Phon Coast

The Phon Coast is a location in the land of Ivalice in Final Fantasy XII.

Story
The party passes through Phon Coast on their way to Archades, where Ashe wants to destroy the Empire's nethicite with the Sword of Kings. Balthier, who has seen Ashe's interest in the nethicite grow during their journey, stops to warn Ashe of the stones' power while the party takes a break on Phon Coast.

Balthier then goes on to reveal that Dr. Cid is his father and that he used to be a judge before he ran away from Archades to become a sky pirate. He doesn't want Ashe to end up the same way as his father did.

With this in mind, Ashe still decides to carry on her journey, and the party leaves the coast to travel inland toward the capital.

Locations
Connecting the regions of Nabradia and Archadia, the Phon Coast is located between the Salikawood and the Tchita Uplands. It has white sandy beaches that need to be crossed to reach Archades by land.

Leads to the Salikawood, contains a Save Crystal and where the Strahl is berthed.
 * Kaukula Pass


 * The Reseta Strand
 * The Mauleia Strand

Contains a chocobo path that leads to Caima Hills and vice-versa.
 * Pora-Pora Sands


 * Cape Tialan
 * Cape Uahuk

A Wayward Chocobo lurks here.
 * The Hakawea Shore

Contains a Notice Board, Gate Crystal, Chocobo Stables, Item Shop, and the Hunt Club.
 * Hunter's Camp

A Wayward Chocobo lurks here. On the western side is a Chocobo path leading to and from Pora-Pora Sands.
 * Caima Hills

In the northern section, there is a hidden passage that leads straight to Limatra Hills and vice versa. On the beach is a cluster of 16 treasure chests that must not be looted from if one wants to receive the Zodiac Spear later on. This gimmick was removed in the Zodiac versions and the chests are safe to open.
 * The Vaddu Strand

In the southern side is a hidden path that leads to and from The Vaddu Strand.
 * Limatra Hills

Leads to the Tchita Uplands and contains a Save Crystal.
 * Rava's Pass

Weather
The Phon Coast has three different weather conditions:
 * Sunny
 * Cloudy
 * Rain

The weather is either sunny or cloudy/rainy. During the cloudy/rainy weather, the weather changes when zoning between areas within the Coast. When it is raining, the Air Elemental is encountered in the Pora-Pora Sands and Limatra Hills areas. Also, when raining, Fire damage is halved and Lightning damage is boosted.

Treasures
Several Hi-Potions and Motes can be found across the Phon Coast. With the Diamond Armlet equipped, the common treasure is a Knot of Rust and the rare treasure is a good healing item, like an Elixir or a high-level Mote (such as the Scathe Mote).

In the Reseta Strand, there is a treasure that spawns in the middle of the northern edge of the area that can have the Metal Jerkin. The Mauleia Strand area has treasure all around its southern edge, and one of them can have the Murasame. In Pora-Pora Sands the treasure in the northeast can have the Aldebaran. Treasure found in the Cape Uahuk area can have the Black Garb and Black Cowl.

In the southeast part of the Cape Tialan area, multiple treasure chests spawn. The player may find the Halberd, Diamond Shield, another Aldebaran, and a Gokuu Pole, among many others. In Caima Hills, there is a treasure chest that spawns a bit off the entrance from Hunters' Camp that may have the Thorned Mace. In Limatra Hills, the treasure chest that spawns nearest to the entrance from Caima Hills can have the Adamant Hat. A treasure chest that spawns near the exit to the Save Crystal area can have the Recurve Crossbow.

The Phon Coast contains a treasure chest (labeled in red) that, once claimed, prevents the player from obtaining the Zodiac Spear (one of the most powerful weapons) in the Necrohol of Nabudis. The forbidden chest is among 16 chests found on the beach in Vaddu Strand. All the chests contain Knots of Rust so the player can easily ignore them even if only one of them is the forbidden one. The 16 chests on the Phon Coast correspond to the 16 chests in the Necrohol of Nabudis and, once claimed, will disappear from both locations, which is why claiming the treasure at Phon Coast prevents the player from getting the spear at Necrohol of Nabudis.

If the player claims the chests with the Diamond Armlet equipped they contain Dark Matter instead of Knots of Rust. It is advised to first claim the Zodiac Spear and later claim the other chests with the Diamond Armlet equipped, either at the Necrohol or at Phon Coast.

The concept of forbidden chests was removed for the Zodiac versions.

The Reseta Strand

 * Zodiac
 * Original

The Mauleia Strand

 * Zodiac
 * Original

Pora-Pora Sands

 * Zodiac
 * Original

Cape Uahuk

 * Zodiac
 * Original

Cape Tialan

 * Zodiac
 * Original

The Hakawea Shore

 * Zodiac
 * Original

The Vaddu Strand
Chests in this location do not respawn.


 * Zodiac
 * Original
 *  - WARNING: Opening this chest stops the Zodiac Spear from spawning in the Necrohol of Nabudis.

In the Zodiac versions, the contents of these treasure chests have been altered significantly. They include items like Teleport Stones and Braid Wool not normally found in treasures. This is a clue that this set of treasure chests hold a secret.

To unlock this secret, the player must take the first Japanese character/syllable of each treasure going from last to first (east to west).

Doing so produces the following syllables.

Combining the syllables produces three words.

These are portions of the Japanese names for Great Crystal (Kurisutaru Gurande), Pharos - First Ascent (Ridoruana Daitōdai - Kasō), and Skyferry (Hikūtei Teikibin) are the locations of the three strongest invisible weapons.

Caiman Hills

 * Zodiac
 * Original

Limatra Hills

 * Zodiac
 * Original

Hunt Club
A group of unruly bangaa hunters operate out of one of the docked ships. Rather than Marks, they prefer to hunt the more elusive Rare Game. After completing the events at Draklor Laboratory, they petition Vaan to hunt for them and return with trophies received from defeating the rarest of creatures.

There are 30 Trophies in total and, depending on which bangaa Vaan gives the trophies to, he gets varying rewards for his efforts. The objective is to collect the 30 trophies and trade them to Atak, Stok and Blok to unlock items in the Shifty-Eyed Merchant's store. Unfortunately, since there are only 30 trophies, it is impossible to unlock everything.


 * Original
 * Zodiac

Depending on who the player gives the most trophies to, there will be an additional reward after trading in all 30 trophies.


 * Original
 * Zodiac

If the player visits the Highgarden Terrace in Archades and talks to the Hunt Club Owner, he will reward the player for finding the 30 trophy monsters. Highgarden Terrace is only accessible with a Sandalwood Chop, an item granting its owner access to the higher class areas of Archades.

Rare Game
Some of the Rare Game are found at Phon Coast. To spawn Thalassinon, the player must talk to the "Huntmaster" in the rare game hunt party in the Phon Coast, he will give the player details of what they must do. Then the player must stand at the highest point in the Vaddu Strand area for ten seconds. The enemy will appear below on the beach.

To spawn the Apsara, the player must kill at least ten Piranhas in the Phon Coast (no chain required) without leaving the Phon Coast. The best place to kill Piranhas is the Vaddu Strand. The Apsara appears on the beach area of Mauleia Strand.

To find Skullash the player must have spoken to the "Huntmaster" and started the Rare Game quest. Afterward there is a 40% chance it will appear among the Pyrolisks in Cape Tialan.

Small Key
If the player defeated the Earth Tyrant, Rimzat can be found in the Hunters' Camp and talks about what went on after the Earth Tyrant's death. After the Antlion hunt in the Lhusu Mines has been completed, the Site 11 Key can be found in the Hunters' Camp, next to a fallen Bhujerban. This unlocks a gate in Lhusu Mines to get to the deepest parts of the complex.

Weapons

 * Original
 * Zodiac

Armor

 * Original
 * Zodiac

Accessories

 * Original
 * Zodiac

Magicks

 * Original
 * Zodiac

Items

 * Original
 * Zodiac

Technicks

 * Original
 * Zodiac

Enemies

 * Archaeosaur
 * Bangaa Pirate
 * Bagoly
 * Pyrolisk
 * Silver Lobo
 * Iguion (Docile)
 * Mandragora (Docile)
 * White Chocobo
 * Piranha
 * Air Elemental
 * Apsara (Rare)
 * Thalassinon (Rare)
 * Skullash (Rare)

Musical themes
The theme of Phon Coast is simply called "Phon Coast".

Map
The map can be bought in the Hunter's Camp for 1,800 gil.


 * Areas highlighted in red are hidden passages that do not appear on the map.



Trivia

 * The Phon Coast was the first area in the game the fans could play at the 2004 E3 conference. The area is also included in the playable demo released in North America, a year before the game, sporting different enemies than in the final game version.

Phon-Küste