The first order of business is to reequip all of your characters with their proper weapons if they still have their weakest weapon equipped from the visit to Ipsen’s Castle. You may want to return to Ipsen’s Castle with Quina as well to obtain the Blue Magic ability Doom from a Veteran (6,972 HP) enemy.

Other things you can do:

Catch more frogs for the Frog Catching side quest.

Take the new Kupo Nut back to Moguta in Gizamaluke’s Grotto for the Kupo Nut side quest; the reward is a random item.

Make sure that Quina is fully equipped with weapons and armor by switching Quina into your party if you need to. Quina will be assisting Zidane on his next mission.

Travel on the Hilda Garde III to each of the following locations using the pictures to help you…

Water Shrine

The Water Shrine is located on the west side of the Forgotten Continent just south of Ipsen’s Castle.

Fire Shrine

The Fire Shrine is located on the northernmost section of the Lost Continent north of Esto Gaza.

Wind Shrine

The Wind Shrine is located on the southeast side of the Forgotten Continent southeast of Oeilvert.

Earth Shrine

The Earth Shrine is located on the eastern side of the Outer Continent near the Desert Palace but check the notes below before you enter the shrine itself.

Zidane gives you a hint that you and Quina should prepare for an upcoming battle. You can make the fight even easier by equipping Zidane and Quina equipment that protects against earth-based attacks. This includes Gaia Gear, using Reflect Ring to enable the Auto-Reflect ability and using the Devil Killer ability if either character has learned it.

Earth Shrine

Travel down the hallway and into the next room. When the room starts closing in on Zidane and Quina just press the Button when the Field Icon appears. Approach the pedestal and place the mirror in it to initiate the next boss fight.

A few cutscenes will take place after the battle involving all four of the teams at each of the shrines. Choose your team again at the end of the scenes.

The next destination is the Shimmering Islands on your way to Terra but there are some things you should take care of beforehand. This is your last chance to access many areas of the game on the third disc (and your last chance to complete the Cotton Robe Trick).

Most of the early side quests as many of the cities and towns will become unreachable after this point. The following side quests should be completed before you continue:

• Rare Coffees
• Knight’s House Challenges (up to Amdusias)
• Treasure Hunter Rank side quest

You should also make sure to pick up the following weapons which teach abilities as you cannot purchase them later in the game:

Weapon	Ability Taught	Location
Mythril Sword	Armor Break (Steiner)	Mimoza’s Mogshop (in Oeilvert)
Rune Blade	Iai Strike (Steiner)	Daguerreo
Trident	Luna (Freya)	Mimoza’s Mogshop
Heavy Lance	Six Dragons (Freya)	Esto Gaza
Obelisk	Cherry Blossom (Freya)	Daguerreo
Diamond Sword	Power Break (Steiner)	Esto Gaza
Flame Saber	Magic Break (Steiner)	Esto Gaza
Black Hood	Death (Vivi)	Esto Gaza
Hamelin	Jewel (Eiko)	Daguerreo or Esto Gaza
Octagon Rod	Firaga Thundaga Blizzaga (Vivi)	Daguerreo

The next destination is the Shimmering Islands. They are located close to Esto Gaza on the Lost Continent and can be found by pulling up the map (or checking out the screenshot below).

There is some dialogue that takes place aboard the Hilda Garde III between the team members when you opt to enter and Zidane will get one last opportunity to either “Keep moving forward!” or select “Let’s pull back for now!”. Keep moving forward to move on to the next part of the story.

Terra

Zidane and the rest of the party will arrive in Terra and be treated by none other than Garland. You will have the option to select from all eight of your party members (with the exception of Zidane who is mandatory). Select your regular party and then head down to the lower right side of the screen.

Zidane will run into another humanoid creature on the next pathway - the Mysterious Girl in red. Take the stairs leading off to the left and down into the next screen.

Jump across the two ledges and open up the treasure chest to obtain a Coronet.

Jump off the platform heading north to find another treasure chest that contains a Dragon Wrist. Head back to the previous platform where Mysterious Girl appeared. Walk north into the next screen.

Grab the treasure chest on the left side of the screen to pick up an Elixir. Walk towards the Mysterious Girl in red again and she will run away once more. Continue across the bridge and through the next screen.

The next area has some spiderwebs on the right side of the screen that Zidane can use to climb down a level. Climb down one more level using the spider webs on the far-right side of the screen to reach a treasure chest that contains a Remedy.

Climb back up to the level above and head to the left side of the screen. Jump across the hole and open up the treasure chest on the far side to obtain a Mythril Racket and then climb down the last spider webs to the level below.

Open the last treasure chest to pick up a Demon’s Vest and then approach the Mysterious Girl in red. She will run off again down the bridge - follow her and once you reach her she will encourage Zidane to continue onward down the bridge.

There is a treasure chest that can be see on the left side of the screen as soon as you enter the next area. Travel up the stairs and go through the wall on the left side of the platform (shown in the screenshot below) and walk downward and to the back of the screen to find a secret pathway that leads down the the treasure chest.

Open it up to obtain a Minerva’s Plate. Continue up the stairs into the next area for another cutscene.