Shaded Resolve - RPG Completionists Guides: Wild Arms

Wild Arms is a rather simplistic game, with not a lot of options when it comes to setting up your characters, but I'll cover some recommendations and ways you can get the most out of them.

Rudy

Rudy's a rather unique character in the sense that, besides his basic attack, he has little-to-no use for the Strength statistic; all of his ARM's damage are independently determined by their upgrades, with the exception of the Twin Orbs that use Luck as a determining factor. Because of this, you'll want to set Rudy up entirely with defense in mind. For most of the game, consider building upon his poor Sorcery/Magic Resistance with the likes of the Death Rune, and then later, Hades Rune, until you begin to acquire armor that adds to his MGR, then you can branch off to other runes. Some players may prefer to focus on Rudy's low Response, but this never bothered me as long as Cecilia and Jack were quicker than the opposition.

By the end-game, you'll want to outfit him with either the Hope or Courage Runes, depending on your chosen setup. The Hope Rune provides a solid boost to all statistics, including Vitality (For Protector) and Sorcery, while Courage has a great increase in his Response, but lower Vitality and no Sorcery at all. Also to consider: with the Hope Rune being the highest damaging summon attack, it would benefit more from being summoned by Jack, while Rudy holds the lesser, and sometimes ineffective, Courage Rune summon. I almost always use the Hope Rune, but you decide for yourself.

When it comes to accessories, I use Rudy's shields until I obtain the Force Unit, then never remove it from him. In my opinion, building Rudy's Force towards Fury Shot, or Protector if need be, is absolutely invaluable. Of course, the Sheriff Star also provides the effect of the Force Unit, but again, in my opinion, the statistical boosts from the Sheriff Star are wasted on Rudy whose offense is dependent on ARM upgrades, and not base stats. Once you acquire the Braver Vest, which has a huge Magic Resistance boost, Rudy will only truly be lacking in Response. The Power Boost accessory you find in the Abyss, seems like an excellent choice, as well, but does not extend to Rudy's ARMs; whether this was intended or not.

Upgrading Rudy's ARMs to maximum can be quite taxing on the pocketbook. The easiest way to farm money to finance the upgrades are hunting Hayokontons on the small islands east of the Ancient Arena with a supply of Lucky Cards in hand. If you're quick, and lucky, Jack can steal additional Lucky Cards from the Acid Bunnies in the desert north of the Memory Temple (Where you fight the golem, Barbados). Additionally, you can win a Lucky Card by stopping after the first battle in the Ancient Arena. Hayokontons are the best way to get your characters to level 99, as well.

Cecilia

Cecilia, obviously, is all about the Sorcery stat. Despite this, for a majority of the game, it's in your best interest to build a defense around her instead of merely focusing on her Sorcery: as saying she is your party's lifeline is an understatement. In regards to runes, unless exploiting a weakness through Guardian Summon, you'll want to center in on Vitality; Earth, Summit, then later on the excellent Flash and Triton Runes, before rounding out with the Love Rune. Some players, that focus on offense, may prefer the Chrono Rune and its larger Sorcery increase, but in my opinion, using the Necronomicon as her accessory, along with the overwhelming usefulness of the Raftina summon, makes Love a superior choice. Don't neglect Cecilia's Response either: she is a prime candidate for Agile Apples.

Turning to accessories, stick with her Sorcery-increasing books, or in certain situations, the Holy Parasol, until you find the Talisman inside the Epitaph of the Sea Wind dungeon. With the Talisman equipped, protecting Cecilia's Vitality becomes much less of a burden and allows you to explore other rune alternatives, if you'd prefer. In fact, the Talisman's HP restoration is so useful, it takes the overwhelming Sorcery increase of the Necronomicon for me to abandon it. Of course, there is also the Sheriff Star to consider, which, when it comes to pure overall statistic boosts, along with the innate Talisman effect, Cecilia can benefit more from it than Jack, however, the Sorcery increase from the Sheriff Star is vastly dwarfed by the Necronomicon. It's a difficult choice, but my personal preference is to stay with the latter and slide the Sheriff Star to Jack.

A final consideration: although not recommended personally, is if using the Sheriff Star, equipping the Filgaia Robe over the obviously superior Pret-a-porte. When having the Pret-a-porte in your inventory, Cecilia can combine it with her Mystic Force to cast the otherwise-inaccessible (Except through Randomizer) Regenerate spell that can take care of most all your recovery needs.

Lastly, there are just enough Crest Graphs to be found during the game to bind all of Cecilia's magic: a total of 64 in all. Several of these can be missed permanently, such as the ones in the Maze of Death, Dragon Shrine, Gate Generator, and Pandemonium, so be vigilant in obtaining them. If you prefer to have a Crest Graph for your item inventory, I recommend unbinding the Confusion spell, as it seems to have the less use out of all of her spells.

Jack

Jack's focus should almost assuredly be Strength, Response, and Luck, with the remainder of his statistics straddling the middle of the road. Starting out with the Fire Rune, he easily progresses to the Saint, Ice, and then Life Rune; the latter being a great recommendation for emergency healing. The Sword Rune, being the highest strength-increasing rune, would make the most sense for Jack, but once he starts to get into the later levels (70+), and has weapons like the Black Feral, he will easily max out his attack power rendering the boosts from the Sword Rune ineffective. Due to this, it's a toss up between Hope, Courage, and Life Runes for him. Although hard to argue against the others, I choose to go with the Courage Rune, not simply because of canon purposes, but because at higher levels, it almost guarantees Jack will be quicker than most enemies.

Due to being so average in most aspects, as well as there being a limited amount of stat-increasing accessories, I tend to leave Jack with his gauntlet accessories for the majority of the game unless using one of the elemental rings to draw out a certain element in his Phazer Zapp skill. Later on, the Wise Slate is a nice addition, followed by the Mind Gem, but once you make it to Malduke, you'll want to try to obtain an additional Force Unit from the Doomsday enemy before attempting to take on the optional bosses of the game. Of course, if you didn't buy 99 Small Flowers from the Adlehyde Ruins Festival, don't sleep on the usefulness in the Missanga to modify his Luck when the need arises.

Lastly, I recommend Jack be equipped with the Sheriff Star over the other two characters. The boost in Response will make Jack virtually faster than any other enemy, allowing him to easily serve as an emergency healer without the need for Accelerator. He can revive quickly with Fruits and restore HP with Nectar/Ambrosia, clear status he is now immune to with Heal Blade, and build to Double Attack faster to benefit the party in a multitude of ways. There is also the added effect of his Luck never falling below "Bad", which is beneficial to his fast draws that are dependent on Luck like Trickster, Slash Rave, Divide Shot, Shadow Bind, and Void.

Speaking of fast draws, with a little grind, you can easily lower all of Jack's skills to the consumption of 1 MP. Throughout the main areas of Malduke, the final dungeon, Jack can steal Secret Signs from both the Tzar and Fesel Zein enemies. Although because of the low success rate, you'd be better off having Jack use Divide Shot to set them up for Cecilia to use Lucky Shot and force them to drop Secret Signs. However, I find that winning them from the Ancient Arena to be a much quicker way. Stopping after the third battle (Javawalk) will always reward you with three Secret Signs; you can also attempt to steal an additional one from the second battle (Badnews). To quickly blow through the battles, finish Medea with Saint in the first battle, then Divide Shot and Phaser on Badnews and Javawalk while Cecilia casts Remedy to bring those battles to an end.

Increasing Character Statistics

Besides runes and a few accessories, the stat Apples are your only source for modifying your character's statistics. Below I will just provide a brief overview of the best way to obtain them.

Power Apple (Strength): Stolen from Sandstag in the desert north of the Memory Temple.
Hardy Apple (Vitality): Stolen from Dumpty in the Residential Area of Malduke.
Mystic Apple (Sorcery): Stolen from Humpty in the Residential Area of Malduke.
Agile Apple (Response): Stolen from Fafneil inside of Ka Dingel.

Alternately, Hazenbergs inside of Ka Dingel and Armordrakes in the same location as the Sandstags have Hardy and Mystic Apples Jack can steal, however, in my experience, it is easier to plunder them from the monsters listed above. Because of the rarity of the steals, you may prefer to farm the Apples from the Ancient Arena. If you quit after the second battle (Badnews), you'll receive a full set each time. When distributing Apples, remember that other than for increasing their Magic Resistance and the damage from their Guardian Summons, Rudy and Jack have no other use for the Sorcery stat.

Dummied Items

There are several items contained within the code of Wild Arms that cannot be obtained but through a device such as a Gameshark. Often completionists struggle with the fact that they exist, yet were never implemented into the game, or if they were, are extremely well hidden. I think it's fair to say, after the game has been out nearly 25 years, that these items are simply "dummied" out and inaccessible.

Sheriff Womp (?) (Event Item?)
Diary (Event Item?)
Holy Grail (Accessory)
Side Blade (Jack Accessory)
Chris/Kris Knife (Jack Accessory)
Blade Crash (Jack Accessory)
Reverse Edge (Jack Accessory)

Tips on Farming Items

Lastly, I want to provide players with some advice on the best ways to farm items from enemies. Unfortunately, in the case of Trickster, there is absolutely nothing you can do to increase your chance at theft other than having Jack's Luck at "Best". Once you've met Mariel at Rosetta Town, you can infinitely obtain Small Flowers to increase Luck by talking with her, leaving town, then returning. Alternately, you can use the Missanga, Amulet, and Sheriff Star accessories to adjust Luck levels. Another tip is to remove Jack's rune and equip him with his starting weapon, the Arctic Blade, to reduce the damage he inflicts with Trickster granting more opportunities to steal. One other thing you can do, that will apply to the below paragraph as well, is have Cecilia cast Dummy Doll on all three characters. As long as the character does not evade their attack, Dummy Doll will prevent a character from counterattacking the enemy, again granting more chances per battle to steal.

As for drops, an enemy that is defeated by Cecilia's Lucky Shot spell (Also Mystic'd from the Bone item) will guarantee the enemy drops their item. Unfortunately, Lucky Shot tends to do very low damage, but there are some tricks you can employ to make it more effective. First: when using Lucky Shot, make sure Cecilia has her best spell book accessory equipped (Necronomicon) and Sorcery-boosting rune (Chrono) this will significantly add to the damage of Lucky Shot. Second, a majority of monsters can be effected by Cecilia's Prison spell, although it may take several castings. If under the Prison condition, the next attack on the enemy will instantly destroy it; including Lucky Shot. In the case of Prison not being effective, you'll need to whittle down the monsters HP to be defeated by Lucky Shot. Cecilia can cast Banish, which greatly lowers a monster's statistics, making Lucky Shot's damage increase to help out with this, but the most reliable thing to do is abuse Jack's Divide Shot fast draw. Divide Shot will cut any non-boss monster's HP in half and can never defeat it, thus you can continually use it until it begins to do minuscule amounts of damage, then have Cecilia throw out a Lucky Shot to finish it off.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Wild Arms - Chapter 22: Optional Bosses & The Abyss

To start the last chapter, I felt it might be useful to drop my suggested equipment. Also, I recommend you be no less than level 55 before attempting to take on the game's optional bosses.

Rudy: Silver Blade, Force Unit, Assault Coat, Hyper Gear, Hope Rune

Cecilia: Princess Rod, Necronomicon, Filgaia Robe, Blue Ribbon, Love Rune

Jack: Violator, Force Unit/Talisman, Jolla Poncho, Sunbird Hat, Courage/Sword Rune

A healthy storage of Mega Berries (Steal/Drop from Colonzons in the Malduke Statue Area) or Ambrosia (Steal from Shelzaurus outside the Pandemonium dungeon) as well as Full Revives (Stolen from Alfase inside the Forest Prison dungeon) will greatly help. Note: Goat Dolls are always an option, but will not be part of any strategies doing forward. That said, let's get started.

Still inside Malduke, our first boss, Sado, is found within the Mine Area. From the entrance, use the east stairwell, then west, and finally the lower-middle one. Have Cecilia extinguish the fire with her Vase tool and then Jack play the Guitar in the center of the altar to summon Sado.

First turn: Rudy using Arch Smash, Cecilia casts Slow Down, and Jack with Trump Card. Cecilia should then, if she doesn't need to cast Remedy, cast Protect on both Rudy and Jack as the majority of Sado's attacks are magical. I recommend Cecilia not participate in any offense other than High Summoning Raftina, and stick with castings of Protect, and if you get a chance, Quick on herself or Hyper on Jack. Fury Shot with Arch Smash when you get a chance, as well as Sonic Vision or Double Attack with Magnum Fang for Jack. Just to note, you can steal a Bullet Clip from Sado, but not recommended. If you have any major problems with Sado, you may consider equipping Rudy with the Chrono Rune to give him more magic resistance. Another option is to give Cecilia the Flame Ring and have her cast Field to lower Sado's fire elemental attacks by 50%, leaving you only to worry about the evil elemental Evil Quaser attack. The key to a lot of the battles going forward is to be prudent with Cecilia's turns and there's no shame in playing purely defensive and casting Remedy each turn while building Force to heal/attack with Raftina.

For defeating Sado, the party receives the Braver Vest: Rudy's best armor. With this, if you have been using the Chrono Rune to raise his magic defense, it is no longer needed due to the Braver Vest's huge increase in it, in addition to basic defense.

The next boss, Lucifer, is within the Statue Area of Malduke. There, you need to make sure that the red doors are open and the blue ones are shut; which may require you to activate the switch on the east-side of the dungeon, then loop back around. To the north of the area you picked up the character's second-best armors, you will find a monument. You can walk south, through the wall, then east to another section of the dungeon.

If the red doors are open, you will be able to enter another ceremonial room. Use Cecilia's Vase to put out the fire, then Jack's Guitar in the middle of the altar to summon Lucifer.

Lucifer is considerably harder than Sado, so if you beat him easily, don't get cocky. Lucifer's Beam Fencer, a physical attack, is crazy strong and has the ability to wipe out your entire party in one hit. Beam Fencer also ignores your defense (Like Zero Armor Attack), which means Hi-Shield is of no use to us. Unfortunately, Lucifer is also really fast, so we need to get a Slow Down in there, probably twice. Have Jack use Nectar and Ambrosia items to heal the party until Cecilia can get her spells in, with Rudy using Arch Smash or Full Revives, if necessary. Save all of Jack's Force for emergency Accelerator use, while using Trump Card or Magnum Fang in between. Rudy should also be saving his Force to Fury Shot the Arch Smash. Once Slow Down is inflicted twice, and if she isn't needed to heal, have Cecilia cast Hyper on Jack. Ultimately, this is going to be a slug fest with who can kill whom first. If you can survive Beam Fencer, and then get a turn of healing before he acts again, you have a shot at defeating Lucifer. Other considerations: With a Force Unit, equip Jack with either the Life or Love Rune to help with recovery. The Orb of Power equipped to Cecilia can also be a good idea, however, switching out the Necronomicon will have an adverse effect when High Summoning Raftina. If you want to get cute, you can steal a Bullet Clip from Lucifer, too.

For winning over Lucifer, the party receives the Jade Wilder armor for Jack; easily his best. Not as prominent in the magic resistance department as the Braver Vest, it still provides a nice bonus along with the typical defense boost. We're FINALLY ready to get out of Malduke, so warp back to Ka Dingel with the transporter (The levers set to neutral), then cast Escape to return to Filgaia.

Our next boss battle is located within the inner sea of Filgaia. Of course, you'll need to have donated at least 30,000 Gella to the Adlehyde Restoration Committee in order to get access to the newly-built Sweet Candy from Drake. Once you have it, equip Cecilia with an Aqua Ring and Jack with a Thunder Ring, and simply sail around in the inner sea until you get the above message; it's entirely at random, and there is no specific location, so be patient.

Leviathan is the golem that the demons unleashed into the sea and destroyed the original Sweet Candy along with creating havoc among the sailors of Filgaia. We're thankful it jumped onboard to fight this time instead of just destroying the ship again from underneath. Anyway, with the right setup, this is a fairly easy fight. With the Aqua Ring equipped, have Cecilia cast Field to lower most of Leviathan's damage by half, then the following turn, make sure to switch the Aqua Ring back to the Necronomicon. Have Rudy use the Arch Smash, while Jack uses the lightning elemental Phazer Zapp for huge damage. When not summoning Raftina or casting Remedy, Cecilia can cast Hi-Spark to further exploit Leviathan's weakness to lightning. With a water elemental Field set and Jack using Phazer Zapp, Leviathan should give you very little problems at all. Use a Lucky Card or steal another Bullet Clip, if you want.

For defeating Leviathan, you receive Cecilia's best armor, the Pret-a-porte. When combined with Mystic, the armor produces the excellent Regenerate spell; normally limited to the Randomizer spell. It restores a large amount of HP to the party and cures their status, and while great, it's not worth leaving it in your inventory for this purpose and not equipping it.

To challenge the next boss, we need to fly the Gull Wing to the Sea of Sand. It's the large stretch of desert northwest from Adlehyde, just over the mountains behind the Memory Temple. Equip Jack with a Wind Ring, and like Leviathan, we're going to need to wander through the desert to get the golem to appear at random.

If you payed attention to the terminals at the Demon's Lab, you'll have read that Barbados was the only golem that the demons could not control, and dumped it off into the wasteland. Knowing that, it's going to be pretty tough, right? Not really...The only thing you need to do is cast Slow Down on him, then Quick on Cecilia, if she still isn't faster than him, and he's pretty much toast. With the Wind Ring equipped, Jack's Phazer Zapp will inflict major damage exploiting his weakness to wind. Rudy should use Arch Smash, then combo it with Fury Shot, when available. Cecilia should, of course, focus on healing, and cast Hi-Vortex when she has a free turn. Trickster for a free Bullet Clip, again, or use a Lucky Card, if you'd like, as well. If for some reason you have difficulty with this battle, you could consider equipping Cecilia with the Earth Ring and cast Field to lower the damage of a few of Barbados' attacks.

Barbados drops Cecilia's best weapon, Dist Dims. When Mystic is used with this, it draws out the Randomizer spell, just to note.

With Barbados gone from the desert, let's take a quick look at the monsters, besides the already-covered Acid Bunnies (Lucky Cards for steal; Agile Apple for drop), that can be found here. You can reliably steal, and get as a drop, Full Revives from the Minatous. This is a better place to farm these than the Alfase in the Forest Prison, in my opinion.

The Sandstags Jack can steal (VERY rarely) Power Apples from. Unfortunately, the chance for success is so low, you'd be better off farming these from stopping after the second battle at the Ancient Arena.

Lastly, the giant Armordrakes carry Hardy Apples to be stolen. These are also rarely stolen, so if you're looking to farm them, either use the Ancient Arena or Dumpty at the Malduke Residential Area. In the northern parts of the Sea of Sand, Shelzaurus', from the Pandemonium area, who carry Ambrosias, show up, as well.

Continuing now with our search for the optional bosses, equip Cecilia with the Full Libra and Life Rune, make sure to rest and save at Saint Centour, then talk with the little blind girl in the house in the lower-left-hand corner of the town. A strange swordsman appears to have befriended her and has been very kind. Now, attempt to leave Saint Centour and Zed will show up; agree to fight him to be thrown into a battle.

Monster Zed isn't the Zed you remember, so don't get complacent. Zed is extremely fast, almost all his attacks are physical, and can inflict multiple status effects. With the Full Libra and Life Rune equipped, Cecilia will not be effected by any of the status effects and can use the Life Rune to not only restore HP, but party status as well, so I recommend that you conserve as much of her Force as you can for these situations. You can give Rudy and Jack Full Libras, as well, but I think that keeping them with Force Units will allow you more offense (As well as reaching the status-restoring "Condition Green" quicker) and keep the battle from being prolonged, which favors Zed. You may be tempted to cast Lock State, but doing so, in my opinion, is a waste of a turn and it's difficult to have to recast it every three turns.

On the first turn of the battle, have Cecilia cast Slow Down, Rudy fire the Arch Smash, and Jack use Trump Card. On the following turn, If Cecilia still isn't faster than Zed, either use Slow Down again or have her cast Quick on herself. If she's quicker, cast Hi-Shield a minimum of three times, then, if your party is healed, you can cast Awaken. Before Awaken is cast, if both Rudy and Jack get put to Sleep, summon with the Life Rune to restore them. If Rudy or Jack gets multiple effects on them, use Heal Blade with Jack or a Nectar with Rudy to restore the other while Cecilia keeps her spells casting. Keeping status effects to a minimum and with Hi-Shield cast several times, the battle becomes very manageable from then on. As usual, stock Force with Jack and Rudy to use Sonic Vision and Fury Shot when they become available.

Monster Zed will drop the Doom Bringer sword for Jack upon defeat. While stronger than the Violator, it lowers Jack's Luck to "Worst", which, of course, will inhibit his counterattacks, critical hits, as well as effecting many of his fast draw skills. Stick with the Violator, in my opinion, but the Doom Bringer will have a use coming up a bit later on. After the battle, Zed will explain why he attacked you, and will ask for your forgiveness and just want to stay and protect this town he now calls home; distancing himself from his days as a demon. If you play Alter Code: F, Zed will actually join your party afterwards, which is cool.

The next match-up occurs at the Ancient Arena, so head over there and make sure to save, rest up, and reload Rudy's ARMs. You need to have completed round four (Riversider) clearing the Arena at least once, and have the Saber Fang in your inventory from Ka Dingel. When those conditions are met, the next time you sign on to fight at the Arena, a mysterious challenger is waiting for you...

Boomerang, along with new music, is back from hell and merged with the Guardian of Desire, Luceid, to become Boomerang Flash, and he's looking for one final round with you. 'Rang Flash is more intimidating-looking than tough, though. First turn: Cast Slow Down with Cecilia, Trickster with Jack to try to steal a Secret Sign or Trump Card, and Rudy with Arch Smash. The following turns, have Cecilia cast Hi-Shield, and once she has a lvl 1 Force, combine Mystic with the Princess Rod to cast Life Shield on the entire party; this will prevent his Zero Count Execution attack from an instant-kill. After that, one more casting of Hi-Shield and you have this battle won. Shadow Boomerang Maximum will initially cause huge damage to the party until Shield is cast, and I recommend Jack use an Ambrosia to counter this until Cecilia can get the defenses set up. Per-usual with the other offense, Jack with Trump Card or Magnum Fang, Cecilia can cast Rainbow or High Summon Raftina, and Rudy Fury Shotting Arch Smash when the Force is available.

Boomerang will finally die an honorable death and you will receive his sword, the Divine Blade, afterward. This is the best weapon in the game for Rudy.

For the next boss, and subsequent dungeon, we need a minimum of seven Duplicators in our inventory. Just to reiterate from a previous chapter: To the east of the Ancient Arena, there is a trio of small islands. Occasionally, the extremely dangerous, alien-like Hayokontons appear. It is essential either Cecilia cast Lock State every three turns or you equip all your characters with Full Libras to survive these battles. Being immune to their barrage of status effects renders them mostly harmless, however, they have a large amount of HP. The important thing here is Jack can steal Duplicators from them, which they will also drop. This is the only place in the game, outside of treasure or the Ancient Arena, you can obtain extra Duplicators. You'll need to be persistent though: they are difficult to steal and finishing them with Lucky Shot is even more frustrating.

Back at the Ancient Arena, with at least five Duplicators, make your way to the top floor, directly behind where Duke Pegucci sits. Smash the mirror with Rudy's Punch Glove and then unlock the following five Duplicators door to find a monolith warning you not to proceed. Descend the stairs to the next floor and make your way down into the Illusion King's realm. Equip Cecilia with a Demon Ring and approach the precipice...

If you brought the Demon Ring, this battle is fairly easy, if not, you're going to need to have a large amount of HP. Angol Moa's only noteworthy attack is The 7th Moon, which is an evil-based attack on the entire party that can easily do 3200+ damage. That said, Cecilia should cast Field with the Demon Ring equipped to cut 7th Moon's damage by 50%, then use the following turns, if healing is not needed, to cast Protect on all three characters to further reduce the damage. Also, remember to switch the Demon Ring back out for the Necronomicon after casting Field. Rudy should fire the Arch Smash, saving for Fury Shot, while Jack uses Trickster to attempt to steal an Ambrosia or Trump Card/Magnum Fang.

Angol Moa drops Jack's best weapon, the Juggernaunt, upon defeat. There's only one more boss and dungeon left in the game. Make sure you have at least two Duplicators in your inventory, and fly the Gull Wing to any Elw Pyramid.

Note: The following cannot be done until completion of the Pandemonium dungeon where the Darkness Tear disrupts the Elw Pyramids. Inside an Elw Pyramid, pound around the teleportation device with Rudy's Punch Glove, then equip Jack with the Doom Bringer to drop his Luck to "Worst" and enter the portal with him.

With some bad luck, the party will be shot up into the device, turning the screen red, and throwing you into the Abyss dungeon. This may take some patience, so keep trying.

The first part of the dungeon will be pitch black, with no lamps to light, but it's not as difficult to navigate as you may think. From the beginning, exit south twice, then a ways to the west to find a group of levers. The monument on the right-side is a bit ambiguous on what to do, so use Rudy's Radar and there will be three flashes above the levers you need to pull (To the right-side); this will move the statues out of the way and let you proceed south. There will be more statues blocking this corridor. Push both the left and right-hand statues to the south, followed by the middle one to the right or left to allow you to advance through the bottom door.

In the starting areas, Jack can steal the Boom Getter accessory from the Eurenome monster. This is Jack's best gauntlet-type accessory and you should have already got one back at Arctica Castle, but if you're an item collector, this is the only place to get more than one. The Urunge enemy, that is rarely encountered, also has Ambrosias to steal and drop, to note.

From the previous statue room, exit to the west, then navigate through the pitfall room via the northeast corner, then open the northern door with a Duplicator. Work your way around the next simple rooms, to exit out above where you pulled the levers. Now, we can open the three flashing treasures that helped us solve the puzzle. They containing the best head gear in the game for our characters: Dead Heat, Texas Number, and Ruby Tiara. When the Ruby Tiara is combined with Mystic, it casts the Randomizer-only spell, Hi-Restore, that recovers the entire party of status effects.

Return to the pitfall room, and on the west-side of the area, there is a plaque on the wall. To the right of it, you can walk downward, through a hidden passage, to reach the next area. In the next room, you can walk down the stairs and then enter the door to the northwest, that contains an oil lamp, plaque, and empty treasure chest. Jack can light the lamp, but there's no purpose in this room; the empty treasure has bothered me for a long time, though.

In this area, you'll begin encountering a slew of increasingly difficult encounters, but with some very nice rewards. The dragon-like Crawly can commonly have their Ambrosia stolen, which they also will drop.

The Riversider lookalike, Wojanoids, have the Frog Badge accessory to steal; and grabbing one is incredibly rare. This is the only place in the game you can acquire this accessory, and when equipped, it allows you to absorb fire, ice, earth, and wind elemental attacks as HP. If you can snatch one of these, or more, the boss at the end of the Abyss will be laughably easy. Note: Cecilia can cast Hi-Freeze to restore the Wojanoid's HP to give Jack more opportunities to steal.

The giant Largons carry the Fish Badge accessory Jack can pilfer; and like the Frog Badge, it is a trial of patience to steal. This acccessory absorbs the thunder, holy, and evil elemental attacks as HP, and cannot be obtained elsewhere in the game.

In the room just past the hidden passage, work your way around the thin path to the southeast-side of the screen, heading west, then taking the second north. You can then descend the stairs to pick up the Amulet accessory inside a chest, then exit north of the stairs. This one-of-a-kind accessory increases a character's Luck by two levels. The following room contains a oil lamp, but if Jack lights it, the exit will seal, so walk past it and through the northern door. If you happened to have lit the lamp, use Cecilia's Vase to extinguish it.

Finally, some light. We're going to need Jack's Grappling Hook in this room. Grapple: west, northwest, then send Hanpan to the southwestern chest to obtain the Orb of Life accessory. This one-of-a-kind accessory boosts a character's maximum HP by 50%, but at this point, is not of much use.

From there, Grapple northwest again and throw Hanpan over to open the Mystic Slate treasure box. This is the MP equivalent of the Orb of Life, and raises max MP by 50%. It's also the only one you can obtain.

Continue to Grapple, this time, northeast, east, east, then open the treasure chest with the Power Boost accessory in it to the north. This Rudy-only accessory doubles his normal attack with a set 75% chance. If this worked with ARMs, it'd be great, but since it doesn't, stick with the Force Unit. Like the other accessories in the dungeon, it is also one-of-a-kind. Have Jack Grapple east and unseal the door with a Duplicator to continue. I strongly recommend that you cast Escape and return to Filgaia to save, because, unless you have three Frog Badges or are using Goat Dolls, your chances of losing the upcoming fight are very high.

Inside the following room is the altar of the last optional boss of the game. If you don't have at least one Frog Badge, or Goat Dolls, don't even waste your time; you cannot win. Even at level 99, only Rudy will have enough HP to survive its all-encompassing fire attack. You may be thinking Fire Ring + Field as well, but the reduction in the damage is almost negligible on everyone but Cecilia. Conceivably, if you got to level 99 and equipped the Fire Ring to Cecilia, Orb of Power to Rudy, and Orb of Life to Jack, you could survive after casting Field, then use Full Revives on Cecilia when she falls and Ambrosias for healing. You could try to use Life Guard, for auto-revives also, I guess. So, trust me, you want at least one Frog Badge before going into this battle. When you are ready, have Jack play the Guitar in the center of the altar.

First turn: Cecilia casts Slow Down, Rudy with Arch Smash, and Jack with Trump Card. Regardless, Ragu is going to get the first turn, and if it's Volcanic Bomb, your game is over without Frog Badges or Goat Dolls equipped. The following turn, have Rudy continue with Arch Smash shots until he builds to Fury Shot, Cecilia should cast Hyper on Jack, and he should use either Trump Card or Magnum Fang depending on how close he is to maximum HP and Sonic Vision when it becomes available. If you're surviving Volcanic Bomb, you have nothing else to concern yourself with. Keep the offense going with Rudy and Jack, and healing with Cecilia and you'll emerge victorious.

When Ragu Ragula is defeated, the party receives the coveted Wild Arms staple Sheriff Star accessory.

This thing is basically an all-in-one accessory that combines the traits of many of the great ones you already have. Effects of the Sheriff Star, besides its incredible boost in statistics, are as followed:

Cannot be ambushed (Wind Vane)
25% chance of double Gella after battle (Pouch)
+25% increase in HP (Orb of Power)
+25% increase in MP (Wise Slate)
+1 increase in Luck level (Missanga)
Force levels build quicker (Force Unit)
HP recovery each turn (Talisman)
Absorbs all elemental damage (Fish+Frog Badge)
Immune to all status effects (Full Libra)
Immune to instant-death attacks

So, your last decision, since there is only one, is who should you give it to? In my opinion, Jack is the best fit for the Sheriff Star, for a few reasons. First being, Rudy gains no benefit to his ARMs from the Sheriff Star, which is his bread-and-butter. The Sheriff Star comes nowhere close to raising Cecilia's Sorcery to the level the Necronomicon does, although the increase in other statistics does benefit her more than Jack. Lastly, because the boost in Response will make Jack virtually faster than any other enemy, he can easily serve as an emergency healer without the need for Accelerator. He can revive quickly with Fruits and restore HP with Nectar/Ambrosia, clear status he is now immune to with Heal Blade, and build to Double Attack faster to benefit the party in a multitude of ways. This is just my view of things, of course, so you decide for yourself.

Well, with the Sheriff Star in our hands, this brings an end to my Wild Arms completionists guide. Thank you so much for following along with me and hope this guide presented you with the information you needed to maximize your save file. As always, feel free to contact me at the form on the right-side of the page, with questions or comments. And I hope you join me on my next completionsts project.