FFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFF X X F F X X F F X X F F X X FFFFFF FFFFFF X F F X X F F X X F F X X F F X X Developed By: SquareSoft Console: Play Station 2 Lame ASCII I know… If you got better PLEASE e-mail it to me!! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+OSGRONINONBB=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ RIKKU ONLY NO ITEMS NO OVERDRIVE NO BLITZBALL GUIDE +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+OSGRONINONBB=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+==Legal Stuff+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ This document is copyright to me Wajdy Naber (AKA SoulSpark on GameFAQs and Neoseeker). It is intended for private use only. This document cannot be used in any form of commercial transactions or distributed on the web in any form or shape nor it can be altered or reproduced. Currently the only site that is allowed to host this guide is GameFAQs and no one else. If you want to post this guide on your website please contact me first [captinaw(at)hotmail(dot)com]. Permission will most likely be granted, but I hold you responsible to keep the FAQ up to date. And if you change one letter of the FAQ, or do not credit me for it, you will be asked to remove it from your site. GameFAQs will always have the most recent version. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+About Me=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Hey! My name is Wajdy Naber, aka SoulSpark on GameFAQs. I live in the Middle East, Jordan to be exact. FFX has been a favorite of mine since I first played it. I've always wanted to contribute something to the FFX huge community, aside from minor contributions to other people's FAQs. So after doing some challenges, Blitz_Ace470 (we're kinda like official challenge partners XD) came up with this idea for a new challenge. Which we did, and successfully completed, and I got my chance to contribute something since it's a new challenge ^_^. You can contact me on my e-mail if need be: Captinaw(at)hotmail(dot)com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=Version History=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ -Version 1.0 Submitted on January 21st. Basically, guide complete. And submitted it at this date in hopes of it being accepted. -Version 1.1 Submitted on January 24th. Added in the corrections sent in by Villa_Ftw. And added a little note in the table of contents. -Version 1.2 Started on August 7th. Started outlining the NSGRO challenges. Main update is NSGRONO. strats for NSGRONI will follow in a later update. Hopefully. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+About This Challenge Compilation=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The final idea for this FAQ is to turn into a compilation of FAQs that discuss all of the challenges that involve Rikku only. I will be updating it with strats for each of the challenges as I get the time to do those challenges and write up all the strats and discussions about them. As anyone who read the FAQ before knows, the initial added challenge is OSGRONINONBB. In this update, I will add strats for the NSGRONO challenge. Hopefully, this will help some people out with that challenge :) This is one of the few new ideas for challenges for FFX. It involves using Rikku only for the whole game, with the restrictions of not being able to leave her section of the sphere grid, and the inability to use Overdrives and Items through out our journey around Spira. What's that? Impossible, you say? Well, I'm glad to prove you wrong. This challenge has been indeed completed, and BFA was defeated. Rikku is just too powerful to handle. Since Rikku's strength is puny, and we can't use items or overdrives, we're gonna heavily depend on Customization and the correct equipment to maul our way through the whole lot of bosses and random encounters. One warning though. This challenge is extremely tedious at some points; mainly the very beginning of the game, and for a while after you first get Rikku back and when you reach the Calm Lands. So if you don't have the patience to sit through long hours of fighting to get some specific equipment, or level up a bit, I would advise you to stay away from this challenge. You should also know that aside from some very few bosses *cough Tros cough*, this challenge is generally one of the easiest of the FFX challenges, so don't think you're in for a real challenge, like NSGRO or something <_<;; If you think you are stuck in the challenge and the help you need isn't available in this guide. Go to the FFX boards, and look for the "Single Character Challenges Topic". It's there specifically for this kind of challenges. I'm mostly available there to answer your questions, and so are the vets on the board. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=Table of Contents=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ## Find Function: Use the code before each of the entries to search for the entry you need. Just copy the code, paste it in the find box, and hit the enter key. SSR: Rules SSW: Walkthrough SSW0Z: Zanarkand SSW0B: Baaj Temple SSW0BK: Klikk SSW0S: Al-Bhed Ship SSW0ST: Tros SSWBe: Besaid SSW0L: S.S.Liki SSW0LE: SinSpawn Echuiless SSW0K: Kilika SSW0W: S.S.Wino SSWLu: Luca SSW0MH: Mi'ihen Highroad SSW0MRR: Mushroom Rock Road SSW0DE: Extractor SSW0ST: Stealing Time SSW0TP: Thunder Plains SSW0MF: Macalania Forest SSW0MFS: Spherimorph SSW0ML: Macalania Lake SSW0MLC: Crawler SSW0MLSA: Seymour and Anima SSW0MLW: Wendigo SSW0BD: Bikanel Desert SSW0H: Home SSW0A: Airship SSW0AE: Evrae SSW0Bv: Bevelle SSW0VP: Via Purifico SSW0WV: Watery Via Purifico SSW0WVE: Evrae Altana SSW0HB: High Bridge SSW0HBN: Natus SSW0CL: Calm Lands SSW0BG: Base of Mt. Gagazet SSW0BGD: Defender X SSW0BGBY: Biran and Yenke SSWCSF: Carven of Stolen Fayth CCWCSFY: Yojimbo SSW0MG: Mt. Gagazet SSW0MGF: Flux SSW0GC: Gagazet Cave SSW0GCK: Sanctuary Keeper SSWZa: Zanarkand SSWZaK: Spectral Keeper SSWZaY: Yunalesca SSWAs: Airship SSWLR: Left and Right Fin SSWCG: Sin's Core and Sinspawn Genais SSWOD: Overdrive Sin SSW0IS: Inside Sin SSW0ISO: Omnis SSWBFA: Braska's Final Aeon SSC: Credits Section. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+SSR00+=+=+=+=+=+=+=Rules of the Challenge+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ First of all, this challenge is OSGRONINONBB. OSG: Own Sphere Grid RO: Rikku Only NO: No Overdrives NI: No items NBB: No BlitzBall These rules speak for themselves. You're only allowed to use Rikku, you're not allowed to use the Mix command at any time during the challenge, except when you're forced to during the tutorial battle when you get Rikku back. You're not allowed to touch the "Item" or "Use" commands at any point during the game except for the one occasion where the game forces you to throw a Grenade at Klikk in Baaj Temple. And, you're not allowed to leave Rikku's section of the Grid Sphere no matter what. As for the others, they must try to escape at every chance they get during random encounters. If they don't you're just lucky, and try again on their following turn (which is usually immediately after this one anyways XD). During boss fights, the other characters should continuously change equipment so they take full damage from physical attacks. Also, you're not allowed to touch the Sphere Grid for the other characters, they must stay at their initial stats during the whole game. Finally, you're not allowed to play BlitzBall during anytime during the game, except for the forced game at Luca. This rule is optional, but it gives this challenge a little bit more edge to it. Now, for the time from Besaid till the Moonflow, you are faced with a decision to make. Normally, the SCC rules state that when the chosen character for the challenge is not in your party, the only rule that applies is the NSG (No Sphere Grid) rule. But, since Blitz_Ace and I like a Challenge, we decided to keep the No Items and No Overdrives part even when Rikku is not in the party. It's not as bad as you think, since the challenge doesn't say anything about Summoning Aeons, you can simply summon to get through everything, except three boss fights. One of them is easy as hell, and the other two just require a tiny bit of luck to be pulled off. So, I encourage you to keep those restrictions, for the fun of it ^_^. Nevertheless, I will be providing two strats for the bosses before Rikku. One with only NSG in effect, and another with NSGNONI in effect. And, the big ugly rule: A dead Rikku = gameover. Even if the others escaped the battle. Finally, I wish you good luck in your endeavors *cough rare steals cough <_<*, you're gonna need it! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+SSW00+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=Walkthrough=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ **SPOILER WARNING** I'm writing this guide with the assumption that you have completed the game at least once. I'm assuming that you know the whole storyline, and you know what to do in order to progress with the storyline. I'll be mentioning spoilers without warnings in the walkthrough. **END OF WARNING* Okay, with that out of the way. I feel compelled to say that this is not a complete walkthrough of the game. I will merely be providing you with strats for the random encounters and the bosses. And telling you what important items that you need to pick up before you advance in the story. You should be able to handle yourself with the remaining stuff. If not, consult one of the general FAQs in GameFAQs, those will sure help you out. Also, this challenge will use Spare Change to the VERY MINIMUM possible times. Basically, all bosses will have strats without Spare Change (Bar Anima, since I haven't tested it's strat yet), and the few Random Encounters with YAT Machina. However, I'll be providing strats for both variables. With Spare Change, and without it. I'm hoping in the near future I'll be able to make a version of the FAQ that's completely Spare Change free. Once I get the time to redo the challenge. Okay, final warning before you start this challenge. Believe it or not, Klikk and Tros will be the two hardest bosses in this challenge. They are the only bosses that gave us gameovers in the whole thing. You will be training like MAD for Tros. If you don't have that kind of patience, don't try this challenge, and don't come telling me that I didn't warn you about it. Last note before you do this challenge is that you need to have a complete Al-bhed Primers collection on another file, so you can compile them in this file and get the Underdog Secrets from Rin to sell them for cash, which will be necessary for the Evrae fight. Unless you're willing to get the money (320,000 gil) from random encounters, if you're using Spare Change. If not, then we're gonna need them for getting the Teleport Spheres from Yojimbo later. So be sure to have a file with a full Al-Bhed dictionary. Okay then, now, onto our adventure... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0Z*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Zanarkand *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ **It begins. Don't cry.** - Just go through the game like usual, watch the great FMV of the BlitzBall game, and watch Sin destroy Zanarkand. - For the first Sinscale fights, just hack your way through the ones in the front. - In the fight against Ammes, just use Auron's Dragon fang when you're forced to, then keep on attacking. You can never die, since he only uses Demi, which does damage equal to 25% of your current HP. - For the next Sinscale fight, just hack at the sinscales till the tanker becomes a selectable target, then hack away at the tanker. - Watch Tidus starts his story, and our first "challenge" with it -_- *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0B*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Baaj Temple *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ **You on my side?! Cool!** - Swim towards the Temple. Compile your Al-Bhed Dictionary if you would like so, then run ahead across the bridge. - Sahagin fight...Kill two, then attack Geosgaeno till the fights ends automatically, again, you can't die. His Punch is Demi based. -Okay, now that you're safe from the giant tortoise, run along and get the Flint and the Withered Bouquet. You don't need to collect the items, as we will never use them. Make sure you save before starting the fire, SAVE! Or you might regret it against Klikk. /|SSW0BK/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: KLIKK \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, believe it or not, this one will be hard. Don't be ashamed if you game over in this fight. When the battle first starts, just hack away with Tidus. Remember, no items or Overdrives. Rikku will arrive soon enough, and the real battle begins, since Klikk will be mysteriously healed back to full HP again. Now, you actually need some real life luck to win this fight. You're forced to break the [No Items] rule and throw a grenade on Klikk, pray that this grenade will go critical and deal ~650 damage instead of the regular ~320. If that happened, the fight will be much easier. However, I personally, did not get this lucky, and had to pray for some misses on his side. Just keep Rikku attacking with her mighty punch while Tidus switches weapons. Hope that Klikk will target Tidus more than Rikku, and hope that some of his hits miss. I won on my first try. I pray this won't take you much time to win, because the next boss will be much harder, trust me. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0S*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Al-Bhed Ship ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Okay, now, prepare yourself for an ass load of training. And by that, I mean about 18 hours of training, maybe more. In order to be able to beat Tros we need at least 960 HP. 1160 is recommended, but I doubt anyone alive has the patience to train that long especially with the extreme repetitive style of the battles. Gaining 3 (or 4 if you so choose) sphere levels for Rikku right now is a lot of work. She needs more than 520 AP per level, and the fights around here only give 2-3 AP. Not to mention that with NO and NI in place, the fights will take some time to complete... Once you gain three sphere levels, Rikku will have 960 HP, 19 Agility, and 12 Strength, BUT I still needed some luck in the fight. With the stats mentioned above. You still need a total combination of 4-5 misses (from Tros) and criticals (from Rikku) in order to be able to beat him. *waits* ...Okay, finished training? Good job! Don't worry, we will never have to train that much again, nor do anything for that long again <_<;; Now. Go ahead and dive again in the water, make your way through the battles and inside the sunken ship. Bang on the computer, and make your way to the inner chamber of the ship. Fight the Pirahna packs. BUT, do not trigger the last console. Make your way back to the ship. Save/heal, then go back again, pray that you don't lose any health on your way to the airship again. Operate the console now. Okay, see that little squid you laugh at all the time for being so easy? I'm glad to tell you that he is possibly the hardest boss in the whole challenge O.o /|SSW0ST/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: TROS \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, strategy wise, this fight is very easy. The problem is, you need luck in order to win. What you will be doing is the following: Attack him on every chance you get, and hope that you will get some critical hits. Once Tros has taken enough damage, and swims behind the pillar, check if Rikku has two turns in a row. If so, use the Trigger command "Stand By" then Defend. Always make sure to defend before Nautilus Charge. Its does around ~160 damage without defend, we can't afford this much damage since we have no way of healing (except for the rare occurrences when Rikku gets two turns in a row right before Nautilus Charge). Basically, that's just it. Tidus needs to be switching weapons all the time, and you have to hope that Tros will target Tidus more than he targets Rikku. Some misses on his side will be appreciated as well >_>. With 1160 HP, this fight will be MUCH easier though. With 12 Strength, Rikku will be dealing around 75-80 damage per hit. Tros deals around 55 damage with his normal attack, and around 80 with his Tentacles attack. With a total of 2200 HP, you'll need around 28-30 attacks to kill him. Rikku's grand HP of 960 can only withstand 12 - 16 attacks from Tros, depending on how much Tentacles attack is used. Rikku will be getting two turns in a row often, but not all the time. So with a few criticals on your side, and a couple of misses on his, he should go down. It took me two tries to beat him after I got 960 HP. I just got lucky as hell (which will be a recurring theme for me throughout the challenge XD). I wish you good luck in that fight. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSWBe^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Besaid *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ **"What would you do without me?!?" ~Rikku** Okay, time for our NSGNONI ride. Which will be a fairly easy one to say the least. Go through the story normally, talk to Wakka, then follow him to Besaid. When you get shoved into the water, be a bit careful of the random encounters. Have Tidus attack the 2x Pirahna packs, Wakka attack the single Pirahna pack, and the 3x Pirahna pack will go down with a hit from each. You can also escape from them if you want. Now, proceed with the story line as normal, talk to the crusaders, sleep a bit, then head to the temple. Go through the temple, get the destruction treasure or not, it won't make much difference anyways. On the next day, head back into the village, and into the item shop. Talk to the girl in there until she says that her dog found something. Leave the item shop and head into the tent closest to the temple on the right side of the village, and talk to the dog there to obtain Valefore's second and more powerful overdrive. Do the tutorial battles, and save at the save sphere. If you're doing NSGNONI, the next fight will take a tiny bit of luck. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: KIMAHRI \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Make sure Tidus has the Brotherhood sword equipped. Just attack normally till he is dead. You will need one critical or one miss from him to win without using ODs or Items. If you're only doing NSG, then either use a potion when your health is low, or use Spiral Cut if you have a full OD gauge. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, now. You have a little pleasant surprise in for you. If you know a bit about the Aeons in the game, then you will probably know that Aeons gain a bit of stat boost after the first 60 battles you participate in, and then another stat boost after each 30 battles. Those boosts stop happening after you reach 600 fights in total. Now, the thing is, with all the training we've been doing with Rikku before Tros, we've crossed the 600 mark there. So, our Aeons will be on their maximum natural stats from the moment we get them. I never knew that the fights before you get Yuna are counted in, so I was quite surprised to see Valefor with 2000+ HP once I first got her. This fact will make everything much easier for us, since the Aeons will be powerful enough to literally tear through everything till we get Rikku back! Head on to the docks, use Valefor to rip through the Garuda fights with only one attack each. The other random encounters are as easy as ever. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0L*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* S.S. Liki *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Watch the scenes, then go to the bottom of the ship and save. Meet O'Aka, donate 101 gil to him, then leave him alone. After that, go trigger the scene with Yuna which is followed by a boss fight. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: SIN'S FIN \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, easy as pie. First of all switch Wakka and Tidus out of Formation, since we will need them to be at full HP for the next fight. After that, summon Valefor and have her use any spell on Sin's Fin. Two castings at max will be enough to finish the fight. /|SSW0LE/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: SINSPAWN ECHUILESS \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ ## BOSS FIGHT: SINSPAWN ECHUILESS. NSGNONI strat: Start the fight with a Dark Attack from Wakka to hopefully blind him. Then go on an all out attack. Blind will make it very hard for him to connect his Drain Touch (10% chance). And Blender can be rarely evaded with Blind as well. When Darkness wears off, use Dark Attack again. The sinscales will give you some problems, but ignore them, they come in infinite numbers. You will need a little bit of luck (a couple of crits) to win this fight, but it's nothing special. Having Tidus and Wakka equipped with Str+ 3% weapons will help a bit as well. NSG strat: Start the fight with Dark Attack from Wakka to hopefully blind him. After that, if Wakka has an OD ready have him use it to get rid of all the sinscales and damage Echuilles himself. Keep on attacking, and using ODs when they are ready (ignoring the sinscales will be a good idea as well). Re-dark him after his Blind wears off, and throw a potion when your HP is low. If you get a waterward for either Tidus or Wakka, do a little victory dance. As it will be immensely helpful in the Extractor fight. If you feel up to it, reset till you get it. But don't fret over it, you can get SOS-Nul-Tide from Luca for even better chances against Extractor. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0K*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Kilika ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Watch the beautiful sending FMV. And go to bed. Next morning, go talk to Wakka then head into the Kilika Forest. Now, in there lurks the infamous Lord Ochu. We're gonna pound on him until he coughs up the two HP spheres. Two Fire spells from Valefor will be enough to overkill him. After you get the HP spheres (we really need those, we must get every single HP sphere we can, or else BFA will be impossible). Run forward and get the Luck Sphere, it will help with Rikku's accuracy. Go through the woods towards the temple, using Valefor to get you through the random encounters. Save at the save sphere or not, because the next fight will be as easy as any other random encounter. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: SINSPAWN GENEAUX \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Summon Valefor, have her attack each Tentacle once to kill it, then attack the body to bring it out of its shell. After that just Fire away till he's dead. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Get the Destruction Treasure from Kilika Temple, the Red Armlet might be needed later. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0W*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ S.S Winno ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Watch the scenes, listen to Lulu and Wakka talk, then go save. After that, get the Jecht Shot, it will help you immensely in the Luca Blitzball match. And we'll need to win that because the Strength Sphere will help Rikku a lot. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSWLu*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Luca *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ After the scenes at the docks, take Yuna on a tour around Luca, and get ready to do some fighting. Once you meet O'Aka, talk to him, and buy Tidus' Stunning Steel (Slow Touch) and have him equip it. If you don't have enough money, fight a bit of random encounters in the next docks, then come back and sell the Hi- and X- Potions for the money you need. Now, if you got a waterward armor for Tidus or Wakka from Sinspawn Echuilles earlier, then you can just fight the forced fights and move on. Other wise, I really recommend hanging around and fighting some fights till you get SOS Nul-Tide for at least one of them. Either way, once you're done with the fights around here, SAVE, and go on to fight Oblizerator. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: OBLITZERATOR \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Have Lulu cast Thunder on the crane three times, then Tidus uses the trigger command "Use Crane". After that have TIDUS attack Oblitzerator again to kill it. If you got a Lightning Steel for Tidus (Lightning Strike), then your work here is done. Otherwise, reset and fight again until you do. This weapon will come in very handy in the Extractor fight. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Before you trigger the scenes for the match, equip Tidus with his Lightning Steel. Okay, the BlitzBall match... ***CREDITS FOR THIS STRAT GO TO BLUES003*** This strat for this Blitzball match isn't perfect, it may fail, but at least it worked for me 9 times out of 10. So... Okay, so first things first: I hope you got Jecht Shot from the S.S. Winno. If you didn't, it's the match will not be impossible, but it'll be quite harder. I highly advise it. Now, choose the default players for their default places, and don't mark anyone at all. On the first half, once you get the ball (Graav will most likely get it on the Blitzoff, though), press triangle and choose to manual. Then, pass the ball repeatedly between players. I'd advise you to pass the ball between Tidus and the defenders. Don't worry about Datto, Tidus will be your scorer. Just make sure that you pass the ball right before the ball-carrier is surrounded by the Goers... Also, don't worry if they score a goal. It will make things harder, but it doesn't make things impossible at all. I even managed to score 3 goals once. Anyway, on the half-time menu, make sure you equip Jecht Shot to Tidus. This is extremely important. On to the 2nd half! Graav will probably grab the ball, just hope your defenders can take the ball out. After getting the ball, make sure you run towards your goal. The opponents will come near you, so make sure you pass the ball to Tidus right before they get too near. Swim with him really near the opponent's goal. Hopefully, Tidus will be surrounded by 2 defenders tops. Use 'No Break', select Jecht Shot, and there, GOAL! Jecht Shot takes out 2 defenders, and with Jecht Shot, Tidus' shoot will be enough to surpass Goer's keeper's Catch. Make DAMN sure you can do this before the 3 minutes. Once you get to 3:00 on the timer, Tidus will get automatically replaced by Wakka. Again, use the same strategy: Defender goes near your own goal, pass to Wakka, but this time, you can't take out defenders with any shot, so it may be harder to score. Yet, it is possible. Wakka's shot is lower than Tidus', but you can shoot nevertheless with Venom Shot. If you do things right, you can even score 2 goals... maybe more! Remember, it is all about strategy, and about trying to predict the opponent's positions. Passing the ball wisely is the key to winning this match. Enjoy your win, enjoy your trophy, and enjoy the extra 4 strength for Rikku! :D ***CREDITS FOR THIS STRAT GO TO BLUES003*** After the match is done (and you won =P), Sahagins will invade the pool. Tidus with his lightning Steel can take out a Sahagin in one hit, while Wakka needs two hits for the kill. Never have Wakka and Tidus attack the same Sahagin, since you technically wasted a turn then. The fights are nothing hard, you should be done with them with no problems. But, before you kill the very last Sahagin (which would be the 17th one) have Tidus switch to his Stunning Steel. The fight against the Garuda is nothing hard as well. Tidus attacks the Garuda with his Stunning Steel to slow it, Wakka uses Dark Attack, and Auron uses Power Break on it. Easy enough from there. Some more scenes later, you're at the beginning of the Mi'ihen highroad. DON'T MOVE, turn back, and head into Luca again. Go to Dock No. 5, and run to the northeast corner, where you will find a hidden passage that will lead to a Magic Sphere (useless) and an HP sphere (Yay!). Now, its decision time again. You have to decide if you want to add the NBB (No BlitzBall rule) to the challenge or not. With that rule added, the random encounters before Bikanel will be tougher, not still not THAT tough. If you decide to not include NBB, then the random Encounters will be a breeze. The challenge is easy as it is, so I urge you to add that rule. Try to squeeze every last drop of fun from this challenge. At any rate, if you still decide to not include NBB, go to a save sphere SAVE, then go to the BlitzBall option. Check the prize for the first place in the League, if it's a Teleport sphere, then exit and save again. If not, soft reset and try again till it is a Teleport Sphere. Then go to the Luca Square. There is a guy on sitting on a bench called Jumal. Talk to him with the Square button, and enlist him for your Blitz Team. Go to the Luca Stadium and talk to the guard named Wedge, and hire him for you Blitz team. Be sure to hire Wedge and not Biggs, since they look the same. Now your Blitz team should look like this: LF: Tidus RF: Wedge MF: Jassu RD: Letty LD: Botta Goalie: Jumal This team should be enough for you to win the League and claim the Teleport Sphere. This will be used for an Evade & Counter weapon for Rikku. Now back to the Mi'ihen Highroad, and grab the chest with 1000 gil on your way back there. I made the mistake of forgetting to get the HP sphere, so I had to backtrack all the way back here from Djose (I was past Mushroom Rock when I found out that I forgot it). Don't repeat my mistake. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0MH^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Mi'ihen Highroad ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Again, nothing too special about this. Run down the highroad, and summon Ifrit to take care of every single random encounter here. If he runs low on HP, just have him cast fire on himself. Talk to people to get items and equipment, get the treasure chests. You will be selling everything for Gil. Once you meet Shelinda. Do me a favor, take her away, tie her to a bed, then shoot her in the kneecaps once every five minutes for a century or two, that pain will be a mild indication of how much I hate her.... *cough* Anyways, back to business. Once you arrive at the Al-Bhed agency watch the scenes, and prepare for another "Boss" fight. Save before you attempt it though. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: CHOCOBO EATER \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Have Tidus equipped with his Stunning Steel. Start with a party of Tidus, Yuna, and Kimahri. Tidus attacks Chocobo Eater to Slow him down, and Yuna switches for Auron who uses Power Break. After Chocobo Eater is Slowed and Power Break'D, have Yuna summon Ifrit who uses Fire magic on him till he dies. Easy as pie. If you're not doing NSGNONI, then just have Tidus attack him on his very first turn, then summon Ifrit and have him do his HellFire to overkill Chocobo Eater. Anyways, here's the thing. If you got a waterward for Tidus/Wakka from the Echuilles fight, and didn't bother with SOS Nul-Tide from Luca, you need to reset and fight him again till he drops a waterward armor for the other guy. If you already have waterward/SOS Nul-tide for both, then don't bother. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ After the fight, get your free Chocobo ride. Get the Heat Lance, then on the end of the new road, turn around and head into the old side of the road. Make Sure to pick up the Scout (Sensor, Lightning Strike) for Wakka, and the Fortune sphere as well. After you're done collecting items, its time to head on to the... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0MRR*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Mushroom Rock Road *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Same old, same old. Have Ifrit burn you a way to the command center. Talk to Shelinda (twice) on the way to restor his HP and MP. Once you're at the Command Center, If you're short on money, just sell the equipment for the other players, BUT If you received a Darktouch OR PoisonTouch for Auron or Lulu, be sure to keep them. Of course, don't sell Wakka's and Tidus' equipment that we've been hunting (Lightning Strike, Waterward, SOS-Nultide, Slowtouch)... Okay, go on with the story line, make your frontline party Yuna, Tidus, and Kimahri. Save, then tell the Crusader you're ready. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: SINSPAWN GUI \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ First thing you want to do is switch Tidus on his first turn out for Auron, who will Power Break the body. After that...You're on your own ^_~ Want an easy hint? Starts with the letter "Summon". XD Just like we've been doing up to now. Summon Valefor and have her attack the head till its dead. Take out the arms, then concentrate on the body. If she dies, just summon Ifrit to continue the mission. On the second fight, just Have Auron Power Break the body, while Seymour casts his level 2 black magic on the head then on the body for the kill. Or just summon Ifrit again, your choice, really. Both ways it's still mighty easy. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Some more story events, and you end up on Djose Highroad. Again, rip your way to Djose Temple. Pick up the chest with the Gil at the west of the entrance. Then do the cloister. The Destruction Treasure is a useless Magic Sphere, so don't bother with it. We're getting close to getting Rikku back! I can't wait!!!! Now, make your way through the MoonFlow area, making sure to pick up the Magic Defence Sphere on the way. Before you board the Shoopuf, you need to make some preparations. -If you're doing regular NSG: Get both Tidus and Wakka into Overdrive. Now, in both challenges, have Tidus equip his Stunning Steel, and Wakka equip his Lightning Strike Scout. Also, equip them with their waterward or SOS Nul Tide armors as well. RIDE ZE SHOOPUF? Hell yeah! /|SSW0DE/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: EXTRACTOR \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ NSGNONI Strat: First things first. Have Tidus attack the Extractor to hopefully slow it before he rises up for Depth Charges, while Wakka attacks him with normal physical attacks. When slowed, switch to the Lightning Steel, and join Wakka in attacking him. When he rises for Depth Charges, all you need is three combined physical attacks from both Tidus and Wakka to bring him down, which should be easy with Slow in effect. Your SOS Nul-tide or Waterward will either nullify Aqua Shooter or reduce its damage respectively. Just remember that after the initial Depth Charges, he can use one OR two Aqua Shooters before Depth Charges, so always be prepared for a Depth Charge after any Aqua Shooter. This fight is not hard at all, as long as you keep him from using Depth Charges. If you have SOS-Nultide on both guys, then it's possible to finish this fight without even taking any damage. NSG Strat: Start with Tidus attacking Extractor to slow him down, then switch to your Lightning Steel and start pounding on him. When he rises to ready Depth Charges, have Wakka use a Thunder Element Reels to bring him down, then resume pounding on him. With your Lightning Strike weapons, he should be dead at around his second Depth Charges, which you should use Spiral Cut and Wakka's attack to bring him down from. If you somehow get low oh HP (less than 130 if you have waterward) just throw a (Hi-) Potion. SOS Nul-tide will completely nullify Aqua Shooter's damage, so don't heal yourself. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, run west, taking the chest along the way to finally meet... RIKKU! YAAY! Just one little notice, in the Mix tutorial battle, don't you dare mix the Bomb Cores like it tells you to. Just mix two power spheres for Frag Grenade and gain overkill as well. Now, make your way to GuadoSalam. I highly advice you to escape from all the random encounters for now. Ochu's are impossible right now, and the Buyip is pretty brutal as well, combined with two Bite Bugs makes a fatal combination. Don't worry, we'll take our revenge on each one of them, just wait a little bit. Enter Guadosalam, and get over with all the scenes there, so you're ready to go to the Thunderplains, except we're not going to set foot there for some time. Don't go to the Thunderplains, or O'Aka will leave GuadoSalam. Speaking of him, go find him in the equipment shop and buy a weapon and an armor for Rikku. Also, buy 40x Antidotes and customize Poisonward on the armor you just bought. This armor will make sure that the Bite Bugs will never poison you with their attacks while you're hunting Poison Fangs, and it will reduce the chance of getting poisoned from Ochu's Poison Claw attack from 80% to 30%. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0ST^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Stealing Time *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Since this is a No items AND No Overdrives challenge, we're obviously going to depend on customized weapons and armors to help us survive everything and kill the bosses. One of the bosses will require the aid of Spare Change though, but that's for a bit later. For now, this is the best time to get most of items we need for customization. Here's a list of what we absolutely need: - 90 Petrify Grenades: 10 for Stone Touch, 60 for Stone Strike, and 20 for Stoneproof (Normal steal from Basilisks). - 36 Poison Fangs: For a PoisonStrike weapon, and a Poisonproof Targe. (Rare steal from Bite Bugs). If you're using Spare Change, then you'll only need 24 Poison Fangs. - 20 Smoke Bombs: For a DarkStrike weapon (Normal Steal from Simurghs). - A Confuse Ward armor with one free slot: To use in the Thunderplains. - 4 Bomb Fragments: To customize a FireStrike weapon MUCH later in the game. Obviously, we will be backtracking to Djose road to get those items, so, equip your new Serum Targe, and head back through the moonflow. I advice you to run from all the encounters for now as well. Since you don't have much HP to withstand much attacks yet. Board the Shoopuf back to the South Wharf, and run towards Djose Temple while still escaping from all the encounters and save there. Now, since Rikku doesn't have the HP to withstand full parties yet, nor does she have the strength to get rid of the fiends quickly enough, we're gonna delve into some "Steal and run" to get the us a good weapon. Here's what you should be doing: Go back to the screen before Djose Temple, the one with the intersection to Djose and the Moonflow. Set your frontline party to Tidus, Rikku, and Yuna. Run around, and escape from every encounter unil you run into two Basilisks. 2x Basilisks: This encounter can be dangerous because of their Stone Gaze, but the thing is, they stop using this attack if there is only one "active" party member in the fight. That means if the other two escape, die, or get petrified then they will stop using Stone Gaze. And that is why we have Tidus and Yuna in our party, they are the second fastest, so they can try to escape quickly. Once the two are out of the fight, start stealing Petrify Grenades. The Basilisk's normal attack only does around ~120 damage. So you should be able to survive a few attacks. Once you get low on HP, just run away. Go back to the save sphere and heal, then repeat this until you have 10 Petrify Grenades. Now you can have your revenge on all the cretins you've been running away from. Use the Petrify Grenades to customize StoneTouch on Rikku's default Weapon (Claw: One free slot). Equip it along with your Serum Targe, SAVE, then go to the moonflow section. We need to train a bit in order to raise our HP and be able to survive more encounters, and steal more items easily. Starting from now on, I will be providing strategies for every random encounter, so you can use them for reference if you have trouble. --- 1x Garm, 1x Bunyip, 1x Snow Flan: Start by targeting the Bunyip, since it can do the most damage out of the three of them. After its Petrified, go for the Snow Flan, then take out the Garm. It may take you a few tries to actually hit AND petrify the Garm, just keep at it. --- 1x Ochu: Attack till its Petrified. Remember, Poison Claw still has a chance to poison you, even with the Serum Targe equipped (30% chance). --- 1x Ochu, 1x Garm: Go for the Ochu first, after it's shattered, attack the Garm. --- 1x Ochu, 2x Bite Bug: This encounter is the one we're actually looking for. First of all, attack the Ochu till its shattered, then start stealing from the Bite Bugs. Their attacks do miniscule damage, and they can't poison you due to the poisonward armor. After you steal once or twice from the Bugs try to hit and Petrify them, if Rikku refuses to hit them, run away. Personally, what I did was steal from them till three more attacks will kill me, then just ran away. Too much hassle to hit and petrify with only stonetouch. --- 1x Bunyip, 1x Garm, 1x Bite Bug: As usual, go for the mole first, high damage takes priority. After that, take out the Garm, then the Bite Bug. Your accuracy might cause some problems, but if you run low on HP, just run away. --- 2x Gandarewa, 1x Funguar: This is the most dangerous random encounter. An enemy that can put you to sleep, and only magic users, so no one to wake you up. Pollen is a counter attack for the Funguar that is sometimes triggered after anything you do to it and it has an 80% chance of inflicting Sleep for two turns. So, I highly advice you to run away from this one. Other wise, attack the Funguar once, if it's Petrified then go for the Gandarewas. If its not Petrified and didn't counter with Pollen, run away. Fire + 2x Thunders will leave you at critical HP. If it counters with Pollen, you'll wake up just in time to run for sweet life. ---- Train till you have two Sphere Levels (Or just one, if you leveled up Rikku to have 1160 HP before Tros). Get the HP+200 after the Str+2 node, then move BACK to the first HP+200 node. Use one of the three HP spheres you have on the empty node before it, and activate it. Now Rikku has 1460 HP, enough to survive almost all the random encounters. By the way, if you get any weapons with 2 free slots in them, hold on to them for the love of God, don't sell them. Same goes for any Confuseward/SleepWard/Berserkward armors. If you get a poisontouch weapon with an open slot from Ochus, also hold on to it, we're gonna need that weapon later, so why not get it now. If you get an armor with both confuseward and sleepward in it from Ochu, then do another victory dance. Okay, back with us to the Djose Temple. Buy 99x Antidotes, customize PoisonTouch on one of your weapons, and save. Keep your Break Knuckles on for now. --- 2x Basilisk: Switch to your Poisontouch weapon, and attack them both till they are poisoned. Now, check the CTB. When Rikku has two turns in a row, steal from one of them, then defend before their turn. Keep on doing this until you've stolen two or three times from each. Then start attacking them, while still defending before their turns. This way, at least one of them should die before you run really low on HP. Sometimes, I was even able to get them both killed, but that requires luck with critical hits and misses. Anyways, the reason we're killing them instead of just stealing and running is that we're looking for a stonetouch weapon with one open slot in it for Rikku (two open slots if you got the Teleport sphere from BlitzBall). We didn't do this earlier because we didn't have enough HP to survive till one of them dies. That weapon isn't really required, but adding StoneTouch and StoneStrike on the same weapon will give us a 150% chance of inflicting the Break status on the opponent, which will nullify most of the enemies' resistance to it. Which will make sure that we can petrify enemies from the first attack all the time. This will come in handy later on in the Calm Lands and Mt. Gagazet for example. Remember will still need 80 more Petrify Grenades. Equip your Break Knuckles back after this fight. --- 1x Garm, 1x Bunyip, 1x Simurgh: Attack the Bunyip till its Petrified, then go for the Garm. When the Simurgh is alone, start stealing Smoke Bombs from it, then attack it twice to kill it if it doesn't get petrified. Darkness status might give you some trouble, if so just escape. --- 2x Bite Bug, 1x Basilisk: This encounter is annoying. I recommend stealing once or twice from the Bite Bugs then escaping. The basilisk takes too long to die from poison, and the Bite Bugs are annoying to connect to in the first place. if you still insist on fighting it, switch to your poisontouch weapon, and attack the Basilisk until its poisoned. Then switch back to your Stonetouch weapon and start attacking the bugs till they're petrified. Defending before the Basilisk's turn might help sometimes. After that, start attacking the Basilisk when you have two turns in a row, and defend before its turns, till it dies. --- 1x Basilisk, 2x Funguar: Yet another encounter I recommend fleeing from if you don't have StoneStrike on your weapon. Attack one of the Funguars, if it's petrified, go for the other one. If its not petrified and it didn't counter with Pollen, try again. If it counters with Pollen, the Basilisk will wake you up. I recommend running away at this point, because another round of Fire x2 + Basilisk attack will kill you mostly. If you insist, repeat this again. But don't worry, once you manage to steal 60 Petrify grenades and get Stone Strike on your weapon, this will be much easier. --- 1x Garm, 1x Snow Flan, 1x Bunyip: Start by targeting the Bunyip, since it can do the most damage out of the three of them. After its Petrified, go for the Snow Flan, then take out the Garm. It may take you a few tries to actually hit AND petrify the Garm, just keep at it. --- 1x Lamashtu, 1x Raptor, 1x Funguar: Take out the Lamashtu first, its headbutt hurts. Then go for the raptor, since it can petrify you. After that, attack the Funguar till its petrified. --- 2x Bite Bug, 1x Funguar: Try to petrify the Funguar first, if it counters with Pollen, the Bite Bugs will take care of waking you up. After that, start stealing from the bugs till three more attacks will kill you, then run away. --- 1x Snow Flan, 2x Gandarewa: Petrify the Flan first, since its the easier to hit. After that, go after the Gandarewas. --- 1x Simurgh, 2x Bite Bugs: This encounter is lovely, steal two or three times from the Simurgh, then attack and Petrify it, after that, start stealing from the Bite Bugs till you're low on HP then attack them or run away, your choice. --- Some good advice would be for you to steal the Poison Fangs in the MoonFlow and not in the road to Guado Salam. Reason being is that the Ochu, 2x Bite Bug encounter is much more common there, thus raising your chances of getting some of the recommended weapons. Now, keep on training/Stealing until you have all the required items: - 80 Petrify Grenades - 20 Smoke Bombs - 36 Poison Fangs - A weapon with two free slots and poison/stonetouch (this is only required if you got the Teleport Sphere from BlitzBall). Optional, but very helpful equipment: - A Confuseward armor with a free slot. - A weapon with PoisonTouch and a free slot. - A weapon with StoneTouch and a free slot. - Weapons with two free slots in general. You should know that Mole species, Imp species, Dragon Species, Ochus, and Iron Giants are capable of dropping equipment with two free slots in them. Now, once you're done with item and equipment hunting, open up your customize menu, and add StoneStrike to one of your weapons, preferably one with Stone Touch already on it to make easier to petrify fiends that are resistant to Break status. If you got the Teleport Sphere from BlitzBall, then add the Evade & Counter ability on your StoneTrike weapon as well. Now all the encounters will be MUCH easier since you can Petrify the fiends for sure on the first hit. One last thing to do here before we depart, head back to Mushroom Rock Road, and wander around till you get in an encounter with Red Elements. Steal Bomb Fragments from it, 4 of them. We'll need them MUCH later in the game, where we have no access for Bomb Fragments. Hike back to the Shoopuf and hitch a ride to the north wharf, from there head back to Guadosalam. Try your best to pick up a Dragon Scale from the Treasure chests on the way there. If you still have the patience, you can hang around until you have 8 Dragon Scales for waterproof instead of SOS-Nultide. Which shouldn't take long anyways. Your choice. --- 1x Garm, 1 x Bunyip, 1x Snow Flan: Hit the Bunyip once to petrify it, and do the same to the Snow Flan, after that, go for the Garm. --- 2x Bite Bug, Treasure Chest: Steal from the Treasure Chest, we actually need to get one Dragon Scale from those. After that go after the Bite Bugs. --- 2x Bite Bug, Treasure Chest, 1x Bunyip: Again, the mole takes priority. Petrify the Bunyip, steal from the treasure chest if you haven't got the Dragon Scale already, then swat the Bugs. --- 1x Garm, 1x Ochu: Get rid of the ugly plant, then chase the wolf. --- 1x Garm, 1x Bunyip, 1x Treasure Chest: Again, get rid of the Bunyip first. Steal from the chest, then go after the wolf. --- Once in Guadosalam, get out your confuseward armor, and customize Lightning proof on it using the 8x Lightning Marbles you find on the road to the farplane. This armor is VERY recommended, as it nullifies the chances of being confused by the Eyeball enemies. Since StoneStrike + Confused Rikku = Game over. And of course, equip that armor. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0TP^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Thunder Plains *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Okay, we still need one last piece of equipment to get. This one is going to be our armor for the most part of the challenge, so you see, its REALLY good. There is nothing of importance in this place, except maybe if you want to do some lightning dodging. We're gonna NEED those spheres for BFA, so its your choice if you want to get them now or not. Although if you get them now the Strength spheres will make a few boss fights shorter, namely the Crawler, Defender X, Sanctuary Keeper, Spectral Keeper, and Yunalesca. Personally, I didn't get them, until after I got the Airship. Blitz_Ace470 got them when he reached the Calm Lands, because I told him how long where my fights with Defender X and Spectral Keeper. Eventually, it's your choice. If you decide to dodge lightning now, there is a little trick you can do. Look for a little inlet which is located North-East-North of the first section of the thunderplains. There is a Qactuar Stone, and a Treasure Chest with a WaterBall in it there. If you position yourself between the Qactuar Stone and the wall correctly, Tidus won't move from his place when he dodges lightning, therefore you won't get into any random encounters. Thus, it will be easier to get those spheres. We need to dodge 100 lightnings to get the Strength Spheres, and the HP spheres. While walking through the Thunder Plains, be sure to pray to one or two Qactuar Stones (use the Square Button while they're glowing). We need to steal 20 Chocobo Feathers for SOS-Haste from them. We also need to farm Iron Giants for two armors with SOS-Regen, one of them with TWO free slots in it, and the other one can have one or two slots, but at least one. These armors are mighty important. I stayed around the second save sphere in the Thunder Plains, and fought the encounters there, until I got those armors. Anyways, make your way through to the travel agency, watch the scenes, then go on ahead again till you reach Macalania. However, if you get a HP-Stroll armor from Qactuars, hold on to it, don't sell it. --- 1x Qactuar: Steal two or three times from it, then start hacking away till you hit and petrify it. They have 20% resistance to stone status, so it might not work from the first time. However, if you have BOTH stonetouch + strike on your weapon, then don't worry about it. --- 2x Qactuar: Steal once from each, then start hacking away on them. If you get hit with two 1000 Needles, then I strongly suggest that you escape, since one more attack will most likely kill you. --- 3x Qactuars: You shouldn't be facing this encounter, since you will NOT pray for more than two stones. This encounter is deadly. 3x 1000 Needles = gameover. So just don't pray for more than two Qactuar stones and be over with it. --- 1x Iron Giant: Hit once, and watch him shatter. --- 1x Iron Giant, 2x Buer. Break the Giant first, then go after the Buers. If you have a waterstrike weapon, then swtich to it, one hit overkill. Stone won't give you overkill. Your confuseward armor will make sure you never get confused. --- 1x Melusine, 1x Kusariqqu, 1x Aerouge: Ignore the Aerouge for now, your armor will nullify its attacks. Attack the Kusariqqu first, because it hits really hard. Then go after the Melusine, Stone = gameover. After that, try to hit the Aerouge until you petrify it. --- 2x Larva: Laugh at them as they try to hit you with your lightningproof armor equipped. After you're done laughing, attack each one once to petrify it. --- 1x Gold Element, 1x Buer, 1x Melusine: This time, head for the lizard first. After its gone (might take a few tries due to Rikku's bad accuracy), kill the Buer, then finally the Gold Element. --- 1x Gold Element, 1x Buer, 1x Aerouge: Poke the Buer's eye first, then try to hit the Aerouge. After that keep on attacking the Gold Element till its dead. All Elements are immune to Stone, so fighting them is a bit tedious. Steal once or twice from it while you're at it. --- 1x Larva, 1x Gold Element: Another encounter where you can't die thanks to Lightningproof. Petrify the Larva first, the smack then Gold Element. Again, steal once or twice from the gold element while you're at it. --- Make sure that you do not leave the thunderplains without the (SOS-Regen, 1/2 free slots) armors, and at least 20 chocobo feathers. If you've gotten two armors with two free slots in them, then getting an extra 20 Chocobo feathers for another SOS-Haste armor is certainly not a bad idea. Shouldn't take long either. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0MF^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Macalania Forest ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Again, nothing important to pick up in this area as well, so just move forward. Now, customize SOS-Nultide or waterproof on one of your armors. If you have an additional open slot in it, then add SOS-NulBlaze to it as well. This is not important, but it will save you time and trouble of switching your armors around in the Seymour fights. Also, see that SOS-Regen armor we worked so hard to get? Customize it with SOS-Haste and Stone-Proof. This Moon Targe will be the thing you'll be wearing for most of the random encounters. --- 1x Chimera: Steal once or twice from it, then attack for the kill. --- 1x Xiphos: Attack once. --- 1x Xiphos, 2x Wasp: Switch armors to your Serum Targe. Three enemies that can poison you is no laughing matter, the armor will take care of that. Now, attack the Xiphos once then go after the bugs. If you get SOS-Overdrive weapons from the Xiphos fights, then be grateful, because they sell for great cash, and we're gonna need 120,000 gil before the Seymour fight at Macalania Temple. Be sure to re-equip your Moon Targe after the fight. --- 1x Iguion, 1x Murussu, 1x Blue Element: Hunt the mole first, as usual, then go after the lizard. Once you hit low HP, immediately switch to your SOS-Nultide/waterproof armor. After the other two are taken care of, start hacking away at the Element. It's immune to stone, so this might take a while. --- 1x Iguion, 1x Mushussu, 1x Wasp: Hit the Mushussu first, the go after the Iguion. After that swat the bug. If you get poisoned by that fight, then immediately escape, regen won't heal enough HP to counter the poison effect. --- 1x Wasp, 2x Blue Element: Switch armors to your Blue Targe, then start hacking away at the bug. Hope that you can hit it before it poisons you, otherwise, immediately escape. Once the bug is dead, safely start attacking the Blue Elements as the armor will protect you from their attacks. --- Meet O'Aka, talk to him once, EXIT, and tell him that his prices are *too pricey* then talk to him again. Buy the Sonic Steel for Tidus and Equip it on him. Now, look in your inventory. If you have a weapon with poisontouch and a free slot, then customize PoisonStrike on the free slot. Otherwise, look for a weapon with two open slots, buy 99x Antidotes add poisontouch THEN add poisonstrike to it. You can't add poison touch if the weapon already has poisonstrike on it. This weapon will be used in some boss fights, starting with the boss fight that is coming up. Make sure that you have your Moon Targe and your poisonstrike weapon equipped, save. Then walk forward to initiate the scene with Auron and the next boss fight: /|SSW0MFS|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: SPHERIMORPH \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Ah, our first boss fight with Rikku back in the party. Too bad its just too easy to even make a challenge. Spherimorph has 90% resistance to poison. That's why we need a poisonstrike to be able to poison him. With poisonstrike alone, you have a 10% chance to inflict poison. But with both Poisontouch and Poisonstrike on your weapon, you have a 60% chance. That's why I told you to add both of them. Besides, we're gonna need it for future bosses as well, so might as well get it now. Attack Spherimorph till its poisoned, then start defending until it dies from poison. Defend will lessen the damage done by its normal attack, while SOS-Regen will keep you alive forever. Easy enough, no? /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Before you leave the forest, make dead sure that Rikku has learned Spare Change and that you have at least 120,000 Gil with you. This shouldn't be a problem because of all the stealing and training we've been doing. I had 143,000 gil by that time by just all that item and equipment hunting. If Rikku moves on the Grid to where there are empty nodes, use the remaining HP spheres first. You need at least 2160 HP for the upcoming bosses. The agility +4 node that is a bit after Spare Change is good to have as well. Personally, my Rikku had 2460 HP by this point. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0ML^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^** Macalania Lake *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Okay, time to check our inventory again. Look if you have a lightning strike weapon with you. If not, use a weapon with open slot to customize lightning strike with the Electro Marbles you've been stealing. No need to waste a weapon with two free slots when this is the only time we will use it. Equip the lightning strike weapon, and the Moon Targe, save, and head on to your next boss fight. --- 2x Snow Wolf, 1x Ice Flan: Get rid of the Flan first, then go after the wolves. --- 1x Snow Wolf, 1x Ice Flan, 1x Mafdet: As usual, the moles take priority. The Flans are second on our target list, then comes the wolf. --- 1x Mafdet, 1x Snow Wolf, 1x Evil Eye: Dig the mole an early grave, then go after the Evil Eye. After that, the wolf is yours to handle. /|SSW0MLC|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: CRAWLER \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Well, its one of them tedious fights again. But at least, this one requires a little bit of concentration because you actually have a chance of dying in this fight. Since taking out the Negator is out of question, our only option is to just hack on the Crawler until its dismanteled. Not that taking out the Negator will do us any good anyways. Start hacking at the Crawler every turn you get, until your HP falls below 1100. When that happens, be sure to defend before its turn, otherwise, Gatling gun might kill you if all the hits connect on Rikku. And keep at that pattern. Attack the crawler at all your turn as long as you have more than 1100 HP, and defend before its turns when you have less than that. SOS-Haste and SOS-Regen will take care of you getting all the turns you need, and keeping you alive forever. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Watch the scenes after the fight, enjoy your ride with whomever you got it with (Most probably Lulu), and arrive at Macalania Temple. Now, before you do anything, open up your customize menu, and customize Nul-Blaze (the bomb cores from the Mix tutorial), and Nul-Frost (Arctic winds from the Chimera) on two of your armors. You should already have a targe with lightningproof, and another one with SOS-Nultide/waterproof. You'll need those armors for the upcoming boss fight. Now, go through the scenes with Jyscal Sphere, and save after them. Head outside the temple, and engage in a fight to get Rikku's HP around 700-800, this is VERY important. /|SSW0MLSA\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Seymour and Anima \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, you probably know this, but I'm gonna say it here. Seymour's spells follow a certain pattern in this fight: Blizzara -> Thundara -> Watera -> Fira Switch whomever gets the first turn to Rikku, who immediately attacks one of the guardians, the other two switch their weapons. After Seymour uses Blizzara switch armors to the lightningproof armor, then attack the second guardian to get rid of him. Now, Seymour uses thundara, Rikku switches armors to the SOS-Nultide/waterproof armor, then switches weapons to the poisonstrike. Seymour uses Watera, Rikku attacks and hopefully poison him. Seymour has a 40% resistance to poison, so I hope you listened to me and got a weapon with both poisontouch and strike on it. If he's not poisoned, switch armors to your Nul-Blaze targe then attack again. Now, here's the thing. Seymour takes 600 damage from poison. So it will take him 5 turns to take the 3000 damage needed to get into the second phase of the fight. Don't forget to factor the damage that you did to him with your attacks as well. Keep changing armors and sitting through his pattern until one more poison hit will kill him. Now, take a look at your CTB. We need Rikku to change armor to the Moon Targe, but she must do that on the very last turn she'll get. If Rikku has more than one turn, then keep on switching equipment (NOT the Moon Targe) till the very last turn before Seymour's, then switch to your Moon Targe. Seymour will hit you with a spell that will take your HP down to ~200-300 HP. Make sure you note what spell he last used on you. Now, Anima will come. With Rikku in haste she will get two turns after Anima's initial boost. On the first turn, use Spare Change and throw 60000 Gil at her (9000 damage), on the second turn, switch armors to the SOS-Nul element Seymour will use when he comes back. You should still have one more turn. Use it to throw 60000 more gil at Anima which will kill her and bring in Seymour back to the fight. Now, the beautiful thing is it will be RIKKU'S turn. Attack him to induce poison on him again, he'll use a multi-spell. Switch armors to the next spell in the line. You can just keep on switching armors till he dies of poison again, or you can also attack him with your free turns to increase the speed of that. Before you go all "O.O" on me, allow me to explain why we did all that stuff: The reason as to why we let the poison kill seymour instead of letting Rikku kill him, is because Rikku won't get two turns in a row against Anima if she was the one to move last before Anima was summoned. This will also make sure that Rikku will be the one to get the first turn when Anima is dismissed as the CTB will revert to the state it was on before Anima was summoned. The other thing is, why we let seymour actually hit us with the last spell before Anima was summoned. The reason to that is easy. Remember that we have SOS-Regen on our SOS-Haste armor. If SOS-Regen brings you to White HP before you change your armor, then you're screwed since your SOS-Nul armors will be useless against his second form. Letting him bring us to very low HP with that spell will ensure that SOS-Regen won't heal enough for our HP to go out of the critical zone. Sneaky, eh? /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Make your way back to the entrance of the temple, and save. Now, there is a little something you should know about the upcoming Wendigo fight. We're gonna use DarkStrike to stop him from connecting on Rikku, but the thing is, he has a 20% resistance to Darkness. It happened to me that I lost once because Rikku wouldn't keep on inflicting darkness on him. So, I made a weapon with both Darktouch and Strike on it, to make sure I inflict darkness on it every time I attack it. If you have a weapon with two open slots, I highly recommend that you add both, because one of the two strats for Sanctuary Keeper involves using a weapon with both DarkStike and Touch on it. Your choice enventually. Now, if you want to add both, talk to O'Aka and buy 60x Eye Drops. Add Dark Touch and Strike to your weapon. Switch equipment to your StoneStrike weapon, and your MoonTarge. --- 1x Guado Guardian, 1x Snow Wolf, 1x Mafdet: Go for the Mafdet first, because the Guado Guardian might cast berserk on it, and a Berserked Mafdet = bad. After that, try to get rid of the Guado Guardian. He has a 20% resistance to stone, so it might take a few tries if you only have StoneStrike on your weapon. The wolf comes last on our list. --- 1x Guado Guardian, 2x Evil Eye: This time go for the Guardian first, the go after the Evil Eyes. --- 1x Guado Guardian, 1x Ice Flan, 1x Mafdet: Take care of the Mafdet first, then the flan, then get rid of the Guardian. --- 1x Mafdet, 1x Snow Wolf, 1x Ice Flan: The usual thing, mole takes priority, then the flan. And the wolf is the last thing we go after. --- 1x Ice Flan, 1x Snow Wolf, 1x Evil Eye: Petrify the Flan first, after that, go after the wolf. The Eyeball goes last. The armor you have on will ensure you won't stone yourself (*cough*), and SOS-Regen will take care of healing its attacks. --- 2x Evil Eye, 1x Mafdet: Again, get rid of the Mafdet first, then poke the eyeballs. Now save at the save sphere, keep your StoneStrike weapon equipped, and head on to your next boss fight: /|SSW0MLW|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: WENDIGO \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, this one is a little bit dangerous. First off, start by attacking one of the Guardians, and hopefully petrifying him (20% resistance to stone), then on your next turn attack the second Guardian and get rid of him. Rikku can only survive one Punch from Wendigo. So you need to get rid of the guardians quickly so you can blind him before he attacks you more than once. After the guardians are gone, switch to your Dark Strike weapon and start attacking Wendgio at each turn. He only has a 10% chance of hitting you while under darkness, you have to pray that luck doesn't abandon you in this fight. Just keep on attacking him with DarkStrike until he puts his arms up. When he does that, DON'T attack him. I repeat, DON'T attack him, or he will counter with an unevadable Double Punch. Wait for him to lower his arms then continue your assault till he bites the dust. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Talk to Auron, then Rikku. Pick up the Level 2 Key Sphere behind Kimahri. And save. Now, about the next forced fight with the Zu in Bikanel. You can ONLY defeat it if you have DarkTouch for Auron, and Poisontouch for any of Tidus/ Lulu/Auron. If you happen to have those equipment, equip Tidus with his Sonic Steel, Auron with his Blurry Moon, and Lulu with her poisontouch weapon. Now, save and continue the scenes, until you wake up in Bikanel. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0BD^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^** Bikanel Desert *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Save again, and move up to engage in your forced encounter against the Zu: --- Zu: If you don't have the equipment I told you about, you don't have much of a chance in defeating it. Tidus starts first due to his Sonic Steel, have him Defend. Auron comes in next, let him PowerBreak the Zu, and hopefully blind it as well. Now, if either of the guys have a poisontouch weapon, let him switch to it, and attack the Zu till its poisoned. Don't forget to re-blind it when it's blind wears off. When Lulu comes in, have her attack the Zu if she's the one with the poison touch weapon. Zus die from poison after 4 turns. So you need to hope the Poison will kill him before he kills you, and his attacks will miss due to darkness. If you can't be assed with all of this, just escape when Lulu arrives, you can't do that before she comes in. --- Now, make a run for where Rikku is, don't forget to pick up Kimahri or you will have to come back to him before you can get Rikku. Escape all the encounters you get into on the way to Rikku. Go through the desert normally, pick up the chests or not, since 95% of them are just healing items which we can't use anyways. BUT, make sure you pick up the 2x Teleport Spheres from the Sandragora, we finally can have an Evade & Counter weapon. Steal at least 10 Smoke Bombs from Zuus though, we're gonna need those for Darkproof later on. And if your DarkStrike weapon does not have both DarkTouch and DarkStrike, then steal another 20x Smoke Bombs from Zuus. We're gonna need it for Evrae. Also, keep your Moon Targe equipped at all times. And if you don't have a weapon with Dark Touch and a Free slot in it, or a couple of weapons with two free slots in them, do not leave the desert before getting at least two. Various enemies around here drop weapons with two free slots, including the Machina. --- --- 2x Mech Guard: Either Steal from each of them once, or hit them with StoneStrike once, your choice. --- 2x Mech Guard, 1x Mech Gunner: Again, either steal from each of them once, or hit them with StoneStrike once. But this time, give priority to the gunner, as it inflicts the most damage. --- 1x Cactuar: This is a very hard one. Insane evasion, and a OHKO move. Either Spare Change it with 8000 Gil, or just run away. 10,000 Needles is a guaranteed Game Over. It's immune to Stone in case you're wondering. --- 1x Zu: Hit it with your Dark Strike weapon, then switch to your PoisonStrike weapon and hit it again. Then start stealing from it till it dies. --- 1x Alcyone, 1x Sand wolf: Gor for the Alcyone first. The Sand Wolf can put you to sleep, but the next attack will wake you up with no problems. The Alcyone can cause Darkness which is irritating. Use StoneStrike of course. --- 1x Sand Worm: Blind it with your DarkStrike weapon, then poison it with Poison Strike. After that, start attacking it to speed up the process, but always defend before Earth Quake. Also, don't ever attack it more than 9 times in total, so it won't swallow you leading to an untimely gameover. --- 1x Sand Wolf, 1x Alcyone, 1x Mushussu: Go for the Mushussu first, it can hit for insane damage. After than, the bird, since it can blind you, and finally, the wolf. --- 1x Zu, 1x Chest: Blind and poison the Zu then steal from the Chest, and defend till the Zu dies --- 1x Zu, 2x Chest: Poke the Zu's eyes, then show him how painful the weapon that we spent hours getting is. steal from the Chests, after that. --- 3x Sand Wolf, 1x Chest: Stone two of the wolves, then steal from the chest if you want. After that, finish the remaining wolf. --- 1x Mech Guard, 2x Mech Gunner: How I love these Machina, so many ways to OHKO them. Either steal from them or just Stone them. --- 2x Alcyone, 1x Sand Wolf: Darkness from the Alcyones is very irritating, so I suggest you get rid of them first, then chase the wolf. --- 1x Mushussu, 2x Alcyone: Although the birds are very annoying, the Mushussu can cause massive damage. So Stone it first, then shoot the birds. --- 1x Sandragora: Attack once with StoneStrike. Personally, I killed the one that guards the Teleport Spheres first, and customized E&C on a weapon with 2 free slots. Then used the same weapon to steal 99x Musk (rare steal) from the other Sandragora. E&C will guarantee evasion of all the Sandragora's attacks. It's absolutely not needed though. --- --- Kill the Sandragora guarding the entrance to home, and go inside... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0H*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Home *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ After the short scene, enter inside, and head right into your first forced battle: There is nothing much to do here, just make your way into the area, and into the Summoner's Sanctum. Make SURE to pick up the Special sphere from the chest in the room in the 'Living Quarters' which has a 'Guado Guardian, 2x Chimera' fight. In the first "hidden" room, choose the second choice in the first column for 1x Elixir. In the room with the Chimera forced fight, there are two puzzels: The first one is a simple mathematical puzzle in Albhed: - First one: Add the numbers together - Second one: Subtract the second number of the first - Third one: Multiply the numbers together - Fourth one: Add the numbers together. The second puzzle is another Albhed Puzzle, it'll ask you to say some words in Al-Bhed: - First one: Third Answer - Second one: Fourth Answer - Third one: Second Answer - Fourth one: First Answer. A tactic that you can use here is to put Lulu in your party, to take advantage of the Guado Guardian's 'grude attack' against her, as they'll try to confuse her and leave Rikku alone for the time being. --- --- Bomb x3, Guado Guardian: Equip your SOS-NulBlaze Targe beforehand just in case. Start by stoning the Guado Guardian as he can cast confuse on you, and we know that Confusion and StoneStrike = Bad. After that, Start stoning the bombs. Re-equip your Moon Targe after the fight. --- Dual Horn x2, Guado Guardian: Confusion is bad, hmmkay? So get rid of 'im quick. The Dual Horns can pack a punch, but falls easily to StoneStrike, so you shouldn't have any real problems. --- Chimera x2, Guado Guardian: You might enter this fight in some low HP if you took an attack or two from the Dual Horns in the previous fight. So the best course of action here would be to send one of the Chimera's to an early grave first, dispatch the treeman next, then have some alone time with the last Chimera. --- --- Collect the Lv.4 Key Sphere under the stairs for some reason or another, then enter the Summoner's Sanctum, and watch one of the most beautiful scenes in the game, introducing one of the most twisted...twists in the storyline. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0A*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Airship ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ After the scenes on the Airship, and Wakka's poor attempts at cheering up our dear Rikku, save. Make your way on the airship, and speak with Rin. Keep on talking to him until he forks over the 99x UnderDog Secrets (You DO have all 26 Al-Bhed Premiers with you, do you not?). Talk to him again, and sell them back to him. This will give you enough Gil to take down Evrae easily. Now, make your way to the top of the Airship, save. If you're doing this challenge without the use of Spare Change, now is the time to utilize that second Regen Targe we've worked on getting earlier. Add Poisonproof to it (the remaining 12 Poison Fangs), and if it had a second empty slot and you were patient enough to get the extra 20x Chocobo Feathers, add SOS-Haste too. If you don't have a weapon with both DarkTouch and Dark Strike, buy 60x Eye Drops from Rin, and add DarkTouch to the weapon with two free slots, THEN add DarkStrike to it. One last thing, if you're making use of Spare Change, then run around and get in a rondom fight, stay in it till your HP gets as low as it can get without dying, then escape. Do NOT touch the save sphere afterwards, head directly to fight Evrae. Now: -For Spare Change strat: Equip the Moon Targe and your E&C Weapon. -Without Spare Change: Equip your Poisonproof Targe, and do NOT equip the E&C weapon. /|SSW0AE/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Evrae \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ -Without Spare Change: This fight is actually a challenge, opposite to the use of Spare Change. It'll need concentration to pull it off. For starters, you need to know Evrae's attack Pattern: Attack -> Attack -> Inhale -> Poison Breath. IF we had an E&C weapon, we'll only be taking damage each fourth turn. BUT, there is a catch. A catch that's called Stone Gaze. Stone Gaze will be used if Evrae is subject to three Physical attacks (counters included). It carries Petrification, Slow, AND a heavy delay effect. So we'll need to watch out carefully for it, since we'll need to switch to our Moon Targe and time it so we are in SOS-HP when StoneGaze comes so SOS-Haste will cancel the Slow and Delay effects carried with it. There is, also, another catch which we're going to exploit. Stone Gaze can only be used on the turns were Evrae is supposed to use it's normal attack. So if you hit Evrae for the third time before her Inhale or Poison Breath turns, she will NOT use Stone Gaze. Instead, she'll continue with her pattern till Poison Breath is used, THEN use Stone Gaze instead of the first physical attack in her pattern cycle. So, here's what we'll be doing: On Rikku's first turn, have her issue the Command Trigger "Pull Back". Cid will most likely pull back after Evrae's first turn, which you should have defended before. Now, while the ship is away, Evrae will only use Photon Spray which is magical damage, so you can't reduce it. But the damage will be pathetic and SOS-Regen will take care of things. Now, stay at long range till Cid fires all his ammo at Evrae (three shots), that will amount to around 7000 damage to Evrae. Now is the time to pull back, but remember where Evrae was in her pattern, because she'll continue from there. But before you pull back, switch to your (DarkTouch + DarkStrike) weapon. Check the CTB, if Rikku will have a turn before Evrae after the ship is pulled back or not, if no, then have her defend on her very last turn before Cid pulls in. If yes, then just do anything. When the ship is back in close proximity to Evrae take her attack or not, then attack her to Blind her. This means that her attack will only connect 10% of the time. And we're gonna rely on it missing all the time. Now is the time for strategy. You're gonna have to make sure that you only deliver the third attack to Evrae before Inhale or Poison Breath. If it was before Inhale, then attack her again before Poison Breath to make sure that Darkness will last through her normal attacks (It lasts three turns). After Evrae uses Poison Breath, Rikku will be in SOS-HP. IMMEDIATELY SWITCH TO YOUR MOON TARGE, since Stone Gaze is coming next, and we don't want to screw up by getting Stoned now. After you take Stone Gaze, start attacking again, while making sure to switch back to your Poisonproof armor before Poison Breath, and counting your attacks on Evrae so you won't trigger Stone Gaze in the wrong time. Also, always attack Evrae before Poison Breath, so you make sure that Darkness will last and you evade her attacks. When Evrae enters Haste phase, things will get a tiny bit trickier, but you should still be alright. Just remember, never attack her for the third time if her next turn isn't Inhale/Poison Breath, and always switch to your Poisonproof armor before PoisonBreath, and to your Moon Targe before Stone Gaze, and you should be fine. That's the strat for Evrae without Spare Change. Long, and requires concentration, but it's not that hard if you keep track of what you're doing. When Evrae falls down, give yourself a pat on the back, and do a victory dance You've just defeated one of the hardest bosses in this challenge. -With Spare Change: With SOS-Haste, Rikku will be getting two turns vs Evrae's. And E&C will guarantee evasion of her normal attacks. The fight starts, just throw 100,000 Gil thrice, then throw 20050 gil to deal the killer Blow to her. Easy, no? /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0Bv^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Bevelle ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Note: If you acquired an HP-Stroll Targe, this place is the only place in the game where this ability is useful, in any kind of challenge. Run around till you fill your HP. You can do that after each of the encounters. Now, this section is a bit difficult, and if you lose you'll have to fight Evrae again (not that it's a difficult fight or anything XD). At any rate. Re-Equip your StoneStrike weapon, and your Nul-Blaze Targe, then move forward to fight the bunch of guards: --- --- Rifle Monk x2, Flamethrower Monk: Attack the Flamethrower Monk till he's dead, E&C will keep you safe from the other ones. When he's down, switch armors to the Moon Targe to heal up a bit, and finish off the other Monks. Re-Equip your Nul-Blaze Targe. --- Flamethrower Monk x2, YKT-63: Attack one of the Monks first to Petrify him. They have a 25% resistance to stone, so it might take more than one try. After that's done. Switch to your E&C weapon. And Keep on attacking the YKT till is dead (leave the monk alone). One the YKT is dismanteled, change to your StoneStrike weapon again and get rid of the last Monk. The reason we kept the Monk till last is that if the YKT is left as the last enemy, it will start using Thrust Kick on your characters ejecting them out of the battle, forcing you to start it again. E&C will keep you safe from it's attacks, while SOS-Nul-Blaze will keep you safe from the Flamethrower's attack. After the fight, re-equip your E&C weapon, but keep your Nul-Blaze Trage. --- Rifle Monk x2, YAT-99: Have the Moon Targe as your armor for this fight, along with your E&C weapon. This one is, surprisingly, the easiest of them all. Start mauling at the monks, but MAKE SURE that everytime before the YAT at the distance takes a turn, use Spare Change to throw 10 Gil at it. Yes, 10 Gil only. This will make sure that all the attacks thrown at you in this battle are evaded via your E&C weapon. When the monks are gone, you'll run up to face the YAT head on. Don't bother with Spare change at all, since his attacks now are evadable with no help from you. Now, the reason we used to throw 10 Gil at the YAT is to stop it from using its unevadable Multi-Target attack, which would've probably killed you. While hiding behind the YKTs, the YAT targets whomever targeted it last, if no one targeted it, it'll use it's Multi-Target attack. So by inflicting 1 damage on it, we forced it to use its single target attack, which is evadable with E&C. --- --- You arrive in time to stop the wedding, too bad Kinoc ain't gonna let you do what you came to do. So you're forced to sit and watch Seymour kiss Yuna... I can't imagine what it feels like to kiss a dead person, but from Yuna's reaction of throwing herself off the top of this huge building, I'd say it's pretty disgusting... Oh wells, Rikku manages to bail the party out of this, to go and search for Yuna's body... Go on and finish the cloister of Trials, do whatever you want to do, since you can't miss the destruction treasure here. Once you're done, Yuna will be in the Chamber of the Fayth praying to the....well, Fayth. Damn! I thought she died from that fall....Bah...whatever. Get arrested, go through trial, and those things that you've done several times before. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0VP^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Via Purifico ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Now, we get to control Yuna in the via purifico...oh joy -.-' This section might give you some trouble since an ambush might mean certain death to our summoner. So you have to pray that none of the encounters you get in this area are ambushes, at least till you get more party members. Okay, for starters, SAVE! Then make a run for Auron two screens ahead. As long as no encounters are ambushes, Yuna will get enough time to summon any of her Aeons to maul the enemies. Remember, her Aeons are still uber. After you get Auron, you can either run around getting the rest of your party members and collect the various treasures around (Make SURE you get the Skill Sphere behind the barred door), then go ahead forward to face Isaaru; your call. But before you head on to do that, run around the save sphere and get into encounters until Yuna and Shiva are both in overdrive. Save, and go in to fight Issaru. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Grothia \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Summon Shiva for this fight. Grothia starts with a full OD gauge, so the first thing you want Shiva to do is to cast NulBlase or herself to void Grothia's OD damage. Now, have her attack Normally over and over till Grothia falls, which shouldn't take too long considering how powerful your Aeons are. If, for some strange reason Shiva falls to low HP, have her cast Blizzara on herself to heal up. Or, for a shorter fight, as Blitz_Ace470 pointed out to me, just Use the Blizzard (yes, Blizzard) spell twice, and he's gone XD /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Pterya \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Again, Summon Shiva for this fight. Open up with Diamond Dust for near guaranteed 9999 damage to Pterya. Then start attacking till she falls. Again, if you need healing, cast Blizzara on yourself to heal up. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Spathi \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, the final Aeon fight. Grand Summon Shiva, and open up with Diamond Dust. Spathi doesn't attack at all during his turns, he just starts a counter from 5, and once it reaches 0, he unleashes Mega Flare. So after you unleash Diamond Dust, start attacking each turn you get, until it's the very last turn for Shiva before Mega Flare, then use Shield. The cycle then repeats, start attacking again, till you get another OD and unleash it for the overkill. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSw0WV^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Watery Via Purifico ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Finally! Rikku is back into the action. This section is short and easy, should cause you no trouble at all, just swim forward till you reach the save sphere. None of the fiends here have any resistance to Petrification, so just StoneStrike anything and everything that comes up your way. /|SSW0WVE|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Evrae Altana \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, now, this boss normally is VERY easy, due to the fact that you can simply kill it by throwing two Phoenix Downs on it. But, sadly, it's not the case here, as you can't use Items. So we have to resort to the good old way of wailing at it till it drops dead. There are two ways you can go on with this fight. Depending on your DarkStrike weapon. If it has BOTH Darktouch and Dark Strike, then use the second way. But if you only have Dark Strike, then use the first way as Altana has a 50% resistance to Darkness and you don't want Darkness to miss or you're in big trouble. ***The Path of the Coward: Equip your Moon Targe. If you don't have a weapon with both DarkStrike and Dark touch, then this is the way you should be using. Start the fight, then use your command attack "Open Lock" to open the locks on the gate ahead and swim forward. In the next fight, do the same again. A gate will fall between you and Altana, and this gate will stop Altana from being able to hit with physical attacks. Both her normal attack and her counter will not reach you now. The only way she can damage you is by Photon Spray which is easily healed with SOS-Regen. So just wail away at her till she drops. ***The Dark Path: [[Credits go to Blitz_Ace470 for this strat]] Equip your Moon Targe (for SOS-Haste and StoneProof), and your DarkStrike weapon. Then just proceed to wail at it. Her counters and normal attacks will miss due to Darkness, and StoneGaze will be nulled with your Stoneproof armor. Photon Spray will hit you for some damage, but SOS-Regen should keep you in the safe side so you won't die. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0HB^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ The HighBridge *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Okay...Now Kimahri is trying to steal the spot light from Rikku!!! We're not gonna allow that, are we? Save at the save sphere, and make a run for the next save sphere. Encounters on the highbridge are really not hard. They just take time to do. Make sure you have your E&C weapon equipped. And your Nul-Blaze armor. --- --- 2x YAT-99, 1x YKT-63: This one might take some time. You're gonna use all Rikku's turn to throw 10 Gils at the YATs in the background. She'll be doubling them, so she'll easily get two turns against them. Keep on doing that until your counter attacks finally kill the YKT, you'll move forward to close range. So you can now wail on them with physical attacks as they only use their single target attack in close range. Again, the reason we used to throw 10 Gil at the YATs is to stop them from using its unevadable Multi-Target attack, which would've probably killed you. While hiding behind the YKTs, the YAT targets whomever targeted it last, if no one targeted it, it'll use it's Multi-Target attack. So by inflicting 1 damage on it, we forced it to use its single target attack which is evadable with E&C. --- 1x YAT-99, 2x YKT-63: Again, same approach. Before each of the YAT's turns, be sure to throw 10 Gil at it with Spare Change. Aside from that, any turns extra turns you get will be used to physically attack the YKTs. After they're gone, the YAT is yours to rip apart. --- 1x YKT-63, 2x Flamethrower Monk: This encounter is why we have our NulBlaze targe on. E&C will take care of the YKT's attacks, and the NulBlaze armor will take care of the monks. Keep on attacking the YKT till it bites the dust, then start attacking the monks. --- --- Now, save at the save sphere, and equip your Nul-Frost Targe. Run around, get into a random encounter, and get your HP low enough to get into SOS-HP, but not very low, since you'll be taking a hit or two from Morti in the upcoming fight. Make sure you have your poisonstrike weapon, and SOS Nul-Frost targe equipped. /|SSW0HBN|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Seymour Natus \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ As in the first fight, Seymour uses his Elemental spells in a certain order: Blizzara -> Thundara -> Watera -> Fira. So, you'll be doing the following: Attack Seymour till he's inflicted with poison, while making sure to change your armors appropriately. Natus has a 50% Resistance to poison, so if you don't have both Poisontouch and Poisonstrike on your weapon, you only have a 50% probability of poisoning him. This may take a while, but pray that it doesn't take more than 2 or three tries at maximum, or you might get screwed up later in the fight. Once Natus is poisoned, just keep on changing your armors, until Natus has 24000 HP or less. Now, check if switching weapons would give you another turn, if so, switch to your Moon Targe (yes, you heard me, Moon Targe), then attack Natus to make him switch phases to the Break Phase. Now, just sit there and mash Triangle till Natus drops dead. Shattering Claw does pitiful damage, and will be healed with SOS-Regen. Don't attack Natus again, or he'll switch to the Flare phase, and we DON'T want that. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0CL^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ The Calm Lands *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ We've finally arrived at the Calm Lands. After the scenes with Tidus and Yuna, in the lake and in the beginning of the Calm Lands. It's time for to go back into making us some weapons, so brace yourselves. But before that, we're gonna get us a Master Thief armor, and some items to sell. So, make way to the end of the slope at the beginning of the Calm Lands, where you'll be greeted with the Hovering Market. Nothing of interest for us there, so pack your bag and head straight north from here till you arrive at a ridge. You should see the Chocobo Lady on her chocobo around here; talk to her, and tell her that you want to train a chocobo. After you've finished the first course. Quit, and ride the chocobo back to where you came from. When you reach the entrance to Macalania woods, keep on running to the left until you see a yellow feather on the ground. Approach it, and press X to have the Chocobo jump to the lower platform. Now, unmount the chocobo and head into Remiem. You're gonna win the chocobo Race a number of times now: - First time : Chests and poles don't matter : You win the Cloudy Mirror - Second Time: Three Chests, and no poles : 30 x Wings to Discovery - Third Time: Four Chests, and no poles: 30x Pendulums - Fourth Time: Five Chests, and no poles: 60x Three Stars The Wings to Discovery and the Three Stars will be sold to get us some cash that is needed for some of the upcoming bosses. The 30x Pendulums? Y helo thar Master Thief! Customize Master Thief on one of your armors. Personally, I put in on an armor with a free slot so I'll add SOS-Haste to it a bit later. Sell the Three Stars and the Wings to Discovery as soon as you see a merchant. We REALLY don't want to miss on 30 Three Stars because we forgot to sell out Three Stars before the manager gave us another 60 for capturing two areas. Now, exit Remiem and head to the Monster Arena. There, buy THREE capture weapons for Rikku. Yes, yes, three. I didn't lose my mind....yet >_>; Customize the first weapon with E&C using the remaining Teleport Sphere from Bikanel. And on the second, customize Piercing. As for the third one, that'll have to wait a bit now. For now, you'll have to head around the Calm Lands to capture one of each of the cretins that lives in this area. I really, really advise you to stay around the save sphere while capturing. Until you capture the ChimeraBrain and Anacondaur at least. Trust me, it's not a surprise if you gameover against Chimerabrains while capturing because your HP wasn't at full when you started the fight. Which leads us to... --- --- 1x Coeurl, 2x Mech Scouter: First things first. If you have your StoneStrike weapon equipped, then start stoning the Machina, 'cause their attacks HURT. If you don't have it equipped, you can as easily just steal from them for the KO. Now, the coeurl will waste it's begining turns with casting Silence normally, sometimes it'll cast Thundara or Blizzara. After the machina are done with, start attacking it normally. Once it's HP is very low, it'll start using Drain and Blaster. Blaster is nulled by your Targe, and Drain will heal it for a small amount. Just keep on attacking till it's dead (Or better yet, captured, if you switched to your capture weapons after dispatching the Scouters). --- 2x Coeurl: Nothing special for this fight, except you'll want to end it as quickly as possible. Because two magic casters are dangerous, even with SOS-Regen. Start hacking away at one of them till it's dead (or captured), then target the other one. Shouldn't give you much trouble. --- 2x Chimera Brain: Those things are dangerous, hope that you have your stonestrike weapon equiped for this fight. Immediately attack one of them to shatter it and leave the other one alone. Keep on the look out though, it's STILL dangerous. It's attacks can deal lots of damage and you may very well get a game over here. Now, watch what was it's first attack against you, and hope to God that it doesn't kill you. Chimerabrains follow a set pattern with their attacks: Thundaga -> Assault -> Aqua Breath -> Megiddo Flame. Now, the initial attack would've put you in SOS-HP, so switch your armor to the appropriate Nul-Element. If his Assault is next, switch to you DarkStrike Weapon and attack. And hopefully, it'll get blinded and miss it's attack. Keep on this cycle till it's the last attack to kill it (They have 9800 HP) then switch to your Capture weapon and capture it. --- 2x Nebiros, 1x Skoll, 1x Mech Scouter: Boy, this fight is gonna take a long time. First of all, switch to your E&C capture weapon. Then steal from the Scounter. After that is done, start trying to hit one of the targets. E&C will ensure that none of their attacks will ever hit you. So you can just mash X till the fight ends while you read a book or watch TV or anything else. --- 1x Skoll, 1x Mech Scouter, 1x Flame Flan: This is another fight that will take a long time. For starters, switch to you SOS Nul-Blaze armor and your E&C capture weapon. Steal from the Machina, then Start attacking the Skoll till you kill it, then target your attention to the Flan. It can never kill you, so take the chance to steal some Fire Gems from it, then switch to your Piercing Capture weapon and start witteling it's HP slowly to zero and make the capture. --- 1x Shred, 1x Nebrios, 1x Flame Flan: Once again, you'll need your E&C Capture weapon and your SOS-Nul Blaze. E&C will ensure that the Nebiros and the Shred will never touch you, and SOS- Nul Blaze will ensure the Flan will never kill you. Again, take the chance to steal some Fire Gems from the Flan. Once you're done, just keep on mashing X till the fight ends...after a long wait a few curse words outta your mouth. --- 2x Anacondaur: Again, one of them dangerous encounters. Double Sonic Tail = gameover. Sonic Tail is used once the Anacondaur is 50% or less of it's HP. So that's your cue Equip your E&C capture weapon, and more importantly, your Moon Targe. You don't want to be stoned now, do you? Start wailing away at one of the snakes till it's captured while leaving the other one the HELL ALONE. One Sonic tail at a time can be taken care of with SOS-Regen, but more than that is a certain death to our lovely guardian. After the first one is felled, shift your attention to the other one. --- 1x Ogre, 2x Skoll: Alright, the last dangerous encounter in the Calm Lands. Here's what you'll do Equip your Moon Targe and your E&C capture weapon. Start attacking the skolls till they're dead, while making DEAD SURE to defend before the Ogre's turn. Because the Ogre can use it's Double Punch randomly, which cannot be evaded with E&C like it's normal attack. As long as you defend before it's turns, Regen should take care of the healing. Once the Ogre raises it's hand. Do NOT attack it, since its Punch will be UNEVADABLE. Once it lowers its hands, you can resume killing it. Be sure to steal 2 Stamina Springs from the Ogres on your encounters, those are needed a bit later. --- 1x Malboro: From HQ to Delta Squad leader, do you read me? Begin operation Evade&Counter. I repeat, begin operation Evade&Counter. You'll want to avoid the Malboro's bad breath no matter what, and the best way to do that is by not triggering it in the first place. Malboro use Bad Breath after you target it seven times (four times if you're using fire attacks). So, you may attack the Malboro six times, while E&C takes care of it's attacks But after that, just Mash Triangle, because any more attacks you initiate will result in Bad Breath. Let your counters do the kill. It might take some time with 27000 HP and Rikku's pitiful Strength, but there's no way around it. --- --- Now that you're finally done with capturing, head back to the Monster Arena, and claim your prize of 60 Farplane Winds. SAVE THEM, we're gonna need them later for an armor piece. For now, start fighting Anacondaurs in the Arena; the purpose of this is to amass 60 Petrify Grenades. With Master Thief, you'll be stealing 2 at a time. So it shouldn't take long to get the required Petrify Grenades. Once you're done, use them to customize StoneStrike on your last Capture weapon. You wish we had that for the Chimerabrains, don't you? Too bad you didn't <_< Now now, don't get too excited yet. We still have some work to do. Run back to the entrance of the Calm Lands, through Macalania Woods, and back into the Thunderplains. Once there, start moving backwards towards the save sphere in the middle part of the second section of the Thunder Plains. Now, we're gonna have to capture all the fiends around here later for BFA. So might as well get them now. If you don't feel up to it, then just capture an Iron Giant, a Larva, and a Qactuar then head back to the Monster Arena. At any rate: --- --- 1x Gold Element, 1x Buer, 1x Melusine: First things first. Equip your [Lightningproof, Confuseward] armor, then hit the melusine once or twice to petrify and capture. Once the lizard has been done for, start targetting the Buer, since he Element is harmless with your armor. Again, one hit is all you need for the capture. Once that's over with, start hacking away at the Gold Element. Might take a while, but you certainly can't die. --- 1x Melusine, 1x Kusariqqu, 1x Aerouge: Like what we're used to, the dragon must go down first. One hit capture is all it takes. After that, the lizard, then finally the imp. --- 2x Larva: *mentions something about stonestrike and how lovely it is* --- 1x Qactuar: Okay, those things have a 25% resistance to Petrification, and are hard to hit. So it might take a few tries to hit AND Petrify/Capture them. --- 2x Qactuar: A somewhat dangerous encounter. But play it out like you normally would. Start hacking at one of them in hopes of hit-stone-capture. But if you get 2x 1000 Needles in a row, it's much better to run away, since you probably won't recover your HP in time for another 1000 Needles. --- 1x Iron Giant: Whooo...Looks intimidating, doesn't it? Standing there filling almost half of your screen? Well, fear not. Poke it once with your StoneStrike capture weapon and watch its dreams of grandeur fall apart with its stoned body. --- 1x Iron Giant, 2x Buer: Equip your confuseward armor for this encounter. Start by dispatching the Iron Giant, then turn your attention to the Buers. They deal little damage, so you should be able to kill them long before you're in danger of dying. --- --- Okay! Done? Good good. Now, while you're here in the Thunder Plains, I really advise you to do some lightning dodging if you haven't done so in the first run through here. In fact, I'm telling you, GET THEM NOW! Those 12 Str. are never to be taken lightly, and will prove immensely useful for all the bosses from now on. Okay, now we're done for sure, I promise!! Collect your baggage and head back to the Calm Lands. There is something that you might need to do now. On the Sphere Grid, your Rikku should be nearing the little branch with two +4 Str nodes that's locked by a Lv.3 Lock Sphere near the end of her grid. And we won't have access to Lv.3 Key Spheres for a while. So the best way to get one right now is via Chocobo Racing with the Trainer in the Calm Lands. Go back to her and ask her to train the chocobo in more courses. Keep on doing them till she challenges you to a race. This race is better known as a point of frustration for a lot of people because of Tidus's Sigil. But don't worry, you don't have to get sub 0.00 time. All you have to do is beat the trainer's time Even if your time was over a minute and you still beat her, you'll get what you want, which is a Lv.3 Key Sphere. Perfect, huh? We still have one more place to capture. But to unlock that place, we're gonna have to take off some stone beast-thingy, better known as Defender X. Head up to the north-east section of the Calm Lands, and up to... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0BG^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Base of Mt. Gagazet *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Save at the Save sphere here, but before you proceed to throw yourself into the boss fight, make sure you have more than 4360 HP. Equip your E&C weapon, and of course, your trusty Moon Targe. /|SSW0BGD|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Defender X \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay. This fight is boring...really boring. It's gonna bore you to tears, especially if you didn't get the Strength Spheres from Lightning Dodging (like me -_-). Here's what you'll be doing: Defender X attacks with normal attacks for three times, then uses Haymaker on the fourth turn. Haymaker is really annoying for two reasons. 1) It always connects, regardless of E&C or Blind status. 2) It does loads of damage. And by loads I mean loads. It can deal anywhere from ~3900 to ~4300 damage. So Defend is a must before each fourth turn Defender X gets. Now, one last note: Defender X counters with Blast Punch after it's been attacked 2 or 3 times. Blast Punch halves your current HP, AND delays your next turn. We certainly can't afford that, especially that Regen barely heals enough HP for us to survive HayMaker. So what we're gonna do during the whole fight is just... Triangle Mash. Mash Defend, over and over and over and over. E&C will take care of it's normal attacks, and Defend will make sure you survive Haymaker while SOS-Regen heals you enough for the next one. Keep this up till one of you two drops dead. And hopefully, it'll be that big hunk-a-junk, and not Rikku. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, with that out of the way, let's keep this up and get rid of the next boss right so we can open up the Ronso Shop. They sell Equipment with 2 free slots, and we can certainly use those. Go back and save, and if you so happen to have an armor with (Magic Defence + XX) for Kimahri, equip it on him, then head over to plow.... /|SSW0BGBY\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Biran and Yenke Ronso \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Pathetic as usual, those two are. Start by focusing on Biran to take him out. Lancet should be your preferred method of attacking here. Each time you learn a new overdrive, unleash one of the ones you learned on him/them. Once Biran is down, Yenke is yours to smack the living **** out of. Easy as pie, as long as you keep on Lanceting to recover your HP. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ After the fight, move on to the next screen, to watch the scene with the Hymn of the Fayth. Just to get this outta the way now. Now, Biran and Yenke drop Return Spheres normally. So use one of them to add First Strike onto your normal E&C weapon. Okay...With this out of the way. Let's get back to getting ourselves ready for the upcoming bosses. We have to capture one of each monster in the Cavern of Stolen Fayth, raise around 750,000 Gil to hire Yojimbo (YES! YES! I hear you! I'm not deaf. And I know this is a Rikku only challenge. But we're gonna hire him because we want those Teleport Spheres he gives up if you pay him triple his offering price). And then get a couple of armors before we're ready to move on. Talk to the Ronso on the extreme right near the female Ronso, he'll sell you stuff. Buy a Devastator for Rikku (Str +10%, 2 Free Slots). *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSWCSF^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Cavern of the Stolen Fayth *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ The Cavern of the Stolen Fayth...Home to the most dreaded fiend when it comes to capturing...the Tonberry, and sadly, we're hunting those...and Ghosts... and Valaha...so yeah, sarcastic YAY! for us. But don't worry, it may take us some time to find some of the monsters here, but all the fights are easy. *fondles StoneStrike capture weapon* --- --- 2x Epaaj: Do I really have to say it? Just switch to your StoneStrike Capture weapon and attack each of them once, sheesh. --- 1x Epaaj, 2x Mech Scouter: Hmmm, let's see...Machina? Do I hear "Steal"? Aah, good student, you are. Steal from each of the Machina once, then attack the Epaaj once. --- 3x Yowie: You'll NEED the Moon Targe for this fight. Three fiends that are capable of Petrifying you is no joke. After that's settled, start pecking them out one by one with your petrification weapon. --- 3x Thorn: Normally, those things would give us the creeps in fear of being inflicted with Sleep from their counters. But not this time, baby. StoneStrike owns them bad. ^_~ --- 1x Defender: This fight is actually ridiculous. It's very hard, and LONG. First of all, Defenders are capabale of using Haymaker at any time during the fight, so there is no prediction on when they'll use it and if you'll have enough HP to survive it or not. So just flee this fight. --- 1x Valaha, 1x Epaaj: Give the Epaaj a free tour of the Stone age early on, then work with the Valaha. Problem with those things is that they're greedy customers, your offers of one way ticket to the Stone age may not satisfy them from the first time, so just try again if you fail the first time. --- 1x Imp, 1x Epaaj, 1x Mech Hunter: STONE THE EPAAJ! AND THE MECH HUNTER!! OOOH!OOH! THE IMP, TOO! Make sure to switch to your lightningproof armor before you start attacking though. --- 1x Nidhogg, 2x Dark Element: This fight might prove to be somewhat lengthy, because of the Dark Element's ability to use Drain. First of all, start by stoning the Nidhogg to get rid of it quickly. Then make sure you have your Moon Targe on, and your piercing capture weapon as well. Then start attacking the Elements relentlessly. They should fall eventually. If you sense they're getting to you and you can't hold on much longer, just flee this battle and try again later. --- Ghost: This one is annoying. Not only it's a bit hard to find, but there is a good possibility that you'll be forced to retreat if his opening attack was Doom on Rikku. Since you most probably won't have enough time to whittle down it's 9999 HP without a couple of crits. So enter the fight, and hope he doesn't do that to you. Of course, use your Piercing capture weapon. --- Tonberry: Since we can't attack the Tonberry while it's still away fearing it's Karma counter, we're gonna have to wait for it to 'Walk Forward' four times before we start attacking it. Take that time to cast Luck x5 on yourself. Don't try anything funny on the Tonberry because ANYTHING you do to it will prompt it to counter with Karma. Once it's in close range, start attacking it, but always defend before its turns to lessen the damage from its attacks. SOS-Regen will take care of the rest. --- --- Once you reach the Save Sphere at the back of the Cave. Open up your customize menu, and add Str+5% and Str+3% to the Devestator we bought from the Ronso a bit ago. Now it'll have Str+18%. Equip that weapon, and the Moon Targe, save. Then run around till you get into an encounter. Let your HP fall in the yellow zone (but not too low), then escape. Make your Party Auron, Rikku, and Kimahri Then proceed forward to face Ginemm: /|CCWCSFY|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Yojimbo \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ This battle is like a race. You're gonna have to kill Yojimbo as fast as you can, before his OD fills up and you lose. With SOS-Haste in place (for now), you'll be getting good turns, so keep on attacking Yojimbo non-stop all the time, and hope that his first few hits land on Auron and Kimahri. But, of course, you'll have to defend before each of Yojimbo's turns, so lessen the damage done to you. With the Strength Spheres from the Thunderplains, this shouldn't be a problem, and Yojimbo should fall quickly and easily enough. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ With that over with, take the Teleporter to the left room and pick up the Flexible Arm for Rikku there. A weapon with four free slots. This weapon will be VERY nice, and it will be our final weapon as well. So yeah, it was worth it. But, we have one more thing to do here in the cavern. Which is to get the Teleport Spheres from Yojimbo. By selling the 120 Three Stars, the 30 Wings to Discovery, and the 99x UnderDog Secrets you'll get around 1,020,000 Gil. Which is more than enough for what you want, with more than 200,000 Gil to spare. Once you have the money, go back to the Cavern of Stolen Fayth, take the Teleporter to the back of the Cave, save, then go hire Yojimbo. Keep on trying till he offers 260,000 Gil as his price. When that happens, offer him 785000 Gil instead. He'll agree to join you and throw in 2x Teleport Spheres as a bonus for the buttload of money you've paid him. After the scenes are over, hop back onto the Teleport panel then go back AGAIN to the Chamber of the Fayth. You'll get a Strength Sphere. Mmmm...yummy. Now, haul yourself back to the Monster Arena. We've got some last things to do - First, we need a Regen Targe with a two free slots, If, in the process, you get a Regen Targe with only one free slot, hold on to it, don't sell it. - Second. If you didn't listen to my advice eariler in Djose and got yourself a weapon with both poisontouch and poisonstrike, then you're gonna have to make that weapon now. Flux is comin' up, and he has 90% resistance to poison. And Trust me, you do NOT want to risk that against a boss that can kill you. So start stealing Poison Fangs from Nebiros from the Arena till you get 24 of them. Equip Master thief to make the process faster. And buy 99x Antidotes to customize Poisontouch. Remember, you need to add PoisonTouch first, THEN add PoisonStrike. -Then, we need to steal 10x Candles of Life from Don Tonberry. To get the best deal out of your 8000 Gil, make sure you're in SOS-Haste when the fight starts then wait for him to walk forward four times. When he's done that, start stealing from him. Candles of Life are a normal steal, not rare, so do not equip your Master thief armor. - After that, we need 20x Fire Gems. If you haven't stolen that much already from the Flame Flans you've encountered, then proceed in doing so till you have that much. Equip your Master Thief Armor to steal 2 at a time instead of just one. - And Finally, we need 8x Hypello Potions from Shreds in the Calm Lands. That is, of course, if you don't have a Berserkward Targe with a free slot already. Here's a list of the equipment we want from all those items we've been hoarding: - A weapon with both Poisontouch and Poisonstrike - A Targe with SOS-Regen, Zombieproof, and Deathproof (the 60x Farplane winds from capturing in the Calm Lands) - A Targe with SOS-Regen and Berserkward (get SOS-Regen by stealing Healing Springs from Achelous in underwater Gagazet on your way to Zanarkand.) - Flexible Arm (the one from the Cavern of Stolen Fayth) with FireStrike (remember those 4 Bomb Fragments I asked you to steal long ago in Mushroom Rock Road? That's why we need them), Evade&Counter. And two free slots (to be added later). - A Targe with FireEater and DarkProof (the Smoke Bombs from Bikanel). But won't be customizing this one now. We'll be adding those abilities on the Haste Targe we buy from Wantz on Mt. Gagazet. Unless, still, after all this item and equipment hunting, you're still willing to hunt Ogres till they drop a Targe with SOS-Haste and two empty slots. I won't bother though, as you won't need it now. - Optional: A Targe with SleepWard and Confuseward. If you don't have this armor from hunting Ochus in Djose, or Malboros here, you can make a sub for it now very easily, don't worry, it won't cost you any time, you'll do it while you're fighting your way up Gagazet. Head to the Ronso and buy as many armors with 2 free slots as you need depending on the list above. Now...that's it for now. Now, you're finally ready to trek your way onto the deserted sides of Mt. Gagazet. Prepare yourself...'tis gonna be a long journey *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0MG^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Mt. Gagazet *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Okay. Gagazet is a long journey. And seemingly enough, the encounter rate here is more than annoying. You'll be getting in fights left, right, and center. At any rate. There are only three things of interest for us here on Mt. Gagazet: 1) The Chest with 20,000 Gil near the begining of the path. 2) The HP sphere in a treasure chest in the little inlet a bit before Wantz. And 3) Wantz himself. We need to talk to him here so he appears later to sell us empty four slotted equipment. --- --- 1x Mech Leader, 2x Mech Defender: Okay, some more Machina. The Leader has the 'Electrocute' attack that is not Evadable with E&C, and does loads of damage, so he has to go down first. After that's done, take out the Defenders. --- 2x Grenade, 1x Imp: First things first. Switch weapons to the E&C weapon, and armors to the lightningproof Targe. Now you're invincible. Start attacking the Imp till you kill it. It might take a hit or two to kill the Imp, but the main problem is actually connecting to it. The reason why we don't attack the Grenades directly is that we don't want them to go 'swell' and start using magic on our asses. Since we can't counter that, and attacking them directly will only result in them blowing up in our face. --- 2x Grat, 1x Bashura: Okay...Tricky encounter. For starters, switch armors to the Confuseward armor. Now, attack the Bashura with your StoneStrike weapon once or twice to Stone it Bashura have 50% Resistance to Petrification, so it might take a while to Petrify them. I hope to God you've listened to me long ago and had both StoneTouch and StoneStrike on your weapon, because it'll only take you one hit to petrify them then. After the Bashura is gone, attack each of the Grats once to finish this encounter. --- 2x Grat, 1x Grenade: One word: E&C. This ability will make you immune to all their attacks. Just make sure you don't directly attack the Grenade at all, so it won't 'grow up' and start using magic against you. --- 1x Bandersnatch, 1x Nidhogg, 1x Mech Leader: Hmm, another one where you might get hurt. First, change to your StoneStrike capture weapon and stone the Nidhogg, then the Machina. Then, switch to your E&C weapon and steal from the Bandersnatch while your counters try to connect to it and kill it. We'll need 8 Dream Powders by the end of Gagazet Cave. And try to have captured 4 Nidhoggs by the end of your treck here. --- --- Once you reach Wantz, speak to him. Then buy the Haste Targe from him for 90225 Gil. It has SOS-Haste and two free slots in it. Add FireEater and Blindproof to it. Then proceed to finish what's left of the Mountain. Save at the save sphere. Equip your Manticore (Poisontouch, Poisonstrike), and your Blessed (Zombieproof) targe. Then head on to fight Flux. /|SSW0MGF|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Seymour Flux \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay...while Evrae was one of the hardest bosses in the challenge, Flux, on the other hand, is one of the easiest. It's pretty ironic though, seeing as he's very difficult in more challenges. At any rate. Flux has a 90% resistance to Poison. So you only have a 60% chance of poisoning him with your Manticore. If, for some reason, the very first Cross Cleave came up and you still haven't poisoned him, be sure to defend before it, then resume attacking. At any rate. Proceed to attack him till he's poisoned. Once he's poisoned, do NOT touch him EVER AGAIN. No matter what, don't touch him. Just keep on defending all the time, and let Poison do the work. Anything you do to him (even say...if you Scan him, or even throw a potion at him) will make him change phases, and we do NOT want that. Total Annihilation = plastered Rikku. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, now, after the scenes, go onwards and enter Gagazet Cave. I hate this place. But what can we do. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0GC^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Gagazet Cave ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Do what you need to do here, nothing of real interest for us. So just walk around, do the puzzles, then move on. Keep in mind that for the second puzzle You'll need to send Rikku in the Green hole, Tidus in the Blue one, and finally Wakka in the red hole. --- --- 1x Grendel, 1x Ahriman: For starters, hit the Grendel once or twice to Petrify it. They have a 25% resistance to Petrification, so it might take more than one try to do so. Now, switch to your Confuseward armor, and steal from Ahriman once or twice before adding it to your stone statues collection. We need 16 Musks by the end of the cave, and one Ahriman to add to the Monster Arena list. --- 2x Bashura: Ouch. This encounter is really dangerous without both Stonetouch and Stonestrike on your weapon. Bashura can use either their Punch or their Double Punch randomly. Punch is evadable with E&C, but double Punch isn't. So the best course of action would be to go on an attacking frenzy with StoneStrike and hope they get stoned before they kill you. Moon Targe is recommended here because of SOS-Haste and SOS-Regen. --- 1x Mandragora: Again, 25% resistance to Petrification. So it might take more than one try to kill it. If you were VERY unlucky and it nears 30% health and is STILL not petrfied, be SURE to switch to your confuse ward armor before its turn, to avoid Confusion from Ochu Dance. --- 1x Behemoth: Yew-ouch! This thing hurts! Bad! First thing you'll want to do is switch to your (SOS-Haste, FireEater) targe, and FireStrike weapon. so you can heal quickly. Now, start attacking the Behemoth quickly, and try to Defend before its turns to lessen the damage from Heave. Heal by hitting yourself when need be. --- 1x Dark Flan. This thing is impossible to defeat right now if you don't have ZombieStrike and Silence Strike. So escape is your best option. --- 1x 1 pack Splasher, 1x 2 pack Splasher, 2x 3 pack Splasher: First thing you should know is that E&C will NOT help you with their attacks. So, equip your poisonproof armor, and start attacking them with your StoneStrike weapon. --- 1x Maelspike + 2x Achelous: First, the Maelspike. One hit kill with StoneStrike. We don't want to risk getting Maelstorm'D. Now, with that out of the way, switch to your E&C weapon, and your Master Thief armor, and steal twice from each Achelous. Then switch back to your StoneStrike weapon and get rid of them. Don't steal more than twice from them, as each third action you take against them will prompt them to use Sonic Wave against you on their next turn. We need 12 Healing Springs by the end of the cave. --- 1x 2 pack Splasher, 1x 3 pack Splasher, 2x Achelous: Get rid of the Splashers first with StoneStrike, then switch to your E&C weapon, and the Master Thief armor. Steal from each of the Achelous twice, then get them Stoned to pay them for the Healing Springs. --- 1x 3 pack Splasher, 2x Maelspike: Again, the usual mantra about StoneStrike. --- --- Now, save at the save point. And get ready for another semi-tough boss fight. It's not that hard, but it requires concentration and switching equipment around a lot. So you'd better be ready. Take out one of the empty two slotted armors you bought from the Ronso, and customize it with Sleepproof and confuse ward using the items I told you to steal on the way here. Equip it, naturally. Also, equip your (E&C, Firestrike) weapon. /|SSW0GCK|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Sanctuary Keeper \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, like I said. This fight is not that hard, but you just need to switch your equipment around a bit in the fight. So keep concentrated. Sanctuary Keeper follows a set attack pattern, which is the following: Photon Wings -> Attack -> Attack -> Mana Breath -> Curaga -> Curaga -> Repeat. See those two Curagas in there? Those are trouble. Each one heals him for 9999 HP each time. So he'll be healing 19998 HP each time. And we need to stop that Here's how: If Santcuary keeper was afflicted with a status ailment before he casts Curaga on himself, he'll use Esuna instead. So we're gonna have to try and make sure he's always afflicted with a status ailment before it. But, Unfortunately, he has a 95% resistance to Darkness and Poison. So we only have a 55% chance of inflicting him with Poison. You're set to never die in this fight, so the only problem will be with him dying soon. As soon as the fight starts, start attacking him. He'll use Photon Wings on his very first turn, which does around 1000 damage. But you should be immune to it's effects with your armor, except Curse, which doesn't matter anyways. After that, switch to your FireEater armor, and proceed attacking until he uses his second Attack in the pattern, then seize attacking him. Never attack him on his turn before Mana Breath, because there's a chance that he'll counter with Tail Sweep, which delays your turn. Mana Breath deals around 3600 damage to Rikku. So she needs to be near full HP before it. Get that much HP by hitting yourself. FireStrike+FireEater would take it from there. After Mana Breath, don't bother changing armors, we need to stay in SOS-Haste. Switch weapons to your Manticore and proceed with attacking, hoping to induce poison on him to force him to use Esuna. After the first Esuna/Curaga, again proceed in attacking him to try and induce poison again. After the second Curaga, hit yourself once to refill your HP in preperation for Mana Breath, then switch equipment to the (Confuseward, Sleepproof) armor. Again, after Photon Wings, switch equipment back to your FireEater armor, and your (E&C, Firestrike) weapon. Rinse and repeat from there. He should fall down eventually. In my game, he managed to sneak in three Curagas, yours might vary a bit. Good luck. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ After the long ass cutscene with Yuna's sphere, get ready to enter the second to last place in your Journey. The dead city... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSWZa^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Zanarkand ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Huzzah! We're here finally here in Zanarkand. Too bad, nothing that interesting is going to happen here. So make your way through the torn streets of the city, making sure to pick up the Fortune Sphere in the chest. The fights here are nothing too scary. Same fights you've been facing in Gagazet Cave. So refer to that section if you need any help with them. Once you've reached the interior dome, don't forget to get the Luck Sphere in the second screen there, and allocate it to your Sphere Grid. By now, Rikku should have finsihed her section of the grid. And you should've allocted the various stat spheres you've found around Spira. Those should include: - 7 HP Spheres (Lord Ochu, in Luca, Lightning Dodging, Chest in Gagazet). - Magic Defence Sphere (MoonFlow). - Defence Sphere (Cavern of Stolen Fayth). - 3 Luck Spheres, and enough Fortune Spheres to activate them. (Luck: Kilika, Treasure in Macalania, Zanarkand)(Fortune: Mi'ihen HighRoad, Gagazet, Zanarkand) - 4 Strength Spheres (Blitz Tourney, Lightning Dodging). At any rate, just make your way through the interior Dome to the trials of Zanarkand. --- --- 2x Fallen Rifle Monk, 1x YAT-97: E&C is the answer to this encounter. It will make you invulnerable. So the usual strategy of the YATs work here as well. Before each of the YAT's turns, use Spare Change to throw 10 Gil at it, while your other turns are devoted to attacking the Monks. Once they've fallen, the YAT is all yours. --- 2x Fallen Flamethrower Monk, 1x YKT-11: Switch to your E&C weapon, and your FireEater Armor. Proceed to wail at the YKT till it crumbles into pieces, then take out the monks. --- 2x YKT-11, 1x YAT-97: Once again, E&C saves the day. Throw 10 Gil at the YAT before each of its turns, while your counters work the YKT's HP down slowly. Once they're dispatched, get rid of the YAT. --- 1x YKT-11, 2x YAT-97: This encounter might be a bit dangerous: Here's what you should do. Equip your FireEater armor, and your E&C weapon. If you're not already in SOS-HP for Haste to activate, then throw 10 Gil at one of the YATs and allow the other one to use it's Wild Mortar attack, to bring you down to SOS-HP and activate SOS-Haste. Now, go back to the usual strategy of throwing 10 Gil at the YATs to stop their multi-target attack, while your counters chop down at the YKT's HP. --- 2x Fallen Rifle Monk, 1x Fallen Flamethrower Monk: E&C and FireEater. Immune. --- Defender Z: This one is a tough bastard. Probably the hardest encounter in this area. Defender Zs can use Haymaker at any turn randomly, and as usual, it does loads of damage. So here's what you should do. Equip your (E&C, FireStrike) weapon, and your FireEater Targe. Then proceed with attacking. Each time you're hit with Haymaker, hit yourself once to regain HP. With no piercing and 64,000 HP to chow at, this fight will take forever. So I just recommend escaping if you happen to bump into this guy. --- --- Now that you're finally at the save sphere before the trials, save your game, then proceed solving the trials, once your done, save your game again. And Equip your E&C weapon, and your (Berserkward, SOS-Regen) Targe. We have another one of those damn long fights awaiting us: /|SSWZaK/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Spectral Keeper \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ This guy is annoying. He has high defence, and his attacks (especially his counter attack) do loads of damage. So once again, we have to fall back on counter attacks to do the damage for us, while we defend and SOS-Regen does the healing for us. With the Strength Spheres from the Thunder Plains, this fight shouldn't take that long. If you think you could get away with Attacking him normally and healing with FireStrike + FireEater, then think again. Each and every time you attack him, he'll counter with his Swipe which does a lot of damage. Combine that with his Berserk Tail normal attack, and you might get yourself into loads of trouble without having enough time to heal. Besides, after each 5 attacks you land on him, he'll use Glyph Mines, meaning you'll have to move from your place, and probably not have enough time to defend before his turn, again, this means trouble. So just stick with Counter Attacks. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now now, with the fall of Spectral Keeper, one final boss awaits us before we get to go and fight the mighty Sin. So go down in the elevator, and save. Equip your (E&C, FireStrike) weapon, and your FireEater armor. Now, if you still haven't added Deathproof to your (Zombieproof, SOS-Regen) targe, then do so now. We're gonna need this armor for the fight up ahead. After watching the lengthy, yet very beautiful cut scenes with Yunalesca, get ready to fight her. She's not that hard, in fact, she's just as hard as Natus was, so yeah, don't expect to go there and find a challenge waiting for ya. /|SSWZaY/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Lady Yunalesca \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, this fight is the sole reason we have Darkproof on the FireEater armor. Here's what you're gonna be doing. Any turns you get before her Slap, you'll use them to attack her normally. She'll counter with Blind, but you have the armor to counter that. And when she uses Absorb on you, you're gonna use your first turn to hit yourself to recover your HP, then use any other turns to hit her. This shouldn't be a problem. BUT, before you deliver the last hit, MAKE SURE to switch to your zombieproof/deathproof armor, THEN kill her. If she enters form 2 and you didn't have this armor, this fight will take ages to complete since you'll only get a chance in a bluemoon to attack with all the healing you'll have to do from her healing spells. Now, form two opens up with HellBiter, which does a measly ~200 damage, and you're immune to zombie, so no problem there. So proceed to hack a way to the third form. Now, mega- death comes, which again, you're immune to. This form is also just attack away while SOS-Regen does the healing for you. Sometimes even Yunalesca will take part and cast Regen or Curaga on you, so don't forget to thank her with a good smack on the face...er..legs...err...whatever that is >_>; /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, comes the beautiful part. Now we have the airship fully under out control And now is the time to prepare for the last series of fights we're going to have in the game. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSWAs*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Airship ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Before we go get ready for the Sin fights, we might as well get over with the scenes that we have to watch. So, go to the deck of the ship and speak with Yuna and Kimahri. After that's done, go back to the bridge and choose the "Highbridge" destination on the NavMap. After the scenes with Maester Mika end, you'll get to see a few other scenes on the Airship as well. When all that is done, now is the time for us to get prepared. But, before we do all that, we're gonna pay the temples another visit, to collect the stat spheres they have for us. Here are the prizes that we can get: Besaid temple: Evasion Sphere, Wht Magic Sphere. Kilika temple: Luck Sphere, Accuracy Sphere, Defence Sphere, Agility Sphere. Djose temple: Luck Sphere, Magic Defence Sphere, Agility Sphere. Macalania temple: Magic Sphere, Magic Defence Sphere, Accuracy Sphere. Obviously, the Magic sphere and the White Magic sphere are useless for us, but the rest of the spheres (especially the Agility and Defence ones) are great for the final battle, and the accuracy spheres will help a bit in capturing. And with those, you're probably out of empty nodes to use, and need to back track to the first section of Rikku's grid to use the empty nodes there. So, take a sail for the Omega Ruins at X: 69-75, Y: 33-38. Enter, view the scene, EQUIP YOUR FIRST STRIKE WEAPON, then start running around the save sphere. Don't stray too far, we only need two fiends here, so just escape all the other encounters. --- --- Varuna: This guy is a pain in the ass. He has an 80% resistance to Petrify, and uses an assortment of spells, including Death. So take out your deathproof armor, and your StoneStrike weapon, and start attacking him like mad till you petrify and capture him. Be sure to save afterwards. --- Master TonBerry: This one is much easier than the Varuna. Just wait for him to 'walk forward' four times (you can cast luck 5 times meanwhile), then unload on him with any capture weapon. He's immune to Stone, so any weapon will do. Just make sure to defend before his turns. And of course, have your Moon Targe on. --- If you happen to be so unlucky and run into a Great Malboro, pray that the first turn you get is a successful escape, otherwise you're most probably gonna be looking at the gameover screen if it's Bad Breath induced Confusion. Also, if you run into the Puroburos x3 party, capture them. They're useful for stealing Fire Gems from: --- Puroburos x3: Like you've done with all the bomb-kind parties before, this one is no different. Equip your E&C capture weapon, and start defending till your counters kill them. Don't attack them at all, as attacking them will trigger them to grow up and start using magic, which we can't counter. --- --- Go back to the Monster Arena, and start fighting Master Tonberries until he drops a Teleport sphere for you. Teleport Spheres are a rare drop (1/8 chance) so it might take a while. Now, if you need some sphere levels, it's been my personal Experience that killing Varunas yields the best AP when compared to the time you spend killing him. If you don't have a weapon with both stonetouch and stonestrike, attacking him a couple of times should do. Now, we have some more capturing to do, to prepare our final weapons, which will be the following: -Weapon: We already have half of it ready. But we still need to add to more abilities to it. the weapon will look like this: ([FireStrike], [E&C], [Str+20%], ZombieStrike]) -Armor: ([Stoneproof], [Auto-Haste], [FireEater], [HP+30%]) So, we're gonna need to capture a bit to get all those abilities. Here are the places and fiends we're going to capture in. - Besaid: Condor, Dingo, Water Flan. But we're gonna need to capture 4 condors not just 1. - Mi'ihen Highroad: Capture 4 Vouivres. We don't need anything else from here. - Mushroom Rock Road: Ganadarewa, Thunder Flan, Red Element, Lamashtu, Funguar, and Garuda. And here, too, we're gonna have to capture 4 Lamashtu. -Djose Highroad: Simurgh, Bite Bug, Snow Flan, Bunyip, Basilisk, Ochu. Here, like the two places before it, we're gonna have to capture 4 Simurghs. - Thunder Plains: Melusine, Aerouge, Buer, Gold Element, Kussariqqu, Larva, Iron Giant, and Qactuars. Once again, make sure to capture 4 Kussariqqus. - Unlock Greater Sphere. Which is unlocked by unlocking two area creations. This is the reason we've been capturing 4 of the birds/Dragons. They are easy to get ahold of (except maybe the Simurghs), and don't spawn in too many places. So we're gonna have to unlock Fafnir and Ptyrex. To get the final fiend from each category (we've already captured 4 Nidhoggs), travel to Bikanel desert, and capture 4 Alcyones, and 4 Mushussus. You have a StoneStrike capture weapon, so capturing REALLY shouldn't be a problem for you, at all. The elements are immune to Stone, but hey, with SOS-Regen, you just need some time to make the kill. Now, go back to the Monster Arena and accept your prizes: - 99x Stamina Tonics for unlocking Stratoavis - 99x Petrify Grenades for Unlocking Jormungand - 99x Candles of Life for unlocking Coeurlregina - 99x Chocobo Wings for unlocking Cactuar King - 99x Purifying Salts for unlocking Fafnir - 99x Mega Phoenixes for unlocking Pteryx - 60x Supreme Gems for unlocking Greater Sphere. With all that done, we just have two last things to do before heading off for the final fights. Go to the Ship's search option, and look in the following co-ordinates: -X: 11-16 -Y: 57-63 To find Baaj Temple. Save at the save Sphere, and equip your (E&C, Firestrike) weapon. We're gonna get ourselves a No-Encounters weapon: /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Geosgaeno \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ You know, to be honest, I debated myself whether I should make the boss section design for this guy or not...He's too easy to be considered a real boss...But oh well. Here's how: E&C will ensure that you evade all his attacks. And To boot, he's weak to fire, so you'll be doing quite a bit of damage with your attacks. Just one last note though, if he Swallows you, do NOT struggle at all. Just skip your turn till he spits you out, because otherwise you'll end up dead by the damage he does to you when he spits you back out. Keep on fighting/resetting till you get a No-Encounters weapon. Rise to the surface, use the Square Button to get back on the 'shore', then return to the Airship. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, the final steps before we take on the bosses, go the Password option in the Airship, and enter the password: "VICTORIOUS". Yes, all capitals. Then go the the location that is revealed on the NavMap. You'll find a chest with the Vicotrious Targe for Rikku, which has: ([Fireproof, Iceproof, Lightningproof]) This is gonna be useful for Omnis. But to make extra use of it, go to the monster arena and start stealing Chocobo Feathers from Qactuars. We need 20 of them for SOS-Haste. Add that to your Victorious Targe. Then steal 2x Stamina Springs from Ogres. Go to your customize menu, it's time we made our final set of equipment in this challenge: Weapon: Piercing, Str+20%, Str+10%, Str+5% Weapon: FireStrike, ZombieStrike, E&C, Str+20% Armor : Fire Eater, Stoneproof, Auto-Haste, HP+30% It's finally here! The time we faced the almighty Sin and kicked its ass! We're almost done with the challenge, brace yourself, and select the "Sin" destination from the ship's NavMap. Equip your new Piercing Weapon, and your Auto-Haste armor. The left and Right Fins are exactly the same fight, so I'm writing a single strat for the two of them. /|SSWLR /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Left & Right Fin \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Start the battle by using the Trigger Command "Move In", after that, use Luck five times to raise your chances of a critical hit, while Cid takes his sweet time to actually move in. When that's done, start attacking like there's no tomorrow. Just attack, attack, attack, then attack some more. This should be over quicker than you think. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ One more battle that'll go before you get the chance to save. Not that it's a hard one, but yeah, whatever, bring'em on! /|SSWCG/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Sin's Core and Sinspawn Genais \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Start the battle by switching to your Poisonproof armor. Then start attacking Genais quickly. He goes on a set pattern: Venom -> Venom -> Staccato. Poisonproof will stop Venom from doing anything dangerous, and SOS-Regen will keep you alive forever. Just wail away till he hides in his Shell. This is when the Core in the background will start to act, so let's try to kill Genais before it does anything. Anything you do to Genais will prompt it to counter with Cura, but that's not much of a problem. Just keep on attacking non-stop and he'll fall. Now, We're about to face Sin's Core. Start things by switching to your ultimate set of equipment. The Last weapon we made (Firestrike, E&C, Str+20%) and the Auto-Haste armor. Now, again, just attack. If your HP drops to a dangerous amount, just hit yourself once to recover HP. This is way too easy, no? /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay. Three battles down, and three more to go. Save, just in case you get a powercut or something crazy. Equip your piercing weapon, and your Auto-Haste armor, then choose "Sin" from the menu once more. /|SSWOD /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Overdrive Sin \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ This one is very similar to the Fins' battles. Since it's almost all about attacking. But, there's a catch. For the first three turns for OD Sin you can't attack him physically since the airship is far away from him. He'll mend that by using "Drawn to Sin" three times bringing you into physical attack Range. But, while we're waiting for Sin to bring his own demise to his door, we'll be putting the final touches on his death present by casting Luck five times to increase our chances for a critical hit. Now, after all that is done, start attacking Sin. But, keep track of how many times you attack him. After each sixth time you attack, switch armors to your ([Confuseward], [Sleepproof]) armor, then attack him for the seventh time. Take his counter, then switch back to your Auto-Haste armor. And start afresh, remembering to keep track of your attacks. We don't want a confused Rikku now, do we? /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Sin has fallen!!! It's down! ... But we're not done yet. As we've done times before, we're gonna go inside that big thing, and take out the little bug that's causing all that havoc. So, save your game. Equip your No-Encounters weapon, and head in for the final area in the game. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSW0IS^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Inside Sin ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ We're here, the last chapter in this challenge. Thanks to the No-Encounters weapon, we won't be running into any of the nasty fiends around here. So just make your way to the save point. Once you're there it's time to get ready for the final confrontation with Seymour. This time, we're gonna get rid of'im for good! So we better give him an ass kicking he'll remember in the afterlife. If you have an Ice Strike weapon, equip it, along with your Auto-Haste armor. If not, just equip your Piercing weapon, not your FireStrike weapon, since the first form absorbs fire, and how do you go on kicking a bosses ass if you're healing its HP instead of decreasing it? /|SSWoISO|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Seymour Omnis \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Okay, this is final battle with Seymour, and for a change, we're gonna unload a beating on him. So start attacking him, your attacks should deal a good amount of damage, especially if you have Ice Strike equipped. After you've attacked him for the fourth/fifth time, Seymour will use Dispel on his next turn, then on the following one, he'll use his Uberma, err...Super Ultima, which cannot be halved by shell. Once you've taken Ultima, switch armors to your Victorious armor, and your weapon to your FireStrike weapon. Now, resume attacking him. He should be dead by the time he's about to use his second Ultima. If not (you should be keeping track of his HP), switch to your FireEater armor, hit yourself once to heal back HP, then switch back to the Victorious. Remember to switch weapons to WaterStrike if you have one, or just your Piercing weapon if you have none. This time he'll fall before the third Ultima for sure. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Whew! Seymour is down, and this time, he's down for good! Time to resume our encounter-less journey through out Sin. Remember to pick up the HP sphere from the chest mini-game, and the defence sphere is appreciated as well. Once you're up to the final save sphere. Save, naturally, and equip your First Strike weapon. Then head inside the Tower for the Crystal Mini-game. Each time you get into an encounter, you have one early turn to try and run away. Pray that you do not get into encounters with any Great Malboros, since they have a nasty habit of starting the fight with Bad Breath, which carries confusion and Berserk. Both are equally bad. Once that's done, and you're teleported to face Jecht, switch to your Final Set of Equipment, we're about to close in the paper of our story. Weapon: FireStrike, E&C, Str+20%, ZombieStrike Armor: FireEater, StoneProof, HP+30%, Auto-Haste. Oh, we're gonna do something strange there. Make sure Tidus has his Sonic Steel Equipped, we need Rikku in the battle ASAP. This is it! The final boss of the game! This is were we'll put a closure to this challenge. Prepare yourself. For we're about to face a Final Aeon... Braska's Final Aeon: /|SSWBFA/|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Braska's Final Aeon \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Tidus gets the first turn thanks to First Strike, switch him immediately to Rikku. The first form is far from dangerous. So we're gonna take some time to cast Luck five times. Any critical hit is helpful. After you've done that five times, hit yourself once to recover any lost HP, then start attacking Jecht. Your hits will do good damage, and Zombiestrike is bound to enduce Zombie on him before the Pagodas take turns. Which makes their Power Wave only heal his Zombie status, and not his HP. This will help in making the battle shorter. The first form has 60,000 HP. Those should go down fairly quickly, just make sure to heal if you're low on HP, and ALWAYS be on full HP before he use his overdrive. Triumphant Grasp inflicts zombie on Rikku, but thankfully, FireEater ignores that, so we don't have to worry about healing. Keep at it, and Jecht will soon go loco and starting doing crazy stuff, like pulling swords out of his ass..err..chest, and go into SSJ form, AKA Form two. Who the hell keeps a sword this big in his chest? O.o At any rate. This form is slightly more dangerous than the first one. Since Sword Swipe carries a weak delay effect. This should be no problem at all with Rikku's supreme agility and Auto-Haste, but still, you should be aware if Jecht will use Sword Swipe then immediately Triumphant Grap, you should fill your HP by attacking yourself, then defending to reduce the damage from Sword Swipe. Nothing else should pose a problem. After a long-ish battle BFA should fall. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, the challenge is technically over. But still, we have to finish the last set of battles in order to view the ending and finish the game officially. Keep the same set of equipment. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ BOSS FIGHT: Possessed Aeons and Yu Yevon \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ This REALLY doesn't deserve the fancy decoration and a boss battle theme, but eh, I was bored, with nothing to do... Anyways. The Aeons will all fall in one hit, two hits at max if for some reason they didn't die from the first. Yu Yevon comes next. And this is the main reason why we have ZombieStrike on our weapon. Yu Yevon counters ANYTHING you do to him with Curaga. So basically, this means that the battle can be endless without means to counter that. Yu Yevon is zombie-able, so Curaga will hurt him for 9999 damage instead of healing him. The Yu Pagodas will heal his zombie status, but your next attack will induce it again, so don't worry. his 99,999 HP should go down very quickly, especially with him helping you by casting Gravija on all targets in the battlefield, including himself. /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ /|\ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ Now, you've beaten the game, and this challenge. Congratulations, very well done. Reward yourself by watching what I deem as one of the best endings ever. This is one less challenge to do for FFX ^_~ Now, if you're still up for some more fun with Rikku *cough*, we'll be taking on the Monster Arena creations with our little guardian. But of course, the NI and NO restrictions will be lifted. Instead, we're gonna add the optional rule of NC. This is still nothing too hard. With Use and Mix at our disposal, Rikku is almost invincible, even with the lack of customization. So brace yourself, and onto our next adventure. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*SSPfMA^*^*^*^*^*^* Preparations for the Moster Arena *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ For starters, I'd like to say that I will be providing dual strategies for everything. One with Customization, and one without. So you can easily look for the strat you want. So, let's get his party started! First thing to do if you're playing NC: You're gonna totally hate me for this but...Go ahead and sell ALL of Rikku's equipment that we customized before hand. This is a NC journey, and using those weapons is cheating <_<. If you wanna keep'em, go ahead, just don't use them. Now, head for the Monster Arena at the Calm Lands and Purchase a new Capture weapon., since we sold (or not gonna use) the old ones. I thank you for using my FAQ, and hope that it was as helpful and clear as I intended it to be. ,,, ,,,, ,, , ., ,,, ,, , , ,,,..,.,,,.::, ,:, , .:,, ,,.:*#***::+#,,, ,,,,,,, , ++:..:##**+*##, ,*....:*. ,:...+*..:+@+::*:.:.....,..+,,, ,.,,+:,.+@@..:#@*@::+*+......::,, ,,,.,::,:#@#,,+@WWW#+**..**.::+:++, , ,.,.:.#*##:,:#+WWW***#@:.:*:+:*+#+, ,,,,,:,:+**,:*::*W@@@@@WW:.+*:+:*+#*. , ,,,,.,,:,#...*@###WW#**@@WW::##:::++**, ,,,,,,:.*,*.:#*@##:.++++*@W@::@#:..**::,, ,,,, ,.:.:+,#@##.+..:*++:*@W*:+W#::::+:, ,,,,, ,.+,@::@@+..+.::**:.:+#W++#W#.+:.:,, ,,,,,, .:.:@,@@*..:**##*+#*++**++:@@*.+.,:, ,,, ,.+,*#.W*:.:**.:+#@*##++#*#*#WW@::, , , .:..+:#W*..#:..+@*:+++*+:*@*#@@*:+,,,, , .,,*+,@#++@...:@:.**#*@+:::@@WW@*,*,,,, ,.:.*@:@#+#.,.:@..*##**#@:.::@@@@W@.. ,, ,...,#+##@.,..@..*+@#+#*+:.::#W#@#**+ , ,,,,*.:*#@::.:#:,+*#**::##..:#*@@#@:*..,, ,,.@+.#@#:..*@,:*#*+.,..#*:#@+:W#@.@+:, ,,#.*#:@W.+.*#:.+#++.,.,,,#+.:@+@@@:*,.., ,,.+.:##@*...*@.***:..,,,,,.*#*@@+#@:#*., , :**.*@W.*:*@+.#++...,,,,,..@+@@+##.@@,.. ,, ,.++*,*@@.*.*W:+*:...,,,,,,..:*#*+@*:#@,.. , *,+:.*@..*:@@:*+..,,,,,,,,,..#+:.*+:@@.,,, ,,+:::.*@.+++W++*:..,,,,,,,,+#+**.*:*#@W*,,. , , ,:,+:,.*#.*.+W.+:..,,,,,,,:@:..:@.#:*@##*,,, , ,:,::,.**.++#@:::..,,,,,,#@:.,..#.*.#W+:*:,,, .,... :#:.:.+#+:..,,,,,,+#+.:*::*.:.@@*+** , .,.,.,:*+:..#+@@W#:,,,,.*++WW@@@+:..@**#,:. , ,, ,,.,.+*::+#:*.:+*#.,,.++@.@***+*..#**# ::, , , ,,:.++++*.+,:++::..,:,*+@#++.*.+*@#:,,. ,,,,::*+*:+.##*W@:+:,,,..,,....:,:+#+. ,,. ,,:*++#+,W+*++*+:,,,,,,,,,,.:.+:#*,,, , ,,,:**:**,*@#:.:..,,,,,,,,,,,..::** , ,, +*::*@:*:..,,...,,,,,,,,,,..::#,, , ,.,+#.:+@.*.,,,....,,,,,,,,,..:+:*, ,, .:,:,#*+,,,,....,,,,,,,,,..:++,, ,,,..,.@..,,....:,,..:..,,..:+* ,,+:,,@:::.....+.,##,,.*.,..+@ , , *:,,:**:...::+@W@,,,.+....*@, +.,, *:+:..+..::.,:*#,,..:W@, , ,.., ,@W+::.##+:::*+#.,...@W*+ , ,:,,,,+*++::.##,.,*,.,,.*WW#@ , :,, ,*W#::::.++:,,+,..:@@@*.., ,,,:,,,++#W*::.:+**#.,.:W*#*++@, ,+:::+++WW@+:.::.,,,.#@:* **+,, ,, ....,,.@:#@@W*.:.,,,.*@:,: ,**., ,..,,.,,.#+W###@*..,..*@+,,: ,,+:, , ,,:.,,,,,,,:##*#*###+::#@*.,,: ,:+,,, ,,:..,,,,,,..+++*+**##@@@*,,,,* ,.: ,:....,,,,,..*#:+++++**##.,,,,# +., :::::..,,,...*+::::+++++:,,,,,@, ,:+,, ,.:::::.....,....:::++::::.,,,,,@*,, ,:., ,,+:::::.......,.++::++:::..,,,,,@:+,,,:.,, .:::::::......,.:*.::+:::.,,,,,,@:.:,,:.,, ,:.::::::.........+:::::::.,,,,,,#:.,...:,, ,,.:::::::........+*.....::.,,,,,,::...,+:, ..:::::::........:+........,,,,,,.:..,,.#., , ::::::::::......,*.....,,..,,,,,,,:.,,...., , ,::::::::::.....:++:,....,,.,,,,,,,:..,,,*.,, , ,,.:::::::::.:.::+++..,..,,,,,,,,,,,...,,,+**., ,,:.::::::::.:.:++++:,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,...,.++++.,, , ,.:.::::::..:.::::::.,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,.....:++:+, , , ,,:::::..:..:..::::,..,,,,,,,,,,,,,....:+++::,, ,..::........::::.,,.,,,,,,,,,,,RIKKU:::::.., , ,,..:.:...........,,..,.,,,,,,...,,,.,.:...,. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,, ,, ,,,,,,,, ASCII Art done by: Maccenabus. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+SSC+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+Credits+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ -- First of all: extra large, double sized thanks Blitz_Ace470. For coming up with this challenge in the first place, and for encouraging me to write this FAQ as well. We did this challenge together, and we discussed strats for it for hours over MSN. His ideas, as always, are extremely helpful. His constant encouragment for me to work on the FAQ when I didn't have the will to do so is what gave me the required determination to do so, and finally finish it. So again, thanks a lot. -- I also want to thank Blitz_Ace470, Mace22, and Thomaz_Kun for reviewing the FAQ before it was published. Their support while the FAQ was being written is also very appreciated. -- Big thanks for Mace22 for coming up with the weapon for Overdrive Sin, as we weren't sure if he is beatable without Spare Change. And the catchy little nickname for Seymour's Ultima is his as well, so cheers mate. -- Villa_Ftw! Thanks for reviewing the guide and pointing out the typos/ grammatical mistakes I didn't correct. -- Blues003 is to be thanked for the little strat for the BlitzBall tournament in Luca. -- SquareSoft for coming up with this extraordinary game. -- CJayC for creating and maintaining one of the best games sites ever. -- Split Infinity's FAQ. That's where I got some of the info about the random encounter groups, and Evrae's Stone Gaze counter. -- Maccenabus for the lovely ASCII art of our beautiful heroine. -- And finally, you the reader for reading this. If you think your name should be on this list and it isn't, please contact me so I list your name where it should be. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+THE END+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+