Nalbina Fortress
Watch the opening cutscenes until you gain control of your character. Follow along with the instructions to learn how to work the camera and move your character. Head over and speak to both the nearby soldiers to learn about speaking and interacting with characters that have the speech bubble above them. Head through the nearby gate to the north afterward to move onto the next area.
In the next area, you’ll encounter your first enemy and be instructed on how the battle system works. Defeat the soldier and move forward to trigger the next fight, our first Boss Battle, The Air Cutter Remora.
Boss Battle: Air Cutter Remora
| Boss: | Air Cutter Remora |
| HP: | 2,200 |
| Elemental Weakness: | N/A |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Oil, Immobilize, and Libra |
| Resistances: | N/A |
| Drops: | N/A |
| Steal: | N/A |
You can’t lose this fight, so to speed it along have Reks use his Thunder magic. One of the other soldiers will throw potions on you if your health falls too low.
After the battle head across the bridge, defeating any enemies that spawn along the way. Before you head through to the next area you’ll get a brief description of the map overlay and status screen. Head through to trigger a scene.
The enemies in this new area will continuously respawn, but since we won’t be keeping control of this character after the tutorial, it’s pointless to do any real grinding here. Heading north will trigger another small cutscene, from here you can enter the room to the east to grab a Potion. Continue north to find a stairwell, if you follow the path around past the stairs, you’ll find a second Potion. Once you’re done head upstairs to find your first Save Crystal, you’ll get a small explanation here as to how they work. Continue up the stairs.
You’ll trigger a cutscene, and Reks will need to fight the Soldiers solo for the moment. Keep an eye on your health and use the Potions if you need to. Head through the door once the battle is complete. Continue to head to the large hall to the northwest to trigger another scene.
Rabanastre
You’ll now be in control of the main character, Vaan, you’ll also find yourself in the Garamsythe Waterway hunting some rats. Kill three of the rats to trigger another scene, where you’ll head to the surface of Rabanastre.
During the scenes, you’ll be told to head for Migelo’s place. After the map tutorial, you’ll gain control of Vaan again, you’ll find Migelo’s Place in the southeast portion of East End in Rabanastre. Once you get close enough you’ll trigger another scene.
Migelo wants us to head over to the Sandsea Tavern. You’ll find this to the North of this same area. Once you enter the Sandsea Tavern you’ll trigger another scene and have the Hunts and Notice Board mechanics explained to you. You’ll also be forced to accept your first hunt which is for the Rogue Tomato. You’ll also receive a few new items including the Key Items; Clan Primer and Writ of Transit. You’ll now gain access to License Boards, which is where you can choose what ‘class’ you want your character to be, as well as spend LP on new abilities for your characters. You’ll also gain your first accessory, the Orrachea Armlet, you won’t be able to do anything with it until you unlock it on the License Board though. Both the Knight and Shikari are excellent choices for Vaan, to begin with, especially if you don’t have another build in mind.
License Boards
As you find new gear in this game, you won’t be able to immediately equip it. You’ll need to spend your LP on your License Boards to unlock the ability to equip the gear. Certain classes are also limited in what they can equip, for example, mage classes cannot usually equip heavy armor, and archers are the only class to get access to the best bows.
Since the Zodiac Age edition of the game now allows you to change your class at any time, you can feel free to pick whichever class you want to start and then change later if you decide you want to try another.
Once you’re done in the Sandsea Tavern, leave and head south to the Southern Plaza, along the way you can enter Migelo’s Shop and buy some Potions if you need to stock up. From the Southern Plaza, attempt to head east, and you’ll be stopped by a guard. After the scene, you’ll show him the Writ of Transit and be able to enter the Eastgate. Head out of the Eastgate to arrive in the Dalmasca Estersand.
Dalmasca Estersand
| Important Items: | Galbana Lillies |
| Enemies: | Cactite, Wolf, Cockatrice, Wild Saurian, Rogue Tomato (Hunt) |
| Notable Steals: | Cactite - Broadsword (3%) Wolf - Pointy Hat (3%) |
The Estersand is our first location where enemies will roam freely and we can start to grind some levels. There are a few things to mention at this point, if you are playing the Zodiac Age edition, then you will have access from the load screen to the Trials. If you enter the Trials at this point and find the chest in the first one, you can farm Diamond Armlets from it. Grab the Diamond Armlet and then continue to fight until Vaan feints. At levels 1-5 this will be a very quick rotation. These Diamond Armlets can be sold back at the shops to give you enough money early on to purchase a large stock of Potions and Phoenix Downs. It is highly recommended that you do this, as it feeds into the Dustia Farming below. We’ll be using a large number of Phoenix Downs to gain levels with Dustia Farming, below is how to do it. Skip the two videos in the next section if you’d prefer to play the game without taking advantage of an early game level boost.
*OPTIONAL* Early Game Level Farming Opportunity – Dustia Farming
Once you have enough Phoenix Down’s you can complete a method of quickly leveling up in the early game called Dustia Farming, see the video below for the details. But it involves spawning a Rare Hunt that can be one-shot using a Phoenix Down item. It is significantly higher level than us for this portion of the game, resulting in a huge amount of experience each time you kill it.
**Please note this method is optional and if you do not want to do this, then don’t. It will make the next few sections of the game easier and much faster, but it is entirely optional. Just skip to the end of this section if you want to continue on as normal.**
An alternate method is to farm the chests in the Estersands for items. If you continue north from the first area of the Estersands you’ll enter a village. Chests respawn when you go one screen transition away, so now return to the first Estersand area and run along the northwestern wall to find the chest containing a Phoenix Down. Grab it and return to the Village to reset the chest. Rinse and repeat until you have 30+. Whichever way you want to get them is fine, just make sure you get to at least 30-40 before you slay the Rogue Tomato.
Now that’s done, if you aren’t already level 3 or higher, fight some wolves and level up a couple of times. Remember that touching Save Crystals will restore your HP for free, so visit one if you start to run low after a fight. The Rogue Tomato we are hunting is found in the middle of the area, on a raised section. As you fight him, he will run away at about 50% health. Follow him down off of the ledge and finish him off.
After the battle, Vaan will find some Galbana Lillies nearby and grab some. With that all taken care of, head back to Rabanastre.
Rabanastre
Enter the Eastgate area and approach the Main Gate, find your buddy Kytes to trigger a couple of scenes. Once the cutscenes are over you’ll have the ability to enter the Lowtown area of Rabanastre. For now, make your way south of where you are, back to the Sandsea Tavern. Here we can turn in the Rogue Tomato hunt we finished earlier for a reward. To turn it in, speak to the man named Tomaj at the Bar of the Sandsea Tavern.
Head back over to the Notice Board to find the next Hunt is now available, accept the Thextera hunt and you’ll need to speak to the man that posted the hunt to find out the location of the beast. In this case, you’re looking for a man named Gatsly, sitting on the ground just off to the side of the notice board. Hunt’s from now on will require you to accept them at the board, then find the person that posted them to actually initiate the hunt.
Exit the Sandsea Tavern and head north again, on the next screen take the west split in the path and then head north. You’ll find an indicator on the map that kind of looks like a circle on top of a triangle, this is marking the location of Clan Centurio. Speak to the Conspicuous Bangaa outside the door to have the way opened for you. Head up the stairs and speak with the head of Clan Centurio, Montblanc the Moogle.
Speak with Montblanc to hear about the Clan Hall, speak to him a second time to obtain some potions, and speak to him a third time to unlock the ability to change your character’s class and reset their license boards.
Once you’re done in the Clan Hall head outside and make your way to the exit to Lowtown. This is on the east side of the area you’re currently in. You can find another entrance to Lowtown in the Southgate portion of Rabanastre, that entrance will place you much closer to your final destination of Old Dalan’s Place.
Lowtown – Old Dalan’s Place
Head all the way to the southernmost point of Lowtown to find Old Dalan’s Place. Enter to trigger a scene with Old Dalan who will explain he needs a favor to help you out. Exit Old Dalan’s Place once you’re done, you can take a minute and explore the rest of Lowtown if you want. There is no treasure of note to collect here, but most will offer some gold or a Potion or two.
Once you’re done exploring Lowtown, take the south exit back to Rabanastre’s Southgate area. From here head north one screen to the Southern Plaza, in this area you’ll find a small Moogle standing around selling maps. If you have the Gil, purchase them all. Head back to the Southgate again and this time continue out onto the Giza Plains.
Giza Plains
| Important Items: | Blind (Magick) |
| Enemies: | Hyena, Giza Rabbit, Urstrix, Slaven, Wildsnake, Alpha Hyena, Sleipnir, and Werewolf |
| Notable Steals: | Wildsnake - Leather Breastplate (3%) |
We need to make our way toward the Nomad Village to the Quest Marker. Fight any enemies you encounter along the way, gaining a few levels wherever you can is very important. You can always return and heal up by touching a save crystal if you get too low on HP. Head south and enter the Nomad Village when you’re ready.
Nomad Village
Walk around and speak to the members of the Nomad Village for some information on the local area and the Sunstones they create. Find the Nomad called “Masyua” to accept the quest of creating our own Sunstone. She’ll explain that one of the children from the village is currently missing and if we can find him, then we can have one of the Sunstones he was making. Afterward, you’ll trigger a scene and have Penelo join you for the quest. Speak to the kids in the camp to gather more info on where Jinn, the lost boy, might be. In particular, you’re looking for a girl by the name of Camina, she will explain that he was last seen in an area to the south called the Crystal Glade.
Use the save point in the camp again if you need before taking the southwest exit, approaching the exit will trigger a brief scene with Penelo, she’ll explain about party mechanics and hand over some useful items as well.
Toam Hills
This area we’ve entered is called the Toam Hills, if you follow the map around to the southeast past the Slaven enemy, you can find a chest containing the magick spell, Blind. Grabbing this here will save you from having to purchase it later.
Starfall Fields
Head south to the area called the Starfall Fields, if you can get 3 Moltings by defeating Sleipnir’s here, you can trade them in at the Bazaar for the ability to buy a cheap Buckler Shield. Head east to the next area once you’re done.
Crystal Glade
Here you’ll find the boy you were looking for, Jinn, he’s resting nearby the save crystal. Speak to him and offer to help out with his errand. We’ll now need to charge the stones he’s given us at the glowing Crystals scattered about the map.
Charging a Sunstone
Head around to the marked spots on the map and interact with the large glowing crystals to charge your Shadestone. Once it hits 100% charged you’ll be teleported back to Jinn to view a couple of scenes. Make sure you visit the shop in the Nomad village and purchase any weapons or armor that you may want at this point. From here we need to make our way back to Rabanastre’s Southgate. Once you enter Old Town, Penelo will leave your party, so you have a choice to make. There is a bunch of side stuff you can do now, while she is with you, especially if you took advantage of the Dustia Level Farming at the start of the game. Or you can leave this next section for now and come back to it later, with a full party.
*Optional* Early Hunts and Quests
If you took advantage of the Dustia Farming method above you should easily be high enough level to take on the next mark, that we previously accepted at the Sandsea Tavern, Thextera. Head to Rabanastres Westgate and take the exit out onto the Dalmasca Westersand’s area called the Galtea Downs. Hug the wall on the left and you’ll find him reasonably easily.
Boss Battle: Thextera
| Boss: | Thextera |
| HP: | 300 |
| Elemental Weakness: | Wind |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Stop, Confuse, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Oil, Disease, Slow, Berserk, Libra |
| Resistances: | N/A |
| Drops: | N/A |
| Steal: | Pebble Potion Wolf Pelt |
Defeat the wolf with Thextera and then focus on it. If your HP is already above 200-300 then this will go quickly. Just heal up if you get taken below 50% HP.
Head back to the Sandsea Tavern in Rabanastre to turn in the hunt to Gatsly, who will give us our reward of 500 Gil, a Headguard, and a Teleport Stone. While in here, head over to the notice board for the next hunt, and accept the Flowering Cactoid Hunt. We still need to find the man who posted the quest, so we’ll head there in a minute. First, make your way back to Clan Centurio to receive your latest rewards from Montblanc. You’re going to need some Phoenix Downs for taking down this mark, as it has a move that can inflict 1,000 damage to one character.
To accept the hunt we need to head back into the Estersand area and travel north to the Outpost. Here sitting on a couple of boxes you’ll find Dantro, the man we need to speak to about the Hunt. Speak to him to formally accept the Flowering Cactoid Hunt, and then take the east exit to the Yardang Labyrinth area of the Estersands. Here we’re going to make a detour before we take on the Hunt. Make your way to the northeastern section of this map for a chest containing the Silence magick. The northeast section of this map also leads to the Nalbina Fortress, head to this new area now.
Activate the Save Crystal by interacting with it. Any of them that are Gold in color can serve as points to teleport to, this will come in handy later. Now that you’ve healed by touching the save crystal head back into the Yardang Labyrinth and clear the area of enemies. The Flowering Cactoid has a tendency to run away towards other enemies to bring them into the fight with you. Once you’ve cleared all the enemies it’s time to take on the Cactoid. Head to the center of the map to find him.
Boss Battle: Flowering Cactoid
| Boss: | Flowering Cactoid |
| HP: | 755 |
| Elemental Weakness: | Wind |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Stop, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Oil, Disease, Disable, Immobilize, Sap, Slow, Berserk |
| Resistances: | Earth |
| Drops: | N/A |
| Steal: | Cactus Fruit Earth Stone Potion |
The tough part of this fight is the high evasion, after taking a certain amount of damage it will flee to another section of the map. If you leave it alone for too long it will begin to heal itself. It will also use its 1,000 Needles attack which does 1,000 damage to a party member once it reaches critical health. So keep everyone alive so that you don’t automatically wipe at this point.
With the fight complete, return to Dantro for your reward of; 300 Gil and 10x Potions.
Dantro will also give you the Cactus Flower item, speak to him again for him to mention his wife might also need your help at the Southbank Village. To get there, head through the Yardang Labyrinth area again and take the northern exit to the area called the Sand-swept Naze. Head down off of the elevated part that you start on and then make your way to the southeast corner of the map for a chest containing the Poison magick. Make your way north from here and take the exit to the Banks of the Nebra area. From here continue northeast to reach the South Bank Village.
Interact with the Save Crystal here to be able to teleport to it in the future, you can find a vendor selling Blizzard Magick here in the Village as well. Then speak to Dantro’s Wife outside her tent, give her the cactus flower and speak to her once more. Exit the village and then re-enter to continue her questline, she’ll ask for Semclam Shells. Collect 2 of them inside the village near the river and the other 3 near the river outside the village. Turn in all 5 to her, she will then ask for Phials of Nebralim. Return to Dantro and speak to him about the Phials, you’ll find the 2 vials here with Dantro, one in the center of the area on the boxes and the other near a Jug that is near a Chocobo. Take them both back to Dantro’s wife. She’ll ask for another ingredient which we cannot get at this point of the game yet.
From here head back to Rabanastre to continue the story by seeing Old Dalan again.
Garamsythe Waterway
Walkthrough for the Garamsythe Waterways, Royal Palace, and Nalbina Dungeons sections of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age. We pick up some new party members here and the game finally starts to open up.
