Having prepared one fabulous serving of Shisu, the party has learned that the Legendary Mariner, the only man to cross the ocean, lives to the east of Parch. Sail the boat out to the northeast of Parch and you'll find a ? mark attached to the larger island, near the fishing shack by the seaside.
Alas, finding this area is only the first step of the journey. Now you need to navigate the tides surrounding the Legendary Mariner's home using the boat. Given how the boat steers, this is a bit of a pain in the butt.
Reaching the Legendary Mariner
Up to this point navigating via the ship was relatively simple. It's a pain to steer, sure, but your path between locations was always straightforward. This area forces you to put your skills to the test and steer the vessel the mariner's hut, through an area filled with bending passages. Oh, and you only have 25 seconds to reach the hut before you get kicked out and need to start over. Fun!
Here are some tips for steering the boat:
- Hold the up button down most of the time, adding in the occasional left and right to swing your boat around. Don't use the down button unless you need to turn around (and if this happens, you've probably failed already).
- Try not to steer towards islands. The further you can keep from landmasses, the better. Only approach islands if you want to collect the contents of a chest.
- Once you're on straightaways, press the triangle button to rev up the engine and move more quickly. Don't try this anywhere else or you're bound to get caught on a corner.
- Don't push the engine until it overheats, as it will stop the boat dead in the water for a few seconds. Rev the boat until it is almost out of power, then let up and allow the engine to recover.
- Alternately, use the ship's engine in small pulses that last about a second. You can use this to speed around corners a bit, without smashing into rocks.
- Ignore the map. It's just a distraction. You can use it at the beginning of a trip to chart a general path, but you should spend most of your time keeping an eye on your boat.
There are three chests that you can open as you explore the shoals in your boat. You'll never reach the hut when you commit to grabbing a chest, so expect to go through this area several times to get everything.
- Ice Dagger - Head northwest from the entrance. You'll see the chest on an island to your right as you head north.
- Blizzard Mail - Head northeast from the entrance and follow the shoals north until you see a zigzagging path leading northwest. This will bring you to the chest. You just barely have enough time to reach this chest if you steer properly.
- Ice Shield - Head northwest from the entrance and weave through the shoals to the west. You'll see the Legendary Mariner's hut along this route. Ignore it and go down the thin path to the south. The chest is at the end of this path. You'll need to line your boat up with the chest and put on a burst of speed to reach it, as you'll be almost out of time if you get this far.
The Legendary Mariner's hut is located on the west side of the shoals, accessible by heading northwest from the entrance to this area. If you can get to the Ice Shield, you should have no trouble making it to the hut.
The party will learn that the 'Legendary Mariner' is not a mariner at all, but a regular guy named Kukuys who stowed aboard a ship from the other side of the ocean. That ship is, of course, the Black Ship, which is actually a huge cargo hauler. Cut to the party trying to get aboard... and failing, as the Black Ship's defences drive them off.
Talk to everyone on the ship and Momo will offer the most sensible option for boarding the Black Ship: Ram it from behind. This will spawn the Black Ship on the Middle Sea, and you can rev your ship into the rear deck and get aboard. You'll need to line your ship up carefully with the Black Ship to do this, though compared to navigating the shoals around Kukuys's hut this is a piece of cake.
(Speaking of the hut, if you make a return trip back through the shoals you can have a look around this time. Check the dresser inside the hut for a Protein.)
A warning! If you board the Black Ship you'll be stuck on it, and though you can rest in your boat you won't be able to leave until you're done exploring the dungeon. You also will not be able to return to the mainland for some time. Check in with Masters and collect any necessary items before you smash into the Black Ship.
Black Ship
Monsters
- Bolt - Steal Berries, Drop Royal Dagger
- Bolt Archer - Steal Berries, Drop Panacea, Learn Blind
- Bolt Lord - Steal Berries, Drop Lacuer Helm
- Bolt Mage - Steal Berries, Drop Robe of Wind
- Giant Crab - Steal Belladonna, Drop Blizzard Mail, Learn Double Blow
- King Toad - Steal Healing Herb, Drop Life Shard, Learn Influence
- Sleepy - Steal Baby Frog, Drop Fat Frog
The first thing to note about this area is the list of enemies. A significant number of them are Bolt monsters, all of whom are quite evasive - if you use normal attacks. Use magic instead and they will die quickly, as their HP is very low. This, coupled with a general weakness to Electric abilities among the other inhabitants, make Rei and Nina prime candidates for exploring the ship. They're both fast enough to get off a blast of Lightning and wipe out most of your opponents.
Enter the door near your ship. You'll wind up in a room with another door and stairs. The door leads to a container area with a crane, though it's inoperable right now. Go down the stairs instead. You'll find a hallway with two more doors. In one is a computer that says something about an error in Platform No. 3, while the other leads to a room with conveyor belts.
Check northeast of the entrance to the larger chamber. You'll find a computer panel that will allow you to set instructions for a moving platform. Choose a program and the platform will zigzag around and take you to a destination. Hop back onto the platform a few times to return to the start. You'll find the following if you check out each program:
- P1 - Dead end
- P2 - The second stop on this route brings you to a door with a scanner containing an ID Card
- P3 - Keep hopping back on the platform and it will take you into the basement, where you can use a computer console to reactivate the crane from earlier
- P4 - Keep hopping back on and it will take you to the door with the ID Card, as well as into the basement, where you can find a box containing Skill Ink
- P5 - Will eventually take you upstairs, to a room filled with containers - nothing here right now, though
- P6 - Dead end
In short, use programs P3 and P4 to achieve all your goals.
Head back to your ship to heal and save, then enter the crane room. Now that the controls are active you can use the crane to move the boxes in the cargo hold. In theory this is pretty simple:
- Hold down the X button to move the crane northeast, releasing the button when you've reached your destination
- Hold down the X button again to move the crane northwest, releasing the button when you've reached your destination
If the crane is above a green crate it will reach down, grab the crate, and place it to the south, gradually creating a path for you. You'll need three green boxes to create a path. The crane has a tendency to overshoot your target, so you need to let go of the button roughly one space before the crane arrives at its destination. You can reset the room by leaving it and coming back in.
Once you've created the bridge you can grab the fourth crate in the room, which will wind up smashed. Which item you receive depends on which box gets smashed, and you can collect the following items by smashing all four of them:
- Protectors
- Ascension
- Light Bangle
- Wisdom Fruit
Cross the bridge you've created to the northwest. If you go through the nearest door you'll find a path onto the brown crates, allowing you to get at a box you probably saw several times. It contains Flash Shells. Head through the door to the southeast and you'll be back in the first room of the Black Ship. Pull the lever here to create a path back to your boat. If you don't have Momo in your party, you should get her now.
Head up the stairs near the lever. You'll arrive at an intersection. Go southwest at the intersection and you'll find a dead-end corridor with a box containing Skill Ink at the end. To the northwest at the intersection you'll find a number of doors containing a variety of items:
- The first door on your right contains an Ammonia.
- The second door on your right contains something called the Booster Counter. This will be important in a bit.
- The second door on your left contains 2,400 zenny. It's hidden by the dividing wall, and is near the door.
At the end of the hallway are stairs leading to an elevator. Use the ID Card you found earlier on the scanner beside the elevator to activate it. This will take you up to another set of stairs, which lead to the bridge. Have Momo check out the controls and she'll determine that the ship is set to cross the ocean - but it needs to be primed by the Booster Counter that you saw two levels below.
For this minigame you'll need to run down to the Boost Counter once Momo activates it and check the number displayed on the console, down the elevator, down a set of stairs, and in the first room on your right. Once you've checked the number, run back up to Momo and count until it reaches 100, then speak to Momo. If you time this right the ship will be put back on its course across the sea. You'll hear a beeping sound once you've checked the Boost Counter, so as long as you don't lose count it's not that difficult to complete this puzzle.
The team will bid Zig farewell and climb aboard the Black Ship as it heads off into the Outer Sea. Time passes, and it doesn't pick up again until an alarm sounds. Head to the bridge and Momo will reveal that something has stopped the ship from moving. You'll need to send a party out to investigate. Characters with Electric attacks and weapons should take priority.
Head back to the side hallway where you found Skill Ink earlier. You can now enter the chamber beyond the door, where you'll find a larger room filled with stairs and fences. Check the room on the east side of this chamber to find a chest containing Ivory Dice, then go through the door in the northwest. Take a right in the next room, follow the path around the room, and ignore the stairs in the northwest until you've checked the chest in the west. It contains a Soul Gem.
At the bottom of the central ladder in this room you'll find another cargo hold. Climb atop the crates and use the door in the northwest to find a ladder up to the bow of the Black Ship. Something will thud into the vessel, and when you check the front of the ship you'll be confronted by a pair of horrifying sea things.
At this point you're instructed to fall back a bit, keeping an eye on the monsters as you hold right. Ignore the instructions if you want to do this and just rapidly tap the right analog button. Do it fast enough and your team will reach the middle deck, allowing the ship's defensive turrets to activate. If you can't... well, don't worry about it. This fight is easy.
Ammonites
Steal: Moon Tears
Drop: Nothing
Learn: Nothing
On paper the Ammonites are a bit scary, as they have a lot of powerful attacks. In practice... eh. Not a big deal, as they don't hit all that hard. You can expect to see the following abilities from the Ammonites:
- A melee smack against a single target
- Multistrike, a melee attack against a single target
- Tsunami, a Water attack against the whole party
- Iceblast, a Frost attack against a single target
- Blizzard, a Frost attack against the whole party
Most of the Ammonites' attacks aren't terribly painful. Tsunami is an exception, especially if both of them use it in one round, though by now your team should be more than prepared to exploit the Ammonites' weakness to Electric damage. Ryu can, changed into a Thunder Dragon, pretty much handle both Ammonites with Thunder Claw.
If you managed to back your party up far enough you'll see the attack Main Cannon on a regular basis. Main Cannon damages the Ammonites for a relatively small amount, so you can't expect them to do all the work. That said, Main Cannon prevents the stricken Ammonite from using its own moves, giving you a hassle-free turn. If you didn't manage to back up far enough, well, don't worry about it. This isn't a difficult fight.
Head belowdecks again once you've taken out the Ammonites. This will bring your time on the Black Ship to an end, and the team will find themselves in a whole new world, starting with the port town of Kombinat.