Use the Hilda Garde III to travel to Ipsen’s Castle which is located on the northwestern section of the Forgotten Continent. Use the map and the screenshot below to help you locate it.
There is a short cutscene at the entrance to the castle involving Amarant who will suggest that he go it alone from here. Zidane will be give a choice (“Let him go” or “Don’t let him go”) but it does not matter which you select - Amarant will leave the party behind and will not be selectable for this mission.
You can obtain some more Blue Magic for Quina in this area by having Quina eat a Veteran enemy (6,972 HP) to learn 
Doom. You can return to the area later if you did not add Quina to your party. Veterans are the creatures that look like bats and are shown in the screenshot below.
There is a trick to battling in Ipsen’s Castle. Weapon attack power is inversely related to damage inside the castle, meaning that each character’s lowest leveled weapon is now their strongest.
Zidane should equip the 
Dagger, Steiner should equip the 
Broadsword, Freya should equip the 
Javelin and Quina should equip the 
Fork.
Skills and magic-based attacks will still do regular damage. You will find some of these weapons throughout Ipsen’s Castle but you can save some time by equipping them now if you have them in your inventory already.
Enter the castle by walking up the long set of stairs. Grab the chest on the left side of the room to pick up a Dagger and grab the chest on the right side of the room to obtain the Aquarius Stellazzio. Continue up the stairs at the back of the entrance and into the next room.
Kumool the Moogle is standing on the left side of this room. Speak to him and select the Mognet option to give Kumool the letter from Mogki. Kumool will give you another Kupo Nut if you delivered the previous one to Moguta in Gizamaluke’s Grotto.
Select the Mogshop option and you can purchase some weaker weapons including the 
Mage Masher, Iron Sword, Mythril Spear, etc. if you need them. Buy a few 
Vaccines and 
Softs as you will need them as you explore Ipsen’s Castle.
There is a treasure chest on the north side of the room that contains a 
Cat’s Claws weapon for Amarant who is not around. Approach the pole on the right side of the screen and slide down the pole into the room below.
Once you reach the room at the bottom of the pole, navigate along the pathway to the ladder at the back of the room. Climb it to the upper level and head over to the left side of the screen and head through the doorway. Follow the pathway around and into the next room.
Jump onto the ladder to the right of the door, climb up to the next level and choose to jump off the ladder to the left. Follow the pathway until it reaches a treasure chest and open it to pick up a Javelin.
Go back to the ladder and jump off the right side to pick up a treasure chest that contains a Broadsword.
Jump back onto the ladder - the top leads no where so take it all the way down to the lowest level. Follow the path to the right side of the screen and jump onto the ladder on that side of the screen.
Climb the ladder part way up and jump off on the right side when given that option.
Follow the pathway around to another treasure chest that contains a 
Rod. Climb either of the two ladders on this platform to the top and then proceed through the doorway.
The next room has a strange-looking picture on the right side of the room. Stand in front of it and you will be given a choice, which leads to another choice, and then another choice, etc.
Select the following: “Examine”, “Push”, “Pound”, “Think”, “Push”, “Pound”, “Try Something Drastic”, “Rest”. This will cause the door to open leading into front hall.
There is a treasure chest on the right side of the balcony that contains a 
Barette. Return to the previous room and use the elevator at the back of the room to reach the next floor.
The group will meet up with Amarant in the next room. Amarant will leave the group behind again to solve the puzzle and break the seal on their own.
Approach the far wall and remove the Fire Mirror, Wind Mirror, Water Mirror and Earth Mirror from where they have been placed. You will be thrown into the next boss battle as you try to leave the area.
Level: 46
HP: 29,186
The most important thing to remember is to steal from Taharka until you obtain the Orichalcon (the most powerful Dagger weapon in the game).
The battle against Taharka is an easy one. It has two different forms during the battle. When it is open it will use magic-based attacks and do the occasional physical attack (Chop). It will close at certain points of the battle at which point physical attacks do much less damage.
You can inflict Taharka with a number of different status effects including Silence, Slow, Poison, Power Break and Armor Break, so make sure to inflict as many as you can to make the battle easier while Zidane attempts to successfully steal items.
Steal:
Elixir (common)
Mythril Claws (uncommon)
Orichalcon (rare)
Drops:
· (Nothing)
A video of the battle is included below:
Exit the area and travel all the way back to where Kumool the Moogle is located. A short cutscene will play and one of your party members will stumble across one of the newly activated traps. Intentionally fall through the trap to the north (towards the treasure chest) to fall down onto the bottom of the chandelier.
Grab the chest on the far side to pick up a 
Maiden Prayer. Jump off the right side of the chandelier and climb back up to the main room where Kumool is.
Backtrack into the main hallway and there will now be a stairway on the far left side of the screen (note: it only appears if you successfully solved the puzzle involving the strange-looking picture). There will also be a hidden staircase in between the one on the left and the doorway on the right. Use the picture below to help you locate it. Go through it and into the next room.
You will find yourself back inside the room where Kumool the Moogle is located but on the upper level. You will now be able to see two treasure chests on the top of the chandelier in this room.
Go back down past Kumool and climb the pole again up to the chandelier to obtain the two chests which contain a 
Mage Staff and a Fork. Then return to the balcony that you were previously on in this room.
Follow the balcony into the next room and then follow the pathway down throughs the door. There is a treasure chest on the left side of this room that contains an 
Air Racket and then stand on the elevator in the center of the room. It will automatically take you down to the lower level.
Open the treasure chest on the left to obtain a 
Golem’s Flute.
This next puzzle involves moving the two pots between the three pedestals. Move them in a circle counterclockwise to complete the puzzle. The reward for completing the puzzle is an 
Ancient Aroma accessory - pick up the pot to obtain it. Exit the room afterwards and the elevator will automatically take you to the top. Exit the castle for another short cutscene outside.
Zidane and the rest of the party will discuss how Amarant never returned. Zidane will then opt to return into the castle in order to rescue him.
Return to the room that Kumool the Moogle is standing in and slide down the pole into the room below to find Amarant towards the southern part of the room.
Exit the castle one more time to complete this section of the game.
