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World Map - Kohlingen Region - Enemies
After defeating the tentacular beastie that kept Figaro Castle trapped underground you'll resurface in the desert near South Figaro. Speak to the guy in charge of Figaro's submersible functions to move northwest, to a desert near Kohlingen. The monsters change when you leave the castle, but they're nothing special overall. There are a few things to note before we move on with the story:
- For the most part Figaro Castle doesn't have much of interest to offer. If you check out the Tools merchant, however, he'll have something new: The Debilitator. This is your first opportunity to buy this Tool, if you didn't Steal it from anything in the World of Balance.
- Kohlingen is now trapped on an island by itself. You can't walk Jidoor or Zozo anymore, so don't try.
- If you look to the north of Kohlingen you'll find that the little house owned by a bloodthirsty old man is now gone. Instead you'll find the Dragon's Neck Coliseum, a one-on-one battleground where you can send your party in to combat monsters for a variety of prizes. We'll discuss Dragon's Neck Coliseum in a different section of the guide.
That's that. Time to check in on Kohlingen.
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Kohlingen - Weapon Shop
Kohlingen - Armor Shop
Kohlingen - Item Shop
Aside from the palette swap and some new occupants, Kohlingen hasn't change a ton since the world ended. There are new pieces of equipment on offer, so check out the weapon and armor shops before you leave town.
Head to the pub. Here, sitting where Shadow used to be, you'll find a different familiar face: Setzer. He's not feeling too well about the state of the world, though a quick cut scene straightens him out and puts him back in the party. That was easy. Recruiting Setzer is only the beginning of this quest, however, and you'll need his help to acquire something even more important: A new pair of wings.
Follow the western shoreline, south of Kohlingen but along the north of the continent. You’ll soon come to Darill’s Tomb, a little location which, to be honest, is pretty easy to miss if you’re not looking for a dot on the map. With Setzer in the party you'll gain access to the tomb, which turns out to be a dungeon.
Darill's Tomb - Enemies
First thing's first: Check your equipment. Make sure you do not have Viper Darts equipped on Setzer, as the majority of enemies down here are undead and will simply come back to life if hit. Fire is your friend in Darill’s Tomb, as are relics that protect against Zombification (a Ribbon or an Amulet). Holy Water is also handy if you don't those relics on hand, and you'll pick up a bunch just fighting monsters in the tomb.
Take a right to start and check the first door you see. Investigate the tombstone within to open a door behind it. There’s a switch back here that raises the water level in the dungeon. Return to the main hall and check south of this door for a dead-end room containing a Genji Helm.
Return to the centre of the hallway and go through the central door. It leads across a swimming turtle and south two rooms, where you'll find four graves. Read all four, then return to the first hallway. Don’t hit the switch beside the first door.
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Go through the door to the left of the entrance. There’s a blank grave inside. Carve the following into it in this order:
- ‘WEHT’
- ‘DLRO’
- ‘QSSI’
- ‘ERAU’
You’ll be alerted to a prize on a lower level. Return to the hallway and go south from this door. In the next room is a chest containing Crystal Mail, as well as stairs. Go down to find a Regal Gown, then check the wall on your right. You’ll find a secret path leading to a chest that contains a Growth Egg. This fantastic relic increases the amount of experience awarded to the wearer, allowing them to level up that much faster.
To the north is a watery pit you’ve seen before, as well as a switch. Press the switch to open a door above, then return to the central door on the upper floor and hit the switch you ignored earlier, to the left of this watery pit. This raises the water in the pit, allowing you to hop on a turtle in the water. The turtle ferries you across the water to a new area.
The corridor ahead contains two chests and a save point. The chest on the right contains a Man-Eater, which you shouldn't use down here. The chest on the left contains a boss battle, so make sure you save and heal yourself before giving it a try.
Angler Whelk
HP:
- 9,845 (head)
- 9,230 (shell)
Weakness:
- Fire (both)
- Instant Death (head)
- Petrify (shell)
Immune: Poison (head)
Drops: Dragon Claws
Ahh, this looks familiar. The Angler Whelk uses the following attacks:
- Withdraws into the shell (head)
- Normal melee attacks (both)
- Petriblast, which can Petrify a single target (head)
- El Niño, a Water spell against your whole party (head)
- Megavolt / Gigavolt, Lightning spells (shell)
- Magnitude 8, an Earth spell against your whole party (shell, only when head is in the shell)
- 1000 Needles, a spell that always inflicts 1,000 HP of damage to a single target (shell)
The Angler Whelk is an amped-up version of Ymir, the first boss you ever battled in Final Fantasy VI. There are two targets - head and shell, like before - but this time you don't automatically get hit by a counterattack if you damage the shell. The Angler Whelk's head can be defeated with an Instant Death attack, while the shell is vulnerable to Petrify, and since you only need to beat one of the two to end the battle this makes for an easy encounter.
Should you end it that quickly? Perhaps not. You'll get some Dragon Claws for defeating the Angler Whelk. If you recruited Sabin in Tzen, these will prove quite useful. You'll get these claws from defeating either the head or the shell - or, if you beat both simultaneously, you'll get two pairs of Dragon Claws. Putting these on Sabin with Genji Gloves makes him quite the powerhouse, so you may want to balance out your attacks and try to defeat both head and shell simultaneously.
There are two slightly easier ways to defeat both parts of Angler Whelk, if you don't want to take the long way around:
- Summon the Catoblepas Esper. If you get lucky it will Petrify both parts of Angler Whelk, ending the fight.
- Use the Banish spell, learned from the Fenrir Magicite. If you're lucky it will get rid of both parts of the Angler Whelk simultaneously.
(Apparently the Angler Whelk drops both pairs regardless of how you fight in the Pixel Remaster version, eliminating the need to fiddle so much with this battle.)
Continue north after healing and saving again. You'll find a big bundle of roses in the middle of the next room. Inspect the roses to take on another boss.
Dullahan
HP: 23,450
Weakness: Fire
Absorbs: Ice
The master of Darill's Tomb, Dullahan is your final obstacle before taking to the skies once more. It uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Morning Star, a stronger physical attack
- Cura, which restores some of Dullahan's health
- Blizzara / Blizzaga / Absolute Zero, Ice spells
- Northern Cross, which can Freeze a single target
- Holy, a Holy-elemental spell
- Reflect ???, which inflicts Blind, Silence, and Slow on targets that have Reflect status
Not a terribly difficult boss. Dullahan specializes in some so-so physical attacks coupled with Ice magic, though it only deals significant amounts of damage when it uses Blizzaga. Halfway through the battle Dullahan will pull out some slightly more painful spells, but they’re still not that bad. Its only nasty trick is its ability to freeze your characters, and you can thaw them with a simple Fire simple applied to your whole party.
Dullahan is weak to Fire spells, so use Fira to drain its HP. If not, take it down with normal and special attacks. Keep everyone's health nice and high and you shouldn't have too much trouble with this fight. Despite how it looks Dullahan is not Undead, so don't try to heal it.
Beating Dullahan opens a passage in the north. Go through to watch an emotional set of cut scenes, and when they’re done, hey! You have a new airship! Say hello to the Falcon.
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The Rest of the Game
Now that you own the Falcon you can pretty much do as you please. Every area in Final Fantasy VI (with a few exceptions) is now open to you, and you can freely move about the map, recruiting your old comrades. You can also, if you wish, ignore all that and simply go straight for Kefka, though if you only have three, max four characters... that's not a great idea. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- The bird that you follow to Maranda is, indeed, part of a side quest that we’ll address after recruiting Sabin. It’s a good, early quest in the World of Ruin that leads to another party member and some solid gear. That said, do not fight the creatures near Maranda! They're far too powerful at this point in the World of Ruin!
- If you managed to get the Falcon with only three party members, you can go to the Veldt (still a big lump of land in the far east) and recruit Gau. He’s hanging out with his animal buddies, as usual, and will happily rejoin the party. Go here with four members, though, and he’ll run off on you. You'll have to wait until you have five party members, and can change your party composition on the Falcon.
- If you already visited her earlier, you can now go back to Mobliz and recruit Terra. There's only one boss battle in your way. If you didn't visit Mobliz earlier, well... there are two boss battles. Not a big deal.
- Spend as little time in the sky as possible when moving from place to place. Each time you climb into the Falcon a small patch of the world map will be occupied by Deathgaze, a powerful demon that you’ll probably have to face several times to kill. Unlike most bosses you can run away from Deathgaze, and it, too, will typically run if it’s taking too much damage in a fight.
If you decide to follow the guide then we'll move from easiest to most difficult recruits. That means starting with Sabin, the one guy you could have picked up early. If you already have Sabin then you should follow the bird.