___________.__ .__ \_ _____/|__| ____ _____ | | | __) | |/ \\__ \ | | | \ | | | \/ __ \| |__ \___ / |__|___| (____ /____/ \/ \/ \/ ___________ __ ____ ___ \_ _____/____ _____/ |______ _________.__. \ \/ / | __) \__ \ / \ __\__ \ / ___< | | \ / | \ / __ \| | \ | / __ \_\___ \ \___ | / \ \___ / (____ /___| /__| (____ /____ >/ ____| /___/\ \ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \_/ By Squaresoft FAQ/walkthrough by Blackestmage Copyrights 2004 Update: This summer, I am updating my guides since I was able to find myself some free time. My Final Fantasy VII and IX Boss guides are now both updated, and this FAQ/walkthrough is next. To be honest however, I had no intentions of updating it. I wrote this guide last year, thinking that the first version would actually be the final one. Terrible mistake of mine, better believe that. My guide is getting really good ratings(though they shouldn’t be taken with a pillar of salt, as CJayC himself says it), so I checked it and found out that... Well, it was a usable FAQ for anybody who wanted to beat the game and its side quests. The grammar however, was poor. Too many spelling mistakes that I just couldn’t leave at that, so I basically just rewrote the whole thing with the same information but with a better English. Table of contents 1- Introduction 2- Characters 3- Aeons 4- The Sphere Grid 5- Overdrives A. Characters' overdrives B. Overdrives modes 6- Walkthrough 7- Side Quests/secrets A. Omega Ruins B. Secret Aeons C. Celestial Mirror and Weapons D. Your Aeons can also break the damage limit! E. Secret locations/treasures(using the Airship) F. The secrets of Luca G. The Clasko's quest H. Travel through Spira a second time! I. Al Bhed Primers full list/locations 8- Monster Arena A. What is it? B. What do you need? C. The strategies! -Area Conquest -Specie Conquest -Original Creations 9- Frequently asked questions 10- E-mail(for questions, contribution, requests, and stuff) 11- Conclusion 12- Credits Legal Stuff: This guide cannot be used for commercial matters. If you want to post this FAQ on your website, then just e-mail me(see e-mail section) asking the permission FIRST. As you’re allowed to post the guide in your website, it will be your own responsibility of adding my updates by yourself. I send my updates to www.gamefaqs.com and www.ign.com. All other webmasters will have to check these sites once in a while to see if I updated the guide. If I did, then post the new version. If you want me to send you my updates and that you’re not one of these two sites, then don’t even bother e-mailing me. Thanks. 1- Introduction Hey! Welcome to this new version of my FAQ/walkthrough. Final Fantasy X is, in my opinion, one of the best games ever and though it’s pretty much linear for the story side, there are still many, many, many aspects that need to be explained in guides. Whenever I write a FAQ, my number one goal is to lend a SIMPLE help. I like to put it simple and straight, though I really do like to elaborate more than it is enough, which can be seen in my walkthroughs! I like to describe the important scenes and so on. Good or bad for a FAQ writer? You decide :D. After reading what I just wrote, I do admit that it really doesn’t make any sense, contradicting my own self. Never mind then, just enjoy the game and use my FAQ for what ever you need! 2- Characters This section is simply about the characters in the game, most of them being playable. Point of it? No idea, but it’s kind of a tradition I guess! Tidus: Main character of the game that you will control for 90% of the playthrough. He didn’t have an easy childhood, but that didn’t stop him from becoming the Blitzball Star Player of the Zanarkand Abes. Some call him a cry baby, well I’ll just say that he’s a funny cry baby (^_^). On the battle side however, he’s a top quality performer. Yuna: Let’s call her the main female of the game. Yuna is a summoner, character with the role of getting rid of Spira’s greatest fear; Sin. Without the shadow of a doubt, she really does have a hell of a destiny for being such an important person, being the world’s hope. Wakka: The captain of the Besaid Aurochs, which is the Besaid’s Blitzball team. Wakka is a childhood friend of Yuna, so they grew up together like if they were brother sisters in Besaid. To talk about his fighting skills, he’s just great. He is the unique character who can physically attack the out of range enemies, since his weapon is actually a Blitzball. But, what really makes him one of the funniest Final Fantasy character gotta be his accent. You don’t want to forget his hair cut either. Lulu: She too, grew up with Yuna and Wakka in Besaid. She is a bit cold, though she does have centers of interests. Unfortunately, many players forget how of an in-depth character Lulu is since they usually just like her for... well, the woman that she is. In the beginning of the game, Lulu will be your black mage, which will be quite useful throughout the game. Auron: One of the(if not THE) most popular characters of the game. Auron is that cool, relaxed and careless type who doesn’t talk for nothing. He took care of Tidus for ten years, though Tidus doesn’t know where he’s from(Auron that is). Rikku: One of my own personal favourite characters, Rikku is just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in a video game! She really is... hmm, a character that you can call "The Girl". In battle, she is more the technical type of fighter. Kimahri Ronso: What a big man! Oh actually, he isn’t a man but a Ronso. Those from that tribe are huge strong scary warriors that look like Sphynxes. Kimahri has been Yuna’s bodyguard ever since she was very little, so we can say that she was well protected. A silent character, Kimahri’s just great. Jecht: Tidus’s father, and an awesome Blitzball player. He is hated by his son, because of his attitude. Not like he ever played his father role, Jecht is another careless individual who basically just likes to brag. He disappeared ten years ago though, as he went to train at the beach one day. 3- Aeons In the previous Final Fantasies, you could use certain characters or abilities gained from a battle system with which you could summon creatures to help you in battle. The Guardian Forces from Final Fantasy VIII and the Eidolons from Final Fantasy IX, as examples. In Final Fantasy X, the feature is totally different because you will be able to control these Aeons when you summon them. You must know that Yuna is the unique character who can summon though. This section will list them, so it’s at your disposal if you need to learn some infos. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Valefor Location: Besaid Temple Technic: Sonic Wings Black Magics: Fire, Thunder, Blizzard and Water White Magics: None Element: None Overdrives: Valefor is the single Aeon who got two overdrives. Energy Ray is the overdrive that she has, but you can also learn a second one, which is the Energy Blast. Both overdrives deal non-elemental damages to all enemies, just that the secret overdrive is indeed better. How to obtain it is found in the walkthrough section, in Besaid. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ifrit Location: Kilika Temple Technic: Meteor Strike Black Magics: Fire White Magics: Null-Frost, Null-Blaze Element: Fire Overdrive: Hell Fire, fire damages to all enemies. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ixion Location: Djose Temple Technic: Aerospark Black Magics: Thunder and Thundara White Magics: None Element: Lightning Overdrive: Thor Hammer, lightning damages to all enemies. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shiva Location: Macalania Temple Technic: Heavenly Strike Black Magics: Blizzard and Blizzara White Magics: Null-Frost, Null-Blaze Element: Ice Overdrive: Diamond Dust, ice damages to all enemies. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bahamut Location: Bevelle Temple Technic: Impulse Black Magics: Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Water , Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, Watera, Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga and Waterga. White Magics: None Element: None Overdrive: Mega Flare, major non-elemental damages to all enemies. -------------------------------------------------------------------- These are the Aeons that you obtain in the game while you follow the story. There are other secret Aeons though, so refer to B. Secret Aeons in 7- Side quests/secrets section for more about them. 4- The Sphere Grid Ever since Final Fantasy V came out, a new tradition was born, which was of using a different level-up system in each Final Fantasies. In Final Fantasy X, it’s special because the levels you gain are actually sphere levels(s.lvl) that you have to use on a grid called the sphere grid. Use this section if you have troubles learning the basics of it. First, there are the spheres linked to stats. Use the information below to learn which does what. Power Sphere: Strength, +HP and Defence. Speed Sphere: Agility, Evasion, Accuracy. Mana sphere: Magic, Magic Defence, +MP. Ability Sphere: You make your character learn an ability. Level Key sphere 1, 2, 3, 4: Allows you to activate a specific Level Key node. Fortune Sphere: Luck. Below are the nodes that you can activate with these spheres listed above. Power nodes: These are corresponding to the Power Sphere, so you activate them by using a Power Sphere. There are three different types of nodes that you can activate with a power sphere, which are the HP nodes, the Strength Nodes and the Defence nodes. Speed nodes: Read above, just that now you use SPEED spheres on SPEED nodes to increase the next stats; Agility, Evasion and Accuracy. Mana nodes: Just like the two previous nodes, you will use MANA spheres on MANA nodes to improve stats like Magic, Magic Defence and MP. Ability nodes: As you use an Ability sphere on an Ability Node, your character will learn that ability. Say you are at the Haste ability node and that you use an Ability sphere on it, the character that you’re using will learn the ability, adding it to his/her list. Luck nodes: Fortune Spheres will be the ones to use on a Luck node to increase your Luck stat. Level Key nodes 1, 2, 3, 4: To activate these, you need to use a specific level key sphere on it. Let's see an example: you are at a level 1 key node and it blocks your way. Use a level 1 key sphere on it to unlock the node, allowing you to move on. Something to keep in mind though, is that I don’t recommend you to use them with a character until he/she’s done with his/her part of grid, which will most likely happen much later in the game. Going on grid parts of other characters early isn’t a good idea. HOW CAN WE MOVE ON THE SPHERE GRID? The grid is made of nodes that you can access by moving on the grid. To move on the grid though, you got to spend your S.Levels, which are gained in battle as your character gets AP. You can move from one node to another with one s.lvl. If you got 10 sphere levels, then you can move from 10 nodes. You can also backtrack with your character. In that case, you can move from 4 nodes with one s.lvl. Rare Spheres There are spheres that allow you to do stuff like changing an empty node into a stat node or moving on the grid without any s.lvls and so on. These spheres are way rarer though, and they can only be obtained in maximum quantities late in the game. Strength sphere(Strength+4) Master sphere(Activates any nodes on the sphere grid) HP sphere(HP+300) Clear sphere(Clears nodes already activated) Defence sphere(Defence +4) Friend sphere(Join an ally on his part of grid) Agility sphere(Agility+4) Return sphere(Go back to a sphere already activated by your character) Accuracy sphere(Accuracy +4) Evasion sphere(Evasion+4) Teleport sphere(Teleport to a sphere already activated by an ally) Magic sphere(Magic+4) Magic defence sphere(Magic defense+4) Attribute sphere(Activates any Attribute sphere of an ally) MP sphere(MP+40) Blk Magic sphere(Allows you to learn a black magic from an ally) Skill sphere(Activates any skill sphere of an ally) Special Sphere(Activates any special sphere of an ally) Wht Magic sphere(Allows you to learn White Magic ability from an ally) Warp sphere(Teleport to any node) Luck sphere(Luck+4) 5- Overdrives This section is divided in two parts; the characters' overdrives, and the overdrives modes. A. Characters' overdrives An overdrive is like a limit break with which you can deal higher damages. The Swordplay of Tidus: Spiral Cut: you will have it at the beginning of the game. Slice & Dice: You must perform 10 GREAT overdrives to obtain it. Energy Rain: You must perform 30 GREAT overdrives to obtain it. Blitz Ace: You must perform 60 GREAT overdrives to obtain it. When I say that you must perform a GREAT overdrive, I mean that you must press X when the cursor of the overdrive is in the white space of the bar. It will also increase the damage of the attack. The Grand Summon of Yuna. This one is useful, when one of your Aeons doesn't have its overdrive, Grand Summon one of them and once it’s on the field, you'll see that it will be ready to perform its limit. Also, if you Grand Summon an Aeon that already got his overdrive, you can use that Aeon's overdrive twice. The Wakka's Slots: Element Reels: You have it at the beginning of the game. To deal nice damages with this attack, you need to select the right elemental circles. If you are fighting a ice fiend, try to select three red circles in the spins so you can perform a fire elemental attack to deal bigger damages. Fire: Red Circles Thunder: Yellow Circles Blizzard: White Circles Water: Blue Circles Attack Reels: Learn it as a Blitzball TOURNAMANT prize. Perhaps the greatest attack of the game, if you manage to correctly select three "2 hits" on the wheels, Wakka will attack the enemy 12 times. Status Reels: Learn it as a Bitzball LEAGUE prize. If you manage to select three same abnormal Statuses roulettes, you will inflict that abnormal status on the enemy. Aurochs Reels: Learn it as a Blitzball TOURNAMANT prize. Here, if you select three same wheels, you will attack all enemies for major damages. The Ronso Rages of Kimahri: You will learn all of the Kimahri's Overdrive by using his Lancet technic. Simply Lancet the appropriate enemy to receive a new blue magic. Here’s the list: Jump, Seed Cannon, Thrust Kick, Fire Breath, Aqua Breath, Stone Breath, Self Destruct, Doom, Bad Breath, White Wind, Mighty Guard and Nova. See a Blue Magic list FAQ/guide to know which monsters to Lancet. The Lulu's Fury Fire Fury Waterga Fury Thunder Fury Blizzaga Fury Blizzard Fury Bio Fury Water Fury Osmose Fury Fira Fury Death Fury Thundara Fury Drain Fury Blizzara Fury Demi Fury Watera Fury Flare Fury Firaga Fury Ultima Fury Thundaga Fury To be able to use one of these Fury, Lulu needs to have learned the spell. For example, if you let say want to use a Fira Fury, Lulu will need to have learned Fira. This overdrive is quite cool because it allows Lulu to cast a spell multiple times in her turn. You will have to spin the right analog stick quickly, powering up the overdrive’s damage potential. The Auron's Bushido For Auron, you need to input codes displayed in the screen to increase the Auron’s overdrive damages. Dragon Fang: You will have it at the beginning of the game Down+Left+Up+Right+L1+R1+O+X Shooting Star: Ejects an enemy out of the battle field for rest of the battle. You will learn it when you find the Jecht Sphere after beating Spherimorph in the Macalania Wood. Triangle+Circle+Square+X+Left+Right+X Banishing Blade: Great one here, Auron will inflict all the breaks(Power, Armor, Mental and Magic break)on the enemy. You will learn it after finding three Jecht Spheres. Up+L1+Down+R1+right+Left+Triangle Tornado: The last one, damages all enemies. You will obtain it after getting all ten Jecht spheres. X+Right+R1+Left+L1+Triangle The location of all the Jecht Spheres. - Macalania Wood after beating Spherimorph, you will automatically get one. - Just at the right of the Besaid Temple in Besaid Village. - Go to Besaid and take the SS Liki Board, then go into the Cabin. - At Luca, in the stadium, near the Aurochs' Locker Room. - In the Mi'ihen Old Road just near the chest where you found the Mars Crest. - At the Mushroom Rock Road, in the Precipice area(past that broken elevator and save sphere). - At Moonflow’s lake. - At the south part of the Thunder Plains - In a dead end at the beginning of Mt Gagazet - In the Macalania Wood, near the women and her kid. Note: You will find spheres named Auron's Sphere and Braska's sphere. Don't worry, these are considered Jecht spheres. Rikku's Mix Rikku can use her overdrive "Mix" to mix two items together in order to create a certain affect that will either damage the enemy or support your party. Check out a Mix FAQ for more infos about it. B. Overdrives modes An overdrive mode can be set on your characters in order to change their ways of increasing their overdrive bars. Below is the list of them. Stoic: Increases as you are damaged by enemies. Warrior: Increases as you damage the enemies. Healer: Increases as you heal an ally. Comrade: Increases as your allies take damages. Slayer: Increases as you kill enemies. Victor: Increases as you win battles(need to be in the party). Tactician: Increases as you inflict abnormal statuses to enemies. Hero: Increases as you kill powerful enemies. Ally: Increases as your character gets his/her turn. Daredevil: Increases as you fight with low HP. Loner: Increases as your character is alone in the fight. Coward: Increases as you flee from battles. Dancer: Increases as you dodge an enemy attack. Rook: Increases as you reduce an enemy or nul flie an enemy's attack. Sufferer: Increases as you are inflicted with abnormal statuses. Victim: Increases as you participate in battle with abnormal statuses Inflicted. Avenger: Increases as enemy kills your allies. 6- Walkthrough This is the main section of the FAQ. As I said it already, I make the walkthrough simple, though I like to elaborate on scenes and stuff like that, describing the events and so on. Ready? Here we go! Pop your FFX disc in your Ps2 and select New game at the main screen. You will view the introduction sequence of the game in which you can see characters sitting around a fire. A young man will ask you to listen to his story. ======================================================= Zanarkand ======================================================= You will control the young man with golden hair and fascinating clothes that you just saw in the previous sequence. Head south to meet his fans; seems like he’s a celebrity or something. Oh, he is actually the Blitzball star player of the Zanarkand Abes! Talk to either the three kids or the two girls and sign their Blitzballs. You get the opportunity of naming him, and the default name is Tidus. That’s the name that I will use to designate him in the walkthrough, so don’t forget about it if you’re intending to name him differently. Just talk to each fans and Tidus will leave. On your way to the stadium, you will have to cross a short road. Zanar, the Blitzball commentator, will talk about Jecht, who is Tidus’s father so pay attention. On your way, you will see three girls disappointed because they weren’t able to get tickets. One of them(with the pink shirt) will leave her friends. Talk to her and accept to lend her some tickets. In exchange, she gives you two potions. Blah! Afterward, just keep going to the next screen where Tidus will have a tough time passing through, thanks to his fans blocking the way. As you enter the stadium, it’s FMV time! You will have the opportunity of assisting to a Blitzball game in a CG movie. During the game, the screen will switch to a man in a long red coat who’s in the city. You will also see an enormous and scary wave that seems to be alive, submerging a part of the city. Back in the game, Tidus will try to score with his sphere shot but only to fail, because that huge wave you just saw is actually a living creature that will attack the city, destroying the stadium. Tidus wakes up in the ruins of the stadium shortly after. Head south to the next screen in order to meet up with Auron. Follow him as he leaves. In the next area, you’ll see that it is total panic in the city. The time will stop though, and you’ll meet that young mysterious boy from earlier. He will tell you that it’s starting, and that you shouldn’t cry. Time starts to flow again afterward, and you spot Auron, who will introduce you to that huge monster who’s attacking the city. The name’s Sin, and yeah, it is intimidating. A sinspawn will throw Scales on the road, blocking the path. Tidus will try to battle them with naked fists but it won’t work, so Auron will give him a sword as a gift from Jecht, Tidus’s old man. There you go, battle time! Make yourself familiar with the battle system(especially if you played previous Final Fantasies in which you had a ATB bar, something that isn’t available in this game). Once you defeated enough of these scale enemies, Tidus and Auron will be able to cross the bridge to the next screen in which you will meet your first boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sinspawn Ammes(with a couple of sinscales) HP: 2400 AP: 0 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- At the start of the battle, Auron will be able to use his overdrive; the Bushido. Input the buttons correctly to use a strong Dragon Fang that will take care of every sinscales. Once that is done, the battle cannot be lost because Sinspawn Ammes won’t use anything else than Demi, which is a gravitational black magic that takes away 1/4 of your party’s HP. Simply just pummel the boss until you win. It has tentacles and each times you attack him, one of them will be defeated. Keep striking him until no tentacles are left. At that point, one or two final blows will end the battle. Use Tidus’s overdrive when his bar is full. Once the battle is over, contour the dead body of Ammes and search the area right on the road for a save sphere. Use it to replenish your health, and also to save your progress. As you’re done, keep going to the next screen and you will be ambushed by some more scales. This time however, there must be at least a hundred of them on the bridge. After a few turns in the battle, Auron will advice you to hit that tanker on the right of the screen. Do so, since you don’t have the choice. Once the tanker has been damaged enough, it will fall off the bridge and explode, causing the whole place to blow up. Tidus and Auron will escape, only to be blocked on a few platforms away, as Sin starts to absorb everything in the city. Auron will tell Tidus that his story begins, to then get engulfed. You will find yourself floating in the sky over Zanarkand. Fly to the platform for another cut scene. ======================================================= Ruins ======================================================= Tidus wakes up in a creepy place that looks like a ruined temple, Resident Evil style. Seems that he is alone as well. Swim left hugging the ruins to meet some stairs. Climb them and check out the platform for a chest with potions inside. Afterward, get back in the water and search the right ruins of the screen this time, to find some stairs again. There are a few pillars there, one of them marked with a message that you can’t read. It’s saying that in the place of perpetual lightning bolts is something to be found at the fourth pillar of the right side of the area. Doesn’t make much sense to you huh? Don’t worry, that is for later on in the game. Back in the water, head north and climb the stairs to the elevated level. Keep going to the next area and use the save sphere at your disposal. Afterward, just follow the bridge and turn left at the crossroad. Check out the end of that path for a chest, and get back on the main bridge and head north. You will see a scene in which the bridge collapses as Tidus tries to cross it. In the water, you’re attacked by three Sahagins! Easy fiends though, since one hit is enough to kill one. Beat down two of them and the last one will be crushed by a huge fish that will emerge out of nowhere. Well, thanks to him for taking care of the sahagin but... Shoot, that doesn’t look like an ally huh? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Geosgaeno HP: 32 767 AP: 0 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Let’s see this thing. Geosgaeno nearly has 33 000 HP, and you will only be able to deal up to 30 points on him because of his high defence. Also, his gravitational physical attacks will take away half of your HP each turn. What to do? Just hit the boss 2-3 times and Tidus will realise that his chances of winning this battle are too slim to risk his life, so he will escape. Enjoy the scene in which Tidus barely escapes from the monster, and you will find yourself inside the ruined structure. ======================================================= Unknown temple ======================================================= Well, you were able to escape from the fish’s teeth but, your situation isn’t any better in here. Climb the stairs to the next area, which is the main place of the whole ruined temple. If you examine the foyer in the middle of the place, you will understand that Tidus needs to make a fire because he’s cold, but he just can’t since he doesn’t have any material. Let’s search for some then. West of the foyer is a save sphere and a door to a room that you can visit in order to find a Flint in some box. Leave afterward, and as you’re back in the main area, check out the northeast door. Search for a chest with an Ether inside at the bottom and then climb the stairs. On your way, you will spot something in the wall. Retrieve it to obtain the Withered Bouquet. Enter the passage at the top after and you’ll find yourself on the balcony over the foyer. To the end of it is a chest with an Hi-Potion inside. Go back to the bottom and make a fire. Tidus will fall asleep and have a dream about a flashback in which he had a talk with Auron. You will also see that mysterious young boy from earlier. When Tidus wakes up, he will realise that there really is another living being around in the temple. From the balcony will be revealed the monster that has been staring at Tidus for the last couple of minutes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Klink HP: 1500 AP: 5 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bah, another easy boss. One-on-one between Tidus and Klink, basically just pummel him over and over. Klink will be using nothing but simple physical attacks with his claws, dealing around 100 points each turn. After a while, a door that you couldn’t open earlier will blow up, and some strangers will come out of it. Four men and a girl, all dressed with some weird clothes. The girl will join you as your ally for the battle though. At her first turn, you will have to use the Use ability from the Special command, so just throw a Grenade at Klink for up to 350 damage. Once that’s done, just use that girl to steal some more Grenades from Klink. Tidus will use his turns to physically attack the boss. Eventually, you should be victorious. Tidus, happy that the battle is over, will try to relax a little but the strangers won’t let him. They will actually brutalise him, speaking in some unknown language. The girl will save you however, saying that they should bring Tidus with them before doing something drastic. She will knock him down though, with a single punch in the stomach. Funny that she has such powerful strength, seeing as how her physical attacks were weak in the battle against Klink. Oh well, ^_^. ======================================================= Al Bhed Ship ======================================================= The weirdos brought you on their ship, where you will meet their leader: Brother. He’ll talk to you in his weird language but Tidus won’t understand anything. At that moment, the girl will reveal that she speaks your language, and she will tell you that Brother agrees that you stay on the ship, but you have to work for them. When you can control Tidus, examine the crane on the right side of the screen if you’d like, and then search the corner north on the ship for an Al Bhed Primer. Use the save sphere to your left too, and then just go talk to the girl. She will give you a Sphere Grid tutorial. If you don’t understand its basics, then use my Sphere Grid section, though the tutorial should be more than enough. Afterward, talk to the man on the left of Brother to get three potions, and talk to the one on the right if you would like to see the Sphere Grid tutorial again. When you’re done, talk to the girl and she will explain the mission. There is an old ship underwater, and there is still power in it. You are to investigate the sunken ruins with the girl and find that old ship. Tidus will dive in the water, and the girl will follow him. Underwater, just swim to the red dot until you reach the interior of the structure where you’ll find a save sphere. Examine the panel, and after Tidus jammed on it several times, the door will open itself to you. Inside, follow the girl to the second room in which you will battle a few Piranhas. As the battle is over, just examine the machine and leave the room to the previous one, where you will meet a boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Tros HP: 2200 AP: 8 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tros will use normal physical attacks for 50 points(about) and Tentacles for up to 80 points. Just hit him with Tidus’s sword and have the girl steal for a few Grenades to then throw them. After a few turns, Tros will go out of range, on the other side of the room. As he does that, use the Trigger Command to Stand By, allowing you to regen 50 HP on your characters. The boss will use the nautilus charge however, which deals up to 130 points on your two characters. Evil isn’t it. You may need to use a few potions as it happens, and then just keep attacking the enemy. Tros will eventually go out of range again, but then you should be able to use a new Trigger Command, which is the Pincer Attack, allowing you to side attack him. As it does, just keep attacking him over and over with physical attacks and Grenades, for your victory. Follow the red dot on the map and keep swimming down until you find the old sunken ship. Mission complete! ======================================================= Al Bhed Ship ======================================================= Though Tidus played a major role in the completion of the mission you just undertook, the weirdos won’t let you enter the interior of the ship, leaving you on the deck. Tidus will try to rest, but he still hasn’t fed himself ever since this crazy peril began! The girl will come to him though, and give him a plate with food. After some yapyap, she will tell you her name; Rikku. Tidus and his new friend will have a discussion about different things. You will learn that she is an Al Bhed, which is a people. Tidus will also tell her that he’s from Zanarkand, and about what happened to him there as Sin attacked. Problem is, Rikku will inform him that it was destroyed a thousand years ago by Sin himself. She will just pretend that Tidus is sick because of the toxin made by Sin when you’re close. Oh well, she will suggest him to go to Luca where he could meet somebody he knows, since there is a Blitzball stadium there. She will even accept to bring you there! As she enters the cabin to tell the others though, real close to you will appear the evil Sin, emerging from the water. The Al Bhed won’t be able to do anything, and Tidus will be engulfed once again. ======================================================= Besaid Beach ======================================================= You get the opportunity of saving your game. Once that is done, Tidus wakes up in the sea near some unknown beach. Something hit Tidus’s head; a Blitzball! Tidus, happy, will take it and perform one of his moves to shoot the ball toward the couple of men standing at the beach. When you get the control, swim to the right and search for an hidden part of the island. Open the chest there for the Moon Crest, and get back in the water to swim to the group. You will meet Wakka, captain of the Besaid Aurochs. As Tidus is asked about where he’s from though, he will forget Rikku’s advice and will reveal that he’s from Zanarkand, and that he plays for the Abes. Seeing his mistake, Tidus will lie to the Aurochs, telling them that he was struck by Sin’s toxin. Bah, Wakka will invite you to Besaid Village where you will be able to eat and rest. Follow him for another scene, and save with the save sphere as you get the opportunity. Done? Well, head to the next screen and take the right path(left one cannot be taken now). Wakka will push you off the cliff to then join you in the water down there. Follow the map to get out of here, searching the bottom of the lake for treasures. Once you reached the other side, you will see another scene in which Tidus accepts to play in Wakka’s Blitzball team. When you’re on the land again, the two new friends will once again have a discussion. You will learn that Wakka is quitting Blitzball after this year’s tournament at Luca, and that they never won a game in 10 years. After some more yapyap in which Tidus introduces Wakka to their new goal(Victory!), you’ll be able to go down the road to the village. You will meet two men on the way though, who are Crusaders. One more scene, and you’re free to visit... ======================================================= Besaid Village ======================================================= Wakka will suggest that you look around the place, and he will tell you where is the Crusaders lodge. Beforehand though, he will "remind" you the prayer. Visit the shop on the lower left side of the village if you need to buy some items, and then just check out the village for treasures. When you’re done, head inside the Crusaders lodge(blue tent on the upper left side) and talk to Luzzu and Gatta, the men you just met on your way to Besaid. They will explain what are Crusaders; a group of warriors who’ve been battling Sin for 800 years. You will also learn about who has the role of fighting Sin to defeat him; the Summoner. Luzzu will suggest that you visit the temple for proper information though. Use the save sphere in the lodge and then, just get out to the village and head to the temple, which is the huge structure north. In there, check out the statue on the right and some priest will tell you that you’re in front of High Summoner Braska’s. You will learn that an high summoner is a summoner that was able to defeat Sin. In Braska’s case, it happened ten years ago. When the scene is over, leave the temple and enter Wakka’s hut, which is the middle one on the right side. Accept to rest, and while you’re napping, the priest will enter the hut and request Wakka’s presence in the temple. Tidus will have a dream of a flashback once again, in which you can see the day Jecht disappeared. Little Tidus won’t care about his father, while his mom will try to resonate him. When Tidus wakes up, Wakka will be gone, so leave the tent and head inside the temple. You will talk with Wakka and the priest and you will understand why they are so worried. It made a day that the summoner hasn’t come out of the cloister of trials. Tidus will suggest that they enter the place and get the summoner, but they will tell him that it is forbidden to do such a thing. Oh well, Tidus won’t care and will penetrate into the cloister. The Besaid's cloister of trials. Each temples have their different cloister of trials, which is some kind of puzzle. Besaid’s cloister isn’t complicated, you’ll see. So first, examine that glyph on the wall in front of you. By doing so, the green glyph at your right will glow, so touch it as well to open a door to some stairs. Go down these, and examine that glyph on the wall to learn a bit about the cloisters. Take that Glyph sphere off its recess, and continue down the stairs. Put that Glyph sphere in the double doors to open them. Now continue on the way until you arrive at a pedestal blocked in a wall. Touch the signs on the wall opposite of it to open a secret door. In there you can get a Besaid Sphere, so take it and pop it in the pedestal blocked in the wall. When you do so, the wall will vanish, allowing you to move the pedestal. However, don't do that yet. Instead, go back to the double doors you opened with the Glyph sphere, and you'll see that the sphere is still in the recess, so take it back, and then put it in the first recess wall you meet on your way back to the pedestal. A hidden room will be revealed, and you can get a Destruction sphere from the recess in it. So take it, and go back in the room in which you took that Besaid Sphere. Put the Destruction Sphere in the recess to destroy the wall at the end of the place. So go there and you'll see a chest, open it to get the Rod of Wisdom. Now go back to the pedestal, and push it on the glyph sign on the floor to complete the trial. Wakka joins you and explains to you that if you’re not a summoner or a guardian, you cannot enter a cloister. Taboo! Oh well, the elevator is activated and brings you to the bottom. You meet a woman and a big blue creature there. After a scene in which you can witness the woman’s coldness, the summoner will come out of the chamber of the fayth. A woman! I too, just like Tidus, thought that the summoners were all old geezers. Oh well, the party will leave the temple. Outside, you will have the opportunity of watching a summoning by the summoner. When the scene is over, name the Aeon (Valefor) and the celebration will begin. The night, once Tidus has been introduced to the Aurochs, go talk to the summoner. She will tell you her name; Yuna. When the short conversation is over, go tell Wakka that you’re ready to sleep. During the night, Tidus will have a dream, but this time, it won’t be a flashback. You will find yourself on some dock, and you will be able to control Tidus. Go talk to Yuna and she will tell you some weird things. Afterward, Rikku will join as well, saying that she is the one who would bring you to Luca. Oh well, Jecht will appear out of nowhere as well, mocking Tidus like always. When Tidus wakes up, you will see an FMV of a conversation between Lulu and Wakka. Once Wakka is alone, he will enter the lodge to talk to Tidus. You will learn about his little brother, Chappu, who died at the hand of Sin last year. The next morning, save if you’d like and head out of the lodge to meet up with Wakka and Lulu. Yuna should arrive shortly, and meanwhile, you will learn about their pasts. They were friends since they were very little, and Yuna came right after the last Calm, ten years ago. This is your journey. Enjoy it, bud. Once Yuna joined you, you will automatically leave Besaid. Go back in the village though, and head inside the shop(lower tent on the left side). Talk to the seller and she will tell you that her dog has dug something strange. Leave and head inside the upper hut on the right side of the village and examine the dog in there. You will receive Valefor’s second overdrive; Energy Blast. Leave the village for good afterward. On your way outside, you will run into two forced encounters in which you will learn a few basics about battles, such as which enemies are easily killed by Tidus and Wakka, and about the elemental offences that Lulu can use. At the crossroad, the party will pray at a statue. Pray if you would like too. Once that’s done, take the right path to the next screen. Head north a bit and Tidus will be attacked by that big blue creature you saw back in the temple. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Kimahri HP: 800 AP: 0 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an easy battle, but you should check your HP when it gets too low. It’s one-on-one between Tidus and Kimahri, meaning that you can only use Tidus. The boss will use normal attacks with his lance for up to 80 points, and his Jump will deal around 140 damage. Basically just keep using normal physical attacks over and over, and heal whenever your HP gets too low to survive another attack. You could use Tidus’s Cheer ability if you’d like, though you can win without it. Once you dealt 800 damage on Kimahri, Wakka will end the battle. You will be told who Kimahri is. He’s from the Ronso tribe, and he learned the fiends’ way of fighting. He has also been Yuna’s bodyguard since she was very little. Oh well, a new ally why not. Keep going to the next screen to reach the waterfalls area where you will, once again, go through tutorial battles. Two of them in which you will be able to use Yuna’s summon ability (Valefor), and Wakka’s Dark Attack skill. Once that’s done, I would advice you to win a few random encounters around, just to get yourself some sphere levels to spend on the sphere grid. When you’re done, exit and head to the beach of Besaid. There, you can still get the Mercury crest from the chest located on an hidden part of the island (swim toward the right of the screen in the water to find it). At the dock, talk to every one in order to get items and board the boat. ======================================================= SS Liki ======================================================= Yuna says good bye to her people one last time, and the boat will be on its way to Kilika Port. After a funny scene in which Tidus snatches some googles from some dude to check out the Island and the party(AND Lulu’s...), head down the stairs to the cabin in the back of the boat. You meet O’aka the twenty third, merchant extraordinaire. Gotta love his accent. Talk to him and accept to lend him a couple of hundred of gil. As that’s done, go south in the screen to enter the power room. In there, you learn how is the ship getting its energy; the chocobos! Grab the Al Bhed Primer in the bottom of the place and leave. Back in the cabin, take the left door to enter the Aurochs’ logde. There is a luggage there, and when you kick it, you get a free potion. You can obtain as much Potions as you want until you have 20 of them in your inventory. When you’re done, head to the back of the screen and talk to Keepa. He will tell you that Botta is sea sick and that he(Keepa that is)’s trying to hide because he will get sick too if he keeps staring at his friend. That’s some Final Fantasy IX humor style. Oh well, leave the room and climb the stairs back on the deck. In the front, you will see that Yuna has many fans. You will learn from one of the dudes that she is Braska’s daughter. Go talk to Wakka and he will confirm that she really is his daughter. But who’s Braska? Oh yeah, he’s the summoner who became High summoner as he defeated Sin ten years ago! You saw his statue back in Besaid temple remember? Oh well, as the mini scene is over, talk to Yuna. During the conversation, you shall be shocked; Yuna KNOWS the Zanarkand Tidus came from. How? A man named Jecht told her about it. He was her father’s guardian too. Problem is, Tidus will inform her that it cannot be the same person because Jecht died ten years ago. However, Yuna met him exactly ten years and three months ago, the day that her father left! And well, since Tidus was capable of travelling from Zanarkand to Spira, it has to be him! Shoot, looks like you won’t have more sweet time talking with Yuna, because something huge will attack the boat. Ah crap, Sin is back. After a sequence in which some Kilika imbecile tries to distract the monster by shooting it with an harpoon, you are forced to battle him. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sin(along with Sinscales) HP: 2000 AP: 10(and 2 from each Sinscales you kill) Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- What the heck, it’s already the time to battle big bad meanie Sin? Boh, there is nothing hard. Sin actually won’t even attack you. Instead, he will throw some of his scales on your boat. They will fight you in a team of three. If you kill them all off, he will throw some more of them. I’d recommend you to slay a few of them over and over a couple of times just to get some easy EXP. Afterward, just beat down two of them and let the last one alive. At that point, have a party made of Wakka, Lulu and Yuna. Target Sin directly with Wakka’s Blitzball, and Lulu will simply cast her black magics. Yuna will support the party with her Cure. Once you depleted Sin’s total HP(2000), the battle will end. As Sin leaves, the huge waves moving the boat will cause Tidus to be thrown off in the ocean. Wakka will dive to save him though. Unfortunately, another enemy will attack. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sinspawn Echuilles(with some piranhas) HP: 2000 AP: 12 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tougher than the previous battle I have to admit. Let’s see the situation. The battle is underwater so you can only control Tidus and Wakka. Sinspawn Echuilles will also be accompanied by an infinite amount of piranhas, meaning that killing them is useless. As for his attacks, he will use Drain touch, which drains one character’s HP for around 60 points, and Blender, which damages all targets for up to 200 damage. The piranhas will simply attack you for 50-60 damage. The strategy is simple; Dark Attack. Have Wakka use that skill so the boss’s Drain touch won’t harm you anymore. Afterward, just have Tidus cast Cheer and simply pummel the enemy. Blender cannot be blocked though, which explains why you will still probably need to use a potion or two in order to heal. Again, let me remind you that it’s useless to kill the piranhas cause they will keep coming back. FMV time. Sad one though, because you’ll witness Sin’s power as he attacks and destroys Kilika village with a huge tsunami. ======================================================= Kilika village ======================================================= As the party disembarks, Yuna, followed by Lulu and Kimahri, will go perform the sending for those who died. Wakka and the Aurochs will go see what they can do in town to help, instead. When you can control Tidus, use that save sphere and proceed to the next screen. At the crossroad, take a left turn and you will witness an FMV of a sending, by Yuna. Sad isn’t it. The next morning, you will wake up in the Inn. Go down the stairs and to talk to that HILARIOUS kid running around. He’ll tell you that he wants to be a Blitzball when he grows up! Allow me to laugh. Thanks. Out of the Inn, once you spoke with Datto, go examine that ruined house on your left. There’s a little girl crying in it, and the house will crumble. Tidus will save her though, so follow her to the previous screen. Head inside the main house and the big sister of the little girl will allow you to open that chest on your left. Outside, head right and speak to Wakka. He will tell you that it is actually the best time to play Blitzball. Afterward, as you can control Tidus, follow the path to the left until you reach the wood. ======================================================= Kilika Wood ======================================================= One more cutscene will be witnessed at the entrance. Yuna wants Tidus to become one of her guardian. Wakka won’t think that it is a good idea to let a newbie join their team, but Lulu will suggest that they just keep going. Head north to find out that some huge sleeping creature is blocking the path. Luzzu and Gatta will tell you that it’s Ochu, the lord of the wood. Talk to Luzzu twice so he gives you some antidotes, and then run in the fiend. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Lord Ochu HP: 4675 AP: 40 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an optional battle, though I recommend you to beat it so you can explore the path that he is blocking. Let’s list his attacks. Ochu will use Poison Claws, which deals up to 150 damage on one target, and inflicts Poison. He can use Water as well to deal around 140 points on one character. When he’s asleep, he regens HP and as you wake him up with a physical attack, he will counter with Earthquake, which deals around 250 damage on whole party. To win, I’d recommend you to have a party made of Kimahri(who should be your strongest physical hitter, if he isn’t, then switch to the one), Lulu, and Yuna. Ochu’s a plant enemy, so he hates fire. Lulu should just keep casting it whenever she gets a turn. Kimahri(or your strongest hitter) will simply use physical attacks, and Yuna should be supporting the party with Cure to heal, and Esuna to get rid of the boss’s Poison. Don’t let him sleep when he tries to, because as I told you earlier, he will regen HP while doing so. Using the Sensor ability, just summon Valefor when Ochu is nearly dead and have her use her overdrive for an overkill, simply to get extra AP. Once you’re victorious, talk to Luzzu and he will reward you with an Elixir. Afterward, take the north path and follow it until you reach the end. Open the chest for a Luck sphere. Go back and take a left turn at the first intersection you meet. You will come to a crusader who’s giving orders to his inferiors. Talk to him and he will give a Remedy(if I’m correct). If you killed Ochu, he will give you a SOS Nullflies armor. South of you is a secret path, follow it until you reach a chest. Open it, then follow it to the end of it and go right to reach the very first intersection of the wood from the village. Take the right path and open the chest there. Back at the crossroad, take the north path(where you fought Ochu) and talk to the Crusader nearby in order to get another item. You can take a final right turn and follow the path until you reach the next screen. You will learn that the stairs in front of you have an history, since High Summoner Ohaland got his training at the top. Meh, the Aurochs and Tidus will decide to race and see who’s the fastest at climbing stairs to the top. Yuna will fool them though. If you wish, talk to Lulu to hear her laugh, which must be the only time that you have such an opportunity in the game. Up the stairs, the Aurochs will spot a boss. Another Sinspawn! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sinspawn Geneaux HP: 3000 AP: 450 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing complicated, though you do need to use a certain strategy. See, Sinspawn Geneaux is hiding in his shell, making him really resistant to physical attacks. In that case, let’s use magic. You cannot however, because of the tentacles that will absorb it. Bring Tidus, Kimahri, and Wakka and have them beat down both tentacles. Should take a few turns. They will only attack your characters for less than 100 damage. Geneaux himself will use Sigh, which deals about same damage, but on party. Once the tentacles are defeated, bring in Lulu and have her cast Fire once or twice on Geneaux and he will reveal himself out of his shell. At that point, he will start attacking with Staccato, which harms your party. He will also use Venom to inflict Poison on one target. Quickly dispose of him with Lulu’s fire, while the other characters should be hitters. Make full use of Yuna’s Esuna whenever a target gets poisoned. Cutscene time again as you’re victorious. Wakka will tell Tidus that he’s got talent for becoming a guardian. Climb the stairs north for... ah yes, one more cutscene. Wakka will try to make a theory about Sin’s victims. Sin wouldn’t be killing them. Instead, he would take them to another dimension, or world, or what ever. Lulu however, will make him face the truth about Chappu, harsh as always. Next area is the front of the temple where you will meet the Goers, which are the Luca Blitzball team. After Wakka gives them a rendez-vous in the finals, enter the temple. Pray with Wakka if you’d like, and a summoner will come out of the cloister, with her guardian. She is Lady Dona, and she pretty much acts like any other smart asses you met so far. Once she left, the party will enter the cloister. At the elevator, Kimahri will reject Tidus because he isn’t a guardian yet. Leaving him there, just have him board the elevator when it’s back and Dona(and Barthello, her guardian) will come back for some reason. When she(the summoner that is) understands that Tidus cannot enter the cloister, she will order Barthello to force Tidus to go on that elevator, which will take him to the lower level. Heh, oops, you’re not allowed here... Oh well, examine that door north of you and choose to enter the cloister. Kilika Temple’s cloister of trials. So first, you'll be in a room with a huge door in front of you, and to your left is a pedestal with a Kilika sphere in it. Take that Kilika sphere, and put it in the recess of the huge door north of the room. Doing so will "burn" the door, so take that Kilika sphere off its recess to completely open yourself a path. Now go in the next room and put that Kilika Sphere you are holding in the recess on the north wall. When you do that, a glyph will appear. So take off the sphere and pop it in either the recess on the right or left wall, and go touch that glyph sign. The wall will open itself to you. In the next room, you'll see that to your left are some stairs to a lower level but actually, there is fire blocking the path. You can also see another Kilika Sphere on a recess to your right. Take it (the fire will light off on the lower level), and pop it in a recess in the previous room. Now come back, and go step on that glyph mine on the ground in order to move the pedestal from the previous room in this room. Take the glyph sphere from it, and put it where you just removed the last Kilika Sphere. The wall will open itself to you, and in there you'll see a Destruction sphere. Ignore it for now, and go back in the previous room and take a Kilika Sphere. Now come back and put it in the pedestal. Push the pedestal to the glyph sign on the ground just like you did in Besaid Temple. When you do that, that part of the ground will be lowered, revealing yet another Kilika Sphere in a recess. Take it, and go up the stairs to the other side of the room and put the sphere in the recess of the door. The door will burn just like at the beginning of this cloister, but don't take off the sphere to completely open yourself a path yet. Instead, go back to the other side of the room and take that destruction sphere from the room that was revealed when you used that Glyph Sphere. Put that destruction sphere just where you took off the last Kilika sphere(down the second level) to destroy the wall, revealing a chest with a Red Armlet inside. Finally, go up the stairs and take off that Kilika sphere from the burning door in order to open yourself a path to some stairs leading to the ante chamber. As Wakka sees you, he’ll sure be shocked, because you’re once again messing up the teachings. Lulu will tell you that Yuna could suffer some consequences as well. Bah, afterward, they will drop their anger and explain what are the Aeons. When the scene is over, try to leave the room and Yuna will come out of the chamber, exhausted. She has done it again though, obtaining a new Aeon; Ifrit! During the celebration, Tidus from the present will tell you that the hymn of the fayth that can be heard in the temple is actually a song that he remembers from his childhood. Out of the temple, Yuna will notice that Tidus isn’t feeling so well, so he will scream real loud in order to feel better. Har. Back in the wood, simply cross the jungle to the village. ======================================================= Kilika village ======================================================= Simply head to the dock and choose to embark the boat. ======================================================= SS winno ======================================================= You’re finally on your way to Tidus’s destination; Luca. From the room you’re in(with the Aurochs and two Goers), leave and lend some more gil to O’aka if you’d like. Climb stairs to access the deck and head to the back of the boat for a scene. The Goers will be asses with Tidus, though Yuna will support him, telling him that she really does believe in his Zanarkand. When the scene is over, head to the left side of the cabin and go up the stairs four times to hear four different conversations between Lulu and Wakka. They will be talking about Tidus actually, wondering about what they will do with him once they reached Luca. When that’s done, check out the front deck of the boat and spot a blitzball on the ground. Examine it and Tidus will have another flashback in which once again, Jecht is showing what type of ass he has always been with his son. Mini-game time! See, Jecht’s smart ass comments will be thrown in your screen there and there. You must press the arrow to designate the area where the comment is said, combined with the X button. For example, if you see "Gwahahahahah" on the left side of the screen, you must quickly press Left (arrow)+X. Beat the mini-game correctly and it should allow Tidus’s move to connect. You learn the Jecht shot, as you’re successful. Afterward, whether you were able to do it or not, go talk to Yuna and they will discuss about Jecht some more. When the conversation is over, it will bed time(you will witness different scenes depending on the results of the mini-game). Save when you’re asked, and the next morning, you will watch a short FMV in which the boat arrives at... ======================================================= Luca ======================================================= You will have to go through a boring scene in which the annoying blitzball commentators describe three of the blitzball teams(Kilika Beasts, Besaid Aurochs, and Luca Goers). Still, Tidus won’t let the Goers have it their ways and... You’ll see (^_^). Shortly after, the party will hear that Mika has arrived. Who is he? The Grand Maester, the leader of all in Spira. Well, let’s go see that old geezer. Follow the red dot on the map until you reach the dock. You will first see a mysterious looking man; an half Guado individual. Following him is Maester Mika, who’ll introduce to you Maester Seymour(that half Guado half human person), who just became a Maester because of Lord Jyscal’s(his father) death. Notice how Seymour’s evil eyes will spot Yuna? Oh well, you’ll find yourself in the Aurochs locker room. The players are depressed, because as you know, they never won a game in over twenty years (if I’m correct). Captain Wakka will enter the lodge though, bringing good news. They play against the Al Bhed Psyches, and if they win, they are in the final! Check out the tutorial on how to play blitz and as you’re done, Yuna will enter the room as well, but she will bring different news. She will report that someone saw Sir Auron in a café! Tidus, Kimahri, and Yuna will then decide to go check that café, indeed. Tidus will meet some Al Bhed outside, but as he realises that they cannot speak his language, he will just head out. Follow the red dot on the map, and on your way, you will witness a few different scenes in which Tidus will teach Yuna how to whistle, and also give her a description of his Zanarkand. Afterward, they will enter the café at the Bazaar but... Of course, Auron won’t be there anymore. Kimahri will meet two old "friends" he hasn’t talked to in 10 years however, Biran and Yiken, huge Ronso warriors. They will mock him though, for a reason we ignore now, so he will smack one right in Yenke’s face to knock him down. Biran will react by throwing a punch as well, and from the screen, Mika will give his speech about today, and the stadium getting ready for the upcoming match. When you’re back in the café, Yuna has magically disappeared while you weren’t looking, so Tidus and Kimahri will head out and meet Lulu outside, who’s saying that the Al Bheds kidnapped Yuna and in exchange of her safety, they want the Aurochs to lose. Geez, they are sure discreet and quick, they had the time of kidnapping Yuna while Tidus and Kimahri weren’t looking, and to then tell Lulu and Wakka about their plan. Yikes. Oh well, follow the red dot once again to reach the dock where the Al Bhed took Yuna. On the way though, you will meet a few machinas that are pretty hard against physical attacks. Lulu’s Thunder spell will take care of them though, since they are weak to lightning. When you reach the place, the Al Bhed will be escaping the dock with their ship. The party won’t let them, as they board their boat with impressive jumping skills. They have a surprise in store for you though... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Oblitzerator HP: 6000 AP: 36 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- High HP, but this battle is easy really. Oblitzerator will use Blitz Rush, which damages your whole party multiple times and Blind Ball, which is a counter that inflicts Darkness. It can use Mute Ball too, which inflicts Silence. For your offence, let’s speed up the beating a bit. See, there is a crane on the right of the screen. Tidus can use it with Trigger Command, though there is no point because it’s out of power. Wait, how about you fill it with some power; lightning! Lulu should cast Thunder on it about 3 times and then, have Tidus use it against the boss. The crane will lift up Oblitzerator in the air to then drop it on the ground, dealing a few thousands point of damage and removing the machine’s upper part. Afterward, just finish it with Kimahri and Tidus’s physical attacks. Lulu will simply keep casting Thunder each turn and soon enough, the enemy should fall. As you’re victorious, Yuna will exit the ship’s cabin(notice how she liberated herself by her own self). You will then learn, in the scene, that Yuna is half Al Bhed, from her mother side. Her uncle, Cid, is a man that she’s been seeking for quite a while now. Lulu will order Tidus not to tell Wakka about what he just learned though, because as you know, Wakka doesn’t have much love for them. Oh crap, speaking of Wakka, the blitzball game is still going at the stadium! The party will head back at the docks and they will assist the end of the match via a titantron. Wakka, on a roll, will score a last goal with class to win the game 3-2! Back in the lodge, Wakka won’t be able to play in the next game though, since he’s exhausted. Tidus will replace him! Now, save, check out the tutorials about blitz again, and leave to start the match against the Goers. Just before it begins though, you will have a view of the crowd and you will spot... Auron!!! So he’s really here. Oh well, now it’s Blitzball time! You will play a game against the Luca Goers while you’ll be controlling the Aurochs. Winning however, won’t be easy, because the Goers are TOUGH. Their stats surpass yours, totally. You could lose, it won’t have such a big effect on the story. It is recommended to try to win once or twice though, because you can still get something out of it if you’re victorious. Below, I will list what happens whether you win or lose. If you win: After the game, you will see a sweet message saying "Obtained Strength sphere" in your screen. That sphere can be used on any empty node to create a Strength+4 node. GREAT for this point of the game. Also, after the game and the events that follow(you will see), Wakka will give Datto the crystal cup as he’s quitting. Something else to add, you will be feeling proud of winning too (^_^). If you lose: You won’t obtain any reward, and later on after the events, when Wakka’s saying good bye to his team, he will simply give a Blitzball to Datto. As you can see, it is in your best interest of winning this match. How to win? Well, as I told you, it won’t be easy. The Goers have a big time advantage over you. What I did the four last times that I beat the game(in which I always won the match) is simple; put the control on Manual first, and then just keep the adverse team away from the blitzball for the first fall of the match. See, none of your players have any abilities to use because they don’t have enough HP to spend. So for the first fall, just don’t let the Goers score. You could always try to mark a point if you’d like, though it isn’t recommended. The Goers defence made of Balgerda and Doma is a pain in the neck to break through. And that is without mentioning the goaler’s bastardness. Just don’t let the Goers score and mess around with the ball passing it between your characters all around the sphere until the first fall is over. When it is, you will be able to check out your players. Set Tidus with the Jecht shot you got from the mini-game on the SS winno. When the second fall starts, it will be the time to ATTACK! Have Tidus get the closest to the goal possible and use the Jecht shot. The awesomeness from that move comes from the fact that it can knock down two players that are breaking yours, and then shoot in the goal, usually scoring if you were close enough (unless the goaler’s a god, but the Goers’s isn’t, though he’s good). Once that score was done, that’s it, just keep playing like you did in the first fall, which consisted of keeping the blitzball away from the opponents. You could always try to score but you probably can’t use the Jecht shot anymore so y’know. Once the timer reaches 3:00, the screen will switch to the crowd that is chanting Wakka’s name. Tidus will then let Wakka end his career by himself. With Wakka as your team leader, you could try to score(use Venom Shot for the heck of it) or just once again keep the ball away from the Goers hands, until the timer reaches 5:00. If you were victorious, congratulation! If you weren’t, then just retry or keep playing and let go the strength sphere! After the match, Wakka will be exhausted inside the sphere. Tidus joins him, but then, they are ambushed by a nice bunch of sahagins! Dipose of all of them and the screen will switch to the crowd, where everybody is in panic because of the fiends invasion. In the middle of them however, is standing a careless man; Auron. Enjoy the AWESOME short FMV in which Auron gets ready to send a monster to oblivion. Man, Auron is one of the classiest character of the serie. On the field, just attack the Viouvre once and it will be defeated. Wakka and Tidus will join Auron and as you can see, Yuna was right, Auron really was her father’s guardian, as Wakka will name him the best guardian that there ever was. They will be attacked by a Garuda though. Remember that fiend from Besaid? The key was to blind him. Well use Wakka’s Dark Attack skill and you will inflict Darkness on the enemy, thus making it easy to defeat. When you’re victorious, more fiends(Garuda, Dingo and Viouvre) will attack, but then, you won’t have to battle them because... FMV time again! Seymour, the Maester, seems to be capable of summoning as well, since he will call on a gigantic Aeon that will annihilate every fiends in the stadium with its unique eye. Powerful. After the scene, Wakka says good-bye to his team and gives them the Crystal Cup(or a blitzball, if you didn’t win the tournament). Yuna will be talking with Wakka and Lulu at the exit of Luca(Kimahri will be nearby but bah, like if he would converse) after. You will learn that no one was able to find out how could the fiends invade the stadium, though everybody seems safe, thanks to Seymour’s powerful summon. The screen switches to Tidus and Auron who are in Luca. Mad at Auron, Tidus will let his anger go on him. Auron will confirm that he was Braska’s guardian with Jecht, and that they, them three, defeated Sin ten years ago. Then, at the request of Jecht, Auron came to Zanarkand to watch over his son, Tidus. At that moment, you will learn shocking news. Don’t read if you don’t want to be spoiled. Is Jecht still alive? will ask Tidus. Auron will reply that he is, if you consider Sin a living being. That’s right, Sin is Jecht. As you can control Tidus, follow Auron out of the docks and follow the red dot to rejoin the party at the exit to the next location. Auron will ask Yuna if he can become her guardian. That’s what he promised Braska. He also forces Tidus to come, so he can keep his promise to Jecht. The more the merrier! When you can control Tidus, go talk to Yuna. No need to describe that scene; just check it for yourself. Both will try to sound happy while they are actually sad, with some freaky results. ======================================================= Mi’ihen Highroad ======================================================= Check out the save sphere nearby and you’ll learn that you can now play blitzball! I advice you to do so and win Wakka’s second overdrive (Attack Reels) from the tournament. When you’re done, run around the save sphere a bit to get some AP from random encounters in order to work on your sphere grid a bit and then just cross the highroad. Talk to EVERYBODY that you meet on the road, because they all have items for you. Don’t miss the Hunter Spear given by a brown headed guy in a blue coat, because it’s a great weapon for Kimahri. On the way, you will spot a statue on your left. Talk to man nearby and he will explain the history of that statue. It’s Lord Mi’ihen who formed the Crimson Blades 800 years ago. After showing their strength and courage to Yevon, they grew up a rank to become the Crusaders. Keep going north until you reach some ruins. The man you just talked to will come at you and introduce himself. He is Maechen, a scholar who’s been travelling around for a long while, discovering stuff. He will be at your service in the game, appearing at different places. Whenever you see him, he will usually have something to teach you about general stuff that you will encounter during your journey. Pretty cool isn’t it? As you’re able to move again, head north and you should meet up with Captain Lucil and her two acolytes; Elma and Clasko. They are Chocobo Knights from Djose, and they will warn you that a fiend that eats chocobos has been reported around, so watch out if you rent a chocobo. North, near the end of the screen, is a small area on the right. You will meet Belgemine there, a summoner. She challenges Yuna for an Aeon duel. Accept, and the battle will start after she healed your Aeons. She will summon Ifrit, so you will have to summon Valefor. Cast Blizzard once or twice and the game will advice you to use the Shield Command because a vicious Meteorstrike is coming from your opponent. Obey, and as Ifrit used his turn, just unleash Valefor’s Energy Blast(or Energy Ray if you didn’t listen to my advice of getting the other overdrive at Besaid) and the battle should end. Belgemine rewards you with an Echo Ring(HP+10% and Silence Ward) if you were victorious. She will also leave by saying that she couldn’t defeat Sin. Hmm, bah. Head to the next screen and open the chest in the area guarded by Elma (on her chocobo). Talk to the woman near the ruined structure after and you will be introduced to her little daughter, Calli. They are looking forward for another Calm. As they leave, Tidus will ask the party what the heck’s a Calm. Basically, it’s the peaceful time Spira gets when a summoner defeats Sin. He’s always reborn though, and supposedly, beating him again and again is worth the little time of break that the people of Spira gets. Right... What ever. As you can control Tidus, keep following the map and you will spot a blitzball on the ground. If you kick it, the little boy, who’s the owner of the now departed blitzball, will be mad at you. Instead, talk to him before doing anything with his ball, and you will receive a few Softs. As that’s done, it’ll be the time of kicking his blitzball. Why would you and I do such a thing? Well, don’t you ever question my evilness again, you worm. Head to the next screen after. Run toward a caravan on the path and you will spot Luzzu and Gatta. Go chat with them and they will confirm that they are up to something with some operation. As they leave, just follow them north. Eventually, you meet up with a religious lady who’s trying to beat some sense into a Crusader. She is Shelinda, an helpless Yevonite. She’s trying to convice the Crusaders of changing their mind about using forbidden machinas in their operation. After some useless blabla, you will be able to exit the Highroad and enter the Rin Travel Agency area of Mi’ihen. Auron will tell the party that is it time to rest. Wakka, not fresh with the idea of staying at an Al Bhed Inn, will agree against his own will. During the night, Tidus will wake up and exit his room. Save, then just head out. You will witness a scene in which Tidus and Yuna discuss various things. Are forbidden machinas really that bad? Is it really the reason why Sin keeps reappearing? Also, how to defeat Sin? You will learn that the only way of beating down the monster is by using the Final Aeon from the Final Summoning, which is obtained at Zanarkand, the ruins of a city destroyed a thousand years ago. The end of the summoner’s pilgrimage. Oh well, the party then takes the night off. The next morning, some dude will give you a level 1 key sphere. Try to head out of the agency after and Tidus will bump in Rin himself, the owner of every Rin Travel agencies that can be found in Spira. After some chit chats, you will receive an Al Bhed primer. As the conversation is over, some girl will call for help outside. Rin will give you mega-potions, and Auron will request your presence outside. Save, then head out to find out what’s going on. The chocobos are in a total panic, because a vicious predator is after them. Boss battle time! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Chocobo Eater HP: 10 000 AP: 90 Difficulty: Rough --------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember what Captain Lucil told you earlier? There has been reported a chocobo eating monster. Well, you’re in front of that fiend. Chocobo Eater is quite an high HP user, 10 000 being the highest you met so far(aside from Geosgaeno but that’s another story). The enemy will use Fist of Hell(or what ever the name) to deal up to 1000 points on one target! He will use normal physical attacks as well, dealing 500-700 damage on, again, one target. He can cast Blizzard too as a counter while you attack him when he’s on his back. What to do? Well for this battle, I like Kimahri, Lulu and Auron. These two hitters will be capable of dealing their max damage potential because of the Piercing abilities on their weapons. As for Lulu, she will simply keep casting one of her spells. The strategy doesn’t end here though. See, when he’s on his back, you can attack him and after a few turns, the enemy will be pushed toward a farther row in the screen. If you push him far enough, he will fall off on the other side. But if you can do such a thing... Why wouldn’t he, too, be able to? Yes, whenever he uses that clothesline move, your party will be pushed off a row. If he pushes you off the cliff, you won’t get the game over screen since you will find yourself in the Oldroad. However, you won’t get any AP and you won’t be able to rent a chocobo for free. Let’s just win then. You may need Yuna as an healer. If you were victorious, Rin will let you rent a chocobo for free. With one, leave and follow the Newroad. On the way, you can meet Maechen so talk to him for a story about the Oldroad if you’d like. Keep going after, and at the next screen, you will reach the gates to the next location. Do not go there though. Take the right path south of the area and you will enter the Oldroad, which was destroyed by Sin five hundred years ago. In there, check out the maps to spot weird shaped areas that cannot be accessed by foot. You can use your chocobo to reach them though, simply check out for chocobo feathers on the ground. You can obtain the next items throughout the area; Thunder Blade, Scout, and a rare Fortune sphere. Keep going south and cross the chocobo training court(or what ever), talking to Lucil on the way if you’d like. In the next area, follow the bottom and you’ll meet up with O’aka. Buy items from his shop if you’d like and then, just keep going south until you reach the end. Open the chest there for a Mars Crest. Backtrack to the gates afterward. There, leave your chocobo and go check out Dona, who’s trying to convince the guard to let her pass. The Crusader won’t though, because he was ordered not to let through anyone except for the ones implicated in the operation. Go to the caravan and you will meet up with Luzzu and Gatta who are carrying some fiend for the operation. What are they up to? Hmm. On the left is a guard who’s taking donations for the operation, so give him some Gil. He gives you items to thank you. Give him 100 Gil to receive a scout, 1000 Gil for an Ice Lance and 10 000 Gil for a Moon Ring. When you’re done, backtrack out of the gate to meet up with Seymour(and two Guado). Seeing how troubled Yuna is, he will accept to help you out and clear the path for you. Once he ordered the guard to let you through, follow him out. The Mushroom Rockroad awaits you on the other side. ======================================================= Mushroom Rockroad ======================================================= You shall first witness a scene in which Seymour gives a speech to encourage the Crusaders. Wakka, mad of seeing a Maester accepting the use of forbidden machinas for the operation, will try to talk to Seymour. The Maester will agree that he should be stopping them, but he isn’t. They are doing stuff that isn’t permitted by Yevon(trying to defeat Sin, which is the summoner’s job), but they are risking it for the good of Spira. Machinas are forbidden? Well he will just pretend that he didn’t see them. As Tidus says it, he sure doesn’t look like an honest person but, his thoughts make lot of sense. Oh well, as you get the control of your hero again, go talk to the Crusaders nearby for some items, and then keep going. As you know, you should be on your way to Djose temple to continue Yuna’s pilgrimage. But Clasko will block the way and inform that Seymour requests your presence at the command center. So take the left path(no choice) and talk to O’aka if you’d like. In the next area, talk to every single person you meet again, just like on Mi’ihen highroad. Most of them got items for you. Use the elevator to be lifted up to the higher level. Then, basically just follow the straight path, helping yourself with the map. You should reach a Crusader and a chest on the way. Open the chest and talk to the Crusader, then keep going. You should meet Shelinda farther, who decided to come just to support the operation, even though she’s against it. Keep going until you reach the end of the road, where you will find an elevator. Ride it to the upper level, and talk to the Crusader for an X-Potion. West of you is a curving path(on the map), follow it to obtain an Al Bhed primer. Backtrack to the elevator and head north. On the map, you should see a green spot, just west of your trail. Use it to reach a lower level where a chest can be found. Back on the upper level, head to the northern part of the area and look out for another elevator(green spot again) and use it to access the last platform. A save sphere can be found here, just next to a machine elevator(different from the one you used during your trip on the rockroad). Talk to the Crusader for an item, and then notice Gatta who seems upset. Follow him south to witness a scene. Luzzu was put in the front row(for the operation against Sin), while Gatta was ordered to stay at the command center and protect it. Of course, he’s mad, since he came all the way from Besaid to battle Sin and not to do some defensive work. Orders are orders though, as Luzzu will tells him, so he will leave. Go talk to Luzzu now for another scene, this time quite sad. The man, who’s realising that it could be his last time talking to you, will admit to Wakka that he was the one who convinced Chappu to join the Crusaders. Mad, Wakka will smack him one. You will also learn that Chappu actually decided to join the Crusaders to keep Sin away from his girlfriend, who was Lulu. As Luzzu leaves, I’d suggest that you check out your sphere grid. If Lulu hasn’t learned her Ara spells yet(Fira, Thundara, Blizzara and Watera), it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do it now. Make sure your other characters get their stats boosted up a bit as well. When you’re ready, save and ride up the elevator. The party will spot a few forbidden machinas on the area up here. You will learn that Chappu actually fought with one of these weapons, instead of using the Brotherhood, weapon he received as a gift from Wakka. In the next area, the party will have a view of the battlefield where the operation will take place. Lucil will remind you that your presence is requested at the command center, so just enter the place. ======================================================= Command Center ======================================================= Northwest is a save sphere and O’aka nearby. Head at the entrance to the command center and you will meet Gatta. Now, listen carefully to what I’m about to say. See, I’m giving a little spoiler. The operation Mi’ihen is about to start. If you tell Gatta twice to go in the front line like he wanted to, he will unfortunately die during the combat. If you don’t tell him anything though, it’s Luzzu who’s gonna die. You cannot have them both survive, so... it’s a sad thing to say but, you have to pick one of them. Hard choice isn’t it. When you’re done and made your decision, you should go talk to the chocobo knight on the right, who can explain various stuff like what is the Mi’ihen operation about. Enter the Command Center and you will meet Wen Kinoc, another one of the four Maesters of Yevon. He’s the leader of all Crusaders too. As you can see, he is an old friend of Auron as well. Notice, during the conversation, that even though he’s in charge of the operation, he knows that it won’t work. Sad isn’t it. After the scene, it’s your last call to prepare yourselves, because the operation is about to begin. Let me finally explain what is the dangerous Mi’ihen operation. Crusaders have been bringing Sinspawn from all over Spira, as you can see in that scene where one of them is put in huge cage in which resides an even bigger one. Sin always goes back to his spawn, so as he comes to the rockroad, the Crusaders and Chocobo Knights will battle the monster on the front line. They will use the canons you saw earlier to shoot him from the upper level as well. Meanwhile, the Al Bhed will be charging an enormous extremely powerful laser weapon to kill and finish off Sin. Kinds of playing with fire, indeed. Open the two chests in the center and then, once you saved, tell the guard standing near the Maesters that you are ready. The trapped monster will be freed, but it will need to be calmed down. Guess who’s job is this? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sinspawn Gui(with an head and two arms) HPs: 12 000(body), 4000(head), 800(each arms) AP: 0 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardest boss so far, especially if you didn’t take the time to increase your characters stats a bit. Let me first list his attacks. Sinspawn Gui has four targetable parts; its head, its arms(two of them), and its main body. The head will use Thunder for 250(about) damage on one character, and as it starts to move, it will use a venom attack that deals up to 500 points on one target, and inflicts Poison. As for the arms, they will simply attack you physically to deal up to 600 damage. Also, if you try to attack the body, they will guard it, reducing the damage by a lot. The body will cast Demi on party, which takes away 1/4 of your HP, and its smaller arms will also attack you physically, for around 300 damage. For the strategy, start the battle with Yuna, Wakka and Lulu. Wakka can attack the head with his blitzball, while Lulu will cast one of her level.2 grade spells(Fira, Thundara, Blizzara or Watera). Yuna will simply heal. Just keep following this pattern until the head is defeated. At that point afterward, replace Yuna by Kimahri and Wakka by Auron. The arms are armoured, meaning that having Piercing on your weapons is the only way for you to hurt them for the maximum potential. Luckily, Auron and Kimahri are appropriated in that department now. Lulu will simply cast her ARA spells on the body(the arms won’t block it), while Kimahri and Auron just keep destroying the arms. As they are defeated, you will be able to attack the body with physical attacks, so take that opportunity. You could switch Lulu to Tidus at this point and hit Gui once at least, just to let him get the AP of the battle. Note that the arms will be revived after 3 turns (from Gui). The battle will take a while, because as you can see, Sinspawn Gui is an high HP user. But oh well, eventually, you should win. Use one of your Aeons’ overdrives when the boss is nearly dead, allowing you to overkill it(more AP). There you go, job done, now let’s just wait for... Oh crap, he’s there already, as you can see Sin’s shadow in the sea behind the field. As he exposes himself, the Crusaders will fire him with their canons, damaging his scales that will be dropped in the water. The chocobo knights on the front line will take care of these, but... Auron, on the upper level, will be able to tell that Sin is about to struck. They will try to protect themselves as the mighty monster casts his graviton spell, though nearly everybody on the front line will be annihilated. When Yuna wakes up, in the now ruined Command Center, she will notice that Sinspawn Gui is still alive. However, she won’t have to finish him off by herself, since Seymour and Auron are still around. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sinspawn Gui(with an head and two arms) HPs: 6000(body), head(1000), two arms(800 each) AP: 1500 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- As you can see, the head and body are weaker than they used to be. Also, Seymour has the required skills to take it out in a few turns. Make full use of his ARA spells that are nearly twice better than Lulu’s, since they deal up to 1400 damage. Auron will be destroying the arms to then focus on the main body, though Seymour should be done with this battle before that happens. Yuna will simply support the party by healing. Take care of the head first, then the body. Something interesting in this battle, you can see that Seymour has an overdrive bar(set on Stoic). If you let him get damaged enough, you’ll be able to use it, which is named Requiem. It deals up to 2000 damage on all enemies so, it could be fun to watch. The animation is scary cool too. When the battle is over, Sin will still be there in the sea. The Al Bhed in the huge machina will have gathered enough power to unleash its laser on Sin, but it unfortunately won’t do much. Sin will counter with one last offence to totally destroy the weapon. Sin is victorious. After the sequence, Tidus wakes up on the beach. As you can control him, head north(notice the dead bodies there and there...) until you can reach Gatta. If you told him to go in the front line twice, he won’t be alive as Tidus tells him to wake up. If you didn’t though, he will simply go nuts. FMV time again, Sin staring at his hundreds(or thousands) of victims. He leaves afterward, but Tidus will go berserk and swim after him in the ocean, yelling that he wants to go home. ======================================================= Djose Highroad ======================================================= Once you witnessed a few scenes, Tidus finds himself on the Djose beach, staring at Yuna performing a sending for all the victims. What a failure. Move left and watch the scene. Auron will be talking with Kinoc, telling him that he totally messed up and wasted many lives. Seymour will talk to Yuna after, telling her that she mustn’t give up, because she is the people’s hope more than she has ever been. Also, he will propose to be her pillar of strength, like Lord Zaeon was to Yunalesca. You’ll understand later. Controlling Tidus, use the save sphere nearby(next to Lulu). You should have a couple of S.lvls to spend on the Sphere Grid as well. As you’re done, go talk to Auron left of the path and he will tell Tidus that Jecht came to see him, and that he wants his son to stop him. As he leaves, follow Auron up the path and head east. Talk to Shelinda on the way and ask her to heal you if you wish(though it’s pretty much useless) and you will meet with the party. The Mi’ihen operation was a failure, but it’s time to move on. Kimahri, for the first time, will talk. He will even smile! Oh well, follow the path north and talk to everybody you meet on the road for items. As you reach the crossroad, Tidus will ask the party how much left till Zanarkand. You will learn that after praying at the temple of Djose, you will cross the Moonflow to the Guadosalam, then the Thunder plains to Macalania. As the party leaves, Auron will ask Tidus not to tell Yuna about Jecht. She would believe Tidus, and could then take her distance. Admire the funny scene as well. ======================================================= Djose Temple ======================================================= You will meet Lucil, Elma and Clasko on the way. Only one chocobo made it, as you can see. Keep going on your way and as you reach the temple, the Lightning Mushroom Rock will be caused by the fact that there is already another summoner in the temple. Search the area on the left for a chest, then the area on the right for another one. Use the save sphere near the Inn, then go check the right of the temple, in the shadow. Luzzu or Gatta will be standing there, depending on your choice earlier. If Gatta’s alive, then he’ll be depressed, saying he found Luzzu but that he was torn in half... If you let Luzzu live, then he will go berserk and start to hit the wall. Wakka will remind him that he knows what is it like to lose someone very important, to then suggest him to go back to Besaid. Enter the temple. You will meet Isaaru in here, another summoner. His guardians are Pacce and Maroda. After some chit chat, he leaves the temple. Check out the path to the left of the cloister for a chest. Then, enter the room on the right for another chest. Exit and try to enter the cloister, but Isaaru will call you out. He and Maroda will inform you of what they learned from the Crusaders; summoners have been reported to vanish just like that. Be on your guard. Djose Temple’s Cloister of Trials My favourite one, not too simple, not too complicated. Every spheres in the cloister are Djose spheres, except for the Destruction sphere, so whenever I say sphere, I mean Djose sphere. You find yourself in a room with two spheres on the opposite walls, and a door with two sphere recesses. Take both spheres and insert them in the door’s slots, opening it. Head inside the next room and you will see an unlighted Yevon sign on the ground, with a pedestal on it. You can see two spheres northwest and northeast of the sign, popped in recesses. Take them both and insert them in the slots at the right of the room. The pillar up there should be charged. Push the pedestal under it, and the sphere(on the pedestal) will be charged. Step on the glyph mine at the left of the room to teleport the pedestal back in the middle, and remove the charged sphere from it to insert it in the recess northeast from the Yevon sign. The door should open, revealing a ravine with electricity. Take both spheres from the slots right of the room(where you charged the sphere to open the door) and insert them in the pedestal to then push it north, allowing you to cross the hole to the other side. Push the pedestal there to light a part of the Yevon sign in the main room. Go back there, then step on the glyph mine to teleport the pedestal back in the middle. Take both spheres from it and put them in the recesses found in the previous room(first room of the cloister). Two new signs should be lighted. Back in the main room, take the charged sphere that you used to open the door and insert it in the recess northwest of the Yevon sign, lighting all parts of it to change the pedestal in an elevator. Use it to reach the upper level. There, head in the room north of you and push all pedestals to make a mobile pedestal appear. A door to some stairs leading up to an upper level will be opened too, though you’re not done here yet. Ride the elevator back to the lower level and check the glyph sign on the wall(near the glyph mine). The Destruction Sphere will be revealed. Take it, then ride the elevator to the upper level again. Pop it in the pedestal to destroy the wall to your right, allowing you to find a chest. Go up the stairs to the ante chamber afterward. The party meets Dona in here. She will call Auron a riffraff to then find out that he’s actually Sir Auron, Braska’s guardian. Barthello, who hasn’t talked much yet, will recognize his idol. When Yuna is out of the chamber of the fayth, she will shut Dona’s mouth with some smart talking, to then head out. You get a new Aeon! The lightning elemental summon; Ixion. The next morning, head inside the temple and talk to Gatta or Luzzu. Afterward, enter the room to the left of the now sealed cloister and wake Yuna up. Enjoy the funny scene in which the party will pick on Yuna for fun. On your way out back to the highroad, the party will meet Lucil, Elma and Clasko again. As the scene is over, leave. ======================================================= Djose Highroad ======================================================= The party will automically take the left path to the Moonflow. ======================================================= Moonflow ======================================================= It will be quite a long road to cross. On the way, you will meet Shelinda, who’s gonna say... nothing useful for your gameplay. Basically just follow the road, gaining sphere levels, and eventually, you will meet Biran and Yenke. Like they did in Luca, they will once again pick on Kimahri and mock him for unknown reasons. But they will also affirm what Maroda heard from the Crusaders; there really are summoners disappearing just like that on their pilgrimages. Take the chest nearby, and keep going on the road. During the random encounters, fill up your Aeons’ overdrives. You should meet Belgemine shortly. Once again, she challenges you to an Aeon fight. Accept. She will summon Ixion, meaning that you can only use Valefor and Ifrit. If you tried out Ixion yet, you should’ve notice how fast he is. Well, guess what, Belgemine’s Ixion is pretty fast as well! Valefor’s Energy Blast(or Ray, if you didn’t get Blast) and Ifrit’s Hellfire should be more than enough for the victory though. However, you must be warned that as you use your overdrive, Ixion will counter with Haste. At that point, he’ll be twice as fast, so deal with that. But as I told you, it isn’t that much of an hard battle really. Whether you win or lose, you will be rewarded with the Summoner’s Soul, which allows you to make your Aeons learn abilities. If you were victorious, Belgemine gives two Dragon scales for fun. Boh, back on the road, just keep following the map north and don’t miss that chest for a Magic Defense sphere found at the end of the short path west of the exit. The party reaches the lake, which is the reason why this place is called Moonflow. Or that’s what I thought. If it isn’t, then... Who gives a flying duck. After admiring the beauty of the lake, the party will decide to leave. Head west and talk to both Yuna and Kimahri in the next area. Do some shopping with O’aka if you’d like. Leave to the left and Tidus will see a shoopuf! Gigantic creature that is controlled by an hypello, can be used to cross lakes. Don’t ride it just yet. Go speak to Auron if you wish to laugh, then head south to the next screen. Lucil(and her acolytes)will be trying to convince the Shoopuf driver to let them bring their chocobo aboard. He won’t accept becosh zat ish bad idea yesh. Imposhibible. Oh well, Tidus will quote Lucil as she says "Where there’s a will, there’s a way!". Afterward, save, speak to Lulu for another funny scene and then, just head back to the Shoopuf area. Accept to cross the Moonflow. During the trip, Wakka will suggest Tidus to check out the lake. Underwater is a sunken city old of a thousand years(or so). They tried to build it on a huge bridge if I’m correct, but it collapsed, so did the city. Wakka, in his opinion, will play his religious ass again, saying that they should’ve listened to the teachings! I mean come on, you cannot live without the teachings! The teachings! Blackestmage: ..What about them Wakka? Wakka: ..Dunno, they’re cool ya? Ahem, sorry for that. Tidus will point out the fact that though they are bitching the machinas, they use some of them themselves. At the stadium for example. Lulu will reply saying that certain machinas are accepted by Yevon, while others aren’t. The machinas from Operation Mi’ihen are a good example to notify which are bad. A thousand years ago, the human race started wars with their forbidden machinas. That’s when Sin came, to "punish" them. That is Yevon’s way of thinking though. While the party is discussing, the shoopuf will be attacked by Al Bhed that are gonna take Yuna with them. Tidus and Wakka dive in the water at her rescue. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Extractor HP: 4000 AP: 660 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing too hard, but if you didn’t work on Wakka and Tidus properly since the beginning of the game, you could have some sweat drops. The Extractor uses Aqua Shooter mainly, which deals up to 200 damage on a character. When it positions itself up yours though, it will use Depth Charge, which is quite evil, dealing over 400 damage and inflicting Darkness on your two characters. Have lightning elemental weapons for both of your characters. A Thunder ball for example. Since the boss is a machine, it is weak to lightning. Tidus should cast Haste and Cheer(optional), and then just pummel the Extractor to death. Back on the shoopuf, Wakka will be mad about the Al Bhed more than ever, wondering about what they want from them. Tidus will reply that he shouldn’t blame them for being Al Bhed but simply for causing them troubles. They should protect Yuna from anyone, simply. As you reach the northern part of the Moonflow, you disembark. Use the save sphere, then exit northwest. In the next area, take the path to the left and afterward, just keep going until you reach the wood. You should see somebody lying unconscious on the sand. Examine the person to find out, in an FMV, that it is actually Rikku from the beginning of the game! She was the one who attacked you with that machina a few moments ago. Before she can explain herself though, the party will arrive so Tidus will introduce her to them. Tidus, Yuna and Lulu know that she’s an Al Bhed, but they won’t tell Wakka, indeed. After Yuna asked the permission to Auron for some reason, Rikku will be accepted in the team! When you can control Tidus again, head north in the wood. You should run in a forced random encounter in which you’ll see a tutorial on the chests that can appear during battles. You will also learn information about Rikku’s overdrive; Mix. Mix the items you just found in the chest, and Rikku will perform the Firestorm, which will attack the fiend 6 times for 600-700 damage! As that’s done, just keep going north until you arrive at the Guadosalam. Note: You may want to stay around in the wood, running in random encounters to find chests to open with Rikku in order to get Mega-Potions, which are quite good. ======================================================= Guadosalam ======================================================= For some reason, I really like the way the Salam was drawn. Fantastic. A Guado will greet the party, inviting them inside the manor because Lord Seymour has important business with Yuna. He’s named Tromell, and though he’s polite, he is one ass kisser. Pretty stiff as well. Bah, as the party leaves, Rikku will teach you how to Customize. With it, you will be able to add abilities to your equipment, using items. As that’s done, explore the place a bit before entering the manor. Left from the exit is the path to the Thunder Plains, but some Guado is blocking it. Right of it is the Inn, in which you can meet up with Maechen and that big mouth face Shelinda. There’s a save sphere as well. On the second level, you can access different rooms in which you can chat with the Guado. They really are a weird race. Some of them will be total asses, like that Blitzball player running around. Some others will, on contrary, be actually pretty kind. Cute as well, when they talk about their physical traits. In the equipment shop, you can buy stuff from the seller or from O’aka. Back outside, enter the manor(the Farplane cannot be accessed right now). Inside, talk to Lulu, who’s standing on the stairs to your right. She will brief you on the portraits you can see on the wall. They are all past leaders of the Guado. Open the chest on the upper level, and then just go back down and try to enter the purple doors. Tromell will come out of it, allowing you to enter. In this room, talk to everybody once again. As you can see, Auron doesn’t like Seymour much. In fact, he really does seem to have a little something against Yevon. After you talked to everyone, Tromell will enter the room and talk about Lord Jyscal a bit. Seymour, a few moments after, will finally arrive to the meeting. With an impressive technology, he will show the party Zanarkand, as it looked a thousand years ago. Heh, pretty much looks like Tidus’s Zanarkand doesn’t it. After the FMV, you will be able to see Yunalesca with her husband, Zaon. She was the first summoner to ever defeat Sin. Seymour will then propose Yuna to marry him. Ouch, he wants her to be his wife. Auron, upset, will tell the maester that he can stick his offer right up his behind because Yuna doesn’t have time for marriage at all. Seymour however, doesn’t need an answer right now. Notice the scene with Auron as well. Outside of the manor, Yuna will tell the party that she’s not quitting her pilgrimage, and that she would like to go see her parents at the farplane. If you talked to Maechen, you should’ve understood that the farplane is a place where you can see the dead persons you used to know. So head there(third level in the Guadosalam), and witness one more scene. Auron doesn’t want to enter the place, because he doesn’t want to see his past to prepare his future. Rikku isn’t going either, since she’s an Al Bhed. They have a theory that consists of considering the farplane like a place where you can see your memories. These are nice, but that’s all they are, as she says. So the party enters anyway. In there, go talk to Wakka first to find out that, of course, he is talking to his brother. As Wakka mentions Tidus, the brotherhood(sword given by Wakka in Besaid) will be powered up! Speak to Lulu afterward to find out that she’s just watching Wakka. They will talk about love a bit, Tidus cheering her up, saying that there will be other guys for her. Talk to Yuna when you’re done with the love crap, and you will get to see her parents. She made her decision already, but before leaving to tell Seymour, she’ll ask Tidus to call Jecht. He won’t come, indeed, since he is you-know-who. His mom however, will be present. As the party is going back to Guadosalam shortly after, something terrible’s going to happen; you will see Jyscal! Out of the farplane, he will be standing, helpless. Yuna will send him once and for all to then leave. On their way out, the party will be discussing about how could he come back like that. Back in the Guadosalam, Yuna enters the manor. Meanwhile, Tidus will chat with Lulu. In her opinion, marrying somebody to bring joy to the planet is okay even if there is no love. Then marry me Lulu, I’m sure that everybody’s gonna be happy, especially m.. Ahem, nevermind. Talk to her three times, and speak to the others as well. Go back at the entrance and try to enter the path to the Thunder Plains. Shelinda will come out of it and inform you that Seymour had to leave for Macalania Temple. Tidus will go tell the others, misspelling Macalania however. But hey, that’s our Tidus. Yuna will come back, though she will seem to have something on her mind. Ah well, exit to the next location! ======================================================= Thunder plains ======================================================= Welcome to one of my favourite places in the whole serie! For some reason, I always admired these plains. Funny, since not much happens here. Oh well, enjoy the music! Once you saw the short tutorial on how to travel through the plains, open the chest nearby and use the save sphere to then go on. Near a tower to the east, you can spot Maechen. Talk to him if you would like to know more about these plains. Keep going north, hugging the walls to your right and eventually, you should be able to enter a small area. Open the chest, then get back on the trail and follow the path. You can meet Shelinda, who will tell you that the Guado are spreading the rumor that Yuna accepted to marry Seymour. What asses. Well, eventually as you advance in the plains, you should witness a scene in which Rikku begs the party to stay the night at the Inn over there. As you could notice, she has a lightning phobia. So, accept and take the exit to your left in order to reach the Inn. Enter the structure and talk to Rikku in there. You will learn that back when she was younger, she got attacked by a marine fiend while she was swimming at the beach. Her brother tried to kill the fiend with a lightning spell, but he missed and hit Rikku instead! Poor her, she’s been scared ever since. Yuna will leave the party, still troubled as she’s been since she came out of the manor, to go sleep in her room. Talk to Rin as he enters the place, and tell him that you’re doing good with your Al Bhed learning in order to receive one more primer. Afterward, pick up the top option if you want to learn a little bit of infos about how was Auron’s condition, ten years ago after Sin was defeated. Well, when you’re done, follow Yuna and you’ll witness quite a disturbing sequence. Tidus will hear somebody talking in Yuna’s room, and as he tries to listen carefully, he will bump in the room as the door gives up. You will understand that Yuna was checking Jyscal’s sphere, and the man was asking her to take care of his son, Seymour. She leaves right after, apologizing. Tidus will try to check out the sphere but Wakka won’t let him. Well, the next morning, speak to Rikku again and after the funny scene, the party will decide to go on. Outside, basically just leave north and in the next area, follow the path until you reach a save sphere. There, it’s time to gain some s.lvls. The fiends in the Thunder Plains are quite generous in AP, especially those Iron Giants that give 1200 AP when overkilled. When you’re done, head north and Yuna will halt the crew because she has something to tell them. Once the party took refuge under a tower, she will announce that she will marry Seymour. She needs to talk to Seymour as well, at Macalania Temple. It seems to be about the Jyscal sphere, but she doesn’t want to show it because it’s a personal matter. Basically, she wants to marry Seymour to bring joy to the people of Spira, and that is the right thing to do. Geez, that’s quite sad and totally pathetic, but ah well. Keep going and eventually, you should reach the magical place that is... ======================================================= Macalania Wood ======================================================= As the party keeps going, Auron and Tidus will discuss about Yuna’s decision. She would be marrying Seymour in exchange of something. She wants to negotiate with him, but we don’t know what. As they rejoin the party, head right to meet up with Lucil and Elma. The path they are blocking is the one to Bevelle, but you can’t head there. Instead, you have to cross the wood, which is quite straight forward. On the way, you can take on a butterfly mini- game but it isn’t recommended to do it at this point. Get some AP from those Chimera fiends as well. On the other side, use the save sphere and do some shopping with O’aka if you’d like. As you keep going, it seems that Auron wants to show you a little something. As he opened the path, follow him. The next area is quite beautiful, and there is a source of crystal water with which the spheres are made. Fiends are attracted to this place, however. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Spherimorph HP: 12 000 AP: 3240 Difficulty: Fair --------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle isn’t too hard, but you must know what you’re doing. Spherimorph has high defence, making it very resistant to physical attacks, meaning that magic is the key. However, you gotta know which magic works, because the enemy has one elemental weakness at a time. To guess it, just hit it with a normal attack, and it will counter with a spell. Cast the counter of that spell to damage it. If you mess up and cast one of the three other elements, you will simply heal it. Once you cast the right spell, Spherimorph will use elemental shift, which means that it changes its weakness. Just hit it again so it reveals its new one. Other than that, Spherimorph will stomp one of your character for around 600 damage, and its Press attack, which is quite devastating, dealing around 800-900 points on party. Basically just have Yuna as an healer, any character to physically hit in order to learn which weakness it got, and indeed, Lulu with her ARA spells, ready to use the right black magic. If you still ignore what are the elemental counters, I will list them below. Fire works well against Ice, well Ice works against Fire too. Lightning rocks Water, so Water also works against lightning. As the battle ends, you will find a sphere, which was the reason why Auron brought you here. It’s a sphere recorded by Jecht ten years ago, as they (Braska, Auron and Jecht himself) started their journey from Bevelle. Admire Jecht’s greatness, seeing how he was acting with Braska and Auron, who was quite stiff in that time. After the funny scenes, he will actually leave a message for Tidus, saying that if he(Tidus that is)’s watching the sphere, it means that he(Tidus again, that is)’s stuck in Spira too. He will try to end the message by telling his son that he loves him, but he won’t. Once you watched the total contents of the sphere, Auron learns his second overdrive; Shooting Star. You will learn that you can find other Jecht spheres throughout Spira too. When you leave, Auron comes back to Tidus to affirm that his father really did love him, just that he didn’t know how to express it. How cute. Back at the four ways area, use the save sphere then exit via the northwest path. ======================================================= Lake of Macalania ======================================================= Speak to Clasko and you’ll see that once again, he’s being left behind. As you can see, he would have the required qualities to become a chocobo breeder, so advice him to drop the knight and become a breeder. Talk to O’aka if you’d like, then enter the agency if you wish to do some shopping. Otherwise just take the path passed it, and you will meet Tromell. After assuring Yuna that Seymour will probably let her go on with her pilgrimage when they’re married, he will take her with him. Guado tradition. Quite fun, an half Guado half man person marries a woman and they follow the Guado’s traditions. As Tromell’s escorting Yuna though, the Al Bhed will attack again. The battle takes place on the lake, and notice that the Al Bhed who will attack you is actually Brother, the one from the beginning of the game. He’s not fighting you actually, but simply throwing a machine on your face. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Crawler, Negator HP: 16 000, 1000 AP: 4400, 200 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Yep, this one’s quite tough. You see that thing flying around the Crawler? That’s a Negator, and it disables any magics and summonings. You have to destroy the Negator, and Wakka seems to be the only one capable of reaching it, unless Rikku can use Grenades, but I’m not sure. Oh well, for Wakka, make sure he’s got a lightning elemental blitzball. Once the Negator is destroyed, have Yuna summon Ixion and use his overdrive(Thor Hammer). Afterward, simply have characters with Piercing and lightning elemental weapons to beat the hell out of the Crawler. Lulu should cast Thundara as well. Crawler will summon a new Negator after a few turns though, so bring back Wakka on the field to destroy it again. If you did leveled up a lot earlier in the Thunder Plains and Macalania Wood and that you were able to have Auron learn Armor Break, then use it to pierce the enemy’s armor, allowing you to use hitters with non-piercing weapons. To talk about the Crawler’s attacks well, it will use Assault mostly, which deals around 800 damage on a character. After a few turns of charging itself, it will unleash Mana Beam too, which is extremely dangerous, dealing over 1200 points on one target OR on party, not sure. To aid yourself, make full use of spells such as Haste. Yuna will support the party with Cura(or Cure, if you weren’t able to learn the level.2 grade). After the battle, Rikku will tell Brother in Al Bhed that she is Yuna’s guardian and that she is making sure of Yuna’s safety. Seeing this, Wakka will wonder how come Rikku speaks Al Bhed. So the truth will be revealed. Mad, Wakka will insult Rikku, but she will defend herself, telling him to go kiss a squirrel on the mouth. Both will start to argue about Yevon afterward, along with Sin, and the use of the forbidden machinas by the Al Bhed. Wakka will decide to leave the party and head to the temple by walking. The others however, will use the flying motorcycles. Now, you will witness a scene with the person who’s going with Tidus on the motorcycle. It can be anyone, as I’ve heard, though I was only able to bring Lulu and Rikku. It basically depends about the affection levels of the characters toward Tidus. As you reach the other side of the crevasse, open the chest nearby and go through the gates. Follow the long straight forward road to reach the temple. ======================================================= Macalania Temple ======================================================= Speak to Tromell in order to receive a Shell Targe(token of his appreciation for helping him out earlier, that’s funny, I actually thought that we were just protecting Yuna but...har). Proceed forward to meet Shelinda. Afterward, try to enter the room to the right of the cloister and a woman will emerge of it, saying that she viewed the contents of the Jyscal sphere, left by Yuna in the room. Go check it to finally witness the records of that damn sphere. Jyscal, in it, is saying that he can see the evilness in Seymour’s soul. Also, he will admit that he knows that he’s about to be assassinated by his own son. Hey, so that would mean that Yuna is in the cloister with a murderer. Guardians to the rescue! Open the chest in the back of the room, and then head out to climb the stairs and enter the cloister. No trials, yet. Head north, cutscene of Auron saying that they will protect Yuna from anyone, even a Maester, and into the ante chamber. There, Yuna already entered the chamber of the fayth to pray, though Seymour is outside. He faces the fact that he murdered his father, but he doesn’t show any remorse. Yuna, as she exits the chamber of the fayth, watches the scene and join the party. She actually came to... stop Seymour! The man, calm as always, will accept the challenge. So... dear readers, any last thoughts? Because it is, now, the time to fight the Maester. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Seymour Two Guado guards Anima HPs: 6000 2000 both 18 000 AP: 6280 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Very hard battle if you didn’t conquer enough parts of the sphere grid with your characters. If you did however, then the battle should only be an AP gift. It is divided in three parts, found below. First battle: Seymour and two Guado guards Let me explain Seymour’s strategy. He’s in back row, while the guards are in front. If you try to attack him, the guards will block you, reducing your damage by half on them. They cast Protect at the beginning of the fight too. Last thing about them, they have Auto-Potion, so every time you attack them, they counter by using an Hi-Potion to heal for 1000 points. Then, seeing this, you will try to use magic. Well, Seymour casts Shell on himself at the start of the battle, and he has high magic defence too, meaning that your magic won’t do much. What to do? Have Tidus use the Talk trigger command in order to increase his strength by a lot(and I do mean by a lot). You can do it with Yuna and Wakka as well in order to increase their magic defences. When that is done, have Kimahri(with a full overdrive bar) use Stone Breath, which will petrify to then shatter both guards. If you don’t have that blue magic, then just beat them down with physical attacks. Have Rikku steal them first though, in order to disable their auto-potion abilities. Anyway you kill them, as only Seymour lasts, just beat him down. Physical attacks work well, especially those from Tidus’s now. To talk about his attacks, he will use the ARA spells in the next order: Blizzara, Thundara, Watera, Fira. Point? You can block these with Yuna, casting her Nul spells in the next order: Nulfrost, Nulshock, Nultide, and Nulblaze. As you depleted 3000 points from Seymour’s HP, he will summon his Aeon. Second battle: Anima Remember the scary creature that got rid of the fiends during their invasion at Luca? Well, that was Anima, and you are in front of her now. She uses one normal attack only; Pain, which is instant-KO to one target. She has an overdrive too, but, like your characters and your Aeons, she has an overdrive bar. As it’s full, Anima will unleash Oblivion, which should be Game Over for you. Summon an Aeon if it does get full, in order to protect your party. She can use Boost too, to gather power(increases her bar). For the strategy, you can either do like Tidus suggests, which consists of summoning that ???? Aeon. Summon it to find out that it’s Shiva, the ice summon. With her, you won’t need to care about Pain because Aeons are immune to Death. Whenever her HP gets too low, just have her Blizzara on her own self. Note that you can do that with Ifrit and Ixion too. BUT, you could take care of Anima by yourself, using your characters. If you’re going with that second option(which I always do), have a party made of Tidus, Yuna and the last one should be Lulu, with ARA spells. If you don’t want to use magic, then have Kimahri or Auron(pick the best one). Have Tidus attack with his superb strength given at the beginning of the battle, while the other offence character will damage Anima as well with his/her best attack. Yuna will support the party by reviving any victims of Pain, with the Life white magic. For a tip, overkill Anima. As you depleted her total HP, Seymour dismisses her. It isn’t over though. Third battle: Seymour Seymour has fully healed himself(6000 HP), and will be twice as powerful, because he will start to use Multi-spells, which is Doublecast(casts two spells in one row). He still uses the same attack pattern though, meaning that you can block them with the Nul spell trick. As for the strategy, I like physical attacks once again. Keep the same party you had to take care of Anima if you did it with your characters, though you should replace Lulu with an hard striker(if you used her that is). If you haven’t already, cast Haste on your characters. Yuna will simply follow the pattern with her Nul spells. Not too hard, but don’t let things get out of hands, or you could regret it. As you’re victorious, you should get a nice amount of AP if you overkilled both Seymour and Anima. Oh well, Tromell will enter the room with two Guados, accusing you of being heartless bastards for hurting his boss like that. He leaves as that’s done, leaving the party with troubled thoughts. True that you just killed Seymour, a Maester. You’re the good guys, but will Spira trust you? Leave the room using the door that Tromell just used. Try to cross the bridge like you did to access the ante chamber earlier to find out that... its parts will vanish. Yes, there is a cloister of trials to go through! Macalania’s cloister of trials. All right, go down the ramp to your left to access the middle level of the cloister. Take the Glyph sphere from the middle pillar and pop it in the pedestal. Push it to the right and it will slide in an icicle that will prevent it from falling off the level. Push it again, north, and it will slide down the bottom level. There, take the Glyph sphere off the pedestal and insert it in the leftmost recess, causing a block to be lifted up above. Back on the middle level, take the Macalania sphere from the just-lifted block and insert it in the pedestal, back in the lower level. Push it to the right to make it slide under the pillar, causing a part of the bridge to appear. Go back up on the middle level, and take the Macalania sphere near the now shattered icicle. Insert it in the recess on the leftmost pillar, on the lower level. Another part of the bridge appears. Back on the middle level, take the last Macalania sphere(causing the ramp to the lower level to vanish) and put it in the middle pillar(where the Glyph sphere used to be). The bridge is completed, allowing you to cross it. However, you shouldn’t just yet. Head there to the upper level, and step on the glyph sign. The pedestal from the lowerest level will appear to your left. Take the Macalania sphere from it to then push it so it can slide down the ramp, but it will be stopped halfway only to be pushed on an icicle. Head back down the ramp to the middle level and step on the glyph sign there. The pedestal will be teleported nearby, but you will find out that the Destruction sphere is now popped in it. Put the Macalania sphere you’re holding in the recess to the bottom right of the level, making the icicle appear again. Take the Macalania sphere from the central pillar to make another part of the bridge vanish, and pop it in the recess near the hole, causing the ramp to appear again, giving you access to the lower level. Push the pedestal to the right so it slides toward the icicle, and then push the pedestal down there(lower level), and remove the Destruction sphere from it to insert it in the right recess. A part of the frozen ground will be destroyed, revealing a chest. Once you opened it, get back on the middle level and take that Macalania sphere from the icicle recess to put it in the pedestal, back on the lower level. Push it to the right under the pillar to make the third part of the bridge to appear again. Head back up the middle level and take the last Macalania sphere from its recess(causing the ramp to vanish again) and pop it in the middle pillar, completing the bridge for a second time. You can cross it now, but... you are still NOT done here!!!!! - - - - Ok just kidding, you’re free to finally leave now (^_^). Out of the cloister, you will be confronted by the Guado. Mad at you for having killed their lord, they won’t let you leave. The party will try to calm them down a bit and explain what happened, but they won’t listen to a thing. As Rikku suggests to show the Jyscal sphere, Tromell will destroy it, which was the only evidence that would’ve proved Seymour’s bastardness. Oh well, the crew will simply cut through the Guado out of the temple. Outside, don’t waste any time and run! Guado will be chasing you, and since they run faster than you, they will probably catch up with you, forcing you to battle them. They are not tough though, they will simply summon fiends to then cast Blizzard on you. They once again have to be stolen in order to disable their Auto-Potion ability. At the end of the long road, proceed to the crevasse area. There, take the path to your right(at the crossroad) and follow it south. Open the chest at the end, and get back on the main path and keep heading south, using the save sphere to heal your wounds, to then enter the next screen, which brings you back at the lake. ======================================================= Lake of Macalania ======================================================= A few Guado will still be chasing you, but as they position themselves to battle you, an ice monster will arrive. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Wendigo and two Guado guards. HPs: 18 000 1200 each AP: 2580 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Heh, Wendigo was quite a weak monster that could be found in the forest around Timber back in Final Fantasy VIII. Looks like he changed a bit. Have Rikku steal the guards first, and then beat the hell out of them. As they die, they will cast Protect and Shell on Wendigo. One of them will cast Berserk as well. Protect will reduce the physical damage dealed on Wendigo by half, and Shell will reduce the magical damage dealed on Wendigo by half as well. As for Berserk, the status increases the victim’s strength, but it can’t do anything but attack. In Wendigo’s case, it’s perfect, since he doesn’t do anything else anyways. His physical attacks will deal over 1700 damage, instant-killing some of your low HP user characters. You can cast Esuna on the boss however, curing his Berserk status. Have a party made of two hitters and Wakka. Note that you can switch one of the hitter to Lulu. Now, Wakka will use each turns he gets to use his Dark Buster skill. The two other characters will simply keep attacking Wendigo with physical attacks(or black magics, if you’re using Lulu). Thanks to Wakka’s Dark Buster, Wendigo will miss his attacks, though the skill only works one turn, meaning that you need casting it over and over whenever Wendigo uses his. Eventually, the boss should be defeated. Victory! Oh... looks like Wendigo’s a sore loser, since he will destroy the lake you’re stepping on with his fist, causing you to fall. ======================================================= Bottom of the lake of Macalania ======================================================= The party wakes up at the bottom of the lake. Use the save sphere, and talk to everybody. The scene with Rikku and Kimahri is quite funny. When Yuna wakes up, she will explain the plans that she had regarding the Seymour events. Auron afterward, will get sick of this crap and tell the party that they will defy Yevon if they get in the pilgrimage’s way. Go Auron go! The characters will switch location after. Talk to everybody, then to Auron. Tidus remembers the hymn of the fayth from Jecht, who loved singing it. Tidus did too, as you can see in a flashback. You will learn that Auron isn’t originated from Zanarkand either, so it happened to him to be homesick while he was living in Zanarkand. But all of a sudden, the fayth will stop singing. The ground will start to shake. During an FMV, you will understand that the party was actually stepping on... Sin ever since they fell from the lake’s surface!!! Tidus will find out that Jecht, as Sin, was listening to the hymn. He will, also, be finally able to be a hundred percent sure that Sin really is Jecht. The party is engulfed to then be transported in an unknown place. ======================================================= Oasis ======================================================= Tidus wakes up in some water found in a desert. He’s alone though. Open the chest, then get out of the water and use the save sphere. Afterward, just run around till you go in a random encounter. You will battle a Zuu, alone(using Tidus). Now two different things might happen. If your Tidus is strong enough to take care of the Zuu by himself, Lulu and Auron will arrive as the battle is over, congratulating you. If you can’t however, Lulu and Auron will come at your rescue as you’re getting an ass kick session. Meh, when the battle ends, your characters will go after the others. Head north and you will meet up with Wakka who’s under a tent. He joins you. Open the chest for Al Bhed potions and then, just leave to the next screen, northwest. In there, there are two paths. Take the rightmost one first and meet up with Kimahri. Once he joined you, get back to the crossroad and take the left path. Eventually, you should meet Rikku. After quite a funny scene in which Wakka promises that he won’t tell anyone, Rikku will reveal that you are in Bikanel Island, and that Yuna has probably been taken to Home, which is the Al Bhed’s home, simply. As you can control Tidus, follow Rikku, though you don’t need her to lead the way seeing has how the path is straight forward. The next screens will be the biggest area in the whole game, which separate you from Home. In the first big area, simply head north hugging west, opening the chests you find. In the middle of the area(hug the fence running east as you’re blocked), you will find a panel on which it’s written in Al Bhed that the stronger fiends can be found left of this point, while the weaker ones are on the right. There’s a save sphere as well, along with a chest behind. Here, simply head left. You will battle tougher fiends, but they will give better AP. The Sand worms and the Zuus are good example, BUT, if you happen to meet a Cactuar, just TRY to defeat it. It won’t be easy because of their high Evasion, but they definitely are worth it, since they give 12 000 AP when overkilled. Down the dunes to your left are a couple of ruins with chests around. After you checked out the place, head north to the next screen. You find yourself in the second biggest area of the game. Hug the west side until you reach a small area down a dune. There, you can find a sandpit with a chest. Open it to get the Mercury Crest. As that’s done, get back on the main trail and a few steps north of you is another sandpit with a chest. However, as you try to open it, you will find out that there is some plant below, forcing you to battle them. They are Sandragoras, and though they aren’t STRONG enemies, they can be a pain because of their Seed Burst, which inflicts Confuse. To beat them down easily, have Rikku use Shadow Gems on them(stolen from the sand worms) one or two times, and finish the job with Lulu’s best fire spell that you have. Don’t use water elemental attacks or weapons. Open the chest for three Megalixirs, and run to your upper left to reach some ruins. Search these for a chest, and keep going northwest again. Another chest can be found in the corner. Once you opened it, simply leave the area via the north path, where one last sandpit with a Sandragora inside blocks the way. On the other side is Home. ======================================================= Home ======================================================= Youpi, you finally found the place! Oh Christ, the base is under attack!!! You will witness a mini-sequence of combat where the Al Bhed are battling fiends with their guns. One of Rikku’s friends is hurt in combat, informing you that they are being attacked by the Guado before dying. You meet Cid afterward, who is Rikku’s father and the leader of the Al Bhed as well. Let’s save the Al Bhed and kick some Guado asses on the same occasion! Check out the dead body of Rikku’s friend for two hi-potions and then, get the Al Bhed primer in the left corner. Save at the save sphere right of the entrance too. Once your files are updated, enter the structure. In the center of the area, the party is ambushed by three Bombs and a Guado. Dispose of them(shouldn’t be too hard, the Guado has quit on using Auto-Potion. Just watch out for their Confuse offence and you’re okay) and follow the other available path to reach the next screen. There, Cid contacts his people to order everyone to head in the underground and board the airship because they’re about to blow up Home. But you gotta find Yuna first! Rikku will inform the party that she can be found in the summoner sanctum. You are ambushed by a Guado and Dual Horns at that moment though. Once you took care of them, go down the stairs and climb them again. Enter the door to your left in the corridor and you will find two Dual Horns and a Guado in the room. As they’re defeated, search the ground for an Al Bhed primer, and try to open the chest to your left. A list of words written in Al Bhed will be displayed. Some of them are fiends, some others are items. If you pick one of the items, you receive it. If you pick one of the fiends though, you have to battle it. Done with that chest, take on the one to the right. It will basically put you through an Al Bhed test in which words in English are written. You have to translate them, picking one of the Al Bhed words from the lists. The correct answers are: center bottom word, right center word, word in the center. In that order. You obtain a Friend sphere as a reward. Leave the room and head down the stairs north. You reach a crossroad. Take the middle path for a chest, then the left path for a save sphere. Wait, don’t go through that door yet! Head back to the crossroad and take the right path, grabbing the Al Bhed primer on the ground. Inside, you have to battle two chimeras and a Guado. After the battle, examine the left chest to once again go through an Al Bhed test. A math test actually. Good thing about it is that numbers used in Al Bhed are same as the ones used in our language. Meaning that you must simply know HOW to calculate them, which is listed below. - (number) plus (number) - (number) minus (number) - (number) time (number) - (number) plus (number) You obtain a Special sphere. Examine the right chest now to go through one last puzzle. Questions will be asked(in Al Bhed, of course), and you will have to reply with the right answers(once again, in Al Bhed, of course). Pick the next options: third, fourth, second, first. You obtain a Skill sphere. Head out and go back to the save sphere(left path at the crossroad). I’d suggest that you run in a few random encounters around, since you can get nice AP overkilling the chimeras. When you’re done, go through the door to your left. Rikku, sad, will tell the party that they(the Al Bhed) used to live on an island, but it was attacked by Sin. They didn’t give up though, and decided to build a new Home. Now, it’s being under attack, and this time by the Guado. Wakka will try to console her, but chimeras will attack. Woohoo, more AP for us. Afterward, Rikku will explain that the Summoner Sanctum is where the Al Bhed keep the summoners safe. As Wakka points it out, they actually kidnap them, but he does understand why they do it. Tidus, on the other side, sure doesn’t. If the guardians do their job, the summoners have nothing to worry about on their journey. As he says that, the crew’s reaction will be odd, and Kimahri will leave to the sanctum, followed by the others. What’s wrong with them? Open both chests in the room, and then enter the door to the upper right. In the sanctum, the Al Bhed all died protecting the two summoners who were put in there; Dona and Isaaru(who’s with his guardians; Pacce and Maroda). They died protecting them, so they(the summoners) will thank them by giving them a humble sending. Pacce will go ask Tidus why are everybody talking about the summoners like if they were sacrificing themselves. Tidus, just like him, doesn’t understand. Why would the Al Bhed dare to interrupt the pilgrimages? It’s the guardians’ job to take care of their summoners! However, you will finally understand what it was all about, as Rikku tells you the truth. At Zanarkand, the summoners receive the Final Aeon with which they can defeat Sin. But that also costs them their lives, since the final Aeons kill them. Tidus, understanding at last, will go berserk at the party, yelling at them, asking why would they let Yuna do such a dumb thing like sacrificing herself to get rid of Sin who will be reborn a few years after. A Wendigo appears out of nowhere, but Isaaru and Dona will summon their Aeons to take care of him, replying that a Spira without Sin is the dream of every kids. He will do everything in his power to bring that dream to the children, even if it’s to cost him his life. As the sad but awesome scene is over, open the chest nearby to leave via the only openable door. Follow the straight path and climb the stairs at the end to enter the ship. ======================================================= Airship ======================================================= Tidus will run at Cid to lift him up, ordering him to reveal where did he put Yuna. The Al Bhed leader will ask him why he wants to see her, so Tidus will reply that he needs to tell her that he’s story for every times that he encouraged her to battle Sin. Cid, stubborn, will put him down saying that he’s a liar and that he(Tidus that is) simply wants the Calm to arrive. Our hero won’t let her die though. As the two men are calmed, Cid will tell him that he doesn’t know where Yuna is. That’s why they will search for her. But before that, let’s have the last word with those Guado who dared to show their faces. Enjoy the great FMV; Cid will order to destroy Home with the forbidden machinas. Nice scene of course, the Airship escaping from the explosion. Use the save sphere when you can, and leave the bridge to explore the ship a bit. Talk to Isaaru and Maroda outside. Maroda doesn’t want his brother to die at the hand of the final Aeon, but Spira doesn’t have the time to think of another way to defeat Sin. In the next room, head up the stairs and speak with Rin. Do some shopping if you’d like, and then go on to the next area. In there, head inside the doors to your left and speak to Dona. She would like to give up on her pilgrimage. Answer any option and then, just head all the way back to the bridge. Yes, other than speaking with a few persons, there was no other point ^_^. Inside, Auron and Cid will be talking, or actually arguing. Cid wants to find Yuna to convince her of quitting her pilgrimage. Also, he will take down anyone who goes against him. Though I do like Cid, Auron should’ve give him an headbutt. Oh well, go speak to Brother after and he will have spotted Yuna! You will see a quick scene of her, wearing a wedding dress, standing by Seymour. You learn from Lulu that she’s in Bevelle. Well, Tidus will suggest that they simply... break through Bevelle’s defence and get her. That simple! Since Cid’s an hardcore one, he’ll accept! Speak to Auron after, and Rikku will point out the fact that Yuna was standing beside Seymour, who isn’t supposed to be alive; we killed him. He’s simply an unsent, and his attachment to his world kept him here. It would be wise if Yuna could send him while he’s not looking then. Meh, Rin enters the bridge to inform you that fiends have been reported inside the airship. Looks like some Guado from Home snuck in. Oh well, the party will decide to take care of them. Save at the save sphere and leave. Go through all compartments until you reach the cabin where you can use another save sphere, and some stairs to get on an upper level. Examine the windows on the right and Auron will spot some flying monster outside. It’s Evrae, protector of Bevelle. Cid will order the party to take care of him, so let’s do it! Head north to buy some goods from Rin you’d like, and then just ride the elevator up to access the deck. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Evrae HP: 32 000 AP: 5400 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hmm, you might have heard that Evrae is an extremely hard boss. To be honest, he’s not easy. In fact, he’s pretty rough. BUT, he only killed me twice- during my No Sphere Grid challenge game. Otherwise, nope, never had any sweat. Let’s first list his attacks. Evrae will use his claws to physically harm one target for up to 1000 damage. He will use Stone Gaze to petrify one of your characters. When he’s in second row(far from the ship, to put it simple), he will use Photon Spray. His best attack is Poison Breath, which deals over 1000 damage on party and inflicts Poison. He needs to inhale before using it though. When I listed Photon Spray, I mentioned "second row". Well, you can battle Evrae in melee range, which is when you can attack him with unranged physical attacks. But if you use the trigger command "Pull back", Cid will move the airship after a few turns, flying away from Evrae. At that point, Evrae will be out of range for your physical hitters, except for Wakka. For the strategy, I like to use the one that I will suggest. Have a party made of Tidus, Wakka and a strong physical hitter(Kimahri or Auron). Tidus should slow Evrae and Haste the party(casting Haste manually OR by using Hastega, if you learned it). Wakka will simply use Dark Attack to blind the enemy. Afterward, just keep attacking Evrae normally. Whenever a character gets petrified by Stone Gaze, quickly use a Soft. When Evrae struck with Poison Breath, quickly have Rikku use an Al Bhed potion. The character that you switched to Rikku will still be Poisoned though, so bring him/her back on the field(switching with Rikku) and use an Antidote. Basically just keep using that strategy until a certain point; when Evrae’s HP gets below 10 000(use a weapon with Sensor to check it). When that occurs, Pull back with the Trigger command. Why? Because Evrae will start to cast Haste on himself, disabling Slow, and becoming twice as fast as normally. In an ranged position though, Evrae’s attacks won’t be as powerful, so have Wakka physically attack him and bring Lulu to use her best elemental spells. Cid will use one of the forbidden machinas to attack Evrae as well, dealing a bonus of 1000 damage (around). He can only use twice or three times though. If Evrae ever uses his turn to come back in melee range, Pull Back again and keep following the same strategy. ======================================================= Bevelle ======================================================= When you’re victorious, you will witness a SUPERB FMV in which the airship invades Bevelle. Kinoc will prepare his monks and machinas to greet you, though the party won’t care as they will slide their way to the city using the ropes from the airship. As you reached the bridge, you will have to go through a few battles since it is infested with monks and machinas. They are not too tough, but you will want to heal after the last boss if Evrae was able to badly hurt you. Once you reached the Maesters, prepare for another scene. The party is halted and menaced with guns. Yuna will take her staff to perform a sending in order to get rid of Seymour, only to be stopped by Mika, who will tell you to choose; your friends live, or Seymour’s total death. Yuna will pick the first option, of course, thus having to marry the bastard. Witness Tidus’s anger as Seymour kisses Yuna. Afterward, the lord of the Guado will order the monks to kill off the crew. Yuna will use a smart strategy though, as she orders them to drop their weapons and let their friends alive or else, she jumps off the bridge. They will obey, but Yuna will jump off anyway, saying that she can fly. Actually, during her fall, she will summon Valefor to her rescue! Well, that’s cool, she was able to escape. But now, your turn! Rikku will throw an Al Bhed flash bomb to blind everybody on the bridge, allowing the crew(who intelligently closed their eyes at the exact right moment that the bomb was thrown!) to escape. Enjoy the quick but funny scene. ======================================================= Bevelle temple ======================================================= As Kimahri suggests it, it would be wise to head to the chamber of the fayth, since Yuna’s probably there. Enter the temple to find out that it is full of machinas. Betraying their own teachings, can Yevon be any more corrupted? Well, use the machine anyway to get to the bottom of the temple faster(though you could go down the spiral path by running). In the next room, head down the stairs and use the save sphere. Follow the party in the cloister afterward. Bevelle’s cloister of trials Head north and push that pedestal to transform it into a platform that Tidus will ride to access a lower level. You enter a machina maze, which is the cloister of Bevelle. It won’t be easy to explain this trial. You are on a moving platform, and you are in a tunnel. On the path, there are green glyph signs with arrows that point directions. You can switch the direction of the platform you’re on with these arrows, pressing X as you pass on them. You start on a tunnel that we will name Tunnel #1. On it, there are three arrow points with which you can switch your direction. The first one lets you access a second tunnel to the right, on a lower level. The second one has an arrow pointing left and right, allowing you to reach two different areas(left and right). The last one allows you to inverse your direction(from north to south). If you just let the platform pass by all arrow points north of the tunnel, you fall off as you reach its end, only to reappear at the start. Let’s solve the puzzle now. At the first arrow point, press X as the arrow is pointing right, allowing you to access a lower level. Let’s call it Tunnel #2. Down there, you can only keep going north to a lower level because a part’s missing on the trail(in Tunnel #2), blocking you. So simply access the lower level to reach a small area with a sphere recess. Remove the Bevelle sphere from it to insert it in the pedestal that followed you. Push it back on the path to transform it in the platform again. Head back to Tunnel #1. There, use the second arrow point to reach the area to the right(press X as the arrow is pointing right). Take one Bevelle sphere from the pedestal and put it in the recess. By doing so, the missing part of the Tunnel #2 path will be back on the trail, allowing you to ride it. Push the pedestal back on the path and use the third and last arrow point as it’s pointing south to inverse your direction. This time, use the second arrow point to reach the area to YOUR right(again, press X as the arrow points right). Take the Bevelle sphere from the recess there, and insert it in the pedestal. Push it back. Now, head to Tunnel #2. Let’s describe this one. Accessing it from Tunnel #1, when you reach it(the #2), the arrow will be pointing north, south, and west. You don’t need to go north anymore, and south will bring you back to Tunnel #1, which you won’t ever go back either. Meaning that it’s all about west. Press X as the arrow’s pointing left and you will be on Tunnel #2. There are four arrow points; the first one is the one you’re on with which you can go back to tunnel #1. The second one allows you to take a right turn, the third one too and the fourth one as well. Again, if you don’t do anything and let the platform you’re riding fall off at the end, you reappear at the beginning of this tunnel. Use the fourth arrow point and press X as the arrow is pointing right. There, take one of the Bevelle sphere from the pedestal and put it in the recess to the left. A path on the other side of the platform you’re on will be created, allowing you to cross it manually. There is nothing you can do though, so get back in Tunnel #2 and let it bring you back to the start of it by falling off. Press the X button at the third arrow point(when the arrow is pointing toward the right) to reach an area where you can take a Glyph sphere from a recess. Insert it in the pedestal and push it back to get back on Tunnel #2. Take the last arrow point again for a right turn. Remove the Glyph sphere from the pedestal and insert it on the recess across, revealing a Destruction sphere. Remove it from its recess and pop it in the pedestal to push it back. Yes, let your platform fall off to reappear at the start. Take a right turn at the third arrow point once again. There, remove the Destruction sphere from the pedestal and pop it in the recess where a Glyph sphere used to reside. Push the pedestal back on the trail and take a right turn at the fourth arrow point one last time. Remove the Bevelle sphere from its recess and put it in the pedestal to push it back. At the start of Tunnel #2, ride your platform north on the path and take a right turn at the second arrow point(yes, press X as the arrow points right). You reach a small platform. Push the pedestal on the other side of it and you will ride it to a new screen, on an upper level. Climb the stairs and open the chest to your right at the top. Once you got the HP sphere, a glyph mine on the ground will be revealed. Step on it to teleport the pedestal nearby. Take one Bevelle sphere from the pedestal and insert it in the recess in front of you. The path to your left will be crossable. Push the pedestal (with the other Bevelle sphere popped in it) to your left and Tidus will automatically ride it to reach a chest(Knight’s Lance) to then come back. Follow the path to your right in order to put an end to this cloister. Phew... The party enters the ante chamber, guessing that Yuna is praying in the chamber of the fayth. Tidus and Kimahri will open the door by themselves and enter the chamber to check. You will see Yuna, still wearing her wedding dress, praying in front of a little guy you met a few times already. You obtain a new Aeon, the king of dragons; Bahamut! But... as the party leaves the chamber of the fayth, they are ambushed by Kinoc and his Yevon monks in the ante chamber. ======================================================= Yuna’s trial in Bevelle ======================================================= In the judge court, you meet Maester Kelk Ronso for the first time, the last Maester of the four, leader of the Ronso. He accuses Yuna of inflicting dire injuries to Seymour. She will reply with the truth, revealing that Seymour assassinated his father Jyscal. Shocked, Kelk will leave the thrown to be replaced by Mika, who already knew it. Yuna will reveal something else; Seymour is already dead, being unsent. It was her job to try to send him. BUT, let’s see how of a corrupted church is Yevon. You will find out that Mika is also unsent, and that a "living" dead being shouldn’t be seen as abnormal. That would mean that every summoners, crusaders, guardians, and other living beings that died at the hand of Sin actually died in vain, if death has to be accepted. The son of a gun that is Mika won’t care about your statements, and will order you to be sentenced. Tidus and Auron are trapped in a suspended cage. They will speak about death, to then hope that Yuna is alright. Kinoc arrives to announce you that your sentences have been decided. Tidus is thrown in some area flooded with water. He can’t climb his way back up because there are no ladders or anything. Worse, there are spikes. He still meet up with Wakka and Rikku though, who where sentenced just like him. You see another cut scene in which Mika, Seymour and Kinoc are conversing. After insulting Kelk for being a fair Maester, Seymour will inform them that he will be waiting for the party at the exit of Bevelle, just in case that they find a way out of the Via Purifico. Kinoc will go with him though, since he’d rather not trust a man who murdered his father. ======================================================= Bevelle- Via Purifico ======================================================= You’re controlling Yuna here, and you seem to be in a complicated place. For some extremely WEIRD reasons, this place reminds me of a Final Fantasy IX dungeon. No idea why. Oh well, head north and use the save sphere in that room. Note the pad on the ground. Leave the room via the right path and follow it until you get to a T intersection. Take the left path and check out your map to see an arrow in the next area. It’s Kimahri! Talk to him so he can join you. Open the chest nearby afterward. Follow the north path after, and you shall reach another room with a pad in the middle. Auron can be found here too. Once he joined you, save at the save sphere. You see a north path that you can follow to exit this area. But hey, that wouldn’t be such a good idea. There are a few treasures in Via Purifico that are worth picking up. Go in the left path and follow it until you can take a left turn(note the fence blocking the path if you keep going). Head south until you reach another room with a pad in the middle. Head inside the right corridor to find Lulu, who will join you. Open the chest for a white magic sphere. Get back in the room and follow the south path until you reach its end, where a chest can be found. Open it for an Elixir and push that sign on the wall after. Go back north and take a right turn when you can to reach the starting point. Use the save sphere if you’d like, and head north. Some fence will be blocking the path, so take the right corridor to enter a big room. Open the chest northwest for a Black magic sphere and step on that shimmering platform. As you do that, the teleport pad from the previous room will be moved in front of the first fences you came by. Head out of this room to use the north path to access the room where you found Auron. Follow the west path and eventually, you should reach the teleport pad you just moved. With it, you can access the room west closed with a fence. Simply step on the pad when the arrow is pointing left, and you will be teleported in there. Open the two chests for a Skill sphere and a Lucid Ring to then use the teleport pad again when the arrow is pointing right to get back out of the room. Use the teleport pad one last time when the arrow is pointing toward the right to be teleported in the save sphere room where you met Auron(short cut). Save, charge your Aeons’ overdrives bars up, and proceed North. Geez, and they expected you to die in here, not being capable of exiting the Via Purifico. Silly Yevonites. At the red dot, you meet Isaaru. The Airship stopped in the Calm Lands, and they went to Bevelle. Though his guardians aren’t here, Isaaru was ordered to take care of you. Boss time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Isaaru's Aeons(Grothia, Pterya and Spathi in that order) HPs: 8000(Grothia) 12 000(Pterya) 20 000(Spathi) AP: 6000 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to OrliBloomsGurl9 for informing me of the Aeons’ HPs. This battle is somewhat, medium. But... I don’t know, never had any problems. Isaaru will first grand summon Grothia(Ifrit). Since he grand summons him, Grothia’s overdrives will be charged up. I’d suggest that you simply summon Shiva and have her use Diamond Dust. It should kill Grothia, but if your Shiva is too weak and that Grothia is still alive, you will probably die since Grothia will unleash Hell fire, which will most likely kill your Aeon. If it does, then summon your weaker Aeon to finish the job. Once Grothia is out, Isaaru summons Pterya(Valefor). At that point, I’d suggest that you simply summon Bahamut and have him use Mega Flare. Thanks to the fact that it can break the damage limit, it should wreck Pterya badly. Finish the job with Bahamut’s level.3 grade black magics(AGA spells) if Pterya is still alive. Finally, Isaaru summons Spathi(Bahamut). Counter with your very best Aeon, using his/her overdrive. Afterward, have your Aeon PUMMEL Spathi with everything you got. Isaaru’s Bahamut won’t attack. Instead, he will use a countdown. After 5 turns, when it reaches 0, he will unleash the Mega Flare. For some reason, it only dealt 450(max) damage on my Shielded Ixion. Either my Ixion was too good, or Spathi’s Mega Flare was too crappy, or both, I was then able to finish the job before Spathi got his overdrive again. To summarize the strategy, you simply need to unleash your Aeons’ overdrives (make sure that they are charged up as you summon them) for a nice advantage. Shiva taking care of Grothia with a 8000+ damage Diamond dust does the job. Summoning Bahamut in order to take care of Pterya in a few turns is also smart, because you don’t need to keep Bahamut in reserve for the last battle since you won’t be able to summon him anyway, because of the fact that Isaaru will be the one summoning him. Finally, to take on Spathi, you just have to use your best Aeon and make sure that he’s Shielded before getting Mega- Flared. When the battle is over, Isaaru tells Yuna where is the exit out of the Via Purifico, and the party leave, after Auron tells him that he’s(Isaaru that is) done for. ======================================================= Bevelle- Via Purifico(underwater) ======================================================= You are controlling Tidus here, and the party is made of Tidus(duh), Wakka and Rikku. Use the save sphere and the chest(as a shop), to then basically just follow the tunnel until you reach another save sphere. Keep swimming north and you will understand what was Mika(or whoever had the idea)’s point of trapping you in here. In these tunnels, they put the unsent dead body of Evrae to hunt you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Evrae Altana HP: 16 000 AP: 5800 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- I thought that the dead version of Evrae would de hella hard. But this battle is pie. He will use his claws to physically attack you for over 1200 damage, and his Stone gaze will petrify one target. What happens when a character is petrified underwater? He/she shatters and can’t be used anymore- in the battle that is. Notice that you can use the Trigger command "Open" with your characters? Selecting it, your characters will open locks behind them in order to open the gates, allowing them to escape from Evrae, only to be caught back. If you keep doing it though, the party will eventually reach a spot to hide from Altana’s attack in the tunnel, behind some steel fence. If you go for that strategy though, you won’t get any items from this battle. Let’s just win in two turns. See, Evrae Altana is an undead, which means that curative spells and items won’t be of a use for him. They will actually be offences. Throw a Pheonix-Down on him to find out that he’s immune to instant- death. Wasted turn? No, because it will damage him for over 8000 damage. Just throw two Pheonix-Downs and the victory’s yours, as it overkills him. You won’t run in any other random encounters as you’re victorious, so just follow the tunnel out of the place. While swimming your way out, check out for two chests on the way(the path is straight forward, you can’t miss them!); one contains a Rematch and the other one an Avenger. ======================================================= Bevelle’s Gates The crew rejoins finally! But... If you remember correctly, Seymour and Kinoc were ordered to wait for you at the exit, just in case you were gracious enough to dispose of the Via Purifico. Well... there they are. As Tidus tries to tell Yuna that he’s sorry, Seymour arrives with a few Guado and monks. Kinoc has been killed by Seymour. Finally, you will learn about his plans. Seymour killed Kinoc because he craved power by avoiding the death, being scared. He(Seymour that is) freed him of his fears by assassinating him. What he wants to do with Spira is the same. The only way to restore and heal Spira is by destroying it so nothing can suffer anymore. To do this, he needs to become the next Sin, and use Yuna’s power at Zanarkand. Well, at this point, there isn’t much that you can understand about it, but oh well. Like Tidus points it out, Seymour’s one crazy monkey. Kimahri challenges Seymour, who suddenly sends his fellow guards to morph into a new Seymour. Kimahri tells the party to leave, protecting Yuna. Auron orders the crew to obey, so everybody leaves. On the highbridge though, Yuna will tell Auron that she’s NOT leaving Kimahri behind. Tidus, hearing this, tells her that anywhere she goes he’ll follow; code of the guardian. So they turn around and head back to the gates! Wakka and Rikku will follow them as well. Afterward, Lulu tells Auron that she is going to! Of course, Auron will go as well, I mean, he got the Best Guardian There Ever Was title after all. On the highbridge, get a few S.lvls if you need from the monks and machinas that you can encounter and head north. Use the save sphere at the end and join Kimahri. Time to battle the Maester again! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Seymour Natus and Mortibody HPs: 36 000 4000 AP: 6300 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seymour is a push over now. In fact, I thought that he was much better the previous time you faced him. Bleh, he still uses his Multi-magics(Fira, Thundara, Blizzara and Watera), dealing 800-1000 damage each spells. He will use Break as well, which petrifies one target. He can use Protect too. When his HP gets lower, he will use his best attack, which is Flare, dealing over 2200 damage on one character. Natus got a friend as well, which is the Mortibody. That flying machine(or what ever) will use the level.1 grade spells (Fire, Thunder, Blizzard and Water) for up to 300 damage on all characters. When it uses an ARA spell(Fira, Thundara, Blizzara or Watera), it will be on one target only, dealing over 500 damage. It can physically attack you with Shattering claws, dealing around 250 points. In last, when you deplete its total HP, it will use Mortibsorption, which consist of absorbing a few thousands of health points from Natus. For the strategy, use the Trigger command "Talk" with Tidus and Auron in order to double their physical damage potential. As for Yuna, you can double her Magic Defence. As that’s done, just beat the HELL out of Natus. Your third character should be either Yuna or Rikku. Even better, have both(switch whenever you need). Yuna can support the party with her curative spells, while Rikku will use her Use command to throw Al Bhed potions on party. These are awesome, since they cure Stone and heal the party for 1000 HP. You could have her(Rikku) steal Natus for Tetra Elementals too. If you want to use Aeons, keep in mind that as Seymour gets his turn, he will Banish them after saying "Death awaits you". When an Aeon is banished, you can’t summon it again, in the battle. Once you’re 2-0 with Seymour, the party escapes to take refuge in the Macalania Wood. Tidus from the present explains how betrayed Yuna must be feeling. Yevon, totally corrupted, nearly cost her her life. Use the save sphere to save your progress and leave the area. You find yourself in a four way intersection. Take the south path and meet up with Kimahri there. Keep going toward the lake to find Yuna. Here we go for quite a scene. Tidus apologizes for every times that he supported Yuna in going to Zanarkand. As you learned it, that is where that she will obtain the final Aeon, thus the end of the her life as she summons it. Tidus will suggest that she just quit on her pilgrimage, and that she(and the crew) go to Zanarkand- HIS Zanarkand, riding Sin. She will like the idea at first, but only to realise a few moments later that she can’t. She must go on. As she starts to cry, you witness a romantic FMV scene in which Tidus and Yuna can finally show their loves to each other. When it ends, Tidus tell Yuna that he will be with her forever. How cute. He leaves her alone afterward, but she whistles and join him. The couple goes back with the others, holding each others hands. The next morning, the party is leaving to the Calm Lands. Open the chest in the area where your characters spent the night, and follow them in the right path. Use the save sphere, and exit to the next screen. ======================================================= Calm Lands ======================================================= Auron and Lulu will teach you a few things about the Calm Lands. Many summoners have been giving up on their pilgrimage here. It was here that many High summoners performed the final summoning to battle Sin. When you can control Tidus, head down the ramp to your right. Speak with Maechen if you’d like to hear more about these lands. As he’s done, keep going west to access the plains. Now, let’s do a quest! You don’t need to do it, since it is entirely optional. It would still help though. What we’re about to do is to give Valefor(your Aeon) the opportunity of breaking the damage limit, meaning that she will be able to exceed 9999 damage. You need the Mercury Crest though, which was obtained in Besaid early in the game. So, in the plains, buy some goods from the ship nearby and then, just head north, hugging the left. It’ll be a long way but eventually, you will reach a cliff. Keep running toward the right, and you should meet up with a Chocobo Trainer. She can’t let you ride a chocobo unless you train one. Accept to do so. The challenge will be quite easy; you simply need to reach the trainer at the finishing line riding your chocobo in a time of 12.8 seconds or below. You can only move your chocobo with Left and Right though. When you’re successful, you get a prize as a reward, AND, you’re able to ride a chocobo anytime in the Calm Lands. With a chocobo, go back to the entrance(from where you came) but keep going passed it and check out for a broken bridge. There is a chocobo feather nearby. Press X on it and your chocobo will fly to a lower level. There, dismount it and head inside the path to the next screen. ======================================================= Remiem Temple ======================================================= Cross the bridge, save(if you need) and follow the path to the left of the castle. You will reach a chocobo and a sphere on the ground. Examine it(the sphere) to learn that you can race chocobos here. You have to use the chocobo on the opposite side of the castle though. There, examine the chocobo to race! Simply beat the other chocobo by reaching the platform in the middle before it and you obtain the Cloudy Mirror. Leave Remiem Temple afterward. ======================================================= Calm Lands ======================================================= Ride the chocobo again and jump off the level you’re on, back in the plains. Open the two chests nearby and go back up the ramp West and enter the Macalania Wood. ======================================================= Macalania Wood ======================================================= Use the save sphere and keep going to the next screen. In the four ways area, take the left path. You enter a crossroad, but one of the path is blocked by a Monk(Bevelle), so take the other path(the left one). There, you’re back in the other part of the Macalania Wood that you crossed earlier in the game. Grab the hilarious Jecht sphere on the ground nearby and keep going left. You meet up with a kid and his mom. Speak three times to both and you will understand that the father of the family is missing. Go back to the four ways area(two screens away) and take the north path(where your party slept before going to the Calm Lands). Talk to the man there and Tidus will tell him that he saw his family in the wood. He leaves, so follow him to where you just met the family. Talk to him and his wife three times each to understand that their son has disappeared in the wood. Let’s find him! See that shimmering path near the save sphere? It’s new, it wasn’t here as you first came in the wood. Follow it. In the next screen, take a left turn at the intersection and meet up with the boy. He found some magical plant. Accept to show it the Cloudy Mirror and it will be changed in the Celestial Mirror. Afterward, the son’s parents are back and thank you for reuniting them. Head back to the Calm Lands. ======================================================= Calm Lands ======================================================= Go down the ramp to access the plains, and then head northeast on the map. Hug the right to make sure that you don’t miss the green dot on the map. It’s a path that you can go in to enter the Monster Arena. ======================================================= Calm Lands- Monster Arena ======================================================= If you are intending to take on the side quests of this game, you will probably spend 40 hours minimum in here. Talk to the Monster Trainer to learn that this place was an idea of Lord Mi’ihen. It’s an arena where you can battle monsters. Lord Mi’ihen wanted his Crusaders to practice their skills fighting fiends from here. However, the monster trainer screwed up(heh), and all the fiends escaped. Accept to help him in his quest, which is of putting the arena in business again. He will sell you weapons with which you can capture fiends. You just need to deplete their total HP using physical attacks with a taming weapon to capture them. He wants you to capture every fiends in the Calm Lands first, so he can re-open the place. There are nine different types of fiends to capture in the Calm Lands. Once you have at least one of each, bring them to the trainer. He will reward you with a chest (and 60 Farplane Wings). Open the chest with the Celestial Mirror to obtain the Nirvana, which is Yuna’s Celestial Weapon. It has nothing but No AP customized on it though. Go back to the Celestial Plant in the Macalania Wood (where you obtained the Celestial Mirror) and present Yuna’s Nirvana there. Accept to customize it with the Mercury Crest. As you do, Valefor will be able to exceed the 9999 limit! Superb! Now, let’s go back with the story. In the central shop(still in the Calm Lands), your party meets Father Zuke. From his information, you learn that Mika accuses you of Kinoc’s murder. What a no good lying bastard. Also, Kelk Ronso left Yevon after learning about Jyscal’s murder. These are better news, since you’re heading to Gagazet, home of the Ronso, now. When Zuke leaves, speak to everybody. From Lulu and Wakka, you will learn that Zuke used to be a summoner that they guarded. He gave up on his pilgrimage here in the Calm Lands. Also, it was the second summoner that Lulu guarded. The first one also stopped here, meaning that she’s never been beyond. Auron won’t have much to say, except pointing out one fact; is Mika aware of Seymour’s evil plans(becoming the next Sin)? Speak to Rikku and both(Tidus and Rikku) will decide to think of a plan to keep Yuna alive. Finally, Kimahri will tell you that Gagazet is Ronso’s mount, but he doesn’t have any family there. Leave the agency and check out south in the plains to find Belgemine. She challenges you again. The Aeon duel is against Shiva, so just summon one of your best Aeons with a charged up overdrive and end this battle in a few turns. Even better, if you did take the time to complete the quest of breaking Valefor’s damage limit a few moments earlier, one Energy Blast(or Ray, if you didn’t get Blast) should end the battle. Whether you win or lose, she gives you the Aeon’s soul. With it, you can boost up your Aeons stats. If you were victorious though, she gives you 30 Power spheres. Afterward, travel all the way northeast to leave the plains to another screen. You find yourself in the upper part of the Calm Lands. Use the save sphere to then cross the mini bridge. You are halted by two Guado, who came to take you to Seymour. They don’t need you alive though. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Defender X HP: 64 000 AP: 6600 Difficulty: Tough --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is tough, but bah. Defender X counters your offences with Blast Punch, which takes away half of one character’s HP. He uses physical attacks mostly, which deals over 1700 damage. His best attack is Haymaker, since the damages can go over 3000 points. Cast Hastega(from Tidus) on your party, along with Protect(from Yuna). Afterward, Auron(and any other characters who learned these skills) should Armor and Mental Break Defender X. At that point, just pummel Defender X to death. Physical attacks from your stronger hitter and AGA spells from your best mage(for me, it’s always Yuna, since I have her learn the four AGA spells from Lulu with Black Magic spheres) will both work. Don’t ever try to cast Slow on the boss though, because if you try, not only that it won’t work(since the defender is immune to it), but he will counter with Slowga on party. When his HP gets lower, Defender X will cast Mighty Guard on himself. Just Dispel it with Yuna. Help yourself with Aeons if you’d like, though you can win without them. Yes, you could win this battle in quite a cheap way using Provoke but... meh. As the battle ends, both Guado miraculously vanished. Oh well, use the save sphere again, and proceed north. The party stops for a second, and notice how Lulu checks the path from which Defender X emerged. You can take on a side quest to obtain a secret Aeon at this point. Check out B. Secret Aeons in my 7- Side quest/secrets section for more about it. Make sure you got over 200 000 Gil to spend, though. Oh well, here we go for the next destination. ======================================================= Mount Gagazet ======================================================= At the gates, you are blocked by the Ronso. You meet with Kelk once again. Calling you traitors, he asks you to leave. But Yuna surely won’t, telling him that Yevon is the traitor, betraying everybody. At that point, the lord of the Ronso will ask; why do you keep going? You are known as traitors, hated by the world, etc. Yuna will give him an honest reply, saying that she doesn’t care, she just wants to bring the Calm to Spira, and nothing will stop her. Seeing your determination, Kelk will open the gates for you, letting you pass. During that scene, check out something HILARIOUS; when Kelk agrees to let you through, the screen will switch to your characters showing their gratitude. Spot Tidus and Wakka, who will start to fight, boxing style. Allow me to laugh. When you control Tidus, use the save sphere nearby. Afterward, let’s see your sphere grid. At this point, it isn’t rare that most players are in need of Level 3 key spheres, because Level 3 key locks are blocking some of their characters parts of grid. If you are having the same problem, use a Special sphere to make Kimahri learn Steal(unless you already made him learn it manually, going on Rikku’s part of grid). When you’re done checking, head north inside the gates. You are halted by Biran and Yenke. They agree to let Yuna and her guardians pass. However, Kimahri cannot. If you talked to one of the Ronso a few moments ago, you could learn the story between Kimahri and Biran. They both fought ten years ago and Biran won. Kimahri didn’t admit his lost, so Biran broke his horn. Kimahri never came back in the Mount. If he wants to cross the mountain now, he has to prove his strength. Boss battle time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Biran and Yenke HPs: Based on Kimahri's stats. AP: 9000 Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- One-on-two battle; Kimahri VS Biran and Yenke. As you can see checking the boxed cart above, their stats are based on Kimahri’s. First, steal Biran for a level 3 key sphere(if you need them) and then, just Lancet both to learn Blue Magics that you missed so far. The Thrust Kick from Biran should be your best Blue magic to use in this battle, whenever your overdrive bar is full. Biran and Yenke will both use black magic spells, along with Bulldozer, which consist of tackling Kimahri to switch side on the field, taking a side attack position. Basically just keep using Thrust Kick whenever your overdrive bar is full. When it isn’t, your physical attacks will do the job. When Yenke is defeated, Biran will cast Berserk on himself. At that point, he will keep using Bulldozer each turns. Use Hi-Potions or X-Potions to heal, to then attack. Finally, Kimahri can be proud. Freed of his shame, he will be known as the Ronso who defeated the great warriors that are Biran and Yenke. They will tell you that they shall crush any enemies trying to get you from the gates. That’s back up. In the next screen, Ronso will halt you again, but to encourage you this time, as they start to chant the hymn of the fayth. As they leave, check out the rocky area to your left(before the mountain trail) for a chest. Check out the rocky upper level to your right(on the other side) for another chest as well. Then, let’s climb(actually cross) the mount. Follow the straight forward path(examining the summoner’s grave mark) until you reach a level with three paths; the one you used to reach this platform, a path that continues the trail, and the last one being a short passage leading to a Jecht(actually Braska) sphere. Check it to view its contents; Braska left a message to Yuna, telling her that she can choose her own path with her life, and that what ever choices she makes, he will support her to the fullest. Heh, Seymour was sure wrong when he told Yuna that she was named that way by her father because he wanted her to follow Yunalesca’s footsteps. Back on the trail, follow the last path you didn’t use yet to eventually reach another level with a crossroad. Follow the northern path that curves to the left, allowing you to spot a chest. Once you opened it, get back to the intersection and follow the northeast branch. You should meet Wantz on the trail, who you might have seen a few times already. He is O’aka’s brother, who was accused by Yevon of dealing with the traitors. He told his younger brother Wantz to go help Yuna though, meaning that you can shop with him now. Buy enough Holy Waters to customize Zombie Ward armors for every characters(or nearly) that you have. When you’re done, go down the branch south in the screen and as you reach its bottom, you can see on the map that there is a short curving passage south on the level. Follow it to find two chests(HP sphere and Level 4 key sphere). Back at the intersection, use the last path you didn’t take yet to eventually reach an upper level. There, the northwest path leads to save sphere, then to the exit of the mount across it. Equip your Zombie Ward armors and follow the trail north. Up there, as the party keeps going, Tidus and Rikku will discuss about what to do with Yuna. You are getting closer and closer to Zanarkand, but neither of them found a way to save Yuna. Tidus will sound like an optimist leader, as he let Rikku know that he’ll think of something. He’s the star player of the Abes after all. Rikku will bow to the greatness, of course. This is no time for laughers though, because in front of your eyes will appear Seymour. Tidus will try to take on the villain by himself, ordering Rikku to go tell Auron. When she does, the partners are back. If you remember correctly, Biran and Yenke told you that they would guard the Gagazet gates for you, slaughtering the evil that would try to break through for you. Seymour killed them all one after another though. Also, he will once again tell you that he wants to become the next Sin to destroy Spira, saving it from its sorrows. He will reveal to the party that as he becomes the next Sin, Jecht will be freed. Well, let’s try to shut his mouth once and for all. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Seymour Flux Mortibody HPs: 70 000 4000 AP: 10 000 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seymour is no push over this time. I would even say that he is the toughest non-optional boss of the game. Let me explain Seymour Flux’s attacks. The Mortibody will use Lance of Atrophy, which inflicts Zombie on one character. Seymour will use Full-Life at his next turn, instant-KO’ing the zombie. He will cast Dispel on your party as well. Cross Cleave is another attack that he could use, which deals some devastating(around 2000) damage on all your characters, though it seems more rare that he uses it. When his HP gets lower, he will add Protect to his move list, which will reduce your physical attack damage potential dealt on him by half. He will cast Reflect on himself afterward too. Why? To cast Flare on his reflected status, bouncing the spell off on one of your characters for over 1500 damage. Now let’s talk about the Mortibody(its other attacks beside Lance of Atrophy). When you attack it, it will absorb some of Seymour’s HP for itself, to then cast Curaga. Finally, it will set Seymour’s machinery to prepare an attack. A few turns later, Seymour will use Total Annihilation, which deals MASSIVE damage on party, possibly ending the battle if you don’t have any characters with higher than 4000 HP as the attack struck. Well, for the strategy, use any supportive spells such as Hastega and Protect. You will want to cast Bio with Lulu as well, inflicting Poison on Flux, which will damage him whenever he dares to make a move. If your Kimahri can physically attack for high damages(5000+), use his "Talk" Trigger command to increase his strength some more. Your two other characters will be two strong physical hitters as well. Thanks to the fact that you have Zombie Ward armors, you will be immune to the Zombie status inflicted by Mortybody’s Lance of Atrophy, meaning that Seymour will waste his turns casting Full-Life since it won’t harm you. Just attack Seymour normally, or with charged up overdrives for better results. If he casts Dispel on your party, quickly recast Hastega. Heal with Mega-Potions if Flux uses Cross Cleave. After a while, he should start casting Protect and Reflect on himself. Dispel it quickly, because he will use Flare at his next turn, on his own self, so it can be reflected on one of your characters. You dispelled it though, meaning that his Flare won’t be reflected, damaging his own sad self. Also, the Mortibody will start to prepare Seymour’s Total Annihilation. At that point, it means that you must end the battle quickly. Use an Aeon overdrive if you’d like(Valefor or Bahamut’s, since they can both exceed 9999 damage at this point), or just a multiple hit overdrive. If you are not fast enough and that Seymour uses his Total Annihilation, you may die and have to restart. If one of your high HP user characters(like Auron) survives, throw a Mega-Pheonix quickly and keep attacking until you’re victorious. Tidus wishes Seymour a nice trip to hell. Afterward, Tidus finally tells the party that Sin is Jecht. Well, let’s just keep going. In the passage north, search between two pillars to the left side in order to find a chest with Kimahri’s Saturn Crest inside. Keep running north to the next screen. FMV time, you find yourself in some magical spring place. Pretty. The graphics are crazy. Tidus will fall asleep as he says that this is his story. He wakes up in... Zanarkand! HIS Zanarkand! He’s home! You get your ending, congratulation! - - - - Just kidding. Something weird is going in here; it doesn’t seem to be as lively as it used to be. Head inside Tidus’s house to meet up with the same fayth you met a couple of times already. Wakka and Rikku will be trying to wake you up, but you won’t. Instead, Tidus will point out that he’s dreaming. If you are just reading for kick and that you’re not at this part of the game, then leave, or you’ll be spoiled. The fayth will correct Tidus. He is not dreaming, he IS a dream. Follow him outside and go speak to him again. A thousand years ago, a war between Bevelle and Zanarkand started. Bevelle’s machina were so powerful, they totally destroyed Zanarkand. The fayths decided to try to save Zanarkand, in a dream. They all worked together to restore a Zanarkand in a dream. Every buildings, roads, the whole city, the citizens, all dreams. Which means... That Tidus and Jecht are also dreams. Defeat Sin, and you allow the fayths to rest, to stop dreaming. When Tidus awakens, the party keeps going. Head north out of this screen to enter... ======================================================= Gagazet Cave Follow the way north and use the save sphere. Then, if you try to go up the path leading north, you’ll see that stairs are missing. Go down the left path until you reach a flooded tunnel. Only Tidus, Wakka and Rikku will go. Swim to the next screen. There, keep swimming north and ignore the path curving to the right, and follow the left tunnel to the end. Mini-game time! Controlling Wakka, you will have to press the X button to make him throw the blitzball on a core protected by shields. Just time yourself correctly. As you’re successful, open the chest given to you to obtain a Level 1 Key sphere, and backtrack all the way back to your party. Go back to the save sphere, and proceed north on the stairs that magically appeared as you completed the blitzball trial. At the intersection, take the left path and follow it until you reach another flooded tunnel. In the next screen, swim to the end of the path to find the second trial. There are three coloured holes; blue, orange, and green. You must direct Tidus, Wakka and Rikku in the right ones. Tidus - Blue Wakka - Orange Rikku - Green A chest appears(Fortune sphere). Now go all the way back to the save sphere. There, head down the left path but check out the alcove right in the wall. Magic rocks will have filled the missing part of the ground, allowing you to cross it to find a chest with a Pep talk inside. Back at the save sphere, proceed north up the stairs and take a right turn at the intersection. You can use it now, since the hole that wouldn’t let you pass has now been filled with rocks. Underwater tunnel again. In the next screen, check out the end of the passage to find two chests(Recovery Ring and Return Sphere). Head back to the intersection north of the save sphere and follow the left path again. As you reach the flooded tunnel, don’t bother diving. Instead, check out for a passage on your left. Use it to reach an upper level. You get to see a scene in which Auron warns Yuna that Yunalesca is watching over you, sending fiends to test you. But nothing frightens Yuna, Braska would be proud of her, as Auron says it. Use the save sphere nearby, and head out of the cave using the exit in front of you. Something was waiting for you though. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sanctuary Keeper HP: 40 000 AP: 11 000 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sanctuary Keeper can be quite technical. Let’s see his attacks. Photon Wings is the offence that he uses in the start of the battle, dealing around 1000 damage on party and inflicting abnormal statuses such as Darkness, Silence, Curse, Confuse, Sleep, etc. His physical attacks will deal nearly 1000 damage, and his Mana Breath can deal up to 3000 points on one target. In last, he will use Tail Sweep, which takes away nearly 1000 HP from your party, dispelling Haste. That’s for his offensive attacks though. For his own sake, he will use supportive spells such as Curaga, Regen, Protect and Reflect. For your strategy, have Confuseward armors on your characters. In the battle, cast Bio on the boss with Lulu and sort three physical hitters with Haste status cast on them. Cast Reflect and inflict Armor Break on Sanctuary Keeper to then simply use physical attacks. Use Eye Drops whenever your party members are blinded by Photon Wings. Thanks to Poison from Bio, Sanctuary Keeper will damage himself for 2000 points whenever he makes a move. At a point, he will start to cast Reflect on one of your characters. Why? Because he wants to cast a supportive status on himself. Why does he need to cast Reflect on one of your characters? Because you used Reflect on him, meaning that he cannot use spells on himself! Dispel your characters whenever Reflect is cast on them, and Sanctuary Keeper will keep wasting his turns, re-casting Reflect. Beat him down meanwhile. Use your Aeons if you’d like, they can always be of a certain help. Mega-Potions are fine to heal as well. As the battle is over, Tidus realises that they are real close to Zanarkand. Seeing him depressing, Auron will tell him that he was feeling just like him ten years ago. He wanted to change the world, but he changed nothing. That’s his story. Follow the party west up the summit, and you will finally have an FMV view of the ruined city that is Zanarkand. Afterward, during the scene in which Rikku begs Yuna to reconsider, Yuna will drop something on the ground. As the party leaves, check it out. It’s a sphere, and Yuna recorded its contents during the night that the party spent at the Rin Travel Agency in Mi’ihen. She basically just tell her good-byes to everybody(except for Rikku, who hadn’t join at that point). When you’re done, head north to the next screen made of a straight forward path. Once you crossed it, you reach the city. ======================================================= Zanarkand Ruins ======================================================= You will witness the same sequence that you watched as you started a New Game, when Tidus asks you to listen to his story. From now on, you’re not viewing the past; you reached the present, and the future is to come. After the scene, use the save sphere and proceed to the next screen. Follow the straight forward path in the ruined city, opening the two chests(Fortune Sphere and Spiritual Targe) that you come to(they are on the way). Also, notice the pyreflies, looks like the farplane. Eventually, you reach the dome. Use the save sphere and enter it. After the greetings of the unsent old man, you find out that the dome is actually the ruined Blitzball sphere stadium. This place is like the farplane, all these pyreflies summoning memories of what happened in this very place. High Summoner Yocun with her guardian for example. Follow the road in the stadium and as you pass under an upper level, check to your right for a ramp leading a way to the roof. On top, check out the bottom left side of the screen for a chest(10 000 Gil). Go back on the trail and follow it until you reach a save sphere. There, you could run around fighting fiends, gaining sphere levels, advancing on the sphere grid with your characters. Personally, I always make Yuna learn Holy (the last ability of her part of sphere grid) to then use a White Magic sphere with Lulu to learn it as well. But that’s just me, if you are nowhere close to it, don’t bother. When you’re done, head northeast to reach an intersection where a couple of paths meet. You will see a young boy with his mother, who is about to become a fayth for her son’s fayth. The poor boy, forced to lose his mother in order to have a weapon to battle Sin. Yes, that young boy is Seymour. Though he’s a total bastard, you have to feel sad for him seeing the scene. Check the branch that curves to your right for a chest with a Friend sphere inside and take the path north, to follow it east. As you cross a bridge, you will see a flashback of Braska, Jecht and Auron who were on their ways to the temple. Go down the ramp under the bridge and search for a chest with a Level 3 key sphere at the bottom. Back on the upper level, proceed east to meet up with another memory; Jecht and Auron begging Braska to give up on the pilgrimage. Enter the temple afterward. In there, follow the path(opening the chest on the way) north until you reach them again. Jecht seemed mad about the fact that there is a cloister of trials to take on here too. Heh. Use the save sphere, then enter the temple. Zanarkand Temple’s Cloister of Trials. This one is quite simple actually. You find yourself in a room with a ground made of blocks, some of them marked with white dots. North in the room is a tetris screen. Examine it and forms will be displayed by the blocks. You need to step on the right marked blocks to make appear the forms displayed by the tetris image when you press X on it. As you’re successful, a door to the second room is opened. In that second room, there is another tetris screen as well, along with a hole covered of mini-platforms in the middle). Of course, the ground is also made of blocks. In the first room(the one you’re in), you can see six pedestals. Four of them can be pushed(the middle ones cannot be because they have another purpose, you shall understand later). Push one of them(pick one randomly) and a tetris image will be loaded in the tetris screen of the second room. There, examine it and forms will be displayed on the ground made of blocks, some of them marked with white dots. Just like in the first room, you have to step on the marked(flashy white dots) blocks to create the forms, displaying the blocks just like the tetris screen does when you examine it. You need to do that with all four pedestals. When you are done with one, a mini-platform covering the hole in the second room is activated. Just go back in the first room and push another one(pick one randomly) to load a new tetris image on the tetris screen of the second room that you will examine again to display coloured forms on the ground, showing which blocks that must be stepped on. Once you’re done with all four pedestals, take the Kilika Sphere from the left of the tetris screen in the second room and pop it in the middle left pedestal of the first room. The second to last mini-platform covering the hole in the second room is activated. Back in the second room, take the Besaid sphere from the recess right of the tetris screen to pop it in the last pedestal(middle right) in the pedestal room, activating the very last mini-platform covering the hole of the second area. Save with the save sphere that just appeared, and go to the second room to find out that out of the hole will emerge your next boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Spectral Keeper HP: 52 000 AP: 12 000 Difficulty: Irritating --------------------------------------------------------------------- This boss isn’t hard. Well, he is tough, but he’s more annoying, irritating, precisely. Let’s see his attacks. He will counterattack you with a swipe physical attack to deal up to 2000 damage on the targets standing on the platforms in front of him. He will use Berserk Tail too, which deals around 1000 damage and inflicts Berserk. He uses Glyph Mine as well, which basically selects two platforms to then make them blow up, instant-killing the poor victims who were standing on them. For your strategy, you will have to make full use of the trigger command "Move". See, the battlefield is made of six platforms. You can move your characters from a platform to another using the "Move" trigger command. Position your characters in triangle. Have Yuna with Curaga, and your two other characters will be your strongest physical attacks. Haste and Protect the party(Regen can be used as a bonus supportive status too) and basically just keep attacking Spectral Keeper physically. He will counterattack each times, but Protect will reduce the damage by half, and Curaga from Yuna will simply heal the damages taken. When Spectral Keeper uses Glyph Mine and that one of your characters is standing on the sentenced platform, just quickly move him/her on another platform to then position yourself back in a triangle after the Glyph Mine is used. You should cast Esuna on any targets that get Berserked, and use Yuna’s Holy if you were able to learn it. You could summon Aeons, though they will be annihilated as soon as they made a move. After the battle, the party rides down the elevator to a lower level. Use the save sphere nearby and proceed to the chamber of the fayth. You will meet an unsent, who tells you that there is no fayth for Final Aeon, and that you have to meet Yunalesca so everything can be explained, or revealed, if you prefer. Inside the next room, you meet Lady Yunalesca. There is no fayth at your disposal, because Yuna is the one who will choose one of her guardians to become the fayth. A strong bond must link her and the chosen one. A thousand years ago, she chose her husband Zaon to become the fayth of the Final Aeon. You will then see another flashback of Braska, Jecht and Auron. The trio just learned that Braska has to choose someone to become the fayth, and Jecht proposes himself to become that person. Auron doesn’t want them to die, because Sin always comes back after every Calm, so they will have died for nothing. Notice, once Braska and Jecht left him, Auron from the present will draw his sword and try to stab his own self from the past. Why is that? You will understand. As the memories passed, the party discusses about what to do. Lulu and Wakka are in for becoming the fayth, but Tidus won’t agree. Just like Auron ten years ago, he doesn’t get why would you sacrifice lives like that if Sin is to come back after a few years anyway. Wakka and Lulu will tell him that in life, you cannot have everything. You cannot have Sin dead and Yuna alive. Tidus is sure that there is a way though, so he will propose that you meet with Yunalesca once again and ask her. As you get the controls again, I’d suggest that you backtrack to the chamber of the fayth and save to then come back to this room and enter the room north. There, you meet with Yunalesca again. This time, she tells you that Sin is always reborn like it or not. Wakka and Lulu, upset, will tell her that the teachings state that as the humanity atones, Sin will disappear. Yunalesca doesn’t believe that though; humans won’t ever atone for anything. Hope is the last resort of Spira. Yuna, disagreeing, will scold her. Her father wanted to save Spira, not to cover it up with lies, wasting his life to give false hope to the world. You see, whenever a Final Aeon defeats Sin, the fayth of that Aeon will be used to create a new Sin, which explains why Jecht is Sin. It explains Seymour’s plans as well. He wanted to become Yuna’s Final Aeon fayth to defeat Sin, just to be then used as the next Sin after. Tidus, who will explode in anger, will draw his sword and run toward Yunalesca. At the exact same moment however, Auron from the past will do the exact same thing, who lost his temper because of his dearest friends deaths, only to be struck down by Yunalesca as he tries to stab her. Same thing would’ve happened to Tidus, phew. Yunalesca, mad at the party for not wanting to follow the 1000 years tradition, will decide to fight you. Enjoy the awesome scene in which every characters accept the challenge. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Yunalesca(three forms) HPs: 24 000(first form) 48 000(second form) 60 000(third form) AP: 14 000 Difficulty: Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- You might have heard from many players that Yunalesca is insanely hard, and that some even quit at this point, frustrated of not being able to deal with her. Oh well, personally, I’d tell you that she is not TOO tough. No ordinary battle, but if you know what to do, you shouldn’t have too many problems. Yunalesca has three forms. First form: 24 000 HP, and normal attacks. Not too hard. She will use ranged physical attacks to deal around 250 damage on one target, casting Dispel on the same occasion. Whenever you attack her, she will counter with an abnormal status based on the offence you used. If you attacked her physically, she will cast Darkness, while if you attacked her magically, the target will be Silenced. You can counter that casting Reflect on your party though. Simply deplete her HP quickly, using physical attacks or magic(Holy from Yuna works extremely well here. Lulu could use it too, if you followed my suggestion of using a White Magic sphere to learn the spell from Yuna’s part of grid). Second form: She has twice as much as HP as she had, but she hasn’t grown up that much for her attacks. First move that she uses an initiative will be Hell Bitter, which inflicts Zombie on your party(and deal few points of damage). Let me guess, Holy Water? NO, don’t even think about using one. It would even be wise to let her inflict Zombie on every characters you got. Sure you won’t be able to heal anymore, since you will damage yourself instead, but it will save you later. As for her other actions, she will cast curative spells on you such as Cura and Regen, in order to damage you. Thanks to the fact that you have Reflect cast on your party, she will heal herself instead. Bad? Nah, Cura will only heal her for a few thousand of points. You should be able to deal over 15 000(or even more) damage per turn at this point, so it won’t be much of a big deal. As for Regen, you can just Dispel it when she’s under the status. Just keep attacking her until she morphs in her last form. Third form: Fine, now she’s a bit better, but har. The first attack that she will use is Mega Death, which inflicts Death on your party. But since you let her inflict Zombie on you with her Hell Bitter previously, it won’t do anything but Miss! As for other attacks, she will counterattack you with her ranged physical attacks, and she will use Mindblast too, which must be her best attack, since it deals up to 600 damage on your party and occasionally inflicts Confuse. Confuseward or Proof armors are helpful here, or you could just hit the Confused targets with a low strength character like Yuna or Lulu, to disable its effects. Yunalesca will cast Curaga as well, which could be instant-kill to a zombie. BUT, you must still stay under zombie status because Yunalesca can struck with Mega Death again. For your attacks, it’s the time to use anything you had in reserve. Characters or Aeons overdrives will both finish off Yunalesca quite effectively. Overkill her, for your AP’s sake. If you really can’t win the battle for some reason, you could check out a Boss FAQ for further information. When you’re victorious, Yunalesca is sent by Yuna(or she sends her own self, what ever). As she’s departing though, she will mention something quite strange; since she’ll be gone, Final Aeons from the final summoning will be as well. The only way to beat Sin is gone. If you do find another way and defeat the monster by yourself, the cycle won’t stop, because Yu Yevon the immortal will summon Sin again. Herm. After the battle, go up the stairs in the bottom left part of the area twice, reappearing from the northern stairs both times. A chest will appear nearby(northwest on the screen). Open it to receive Tidus’s Sun Crest. Leave afterward. In the previous room, Auron has something to tell Tidus. He is also an unsent. His attachment to this world kept him from his next, just like Mika and Seymour. It was Yunalesca who badly damaged him. With an exceptional strength, he was able to cross Gagazet again, only to fall in Bevelle. Kimahri, who had just left Gagazet ashamed for having lost his horn to a Ronso(Biran) that he couldn’t beat, found Auron there. The dying monk begged him to take care of Yuna, to then die. Ever since then, Auron’s been a walking deadman who rode Sin to find Jecht’s Zanarkand, where he watched over Tidus for ten years. Why? Promise to Jecht, as you can see when he shows his memories in which Jecht tells Auron to take care of his cry baby son. Leave south after the scene. Outside of the temple, it’s the return of Sin. He will be staring at the Zanarkand ruins. When he leaves, the Airship comes to get you. ======================================================= Airship ======================================================= After the scene in which Yuna finally meet up with her uncle, leave the bridge and head to the cabin, through the compartments. Speak to Yuna there. She has no idea what to plan, because Yevon’s teachings is all she knows. Kimahri suggests to visit Mika in Bevelle, he probably knows something. Back in the bridge, Wakka, Rikku, and Wakka will have an idea. While fighting Sin, it would help if the Hymn of the fayth could be heard. As you know, back in Macalania, Sin was listening to the fayth’s singing, docile. Well, when you can control Tidus, go talk to Cid. You will be able to control the Airship from now on. Three commands can be chosen; the List, Input, and Search. Check out E. Secrect locations/treasures(using the Airship) in my 7- Side quest section for locations unlocking using two of these commands. In the list, you can revisit locations you already been. Now, I have been e-mailed TONS of times about it; NO, YOU CANNOT ENTER THE TEMPLES UNTIL YOU VISITED THE HIGHBRIDGE THAT APPEARED AS KIMAHRI MENTIONED IT. Re-read that sentence 20 times. Done? Good. Well, pick the Highbridge location. ======================================================= Bevelle’s Highbridge ======================================================= Two guards will confront you, but Shelinda, the new captain of Bevelle’s troops(heh) will stop them. You will learn that Mika denied the fact that he accused Yuna of being a traitor. It was actually a rumour spread by the Al Bhed. The heck? Well, Auron will explain. Kinoc is dead, Seymour seems to have vanished, and Kelk left Yevon. Mika is on his own, so Yuna is his only hope. Which is why he blames his accusations on the Al Bhed, who are absolutely NOT to blame. Yes, Mika is a total piece of trash. When you meet him in the judge court, he will yell at Yuna for still being here. He’s actually waiting for her to go battle Sin and die at the hand of the Final Aeon. Har, poor bastard, she’s not! Even better, you annihilated Yunalesca! But the time for laughers will be over, when he hears it. Just like Yunalesca did, he will mention Yu Yevon the eternal, saying that the only mean of destroying Sin is gone. Afterward, he will send his own self. What a loser. THAT was the grand Maester, ruler of this world? Yeesh, no wonder why Spira is in such shape. Oh well, as the old garbage face cowardly escapes to the farplane, the fayth you met a couple of times already appears to invite Tidus and Yuna to his room. There, picking the right options(The Hymn of the fayth! And We kill Yu Yevon!) will let you learn a few things. Yu Yevon was a summoner a long time ago. But now, he is just summoning Sin. He is awake, but dreaming at the same time. He’s actually not himself anymore. He’s just constantly summoning his armor, which is Sin. Whenever Sin was defeated by a Final Aeon, Yu Yevon automatically merged with that Aeon’s fayth to create a new Sin. Eternally. You have to defeat Sin to then enter his body to find Yu Yevon, that you will also have to defeat. When you do that, Sin will be defeated for ever and the eternal calm will be brought. Quite the plan. But, the fayth will warn that as you defeat Yu Yevon, they will be freed of putting an end to their dreams. Since Tidus is a dream himself... ======================================================= Airship ======================================================= After Cid downloaded the Hymn of the fayth off the internet to play it in the airship’s monitors, select Sin from Cid’s location list. Head to the cabin, save, then go up the stairs and use the door to the deck. There, you will view an awesome FMV in which Sin definitely shows what he’s capable of. Afterward, he gets attracted by the hymn and confronts you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bosses: Sin's left and right cores Sin’s main core Sinspawn Genais HPs: 65 000 each cores 36 000(Sin's main core) 20 000(Sinspawn Genais) AP: 20 500 each Difficulty: Medium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing hard trust me. The only thing that can make you rush is the fact that you cannot heal between each parts of the battle. First, once Cid found a weak spot, you take on Sin’s left arm. Left arm: You can use different strategies. The one I always used is quite simple. You can change row while fighting the arms, just like with Evrae. You can battle him from afar, using magic spells and Wakka’s physical attacks, or you can use the trigger commands from Tidus and Rikku to move the airship closer to the weak spot. Personally, I like casting Haste on Yuna, Wakka and Lulu. Then, from the second row(far from Sin), I have Yuna and Lulu cast Holy (learned by Yuna on the grid, allowing Lulu to learn it with a white magic sphere)each turns, while Wakka first use Armor Break(learned with a Skill sphere OR on Auron’s part of grid, which can be found after Wakka’s using a Level 3 key sphere) to then use his Blitzball to normally attack. From this row, Sin will only use his arm to physically swipe your characters for around 800 damage. If you do want to battle him closer, then sort out three strong physical hitters, Armor Break the core, and pummel it to oblivion. Keep in mind that it can cast Graviga at this distance, though. Once you depleted the core’s total HP, Cid will use one of the Airship’s guns to shoot the arm, thus removing it from the body. Afterward, you take on the right arm’s core. Right arm: Basically just do the exact same thing you did with the left arm’s core. As the core is depleted of its HP, Cid will once again use one of the Airship’s weapons to shoot the arm, removing it from the body. The main gun is broken, but the party will still jump from the deck to one last core on Sin’s body. Sin’s main core and Sinspawn Genais: Sinspawn Genais will be summoned when the battle starts. Remember Sinspawn Geneaux? There you go. It will break out of its shell right at the start, and it will use attacks such as Venom, which inflicts Poison on one target, dealing additional damages, and Trasher, hurting your party for around 1000 points. When it retreats into its shell, it will use Sigh, which inflicts Darkness on party(and inflict damages of around 700 points). Take care of it with Firaga from Lulu and Yuna, and a few physical attacks. It’ll go down easily, 20 000 HP is nothing. Once you’re done with it, it will be time to take care of the core. Armor and Mental Break it to cut its defence and magic defence to then simply use physical attacks and magic spells like Holy and Flare(from Yuna and Lulu). True that you may need a couple of Ethers in that case. To talk about the attacks used by the boss, it will cast level.1 grade elemental black magics for around 500 points, and Graviga, which takes away 3/4 of your party’s HP. Constantly heal the party and you should be victorious quite easily. FMV time, Sin’s body gives up, falling. At the bridge, the crew is happy; they are winning! But they must get INSIDE Sin to find Yu Yevon and defeat it. When you can control Tidus, go back to the deck and meet Yuna there. She will have quite an idea. Since Yu Yevon always merges with the Final Aeons, maybe he will also merge with one of Yuna’s Aeons, that are small(geez, dunno for you but I don’t see how can Anima be considered small), thus creating a weaker force. Also, she will be wondering about what did the fayth said before leaving you; they would stop dreaming as Yu Yevon is defeated. But then, Rikku from the bridge request your presence there. Sin will deploy some wings to fly to the Airship’s height. Well, here comes the second round! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Sin HP: 140 000 AP: 20 000 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle is easy as long as you’re capable of dealing high damages in a short time. Sin has an overdrive bar, and as it’s fully charged up, he will unleash Giga-Graviton, which is Game Over automatically, even if an Aeon was summoned to block the attack. For the strategy, have a party made of Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna. Wakka will Armor Break Sin to then physically attack him, Lulu will cast Flare or Holy, and Yuna will cast Holy. When you read "Drawn by Sin", it means that the Airship is getting closer to him. When you reach the row so close to him that you can attack him with unranged attacks, switch your party to three strong physical attackers that will quickly dispose of him with multiple hits overdrives. It’s a race against the time! Be quick and live, or be slow and get yer butt kicked! Wow, my name for that quote. When the battle is over, the party stares at Sin’s mouth opening a path to you inside the creature’s body. But out of it will emerge a gigantic evil eye that will pass through the airship, and you should hear a familiar evil laugh. ======================================================= Inside Sin ======================================================= You can use the save sphere nearby to board the Airship and take on the side quests of the game at this point. Refer to my 7- Side Quest section for more information. Ready to take on the last chapter of the game? Here we go! The sea of sorrows is quite a complicated area. So much that I, ashamed of myself, won’t type out what to do here and how to access chests and so on. The map is a total ***** that is drawn as you progress in the area, so just explore it by yourself(it’s not a pain to cross, but it is to describe it via words). If you meet Behemoth Kings and that you don’t have over 4500 HP on your characters, then don’t bother fighting them and just flee. When you reach the other save sphere that can be found in this area, proceed north and it will be Seymour’s return. Sin absorbed him. Now, he will try to learn how to control the creature, and nothing will ever stop him because you took care of Yunalesca, so no Final Aeons anymore. Well, let’s show him that he’s wrong, and let’s give him a fourth lesson on the same occasion. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Seymour Omnis HP: 80 000 AP: 24 000 Difficulty: Rough --------------------------------------------------------------------- Not TOO hard, but Seymour’s got quite a dangerous arsenal. You can see four roulettes behind him, with four differently coloured circles on them; red, yellow, white, blue marine. These are elements; red is fire, yellow is lightning, white is ice and blue marine is water. Seymour Omnis will cast level.3 grade spells four times in one turn, following his roulettes. For example, the battle starts while the red circles on the roulettes are activated so that Seymour can cast Firaga four times, dealing 1000-2000 damage (definitely based on the victims’ Magic Defence). Also, that will reveal Omnis’s weakness. If he’s set to use four Firagas, his element will be Fire, meaning that fire elemental attacks will heal him while Ice elemental attacks will do great damages. Seymour can cast Dispel on your characters too, and as his HP gets lower, he can use Ultima for up to 2500+ damage on party. Well, strategy is simple. If you want to easily win, you could equip armors that stop or absorb all four elements, in that case, only Ultima will be a threat. You could use SOS Nul-elements too, but that would be quite dangerous because you will have to keep your party constantly in crisis level, thus annihilated as Omnis casts Ultima. Shell works well too. For the strategy, Armor Break Seymour. You could also need to Mental Break him if you’re intending to use black magics, in that case, just use Auron’s Banishing Blade. Hastega is extremely useful as well, and Tidus should use Quick Hit if he learned it already. You could summon Aeons with full overdrives for a few bonuses of damages BUT, don’t mess up summoning elemental Aeons that will heal the boss. Non-elemental is fine, though they will probably only have one turn, since Seymour can attack four times in a row, usually killing them. If you have Anima, summon her and enjoy Seymour’s reaction :D! When you’re victorious, you find yourself in quite a scary place, looks like Zanarkand but it seems to be dead, deserted. You can backtrack to the previous screen in order to use the save sphere if you’d like. In the phantom city, if you want to do some treasure hunting, you will need to kill fiends, because some chests are hidden, usually behind walls with Glyph signs on them. You need to have killed a certain number of fiends to touch them in order to reveal the chests. Basically just run around until you have defeated over 20-30 fiends, then proceed. In the passage, stop by the first Glyph sign you meet on the wall to your right. Examine it and the wall should move away, thanks to the fact that you killed fiends in the area. Behind it is a second wall with a Glyph sign on it. Touch it again and the wall will also move away, if you killed enough fiends again. Behind is a third and final wall, which will also move away after you took care of a couple of fiends, finally revealing a chest. Back in the passage, keep running forward and eventually, you reach a bridge made of one block. Step on it and you will be taken to an upper level, where you can open a chest. Back on the bottom level, follow the path and you will reach another glowing sign on the wall to your left. Touch it and Tidus will push the pillar to make a bridge, giving you access to a chest. Back in the passage, follow it north to enter a squared area. In there, take a left turn to find a small path with another marked wall. Touch it to reveal a chest, again. Back in the squared area, check out place for a shimmering platform(north). Use it to reach an upper level where you can find two chests. Afterward, leave the squared area using the path northeast. You will reach a ground where pillars will be lifted up as you try to pass, pissing you off. No need crossing this path anyway, take the passage to your left(a bit west to the north) and as Tidus walks on a ramp, it will be lowered. There is a chest under it. Follow the path north. In the next screen, you find a save sphere and a T intersection. The path to your right leads to a ravine that you can descend platforms to platforms using the X button. At the bottom, open the chest, then go back to the previous screen. Use the save sphere, which is the very last save sphere of the game. You cannot save anymore as you proceed north. There, a huge tower will fall in front of you. Examine the coloured circle left, then touch the one in front of you to be taken to quite a lame place. You find yourself in this weird crystal area that you’ve seen a couple of times already. In here, icicle(or what ever) spikes will be leveling up out of the ground. If you ever bump into them, you’re ambushed in a forced random encounter. What to do here? Well, as you can see, there are eggs appearing and disappearing there and there. Whenever you touch them, you receive an item. Grab ten of them to be taken to a new area. ======================================================= Jecht ======================================================= You find yourself in Zanarkand, in the weird area you’ve been in once in the beginning of the game(after the tragedy in Zanarkand, when Sin is floating in the sky). North of the path is... Jecht. Finally. After a scene, you battle him. In his Aeon form. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: Braska's Final Aeon(two 'forms') HP: 60 000(first form) 120 000(second form) AP: None. Difficulty: Easy to Hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you’ve been doing side quests and were able to conquer the Monster Arena, this battle will be won in three turns. On the other side, if you didn’t work on your stats or anything, just beating down the storyline bosses of the game, Braska’s Final Aeon will be quite hard. This battle is divided into two parts. First part: Jecht has 60 000 HP here, and his attacks aren’t too vicious. He will use the Jecht Beam for 1000 damage, inflicting Petrify. His normal physical attacks will harm one target, and as you can see, he has an overdrive bar. When it’s fully charged up, BFA will unleash Triumphant Grasp, which damages one target twice. You can use Tidus’s Trigger command to empty Jecht’s gauge, but you can only use it twice at all, so don’t waste it in this form. Finally, last thing to mention is that BFA got two Yu Pagodas around, which are quite annoying, using Power Wave to heal Jecht for 1500 HP. It also dispels any statuses you had inflicted on the boss, including the breaks, meaning that it’s quite hard to pierce BFA’s armor. Oh well, for your strategy, you want to be QUICK in this battle. You need to get more turns than the enemies. A party under Haste status will be quite helpful, along with Quick Hit. However, what can really boost up your speed is simply by working on your Agility stats. If you’re not intending to use physical attacks, you could have mages such as Yuna and Lulu casting Holy or Flare(or even Ultima, if you learned it) each turns. If I’m correct, the Yu Pagodas aren’t immune to Slow, though I could be wrong. Ah well, just keep attacking and heal whenever needed. Don’t use your overdrives and Aeons yet though. Keep them for... Second part: After depleting BFA’s total HP(60 000), he will draw his sword. From that point, he’ll be more vicious, having 120 000 HP, and using new attacks. His physical attacks’ damage potential will be doubled, and he will use his sword to swipe all party members. As for his overdrives, he will be able to use the Ultimate Jecht Shot, which could end the battle if your party’s HP is too low. If you haven’t already, quickly cast Protect on your characters. Then, just keep using the same strategy to beat down the boss. You can use your overdrives now, along with your Aeons’ if you’d like at this point. Also, now is the time to use Tidus’s trigger command when Jecht’s overdrive bar gauge is full. After the battle, you see one more scene. See for yourself. Let’s take care of Yu Yevon now. If you remember the plan, it was to summon the Aeons so that Yu Yevon would merge with them. That’s what you going to do. Whenever one of your Aeons will be summoned, Yu Yevon will merge with them to then fight you. Basically just beat all your Aeons down, and Yu Yevon fights you after. Don’t worry if your Aeons are too strong; you cannot die in this battle, because the fayths will always revive you. When you’re done, Tidus tells the party that as they’re through Yu Yevon, he will disappear. Well, let’s end his story with the coup de grâce. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Boss: Yu Yevon HP: 99 999 AP: Hi! Difficulty: Har. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Like I told you earlier, you cannot die anymore at this point, because you’re constantly under Auto-Life status. Yu Yevon will counter each of your attacks to heal for 9999 points, and he will cast Graviga as well. To win, there are plenty of strategies to use. You can cast Reflect on Yu Yevon so then, he won’t be able to cast Curaga on himself. Also, you could cast Reflect on your party members in order to reflect the enemy’s Graviga in his face. Another smart strategy to use is to cast Magic Break on the boss, lowering Yu Yevon’s Magic so that he cannot heal himself for 9999 points anymore. I’ve heard that inflicting Zombie on him to then throw a Pheonix-Down or cast Life works as well. Basically just have fun, you cannot lose this battle and it’s the final one so use anything you feel like using. The walkthrough ends here. Congratulation, get your well deserved ending now! 7- Side Quest/Secrets Final Fantasy X has many secrets and optional quests. This section covers most of them, so check it out. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ A. Omega ruins On the Airship, talk to Cid and use the Search command. Press X on the map at the next coordinates: X: Around 70 Y: Around 35-40 You should locate the Omega Ruins(if you don’t, mash the X button around that spot). Select it from the list. ======================================================= Omega Ruins ======================================================= This is quite a good area to get some easy AP. Well, the point of adding Omega Ruins in this side quest section is actually just to give you a brief walkthrough about the place, along with strategies for the two optional bosses that can be found in here. There are chests in this area, and when you open them, they can ambush you in a battle fight to then vanish. Check out out thgink999's excellent Omega ruins guide on www.gamefaqs.com for more information about this. Before adventuring yourself in the ruins though, let’s make sure that you have Confuse and Berserkproof armors. See, Great Malboros can be found in the Omega Ruins and unlike the ones Inside Sin, they will ALWAYS ambush your party to then throw their terrible Bad Breath, which will inflict nearly every abnormal statuses of the book on your party. When that happens, you usually get a Game Over screen after a few turns watching your characters beating the hell out of each others. Confuse and Berserk being the statuses that make you lose control of your characters, you won’t mind Bad Breath if you’re immune to then. With that said, get these armors and you’re set. Oh well, you could just have No Encounter weapons or armors instead, but that would ruin the fun of taking on a dungeon oldschool Final Fantasy style, wouldn’t it? From the save sphere, proceed north and you will watch a cut scene. Seems that Auron knows something about this place. Omega turned his back on the teachings a long time ago to then take refuge in this cave. Take the right path and follow it to its end until you reach chests. Refer to the excellent guide I suggested earlier. Head back to the intersection afterward, and follow the left path until you can see the entrance to a room. There, more chests can be found, along with an Al Bhed primer on the ground. Back on the path, follow it straight and eventually, you will reach a glyph sign in a new intersection. Nothing can be done with it yet, so follow the path south until you reach a new Glyph sign. Examine it to touch it and then, go back to the other Glyph sign at the intersection and touch it, revealing a chest(Teleport sphere). Take that teleport pad, and enter the next room afterward. Check out that huge elevator to find a boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Optional Boss: Ultima Weapon HP: 75 000 AP: 40 000 Difficulty: Easy to hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- The difficulty of this battle is all about your party’s stats. Ultima Weapon will use Shimmering Rain for 1000-3000(all about the victims’ magic defences) damage on party. He can inflict Stone with Break as well, and Sleep(puts one target to sleep). First thing to do is to steal him Door to Tomorrows, to then bribe him. Give 1 400 000 Gil and he will leave, giving 99 Pendulums after. After the battle, you learn that it wasn’t Omega. Well, let’s just keep going. Follow the linear path until you reach a new area, outside the tunnel. Here, there are platforms linked by stairs. Whenever you step on one, a monster ambushes you. You can find chests on them as well. Basically just follow them, fighting fiends each times to eventually reach the middle. There, after a scene with Auron, you find Omega. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Optional Boss: Omega Weapon HP: 99 999 AP: 50 000 Difficulty: Easy to hard --------------------------------------------------------------------- Once again, this battle’s all about your stats. Omega Weapon will use Shimmering Rain just like Ultima Weapon, but his best attacks will be Nova and Ultima, both dealing 3000-4000 damage on your party. First, Hastega on the party and have Kimahri Lancet the boss to learn Nova. Afterward, just keep attacking it with physical attacks, which works well here. You may need to Armor break him(not sure). Just make sure you got a couple of Mega-Potions in store and you shouldn’t have too many problems. Summon if you’d like! After the battle, you’re brought back to the save sphere automatically. Congrats... ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ B. Secret Aeons In Final Fantasy X, there are five Aeons that you get in the story. There are others though, that can only be obtained by taking on subquests(optional stuff). This section is about them. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Yojimbo Location: Cavern of the stolen fayth Technics: Daigoro, Kozuka, Wakizashi, Zanmato Black magic: None White Magic: None Element: None Overdrive: None How to get the Aeon: Yojimbo can be obtained as soon as you reach the Northern part of the Calm Lands, after defeating Defender X. You can cross a bridge to access the Mount. Gagazet from that area. However, you can also see a path to your right, that is UNDER the bridge. Follow that path. In the next area, save at the save sphere and enter the cave to the left. You witness a scene in which Lulu reveals that the first summoner she guarded actually died in here. ======================================================= Cavern of the stolen fayth ======================================================= Follow the path until you reach an intersection. Take the right path and you should find a chest. Open it for a Megalixir. Head back to the intersection and keep heading north to reach a new intersection farther. Take a right turn as well, following the path until you enter a green room. Open the chest for a Level 2 key sphere and backtrack to the intersection and follow the left path that curves north. At the next intersection, follow the north path to a dead end. Open the chest, and head back to the intersection to take a left turn. Follow the tunnel until you reach a room with a save sphere. Use it, and keep going to the next area. You will be explained why they called this place "Cavern of the stolen fayth". You meet up with an unsent though, lady Ginnem. She was the summoner that Lulu guarded. She was killed though, and Lulu wasn’t able to protect her. Auron will tell Yuna to send her, but she won’t let you do that without a fight. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Optional Boss: Yojimbo HP: 30 000(not sure) AP: 0 Difficulty: Easy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing hard really. Yojimbo will use Daigoro for around 400 damage on one character. He probably can use his other attacks, though I’ve never seen do anything else. He isn’t fast, so you will easily get more turns than him, especially if you cast Hastega at the start of the battle. He does have a decent Defence however, so you may want to rely on an elemental Aeon(so he/she can heal herself with her own spells) for a quicker victory. Yuna sends Ginnem after the battle. When Auron advices Yuna to, step on the teleport pad when the arrow is pointing north to enter the chamber of the fayth. You meet Yojimbo’s fayth, who will join you only if you can afford his price. When you have the choice, pick the third option(To defeat the strongest fiends). He will then ask 250 000 Gil. Offer 125 001 Gil. That is half of his price, plus 1 Gil. Yojimbo will accept to make deals, so just keep offering half of his price, plus 1 Gil. Keep in mind that he won’t accept to lower his price below 200 000 Gil though. If you try to, he’ll tell you to go feed some chickens with your offer. Note that if you pay three times his price, he offers two teleport spheres as a gift. When the deal is done, he joins you. As for HOW to use him, I’d suggest that you check out a Yojimbo FAQ(there are two of them on gamefaqs.com already), because the mechanic of his attacks are quite complex, being related to an affection level. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Anima Location: Baaj Temple Technic: Pain Black Magic: Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Water , Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, Watera, Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga, Waterga, Demi, Death and Bio. White Magic: None Skills: Silence Attack, Dark Attack, Sleep Attack, Silence Buster, Dark Buster and Sleep Buster. Element: None Overdrive: Oblivion, deals major non-elemental damages to all enemies. How to get the Aeon: You need to have completed every cloister of trials, using the Destruction spheres to open yourself paths to the chests in each of them, except for in Zanarkand, which wasn’t possible as you did it. In the Airship, speak to Cid and select the Search Command. On the map, check out these coordinates: X: 15 Y: 60 Mash the X button around these and you should locate Baaj Temple. Select it from the Location list. ======================================================= Ruins ======================================================= Remember this place? It was here that Tidus got dropped by Sin as he came to Spira in the beginning. Head north and dive in the water when you can. Remember Geosgaeno? Well he’s still around. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Optional Boss: Geosgaeno HP: 32 767 AP: 4200 Difficulty: Rough --------------------------------------------------------------------- This won’t be easy. Have StoneProof and DeathProof armors. Geosgaeno can petrify one of your characters. As you know, when a target is stoned underwater, it shatters. The DeathProof ability will make you immune to Death, which is inflicted by the boss when he uses his K.O punch. Since it is an underwater battle, you can only control Tidus, Wakka and Rikku. Tidus will cast Hastega on party and then, just use him and Wakka to physically attack Geosgaeno. Rikku will support the party, though you could use her to attack as well if you worked on her strength. When Geosgaeno’s HP is depleted enough, he will engulf one of your characters to store them in his stomach, or what ever. You can still use that character and attack the enemy from within, though it isn’t recommended because as you do, Geosgaeno will counter by spitting him/her out on another one of your characters for some high damages. But oh well, if you got the Agility, you should be victorious. Swim underwater and if you have the Celestial Mirror, check out the right side of the screen, mashing the X button. You should find an invisible chest that contains Lulu’s Onion Knight. Afterward, head to the entrance and press the circle button to enter the ruined temple. ======================================================= Baaj Temple ======================================================= Enter the next screen to find yourself in a room with 6 statues. Each of these represent a temple, and if you completed their cloisters using the Destruction spheres, they should be lit. Here is the map that explains which statues are which temples. Baaj Temple map Chamber of the fayth X Besaid temple X Bevelle temple X Macalania Temple X Djose temple X Zanarkand Temple X Kilika temple Entrance You CAN’T miss Bevelle’s Destruction sphere. IMPOSSIBLE, you NEED the Destruction sphere to complete its cloister. So, as every statues are activated, board the airship and go back to Zanarkand Temple, at the cloister. In the pedestals room, check out the floor. There are blocks on the ground, as you know. To complete the cloister, you had to check out the tetris screen north of the room in order to display coloured forms on the ground. You had to step on the blocks marked with white dots to create these forms. This time, you can’t examine the tetris screen. What to do then? Check out carefully the blocks on the ground to spot squares displayed by four blocks each. You need to highlight these by stepping on the right blocks. There are three of them in the pedestal rooms, and four of them in the second big room. Once you displayed all seven squares, a Destruction sphere will be revealed in the second room. Take it and insert it in one of the recesses(left or right of where the tetris screen used to be). A treasure is revealed. Once you took it, go back to Baaj Temple and lit the statue that represents Zanarkand. The door to the chamber of the fayth opens. If you aren’t at this part of the game yet, do_not_read. You meet Anima’s fayth; Seymour’s own mother. She doesn’t blame Seymour for turning evil. She and her husband, Jyscal, weren’t there enough for him, which explains why he turned bad. Sick of suffering in his childhood, he wants to end Spira’s pain by simply destroying it. You obtain Anima afterward. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Magus Sisters Location: Remiem temple Technics: Cindy: Camisade Sandy: Razzia Mindy: Passado(one of the greatest ability in FFX). Black Magic: Unknown. White Magic: Unknown. Overdrive: When all three sisters for their overdrives bar full, select to combine their powers so they can use the Delta Attack, deals major non- elemental damages on all enemies. Note: To control these Aeons, you can only insert the commands listed below. Do as you will Defence Fight Go Go! Are you alright? Help each other One more time When you insert the "Fight" command(for example), they will usually attack the enemy physically OR by using their abilities. But they can take breaks too. When you select a command like "Help each other", they will simply support each others with curative spells- if they don’t decide to take a break again! Now, say you select "Do as you will" to Mindy and that she uses Passado. At her next turn, select "One more time" and she should use Passado once again. If she, for some reasons, decides to take a break, as you select "One more time" again, she will copy her last action, which consisted of taking a break. How to get the Aeons: It won’t be hard to get them, BUT, you need to have been through Yojimbo and Anima’s quests before since you need them in order to obtain the Magus Sisters. At the Calm Lands, buy taming weapons from the Monster Trainer in the Monster arena and capture every fiends found in Mount Gagazet. Afterward, bring them to the trainer and he will reward you with the Blossom Crown(and by unlocking Catoblepas). Once you did that, ask the chocobo trainer to ride a chocobo(if you haven’t already, train one to get the right) and head to Remiem Temple(passed the entrance to the Macalania Wood is a broken bridge with a chocobo feather nearby. Press X on it to access a lower level. Dismount your chocobo and head into the path to enter the temple). ======================================================= Remiem Temple ======================================================= Cross the bridge and enter the temple. Remember Belgemine? She is the summoner that you met(and could battle) three times during the pilgrimage. Well here she is, in the temple. Beat down every Aeons she got with yours and she will reward you with the Flower Scepter. Combine it with the Blossom Crown on the door behind the fallen summoner in order to enter the chamber of the fayth. You obtain the Magus sisters in there. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ C. Celestial Mirror and Weapons Each characters have their own different Celestial weapons. But to obtain these weapons, you need the Celestial Mirror as a key item. Celestial Mirror In the Calm Lands, find the chocobo trainer(northwest on the map, at the cliff). Train a chocobo(in the first race, simply reach the finishing line under a time of 12.8 seconds) and choose to ride one. Head back to the Macalania Wood entrance but keep running passed it to reach a broken bridge with a chocobo feather on the ground. Press X on it so your chocobo(with Tidus on its back) can fly to a lower level. There, dismount the bird and enter the path. ======================================================= Remiem Temple ======================================================= Cross the bridge, save(if you need) and follow the path to the left of the castle. You will reach a chocobo and a sphere on the ground. Examine it(the sphere) to learn that you can race chocobos here. You have to use the chocobo on the opposite side of the castle though. There, examine the chocobo to race! Simply beat the other chocobo by reaching the platform in the middle before it and you obtain the Cloudy Mirror. Leave Remiem Temple afterward, to the Calm Lands, then to the Macalania Wood. ======================================================= Macalania Wood ======================================================= Use the save sphere if you’d like, and run left to the next screen. At the four ways area, take the left path. You enter a crossroad, but one of the path is blocked by a Monk(Bevelle), so take the other path(the left one). There, you’re back in the other part of the Macalania Wood(that you crossed earlier in the game). Grab the hilarious Jecht sphere on the ground nearby and keep going left. You meet up with a kid and his mom. Speak three times to both and you will understand that the father of the family is missing. Go back to the four ways area(two screens away) and take the north path(where your party slept before going to the Calm Lands). Talk to the man there and Tidus will tell him that he saw his family in the wood. He leaves, so follow him to where you just met the family. Talk to him and his wife three times each to understand that their son has disappeared in the wood. Let’s find him! See that shimmering path near the save sphere? It’s new, it wasn’t here as you first came in the wood. Follow it. In the next screen, take a left turn at the intersection and meet up with the boy. He found some magical plant. Accept to show it the Cloudy Mirror and it will be changed in the Celestial Mirror. Afterward, the son’s parents are back and thank you for reuniting them. Now that you got the Celestial Mirror, you can acquire the Celestial Weapons. However, simply getting your characters Celestial Weapons won’t do anything, because they all have four slots; three that are empty and the last one with No AP on it. You need to customize them with Crests and Sigils. Each characters got their different Crests and Sigils. Below is the listing of the Celestial Weapons for each characters, along with their Crests and Sigils. To customize a weapon with a crest or sigil, present it(the weapon) to the Celestial Plant(where you obtained the Celestial Mirror) and accept to do the ritual. That will put the abilities on the slots of the weapon. ======================= Tidus's Caladbolg ======================= Weapon location: In the Calm Lands, find the Chocobo Trainer(Northwest on the map, at the cliff). Tell you that you want to ride a chocobo. You will have to go through four races. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Chocobo Race #1: The Wobbly =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You have to reach the finishing line(where the trainer stands) with a time of under 12.8 seconds, riding your chocobo. To control it, you can only use left and right, in order to direct the chocobo when its try to change course. It can be stubborn. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Chocobo Race #2: The Dodger =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This is a bit harder. You have to reach the finishing line under 16.8 seconds while balls will be thrown at you. Avoid them, because if you do get hit, your chocobo will need nearly a second to recuperate. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Chocobo Race #3: The Hyper Dodger =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Again, you have to reach the finishing line under a certain time(18.5 seconds) but balls will be thrown on the path, and as they touch the ground, they split in four new balls. On top of that, birds will be picking on you. If you do get hit by something, your chocobo will stop running to recuperate once again. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Chocobo Race #4: The Catcher =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You race the chocobo trainer herself, and the race field is the Calm Lands. You have 45 seconds to reach the finishing line(at the upper part of the Calm Lands, where you can access the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth), and during the race, you will be able to grab balloons. Each balloons that you grab will subtract 3 seconds from your time(when you reach the finishing line). Also, birds will hit you in the plains. Each birds that hit you will add 3 seconds to your time. Basically just make sure that you grab more balloons than the trainer and that you don’t get hit too much by birds. Each times you beat the records in the races, the trainer rewards you with items. After being successful in all four races, head to the northwest part of the Calm Lands and hug the cliff. A ramp leading to a lower level can be found, but it can’t be seen on the map. Just search the area carefully and as you find it, a guard that was blocking it below will be gone(thanks to the fact that you completed all four races). You will find the Caladbolg there. Sun Crest: At the area where you fought Yunalesca. Go up the stairs in the bottom left part of the area(reappearing from the stairs to the north) twice and a chest should appear in the upper left part of the screen. Open it to obtain the Sun Crest. Sun Sigil: This one is a pain in the neck to get. In the Catcher race(the fourth race from the chocobo trainer’s list in the Calm Lands), you have to beat a time of 0:0,0. How? By grabbing balloons. Each balloons that you grab while racing will subtract 3 seconds from your final time when you reach the finishing line. Let me give you an example. You reach the finishing line in 41 seconds, and you grab 14 balloons while racing. 14 X 3 = 42 seconds at all. Your race time minus the 42 seconds won by grabbing the balloons will give you a time of under 0:0,0 second, thus allowing you to be rewarded with the Sun Sigil. However, you must know that birds will be hitting you during the race, and that each times you get hit by them, 3 seconds are added to your total. There isn’t much of advice to give about it really. Just make sure that you can grab as much balloons as you can without getting hit by the birds. Some players like to use the chocobo trainer as a shield while racing in order to protect yourself from the birds. She will grab every balloons before you if you try that, so just out race her and EVADE the birds, grabbing at least 14 balloons. Abilities: Break Damage Limit, Triple Overdrive, Magic Counter, Evade & Counter. ======================= Yuna's Nirvana ======================= Weapon location: Once you capture the nine fiends in the Calm Lands, speak to the Monster trainer and he will reward you with a chest. Open it to receive the Nirvana. Moon Crest: Besaid beach. Swim east to find an hidden part of the island. Open the chest there for the Moon Crest. Moon Sigil: At Remiem Temple, defeat every Aeons of Belgemine, including the secret ones(check out the B. Secret Aeons section above) and accept to send her. You receive the Moon Sigil. Abilities: Break the Damage Limit, Double AP, one MP cost, double overdrive. ======================= Wakka's World Champion ======================= Weapon location: Win a couple of Blitzball games(around 5) and the guy working at the counter in the café found in the Bazaar of Luca will let you open his chest for the World Champion. Jupiter Crest: At Luca, in the Aurochs locker room. Search one of the locker to obtain the Crest. You cannot obtain it during your first visit. Jupiter Sigil: You need to obtain Wakka’s three missing overdrives as prizes in Blitzball(Attack Reels in a tournament, Status Reels in the League, Aurochs Reels in a tournament) and the Jupiter Sigil will appear as a prize in a League. Abilities: Break Damage limit, Triple Overdrive, Double AP, Evade & Counter. ======================= Kimahri's Spirit Lance ======================= Weapon location: Pray at three Qactuar stones in the Thunder Plains, pressing the Square button. In the lower part of the plains, hug the right from the south and keep moving north until you spot the ghost of a Qactuar. Follow it and it will lead you to a ruined tower. Pray in front of it pressing Square and you will receive a treasure chest. Open it for the Spirit Lance. The Al Bhed message found in the ruins in the beginning of the game was referring to the Spirit Lance. Saturn Crest: In Mount Gagazet, in the screen north of the area where you fought Seymour Flux. Search between two pillar to the left for a chest with the Saturn Crest inside. Saturn Sigil: In Macalania Wood, find the birdman on the path and grab a butterfly around to trigger the start of a mini-game; Butterfly catching. Catch every Butterflies on the branch path before the count reaches zero. The birdman rewards you with a chest. Afterward, he(the birdman) should move to another place in the Wood. Find him and beat his mini-game again. You should obtain the Saturn Sigil as a reward. Abilities: Break Damage limit, Triple Overdrive, Double AP, Evade & Counter. ======================= Lulu's Onion Knight ======================= Weapon location: At Baaj temple, underwater where you fought Geosgaeno. Search around the right of the ruins(still underwater) and you should find an invisible chest. Open it to obtain the Onion Knight. Venus Crest: As you get the Airship, select Guadosalam from Cid’s list. Visit the Farplane there and you should spot a chest left of the entrance. Open it to get the Venus Crest. Venus Sigil: In the Thunder Plains, dodge 200 consecutive bolts. Afterward, open the rewarding chest in the Rin Travel Agency to obtain the Sigil. It isn’t hard to dodge 200 consecutive bolts, it just requires patience. I would suggest you to dodge a couple of them(20-30) to then pause the game and take a 5 minutes break. Come back and dodge 20-30 more, pause, 5 minutes break, and so on. No Encounter weapon or armor is nearly a must here. Abilities: Break the damage limit, Once MP cost, Triple Overdrive, Magic Booster. ======================= Auron's Masamune ======================= Weapon location: You need the Rusty Sword(Key item) to obtain the Masamune. To find it, head to the entrance of the Cavern of the Stolen fayth, but don’t enter the cave. Instead, check out the right path(right in the screen) and follow it until you reach a statue. Examine it to obtain the Rusty Sword. With it, head to Djose Highroad via the airship. There, head left from the save sphere and keep running west. You will reach the broken machina that was supposed to take down Sin, only to fail. Climb it using the boxes and on the other side is the continuation of the path. Follow it to enter the Mushroom Rockroad. Keep heading south, following the path, checking the map. Eventually, you should see a small area to the left. Head in there and ride the elevator to reach an upper level. Examine the Mi’ihen statue there to obtain the Masamune. Mars Crest: Mi’ihen Oldroad(the left path at the gates to the Mushroom Rockroad from Mi’ihen. Follow it south until you reach its end. Open the chest for the Mars Crest. Mars Sigil: At the Monster Arena, bring enough captured fiends to the Trainer to allow him of creating ten monsters. He will reward you with the Mars Sigil. Abilities: Break the damage limit, Triple overdrive, First strike, Counterattack. ======================= Rikku's Godhand ======================= Weapon location: In the Airship, select the Password command from Cid’s list. Enter the next digits: GODHAND. A new location appears in the Location list. Select it. In the place, just follow the straight forward path until you find a chest. Open it to receive the Godhand. Mercury Crest: At Bikanel Island(Sanubia desert) in the area before Home. From south, hug west until you reach a smaller area down a dune. Search the sandpit there to find a chest with the Mercury Crest inside. Mercury Sigil: You find it in a chest located inside the Cactuar Village. You cannot enter it though, because of the sandstorm. To stop it, you need the ten spheres of ten cactuars, each of them having different names. In the fourth area of the desert, check out the eastern part, which is where the village’s located. South of it is a stone with ten recesses. That is where that you must insert the ten different spheres from the ten cactuars. To obtain their spheres, you must find them AND compete in their trials(stealth style, catching them while they’re not looking). If you fail, you receive a Sphere Del Perdetor. Though it can be used on the stone anyway, there is a downside to it. Below is the list of these ten cactuars, and their locations. Examine the cactuar stone in front of the village to receive the description of the first cactuar. Whenever you obtain a sphere(named or Del Perdetor), you must rush back to the cactuar stone and insert it in a recess to receive the description of the next cactuar, thus triggering its spawning at its locations. 1- Tomay: You'll find him in the Oasis area of the desert(the first area, where Sin dropped Tidus during the story) just to the right of the save sphere 2- Rovivea: In the second area, he will be running around the tent. 3- Chava: In the middle of the fourth area(a bit West) there is an Al Bhed instruction panel. Chava is there. 4- Alek: In the third area at the save sphere by the panel warning in Al Bhed that the stronger fiends are found left, while the weakers one are found to the right. From there, head northwest to descend the dune and check out the map for some ruins shaped like an U(or a C). You find Alek in there. 5- Aloja: With Alek. 6- Vachella: In the second area at the save sphere under a tent, just where you could meet Rikku when the party was dropped by Sin in the desert. Vachella is there. 7- Robeya: From the save sphere near the Al Bhed panel warning about where can be found the stronger and weaker fiends in the third area, run west, hugging the fence to eventually reach a chest. Open it to find Robeya. 8- Israa: Tricky, there is a glitch with Israa. Once you inserted Robeya's sphere in its recess on the cactuar stone, if you check the sandpit in the middle of the area(west of the dunes before the village), it will be empty. That is where that you are supposed to meet Israa though. You must leave to the third area(switching screen) in order to come back in the fourth afterward. Check the pit now to find Israa. 9- Elio: This one is tricky too. Elio’s description says that he likes adventures. Heh, you’ll see. Head to the Oasis area(the first one) and you will find him, but he will use the save sphere to board the airship! Board it too, and check out the deck to find him. 10- Flaile: Once you inserted nine spheres in the Cactuar Stone, you will automically meet Flaile. Finally, the sandstorm ends as all ten cactuar spheres are popped in the cactuar stone. Open the chest in the village to obtain the Mercury Sigil. You can get a reward for your cactuar catching session. Each cactuars put you through a trial right? If you failed in these, you received spheres named "Del perdetor". If you were successful though, open the other chest in the village to receive an item based on how many NAMED spheres you received. Get 2 named spheres: reward is a Potion Get 3 to 5 named spheres: reward is an Elixir Get 6 or 7 named spheres: reward is a Megalixir Get 8 or 9 named spheres: reward is a friend sphere. Abilities: Break damage limit, Triple overdrive, Double AP, Gillionaire. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ D. Your Aeons can also break the damage limit! Just a mini-section in which I inform you(those who didn’t know) that your Aeons can break the damage limit(exceeding the 9999 limit) just like your characters. Bahamut, Anima and the Magus Sisters can already break the damage limit when you get them. But as for the others, you will need to power up some of your Celestial Weapons with their respective Crests. Caladbolg with Crest on it allows: None Nirvana with Crest on it allows: Valefor World Champion with Crest on it allows: Ifrit Spirit Lance with Crest on it allow:s Ixion Onion Knight with Crest on it allows: Shiva Masamune with Crest on it allows: Yojimbo Godhand with Crest on allows: None ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ E. Secret locations/treasures(using the Airship) In Final Fantasy X, there is no world map anymore. With the Airship, you can ask Cid to take you to the locations from the list. There other commands with which you can unlock new locations as well. Use the information below to your advantage. _-_-_-_-_-_- With the Input command: Enter 'VICTORIOUS' and a new location will appear in your list; Besaid Ruins 1. Get the Victorious there. Enter 'MURASAME' and a a new location will appear in your list: Besaid Ruins 2. Get Auron's Murasame there. Enter 'GODHAND' and a new location will appear in your list: Mushroom Rockroad. Get Rikku's celestial weapon there. _-_-_-_-_-_- With the Search command: Baaj Temple's coordinates are X: 12, Y: 58 You can complete Anima's sub quest there. Besaid waterfalls' coordinates are X: 30, Y: 74 You can get treasures there. Mi'ihen Ruins' coordinates are X: 34, 56 There, you won't be visible, so try to head south and mash X button until you open a chest. Battle Site(operation Mi'ihen)'s coordinates are X: 40, 58 You can get treasures there. Sanubia Sand's coordinates are X: 13, 43 You can get the Ascalon there(Double AP) Omega Ruins' coordinates are X 70, 35 You can complete Omega Weapon and Omega Ruins' side quests there. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ F. The secrets of Luca In Luca, you can take on some interesting optional stuff. From the ticket counter(the entrance to the stadium), take the south path to leave the docks. At the intersection outside, take a north path. You enter the Movie/Music theater. There are three persons here. The man to the left will sell you Music spheres(2000 Gil each). The man to the right sells Movie(FMV) spheres (1000 Gil each). To view them, ask the woman at the counter and select the ones you want to listen/watch. If you buy all 69 Music spheres, you receive three more music spheres(Wakka and Lulu’s themes, along with the Hymn of the Fayth). ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ G. The Clasko’s quest Remember Captain Lucil, Elma, and Clasko? They were chocobo knights, but Clasko wasn’t happy with his job. Actually, he didn’t seem to be happy with his life in general, always being left behind by everybody. At the Lake of Macalania during your first visit(when you were heading to Macalania Temple for Yuna’s pilgrimage), you could meet Clasko outside of the Rin Travel Agency. Noticing the fact that he was a good chocobo breeder, he asked you if he would’ve been better as a breeder than a knight. If you agreed with him, go to Besaid with the Airship. There, board the SS liki. On the front deck, you can meet up with Clasko. Speak to him to find out that he became a chocobo breeder! To thank you for your suggestion, he will give you a teleport (or friend, not sure) sphere. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ H. Travel through Spira a second time! You can obtain many goodies(such as Jecht spheres, missed items, etc) travelling through Spira again, following the order that you visited the locations. I’d suggest that you do it while doing some monster hunt for the Monster Arena. Below is a list of what there is to get from the chambers of fayth. In each temples, you can reach these chambers of fayth after(or before, in Macalania Temple’s case) taking on the cloisters of trials again. Just use the list below to learn which items you can obtain from them. _-_-_-_-_-_- In Besaid Temple, Valefor’s fayth will give you an Evasion Sphere. You can open the chests in the chamber for the next treasures; two potions, an Hi Potion, an Elixir and a White Magic Sphere. _-_-_-_-_-_- In Kilika Temple, Ifrit’s fayth will give you a Luck sphere. You can open the three chests for the next treasures; Defence Sphere, Agility Sphere and Accuracy Sphere. _-_-_-_-_-_- In Djose Temple, Ixion’s fayth will give you a Luck sphere. You can open the two chests for the next treasures; an Agility sphere and a Magic defence sphere. _-_-_-_-_-_- In Macanala Temple, Shiva’s fayth will give you a Magic sphere. You can open the two chests for the next treasures; an agility sphere and a Magic Defence sphere. _-_-_-_-_-_- In the Cavern of the Stolen fayth, Yojimbo’s fayth will give you a Strength sphere. _-_-_-_-_-_- In Baaj Temple, Anima’s fayth will give you a sphere(can’t remember what kind >_<). _-_-_-_-_-_- In Remiem Temple, the Magus Sisters’ fayths will give you a sphere(just like with Seymour’s mom, I can’t remember what kind of sphere you are given). ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ I. Al Bhed primers list/locations In the world of Final Fantasy X, there are different races and peoples. Many players are still arguing about what are Al Bhed; human or not. Well, they have their own language, and you can actually learn it by translating Al Bhed letters, finding Al Bhed primers. Below is a list of all primers, including their locations. Volume 1: In the upper right corner of the Al Bhed ship in the beginning of the game. Volume 2: Right to the counter in the Crusader Lodge in Besaid village. Volume 3: In the Power Room in the SS Liki(bottom of the screen). Volume 4: In Kilika Village, search the counter at the Pub(north of the deck). Volume 5: On the SS Winno, on the bridge(where Wakka and Lulu were discussing). Volume 6: In Luca, head to the hall down the Luca Goers Locker room(can't enter) Volume 7: In Luca, at the Movie/Music Theater on the ground. Volume 8: Rin gives you this volume when you meet him in the agency of Mi’ihen highroad. Volume 9: On the Mi'ihen chocobo road(screen north of the agency) near a pillar. Volume 10: In Mushroom Rock Road, at the end of the road before Djose, search the upper left part of the screen. Volume 11: In Djose Highroad, at the beginning of the road behind a massive rock north from the first chest you can find. Volume 12: Ride the shoopuf in the Moonflow to the other side(northern part) on the platform in the business area. Volume 13: In Guadosalam’s library(west on the second level) is a big tree in the middle. Mash the X button behind it until you pick up the book. Volume 14: Rin gives you this volume in the Rin Travel Agency of the Thunder Plains, as you tell him that you’re doing good learning the language. Volume 15: In Macalania Wood where you could meet O'aka. It's on the ground. Volume 16: Left of the Rin Travel Agency at the Lake of Macalania. Volume 17: In Sanubia Desert(Bikanel Island), go to the panel where you are warned in Al Bhed of which side to pick for stronger or weaker fiends. Take the left path down the dune and head north to the exit but don’t go. Instead, search the left of the ruins for the primer. Volume 18: Read above, just that now you need to take the direction to your right. Search the sand for the primer. Volume 19: At Home. Search left of the entrance. Volume 20: At Home in the living quarters. Enter the left door in the corridor and search the bed. Volume 21: At Home, take the right path at the three ways intersection and search the ground in the corridor. Volume 22: Just before entering Bevelle's Cloister of Trials, search the floor near the save sphere. Volume 23: In the Calm Lands, run west toward the cliff and hug it running north. You should see something flashing on the ground. It’s here that you can meet the Chocobo Trainer during your first visit. Volume 24: At Remiem Temple(access it from the Calm Lands) on the left side of the castle. Search the ground around the sphere that explains what are the chocobo races about around here. Volume 25: In the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, take a left turn at the first intersection and search the dead end. Volume 26: In the Omega Ruins, take the left path in the first intersection and go down the road until you reach the room with four chests. Locate it there. That concludes the list. When you obtain all 26 of them, Rin will hand over 99 Underdog secrets when you speak to him in the Airship. 8- Monster Arena A. What is it? Enter the Calm Lands from Macalania Wood and go down the ramp west. In the plains, hug east and curve north as you reach the mountains. Eventually, you will see a green dot on the map. Enter the passage to find yourself in the Monster Arena. Chat with the Monster Trainer to learn what is this place about. Lord Mi’ihen built it so his Crusaders could train, fighting captured fiends. The Trainer screwed up however, as every captured fiends were able to escape. With taming weapons bought from him, you can capture fiends by defeating them with physical attacks. Bring them to him and he will give you rewards. Also, he will create special monsters. This section covers every monsters that the Monster Trainer will create, including HOW to unlock them in the lists and of course, giving strategies on how to defeat them. Take note that they are not easy though. The easiest special monster is tougher than the hardest storyline boss of the game. BUT, it will also vary about your characters stats, equipments, and so on. B. What you need? Good stats mainly. But you will also need certain weapons and armors. Being able to break the damage limit will also be of a great help, even for the Area Conquest creatures. Also, you can break HP limit with your characters, exceeding 9999 HP. With max HP and 200+ Defence though, break HP limit will actually be useless. It will even be an handicap. But now, how could you get high stats? Well, you will probably hate me for what I’m about to suggest, but it would be helpful if you could capture 10 of each fiends of Spira before taking on the special monsters of the Arena. It will take a day(about), but you’ll be done with it after. Now for your stats, the way I’ve done it is... not necessarily good, but bah. I had Yuna conquer over 75% of her grid(in the Omega Ruins or by using the AP trick with Don Tonberry), while she had the Magus Sisters. Then, I just fought Tanket from the Monster arena over and over, using the Magus Sisters who were tough enough to handle him. Each times he died, he dropped two Defence spheres. For the Strength stat, I did the exact same thing, just that I fought Juggernaut instead(from the Specie Creation list as well), who dropped Strength spheres. Agility, another important stat, can be boosted up the same way fighting Fenrir(from the Specie Creation list just like Tanket and Juggernaut), since he drops Agility Spheres. How to arrange your grid? I always put my characters ALL on the same node. Then, with Clear Nodes bought from the trainer, I clear every stats nodes that aren’t +4, to then use one of the stat spheres on the empty node. For example, clear a Strenght+1 node to then use a Strength sphere on it, for +4 Strength. Why would I put all my characters on the same node? So they can all get their stats improved equally at the same time. Well, that was for your stats. For your equipments, break damage limit weapons on your characters will be extremely handy. You can customize that ability on a weapon with 60 Dark Matters, though powered up(with Crest and Sigils) Celestial weapons are better(and less of a pain to obtain). As for your armors, get the ones with four empty slots for the three characters that you will use the most in the Monster Arena. Tidus, Wakka and Yuna is the trio that I use, though I could use every other characters of mine since they nearly all have the same stats(all maxed except for a few). On these armors, I use the next abilities: - Auto-Haste - Auto-Protect - Auto-Potion - Auto-Pheonix For the two last ones, you kind of decide. Personally, I like having Auto- Potion while I got an inventory empty of any types of potions except for X- Potions; whenever a target is damaged, an X-Potion is thrown, without wasting a turn. As for Auto-Pheonix, when a target dies, the character with it will automatically revive the KO with a Pheonix-Down, without wasting a turn neither. But, Auto-Pheonix on one or two characters is enough. Auto-Haste and Auto-Protect on the other side, are nearly musts. Don’t put proofs on your main armors. Instead, have secondary ones with Confuse, Berserk, Curseproof, and Auto-Med. Finally, here comes the main part of this section! C. The strategies! There are three lists of created monsters. The Area Conquest, the Specie Creations, and the Originals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Area Conquest ~~~~~~~ In this list, the monsters are made by the Trainer when you bring him every captured fiends of a certain location. Usually, they are easier too. For your equipment, the equipment that I mentioned above will be handy. As for stats, 170+ defence would rock, along with nice Agility, Accuracy, and multiple hits overdrives as well(which is the reason why I use Tidus and Wakka). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Stratoavis HP: 320 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from Besaid Island. Prize: 99 Stamina Tonics Strategy: Once again, let me tell you that the difficulty of the enemies fought in the Monster Arena are totally based on your stats. With decent Agility and Defence, this monster shouldn’t be much of a challenge. Stratoavis will use physical attacks that shouldn’t be much of a problem to deal with if you got Auto-Protect(and again, decent def). He will charge himself too, and at his next turn, will use Paens of the Heavens, which inflicts quite ugly damages, along with Darkness. You have plenty of time to deplete his HP before that happens though. If you really CAN’T beat him, you might just need to work on your characters a little. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Malboro Menace HP: 640 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from the Kilika Wood. Prize: 99 Poison Fangs Strategy: This one is way tougher than Stratoavis, and should give you a neat example of the Arena’s toughness. Malboro Menace will Ambush you(courtesy of being a Malboro) to use Putrid Breath on your party, which is like Bad Breath, just that it deals additional damages. Have a character with a First Strike weapon (Auron’s Masamune for example) and that character will automatically get the first turn. Switch to Yuna, who’ll summon an Aeon. Malboro Menace will simply attack it with its Gastric Juice attack. Dismiss, then use one or two multiple hits overdrives to end the battle. Instead of going through this, you could also just use your second armors with Confuse and Berserk Proof on them, allowing you to survive Putrid Breath. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Kottos HP: 440 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from the Mi'ihen High and Old road. Prize: 99 Soul Springs Strategy: This battle’s difficulty is ALL about your Defence. Do you recognize this type of monster? The ogre family. As the battle starts, he takes a boxing fighting stance. That means that whenever you make a move on him, he counterattacks you. Yes, he can totally wreck you with his fists- while you have crappy Defence. Have Auto-Protect + Defence of 170+ and you won’t wont even mind him. Basically just keep hitting him with physical attacks(or with multiple hits overdrives), healing whenever your HP gets too low(if it ever does) and you really should be victorious. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Coeurlregina HP: 380 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from the Mushroom Rock Road Prize: 99 candle of life Strategy: This can get quite ugly if you’re not quick enough. Coeurlregina’s Chaos attack will inflict Confuse, Doom and Curse on one target. Other than that, there is not much to worry about. Make sure you have a Magic Defence of 140+, along with Shell cast on your party, and the enemy’s black magics(Thundaga and Flare) won’t do much. Use your Confuseproof armor for Chaos, then just Quick Hit Coeurlregina to death. Aeons aren’t good here, because the creature could decide to use Hyper Blast, which is instant-kill even on Aeons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Jormungand HP: 520 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monster from the Djose Road and the Moonflow Prize: 99 Petrify Grenades Strategy: Have Stoneproof armors, then cast Hastega and Protect on your party. With these abilities, you’re set. Why Stoneproof? Because of Jormungand’s Cold Stare, which inflicts Stone(and deals additional points of damage). It will use physical attacks too, but with Protect and decent Defence, it won’t harm you much. As for the Agility, this monster doesn’t have much, and you could even cast Slow on it to slow it even more. Under an Hasted party, just Quick Hit it to death. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Cactuar King HP: 100 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from the Thunder Plains Prize: 99 Chocobo Wing Strategy: Argh, this one has to be the annoying creation. Cactuar King has an extremely high Evasion, allowing him to easily dodge your attacks. Also, he will counter attack with 10 000 Needles, which is instant-kill. As for his normal attacks, he will also use 99 999 Needles, which deals 99 999 damage. No difference between that and 10 000 Needles if you don’t exceed 9999 HP, so I guess it’s just for show. Since these attacks can only harm one target, it’s quite hard to lose this battle. Also, luckily, Cactuar King doesn’t have much HP, allowing you to end this battle in two or three turns. But HOW to reach him? Have high Accuracy, or simply use Auron’s Banishing Blade + Multiple Hits overdrives afterward, and there you go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Espada HP: 280 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from the Macalania Wood and Lake of Macalania. Prize: 60 Shinning Gems Strategy: Espada could be...somewhat, annoying, since he counterattacks you with Hades Claw whenever you move. That attack inflicts Death on one target. For the strategy, he isn’t immune to Slow so make full use of it. Then, if your characters Strength stats are too low, Auron will have to use his Banishing Blade on Espada. Because of the fact that the enemy is constantly under Regen status, you don’t want to waste any turns. If you’re up for a mini challenge just for kick, take him down without Break Damage limit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Abyss Worm HP: 480 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monsters from Bikanel Island Prize: 99 Shadow Gems Strategy: I’m not exaggerating when I say that this battle is easy. Even in No Sphere Grid challenge, he’s a push over. The Abyss Worm is slow, and he doesn’t use any group attacks. Other than physical attacks, he will swallow one of your targets to regurgitate him/her after a few turns, dealing a couple of thousand points of damage. If you end the battle while the victim hasn’t been regurgitated, he/she won’t get any AP. But that is about it. You don’t even need to Quick Hit the worm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Chimerageist HP: 120 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monster from the Calm Lands Prize: 99 Farplane Wind Strategy: Chimerageist is the BEST example to prove the fact that the difficulty of a creature found in the Monster Arena is totally based on your stuff. You could battle Chimerageist during your first visit in the Calm Lands, and if you did tried, you were probably dead in three turns. With proper stats though, Chimerageist becomes the easiest monster of the Arena! He does have a targets- all attack, which is the Aqua Breath. However, with Waterproof or Eater armor, you won’t mind it. As for his other attacks, there is nothing to worry about. Use the same strategy you’ve been using ever since you took on this arena. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Don Tonberry HP: 480 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monster from the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth(Sunken Cave) Prize: 40 Silver Hourglass Strategy: First thing to do is simple; summon an Aeon and let Don Tonberry use his Voodoo attack. Dismiss afterward. Point? Come on, don’t tell me that it wasn’t worth the laugh! Alright, let’s see the strategy now. Don Tonberry will counterattack with Karma whenever you attack him. Karma does damages based on how many fiends(100 X, if I’m correct) the victim has defeated. Yes, you might need to prepare the Pheonix-Downs. Something else to know about this battle is that Don, like any Tonberries, is advancing toward your party as your turns pass. As he reaches the last row before being able to reach you, he won’t counterattack with Karma anymore. Instead, he will pick(when he gets a turn) a target to stab, dealing damages based on... Honestly, I don’t know. I wouldn’t say that I care either. Basically just be quick enough to kill him before he can cause any serious damages. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Catoblepas HP: 550 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monster from the Mount Gagazet Prize: The Blossom Crown Strategy: This is a fair battle I’d say. Catoblepas will cast Flare mainly, but he can use Pop Fly as well, which is a stronger version of a normal Behemoth’s Heave. Both could be instant-kill to the victims if you have crappy Def and Magic Def, so you may need to revive the KO’d on the field. For your strategy, Banishing Blade with Auron could be used, though I think that Armor break will do the thing(unless Catoblepas is immune). Then, normal attacks will take care of him. Before giving him the last shot though, you must know one thing; Catoblepas will cast Ultima as a final attack. If you got crappy Magic Def, make sure that you cast Auto-Life on one of your characters, or to use Shell, if you think that it will do the trick. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Abaddon HP: 380 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monster from Inside Sin Prize: 99 Lunar Curtains Strategy: Abaddon is quite a mage. He will cast all four AGA spells(Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga and Waterga) on himself(he has Auto-Reflect). He is constantly under Nul status(immune to every elements except for Holy). Other than that, he can use Emblem of Chaos, which deals quite good damages on whole party, though he needs to charge it wasting a turn(when you read "Emblem" in your screen). His best attack however, has to be Pharao’s Curse, which inflicts status ailments such as the evil Confuse. Yes, time to sort out your Confuseproof armors! In that case, Hastega on party, Banishing Blade form Auron, and Quick hit session until you’re victorious! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monster: Vorban HP: 630 000 How to unlock the monster: Capture one of each monster from the Omega Ruins Prize: 99 Designer Wallets Vorban is basically just one big Barbatos from Inside Sin. He seems to counterattack every Skill abilities you use on him by casting Mortar, which damages all characters. For some odd reasons though, I could’ve sworn that he actually once DIDN’T counterattack a Skill ability. Oh well, other than that, he can stomp one target and Big Splash, which damages all. Protect and decent Defence will be of a great help here, but not as much as some good Agility. If you can be faster than Vorban, then it’s like if the victory was yours already. Quick Hit works well, just like in every other battles so far. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- That is all for the Area Conquest. Let’s take on a tougher challenge now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Specie Creations ~~~~~~~ The enemies from this list are tougher. To unlock them, you need to capture a certain number of fiends from a specific specie. When you bring them to the Monster Trainer, he will make the ultimate fiend of that specie. Being able to deal over 30 000-40 000 damage per hit will be of a great help here, as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Fenrir HP: 850 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monster from the Wolf species Prize: 99 Chocobo Feathers Strategy: Readers, this one’s a toughie. Fenrir is just very fast, and his Evasion is not laughing matter. He will only use two attacks; Fang of Chaos, which deals gravitational damages on one target, inflicting Confuse, and the other attack is Fang of Hell, which is instant-death even on Aeons. To beat down this boss, you want high Accuracy. If you don’t have that, then you will have to rely on powerful multiple hits overdrives such as Attack Reels from Wakka, or Blitz Ace from Tidus. If you’d like, you could always just summon the Magus Sisters and let Mindy’s Passado do the job. However, Fenrir can kill them easily with his Fang of Hell, meaning that the sisters will have to be fast. As you know, they like taking breaks during crucial moments! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Ornitholestes HP: 800 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monster from the Lizard species Prize: 99 Stamina Spring Strategy: This special specie is quite hard, but easier than Fenrir. From what I’ve been, Ornitholestes can use two attacks; Drain touch, which drains a portion of one target’s HP for the lizard’s benefit, and Poison Touch, which inflicts Poison, along with additional damage. Once again, you will have to rely on multiple hits overdrives if your Accuracy sucks, because Ornitholestes pretty much to evade your physical offences. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Pteryx HP: 100 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monster from the Bird species Prize: 99 Mega Pheonix Strategy: Pteryx is easier than the previous enemies you fought. He’s constantly under Regen status, but his HP is extremely low. His best attack is Beak of Woe, which inflicts Curse. From what I’ve seen, he uses it three times per row as he gets his turn. Well, if you want to rely on overdrives for this one, you will then need Curseproof armors. But with decent Accuracy, you should be able to reach Pteryx quite easily, thus allowing you to deplete his small amount of HP in a few turns. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Hornet HP: 620 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture four of each monster from the Bug species Prize: 60 Mana Tonics Strategy: Venomous stab will inflict Poison, and Bewitching Stab inflicts normal damages. These are Hornet’s named attacks. His normal physical attacks though, are the deadliest, inflicting Darkness, Sleep, Silence, and Death. His Evasion isn’t as high as Fenrir and Ornitholestes’s though, so physical attacks(considering you can hit for over 70 000 damage) will do the thing, but bah, if you really feel insecure, go with powerful overdrives. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Vidatu HP: 95 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture four of each monster from the Wizard species Prize: 99 Mana Spring Strategy: Well, this one is... Bah, dunno, not tough or anything. He can cast Ultima and Osmose, but I don’t know his other attacks(or if he even does have others). Well, you can take him out in one hit, but because of his decent Evasion, you could just finish him off quickly with an overdrive from one of your characters or Aeons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: One-Eye HP: 150 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture four of each monster from the Eyeball species Prize: 60 Stamina Tablets Strategy: Saying that this one is hard is exaggerating. BUT, he can still put a Renée Duprée on you with his Shockwave attack, which inflicts Darkness, Curse, and the terrible Confuse. Other than that, his Black Stare will just harm one target. Basically just make sure that you beat him up before he can inflict his abnormal statuses on you. As you can see, he is under Auto-Regen, so don’t waste any turns. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Jumbo Flan HP: 1 300 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monsters from the Flan species Prize: 60 Twin Stars Strategy: Personally, I thought that the Jumbo Flan is the hardest of the Specie Creation list, but he’s quite interesting to battle. He absorbs every single elements, and he is immune to any physical attacks. For his attacks, he will use AGA spells on himself, reflecting it on your party members, since he’s constantly under Reflect status. I found two different ways of beating him down. Just read both and pick which one you prefer. Keep in mind that they do require some time of preparations, though. The first one consists of using Anima. Make her learn Haste, Regen, Dispel, and Shell. She will need to have decent Magic Defence as well, along with HP. Enter the battle, and summon her. Cast the magics you had her learn(except for Dispel) on herself and just keep using her Pain command. See, since Jumbo Flan is immune to Death, so it will damage him instead. If Yuna’s stats are high enough, Pain should deal 99 999 damage each turns. The enemy will attack your Aeon but thanks to Shell and some good Magic Defence, it won’t deal deadly damages. Also, Regen will take care of regening the lost HP anyways. Basically just keep using the Pain command and as Jumbo Flan’s HP gets low (will take a while since he’s got 1 300 000), he will cast Reflect on Anima. Why? To cast curative spells(Curaga and Regen) on the Aeon so it can rebound on him. Whenever that happens, have Anima cast Dispel on herself to then re- cast the three supportive magics. You must not let the Flan cast Regen on himself, or else he will regen some massive amount of HP each turns. Just keep using Pain and eventually, you will be victorious. The second strategy consists of using your party members. Make sure that they all have decent magic stats. Also, one of them must know Doublecast and Ultima, while the two others will need Copycat. In the battle, put the party under Shell, Regen, and Haste status. Afterward, have one character Doublecast Ultima, to then mime it with Copycat. Just keep using Copycat, double casting Ultima each times. Eventually, the Jumbo Flan, nearly dead, will cast Reflect on one of your targets to then cast Curaga and Regen on them, for his own benefit. Don’t let that happen! Dispel the Reflected character immediately when it occurs! Jumbo Flan should fall after a couple of turns. If the quite long Ultima animation is too much of a pain in the neck for you to keep watching over and over, you could use other non- elemental magics too, like Drain and Flare. In that case, you will have to cast them on one of your own party member who’s under Reflect status. That is dangerous, because the Flan could cast Regen on that character to put himself under the status. Also, the damages of these two attacks aren’t as effective as the Ultima’s. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Nega Elemental HP: 1 300 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monster from the Elemental species. Prize: 99 Star Curtains Strategy: Another technical battle. Nega Elemental is a bit like Jumbo Flan, just that he doesn’t have Auto-Reflect. Also, physical attacks can reach him, though he counters with Ultima whenever you do attack him physically. He will use many black and white magics. Many strategies can be used; you could summon Anima and do the exact same thing you did against Jumbo Flan(read the strategies above). You could use the Doublecast + Ultima + Copycat trick(again, read the strategies above)as well. OR, if you got enough Strength with Wakka or Tidus, just have them unleash their multiple hit overdrives(Blitz Ace and Attack Reels) to win in two turns. You have the choice! Yes, you could also just beat him down with physical attacks(considering you got Magic Def of 180 minimum), getting struck Ultima each times but that would be tedious and... Meh, let’s just make it quick and use the strategies mentioned above. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Tanket HP: 900 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monster from the Armor Fiend species Prize: 99 Gold Hourglass Strategy: Boh, he isn’t fast so... Tanket inflicts Berserk with his offensive charge attacks, but that’s about it. If your Strength is low at a point that you can’t deal over 60 000 damage on him, just use Auron’s good old Banishing Blade. And... well, that seems to be all that there is to say. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Fafnir HP: 1 100 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture three of each monster from the Dragon species Prize: 99 Purifying Salt Strategy: This one is good actually, Fafnir will use Triple Attack. When he does that, he will attack one target physically, then use an elemental breath on all party members, and finally one last physical attack. All that in one row. With Proof or Eater armors though, the breath, which was the main threat, won’t do anything. For your strategy, you could do it with overdrives, since Fafnir got some decent HP. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Sleep Sprout HP: 98 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture five of each monster from the fungus species Prize: 99 Healing Springs Strategy: Don’t let this guy’s HP fool you! Sleep Sprout can be killed in one turn, but he is terrible! Attack him and he will counter with Good Night, which inflicts nearly every abnormal statuses. Unless you can kill him in one turn, you should just use your best overdrives OR use one of your Aeons(since they are immune to Good Night’s abnormal statuses). Meh, actually, you could also just equip your anti Malboro armors; as long as you’re protected from Confuse, there isn’t too many abnormal statuses that you should fear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Bomb King HP: 480 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture five of each monster from the Bomb species Prize: 60 Turbo ethers Strategy: Hmmkay, this one is quite fun to figure out. Let’s first check our general knowledge about the bombs specie. When you attack them, they swell. After growing bigger three times, they will use Self Destruct, and you won’t obtain any AP as the battle ends. Bomb King though, is different. In his first form, he will cast Fire. After you attacked him three times, he swells in a bigger form. From now on, he will use Fira. Attack him three more times, and he will grow bigger for a second time. At that point, he will cast Firaga. Normally, for his specie’s sake, he should self destruct himself. But nope, he isn’t! Attack him three more times and he will swell for the fourth and last time, in his ultimate form. New spell? Ultima! The strategy is simple; equip Fire Eater armors. If you can hit for 50 000+ damage(at this point, in all honesty, you should be dealing 99 999 or close to that but har), just hit him normally and you will defeat him before he can swell in his last form, thus, allowing you to not give a duck about Ultima. If you cannot beat him down before that occurs though, then you will want to cast Shell on your party just before he morphs in his Ultima form. Good Magic Def stats will help as well. OR, if you’re not feeling like messing around with this enemy, you could also just use multiple hits overdrives for an easy victory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Juggernaut HP: 1 200 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture five of each monster from the Horned species Prize: 99 Lunar Curtains Strategy: Well, with Fire Eater equipment, you cannot lose this battle. Juggernaut will first charge himself. At his next turn, he will use Salvo, which harms all party members. Too bad it’s fire elemental, allowing you to absorb it for your own benefit(with Fire Eater armors). Afterward, he will keep using normal physical attacks. I just checked my notebook, it seems that I thought that Juggernaut’s attacks were inflicting Death. Guess I was wrong! Well, if you got under 200 Strength, you will need to use Banishing Blade from Auron before taking on the beating. Enjoy this easy creation! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specie: Ironclad HP: 2 000 000 How to unlock the specie: Capture ten of each monster from the Iron Giant species Prize: 60 Mana Tablets Strategy: This one is so annoying... Ironclad will counter each and every times when you just MOVE on him(like, attack, steal, and so on) with Reppageki, which damages the attacker. He can use Shinryudan as well, which harms one target, and his best attack is Buhinzan(or what ever), which swipes away your party’s total MP(and a little bit of their HP as well). What you got to do is simple; make sure that you have Auto-Protect(or Protect, at least) and a Defence stat of 190+, so you can deal with the constant counterattacks without getting hurt too much. Multiple Hits overdrives are cool, but they won’t deal maximum damage because of Ironclad’s high Def. Maybe you could use Banishing Blade but I’m not sure if this enemy can be Armor Breaked. Basically just keep attacking him, healing on occasion(if needed) and you should win. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There you go for the Specie Creations! Now... let’s take on the ultimate challenge of this Arena; the Originals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Originals ~~~~~~~ The enemies of this list are tough now. For many of them, stuff such as fairly high stats will be required. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Earth Eater HP: 1 300 000 How to unlock the beast: Unlock two monsters from the Area Creations or Species Creations Prize: 60 Three Stars Strategy: Earth Eater can be quite a pain. He will use normal physical attacks on one target, and Megaton Punch as a counterattack, inflicting Death. When you push him on his back, he will counter your attacks by casting Flare on his Auto- Reflect self, rebounding the spell on you. What I’ve done to beat him requires a little bit of preparations, somewhat. I had Tidus, Wakka, and Yuna, all with 200+ Strength and Defence. As for Magic Defence, you could do it with around 160(and over). Something else to have is Wakka’s Attack Reels (which you have, unless you customized a break damage limit weapon). Also, Auto-Protect and Auto-Haste will both be effective in here. Last thing to do is to set your characters overdrives to Comrade. There you go, enter the battle. Attack Earth Eater normally, and he will counter with Megaton Punch. Though you could have Deathproof armors to prevent it from killing you, just cast Full-Life on the victims(since you got your ultimate armor on, which does not have Deathproof, or shouldn’t anyway). After attacking Earth Eater twice, he should fall on his back(seems to happen when you deal around 100 000 damage on him). At that point, cast Shell on your party, to then start attacking him normally. He will counter with Flare each times, but it will actually be of a great help. It won’t damage you much(under 2000 points with Shell and 160+ Magic Def), and thanks to Comrade mode, your characters overdrive bars will be charged up in a few turns. Unleash a 12 hits Attack Reels whenever Wakka’s bar is full. Even though each hits won’t deal maximum damages because of the enemy’s high Defence(which cannot be lowered with Banishing Blade I believe), it will still allow you to take away a good portion of his HP, winning in a few minutes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Greater Sphere HP: 1 500 000 How to unlock the beast: Unlock two Species from the Species Conquest Prize: 60 supreme Gems Strategy: Greater Sphere is, in my opinion, one of the toughest enemies in the game. Let me describe his simple attack list. He counterattacks your physical and magical attacks with Ultima. Also, he can stomp one of your characters for moderated damages, and his best attack is Hydraulic Press, which is devastating, leaving your party in a critical status. Damages are based on I don’t know what, in all honesty. Thing is, I am not even sure about his attack pattern. Here, let me tell you what I’ve experienced. It seems that Greater Sphere will unleash Hydraulic Press automatically after you used an overdrive on him. BUT, that is contradicting myself, because I once tried to beat him down without using any overdrives. He still used Hydraulic Press just before I physically struck him a 16th time(he had 1 HP left) to finish him off. Well, as for the strategy to use, there are two of them. The first one consists of using three characters. They will need to have the next stats maxed(or nearly maxed): Strength, Agility, Defence, and Magic Defence. For your abilities, have Shell, Quick Hit, and possibly Auto-Life. To talk about your equipment, make sure that they(your three characters) can break the damage limit(with their Celestial Weapons would be ideal) and that they have equipped their ultimate armors. Enter the battle, and cast Shell on your party members. Afterward, keep using Quick Hit on Greater Sphere. He will counter with Ultima each times, though it won’t do that much damage, thanks to your nearly maxed Magic Def AND to Shell status. Basically just keep attacking with Quick Hit, since you have maxed(or nearly) Agility, Greater Sphere shouldn’t even get a free turn. If, for some odd reason, you get struck by Hydraulic Press(like I was) just before giving him the finishing blow, it seems that it will still kill your party(since it exceed the damage limit), so Auto-Life will save you, allowing you to finish the job after. The second one is way better, faster, and effective, but risky- if you haven’t mastered Wakka’s Attack Reels overdrive yet that is. It’s basically the exact same strategy than the above one, just that once you attacked Greater Sphere 3-4 times dealing 99 999 damage each hits, you will unleash a 12 hits Wakka’s Attack Reels to finish the job. The risk is, if it isn’t second nature for you to perfectly trigger his Wakka to attack 12 times, Greater Sphere will probably end your life after. Why? Because it seemed, from my experience, that you kind of unlock Hydraulic Press from Greater Sphere’s list of attack as you use an overdrive, since he will then start to use it on a regular basis, which basically means Game Over. OH and, not that it is a third strategy but, if you really can’t handle this enemy with your characters, then you could always try the Magus Sisters for Mindy’s Passado, though it is also quite a risk to count on these Aeons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Catastrophe HP: 2 200 000 How to unlock the beast: Unlock six monster from the Area Conquest Prize: 99 Door to Tomorrow Strategy: This battle shouldn’t be too hard, it’s actually the easiest battle of the list. Catastrophe is like Sinspawn Geneaux and Sinspawn Genais; he has a shell. While in it, he’s quite deadly, using Toxic Cloud, which inflicts Poison, Curse, and the terrible Confuse. After hitting him a couple of times though, he will reveal himself. From that point, he will use the next attacks; Toxic Spray, which harms one target, Demi, which takes away 1/4 of your party’s HP, and Hundred Torn, which deals interesting damages on all party members. He will use that attack pattern, in that order. Can he retreat into his shell? I’ve never seen him do that, but it could be possible. The strategy is simple; equip your anti-Malboro armors for the first part of the battle, since Toxic Cloud can take you out if you’re not immune to Confuse. As he reveals himself, just keep Quick Hit-ing him, with a party under Haste status. If your Defence(or Magic Def) blows, his Hundred Torn could be a real pain for you to handle, but other than that, it’s not a tough battle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Th'uban HP: 3 000 000 How to unlock the beast: Unlock six species from the Species Conquest Prize: 99 Gambler's spirit Strategy: I didn’t find any ways to beat Th’uban with low stats, yet. He will counterattack you with Condemn, which dispels your statuses, such as Haste and Protect. Should you mind? Since your armors have Auto-Protect and Auto- Haste, the statuses won’t be dispelled. However, Th’uban uses Rainbow, which is pretty much like Sanctuary Keeper’s Photon Wings, inflicting abnormal statuses randomly, Confuse included. Unless you have Confuseproof on your ultimate armors(something that I never suggested you to do), you will have to equip your anti-Malboro armors. In that case, Th’uban’s Condemn really will dispel your statuses. Keep in mind that Rainbow doesn’t always inflict Confuse, so it’s a fair bet. Th’uban’s last attack is Convergence(or something like that), which some kind of breath, dealing 99 999 damage on one target(not sure if it can be reduced). For your strategy, unless you want to go with Quick Hit, you should simply have Auron use his Banishing Blade limit to then switch to Tidus and Wakka, who will both use their multiple hits overdrives; Blitz Ace and Attack Reels, for quite a victory. You may want to set your Overdrive modes on Comrade again, since two overdrives won’t be enough. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Neslug HP: 4 000 000 How to unlock the beast: Unlock all the monsters from the Area Conquest Prize: 99 Winning Formula Strategy: Neslug is known to cause a lot of troubles to many players, because of a certain factor. Not that he is hard, just that it’s easy to be stuck at a point in the battle. Let me describe his pattern a bit. He can use two attacks; Megaton, which deals over powered damages, inflicting Confuse if target is still alive, and Slime, which harms all party members, inflicting Poison and Curse, and the four breaks, meaning that if he uses a second Slime, you’re most likely a goner. Nothing complicated yet? Well, here we go. After dealing a certain amount of damage on him, Neslug will retreat into his shell. At that point, you won’t be able to damage him with physical attacks anymore, as he’ll be immune. Also, he will be under Regen status, regening MASSIVE(real huge) amounts of HP. Once he regened his health, he’ll be back out of his shell. As you can see, the source of the problem is when he retreats in his shell. What to do? Well, here comes the strategy! Enter the battle with your usual armors(with the Auto-Abilities). Wakka must have nearly maxed Strength, along with Attack Reels. But at this point, it’s impossible that you don’t have that if you’ve been following the order of this walkthrough. Make sure his overdrive bar is full as well). In the battle, thanks to your good Agility and to your Auto-Haste, Neslug shouldn’t even get a turn on you. If he does and attack you with Slime, quickly cure its effects. After attacking him a couple of times, dealing 99 999(or close) damage each times, Neslug will retreat into his shell. At that point, quickly use Wakka’s Attack Reels(trigger it perfectly so it can hit 12 times). Each hits dealing 90 000+ points, Neslug’s shell should shatter. When that happens, just keep using Quick Hit and he will die in a few turns. If you have nearly maxed magic stats, you could also Doublecast Ultima Neslug while he’s in his shell. Since he cannot regen HP between two spells casted with Doublecast, a bonus damage will be dealt, though the Attack Reels strategy is better. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Ultima Buster HP: 5 000 000 How to unlock the beast: Capture five of each monster from all over Spira Prize: 99 Dark Matters Strategy: This original is a cool looking stronger version of Sinspawn Gui. He has four parts; the head, two arms, and the main body. If you try to attack the body, both arms will protect it, reducing your damage like ****. They will attack physically one target as well The head, that cannot be reached with unranged physical attacks, will use Contamination, which inflicts abnormal statuses such as Confuse and Poison, along with causing the four breaks. To talk about the body, it can use its smaller arms(that cannot be targeted) to physically harm you, and it will cast Ultima. At all, this Original creation is also quite good on HP, being the second highest HP user in the whole game(in the NA version at least). Well, as for the strategy, here is what I did. With my party made of Tidus, Wakka and Yuna, I had them all with 255 Strength, 255 Agility, 255 Defence, and 255 Magic Defence. These are the stats that will be useful in the battle, though they don’t have to be maxed like that. 200 for each(even less for Defence) will be more than fine. As for your equipment, just equip your ultimate armors, and your Celestial Weapons(but that is quite useless to propose you, since you’re probably always equipped with them). For your abilities, have Quick Hit and Shell. Tidus and Wakka should have Blitz Ace and Attack Reels, with maxed overdrives bars. Finally, set your overdrive modes on Warrior OR Comrade, though Warrior is better. The strategy is quite simple. First thing to do when you enter the battle is to ELIMINATE THE HEAD! Use Wakka for that, one hit should defeat it. Afterward, you will have to take care of both arms. Though they are armoured, you should still be able to destroy them in one hit for each. If you have good a Magic stat with which you can damage for 70 000-99 999 damage with Ultima, you could simply cast Ultima once(Or Doublecast, for the heck out of it) to beat down all three parts. Afterward, only the body will last. Take this opportunity to put your party under Shell status. When that is done, use Wakka’s Attack Reels(perfectly triggered) and Tidus’s Blitz Ace. Then, just keep using Quick Hit. If your overdrive modes are set on Warrior, your overdrives bars will fill up as you damage Ultima Buster. If you set them on Comrade, then you will have to wait until Ultima Buster makes a move to damage your party(with Ultima, probably). Thing is, with 230+ Agility, he probably won’t even get the chance to, since you’ll be too fast with Quick Hit and your Haste status. If he does cast it though, no sweat, with Shell and your good Magic Def, it won’t bother you. Once Ultima Buster used three turns, his arms will be revived. Beat them down again. Basically just keep attacking the body with Quick Hit until you can use Tidus and Wakka’s overdrives again, ending the battle when you get them(or it should). If, for some reason, your party is too weak, then you could rely on the Magus Sisters. Take note that you don’t want to mess up here, summoning them BEFORE taking care of the arms and the head, because if you do, the sisters will be totally dumb, trying to attack the body while the three other parts are still around. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Shinryu HP: 2 000 000 How to unlock the beast: Capture two Splashers, two Achelous and two Malespikes from the Mount Gagazet Cave. Prize: 30 Mega Elixirs Strategy: Many players call him the toughest enemy ever found in a Final Fantasy. That’s what he is actually- in a No Sphere Grid challenge game. However, the ultimate key to victory in here is your Agility. If you got 230+, this battle will be cake. Since the battlefield is underwater, your party is automatically made of Tidus, Wakka and Rikku. Let’s see Shinryu’s attacks. He will counterattack every offences with a normal attack, using his scary claws, dealing damages that are totally based on your party’s Defence. His second attack is Shining, which inflicts multiple hits on all party members. In last but not least, his third attack is Eraser, which he can only used when there are 2 or 3 characters alive. It inflicts Petrify. As you know, a stoned character underwater will simply shatter, making you lose control of that party member for rest of the battle. Strategy? Well, as I told you, the key to win this battle is your Agility. If you boosted it up to 220+, you will have a huge advantage. For your armors, you will want to equip your ultimate ones. Make sure Wakka’s overdrive bar is full, while Tidus and Rikku also have full overdrive bars, and they will need to have learned Entrust. Enter the battle, and unleash Wakka’s Attack Reels properly to deal maximum damages. If Wakka’s Strength is over 230, each hits should deal 99 999 points. Your second character with a full overdrive bar will use Entrust on Wakka, fully filling up his overdrive bar again. Then, use a second perfectly triggered Attack Reels and you’re victorious! Har, yes, that is quite cheap. Also, if Shinryu gets a turn and uses his Eraser on Wakka, it’s boo-hoo! Well, you could use plenty of other strategies. With Defence of 200+, Quick Hit Shinryu for 90 000+ damage each turns. You won’t mind the counterattack much, thanks to your Def and Auto-Protect. Thing is, Shinryu is still capable of using Eraser, which is why that you will want to rely on Tidus and Wakka’s multiple hits overdrives as a better strategy, ending the battle in a short time. Oh and, if you’ve been rushing through all other the Monster Trainer’s creatures using Yojimbo’s Zanmato for cheap victories, you just can’t do same in here, meaning that you will have to do some efforts if you want to battle the champion below! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original: Nemesis HP: 10 000 000 How to unlock the beast: Capture ten of each monsters from all over Spira, and defeat all enemies from the Monster Arena. Prize: 10 Master Spheres Strategy: After defeating every enemies that the Monster Trainer can offer, and after capturing ten of all fiends found in Spira, Nemesis will be unlocked. Being the highest HP user in the NA version of the game, you’re probably thinking that Nemesis is the ultimate enemy, the absolute best! Guess what, he isn’t! I actually thought that Greater Sphere and Shinryu were bigger threats. But you can’t compare these three enemies though, seeing as how the strategy to use for them are all different from each others. Well, let me first describe Nemesis’s attacks. - Normal attacks: His physical offences will harm one target, usually exceeding 9999 damage even if victim has 255 Defence. Cut that by half if you have Auto-Protect, though. - Ethereal Canon: Harms one target for major damages, can be reduced by Defence or Magic Defence(not sure which ones). - Ultra Spark: Deals major damages on all party members, inflicting Poison and Curse. Once again, not sure which type of Def(Defence or Magic Defence) can reduce its damage. - Ultima: He uses this one as counter when you attack him with an Overdrive or when you try to steal him. Even with Shell and high Magic Defence, it can take your party away. - Armageddon: Nemesis’s ultimate attack, dealing 99 999 damage on all party members. Damages cannot be reduced. I could be wrong, but I’d be surprised if I was. Listing these attacks however, wasn’t needed for the strategy that you will use. To win, you must not let him harm your party, or else it can be Game Over, as you can see, checking his group attacks. Below is listed the required stuff for the three characters that you will use. - 240+(255 being best) Strength. See, Nemesis has a solid armor. Using Auron’s Banishing Blade to break is a bad idea because first; I’m not sure that it works, and second; you don’t want to be struck by Ultima, which will probably kill you off. Meaning of this? You need to be able to deal 99 999 damage ON Nemesis’s armor. Totally possible- with maxed Strength. At this point, it should be maxed already. If it isn’t, then just go overkill Juggernaut for Strength spheres. - 240+(255 being best) Agility. As I told you, you do not want to let Nemesis attack, so your party will need to be pretty quick. Easily possible with maxed (or nearly) Agility. If you were able to get to this point without 240-255 Agility, overkill Fenrir for Agility spheres. - Your ultimate armors, though they aren’t musts. You will need to have an Hasted party, so either cast the white magic manually(Hastega), or equip your ultimate armors with Auto-Haste. As for Auto-Protect, if Nemesis STILL, somehow, gets a turn and physically attack you, you will be able to survive with 230+ Defence and Protect. It’s entirely optional, since such a situation happens randomly, but that ability should be on your armor anyways. - Quick hit on your three characters. This will be a must. - Patience. Got these? Superb! Let’s kick Nemesis’s behind! Enter the battle, and if you don’t have Auto-Haste, cast the white magic on party with Hastega. Afterward, Quick Hit Nemesis, counting each times you attack him! Because of Haste, Quick Hit, and your Agility, you should be able to get 20 turns before Nemesis. Simply count your moves, and as you’re at your 20th, let Yuna summon an Aeon. Nemesis should get his turn then, killing off that poor Aeon. Back with your characters, Quick Hit him 20 more times to summon once again, letting Nemesis obtain a turn, killing off your Aeon, and so on. Just keep using the same strategy. Thanks to your Strength, you’re dealing 99 999 points each physical hits, allowing you to win this battle in 101 physical attacks(since Nemesis has 10 000 000 HP. Why not use Tidus’s Blitz Ace or Wakka’s Attack Reels for quicker results? Because don’t forget that Nemesis counters them with Ultima, annihilating you! At all, as you can see, it’s actually tougher to unlock Nemesis and to get set for him than to actually beat him. But hey, when you’re victorious, you will witness a short cut scene in which the Trainer congratulates the party with the Mark of Conquest, which is like Nemesis’s ear, proving that you have conquered the whole Arena! That concludes the Monster Arena section. I hope that it helped you out! 9- Frequently asked questions This section must be checked by every readers before sending a question for to me to answer. If you can find your answer in this short section, then you won’t need to e-mail me. Basically, I’m listing the questions(with their answers) that has been asked too many times. - Question: I got ____’s Celestial Weapon along with the Crest or the Sigil but it still says "No AP" on one of the slots. What can I do!? Answer: You need to complete the ritual at the Celestial Plant, which is where that you obtained the Celestial Mirror(in Macalania Wood). - Question: I forgot to open the Destruction Sphere chest in ____temple! Can I still obtain Anima? Answer: Yes, you need to complete every cloisters of trials using the Destruction spheres to reveal hidden chests. You don’t have to open them, though you should, of course. - Question: I forgot to complete _____’s cloister of trials using the Destruction sphere to reveal a special treasure. What can I do? Answer: Later on in the game, you will have the opportunity of revisiting the temples. - Question: I missed Bevelle’s Destrucion Sphere and I can’t enter the place anymore, what can I do? Answer: It’s NOT possible to miss that Destruction sphere, because it HAS to be used in order to complete the temple’s cloister. - Question: I just obtained the Airship but when I visit the temples, monks are blocking it! Answer: Visit the Highbridge for a scene with Mika. Afterward, temples will be re-opened for you. - Question: I missed _____ item and when I get to ______ place, a Dark Aeon ambushes me and **** the **** out of my party. What can I do? Answer: It means that you have the Int/Pal version of the game, allowing you to face the Dark Aeons and Penance. If you check at the top of this guide though, you will understand that I have the ****ing North American version of the game, meaning that I cannot fight them, thus cannot help you, sorry. There are tons of guides covering strategies for these enemies that can be found there and there on the internet, so it’s worth the search. 10- E-mail If you want to ask me questions, send contributions, comments, what ever, you can write me a message at my e-mail address: blackestmage(at)yahoo(dot).fr. Note that I won’t reply to any messages asking a question that is already answered in the guide. Don’t forget to check the section above as well, just in case. 11- Conclusion Well, this concludes the guide. I am happy that I was able to update this guide. The grammar that I used is still not perfect, but totally surpasses the former one. I hope that my FAQ helped you out for what ever you needed to know about the game. Thanks for reading it! 12- Credits - CJayC - www.gamefaqs.com - www.ign.com - Dan Birlew’s excellent Bestiary section in the official FFX Strategy guide. - darktemplar20 - All of you readers. Final Fantasy X by Squaresoft FAQ/walkthrough by Blackestmage. Copyrights 2004