Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles: How to unlock all Secret characters

Throughout the later hours of Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles, there are quite a few secret characters you can unlock. These characters are all incredibly powerful in their own way; yes, even Cloud Strife in this version of the game. However, you cannot unlock any of them if you didn’t make the right decisions going through the game. However, this doesn’t list Orlandeau, Rapha, or Marach as secret characters.

Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles gives you a clear offer to recruit these characters in the course of the main story, and you definitely should. Thanks to the game removing forced random encounters, it’s also much safer to do, compared to the original release of FFT. Here’s how to get all the fantastic secret characters.

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How to unlock all secret characters in Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles

If you want to unlock any of the secret characters in Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles, you must first recruit Mustadio Bunansa when given the opportunity. All of this kicks off in the Clockwork City of Goug, and if you didn’t recruit him, Mustadio’s father won’t aid you in any of your endeavors.

If you want to unlock everyone, it takes time and effort; it's worth it though (Image via Square Enix)

You can begin this process anytime in Chapter 4 of Final Fantasy Tactics for most of these. I recommend having Orlandeau in your party first. He’s the most powerful character in the game, and makes some of these fights much more bearable. Here are the characters, and how to unlock them:

• Beowulf
• Reis
• Construct 8
• Cloud Strife
• Byblos

1) Beowulf Kadmus and Reis Dular

It all kicks off with this cutscene (Image via Square Enix)

The reason I put these two characters together in is that you unlock them all at the same time in Final Fantasy Tactics, via the same method. Anytime in Chapter 4, provided you recruited Mustadio, head to the Clockwork City of Goug and watch the “Steel Ball” cutscene. You’ll see a mysterious ball that has an Aquarius symbol on it.

Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles will then show you that you’re on a Side Quest, and put a blue icon on the Mining Town of Gollund, so head there when you’re ready. Open up the Tavern, and click on the The Haunted Mine Rumor, which will lead you to Lesalia to the north.

You’ll see a new cutscene, where you get recruited to clear the mines out of dangerous enemies, including a Holy Dragon. Beowulf will ask to join you for this mission, and though he’s not terribly useful at this time, bring him along.

Some of these fights can be rough, but patience and perseverance are key (Image via Square Enix)

This begins a series of battles in Gollund Mining Town. There are four total battles, so I recommend blocking out a good hour of time or so to get through these. At the end, you’ll unlock both Beowulf and Reis, though she remains in Dragon form. Here’s an overview of the fights:

• Colliery Floor: Lots of Chemists that revive each other and use guns. Be patient and kite them out of range of each other and bring some revive/heal abilities.
• Colliery Slope: Probably the easiest of the fights. A few Behemoths, Chemists and Thieves, but it’s all uphill and the ice-based guns deal a lot of damage.
• Colliery Ridge: Probably the hardest of the fights. Uphill battle with Blue Dragons, a Moogle, and a few Chemists. Lots of damage in this fight. If you can keep them all separated it gets easier. Dragons likely hit in excess of 250-300 damage, so make sure you’re closer to level 50 going in, with decent characters.
• Colliery Shaft: The final battle to unlock Beowulf and Reis.

Colliery Shaft can be the hardest fight to unlock these Final Fantasy Tactics secret characters, depending on your setup. A small arena, you need to protect the Holy Dragon, but there’s also a Zodiac Demon near it. In addition, there are other minor demons, a Morbol, and a Hydra.

I used a Dancer here to inflict status ailments to slow them down, but also ran high-movement characters, such as Ninja and Monks to get close and beat the enemies in one attack, thanks to Bare-Handed/Two-Swords.

Dancer is truly one of the more underrated Jobs (Image via Square Enix)

I also recommend healing abilities like Chakra/Cure spells, but depending on how quickly you start clearing enemies, it may not matter. This fight may take a few attempts, depending on RNG but prioritize eliminating threats against the Holy Dragon. Success will reward you with Beowulf, Reis, and the Aquarius Zodiac Stone.

However, this isn’t Reis’ final form. You can take her and Beowulf with you to the Nelveska Temple (unlocking Cloud) to return her to a humanoid form. You only get that one shot, so consider it carefully, as you’re unlocking these FFT secret characters.

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2) Construct 8

This scene is so incredibly funny. Poor Mustadio. (Image via Square Enix)

Construct 8, previously known as Worker 8, can be unlocked the moment you unlock the secret characters Beowulf and Reis. All you have to do for this one is take the Aquarius Zodiac Stone to the Clockwork City of Goug and watch the incredibly funny cutscene. At the end of it, you’ll be given a chance to recruit Construct 8. That’s all there is to it!

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3) Cloud Strife

If you don't buy the flower, you'll have to reload a save, or worst case, start over (Image via Square Enix)

Once you’ve recruited the above three characters, you can now begin the process of unlocking Cloud Strife. You do need to at least reach as far as Zeltennia Castle and Trade City of Sal Ghidos in Chapter 4, but that’s the only true barrier to beginning this FFT side quest to unlock a secret character. I cannot stress enough that having Orlandeau just makes this easier.

Head to the Trade City of Sal Ghidos, where a cutscene will trigger. When the Flower Girl offers to sell you a flower, purchase it. You won’t get a second chance at this. From here, return to Goug, where Besorodio will have a fancy new gadget to play with; unfortunately, we need another Zodiac Stone, this time, the Cancer Stone.

This will open up the route to Nelveska Temple, where you need to simply defeat Construct 7. It’s not alone, though. There are a trio of powerful Juravis, and a pair of Hydra to deal with. This is perhaps the hardest optional fight in the game, save for the Midlight Depths.

Focus on the other enemies before Construct 7 for an easier time (Image via Square Enix)

If you bring both Beowulf and Reis, you can transform Reis back into a human, who gets incredibly useful new powers. This means you need to either grind Beowulf first, or just use him as a melee bot in this fight. Orlandeau is going to do a lot of heavy lifting here.

The Construct has some powerful attacks, most doing ~300 damage, so have access to stuff like Auto-Potion, Arise, or whatever defensive options you have. The Juravis can also turn people to stone, so consider that when putting together a party in Final Fantasy Tactics the Ivalice Chronicles.

I recommend sending Ramza (Squire/Monk/Two-Swords) to the left side with a Monk to Revive/Heal, and Orlandeau/Beowulf/Reis to the right side. This splits up the enemies a bit, and lets you deal with them slower. Shadowblade will come in handy here to keep Orlandeau alive, too, but you may need to occasionally Chakra him in the beginning.

Thankfully, these enemies will flee if weakened (Image via Square Enix)

If an enemy flees up to the top of the Temple during this Final Fantasy Tactics fight, let them, unless you desperately want to Poach them. Just take this fight very slow, and whittle through the enemies, keeping allies alive. Before the fight ends, just make sure Reis and Beowulf are alive, if you brought them.

You may also want to bring a character with Low Brave, Treasure Hunter and Jump 4 to this fight. The incredibly rare Escutcheon+ and Javelin+ are found on top of the pillars. You need to also get that character to stand on top of Reis to reach, because it’s Elevation 7.

The starting tiles also have a chance to drop the powerful Nagnarok Knightsword, and you can find Sasuke’s Blade inside the Temple itself. When you defeat Construct 7, you will leave him at 1 HP, meaning you need to hit him again to end the fight.

This is your chance to do some treasure hunting! (Image via Square Enix)

This is when you can go Treasure Hunting, but I recommend giving Orlandeau Speed Break so he can keep lowering the Construct’s speed, so he won’t keep battering you. Success will give you the Cancer Stone, which you can take back to the Clockwork City of Goug to reach the next step of unlocking Cloud in Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles.

This machine will summon Cloud Strife (who also features the Remake/Rebirth voice of Cody Christian). After a short cutscene, you’ll leave, and head back to the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. After a cutscene, you’ll enter a battle with some Thieves, a Squiare and a Monk to protect Cloud. He doesn’t fight in this battle, but these foes aren’t anything special. After the fight, you can recruit Cloud Strife to your Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles party!

Thankfully, this version of Cloud starts at Level 47 (instead of Level 1), and comes equipped with the Materia Blade. However, if you head to Bervenia Volcano, where it normally hides, there’s a much better item waiting for you.

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4) Byblos

Once you’ve completed the Muround Holy Place Battle (Zalbaag) in Final Fantasy Tactics, you can head to Warijis Trade City to view a Rumor about the Deep Dungeon (Midlight’s Deep). In order to unlock Byblos, you need to get to the end, and defeat Elidibus, with Byblos not dying. If you have a Summoner, you can also learn the most powerful summon in that fight, Zodiac.

To learn it, you have to be blasted by the spell and survive. There is also a ton of amazing gear hidden on the ground in Midlight’s Deep, so having a low-Brave character (Rapha) with Treasure Hunter will be to your benefit. Once you’ve completed this dungeon, the powerful Byblos will join the party.

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Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles launches on September 30, 2025, and is truly a masterpiece. You can learn more about the revived genre-defining tactical RPG in our in-depth review.