One must catch them all – Espers

Posted on by Liz in Final Fantasy XII: the Zodiac Age
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A little piece of History

Espers are interesting beings. Also known as Scions of Darkness in times long gone, created by the Occuria to represent zodiac signs, in their misplaced pride they challenged their creators and were struck down and punished to an existence walking the mist with their entire being bound to the Glyph of the Beast, forced to appear at the side of whomever had acquired this Glyph.

Reading this, the aspiring Sky Pirate can’t but admit that an Esper would be a great addition to their arsenal – even if you don’t ever end up summoning your Espers, they are able to grant you certain skills that you would otherwise not be able to learn, all merely by grace of their existence and their binding to you.

Thus, this guide would urge you to go and find all Espers hidden deep within the realm of Ivalice. After all, how could a Sky Pirate not claim something as valuable as an Esper for themselves?

The search for the Esper

On your journey through Ivalice, you are likely to come across some Espers without deviating from your path. You will have to fight them regardless, and after having fought them, they will deem you a suitable master for them – in truth, they have no other choice than to relinquish themselves to you as defeating them grants you the Glyph of the Beast that they are bound to. Five of these Espers will be yours to command without having to search for them.

For obvious reasons these five Espers1 will not be discussed here. Nor will the most suitable positions in your License Boards for any of the Espers – optional or otherwise – be discussed, as that is pretty self-explanatory. What this guide will limit itself to, is how and where to find the eight Espers that you will not encounter on your journey without deviating from the trodden path.

To make it easier on the aspiring Sky Pirate, who quite possibly already has quite a bit on their mind, we will list these treasures chronologically, so you will know exactly when you can start searching for these summoned Scions.
Esper glyphs
1 – Adrammelech

                The Balamka Fault – Zertinan Caverns

                Level: 39

This goat is found as early as when you are able to enter the Zertinan Caverns. You can simply run into it and begin fighting, but if you do run into him as soon as you are able to, you might have your Pirate arse handed over to you by it and its skeletal entourage. So it’s best to wait a bit, at least until you manage to kill the enemies roaming the Caverns surrounding Adrammelech’s lair. At that point, you should be able to take on this goaty Esper.

Esper Cúchulainn
2 – Cúchulainn

                N°1 Cloaca – Garamsythe Waterway

                Level: 45

This ugly blob isn’t an easy Esper to defeat, nor is he an easy one to find. Only after you’ve escaped the tomb of Raithwall and after the Dawn Shard has reduced an Imperial Fleet to rubble, you will be able to begin your journey to catch this slippery Scion of Darkness.

To even be able to reach him, you must have finished two hunts in particular – hunt 04 and hunt 062. The latter offers you the Sluice Gate Key which you need for the next step in your journey to get a hold of Cúchulainn. Now the real fun begins!

Just an aside: before you start puzzling with the sluice gates in the Waterway, you might want to make sure all lights on the floor are off. You’ll hear something drop and it’s something you’ll need in your journey to find another Esper. Two birds with one stone – or Sluice Gate Key, as the case may be.

Cúchulainn hides all the way south of the Waterway, somewhere in the middle. So you’re going to have to open and close sluice gates until you can get there. Once you have pulled that off, go and get him! But beware, he is one poisonous Esper. And he carries flans. Just saying.

Esper Zalera
3 – Zalera

                Terminus n°7 – Barheim Passage

                Level: 40

Zalera hides deep within the Barheim Passage. Don’t be fooled: you will not be able to find him in your first visit to Barheim. Instead, there are several requirements which need to be met first. You will need to convince a certain looter to part with her key of the Barheim Passage and that won’t be too easy, as she has fallen ill and is now treated by Dantro’s wife in the settlement in the Dalmasca Estersand.

Yes, you read that right. Dantro – the man who had you kill a flowering cactoid because it was terrorizing the Estersand. That one. Make sure you talk to him before going into that settlement further into the Estersand. But really, as usual, the adage leave no stone unturned will get you through this ordeal. Just talk to everyone in the village. Before long you’ll be invited to cross the Nebra and see what’s going on there and reunite the revived flowering cactoid with his mother. Yup.

Then Dantro’s wife will ask you to run some more errands to find ingredients she needs to prepare her patient’s medicine. She’ll have you running all over the northern part of the Estersand, and once you’ve done all of that, you’re shooed out of the settlement. Once you come back, the patient is all better. Hear what she has to say, then meet up with her at the Barheim Passage – not the exit you used to escape when you were first in there, but another entrance, closer to the Estersand village.

Now nothing is stopping you from claiming Zalera for yourself. Unless maybe to tough as hells skeletons, bombs and ghosts that roam around the place.

Esper Zeromus
4 – Zeromus

                Throne of Veiled Gods – Stilshrine of Miriam

                Level: 51

Here, again, the adage leave no stone unturned is absolutely imperative. Only after the Arcadian Empire’s attack on Mt. Bur Omisace will a gentle Nu Mou acolyte offer you a stone along with a cryptic message leading you back into the Stilshrine itself.

Compared to the last few Espers, this one is easy to locate – not so easy to defeat. Keep that in mind. Just remember, a dead Sky Pirate can’t plunder.

Exodus Esper
5 – Exodus

                Empyrean Seat – Mosphoran Highwaste

                Level: 46

When you first visit the Mosphoran Highwaste, you will notice that there are water shrines, and some puzzled people trying to figure out what they are used for. No one knows, and at this point you can’t get them to work yet.

In fact, you can’t get them to work at any point – you’re not an artisan. The Moogles are. You’ll need to convince the Moogles to go forth and start repairing things all over the realm of Ivalice. In time they will reach the Mosphoran Highwaste and in their fixing frenzy they will fix the water shrines too. But the Moogles won’t be convinced to go forth and repair until they have been convinced of their talents at the gates barring you access to Phon Coast. So get your persuasion skills out and convince those Moogles!

At any point after that, you could return to the Mosphoran Highwaste. Then it’s puzzling time again, as you will need the shrines to activate to form a path all the way up to the highest reaches of the Highwaste. Get ready for some trial and error.

Chaos Esper
6 – Chaos

                The Crucible – Necrohol of Nabudis

                Level: 57

There is no way we can fit this in a nutshell: the journey to find and obtain Chaos is as chaotic as the Esper’s name implies. So be prepared for some running to and fro.

First of all, you will need three medallions: the Medallion of Bravery, the Medallion of Love and the Medallion of Might.

The Medallion of Bravery requires you to do a lot of hunting. Now if you’ve managed to get the Sluice Gate Key, you’ll have done Hunt 04 and Hunt 06 already, and if you’ve followed the suggestions for Cúchulainn’s search, you should have one third of the first medallion already. Yes, one third. Another shard will be given to you as a reward for completing Hunt 35.

After all that, you will need to have reached the Nabreus Deadlands first, which means you’ll need to have access to Phon Coast before you can even begin to journey towards obtaining Chaos. There’s a Nu Mou in the Deadlands – you’ll need to talk to him. After that, go visit Old Man Dalan again, he’s got interesting company. After entertaining Dalan’s company, you’ll have to search Rabanastre for the third part of the Medallion of Bravery.

Luckily, the Medallion of Love is easier to obtain, but only after you’ve reached Archades. Just find the Nu Mou in the Magick Shop in the capital and hear what he has to say.

The Medallion of Might is the last one to obtain. If you’re not sure, just clamp on to any Nu Mou you come across and see if they have anything to say about medallions. Eventually you’ll discover where you are needed in the Nabreus Deadlands and then the last leg of your journey begins. What you receive is not the final Medallion of Might, but the Lusterless Medallion. Using the other two medallions to fight bosses within the Necrohol of Nabudis will allow the Nu Mou in the Deadlands to change the Lusterless Medallion into the Medallion of Might, which in turn opens the door to Chaos.

After obtaining Chaos, you can congratulate yourself on soldiering through probably the most convoluted side-journey in your own journey. Congratulations.

Ultima Esper
7 – Ultima

                Crystal Peak – Great Crystal

                Level: 63

Getting to Ultima will be a near-impossible task if just left to your devices. Though there are no prerequisites to obtaining Ultima, you can only get to her once you’ve obtained the Treaty Blade, because that is what allows the Scorpio Gate stone (you’ll know what that is once you reach the Great Crystal) to activate. After that, you’re on your own. There are no maps in the Great Crystal – because why would there be? The Great Crystal was never intended for any mortal to set foot in, and Ultima was never meant to be freed from her crystal prison, come to think of it.

But of course, you’re a Sky Pirate and you want a challenge. And you don’t want to ask for directions, so there are a few things here you’ll need to keep in mind. Either you could start lining the Crystal with a golden thread to find your way back, or you could take notice of the names of the locations you are in – because those tell you about what you can find there.

Just look at this figure, remember the names, and remember:

map of the Great Crystal
  • A = up to
  • Dha = down to
  • Vikaari = level
  • Sthaana = gate switch

… And you’ll need to reach the top centre of the Great Crystal. Good luck3.

8 – Zodiark

                Special Charter Dig – Henne Mines

                Level: (does it really matter at this point?)

Ah, Zodiark. The strongest of Espers. So strong that its growth was stunted by the Occuria out of fear that it would outshine them all in strength alone. Of course, this would be the Esper to obtain if you’re to fight the—actually, nevermind.

You’re not going to be able to reach Zodiark if you’ve not obtained ten Espers and have not finished all the Hunts that needed to be done within the Henne Mines. If you’ve fulfilled these requirements, Geomancer Yugelu has an interesting quest for you. But if you had paid attention to the garif who had asked you to hunt the Mindflayer, then you would have already known to visit Yugelu long before you’d be able to best Zodiark itself.

After that, it’s rather straight forward. Just find your way through the Henne Mines until you reach the Special Charter Dig. Nothing as elaborate and contrived as the searches for Chaos or Ultima, but the enemies you encounter here do pack a punch, so be warned.

You’ve now collected all of the Espers. Following this guide should reward you with two Trophies to fill your Sky Pirate’s Den. Rejoice in them! And if you did have to ask for directions in the Great Crystal, well… we’ll just turn a blind eye to that.

Footnotes

1 Belias, Mateus, Shemhazai, Hashmal and Famfrit are the Espers you will not be able to escape obtaining.

2 Hunts are numbered in your Clan Primer, so forgive us the fact that they are not named here. Numbers are easier to remember after all.

3 If luck alone doesn’t cut it, and you do need directions, here you are. No one is going to judge you for not being able to conquer the Great Crystal without directions.

Sources:

Map of the Great Crystal

Great Crystal Key

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