Tropical Island

Tropical Island is a 20-chest maze with the Black Mask at the bottom. No save points, no inn, and a four-headed boss fight guarding the prize. Stock up on Cottages before you come in here.

Sailing to Tropical Island

Board your ship near Mysidia and sail south. Way south. The island is a tiny patch of green near the bottom of the world map. Dock on the coast and walk to the cave entrance.

Werewolves roam the overworld near Mysidia. They hit hard but don't have elemental weaknesses, so brute force them physically. If you already grabbed that bestiary entry during the Mysidia chapter, skip the overworld grinding and head straight for the island.

1F - The Entrance Floor

From the cave entrance, go straight down. Chest 1 (Eye Drops) is in the bottom-right area. Head up through the narrow passageway, passing an opening on the left. At the end you'll find chest 2 (Hi-Potion). Double back and duck into that opening you just passed for chest 3 (another Hi-Potion).

Go back through the narrow passageway, then head left. Drop down another narrow corridor and go left to grab chest 4 (Ether). Back up the corridor, take the left passage down toward the bottom-left corner for chest 5 (Spider Silk). Retrace your steps and follow the upper narrow passageway around to the stairs leading down.

Enemies hit harder than the overworld stuff; Dual Heads and Dual Deads show up on every floor. Wererats come in packs but die fast. Red Mousse takes Ice magic, Yellow Jelly goes down to Lightning. Shadows and Wraiths are undead. Fire handles both.

2F - The Merchants' Floor

Follow the path around from the stairs. Chest 6 (Scourge Tome) is in the upper-left area, right next to another staircase. Head right and chest 7 (Blind Tome) is in front of you. Go down from there; when the path splits, stay right for chest 8 (another Scourge Tome). Take the opposite fork for chest 9 (Blind Tome). Continue down and left to find chest 10 (Garlic) on the other side of a small wall.

Before heading to the middle stairs, go back to the staircase near chest 6. Take those stairs down. You'll reach chest 11 (Spider Silk) and, further below, a small settlement. Two merchants here sell weapon upgrades. Check their stock; some of it is better than what Mysidia had.

Head back up and take the stairs in the middle of 2F to continue deeper.

3F - Monster Chests and the Maze

Chest 12 (Spider Silk) is directly below you from the starting point. Grab it, go back up, and follow the path around to some stairs leading down. In the next corridor, head to the end for chest 13 (Phoenix Down). This is a monster-in-box with 8 fire-weak enemies. One group Fire spell clears them in a single round. Back up and return to the previous area.

From the bottom-right corner, work your way up the stairs. Follow the corridors and climb more stairs until you hit chests 14, 15, and 16. All three are Sleep Grass, and all three are monster-in-boxes guarded by Poison Toad and Wild Horn. These enemies are weak to physical attacks, so just hit them. Nothing fancy needed.

Return to the main area. From the top-left corner, take the stairs down to a side room with chest 17 (Death Idol). Come back up. Chest 18 (1,000 Gil) is tucked away at the top of the floor. Head right and take the stairs in the top-right corner. Chest 19 (Sleep Tome) is just inside the next area.

Go left from chest 19. There's a single door on the left side of this room. Walk through it.

4x Big Horn

The Black Mask chest is right there. But 4 Big Horns are standing between you and it. No elemental weakness on these things, so forget magic. This is a pure physical slugfest.

Don't split your damage. Pick one Big Horn (the nearest one works), burn it down, move to the next. Four attacks per round hurts, but dropping one early cuts incoming damage fast. And if your healer loses Blink images, refresh them immediately.

Honestly not a hard fight if you're leveled, but annoying if you're not. The damage just piles up when you stall.

Open the chest for the Black Mask. You'll need this in the Cave of Mysidia to get past Firion's doppelganger. Step on the purple teleport pad behind the chest to warp out instantly.

Back outside, sail northwest to the Mysidia continent. Rest at the inn and restock on Hi-Potions, Ethers, and Gold Needles before heading into the Cave of Mysidia.

Enemy Encounters

13

13 enemy types inside Tropical Island. Poison Toad and Wild Horn only show up in monster chests on 3F. Big Horn appears as both a regular encounter and the boss. Ghoul is a new bestiary entry here.

#017 Dual Heads

#018 Dual Deads

#019 Wererat

#020 Stunner

#024 Ghoul

#025 Ghast

#027 Shadow

#028 Wraith

#048 Big Horn

#049 Wild Horn

#050 Poison Toad

#077 Yellow Jelly

#078 Red Mousse