Tips on Acquiring Money and Experience Points (Xenogears) By: Jov thundersenshi@geocities.com Please do not copy this game guide. I'd appreciate it if you ask me first before your rip me off by putting this on your own website and get credit from it. Table of Contents: Part I..Introduction on Controls Part II..Pointers on starting out Part III..Tips on acquiring big time money Part IV..Tips on gaining experience points ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART I. INTRODUCTION ON CONTROLS First, let me tell you the main controls I was using while I was playing Xenogears. This is important, since our controls may differ. X - execute, hard hit O - dash/run , cancel square - menu, meduim hit triangle - jump, light hit (lite punches never miss) When you reach level 99, there is still the possibility that you have lousy characters, so better play this well if you want some serious ass-kicking! And remember, just because you have a higher level doesn't mean you're stronger and more powerful! I personally speak from experience, having compared my game with that of my brother and sisters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART II. POINTERS ON STARTING OUT A SUCCESSFUL GAME 1.) Be nice to everyone. If someone asks you a question, always try to be tactful and nice as possible. 2.) Talk to everyone. 3.) Search everything. Don't leave any treasure chest unopened! There are exceptions, however. If you've been wondering for over 30 minutes on how to get to a particular chest, you can just leave it alone. 4.) Only upgrade 3 to 4 of your characters (the ones you'll be choosing for your party) or gears every time there's a chance (upgrading regularly here is vital!). You'll be wasting money if you keep on upgrading gears that you won't be using. Only upgrade every gear if you're planning on entering Deus' lair, and fight the final battle. 5.) You can never have enough money. Always save as much as you can, so when the time comes and certain people ask you for money, you can give it to them willingly, and it won't even hurt you. 6.) Wear the best equipment for your party as soon as you get them. Always be prepared. 7.) Be FAMILIAR with the battle system and each item you come across. Don't just sell every old weapon, equipment or item until you know the full extent of their "abilities". 8.) It's good to develop the deathblows while it's still early. Here they are in order: triangle - x triangle - triangle - x square - x triangle - triangle - triangle - x triangle - sqaure - x sqaure - triangle - x x - x triangle - triangle - triangle - triangle -x triangle - triangle - square - x triangle - sqaure - sqaure - x sqaure - triangle - triangle - x sqaure - sqaure - x x - triangle - x Some deathblows will not appear until you've reached a certain level or until you've developed the deathblow before it. 9.) Do not escape from any opponent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART III. TIPS ON ACQUIRING MONEY 1.) Sell initial equipment as soon as you get new ones. You can sell the other old equipment as long as you've already found out what each can do best. For ex., CobraCracka (Bart's whip) poisions the enemy. 2.) Kill hobgobs in the Blackmoon Forest with Elly's fire elemental attack. You'll have instant hob-steaks. They heal for 500, and you can even sell them for a high price, especially at the Blue Crystal in Kislev, in Disc 2. 3.) Don't sell fangs, eyeballs and scales immediately after getting them. They're worth stacking for selling later, at the Blue Crystal in Kislev (Disc 2). If the amount of fangs you have are nearing 75 pieces and you're still in disc 1, better sell 10 - 20 of them, since the limit is only up to 99, and you'll be getting enough of those in Anima Relic 2. 4.) When you reach Shevat, and you're already in the underground part, be sure to stay long enough and beat the crap out of the monsters, because they have good money! By the end of that part, you'll be using them to upgrade 4 of your gears, and so it's better to kick all of their asses (the monsters, I mean)! 5.) The best place to roam around looking for money is in the Anima Relic 2 (since the monsters there give out scales, fangs and ivories) and outside the Snowfield Hideout (since the monsters there give out golden equipment you can sell). You can also check out the Lighthouse, where Big Joe's shop is. The lighthouse monsters give out eyeballs, devil dressess and other stuff, while in Big Joe's shop, you can re-enter every time and open treasure chests every time. Most of the time it gives out Matchlocks, and you can sell 'em for 6000 g. 6.) If you're needing ExtraArDX for your other characters before you going on for the final battle, don't buy any. Just fight the "Pedestals" outside the Deus Lair, and they give out ExtraArDX. If you already have those for every one of your characters, you can always sell them. $_$ 7.) If you're smart and strong enough to handle it, don't buy unnecessary equipment. You see, when I was playing Xenogears, I've been to the desert, underwater, and I never used any of the special equipment that would 'make you go faster' or 'protect you better'. I travelled with the same equipment I use on plain green ground, and I never found any difficulty. I never used the A, B, C, D nor E circuit. Not even the Lens Cover, Ether Doubler (I never bought any, but I got two of them by just opening the right chests. I sold both, since I found them quite unimportant next to the defensive and offensive equipment I thought I would really need) Ether Veilers, Tank Guard, Mirror Ar, etc. 8.) Go to the Kislev battle arena, win ALL (including the items which you already have) of the rare items and sell those which you think will not be using. 9.) Beat everyone in card games. All in all, I've beaten 5 card-playing people, including that tough Amazon Queenie and the dolphin girl (her name's Kate or Karren I think) whom she taught the game to. Also remember that Chu-Chu is the fastest card-player you've got (you've got to see that speedy li'l devil! I was quite surprised myself, and thought that if I had used her earlier, it would've saved me more time). If you don't have her, however, you can settle for Citan. By the time you beat that bratty penguin girl 5 times in a row, she'd have given you 2 dolls, and you can sell 'em if you want for 30,000 g each! Of course, it's up to you if you'd rather equip it. I didn't. $_$ 10.) Buy Elfananas in Aveh instead of hob-jerky! They're only 10 g, and they heal more than 50 HP. If not, you can buy Omegasol. It only costs 50 g, and it fully heals HP and EP. But, it's always better not buy anything at all, if you can manage! I for one didn't need to heal every time! $_$ 11.) Sell every useless item you have, even if they only sell for 5 g. Every coin counts, he he he! 12.) Be nice to everyone. At the beginning of the game, it's good to reach at least 50,000 g before you reach Nisan. I didn't, but you might want to buy the rare items in Nisan which only appear once. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART IV. TIPS ON GAINING EXPERIENCE POINTS 1.) Always equip your Hercules Rings. Then it's gonna be easier. 2.) Check out these monsters: a.) Bloody Brothers - You can find them in Solaris, and they give about 18000 exp (I think this is the part where the Hercules Ring is still unheard of). They're quite easy, but they do that "murder" attack which drains all your HP at least once during the whole battle. I had enough Zetasols, but I didn't get to use them since I had Billy in my party. b.) Tusk Tusk - you can find them in Anima Relic 2. They always come by pairs, so you gain 15000 exp with the hercules ring equipped. Also, they're actually wusses, so you can kick their asses out in no time. c.) Griffon - you can find the best ones in the Lighthouse. Actually, they're the best among the other griffons because they come out in pairs. They give 24000 exp with the hercules ring equipped. Be careful, though. They're pretty fast, sometimes even faster than Crescens, which is bad, and its usual damage is more than 3000. d.) Dragon - you can find the best ones in Duneman's Isle. Now, defeating this thing can be pretty tricky, but if you have Fei's last deathblow, Yamikei, and the Power Crisis, then there should be no problem. You can knock this thing out cold. If you don't have both, however, (Yamikei & Power Crisis), you can still defeat it, but you have to have HP above 620. It's usual damage is 500+, but sometimes he can do a damage of 610. Don't use elemental deathblows or ether attacks on him. The safest deathblows to use are the X X, or the X triangle X one. He gives out 45000 exp with the Hercules ring equipped. Here's how I kick this dragon's arse: I equip Fei with the power crisis. It's much easier defeating him with 900 or 800 HP, but if you have about 650-700, that's alright. You can take him out with 2 turns from Fei, so don't worry about healing. Before you start, everybody's HP should be above 620 for safety purposes, but don't fully heal Fei. If Fei has an HP of 700, then keep it up to 670, or something. With your HP like that, and the power crisis equipped, you can do damage about 7000-9000 on the first turn. With a full HP, it would probably do a 2000-4000 damage. (use Yamikei. For the other characters, use the X X deathblow). When the dragon attacks with his fire breath, don't heal Fei. The power crisis will work alone and do a damage of 11000. He should be dead by then. If Fei has an HP of 900, keep it up to 650-700. On his first turn, he can do up to 10000-11000 damage! The secret is all in the power crisis, because the more your HP goes down, the more your attacks (strength rate) goes up! e.) Power Seraph - you can find them inside Deus' Lair. They give about 75000 exp. Check out my sister Aya's enemy guide, if you want more info on frequently asked about monsters and bosses. Saturday, April 04, 1998 10:24:56 AM