--Final Fantasy X No Sphere Grid Monster Taming FAQ by Hyprophant --Version 1.1, 7/20/02 --E-mail address: Acm2aa@yahoo.com Legal Disclaimer: This FAQ is for personal use only, copyrighted 2002 to me, Hyprophant Do not steal any information from this FAQ. Do not put anything from this FAQ on your magazines, websites or any other form of public media without contacting me first. You can post this FAQ only after you receive MY permission, and you will not be allowed to make any change in this FAQ. If you still want to make any change in this FAQ, it is not going to happen unless you have a very, very, and very good reason and I explicitly say YES, and then you may do so. If you dare to violate this legal disclaimer and I spot your actions, I will make you regret it. Note to Webmastres: If you receive MY permission to use this FAQ on your site, it is your duty to keep the most current version avaluable. You can get the most recent from GameFaqs.com periodically. If you don't want to keep this FAQ currect, then you can forget about using it. -Table of contents- I. Version History II. Preface III. General strategies a. Customizing proper equipments b. Combat formation c. Useful items for use/mix command d. Leveling up Aeons/Teaching your Aeons abilities. e. First places to go. IV. Step by step strategies of taming every monster in a No Sphere grid game a. Besaid Island b. Kilika Forest c. Mi'ihen Highroad d. Mushroom Rock e. Djose High Road f. Thunder Plain g. Macalania & Slow field h. Sanbuia Desert i. Calm Land j. Cave of Stolen Fayth k. Mountain Gagazet l. Inside Sin m. Omega Ruin V. Frequently asked questions VI. Credits/Thanks. --I. Version History Version 0.1 7/17/02: Began writing this FAQ. Version 0.9 7/20/02: Finished the FAQ. Not released to the public. Version 1.0 8/03/02: Relased this FAQ on GameFaqs. Version 1.1 8/16/02: Added new Zuu taming strategies; fixed some minor errors in Barbato, Larva and Chimera parts; Added few frequently asked questions. I. Preface This FAQ is not a normal No Sphere Grid game FAQ, it is an in-depth strategy guide of how to complete the monster taming side quest in a No Sphere Grid game by leveling up aeons, customizing specific equipments and using effective tactics. The purpose of completing monster taming quest in a No Sphere Grid game is about the wonderful rewards you will receive after doing so. Capturing monsters allows you unlock bosses in monster arena, and every time you unlock a special boss in monster arena, you will receive many rare items from the owner; you can use those items for customizing rare equipments, or for Rikku's mixing, and it will definitely help you a lot in your No Sphere Grid game. For those elite FFX players, acquiring "Mark of Conquest" in a No Sphere Grid game is the highest achievement in FFX. To accomplish this ultimate goal, you will have to capture ten of every kind of monster first in order to unlock all bosses in monster arena before you can fight them. And since you can not use sphere grid at all, which means you have relatively low states compare to most of monsters, monster taming could be a hard, tedious quest. This FAQ will provide effective strategies of how to capture every monster safely and quickly, before you move forward to the battles in monster arena in a No Sphere Grid game. I will post another FAQ about how to conquer monster arena in a No Sphere gird game and acquiring "Mark of Conquest" after this FAQ is posted. If you want to contact me, you may use my e-mail address, however, if you just have any game play question about a No Sphere Gird game, please leave your question on GameFAQ's FFX message board, I will be there often and I will answer your question there. Do not e-mail me in this case, because I don't reply people's mail very often unless it is necessary, I may ignore your messages, and you won't get your answer, which is the way both of us don't like. II. General strategies a. Customizing proper equipments Since your characters are relatively weak in a No Sphere Grid game, you will have to rely on some abilities on your weapons and your armors in order to capture monsters. To tame monsters, first, you have to purchase special taming weapons from the owner of monster arena. This guy sells everyone's taming weapon, and on each weapon, there are only two slots, one is preoccupied by "capture" ability, which means you have only one empty slot to add a new ability on it, so you have no other choice but use this slot wisely. The most important ability in a No Sphere Grid game is "First Strike"; it allows you always moving first regardless your low agility, even if you are ambushed. You can customize a first strike weapon with a return sphere, which can be acquired from playing blitzball. Or Biran, Yanki and Sanctuary keeper normally drops return spheres, you should add this ability on Rikku, Tidus and Lulu's taming weapons. Second, you need at least one person with a "Stone Strike" taming weapon; this weapon will petrify a fiend, and you can capture the fiend in one shot with this ability on your taming weapon, if it is not immune to petrifaction. You can customize a stone strike taming weapon with 60 petrify grenades, in order to get this many petrify grenades, I recommend going to Omega Ruin and steal them from Zaurus, because they are pretty easy to find. Also, you can get 99 petrify grenades by unlocking Jormungand in monster arena. You should add "Stone strike" ability on either Wakka or Kimari's taming weapon, because they have higher accuracy than Yuna and Auron, and they will less likely miss fiends and be your major attackers during this quest in a No Sphere Grid game. The ability "Death strike" is just as fantastic as "Stone strike", it inflicts instant death on a monster and you can capture that monster in one turn with this ability on your taming weapon, if it is not immune to death. You can customize a death strike weapon with 60 farplain winds. However, acquiring this item is not easy. Personally, I would say the best way to get this item is to customize a "Master Thief" armor for Rikku first, then you can steal farplain winds from Master Coeurl and Wraith in Omega Ruin ( Wraith appears inside sin, too). If you don't have a master thief armor, most of time you will only be able to steal farplain "SHADOW" from them. You can steal some farplain winds from Varuna without master thief armor, but this fiend is not easy to find...or if you don't want to spend that much time to steal 60 farplain winds, you can wait until you catch one of each kind of fiend in calm land and unlock Chimerageist in monster arena, you will receive exactly 60 farplain winds from the owner as your reward. After you get the items you need, add "Death Strike" ability on either Kimari or Wakka's taming weapon. Some people suggested me adding "Evade and counter" ability on characters' taming weapons. In my opinion, I don't think it is necessary, however, it is a brilliant idea, so I will explain the use of this ability in the monster taming quest in a No Sphere Grid game. This ability allows you evading almost every fiend's physical attack and counter attack the enemies; also, it will raise your agility a bit during battles. If you really want to add this ability on Auron and Yuna's weapons, I don't see why not. This ability will give those two people an easier time to survive, especially Yuna. With her laughable 360 hp in a No Sphere Grid game, she will be killed in one shot by most of fiends, and unfortunally, you have to use her often because she is the only person can summon aeons., so adding the " Evade and Counter" ability on Yuna's weapon is certainly a smart tactic. You can customize an evade and counter weapon with a teleport sphere. And you can find some in treasure boxes, or get them by playing blitzball. Now let's talk about armors. Basically, capturing monsters in a No Sphere Grid game requires proper weapons, armors are not THAT important. However, having your people equip good armor will help you complete this quest in your No Sphere Grid game a lot easier!!! The most important ability you can add on armors is "Master Thief"; this ability allows Rikku steal rare items EVERY TIME!!!! You will have a very, very, and very easy time to steal many useful rare items such as shining gems, blessed gems, or chocobo wings. You will need 30 pendulums to customize master thief armor for Rikku; however, you can not steal this item anywhere. The best way to get this item is playing chocobo race outside Reniem Temple. If you win the race with four boxes opened, you will receive 30 pendulums as your reward. And please remember: Rikku is the only person can steal in a No Sphere Grid game, so you must add this ability on Rikku's armor!!! Some people are really DANZE. Adding SOS haste ability on your armors will help you out a lot, too. This ability allows your people fighting under "haste" status if there Hp is critical. In order to customize a SOS haste armor, you will need 20 chocobo feathers, and you can steal them from Cactuars or Qactuars w/o master thief armor. A master thief armor with SOS haste ability is a good combination. And you can let your characters enter every battle with one Hp by killing them and not healing them after battles. Don't worry, except Auron, having full Hp or having only one Hp are just about the same in a No Sphere Grid game. Auto-protect and Auto shell ability are not ideal abilities in a No Sphere Grid game, but if you combine auto protect ability and Hp + 30% and add them on Auron's armor, Auron will survive just about every attack from monsters!!! (Except some really powerful attacks like meteor, karma or heave.) If you decide to make an armor with auto protect ability and Hp +30% for Auron, you will need 60 light curtains and one stamina tablet. You can steal light curtains from Iron giants and Geminis, and you can get 60 stamina tablets by unlocking one-eye in monster arena. b. Combat Formation The most important fighting rule in a No Sphere Grid game is ALWAYS put people with first strike weapons in the front line. The second important fighting rule in a No Sphere Gird game is ALWAYS put people with first strike weapons in the front line!!! With your pathetic low Hp and agility in a No Sphere Grid game, if you are ambushed and you don't have any first strike weapons with your active party, you can prepare to reset the game. So ALWAYS put Rikku, Tidus and Lulu in the front line. If you followed part a so far, these three people should have first strike weapons in their hands. The reason I pick those three people is because Tidus and Lulu's overdrives are very effective with Rikku's mix "Trio of 9999", and Rikku is the only person can mix and use items in a No Sphere Grid game. Most of fiends are vulnerable to petrifaction or instant death, so each time you encounter enemies, make sure if they are immune to both of them. If not, switch Lulu and Tidus to Kimari and Wakka and use their taming weapons to catch monsters, and Rikku can either steal or run away before Wakka and Kimari attack. I recommend having Rikku run away first if there are too many flying enemies in battles. Since you are not allowed to lay your fingers on the sphere grid, your characters' accuracy is relatively low, and they will most likely miss many flying fiends such as Floating death or Nebiros. Having Rikku run away before Kimari and Wakka will save your life often if Wakka and Kimari don't do their jobs well and miss the targets. Some fiends are hard to capture unless you use overdrives or summon aeons, I will have more detailed descriptions about those monsters later. Also, every time anyone's overdrive gauge is empty, refill it before you try to catch next monster. You never know when you need your overdrives to save your life, especially in Omega Ruin or Inside Sin. Note: You can use overdrives to weaken a monster, but you CAN NOT capture monsters with overdrive!!! It will kill the monsters instead of capturing them. c. Useful items for use/mix command Since you don't have too many powerful magic in a No Sphere Grid game, Rikku's special command "use" is more vital because by using various of items, it could have the same affects as some good magic in a regular game such as dispel, flare, or ultima. And it will be one of your powerful melees to weaken your enemies. Another Rikku's command "Mix" is the key of winning just about every battle in the later of a No Sphere Grid game, especially "Trio of 9999" it allows everyone in your frontline party dealing 9,999 damage per hit!!!! Here are some good items for "use": 1. Grenade: 350 damage to all opposing targets. You can buy it in shops. 2. Smoke bomb: 750+ damage to all opposing targets and inflicts darkness. You can steal it from Alcyones and Zuus. 3. Sleeping powder: 750 + damage to a single target and inflicts sleep. You can steal them from sand wolfs or skolls. 4. Dream powder: 900+ damage to all opposing targets and inflicts sleep. You can steal them from Bandersnatchs. 5. Poison fang: 1,000+ damage to all opposing targets and inflicts poison. You can steal it from Nebiros. 6. Purifying salt: 1,050+ damage to all opposing targets and also have the same affect as dispel. You can steal them from fallen monks in Zanarkand Ruin. 7. Shadow gem: A very good item. It reduces all opposing targets' Hp to 1/2. You can steal them from sand worms, and you'd better steal them like insane!!! 8. Shining gem: Around 6,000 damages to a single target. You can steal it from black elements and Varunas only if you have Rikku equip a "Master Thief" armor. 9. Blessed gem: around 9,000 damages to a single target. You can steal them from Barbatos if Rikku equips a "Master Thief" armor. 10.Supreme gem: Most likely deals 9,999 damage to all opposing targets. This item is hard to acquire. You can only steal a few from Sin or Seymour Omnis if Rikku equips a "Master Thief " armor. Also, you can acquire 60 of them by unlocking greater sphere in monster arena, or you can win few by playing blitz ball, if you are that lucky. 11.Sliver hourglass: Inflict slowness on a single target. You can steal it from Nidhoggs. 12.Chocobo feather/ Chocobo wings: Cast haste on a single target/all targets in your party. You can steal both of them from cactuars. If Rikku is not equipped master thief armor, you will most likely steal chocobo feathers, if she is, then you will always steal chocobo wings. 13.Elemental gems: Including fire, water, ice and lighting gems. The damage is based on your enemies' elemental resistance. However, it is good to use them in conjunction of "trio of 9999"; it will hit your enemies 5 times and deal a total 49,995 damages. And here are some good "mixes": 1. Trio of 9999: It is useful, it is good, it is awesome, it is great, it is godly... no, it is the GOD in a No Sphere Grid game!!! This wonderful mix allows everyone in the from line dealing 9999 damage per hit. There are several ways to mix a trio of 9999: I. Wings of discovery + Wings of discovery II. Doors to tomorrow + Doors to tomorrow III.Underdog's secret + a level 3/ level 4 key sphere IV. Gambler's spirit + a Gambler's spirit As you can guess, a great mix requires some insanely rare items. Here are some places you can get these items easily: You can get 30 wings of discovery by playing chocobo race outside of Remiem Temple. If you win the race and open three boxes, you will find 30 wings of discovery inside. You can get 99 of doors to tomorrow by unlocking Catastrophe in monster arena. You can get 99 underdogs' secrets from Rin after you collect all 26 Al Behd Primers. And you can get level 3 /level 4 key spheres from treasure boxes and fighting some bosses. You can get 99 gambler's spirit by unlocking Th'uban in monster arena. There are other ways to mix a trio of 9999, if you want to know the details. Please check CB!'s mix FAQ. 2. Chaos grenade: It deals around 7,000 damages (9,999 if it is a critical hit) and inflicts darkness, slowness; mental break and power break on all opposing targets. Actually, I have never used it after the battle against Evare, but I still think it is a good mix for taming monster in a No Sphere Grid game, especially against those monsters with Hp around 10,000~ 15,000. You can mix a chaos grenade with an Hp / Mp/ Str/ Def/ Magic/ Magic Def sphere plus a regular grenade. You can not steal any of these special spheres from any fiend, the only ways to get them are from treasure boxes, or randomly dropped by some bosses. 3. Potato masher: Non-elemental 2,500+ damage to all enemies. You only need two maps to mix a potato masher, which can by bought in about any shop. It is an easy and effective mix. 4. Supernova: Always 19,998 damage to all enemies. You can mix supernova with two underdogs' secrets or two dark matters. Dark matters can be acquired by playing blitzball or unlocking Ultima Buster in monster arena. This is a very expensive mix...but you can exactly control the amount of the damage since it always does 19,998. d. Leveling up you aeons/Teaching you aeons abilities During your monster taming quest in your No Sphere Grid game, you will sometimes encounter strong enemies come in a group, and they are immune to just about everything, in that case, you may need to summon aeons and weaken them first, so leveling up your aeons is necessary if you want to capture every kind of monster. First, you have to choose which aeon you are going to level up. I recommend choosing Anima as your best shot, since she is MUCH stronger than any other aeons, you will spend a shorter amount of time to level her up to a reasonably strong state. Magus Sisters are a bit more powerful than Anima, however, you can not control them completely, and they may kill fiends in accidents before you can tame them. Even Yuna never grows in a No Sphere Grid game, your aeons will still keep growing after around every 30 battles, it does not matter if you win or not, it does not even matter if Yuna is in the party, either. However, every Aeon has a growth limit, which means they stop growing after they reach certain level, if Yuna 's state keeps the same. After the limit is reached you will have to collect spheres to power up your aeons. After you fight Belgemine in Calm Land, whether you win or not, she will give you a "summoner's spirit", and you will be able to raise your aeons' states by using spheres. Here is Anima's growth limit in a No Sphere Grid game: HP: 5,090 Mp: 130 Strength: 65 Defense: 74 Magic: 66 Magic defense: 69 Agility: 30 Luck: 17 Accuracy: 44 Evasion: 24 Clearly, your Anima is not in a good shape in No Sphere Grid game. In order to use her to weaken some powerful enemies, you will have to use spheres to let her become stronger, here is the recommend states for your Anima during this quest: Hp: 6,090 Mp: 350+ Strength: 85 Defense: 90+ Magic: 85 Magic defense: 80+ Agility: 60 Luck: 17 Accuracy: 50 Evasion: 40 This one is very close to the Anima I used in my No Sphere Grid game when I was trying to tame monsters. This Anima has medium strength and magic, so she will be able to weaken fiends with hp 20,000 or higher easily, but not kill them. Also, note that the higher your Anima's defense is, the merrier. However, I think your Anima's defense and magic defense should be at least as high as the one shown above, or she will have a hard time to survive some powerful attacks such as haymaker or heave. Mp is another important part, some magic like Demi or flare will cost her a lot of Mp each time she casts them. So having 350+ Mp is necessary. About agility, luck, accuracy, and evasion, umm...I don't think they are that much important, however, spending a bit time to raise those states is not a bad idea, except luck, raising aeons' luck in a No Sphere Grid game is pointless since you don't want too many critical hits (which usually kills fiends) and aeons can not steal, either. Plus you will need fortune spheres to raise luck, and you can only get them by killing Greater Sphere in monster arena over and over, I had tried to raise my Anima's luck to 30, it took me a long, long time...it was pointless plus monotonous, and you don't want that. You need power spheres to raise Anima's Hp, strength and defense; mana spheres to raise her Mp, magic; and magic defense; speed spheres to raise her agility, evasion and accuracy, and fortune spheres to raise her luck. For Anima's abilities, I recommend teaching her those following abilities: Haste, slow, dispel, cura, curaga, lancet, demi, protect, shell, and flare (optional) Here are several tips of how to use Anima to tame monsters: 1. After you summon Anima, cast haste oh her first, protect and shell if needed. 2. Hit your enemies hard with pain (25,000+ damage) or physical attack. 3. After your enemies' Hp is lower than 5,000, start using lancet (1,200 +damage) 4. After your enemies' Hp is below 1,000, keep abusing demi and try to bring their Hp down to two digits number, then dismiss Anima and capture the monsters. However, only dismiss Anima RIGHT AFTER your enemies turn, because dismissing will waste you a lot of turns, and if you do it right before your enemies move, you won't be able to have any extra turn before they kick your sorry butt. 5. Cast cura or curaga on Anima when her Hp is low. 6. Cast slow on your enemies if you have extra turns. e. First places to go Now you have about everything settled, it is about the time for real things!!!! But before you start, you have to decide which places you have to go first. Capturing monsters in different places will unlock different bosses in monster arena, and unlocking some of them will give you useful items during this quest, you would like to get these items first, wouldn't you? I recommend taming one of each kind of monster in these six areas first: 1. Calm Land. You have to capture one of each kind of fiend there before the owner reopens his monster arena, you can unlock Chimerageist by doing so, and you will receive 60 farplain winds as your reward, here goes your death strike weapon. 2. Sanubia Desert: you can unlock Abyss Worm in monster arena if you capture one of each kind of monster in Sanubia Desert, and you will receive 99 shadow gems from the owner of monster arena, now, here goes Anima's demi! Now you have conquered two areas, you will also unlock one of the "Original Creation" bosses: Earth Eater, and the owner of monster arena will give you 60 Three stars, I don't see how this item could be useful during this quest, but it is better than nothing, right? 3. Thunder Plain: You can unlock Cactuar King if you tame one of each kind of monster in Thunder Plain, and you will receive 99 chocobo wings from the owner of monster arena, (!!!) If you are planning on fighting in monster arena after you complete this quest, then you'd better save these chocobo wings for your auto haste armors later!!! 4. Kilika Forest: You can unlock Malboro Menace in monster arena if you capture one of each kind of monster there. The prize of unlocking Malrobo Menace is 99 poison fangs. 5. Besaid Island: You can unlock Stratavis in monster arena if you capture one of each monster in Besaid Island, and you will receive 99 stamina tonics from the owner of monster arena, not a wonderful prize though. However, you would like to unlock Catastrophe as soon as possible because of the wonderful reward after you do so, and you are required to complete 6 areas in order to unlock Catastrophe. That's why I suggest you to go to Besaid Island earlier, since monsters here are so weak; you can capture one of each kind of fiend here in no time. 6. Mountain Gagazet: You can unlock Catoblepa in monster arena if you capture one of each kind of fiend there, and you will receive a Blossom Crown as your reward, also you will unlock one of the original creation bosses" Shinryu". And you will be rewarded 30 megalixers, now you can teach your Anima curaga. You have conquered 6 areas, now you can unlock Catastrophe in monster arena, and the prize is....DOOR TO TOMORROW x 99 (!!!). By mixing two of them you can mix a trio of 9999, now you have almost everything you need to complete this quest! III. Step by step strategies of taming every monster in a No Sphere Grid game. Note: I only post the Hp part of monsters that are particularly hard to capture. a. Besaid Island You don't have to put Rikku, Lulu and Tidus in the front line in Besaid Island and Kilika forest, because the fiends in these two places are slow and weak, and you will most likely be initiative in battles even if you don't have first strike weapons. Place Tidus, Auron and Wakka in the front line party instead. Note: In my game I had Wakka use a stone strike taming weapon, and I give Kimari a death strike weapon, however, you can switch their weapons if you like. 1. Dingo: Have Tidus attack and capture him. 2. Condor: Have Wakka attack and capture him. 3. Water Flan: Have Auron attack him twice or more should do the job. b. Kilika Forest Keep the same combat formation you used in Besaid Island, this place is just a warm up. 1. Dinonix: Have Tidus attacks and capture him. 2. Killer Bee: Have Wakka attacks and capture him 3. Yellow element: Everyone attacks him once, then have Auron attack and capture him. 4. Ragora: Have Wakka attack with his stone strike taming weapon and petrify him. c. Mi'ihen Highroad Start from now on, the fiends become more dangerous. You should place Rikku, Tidus and Lulu in the frontline party, and make sure everyone equips their proper equipments. If you don't know what weapons your characters should use, refer to the "Customizing Proper Equipment" section for more hot info. 1. Mi'ihen Fang: Switch to Wakka or Kimari and use their weapons and capture him. 2. Ipiria: Same as above. 3. Floating Eye: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Kimari will likely miss him. 4. White element: Switch to Kimari and capture him, since White element is immune to petrifaction. 5. Raldo: Same as the tactic you use to tame Mi'ihen Fang. 6. Vouivre: Same as above. 7. Bomb: Same as above. 8. Dual Horn: Same as above. d. Mushroom Rock 1. Raptor: Switch to Wakka or Kimari and capture him. 2. Gandarewa: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Since he is a flying wizard monster, Kimari will have a harder time to hit him. 3. Thunder Flan: Use the tactic you use to tame Raptor. 4. Red element: Switch to Kimari and capture it. Just like other element enemies, Red element is immune to petrifaction. 5. Lamashtu: Use the same tactic you use to tame Raptor. 6. Funguar: Same as above. 7. Garuda: Switch to Kimari and capture him, since Garuda is immune to petrifaction as well. e. Djose High Road 1. Garm: Switch to Wakka or Kimari and tame him. 2. Simurgh: Switch To Wakka and tame him. Kimari misses birds quite often. 3. Bite Bug: Same as above. 4. Snow Flan: Use the tactic you use to tame Garm. 5. Bunyip: Same as above. 6. Ochu: Same as above. 7. Basilisk: Switch to Kimari and tame him. Basilisk is immune to petrifaction. f. Thunder Plains 1. Melusine: Switch to Wakka or Kimari and capture him. 2. Aerouge: Switch to Wakka and tame him. He is another flying wizard type enemy, and Kimari will miss him most of time. 3. Buer: Same as above 4. Kusariqqu: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture him. 5. Gold element: Another element type enemy...you know what to do, switch to Kimari and capture them in one shot since they are immune to petrifaction. 6. Larva: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture him. 7. Iron Giant: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture him. 8. Quctuar: Have Wakka attack and attempt to capture him since he is not immune to petrifaction. But don't be surprised if Wakka misses a lot. g. Macalania 1. Snow Wolf: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Start from now on, all wolf and lizard enemies have high evasion and Kiamri won't do his job well against them. 2. Iguion: Same as above. 3. Wasp: Same as above. Kimari misses flying insects a lot, too. 4. Evil eye: Same as above. 5. Ice Flan: Switch to Wakka or Kimari and capture him. 6. Blue element: Switch to Kimari and tame him. Every time you see an "element" enemy, you know what you should do. 7. Murusuu: Use the tactic you use to tame Ice Flan. 8. Mafdet: Same as above. 9. Xiphos: Same as above. 10.Chimera: Same as above h. Sanubia Desert: 1. Sand Wolf: Switch to Wakka and capture him. 2. Alcyone: Same as above. 3. Mushussu: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture it. 4. Sand Worm, Hp: 45,000: Throw him a smoke bomb first so he will miss you about forever. After that, you can summon Anima, use pain once and hit him with regular attack once, then abuse demi. Try to bring his hp down to 200 or below, then dismiss Anima, and switch to Auron to capture him. I don't think using shadow gems against him would be a good idea, because if you fight him for a long time, he sometimes swallows people, which won't be effected by darkness. Don't forget to steal some shadow gems from him. 5. Zuu, Hp: 18,000: Again, give him a taste of a smoke bomb and blind him, then use a shadow gem (9,999 damage) and a shining gem (5,800+ damage). It will bring his hp down to around 2,200. Then you can use a shadow gem again, and followed by another smoke bomb (750 damage) and a grenade (350 + damage), then you can capture him. Of course the amount of damage of a shining gem is quite vary, so depends on the situation, you may not always need extra grenades after the second smoke bomb. Baron's Wraith submitted an eaiser Zuu taming strategy, which I am going to do a bit change and post here: If you have Anima can deal more than 18,000 damage with pain attack, then you can just aummon Anima and use pain, it won't kill Zuu immideately, it will force Zuu landing on the ground with Hp 1, and then you can have whoever you like to capture him. You can use Oblivion if your Anima is not strong enough. 6. Cactuar, Hp: 800: If you think he is easy to tame because their hp is low, then you are deadly wrong. His evasion is insanely high and you will miss him most of time, plus he has a special attack called 10,000 needles, which will kill a single character in one shot, the worst is: Cactuars are most likely come with a group with two or three of them, so if they launch an all-out attack, you are toast. Some people kindly told me to tame cactuars in conjunction with Trio of 9999, however, I think it is pointless, since you are probably going to miss them anyway, and if they don't run away, you will be dead after they attack. The best strategy to capture cactuars is still using a smoke bomb first-they are immune to darkness ( and probably immune to just about everything), however, a smoke bomb does damage b/t 750~790, and it will leave cactuars' hp 10~50 left, which means if you hit them, you can capture them. Use Wakka and Tidus to attack (those two guys have the highest accuracy among all 7 characters) and pray that they will hit them hard. Even if they miss, cactuars will "run away" instead of attacking you because their hp is critical. This strategy is the best I can think so far, it does not waste you any rare items, and it is safe, too.^_^ i. Calm Land 1. Skoll: Switch to Wakka and capture him. 2. Nebiros: Same as above. 3. Flame Flan: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture him. 4. Shred: Same as above. 5. Anaconduar: Switch to Kimari and capture him. He is immune to petrifaction. 6. Ogre: Switch to Wakka and capture him because he is immune to death. 7. Chimera Brain: Same as above. 8. Coeurl: Use the tactics you use to tame Anaconduar. 9. Malboro Hp: 23,000: If you don't have any SOS haste armor or you do but everyone's hp is high, then use a chocobo wing on the frontline party. Rikku should have an extra turn. Mix a Trio of 9999, and have Tidus and Lulu attack; you will tame him before he can even have a chance to move. Some people summon Anima and abuse demi on him, but I don't think this is a safe way to tame a Malboro, because sometimes he uses bad breath on your party right after Yuna dismisses Anima and you are really dead if you are hit by his bad breath. If you really want to use Anima so bad, I recommend having some people equip SOS haste armors first, and be sure to keep their Hp critical. Note: You have to capture at least one of each kind of monster in Calm Land before the owner of monster arena restores his business, so Calm Land is always the first place you have to go, and you may not have a death strike weapon to tame your first Anaconduar and Coerul, because it is hard to get 60 farplain winds before you unlock Chimerageist. In this case, mix a trio of 9999 to tame these two kinds of monsters. j. Cave of Stolen Fayth 1. Yowie: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Kimari misses him pretty often. 2. Imp: Same as above. 3. Dark element: Switch to Kimari to tame him. You have already known that he is immune to petrifaction. 4. Nidhogg: Switch to Wakka or Kimari and capture him. 5. Thron: Same as above. 6. Valaha: Switch to Wakka and capture him because Valaha is immune to death. 7. Eppaj: Use the same tactic you use to tame Nidhogg. 8. Ghost Hp: 9,999: You can just mix a trio of 9999 and let Tidus or Lulu to finish him, however, I don't like to waste two to doors tomorrow or some other rare items on him. I like to have Rikku use a shining gem first ( 6,000+ damage) then followed by a shadow gem, a purifying salt ( around 1,050 damage) and a grenade will be enough to bring his Hp to very low. Ghost does doom often and sometimes use elemental attacks, which only kill one person at once, you can have Tidus or Lulu use phoenix downs to revive the dead party member and you will find plenty of chances of using items on him. 9. Tonberry Hp: 12,000. Have Rikku mix a trio of 9999, then have Tidus and Lulu attack and capture him. k. Mountain Gagazat 1. Bandersnatch: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Kimari will have a hard time to hit him. 2. Grenade: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture him. 3. Grat: Same as above. 4. Bashura: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Bashura is immune to death. 5. Ahriman: Use the tactic of capturing Bandersnatch. 6. Dark flan Hp: 18,000: Have Rikku mix a trio of 9999, then let Tidus and Lulu attack and capture him. 7. Mandragora: use the same tactic of taming Grenade. 8. Grendel: Same as above. 9. Behemoth Hp: 23,000: He is immune to both petrifaction and death, and sometimes he uses his tail attack, which will wipe out your entire party in one shot. In order to capture him both safely and quickly, use a sleeping powder/ dream powder first and put him into sleep, then mix a trio of 9999. Hold Tidus and have Lulu use fury and attack him ONLY twice (or you will kill him for good), magical attack won't wake him up, now you can let Rikku attack and capture him. 10. Splasher/Achelous/Malespike: I put them together because they are all underwater fiends, and you can only use Tidus, Rikku and Wakka to capture those three kinds of monster. You will not be able to switch to other people, which will make things harder. Since Wakka has stone strike weapon, he will not be able to move before any of these three kinds of monster unless you hit a preemptive strike. In this case, I provide two ways to solve this problem: One is to give Rikku a weapon bears " Initiative " ability, which raises your chance of hitting preemptive strikes in battles, and almost completely prevent your party being ambushed. You only need one chocobo feather to customize an initiative weapon, it won't be that hard. If you hit a preemptive strike in a battle, Wakka will at least have a turn before them, and he can use his stone strike weapon to capture them, and have Tidus and Rikku run away before Wakka so they won't be killed by those ugly.... fish? If you don't hit preemptive strikes, at least you won't be ambushed by them, with Tidus' first strike weapon, he can attempt to escape at least twice, so you probably won't be killed that easily, anyway. Another solution is having Wakka equip a SOS haste armor, and keep his Hp 1 (you can do so by killing him first and never heal him after the battle); he will always have a turn or two before those fiends to do his job. But remember this: If you are ambushed, then Wakka won't be able to move before them since he does not have a first strike weapon. l. Inside Sin 1. Exoray: Switch to Wakka or Kimari to capture him. 2. Wraith Hp: 22,222: Wraith is weak against holy, so blessed gem is good in this battle. You can reduce his Hp quickly by using two blessed gems (always 9,999 damage per hit) and it will reduce his hp to 2,224, then a couple of shadow gems will bring his Hp low enough for you to capture him. Also you can summon Anima instead of using items. Her pain attack will do around 18,000 damage with magic 85, and then have Anima abuse demi until you think Wraith's hp is low enough. Wraith is a strong version of Ghost, he uses doom quite often, which will not kill you instantly, and sometimes uses elemental attack, which will only hit a single target and can be revived by phoenix down easily. 3. Gemini A & Gemini B Hp: 36,000: Those two iron giants always come with pair and each of them counts an individual kind of monster. If you want to tame both of them in one battle, it could be dangerous. I recommend every time you encounter them, kill one of them first, then capture another one, don't be too greedy. When battle starts, have Rikku use a smoke bomb, switch Tidus to Auron and defend, then switch Lulu to Yuna and summon Anima. Cast haste on Anima first, Gemini A & B will both have a turn after Anima, however, they can not hit her because they are blinded by your smoke bomb. You can use pain and hit one of Gemini constantly, and you will kill him in two or three shots. After you finish him, hit another one with pain once and regular attack once, then abuse "Lancet", it does around 1,200 damage per hit. Keep using it until Gemini's Hp is lower than 1,200, then you can abuse demi again and dismiss her ONLY after you bring his Hp down to 50 or below. After you dismiss Anima, Gemini will most likely have a turn before your character (sometimes Rikku will have a turn before Gemini, consider you are lucky if this happens to you and Rikku does not equip a SOS haste armor) he has a special attack called Rappel, it deals around 1,500 damage to all activate party member, and will not be influenced by darkness, however, since you have Auron defend before head, he will survive and have Auron attack Gemini and capture him. If Rikku has a turn before Gemini, let her attack and attempt to bring Gemini's Hp lower even more. 4. Great Malboro Hp: 65,000: He always uses bad breath as his opening attack, and you don't stand a chance against it. You have to tame him quickly before he can move. Have Rikku mixes a trio of 9999, Tidus slice and dice (9,999 x 6 = 59,994 damage) and Lulu attack again should capture him w/o problem. Don't even bother summoning aeons to block his bad breath, he never uses bad breath against aeons, he will wait 'till you dismiss your aeons, then use bad breath, smart creature, isn't he? Good thing is that I am much smarter ^_^. 5. Demonolith Hp:43,000 : This piece of ugly stone has an attack called breath, which will petrify and shatter the entire party, although he does not use this attack often, just beware of it. Start the battle by having one person run away first, then switching to Yuna and summon Anima. Hit him with pain once and followed by lots of lancet and demi, dismiss Anima after his Hp is 50 or below, if he does not use breath attack, switch to Auron or Kimari to capture him, if he does, since you have had one person ran away first, you will be fine. 6. Adamantoise Hp: 54,400: He is not immune to petrifaction; however, the chance of petrifying him is very low. Start this battle by having Rikku use a sleeping powder or a dream powder and put him into asleep, and then switch Tidus to Wakka. Do not attack right now. Hold Wakka's chocobo and let Adamantoise sleep one turn, then have Rikku use a chocobo wing, now Wakka will have two turns before Adamantoise's next move, have him attack and see if you can petrify Adamantoise. If not, have Rikku use a sleeping powder again and put him into sleep again so he won't have any chance to do his evil, infamous earthquake attack. Repeat those steps 'till Wakka does his job. 7. Behemoth King Hp: 67,000: The worst thing is after you capture him, he will counter attack with meteor and it will wipe out your party for sure, even if you let Auron equip an armor with Hp + 30%, Hp + 20%, Hp + 10%, and auto-protect. Here is how you can tame him quickly and safely: Have Rikku mixes a trio of 9999, and have Tidus run away first, then release Lulu's overdrive, but only hit him 6 times. After Lulu's attack, Behemoth King will always cast mighty guard on himself instead of attacking you because his hp is critical. Now you can let Rikku attack and capture him. He will counter attack with meteor and kill Rikku and Lulu, and Tidus avoids this attack successfully. Or if you are a Tidus fan, you can use Tidus slice and dice and let Lulu run away instead, the result is the same. 8. Barbatos HP: 95,000: Have Rikku mix a trio of 9999, Tidus blitz ace (9,999 x 9 = 89,991) then have Lulu finish him. Not too hard, not too soft. m. Omega Ruin 1. Zaurus: Switch to Wakka and capture him. Kimari will most likely miss him. 2. Flaoting death: Same as above. 3. Black element: Switch to Kiamri to capture him. 4. Halma: Switch to Wakka and Kimari to capture him. 5. Puroboros: Same as above. 6. Machea: Same as above. 7. Master Coerul: Switch to Wakka and capture hi, since he is immune to death. 8. Spirit Hp: 10,000: This fiend randomly counters your attack with poison mist, which will wipe out your entire party in one shot. When you encounter Spirit, mix a trio of 9999, and call any aeon you want and use his/her weakest attack like fire, blizzard...etc. After dismissing your aeon, spirit will use an elemental attack and kill a character, and then you can have whoever attack and capture him. There is another way to capture him and you won't even have to use trio of 9999. Spirit always shows up with two Black elements or two Halmas, have Wakka and Kimari finish them of first, then switch to Yuna, grand summon Shiva and use diamond dust on Spirit, it will do exactly 9,999 damage on Spirit and leave his Hp 1 left, then you can have whoever attack and capture him. This strategy does not apply to you if you have already got Lulu's celestial weapon "Onion Knight" because this weapon gives Shiva break damage limit ability. Although I don't see the point of getting Onion Knight for Lulu in a No Sphere Grid game, I know some people just love to collect items for fun like me, so I am just concerning about those players. 9.Master Tonberry Hp: 48,000: If you attack him, he will counter attack with karma and it will most likely kill a character. Start the battle by having Rikku mix a trio of 9999, don't let Tidus do anything, and have Lulu use fury attack and hit him FOUR times. He will use karma and kill Lulu, and then spend a turn to move forward. After his turn, have Rikku or TIdus attack, and he will be captured for good. His voodoo attack is most likely an instant death to your aeons, so summoning is not an ideal option in this battle. 10.Varuna Hp: 56,000: This Diablo looking demon always casts haste on himself at the beginning of the battle, so you may want to finish him quickly by mixing trio of 9999, or using a purifying salt to nullify his haste spell's affect. You can mix a trio of 9999 first, don't let Tidus attack, and use Lulu's fury and hit him 5 times, he will use a " ga" spell or flare and kill a single person, sometimes he uses demi, which will kill no one, and you can tame him after he attacks. It is similar to the strategy I used to tame Master Tonberry. If you don't want to use any trio of 9999, Varuna is not immune to petrifaction, however, the chance you can petrify him is low. Unlike Adamantoise, Varuna is immune to sleep, so the sleeping powder trick you use on Adamantoise won't work against Varuna. Start the battle by using a purifying salt first, and switch to Wakka and attack, Varuna will most likely cast haste on himself again since he is not hasted, and then you can use purifying salt again and have Wakka attack again. However, sometimes he still attacks you even if he is not under the affect of haste spell, so if this happens, just blame yourself that today is not your day. Having Wakka and Rikku equip a SOS haste armor will be a grate help in this battle. Also you can summon Anima and hit him with pain couple times, and then abuse lancet, demi and dispel and dismiss her when you think Varuna's Hp is low enough, and cast curaga on Anima if she is in danger, this is a slow way to tame Varuna, but it is safe also. Remember: Always call aeons if you see Varuna uses "Mana Focus" because his next move after Mana Focus is always "Emblem of Fate". It is a powerful muti-target attack and you won't stand a chance against this attack with your weak characters and their low Hp. IV. Frequently Asked Questions: Q: I use a/an [name of item] and the damage does not follow what you said in this FAQ, why? A: Only very few items exactly deal certain amount of damage. I can only tell you what item approximately deals how much damage. For example, I said smoke bomb can deal 750+ damage, it will actually do 750~ 790 damage, sometimes a bit less than 750. Q: Why don't you use auto haste armors instead of SOS haste armors? A: Yes, an auto-haste armor is much better than a SOS haste armors, it works regardless your Hp. However, an auto haste armor requires 80 chocobo wings to customize. I would recommend customizing auto haste armors only if you plan to fight in monster arena after you complete this quest, because you will need them later anyway, so why not do it now? Q: Are celestial weapons any useful in a No Sphere Grid game? A: Nope. They are useless. Since you can not use sphere grid at all, I don't see why you want those abilities on the celestial weapons such as break damage limit (lol), magic booster, one Mp cost or something like these. Auron and Rikku's celestial weapons may be a bit useful because there are first strike and triple overdrive abilities on Auron's Masamune, and there is gillionaire ability on Rikku's Godhand, which will help you gain money in a No Sphere Grid game, other people's celestial weapons just suck. However, if you plan to fight in monster arena in your No Sphere Gird game, then those weapons will help you a bit because they allow all your aeons break damage limits, although you are probably going to use Anima or Magus Sister only anyway. I will have more information about aeons in a No Sphere Grid game in my next FAQ. Q: How long will it take to tame 10 of each kind of monster in a No Sphere Gird game? A: It will take you around 40~ 50 hours to do this. But for an elite FFX player, 50 hours is nothing big deal, right? Q: I attack a monster with a stone/ death strike weapon but the monster still stands there! What's happening? A: There are several possible reasons, first, the monster is immune to petrifaction/death, second, stone/ death strike " ALMOST always" inflict petrifaction/death, which means there is still a small chance that they might not work, although the odd is little. Plus as I mentioned before, some monsters have very high status abnormality resistance, although they are not immune to it. Q: I don't like your strategies, why don't you write a better one? A: Well, there are many ways to tame monsters in a No Sphere Gird game, this FAQ provides some efficient ways to capture monsters, but it does not mean that everything in this FAQ is absolutely the best strategy. You can use the information in this FAQ and crate your own strategies, of course!!! Q: Can I just abuse Aeons /trio of 9999 to tame monsters? I really hate to make things so complex. A: Of course you can. But if you want to tame many monsters by using aeons, it will take you a lot of time. If you want to abuse trio of 9999, yes, it will be quick, but you will waste a lot of rare items as well. If you want to fight in monster arena later, you will be screwed because you will definitely need A LOT of trio of 9999!!! Q: I am playing a regular game, can I still make any good use of this FAQ? A: Yes and No. Since you can raise your state in a regular game, I don't see why you want to use trio of 9999 to tame monsters. You don't even have to spend spheres level up your aeons, as long as Yuna grows, your aeons grow as well. But customizing stone/death strike taming weapon will be a good idea even in a regular game, it saves your time to tame some strong monsters. Q: I have already captured 10 of each kind of monsters and unlocked every boss in monster arena except Nemesis, now I wonder if it is possible to defeat them in a No Sphere Grid game? A: Yes. They ALL can be defeated in a No Sphere Grid game. First, you can summon Yojimbo and use his special move "Zanmoto" to kill every boss in monster arena except Shinryu. Second, there is a way to defeat Shinryu, although it requires a lot of luck. Plus if you think Zanmoto is too cheap, it is still possible to defeat all of them w/o zanmoto, and many of them even w/o aeons. Best luck of your game!!! Q: What overdrive mode should I use for everyone? A: Basically, stoic and comrade are the two best overdrives in a No Sphere Grid game. Because of your low Hp, many fiends are good enough to refill your overdrive gauges with one or two shots. Q: What's your gender? A: You have a brain, you can make your own judgement. It does not matter what my gender really is, Hyprophant is the one who wrote this FAQ, that's all you need to know. V. Credits/Thanks Thanks to CJayC first, for creating this wonderful site and posting this FAQ so I am able to share my knowledge with other FFX players all around the world. Thanks to Hyprophant, of course. Hyprophant is the one who gathered information on GameFaq's FFX message board and made this FAQ. Thanks to CB! / Ceebs and her monster FAQ. I did not take notes about some monsters' Hp. If it's not because of her, I would have had to spend much more time to memorize monsters' Hp myself, and it wouldn't be any fun. Thanks to Baron's Wraith, for correcting the Larva and Chimera parts for me and submitting another effective Zuu taming strategy. Thanks to my parents, they gave me a lot of support when I was writing this FAQ. (I am not joking, I am serious). I especially thank those following people who gave me a lot of support when this FAQ was a topic on FFX message board: Bartman2890, Not3Not4, Prince Tidus, Omni Freak95, Rikkulu, DREMC, Gestahl, XayJ, Noneofyourbusiness and many other people. If you think your name should be on the list and it is not, please forgive me.