Final Fantasy Resonance Chapter 4 Walkthrough: Zoldaad-opprøret og hvordan man beseirer Ignis

Chapter 4 drops the party into someone else's war. Zoldaad is run by an emperor nobody recognizes anymore, the Fire Shrine has been bulldozed and replaced with a weapons factory, and the only people willing to talk are the ones planning to overthrow the government. It also contains the hardest fight the game has offered so far, and the recommended level for the dungeon is not the recommended level for the boss.

Banner Oath Quest Overview

This half runs from the Zoldaad coast to the moment the rebellion goes loud. Olderion, the Water Shrine and Alluvion are covered in Final Fantasy Resonance Walkthrough: Chapter 3.

One thing to settle before boarding the train. The party cannot return to the other continents for a stretch once Chapter 4 starts, so close out anything unfinished in Olderion, Dirnado or Grandshelt first. Sub-quests, Sanctums and the Esper on Mt. Thunderclap all stay where they are, but you will not be able to reach them for a while.

The other thing worth knowing up front is that this half contains two fights you are supposed to lose and one you are supposed to win, and the game does not make the difference obvious until the party is already on the floor. The chapter list sits in the Final Fantasy Resonance Walkthrough: All Chapters hub.

Mozul Station and the Escape From the Timber Tracks

The ship docks on a coast that is noticeably more desert than anything so far. Nichol fills in the background on the continent and points at the Timber Tracks running out of Mozul Station as the way to the capital.

Follow the only path up through the canyon until the station appears, built into the side of a cliff past an overpass.

The arrival scene has the whole party taken aback by how busy it is, Fina most of all, which is becoming her role in these moments. It is also the first piece of infrastructure the group has seen that was not built by dwarves or Lid.

There is a Save Point and an Item Shop here, which is the last chance to restock before the capital and the last quiet moment for a while.

Grab the Tablet Shard on the ground at the far left corner of the train platform, tucked near a pillar, then speak to the Station Attendant in the red uniform beside the train and choose Yes when prompted to board.

On board, a short scene puts Lasswell by a window, realising he has gone this long without keeping to his training regimen.

The flashback that follows shows him as a child training alone in the woods, and him wondering in hindsight why the habit took hold so hard in the first place. It ends with him standing in front of Sir Raegen and failing to say anything at all.

Rain finds him in that state afterward and gets told it is nothing important, which it plainly is not.

Control returns and the train opens up. Talk to the locals and to your own party, starting with Lid on the left and working right. Gilgamesh is also on board, standing at a window on the far left of the car near Lid, and the exchange with him is worth the walk.

Once everyone has been spoken to, a man approaches Fina and starts turning on the charm. Lid tries to run him off and gets nowhere. He introduces himself as Jake, swashbuckler extraordinaire, insists on taking both Fina and Lid out, and offers to flip a coin to decide. The coin turns into a rose.

Imperial soldiers walk into the car at that moment looking for rebels. Jake takes his exit. The soldiers see the rose change hands, which they treat as a signal, and Nichol points out that being caught here makes the party spies rather than tourists.

Run right through the train cars the moment control returns. Imperial soldiers catch up at intervals and force fights along the way, but none of them are a threat. Every one is weak to Water magic, so Nichol and anyone else carrying Water skills clears them in a round or two.

Keep moving right until the scene triggers. Nichol works out that the next station will have more soldiers waiting rather than fewer, so the party throws itself out of the nearest door instead, with more flair than the situation calls for.

The scene then cuts to Umbra, standing near a volcano with a much larger companion. Lazarov has taken The Invincible and Umbra calls him a traitor outright. The larger man wants a crack at Rain, and Umbra notes that Rain's death will come from Ignis.

The Zoldaad Capital: Street Cars, Slums, Shops and the Alley

The party lands in the middle of the desert. Check the Map, then follow the train tracks southwest to the capital, which sits just left of the Capital Station. New monsters patrol the route, so fight or flee depending on how much grinding you want to do.

The arrival scene lays out the problem. The capital is a sweeping metropolis and the atmosphere in it is wrong, and Lasswell reads that as a country suffering under its own government rather than one at the height of its powers.

Given how much attention the party attracted on the train, Nichol suggests splitting up again. Lid points at the street cars running between districts, Nichol notes that the timetable sign near the station is how you ride them, and everyone agrees to regroup in the alley at the end of the street once they have something.

There is not much to find in the immediate area beyond the flyer board, so head for the street car station when you are ready.

The street car station takes you between districts from a list, and working down it from the top covers everything.

Castle Plaza holds a Tablet Shard on the ground on the right side.

The Commercial District has the local shops and the Moogle of Light, but buying here is a mistake. Prices are inflated to the point that the item vendor openly tells you to shop in the Slums instead.

The Slums is where the quest actually moves. Speak to the man in blue and he refuses to say anything useful, not because he does not know but because he is afraid to. Rain reads that correctly as a city living under the boot of its own soldiers, and it is the only piece of intel the capital gives up.

Grab the Tablet Shard on the ground near where he was standing before moving on.

The two vendors here charge something closer to reasonable, and the party has not upgraded since Amore, which was two bosses and a continent ago. Prices are still higher than anything in the first three chapters, so prioritise rather than buying across the board. On weapons, the Bladed Shield at 10,000 Gil fits Rain, the Kuki at 9,500 Gil fits Lasswell, and the Midnight Longbow at 10,500 Gil fits Fina. On armor, Shielded Armor at 6,300 Gil covers Rain, Lasswell and Lid, and the Solar Eclipse Robe at 7,700 Gil covers Fina and Nichol.

Take the street car back to the Imperial Hotel district and head to the alleyway at the back. The party compares notes and comes up with nothing. Nobody in the city will talk to outsiders, and the Fire Shrine's location is still unknown.

Imperial soldiers then recognize the group from the train and go for reinforcements. A door opens beside the party and a local waves them inside, which is the only option available.

The local turns out to be Jake, who is enjoying this. He pulls a bookcase aside to reveal a passage and leads the party down into a tunnel system running beneath the city.

Through the Tunnels to the Rebel Hideout

On the other side of the bookcase, Jake admits that even he does not think the party is safe upstairs, which is why the passage exists.

The tunnels are a short dungeon with no fights worth planning around, but the treasure is spread across several detours that look like dead ends from the main path.

Take the left path first and follow it to the coffer at the end. Then backtrack and head right, pivot south and right again, since left is a dead end, and open the coffer a couple of steps south in the next room. Go north and right down the stairs, and keep right through the smaller room until the path forces you south.

Before taking that smaller room, stop at the bottom of the stairs and go left and then south to a closed gate. It opens, and the small room at the bottom holds a pickup.

The lower level has a Magic Pot in it, which works the same way it did at Mobliz, and a coffer tucked into the top-right corner. Further south, a flight of stairs on the right leads up to a hidden room with one more pickup.

Everything in the tunnels, in route order:

• Lucky Bell, at the end of the left-hand path from the entrance, adding 5% critical hit rate
• 2 x Ether, a couple of steps south in the second room
• Tablet Shard, through the closed gate left and south of the stairs
• 1 x Magicite Shard, in the coffer hidden in the top-right corner of the lower level
• Tablet Shard, up the stairs on the right of the southern path, in the hidden room

Keep going south past that last detour until a Save Point appears, save there, then turn right to reach the Rebel Hideout.

Jake Joins and What the Rebels Know

The hideout is considerably larger than a bookcase passage suggests, and Jake reveals that he leads the rebellion. Lasswell asks why he bothered bringing them here, and the answer is that Zoldaad is preparing to start a war with Grandshelt, which lands on Rain badly. Jake wants the party in his ranks.

Nichol kills that idea on the spot. Knights of Grandshelt joining an armed rebellion inside Zoldaad carries political consequences that would guarantee the war everyone claims to be trying to avoid, which is the sort of thing a strategist notices and a revolutionary does not.

Jake takes the point without arguing and offers them beds instead, which is the first sign that there is more to him than the coin trick.

The hideout has shops, the Moogle of Light, an Inn and a Save Point, which makes it the best-equipped base the party has had since Grandport.

Talk to the rebels before anything else, since the story will not move until you have. There is no marker on them and no count, so work the room.

What comes out of those conversations is the shape of the country. Emperor Sozhe rules it, his son Prince Shera is the heir, and one rebel adds the detail that matters: Sozhe was not always like this. He used to avoid bloodshed wherever possible, and something changed him suddenly.

There is also a Tablet Shard on the top-right side of the hideout, near the hidden exit leading out into the desert.

Speak to Jake in his office on the left once the cutscene plays. Zoldaad's military is mass-producing magitek weapons for a war it intends to start with someone, and when Nichol asks where the power for that comes from, the answer is the Fire Crystal. The Fire Shrine has been demolished and a weapons factory built over it, drawing on the crystal for production.

That gives both sides the same objective. The rebels want magitek production stopped and the party wants the Fire Crystal protected from the Sworn Six, and both of those run through the same building.

Jake agrees to bring the group along on the raid, noting that the rebels already have a stolen ID card that opens the front gate.

Jake joins the party here. He is a Commando built around heavy physical damage scaled by his Luck stat, which means skills like Coin Toss that raise Luck make everything else he does hit harder. He also uses gun weapons, so the hideout's weapon vendor is the only place that has anything for him.

Before leaving the office, Nichol offers Jake the trick coin he dropped back on the train. Jake laughs it off and tells him to keep it, claiming he has a spare, and Nichol pockets it.

Save, then rest at the Inn. The scene that follows has Lasswell trying to resume his training before the mission and ending up talking to Fina about why he does it at all. The flashback covers his childhood attempt to master Sir Raegen's ultimate attack, Tranquility, which he managed remarkably young, only to find Rain had already done it without effort. Rather than resenting it, he kept training so Rain would have less to carry as Raegen's son. Fina asks what his own dream is and he has no answer.

How to Unlock Cecil and Y'shtola

Leave through the exit in the top-right corner of the hideout, taking the Tablet Shard behind the pillar to the left of it on the way out.

Above ground, check the Map to get your bearings. The hideout sits far southeast of the capital, and the weapons factory is further southeast again, which is a long ride across volcanic ground.

The item lying on the ground near the hideout exit is the Clown Hammer, a weapon for Lid that carries a chance to inflict Confuse on hit. It is not a straight damage upgrade, but Confuse landing on the wrong enemy at the right moment is worth having in the bag.

Before heading for the factory, detour west along the tracks to a Sanctum of Light. The routine has not changed since the Village of Kol. Go inside, speak to the Will of Light, answer three questions with no wrong answers, and Cecil joins the roster.

Follow the train tracks south and then veer east toward the volcanic ground. The item on the floor at the base of the lava waterfall to the north is the Annihilaticon for Nichol, which inflicts Deprotect for three turns whenever he staggers an enemy. Against a boss with a long stagger cycle, that is better than it sounds.

Continue east toward the factory and take one more detour south to the second Sanctum of Light. The same three questions hand over Y'shtola.

Both are worth picking up before the factory rather than after. The fight at the end of it is the point where Vision coverage stops being a preference and starts being the difference between winning and reloading, and the Moogle of Light back at the hideout will take Magicite for tier upgrades on anything you pick up out here.

The First Ignis Encounter and the Conveyor Belts

Jake's stolen ID card opens the front gate. The plan is simple enough to state and harder to execute: destroy the factory's power generator and weapon production stops.

The first thing inside is not a guard. A short way in, the party walks into Ignis, who is visibly losing an argument with a piece of machinery and taking it badly.

He spots Rain, brightens up considerably, introduces himself as the Veritas of Flame, and starts a fight because he has wanted one for a while.

This is a farce in the same mould as the Umbra fight in Chapter 1. He raises a fire barrier that makes him close to immune, and running Libra on him returns 1 million HP, which is beyond anything the game has shown you. Keep attacking until the party works out that it is pointless, and do not spend MP doing it.

What ends the fight is the swords. Ignis recognises the Crimson Saber in Rain's hands and Shiden in Lasswell's as blades he forged himself. He compliments Rain's handling of the Crimson Saber and then calls Lasswell clumsy with Shiden, which sends Lasswell at him and gets him swatted aside. Ignis leaves to find the Fire Crystal on Umbra's orders, and Fina asks the question that matters: Sir Raegen gave Lasswell that sword.

Save at the Save Point just to the left of the next room, because the dungeon proper starts here.

Take the right-hand path from there to the conveyor belts.

Each belt carries you along a different course depending on which direction it is running, so getting anywhere means reading which way the floor is moving before stepping on it. The first destination is the center of the area, where a coffer holds 3 x Lightning Scroll I.

Another belt path leads to a Magic Pot tucked at the back, which works the way the others have. Hand over the consumable it asks for or flee and leave it there.

From there, ride the belts up and around to the left, where a large crystal pedestal sits. Interacting with it lowers the center section of the walkway that leads into the middle of the shrine, which is the first of three sections you need.

Backtrack to the start, save again, and climb the tall ladder to the upper level.

The Walkway Maze: Every Pedestal Sequence and Coffer

The upper level is a labyrinth of metal walkways, and the route through it changes depending on three small pedestals standing together on a platform at the south side.

Each pedestal rotates one specific intersection. The left pedestal changes the junction on the left of the maze, the center pedestal changes the one in the middle, and the right pedestal changes the one on the right. Nothing else moves, which means the maze is a combination lock rather than a puzzle, and guessing at it just costs time.

Four destinations matter, and each needs a different configuration:

• The large pedestal at the back: move the left intersection twice, the center once and the right once, which lowers another walkway section below
• The coffer on the top left: adjust the left and center intersections until the path runs to it, for 1 x Magicite, probably your first
• The coffer on the right: adjust all three intersections, for the Hoodwink Garb, a 15% physical evade that suits Jake
• The Tablet Shard on the far left: adjust the left intersection alone until a path forms

With all four collected, go back down to the Save Point and save.

The lower level now needs three more walkway sections lowered before the central path is complete, and each one comes from a different pedestal. Follow the path directly left and use the small pedestal at the far left end, which drops a section letting you cross to the other side. Take it across, and collect the Tablet Shard on the floor at the left end of the back path.

Go down the nearby stairs to another small pedestal and use it, which moves a walkway section into place on the right side of the area.

Return to the back path, head right, and climb the ladder on the wall to a higher path running beside a lava pool. Left along that path is a coffer with 3 x Knife of Blind, and right is another small pedestal.

That one lowers the last section you need to reach the large pedestal on the right-side platform. Cross to it and use it, which lowers the third and final section of walkway in the center of the room.

Drop the nearby ladder to climb straight back down to the Save Point. Save, use a Tent, and read the next paragraph before crossing.

The dungeon is built for Level 27. The boss is not. Bring the party to at least Level 30 with gear maxed out for where you are, at least one 2-Star Vision, and a real stack of Ethers, Mist Potions and Mist Hi-Potions. Going in at the dungeon's recommended level is the single most common way this fight ends badly.

How to Beat Ignis

Across the bridge is the target, the factory's power generator. Jake destroys it himself without much difficulty and declares that magitek production is finished for a while.

The celebration lasts about as long as it takes Ignis to reappear. He asks how the party got across so quickly and admits, without embarrassment, that directions are no more his strength than technology is.

He goes after Lasswell again with the same insult, and before Lasswell can swing at him, he collapses. Ignis explains what he did without much interest in it: a move that burns a man from the inside until he is dead.

That sends Rain at him and starts the second scripted fight, which works exactly like the first. The barrier is up, the moves you make do not matter, and you only need to land enough hits to move the sequence along. It ends with Blistering Hellfire knocking the whole party out.

The flashback that follows is Lasswell as a child telling Sir Raegen he intends to become stronger than either him or Rain, and Raegen handing him Shiden without saying a word. In the present, Lasswell gets up, the sword wakes with lightning around it, and one strike breaks the fire barrier and leaves Ignis weakened enough to fight properly.

Ignis is Level 27, weak to Water, resistant to Fire, and drops the Solar Pendant. He is immune to essentially every status ailment, so none of that is worth a turn.

This fight is about turn economy rather than raw damage. Every turn Ignis takes hurts, even through mitigation, so the goal is to maximise your actions per cycle and minimise his.

Stack magic mitigation first, because almost everything he does is magical. Shellga from Fina and the Bulwark Formation from Nichol are the baseline and should stay up for the entire fight rather than being refreshed reactively.

Hastega on Lasswell is a large advantage here, large enough that it is worth going back and unlocking it before walking in if he does not have it yet. Rain's Unity skill grants the party extra turns, which is the other half of the same plan.

Then prioritise stagger speed over straight damage. Nichol's Strategem and Lasswell's Null Moon Limit Burst both push the stagger meter hard, and a staggered Ignis is a turn he does not get to use.

His kit is almost entirely Fire magic. Carmine Inferno hits one character, Firaga and Blistering Hellfire hit the whole party, and the order is random. His only physical attack appears to be Colossus Cleave, which still hurts.

The gimmick is his temper. Attacking him builds his fury, and hitting him with Water builds it faster. The HUD tells you when his fury is growing and again when it has reached its apex, after which he fires a boosted version of one of his usual attacks that is difficult to survive even with full mitigation.

That is not a reason to stop using Water. It is the only element that does real damage to him, and staggering him makes his fury subside, which resets the problem. Keep health and buffs topped up at all times, land your biggest Water attacks into the stagger meter, and ride the cycle.

For a party setup that works, Rain with the Warrior of Light, Lasswell with Cloud, Fina with Terra and Nichol with Tronn covers mitigation, Water damage and stagger pressure at the same time.

What to Do Next After the Fire Crystal Chamber

Ignis drops to his knees when he loses and quietly apologises to Lasswell, calling him a true wielder of Shiden, which is the closest thing to respect anyone in the Sworn Six has offered so far.

Then Lasswell collapses again, with the fire Ignis put in him still burning, and Umbra walks in.

He heals Ignis back to his feet first, which is expected. Then he walks over and heals Lasswell, which is not, and saves his life doing it. Rain assumes a fight is coming and does not get one.

Umbra's explanation is that he watched the fight with Ignis and is impressed by how far the party has come since the night he burned Grandshelt Castle. He wants them at full strength for the next time they meet, which is less generous than it sounds.

Both of them head into the Fire Crystal chamber and the party follows, only to find it empty. The Fire Crystal is already gone, and Umbra confirms it was Dr. Lazarov rather than the Sworn Six. He then asks Rain what he thinks the crystals are actually for. Rain has no answer, and Umbra tells him they will never be equals until he does.

Jake wants everyone back at the hideout before soldiers arrive. Save at the Save Point across the bridge, leave through the factory entrance, and fast travel to the hideout.

Lasswell is back on his feet there and says he feels better than he did before any of this. The dialogue choice that follows gives him a permanent buff. Telling him his magic has more kick to it gives +10 MP, saying the fight with Ignis will have left its mark gives +3 Strength, and telling him he looks quicker gives +3 Speed.

The next thing through the door is a rebel soldier with news about Prince Shera, which is where the revolution stops being a plan.

The castle infiltration, Emperor Sozhe and the fight with Lazarov are covered in Final Fantasy Resonance Walkthrough: Chapter 4 Part 2.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Chapter 4 Part 1

Sailing to Zoldaad with business unfinished elsewhere. The game blocks travel back to the other continents for a stretch once this chapter starts, and it says so before the train.

Shopping in the Commercial District. Prices there are inflated to the point that the vendor recommends the Slums instead, where the same tier of gear costs something a party can actually afford.

Spending MP on either scripted Ignis fight. He has a fire barrier up for both, and Libra reads 1 million HP during the first one. Land hits to advance the script and nothing more.

Taking the Ignis boss fight at Level 27. That is the dungeon recommendation, not the boss recommendation. Level 30, maxed gear for this point, a 2-Star Vision and a full item bag is what the fight is built for.

Fighting Ignis without Water because of his fury. His fury growing is a side effect of the only element that damages him. Staggering him is what makes it subside, and that takes Water to do.

Pulling pedestals at random in the walkway maze. Each of the three controls one specific intersection, and four separate configurations are needed to reach the back pedestal and all three pickups.

Walking past the Annihilaticon. It sits on the ground at the base of a lava waterfall between the two Sanctums, and Deprotect on every stagger is worth a detour in a chapter built around stagger cycles.