the help-Shaibana-through-this-game-thread

[Shaibana]

so far ive always asked for tips and hints in other threads, so for this FF ill just make a special thread for it :D

my current problem:
i am to face Seymour for the 2nd time. and he is pretty powerfull!!
it all went well at first. i encountered every attack with NulBlaze/tide etc etc. No problem!
but after a while he starts stoning my characters and it all went well becaus i could heal them from petrification fast and often got lucky becaus Mortibody did not attack the stoned person..
untill he smashed Yuna to pieces :(
after that i couldnt keep up anymore and he defeated me.

normally this wouldnt be a big problem becaus i would grind a bit and try again..
BUT i can not grind on the bridge becaus those machina have very hard attacks and they keep killing me.
besides that i really need Ability Spears.Yuna has 11 steps but i dont want to go any further with that without unleashing 3-4 abilities that i will have to skip otherwise.
i have bought Ability Distillers (i believe they are called) but i can not use them becaus i can not grind :l

any tips, hints and tricks?

[Goldenboko]

Why can't you grind? There's enemies before him on the bridge.

[Jinx]

Do you have a previous save you can go back to? You may need to grind some more.

[Shaibana]

i guess neither of tou have read the thing :(

i quote: ''BUT i can not grind on the bridge becaus those machina have very hard attacks and they keep killing me.''

[Jinx]

And that's why I asked if you had a PREVIOUS save file to go back to. Like, the Via Purifico or before.

If you don't, your best bet is using Tidus and Yuna for Haste/Hastega and having Auron as the main attacker, Tidus as secondary attacker/healer, and Yuna solely for healer. O'aka is on the bridge, so you shouldn't run out of Phoenix Downs.

[Shaibana]

i dont have a previous savegame :(

and i must be doing something wrong becaus i dont have Hastiga or heal on Tidus yet :o
i really want Cura for Yuna, but i dont have any Ability spears :l

[Karifean]

If you had Hastega you would be pretty overleveled.

If you really have trouble with Seymour, a little bit of grinding might not be bad. Judging from your experiences, you seem a little underleveled. Do you happen to have some Teleport Spheres? With those, you can customize Evade & Counter onto your weapons, which makes you automatically dodge all dodgeable attacks (except for counterattacks) which is quite a great help. Besides that, Fire- and Waterstrike weapons can deal severe damage to those robots.

[Tavrobel]

Are you using the Standard Grid or the Expert Grid? How much HP on each character, and what are the enemies doing to you?

How do your stats compare to this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsDhq7wPwGs

Not having Cura means you're severely underleveled for Yuna, and this is often the case during the Bevelle split. Your primary form of healing at this point during the game should be using Use on Rikku and spamming Al Bhed Potions, which heal 1000 to all party members and can heal petrification. If Rikku is also underleveled, you're screwed.

smurf Kimahri

On the other hand, there's still hope, but this is the slow and difficult option. Unless the mobs on the bridge are actually killing everyone in your party in one hit, you can make your way through every battle one at a time. Simply doing "a lot" of damage means that you haven't died, which is good. If you have to use Escape to save even one of your members (or Tidus' Flee), you still can get some experience if you kill one enemy. Ability Distill also works on battles where you only kill one enemy and then leave.

Save after every battle, because it seems like you will need some serious RNG to generate the easy enemy formations. If you encounter any formation with the floating gun machina, just soft reset right then and there, because it sounds like you are just wasting time before you die. Fortunately, there is a formation that uses people with flamethrowers and the kicking bot. Burst down the dude, and then work on the machina. Unless the flamethrower dude is killing everyone every time he gets a turn, you should be okay.

Don't switch, don't get greedy trying to get experience on all six party members. You want these battles to end as fast as possible, so use Overdrives even while leveling (but don't use Auron's Shooting Star, because causing Eject will reduce experience gain). The moment you get even one character to survive enemy burst damage, leveling will become significantly easier. Set your Overdrive to the one where it charges on damage taken (Stoic or Comrade).

Other options include customizing armor and weapons. Fire Ward and Fireproof will make grinding flamethrowers possible. Defense +%, HP +%, SOS Protect can be very good grinding gear for cheap. Counterattack and Evade & Counter are great options to increase survivability and DPS. Brotherhood should have Waterstrike, which can help Tidus do more damage to the machina mobs.

If you really are having trouble with the mobs on the bridge, then you are simply not prepared for Seymour. The Highbridge is intentionally difficult. Your current "fast" option would be to try and get all of your Aeons to get full Overdrive bars and for Yuna to have a full bar so that she can Grand Summon. At this point, you spam Aeons and that should be the end of Seymour after some good luck.

You seem to have a major mental block with Yuna. Really, you don't need to get the abilities right now. It's more important to get the stats now, get past Seymour, and get to the next part of the story, where there are more manageable mobs. Macalania Forest has mobs that are from earlier in the story and the next zone, the Calm Lands, has mob formations that can be instantly be killed by Rikku/Steal.

[Jessweeee♪]

You are pretty underleveled, but it's perfectly doable still. If you're doing ok until Yuna gets smashed, consider buying a ton of softs from O'aka and customize everyone's armor. You need 30 softs to add the Stoneward ability. Spam aeons and win forever!

This is one of the best places to grind in the game though so if you plan on grinding eventually to catch up this is the time! The enemies in this area give good AP relative to where you are in the game, you're sandwiched between two save points, and O'aka is there to help you restock. You can always just pick off one enemy and then escape for a small amount of AP until you can handle the whole mob :v

[Sword]

Seymour is vulnerable to poison. If he's too powerful just do that, then you can concentrate on keeping your party healthy and his death will only be a matter of time.

[Pumpkin]

This is a hard one. You probably need to grind, as difficult as it may be. Stay close to the save and touch it between each fight to heal. If you can get reflect and cast that, you'll have an easier time. Also Bio, a Sword said. You can overdrive all aeons and summon them one by one, but you won't be able to use them long term, because Seymour banishes them.

Not much else to say, really :/

[Tavrobel]

one of the best places to grind in the game

... are you nuts? This is one of the WORST areas to grind specifically for the reason that the OP has mentioned. This is a hard place to grind because the mobs here do significantly more damage than they normally should at this area. The reward is not worth the expense given that he is STUCK.

If the guy hasn't gotten Cura for Yuna, it's extremely unlikely that he has Reflect and it's only marginally more unlikely that Lulu has Bio. However, Rikku's Mix can generate a result that can poison the enemy, if he has the right items in his inventory.

Underdog's Secret with most items (including Spheres) will generate a buff that allows a character to deal 9999. This is a reward from Rin for completing the Al Bhed Primers, though he probably hasn't collected them all, as this is a first playthrough.

Hazardous Shell (inflicts Poison) can be made using a Grenade and a Level 1 or 2 Keysphere. Also from Petrify Grenade/Silence Grenade/Sleeping Powder. Calamity Bomb has a similar recipe. Or Chaos Grenade.

List of Final Fantasy X Mixes - The Final Fantasy Wiki has more Final Fantasy information than Cid could research (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Final_Fantasy_X_Mixes)

[Shaibana]

im a She btw :l and its my 1,5th playthrough :3

i have not encountered a party with a flamethrower no :o

most of the characters have HP around the 2000, with Auron at 3000.
about the mental block: Yuna's Cure does only 600-800 (i think) healing, i want that Cura!
im using the 'normal' speargrid, not the expert. and i dont have teleport spears :(

ive tried beating seymour with Auron, Kimhari and Yuna, becaus those 2 boys are the strongest and highest in HP and i use yuna to null the elemental attacks

and i believe Tidus (or wakka) has an weapon with Evade and Counter

[Tavrobel]

RNGesus is not on your side. Flamethrowers/gunners are relatively common on the Highbridge, unless they removed it. If this is the case, you could also try fighting against a 2 kickbot/1 turret formation.

Your HP is decent for the area, so I expect the turret machina to only do 2000 to one character on their turn. However, that also means that the flamethrower and the turret machina will do 700 to everyone when they use their area attacks. This may mean death if they get three turns in a row. You really shouldn't have full party wipes here. You are not nearly as behind as you think you are.

About Counterattack and Evade & Counter, it works against single target physical attacks AND it checks if they can attack their target validly. Translation: Countering can only be relied on against kickbots.

---------- Strategy 1 ----------- Manmode ----------
Your strategy for grinding should be not worrying about healing your characters with Yuna. Right now, Rikku is your healer. Again, you want your fights to not last long. Switch your Overdrive mode to Stoic or Comrade. Overdrive when possible.

I would suggest using a party that usually has Auron and Rikku in it. Auron actually has HP and he can survive worst-case situations; Rikku can Use Al Bhed Potions to heal or even her Overdrive. STOP TUNNELING ON CURA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF A MENTAL BLOCK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Your third can switch among Tidus, Wakka, or Yuna. Tidus/Wakka don't do nearly as much as Auron, but they are faster than Auron, which means that if stuff hits the fan, they can recover the fight with Potions or Phoenix Downs. This approach will carry over to the Seymour fight through a development of your decision making skills.

---------- Strategy 2 ---------- Scrubcore ----------
Your first fight should open with whatever Distill of your choice. Kill that target, then flee, if you really want Yuna to pick up Cura/Protect/Shell. If you're still having trouble after that fight, open every fight with a formation involving Yuna. Switch out the others whenever you want.

Get two turns in on your other members and then summon an Aeon. Have it kill your targets as much as possible. Let it die if it doesn't kill everything on its own and you can not save it using Shield, and then clean up with your remaining characters.

Eventually, you'll get to the point where the Aeons can survive battles on the Highbridge. Charge up their Overdrive meters, and then use all of their Overdrives against Seymour.

[Goldenboko]

i guess neither of tou have read the thing :(

i quote: ''BUT i can not grind on the bridge becaus those machina have very hard attacks and they keep killing me.''
Oh I didn't see that. Can't you get off Aeon overdrives before he one hits them? If so I'd recommend having all their overdrives pre-readied and blasting him away!

[Skyblade]

If you need Ability spheres, have a character use the Distill, then summon an Aeon. The game doesn't care how you kill it, just kill it. Summon a replacement if it dies, use an Overdrive if you want. Save spheres are right next to you. Shiva has nice self-heals with Blizzara, but even Valefor should be able to toast one before getting wiped out.

[Jessweeee♪]

I only meant in comparison to say Bikanel or the Calm Lands, the surrounding parts of the plot. Plus all those Mega Phoenix drops :v

[Shaibana]

alright ppl, thanks for all the help!
i have been grinding a little, wich i somehow managed ^^.
with alot of Haste, Slow, Power Breaks, and 'Speed break' i manage to outlive the machina on the bridge!
but i have still not encountered a team with a flamthrower, i think they are simply not there anymore.

after that i tried another turn to defeat Seymour but that failed.
i know i should have Rikku on my team becaus of her Al-Bhed potions, but beside those she has nothing to offer so ive replaced her with Tidus.

i think in the end its all about being perecise in yr movements, and being very lucky :o

since i am not a person that will grind an hour, i will grind and try to beat seymour everyday.
sooner or later ill outpower him, or be lucky enough :P

[Karifean]

The "Use" ability is hands-down one of the best abilities in the game. Just stealing from regular enemies gets you such good items that outclass much of the other party members' abilities. You can steal Poison Fangs from any wasp-type enemy, and they deal damage and inflict poison with 100% success rate - completely outclassing Lulu's Bio spell.

Not to mention Smoke Bombs, Sleep/Dream Powders and Silence Grenades, inflicting Blind/Sleep/Silence with 100% success rate for THREE turns on the ENTIRE enemy party, again completely outclassing ALL of Wakka's abilities except Triple Foul. And you can steal them from any bird-type enemy (Smoke Bombs), wolf-type enemy (Sleep/Dream Powders) or mushroom-type enemy (Silence Grenades). Not to mention Frag Grenades (rare steal from some machinas) deal Armor Break. And from the soldiers on the Highbridge you can steal Purifying Salts which dispels an enemy and deals damage at the same time, again outclassing the simple Dispel spell. And I didn't even mention Mix.

Yep, Rikku can do some really stupid shit.

[Rostum]

Just out of curiosity, have you been flee'ing from every fight up until this point? I am playing this at the moment, and I didn't grind at all - just fighting the mobs I ran into on my way through the story - and I was severely overpowered against Seymour.

Whelp, keep that grinding up and I hope you beat him soon. :)

[Tavrobel]

The "Use" ability is hands-down one of the best abilities in the game. Just stealing from regular enemies gets you such good items that outclass much of the other party members' abilities.

I absolutely agree with this sentiment. Steal/Use is one of the best combinations of skills possible. The amount of nifty effects you can produce from easily-replenishable-almost-unlimited items is broken.

... unfortunately, she's a little late for getting some of those items for now, but it'll help starting with after Seymour.


with alot of Haste, Slow, Power Breaks, and 'Speed break'

This is quote right here is half of your problem.

You're wasting too many turns using utility spells instead of dealing damage. A Haste or an Armor Break or a Power Break here or there is fine, but the massive delay you suffer on your own characters' turns (in particular, the very slow Auron) in order to use these skills is often not worth it. It's especially counterproductive when they do not have 100% success rates and you rely on these things performing as advertised.

Protip: if the success rate advertised is less than 100%, it might as well not even exist. Assuming otherwise can seriously bite you in the ass and is an affront to RNGesus.

Slow is especially useless and I recommend not using it at all. In exchange for a turn and a half for Tidus, you get less than a turn's worth on a mob that will die very soon afterwards. You think it's helping you and it's not. The tradeoff is heavily tilted against you when used as a spell (but is okay as a side-effect of another skill). Delay Attack is fine if Tidus' turn is right before the mob whose turn you are delaying.

[Karifean]

If you're having trouble with Seymour's Break spells, consider having Yuna and Rikku in Haste at (nearly) all times and having them NOT in your front line, and swapping them in immediatly when someone gets petrified. Quickly use Esuna/Al Bhed Potion to cure the petrification and then if possible swap them out again. That way they will never get petrified (so they never lose the Haste) but they can heal all petrification quickly. And if they do get petrified, well that's why you have two people who can remedy petrification. Just remember to recast Haste.

[Shorty]

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii325/demosthynes/egg08_zps35154f05.gif

[Jinx]

CLAIM

[Shorty]

You already have your two! ;) Still a couple to go before Grand Prize is up!

This egg is still available!

[Jinx]

FUCK THE POLICE

[Shorty]

The Police are happy to disqualify you from eligibility to claim the Grand Prize is you keep your fucks up :shobon:

sorry shabana carry on!

[Jinx]

i'd rather take this than the grand prize tho

[Jiro]

Go on then.

[Shaibana]

with alot of Haste, Slow, Power Breaks, and 'Speed break'

This is quote right here is half of your problem.

You're wasting too many turns using utility spells instead of dealing damage. A Haste or an Armor Break or a Power Break here or there is fine, but the massive delay you suffer on your own characters' turns (in particular, the very slow Auron) in order to use these skills is often not worth it. It's especially counterproductive when they do not have 100% success rates and you rely on these things performing as advertised.


no, that quote is my salvation.
without casting things like haste and slow i get beaten
it might waste turns, but alteasy ill live!!

rostum, no i have not been fleeing from every battle :o

[Tavrobel]

You could be living better by not wasting turns or trading poorly.

[Shaibana]

i dont trade at all actually :3
well not everyone is so pro that they got everything figured out :l

its funny how my first encounter with Seymour went better then any other encounter after that :l

i grinded some, and managed to get 2 ability speers (and get cura :P)
but still no succes :P if i keep doing this then sooner or later ill overpower him xD

and i have encountered parties with 2 flamthrowers, so they are not gone :)

[Shaibana]

holy crackemoly!
i defeated him!... oooooo wow!!
it was al going very well untill 1 character got shattered.
i summoned Bahamut and he did some damage at seymour with his overdrive.
after that i was a little desperate becaus Yuna got a flare and left me with 300 hp,
i was spretty sure i was screwed since seymour had near 8500 hp left..

so as a last stand i summoned Shiva, sich suprisingly overkilled him with 9999 HP damage!! :D

Muhahaha do i feel mighty now..

please stay tuned till my next problem xD

p.s stone ward did not do any good for Auron :(

[Formalhaut]

I remember my Lulu having flare when I fought Seymour here...

Congratulations Shai! :D

[Shaibana]

im close to having flare, but at this moment i am around 7 ability spears short (for the whole party), so ill have to grind those.

Aaaaaaaaaand im stuck again.. at seymour... again..
somehow i can not find Bio for Lulu :o

Seymour flux ..
please tell me what to do D:

[Karifean]

Seymour Flux is arguably the hardest storyline boss in the game next to the final boss. Here's a couple of tips that might help you:

- If you use Bio or a Poison Fang against him, he will be poisoned and take 1400 damage per turn. You can even cast Haste on him thereafter so he takes more damage. Since he and Mortibody can only alternate turns, this doesn't actually speed him up.
- When Mortibody casts Dispel on your party, Seymour's next attack will be Cross Cleave, a devastating group attack. Quickly bring in your tankiest party members and defend with them to halve the damage. You can also put your party in Protect and use Silence against Mortibody to prevent Dispel altogether.
- Once Seymour starts throwing out the Total Annihilations, use Shell. It halves the damage and with an attack as powerful as this, you really want to do that.
- Buy Holy Waters. They cure Zombie. You will want some more of them for later, too.

If all else fails, go back to the Calm Lands and do some sidequesting. There's a cave underneath the bridge inbetween Calm Lands and Mount Gagazet where you can do a quest. Also, you can start capturing fiends for the Monster Arena. Or do some chocobo minigames. Or go to Remiem Temple.

[Tavrobel]

Seymour flux ..
please tell me what to do D:

Ability Distill more stuff.

Spam Aeon Overdrives. Cast Bio on Seymour and Protect on yourself when you get the chance. You can also grind mobs before the area. If you made it to Seymour this time, then the regular mobs should not have been an issue, unlike the Highbridge (and if the Gagazet encounters were hard, then it's completely your fault for skipping through the Calm Lands).

Total Annihilation does about 4500 damage to every member with no damage reduction. If you (somehow) have more HP than that, you can tank the whole thing. Cross Cleave does 2500 to everyone without reduction on a bad day.

[Shaibana]

Seymour flux ..
please tell me what to do D:

Ability Distill more stuff.

Spam Aeon Overdrives. Cast Bio on Seymour and Protect on yourself when you get the chance. You can also grind mobs before the area. If you made it to Seymour this time, then the regular mobs should not have been an issue, unlike the Highbridge (and if the Gagazet encounters were hard, then it's completely your fault for skipping through the Calm Lands).

Total Annihilation does about 4500 damage to every member with no damage reduction. If you (somehow) have more HP than that, you can tank the whole thing. Cross Cleave does 2500 to everyone without reduction on a bad day.

calmlands were ok, not much trouble.
ive been looking in the speargrid for Lulu´s Bio, but i can seem to find it anywhere :S ill check again

[Formalhaut]

You're using the Standard Sphere Grid? If so, then this map should help. Pretty much, go north of where Lulu earns the -ra spells. You should see it.

http://www.bar2ayunie.com/images/Final_Fantasy/Final_Fantasy_X/Spheres/Standard_Sphere_Grid.gif

It is pretty huge, so I'll give you the link to it as well: Bar2aYunie - Final Fantasy X - Standard Sphere Grid (http://www.bar2ayunie.com/Final_Fantasy_Pages/FFX_Pages/FFX_Standard_Sphere_Grid.php)

[Tavrobel]

ive been looking in the speargrid for Lulu´s Bio, but i can seem to find it anywhere :S ill check again

It's directly above the tier 2 Black Magic spells in the bottom right of the grid. It's removed from the main path by 2 nodes.

Alternatively, if you don't know where the tier 2 spells are, scroll all the way to the bottom right corner of the grid, and you should see Doublecast. Go left, left, and then up, and you should see the tier 2 spells and Bio. You can Steal Poison Fangs from bee enemies (Nebiros) in the Calm Lands, which have perfect accuracy, but only Poison for a set number of turns.

If you have the tier 3 spells, you went too far. You must backtrack (you can travel backwards on the grid 4 spaces per level).

[Dat Matt]

Using this as a frame of reference (http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100227155639/finalfantasy/images/9/94/Final_Fantasy_10_Sphere_Grid.svg), follow Lulu's path until you reach the 3rd large sphere. In this third spehere it breaks off into two sections at the end of it. The path leading to the 4th sphere, and a path leading down towards Level 3 locks. Bio Is just before these locks.

[Shaibana]

that is very helpfull, thanks :D