Capítulo 1 - The Meager
The game begins at Orbonne Monastery. A band of enemy
knights shows up, and you have to fight. This battle
is pretty much automatic. Gafgarion and Agrias will
take care of most of the enemies. Just throw stones
at the enemies for a couple turns. Afterwards, Delita
will capture Princess Ovelia and flee. Ramza then has
an (extended) flashback about Delita.
%%%CHAPTER I: THE MEAGER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza's days as
a Hokuten Knight-in-training. You (Ramza) and Delita
will be at the academy in Gariland, where you receive
the assignment to defeat some thieves in the town.
You are automatically joined by four squires and two
chemists, then the first battle begins. See "Battle
Strategies" for tips on the battles.
After you win the battle, you will go to the map
screen. If you lost any characters in the fight, go
to the Soldier Office and recruit some new ones to
replace them (or just reset the game). This is the
only time you should use the Soldier Office -- if
you lose anybody later in the game, you're better
off resetting.
Buy some Potions and a few (1-2) Phoenix Downs
and head west to Mandalia Plains. As soon as you
leave the city, you'll have a flashback (yes, a
flashback in a flashback) to the death of Ramza's
father Balbanes. After that sequence has ended,
you'll move on to the Mandalia Plains. Here,
you'll meet Algus. Choose to save him, then beat
up the enemies while protecting Algus.
Back on the map, go on up to Igros Castle. You'll
have a brief chat with Dycedarg, then you'll be
sent to go to find Marquis Elmdor. Buy new equipment
(if there is any; I can't remember) and stock up on
Potions. You may want to gain some levels on the
Mandalia Plains before proceeding (BTW, you don't
have to deploy Ramza during random battles, if you
didn't know).
Head down to the Sweegy Woods at complete the
battle there. Before proceeding, make sure all your
troops have the Throw Stone and Dash abilities.
When you get the JP, pick up Accumulate, Move+1,
and Counter Tackle. Ramza can also use the Yell
ability, which you'll want to get as well. Chemists
should have Potion and Phoenix Down. All the
condition-curing items are useless (except Remedy);
don't bother learning them. Also, having Algus learn
a basic Black Magic spell would be useful. AVOID job
changes at this time.
As soon as you enter Dorter Slums, you'll enter
a pretty tough battle. If you don't win, that's okay
-- try again, or build up your levels first. Upon
your victory, you'll be able to visit the town. Buy
new equipment and stock up on items. You'll want
at least 10 Potions and 4 Phoenix Downs. Again,
you may want to build levels before proceeding to the
next battle. When you're ready, go on up to the
Zeklaus Desert, where you'll have a battle at Rat
Cellar. After you win, you'll rescue the Marquis.
Return to Igros Castle. Dycedarg will send you
south to the Thieves' Fort. Thieves' Fort is
easier than Sand Rat Cellar, so you shouldn't have
any trouble. Following the battle, there will be
a cutscene at Igros in which Teta (Delita's sister)
is kidnapped.
Strip Algus of all his equipment, as he'll be
leaving your party shortly. Go back up to Igros.
A series of scenes will follow in which Ramza and
Delita decide to rescue Teta, and Algus leaves.
At this point, you'll probably want to start
changing Jobs, if you haven't already. If any of
your characters can become Monks, do so; they're
very strong fighters. Ramza I would recommend as
a Knight. It would also help to have a Black
Mage and Archer. However, you will still want to
have a healer, so give one of your characters the
Item ability and the Chemists' Throw Item support
ability (so your items have a longer range).
Make sure to buy equipment for the new jobs!
Return to Gariland. While you're here, buy
plenty of Potions (12 or so) and Phoenix Down
(6 should be sufficient). Go north to the
Lenalia Plateau. You'll have another battle
against Miluda (Wiegraf's sister). After the
battle, check your item supply. If it's sufficient,
just go on ahead to the Fovoham Plains. If it's
not, go back to Gariland, but you might have a
random battle on the return trip.
At Fovoham Plains, you'll square off against
Wiegraff and his Chocobo Boco (from FF5). This
battle isn't too difficult if you have good Jobs.
Again, if your item supply is okay, you can
continue directly on to Fort Zeakden, the final
battle of the chapter, where you'll have to fight
Algus. You will need non-basic Jobs (particularly
a Monk and Archer) for this battle. If you need
JP, go to Sweegy Woods or the Mandalia Plains and
fight random battles.
At Fort Zeakden, you'll find Teta being
held captive by a Golagros, a Death Corps knight.
Algus and Dycedarg arrive with some troops, and
Algus shoots Teta and Golagros. You then fight
Algus. After you kill him, the fort will blow up,
and the chapter ends.