by Kale » Thu Apr 01, 2010 3:51 pm
One thing at least worth mentioning is that the ruins in chapter 1 have some very rare jewelry that comes in handy for completing a quest much later in the game. I think there is even one ring that is exclusive to the ruins, but it is not strictly required to complete the quest. As long as you're thorough in the rest of the game you can still complete it, but the extra jewelry does give you a nice buffer. (Or at least I believe this is the case, I've never actually counted the jewelry and verified. I just know a few people have had issues with the quest that were not 100% thorough in the game.)
I can say that it's not really worth the time and effort grinding to explore the ruins though, unless you're an absolute completionist.