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Q: What is this document?
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A: It's a FAQ silly. That stands for Frequently Asked Questions. All
meaningful content (outside of the appendices) will take place in the
form of a question and an answer.
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Q: Who wrote it?
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A: My handle at the moment is StGabriel. This comes from my name:
Steven Gabriel. I am a Taoist, not a Catholic, it's just a cute pun
that came out of my email address. I am a computer science PhD
student at the Random State University.
If you have any changes to make to what I have to say here, or know
any more information about the game, where my info is lacking, please
either post to the GameFAQs message board, or get a hold of me on the
JC2 IRC channel (see below for the irc address/web client info).
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Q: What types of things does it answer?
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A: I am trying to enlighten players or prospective players with
regards to some of the more obscure/hard to uncover details about the
game Jade Cocoon 2 (JC2).
In particular, there is a lot of information about the game mechanics,
and about obtaining some of the more difficult items in the game.
There is very little information about specific locations,
walkthroughs, or specific strategies to use in battle (although there
may be some about the latter).
I will also try to spoil as little of the plot as possible, although
it would be nearly impossible to write a good FAQ without some
spoilers.
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Q: Can I post this info elsewhere, or put it in any publication?
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Definitely. AS LONG AS YOU CITE ME. I'm an academic. I get to
spend a lot of time making sure that my work has all the right tags
to credit the people whose work I use. By doing so I earn the right
to get credit in return. Please afford me this right. Thank you. =P
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Q: Isn't JC2 great?/Should I buy this game?
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A: Yes! The battle system is fantastic. I liked the plot, though it
is somewhat secondary. The monster raising isn't revolutionary but is
a lot of fun. The characters were all designed by the guy who did
Princess Mononoke and are really, really cool (IMHO). The voice
acting is easily the best I have heard on a console game. It is
unfortunate that this game is not a wild success like FFX, but as is,
we will have to do with making it a cult classic in it's own way.
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Q: Where can I go meet other JC2 fans?
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A: One way is through the JC2 message board on GameFAQs:
To actually chat, we have an IRC channel set up on the Stratics IRC
server. Through any IRC client go to:
irc.stratics.com:6667
and then do "/join #jc2"
If you don't have an irc client, you can use the web based client at:
http://jadecocoon2.cjb.net
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Q: How far am I?
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
! WARNING: this is of course, somewhat spoilerish, though I have !
! tried not to give away too much actual plot. !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A: Well, you can play Jade Cocoon for a really, really long time if
you want to, as after the game's ending, the world opens up with new
dungeons, new jobs, and new arenas to go fight in.
For the real game though:
Getting the four orbs the first time is about 2/3rds of the game.
(four forests with about 16 areas each)
Getting the four orbs the second time is about 1/3rd of the game.
(four forests with about 7 areas each)
And then fighting the end boss and doing the end dungeon can be very
quick or might take a while, depending upon how long you fight in the
last dungeon (which you can pretty much skip if you want) and how
hard you find the final fight.
After that there are 4 new forests with about 12 areas each, lots of
new jobs (some of them fairly tricky and/or time consuming), and a
ton of new arenas to fight in, which require a lot of time.
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Q: How do I get more beasts on my amulet?
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A: You can get more beasts on your amulet by fighting battles in the
arena (duh).
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Q: Ok, I did that, but I still have one empty slot???
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A: You can get an eighth beast on your amulet only after you beat the
normal portion of the game.
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Q: How does evolution work?
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A: Your divine beast will always stay the same species. The only
changes in its outward appearences will be that it will evolve during
it's life into later stages of that species.
At first your divine beast can only evolve once during it's life. In
order to unlock further evolutions of your beast, you must merge it.
Each time a beast is merged, it's evolution meter (view this by looking
at status) will fill in. Look at the meter and notice that there are
two red lines in it (when a beast starts out), and a lot of empty ones.
Some number of the empty lines will fill in with yellow ones each
merge. This number is determined by the evolution level of the kalma
used for the merge and the species compatibility. To move the
evolution bar the furthest possible, you would have to merge with an
evolution level 4 kalma that was of the same species as your beast
(note that there may be other factors that I have not yet discovered).
You unlock further evolutions of your beast by filling in the red
lines in the evolution meter. You have to fill them in with yellow
and not just get to them. When the evolution meter is full, the beast
will be able to evolve three times. Evolution always occurs during
battle. The JC2 community is not not sure, as yet, how evolutions are
determined. I suspect that a creature just needs a certain level to
evolve to the next evolution (this level goes down as the evolution
meter fills), and that after reaching that, each round of combat gives
a certain random chance that the beast will evolve. Some evidence
does seem contrary to this though.
It is possible to unlock all evolutions by the third merge. To do this
you will need to merge every time with a kalma that is evolution level 4
and is of the same species as your beast. On merge 1, you will unlock
the first evolution and on merge 3 you will unlock the second. It will
probably take about 12-13 levels to get the beast to actually evolve
though.
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Q: When should I merge?
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A: Look to appendix A for details about costs for leveling. IF all
levels generate about the same stat points (widely believed but
unproven) AND you want to get a beast with the best stats for the
least amount of xps, then it is almost always beneficial to merge at
level 20. The math is tricky, but my reccommendation after a lot of
analysis is to always merge your beasts at level 20 UNLESS you know
that this is your critters last merge and that you won't be getting
too much more xps for it (i.e. you're about to quit the game anyhow),
in which case you might merge early.
Basically it works out that while you can cash in now to get easy
levels in the next merge by merging early, eventually you will get
more total levels for less xps, and by a very noticeable margin,
if you merge at level 20.
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Q: Which divine beast is the best?
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There is no best divine beast. Really. They all have good stats
and they all have simply specialized in different things. The best
all around divine beasts are probably maus and dracs. Maus have
great parameters all around, but low hps. Dracs have lower parameters
in than maus (in general), but have very high hps.
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Q: Which abilities are the best?
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The favorite abilities are probably the stat boosters. Str3, Vit3,
HP3, etc. It's all a matter of taste and common sense. I personally
like to have some other abilities, in particular I like the sleep/stun
immunity abilities. I like to load one side of the board with these
so that I will not be easily locked when I have to fight another
beastmaster that uses the respective debuffs. The abilities that
allow you a better chance of a critical or of a skill going off are
also very nice (Killer Chance + improved critical in particular is
very nice).
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Q: What are the best skills?
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This is of course a matter of taste. The best skill for a beast is
the one that best aids whatever your formation is trying to
accomplish. The skills that I think really shine are:
Wind: Stun Attack, Al Salid, Total Loss, Ad Roguide
Other skills can be very useful depending upon your tactics. Debuffs
and buffs (+/- defense, +/- attack, etc.) can be very useful given
certain formations -- I like to pair a buff on earth with a debuff on
wind. Forbida can be very useful if you are more defensive.
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Q: How should I plan my merges?
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This is tricky. You want to get all of the right abilities, and yet
have useful skills. You don't want the good abilities to get swapped
out just as your beast is maxxing out.
I shoot for merge 6. I like to have the right skills before then but
I can then throw away my first two merge abilities and then plan out
specifically what I want for my last four.
Sometimes, for skills like Stun Attack that are paired with a
worthless or even detrimental ability, I will get the skill at merge 1
or 2, and then simply never get another skill of that element. Thus,
the worthless or bad ability will eventually go away, and I will have
the cool ability that I wanted.
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Q: What are rare eggs?
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A: Rare eggs are eggs that are well ... rare. Usually this refers to
eggs that yield beasts that won't show up in your beast notebook.
Some beasts that won't show up in your beast notebook can be hard to
find otherwise though too. A lot of the rare eggs are elemental
combinations of species that are different. For example, a raindrech
is a rare egg that yields a water ku. Some are just different stat
combinations. Appendix B shows all of the rare eggs that I have been
able to get through one particular method.
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Q: How do I get rare eggs?
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A: There are several ways to get rare eggs. I will highlight a few:
1) Jobs. Take jobs that advertise a rare egg. In particular you can
get a drac and mau rare eggs quite early with this. Also, after you
have beaten the game, several of the main characters will give you
certain rare eggs after you have done a certain number of jobs for
them.
2) Medals. For having 2 and 4 medals of a certain species, you get a
rare egg of that species.
3) Synthing. See appendix B for some synthing results I have had.
Best synth mixes for rare eggs so far seem to be egg+inferno book
and egg+calabas plant.
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Q: What is this synthing thing?
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A: Synthing is a name that refers to what you can do with some plants
in the wind forests (these plants are called, naturally enough: synth
plants). These plants are yellow/red and will be found alone in
certain ogrevines in the wind forest. Once you find one, remember
that location as the synth plant will always be there.
My favorite spot for synth plants is wind4, in the first area -- the
second ogrevine in (hang a left).
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Q: What else should I synth? How does synthing work in general?
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A: In general it appears that the result of a synth is determined
by the two objects you synth in the following manner:
The first item determines the type of item received (egg/book/etc.).
The second item determines the rarity/power of the item received.
To get rare eggs then, you start with an egg and then put in a rare
item (best items found so far are calabas and inferno books).
It is possible to get a lot of good stuff by synthing (apart from
the rare eggs). You can earn good money, and get reusable items.
The best way to get money seems to be merging for Sweet Knight
paraphenalia. The best recipe for this is cute gem+?, (thanks to
Delerium~ for this formula). Each piece of paraphenalia will in turn
sell for 10k.
To get reusable items, I reccommend that you play around with books.
As of right now I have no better reccommendation than that.
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Q: Can I get a rare beast of genus X with element Y?
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Probably. Most combinations are represented by some rare egg. To
see the ones I have unlocked, look at appendix B where I list rare
eggs that I have gotten through synthing. The only exception that
I know to this list is the water drac, called Drackich. If you
know of any not on this list, please let me know, and also let me know
how you got the egg.
If you don't mind being cheesy, then I reccommend the following method
for obtaining a specific rare egg:
1) get as many calabas eggs as you can stand to gather.
2) buy the same number of Luch eggs.
3) save
4) go to wind4 and synth these eggs with the calabas
5) reload if you didn't get the egg you wanted
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Q: How do I get the water drac?
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A: The only known way to get the water drac (Drackich) is to do a
certain number of jobs for Cure (jobs from her are available only
after you have beaten the normal portion of the game). After that,
she will give you the egg when you speak to her in the lounge. If you
find or know of any other way (synthing, genus arena, whatever) please
let me know so that I can update the FAQ.
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Q: What's a chrome egg/beast and how do I get one?
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A: It is somehow possible to have a merge result in a chrome egg. The
requirements for such a result are not yet full understand. Most
theories involve the merging of the same kalma multiple times (or that
is my reading of them). It is possible to remerge a chrome beast and
get another chrome, though you might have to save and reload to
guarantee that this happens. Chrome beasts have less hps, much higher
speed, and apparently cannot be targetted by spells. If you think you
know how to get a chrome consistently, please let me know.
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Q: What are the Genus arenas?
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A: These are arenas that you can unlock after beating the normal
portion of the game.
To start with, you need all 8 medals for a specific genus. These can
be obtained by meeting, and defeating, beasthunters throughout the
many forests in the game. After you get the 8th medal, you will
receive a special item for that genus, and can fight in the genus
arena. The genus arena is located in the sixth forest (I believe
of the respective element?), and to compete there you must use only
beasts of the respective genus. To fight in the drac arena, you must
have only dracs on your amulet.
APPENDIX A: XP Charts
Different beasts have different xp scales. Each scale is just
a number: .8, .9, or 1. The following xp table is a table for
xp costs of a scale=1 beast, in its first merge.
LEVEL: the level being gained.
SINGLE: the cost to gain this level from the level before it.
CUMULATIVE: the cost to gain this level from level 1 of this merge.
To get the actual cost for any beast in any merge, get the relevant
value from the above table and multiply it by:
species_scale*3^merge
Where species scale s .8, .9 or 1 depending upon the species.
An example. For toch's, which I believe to be .9, the cost for gaining
level 10/merge 4, starting at level 1 in merge 4 would be:
825*.9*81 = 60102 xps
The first multiplication is done and then rounded down and then the
second is applied.
APPENDIX B: Egg+Calabas synths
The following rare eggs have been generated by synthing an egg (I used
Luch's though I don't think it matters) with a calabas plant. I have
probably tried a couple hundred synths now, but I still think that I
missed some beasts. I conjecture that any rare beast that can be
synthed, can be synthed using egg+calabas.
The only rare egg that I know of that is not on this list is the water
drac egg called drackich. If you know of any others, please let me
know. For all I know, it is possible to synth a water drac, but I
have not heard of it being done.
Mau
Kamatoch -- earth
Degnetoch -- fire
Demitoch -- wind
Detotoch -- water
Tamatoch -- fire
Toch -- wind
Og
Demeluch -- earth
Dethluch -- wind
Devaluch -- earth
Garu
Delocarach -- water
Decocarach -- water
Dicarach -- water
Ogrecarach -- fire
Whiskerach -- fire
