Quick Links
- How To Get The Canoe
- Acquire The Star Ruby
- Cavern Of Earth, First Visit
- Acquire The Earth Rod
- Cavern Of Earth, Second Visit
- Acquire The Canoe
The Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy has been made quite a bit easier, but there are still lots of quests that you have to complete over the course of the game that might seem a little confusing. Unless you talk to all the right people and know instinctively where to go, you may end up wandering aimlessly for hours.
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Acquiring the Canoe is one of these quests. The Canoe will let you traverse rivers and streams, something your ship cannot do. It's something that you must do in order to complete the game as multiple dungeons are kept behind rivers. It's quite easy to miss some of the steps you need to take to get the Canoe, or you might think that you've fulfilled requirements earlier than you actually have — but this guide has you covered.
How To Get The Canoe
There is only one actual requirement for acquiring the Canoe, and that is to beat Lich. Lich is one of the four elemental archfiends in the game and beating them is your main goal for most of the story. Knowing how to actually get to Lich, however, can be tricky for players who don't have the retro experience of already having spoken to every single NPC that they encounter. Here is the task list for this quest:
- Delve into the Cavern of Earth and retrieve the Star Ruby.
- Give the Star Ruby to the Golem and speak to Sadda to get the Earth Rod.
- Use the Earth Rod to confront Lich.
- Get the Canoe in Crescent Lake.
Acquire The Star Ruby
The first step in this quest is to get the Star Ruby. You will need this to placate a Golem that will otherwise block your path.
- Firstly, sail to the land to the west of the Western Keep and the Mount Duergar. You can do this by bringing the Nitro Powder from Cornelia Castle to one of the dwarves in Mount Duergar.
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The town of Melmond near the docks should be your first stop. There are decent equipment upgrades here and some really valuable spells.
- All four White Magic spells are fantastic to have, but the only crucial one here is Diaga — both of the upcoming bosses are undead and will take a ton of damage from the spell. As far as Black Magic goes, Slowra is potentially useful but Firaga is the only must-have. Teleport cannot be learned until you undergo a Class Promotion, so save a space for it.
- Don't forget to stock up on consumables (consider shelling out for some Gold Needles) and head to the Cavern of the Earth to the west.
Cavern Of Earth, First Visit
- On your first visit to the Cavern of Earth, you will only need to descend to the third floor down.
- Take your time though, as there's plenty of great treasure to pick up. The first floor only has some consumables and some Gil, but you can pick up a Coral Sword on the second floor down. This is a great sword that even Thieves can equip and is super-effective against aquatic enemies. This will definitely come in handy soon as the enemies you encounter whilst in the Canoe are quite ferocious.
- Cavern of Earth B3 is a large loop with some rooms coming off the sides. You can use the map feature to scout ahead to see which rooms have treasure in them and which don't. It's a great quality of life feature that you should use to your advantage.
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- There are a few enemies to look out for during your visit. Gargoyles can still hit hard, and the tough Piscodemons (the bosses from Marsh Cave) can appear as normal encounters now. Cockatrices are very threatening as they can petrify your party members, which lasts after the battle and must be cured with a Gold Needle or the Stona spell.
- At the end of the curved hallway, you will encounter the Vampire.
BOSS: How To Beat The Vampire
- HP: 280
- Resistances: Ice
- Weaknesses: Fire, Dia
- Abilities: Gaze
With only 280 HP the Vampire is really easy to beat — it's more of a miniboss than a fully-fledged boss fight. That comes later.
- If you have magic users, breaking out Firaga or Diaga has a pretty decent chance to knock it out in one or two hits. Consider bringing along some Ethers just to make sure you have the MP to cast these spells.
- Gaze can be annoying if it manages to strike your main damage dealer, but you have a 25 percent chance of recovery every round and the Vampire's damage output isn't that threatening otherwise.
Once you have beaten it, you can pick up the Star Ruby from the chest behind it.
Acquire The Earth Rod
There are two simple steps to get the Earth Rod and they can be done right after beating up the Vampire.
- Leave the Cavern of Earth the way you came. If you are really struggling for HP, head back to Melmond to heal up and perhaps spend some of your well-earned Gil.
- Head to the west and enter the Golem's cave — now that you have the Star Ruby you only need to talk to the Golem once and it will move out of the way after crunching down on the precious gem.
- Proceed through the cave and then keep heading west on the World Map until you reach yet another cave. This is the Sage's Cave and home of Sadda. He will have some choice prophetic words for you and hand you the Earth Rod, along with some instructions to use it behind the Vampire's chamber.
Cavern Of Earth, Second Visit
Make sure you are healed up and stocked up before heading back into the Cavern.
- This second visit should take a lot less time than before — now that you don't need to explore to pick up treasure it should be a simple task of reminding yourself of the quickest route using the minimap and heading back down to the Vampire's chamber.
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- The Earth Rod will let you open up the door behind the Vampire's chamber and proceed further down. There are only two more floors to the Cavern but they come with more dangerous enemies, such as Trolls and Earth Elementals. Be on your guard and make liberal use of the Quicksave function to ward yourself from emergencies.
- There are lots of undead enemies down here, as you'd expect. Dia spells are really handy, especially when coming up against the huge packs of Mummies and Wights. While the fourth floor has chests to loot for tons of Gil, the fifth floor is relatively small — it has no chests, only one room to explore, and it contains the big boss.
BOSS: How To Beat Lich
- HP: 1200
- Resistances: Ice
- Weaknesses: Fire, Dia
- Abilities: Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, Haste, Slow, Sleep, Sleepra, Hold
While Lich has a quite hefty HP value compared to anything you've faced before, it's not the toughest foe to beat.
- It's a spellcaster so try to pack some magic of your own as a counter. Heal and Healara are great to use after it uses its elemental barrages, and definitely use Haste to combat any Slows it throws onto your physical attackers.
- Just like with the Vampire, Lich will suffer greatly against Firaga and Diaga, so use them if you have them. More physically aligned parties should be well-stocked with restoratives in case of emergencies and just keep up the momentum while praying it doesn't use Slow too often.
As it's only the first elemental fiend in the game it isn't too tough to beat Lich, you just have to be aware of what it can throw out and prepare accordingly.
Acquire The Canoe
Once you have beaten Lich, you have fulfilled every requirement for getting the Canoe.
- Use the teleporter behind the Earth Crystal to warp straight out of the Cavern of Earth and head back to your ship.
- Sail past the land to the west and go right off the left-hand side of the World Map. You'll loop straight around and come to the eastern continent.
- Your destination is Crescent Lake, a town in the center of the massive crescent-shaped lake that you'll be able to spy easily on the World Map. Take a moment to check out the equipment and magic shops while you're here, and then head to the east of the town to find the Circle of Sages.
- Speak to the Sage to the right of Lukhan (the Sage in blue) and you'll finally get your Canoe!
You can now use this to go take on the archfiend of fire in the bowels of Mount Gulg, or head north in your quest to acquire an Airship!NEXT: Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster: Best Party Setups
