Need a little help passing the coming of age rite, felling the beast in the aqueducts or scaling Ice and Fire Mountain? We've got you covered with this guide to the first several areas of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time.
When you start a new game of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, the first thing you need to do is choose your character's race and gender. There are male and female versions of four different character types. Clavats are sword-fighters which are recommended for beginning players, while Lilties are spear-users, Selkies are the best jumpers and Yukes are the best with magic attacks. For the record, I went with a male Clavat as my lead character, and filled out my party with a second Clavat, a Selkie and a Yuke when given the opportunity to hire on adventurers.
Coming of Age
After an intro scene, the main character appears and you learn that it is time for his/her coming of age ceremony. Go around the village and talk to everyone, then exit to the upper left and make your way to the forest to undergo the trial and meet up with Sherlotta. First things first, though--once you enter the forest, a Moogle will appear and ask if you want to learn about combat. If this if your first time playing, you may want to go ahead and go through his tutorial.
There are three chests in the first room, including one at the top of the ramp. When you're ready to leave, place the stone on the pedestal and take the upper right exit. In the next area, head towards the right again. Defeat the group of three enemies and attack the switch that appears to open the gate to the next area. Before you leave, again, check the room for chests. This time the ramp is home to two different chests, one of which includes red, yellow and blue stones.
Proceed and prepare yourself for an upcoming boss fight. This one isn't too hard. Your best bet is to jump and try to hit him in the head for maximum damage, though any attack will hurt him somewhat. His basic attacks are easy to avoid, though if you jump on his head when he's stunned, make sure you jump back off before he stands up to avoid a nasty explosion-style attack. You shouldn't have any trouble, but even so, the nearby chests contain healing items. Take him down and you'll be rewarded with a ton of loot. Exit through the newly-opened passage, where Sherlotta is waiting for you, seated atop a giant crystal. For completing the trial, she gives you a little shard of crystal as a reward. Afterwards, head south twice to return to the village.
Searching for a Cure
Unfortunately, when you make it home, the celebration gets cut short as Eryll collapses shortly after greeting you. Her condition turns out to be something called Crystal Sickness, and the people of the village can’t make the medicine she needs since they don't have all the ingredients. Guess whose job it is to go looking for them? Yep, you know it. Exit the village to the bottom right, and once you're on the world map, head north towards the town. Make sure you have a look around and talk to the townspeople here. You can check out the shops and add some new members to your party, and you'll also meet a couple of people near the fountain who think there's a monster in the aqueducts. File that information away for later.
Your ultimate destination is the library, which is located at the extreme northern end of the town. Once you get there, you'll see a scene and meet Larkeicus, who might look somewhat familiar. He inquires about the crystal that Sherlotta gave the main character, and then agrees to help you with the medicine on one condition--he needs you to help him with an archeological task afterwards. Obviously, the main character agrees, and is then instructed to find a Buffasaur Horn. Buffasaurs, as it turns out, like to live in water and is weak to magic. He offers to give you a tutorial on casting spells, which will definitely come in handy if this is your first time through the game. Afterwards, go chat with the two people near the fountain again, then exit town and head for the aqueducts.
There are a few new types of puzzles included in this dungeon, including posts that need to be hit several times to activate and are time-limited (meaning you need to hit a switch or perform some other action as quickly as possible) and color-coded spheres that need to be attacked with the corresponding magical spell (i.e. Fire for Red or Thunder for Yellow).