Chapter 3: The Valiant

Goland Coal City

You start this battle with the goal "Save Olan!" This is both hard and easy. If you don't have anyone who can climb, you might not be able to heal him before the enemy finishes him off. Send at least one person with Ignore Height and the Item ability to keep him alive. Once he starts using his Galaxy Stop attack, things will get easier. With three Thieves roaming around, you'll want to remove them first. Also, consider the Prosper from the Dead strategy here. With three Thieves ripe for the killing, you might be able to have one person learn almost all of the Steal Skills in one fight. Also, think about stealing the Mythril Guns from the Chemists. You can get them in Goug, but why take the trip if you don't have to.

After the fight, head to Lesalia Imperial Castle.

Back Gate of Lesalia Castle

The real main challenge in this battle is that Zalmo likes to heal and revive his fellow warriors. This wouldn't be a problem if you didn't have to travel a good distance through them to get to him. Focus in on Zalmo, knocking people out of the way to get to him. He's really the only person you need to take out. The rest are just an annoyance.

Before heading into Orbonne, make sure you're prepared for three fights.

Underground Book Storage Second Floor

This is a fairly straightforward fight. Eliminate the Chemist and three Lancers first, leaving the annoying but basically harmless Time Mages until the end.

Underground Book Storage Third Floor

Though the objective is to defeat Izlude, that is much harder to do than you might think. Augmented by two Knights, two Archers, a Summoner and the Jump Skill, Izlude is a tough customer. You can either try to rush him, hoping to overwhelm him, or just whittle down his fellow soldiers, leaving him for last. Either way, be careful. You'll have to try and hit him between the time he's executed one Jump and before the next. Often, the best idea is to let him jump and then have your own Lancers aim the square he originated from. Once he lands, your Lancers should be able to hit him for some decent damage.

Underground Book Storage First Floor

Defeat Weigraf! This is both the objective and the only thing you need to do. Ignore everyone else and rush him. If you don't remove him, he will wipe your party out. If he kills someone, ignore them and continue after him. If you focus on Weigraf and Weigraf alone, this fight should last no longer than three rounds. Any longer than that and this'll just be an uphill battle as his fellow warriors move in and swarm you.

Grog Hill

Try not to laugh yourself to death. This surprisingly easy battle hails back to the first couple of battles. Eliminate the Thieves and Chemist ¿ they will prove the most trouble. After that, just mop up the rest on your way out. Also, feel free to steal the Mythril guns from the Chemists if you don't want to make the trip back to Goug.

Yardow Fort City

With two Summoners, three Ninjas and Malak , the Hell Knight, to contend with, this fight can be difficult. Also, don't expect any help from Rafa, who'll run off to the furthest corner when given the chance. Your best chance is to get the ninjas to line up near the entrance. Once you do that, have Agrias use Holy Explosion or Lightning Stab. In the same turn, have a monk or two use Earth Slash. Also, consider using the Geomancer Skill Carve Model, which will randomly petrify the enemy. Once the ninjas are out of the way, go after the Summoners. Take out Malak at your leisure.

Yuguo Woods

With all of the enemies in this stage being undead, feel free to use White Magic and items to do some serious damage. Stay away from Rafa. Like her brother, her magic is random and unreliable. Since there are so many undead, you might want to bring Mustadio along to use his Seal Evil skill.

Before the next battle, sell off anything under an X-Potion and load up on X-Potions and Phoenix Downs. You'll be heading into the last three battles of this chapter.

Before the Gate of Riovanes Castle

Firstly, focus on getting Malak to a critical state, which will force him and Rafa to leave. Then, send two people to address the main issue of the three Archers perched up top of the castle. Having the Arrow Guard skill on a couple of your people will help immensely.

Within Riovanes Castle

Consider this to be two fights. First, Ramza has to face Weigraf one to one. Afterwards, Weigraf will turn into Velius and bring in three Archaic Demons to help. For this fight, make Ramza a Lancer and give him the Item skill, Auto Potion, Concentrate and Move HP-Up. When the fight begins, let Weigraf move forward and then attack him, when he moves away, don't follow. Move back and heal up. He'll move towards you again, allowing you to rush him for another attack. Keep this pattern up and he should fall fairly easily.

In the second battle, you really need to take out Velius quickly. My suggestion is to use a group of Lancers, having them all jump to avoid being hit by Velius' Cyclops Summon. The longer this fight lasts, the more likely you're going to get wiped out.

Roof of Riovanes Castle

When faced with Elmdor and his two Assassins, you really only have one choice. Take out one of them before they kill you. Both Assassins have a single-hit kill attack. Try to get at least one or two of your people with a Speed of 8 or greater to get the jump on them. Once one of the three is reduced to a critical state, all three will leave.

Once the battle is over, you will be given the chance to let Rafa and Malak join.