Building up Characters

[thekatsmeow83]

I got stomped by Lady Yunalesca, and decided to go back to the Calm Lands (which I didn't know you could walk back!) to fight monsters and build up my characters.
Here's my question. What's the best method of doing this? Are there certain characters that I should focus on? Is there somewhere specific that I should go to fight ones with the best points?
Also, where the %#$%#$ do I get Lvl 2 and 3 and 4 key spheres? I must have walked right by em . . . :confused:

[Reign]

Yunalesca is pretty tough but I sorta beat her like this. One thing for sure is 'DON'T USE AEONS.'It's very annoying. You should train up for full overdrives to add to the attack. Her Hellbiter is quite annoying but if you have a few Holy Waters, they should help. On the third round she uses Mega Death, where anyone not a zombie dies instantly. This is tricky because if you had armour equipped protecting you from Zombie, it was pretty much a waste. I used Yuna's Holy attack most of the time and used a Mana Tablet on Yuna for a bit of extra firepower. Her Mind Blast is annoying but can be countered by attackin the confused or having Confuseproof armour or use Esuna. Another method is to give Yuna all the best stuff and save her till last. Have the lads with the best attack out front and give all you got before releasing Yuna at the end

[Yuffie514]

try to get some Friend/Teleport Spheres. i think you'll find them best from Coeurl/Master Coeurl. you can transport to your party's sphere grids and use their stuff and gain more access to power! also, Black and White Magic Spheres are great. you can teach all parties both types of magic if you have enough. unfortunately, money is the biggest worry -- you need lots of it. i say, go and train in Omega Dungeon. find and kill lotsa Mimics 'cuz they worth 50,000 Gil a piece. but keep saving and don't go wandering far from the save point.

Blk-Mag Sphere(s)...Black Element/182,000 Gil
Warp Sphere(s)...Master Coeurl/260,000 Gil
Friend Sphere(s)...Coeurl/120,000 Gil
Wht-Mag Sphere(s)...Dark Flan/256,000 Gil

i use them warping spheres when i get stumped 'cuz i need a key sphere to move on. heh, ain't that a way to go around limitations.

[Vratar]

Sounds like you are looking for advice more suited to a non-advanced play style (no insult intended -- there are just some things you can't do until after you beat Yunalesca, like go to the Omega Ruins...). If you can go back to the Sanubia desert -- and I'm not sure you can at your point in the game -- look around for Cactaurs. They give bunches of AP. My characters were getting 2 and 3 AP at a time for beating them. If you can't go back, hanging around the calm lands NW corner will get you some decent critters to raise your stats. You might also want to head back to Mt. Gagazet and Zanarkand ruins. (Have you been to the battle arena yet and bought the capture weapons? You can capture creatures for him as you gain levels...)

The ruins are also where you should be able to find a few level 3 and 4 key spheres. Not a ton, but a few. I only got three or four of each before getting control of the airship. Used them to unlock Ultima, Doublecast and Auto-life!

[Fireblade13]

Why did you go back to the calm lands to train? I walked around the ruins because i knew she was up ahead and i was having difficulty with the cloister of trials.

[rubah]

The best thing to do is spend the entire game overkilling monsters by using cheer and focus. Or at least starting in mi'ihen. Eventually you'll be able to overkill the monsters without using cheer. Then it's time to move on.

Even if you stop in bikanel, by the time you're in the calm lands you'd still have enough levels built up to have lulu's level three magic.

If you sent kimarhi on yuna's path via rikku, he would have holy very quickly. Level a little while longer on the way to Zanarkand and yuna will have it too, then let lulu use a white magic sphere to get it as well (since she has the adequate mp for casting it)

You can't go back to bikanel at this point in the game, so no cactuars.

You can't get to the Omega Ruins, so no master couerls for teleport/friend spheres either.

Skip the locks for now, if you go mega-levelling it's probably just as well, you'll come back later.

The important thing is getting as many people as possible to know holy. This may just be Yuna and Lulu, or just Yuna.

Whether or not you use the actual spell, just having it will signify the point of levelling that is sufficient to beat yunalesca easily. Unless you're stupid and don't use EVERYONE in EVERY single battle.

Which you should do.

And steal some purifying salts/candles of life from those monk dudes in zanarkand while you're at it.

For yunalesca, keep at least two people in zombie when she switches to her third form. Zombieproof is a waste of holy waters for zombieward and a waste of purifying salts/candle of life (can't remember. one is zombieproof, the other is no encounters) for zombieproof.

Use holy waters if you really need to.

Remember, the key to levelling is overkill. Use aeons (this isn't ff8 afterall) or cheer and focus.

[thekatsmeow83]

If I use aeons, that will only level up Yuna right? I'm so new to playing FFX - I have never actually stopped to build up characters before.
Right now I'm in the Calm Lands again collecting monsters to give to the lil dude at the arena - I'm missing one and don't know which it is!
I have to figure out how to use maps, etc, because I don't know where anything is.
Should I be just focusing on 3 people I want to work on? Or should I focus on switching in and out everyone? It just takes forever ;) which I'm sure is typical - I just don't want to spend ALL this time for nothing!!!


Why did you go back to the calm lands to train? I walked around the ruins because i knew she was up ahead and i was having difficulty with the cloister of trials.

Because I kept running into some real hard people - up to this point I've been just flying through the game and watching the videos lol!

I figured if i stuck around the Calm Lands, I could get some easier monsters - seemed like the monsters in the ruins were not giving much AP or something. I don't know what to do! LOL I'm soooo new at this I just am getting my butt kicked!

When I played FF7 I played all the way through till I got to Sephiroth and never beat him because I never trained or got Ultimate Weapons.

I figure once I beat Yunalesca, I can get the airship and find the perfect spot to build?

EDIT: Please use the edit button instead of double posting. -Murder

[Tai-Ti]

it really depends on weather u need to level up, or u just need a good stratagy for beating her. You definately cant go back to the dessert, and even if you did, cactars are not a option, because sure, they leveled you up alot back THEN but now, youd b lucky to get one level from it. Sure monsters around the calm lands are easyer, but they dont give you enuff AP, you should just mozzy on around the save sphere in the Dome b4 u fight yunalessca, and level up that way. True, once you beat Yunalessca, you get the airship, the you can go level up at the Omega ruins when you enter the con-ordinates. best place to level up in my opinon. You get alll the lvl spheres you could need from the fiends there.