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Like Albert and Sif, Claudia's opening quest in Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song is a great way to get a feel for the atmosphere of the game, even if it's a little light on the mechanics. It's short, sweet, and comes with two adorable and exclusive party members.

RELATED: Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song - How To Get Gold And Jewels

Despite being quite easy to get through, there's a lot to think about when starting a playthrough in this game, such as how to open up the world once the initial quest is complete, and how you should develop your characters.

Overview: Claudia

Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song Claudia, Brau, Sylvan, and Eule

Claudia begins her story in the Mazewood, a confusing, mystical forest that is hard to navigate. Thanks to her origins and her situation, she will also begin with two animal companions, Sylvan and Brau. Along the way, she'll meet and join forces with Gray.

Claudia

Brau

Sylvan

Gray

Class

Ranger

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Swordsman

Skill

Bow, Terrology, Search

Martial Arts

Martial Arts

Foil, Long Sword, Two-handed Sword

  • Claudia begins as a Ranger, which gives her some skill with both Bows and Terrology. This makes her a good backline fighter, so put her there to maximize ranged damage and keep her safe. Ranger isn't a bad class for the entire game, but if you decide to change it up, be sure to pick a class that has skills in either Bows or Terrology to keep her skills useful.
  • Brau and Sylvan, as animals, don't get the same class customization options or equipment slots as humans (or the lone geckling on the cast). They can be useful at the beginning of the game, but their usefulness wanes quickly. Don't worry, though - they are temporary companions and will leave during the quest 'Eule Gives a Hoot.'
    • Brau has attacks that can inflict status ailments.
    • Sylvan has attacks that can reduce an enemy's stats.
  • Swordsman is a really great class for Gray - it gives him all he needs: strong weapon skills and a damage boost when using them. He can make other classes work, but it's cheaper in jewels to keep him a Swordsman.

Monsters In The Mazewood

Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song Claudia in the Mazewood

At the beginning of the game, Claudia is delivered a message telling her that Eule is looking for her. Walk forwards a few steps to meet up with Eule and speak to her to learn of monsters at the Mazewood's entrance. It's up to you and your animal companions to deal with them.

Before you leave Eule on her own, enter the tree and get the handful of gold and jewels from the chest there.

To find the monsters, head back to where you came from. On this screen, walk down a few steps until you can head to the right - do so, and then head down when you can again to reach the next screen.

On this next screen, keep heading directly toward the camera until you get to the Mazewood entrance - you'll stumble across a man being chased by monsters and automatically begin a battle controlling him. His name is Gian and after one round of combat, Claudia and her animal friends will join the fray.

This is a very easy fight, just focus down the Skydancer first to make sure it doesn't take out one of your allies and rob them of a chance to increase their stats.

After the battle, you'll get a map of the empire. Instead of leaving the Mazewood immediately to visit Gian as he recommends, head back where you came from and talk to Eule again. She'll tell you to go explore the world, but to come straight back to her if she requests it. You'll get Melvir and Aurefont unlocked.

Leave the Mazewood - remember, just walk towards the camera the entire way.

Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song Claudia in Melvir

Once on the world map, choose to go to Melvir. Explore a bit and talk with the locals, being especially sure to get the city's map from the Volunteer Brigade child. Your actual destination is the Elizabeth Palace, which is located on the second level of the city.

Talk to the guards outside the palace and you'll be shown around and introduced to a man named Lord Neville. After the scene, you'll wake up at the Melvir Inn. Leave, and with one more cutscene, Gray is added to the party and you get access to the wider world.

The Next Steps

Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song Recruiting Sif

Claudia has a pretty short introduction and even comes with more locations unlocked to begin with than any other character. You can fill out the majority of the locations not related to quests simply by recruiting two characters and taking ferries from the ports on the east side of the world.

Barbara and Sif are the characters you need to recruit to open up the locations dotted along the New Road and the southern reaches, respectively. You can find them both at Crystal City and Altours, so check there for them.

After recruiting one, you can dismiss them to recruit the other, if you don't want to get rid of Gray. Your animal friends cannot be dismissed normally.

From then on, it's quite easy to find out where to go next - take on the early quests first, unlock locations by talking to NPCs, and watch out for the surprise assassin attack in Melvir once you've left the city once.

Quite early on in the game, around when you reach Event Rank 7, a quest will trigger when you sleep at an inn: Eule Gives a Hoot. This is the quest that Eule told you about. When this happens, go to the Mazewood and head back to Eule's Nest to complete the quest. This is the trigger for Brau and Sylvan leaving your party permanently.

If you never complete this quest, you'll have Brau and Sylvan in your party permanently. You might want to keep them around for flavor or for a challenge! They're cute, but they never really grow much stronger.

NEXT: Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song - Raising Stats, Explained