Final Fantasy Resonance Chapter 1 Walkthrough: Tailing the Truth

The game opens with a short prologue tutorial in Grandshelt Castle. Follow the prompts to learn combat, then leave the castle with Rain and Lasswell and head for the Earth Shrine. At the shrine entrance, Rain gets a dialogue choice that gives a small permanent stat bonus, so read it before you pick. Inside, explore fully and open chests as you go: the shrine holds Flame Scrolls, and the boss ahead is weak to Fire. Before the large staircase, check east underneath it for the Nodachi. Use the save point before the final chamber.

Belmodar waits at the bottom of the Earth Shrine. It is weak to Fire, and a second weakness, Dark, is listed by the fan wiki and boss guides. Rain already has Fire, so have him cast Fire to build Stagger, while Lasswell uses his strongest staggering skill. Flame Scrolls from the shrine also help. You have no Visions yet at this point, and you do not need one for this fight.

After the shrine, travel to the town of Mitra. It has an inn and item, weapon, armor, and accessory shops, so restock here. Go to Rain's old house, the one with the blue roof, and investigate the inner door. The story sequence that follows gives you two Visions at once: Leah and Tronn. Leah brings healing and Light magic, including Cure and Banish. Tronn brings elemental black magic, including Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder.

Head back south to Grandshelt, the Royal Capital. Before you enter the castle, buy better equipment from the shops and pick up the chests near the entrance. The castle is under attack, and the enemies inside are undead, so healing and Light attacks work well on them. Carry Antidote Herbs for Poison. Fight through the castle toward the throne room.

Hell's Rider fights with three Dark Skeletons, and all of them are weak to Light. The Rider itself is weak to Ice and Light. Have Lasswell use Ice, such as Dawn Frost and Tronn's Hibernal Fury, on the Rider, while Rain uses Leah's Banish on the skeletons. One guide warns not to leave the Rider alone too early, because it hits harder once its escorts are gone; another advises clearing the skeletons first. Either way, keep healing up and focus your weakness hits on the Rider once the skeletons are handled.

After the Rider, keep going to the throne room and rescue the King. Then comes Umbra, the knight from the Earth Shrine. This is a scripted loss: you cannot win it, so do not spend rare recovery items or MP trying. Let the scene play out. When you leave the capital, Fina joins the party as your healer. If you like, move Leah onto Fina instead of Rain.

From the capital, travel to the Village of Kol and stay at the inn. The next morning, rent a chocobo from the stablehand. The chocobo matters: a high-level Antlion ambushes travelers on foot on the road between Grandport and Kol, and riding avoids that fight. If it does catch you on foot, you can flee. With the chocobo, cross the desert toward Felicitas. On the way, look for Sanctums of Light: the Warrior of Light Vision is near Kol, Cloud's is north of Grandport Harbor, and Terra's is on the way to Felicitas. These are optional, but they give useful skills for the fights ahead.

The Hunger is fought twice in the Kolobos Ruins, and its weakness changes. The first form is weak to Ice: use Lasswell's Blizzard, Tronn's Blizzard, and the Ice Scrolls from Felicitas. Do not spend everything here, because the boss revives. The second form is weak to Light, and its escorts are weak to Light too. Use Fina's Shining Arrow and Leah's Banish, deal with the escorts, and keep healing through the second phase.

Return to Grandport Harbor. It has an inn and item, weapon, and armor shops, plus a Vision shop, so this is the best place in the chapter to restock. Its chests hold Lightning Scrolls: keep them for Siren. Speak with the sailor at the pier to start the Siren objective, then head for Siren's Tower. On the way up, take the northern path to the main staircase, then the western stairs toward the elevator, and the northeastern passage after it. Pick up the Monk's Prayer Beads in the tower if you do not have them yet. One chest in the tower triggers an optional Gilgamesh encounter: he takes the Genji Gloves and leaves, and you are not meant to win that fight, so do not burn MP or items on it.

Siren is the final boss of Chapter 1, and she is weak to Lightning. Hit her with Tronn's Thunder and the Lightning Scrolls from Grandport to build Stagger. Her dangerous move is Allure, which can Charm the whole party. Equip Monk's Prayer Beads on Rain and Fina to block Charm, or use Leah's Nullify Charm. Keep Fina free to heal, and have your attackers focus on Lightning. When Siren falls, she joins you as your first Esper. Return to Grandport and board the ship to end Chapter 1.

Finish anything you want to do on this continent before boarding, including side quests, Tablet Shards, and Sanctums of Light. The Marauder waits in a cave north of the port: it is an optional high-level fight, and you can come back later when you are stronger. Back in Grandport, a moogle can upgrade your Visions when you have Magicite Shards. Then ride the ship out of Grandport, and Chapter 2 picks up from there.

Chapter 1 is also the demo, so it is the best place to learn the Stagger and Vision systems before the story opens up in Chapter

2. Keep the scrolls for the boss they point at, ride the chocobo past the Antlion, and bring Lightning and Charm protection to Siren.