Earth Shrine, Belmodar and Hell's Rider (Chapter 1)

The boss fight is where the game teaches staggering. Belmodar's affinity panel shows two hidden weaknesses and one hidden resistance, and Lasswell's battle line points you at Fire. Escape is disabled.

What worked for us at Lv.4: Lasswell opens with Dawn Frost (5 MP, Ice physical damage with a high stagger rating), Rain follows with Fire, and you repeat. Its stagger gauge was nearly empty after two rounds. When Belmodar glowed red and its icon was flagged in the turn order (a devastating attack), the next Dawn Frost staggered it first. Staggering a lone boss also counts as a Sweeping Stagger, so both characters got a bonus action.

Keep a Potion in reach: Rain and Lasswell sat at roughly 250–370 HP for most of the fight. The win paid 300 EXP, 750 gil and a Phoenix Down, and both characters reached Lv.5.

1. Lasswell: Skills > Dawn Frost on Belmodar.
2. Rain: Skills > Fire on Belmodar.
3. Repeat; heal with a Potion if either drops below about half HP.
4. When it's staggered, spend both bonus actions on damage.

While Belmodar showed STAGGERED it lost its turn and took more damage, and the turn bar moved straight to our bonus actions. Its gauge refilled afterwards, so plan to stagger it again rather than racing its HP.

Mitra is a short walk south-east of the shrine on the world map. An accessory stall in the lower market sells the Hairband for 200 gil (+5 Phys. Def.); both characters start with an empty accessory slot. The story then sends you to Rain's house at the top of town, where the first Visions are obtained. Remember that you can't save inside Mitra; step out to the world map.

The world map has no Destination List (fast travel) at this point of Chapter 1, and there still wasn't one after Grandshelt Castle, so you walk. The capital's area card reads 'Grandshelt, the Royal Capital - Recommended Level 5', and the city is on fire; the castle's own card also recommends Level 5. Our party arrived at Lv.6. Save on the world map at the capital's entrance before you go in; the game also autosaved as we entered.

Random battles on the way paid 36 EXP, 90 gil and 4 MRP for a pair of toads in the field near Mitra, and 24 EXP, 40 gil and 4 MRP for a forest battle.

1. Leave Mitra and cross the bridge to the east.
2. Follow the road south down the east side.
3. Head west past the coast.
4. Cross the bridge north of the capital to reach its entrance.

In the throne-room scene, Charlotte temporarily joins the party, and the quest log updates to 'Save the King of Grandshelt'. A chest in the upper hall, on the east side, holds Flame Scroll I x3. A second chest, also in the east of the upper hall, holds Antidote Herb x4; reach it from the upper floor by the east staircase. Rescuing the residents after the skeleton battle gives Phoenix Down x3.

Our party reached Lv.7 inside the castle and Lv.8 by the boss. The grand staircase is blocked by fire and the east of the hall by debris, so the way on starts at the west staircase; the route is in the next section.

The easy step to miss is the office: its closed double door is on the gallery, just west of the lounge door. A save point appears in the lounge, though the System Menu still had no Save there.

1. Take the west staircase up to the upper floor.
2. Follow the gallery east to the lounge: a skeleton story battle, then a soldier to rescue.
3. Back on the gallery, open the closed double door just west of the lounge door. In the office a soldier gives you a Mist Potion and warns that a huge monster is heading for the throne room.
4. Go west along the upper corridor to the top of the grand staircase, where Hell's Rider appears.

Hell's Rider fights alongside three Dark Skeletons (Lv.5), and Escape is greyed out. A Status Ailments tutorial opens first, listing Poison, Blind, Sleep, Silence, Paralysis, Petrify, Confuse, Charm, Berserk and Instant Death/Doom; Lasswell was poisoned during the fight.

The Dark Skeletons showed 'Weak' to Tronn's Fire, and pressing Q while choosing the target sent Fire at every enemy. Hell's Rider itself showed no Weak marker for Fire, Blizzard or Thunder. Charlotte, the guest, cast a shield and healed. Lasswell's Limit Burst, Null Moon, hit the Rider for 368. We got two Sweeping Staggers and took Hibernal Fury both times.

At Lv.8 we won with no KOs and no items used. The result was 385 EXP, 467 gil, 39 MRP and a Mist Potion, with the Overkill and Stagger Finish bonuses.

1. What we did: cast Tronn's Fire on all enemies (Q while targeting) to hit the Skeletons' weakness.
2. Lasswell used Null Moon on Hell's Rider for 368; it also makes the target easier to stagger for 3 turns.
3. After each of our two Sweeping Staggers we chose Hibernal Fury.

Against Bombs and a Soul, the Ice from Tronn's Hibernal Fury was resisted; we didn't note which enemy resisted it. The skeleton fight is a story battle with no Escape.

After Hell's Rider, Charlotte leaves the party and the throne room has a scene with the King of Grandshelt. Then, in the courtyard, you fight Umbra (Lv.17). It's scripted: after a few turns Umbra hits both characters for a total of 199,998 and the story carries on with no Game Over.

Next you choose between going after the armored warriors to Felicitas straight away and looking for more Visions first. We tried both answers on a reload: each leads to the same quest, 'Go to the town of Felicitas', and only Lasswell's reply changes. We saw no other effect. The next area card is the capital's Commercial District, now intact. Its inn, the building the party starts in front of, charges 100 gil to Stay.

The quest log's map view centres on the Town of Felicitas, on an island to the south, across the water from the capital. We stopped in the capital without reaching it.