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 
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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
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