Abilities?

[UltimaLimit]

OK, three questions.

1) I'm missing several abilities and can't seem to find the items that teach them. (I don't have Firaga, Thundaga, or Blizzaga, for instance.) Also, I'm missing items that I need to synth in places like Black Mage Village--items that I've never even heard of. Do one-time-only places like Terra sell items/skills that you can't get anywhere else, because I'm starting to think that's the case.

2) How does Guardian Mog protect Eiko? And how does Gamble Defense work, and how effective is it?

3) How does Level Up work? I know that when one character is disabled at the end of the battle, the EXP/AP they would have gotten is instead split between the other characters. Does Level Up siphon off some of the other characters' EXP gain to give it to whoever has it equipped?

I'd appreciate it if you guys could answer this, especially since I'm working on a new file and don't want to miss any exclusive equipment (again).

[Alexander]

OK, three questions.

1) I'm missing several abilities and can't seem to find the items that teach them. (I don't have Firaga, Thundaga, or Blizzaga, for instance.) Also, I'm missing items that I need to synth in places like Black Mage Village--items that I've never even heard of. Do one-time-only places like Terra sell items/skills that you can't get anywhere else, because I'm starting to think that's the case.

Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga - You buy at Daguerreo/Esto Gaza ONLY IN DISC 3. And Terra's items can be bought at Daguerreo on Disc 4.
Ah some items from Black Mage Village Disc 4 are from side-qests, like Dragon's Claw.

2) How does Guardian Mog protect Eiko? And how does Gamble Defense work, and how effective is it?

Two questions that I wanna know the answer too.

3) How does Level Up work? I know that when one character is disabled at the end of the battle, the EXP/AP they would have gotten is instead split between the other characters. Does Level Up siphon off some of the other characters' EXP gain to give it to whoever has it equipped?

Level Up gives the character with it 33% more EXP, not altering others' EXP. The numbers don't change though, but yoou can easliy notice the extra EXP. And Ability Up gives you Double AP. Simple, huh?
On, and the AP isn't splitted when a character can't get it. It is same same, always. Only EXP is splitted.

I'd appreciate it if you guys could answer this, especially since I'm working on a new file and don't want to miss any exclusive equipment (again).

Well... I did my best XD

[boris no no]

i think that gardien mog hightens magic defence...i may be wrong

[sayen]

gardian mog makes ekio absorb ether holy or shadow damage cant rember which is why its ok the use doomsday if she has it equipped
doomsday + summon phionix = loads a damge to anything not immune to fire or shadow.

why is my garnet immune to holy?

[Sepho]

1) The -Aga spells are learned by the Octagon Rod, which can first be purchased at Esto Gaza (as has been mentioned). However, don't get the wise idea (like I did) to get an Ocean Chocobo as soon as you can, and then go to Esto Gaza. You might as well do the chocobo sidequest anyway, but even if you manage to get to Esto Gaza before, the Octagon Rod and equally powerful equipment won't become available for purchase until the main story takes you there ((SPOILER)When Kuja takes the kidnapped Eiko there, and you must follow him).

2) Gamble Defense is an ability, which takes effect at random, that increases the equipee's defense a small amount for one enemy attack. It only takes 1 AP to use, and I just treated it as an ability to equip when I had one AP left over.

why is my garnet immune to holy?

Likely because she is wearing a piece of equipment that reduces Holy elemental damage by 100%.

Doomsday can be a wonderful spell if you can find equipment for all characters that absorbs Shadow elemental damage. If you can, Doomsday can, at the same time, cause heavy damage against all enemies (and there are few enemies in the game that are strong against, or absorb Shadow elemental damage), while healing a great amount of HP to each party member.

[UltimaLimit]

Or you could use Doomsday Sword with Steiner if you can't find the right equipment. But then you only hit one monster.

Thanks for the help. I can inflict max damage with the level 2 spells and Auto-Reflect x4, but it's frustrating to be missing abilities. Apparently I didn't have enough Gil to shell out for the stuff I missed in Terra; that's the only reason I can imagine why I'd overlook it.

I find the Chocobo sidequest to be tedious, but I'll read some FAQs and give it another shot.

[Mirage]

Level up gives you 50% more experience, not 33%.

[sayen]

1)

Likely because she is wearing a piece of equipment that reduces Holy elemental damage by 100%.

.

its not the equipment cause i put on all the realy weak stuff to fight trance kuja 2 and necron and i was still garded from his holy attack why and if so where can i get the thing again. and where can you get shadow absorbing armur cause i just use reflect of phionix after ekio survives from the gardian mog ability.

[Sepho]

I can't think of any other reason that a character would be an immune to an elemental attack, other than that character has a piece of equipment that gives them that defense. Even if the armor is weak in stats, that doesn't mean that it can't have an ability like a null elemental damage. Try pressing Select during the equip screen to make sure.

Equipment that absorbs Shadow (information taken straight from the FF9 section of the EoFF main site, which I suspect many people often forget even exists):

Body:
- Demon Mail
- Ninja Gear (which I believe can be bought after the events in Terra, and can be equipped by many party members)

Accessory:
- Pumice Piece (which also absorbs Holy, though granted, you'll likely not have a Pumice Piece lying around if you plan on getting the Ark Eidolon, unless you fight and defeat Ozma).

Below is equipment that nullifies shadow elemental attacks (reduces damage by 100%, but absorbs nothing):

Armlets:
- Eogist's Armlet

[Alexander]

Level up gives you 50% more experience, not 33%.

It always looked like 33%, and the Yan's FAQ on GameFAQs says 33% too o_O

[Sepho]

I'll second that. I always paid close attention, and I was pretty sure that it didn't look like I was getting quite 1 1/2 times the amount.

To use the Grand Dragon for example - because I've fought hundreds of them over the years and the numbers that appear at the end of every battle are permanently imprinted into my brain - they give a four character party a base amount of a tweensy bit over 8800 experience per character, and I've counted many times that party members with the Level Up ability equipped receive not quite 1200 experience in comparison. That works out to be closer to 33% than 50%.

[Alexander]

and Guardian Mog? What the hell does Guardian Mog do?

[sayen]

and Guardian Mog? What the hell does Guardian Mog do?

gaurds from shadow damage duh i said that already.

[SoftReset]

"2) How does Guardian Mog protect Eiko? And how does Gamble Defense work, and how effective is it?"

If Eiko is inflicted with a status ailment during battle, something like Virus, Guardian Mog will remove it when the exp screen comes up.

Gamble Defense...dunno, haven't tested it yet.

"It always looked like 33%, and the Yan's FAQ on GameFAQs says 33% too o_O"

The Yans guide? Last updated: 04/05/02, there's your problem. We have a ton of guides that go years without an update. The worst part is, if I were to write a full-walkthrough for FFIX with everything I know it would probably be rejected for oversaturation since there are so many guides up already, even if some of them do contain inaccurate info. People rush to write FAQs for games when they're new, and sometimes they forget about them.

"...and I've counted many times that party members with the Level Up ability equipped receive not quite 1200 experience in comparison. That works out to be closer to 33% than 50%."

If everyone lives, without Level Up they'll get 8802 exp each. With Level Up they'll get 13203 exp each, which is 8802 + 50%.

Try it yourself if you don't believe me.

[SoftReset]

...I should add that there's no animation or anything for Guardian Mog.

If she has a status ailment after the fight is won it'll just be gone when the Exp/Gil screen comes up, that's all.