FFXII - Walkthrough - Sochen Cave Palace
Doubt Abandoned: cutscene. Kind of maze-ish, but don't worry about it - you just need to go North. Eventually you arrive at Gate of the Soul Ward; use the key the Archadian Wayfarer gave you, it opens up the door... boss battle!
Mandragora Prince, Onion Queen, Pumpkin Star, Topstalk, Alarune King
Status: Haste
Attacks: regular (~200-350), Scream (?), Sleep, Pollen (Sleep, Slow, Poison), Shell, Warsong (Protect + Shell)
LP: 5 each
Physically not too frightening, and their HP is maybe around 10,000 each so not that tricky... it's their constant status attacks which can be problematic. Take them out one at a time, or use ranged magic attacks that would hit several at once, or if you're lucky and several are gathered nearbye, get a quickening combo assembled. Have your gambits to counter statuses appropriately set. If you have trouble, you might want to reload your last save and do some more levelling in Tchita Uplands - there are numerous levelling opportunities there (and enemies tend to bunch together, creating chains for great rewards!)
After the boss battle, take either door.
The Acoylte's Burden: go North. The first room you get to appears to have a save point, but beware: it's a Crystalbug! So make sure you're healed & prepared for a fight, though it's simple. After defeating it, save your game and head East to the next area.
Mirror of the Soul: through the door; next door's on your left, so go through it; now go north, sticking to the left side (you'll find a "Pilgrim's Door" along the way, but ignore it)
Falls of Time: go North, take any of the paths leading to the next area
Destiny's March: you'll ultimately want to go north, pretty much in the centre of your Location Map. So open up the necessary doors as you go along, just go north, north, north! Though be prepared before going to the next area... as there's another boss battle!
Ahriman:
Status: None
Steal: Sky Jewel
Attacks: Regular (~300, comboable), Phantasmal Gaze (Confuse, Range), Toxify (Poison, range), Thundara (~350-450), Fira (~350-450), Divide (Creates other copies of himself)
LP: 28
It appears I did this boss battle without typing out any notes for advice... um... Phantasmal Gaze will be quite the nemesis, so be sure you have a good stock of Smelling Salts and a Gambit with top priority for using it. If you've been fighting and levelling on your way to Archades, you shouldn't have any trouble against him. And if you do... I don't know what to say. Check another walkthrough, I guess :(
After the fight, exit by the door on the east side.
Temptation Eluded: Follow the path, evading plentiful traps along teh way; when you get to the large room, turn right (that is, go north).
Chamber of the Chosen: Touch the Disused Pedestal to take the Lift up.
Skybent Chamber: Teleport Crystal; save your game. If you can spare the stones, 'port back to the Wayfarer in Tchita Uplands to get your reward for beating the "Menace of Sochen Cave Palace" - a measily 1000 gil and 3 remedies, but it's still nice to get a reward. Anyways, next stop: Old Archades!