Final Fantasy 19: Wandering the World of Darkness: Dastar, City of Bards

Location: The World of Darkness
Party members: Badger, Ferret, Phoenix
Opponents: None
BGM: Final Fantasy III - Covert Village Falgabard

Corresponding to Duster, residence of Bards and Geomancers, Dastar is the place where Ferret will FINALLY get an equipment upgrade. Hidden in the middle of the star-shaped forest to the west of Demur, Dastar is definitely worth a visit before storming Owl Tower.

Item Shop:
Potion
Antidote
Gold Needle
Eye Drops
Echo Screen
Holy Water
Phoenix Down

Dastar possesses all of the status-effect curing items in the game (except the unique ones such as Jinnspice and Shivan Soup). You won't need most of them for a while, but it wouldn't hurt to stock up early if you have the money.

Weapon Shop:
Thundering M-Phone
Dream M-Phone
Banshee's M-Phone
Song Stone

At last, weapon upgrades for Ferret! But which to choose? Unless you've spent a huge amount of time grinding for money, you won't be able to afford the Banshee's M-Phone. The Dream M-Phone is also vastly overpriced, especially as its effect can be mimicked once Ferret hits level 10 and learns Lullaby. The most reliable option--unless you're filthy rich--is the glorious Thundering M-Phone, which will finally allow Ferret to hurt all monsters instead of simply attacking them.

The Song Stone is good enough, all things considered; it protects from Sleep, which isn't a bad status effect to have protection from. However, it's very expensive, like almost everything else in the area, and protection from Sleep just isn't that necessary right now. If you've bought everything else in Dastar (up to and including the Banshee's M-Phone,) the Song Stone is not an unworthy purchase. However, if you've done that, you don't really need the Song Stone at all, now do you?

Armor Shop:
Diamond Bell
Plumed Hat
Bardic Robe

The Bardic Robe is a Ferret-only equip that offers only one point more Defense than the Flashy Robe but almost twice as much Magic Defense. It's a great piece of armor, as long as you can afford it. The Diamond Bell is a beautiful helmet with extremely high Defense; its physical protection might even outweigh its complete lack of Magic Defense and its typically exorbitant price tag. Or it might not, especially since Owl Tower and the Scholars' Library - the two dungeons you'll be tackling next - have foes with powerful magical attacks in them. Plumed Hats were, of course, for sale in Peaheria already.

A typical party set-up at this point might be:

Badger
Wave Hammer
Plumed Hat
Flashy Robe
Mythril Bangle
Remora Eidolon


Ferret
Thundering M-Phone
Plumed Hat/ Diamond Bell
Bardic Robe
Mythril Bangle
Oxen Stone


Phoenix
Magic Wand
Plumed Hat
Flashy Robe
Chocobangle
Water/ Storm Jewel



At this point, you can go and venture into the Scholars' Library if you wish. However, even with equipment from Peaheria and Dastar, you may not be strong enough to survive its many dangers. I will cover that location after Owl Tower.