Thousand Arms missable achievements guide - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki
Set developed by Altomar, guide written by benit149
Hello, and welcome to my missable achievements guide for Thousand Arms, a turn-based Playstation 1 JRPG developed by Red Company and published by Atlus, with artwork done by Yuuya Kusaka. Compared to other PS1 JRPG giants like Final Fantasy VII, Xenogears and Suikoden II, this went way under the radar and is considered more of a curiosity game than a classic. I played this when I was younger and found its style both colorful and appealing, although some elements clearly did not age well.
You play as Meis Triumph, a Spirit Blacksmith in training who is forced to leave his comfortable lifestyle behind and journey around the world to retrieve the five Sacred Flames before the Dark Acolytes do. To improve his training, he must come closer with women by going on dates with them to increase his ‘intimacy level’, which is fortunate for him since he is a massive womanizer and will chase any female down. The story uses the concept of spirits living within items and weapons, which is derived from the Japanese concept of tsukumogami, where household items and tools that reach 100 years of age acquire a spirit and can behave irrationally if they feel they are discarded.
Thousand Arms is a blend of traditional turn-based combat and dating sim elements, with Meis being able to date nine different girls (4 party members, 5 specific NPCs) to increase his affection with them. Partnering with them while smithing a character’s weapon will make it stronger and allow that character to use better spells and some special attacks. This may sound daunting at first glance since you have nine girls to date, but the game is as cookie cutter as they come with its 1990s character archetypes, so it’s not too hard to figure out what responses each girl likes and dislikes. Seriously, this game has more cheese than the likes of the two Lunar games, Grandia, or Rogue Galaxy.
Before going into the missables, I’ll cover some basic gameplay concepts and tricks to help you get started.
Combat
Unlike typical JRPG parties where multiple characters participate in battle, you do form a party of three, but it’s then split into two formations; Frontline and Backline. Only one ally can be in the frontline, and they will be responsible for doing damage with their weapon or offensive magic, and taking physical hits themselves. The other two allies are in the backline, and are able to use spells or items, remain on standby, or switch with the frontline character, but cannot fight with their weapons or use offensive magic. Backline allies can also take damage if they suffer from a targeted spell, an AoE attack or an AoE spell, both of which bosses love to do. Meis’ unique command Summon can only be used on the frontline - this is the same for everyone else’s Specials and Nelsha’s Outfits. Backline characters can also perform support actions like cheering for the frontline character, or taunting enemies to apply debuffs to them. This only occurs if they are in Standby mode. This is completely random, so expect anything to occur during a battle.
The trick with this combat system is holding a backline character’s action when they’re ordered to perform a healing spell or to use an item. Timing is essential in this game, and having a strong AoE heal at the ready will be beneficial for when you inevitably sustain a ton of damage from a devastating attack. Attack items known as Bottles are also important since their damage scales up with a character’s Magical Attack stat. Thus, more magically inclined characters like Sodina, Kyleen and Nelsha benefit a lot more from being in the backline, whereas their utility as frontline fighters is very poor.
It won’t be enough to just wait for a character’s gauge to fill up – you actually need to hit the corresponding button for them to perform their action. The frontline character’s action is performed with the X button, and canceled with the Square button. Likewise, the backline character’s action is performed with the Circle Button, and canceled with the Triangle button.
A generic Instruction Guy will come along and explain some of these basic mechanics to Meis in Boyzby, so be sure to pay attention to him since you haven’t done any fighting thus far at that point in the story.
Something to note with swapping characters in the middle of battle is that they are flat-out removed from the combat party, reducing your numbers for the duration of the fight. This will be necessary to know for one late-game boss challenge.
Spirit Forging
This is how you’re going to improve your repertoire of spells and special attacks, as well as your weapons’ offensive and defensive power. You will meet nine females throughout the game who can be dated in towns, and you need to respond to their questions in the way they prefer in order to increase their Intimacy Level, starting at 1 and ending at 10. Each girl is assigned an element between Light, Fire, Water, Wind and Earth, essentially denoting the type of spells they will offer at higher levels. Your four female party members cover every element except Water. Sodina is the only character representing Light, and the same with Wyna representing Fire.
Dan Simpson’s mini-guide covers the basics like what spells and abilities are available at what levels, dating mini-games, and rusty weapon forging (a different mechanic I’ll cover shortly), while his main guide handles the story walkthrough and specific answers to dating questions. Note that while it’s pretty easy to raise Intimacy Levels, it’s actually quite difficult to lower them. You would need to deliberately choose bad responses to questions and/or fail mini-games repeatedly before you’re successful with lowering it. I would suggest holding off on dates until you at least get Wyna as a party member. You don’t really need anything besides higher attack power until around that time.
To forge better weapons, find a blacksmith’s shop like the one you’ll see in the first town Boyzby, then select a girl, followed by the weapon. Forging using a currency called Elemental Spirit (or just Spirit, represented as MP in-game), and obviously the higher the girl’s Intimacy Level, the more expensive it will be to forge spells and abilities. Considering that you have seven party members, perfecting everyone’s weapons will take some time, but you only need to acquire all 56 spells with Meis’ weapon for A Touch of Magic. Start small and work on basics like healing and attack spells, farming for MP and boosting everyone’s weapons with a particular girl before proceeding to increase her Intimacy Level with a date.
Whenever your party members gain levels, you can also return to the forge and increase their weapon’s level to match, regardless if there are any spells/specials to learn or not. Make frequent visits if you’re grinding for levels, since character levels alone will not get you through this game. One time for funsies, I actually tried getting as far into the game as I could without forging, and it lasted until I reached the major boss in Mounthand, so this mechanic is indeed crucial for keeping your characters on par with the bosses.
Females to Date
You’ll encounter a large cast of females for Meis to take on dates. Your four party members can be dated in any town, but the other five girls must be dated in the town they live in. Every girl also has a favorite dating spot which is a factor in increasing their Intimacy Level. The towns of Hatoba, Burutto and Zozotto have no favorite dating spots. A second factor is obviously answering their questions right, but a third one is giving them gifts they like, and a fourth is playing their mini-games well. Of the five town girls, Marion is the only one available to date by default. You will need to scope out the other four on your own. Metalia will be the hardest one to find since her window of availability is incredibly short, and she is only available in Disc 2.
Take care when encountering thieves or Poor Damashi during regular encounters, because they WILL steal these dating items, and many of them only exist once! Make frequent saves when traversing any locations where they are found, and reset if you lose something extremely valuable. These guys will be noticeable because they have a different combat theme from regular enemies. It isn't a game-ender if they do steal something since you have loads of opportunities to improve Intimacy Levels with dates and mini-games, but if it's something you're absolutely saving for someone, be careful.
The girls themselves and their characteristics as as follows, with their representative element in brackets:
Sodina Dawnfried (Light): the main heroine of the game, and owner of the title of Silliest Character Design (in my opinion, anyway ^^), Sodina is a girl from the town of Boyzby who lives with her brother Jyabil, another Spirit Blacksmith like Meis. After certain events in Boyzby, Sodina joins Meis on his adventure to retrieve the Spirit Flames before the Dark Acolytes can get them. Sodina is a classic waifu through and through – loves cute and girly things, and chastises uncouth behavior. She prefers any type of Ribbons and Bells, Comic Book, Coral Brooch, Music Box, and Potted Plant as gifts. Her favorite dating spot is the airship landing pad in Boyzby.
Wyna Grapple (Fire): The daughter of Grapple, Chief of the giant sailing vessel Langoud. Wyna is the tomboy of the bunch, loving spicy foods and acting very masculine. She doesn't even mind inappropriate behavior like burping or farting. She likes to receive Tool Kit, Dumbbell Set, Sweatband, and Leopard Bag as gifts, and her favorite dating spot is the banquet hall in Langoud.
Kyleen Nelphe (Wind): A thief from Sharan who used to be the leader’s daughter, but her family was forced out by the criminal Lavantis. Despite her appearance as a thief, Kyleen is the high-maintenance woman, always demanding for expensive gifts like jewelry and cosmetics. She likes to receive Pearl Necklace, Silver Choker, any type of Earrings, Fine Bag, Fanny Pack, and Yellow Purse. Her favorite dating spot is at the fountain in front of the mansion in Sharan.
Nelsha Stylus (Earth): A girl training to be a Dress Master, she is able to change her entire appearance and personality by switching her outfit due to the Spirits imbued within her clothes. Despite her child-like appearance, she is far older than she looks, being well over 130 years old. Kind of a dodgy way to get around some squick context there, Red Company… Her default appearance as a timid and mentally-regressed girl likes Big Teddy Bear, the regular Teddy Bear, Sewing Kit, Frog Story, Toy Horse, and Bear Costume as gifts. Her favorite dating spot is at the window on the second floor in Myscatonia Library.
Mil Wind (Earth… no, I’m not joking): An intelligent and bookish girl from Kant, the same town that Meis lived in. Despite her love for studying, she is quite sharp-tongued, and is intrigued with his perverse behavior enough to essentially stalk him. She says that following him around was her inspiration to pursue mathematics, but I’m not so sure about that… You can’t help but feel creeped out by a line like, “If something happened to you, who am I supposed to observe!?” Mil is easy to find in Kant since she’s standing in front of the town square’s tree. Mil obviously likes Math Book, Physics Book, Experiment Kit and Backpack as gifts. Her favorite dating spot is the large tree in Kant, making her the easiest girl to farm kisses to exchange at Smoochy’s shop.
Marion Shoumock (Wind): The Gadget Master who lives on Mounthand, the train that cycles around the continent of Tradguld. To be able to date her, she needs to tell Meis that Mounthand is fully fixed after some story events occur. This happens automatically, so you don’t need to go out of your way to look for her like the other town girls. Marion is colorful in every way, from her personality to her choice in attire, and she has a special inclination for anything themed after frogs. She likes Funky Shoes, Tool Kit, Experiment Kit, Frog Story, Frog Costume, Toy Frog, and Pet Frog as gifts. Her favorite dating spot is the control room in Mounthand.
Palma Esterte (Water): One of five identical-looking (quintuplet?) priestesses who live on the Langoud, providing energy to the ship’s main reactor through her prayers. To find her, go to Langoud’s reactor room and speak to the priestess on the far right. Be sure your answers are geared towards liking cleanliness, having frequent baths, and fighting for world peace. Here’s one of my major gripes with this game’s flagrant misogyny – Palma is absolutely obsessed with cleanliness, to the point that it’s flat-out OCD. The game plays it as comical, but I hardly see it as such. Regardless, Palma likes Bath Salts, Toiletry Kit, Wash Cloth Set, and Silk Kerchief as gifts. Her favorite dating spots are either of the control tower observation decks (the two outdoor areas with telescopes) in Langoud.
Kyoka Mahoroba (Water): Soushi’s younger sister, Kyoka is a bona fide yamato nadeshiko - a traditional Japanese girl who is shy and reserved, but does not like her brother’s lecherous behavior despite being clueless about Meis’. To find her, complete all of Wano’s story events, then go to the tavern in the eastern part of Boyzby and speak to her. She prefers Japanese-themed gifts like Tea Set, Bamboo Hairpin, and Simple Purse. Any purses, combs and hairpins will be acceptable, although she didn’t like Classy Comb for some reason. Her favorite dating spot is Amigo Tavern in Boyzby (the tavern in the west of town).
Metalia (Wind): She is the cool and mysterious mature lady who lives in the ancient library Myscatonia. She is the only character who cannot be dated in Disc 1, and the time that she’s available is extremely limited. I have provided detailed directions late into the guide so I don’t spoil anything here. She likes to receive jewelry as gifts due to her status as the Jewel Master, so items like Gold Hairpin, Gold Earrings, Pearl Necklace, and Diamond Ring will work. Her favorite dating spot is the main hall in Myscatonia Library.
Rusty Weapon Forging
Throughout the game, you’ll be visiting Spirit Forges for story purposes. However, their usefulness isn’t quite over just because the plot said so. You can find Rusty or Vintage weapons throughout the game, but they are useless on their own. Simply go back to a Spirit Forge and leave that weapon there for a long time to fortify it into something more powerful. The earlier you do this, the better. If you leave it until later, these weapons will not be as powerful as your regular weapons forged at higher levels. It takes about 11 or 12 hours for the process to complete (it may even take a few hours longer), so either doing this while progressing the story, doing dates, grinding, or just sleeping will be beneficial. Make a note of which weapon you left at which Spirit Forge, and at what time.
The weapons you get and their corresponding character are as such:
- Rusty Sword: Meis
- Rusty Axe: Muza
- Rusty Katana: Soushi
- Rusty Knife: Sodina
- Rusty Stick: Wyna
- Blunt Sword: Kyleen
- Rags: Nelsha
I think those are all the basics you need to know to get started. The rest will come with experience. Now I’ll get into the missables themselves. There will be story spoilers going forward. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading here.
MISSABLE ACHIEVEMENTS
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Following the Family Recipe (3)
Comfort the mysterious beauty and attract unexpected company, OR Put the family precepts into practice, what could possibly go wrong?
These two are mutually exclusive, so you need to pick one, then immediately reset to get the other. This begins right when you’re going through the prologue, and you would need to do it twice to get both of these. This option comes up when Meis is speaking to a brown-haired girl (Mil) while fleeing from Kant:
- See a babe, charm her!
- Triumph Family Precepts, Chapter 11
Pick the first option, and the achievement Knight in Shining Armor will pop. After that, reset and pick the second option to get Following the Family Recipe.
For the achievement House Call, which is to find all 10 Elemental Spirit spots in Kant, you will need to revisit here for at least one spot in a house due to the cutscenes forcing Meis out of the town and into Boyzby’s events for the next while. The other nine spots can be found during Meis’ initial escape. You can go back to Kant anytime you want by heading northeast from Boyzby. Kant is immediately northwest of Mist Valley. None of these are missable if you would like to save this for later.
Find every hidden Elemental Spirit in Boyzby (counter only work there)
You need to find 19 items within the town. Altomar was gracious enough to provide a checklist for all of the items found in towns and dungeons, so as long as you use it, you shouldn’t have any trouble clearing this. Towns don’t have treasure chests, but do have innocuous spots where Spirit can be found, so look under the “Elemental Spirit” tab for Boyzby’s checklist. You can finish this right when Jyabil gives Meis his first task of finding a mineral to repair his broken sword. The cutoff point is completing Mist Valley, where Meis and Sodina follow Schmidt there.
Excluding the airship port, Boyzby is split into three screens – left, middle, and right. The checklist calls them 1st screen, 2nd screen, and 3rd screen respectively. The left screen has the first tavern Amigo and Sodina’s house; the middle screen has the Supply Shop and Inn; and the third screen has the second tavern Roberre and the entrance to the airship port. Clicking on the correct spot can be a bit finicky due to the 2D sprites running around on a 3D space, but keep trying and you’ll find it. I also recommend opening the town map with the Triangle button, as the camerawork is quite haphazard and can lead to you getting lost at times.
This achievement is considered missable because while the majority of the town’s Elemental Spirit spots can be found at any time, the ones in Jyabil and Sodina’s house will be lost for plot reasons.
Defeat Scimitar Crab at the Ruins of the Spirits without restoring any HP with Meis
This isn’t too hard. Since the achievement set has no level restrictions, you can grind Meis up as much as you want before attempting this boss fight. The dungeon also has a rest area with enemy encounters enabled, so you can use it as a free grinding spot. I leveled up to level 6, and the boss did a critical attack on Meis for 33 damage. Ouch! I suggest you reach the same level to avoid a scare like that. A few swings of your sword should finish it otherwise.
Earn the maximum forging score while crafting the Lady's kitchen knife at Boyzby
Remember what I said in my opening spiel about tsukumogami misbehaving if they feel they are being discarded? Well here it is in action. Jyabil will send Meis on an errand to deal with a woman’s kitchen knife going berserk, and Sodina accompanies him. Since you only get one shot at this and you can’t go to the world map to save, head to the inn first and make your save there before attempting this. The knife needs to be calmed down with five good whacks of Meis’ sword, which is easier said than done. The first two hits will be simple enough, but it will start to glow green on the third hit and start to do more fake-outs. The pattern is indeed the same every time (personally tested this myself), so 22Peppermint’s suggestion will work:
- No fake out (FIRST HIT)
- Turns around
- No fake out (SECOND HIT)
- Stop and go (THIRD HIT) (it also speeds up after this hit)
- Turns around
- No fake out. (FOURTH HIT)
- Turns around
- Stop and go (FINAL HIT)
Accept the Glamorous Lady customer's invitation and overstay your welcome
When Jyabil sends Meis on an errand to deliver a pot to a lady, go to the middle screen and find the woman standing outside her house just east of the bridge to the town’s exit. Your response doesn’t matter, though the second one is more comical. After Sodina leaves, enter the house right away to watch a small cutscene, netting you this achievement.
Earn a rare gift after making a great first impression at Port of Hatoba
You’ll be free of missables until you reach a port town called Hatoba. Make a save at the hotel before attempting this. You’ll be going on a mini-date with a green-haired girl wearing a red poncho who is standing at the pier looking out to the ocean. This is Kyleen Nelphe, one of your future party members. Upon talking to her, select, “Sure!”, then answer her questions correctly according to the dating FAQ. Apparently she gives you something if she’s satisfied, but I’m not positive on what it is.
Defeat Jeala before the Dark Master in Volcanic Island
A little while later, you will be encountering Schmidt, a.k.a. Dark Master (real creative name there, dude), along with his assistant Jeala. During the boss battle against them, the intention is to defeat Dark Master and force them to retreat. DM has 760 HP, while Jeala has about five times as much, though there isn’t any concrete information as to what the actual number is. I would estimate anywhere from 3500 to 4000, so aim for that. Some older guides say she has infinite HP, but that’s obviously false if this achievement exists.
The keys to victory will be grinding for levels to boost your allies’ weapons, allowing you to fight Pirate Orcs more efficiently to get Thief Rings as item drops. These can be sold for a whopping 2100 GG at the supply shop, which in turn allows you to buy loads of Hi Potions and elemental bottles (Fire Bottle, Geo Bottle, etcetera). Be sure to keep 40 GG on hand for inn stays. Since the damage of these bottles scales with your characters’ magical attack stat, throwing these at Jeala will be your best bet for cranking out damage. Set either Muza or Wyna as the frontline character and have them Defend, while Meis and Sodina are in the backline and are busy either throwing bottles or healing. Note that different bottles have different attack ranges; Fire Bottles and Wind Bottles are AoE, while Spark Bottles and Geo Bottles are single-target.
You’re given the option to form your party before the fight starts. I grinded my characters to the level 21-22 range before starting. For my attempt, I used Muza as the frontline character, with Sodina and Meis in the backline in that order, so I’ll use this setup as my example. I found that Jeala was a bit more susceptible to Geo Bottles, dealing anywhere from 38 to 57 damage at level 22 for Sodina, and I had 16 on hand, so that was about 650+ damage right there. I essentially did the same with Spark Bottles to reach around 1300 damage total.
The interesting thing about the Heal spell is that you’re able to target enemies with it, since it works the same as in the Final Fantasy series where healing magic damages the undead. Thus, you can afford to use the AoE bottles so long as you keep Dark Master healed. I still would stick to just buying a ton of Geo and Spark Bottles to make your life easier. Like, easily 50+ of each plus 50 Hi Potions if you want to be absolutely, 100% safe going into this. This battle may not be dangerous, but it sure takes a long time to whittle Jeala’s HP down. There have been reports of others’ games crashing during the fight, so gain some additional levels if you want the bottles to output more damage, thus cutting down the playtime and risk of a crash.
Why am I suggesting you use bottles instead of magic? Jeala has a spell that can cause Silence for all allies if it hits them. Stocking up on a load of Hi Potions can get around this as well for healing. Otherwise, it’s all about your high-HP character tanking DM’s hits with Defend while your backline characters get cracking with bottles. DM only does physical attacks or blocks attacks, while Jeala can use a defense down debuff on your frontline character, silence everyone, or a groovy-looking single-target attack. None of these are a threat whatsoever. Neither enemy ever heals, so at least you don’t have to worry about Jeala screwing you over.
It will happen eventually, but Jeala will be kneeling on the floor when she’s at low HP. Don’t let up! It’s not over yet! She’ll really go down when she’s knocked onto her back and disappears, with a notification saying, “Enemy defeated.” With Jeala gone, you’re free to lay the smackdown on DM at will. The real kicker with all of this? Not only does DM get away with the Holy Flame, you don’t even get experience points for all of this, and there’s another major boss coming up shortly. Bugger…
I made saves before and after the fight as a precaution, since the next boss challenge is right after this one and I didn’t want to potentially screw myself.
Defeat Bolt with Wyna as your front-line fighter without recovering any HP
Bolt has 800 HP, so you’ll want to defeat him ASAP with your most hard-hitting attacks. No pre-battle prompt will show up to allow you to arrange your party, so be set up prior to initiating the fight. The trouble with including Sodina as a backline character is that her cheering will heal Wyna’s HP, which invalidates the achievement. However, this only occurs when the backline characters are in Standby, so if they’re casting magic or throwing items, you can potentially sidestep this problem. I went with Sodina and Muza as my backline characters since Sodina could throw bottles, and Muza had HP to tank Bolt’s AoE attack.
There’s no rule saying that Wyna has to be the only one dealing damage, so she and Sodina were responsible for damage output. I applied Might Guts to Wyna once before setting her loose on the boss. Bolt appeared to be susceptible to Wind Bottles, so have some of those on stock. He will do a single-target attack, defend, or an AoE special that deals about 45 damage to everyone. If you see the word ‘Special’ in the enemy’s window, have Wyna defend as soon as she can, though it’s not the end of the world if she takes the full brunt of the attack. Having my characters around level 21-22 for the DM/Jeala challenge was sufficient enough to withstand this battle as well.
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere (5)
Earn a Hi Elixir from Marion in Mountain Hand Factory
Continue with the story until Meis is escorting Marion through Mounthand in pursuit of Bandiger. You’ll be dealing with a lot of traps in this dungeon, and a short scene of Meis getting angry will ensue, followed by two options. Choose, “Wow! Talk about traps in this maze,” to receive the Hi Elixir from Marion.
Defeat the Dark Master without damaging him while he is defending at Cloud Manta
You can relax with missables for the next while as you’ll be going through the rest of Mounthand as well as Wano (no, not the Wano of One Piece fame) until Dark Master kidnaps Sodina and takes her aboard Cloud Manta. Come on, did you really think Sodina wasn’t going to be a damsel in distress? Anyway, plunder Cloud Manta of all 20 treasures, save, and confront DM. What you’re looking for is DM’s tactics window to either say Attack, Special or Spell before attacking him. Do not strike him when it says Defend, or you will invalidate the achievement! If it does say Defend, hold your character’s attack until DM’s command switches to something else.
To get this done quickly, have Meis summon Aquoon and Fiednod, then swap him for Muza and have him use Twister Blade before finishing with some regular attacks. Since I didn’t do any dating yet and didn’t have more special attacks than those, I had Wyna throwing Hi Potions or using Heal to keep the guys topped up. As long as you get those big attacks off correctly, DM should go down in no time.
Defeat Lavantis with Kyleen as your front-line fighter while your back-line party remains on standby
You’ll be recruiting Kyleen as your sixth party member, and she needs to be in the frontline prior to initiating the fight with Lavantis. Your backline allies are only allowed to use the Standby command, which means they will at least be cheering or taunting. Put your highest HP allies in the backline, which will most likely be Muza and Wyna, since Lavantis has an AoE attack that you want them to tank. If you’re trying to get every spell for Meis, Kyleen will most likely join the party at Intimacy level 2, so you’d want to get it down to level 1 so he can learn Wind+.
I did some additional grinding to get Kyleen to level 30 so she had about 550 HP and a slightly stronger weapon. I also had a bunch of Hi Potions on hand since I was avoiding dates in my run as much as I could until I recruited Nelsha, but your situation may be different. Having Heal+ (Sodina Intimacy Level 4, or Kyleen Intimacy Level 3) is not a bad idea if you’re short on Hi Potions. Equip Kyleen with the Speed Bracer to improve her already-high speed stat, and she’ll be squeezing in two turns for every one of Lavantis’. Even if her turn gets reset from an attack, it won’t matter too much.
For offense, Kyleen’s magic is actually better than her physical attack, so if you got Wind+ for her and are stocked on Hi Potions, go ahead and use it. Otherwise, you could save her EP for Heal+ and replenish it with Elixirs. I had a bunch of bottles on hand, so I threw everything I had at him and healed with Hi Potions. If you want to keep your backline allies alive, have Kyleen heal them. It’s up to you if you want to do that or dedicate your resources to just her. I did so that everyone could gain the EXP at the end of the fight.
Learn your father's philosophy on becoming a Spirit Blacksmith
Anytime after defeating Lavantis but before speaking to Metalia for the first time in Myscatonia, head to Sharan’s tavern and speak to Cliff Triumph there. This is missable because Sharan goes boom at the end of Disc 1, meaning this mini-event will be permanently lost if you don’t do it. Cliff will be in Burutto after this occurs, but this specific cutscene will not occur there.
Defeat MountHand Wire while limiting each front-line fighter to 6 damaging actions and using no items from the back row
This refers to the second encounter with Wire, not the first one that precedes this. I tallied his HP and did 2748 damage with Muza’s regular attacks, so aim for about 2700 HP. You don’t want to spend your big attacks on this phase, but Wire can still be nasty with his AoE attack. Even with my characters’ levels in the late 30s, I still had to consume my one G Potion to heal everyone because he just would not stop using it.
When I was doing my no-dating run a couple of years ago, I had to give up and go on dates to acquire better spells because of Wire’s second boss battle. He is one nasty mofo, and it’s all because of his ability to paralyze multiple allies. This is a dangerous status ailment that you want to cure with Hi Antidotes as soon as possible. It gets worse – if all three allies are inflicted with paralysis, it’s a game over. I didn’t see any accessories that protected against this, so you will need to tough it out and/or cure it. I bought 3 Power Bracers in Sharan after defeating Lavantis so that the prices were lowered, and these simply increase offensive power.
I also bought Teleportums in Sharan to be able to warp to different towns later on. Note that you can’t teleport to Sharan and Zozotto directly, and Rockbit is treated as a dungeon. To get to Sharan, warp to Juke Pt. and take the cable car up. For Zozotto, go to Burutto and head north into the forest, then take a specific path through. Rockbit is in the center of the continent where Mounthand’s track circles around.
The restriction for this achievement is to have your participating characters only do 6 offensive actions each to Wire, for a total of 18 attacks allowed. It’s a rush-down fight, but you also need to be careful with how you manage your healing. While the backline characters can’t use items, the frontline character can, so resort to Potion EX if you need to heal since Hi Potions will not be able to keep up with the damage. The backline characters can use spells however, so any healing magic you have will be acceptable for this challenge. I kept track of Wire’s HP again and did 2948 damage to defeat him, so my assumption is that he has the same amount of HP between both forms. Keep track of how many times your frontline character attacks as well – I actually lost an attempt because I miscounted Muza’s regular attacks. Obviously, watch out for when Wire is using Defend, and don’t attack until it changes to Attack or Special.
I was essentially challenging myself to see if I could defeat Wire without raising Intimacy Levels for better spells, and under this new restriction as well. It was a lot harder due to only having access to the pitiful Heal, but Potion EX is much better anyway. Having the Power Bracers helped, and I grinded my best characters to around level 37 or so to improve their HP pools. I used Muza, Meis and Wyna (in that order) since they had the highest HP to take the constant hits, then used all three of Muza’s Twister Blades and did two regular attacks with Might Guts applied before swapping him for Meis. From there, Meis did two Fiednod and one Aquoon summons for the victory.
Defeat Bandiger in the Rockbit Mine
You’ll encounter Bandiger in Rockbit Mine, who appears to be suffering from sticky fingers after seeing some diamonds and has turned his sights on Meis’ party for some bling. You have the option to decline fighting him, but you want to select, “Are you out of your mind?” to trigger this missable boss battle with him. He has more HP compared to his fight in Mounthand, but he is no more difficult than he was then. Waste him and move on.
Open the treasure chest before helping the girls in the Rockbit Mine
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Help the girls before opening the treasure chest
These two achievements are mutually exclusive, so you need to save and do one, then reset and do the other. Shortly after defeating Bandiger and heading further into the mines, an earthquake will occur and the three female party members will fall through a hole. Meis will rescue them, but there’s also a treasure chest nearby. Simply open the chest before talking to the girls in one attempt, then reset and do the opposite in the other. Backtrack to either the world map or Rockbit’s inn to save before this. The girls’ reactions will be different depending on when you open the chest. If you speak to the girls before opening it, the first girl you talk to will like Meis the most, the second girl will like him a bit, and nothing will happen with the third girl.
With the Langoud repaired, you’re free to explore the ocean. You want to go to the western continent to progress the story, but you could take this time to backtrack to the Sacred Altars and deposit some Rusty Weapons for fortifying. You can’t access the one on the island that Kanouha was imprisoned on, but you can reach the ones in Lucent Cave, Volcano Island, and Rockbit Mine. You’re able to fortify Meis, Sodina, Wyna and Kyleen’s weapons at this time, so having one or two of them equipped with their Vintage Weapons and a third character with their regular weapon for magic would work. Note that each weapon apparently has different amounts of time it takes to completely fortify them, as while I had Kyleen’s weapon finished in about 12 hours, Sodina’s took a few more hours longer than that. There’s no concrete information on what the actual times are, so all I can tell you is to just keep waiting or use fast forward.
The stats you get from the Vintage Weapons are fantastic for this part of the story, boosting Attack and Defense substantially, but the trade-off is that you can’t use any spells that have been forged onto the character’s default weapon. For instance, Sodina’s A. Heart gives her 304 Attack and 121 Defense, whereas her S. Knife forged at level 41 gives her 173 Attack and 61 Defense. Likewise, Kyleen’s Gale Epee gives her 308 Attack and 120 Defense, whereas her Rapier forged at level 39 gives her 158 Attack and 57 Defense. Quite a difference, isn’t it? To reach those stats with your regular weapons, the characters would have to be about level 65+, which actually isn’t too hard to reach in this game.
Nelsha’s School Girl outfit is the exception to the rule, as it’s not a weapon in itself. Rather, it’s a new special attack that she can access, renamed as Outfits in her combat menu.
Muza’s Rusty Axe is found in Honey Manor where Ratchet is fought, while Soushi’s Rusty Katana and Nelsha’s Rags are both located in Myscatonia, if you want to plan ahead for fortifying them.
Defeat Ratchet with Nelsha as your front-line fighter
Nelsha is a mandatory inclusion in this fight, so put her as the frontline character when the prompt comes up before fighting Ratchet. This member of the Evil Mecha 5 is not an easy boss. In fact, she’s as much of a startling difficulty spike as Wire was, and a thousand times more annoying in both personality and attacks. She has a couple of hard-hitting single-target attacks that can easily do up to a third of Nelsha’s default 614 HP, plus an AoE attack that can inflict paralysis on everyone. Don’t forget that all three allies being inflicted with it will cause a game over. It’s not a high likelihood that someone will be paralyzed, but I did lose an attempt to this condition, so don’t ignore it.
If that’s not bad enough, Ratchet is fast! She can easily get two specials off for each one of Nelsha’s attacks and/or your backline’s healing. Even worse is that if Nelsha is KO’ed during this fight, the challenge will fail. This is perhaps the harshest challenge of the entire achievement set due to Nelsha’s poor starting stats versus Ratchet’s onslaught of attacks.
There are four things you need to do to manage this fight; have lots of healing, keep plenty of Hi Antidotes on stock, use a Holy Book on Nelsha, and know when to cancel turns. A Holy Book can be bought in Zozotto, and it raises physical defense for a single character. Since Ratchet absolutely loves to spam her special attacks, it will be difficult to time when Nelsha can get any attacks in. There is a noticeable pattern where Ratchet will do about two or three specials, an attack, defend, and maybe an attack or special after that, though it’s not exactly a guaranteed pattern. If you maintain a tight defensive during the special spam, you can recover during the attack and defend phases. Cancel Nelsha’s turn ASAP if you see that Ratchet is about to do a special and Nelsha is in the middle of an attack cooldown. If Ratchet is defending, do some attacks as well – every point of damage counts. It gets more complicated because one of Ratchet’s single-target specials will cause confusion, so if it happens to Nelsha, don’t bother wasting time curing it and just stick to healing her.
Your backline characters are doing nothing but healing Nelsha. Always have a healing spell/item at the ready. It gets so much worse because if the character you queued a heal winds up being paralyzed, tough luck. They will either need to be cured or wait it out. Ratchet is absolutely relentless, so you need to stay sharp at all times and react to what she’s doing. Don’t be surprised if this takes you a few attempts due to either being overwhelmed or RNG screwing you with triple paralysis.
Since I was personally challenging myself with the date-less run until officially recruiting Nelsha, this was significantly harder for me because I didn’t have good spells to help me out. What I outlined above is what I used to get through this. Your case may be different if you’ve gone on dates and have good magic. I also gave Meis and Sodina their Vintage Weapons to vastly increase their defense, allowing me to not heal them as much so I could concentrate on keeping Nelsha alive. If I had fortified Wyna’s weapon, I would have used her instead of Sodina, but I pulled through regardless. I started with 73 Hi Potions and ended with 39, so that’s a good indication of how tough this fight is.
After this fight, you’ll be going through Myscatonia’s secret passage to gain access to the front door. Once that’s done, you could go further in and talk to Metalia, who will dump some lore regarding the bad guys. During this time, Sharan will actually be attacked, permanently changing its town state. The fountain in front of the mansion will be lost, which makes Kyleen’s favorite dating spot missable. There is nothing in the achievements associated with taking girls to their favorite dating spots, but if you want to work on Kyleen’s Intimacy Level, this is your last chance to use her preferred spot in Sharan before it goes boom. I personally took this time to work on dates to get spells now that my date-less challenge was over, along with fortifying the remaining weapons while grinding for levels and MP.
Answer Muza's question correctly in Myscatonia Library and receive an Elixir EX
Be sure to make a save in Myscatonia before speaking to Metalia for the first time. It’s pretty easy to mess up both this achievement and the next one, which happen back-to-back. After Metalia’s lore dump about the bad guys, Muza will ask Meis how many times he’s said that the party should go to sleep. Respond with, “Wasn’t it three times?” Muza will say you’re right and give you the Elixir EX he “just picked up”. Whatever, dude…
Witness Muza's disastrous attempt to woo Wyna
Very shortly after the previous achievement, Soushi will say that Muza went out to get some fresh air. Go outside the guys’ room and head to the right. You’ll be forced into a cutscene involving Sodina, Kyleen and Nelsha, then continue heading right over a small bridge and up a bunch of stairs. At the top, another cutscene will play out between Muza and Wyna, getting you this cheevo. If you go back into the guys’ room and choose to go to sleep, you will miss this. This is the final achievement before the switch to Disc 2.
Can’t Resist a Pretty Chest (5)
Collect every treasure in Death Crimson
While this achievement is not marked missable, I do believe it is since you can’t go back inside the Death Crimson after the party rams it into Dianova. It’s not a long dungeon, but the initial area with the hallways can be confusing for finding the first three chests. I made a mini-map of the area in the achievement’s comments to ensure you don’t get lost.
Defeat Bearing with Muza as the frontline fighter after reducing his HP to exactly 1
First boss challenge of Disc 2, and already it’s a doozy. Place Muza as your frontline fighter, and be sure to protect your allies from paralysis during this fight. So how are you supposed to get Bearing down to exactly 1 HP when you can’t see the enemies’ health bars? Not to worry, there’s a mechanic involved here where Bearing will perform an attack that also damages himself. This attack cannot kill him, so he’ll stop taking damage once he reaches 1 HP. Take care to heal Muza from paralysis though, since one of Bearing’s special attacks can cause it.
I had grinded like crazy to work on forging weapons and dates, so my entire party was level 99 going into this. This may not be the case for you, but the strategy is the same regardless. You can have Muza attack Bearing to get his HP down, but stop once he’s in his weakened animation. Bearing will perform a special attack where he rushes into the center of your party and blows himself up, causing anywhere from 14 to 20 damage to himself. Note that Wyna’s taunt can reduce the damage this causes, so maybe don’t include her in your party. In my first run that failed, I tallied Bearing’s HP at 4069 and overshot it. Thus, use attacks and/or spells to get him down to just around there, then wait for him to use the self-destruct attack enough times until he no longer takes damage.
In my successful attempt, I whittled him down with attacks and self-destructs until he was at 3983 health before he stopped taking damage, then struck him for the last 1 HP. Thus I ended with Bearing at exactly 3984 HP. I’m not sure if it’s the same for everyone or not, so some clarification would be helpful. As long as you’re patient and use a calculator, you’ll get this one no problem.
Defeat the Dark Master and Jeala simultaneously with Meis as the only party member
You have the chance to set your party after the cutscene with Dark Master and Sodina, so make sure that Meis is the THIRD character in your roster! If he isn’t, the challenge will fail. What you’re doing is having the first two characters switch out of the battle right away so that Meis is the last one remaining. From there, it’s simply all about using summons, AoE spells, or a mix of Fire and/or Wind Bottles to hit both opponents. Since I was so over-leveled, I literally two-shot them with an Aquoon and a Golda summon. Yay for JRPG power-leveling! If that’s not the case for you, keep Meis healthy and go crazy with the summons. Use the weaker ones before landing the decisive blows with Golda since he’s the strongest Elemental Beast you have.
Collect every treasure in Dianova
I didn’t put this achievement before Two For One because you’ll be collecting 19 treasure chests before fighting Dark Master and Jeala. You’ll be continuing with the dungeon afterward for the remaining 12. Get them all before initiating the battle with Shaft.
Defeat Shaft with Nelsha as your front-line fighter while your back-line party remains on standby
Unlike with the Ratchet challenge, your backline characters cannot do anything besides use the Standby command. Also unlike the previous boss, you’ll have plenty of time to get Nelsha’s stats up to snuff with the rest of the party. There are two problems with this fight; paralysis, and a new status condition called control. It’s no different than confusion, where the afflicted character will just attack the enemy automatically, but you can’t input commands for Nelsha until it wears off on its own. You have to wait for paralysis to go away as well, so this will be a slow fight. Otherwise, it’s a one-woman show of Outfit uses, attacking, defending and healing.
Kind of a shame that Sodina wasn’t the character for this challenge so she could get some payback for Shaft killing Jyabil. Oh well, it is what it is.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
The story sequence of going to the Moon is the game’s point of no return! You can defeat Shaft and complete Dianova, then go to Star Plateau and exit out to the world map, but do not progress the plot any further than that! If you have not completed everything else yet, DO NOT overwrite your save file here! Have a backup file ready in case you want to save for the upcoming boss challenge!
I repeat, THIS IS A POINT OF NO RETURN!!
If you’re looking to date Metalia but aren’t sure when it’s available, first defeat Bearing in the Death Crimson, then have the party ram it into Dianova. At the entrance to the dungeon, immediately return to the world map by heading southeast. Dianova will be available as a warp point, so you can go to Myscatonia. Just interact with the Goddess Statue and Metalia will be available as a dating option at any time after this.
If you want the entire party together and have all town girls available, rescue Sodina from Dark Master in Dianova, then backtrack ALL the way to the entrance and warp out. It’s better to get all of the treasures and defeat Shaft so you don’t have to backtrack through that nightmare of a dungeon. That is your absolute final opportunity to complete any content you haven’t done thus far. If you defeat the Guardian and go to the Moon, you are locked into the endgame and cannot return.
Defeat the Guardian before he can summon Odnis Organ
The Guardian on Star Plateau will start off by defending a lot, so you’re supposed to put up defensive measures before he can summon the sixth Elemental Beast, Odnis Organ. You want to defeat him before he ever gets the chance to cast it. I tallied the damage I did to him at 6078 HP, so while I’m not positive on what his health actually is, at least that’s enough to defeat him. Using Meis’ summons and everyone else’s specials is the way to go here. No time for buffing or healing – you’re rushing him down ASAP. If you think your damage output isn’t sufficient enough, do some grinding. At level 99, Flareniel and Golda summons were doing well over 1000 damage each.
Defeat the Dark Emperor Medeus with the final summon delivering the final blow
Meis absolutely needs to be in the party for this fight, or else the challenge will fail. He’ll acquire an even more secret seventh Elemental Beast that is available exclusively for the final battle, and you want to use it as the killing blow on Medeus. If you’re at expected levels for the endgame, fight this battle as if it were a prolonged regular fight – plenty of AoE healing, strong attacks, and keeping an eye on the boss’ health before going for the summon. Medeus has four phases, and you’re supposed to do this challenge on the very last one, where he appears as a white face surrounded by red swords. I counted the damage and got 20,395 HP total, so I assume he has 20,000 HP, which is a huge step up from previous bosses.
The most dangerous attack that Medeus can get off is one where he encases all three allies in blue crystal for a couple of turns, dealing a portion of damage to everyone each time. He also has another AoE attack plus a single-target.
CONCLUSION
What a blast to the past this was. I played it in the early 2000s and didn’t mind the cheesy humor and cliché plot too much, although I had some issues with the obvious misogyny being implied, along with how painfully one-note the characters tended to be. I did like the bold character designs and Yuuya Kusaka's art style, although I still find Sodina’s outfit a little ridiculous. Cute, but a far cry from practical. This was a heavily requested game on RA, and Altomar truly came through with devv’ing the set for it. I am thankful that he did, and I in turn hope that this guide will help you deal with the missables.
Happy cheevo hunting, and eat that elephant one bite at a time! See you in the next one!
- Benit149, August 2026