Every guide I’ve found which tells one how to access the Ruin Depths in the Calm Lands is wrong! They all show some elaborate method for unlocking it which includes sending L5 birds 1, 2, and 3, then 2, 3, and 4, then 1, 3, and 4, then 1, 2, and 4, after sending 4 of each previous level out. And they always insist that you must send them ALL to the Calm Lands.

Here’s why it’s bullshit:

1. You can send them anywhere you’d like.
2. You need only send four of each level (maybe fewer, I haven’t tried fewer) – once the four L5s return, exit and reenter the ranch. Boom – the Depths are now open.
3. Only Chocobos with max potential will work, so if your Chocobo can’t get to L5, it’s pointless to dispatch it, but don’t release it because it still helps to keep the runners from running away.
4. You also only need to fight 7 battles between batches.

Notes about acquiring access to the ranch:

1. If you don’t help Cassie catch a Chocobo and subsequently fight the Chocobo Eater in Mi’ihen Highroad in chapter 1 and talk to Clasko in Mushroom Rock Road in chapters 1 and 2, you won’t be able to access the Chocobo Ranch because he won’t be in Mi’ihen Highroad in chapter 3, so you can’t pick him up to take him to the Calm Lands.
2. If you don’t pick him up from Mi’hen Highroad in chapter 3, you won’t be able to access the Chocobo Ranch.
3. If you don’t take him to the Calm Lands in chapter 3, he’ll jump ship in chapter 5 and head for the Calm Lands himself, so as long as you get him on board, your set.

World of Final Fantasy is an installment in the long running cash cow that is Final Fantasy. From Square|Enix. In this post I will share some insights. PS4 version.

• It’s basically a rip-off of Pokémon.
• Easy EXP
  • The Undead Princess — 45,194 EXP
    • Find Undead Princess in Ice Region and talk to her. She’s right outside the inn. You may need to unlock her by fighting her in The Girl’s Tea Room first. Throw curatives on her. An X-Potion is an instant kill. A Hi-Potion is 1,000 HP. Cure and Cura scale with your Magic stat. Sadly, you cannot throw a Phoenix Down, Phoenix Pinion, or Mega-Phoenix on an enemy. You can also Imprism her with Light Magic.
      • Note: if you fight her in The Girl’s Tea Room, you will get very little EXP.
      • Note: you have to switch to the Classic menu so you can target her.
      • Note: Regen does not hurt her.
  • Cold, Hard Justice — 152,000 EXP
    • Later on toward the end The Girl Who Forgot Her Name has this Intervention quest in which you fight Shivalry and Golden Flan aka the Big Jiggle. Both are worth 75,600 EXP. Plus, you also get an Ice Spellstone, a Mega-Phoenix, and a Solid Frigicite.
      • Note: there is no break between fights.
  • Postscript dungeons in The Girl’s Tea Room — >100,000 EXP
    • These dungeons contain powerful teams of Mirages worth a lot of EXP. High-level Bahamut should have no problem in them.
      • Tip: stay near the Save Crystal (or under it) at the end to keep your HP/AP full.
  • Postscript Dungeon 1 — Boss Shivver Stack — 210,480 EXP
    • She drops 2x Mega-Phoenix and 1x Arma Gem.
  • Postscript Dungeon 2 — Boss Rairamuh Stack — 213,000 EXP
    • He drops 2x Mega-Phoenix and 1x Arma Gem
  • Postscript Dungeon 3 — Boss Gleefrit Stack — 207,120 EXP
    • He drops 2x Mega-Phoenix and 1x Arma Gem.
  • Postscript Dungeon 4 — Boss XG — 200,000 EXP
    • He drops 1x Megalixer and 2x Arma Gem.
    • Note: there are no random encounters in XG’s chamber and no Joyriding allowed.
  • Strategy is the same for all:
    1. Approach the boss.
    2. Use high-level Bahamut. Hit with Flare twice, Attack twice, then Defend until your XP goes warning or critical, then hit with Megaflare.
    3. Save.
    4. Return to title.
    5. Continue to game.
    6. Repeat from step 1.
  • Note: whether or not you survive the battle, you should Return to title and Continue; otherwise, you’ll be hoofing it all the way through the dungeon to get back to where you were.
  • Note: Mega Mirages need only be summoned in order to maximize their EXP gain. Just release them without taking any actions, then you can immediately summon a new one since you will still have full AP–assuming they don’t get one-shot right after being summoned, in that case, you lose all your AP and that Mirage gets nothing from battle, so it’s a bit of a gamble at first. Good for power-leveling Mega Mirages.
• Any fight in The Girl’s Tea Room can be fought repeatedly for free after the first paid fight. Though, the loot isn’t as good as the first time, but you get EXP, loot, and money.
• You need to talk to The Girl Who Forgot Her Name again after Intervening in order to collect your reward for said Intervention (select “Intervene”, then the quest) or you can collect it from Miniventures on the Adventure Log.
• Characters from all over the franchise can be found somewhere in Grymoire and are usually Champions which utilize one of their special moves from their respective game.
• You can skip scenes by pressing Options then Triangle.
• You can’t remove Reynn or Lann from her or his stack until after you finish the Postscript (true ending) a second time. You get a new Intervention quest after beating Brandelis the first time. Once you do that quest and fight him again, Enna Kros, the Human Keeper, will Imprism Reynn and Lann–since they’ve both taken a permanent vacation to B’s world–allowing you to now remove them from their stacks and even your lineup.
  • There are caveats:
    1. If either are out, you cannot summon any Mega Mirages.
    2. Only they can summon Champions.
    3. Only they can Imprism Mirages.
    4. Their respective Mirajewels will not be active.
• Your HP increases as you level up, but your AP does not.
• You cannot summon a Mega Mirage when you’re Unstacked.
• You can stack the same S Mirage on both Lilikin and Jiant form which means you only need six to fully stack your team. Two of each size.
• Mirages with SUPPORT abilities, such as Flutter, Chill, and Joyride, need only be in your lineup to use their ability in the field. They do not need to be stacked.
• If you’re having trouble in the Colosseum, you can’t escape; however, you can attack yourself to hasten the suffering. When you lose, you lose nothing but the time you spent in battle and any Mirages you Imprismed, but you do get to keep any Prisms you were given and Libra is permanent.
• You don’t need to return to a Miniventure quest giver after completing his or her quest (excluding the kid who wants to see your Mirages), you need only collect your reward from the Adventure Log.
• Travel Gates (Examine them) and Save Crystals (just walk through them) will automatically heal you.
• Transfigurations can only be done from the Prism Case or while using the Seraphone.
• If your lineup is full, any newly Imprismed Mirages will go straight to the Prism Case.
• Inactive Mega Mirages in your lineup get the standard 8% of the EXP haul unless you use them, then they get about 14%+… so… use… them.
• Fast Forward mutes all dialog and any battle vocalizations.
• You break HP and damage limit right out of the box.
• Mirages continue to accumulate SP even if they are not in that form. For example: Searcher will continue to gain SP even if mastered Death Searcher is its current form.
• You can fast-travel almost anywhere from the World Map–anywhere but Nine Wood Hills.
  • Note: if you use the map to fast-travel, you may be put in a location other than near the gate. For example: Cornelia will put you at the bottom of the stairs close to the exit to Cornelia Region.
• PASSIVE stats on the same Mirage from the same group also affect the active form of said Mirage. For example, stats from Mishiva also affect Bablizz and vice versa.
• No matter how much AP Bahamut has (at least 1), you can always cast Megaflare, but regular Flare is more powerful in that it doesn’t require resorting to depleting your HP to ‘supe it up, plus you can do it twice…then hit Megaflare at low HP (red is best) for max damage.
• Enemies don’t expend AP.
• Max level is 99.
• Damage limit is 99,999.
• Bahamut is objectively the most powerful Mirage in the game.
• It takes 10 battles to gain 1 Champion Star.

Final Fantasy VI is the sixth in the long running Final Fantasy series. In this post I will share some insights.

Zozo:

• When you are about to leave Zozo you are asked to make a party of four. Celes and Locke are preselected. Don’t remove either of them. If you do, you can’t re-add them and you definitely can’t compete the Opera House scene without one of them. If you did, fear not, you can get them back without redoing the whole Zozo scene. You just have to trudge your way back to Narshe and speak to any of your cohorts in the building on the east side of town.
• To unequip an esper, you need to select an empty slot under the espers list on the esper selection screen.
• If you want to see what an item in a shop does, you have to have enough GP to buy it so you can select it to pull up the details.
• You only need one each of Edgar’s “Tools” items.
• Cmd.Set Short allows you to rearrange your battle command menus and changes the orientation of the items therein (they’re fanned out). If you change it back to “Window,” your custom arrangement will be saved, but you will revert to the default stacked list. Each character has his/her own list. Edit: The order reverts after reloading the save file.
• Memo is a temporary save slot that gets deleted when you power off your PlayStation or quit the game.
• Soft reset: hold down L1, L2, R1, R2, Start, and Select. You will lose all unsaved progress.

* Notice: The above apples to the PlayStation “Anthology” version (digital and disk).