure3 does 400 to 500 for everyone? Weird and weak, really. But it kept me alive.

Hardest boss in this game? Tie between Dark Cloud and Bahamut, both with their smurfing attacks FlareWave and MegaFlare.

[Zeromus_X]

Yeah, healing really sucks in this game. Even with both Sages spam-healing everyone every turn, if you don't consistently do damage to the CoD, she'll wittle you down anyway. I hope healing is a bit more balanced in the remake.