Hello all! This is Raganook, one of the three who translated and coded the FFIV DS Japanese Translation patch.
First of all, I really should have said 99% spoiler free, because there is one "spoiler" you should really know about prior to playing. In order to really glean all there is from this title, as well as challenge all that it has to offer, you must complete the game a second time in "New Game +", a feature unavailable in the original.
I decided to compile a short guide for those of you who have never played FFIV so that you make sure you don't miss anything! I will mainly focus on Decant Abilities, as they are not only confusing, but esential to strategically plan if you intend on building a powerful enough party in your second run through the take on the games REAL challenges...
Useful Information: Runthrough 1
Background
In the DS remake there is something callent "Decant Abilities" (in the Japanese version...dunno what they will call it in this version). Basically, many characters in FFIV come and go, and each with unique abilities. In the original, once a party member leaves your party, their special abilities are also lost.
Not so in the DS version! At certain storyline points, a character will impart their abilities to you in the form of a Decant Item, which you can then use on a character of your choice, and then they will in turn gain that ability.
But thats not all! All characters have "hidden" abilities, abilities they never master themselves. You can get them to impart those techniques into Decant items to teach to your other party members.
Also worth mentioning is that many Decants are found hidden throughout the game instead of being imparted to you by characters.
Methedology
So this is how it works. Each character has a total of 3 Decant abilities that they can teach you. To receive the first Decant, you just need to progress to the appropriate point in the story line. To receive the second, the character in question MUST have learned a Decant Ability prior to this moment. To receive the third, the character in question MUST have learned two Decant Abilities prior to this moment.
So, for example, if you never taught Tellah any Decants, then at a specific point in the story, you will only receive Recall. If you taught him one Decant, he will give you Recall and Brace. Two Decants learned yields Recall, Brace and Tongue Tied. Make sense? So long as each character learns 2 Decant abilities, they will impart ALL their abilities.
There is ONE exception. In order to receive all three Decants for a certain pair of Twins, you must teach one of them 2 Decants, and one of them only 1 Decant.
Important Note!
It is impossible to get EVERY Decant your first time through. That is why there is New Game +! After you beat the game, you will have the chance to start over, and any Decant Abilities unused will remain in your inventory so that you can gain Decants you missed. In addition, during your second runthrough, any Decants you taught to characters in the last runthrough KEEP them. So if you taught Tellah APotion and Alch, he will have them from the get-go during your second runthrough! This also means he will impart all three of his Decant Abilities to your party again during a certain storyline event; he already has two Decants! So if you want TWO characters to have Double Cast, by all means!
Characters that DO NOT yield Decant Abilities
If they are not listed below, they don't yield Decant Abilities.
One-Shot Decants
Darkness - Stolen from Odin
Treasure Hunter - Must get 100% on all maps, and many maps are one-time visits! Important: There is one point in the game where you enter a certain Tower. You will NOT be able to get 100% on all the maps within it the first time you enter it, so don't fret! Just cover all the ground you can!
Character Decants
=Name=
# of Decants Taught - Name - Explanation
=A wise and elderly Sage...=
=Wields the deadly...harp....=
=A monk of Fabul=
=Twins!=
=Royal servant of the King=
=Builder of Airships=
=A helping hand during giant distress=
Other Useful Information
*Throughout your quest, you may be fortunate to run into an item ending with "Tail", such as "Green Tail". These items WILL TRANSFER to your New Game +. They are used to make some of the best stuff in the game, and both the tails AND their corresponding equipment transfer over when you do a New Game +.
*Re-visit the areas where you fought Elemental Fiends to get incredibly powerful Decants
*Save your most powerful Decants for the end of the game. Your party is a rotating door, you will have NO idea who the ending party will be. Until you succesfully enter the very last dungeon (and trust me, you will KNOW what it is), do not assume any character you have will remain with you!
*Be sure to steal from the boss of the game. You need the item stolen in order to access the greatest secret of the game, only available in your second playthrough.
Useful Information: Runthrough 2 (UPDATED 7/25)
First of all, I really should have said 99% spoiler free, because there is one "spoiler" you should really know about prior to playing. In order to really glean all there is from this title, as well as challenge all that it has to offer, you must complete the game a second time in "New Game +", a feature unavailable in the original.
I decided to compile a short guide for those of you who have never played FFIV so that you make sure you don't miss anything! I will mainly focus on Decant Abilities, as they are not only confusing, but esential to strategically plan if you intend on building a powerful enough party in your second run through the take on the games REAL challenges...
Useful Information: Runthrough 1
Background
In the DS remake there is something callent "Decant Abilities" (in the Japanese version...dunno what they will call it in this version). Basically, many characters in FFIV come and go, and each with unique abilities. In the original, once a party member leaves your party, their special abilities are also lost.
Not so in the DS version! At certain storyline points, a character will impart their abilities to you in the form of a Decant Item, which you can then use on a character of your choice, and then they will in turn gain that ability.
But thats not all! All characters have "hidden" abilities, abilities they never master themselves. You can get them to impart those techniques into Decant items to teach to your other party members.
Also worth mentioning is that many Decants are found hidden throughout the game instead of being imparted to you by characters.
Methedology
So this is how it works. Each character has a total of 3 Decant abilities that they can teach you. To receive the first Decant, you just need to progress to the appropriate point in the story line. To receive the second, the character in question MUST have learned a Decant Ability prior to this moment. To receive the third, the character in question MUST have learned two Decant Abilities prior to this moment.
So, for example, if you never taught Tellah any Decants, then at a specific point in the story, you will only receive Recall. If you taught him one Decant, he will give you Recall and Brace. Two Decants learned yields Recall, Brace and Tongue Tied. Make sense? So long as each character learns 2 Decant abilities, they will impart ALL their abilities.
There is ONE exception. In order to receive all three Decants for a certain pair of Twins, you must teach one of them 2 Decants, and one of them only 1 Decant.
Important Note!
It is impossible to get EVERY Decant your first time through. That is why there is New Game +! After you beat the game, you will have the chance to start over, and any Decant Abilities unused will remain in your inventory so that you can gain Decants you missed. In addition, during your second runthrough, any Decants you taught to characters in the last runthrough KEEP them. So if you taught Tellah APotion and Alch, he will have them from the get-go during your second runthrough! This also means he will impart all three of his Decant Abilities to your party again during a certain storyline event; he already has two Decants! So if you want TWO characters to have Double Cast, by all means!
Characters that DO NOT yield Decant Abilities
If they are not listed below, they don't yield Decant Abilities.
One-Shot Decants
Darkness - Stolen from Odin
Treasure Hunter - Must get 100% on all maps, and many maps are one-time visits! Important: There is one point in the game where you enter a certain Tower. You will NOT be able to get 100% on all the maps within it the first time you enter it, so don't fret! Just cover all the ground you can!
Character Decants
=Name=
# of Decants Taught - Name - Explanation
=A wise and elderly Sage...=
Tellah
0 - Recall - Does exactly what it did for him
1 - Brace - Take 1/2 damage when you have low health
2 - Tongue Tied - Cast spell twice as fast
0 - Recall - Does exactly what it did for him
1 - Brace - Take 1/2 damage when you have low health
2 - Tongue Tied - Cast spell twice as fast
=Wields the deadly...harp....=
Edward
0 - Sing - Does exactly what it did for him
1 - Heal - Does exactly what it did for him
2 - Hide - Does exactly what it did for him
0 - Sing - Does exactly what it did for him
1 - Heal - Does exactly what it did for him
2 - Hide - Does exactly what it did for him
=A monk of Fabul=
Yang
0 - Charge - Does exactly what it did for him
1 - Kick - Does exactly what it did for him
2 - Gird - Negate 75% of the damage dealt to you
0 - Charge - Does exactly what it did for him
1 - Kick - Does exactly what it did for him
2 - Gird - Negate 75% of the damage dealt to you
=Twins!=
Palom and Porom
0 - Twin - Does exactly the same thing as it did before. I can't list the combinations, as it would be spoiler-rific.
1 - Bluff - Does exactly what it did before
1 - Cry - Does exactly what it did before. Note this one requires 1 Decant Ability for EACH twin.
2 - Double Cast - Cast two spells back-to-back. Note this one requires 1 Decant Ability on one twin, and 2 Decant Abilities on the other
0 - Twin - Does exactly the same thing as it did before. I can't list the combinations, as it would be spoiler-rific.
1 - Bluff - Does exactly what it did before
1 - Cry - Does exactly what it did before. Note this one requires 1 Decant Ability for EACH twin.
2 - Double Cast - Cast two spells back-to-back. Note this one requires 1 Decant Ability on one twin, and 2 Decant Abilities on the other
=Royal servant of the King=
Baigan
Just keep pressing "A" and you will figure it out
Just keep pressing "A" and you will figure it out
Cid
0 - Scan - Same as it did before
1 - Imbue - Adds an elemental property to your attacks
2 - Critical - Doubles attack power when health is low
0 - Scan - Same as it did before
1 - Imbue - Adds an elemental property to your attacks
2 - Critical - Doubles attack power when health is low
=A helping hand during giant distress=
FuSoYa
0 - Regen - Exactly as it did before
1 - Phoenix - When the character with this ability dies, all MP will be consumed to revive the entire rest of the party. If this character has 0MP, the effect will not occur!
2 - Target - All spells cast by the user with this ability will target everyone, even spells that normally cannot.
0 - Regen - Exactly as it did before
1 - Phoenix - When the character with this ability dies, all MP will be consumed to revive the entire rest of the party. If this character has 0MP, the effect will not occur!
2 - Target - All spells cast by the user with this ability will target everyone, even spells that normally cannot.
Other Useful Information
*Throughout your quest, you may be fortunate to run into an item ending with "Tail", such as "Green Tail". These items WILL TRANSFER to your New Game +. They are used to make some of the best stuff in the game, and both the tails AND their corresponding equipment transfer over when you do a New Game +.
*Re-visit the areas where you fought Elemental Fiends to get incredibly powerful Decants
*Save your most powerful Decants for the end of the game. Your party is a rotating door, you will have NO idea who the ending party will be. Until you succesfully enter the very last dungeon (and trust me, you will KNOW what it is), do not assume any character you have will remain with you!
*Be sure to steal from the boss of the game. You need the item stolen in order to access the greatest secret of the game, only available in your second playthrough.
Useful Information: Runthrough 2 (UPDATED 7/25)
Tail collector
So, you want the best of the best eh? Well! In order to get it, you will need to collect various colored tails. These tails are EXCEPTIONALLY rare drops, so be sure to have the Treasure Hunter Decant! These strategies use Alarms to make life easier, so you will need to either stock up on them in the Moon Cave and get these tails prior to completing your 1st runthrough, or get there all over again.
Yellow Tail - Go to the entrance of the Land of Summoned Monsters and use an alarm. You will fight a Yellow Dragon, which (rarely) drops a yellow tail. Exchange it for powerful Gauntlets.
Green Tail - Go to the entrance of the Sealed cave and use an alarm. This time it will be a Green Dragon, and the prize will be a powerful helm.
Blue Tail - Go to B2 of the Land of Summoned Monsters and use an alarm. You will fight yet another Dragon, and the prize will be a powerful shield.
Red Tail - Go to B8 of the final dungeon and use an alarm. The dragon will be (*gasp*) red, and the reward will be a powerful sword.
Black Tail - Go to B2 of the extra dungeon on the moon and use an alarm. The reward will be a powerful suit of armor
Pink Tail - Ah, the legendary. Be warned: these are EXCEPTIONALLY RARE, though not nearly as much as they were in the original. Also know this armor is FAR superior to the armor gleaned from the Black Tail. Go to B5 of the final dungeon, and enter the room on the lower-right. The room is small with a single chest in it. Use an alarm to fight an....interesting set of foes...and if you are EXTRAORDINARILY lucky (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TREASURE HUNTER!), you will get the most coveted item in the game, the Pink Tail!
Rare Summons
*Did you find all the hidden summons?. Check the moon, the Sylph Cave, Baron, and the Land of Summoned Monsters if you didn't find them!
*You can obtain summon Bomb, Cockatrice, Mind Flayer and Imp by mercilessly slaughtering the enemies that represent the names mentioned. It is a VERY rare drop, and these summons are utterly useless.
Stat Maxing
After level 70, your stats are SOLELY determined by the Decants you have equipped. In order to stand a chance against the challenges ahead, you would be wise to use some of your unused Decants on main party members for the sole reason of stat-boosting. A full list of which Decants increase which stat and how much can be found here. I wouldn't recommend visiting that link until you've beaten your first run through, and hence won't find any spoilers.
So, you want the best of the best eh? Well! In order to get it, you will need to collect various colored tails. These tails are EXCEPTIONALLY rare drops, so be sure to have the Treasure Hunter Decant! These strategies use Alarms to make life easier, so you will need to either stock up on them in the Moon Cave and get these tails prior to completing your 1st runthrough, or get there all over again.
Yellow Tail - Go to the entrance of the Land of Summoned Monsters and use an alarm. You will fight a Yellow Dragon, which (rarely) drops a yellow tail. Exchange it for powerful Gauntlets.
Green Tail - Go to the entrance of the Sealed cave and use an alarm. This time it will be a Green Dragon, and the prize will be a powerful helm.
Blue Tail - Go to B2 of the Land of Summoned Monsters and use an alarm. You will fight yet another Dragon, and the prize will be a powerful shield.
Red Tail - Go to B8 of the final dungeon and use an alarm. The dragon will be (*gasp*) red, and the reward will be a powerful sword.
Black Tail - Go to B2 of the extra dungeon on the moon and use an alarm. The reward will be a powerful suit of armor
Pink Tail - Ah, the legendary. Be warned: these are EXCEPTIONALLY RARE, though not nearly as much as they were in the original. Also know this armor is FAR superior to the armor gleaned from the Black Tail. Go to B5 of the final dungeon, and enter the room on the lower-right. The room is small with a single chest in it. Use an alarm to fight an....interesting set of foes...and if you are EXTRAORDINARILY lucky (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TREASURE HUNTER!), you will get the most coveted item in the game, the Pink Tail!
Rare Summons
*Did you find all the hidden summons?. Check the moon, the Sylph Cave, Baron, and the Land of Summoned Monsters if you didn't find them!
*You can obtain summon Bomb, Cockatrice, Mind Flayer and Imp by mercilessly slaughtering the enemies that represent the names mentioned. It is a VERY rare drop, and these summons are utterly useless.
Stat Maxing
After level 70, your stats are SOLELY determined by the Decants you have equipped. In order to stand a chance against the challenges ahead, you would be wise to use some of your unused Decants on main party members for the sole reason of stat-boosting. A full list of which Decants increase which stat and how much can be found here. I wouldn't recommend visiting that link until you've beaten your first run through, and hence won't find any spoilers.
