Nether Nebula

Your guide to navigating the Nether Nebula in World of Final Fantasy! Learn about puzzles, boss fights, and secret areas to find powerful Mirages and items.

Alright, so the Nether Nebula is basically your first real dungeon in World of Final Fantasy. Don't worry, it's not too bad once you know what you're doing. There's a portal right at the start, but we're going to head up the path first. You'll find a chest with a LIBRA MIRAJEWEL. Keep an eye out for these; they're like accessories that give Lann and Reynn new abilities or stat boosts. You'll unlock more slots as you level up, and there are even special slots that need items you won't get until way later, so don't stress about those now.

Keep climbing those ramps, go left, then down, and up some more ramps until you transition into Cavern 2. Head up that ramp, and you'll see a chest you can't reach yet. Just keep going up the next set of ramps. About halfway up, there's a chest (2/9) with a SLEEKSTONE. Continue to the top, and you'll find a Gimme Golem blocking your path. It wants that Sleekstone you just grabbed. So, head back down the ramp. When you get to a ledge, don't drop down the first one you see. Instead, keep going along the path to find a chest (3/9) with 3 POTIONS. Now, use the 'Descend' option at that first ledge you passed to reach a chest (4/9) that was out of reach earlier. It's got a single POTION. With that, head up the ramp leading to the exit to Cavern 3.

Cavern 3 is where you'll encounter your first Puzzle Switch. These are pretty neat! You need to stack Mirages on them to meet certain weight and elemental resistance requirements. This first one needs a weight of 5 and earth resistance of 50. A Copper Gnome will do the trick and create a bridge to the next platform. Don't go up the ramp just yet. Instead, head to the next Puzzle Switch. This one requires weight 5 and earth resistance of 75. So, you'll need to stack a Mini Golem on top of a Copper Gnome. The bridge that appears will lead you to two chests (6/9) containing a PHOENIX DOWN and an EARTH HAMMER. That Earth Hammer might be useful for that townsperson quest we saw earlier, or you can save it for an upcoming boss fight. Your call! Once you've grabbed those, backtrack to the ramps and head up to the area exit.

As you enter Cavern 4, you'll see a big rock blocking the way to the right. You can't get past it yet because it needs the 'Smash' support ability, which you don't have. So, go up the ramp instead. You'll find a save point and a 'Threshold' ahead. Tama will explain it, but basically, these are boss arenas. If you wipe, it's game over. Save your game, and then head up to the boss area. You'll meet Ramuh, Ifrit, and Shiva, who seem to know you. You'll have to pick one to fight to prove yourself. This fight is important because winning gets you a really great Mirage with four evolutions and powerful elemental attacks: Zapt (thunder), Fritt (fire), and Bablizz (ice). Don't sweat the choice too much, though, because you can grab the other two later when you can access a secret area. I'd personally recommend Ramuh, though. First, you can totally cheese him with that Earth Hammer you found. Second, honestly, Zapt is just better than Fritt and Bablizz. There are more enemies weak to thunder than ice, in my opinion. I managed to beat Ramuh using 'Throw Stone' (he's weak to earth!) and healing with Potions. Whoever you pick, defeating them nets you 3 ARMA GEMS, which you'll use to unlock stuff soon. You'll also get a baby esper Mirage – slot it into your team! After the cutscene, an exit portal back to Nine Wood Hills opens up. But before we go, let's backtrack to Cavern 3. Run around in there until you find a Floating Eye. Imprismsing this one is key so both Reynn and Lann can have complete stacks. Once you've got it, head back through the portal.

Back in Nine Wood Hills, go to the Twins' Room. Exiting it will trigger a cutscene, and after that, you'll be able to fast travel around town using the square button. Now, use the portal in Sylver Park to head back to Cornelia.

Nether Nebula Secret Area

You can get into this area once you unlock the 'Smash' and 'Flutter' abilities. It's got tougher versions of the enemies you've been fighting, but more importantly, you can find all three baby espers as rare encounters here, letting you imprism them. To make things less frustrating, I'd suggest bringing a Mirage with the 'No Escape' ability, as Bablizz and the others tend to run away if you don't imprism them quickly. Once you're around level 15, smash that big rock, fly across the gap, and enter the Secret Cavern. Follow the winding path down to a platform with two ways to go: right and left. Take the right path first for a chest (7/9) with a MEGA-POTION. Head back to the platform, then take the left path. Follow that winding path to find two more chests (9/9) containing 2 MEGA-ETHERS and 2 MEGA-PHOENIXES.

Encounters

Out of the Mirages you can catch in the first part of the dungeon, only one is really worth investing time in early on: the Floating Eye. It's one of the few Mirages with the 'Flutter' support ability and has a super high magic stat. You'll also want to level up your Copper Gnome Mirage for about 10 levels to unlock its Mythril Giant form. This form grants the 'Smash' support ability, which is crucial for accessing that secret area we just talked about. That secret area isn't just for finding good Mirages; it's also an early-game leveling spot, with each fight giving you 6000 XP or more!