Elite Loot in the Estersand

Complete The Lost Cactoid sidequest in Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age to unlock new areas in the Estersand and find valuable loot like Demonsbane and Gladius.

The next stop on this road to power is the South Bank Village in the Estersand, so use a Teleport Stone at a Gate Crystal to instantaneously travel to the ". Your goal is to finish up the Patient in the Desert sidequest, but before you can do that you will have to complete another sidequest: The Lost Cactoid.

When you arrive in South Bank Village, make your way north to find a child named Tchigri standing on a dock. Talk to the kid and offer to help him with his problem after which you will automatically be taken to North Bank Village via the boat. When you arrive you’ll see a bunch of Cactoids flailing around near some villagers. Fortunately the Cactoids flee shortly after you arrive, so approach the villagers and talk to Ruksel, Tchigri’s father, whereupon you’ll initiate another scene. It seems that these Cactoids are one big family, and the mother Cactoid (they have genders?) is looking for one of her children, named Dran, who has gone missing. This Dran is one bad apple, er, Cactoid, and mother Cactoid is trying to find him and set him straight, although she’s admittedly not setting a very good example by wantonly kidnapping people and forcing them to help with her search. That aside, it looks like you’re going to have to find Dran for the Cactoid family, or else they’ll keep misbehaving.

After meeting with the mother Cactoid, you’ll sail back across the river to the South Bank Village. Once you arrive, speak with Dantro’s Wife to learn that the Flowering Cactoid you hunted earlier was likely this Dran. Oops. The Cactus Flower you brought her earlier was thrown out back, so go behind the hut and inspect it to have a Cactoid pop out of the ground. Lead this back to the boat with Tchigri and have him take you back to North Bank Village. Approach the Cactoids in the middle of the village and Dran will reunite with them, finishing up this short sidequest. Hopefully getting smacked around, boiled and tossed outside taught Dran some manners.

With the Cactoids all happy and back together, they scurry off and you will have free access to the northern areas of the Estersand. Not only will you encounter greater dangers, as the enemies are stronger than in the other areas of the Estersand, but the treasures have received a boost, too, making the danger that much more tempting. Exit the North Bank Village via the area transition to the west to arrive in The Yoma, the first of the two zones. The main predator here is the Worgen, a more dangerous variation of the Wolf.

Worgen : Worgens are an upgraded Wolf, pretty much, although they do have a few new skills that Wolves didn’t have. They can counter your attacks, as well as use Eerie Soundwave to damage not only their target, but also those close to them. In addition they also have Screech, which deals damage and can also inflict Confuse. Note that you may find an Alpha version prowling about, which, while similar to the others of its species, are stronger and possess more HP. They can drop a piece of Fire Magicite, Nu Khai Sand, a Quality Pelt, or a Libra Gem, plus you can steal Fire Magicite, a Hi-Potion or Steel Poleyns from them. They are weak to water.

Apart from one more enemy to the north, the rest of the enemies in this area are just higher-leveled versions of ones (or the normal version, in the case of the Dive Talon) you’ve already encountered. As soon as you enter this zone, head south to the shoreline and you might see a treasure by a trap there, which might contain a Demonsbane (Swords 5). Head west to the mountain dividing the southwest portion of the zone from the southeast, and follow it north and then east a little bit to spot another potential treasure nestled in the little dip on the map, which could yield a Gladius . From the chest with the Gladius, continue west and slightly northwest to spot another treasure sitting out in the open.

This one could contain a Bone Helm (Heavy Armor 5) and to the west of that one is another treasure that might give you its matching piece, the Bone Mail (Heavy Armor 5). Both of these pieces of armor halve Dark damage, but make you weak to Holy damage. If you don’t get either of these, you can use the transition to the Westersand along the western side of the zone to respawn the chests. Speaking of that transition, if you stick to the mountain as it goes north, you can nab one more treasure in this zone, which might yield a Hammerhead (Axes & Hammers 4). That’s all of the treasures you can grab here in The Yoma, but there are two more enemies that need to be talked about before you venture north to the next zone.

Dive Talon: These flying monstrosities were briefly mentioned before, but you should be more than ready to tackle them now. As previously stated, you can only hit flying enemies with spears/poles, ranged weapons, Telekinesis or with magicks. They are weak to Earth but are only immune to Stop, Confuse and Slow. You can steal a Giant Feather, 120 gil or a Taurus Gem from them (can steal off flying enemies normally, for some odd reason). They can drop a Wind Magicite, Handkerchief, Giant Feather or a Burning Bow (Bows 5). Remember that Dive Talons are docile and won’t attack unless they are provoked.

Wild Saurian: Unlike the Saurian in The Stepping, the ones north of the North Bank Village are aggressive and will attack on sight. They can hit a little hard, but nothing you can’t handle with the equipment you’ve gotten thus far. Their Sonic Fangs attack has a v