quick question about ragnarok

[MAS82587]

which one should i choose the magicite or the sword? is there a way to get the ultima spell without the ragnarok esper?

[tailz]

u should chose the sword coes u can learn ultima with the paladin shield and there is no other way to get the ilumnia

[Alexander]

The Magicite. It means Ultima earlier. And Illumina is overrated.

And to get a Paladin Shield, you must battle 255 TIMES with the Cursed Shield. That gives you lots of status ailments and cut down your stats. Enjoy it.

You can steal a Ragnarok from a boss in Kefka's Tower. Don't remember which one.

[MAS82587]

thanks all

[TheAbominatrix]

Wear a ribbon when you equip the Cursed Shield, to cut down on the nasty side effects.

[Masamune·1600]

is there a way to get the ultima spell without the ragnarok esper?

Actually, there are several ways. Obviously, uncursing the Cursed Shield yields a Paladin Shield, which can teach Ultima. However, Terra automatically learns the spell at Level 99. If Terra has Ultima, then Gogo could also use it. Either the Paladin Shield or Ragnarok Esper is necessary for the entire party to have access to the spell, though.


You can steal a Ragnarok from a boss in Kefka's Tower. Don't remember which one.

You can steal a Ragnarok sword from Girl (in the final battle sequence). However, you cannot actually save acquisition of the weapon.

[Alexander]

Wear a ribbon when you equip the Cursed Shield, to cut down on the nasty side effects.

1- Ribbons are a pain to steal.

2- Ribbon does not cut Condemned down. And they don't boost your stats, Cursed Shield cuts them all by 7.

I still prefer the Esper. The summon effect is useful. XD

[Masamune·1600]

2- Ribbon does not cut Condemned down.

Just run around on Solitary Island. The Peepers will die from inherent Seizure status long before Condemned becomes an issue.

[MAS82587]

and while we are on all these topics, where is the best place for me to find doom gaze or whatever his name is? ive fought him like twice and i just vanish-xzoned him. do i actually have to fight him to get something special?

[Braindead_Paul]

Wear a ribbon when you equip the Cursed Shield, to cut down on the nasty side effects.

1- Ribbons are a pain to steal.

2- Ribbon does not cut Condemned down. And they don't boost your stats, Cursed Shield cuts them all by 7.


1. There are several ways to get a ribbon.

2. It's quite a long countdown. You should be able to beat most enemies before it ends, so it's nothing to worry about. I didn't even have to do some extra fights to uncurse the shield. I just went on doing side quests and some leveling up which I would have done anyway.

That's why I recommend the sword. You can learn Ultima from the Paladin Shield (which is not THAT hard/annoying to uncurse, if you just use a ribbon and go on with the game). And the Illumina is really worth it. Btw. it boosts your stats by 7, so it compenstates the Cursed Shield's effects; equip a Ribbon and the Illumina and the Cursed Shield won't have any effect but "condemn" your character and that's really acceptable, as you not only get Utlima but also the best piece of armor in the game.
And the summon is quite useless. It will take even longer to get something valuable from it than uncursing the Paladin Shield. You won't need the stuff you can get using Metamorph anyway...

On the other hand of course, it's cool to get Ultima so early in the game and to have an additional esper, so it's up to your preferences. If you tend to use a lot of magic (and have an economizer), it might be better to get the Esper...


and while we are on all these topics, where is the best place for me to find doom gaze or whatever his name is? ive fought him like twice and i just vanish-xzoned him. do i actually have to fight him to get something special?

I'm sorry, but as far as I know, you don't get anything if you use Vanish-X-Zone/Doom on him. Otherwise you'd have received Bahamut...

[MAS82587]

where is a good spot to look for him?

[boys from the dwarf]

i think ultima is learned by celes too at level 99

[x_Hopeless_Deviate_x]

I thought Celes learned Meteor at level 99???

[tailz]

celes doesnt learn ultima but learns meteor at lvl98

[MAS82587]

Well, if you fly around enough, you will eventually encounter Doom Gaze. However, if you saved after defeating it with Vanish/X-Zone, both Doom Gaze and the Bahamut Magicite are gone.



actually i did do the vanish/xzone on him and he did come back.

[TheAbominatrix]

As has been said, ribbons arent that hard to find... you should have at least a couple in your inventory by that point in the game. They're found in chests in a few places. And though they dont get rid of condemned (notice I didnt say it got rid of all the status effects), it gets rid of everything else which makes the process considerably easier. And, as has been said, if you arent fighting difficult monsters that take forever, condemned doesnt make a bit of difference.

[MAS82587]

okay i just found him again and ultimaed him to death. oh yea so another question: when im in kefkas place, (the tower thing) is there a way to change party members? i keep getting killed by Inferno, Striker, and Rough, cuz my third party is really weak.

why dont we just change the name of this thread to "help sam" thread? :)

[TheAbominatrix]

The only way to switch party members is to Warp out and start over. What I did when I had weak people was do as much as I could on every path with my strong party, or balance the parties out more.

[MAS82587]

is there a way to fight that Inferno thing with another party?

[x_Hopeless_Deviate_x]

No, you can't fight Inferno with another party.
But this is what I did with Kefka's Tower.
Every time I'd enter I'd have one group with my strongest magic users and Mog because of the Moogle Charm.
It didn't matter who was in the other two groups because they weren't going anywhere.
I'd walk around freely with the one group and collect all the treasures, and Ultima the hell out of any bosses that came my way.
Then I'd just warp out of there, and place the same group on a different route.
Does that make sense?
Sorry if it doesn't.
:p

[MAS82587]

No, you can't fight Inferno with another party.
But this is what I did with Kefka's Tower.
Every time I'd enter I'd have one group with my strongest magic users and Mog because of the Moogle Charm.
It didn't matter who was in the other two groups because they weren't going anywhere.
I'd walk around freely with the one group and collect all the treasures, and Ultima the hell out of any bosses that came my way.
Then I'd just warp out of there, and place the same group on a different route.
Does that make sense?
Sorry if it doesn't.
:p

wow thats a really good idea, so would u recomend warping out and just doing that the whole time?

[x_Hopeless_Deviate_x]

Do you mean complete Kefka's Tower with only one group and just keep warping out?
:confused:

[Sasquatch]

A.) The Ragnarok esper is much better than the sword. As has been pointed out, Illumina is definitely overrated.

B.) The items you get from Metamorph don't matter, what matters is the fact that it automatically takes an enemy off the field, and cheap.

C.) The Paladin Shield is great, but it's a pain in the ass to get. If you're good enough that you don't have to fight just to level up, you'll be done by the time you uncurse it anyway.

D.) I've used Vanish and Doom or X-Zone on Doomgaze more than once, and I've always gotten Bahamut. There's something else you get from him--a relic--that you don't get, though. You'll still get the esper.

L.) Just balance your groups out. One time I tried it with just Mog and his Moogle Charm as his own group, but he also had a Snow Muffler, so when he got to that Statue and it kept using South Cross (or North Cross?) on him, it'd just heal him. The Snow Muffler is awesome, I'd definitely say to get one or two of those (for Mog and Gau).

S.) If you're looking to gain experience, head to the dinosaur-shaped forest near Narshe. You can steal Ribbons and win Economizers from the Brontaurs there, and the Tyrannasaurs give good experience, too--especially if you can kill 'em by turning them into Dried Meat with Ragnarok. (From the air north of the forest, it looks like an alligator head--from the south, it looks like a brontaur, or a veggie-saurus looking back.)

[TheAbominatrix]

Doom Gaze does not drop a relic. The only thing you can get from him is the Bahamut Magicite.

[The Man]

I'm here to chime in with my opinion that the Morph command is more or less useless since it doesn't net you anything you can't get elsewhere, and the sword is one of the most powerful weapons in the game for Terra, Celes, Locke, and Edgar. Since Ultima can be learned by alternative means, I recommend going with the sword.

But that's just me.

And if memory serves, you can Vanish+Doom Doomgaze/Deathguise without any negative side effects, but Vanish+Xzoning him will prevent him from dropping the Bahamut magicite.

[Sasquatch]

I'd assume you're referring to the Illumina sword and not the Ragnarok. Illumina is good, but not that good. And nobody cares for Metamorph because of the items it turns the enemies into, we like it simply because it takes an enemy out of the battle. I like the sword too, but the Paladin Shield is too much of a hassle to deal with, plus the Magicite teaches you quicker (not faster, just earlier).

Not to mention...does the Ragnarok Magicite have any level-up bonuses? I didn't think so, but I could be wrong.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

And if memory serves, you can Vanish+Doom Doomgaze/Deathguise without any negative side effects, but Vanish+Xzoning him will prevent him from dropping the Bahamut magicite.

I believe that's how it works.

I like to get the sword, because you can learn Ultima via Paladin's Shield which isn't THAT much of a pain to uncurse. I've fought in the Dinosaur forest with the Cursed Shield and the Ribbon and had no problems beating the enemies before time ran out.

[MAS82587]

ok heres what happened:
i vanish/xzoned him a couple of times and nothing would happen, so i finally fought him and after two battles he died and droped the magicite, so that answers all those questions there.
as for the question that started it all, i picked the magicite, and thank the Lord i did! i just beat the game for the first time tonight, and all i used was ultima for just about every boss. i never needed the sword. thanks for all the advice everyone.

[The Man]

Not to mention...does the Ragnarok Magicite have any level-up bonuses? I didn't think so, but I could be wrong.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't. Also, Odin has a much better level-up bonus (+1 Speed, and it's the only one that gives a speed bonus) than Raiden (can't remember what it was), so I usually don't upgrade Odin 'til I'm done upgrading people's speed. Not that it's at all relevant. ;)

[x_Hopeless_Deviate_x]

ok heres what happened:
i vanish/xzoned him a couple of times and nothing would happen, so i finally fought him and after two battles he died and droped the magicite, so that answers all those questions there.
as for the question that started it all, i picked the magicite, and thank the Lord i did! i just beat the game for the first time tonight, and all i used was ultima for just about every boss. i never needed the sword. thanks for all the advice everyone.
A week or so ago was my second time beating the game and it went by fast because I just did Ultima over and over.
So yes, I pretty much did the same thing as you!
My Gem Box user was even wiped out just before Kefka finally appeared and I still beat him on my first try.
But the first time I beat this game was several years ago.
And I don't think any of my characters even knew Ultima.
I barely taught them any spells at all.
I remember the battles being very challenging though.
Made it kinda more fun!
:D

[Sasquatch]

i just beat the game for the first time tonight

Well congratulations. Welome to the family ;) .

And I remember Odin having the only speed bonus, but I value Quick much more than the speed bonus, so I get that as soon as possible. I don't think Raiden has any level-up bonuses. I dunno, I never concentrated on the bonuses from Magicite, just the spells.

[The Man]

I was always adamant about getting as many level-up bonuses as possible, to the extent where I'd avoid leveling up my characters until the World of Ruin. To each his own though ;)

[MAS82587]

Raiden has a +2 stamina bonus i think.
so now ive beat vi vii viii ix and x


should i replay vii (my first ff), or try out kingdom hearts?

[The Man]

that's right, but there's something else that gives you a +2 stamina bonus as well, isn't there?

I'd actually recommend trying something from the Suikoden series, or Chrono Trigger (and then Chrono Cross, of course). I've yet to hear anyone raise any valid complaints about Chrono Trigger. ;p

[Sasquatch]

I'd say go with another of the earlier Final Fantasies. Buy Chronicles and get Chrono Trigger and FFIV, another early classic.