Growlanser II - Chapter Selection

Completionists Guide

Version: PlayStation 2

Copyright © 2021 KatanaSoul

 

Main Story:

 

Chapter 1: Officers' Exam

Chapter 2: Rotten Marauders

Chapter 3: Road Trip

Chapter 4: Dead or Alive

Chapter 5: Crossroads

Chapter 6: Black Reign

Chapter 7: Axe Lords

Chapter 8: The Last Stand

Chapter 9: Friendship

 

To Do List:

 

Maximillian's Path

Wolfgang's Path

Ernest Lyell Scenes

Character Setups

Growlanser II - Chapter 9: Friendship

King Eliotte will congratulate Wein and his party on defeating Wolfgang and bringing an end to his rebellion upon return to the Burnstein Capital. Afterwards, Wein is presented with a choice on whom to spend his time off with. Your choice here determines several things. First, the ending you will receive and the subsequent unlocking of that character in Growlanser III; but only if you finish the main story and not choose the alternate path that is available shortly. Second, this character will join Wein in the beginning of the final battle, which isn't of much consequence, but notable. Third, said character will get a special portrait in the status menu; again, just cosmetic, but of note. And fourth, on a NG+ you will have a special item in your inventory specific to that character that will allow you to choose their ending again regardless of their affection; assuming you have satisfied the other requirements. Other than having maximized a character's affection for Wein, there are several factors that play a role in if you can view certain endings. If you do not meet the requirements, the character will turn down Wein's offer and the ending will default to Hans, however, this will not count towards having gotten Hans' ending. I'm not sure what happens if Hans turns down spending the day with you, but I suppose it would default to Xenos. Below I will discuss, besides maximized affection, the requirements to obtaining character endings.

• Charlone, Riviera, and Arieta's endings are required to be unlocked first before you can see any of the male character endings.
• Charlone's ending cannot be gotten unless she became a Unicorn Knight, even if her item is used.
  
• Carmaine's ending requires Lyell to be in your party, and his item is useless otherwise, too.
• Sereb has an ending, but cannot be unlocked in Growlanser III, unfortunately. To see his ending, you must first have gotten Arieta's, then use her specific item on a NG+ with Sereb in your party.
• In regards to the NG+ items, they will not work if the character is not in your party. For example: you can't use Brett's item to see his ending if you recruited Ernest Lyell.

Once you've finished the game, under the main story path only, the endings you have unlocked are denoted by the character portraits shown in the save/load menu. You, however, do not have to play through the game 9 times to see all of the endings. Hopefully, you took my advise in the last chapter and saved before returning to the Burnstein Capital. Once you've finished the game, simply reload this save and choose another character, then fight through the two final battles again to see another character's ending. After the credits roll, you are given the option to add that ending to all the save files on your memory card, which makes this possible. Of course, to see all of the endings, you will have to play through the game, at least, twice and choose the opposite of Brett/Lyell and Arieta/Sereb.

Whatever character you chose to spend the day with, a soldier will interrupt and declare that King Eliotte has summoned Wein back to the castle immediately. Maximillian has, apparently, started his own rebellion and fled into the Lost Forest area. It's up to his best friend, Wein, to subdue him.

Back out on the world map, the Burnstein Capital's wears have changed, as warned in a previous chapter, and thus a number of items that were once available here have become unbuyable. However, a couple of Lv7 gems have returned and are available here, once again. New armor includes: the Brave Gauntlet for Wein, Carmaine, and Lyell. Holy Maiden Dress for Charlone and Arieta. Enhancement Garb for Hans and Sereb, and the Angel's Leotard for Riviera, which is the best armor in the game for her. I would purchase only one of these for your inventory, however, because after the next battle, the best armor in the game becomes available for all other characters and is quite costly.

If you check the status of the character Wein spent the day with, you'll see they have a slightly different character portrait. You'll have also noticed that there is a day counter at the top of the world map screen. If you wish to select an alternate, but not recommended, story path, Wein needs to make it to the Time & Space before the number of days expire. Even if not planning to take this path, I recommend you making it to the Tower before this, as there will be additional enemies in the battle if you do. Although, if you've been having a tough time in the battles, it could work towards your advantage to let the days run out and not have to face as many adversaries in the next battle. Whatever you choose to do, if you're a completionist, I recommend you swing by Starkberg. After the next battle, the armor shop here will change and the following items will become unbuyable: Mirage Gauntlet, Black Garment, Feather Robe, Elven Leotard. Make sure to add these to your inventory before continuing further.

If you make it to the Time & Space Tower before your set number of days expire, you'll find Maximillian and Logan preparing to enter the Tower. If you ran out of days, only Logan will be here waiting for you. Max is planning on using the Power Mask, that the group encountered sealed in the West Burnstein Ruins at the very beginning of the game, to force mankind into peace through its ability to manipulate and control. Max will then give Wein the option of joining him. I highly recommend that you refuse and only play Max's scenario if you save before making the choice and can return later to this save file to complete the game normally.

 

Unlike Wolfgang's scenario, there is absolutely nothing to be gained from choosing to join with Max; only an additional battle and a slightly different final battle and ending than the main story. Hans, Brett/Lyell, Arieta/Sereb will also permanently leave your party and you will NOT get credit for obtaining a character's ending. It is interesting, however; and worth playing at least once, just don't override your current save file and lose your progress with it. If there is one positive to be gained from siding with Max, it's the vast majority of the gems in the game will be for sale, but with the exception of the Lv7 Wizard's Secret, they are ones you were able to buy throughout the main story. Wizard's Secret can be bought in Wolfgang's scenario, though. Despite the number of gems for sale, you will be unable to purchase the best armor for your characters and the Zauerberg Arena is inaccessible. For more information on Maximillian's scenario, see the next chapter.

With the refusal of Max's proposal, the party is thrown into the next battle. Although at this point it's only for the additional EXP and Elm, if any of your party members fall in this battle you will not receive a Mission Complete. As you can tell from the number of enemies and how spread apart your party members are, this is going to be a very difficult battle. Begin the battle with Arieta/Sereb moving behind Wein, Riviera behind Brett/Lyell, Charlone to the back of Carmaine, and Hans to the rearguard of Xenos. Once Charlone is in position, have her System Shock the Battle Wizard on the left-side of the screen to take him out quickly. Arieta/Sereb should use their Quicken Aria tech to begin casting, at least, a Lv3 Tornado, with Riviera using Strengthen Magic and Lv2 Quake. Carmaine is going to be needed as a front-line fighter, so have Charlone begin chanting Healing after using System Shock.

 

As for Hans, if you want some additional EXP and ring weapon drops, he's going to need Lv9 Transport Wings and the Lv7 Skill Effect gems. At the start of the battle, Maximillian, the Monk Soldier, and Commander begin to make for the entrance of the Tower. All three can be defeated, however, defeating Max is a lost cause, but make sure to throw a Thievery at him before he gets away. You CAN defeat Max, just causing him to flee into the Tower anyway, but the amount of damage you need to do in an extremely short amount of time is near-impossible and he is immune to all status effects and has well over 1000 HP (He drops no ring weapon, either, if you're curious). However, his two associates can be afflicted with effects and have their progress into the Tower halted. You may want to save just before Hans attacks, and if you're lucky, you'll get the Monk Soldier with either Paralysis or Petrify and the Commander with Paralysis, leaving them sitting ducks to pick off. They both give very good EXP and high-level ring weapons. This is completely optional, though.

If at anything, make sure Hans gets Thievery off on, at least, the Commander. He occasionally carries Lv9 gems as seen in the screenshot above. I've also gotten Lv9 Knock Out and Holy Amulet from him before, as well. Meanwhile, Wein, Carmaine, Xenos, and Brett/Lyell are going to need to take on two of the melee fighters at a time, with Hans and the mages safely to the back of them. If you've learned it, the Bait tech can be extremely useful here, you just need to survive the first onslaught until Riviera and Arieta/Sereb can get their spells off, then your fighters can mop up the remains. Once Hans uses Thievery on the the trio fleeing into the Tower, have him System Shock the Battle Wizard on the right-side of the screen to defeat him, leaving just Logan and the archers to deal with.

 

Have Wein approach Logan, and use Thievery on him, for a short scene. Logan drops high-level ring weapons, so you may consider equipping a Double Rings and Empower gems before defeating him. Having defended his best friend's son, Max, to his dying breath, Logan will pass away and the final battle inside the Time & Space Tower lies before you. If you want to do random battles, this is your absolute last chance to do so; once Max has been defeated, all encounters will cease, but you can still fight at the Zauerberg Arena.

Make your way back to Starkberg and you'll see that the father you met at the Lost Forest has been reunited with his son who works at the armory. Having fulfilled this requirement, all of the best armor in the game is now for sale at the armor shop. Spriggan Gauntlet for Wein, Carmaine, and Lyell. Royal Armor for Xenos and Brett. Oracle's Dress for Charlone and Arieta. The Fairy Queen Garb for Hans and Sereb. And the aforementioned Angel's Leotard for Riviera. For completionists sake, buy an additional Royal Armor for the character, Patrick, in Wolfgang's scenario as all of these pieces of armor are not for sale in that story branch.

 

Additionally, the battle encounters on the world map have received their final level upgrades. The highest encounterable enemies will be level 28, which is extremely unfortunate for those of us who want to reach higher levels. Around level 35, you'll receive so few EXP, making it higher than that is incredibly difficult. You can always use Lv7 Miracle Trainee gems to acquire more master points and statistics though, but it's frustrating basically being capped at a certain level when they, theoretically, go all the way to 99. When you're prepared to finish the game, make your way back to the Time & Space Tower and ascend to the top.

Before you find Max, Wein and the character you choose to spend your time off with at the Burnstein Capital will have a scene together.

 

At the summit of the Tower, Max is preparing the brainwashing ritual with the Power Mask. Wein and his chosen companion will rush in to stop him, prepared to do so by themselves if need be. Maxamillian's not about to let Wein stand in the way of his dreams, however, so the final conflict between friends is at hand.

Even though Wein and his companion begin the battle alone, your fellow party members will join the battle after a couple of rounds have passed. As long as you have the Transport Wings and can dispatch the two Battle Wizards quickly, the pressing issue in this battle is defeating Max before the Power Mask's ceremonial ring is filled, which, of course, is a game over. Because of this, you may be tempted to rush into the trio of enemies before Wein, but I recommend hanging back and casting a Lv3 Attack Up and Shield on Wein, then approaching them slowly with long-range Penetration Attack and Perimeter Pulse techs when they get close. If Wein's companion is Xenos or Brett/Lyell, cast the buffers on them as well to begin their charge. All other characters should support Wein with healing and magic.

 

When your party members join you, their positioning is a little varied depending on who started the battle with Wein, but generally, Charlone, Riviera, and Xenos are on the left-side, with Carmaine, Hans, Brett/Lyell, and Arieta/Sereb on the right-side. Hans' first order of business is to System Shock both Battle Wizards to take them out; Arieta/Sereb can support him with a Quicken Aria tech + Blast. With the Wizards out of the way, any characters that have learned it need to use the Physical Defense tech right away. Although it takes forever to cast, Maximillian is charging a high-level Meteor spell that will absolutely devastate a majority of the battlefield. Physical Defense will greatly reduce the damage, however. If you don't have it, have Charlone and Carmaine both hold with their highest-level healing spells until after he pulls it off; once he's cast it, he won't cast it again. Hans can delay Meteor's casting with Aria Disturbance, but it's only a matter of time until you are hit with it. Wein, Xenos, and Brett/Lyell need to rush the enemies on their respective sides, inching their way toward Max. Riviera and Arieta/Sereb should both be using their Strengthen Magic tech combined with Lv2 Quake to heavily damage all enemies on the screen. If you're going to NG+, make sure Hans steals from the Commander, Monk Soldier, and Max himself.

Wein will likely be facing-off with the Commander guarding Max, so beware of the potential stun effect and use Refine if it occurs. Once all of the basic enemies are cleared out, absolutely do not rush Max with all of your fighters unless the ceremonial ring is more than two glyphs away from being filled. This is because Max will use Perimeter Pulse that not only inflicts heavy damage, but has a crazy-high potential to stun everyone it hits. The key to defeating Max quickly is the Berserk tech; possessed by Wein, Xenos, and Brett. This will penetrate his high defense, although be ready to heal the character using the tech. If you don't have Berserk, you'll need to rely heavily on System Shock. Magic is essentially useless against Max, so use Carmaine to heal, Charlone/Riviera to cast Attack Up, and Arieta/Sereb ready with Refine in case someone becomes stunned. It should only take a few hits of Berserk to put an end to Max's ambitions. Note: Every character has a special scene with Max if they engage him physically. That includes the mages, but you'll need to equip them with Lv6 Quickness gems in order for them to have a chance to reach Max before the circle is illuminated fully; besides the fact this being extremely dangerous, but worth trying at least once.

A wounded Max will fall from the Tower and Carmaine rushes in and destroys the Power Mask just in time.

 

Despite the battle being over, a sorrowful Wein will stay behind and hope that Maximillian might resurface from the lake of the Tower. Charlone will come and persuade him to return to the Burnstein Capital and you'll be back out on the world map. As stated earlier, random battles are gone, but you can still use the Zauerberg Arena, if you'd like. Since your Elm does not carry over to a New Game+, I recommend that you visit the various towns and exhaust your supply on armor and gems for your inventory. If at anything, you can sell these to have some extra money at the beginning of your next game.

Before you return to the Capital, stop by West Burnstein and have Wein walk to the outlook. Here, you'll find Maximillian waiting for you. He was saved from the lake by a group of orphaned kids living in the nearby forests. He'll lament his actions, and have found new hope for peace in the future of the next generation. Forgiving and letting him leave the country to explore the world, the two best friends will say their last goodbyes. Seeing this scene unlocks Maximillian as a playable character in Growlanser III.

 

Upon return to the Burnstein Capital, King Eliotte will thank Wein and his party for all of their service to the Kingdom and, after viewing a scene with Wein's chosen companion, the credits will roll.

Bringing a close to the main story of Growlanser II. Thank you for following along with me on this journey!

 

After the credits, the game will ask you if you want to add the bonuses you obtained to all of your save files. This includes: character endings you've seen, including Max's scene at the lookout that unlocks him in Growlanser III, and the "Extra" items on the title screen you collected like "Sandra's Story". Along with these things, this also unlocks Wein as a playable character in Growlanser III, as well. You can then create a new save file to begin a New Game+. The following things carry over to a NG+:

• Armor, gems, ring weapons in inventory
• Armor, gems, ring weapons equipped to your characters (Placed in inventory)
  
• Character ending special items (None for Wein, Patrick, or Max)
  

What doesn't carry over:

• Character levels, statistics, abilities learned, master points
  
• Elm
• Special items like the Stories, Sweet Potatoes, ect.
  
• Relationship values
• Kills for gems like Expert Trial

All the above applies to other scenario's endings, as well. Continue reading on to explore the further alternate scenarios for Growlanser II.

Growlanser II - Chapter 8: The Last Stand

At the border of the new mercenary kingdom, the group finds that the large magic wave detected by the Neural Radar is coming from within. There, they decide that Wein will sneak into their ranks and cause havoc, allowing the rest of the party to make their way inside unnoticed. Diversion isn't much of a battle at all: mostly a lot of defending and well-timed attacks. Begin the battle with Wein moving toward the border wall to the left, but declining to hop over it, then defending; we need to time the jump just right.

Line all your characters up on the right-side of the screen, in a row, then have Hans use Thievery on the Commander to begin luring the trio out from the border. Xenos and Hans should defend while the rest of the characters charge their best spell for future use. It's important not to attack and play defensively until the three soldiers get, at least, to the location in the screenshot above. If you attack before, the Commander is likely to stop moving and begin chanting Cure. Once the soldiers are in position, have Hans attack, and all the other characters unleashed their charged magic on the magician and archers on the other side of the wall. When they're defeated, have Wein use the Dash tech, jump the border wall, and make a run for the path to the north. The rest of the characters should defend, but Hans can steal from the two spearmen while waiting, just make sure not to kill them. Once Wein reaches the northern exit, the party will automatically retreat if they are lined up on the right-side of the screen. If not, simply move them in that direction.

 

Without a chance to rest, the scene switches automatically to Wein and his next battle. Make sure that you open the menu and save before beginning the battle! To achieve a Mission Complete here may take a few tries if you're not totally prepared, and you don't want to have to redo the previous battle. Wein is going to need to do a lot of gem-swapping here to achieve success, so start out with changing his gem loadout to: Lv7 Skill Effect (If has HP Absorption) or Vampire, Lv7 Teriaka/Lv4 Faint Guard, and Lv7 Bellow Collection. Don't scoff at Bellow Collection; by mid-battle, Wein will begin doing heavy amounts of damage with it, plus restoring additional HP with Vampire. Wein begins the battle unnoticed, but if he gets close or casts a spell, the enemy will begin making their way towards him. Start anyway with casting Lv3 Shield, Lv3 Attack Up,  Lv1 Cycle Up, then using Dash toward the right-side of the fort. System Shock the spearman and take him out quickly. The Commander, by that time, will have summoned for reinforcements and begin making his way toward Wein. Meet him head-on with Thievery, and finish him as quickly as you can. As stated before, the Commander enemies have an extremely high probability of stunning characters, which is why we have Teriaka/Faint Guard equipped. If you don't, and Wein becomes stunned, you might as well reload and try again. With the Commander out of the way, switch Wein's Teriaka/Faint Guard for Lv6 Wind Shield (Evasion from arrow attacks),  save your last Dash tech, and move into the lower rooms of the forts, setting fires and obtaining a Lv9 Double Rings and Lv9 All Attrib Def gems. You can then flee the area for a Mission Clear, but for a Mission Complete, we need to set four fires and defeat all of the enemies.

With the lower fires set, kill off the remaining fencer, ignoring the archer, then use Wein's last-remaining Dash tech and make for the upper rooms to set them ablaze and obtain a Lv7 Teriaka gem and 25,000 Elm. By this time, a great deal of reinforcements will arrive. When they do, immediately switch Wein's Wind Shield for either the Lv9 or 7 All Attrib Def gem. Without these, the magicians will devastate Wein with Soul Force, so much so, that recovery can be difficult. Head west to confront the magician and archer there, as seen in the screenshot above, leaving a narrow path for the approaching spearman and Commander that are headed your way. Kill the spearman and if need be, cast a high-level cure while waiting for the Commander; by this time the magicians should have run out of MP and you can switch the Attrib gem back to Teriaka/Faint Guard to face-off with the Commander. Make sure to use Thievery on the Commander, then, switch Teriaka/Faint Guard back to Wind Shield to finish off the remaining archers and magicians. If you're having a lot of problems, another tactic you can use is the Lv6 Angel's Secret gem to revive Wein, fully, one time if he dies.

You'll gain control of Wein, alone, at the Grasslands afterward. Just a note: The Double Rings gem you picked up, the only one in the game outside the Zauerberg Arena, is necessary for obtaining the best ring weapons in the game. You can use these to produce random ring drops on enemies, even after the battle has begun. So, you can exploit the save-load battle option to attempt to acquire the ring you want with these. Not only do they stack to produce multiple dropped rings, but you can combine them with Empower gems to give you an increase in the gem socket number. At the Southern Checkpoint, the party, particularly Riviera, is anxiously waiting for Wein to return and you'll see a flashback of when a similar incident happened in her life. I guess even in life-threatening missions, Olivia always stays in her flower-girl dress...Anyway, after attempting to be consoled by several party members, Wein will eventually return, much to Riviera's relief, and the party is ready to confront Wolfgang in the North Lost Forest.

 

If you examine the Southern Checkpoint, the party can rest. I highly recommend you use this opportunity to reach level 25 in preparation for the upcoming boss battle.

Over at the South Lost Forest, you can purchase a few new armors, and some older gems. New armor includes the Festival Robe for Charlone and Arieta, Duel Gauntlet for Wein, Carmaine, and Lyell, and the Mysterious Leotard for Riviera. This is also your last chance to purchase a number of gems, including Healing Secret, that I talked about at the end of the last chapter. Once Wolfgang is defeated, this shop will disappear.

 

Talk to the Peddler at the South Lost Forest to find out that his wife is missing. Proceed over to the East Lost Forest and talk to his wife to receive a Lv7 Miracle Trainee gem. Unless gotten from the Zauerberg Arena, this is a one-of-a-kind gem. If you already have 9 in your inventory, the wife will give you some Elm instead. If you're a player that loves boosting your statistics as high as possible, that is what the Miracle Trainee gem is all about. When equipped, once you enter battle, the character's level will permanently be reduced by 10, but their statistics will remain the same. This will allow you 10 additional levels of statistical gains. Besides statistics, this is also a great way to gain additional master points to learn abilities without needing to reach higher levels. What confuses me is why they added this gem, but failed to give us a gem that provides additional EXP to get to higher levels. Anyway, Wolfgang is waiting at the North Lost Forest. I recommend equipping Wein, Xenos, Brett/Lyell, and Carmaine with the Lv7 Teriaka gems, also Hans with Lv4 HP Recovery Seal, along with the usual Magic Range Lv6 and Lv5 Soul Thunderclap to deal with axe marauders.

Wein and the others have breached Wolfgang's stronghold and find him prepared for them with a massive neural armor. Rather than be taken alive, he's determined to fight to the death along with his men.

 

This is easily the hardest battle thus far in the game, but with my suggested preparations and an effective strategy, things should go smoothly. The first thing you'll notice is there are four treasure chests to open in offshoot rooms of the main corridor. Not only do you want to open these, but the rooms are perfect for protecting your mages. The second thing is, you've only got a limited amount of time to defeat Wolfgang or you'll receive a game over; which is shown by the messages of the % his cannon weapon is charged. Don't concern yourself with this though, you are given a very fair amount of time to accomplish your goal. Instead, you may want to keep an eye on the ring gauge and attempting to kill Wolfgang and his neural armor's arms before it expires as they can drop some of the best ring weapons in the game, but not necessary since we will be looking for them soon.

Wolfgang opens the battle with a cannon blast that covers the entire corridor, which will likely poison any character it hits. With Teriaka gems equipped to your fighters, this will negate the poison, plus the frequent stunning caused by the axe soldiers. Have Wein casts a Lv6 Shield: three for him and for Xenos, then have them Dash toward Wolfgang to meet the group of marauders. Note: with a corridor fight, you may be tempted to set elemental Capacitors that the enemies will be forced to move through in order to get to your characters. While not a bad strategy, the required casting time of these, along with a time limit to the battle, I can't recommend it, but it is worth considering. Move Charlone and Riviera to the first room on the left, with one grabbing the Lv9 Bellow Store gem in the chest. Charlone should then begin casting Refine to alleviate the poison status, then focus on casting Attack Up. Riviera, with the Lv6 Magic Range gem equipped, should be bombarding the axe armors with Thunder.

Move Arieta/Sereb and Brett/Lyell into the first room on the right; with Brett/Lyell protecting the entrance and Arieta/Sereb using their Strengthen Magic tech to charge a high-level Thunder Storm spell. Lastly, have Hans and Carmaine Dash for the chests in the second rooms on the left and right sides, containing a Lv9 Holy Judgement and Lv8 Memory of Alviis gem. From there, Hans should use Thievery on Wolfgang and his armor's arms to obtain some nice items, and with the HP Recovery Seal gem equipped, this will stop all three of the targets from recovering 5HP per round. After hitting them once, make sure to switch the gem to another one and have Hans support Wein and Xenos' assault. Carmine should be on heavy healing duty and casting Cycle Up on the rest of the characters. Once you've crossed a certain point on the corridor, an additional three marauders will appear at the entrance to the stronghold. This is where we have Arieta/Sereb charging Thunder Storm and, when they are in range, cast it for a tremendous amount of damage. Then, you can have Brett/Lyell mop them up, with Arieta/Sereb supporting with Thunder.

 

That painting...is that??? Anyway, once you've cleared out all of the armored soldiers, Wolfgang is easily taken down without his ability to regenerate HP and being vastly outnumbered. Before confronting him, make sure a character enters the last room on the right, which is usually blocked by marauders, and opens the chest for a Brave Gauntlet armor. Wein will have a small scene with Wolfgang when he approaches the massive neural armor. If you saw all of the scenes with the injured man at the Schwarzfals inn, Wein will reveal the he knows that he and Wolfgang are half-brothers.

Like previously stated, Wolfgang's parts can drop some of the best ring weapons in the game. For best results, before defeating one of the parts, equip the offensive character with the Lv9 Double Rings (Two if you are on NG+) along with some Lv5 Empower gems. Having fought to his dying breath, Wein will promise Wolfgang that Burnstein will show leniency to his soldiers and he passes away; saying goodbye to his brother.

Back out on the world map, just a few notes on the gems we found in Wolfgang's stronghold. Lv9 Bellow Store is the best gem in the game for increasing attack power, granted it increases gradually as the battle goes longer. I use this with Brett and suggest replacing it with his lower-level one. Lv9 Holy Judgement is also a fantastic gem. When equipped, if a character casts a spell like Atrophy, Rust, or Fear, it automatically casts the other two along with it! I always give this to Charlone, replacing her Magic Awakening gem. Lastly, Lv8 Memory of Alviis grants the equipped character every magic spell available in the game, even Xenos. I don't find this particularly useful, however, since I prefer to stick with a character's default ability sets.

 

After Wolfgang's defeat, visit the Southern Checkpoint and a man will ask if you have come across a boy that is good at making armor in your travels. If you invited the boy from Rottenbaum Village to come and work at the armory in Starkberg, tell him about the boy, whom he is the father of. A little father into the game, this will result in being able to purchase the best armor for each character. The finale of the game is awaiting us at the Burnstein Capital, but first, I recommend that we use this time to compete in the Zauerberg Arena and reap all of its rewards before we finish the game. You'll also noticed, like warned in the last chapter, the areas west of Zauerberg have become inaccessible, for whatever reason, making several armors and gems unbuyable. The gems you can still get from the Arena, and you may have some luck with the armors from Thievery in random battles and the Arena, but the likelihood of finding what you want is low.

The Zauerberg Arena is a place where we will obtain a lot of high-level gems that are unavailable anywhere else and also the best ring weapons in the game. It's, arguably, the most ideal place to level in the game, as well. Unfortunately, other than the Bonus Battle, only Wein is allowed to participate. To unlock the later classes, we first need to start at the Beginner Class and work our way through. If Wein is at least level 27, with the right gem setup, he should breeze through 'till the later rounds of the Master Class without much resistance. My recommended Wein setup for the majority of the arena is the following: Lv8 Expert Trial, Lv7 Skill Effect, Lv8 Deft Wind. I suggest Expert Trial as the Arena is an easy place for Wein to maximize his kills and thus raise the power of the gem to 100 increased ATK. If you don't want to use Expert Trial, Lv9 Bellow Store is also recommended. In the Master Class, Wein will need a Teriaka or Feint Guard gem and Memory of Alviis available to equip, also. Hopefully, he has enough Strength to equip the Brave Gauntlet, too.

 

Each class will provide different level, randomly determined gems, depending on the round Wein quits on. When I say random, I also mean that they are not determined until they are presented to him; so, you can use the save/load trick to get your desired reward. Keep in mind that Wein will lose his entry fee if he doesn't complete all 13 battles, and that can be quite hard on the pocketbook in the later classes. The Beginner Class rewards, as seen in the screenshot above, are the only remaining way in the game to acquire a number of the gems that are no longer purchasable. These are pulled from a pool of ALL gems in the game that are of that level. For example: when you complete the 13th round of the Beginner Class, you can be rewarded a Lv7 Miracle Trainee gem that is otherwise unpurchasable. This is also true for the later rounds, as well.

Unless you're attempting the Beginner Class when the Arena first becomes available, Wein should have zero issues completing it. Note: You may want to keep an eye on Wein's EXP in the Arena battles to equip Mental Fortitude gems right before he is about to gain a level.

 

Upon completion of the Beginner Class, Wein may receive the Lv7 Wizard's Secret gem, that provides the user access to all of the attack magic in the game. In the main storyline, this gem can never be purchased, but can in the other two story branches. Other than Wizard's Secret, the only other rare item is the before-mentioned Miracle Trainee. Remember: Save your game just before Wein kills the final enemy of the 13th round and reload your game if you don't get the gem you are looking for.

In the Normal Class, we start to really delve into the rare gems that are available. Wein should be more than enough to handle the 13 rounds here, as well. However, beginning at battle 10, which are two Golems, you may consider equipping the Teriaka/Feint Guard gem over Deft Wein to keep them from stunning you; the following Skeletons Knights can also be vicious. If Wein needs to heal, don't be afraid to use the Dash tech and retreat to the entry gate to cast Cure while the enemies lumber after you.

 

Rare, unpurchasable, gems available in the Normal Class are: Lv8 Hyper-Attack, Mage's Aria, and Memory of Alviis. The great Magic Awakening gem can be obtained, also, but further on it will be purchasable.

The Master Class is where the true rewards lie. There are multiple gems that you cannot obtain anywhere else but here (Although you may get lucky with a random steal in the later battles). The enemies here are over level 20 and won't go down in just one hit like the other classes. Instead, Wein will have to rely on his HP Absorption skill + the Skill Effect gem to restore himself in attacks. If your Wein doesn't have HP Absorption, you're going to need to use the Lv7 Vampire gem for that instead. With the increased attack of the Expert Trial/Bellow Store and the frequency of turns from the Lv8 Deft Wind, Wein should be able to attack, and restore himself, a few times before your adversaries have a chance to damage him further.

 

On level 10, which is a Battle Wizard and Monk Soldier, switch out Wein's Deft Wind for Teriaka/Faint Guard, and save your game before they are defeated. The final three battles contain Commanders, and they are no joke! Even with the immunity to stun, they attack three times in a row and their ATW is much lower than you would expect. 11 and 12 are survivable; I even recommend that Wein use Thievery on the Commanders, but 13, which contains two Commanders, can be downright impossible to win unless you have really been leveling Wein and increasing his statistics. However, there is a trick to easily defeating the duo of Commanders: equip Wein with the Memory of Alviis gem. Dash to the back gate, then cast Invisibility on himself. Under Invisibility, Wein cannot be targeted, allowing him to pummel his enemies without reprisal.

Rare gems you can never purchase in the Master Class contain: Lv9 All Attrib Def, Double Rings, Bellow Store, Holy Amulet, Holy Judgement, Hyper-Attack, Knock Out, Mage's Aria, Magic Might, Rainbow's End, and Transport Wings. As you can tell, all of these are fantastic, except for maybe Rainbow's End. Rainbow's End allows you to attack an enemy's elemental weakness, but for whatever reason, this only seems to be useful against the Hellhounds. The Golems are weak against the Thunder element, but even with Rainbow's End equipped, it does a very small amount of extra damage, it also is useless against human enemies, so I pass on it. Holy Amulet, in my opinion, is the best gem in the game; it works similar to Holy Judgement, but instead of debilitating spells on enemies, it casts all three buffers (Attack Up, Shield, Resistance) on a character when just one is cast. I always give this to Wein, personally, but if you increased Han's Intelligence and MP, he can make excellent use of this, as well. Speaking of Hans, Lv9 Knock Out can be ridiculously useful for him to add to his already myriad of attack effects. Needless to say, the Lv9 Mage's Aria and Magic Might are the best in the game for their particular effect. If you're not on NG+, try to obtain a second Double Rings gem here, too.

 

Once you've cleared all three classes, the Bonus Battle becomes available at the whopping price of 40,00 Elm per battle! This pits your entire party against 10 Gold Slimes, which must be defeated before the ring timer runs out and they escape; taking your entry fee with them (You only get a quarter of it back, anyway). Thankfully, while nearly indestructible from physical attacks, except from Xenos (Even Metal Killer does not work), they are weak against magic. All you, truly, need to do is cast a Lv1 Quake spell and it will instantly destroy all of them. However, to spread out the EXP, you can cast magic with all of your characters to take them out individually. So, your rewards? Each Gold Slime is guaranteed to drop a high-level ring upon defeat. Unfortunately, like all other enemies, these are determined before the battle begins, so the save/load trick in battle will not work. But, there is a workaround to this: the Double Rings gem. If you'll recall, these produce random rings and not predetermined ones. The best strategy for this is to take Riviera or Arieta/Sereb, equip two Double Rings (Which is two random drops per Slime) and a Lv5 Empower. When the battle starts, chant a Lv1 Quake, but save right before they are about to cast the spell. Once Quake is cast, you'll get 10 rings that are always the same, but with two Double Rings equipped, you'll get an additional 20 randomized rings; you can even increase this to 30 with a third Double Rings gem, but I recommend having at least one Empower for better chances to get 9-9-9 slots on the ring weapon (Slots are also randomly determined). If you don't get the ring you want, simply reload your game to produce a new slew of ring weapon drops.

There are, however, only two ring weapons worth looking for; all other ones cannot compare in any way. The first is God Hero Alfeil (Preferably with 9-9-9 gem slots). This is the best ring weapon for: Wein, Hans, Xenos, Carmaine, Brett, Lyell, and Patrick (From Wolfgang's scenario).

 

The other is God Hero Reslam. This is the best ring weapon for: Charlone, Riviera, Arieta, and Sereb. Of course, an argument could be made for Wein/Carmaine having Reslam, and Charlone with Alfeil, depending on your preferred setup. Getting these rings, plus the maximum amount of gem slots, is not easy to do, so expect to spend a significant amount of time trying to obtain these for all of your characters.

Also worth noting is each of the Gold Slimes have significantly rare items to steal. Including: the best armors in the game (For sale soon), high-level gems, and ring weapons. Below are screenshots of just a few of the items I have procured from their Thievery.

 

That is all for the Zauerberg Arena. If you're looking to gain levels, you can use the Bonus Battle and the Quake spell for a huge amount of EXP; higher for a character than you would get from random encounters. You can give Xenos and other characters without the Quake spell the Memory of Alviis gem to build their levels here, as well. Be sure to bring a full purse, though; although you'll get a large amount of Elm back for defeating all the Slimes, it's significantly lower than the 40,000 needed to fight them. You can make a lot of the Elm loss up by selling the dropped ring weapons, but fighting the Bonus Battle over-and-over is still extremely costly. Going forward, before playing Max or Wolfgang's scenario, it's imperative that use the Arena to gather up high-level gems and ring weapons since you do not have access to Zauerberg in those story branches. Note: For those wanting to unlock all of the character endings, and subsequently add them to your roster in Growlanser III, make sure that you save before the next event and do not overwrite it! When you are prepared, return to the Burnstein Capital to begin the coming finale of Growlanser II.