FFV - Walkthrough - The Fire Crystal
| Enemies | Treasure | Blue Magic |
| Defeater (I), Mottletrap (B), Poltergeist (Wa, Wi), Cool Dust (Wa, Wi, I) | MythrilGlove, Elixir (3), Cottage, Phoenix Down, Green Beret, Thief's Glove, Moonring | Flash and Exploder |
With Shiva as your ally, make the journey back to Karnak. You'll notice that the Fire Ship is still there, waiting for you to board. After changing your party back around (here, my personal favorite party is a Knight, a Black Mage, a Thief, and a Summoner), buying about 15 Eye Drops, and resting at the the inn, head into the Fire Ship!
Fire Ship
Once you board the ship, Cid greets you and ushers you off to the door that leads to the bowels of the Castle. He warns you of the monsters lurking around here, and with that kicks you into the door! Walk back out and chat with the sailors to gather useful tidbits. Muster your courage and set forth to conquer yet another set of minions.
There are only four different kinds of enemies, but there is a lot to do. First of all, there are two Blue Magics to aquire: Flash and Exploder. The black, phantom thing, called Cool Dust, will cast Flash on you when it is isolated. Flash will affect all your party members and make them blind - not a very scary status effect, but be wary. The other Blue Magic is a little more subtle, and harder to fish out. Exploder is cast by the Mottletrap enemies only if you cast Bolt on them, and only if they survive the Bolt attack. What's more, the Mottletrap monster only appears in battle when the last monster you kill is a Defeater (I may be wrong, but that's how it happened for me every single time). Have your Black Mage cast Bolt at one of them (one of them with perfect health - remember you don't want to kill it); the Mottletrap will commit suicide by exploding and will target only one of your party members (so make sure all of them have the 'learning' ability for this battle).
Other points of interest are that you can steal Ethers (very precious medicines at this point in the game) from the aforementioned Mottletraps - that's why it's useful to bring a Thief along, not to mention the fact that you get several items keyed to this job in this dungeon. The Cool Dust will drop a random Dark Matter for you if you are lucky. Things to be careful of are the Mottletrap's Zap Wave which will stop your party members, and the Poltergeist's Tongue attack which will confuse you. Use your weakest attack on the confused character to turn them around. Also, don't worry too much about having the "old" status effect cast on you (it doesn't affect you too much at this stage, and it goes away after the battle is over).
Time to get down to it. From the start, go past both of the doors to the right (ignore those doors by the way) and take the stairs. Take another set of stairs in the next room and you should be inside the heart of the Fire Ship (or under Karnak Castle - I always get turned around here). We'll call this "floor A" just for reference.
From the entrance to floor A, head up and into the door to collect a MythrilGlove. Head back out and take that ladder to your left, and go up that ladder in the lower left corner of the room. Head to the right in this new room (we'll call it 'floor B') and then up through the door to collect a tasty Elixir. Go all the way back to floor A, and collect the treasure in the upper left hand corner of the room. Head to the right and use that ladder farthest to the right to reach another set of stairs. This leads to another floor (floor E). Nab the Elixir here and go back to the floor A. Finally, use the door in the upper right hand corner of the room.
You will now be in a small room with a red lever. Hit the lever and the elevator will take you up to floor B. Skip over to the right to get a Cottage, then loop around to the left and head up into the door there. In the elevator, hit the switch and you'll go down to floor C. Exit the elevator shaft and you'll be at the centre of this floor. The only way to go for now is the ladder to upper left, so use it and you will be crawling through some sort of chute. Follow the path of the chute until you reach a ladder, head to the left (still inside the chute) to reach yet another ladder. Take this one and you'll be back at floor C, except in the lower left corner of the room. Head straight up and enter the door, pull the lever and the elevator takes you up to the central nexus of this ship/castle (floor D).
You come out of one of seven exits that exist on this floor. The first exit you want to take is the upper/central door. The elevator will take you back to floor C, except in the upper section of it this time. You can see a treasure over there to the left, but to get it you have to go to the right. So, go to the right, enter the chute there, and take the ladder - the path will lead you back to the left side of the room! Grab the Green Beret (a nice hat for the Thief!), and then let the conveyor belt carry you back to where you started. Take the elevator back to floor D.
Now, of the remaining five exits, only two are worth the effort to investigate: The chute that is second from the right will lead you back to floor C, but right in front of that tempting treasure in the middle of the room. It is a Thief's Glove, and it will make snagging those Ethers a whole lot easier! Head ALL the way back to floor D, and take the chute that is second from the left. This will lead you back to floor C, but on the right side of the room. The ladder in the upper part of this section will lead you back to floor E. Hit the switch here and a door will open up for you. Head inside to collect a nice Moonring for your Thief. Head back to floor C. The door to the left will lead to a new room. There's not much here, but don't step on the conveyor belt as it will set you back a piece. Instead, go into the door on the left to reach a save point. Use a Tent this time and most definitely save!
Continue up to reach your first real 'puzzle room' of the game, which isn't that hard. Go straight up, pull the lever, go to your immediate left and pull the lever there. Now head to the lever the farthest to the left and pull it. Use the new walkway to go the right. Pull both of the levers on the far right and you will gain access to two more levers. Ignore the lower one, and stand to the immediate right of the upper one, and pull it. Get the Elixir, and head up into the door. Now you should be at the Power Room. Head up to find Queen Karnak and she will begin to glow and start rambling about her revival. Fire suddenly is crawling all over the machinery behind the Queen, and suddenly it leaps at you!
| BOSS 7: Liquid Flame | Level | 15-16 |
 This battle can be tough if you let it. The Liquid Flame can morph into three different shapes, each of which requires a different strategy in order to win. The human form will give you the most trouble. It will cast Blaze (a strong fire attack against all of your characters), Fire2, and perform Charge (a strong physical attack).
The tornado form is the one where you want to hurt it the most. The Tornoado will mainly focus on healing itself with Fire2. Finally, the hand form can be a nuisance as well. Whenever you attack it, it will counterattack with Fire2, and magic won't affect it in this form, so leave it alone and concentrate on healing your party (even if you leave the hand alone it will still cast Shock on you).  Your job is too cast as much Ice2 and Shiva magic at it as you can before it turns into the hand, and then heal your self as much as you can. If the battle drags on, the thing will run out of MP, at which point it can't cast Fire2 anymore, but is still dangerous with its Blaze attack. It shouldn't come to that though if you promtly cool it off.
Once the Liquid Flame has been extinguished, you might get a Fire Rod, or a Fire Skill. |
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After the battle, the engine will explode and the Queen will faint to the floor. She urges you on to protect the Fire Crystal. As you enter the room with the Fire Crystal, it seems to be intact. Just then the Werewolf busts through the upper part of the room, recognises Galuf. Galuf, however, does not recognize him. After a few words, a bedraggled soldier enters the room; he begins to shimmer in the same light that infected the Queen moments before you fought the Liquid Flame. He must be the knight Captain, who was complaining of a "black shadow".
The possesed Captain flips a switch at the top of the room. The Captain mumbles something about, "...only one more and then the curse will be lifted...," then he vanishes. Apparently, he broke the lever, and the process he started cannot be reversed. Chutes start approaching the Crystal, but Wolf stops the last one from connecting. Wolf urges you to go on to protect the Earth Crystal. Bartz and Co. try to save the valiant Wolf, but they are dumped to the floor below, and in the meantime, the Crystal shatters and poor Wolf suffers a fiery demise.
You will find yourself in a new room. The flames start to die, and you deduce that the Crystal must have broken. After heading back up to the Crystal Room you see that Wolf is no longer there, and neither is the Crystal. Reina warns that without the Fire Crystal the Castle will collapse - and it will do it in exactly ten minutes!
Escaping Karnak Castle
| Enemies | Treasure | Blue Magic |
| Gigas, Karnak, Sergeant, Sorcerer | Elixir(5), 6000gp, Ribbon, Shuriken, Elf Cloak, Hunting Knife, Esna, LgtningSkill | Aero2 and Doom Claw |
Before you do anything, Save - you'll more than likely have to play this section of the game over again until you get things right. Know that you are being timed from the moment the clock appears on the screen (this includes time spent in the menu).
As quick as you can, change all of your characters (save one, leave your White Mage, or healer) into Monks with the secondary ability 'learning.' Their counter-attacks and powerful hits can save you time here. That done, you can backtrack just a bit to that jar you saw when you first fell through the floor from the Crystal Room to heal yourself completely.
A few pointers before you get started: If you feel that you don't have enough time to get all of the treasures, don't sweat: not many people do get them all; To shorten your burden you can skip the treasure chests that have the Elixirs in them, this should give enough time to get the rest of the goodies and get out in time. (This means making a trip through once to learn exactly where all of the treasures are, and then reseting and trying again.) Do make absolutely sure that you do get both the Ribbon and the Esna spell before you leave.
Now, head back past the save point (save again if you feel that you've done all of this in record breaking time - i.e. 9:30 left or better) and enter your first room. As for any random encounters you run into between here and the exit, beat them as fast as you can (you can save a little time here by using the Thief's Flee ability as a secondary skill for your fastest Monk). If you get lucky, the Sergeants will drop a Silver Plate for you.
Head up and into the first door you see to get 2000 gp out of the treasure chest. Quickly loop around to the right and go into the upper-right cell to check the chest. Monsters will attack you before you can get the treasure (an Elixir). Quickly dispatch the monsters, which will be a random collection of Gigas, Karnaks, and Sorcerers (you can steal a Mage Slasher from the Sorcerers and a Elixir from the Gigas if you are feeling bold, but don't waste too much time though). Another thing to look out for when battling these "treasure chest enemies" is to give the Gigas enough time to cast Aero2 on one of your characters equipped with the "learning" ability so you can learn it.
Now, head through the door at the upper right corner of the room to enter the next floor. There are two treasures here, both monster infested, one to the far right and one to the far left. The right one has a Shuriken, and the left one has a Ribbon. (Make absolutely sure you get this treasure if you don't get any of the others - the Ribbon is invaluable.) Head up through the double doors into another room. There aren't any treasures here, so loop around to exit as fast as you can. This next room doesn't have any treasure either, so head up into those stairs to proceed.
Now you should be in the Main Foyer. From where you entered the Foyer, head up into the left most doorway and take the stairs. This will lead you to the treasure vault of the Castle. Grab the 2000gp out of the treasure right in front of you and go up the stairs to your left to go outside onto the balcony. Follow the path all the way down to the stairs, go down through a couple of floors to reach the monster laiden treasure box (it's the Elf's Cloak). Once you've got the treasure, head all the way back to the treasury vault. Head down, fighting for the Elixirs in the two treasure boxes you find along the way. Take the stairs at the bottom and this will lead you to a tiny balcony that will loop around to a mirror of the treasure vault you were just in. There are two more Elixirs in here that you have to fight for. Also, there is another 2000gp in the chest closest to the stairs in the upper right hand corner. Take those stairs and follow the mirrored blacony path to another treasure: the HuntingKnife. Head back to the treasury vault once you aquire the knife, and exit through those stairs leading down.
Now you are back in the Main Foyer, and there are still two more treasures to get (hopefully you will have enough time). The treasures are located to the far right and left in a small hallway at the bottom (or front depending on how you see psuedo 3-D). The right one has a LigtningSkill and the left one has the spell Esna (a very useful spell which cures most status abnormalities - this is the only other "must get" treasure chest, besides the Ribbon). Of course, you fight for both of them. Finally, head through the double doors at the front to exit outside...
| BOSS 8: Karnak (3), Sergeant aka Iron Claw | Level | 15-16 |
 This fight is extremely easy on the outside, but what makes it hard in reality is the time constraint. Your Monks will make quick work of the Karnaks with one well placed Kick, leaving the Sergeant. After a couple of hits the Sergeant will morph into the Iron Claw. The Iron Claw has increased defense, but that's about it. Your biggest challenge is not to hit the Iron Claw at all until he uses his Doom Claw Blue Magic (if your Monks score a critical hit on him, it will cut through his defense, and net about 350 points of damage...which can kill him pretty quickly).
 The Doom Claw will reduce the target to single digit HP and numb them for a couple of rounds. Counter this with a timely Cure2 (or a hit from the Healing Staff) and it shouldn't be a problem. You want to make sure you get the Blue Magic - sometimes the Iron Claw uses it every other round, and other times you can wait two minutes and he won't cast it once (this is one of those instances that it is wise to have a pillow nearby so you don't break the PlayStation or the TV...hit the pillow!).
After aquiring Doom Claw, beat the Iron Claw with your Monks and run away from the castle! |
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Predictably enough, Karnak Castle explodes. The cryatal shards that were left up there seem to be impervious to physical damage, and come falling out of the sky. You group gathers them to earn the next set of Jobs!!! (fanfare here...)
Fire Crystal Jobs: Trainer, Geomancer, Ninja
Know this about your new jobs, oh training warrior:
The Trainer is a job class that is useful in many subtle ways. This class allows you to control and capture monsters. These abilities may not seem that important, and are often time consuming, but you'll need them in order to aquire some of the rarer Blue Magics and items in the game. The Trainers themselves are moderately powerful, but cannot equip the stongest weapons, instead preferring the whip or bute. And they, of course, are not very skilled in magic. A useful ally in certain situations, it is best to learn the 'Cntrl' ability quickly and then switch to another, more powerful class.
The Geomancer is another class which you'll be using quite a bit in order to succeed in certain situations. Their most notable and useful abilities include finding trap holes in the floor for you and giving you the ability to walk unscathed across floors which would normally cause damage (lava pits come to mind). The Geomancer is considered a magic user, for those of you who are in the dark. There is no need to buy, or aquire through side quests, the spells for them. Instead, they will use the magic of the Earth. This means they will cast a random spell chosen from a selection of four or so spells depending upon what kind of ground they are fighting on. For example, their spell selection will differ drastically when fighting in the mountains as compared to, say, the open field. These Earth Magicks can be quite powerful, but, since they are randomly chosen, they can be unpredictable (not a very nice option in battles that count);
The Ninja is, of course, one of the best jobs that there is! They have pretty much average stats all across the board, except for a high speed rating, but they more than make up for that with their other abilities. The one that stands out the most is the ability to equip two swords, which, when leaned after many battles, can be transferred to any other class. The Ninja can also throw weapons and stars and scrolls containing certain elemental runes inscribed upon them (LigtningSkil, FireSkill, etc.). Also, given the Ninja's speed, they have other abilities which will increase your chances for getting the first attack, being able to quickly escape nasty battles, and causing the enemy to miss their targets. The Ninja class has access to some of the strongest (and coolest) weapons in the game. Definitely an excellent job!