In the last post, we finished up some side-quests and got the black chocobo. We're ready to head for the Earth Crystal and the airship: which means those Sand Tides. Bleh.
The Sandworm boss is a pain...One cast of Aqua Rake blue magic should do in him though.
The Sand Bear encounter here has the very rare Javelin to steal. The only way to acquire this item is from the Sand Bear. Sand Bears show up as a random encounter in some deserts parts of the final world, so no rush; but might as well pick at least one up here. It's going to be the strongest spear you can find for a while (When you finally gain the Lancer job soon). I really hate these Sand Tides. Keep heading downward and you will eventually find your way out, but trying to explore the entire Tides is a choir; granted there isn't much reason to except to find the Pyramid dungeon which you can't enter for now.
Exiting the Sand Tides continue on to Gorn and eventually into the underground where you will obtain the airship. Most probably know how to get the chests hidden beyond the wall in the room where you can rest, but if not, check the flowers on the right-hand side of the bedroom for a note. Then check the note on the table in the rightmost room. Afterwards check the jar in the leftmost room, and finally examine the switch and choose to "pull" instead of "push'. Gaining the airship now you will fight Clay Claw (Which somehow I missed a screen of...) but he's not much of a problem.
Did you get L.5 Doom back at the Ancient Library? Well, now that you have the airship, remember that nasty Harpy in the Walz basement? It will wipe the floor with him. The reason? None other than revenge. Not much else to do with your new airship that you didn't already do with the Fire Ship and the black chocobo. So, just return to Gorn and see the Ronka Ruins rise up and head for the Tycoon Meteor to find the Adamantite for Cid. As for the Adamantaim boss, again, nothing to write home about. You can L.5 Doom him if you want like you did Harpy. After defeating Adamantaim and having Cid patch the airship up to reach the ruins, this is your last chance to do anything in this world before Galuf leaves your party 'til later on. So keep this in mind if you want to do some leveling.
Yikes, the difficulty spiked a little bit here. Before you fight the Soul Gun, try to learn the Burn Ray and Missile blue magic from the Rocket Gun and Flamethrower enemies before him. You might have to reset if you get 4 groups of the same enemy, but it's worth it to get these now. Use Bolt 2, Ramuh, and Coral Swords on the Soul Gun itself. The main issue here is the Old status being set by the Launchers. Have someone constantly casting Esna to get rid of this or your damage will drop significantly. Try to be fully healed by the time he finishes his countdown and uses its Beam Cannon and you should be alright. Now into the Ronka Ruins.
Lamias here have the excellent Lamia's Tiara helmet as a steal. Try stealing every chance you encounter one and you should end up with at least one. I got two personally. You can buy this later, but it is a huge upgrade from what you have right now. For blue magic you have the superb White Wind from the Fan Wizard and Blow Fish from the Lamias; you'll need to control with a Trainer in order to acquire these. Keep a Thief in your party or a character with the Secret ability to find the hidden routes here and pick up all the treasures. You'll fight Archeoavis at the end and Galuf will leave your party temporarily. Archeoavis attempts to be clever with his elemental changing, but you can just use physical attacks to take him out easily. You'll now have all the jobs in the game (With the exception of the secret Mime).
That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Next up: We warp off to Galuf's world.
