Replace this sentence by inserting a picture/banner of the game here for visual flair if you want to.

Written by Spook. Achievement set by FBernkastelKues and siouxerskate.

Set Difficulty	8/10
Approximate time to master	70+ hours
Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed	1
Number of missable achievements	Due to the nature of the game, most achievements are missable
Does difficulty affect achievements?	Not applicable
Hardest achievement of the set	Debatable, but The Doll House is Empty is a good contestant due to the absurdness of the AI in the card minigame

Squaresoft's 1998 game 'Xenogears' is widely considered one of the great PS1 RPGs, up there with titles such as Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Cross. You take control of protagonist Fei Fong Wong, a young dude that isn't afraid to rock out a pony-tail, living peacefully in a village, painting, training martial arts, hanging out with friends, until he gets sucked in a plot that is much bigger than himself. The game features similar gameplay mechanics as other RPGs of that time, such as fighting (some may say way too many) random encounters, joining forces with charismatic characters, getting experience and leveling up, playing ABSURDLY difficult minigames, enduring long (long... VERY LONG) exposition dialogues etc. But this one is different. You know why? Because it has GIANT ROBOTS. That's right, aside from playing on foot you also get to pilot, and fight as, and upgrade, giant robots to fight evildoers (and random dinosaurs on the way). This game is also known for having one of the most convoluted, complex and over the top stories of all RPGs... ever, so much so that the developers wrote an entire book, called Perfect Works to tell the complete story of that game's universe. As with any game from 26 years ago, some aspects do not hold up. A few quality of life improvements here and there would improve significantly the gameplay experience (I'm specifically looking at the laborious task of switching characters in your party and finding specific items in your inventory), and most of the second CD, sadly, is rushed in an unconventional way (you'll see it when you play it). Despite that, the game is still pretty much enjoyable, and if you like PS1 RPG's, you'll like this one. As for the achievement set, it gets a bad rep because of a few achievements that are a tad gimmicky, but, if you follow my instructions below, you will have a, while still challenging, a less frustrating experience.

First of all, you might notice that in the game's Retroachievements page no achievements are marked as missable. That is because, due to the extremely linear nature of the game, almost all achievements are missable.

Below I listed all the achievements that are NOT missable:

My Village is Number 1 (5)
Stop the invaders from destroying Lahan Village.

Ship of Fools (10)
Survive your encounter with the Demon of Elru.

Escape is Just the Beginning (5)
Win your freedom from the Kislev Prison.

Bond of Sea and Flame (10)
Escape the continent of Kislev.

This Godless Endeavor (10)
Learn the secrets behind the Ethos religion.

Ready Chu Rumble (5)
Defeat Achtzehn in Shevat with Chu-Chu.

The Last Fatima (5)
Take back the throne from Shakhan.

Lost... Broken Shards (10)
Fight your first Omnigear.

It's Morphing Time (5)
Defeat the Elements.

The Beginning and the End (10)
Complete the events at Merkava.

Eternally Connected (10)
Complete the events at The Site of the Zohar.

Roar of the Earth and Heavens (25)
Beat the game.

There are seven deathblow achievements, of which one is missable. I won't actually list which one is missable because it is a HUGE SPOILER. I will address this topic properly later on in the guide.

These achievements are all available in the last chapter of the game. Since you can exit the final dungeon before taking on the final boss, none of them are technically missable. I will address all of them properly in the guide.

Juke Box Hero (5)
Uncover the jukebox in the Snowfield Hideout.

The Doll House is Empty (5)
Win an Elly Jr. Doll from Kanna.

Buried in the Snow (5)
Obtain all items from the Snowfield Hideout.

One Sided Fist Fight (10)
Win a match on the Battling Contest on hard without taking damage.

Repent, Regress (5)
Win a 3-round match in the Battling Contest on hard with El-Regrs.

Silver Thunderbird (25)
Unlock Argento for use in the Battling Arena

Genetic Emancipation (5)
Find out what lead to the fall of Zeboim.

Silent Ruins (5)
Obtain all the items in the Lighthouse.

October Mermaid (5)
View the scenes that led to Emeralda's birth.

The Sands' Secrets (5)
Obtain every item in the Duneman Isle

The Dragon's Awakening (10)
Obtain a character's ultimate equipment from the Dragon.

Demon of Lahan (10)
Take down a group of gear-sized enemies (2 or more) with Fei on foot by himself.

Caution Drop (5)
Get through both falling segments in the final dungeon without getting hit.

Speed of Life (10)
Get through the final dungeon in less than 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Wretched Weaponry (5)
Obtain every item in the final dungeon.

Beelzeboss (25)
Defeat every boss in the sphere room with restrictions (see comments).

There are 11 achievements of finding treasure chests in specific areas of the game. I could tell you the locations of all treasures, but there's no need, as this has already been done by Gamefaqs user Shotgunnova, in his excellent Xenogears guide. Prior to each section of the game, he lists all items that can be found in this area, and he also makes ASCII maps of such areas, which makes finding all treasures a cake walk. I will refer to his guide extensively in this document.

The set features a No-Gear-Upgrade challenge until a little over half of the first CD, which will earn you four achievements, listed below.

The Tale of a Cruel World (5)
Defeat Calamity with your gears' initial equipment.

La Priere D'Une Vierge (10)
Defeat Vierge without upgrading your gear.

Tactical Nuke (25)
Defeat the Hecht convoy without upgrading your gear.

Blue Sky Mine (25)
Protect the Shevat generators without upgrading your gear.

First, we should clarify what is meant by a "No-Gear-Upgrade" challenge.

Basically, unlike your actual characters, your gears do not level up, so the only way to make them hit harder, have more HP, have more fuel and take less damage is by tuning them up (or upgrading them) in gear shops throughout the game.

When selecting "Tune Up" in gear shops, you get the following options:

• Fuel: replenish your fuel and HP. This is the only "Tuning Up" you may do during the challenge.
• Engine: upgrade your gear's attack power and fuel.
• Frame: upgrade your gear's HP.
• Armor: upgrade your gear's defenses.

[Print_Gear_Screen.jpg]

IN A NO-GEAR-UPGRADE CHALLENGE, YOU MAY NOT UPGRADE YOUR GEAR'S ENGINE, FRAME OR ARMOR.

You CAN, however, buy normal accessories and weapons for your gears, under the "Buy" menu in gear shops, and equip them normally in the menu (image below). It's important to note this because some people may read the description of the achievement "The Tale of a Cruel World" and get the impression that you may not use any accessories on your gears, when in reality this is NOT the case. Equipping accessories to your gears is pretty much the only reason this challenge is even possible.

[IMAGEM]

General Tips

Throughout the entirety of the first CD (or at least until the end of the Shevat section, which is when the challenge ends in this achievement set), you'll be stuck with Fei's gear, Weltall, which is the weakest when unupgraded, and will barely do any damage to most enemies, let alone bosses. Although you will eventually recruit characters with stronger gears, there will be times when Fei will have to fight bosses alone.

So... How do you make Fei's gear not suck?

Well, the short answer is ETHER ATTACKS. Your ether damage is one of the few character attributes that carries over to your gear. So, the higher your ether, the higher your gears' ether attacks will hit. This, coupled with ether increasing accessories will allow you to even One-Shot some bosses as Fei.

Of course, using Ether Attacks consumes EP, and your characters' EP is the same as your gears' EP. So, the higher your EP, the more ether attacks you can use before needing to use items to recharge your ether.

Another character stat that carries over to your gear that should be noted here is Evade%. Your Gears' Evade% stat is a sum of our characters' Evade% with 0,5 × another gear stat called Response, which in turn can be increased by equipping certain accessories, like Magnetic Coats (+25 Response each). This means that a high character Evade% (e.g., 25) and a high Gear Response (e.g., 75 by equipping 3 Magnetic Coats) will get you a Gear Evade% of 25 + 0,5 × 75 = 62,5. So enemy attacks will miss Fei more often than not.

So, in short, keep Fei's Ether, EP and Evade% up and you will have an easier time doing this challenge. And how do you increase your character stats? By leveling up.

Everytime you level up, there's a chance your character will have a particular stat increased. If you are adept to save scumming, you can fight enough battles until you are one fight away from leveling up, save the game and fight an enemy. If you get the particular stat up, great. If not, reload and try again.

All of the character stats that carry over to your gear are listed below. Of these, we will focus on Ether and EP, for reasons stated above, and Evade%.

Character Attribute	Gear Attribute
Hit%: a higher Hit% increases your odds of hitting the enemies successfully.	Response: Affects both Hit% and Evade% of the Gear.

Gear's Hit% = Character's Hit% + Response Gear's Evade% = Character's Evade% + Response / 2

That means that with three MagneticCoats and at least 13 in the character's Evade%, the Gear will have an Evade% of 50%

|70+ hours| |Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed|1| |Number of missable achievements|Due to the nature of the game, most achievements are missable| |Does difficulty affect achievements?|Not applicable| |Hardest achievement of the set|Debatable, but The Doll House is Empty is a good contestant due to the absurdness of the AI in the card minigame

Evade%: Evade% affects your chance to completely avoid a physical attack. (This stat also carries over into Gears)

Ether: Affects anything Ether related that either deals damage or heals. (This stat also carries over into Gears)

EthDef.: Reduces the damage you take from offensive Ethers but does not lessen the amount of healing. (This stat also carries over into Gears)

Agility: Increasing this stat will decrease the time between the character's turns. The exact formula being:

Ticks = 165 - 9 * Agility + [-4..4]

Ticks refers to the number of ticks it takes before the character's bar fills.

As an example, Rico(7 Agility) needs about 1.7 seconds between turns while Citan(13 Agility) only needs ~0.8 seconds. Agility is also the only parameter that doesn't increase by leveling up.

Weight: Has no impact on battles at all.

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Attack: Analogous to characters, this increases the physical damage your Gear does. The stat itself is calculated by multiplying the Gear's Attack Multiplier by the Engine's Output. E.g. Xenogears is equipped with X70-8000, which has 70 Output. XG itself has an Attack Multiplier of 12, so the Attack is 12 * 70 = 840 If a character uses a weapon, simply add the weapon's Attack value.

Defense: Lessens physical damage and solely depends on what Armor your Gear is carrying and what Accessories are equipped.

EthDef.: Lessens Ether damage and is calculated by Armor's EthDef + Character's EthDef

Agility: Same as the chracters':

Ticks = 165 - 9 * Agility + [-4..4]

Ticks refers to the number of ticks it takes before the character's bar fills.

EthAmp: Basically multiplies the character's Ether by EtherAmp / 4 when casting offensive Ethers or using Special Options.

Weight: Weight has no direct impact on anything and is not changeable, but a higher weight usually means that you can equip heavier accessories without losing too much Agility.

The only way to actually hurt enemies as Fei is by taking advantage of the fact that, while most of your character stats (e.g., HP, attack, defense), do not carry over to your gear, your Ether Attack does, in fact, carry over.

EP- Used to fuel spell which (fail to) make the peoples fall downs. The first stat derived from the character stats. Pilot Ether- Base for Ether attacks. Not actually listed in gear stats in-game, but useful because several characters have accessories that boost their Ether stat, so having it listed here gives me a chance to comment on them without clutting things up with full character stats.
Ether Amp- Multiplier applied to ether score. The Ether Amp stat's mult is determined by dividing the actual stat by 4 (for some reason). All gears have a base of 10 Ether Amp, so a minimum mult of 2.5 is applied, although of course you can accessorize to boost this stat. Ether Defense- Reduces magical damage taken. Base stat is the pilot's Ether Defense stat plus whatever your armor grants (if anything) plus the effects of accessories. Given we're starting with a base of 300 from Armor, the casts natural Mdef curve of roughly 30 to 55 is fairly marginalized here. Pilot Accuracy- Base stat for accuracy. The gist here is that each attack in the game has a base accuracy, before which character accuracy is taken against enemy evade and any difference applied to the final accuracy check on the RNG. Or something like that, it was needlessly convoluted. Also of interest here is that some enemies can't evade; they have some special check against it, usually for reasons of logic (ie too fucking big to evade). Such enemies instead will block (for drastically reduced damage, rather than the usual half) if they would have evaded. Anyway, based entirely on character Hit stat. Pilot Evade- The flip side of all that junk up above.
Response- Well, not ENTIRELY. REsponse is a bonus applied to character hit. As well, Response/2 is applied to character evade. Base response in all gears is 0, however, so only relevant here if you're into starting accessories (and even then, it's just barely enough to mean you don't whiff half the time)

Gamefaqs user Matt Weinstock wrote a Guide specific to No-Gear-Upgrade challenge. Although I will reference this guide a lot in this document, I do have some deviations, which I will explain throughout.

Below are some general tips on how to tackle a First, the guide is not adept to power leveling, which makes

Step 1: Dummy Step

Here you can give a detailed explanation about every step, such as what the achievements are about, if there are any missables in this step, general tips to make sure every achievement is gotten in one run etc.

To make this header link to the section with these achievements, go to where the step is and hover over the header. A link icon should be visible on the left of the header, which you can right-click + copy and then paste where #step-1-dummy-step--total-points-999 currently is. Remove everything of the link before "step".

You can create as many steps as you desire. Recommended is to have one step dedicated to unmissable story achievements, while the others cover game-specific steps (like no-damage bosses, item collection etc.)

If the step has missables, be sure to make a bulletpoint list like below to inform the reader right away.

• [Missable achievement 1](Link to achievement)
• [Missable achievement 2](Link to achievement)
• [Missable achievement 3](Link to achievement)

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Step 2: Dummy Step 2

Dummy step. Remove if unnecessary.

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Step 3: Dummy Step 3

Dummy step. Remove if unnecessary.

I will give some instrutions here and there but in case of any doubts on what to do refer to Shotgunnova's guide.

Start the game off by finding all treasures in Lahan Village (refer to WK01 in Shotgunnova's guide). There are 14 items total, of which one is the dreaded RPS Badge. So grab all other items first, which will get you 400 G. Save your game in the house at SW Lahan Village and get ready to get...

Rock the House (5)
Obtain the RPS Badge.

The RPS dude can be found in the house at SE Lahan Village. Talk to the man and accept his challenge. Each attempt costs 50 G, which is why we found all other items first for that 400 G total. You need to beat him 5 times in a row in Rock Papers Scissors. Tying does not reset your progress.

IMPORTANT: even though you regain control of your character between each successful attempt, you CANNOT leave his house or go downstairs. That means you need to win all 5 times in a row without leaving the room.

What's the strategy?

There is a very old guide (2001), written by Ian Eddington, that details a strategy based on an alleged pattern that your opponent will always change his signs after he has been beaten. To put it simply:

• 1st round: random;
• 2nd round: won't use what he lost in 1
• 3rd round: won't use what he lost in 1 and 2
• 4th round: random again
• 5th round: won't use what he lost in 4.
• Any tie: resets the pattern

The guide states that there are several different patterns, and that the player may lose until the opponent starts using this specific pattern, in which case you can follow through with it.

Along the years, different people have attested the effectiveness of this strategy (myself included), which is why this guide is still being recommended even to this day.

HOWEVER, other people have looked into the game's code and found that the same algorithm is used every round, regardless of the result (see more about this here), i.e., it's a simple 1/3 chance every round.

So... WHO KNOWS? If you want to use a strategy, feel free to use Ian's. I used it in my playthrough and got the RPS badge in little over 10 minutes. See video below of my entire session getting this achievement:

IMPORTANT: AFTER YOU BEAT HIM THE FIFTH TIME, TALK TO HIM AGAIN TO GET YOUR REWARD

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The RPS Badge should be your 14th item in Lahan. Go to Alice's house to talk to her, then go to Mountain Path and grab the four items there: 2x Aquasols, 1x Bird Egg and 1x Spider (very important!). (WK02 in Shotgunnova's guide).

You can do a bit of grinding and deathblow learning here if you want, but I personally refrain to grind until I reach the Stalactite Cave later in the game, so I can maximize stat gain with Bart.

Go to Citan's house and grab three items there: 1x Midori's Ring, 1x Aquasol, 1x 120 G.

IMPORTANT: this is the point of no return for this section of the game. Make sure you got all of the items in Lahan Village, Mountain Path and Citan's House.

In his house, talk to Midori, then go talk to Citan, then enter the music box room. After long cutscenes you'll fight your first gear battle, which will get you...

My Village is Number 1 (5)
Stop the invaders from destroying Lahan Village.

This battle is super easy. Take this opportunity to learn the gear battle mechanics if you wish. If you want to speedrun this battle, turn on booster (→ X), then attack the Mushas with X attacks.

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After some cutscenes you'll find yourself in the world map. There's nothing to do here other than entering Blackmoon Forest (WK05 in Shotgunnova's guide).

In Blackmoon Forest, there's 1x Aquasol in the very first area. Proceed through the forest until you have to save Elly by fighting two forest elves. In the next area, now with Elly in your party, you'll find the final three items, getting you...

The Gravel Road (5)
Obtain all items in the Lahan Village area.

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IMPORTANT: Elly will leave your party automatically as soon as you cross the small bridge after the save point and fight the mandatory battle there. Before she leaves, make sure to fight the Hobgobs you see on screen and use Elly's Ether Thermo Cube on them to turn them into Hob-Steaks, which heal for 500 HP and sell for 150 G. Also, before proceeding, save your game STRIP ELLY OF ALL HER EQUIPMENT. You are particularly interested in her Pilot Uniform, which will sell for 2500 G, and her EtherStone, which increases your Ether by 2 when equipped.

Having stripped Elly of her equipment, proceed through the bridge, fight the mandatory battle, watch all the cutscenes. Elly will then leave your party. Advance through the area as Fei alone and fight the Rankar. Do whatever you want during the first phase, heal if needed. Once you get your Gear, turn on Boost and hit him with X then a Level 1 Deathblow if you know any.

After long cutscenes you'll be in the world map again. There's absolutely nothing to do here other than going to Dazil (WK08). If you want, you can level up Citan and learn his first Deathblow, which should be pretty easy.

Once in Dazil, go to the Ethos HQ, then to the Buggy rental, go out into the desert and follow the directions: right, up-right, up-left. Fight the two Troopers (attack normally), then the Wyrm (boost, then Chi → Guided Shot until he's dead). After some cutscenes, you'll be in Aveh Military Transport Ship.

Save your game. Then talk to Citan. 5 minutes of cutscenes later, the ship will be sinking, and you'll need to escape. There are two things to do here: grabbing the first 4 items of One Flower Grows Alone, and escaping in less than 30 seconds without falling off the catwalk, for the Quicksand achievement. If you want to, you can do both in the same run without resetting the game, because, if you take long enough and the ship sinks, you'll get the option to try this stage again, while keeping all items you already got. So, you can just do the following:

1. Play through the stage normally (WK09) and grab all 4 items there. You can use the remainder of the time left to practice the catwalk run.
2. In the next try, go for the Quicksand achievement.

Quicksand (5)
Escape from the Sand Cruiser in less than 30 seconds without falling off the catwalk.

2024-01-27_15-40-22

For the Quicksand achievement, it should be noted that the 30 second timer stops during the mandatory battle on the way and during the cutscenes. Also, there is a way to skip that mandatory battle by jumping over the trigger. It's a speedrun technique. Here's a speedrun that did it: https://youtu.be/rV8dE5s5-WM?t=4675. To be honest, I didn't even bother learning how to do this, but if you want to, go for it.

As for the route, as soon as you exit your cell, go right until the end of the corridor and climb the ladder. Then it's a straight line until the exit. Skip or fight the mandatory battle and climb up the ladder. As for how to not fall off the catwalk, speedrunners do this by simply walking on a straight line and jumping over the metal "fences", as can be seen here: https://youtu.be/sJh6pne1IOE?t=4764.

Another approach is following the catwalk normally, crossing the beams through the small bridges as needed. The secret to crossing the bridges without falling is jumping instead of running, as Fei is easier to control when he is jumping (use Fei's shadow as a guide to where you'll land when he's jumping).

TIP: if you fall down, take that opportunity to practice the catwalk run back and forth. You can do several runs until the ship sinks and you have to start again.

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After getting all 4 items and successfully escaping the ship, you'll fight Brigandier. Simply booster and hit him with your Deathblows. After some cutscenes, you'll be in Stalactite Cave.

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Welcome to this place that'll be your house for the next 6 or so hours. There are only two items here, and they will count towards One Flower Grows Alone. Advance through the area until you reach Old Man Bal's house.

Before you do anything else in this dungeon, read the following.

The boss battle at the end of the dungeon will be one of the hardest in a No-Gear-Upgrade challenge, since he hits REALLY HARD and your unupgraded gears do NOT. The ONLY way you'll be able to deal any damage to him at all is by two means: ETHER ATTACKS and DEATHBLOWS. Luckily, you are in the best possible spot to level up early game Fei and Bart, thus increasing their Ether, and the best possible spot to learn all their deathblows. So this is what you're going to want to do:

• Have one character on foot and the other character on gear. Learn deathblows with the character on foot by attacking gear-sized enemies while the character on gear defends. The gear sized enemies will not target your character on foot, so feel free to just keep attacking and learning the deathblows. I recommend doing this until you learn all 6AP deathblows (level 22).
• If one of your characters is one battle from leveling up, I recommend save scumming in order to get the best possible stat boost. As explained in section (XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX), you want to prioritize Ether, EP and Evade% on level up. If you avoided leveling up up until now, you'll be able to maximize those stat gains. If you want to have a comfortable time beating the boss, aim for at least 22 Ether, as you'll deal around 100 damage per both Fei and Bart's offensive ethers (Guided Shot and Heaven Cent, respective). If you are insane and aim for 28 Ether, you'll deal around 180 damage, making the boss battle a breeze.

I'll let you decide when you want to stop, but do learn TTTX deathblow (level 22), which will get you the SS gear deathblow, that deals good damage to the boss, and do try to reach at least 20 Ether, so your ether attacks deal 80 around 80 damage to the boss.

As you're learning deathblows, you're almost guaranteed to take down a group of gear sized enemies with Fei on foot by himself. This will grant you...

Demon of Lahan (10)
Take down a group of gear-sized enemies (2 or more) with Fei on foot by himself.

You can get this achievement at literally any point in the game where you can fight gears on foot, but doing it right now is the easiest way, since if you wait until the late game, the enemies will become increasingly strong, and they will also attack characters on foot, unlike the enemies of Stalactite Cave. So, I'm going to mark this achievement as completed here. Keep in mind that Bart may not attack the enemies. Just have him charge every round, while Fei attack every round.

If you somehow miss this one, I'll give you a warning later on at the last possible place where this achievement will still be easy.

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Once you're done grinding, deactivate both sensors, go back to Bal, watch the cutscenes and save the game. Make sure to equip [Iron GWhip] on Brigandier. REMEMBER THAT I TOLD YOU TO STRIP ELLY OF ALL HER EQUIPMENTS BEFORE SHE LEFT? YOU DID THAT, RIGHT? WELL, GOOD. SO EQUIP [Ether Stone] on Fei or Bart so they can make use of the extra +2 Ether. Equip whatever else you want on both the characters and gears, but at least keep the [Old Circuit] in Weltall, since you'll want that +10 Response for that small boost on Gear Evade%.

IMPORTANT: before proceeding, did you remember to get the two treasure chests in here? If not, go grab them. This place will close forever as soon as you leave it.

Proceed through the newly opened gates and on to the end of the dungeon. If you run into many random encounters on the way and you end up losing a lot of HP, just reset the game and try again. You'll want to have as much HP as possible at the start of the battle. It is time to fight...

The Tale of a Cruel World (5)
Defeat Calamity with your gears' initial equipment.

Despite this being one of the hardest battles in a No-Gear-Upgrade challenge, the strategy is actually quite simple.

Bart:

1. Cast Wild Smile - this will diminish the enemy's Hit by 50%, which will help you greatly in evading his physical attacks (does not work on his missile attacks which hits for around 425 to 479 when it hits). Unlike what some guides say, you ONLY need to cast Wild Smile once, as the effect remain until the end of the battle (see item 7.4 of ForteGSOmega's Battle Mechanics Guide).
2. Booster
3. Do you have at least 20 Ether? If not, build up to Attack Level 2 by doing single triangle attacks and hit him with Hit Storms (Square Square), which should hit for around 200 damage. If so, cast Heaven's Cent every round until you're out of EP, then hit him with Hit Storms.
4. If low on fuel, built up to Attack Level 2 and charge until you have enough fuel to attack him again with deathblows. A charge with an Attack Level 2 restores 70 Fuel, whereas a charge with no attack level restores only 30.

Fei:

1. Booster
2. Fei's Ryuten (Square Square) deathblow will only hit for a mere 126 HP, so, even if your Ether is as low as 17, it will be more worth it to simply hit him with a bunch of Guided Shots (45 HP per turn, totaling 135 HP every three turns, as opposed to Ryuten's 126).
3. If low on fuel, do the same as Bart.

Keep attacking him every round and you'll kill him in no time.

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Lots of cutscenes will enfold.

IMPORTANT: once you regain control inside Yggdrasil, you might want to go to the Gear Hangar Shop and buy AT LEAST three [Magnetic Coats] and equip them to Weltall. Each Magnetic Coat costs 4000G, so be ready to spend 12000G. You CAN wait to do this later, as I myself did not do this here, but if you do it right now you'll have an easier time fighting the next boss battles.

To proceed the story, in essence, talk to Sigurd in Yggdrasil's bridge, then follow Bart around in Pirate's Lair, watch more cutscenes until you get to control Fei alone. When that happens, go to Bart's room and steal his [Iron Whip], which, if you've been following this guide, will get you...

One Flower Grows Alone (3)
Find all items in the desert.

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In a very short time, there will be five gear bosses in a row, but these are actually very easy, even in a casual No-Gear-Upgrade challenge believe it or not.

Once you're ready to proceed, go talk to Bart in the Yggdrasil, then talk to Weltall's mechanic in Yggdrasil's hangar, then go back up to the Pirate's Lair and save the game in the dormitory. Talk to the guy in brown to go to sleep.

Watch some cutscenes then it's boss time.

First Boss: Swordknight

• Bart: cast Wild Smile immediately, then Booster and hit him with X and TT deathblows.
• Pirates: X.

Second Boss: AegisKnight

• Citan: Booster, then hit him with X and TT deathblow if you have it.

Third Boss: 2x WandKnight

• Bart and Citan: Booster if you want, then hit them with X repeatedly or X and TT deathblows.

Fourth Boss: Clawknight

• Fei: Booster, then hit him with Ryuten. I personally did not use Guided Shot against him, so I don't know how high his Ether Defense is. Either way, three Ryutens should make quick work of him. If you have three Magnetic Coats equippedn, the enemy will barely hit you.

Fifth Boss: Schpariel

• Bart: wild smile, Booster, X and deathblows.
• Citan: Booster, X and deathblows if you have them.
• Fei: Booster, X and Ryuten (will hit for around 200 HP each).

A few cutscenes later, you'll regain control inside the Yggdrasil.

IMPORTANT: If you haven't already, I recommend buying at least three [Magnetic Coats] in Yggdrasil's gear shop. Equip them in Weltall. Then, go to Maison's shop still in Yggdrasil and buy enough [Power Rings] so you have 5 total (200 G each), and buy at least one [Speed Ring] (1200 G), as these will help greatly in an achievement we'll do in the next city we'll visit.

Refrain from fighting many battles and power leveling right now, or at least until you read my comments regarding the Secret Agent Man achievement.

Once you're ready to proceed, to go Bledavik. I HIGHLY recommend creating a backup save before you enter the city.

Bledavik is home to two of the hardest achievements of the set, Secret Agent Man and Balloon Ranger. You'll only be able to do both achievements after you progress through the story a little bit, at which point YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO LEAVE TOWN, i.e., you won't be able to go out to level up or get more money. In order to do Secret Agent Man, you'll NEED to be pretty strong. I will give you the instructions for this section below, and I'll warn you when the point of no return arrives, and I'll also give you detailed instructions on how to get ready for Secret Agent Man.

Enter Bledavik. If you want to open a save point inside the town, enter the hotel and talk to the nun. You'll be able to use the save point downstairs.

You can do the achievement below as soon as you enter town.

Hide and Seek (5)
Receive the Hide and Seek badge.

Go talk to the H&S kid (go up the hidden staircase between two tents on west main street, he's there). Agree to play his game. Use Shotgunnova's guide to find him easily each time.

---

Save your game. Then let's do...

Bon Appetit (1)
Receive a free meal.

In order to get this achievement, you'll need to go to a restaurant and not have money to pay for the meals there. The most expensive meal costs 300 G for a party of three (100 G if you're alone). So go to the stores and buy 99 of everything until you have less than 300 G (or less than 100 G if you're doing this later and you're alone).

Then go to the restaurant (west main street). Go upstairs, talk to the waitress next to the aquarium and tell her you'd like to eat (second option). Choose 'Something Delicious', eat the meal, and when she tells you you don't have any money, a kid will storm in and you'll follow them. The achievement will pop as soon as you exit the restaurant.

Just for completion sake, here's how much each meal costs:

• Something Delicious = 100 G per person, 300 G for party of 3
• Something Cheap = 30 G per person, 90 G for party of 3
• Somethins Fast = 70 G per person, 210 G for party of 3

IMPORTANT: After getting this achievement, RESET YOUR GAME! You want to get all your money back, don't you?

---

To do the remaining achievements, you'll have to progress through the story a little bit (enroll Fei in the martial arts tournament and get the WELL KEY), but before that, let's get you ready for Secret Agent Man. If you don't want to do this achievement now, CREATE A BACKUP SAVE and skip to XXXXX.

If you've been paying attention to the story, you'll know that your objective in Bledavik is rescuing Margie, who is being held captive in Fatima Castle. If you haven't, well... that's what you have to do.

The rescue mission will consist of Fei putting out a little show in the Martial Arts tournament to distract the castle guards, while Bart sneaks in to save her.

Essentially, as Fei, you'll fight 5 enemies in the tournament. Between each fight, you'll control Bart as he navigates through the sewers of Bledavik and then Fatima Castle. The amount of time you'll get as Bart depends on how long Fei took to defeat each opponent (this will be thoroughly explained later).

In order to get the achievement, you'll need to reach Margie in less than 5 minutes (18000 frames) without being spotted by patrolling guards. That's easier said than done.

I find it easier to explain you how to get this achievement if I first tell you how the achievement works.

Before the rescuing sequence begins, you'll be controlling Bart alone in Bledavik. You'll have to open and go down a well to access the sewers of Bledavik, which is how you'll get to the castle in the first place.

1. As soon as you go down the well, a cutscene will play. The set will check if you watched this cutscene, after which the achievement will be active.
2. You'll fight your first battle as Fei. After the battle, you'll automatically go to the menu, where you can heal Fei if needed. Don't worry, the timer will not be active if Fei is your main character.
3. When you close the menu as Fei, after a small loading time, Bart will become your main character. As soon as the set recognizes Bart as your your main character, THE TIMER WILL START. (18000 frames, or 5 minutes).
4. The timer will pause when the next Fei battle starts, and will continue once you close the menu again as Fei, after the battle.
5. The timer will stop once you reach Margie's room as Bart, and the achievement will pop as soon as first textbox with her portrait appears.

(SAM_Bart_Achievement_Popped.png)

Achievement will reset when:

• Timer reaches 18000 frames (5 minutes).
• One of the patrolling guards spots you and his exclamation mark textbox pops out (it takes 15 frames between him seeing you and his exclamation mark popping out. You could use that to your advantage but it's not worthy or necessary).
• If you enter the middle room in eastern upper courtyard, where a bunch of guards are having dinner.

The main issue here is that, since the timer is attached only to Bart being the main character, the timer WILL COUNT during load times as you progress through the screens in the castle, and during the two mandatory battles you'll fight as Bart.

Therefore, you'll need to do two things:

1. Make Bart strong enough so he can one shot the guards in his two mandatory battles.
2. Increase your emulator's read speed to make loading times faster.

The time you get to control Bart is directly correlated to how many rounds you take as Fei to defeat your opponents in the tournament, without counting rounds where Fei uses the Defend command. That is, the rounds counted are rounds where Fei uses the Attack, Chi or Item options. The correlation between rounds and Bart's time is given below.

Rounds as Fei	Time as Bart
1 to 3 rounds	3724 frames, approximately 62 seconds
4 to 5 rounds	7444 frames, approximately 124 seconds
6 to 7 rounds	11164 frames, approximately 186 seconds
8 rounds (this is where my testing stopped)	14884 frames, approximately 248 seconds

• number of frames as Bart may vary a little bit depending on where you are, but the numbers provided are a good average.

Other than that, there are fixed spots where the game will always switch back to Fei even if there is still time with Bart, which are the following:

The second battle (against Big Joe) will start here
The third battle (against Scud) will start here
The fourth battle (against Dan) will start here
The fifth battle (against Wiseman) will start here

The more opponents Fei defeats, the less guards there will be patrolling the castle.

So far, two routes have been documented, one of which I find particularly way easier than the other, although it requires a slightly stronger Fei. Credits go to Dragoonseal. He wasn't the first to get this achievement, but documented the two routes in the game's forum page. I'm unaware of other routes even being possible, but if you know them, let me know.

Route A: easier route. Video reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCyBqz5Xd48. It requires beating every battle as Fei within 3 rounds. In essence:

Beat the first battle as Fei within 3 rounds
The third battle (against Scud) will start here
The fourth battle (against Dan) will start here
The fifth battle (against Wiseman) will start here

• Beat the first battle as Fei within 3 rounds.
• Proceed through the sewers as Bart normally until you are forced to switch back to Fei.
• Beat the second battle as Fei within 3 rounds.
• Continue through the sewers as Bart normally until you are forced again to switch back to Fei.
• Beat the third battle as Fei within 3 rounds.
• Exit the sewers and wait in the ladder until the next Fei battle begins.
• Beat the fourth battle as Fei. Doesn't matter how many rounds it takes, as we will get the final battle in a fixed location.
• Climb up the stairs and enter the Southern door in the Courtyard.
• Go up the stairs and exit North.
• Go west and wait around the corner for the guard to come.
• As he turns, trail him and enter the second door West as soon as you can.
• In this room, quickly take the next exit East (we did this because this will reset the patrolling guard outside).
• Outside, go North and enter the door East.
• Here, take the second stair up.
• Upstairs, climb the first set of stairs and jump right in front of the enemy guarding the Northeastern door and beat them.
• Fei's next battle will begin. It's basically a cutscene. Just attack him 4 times and they will start talking.
• As Bart, you'll be in the next room, quickly go Northeast and fight the enemy guarding the door.
• After the fight, quickly enter the door. That's it.

Route B: most difficult route. Video references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jW9vi35BV8 and https://youtu.be/mwlKTyxGSI4?list=PLSSHRWTdvnzAYvl2IA2krNrEWwuFLKuw8&t=7525. It requires beating the first battle as Fei in 6 or 7 rounds, then beat the next battles in within 3 rounds.

• Beat the first battle as Fei in 6 or 7 rounds.
• Proceed through the sewers as Bart normally in one go. As you climb the ladder that leads to the Courtyard, you'll fight a battle as Fei.
• Beat the second battle as Fei. Doesn't matter how many rounds it takes, as the next battle will be in a fixed location.
• As Bart, in the Courtyard, go Climb up the stairs and enter the Southern door in the Courtyard.
• Go up the stairs and exit North.
• Go west and wait around the corner for the guard to come.
• As he turns, trail him and enter the second door West as soon as you can.
• In this room, quickly take the next exit East (we did this because this will reset the patrolling guard outside).
• Outside, go North and enter the door East.
• Here, take the second stair up.
• Upstairs, climb the first set of stairs and jump right in front of the enemy guarding the Northeastern door and beat them.
• Fei's next battle will begin. It's basically a cutscene. Just attack him 4 times and they will start talking.
• As Bart, you'll be in the next room, quickly go Northeast and fight the enemy guarding the door.
• After the fight, quickly enter the door.

After you complete the two steps I list below, DO NOT GO TO THE HOTEL AND TALK TO THE NUN. You'll be stuck in Bledavik if you do so, and you'll want to get ready for Secret Agent Man before that happens.

You may go to Fatima Castle and enroll Fei on the martial arts tournament, and you may also get the [WELL KEY] from the guy guarding the eastern well (talk to him, examine the well, talk to the H&S kid then talk to the guy again, chosing the second option 'Rescue Margie').

Go to the weapons shop, buy a [WhippaSnappa] for Bart and equip it on him.

If you are following my instructions, DO NOT ENTER THE HOTEL unless I tell you to.

Basically, as soon as you enter the hotel after getting the [WELL KEY] and enrolling in the martial arts tournament,

1. Buy a WhippaSnappa

BART LV 31 WhippaSnappa Accessories: Power Ring, Power Ring, Speed Ring Attack 48 Hit% 21 Defense 24 Evade% 25 Ether 18 EthDef. 16 Agility 11

Fei Power Ring, Power Ring, Power Ring Attack 47 Hit% 21 Defense 32 Evade% 22 Ether 22 EthDef. 23 Agility 11

99 Luftballons (5)
Get 1000 points or more on Merry Go Pop (Hard).

Merry Go Pop is the minigame on the left.

Rules: "Different colored balloons will come out of the four holes. You must pop them. Each color is worth different points. Blue: 10 points Green: 20 points Yellow: 40 points Red: 80 points White: -100 points The prize will depend on how many points you get within the time limit."

On hard difficulty, the screen will change colors, making it difficult to tell the white ball apart from the other, lighter colored ones.

This one is simple, despite that. A few tries should be enough. If you're in doubt if a balloon is white or not, do not hit them. You'll have plenty of time, and the achievement will pop as soon as you hit 1000 points, even if there's still time left.

Here's a video of my successful run.

2024-01-27_20-51-06

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Balloon Ranger (5)
Get 30 points or more on Whose Balloons (Hard).

Xenogears' second hardest minigame in my opinion. It took me roughly two hours to reach 30 points.

"Children holding balloons will come floating down. Their balloons will fly away as they let go of them. You must catch the balloons and return them to the children. Return as many balloons as possible within the time limit.

You have 1m45s to return 30 balloons to the kids in hard mode. As you'll see in your attempts, the situation will get overwhelming pretty quickly, with kids dropping off quickly, some of them being much faster than others.

coupled with controllers being bad and each kid having a different speed. Here are a few tips:

Next I'll explain the 'Bingo ' bonus. None of the 16 'Bingo' panels are lit now. Whenever you return a balloon to a child a panel will either light up or go out. When you get four lit panels in a row, it's a 'Bingo'! Each 'Bingo' returns 5 times the prizes!_"

You have 1m45s.

No Gear Upgrades challenge

Talk to him and you'll be tasked with deactivating two sensors.

Before you do this, you should know that the upcoming boss battle, which you'll face at the end of this dungeon, will be one of the hardest in the game in a No-Gear-Upgrade challenge, since he hits really hard and your unupgraded characters do NOT. The ONLY way you'll be able to deal any damage to him at all is by two means: ETHER ATTACKS and

Damage = (5 * AttackerEther * (EtherAmp / 4) - 4 * TargetEthDef ) * Power

The Stalactite Cave is the best possible place to learn all of Fei and Bart's learnable deathblows at that time. It's also an excellent place to get some levels for the both of them.

Demon of Lahan

Empty Dummy Step, remove if unnecessary.

Empty Dummy Step, remove if unnecessary.

Welp, last chapter was something, huh? This one will be extremely short and extremely easy. Don't get your hopes up, though, the difficult amps back up a lot next chapter.

After the cutscenes, you'll be on top of Yggdrasil. Climb the ladder down and talk to the pink stuffed animal that's blocking your way. Go to Margie's room (last room to the East before the Hangar) and name Chu-Chu whatever you want. Talk to Chu-Chu and give her the spider that I told you to get at Mountain Path. You got that, right? Great. This will grant you...

Way Chu A Woman's Heart (3)
Receive a present from Chu-Chu for a giving her a spider.

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Go to Nisan. Go to the Accessory Shop and buy an [EtherDoubler] for 38000G. Buy 3x [MagneticCoat] if you haven't already and equip them to Weltall.

IMPORTANT: You ABSOLUTELY NEED to buy the [EtherDoubler] here. It doubles the effect of ethers at the cost of doubling their EP. This will be primordial for the No Gear Upgrade challenge. If you don't buy it right here, you might as well just restart the challenge.

Equip Fei with the following:

Ether Doubler - for the 2x Ether effect.

Ether Stone - for the +2 Ether stat increase.

WeddingDress - for the +5 Ether Defense.

Equip Weltall with 3x [MagneticCoat].

If you need money, sell Elly's Pilot Uniform that I told you to steal from her, if you haven't already, or fight outside until you have enough money. Remember to save scum to get Fei's Ether and EP up as much as you can when you level up, if that's your thing.

Last, if you have absolutely NO [Rosesol S], I recommend buying some. 10 should be enough for now (3000G). This is needed because, since we'll be using 2x the EP per Ether, we're gonna need items to replenish our EP during battles. DO NOT use Rosesols outside battle, though. For that, use Omegasols, which will fully replenish your HP and EP and are super cheap (50G each). If you want, you can safely buy 99x Omegasol for 4950G and have 0 worries about healing outside battles for the next several sections of the game.

That's about it for preparation for the next part.

Before we proceed, stand in front of the bridge at upper Nisan until you see an elderly woman wearing beige clothes and a white veil. Once you do, cross the bridge and wait for the woman to cross it as well. Once she does, jump on top of her head and wait for her to "take" you outside.

This will give you...

That's What Friends Are For (5)
Change screens without moving the D-pad.

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Now proceed through the story. This part is very linear. Go to the other end of town, where Margie's at, follow her around and watch some LONG cutscenes there. Next, go to the first house to the East of Nisan, watch long cutscenes there. Next, you're supposed to go to the City Hall and go over the plan, but I must warn you that, if you do, Bart will leave your party for now. This is a good spot to create a backup save, as it's the last part Fei, Citan and Bart will be together for a while.

Once you're ready to proceed, be sure to strip Bart's accessories.

After the cutscenes, it'll be just Fei and Citan. Strip Citan's accessories if he's wearing anything useful, and once you're ready, talk to Bart again and tell him you're ready.

Some hard achievements are included in this section.

After some cutscenes, you'll take control of Fei in the Mountains. The items in this region are not tracked for achievement purposes but be sure to take at least the [MagneticCoat], the [GoldNugget] and the [Rosesol S]. This is also an excellent spot to level up Fei a bit if you wish to, since you'll be fighting weak enemies as Fei alone (they will all fall in 1 or 2 Guided Shots with EtherDoubler):

• May Fly - 555 HP (1410 Exp) (690 G) - use Guided Shot;
• 2x Medusoid - 65 HP (1396 Exp) (0 G) - use 1 Square or X attack;
• Edelweiss - 815 HP (880 Exp) (0 G) - use Guided Shots or Deathblows;
• Repair Bot - 110 HP (420 Exp) (200 G) - use 1 X attack.

Once you're done climbing, you'll see a Repair Bot and a Save Point. Save your game, obviously.

The Repair Bot sells useful items, such as Omegasols. This means you can power level here for as long as you wish, since the money you'll gain from battles far outweights the money you'll spend on Omegasols. Also, this is your last chance to buy [MagneticCoat], since the Repair Bot sells them for some reason. You'll NEED at least 3 of them equipped to Weltall for the next few bosses you'll fight, and for a few other bosses you'll also fight in a near future, where you'll be unable to buy MagneticCoats. That said, do be sure to leave this place with at least 3x MagneticCoats.

Outside, you'll fight a sequence of three Gear bosses, without being able to heal between battles. Your only means of dealing damage to them will be using Guided Shot with EtherDoubler. I recommend having at least 26 Ether here, but with 28 Ether you are GUARANTEED to one-shot the first two bosses with one Guided Shot each, and one of the second wave of bosses. See table below for reference of the absolute minimum damage you will deal with Guided Shots with EtherDoubler from 20 Ether to 30 Ether.

Ether	Wandknight (620 HP)	Clawknight (600 HP)	Swordknight (700 HP)	Aegisknight (700 HP)	Vierge (2400 HP)
20	420	420	420	460	260
21	445	445	445	485	285
22	470	470	470	510	310
23	495	495	495	535	335
24	520	520	520	560	360
25	545	545	545	585	385
26	570	570	570	610	410
27	595	595	595	635	435
28	620	620	620	660	460
29	645	645	645	685	485
30	670	670	670	710	510

As you can see from the table above, you'll mostly have to 2-shot all bosses until Vierge, which means you are expected to be attacked during the fights. That's where the 3x MagneticCoats will do their magic, and enemies will mostly miss their attacks or Fei will defend them. The No-Gear-Upgrade guide tells you to use a Beam Coat, but I generally just stick with the 3x MagneticCoats. As for Fei's acessories, just the EtherDoubler is absolutely mandatory here. If you have an EtherStone, great, wear it. You can also wear a WeddingDress or an Ether Veiler for the elemental defense, but these are not mandatory. Here's footage of me beating all three bosses with nothing but an EtherStone and 3x MagneticCoats with 26 Ether.

First Boss: 2x Wandknight

• Just unload Guided Shots from the start. I don't even bother using booster here. They will go down in 1 or 2 hits each, depending on your Ether.

Second Boss: Clawknight (center), Swordknight (left) and Aegisknight (right)

• If your Ether is high enough to one-shot Clawknight (600 HP - highly likely to happen even with 27 Ether), go for it, and then booster + kill Swordknight then Aegisknight. Otherwise, booster from the start and kill Swordknight, then Clawknight, then Aegisknight.
• Important: once Aegisknight is one Guided Shot from dying, use Rosesols S to recover your EP, so we can start the next battle with as much EP as we can.

Third Boss: Vierge

• Booster immediately, then Guided Shots until she's dead. It'll take 5 to 7 rounds depending on how much Ether you have (see table above for reference).

Here's a video of me beating all three bosses with no Ether Defense equipment and with only 3x MagneticCoats: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Once you beat Vierge, a cutscene will play, after which you'll receive...

La Priere D'Une Vierge (10)
Defeat Vierge without upgrading your gear.

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Back inside, repair your gear, recover your EP, buy items if you need to (LAST CHANCE TO BUY MAGNETIC COATS for now) save your game and climb up.

5 minutes of cutscenes later, you'll take control of Bart and Citan in the Yggdrasil.

IMPORTANT: REMOVE ALL EQUIPMENT FROM BART AND CITAN AND SAVE YOUR GAME. You'll be returning to this save quite a lot in a few moments.

Once you're ready to proceed, exit the save room in the Yggdrasil. More cutscenes later, you'll take control of Fei on his way to destroy the Flagship Kefeinzel. Now it's time to get...

My Defenses Are Down (10)
Get through Vanderkaum's fleet without taking damage or getting into a battle.

This one's tough. The Vanderkaum's fleet sequence has two parts. The first one is easier to pass without taking damage, despite being more crowded, and the second one is harder, because sometimes the game will decide to hit you with the bullets even if you do everything perfect.

Let's break down both parts.

• Part 1

1. Go all the way to the left until you cannot anymore. As long as you stay in the left edge of the area, the bullets won't hit you. Therefore, your only concern are the enemies that roam around.
2. Start going up, making sure to stop if the enemy that is going in circles gets close to you. Below are two safe spots you can stay on without engaging any of the enemies:

Spot	Image
Slightly below the first enemy that goes left and right
Between the two enemies that go left and right

Once you're past the third enemy, just keep heading up until the next cutscene starts.

Here's footage of me practicing this part with ease. The only two times (out of eleven) I got caught happened for lack of attention, rather than a problem with the strategy.

https://youtu.be/XrpMUmhtxvM

• Part 2

I tried for hours coming up with a strategy that is easily and reliable for this part, but that's tough. Sometimes the Flagship will simply shoot a superfast bullet and hit you with it.

Despite that, best I came up with is the following strategy, that gave me a 6/7 success rate.

Instructions	Image
1.Go right until you are betweeen the two last landmines that are up ahead (highlighted in the image). The last landmine is barely visible here
2.Slowly start going up until the Flagship starts shooting the ground to the left of you. Don't worry, he will never actually hit you here.
3.Wait until the enemy that is patrolling the area in circles is entering the screen (from left to right) then go up. This is necessary so that you don't bump him as you proceed
4.As soon as you reach the height of the first landmine to the left, switch directions to ↗ (NW) and just keep going. You can keep pressing ↗ until the end of this section

IMPORTANT: once you're past the Kefeinzel a textbox will appear. Be sure to mash X as fast as you can, as the ship can, AND WILL, still shoot you while you're reading the text if you take too long.

Here's footage of me practicing this part with 6/7 success rate using this strategy: https://youtu.be/d77sC1sEwFw

Practice both parts with save states until you're comfortable before trying it hardcore. Before you know it, you'll get it.

IMPORTANT 2: make sure to have full EP before you finish this part. You'll need it for the next two bosses.

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After this part you'll fight two bosses, the first of which is Main Gun (1800 HP) + 2 Small Guns (590 HP each), and the second of which is Dora (3000 HP). Below you'll find the absolute minimum damage a Fei with an EtherDoubler will deal per Guided Shot, considering the no-upgrade-challenge.

Ether	Main Gun (1800 HP) / Small Gun (590 HP)	Dora (3000 HP)
20	460	300
21	485	325
22	510	350
23	535	375
24	560	400
25	585	425
26	610	450
27	635	475
28	660	500
29	685	525
30	710	550

Weltall should have 3x MagneticCoats and Fei should have an EtherDoubler and whatever else you want.

First Boss: Main Gun, 2x Small Guns The only one you need to kill is Main Gun, which, luckily, will take 6 turns until he can attack, at which point he will hit Fei for 400 HP. However, the Small Guns will attack every round, dealing over 200 damage, and they rarely miss their attacks, even if you have 3x MagneticCoats. At the same time, a 26 Ether Fei (and even a 25 one, if you're lucky) will kill Main Gun in 3 Guided Shots, and the Small Guns in 1 Guided Shot each. This means you can:

• Booster + 3x Guided Shots on Main Gun, ignoring the Small Guns.
• Booster + Kill the first Small Gun + Kill the second Small Gun + 2 Guided Shots on Main Gun + 1 Rosesol S (you'll want to reach the next boss with as much EP as possible) + 1 Guided Shot on Main Gun.

A Boostered up Fei is much faster than the Main Gun, which means you can attack several times during the 6 turns the Main Gun takes to attack.

If your Ether is low enough so that you'll kill Main Gun in 4 rounds, and the Small Guns in 2 rounds each, the same strategies above will also work, but with extra turns. You'll take quite a bit more damage, though.

Second Boss: Dora This time you'll have 2 Pirates to help you. Normally, this boss has a gimmick, where you'll have to attack him 9 times before you're able to do physical damage to him (a message will appear: Head cover broken, Def DOWN). However, in a no-gear-upgrade challenge, you'll start damaging him immediately with Guided Shots. So here's the strategy:

• Fei: Booster + Guided Shots + Rosesol S if you need.
• Pirate 1: until Dora's guard is broken, attack with Triangle. Then use X.
• Pirate 2: same as above. At some point Dora will pick up one or two Pirates and hit you with them. They'll hit for quite a lot (over 500 HP), but the MagneticCoats will work wonders here, and he'll miss a lot. In the unlikely event that Fei dies, you can still continue the battle with the Pirates, which will deal around 140 damage per X attack.

20 minutes of cutscenes later you'll get...

Ship of Fools (10)
Survive your encounter with the Demon of Elru.

After that, you'll be prompted to save the game. For some reason the game has Bart and Citan as your characters now, so take this last chance to remove all of Bart's and Citan's equipment.

Lot's of things to do here. Ten minutes of cutscenes later, Fei will be in the joint, ready to receive his "baptism". Take this opportunity to remove Fei's EtherDoubler, as you won't need it here, and equip your strongest defensive equipment. Mine was an [Iron Mail]. Equip whatever else you wish. I had 2x Speed Rings.

The Baptismal Ceremony consists of 5 bosses, one of which you cannot win, so there's really only 4 bosses. There isn't much of a strategy when fighting them, just hit them with your strongest Deathblows, and heal if needed. For completion sake, here's how much HP they each have:

• Boss 1 - Leonardo: 500 HP
• Boss 2 - Heinrich: 500 HP
• Boss 3 - Vargas: 500 HP
• Boss 4 - Suzarn: 800 HP
• Boss 5 - Rico: 9999 HP (cannot be killed) - just keep defending until he kills you.

After Rico punches you into a coma, you'll get...

It's Not Your Khakis (3)
Become A Rank in Nortune fight blocks

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After a while you'll regain control of Fei. Jailhouse Rock (5) tracks 22 items in this section, which extends for quite a while, but there are more items in total than that. Just stick to Shotgunnova's guide and you'll be fine.

IMPORTANT: in the rooftop of your prison quarters, in the other side of the train tracks, there will be a dog barking and a prison guard walking around. Talk to the guard and he'll offer you to buy [Dog Food] that you can feed the dog with. Buy it (it's 5 G) but DO NOT FEED THE DOG WITH IT. The Dog Food is tracked for the Jailhouse Rock achievement, and if you feed the dog with it, you'll lose the item. Don't worry if you already fed the dog, though, as you can always buy more from the guard. Just make sure you proceed with the story with the Dog Food in your inventory.

To proceed with the story, go to the bar and talk to Hammer. He sells good equipment. Buy 2x Metal Helmets and 2x Metal Vests. Also buy a few Mentsols (IMPORTANT). Ten should be fine.

Attempt to leave the city then go back to the bar. Watch the cutscenes there, then go back to your prison chambers, where you'll reunite with Citan, who is a prison doctor now. He will attempt to remove your bomb collar. You can save before he attempts it. It doesn't matter if he succeeds or not, as this isn't tracked by any achievement, but if he succeeds, Hammer will buy it for up to 5000 G (if you're rank A in the Prison Baptismal). So do whatever you want.

More cutscenes will unfold and you'll be in your prison chamber. Go upstairs and Hammer will tell you that he's enrolled you in the gear battle championship. You can now leave the prison block and go to the gear battle arena (Imperial Capital C Block. Recreation & Battle Arena). Save your game, talk to Rue and tell her that you're ready. If that's your first time playing the Gear Battle minigame, play through the tutorial first.

Once you're ready, you may start your first battle against Ganador. Just keep your distance, don't get greedy and don't overuse Ether Attacks, or else your gear will overheat and you'll lose health. After a while, a cutscene will unfold, and Weltall will explode.

After you regain control of Fei, go back to the Battle Arena, win your 2 fights for the day, return to your chambers and sleep. Do the same in the next day, and win another 2 fights and go to sleep. In the next morning, Rico will come to talk to you about the mysterious murders that have been happening in the sewers, so you, Citan and Rico will have to go down there to investigate.

Everyone's favorite part! Not really. This place is horrible, and it has enemies that hit really hard. Take this opportunity to gain a few levels (remember to try to get as much Ether and EP as possible with Fei as you level up) and to learn Rico's deathblows (and even Citan, if you haven't learned any of his yet).

PRO TIP: in the first area of the Sewers, you'll run into a bug-like creature called 'Armor Wasp'. This fella has a move that lowers your ATK so that you'll hit for only 1 HP. This is the PERFECT opportunity to learn deathblows, as you'll be able to attack as much as you want without killing the enemy. So if you're trying to learn all of Rico's deathblows, run into a battle with them, and let them use this attack on Rico. You'll know your Atk is down when the message Atk DOWN" appears on screen (you don't say).

Then just keep defending with Fei and Citan and getting move experience with Rico. According to Fidormula's deathblow learning guide, a base Rico will need 37 TTSTT, 30 XX and 13 TSTTT to learn all of his level 6 deathblows. Maybe equip 2x Speed Shoes on Rico to speed this process a little bit. After a while, voilá:

Remember you can always simply leave the sewers and save and go to sleep to recover all your HP.

---

This place can be quite the maze, so I'll refer you to Shotgunnova's excellent map, which has all 13 item locations (marked from A to M) and places you need to check (marked with X in the max): https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/Shotgunnova/xenogears_nortune.png

I'll also leave here all enemy formations I could find in the sewers (EXP given considers a party of three characters). Some enemies start the battle not in full HP, and some of them can heal themselves to full HP.

First Area:

• 4x Hobgob = 60 HP each (653 EXP per character)
• 2x Armor Wasp = 77 HP each (586 EXP per character)
• 1x Armor Wasp = 77 HP (586 EXP per character) - for some reason a single Armor Wasp gives the same EXP as 2x Armor Wasp.
• 2x Acid Frog = 120 HP/150 HP each (590 EXP per character) - they may call more Acid Frogs if you don't kill them quick.

Second Area:

• 1x Rotten Sod = 650 HP (1827 EXP per character) - counters deathblows by absorbing HP. Can put your characters to sleep.
• 4x Acid Frog = 120 HP/150 HP each; 1x Mullet = 416 HP (2156 EXP per character)
• 2x Mullet = 416 HP each (1952 EXP per character)
• 2x Acid Frog = 120 HP/150 HP each (590 EXP per character) - they may call more Acid Frogs if you don't kill them quick.

Second Area after door:

• 3x Batrat = 150 HP (1799 EXP per character) - can cause confusion on your characters.
• 1x Rotten Sod = 650 HP (1827 EXP per character) - counters deathblows by absorbing HP. Can put your characters to sleep.
• 4x Acid Frog = 120 HP (total health 150); 1x Mullet = 416 HP (2156 EXP per character)
• 2x Mullet = 416 HP (1952 EXP per character)

Save your game before you fight the boss. Equip one of your characters, but preferably Citan or Fei, with a Cool Shade (IMPORTANT). Also, make sure you have some Mentsols on your inventory. If not, go back to your dormitory and buy a few from Hammer. The reason we need the Cool Shade and the Mentsols is because they heal Confusion status. When characters are confused, they may use Ether attacks randomly, which will block...

De Natura Sonoris (5)
Defeat Redrum in the Sewers without using ether abilities or deathblow combos.

At the start of the battle, Redrum will use Gel/Confusion, which causes confusion on 1 or 2 characters. Confused characters may use eventually use Ether Attacks, which will lock this achievement. That's why we equipped the Cool Shade, which blocks Confusion effect, and why we stocked up on Mentsols, which cure confusion effect.

So, here's the strategy:

Redrum = 4242 HP (17475 EXP per character).

• Round 1: use Mentsols on whoever is confused.
• Rounds 2 on: simply ravish him with your most powerful deathblows. Here's how much damage I was dealing per deathblow with my party:

Fei (lvl 38, 46 attack): minimum 333 per Ryujin (STX) - without counting the S and T damage, averaging 400+ per round.

Citan (lvl 35, 46 attack): minimum 296 per Renken (TSX) - without counting the T and S damage, averaging 380 per round.

Rico (lvl 33, 50 attack): minimum 330 per Fire Bomb (TSX) - without counting the T and S damage, averaging 400+ per round.

After a while he may start using 'Murder' on your characters, which will kill one of your characters and steal all their HP. You may revive them with items but I don't even bother. I just keep piling deathblows after deathblows until he's gone. It is helpful to have a calculator nearby to check how close he is to dying and maybe define if you want to revive a dead character or just go all in. This isn't a hard battle.

---

After a few cutscenes you'll be outside the sewer entrance. Go back to your dormitory and talk to Rico. Then you'll be back to your normal routine of going to the battle arena and fighting enemies there. If you want to, now that Fei's alone, you can go back to the sewers and demolish enemies there to receive massive amounts of EXP.

Save your game once you're ready to proceed. Go to the battle arena and beat 3 opponents. Then Hammer will congratulate you and ask you to save the game (maybe a boss is incoming?). After you exit the battle arena, some cutscenes will unfold and you'll end up fighting Wiseman. Doesn't matter if you kill him or not (it's one of those battles).

You'll regain control of Fei in your dormitory. Go to the battle arena and fight your last opponent, which is Rico. Beating him will award you...

Escape is Just the Beginning (5)
Win your freedom from the Kislev Prison.

After the cutscenes, go to Central District - Kislev's Kaiser Govt. building. Follow Shotgunnova's guide for item locations. You should get items 13 to 16 here.

IMPORTANT: once you get to control Fei, Citan and Rico inside the Kaiser's Wife's chambers, equip 3x MagneticCoats to Stier, and equip Stier however you like. This will be your only chance to prepare him for a boss battle we'll fight in a few hours. Be sure to pick up the Momento Locket here. It's your one and only chance. Also, by equipping the MagneticCoats to Stier, we'll be stealing the Frame HP50 he comes equipped with, which we may make good use in a few hours...

Outside, Rico will be taken by the police and you'll regain control of Fei and Citan. Go upstairs to the room where the Kaiser was playing organ and inspect his Metronome. It's time for us to get the dreaded...

Rhythm Master (25)
Finish the Metronome minigame 40 times in a row.

Basically the metronome will swing from left to right and your job is to make it stop right in the middle. THere are no shortcuts or easy way out, the only way to do it is to get good. After a while playing it you'll find what works best for you as far as timing goes. For me I listen to 2 Clicks then press X. So it's:

• Click ... Click . X
• Click ... Click . X
• Click ... Click . X

And so on. This might take a while.

Revisiting this achievement one year later to write this guide, I was able to get 25 in a row after a few minutes of practice with the Click... Click. X approach. So be strong and keep going.

---

You'll automatically go to Imperial Capital A Block and Hammer will approach you. After you regain control, drop down by the chimney so you can open a save point here. Outside, go to eastern end of the town and talk to Big Joe. Let him scam you for 5000 G. Yeah, you heard it right. You NEED to get scammed by him in order to get Can't Stop The Music.

IMPORTANT: to proceed with the story, you need to go to D Block, where you'll be approached by three of Rico's goons shortly after entering the town. However, once you do this, you'll never be able to return to Central District again! So if you did not complete the Metronome minigame yet and if you did not pick the items in Central District yet (except the Momento Locket, which you already cannot get anymore if you lost your chance, as explained above), refrain from entering D Block!

Anyway, once you're ready, go to D Block, talk to Rico's goons and learn about your new mission. We need to prison break Rico (and rescue Weltall)!

To proceed with the story, you need to sleep in your room. But you can take your time and go level up in the sewers if you want to.

By the way, I just made a test here and gave the dog food to the dog and the item tracker of Jailhouse Rock did not go down at this stage. So maybe after a while the game recognizes that you definitely got the dog food and stops tracking it? Anyway, just make sure you have 16/22 items here and you'll be fine.

Go to sleep, wake up, go outside and climb up the ladder just outside the prison dormitory. Jump up the boxes and talk to the Amazoness up the watchtower. Jump on top of the train and then jump over the train cars as they detach. You'll soon be in the Battle Arena Ventilation Shaft.

There are six items here, but none of them are tracked for Jailhouse Break, so don't freak out if the counter does not update after you pick them. Be sure to pick them all, though, especially the Beam Coat and the Frame HP 30.

Jump up and go to the West ventilation duct. Then go South til the end of the corridor, East and enter the door North. Enter the ventilation duct West. Continue West down the slope and go South on the bifurcation, then enter the door East. Then it's pretty much linear from here.

Below are the battle formations I found (EXP based on a 2 character party).

• 2x Batrat = 150 HP (1799 EXP per character) - can cause confusion on your characters.
• 2x Mechanic = 333 HP (850 EXP per character)
• 4x Hobgob = 60 HP each (980 EXP per character)
• 2x Swordsman = 140 HP each (1692 EXP per character)
• 3x Swordsman = 140 HP each (2538 EXP per character)
• 4x Swordsman = three of them will have 140 HP each, one will have 190 HP (2538 EXP per character) - same EXP as 3x Swordsman for some reason. Possibly only fought when you pick up the 'Minigear' item.

At the end of this area, you will find yourself in a gear hangar, where you'll reunite with Weltall. It's time to prepare for the next 5 boss battles, the first 4 of which you'll fight as Fei alone.

As per usual, your only means of damaging foes will be your Guided Shot. Now that you have the Power Magic, your damage will almost double. Unless you are MASSIVELY overleveled, like I was the first time I played this section (level 50, 43 Ether), you won't be able to one-shot, but that's not a big deal, as the first 4 battles will be one-on-one and you can comfortably kill all bosses in two Guided Shots.

Now that I revisited the challenge to write this guide, I'm at level 38 with 27 Ether, and I beat this part first try with no trouble.

Equip Fei with the EtherDoubler, Ether Stone (if you have it) and Step Shoes (for the boost in Evade). As for equipping Weltall, there are two approaches:

1. Power Magic, Frame HP50 (which you stole from Stier, remember?), Resp Circuit (can be bought in the automated Gear Shop in the dock) - this setup is recommended by XenoManx in his guide.
2. Power Magic, MagneticCoat, Resp Circuit - what I used.

Approach 1 makes up for the lack of Gear Response by having the Frame HP50, which will heal 900 HP when used. Approach 2 makes up for the lack of healing by having a MagneticCoat, which will help you evade getting hit by the bosses.

I personally prefer Approach 2, as I find that Swordknight R is very likely to kill you without a MagneticCoat, as he hits really hard, enough to surpass how much you're able to heal. Also, I've had much more success with Approach 2 than with 1. I had to try dozens of times until I was successful with Approach 1. Anyway, pick whichever you prefer.

Below you'll find our trusty Ether to Guided Shot table, assuming Fei is wearing an EtherDoubler and Weltall has a Power Magic.

Ether	Rankar (800 HP)	Aegisknight R (1600 HP)	Swordknight R (1800 HP)	Clawknight R (1500 HP)	Wandknight R (1800 HP)	Hecht (7500 HP)
20	780	820	820	820	820	660
21	825	865	865	865	865	705
22	870	910	910	910	910	750
23	915	955	955	955	955	795
24	960	1000	1000	1000	1000	840
25	1005	1045	1045	1045	1045	885
26	1050	1090	1090	1090	1090	930
27	1095	1135	1135	1135	1135	975
28	1140	1180	1180	1180	1180	1020
29	1185	1225	1225	1225	1225	1065
30	1230	1270	1270	1270	1270	1110
31	1275	1315	1315	1315	1315	1155
32	1320	1360	1360	1360	1360	1200
33	1365	1405	1405	1405	1405	1245
34	1410	1450	1450	1450	1450	1290
35	1455	1495	1495	1495	1495	1335
36	1500	1540	1540	1540	1540	1380
37	1545	1585	1585	1585	1585	1425
38	1590	1630	1630	1630	1630	1470
39	1635	1675	1675	1675	1675	1515
40	1680	1720	1720	1720	1720	1560

Boss: Rankar | 800 HP

• (Both approaches) simply use Guided Shot once and he's dead.

Boss: Aegisknight R | 1600 HP

• (Both approaches) use Guided Shot twice. Don't even bother boosting. His first attack will not damage you.

Boss: Swordknight R | 1800 HP

• (Approach 1) boost then Guided Shot or Heal as necessary. If you're low on HP on your turn as the boss is one Guided Shot from dying, just kill him already and hope for a first turn in the next battle.
• (Approach 2) use Guided Shot twice. Don't even bother boosting. Pray that his first attack does not hit you hard. He can hit you up to 4 times in a single round. If he nails all attacks, you're a goner. I had him miss the first 3 and hit the 4th for over 500 HP.

This is the hardest of the 5 bosses, as it's entirely luck dependent.

Boss: Clawknight R | 1800 HP

• (Approach 1) if you're low on health from previous battle, start by healing, then boost and Guided Shot or Heal as necessary. If you have less than 800 HP before your first Guided Shot, then heal. If you're low on HP on your turn as the boss is one Guided Shot from dying, just kill him already.
• (Approach 2) use Guided Shot twice. Don't even bother boosting. He may hit you twice in this battle, one before your first turn and another between your first and second turn. Pray that he misses. I had Fei enter this battle with 1270 HP and leave with 41 HP because the boss attacked me twice.

If you beat this guy, you can celebrate as the hard part is over!

Boss: 2x Wandknight R | 1800 HP each

• Rico will join you in this battle, so even if Fei is dying, you'll have Rico at full health, who can comfortably take both of them down.
• (Both approaches) Fei boosts then uses Guided Shots.
• Rico attacks with X and uses deathblows. A TT deathblow will hit for around 700 to 800 HP.

Cutscenes will unfold and you'll be granted the opportunity to SAVE! Do so, obviously, but save in a different slot, though, in case you forgot something.

For some reason, Weltall will be fully healed... Equip him with 2x Beam Coats and a Power Magic. Equip Stier with a Beam Coat and whatever. The next boss will literally only use Ether attacks, so Weltall with 2x Beam Coats will take 0 damage, and even Stier, with just one Beam Coat will barely take damage. Before proceeding, use an Omegasol on Fei, as he'll need it.

Boss: Hecht | 7500 HP

• Fei boosts then uses Guided Shots.
• Rico boosts and attacks with X and uses deathblows.

After some turns, she will call in a cannon that has 2100 HP. Simply ignore it and continue ravaging her with your Guided Shots. She won't have any chance to use the canon. Just so you know, if you take long enough, she will use 'Super Aerod/Beam Atk', which will hit for over 1000 HP even with 2x Beam Coats. Luckily, this won't kill you, and for her to even use this attack it took a lot of me just charging and doing nothing. That's why I can confidently say it's IMPOSSIBLE to lose here.

After you beat her, you'll get...

Tactical Nuke (25)
Defeat the Hecht convoy without upgrading your gear.

---

7 minutes of cutscenes later, you'll take control of Fei, Citan and Elly inside the doctor's house in Kislev A Block. Outside, go to the alley where Big Joe scammed you for 5000 G and you'll find...

Can't Stop The Music (3)
Find the M-Disk in Nortune District A.

This will be item 17/22. If you're not at 17/22 at this time, you messed up. Go back a few saves and try to find the item you missed.

---

Attempt to leave town by fighting the guards and Rico will show up and join your party.

Your next stop will be a Gear dungeon, so you definitely want to bring Rico with you. To switch party members, you need to go to the Wildcat pub, in eastern Kislev A Block, right next to the alley where you just got the M-Disk:

There, speak to the waitress right at the entrance and tell her you want to switch characters. Make sure to strip Citan and his gear for all of their equipment before you switch him for Rico, obviously.

Equip Weltall and Stier with 3x MagneticCoats each. Remove Fei's EtherDoubler, as Elly will now take the reins as your main damage dealer. Equip Elly with an EtherDoubler, EtherStone and whatever else you wish. Equip Vierge with a Power Magic, Beam Coat and a Def Circuit.

PRO TIP: in the world map, there will be a perfect opportunity to learn all of Elly's available deathblows at this time. First, have Elly get off of her gear, while Fei and Rico remain on their gears. Run around until you run into a formation of 4x Rain Frogs. Leave one or two alive. After every turn, they will cast 'Rain Call/Water Atk on All', which will heal themselves for more than you can hit with Elly, and at the same time deal very little damage to your characters:

This means you can just pretty much just complete all of Elly's move experience in a single battle. According to Fidormula's deathblow learning guide, a base Elly will need 37 TTSTT, 30 XX and 13 TSTTT to learn all of her available deathblows at this time.

Formation	Total Exp	Comments
4x Rain Frog (150 HP)	3540
4x Hobgob (90 HP)	1959
2x Pecking Duck (200 HP)	1224
1x Rhino (500 HP)	3360
2x Dwarf (500 HP)	1350	Forest only
4x Forest Elf (180 HP)	1152	Forest only

This is a very linear dungeon. Refer to Shotgunnova's guide for item locations. Items 18 to 22 are here.

You'll start with some fixed encounters:

Formation	Total Exp	Comments
3x HarquebusMK10 (400 HP)	9600	Use any of Elly's 2 EP Ethers to take them down. Rico can also take them down in one X attack.
3x NeoMushaMK100 (360 HP)	8964	Same as above.
2x HarquebusMK10 (400 HP)	6399	Same as above.

After you beat those, you'll start to run into random encounters again. When fighting packs of Mechanics, opt for Elly's 6 EP Ethers, as they hit multiple targets. If you're ever low on health, equip a Frame HP50 and use it. You can also run into a Mechanic formation and leave one alive, and they may start to heal you.

Below are all the enemy formations I found in random encounters:

Formation	Total Exp	Comments
2x Hatamoto Mk3 (640 HP)	10398	Use Elly's 2 EP Ethers and X attack with Rico.
2x HarquebusMK10 (400 HP/550 HP), 4x Mechanics (333 HP)	8598	Mechanics may heal HarquebusMK10 to their full health, 550 HP. Use Elly's area Ethers to deal with them.
1x Hatamoto MK3 (640 HP/800 HP), 4x Mechanics (333 HP)	8598	Mechanics may heal Hatamoto MK3 to their full health, 800 HP. Use Elly's area Ethers to deal with them.
3x NeoMushaMK100 (360 HP)	8964	2 EP Ethers with Elly, X attacks with Rico.
1x Shinobi MK0 (960 HP)	12000	Dangerous. Can kill Fei or Elly if they're low on health. Use 2 EP Ethers with Elly, X attacks with Rico.

As you proceed, you'll run into another 2 fixed encounters. You should already know how to deal with them by now.

Formation	Total Exp	Comments
2x HarquebusMK10 (400 HP)	6399
2x Hatamoto MK3 (640 HP/800 HP), 4x Mechanics (333 HP)	13800	Mechanics may heal Hatamoto MK3 to their full health, 800 HP.

Once you reach the last Save Point area, you'll find items 21 and 22 of Kislev, which will finally grant you...

Jailhouse Rock (5)
Obtain all items in Kislev.

---

Now equip EtherDoubler on Elly, save your game and let's go fight the boss.

Boss: Fis-6 | 6800 HP/10000 HP (22428 EXP per character)

This fight is a joke.

• Elly: booster and use any of her 2 EP (4 EP with the EtherDoubler) Ethers.
• Rico: hit him with X attacks and deathblows.
• Fei: nothing.

Elly's 6 EP (12 EP with EtherDoubler) will hit for slightly more than her 2 EP (4 EP) Ethers, but Elly has a chance to fail to cast the Ether successfully, which will only hit for 1/3 of its total damage. So opt for the 2 EP (4 EP) instead.

For reference, here's the base damage Elly will deal per her 2 EP (4 EP) Ethers, considering she has an EtherDoubler and a Power Magic:

Ether	Fis-6 (6800 HP)
30	1030
31	1075
32	1120
33	1165
34	1210
35	1255
36	1300
37	1345
38	1390
39	1435
40	1480
41	1525
42	1570
43	1615
44	1660
45	1705
46	1750
47	1795
48	1840
49	1885
50	1930

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We're not done yet. There's one more achievement we need to get to end this session.

Inside the Goliath, equip a Frame HP50 on Weltall and save your game. Talk to everyone. After a while, you'll end up fighting Grahf.

Boss: Grahf | 5000 HP (0 EXP)

Normally, this is one of those fights where it doesn't matter if you win or lose. However, you need to beat him for an achievement, and you need to beat him without Fei dying.

In the battle, Grahf will not lay his hands on Elly (I wonder why...), so Fei and Rico will be his victims. Super Guided Shot will hit for half of your Gear's HP, and his physical combo will hit for over 1000 HP. That's why we have Frame HP50 on Fei, which will recover 900 HP. So, your strategy here is, simply:

• Elly: boost then 2 EP (4 EP) Ethers.
• Rico: boost and try to attack if you can.
• Fei: heal immediately, then boost and keep healing when needed.

Below is the base damage Elly will deal per her 2 EP (4 EP) Ethers, considering she has an EtherDoubler and a Power Magic:

Ether	Grahf (5000 HP)
30	1310
31	1355
32	1400
33	1445
34	1490
35	1535
36	1580
37	1625
38	1670
39	1715
40	1760
41	1805
42	1850
43	1895
44	1940
45	1985
46	2030
47	2075
48	2120
49	2165
50	2210

You'll probably kill him in 3 to 4 Ethers.

If Fei survived, you'll get...

Draw Upon More Power (5)
Defeat Grahf on Goliath without Weltall HP reaching 0.

---

And finally, after some cutscenes, you'll finally get the final achievement of this part...

Bond of Sea and Flame (10)
Escape the continent of Kislev.

8 Minutes of cutscenes later you'll get to control Citan and Rico in the Yggdrasil. XenoManx's guide will tell you to buy a few D Circuits and 5 E Circuits (250 G each). The first improves agility in water, which is where we'll fight the next boss, and the second increases your EthDef. by 10 and your EthAmp by 4. This will make Elly much more powerful than she already is.

Go talk to Bart in the Bridge, then when you regain control of Bart, equip the 3x D Circuits to Brigandier, as this will be your only chance to prepare for a boss battle we'll fight in a while. Go talk to Rico in the Dock, near Stier, and finally talk to Citan in the Gear Shop.

More cutscenes and you'll control Fei and Elly in the Thames.

There are many items here, but none of them are tracked for achievement purposes. Be sure to take them all, though.

As far as achievements go, the only one we can get here is Men Of The Sea, which involves beating all 4 'Speed' combatants in the Thames. 'Speed' is a card minigame that involves both speed and luck. I won't bother teaching you how the game works, as the game itself does a pretty good job at it, but I will give you the most important hint you can receive: YOU CAN PAUSE SPAM DURING THE GAME. This way you can take your time to analyze your options.

The first two combatants an be found in the Supply Entrance (small kid at SW corner):

and in the Beer Hall (lone dude looking out the window):

The third combatant (Queenie) is at the Armor Ground, on top of a box:

Unlike the other two, this one is actually hard, and it can take several attempts until you defeat her. Luckily, you have infinite tries. Just be thankful that the game doesn't require something crazy, like beating her 5 times in a row, because that would be insane.

Once you're ready to proceed, go to the 4F-Deck and talk to the captain. Then go to the 3F-Beer Hall and talk to him again. Go back to the Bridge and watch the cutscenes. You'll fight a boss soon. Make sure Elly is equipped with an EtherDoubler and an EtherStone, and Vierge has 3x E Circuits. If you don't have E Circuits you can still buy them at the gear shop in the Supply Entrance. Just do not talk to your gears at the Deck, or else the battle will start automatically before you have a chance to equip them. Save your game before proceeding, obviously.

Boss: Haishao | 2800 HP

Elly will kill her in two 2 EP (4 EP) Ether attacks even if her Ether is as low as 30.

• Elly: 2 EP (4 EP) Ether attacks.
• Bart: Wild Smile then charge.

For completion sake, here's how much damage Elly will deal per 2 EP Ether considering she has an EtherDoubler and 3x E Circuits:

Ether	Haishao (2800 HP)
30	1490
31	1545
32	1600
33	1655
34	1710
35	1765
36	1820
37	1875
38	1930
39	1985
40	2040
41	2095
42	2150
43	2205
44	2260
45	2315
46	2370
47	2425
48	2480
49	2535
50	2590

---

More cutscenes and you'll control Fei at Yggrasil. At this time, you can defeat the fourth 'Speed' opponent at the Thames, Big Joe, who is talking to a woman at the top of Yggdrasil.

He is much easier than Queenie. Just keep your eyes open and pay attntion. After you defeat him, you'll get LongDarkCoat, a very good equipment that gives you +10 Attack and +10 EthDef., and, most importantly...

Men Of The Sea (5)
Win all speed matches on the Thames.

---

Go talk to Bart at the Beer Hall of the Thames then go to the Yggdrasil's engine room and watch the cutscenes there. Once you regain control of Fei and Bart, save your game.

IMPORTANT: go to Yggdrasil's gear shop and repair Weltall, Vierge and Brigandier, they are probably still weak from last battle with Haishao, and the game for some reason did not recover them automatically.

Go to the Infirmary room of the Yggdrasil. Soon enough the game will automatically go to the menu.

IMPORTANT: remove all of Fei's and Weltall's equipment, as Fei will be out of commission after the following bosses, and Weltall is just a dead weight at this point, so sending him completely naked to the battle won't matter at all. Also, give Elly an Omegasol to recover her EP.

Make sure Vierge has 3x E Circuits and Elly has an EtherDoubler and an EtherStone. Brigandier should have 3x D Circuits. Fei and Weltall should have nothing.

Boss: Bladegash | 3000 HP

• Elly: two 2 EP (4 EP) Ether attacks.
• Bart: cast Wild Smile.

Boss: Haishao | 4500 HP (can be healed by Myang for a total of 5000 HP

Miang's gear cannot be targeted, so just focus on ravaging Haishao with Elly's Ethers.

• Elly: 2 EP (4 EP) Ether attacks.
• Bart: cast Wild Smile and recast if Miang uses 'Remove status'. Use 'Ygg D. Charge' if you want to check out how that looks. It will deal enough damage so you can finish Haishao off with 2 of Elly's Ethers.

---

Fei is now in a coma, so Elly will be your main character (I wish that was the case for the rest of the game, to be honest). Go to the Armor Ground and watch a cutscene (my favorite soundtrack of this game will play here). Your next destination will be the Ethos Headquarters, but we need to take a little detour first. You can switch characters by talking to Margie in her room, by the way, but I just stick to Citan and Bart for now.

PRO-TIP: if you maintained Elly's and Vierge's equipment from last boss, you can demolish every single random encounter using Vierge's special attack 'Aerods'. If you're ever low on Fuel, simply go back inside the Yggdrasil and all your Gears' HP and Fuel will be automatically be restored.

PRO-TIP: in the Aquvy continent, go to where the land is brownish and try to get into a fight with the 2x Mammoth formation:

These enemies drop EtherStones! And you can easily dispatch them using Elly's Aerods! Be sure to grab a few. Any additional Ether is welcome in a no-gear-upgrade challenge. I got 4 here.

Go back to Nisan and buy more EtherDoublers (38000 G each). Two should be enough.

Go to the Ethos H.Q. Follow Billy into the infirmary. When you regain control of Citan and Bart, go upstairs and go to the last room to the North in this corridor. There, talk to the monk next to the door 11 times and exit the door (this is a little speedrunning trick. Otherwise you would have to visit all rooms of the HQ in order to progress the story). Elly will come talk to you, then you three will need to return to the Infirmary.

More cutscenes later, the three of you will need to go to Billy's Orphanage. Put Rico in your party, as you'll need it to get an item there.

Two achievements to get here, Etone for Your Sins and Chicken Walk, but you can only do the Chicken one at this time.

As soon as you enter, talk to the mutant kid inside the fenced area at the West end of the orphanage and agree to help him catch all chickens. There are three chickens roaming around the yard, and you need to talk to each of them to get to follow you back to the fenced area. They have short attention span, so after a few steps you'll need to talk to them again. Do this to all three chickens and talk to the mutant kid again. He'll give you...

Chicken Walk (5)
Recieve the Tag Badge.

---

You need to get three Books at the Orphanage in order to get the other achievement.

• Book 1: talk to the kid in the rafters of the kitchen (where Billy's at).
• Book 2: receive it from the kid in the bathroom (second Eastern door of the bedroom). Keep knocking on the door, leaving the room and walking in again. Repeat until he exits the bathroom and hands you the Book.
• Book 3: go to the first Eastern door of the bedroom (Primera's room) and talk to the kid on the bed. Rico must be in your party for this. The kid will give you the third book.

Talk to Billy in the kitchen and then go to his Study, where he'll emerge from behind the bookshelf. Small cutscenes later, exit the orphanage and you'll be back at the Yggdrasil. Go to the Gun Room and talk to Sigurd. Another small cutscene will play. On the next day, go to the Gun Room again and talk to Billy. He'll be at the Western end of the room.

After some dramatic cutscenes, Billy will join your party for the next dungeon.

PRO-TIP: for some reason, Billy's Square attacks are treated in the game as Ether Attacks, which means they are affected by Billy's Ether stat and, most importantly, by EtherDoublers! This is also applicable to his Gear. With this, you can deal massive amounts of damage by using the square button only. Only downside is, when Billy is not on his gear, his Square attacks are fixed as Wind (first Square attack) and Fire (second Square attack). So, if the enemies are strong against these attributes, his Square attacks won't be worth it very much. This is not the case for his gear, mind you, which is not elemental.

Take Billy, Elly and whoever else you want. This is a character dungeon with a gear boss battle, but the gear battle is extremely easy if you have Elly and Billy. As for the third character, I usually take Citan, but Rico should work fine as well.

Stock up on Omegasols with Maison if you're low on them. Also, if you don't have ANY Zetasols, make sure to buy a few from Maison.

This is an extremely linear dungeon. The items here don't count towards any achievement, but pick them all up, as always. Save before fighting the bosses. Equip all your characters with high Def equipment, as the next boss will hit hard. Elly and Billy should have EtherDoublers.

Boss: Bloody | 4242 HP

• Elly: hit him with Aqua Ice.
• Rico / Citan: build your combo and hit him with your strongest deathblows. As Rico, you can use 'Steel Fist' to increase your Atk.
• Billy: support by healing, resurrecting.

Boss: Giant Wels | 7000 HP

• Elly: Aerods.
• Billy: Square attack.
• Rico: probably won't even get a chance to attack.
• Citan: charge.

For reference, here's the base Aerods damage considering Elly has an EtherDoubler and 3x E Circuits:

Ether	Giant Wels
30	4125
31	4262
32	4400
33	4537
34	4675
35	4812
36	4950
37	5087
38	5225
39	5362
40	5500
41	5637
42	5775
43	5912
44	6050
45	6187
46	6325
47	6462
48	6600
49	6737
50	6875

---

After defeating the Wels, go back to Billy's Orphanage and put all three Books in the Bookcase in his Study. Open the treasure chest containing B&J M686 Gun, which will get you...

Etone for Your Sins (5)
Find Billy's secret stash at the Orphanage.

PRO-TIP: as pointed by user phiefer3 over at Gamefaqs Xenogears forum, "you can get infinite M686A ammo by simply equipping another handgun and then the M686 again, if you don't have ammo for the M686 it'll give you a free clip of M686A ammo (so hand onto his M10 handgun so you can do this trick)."

Now let's go to the Ethos H.Q.

No items are tracked. But pick all 3.

Computer Room. 5 minutes of cutscenes. Go outside. 5 more minutes of cutscenes. Fight a 3x Assassin (Type 1) formation. Proceed through the door, and... you guessed it, another 5 minute cutscene. You'll be prompted to choose your party with Citan as the leader. The next dungeon is a character dungeon, but in order to get A Pocket Full of Holes, taking Elly is almost mandatory. Billy should tag along as well, as he's your main healer at this point.

Boss: Tolone and Seraphita

• Elly: Aqua Ice on Seraphita (the red haired one), Terra Lance on Tolone (the silver haired one).
• Citan: use your strongest deathblows.
• Billy: support.

---

Go all the way back until the first save point and save your game. We're gonna do A Pocket Full of Holes next. Before you proceed, make sure you have equipped the best possible defensive equipment, as the next boss hits really hard. Here's my setup:

• Citan: Penguin Coat, Metal Helmet, StaminaRingS = 96 Defense.
• Billy: Holy Habit, Knight Helm, EtherDoubler = 92 Defense.
• Elly: Silver Beret, Metal Jacket, EtherDoubler = 86 Defense.

Make sure everyone is at full EP before proceeding.

Boss: Id | 3000 HP

The easiest way to defeat him without missing a single attack is by using Ethers exclusively. Therefore, Elly will be your sole damage dealer, while Billy and Citan act as support.

• Elly: use your 2 EP (4 EP) Ethers.
• Billy: Goddess Call on Elly and heal when needed. A Holy Light with an EtherDoubler will heal everyone to 100% of their health at this point.
• Citan: support / damage sponge.

This battle is not that hard as long as you keep your HP up.

If you manage to kill him with this setup, you'll get...

A Pocket Full of Holes (10)
Defeat Id on foot without missing an attack.

---

After short cutscenes, you'll be back at Yggdrasil.

IMPORTANT: SAVE YOUR GAME! If you go talk to Fei at the Hangar, you'll automatically get sucked into the next boss battle, which has the achievement Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People tied into it. You wouldn't want to do the fight with Id all over again, would you?

The next boss battle will be in Gears, and Citan will not participate. So strip all of his equipment, and equip Elly and Billy with EtherDoubler and 2x EtherStones each (if you only have 1x EtherStone, equip it to Elly). Renmazuo should have a Power Magic and 2x E Circuits and Vierge should have 3x E Circuits.

The Guns Don't Kill People achievement involve defeating the next boss without boosting or restoring health. Luckily, with the above mentioned setup, the fight is so easy he'll be lucky to last 2 rounds.

Boss: Alkanshel | 6000 HP

This boss fight has two phases. At first you won't be able to deal damage to him, so just Charge until a cutscene plays.

Once the battle restarts, violate him with Aerods and Billy's Square attack, without boosting, of course. It's incredibly easy. Once he dies, you'll get...

Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People (10)
Defeat Alkanshel without boosting or restoring health.

---

After the battle, more cutscenes will play, and you'll get...

This Godless Endeavor (10)
Learn the secrets behind the Ethos religion.

Your next objective is to scale the Babel Tower and talk to the folks at Shevat. There will be some very difficult achievements there and on the way there, so let's get ready for them first.

Your party should consist of Billy, Elly and Fei.

1. Buy 3x E Circuits and equip them to Weltall (remember that Guided Shots are Weltall's only means to deal damage in a no-gear-upgrade challenge, so having more EthAmp will massively improve his damage).
2. Go get some EtherStones fighting Mammoths in the Barren areas of larger Aquvy Continent. You'll be able to buy EtherStones in Shevat, but having a few extra ones now will help you on your way up there. I had 5. They also drop EtherStoneLg, which gives you +5 Ether. Sadly, it's only a 5% chance drop. If you got any, consider yourself lucky.
3. If you don't have at least 3x EtherDoublers, go get the remaining ones in Nisan (YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET THOSE).
4. If you need money, go fight Quadrafoots in the small patch of desert near Kislev, which have high encounter chance and will give 1000 G per battle, as well as drop MagneticCoats. Elly with 2 EP Ethers and Billy with his EtherDoubler square attack will one-shot them.
5. Stock up on Omegasols (99) and have a few Zetasols and Rosesols just in case (but you should have enough of them if you're playing the game normally). You can buy those with Maison in the Yggdrasil.

It's worth noting that, once you complete the first part of Babel Tower, you won't be able to go back to the open world for a while, and once you do, you won't be able to get items in Nisan anymore. Also, you won't be able to get That's What Friends Are For anymore, if, for some reason, you didn't get it when I told you to.

These are the ruins of the spaceship that exploded at the beginning of the game, by the way.

There are two achievements you'll get on your way up, and one more achievement at the top. I suggest you first play through the level normally, finding all 22 treasure chests (refer to Shotgunnova's guide for precise treasure locations). There'll be quite a lot of forced encounters here. See the tip below for instructions on how to deal with them effortlessly.

PRO-TIP: how to ANNIHILATE every single enemy in this area. Equip your characters as follows:

• Fei: EtherStones (if you have extras). Don't worry about EtherDoubler for now, as it's overkill. Weltall: 3x E Circuits.
• Elly: 3x EtherStones (if you have extras). Don't worry about EtherDoubler for now, as it's overkill. Vierge: 3x E Circuits.
• Billy: 1x EtherDoubler, 2x EtherStones. Renmazuo: 1x Power Magic, 2x E Circuit.

Your strategy will be the following in all battles:

• Elly (will likely get the first turn): 2x EP Ethers.
• Billy: Square attack.
• Fei: Guided Shots.

No enemy will ever hit you if you follow this simple strategy.

It should be noted that Elly can also one-shot all enemies at once with her Aerods, but that's just a waste of 400 Fuel. Stick to the strategy above and you'll be fine.

So, back to the walkthrough. Get all 4 treasure chests in the flooded room. Get used to this area. Practice your jumps here. You'll need it.

Once you go up the rope, you'll need to get off of your gears and enter the human sized door nearby. Grab the item there and examine the computer in front of the chair that's on the "wall" here. A transport shuttle will appear. Save your game.

IMPORTANT: this is the actual point of no return to get the Nisan items and for leaving to the world map in a long while. Once you go down to the transport shuttle, that's it. You can't go back anymore.

Enter the transport shuttle and grab the 4 items there. Equip Elly with an EtherDoubler before you turn the transport shuttle on, as you'll get sucked into a boss battle with Ramsus.

Boss: Wyvern | 5000 HP

This battle is so pathetic Ramsus might very well go home and press charges. One Aerods (with an EtherDoubler) and he's gone. If you forgot your EtherDoubler, then 1x Aerod and 1x Square attack with Billy should do the trick. If you're somehow weak enough that even that didn't kill him, and Fei's Guided Shot will do it.

Save your game if you want, and enter the only passage that's open. There are no fixed encounters here, so we're back to random encounters. Despite that, stick to the strategy I recommended and you'll have 0 problem dealing with them. Feel free to remove Elly's EtherDoubler, as that's overkill. Make sure to grab all 8 treasure chests here.

PRO-TIP: once you get to the room with the big computers where you unlock the door to the next section, practice exiting out of there in only 4 jumps for a while. It'll be helpful for the next achievement we'll do.

Next, when you get back outside, hop on your gears again and practice getting out of the well in 2 jumps.

Keep on going until you reach the place with a suspended circular bridge, and

[Nothing But Thieves (5)](https://retroachievements.org/achievement/119520)
_Find all item boxes in Babel Tower._

The Secret Place (5)
Find the Secret Shevat Apartment.

Ready Chu Rumble (5)
Defeat Achtzehn in Shevat with Chu-Chu.

Rock the House (5)
Obtain the RPS Badge.

Bride in a Torn up Wedding Dress (5)
Receive Alice's wedding dress.

Secret Agent Man (10)
Reach Margie in less than 5 minutes without being spotted by patrolling guards.

Sandstone Town (5)
Obtain every item in Bledavik.

One Jump Ahead (10)
Reach the top of the Babel Tower in less than 48 jumps.

Heavy Armored Soldier (10)
Defeat Seibzehn using nothing but physical attacks.

City in the Sky (5)
Obtain all items in Shevat.

Blue Sky Mine (25)
Protect the Shevat generators without upgrading your gear.

Inner Universe (25)
Obtain all of Fei's deathblows.

Samurai Dawn (10)
Obtain all of Citan's deathblows.

Crimson Blitz (10)
Obtain all of Elly's deathblows.

He's a Pirate (10)
Obtain all of Bart's deathblows.

The Thing That Should Not Be (10)
Obtain all of Rico's deathblows.

Billy's Got a Gun (10)
Obtain all of Billy's deathblows.

The Last Fatima (5)
Take back the throne from Shakhan.

Fight Fire With Fire (10)
Defeat Crescens using nothing but ether attacks.

Wavering Reflection (10)
Obtain all of Emeralda's deathblows.

Short Skirts (1)
View the Final Fantasy VII reference.

Creeping Through the Sewers (5)
Get through the sewers of Solaris only fighting 1 battle.

In a Prison of Peace and Regret (5)
Get the treasure in the large prison without fighting a single Wels.

Floating in Bliss (10)
Obtain all items in Solaris.

Lost... Broken Shards (10)
Fight your first Omnigear.

Suicidal Lunacy (10)
Beat Vendetta without taking damage.

Caught Somewhere in Time (5)
Obtain all items in Anima Relic 1.

It's Morphing Time (5)
Defeat the Elements.

It's a Long, Long, Crawlway (5)
Obtain all items in Anima Relic 2.

Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean (5)
Obtain the Trader Card.

One Who Bares Fangs at God (10)
Win your first battle against Grahf's gear.

Out of My League (10)
Defeat Amphysvena and Opiomorph without restoring fuel, health or EP.

The Beginning and the End (10)
Complete the events at Merkava.

Eternally Connected (10)
Complete the events at The Site of the Zohar.

Juke Box Hero (5)
Uncover the jukebox in the Snowfield Hideout.

The Doll House is Empty (5)
Win an Elly Jr. Doll from Kanna.

Buried in the Snow (5)
Obtain all items from the Snowfield Hideout.

One Sided Fist Fight (10)
Win a match on the Battling Contest on hard without taking damage.

Repent, Regress (5)
Win a 3-round match in the Battling Contest on hard with El-Regrs.

Silver Thunderbird (25)
Unlock Argento for use in the Battling Arena

Genetic Emancipation (5)
Find out what lead to the fall of Zeboim.

Silent Ruins (5)
Obtain all the items in the Lighthouse.

October Mermaid (5)
View the scenes that led to Emeralda's birth.

The Treasure Which Cannot be Stolen (5)
Obtain the Mermaid Ring.

We Will Embrace Your Move (1)
View a message left for Emeralda.

The Sands' Secrets (5)
Obtain every item in the Duneman Isle

The Dragon's Awakening (10)
Obtain a character's ultimate equipment from the Dragon.

Caution Drop (5)
Get through both falling segments in the final dungeon without getting hit.

Speed of Life (10)
Get through the final dungeon in less than 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Wretched Weaponry (5)
Obtain every item in the final dungeon.

Beelzeboss (25)
Defeat every boss in the sphere room with restrictions (see comments).

Roar of the Earth and Heavens (25)
Beat the game.