1. The Crystal of Water is taken from Mysidia by Cecil, Captain of the Red Wings, Baron's Air Force. Cecil is stripped of his command and given a package to deliver to the village of Mist. He and Kain start out the next day.

2. The Mist Dragon in the Misty Cave is defeated. Upon arrival of Mist, the package burns the village. It is learned that by killing the Mist Dragon, a girl's mother is killed. After an explosion that blocks the passage to Mist, Kain is lost, and Cecil carries Rydia to the town of Kaipo, where they are attacked during the night.

3. Rosa is found sick in Kaipo; Cecil and Rydia start out to find the cure, the SandRuby. A Sage known as Tellah joins the party in a watery dungeon. They defeat an octopus and exit the cave.

4. The Castle of Damcyan is destroyed by the Red Wings, leaded by a mysterious man named Golbez who is using the Red Wings to capture the Crystals. The Crystal of Fire is stolen. Tellah's daughter, Anna, dies; Tellah leaves the party to find Golbez. Anna's suitor, Edward, the Prince of Damcyan, joins the party disguised as a Bard.

5. In the cave of the Antlion, the SandRuby is found, but the peaceful Antlion is killed. Rosa recovers and joins the party, and they start out to Fabul to warn them of the Red Wings.

6. Rydia is convinced to cast Fire to unblock the icy path on Mt. Hobbs (she was scared of fire because of what happened to her village). At the top, the help the Karate Master Yang fight the Mom Bomb. Yang joins the party.

7. Cecil, Edward, and Yang help in defending Fabul against an attack. In the Crystal Room, Kain enters and defeats Cecil in combat. The mysterious Golbez enters and takes the Crystal of Air and Rosa.

8. Cecil, Edward, Yang, and Rydia set off to Baron in a ship provided by the King of Fabul. Along the way, the sea monster Leviathan attacks. Cecil wakes up - alone - on a beach near Mysidia, where he stole the Crystal of Water.

9. Child wizards Palom and Porom join Cecil to help him to the top of Mount Ordeals. If Cecil can overcome Mt. Ordeal, then Mysidia will help him. Palom unblocks a fire barrier with a spell. Meanwhile, in the floating Tower of Zot, Kain and Golbez send Milon, the Fiend of Earth, to destroy Cecil.

10. Halfway up the mountain, Tellah, who is looking for the magic of Meteo, joins the party. At the top of the mountain, Milon is destroyed, but attacks the party again from behind, only to be defeated again. The party enters a little cave.

11. In the cave, Cecil hears a voice, calling him 'son'. He sees a mirror image of himself in a mirror. A sword falls from the ceiling; when Cecil holds it, he is transformed into a Paladin. The image comes out of the mirror and fights Cecil; Cecil wins by not attacking. Tellah learns many spells such as Meteo (which he cannot cast for lack of magic points).

12. The Serpent Road to Baron is opened. In town, they meet Yang, who was lost on board the ship. However, he attacks the party of four. After defeating him, he comes to his senses, and gives the party a Key and joins them.

13. The key opens the sewer passage to Castle Baron. There, they meet Baigan, who joins the party, but turns into a monster. After defeating it, the meet with the king, who transforms into the Fiend of Water, Kainazzo.

14. After the victory, Cid, the engineer of the Airships, joins. On the way out, the doors lock while in a narrow passage and the walls start closing in. Palom and Porom turn themselves into statues to stop the walls, thus saving the party. Also on the way out, Cecil hears a voice and sees the 'real' king (or his ghost, rather), telling him to go he the Land of the Summoned Monsters and then return there.

15. They all board Cid's airship, the Enterprise, and launch into the sky, where an enemy airship, waving a white flag, approaches. On the enemy ship in Kain! He tells them that if they give the Crystal of Earth to Golbez, they shall release Rosa. The party heads to Toroian, the castle where the crystal is kept.

16. It turns out that the Crystal has been taken by the Dark Elf, who lives on a wooded island that the airship cannot reach. In the Castle, they meet up with Edward, who is too ill to join the party. He does, however, give them the magical Twin Harp.

17. The party finds a Chocobo Forest and captures a Black Chocobo, which they use to ride to the Dark Elf's cave, Cave Magnes. Here, they must dequip all metal weapons and armor because the cave is magnet-like. When battling the Dark Elf, they all are completely wiped out. Edward senses there trouble, and plays on his harp. Cecil's Twin Harp echoes the song, releasing the party from the magical effects of the cave. They re-equip their metal weapons and armor and easily defeats the Dark Elf, who transformed into a Dragon Elf during battle.

18. When the Crystal is returned to Tororia, an enemy airship appears outside to escort the party to the floating Tower of Zot. Near the top, they encounter the three Magus Sisters, who have a devastating Delta Attack, which the party overcomes with great struggle.

19. On the top floor, Cecil hands the Crystal of Earth to Golbez, who does not release Rosa in return. Tellah attacks Golbez with his most powerful spells, to no avail. In desperation, he sacrifices himself to cast Meteo against him, disabling Golbez for the time being, and freeing Kain from his control. He joins the party.

20. Rosa is rescued a split-second before she is crushed by a trap. She joins the party. While leaving, they encounter the Fiend of Air, Valvalis, who can turn herself into a tornado. With the help of Kain's Kick, she is defeated. The Tower starts to collapse, so Rosa casts Exit which brings them to Cecil's room.

21. It turns out that the Enterprise was returned to Baron by remote control, saving it from the Tower's explosion. Kain reveals the Magma key, which will open the way to the underground where four *more* crystals are. They search out to find where to put the key. They discover that by throwing the key down a well in the town of Agart, a huge hole opens, which the airship can fly down.

22. Underground, the airship can only fly over land, not over the boiling lava. In a battle between the Red Wings (how'd they get down here???) and some Tanks, the Enterprise is shot down and makes a crash landing in front of a castle. Inside, they meet the King of the Dwarves, who occupy the castle. He tells them that Golbez already has two of the Dark Crystals; he has one, and the final one is in a sealed cave. Cid leaves to make repairs on the ship and allow it to fly over the magma.

23. Cecil spots someone in the Crystal room. Entering the room, they find some animated dolls, which, during batle against the party, combine into a big doll called Calbrena. After tthe dolls are destroyed, Golbez enters and attacks the party by calling his pet, which can kill someone with one move. Only Cecil is left to be killed, and he is paralyzed. Suddenly, he is healed, and a Mist Dragon appears and blows away the monster. Rydia appears, and together she and Cecil defeat Golbez.

24. Rydia reveals to the party that she was taken to the Land of the Summoned Monsters by Leviathan; there, time passes differently, and Rydia is now an adult. From Golbez's body, a hand appears, which snatches the crystal and disappears.

25. The group starts out to the Tower of Bab-il, which houses the Super Cannon. At the top, Rubicant, the Fiend of Fire, leaves using a transporter, leaving Dr. Lugae in charge. Dr. Lugae and his robot, Balnab, are destroyed by the party. After an attempt to destroy the Super Cannon, Yang sacrifices himself to shut it down.

26. When leaving the Tower, Golbez collapses the bridge under Cecil's feet. They are saved from becoming pancakes by Cid in the Enterprise. The Red Wings show up and chase them; when going up the hole, Cid jumps off with a bomb and closes it.

27. A Hook is attached to the Enterprise, allowing it to bring the Floater to Eblan so they can reach the cave. Inside, they find what is left of the Kingdom of Eblan.

28. They spy a Ninja fighting Rubicant. After Rubicant defeats him and leaves, the Ninja reveals himself to be Edge, Prince of Eblan. He joins the party, and together they enter the Tower of Bab-il.

29. Once at the summit, Edge's parents, turned into monsters by Dr. Lugae, attack! They finally come around and kill themselves. Rubicant shows up, only to die. The group enters the Crystal Room to take back the stolen crystals, only to fall down a pit. There, they find another airship (Edge names it the Falcon), and they leave with it. Back at the Dwarven Castle, Cid is found to be alive, and he fixes the Falcon so it can fly over lava.

30. Cecil & company now have three caves to search; they start with the one Rydia came from, the Land of the Summoned Monsters. There, they defeat Queen Asura and King Leviathan, allowing Rydia to Call them.

31. Now they go the Sealed Cave, home of the last Dark Crystal. After finding it at the bottom, the Wall attacks, and crushes some of them before crumbling. Just before they leave, Kain snatches the Crystal and runs out.

32. Cid attaches a drill to the Falcon so that it can unblock the hole leading to the Overworld. Before doing this, Cecil explores the Sylph Cave. They find Yang at the bottom being nursed by Sylphs! The party rushes to Yang's Wife with the news; she gives them a pan, which they whack Yang with. This wakes him up, and Rydia learns the Sylph Call spell. Finally, Yang's Wife gives Edge a Spoon.

33. Remembering the King's words, Cecil goes back to see the King of Baron. The King attacks him as Odin! By defeating him, Rydia learns how to Call him. They also visit the Grotto Adamant; by giving the midget a Rat's Tail that they found in the Land of the Summoned Monsters, he gives them Adamant, which Kokkol the Smith (in the Underground) can turn into a supreme sword!

34. Off the coast of Mysidia, the Big Whale emerges. Using this awesome airship, Cecil travels to the moon, where they find FuSoYa, a Lunarian. Cecil learns that another Lunarian, KluYa, went to Earth, met a woman, and had two children; Cecil is one of them. KluYa was the voice at Mt. Ordeals! FuSoYa joins the party. Before going back to Earth, they defeat a dragon named Bahamut in battle, allowing Rydia to Call him.

35. The Giant of Bab-il has been activated! Fortunately, all of Cecil's friends, the dwarves, others attack it, distracting it long enough for Cid to drive them into it's mouth. There, they find the four Fiends of Elements, hungry with vengeance. After defeating them once and for all, they attack the core of the Giant. Golbez comes out; FuSoYa heals him, and Golbez is released from the evil control. He is Cecil's brother! With FuSoYa, Golbez sets out to defeat Zemus, the mastermind behind everything.

36. Before the Giant collapses, Kain also shows up and takes the party out. He joins them again, and they all set out for the moon.

37. At the Moon's core, they find Golbez and FuSoYa defeating Zemus. Zemus's anger, Zeromus, attacks, and kills everyone! Everyone at Earth "wishes" for them; they are revived, and through a Crystal and strength, Zeromus is destroyed.

38. You'll have to see the ending for yourself; I'm not gonna spoil it for you!

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Hints & Tips

The number corresponds with the event in the story above:

2. When attacked during the night, killing the General will result in the Soldiers killing themselves.

4. Search for a hidden room in Damcyan's castle.

7. Six battles in a row!

10. Switch the back and front row after you beat Milon for the first time.

13. Don't destroy both Arms until you kill Baigan. One blast of Tellah's Lit3 should take care of Kainazzo.

Side Note: Use Cecil's bed before & after the battle with Baigan.

17. Run from enemies; you're helpless without metal equipment. When fighting the Dragon Elf, have Tellah cast Weak.

18. Destroy the middle Magus Sister; she's the one who can revive others. Tellah will not need to Wall your party, because the Sisters will do that for you.

20. Equip Rosa before Valvalis attacks. Use Rosa's Slow and Kain's Jump.

Side Note: Before going to the Underground, go to Mist and get a Dancing Knife and a Tiara Shirt. Also get the Drain Spear in Eblan Castle; equip this to Kain until he leaves.

23. Sometimes, the Calbrena doll will "run out of power" and turn back into six dolls. I can't explain this; of the three times I fought this thing, she's only done it once. That one time, she turned back into dolls twice!

Side Note: After defeating Golbez and telling the King the bad news, have Rydia cast Warp. You can get a Darkness Crystal. This will have three noticeable effects. 1) When you first enter the Sealed Cave, Kain will immediately take the Crystal; he won't wait until the way out. 2) When you reach the bottom of the Sealed Cave, the Wall will attack right away; he won't wait until you come out of the crystal room. 3) There is no crystal in the crystal room at the bottom of the Sealed Cave.

25. There are two ways to defeat Dr. Lugae & Balnab: If you destroy Dr. L first, Balnab will explode from not being oiled; this explosion will kill one of your characters. If you kill Balnab first, Dr. L will have to manually operate him, and will accidentally explode it, taking one of your characters. I prefer to get Balnab first, because he'll die from just two hits of Virus spell.

Side Note: Rydia learns Virus at level 26.

29. Don't attack Edge's parents, just Parry. Against Rubicant, use Shiva and Flood when his robe is open. Careful: using Flood when it's closed will heal him!

30. To defeat Asura, Rosa must be able to cast Wall on her. Rosa learns this spell at level 34.

33. Use Rydia's Lit3 spell to defeat Odin. You'll have to earn a lot of experience first (see tip 34). Do this before you get FuSoYa so you can use Odin in the Giant of Bab-il.

34. In the Big Whale, you can find a bed and a Big Chocobo. Before getting FuSoYa, spend about an hour defeating enemies in Bahamut's Cave. Against Bahamut himself, Wall as many of your party as possible.

35. Kill the Healer Orb, then the CPU. Save the Attacker for last. If you kill both the Attacker and Healer first, the CPU will revive both and kill one or two of your party.

Side Note: After you kill the core, notice that *Kain* says "We did it!" Minor error.

36. You'll have to walk across an invisible bridge to find the Crystal Sword.

37. Use Edge's Spoon as his second Dart, Rydia's Bahamut/Asura, Kain's Jump, Rosa's White, Slow, Cure, & Fast, Edge's Dart, and have Cecil fight.

Side Note: Rydia learns Meteo at level 60.

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You should dequip a party member before he leaves because: 1) He/she will not join the party again, or 2) if they do join the party again, they will not have that equipment. Here's a rundown of when you should dequip whom:

1. Kain, before you enter Mist.
2. Tellah, before you enter Damcyan.
3. Rosa, before you enter Fabul.
4. Rydia, Yang, & Edward, before you get on the boat.
5. Cecil, before you become a Paladin.
6. Palom & Porom, before you fight Kainazzo.
7. Tellah, before you encounter Golbez in the Tower of Zot.
8. Cid, before you enter the Dwarf Castle.
9. Yang, before you enter the Super Cannon's room.
10. Kain, before you leave the Sealed Cave.
11. FuSoYa, before you fight the CPU.

There are special weapons and armors you can find by killing the right combinations of monsters & crossing your fingers. Here are some:

1. Behemoths/Red Dragons = Crystal Ring (I think I found that in a chest….)
2. Three Red Dragons/one Red Dragon & one Behemoth = Dragoon Spear
3. One Warlock, one Kary, one Red Giant = Heroine Robe
4. Two Red Giants/Group of Magicians = Rune Axe
5. Two Red Bones & three Skeletons/two Skulls & three Red Bones = Zeus Gauntlet

There are a lot more, such as other Call Magic spells, but I lost my list. <Sorry!> If you have the OPOPOGO, a newsletter put out by Square, the list is right there. If I ever find it, I'll reupload this file with it in here.

Final Fantasy III should be out soon. I hear it's gonna be a 12-meg game! Maybe then we'll learn what happened with Edge & Rydia………

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This article is copyright (c) 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

by Ken Gagne

As the first day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo began, Square intended to quickly capture the show and divert attendants' attention to their products. But alas, the best laid plans of mice and men are as subject to Murphy's Law as anything. The end product was finally shown, but not before a comical display of gaffes and goof-ups.

Together with the president of Electronic Arts, the Japanese head honchos - courtesy of a translator — gave a brief overview of their past releases with SCEA, their partnership with EA as of 27-Apr-98, and then announced the rest of their 1998 lineup.

First served will be PARASITE EVE in this September, which will include a demo CD of their other three products and a self-running demo of Final Fantasy VIII. These other three titles are XENOGEARS in October, and in November, BUSHIDO BLADE 2 and BRAVE FENCER MUSASHI , the latter which will include an interactive demo of Final Fantasy VIII. Musashi will be released in Japan on July 16th, meaning four months is as long as it takes to separate the Japanese & American releases.

Parasite Eve is said to have its focus on graphics, whereas Final Fantasy VII was oriented toward story. The EA president specifically pointed out the "gorgeous heroine". Again, unlike FFVII, the setting is non- futuristic. One million copies of this game have been sold since its release in Japan a few months ago.

FINAL FANTASY VIII, still in development, is due in Japan this October, followed Winter of 1999 in the American and Euopean markets. Despite rumours to the contrary, Nobou Uematsu, the maestro-mind behind the music of other Final Fantasy titles, will continue to produce his work for FFVIII.

Then it was time to see this highly-anticipated title in action. Then it wasn't time. Then it was… then not. The coordinators of the event were unable to dim the lights; then the video would not play; once they did, it was without sound. They switched to a Q&A session, during the middle of which the video came on and the microphones went dead; then the music to the video finally arrived, but the video disappeared.

It was to much cheering that the audio and video components finally entered a state of functionality and synchronicity, and we watched the demonstration. The first was 1'15", then a second video showing the same material but with more. We watched as seven figures streaked across a full moon sky and the title faded in, all of which then faded out to show a fleet of sleek warboats approaching a shore. Squall squinted his face against the sun, which made the scar running from above his right eye to below his left eye all the more apparent. We watched as covert stormstroopers attacked a monster, a robot locked onto a target, and Leviathan was summoned to work his aquatic magic. This game is impressive in both the graphical and musical areas.

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This article is copyright (c) 1998, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Video Gaming Central (CompuServe), 26-May-98

Title	:	Secret of Evermore
Platforms	:	Super NES
Publisher	:	Squaresoft
Game Rating	:	n/a
Review by	:	Ken Gagne

If you've wasted Chrono Trigger and blasted Final Fantasy III, the next stop on Squaresoft's RPG train is Secret of Evermore. This is the first project from Squaresoft which is not merely a Japanese translation, but has an all-American programming staff. A dream machine creates a nightmare and you get pulled in. It's up to you to find a way back to Podunk, USA, as you explore the various fantasy worlds gone bad. 

Utilizing the Secret of Mana game engine, Evermore is more of an upgrade than a sequel. It used a standard overhead perspective with hack-n-slash battles. The tedious level-raising from Mana is back: your characters have strength levels, but so do your weapons and spells. The latter two only become stronger as you use them. This will often lead to boring sessions of spellcasting merely for the sake of spellcasting. Instead of magic, you use alchemy to mix formulas which hurt or heal. This is based on an ingredients system similar to that in the Ultima Avatar or Magic Candle CRPGs. Many necessary ingredients needn't be purchased, as they can be found in the wildness. If you cast many spells, you will end up spending massive money on components, though. Furthermore, only a certain number of formulas can be equipped at any one time; so if you go into a dungeon and find yourself ill-prepared, you'll need to trek back to town to get the necessary spells. To execute a powered-up weapon attack, you must hold the attack button as a meter fills. Unlike Mana, you do not slow down when powering up, so it's always a good idea to have a fully-charged attack ready. 

The plot is at first fairly simple, with unimportant side treks. Soon enough, figures of power will have an ill-boding disposition toward the hero as they received devious plans from mysterious leaders. There may a bit of intrigue, but the story doesn't come near the Final Fantasy series. 

The graphics are standard fare for RPGs. Great use of lighting shows off the dungeons, but overhead branches cloud your vision in the forests. The sprites are small but detailed, and don't suffer from Big Head syndrome. It seems like Squaresoft seems unable to match the standard set by Final Fantasy III. 

Music appropriately fits the wondrous locales you'll traverse. The prehistoric era has dinosaur roars and beating drums, while the marketplace has the sounds of commerce in action. Explosions and spell effects add to the heat of the battle nicely. 

The innovative control ring system of options takes some getting used to, but becomes quite a speedy interface. Controlling two characters at once and switching between them is riddled with problems in some areas, however. The dog isn't exactly the brightest mutt around. Instead of saving you from a life-sucking abomination, he'll often opt to sit idly by and scratch himself. His ingredient-sniffing abilities aren't always on the spot. On the plus side, he is much stronger and faster than the main character, which doesn't make much sense. 

Some spots are too obscure to immediately figure out, or are obvious enough to quickly overlook. The lack of sufficient save points will have you playing areas more than once. During my time with Evermore, I was struck by at least four different bugs, two of which were serious. Other players have reported similar problems. It could be as localized as the infamous "Sketch bug" in Final Fantasy III, but Squaresoft needs to spend more time beta-testing. 

Secret of Evermore is right up your alley if you liked Mana. It has the elements of both adventure and RPG with some decent battles and a fun setting. It's only more of the same, though.

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This article is copyright (c) 1995, 2007 by Ken Gagne. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.

Original publication: Boston Herald, 23-Nov-95