Blue.Dragon.Guide.#1

Having completed Blue Dragon yesterday, I would like to come out with a newbie guide for my gamer friends who may be playing (or planning to get) it. I will base my guide on the Asian version of the game, therefore, the terms I used maybe different from other Japanese translated guides.

Hidden Treasures Everywhere
There are hidden treasures in this game everywhere and they are not only found in chests. Almost in every place you go, you can press A to uncover hidden treasures, gold, power ups, XPs, Medals and Nothings! (More on this later).

So make sure you check every barrel, crate, basket, fish, drawer, cabinet, vase, flower bed, table, pipe, air vent, rock, plant and whatever that look suspicious to you. In fact, everything should look suspicious to you.

The World is Full of Nothings
Says the Nothing Man! Don't despair when you walked up to some objects and press A, but only to find "Nothing". There should be 1800 Nothings in the world (At least that's what you need to get for the last reward item). If you are not aware, Nothings are actually counted! When you meet the Nothing Man in Jibral Town, you will be rewarded with accessories based on the number of Nothings you found.

Some of these items are quite valueable in helping your characters in battle or to level up.

Hack The Button to Death
When you are asked to keep pressing a button rapidly at some parts of the game, make sure you really 'hack the button to death'. It is most likely an event that will unlock an achievement. An easy miss for newbies on this, is when you are asked to close the door at Nene's Fortress in the beginning of the game. (I missed this the first time too!)

Shadow Classes
By default you start with Sword Master for Shu, White Magic for Jiro and Black Magic for Kluke (Although, I feel that girls are better healers). Forget about the Sword Master class! The only skill that is good from that is Absorb HP. If you like to use Mow Down, read on for a better alternative.

Give full attention to the Generalist, Monk and Assassin classes. The Generalist class allows you to unlock up to +8 Skills and +3 Accessories. This will allow you to mix and match skills from other classes. Take note that you do not have to reach level 99 to get all the skills. You can get all the skills for each shadow class by around level 32-36, except for Barrier Magic which requires level 50.

Anyway, here are my recommendations for skills combo:

1. Accessories +3 (Generalist)
2. Skills +8 (Generalist)
3. Absorb HP (Sword Master)
4. Attack Amp (Monk)
5. Absolute Counterattack (Monk)
6. Charge Attack (Monk)
7. Critical Hit Lift (Monk)
8. Double Strike (Assassin)
9. Loot (Assassin)
10. Treasure Hunt (Assassin)

Having all that, you should still have one slot free plus one mandatory class skill.
Here are the effects of the above skills combo.

1. Your character will absorb HP after attacking.
2. You can charge up your character's attack during battle.
3. You can increase the damage radius to hit all the enemies (both front and back row) by maxing out the charge bar (beats Mow Down huh?)
4. Your character will counter-attack if attacked.
5. Your character will have higher chance of scoring Critical Hits.
6. Your character will attack twice per turn.
7. Your character will steal valueables from monsters during attack.

Later on in the game if you have the Shoes of Hermes accessory or the Ninja Swiftness (Assassin) skill, you can just give it to Shu. On every battle, just charged up Shu and *Prapapapap*, all monsters dead! The other characters can sit back and relax.

Word of advice: Although the above skill combos may kick @$$, it is recommended that you do not equip them for the two "magicians" (Jiro and Kluke). It is recommended to equip the magicians with the following:

1. Magical Essense (Support Magic)
2. Double Cast (Support Magic)
3. Sentinel Shield (Guardian)

Also, using the kick @$$ combos on some monsters may result in secondary monsters (those that are summoned by other monsters) to never appear, making the Complete Monster Record achievement impossible. That's what happened to me ;'(

Items of Value
Take note of these valueable items if you intend to level up your characters and shadows quickly.

1. Lei - additional 50% XP (Can be stolen from Leader Dragon in Underground River or received from the Nothing Man)
2. Black Belt - doubles SP (Can be stolen from the giant silver snake in the Ancient Ruins after gaining access to the Mechat or received from the Nothing Man)
3. Eye Patch - doubles SP (Obtained from the pirate in Lal Mountain Camp after you allow Toripo to sign on the Autograph Paper)

Toripo Easter Egg
Almost at the end of the game, before you enter the house to celebrate Kluke's birthday, run behind the Mechat. You will find Toripo hiding behind a tree. Talk to him to uncover who Toripo is in real life! *Duh*

There you go! Hope you guys have fun with the game like I did :)