Disc 1 - 9. The Crimson Forest

After the initial cutscene upon entering the forest, walk forward and save your game at the end of the path. You'll find yourself with two paths: a left and a right. This area is essentially a big circle, so you might as well start with a right -- it's as good a direction as any. Ram the first rock formation that you come to for an [Angel's Plume], then walk under the overhanging branch beyond that. Ahead you'll find a large, glowing, purple plant of some sort. Kick it for a [Crystal Fragment]; remember, that dude back in Numara wanted 19 of them? The second [Crystal Fragment] plant is just ahead from where the first one is. Now, beyond that you'll find a fancy looking platform, but you can't do anything with it yet. So, take a left and follow along until you reach another stone formation that you can ram. That will get you an [Anti-Paralysis Herb]. To the north of where you are you can see a seal. Again, that's something you can't do anything with yet, so ignore it for now.

As you do all this, it would probably be a good idea to know what kind of enemies you're up against. Well you have the Water-based Grantoads who can do a lot of damage with their Jump attacks and can poison everyone at once with their Rain Maker. You have fire-based Spirituas which can deal big damage with the Flares -- and who will often come along with a Soul Eater Bug who can absorb them to increase his own stats before hitting you with a powerful Prism spell. The Soul Eater Bug is Wind-based. You'll also come across wind-based Schin Beetles who can hit pretty hard, and fire-based Balloons who can do a Huge Explosion, sacrificing themselves to damage your entire party. There are also Red Trents, who are earth-based, who can do massive damage to you with their Power Crush, and who have a lot of HP. Do you notice a similarity between these enemies? They're all dangerous, but they all have elemental weaknesses: every single one of them. Make good use of Jansen and Cooke to take them out before you are in much danger. In the case of Red Trents you'll have to make all of your characters attack them, due to their large HP (1370), but they'll fall like the others. The enemy that really stands out, however, is the marginally rare Silver Kelolon. They're not dangerous, but they're hard to kill. They have extremely high evasion and will almost always flee the battle on their turn. If you are lucky enough to take one down you'll get some nice EXP. There's also the Flyweight Kelolon around, who is basically just a slightly tougher version of the regular Kelolon -- he can call Kelolines into battle, with his Reinforcement Request. The Kelolines won't even attack you directly; they just cast Kelolon and Heal.

Head to the south of where you are to find another [Crystal Fragment] plant. Turn around and head north, from there, and keep going until you reach another rock formation. If you ram that one, you'll be tossed into a random battle against a Soul Eater Bug and five Spirituas; it's your choice whether or not you want to take that fight. Right behind the rock formation is [Crystal Fragment] number four. There's an alcove a bit north-west of where you are. Don't go there yet, as there are more items to get here before you delve deeper into the forest. Continue to head to the left, along the path. and past this alcove. Following this path will bring you to a rock formation that, if rammed, will grant you a [Seed]. Further to the south, you'll find another [Crystal Fragment]. Keep moving, and you'll find another [Crystal Fragment] bringing your total to six. This will also bring you back to the save point, so save your game again -- you wouldn't want to lose your items or experience gains in the event of a game over. Once you've done that, head back to the alcove that you skipped and approach the wall that's there. After a cutscene you'll be able to ram the log in front of you to reach the Near Swamp area.

After entering the area, start by heading to your right. Keep going until you come to a [Crystal Fragment] plant. After gnabbing it, turn around and head up the hill on your right. You'll find another [Crystal Fragment] at the top. Follow the path downward and cross over an old tree that acts as a bridge for yet another [Crystal Fragment]. Cross back over, and look for a second log a bit further north that heads off to the left as well. It leads to a rock formation that you can ram in order to obtain an [Anti-Paralysis Herb]. Take it, and then head back to the first branch you came to in the area. Take the first path this time. Keep going until you reach a [Crystal Fragment], then move north a bit more for another [Crystal Fragment]. OVer to the left of this, on the other side of the screen, is a rock formation that you can ram for a [Mana Capsule]. Once you have this stuff turn around, and look for a path that heads off to the right. The first rock formation you pass there leads to a battle, so be cautious of that. Further on your right you'll find a path that extends south of where you are. That leads to a rock formation that you can knock over for a [Seed]. After picking it up, head north-east until you come to another [Crystal Fragment], as well as another fork in the path. There's nothing for you by running up the stone ramp on your right yet, so just keep heading north until you reach the next screen.

In this area you'll notice a glowing glyph on the ground immediately. Before stepping on it though, head over to the lower-right corner of the area and pick up [Crystal Fragment] number thirteen, then use the save point behind the glyph. Once that's done you can finally go and step on the circle and ride down to the lower area. Be aware, however, that you are now going to start stumbling upon some new enemies. You'll have the Earth Colossus, which is a big dude that is susceptible to Wind magic, but eats physical attacks like they're nothing. His physical attacks are nothing to be worried about, but you should take these guys out fast, because if they use Charge they'll follow that up with their Hammer attack which will do massive (nearly 500) damage. You'll also see the Flame Sphere, which is basically just the fire counter-part to the Aqua Sphere you found earlier in the game. You'll probably also get a look at some Plant Dragons. Though you'd think they'd be weak to fire, they are non-elemental. They're the weakest of the new enemies though. They have the Shadow spell, which will damage everyone, but it won't cause much damage. They're also pretty slow. Anyway, back to making your way through the shrine:

Once you get off the platform, head to the room on your right. There you will see a large boulder on the platform in the center of the room. Climb the stairs, and grab onto the boulder. Push it all the way back to the platform that you arrived on, and then step away. The platform will lift the boulder to the floor above, causing a new platform to come down. On it, is a [Tablet Fragment] which you'll be able to use later. With that out of the way,m approach the northern exit of the room, picking up a [Crystal Fragment] on your way, and enter the next area: the Dungeon Shrine.

Walk up the first flight of stairs on front of you, and you'll see a short clip of a door on the ground closing. Don't worry, you can get it open again. First though, you have to watch your own back. As soon as you step onto the stair case, something will shake and a boulder will come rolling down towards you. Hold X to run up the stairs, and quickly get onto the ledge on the left side so that the boulder misses you. You can then make your way to the top where you'll find another [Crystal Fragment]. Step onto the next light gray block from there, but quickly run over it so that you don't get hit by the boulder that comes sliding down soon after. Once it has passed, head halfway down the stairs. You will see a column with a green light on it. Grab it from the side and push it until the light turns red, then run back up the stairs. This time when you step on the bottom at the top, you'll see a scene where the boulder slides down and crashes through the door, opening it. Nice!

Before you make your way down the middle staircase, however, head over to the third staircase. Head down those stairs to reach a treasure chest that contains a [Lucky Clover]. From the chest, head north to reach another screen. As soon as you enter this screen you'll see two plants: one has a [Crystal Fragment] and the other... also has a [Crystal Fragment]! That's all that's over there, so make your way back to the previous screen, and head down that middle staircase. At the bottom, you will see a few things over on your left. First things first though. Before you do anything head forward and touch the blue glowing sphere to restore your HP and MP. Then, use the save point that's next to it to save your game. You can then open the chest a little to your left for the Black Magic spell [Curse].

You can make your way to the lower-left corner of the area to find a couple of Earth Colossi standing in the path, pounding on the floor. Now you can choose to run under their arms, or fight them: both methods are fine. Be aware though, that if you touch their arms you'll be put into a battle with two of them each time: for a total of four Colossi. If you do this, focus on one at a time. Wind Spells are really the only way to do damage unless you've equipped Kaim or Seth with a Piercing Ring. It's not necessary to do this, but it will make things easier. Regardless of how you get past these guys, there's a [Crystal Fragment] between them, and a chest that holds [Cubic Music Score 2] beyond the second one. That's another item you'll be able to use later in the game. On the exact opposite side of the room you'll find two more of the stone giants protecting a treasure chest. That one contains a [Slot Seed]. Also note that on your immediate left of the staircase in the middle is a plant containing the nineteenth and final [Crystal Fragment]. You won't see it until you walk behind the stairs. After picking it up, head forward and heal/save once more, then walk into the next room for a boss battle. Your party should be around level 20 for this.

Note: At some point between beating the boss and loading up disc 2, a key item, [Precious Petal], will be added to your inventory. The significance of it will come into play later in the game.