Doga's Manor, The Cave of the Circle & Doga's Village
Doga's Manor, The Cave of the Circle & Doga's Village |
Enemies: Various.
Items: None.
To reach Doga's Manor, which is our next destination, jump into the airship and take it to the south end of the world map. You'll notice three major continents on the world map (in fact, you've likely already noticed this.) We were on the one in the northwest corner. The large one along the eastern end of the world map is not our target. The one slightly below and to the west of it is. This continent, surrounded by mountains that create an unusually strong gust out of the mountain pass to the south, can be passed by with this new, fast-moving form of the airship. Take it through this passage at the south end of the continent and follow the linear pathway in between the mountains to Doga's Manor, sticking to the left/upwards-leaning path when the mountain pass splits into two.
Once inside, run downward and a cutscene will ensue. The end result of this cutscene and encounter with Doga is that he temporarily joins your party. When you gain control of the party again, continue southward, and wrap leftward around into the next room. Here, you can find an item vendor (on your left) and a magic vendor (on your right.) Make sure to purchase new magic here, as there are several spells that are available for the very first time here. Once you're ready, continue northward between the vendors' locations, and into the next room. Talk to the Moogles here, and examine the candlestick in the northeast corner of the room to open a secret passageway. On the other side of the passage is a long corridor that leads to another room. Here, you will be prompted to cast Mini on the entire party to pass through the hole in the wall. Do so, and be ready to fight in Mini form for the duration of this short dungeon.
Welcome to the Cave of the Circle. Once inside, run rightward. You may be slightly disoriented here because you have to remain in Mini form and the environment seems gigantic around you, but there's little to do here. Things are linear and there's no treasure to worry about. Simply run rightward and into the teleportation device, then leftward and into the teleportation device, and so on and so forth. Finally, you'll be able to go forward at the final device, where Doga will cast a spell that will allow our new airship to turn into a submarine and travel under water, as well. After he gives you instructions on what to do next, he'll teleport you automatically back outside. Good stuff!
Cast Mini on the entire party to bring everyone back to normal size, then save your game and jump back into your airship. Backtrack out of this continent, but don't immediately follow Doga's instructions on where to go next. Instead, once back over the ocean to the south of the small continent, simply travel eastward for a moment. You'll eventually see a town to the north, surrounded by mountains, seemingly inaccessible. But if you wrap around to where the continent beings to wrap around northward, and then submerge your craft, you'll find a hidden underwater passage leading underneath the continent westward. At the end of the path, surface the craft and land near the town. Enter. This is Doga's Village.
Doga's Village is an interesting and mysterious place, but the primary interest we have in this town is in the magic available for sale. In fact, there are multiple merchants here who sell all sorts of magic, from the weakest of the weak to the strongest of the strong (at least at this point in the game.) Invest in what magic you feel is necessary, definitely taking advantage of the strong white and black magic being offered to you (summoning magic and the like is, of course, on the periphery as well.) When you're satisfied here, backtrack out of the mountainous surroundings outside of town, and once on the other side of the barrier (via submarine), take to the air once more.