About to beat the game...some help? [Maybe Spoilers]

[ChocoKid21]

Alright, I'm about to venture into the last dungeon and here's my stats.

Vaan - 44 - Melee (Sword & Shield)
Balthier - 43 - Ranged (Gun)
Fran - 42 - Ranged (Bow)
Basch - 41 - Melee (Axe & Shield)
Ashe - 41 - White mage (Pole)
Penelo - 41 - White mage (Rod)

I almost have the entire top of my license board filled (minus the espers and some accessories) for every character.


Espers
Belias (Basch)
Mateus (Vaan)
Adrammelech (Balthier)
Shemhazai (Fran)
Hashmal (Penelo)
Famfrit (Ashe)


Where can I buy Ethers? (If possible)


Oh.....do I need to be scared about the final boss? (I won't name it, but I know what it is).

The strategy guide says that its an extremely hard battle but they also said the past 8 boss fights were really hard and my average time in beating each boss was about 3 minutes....

[Shiva_]

Where can I buy Ethers? (If possible)
Necrohol of Nabudis.
There's a hidden merchant in a secret room that sells them. While you're there, make sure you pick up the spells, technicks, armor, and shields he has there. He's got some really good stuff.

You have to beat the Bomb King first before you can access the place.

Here's a map of Necrohol of Nabudis. It shows where the hidden merchant is.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4102/necrohol98391cckm5.jpg

[ChocoKid21]

I beat the bomb king.
I think that was one of the hardest boss battles of my life (other than ultimecia...)

[Shiva_]

I beat the bomb king.
I think that was one of the hardest boss battles of my life (other than ultimecia...)
That bomb king was a pain with his renew and constant calling for bombs. I had to cast silence on him towards end of battle because he just kept spamming fira constantly. It was like.."fira fira fira..." to no end. My guys almost died, but silencing him saved me.

To get to the Necrohol of Nabudis, Go to the northwest part of the Salikawood and go to the southwest exit of it in there. The southwest exit leads to Necrohol of Nabudis while the northwest exit takes you to Nabreus Deadlands.

Anyway, the foes at the Necrohol will be tough at your level. To make it a bit easier, what you might want to do is get a hold of the Nihopalaoa and a good bit of Phoenix Downs. If your clan rank is high enough, it should be available at the Muthru Bazaar for 30000 gil. Equip that on your leader, and use him to pop Phoenix Downs at the foes in the Necrohol. Using Phoenix Downs + Nihopalaoa can instantly kill certain foes. It works very well on the Baknamys (goblins).

[Renmiri]

I beat the bomb king.
I think that was one of the hardest boss battles of my life (other than ultimecia...)

Don't try to beat the last boss if the Bomb King gave you grief. You should be sailing through foes at his level if you have any hope to beat the last levels of the Pharos and the rooks at the Bahamut.

[PuPu]

The final boss can hit about 3000 damage with his regular attacks and with his Piercing Firaga/Thundaga/Blizzaga spells. Use Bubble and/or Bubble Belts, or I doubt you will be able to survive for long. Protect, Shell and Haste are also important (Bravery and Faith, meh). You should probably buy a lot of Phoenix Downs and X-Potions too, since he will be attacking you quickly, and you need to heal and revive quickly, since Curaja and Arise might not suffice. It'll be challenging, but you should be able to win.


I beat the bomb king.
I think that was one of the hardest boss battles of my life (other than ultimecia...)

:chuckle: Ultimecia! That's a good one!

Seriously? She was very slow and you could have pulled off some awesome attacks against her that could have beaten her in seconds.

[Shiva_]

To reduce the damage from the final boss's magic, have Shell up always.

White Masks, Rubber Suits, and Adament Hats can help you a bit in this battle. White Masks absorb holy damage, Rubber Suits make you immune to thunder magic, and Adament Hats reduce fire damage by 1/2 and make you immune to ice magic (according to the guide). The final boss will do Piercing Holy spells as well which can inflict lots of damage (most out of all of the elemental ones), and the White Masks will actually enable those to heal you instead. The Sage Ring also absorbs holy damage. Additionally, Flame Shields reduce fire damage by 1/2, and Ice Shields reduce ice damage by 1/2, so these can be alternatives in minimizing damage from the boss's Blizzaga & Firaga.

White Masks and Rubber Suits are sold in Balfonheim, and Adament Hats are sold at the Phon Coast and Mosphoran Wasteland. The two shields are sold in Rabanastre.

When the boss "readies..." a given elemental attack, you can switch on whatever armor protects or reduces damage from that given on, and then switch back to your regular armor.

Having Shell on itself should help reduce damage from whatever non-elemental magic the boss uses. Protect will reduce damage from his physical attacks. As the PuPu said, Bubble is very important as you have to keep you max HP high in this battle, and Haste is important since the boss puts in attacks fast, and you have to be fast in your healing.

Make sure you got the Maximillian from the Necrohol as well. It's the second best heavy armor in the game.

[Sword]

I was at least lvl 50 at that stage. I'd recommend leveling up for a while. You can buy some Embroidered Tippets (Accessory) from the merchant at the entrance to Old Archades to speed things up (The double the experience earned). What else?...give your characters strong weapons, I can't believe your still giving Balthier guns. I only relied on shell, protect and bubble for defence, along with haste.
mine were as follows:
Vaan - Katana (Ame-no-something)
Balthier - Pole (Sweep)
Fran - Bow (Perseus Bow)
Basch - Great sword (Save the Queen)
Ashe - Sword (Death Bringer)
Penelo - Spear (Gungnir)
When fighting Vayne Novus I completely ignored the swords that fly around the place, but you might need a different strategy at your level to ensure your party's survival. To be honest I found the last bosses (Gabranth at the Pharos at Ridorana throught to the final fight) quite easy.

[Renmiri]

Yeah, hunts level VI or VII gave me much more grief!

[dragontamer]

Did anyone else find that the end-game battles were way to easy? sure it takes about an hour with all thoes cinamatics but still... KH2 was SOO much harder.

my chars were lv 50 odd.

vaan- perseus bow
baltheir-bastard sword
fran-strong hammer
basch-golden axe
ashe-diamond sword
penelo-spear of some kind.

not very good weapons but they works!! but bubble belts and rubber suits are almost essential

[Hazzard]

Yeah, hunts level VI or VII gave me much more grief!

Yeah, but really, all you need is tactics and patience. Then the fight is easy. But there is only one Elite Mark fight that I will always cherish, and that's the dynamic battle with the supposedly flying Enkidu, and his master. Gilgamesh!

[Renmiri]

Aye, those 2 ruled! :D:D:D

[Hazzard]

Hmph...KH2 Final Bosses were more tiring, than difficult. I would have to submit to the fact that Xemnas gave me grief at the end, with his last final attack. Only cause of how long I had to ram the buttons, and I eventually gave up...

Bastard Sword, ehh? You could of at least had a Greatsword, don't ya think?