I finally got The Sunflower.
I’ve been receiving a lot of email regarding my last post on the subject. Apparently, I’m not the only one looking for information on how to get the sword. So in this post, I will detail my experience in getting The Sunflower.
First of all, go here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/459841.html
That is GameFAQ’s page for Final Fantasy XII. I used the following guides:
- sephirosuy’s FAQ/Walkthrough
- sephirosuy’s 80 Rare Monster List
- Arthellinus’ Power Walkthrough
Like I said before, you need 3 Serpentarius, 3 Empyreal Soul and 3 Gemsteel to get the Tournesol. It was already late in the game when I started working on getting it. All of my characters were equipped with the Deathbringer (check the Power Walkthrough), which was easy enough to obtain.
Serpentarius
You can get two Serpentarius by stealing one from Zodiac and by defeating all 13 espers. I chose not to do that because it would be too difficult and probably too late. So, I was left with the choice of getting its components:
3 High Arcana + 12 Snake Skin + 6 Serpent Eye = 3 Serpentarius
High Arcana
The two guides state that you can get High Arcana by combining 10 Arcana, 1 Feystone and 1 Soul of Thamasa. I got the Canopic Jar, so Arcana wasn’t a problem. Feystone was relatively easy enough. I seemed to be getting better chances when I used female characters to steal from Entites, but that’s just me. The problem was getting Soul of Thamasa. I could not get Ishteen to spawn.The easiest way to get High Arcana is simply to steal it from Adrammelech. You can read about it in the Power Walkthrough so I won’t repeat it here. To deal with the area where Adrammelech is, set up your Gambits in this order: healing, killing undead and then stealing. Since you’re dealing with an Esper, expect heavy damage. Healing should be your priority. Next, set your Foe: Undead Gambit to Attack and Foe: Flying to Steal. Place the Foe: Undead Gambit on top of the Foe: Flying one so that your characters will prioritize killing undead over stealing from Adrammelech, who has flight. You’re free to play with your Gambits, like setting Foe: Undead to a healing spell if you find it more effective. Equip your characters with Thief’s Cuffs to improve your chances of stealing rare stuff. You need a total of 6 High Arcana to make the Tournesol. You can get 2 for free (refer to the Power Walkthrough), so you only need to get 4 from Adrammelech.
Snake Skin
This is relatively easy to acquire. Go to the Toam Hills in Giza Plains during the dry season. From the Nomad Village, exit to Toam Hills and turn left. Go straight until you are near the Starfall Field exit and a Wild Snake should appear. Steal from it and you should get Snake Skin. Kill it. There’s a chance you might get another Snake Skin. Go back to the Nomad Village. Leave the village using any of the other two exits. Go back to the village, then to Toam Hills. Return to the Wild Snake’s location and repeat the process.
Serpent Eye
Chain Basilisks in Feywood (Ice Field of Clearsight, The Edge of Reason) to get Serpent Eye. You need 6. Set your two supporting party members to Foe: Party Leader’s Target, then turn off any foe-targeting Gambit on the party leader. You will usually have to run past several enemies before you get to the Basilisks. Setting up your Gambits this way will prevent your party members from attacking, keeping your chain intact. You will have to target Basilisks manually though.
When you’re done, sell them to any merchant. Do NOT sell them in bulk. Even if you sell all 3 High Arcana and the rest, you will only get 1 Serpentarius. Make sure that you sell them according to what the formula says.
Empyreal Soul
You can get 1 Empyreal Soul from Montblanc when you reach the “High Guardian” clan rank. I was able to do this so I only needed 2 more Empyreal Soul. Still, I had to go back to getting it through its components.
3 High Arcana + 3 Soul Powder + 6 Wargod’s Band = 3 Empyreal Soul
High Arcana
Check the Serpentarius section.
Soul Powder
I mentioned earlier that I already had 1 Empyreal Soul, so I needed only 2 more. The guides indicate that Soul Powder can be stolen from the rare monster Vorres. Similar to Ishteen, I couldn’t make him spawn. So I resorted to killing Etem. This is doing it the hard way, since Etem are located in the Henne Mines secret area. It is only reachable after you defeat 10 Espers and complete the Mindflayer hunt.
Go to GameFAQs and open the Henne Mines Secret Area map. Etem are located in the bottom-right corner of the map known as the Special Charter Shaft. Be careful because some of them will spawn Necrofiend after death. Use Bubble, Bravery and Haste if you have them. Soul Powder are semi-rare, so don’t worry if you can’t chain Etem.
Wargod’s Band
Follow Arthellinus’ advice about chaining Leynir. It took me around a chain of 90 before I got 2 of them, so it might take a while.Gemsteel
If you have 8 Espers, Montblanc will reward you with 1 Gemsteel. After that, I had to form Gemsteel from its components. Again.
3 Scarletite + 6 Damascus Steel + 6 Hell-Gate’s Flame = 3 Gemsteel
Scarletite
You can steal this from Aspidochelon. Check the Rare Monster List for details. It spawns rather frequently, making Scarletite relatively easy to obtain.
Damascus Steel
There are several rare monsters that carry this. I stole mine from Bluesang. Again, check the Rare Monster List. It isn’t too hard to make it appear.
Hell-Gate’s Flame
I chained Cerberus and Tartarus in Feywood to get this. Again, use the Gambit setup I described when hunting Basilisks. It should be easy enough to kill Cerberus and Tartarus while staying away from everything else. Warning: it took me a chain of 200 before I got 4 Hell-Gate’s Flame (I already had 1 Gemsteel, remember?).