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Surviving Village - Market
The events of the Ocean Palace rock the party, and once they're over you'll wake up in a tiny village on a tiny island. Your party is now short one rather crucial member. You can now form any team you like from the people left to you, and it's highly recommended that you place Ayla in your active party. You’ll see why shortly.
As far as you can tell from here, 12,000 BC has been reduced to this one island. (That isn't totally true, but... effectively this time period has been wiped out. Yikes.) Have a quick look around the other huts in the Earthbound Village and you'll find a Nu that will sell you basic items. Speak to the man beside the Nu and the Nu will sometimes wander out of the hut after a brief waiting period. Behind its original resting place is a Magic Capsule. Come back after the next dungeon and the Nu will have some new items to sell.
Head for the Village Commons, the forested area near the huts. Speak to the elder in the north to trigger a cut scene. Guess who else survived!
The Blackbird - Enemies
Knocked out and detained, the party is now aboard the Blackbird, Dalton's personal aircraft. Your items, money, weapons, armour and accessories are somewhere else on the ship, and you need to locate everything and find a way out.
So long as your team members are unequipped they can’t fight, and if everyone is unequipped when you get into a battle, you’ll just get thrown back in jail. The sole exception to this is Ayla, who only requires her fists to fight. Having her on your team will allow you to forego sneaking around. This guide will proceed assuming you don’t have Ayla, though if you do have her, let her loose and check the Blackbird's many rooms in any order you like. It won't take long.
First thing's first: Escape your cell. Check up the ladder on the right to confirm where you are as a start. You can then either knock on the door until you trick a guard into entering, thereby securing your release, or you can jump up into the vents by investigating the northernwestern wall. We’ll go with the vents.
Take a right once you're in the vents and head north. Proceed northwest through the vents until you find a grating that’s just south of a ladder. Slide down the ladder and you’ll find a sleeping guard. Pop open the chest near the guard to find a party member's equipment, then head back up. Now at least one of your buddies can fight. Be careful not to touch the guard, or he'll wake up and arrest the party.
Return to the vents, then head west and south to find a ladder. Defeat the Byte in the little storage room you find, then head into the hallway. The next room to the south has three Daltonites guarding a chest. It contains the party's money.
Trek back into the hallway. Head as far south as you can go, using the switch beside the moving track to get down there. On your left is a room containing two more Daltonites. They protect a chest containing another party member’s equipment.
Back to the hallway yet again. Head to the northeast corner of these corridors. You’ll find two Daltonites guarding a door. Take them out, then destroy the Byte inside to get at a chest. It contains the third, final set of equipment.
Return to the hallway. Go through the door in the far north that’s protected by two Daltonites. Beyond is a second set of corridors. Through the door on your immediate left is a Byte, two Daltonites, and a chest containing the rest of the party's inventory. If you took a different route you can equip your unarmed characters at this point, though they won’t have what they were wearing when you were captured.
One more trip into the hallway. Head to the northeast in these corridors and into the room protected by two Daltonites. Inside is a ladder. Climb into the vents, go west, then head north. Follow the darkened passages to the east to find a dead end. It’s home to a Magic Capsule. You can't get this until you've retrieved your party's inventory.
Return to the room where you found your inventory. In the back of it is a ladder leading up onto the Blackbird’s left wing. You'll receive a warning if you try to go up without collecting all of your stuff. This is not a huge deal if all you left behind was your money, but you really should try and gather everyone's equipment, at a minimum.
The wing is covered in Turrets that are almost identical to the Rubbles of the Mountain of Woe: They lock your Techs, they have high evasion, they will disappear after a few rounds, and they reward you with 100 TP if defeated. The only difference is that they will attack your party members. Berserker Rings are recommended, as you won’t get a second chance at fighting the Turrets.
Make your way down and to the west along the wing. Eventually the winds will push you to the lower-left edge of the wing, where a boss is waiting.
Golem Overlord
HP: 15,000
Sound intimidating? It’s not. The Golem Overlord is a nothing boss. He’s too scared to fight, and if you leave him to wallow in his fear he’ll eventually run away. This means you have a limited time to take him down, so if you reeeeally want the experience and TP, lay into him with your strongest attacks, no holds barred.
And once he’s dead / fled…
King Dalton
HP: 2,800
Charm: Ambrosia
Dalton’s a teensy bit more serious this time, but not to any great degree. Dalton uses the following attacks:
- A slashing wind attack against one target
- A flame orb attack against one target
- Iron Sphere, which cuts a target's HP in half (physical counter)
- Lightning II / Ice II / Fire II, elemental spells against your whole party (magic counter)
In addition to his usual Iron Sphere attack Dalton uses a few non-elemental attacks, yielding fairly inconsequential amounts of damage, and a rather nifty reversal mechanic. Use a specific element on him and he’ll use the opposite back on you. For example, if you hit him with Fire Punch, he’d retaliate with Ice II. You can use this to your elemental advantage if you’re wearing the appropriate vests, but… to be honest, Dalton just isn’t strong enough to be worth the effort. Two or three powerful Dual or Triple Techs will take him down. Heal as needed.
Follow the button prompts after Dalton goes down and, hey, the Epoch is yours again. You’re free to fly all over the place. That said, there’s one more thing you have to do before you’re allowed to roam the world, and it's back near the Surviving Village.