Once you have finished all three scenarios you'll be entertained to a brief discussion on the merits of war. The protagonists will discuss the war of the magi, and debate whether it would be appropriate for the opponents of the “evil” empire to engage in bloodshed, even if their cause is just. Sabin and Cyan arrive and describe events at Doma. Even this does not convince the cautious elder of Narshe, who believes the people of Doma brought this doom on themselves by siding with the returners. Narshe values its neutrality.
Kefka's shameless attack on Narshe, demonstrated by a scene in which he leads the troops toward the mining town, decides the question. You will begin walking to the mountain north of Narshe. Here you will confront Kefka and his troops, protecting both Banon and the esper. The first control you have will be as Terra, standing between Banon and the rest of your crew. You're next to a save point – be sure to use it! The battle begins when you talk to Banon.
Divide your party into three crews. We suggest you separate Terra and Celes so at least two parties will have the ability to heal their wounds. At this point Sabin, Edgar, and Cyan are your best fighters (if you use Edgar's Autocrossbow) with Locke close behind.
You don't have to fight all the soldiers. It is possible to place two groups so that the soldiers cannot get to Banon without encountering them. Take the third group south and confront Kefka right away. If this is your plan, one choice is to place two strong warriors (probably Sabin and Cyan) along with Celes in the group that confronts Kefka. I succeeded by placing Cyan, Edgar and Gau in this group. Edgar used the Autocrossbow, which hits all enemies, Gau used a rage (I chose Rhinotaur) and if the group was tough Cyan used Quadra Slam (number 4 sword tech).
Kefka's really quite a chicken if he has to get hurt, as you already know from your encounters with him at the camp north of Doma. Beat him up a bit and he'll run off, swearing to meet you again. When he leaves, any soldiers he has remaining will leave too. If soldiers should reach Banon, the game will reset.
As soon as you've 'defeated' Kefka, the group will appear in front of the esper. If you look closely you'll see how to get there, but you won't need that knowledge until later. Terra will again react to the esper, only this time she will change in appearance (looks something like a naked woman with pink hair) shriek wildly, and fly away.
This will be your first glimpse of the game's flight engine. It uses the same SNES capabilities as many other games. You might even get a little dizzy watching. You'll get to see something of where Terra flies to, but the game will control how you get to her.
The encounter leaves all the rest of the party a little bruised and winded, and you'll wake up as Locke in Arvis' house. You'll have to select four to go on to the land beyond the mountains. The unique ability of the Figaro castle to burrow under the sand will help you do this. Be sure to put Edgar and Sabin in the group, and you'll see more of the story of how Edgar and Sabin decided who would succeed their father.
Take some time to explore Narshe. This is your first chance to check out the whole town. Get familiar with where the Elder's house is. You'll visit it later. You might even stock up on weapons, etc. in the town's shops. Talk to everyone, as usual. Sleeping in the bed in the weapons shop is like stopping at an inn (so is stepping up to the recovery spring in the classroom).
When you're ready, take your crew to Figaro castle. If you brought Sabin, he'll separate from the party. In order to get him back you'll have to stop at the inn which is just inside the left-hand door and take a nap. Then you'll see the story of the succession. Sabin is much distressed that the citizens of Figaro seem more concerned about who will be the next king than they are saddened by his father's death. It seems neither boy wants the job, so Edgar proposes a coin toss. He even calls it, "Heads, you win." You already know that Sabin won and left the castle to study under Duncan. Edgar stayed behind to rule Figaro (and court the ladies). How Edgar lost the coin toss will be revealed later and tell you much about his character.
In the anteroom to the throne room there are two shops. If you have Edgar or Sabin at the front of your group they'll give you better prices. In the tool shop we prefer to buy the drill. We have found it more useful than the chainsaw, which you can get later. One of the drawbacks to the chainsaw is that at random Edgar will try to kill the enemy outright with it. This can be handy, but it can also backfire. If you've got one enemy left, and only need a good hit to dispatch it, and then Edgar chooses to use the "kill" attack, you can find yourself having to hit it again if the "kill" attack should miss.
For interest's sake, you might even try talking to the thieves in the prison (opposite the engine room). Once you've seen everything you want to see and bought everything you want to buy, talk to the engine room attendant, who is down the stairs just left of the front entrance. He'll offer to take the castle to Kohlingen, under the mountains. You won't have to watch the full "prepare to dive" sequence this time. This travel mode will be used often, both in this "World of Balance" and in the "World of Ruin."
There are three towns, one lone house, and an opera house on the part of the world you can now access. You'll come up in a small desert west of the mountains. Just northwest of you is the town of Kohlingen. Here you'll discover Locke's intended, in a coma in a room filled with flowers. One man in town will tell you about his deranged brother who wants to build a coliseum north of town. If you go north you'll find his house, and he'll give you his anti-peace spiel. In the woods just past his house there's a Chocobo stable. It's a long way around to Zozo, but if you want to build level, save the 100 GP and walk there.
To the south of the desert there's the town of Jidoor, advertised by its citizens as the westernmost town on the world map. You'll find good armor and weapons here, and you'll have the money to buy them if you walked down and fought to get here. Jidoor is class-conscious. The rich live to the north, the middle class to the south, and the poor in a town to the north known as Zozo. You'll find the auction house, and the house of Owzer, the eccentric but wealthy art collector. Owzer's butler will tell you about Maria, the star opera singer who looks very like Celes! (Is this fiction or what?!) But that's all you'll get until you visit Zozo. Follow the light green grass northeast of town around to Zozo, a town hidden in the mountains.
Zozo is a town in that you get a more detailed view of the world and in that you can't save, but it is not a town in the sense that you will encounter monsters. There are several buildings to explore in this town. Go in the one south of the town entrance last. Someone will tell you not to jump between buildings (it's a clue, dude!). In the Inn you'll find a clock that needs to be reset. Nobody in Zozo will tell you anything useful about the time. It needs to be set to 6:10:50. You can find this out by trial and error (a very lengthy process) or you can read hints like this one. All you get for this trouble is the chainsaw, but used from Edgar's Tools menu in battle it can be very helpful.
At the top of one building you'll find a door that's rusted shut. You'll find a way to open it in the world of ruin, but you'll need it then, so remember where you found it. When you've entered all other buildings, go into the cafe to the south. As you work your way to the top, you'll come to a place where the only way to progress is to get in line with a bunch of workers. Skip talking to the man they're talking to and gain a place in line. When you get to the top you have a choice of climbing higher or of jumping over to another building. Climb higher first. You'll get to a place where you can't go higher, but you'll also get a valuable item, the thief glove. This allows Locke to hit a monster with his weapon while he's attempting to steal from it. On your way back down you'll be asked if you want to use the crane. Decline, and jump across buildings.
After quite a bit more climbing you'll get to the room where Terra waits. Attempting to talk to her starts a fairly lengthy story-telling routine in which you'll get your first glimpse of the Esper world. You'll see Ramuh, who will die and give you his magicite along with three others. Now you'll have the capacity for every member of your party to learn magic. On your way out of the room you'll meet Locke and Gau. You'll be charged with finding a way to the southern continent so you can raid the headquarters of the empire and save some Espers Geshtal has captured in an attempt to drain them of their magical powers. You can pick two people to join Locke and Celes in this quest. There's a reason to take Edgar as one of them, as we'll explain later.
Return to Jidoor. Nothing will have changed except at Owzer's house. There you'll meet the Impressario, the master of the opera. If you've been talking to people you'll know this institution of arts is located well south of Jidoor. The Impressario will remark on Celes' likeness to Maria, his most popular opera star. The Impressario will leave, and drop a letter behind him. Read it (stand in front of it and "talk" to it). You'll discover that Setzer, a gambler and troublemaker who owns "the world's only" airship, is Maria's greatest fan. In fact he wants to marry her, and he plans to kidnap her from the opera.
With this data in hand, leave Jidoor and travel directly south of the town. You'll follow a narrow peninsula to the opera house. Step inside and talk to the Impressario. He's reluctant to let you help him protect Maria, but Locke makes a persuasive case for his plan which, without Celes' complete agreement, calls for her to take Maria's part in the opera. (Like a general would be any good at singing!) You'll watch the intro to the opera and then Locke will stand up. As Locke you can explore the opera house. If you're not familiar with it, now's the time to figure it out, because you won't have time for exploring later.
You should recognize the door through which Celes left you earlier. Go here when you're satisfied with your exploring. You'll talk to Celes, and then the game will switch from Locke to Celes. Talk to Locke and he'll tell you to review the score. It's on the table in this room. "Talk" to it and you can read the words for Maria's act one aria. It probably isn't necessary to memorize this, but you should know the words well enough to pick the right beginning line three times through the aria. If you miss, you'll get kicked out of the opera house. We have not missed four times just to find out what would happen, but it's likely the game would end. When you're ready, go north into the next room, and west through the curtain onto the stage.
To "sing" this aria you must choose a beginning line three times as Celes sings. The match between words and music got messed up in the translation, but if you try you can imagine singing the words on the screen to the music playing. There's no way to rush through this, just know the words well enough to get the first line right the three times you're given a choice. But you can still mess up. Once you've finished the first act, Celes will climb the stairs, and an image of Draco will appear. Go to him immediately and talk. He'll ask you to follow his lead. Each time he stops, "talk" to him immediately and he'll move on. The last time he laughs and turns into a bunch of flowers. Now you must climb the staircase. The problem here is when Celes disappears. You have to turn RIGHT and take several steps before turning left and going up the rest of the stairs. Walk immediately to the balcony and wait for the next aria. During this aria Celes will throw the flowers from the balcony (you don't have to do anything, it's automatic).
During your introduction to the opera house you discovered Ultros. He has a plan to jam up the opera. He apparently has a gripe with the Impressario. You'll have seen the letter he dropped earlier. Once Celes' singing is over you'll become Locke again and you'll find the letter. Return to the opera house balcony where you left the Impressario and the others and talk to the Impressario. He'll gasp in surprise, you'll watch more of the opera, and then he'll give you instructions. Once this happens you'll have five minutes. You must go to the right to open the door to the area above the stage where Ultros waits to drop a four-ton weight on Celes. Then you must rush back to go through that door and fight your way to Ultros. The clock counts down all this time, including battles and healing.
It helps if someone has the "Sprint Shoes" relic equipped, because you can move from place to place much faster. Once you're above the stage you'll start running into rats. You can see these, and at times you can take an alternate route to avoid them, which is very good. When you do fight them, hit the "orange" colored rats first. The "blue" rats will replenish themselves if there's an "orange" rat left.
As long as you get to Ultros before the five minutes are up, you'll be OK. Whatever happens you'll end up in a battle with him. You won't defeat him, but you'll have to do a lot of damage to convince him to run away. Once this battle is over the game takes over and tells the story of the rest of the opera, and how Setzer comes to steal Maria and takes Celes. You'll find yourself in Setzer's airship, trying to convince him to join you. It's all predetermined and you don't get a chance to interact in it. But you will learn something interesting if you have brought Edgar along. Setzer decides he'll join you if he can marry Celes, who he has decided is more beautiful than Maria. Celes counters by suggesting that they toss on it. If Edgar is around she'll whisper to him before tossing the coin. She wins the toss, and Setzer joins, after discovering a double-headed coin! This is the coin Edgar used to decide who would take the throne!
The airship will fly south to the continent that contains Vector, the headquarters of the empire. You'll land south of this tower, and will have a chance to explore the continent. You'll be next to the town of Albrook. This is a good town to explore thoroughly. A man in the weapon shop will tell you about the two Atma Weapons. This town, like every town on this continent, is under occupation by Imperial troops. The soldiers will usually talk to you, but they're rarely polite. A Magitek knight guards the way to the port and you won't be allowed through. The western edge of this continent holds a south-pointing peninsula. Near the southern tip of this peninsula is the town of Miranda. You'll find a girl here chasing a soldier, another girl in a house who gets letters from her boyfriend soldier, and a boy who's sliding down the banister of a staircase. The boy and his mother, who stands in front of the door to their house so you can't get in and explore, are important very early in your experiences in the world of ruin.
At the northern tip of this continent is the town of Tzen. There's better armor and weapons in other towns, but the relic shop here contains what we believe to be the most useful relic of the game, the Black Belt. The wearer will frequently strike back whenever hit by a monster. On a powerful fighter this relic can double or triple the fight damage. If several monsters hit the same fighter, the fighter may hit back at most of them. Equip it on everyone, even Celes.
In the woods southeast of Miranda you'll find a chocobo stable. But you'll have espers now, and here's a good place to get magic points and learn spells. Trade the espers around so everyone knows all the spells. Take advantage of the opportunity to build level. At the eastern edge of this continent is an Imperial base. You can enter, but you'll quickly be accosted by guards, and even if you defeat them, you'll be "chucked out."
It is possible to re-enter the airship and change participants. If you don't take Celes into the fortress, she'll show up when needed. That could be handy as we'll note later.
You might be reluctant to try to enter Vector after your experience noted above. But this fortress of the empire contains some Returner sympathizers. One of them is an old lady living in a very narrow house. When you first talk to her she'll ask you to pledge your allegiance to the empire. Refuse and you'll be accosted by two guards. Defeat them and she'll reveal her sympathy. She will also increase your hit points and magic to 100% every time you talk to her from here on. Take advantage of her services. If you go up the stairs you'll again run into guards and get sent out of town. Well, almost. Near the eastern edge of town you'll find an old man who will also claim sympathy with the Returners. If you run into him before you're ready, just say "No" when he asks you a question. When you're ready (hit points and magic full and weapons and armor as good as you can get) say yes and he'll help you get past the guards and into the Magitek research facility.
This facility is a complex maze with plenty of hidden passages and secret treasures. Explore carefully, because you can get yourself into a situation where you can't go back. When you come to a place where you see Magitek armor suits dropping onto a conveyor, don't step on it until you've done everything else. It will take you to an area where you'll encounter Kefka. He's gleefully draining captured espers of their magical powers (he thinks) and dumping them into a waste bin when they're "used up." If you're not ready at this point, it is possible to return by stepping on a lift platform. If you're ready, follow the espers into the dump. Before you talk to them, be sure to go into the door in the northwest corner of the room and save. Better yet, use a tent and save. Then talk to one of the espers. You'll have to fight them, but they'll then give you their power.
In the fight itself they'll trade places back and forth. Fire attacks heal Ifrit, and ice attacks heal Shiva, and this will probably happen even if you try to prevent it because you can't tell when they're going to change places. When they've given you their power, go back into the room with the save point, then go through the other door and start climbing the stairs. In the first room with glass tubes there's a hidden treasure chest in the southwest corner. Right past that is Number 24, a rather powerful dude whose resistance to magic changes every time he does a "Wall Change." Use fight attacks and you should make quick work of him. Through the door he guards you'll find the main magic extraction room. Here several espers hang suspended in the glass tubes. Go to the north center of the room and "talk" to the red button. The espers will talk to you, turn into magicite, and come to you.
Cid, the Magitek technician, will come in and ask what's up. Don't fear him. Watch out for Kefka. When he comes in he'll treat Cid unkindly and assume that Celes has been running an undercover operation on the Returners. Locke will assume the worst, even when Celes magically removes herself, Kefka, and the Magitek soldiers from the room. The rest of your crew will be left with Cid, who will want you to immediately evacuate on his lift platform. Follow him. He'll tell you about Celes' beginning, how he raised her like a daughter.
When you get to the bottom of the lift, do NOT talk to Cid until you've had a chance to heal up and save at the save point to the southwest. Once you talk to him you'll be pushed onto a rail car and confront a series of battles and a "boss" monster without any chance to heal in between. The only healing you can do will be during battles. If you're prone to motion sickness, don't watch the screen closely during this sequence. Here is where it would be nice to have four players, which will happen if you didn't bring Celes.
When you get to the boss, focus on him (the center part) and not on the two blades. Once he's done you'll come to rest on the tracks near another save point. Be sure to heal up before you walk on because you're about to get into another battle. You'll follow the tracks to near where you entered the facility. At this point the game will take over until you battle the twin cranes Kefka tries to use to stop you. When you have defeated them (this is your first chance to do battle as Setzer), you'll fly to Zozo and go directly to the room where Terra waits. (This will all happen automatically.) Locke will hold out the magicite, and both Terra and the magicite will glow in response to each other. She'll respond with "Father...." Then you'll see more of her story.
You'll appear as Maduin, an esper who meets a human girl. The human girl, fleeing the human world, finds herself in the esper world. As Maduin you must go north from your cave to the gate, find the girl, and bring her back with you. The other espers aren't happy about this, and Madonna (the human girl) will attempt to leave. As Maduin you must again go north to the gate. Before you do this, however, you have a chance to explore the esper world. When you go to the gate you'll find Madonna about to leave. She'll claim humans and espers are incompatible. Maduin will convince her to find out by trying it. The result will be a baby girl. (No telling what we lost in the translation here....)
Two years later Emperor Geshtal will find the esper world and will bring his soldiers to capture as many espers as they can. The elder will create a wind to blow the soldiers out. Some espers claim Madonna told the emperor where to find the esper world. In the face of this accusation, Madonna runs away with her daughter, Terra. As Maduin you will go to the gate to get her. After the soldiers and the emperor have been blow out of the entrance cave, you will go north to the gate and try to get Madonna back. She will lose her grip on Terra, however, and go out to retrieve the baby. Maduin will follow. The emperor will get the baby and Maduin, we do not find out what happened to Madonna.
Once this is over you will automatically return to the airship.