My Perfect Game File

Oh the joys of being really bored at work. :D


Ok, so I have done the Excalibur II challenge, and it turned out to be not so bad. But that was just the pure Excalibur II challenge, going through everywhere as fast as possible, disregarding everything in your path that isn't required and get to Lich and the Excalibur II in time. I did it in about eleven hours and ten minutes, and there was a lot of stuff I could have gone back and done better, but I got it and that's all I cared about. The girl who did it on speeddemosarchive.com got to the Excalibur II in about eight hours, so I definitely didn't do it as fast as it could be done.

Then, there were people talking about a "perfect file," a definition that has been refined quite a few times. First, it was getting everything in the game, including the Excalibur II. This involves getting every single item in the game, but gives no care to stats or leveling in any way, as at that time it was thought that there wasn't enough time to do anything about that. This intrigued me, so I did this one. It is quite a bit more involved than the above challenge obviously. You get every item in the game, but you just go through the forced battle however you need to, and when you are without Zidane in the Desert Palace you try to get as few battles as possible and just fight your way through the ones that you do get. I got to the Excalibur II in eleven hours and fifty-five minutes, extremely satisfied with my game. It was actually quite fun, despite being driven very close to the brink of insanity on multiple occasions.

Then there was someone who said something about a "mock level 1 Excalibur II" game. This involved everyone except Zidane being able to attain max stats by the end of the game. Basically, this is the above challenge, just with letting Zidane take all of the exp from the forced battles. He would level up to about 32, and he could start raising his stats with the good equipment from that points on, still giving him a formidable set of stats by level 99. This challenge didn't really interest me as there was almost nothing different about it than the last one. The only thing different to do would be to let Zidane take all of the exp and to run from or avoid all of the battles in the Desert Palace.....meh, I was satisfied with my last one.

That was the last I paid attention to this challenge. In this thread I thought that 1whoistornapart was simply recording the above challenge. I neglected to realize until I watched the surprisingly long Festival of the Hunt video that someone has again altered this challenge. Someone has found a way to actually incorporate the level 1 challenge into the Excalibur II challenge. So now all items and perfect stats can be attained with a little extra speed and some luck...well some more luck (except for 1 or 2 stats points for one character in exchange for another pair of Running Shoes, which I will be getting).

So I have decided to do this challenge again, the way that the Perfect Game File was intended to be. And, since I am doing a series of PCR reactions and cloning at work I have about fours hours of free time a day, and that's going to last for a few months at least. So, to tide over my boredom at work, I will write about my journey for all who care and don't care. And I'm having trouble figuring out how to download video from my tv to my computer, but I have a digital camera so maybe I'll take a picture every once in a while.

Also, I hope that it might be alright with a moderator that I double post every once in a while so that posts don't get overly long and unreadable or anything. Pretty please :love: :love: :love:

So, to start, this will not a be just a dictation of 1whoistornapart's video's, I am to Dali and I have already done a few things differently than he does, and I can imagine I'll be doing several more as things get more complex. Besides, I've only watched like a quarter of them anyway. Since he was left with 32 minutes to spare, there will be time for a few things like getting a few more Blue Magic spells and doing a few friendly monsters sooner and things like that that I might do. But I will also be doing several of the things he does, as some of his time saving tricks are rather useful. He found by the end that there is actually time to do this challenge without skipping the FMVs, I will be skipping the FMVs. That just leaves some time to do other things.

Like his trick with pressing the start button before and after FMVs. I didn't really get what he was saying at first, but I get it now. Starting with the very first FMV, there are quite a few times already (remember I'm only to Dali) where an FMV stops and there's at least ten seconds where the game is loading and the timer is running. I don't really see lag before an FMV starts, but definitely after it finishes. So he presses the start button to let the game load but stop the timer. With all the FMVs in this game that will really start to add up. However, you only have like a quarter-second to press start after an FMV is finished, if you don't get it the game won't let you press start while it is loading. However, when you open and close the disc tray on the PS2, if you just press and hold the start button after it's closed, I find that it always pauses after it skips the FMV, so no need to try and get the timing on that, which is nice. :D

And there's one more thing to take into account, Tanitarian. This is where the challenge divulges depending on how you want to do it. Do you fight it in the first place? And if you do, who will get the exp from the fight? The answers: I will be fighting it, as I find missing the fourth pair of Running Shoes unacceptable. However, I have not yet decided who will take the exp. If Zidane takes the exp, he will lose 1 from his max potential strength stat. Losing this one point will lower his max HP by 90 points and lower his damage by about 180. However, his damage at level 99 with max strength stat -1 will still do more than the damage cap, and by that time he will have maxed thievery. But until then he will do that bit of extra damage. On the other hand, letting Freya take exp will cause her to lose 2 from her max potential magic stat. Losing these two points will cause her max potential MP to drop by 13 points, but it will still be over 400. Will she ever use 400 MP in a single battle? And do I not have Ethers? I don't know, I'm leaning toward Freya but I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'm a few discs away from there, so start the show:

Vivi's Bad Ticket to a lot of Treasure
-You'll know what that lag after an FMV is from the very first one, so holding down start after the tray closes and pausing for like several seconds not only lets the game load faster but saves you time. Also, this is my first time using the PS2 for this game, setting the PS2 to fast loading and smooth edges really makes a difference.
-If you attempt it enough times you can steal everything from Baku in the very first round. I didn't know that Cinna hits the same way that Quina does, in the times that I've tried this before he hit himself for like 13 damage and Baku KOed him, but this time he hit himself for like 300 damage. That would have been nice against Baku the next time you fight him.
-They say that since you won't be able to see the moogle letter about the jump rope in disc 4 that it doesn't count. That's rubbish, this is about completion and perfection. So while I'm treasure hunting with Vivi, I do 51 jumps. The guide for this says that you need to do 100, you don't, only 50 (or maybe 50+, thus the 51, don't want to chance it). I also got the Cactuar Card, which will come in handy when I enter a certain tournament later.
-All the treasure hunting went smoothly, although I can't seem to not run into people on the way back to the first screen. Ah well. Got all the items including the two in the house that the girl needs to run out of and the moogle letter.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save001.jpg

Stage Fight
-So, in the fight against King Baku I got 3 Pyros and a Poly, which kind of peeved me. But I kept going, and luckily I did because....
-I impressed 100 Nobles.....THE FIRST TIME THROUGH.....ON MY FIRST ATTEMPT WITH THIS PART.....*Hallelujah*. I can't believe this happened, I always have such a hard time with this. The last time I did this segment it was my like 20th try with this part and I impressed 100 nobles on the third try with the fight. So very very happy.
-Got the moogle letter that no one will see but I will know I got, the phoenix down and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save002.jpg

And here is the moogle letter that will disappear on disc 4:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...F/moshjump.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...jumpletter.jpg

Stage Bomb
-Apparently I was a little too happy about the last segment. I went through finding all of the knights and getting the elixir. I went through the part where I equip Zidane with the Mage Masher. I found that halfway through my last run with this that the Optimize function is much faster than equipping individually. Well luckily I did that this time and realized the there was no Moonstone equipped to my accessory slot, I forgot to get it. But it's ok, I just had to get it on the way out instead of the way in.
-I tried to get the first fight with Steiner so that Cinna got two turns so that maybe he could steal both items from Steiner. After many tries I decided it wasn't worth it. I stole the Silk Shirt and was done with it.
-Doing the FMV pause trick saves like 30 seconds in this segment, the equivalent of a random battle that I might give myself later if I'm really frustrated.
-All the battles went rather smoothly and quickly, yay.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save003.jpg

Crash and Burn-Prison Cage
-And now with random encounters the challenge officially gets difficult. Since a level 1 challenge is being employed, random battles need to happen as little as humanly possible, the time they take is just too much to let them happen in any kind of frequency. Getting through this first screen with no random battles is annoying, but not as annoying as it is later.
-Prison Cage battles are simple, although always starting with an empty ATB is a little annoying. Still, no stealing needs to happen, so just kill and be done with it. In this first fight, Steiner could have not attacked, because he missed his attack and Zidane took Prison Cage out all by his tranced lonesome. Oh well, 5 seconds won't kill me.
-I got to the Ice Cavern before I realized that I missed the Rubber Helm in the screen where you fight Baku, which upset me greatly, so I had to do this area and the next again. Otherwise, treasure hunting went fine, although people kept getting in my way trying to go from screen to screen.
-I was tempted to steal the Iron Sword from Baku, but the timing and Potion needing just isn't worth it. Steiner's Fire Sword does more than enough damage against Plant Brain, which is the only fight he is in until I can buy an Iron Sword, so meh.
-Letter from Ruby.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save004.jpg

Evil Forest and Plant Brain
-There's a reason this is called the Evil Forest, and it's because it won't let you not have a random encounter, it just won't. The first screen is again annoying, but then you have two more screens to get through. In the second and third screen I use the run-stop-run trick that for some reason sometimes seems to let you avoid getting a random encounter...sometimes. It took FOREVER, but I finally made it through with no encounters to the next moogle.
-Letter delivered, got one from Stiltzkin and saved triumphantly.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save005.jpg
-Yet another FMV with a 12 second load time to be paused for. The final screen was being a bitch about not giving me a random encounter, but I finally got through.
-Worrying about the Plant Brain fight is irrelevant to worrying about the fight afterwards. However, on the attempt that led to a 2 Plant Spider fight, I got through the whole fight without Plant Brain getting a move. Yay :D
-The 2 Plant Spiders both took a whack at Zidane before Vivi killed them, but that's more than ok.
-10 second FMV load time saved (you get the point, I'll stop now :tongue: )
-Getting through all of this speech is the first time I noticed how much the square+X mashing moves the dialogue along faster than just X mashing.
-I remembered how annoying the Ice Cavern was last time, so when I leave the Evil Forest I run to the Ice Cavern while the "Mist Continent" is still on the screen and I enter the Ice Cavern and let all of the introductory speech happen, then I exit and save on the world map. For future reference, taking a few steps back so that you all you need to do is press X to enter the next area and then saving is a wise move.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save006.jpg

Ice Cavern Treasure Hunt of Doom
-And thank god I did that.
-So, the goal here is to get all of the treasure and get into only 2 battles, 3 is acceptable but I wanted 2 so that I could possibly save time. I finally got 2 with some interesting screen changing which I devised after noticing how close some of the chests were to the beginning of a screen.
-First screen, got the tent, to the second screen.
-Go to the right to get the chest behind the ice. Go back to the first screen to reset the random encounters and back to the second screen. Up and around to get the chest on the left, up and around and back to the first screen to reset. Back to the second screen and up to the third screen. SOMEHOW I got no battles. Had I had a battle while trying to get the chest on the left I would have just went straight to the third screen.
-Go to the chest on the right up high, then drop the ledge and get the chest down low. Then to the fourth screen. Got a battle on the way to the fourth screen.
-In the fourth screen, go the right and get that chest. Back to the third screen.
-Go knock down the ice wall in the upper left area, get that chest, and back to the fourth screen.
-Go left, knock down the icy wall, all the way down to the final chest, all the way back up and around and to the screen with the fork in the road. I was 2 steps from exiting this screen when I got my second battle. :mad2: But, I wanted only two encounters, and after about an hour and a half of trying I finally got it. It just would have been cool to get only 1.
-Got a letter and finally saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save007.jpg

2 on 1: Black Waltz No. 1
-After the text, the fight is pretty straightforward. Kill the Black Waltz and heal when needed. The part that can mess this fight up is Zidane being a bad thief. You need to steal the Mythril Dagger AND get a few hits in on the Sealion before you trance. Zidane's inability to steal can put quite a damper on all of that. I think on my sixth attempt I finally was able to steal the Mythril Dagger (and the Ether :D ) and still get a hit a from the front and back row in time. Sealion goes from blue to dead with those two hits and a Tidal Flame.
-On the way out, got no encounters on the first go :D
-I saved in the little forest outside of Dali.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save008.jpg


That's where I am now. When I get home I will go back and put times at my saving. I am not sure if I want to go ahead and use the friendly Mu here to get some AP, or if it's not worth it. Or maybe start doing the Ragtimer thing. I don't know, I'll probably just go to Dali. This level 1 thing is actually kind of fun. I will be going home in about 30 minutes, so more fun Final Fantasy IX-I currenlty have no life-action to come.

Right on, man.

It's cool to double post in a thread like this if you're updating. I do it all the time in my challenge journal threads.

Good luck with your challenge. I'd like to do this myself at some point.

good luck in your challenge, heres YouTube - FFIX E2PG - Part 73: Tantarian whoistornaparts battle with tantarion if you need help making the decision, read the description as well:) hope you do well;)

So, I'm not claiming to be perfect at photo editing or anything, but I think the jest of what I want to come across is there. Took a picture of the moogle letter that will disappear for proof. And there's another that I will have to take a picture of later. Ok, enough fun with the camera.

Dali
-The reason I don't like children is because of this area. It's a pretty simple area, just a bunch of dialogue and my first go with shopping. But I can't go anywhere because those two annoying children keep getting in my way. But, I got 99 Wrists for making Cotton Robes later, 1 Iron Sword and 2 Feather Hats. This is one of those areas that is open during disc 4, so getting the treasure above ground isn't necessary. Below ground however is needed, but you don't get into random battles yet so it's cool. Just a lot of dialogue.
-Delivered the letter earlier and got another right before the save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save009.jpg

Black Waltz attack
-FINALLY!!! The first area of this part is very annoying. Not because of trying to get no random encounters, but because of ALL OF THE DIALOGUE. So I have to go through the rest of the underground and through the dialogue and re-equip everyone every single time I got a second random encounter. But, I finally got through, and I don't really care that I mess up a few other things after that point.
-Black Waltz No. 2 battle actually went rather well. It didn't use the mass Fira spell at all, so it went rather quickly.
-Black Waltz No. 3 battle I made a slight error on. I was trying to keep all members alive so that I could get AP for everyone. Well, there is no AP after this battle, so that was all for naught. However, I way too far into this long segment to worry about that.
-After all of the dialogue, I read the letter from Ruby two times by accident, but this segment was all but done so I didn't care. I'm a bit off from what I was last time, but I'm still a few minutes ahead of schedule, so that's more than fine.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save010.jpg

Sweet! Good job! I would so totally do this if my copy didn't freeze everytime I enter a battle... :(

Looking good so far. If I wasn't trying to play a million games right now already, I'd totally jump in with you.

Excellent stuff! Good luck with the challenge, you're certainly a stronger man than I to attempt it.

Lindblum
-Lots of treasure hunting, lots of menu navigating, lots of dialogue. So I start with the hard part, the menu navigating. The first Cotton Robe purchasing can't be done all at once, so it's a tad tedious. Since that's the part I would probably mess up on, I do it first. Luckily, I had 11 Ethers and a Phoenix Pinion, so that's 12,000 gil to work with, along with the rest of the gil I already had. After making my second-to-last round of Cotton Robes and selling them, I buy my first missable shop item.

-1 Javelin. Javelins synthesize into Save the Queens, of which I only need 1. I also need 1 for Freya plus 1. Freya comes with 1, there's 1 in Ipsen's Castle, and this makes 3.

On my last round of Cotton Robes I make The Ogre as well.
-Treasure hunting was ok, especially with no random battles to deal with. I messed up the first few times going to the wrong part of town, I'm a little trigger happy skipping all of this dialogue.
-Delivered a letter and got another.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save011.jpg

Festival of the Hunt
-This is one of my favorite parts of the game. Doing this at level 1 is a bit of a challenge, which makes it more fun. I make equipment give me the highest Spirit possible since I will be equipping The Ogre, so I won't have the Bandit ability to bypass the first step of stealing. I steal Ore from the Trick Sparrows. I found six, but there are 2 that fly above the buildings, and I don't know how to make them attack me. Ah well, 4 Ore plus the one found in Lindblum will help me with a few friendly monsters.
-The Zaghnol fight finally went alright, perfectly actually. A tent worked on the first try, and Zidane stole the Mythril Gloves first and then the Needle Fork without failing to steal at all. I made up about 40 seconds doing that, so I'm pretty much back on schedule.
-Got the Wyerd card, a letter and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save012.jpg

Mist Continent Mayhem
-I'm going to lump a bunch of stuff together that goes on while out in the Mist Continent before Gizamaluke's Grotto.
-First, getting Quina. With a few tries, you can get through here with no random battles easy. Nothing really to do except get him/her and get through the area. I make it about half way to the Chocobo Forest and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save013.jpg
-Next, getting Choco and a few chocographs. I had to try about 12 times to run to the chocobo forest with no random encounter. I save after getting Choco because of that and because you aren't always guaranteed a chocograph in every hunt, and I want to do this as few times as possible.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save014.jpg
-Next, I get the first chocograph, which is always Streamside.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save015.jpg
-Next, I try to get either Small Beach or Healing Shores. After about 3 tries I get Small Beach.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save016.jpg
-Then I get Healing Shores. This one took about 20 tries, at least. Along the way I also dug up three Gysahl Greens, which will do for the remainder of the game.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save017.jpg
-After that's all done, I equip my party for Gizamaluke's Grotto and go learn Limit Glove. It took quite some time to both get a battle with Mandragoras on the first try and not get obliterated by three of them, but I finally got it, and I ran from the battle so didn't lose any gil. Got the stuff in the nearby South Gate and then went to Gizamaluke's Grotto via Choco. I went through the initial dialogue and got the first bell, then went back outside and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save018.jpg

Wow, I'm already getting close to the end of the first disc. :D However, the level 1 part of this challenge officially starts here with the upcoming Black Mage battle.

Gizamaluke's Grotto
-So, I want to go through this area, doing this horrid Type A x2 battle as such: Petrify both using Quina's Needle Fork, which means no exp. This isn't that difficult to do, except I'm on a time constraint, which makes it dramatically more difficult. I have been trying this for like five hours. I got a few kind of ok ones, but none I was really happy with. Then my persistence paid off, this battle couldn't have really gone more perfectly (REALLY wish I could figure out this tv to computer thing!)
1. Zidane starts with near full ATB, tent to Type A 1, it hits.
2. Vivi, tent to Type A 2, it hits. Type A's both try to cast.
3. Freya, antidote to Type A 1.
4. Zidane, antidote to Type A 2.
5. Vivi, potion to Type A 1.
6. Quina attacks Type A 1, petrified. Type A 2 tries to cast.
7. Freya, potion to Type A 2.
8. Quina attacks Type A 2, petrified.
I cannot believe I finally got this. There are of course ways this could have gone a bit faster, but that would be nit-picking. After this unbelievably lucky battle I run back outside and save, well worth that extra 20ish seconds.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save019.jpg
After that, it wouldn't be a waste if I tried to get the Gizamaluke's Bell from the soldier behind the left bell door and just get one random encounter, I need one to knock out Quina anyway, might as well be efficient since that Type A battle made my day. So, got the second bell from the soldier in the first room, ran past the black mage to skip that battle, got the bell from the soldier on the balcony, and proceeded onward. I am quite comfortably ahead of schedule. I set up my Kupo Nuts rewards for later, read a letter and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save020.jpg

well done. this has got to be one of the hardest challenges i've heard of. Good Luck on finishing it!

Gizamaluke's place sucks on a level 1 game even without a time constraint. Good job sticking with it.

Almost done with disc 1! Looks like you're doing really well so far.

Beware the Lockness Monster
-Now to fight Gizamaluke. But first, Quina must be prepared for Limit Glove. So use a Phoenix Down, reset if you don't get 1 HP. A tad annoying, but fast, so it's not a big deal. On the time that I kept the battle, Zidane stole the Ice Staff on his one steal. Could have used that good stealing during the Festival of the Hunt, but I won't complain.
-After the fight, scenes with Steiner and Dagger. Got the Multina Racket and a letter, and I end up saving here. I know there is just dialogue after this and then I could save on the world map, but I kept messing up or the world map would give me a random battle after like 5 steps, and I wasn't having that. And then I got the Ice Staff on my last Gizamaluke battle, so I decided to save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save021.jpg

Jogging Is Good Exercise
-So now I just run up to the train, then through the dialogue. When I get to the world map, I run over to the mountains by Cleyra's Trunk and I get a little ways down the mountain range before I save in fear of a random battle. This took a few tries, but since I didn't have to redo Gizamaluke anymore, it was worth it.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save022.jpg

More Mist Mayhem
-More stuff to do around the Mist Continent before going to Burmecia. I'll lump them all together here.
-First, learning Night. It's on the way to getting Choco and his Reef upgrade, and will make some forced battles dramatically easier. But first, this took FOREVER. Apparently (or at least for me), Nymphs aren't as common as the other two monsters in this area. And even then, they can come as a single or a double, and I need a double. So I have to keep reseting everytime I don't get a double. And then there's the problem of the actual battle. I was just getting really unlucky repeatedly. They would both start off with Fira before I could get a turn, which means two party members KOed. Or they would start with Night, and even though Quina has Insomniac equipped, I don't have any remedies...(*cough*Isoldthem*cough*), and I could never get Quina to attack one of the party members lightly. So attacking twice with Freya and either once with Zidane or a Fire from Vivi was just taking too long, I wasn't getting lucky with their attacks. Then I remember that I had stolen the Ice Staff, I had Blizzara at my disposal. So, I tested this out, and Vivi can almost kill them or he can kill them, depending on the random factor of his attack, so that would work much faster, with the possibility of not working at all. Better odds that what I had. So, I had one battle where I surprise attacked, it was perfect. Blizzara, Eat, Flee...I was so happy. Then I went to take a few steps closer to the chocobo tracks to reduce the random battle chances. 3 FREAKIN STEPS AND I GET ANOTHER RANDOM BATTLE!!! I was PISSED. :mad2: But after several more tries I get a good one. Vivi casts Blizzara almost at the beginning, it doesn't KO the Nymph. Nymph casts Night, but it misses Zidane, and Quina is protected. So eat and run. I figured that crap ealier wouldn't happen again, and I was right.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save023.jpg
-Next, upgrading Choco. I was still a bit away from the chocobo tracks and I got in a random battle a few times, but nothing a few resets can't fix. With some practice you can hit these chocographs on the first try, which saves a little time. Upgraded and ran through Gizamaluke's Grotto still dodging the Black Mage. I only had to redo it because of a random battle once, which was nice. Ran a little towards the chocobo tracks and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save024.jpg
-Next, it takes me a few tries, but I get to the chocobo tracks. Choco and I go find Small Beach and Streamside. Again, practice makes perfect. Then I save outside of Gizamaluke's Grotto.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save025.jpg
Update
-And finally, I get the final Gizamaluke Bell. Since this is a challenge of completion, I will be getting all of them. So, I set Vivi up with his new Oak Staff and every item to boost Spirit. I gave Zidane and Freya the two Germinas Boots I just got so he can learn Flee faster and get rid of the needing the Dagger. Also Alert will stop the back attacks, those are instant death for the level 1 party. No one has the Moonstone since Dagger will be needing it.
-The battle went rather smoothly. Quina got hit by a spell before s/he could perform Night, but wasn't even put into critical HP. Both Stops worked the first time. No random encounters through the Grotto. Looted North Gate, did the opening dialogue for Burmecia, went ahead and got the Cancer coin, and saved outside of Burmecia. I will be doing the next section for quite a few tries.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save026.jpg
My time here was 2:48:30. I did this section over because I was getting really tired of doing the opening dialogue in Burmecia over and over. I timed it, and the added 32 seconds is about how long the opening dialogue takes, so no time wasted.

Burmecia
-Burmecia is currently being a first-rate bitch, as it was the last time I did this challenge. I don't quite remember how I got through with just 1 battle last time, but I can't seem to do it now. And there's the added bonus of having to do the Type A battle the level 1 way, and it isn't working out that great. Of the many times I've tried this so far, ONCE Quina has started the battle. All the rest of the time Quina is usually going last, plenty of time for the Type A's to kill two of my party members, usually Quina being one of them. So I've tried this at least 50 times, I'd say 15 were restarts because of a battle in the first screen, 20 of them were restarts because of a bad Type A battle, and 15 were restarts because of too many random battles. I currently have a save with 2 random battles, but I don't like it. The Type A battle was really long, and in both random battle all enemies on the screen took a turn before Zidane used Flee, and I lost a minute and a half.

This part may drive me a little insane.

Burmecia was pretty bad, but nothing topped Cleyra in sheer grating annoyance and difficulty. Will you still be level 1 at that point in this challenge?

Yes. Part of this challenge now is max stats, which means starting at level 1 with the best gear, which can't happen until much later in the game. It will play out almost exactly like a level 1 Ozma challenge, I just won't have time to max any of the uber-strong skills, and I will be fighting Tanatarian. One character can gain the exp from Tanatarian and one can gain the exp from each of the monsters in Pandemonium. The one who kills Tanatarian will lose 1 or 2 points from one of their stat's max potential in exchange for the fourth pair of Running Shoes. There are only four in the game, and I say if you're not going to get all of the missable items of finite numbers then why bother with a perfect file, so the exchange is worth it. But if set up correctly, one character can gain the exp from each of the Pandemonium monsters and not lose any of their stat potential.

So the only fight so far I have received exp from is from the 2 Plant Spider fight. I used the Needle Fork against the first set of Type A's, and I used Stop against the second set in Gizamaluke's Grotto, and I will use Stop on the set in Burmecia. I will use Stop on the future Black Mages, make the Alexandrian Soldiers flee from battle, and have Beatrix absorb the exp from the Bandersnatches. I will have one character Zombied in the Iifa Tree. That's all I can remember of staying at level 1, I'm sure there's more, I just don't have it infront of me.

I was becoming rather angry last night trying to do Burmecia so I had to stop. I will try again this evening.

dont give up!!!

I got this, don't worry. I spent 5+ hours trying to do the first Type A battle, I can handle this area. I had realized that I've done things in this challenge rather optimally so far, I might give myself an extra random battle in this area, I am rather a bit ahead.

Wow. Just wow. Thats all I can say. Wow. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeeDRankLou

I got this, don't worry. I spent 5+ hours trying to do the first Type A battle, I can handle this area. I had realized that I've done things in this challenge rather optimally so far, I might give myself an extra random battle in this area, I am rather a bit ahead.

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hmm you probably already have by now but i wouldnt incase a much more time consuming frustrating part comes up;)

Burmecia
Update
-I spent days on this section. Yes, DAYS! I just couldn't get it to work. I had a save that I wasn't happy with, and tried so many times to get the timing I wanted but it just wouldn't happen. It's kind of funny that a not-so-great Type A battle and one semi-long random battle gives a slower time that an almost perfect Type A battle and two very short random battles. In the end, I could only scratch 6 seconds off of my other time. For some reason the Type A's in Burmecia are much more status resistant that in Gizamaluke's Grotto, and the random battles in Burmecia can be relentless if you are going for one, or even two. Got the Germanis Boots and the Mythril Spear, the only two missable items in this area. Got the Lightining Staff to trigger Stiltzkin and bought his deal. Delivered a letter which earned me a Kupo Nut, got another and saved. I am disappointed with this section, but for my own sanity I have to move on.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save027.jpg
My time here was 2:57:16. All that trouble and I could only get 6 seconds off, ugh!!!

40 seconds isn't bad at all. You'll be fine, good work.

Keep up the good work. You'll be done in no time.

I updated my previous two sections if you care to go back and read them. I made a few slight changes.

Can't Keep a Good One-Eyed Alexandian Soldier Down
-This is a short segment. Just have to go through the dialogue and "beat" Beatrix. When I would get Quina to revive with 1 HP, I take off everyone's accessory. The Germanis Boots sell for 2000 gil, and I got them for free. Beatrix has nothing good to steal that I can steal, so I kept redoing this battle until I got one with Quina taking the first turn. Luckily this only took a few tries.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save028.jpg

And thus ends Disc 1. I am actually ahead of both the gamefaqs.com guide's and 1whoistornapart's times. I am ahead of the later by 1:22 and the former by 7:19. I am surprised by the later, I have done several things more than he did. I guess that's not too shabby.

Old "Friends"
-Ah, some nice random battle-free areas. Some dialogue, blah blah blah. I have to buy of some missable items here.

-3 Silver Gloves. Silver Gloves synthesize into Save the Queens, of which I only need 1. I also need 2 for the knights plus 1. So I get 3 here plus 1 in Lindblum that I'll pick up in disc 4 (it isn't missable), that makes 4.
-2 Iron Helms. I need 2 for the knights plus 1. I found an Iron Helm in Dali. This makes 3.

I also bought 99 Steepled Hats for some more money making later. Delivered a moogle letter and got another.
-Short of attacking yourself Dagger can't die against Black Waltz #3 here, so no need for healing. I put the Moonstone on Dagger so that she can learn Shell twice as fast.
-The battle actually went alright. On the one that I kept, Steiner got lucky. He got smacked once, but then he got hit by Thunder, which thanks to the Coral Ring put him back at full health. He then got a critical hit and the battle ended with him still alive, so he got some AP. Marcus wasn't so lucky, he didn't even have a chance to steal anything.
-I had to restart a few times due to getting a random battle on the way to Dali, but only a few times.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save029.jpg

The Scenic Route to Treno
-Unequipping Marcus gives me 1 Wrist, so I only have to buy 98. Not that they are that expensive or anything. I got the missable Elixir in the garden area, and exited out the back. I saved a few seconds doing that, and ran half-way back to South Gate.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save030.jpg
-And then went back the way I came, getting the gil along the way, and saved half-way to Treno.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save031.jpg

Treno
-So I make my way to Treno. Did the first ATE and only had 500 gil stolen from me. Got the Power Belt and 44 of my 99 Cotton Robes made (all I had the money for). Then I found the moogle, got a letter from Stiltzkin and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save032.jpg
-Then I went to the Knight's House and did a little shopping. Sold my Cotton Robes and bought 2 Bone Wrists, 1 Mythril Gloves, 1 Magus Hat and 2 Barbuts. I also need to take care of some missable items.

-5 Mythril Swords. Mythril Swords synthesize into Grand Armours. I need 2 for the knights plus 1. I also need 1 Mythril Sword for Steiner plus 1. I could try to steal a Grand Armour from Nova Dragon, but that's very risky with the level 1 party, so I might as well prepare for not being able to.
-5 Air Rackets. Air Rackets synthesize into Priest Rackets. I need 2 of each for the summoners plus 1 of each. I find an Air Racket in Ipsen's Castle, plus these makes 6.
-14 Chain Mails. This one is tricky. Chain Mails synthesize into Power Belts. Power Belts then synthesize into Grand Helms. I need 2 Grand Helms for the knights plus 1. So that means I need 3 Power Belts, plus 8 Power Belts for everyone plus 1. I then need 2 Chain Mails for the knights plus 1, for a total of 15 Chain Mails. I got a Power Belt from the four-armed man in Treno, so I only need 14 Chain Mails.
-2 Bandanas. I'm going to end up needing 10, but I'll hold off buying all of them until later.

-Then I challenge the Griffin. This took a few tries, but I finally got the Tent to hit on the first round, and then the battle was pretty much over. Got a Tonberry Card for it :happybday Then I saved again.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save033.jpg

Auctioning and Stealing
-Now Steiner reunites with Dagger. I personally don't like having Dagger being the character walking around, she just moves weirdly. Luckily it's not for very long.
-I get the gil by the auction house and then go and auction the Reflect Ring. With several tries I got the first three items to be bid on only once after I bid, which saved time.
-I did a bit of running against the wall on my way to steal the Supersoft, but I didn't waste that much time.
-Delivered a letter and saved at Gargan Roo. And the random battles are back. It was nice while it lasted.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save034.jpg

On the Way Back Home
-Since this party is without Zidane, there is no Flee ability, so no random battles can happen. Luckily there are only three screens to do so in. It still took a few tries.
-And it took a few more tries because of the Ralvurahva battle. I gave Dagger the Silk Shirt to boost her spirit (which I should have done against Black Waltz #3), and gave Steiner the Silver Gloves to weaken a possible blizzara. I also gave Marcus a Mythril Sword to make his attack stronger so that the battle could go faster. PLEASE, when I get back to Alexandria, if I don't mention taking the Mythril Sword off of Marcus before going to fight Zorn and Thorn, SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME.
-I finally got one where Dagger got the first turn and Blind worked. Still, Ralvurahva did its String attack to Steiner right after, so Dagger's next turn was healing Steiner (in hindsight a wasted turn, but not really). Then I actually wasted a turn with Dagger by using a Remedy on Steiner to cure the Slow. For future reference, Remedy does not cure Slow (somehow I never knew that), and it wouldn't have made a difference in the battle had it worked. But Ralvurahva didn't get another hit so the battle went fast enough.
-Went through some more dialogue and saved half-way to Cleyra's Trunk. And now I can get ready for some more level 1 battles that hopefully go better than they did in Burmecia.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save035.jpg

Cleyra. ;[

Good luck.

The Windy City
-Cleyra is full of stuff to find and things to do, all of which need to get done while I'm here, or else Odin will destroy them.
-So, starting from the bottom, I believe this is the first FMV of this disc, and there was no lag after it. I wonder if that was just a disc 1 thing or if it's just this FMV. Throughout Cleyra, I will get into 1 random battle, and that's against a pair of Carrion Worms. Otherwise, I should get into none as there are plenty of forced battles in this area to take up my time.
-It was a bit of a pain to get no random battles, but I got through. I must get the first 3 chests on the way up or they will be buried in sand. After looting all the chests along the way, I delivered a letter and saved...finally.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save036.jpg
-And now it's time to learn Auto-Life. This is the same song and dance as learning Limit Glove and Night, except this time I'm not on the world map, so I have to get to another moogle without anymore random battles. On the time that the worms didn't cut my party in half in the opening seconds, I got lucky and didn't get any more random battles on my first try.
-I was tempted to just save after this, but since I got Auto-Life within my like 10th try, I thought I would try doing a few other things. So I did a quick item hunt, some shopping (1 Partisan,1 Mythril Armlet, 1 Mage's Hat, 2 Mythril Helms) and watched some ATEs. I don't usually do the latter, but to get 2 chest in Cleyra's Trunk you have to have Quina go to the antlion sinkhole, and to do that you must watch Quina's two ATEs. So I did, got the Silk Robe and Magician Shoes, and went back to Monev. Luckily, I didn't get any random battles. The bottom half of Cleyra's Trunk seems to be worse about random battles than the top half, which works for me.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save037.jpg
-And finally, I get the three items I skipped going up to Cleyra the first time. In the screen with the triple fork, the two items down the middle and the item in the screen past that are all that I needed to get. Then, I went on a item hunt on the left side of Cleyra's Trunk, go to the inn, get a letter and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save038.jpg

wow your doing so well:) keep it up:choc2:

Antlion and River Dance
-I am totally regretting selling all of my Germanis Boots. I could learn Flee for Zidane by equipping both the Dagger and Germanis Boots. If it weren't for the Gargan Roo area I would actually go back and fix it. But I've had several rather good boss fights and made it through several areas with no random battles, no turning back now. He'll learn it soon enough I suppose.
-So I got a really good Antlion battle on my third try. Sandstorm put Quina at 1 HP, so Zidane stole and Quina won the battle. A round and a half faster than Auto-Life. :D
-Went through some scenes, looted the cathedral, got the Emerald, got Stiltzkin's deal, got another letter and saved at the inn.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save039.jpg
-And now for a slew of level 1 battles. I've tried a few times with some interesting luck, but none that I want to keep. I'm thinking about leaving the Dagger on Zidane in certain places so that he can get more AP for Flee, but that might not end up working.

You're progressing pretty quickly. I'm impressed.

Decoys
-And now for seven level 1 battles. The first ones aren't so bad, 3 pairs of Alexandrian Soldiers and a Type B. A random battle only made me restart a few times. And some bad luck made me restart a few times more.
-On the one that I saved the soldiers only got one attack out of all six of them.
-I gave Zidane the Dagger for another point toward Flee against the Type B, which went down with only one Stop.
-Got a letter and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save040.jpg

The Cleyra Helpless Bystander Round-Up
-OMG THE CRITICAL HITS!!!!
-That was really the only real problem with this area. Stop wouldn't work fast enough sometimes, Vivi's Fira was too powerful sometimes, Freya was too weak sometimes, the enemies got the jump on me sometimes. But the biggest problem with this area was (if you didn't get it from the above) the critical hits. On both sides. Zidane, Freya and the Alexandrian Soldiers were just going crazy. I had a rather good one, but I forgot to KO Quina, which sucked. And I almost had another good one and Vivi killed one of the Alexandrian Soldiers.
-The one that I kept actually put me ahead of schedule by another minute. The pair of Type B's went down with one Stop each, and the next Type B went down with two Stops. Persistence usually pays off.
-Got the final 7 of the forty-ish items to get in this area and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save041.jpg

"Then allow me to shatter your delusions of grandeur."
-I get Quina to 1 HP, strip him/her of equipment and give Zidane the Mythril Dagger so that he can equip Bandit.
-Thanks to 1whoistornapart I now know that a turn can quickly be taken after a Limit Glove in this fight. So Limit Glove and then Zidane steals the Ice Brand (the semi-rare steal :D ).
-Went through the dialogue, delivered a letter and got another, then saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save042.jpg

Here Comes the Cavalry
-Well, it took me a while, but I finally figured out how to get around the guards. I came very close to just accepting a battle and moving on. I had to open the disc tray to slow down the frame rate to give me more time to react, but it didn't waste much time. However, when I went to give Marcus a Broadsword (yes, I did it) the screen took like 8 or 9 seconds to load, which is probably because of opening the disc tray. It beats having to manually run from a battle.
-One of the guards in the main hall (the one that leads to the library) got me a few times, reacting almost instantly to my presence, which is bullcrap.
-The other problem with this part is the menu navigating. Usually if I'm going to be doing shopping or equipment changing I can practice playing with the Optimize function to see what happens and then to practice doing the individual stuff, seeing where everything is in the list, and I eventually memorize it and input it really fast. It saves a lot of time, especially with four characters or a lot of items to buy. However, the equipment changing here happens after a rather difficult feat to perform that took me many many tries, so I don't really have much time to practice. So I had to go over what to do in my head, which is by far not the same thing. It went decently enough though, I was just really nervous at that point.
-I stole the Stardust Rod from Zorn on the first try and beat down Thorn rather easily and quickly.
-Did one last equipment change for the Beatrix battle, read a letter that Mosh got and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save044.jpg
You might notice on this picture that I skipped a save space. I instinctively pressed down and X when I should have saved over the old save that I was trying to improve upon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeeDRankLou

-One of the guard in the main hall (the one that leads to the library) got me a few times, reacting almost instantly to my presence, which is bullcrap.

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heh for once a soldier does his job right:p

:D keep it going:D

Ok, so I've been trying this for a while now. Very difficult to do in the first place let alone do fast. It's like Gizamaluke's Grotto 6 times in a row without a save. I got a save where I lost 5 minutes, unacceptable. I got one where I had unbelievable luck with Zidane's party, but then Beatrix got slapped around in the next battle, which figures. Then after many more tries and determination I got a save where a lost a little more than a minute, which I could live with. But I tried a few more times just to see what I could do. You know that excited high-pitched squeeling noise that's barely even noise when it comes out of your mouth? I was making that noise and fanning myself when I got this time, unbelievable....

Beatrix, Black Mages and Bandersnatches, Oh My!
Alright, this section is one of the most luck based sections so far, and probably of the whole game. You must rely on Stop 6 consecutive times, and then rely on the ATB being in your favor another 2 times. I'll break this down battle by battle.

Beatrix vs Zidane, et al
-This is the easy battle. Four on one, she can only target one character at a time. Unless she gets a full ATB and all your characters start with empty ones (which happened a few times) she will never have more than one character KOed at a time. Steiner is the important one that should stay alive, he does at least 3 times as much damage as anyone else can (unless Zidane gets a critical hit). No need to steal, so just "beat" Beatrix for the last time and be done.

Bandersnatch vs Beatrix and Freya
-For safety, Freya should attack, get knocked out and then Beatrix perform Climhazzard. Beatrix can take out a Bandersnatch in one hit at level 1, but not always. This time however, the Bandersnatch Rushed Freya and she got knocked out (a rare happening from the back row). So I had to hope Climhazzard would work by itself, and it did. Beatrix goes up to level 8.

-Now, I used a slightly different strategy than the guide said equipment-wise. I give Zidane the Dagger to put points toward Flee. I give Vivi the Bandana and Leather Wrist for the added Spirit, which seems to be more your friend than higher Magic, at least at level 1. Vivi wasn't evading enough to worry about evade. I also gave him the Silk Robe, which has Ability Up on it. I give Dagger the Stardust Rod, also with Ability Up, the Mage's Hat and the Mythril Vest. She will be learning Auto-Potion first instead of Vivi (it doesn't really matter, both will be knocked in one hit from this point on anyway). Ability Up is about to be a really big help.

Type C x3 vs Zidane, et al
*Prays to the heavens for some luck*
-Alright, in this one the non-Vivi's need to immobilize the Black Mages and then wait for Vivi to do his thing 3 times. Tents are the way to go here, unless a spell gets reflected back to one of them the poison will run out before it kills them. So I started with 2 tents and a Stop. One tent and Stop worked, that's one down and one helpless. I think Steiner got KOed here, and another tent didn't work, but the Stop that followed did work, that's two down and one helpless. Steiner came back and 3 Stops later the Black Mages are out, impressive work by Vivi. Vivi learns Blizzard.

-Zidane gets The Ogre.

Bandersnatch x2 vs. Zidane, et al
-The goal here is to Soul Blade each with Zidane and Stop each with Vivi. There are enough characters on screen to keep everyone alive, and Thundara will only hurt Steiner and Dagger. So one Soul Blade and one Stop, Stop didn't work. So vice versa, and the Stop did work. 2 Stops later the battle is over. Not as impressive as the Black Mage battle, but still impressive on Vivi's part.

-Zidane gets the Dagger again. Vivi and Steiner swap the Coral Ring and Power Belt.

Bandersnatch vs Zidane, Vivi and Dagger
-One on three, easy stuff. A tent worked, and then Stop worked. And thanks to Ability Up, Vivi learns Stop and Insomniac.

Bandersnatch x2 vs. Beatrix
-And everything can come crubling down with this battle, as it did oh so many times while trying to do this segment. This battle relies completely and entirely on Beatrix's ATB filling up first. Her Climhazzard at level 8 will kill both of them, she just has to get a chance to use it. She can survive one Rush, and about 3/5 the time Thundara won't kill her. But if she gets Tongued it's usually followed by a Thundara and it's all over. Her evade sometimes works with Rush, but don't put money on it. This time however, she started with almost full ATB and the battle was over. Beatrix goes up to level 11.

Bandersnatch x2 vs. Beatrix and Steiner
-Now this one is a little better. Beatrix can survive a lot more abuse, and Steiner is immune to 2/3 of the enemy's attacks. So, Steiner uses an Elixir on Beatrix, then Beatrix gets Tongued. So I have to wait a bit. Steiner gets harmlessly hit by Thundara, and Beatrix gets Rushed and wakes back up. Steiner knockes himself out and Beatrix wins. Beatrix goes up to level 13.

-After this random battles start to happen. Luckily there isn't much of a way to run and I didn't get one. Got a letter to deliver and I saved. I cannot believe this time. I actually got ahead by another minute. For future reference, more Spirit>more Magic.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save045.jpg

I am so very very happy with this.

Escape
-While Bandit would be nice in this battle, Zidane only has 6 more points until learning Flee, so he keeps the Dagger. Vivi gets the Ice Staff, and he and Dagger trade the Mage's Hat and the Bandana.
-Ralvuimago is very easy. It curls up with a physical attack, and I think it resets its ATB or something. So Zidane steals, Vivi uses Blizzara and Garnet attacks. Then Vivi uses Focus.
-Interesting note, Ralvuimago will curl up even if the physical attack misses.
-Zidane steals two of the items before the battle ends. Zidane learns Flee, Vivi learns Loudmouth, and Garnet learns Reflect, Float, Auto-Potion, Protect and Scan. After some scenes and entering Pinnacle Rocks, I get 2 of the story pieces, deliver a letter and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save046.jpg

Pinnacle Rocks
-This is a pretty simple area. The random battle rate isn't that high if you don't doddle around.
-3 chests to get, which are all very close to the remaining 3 story pieces.
-After getting the Peridot, instead of leaving, there is a letter from Stiltzkin to read. I take the lower path, the upper path is just asking for a random battle. After a few tries I got through without a random battle.
-When I get to Lindblum, I deliver a letter, get a letter from Ruby, get another letter to deliver and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save047.jpg

G-Force 199 Aftermath
-Pretty much the same as the first trip to Lindblum, without the shopping. I get all the treasure, go through all the dialogue, get Lowell to go to Alexandria, deliver a letter and save half way to Qu's Marsh.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save048.jpg

Lani's Elixir Gauntlet
-So I make my way to Qu's Marsh, get Quina back and find the excavation site. After all of the dialogue, I give Zidane the Mythril Dagger, unequip Auto-Reflect and equip Distract, Bandit and Insomniac.
-Running from Armodullahan is simple. First screen up, second screen down, third screen up.
-Lani on the otherhand can be a problem. Her main problem is that she's fast, she has a speed stat of 50 (max speed). So at least two character's ATB's need to be on the full-ish side at the start of the battle. Otherwise she'll KO Dagger and perform mass-Water, ending the battle.
-Lani will usually just attack Dagger (although sometimes she does use mass-Water despite Dagger still being alive, she never opens with that though). So I use Vivi to revive her and have Zidane steal, in an attempt to steal the Gladius. All the while, Quina uses Auto-Life, self-KO/revive and Limit Glove.
-Zidane ends up stealing an Ether and the Gladius right before getting KOed because Vivi was too slow with the Phoenix Down. But Quina saved the day.
-After this, I run all the way back to the first screen of Fossil Roo and get the Elixir and run all the way back. The goal is to only get 6 random battles. This is very difficult. I once got four random battles in one screen trying to get the elixir. However, luck is favorable eventually and I got 6 random encounter.
-Then I make my way through Fossil Roo. A few steps into the screen with Mogki I get another random battle. I decided to keep going though. I went west and got the Fairy Earrings and came back.
-I bought Stiltzkin's deal, read Mogki's letter from Kuppo and saved.
-In my seven random battle, Zidane quickly got the first turn and used Flee six of those seven times. I guess sometimes that's more important than the number of encounters (to a degree) because despite getting one more random battle than I wanted I actually got ahead by another 40 seconds.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save049.jpg

And I'm glad I took the time to steal the Gladius, because look how much cooler it is than the Rune Tooth, both which have the Lucky Seven ability
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/Gladius.jpg

Fossil Roo
-Fun with Gargants, here at last. Now that the hard part of this is over, time for some treasure hunting.
-I go north, flip some switches and get an Ether, head back to Mogki and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save050.jpg
-Then I go west, flip some more switches, get a Lamia's Tiara and a Survival Vest.
-I find Kuppo behind some rocks, get a letter to deliver for him and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save051.jpg
-And now for some digging with a pick axe. There seems to be a random number of Ores and High Potions to get, so there's no way to say that any or all of those are missable because there's no way to know how many there are. But there's only one Madain's Ring, I would say that's a missable item. I don't know why this isn't considered a missable item by others who do this challenge. The entrace to Fossil Roo collapses in disc 3 (or else I would take that way to get the Elixir) and there is no food to call a gargant at the exit, so this is the only time to play this mini-game. Well, I'm getting it.
-So after doing this many times, I found this one spot on the upper part all the way on the left that gave me an item 99% of the time, and gave me the Madain's Ring several times, but I had been digging for like 5 minutes. But it's this very precise spot, in the middle of 3 black holes that kind of make a face, and it's sometimes hard to see if you are hitting it or not. So after many tries I just started going straight to that spot and just tried there, reset if I didn't get it.
-I had a save where I got it in about 2 minutes. After trying several attempts to do it faster, I get that down to 1 minute, which I'm happy with. Before I save again I sell my remedies, phoenix pinions and most of my ethers.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save052.jpg
-And now, with all my spoils in hand, it's time to leave. Flip the last switch and ride the gargant to the exit. Did not suffer through any more random battles while in this section.
-While the name plate is on the screen, I traverse the Outer Continent all the way to the patch of grass right outside of the Qu's Marsh area. This took a few retries because of random battles.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save053.jpg

"If ye dinnae say Rally-Ho, then ye cannae enter Conde Petie, hametoon o' the dwarves!"
-I go doon tae yon big birdie marks, alls while stayin' away from those pesky moonsters. I pull out some of me birdie food, and like mejick he comes runnin' right fast. He cairrys me tae the dwarf hametoon. He is mighty fast, sae he can run past those moonsters.
-I must suffer some speekin', but only a wee bit. After, there's two piles a' mooney, a fire bird's wing and a sparklin' clear stone tae be found.
-One a' those little furry lads has a letter for his friend, but the wee lad cannae get it sent. Someone has tae help the poor lad.
-I talk tae me wee pyntie-het friend. He sees one a' his kin and goos runnin', so I follow him.
-Me birdie cairrys us over tae yon forest, again runnin past the moonsters. I play me flute and a furry lad comes tae help me on me quest.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save054.jpg

Black Mage Village
-First I must get to the village. That involves a small maze. What is frustrating about this area is that you don't really exit, so the encounter rate never changes. In short, I pretty much have to get a random battle. But I just get one, which was a chore.
-First a bit of treasure hunting. This area is open in disc 4, so no need to get everything. The Ether however is missable, so I get that. I also get a letter to deliver.
-I synthesize the remainder of the Cotton Robes that I couldn't sythenize earlier. Then there are quite a few scenes, and then I regain control.
-After this, I go back to the moogle and read his letter from Stiltzkin. Had I not picked up the delivery earlier, Artemicion would have picked it up while delivering this letter and I would be a letter short on my total.
-And now for some shopping. Got to take care of some missable items. 99 Steepled Hats, 3 Ritual Hats, 1 Magic Armlet, 1 Adaman Vest (stole another earlier) and 1 Magician Cloak for strategic use.

-7 Bandanas. Bandanas sythesize into Silk Robes, of which I need 4 for the mages plus 1. I also need 6 Bandanas for the non-knights plus 1. That's a total of 12 Bandanas I need. But I found 1 Silk Robe in Cleyra's Trunk, and I get another one for catching frogs, so that's only 3 Silk Robes I need to make, which means I only need 10 Bandanas. So 7 here, 2 from earlier and 1 that I found makes 10.
-1 Leather Plate. I need 2 for the thieves plus 1. I found 1 earlier, and I unequipped one from Marcus. This makes 3.
-2 Chain Plates. I need 2 for the thieves plus 1. I found 1 earlier, this makes 3.
-8 Mythril Vests. Mythril Vests synthesize into Brave Suits. I need 2 of those for the thieves plus 1. I also need 6 Mythril Vests for the non-knights plus 1. That's a total of 10. I already found 2 Mythril Vests earlier, this makes 10.

-I could get the Black Belt now (also missable), but there's a much faster way to do it in disc 3. I have no real use for it now anyway.
-Then I ride Choco back to Conde Petie.

"Rally-ho! Happy fit! Off tae the Sanctuary then, are ye?"
-And now, if Ah wantae pass this village, two of us must be joined. I know it sounds like a pain, but it goes by quick enough.
-But only time for one ceremony, sae me gourmand and pyntie het friends dinnae get joined. I go tae the furry lad by the stairs, and he jots soomthin' down.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save055.jpg
-But there be one more job before we leave. A we lad Bryan Rootrunner rather likes those oglops. I dinnae kin the taste, but methinks if Ah find one Ah will bring it back for him.
-As we are sent off to "sanctuary", a we lass with a horn and a furry lad went runnin' by, thievin' some bread. We find her on the path, stuck on a branch. Me gourmand friend is curious about the taste of the furry lad, so s/he chases after the furry lad. Little did he know that he shook the ground and knocked down the we lass. She joins us, and we go after them. But me sees an oglop on the way. It took a few tries tae catch one, they be fast critters. But I get one and I bring it back to Bryan. He gave me a card with an oglop on it in return.
-I dae all of this without seein' a moonster, so I go to the furry lad by the stairs and he jots soomthin' down again.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save056.jpg

Mountain Path
-Now for some treasure hunting and boss battle preparations. There are four items to pick up before the moogle, and I also want to get into a battle. I want a battle so that I can use my weak little mages to put Zidane's HP so that it ends in 7.
-After way too many tries, I find that both Eiko and Vivi can hit Zidane for 19 HP. If they both do that, he'll have an HP of 67. It was difficult to do, with many many resets, but I got it. Everyone remained alive after the battle too. :D I tread the rest of the Mountain Path while avoiding anymore battles, buy Stiltzkin's deal, deliver a letter and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save057.jpg
-And now to fight Hilgigars. First, I keep going until after the FMV in case I get into a random battle and have to reset, don't want to do all this re-equipping for nothing. Then, I set up everyone as such (pretty much following the guide, with some extras) which should maximize their AP intake:

Zidane: Gladius, Bandana, Mythril Armlet, Adaman Vest, Reflect Ring
Dagger: Stardust Rod, Bandana, Magic Armlet, Survival Vest, Magician Shoes
Vivi: Oak Staff, Mage's Hat, Glass Armlet, Silk Robe, Power Belt
Eiko: Golem's Flute, Lamia's Tiara, Glass Armlet, Magician Cloak, Magician Shoes

Zidane gets Distract, and Dagger and Vivi both already had Ability Up. Zidane and Eiko will get 9 AP, Dagger and Vivi will get 18. Dagger will get twice that for Clear Headed. Vivi will get twice that for Fira and Loudmouth. And Eiko will get twice that for MP +10% and Clear Headed.
-The strategy is to use Lucky Seven, getting 7777 damage, and then use Bio to finish the fight very quickly (or vice versa).
-So....Lucky Seven.....not so lucky. I tried this at least 50 times, not including the times that either Hilgigars started battle with Earthquake or with attacking Zidane and Distract not working. In all of those 50 times, not a single Lucky Seven did 7777 damage. You have no idea how frustrating that is, I thought all four possible damages had the same percentage chance of happening. I understand it's only a 25% chance, but 50 times in a row!!!!
-Then, I finally got 7777, and it was good, and the battle was fast. I even got an Elixir. But then there's a bit more treasure hunting to do. I got a random battle while trying to get the Green Stone. So I had to restart, thinking I was going to have to try 50 more times. But on my very next try, I got 7777 damage again. So very happy. But got a random battle just after getting the Green Stone. So I had to restart again. Then, on my next try, I got 7777 damage AGAIN! I was thinking that this had to be the one. I get all the way out of the Mountain Path, I take some steps toward Madain Sari, and milliseconds before I press [] I get a random battle...AGAIN!!!. I had to stop for a while, it was ridiculous, I was very close to hurling my PS2 out the window.
-So after after that bit of frustration, Lucky Seven starts working every once in a while, I'd say like 1 in every 6 or 8. That's fine, 1 in every 50ish is not fine. So in the battle that I ended up saving, I had Dagger cast mass-Float in case Hilgigars opened with Earthquake. She got KOed beforehand, so Eiko used a Phoenix Down, Vivi used Bio and Zidane used Lucky Seven for 7777 damage and the win.
-After the battle, Zidane learns Man Eater and Insomniac. Dagger learns Insomniac, Clear Headed and Antibody. Vivi learns Bio, Fira, Antibody and Loudmouth. Eiko learns Clear Headed and MP +10%. And I got both the Elixir and Tent for the spoils. I then get the Yellow and Green Stones, an Ether and hightail it out of dodge. I save half-way to Madain Sari.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save058.jpg
Thank goodness I only have to use Lucky Seven in five battles in this challenge, here's one down.

Madain Sari
-This area is rather simple, just a bunch of scenes. Madain Sari is open in disc 4, and there are no missable items, so I don't have to get any of them. But if I want the Mini-Prima Vista (which I do), I have to get the Kirman Coffee.
-I skip making the best dinner, it changes one line in the game and that's it.
I get the Phoenix Pinion and Ore. When I get zombified later, I will be left with 9, 21 or 33 HP. With this one Ore I now have 11, so I can use an Ore on Zidane if he's left with 33 and he'll end up with 77 HP, for the Scarlet Hair battle later.
-I save half-way to the Mountain Path.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save059.jpg

Moonstone #2
-Since I have the four colored stones, I can now get the second of three Moonstones, which is to the right of the moogle.
-Getting all the way back to the last shrine with no random battles is a bit tricky, need some stop-run action.
-I get the Moonstone and save at the moogle.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save060.jpg
-And then I make it the rest of the way through the Mountain Path. Encounters were pesky, especially the last screen before exiting. But next time I don't have to take the long way, so it's fine. I save half-way to the Iifa Tree.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save061.jpg

You seem to be doing really well on time.

Are you way ahead or is 5:42 about right for where you are?

Wow....according to the gamefaqs.com guide, I am 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Thanks for pointing that out to me. :D

Now, before I start with the Iifa Tree, let us once and for all end this silly argument about how this location is spelt.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...F/IifaTree.jpg
Now, everyone sees the upper case "I", and and everyone also sees the upper case "L". Let the arguments end. And now....

Iifa Tree
-You know, this used to be my favorite place in the whole game. Even when doing an Excalibur II challenge, it was my favorite place, we could get into like 12 random battles here and be fine on time, no worries. But now....not only do I not have that much time, but I'm also at level 1. Stroper=death most of the time if it gets an attack. Also, all of the winding back and forth of the path in this area is just asking for random battles, which is not good.
-But first, I just have to get to the moogle and save. Some well placed stop-run action gets me through all but the last screen without a random battle, the last screen in which I got one. Before I save, Zidane gets the Ritual Hat to bring his magic defense to 19 and his evade to 17. Dagger and Eiko both get the Moonstone (since I have 2 :D ) so they each have Shell. I also deliver a letter.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save062.jpg
-Alright, buckle down for this long segment. Every guide and video that I have seen tells you to go down, fight a Dracozombie and get Zidane zombied, come back up and save and go back down again. I don't like this setup. I think it's much faster to just go down and start treasure hunting. The random battle rate is kind of high, and the guides alot for 8 random battles. That's really good odds for fighting a Dracozombie, so why not kill two birds with one stone? I understand the logic behind the above setup, I just don't like it.
-Since I'm not coming back up and going back down, I can either save about a minute or I can get into a few more random battles. Either way, it will make this section easier, which is good because I want out of here as soon as possible. So I go down the elevator and equip Zidane with the Mythril Dagger and Bandit (which I should have done with the moogle before I saved, but oh well).
-The second screen has a switch that will lower a chest. Sometime in this screen I get a fight with a Dracozombie. With Zidane's current setup, Shell status and full HP, if he's hit by Zombie Breath he'll be left with either 9, 21 or 33 HP. I don't want 21 because that means I have to use a Sapphire to make his HP end in 7, and I only have one which I need for later. The other 2 will work though. Zidane steals a Magic Tag, which is what I wanted, and Vivi uses a Tent successfully. And crap hits the fan as Dagger gets zombied. So Eiko self-KO's, Vivi uses a Magic Tag and Zidane revives Dagger. Vivi self-KO's, Dagger uses Shell on Zidane, and Zidane KO's Dagger. Shortly after, the Dracozombie uses zombie breath again and Zidane gets zombied and goes down to 33 HP, which is exactly what I wanted. Then an elixir ends the battle.
-I go down to the next screen, flip the second switch, and go back up a screen. I get a Hi-Potion, Phoenix Down and Healing Rod. I go back down to the next screen and get an Ether, a Lamia's Flute and Remedy, and then go down to the leaf. All in all, I think I got 6-7 random battle excluding the Dracozombie fight, several of which Zidane started with nearly full ATB. Not too shabby. During one of these battles, I had someone use an Ore on Zidane. Since I had 11 Ores, it gave him 44 HP for a total of 77. (And if you guys go back and watch 1whoistornapart's videos, he skipped the Ether. I wonder if he knows about that)
-And now for some forced battles. The only thing to worry about here is Zidane getting hit. As long as that doesn't happen, everything should be fine. The first battle I only had to fight 2 Zombies, which made things a bit easier. One Zombie went down with an Elixir, and then I waited for the other to make it's move. Eiko got KOed, Dagger and Vivi self-KOed and Zidane used an Elixir to win the battle. After some dialogue Zidane says "Vivi...", and that's my cue to revive everyone. Then a Dracozombie battle. I waited for it to make a move (and I think it started with an empty ATB or something). It zomibed Eiko (poor Eiko in this segment), so Dagger and Vivi self-KOed and Zidane used an Elixir for the win. And everyone is still at level 1.
-After getting to the final area and some dialogue I get the Elixir and Brigandine. I use a Magic Tag on Zidane and Eiko and revive everyone. I equip Zidane with the Brigandine, Dagger with the Magician Shoes, Vivi with the Lightning Staff, Magus Hat and Peridot, and Eiko with the Lamia's Flute and Ruby. Zidane gets Ability Up.
-And finally, for the easiest boss in the game, Soul Cage. I either would have used Steal with Zidane and someone else throw an Elixir, in an attempt to steal the Brigandine, or just have someone throw an Elixir, depending on how everyone's ATB started. Getting this far with everything going well is no small feat, so this is one of those things where however this goes just take it. Dagger started with nearly full ATB while everyone else's was almost empty, so she threw an Elixir and won. Zidane learns Bug Killer and Distract. Dagger learns Ability Up, Silence, Locomotion and Blind. Vivi learns Slow and Ability Up. Eiko learns Float.
-After skipping an FMV, some dialogue and exiting the Iifa Tree, I take a few steps to turn the camera around and save. I ended up taking the "save about a minute" option.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save063.jpg

Bounty Hunters, Round 2
-I didn't take that many steps out toward the Mountain Path, so this took several resets to not get a random battle. And then a few more not to get a random battle in the Mountain Path, but just a few on that one.
-When I get to the very end of the Mountain Path, I change some equipment around. Zidane gets the Gladius, Bandana and Chain Plate. Vivi gets the Mythril Vest. Eiko gets the Bandana and Silk Robe. Zidane equips Distract and Man Eater and Eiko equips MP +10%, Ability Up and Insomniac. This is my last chance to equip Eiko until she forceably joins the party in the Iifa Tree, which is why I'm re-equipping her here. I save half-way to Madain Sari.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save064.jpg
-And now for some more Madain Sari fun. Except for the Scarlet Hair battle, this is just a bunch of dialogue. Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. The only hard part of this is another Lucky Seven battle. And that is after half of this dialogue. The fingers get a little tired after several retries.
-So the Scarlet Hair battle could go in one of two ways to satisfy me. 1: 2 Lucky Sevens doing 7777 each. 2: 3 Lucky Sevens, 2 doing 777 and 1 doing 7777 damage. The first one is asking a lot, but it is possible, and the second one would only require one more round, which isn't too much more time at all. With Zidane's setup, he has 19 evade, which seems to work rather well against Amarant. After several retries, I got the latter, which I'm happy with. Zidane learns Devil Killer.
-After the rest of the dialogue, I name Amarant, switch him and Eiko in my party, go half-way to the Mountain Path and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save065.jpg

Battle of the Bad Guys
-So now I make my way back through the Mountain Path (for the last time) and head to the Iifa Tree (for the last time). I equip everyone as follows:

Zidane: Mythril Dagger, Ritual Hat, Mythril Armlet, Brigandine, Reflect Ring
Dagger: Multina Racket, nothing, nothing, Silk Shirt, Moonstone
Vivi: Lightning Staff, Bandana, Leather Wrist, Survival Vest, Fairy Earrings
Amarant: Cat's Claws, Ritual Hat, Mythril Armlet, Adaman Vest, Germanis Boots

Zidane gets Distract, Ability Up, Insomniac and Bandit. Dagger and Vivi get Ability Up and Insomniac. Amarant gets HP +10% and Alert. Vivi's equipment is completely different from what the guide says, but this is as high as I could pump Vivi's Spirit, which is what I was going for.
-I save half-way to the Iifa Tree.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save066.jpg
-This next section is very annoying. First, I need to get through the Iifa Tree roots as quickly as possible. And then I must rely on Stop 3 consecutive times. The higher in level these monsters get, the harder it is for Stop to work. Not to mention all of the dialogue.
-So, after many many many tries, I decided that it's ok if I get a random battle while going through the roots. This let me try the Mistodon battles about five times as often.
-The save that I kept, Zidane used Flee almost immediately during the random battle.
-During the Mistodon x2 battle, 2 Tents were used, both of which worked. And those were followed by 2 Stops, both of which worked. Zidane learns Bright Eyes.
-Then with the single Mistodon battle, Vivi got the first turn and Stop worked. Eiko learns Antibody.
-It took me a long time to get this save, and it was worth it. The only way this section could have gone better is without the random battle, but it was a fast random battle so very little time lost. Eiko gets the Magic Armlet, I read a letter from Stiltzkin and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save067.jpg
-Since this next section is so close to a moogle, it wouldn't be too difficult to do it perfectly. The only hard part about this segment is making it to Dagger with just one battle with 1 Mistodon.
-After many tries, I got a battle where Vivi got the first move and Stop worked. Vivi learns Thundara and Eiko learns Insomniac.
-I make my way down to Dagger, go through all of the dialogue and FMVs, and save as disc 2 finally comes to an end.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save068.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...hletequeen.jpg

Athlete Queen is easy cheese. Have you ever actually gotten King of Jump Rope?

Twice. I'm not saying Athlete Queen isn't simple to get, but how fast have you ever gotten the Athlete Queen? Wait 'til you see my save.

Oh, I believe it. I could never get King of Jump Rope, myself. After 200 or 300, whatever it is, the timing gets all weird and I could never understand it. Seems totally random.

Athlete Queen
-As you can see earlier, I got the Athlete Queen.
-This section starts with some scenes, and then I take control of Vivi. He goes down to Hippaul and starts a mini-game.
-I don't know why everyone thinks that after the first 7 races that you can only increase his level by 1 each race. I didn't start doing 1 race per level until I got to level 60. Maybe I just do it faster, I don't know. I change the button configuration to switch the X and O buttons so that they are closer together, that's about it (I just had to remember to press O to speak to Hippaul's Mom).
-After I got the Athlete Queen (and rested while the game was paused), I return the button configuation to normal and go to the Square. I watch the ATE Artemicion so that I can read the letter he delivers. He also informs Stiltzkin that he has been delivering all of his letters (i.e. I have read all 6 of his letters so far).
-Then I go to the the bell tower, ring the bell to get 5 cards, buy Stiltzkin's deal, deliver a letter to Kupo and read the one he just got and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save069.jpg

Cheering Up Zidane
-Vivi makes his way to the theatre, scenes...scenes...scenes. When I gain control of Eiko temporarily, I unequip her of everything except her Ruby. Scenes...scenes....scenes....when I regain control of Zidane, he searches the pub for the 3 items I skipped way back in disc 1.
-I go to the bell tower and read the letter Kupo got from Stiltzkin and I save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save070.jpg
From the beginning of disc 3 to now, the guide alots 33 minutes to do this section. I did this section in 23 minutes. *Bows, bows, allows applause to fade...*
-Afterwards, I go to the theatre and get the gil on the ground. This isn't a missable item, but I wanted a little more money because I'm making one extra purchase than the guide says.
-Shopping: Synthesize a Barrette, and purchase a Plate Mail and Brigandine. The first two are for Freya gaining the exp from Tantarian, and the latter is for Amarant possibly learning Ability Up. I'm not sure I need it, but I'll buy it anyway. I'll have to have it at some point.
-Then I go to the dock, where Freya and Amarant almost duke it out. Pick up the Phoenix Pinion and gil, and take the boat to the castle. I then get the Ether, Phoenix Pinion and Lapis Lazuli. Then two areas to the left, there's a third Phoenix Pinion. I go ahead and pick up Leo while I'm there.
-Scenes, scenes, scenes.....I regain control in Treno. I watch the Memories by the Water and City People ATEs, which grants me the Chimera Armlet.
-I leave Treno and save half-way to South Gate.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save071.jpg

Road Trip!
-I need to go to Dali now. Not only do I need 99 more Wrists, but this is the only time I can get a few items.
-I go through South Gate and save half-way to Dali.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save072.jpg
-I enter and go to the Mayor's House. I get the Mini Brahne and the Mayor's Key. Then I enter the windmill while it's stopped and get a Cachusha and Elixir. Then I use the Mayor's Key and get the Burman Coffee and 30,000 gil. Before I leave I buy 99 Wrists.
-Then I go to the Observatory and trade in my coffees for the Mini Prima Vista.
-I save half-way to South Gate.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save073.jpg
-Then I go through South Gate and save half-way to Treno.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save074.jpg

Card Torunament
-Now I get to play Tetra Master. But first, I go synthesize 99 Cotton Robes.
-Then participate in round 1. Using the Shiva, Ramuh, Nova Dragon, Tantarian and Armstrong cards I get a perfect win and all of his cards.
-There are two ways to get a Namingway Card. One is from the Desert Palace, and the other is here. If I don't send Vivi out of Treno (which I didn't), there's an ATE after round 1, Hippo's Prize. If I watch that, then Mario of the Slums will be my round 2 opponent, and he uses Namingway Cards. So this is the other way to get them. So I do this.
-During round 2, using the same cards, I somehow get another perfect game, so I get all 3 Namingway Cards that he played, which is really cool.
-I decide to save now and not chance anything going wrong with Catoblepas.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save075.jpg
-Now it's time to defeat the second arena monster, Catoblepas. The easy way to do this is to use Lucky Seven and do 7777 damage. If Zidane gets KOed in this battle, he'll come back with 1 HP. So I can then use a gem to make his HP end in a 7. I currently have 11 Ores, if I had 9 then Zidane would be healed for 36 HP so he would have 37. I thought I needed to use the Sapphire I had, but I don't.
-So Zidane gets the Gladius, Bandana, Chimera Armlet, Bronze Vest and Reflect Ring, and deactivates Distract. I buy a Coral Sword, sell 2 Ores and my 99 Cotton Robes while I'm in the sell window.
-I fight Catoblepas and it uses Thundara to KO Zidane. Then Zidane activates Distract and Jelly. I fight Catoblepas again. Zidane gets the first turn, and I use an Ore, which puts his HP at 37. Then Catoblepas uses Devil's Bell, which does nothing. Then Zidane uses Lucky Seven for 7777 damage and the win. I get 15000 gil for my victory. This took maybe 10 tries.
-I go back to the moogle, who gets a letter from Kupo about the Athlete Queen, and I save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save076.jpg
-I have decided to let Freya absorb the exp from Tantarian instead of Zidane. It's kind of fun playing a level 1 game, so I'll let Freya sit it out for most of the rest of the game. And, her taking the exp affects only her max magic, which for her will only affect her max MP. I don't think that's as important as Zidane's max strength and max HP. Plus, I don't need to sit through an auction and get a Dark Matter. So, on to the last round.
-I didn't get a perfect game like last time, but I won. I took an Oglop Card with just one arrow as my prize, don't know why, probably doesn't matter. I get the Rebirth Ring, and then it's off to Alexandria. Too bad I can't save beforehand.

Alexandria Attacked
-After some scenes and an FMV, I delegate assignments for the Knights of Pluto, for which I get Angel Earrings. Then, Steiner and Beatrix are off.
-I unequip everything from Steiner. If one "optimize"s Beatrix, one will find that only her accessory changes. She has a Yellow Scarf on, and optimizing her will give her the Madain's Ring (or the Rebirth Ring if I wouldn't have gotten that). This actually lowers her magic defense, so there's no point in doing this. I don't know why the guide instructs you to do so. If you remember from her last battles, Beatrix was at level 13.
-Fight 1 can be skipped with a some slightly tricky footwork.
-Fight 2: Steiner self-KOs. Beatrix uses an Elixir and wins. She goes up to level 15.
-Fight 3: Beatrix uses 2 Full-Lifes and wins. Up to level 18.
After this, I take all but the Plate Mail off of Beatrix and give her an Elixir.
-Fight 4: Beatrix uses an Elixir and wins. Up to level 19.
-Fight 5: Same and fight 4. Up to level 20.
-Fight 6: Beatrix uses Full-Life and wins. Up to level 21.
-Figth 7: Beatrix uses 2 Full-Lifes and wins. Up to level 22.
During the last fight she has to start with empty ATB because Steiner is suppose to trance here (you know, I have not had a non-forced trance in this game yet). For most of the single Mistodon fights Beatrix started with enough ATB to go first. All in all, it was a good run. I got a few Ethers and Peridots too.
-Interesting note: During one of my tries, Full-Life missed one of the Mistodons. This only happened once though. I guess only an Elixir is sure to work.
-Now for some more scenes. Dagger runs up to the platform, skips some FMVs and summons Alexander. Zidane's group arrives at Alexandria.
-I run up to the guardhouse and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save077.jpg

Tantarian
-Holy freakin' crap, I got lucky with this one. This so makes up for the Amarant battle. I tried this battle 70ish times yesterday, not including the ones where Tantarian opened with Paper Storm and KOed the whole party. Relying on Lucky Seven to do 7777 damage 3 times in a row, with the possibility of one or two 7 damages in the mix, is a true test of patience. 80%ish of the time I opened with either 77 or 777, so I had to reset. Then sometimes Zidane would get a Doom and the phoenix down wouldn't do a 7. Many many tries, many many failures.
-So, I wouldn't touch Vivi's equipment since he'll be KOed at the end of this battle, but he has the Survival Vest and Zidane needs it, so first he gets a Mythril Vest. Zidane gets the Survival Vest. Freya gets the Barbut, Mythril Gloves, Plate Mail and Barette. The first 3 up her Spirit by 4 points total. The Barette raises her Strength by 3, Magic by 1 and Spirit by another 1. Zidane loses Distract and activates Antibody.
-Zidane gets the first turn, Lucky Seven does 7777 which opens Tantarian. The other 3 give Tantarian a Hi-Potion each. Freya gets Poisoned, she uses an Antidote. Zidane uses another Lucky Seven for 7777 damage again. Vivi gets Poisoned. Zidane uses a third Lucky Seven for 7777 damage. That's right, 3 times in a row. I'm talking about some serious luck here. Then Vivi and Amarant self-KO and Freya KOs Zidane. Then Freya goes in for the kill. I don't know if it would have been faster to wait for Zidane to self-KO, but it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference.
-Freya levels up to 18 and gets almost her max stats along the way. Freya learns Bug Killer, Undead Killer, Man Eater, Gamble Defense, Chemist and Locomotion. I get the Running Shoes as a reward for my efforts. It's too bad that only Freya can benefit from this 30 AP.
-After, I run up to where Dagger is. Skip some dialogue and some FMVs, then wake up in Lindblum. I get two treasures.
-I get a letter to deliver and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save078.jpg

Same old Lindblum
-This is the same as the last Lindblum visits, except MUCH LONGER. Most of this section is just a bunch of scenes that I have to go through.
-I deliver a letter to the moogle in the inn and get the three potions from around town. From this point on, nothing in Lindblum is missable. But I went ahead and picked up the gil from the tantulus hideout, the Lapiz Lazuli and the Chimera Armlet.
-Then I took the Blue Narciss to the shore by the Qu's Marsh on the Outer Continent and saved in the same spot I save when I left Fossil Roo.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save079.jpg

Black Mage Village....or lack thereof
-I walk to the chocobo tracks, call Choco, and go to the Black Mage Village.
-This is just a couple of scenes. On the way around, I get the Black Belt while there's no one guarding it.
-I take Choco back to the Blue Narciss, and take that to the shore by the Desert Palace. I walk a little ways in and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save080.jpg

Small hiatus. My dvd player broke, so I bought a dvd recorder (and they're rather cheap too). I'm currently trying to hook everything up and see how well it works and all that good stuff. I'll be back soon.

I'm having trouble with video editing software and all that stuff, so I'll leave it for a while.

"And I want to send you because you're too stupid to use magic."
-I go the rest of the way to the Desert Palace without a random battle.
-After the dialogue, I choose Freya, Steiner and Amarant to go with me. Normally I would leave Steiner with Vivi, but Steiner has a pretty sweet move with his Coral Sword that will be a great help against Ark.
-The guide allows 2 random battles while trying to get to the Hilda Garde I, but I only got one.
-It's too bad that the Forgotten Continent nameplate is showing while the ship is landing, or I could probably have made it very close to the chocobo track. But I suppose I'm close enough.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save081.jpg

Forgotten Continent Maze
-It's been a while since I've played this part, I forgot how easy it is to get lost here.
-I make my way to the chocobo tracks (and thank goodness there are some) and call Choco. I wind through the cliffs and make my way to Oeilvert.
-And now for some shopping. There are quite a few missable items to be bought here, especially since this area is closed in disc 4.

-1 Diamond Sword. One for Steiner plus one. I'm about to find one in Oelivert, so that makes 2.
-2 Tridents. One for Freya plus one.
-2 Mythril Claws. One for Amarant plus one.
-2 Fairy Flutes. One for Eiko plus one.
-1 Silver Fork. One for Quina plus one. I get one for catching frogs, so that's 2.
-2 Diamond Gloves. Two for the knights plus one. I will find one in a chocograph much later, so that's 3.
-7 Green Berets. Six for the non-knights plus one.
-7 Judo Uniforms. Six for the non-knights plus one.
-3 Gold Armors. Two for the knights plus one.

I also bought a Magic Racket (for Dagger much later), 1 Gold Helm and Cross Helm (plus Beatrix's makes 2), some Phoenix Downs and Softs. That should do me.
-I got a letter to deliver and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save082.jpg

You're a hero, Louis.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm keeping up with your progress and cheering you on. If I wasn't so swamped with school I'd have totally taken on this challenge with you.

Thanks Jeremy. I figured that since the views of this thread are about 25 times the posts (and most of the posts are mine), people are keeping up with my progress. Still, it's nice when it's actually said :D

I think that if I get through the challenge with enough of a lead, and I figure out how to get a video file from a dvd+rw, I will take a break and then do this challenge again and record it. But I won't skip the FMVs. But, that's a ways away, just a thought I was having.

Oeilvert
-Random battles posed a bit of a problem on the way in, I had to reset several times.
-When I get in, I go up the stairs to get the Rising Sun. I go left, activate the blue orb and get the Elixir. I go back, go down the stairs, get the Remedy and go right.
-When holograms start getting activated Stiltzkin will move on, so his deal must be bought before then (I'm not sure how many need to get activated before he moves on, so better not to chance it).
-I buy Stiltzkin's deal (2nd Emerald), deliver a letter to Mimoza and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save083.jpg
-Man it was either 2 random battles or no random battles with this place. And the game was being a bitch about the second battle sometimes. 3 times I got the second battle a step away from the moogle. The third time...well....luckily my floors have carpet.
-So, I optimize Steiner, then Freya, then Amarant. I only cared about a few of the items. Steiner gets the Diamond Gloves, Freya gets the Diamond Gloves and Power Belt, and Amarant gets the Green Beret and Rebirth Ring. Then, Zidane gets the Bronze Vest, and Amarant gets the Adaman Vest. Amarant activates Ability Up and Auto-Life, and everyone else activates Jelly.
-I want to get into one random battle in this area with an Epitaph. Epitaphs give 2 Ap and no Exp, so there's no leveling when it's killed. Also, since it's a stone-type monster, it's easily killed with a Soft. At long last I got a run where I only got one random battle with an Epitaph. Amarant self-KOs and auto-revives. Freya hits herself, but since she's now at level 18, even with her strongest weapon her HP only goes down to 76, which is fine. Zidane and Steiner self-KO, and Amarant throws a soft to kill the Epitaph. Amarant learns Stone Killer and Bird Killer (which is why I gave him the Adaman Vest).
-There are four chests to get, I get all of them, activate the last hologram and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save084.jpg
-Ark is hard. It has four attacks. Whirlwind and Boomerang will KO the entire party. Photon will bring a character down to 1 HP, and Propeller Wind will cause Confuse to everyone. With Clear Headed on everyone, Propeller Wind will do nothing. So in this battle, Ark needs to not use Whirlwind or Boomerang, needs to not use Photon against Zidane, and Zidane needs to have Lucky Seven do 7777 damage in two tries. I'd say this all has about a 15% chance of happening. And, each time this fails, I would have to revive Zidane for 7 HP, which has a 10% chance of happening, and do a rather massive equipment change and ability assignment. So, the preperation for Ark gets its own section.
-I revive Zidane and Steiner until Zidane gets 7 HP. Then, everyone is set up as follows:

-Zidane: Gladius, Green Beret, Glass Armlet, Brigandine, Yellow Scarf
-Freya: Trident, Lamia's Tiara, Diamond Gloves, Chain Mail, Power Belt
-Steiner: Coral Sword, Gold Helm, Thunder Gloves, Chain Mail, Lapis Lazuli
-Amarant: Mythril Claws, Green Beret, Egoist's Armlet, Brigandine, Lapis Lazuli

Everyone activates Bird Killer, Clear Headed and Ability Up. Zidane activates Distract. Freya activates HP+10%, MP Attack and Gamble Defense. Steiner and Amarant activate Accuracy+. Zidane will learn Ability Up and Steal Gil twice as fast, Amarant will learn Ability Up three times as fast, and Steiner will do 50% more Thunder Damage.
-Everyone goes to the front row, and I save. I ended up doing all of this in less than a minute, so I'm happy.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save085.jpg
-Charge! is a really cool ability. This is actually the first time I've ever used it. Zidane would hit for about 400, Freya for 1400, Steiner for 1100 and Amarant for 800.
-The Ark battle is another test of patience, but not so much as the Tantarian battle. I beat Ark several times, but I can't save after. It just goes straight to that Hourglass Key mini-game, which is really hard to do fast when you are trying to do it fast. I found that the key to doing it fast is to not do it fast.
-I run around and get the Gaia Gear, and then fight Ark. The Ark battle that I kept went as such...Amarant used the Rising Sun for about 2000 damage. Ark Photoned Steiner, he already had 1 HP so it did nothing. Freya attacked, Steiner used Charge!, Zidane used Lucky Seven for 7777 damage and Amarant attacked. Ark used Propeller Wind, which did nothing. Freya attacked and Steiner used Charge!. Amarant was the fourth to attack with Charge!, and Ark went down.
-Zidane learns Steal Gil, Antibody and Bird Killer. Freya learns HP+10%, Bird Killer and MP Attack. Steiner learns HP+10% and Bird Killer. Amarant learns Curse, Beast Killer, and puts a massive 66 points toward Ability Up. Ark drops the Pumice Piece. I unequip everyone and get the Gulug Stone.
-Next is the Hourglass Key mini-game. I went slow, and it took about a minute to get the key, but I didn't mess up once. I had to frustratingly reset 3 times because of messing this up too much.
-After the mages reunite, I go right to a moogle, get a letter to deliver and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save086.jpg

God, I never thought about how annoying the hourglass key part would be to do in this challenge right after a boss battle.

Desert Palace
-So, you are suppose to get no random battles in this place. I'm glad that the writer of this guide got no random battles going through here, and I'm glad that this guy got no random battles, but I have one thing to say about getting no random battles in this area....
BULLCRAP!!!
(actually it was something else, but....you know....the filter, the kids...)
12 hours....12 HOURS!!!! I have been trying this for 12 hours!!!! Half of the time I couldn't get past the screen with the first bloodstone. After I got past there, and activate the bridge, I would exit and re-enter that screen to reset the encounter rate. A lot of good that did 90% of the time. On the few times that I both got up and back down, I would exit and re-enter again. Getting the Fairy Earring and Anklet didn't usually pose a problem, sometimes though. Then the screen with the Shield Armor gave me a little grief but not much. The screen after that however just wouldn't let me pass, it just wouldn't....on the few times that I actually got there that is. Then I finally got to the library. I did the first bookshelf...no probelm. The screen behind the second bookshelf kept giving me a random battle though, which was utter bullcrap, I would take so few steps in that area.
-And then it just finally happened, I got all the way done, I lit the last candelabra, it was finished, I did it. Finally, at long last, all my trying had finally paid off. Then, five steps into the library on my way triumphantly to the moogle and I get a FREAKIN RANDOM BATTLE!!! The bullcrap of all bullcrap right there. 5 STEPS!!!
-The random battle ended up being against a single Drakan. It started with Mustard Bomb on Quina. Then, Stop didn't work. It then KOed Vivi, Eiko revived. Mustard Bomb on Eiko. The next Stop worked. Vivi learns Poison and Dagger learns Shell.
-I deliver a moogle letter and save. With this save, I have lost a minute on my time. You know all that time I spent getting certain battles to go perfectly or getting one less random battle to save time. Well....I'm cashing in my credit. Screw this place...life is too short.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save087.jpg

You've got more than enough time to spare. The distances are so large that it's nearly impossible to get through without at least once encounter. That guy just got insanely lucky.

This brings back memories of trying to walk through Sin in my NSGIENC FFX challenge. It took me literally days worth of constant attempts to make it to that last save sphere.

I remember that. Yeah I guess you do know my pain, I've been trying this since Saturday evening. It's very possible I spent much more than 12 hours on it. I knew I wasn't going to give up, I just didn't know what to do. I was about to cry when I got that random battle, I'm kind of glad I didn't reset.

And you are right, I'm 40 minutes ahead of the guide (now 39, I'll probably make that up soon), which means I'm actually 50 minutes ahead of getting the Excalibur II, the guides gives a 10 minute leeway.

On a happier note, I have figured out how to transfer movie files from .vob (DVD video files) to .avi, so I might record something soon.

To the Lost Continent
-After that last hellish area, the last two bloodstones are very easy to get. In fact, I've tried this several dozen times and haven't once had a random battle in this last area. After I get the Black Hood, I optimize Vivi, Quina, Dagger and Eiko, in that order, and everyone gets set up as follows:

Eiko - Multina Racket, Green Beret, Magic Armlet, Silk Robe, Ruby
Vivi - Ice Staff, Black Hood, N-Kai Armlet, Gaia Gear, Opal
Quina - Silver Fork, Green Beret, Glass Armlet, Magician Cloak, Rebirth Ring
Dagger - Healing Rod, Lamia's Tiara, Mythril Armlet, Silk Shirt, Opal

I got a second Opal from the Epitaph battle in Oeilvert. Vivi gets an Elixir to replinish his MP from earlier. Everyone activates Ability Up, Quina activates Auto-Life, Eiko activates Antibody. I've become very AP efficient lately, but it doesn't take long at all, and I'm learning a lot of abilities.
-Valia Pira is easy. All one has to do is pay attention to its timing. If it's been long enough that it should take a turn, just wait and see what it will do. This is so that Vivi doesn't bounce a spell off of Reflect. If it does cast Reflect, Eiko or Dagger (sometimes) can just cast Reflect and the problem is fixed. Two Waters and a Limit Glove and the battle is over. I keep everyone alive so that everyone can get the AP from the battle.
-After the battle, Eiko learns Stona, Shell, Silence, Loudmouth, Carbuncle and Reflect. Vivi learns Blizzara and Locomotion. Quina learns Antibody and Insomniac. Dagger learns Cure and Shiva.
-After the battle, Dagger loses her gear and Eiko gets the Magic Racket, Eigost Armlet, Silk Shirt and Feather Boots. I already activated Antibody earlier, so she's set for the Meltigemini battle. This is the last opportunity I have to equip her for it.
-But that was the easy part. Now I need to get from the airship to the portal and the portal to the Blue Narciss with few random battles, optimally one each way. This can mess everything up.
-I've been trying this for a while, and this is the best I could do....On the way in, I got one random battle where I L1+R1 ran immediately, so it was minimal on time. Then I went through the scenes and got the Namingway Card. On the way out, I got into two random battles. The first Zidane got the first turn and used Flee. The second was a back attack :mad2:, and Zidane used Flee as soon as possible. All in all, I didn't lose that much time. I don't know why the guide allows for 2 random battles when you are off to Oeilvert, but only 1 each way when you get back. Maybe the author meant to allow 4 instead of 2, I don't know.
-I chose a party of Zidane, Steiner, Vivi and Quina. I saved at the shore.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save088.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeeDRankLou

I got a second Opal from the Epitaph battle in Oeilvert. Vivi gets an Elixir to replinish his MP from earlier. Everyone activates Ability Up, Quina activates Auto-Life, Eiko activates Antibody. I've come

---

Wow.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who gets excited when Eiko activates Antibody.

LOL. Yeah I saw that. I got distracted and and forgot I was in the middle of a sentence. I was hoping no one would see that before I fixed it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SeeDRankLou

LOL. Yeah I saw that. I got distracted and and forgot I was in the middle of a sentence. I was hoping no one would see that before I fixed it.

---

lol:p your doing really well:thumb:

I updated the last section. I ended up taking 3 random battles. Screw it though, goodbye Desert Palace, good ridance.

Esto Gaza
-I take Choco to Esto Gaza. I could have walked, but I'm going to have to go back and forth from the shore to Esto Gaza a few times, this is faster.
-The first screen in Esto Gaza can be troublesome with a random battle, but not that often.
-After the initial dialogue, the party gets healed. I recently did the section below before going to Esto Gaza, not knowing the party is healed and status free before proceeding. Wish I had known that beforehand.
-I go to the right and buy several missable items:

-8 Zorlin Shapes. I need one for Zidane plus one. Zorlin Shapes are also responsible for three synthesis items. For both the Masamune and the Sargatanas, I need one for Zidane plus one. Sargatanas are then used to make Thief Gloves. I need two for the thieves plus one. I can auction one Thief Gloves, so I only need to synthesize two, for a total of 8 Zorlin Shapes needed.
-2 Flame Sabers. One for Steiner plus one.
-2 Heavy Lances. One for Freya plus one.
-2 Scissors Fangs. One for Amarant plus one.
-2 Asura's Rods. One for Dagger plus one.
-2 Hamelins. One for Eiko plus one.
-2 Octogon Rods. One for Vivi plus one.
-5 Black Hood. 5 for the lightweights plus one. I just picked one up in the Desert Palace, this makes 6.

I also bought another N-Kai Armlet. Among other things, it has awesome evade, and Zidane can finally learn Bandit. I also pick up the Wind Edge in this room.
-I then exit the way I entered and take Choco back to the shore. I optimize and unequip Vivi (to the give him the Octogon Rod, it's faster this way) and unequip Quina of all but the Rebirth Ring. I then save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save089.jpg

Limit Gloves from the Living Dead
-I am going to try out a different strategy than what the guide says. I am going to use the Iifa Tree strategy. Quina's Limit Glove will kill a Red Dragon. If Quina is zombied, Quina won't take any exp. However, unlike with Stop, I will receive the spoils, and if Quina has Millionaire activated, I can rack up about 35000 gil from the Red Dragons (at least, maybe more). Unlike Vivi's Stop, Quina's Limit Glove will definately work. However, like with using Vivi's Stop, this is going to take some luck. I will need the ATB and enemy attack departments to be in my favor, as Quina has no way of being immune to wind damage right now.
-Before any of that though, Quina needs to get zombied, and optimally also be set up for Limit Glove. Fortuantely, on the shores of the Lost Continent one can encounter a Gigan Octopus or a Whale Zombie. Whale Zombies have a move called Zombie Powder, which inflicts Zombie on one character. So, a Whale Zombie can open with Zombie Powder on Quina, Quina can self-KO/revive at some point and Zidane can Flee. And yes, Auto-Life does work on a zombied character. I didn't know this until it happened by accident, which makes this process a bit easier.
-This is however harder than it sounds. Whale Zombies have 5 different moves, so there's only a 20% chance of it doing what I want. It then has to use it on the right character. I can give myself better odds by KOing Steiner and Vivi, but Whale Zombies are rather fast, so it's kind of difficut to get in the first two moves. And then there's all the resets because of a battle with a Gigan Octopus. And finally there are the resets from getting a random battle on the way back into Esto Gaza. This last one has now happened four times in a row. I'll give it one more chance, and if I can't get through I'm going to just save after the Whale Zombie battle and again before entering Mount Gulug. I don't want to do this since I'm already expending more time, but I have my sanity to think of.
-At long last it happened. I didn't even have to KO Vivi or Steiner, the Whale Zombie opened with Zombie Powder on Quina all by itself. Steiner KOed Quina, who auto-lifed, and Zidane used Flee. And almost more importantly, I made it through that first screen of Esto Gaza without another random battle, finally.
-I go to the moogle, Mogrika got a letter, which I accidentally read twice, and then I got a letter to deliver and saved. All under two minutes, I think that's good.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save090.jpg

So with that expeneded time, I am only two minutes behind what I was before I left Oeilvert. So had I not gone with this whole zombied Quina thing, I actually wouldn't have lost any time despite the two extra random battles I took in the Desert Palace. Hopefully I'll make up for that in Mount Gulug, where the Red Dragon battles should all go rather quickly.

Tiki and I cheer for you! When we read your posts, we feel like playing FFIX, too.

Mount Gulug
-And I'm finally here. Before the fun begins however, I need to get some treasure and get to another moogle without a random battle. So I get 9,693 gil, an Ether, a Red Hat and a Golden Hairpin. After manipulating the rope, I go to Moolan, deliver a letter, get another to deliver and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save091.jpg
-Now for the fun part. The first Red Dragon fight is the hardest to get to. First, there's a Wind Edge right by Moolan. Then I have to go up this winding screen that's just screaming for a random battle. Then down to get the Gaia Gear and back up. For the short distance, this has a surprisingly high encounter rate. All in all, I'd say that I got at least 4 random battle for every one time that I got all the way back to the Red Dragon battle.
-On the way down the stairs before the battle, I give Quina the Bandana, N-Kai Armlet and Yellow Scarf. I give Steiner the Flame Sword and Thunder Gloves. Quina activates Millionaire, and Steiner activates Add Status. The time that I actually got the battle to go my way, my equipping was a little sloppy, but it wasn't that bad.
-It took a few tries, but this went even better than I thought it would. Steiner took the first turn, and attacked. He inflicted Heat on one of the Red Dragons, which quickly killed itself. Then the other Red Dragon used Dive on Quina, the only move that it can use in these battles. With Quina's set-up s/he has 29 evade, which was enough to dodge the attack. Everyone then self-KOs and Quina uses Limit Glove for the win. I get 2 Ethers and 15000ish gil for this (so it would seem Millionaire gives 50% more gil). :D
-I run back to Moolan and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save092.jpg
-The second pair of Red Dragons is 100 times easier to get to than the last. And for that, they get to be 100 times harder. My PS2 hates me, that's really the only explaination for this battle. First, Zidane in this battle possesses the supernatural ability to dodge multiple times in a row with 0 evade. This messed up several almost successful attempts with this fight. Next, it would seem that Steiner inflicting Heat in the last battle was somewhat of a fluke, as it almost never happened with this battle. Increasing Steiner's spirit made it happen more often, but then there was the next problem. These particular Red Dragons get the opening move like 99% of the time. Really really annoying, and it was almost never their Dive move, so I would have to reset. I could have tried out getting this battle to go like the last battle did, but I just could never get the first move, so I could never really try, it was ridiculous. And finally, getting a good battle can be messed up by getting a random battle on the way to the next moogle, which happened to me on three occassions.
-I took the method that I thought I was going to have to take in the first place, 2 Limit Gloves. Quina opened with Limit Glove, taking one of them out. The other Red Dragon used Dive on Vivi. Zidane and Steiner self-KOed and another Limit Glove won the battle. Using the Heat strategy, there would have been time saved on both using just a physical attack instead of Limit Glove and there being no death animation for the Red Dragon, but it's not that much time. And I got another 15000ish gil, 2 Ether, a Sapphire and a card.
-On top of all of that, I didn't get a random battle, which more than made up for the extra Limit Glove. I got the Demon's Mail, delivered a letter to Mogtaka and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save093.jpg
-So, I'm a dufus. Zidane had Distract activated, that's why he kept dodging attacks.
-And now for the last Red Dragon, and the real reason I got Quina zombied, the blue magic Twister. There are only 3 places to learn Twister: 1. Pandemonium, against an Abadon, who you can only fight in singles and don't have time for. 2. Against Lich in the Crystal World, which means you have to go all the way through Memoria to the Crystal World and fight a Lich, which is a hastle. 3. Here. I'm already here, I am already forced to fight this Red Dragon, so it's not really a waste of time at all to learn it here.
-By setting up equipment and abilities, Vivi and Steiner can take the Red Dragon down to 1/4th HP. Red Dragons are weak against Ice and Wind. Vivi gets the Octagon Rod, Golden Hairpin, Magic Armlet, Magician Cloak and Magician Shoes, which pumps his magic up to 30 and raises his Ice elemental attack. Steiner gets the Ice Brand, Cross Helm, Venetia Shield, Demon's Mail and Black Belt, which pumps his attack up to 28 and adds both Ice and Wind elements to his attack. Steiner then activates MP Attack and Bird Killer (and while I'm there, Zidane deactivates Distract). All in all, Vivi will do 4200ish damage with Blizzaga and Steiner will attack for 2500ish, which is enough for Quina to eat.
-So, Vivi and Steiner need to get the first attacks, then Red Dragon use Dive, then everyone else self-KO and Quina use Eat. I figured this would all be easier against a single Red Dragon than against 2. I got a rather lucky battle. Steiner attacked and Vivi used Blizzaga. However, as I was entering Steiner's attack the Red Dragon used Dive on Zidane, who got KOed. After Blizzaga, the Red Dragon again used Dive on Vivi, which is really lucky. Steiner self-KOed and Quina used Eat, which ends the battle and teaches him/her Twister.
-For my spoils I get 7000ish gil, an Ether and a Sapphire. I get the Elixir in this room, run back to Mogtaka and save.
-For all my trouble, I got 38670 gil, 5 Ethers (which is 5000 more gil), 2 Sapphires, an Abomination Card and the blue magic Twister. I'd say my time getting Quina zombied was worth it.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save094.jpg
-I have tried Meltigemini several times. Even while under Mini, it's Viral Smoke takes out the whole party, which it has been used by the 3rd turn every time.

Godspeed! You're doing brilliantly. A further post just to say I'm keeping up with your progress and enjoying reading about it. Wish I could offer some constructive advice on the Meltigemini front, but good luck with it.

Meltigemini
-Everyone gets set up as follows:

Zidane - Gladius, Green Beret, N-Kai Armlet, Power Vest, Power Belt
Ability Up, MP Attack, Distract, Devil Killer

Steiner - Coral Sword, Cross Helm, Diamond Gloves, Shield Armor, Reflect Ring
Ability Up, MP Attack, Distract, Devil Killer

Quina - Silver Fork, Lamia's Tiara, N-Kai Armlet, Silk Robe, Rebirth Ring
Ability Up, Auto-Life

Everyone is automatically healed and free of status ailments before the fight. I meant to unequip Vivi, but I forgot. I don't think it will change anything, he wasn't wearing anything anyone else will need.
-Meltigemini is much like Ark, he has two party attacks, Viral Smoke and mass-Bio, that will KO the whole party, and Quina coming back won't do much good. With 2 Distracts and Quina with high evade, its physical attack will usually only hit Eiko. Single Bio will only KO one party member, which is easily fixed. Venom Powder will only hit one party member, is easily fixed, will only KO Quina with 1 HP and will do nothing to Eiko. This is why I ditched Antibody and went with Ability Up. So, Meltigemini can't use Viral Smoke or mass-Bio, and needs to not hit Quina when he/she auto-lifes. Otherwise, the battle is pretty simple. And getting Mini to work isn't the lifesaver the guide makes it out to be. The mass party spells will still KO the party.
-There's a rather long scene before this battle, which means it takes about 6 minutes just to get to this battle, so having to do this repeatedly is a bit tiresome.
-The battle that I kept went rather fast. It only got two physical attacks in. Eiko was KOed by the second one however, and the second Limit Glove command had already been entered, so there was no time to revive her. Still, I will not be using her for the remainder of the challenge, so it's not really a waste. The other three, which I will be using more, all got the AP. I tried to get a battle with everyone alive at the end, but it's just so much to go through each time I try this, this battle is good enough, especially on time.
-Zidane learns Annoy, Ability Up, Clear Headed, Bandit, Undead Killer, Stone Killer, Gamble Defense and Counter. Steiner learns Charge!, Devil Killer and Distract. Quina learns Clear Headed, Ability Up and Loudmouth.
-More scenes, more scenes, I went too fast through the mognet menu and read a previous letter before I got a letter to deliver to Kumool and saved.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save095.jpg

Hilda Garde III Scavenger Hunt
-All I have to do is walk to the conference room. You'll notice a running theme with Lindblum...scenes, scenes, scenes.
-Scenes, scenes, scenes....I receive a Garnet from Beatrix during these scenes.
-After about 10 minutes of scenes I gain control of the Hilda Garde III. This gigantic lug is convinient, but difficult to pilot if you are trying to go fast. So I needed a few dry runs to get the feel of where I was going, which didn't take too long. I make my party of Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Quina.
-First, I dock at Lindblum, then board the ship. I get an Elixir and a Tent. Then I exit and re-board the ship to the world map.
-I go to Pinnacle Rocks, where there is an Phoenix Down and an Elixir.
-Next it's off to the South Gate where the first scenes of disc 2 where held. I get the Elixir Card that I missed when I was last there.
-Then I go to the South Gate on the opposite side of the mountain near the entrace to the Ice Cavern. I get 2 Elixirs and 3,206 gil.
-Finally, I go to the North Gate by the Observatory. I get a Potion and Eye Drops from there.
-Then I make my way to Daguerro and save outside. The guide says to do the third arena monster now, but there is a much more efficient time to do this.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save096.jpg

Daguerreo
-All I have to do in here is a little shopping. First however, I need to fix the lift, which is simple.
-For these purchases I need 94000 gil, and I only have 67000 (if I hadn't have done that stuff in Mount Gulug I would have quite a bit less money). I don't have nearly enough gil to do the Cotton Robe trick in any kind of timely manner, but I do have a lot of stuff to sell. I put Vivi in my party earlier because he still had some stuff equipped on him since I forgot to unequip him in Mount Gulug. So Vivi loses his equipment, and I auto-arrange my items. I will no longer be using Vivi, so he doesn't need any stuff.
-I sell my Phoenix Pinions, Wind Edges and Angel Earrings and buy the following missable items:

-2 Rune Blades. One for Steiner plus one.
-2 Obelisks. One for Freya plus one.
-2 Tiger Fangs. One for Aramant plus one.
-3 Diamond Armors. Two for the knights plus one.

I buy another Venetia Shield, it has Auto-Float on it. And I purchase 2 Eye Drops, with the 5 already in my inventory I have 7. I then go synthesize 7 Topaz, for a total of 8, which will make a Topaz heal for 736 HP. This is for attempting to perform Lucky Seven in Pandemonia. I know I'm extremely low on gil, but I only have one more shopping spree after this, and I'll have been in enough battles and found enough non-missable items to sell for the gil by then.
-I leave, fly to Ipsen's Castle and do the introductory dialogue. When asked to reform my party, I replace Vivi with Eiko and enter. I chose Eiko because she currently has the Feather Boots equipped, which I need now, and the Magic Racket equipped, which I need later. I can take care of all of that while I'm in here. I go to Kumool, deliver the letter for him and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save097.jpg

Ipsen's Castle
-Nothing in Ipsen's Castle is missable or needed for the remainder of this challenge, so I can get it all later.
-I simply need to go up to the mirrors, grab them and beat Taharka, then leave. All with no random battles.
-When I get to the mirrors, everyone gets optimized and set up as follows:

Zidane - Exploda, Red Hat, Chimera Armlet, Survival Vest, Feather Boots
Ability Up, Distract, Bandit

Eiko - Hamelin, Green Beret, Egoist's Armlet, Silk Shirt, Madain's Ring
Ability Up

Steiner - Flame Saber, Barbut, Thunder Gloves, Diamond Armor, Coral Ring
Ability Up, Distract, Add Status

Quina - Silver Fork, Black Hood, Chimera Armlet, Gaia Gear, Yellow Scarf
Millionaire

Taharka is vulnerable to Heat, and with Steiner's set-up he can inflict Heat. All of his other equipment is necessary, the Barbut is the only thing I could use to boost his spirit. So all that needs to happen is for Steiner to attack and inflict Heat, then the battle is over. Optimally this should happen by the second round. Very VERY optimally it could happen in the first round, and Zidane could steal the Orichalcon. This would save me 17000 gil later, but it's not necessary.
-I didn't steal the Orichalcon, but I did get Heat to work in the first round. I stole an Elixir though. Zidane learns Auto-Float, Eiko learns Ability Up, Cure and Body Temp. Steiner learns Insomniac and Man Eater. Quina learns Locomotion and Add Status. And I got extra gil for the win.
-I run back to Kumool, using a little stop-running to prevent a random battle, which worked, and saved. To steal the rare steal without Master Thief in the first two rounds, have Heat inflicted in the first two rounds AND make it all the way through with no random battles is likely a fluke happening at best.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save098.jpg

To the Four Shrines
-I unequip everyone except Zidane and leave Ipsen's Caste. I no longer need Eiko for anything, and she doesn't have the Magic Racket equipped, so she's good. I need Quina itemless for the arena monster. I don't know why I unequipped Steiner, but oh well.
-I then go back in and get Aramant and leave again, no random battles. When I form a party I choose Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Quina. This way, with the order I'm going to drop everyone off, I will only be asked to make a new party once. At this moment, the party is healed.
-I needed some dry runs with the flying again. The Water Shrine is directly infront of where the airship is facing when I gain control of it, so that one is easy. Next, the Fire Shrine is on a penisula on the northeast of the long continent, and it's pretty big. The Wind Shrine can be tricky to see, that's what the dry runs are for though.
-Finally, I land near Treno and save outside.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save099.jpg

Amdusias
-It would have been nice to steal the Orichalcon, but it won't mess things up. I parked outside of Treno because I will now fight the third arena monster. Doing it now will put Quina at 1 HP for the Earth Guardian battle, so I won't have to waste time in a random battle to do this and I won't waste time in the battle with a self-KO/auto-life.
-This is very simple, have Quina self-KO against Amdusias once, then have Quina use Limit Glove in a second battle for the win. Since I saved right outside of Treno, it wouldn't be too hard where the first battle is either Quina self-KOing or Amdusias using Bio, and the second battle Quina getting the first turn. In my first battle Amdusias used Bio, then Quina had almost full ATB at the start of the second battle. I got my second pair of Running Shoes as a reward.
-While leaving, I set the party up as follows:

Zidane - Zorlin Shape, Green Beret, N-Kai Armlet, Power Vest, Power Belt
Auto-Float, Distract, MP Attack, Devil Killer

Quina - Silver Fork, Bandana, N-Kai Armlet, Gaia Gear, Reflect Ring
Auto-Reflect

-I land near the Earth Shrine and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save100.jpg

Earth Shrine
-I board the airship again and enter the Earth Shrine.
-Two minutes worth of very finger-tiring scenes and then the Earth Guardian battle. With the previous set-up, Quina is basically invincible in this fight. All of the single spells will bounce off of him/her, Earthquake will heal him/her, and s/he will usually dodge an attack. The only way to make Zidane stronger would be to equip the Bone Wrist, but that come with Raise Earth Elem-Atk, which will halve the damage Zidane does in this fight, which is bad. As long as Quina gets one Limit Glove and Zidane gets 3 hits, everything is good.
-Both characters start the battle. Quina uses Limit Glove and Zidane attacks, he's doing about 2000ish damage. Then Earth Guardian uses Earthquake, which heals Quina. Zidane attacks again. Earth Guardian attacks Quina, who dodges. Then Zidane attacks one more time, which puts Earth Guardian in eating range. Quina Eats Earth Guardian and learns Earth Shake. Zidane learns MP Attack.
-After a few more scenes I'm asked to form a party. I add Dagger and Steiner to my party. Then I quickly enter the ship's deck, unequip Quina and switch Quina for Steiner. I then fly to the ledge that has the overhead entrance to Gizamaluke's Grotto, and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save101.jpg

Last Minute Preparations
-I need some skills. Mainly Auto-Life for Zidane, Auto-Float for Dagger, several things for Steiner and Auto-Reflect for Freya. Friendly monsters will do the trick. But no need to be wasteful with the rest of the equipment.
-I set everyone up as follows. This is different than the guide because I've learned so many other skills the guide hasn't mentioned:

Zidane - Exploda, Golden Hairpin, Egoist's Armlet, Survival Vest, Rebirth Ring
Dagger - Healing Rod, Mage's Hat, Chimera Armlet, Gaia Gear, Garnet
Steiner - Diamond Sword, Cross Helm, Venetia Shield, Diamond Armor, Running Shoes
Freya - Obelisk, Cross Helm, Venetia Shield, Diamond Armor, Reflect Ring

And everyone activates Ability Up.
-First I go into Gizamaluke's Grotto and trade in my Kupo Nut for an Extension. This can only be done during disc 3.
-Then I run around in the forest until I encounter Rainbow Garuda. Dagger gives it a Lapis Lazuli, and I get 40 AP (which gets doubled) and a Diamond, not a keeper though.
-Zidane learns Sacrifice, Lucky Seven, Auto-Regen, Level Up, Locomotion and Mug. Dagger learns Healer, Cura, Life, Loudmouth, High Tide and Bahamut. Steiner learns Power Break, MP Attack, Auto-Float, Ability Up, Auto-Potion and Auto-Haste. Freya learns Cherry Blossom, Devil Killer, Auto-Float, Counter, Ability Up and Distract.
-I then fly to the plains of the Lost Continent and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save102.jpg
-Then I change everyone's equipment:

Zidane - The Ogre, Black Hood, Bone Wrist, Mythril Vest, Rebirth Ring
Dagger - Multina Racket, Golden Hairpin, Egoist's Armlet, Bronze Vest, Feather Boots
Steiner - Rune Blade, Gold Helm, Venetia Shield, Plate Mail, Moonstone
Freya - Obelisk, Mythril Helm, Thunder Gloves, Linen Cuirass, Reflect Ring

-I run around the chocobo tracks until I encounter Green Feather Circle. For a Moonstone I get 30 AP (which gets doubled) and a Lapis Lazuli.
-Zidane learns Soul Blade, Accuracy+, Add Status, Auto-Potion and Auto-Life. Dagger learns Stona, Auto-Regen, Level Up, Jelly, Auto-Float and Mini. Steiner learns Iai Strike, Mentral Break, Clear Headed, Counter, Locomotion, Undead Killer and Beast Killer. Freya learns Initiative, Insomniac, Antibody, Add Status, Cover and Auto-Reflect.
-Now I'm all set.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save103.jpg

this is great man!good job!

personally,i finished this challenge in 10hrs and 46mins (that's after getting the excalibur ii and saving in lich's room) but i guess that's me.i really cant get myself satisfied if i entered one random battle (unless i needed it),so i restart.it's fun to see other people trying the same challenges.

first off,i would like to make a remark about the madain's ring in fossil roo.may other people do not consider it as a missable item because (if i remember correctly) there are an unlimited amount of madain's ring in treno auction house,so you can actually have 99 madain's ring without taking the madain's ring in fossil roo.

next,steiner does not need ANY equipment in the pandemonium battles other than the coral ring and diamond gloves,because he will be dead anyway.the coral ring is only for surviving thundaga,while the diamond gloves for evading the blade attack.steiner will never survive high wind no matter what the equipment.well,i guess it really doesnt make any difference.it's just that,you waste a few precious seconds in equipping steiner,but i guess im just OC.^_^

one more word of advice.in the battle with kraken,kill his left tentacle (the one which counterattacks with ink) first before stealing the genji helmet from him.this made the battle easier because then,your attacking characters (zidane,steiner and freya) will be immune.quina will be killed by waterga anyway,so you shouldnt bother about him/her.to kill the left tentacle,attack it with both zidane and freya.

good luck man!you're nearly done!^_^

Thank you.

As for Steiner's recent equipment, I was just listing what was there. I just pressed Optimize and then had to change his gloves and add-on, the rest of it just happened because of Optimize, which is usually how it goes. I was just listing everything.

As for the Madain's Ring, the same could be said about every Potion you find along the way. You can just buy 99 Potions and not have to pick up any of the Potions along the way in this challenge with that logic, and that's quite a few of the early chests and field icons. This challenge is about getting everything that you can miss along the way to getting the Excalibur II so that you can have gotten everything in the game. The Madain's Ring in Fossil Roo can only be obtained during the one visit you can make to Fossil Roo, I don't know why people think it's not missable. The same can be said for the moogle letter about the Jump Rope. Just becasue you won't be able to see it in disc 4 and it doesn't count toward your delivery total doesn't mean it's not missable. It's not like the Madain's Ring or that letter were hard to get or anything.

And thanks for the advice on Kraken, but I still have a bit to go before I'm there. Besides, there are quite a few ways to make Quina immune to Water. But I'll probably end up taking that advice, should I have enough Ethers and such. And thanks for the luck.

Nice going! I could never do this kind of chalange, simply because i wouldn't have the patience for it.

Quote:

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On a happier note, I have figured out how to transfer movie files from .vob (DVD video files) to .avi, so I might record something soon.

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Can you tell me how? As i've got something on DVD that Window Movie Maker isn't recognising.

Not too long left of rushing around:p Keep it going;)

Terra
-As the level of the monsters continues to rise, so does the chance that back attacks happen. This gets a little annoying, but I can prevent that with Alert. Also, now that Freya has learned Initiative, I can activate that and have random battles possibly go very very fast.
-I auto-arrange my items, then equip Zidane with the Germanis Boots. I then activates his Alert, Freya's Initiative, and while I'm in this menu I activate Dagger's Auto-Float, she needs it later.
-I board the Hilda Garde 3 and enter Terra.
-Terra has a very weird enounter rate, either it's really high until the last screen or non-existent until the last screen where's it unbelievabley high. Either way, getting the recommended 3 battles is a pain.
-When I pick up the Minerva's Plate, I change equipment as follows:

Dagger - Magic Racket, Lamia's Tiara, Magic Armlet, Minerva's Plate, Ribbon
Steiner - Rune Blade, Cross Helm, Diamond Gloves, Diamond Armor, Coral Ring

These are both for the upcoming battles. This is the last chance to equip them, especially Dagger, since she will be absorbing exp. This set-up will allow her to gain max stats while she does so. Steiner will be immune to Thunder and Water attacks. They both already had Auto-Float and Distract equipped, respectively.
-I'm way ahead on time, so it's not a big deal if I take one more random battle. Especially since 2 or them were pre-emptive strikes, one of them Zidane started with full ATB, and the last one the enemy only got to cast Blind before Zidane used Flee.
-All in all, I didn't lose that much time. More scenes...Steiner and Dagger leave the party and are replaced with Quina and Amarant. I get a Wind Edge, go to Moorock and save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save104.jpg

Bran Bal
-First some shopping. All the items that I found in Terra that I still have sell for a decent amount of money, which is why I auto-arranged my items earlier, so that they would all be at the bottom of the list. I sell the following (the only real item purge I had to do in this game :D ):

Phoenix Pinion
Tent x9
Shield Armor x2
Gaia Gear x2
Plate Mail
Demon's Vest
Dragon Wrist
Mythril Racket
Yellow Scarf x2
Cachusha
Extension
Fairy Earrings x2
Wind Edge
Anklet
Coronet
Desert Boots

I then buy:

1 Orichalcon
1 Defender
1 Holy Lance
1 Minerva's Plate
2 Adaman Hats

None of these are missable, but 2 of them are needed for the upcoming exp gaining, and the rest are for strategic reasons. I then buy Stilitzkin's deal. I only have 4 gil leftover after this, but that's all the shopping that needs to happen during this challenge, so it doesn't matter.
-I then make the following equipment changes:

Zidane - Orichalcon, Green Beret, N-Kai Armlet, Power Vest, Black Belt
Auto-Float, Auto-Life

Quina - Silver Fork, Adaman Hat, N-Kai Armlet, Magician Cloak, Rebirth Ring
Auto-Life, Ability Up

Amarant - Tiger Fangs, Adaman Hat, Chimera Armlet, Chain Plate, Power Belt
MP Attack, Bird Killer, Devil Killer, Counter

Freya - Holy Lance, Barbut, Venetia Shield, Minerva's Plate, Barette
Auto-Reflect, Distract, MP Attack, Gamble Defense

This set-up will give Zidane and Freya their max stats while they gain levels, and give them optimal abilities for the battles. The other two will just be good support, especially Amarant.
-I then go around and pick up Angel Earrings and a Flash Hat, and then some scenes progress. I pick up an Elixir, as Eiko I pick up another.
-I go back to the same moogle and save again.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save105.jpg

You're Not Alone!
-The scenes that run prior to the 3 exp battles are very exhaustingly dialogue filled, it's a pain to do this repeatedly. I actually had to dust off the turbo controller for this one. I haven't used it at all during this challenge, but there's just too much dialogue. The turbo controller constantly pressing X is actually slightly slower than me pressing O and X back and forth repeatedly, so it wasn't to my advantage time-wise, just carpal tunnel sydrome-wise.
-After several scenes and a whole lot of dialogue, there are some forced exp battles. With the equipment that I set up in the previous sections, Freya will get her max stats while receiving the exp from Amdusias, Zidane from Abadon, and Dagger from Shell Dragon.

Amdusias
-This is the easy one. In all but one attempt, Amdusias opens with Bio which KOs Zidane, who auto-lifes, then flies in the air with its next turn. Then Freya appears. Two attacks from Zidane (about 1700 each) and one from Freya (about 2800) will do about 6000 damage and cause Amarant to appear. An attack from Amarant (about 3000 damage thanks to Bird and Devil Killer), then he and Zidane get KOed, and an attack from Freya will win this battle.
-In all my tries I lost to this one once. The only major problem here is during Zidane's first attack, in which Amdusias can counter and then attack Freya, Distract isn't fullproof. The battle that I kept went well enough. Zidane's first attack was countered, but he dodged. Amdusias came back down before the next two attacks. Before Amarant could take his turn, Amdusias KOed Zidane with a Bio. Then Amarant attacked, it countered with Bio to Amarant, which KOed him, and then used Bio on Freya, which got reflected back. An attack from Freya wins the battle. Freya's level increases to 25 (remember she was at 18).

Abadon
-This is the hard one in terms of staying alive. Abadon has a group attack, High Wind, and it's not above using that attack twice in a row, which will KO the party before Zidane appears. Otherwise, it's just a matter of staying alive until Zidane appears, and then using a Limit Glove, having Quina and Steiner KOed, and Zidane attacking for the win. There's always a fear of Abadon using High Wind, so it's a risk to KO Quina or Steiner myself.
-In all my tries, this is the battle that would make me reset 95% of the time. The battle I kept started with Quina using Auto-Life on Steiner. Then Abadon attacks Quina, who comes back with 1 HP. Then a Thundaga to Steiner, who absorbs it. Zidane appears, which is followed by a Limit Glove. Abadon uses High Wind, Zidane and Steiner come back. It uses Thundaga on Zidane, Steiner revives. It attacks Steiner, who dodges. Then Steiner self-KOs (and thankfully doesn't dodge) and Zidane attacks for the win. Zidane's level increases to 22.

Shell Dragon
-This is the hard one in terms of time. Dying is not the issue here, it's doing things in a timely manner. Shell Dragon can just keep using Smash and Charge, and all Zidane will be able to do is heal himself. And since dying isn't an issue, it's easy to forget that Zidane has Auto-Life equipped, and think that you're going to self-KO Zidane and then have Dagger attack for the win, except that Zidane comes back and everything gets messed up. This only happened once. Basically, Zidane needs to wear down Shell Dragon until it's in a 1000ish HP range, and then have Dagger use Shiva for the win. Five attacks will usually be slightly too much for Shell Dragon, so four attacks (about 2200 each), a Hi-Potion and one more will put it in range. There's a thing about keeping the Eidolons unflagged, I don't see the point in doing that, you're not missing anything by keeping the Eidolons unflagged.
-So, I got to Shell Dragon four times. Once I died because of a blonde moment. Once I forgot about Zidane's auto-life, I fixed this by simply having Zidane self-KO in the beginning so I wouldn't have to worry about it, and to bring out Dagger more quickly. I beat it two times. The first time, I would intermittently attack after I would heal and it would use Earthquake. And then I got the HP down, I revived Dagger, it used Charge so I had to wait a few turns to revive Dagger again, and Zidane self-KOed and I used Shiva. The second time, I had a good run of it either using Smash, which just needs an Elixir for Zidane, or Earthquake. I was also lucky with Zidane's attacks, his first 3 were weak (high 1900s each) and his last two were regular, so I didn't need to use a turn for a Hi-Potion. Then it used Charge, and then came 5 or 6 Charges/Smashes in a row, so I had to spend as many turns using a Hi-Potion/Elixir. Finally it used Earthquake. So Zidane revives Dagger, it uses Smash on Zidane, Zidane self-KOs and Dagger uses Shiva to win the battle. Dagger's level increases to 22.

-When I beat Shell Dragon the first time, I just immediately went to the moogle, replaced Dagger with Freya and saved. I thought I might do better on time so I tried a few more times. The second time I beat Shell Dragon, I went to the moogle and replaced Steiner with Amarant. I then unequipped Dagger and Amarant so I could have their equipment, then switched them for Freya and Steiner, and saved. Despite taking this extra step I gained 20 seconds on my last time. Having the last two battles both go really well will take a lot of luck. The guide says to do this section in 15 minutes, and I think he got that luck, because I think I did pretty well, but I clock in at 17 minutes. Even without those series of Charges/Smashes I probably would have only saved a minute. Oh well, I did it. Ironcially, I used the same number of Elixirs and Hi-Potions in both saves.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save107.jpg

Those battles sound really frustrating:p
Dont stop!!!:pinkelephant: :quina:

The Maze of Pandemonium
-With the exception of the unique equipment that each of the four Chaos Guardians holds in Memoria, the items in this section are the last missable items in the game.
-First, I set Zidane and Freya up for the Alert + Initiative combo like I did in Terra. Then I remove Freya's equipment. She will be KOing herself soon, and her equipment will make that difficult being at level 25. I also purchase 21 more Phoenix Downs. I only had 16, that might not be enough.
-There are five items to get in this area. Luckily, the encounter rate in this area is very low. Getting 3 random battles can be done with no effort, and getting only two just takes going through the areas quickly and a little luck. First I go back to the throne Zidane was on and pick up a Holy Miter. Then I go through the areas where the You're Not Alone! section took place.
-Next is the light bridge puzzle. It's very simple, just activate it, go all the way to the left and all the way down. That path only requires waiting for two blue lights to go away.
-Next is the lift puzzle. Setting the lift to 3 will allow me to go all the way to the top and get 20,007 gil from a chest. On the way up to that chest, I got into a random battle against an Abadon. Zidane is already in critical HP. The other three all self-KO. During this time, Abadon uses Thundaga against Freya which gets reflected. Quina comes back with 1 HP and I L+R ran for the second time (I think, maybe third). Afterwards, Steiner and Freya get a Phoenix down and Zidane and Freya get a Potion. This probably wasn't necessary, but they are still in critical HP with a low 100s HP. I then go back down and set the lift to 4. This allows me to go back up to the top, and then take the lift to the next floor.
-Next are a series of ledges connected by teleporters. The teleporter to the right leads to the lower section of the next floor. Here, to the the right and left are teleporters that each lead to a chest, so I pick up an Elixir and Carbani Mail. Back to the previous room, the bottom teleporter leads to the upper section of the next floor. On my way to getting the Battle Boots I get in another random battle with an Abadon where Zidane starts will almost full ATB. Then I make my way to Mozme and deliver a letter to him, which nets me a Kupo Nut, and I save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save108.jpg

The End...
-Equipment change:

Zidane - Orichalcon, Adaman Hat, N-Kai Armlet, Power Vest, Pumice Piece
Auto-Life, Distract, MP Attack, Bird Killer, Man Eater, Gamble Defense

Freya - Holy Lance, Mythril Helm, Venetia Shield, Minerva's Plate, Barette
Auto-Reflect, Distract, MP Attack, Bird Killer, Man Eater, Gamble Defense

Steiner - Defender, Cross Helm, Venetia Shield, Diamond Armor, Power Belt
Distract, MP Attack, Bird Killer, Man Eater

Quina stays the same. I only got into a random battle going down that short corridor once. Next, three boss battles in a row.

Silver Dragon
-Luckily, the first battle is the make or break battle. Silver Dragon is basicaly the big brother of the Red Dragons. He has their two wind attacks and a new attack called Shockwave, all of which will KO the whole party. And it has max speed, so it will almost definately get a turn in. So the only way to win this battle is to have it use its Claw attack, and either miss or hit Quina or Zidane, who will auto-life. Given that that happens, the battle is all but over.
-So I input Quina's Limit Glove. Silver Dragon had a turn on hold though, it used Claw on Freya, who dodged. Then Limit Glove, Zidane and Freya attack, and Steiner uses Charge!. Freya was all but useless in this battle. Both her attack and her Charge! attack missed. Fortuantely the others compensated for her, and Steiner's attack from Charge! ended the battle. Freya learns Chemist.

Garland
-No group attack makes for a simple battle. A few Charge!'s, physical attacks and Limit Gloves will end this battle, depending on how many Limit Gloves happen and how fast Ethers can be distributed.
-Steiner uses Charge! for the second time since his MP was last replenished, and with his measily 24 MP, he now needs an Ether, which Freya ablidges. Zidane gets KOed by a Flare and come back. A Limit Glove and another Charge!, and Garland uses Wave on Steiner who dodges. A few physical attacks later and Garland is down.

Kuja
-This is pretty much the same as Garland. Kuja is just a little faster and has more HP. The Monster List on gamefaqs.com says that Kuja can use Flare Star, but maybe he just uses it rarely because in three tries he didn't use it once. Charge!, Limit Glove and attack him into a trance and disc 3 is all but done.
-Kuja starts with a Demi to Quina, who revives. Zidane attacks, Charge! and Freya gives Steiner another Ether, then Kuja uses Thundaga on Quina, which doesn't nothing. Limit Glove, 2 physical attacks and Charge!. Only Zidane needed to attack with Charge!, and Kuja goes Trance.

-Then I just have to run around a little, skip some FMVs and dialogue. Then I save as the disc ends. I got it just above 13 minutes, which I'll take.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save109.jpg
...of Disc 3

At the end of disc 2, I was 24 minutes ahead of the guide. I gained a whole lot of time at the beginning of the third disc. I lost some time taking a few extra battles in the Desert Palace and Terra, getting Quina zombied, taking different battle strategies, and doing quite a few more equipment changes than the guide suggested. Still, I got another 14 minutes ahead of schedule, and I'm now 38 minutes ahead. Five more boss battles and I'm done, very very close.

Memoria Preparations
-After the scenes in the Black Mage Village, I choose a party of Zidane, Freya, Steiner and Quina. All I need to do is get in a random battle and have everyone get KOed, Zidane and Quina will auto-life.
-I fly to the plains near the Iifa Tree and deactivate Distract and MP Attack from Zidane, Freya and Steiner. I then very quickly get into a random battle against a Hecteyes. Zidane self-KOs and comes back. Hecteyes knocks out Quina with Absorb, who comes back. Steiner and Freya self-KO and Zidane uses Flee.
-I then immediately save.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save110.jpg

Nova Dragon
-I revive Freya and Steiner. I give Zidane the Green Beret and Quina the Holy Miter. I then make the follow abilities changes:

Zidane - Accuracy+, Distract, MP Attack, Bird Killer, Ability Up, Insomniac, Bandit
Freya - Distract, MP Attack, Bird Killer, Counter, Ability Up, Insomniac
Steiner - MP Attack, Bird Killer, Ability Up, Insomniac
Quina - MP+10%, Insomniac, Ability Up

For some reason Freya got moved to the back row, she returns to the front row.
-I then enter Memoria, and after some scenes and FMV skipping, I fight Nova Dragon.
-Nova Dragon is the parent of Red Dragon and Silver Dragon. It has the two wind attack from Red Dragon, and the max speed and Shockwave attack from Silver Dragon. It didn't pass down a non-evadable physical attack and a counterattack. The only way to win this battle is to have Quina start with full ATB and VERY QUICKLY enter the Night command, or to have Nova Dragon start the battle with Psychokinesis, it's only single character attack. If I pull that off, it's simple a matter of entering Charge!, Zidane and Freya attacking or using an Ether if necessary and Quina entering the Night command again before Nova Dragon wakes back up. Wash, rinse and repeat.
-Nova Dragon starts with Psychokinesis on Steiner. Zidane revives and Quina uses Night. Now I set everyone's command up so that I can just hit X repeatedly and everyone will do what I want. So when Quina's ATB is almost full, Steiner uses Charge!, Zidane and Freya attack and Quina uses Night again. After this turn, Ethers start being needed. I have Zidane distribute because Freya was doing more damage. After three more rounds Nova Dragon goes down in the coolest death scene in the game so far. Zidane learns Detect. Freya learns Reis's Wind. Steiner learns Thunder Slash. Quina learns MP+10% and Body Temp.
-After a few more scenes, I enter Memoria and save at the save orb.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save111.jpg

Maliris
-The recommended random battles for this area is 2, which is not hard to get. What's hard is that most of the enemies in this area have a group attack, which is not good. On this save, I got through the first two screens with no random battles. The next screen had a back attack against a monster that attack Quina. After that battle, I set Quina up for Auto-Life. In the next random battle, Quina auto-lifed right away and Zidane used Flee before the enemy could do anything.
-On the way to the boss battle, I pick up The Tower.
-I equip The Tower to Zidane, and everyone replaces Bird Killer for Devil Killer. Steiner replaces Insomniac with Distract. I had already set-up Quina.
-Poor poor Maliris, with no group attack he's absolutely no threat. I just have to wait for him to take a turn before I do anything, because he could use Mustard Bomb. And then either Freya has to Jump, or someone has to have an active Auto-Life because with its dying breath Maliris will take out the whole party.
-For a perfect save, the Genji Armor must be stolen here. I also wanted to steal the Ultima Sword for Steiner. This battle is a little hectic as far as keeping track of things. Quina Limit Gloves until s/he is out of MP, unless s/he gets KOed, then s/he must use an Auto-Life. Steiner uses Charge!. Zidane steals stuff. If Freya needs to she uses healing items, otherwise attacks. Steiner got KOed at one point, so did Freya. The stealing only took two turns, then Zidane could be of help with that. I think only three Limit Gloves happened, maybe two. Anyway, in my previous tries I wasn't good about keeping everyone alive for Charge!, which is probably what's going to make these battles go the fastest. I had a save that was slightly faster than this one, but I was a dufus and forgot to steal the Genji Armor. This one is good though.
-After the battle, another scene and I save on the little balcony.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save112.jpg

Tiamat
-After this battle, I fear I may be running low on Ethers. I'm going to get into some random battles along the way, so I might as well use them. I revive everyone and give everyone an Elixir. I then set everyone up like at the beginning of disc 4.
-I intentionally got into a random battle on the way to Tiamat. I had everyone get KOed, Zidane and Quina auto-lifed. It lasted a round longer than it should have, but I went on anyway. I think I got a pretty fast Tiamat battle.
-I give Steiner the Ultima Sword, and set everyone's abilities up the way they were against Nova Dragon.
-Tiamat is just as easy version of Nova Dragon. It has many attacks, only two of which are group attacks, and 3 aren't really even attacks. So as long as it opens with a non-group move, this battle is over.
-For a perfect save, the Blood Sword must be stolen here. Tiamat opens with Absorb MP on Quina, which drains no MP. Zidane and Freya attack, and Quina uses Night. Then a series of Charge!'s, attacks and Nights, with anyone needing an Ether provided by Freya. I almost forgot to steal the Blood Sword, I stole it the second to last round. I really don't know why I keep forgetting to do that. Freya learns Dragon's Crest.
-I finish going up the stairs and save in the little alley between the buildings in the next area (it's hidden).
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save113.jpg

Kraken
-Thanks to that hidden save point, I can go from here to the next save point with just one random battle. And I will again use that random battle the same way I used that last one.
-Everyone gets an Elixir and sets up for self-KOing. In the last screen before the save orb--this really long walkway where a random battle will almost certainly happen--I get in a preemptive strike battle. Zidane self-KOs. I then wait for the monster to do something, it KOs Steiner. Freya and Quina self-KO and Zidane uses Flee.
-I save at the save orb.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save114.jpg
-After this, I revive everyone. Then I equip Zidane with the Ribbon, Freya with the Diamond Gloves and Diamond, and Steiner with the Diamond Gloves and Genji Armor. These three activate MP Attack, Distract and Devil Killer. Zidane activates Accuracy+, Freya and Steiner activate Body Temp, and Freya activates Cover. I then make my way to Kraken, no random battles. Quina stays the same.
-Kraken will counterattack like 90% of the time, and the counterattack from its two tentacles is far longer in animation that its own counterattack. Everyone except Quina is pretty much going to survive anything Kraken does. One of its moves is mass-Waterga, which will heal Zidane and KO Quina. Quina has Auto-Life, so if Quina can pull off two Limit Gloves, one against each arm, before going down permanently, I can make this go a lot faster.
-For a perfect game, the Genji Helmet must be stolen here. My equipment change was a little sloppy, but that was made up for by some pretty nice luck with Kraken. It only used Waterga twice, so Quina stayed alive for several more Limit Gloves than just two 2 I needed. The battle went pretty fast. The tentacles went down in two rounds, then Kraken used Waterga. After Quina went down once, s/he used Auto-Life before doing more Limit Gloves. Zidane stole the Genji Helmet. I was tempted to steal some of its other stuff, but didn't. I used Charge! twice, when Zidane got healed I just used physical attacks. Charge! is a waste without Zidane. Kraken only used Waterga once after that. Attacks and Limit Gloves and the battle is won.
-After the battle, I make my way up some more stair and to another save point.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save115.jpg

Lich
-Everyone reverts their equipment back to how it was against Maliris. Quina equips the Feather Boots. Everyone gives up Insomniac and equips Auto-Float. Steiner gives up Distract, and without the Rebirth Ring Quina has 12 spare stones. Everyone gets an Ether. Then I make my way to Lich.
-Oh poor Lich, weak against Holy. Freya is so going to rip you a new one. Lich can use Earthquake/Earth Shake, but with Auto-Float no one gets hurts. That and Lv. 5 Death are its only group attacks, and the latter will only hurt Freya. This will make for a fast battle.
-For a perfect game, the Genji Gloves must be stolen here. This is so sad, Freya's Holy Lance and Mythril Helm, each with Raise Holy Elem-Atk, are letting her attack for 9999 damage against Lich. I start with Zidane self-KOing, remember he was healed last battle. Then Lich uses Lv. 5 Death. Steiner and Quina both revive. Then Lich uses Earthquake. Zidane steals the Genji Gloves, Freya attacks, Steiner uses Charge! and Quina uses Limit Glove. Then Lich uses Earth Shake. This round looked similar to the last round, except Zidane attacked. Zidane's Charge! attack end this battle.
-And then....
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../EoFF/note.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...xcaliburII.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/save116.jpg

There's no real way to check if I got every single item that I was suppose to get. But I can check to see that I have all of the items necessary for perfect amounts of equipment and add-ons. I'll list them in order of how they are listed in the item list.

-8 Zorlin Shapes: 2 Zorlin Shapes + 2 Masamunes + 2 Sargatanas + 3 Thief Gloves - 1 auctioned Thief Gloves = 8
-5 Mythril Swords: 2 Mythril Swords + 3 Grand Armors = 5
-1 Blood Sword: I find 1 later as a Stellazio prize for 2 total.
-2 Diamond Swords
-2 Flame Swords
-2 Rune Swords
-1 Excalibur II :D
-2 Javelins: 2 Javelins + 1 Save the Queen = 3. I find another in Ipsen's Castle for 3 total.
-2 Tridents
-2 Heavy Lances
-2 Obelisks
-2 Mythril Claws
-2 Scissor Fangs
-2 Tiger Fangs: 1 is equipped to Amarant.
-5 Air Rackets: 3 Air Rackets + 3 Priest Rackets = 6. I find one in Ipsen's Castle for 6 total.
-2 Asura's Rods
-2 Fairy Flutes
-2 Hamelins: 1 is equipped to Eiko.
-2 Octagon Rods: 1 is equipped to Vivi.
-1 Silver Fork: I get one for catching frogs for 2 total.
-3 Silver Gloves: 3 Silver Gloves + 1 Save the Queen = 4. I find 1 in Lindblum for 4 total.
-2 Diamond Gloves: I find one with Choco, that makes 3 total.
-1 Genji Gloves: I find one with Choco, that makes 2 total.
-10 Bandanas: 7 Bandanas + 5 Silk Robes - 1 Silk Robe found - 1 Silk Robe from catching Frogs = 10.
-7 Green Berets
-6 Black Hoods
-3 Iron Helms
-1 Genji Helmet: I find one with Choco for 2 total.
-3 Leather Plates
-3 Chain Plates
-10 Mythril Vests: 7 Mythril Vests + 3 Brave Suits = 10.
-7 Judo Uniforms
-1 Silk Robe
-14 Chain Mail: 3 Chain Mail + 9 Power Belts + 3 Grand Helms - 1 Power Belt found = 14.
-3 Gold Armors
-3 Diamond Armors
-1 Genji Armor: I find 1 with Choco for 2 total.
-2 Running Shoes: I steal one from Hades and find 1 in Quan's Dwelling for 4 total.
-1 Power Belt
-1 Rebirth Ring: I find 1 with Choco for 2 total.
-1 Pumice Piece: I steal 1 from Ozma and find 1 with Choco for 3 total.
-1 Ribbon: I get 1 after buying Stiltzkin's last deal, I auction 1 and I find 1 with Choco for 4 total.
-3 Diamonds: I owe one to a friendly monster and I find 1 with Choco.
-2 Emeralds
-1 Moonstone: A friendly monster owes me 1 and I buy 1 from Stiltzkin for 3 total.
-1 Ruby: I buy 1 from Stiltzkin for 2 total.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/items1a.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/items2a.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/items3a.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/items4a.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/items5a.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...FF/items6a.jpg
-There are the 2 Dark Matters, Pumice Piece and Pumice from Ozma, the Dark Matter at the auction house, and the Duel Claws stolen from Deathguise left to get as far the the finite missable items go. Everything else is chocographs and stellazios and mini-games.

:choc2: :quina: :beer: :D CONGRATULATIONS:D :beer: :quina: :choc2:

Holy crap man! I just read through your entire process. That is unbelievable!

You deserve a medal or something for this accomplishment. I know for a fact I could never manage this. It's one thing to try and attempt some of the other FF9 challenges but this is just unreal. You must have insane patience.

Thanks for all that you have posted man. I hope you don't slack off now that you got the sword haha. Keep it going!

This topic is awesome lol. I feel like I went on the journey with you almost. It's great.

Thanks guys. It's been a lot of fun, thanks for your praise. And I'm not slacking off, I'm just attempting to do something for everyone's viewing pleasure. It might take a me a little while, but I'm definately not slackin goff, don't worry.

wow man,11:08=<3!!!congratulations man!!!^_^

Well done. With a grand total of 52 minutes to spare too!

I gotta play my FF9 again now, but my first disc is glitchy because my little brother borrowed it for a while. I gotta go pick it up and then do the toothpaste trick or something to get it working again. I wanna attempt one of these challenges. I think yours is too much for me, but Ive never tried doing it all with level 1 characters, or even getting the excalibur II

You got me motivated to at least play it again though :D

Awesome, man. Great job. Have fun finishing up, everything else should be stress-free.

Amazing...


EDIT: I have a question. What abilities do you learn from Excalibur II?

Stockbreak? Is it weaker than Climhazzard?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vivisteiner

Amazing...


EDIT: I have a question. What abilities do you learn from Excalibur II?

Stockbreak? Is it weaker than Climhazzard?

---

Excalibur II Attack: 108 Elem attack: Holy
Abilities: Minus Strike, Climhazzard, Stock Break

I cant remember what abilities stronger:rolleyes2

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cloud21zidane16

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vivisteiner

Amazing...


EDIT: I have a question. What abilities do you learn from Excalibur II?

Stockbreak? Is it weaker than Climhazzard?

---

Excalibur II Attack: 108 Elem attack: Holy
Abilities: Minus Strike, Climhazzard, Stock Break

I cant remember what abilities stronger:rolleyes2

---

Shock pretty much makes all of those abilities obsolete, except maybe Climhazzard if only because it's Steiner's strongest attack that deals damage to multiple targets.

This thread has spurred me to try this challenge. I've never actually bothered to do a challenge before, but I can only play FFIX so many times before I need to mix it up.

Nice job. Seriously, this is the most awesome thing I've ever seen on any FF. You are going to try and beat Ozma as well, correct?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cloud21zidane16

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vivisteiner

Amazing...


EDIT: I have a question. What abilities do you learn from Excalibur II?

Stockbreak? Is it weaker than Climhazzard?

---

Excalibur II Attack: 108 Elem attack: Holy
Abilities: Minus Strike, Climhazzard, Stock Break

I cant remember what abilities stronger:rolleyes2

---

Climhazzard is slightly stronger than Stock Break, though Shock usually does 9,999 damage. But when playing as Beatrix, I've noticed that Climhazzard also has the best damage to mp cost ratio, so you should use it more than her other abilities.

Beating Ozma is the only way to do the following:

1. Get the last two Dark Matters so that you can have all 3
2. Get the 3rd Pumice Piece
3. Get a Pumice without synthesizing one from 2 Pumice Pieces, so that you can keep all 3 Pumice Pieces and still have a Pumice
4. Get the Strategy Guide key item.
5. Get the Ozma Card

So yes, I will be beating Ozma. But with characters in the 70s that have received max stats along the way, it won't be a big deal. However, when I beat Ozma I'm going to have to steal a Dark Matter and Pumice Piece and have it drop both a Dark Matter and Pumice, which is the only way to get all of the items from it.

Climhazzard is usually stronger than Stock Break. Stock Break can be stronger if the enemy is weak against the element of Steiner's sword, but only his sword, other equipment's Raise Elem-Atk won't increase Stock Break's power. However, if using the Excalibur II and getting max stats, at around level 70 they will both be doing 9999 damage.

Wow go you, thats a brilliant achievement!!

It's genius is it's simplicity:

YouTube - FF9PGWSF 64 - Desert Palace

And yes, this is me doing this video.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SeeDRankLou

It's genius is it's simplicity:

YouTube - FF9PGWSF 64 - Desert Palace

And yes, this is me doing this video.

---

I gave it 5 stars:)

Hey.

Just to tell you that I used your thread as a LVL1 Game Walkthrough and it worked great. Also, your Desert Palace video inspired me to do a perfect game. Well, rather inperfect game, i'll skip quite a lot of things to get Excalibur II, since I'm not half as good as you/1whoistornapart/Atomos199/insert a pro player here, and having only PSOne doesn't make things easier.

I finished with my videos.

Final Fantasy IX Perfect Game with FMVs Playlist

Feel free to watch them at your leisure. You don't have to comment or anything like that if you don't want to.

Now that I've done that, I can continue doing the rest of it.

5/5! im gonna start watching them when i get the time:)
Well done again:up:

And so my perfect game continues:

PG Leftovers 1 - Chests and Field Icons

PG Leftovers 2 - Stellazzio Coins
PG Leftovers 3 - Catching Frogs, Round 1
PG Leftovers 4 - Preparing To Level Up
You're Not Alone! (How I Wanted It To Go)