Quick Links
Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Sevenis not an easy game - there are dense mechanics, cryptic problems, and plenty of potential hiccups to bar your progression on your journey to defeat the seven heroes of legend. One such potential pitfall takes the form of missable classes.
Unlocking classes is an important and useful mechanic that allows you to access stronger characters whenever time skips occur, forcing you to choose a new emperor and their retinue. One of the earliest unlockable classes is the Martial Artist, and it has a pretty involved quest that might trip you up if you’re not paying attention.
How To Start The Mighty Martial Artists
The quest that allows you to unlock the Martial Artist class isavailable right from the beginning of the game proper, after the prologue. Once you’re done with the on-rails introduction to the game and Gerard has inherited the throne (and his father’s abilities), you’ll be able to travel using the World Map.
This quest begins in Nibel, available right from the start. Head there and you’ll be able to follow some obvious quest markers.Speak to the NPCs in Nibelmarked by question mark icons and you’ll be directed to thepub, where you can talk to aYoung Man. State that you’re the Emperor, and he’ll give you the quest proper.
This will unlock theDragon Lairon the world map. Head there now and travel to the end of the area to meet Karl, the game’s resident Martial Artist.
This also unlocks the Fiends' Cloister - ignore this location for now.
Speaking to Karlwill give you more information about the monster problems faced by the people of Nibel. There is a monster in the Fiends' Cloister causing the root of the issue, but there’s also agel-like monsterthat is making it very difficult for the Martial Artists to defeat the main monster.
To save you a return trip, we highly recommendfilling your final slot with Aries the Court Mage and making sure Therese is with youfor this quest - their spells will be very handy.
Fiends' Cloister Walkthrough
The Fiends' Cloister is a pretty linear dungeon, consisting of a loop around a central point with the path having multiple diversions along the way, most often to dead ends filled with monsters. Be wary as you go - while the monsters here are weak and shouldn’t be an issue for you,too many fightsat this point in the game may cause you to skip a generation and be forced to use a new emperor too quickly, and you’ll ideally want to have some new classes unlocked by the time that happens.
There are a fewcheststo grab along the way, including one containing someBeastly Clawson the very right-hand side of the map, and one containing90,000 Crownson the left-hand side. The latter chest requires you to do some light platforming to reach higher ground in a watery room and then crawl through a gap in the wall.
When you reach the BP recovery point, paired with the usual save point, you’ll know that you’re about the face the first of two (possible) bosses in the cave.
How To Beat Gel Matter
Gel Matter is quite a tricky boss if you’re unprepared, even on easier difficulty modes. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Description
Healing
You will want to make sure your party has a full complement ofBalmsequipped before entering this fight, as the damage can mount up quite quickly.
Weaknesses
The Gel Matter isonly weak to elemental attacks, no weapon attacks. As you are very likely to be early in the game and only have a few sources of elemental damage, this can make filling up your Overdrive gauge quite tricky.
With the default original party, it should be easy to hit the Gel Matter’sFire weaknesswith Gerard’s magic. It is also weak toWater and Wind, which are accessible at this point.
Bolt Breath
The Gel Matter’s most dangerous attack is Bolt Breath, which hits an entire line of characters. As the Imperial Cross Formation places three characters in a line, the move is incredibly damaging. Even though it has few upsides, we highly recommend placing your party in the Free For All Formation. This would mean only one character would take that hit at a time.
This is why we recommend bringing Aries to the fight. He’s another healer thanks toLife Water, and hasBlades of Wind, which will deal a nice chunk of damage with each cast.
Your physical attackers won’t be terribly useful in this fight, so they make for greatbackup healerswhen there’s a crucial need for healing. Gerard and your mage should be casting spells that the enemy is weak against tofill up the Overdrive Gauge, andTheresecan safely flip between healing with Life Water and physical attacks.
As the Gel Matter is a powerful enemy, this is also a good opportunity tofish for Glimmers, if you’re in a low-threat part of the battle.
Upon victory, you’ll get a big chunk of TP and also some useful items, including theCandy Ring, which is a nice little defensive boost. You will also be presented with an option toreturn to the Dragon Lair immediately to report your victory over the monster to Karl.
Should You Return To The Dragon Lair?
It should be noted right off the bat that no matter which way you complete this quest, you can unlock the Martial Artist; your choice here just affects how the quest is completed.
Returning To The Dragon Lair
This method is the easier of the two. Selecting this option (or manually returning to the Dragon Lair after selecting the option to stay in the Fiends' Cloister) will move you back to the Martial Artists' hideout atDragon Lair.
Head back to the end of the area andspeak to Karl. After a short conversation, you’ll be transported back to the Fiends' Cloister where you must simplymake the journey from the entrance of the cave all the way to the end, where you’ll see the Martial Artists' successfully take down the monster.
This ends the quest andunlocks the Martial Artist class, with Karl being this generation’s representative and available to put in your party immediately.
Beating The Boss Yourself
This is the harder route, naturally. Simplyhead deeper into the Fiends' Cloister, past the Gel Matter fight location. Along the way, you’ll findthis location’s Mr. Sup against a wall and also aglowing trail that leads to a Hero Memory.
On the way to the boss, we highly recommendfilling up your Overdrive Gaugeagainst the monsters here so you can begin the boss fight with a damaging combo.
There will be another BP recovery point and a save point to warn you of the impending boss battle.
How To Beat The Crawlers
This battle’s main threat comes from the fact that you’re up against three quite tough enemies who can focus down one of your party members before you can react and heal them. This gives you the main way to deal with this battle:take the Crawlers down one by one.
As soon as one Crawler is defeated, the battle becomes far easier to deal with.
Therese/any skilled bow-user is crucial to making this fight a cakewalk.Rapid Volleyshould be used constantly while there are two or three Crawlers remaining, as it’s a cheap move that deals a lot of damage to the entire enemy party, and you’re not likely to have better options right now. This is especially true if you canfit Rapid Volley in as part of a combo.
Thanks to the relatively low health of each individual enemy,targeting weaknesses isn’t as importantas it was in the previous fight. Instead, try tofish for any available Glimmersyou have, as denoted by the lightbulb icons.
Upon victory,you’ll travel automatically back to Nibel, and the quest will be all but complete as it would be via the other route, though this time, the Martial Artists will bein ruins. You’ll also have one last objective: toreturn to Dragon Lair and speak to the Martial Artist there.
How To Beat Karl
Upon speaking to Karl back at Dragon Lair, he’llchallenge you to a fightto redeem his sense of honour.
This battle isincredibly easy, a few regular attacks should beat the Martial Artist into the dust very quickly. If, for some reason, you lose this fight, you will not be able to unlock Martial Artist.
It is important to note thatthis method will only unlock the Martial Artist class from the next generation onwards, rather than letting you use the class right away.
