-240214-133601.png "Screenshots copyright Square Enix.")
Cave to the Ancient Castle - Enemies
A secret dungeon that you'll learn about by giving a hefty amount of gil to a man outside the Cultists' Tower, the Ancient Castle is very easy to miss. It's found beneath Figaro Castle, accessible once you acquire the Falcon, though you'll probably want to wait until your party is at level 40+. The enemies near the castle are reasonably powerful.
Land the Falcon by Figaro Castle, which, presumably, is still parked near Kohlingen. Ask the Castle’s ‘driver’ to send it to Figaro, in the east. Along the way he’ll note that something is jamming up the Castle’s progress. Tell him you want to check it out.
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Head into the dungeon of Figaro Castle, down the stairs to the right of the front entrance of the castle. The eastern cell that you used back in South Figaro to get into Figaro Castle now leads to a new area, populated by some powerful monsters. You’ll want to be careful using magic down here, as some of the monsters will Reflect it back at you. Stick to special abilities and normal attacks.
Follow the southern path to start. You’ll find a chest containing a Wing Edge near a door. Head to the east side of the room and, near another southern door, you’ll find a chest containing a Hi-Ether. Go through the door in the southeast and you’ll find a chest containing a battle.
Master Tonberry
HP: 22,000
A boss already?! You betcha! Master Tonberry uses the following attacks:
- Normal melee attacks
- Knife, which inflicts a ton of damage (only used when Master Tonberry gets close to a character)
- Firaga / Blizzaga / Thundaga, elemental spells
- Bio, a Poison-elemental spell that can inflict Poison status
- Tornado, a Wind-elemental spell against your whole party
- Quake, an Earth-elemental spell against your whole party
- Tsunami, a Water-elemental spell against your whole party
- Traveler, a non-elemental spell that does 1,000+ HP of damage to one target
- Barrier Change, which changes Master Tonberry's weaknesses and immunities
Tonberries are nasty foes, and the Master Tonberry is no exception. Aside from physical attacks and Traveler, which are both painful, Master Tonberry frequently uses Barrier Change to swap its current element. The spell it uses hints at its current element, and you'll need to use Libra - or just take a guess - to determine its current weakness. The Master Tonberry slowly approaches your party, and eventually when it gets close enough it'll use Knife, which is almost always a OHKO.
Master Tonberry is vulnerable to Sleep, so if you care to be tactical you can knock it out, then exploit its elemental weaknesses or use non-elemental magic to inflict damage. Otherwise, use your strongest non-elemental attacks, and try to take Master Tonberry down before it can get too close to your party.
Master Tonberry drops the Gladius upon defeat. You can also learn the Traveler Lore via Strago, if you bring him along to this fight.
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You can walk through the wall to the left of the chest where you fought Master Tonberry. Make your way to the southwest corner of this screen, where you’ll find a set of stairs leading to... nothing. Despite how it looks you can walk down these stairs and find a path leading east, along the edge of the map. Go north to find a Death Tarot.
Turn back west and head north, to the northwest corner of the chamber. There’s a passage through the western wall leading to a new area where you’ll find stairs. Ignore the stairs for the moment and look around the edges of the room to find some partially-hidden passages. You’ll find chests containing an X-Potion and a Magicite Shard. Then, down the stairs and past a save point, you'll find the Ancient Castle.
Ancient Castle - Enemies
This area contains a mixture of creatures from Cyan’s Dream and the Cave to the Ancient Castle. After watching a cut scene, approach the castle in the north. You’ll find a Punisher in the door to the right of the main entrance, and if you check the doorways on the west side of the entrance you'll find a chest containing another boss battle.
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Samurai Soul
HP: 37,620
Weakness: Poison
Drop: Master's Scroll
Another painful treasure chest boss. Samurai Soul uses the following attacks:
- Normal melee attacks
- Assassin Blade, which can OHKO a single target
- Flame Scroll / Water Scroll / Lightning Scroll, spell attacks against your whole party
- Gale Cut, a Wind attack against your whole party
- Ashura / Kunai, thrown weapon attacks against a single target
- Gil Toss, a thrown weapon attack against your whole party
- 1000 Needles, a single-target spell that always does 1,000 HP of damage
This battle hurts unless you're overleveled. Samurai Soul fights like Shadow, using a bunch of elementally-tinged attacks against your whole party to do 1,000+ HP of damage per attack. Use magic too many times and it will use Gil Toss; hit it physically too many times and it'll use Assassin Blade to OHKO a character. After enough time passes Samurai Soul will buff its stats, as well as apply Reflect status to itself.
If your characters know Bio they can do quite a bit of damage to Samurai Soul, as well as inflict Poison. You can also Confuse Samurai Soul, which makes it attack itself. Barring these two approaches, use your strongest normal attacks and keep at least one character on healing duty. (Two, if your best spell is Cura.) Equipment that negates or absorbs elemental damage is recommended.
The Samurai Soul drops a Master’s Scroll when defeated. The Master's Scroll is a fantastic relic that allows one character to attack a crowd of enemies four times - or, coupled with a Genji Glove, eight times. Use this on a single enemy and few foes survive.
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Enter the main section of the Ancient Castle and head north to the throne room. Here you’ll find the statue of Odin, an Esper, petrified by a foe in the earlier cut scene. Investigate the statue to receive the Odin Magicite. That done, stand on the third layer of steps down from the thrones, south of the right throne. Inspect the floor to trigger something elsewhere in the Ancient Castle.
Before checking on the noise, check the darkened gaps in the wall north and to the right of the thrones. There's a hidden room back here where you’ll find chests containing a Blizzard Orb and a Gold Hairpin. The Blizzard Orb is one of the few Umaro-specific pieces of equipment you'll discover in Final Fantasy VI. (There’s nothing back and to the left, unfortunately.)
Take a right from the throne room to find a bedroom to the east. Check the book shelf here for a book (Terra’s presence adds an extra line of dialogue), check the bucket for an X-Ether, and go down the stairs in the room. You made these appear by triggering the switch near the throne.
In this basement area you’ll find the roaming Blue Dragon, one of the Eight Dragons. Also here is a statue of the Ancient Castle’s queen. Inspect the statue with Odin in hand and the Magicite transforms into the Raiden Magicite. You don't have to change the Magicite, but Raiden is, overall, the better choice between the two.
That’s all for this ruin. You can’t Teleport out of here, so you’ll have to trek back to Figaro Castle on foot. Make sure you save along the way so you don't have to repeat everything if you happen to die.