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Important Side-Quests And Such (Or How To Unlock Easy Mode)
Section Briefing[]
Welcome one and all to the FINAL final page of my Xenosaga Episode III walkthrough! There are a lot of side-quests in Episode III which become available as soon as you begin Chapter 10. If you do them before you venture into Michtam and beyond, you will gain many useful and powerful devices with which to end the game in style. I always like having ERDE KAISER SIGMA in my arsenal as a "Last Resort". It's like packing a concealed .357 Magnum in your jacket pocket just in case you run into those street thugs that are out there somewhere that want to do unspeakable things to you. Having all of the ultimate weapons is always a comforting feeling, too, but despite what Final Fantasy has taught you, the ultimate weapons in this game will NOT be your greatest asset up until Zarathustra. With that said, I sadly leave you with my final words of advice for a walkthrough page briefing: If it's brown, flush it down. If it's yellow, it's mellow. --BlackAlbedo 03:26, December 27, 2011 (UTC)
From The Elsa...[]
Since none of this really becomes available until the last chapter of the game, we will start with everything you can do on The Elsa and move on from there.
Make for the Save Point / Shop Plate / EVS area to have a conversation with Miyuki. Sounds like someone is due for an ultimate weapon, no? If you go down into the Plate area then try to go past the console again, Miyuki will notice you have a Geocrystal already and send you a little incentive to keep you interested, the BRISINGAMEN, a very nice necklace indeed. Buy the VB-Crimson sword for Jin (we'll be using it soon in a nearby quest for Jin's ultimate weapon), then go to the female's cabin and speak with Bunnie Bob in the back to refine your Geocrystal. Make a stop by the male's cabin too with the VB-Crimson and those Prayer Beads we found back on Old Miltia and speak with the droid in the shower room. After a series of responses from you, he'll hand over Jin's ultimate weapon, the VB-DAWN and the NINE STONES bracelet, a VERY nice bracelet which absorbs all physical attacks. Now return to the plates to speak with Miyuki and get Shion's ultimate weapon, the MIYUKI SPECIAL.
That was a mouthful, eh? Now that we've got the easy ultimate weapons, go down to the hangar and open Segment Address 14 in the back. It has the IRON MAIDEN, a truly great necklace indeed.
Collect all decoders and finish all segment addresses, confirm the completion, then talk to Theodore in the Elsa's hangar and he'll give you a gift, KOS-MOS' SWIMSUIT.
Speak with Kamikaze in the female's cabin to find out about the missing Alby. Go to The Durandal using the EVS and approach Alby in the first area. Follow him to the park. After you find the HEAVEN'S DOOR item, exit the EVS. Go back to Kamikaze in the female's cabin to get the MOON BRIDGE, MOMO's ultimate weapon. What of the Heaven's Door you ask? You'll have to beat an optional Boss first to be able to use it as an accessory, so refer to the section about Omega Id.
Talk to Adonis at the bar to get the GRIEF STONE, then go to Abel's Ark in the EVS. Go back to the area with the rotating orbs and enter any one of 'em. You'll need to get to the end of each one again, but fear not. Time consuming this may be, but you will gain massive amounts of various points by using level 2 Special Attacks to eliminate the foes here. At the Boss areas, there are now glowing balls of light you need to inspect. Inspect all 4, then head toward the center where we went to fight Dmitri Yuriev. You will gain THE UNIVERSE, AND GOD BREATH, chaos' ultimate weapon! Leave the EVS!
Re-enter the EVS! That is, after you sell all your loot from Abel's Ark and save the game once again. Go to the CAT Testing Facility. We're gonna take on a very tough optional E.S. Boss, so make sure your E.S. craft are all up to snuff. Buy shit. You know how we do.
At the CAT Testing Facility, proceed to the second set of shuttles and take shuttle number 6. Use the key we got from kicking Citrine's ass earlier on The Durandal to open the Weapon Development Area. Equip D-Kill R and D-Kill C on your E.S. craft, and D-Charge as well. Consider whether to put your own counters or revenges on too, or whatever else suits your fighting style. Use the console in there to initiate a fight with Omega Universitas, or if you need a moment to gather your nerve press 
an' cancel dat shit. This guy is easy. Hold on to your Anima, you're going to need it...
BOSS: OMEGA ID[]
DIFFICULTY: HARD
HP: 999,999
BL: NONE
STRONG VS: RANDOM
WEAK VS: RANDOM
ABSORBS: NONE
NO EFFECT: NONE
ITEM: DECODER 06
RARE ITEM: NONE
SPECIAL ITEM: NONE
This will be the longest and toughest fight in Episode III, on par with the Boss of the game. It's the hardest E.S. fight there is. Omega Id's elemental weakness and strength will change frequently, so be sure one of your machines has D-Scan equipped. If it so happens that someone on your team has attacks that are aligned with his strength, then just let them charge or use items to help with the relief. Obviously, as this is the toughest E.S. fight there is, keep your HP at a maximum at all times possible. Pay attention for when he uses WAVES OF THE BERSERKER. When he does that, you have no choice. Guard with all 3 of your dudes. He will kill someone if you don't. That's really what makes this fight so damned long. When he brings out the stronger attacks, charge to heal instead of using items, as this will bring up your guard for any future attacks you may not be able to avoid. Use your precious All Repairs if you all suffer heavy damage. You'll be glad you did later. Try to keep that Soul Down off with Down Repairs and charging with D-Clean. If you stick to the formula, you should be quite triumphant. If you should get your ass beat, just let it happen, as you will NOT Game Over when you die, but be able to simply restart the battle (albeit with 1 HP on everyone, but you can charge that up quickly against the easy Omega before it turns into Id). Have patience, and think about your moves. This is more of a chess fight than an E.S. fight. Oh, and our "pals" at BradyGames wanted to inform us that Id will often restore 150,000 HP if any of your dudes has 1 level of Anima or more, but I didn't see that happen ONCE, AND I had to fight him twice 'cause he kicked my ass the first time. PLUS, BradyGames has a bad reputation for omitting important information from time to time and inputting false directions. In any case, if you see him restore 150,000 HP, the solution is (probably) to keep your Anima under level 1 by using it as soon as you can.
UPDATE 8/25/2012: I was informed via my Youtube account that I was hasty to flame BradyGames (can you blame me after the other fallacies?) for being wrong about Id recovering 150,000 HP. I definitely didn't see it happen in my game, but here's what pjizzile reports:
"I was reading your xenosaga episode 3 walkthrough (which helped a ton so thank you very much) and in the optional bosses section you mentioned ID recovering life. In my battle he recovered 149,999 and the screen prompted me that he would heal that much everytime ALL of my mechs had at least one full anima guage. It also takes one meter from everyone. I just wanted to contribute!"
...and contribute you did. Thank you, and good luck to all who would topple this king of king-robots, this prince of... prince... robots.
After you get Decoder 06, leave the EVS and save! Then go to The Durandal (EVS) and hit the park to find Segment Address 6. Inside is.... DUHN DUHN DUHHHHHHNN... The EK DARK DEVICE!!! Now we have ALL of the EK Devices and can comfortably confront Erde Kaiser Sigma!!! Remember, to fight EK Sigma you need to go to Pedea Island and speak with the monkey (or visit the Dark Professor's lab if you haven't done that yet, THEN speak with the monkey). Before going to Pedea Island though, go down to the hangar on The Elsa and speak with Valencia to unlock the unlimited power of the Heaven's Door! This is a very important item, as it makes everything cost 1 EP. That's AMAZING! Are they serious?! Whatever. Now the game is on easy mode. Think of the possibilities when this is combined with Erde Kaiser...
As for preparations, just make sure someone in your battle party has high HP (Ziggy is your best bet, and believe me, you'll want someone with 6000+ HP around for this) so you won't be killed all at once. You can always switch in anyone you need, and as long as you've accrued a lot of the ultimate gear in the game, you can't go wrong with your equipment. I will mention however, that it is also a great idea to equip Fire-halving bracelets (or anything more resistant to Fire if you have it...), as he has an AOE that deals very large Fire damage and wiped my entire party once. Let the battle... BEGIN!!!
BOSS: ERDE KAISER SIGMA[]
Machina Mariposa
DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
HP: 100,000
BL: 999
STRONG VS: NONE
WEAK VS: BEAM / VARIOUS
ABSORBS: NONE
NO EFFECT: POISON / SEAL ETHER / SEAL BOOST / REFLECT DAMAGE
ITEM: GUSTAV WRIST
RARE ITEM: NONE
SPECIAL ITEM: NONE
It's really not that hard to beat this guy if you have an EP consumption halving item on Shion and the Heaven's Door on somebody else. You want your EP to last a long time, because you'll need to summon DARK ERDE KAISER every move if you can, except when he has a shield up. If he puts up a shield, pay attention to which number it is, I, II, or III. Use the Erde Kaiser type that corresponds with that number. It's simple, really. If he uses I, use the first EK you got, regular ol' ERDE KAISER. II, the second EK, ERDE KAISER FURY. You really need me to tell you which one to use for shield III?? Don't try to get fancy with Break Techs on nuffin'. He has a nasty Revenge. Simply summon DARK ERDE KAISER with everyone, even if they are way low on HP / EP (You still have some Seven Moons or Seven Sisters revival items, right??) as this will raise his Break the fastest AND deal the best damage. When he's broken, you may use the Boost you have stocked up to deal major damage with Special Attacks. Shion's LOCK SHOT is a good one to use since he's weak to Beam until you get rid of all 3 shields. After you get rid of the shields, he's weak to everything except Physical! When he gets down to his last sliver of HP, use ANALYZE (I really do recommend this) as it is hard to tell exactly how much HP he really has left. Getting the Finishing Strike in this battle specifically is FAR more important than any fight in the entire game. You'll get 1500 Skill Points for your battle party and 1300 for your reserves!! Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Piece of cake.
After the battle and the scene, check the sparkling item on the ground to find DECODER 03, which is used in the basement of the Dark Professor's lab to the east here. Open up the Segment Address to find the EK SIGMA DEVICE! That's right! We get to summon it now (and for the low low price of 1 EP if you have the Heaven's Door equipped :D)!! Press 
to win! Leave the EVS!