About the guide

Preface

Hi, I'm Aurel (paranoodle) and I'm autistic and Star Ocean 3 is one of my special interests. I replay it pretty often, sometimes winging it and sometimes with a guide when I want to get specific endings/etc. And there's some really good guides around on GameFAQs, but almost every time I've needed to have 3+ open at once while I cross-reference things, so I've decided to try to make my own "all-in-one" walkthrough of sorts, taking advantage of scripting to give readers toggles for what parts they do/don't want covered.

That said I'll link to the more in-depth FAQs/walkthroughs that cover things this guide doesn't cover, especially for the more complicated topics like Item Creation or how the AI works.

Guide Progress

This guide is pretty obviously unfinished so far, but I've decided to start releasing it a little early in order to get feedback on the best way to display/word/cover things. I'm trying to go through it roughly linearly so people just starting the game and who are slow at playing can have more or less the intended experience.

Just a heads-up that I haven't gone through and verified all information in the guide yet, most is either from memory or from other guides, but there's a couple things I haven't been able to confirm for sure. I'll go through everything myself later, but if you run into anything incorrect in the meantime and want to let me know, feel free to @ or DM me on Twitter.

Currently in this guide:

General mechanics explanations for some but not all mechanics
Rough walkthrough from the beginning and going as far as finishing the Kirlsa Training Facility, though some areas might see clarification or rewording
All maps, private actions, item locations, battle trophy requirements, puzzle solutions, and dictionary unlocks for parts the walkthrough covers

Currently not yet in this guide:

Colorblind patterning on certain maps
In-depth explanation of the hauler beast puzzle
Certain mechanics explanations
"Show all PAs" mode
Inventor unlock locations (on account of not having reached Peterny yet) - there might be some pre-reqs I'll set up before reaching Peterny, but if so I'll list it in the change log just in case, so no one misses it.
Appendices (character stats, item descriptions, enemy profiles, etc)
Any pretty CSS for formatting

Known issues:

dictionary unlock button starts greyed out for some reason (but considers itself toggled on by default)
probably some other stuff i forgot, idk how to use javascript or css lol

Any chunks that are currently missing (within sections that are already otherwise written) will be quickly mentioned in red panels like this:

[information] is currently missing from [section]

Change logs

(all dates in dd.mm.yy format)

Change log: 01.07.20

first ""official"" public release (as if this link hasnt been active the whole time)
not gonna list the change log before that bc there's no point

On Spoilers

This guide aims to be as spoiler-free as possible, but some concessions have to be made for simplicity's sake. Any and all story spoilers will be avoided, but due to how guides work there will be mechanics-related spoilers such as revealing which characters become party members, when certain abilities unlock, etc.

That said, things like puzzle solutions will always be under a block so you can reveal them as you'd like, but don't risk seeing on accident if you want to solve them yourself.

Sources/credits

Way too much of this guide was written from memory and by double-checking things ingame, but specific sources to fill in the gaps include:

Several guides on GameFAQs, namely:

Official Brady Games Strategy Guide (I don't know if this is still available anywhere)
Item Creation Calculator

In general, if there's anything you'd like more context/information on, especially specific systems/mechanics, I'd recommend taking a look at the GameFAQs guides! There's some on almost every aspect of this game by now and most get very in-depth.

Game mechanics

Combat

This section is super unfinished but hopefully covers the important parts.

I'm not sure exactly what to cover just like that but the general gist is that this is a game with real-time, instanced combat, with 3 party members at a time.

you have 4 different base attacks/combos, depending on range and button. range is divided into long and short, and (in the english version) X does a light attack and O does a heavy attack
enemies can also do light and heavy attacks, and you can recognize heavy attacks by the purple trail left by the animation
all characters (including enemies) have a fury gauge that goes from 0% to 100%. attacking consumes fury. at 0% fury you cannot attack. at 100% fury if you have an anti-attack-aura (AAA) equipped, its effects activate when hit by a light attack (and you take no damage), but a heavy attack will break it and stun you. fury regenerates when standing still, and you cannot be above 99% when running
running out of HP will KO a character, but so will running out of MP. this also applies to enemies. having all active party members KO'd (or petrified) will cause a game over and force you to reload a save
most enemies deal HP damage, but some will deal MP damage with specific attacks, so watch out for that. similarly, most of your attacks deal HP damage, but some specific skills can deal MP damage
skills/spells can be cast from either HP or MP, and setting them to light/heavy button will affect both their cost and power
spells learned "naturally" can be used in combat without being equipped in the skills menu. spells learned via tomes take up a passive skill slot if you want them available in combat.
healing spells can be used from the menu outside combat
there's a cool thing you can do called skill canceling but i'll go find a guide for it later because i can't figure out the timing on it to save my life. tldr if you press a button to use a skill while in the animation for another button with the right timing, you'll cancel the end of the first skill and the second skill will do more damage. you can chain this up to 300% damage
when leveling characters (under "Skill Setup" > "Status"), "HP" and "MP" both just increase those stats, but "Attack" and "Defense" refer to the AI's aptitude specifically, and not to any stats. they're useless to level on characters you'll control yourself and never leave to AI. on AI characters, you'll want to get them both to 4 relatively early so they don't do really stupid things
this is unique to Peppita and Albel, but they can dodge attacks if hitting X (and also O for Peppita) at short range when an enemy is winding up an attack. hitting X again as Albel lets you chain into his regular combo afterwards.

Optional Party Members

Star Ocean 3 has 6 mandatory party members (as in, no matter what you do, they'll always join your party), and 4 optional party members. Of those optional party members, you can only ever recruit two in a given playthrough, for a total of 8 party members.

The mandatory party members are all obtained automatically as you progress through the story (and Adray is the only one whose timing can vary based on player choices)
The first optional party member is "locked in" at a specific point in the story, with Roger's requirement taking priority over Albel's, and Nel acting as a default if neither requirements were met
The second optional party member can either be Peppita, when given the option to recruit her automatically during the story, or if she wasn't recruited, one of Roger, Albel or Nel, each with a specific sidequest later on in the game

We'll cover the exact requirements for optional party members as it becomes relevant in-game.

Private Actions

Private Actions (PAs) are scenes that change party members' Affection Points (AP). They usually come in one of two varieties: dialogue options in cutscenes (either as part of the main story or sidequests), or just talking/interacting with an item/character at a given point. The latter means that depending on your goals sometimes you'll want to be careful not to talk to someone.

The main use of PAs (other than roleplaying) is that AP is what determines which character's ending you get come the end of the game. The requirements for getting a character's ending are:

They must be a party member, though they don't have to be in the active party (this only applies to the optional party members: Nel, Roger, Albel, and Peppita)
Fayt's affection for the character must be 21 or higher
The character's affection for Fayt must be 50 or higher

If more than one character meets these criteria, then you get the ending of whoever has the highest affection for Fayt. If none of the characters meet these criteria, then you get Fayt's solo ending.

Outside that, AP is also relevant during gameplay itself, in one of two ways:

If A has high affection for B, and B dies in combat, A will get a unique voice line and go into the "angry" state, where they deal double damage for a short time
AP determines healing priority, so if both A and B are at critical HP, but C has higher affection for A than B, they'll heal A first

Neither of these are important on a casual playthrough, but they can become relevant when min-maxing.

For this guide, you can use the drop-down at the top of the screen to pick which PAs you'd like to be guided to, with "Show all PAs" as an option if you just want to know what your options are as you go. The other options are:

Nel & Peppita Route is the general route to follow if you'd like to get the endings of Sophia, Cliff, Nel, Peppita, or Mirage. It involves picking up Nel and Peppita as your optional party members, and allows you to reload the game before the final boss and use affection-lowering items to change which ending you see.
Albel & Roger Route is similar, but for getting the endings of Maria, Roger, Albel, or Adray. It involves picking up Albel and Roger as the two optional party members. Both this route and the previous one also allow for getting Fayt's solo ending instead.
[Name] Max Affection Route is for if you'd like to go ham and get as many AP as possible on a given character. It's not as versatile as the other two but it means you can take any optional characters you'd like. If you know what ending you want to get, and you're not interested in one of the "standard" routes listed above, this is the option for you.

Battle Trophies

Since the PS2 didn't natively have achievements, battle trophies are Star Ocean 3's implementation of them. They're saved onto a memory card, but are independent of any specific save file. This means they carry across playthroughs, and across saves in general (so if a boss has two mutually exclusive battle trophies, you can get them both by reloading a pre-boss save again after obtaining the first one).

Important note: Battle trophies require playing on the Galaxy difficulty or above, and must be turned on in the battle simulator at the very start of the game. If you miss this, you won't be able to obtain any and the system essentially won't exist for that playthrough.

Map Completion

While "town" maps are all complete as soon as you first enter (as well as some unique event maps), that doesn't hold true for field/dungeon maps. You start with a blank map that automatically fills out around where you've walked, and reaching 99% completion on a map will award you one of three items.

Most field maps grant a 1/144 Scale Bunny
Most dungeon maps grant a 1/60 Scale Bunny
Some specific field/dungeon maps grant 1/1 Scale Bunny

The 1/144 Scale Bunny and 1/60 Scale Bunny both increase your combat movement speed by 5%, but neither of them stack with each other or dupes of themselves, so there's no point in keeping more than one bunny and you can just sell the extra for a hefty sum. The 1/1 Scale Bunny cuts your combat movement speed by half, but is worth a significantly higher amount of money.

Do note that when going for map completion, the area that gets filled out where you walk is relatively small, and the map itself tends to extend out a little around its borders, so you'll need to hug the walls quite a bit to reach 99%+.

Some areas can be completed on your first visit, but some will require more than one, either due to some areas being locked behind story progress directly, or due to requiring a mid-game item that destroys damaged walls. We'll point out which map completions can be obtained when.

Frequently Asked Questions

idk, u tell me

Walkthrough

How to read the walkthrough

About the technical aspects of this guide:

All header text can be clicked to expand/collapse their respective sections
Shop titles, boss names, etc can be clicked to expand for more content (respectively store items, boss stats/strategies, etc)
You can click on enemy/item names to see their info in the appendix, and you should be able to return to your previous spot by hitting your browser's back button
All of the banner buttons can be used to change things at any time - just a heads-up though that if you change which PAs you do partway through the game you might not get the ending you want
For the item location toggle specifically, maps with no items are indicated as such (so you're never stuck with a broken toggle without realizing)

About the banner buttons specifically:

The "show item locations" toggle only affects maps. Items obtained via talking to NPCs or via story/bosses will be mentioned in text regardless of this setting.
The "show battle trophy requirements" mainly affects the details next to boss strategies.
The "show inventor unlocks" describes both where to find the inventors and where to get the items to recruit said inventors, at points in the game that they become available
The "show encyclopedia unlocks" describes where to get optional unlocks, that is to say, ones that can be missed (sometimes permanently). Encyclopedia entries that are automatically unlocked as part of the story are not covered.

About the game-related aspects:

Maps are not to-scale compared with each other, they're scaled such that they fit within similar bounding boxes
All maps come with a legend, but it's the same formatting between all of them
All places labeled as "inns" contain save points
Any points that cause the plot to continue and halt exploration are noted as such

Disc 1 Story

these first three sections are probably going to get rewritten at some point, ironically it's one of the hardest to describe on account of you need to do very little to progress, but there's a TON of PAs early-game and the map has a lot of areas you don't strictly need to go to

Grantier Resort Hotel

Items

Shake

No map completion

Watch through the intro cutscenes up until you get control of Fayt.

Starting now, you can explore this entire area more or less freely, but if you're paying attention to Private Actions at all you'll want to be careful where you go and who you talk to.

Explore the first hallway you're in (and any of the north-side rooms) if you want, then when you're ready to move on go to either end of the hallway, both teleporter rooms will take you to the same place.

PA 1: Make sure not to check the trash can in room 105.

PA 1: Check the trash can in room 105 before speaking to Fayt's parents.

Once you're in the hotel area proper, you can visit the south-side or central rooms if you want, or take the southwest teleporter room to go visit the beach. If you do, watch out for the following PAs:

PA 2: Make sure not to speak to Sophia on the beach before speaking to Fayt's parents.

PA 2: Speak to Sophia on the beach before speaking to Fayt's parents.

PA 3-4: Make sure not to talk to the woman wandering around the beach.

PA 3-4: Talk to the woman wandering around the beach, and pick the first dialogue option. You'll get a second cutscene when exiting the area.

PA 3-4: Talk to the woman wandering around the beach, and pick the second dialogue option.

PA 3-4: Talk to the woman wandering around the beach, and pick the third dialogue option.

Dictionary entry: Examine the two southwest terminals in the hotel lounge (the room in the center of the hotel area) for two entries.

Once you're done with any exploring you'd like to do, enter the room in the northeast of the hotel area and watch a cutscene.

PA 5: When talking to Peppita, pick the first dialogue option.

PA 5: When talking to Peppita, pick the second dialogue option.

PA 6: While in the Rosetti dressing room, don't get too close to the barricaded door on the south side of the room.

PA 6: While in the Rosetti dressing room, go examine the barricaded door on the south side of the room.

When you exit that cutscene, you'll now be able to start the battle simulator if you interact with one of the panels in the NE, NW, SE, or SW corners of the hotel lounge (the room at the center of the hotel area). Be aware that starting the battle simulator is a point of no return.

PA 7: When accessing the Game Room panel, pick the first dialogue option.

PA 7: When accessing the Game Room panel, pick the second dialogue option.

The battle simulator includes a tutorial, but deciding to read that tutorial or not counts as a PA, so be aware of that. Similarly, winning/losing battles and so on are also PAs. Heads-up that the second and third battles (if you choose to do them) are far from trivial and might be too hard for a new player.

Remember to activate battle trophies in the simulator if you want them, it's the only time you can do so.

PA 8: When in the Battle Simulator, pick at least one of the options other than "Battle Trophies" and "Start Game".

PA 8: When in the Battle Simulator, pick "Start Game" before any other option (other than "Battle Trophies" if you want those).

PA 9-11: Lose the first battle.

PA 9-11: Win the first battle, pick the first dialogue option to play again, then pick the second dialogue option to end the tutorial. Note that you cannot lose/flee either of these battles if you want all the affection points. If you don't think you can survive a battle, escaping is better than losing.

PA 9-11: Win the first first battle, then pick the second dialogue option to end the tutorial.

PA 9-11: Win the first battle, pick the first dialogue option to play again, then pick the first dialogue option again to play one more time. Note that you cannot lose/flee either of these battles if you want all the affection points. Either loss or defeat is better than not selecting to play again.

PA 9-11: Win the first battle, pick the first dialogue option to play again, then pick the second dialogue option to end the tutorial. Note that you cannot lose either of these battles. If you're having trouble with a battle, losing is better than escaping.

PA 9-11: Win the first battle, pick the first dialogue option to play again, then pick the first dialogue option again to play one more time. Note that you cannot lose/flee either of these battles if you want all the affection points. If you're having trouble with a battle, losing is better than escaping.

Once you're done playing in the simulator, you'll get more cutscenes. Exit the lounge, do PA 12 below as needed then go take one of the teleporters.

PA 12: Don't stop by the Rossetti dressing room while leaving.

PA 12: Stop by the Rossetti dressing room while leaving and talk to Peppita.

There's more cutscenes, then eventually you'll have your first real battle:

Mini-Boss: Incapacitator VASS

HP: 150 | MP: 8

This mini-boss consists of three battles in a row, of several incapacitators each. You only have Sophia and Fayt for the first one, but Peppita joins for the next two.

Overall these fights are easier than the battle simulator, as the enemies don't hit very hard and go down quite fast. Try to group them to hit several at once if you feel overwhelmed.

Evacuation Facility

Items

No items on this map

No map completion

First save point! Exit the room when you're ready, then head to room 509 and watch a cutscene. Exit back out, then explore the rest of the map if you'd like. Make sure to do PA13 if you'd like, then enter room 506 when you're ready to continue.

PA 13: Don't talk to Peppita by the staircase.

PA 13: Go to the east side staircase and talk to Peppita, then pick the first dialogue option.

PA 13: Go to the east side staircase and talk to Peppita, then pick the second dialogue option.

Watch the cutscene in room 506, then go to bed when you're ready to move on. After the next set of cutscenes, head to one of the teleporters.

Transport Ship Helre

Items

No items on this map

No map completion

Follow the hallway north, and after some cutscenes, you'll have free rein again. Explore as you'd like, the trigger for the next event is talking to everyone in this room as well as the hallway to the south. You can see a short event in the room with the stairs if you'd like. Head back up to the room with the save point.

If you go back to the room with the stairs, it should now be open. Walk up and head to the south of this hallway. Speak with the attendants.

In the room at the very top of the map (up the hallway, door to the left, then up to the bridge), you can find the crew and talk to them. One of the crew members (the one on the left side) has a PA you can respond to.

PA 14: Don't talk to the crewmember on the bridge.

PA 14: Talk to the crewmember on the bridge and pick the first dialogue option.

PA 14: Talk to the crewmember on the bridge and pick the second dialogue option.

PA 14: Talk to the crewmember on the bridge and pick the third dialogue option.

PA 14: Talk to the crewmember on the bridge and pick the fourth dialogue option.

If you head back down the stairs, you'll find Peppita's group. Talking to them is also a PA.

PA 15: Don't talk to any of the Rossettis.

PA 15: Talk to at least one of the Rossettis.

Regardless of which PAs you did (or didn't do), go back to where the attendants were, you can now move into the room to the South. Enter one of the pods and watch the next set of cutscenes.

PA 16: During the cutscene, pick the first dialogue option.

PA 16: During the cutscene, pick the second dialogue option.

Pesotto Forest

Items

No items on this map

Enemies

Young Slime

Nobleman

Map Completion Reward: 1/144 Scale Bunny (you can only cover around 98% on your very first outing, but the last 1% is feasible as soon as you unlock the next non-town area)

This is the first map with map completion, and you'll be able to complete it pretty fast outside one small area in the northwest corner of the northern half of the map, which is currently blocked off by NPCs. Remember to hug the walls! The Bunny reward from this map sells for 9000 Fol, making it a great way to get some quick money early (and can be used to cheese some content a bit later if you so choose).

As noted on the map, you can heal yourself next to the save point, but unlike most other recovery points in the game, it's not a circle on the ground like the save point, but requires interacting with the pod. Feel free to use it as often as you need, especially if you're using the monsters in this area to get a feel for the combat system.

Once you're ready to proceed through this area, head north to Whipple Village.

Whipple Village

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries x2, Blueberries, 600 Fol

General Store "Manybloom"

Blueberries (45 Fol)
Blackberries (35 Fol)
Ring Mail (180 Fol)
Clone Generator (350 Fol)
Fresh Sage (310 Fol)
Pomello Juice (25000+ Fol)

No map completion

Once you're done with cutscenes, to continue the plot:

Talk to the girl in the house just north of the general store
Talk to the chief in the house labeled "inn"
Go back to the house you started in

You're now free to leave the village. Make sure to pick up any items you'd like, as well as purchase anything interesting. The Pomello Juice is completely irrelevant at this stage in the game, but the Ring Mail is worth taking a look at if you're having trouble avoiding hits.

Next up:

Leave the village and go back down to the save point in Pesotto Forest, you'll get a scene when you interact with the pod
Return to Whipple again, and go back to the house in the bottom-right corner
Exit the house again

At this point, I'd recommend saving at the elder's house (inn), because we'll be heading into our first proper dungeon! Head back out of the village, and you'll notice the NPCs previously blocking the way to the Ruins of Coffir are now gone.

This also marks the earliest point at which you can 100% the Pesotto Forest map, and it's the best possible time to do so as there's no story triggers in that area at the moment.

Ruins of Coffir

Items

Aquaberries x3, Blackberries x3, Blueberries x3, Ripe Berries, Fresh Sage, Cooking Ingredients x2, 200 Fol

Enemies

Nobleman
Thieving Scumbag
Shrieker
Young Shrieker

Map Completion Reward: 1/60 Scale Bunny (you cannot complete this map until much later in the game)

As mentioned just above, this map can't be completed just yet - the areas marked in red need to be destroyed using an item we won't have until later in the game. This means the entire greyed-out areas of the map are inaccessible at the moment.

(As such, the items found there aren't listed at the moment, they'll be included next time we visit the ruins)

Explore to your heart's content, after which your goal is Norton's Hideout, in the northmost part of the map. Go around the back of the building, via the right side, to find the entrance (and a cutscene, and a mini-boss battle).

Mini-Boss: Buster, Makafy, and Tepeki

HP: 250 | MP: 11

HP: 300 | MP: 13

HP: 200 | MP: 9

No notable weaknesses on either three, they're basically just named and slightly buffed versions of the Thieving Scumbag enemies.

No battle trophies for this fight.

Defeating this miniboss nets you the Beat-Up Textbook, a unique item that unlocks your first Anti-Attack Aura. From now on, whenever you're at 100% Fury and a light attack hits you, you won't take damage and your aura will activate instead. This one specifically stuns your attacker for a short time.

Norton's Hideout

Items

Fresh Sage, Jewel of Refuge

Enemies

Nobleman
Thieving Scumbag
Skeleton Warrior

No map completion

Head for the room with the save point, watch the cutscene, and you'll find a terminal in the southwest corner. There's a small puzzle to unlock the door to the last room in the hideout.

Puzzle Hint

If you want to do the puzzle yourself but aren't sure where to start, go look for the graffiti on the walls of the ruins. One of them is fairly close to the entrance and visible when facing north (default camera position, you can reset with the start button). There's two more.

Puzzle Solution

If you just want the solution: the password is "256".

Regardless of how you solved the puzzle, save your game, then enter the southeast room in the hideout. You'll see a cutscene and start your first boss battle.

Boss: Norton

HP: 1600 | MP: 35000 | Resists Fire

Don't try to MP-kill him, he's resistant to fire (the only source of MP damage you can have at this point) and has ridiculously high MP, as opposed to his low HP. Focus on avoiding his gunfire and get hits in when you can, and he'll drop soon enough.

Defeat Norton within 30 seconds: Spam Blade of Fury (get a cancel bonus going if you can), or spam Cliff's light attack. Either should finish the fight within the time limit, and Norton's dying speech doesn't count.

Defeat Norton without taking damage: This only applies to the character you're currently controlling, so just run to the bottom of the screen and let Cliff handle the fight for you. Use items on him if you need to, just try to stay out of Norton's way.

Now that you're done, watch the cutscene, then return to the room with the save point. Save if you need to, but we won't be running into anything more than wandering enemies for a bit.

Exit the hideout, watch a cutscene, then exit the ruins and go back to Whipple.

Leaving Vanguard III

You'll have some cutscenes in Whipple, after which you're free to leave if you'd like. Before you do so, though, you can talk to the village chief and he'll give you a Medecentra Pyroxene as a reward for your actions. It's an accessory that halves the HP cost of battle skills when equipped.

This is now your last chance to do anything on this planet before you leave! If you haven't bought the Ring Mail yet and you're doing okay on defense, I'd recommend putting it off as you can find one for free in the next dungeon.

Once that's done, head back to the southern half of Pesotto Forest, specifically the spot just to the southwest of the save point. Make sure to save either here or in the village if you don't want to risk rewatching some of the previous cutscenes.

Time for some cutscenes, including a weirdly-paced flashback, after which you'll be in a ship with Cliff and Mirage. Speak with Cliff once and with Mirage three times, after which you can leave and enjoy some more cutscenes.

Mini-boss: Inquisitor

Inquisitor - HP: 1300 | MP: 40

Soldiers - HP: 400 | MP: 18

Now that you have a full three-person party, this fight is pretty easy. Kill the soldiers first, then focus on the inquisitor. Nel can heal you if you ever need it.

Airyglyph Aqueducts

Items

Blueberries x2, Fresh Sage, Worm-eaten Tome, Ring Mail, Warrior's Bracelet

Enemies

Bogle Leader
Bogle Soldier
Skeleton Soldier
Slime
Toad Beast
Water Reaper

Map Completion Reward: 1/60 Scale Bunny (you cannot complete this map until later in the game)

Now that you're out of there, welcome to the second dungeon of the game! You start off next to the save point, and the blue/white circle next to it will heal you if you stand on it. So as with Pesotto Forest, if you want to get a better feel for combat, practice using Cliff or Nel, or grind a little bit, this is a good spot for it.

As with the Coffir ruins, the areas marked in red are destroyable, but we don't have anything with which to destroy them yet. The lighter parts of them (on the map) though are arches, meaning we can walk under them, though it's not necessarily obvious to see depending on your camera angle.

Make your way across the map towards the first white patch, which is a slippery ice slope. Both this and the next white patch will make you slip downwards when you walk on them, and hitting the wall too fast will make Fayt fall over and you'll reappear at the top of the slope. Just either hold right while slipping, or hold up and step off before you hit the wall, and you'll be fine. If you need to walk back up, hold circle as you walk and you won't slip.

Save your game, and get ready for the boss of this dungeon.

Boss: Giant Crab

HP: 3500 | MP: 80 | Immune to Water, Weak to Fire

Immune to water damage, but weak to fire. It also has only 80MP so if you have Blazing Sword on Fayt, this fight is a cakewalk. It's rather slow, so focus on avoiding its strong attacks, whereas for its weak attacks you can either try to avoid them, or keep your fury high so it hits you at 100% and gets stunned.

Defeat Giant Crab within 1 minute: Should be really easy if Fayt has Blazing Sword. If not, try to use Aerial instead and set Cliff to manual so he gets stuns in on his own while you pummel the boss.

Defeat Giant Crab without taking damage: Same as with Norton, just stay out of the way and let the CPU handle the rest. If you want it to go a little faster, you can try to join in if you're confidant you can dodge its attacks.

Go back and save if you need to, we're almost out. The large white patch in the last room is thin ice, which will break if you go on it and you're not walking. This is done by holding the circle button as you move, not by tilting the left stick more gently. You can now exit the aqueducts and reach the city proper after a cutscene.

Royal City of Airyglyph

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries x3, Blueberries x3, Ripe Berries x3, Perfect Berries x2, Compounding Elixirs x2, Cooking Ingredients x3, 2000 Fol

Grocer "Dragon Treasure"

(bottom-center shop)

Blueberries (45 Fol)
Aquaberries (15 Fol)
Blackberries (35 Fol)
Gooseberry Juice (3100 Fol)
Steamed Bun (200 Fol)

High-Quality Armorer "Tiamat"

(top-most shop)

Holy Sword (19600 Fol)
Osprey Dagger (15100 Fol)
Broad Axe (15800 Fol)
Nodachi (24000 Fol)
Damask Gauntlet (44000 Fol)

Armorer "Left-Handed Lizard"

(bottom-left shop)

Masterwork Plate (24000 Fol)
Superior Chain Mail (26800 Fol)

Outfitter "Dragon's Dungeon"

(bottom-right shop)

Compounding Elixirs (120 Fol)
Cooking Ingredients (120 Fol)
Silver Ring (1750 Fol)
Clone Generator (350 Fol)
Basil (20 Fol)
Sage (20 Fol)
Lavender (20 Fol)
Fresh Sage (310 Fol)

Inn "Wyvern's Tail" - 150 Fol/night

No map completion

You'll notice the equipment prices are prohibitedly expensive. This is an area we'll spend more time in later in the game, for now we're just passing through. That said, you can take advantage of this and get some midgame weapons early if you're interested in lowering the overall game difficulty, by selling bunnies from map completion rewards. You'll need two of them, and at this point you only have at most one, but you can get a second in the next area.

There isn't a lot to do in the city just yet other than any basic shopping you need, as well as talking to NPCs. The castle is locked off for now, as the guards won't let you in. Grab any treasure if you'd like, save at the inn, and head out the East exit when you're ready.

Traum Mountains

Items

Blackberries, Blueberries, Ripe Berries, Jewel of Alertness, 400 Fol

Enemies

Bogle Leader
Bogle Soldier
Dragon Brigade Soldier
Killer Wasp
Ochre Jelly

Map Completion Reward: 1/144 Scale Bunny (can be completed right away)

First off is a cutscene that will drop you off a little ways from the Kirlsa entrance. You can technically already complete the map now, but you'll run into another cutscene if you head East and it's almost impossible to hit 99% without triggering it, so the easiest time to grab map completion is after a handful of cutscenes in the next area.

Most of the monsters on the Kirlsa side of the mountains are fine to fight, but heading towards Airyglyph will pit you against enemies you're unlikely to win against at this point in time, so it's best to avoid them completely, or at worst run away from combat. The Dragon Brigade Soldiers specifically are likely to cause game overs very fast.

Anytime you're ready to progress, just head for Kirlsa.

Mining Town of Kirlsa

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries, Blueberries x2, Ripe Berries, Perfect Berries x2, Compounding Elixirs, 1920 Fol

Grocer "Iron Curtain"

(left-most shop)

Blueberries (45 Fol)
Aquaberries (15 Fol)
Blackberries (35 Fol)
Gooseberry Juice (3100 Fol)
Steamed Bun (200 Fol)

Outfitter "Iron Rage"

Silver Ring (1750 Fol)
Clone Generator (350 Fol)
Fresh Sage (310 Fol)
Basil (20 Fol)
Sage (20 Fol)
Lavender (20 Fol)

Armorer "Master Slayer"

Longsword (50 Fol)
Falchion (45 Fol)
Gauntlet (55 Fol)
Ring Mail (180 Fol)
Scale Armor (200 Fol)

Inn "Iron Maiden" - 100 Fol/night

No map completion

Once you're done with cutscenes, you're locked into this map until you progress a little more into the story. The northeast section of town is locked off until another several hours from now, the guards won't let you pass the gates. A guard also blocks off the northern path out of town, but he's only there until we finish our business here.

Do any shopping you'd like (heads-up that you can find both a Scale Armor and a Falchion for free in the next area), talk to NPCs, and once you're ready to progress, go down the stairs in the southwest corner of the town and talk to the Sermonic Old Man, then go up to the cemetery (north of the inn, up the stairs) and watch a cutscene there.

Dictionary entry: Speak to Astor in the house across from the inn for his entry.

Once you're done with that, starting the next morning you'll be allowed to leave town. Do so via the north exit.

PA 17: Starting now (and until entering the "Granah Hills" region for the first time), if you decide to return to Airyglyph for whatever reason, make sure not to talk to Cliff next to the Aqueducts entrance.

PA 17: Go all the way back to Airyglyph, talk to Cliff next to the Aqueducts entrance, and pick the first dialogue option.

PA 17: Go all the way back to Airyglyph, talk to Cliff next to the Aqueducts entrance, and pick the second dialogue option.

Easy mode

That said, as mentioned in the previous section, if you're interested in getting some overpowered weapons, now is the best time to do it. Kirlsa's west exit has also opened back up, meaning you're free to backtrack to Airyglyph if you'd like, and you can sell the map completion rewards from Pesotto Forest and Traum Mountains for a cool 18000 Fol total. This is just under the amount you need to buy the Holy Sword, which is by far the best weapon you can get for Fayt at this stage in the game.

If you don't play Fayt you might be tempted by one of the other weapons, but the Damask Gauntlet is absurdly overpriced (and not to be confused with Damask Gauntlets, another one of Cliff's weapons) and the Osprey Dagger will make a less significant upgrade for Nel than the Holy Sword would for Fayt.

Kirlsa Caverns

Items

Blackberries, Scale Armor

Enemies

Map Completion Reward: 1/60 Scale Bunny (you cannot complete this map until later in the game)

Welcome to the Kirlsa caverns! This is the first dungeon in the game that's big enough to require two different maps, but the second involves a... minigame/puzzle, of sorts.

As with a number of the maps so far, several areas on this first map are currently blocked off on account of us not having anything to destroy rocks with.

The path through this first map is fairly straightforward, just head to the save point via the east route, heal, and save in preparation for the boss.

Boss: Earth Smasher

HP: 3600 | MP: 163 | Absorbs Earth

Absorbs earth magic, but has no other elemental strengths/weaknesses. Has high HP but relatively low MP, so you might want to consider trying for an MP kill.

This fight has boulder hazards like other fights in this dungeon, so keep an eye out for those. If you hear "Earth Glaive", try to run behind the boss. Unfortunately the rest of your party might not follow, so keep on top of healing as necessary.

If you're having too much trouble, take advantage of the healing pad and save point in the previous room to grind as necessary.

This boss has no associated battle trophies.

Once the fight is over, go north and pull the lever there. The door you came through locked behind you, so you have to go back around to continue. I recommend saving before you start on the next half of the dungeon, which is located in the room labeled Hauler Console.

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries, Ripe Berries, Fresh Sage, Falchion, Charm of Insight, Earth Pixie, 5000 Fol

Enemies

These aren't present while riding the hauler, but will appear at specific stop points if you decide to stop and explore.

Cave Spider
Dire Tarantula
Hornet
Water Reaper

Thankfully, there's no map completion for this puzzle! It's already complicated enough without that.

Interact with the console, read the in-game guide if you'd like, and get ready for a potentially pretty long puzzle.

The puzzle is divided into three sections below:

A general guide for having a bit more context than just the in-game guide, if you'd like to figure this out yourself, or if you just want to understand this puzzle a little better before you jump in
An "all items" (that we can access right now) guide, for picking everything up but without dealing with the puzzle
A "just get me out" guide, for exiting the caverns as fast as possible with the least amount of hassle

General Hauler Guide

unfinished

You can only turn when going below 25 km/h, and you can only stop when going below 15 km/h.

Haulers lose endurance when hitting objects (like fences, falling rocks, or walls).

There's 5 different Hauler beasts to choose from:

Steady accelerates very slowly, has medium endurance, follows your orders
Carefree accelerates slowly, has high endurance, always turns right-right-left-right and returns to entrance
Whimsical accelerates quickly, has medium endurance, jumps far, and ignores orders to move around randomly instead
Ill-Natured accelerates quickly, has low endurance, always goes in the opposite direction of your orders
Aggressive has a high minimum speed (and cannot stop), high endurance, can break down walls, and randomly ignores orders

Puzzle Solution - all items

im sorry i hate this puzzle i havent finished writing it

all of these are described as starting from the beginning. unless specified you can use either steady or ill-natured for all of these, but this is written with steady in mind

item 1: stop at first stop
item 2: right, right, right, stop
item 3:
- pick aggressive hauler, go right, right, left, left and break wall
- pick steady/ill-natured, go right, right, left, left, stop
items 4, 5:
- pick aggressive hauler, go right, left, break wall, left, break other wall
- pick steady/ill-natured, go right, left, choose to turn left and immediately stop
- get back on hauler, stop again after taking the left from previous
item 6: left, right, stop
item 7: left, left, stop
item 8: pick whimsical hauler, cross your fingers for left, right, left, right, stop immediately after landing jump

Puzzle Solution - just get me out

Remember to stay under 25 km/h before any turns!

Pick the Steady Hauler, then take the following route:

Left
Right
Left (keep slowing down to avoid falling rocks)
Left (beware of falling rocks again, then accelerate to 25km/h through gates)
Left

This might take you a couple tries, hauler beasts are finicky.

Once you're out, you can talk to the NPC at the exit if you ever want to return to the beginning of the puzzle and redo it. As soon as you've reached the end at least once, you'll have the "automatic" option at the console so you don't have to do the puzzle again unless you want to.

Bequerel Mountain Path

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries, Ripe Berries, Compounding Elixirs, Crafting Materials, Writing Materials

Enemies

Dire Wolf
L24 Thieving Scumbag
Stag Beetle
Super Nobleman

Map Completion Reward: 1/144 Scale Bunny (can be completed right away)

This area is pretty straightforward. Save your game to celebrate finishing the hauler puzzle, pick up any items you'd like, and head to Arias.

You can technically already head up to the Mountains of Barr, but since that's a later-game area you're likely to get shredded to pieces fairly fast.

Riverfront Village of Arias

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries, Ripe Berries, Perfect Berries, Cooking Ingredients, Multi-Flask

General Store "Jack Potato"

(top-most shop)

Silver Ring (1750 Fol)
Blueberries (45 Fol)
Aquaberries (15 Fol)
Blackberries (35 Fol)
Gooseberry Juice (3100 Fol)
Broadsword (120 Fol)
Long Dagger (110 Fol)
Steel Gauntlet (120 Fol)
Steel Chain Mail (700 Fol)
Clone Generator (350 Fol)
Fresh Sage (310 Fol)

Bakery "Moonlight Gauntlet"

(bottom-most shop)

Apple Pie (400 Fol)
Steamed Bun (200 Fol)
Cooking Ingredients (120 Fol)
Pomello Juice (25000+ Fol)

Inn "The Dozing" - 250 Fol/night

No map completion

Take any time you want to visit and do some shopping if you need to, especially if you'd like to upgrade your equipment (note that you can find a Steel Chain Mail in a chest in one of the next field areas, and a Long Dagger and Steel Gauntlet in the next dungeon). Don't worry about sleeping at the inn if you're low on HP/MP, you'll get free healing as part of the story before the next time you run into combat.

Dictionary entry: Examine the painting near the front desk of the inn, then read the entry for "Nevelle Zelpher" to get a second entry.

Once you're ready, enter the large building in the center-northeast of town, the one on the map with the save point. Explore the first floor if you want, your goal is the room at the end of the hall and to your right, which will trigger a cutscene.

Dictionary entry: Examine the note on the table in the kitchen (from where you enter, go down the hallway and take a left) the first time you visit the mansion.

You now have access to the save point, and you're free to move around again if you'd like to, just examine the bed next to Cliff when you want to call it a night.

In the morning, go downstairs and back into the conference room (the same room as before) and watch another cutscene. Leave the mansion, then leave Arias but through the southwest exit this time.

Aire Hills/Kirlsa Hills

Items

Blackberries, Blueberries x3, Jewel of Refuge, Compounding Elixirs

Enemies

Bogle Soldier
Dire Wolf
L24 Thieving Scumbag
Storm Brigade
Super Nobleman

Map Completion Reward: 1/144 Scale Bunny (can be completed right away)

(This area changes name depending on which part of it you're standing in - the half on the Arias side is called "Aire Hills" and the half on the Kirlsa side is "Kirlsa Hills")

Nothing very notable on this map - most enemies are ones you've fought before, and there's a road you can follow if you just want to head straight to Kirlsa.

Once you've reached Kirlsa, stay at the inn if you need to, save, then head out the south gate to Granah Hills.

Granah Hills

Items

Blackberries, Blueberries, Steel Chain Mail

Enemies

Black Brigade Soldier
Elder Shrieker
Poisonous Wasp
Young Shrieker

Map Completion Reward: 1/144 Scale Bunny (can be completed right away)

Another small field area, with slightly stronger enemies this time. Not much to do but head southeast towards the training facility. Heads-up that you'll have a mandatory fight once you enter the facility, so if you've been taking the time to pick up items, complete the map, or grind, you might want to stop by Kirlsa again to heal/save as needed.

Kirlsa Training Facility

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Cooking Ingredients, Long Dagger, Anti-Poison Amulet

Enemies

Animated Armor
Black Brigade Soldier
Bogle Leader
Horned Wolf
Hyper Nobleman
Lizard Man
Skeleton Leader
Soldier
Toad Fighter

Map Completion Reward: 1/60 Scale Bunny (you cannot complete this map until later in the game)

Right after entering the training facility, you're met with a cutscene and a mandatory fight. Don't worry about making it clean, there's both a save point and recovery point right at the entrance.

First off - this place is big. This is by far the biggest dungeon so far, and it's really easy to get lost. Hopefully the maps on this page help. You start on the ground floor, and you'll want to make your way up to the third floor to get a key, come back to the ground floor, and use said key to open the locked door to the elevator to the fourth floor.

So, that said, we're aiming for the stairs to the second floor, located around the center of the map. If you decide to go around hugging the walls for map completion, beware the room in the top-right corner with the arrow above a line. That's a one-way door, and if you go through it you'll have to walk back around the entire floor again to get back to where you were.

Items

Aquaberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Compounding Elixirs, Cooking Ingredients x3, Neglected Textbook, Worm-eaten Tome

Make your way to the stairs in the top-right corner of the map.

Unlike the first floor, you're not stuck going counter-clockwise on this floor, but the door to the elevator in the top-right corner is a one-way door so you won't be able to access the area up there until you've unlocked the first-floor elevator.

Same as in the Airyglyph Aqueducts, some of the obstacles on this floor have arches you can walk under, marked slightly lighter than the surrounding obstacle.

Items

Blackberries, Blueberries, Compounding Elixirs, Cooking Ingredients, Steel Gauntlet, Symbol of Courage, 8000 Fol

Head to the room with the save point, and talk to the NPCs there. One of them will give you the Cuprite Key, which opens the room to the elevator on the ground floor. Heal and save as needed, then enjoy the trek back to to the ground floor.

Once back on the ground floor, head to the top-right corner of the map to find the locked door, and walk through it to get a cutscene and a mandatory fight against more black brigade soldiers.

Go back to use the healing pad if you really need to, then take the elevator up to the fourth floor.

Items

No items on this map

Having reached the fourth floor, save your game and get ready for two consecutive fights as soon as you enter the southern room: a set of black brigade soldiers, followed by the actual boss.

Boss: Shelby

Shelby - HP: 5100 | MP: 13816 | Absorbs Wind

Black Brigade Soldier (x2) - HP: 1150 | MP: 68

Get the soldiers first, then focus on Shelby. He doesn't have a ton of HP so as long as you're not getting overwhelmed you should be fine.

Defeat Shelby within 1 minute: Control Cliff, put all your best equipment on him, and try to focus on spamming his X attacks. Presumably skill cancelling is another option.

Defeat Shelby without taking damage: As with the other no damage trophies, try to stand to the side and let the AI companions handle the fight for you.

This is where the guide ends for now! Will try to add more in a reasonably timely manner but this game has a lot in it.

To anyone who's made it this far - thanks for checking out the guide! I hope it's been useful and I hope you like the game so far :)

Like I mentioned in one of the opening sections, if anything is missing, badly-worded, hard to understand, or whatever else, feel free to DM or @ me on Twitter and I'll try to get back to you. Positive messages also allowed but I don't want to fish for those.

Most notably, I'm curious about the following things:

Would you like an extra map "layer" for things like story/event triggers? As opposed to just the text descriptions so far.
Is it useful to see the destructible walls before having access to something to destroy them, or would you rather have them marked like any other walls (and have the visual difference only for later maps, including revisits)?

Appendices

Current word count: 8757

STAR OCEAN 3 COMPREHENSIVE WALKTHROUGH