Tales of the Abyss ~Unknown Guide~ By: Yandy Kusanagi - yandy.kusanagi@yahoo.com ---------------------------- Table of Contents ---------------------------- I. Introduction II. Legal Stuff III. The Guide IV. Version History V. Credits ----------------------- I. Introduction ----------------------- Tales of the Abyss are made by Namco Tales Studio and published by Namco. Btw... this is my first guide, so I'm pretty sure I messed up my Grammars here and there sometimes. If there's some parts you don't understand, feel free to ask me or you can also ask people at the Board. ---------------------- II. Legal Stuff ---------------------- This Guide are for use on GameFAQs, neoseeker, Supercheats and 1up only. Do not publish this guide on any other website without any permission from me. ---------------------- III. The Guide ---------------------- Unknown, the highest difficulty in this game. In Unknown, all the enemies have stats 4x higher than you meet in Normal difficulty. You may end up only damage the enemy by 1 point because of their uber stats. While Tales veterans and RPG experts find this challenging, some people don't. I made this guide in the purpose to helps people who still finds it hard to conquer this difficulty and don't mind to conquer this difficulty by any means (except using a Cheat Device of course). So, if you're a Tales veterans or RPG experts, you won't find this guide useful. Before you start attempting this difficulty, I highly recommend you to do this in your previous playthrough: 1. Collects 9.000.000 - 10.000.000 Galds. 2. Mastered all the AD skills for all characters. 3. Got all techs & spells for all characters. 4. Got all the important Capacity Cores. When you finished the game after doing all the above stuff. You need to buy this stuff at the Grade Shop to make your playthrough easier for a bit: 1. Increase Overlimits fill rate 2. Carry over Galds 3. Carry over spells & techs 4. Experience x10 5. Carry over AD skills 6. Carry over Capacity Cores All of those will cost 6850 Grade points of yours. So, shall we start now...? But before we start, I'd like to say that your only challenges are not to switch to other difficulty even when you see things getting tough. Don't worry, you can handle it. Okay, let's start now... -Tatar Valley- For the 1st battle, just waste the monster with everything you got. Don't give it a chance to strike you back. It may take around 10 minutes to defeat this monster. Dont' bother to do leveling in this place. So... if you get yourself into a battle, just run. -Engave Village- Buy some equipments & healing items if you want. -Cheagle Woods- Leveling only after you get the Capacity Core menu. After you get the menu, equip Tutti right away to your most used character. And Grandiose to 2nd character. You may want to switch C. Core from one to another if you want to keep your party bonus stats balance. ~Liger Queen~ This is actually easy. I recommend you to fight her at level 13+ (if you want to do more than only 1 Damage). Some tips just in case you forget: Her lightning attack are easy to dodge if you stay far away from her. Use Tear's Holy Song, and use Hi-Ougi if you want (Luke can't do it though) -Tartaros- It's up to you to do some leveling. I didn't level up much here anyway. -Sentvina- Buy some equipments & healing items. -Fubras River- I recommend you to leveling to level 20+. -Kaitzul Check Point- Buy some equipments & healing items. -Coral Castle- The enemies here are pushover. Don't bother leveling inside here. But do leveling at World Map. I suggest you to do leveling to level 30+ before fighting Arietta and her beasts. ~Arietta, Liger & Fleshburg~ I suggest you to control Jade here. Use Taunt until his Overlimits gauge full, and then use his Hi-Ougi. If Jade Level at around 30, he can deal some nice damages to Liger & Fleshburg (around 1k). Keep using his Hi-Ougi until both of them KO. When Arietta is the only one left, keep pressing her using anything you want (combos with techs and stuff). But be careful of her Remitted. After her HP goes down more than half, she'll start using Negative Gate and her Hi-Ougi. Quickly backstep or run away when you see her flashes while you're attacking her because it means she's going to use it (Hi-Ougi). Oh and, I don't know the exact level on how to deal more than 1 damage to Arietta (especially using Jade's Hi-Ougi). Because I fought them when my party level at around 30. But you'll be fine, you just need to be patience to beat Arietta. -Cassadonia- Here, do the 1st part to get back Tear's Pendant. After then, I suggest you to go to the southern part of the town to buy some amazing equipments. Buy 2 Dragon Killer, 2 Holy Cross, 2 Lay Mail, & 2 Lay Guard. But don't forget to buy some of better equipments for the rest, plus healing items. And I suggest you to buy Stripe Ribbon for later purpose. All of those items will cost your Gald around 8M, but it's worth it. Especially the weapons, since you may hate the "I-can-only-deal-1-damage-to-the-enemy". Go equip them right away after you bought them. ~Kaiser Dist R~ This battle is easy. I'm not sure if this battle even need a strategy. -Abandoned Factory- You can do leveling here if you want. ~Abaddon~ Again, another easy battle. No strategy needed. -Zao Ruins- You can do leveling here if you want. ~Synch & Largo~ Still, an easy battle. Just watch out for their Hi-Ougi, because it deals lots of damages to your characters. -Deo Pass- You can do leveling here if you want. I didn't do it though. Before you go here, why not visit the Sword Dancer at Coral Castle? You can own him easily. ~Regret~ Another easy one. If you always pressing her using combos & stuff, she didn't even had a chance to use her Hi-Ougi. -Akzeruth Tunnel 14- A good place to do leveling. But Tear isn't in your party. -Velkende- Buy some good stuff here for your party. -Wyon Mirrored Cave- Did you care about Luke bonus stats? Or maybe you like Asch? Anyway, you can do leveling here if you want. Sadly, because I didn't care much about Asch, I leave him sleeping (aka KO). ~Anicula Pulp~ Asch & Natalia can't do more than 1 damage against this monster if you don't leveling much. Well... my party level at around 45. But you can rely on Anise (assuming you equipped Holy Cross on her). Use her Hi-Ougi extension (Satsugekibukouken > Juurokuyatenbu) to deal nice damages to this monster. For the Small Pulps, you can use Jade's Hi-Ougi to take care of them. Just don't get caught up by Anicula Splash spell though, it gives high damages. -Aramis Flooded Cavern- Don't bother leveling much here because your party isn't complete yet. -Dart- Buy some good stuff here for your party. -Oracle Headquarters- Again, dont' bother leveling much here. -Kethelburg- Did you want Natalia's Soul Steal from the casino? If yes, go get it. There's not much to buy here though. Before you go to Theor Forest, why not visit the Swod Dancer at the World Map? ~Sword Dancer~ Tough enough, but he has a poor movement though. Be careful for the area attacks he used. Because when my party level at around 50, the area attacks deals lots of damages to my Characters. If you don't want to waste your items, use Tear's or Jade's Hi-Ougi to play safe. The method's are: Taunt > Overlimits > Hi-Ougi. Rinse and repeat until he lose. Or you can keep pressing him with combos & stuff if you don't like waiting. -Theor Forest- I suggest you to not leveling much here. -Gran Cokuma- Buy some good stuff here. ~Kaiser Dist RX~ This robot are actually easy, spam any water based attacks you have on the robot to deals nice damages on it. Beware, some attacks from the robot are dangerous, like when it's doing drilling move forward. You may want to avoid it because it deals lots of damages to your characters. -Sheridan- There's some good stuff to buy here. -Meggiora Plateau- If you want to save Ginji, don't waste your time to do leveling or even bother fighting monsters here. Use Holy Bottle and make your way to the destination quick. It's actually up to you which characters you would choose for Luke's team. But I would like to recommend Tear & Guy. ~Bladerex~ The monster has a high defense. But you can rely on Luke & Guy to press it using their combos. Don't forget to use Tear's Holy Song, and Power Charge to add some attack bonus. Tear can do some support with her attack spells/Tone Songs to adds some damages. And you can also spam fire based attacks on it to deals some nice damages too. -Shurrey Hills- You can do leveling here if you want. -Zao Ruins- You can also do leveling here if you want (in the Passage Ring's area). ~Terranpion~ This monster has a high physical defense (2728). You can deal more than 1 damage with physical attacks if the character has 1400+ physical attack stats. This is some tips if your party level at around 70: I suggest you to use Luke or Guy (the one who has 1400+ physical attack stats) and Tear, then Anise. For the 4th Character, it's up to you. Use Tear's Holy Song and Power Charge first. Then press it with your combos & techs with the support of Anise's Bloody Howling and Tear's Holy Lance or Grand Cross. When the spells hit, use your favorite combos, and try to use techs that ends by sending the monster into the air. Then hit the monster again while on the air with Bloody Howling and Holy Lance or Grand Cross. Do combos again and techs to send the monster back into the air. Rinse and repeat. The monster can't do anything except cancel your attacks by using it's Overlimits. When it enters Overlimits, stay far away from it, because this monster has a wide area attacks and can deals serious damages. When the Overlimits finally gone, repeat the above process. Note: If you use Natalia as your 4th character, it's a good idea to use her Revive to keep the party alive. There's actually another method. But it's a cheap trick. I called it the Juggle Trap trick. Credits goes to Holystar for the video he provided. "The Juggle Trap trick" You need Luke & Guy in the 1st & 2nd slot. So you can control them using the 1st & the 2nd controller. But before entering the battle, equip the Sunlight chamber on Luke's Senkoutsuijinga. And get the chamber to max. Now, assign Luke's Senkoutsuijinga to the most easiest button to use a tech (preferably the neutral tech button). Do the same for Guy's Dankuuken. Now, set Luke & Guy to Semi-Auto or Manual. As for the strategy, set the 3rd & 4th character to Protect Yourself or you can leave them sleeping (KO). After you're ready, enter the battle. The first thing to do is corner the enemy to the end of the field. After the enemy cornered, make Luke & Guy stands near each other, then use Guy to do normal combos (mashing the attack button) and ends it by using his Dankuuken (this will send the enemy into the air). After you see Dankuuken last hit, quickly use Luke's Senkoutsuijinga (this tech will change to Shouharekkousen). Now wait until Shouharekkousen fully hit the enemy. After you see Shouharekkousen last hit, use Guy's Dankuuken again. Rinse and repeat until the enemy dead. Note: Please pay attention about the timing, because the timing are a little tight. Also, the timing will change a bit when the enemy stunned. Well... practice makes perfect, right? And one more thing that need your attention. When you do the above trick over and over, Luke & Guy TP will eventually become empty. So you may want to use a lots of TP healing items. But if you already have the Lorelai Jewel and Mental Symbol, TP won't be a problem anymore. -Cassadonia- Do the 2nd part to get back Tear's Pendant. -Gran Cokuma- Do the last part to get back Tear's Pendant. You need to spend 100k to get it back. -Dart- Buy some new good stuff here. -Inister Wetlands- I suggest you to not bother leveling here. Well... I hate the loading time, how about you? But if you want to do it, it's fine of course... ~Behemoth~ Would you even bother dealing with this monster? Just escape right away... -Tatar Valley- Try to leveling to level 80+. It helps against the boss later. ~Uniselos~ The horse are actually easy even though it has a high physical defense. I suggest you to use Luke, Tear & Guy. It's up to you for the 4th character. As usual, use Tear's Holy Song and Power Charge before attacking it. Then, keep pressing it with combos & stuff. The horse can only cancel your attacks by using it's Overlimits. The only dangerous attacks from the horse are it's Holy Lance spell. Try to interrupt it when it's trying to cast it. If it's too late, just run or do a backstep. -Vaticle- Okay, the arena opens now. Do you want the weapons...? Well, it's hard to get it now. But you can clear both the single & team Beginner Rank. -Theor Forest- After you got the Flight Stone back, go get Natalia's bow (Cutless Bow) here by using Mieu Wing. -Cassadonia- Did you buy the Stripe Ribbon back then? If yes, go get the Holy & Mental Ring from Arijigokunin. ~Synch~ This kid are easy to beat. Because he has a low defense compared to Terranpion/Uniselos. Just press him using combos & stuff and you'll win eventually. He even rarely or maybe never gonna use his Overlimits. Funny thing while I'm fighting him, he keep spamming Kuuhabakuendan when he has only small amounts of HP left. I think it's around 5k. It's like he wants to say I don't want to lose. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. -Meggiora Plateau (other side)- It's up to you to do leveling. But I didn't, I hate the loading times. But I do leveling on the World Map though. Try to turn on some of the panel in the provided caves to seal 3 of the boss elements. It'll helps later. ~Maintefonigo~ I suggest your party level at 95+. Use Luke, Tear & Guy.It's up to you for the 4th character, but I would like to recommend Natalia for her Revive spell. Don't forget to equip Tear's Pendant for Tear. When the battle start, as usual, cast Tear's Holy Song, then use her Spell Enhance to herself. Now use Luke & Guy to keep the robot busy with their combos & techs. This also try to prevent it to cast a spell. Then use Tear's attack spells or Tone Songs like Holy Lance or Grand Cross to deal nice damages to this thing. Use Overlimits only to increase your defense & magic defense (don't bother to use anyone Hi-Ougi). Just keep Tear's alive and let her do the job to finish the robot. If you're using Natalia, take advantage of her Heal & Revive spell (you can equip the Mental Ring to her to save some TP). After the robot HP goes down more than half, it'll start using a Hi-Level spell. When you see the robot's about to use a spell, see around the field to see who the robot's targeting. And when you see the spell coming to a targeted character, switch to him/her and run quick. Because the Hi-Level spell the robot used are really hurts. -Zaleho Volcano- You can do leveling here if you want. -Kethelburg- Buy some good stuff here. And you can go get Aifread's Hat from the casino if you want. -Mountain Roneal- Yes, you can do leveling here if you want. ~Regret, Arietta & Largo~ This battle actually isn't tough. I would recommend you to take out Regret first, her ranged attacks are annoying. Plus, she can cast Raise Dead if you take out either Largo or Arietta first. Take out Largo for the 2nd, and Arietta for the last. Just be careful of their Hi-Ougi, they usually use it when their HP goes down more than half. If you're using Natalia, take advantage of her Revive spell. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. -Vaticle- Yep, go here first before you go to Absorb Gate. I assume your party level are already at around 100 or maybe even more and you already have the Mental Ring. Now is the good time to clear the single Advance Rank battle. Just don't forget to reserve some TP or take advantage of the Mental Ring. It takes some time to make one character TP at full again. So... be patience. Here are my strategies for each characters: ~Luke~ Equip Dragon Killer & Mental Ring. Equip the Glass chamber on his Eishourai, and maxed it (if it's not maxed yet). Use it to heal his HP in battle. While using his Eishourai, make sure to use the Manual control (It's actually okay to use the Semi-Auto control, but the problem is when you're too far from the targeted enemy, Luke tends to run to the enemy first before he use it). He got somewhat tough challenge for his Advance Rank battle. '1st Round' Easy, just dodge the enemy attacks and counter it with your own combos. When the enemy using Overlimits, try to give at least 3 hit combos on the enemy. '2nd Round' The toughest battle for him. Make sure your Overlimits are full. Then, try to gather as many birdos as you can (yeah, I call them birdos... annoying birdos), then use his Hi-Ougi to them. Fill your Overlimits by using Taunt on a safe spot (try to find it). Then use his Hi-Ougi again, rinse and repeat... '3rd & 4th Round' Easy battles. Use everything you want. '5th Round' Not a bad challenge. When you attack it with your combos, make sure when the 2nd or 3rd hit land, it makes the enemy stagger. If not, stop your combos and run. Cause the Golem can easily KO you. ~Tear~ Equip Holy Cross & Mental Ring. Heal herself by using her First Aid or her other healing spells. The Advance Rank battle are dissappointing for her. '1st Round' Easy, just Taunt > Overlimits > Hi-Ougi. '2nd Round' Use Manual control, then use her Severed Fate to kill them. Just make sure you keep your distance enough from them. '3rd, 4th & 5th Round' Taunt > Overlimits > Hi-Ougi. How I loved her Taunt... ~Natalia~ Equip Cutless Bow & Mental Ring. Use Cavalry or Heal to heal herself. The conqueror of the Advance Rank. It's a breeze for her. Use Manual control for the entire round. '1st Round' Nothing, just shoot her arrows from far. And you're even saved from the enemy Overlimits. Use Hi-Ougi if you want. '2nd Round' Spam her Brave Feed to them. Use Hi-Ougi if you want. '3rd, 4th & 5th Round' Spam your arrows from afar. Use Hi-Ougi. Isn't that easy... ~Guy~ Equip Dragon Killer & Mental Ring. Equip the Glass chamber on his Shuukihou at maxed to reserve some TP. Equip the Sunlight chamber on his Shinkuuhazan, and maxed it. Advance Rank not much a trouble for him. '1st Round' Waste him by any means. '2nd Round' The tough one. Use Manual control, run to them when they're gather together. Perform Tokugi > Dankuuken > Shinkuuhazan. You can also rely on his Rekkuuzan. Then run to a safe place and heal yourself. Repeat the above method until they're all dead. Don't forget to use his Hi-Ougi when his Overlimits full. '3rd, 4th & 5th Round' Easy, should I say more...? Don't use his Hi-Ougi for the 5th battle though. ~Anise~ Equip Holy Cross & Mental Ring. Equip the Glass chamber on her Might Charge. Use it to heal herself. Anise get a tough challenge since her Might Charge take some time to recover, and some of her techs are also take long to recover. Makes it easy for enemies to hit her. '1st Round' Hit and run. Don't forget to ends her combos by using a tech that didn't take too long to recover. Try to end this battle with her Overlimits gauge at full. '2nd Round' Use Fever Time first. Then use Bloody Howling. Take advantage of the dark FoF to do an area attacks (use tech like Shoubukoubappa). Be patience, you may be using lots of Might Charge, and wants to recover your lost TP by running around. Use Bloody Howling again, and take advantage of the FoF again. '3rd & 4th Round' Hit and Run safely. '5th Round' Use her Fever Time. And spam her Bloody Howling. You can also do Taunt > Overlimits > Hi-Ougi method. ~Jade~ Equip Mithril Lance & Holy/Mental Ring. Equip the Carmine chamber on his Meteor Swarm (Prism Sword also if you want), and maxed it. He get the toughest challenge because he didn't have a tech/spell to heal himself. This is the strategy if you're using the Mental Ring (like me)... '1st Round' When the enemy attack you, dodge it and wait for him to step back. When he's stepping back, combos him and ends it by using Tenraisou (don't connect it to another Ougi or Tokugi, too risky). If he block, just continue your combos as usual and ends it with Tenraisou. The enemy oftenly staggered after he finished blocking this way. Also, try to end this battle with Jade's Overlimits at full. '2nd Round' The toughest battle for Jade. Use Magic Charge, then Overlimits. Now use Mystic Cage. After then, cast Meteor Swarm. Run to find a safe spot (search for a spot where there isn't many birdos nearby), then cast Meteor Swarm again, and again. When you already cast the 4th Meteor Swarm and haven't used the Angel Recall, use Meteor Swarm again. Now, there's only some of them left (if you're lucky, only one left). Taunt at a safe spot (try to estimate when the Birdos will get near to you, so you can run at the right time without getting hit) until his Overlimits full, then use his Mystic Cage again. Rinse and repeat until they're all gone for good. '3rd Round' Finally, one easy battle for him. Just do Taunt > Overlimits > Hi-Ougi. '4th Round' Use the same strategy as the 1st round for him. Please note that if you cornered the monster to the end of the field and do combos on him, the monster will be hardly staggered. So, it's a good idea to keep fighting at the middle of the field. If the monster block, just continue your combos as usual but, when your combos ends don't use techs but use Critical Guard instead. Because the monster are hard to be sttagered after blocking even by using Tenraisou. You can actually do the Taunt > Overlimits > Hi-Ougi method. But the problem is, it requires a very accurate timing when doing Taunt so you're not ends up getting a hit. '5th Round' The most easy battle for him. Keep spamming his Hi-Ougi in this battle. You can also spam his Prism Sword if you don't like Taunt over and over. After you got the arena weapons for everyone, you can go to the Absorb Gate now. Ignore the team Advance Rank battle. It's very hard to beat the Tales Cameo for now. -Absorb Gate- Nice place to do some leveling. ~Van Grants~ Easy battle. Plus, if you already got all the arena weapons, this battle becomes even easier. Use Natalia equipped with Mental Ring, and just spam her Heal & Revive spells to make this battle much more easier. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. -Vaticle- After the party reunited, go to Luke's house to get an event. And then, buy some good stuff for your party. -Mushroom Road- A good place for leveling. Don't forget to grab the New Flight Stone from the search point on the World Map. -Zaleho Volcano- You can do leveling here if you want. ~Fear Bronk~ Use Jade here, spam his Saint Bubble/Absolute. Use Tear's Holy Song and Spell Enhance. And spam Natalia's Heal and Revive spells. When the monster flying, don't get too close to her. Because when she lands, she also use an area attack that deals serious damages. -Kethelburg- Meet Shiba to get an event which eventually leads you to get Mieu Fire 2. -Mountain Roneal- Solve the puzzles and get the Force Flight Stone from the search point. -Wyon Mirrored Cave (another entry)- An optional dungeon. It's actually not necessary to come here unless you're aiming to challenge the Replicantis later. -Feres Island- You can do leveling here if you want. And if you want to fight the Sword Dancer, enter the Mansion after you saw the Anime movie and then exit from it. ~Sword Dancer~ He's actually easy if you keep spamming Tear's and Jade's Hi-Ougi. But his area attacks are very dangerous, so be careful. Anyway, you can finish this battle quick since he has a low defense. ~Arietta, Liger & Fleshburg~ This battle are actually not tough. Take out Liger and Fleshburg first. And save Arietta for the last. As usual, you can spam Natalia Heal & Revive spells to make this easier. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. -Tower of Rem- You can do leveling here if you want. ~Kaiser Dist XX~ This robot got insane physical defense (4416). Thankfully, it's magic defense are low. I suggest your party level are already at 130+. Use Tear, Natalia and Jade for this battle. You can use either Luke or Guy for the 4th character. Equip Tear's Pendant to herself. And as usual, always use Tear's Holy Song and Spell Enhance. Use Luke/Guy to keep the robot staggered, while Tear use her Grand Cross to deals nice damages to it. Jade can support with his attack spells too, such as Absolute or Prism Sword. Use Natalia for healing purpose, and of course, use her Revive spell to keep the party stay alive. ~Largo~ Another easy battle. You can defeat him by any means. Just be careful for the techs he used, it packs lots of damages. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. -Radiate Gate- A good place to do leveling. ~Gigant Morse~ This battle are so easy. All you have to do are using Luke and Guy to deals the damages, while Tear and Natalia doing healing. Watch out for the Hi-Level spell he used when his HP drops down more than half. It deals lots of damages to your characters. -The glorious land of Eldrant- A good place to do leveling here if you want. But beware, the enemies here can damages your characters like there's no tomorrow. ~Regret~ Wow, tough chick. She got a high pysical defense. So, you may want to use Tear and Jade spells to deals real damages to her. Don't use a light based attacks, the damages would look pitiful. And try not to get all of your characters stand in front of her, she can deals lots of damages and can KO your characters simultaneously. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. ~Asch~ Aww... just combos him till he lose (but don't forget about dodging of course). ~Synch~ Easy to beat, even though he's hard to be staggered. And he can be easily staggered when he's doing blocking stance (he's actually wants to use his Guard Limiter). The tricky part is to wait until he finished that stance (around 1 seconds), then quickly combos him, this way, he'll be staggered right away. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. ~Van Grants~ The first part are easy, you can use the same strategy like when you face him at Absorb Gate. I would like to suggest to use Tear & Natalia to make this battle easier. Plus, useful for the 2nd part later. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. ~Vandesdelca Must Fende~ Okay, this battle are actually easy. But there's one part that makes this battle hard. That is he can use Judgement Tone Song. His Judgement are even more dangerous than his Hi-Ougi. If your characters get hit, he/she will collapse immediately. You can use Suigojin to be saved from it, but you have to be accurate for the timing though. You can also do running around and get to the corner if you don't want to do Suigojin. It's really a good idea to use Natalia's Revive and Tear' Ressurection just in case. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able (You may want to do this). 'Other challenges' -Vaticle- If your party level are already at 150 or more. It is a good time to clear the team Advance Rank battle. 'Tales Cameo Team' ~Mint Adnade (from Tales of Phantasia)~ You definitely want to take her out first. She can do First Aid when her teammate injured (only once), and she's always doing buff up spells. At the start of the battle, she'll use Acid Rain. And at half of her max HP, she will cast Heal. When her HP already low, she'll use Cure, Resurrection, and of course, Time Stop. Time Stop will make your party freeze. But you can either do double jump before the Time Stop animation finished (to prevent yourself getting attacked by them) or use your Hourglass item to counter it. You really have to take her out first, because if you take the other first, she'll use Raise Dead to her fallen teammate. ~Philia Philis (from Tales of Destiny)~ She's annoying with her spells. She'll cast Flare Tornado or Eruption oftenly. At half of her max HP, she'll start using Thunder Blade, Explode and cast Meteor Swarm once. She use either Philia Bombs or Bomb Rains sometimes. And she'll use Stop Flow once. When her HP already low, she'll use Holy Lance, and Big Bang (lots of damages to your party). If there's any fallen teammate of her, she'll use Raise Dead. Thankfully, she only used it once. ~Rid Hershel (from Tales of Eternia)~ He's the most dangerous melee fighter here. He can take out any of your characters quick. So you may want to take him out after you take care of Mint. At the start of the battle, he'll use Houtenkuu. And at half of his max HP, he'll start using combonation techs, Raijinken, and Houtenkuu. Finally, when his HP already low, he'll instantly use his Kyokkouheki when any of your characters hit him. After you see him doing it, change your target back to Mint. Because his Kyokkouheki will revive any fallen teammate of his (plus healing). Also, if you already KO him once and he's back to conscious after his teammate revive him, He'll use a Life Bottle if there's any other fallen teammate of his. ~Nanaly Fletch (from Tales of Destiny 2)~ Her bow techs are actually not very dangerous, but her spells does. Her spells deals lots of damages to your characters. But thankfully, she didn't cast it (Splash) oftenly. At half of her max HP, she'll start casting Negative Gate sometimes and will use an Hourglass. When her HP finally become low, she'll use her Wild Geese. She'll also use Life Bottle if there's any fallen teammate of her. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. After you finished the battle, you can choose between challenge the Replicantis or challenge Nebilim. I challenge Replicantis first though. 'Challenge the Replicantis' -Abyssal Replica Facility- A very good place to do leveling. Plus, you can also rack up your Galds here. I suggest you to leveling to max level here (200). The stats at level 200 will helps against Replicantis later. ~Replica Regret, Replica Arietta, Replica Synch, and Replica Largo~ They're actually easy. If you can already beat the Tales Cameo, they're not a threat. Note: The Juggle Trap trick are do-able. ~Replicantis~ This monster is amazing, it got very high physical defense (5496) and magical defense (5280). If you always equip a good C. Core to Tear (+3 or +4 to her magical attack stats), she will ends up by having a high magical attack stats. Equip her Pendant's and you'll got a whooping boost for her. So, you may wants to rely on her Grand Cross to deals the real damages to this monster. You can also deals more than 1 damages with physical atttacks if your characters have more than 2900 physical attack stats.. Note: If you beat Nebilim first and already kills more than 2000 enemies with one character, you should use him/her to kills this monster easily. 'Challenge Nebilim' Before you challenge her, you might want to increase your characters stats. Here's how you can get the Item to increas the stats: (Red Lavender: physical attack stats +3) Steal from Leviathan at Hodo Island. It's west of Gran Cokuma. You can only get there by using Alvior only if you already has the Force Flight Stone. There's also a Search Point 18 there. The chance to get it are 3%. I think this Item is the most important to be hunted. Because Nebilim physical defense are way insane. (Red Bellbane: physical defense stats +3) Drop from Myumodoki near Namco Island. Just get outside from the Namco Island, and you can meet this monster there. The chance to get it are 3%. (Camomile: magical attack stats +1) Drop from Alraune in the west of Megiora Highlands.The chance to get it are 2%. (Red Camomile: magical attack stats +3) Make it at Din's Shop, It cost 5.500 Galds. Requires a Wind Spirit Feather and need 500 material points to make it. Note: I would suggest you to hunt for the Camomile instead, because you can only make 1 Red Camomile after you gathered 500 material points. (Red Basil: magical defense stats +3) Drop from Coerulea near Tower of Rem. Go outside Tower of Rem and you can meet this monster there. The chance to get it are 2%. -Nebilim's Rock- If you use a spell caster in your party, make sure he/she has magical attack stats that already reached 3000 or more. And if you're using a melee fighter, make sure he/she has physical attack stats that already reach 3300 or more. Actually, you can damage more than 1 damage to Nebilim at around 3100 - 3200 physical attack stats. But the problem is, you can only deals pitiful damages (around 15 - 100 damages). So, it may take very long time to defeat her. But of course, it's up to you though. ~Nebilim~ She got 6080 physical defense and 5120 magical defense. And she also have a very high attack stats. Her techs can easily KO your characters, so does her spells. This battle would be very tough if you didn't pay attention to your party to keep them alive. So, make sure anyone stay far away from her when she uses her techs/spells. This battle will take long to finish, you just have to be patience. Anyway, this is what she have... Techs: Luke's Senkoutsuijinga (FoF Shouharekkousen), Tear's Banishing Sorrow (FoF Shearing Sorrow), Natalia's Star Stroke (FoF Stroke Quaker), Anise's Rendouraikoudan (FoF Guruguru Gungnir), Jade's Fuujinkouzokushou, Guy's Shishisenkou (FoF Shikoubakuraijin). Spells: Ground Dasher (FoF Frigid Coffin), Saint Bubble (FoF Divine Sabre), Thunder Blade (FoF Gravity). At half of her max HP, she'll start using Ignite Prison (FoF Raging Mist), Absolute and Prism Sword. Specials: When she lost some HP, she'll cast a Meteor Swarm and Big Bang. At the half of her max HP, she'll use Time Stop. Finally, when her HP already low, she'll use three of them once again. Note: Yes... the Juggle Trap trick are do-able, thankfully. Whew, finally. Now that you already conquered Unknown difficulty, how are you feeling right now...? Happy...? Or maybe sad...? Or is it a mixed feeling...? Anyway, congratulations for conquering the highest difficulty of this game. ------------------------------ IV. Version History ------------------------------ Version 1.09 (04/08/2006) *Added Rekkuzan for Guy strategy in Arena parts. *Corrected the monster who dropped the Red Basil. *Added 1up as new sites which I allowed to use my Guide. *Changed my E-Mail address. Since I get bored with the old one. Version 1.05 (14/07/2006) *Added Acid Rain & Houtenkuu for the start of the battle stuff in the Tales Cameo battle. Yeah, I forgot to add them. *Added neoseeker & Supercheats as new sites which I allowed to use my Guide. Version 1.03 (07/07/2006) *Rename the Juggle Prison to Juggle Trap (Prison sounds weird). *Fixed some error typing. *Added Raiijinken, Philia Bombs & Bomb Rains which I forgot. Version 1.00 (02/07/2006) *This guide is finished. ----------------- V. Credits ----------------- Thanks goes to: 1. God, because I'm still alive when I'm writing this guide. 2. My parents, I won't be what I am today or even can play this game if it's not because of them. 3. Namco (Tales Studio), for this awesome game. 4. GameFAQs and CJayC, for the great website where I can get lots of info for this game from the Guide, FAQs, or the people at the Message Board. 5. You, if you didn't mind to read or follow my strategy on this guide. Copyright 2006, Yandy Kusanagi