Chrono Cross Dario FAQ/ Guide
By neored13
2/27/2001, Version 1.0
3/2/2001, Version 2.0:  Added "Who is Dario?" section, fixed my email 
address, corrected a few spelling errors, and added the phrase "crispy 
strips of hero meat."

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Contents
===============
1.  Why Dario?
2.  Who is Dario?
3.  Legal Stuff
4.  About Me
5.  Preparation
6.  Battle
7.  SPOILS! (Not SPOILERS, what you win!)
8.  Afterglow
9.  Other Stuff

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1.  Why Dario?
===============
Well, I've seen a lot of requests for a Dario strategy out there, and I 
decided I might as well do something about it.  Dario is the second 
hardest optional boss (IMHO) in Chrono Cross.  On your first game 
through, and even your first Game +, he is HARD!  However, the payoffs 
are extreme.  (Not like Final Fantasy 8, where you got a lousy Three 
Stars and a special citation for beating OMEGA weapon)  Please note, 
this guide does contain a few spoilers, but if you've played through to 
where you need this guide, they really aren't spoilers.

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2.  Who is Dario?
===============
Someone said, "Know your enemy."  If you know who, please email me.  But 
anyway, the premise is the same here.  To defeat Dario, you must know 
Dario.  Well, not really, but I figured you might enjoy a little 
history.
Dario is the brother of Glenn and friend to Karsh.  They all trained 
together as children, and that friendship remained into their adulthood.  
Riddel is... was Dario's fiance.  Karsh, as well, vied with Dario for 
Riddel's affection.  There is also evidence that Glenn adored her as 
well.  When Dario announced his engagement to Riddel, jealousy sprung up 
in Karsh's heart.  On their expedition to the Isle of the Damned, one 
story is that Karsh drew the Masamune and slew Dario because of the 
emotion-amplifying power of the Masamune.  However, the story told by 
Karsh is that Dario drew the Masamune and tried to slay Karsh.  Karsh, 
however, refused to kill Dario until the shade of Garai appeared and 
threatened to take the life of Riddel.  I have no idea which world this 
takes place in.  If someone can tell me, there would be much rejoicing.

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3.  Legal Stuff
===============
You've probably read enough FAQs by now to know this stuff by heart, but 
I'm gonna say it anyway.
DON'T STEAL MY GUIDE!  Use it for any use other than personal gain on 
your own saved game, and I will hunt you down, beat you with a chocobo 
and rip your lungs out.  Read it, recommend it to your friends, save it 
to your hard drive if you must, but DO NOT POST IT SOMEWHERE AND FOIST 
IT OFF AS YOUR OWN WORK!  I shout too much, don't I?  Just give credit 
where credit is due, okay?  Here, I'll go first.
Thanks to BRADYGames, for their helpful, if marginally incorrect, 
strategy guide.
Thanks to lots of people in Yahoo! Clubs and FFO Forums for asking about 
Dario/giving your own strategies.

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4.  About Me
===============
Yes, it's me.  Doug Studdert, the marvelous, wonderful existence that 
brings joy to all who come into contact with me... NOT!  
I am known by many names.
Yahoo!:
redxiii_real
felignd (My email address)
turks_no_23
murasame_samurai
minimog_da_cute

Diablo (Now defunct, my game wrecked):
DiablosMuerte
Meggido_Warrior

FFO and GSCCC Forums:
neored13

Heh, quite a list, eh?  My only accomplishment to date is a fan fic on 
FFO:  "Final Fantasy:  The Darkness Rising".

I live up in Alaska, and I have a lot of free time which I divide up 
between my daily chores, my wonderful cats, and video games/Internet.  I 
had nothing better to do, which is another reason I wrote this guide.

===============
5.  Preparation
===============
So!  Decided to take the big leap and confront this "Dario" everyone's 
talking about, eh?  Or maybe you tried fighting him a few times, and he 
kicked your ass royally.  Well, my friend, you've come to the right 
place.  If you don't prepare thoroughly, Dario will turn you into crispy 
strips of hero meat.  With this guide, you can't lose!  (Note:  Victory 
is not in any way guaranteed or implied by the use of this guide)

This optional battle can be fought almost any time after Dark Serge and 
Kid attack the Burned-Out Hermit's Hideaway.  To fight this battle, you 
need to have Riddel and the MementoPendant.  Riddel will join in 
Hermit's Hideaway.  To get the MementoPendant, you need to have Sir 
Karsh in your party.  He will join you either in Termina when you go to 
rescue Riddel, or later on the Invincible.  To start the MementoPendant 
sidequest, return to Viper Manor in Another World.  Go up to the throne 
room.  On your right is a door that was blocked off previously.  Now 
that you have defeated Guillot, you can enter the room.  In the room are 
four viper statues, a table, and a scroll on the wall.  The scroll says 
something about "Respect my behind."  Push the viper statues into the 
proper niches (Just the nearest one will do) and a treasure chest will 
rise from the table.  Approach it from behind and open it.  Opening it 
from the front will just dump your party into the prison in the lower 
level.  Inside the chest is a letter from everyone's two favorite 
gimboids, Solt and Peppor.  They say that they have what was in the box, 
and they've gone to the Isle of the Damned.  They also say to bring 
Karsh.  Take Karsh to the Isle of the Damned and follow the same path 
you took to get the Einlanzer (Through the dragon's rib cage and through 
the mirror).  You will be confronted by Solt and Peppor, who accuse 
Karsh of killing Sir Dario.  After a bit of memory, you will fight the 
two.  This time they don't fool around with slapstick Element tutorials.  
Peppor will use Strengthen and Pepporbox, while Solt will use LoRes and 
occasionally Sommersolt.  Beware, both of them can cast ThundaStorm.  
Set a Trap Element to capture this lovely Element.  When they are 
defeated, you gain Karsh's Lv. 7 Tech Skill, Axiomatic, and the 
MementoPendant.  With the MementoPendant and Riddel on your side, you 
can confront Dario at any time.  However, I DO NOT recommend taking him 
on right after getting them.

The best time to challenge Dario is during the Dragon Relic Quest.  
Specifically, after the Black Dragon.  Take Fargo into all your battles 
with Dragons and have him steal from them.  They carry armor that, while 
not being very strong, has the ability to absorb Elements of that color.  
Make ABSOLUTELY SURE you steal the Black Plate from the Black Dragon!  
This armor is vitally important to defeating Dario.  Wearing it will 
make life much easier for one character.  For this fight, I suggest your 
party be Lynx, Riddel, and your strongest PHYSICAL fighter, preferably 
Red Innate.  Orcha is a good choice.  Riddel should have the Black 
Plate.  Your other characters should have Stone equipment.  Accessories 
are up to you, but I recommend Dragoon's Honor and Defender.  Up 
Riddel's Magic and Defense as much as possible.  HP for this battle is 
recommended to be around 400 if at all possible.
Now for Element allocation.  Have Riddel with most, if not all, of your 
White attack Elements.  Distribute your White attack Elements sparingly 
to your other fighters.  Give your other fighters the majority of 
healing Elements and any attack Elements except Black or White, Red is 
best.  + and -1s are suggested.  You shouldn't need stat-affecting 
Elements like Weaken, Numble, etc.  However, it is a good idea to have 
Strengthen, HiRes, Genius, and EagleEye.  Nimble isn't necessary, since 
Dario has a high Accuracy and will generally have no trouble hitting 
you.  Strongminded also isn't necessary, since all of Dario's attacks 
are physical Tech Skills.  Revenge and SealAll are useless in this 
fight, so don't even bother.

To start the fight, take Riddel to Forgotten Island.  It's a small 
island to the north of Mt. Pyre.  The Zelbess was docked just above it 
before you awakened the Black Dragon.  There's smoke coming out of it.  
Land on the island and SAVE!  Walk to the center of the island and press 
X to enter the shack.  Head into the shack and speak with the man 
sitting at the table.  This man is none other than Dario.  Riddel 
immediately recognizes her long-lost love, and sets about trying to 
restore his memory.  Karsh and Radius enter during this period.  Dario 
regains some of his memories when shown the MementoPendant (This is done 
automatically), and tells Riddel to run.  However, it is too late for 
our heroes.  The Masamune appears and takes control of Dario.  Karsh 
then explains what really happened on the Isle of The Damned.  Dario 
drew the Masamune, and Karsh killed him in self-defense.  Lynx forged 
the lie that Dario was killed fighting demons.  The scene switches to 
outside the hut, where the party prepares to free Dario from the enmity 
of the evil sword.

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6.  Battle
===============
The battle with Dario is a tough one for those who haven't yet mastered 
the subtleties of the battle system.  Fortunately, Dario follows a 
predictable pattern.  He starts with a few physical attacks,  then uses 
a Tech Skill.  His Tech Skills are flashier Black versions of Glenn's 
Tech Skills.  What do you expect, he is Glenn's big brother.  However, 
his attack pattern changes slightly when you cast an Element on him.  
When you cast an Element on him, he retaliates with a specific Element 
of the opposite color.

If you cast:            He will use:
Green                   LoRes
Yellow                  BatEye
Red                     Numble
Blue                    Weaken
Black                   RecoverAll
White                   ConductaRod

For god's sake, don't cast Black on him!  He heals for about 300 HP!
The safest Element to cast on him is Red (Inferno, MagmaBurst, Volcano, 
etc.), since he will only cast Numble.
Do I need to tell you that ConductaRod HURTS?  It's capable of wiping 
out any non-Black character, and taking a very hefty chunk out of a 
black character.

Have Riddel pound her love with White Elements.  Since she has the Black 
Plate on, ConductaRod will HEAL her.  Avoid using Lynx's Tech Skills.  
Orcha is a good choice because of his easily obtained Lv. 7 Tech Skill, 
his healing Lv. 3, and his Lv. 5 heals him and damages the enemy.  Don't 
worry about Numble, since Dario has such a high accuracy that he'll have 
no trouble hitting you anyway.  However, BatEye, LoRes, and Weaken can 
really ruin your party.  Weaken doesn't matter so much with Riddel, 
since she's only attacking to build Element Power.  Just focus on 
beating Dario down, healing whenever your other characters are hurt, and 
you should be fine.  Just remember not to cast any Black Elements.  If 
you don't cast a Black element on Dario, he will never heal.  Just DON'T 
LET HIM TURN THE FIELD EFFECT BLACK!  If you can manage it, turn the 
Field Effect all one color (With support and healing Elements) and cast 
a Summon.  Don't use GrimReaper.  If you wait until after the Dragon 
Relic Quest, try and have Riddel cast Saints.  If you use Orcha, 
Salamander is the order of the day.  Just keep hammering at him and he 
should fall.  If you run out of Revives and someone dies, RUN AWAY!  
Heal with Consumables and charge back into the fray.

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7.  SPOILS!
===============
What do you get for winning this incredibly tough battle?  Only the best 
weapon for Serge/Lynx in the game!  When Dario is defeated, the Masamune 
is released from its former owner and focuses on Lynx.  Normally, this 
would be bad news.  However, there is no longer the slightest bit of 
malice in the Masamune.  Apparently, Masa and Mune were asleep while the 
Masamune was doing all this evil stuff.  Now they're awake, and decide 
to help Serge/Lynx.  The Masamune merges with the Sea Swallow and forms 
the Mastermune.  This weapon has excellent attack, just a few points 
less than a Spectra Swallow.  However, this weakness is more than made 
up for by the fact that it does critical damage almost every hit!  Plus, 
it just plain looks cool.
You also get Riddel's Lv. 7 Tech Skill, SnakeFangs.  This awesome 
Element allows her to recharge some of your Elements in battle.  I've 
never used it, but I suppose it has about the same effect as a Recharge 
Consumable, which recharges Elements of Levels 1 through 5.

===============
8.  Afterglow
===============
So, you beat Dario.  Congratulations!  Give yourself a pat on the back 
and move on.  If you haven't beaten the Sky Dragon, The Mastermune is 
going to make it OBSCENELY easy.  Also, Dario is supervising the 
reconstruction of the destroyed Viper Manor.  He's going to turn it into 
an orphanage for all the children who have been orphaned in the wars.  
This plan sees fruition in one of the alternate endings you can get in 
your New Game+.  If you take Riddel and General Viper to talk to him, 
the conversation gets kinda personal.  Also, most of your fights in the 
game will be considerably easier, since you now have a weapon comparable 
to the Rainbow weapons.

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9.  Other Stuff
===============
Thanks for taking the time to read my guide.  If you have any questions, 
comments, suggestions, fan mail, tschatkes, marriage proposals, or other 
pieces of interest, please send them to either dougkat@mtaonline.net or 
felignd@yahoo.com.  Include the words "Dario guide" or something in your 
subject.  If I use your suggestion, I'll give credit to you.  I'd enjoy 
seeing feedback.  This is my first FAQ/guide, and I'd like to know how I 
did.
