Generation 8 Tips - The Unfair Dragon

After that let down of an ending in Generation 7, you'll probably want to get right into this and you will shortly be introduced to the volcanic region of Zardine. Lots of new stuff up here but I'm just going to focus first on the story-arc specific problem spots:

Par Ruins Unicorn (fastest solo)
Before trying this dungeon you should do yourself a favour and raise your taming to rank A or better. You'll be needing it in a few spots in the future, and it will save you some time later on. Par will not be as bad as your last visit here in G7 and there shouldn't be anything in here that you need help with. If you are getting beaten by wicked penguins or ice worms then you are doing something wrong. The boss room contains a single cute unicorn that you must tame. If you kill it, you will need to run the dungeon again.

Hella Longa (as Kelpie)
You will be missing the otter from G7 at this point. Kelpie has crap gear and even worse skills. Expect to spend a few hours in what is perhaps the most annoying RP quest in the game thus far. In rooms where the desert ghosts go "invisible" try sketch them to level as an alternate method to "heal". Also use up whatever AP he can scrounge to help end this nightmare sooner.

Renes Taming
This is where previous taming ranking will come in handy. You'll need to tame yourself some Anteaters and Boars in the Renes region and in case things go awry, both use "pig" AI and only know Counter and Defense (the boars have low heavy stander though). Reaching the boars at Pera can be scary but is pretty straight forward. If running, don't stop for anything and try steer clear of any black leopards, balrogs or big dragons (you'll get to fight one later :P) in the way. If flying, keep low and away from the wyverns in this region as they can and will attack you, making you crash to the ground. Mark the mana tunnels in that region to facilitate faster transport later on.

Baby Balloon (fastest solo, more fun with friends)
You'll also need to collect some "stars" from wyvern hunting and to do that you need to go ballooning. This can be a really fun exercise for a group and I suggest bringing at least one other person with you on your first trip and each carry a flint or two (fuel) with a large balloon. Once you get used to the balloon controls and how to refuel, position your craft near the outskirts of a wyvern cluster. The best way to bring down wyverns are with magnum shot, bolt magic (depending on wyvern type) or ballista (in that order) as the wyvern tries to do its fly-by breath attack. You don't need to collect all the stars in one go, but you should get them all without leaving the area or handing them in to Kelpie for a reward. Ballooning is another quick exploration exp collection method, but it depends on how much you like ballooning and how good you are at ranged combat.

Fossil Cleaning
While fossils drop from most of the critters in Zardine, the fastest way to get one is to grab a pick axe and head to the sulphur pits. Dig one up from the rocks, preferably the ones that don't look like golems! You'll get poisoned while digging in the area (and if you've smelled sulfur before then you know why) but you shouldn't be too worried about it. Once you have a fossil get out of the fumes then "use" it to start the cleaning mini-game - you just have to remove all the dirt outside the fossil picture. Artists used to using a mouse will find this really easy. Fastest way to get the result you need is to first outline the shape (how close to the line is up to you, if you are a novice stay a bit far). Afterwards, switch to the largest brush in the top right corner and get rid of anything from your outline to the border of the minigame. Just with that you've already removed like 60-80% of the dirt. With your remaining time, switch to the smallest brush and try get as close to the lines as possible, without going over them. If you are exceptionally good at it, this method will also trump the Cor circuit for exploration gain as there is no idiot named Voight who will screw up half your stuff. :P

*Dun Dun DUUUUUUUUUN!*

Bad Dragon (bring a team)
You can bring up to eight people with you to face the final boss of this arc. Try bring at least six. This bad boy is nothing like the dragon in Generation 3, and almost all his attacks will make you go deadly or die. It is recommended you go in with a high % of level exp (99% ideal) so that you can use it to respawn within his cave. At -100% you will not be able to respawn via that method anymore and will either need to wait for a feather res or use up a Nao stone (to get ressed Nao :P). You cannot attack this guy when he flies up so this is the time to get onto a fast mount and run as it is the signal that he is about to use one of two unfair orbital strikes.

Meteor swarm features big rocks falling and exploding all over the place, but his lightning storm is more dangerous and lasts longer - safer to wait for the bastard to land and let the effect wear off before rushing him again. When he is on the ground, he may use his flame breath which kills anything in a cone in front of him so circle wide around if you find yourself there. He also has a tail swipe which kills anyone in a wide arc in-front of him as well as a charging move that goes in a straight line forward. Expect to die a bit and bring plenty of feathers. You can regain EXP by sacrificing your pets to the dragon's attacks then ressing them. Also you do double damage if you manage to attack the beast's throat, but if you're doing that then you are likely standing where -all- his attacks can hit you back. Just keep at him and eventually he will die, earning you a powerful ability that you can use in the future.

You can also try the Renes Egg-Guarding game (which doesn't make much sense) but since I've not done it properly yet, I'll have to write about it some other time. ^_^

Generation 7 Tips - Can I be a mongoose?

No but you can be an otter! There is no "story" for Generation 4-6 (they were just new areas - Rano, Physis and Connous) and there is no proper "quest" that starts this generation off (its also a new area - Couracle); in-fact you can skip it, but I've always thought skipping stuff is just giving yourself less game content and is generally a stupid thing to do. Here's the quick run through of the problem parts, and as usual, you can find the rest of my classes in the binding post:

Those Effing Fragments
You'll need to get yourself to Couracle in Iria and mark the mana tunnels at Cor and the one nearest Pantay swamp (still kinda far). Remember that if you have no flying mount you can just ride the hippos across the river. Once at the swamp you'll need to use L-rods to excavate chests and bring back fragments (2x2 preferred) to Voight. You are after an ancient sun, snow and lightning fragment and if you have been doing basic exploration AP harvesting then you know how to do this, and that Voight is going to fail on around 30% of your retrieved stuff. Be prepared to spend a lot of time in the swamp hunting for these. Also you will probably run into these during your prolonged stay there:

Giant dragonfly
Like spiders, these only know defense but can multi aggro if you are silly enough to wander into them. They also have low HP making them easy kills, but they are easy enough to avoid.

Hippos
Only found on the Western part of the swamp, these ones have "pig" AI and know defense and counter. They also have heavy stander due to being fat so be careful with normal attacks if you end up fighting one. Usually they'll leave you alone anyway, just don't provoke them.

Swamp Cobra
Has your standard snake AI (with smash) but is possibly the first critter you've encountered that has poison. Poison in mabi is very bad in that it does a percentage damage based on how many HP the victim still has. It won't kill you but it will get you to 1 HP pretty quick. For this reason if you have to fight these, kill them fast and don't let them bite you!

Gator
Aggressive sharp-toothed lizards that like hiding in the swampy water. They aggro pretty quick, enjoy smashing, and do high levels of damage. Of all the swamp critters, these are the ones you will probably end up fighting most during this section. They will easily outrun you so fight well and bring bandages to recover from any injury (black) damage  they do.

Hobgoblins
Can pop out in pairs when you find chests. If they are exorcists then you can probably try take em out. Just treat them as goblins with magic, nothing really special. However if head hobgoblins appear I suggest you run. They have high levels of stander, high hp, fast multi aggro and do lots of damage making killing them before they and chestdespawn a bit of a challenge. Fortunately they only run as fast as you (human speed) so it should be easy, and probably less time consuming, to escape.

Row, Row, Row your Boat
Once you have all three you'll need to visit the temples at the bottom of Erkey falls. The only way to get there with out help is by rafting, so make your way up to the La Terra Highlands with 10 pieces of firewood and you can talk to the native up there to build your raft. Bringing sufficient pots to stay alive is also a good idea as you will be attacked by hobgoblins on your trip down river. If you have it, you can use advanced magic or high rank crash shot to blow away the opposition on the banks as you pass but otherwise just transform and make sure to steer the raft to the RIGHT at the junction or you'll have to do it again. Once you've made the turn, steer left to avoid docking (unless you want to get off at the hobgoblin village but you may lose your raft) and fall down the waterfall. The cutscenes here lag sometimes so just be patient and wait them out. Once down there it should be safe enough to do what you need to do. If the giant alligator is awake, it may be best to avoid it for now. :P

As a side note, Rafting is another way to gain exploration exp and is quicker (but obviously more dangerous) than doing the Cor circuit if you can kill lots of hobgoblins during each run.

Longa Otter - (as Ruwai)
The highlight of this story arc, Ruwai is pretty kickass for an otter. Use more of his normal attacks instead of smash as he can chain a long set of them and you should get past all the scum of this desert dungeon in no time.

Mirror Mirror (need a giant)
If you aren't a giant, you're going to need one to help you get through the Par Dungeon part of this arc. While there are "ice" or "snow" variants of things you should be familiar with, there are a few new enemies as well:

Shrieker
Floating ice heads that behave like wisps, though they favor ice bolt. Remember how to kill a wisp? Same thing here.

Bandersnatch
Almost the same as zombies, except on the lower floors they can sprint at you and do pretty good damage. They have low HPs though which makes a giant's stomp the ideal way to neutralize them. Windmill works too, but the most widely accepted method is firebolt revolver to keep them at bay.

Wendigo
Treat is as a fit ogre that has higher defense against ranged and magic. The wendigo must die a specific death for the mirror witch to appear - it must be slain by a giant wielding an ice pole, and ice poles (if you don't have one) only drop when the wendigo uses stomp. Your main problem will be keeping this creep alive for your giant to bash as by this point, you will probably be able to dust him in short order if you aren't careful. To be safe, let your giant buddy solo him.

Mirror witch
She has many dangerous powers and broad array of defenses but she can't use any of them if she's pinned on the floor. Safest way to fight her is seriously to gang smash/windmill her. That may sound kinky but you'd better do it or it is you that will be raped. :P

Don't be fooled by her hotness, she's as cold as ice.

Longa Hide and Seek - (as Atrata)
The anti-climactic final dungeon - Atrata has no hope in fighting anything in here so just get used to using the "hide" action that is available to all elves as you hit those orbs. Remember it drains mana so drink up when you are running low.