Boss Battle: Tiamat

Reaching the Flying Fortress where Tiamat lives is the closest this game ever really comes to offering you a puzzle. Several steps are required, and you’ll need to obtain the Rosetta Stone, Warp Cube, and Bell Key items in order to succeed. I won’t describe the process here, if you’re stuck please feel free to use my link to Gamefaqs.com. If you make an effort to talk to all of the various villagers in the towns you visit and are able to put two and two together, you won’t get stuck.

There’s a good deal of treasure chests scattered throughout the fortress, some more valuable than others and not all of which you need to collect, but I wouldn’t leave without at least securing the Adamantite that’s lurking on the second floor. After exiting the fortress you can take said Adamantite to Smyth, the dwarven smith and he’ll reward you by forging Excalibur, the second strongest weapon in the game. Note: Only Knight’s can use the Excalibur, so if you don’t have a Knight in your party you don’t really need the Adamantite except as a completion item. This game is very discriminatory with its equipment.

Tiamat’s on, well, you know which floor. He generally opens the fight with Lightning Storm (or something to that effect), which looks impressive and can do a decent amount of damage, but can easily be mitigated by casting Nulbolt. He’s also capable of casting Fire II and Ice II, and you’re welcome to cast the appropriate defenses to these if you wish. Honestly, if you don’t feel like wasting a lot of time and effort on this fight, he’s susceptible to Break; cast it until he dies. If you don’t want to use Break then I recommend Haste and Saber for your physical attackers combined with your strongest attack spells. Heal when necessary and you won’t have problems.