============================================================= Yuna Only No Summon (/No Items) Own Sphere Grid Challenge FAQ By Mason Rhudy, User Name: _Mace_ E-mail: scratchgamer@hotmail.com FAQ started 7/23/06 at 11:31pm Version: 1.99 ============================================================= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 1.0 - Copyright = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Copyright 2007 by Mason Rhudy. GameFAQs user name: _Mace_ Neoseeker user name: Mace22 This FAQ was created solely by me, through my hard work. You are more than welcome to access this FAQ for personal use. If you are to redistribute without me allowing you, you will be punished to the fullest possible extent of the law. You cannot sell for profit or share as your own. I want full credit for this piece of work along with anyone I specifically credit GameFAQs and Neoseeker are the only sites allowed to host this FAQ. If other sites host this FAQ without being given permission in this FAQ, please contact me. If another site would like to host this FAQ, contact me first. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 2.0 - Index = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Copyright 1.0 Index 2.0 Introduction 3.0 Summary 4.0 Version History 5.0 Rules 6.0 Overdrives and Overdrive Modes 7.0 Yuna's Ability List 8.0 Quicklist for Items/Equipment/Abilities 9.0 Boss Quick Jump Table 10.0 Walkthrough 11.0 Credits 12.0 ***There will be Spoilers for the FFX plot from here on out, fair warning.*** = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 3.0 - Introduction = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Hey there, I'm Mason, better known on GameFAQs as _Mace_. This is my first attempt at writing a FAQ, something I've always wanted to do, but never felt as if I had enough of a purpose to do so. Well after many, many years of playing video games, mostly RPGs, I felt it was necessary that I at least try my hand in helping others enjoy a game that has brought me so much happiness. The FFX board is one of my usual hang-outs, and I noticed another user, Kikiorie45, talking about tackling a Yuna Only No Summons FAQ. I was instantly intrigued, so I asked him if I would be of any service to him. We hit it off that very minute, I loaded up a save and got my game under way. Not too soon into the project, Justin informed me that I would be taking over the helm, and writing the FAQ myself. A daunting task indeed, this was my chance to check off one of the things on my "to do" list. A topic concerning the creation of this FAQ was created on the boards, and it instantly had an overwhelming surge of users commenting on it, helping out, and showing genuine interest. Right then I knew this was something that I would see through to the very end. Many of the board's vets and SCC specialists have come along to help me on my adventure, and to support me as I delved into the unknown. There was one user who had publicly attempted this challenge before, and had made a daring attempt before falling just short at Braska's Final Aeon. Sadly she had customized the wrong abilities onto her armor, and was unable to legitimately procure the goods she needed to make the necessary armor. Her username was CrystalBangle, and the thought that she had striven so valiantly, and came up just short was rather inspiring for me, another reason to complete this task. Not had I ever played this game so fervently, I was enjoying myself even whilst farming Ragoras for weapon drops. I can hardly believe that I would study and learn so much about this game is such a short while. Some people have written off this challenge as a waste of time, which is fine by me, but I'm having a blast doing what not many others have done. I would now like to pass my knowledge and hard work on to you, the gamer, so that you may have an opportunity to test the limits of your patience, sanity, and perseverance in the most tediously difficult challenges I've ever played. Enjoy! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 4.0 - A Summary of a YONSOSG game = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I know what some of you are thinking. "Imposhibibble! How do we even hurt bosses, or take out random enemies?" There are three things that make this challenge possible. They are: Holy, Customized/Dropped Weapons, and a whole lot of patience. There are two points in the challenge where we must massively power level to learn a skill for taking out a boss. The first time is learning Reflect before the Sinspawn Gui fight, which is impossible without Reflect. The second time is learning Holy before the Anima fight, as she is impossible without it in our arsenal, and even then you have to be somewhat fortunate. For anyone adding No Items to their challenge, you'll have to learn HOLY before Sinspawn Gui. If there was ever a recurring theme in this challenge, it would be "Preparation". I know that that can be said about any challenge, but it holds true even more so in this game. As I said, there will be two areas in which we must power level, and there will be a few areas where we'll be harvesting Fiends for weapon/armor drops. The game clock in my first run through was well over 100 hours. If you aren't a patient person, I'd advise you to not try this challenge. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 5.0 - Version History = = = = = = = = = = = = = = .25: Outlining the FAQ. Legal stuff, index, intro, rules. .50: Working on the walkthrough. .75: Adding Item lists, credits (partial). Revising enemy strategies. Adding enemy group strategies. 1.0: SoulSpark finished formatting document. Finally ready for submission. 1.25: Changed errors and mistakes brought to my attention by other GameFAQs members. Added a coding section for the boss strategies. Alphabetized the enemy encounter groups. Added a quick reference for abilities, equipment, and items. 1.50: Edited some misinformation regarding enemy strategies, and equipment location. 1.60: Some more minor editing. Adding section for Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, editing enemy immunities, removing any of the irrelevant information. Slightly altered format. 1.85: Added Villa's Dark Aeon strategies. 1.99: No Items restriction added to Walkthrough section. Minor updates throughout the FAQ. Coming Soon! In depth Monster Arena and Mark of Conquest Section! <_< = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 6.0 - Rules! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = As the name of the challenge implies, we will only be using Yuna, without the aid of her Aeons, to complete the game. There are two times in which she must Summon, the tutorial battle in Besaid, and Via Purifico, but other than that, there will be no Summoning whatsoever. There will be one point in the game in which we break the Yuna Only rule*, this is for the Sin's Fin fight. *Purist note: You don't have to break this rule if you learn Holy on Besaid. That's the only way Yuna can defeat Sin's Fin legitimately in an Own Sphere Grid game. Not happening in this FAQ. You want to do it, awesome, catch you in a couple years. As per standard Single Character Challenge rules, we will only be using Yuna's portion of the Sphere Grid. we will be using the North American standard Sphere Grid in this challenge. Now there are three specific areas on Yuna's grid that are locked off, but don't belong to anyone else. We will be accessing these three areas of her grid. One area that is locked contains the Auto-Life ability; we will not be acquiring this ability until after we beat Braska's Final Aeon, but you're more than welcome to activate the three Strength nodes that surround Auto-Life. One final note on the Sphere grid, it is essential that we apply every stat gain sphere to her grid and activate them, most notably the Strength Spheres from Lightning Dodging, and any and all Hp Spheres we find along our journey. We need the Hp Spheres, as we won't be able to survive BFA's Triumphant Grasp without them unless we Customize a second armor for that fight, which would only complicate things. I will point out how to obtain all of the necessary stat spheres along the way. As for the other characters, there are rules as well. Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Auron and Rikku will not be allowed to touch the Sphere Grid, ever. This game will take on the role of a standard No Sphere Grid game when Yuna is not in the active party. This is a staple rule of a Single Character Challenge game. As for the actions taken by other characters in battle when Yuna is available, they will only be allowed to Escape, and change weapons/armor. In random battles they must Escape, and in Boss battles, they must switch weapons/armor or kill themselves. You will not be allowed to heal, revive, or cast support magic on any allies at any time while Yuna is available for battle. You are more than welcome to buy any and all weapons for other characters, and sometimes you'll be required to do so, to help survive certain areas or Boss fights, such as Bikanel, and the Extractor fights. If Yuna is in the party, there will be no equipping of any weapons with a Counter ability by the other party members. You will also be able to Customize any weapon or armor that you need for other characters during the portions of the game in which Yuna is not available. Most notably, you'll be purchasing the TKO for Wakka during Operation Mi'ihen, as well as the Sentry for Auron, and Customizing Fireproof armors before the attack on Bevelle. You are not to use any equipment on any characters that would affect the battle while Yuna is in the party. No Initiative, First Strike, or elemental or status protection for any other characters. And last, but certainly not least, if Yuna dies, it's a Game Over. There's no real way to enforce this rule other than to be honest with yourself. I mean, you're trusted not to summon or use other characters, so you should do yourself a favor and follow this rule as well. ****Adding optional rules**** NI - No Items, ever. While it's not really a problem for the most of the game, because Yuna has access to Cure spells and Esuna, there are points at which it'll be one hell of an inconvenience. You thought OSGYONS was tedious? Have fun learning Holy before Gui. For those of you adding this restriction, keep an eye out at the bottom of each section, there you will find any notes that are different for this extra restriction. Other than those notes, follow the advice given as you see it. NENNE - No escaping, ever. No use of [No Encounters] armor, ever. This will make the challenge incredibly difficult, and there will undoubtedly be many resets involved. But I figure, if you can do it NSGNSNONC, why not in this one? Have fun if you decide to add this rule. And keep in mind that it's pointless to have one without the other. This rule would apply at all times. There is one small exception if you add this rule, there is a forced (albeit escapable) battle with a Condor, Dingo and Water Flan before you leave Besaid. Similar to the Water Flan in the tutorial fight with Lu, this one will heal itself with Water Spells if its Hp gets too low. Yuna simply can't outdamage that healing, so you'll have to escape the battle or frag it with Lulu. NBB - No Blitzball, except for the tournament in Luca, ever. You will not be able to play Blitz for Teleport Spheres, Return Spheres or the Dark Matter/ Underdog's Secret. If you have all Al Bhed Primers, and are guaranteed to get the 99 Underdog's Secrets from Rin, this won't be too much of a problem, because you'll still be able to Mix Trio of 9999 for the Evrae fight. If you, however, do not have the Primers, and are unable to collect those that you need before the Evrae fight, you will have a difficult fight ahead of you if you add NBB to your game. As for the Teleport and Return Spheres, it won't be too big of a hassle, as you can get a few Teleport Spheres throughout this game without Blitz. There are also a few enemies that drop Return Spheres as well. And that about wraps up rules! Feel free to add any rules you like, or change the rules to suit the game you wish to play. Keep in mind, that this guide will follow the rules that have been listed above. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 7.0 - Overdrives and Overdrive modes = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Well, since this is a Yuna only challenge that uses NO SUMMONS...This section will be very easy, and very quick. You simply cannot use her overdrive. It won't happen. You won't ever need to summon, with two exceptions, the tutorial battle in Besaid, and fighting Isaaru in Bevelle. Now, since you don't need an overdrive, you won't need an overdrive mode. See how simple that is? You will however, have points in the game where Yunie is kidnapped, or simply not available. During those times, anyone can use their Overdrives, and can learn Overdrive modes. Keep in mind however, that Kimahri can only learn Overdrives in battle, and can't learn them if Yuna is in the active party. That means we'll be missing out on Stone Breath, which would have been a great asset during the events in Bikanel. = = = = = = = = = = = = = 8.0 - Yuna's Ability List = = = = = = = = = = = = = Pray - Restores a very small amount of Hp to the party. Special command, can be used even if Silenced. No Mp Cost. Rank 3. Cure - Restores a small amount of Hp to one party member. 4 Mp. Rank 3. Cura - Restores a moderate amount of Hp to one party member. 10 Mp. Rank 3. Curaga - Restores a large amount of Hp to one party member. 20 Mp. Rank 3. Nulblaze - Grants one time immunity to a single Fire based attacks. 2 Mp. Rank 2. NulTide - Grants one time immunity to Water based attacks. 2 Mp. Rank 2. NulShock - Grants one time immunity to Lightning based attacks. 2 Mp. Rank 2. NulFrost - Grants one time immunity to Ice based attacks. 2 Mp. Rank 2. Reflect - Bestows the Reflect status to target, reflects all magic aside from Ultima and Demi. 14 Mp. Rank 3. Protect - Halves physical damage inflicted on the target. 12 Mp. Rank 3. Shell - Halves magical damage inflicted on the target. 10 Mp. Rank 3. Life - Revives a fallen party member. Instantly kills zombified targets that aren't immune. 18 Mp. Rank 3. Regen - Bestows Regen status, lasts for ten turns. Regen formula: [(Ticks passed * Max HP) / 256] + 100 40 Mp. Rank 3. Esuna - Removes the following statuses: Poison, Darkness, Sleep, Petrification, Silence, Slow. 5 Mp. Rank 3. Dispel - Removes positive status (Protect, Shell, Reflect, Regen, Nulspells, and some negative statuses (Power/Magic/Armor/Mental Break, Curse). 12 Mp. Rank 3. Holy - Deals a massive amount of Holy based damage to a single target. 85 Mp. Rank 4. YONS**** = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 9.0 - Quick Reference Checklist = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = In this section, I'll be giving a quick, concise list of everything you'll absolutely need from each area to complete this challenge. For those of you who want to take a stab at the challenge without the FAQ, this will be a great tool. As I'll list the important abilities, equipment, and items that you'll need, or are highly recommended so you don't have to go digging through the walkthrough for what you need. zzanmato's NSGNSNONCNENNENBB FAQ inspired me to add this section. If I don't list something, it doesn't mean it won't be of great help, it simply means that it isn't vital to completing the challenge. You are encouraged to pick up all the items you find along the way, you never know when something might be useful. It's a given that you'll be getting the Destruction Sphere treasures from the Temples, so don't say I didn't tell you. I should specify that any items that are obtained for other characters are only to be used when Yuna is not in the party, most notably, Bikanel on your first trip and any underwater fights. BESAID - Yuna's Rod of Wisdom from Besaid Cloister. KILIKA - Poisontouch from the Ragoras, Luck Sphere in Kilika Woods. LUCA - Hp and Magic Spheres from the docks. Stunning Steel from O'aka. 40+ X Potions from the Workers, as well as an SOS Nulblaze Ring. MI'IHEN HIGHROAD - Blitz for a Teleport Sphere and Return Sphere. Optional, but highly recommended. MUSHROOM ROCK ROAD - Purchase Wakka's TKO, Auron's Sentry, and Yuna's Red Ring. Learn Reflect before the Sinspawn Gui fight. DJOSE HIGHROAD - Stonetouch weapon dropped by Basilisks, preferably with one or two extra extra slots. Magic Sphere from Djose Trials. MOONFLOW - Buy the Noxious Cait Sith from one of the merchants. GUADOSALAM - Customize a Lightningproof armor with the Lightning Marbles found on the way to the Farplane. Buy Lulu's Fatal Cait Sith from O'aka. THUNDER PLAINS - Dodge 100 bolts for 3 Strength Spheres, 3 Hp Spheres and 2 Mp Spheres. MACALANIA WOODS - Train until you've learned Holy. Blitz for either a Dark Matter or Underdog's Secret (if you won't be getting the 99 Underdog's Secrets from Rin later on). BIKANEL - Collect both Teleport Spheres. Get the Level 4 Key Sphere from Home. AIRSHIP - Customize three Fireproof armors, one for Rikku, one for Auron, and one for another character of your choosing. Steal the required Bomb Cores from Bombs on the Airship. Do this before the Evrae fight. BEVELLE - Lucid Ring found in North West room of Via Purifico. You'll receive the Hp Sphere from the Cloister automatically, but remember to allocate it to Yuna's grid. CALM LANDS - Deathstrike and Evade and Counter Capture weapons. Capture one of each monster in the Calm Lands for the required Farplane Winds. If you are able to, do the Remiem Temple Chocobo Race for Three Stars to Customize a One Mp Cost Weapon. GAGAZET - Hp Sphere. Speak with Wantz. Try to coax a Half Mp Cost drop from the Sanctuary keeper if you didn't get the Three Stars from the Remiem Race, highly recommended, but not necessary. ZANARKAND - Keep walking. KILIKA - Return here once you get the airship to Overkill the Ochu for two Hp Spheres. This is a Rare drop, so you may need to fight it a few times. INSIDE SIN - Phantom Ring. Hp Sphere, Defense Sphere (City of Dying Dreams). BFA EQUIPMENT WEAPON One Mp Cost Zombiestrike Evade and Counter Magic Counter ARMOR Auto Haste Auto Potion Zombieproof Stoneproof = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 10.0 - Boss Quick Reference = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Tros YONS01 Sin's Fin YONS02 Sinspawn Echuilles YONS03 Lord Ochu YONS04 Sinspawn Geneaux and Tentacles YONS05 Oblitzerator YONS06 Chocobo Eater YONS07 Sinspawn Gui YONS08 Sinspawn Gui YONS08A Extractor YONS09 Spherimorph YONS10 Crawler, Negator YONS11 Seymour, Anima YONS12 Wendigo, Guado Guardians YONS13 Evrae YONS14 Isaaru, 3 Aeons YONS15 Evrae Altana YONS16 Seymour Natus YONS17 Defender X YONS18 Seymour Flux, Mortiorchis YONS19 Sanctuary Keeper YONS20 Spectral Keeper YONS21 Lady Yunalesca YONS22 Left Fin YONS23 Right Fin YONS24 Sin, Sinspawn Genais YONS25 Overdrive Sin YONS26 Seymour Flux, Mortiphasms YONS27 Braska's Final Aeon, Yu Pagodas YONS28 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 11.0 - Walkthrough = = = = = = = = = = = = = = For the most part, I'll explain which items you'll need to obtain, give you small strategies for random enemies, and extremely in depth strategies for bosses. Like I said earlier, I may comment on story proceedings, but you should have a firm grasp on the story by now. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ZANARKAND = = = = = = = = = = = = = = This is the boring part. It's just Tidus showing off, signing autographs, etc. You might want to name him something along the lines of "YONS", or "Yuna" to help differentiate between this challenge game and other save files in your load/save menu. It's not a bad idea, the last thing you want to do is save over or delete the file in the middle of the challenge. Go Blitz, watch all hell break loose, go fight Sinspawn Ammes with Auron. Get sucked up into Sin's blowhole. Ewww. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = SPIRA - Baaj Temple Area = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Make sure you get the potions and update your Al Bhed. Then, get the Hi-potion before you fall into the water. You should know what to do here. Escape from Geosgaeno, start your fire, fall asleep, then wake up and fight Klikk. Rikku will come to your rescue, if you need any additional help, you shouldn't be playing this game. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Ocean - Al Bhed Ship = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Now we're on Rikku's ship, kick back, watch Tidus choke on his food. Learn about the sphere grid. Get the 3 potions from the man behind Brother. Here's a tip, if you enter the underwater ship and return to the surface, you can keep receiving Potions from the AL Bhed man, do this until your satisfied with your stock of Potions. Not required by any means, but it couldn't hurt. Fight the random battles as you wish, but remember not to touch that Sphere Grid. = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Tros - YONS01 = = = = = = = = = = = Tros: 2,200 Hp. Have Rikku bombard Tros with Grenades, if she runs out you can steal more from Tros. Tidus should do his part to attack, use his Overdrive if his gauge is full, but have him heal Rikku and himself with Potions if their Hp gets low. Use the Pincer formation when available. If you get Rikku a full Overdrive gauge, Mix two Grenades for Flash Flood. I shouldn't even have written a strategy for this fight. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BESAID = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Your wake up call is a blitz ball to the dome. Could be worse...Meet Wakka, he won't be doing much other than helping you out in underwater fights and a few forced battles. Other than that he'll mostly be whining about the Al Bhed. Follow Wakka to Besaid, agree to be a ringer for the Aurochs. Check in with crusaders, and then head of for the Trials. Oh joy. Make sure to get the Rod of Wisdom in the trials. It's your only sensor weapon for a while. Also, the Magic+ abilities are nice for an added healing boost. See that new shiny summon? Forget about using it. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On the road! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Go through the tutorial battles. Pray a Darktouch rod drops from the Garuda fight. If not, meh. If you really want to get a Darktouch weapon, reset and keep fighting him, it can be useful, but is not necessary. Besides, we're getting a DarkStrike weapon later on in the challenge. Stay around and level up a bit. You might want Yuna to learn the Null spells now, although not necessary, better sooner than later. Now is a good opportunity to get some elemental strike weapons. Dingos can drop any elemental strike, but what we really want is a Firestrike weapon. You can also get these elemental strike weapons in Kilika, so feel free to leave Besaid whenever you wish. The order of importance at this stage in the game would be Firestrike, Waterstrike, Icestrike and Lightningstrike. You don't need any of them really, but they do help a lot. They will be very helpful for the Spherimorph boss fight, but I've also added in a strategy for him for those of you who didn't get any of the strike weapons (courtesy of manudude02). The Sinspawn right before the Kilika trials is the first real Yuna only boss fight and he is weak against fire. Also, getting Waterward/proof armor from a Water Flan wouldn't be a horrible idea, but it too is not necessary. Before you start, it would be wise to buy some Potions, because using Items is faster than casting healing spells in battle. Also, make sure you have a decent amount of Antidotes they will be useful in Kilika, and we can't buy any there. I'd say 30 of each would be more than enough, and they are pretty cheap. If you're going to stick around and fight in Besaid, it would be a good idea to run down to the dock and get the items from the villagers. The priest will hand you a Seeker's Ring (HP+10%). It comes in handy while leveling. As I said earlier, feel free to leave Besaid whenever you want. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = CONDOR, DINGO: Pretty easy, Yuna has a high enough evasion to dodge occasionally, but don't count on it, keep your Hp high and bash away with her rod. Take out the Dingo first, as it deals the most damage, and can Silence Yuna. CONDOR, DINGO, WATER FLAN: Go for the Dingo first, you'll need to keep an eye on your Hp though, as a direct hit from all three enemies can add up to almost 400 Hp damage. It might be best to run from these fights. CONDOR, WATER FLAN: About as difficult as the Dingo/Water Flan combo. The Condor will only hit for 50 or so Hp, but will be relatively difficult to hit. Take out the Condor first, and then focus on the Water Flan. DINGO, WATER FLAN: Take out the Dingo first. These fights will be a pain, as they can team up to deal roughly 220 Hp damage to Yuna, so you'll only get in a two attacks in between healing. Obviously take out the Dingo first, 5 hits maximum. And then take out the Water Flan, it just sits there casting Water over and over again. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = S.S. LIKI (pun, much?) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = After boarding, you should try to talk to Yuna, then Wakka. Ignore Lulu. Go inside the ship and trigger the O'aka event. Donate however much you want, but you don't have to give him anything, Wantz will still sell the weapons and armors in Macalania as long as you talk to him on Gagazet. You'll have such an abundance of money throughout this adventure; you won't need his "discounts" at Operation Mi'Ihen either. Also, check the other rooms. There will be a suitcase and a treasure chest in the cabin. Get as many potions as possible, the charity stops when you reach 20 in your inventory. ***These are two consecutive battles. The first one, Sin's Fin, you are allowed to kill it with any combination of characters as long as Yuna is in the party. The reason being, Yuna cannot attack the Fin at all, so this battle will be an exception to the Yuna Only rule. The second battle will be fought with only Tidus and Wakka for obvious reasons, but remember, you shouldn't be leveling them up at all in this game.*** = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Sin's Fin - YONS02 = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sin's Fin: 2000 hp. Sinscale: 200 hp. Attack the Fin with Lancet, Wakka's ball and any of Lulu's spells. The Yuna Only rule applies to the Sinscales because she's able to attack them, so there's no need for the others to help. You might as well defeat two of them, but leave the third. Before ending this fight, it would be a good idea to charge Wakka and Tidus's Overdrives to help with the follow-up battle, you should also fully heal both of them so that you don't waste turns in the beginning of the next fight. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Sinspawn Echuilles - YONS03 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sinspawn Echuilles: 2000 hp. Hopefully you charged Tidus and Wakka's Overdrives before starting the battle, if not that, hopefully you at least fully healed them. It doesn't matter which elements you use in Wakka's Overdrive, as Euchilles has no strengths or weaknesses to any elements. Keep attacking and heal when necessary. There's no reason to have any problems with this fight. You can get elemental strike weapons or elemental ward armors from this set of battles. Don't recommend restarting just for drops, but they should be mentioned. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = KILIKA = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Watch Yuna dance. Save the child. Get the ether. You know what to do. Don't bother buying weapons or armor, there's nothing important. Save often. Once we get to the woods, you'll start equipment hunting (...groan). Ragoras drop Poisontouch weapons and Poisonward armors; you absolutely need a Poisontouch weapon. A Poisonward armor is nice, but don't hang around trying to get one if you've obtained your Poisontouch weapon. Dinonix (and Killer Bees) also drop a variety of Elemental Strike weapons, once again, not necessary but can be helpful in the future. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DINONIX, KILLER BEE: The Dinonix is top priority, we don't want to be Petrified, do we? If you're Poisoned, use Esuna, don't waste any Antidotes. Both enemies can be brought down with a few attacks, or with a normal Poison strategy. Yuna's high Evasion will allow her to dance around most of the incoming attacks. DINONIX, KILLER BEE, YELLOW ELEMENT: Take out the Dinonix first, as they can stone Yuna, and end the fight very quickly, you will only hit them about half the time, but be patient. Killer Bees should be the second priority, their poison attack will cause problems, be sure to cast Esuna as soon as possible. They can be very difficult to hit, but remember, patience is key, and they can be Poisoned. Take out the Yellow Elements last, use a Waterstrike weapon if possible, and heal when Yuna is below 150 Hp. DINONIX, YELLOW ELEMENT: Take out the Dinonix first, don't want to get stoned by them. Yellow Elements are tedious, just hack away (with a Waterstrike weapon if possible) and heal when Yuna's Hp drops below 150. Really, unless you're trying to get an equipment drop from the Yellow Elements, I'd recommend not fighting them. KILLER BEE(x2), YELLOW ELEMENT: Take out the Bees first, they are as hard to hit as always, but keep at it. If you're Poisoned, Esuna on your next turn. Give the Bees a taste of their own medicine with your Beladonna Wand if you have it already. The Yellow Element will be a pain to take out, naturally. RAGORA: Very simple. Yuna will dodge about half of its attacks, but don't rely on that. A Firestrike weapon will make things go quicker, but even if you don't have one, just attack and heal as needed. Once you get a Poisontouch weapon, these guys are cake. RAGORA(x2): Same strategy as a single Ragora, just watch your Hp, as consecutive hits from Seed shot can really hurt. Once again, a Poisontouch weapon will be extremely helpful. RAGORA, KILLER BEE(x2): Leave the Ragora for now, the Bees can poison, so they are threat numero uno. The Ragora will have a hard time hitting you, but watch you Hp. Use Esuna and Cure when needed, relatively easy fight, unless you have extremely bad luck when trying to hit the Bees. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = KILIKA WOODS = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Get the Mana Spheres and Luck Sphere. You know where they are, you dog, you. Talk to Luzzu twice to receive 4 Antidotes. I don't advise fighting Lord Ochu. We'll want to Overkill him later with Holy so we can obtain 2 Hp Spheres instead of just 1 if we killed him now. Without that Sphere we'd have to alter our final armor to survive BFA's Triumphant Grasp Overdrive. It'd be nice to not have to dedicate a slot just to replace one Hp Sphere that we could easily get later on. Yes, Ochu can drop a Poisontouch weapon, so if you really want to (possibly) get it over more quickly than drop-hunting Bees and Ragoras, you can defeat him and hope for a Beladonna Wand. We can just throw a Hp factor on to Yunie's armor for the final fight. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = After battle... and battle... and battle... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Now that You No Items gamers should have a Poisonward armor, or a ton of Mp. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Boss: Sinspawn Geneaux and Tentacles - YONS05 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sinspawn Geneaux: 3000 hp. Weak to Fire, absorbs Water. Immune to Poison. Tentacle: 450 hp each. Ok, this isn't a hard battle by any means. Though our poison weapons are useless here... you should still have that Poison Ward armor equipped. It will save you a couple turns. Kill off the tentacles first. They will take out 100 or so Hp, IF they hit, Yuna's evasion rate is extremely helpful here. The main body's Sigh attack deals a little more than 100. Once Geneaux comes out of hiding, it will alternate between three attacks. Venom will absolutely poison Yuna if she isn't protected by poison ward, and even if she is, there's still a 50% chance. Water is just that, a water attack, it will do 60-70 points of damage, no worries here. Staccato can become a problem, it deals upwards of 140 points of damage. Just make sure to heal up when below 200 Hp, and cure poison when needed. This fight can be won without Firestrike, but you could always use the extra help. No Items: The fight plays out just like explained in the above post, you just have to rely on Cure and Esuna instead of Antidotes and Potions. If you don't have a Poisonward armor, I'd advise that you have at least 144 Mp, and/or a Firestrike weapon. You'll run out of Mp pretty fast if you're healing and curing Poison on every third round against Geneaux while dealing 11 damage on each hit. You'll want to lean on Pray as your source of healing instead of Cure to save Mp. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = After battle, to the trials! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Complete the Cloister of Trials and get the heck out of Kilika. Walk through town, sell the junk you don't need, and get on the boat. We're heading for Luca baby. Get ready for a small session of harvesting Workers for X-Potions. Get the Jecht shot on the boat, as if you needed to be told. = = = = = = = = = = LUCA = = = = = = = = = = Watch scenes, do what ever. BUY THE STUNNING STEEL! FROM O'AKA! I REPEAT, BUY THE STUNNING STEEL! You'll need it for a couple bosses where Yuna can't be used. Do not forget to grab the Hp Sphere, and the Magic Sphere. These can be found in various treasure chests that are on the docks. Yuna kidnapped, oh noes! She can wait...off to harvest workers. I suggest getting at the 40-50 X-Potions minimum. There are two ways to go about getting the X Potions we need for the Auto Potion ability we're putting in our armor for the BFA fight. The first is harvesting Workers, here in Luca. The second method is only available the first time we get to Bikanel. We would be stealing them from the chests that appear in the Zu fights in the Western half of the Central area. But this can only be done the first time in Bikanel, because Yuna is not with the party at that time, and we're allowed to use everyone else in a NSG format. So the decision is up to you. There are pros and cons to both strategies. Workers can drop Elemental Strike weapons and SOS Null armors, so that's a plus. Not to mention that they will go down in one Thunder from Lulu. As for the Bikanel method, it would also present us with an opportunity to steal a massive amount of Smoke Bombs from the Zus, which will be of some use to us. Make your decision; ultimately, it won't affect a whole lot. Now, since the Workers are your friends... They'll drop you nice equipment. They drop Elemental Strike weapons and SOS Null armors. You could finish getting Yuna's four strikes and maybe even a couple SOS nulls (Blaze at least) while you're here. They'll come in very handy on the way to Operation Mi'Ihen. Once again, the elemental strikes aren't the biggest deal in the world, but you'll want to get them eventually. You will also get a healthy supply of Hi-Potions, as they are the common drop from Workers, and X Potion their rare drop. I recommend that you have Tidus and Kimahri Escape the fight, and have Lu cast Thunder on every Worker you encounter. You won't need to worry about running out of Mp, as there's a save sphere right next to you, just make sure not to accidentally trigger the Oblitzerator fight. Set Lulu's Overdrive mode to Slayer when she learns it (it won't take long). She will dodge a good number of attacks because of her high evasion stat, so that won't be a problem either. This will take a long time, so be patient. Save every half dozen X potions. I HIGHLY recommend getting an SOS NulBlaze Ring from the Workers. We will be power leveling at Mushroom Rock Road to learn Reflect, and many of the enemies in that area use Fire spells, and the Ring will make it a heck of a lot easier to deal with the many random encounters that you will be fighting. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Oblitzerator - YONS06 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Oblitzerator: 6000. Oh Crane, how I love thee...First off, Lulu will need to hit the crane with a Thunder spell three times. Once the crane has powered up, have Tidus use the Trigger Command [Use] to severely damage the Oblitzerator. After the crane takes out a chunk of Hp, finish it off with a thunder spell or a physical attack. If you have Lulu's Overdrive ready, you can Overkill this guy so you receive another Elixir, or another two if you get his rare item drop. Yunie's rescued. Yay! Last but not least, make sure to win the Blitzball match against the Goers, that Strength sphere will be essential for Yuna. It's not too difficult, but it can be frustrating for a less experienced Blitzer. If you aren't that good at Blitz, do yourself a favor; once you take the lead, hold the ball near your own goal, so the Goers don't steal it, and run out the clock. A few tips on the Blitz match: -There's not a whole lot you can do against the Goers when they're on offense, you'll be relying on the random number generator going in your favor. -A good tactic to get Tidus the ball would be to take Jassu or Letty and swim up the left side (bottom on the map) of the Sphere Pool and shadow Tidus as they both head towards the goal. Stay on the perimeter of the Sphere Pool and when the defender comes for Jassu/Letty, pass to Tidus when he has swum free of the defender's range. Get as close to the goal as possible without initiating an encounter, because you'll most likely get the ball stolen from you. Take a shot at the goal, Tidus's SH stat is 10, while Raudy's CA stat is 8, so there's a good chance for you to score (Raudy's CA will range from 4 to 12). -At the half, I recommend that you equip Jecht Shot. Usually I would opt for Sphere Shot instead, but you'll most likely only be able to use either of these once (and even if twice, Sphere Shot can't be used more than once without powerleveling Tidus in the first half) and you won't need the extra SH value you'll most likely get from Sphere Shot. -At the 3:00 mark in the second half, Tidus will leave the Sphere Pool and be replaced by Wakka. Wakka will have an easier time scoring on Raudy, because his SH is 13, with another 3 on top of that from Venom Shot. -If you have a lead at any time in the second half, swim to your goal and hold the ball next to Keepa. The Goers will very rarely come up to you and initiate an encounter, so this is a safe area to let the time run out. If you do this before the 3:00 mark, be aware the Goers could win the next Blitzoff and score on you. Storyline...Tidus gets loud with Auron. Auron becomes a guardian. Tidus and Yuna laugh...God I wish there was an event skip option. Time to shove off to the Highroad. = = = = = = = = = = = MI'IHEN HIGHROAD = = = = = = = = = = = We can now Blitz, so take those suckers for all they're worth. They don't give many good items, but every bit helps. It would be a good idea to play some Blitz to get a Teleport Sphere, the Evade & Counter ability will be helpful, especially when used in conjunction with the Stonetouch weapon we will be trying to get later on. You don't have to play Blitz immediately for it, but once you get the Stonetouch weapon, you'll want a Teleport Sphere to add to it. Evade and Counter will be a great asset for random battles as well, mostly for the Evade part of it, enemies such as wolves and lizards become harmless, as do other strictly physically attacking enemies. The soonest we can get a Teleport without Blitz is Bikanel, so either get one from Blitz, or resign yourself to not having E & C for a while. You should also work the prize lists so that you can get a Return Sphere from Blitzing as well as the Teleport Sphere. Having a First Strike + Evade and Counter + Stonetouch weapon will make you unstoppable, for the most part. Keep in mind that it is also possible to pick up a Silencetouch weapons from the Dual Horns in the area, so if you want to spend time getting one, by all means do. I didn't go for one in my first play through, but it would've been helpful if I did. Anyway...here are the Fiends. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *This section includes all encounters on the Highroad and Oldroad.* BOMB: Very easy. Poison it, and cast NulBlaze every turn until it dies. If you don't Poison it on the second attempt at the latest, run away. Doesn't happen a whole lot, but don't be surprised if it does. BOMB(x3): Essentially the same strategy as with the one Bomb. Unless you have either a Fire Ward or SOS NulBlaze armor, I would escape. Three of these guys can cause you problems, even with the armor. If you're feeling brave, try to poison them all and Cure on every turn afterwards. BOMB(x2), Dual Horn: A relatively simple fight. Both of these enemy types can be Poisoned, as detailed in the strategies above. Poison the Dual Horn first, as it has the highest damage capability, once you've taken care of that, Blind him if you want. Then heal until the Dual Horn dies, and start working on the Bombs with your Pointouch weapon. Remember though, if you haven't Poisoned the Bombs by the second strike, run away. BOMB, FLOATING EYE: Not really difficult at all, as long as you aren't Confused by the Floating Eye. Poison the Bomb of course, and then concentrate on the Floating Eye. Poisoning the Bomb should be the first priority in the fight, because it will be difficult to hit the Floating Eye, and the Bomb will die of Poison before you kill the Eye. BOMB (x2), FLOATING EYE: If you have Fire Ward armor, use it, obviously. This fight is different than the others with Floating Eyes, I recommend that you Poison the Bombs first, and then focus your attacks on the Floating Eye, strictly because of the damage potential of two Bombs. BOMB (x2), THUNDER FLAN: Poison the Flan first, then do the same with the Bombs. Remember, if you've hit a Bomb twice, and it still isn't Poisoned, give up on it and escape. DUAL HORN: These guys are also susceptible to poison, couple that with Yuna's high Evasion stat, and this isn't as hard as it looks. Once it's Poisoned, keep Yuna's Hp as high as you can, you don't want one of its attacks to hit Yuna, and kill her. If you have a Darktouch weapon give it a try before you Poison it; this will make the fight a bit easier. DUAL HORN, MI'IHEN FANG: Another relatively easy encounter. I wouldn't worry too much about the Fang to begin with as once again the Dual Horn is the greatest threat, but do beware that that Mi'Ihen Fang can cause a sleep effect. You'll most likely kill the Fang before Poisoning it, but you might as well use your Poisontouch weapon to do the dirty work. DUAL HORN, RALDO: Dual Horn is once again the biggest threat here. Poison it, and do the same with the Raldo. Be very careful though, these guys can send Yuna to the Farplane pretty quickly if you don't watch your Hp, but they will both have a hard time hitting her, Praise be to Yevon. DUAL HORN, THUNDER FLAN: Poison the Dual Horn first, and then the Thunder Flan. You'll want to focus on keeping Yuna's Hp high, you don't want to get run over by that Dual Horn. DUAL HORN (x2), VOUIVRE: This is easily the most dangerous random encounter in the area. If both Dual Horns land a direct hit, as well as the Vouivre, say goodbye to Yuna. If you decide to fight this battle, hopefully you'll have a Darktouch weapon in your possession. Dual Horns and Vouivres can both be Poisoned, so use that to your advantage. FLOATING EYE, IPIRIA, VOUIVRE: The Vouivre will be the top priority here,it shouldn't be too difficult to Poison. Move along to the Ipiria, which will be more difficult to Poison, due to its Evasion rate and Yuna's crappy Accuracy rating. The Floating Eye will be the last to go, hopefully it hasn't Confused you, and if it has, just make sure to cure that Poison (if you are inflicted when you undoubtedly strike yourself out of the Confusion state). FLOATING EYE, MI'IHEN FANG, RALDO: Raldo should be your first target, again because of its low evasion rate. Your next target should be the Floating Eye, confusion can be a game killer, so either try to poison it, or take it out with a LightningStrike weapon. The Fang will be your last target, either Firestrike or attempt to poison it. FLOATING EYE, MI'IHEN FANG, WHITE ELEMENT: Floating Eye has priority once again, damn confusion status. Mi'Ihen Fang gets priority over the Element, as usual, watch out for the Sleep status effect from the Fang, and don't be afraid to run after the Floating Eye and Mi'ihen Fang die, Elements are just too tedious of a fight at this point. FLOATING EYE, THUNDER FLAN, VOUIVRE: Begin the battle by giving the Vouivre and the Thunder Flan a taste of that Poisontouch weapon, hopefully both are poisoned on the first hit, if not, keep at it until they are. The Floating Eye is just as much of a pain as always. Not a whole lot to do with this guy than pray that you hit him, and keep at it. Be aware of the dangers of having a Poisontouch weapon equipped while fighting a monster that can confuse you. FLOATING EYE, RALDO, WHITE ELEMENT: Raldo takes priority again, attempt to Poison it, shouldn't be a hassle to do so. The Floating Eye will be a pain, but remember, Poison works, as does a Lightningstrike weapon. White Elements are still a pain in the bum, either suck it up, or run away. IPIRIA, THUNDER FLAN, VOUIVRE: Tag the Flan the Vouivre with your Poisontouch weapon first, they will be easily Poisoned. Once those two are Poisoned, do the same with the Ipiria, it might be hard to hit it though, as it has pretty high evasion. MI'IHEN FANG: Really, I shouldn't be writing a strategy for this one, but hey this is a FAQ. Anyway, these guys are susceptible to Poison, but you could also take them out with a few hits of that Firestrike weapon, if you have one. These enemies, like all wolf type enemies, can afflict Yuna with statuses, Sleep and Silence in this case but it's still only a 10% chance for either of these to happen. MI'IHEN FANG(x2): Yeah, same as above really, keep an eye on your Hp, because they can cause a sleep effect occasionally (as well as Silence), and you could be attacked upwards of four times in a row. As stated earlier, Poison and Firestrike are effective. MI'IHEN FANG, RALDO, WHITE ELEMENT: As stated before, the Fang can cause Sleep and Silence attacks, so cautious of that. I would Poison the Raldo first, as it won't be able to evade Yuna's attacks, then get to work on the Fang. If you've noticed, Elements are normally the last enemy I take care of in a group, because it will take some work to kill them. If you have Ice Ward armor, don't be afraid to equip it, it will cut down on the frequency of healing. THUNDER FLAN, VOUIVRE: This is one of the easier battles. Both enemies can be Poisoned, and neither of them have status effect attacks. Poison the Vouivre first, and then attempt to do the same with the Flan. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Traversing the Highroad = = = = = = = = = = = = = Do not forget to reap the rewards of the followers of Yevon. Of the important items given to Yuna, a Red Ring is the most useful. Open all the chests, talk to whomever you please, too bad you can't avoid Shelinda, God I hate her. Make sure you speak with Belgimine and accept her challenge. When you are ordered to Summon, escape the battle. Yes, you will lose the fight, but you will be rewarded with a nice piece of equipment; a Ring with a Hp +10% ability. Auron decides that it's wise for the party to get some rest. Can't imagine that he's tired, he just wants to have his way. Go through the scenes; listen to Tidus' horrible Blitzball analogy and poor attempts at small talk with Yunie. When you awake the next morning, you find out a fiend is terrorizing the Chocobos. Speak to a customer in the shop to receive a Lv. 1 Key Sphere, and you might as well buy a Pearl Ring from the clerk on the left. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Chocobo Eater - YONS07 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Chocobo Eater: 10,000 Hp. Weak against Fire, can be poisoned. Like it matters... I was extremely determined to try and at least stay atop the cliff in this fight, I figured it to be impossible, and I'll let you know why. It takes 1,201 damage to knock the C. Eater on his back, and then an additional 501 to push him back. Obviously there is no way Yuna herself can dish out this much damage. He can be poisoned, and each turn while poisoned he loses 500 Hp, so I thought it would be doable if I got lucky with the attacks he chose. Well apparently, the poison damage does not get included in the "knock over" and "push back" damage counters. If it did, then I believe it would be possible, although still unlikely to deplete his Hp. Anyways, it doesn't add on, so just keep Yuna alive long enough to be pushed off the cliff. Don't say I didn't try... No Items: Wasn't happening with items, it's not happening without them. Sorry. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On the (High)road again... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Save at the Sphere near where you fell. Buy items from O'aka if needed. Make your way up to the blocked off passage. Talk to Dona, and then get a Chocobo if you want to get all those hard to reach items on the road you just came from. Maester Seymour shows up and hits on Yuna in his own subtle way. If you donate 10,000 Gil to operation Mi'Ihen, you will be given a Moon Ring, which comes with SOS Shell and SOS Protect, which can be pretty handy, and I guarantee you have enough money to throw around. So I'm telling you, buy the Moon Ring, there's no reason to be cheap in this game, it will be very helpful in an upcoming boss battle. After doing all this, proceed to Mushroom Rock. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MUSHROOM ROCK ROAD - Power leveling = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = This is where this challenge separates the men from the boys. For an upcoming boss fight, we will need the aid of Reflect...and yes, I know it's over 40+ sphere levels until you learn it. I doubled my play time leveling for this spell, it is not fun. The biggest AP output for an encounter up to this point is 170, from Garudas. They rarely appear, but are the easiest fight in the area. Poison will naturally kill them in 4 turns. The other fights aren't extremely difficult, if you have a Red Ring/SOS NulBlaze ring. I highly recommend having a second TV with cable/satellite hooked up to it, so you don't die of boredom. Keep in mind that the last 10 sphere levels take around 4000-5500 AP to acquire. If there was anyway around this, someone would've figured it out, sadly, this is the only way to deal with the upcoming boss fight. No Items: Holy. Have fun. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = FUNGUAR, GANDEREWA, RED ELEMENT: Silence the Red Element. This fight could become a liability if the Funguar counters with Pollen, as there are no physically attacking monsters to wake you up, so you could easily die. The SOS NulBlaze Ring will of great help in this fight. FUNGUAR (x2), GARUDA: That SOS Nulblaze Ring will be incredibly helpful here. Make sure to Poison the Garuda before you think about attacking the Funguars. Once the Garuda is Poisoned, so the same to the Funguars, you won't be in danger of dying while asleep as long as you have the Nulblaze ring equipped. FUNGUAR (x2), RAPTOR: If you picked up an SOS NulBlaze Ring in Luca, this fight will be very easy, if not, have fun... Both enemies can be Poisoned, just pray to God that the Funguars don't counter with Pollen. The best way to take these guys out is to Poison the Funguars first, so that if they do counter with Pollen, the Raptor will be there to physically attack Yuna and wake her up. If you fall asleep and don't have an SOS NulBlaze Ring, and there's no Raptor to wake you up, you're pretty much screwed. Keep in mind that Raptors can both Silence and Petrify Yuna, but have a very low possibility of doing so. FUNGUAR, RAPTOR, RED ELEMENT: Silence the Red Element (if you can), after that attempt to Poison the Funguar before doing so with the Raptor. Don't bother attacking the Funguar after it is Poisoned, Pollen can be a pain. GANDEREWA, LAMASHTU, RED ELEMENT: No Funguars this time. After Silencing the Red Element, you can really take these enemies out in any order you please, just be sure to keep your Hp high. GANDEREWA, RAPTOR, RED ELEMENT: Silencing the Red Element is again the first priority, you could also do the same with the Ganderewa, but he'll be dying quickly anyway. The Raptor should take priority over the Ganderewa, once again, we want to avoid Petrification. And yes, the Ganderewa can be Poisoned. GARUDA: Begin the fight by smacking the Garuda with your Darktouch weapon, and follow that up with your Poisontouch weapon. Just like most monsters, he will fall after 4 turns of being Poisoned, it sure is fun to see him take 1,000 damage each turn too. LAMASHTU, RAPTOR, RED ELEMENT: If you picked up a Silencetouch weapon, go ahead and use it on the Red Element, for obvious reasons. I'd say take out the Raptor first, you don't want to get Petrified. The Lamashtu isn't too much of a threat, but certainly more than a Silenced Element. Poison the Lamashtu and then focus on the Element (you do have an Icestrike weapon... right?). Soon the Lamashtu will die off, as will the Element...eventually. = = = = = = = = = = = OPERATION MI'IHEN = = = = = = = = = = = Do everything you need to prepare for the Sinspawn Gui fight. Buy a bunch of antidotes, you should have a stockpile of Hi-Potions from Worker harvesting. Decide whether or not Luzzu or Gatta should perish in the upcoming events, I always kill off Gatta, doesn't matter though. Do yourself a favor and buy the Red Ring from O'aka, not only does it come with Fire Ward, but also SOS Nultide, which will be helpful in Macalania Woods. View the scene with Kinoc, collect the treasure in the surrounding area, and then speak with the Crusader to start the Gui fight. You'll also want to buy Wakka's TKO (trust me, you have the money) to help take care of some random enemies in the underwater areas much later in the game. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BUY THE TKO FOR WAKKA. If you have the cash, you should also invest in the Sentry for Auron, it will be helpful in Bikanel. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Sinspawn Gui - First fight - YONS08 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sinspawn Gui: 12,000 Hp Head: 4000 Hp Arms: 800 Hp each Gui is actually a simple fight, just lengthy. (You No Items gamers just skip to the bottom of this strategy). Before going into the battle, make sure to equip a Serum Ring (if you have one, and a weapon of your choice, I prefer the Rod of Wisdom, for healing purposes and to keep an eye on his slowly depleting Hp. Start the battle by casting Shell and Protect on Yuna, and then Reflect on both Yuna, and Gui's body. For the love of God make sure to cast Shell and Protect, it makes the battle a lot more tolerable. This is actually two bosses in one, the Head, and Gui himself, they act independently of each other, and they both have set attack patterns. The body alternates between a punch attack and Demi. Demi naturally takes down 1/4 of your current Hp, but is reduced to 1/8 with Shell. The punch attack can be brought down to around 350 with Protect, and half that while defending, which you'll be doing pretty much every turn unless you're curing poison or healing. When Gui's Hp drops below 4000, the body will begin to use Demi more often than the punch attack, the pattern changes to Punch - Demi (X # of times) - Punch - Demi (X # of times). He could theoretically use Demi up to 50 times, but don't count on it. The head has two attacks, Venom, and Thunder. It operates in the following manner: It will cast Thunder, on the next turn you will see a message "The head is moving suspiciously", which means it's preparing to use Venom on its next turn, and then it uses Venom. Venom does around 400 Hp damage to Yuna (isn't halved by either protect or shell), and will poison her every time, but the Serum Ring will cut the frequency down to about half the time. Thunder is your only semi effective means of damaging Gui. Thunder will be reflected back towards the body for a little less than 200 Hp damage each time. I should mention that it is believed that the Head "donates" its turn to the body, and the body then casts Thunder, this is the only feasible explanation as to why the Reflected Thunders hit the body and not the head. Either way, Thunder is cast on the Head's turn, so that is why I classify it as part of the Head's attack pattern; it's just simpler this way. As for curing and removing poison, I prefer to use Antidotes and Hi potions, because Items have a faster recovery time than spells. Not to mention that Cure/Cura are halved by the Shell that we will set up. You'll have a surplus of hi potions from harvesting workers in Luca, and antidotes are extremely inexpensive. If you decide to use magic, make sure to set up reflect on the body and bounce spells off the body towards Yuna. After what seems like an eternity, Gui will eventually kill himself. No Items strat: Use Holy. Twice. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Sinspawn Gui - Second fight - YONS08A = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Gui: 6000 Hp Head: 1000 Hp Arms: 800 Hp each Follow the exact same strategy as described above. The fight will play out in the exact same manner as the first one. The only difference is Gui's lowered Hp values and his physical attack is only half as powerful as it used to be. No Items strat: Use Holy. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DJOSE HIGHROAD = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Alright, now that THAT's over with, we can get on with our game. Story sequences play out, everyone ends up smiling. Back to our favorite activity, running down a road. Don't forget to speak with everyone you pass by, as most of them will offer a weapon, or item to aid you in your quest. The most important of these items is the Soft Ring, which bears the Stoneproof ability. There will also be a few chests to check out. I highly recommend fighting Basilisks for a stonetouch weapon (Break Rod). Actually, GET THE STONETOUCH WEAPON, I'M TELLING YOU, YOU MUST GET THIS WEAPON! Many of my post-Djose random encounter strategies will involve the use of a stonetouch weapon. It's very useful, and can easily dispatch difficult Fiends, such as Ochus. The good thing about this is that the drop rate is relatively high for a random encounter. Now, you're going to hate me, but I recommend that you get a Stonetouch weapon with at least one free slot, so we can use our Teleport Sphere (if you got one from Blitzing, if not, you'll get a few later) to customize Evade & Counter onto the weapon, making random enemies much easier to deal with. Some of the fiends will still present a challenge, even after all that training, so that brings us to... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = = **Special Note: Once you obtain your Stonetouch weapon, all of these enemies, with the exception of Basilisks can be Petrified.** BASILISK(x2): First off, don't fight these guys without Yuna's Stoneproof Ring, received from the Crusader on the Highroad. They only have two attacks, a physical attack, and Stone Gaze. Stone Gaze is worthless for them if you have the Stoneproof Ring, and the physical attacks only cause around 100-120 damage to Yuna. Poison only takes down 5% of their Hp, so Poison them and keep attacking to speed things up. Once your other characters are dead, or have been petrified, Basilisks won't use Stone Gaze again. BASILISK, BITE BUG(x2): Same deal with the Basilisk, keep that Stoneproof Ring on, and Poison it. While the Basilisk is slowly dying, try to take care of the Bite Bugs, they can be Poisoned, but will also fall with a few strikes from an Icestrike weapon. Poison Ward will be enough to negate the possibility of being Poisoned by the Bite Bugs. BASILISK, FUNGUAR(x2): Time to have us some fun! Remember that Stoneproof Ring, and cast Reflect on Yuna. Watch the Funguars smite themselves with their own Fire! If they don't kill themselves, they will be very close, so give them a whack from any of Yuna's weapons. The Basilisk should be Poisoned right after setting up Reflect, and after the Funguars die, focus your attacks on the big guy. BITE BUG(x2), FUNGUAR: Reflect, again, the Funguar will do your dirty work for you. The Bite Bugs will be difficult to hit, but keep at it, keep in mind that they can Poison you too, so don't be afraid to use an antidote if need be. Snow Flan, Bunyip, Garm: Garms can Silence and Sleep Yuna, which isn't too big of a deal. Poison the Bunyip, then the Snow Flan, and then start working on the Garm. Just like every other wolf enemy, the Garm will be very difficult to hit. Keep at it while the Bunyip and Snow Flan slowly die from Poison. BITE BUG(x2), SIMRURGH: Go about this one any way you like. This will be a long fight, because of Yuna's crappy accuracy, so if you're getting frustrated, you might as well run. If not, then attempt to Poison them all, heal when you need to, and take care of the Poison and Blind status effects if and when they arise. The Simurgh will be incredible easy to beat down or Petrify, because of its lack of an Evasion stat. You heard me, these guys have a 0 Evasion stat. Regardless of the reason why, it's a blessing, so just take it in stride. BUNYIP, GARM, SIMURGH: Yuna's Evasion will help out a lot in this fight. I recommend Poisoning the Bunyip, and then the Simurgh before going after the Garm. The Simurgh still has a zero evasion rate, which is odd for a flying enemy. Good job on that one Square! GANDEREWA(x2), SNOW FLAN: You can go about this fight two ways. You can Poison all the enemies, and just wait for them to die. Or you could kill off the Snow Flan, and then set up Reflect and have the Ganderewas kill themselves with a couple of their Thunders. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DJOSE TEMPLE = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Not much to do here but to open the chestS, and watch Gatta/Luzzu's freak out scene. Some of the Yevonites will hook you up with some gifts, so speak to everyone. Get Yuna's new Aeon, save, and leave. "Moonflow baby here we come!" = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MOONFLOW - SOUTH BANK = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Random fights are cake, after you've found a stonetouch weapon that is. Go ahead and get your redemption on the Ochus. They drop status ward armor, and have a really high drop rate, so take your time and pick up whatever you need, although there's nothing specific that I would say you absolutely need. As stated earlier, you will undoubtedly have enough cash to splurge on weapons and armor; there are multiple peddlers, some of which have some useful equipment. Talk to all of them, and buy what you need. When you're done, prepare to hop aboard the Shoopuff. Equip Tidus with the Stunning Steel, and Wakka with a Lightning Strike weapon if possible; it'll help for the upcoming underwater battle. Ride ze shoopuff... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Extractor - YONS09 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Extractor: 4000 Hp. Weak against lightning, strong against Fire/Water/Ice. This is one of the reasons why you should have bought the Stunning steel from O'aka, as it will Slow the Extractor. Slow it to start off with. Attack with Lightningstrike weapons, use Spriral Cut and Lighting Reels. Depth charges will deal around 350 damage and cause darkness to Tidus and Wakka. Eventually, this thing will crap out. Heal when you need to. This can be a difficult fight if you're not used to NSG games. Those Hi Potions will be handy. If you see the message "Readying Depth Charges," you'll need to deal 500 points of damage to prevent the Depth Charges from being used. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MOONFLOW - NORTH BANK = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Find Rikku and go through her battle tutorial. Make sure not to use those Bomb Cores when it tells you to, just use two Power Spheres. Not a whole lot to do here other than pick up treasures and make your way up to Guadosalam. Make sure you pick up the Magic Defense Sphere before you head up to Guadosalam. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BITE BUG, BUNYIP, GARM: The Bunyip will be the easiest enemy to Petrify, as it won't be able to evade Yuna's attacks. After that target the Garm, and then the Bite Bug. BITE BUG(x2), BUNYIP, TREASURE CHEST: See the chest? Don't touch it. Bunyip will take priority, obviously. Bite Bugs are still a pain to hit, but can still be Petrified. BITE BUG(x2), OCHU: The most difficult Ochu fight on the Moonflow, simply because Bite Bugs are a pain to hit. They too can be Petrified, so give them a taste of your Break Rod after you deal with the Ochu. Equipping your Serum Ring at the start of the fight will help ensure that you won't be doing much more than attacking. BITE BUG(x2), TREASURE CHEST: Don't touch the chest. Equip the Serum Ring to help prevent the Poison status effects. These guys are much harder to hit than Garms, so be patient, or run. BUNYIP, GARM, SNOW FLAN: The priority should be with the Snow Flan and Bunyip, as they are the easiest to hit, and yes, we'll be Petrifying them again. After that, do what you will with the Garm, I recommend Petrifying it as well. BUNYIP, GARM, TREASURE CHEST: Can't steal the treasure. Petrify the Bunyip, shouldn't take more than a few attempts. The Garm, as always, will be difficult to hit, but keep at with the Break Rod. FUNGUAR(x2), GANDEREWA: Just set up reflect and defend repeatedly. There's nothing else you'll need to do in this fight. The Funguars will kill themselves in two hits (possibly one), and the Ganderewa will go down after two of its Thunders. GARM, OCHU: Not a whole lot different than the Ochu fight. Start off by Petrifying the Ochu (it's just too easy, isn't it?). Once the big guy is gone, do the same to his pet. OCHU: Smack the Ochu a few times with the Stonetouch weapon, and he will be Petrified by one of the hits, and then shatter. If there were to be any preparation for this fight, I'd advise you to equip your Serum Ring, just to help prevent being Poisoned. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = GUADOSALAM = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The home to the ugliest race in Spira, I mean really, God must have been looking the other way with this group. Anyway, progress the storyline. On your way in/out of the Farplane, don't forget to grab the 8 Lightning Marbles from the chest, we'll be using these to customize a Lightningproof armor for Yuna so she can easily make her way past the Thunder Plains. I recommend that you customize that ability on to our Soft Ring from Djose. Do yourself a favor and pick up Lulu's Fatal Cait Sith, this will help the party out in Bikanel. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THUNDER PLAINS = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Alright, with our Stonetouch weapon, and Lightningproof armor, we should be pretty safe. The one big objective we have here is to dodge 100 bolts of lightning so we can be rewarded with 3 Strength Spheres and 3 Hp Spheres, we will need the extra strength for an upcoming boss battle, and we will eventually need the Hp Spheres for the BFA fight. Lightning Dodging is a difficult task for many gamers, but we absolutely need those Strength Spheres (50 bolts), and those Hp Spheres (100 bolts). Since we don't have a [No Encounters] armor yet, this may seem extremely difficult. Here's a decent strategy for dodging these bolts relatively easily. Alright, we all know that outcropping in the south area that houses a Cactuar stone and a chest containing Wakka's Water Ball right? If you position Tidus between the Cactuar stone and the south wall correctly (it may take some time to get right), he won't move away after dodging a bolt, thus, you won't have to move around at all, thus no random encounters. This makes it very easy to keep your focus, and to not get unlucky and face a random battle right before a strike hits Tidus. Stay here until you dodge 100 bolts, and then go claim your prizes. You'll be rewarded with 2 X potions, 2 Mega potions, 2 Mp spheres, 3 Strength Spheres, and 3 Hp spheres. Well worth the effort if I do say so myself. When you stop by the Travel Agency, buy as many Maps as you can. During the time we spend in Bikanel without Yuna, they will be very handy for Mixing Potato Masher with Rikku. No reason to get strange with the change when buying Maps here, 99 of them only cost 4,950 Gil, which I guarantee you have to spare. You should also fight a few Qactuars in hopes of getting an Initiative weapon for someone either than Tidus, Rikku, and Yuna. The reason for this is that Yuna won't be with us in Bikanel, Tidus will have the Sonic Steel equipped the whole time, and Rikku will be in the back row so that Tidus can be switched out for her on the first action of each battle. If you're ambushed in Bikanel, it's most likely a game over, so it is highly recommended that you get one of these weapons. This is only necessary if you didn't buy the Sentry for Auron at Operation Mi'ihen. No Items gamers: You'll need to farm Iron Giants (Northern area only) for an SOS Regen armor for Yuna. Use your Stonetouch weapon, of course. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = = AEROUGE, BUER, GOLD ELEMENT: The Buer is the only enemy that can do you harm as long as you keep that Lightningproof armor equipped, so take it out first. The Break Rod will be more than enough to deal with the Buer, along with the Aerouge. The Gold Element should be dealt with with a Waterstrike weapon. AEROUGE, KUSARIQQU, MELUSINE: Either cast Reflect, or ignore the Aerouge for now. The Kusariqqu will be easily Petrified, because of its low evasion rate. The Melusine can Petrify and Silence Yuna, so it's next on this list. If you didn't cast Reflect on Yuna at the beginning of the fight, take out the Aerouge with the Break Rod. AEROUGE(x2), LARVA: Having your Lightningproof armor equipped will ensure that you won't be damaged at all in this fight, allowing you to Petrify these enemies without any kind of a threat, consider it free AP. BUER(x2), IRON GIANT: Start off with the Iron Giant, Petrify him, hopefully he goes down in one or two hits. The Buers can be problematic, especially since we have a Stonetouch weapon in our hands, and they can confuse us. You could most certainly take them out with a few hits from a Waterstrike weapon, and that would eliminate the risk of accidentally Stoning yourself. BUER, GOLD ELEMENT, KUSARIQQU: The priority should lie first with the Kusariqqu, and we've already discussed why, it's incredibly easy to hit. It's still a liability to have the Buer floating around, so concentrate on it next, don't want to be confused now, do we? The Gold Element is still a tedious fight, so just take your time, hopefully you have a Waterstrike weapon handy. BUER, GOLD ELEMENT, MELUSINE: Pay the Gold Element no mind for now. The Buer is the biggest threat, but I would take out the Melusine first, considering it will be easier to hit than the Buer, and can cause Silence and Petrify. The Buer would come next, and it's still a pain to hit, due to its relatively high evasion rate towards Yuna's attacks. Finish off the Element with a Waterstrike weapon after the other two enemies have been dealt with. GOLD ELEMENT, LARVA: Another fight in which the Lightningproof armor will grant you invincibility. Take out the Larva first, and then whip out your Waterstrike weapon for the Gold Element. IRON GIANT: Surprisingly easy. These guys don't have an immunity to Petrification, so you know what that means, Break Rod for the win. You would have to get unlucky to die in this fight, but don't be over confident, keep your Hp high. LARVA(x2): These guys are very simple. Keep that Lightningproof armor equipped, and you'll be invincible. Just attack until these two are Petrified, there's really nothing more to say. QACTUAR: Talk about a pain. The only saving grace is that Qactuars can also be petrified. They can attack with something called 1,000 Needles, which will do exactly 1000 Hp damage to Yuna, so be prepared for that. Qactuars also have a tendency to run away a lot, so don't let that get to you. QACTUAR(x2): Pretty much the same as a single Qactuar fight, just be prepared for the 1000 Needles attack, and you'll be golden. At least one Qactuar will run away, don't be surprised if both do. QACTUAR(x3) Hmmm, let's see. 1000 Needles? Check. I've seen all three of these guys run away on their first turn, so don't be surprised if you see it happen. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MACALANIA WOODS = = = = = = = = = = = = = = At the end of the path, you'll meet O'aka. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BUY THE SONIC STEEL FOR TIDUS. This is another weapon that will help us out when Yuna goes missing (groan...). If you're good at it, do the Butterfly catcher mini games. Make sure you have allocated the Strength Spheres and Hp Spheres to Yuna's grid before the Spherimorph fight. It's already an extremely long fight, and you'll only be physically attacking it. Obviously the Strength spheres have priority over the Hp Sphere at the moment. YOU MUST TRAIN YUNA UNTIL SHE LEARNES HOLY! THERE IS NO WAY TO ADVANCE IN THE GAME IF YOU DON'T DO IT NOW. You won't need it until you go to Macalania Temple, but that's just right around the corner, and the enemies here offer the best AP, and they all are able to be petrified, with the exception of the Blue Elements. = = = = = = = = = = = = Let's Blitz! = = = = = = = = = = = = ***First off, for those of us that have collected all the Al Bhed Primers(and have compiled them), we will be given 99 Underdog Secrets from Rin, so we're cool, just skip this section and continue on to the Crawler fight.*** Yeah, I can hear the groans already. Here's the deal, for the Evrae fight in the distant future, we will need an Underdog's Secret to Mix with our Level 4 Key Sphere that we will get at Home, for Trio of 9999. This will make the fight a breeze. Why do I bring this up now? Because soon we will lose the ability to Blitz until we reach the Calm Lands, which is AFTER the Evrae fight. Underdog's Secrets can be won in Blitzball, as a League prize for finishing in first place, and yes, League is the 10 game series, so this will take a while. What you need to do is either finish a League, and quit before you see the prizes for the new League, or you could use the Reset Data option. Either way, save and reload until you see an Underdog's Secret as a prize in League play. Win that prize, and then continue on with your journey. You could also Blitz for a Dark Matter, which can be mixed with one of the Bomb Cores (from Rikku's tutorial battle) for Trio of 9999. This is entirely up to you. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Group Encounters = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BLUE ELEMENT (x2), WASP: Unless you have a Silencetouch weapon, and/or the SOS NulTide Ring, I'd avoid this fight. Honestly, Watera can really hurt, and it's not worth taking a beating every round just for some AP that can be gained somewhere else (Chimeras). If you do want to fight these guys, I heavily advise the SOS Nultide Ring, and just go to town with your LightningStrike weapon. BLUE ELEMENT, IGUION, MURUSSU, : If you do have the Silencetouch weapon and/or SOS Nultide ring, then you can take these guys on without much of a problem. Take out the Iguion first, you don't want to be Petrified. Order of priority should be Iguion, Murussu and finally, the Element. CHIMERA: The cash cow of Macalania Woods. Offers 1220 AP, which is by far the most in the Woods. Not only that, but they can be Petrified! Oh joy! EVIL EYE (x2), MAFDET: The Mafdet should be your first target, Stonetouch that sucker, and then attempt to do the same with the Evil Eyes. Confusion is just as much a problem as it always is with floating enemies. EVIL EYE, ICE FLAN, SNOW WOLF: Ice Flan will take priority in this fight, for obvious reasons, Petrify it. I'd say take out the Snow Wolf next, and pray that the Evil Eye doesn't Confuse you. It will take some luck to actually hit the Evil Eye, but it's doable, it too can be Petrified. ICE FLAN, MAFDET, SNOW FLAN: A relatively simple fight. Petrify the Ice Flan first, as you'll have a 100% chance of hitting it, the same goes for the Mafdet. The Snow Wolf can present some problems, but it too can be Petrified, just don't get careless with Yuna's Hp. ICE FLAN, SNOW WOLF (x2): Ice Flan will go down pretty easily, so attack it first with the Break Rod. The Snow Wolf tandem can be dangerous, because of the Sleep status they can inflict with their attacks. Petrify them, just be careful with Yuna's Hp. IGUION, MURUSSU, WASP: Equip your Poisonward armor so the Wasp doesn't become too much of an issue. The Murussu is easily Petrified, and can deal the most damage of this trio, so take him out first. Follow that up with Petrifying the Iguion. Wasps are extremely difficult to hit, but be patient with them, or run. WASP(x2), XIPHOS: Equip your Serum Ring, this will give us one less thing to worry about in this fight. Focus on the Xiphos at first, he should be Petrified relatively easily. After that, focus on the Wasps, they will be extremely difficult to hit, and can Poison Yuna, so don't be afraid to run away, there are other fights that offer much higher AP. XIPHOS: A pretty easy enemy. Your Break Rod is the best option here. All he can do is physically attack you, potentially Poisoning, so equip your Serum Ring, he won't get many turns in if you're using that Break Rod anyway. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Spherimorph - YONS10 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Spherimorph: 12000 Hp. Elemental Weaknesses vary. He is only weak to the opposing element of the one he is using against you. Always absorbs Holy. First off, I'm assuming you know how to fight this guy. Whichever element he attacks with will be an indication as to which element he's weak against, and he will absorb all others. For example, if he attacks with Fire, he's weak to Ice and absorbs all other elements; if he attacks with Thunder he's weak against Water and absorbs all other elements. This is one of the reasons why you've been collecting all those elemental strike weapons. Set up Shell and Protect, and hit him with whatever elemental weapon he's weak against. After his elemental shift, hit him with a normal weapon to find out his weakness again. This will take a long while, but the fight is pretty simple. Make sure you have applied those three Strength spheres to Yuna's grid, as it will make the fight A LOT quicker. Just keep at it and you'll take him down. Heal when necessary. In case you're wondering, yes he can be poisoned, but only with a PoisonSTRIKE weapon, not our current PoisonTOUCH weapon, and we can't obtain a strike weapon at this point in this challenge. A second strategy that would be safer in terms of keeping Yuna alive(as if it was a problem), would be to equip the Lightningproof Ring we made in Guadosalam, and catch Spherimorph on his Thunder attack pattern, and just hack away with a regular weapon. You would take no damage from his magic attacks as long as you don't cause an Elemental Shift. The only thing you would have to worry about would be his press attack, and protect would take care of that, along with Yuna's high evasion. This of course would be considered the highly conservative route. This second strategy was offered to me by manudude02, a GameFAQs user. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Last chance... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = As of right now, you have your final opportunity to return to Kilika to pick up the Hp Spheres from Lord Ochu until you get the Airship. You don't need these at this point, but it couldn't hurt to get this out of the way now (the down side being that you'll have to walk back to Luca on foot). Just wanted to make you aware of this opportunity. Since you have Holy now, you can kill Ochu with a single casting, which makes this a relatively fast process. If you get Mp Spheres, reset and keep killing him until you get Hp Spheres. As I've said, you could simply wait until you have access to the Airship. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Crawler, Negator - YONS11 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Crawler: 16000. Weak against lightning. Negator: 1000. Weak against lightning. This battle is surprisingly easy. Go into the fight with the Moon Ring equipped (SOS Protect/Shell) as there is no way to cast Protect on yourself. Also come in with that Lightningstrike weapon equipped, as it will increase the damage dealt by Yuna's physical attacks, her only means of damaging the Crawler. With the added boost from those Strength spheres, she'll be dealing between 320-340 damage on normal attacks, and upwards of 700 on a critical hit. Since attacking the Negator is out of the question, the only attack the Crawler will use is Gatling Guns, which will struggle to hit Yuna even half the time. Each hit will only take out about 120 Hp, and around 50-60 if SOS Protect is in effect. Just keep popping away at it with physical hits, and use a Hi Potion if Yunie's Hp drops below 500. This will go a lot faster than the Spherimorph battle, and you'll be riding to Macalania in no time. No Items: Equip your SOS Regen armor and Lightningstrike weapon. While we may not be able to use Spells or items, Yuna is fast, and SOS Regen's healing will be enough to survive the fight. Pray is also an option as well, but won't be necessary, even if Yuna doesn't dodge as many of Gatling Guns' hits as you'd like. Attack at will. = = = = = = = = = = = = = MACALANIA TEMPLE = = = = = = = = = = = = = Depending on what you said to Shelinda earlier, she may chastise you for lying to her, if you didn't lie, then she's still as annoying as ever. A Guado invades Yuna's privacy and finds Jyscal's Sphere, so now we have a real reason to hate Seymour, instead of not liking him because he was...different. Catch up with Yuna and Seymour, and initiate one of the most gratifying battles in the game. "Seymour!" = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Seymour/Anima - YONS12 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Seymour: 6000 Hp. Guado Guardians(x2): 2000 Hp each. Anima: 18000 Hp. Start the battle by casting Reflect on Yuna, this will be very helpful in near the end of the fight. Simply cast Holy on Seymour's first form, this will cause him to summon Anima. *gulp* Don't worry, with two other party members taking the Pain from Anima, we will have plenty of time to cast the two Holys needed to take out Seymour's mother's Fayth's Aeon. *cough* After dealing enough damage to Seymour, he will summon Anima, too bad for you, this is a No Summon game, so you won't be calling on Shiva this time. It's very important to have at least one other party member survive up to this point, but remember, no healing/reviving/supporting them, and they can only switch weapons. Cast Holy on Anima, and then hope that Anima uses Pain on the other party member, as it means certain death for whoever gets hit. On your next turn, cast Holy again, Anima will perish. Seymour will start off the second half of the fight with a Multispell, which would probably kill you if you didn't have Reflect in place. The spells will bounce off right to him, and take a chunk out of his Hp. You can either sit there and watch him smite himself, or cast another Holy, your choice. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Wendigo, Guado Guardians - YONS13 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Wendigo: 18000 Hp. Guado Guardians: 1200 Hp. Once again, the Guado have Auto potion in place. You can start off by casting Protect on Yuna, as an untimely hit from Wendy can end our Pilgrimage very quickly. Get rid of that pesky Wendigo with two Holy spells. Make sure to heal if he hits you at all. After that, either petrify or Holy the Guado. If you don't want to win the fight that easily, cast Protect and Reflect, use a Rod of Darkness to blind the Wendigo. Petrify the Guado, once they're gone; use Esuna on the beast to take away the Berserk effect. After that, just hack away at him with physical attacks. = = = = = = = = = = = = = LAKE MACALANIA = = = = = = = = = = = = = Yeah, fancy situation we got ourselves into. There's a Lv. 2 Key Sphere behind Kimahri, it would be wise to pick it up. Wakka complains, I've noticed that he and Tidus tend to switch roles at this point in the game. Time to go for a ride... = = = = = = = = = = = = BIKANEL = = = = = = = = = = = = For the next long while, Yuna is missing again, (groan...), so we'll be playing a NSG style of game. For some of us, that may be disconcerting, for others, it's a good thing, because we get to use Rikku! Yay! The Uber Zu. First off, use your Stunning Steel to slow him, this will help a lot. Hopefully when Auron jumps in, he has a full overdrive. If he does, Shooting Star that Zu into the next county. If he doesn't, let out a sigh, and follow this strategy. Blind that sucker with whomever you can (you do have a darktouch weapon...right?). Power break with Auron, that should be obvious. Hack away with Auron and Tidus, have Tidus use items when necessary, when Lulu joins up, equip her with the Noxious Cait Sith that we bought earlier in the game, Poisoning the Zu will make the fight a lot easier. Also note that you can flee from the battle after Auron and Lulu join up. Follow the path; meet up with Kimahri, Wakka, and Rikku. With Rikku in the party again, we can start our item collecting (yay?). We will be focusing on getting as many Smoke Bombs as possible; they will also be the standard strategy for taking out the smaller random enemies that are encountered in this area. Smoke bombs can be obtained from Alcyones and Zus. Our primary means of healing will be Al Bhed potions, used by Rikku in battle, we'll be getting a lot, so don't worry about using them up. Make sure Tidus is in the active party with the Sonic Steel always equipped; this will allow you to get the first strike in every battle. You know where all the treasures are right? Well go get them! There's one chest guarded by a Sandragora, it contains two teleport spheres, which will allow you to customize two Evade & Counter weapons. I recommend giving one of them to Rikku, and saving the other for Yuna. Combining it with Stonetouch will be very helpful when we start fighting more difficult enemies. Keep in mind that right before you enter Home, you'll be forced into a fight with another Sandragora, so build up Auron's Overdrive for Shooting Star. It makes the fight a lot less of a hassle. = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Group Encounters = = = = = = = = = = = = ***Since this part is played as a NSG game, I will be giving the simplest strategies possible, there's no reason to go in depth and over the top with the following enemy strategies, so I will not.* ***Have Auron equip his Sentry for these fights, to prevent Ambushes entirely. You'll also want Tidus to have his Sonic Steel equipped, and to keep Rikku, out of the front lines, so you can switch Tidus for Rikku so she can Use her items to deal with most of these enemies.*** ALCYONE(x2), Sand Wolf: A Smoke Bomb will do the trick. CACTUAR: Toss a Smoke Bomb to all but kill the little bugger, one more attack will finish it off. Be careful though, the 10,000 Needles attack will absolutely destroy whomever it hits. MECH GUARD(x2): Have Rikku steal from both of these enemies to destroy them. MECH GUARD(x2), MECH GUNNER: Once again, have Rikku steal from each of these enemies to kill them off, we're not going to make these battles any harder than we have to. SAND WOLF(x3): Have Rikku use a Smoke Bomb, all three of these guys will drop. SAND WORM: Rikku can Steal Shadow Gems from Sand Worms. Steal what you can and them Use them on it. Another good method is to use Auron's Shooting Star attack. You could also Poison it and then use a Sleeping Powder to put it to sleep, and watch it die slowly. ZU: The most effective way of dealing with this guy is using Auron's Shooting Star Overdrive. If you encounter one, I advise against taking it on unless you can inflict Poison and Sleep on him, he will be a very difficult opponent. For the most part, I recommend the Steal and Escape method, as you will need plenty of Smoke Bombs. = = = = = = = = = = = = HOME = = = = = = = = = = = = Make sure to grab the Friend sphere and Special Sphere. They will customize into Counterattack and Defense+10% respectively. GET THE LEVEL 4 KEY SPHERE!!! It will be very important in an upcoming boss fight. Unless you Blitzed for a Dark Matter instead of an Underdog's Secret, of course. Either way, get it, it will be useful. The forced battles can be difficult (and I recommend Escaping from random encounters), so here we go... = = = = = = = = = = Forced Encounters = = = = = = = = = = BOMB (x3), GUADO GUARDIAN: Make sure Rikku has a full Overdrive, and Mix two Maps for Potato Masher (2,600 Hp damage). Fight over. CHIMERA(x2), GUADO GUARDIAN: Use two shadow gems to knock the Chimeras down to 2,250 Hp. Then Mix a Potato Masher, this will take out the Guado as well. DUAL HORN(x2), GUADO GUARDIAN: You'll want Rikku to have another full Overdrive gauge. Potato Masher again, and then take out the leftovers with regular attack or a grenade or two. = = = = = = = = = = = AIRSHIP = = = = = = = = = = = Keep in mind that you'll need to steal a good amount of Bomb Cores from Bombs in the section where Isaaru and his Guardians are, you could use the Steal & Escape method, as it will be difficult to keep killing fiends this strong, but once Rikku gets her Fireproof armor, she can steal upwards of 4 Cores per battle. Steal 24 total Bomb Cores, so that you can customize three Fireproof armors, one for Auron, one for Tidus, and one for Rikku. You'll need these to survive the upcoming battles in Bevelle. Do yourself a favor and charge Rikku's and either Tidus's or Lulu's overdrives for the upcoming Evrae fight. If you Blitzed for a Dark Matter instead of an Underdog's Secret, hold on to one of those Bomb Cores for Mixing Trio during the Evrae fight. = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = BOMB(x3): Potato Masher for the win. Once you get some Fireproof armors, take care of them any way you please. DUAL HORN(x2): Have Rikku Mix a Potato Masher, and then finish them off with regular attacks or any Overdrives if they are available. EVIL EYE(x2): Have Rikku toss a Smoke Bomb to annihilate this duo. = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Evrae - YONS14 = = = = = = = = = = = Evrae: 32,000 Hp. Steal: Water Gem. 50% damage from all elemental attacks. Hopefully you have the 99 Underdog's Secrets from Rin, if you didn't get them from Rin, then I hope you listened to me when I told you to win one in a Blitz league. You also were given the option to Blitz for a Dark Matter. Mix Trio of 9999 and then use Tidus's Slice & Dice, Wakka's Attack Reels, or Lulu's Fury. For Trio, Mix the Level 4 Key Sphere you found in Home, and an Underdog's Secret, or a Dark Matter and Bomb Core for the same result. You could go for two Sunbursts, but you would need Rikku to hit Overdrive twice, while the other strat can be executed in two moves total. (For Sunburst, mix two Underdog's Secrets). And don't give me this "I don't have any Underdog's Secrets or Level 4 Key Spheres" garbage, I've specifically told you when you should have gotten these items. If you didn't listen to me, this guy can be beat without Mixing Trio, it'll just be a very difficult fight. = = = = = = = = = = = BEVELLE - CEREMONY = = = = = = = = = = = Equip all your Fireproof armors before initiating the first forced battle, make sure your party is entirely healed as well. = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Group Encounters = = = = = = = = = = = = WARRIOR MONK (x2)(Bayonet), WARRIOR MONK (Flamethrower): Start off with a Smoke Bomb to damage and Blind the Bayonet monks, keep the Flamethrower Monk alive for now, our Fireproof armor will protect us from them. Take out the Bayonet Monks in any fashion you please. After they are finished off, unequip Rikku's armor, and allow the Flamethrower Monk to charge Rikku's OD gauge if it isn't full already. After that, finish this guy off however you please. Make sure to equip Rikku's Fireproof armor either before the fight ends, or just after the battle. WARRIOR MONK (x2), YAT-63: If Rikku has a full Overdrive, mix two maps for a Potato Masher, this will kill off the monks, and leave you very little work to finish off the machine. WARRIOR MONK (x2), YKT-99: DO NOT KILL THE MONKS FIRST! If you do the machine will start ejecting your allies with Thrust Kick (A Ronso Rage, btw). Throw a Smoke Bomb to Blind the Monks, and then take out the machine however you please, I recommend Shooting Star. Tidus can do some decent damage with his Brotherhood and Slice and Dice. Once you've taken care of the machina, throw another Smoke Bomb to finish off the Monks. = = = = = = = = = = = VIA PURIFICO = = = = = = = = = = = Yunie's back! Yay! We've been dropped into this "dungeon" by the denizens of Yevon. Apparently they think that we'll just give up, die, and rot in this place. Even Dr. Evil would laugh at this sorry attempt at killing someone. As tempting as the whole rotting thing sounds, I think it's best to venture onward and find our friends. While we're running around gathering items and meeting up with our comrades, it would be good to have our Evade & Counter + Stonetouch weapon equipped, as it will pretty much take care of all the fiends in this area, except for the Aqua Flan, you'll have to directly attack it to petrify them. There's only one enemy in this area that can't be Petrified, and that's the Maze Larva, we'll deal with how to kill him when he shows up. Alright, go find Lulu, Kimahri and Auron. You might as well collect the items in the area, they include an Elixir, White Magic Sphere, Black Magic Sphere, and Mega Potion. There are also three chests that are blocked off by a gate, they include a Skill Sphere, 10,000 Gil, and Lucid Ring(Yay!). To obtain the items behind the gate, you'll need to do some running around. In the Southwesternmost room of Via Purifico, the same room with the chest that contains an Elixir, there's a glyph amongst the rubble, activate it. After that, activate the glyph that's next to the chest that contains the Black Magic Sphere, North of where we started out. Now, return to the room where we found Auron, and step on the teleport pad when the arrow points West (...left), this will transport Yuna to the pad right next to the gate. Now step on this pad when the arrow is pointing West again. You'll find yourself in the room, empty the chests and exit the room via the teleport pad. The Lucid Ring is nice piece of armor to have; it comes with Poison Ward, Silence Ward, and Confuse Ward. This will be very useful for some fights later on, specifically Sanctuary Keeper and Lady Yunalesca. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Isaaru's Aeons - YONS15 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Grothia: 8,000 Hp. Pterya: 12,000 Hp. Spathi: 20,000 Hp. Here we go, our first and only real Aeon battle. Your Aeons will be ridiculously overpowered compared to Isaaru's. This battle is so easy, I wish there was a way to fight them with Yuna. Honestly, if you have any trouble with this fight, you shouldn't be playing this challenge. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = VIA PURIFICO - Tidus, Rikku, Wakka = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Um, yeah, follow the corridor around until you come across Evrae Altana. There are two chests in this area, they contain weapons for Tidus and Wakka. Grab them if you want, but they won't have much use other than being sold for a bit of cash. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Evrae Altana - YONS16 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Throw two Phoenix Downs. If you think it's cheap, or you want to fight him any other way, that's your problem, not mine. = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Group Encounters = = = = = = = = = = = = AQUA FLAN, CAVE IGUION(x2): Petrify these three as well. I advise going after the Aqua Flan first, its evasion rate is 0, so there won't be problems making contact with it. The Cave Iguions will be somewhat of a hassle, but not too much. AQUA FLAN, SAHAGIN(x2): Aqua Flan takes priority due to it's damage capabilities, the Sahagins can also take a chunk out of Yuna's Hp, but not as much as our blue friend. BAT EYE(x2): Yikes. I advise not fighting this tandem, they will be hard to hit, and you run the risk of becoming Confused. If you must take them on, hope to God that you get lucky with Yuna's Accuracy. You could also just Holy both of them, but that's a waste of Mp, and we don't have a Mp Cost reduction weapon yet. BAT EYE, SWAMP MAFDET: The Mafdet takes priority over the Bat Eye. As with all flying enemies, the Bat Eye will be difficult to hit, and you run the risk of becoming confused if it sticks around for too long. They can both be Petrified, so go after them with the Break Rod. CAVE IGUION(x2), SAHAGIN: All three of these enemies will fall to our mighty Break Rod, the Cave Iguions may dodge a few of your attacks, but keep at it, and they will soon fall. I recommend taking out the Sahagin first, as it has a garbage Evasion stat. MAZE LARVA: This guy is immune to all of our status weapons, so you'll just have to Smite him with Holy. **Concerning Underwater encounters** Due to this being a Yuna Only game, we haven't had the opportunity to prepare ourselves for the more difficult NSG battles. The great thing about this is, we can escape. If you're having a hard time with any of these, don't be afraid to escape. OCTOPUS(x2): Throw a Smoke Bomb to ensue the party's safety while Wakka attempts to Petrify the two enemies. OCTOPUS, SAHAGIN(x2): Toss a Smoke Bomb to get rid of the Sahagins and Blind the Octopus, then have Wakka Petrify the Octopus for the win. PHLEGYAS(x2): Three Smoke Bombs will do the trick in this fight. Just be sure not to get anxious and attack them physically. PHLEGYAS, REMORA(x2): Toss out three (possibly four) Smoke Bombs to take out this group. You could also toss one Smoke Bomb and attempt to Petrify them with Wakka's TKO, but if you aren't successful, you could be victim to Sonic Wave and/or Maelstrom. REMORA(x2), SAHAGIN(x2): The first Smoke Bomb will be more than enough for the Sahagins, the next two or three will be enough to take out the Remoras. After smacking around Isaaru, and dealing with Evrae's amphibious corpse we wind up on the Highbridge, and are confronted by Seymour. Kinoc is dead, and Seymour transforms into some kind of metal deally and develops a cool echo effect when he talks. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Seymour Natus, Mortibody - YONS17 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Seymour: 36,000 Hp. Mortibody: 4,000 Hp. Begin the fight by using the Talk command to increase Yuna's Magic Defense. Seymour still follows the Ice/Thunder/Water/Fire pattern of attack, but he won't get too many chances to cast magic anyway. After Talking, cast Shell on Yunie, and equip her Stoneproof armor, so that the Break/Shatter combo won't be a problem. Don't attack Mortibody, instead, just pummel Seymour with Holys. It will only take four castings to do him in. His most dangerous attack is Flare, but even that isn't too much to worry about, just don't let your Hp fall too low. You could also take the alternative, and less dangerous method of beating this guy, although it will take longer. Just cast Reflect on Yuna and Seymour have Natus bounce spells back towards himself. It works if you have a turbo controller (set to Defend) and you want to get a sandwich. = = = = = = = = = = = = CALM LANDS = = = = = = = = = = = = After all the nonsense in Macalania Woods, we adventure onwards to the Calm Lands. Tidus and Rikku jabber about finding a way to save Yunie from certain death. Stop by the Travel Agency, stock up on items if you need. View the scene with Father Zuke, and then continue on your way. Make absolutely sure that you stop by the Monster Arena and buy a capture weapon. Capture 1 of every fiend in the Calm Lands, and you will receive 60 Farplane Winds. We now have a decision to make. Do we customize a Deathproof armor that would make the Yunalesca battle much easier? Or do we Customize Deathstrike to our Capture weapon? Choices, choices... Do yourself a favor and customize the Farplane Winds to your capture weapon. Deathproof will not be that big of a deal for the Lady Y fight, and Deathstrike will be godly, even if you are not using it for capturing fiends. There will be a lot of capturing involved after we get the airship, and the Lady Y battle is the only fight in which Deathpoof would be helpful, and I have outlined an airtight strategy for that fight anyway. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = ANACONDAUR(x2): Equip your Stoneproof Ring, it's a must for this fight. These two aren't an easy fight by any means, they can still rack up some damage on Yuna. They are immune to being Petrified, but we can still Poison them. It might take a few hits to actually get them Poisoned, but once they are, you can sit back and heal until they die. CHIMERA BRAIN(x2): Not a fun battle by any means. Equip your Lightningproof armor, they use Thundara, amongst other things. They have no resistance to being Petrified, so go to town with your Stonetouch weapon. For capturing, you should Petrify one of them and Poison the other. Once the Poisoned one takes three doses of the Poison, use an Antidote on it, and then hack away with your Capture weapon until it's captured. COEURL(x2): Yeah, Lightningproof armor would be a great help in this fight, if their Blaster attack didn't cause Petrification. Keep that Stoneproof Ring equipped, and Poison both of them. After one of them has taken three hits from the Poison, use an antidote to cure it, then hack away with a capture weapon to snag this critter. COEURL, MECH SCOUTER(x2): Coeurls can Petrify and Silence Yuna. Equip your Soft Ring, and fire off a Holy before it gets a chance to Silence Yunie, you could also take it out with a series of physical attacks, do as you please. Mech Scouters can be Petrified, so go to town on them once the Coeurl is out of commission. FLAME FLAN, MECH SCOUTER, NEBIROS: All three can be Petrified, so now we go back to our "lowest evasion takes priority" concept. The Flame Flan can dish out the hurt, and also has the lowest Evasion rate (zero to be precise), so take it out first. The Mech Scouter will be the next on our list. If you feel it's necessary, equip Yuna's Serum Ring. FLAME FLAN, NEBIROS, SHRED: Once again, another group that can be taken out with just our Stonetouch weapon. Start off with the Flan again, then the Shred, and finally the Nebiros. This is another "lack of evasion takes priority" type of battle. FLAME FLAN, MECH SCOUTER, SKOLL: All three of these enemies can be Petrified, and I recommend doing so. I'd start out with the Flame Flan, as it can deal out the most damage, and has no resistance the being Petrified. Go for the Mech Scouter second, and lastly the Skoll. MALBORO: I know what you're thinking, "No way, it's imposhibibble." That's what I thought. As long as you don't directly attack the Malboro more than 6 times(or more than 3 if you're using Firestrike), it won't use Bad Breath. So that means we can damage it with Evade and Counter without worrying about the consequences of Bad Breath. Just keep defending until you counter it to death. This will also be the primary strategy for capturing it. Just make sure to switch to a capture weapon for the last hit. MECH SCOUTER, NEBIROS, SKOLL: Equip Yuna's Serum ring for this fight. Petrify the Mech Scouter first, it's the easiest the hit. The Skoll should be your next targert, if you need to capture it, just hack away with physical attacks. Do the same with the Nebiros, keep in mind it's incredibly difficult to land a hit on. OGRE, SKOLL(x2): Ogres have a 25% resistance to Petrification, so it might take a few attempts to Petrify it. The Skolls are relatively annoying, as they have a high chance of dodging Yuna's attacks. They too can be Petrified, so have at them with the Break Rod. There are two methods you can use to capture the Ogre. You can Poison it, watch it take three turns, use and antidote on it and then finish it off with the capture weapon, or you can just smack away with the capture weapon right off the bat. Either way, just keep Yunie's Hp high, and you should be fine. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Defender X - YONS18 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Defender X: 64,000 Hp. First things first, cast Protect on Yuna. Make sure this is the first thing you do. Secondly, switch to an Evade & Counter weapon, to asure that you will dodge his regular attacks. He uses his regular attack three times, then Haymaker on the fourth turn, then repeats this pattern. Other than that, keep Yuna's Hp full at all times, this may sound difficult, but with Cura/Curaga, and the lowered probability of him actually hitting you, it's easier than it sounds. This is what I like to call a Holy/Cure fight. Essentially, when you're not healing you'll be casting Holy. You will no doubt have to restore your Mp in this fight, as we don't have enough Mp to cast Holy the necessary 7 times to kill Defender. This is of course, if you didn't spend the time to get the Three Stars from the Remiem Chocobo Race. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MT. GAGAZET = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Begin the long arduous trek up the mountain, don't forget to grab the Hp Sphere, this is a must-have item. The Ronso fight should be relatively simple, as Biran and Yenke's stats are based off of Kimahri's. You might as well learn as many Rages as you can, they will help out in the fight. Don't forget to grab the Hp Sphere on Gagazet, we will need this eventually. Make absolutely sure that you speak with Wantz so that he will show up in Macalania later on, so we can buy a four slotted weapon and armor. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ACHELOUS(x2), MAELSPIKE: Again, the TKO is your best bet in this fight. If you want to blind them with a Smoke Bomb, by all means do so. ACHELOUS, SPLASHER(x2) {2,3}: Toss a Smoke Bomb to take out both sets of Splashers, then concentrate on taking out the Blinded Achelous with the TKO. AHRIMAN, GRENDEL: Holy the Ahriman, you don't want it to stick around for too long. Do the same with the Grendel. You could also try to Stone one or both of them. BANDERSNATCH, MECH LEADER, NIDHOGG: The Mech leader will easily be Petrified, so take it out first. Nidhogg and the Bandersnatch can be taken out with our Deathstrike weapon. BASHURA: Drat, immune to Deathstrike and Stonetouch. Well, we can still Poison him. Once he is Poisoned, guard and heal as needed. BASHURA, GRAT(x2): Bashuras are immune to instant Death, and have a 50% resistance to being Petrified, which negates our Stonetouch weapon, so we'll be Poisoning them. It would be wise to cast Protect on Yuna, Bashuras can lay the beat down if they make contact with her. Grats can once again be taken out with our Deathstrike weapon. Coolest. Weapon. Ever. BEHEMOTH: Cast Protect and Shell, as it physically attacks, and casts Thundaga to boot. Keep Yuna's Hp high, and fire away with Holy. DARK FLAN: Same as before. Two Holys will take this guy out. GRAT(x2), GRENADE: You can either attempt to Poison the Grenade, or kill it instantly with your Deathstrike weapon, remember though, after 3 attacks the Grenade will Self Destruct. The Grats can be easily dispatched with your Deathstrike weapon. GRENADE(x2), IMP: Start off by setting up Reflect on Yuna, the Imp will slowly kill itself with this up. Concentrate on taking out the Grenades, the Deathstrike method is highly recommended. MANDRAGORA: Good thing Deathstrike works on these guys. It has a 50% resistance to it, so it may take a few whacks to kill it. MAELSPIKE(x2), SPLASHER {3}: Use Wakka's TKO to Petrify the Maelspike, the Splasher(s) can be taken out with a few physical attacks from Wakka and Tidus, even though they will most likely be Petrified by the TKO. MECH LEADER, MECH DEFENDER(x2): Equip your Lightningproof armor for this fight, as the Mech Defenders will use an Electrocute attack. Now, since there guys are immune to the effects of our Deathstrike weapon, we will be using our Break Rod, to Petrify them. Defenders and Leaders have no resistance to Petrify, so this shouldn't be too hard of a task. SPLASHER(x3) {1,2,3}: Smoke Bomb, 'nuff said. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Seymour Flux, Mortiorchis - YONS19 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Seymour Flux: 70,000 Hp. That's a whole lot of Holys right there. Mortiorchis: 4,000 Hp. Don't bother with him, just a waste of time. He's kind of a pushover in this fight...no joke. Make sure you heal every Zombie status caused by Lance of Atrophy, immediately, he will cast Full Life on you for an one hit knock out. Total Annihilation will only hit for 500-550 per strike, adding up to around 2500-2750, but this can be dampened with Magic Def + abilities. Don't bother casting Protect or Shell, as he will just Dispel them. Whenever he casts Reflect on himself, give him a taste of your Dispel, and he'll end up Flaring himself for a few thousand points of damage. Keep Holying him and he'll eventually fall. Don't even bother with Mortiorchis. Make your way up the path to the Save Sphere. Save your game and equip Yuna with her Lucid Ring, the one we found in Via Purifico. Equip her with her Evade and Counter weapon as well, this will help us dodge a few attacks from the upcoming boss. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = A very important armor = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Yeah, so we'll need to go ahead and get a Berserk ward armor for the upcoming Spectral Keeper fight. Berserk Tail can be a giant pain in the ass. My advice would be to go find a Mandragora, equip your Evade and Counter/Capture weapon, fire off two Holys, and physically attack until you've captured it. Make your way back down to the Calm Lands and repeatedly fight the Mandragora in the Monster Arena until you receive an armor for Yuna with Berserk Ward. After that, head back up to Mt. Gagazet. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Sanctuary Keeper - YONS20 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sanctuary Keeper: 40,000 Hp. Can drop Half Mp Cost weapons. First off, I will describe SK's attack pattern. He always starts the fight with Photon Wings, two physical attacks, Mana Breath, and lastly two Curagas. Keep in mind that he will counter with his Tail Sweep attack. Photon Wings will cause damage and possibly inflict Yuna with Sleep, Silence, Confuse, Curse and Darkness. All of these attack only have a 50% probability though, so even status ward armor will prevent them. Equip the Lucid Ring we found in Via Purifico. The Physical attacks are just that, physical attack. If you have an Evade and Counter weapon equipped, you'll dodge them. Mana Breath. If SK were to ever KO you, it would most likely be from this attack. It can cause upwards of 2600-2700 damage to Yuna, but Shell will reduce this by half. Curaga. This is money, set up Reflect on SK, and you'll be fully healed each time he casts this on himself. Yay! Tail Sweep. Causes about 1000 damage, if it connects. As long as you have an Evade and Counter weapon, don't worry about this. And the fact of the matter is he really doesn't counter with this a whole lot. He can only attack with Tail Sweep after you've attacked him three times, and can then counter on the next three attacks. After that, it resets, he will have to wait another three turns before countering again. So basically, come into battle with an E & C weapon, and that Lucid Ring, and you'll be fine. Photon Wings will at worst inflict you with Sleep, Curse and Darkness, and since we're not using physical attacks or Overdrives, who cares? He will also wake up Yuna with a physical attack if she's put to sleep. Just heal up before Mana Breath(if you need to), as it's the only attack that could possibly kill you. Cast Reflect on him to take advantage of his Curagas, but make sure to also cast Reflect on Yuna so she can bounce her Holy spell back at Sanctie. His physical attacks and Tail Sweep won't hit you. I recommend fighting him until he drop a Half Mp Cost weapon for Yuna, as it will make the Spectral Keeper and Yunalesca fights much easier. I didn't get the weapon after four fights, and figured that I'd be able to take those two on, and it worked out fine. If you don't get the weapon drop, make sure you have at least 3 Elixirs, just to be safe, Holy isn't cheap you know. Once again, this won't be a problem if you got some Three Stars from the Chocobo Race at Remiem. = = = = = = = = = = = = ZANARKAND = = = = = = = = = = = = Finally, we arrive at...the biggest dump I've seen this side of Home. Just make your way towards to Dome, collecting any treasures you find along the way. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups = = = = = = = = = = = = = AHRIMAN, BASHURA: Poison the Bashura, and keep an eye on Yuna's Hp. The Ahriman can be taken out with either our Deathstrike or Stonetouch weapons. The Ahriman is capable of Confusing Yuna, so don't be afraid to fire off a Holy if need be. BEHEMOTH: Cast Protect and Shell, as it can physically attack, and cast Thundaga to boot. Keep Yuna's Hp high, and fire away with Holy. DARK FLAN: Same as before. Two Holys will take this guy out. DEFENDER Z: This guy is a tank. Cast Protect on Yunie to give her some help against his melee attacks. Fire off five Holy spells, and he will fall to pieces. FALLEN MONK(rifle)(x2), FALLEN MONK(flamethrower): You can either Petrify them, physically attack them, or toss a Phoenix down to get rid of them. FALLEN MONK(rifle)(x2), YAT-97: Use Phoenix Downs on the Fallen Monks, their perpetual Zombie status will cause them to die from one of these. The YAT will be out of commission after a Holy spell. FALLEN MONK(flamethrower)(x2), YKT-11: Toss some Phoenix Downs at the monks, or Petrify them. The YKTs will fall from a single casting of Holy. GRENDEL, AHRIMAN: Ahrimans will fall to a single Holy spell, and Grendels will also be toast after one casting. MANDRAGORA: Good thing Deathstrike works on these guys. It has a 50% resistance to it, so it may take a few whacks to kill it. YAT-97, YKT-97(x2): Each of them will fall to Yuna's Holy spell. No reason to complicate things by doing something else. YAT-97(x2), YKT-97: Same as the last battle, just a few Holy's and you'll be fine. Make your way through the Cloister of Trials. When you complete the puzzles, save your game and equip something with Berserk Ward on it, and your Half Mp Cost weapon, if you picked one up from the Sanctuary Keeper. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Spectral Keeper - YONS21 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Spectral Keeper: 52,000 Hp. I know what you're thinking, but as long as we have the Berserk Ward armor I told you to get, we cannot be Berserked, at all. Berserk Tail is very similar to the Sanctuary Keeper's Photon Wings attack, as it only has a 50% chance of inflicting Yuna with a status effect(Berserk, in this case), so a Berserk Ward armor will be enough to prevent it. Now that that is taken care of, we can focus on the rest of his attacks. He will counter with a strong attack, dealing around 1300-1400 even with Protect set up. Keep notice of the Glyph mines he places, if you trigger one, it's an instant KO. Simply fire off Holy after Holy, healing with Curaga when your Hp drops below 1600. Save your game, equip your Lucid Ring again, and keep that Half Mp Cost weapon handy if you have it, although it's not necessary for this fight. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Yunalesca - YONS22 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = First form: 24,000 Hp. Second form: 48,000 Hp. Final: 60,000 Hp. Enter this battle with the Lucid Ring equipped, as it will prevent some of the possible status effects. Her Confuse status effect is the same deal as Sanctuary Keeper's and Spectral Keeper's, it only has a 50% affliction rate, so ward armor is enough to fully prevent them. In her first form, she won't do much more than counter your attacks with a corresponding status ailment. Physical attacks are responded to with Darkness, Magical attacks with Silence, and Special techniques with sleep. With our Lucid Ring, we don't have to worry about any of those, just don't use Pray. On her turns, she'll alternate between her normal attack and Absorb. Absorb will take 50% of your Max Hp (this CAN kill you) and transfer it to Lady Y. Her normal attack has a Dispel effect, and will remove all positive status effects except for Reflect. You can maul your way through the first two forms without a whole lot of strategy, just spam Holy as much as you can, and heal when your Hp gets low (after curing Zombie of course). Equip a Sensor weapon, so you can keep on eye on Lady Y's Hp. Once it gets below 10,000, make sure you are Zombied before you attack with another Holy! If you aren't Zombied when she transforms for the last time her opening attack, Mega Death, will kill you, there's no way around it without a Deathproof armor or being Zombied. Yunalesca has a very strict attack pattern in her third form, I will list her attacks in order, and then explain how to take advantage of this pattern. Starting with her opening attack: Mega Death Hellbiter/Cura(ga)/Regen Hellbiter/Cura(ga)/Regen Mind Blast Hellbiter/Cura(ga)/Regen Repeat Mega Death - Will instantly kill Yuna if she isn't Zombied. Hellbiter - Will zombify Yuna, and deplete about 200 Hp. Cura - Same as yours, will moderately damage Yuna if she's zombied. Curaga - Same as yours, will severely hurt Yuna if she's zombied. Regen - Same as yours, will deplete Yuna's Hp on each battle action if she's zombied. Mind Blast - 600 damage, 50% chance of Confusion. After the initial Mega Death, cast Holy. On her next turn, she will use Hellbiter, make sure to use a Holy Water, if you are Zombied, she will always cast a Curative spell on you, and those hurt badly. After every Hellbiter, you will want to use a Holy Water, except for the Hellbiter right before Mega Death. Your Lucid Ring will negate any serious effects of Mind Blast, so use the following turn to cast Holy, and do the same after the third Hellbiter, as it preceeds Mega Death, and you will want to be Zombied. So essentially the only chance to heal Yuna without running the risk of dying is right after Mind Blast. Keep following this pattern and you will be lording over her corpse in no time. Is it called a corpse if she was already dead...? Hop in your shiny new airship and speak with Yuna and Kimahri, then set off for Bevelle. That Mika's got some 'splaining to do. = = = = = = = = = = = HIGHBRIDGE = = = = = = = = = = = Watch the scenes here with Mika, it's best to get this out of the way now. And yes, you'll be approached by Shelinda, I swear that woman has the Devil's own luck, she should've died long ago. Really, by far the most annoying person in the game, but I digress. We now have full access to the airship, so we can go about getting the goods we need to make our weapons and take on the Final bosses. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Weapon and Armor Creation = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Alright, now we'll be making out weapon and armor for taking out BFA. Our Weapon will look like this. *Zombiestrike - To cancel out the Yu Pagodas' healing from Power Wave. *Magic Counter - To help inflict Zombie without wasting a turn. *Evade&Counter - Same reason as above. *One Mp Cost - The most important ability on the weapon. As many Holys as we need without touching an Ether or Elixir And our Armor will look like this. *Stoneproof - Jecht Beam Petrifies, which means Game Over. *Zombieproof - He inflicts Zombie, and with Auto Potion on our armor, we could end up instantly killing ourselves. *Auto Potion - Obvious. Did you remember the X Potions in Luca/Bikanel? *Auto Haste - If you have to ask why, you shouldn't be playing. First off, go to Macalania Forest and purchase a four slotted weapon and four slotted armor from Wantz. He hangs out at the very entrance to Macalania from the Thunder Plains. They will cost you 100,000 each, which you should have. Now, time to get the materials we need to create this weapon. *One Mp Cost - We will need 20 Three Stars to customize this ability. The monster Trainer will reward us with 60 of these for capturing 1 of each monster in two different areas. To make this easy on yourself, go capture in Besaid and Kilika, there are only 7 different types of fiends combined in both areas. *Evade and Counter - If you still have one of the two Teleport Spheres from Bikanel, use it. If not, you can get a Teleport Sphere from Blitzball, the Omega Ruins, or the Butterfly mini game. *Magic Counter - We'll need to capture one of every monster from Macalania Forest and Snowfield. This is relatively easy. The trainer will cough up a bunch of Shining Gems, which can be used to add this ability to our weapon. *Zombiestrike/Zombieproof - We will need Candles of Life to customize both of these abilities, 10 for Strike, 30 for proof. Capture one of every monster on Mushroom Rock Road to receive 99 Candles of Life from the Monster Trainer. *Auto Haste - Capture 1 of every monster in the Thunder Plains for 99 Chocobo Wings. Use 80 Chocobo Wings to customize Auto Haste to the armor. *Stoneproof - Capture one of every Monster from the Djose/Moonflow area. The Trainer will give us 99 Petrify Grenades, use these to customize this ability to our armor. *Auto Potion - Capture 4 of every type of floating eyeball enemy. The Trainer will give us 99 Stamina Tablets in return. Use them to customize Auto Potion. Keep in mind that you can capture Ahrimans at Mt. Gagazet, not just Inside Sin. ***Special Note: You'll need to capture Floating Deaths in the Omega Ruins for the requirements to get our Stamina Tablets. If you have your capture weapon customized with DeathStrike, this will be incredibly easy, if not, have fun. Use the same strategy that you would for capturing Ahrimans. Defeat the enemies that accompany Floating Death, with Holy preferably. Cast Shell on the Floating Death, and then hit it with a Holy. Proceed to physically attack the beast (with a capture weapon, der) until it's captured.*** = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = A Summoner's Destiny = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Well, now we're ready to breaze through the rest of the game. Make sure you sell off all your Potions and Hi Potions so that Auto Potion will only use X Potions. You can find Rin on the Airship, and he'll gladly pay you a few bucks for your obsolete items. = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Left Fin - YONS23 = = = = = = = = = = = = = Left Fin: 65,000 Hp. Just cast Holy seven times, with the aid of our One Mp Cost weapon and Auto Haste, this fight will be over quickly. Honestly, the Fin won't do anything but "remain motionless" for the entire fight, just don't dilly dally. The Left Fin will drop an oh-so-important Hp Sphere after the fight. Don't forget to allocate it when given the chance. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Right Fin - YONS24 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Right Fin: 65,000 Hp. This is the exact same fight as the Left fin. Just cast Holy 7 times, and be on your way. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Sin, Sinspawn Genais - YONS25 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sin: 36,000 Hp. Sinspawn Genais: 20,000 Hp. This will be a relatively simple fight. Genais will counter Yuna's Holy with Waterga, which will do some noticeable damage, so cast Shell before you begin smiting. Genais also has the standard Venom attack, but will only get the opportunity to use it once. Three Holys will be enough to put Genais down. If for some reason, you're taking your time with this fight, Genais' attack pattern is Venom, Venom, Thrashing ( a more powerful version of Stacatto). You most likely won't even see the second Venom attack though. Don't bother attacking Sin until the Sinspawn is out of the fight. We won't see Genais enter its shell at all in this fight. Sin's Core is a pretty simple customer as well. He will occasionally counter with Negation, but that's not a huge deal. His primary means of attacking is Gravija, which can't kill you. He can also counter with level 1 Black Magic, but that won't be a problem either. Just keep casting Holy. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Overdrive Sin - YONS26 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = OD Sin: 140,000 Hp. Here's the deal, on Sin's twelfth turn, the game ends, as if you didn't know, Giga-Graviton is a Zanmatoish game over attack, so get your hits in. Luckily for us, we only need to cast Holy 15 times, and considering we get more than two turns for each turn Sin gets, this one's in the bag. There's almost nothing to say about this fight. Just make sure you keep that Auto Haste Ring equipped. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Inside Sin = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = First thing's first, save your game. Now we have to find four Ahrimans, if you didn't capture them on Mt. Gagazet, and capture them for the Monster Arena. If your Capture weapon has Deathstrike or Stonetouch on it, that's great, and this will be relatively simple, if it doesn't, have fun. If you don't have Deathstrike or Stonetouch on your capture weapon, I recommend escaping from the 3x Ahriman fights, or killing two of them off and concentrating on the capturing of just one of them. If you encounter the Ahriman, Exoray(x2) group, this will be easy. Fire off two Holys to kill the Exorays. Cast Shell on the Ahriman, cast Holy on it, then physically attack it with your capture weapon until you've bagged it. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Enemy Encounter Groups - Both areas = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADAMANTOIS: Earthquake won't be too much of a problem, even without Protect it will only do around 1,200 damage. Just keep firing off Holys and eventually this thing will drop. AHRIMAN (x3): Yeah, pray that you aren't Confused, that could cause problems. One Holy each, and these guys are done. AHRIMAN, EXORAY (x2), : Each of these enemies will fall after one Holy. Take out the Ahriman first, as it can confuse Yuna. Nothing really to worry about other than the being Confused, the Exoray's Firaga spell won't do much more than 400 damage to Yuna. BARBATOS: Start off by casting Shell and Protect on Yuna, and then begin rattling off Holy after Holy. Keep Yuna's Hp high, and continue with the Holy barrage, this fight will end relatively quickly. BEHEMOTH KING: First off, set up Shell and Protect, they will help out a lot. With Shell, its Thundaga will only knock down about 1,300 Hp, instead of the 2,600. With Protect, Heave will still take out 2,400. Before you kill it off, make sure you have more than 4,000 Hp, as Meteor will still do upwards of 3,900 damage even with Protect. DEMONOLITH: Breath will have no chance of Petrifying you as long as you have our armor with Stoneproof on it equipped. Pharaoh's Curse will cause Silence, Darkness, Poison and Curse. Use a Remedy on Yuna, and continue casting Holys. You'll need to cure the effects of Pharaoh's Curse after almost every Holy, unless the Demonolith decides to counter attack physically, which Yuna will Evade if you have our BFA weapon equipped. GEMINI (x2): Cast Protect, as it will help guard against every attack these two will throw at you. 4 Holys each, and this fight will end. Leaping Swing tends to miss more than it hits. Reaper isn't anywhere near a threat either. GREAT MALBORO: The only way to survive this encounter is if you don't get Confused after any of its Bad Breath attacks, he has an 80% chance of Confusing you. You'll need to get off 7 Holys, so the chances aren't great that you'll come out on top in this battle. The only saving grace is that these guys won't ambush you Inside Sin, like they will everywhere else. If you create a Confuseproof and Berserkproof armor, this battle will be much easier, but there's no reason to fight it at the moment. LAND WORM: I recommend not fighting this guy for two reasons, Swallow and Regurgitate. Cast Shell to help guard against its Earthquake attack, and Protect to help against Headbutt. Holy will once again be the only effective means of damaging this fiend. WRAITH: I would say cast Shell to help against its variety of magical attacks, but this fight is too short for that to even be a problem. Three Holys and we're done with it. Its Doom spell leaves you with five turns until you die, once again, not a problem, we only need three. Alright, now we're ready to take out the most persistent enemy since Ultros, the Turks, or Biggs and Wedge. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to own the hell out of Seymour. And this time, it's for realz. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Seymour Omnis, Mortiphasms - YONS27 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Seymour: 80,000 Hp. Alright, we will NOT be making this fight incredibly complicated, so ignore the Mortiphasms. We've got plenty of X-Potions, so equip our Customized armor, we'll need Auto Haste here. You could also equip the Phantom Ring you found on the way up here, it will protect Yuna for the most part. Essentially, Seymour will cast Firaga 4 times each turn until you attack him 5 times, and then he'll use Dispel, followed by an unShellable Ultima. The 4 Firagas are actually what we need to worry about here, as they will do 1500+ damage each if not Shelled, which could possibly kill Yuna. So cast Shell, and attack with Holy until he Dispels. Then make sure you have at least 3500 Hp before he uses Ultima, just to be safe. Keep up with the Holys and he will soon fall. You can use either the Phantom Ring, or our Customized armor. I used the Customized armor because of Auto Haste, and I had plenty of X Potions. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = City of Dying Dreams = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Coolest. Name. Ever. Remember to snag the Hp Sphere that is in this area, or you will be very sorry, there's also a Defense Sphere near where you get the Hp Sphere. Do yourself a favor and run from the encounters, no reason to fight them unless you want to make the game even longer. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = STOP! Checklist = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Hopefully you've gotten all 10 extra Hp Spheres, and have activated every Hp node on Yuna's grid, because we will barely survive BFA's Overdrive even with the 6075 Hp we currently have. To recap on all the Hp Spheres we have collected: 2 Hp Spheres from Lord Ochu in Kilika Woods (Ovekill, rare drop). 1 Hp Sphere found on the Luca docks. 3 Hp Spheres from Lightning Dodging in the Thunder Plains. 1 Hp Sphere found in Bevelle Temple. 1 Hp Sphere found on Mt. Gagazet. 1 Hp Sphere dropped from Sin's Left Fin. 1 Hp Sphere found in the City of Dying Dreams. If you've forgotten one of these, don't worry, none are missable, except the extra Sphere from the Ochu fight, but the only reason you wouldn't have gotten that is if you took him out on your first trip to Kilika, which I highly doubt you did, considering the warning I gave you concerning the much-needed Hp Sphere. Hopefully you've also gotten all the treasures from the Temples, the Magic Sphere will be of great help, as it will ensure that Holy does 9,999 damage to BFA. These aren't gamebreakers, but it couldn't hurt to grab them up before taking on BFA. The important treasures from the temples are as follows: Besaid - Evasion Sphere. Kilika - Luck Sphere, Accuracy Sphere, Agility Sphere, Defense Sphere. Djose - Luck Sphere, Magic Defense Sphere, Agility Sphere. Macalania - Magic Sphere, Magic Defense Sphere, Accuracy Sphere. And to recap on the Weapon and Armor setup for the upcoming fight. Weapon Zombiestrike Evade and Counter Magic Counter One Mp Cost Armor Stoneproof Zombieproof Auto Haste Auto Potion If you're playing a No Items game, you more or less have a free spot on your armor, I'd advise going with Defense +10%, it'll help against BFA's physicals. Other options include Auto Regen. Wouldn't be awesome considering the small amount of Hp we have, but it could help. Really just whatever suits you would work fine here, you could even leave it as an open slot if you think you could later use the armor for the Monster Arena. Remember to sell off all your Potions and Hi Potions before venturing back into Sin, this will be important for our Auto Potion ability (if you're using it). ***** Special note: While the weapon set up that I have given you is the most efficient one to use in this fight, the two Counter abilities and Zombiestrike are not absolutely necessary. If you have plenty of X Potions, I'd say at least 50+, you could win this slugfest without the previously mentioned abilities. If you want to create a weapon that is different from this one, by all means do so, just make sure to keep that One Mp Cost ability on there. Now, while the weapons abilities can be played around with, we can not screw around with our armor, at all. You will need these four abilities to stand a chance against BFA, so don't get any crazy ideas. The only substitute we could make would be Auto Med in place of Zombieproof. ***** = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BOSS: Braska's Final Aeon, Yu Pagodas - YONS28 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BFA, First form: 60,000 Hp. BFA, Second form: 120,000 Hp. Alright, here we go. This is, rightfully so, the most dangerous boss fight we've encountered. And without every ability we spent the time to get, we wouldn't have the means to pull this off. Well, we could without the Counter abilities, but it would take a bit longer. Anyway, there aren't too many issues with this fight once we're actually prepared. Of course you'll want to set up Protect to help reduce the damge from BFA's physicals. All you will be doing is casting Holy, or healing after Jecht Beam, as Auto Potion won't activate. Stoneproof will prevent the Petrify effect of Jecht Beam, and we don't have to worry about being Zombied either. BFA's Ultimate Jecht Shot won't be an issue, it hits for a relatively pidly amount of damage. Now Triumphant Grasp is where the danger lies, I've seen it take out 6,053 of Yuna's 6,075 Hp. I haven't seen it kill her yet, but it has certainly come close. If Yuna is ever not at full Hp, heal her on your next turn. As for the Yu Pagodas, don't worry about them, the Counters and Zombiestrike will pretty much cancel out their capabilities. Just keep casting Holy, and always keep Yuna's Hp full. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Almost there = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Since you can't actually lose the fight with Yu Yevon and the possessed Aeons unless you hit yourself with a Stonestrike weapon, I won't be giving you a strategy. Take out all the Aeons (at least you don't have to go through Yojimbo, Anima and the Magus Sisters this time) and dispatch YY. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = And...scene! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Kick back, relax, and watch the ending. It's much more rewarding when you actually had to work to see it, isn't it? Hopefully you've had fun during this challenge, I know I did. It certainly instills you with a sense of pride after completing it. Not so much in the challenge, but more about the patience required to finish it. This was one of, if not the most, difficult Single Character Challenges in the game. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Monster Arena Walkthrough - COMING SOON! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = For the purposes of the Monster Arena, Yuna will only be learning three new abilities; Auto Life, Steal, and Bribe. You can go right ahead and learn every ability on the grid if you want, but I will be posting strats based on Yuna's OSG Skillset and stats, and the Steal and Bribe abilities. -Before we start fighting, let's prep ourselves. You'll want to capture at least five (if not ten) of every enemy in the game. This shouldn't be too much of a problem, I'll outline some of the more difficult enemies to catch. (COMING SOON!). = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Own Sphere Grid Monster Arena = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = -Make absolutely sure you've obtained all possible stat spheres up to this point. Don't worry about Mp Spheres, we'll have One Mp Cost on our weapon soon enough. Yuna's stats should look like this: Hp: 6,075 Mp: xxx Str: 35 Agi: 54 Def: 23 Lck: 33 Mag: 75 Eva: 68 MDef: 68 Acc: 15 -Keep in mind that we still can't (and never will) be able to power up Yuna's Nirvana, as that would involve Summoning to defeat Belgemine's Aeons. We'll be creating a new and better weapon anyway. -Go visit Wantz in Macalania and buy two armors and a single weapon from him. You'll need 300,000 Gil for this, selling off all 99 Underdog's Secrets will net you almost 500,000 Gil. You should also sell off any equipment you have for other characters. -On the weapon, Customize Break Damage Limit, One Mp Cost, Magic Booster and Magic +20%. We have the necessary Dark Matters, Three Stars, Turbo Ethers and Supreme Gems from capturing enemies. -We'll be using the armor we made for BFA for a fair amount of these fights. -Get yourself a First Strike weapon if you don't already have one. We'll be starting every Monster Arena fight with First Strike, then switch to our main weapon. I repeat, we will be starting EVERY FIGHT WITH FIRST STRIKE, this'll save me at least a sentence in every boss strategy. - - - - - - - - - - - MA Battle: Stratoavis - - - - - - - - - - - Our preparation may have seemed unnecessary when fighting this guy, but it's best to get that nonsense out of the way early. Use your BFA armor, new Magic weapon, set up Protect, and spam Holy until it dies. Each Holy will deal about 22,000-24,000 damage, so it won't be quick. Strato's regular attack while flying will very rarely even hit Yuna, and if it does it's not enough to kill her with Protect, don't bother Defending. Don't bother Defending before Strato's turn after he Charges, Paean of the Heavens will only deal about 2,800 damage with Protect set up, and Darkness is not an issue for Yuna. Heal with Cura. Don't worry about its Attack when he's grounded either, it's got the lowest accuracy rating of any attack in the game, and against Yuna's high Evasion chances are pretty good that you won't see it connect. A few Holys after Strato has landed will net you an Overkill, four Amulets (or maybe two Dark Matters), and an armor with Hp +% factors in it, or a weapon with Str. +%/Mag +% factors. - - - - - - - - - - - - MA Battle: Chimerageist - - - - - - - - - - - - Start the battle with your First Strike weapon, then switch to your Magic weapon. You'll have time to fire off two Holys before Chimerageist's first attack, but if the subsequent attack is Charge, Yuna will need either Defend or Protect to survive it. I suggest switching weapons to start, using Holy, then Defending before its first attack. Two more Holy spells will put him down for the count, with an Overkill. Charge is the only attack that can kill Yuna at full Hp if not guarded against. Your reward will be either two Return Spheres or two Dark Matters, and either and Elemental Strike weapon or Elemental Eater armor. - - - - - - - - - - - - MA Battle: Don Tonberry - - - - - - - - - - - - Let DT walk forward four times before you start attacking him, or he'll counter with Karma, which will most certainly kill Yuna. We can survive Don Tonberry's regular attack if she Defends right before it, and has Protect set up and Defense +20% in her armor. At this point you'll just be trading blows with DT, I'd opt for Curaga to heal instead of X Potions. After each Chef's Knife you'll have a turn to heal, and a turn to attack. This'll take a little while, but you'll eventually whittle down all of his Hp. Note that there's a chance that Chef's Knife goes critical, this'll mean certain death for our heroine. Auto Life isn't really an option for this fight, as you'll only have time to cast it again before you die, creating a loop that'll last as long as your Mp. - - - - - - - - - MA Battle: Fenrir - - - - - - - - - In this fight, it's pretty to not die. As long as we have a Confuseproof armor and Protect set up, along with an Evade & Counter weapon Fenrir can't kill us. The problem is that we'll be depending on Yuna's counterattacks to defeat this one, and she has a pathetically low chance of hitting him, even when she does it'll only be for around 1,200 damage. If you have One Mp Cost on your Evade & Counter weapon, you can squeeze in Holy (that deal about 5000 damage) on your turns. I'd recommend setting up a turbo controller for this fight. I had it on when I left for work one morning and came back to see an Agility Sphere waiting for me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - MA Battle: Greater Sphere - - - - - - - - - - - - - Do NOT just start attacking Greater Sphere all willy-nilly. I repeat, do NOT just start attacking Greater Sphere all willy-nilly. While Hydraulic Press deals damage proportional to your Hp and isn't lethal, Greater Sphere's Attack can (and will) kill Yuna if she isn't under Protect, AND Defending. There's an equal chance that GS will use either Hydraulic Press or Attack on its turn, always Defend to be safe. Don't bother with Shell, it'll only make it more difficult to heal, and we won't be seeing any magic-based attacks from Greater Sphere anyway. Use your first three turns to switch to your main weapon, cast Protect, and then Defend. You'll actually have to Defend twice, because Defending once will move Yuna's turn up to right before GS's. Your only means of damaging him will be counterattacks from your Counterattack or Evade & Counter weapon. If you got a weapon with a load of Strength factors and a free spot, Customize Evade and Counter on to it. One Mp Cost is also a priority on this weapon, unless you have a full stock of Turbo Ethers and Elixirs. This'll go at roughly 500 Hp per strike, so this'll take roughly 3000 counterattacks. Have fun. For healing purposes, note that Yuna can survive Hydraulic Press followed by its regular attack if she's under both Protect and Defend. Using items instead of magic to heal will nab you an extra turn each round, but those X Potions don't grow on trees if you haven't yet learned Bribe. - - - - - - - - - - - MA Battle: Bomb King - - - - - - - - - - - Its physical attack is not Fire-based, for starters, and deals about 5000 damage AFTER being reduced by Protect (half again if you Defend, of course). After you attack it three times it'll swell once and start using Fira spells on you. Make sure you set up NulBlaze before this point in the fight, and after every Fira you see. After another three Holys, BK will swell again, this time casting Firagas (lol pattern). Keep up with the NulBlaze, followed by Holy. Finally, after swelling for a third time (after three more Holys), it'll start casting Ultima. Yuna will need Shell to survive this attack, and after that you'll need to heal her with X Potions to keep up with BK's attacks. This will literally cause you to blow through 90+ X Potions if you can only survive one Ultima at a time. You can add Hp +30% and Magic Defense +20% to Yuna's armor (which must have Auto Haste) to allow her to survive two Ultimas at a time, cutting your X Potion usage in half. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dark Aeon Strategies - by Villa_ftw = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ***These stats are what Villa faced the Dark Aeons at, you could quite possibly face and defeat the following bosses at lower stats.*** DARK VALEFOR DV's stats: HP - 800,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 148 Def - 120 Mag - 186 MDef - 220 Agi - 105 Luck - 48 Eva - 10 Acc - 250 Yuna's stats: HP 22675 MP 999 Str 242 Def 157 Mag 164 MDef 200 Agi 191 Luck 33 Eva 153 Acc 85 Yuna's Weapon Break Damage Limit Magic Booster Magic +20% One MP Cost Yuna's Armor BHPL Auto Regen (Auto Haste) Dark Valefor's Regular Attacks: Energy Ray: 3500 - 3800 Attack: 9999 Sonic Wings: 9999 Dark Valefor's Overdrive Energy Blast 53000 (ish) Strategy: With the stats mentioned above, Yuna will only have 1 or 2 turns to every turn of Dark Valefor’s, but that does not matter. Auto Haste will speed this battle up, but again is not essential. I know what you’re thinking; this’ll be easy, just spam her with Holy. Correct? I wouldn’t and I’ll tell you why. DV has a defence of 120 compared to a magic defence of 220. Now with my stats listed above, Holy was doing roughly 6800 damage, compared to a regular attack which did 99999 damage. Quite a difference isn’t it? Coupled with the faster recovery time of a regular attack, this is the only way to go. So looking at the weapon I used, you will see the Magic +20% and the Magic Booster will only be effective for healing purposes. Note that Evade & Counter does not work on any of Dark Valefor’s attacks, well the Evade part anyway. Attack and Sonic Wings can be countered. Start off by just attacking DV for 99999 damage each hit. A hit will miss very occasionally. Keep your HP above 9999 as 2 of the 3 of Dark Valefor's normal attacks will hit for the capped 9999 limit. Unless you have really boosted Yuna's HP, you will not survive Dark Valefor's overdrive, so ensure you have casted auto life before she unleashes Energy Blast! She should only get to do this once in the battle. Keep an eye on the CTB as you do not want Dark Valefor to have two attacks in a row if you are not under auto life, as two straight attacks with Yuna not at full HP equals game over. Just keep hitting away with normal attacks. Auto regen helps to keep your HP above 9999. Soon enough you'll be getting that Overkill, and hopefully an armour with Ribbon attached (and BHPL and Auto Regen if you are VERY lucky). Keep trying until you get an armour with at least Ribbon on it (it will come in very handy when doing the Monster Arena). /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// DARK IXION: DI's Stats: HP - 1,200,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 176 Def - 220 Mag - 133 MDef - 188 Agi - 180 Luck - 36 Eva - 0 Acc - 250 Yuna's stats: HP 43775 MP 999 Str 255 Def 255 Mag 250 MDef 255 Agi 254 Luck 229 Eva 152 Acc 140 Yuna’s Weapon (First Battle) BDL Magic Counter Strength +20% Strength +10% Yuna’s Weapon (Second Battle) BDL Strength +20% Piercing Evade & Counter Yuna’s Armour Ribbon BHPL Auto Haste Auto Regen Dark Ixion's Regular Attacks (First Battle): Thundaja: 4200 (Shelled to 2100) Dark Ixion's Regular Attacks (Second Battle): Regular Attack: ???? Aero Spark: 7000 and dispel Dark Ixion's Overdrive (First Battle) Aerospark: ????? Dark Ixion’s Overdrive (Second Battle) Thors’ Hammer: 17000 and Full Break(!) Strategy: The first battle is relatively fool-proof thanks to Blitz_Ace470’s tips. He suggested using a weapon with Magic Counter, and an armour with Auto Potion (X-potions only), to make Yuna virtually invincible. So after collecting 60 Dark Matters from the stat maxing process, I was able to customise yet another Abraxas weapon. However, I did not use the Auto Potion armour, instead favouring my ‘normal’ armour. When the fight starts, Yuna will have two turns before Dark Ixion. Cast Shell on yourself on your first go, and defend until Dark Ixion has a turn (I cast Auto Life as well, but this is not needed). Do not physically attack him, as he will counter and it fills his overdrive gauge up faster. Using this method, we will not be seeing his overdrive in this battle. Dark Ixion will now keep casting Thundaja on you, and you will counter him to death. Thundaja will do in the region of 2100 damage, and at my stats, Auto Regen was healing for 1600 each turn, ie the net damage was only 500 each turn. The second battle is slightly different. Switch to your evade and counter weapon, as Dark Ixion will now start using a physical attack (note that he will not counter this time). Once again start off by casting Shell. Now start hacking away at Dark Ixion’s health for about 80000 per hit. He will freely use Aero Spark now, for about 7000 damage, but also dispels any abilities. If he uses this, make sure to cast Shell again. He will use Thor’s Hammer when his gauge is full, which only does 17000 damage, but more devastatingly, it casts Full Break on Yunie! Your attacks will now only do 40000ish per hit, and his Aerospark does a massive 99999 damage, which will mean you lose (it dispels auto life). So we have to hit Dark Ixion around 15 times to kill him. Evade and counter, means you will counter both his physical attack and Aero Spark. Hope he does a higher ratio of physical attacks, as it doesn’t fill his gauge up so quickly, and you won’t have to keep recasting shell. I got 10 counters in before his OD bar was full. Once his bar is full, attack him two or three times. He now uses Thor’s Hammer. If you’ve got this far, pray he doesn’t use Aero Spark, and just try and kill him off quickly with normal attacks and counters. Actually, since beating Dark Ixion, I’ve found out you can cast dispel on yourself to remove the full break effect. Shows what a noob I can be at times. So when Dark Ixion uses Thor’s Hammer, quickly use dispel, and heal quickly, either with Curaga, or by throwing an x-potion. This should make beating Dark Ixion a lot safer. A word of advice, try to get an armour drop for Yuna, with BHPL, Ribbon and two free slots, as we need to make a new armour for Dark Shiva. This is a good opportunity to get the armour, as you obviously fight two battles. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// DARK IFRIT DF's stats: HP - 1,400,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 220 Def - 173 Mag - 177 MDef - 163 Agi - 124 Luck - 27 Eva - 8 Acc - 230 Yuna's stats: Same as for Dark Ixion Yuna’s Weapon: BDL Magic Counter Strength +20% Strength +10% Yuna’s Armour Ribbon BHPL Auto Haste Auto Regen Dark Ifrit's Regular Attacks: Meteor Strike: 22000 (Shelled to 11000) and delay Dark Ifrit's Overdrive: Hellfire: 35000 Strategy: Similar to the Dark Ixion strategy. Once again we will be relying on magic counter to do the dirty work, as to avoid Ifrits counter attacks. Ifrits Meteor Strike carries a delay effect, which doesn’t matter too much, because as previously stated we will not be using our turns for attacking. Start off by casting shell on Yuna, quickly followed by Auto Life. Now just defend and use x-potions to heal when your health drops too low. If you get KOed by Hellfire, recast Shell as soon as you are revived. It really is just that simple. Dark Ifrit will only get one Overdrive off before he goes down. A word of advice, try to get an armour drop for Yuna, with BHPL, Ribbon and two free slots, as we need to make a new armour for Dark Shiva. If you already got one from Dark Ixion, you can ignore this last piece of advice. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// DARK BAHAMUT DB's stats: HP - 4,000,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 245 Def - 234 Mag - 222 MDef - 234 Agi - 255 Luck - 102 Eva - 0 Acc - 250 Yuna's stats: HP 56775 MP 924 Str 253 Def 250 Mag 248 MDef 255 Agi 254 Luck 229 Eva 134 Acc 138 Yuna’s Weapon (Initial) BDL Magic Counter Strength +20% Strength +10% Yuna’s Weapon (Interchangeable) BDL Strength +20% Piercing Evade & Counter Yuna’s Armour Ribbon BHPL Auto Haste Auto Regen Attack 16000 (8000 under Protect or Defend, 4000 with Protect and Defend) OD’s Impulse - 8000 and Full Break Mega Flare 40000 - 45000 Strategy: For the first time in a while, we are now going to fight a Dark Aeon who will NOT counter your every attack, yay! Trouble is with 4 million HP, and a high agility stat, we won’t be getting that many chances to attack good old Dark Bahamut. Start the fight with your Magic Weapon equipped and start by casting Auto Life and Protect, and always try and defend before any of Dark Bahamut’s attacks. This will cut the damage caused from his physical attack to a quarter of its usual power. Once the magic protection has been cast, change to your attack weapon. Hit Dark Bahamut whenever you get the chance, but I’d still recommend defending just before his turn. He will only attack with his physical attack until his overdrive is ready, so you will counter all of these attacks. When Dark Bahamut’s overdrive gauge gets near to completion, change back to the magic weapon and cast curaga a few times, until you are back to near full health. When Dark Bahamut is finally ready to unleash his overdrive, use your turns to attack – don’t waste a turn defending here. Occasionally he will use Impulse prior to his overdrive, which does insignificant damage, but causes full beak. When you next get a chance, either just before or just after his overdrive, cast dispel on yourself. Remember though, that you will have to recast Protect each time this happens. Once Mega Flare is unleashed you’ll just have to take the damage, which compared to some of the other Dark Aeons, is actually not too bad. If you survive, great, just start casting Curaga to get some HP back. If you perish, Auto Life will revive you, and you should cast Protect straight away, and on your next turns recast Auto Life, and abuse Curaga to regain your HP. Either way, whenever you are ready, just begin the attacking phase again. Dark Bahamut will fall in next to no time. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// DARK ANIMA DA's stats: HP - 8,000,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 155 Def - 230 Mag - 255 MDef - 255 Agi - 183 Luck - 85 Eva - 0 Acc - 255 Yuna's stats: HP 9999 MP 999 Str 255 Def 255 Mag 255 MDef 255 Agi 255 Luck 230 Eva 62 Acc 3 Yuna’s Weapon BDL Strength +20% Strength +10% Evade & Counter Yuna’s Armour Ribbon Auto Haste Auto Protect Auto Shell Dark Anima’s Regular Attacks: Attack: 3400 (1700 under Protect) and Petrification, Poison and Curse Mega Gravitation: 7/16 of Max HP (Shelled to 7/32) and Sleep, Doom, Silence, Darkness and Slow. Pain: Instant Death (NB: Deathproof offers no protection) Dark Anima’s Overdrive: Oblivion: 16 hits approx 88,000 damage total and reduces MP to 0 Strategy: Right I’m not going to lie to you, you need to be extremely lucky to win this fight, however it is more than possible. Basically, you will not survive Dark Anima’s overdrive, which not only depletes your HP with each hit, but your MP as well. This means that you will be revived (thanks to casting auto life prior to Oblivion) with a quarter of your max HP and no MP. You get one move, in which you need to use an elixir (or any other MP recovery item). Now Dark Anima gets a move, and there is a one in three chance that the move used will be Pain. If this happens I’m afraid it’s Game Over. Not to mention this scenario will happen at least 8 times in the battle… It is therefore imperative that we beat Dark Anima as fast a possible, so for this fight (and also for the Dark Magus Sisters), we will allow ourselves to learn Quick Hit and Quick Pockets. You can try and win the battle without these abilities, and if you can you are an infinitely better gamer than I am, but even with these abilities the fight can still be frustrating. I would like to point out that this strategy was heavily influenced by Blitz_Ace470’s TONC strategy, so credits should go to him. So the battle begins. Use your first turn to cast Auto Life on Yuna, and your second (and sometimes third) turn to Quick Hit. Dark Anima is now on turn and will use one of the three stated attacks. If she uses Pain on one of your other two characters, Mega Gravitation, or a regular attack on anyone, simply have Yuna use Quick Hit on her next three turns. If she uses Pain on Yuna, accept death, be revived, and recast Auto Life on yourself. Soon it will be just Yuna and Dark Anima left on the battlefield. Always make sure that Auto Life is in place, and always use Quick Hit to attack. If your HP drops below 2187 (the value Mega Gravitation will do to you), use Quick Pockets to throw an X-potion. Depending on the amount of times Dark Anima uses Pain, you should be able to do 5 to 16 hits in between Oblivions. Using the weapon I described, you will be dealing an average of 70000 damage every hit, which means we have to land around 114 hits to win. When I beat Dark Anima I had to endure 8 Oblivion’s, but in that run I was lucky enough to be dealing a minimum of 10 hits per Oblivion. If you die, keep trying and try not to get too frustrated. Eventually it will happen, and you will feel a huge sense of relief. Run to that save sphere and save your game immediately! Dark Anima is the hardest of the Dark Aeons, so reward yourself with a cookie and glass of milk, or if you are feeling adventurous try an Irish Car Bomb. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// DARK MAGUS SISTERS: *NOTE: You will be fighting these three Aeons individually, they can't be taken on three or even two at a time.* Yuna's stats: HP 99999 MP 999 Str 255 Def 255 Mag 255 MDef 255 Agi 255 Luck 230 Eva 62 Acc 3 Yuna’s Weapon (All 3 fights) BDL Strength +20% Strength +10% Evade & Counter Yuna’s Armour (All 3 fights) Ribbon BHPL Auto Haste Auto Regen *Note* A lot of items will be used in these three battles (mainly in this one). Personally I got through 85 X-Potions, 7 Elixirs, 14 Megalixirs and 4 Turbo Ethers. Make sure you are well stocked up before commencing battle. Dark Sandy: 2,500,000 HP HP - 2,500,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 186 Def - 201 Mag - 207 MDef - 168 Agi - 201 Luck - 80 Eva - 100 Acc - 255 Dark Sandy’s Attacks: Regular Attack: 12,000 and Petrification. Razzia: 97,000 and Dispel Dark Sandy’s Overdrive: Mega Gravitation: 7/16 of Max HP (Shelled to 7/32) and Sleep, Doom, Silence, Darkness and Slow. Strategy: Sandy’s Razzia will dispel Auto Life, so you can’t rely on this skill in this battle. Having a Counter Attack or Evade and Counter on your weapon will help reduce the workload, by countering Dark Sandy’s both regular attacks and Razzia. Start off by casting Protect on yourself, and then defend. Attack with Quick Hits, but always defend before Dark Sandy has a turn. On the second round (providing you didn’t get hit by Razzia), cast Shell, then Quick Hit, then defend. By doing this Dark Sandy’s regular attack will only do around 3000, Razzia will do 45000 and her overdrive will go from 7/16 max HP to 7/32. With Protect and defend, Dark Sandy’s regular attack will be cancelled out by the health gained by Auto Regen After a Razzia attack, you will have time to Quick Pockets five X-potions, or four and an Elixir if your MP is low, then Quick Hit, then defend before her next attack. Bear in mind that she can and will use Razzia more frequently then her normal attack. Dark Sandy’s overdrive gauge will rise quite fast. When it is full, do not defend, just keep hitting with quick hits. After Mega Gravitation, Quick Pockets an X-potion or two if need be. Always try and keep your HP around 50000 minimum so you can survive a Razzia attack, even if this means going a round by just Quick Pocketing X-potions. Keep this pattern going, and you will soon get the win. In my opinion, Dark Sandy is the easiest of the 3 Magus Sisters. Dark Mindy: HP - 2,000,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 148 Def - 148 Mag - 248 MDef - 132 Agi - 233 Luck - 130 Eva - 240 Acc - 255 Dark Mindy’s Regular Attacks: Passado: Death Calamity: Full Break, Curse, Silence, Darkness and Poison Dark Mindy’s Overdrive: Mega Gravitation: 7/16 of Max HP (Shelled to 7/32) and Sleep, Doom, Silence, Darkness and Slow. Strategy: Start off by casting Auto Life, followed up by a Quick Hit (or two). Dark Mindy is now on turn. If she attacks either of the other two party members just use your turns to keep Quick Hitting her. If she uses Calamity on Yuna, again just keep on attacking. If she uses Passado on Yuna, you will die, so recast Auto Life as soon as possible. When her overdrive comes around you must do either one of two things. Either just carry on attacking as normal if you haven’t had Passado used on you. Or if Passado has been used, and consequently you have been revived with a quarter of your maximum HP, cast Shell on yourself, and then carry on the Quick Hit assault. When your MP drops below 500, Quick Pocket a Turbo Ether or an Elixir. I advise this because I have seen her use Passado five times in a row, and I didn’t have enough MP to keep casting Auto Life. Note that none of her attacks can be countered, so if you have a weapon with One MP Cost and Strength modifiers on it, I would advise you to go with this weapon. Overall Dark Mindy should not be too difficult, unless as stated she goes on a mad Passado run, and you run out of MP. Dark Cindy : HP - 3,000,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 175 Def - 223 Mag - 171 MDef - 105 Agi - 185 Luck - 40 Eva - 0 Acc - 255 Dark Cindy’s Regular Attacks: Attack: 5,600 and Dispel Camisade: 65,000 and reduces MP to 0 Dark Cindy’s Overdrive: Mega Gravitation: 7/16 of Max HP (Shelled to 7/32) and Sleep, Doom, Silence, Darkness and Slow. Strategy: Don’t waste time casting Protect, Shell, or Auto Life, as Dark Cindy’s attacks will dispel them. If you have an armour with BHPL, Ribbon, Auto Haste, and either Auto Protect or Auto Shell, equip this now! We will be going about this in a similar style to the Dark Sandy fight, ie we will always be defending before Dark Cindy’s turn. Start off by using a couple of Quick Hits and defending. If Dark Cindy uses Camisade on either of the other two, or does a regular attack on anybody, just keep Quick Hitting and defending. However, if Dark Cindy uses Camisade on Yuna, immediately use an MP recovery it em (preferably an Elixir as it restores health as well), then Quick Pocket X-potions to get your health back up to maximum. It is imperative that you try and keep Yuna’s HP as close to maximum as possible. When Dark Cindy’s overdrive gauge is full, make sure to cast Shell, to cut the damage of Mega Gravitation in half. Obviously you do not need to defend before the overdrive, so use your second and third turns to unleash more Quick Hits. As the fight progresses, she seems to use Camisade a lot more then her regular attacks. In this scenario, you will be relying on your counter attacks to do the bulk of the damage whilst you use your turns to heal up. I was really starting to sweat it on this fight, as I virtually run out of X-Potions, and did run out of Elixirs and Megalixirs. As long as you are well stocked up, you shouldn’t find this fight too difficult, just lengthy. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Dark Shiva: HP - 1,100,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 173 Def - 136 Mag - 244 MDef - 255 Agi - 255 Luck - 73 Eva - 0 Acc - 250 Yuna's stats: Same as for Dark Magus Sisters Yuna’s Weapon: BDL Evade and Counter Magic Counter Magic Booster Yuna’s Armour BHPL Ribbon Deathproof Auto Haste Dark Shiva's Regular Attacks: Regular Attack: 4500 and berserk, confusion, and dispel Heavenly Strike: 9700 (or Death) Dark Shiva's Overdrive: Diamond Dust: 87,000 Strategy: I’ll start off by saying that I could have used Quick Hit and Quick Pockets in this fight, after previously allowing myself to learn them for the battles with Dark Anima and the Dark Magus Sisters. However, I only used them in those fights (and when I was farming Dark Yojimbo for drops), because those battles are essentially ‘against the clock’. This battle is not, so I did not use those two techniques. Dark Shiva’s regular attacks will dispel all positive status effects, including Auto Life. Having Deathproof on your armour negates the death status when she uses Heavenly Strike. Essentially the fight plan is pretty simple; we will just be attacking her head on, and healing (preferably by throwing an X-potion) when our health drops below 90,000. Obviously if we get a turn before Shiva uses her overdrive, we will cast Auto Life to ensure we survive. But Dark Shiva is fast, and I mean very fast, and will often have two turns in a row, meaning she can and will have a regular attack followed straight up by her overdrive. If this happens it will probably mean Game Over. The two counter attacks on the weapon will help considerably, as you will counter both of her regular attacks for maximum damage. Take note of how fast her overdrive gauge fills. When it is nearly full, stop attacking and heal up. If the gauge is full, cast Auto Life. Her overdrive hurts bad, but luckily we will only be seeing it once. It is actually better do die from Diamond Dust and be revived with 37,498 HP (thanks to Magic Booster), than surviving with ~12,000 HP. Either way, with her relatively low HP, a few more hits and counters will be enough to finish her off once and for all. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The final Dark Aeon strat: Dark Yojimbo : DY's stats: HP - 1,600,000 (99,999) MP - 999 Str - 244 Def - 310 Mag - 131 MDef - 144 Agi - 243 Luck - 114 Eva - 0 Acc - 255 Yuna's stats: Same as for Dark Magus Sisters Yuna’s Weapon: BDL Magic Booster Magic +20% One MP Cost Yuna’s Armour (All 3 fights) Ribbon BHPL Auto Haste Auto Regen Dark Yojimbo’s Regular Attacks: Wakizashi : 24000 damage Daigaro: 6000 and petrification Kozuka: 12000 and slow and full break Dark Yojimbo’s Overdrive: Zanmato: 99999 and dispels auto life Once you get to the third or fourth battle, Dark Yojimbo’s overdrive gauge fills up too fast to be able to beat him before he uses zanmato. Therefore, in order to beat him, you must break one of the golden rules of YONS, and must use an Aeon as a shield. It is the only way to win. I wish there was another way around this, but unfortunately there is not. As already mentioned, Dark Yojimbo cannot be beaten conventionally in all five battles, but he can be beaten in the first two battles (and occasionally the third). To beat him in the third battle, you need to get lucky with Dark Yojimbo’s attacks. Basically, you can’t afford to see Kozuka used on Yuna. So if we can’t beat him, why are we still going to fight him? Simple, if we need weapons or armours, or more importantly Dark Matters to customise Ribbon, beating Dark Yojimbo is a good way to go. Kozuka is the only attack of Dark Yojimbo’s that can be countered with Counter or Evade and Counter. However, due to it also inflicting power break, your damage output will be reduced to around 50,000. This is good if you’re trying to beat him in the third battle, but if it occurs in a regular battle and happens to be the final hit, you will only net one Dark Matter instead of two. Therefore, I recommend not using counterattack weapons. Luckily, you do not need any strength modifiers to be able to deal the maximum damage. Instead you will find your magic weapon useful for healing large amounts, without having to waste multiple turns throwing X-potions. Other than Kozuka’s full break effect, Dark Yojimbo’s attacks are relatively harmless. Just use Quick Hit every turn, unless you have to heal. Once your HP drops below 25,000 use Curaga once. With a bit of luck, you will not have to heal more than once in a battle, if at all. Obviously, if Dark Yojimbo uses Kozuka on Yuna, cast Dispel immediately. Try to keep count of how many hits have landed during the battle. Remember that you need 17 hits for the win. You can then work out if you can get the finishing hit in before Yojimbo uses Zanmato. If you come up just short, I won’t hold it against you if you use an Aeon to take the hit (especially if you are trying to collect 99 Dark Matters…). There you have it. As you can see, a lack of multi-hit attacks means that you will not legitimately get past the fourth battle. However, we have come a long way during this challenge, and it would be a shame to not even get a glimpse of Penance now, wouldn’t it? At the end of the day it is up to you what you decide to do. I will not be cheating to get past Dark Yojimbo, but bear in mind that I can’t actually stop you! ~Fin = = = = = = = = = = = 12.0 - Credits = = = = = = = = = = = A very special thanks to the following users: Blitz_Ace470, zzanmato, manudude02, Blues003, kikiorie45, AndoYzerman and Villa_ftw. If I've forgotten anyone, please let me know, and you will be added to this list in an updated version. An uber super ultra mega triple thanks to SoulSpark. You showed a commitment to this project that went above and beyond the call of duty, especially since you didn't even attempt this challenge during the writing of the FAQ. A thousand thanks for formatting the document as well. You were the best, I appreciate all your help. Another extra special thanks to Marc Holder (Villa_ftw). He played this challenge as well, and even fought the Dark Aeons (I lacked the PAL/Int version at this point in time), and wrote the strats for those fights. He even beat me to BFA by about a day and a half (snuck up on me while I was being lazy, I also had the minor task of writing the FAQ *coughexcusescough*). Another mention to SoulSpark, he attempted the hardest variation of the YONS challenge, adding NINENNENBB to the challenge. NC was also a restriction that he added, but he needed to remove it for the Overdrive Sin fight. Thanks again man. I would also like to credit the help of the following FAQs for various reasons. Mostly these were used as references for information about the game. zzanmato's NSGNSNONCNENNENBB FAQ, KADFC's Item Database FAQ, CB!'s Monster Encyclopedia FAQ, SinirothX and SClemmons's Stat Mechanics FAQ, CB!'s Mix List FAQ, and also ragnorakesper's Monster Ability FAQ. Also, Sensorie's Damage Calculator came in very helpful for the (soon to be added) Monster Arena section. And finally thanks to CJayC and GameFAQs, for this wonderful site that allows me and people like me to further enjoy our passion for video games.