Romancing SaGa 2 (PS4 & Vita) Trophy Guide & Road Map

Romancing SaGa 2 (PS4 & Vita)
Romancing SaGa 2 (PS4 & Vita) Trophy Guide

Overview:

Estimated trophy difficulty: 7/10 (personal estimate) (Trophy Difficulty Rating)
Offline trophies: 43 (32, 7, 3, 1)
Online trophies: 0
Approximate amount of time to platinum: 50-100 hours, depends heavily on number of playthroughs (personal estimate) (Estimated Time to Platinum)
Minimum number of playthroughs: 2
Number of missable trophies: technically 0 thanks to a very friendly NG+ system, but 2 trophies have tricky prerequisites and in that sense are very missable (see Other Legend and Successor)
Glitched trophies: 0
Does difficulty affect trophies?: N/A
Do trophies stack?: Yes, the Global PS4 & Vita and Asia PS4 versions have separate lists.
Do cheat codes disable trophies?: N/A
Additional peripherals required?: None

Introduction:

Welcome to the wonderful world of Romancing SaGa 2! Many consider the SaGa series the "black sheep" of Square Enix franchises. And for good reason: the mechanics are strange, the stories are presented in non-traditional, non-linear ways, and you'll often feel lost and/or punished for making what seemed like decent decision-making in your mind. It's not for the faint of heart, but with some grit (and a walkthrough), this JRPG can be conquered without too much of a headache.

Before moving forward, some basic tips for getting started with your first playthrough:

1) When you start a new game, you'll be prompted as to whether or not you want to use additional content. The answer is yes. Always yes. There are trophies that you can only get with the content, and there is no trophy that is made harder to get by including the additional content.

2) Though "grinding" technically makes the game harder (at certain battle counts, standard enemies and bosses upgrade HP and stats significantly), you should use your first playthrough to fight a lot of battles. When all is said and done, you will need to fight approximately 2000 battles in a single playthrough. This is specifically for a grind-heavy trophy,

Great Tree of Avalon. You'll need to build the orchard and upgrade it twice at the right times, but otherwise, the only way the tree grows is by battle counter. While you do this, you can max out combat and (more importantly) magic skills so you're set to go for your NG+ run.

3) Try not to get too attached to any one character: this is a "generations" game (see also SaGa Frontier 2). The good news is that some stats, some learned skills, inventory, and your money will carry not only from one generation to the next, but even into NG+. There is a hidden statistic known among the community as your "global stats" -- when you start a new emperor, unless that emperor has a natural stat boost for a certain combat or magic skill, the number for that combat/magic skill at start plus 5-7 points is your global skill level.

4) If you feel like you screwed up and need to start over, you do not have to finish the game first! You can start a NG+ at any time! Just start a new game, and the game will ask if you want to carry data from a previous save: that save file can be any file you currently have. Again, what is carried over -- global stats, learned skills (minus combined magic, which you'll have to pay to learn again), inventory, and money. Some key items in your inventory (Bard instruments, Mermaid Potion, etc) do not carry over. All equipment does carry over, which means you can get multiple pieces of ultimate equipment (such as Sevens Sword/Armor).

5) Unlike many other SaGa games, Romancing SaGa 2 does *not* have combos to learn. So you'll be relying on your five individuals to deal out the most damage, buffs/debuffs, and heals as they can individually. Instead of having combos, there is a strong emphasis on Formation. Each emperor/empress class (almost all) has a unique Formation that can be learned by talking to an NPC on the first floor of Avalon Castle. There is also a special (and very useful) Formation that gives attack and speed boost to the whole party called "Goblin Formation," that you learn in the additional content "Maze of Memory" by defeating the Goblins in the green-orb dungeon and taking a scroll back to the Avalon NPC.

6) There are lots of menus, but one very important place you'll want to keep track of is when you hit

, and then

, which brings up a list of events completed in the game's 15 tracked zones (North Varennes being the starting area, in the northwest corner of the map). This guide will sometimes refer to those completed events, as they generally act as flags for opening access to or actively starting further events.

Finally, take note of the save slots. You have four save files; use them wisely. There will be many times you'll want to keep safety/backup saves, and other times that you will intentionally take forked paths to pick up as many trophies as possible in a single playthrough. Note also the Quicksave slot at the bottom. This is an auto-save that updates after every time you enter a new room or complete a battle. Given that the game is prone to the occasional crash, Quicksave is a very welcome addition! Remember, if you load a regular save file, that will overwrite the Quicksave, so if you're returning from a crash or an intentional reset after losing a battle, remember that you want to load that Quicksave file!

Resources:

WeekendRisktaker's Walkthrough on GameFAQs -- To date, this FAQ, first written in 2002 based on the Japanese Super Famicom original version and using common fan-translation names of areas, items, skills, etc, is the most comprehensive English-language guide to the game. Obviously it does not cover the additional content (Maze of Memory, Orchard), but it provides information on specific scenarios at a far greater depth than this guide goes, as many of those details are not germane to achieving the Platinum Trophy. But if you're struggling to get your head around the game, or you're just stuck and don't know what to do in a certain town or dungeon, this guide probably has your answer.
Romancing SaGa 2 Official Digital Manual -- Though no manual comes directly with this digital-only game, Square Enix did take the time to publish a digital manual on the game's official site. If you're completely unfamiliar to the entire SaGa franchise, this is a great place to learn some of the basics about important features like LP, skill progression, character classes, and more.

Walkthrough:

Step 1: First Half of First Run (up to Comroon Volcano pt. 2 split)

The game offers you a helping hand at its beginning. The first two trophies are part of what we may consider the "tutorial" scenario, which covers years 1000 to 1003. Just play the game, and you will receive:

Watchman Purge
Father's Will
Soul Eater

At this point, you've taken control of Gerard and have your first taste of non-linear progression. Your options are to work south through Nibel (South Varennes), Ludon, and (Northern) Nazelle, where they Saigo live; or, proceed directly toward the goal given to you and take on the Canal Fortress in South Varennes. In your first playthrough, a direct encounter with the Canal Fortress is very challenging. Fortunately, there is another, far better way to go, and it nets you one of approximately 20 "recruitment" trophies. For this walkthrough, I recommend you start by focusing on the Canal Fortress by taking the alternete route.

That route is to befriend your friendly neighborhood burglar. For this step, follow the trophy guide below for the "City Thief" trophy. Once you're done, you'll likely advance a generation, and unlock a whole bunch of opportunities.

City Thief

Now that you've had a generation leap, you get to build your first party. You'll start by getting to choose one of four options for your next Emperor/Empress. Different classes offer different bonuses, and some allow you to learn new formations from the formation-leader in the first floor of the castle. You can learn more about all of this, as well as who to put in your new party, in the GameFAQs guide. At this point, you can also put the equivalent of Cat, and/or the Thieves' Guild leader, into your party, alongside the standard people in the castle. Eventually, near endgame, you'll have the option to expand your city so that all the recruitable characters can be conveniently added to your party in one spot, instead of traveling the world to their various home points to add them.

More importantly, immediately after you select your next-gen Emp, one of your aides will approach you and you'll be given the option to build a Magic Research Laboratory (1,000,000 crowns) and an Orchard (300,000 crowns). I hope you opened all those treasure chests! If you did, you can afford to start building these now. That's important! Once you start building them, it will take a few events completed that we call "black-screen" events (because the screen fades to black and returns you to Avalon afterwards) for time to pass. However, this won't necessarily force a generation change: there's actually a simple algorithm for that, with point values assigned to each event in the game. So, as you complete events, be sure to speak with your info-gatherer. Once the Laboratory is finished you will unlock:

Runic Scholar

Now, following instructions in the specific trophies below to make sure you do not accidentally lock yourself out of clearing a province or recruiting a character, you should be able to clear the following before the second Comroon Volcano scenario (which includes a critical fork in the road):

Mastermind of War
Martial Art Expert
Friend of Mus
Longit Corsair
Aqua Guard
Knight of Cumberland
Steppe Farer
Desert Warrior
Savannah Chaser
Ground Dweller
Forest Warrioress
Maze Master
Exorcist
Foul Puppeteer
Proud Fighter
Power Hungry
Beauty Queen

Step 2: Second Half of First Run (including orchard grindfest)

Once you have completed enough quests (both Hero and non-Hero), you will unlock some late-game quests, such as the Sunken Ship and Comroon Volcano 2. The prerequisite for Comroon Volcano 2, of course, is Comroon Volcano 1. For this, you will have gone to Comroon, found out the volcano is about to erupt, then collect an ice crystal from the Seer and throw it into the volcano. After a few generations, you'll get news from your information-gatherer NPC that the volcano is acting up again.

When you head to Comroon, every time you talk to an NPC in the main town, the screen will shake. The townspeople are convinced it's an earthquake and can't possibly be related to the volcano since your magic ice crystal made it go dormant. Now, head to Zemio and talk to the leader of the Salamander tribe. They ask you to evacuate the townspeople, because the volcano's pressure has been building (thanks to the ice seal your ancestor put there hundreds of years ago) and when it blows it's going to destroy everything. You ask about the Salamanders, and they're all like, "we're not going anywhere." They're going down with the ship, apparently.

Head to the town and warn the humans. They'll run off, as predicted. Return to Zemio. When you do, create a safety save here, because one of two things is going to happen. If you wish to recruit the Salamanders, you talk to the Salamander leader again. He'll give you a hammer and say "do your best if you want to save us." Then head to the volcano, run to the top, and fight ... a pile of rocks? This fight can be challenging, because an infinite number of enemies charge at you (max of three on the screen), so it can be helpful to have some strong AoE attacks (Falling Arrows, Galactic Rift) or distance attacks that can skip the mobs and hit the rocks. Once you've done enough damage to the rocks, the volcano does not super-erupt, but instead lets out its normal stream of lava.

Now, return to Zemio (if a stone boat isn't there, go get another one from Salamat and return), and talk to the Salamander again. You will get a black-screen transition and this trophy:

Lizard of Volcano Island

At this point, if you know this is the path you want to take, make a separate save and re-load your safety save. Otherwise, don't save at all, and just load that safety save.

This time, instead of talking to the salamander again, just go back to the human town. You'll get a cut scene where fiery madness rains down on everything. Afterwards, check the map of the Comroon province, and you'll see a new destination has appeared! Go there. It's a dungeon, albeit a short one. When you get to the end, you find an ancient tome with secret magic. You take it, but as you go to leave, the Seer confronts you. He explains that all this time, his evil plan was to have your ancestor block the volcano, then when it super-exploded, this land mass would rise from the sea, and then he'd gain access to this magic tome that he'd been searching for. He offers you a trade: you can have all the other treasures in the room, just let him have the book. That's a great way to not get any trophies. So tell him the deal's off, and he'll get angry and attack. He's not a difficult boss by any measure.

After you've defeated him, return to Avalon. When you go to the Magic Research Laboratory, you'll notice that talking to the Cosmology NPCs is a bad idea. They want you to throw away the book because it's evil. But, if you take it to the NPCs in any of the four elemental rooms, they're like "ooh! Shiny new book!"

After that, without anyone telling you, there is now a secret magic tower built east of the Laboratory. If you exit the laboratory, you'll notice a one-tile-wide path to the west and east in the grass. Head east, and you'll run under the tree line and BAM! Tower for Dark Magic research. Go learn some Dark Magic, my friend!

Forbidden Magic

Again, no matter what you choose in this fork, it will not affect progress towards the other trophies. A lot of people like Dark Magic. Personally, I never used it, and I was happy to have the Salamander on board, even though I never really used him either.

Now then, if you have access to Comroon 2, you should also have access to Sunken Ship and a whole bunch of other near-endgame stuff. Which means you'll next be collecting the following trophies:

Elite Warrior
Prize Invention
Self-Aware Automaton (note the conditions in the trophy description below)
Friend of the Sea
Wind Manipulator
Eastern Swordsman
Ruler of the Sea
Leader of the Seven Heroes

And at this point, you'll have reached endgame, which means you are the Final Emperor/Empress, which also means...

Final Duty

There are a few things you should do before heading to NG+. First is the horrible grind to finish the orchard. You can read the details below. Many hours later, congrats, you got:

Great Tree of Avalon

Next, if you followed this guide properly and added all possible provinces and recruited characters (save Salamander, he's optional), you should have the opportunity to do the friendly duel with ghost-Victor. Some helpful tips are found in the trophy guide below for him. Clear that and you get:

Successor

All that's left for now is to complete the game. If you wanted to, you could clear the four Maze of Memory Dragons and attempt the Dread Queen, but we're going to save that for NG+. So go ahead and beat the game! After the credits are done rolling, you'll get:

Hero of Legend

Step 3: NG+ for Other Legend, Dread Queen, and clean-up

First, if you missed any of the above trophies in your first playthrough, use NG+ to pick them up. You may be able to pick them up as part of the Other Legend route, or you may not. It depends on which trophy you need. If you need to do a third run, so be it.

You can take care of Dread Queen at any time during your NG+ run. The entire Maze of Memory operates outside the time/generation points system of the main game (it is, essentially the game's "Additional Content" that you select at the beginning of each game). The Maze of Memory is found in South Longit, but the map icon for it does not appear until you talk to an NPC in Mobelm (who is always there) along the southern row of docks, standing on a dock west of center, with no boat by him. Once you talk to that guy, and have found a path to South Longit, you can go to the Maze.

Completing the four mazes will net you the following:

Crushing Memory
Evil Memory
Ruined Memory
Sinful Memory

Those bosses are pushovers, mostly because you have access to Hasten Time! The next boss, however, is immune to Hasten Time. So you'll want to pay attention to the strategies in the trophy guide below. Once you're ready, head to that sandy-colored orb in Maze of Memory's lobby area, and prepare to take on the hardest enemy in the game: The Dread Queen. Win, and you will be presented with:

Terrifying Presence

All that's left now is arguably the hardest trophy in the game: Other Legend. This requires a very specific route of the game that tricks the game into bypassing the flag that forces you into becoming the Final Emperor/Empress. All of the details are in the trophy guide below. Should you succeed, you'll get:

Other Legend

And finally:

Trophy Collector

[PST would like to thank pgann for this Roadmap]

Trophy Collector

Acquired all trophies
You know the drill. Get all the other trophies and then enjoy your plat!
Watchman Purge

Defeated the Watchmen
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story.
Father's Will

Gerard became Emperor
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story.
City Thief

Befriended a Vagabond
There's a limited window for this, to be completed during Gerard's lifetime.

In the town portion of Avalon, go to the house in the southwest and talk to the wealthy man. He will tell you (depending on the passage of time) that a) he's afraid he will be robbed, or b) he has been robbed! In either case, this trigger alongside your "Information-Gathering" NPC in the castle (you'll become close friends with that one!), allows you to begin the cat burglar scenario. To begin it, head to your bed in the chambers behind the throne room (your bed is on the right). When you enter it, you will notice that you do not automatically go to sleep: you have to hit X or walk out and back in if you want a rest. But you do not want to rest. Rather, you want to use this opportunity to find the burglar.

Head into town, enter the weapon shop north of the wealthy man's house, and then enter the empty fireplace. Now you're on a rooftop. By running (default movement unless you switched it in one of the menu options), you can hop north to the next house, and then north two more times onto platforms and into a window. Here, you'll find the cat burglar! They run off, and you're free to empty to the contents of that treasure chest (do it, you need the money). Then, as you're exiting, you'll see the thief is cornered by monsters. You have the choice to save, or not save, the burglar. Save them.

As you exit the area, you will be transported back to your room. Go to bed, and then follow cat-burglar's advice by talking to the bartender at the bar and asking about "The Cat." He points you in the direction of the elderly gentleman standing outside that hole dug in the cemetery (east of town). Talk to him, and you hop into the hole to find yourself in the Thieves' Guild. The Cat Burglar is standing behind the counter, but the person you need to talk to is the de facto leader. He says he can't help you with the matter of the Canal Fortress because he's not sure he can trust the emperor. So he sends the emperor of Avalon to take care of his dirty business: go through the next stairwell into the sewers and fight a squid that is blocking one of the rooms. Simple enough: go down there, kill it, come back.

Next stop: hit until you reach the world map, then select South Varennes and then the Canal Fortress. When you get there, enter the first building (a bar) and talk to The Cat. They'll tell you to meet them in the next building. In the next building, there's a secret entrance; take it, and enjoy a smooth ride to victory. Specifically, once inside the Canal Fortress, The Cat has "mapped out" the path for you. You'll see it marked as these patterned sabers acting as arrow markers. Follow them. Sometimes they split in two directions: when they do, follow the shorter path to a room with treasure in it. Again, you need money early in the game, so get these! If you stay along the saber-path, you will not encounter any enemies (this dungeon is far more annoying, filled with enemies, if you didn't get the Cat to help). In the final area, you come to a row of six doors, and the saber points to door five. Enter it, confront the leader, fight a battle (which is generally a pushover), and you'll receive this trophy, alongside proceeding forward one generation.
Runic Scholar

Befriended a Mage for Hire
This unlocks once the Magic Research Laboratory is built and you talk to any of the mages who teach magic to you.
Mastermind of War

Befriended a Strategist
The Strategist appears after you have built the University in Avalon, and then gone into the University and passed the exam (NPC in the northeast room). You have infinite tries and you only need to get 6 of 10. Once you pass it, exit and re-enter. The Strategist is a man wearing something over his eyes, standing in a room to the southeast by himself. Talking to him should unlock the trophy, but if it doesn't, it may be because you've moved directly into his optional scenario for killing Bokhohn. (If Bokhohn is already dead, you'll skip this and the recruitment is complete). If you need to, kill Bokhohn using the strategist's plan, and then the recruitment will be complete.
Elite Warrior

Befriended an Imperial Guard
After a certain number of generations have passed, you will be approached at the beginning of a generation to train elite soldiers. If you cannot afford them immediately, you can return to your throne to have the option appear again. Assuming you can afford them, they do not appear immediately: just like the other upgrades to Avalon, some time will have to pass. Once that time does pass, your Information-Gatherer will tell you the training is done. Another way you'll know it's done is that the first two NPCs you see when you enter Avalon castle, who were generic NPC soldiers guarding the stairwell, are now fun colorful characters. One is male, the other is female, and both of them specialize in Spears (and to my knowledge, they are the only characters in the game that specialize specifically in Spears). Talk to them, or get a notification that the training is complete at your throne, and you'll get this trophy.
Prize Invention

Befriended Coppelia
There's a "genius inventor" in Somon named Hiraga. Hiraga the (nth) is always there, from one generation to the next. One will build a bridge across Miramar, another will build the Wind Machine, another will repair the broken bridge (after talking to or killing the Narwhal in Wylingar Lake), and the last thing Hiraga will do for you is build Coppelia. Once he does, all you have to do is talk to her, and you get the trophy. See Self-Aware Automaton for more information.
Self-Aware Automaton

Coppelia became Emperor
Imperial Succession works in a number of ways, but one of them is to successfully clear enough "Black-Screen" scenarios to move time forward. When you set up succession this way (as opposed to party wipe, LP0 on Emp, or unique instances like the Emp abdication after gaining Dark Magic), the remaining four party members become the options for your next Emp.

So, once Hiraga in Somon has invented Coppelia, add her to your party, and do it ASAP! Coppelia starts with a skill level of 15 in all skills, knows a bunch of martial arts skills, and has 99 SP. She is also out of your control: she makes her own decisions in combat. Now, the key here is that when you recruit Coppelia, you're not the Final Emperor, and in fact, when you go into your next generation, that Emperor can't be the final one either. To ensure this is the case, you will want to limit the number of Heroes you've killed to three and spend the rest of your time completing non-Hero quests, and nabbing Coppelia as early as possible. Then, do more non-hero quests, and kill a fourth hero if needed (but absolutely not a fifth! This will guarantee Final Emperor). Once the generation changes, you will have the option to choose Coppelia as Emperor (or Empress, rather). Do so and you unlock this trophy. Of course, if you'd prefer not to play your next generation as Coppelia, just keep a separate save and then complete the generation and choose a character other than Coppelia.
Martial Art Expert

Befriended a Brawler
This is easily missable!

In the town of South Varennes, different NPCs will tell you about two areas: the Dragon Lair (where the brawlers live and train) and a dungeon with evil critters. If you go straight to the dungeon and kill the bosses on the second and third floors, you just locked yourself out of this trophy. So don't do that.

Rather, once you've talked to the NPCs in town, head to the Dragon Lair, and talk to the leader of the Dragon Brawlers. He will ask that you head to the second floor and take out the gel-type boss because they're immune to fists. You'll need some strong weapon skills and/or magic to kill it. But, he asks that you stop at that point, because he and his boys want to clear the final boss on the third floor and take the credit. This is what you need to do if you want to recruit him!

If you go through the whole dungeon and kill the final boss, and then return to the Dragon Lair, boss-man will challenge you to a duel! Win or lose, you won't be recruiting him. Ever. You locked him out.

Fortunately, this takes place so early in the game, it isn't a major loss of time to restart (with an NG+ for stat and money bonuses!) and get it right the next time around. Once you complete the second floor and check out his guys taking care of the rest, or just heading back and talking to him after clearing the gel boss, he'll thank you and commit himself to the Empire's aid.
Friend of Mus

Befriended a Saigo Clansman
This one is fairly simple, and may even be unavoidable, as you need to do this work anyway to reach the final dungeon. To befriend the Saigo Clansman, you first talk in Saigo village about the people who live with the Mus (they're like furry ox/buffalo creatures). A dungeon, the East Oubliette, will appear on the map. Clear it by taking out the boss at the end (who can, randomly, be Dantarg, so if you're not ready for that, leave and come back, his appearance is random!), and then the Saigo Clansman's nomadic tribe village appears as a separate icon in this map. Go there, talk to the Saigo Clansman (big dude with the hat, can't miss him), and he will tell you that the Mu need to migrate, but they cannot because there are monsters blocking the way. Return to the map, and a second dungeon, the South Oubliette, appears. Rinse and repeat (yes, Dantarg can appear here too; exit and return or re-load your save file if you want a regular boss). With South Oubliette cleared, talk to the Saigo Clansman one more time. He will tell you about Nazelle Strait (which leads to the area that contains the Snowdrifts, the final dungeon of the game!), and you'll get a black-screen that adds (North) Nazelle to the Empire and gives you this trophy.
Longit Corsair

Befriended an Armed Merchant
Like the Brawler and Crusader recruitments, the Armed Merchant is tricky because a) you can lock yourself out of it, and b) sometimes you can lock yourself out by making what you think are reasonable choices. When in doubt, think like a ruthless conqueror.
Acquiring the Armed Merchant as a class means turning the Armed Merchants (basically pirates) into the Imperial Armed Merchants (more law-abiding pirates?). In the first scenario with the merchants, you'll be informed at the start of the generation after the Canal Fortress that the Armed Merchants in the town of Mobelm are gumming up the works. So, head to Miramar, take the ferry across the river (because Hiraga probably isn't ready to build the bridge just yet), and then select Mobelm on this map (you're in North Longit now, by the way).
When you enter, talk to various NPCs and you'll get a sense for what's going on. Along the western port there's a yellow-ish ship docked; your Emp will say "hey, that's the Armed Merchant ship!" and you hop on. Go down one floor, and talk to one of the NPCs, and you'll have the option to say "Work For Me" or "Work With Me." Choose "Work FOR Me" from that NPC. He'll get all huffy and challenge you. Beat him up, then head up onto deck and take the helm, and you'll sail to Nuono yourself. When you arrive, you then approach the current leader and tell him how things are going to be. At this point, the Armed Merchants become Imperial Armed Merchants and North Longit joins the empire. This should net you the trophy.
If you didn't follow instructions as stated, you may yet have a chance to acquire Armed Merchants during a later generation, when a man named Garon arrives and creates in-fighting between the Armed Merchants (he is going to show up no matter how you resolved things with the Armed Merchants early on). If you chase Garon out of Nuono, the new de facto leader of North Longit should swear loyalty to you, granting you North Longit (if you did not have it in the Empire yet) and the Armed Merchant trophy.
Aqua Guard

Befriended a Nereid
Once you've first liberated the Gemstone Mines in Ludon, the grandmother in the southern-most house in the town of Tefal tells you about Lake Aqua in the Ludon Highlands. Lake Aqua never becomes its own spot on the map of Ludon, but the Highlands do. The Highlands are a single-screen dungeon: you enter in the northeast, and Lake Aqua is the exit to the west. (aside: the entrance to Saigo village in Nazelle is the southwest exit). When you first go to Lake Aqua, nothing happens. But the Nereid is here. She is part of the quest to create a Mermaid Potion. The first time you try to get water from the lake, the Nereid will appear and basically say "you're gross, and so is our water." She asks for a Moonlight Comb.
If you haven't liberated the moles in the Savannah yet, you'll need to, because it's the stationary mole NPC on the east side of the village that gives you the Moonlight Comb via yet another fetch quest. He gives you a pot that he says needs to be filled with moonlight. To do that, stay at the Inn in Avalon (you have to insist on it!), and then you get a quick cutscene to demonstrate that the pot collected moonlight. With that, and 10,000 crowns in hand, you return to the mole, he gives you the Moonlight Comb, and you take the comb to the Nereid. She'll now give you Pure Aqua Water, one of the three ingredients for the Mermaid Potion, and the trophy for Nereid recruitment unlocks at this exact moment.
Friend of the Sea

Befriended a Diver
The "Diver" is a young lady in the bar of Toba, on the west side of South Longit. If nothing else is going on, she's the one who tells you that their land is blessed by "the wind, the sea, and the sun." Once the rumors start about there being a storm in South Longit that prevents ships from sailing (this takes at least one generation after clearing the first Garon scenario to appear), you talk to this NPC to have the location of the Sunken Ship added to your map. You go there with Mermaid Potion in hand, defeat Garon's Ghost and/or Subier, and once you're done, talk to the "Diver" back in Toba. Upon doing this, you will get a black-screen completion (adding South Longit to the Empire) and unlocking this trophy. For the record, the Diver is a decent spell-caster, with a naturally high level in both Cosmology and Aerology.
Knight of Cumberland

Befriended a Crusader
Complete the Cumberland scenario in any method that ends in defeating Cyfreet and this trophy is yours.

Note: if you go during the earliest generation, tell the king you favor Thomas, and then negotiate for peaceful talks with Georg, you will end the scenario such that Cumberland never joins the empire and you will have locked out this recruitment trophy, as well as the possibility to earn the Successor trophy. In other words, do not dare take the pacifist route. If you go in the first generation, tell the king you favor Sophia: everything will work out. If you wait another generation, Cyfreet will have taken over Cumberland, and there's an entirely different scenario to complete, but completing it is a linear path that will also result in adding Cumberland to the Empire and giving you the Crusader trophy.
Steppe Farer

Befriended a Nomad
This happens when you liberate the Steppe, which comes with killing Bokhohn. You should, if you did not at any point prior, have talked to the Nomad Village leader at least once. Then, once you defeat Bokhohn, this trophy unlocks.
Desert Warrior

Befriended a Desert Guard
In Meru Desert, in the main town of Teretuva, there are three towers. The only one that matters is the middle tower, which is the tallest one (five floors). Climb the tower, and at the top is a random creature that claims to work for Noel. You'll have to kill it, and as soon as you do, Meru Desert region becomes part of the Avalon Empire. Once you've done that, search the three or four desert areas for the Wandering Oasis. Sometimes you'll run into it and it will be a mirage. It does not stay in the same place, and randomly appears. But eventually, you'll find the actual Oasis.
Once at the Oasis, you go into the water and head to the stone cistern to the east. Inside, a Desert Guard is fighting Noel. You technically have the option to let Noel go free, but the wise thing to do is to finish him off (especially for the first run). In either case, once you've confronted Noel and Meru is also part of the empire, this trophy will unlock.
Savannah Chaser

Befriended a Hunter
Once killing the first of the three Queens of the termites in the game, you will unlock Savannah on the map. When you do this, you automatically befriend the Hunter and the trophy unlocks.
The termite queen scenario starts by resting in the town of Ostro (south exit in the Savannah), and then entering the hole. You'll kill a lot of termites and eventually reach the queen. Defeat her, get black screen, get trophy.
Ground Dweller

Befriended a Mole
See Savannah Chaser. After you do this, you need to wait for one generation to pass. After that generation has passed, the Moles inside the Termite's Den have repopulated. Return to the now monster-free Termite Den (either through the Ostro or Gregale holes) and talk to the Mole leader (he's a palette-swap color different from all the other moles) and this trophy is yours!
Lizard of Volcano Island

Befriended a Salamander
See the beginning of Step 2 in the Walkthrough in the Roadmap. There is a fork in your path where you have to choose either Dark Magic or recruiting the Salamanders. It does not matter which you choose in the end (letting the Salamanders die does not affect progress towards Successor). But you will need to make a safety-save to cover both paths and then decide which you want to continue with, depending on your preference.
Forest Warrioress

Befriended an Amazon
This can happen at multiple times, but ultimately, once you kill Rocbouquet, return to Einrunep and talk to the main Amazon leader in the bar, and this trophy is yours. It's possible to get it earlier, but it does not matter, per se, when you get it.
Wind Manipulator

Befriended an Iris
The only way to befriend an Iris is to collect all five Bard instruments and then head to Mt. Chikapa in the far east (Yuyan, Chonto, etc). Here are the steps to getting the five instruments:
1) Once you have added enough territories to Avalon, the dialogue among the NPCs in Yuyan will change. They'll stop calling Avalon a "podunk town" (reference to Secret of Evermore?), and they'll tell you about other areas, allowing you to begin progress in the region. This flag is important, because it means you'll also have access to everywhere else you need to be.
2) The Bar, in the northwest corner of Yuyan, has a Bartender who sings a song. Fun fact: that song is the opening theme to the first SaGa, is composed by Nobuo Uematsu, and is found in almost every SaGa game. Melodically, it's an important piece of the game's history. Anyway, once the bartender plays/sings the song for you, you've set a flag (which you can see in your events menu) that is now going to allow you to pick up each of the five instruments.
3) The Bartender tells you the Bard went north. Which province is north of you? Comroon! By this point, you have probably completed Comroon scenario 1 (freezing the volcano). If you've completed Comroon scenario 2 and chosen Dark Magic, the guitar is lost! So choose to save the Salamanders, or get your bard instruments out of the way early. In any case, to flag the Bard Guitar, you need to go to the town of Moulie in northern Salamat and talk to the ferryman. He will tell you that he gave the bard a ride. Awesome! Now, the empty treasure chest in the northwest corner of the "stone records" building of Zemio has been filled with the guitar. If you're between Comroon 1 and Comroon 2 scenarios, there is no lava in Zemio so you can walk right over. However, if you have somehow managed to progress this far without reaching Zemio before, you will need the Stone Boat to get around Zemio. The Stone Boat is in Salamat, near the Amazon Village entrance, and it makes you walk really slowly (you'll be fighting more enemies, basically). Given everything works out, get the Guitar and be on your merry minstrel way.
4) If you head to Teretuva in the Meru Desert (you know, the place with the boat to Yuyan?), townspeople there will tell you that the bard headed west. Good to know! He actually made a few stops through the west. One of them is in the Savannah. Head to the Savannah, and go to the western village, which serves exactly one purpose in the entire game: a little girl with blue hair will tell you that the Bard went to the Termite's Den to see the remains of the Hive Queen. Neat! So go to the Mole Village, and in the little room in the southeast corner of the village, just before entering the Hive Queen's remains, the one Mole NPC will tell you that the corpse of the queen scared the pants off of the bard, so he ran off, but he left one of his instruments behind. Go into that room (just south of the Moonlight Comb Mole, just north of the entrance to Hive Queen's missing head) and collect the Bard Conga.
5) If you head to Atlanticus in South Longit and ask to take a trip to Toba, you will specifically be told that the Bard took a ride across and survived a storm (note: this cannot happen if the Sunken Ship quest is active). On the other side in Toba, the NPC closest to the western exit informs you that the Bard headed further west. Now, head to Saigo, and one of the NPCs in the village will tell you that the Bard traveled with a party to a dungeon, but only the Bard returned alive, and he left his instrument in the dungeon. This unlocks the "Bardic Grotto" in Northern Nazelle. Reach the end of the dungeon and open the treasures in the final room, one of them is the Bard Flute. Note that if you not come across the hero Dantarg yet, Dantarg has a random chance of appearing in this dungeon.
6) Once you have access to the town of Nuono, you can get the Bard Bassoon. You may even get this one by accident before getting the other instruments, depending on how you resolve the first Garon scenario. Enter Garon's manor (at the top of the Nuono map), and then take the secret path (in the middle, tile 3 of 5 along the south wall in the northern alcove), and you'll see two chests in the next area. One of them holds the Bassoon.
7) Finally, the Bard Horn. This one is the easiest. In nearby towns, some NPCs may tell you about the bard heading to Avalon. In town, one of the children will mention that he went to the inn. Talk to the Innkeeper, and they say the Bard stayed the night in the inn. So, head upstairs and search the first room on the left at the little nightstand by the bed. Ta-da!
Once you have all five instruments, keep them in your inventory, and with a full party of five, head to the top of Mt. Chikapa, and an Iris will fly you across a gap to their part of the mountain. If you've already killed Wagnas, the trophy will unlock now (and you can head past this area to some treasure chests and the Forbidden Town, so long as you've heard of it). If you haven't killed Wagnas yet, the Iris that you first met will offer to take you to the floating Hakuro castle -- this is an alternate route to Wagnas if you don't/can't use the Wind Machine that Hiraga the Inventor builds for you (only certain Emp classes can use the Wind Machine). Once Wagnas is dead and you've interacted with an Iris, you will have the trophy.
Eastern Swordsman

Befriended a Levante Guard
Recruiting the Levante Guard is nearly unavoidable. Once he becomes the leader of Liangshan, he agrees to serve you. However, the trophy may not unlock until after you have defeated Wagnas.
Maze Master

Befriended a Ninja
In the "Maze of Memory," take the Red Orb and go up approximately six floors. You'll have an exchange with the Ninja, fight a battle, and then they're recruited.
Exorcist

Befriended a Diviner
In the "Maze of Memory," take the Black/Purple Orb (northwest) and continue forwards. You'll see one cutscene where the Diviner defeats a monster on the third floor, but then a ghost follows him out the exit saying "hyuk hyuk." Three more floors up, you'll encounter an Ogre-type enemy that is essentially the ghost having possessed the Diviner.

This battle is not easy if you're early in the game!! While the rest of the game scales its enemy and boss levels with your progress, the Maze of Memory has entirely fixed stats for all enemies on all floors as well as the bosses. As such, if you're struggling with this battle, "Hasten Time" is the solution to your problems. In any case, once the battle is completed, you'll have the option to "Hesitate" or kill the ogre. Hesitate! This gives the Diviner time to come out of the possession/trance, and he says he'll rush back to Avalon and join your team. Trophy, get!

Side note: The Diviner has access to Dark Magic, but only the first two of the five spells. The only way to get access to the other spells is to learn Dark Magic for yourself (see trophy Forbidden Magic).
Final Duty

Became the Final Emperor
Unless you're a miracle-worker who stumbles into the Other Legend path by accident, you will get this trophy automatically through progression in the game.
Soul Eater

Defeated Kzinssie
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story.
Foul Puppeteer

Defeated Bokhohn
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story.
Proud Fighter

Defeated Noel
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is a (generally) unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story. You can actually choose not to fight Noel and may miss this trophy, though Noel may end up being the guardian before the final battle, which may unlock this trophy anyway (untested). When in doubt, when it's time to kill him, choose to kill him.
Power Hungry

Defeated Dantarg
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story.
Ruler of the Sea

Defeated Subier
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story. Note that Subier is probably the strangest of the Seven Heroes in terms of all the different ways you can end up fighting him. He also has a second, more powerful form, which occurs under one specific condition (that you'll need to do as part of the path for Other Legend).
Beauty Queen

Defeated Rocbouquet
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story. There are variations to how and when you'll confront Rocbouquet, mostly depending on the gender of your Emp when confronting her (first in Einrunep, and possibly a second time in the Sunken Tower).
Leader of the Seven Heroes

Defeated Wagnas
See walkthrough in the Roadmap. This is an unavoidable trophy that comes with completing the main story.
Forbidden Magic

Acquired Dark Magic
See the beginning of "Step 2" in the walkthrough of the Roadmap. There is a fork in your path where you have to choose either Dark Magic or recruiting the Salamanders. It does not matter which you choose in the end (letting the Salamanders die does not affect progress towards Successor). But you will need to make a safety-save to cover both paths and then decide which you want to continue with, depending on your preference.
Hero of Legend

Finished the Game
Simple enough: beat the game. It's part of the main path. You kill the seven heroes, then one of them comes back to life, then the Hive Queen comes back for round 2, then finally you can access the Snowdrifts in Southern Nazelle and head to the final boss. If you're struggling with this fight, I have two words for you: Hasten Time.

Great Tree of Avalon

Nurtured the Avalon Tree to the fullest
Isn't it fun to fight 2000 battles in a turn-based RPG? That is essentially what you have to do to complete this trophy. I highly recommend you do this on your first playthrough so that when you go into NG+, your Emp is maxed in pretty much every combat and magic skill and you'll have learned a whole lot of skills, including many evasion skills.

You first build the orchard in the first generation after Gerard for 300,000 crowns. Once you've done this, every 100-120 battles, the orchard's revenue (reported to you by the NPC at the Orchard's entrance) will go up 200 crowns. It starts at 2000 (note that this number will be halved during events where your revenue is cut by the merchants), and after every ~100 battles it will go up to 2200, then 2400, in increments of 200, up to 2800. Once you have reached 2800, a different NPC in the orchard will say that the orchard requires expansion.

Unfortunately, this report does not automatically result in allowing you to expand. If you head to the throne, you probably won't get a prompt. But after a black-screen, or some battles, you will get the chance to upgrade for 500,000 crowns. After the upgrade is complete, your orchard will have a new revenue of 4000. Every 100-120 battles after this will increase the revenue by increments of 400, until eventually you will be prompted again by one of the NPCs in the orchard that another expansion is required.

The final expansion will cost 1,000,000 crowns. Even if you've been constantly investing in weapon and armor R&D, you'll probably have more than enough money by now, because you've been adding every province on the map to your Empire and picking up tons of treasure while killing loads of baddies. When that expansion is complete, your weak little tree will finally be blossoming and green, and it will have one golden fruit on it. Your revenue will now be at 9200, and with every 100-120 battles completed, that revenue will increase by 600 crowns, and one or two golden fruits will be added to the tree. At 12,200 revenue, you will have eight golden fruits on the tree. And, if your battle patterns and counts were like mine and other players, you'll be at 1800-1850 battles completed (note that battles in the Maze of Memory do not count, you have to be fighting enemies commensurate to your level).

At this point, you're in the final stretch. When you reach somewhere between 1950 and 2000 battles, you'll enter the Orchard with that familiar scene of the entrance NPC walking toward you to tell you the orchard grew further, and man, did it grow! While the revenue value only changed from 12,200 to 12,800, the tree itself now has 16 golden fruits growing from it! So shiny, so pretty! Congratulations: for that time sink, you sure earned it!
Crushing Memory

Defeated Crushing Memory
In the Maze of Memory, there are four orbs: red, green, blue, and purple/black. At the end of each one is a dragon. If you struggle to defeat it, increase your global Hydrology level to the point that its final spell, "Hasten Time," unlocks (global level is approximately 32 for this!). Teach it to everyone in your party, and enjoy beating the pants off of the dragon. Be sure to grab the treasure behind the dragon as well, as you'll need each of the memory fragments to reach the super-hard optional boss, The Dread Queen.
Evil Memory

Defeated Evil Memory
See Crushing Memory.
Ruined Memory

Defeated Ruined Memory
See Crushing Memory.
Sinful Memory

Defeated Sinful Memory
See Crushing Memory.
Other Legend

Finished Game without Final Emperor
As of this writing, this trophy is the bottleneck for people getting the platinum. Its rate of completion among players is the lowest percentage (other than the platinum). It is a tricky beast. There are many ways to get it, and many ways to fail it. You do not want to attempt this until NG+, and you need to have a very strong familiarity with nearly every scenario in the game and the different ways they can go. There are probably many ways to get this trophy, but the author of this guide ended up restarting four times before finally getting it. So, in painstaking detail, here is what I did to earn this trophy.

First, start your NG+ from whatever your best/last save file was, with the best stats and equipment and lots of money to boot.

Next, go through the "tutorial" stuff as usual. One thing to note: when you have the choice to clear the Goblin Hideout or go to Somon, go to Somon. We'll want to save Goblin Hideout for later, in case we need a non-Hero quest to push time forward.

After clearing Gerard's scenario and starting into your next generation, here are the rules you need to know:

1) once you kill your fifth hero, so long as a black-screen event is associated with it, you will be forced into Final Emp status. In other words, you fail. The number of generations/years passed don't matter, all that matters is the number of heroes killed and then a generation-switch at that point!

2) there are exactly three heroes that you can kill without black-screen events: Dantarg (only in some situations), Subier (in exactly one situation), and Noel (in any situation).

3) Subier is the bottleneck, because you need the South Longit storms to start before, or directly after, the death of the fourth Hero. Dantarg and Noel are easier to manage.

4) Non-hero quests? Clear them with reckless abandon, but save a few in your back pocket just in case.

Here is the path I took...

First, Rocbouquet. Before killing her, I cleared Canal Fortress using Cat Burglar Path, took the hostile takeover route in Mobelm/Nuono to create the Imperial Armed Merchants and unlock North Longit, completed scenarios to unlock Ludon and Nazelle (Dantarg appeared once in East Oubliette: that's bad! Leave and re-enter and he can disappear. We cannot kill him yet!!), and after a generation passed, I became a male Emperor and cleared the Cyfreet-controlled Cumberland scenario. Now, with that same male emperor, I completed everything for the Mermaid Potion quest, including the choice to use the potion three times with the mermaid, which forces a generation change and allows you to have Hiraga build the bridge (if he hasn't yet) and should give you the opportunity to have built the Lab and the University. For this generation change, I again chose a male, but the rest of my party was made up of women.

With that party, and with a Somon/Intaglio ring equipped on the Emperor, I headed straight to Salamat through the Savannah (which became free after I killed Hive Queen, which I had to do as part of the Mermaid Potion quest). I ignored the Amazon Village entirely and headed straight for Eirunep. I fought my way up and back down the tower, and when talking to the "queen" who was so impressed by my manly rescue, I told her I was "helpless" to get her past the barrier. This forces an early encounter with Roc so you don't have to waste your time in the Sunken Tower. After her death, I received a black-screen but not a generation change. To force a generation change, I headed to Comroon and cleared Comroon Volcano first scenario.

My next Hero targeted was Wagnas. But before I went to him, I freed Meru Desert by fighting the monster at the top of the middle tower in Teretuva. I went to Hiraga, and he finished the Wind Machine, which I collected because I was an Emp class that could use it. However, that didn't matter, because I also chose to collect all five bard instruments later so I could visit the Forgotten Village. In any case, by about this point, the Garon scenario had unlocked, and I knew this was important to finish ASAP so that the Sunken Ship scenario would come in the next generation or two. I chose "Two If By Sea" (boat from Mobelm to Nuono) and fought lots of squid, then chased away Garon and got a black-screen transition.

After this, I made my way to Yuyan to begin the long path to Wagnas. I completed all the prerequisite stuff to have Hakuro Castle float into the sky. At this point, I also went ahead and collected the bard instruments just to clear some event flags and add points to the hidden point system. Finally, I take out Wagnas ... strangely, a generation does not pass!

My next target is Bokhohn, and I intend to finish him off using the Strategist path. First, I clear every non-essential in sight. I do the second clearance of the Gemstone mines, I do the Goblin quest (finally), I visit the Forgotten Village (an NPC in the Mt. Chikapa province tells you about it after Wagnas is dead), I talk to everyone, I clear all the optional ruins. The only quest I do not do is the Child and Mu Calf, because I'm saving that as a trap for my buddy Dantarg.

Oh, and importantly, once the bridge breaks in Miramar, I do not buy the seashell in Saigo to talk to the Narwhal (if you did by accident, just discard it!). I take my boat to the hideout in the western part of the Lake and kill the Narwhal. I know, it's horrible, but it's part of the plan.

At this point, I know I have loads of hidden points saved up, so when I kill Bokhohn, I know the generation will shift and I'll be at my second-to-last Emp. My hope is that the South Longit storm flag is going to start after the generation change. If it doesn't, I'm screwed. Considering I've tried four or five times at this point and made different mistakes, I think I have it this time. So I talk to the Nomad Village leader in the Steppe and say "let's attack the ship!" to finally get Bokhohn's ship moving. Then I talk to the Strategist, meet him in Hofah, then head to the Steppe and finish the job. Bam, Bokhohn dead ... and black-screen, and generation change ...

Good, it's not the Final Emperor. And more importantly, my information-gatherer approaches to tell me about two quests that have unlocked: Comroon Volcano 2 and *a Storm in South Longit!* Yes, we're on the right track!!

It is extremely important that from here on out, I do not party-wipe, reach LP0 with my emperor, or clear a non-hero quest of any kind, ESPECIALLY ones that we know have black-screen transitions. That would be flirting with disaster.

For our fifth Hero, we kill Dantarg. I know that if you have not cleared Boy and Mu Calf dungeon, he's pretty much guaranteed to be there. And, unlike finding him in East or South Oubliette, there is a way to beat him here and avoid a black-screen transition. You simply kill him and then when you walk up to the boy and mu calf, notice that they're not blocking your path. Do NOT talk to them! Do not even open the treasure chests! Just get out of there. We killed Dantarg and avoided a black-screen transition, hurray!

Next, we'll be killing Subier in the Sunken Ship using the Mermaid Potion. Remember, we made it earlier and cleared a non-hero quest by falling in love with the mermaid and forcing a generation transition? It's still in your inventory (and if it's not, it's in your storage). So get it, head to Toba, and talk to the NPC we call the Diver (see Diver trophy, you recruited her in your first playthrough, remember?). She will mark the location of the Sunken Ship on the map. Go there, reach the bottom of the ship to kill Garon's ghost, and then head back out.

Before you can leave, however, you'll run into Subier. He'll be in his uber-strong form (because he got to assimilate the Narwhal's daughter, because you were the jerk that killed the Narwhal), but he won't appear here unless you set up the uber-strong scenario, and his other location will always result in a black-screen transition, so ... ends justify the means. Sorry, unicorn of the sea! Anyway, once you kill Subier, you're 6 for 7. NOTE: if you go back to Toba and talk to the Diver, that is the clear flag to add South Longit to the empire, recruit the diver, and make a black-screen transition happen -- which we do not want. So don't talk to her.

Finally, kill Noel. Run around the desert until you find the real Oasis, go in, kill him. No black-screen, no nothing.

Now we walk back to Avalon, sit on the throne, and BOOM information-gatherer tells you about some nasty business in the Snowdrifts! You have final dungeon access with your current emperor/empress, who is *not* the final one. Once again: if you party-wipe, LP0 your emp, or complete any black-screen-creating quest after this point, you'll get final emp, but otherwise, you're safe to proceed. Clear the game as you normally would (reborn Kzinssie will be the Hero guarding the final door in Den of Umbrage). Strangely, the ending doesn't change at all, which is strange considering that makes it contradict the scene at the game's beginning where the bard is in the Avalon tavern with ... who? ... oh yes, the Final Emperor/Empress that you selected at the game's beginning. But now in this ending, that's not who we find sitting at the tavern. You think they'd make a bigger deal of this, but nope, it's the same ending.

With one key difference: once the credits finish rolling, Other Legend will be yours!
Successor

Won Against Victor
There is some misinformation about this trophy. The generally-understood prerequisite for initiating the duel with Victor is to become the Final Emp, and have recruited all classes. Then you talk to an NPC that has appeared in Victor's old bedroom (the left bedchamber behind the throne room), and if you've met the prerequisites, when you go to bed you'll be able to move at night-time, like with the Cat Burglar scenario. You'll find Victor's ghost.
However, the prerequisites are a little more tricky and nuanced than what most people say. First, the number one thing Victor desires in having "everyone come together" is to add every province possible to the empire. Torrence and Austeros are not added, nor is the southern portion of Nazelle (where the Snowdrifts are). Your world map should have colored in the entire top row, all of the middle except the very right (Torrence, the Forgotten Town), and then the bottom row remains gray. Now, if you have opted to have Additional Content on (and you should!), it may be the case that you also have to recruit the two characters (Ninja and Diviner) in there. However, we know that you do not need to have recruited Salamander: you can complete Comroon with Dark Magic, all that the game is looking for there is that Comroon is part of the Empire.
That said, it should be the goal of the player to try and recruit all characters in the first run anyway, and doing that should unlock all provinces (the exception being the "super-peace, no Cyfreet" lock-out in Cumberland, so don't let that happen). Do it right, and Victor's ghost will be ready for a friendly duel.
To win this fight, there are plenty of ways to do it. But highly recommended are two magic spells for your Emp: Revive (highest Pyrology spell) and Sword Barrier (fourth Cosmology spell). Put up barrier, then revive, and then just beat on him with everything you have. Once you win, you'll get the trophy, and be sure to pick up the treasure with the Intaglio Ring. You'll be needing it.
Terrifying Presence

Defeated Dread Queen
Once you've cleared one maze in the Maze of Memory and pick up one of the memory shards in the chest behind a (dead) dragon, a fifth Orb will appear in the Maze. It's kind of gold/sand-colored. But when you approach it, you basically get a message that you're not getting through until you have all four. But once you do have all four, you can enter. And that's where you find the Dread Queen. No dungeon, no maze, just straight to boss-lady!

There is exactly one enemy in the entire game that was granted immunity to my favorite (broken) spell, Hasten Time. And that's the Dread Queen. Technically, it's two enemies, because the Dread Queen has two forms.

Generally, the keys to defeating the Dread Queen are:

1) the spells "Revive" and "Elixir" -- no one character can know both, since Revive is the final Pyrology spell and Elixir is a combo-magic that combines Terrology with Hydrology. Revive is a one-time auto-revive cast on the self, and Elixir is a single-target fullheal that also removes all status effects.

2) some equipment that prevent status effects -- you should have at least one Intaglio Ring (reward for completing the Victor duel in the trophy above), and you can collect a boatload of Somon Rings by repeating the first few parts of the game and then starting over with NG+. Somon Ring will prevent Charm, and Ignacio prevents all status effects. The Dread Queen drops every kind of status effect across her various abilities, so you'll want to have this one. Ideally, your Intaglio Ring will be worn by someone who casts Elixir instead of Revive. Alongside those two rings, you may want to hold onto some of those Rubber Soles, which prevent Paralysis.

3) Martial Arts Evasion skills -- for more status effect prevention. If you varied your grinding locations for Great Tree of Avalon, you should have learned evasion for Hypnosis, Paralysis, Terror Voice, and possibly others. Give these skills to everyone in your party, and you'll have a great advantage.

4) A speed-friendly formation -- Revive is of no use if the Queen is always getting in her turn(s) before you. Goblin Formation is actually a decent strategy here, even though it doesn't offer much in the way of defense. You get Speed and Attack boosts to all five party members. With that added speed, you can buff as-needed before launching attacks.

5) Some overpowered attacks -- This guide's author is partial to the Martial Arts skill "Guanyin," but there are plenty of others, many of which you probably have unlocked by now.

Finally, with credits to PSTrophies member Ray5555, here is a detailed setup and walkthrough to get you through both forms:
Here is what I did: I had a party of my emperor, ninja, diviner, imperial knight, crusader. You just need to make sure you have the Rising Phoenix formation, and fight her as your final emperor. make sure you have have the following: Intaglio Ring(nullifies all status conditions) from beating victor, the gae bulg (from the dragons in the southern ruins or the ice dragon at wagnas castle) sevens sword, prism sword skill, elixir spell, and the best equipment that the r & D can make. I also had all the spells but only used revive, crimson flare, Dark servant elixir, and sand storm spells. I used the rising phoenix formation so they would target my emperor. He had 952 HP.
My emperor on the first turn would cast revive on himself. My imperial knight would cast dark servant on herself, as well as my diviner casting sand storm, and my crusader casting crimson flare. These two skills dealt 5200 hp damage alone. my ninja attacked with swallow reversal dealing 1500 hp dmg. then the ant queen hit my emperor only since that formation makes him basically the only target. Since he is strong he can take 3-4 of her attacks in her first form before dying.
Next round had the crusader and diviner to the same thing. I had my emperor attack with prism sword dealing like 2500 dmg. My imperial knight did swooping dragon with dealt about 6K dmg (since dark servant does the same attack you do without the sp/mp cost it double the dmg basically) My ninja either healed my emperor or most likely attacked swallow reversal. Just do this with having the ninja rotating healing you emperor, or rarely a party member. Doing this her first form was easy.
Now the second form can be tricky you are going to do the same but you can manipulate her actions here as well. you can remove two of her attacks from her move pool. Instead of the ninja attacking the first turn have her cast gilden shield on the emperor. this will neutralize her corkscrew and her hell claw techs( she only used hell claw one more time and my diviner, and ninja learned to evade it).Also have your emperor cast revive on himself/herself every time they die. (this frees up the ninja to attack or heal other party members) just repeat what you did in her first form. although you should have almost ran out of mp with the crusader, so just have her do any skill attacks that she has to just nullify the hp regen. The fight took me about 10 minutes at the end everybody was out or almost out of mp or sp.
In the burning phoenix formation when she does skills like hell claw or tornado (I forget the name) that hits multiple targets will only hit the emperor. Since the final emperor is buffed they were only taking 200-300 dmg from her attacks. Revive is important here because once cast when that person dies they get revived at full health, at the moment of death. Plus they don't lose LP for dying.