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Island Shrine
- There’s a large bridge (likely the Big Bridge) connecting the western and eastern halves of the main continent in the southern half of the world map. Cross it from the west side to find the Shrine. There are a pair of Gargolyes guarding it, as in the Pyramid of Moore, and they can be dispatched in the same way: simultaneous kills.
- One thing to note in here are the Executors. These foes can be rather dangerous depending on your level, as they have every level-based bit of Blue Magic: Level 2 Old, Level 3 Flare, Level 4 Graviga, and Level 5 Death. If you haven’t collected these spells from other enemies, now’s a good time.
- On your way in there’s a small hallway with stairs on the left. Check the right wall and you’ll find a secret passage leading to 12,000 gil.
- 1F. You’ll find a vent a few rooms over. Hop in and it’ll shunt you to a room with two switches. Hit the right switch and the vent will shunt you off to a room with an Elixir. Hit the left switch and the vent will redirect you into a room with a monster battle and a Rising Sun. Lower both switches and you’ll get shunted to a room with 9,000 gil. The left switch will take you to your destination.
- 2F. You’ll wind up by a save point, and to the north a larger room with lots of small passages. In the northwest is a chest containing an Ether; in the northeast, through a secret passage along the east wall, is a Crystal Helm; straight down the middle is a monster chest containing a Protect Ring. You can reach the exit by sticking to the left side of the room, past the middle chest.
- 3F. Straight ahead is a small room with a Beast Killer. To the right is a secret passage, but there’s also a pit that’ll drop you back to the previous room, so don’t bother. Go left to find the exit. 4F past here is nothing special.
- 5F. There are chests in this room, but there are holes hidden throughout the area. Approach the left chest from the left side to find an Ether; approach the right chest from behind to find a Dragon Fang. If you get dropped through the floor, you’ll have a slightly faster time coming up the stairs on the right.
- 6F. There’s another save point here. Next up is 7F; on the left side from the entrance is a Dark Matter, on the right side is a Circlet. Right down the middle is the tablet you’re looking for, being protected by a boss who will appear when you try to grab the tablet.
Wendigo
This battle isn’t difficult. It’s just annoying. Despite how it looks, Wendigo is only a single target - but that target cycles between four different sprites, changing which one will take damage each time you hit the real Wendigo. You can use all-hitting attacks to figure it out at once, but striking all four simultaneously will cause Wendigo to retaliate with Frost against your team, which is no good.
Ideally you want to have a team of four hitters - one with White Magic, just in case - who can meander from Wendigo to Wendigo, smacking them until you find the right one. Keep this up ’til the main one dies, after which the others will quickly follow suit. Aside from the Blue Magic spell Mind Blast Wendigo is pretty damned weak, so this is mainly a matter of time.
Beating the Wendigo will bring you one step closer to the end of the game. It also unlocks another area near Crescent, in the east: Fork Tower.
Fork Tower
Upon entering the lobby of Fork Tower your team will split into two, and you’ll have to choose which side of the Tower each character will ascend. You must send at least one character up each path; better to split your team in half.
The left teleporter will take you into an area with magically-inclined enemies, and if you use physical attacks or abilities you’ll get hit by some brutal counterattacks that may end in an instant loss. Mages and Summoners are ideal. You’ll find an Ether and a Wonder Wand on the way up, both in plain sight. Once you reach the top you’ll jump to the other team.
The right teleporter will take you into the opposite side of the Tower, where magic is completely nullified in battle. Send up powerful physical hitters instead; Counter is a good ability if you don’t have Monks. You’ll find a Hi-Potion and a Defender on the way up. At the top is a boss.
Minotaur
This is an extremely straightforward fight, as Minotaur relies on nothing besides physical attacks. The problem is that it hits hard enough to take your guys down in a few strikes - and you only have items for healing, unless you have the Chakra ability. Equip both of your characters with Counter and focus entirely on items, pummelling Minotaur to death with counterattacks. Alternatively, put them in the back row with long-range weapons and slice him up that way, healing as necessary. It’s not that hard a fight, but it can go south really quickly if one of your characters dies. You’ll gain Holy upon beating Minotaur.
(Side note: The fight ends with Minotaur trying - and failing - to use Holy on you. If you give him an Ether or an Elixir, though, he will cast it. Maybe… don’t do that, yeah?)
Beat Minotaur and you’ll jump to the other team. Touch the item before you to trigger another boss battle. DON’T MOVE! If you move anywhere the Tower will explode and you’ll get a game over.
Omniscient
The fight against Omniscient starts off lame and gets progressively more painful the more damage you inflict. Omniscient is strictly a spell caster, as you might expect, and he’ll begin with weak stuff like Thunder, Blizzard, and Fire. Do enough damage, though, and he’ll switch to the -ra spells… and then the -ga spells, which are likely to kill your characters in a single hit, because Omniscient never multitargets. The key here is to use Reflect on one or both of your characters (Carbuncle can get this up quickly) and then just cast spells on Omniscient until he falls. He’ll do damage to himself in the meantime to expedite the process. If you have Blue Magic - specifically Aeroga - Omniscient will take extra damage, as he’s vulnerable to wind magic. Omniscient’s dying counter is Flare, though if you have Reflect up it’s not painful - plus you’ll learn Flare after winning.
There are two points of interest in this fight if you decide to take another path. The first is Omniscient’s physical counter. Attack him with anything but magic and he’ll use Return, which will immediately restart the fight. This can be useful if things aren’t going your way. The other is Berserk, which, to Final Fantasy veterans, may seem like a good idea. It’s not. Omniscient has a very powerful physical attack, and it will quickly wipe out your Mages. You can throw up Golem to offset this, if you like, but you reeeeeally need to be on top of your casting game or he may take out your Summoner between castings. Either way, just going with magic is probably your safest bet.
Defeating both bosses will send you to the bottom of the Tower, which then vanishes and reveals the Catapult’s landing platform. Set down inside it and you’ll find Cid in the basement; he’ll then upgrade your airship so it can function as a submarine. Guess where you need to head next.