Random Tips And Tricks For Tactics Ogre

 

Vice: Now here's the section that everyone's been waiting for!! Throughout the game of Tactics Ogre, there are many small things that the inexperienced warrior can miss. Here, I'm going to share some tips, tricks, and strategies with you, so that you can get the most out of your time in the land of Valeria. Let's get started, shall we?

Are you sick and tired of constantly having to train your troops before every battle? If you've played Tactics Ogre before, I'm sure that you have gone through training, trying to build your characters' levels. It takes forever!! Well, there is a way to reduce your training time significantly.

This tip can be summed up in three letters: MVP. It's easier to get the "MVP Award" than it might seem--all you have to do is kill all (if not most) of the enemies with one character. Once your character is 5-6 levels ahead of the enemy, you can place him/her into battle by themselves, and they'll be able to keep the process going. You can gain a bonus level after almost every battle; in this way, you can get someone on a really high level--once you get Petrify in Chapter 3, you can have the high-leveled character use it on themselves, making it possible for low-level characters to attack them with perfect accuracy, without being killed by a single counterattack. You can do this in a random battle after petrifying the enemies, and then you can build your other characters' loyalty at the same time. You can save a lot of time in this way.

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I doubt that I need to cover this, but I will just in case there are any newcomers out there. This is a technique to make ridiculously powerful characters--it involves using two spells, one of which you don't get until late in the game. This is what you have to do:

1. Kill a character or allow them to be killed (easy enough).
2. Cast Necro on them, so that they come back as a Skeleton or Ghost.
3. Cast Retissue on them, and they will turn into a Soldier or Amazon on Level 1, but with the same STR, VIT, etc. that they had before they died! If you do this process twice, your character will be completely invincible and have a WT near 0.

However, there are repercussions of using this "trick." You see, every time you bring your character back by using Necro, you take the risk of having their loyalty towards you drop. If you keep on doing this, their loyalty may sink to a level where they will either threaten to leave or actually leave. Just imagine taking the time to work on a character only to have them leave your party! Not so good, eh?

Another thing to think about is the impact that such a character will have on the game. If you do the "trick," there's a chance that you really won't be able to use the character with other characters because he'll always get to attack due to the fact that his max WT is virtually 0. That would probably take a bit of fun out of the game. I think that such a character would be useful for going through Hell Gate a second or third time, since you could run through each floor slaughtering all of the enemies, including the Guardians! You'd probably spend a lot less time in Hell Gate.

Anyway, my point is that you've got to think about it before you rush in and use this "trick." There are good effects of using it, but there are also bad ones. Is it worth it? You decide...Back to the top

It seems to be very easy to go through Tactics Ogre and just slap equipment on people. That's completely fine in most cases, but in some cases, the equipment is at its best when it's paired with certain pieces of equipment.

For example, take the Ogre Sword, the Ogre Armor, the Ogre Shield, and the Ogre Helmet. Separately, the Ogre equipment is some of the best equipment in the game, but when you equip a character will all four items, their Attack Power will become 999 and their physical Defense will raise significantly, while their Magic Attack and Defense Powers drop significantly. While it wouldn't be too bright to equip a magician in this way, it makes perfect sense to equip a Terror Knight, Berserker, or even a Dragoon this way!

Another example is the "Dark Road" equipment. Equip someone with the Dark Hammer, the Grim Armor, the Skull Helmet, and the Evil Ring, and they will get quite a boost! There are probably other effective combinations of weapons--experiment a little, and see what you get!

Certain pieces of equipment have more subtle effects as well. For example, recruit two Soldiers; equip one with all of the Ogre Equipment, and leave the other one with no equipment. Level them up in any way that you wish. As you start to get to higher levels, check out their statuses--you will notice that the Soldier with the Ogre equipment has a substantially higher amount of STR and VIT than the other one, while roughly equal in all other areas. Yes, it's true--certain pieces of equipment will give a character a boost in stats! Here's a breakdown of which pieces of equipment will raise your stats:

Statistic To Be Raised	Equipment That Will Do It
	Ogre Sword, Dragon Sword, Blood Axe, Dark Hammer, Holy Spear, Evil Spear, Ogre Armor
	Angel Shield, Ogre Shield, Faerie Armor, Angel Armor, Grim Armor
	Oricon Sword, Rune Axe, Ripple Staff
	Dragon Staff, Crystal Robe, Holy Robe, Evil Robe
	Balmuck, Eros, Chaos Bow , Dark Bow, Paragun
	Warrior Sword, Warrior Gauntlet, Warrior Armor, Warrior Helmet

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While this is not exactly a "trick," it is very easy to screw this up. To get Sisteena in your party, you must follow a certain process:

1. You must save her during the battle at Rime in Chapter One.
2. You must refuse to participate in the Baramus Massacre (therefore taking the Chaos route)
3. After you rescue Forcas from Krizar in Chapter Two, you will have to fight a battle at Fort Kadoriga. In it, there is a wizard named Byan who fights on your team as a guest--you must save him. It's tougher to do if your level is high, but it can be done.
4. After the battle, Byan will mention that Sisteena is being held at Fort Damsa. Forcas wishes to honor his promise to you, but Byan asks you to help save Sisteena. Choose to go to Fort Damsa and save Sisteena.
5. Sisteena is not actually in the battle, but she will join you as a guest afterward. Be sure that she isn't killed in the next battle, at Griate. It's pretty easy to do.
6. At Fort Bodo, there will be a scene between Sisteena and her sister Selye, who is the leader of the Valeria Liberation Front. After Sisteena storms out of the room, Denim will go after her. After a short dialogue about sacrificing ideals, you'll have the choice of saying:

If you say "Join us." she will join; if you say "Be practical." she will say she hates you and she will leave. I don't know if you will ever see her again in this case; it's probably better to go with the first option.

If you say "Sorry..." when Byan asks you to save Sisteena, he will storm off and you will only have Forcas as a guest. If you don't save Byan at Fort Kadoriga, you'll end up in the same situation--only Forcas will be with you. If for some odd reason you rescue Sisteena and she and Forcas die in the next battle at Griate, then Byan will be the only one to take you to Selye. Regardless of whether it is Forcas or Byan interacting with Selye, you will ask them to join you afterward. They will say that they can't since they are Bacrumese, and your "enemy." At that point, you can say:

If you say the former, then they will say that they are too different from you, and they won't join; if you say the latter, they will join.

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You can only get Jenounes to join your team in Chapter Three of the Law route. At the beginning of the chapter, you make a plan with Vice to attack Brigantes Castle from behind, via the Madra Ice Field. Once you attack and liberate Brigantes, you will come across some Gargastan "traitors" who were imprisoned there. An old man will ask you why you helped them, given that they are still Gargastans, and your enemies. You can say:

If you say "You're right." then the dialogue will end and you will be on your way to Coritani; if you say "You're wrong." then a Dragoon among the prisoners, named Jenounes, will offer to join your team, in an effort to end the war and atone for his participation in the Bask Village Massacre.

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You can only recruit Oxyones in Chapter Four of the Law Route; however, in order to be able to recruit her, you need to do a couple of preparatory things in Chapter Three. Obviously, you must recruit Jenounes at Brigantes (see previous entry). Not so obviously, however, you must have Jenounes in your Attack Team for the second battle in Coritani Castle. The leader of the enemy in this battle is a Terror Knight named Guacharo, and he interacts with Jenounes--in fact, it is through this interaction that Denim first learns about Jenounes' past.

In Chapter Four, you must get into a random battle at the Brumor Plateau and put Jenounes in your Attack Team (see this if you don't know how to get to Brumor Plateau). Oxyones will appear along with four Holy Dragons, and will attack you because you've got Jenounes with you. There will be some interaction, and how far that interaction goes depends on whether you brought Jenounes to the battle against Guacharo in Chapter Three. If you didn't, you won't get past the inital part of the interaction, where Oxyones establishes her intention to kill Jenounes--you will have no choice but to kill her, but you will win the Saint Bow from her, and you can persuade her Dragons. If you did bring Jenounes to that fateful battle however, then Denim will know something about Jenounes' past, and he will get involved in the interaction. Once he gets involved, all you need to do is get Oxyones' HP down to below 20 and she will join you, along with any of her Dragons that are alive--therefore, try to avoid attacking them!

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Haborym is one of the characters that appears in all three routes, and he will join you in Chapter Three of each route under certain conditions. In the Chaos Route, you will find him at Vahanna Plateau. He is being pursued by a band of Ninjas lead by Sorceror Mordiart of the Walsta Liberation Army, and you will need to save him. The most sensible advice is for you to take your fastest (lowest WT) characters into this battle, and strip them of all equipment except for a single Short Bow. Canopus and any Hawk Men you have will be invaluable to you, as they will not be hindered by the icy terrain and will be able to get to Mordiart easier. You only need to kill him to end the battle, so just go for him--none of his troops have any special equipment! Other strategies involve damaging Haborym so that he runs toward you or immobilizing him with spells like Stun, but your best bet is to launch a speedy attack against Mordiart. Upon winning the battle with Haborym alive, Haborym will ask to join your party--this is your chance to recruit him.

In the Law Route, you will find him in Rime. He is being questioned by Dark Knight Ozma and some Bacrum soldiers when you arrive, and they decide to kill him once he runs in your direction. Similar to in the Chaos Route, you will have to save him. However, it can be more difficult to do in this route since the enemies are stronger. Furthermore, most of the enemies have a piece of special equipment (such as Kaminari, Fenril, the Grease Shoes , and the Warp Shoes), so you'll really have to work hard to collect all of the equipment and save Haborym. I strongly recommend that you use Petrify on him so that he doesn't do anything stupid, like attacking Ozma; I also find Jump useful, as you can use it to teleport Haborym onto a roof so that the enemies can't attack him. Especially if you do this, you will want to kill the nearby Wizard that has Kaminari! This battle may be very difficult for you, but unlike in the Chaos Route you have the benefit of having Vice, Mildain, and Guildus with you. Keep trying, and you'll be able to do it--after you win the battle, Haborym will ask to join your troops.

Recruiting Haborym in the Neutral Route is a different story, however--you don't have to save him in any battle, but at the same time you have to go out of your way to find him, and it is very easy to miss him altogether. You actually have two chances to recruit Haborym in this route:

Shortly after you kill Oz at Fort Bodo, Duke Ronway will send you on a scouting mission to Ashton. For no apparent reason, go to Krizar instead--you will run into Leonard and some of his troops, who are preparing to attack some Gargastan rebels that have gathered at Fort Kadoriga. One of Leonard's troops, a Valkyrie named Festa, has not really taken much of a liking to you since you killed the Dark Knight Oz at Fort Bodo not too long ago. She calls you a traitor, and storms out of the room.

After this scene ends, head over to Fort Kadoriga. You'll notice that Leonard and his troops are not faring so well against the Gargastan rebels, who are equipped with the power of Petrification Magic. In this battle you will have three guests, who have been petrified by the rebels' magic: Festa, a Wizard named Kamos, and a Knight named Tamuzu. Festa and Kamos are at the bottom of the fort, and should be just fine since they are far out of enemy reach. Tamuzu, however, is not so fortunate--he is up in the fortress, where enemies can reach him fairly easily. Fortunately he is petrified, so he doesn't do anything stupid. It is very possible to save all three characters--you've just got to be relatively quick about getting up to Tamuzu. After the battle, Festa, Kamos, and Tamuzu will join your party if they survived. When you go into Fort Kadoriga, you will find Leonard. After a few words Haborym will walk in, and will talk to Denim. After the exchange, Haborym will join if you allow him to, and Leonard will wish you luck on your journey to Ashton...

If you missed that opportunity by going straight to Ashton, you will have another opportunity to recruit him later in the Chapter. After you go through all of the events in Ashton, Hedon, Banhamuba, and Damsa, return to Amorika Castle. After Duke Ronway makes plans for an attack, stop by Griate--there, you'll find a covert Gargastan unit lead by Orgeu the Hawk Man. Don't worry--you won't have to save Haborym in that battle; however, you can get the Aqua Hammer from that battle if you're attentive. After the battle you will enter a building in Griate where Haborym is beating up some Gargastan soldiers. You will be able to recruit him here, and he will have significantly higher loyalty to you than he would if you recruited him in the other way.Back to the top

A common question asked my many players of this game is "How do I persuade enemies?" Obviously they're not talking about the mechanical process to persuade enemies, but rather they are asking about how to persuade enemies effectively. First of all, there are a couple of things that affect your ability to persuade an enemy:

Intuitively, the higher an enemy's loyalty is to their union, the harder it will be to persuade them over to your side. This simply means that the higher an enemy's loyalty is, the more you will have to lower their HP in order to have a decent chance of successfully persuading them. If their loyalty is really low, you may be able to persuade them even when they have full HP! The enemy's proportion of HP matters as well--the larger percentage of Max HP they're missing, the easier they are to persuade; however, their loyalty to you will decrease proportionately. In other words, enemies with low HP will be relatively easy to persuade, but they will have low loyalty to you. This doesn't really matter if you're just persuading an enemy for an item, and will omit them afterwards, but it does matter if you are trying to persuade someone to become a more long-term ally of yours. In such cases, you want to drop the enemy's HP by roughly half if you want them to have good loyalty towards your group. Low-loyalty enemy characters are relatively easy to persuade with full HP, and if you can do that, they'll definitely have the highest level of loyalty towards you. Another significant factor is your position relative to the enemy--if you're more than two panels away from the enemy, don't bother trying to persuade them because it won't work. Optimally, you want to be right behind them for the best chance of persuading them--your success rate will drop if you try persuading them from the side, and it will drop even more if you try and persuade them from the front.

A final note on the subject--even if you do all of these things to maximize your chances of persuading the enemy successfully, you will probably still fail a few times. It is advisable that you save the game in battle right before trying to persuade them so that you can simply reload the data and try again if you fail. Otherwise, you should note that the enemy's loyalty to their side will raise as you continue to attempt persuasion and fail, making it that much harder for you to persuade them. You want to get it right on the first or second try!

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While the concept of auctioning is never really explained in Tactics Ogre, you can use it to obtain rare items and good money. Essentially, you take an L-Sized character in your party and auction them in certain places to get certain items. In many cases they have to be at a certain level in order for you to get the item (which will appear in the shop's inventory), but in most of those cases you don't need to worry about that, as you need to get the L-Sized character up to a certain level in order to auction them anyway. Here is a rough list of what you can auction where to get special items:

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You can only recruit Selye in the Chaos and Neutral Routes. It is fairly easy to recruit Selye in the Chaos Route--simply stop by Fort Bodo on the way to Fiduc near the end of Chapter Three, and you'll get into a battle there against Oz and some Templar Knights. Selye won't be in the battle, and she will join your team immediately after the meeting following your victory.

Recruiting Selye in the Neutral Route can be one of the toughest things to pull off in the entire game, and if you do it without any "cheating," then you deserve a major pat on the back. You'll have to save Selye in a battle against the Roslolians very early in Chapter Three, which can be one of the hardest things to do in the game, because she has virtually no equipment, is charmed, and is surrounded by the Dark Knights who attack her immediately. Canopus and any other flying characters you have are instrumental in pulling this off, as they can fly and get to the top of the fort LONG before Mildain, Sisteena, or anyone else does. Of course they'll be a target, but they will probably have better defense than Selye, and if they die you can revive them with Revivify, unlike Selye.

It may also be helpful to note that you can win Fire Orbs from random battles at the Gruborza Plains, right before going to Fort Bodo. Those Orbs can really make a difference. Also, in a battle shortly before this one, you win a Foul Pear somewhere. This item can be useful too, as it will completely heal all of your allies on the battlefield at the cost of half the user's HP. In this way, you can buy a little more time. Fortunately Selye is not completely stupid, and she will use her FireBurn spell whenever she can, as opposed to attacking the Dark Knights bare-handed. Also, it may be easier for you to save Selye if your troops are on a relatively lower level than Selye (who is somewhere around Level 20), because for the most part the enemy will be on the same level as your troops. If you train a lot and are severely over-leveled, saving Selye will be that much more difficult! Saving Selye is quite a task, but it can be done.

After you save her, she refuses to join you because you decided to re-align yourself with Duke Ronway. So after all of that, she just sprints off?! For the time being. In Chapter 4, you can get her if you pay attention to what's going on in the Warren Report. After you save High Priest Moruba from the Bacrumese soldiers at Banhamuba, you go to Fiduc Castle and plan the attack on Banisha Castle, in an attempt to rescue Kachua from the Dark Knights. After this scene, DO NOT GO TO BANISHA--you've got two things to do first.

The first, is to go to Krizar and read the Miscellaneous Rumor called "Pirates In The Fort," which you'll find in the Warren Report. Then go to Fort Kadoriga (which should now be a red icon), and you will get into a battle with some pirates, who are lead by an Exorcist named Erig. Here, you will have a choice of getting into a battle or not getting into a battle. Choose to not get into a battle, and Erig will take you to the leader of the pirates, which is none other than everyone's favorite Foriner sister (well, not really), Selye. After Selye explains to you why she didn't join you, but joined a group of pirates (who are actually the remaining members of the Valeria Liberation Front), she and Erig will join your team.

The second thing you should do before going to Banisha will be outlined in the next "trick."Back to the top

Shelley is one of the more elusive characters in Tactics Ogre, and it is very easy to miss the chance you have to recruit her. She will only join your troops at a certain time--namely, the time between after you defeat her at Banhamuba (not killing her of course!) and before you finish your affair at Banisha Castle (in which Kachua is either rescued or dies). To get her, you need to have Olivia in your party. Go to Baramus and get into training mode. Either cast Storm or wait until it is raining heavily, and then exit training mode. Try to leave Baramus, and then the scene will be triggered automatically; after a scene where Shelley pulls a knife out on Denim and breaks down, she will join. Back to the top

There are a few characters in Tactics Ogre which appear in multiple routes (L, N, C); one of those characters is everyone's favorite money-grubbing mercenary, Zapan. While he is your enemy and dies at the hands of Vice in Chapter Two of the Chaos Route, he is actually your ally in the Law Route. Somewhere near the middle of Chapter Two, you find yourself sailing to Fort Kadoriga in an attempt to get away from the Gargastans and the Neo Walsta Liberation Ally. You enter a battle at Fort Kadoriga, where Zapan is being attacked by pirates; he is a lot easier to save than Byan is in the corresponding battle in the Chaos Route. Once you save him, he will offer you the opportunity to hire him. If you hire him, he will join you as-is, and will stay with you for the rest of the game.

If you refuse to hire him though, he disappears for a while, and then mysteriously reappears in a secret battle in Griate in Chapter 4L. The battle is available after you meet with Moruba in Fiduc and make plans to attack Banisha Castle; all you have to do is go to Griate afterward. In the battle at Griate, he is with a bunch of bounty hunters that had been hired by the Bacrum Army. Of course, their goal is to kill you! But be a nice guy, though--get his HP below 20, and then he'll ask you to forgive him. Forgive him, and he'll join you, equipped with the powerful Procs Axe. Back to the top

One of the your first missions in Chapter Four is to deal with a situation that arises at Brigantes Castle, where members of the religious Filaha Order have taken hostages and barricaded themselves. Normally, you would have to go through a battle there, but if you're careful, you can avoid combat altogether. The key is to unequip Denim completely (weapons, armor, spells, etc.), and go to the South Entrance of Brigantes. There will be a dialogue and a fight between a Berserker and a Knight of the Order, and Olivia, the leader, will come down and break it up. If you don't unequip yourself you'll have to fight a battle which is much better avoided, since fighting against the Filaha Order will make you less popular with the people, lowering your Chaos Frame.Back to the top

It's very likely that you've heard of a place called "Hell Gate" in Tactics Ogre--it is a place where you can fight powerful foes and claim precious treasures. While there really isn't much guidance provided by the game in terms of learning about and getting to Hell Gate, it is actually pretty simple--in Chapter Four, check the Warren Report after you make the plan to attack Banisha Castle, and read a Miscellaneous Rumor called "Freak Explosion." It talks about some strange happenings on an island on the northwestern coast of Valeria. Immediately after you read it, the road to Hell Gate will appear at Brigantes, through a three-battle sequence through the Madra Ice Field, the Brumor Plateau, and the Botegen Plains. Fight through the three battles, and then you can enter Hell Gate.

Chris: I will cover Hell Gate in more depth in my walkthrough, but I will say this much now--the enemies and treasures you win in Hell Gate are for the most part random, so you will need to explore Hell Gate on your own to get a feel for it. I strongly recommend saving the game at the end of each battle in Hell Gate, right before killing the last enemy in the battle. It will help greatly in case something goes wrong in a future battle. Back to the top

If you read the Miscellaneous Rumor about the legendary Fire Seal, you noticed that Atlus was holding some kind of competition, to see who could get the Fire Seal first. The prize for the winner actually turned out to be a Tactics Ogre stylish battle helmet! I don't think that they're giving them out anymore, but what the heck--I'll still tell you how to get the Fire Seal.

You will find it in Hell Gate. However, you need to have the four weapons of the Wind Gods--the Zepyulos, the Boleas, the Eros, and the Notos. You will get one of these weapons each time you defeat the Four Guardians of the Winds. Be warned, though--they are the strongest enemies in Hell Gate; the higher level you are on, the harder it is to beat them. Petrifying, stunning, or otherwise immobilizing them is impossible, so the only way you're going to win is by ganging up on each one separately, killing the one with the Wind Orb first if possible (otherwise they'll use it, and it will do 200-300 damage to your entire team). Bring someone with Revivify , and keep them as far away from the Guardians as possible! Once you get the four weapons (which is almost impossible to do on your first run through Hell Gate), go down to the bottom floor of Hell Gate. Assuming you've already been down there and defeated Nybbas, you will find a Lich with Nova+ named Blacmore and some other enemies for you to fight. Be forewarned that while the enemies are on the same level as your troops are, Blacmore is on Level 50 regardless of what level you're on. If your troops' levels are too low, you're going to have a really hard time against him! You don't get Blacmore's Nova+ for winning the battle, but you will get the Fire Seal assuming that you have the four necessary weapons. If you don't, or if you go through Hell Gate additional times, you will get an Undead Ring for your troubles. Back to the top

I'm mentioning this trick because I think that you can miss it. In case you're wondering, this is going to be about getting the Forbidden Magic in Chapter 4. After you liberate Banisha, go to Coritani Castle--there, you will run into High Priest Moruba, and you'll ask him about the Forbidden Magic because you're looking for power to use against the Dark Knights. Reluctantly, he tells you, and he then asks you if you think that you can wield the power of the Forbidden Magic without abusing it. If you say that you don't know, then the conversation ends and no more mention of the Forbidden Magic is made; if you say that you think you can, then he will tell you to bring his daughters to Banhamuba Temple, where he will make them the psychic mediums of the Elemental Goddesses. After that, you will be able to fight battles at Fort Damsa, Fort Bodo, Fort Gerdo, and Fort Gekko, where you will be able to win the spells Air Cry, Nova+, Ice Cloud, and Quake. The fifth and final Forbidden Spell is the Spell of Darkness, Death, and it can be obtained by winning the battle against Belzbute the Demon on floor B50 of Hell Gate.Back to the top

If you've trained a lot and changed your characters' classes a lot, you probably noticed that no matter how many levels you gain, there is one male class that does not become available to you. This class is the "Gunner," which can actually SHOOT guns instead of simply CLOBBERING enemies with them. To have access to this class, you'll need to save Gunman Rendal from the Dark Knights!

After finishing your attack on Banisha Castle, you return to Fiduc Castle (with or without Kachua, depending on your luck) and plan the final attack on Heigm. After this, read the Miscellaneous Rumor in the Warren Report called "Ramzen Wreckage," and then you'll be able to get to Grimby City from Banisha Castle. Once you arrive at Grimby, you'll notice that a man named Rendal is surrounded by Dark Knights, who receive orders to kill him. Your mission is to save Rendal from Martym and his cronies--it's pretty easy to do, since Rendal is by far the smartest guest character in the entire game. I mean, he surely deserves a medal for his intelligence--he actually runs TOWARD you, as opposed to trying to attack Martym bare-handed!! Saving him is a piece of cake, because he avoids the Dark Knights, and you are free to kill the Dark Knights and pick up the Comet Whip, the Granite Sword, and the Ice Sword before you beat Martym. When you finish the battle, Rendal will thank you and ask you to let him join your troops. After this, you'll be able to change your Neutral-aligned male characters into Gunners if you wish. Back to the top

After you deal with things in Grimby City, you should check the Warren Report and read the Miscellaneous Rumor called "Thief in Nimuraba." Then, you'll be able to go to the Nimuraba Forest, which is north of Grimby City. There, you'll be attacked by your old "friend" Ganb, who wants to avenge the deaths of Belda and Obda, his pet Gryphons (who strangely enough, die even if you don't kill them in Chapter Three). He has new pets, Belda Jr. and Obda Jr., and a few Lizard Men and Hawk Men to even up the sides.

Ah, it's a piece of cake, right? Just use Dragon Magic and blast them all to Kingdom Come, right? Wrong! That would be too easy. Besides, that's a dangerous way to approach this battle because if you're careful, you can actually get Ganb and his Gryphons to join your team. Kill all the Lizard Men and Hawk Men if you want--they don't matter much. But DON'T KILL THE GRYPHONS!!! Get Ganb's HP below 20, and then he'll surrender to you and say that you can do what you want to him; however, he asks you to spare the Gryphons. Like the swell guy that Denim is, he'll let Ganb and his buddies join the party!! It's worth getting Ganb because not only is he a respectable fighter with good VIT and defense, but he comes equipped with the Rifle, which is the best gun in the game. Besides, it's nice to not kill people if you don't have to, right?Back to the top

In Tactics Ogre, there are a number of characters who come from the land of Zenobia, who fought against the Zeteginean Empire during the Ogre Battle Days. One of those characters is the beautiful witch Deneb, who in Ogre Battle is a bit of a troublemaker with her experiments on pumpkins. In Tactics Ogre her role is quite different though, as she is a traveling merchant this time around. To recruit Deneb, you need to read the Miscellaneous Rumor in the Warren Report called "Deneb's Store," which is available at any time during Chapter Four. Her store moves around a lot--it moves from town to town, staying at each town in Valeria for 2 days before moving on to the next one. You can find her at any town, but you only need to remember that you can find her shop at Griate on the first and second day of any month, and at Amorika on the third and fourth days of any month. When you're at either of these places on the proper day, just go to shop as you would regularly--you'll find her leaning back in her chair, trying to sell you Orbs and stuff. Just buy a lot of items (Cure, Cure+, Magi, Magi+ work well), and then on the list of options you're given, the option "Join" will appear. Choose it, and Deneb will ask you if you want her to join. Say yes, and she will.

However, you can get her to join with some rare equipment and spells, if you put a little effort into it. Go to Hell Gate, and keep fighting non-story battles in Hell Gate between floors B1 and B30 (you may have to leave and come back); in particular, look for battles that have Gremlins in them. For the battles with Gremlins, you will usually get a Glass Pumpkin for winning; you need to collect 10 of these Glass Pumpkins. Go and find Deneb's shop, and sell her the Glass Pumpkins; for each Glass Pumpkin you sold her, you will be able to recruit one Pumpkin Head. Recruit 10 Pumpkin Heads (they don't all need to be in your party at the same time; just recruit them and omit them, keeping as many as you want), and then get Deneb to join. Instead of normal equipment and spells, she will come with the Fire Rod, the Fire Cloak, the Fire Ring, the MagmaGod spell, and the Nova spell. I've done this before, and let me say that it is worth the trouble!Back to the top

If you've read many of the other Tactics Ogre Guides, you may have heard of a weapon called the Shotgun, which you are supposed to be able to get if Kachua dies. However, virtually no one knows how to actually get the thing, and it has been a subject of curiosity and investigation for quite some time. The search for the Shotgun stops here, where you can learn all of the details behind getting it:

1. First of all, Kachua needs to survive the events at Banisha and join your team as a Princess; otherwise, this won't work.
    
2. Return to Fiduc, where Kachua will make plans to attack and liberate Heigm from Branta's control.
    
3. Have Kachua die in battle after these plans are made, but BEFORE liberating Heigm.
    
4. Go back to Fiduc, and Denim will break the terrible news to Moruba. During this event, a Soldier will bring Denim a report about some trouble that the Liberation Army is having at Boulder Desert. Denim will go to investigate it.
    
5. Go to Boulder Desert, which will now be on the map.
    
6. The leader of the ensuing battle is a Bacrumese Gunner named Felion. Defeat him, and you will win his Shotgun.

And it's just that simple! Back to the top

If you've been to the last battle in the game, you probably noticed that Dolgare is sort of hard. Okay, so he could probably kill your entire party in 3 turns if he wanted to--he has the ability to summon the Elemental Goddesses (Zoshonell, Bartha, Gurza, and Hahnela) without using Orbs! Believe it or not, there is actually an effective strategy that will help you deal with this situation.

When your troops get to attack, have them attack the Dark Stalkers, Dark Eyes, Dark Wings, and Dark Dragons, NOT Dolgare. If you have noticed from previous battles, enemy leaders who can summon allies absolutely LOVE to do it. They'll keep on summoning them, until they've got as many allies as they can have (9). Dolgare is no exception in this case, though he WILL use his special devastating techniques sometimes--you have to be ready for that! Just have the majority of your characters work on killing the Dark enemies, and then have a few characters (preferably the character with Fudo, if possible) focus on Dolgare.

You'll want to use Dragon Magic and Special Techniques if you can, because physical attacks do little damage to him. In terms of elemental attacks and spells, the best ones to use against him are Holy-elemental; he has high defense against Shadow attacks, and if you use Fire, Earth, Water, or Wind attacks, he will use "ColicDio" to change his element to that of the attack you used, making it less effective the next time you use it! Also note that he has the Evil Necklace, which gives him the "Terror Effect" of a Terror Knight or Tiamat--therefore, you will want to use most of your attacks from a distance of more than three panels from him.

He can be really tough, but he shouldn't be too much of a problem if you stick to the strategy I've just outlined.Back to the top

Vice: I hope that this section has been useful to you! I recommend that you check out the Mystery Section, as there are more subjects explained there. Feel free to write if you have any questions, or if you have any tips that I forgot to put up!


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