Part 26: Getting the Party Back Together

Main Walkthrough

Ryu's old band is back together, and with Rei thrown into the mix - still no sign of Teepo, alas - the group is headed to the Plant, the chrysm-based farm that keeps churning out mutants. Director Palet is nowhere to be found, and Momo is convinced that he's the key to fixing all the problems.

Put Peco in your party and head to the Plant. Something will immediately seem off about the place, and rightly so, as chrysm gas has begun leaking into the Plant's many greenhouses. You need to smash open the glass rooftops of the greenhouses so the gas can vent. Peco can do this by knocking rocks off of the nearby ledges. There are two greenhouses to vent, and both are located on the west side of the Plant.

In each case you need to roll one of the nearby rocks over to the big, prominent Xes that have been carved into the ground. That done, move Peco a fair distance away from the rock and run up to it. Upon impact Peco will send the rock flying, and if your aim is good he'll launch it into the greenhouse. 

This is easy enough for the first greenhouse, but the second gives you very little space. To successfully launch the second rock you need to start Peco a ways to the southwest, then run northeast and turn abruptly when you reach the rock. So long as there's one space between Peco and the rock when he runs into it he'll send it flying into the greenhouse. Make sure you don't press the O button to activate Peco's Field Action, as he'll likely send the rock a foot or two and miss his mark completely.

Put Momo in your party if she wasn't already there, then head into the main boiler room, at the bottom of the slope near the second greenhouse. Momo can blast the front off of the boiler to reveal a hidden compartment. Climb the ladder inside to discover the true face of the Plant.

The Plant

Monsters

  • Big Bulb - Steal Mandrake, Drop Life Shard
  • Fly Man - Steal Scale Mail, Drop Flame Spear
  • Giant Roach - Steal Healing Herb, Drop Vitamin, Learn Jump
  • Toxic Fly - Steal Antidote
  • ZombieDR - Steal MultiVitamins, Drop Vitamins, Learn Bone Dart
Surprise! Yep, the Plant is much more technologically-advanced than it looked on the surface, forcing you to keep Momo in your active party to progress. You'll start running into monsters down here, and all of them are weak to Flame attacks. Putting Flare Swords on Ryu and Rei, Flame Talons on Peco, and Flame Chrysm on Momo will make defeating random encounters really easy. The Fly Men can also drop Flame Spears for Garr, though the chances of getting one are a little low. 

If you look northwest of the entrance ladder you'll find a door with a prominent '1' on the front. The door is electronically locked, and you'll need to find a way to open it elsewhere in the Plant. This will be a recurring theme in this dungeon, making it tricky to navigate.

Head southwest until you see a conveyor belt. On a nearby wall is a ladder that will take you up to a storehouse with some hay bales. Check behind the hay for a hidden Skill Ink, then head back down the ladder. The conveyor is running the wrong direction for you to hop on, forcing you to trek to the northeast.


The next room contains four computer consoles, one of which is active - and displays a prominent '1' on its screen. Have Momo check it out and she'll use the computer to open the locked door that you found earlier. This will also unlock the next computer over, which has a '2' on its screen... though, alas, Momo isn't able to just guess the password this time around. To get all the way through the dungeon you need to find the passwords, then return to this room and unlock more doors.

Before you head any deeper into the Plant, check the northwest of the computer room. You'll find an unlocked door leading into a bedroom where the team can rest. You may want to use this place any time you need to return to the computer room to use a new password. Check the bookshelf in here for a Healing Herb. The ladder in this room will take you to a '4' door, which you can't open yet.

Head back the way you came and through the door you've unlocked. You'll find a hallway with three more electronic doors, and you can only open the one furthest to the southwest. In the next room you'll find a small office with another '2' computer. Check the bookshelves for Ammonia. You can't use the computer without the password, so head down the stairs to the south instead.


Down the stairs you'll find an area that's flooded with chrysm gas, and you can only wander around for a short time before the team is forced back upstairs. Walk northeast through the room and you'll find several garden boxes for growing plants. The upper-left box is partially obscured by a ventilation duct running along the top of the room, and if you twist the camera a bit you'll notice a Peco-esque onion in the box. Inspect it to learn the second password: Repsol.

Head back upstairs and return to the main computer room. Momo can use the password to unlock the '2' doors throughout the facility. Return to the room with the small office, just before the area filled with gas, and you can use the computer here to unlock the nearby '2' door. Inside is a box containing Silver Mail, partially hidden behind several other boxes.


Return to the hallway with the three security doors and go through the '2' door that's hidden behind a ventilation duct. In here you'll find another '2' door, a '3' door with a nearby security computer, and stairs. Enter the '2' door and you'll find a narrow path to a lever. Pull the lever and you'll grant access to a puzzle a bit later in the dungeon. (Oddly enough, there's nothing useful inside the '3' door, so... don't worry about it, I guess.)

Return to the previous room, ignore the '3' door and computer for the moment, and go down the stairs in the west. You'll wind up in the room filled with gas, though it won't harm you as you explore the upper level. There's a door in the southeast, and near it you'll find a ramp that will allow you to get up onto the ventilation ducts. You can walk along the ducts to the northwest and find a path out into the hallway, which eventually leads you to a puzzle room where you'll find an important hint: Adjust pressure counter on Unit 3 by +10. (It will make sense soon.)


Go through the southeastern door in the gas room. You'll wind up in a small area with a one-way conveyor belt leading to an upper level. Ignore the conveyor for a moment and look to the northeast. The ventilation system continues through here, and if you walk beneath it you'll find a memo on the ground. It has the third password: AA. 

If you climb onto the duct you can walk up it to the northeast, and this pathway will lead you out to the entry hall, where you'll find the Force Gene. This will allow Ryu to transform into a Warrior Dragon, a powerful humanoid form that can get you through the rest of the game if you never find another Dragon Gene.

Return to the room with the conveyor and password, and hop onto the conveyor. At the top you'll find a door leading to a chest, containing Sleep Shells, and a second conveyor. Hop aboard and it will take you back to the entry hallway. Return to the computer room and activate the third security terminal. 

Head back northwest, to the hallway with the three security doors, and go through the '3' door. The room beyond is one you've seen a few times, and it contains several glowing cubes that are wired into the floor. Ignore them a bit longer and check to the northwest, where you'll find a conspicuous door that's leaking chrysm gas. Get ready for a battle when you head inside.

Huge Slug

Steal: Vitamins
Drop: Nothing
Learn: Nothing

Yep, that's pretty big. Huge Slug is a slippery beast, and in addition to its attacks it has a slimy coating that will prevent most of your own physical strikes from landing. You can expect the following from Huge Slug:
  • A normal, goopy melee strike
  • Molasses, which slows one character
  • Siphon, which steals HP from one character
  • Quake, which hits the whole party for Earth damage
This battle is pretty easy if you heeded the advice from earlier and equipped your party with Flame weapons. A single hit from a Flame weapon or Skill will remove Huge Slug's protective coating, making it vulnerable to your attacks. Even just throwing a Molotov at it will suffice. 

Once the coating is gone you can mount an all-out offensive on the Huge Slug, again using Flame attacks to maximize your damage. Ryu will absolutely murder this poor beast if he turns into a Flame Dragon of any size, and most of your other party members should have a Flame option by now. So long as you watch out for Quake there's not much to worry about here. 


Head back outside and go up the stairs near the door. You'll find two more glowing cubes and an instruction manual. The manual will tell you to line up the counters on the cubes, from lowest to highest. This serves as the hint for the final password. The five chrysm units have the following displayed on their pressure gauges:
  • Unit 1 - 21
  • Unit 2 - 39
  • Unit 3 - 18 (28)
  • Unit 4 - 55
  • Unit 5 - 42
You may recall earlier that Unit 3 is broken, and should be read as 10 higher than its displayed number. Place the numbers in order with this in mind and you get 1, 3, 2, 5, 4. Return to the computer room and you'll need to choose from a series of sequences. Check 'Other' to find 1, 3, 2, 5, 4. This will unlock the '4' door, located on the other side of the bedroom.


Go through the door and you'll wind up on the upper half of the room with the pressure cubes. Climb onto the ducts and go northwest to find a chest containing a Wisdom Ring. This is a powerful piece of equipment for your spellcasters, and shouldn't be ignored. Also here is a ladder. Be ready to fight when you go down, as Palet's on the other end, and he has gone full mad scientist since the last time you saw him.


Shroom

Steal: Wisdom Fruit
Drop: Wisdom Ring
Learn: Lavaburst

Ooookay then. Shroom is a nasty boss, capable of some powerful attacks that are straightforward but painful. You'll run into the following moves while battling this perversion of the natural world:
  • A normal melee smack
  • Headcracker, which hits a single target multiple times at random
  • Blitz, which hits the whole party multiple times
  • Restore, which heals Shroom for around 200 points of damage
  • Lavaburst, which hits everyone for Flame damage
  • Ragnarok, which hits everyone for Earth damage
Most of Shroom's attacks are physical in nature, which means that Shield is quite effective at keeping your party members safe from excessive amounts of damage. Heal away any other damage with items or spells. Shroom is weak to a number of elements, though given the rest of the dungeon you're probably best-equipped to take it on with Flame, which works quite well. Ryu can make pretty short work of Shroom with the Force Gene that you (hopefully) picked up earlier if you combine it with the Flame Gene, and everyone else in the party should have a Flame option.

Late in the fight Shroom will start to use Restore to heal the damage you've inflicted. This is a sign that you're getting close. Keep the pressure up so Shroom can't restore too much of its health and the battle will be over soon enough.


Once Palet is gone Momo will mull over her father's decisions, and decide that the Palet's mother - whom he's been keeping alive artificially - must not be happy with how things are going. Pull the nearby lever to put her to rest for good. Check the bookshelf on the left side of the room for 400 zenny, then make your way out of the Plant and back to the surface.

There's nothing left for you here, so head back to the world map. Momo will decide to accompany Ryu on his trip to the eastern lands, which means that Peco, too, is automatically along for the ride. Nina's still a question mark, though, and her involvement needs to be resolved by heading back to Wyndia.

Main Walkthrough