Slums of Zenobia

Size: 3x3 (Medium) Overall Terrain: Coastal Region w/ City 24 Hour Speed: Normal Stage Music: Wall of Defense Overall Difficulty: 5 Stage Boss: Debonair

City & Roshian Temple Information Cities (8) Hidden Cities (2) Roshian Temples (3) Buried Treasure (6) Mulnique / Mulinque Kal Robst / Kal Robs RT #1: NW of Mulnique 1) Slightly SE of Pruzen; Rebel Base W of Zenobia; on the RT #2: SE of Fillia at the open area along Zenobia northern part of the island RT #3 (H): SW of Anberg; the bottom of the map Boss Castle Palma Nova / Palma on the island with trees 2) Slightly SW of Anberg NE of Mulnique; at the   By’ Roit; in between the S of Zenobia end of the road at the fork   road and the river By’ Roit     3) W of By’ Roit; at the N of Mulnique     upside down “L” that Elrangen     the mountains form Slightly SE of Zenobia     4) N of Zenobia; Fillia (Shop)     on the island with trees NW of R. T. #2     5) N of Elrangen; at the Port Ina / Post Ina     tip of the peninsula SE of Mulnique     6) NE of Zenobia; at the Pruzen     tip of the peninsula E of Mulnique

Stage Shop Wares

Fillia “CURE” (Cure Potion) 400 Goth “HEAL” (Cure Stone) 700 Goth “ALL HEAL” (Cure Ankh) 2,000 Goth “REVIVE” (Ethereal Flute) 2,000 Goth “JOKER” (Joker tarot) 2,000 Goth

Nothing new this time around, except for the fact that you might able to afford some of these items! They do happen to be good ones, so pick up a few if Goth allows.

Neutral Encounters

LV: 7 Dragon LV: 9 Hellhound LV: 9 Octopus Forest Mountains Ocean

The Dragon would be more useful if it were lower level.  Once again, can be helpful, all it can turn into is a Red Dragon, due to Alignment restrictions. And because he already is Level 7, you’ll be gaining inferior Dragon levels wit him if you are trying to get something besides the Red Dragon.  As for the other classes, more of the same. You should have plenty of both of them.

Enemy Units

Different Types of Units: 9 Total Enemy Unit Deployed: 23 Enemy Level Threshold: 5 - 9 Unit# 7-1

In this stage, the units will be harder than any other you have faced before, and by a noticeable increase!! There are some brand new classes that you have not yet fought against to boot, such as Samurai & Dragoners.  There are also two very different types of units in this stage. First, you will run into fast flying units, which will be pretty annoying. Then, after you destroy the walls, (more info about that  below...) you will face ground units with high defenses!! So, you are basically fighting against two different types of armies on the same stage! This is why the stage is hard. Except for a few, most of the units are really tough and/or annoying on this map, so make sure that your army will be all that it can be!! I’ll start the unit breakdown by going over all of the flying units first, then the ground troops, which are the ones that you will meet after the walls come a tumblin’ down.

Beat The Stage!

Prologue:  This region named Zenobia was once, unsurprisingly, the capital of the Zenobian Kingdom. After the Empire invaded, the territories around the fortress became slums, and the castle itself was turned over to Kaus Debonair to rule the region. Debonair is one of the four Devas; the most powerful knights of the Empire, and also the most trusted soldiers of Empress Endora.  However, he’s beginning to have doubts about some of her decisions, but serves the Empire nonetheless...

This stage will be a big challenge for you.  This is the largest map you have been on so far, and you will definitely notice the difference while you are trying to liberate all of the towns and temples. The first wave of enemy units will be on you very fast, so be ready! Take a moment to look over this stage. The important places are the hidden city of By’ Roit; where the Knight Ashe is located, the town of Anberg; where the Beast Man Lyon can be discovered, and the hidden Roshian Temple on the island, where “TERMITES” (Termites) are found. The town of Kal Robst is important as well, but only after you revisit the stage once it is beaten. More in depth info about all of this stuff below...

Deployment Time!
The bulk of the fighting against the first wave of units, the flying ones, will be along the road that Elrangen and R. T. #1 are on. So, send your fighting units northwest to meat them. You will want at least one city liberator following behind them to actually liberate these cities.  Send your city liberating units along the road to the west, so that they can liberate the towns of Pruzen, R. T. #2, and eventually the shop town of Fillia.  You can either have Canopus help out the liberation of cities in the west, or send him straight up to the walled off city of By’ Roit.  As for your Opinion Leader, have him liberate the towns of Port Ina and north to the hidden city Palma Nova.  This the stage where I sometimes let him/her have a more active involvement in the battles. Unless you had him go ape-shit on Deneb’s Garden, and he/she’s about Level 7 or 8, then I would advise against getting involved in battles. Otherwise, if your Opinion Leader is only about Level 3 or 4, since the enemies are in the 8’s and 9’s, you should gain some pretty noticeable marks.  At any rate, don't get too carried away with the fighting with this unit...

Step 1:  Throughout your journeys, you’ve heard about how the Zenobian Royal Family was murdered.  The locals say that a soldier named Ashe was the one responsible, and he has been jailed for the crime. That jail is actually the town of By’ Roit.  You will need a flying unit to liberate this town because it is surrounded by a wall. You can use Canopus or your Opinion Leader’s unit to liberate this town, if his/her unit still has a Gryphon in it like it should...  If you don’t have any, you will have to wait until you find the “TERMITES” (Termites) , and use them to remove all of the walls on the stage.  At any rate, upon liberating the town of By’ Roit, you will find Ashe, who has been imprisoned here for many years. He tells you that he was falsely blamed for the slaughter that had happened here many years ago. Now, thanks to you, he's out and about, and ready to clear his name! It is an extremely good idea to beat this stage with Ashe, as he has a confrontation with the boss Debonair, so you will need to send a unit back to your main base to deploy him if you have sent out the maximum number of units. The “BELL” (Dinner Bell) item makes this an easy task!

Ally!

Step 2:  After a while, the number of units flowing out from the boss castle should start to subside. This signals that the first wave of all the flying units is mostly over. Take the lull in the fighting to advance further north and west.  When you liberate the city of Anberg, you will meet another special character. This guy is Lyon, one of the best Beast Tamers in the world; so says he! He will offer to join your army permanently for 20,000 Goth. Kinda steep! If you are the cheap type, you can wait until after you have beaten this stage, and only pay 5,000 Goth for his services. I personally just suck it up and pay him right off.  Goth is never really a problem for me when I play this game! Whether you choose to recruit him right away or not, he also mentions that termites can destroy the walls that are surrounding the castle.  To get these hungry little devils, simply liberate the hidden Roshian Temple that is southwest of Anberg on the island. The monk there will give you the item called “TERMITES” (Termites).  You should have most of the cities liberated by now, with maybe the exception being the hidden city of Kal Robst.  Make sure liberate this town eventually, however. Important stuff inside!

Ally!

Step 3:  You initially think that you are pretty much with done with this stage at this point.  But if you read through the Unit Breakdown above, you know that's not true!  Because as soon as you use the “TERMITES” (Termites), a whole new host of enemy units are waiting for you!!  This can be a real bummer.  You could either sit here and fight them all, or use a tactic of mine.

M.O.B.Q. Tip!

Let’s face it. There are those times where you just want to fight the boss and get right past all of those meaningless units. But how can you charge through without fighting many units that only weaken your boss battler & waste unnecessary time? Easy.  I call my little maneuver the ”Y Pattern.” For this stage, the point man has to be a unit that has Ashe as the leader.  The other two stalks of the “Y” are hard hitting fighting units.  The trick is to lure the enemy units to other two stalks of the “Y,” and have these two units bounce the enemies back and forth to each other. Then, when the way to the boss castle is clear, or close to clear, you charge in your boss battler!

Step 4:  So, hide Ashe’s unit back a bit and some other direction than south of the the boss castle. have your other two units close enough so that they activate & attract the enemy units, but not close enough to activate the final confrontation of the stage! That would be bad. And I’m not a little fuzzy on the whole ‘good/bad’ thing! Usually, the computer will send out units in waves of about 4 or 5 units at a time. Once he does so, that’s you chance to rush in with Ashe from a different direction. You will get in quickly, relatively unharmed, and ready to...

Fight It Out!!

Boss Time!

Debonair General HP 148 LV 11 STR 116 CHA 62 AGI 122 ALI 82 INT 104 LUK 56   LV: 9 Red Dragon LV: 11 General     LV: 9 Red Dragon     4 Direct & 1 Targeted

This is probably the first actual boss challenge.  Not only is the leader in the Back Row, but he has more than just the normal cannon fodder in the Front Row.  Red Dragons will be kinda tough at this point in the game with their high Hit Points, but not if you happen to have a “Justice” Tarot Card handy. Unfortunately, Debonair himself is no pushover. Here is the place to make all those stupid “Tower” & “Devil” cards that you might still have hanging around useful!  Debonair is weak against Black magic attacks, so let him have it!  Lightning attacks work fairly well also.  If you have any characters in your unit with targeted attacks, like Wizards & Valkyries, you should do better.  Just make sure that you are using the Leader tactic!

“I’m not dead yet!” is what he would say if he were in Monty Python. But instead, Debonair agrees that Empress Endora is not what she once was. He then wonders what he is really fighting for, and takes off. What a poser!  Don’t worry, you’l definitely meet with him again later on in your journey...

Available Items

A very nice compilation of items on this map, including a Zodiac Stone!

SNES Name: BOOK Selling Price: 21,000 Goth PSX / Full Name: Book of Good Buying Price: - - Description: “Book of good. Book of ethic(s) for knights.”

SNES Name: GARNET Selling Price: 5 Goth PSX / Full Name: Garnet Buying Price: - - Description: “The first stone of the Zodiac.  Signifies rulership.”

SNES Name: KEY Selling Price: 5 Goth PSX / Full Name: Key of Destiny Buying Price: - - Description: “A symbol of the Zenobian successor. Opens the door to destiny.”

SNES Name: TERMITES Selling Price: 50 Goth PSX / Full Name: Termites Buying Price: - - Description: “A bag of termites.  Calls earthquake.”

Aftermath

This map has plenty of activity here even if there’s no more fighting to do. Highlighted with a Zodiac Stone and a few other items, you’ll be quite busy!

1) This is the most important thing on this stage.  Visit the hidden town of Kal Robst, and you will meet an important person in the sordid tale of Zenobia. Her name is Banya, and she says that she is the former nanny of Tristran, the eldest son of King Gran.  She says that contrary to popular belief, he is not dead, but alive and kicking!  She now wants you to find him, and help repair the vacant Zenobian throne.  She first wants to know if you seek the throne yourself.  Wisely say no, and she will bestow upon you the “KEY” (Key of Destiny).  With this item, you can recruit Prince Tristran to join your army later in the game!  Much later...

2) There are other things to do on this stage besides visiting Kal Robst.  If you still have the “MOONROSE” (Moon Rose), this stage is one of the places in the game where you can get some Goth for it.  Visit the town of By’ Roit.  You will be offered three different prices of 500, 1,000, or 5,000 Goth.  If you refuse all three, however, you will lose some Reputation for seeming like you're greedy, so if you don't want to sell it here, don't visit this town after the stage if you still have this item. There are better places on other stages to sell it later on, so...

3) If you were stingy, and held out on recruiting Lyon until after beating the stage, he will still offer you his services.  This time at the oh so low price of 5,000 Goth! You may as well take him.  And, he starts with two Level 7 Dragons, which are ripe and ready to become Red Dragons id you so desire! These two beasts are my personal source for this class in the game.  Two is more than you’ll need.

Ally!

4) When you have Tristran in your party, which will be quite a ways into the game yet, take a trip back to Kal Robst.  Banya will appear once again, and her and the prince will be grateful to see each other.  After some time spent catching up, she will give you the “BOOK” (Book of Good).  Sell it for a nice amount of Goth.

5) Visit the R. T. #1; NW of Mulnique, and if you have the “TABLET” (Tablet of Yaru), the messenger of the Gods will present you with the “GARNET” (Garnet), which is the first stone of the Zodiac.