Walse is located directly south (slightly west) of Carwen.
Walse
- Let's enter the town of Walse first, mainly for shopping. There are new magic spells available in the shop, so you should buy them all.
- Check your inventory and make sure you have about 10 Phoenix Down (you should have 9 if you haven't used any). You can buy more from the item shop.
Trivia: if you go to the bottom-right corner of the town through the trees, you'll find a creature named Garula. You can talk to the girl to learn more about it.
Item Checklist:
- I-022: Silver Specs
Note for completionists: Kenpo Gi, Iron Shield, Iron Helm, and Iron Armor are unique items that are only available for sale here in the armor shop. After the Meteorite arc, you won't be able to get these items forever. However, you can still get Iron Armor by rare-stealing from one of the strongest monsters in the final dungeon, so it's advised to buy it here to complete your armor list.
Castle Walse
The castle is just next to the town of Walse. There are 2 dungeons in the castle: Water Tower and Walse Underground.
- Go straight to the throne room to meet with Walse's king.
- After the cutscene, follow the map below to collect 3 hidden items.
- Then enter the Water Tower.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you happen to roam around and reach the dungeon (underground jail), DO NOT free the Lone Wolf (the cell with a pot), as he will steal your items later on. (There are no benefits to releasing anyone).
Item Checklist:
- I-023: Tent
- I-024: Phoenix Down
- I-025: 490 gil
Water Tower - Shiva Summon (Optional)
Note: you should steal Mythril Sword from Ice Soldier for a huge attack upgrade from Long Sword.
There is another monster here with a blue magic spell; see below.
Blue Magic (5/30): Pond's Chorus
From Monster: Elf Toad
Pretty easy to get, just change everyone's ability to Learn and wait until Elf Toad casts Pond's Chorus on you.
Bestiary Checklist:
Boss: Shiva, Ice Commander x3
Guaranteed Drop: Frost Rod
The strategy is to quickly kill all 3 Ice Commanders first to reduce the damage taken. How you execute the strategy depends on your setup:
- Black Mage can cast Fire because obviously they are weak against fire.
- Monk can use Kick to deal AOE damage to all enemies.
- If you have Blue Mage in your team, you can use Flash to blind all Ice Commanders, making their physical attacks useless.
You should have White Mage in your party to keep everyone healthy.
The fight can be tough, so if you find it difficult, you can level up a little bit and try again, or you can come back after visiting Karnak.
Once you defeat the boss, head to #6 to enter the basement. Make sure you make a QUICKSAVE BEFORE YOU ENTER.
Basement (Optional)
Note: this section is challenging. You can come back later after you obtain Level 5 Death (blue magic) if you find it hard. Or you can also use the cheat strategy below.
The basement is just one small floor. However, you'll always encounter one specific enemy called Jackanapes, which is very strong. Due to its speed, you will almost certainly start the battles as Back Attack unless you have your entire lineup as Thief (Thief job significantly increases your speed).
Our goal here is to loot the treasures and get out. So the strategy is simple: RUN!!, but the problem is your speed stat is much lower than Jackanapes, which makes it almost impossible to escape the normal way (by pressing L1 + R1). Preparation:
- Change everyone's job to Thief and set ability to Scram (flee battles). You should have the Scram ability if you've been following this guide; see section 07. Ship Graveyard.
- As soon as the battle starts, choose Scram to flee the battle.
- Jackanapes will most likely kill 1 or 2 of your allies, so use Phoenix Down to revive them and don't bother healing.
- Collect the treasures from the 2 northern rooms: one chest in the left room and 3 inside the pots in the right room.
- Alternatively, you can make use of Quicksave (save and reload).
Cheat Strategy: If you don't want to do what the game intends for you to do, you can simply turn off encounters in the basement by pressing F3 on the keyboard.
Item Checklist:
- C-027: Elven Mantle
- C-028: 1000 gil
- C-029: Speed
- C-030: 1000 gil
