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In the US release of Afternoon of Darkness, several items are naturally.....glitched. These items, available for purchase in the store, have residents that are already "defeated".

- The items 'foresight's have random level 10800 residents on them such as brokers, armsmasters, statisticians, and managers. Equiping a 'foresight' results in you getting negative jumping abilities, but equipping two actually boosts your jump as compared to regular jumping ability. Moving the residents from the foresight has no impact on the item you move it to, but the foresight is either unusable or must be in a pair for use. Also, when combining one of these residents with another of their type at the item world person, they form a lower level ((1900?)) unbeaten resident. Defeating it results in a level 3800. As far as I have seen, combining other residents of its type won't increase it past 3800.

- Going to the item world of a foresight can be tricky for weaker characters/players. The only opponent you'll face besides the residents are all..... Laharls.

- There's a staff with a similar situation regarding residents. The name escapes me, but if someone knows it off-hand, feel free to post it.

As for strategies....

For leveling up, there are three good stages for sword users and fist users to level up at. Of course, the one you use will depend on the level of your characters and their strength. Two of these can be used in the PS2 version, the third is entirely new.

- The first is the first stage of the stellar graveyard. The nice, simple 3 x 3 set up is perfect for winged slayer or big bang. The enemies are very weak in comparison to the other two stages and this one will primarily be for prepping for the other stages.

- The second is Cave of Ordeals 3, another 3 x 3 set up. The enemies have a sturdy defense and resistance, so a high leveled attacker would be needed to defeat them all in one shot. The handy plus 50% experience makes leveling up fairly simple. With max enemies level on, your unit should go up to level 283 from level 1 and from 283 to 400 upon a second clearing.

- The third and final would be Cave of Ordeals at the very bottom of the demonhall mirror. Defeating Rozalin and Adell in the fight unlocks a stage with, le gasp, another 3 x 3 set up. The units are fairly stronger, but with 100% experience boost added to the mix, they are well worth the effort. A level 1 character can reach over 580 after a single clearing.
~ the downside to this stage is that the enemies are 8 spaces away from the base panel. So unless you have a majin with the movement + bill passed or a super robo suit laying around, you will need to throw the character to be able to hit the enemies.

Please also note: A handy level 300 or higher statistician would make leveling up that much easier because it would give you the maximum 400% experience effect.

The staff is Tainted Staff. I got a 11008 Alchemist on one.