Just started and have some questions

I've just started to play FFVI as I need something to do during the Christmas holidays and I have a few questions regarding the game.

1) Who is the main character, Locke or Terra? Or does this game not have a main character?
2) Which characters should I focus on leveling up? I looked the manual and saw them all and I was quite taken aback by the sheer number of characters in this game. Surely not all of them are worth training all the way?
3) How do Limit Breaks work on this game? I assume they go under a different name, but I'm sure you'll know what I mean.
4) How long will I have to wait before I obtain my first Esper?

Please keep spoilers to a minimum, or mark them. I want to be able to play the game through at least once without having anything spoilt. Thanks.

1. Multiple choice. Pick your favorite.
2. Your favorites.
3. When your really low on HP, theres a random chance they'll do a special attack.
4 Can't say. Depends on how fast you get to the point. Assume ?7? hours.

Re: limit breaks

Just be aware that they are exceedingly rare. Your hit points must be critically low, and then you must use the normal attack command, not any of the special moves you would otherwise almost always use. There is a small chance to get one, far less than that in FF8, and you won't know until they do it.

Critical Attacks won't work if you're using the gengi glove or the offering acessories either. Just has to be a normal fight command. I'm not sure about the gauntlet (I never use them). I've played through the game at least 4-6 times and I don't think I've seen all of the critical attacks... in other words do not rely on them.

The main character in the story is debatable, every character is developped fairly significantly and many of their stories are intertwined. Like it was stated before, pick your favorite characters and use them. There are points in the game where having a certain character in your party will trigger a special event, so if you play with your favorite characters they will be developped more.

You need to form three parties for the final bosses lair, usually 12 characters, so develop the ones you like the most (you can get 14). I tried to answer your questions without giving much away from the game.

arguably the main character is Terra cuz she is directly linked to some major plot elements. but it really could be anyone.

You won't have to worry too much about choosing a party for the first 1/3 of the game or so, as the plot is fairly linear. Once you get a choice, just figure out which guys have abilities that you like, and use them. There are a few points where 1-2 party members are "forced" but you can just fill the remaining slots with your favorites and you'll be fine.

First esper, it kinda depends how fast you play but it's after about 8-10 major plot elements so perhaps 6-8 hours (maybe).

Every character is failry well developed. Maybe there's an exception or two. But even still, the game has lots of plots for each character.
I'd consider the main character either Terra, Locke, Celes, Edgar, Sabin, Cyan, The Old Man, his daughter, Shadow, Setzer, the kid, or maybe Mog. But it might be somebody else.
Maybe the main character is Kefka.

Limit breaks are a rare treat. Nothing you should try to create though. I went through the game and only saw it once or twice.

Level up your favorite characters. It's more fun that way. But the game will put you into multiple party situations. So you can't just have 4 ultra strong dudes. Otherwise, when you have 3 parties in a dungeon, it's hard to decide which of the four characters has to stay with which of the 8 crappy ones. ;)
I have a feeling that you'll find it perfectly enjoyable to play with and level nearly all of your dudes.

I'm going to advise you to level up more than just your favorites. There are certain points in the game where you are literally using several parties at once, and if most of the characters are at least at some kind of decent level, it goes a little easier.

Also, Umaro is cool. Throwing children at things is cool. That is all.

Thanks for your help. Something else just sprang to mind - which characters do you use the most? Everyone has said I should use my favourites and I want to find out if there are any common favourites that everyone uses.

Except for Gau and Mog, I use the characters evenly throughout the game. I use the lowerst leveled person to keep a balance.

My favorite Characters are Terra and Celes.

I'll do a quick run-through of the characters. The order is somewhat by appearance, somewhat being as memory serves.

Terra: Terra is an exceptional fighter and magic user, and one of the two who can use magic early on. Later on she gains the ability to Morph, which can increase the power of her spells. She, too, can equip the ultimate weapons, and is an all-around good character to use.
Locke: Special ability is stealing from enemies, which can be useful. This can be upgraded to capture, where he steals and attacks. Locke is a fun character with quite a bit of a backstory. He is one of the four characters who can use the ultimate weapons, and is a pretty good fighter.
Edgar: Edgar is a good character early on because of his "Tools" command. He can use his tools to inflict heavy damage on either a group of enemies, or on one enemy at a time. Edgar can also equip the ultimate weapons, but I tend to be less inclined to give them to him as I prefer to use his tools instead and let someone else take the weapons.
Sabin: Sabin is an interesting character. He is a strong fighter, and his special ability is "Blitz", which allows you to unleash a special attack if you imput the right button combination. If you are skilled at using his Blitzes, Sabin is a good character to use, although his single-attack Blitzes target randomly which might make him seem somewhat less useful.
Celes: The forth character to be able to use the Ultimate weapons and the other character that can use magic at the beginning of the game, Celes, like Terra, has good statistics all around. Her special ability is Runic, which allows her to absorb magic attacks and gain MP based on the cost of the magic spell that was used, but she must have a sword equipped to use this ability.
Shadow: Shadow is a ninja, with good power behind his attacks and two rather interesting abilities. One ability is a completely random effect, his dog, Interceptor, will block an attack that targets Shadow, and then come out and attack an enemy for a good amount of damage. Shadow's actual ability is to throw items, there are several special "throwable" items that you can purchase, and just about any weapon you have can be thrown. Shadow can do a great deal of damage, so long as you can afford to purchase the materials for him to throw.
Cyan: Cyan is a Knight who can employ the Swordtech ability. A bar much akin to the ATB will begin to charge and depending on the number, Cyan will unleash a certain attack. As with Sabin, the target of the attack is completely randomized. Cyan has good physical strength behind him, but his attacks can be somewhat time-consuming.
Gau: Gau is an interesting character. He can "leap" onto certain enemies while in the Veldt. When he returns, he learns their abilities. In battle, Gau cannot employ normal attacks, he instead chooses a "Rage", in which he mimics the attacks of a certain enemy. Gau attacks randomly and automatically, when Raging you have no control over Gau.
Setzer: Setzer is a gambling man, and as such his special ability should come as no surprise. Setzer's "Slots" ability allows him to unleash several different attacks, depending on the result of the slot. Some of Setzer's attacks can be quite powerful, and some mimic the attacks of an esper. Setzer's slot has one fatal combination that is all but unheard of, but if you do happen to get it, you will lose immediately. It is an extremely rare occurence, however, and is not something to worry about. There is an item that allows Setzer to throw Gil instead of using his slots, and the damage dealt is the amount of Gil lost.
Mog: Mog is a moogle that has somehow learned to communicate with humans. His special ability is to Dance. Mog learns a dance by fighting within different parts of the map. When Mog begins to dance, he will act randomly and automatically, much like Gau while Raging. Mog's dances are all terrain-based, if you try to use a dance on a terrain other than the one that Mog is on there is a chance that he will stumble and fail to begin the dance. Dancing always works on the proper terrain. If Mog successfully uses a dance of a different terrain, the background terrain will change for that battle.
Strago: Strago is a crotchety old man who can master the attacks of monsters and use them with his "Lore" ability. If Strago sees an attack, he will learn it after the battle, though I believe he may need to be alive at the end to use it, someone else can correct me on this. Strago is good with Magic, and certain Lores, like the infamous Grand Train, are quite useful.
Relm: Relm is a young girl with the ability to cause her paintings to come to life. Relm can use her Sketch ability to sketch a monster of your choice. If the Sketch succeeds, Relm will mimic one of the monster's attacks. An item will allow Relm to take control of a monster instead of Sketch it. Relm tends to work well with Strago because she can sketch or control a monster and make it use an attack that Strago can learn. Relm's Sketch has been known to glitch, which makes some people disinclined to use her. Speaking from firsthand experience here, when I attempted to sketch the Red Dragon in the Phoenix Cave while it was invisible I suddenly received insane amounts of Dirks, 75 Illuminas, about 100 Paladin Shields, 8 Atma Weapons, and a large assortment of other useful items. This was on a cartridge game and attempting to duplicating it might not be the best of ideas, but be forwarned that the game can become messed up through the use of sketch.
Umaro: Umaro is a massive sasquatch that acts fully autonomously at all times. He is strong, he doesn't use magic, and there are two items that can add more attacks to his repetoire, but all of his attacks are random.
Gogo: Gogo is a rather interesting character. He has the ability to Mimic people, copying the attack that was performed before his. The interesting thing about him, however, is the fact that, by going into his status menu, you can give him any special ability that another of your characters possesses, which gives him a great deal of versatility. If you give him the magic ability, he will have the combined spells of the other three members of your party, but he cannot equip Espers which means he will not get the stat bonuses other members do.

Hope that helps!

I tend not to use Gau, Umaro, and Mog, because I don't like berserkers. However, I don't take Umaro and Gogo to the final dungeon because they don't add anything to the plot there (everyone else has a small bit)

You could argue that the first half of the game revolves around Terra, and the second half around Celes.

The odds of getting a limit break while you have low life is 1/32 or so, and they're not powerful enough to justify leaving your characters that weak.

Don't abuse the Relm sketch bug. On the cart, it could just as likely erase your saves and crash your game as give you free items, it's not at all worth it.

Actually, the thing to do with Mog, Gau and Umaro is as follows.

Use them ALL in a party, and put Cyan in. While Cyan charges up for Quadra Slice or whatever move you want, Gau Umaro and Mog wreak havoc upon the enemies.

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Originally Posted by Darkness

2) Which characters should I focus on leveling up? I looked the manual and saw them all and I was quite taken aback by the sheer number of characters in this game. Surely not all of them are worth training all the way?

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Leveling Celes up will prove quite useful later on in the game.

I have to argue that Terra is the main character. Her theme plays when roaming the overworld. You start with her and she stays until (SPOILER)the split scenarios. I've also heard she joins you at the end whether you get her or not. She also triggers much of the story in the first half. Celes could take over in the third quarter, but near the end, you can use anyone. So, Celes is it in the (SPOILER)Opera House and start of the second half. Terra has most of the first half.

In response to question #2, I'd say that you should try to level up Sabin, Edgar, Terra or Celes, and Locke.

Sabin is incredibly strong and has is very useful Blitz tech.

Edgar is also fairly strong and has the Tools command (which includes the very useful Chainsaw)

Terra and Celes are useful for magic and healing

And Locke is good because he can steal and can get the very powerful sword Illumina (which I think is the best weapon in the game)

I've decided to use Terra, Celes, Locke and Edgar. This is only a preliminary team and may be subject to change as I experience the various characters for myself.

The most recent question I have is regarding the battle againt Kefka and his goons on the Narshe mountains. I have to divide into 3 teams, 2 of 2 and 1 of 3. Who should I place in each team and which should challenge Kefka? To refresh your memories I have the choice of Locke, Terra, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Cyan and Gau.

Thanks for all your help, it has been much appreciated.

If you put Edgar and Sabin together, they'll own, but you'll be wanting some healing.

Locke and Terra and Celes will also reap havoc.

Cyan and Gau are pretty tough, but you'll wish that Celes was on their team too. :)

The big decision is whether you give Celes to Cyan and Gau (Who need it more for finishing since Gau probably isn't very powerful yet) or whtehr you give her to Terra and Locke (Because you might want to have Locke steal tonics. Also, they are capable of being defeated faster without a 3rd.)

That's my experience. But really, that was a pretty hard part of the game, if I remember it accurately.

On that battle I usually divide it 4-2-1 and use the team of 4 to attack everything; it's a lot easier that way. It varies as to who I pick for it.

And, yes, the "limit breaks" are commonly known actually as desperation attacks, because their HP has to be in the very critical levels.

Actually, it's all up to you, I loved Cyan, and in fact could beat the entire game using only him. You only need to level up 4 characters really. Even when you split parties, you can have on group with the moogle charm, making no random attacks, and the other groups have 2 of your good characters.

My best party was Cyan, Sabin, Edgar, and Gogo my first time through, the only thing that changed was Gogo rotated out for some other character. But the best weapons aren't that special anyways, considering Edgar does max with chainsaw, sabin does max with bum rush, and Cyan does max with dispatch (level 1 swd tech).

Good trick with Cyan though is to teach him quick (spell) and use it, he'll get 2 attacks without anyone being able to do anything, so he can fill his swd tech bar to 7 without anything happening. That trick works, and then of course he can attack a third time, in which case you use quick again, and he can beat the enemy without ever getting hit. And if you're running low on MP, cause the spell costs 99, just drain it from the enemy with one of your turns. I literally never got hit on the final boss using this trick!

I've just completed the Esper hunt in Thamasa and am wondering if Relm would make a good mage if I dedicated her to the learning/use of magic. I've heard she has the highest Magic stat, and if I kept her in the back row she should be pretty good. The rest of my team is comprised of Terra, Celes and Locke. Should I train Relm or look for someone else more physical-oriented?

Another question, this time about the AtmaWeapon. In it's description it says it 'transforms at a level up'. What does this mean? At the moment it raises Battle Power to 255 but I'm weary of equipping it in case it 'transforms' and becomes utterly useless. Could someone please explain this? Thanks

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Originally Posted by Darkness

Another question, this time about the AtmaWeapon. In it's description it says it 'transforms at a level up'. What does this mean? At the moment it raises Battle Power to 255 but I'm weary of equipping it in case it 'transforms' and becomes utterly useless. Could someone please explain this? Thanks

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It doesn't get weaker, the longer you use it the bigger and stronger it gets.
so start using it now

I never used Relm. Mostly because her special ability is mostly a piece of crap. (and apparently really buggy as well) If you've got two magic users, that's probably plenty. Throw in someone else that can pack a punch, because locke isn't too good at that:) (shadow or sabin would be a good choice probably)

Make sure you keep switching out espers though. That is one of the most important things to do (I'm not sure if you've got any yet, but when the time comes) They're your way to levels, and when you've learned all the spells and don't need a bonus, give it to someone else. And when you have all the spells/abilities/whatnot learned, don't try too much to round out your characters. You can do that easily enough with equipment and picking the right people (you have like a million people in your party anyways) So yeah, be wise in your esper choosing.

Yea, I think I've got the Esper thing pretty much figured out. I've got a full page up to Bismark, then one I picked up in Tzen (weird angel that cures the party). Is there any way of making the Magicite appear at the Jidoor auction house? All I ever get is Cherub Down, and once, a talking Chocobo. Hmmm...

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Originally Posted by rubah

shadow or sabin would be a good choice probably

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I don't have Shadow at the moment, he disappered after Thamasa. I'll probably keep Relm for the time being, at least until I complete the Floating Continent, then if I decide she's no good I'll go for Sabin or Edgar, or maybe even Cyan (havn't used him in ages, not since the Phantom Forest).

Thanks for clearing up the AtmaWeapon thing.

IMPORTANT FLOATING CONTINENT NOTE!!!!

(SPOILER)Remember to wait for Shadow. If you do not wait for him, he will die and you will never be able to get him on your team in the World of Ruin.

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Originally Posted by Me

Is there any way of making the Magicite appear at the Jidoor auction house?

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Don't worry about this question. After I posted this I went upstairs and loaded my game, went into the auction house and decided to bet. First item to appear...Golem! Second item to appear...ZoneSeek! What a coincidence...

Thanks for the Shadow tip, I always tend to panic when there's a time limit and get out as fast as possible. Well, not this time!

In regards to which characters you should level up....

It's weird because each character has a fixed class such as thief, ninja, blue mage, monk, etc. but you can also customize them using accesories and magicite.

Accesories can alter your stats and give protection from various elements and statuses as in other FF games, but in this one they can even give you new abilities, such as the Dragoon Boots which give you the Jump command in battle. With magicite, you automatically give the person equipped with the magicite a summon spell, plus that character will start learning spells from the magicite and even get attribute bonuses at level ups! Really you can make anyone incredibly powerful if you work at it, even if they're a total weakling when you first get them, but some characters are overpowered right from the getgo.

Sabin learns new Blitz techniques all the time, and there's no penalty for using them such as MP cost, and they wind up doing QUITE a bit of damage! All you have to do is input a simple button command which you'll rarely if ever mess up.

Cyan's SwdTech command is even more lazy as all you have to do is wait for a bar to charge up to the appropriate level. Sure you might get hit once or twice while waiting, but it doesn't take long and it's easy to do tons of damage at a comparitively early point.

Edgar's Tool command is cheaper still since you just need to select the appropriate tool from a menu. No MP cost or anything, and many of the tools are VERY effective.

Shadow's Throw command is expensive sometimes, but his throwing specific weapons are highly effective.


There are other characters in the game who are less cheap but can still be potentially VERY powerful.

Strago learns the techniques of monsters by having the monster use the ability on him. It takes a while to learn all the abilities (especially the good ones), but many of them are very potent, such as Bad Breath, a true FF classic.

Setzer's Slot ability is literally a total gamble. He has a lot of powerful abilities that the slot machine can activate, but most of the time it'll only earn you a losing spin, which heals your party slightly. there's also an excessively rare chance that the ability will kill your party, but I've NEVER seen this happen, and I've played the game a LOT. He can find an accesory that turns Slot into GP Rain (called Spare Change in later games), but I can't reccomend that attack, since it's more expensive and less effective than just about every other ability in the game.

Mog's Dance ability is a lot like Rinoa's Angel Wing. It's effective but random. The "Dance" is a set of abilities that calls on the powers of the environment. Some of these are very powerful (instant death, high damage & poison, etc.), but some are worse than his regular attack. You learn Dances by fighting in a new environment.

Gau is a really odd and unique character in the FF series. He's somewhere between a Blue Mage and a Berserker. He learns the sets of attacks of various monsters by leaping onto them on his homeland The Veldt, which contains all monsters you've previously defeated. By doing this you can learn many of the powerful attacks you've had used against you thus far, but it's a long and tiresome process to get them all. Once you learn a monster's abilities, you use them by selecting "Rage", which makes Gau do nothing but attack as that monster would. This means when he's the last one alive and has 20 HP left and you've got many pheonix downs and a few megalixirs, you can't do anything about that.


The rest of the characters seem comparitively underpowered by comparison, but you can tweak them to make them indispensible.

Terra doesn't have any special abilities for a good long time, and when you finally get it, it's not very good. Her ability is called Morph and she changes into an alternate form which multiplies her magical powers. If you give her lots of black magic she'll pack a punch, but she won't stay in this form for long unless you use it often.

Celes's ability is to absorb enemy spells and convert them into MP. In this sense she is the ultimate defense against magic enemies, and as such should be crafted to best take advantage of this. With an ever replenishing store of MP, she can cast very powerful spells often. However, she has to do this when NOT defending against magic attacks.

Locke is a thief. Like all thieves he has decent attack power and is fast. He can also steal things. He also has two Relics that make his steal ratio go up and do damage when he steals. This sounds very good, but if you have him in a party with Cyan, Sabin and Edgar, he suddenly seems weak by comparison. He can be stuck in the back row since the damage from Mug isn't affected by row and given more defense oriented spells to compensate, and steal often, since it's really his most unique and special talent.

Relm is what's called a "Pictomancer". Her "sketch" command essentially replicates a monster's attack. Using this you can do very powerful moves back at an opponent such as Bad Breath. You won't be able to pick which attack is used though, and there's another major problem. Most enemies frequently attack in ways that they're strong in. Fire enemies use fire attacks, which would only heal them if used against them. The fake moustache relic changes her "Sketch" command to "Control", which is just what it sounds like. You pick a monster, then pick which attack you want it to use, then you pick the target to use it on. This bears the same problem, but it lets you be more selective in how you use her. It's a very cool idea on paper, but she's difficult to see as a great asset in battle. She has a few other saving graces, but they're almost spoilers...


And what's the valuable lesson to learn here? Apparently it's that chicks are the least useful people of all..... Oh Square, you so crazy...

I've decided on a main party of Celes, Edgar, Sabin/Locke and Terra. I might swap someone for Gogo depending on the effectiveness of Mimic (I'm thinking Ultima, Gem Box and Mimic will come in very handy later). As I'm on the topic of Gem Box, I discovered a little trick while in the Tower of Fanatics. Equip all party members with a Wall Ring (Auto-Reflect) and enter a battle. When in battle select an elemental magic and cast it against all members of your party (press right (->) then R1 to select all). The magic will bounce off each person onto the enemies. If there is only one enemy they will get hit 4 times with the same spell, meaning the damage is quadruepled! (sp?) I also used this method against Phunbaba with Bio. He died in once everyone had had one turn (I only had three people, Celes, Terra and Sabin. Celes and Terra each hurt 9,999, Sabin dealt around 7,000 damage). Could you tell me which magics cannot be reflected? I really don't want to kil my whole team in one go.

It's not quite quadrupled, since the damage of a reflected spell is reduced. But yes, it's a nice trick, and it can do a ton of damage.

I'm fairly sure Ultima, Meteor, and Merton can not be reflected (and presumeably neither can Whirlwind, but I never use that spell so I don't know). I'm not sure on Flare, Pearl, or the Gravity spells. Maybe someone else can help. I have NO clue on what Blue Magic can be reflected.