Zanmato!

[Formalhaut]

Just acquired Yojimbo in my HD playthrough and went outside the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth to test out the new aeon and see how he looks in HD.

He was up against two Epaaj. I summoned him, paid him 1000 Gil and thought he'd probably do a Wakizashi. Imagine my surprise when Yojimbo nodded, heralding that he would use Zanmato!

Literally the first move he did in my game was Zanmato. Shame it wasn't against something stronger.

What experiences have you had with the ultimate attack?

[Ergroilnin]

My experience with is that I hate to use it against anything and I would've love to have option to completely turn it off in my game. While I can see why it's in, it makes using Yojimbo really useless for people like me.

[Noire]

I never used Zanmato in FFX HD either...it was a matter of pride that I kill all the optional bosses without it, since I spent hours in the PS2 version trying to get it to work on every Dark Aeon, since I was too weak to kill them and couldn't be bothered to grind. xD

[Mo-Nercy]

Haven't used it in HD, but on my PAL PS2 version, I've killed about half the Dark Aeons and Penance with it. xD

Never really experienced with the hidden payment system (where you can gradually build up favour with Yojimbo and get him to use Zanmato for less and less money; depending on the difficulty of the opponent you're facing), I just paid him millions each time to guarantee it. Gotta love farming the Monster Arena for pricey weapons.

[Dat Matt]

Youjimobo is a pain because he is pretty random in terms of his attacks. I've paid hi 100 gold and got Zanmato, but I've paid him 100,000 got and got his Dagger attack. Even with a full overdrive you can't predict what move he'll use, just improve the chances of it.

It's useful when it works, but I think deathstrike might work better.

[Formalhaut]

Youjimobo is a pain because he is pretty random in terms of his attacks. I've paid hi 100 gold and got Zanmato, but I've paid him 100,000 got and got his Dagger attack. Even with a full overdrive you can't predict what move he'll use, just improve the chances of it.

It's useful when it works, but I think deathstrike might work better.

I actually hardly ever use Yojimbo because why the hell should I pay you money to attack things :p I only tried him out just to see how he looks in HD. I don't really intend to use him again after that. Why waste 1000 Gil a pop (or more!) when my own three characters are strong enough to wipe the floor with most fiends?

[Sephiroth]

I actually hardly ever use Yojimbo because why the hell should I pay you money to attack things :p I only tried him out just to see how he looks in HD. I don't really intend to use him again after that. Why waste 1000 Gil a pop (or more!) when my own three characters are strong enough to wipe the floor with most fiends?

Because the world of trophies is hard and you won't get the world's first guy of a certain country with Platinum by wasting time getting Luck for all characters which is necessary if you use it for Dark Aeons and then need to fill it out with all. So you rather delete them, use Zanmatou and Spheres that are easier to get. Also you probably have already beaten them before or have a save data for later.

[Tavrobel]

It's useful when it works, but I think deathstrike might work better.

Immunity to death stops this. There is no immunity to Zanmato, only tiers of resistance.

The whole point is that it's an optional Aeon and all the stuff you have to do for him is optional. Blame RNGesus. In any case, by the time most people start using him, money is not an issue and stops being a meaningful form of currency, so the value of paying Yojimbo to do anything is high compared to the low cost. If you use him right away, of course the cost would seem steep.

My experience has been relatively mundane. I gradually paid him more and more and more to stop getting his dog, and then I paid him to use Zanmato to kill Nemesis the first time. 10 million or something, it was all of my gil at the time.

[Colonel Angus]

Does the attack ever miss? If so, he should give a refund. If not, they need to create a legal Aeon who's powers of litigation will have Daigoro repossessed.

[Mo-Nercy]

Does the attack ever miss? If so, he should give a refund. If not, they need to create a legal Aeon who's powers of litigation will have Daigoro repossessed.
What I'd really like to know is what does he do with the money? What kind of shopping would a fayth even have to do?

[Formalhaut]

What I'd really like to know is what does he do with the money? What kind of shopping would a fayth even have to do?

This has puzzled me as well. I'm really unsure as to what Yojimbo would use it for. How does he even carry it?

[ScottNUMBERS]

Does the attack ever miss? If so, he should give a refund.
It cannot miss, once it is used it's 100% bye-bye. I think he should provide a refund for spoiling the game however.

[Colonel Angus]

Does the attack ever miss? If so, he should give a refund. If not, they need to create a legal Aeon who's powers of litigation will have Daigoro repossessed.
What I'd really like to know is what does he do with the money? What kind of shopping would a fayth even have to do?
Dog food & blade polish. I'm also sure that kimono has to be dry cleaned. Probably made of the finest fabrics from Besaid.

[Aelitalily]

I would call out Yojimbo often to always make sure he would have a full overdrive bar. I read that having a full bar actually increases the chances of using it.

I used him to defeat all the dark aeons (Except for Ifrit - I did that by myself :D) I found that he rarely used the dog when I used him to power his overdrive, which was actually really annoying because he wouldn't charge the bar at all for using Wakizashi on all targets in one turn.

I found that always paying 1000g and using him regularly kept the relationship high with him, which generally increased my chances of him using it. I kept my gil balance lower so that I would pay 60-70% of my gil remaining for even more chances for him to use it (on those dark aeons)

He does have more of a chance to use it on lower enemies... >_<;

I read all about the theory in this guide : http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/197344-finalfantasy10/faqs/18751
(http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/197344-finalfantasy10/faqs/18751)
I didn't take everything I read about it to heart, but I did find some of the principles were accurate to my own experience. In particular these ;

Paying no gil on a turn, which dismissed him: -20 compatibility
Yojimbo dies while in a battle: -10 compatibility
Yojimbo is dismissed without being paid for any turns: -03 compatibility
Yojimbo uses Daigoro: - 1 compatibility
Yojimbo uses Wakizashi: + 1 compatibility
Yojimbo uses Wakizashi on all enemies: + 3 compatibility
Yojimbo uses Zanmato: + 4 compatibility

[Ergroilnin]

Oh but in addition to my last post... There are actually two battles which I don't mind using zanmato against and thats Earth Eater and Greater Sphere as long as I win the first battle legitly since farming Luck Spheres is seriously lenghty thing to do and so using Zanmato everyonce in a while when I get the money to speed up the process a little bit doesn't hurt that much not to mention I can rebattle them anytime anyway.

[metagloria]

I have never used Zanmato. Frankly I'm not sure I have ever used Yojimbo.