============================================ THE ENEMY GUIDE THAT DOESN'T SCARE v.01 by Aya http://www.coolay.com ============================================ Ever get tired of being told by a lot of FAQs, "You HAVE TO get this weapon or BE THIS LEVEL or else you WILL NEVER SURVIVE this battle."? Well, I'm sick of it. Sick of being scared whenever I'm about to battle a supposedly unsurvivable boss. Heck, I remember going to a particularly difficult boss without the REQUIRED weapon and TEN LEVELS LOWER than what an FAQ advised and yet I didn't break a sweat when I defeated it. This didn't happen only once. So now, I'd like the chance to give my own suggestions (without imposing my own strategies as if they are the only ones that work and any other way will lead to failure), without scaring my readers. You might want to try other strategies besides these because I will not tell you that this is the only effective way (like I said I'm sick of FAQs that tell you that). You might also want to submit your own FAQ. Anywayz... On with the show. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION This is an enemy guide that was supposed to be intended as a boss guide. But I realized that there are a lot of bosses that aren't worth half of a brain cell to defeat and that there are some regular opponents that are a puzzle to defeat. I'm only listing here those that are frequently asked about. If there are any more enemies that you want listed here, just contact my sister Jov (thundersenshi@geocities.com) NOTE: In this game, I never used Boosters. I noticed most GUYS (as in MEN) playing Xenogears are obsessed with using Boosters and Frame HP too much. But I never did. Maybe their games are better? We don't really know but I know I remember I saved a lot of fuel and money by not relying on these things too much. There are some bosses that I found difficult, like my final battle with Miang. These are times when I conduct a test battle and study the moves of my opponents, sometimes discuss them with my sisters and my cousin Nao, so that in case I get KO'd, I would know what to do next time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. REGULAR ENEMIES LISTED BONUS ** Dan in the Battle Arena at Aveh * Dorothy * Bloody Brothers * Gimmick * Tears * Forbidden * Duneman's Dragon ** BONUS ** DAN = Alice's bro (remember that leprechaun-looking kid at Lahan Village who hates Fei for being responsible for Lahan's destruction?) Anyway, just defend and heal when you have to and try not to attack the kid because after a while Dan will give up and give you Alice's wedding dress. You can sell this for 10,000G. Got this tip from Rowena Lim (http://www.animetric.com) My bro Pau hates this ingrate, though, so he still beat the crap out of the kid with the receding hairline nevertheless. He tried to be patient but Dan repeatedly used his "You scum!" attack and lost his patience and kicked the kid's butt. I wonder why Dan hates my bro so much ^^;;; DOROTHY = This is the weird-looking mermaid girl that you encounter below the Etone Headquarters and Solaris. She always says, "H...eal...." on most of her turns. This creature heals everytime you try to use offensive attacks on her. You just have to heal her to kill her. BLOODY BROTHERS = I've always wondered why people say you shouldn't be battling this creature when it's so useful to kill (experience points, y'know). You find these creatures in the Sea Base below the Etone HQ and in Solaris mazes. They are very similar to the creature you killed in the Sewers. If you want to practice those unachieved deathblows these are good for targets so it's advisable not to use those deathblows that you already have. They're not really difficult (once in a while they would drain your HP and murder you), but other than that, they're bird seed. GIMMICK = This one first appears under Shevat (when you have Maria along). Gimmicks usually appear in groups of three. They're those ancient soldier-suited rocking chairs that damage really hard. You have Maria along. Maria may be weak in terms of fighting but my sister Skysenshi found her useful when she discovered that the seemingly hard-to-kill gimmicks (deathblows don't work much on them) got killed with just 7 of Maria's triangle attacks. Since strength doesn't really matter with these creatures, any character from your party can kill these guys with 7 triangle attacks. TEARS = Maria also was useful here. I had no patience trying to use deathblows 'cause whenever you kill one Tear, his companion will unleash powerful attacks that could kill. So better to finish them off together. Maria's ether attacks call Seibzehn and really very powerful (considering your opponents can either get squished by foot or be destroyed by Seibzehn's gear options). FORBIDDEN = I defeated this the same way I defeated the tears, 'cause the moment it's their turn, they would most definitely kill one of your team instantly. They're nice to practice deathblows on, though, but sometimes I can't be bothered. I thought there were better places to practice them on and I was right. DRAGON (Duneman's Isle) = Since you can't get gears inside Duneman's Isle, you might need to have more than 600 HP (just in case). These Dragons are precious. If you kill one you get 30,000 experience and if you have the Hercules Ring, you get 45,000 exp. It also gives Mumyo Swords, Death Adders and Blessed Habits (yeah, they're all plural). FAQs say I might need the trading card (which you can get IF you defeat Hammer before he blows up, which I never achieved), but I was already getting numerous rare items without it. Anywayz, it's advisable to have the Power Crisis equipped on Fei because he's the only one who has the powerful Yamikei. And if you have this equipped, make sure that your HP isn't perfect, that way your attacks would have more effect (as the Power Crisis makes you more powerful when your HP is low) and you'll be able to kill the Dragon quickly. This was my sister Jov's technique. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. BOSSES * Wyrm * Calamity * Ramsus and Miang (Fatima) * FIS-6 * Dominia/Bladegash (Thames) * Haishiao/Ramsus & Miang (Underwater) * Giant Wels * Team Battle At Shevat (Guard Gates) * Dominia/Bladegash & Kelvana/Marinebasher (Babel Tower) * Sufal * Hammer (I never defeated him but now I think I know how) * Deus (Baby) * Ramsus/Amphysvena * Miang/Opiomorphus WYRM = I used guided shot. Yeah I know it seems pretty weak and useless but it was the only thing that worked for me 'cause regular blows won't. I never tried using combos but they might work too. In the second disk, this becomes a regular opponent, so one teeny ether shot could kill it instantly. CALAMITY = AH! The most common question for beginners. Most likely those who ask this didn't talk to Ol' Man Bal again after he throws you out of his cave. Anyways, since this is the case, retrace your steps to Ol' Man Bal's cave and even though he seemed to hate you so, look for him and then buy equipments and tune up your gears. RAMSUS AND MIANG (Fatima) = My Bart was equipped with the Cobra Cracka. You can find it in one of the rooms at Fatima Castle. Anyways, since it's poisoned Miang won't be able to restore Ramsus' HP during the first round you have with him 'cause she has to remove his poisoned status, thus making the battle easier. Also, I never attacked Ramsus in his mirror pose 'cause I was suspicious of him, sure enough, one of my sisters told me that he'll give you a painful attack if you did. FIS-6 = I ditched Elly at the beginning of the quest at Goliath factory (I thought I couldn't ditch her but I tried anyway so I was able to bring Stier along). Anyways, this guy is tough as nails. Not really difficult battle but he really is determined to live! Just pound on him when you can, and when those ugly mechanics start appearing and fixing him ignore them and continue pounding on FIS-6 'cause they soon will tire of fixing him all the time and he will overheat. I tried pounding on those mechanics and surprisingly they just won't die as quickly as I thought they would, so I concentrated on my main objective. DOMINIA/BLADEGASH (Above Thames) = This was one battle that Vierge seemed finally useful. Everytime Dominia charged up an element, I had my Vierge hit her with an opposite element. But since Vierge's so slow (at least I think she was--never liked Elly) this doesn't usually work. Well, at least for me, once Dominia's elemental sword gets weakened, her attacks don't seem too dangerous. Brigandier's Wild Smile also helps. Other than that you can just do her in with those powerful combos. HAISHIAO/RAMSUS & MIANG = I used a lot of Wild Smiles here and since it's a status problem, Miang concentrated on removing Haishiao's status instead of restoring his HP, so you can pound on him all you want. When he's in his mirror pose, it's kinda dangerous to attack because it's like he'll get back at you with powerful Electric Arm and Nereid Cyclone attack. I was equipped with an underwater armor and anti-electric armor (don't quite remember the names, but I'm sure it's in your inventory). GIANT WELS = This one appears at the end of your quest at a ghost ship. It seems to feed on ether power so it grows, but since it's really determined to live and is almost invincible to my attacks, I figured I could overdose him with Vierge's ether so I did and eventually killed it. I had Billy, Elly, and Fei in my party. TEAM BATTLE AT SHEVAT (GUARD GATES) = I used trial and error methods here for a while 'cause I used Renmauzo against Solaris guards and even though Renmauzo won I wasn't satisfied with my battle so I reset the game. So anyways, here's how the real battle went: 1) Vierge against Solaris Guards with Gears = I used Aerods attack for this one 'cause I didn't have most of Elly's ether attacks. Cousin Nao used areal ether, though, 'cause her Elly was well-developed compared to mine. 2) White Knights = I don't remember exactly who I used but it was a pretty fast gear (Citan told me they were fast so I chose a fast one) Anyways, they're no trouble. They hardly touch your gear at all. 3) White Knights Plus Citadel = I think I used Fenrir here since he's one of my best gears. I finished off the gel-breathing creature first (I was equipped with Silver Ar, I think) 'cause it really causes a lot of damage, well not to a point that you would use FrameHP, but we can't be too careful. 4) White Knights Plus Avalanche = I remember using Stier for this one, but it's pretty easy 'cause Stier was one of my most powerful gears during this time so ol' Av was down in no time (use a lot of combos). DOMINIA/BLADEGASH & KELVANA/MARINEBASHER (Babel Tower) = No I didn't have the Flare Rod equipped, I was using Chrono Rod, and no I didn't want to ever use Booster. I just attacked Marinebasher with Vierge's Fire Ether and had her down in a flash. I did her in first because her attack powers are annoyingly high. Then I unleashed everything on Bladegash. The Chrono Rod, btw, slows enemies down. And these two bosses are pretty fast. SUFAL BOSS = This boss appears after Ygdrassil IV battles with an ugly ball of spikes. This Sufal is made up of all those people who mutated into one big weapon. DON'T USE ELEMENTAL DEATHBLOWS! And kill only 3 of his 4 mini-sufal assistants if you don't want to be badly injured. HAMMER = Ok, like I said I never defeated him. He self-destructed and left two of my gears standing, meaning he had KO'd one gear. It may not be much because the experience points = 0, but I think it's because the best item in the whole game is in Hammer's defeat. Anywayz, I know for a fact that the Anima Relic 2 is one of the best places to develop a character's level. Maybe after solving all those puzzles, you can get your gear to go back to the entrance (it's actually very near, it's the human puzzles that make everything seem so BIG!) and develop your levels. It's easier at the entrance because a fixbot is standing there, ready to fix you up anytime. If your levels are high enough, maybe you'd get a chance to kill Hammer before he blows up and get the precious Trading Card that gets you rare items everytime you defeat even normal enemies. DEUS (BABY) = I brought Chu Chu along here the first time and it was more successful than when I brought super-powered gears along. (I was successful in killing it the first time but Nao's car broke down and Skysenshi and I had to get her...I wasn't able to save the game). Anyway, the trick is to just heal and heal for the first few rounds because Deus will hurt himself everytime he does that 1/2 HP thingy. If you attack him, he will heal 16,000 of his HP and you definitely don't want that. When he does that 1/2 HP thingy and his head is already down and the damage is down to 1250, you can now officially kill him with even just an X attack or maybe even less. RAMSUS/AMPHYSVENA = This battle goes will be quickly followed by a battle with Miang, so a lot of energy need to be conserved during this battle. What I did here is equip my gears with 2 Extra Ar DXs (Cousin Nao, Jov, and Ro used Ether Ar+ and these armors did well, too) and one Frame HP 30 each. I chose Frame HP 30 because I didn't need to heal half of my HP to survive and Frame HP 50+ uses up too much fuel. Anyways, Ramsus has this Wave #3 Ether attack that drains your HP to 1. My technique here is to wait for my gears to get to attack level infinity and then I unleashed everything on him. In some battles Ramsus would do that Wave 3 twice. If the second wave happens, I suggest that you don't heal but kill him immediately. Doing the Wave 3 for the second time is like a desperate move for him because he's dying. You can heal later when you battle Miang. In Jov's case, there was one time that Ramsus did the Wave 3 thrice! This is why waiting for attack level infinity or ID mode is adviseable because these attacks are so strong Ramsus will die quickly. MIANG/OPIOMORPHUS = This is one of the bosses where a lot of FAQs say things that really scare players, so don't get psyched. You can beat her by using your powers of concentration ^_- Anyways, here's how I beat her. I was equipped with 2 Extra Ar DX and one Frame HP 30. During my first turn I healed all of my gears first (advisable especially for those who got victimized by Ramsus' Wave #3 HP to 1 attack previously), then I waited for Miang to do her Wave #4 Ether Attack (Cousin Nao's advice). When Miang does that attack, her defense and attack powers lower. That's when I attacked her. But attack her only once because everytime you attack her, her defense and attack powers increase, so after one attack, I charged up my gears until the next Wave #4. This way, her attack powers only played between levels 0 and 1 and didn't do a damage that exceeded 2,500+ So I was safe as long as my HP wasn't below 3,000. In fact some of her Wave 4's only gave my gears less than 200 damage. [The increase pattern of her attack and defense would be down UP down; NOT down UP down 2xUP down 3xUP as with the case of attacking her at every turn -- CONTRARY TO POPULAR FAQs MIANG DOESN'T GO BACK TO NORMAL AFTER WAVE 4 BECAUSE ONE STEP DOWN FROM ALL THAT UP UP UP IS FAR FROM NORMAL] If the attack level infinity of one of your gears happen during a time when you can't attack her yet, just charge up (charging is x10 during level infinity). You might want to use ID mode as often as your fuel allows it, if you can't wait for infinity. When Miang's offense and defense powers started to increase even when I wasn't attacking her, that's when I started to attack her at every turn. Luckily two of my gears where in level infinity mode during that time and all my gears survived. FOUR ORBS (Deus' Lair) = This is a pretty easy battle. Not much of a challenge. No need for any Frame HPs if you bring Chu Chu along all the time. She heals gears. My sisters and Nao brought her along and none of my sisters' Chu Chus heal below 7500. Anyway, you have an option to kill these dudes or not, but all of us girls killed all of these orbs because each orb that you kill would mean the removal of one of Deus' power. If you're interested to know, I had my party already divided when I found out that I was gonna fight four orbs. The main party was saved for Deus. 1) Seibzehn, Renmazuo, and Chu Chu = Sundel and Harlute 2) Andvari, Stier and Chu Chu = Marlute and Metatron (Sorry folks, I particularly find these gears unacceptable for final battle because I think they're all either weak or slow, and the slow ones may be strong but they miss a lot! Chu Chu does a better job, actually >_<). Now you can guess what gears I used for Deus ^^;; DEUS (Deus' Lair) = AntiAngelSys helps A LOT! But he's pretty easy too. I equipped Fei with that Holy Pendant, but it turned out I didn't need it. My Crescens killed that dude like it was just a regular. I also never used any Frame HPs. All I did was attack him at every turn until Xenogears reached level infinity and you know the picture... So far I was equipped with AntiAngelSys for both Fenrir and Crescens (Fei wore Speed shoes so Xenogears was pretty fast), and all gears wore GNRS50 and Extra Ar DX. Xenogears was wearing an Omega1000 engine that I bought from Joe's shop inside the Lighthouse (so FrameHP is really impossible, considering I only had 1000 Max Fuel). UROBOLUS = Such a useless boss. Probably the easiest to defeat (aside from the giant ball of spikes and True Weltall) in the whole game. You have Xenogears so all you have to do is equip . This will prolong the use of Attack Level Infinity and in just five attacks within level infinity Urobolus is a dead guy. Jeez! They call this a final boss and it didn't even dent my Xenogears -_- Now that you have defeated all these bosses, you can now treat yourselves to one of the most beautiful and memorable endings! You might wanna buy the original soundtrack, if it's still available at our shopping section because the ending theme is really something to remember. ^^;;; Oh, btw, all Kraiders playing RPGs (especially the women) are obsessed with getting all their characters up to level 99 and Skysenshi is obsessed with getting filthy rich (the gal sure is good at it, stingy person that she is) before entering Deus' Lair. We don't insist that you do the same 'cause you may be more normal than us obsessive-compulsive gals. You can defeat these dudes just having level 80 or 90 or even less (but of course you can't get Fei's final deathblow if you aren't at least in level 80). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for the standard ending spiel: XENOGEARS is not mine, nor do I have any participation in the production of these games. I only bought the CD for my own personal entertainment. Xenogears is copyright of Squaresoft and Sony Play Station.