• Chapter I: The Meager
• Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient

Chapter I: The Meager

All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza's days as a knight-in-training with the Order of the Northern Sky. You (Ramza) and Delita will be at the academy in Gariland, where you receive the assignment to defeat some thieves entering the town. You are automatically joined by four squires and two chemists, then the first battle begins. See "Battle Strategies" for tips on the battles.

After you win the battle, you will go to the map screen. You can click on Gariland to visit its shops. The Tavern is used to hear information about the game's story and world, and later to run Errands for extra JP and money and to enter the multiplayer mode. The Outfitter is used to buy items. Finally, the Warriors' Guild allows you to recruit new human characters to your roster.

You may want to stop at the Warriors' Guild recruit some new characters. In particular, look for characters with reasonably high Bravery, especially if your current characters don't have very good Bravery. Bravery affects the your chance of using Reaction Abilities and the strength of some attacks -- higher is better, of course! (Although there are abilities to raise everyone's Bravery later, you probably won't get them right away.) You may also want a character or two with high Faith to turn into a magick-user. A second thing to look at is the character's Zodiac sign. Taurus and Capricorn characters will be particularly effective against the bosses in this chapter and the next, so getting some of those signs on your roster will give you a bit of a leg up. If you want to spend the time, you can mine the Guild until you get just the character you want. If you don't like the character that appears; simply select "Don't Hire." You won't be charged anything and you can select Male Soldier or Female Soldier to roll another character. You can keep doing this until you get some high Bravery characters -- though it's certainly not necessary to spend the time here if you don't want. Note that female recruits are 100 gil cheaper and probably more useful in the long run since some of the game's most powerful items can only be used by female characters.

This is probably the only time in the game that you'll want to use the Warriors' Guild. If you lose any of your main team members later in the game, you're probably better off resetting. It's tough to replace characters who have already been built up with a lot of abilities!

Stop by the Outfitter's in Gariland to buy some Potions. If one or both of your Chemists has enough JP to learn the Phoenix Down ability, learn that ability and then buy a few (1-2) Phoenix Downs at the store. Phoenix Downs are great to have as they allow you to revive a KOed character. You'll also want to equip one of your Chemists with the Mythril Knife you picked up as a Battle Trophy in the first battle; it's stronger than the Daggers they already have.

Save the game by pressing Triangle and choosing Data, then head west to Mandalia Plain. As soon as you leave the city, you'll have a flashback (yes, a flashback within a flashback) to the death of Ramza's father Barbaneth. After that sequence has ended, you'll be back in Gariland. Click on Mandalia Plain once again and this time you'll actually get there.

At Mandalia Plain, you'll meet Argath, under attack by the Corpse Brigade. You can choose whether or not to help him (bottom option) or just go after the Corpse Brigade (to option). This has no long-term impact on the storyline; it only affects the victory conditions for the upcoming battle:

- If you choose not to help Argath (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies. It doesn't matter if Argath is KOed during the battle or not. Choosing this option also adds 10 points to the Bravery score of every character in your current squad, including Delita. 2 points of this change will remain even after the battle.

- Choosing to help Argath (bottom choice) adds an additional requirement to the battle: you'll have to keep Argath from getting KOed during the battle. This option has no effect on your team's Bravery.

The first option both makes the battle easier AND gives you a boost in Bravery. High Bravery is pretty useful since it increases some weapons' attack strength and your chance of using Reaction Abilities. There's no benefit at all from choosing the second option, so choose the first!

When the fight concludes, Argath will join as a guest regardless of which option you choose before the battle. Back on the map, go on up to Eagrose Castle. You'll have a brief chat with Dycedarg, then Zalbaag will send you to rendezvous with his spy at Dorter.

At this point, you might want to consider changing some of your characters to new jobs. Chemists are really more useful than either White Mages or Black Mages, so keep your Chemists as-is. But you might want to change some of your Squires to Knights, since Knights have more HP and damage potential than Squires. (Archers are also available at this time. They're good in general, but I'd skip them for the next few battles as melee combat is best for them.) I made Ramza into a Knight at this point. It's probably a good idea to keep at least one Squire, though. Why is that? As long as you have at least one Squire active in battle, everyone will earn some JP towards that job, and that will help you buy useful Squire abilities like Counter Tackle, Move +1, and JP Boost. Move +1 and JP Boost are particulary useful -- JP Boost increases the amount of JP you earn, and will help you learn all the other abilities faster--it's a good investment! At any rate, if you do change jobs, be sure to buy (and equip) new gear for those characters.

Before you leave Eagrose, stop by the Outfitter. There's new equipment for sale here. Stock up on Potions, then arm your characters with the new gear. Make sure all your Squires and Knights have Longswords, the best weapon available to them right now. In particular, if you changed any of your characters' jobs, be sure they have equipment that goes with the new jobs. You can safely skip the Mythril Knife, though--it'll just increase a Chemist's attack power by 1 point, and they don't do much fighting, anyway. The shop also sells Battle Boots, which increase your movement range by 1 tile. As handy is this, they're pricey, so you won't be able to afford them for your whole team. If you buy them for anyone, give them to your Chemist, so he/she can get around the battlefield quickly enough to heal people.

Also stop by the shop at Gariland, which sells different items than the one at Eagrose. The Eagrose has equipment for Knights and Archers, but the shop offers Plumed Hats and Leather Clothing, which is better armor for your Squires and Chemists. Pick up these upgrades as well; you want to make sure your Chemists stay alive so they can heal people! (Unlike in a lot of games, armor in FF Tactics doesn't actually reduce the damage you take; it gives you more HP or MP. Still, it helps you stay alive longer!) Don't forget that you change Delita's and Argath's equipment, too, despite the fact that they're guest characters. You can (and should!) have them learn new abilities, too!

You may want to gain some levels before proceeding. You can do this by strolling back and forth across the Mandalia Plain until you get into a random battle. Note that while Ramza is required in story battles, you do NOT have to deploy Ramza during the random battles. (Also, since Delita and Argath are Guest characters, they won't participate in random battles, only story ones.)

By the way, it'll help you out in some of the future battles if you're able to teach Argath a simple Black Magick spell. This is pretty tricky, though, since he doesn't participate in any of the random battles and can only earn JP in the story battles. So, the only way to do this is to have your Chemists take enough actions during the story battles that Argath gains some JP in the Chemist job and is able to unlock the Black Mage job. It's cool if you can do this, but don't worry too much about it if you can't; it's not *necessary*.

Your next story destination is the Siedge Weald, to the east of Gariland. Head down that direction. When you get to Gariland, you'll see a scene promoting the multiplayer mode. Continue on to the Weald and complete the battle there.

Before proceeding on to Dorter, make sure your Chemists have learned both Potion and Phoenix Down. You can skip the abilities for all the individual condition-curing items, though; most of the conditions are that bad and when you get Remedies, those will cure *any* status change. Other good abilities to learn are Stone and Rush. When you get the JP, pick up Move +1, Focus, and Counter Tackle. Ramza can also use the Tailwind ability, which you'll want to get as well. Chemists should have Potion and Phoenix Down.

When you enter Dorter, there will be a cutscene, and then you'll be tossed into a battle at the Dorter Slums. This is a pretty tough battle. If you don't win at first, try again, or build up your levels first. Upon your victory, you'll be able to visit the town. There's no new equipment to buy, but stock up on items. You'll want at least 10 Potions and 4 Phoenix Downs. Potions are cheap (50 gil each), so there's no reason not to carry plenty. Also, winning the battle at Dorter Slums netted you an Iron Sword, which is a better weapon than anything you can find in stores. Equip it one of your characters.

Again, you may want to build levels before proceeding to the next battle. When you're ready, go on up to the Zeklaus Desert, where you'll have a battle at the Sand Rat's Sieve. This is a difficult fight--the toughest in Chapter I--so it may take you a couple tries. After you win, you'll rescue the Marquis. You'll also pick up a Blind Knife. It's not stronger than the other knives you already have, but it does inflict Blind status on enemies (lowering their hit rate), so give it to a Chemist.

Return to Eagrose Castle. You'll meet Duke Larg, and then Dycedarg will let Ramza and friends in on the next mission against the Corpse Brigade. The shops at all three towns will now be stocked with new items. At Eagrose, you can buy Iron Swords for both your Squires and Knights, as well as Escutcheons, Iron Helms, and Bronze Armor for any Knights you have. Gariland has better light armor, used by jobs other than Knights. If you're using mages, you can buy new magick weapons at Gariland and Dorter, as well as Hempen Robes, which will raise their MP max. All towns also carry a new accessory-- the Shoulder Cape, which will boost both your physical and magick evade rates by a little bit (10%). It's not really as useful as the Battle Boots, though.

The most important new item isn't actually an equipment--it's the Hi-Potion, which is now for sale under Items! Hi-Potions restore 70 HP instead of the 30 you get from a regular Potion, and since you should have a lot more than 30 HP now, you'll need the healing boost. You can't use Hi-Potions unless you've learned the Hi-Potion ability (under Chemist), so be sure to have your Chemist(s) learn this ability.

Buy as much of the new gear as you can. There's a lot to buy, so you might not be able to afford it all. Aside from restocking your item supply, the priorities are probably the Iron Swords and Bronze Armor at Eagrose, and the Leather Plate at Gariland, as well as restocking your item supply.

After you're done shopping, your new destination is the Brigands' Den, south of the Mandalia Plain. You may want to bring more male characters than female ones here, as there's a chance that one of the enemies can charm a female character--but it's pretty unlikely, so don't go out of your way to adjust your roster. Also, if you happen to have any characters on your roster who are Tauruses, Capricorns, or male Pisces, they're good to deploy here. You'll be facing your first boss character here, and she's a female Virgo. The three Zodiac signs listed above will do the most damage to her. Again, it's definitely not essential to have them, but it'll help you out if you do.

The Brigands' Den is easier than the Sand Rat's Sieve, so if you won there, you should be able to attain victory here. Victory here nets you a Bronze Shield, which is a more effective shield than anything else you've got at this point. Following the battle, there will be a cutscene at Eagrose as the Corpse Brigade strikes back.

Strip Argath of all his equipment, as he'll be leaving your party shortly. Go back up to Eagrose. A series of scenes will follow in which Ramza and Delita decide to rescue Tietra, and Argath leaves.

At this point, you'll probably want to start changing jobs, if you haven't already. If you change any of your characters to Monks, do so; they're very strong fighters. If any of your characters have enough JP to buy the Knight abiity Equip Heavy Armor, a good strategy is to learn that ability and then make the character into a Monk--the heavy armor will make up for the Monk's otherwise poor HP count. It would also help to have a Black Mage and Archer. However, you will still want to have a healer, so give one of your characters the Items ability. Before switching out of the Chemist job, you need to learn (and equip) the Throw Item ability ... otherwise, your items will have a range of 1, and, as Sonic would say, that's NO GOOD!

After you've finished changing jobs, be sure to buy matching equipment for them. If you're just now switching to Archers, I'll explain the difference between bowguns and regular bows: bowguns only require one hand, allowing you to equip a shield, but bows deal more damage. Since Archers are usually in the back line and don't get attacked too much, a shield isn't too important, so I almost always use regular bows.

Note, also, that the Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods (for Black Mages) boost the damage dealt by your Fire-family, Blizzard-family, and Thunder-family magicks, respectively. A good trick, then, is to buy a particular Rod and then learn some of the spells that go along with it (e.g., buy the Fire Rod and then try to learn Fire and Fira). This will increase the damage you can do with your magick. These rods also sometimes cast Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder when executing a physical attack, if your Black Mage happens to get caught in a melee.

Return to Gariland. As you cross Mandalia Plain, an animated cutscene will play. Once you get to Gariland, buy plenty of Hi-Potions (12 or so) and Phoenix Down (6 should be sufficient). If you weren't able to purchase all the equipment upgrades you wanted before the Brigands' Den, you could do so now as well, but you're probably better off saving your money--there are even better items coming soon. But if any of your equipment was stolen by the Thieves in the last battle, be sure to replace it.

Go north from Gariland to the Lenalian Plateau. You'll have another battle against Milleuda (Wiegraf's sister). She is of course still a female Virgo, so any Taurus, Capricorn, and male Pisces characters you have will be the most effective against her. After you win this battle, the shops will again update their shelves with new equipment. As before, you'll find heavy armor and most kinds of weapons in Eagrose, and lighter armor in Gariland and Dorter. Buy what you can and replace any items that Milleuda may have broken, then forge on the Fovoham Windflats.

At Fovoham Windflats, you'll square off against Wiegraf and his Chocobo Boco (a reference to Final Fantasy V). This battle isn't too difficult if you have good jobs. If you want to exploit your Zodiac signs to maximize damage against him, he's a male Virgo, so Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces will be the most effective.

Nothing is added to the shops after the battle at Fovoham, so if your item supply is okay, you can continue directly on to Ziekden Fortress, the final battle of the chapter. You'll probably want non-basic Jobs (particularly a Monk or an Archer) for this battle. And, again, Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces characters will be good against the boss. If you need JP, you can always go to the Siedge Weald or the Mandalia Plain to fight some random battles.

At Ziekden Fortress, you'll find Tietra being held captive by a Gragoroth, a Corpse Brigade knight. Argath arrive with some troops, and you'll find yourself battling an unexpected enemy. After you kill him, there are a couple FMV scenes, the fort blows up, and the chapter ends. The game will give you a chance to save, and then you'll move on to Chapter II.

Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient

You now return to the present, at Orbonne Monastery. Your current mission is to rescue Princess Ovelia.

After a brief chat, you'll be given a chance to add Ramza's fellow mercenary Ladd and both of Agrias's Knights (Alicia and Lavian) to the party. There's no real reason not to take them along, so sign them up! They start with a bare minimum of abilities, though, so they probably won't see much use compared to the characters you're carrying over from Chapter I.

Note that to do one of Agrias's Subquests in Chapter IV, you MUST keep Alicia and Lavian (as well as Agrias, of course) on your roster until the subquest, even if you never use them in battle. Don't dismiss them or let them get killed if you want to complete all the sidequests.

Agrias and Gaffgarion will also join as Guests. You still have all your characters from Chapter I (except Delita) as well.

You'll see that Ramza's appearance has changed at the start of the chapter. His Squire job is now able to equip heavy armor and shields, plus he has a new ability to learn, Steel. Steel gives a character a +5 Bravery boost during a battle, and some of this increase will remain even after the battle. Raising your Bravery makes your Reaction Abilities and some attacks stronger, so this is a good ability to learn. If Ramza has some spare turns near the end of a battle, you can spend them using Steel to boost up characters' Bravery.

If you have any abilities to learn, get them. Since the Guest AI can be somewhat poor at targeting spells, you may want to de-equip any spellcasting abilities (Black Magick or Mystic Arts) that Agrias may have equipped. When you've got your team organized, go north to the only location available to you: Dorter, where a battle awaits you. Win it (well, obviously) and you'll have access to all of the map again.

At this point, you should have had all your characters upgraded from the beginning Jobs (Squire or Chemist) to more advanced ones. In particular, you'll want to have a Monk, Archer, Black Mage, and White Mage somewhere in the party. An Orator is also useful, but might take some time to get, as you have to get the Mystic job up to job level 3, and Mystic itself requires job level 3 of White Mage. If you want to take the time to get it, you can also get the Thief Job, which is unlocked by getting Archer to job level 3.

You now have the ability to take Errands at taverns. You can earn a lot of gil and some JP from these jobs, so take them up (never more than one at a time, though). Always choose to spend the maxinum number of days possible. While the characters are away, you can continue on without them, or you have the main group build up job levels with random battles. Or, if you just want to pass time, you can walk back and forth between two blue dots on the map, which will never trigger any random battles. (You can use Eagrose & Ziekden Fortress, or Dorter & the Monastery.)

All the stores have new equipment, so pay them a visit to gear up your characters. Remember that you'll have to hike back to Eagrose to purchase heavy armor and most weapons. Conversely, you'll only find lighter armor at the other two cities. Don't buy any equipment for Gaffgarion. (It's OK to get stuff for Agrias, but her equipment is already really good.) Stock up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs.

Note you can have random battles at the Fovoham Windflats and the Zeklaus Desert that occur on entirely different maps from the story battles there. They also feature some advanced monsters, so try recruiting them with a Orator. Just make sure to keep an eye on the number of eggs they produce; wipe out the majority of eggs before they clog your roster.

This is a good chance to build up your characters if you want. As long as you have the Jobs I recommended above and new equipment for your main squad of characters, you should be fine. When you feel confident that you're done preparing, go to Araguay Woods, east of Dorter. Here you have to save Boco the chocobo from goblins. As when you met Argath, you're given two options, which will affect your victory conditions:

- If you choose not to help Boco (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies, and you don't have to keep Boco from being KOed. However, you'll also suffer a 10 point PENALTY to everyone's Bravery; 2 points of which will remain even after the battle.

- Choosing to help Boco (bottom choice) means you must keep Boco from getting KOed during the battle, but does not penalize your Bravery.

This time, the top choice still gives you an easier battle, but you'll take a hit to your Bravery for selecting it. Since protecting Boco during the battle isn't hard at all, choose the second option to keep from losing Bravery. After the battle, Boco will join.

Back on the map, go into your roster screen and change Gaffgarion into a Time Mage or another crummy job. If you have the auto-equip feature on, be sure to also strip off all his gear. Equip it on one of your other characters. He has good armor, and the Power Gauntlet will give you an attack boost. (It's great for an Archer, or another character who doesn't need the movement bonus of the Battle Boots.) Then continue on to Zeirchele Falls. It's pretty here, but there's still a battle awaiting you. Be sure to deploy an Archer for it.

After the battle, Delita will leave you with Ovelia. Ramza sets a new course for Lionel Castle, so Fort Besselat disappears from your map, not to return until much later in the game. Back on the map, help yourself to Gaffgarion's equipment if you didn't earlier. If you need items, go back to Dorter. There's also some new equipment for sale at Dorter and at Eagrose, so it's probably worth making the trip as you'll want the new gear for the next battle. However, you may want to pass on the Poison Rod for your Black Mages. While it does a little more damage physically (and sometimes poisons its target), it doesn't boost the power of any of your Black Magick like the Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods do. Since your Black Mages usually attack with magick most of the time (I assume ;) ), you're probably better off sticking your existing rod.

While Ovelia is listed on your roster as a Guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles. So, you're safe de-equipping her Wizard's Hat and Wizard's Robe and giving them to another character. The Wizard's Robe is an especially nice pick-up since you can't buy them stores yet. It raises your magick attack, so give it to one of your mages. However, she WILL be able to use some of her abilities later. So, go into Ovelia's ability screen and teach her as many abilities under Princess as you can, then equip them. They'll come in handy in a few battles later down the road.

The next battle is a tough one, so be prepared. You'll want Archers and Black Mages, and, if you don't include a White Mage in the party, one of the characters should have White Magick as a secondary ability. A Black Chocobo also be helpful, if you can get one. (Boco will randomly lay eggs and they may hatch into Black Chocobos, but there's obviously an element of luck/randomness to this.) I ended up using Ramza, two Archers, and a Black Mage. If you don't When you're ready, go south past the falls to the Castled City of Zaland.

You'll meet Mustadio, who is being chased by some bad guys. Once again, you're given two options for the upcoming battle:

- Choosing the first option means that you DO NOT have to keep Mustadio from getting KOed during the battle. This option raises the Bravery of each character on your current squad (including Agrias) by 5, 1 point of which is permanent.

- Choosing the second option means that you DO have to keep from getting Mustadio from getting KOed. However, this option raises all the characters' Bravery by 10, 2 points of which are permanent.

In other words, you'll get a Bravery increase either way, but you'll get a BIGGER increase for helping Mustadio. Of course, this also makes the battle harder. So, there's no clear "best option" here. It's up to you which you choose. Since this battle can be pretty challenging, you might want to just pick the first option; it makes the fight quite a bit easier and you're only missing out on 1 extra point of Bravery. Again, no matter what you pick, Mustadio joins you afterwards as a Guest.

When all the talking is finished, you're now able to visit the stores in Zaland. There's not very much in the way of selection, but if you didn't upgrade your equipment after Zeirchele Falls, the Adamant Vest, Wizard's Hat, and Serpent Staff are all for sale here. (There's nothing brand new.) There are also a pair of new Errands available at the Tavern.

Your next stop is Balias Tor. When you first try to leave Zaland, there will be a cutscene. Afterwards, you'll be back on the map, but Balias Tor is still red. Travel there for real this time, and you'll get into a fight. Following the fight, a cut scene will pop up back at Eagrose Castle with Dycedarg and Gaffgarion scheming.

You can now finally get to Lionel Castle--don't worry; there's no fight! You'll chat with Delacroix and learn about the Zodiac Stones. Agrias and Ovelia will then leave the party. Then you get to go shopping! There is a lot of really powerful equipment you can get here, so load up on it (you should have a lot of money by now). The Lightning Bow is a great weapon for any Archers you have; it has a fairly high attack power and sometimes casts the Thundaga spell. The stores also have a lot of new accessories -- you might want to pick up a Mage's Cloak or two for your magick users. Finally, you can now buy the Remedy item in all stores. It can cure any status ailment, so now there's really no point for your Chemists to learn the abilities for any of the other status-restoring items.

Buy any stuff you want in Lionel now, as you won't be able to do so later. Since your access to the shops will be blocked off later, it might be a wise idea to buy some spare pieces of heavy armor and helms. That way, if any of your gear gets stolen or broken, you have a replacement.

Now that you've reached Lionel Castle, you'll be able to deploy 5 characters in both story and random battles, instead of just 4. If you've been using a core team of just four characters, be sure to get a fifth equipped.

Also, you may want to send some of your characters out on a errand if you haven't been doing them -- you can earn a lot of money from some. Again, walking between Dorter and Orbonne Monastery is an easy way to pass time and complete the errands while avoiding random battles. Be sure to complete all the errands before heading on to Goug, though. Once you get to Goug, it will be a while before you can go back to the other towns to retrieve your characters.

If you go back up to Zaland, you can also buy some new light armor: Green Berets and Wizard Clothing. Keep your magick users equipped with Wizard's Hats, though, as those raise their magick power.

If Mustadio has enough JP, pick up the Seal Evil ability for him if you haven't already--it'll be handy in the next battle, as it turns undead to stone.

On to the fenlands. Fight your way through here on to Goug. Upon arriving in the city, there will be a brief scene and then you're back on the map. The store doesn't have much of anything, but if you've got a Orator or Chemist, be sure to buy them a Romandan Pistol. The Romandan Pistol has a great range overall, and is especially useful if you have a chance to pair it with the Knight's Arts of War abilities -- you can use it rend enemies' equipments or stats at a distance! Goug also has a number of accessories Make sure you're stocked up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs; you'll need them. You may also want to equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters who have it.

Try to leave the city and you'll be immediately thrust into a battle. Deploy your Orator (if you have one), somebody with a bow, and somebody with Black Magick. Ludovich, the leader of the Baert Company, will appear with Mustadio and Besrudio (Mustadio's father) captive. Mustadio reveals the location of the Zodiac Stone. Ramza forks it over and you find out that Delacroix was in on the plot. It's fight time.

After a fairly tough battle, you check on Besrudio. Mustadio reveals that the Zodiac Stone that Ludovich got was really a fake. Mustadio will now join as you a normal party member -- now you can control him! The only downside to this is that he can now be permanently killed. Be sure to keep him alive; you'll need him to complete most of the subquests in Chapter IV. Musty's equipment is all gone, so be sure to re-equip him. Also, if he learned any skills while he was a Guest, they're gone for some reason.

The route back through the fenlands disappears. Take the ship (well, just walk across the ocean) over to the Port City of Warjilis. Upon getting off the ship, you'll see a FMV sequence with Delita. After that scene's ended, you can explore the town. There's no new equipment available, but to make some easy money, go to the bar and accept the errand (to find the Highwind!), then go back to Goug and get the job there as well. (There will be a cutscene with Delacroix's scheming when you leave Warjilis the first time). Just go back and forth between the two cities until both jobs are complete. If you weren't able to afford all the equipment you wanted in Goug or elsewhere, you should be able to get it now.

Now that you have Mustadio, a good general trick for leveling up quickly is to use Arm Shot or Leg Shot to debilitate the last enemy in a battle. Then, you're free to let the other enemies turn into crystals/chests. Crystals from human enemies are often a good source of new abilities. Also, while the last enemy is Disabled or Immobilized, you can have your characters attack each other to raise JP. If you use the right strategy, you shouldn't really need to grind in this fashion, but it's an efficient way to raise levels if you decide to do so.

Now go up to Balias Swale, where you'll find another fight. You'll deploy two squads here to save Agrias from Delacroix's Gryphon Knights. This is a really easy fight, so you might want to deploy some weaker characters to give them a boost. Agrias will rejoin, this time as a controllabe, non-guest character. Again, if you want to complete all the sidequests in the game, don't dismiss her or let her get killed.

After getting Agrias, if you head back down to Warjilis, you'll find the shops have a few new items available. Most notably, you can replace your Power Gauntlets with the Diamond Bracelets, which gives you the Power Gauntlet's +1 Physical Attack but also +1 Magick Attack and immunity to Slow. The latter ability is pretty handy in the upcoming battle, so buy some for your main squad. You can also upgrade your Wizard Clothing to the Brigandine, which gives you a few more HP. (You'll probably want to keep magick-oriented characters on the Wizard Clothing or robes, though, for the magick bonus.) There's also the Mage's Staff, and, in the unlikely event you have a Samurai, the Osafune katana.

Your next stop is Golgollada Gallows. Make sure you're ready; this is a tough battle. The execution turns out to be a trap, and you have to fight Gaffgarion. Bring your Diamond Bracelets!

After you attain victory at the Gallows (it may take a few tries!), you'll see a scene back at Lionel Castle in which you find out more about Ovelia's past and Delacroix's plans. Then you're back on the map. When you move back up to Balias Swale, you'll see a cutscene with Wiegraf.

Now, you can now wander around the map again. Next up is the final battles of the chapter, which occur at Lionel Castle. However, if you want to travel elsewhere, you can do so. If you click on any of the destinations PAST Lionel Castle, you can walk right through the castle without getting into a fight. Just don't click on the castle ITSELF until you're ready to fight. Make sure that Ramza has the Chakra ability and Martial Arts equipped, either by making him a Monk or by assigning it as a secondary action ability. (Or, if Ramza has Teleport or Ignore Elevation, you could use one of those abilities instead.) Equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters that have it. When you've done all that, it's time for the final battles of the chapter.

When you click on Lionel Castle, you'll have no choice but to attack the gate. As Ramza tries to open the gate, Gaffgarion shows up yet again and surrounds the castle. If you thought the Gallows was bad, here's more fun. Actually, the gate isn't as bad if you play your cards right (see the battle strategies). The save game screen will pop up at the conclusion of the battle -- there's another couple battles right after this one. It's your call as to whether you should save. I'd recommend saving in a separate slot in case you need to go back to get more JP.

After saving, you cut back to Delita at Zeirchele Falls with Ovelia. There's an easy battle here against the Order of the Northern Sky, but you get to control Delita during it :)

Afterwards, you're given another chance to save (again, don't save in your main slot). Then your roster screen shows up, allowing Ramza's crew to learn new abilities or change equipment (which might be necessary if the Knights at the gate used Rend on you.) When you leave the formation screen, you'll immediately go to the next battle and start deploying your characters. This time you're up against Delacroix, who uses his Zodiac Stone to turn (with some pyrotechnics) into Cuchulainn. Beat him and he'll blow up (with more nifty effects) and drop another Zodiac Stone.

Delita delivers Ovelia to Duke Goltanna, while Duke Larg maintains Orinus as the heir to the throne. As the War of the Lions begins over these claims to the throne, Chapter II draws to a close, and you're again given a chance to save.