Cloister of the Dead

Wanna take your ridiculously overpowered gear and go take on antagonists from the past, no fight of which is even nearly as challenging as those you've already won? Of course you do! You built up a staggering amount of hate, I can tell. Let's kill things dead that previously we had slightly more trouble killing dead. In order to access the Cloister of the Dead, you must have completed the Sealed Temple by defeating Enuo.

Assuming you're still standing near the battered body of Neo Shinryu (because that's a good time to do this), here's how to get to the Cloister of the Dead. Exit Shinryu's Roost. Walk through the lava in a couter-clockwise fashion, sticking to the outer edge, until you've completed a half circle and can get out. A bit to the south-west, you can exit Shinryu's Lair.

In the Abyssal Falls, simply walk up all the way until you reach the Heart of Ronka. Once there, walk up the stairway, then apply turning to the turner and walk down until you find a rotating chain elevator. Use it to get to the Warp Zone, from where at the top you can warp to the entrance of the Sealed Temple. Exit the Sealed Temple, because one would assume that you're already done with this area forever and ever. There's a Save Point here as well.

Once you're back to the "???" cavern with the NPC, you can just waltz into the middle door and begin your 'trial'. You could go out into the real world (I mean the real world within the game, obviously) to buy/farm some more !Mix or !Combine reagents if you want, but it probably won't be necessary. You could also collect your Dark Arts if you want them and have not as yet; again, not strictly necessary. Simply proceed forward to get started.

The bosses here are upgraded versions of the ones you fought earlier. Imagine having fought a four-year-old when you yourself were four years old. Now imagine that at your current age (assuming here that you're at least nine, given your reading comprehension) you meet this guy again, but now he's six years old. Going out on a limb here, this scenario should end with a weeping youngster and some free candy for you. This is pretty much how the Cloister of the Dead plays out, only minus the candy. Since I do not wish to insult your intelligence, I will not bother to list stat blocks or real strategies for most of these opponents, since they are by far easier than most random encounters in the Sealed Temple. If you are curious about these monsters, please consult the Algorithm FAQ at GameFAQs, it's quite good.

Some things that you may be interested in to know:

• All monsters in the Cloister have neither item for stealing nor dropped items.
• All monsters have identical AI scripts to their former selves, with the exception of a select few small upgrades (Cure -> Curaga)
• All monsters add to your Bestiary entry, even though they are different monsters. If you missed Necrophobe or Jackanapes earlier, you can now list their old forms in the Bestiary with the new enemies. The new versions have no seperate Bestiary entry.

Suffice to say that a single !Spellblade/!Rapid Fire character and three utility characters is the way to go. !Blue, !Mix, !Summon and !Combine all have some merit. I like to send in characters with Ribbons, Mirage Vest and Hermes Sandals, it's a great all-round set-up.

First Wave

Notes

• Have you ever exploded in a whirlwind of steel to kill a bird? If not, here's your chance. !Rapid Fire kills the Wing Raptor unless you're sporting Mythril Swords. When you spare it for a few turns and it turns into its defensive stance, you can humiliate it just as easily since !Rapid Fire ignores Defense.
• You rule, Garula drools. It's very much like the Wing Raptor fight, only now it's a tapir. It's vulnerable to Toad and also everything.
• Siren can cast Curaga and Thundaga instead of similar entry-level spells, but is otherwise the same. You can use !Rapid Fire to destroy her, or wait until she turns into Undead Siren and then use !Rapid Fire to destroy her.
• Magissa has upgraded spells like Siren did; Forza is present when the battle starts and Magissa's first turn is spent on an multi-target Regen spell, a feat no other foe or character is able to duplicate in the entire game. This battle may take more than a single turn since there's two targets, but they do not pose any threat.
• The wave ends with Gil Turtle. Blizzaga !Rapid Fire kills the turtle in a single hit when you remove Protect with the Dispel spell or Judgement Staff. If you decline to remove Protect, using Blizzaga !Rapid Fire twice is a good alternative. Watch out for Earthquake at the end, have Mighty Guard or Float up.

Second Wave

One character with !Summon is really nice for the last fight of this wave.

Notes

• Liquid Flame has the same three-form shenanigans he did when summoned by queen Karnak, and has the same resistances in these forms as he did back then. Only this time, it just means nothing. !Rapid Fire is more like !Rapid Extinguish in this case. Get it? Since Liquid Flame isn't Heavy, any touch of Blizzaga Spellblade effects will kill it instantly.
• The Soul Cannon takes a long while to charge, during which a Thundaga !Rapid Fire is to be executed. For funsies, you can cast Level 5 Death to destroy the Launchers; their increased level took them to level 50. You get 10 Experience Points here.
• With all these targets, !Rapid Fire may not be all that effective. Or is it? Silence Spellblade effects makes sure these guys don't revive fallen comrades. A quicker solution to the Purobolos problem is to carpet-bomb the lot with !Combine attacks; !Summon will make them cast Curaga on themselves, which sets their HP to full. Zantetsuken just kills them, though.
• Versus Minotaur, Mute is set. So you can !Rapid Fire in blissfull silence. The Assassin's Dagger is an instant-kill versus this guy, but nobody cares. He didn't put any of his Essence Point in MP either, so still no Holy spell upon defeat.
• If there's some strange pigs in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? If your answer was "Ghostbusters" rather than Odin, you're not being practical. Sure, Odin has none of the comedic genius of Bill Murray, but you can't argue with his effective brand of ultra-violence.

Third Wave

Two or more !Time casters are really great, since the fourth fight is Archeodemon.

Notes

• Byblos isn't Heavy and is weak to Fire, so Firaga Spellblade effect will kill him instantly.
• Tyrannosaur isn't Heavy and is weak to Fire, so Firaga Spellblade effect will kill him instantly. You know, like Byblos? You'll have an easier time provoking its Poison Breath counter with the plethora of Holy-, Earth-, Wind and Water-elemental attacks you can employ at this stage, but since you can also kill it instantly there is no reason to bother.
• Dragon Pod isn't Heavy and vulnerable to Death; a Death Potion (Phoenix Down + Dark Matter) kills it instantly. Needle Cannon (!Combine a Blitzshot with a Gold Needle) deals 3000 to every target on-screen, which is enough to kill all Dragon Flowers. An easy fight.
• Archeodemon is exactly like the fight in the Sealed Temple, and much more dangerous than any other fight in this or any previous wave. The same strategy applies as when you faced it earlier; spam Meteor 'til victory. This really is the only challenging fight in the entire Cloister.
• Apanda is a cakewalk. No seriously, all the hardship involved in walking down a hallway of cake is about as difficult to stomach is this fight is to win. Apanda loves fire in the face, no matter where it comes from. Is this burning an eternal flame? No, because the fight takes but a few seconds.

Fourth Wave

Notes

• Manticore isn't Heavy or immune to Death. We now know for whom the bell tolls.
• Adamantoise starts with inherent Protect and Shell. A Judgement Staff makeover removes these effects, setting Adamantoise up for Blizzaga Spellblade death.
• Jackanapes has monstrous Defense and Magic Defense and absorbs all elements, making it immune to everything except what you were going to use anyway, this being !Rapid Fire. With 6000 HP, it's no fair fight. Lacking !Rapid Fire, two Needle Cannons also take care of Jackanapes.
• Calofisteri has almost no offense, so you can just pound on her with whatever.
• Twintania has no elusive item drops for you this time, so you can just wait until it charges for Giga Flare, then summon Odin, throw a Death Potion, cast Banish, etc.

Fifth wave

Notes

• Omniscient will cast Return after any damaging attack that's not Magic, so that means we'll have to use Silence Spellblade !Rapid Fire. Omniscient is weak to Aeroga and Syldra's Thunderstorm. So there.
• Flare Spellblade attacks will deal massive damage to Wendigo, but lay off the !Rapid Fire unless you want to eat up to three Frost counters. You'll guess wrong quite a few times, but Wendigo doesn't really hurt you in the meantime and it doesn't take a lot of effective hits to bring the Wendigo down. Mighty Guard helps to keep Hurricane ineffective.
• Sandworm is very weak to Aqua Breath, but it will no longer kill it in a single display of bubbles. Aqua Breath does not provoke Gravity spells from the holes, so stick with it 'til the Sandworm falls. If you lack !Blue, Flare Spellblade effects deal a lot of damage as well.
• Atomos is vulnerablet to Sleep; Sleep Spellblade effect !Rapid Fire will take care of him quickly. His Comet spells are much easier to survive as well, so you need not play the one-man-down game anymore.
• Halicarnassus gets angry when !Summon is used on him, so don't. All else is fair game; Flare Spellblade !Rapid Fire is most effective. Since Holy may appear, Carbuncle or Mighty Guard can be used to prevent a death.

Final Wave

Here, at the end, a summoner is nice, and !Combine will really help out as well.

Notes

• The Crystals are not Heavy, so one Zantetsuken is all it takes. Death Potions, Banish or Killer Cannon are alternatives.
• Melusine starts off weak to Fire, so if you make sure the first hit you land on her is a Firaga Spellblade !Rapid Fire, you'll have a OHKO on your hands.
• Catastrophe will employ Earthquake when nobody is floating, and 50 Gs when you are. Carbuncle can be used to repel 50 Gs easily while you pile on the damage.
• Azulmagia is weak to Poison-elemental attacks. Bio Spellblade !Rapid Fire takes him down in a single flurry.
• Necrophobe is the final battle in the Cloister of the Dead. While your !Rapid Fire monkey can choose any of the high-end elemental Spellblade effects (Firaga, Bio, Holy), Killer Cannon be used to instantly destroy most, if not all, of the Barriers. Remaining Barriers can be killed with Death Potions, Catoblepas or whatever, as long as you remember that they are Reflective. When all four Barriers are gone, wait until Necrophobe takes a single turn (he'll cast Flash), then !Rapid Fire for great justice.

Back from the Cloister

"I see you've returned safely... I assume that means you have defeated the monster hordes, correct? Then I bestow upon you this token extolling your triumph."

Received "Medal of Smiting!"

... and so the FAQ reader and Final Fantasy V Advance player lived happily ever after, having been briefly diverted from the inevitability of his or her death by the collection of this "Medal of Smiting", a fictional trophy of no value.