The game begins with a series of overlapping FMV cinematics. A woman and her kid steering a boat across a body of water and during weather conditions it clearly was not meant to endure, a sad looking princess in a castle, a black mage staring wide-eyed at literally everything (I have no idea if it is out of excitement or not, since its a seemingly fixed expression), and an airship flying towards a castle. What does any of this mean? Well, you're going to (eventually) find out, because you've just started Final Fantasy IX, one of the best entries in the series. Whereas Final Fantasy VI moved to a steam-punk/industrial setting from the medieval settings of its predecessors, and whereas Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII were cyber-punk/modern settings, Final Fantasy IX is a return to the medieval setting of past entries, but with also somewhat of a steam-punk vibe. I'm actually impressed Square manage to pull it off.
After all of the intro-cinematics are over, you will find yourself in a pitch-black room. The player character will light a match, giving you an area of illumination roughly the size of a leprechaun's testicle. If you head forwards a question mark will appear over your head in front of a table with a lamp on it. Interact with it to light the lamp, lighting up the whole room. A voice from another room will demand to know who is there, where upon you find out that this guy's default name is Zidane. Upon selecting a name, the owner of the voice and some others run out of the next room and it turns out to be your friends/colleagues. However, you are then interrupted by a large figure with a dragon head, prompting a forced encounter.
Let me be clear. If you somehow die and get a game over here, then that would make you the biggest n00b of all time. All you have to do is just attack, and, eventually, the dragon head will split open, revealing it is just some fat guy who had a mask on. Turns out this guy is somehow your boss? OK. Anyway, after 'defeating' him, you'll follow him into the other room. Essentially, Zidane, et al. are members of Tantalus, a group of bandits for hire. Your job is to put on a performance of the play 'I Want to be Your Canary', and then use the distraction to kidnap Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII. Hardly a noble quest, but then, $20.00 is $20.00, right? During the finale, Zidane and Blank are to sneak into the castle. Blank is to provide some kind of distraction involving Oglops (some kind of insect?) and Zidane is to nab the princess, and then haul arsehole back to their airship, the Prima Vista.
You will then gain control of the young black mage from the intro cinematic, who has come to Alexandria to see the play, 'I Want to Be Your Canary', that is being performed by Tantalus, i.e. the group of bandits who have secretly been hired to kidnap Princess Garnet. Anyway, once you gain control of him, you should find a potion directly to your left. However, when you make your way up the street, you will quickly get knocked over by some rat kid, who will then blame you. A second potion will be in another doorway on the left up ahead. However, instead of continuing ahead just yet, turn around and head back to where you started and into the next area.
You should now find yourself in some kind of town square. In the bottom-left corner, you will find a Zombie card. If you then head to the top-left corner of the statue in the middle, you will find a third potion. If you then head all the way to the top of screen, so that your character is obscured by the statue, you should find a Lizard Man card. You should also find a Sahagin card in the doorway at the top-left of the screen. If you return to the street you started on, enter the house on the right. If you inspect the bed, you should find 9 gil, and if you inspect the table to the right of the ladder, you should find yet another potion. If you then climb the ladder and inspect the chest of drawers, you will find a Fang card.
Head back out to the street, and then head all the way north. There should be a brief scene where some guy leads a bunch of nobles onward. In this next screen, inspect the bottom-right corner to find 33 gil. If you then inspect the bottom-left corner, near the hippo guy, you should find a Goblin card. You will then want to enter the tavern in the middle. If you inspect the table in the bottom-left corner, you should find a Flan card by the stool at the bottom. If you go around, and then inspect the same table from the north, you should then find 27 gil on the ground. Finally, you can find another potion in the bottom-right corner.
Exit back out onto the street and head left. In this area should be a doorway on the right leading into an item shop. Inside, you should find 38 gil in the bottom-right corners (since the building is at an angle, this correlates to the furthest you can go to the bottom of the screen. Go back out to the street, and then head up to reach another town square. Walk up to the booth in the centre, and the screen should change to a close-up of said booth. Talk to the ticket master, and he will discover that the ticket you bought is a fake. However, to cheer you up, he does give you a couple of cards: a Goblin card, a Fang card, and a Skeleton card. He will also tell you to look for someone named 'Alleyway Jack', who can explain how to play FFIX's card game, Tetra Master, in more detail.
If you to the area behind the ticket booth, there should be a Phoenix Pinion across the path from the hippo kid. There should be a Synthesis Shop on the far-right of the square, inside of which you should be able to find an Ether on the right side of the store. On the left hand side of the screen in the main square will be some girls playing jump-rope. This is one of two opportunities you have to play this mini-game. Whilst the 'prizes' aren't exactly all that great, you will need to reach 1,000 jumps without tripping, as there are two achievements tied to this mini-game. One for reaching 100 jumps and the second for reaching 1,000 jumps.
This wasn't so bad on the PS1 version of FFIX, but it is substantially harder on the Steam version, it seems. However, with that said, there are ways of making this easier. For starters, on the Steam version, simply clicking on the exclamation mark is enough to make our black mage friend jump. Moreover, doing so apparently doesn't require you to match the timing perfectly, either. Now, you CAN make use of an auto-clicker, since you basically have to keep at it for 5-8 minutes. Whether or not you want to is up to you. Anyway, the prizes are as follows: 10 gil (for 20 jumps), a Cactus card (for 50 jumps), a Genji card (for 100 jumps), an Alexandria card (for 200 jumps), a Tiger Racket card (for 300 jumps), and the 'King of Jump Rope' (for 1,000 jumps). Completing this mini-game will net you:
Anyway, once this arduous task has been completed, head to the left into an alley. Your character will trip and fall over (again), resulting in this sign-maker dude climbing down his ladder and berating the kid for 'making' him miss his hammer stroke. After he fixes his own mistake, he will promptly bugger off somewhere. This is where the rat kid shows up again. He will ask you about your fake ticket, and then offer to get you in to see the play if you promise to be his 'slave'. In order to continue on with the story, you will have to choose yes, but before you do so, choose no. Head across to the opposite side of the alley from where you entered and into the next area.
The first house on the left should have some Eye Drops inside, on the left side of the house. Exit and continue down. The next building on the left should be some kind of chapel. You can find a tent just to the left, and a potion on the right side of the screen. Climb the bell tower and ring the bell. Doing so should reveal a hidden 'stash' consisting of: an Ironite card, a Goblin card, and a Fang card. Head back to the town square and then re-enter the alley. Speak with rat kid and acquiesce to his ridiculous request.
He will ask you to stand as a look-out. When he asks you, tell him the coast is clear, and he will nab the ladder and run off with it. Now, at this time, a random bloke should enter the Alley. This is Alleyway Jack. You can either speak to him to learn about cards or not, but be quick about it, because if you just stand there then he will rob you. Anyway, eventually, you are going to want to follow rat-kid to the chapel in the next screen. Enter, and climb the ladder. However, at this point, a Moogle will promptly fall down and land on top of you.
This is Kupo, and, in Final Fantasy IX, the Moogles replace the standard save points. Moogles will record your progress and allow you to use tents. Some will function as an item store as well, though not all. Moreover, there is also a side quest involving delivering mail between the various Moogles scattered across the world of Final Fantasy IX. Kupo here will ask if you can deliver a letter to a Moogle named Monty. Around this time you should also be introduced to another Moogle, named Stiltskin. He will appear in several locations, selling wares to fund his journey. He has nothing to sell here, but make note of his unique appearance.
Follow rat-boy up the ladder to the top of the chapel. On the rooftops, there should be a chimney in the bottom-left of the second rooftop where you should find 29 gil. Speak to rat-kid boy and he will ask what your name is. The default name is 'Vivi', and rat-boy kid will tell you that his name is Puck. After this point, if you inspect a chimney on the far-right, you should find 92 gil. Go up to where Puck is, and he will throw the ladder he stole down, serving as a bridge between the rooftops and the ramparts of Alexandria Castle. Let's hope we don't get caught, since something tells me that breaking and entering, onto royal property no less, whilst aiding and abetting a thief isn't something that would go down well with the authorities. Just a hunch.
After some cutscenes, you will regain control of Zidane and company, who, as part of the play, are acting out a fight scene against Baku, who is portraying the treacherous King Leo. Note that, since this is part of play, you will have access to 'SFX' moves that do zero damage, but 'wow' the audience. Just wail on Baku with physical attacks and he will go down in no time. After this, Zidane and Blank will act out a sword-fight after Blank's character sides with King Leo. This is a brief mini-game, the results of which determine whether or not you get two achievements.
You will have to follow along with Blank's moves that he calls out to you, and in a timely fashion. The goal is to impress as many nobles as possible. I'm not sure what the requirements are exactly, but scoring high should lead to the nobles demanding an encore, which will get you:
Impressing all 100 nobles is a requirement for a later achievement. Doing so gets you a moonstone, of which you need a total of 4. There are only 4 Moonstones in the game, and this is the first you can obtain. You have to be exceptionally quick and fast-fingered in order to impress all 100 nobles with your exceptional choreography. After the fight, Zidane and Blank will have entered Alexandria Castle, and will have appropriated the uniforms of two of the hapless Knights of Pluto. Exit to the left and then head up the stairs, and a girl in a hood will run past you.
It doesn't matter if you choose to let her go or examine her face, as she will get the slip on you nonetheless. Blank is apparently the only one of the two to notice that said hooded girl was, in fact, Princess Garnet. As in, the Princess Garnet they were hired to kidnap. You will then gain control of the captain of the Knights of Pluto, Adelbert Steiner. He is unique as you get the chance to change his last name, but not his first name. Intriguing. Anyway, Queen Brahne will give him an item based on how well the sword fight between Zidane and Blank went. After issuing a roll call for the Knights of Pluto, only two will show up... the two who had their uniforms stolen by Zidane and Blank.
Essentially, it has been noticed that Princess Garnet has wandered off somewhere, so you will have to assemble the Knights of Pluto to search for her. Anyway, head down the stairs and into the room that Zidane and Blank started in. The two knights Steiner just berated will just be standing in here loafing about, so talk to both of them to get them moving. There is also a Moogle here. Talk to the Moogle, save your game if you need to, and select the Mognet option. Exit back out to the hallway, and take the door to the north into a larger hall. Now, there will be another knight here, who will be running around the place.
You will have to essentially 'catch' him in order to speak to him. He should emerge from one of the two side doors. However, as you will notice, he will actually run AWAY from Steiner. So, you have to be quick to actually catch up to him. If you take the door on the left, you should find another knight loafing around, complaining about being hungry. Man, what a wimp. Go back out into the main hall and down the stairs. Take the door on the left into the library, and you should find another knight skulking around in the bottom-left corner. Exit back out into the main hall, and take the exit to the south outside into the courtyard.
Keep heading south until you reach the big fountain area. A knight will be by the water down the little stairs. Head left to the next screen, and talk to the knight here. Enter the tower, and head all the way to the back, and then climb up. Halfway up, you should find the final member of the Knights of Pluto... out of breath from trying to ascend the tower. Wow. Anyway, if you found and spoke to all 8 knights, then you will get an Elixir here. Head all the way to the top of the tower, and you will see Garnet in the tower over, being chased by Zidane. Princess Garnet will then jump from the other tower, using a rope to swing across to the Prima Vista. Zidane and Steiner will pursue, although Steiner's efforts are much less successful.
You will regain control of Zidane on the music deck of the Prima Vista, with Princess Garnet running around the place and eventually escaping to the room to the right. Enter here and Ruby, one of the members of Tantalus will unwittingly get in your way and stop you from catching Garnet. Follow Garnet down the stairs. With no where to run, Princess Garnet humbly implores Zidane to... kidnap her? Wait, what? Turns out, she is trying to escape Alexandria, and was planning on escaping on the Prima Vista. Oh, the irony. Here Zidane was chasing her all over the place to try and kidnap her, and here she is, of her own volition, so she can escape Alexandria in an effort to reach the neighbouring kingdom of Lindblum.
Of course, Steiner very loudly announces his impending arrival with shouts of "Princess?!" Cinna will arrive and activate a secret hatch leading to the engine room below. Steiner will attempt to give chase, when a 'Pluto Knight' shows up and promptly gets 'stuck' in the trap door. Once you regain control of Zidane, if you turn around you can interact with a wheel. If you turn it to the left and to the right, doing so will drop 2 items to the lower level, which you can access via some stairs in the top-left corner of the room. If you turned the wheel in both directions, you should find a Phoenix Down and a Phoenix Pinion.
Go back up the stairs and exit to the left where you will fight Steiner, who will be accompanied by two Pluto knights. After dealing enough damage, both Pluto Knights will run away, and after Steiner takes enough damage, he will call upon his mighty sword, and proclaim righteous justice, by splitting Blank's armour in twine... and promptly releasing the Oglops he had with him, sending Steiner and Blank in uncontrollable terror. You will eventually end up back on stage... with the play still ongoing, where you will be joined by Steiner. However, Vivi, who is being chased by Pluto Knights for trespassing, will end up on stage and use his magic to... accidentally light Garnet's hood on fire, causing her to leap out of it like a gazelle, promptly revealing her presence to the Queen.
After the Prima Vista gets harpooned by cannons, Queen Brahne calls upon the Alexandrian soldiers to open fire on the Prima Vista with a cannon that shoots actual explosives. Well, kind of. It launches a bomb. Not an actual bomb, but the monster, Bomb. You will enter into a fight with Steiner once again, who will ignore your warnings about the growing Bomb behind him until, eventually, it explodes, damaging the ship, but the Prima Vista is nevertheless able to escape. However, it soon crashes into the Evil Forest in the valley below the Alexandrian plateau. Yeah, anywhere that has the word 'evil' in it as part of its name is almost certainly somewhere you don't want to end up in. Just a hunch.
You'll regain control of Zidane, and you should receive a brief tutorial on ATEs, or 'Active Time Events'. Essentially, this are optional cutscenes showing what's happening with other characters concurrently. There are a bunch of these that are missable, and all are required for the Movie Critic achievement. There are 8 ATEs in the Evil Forest, some of which are optional and thus can be missed. The first of these, The Forest Keeper, is mandatory, and so cannot be missed. Save your game with the Moogle here. You should also be able to find a Phoenix Down in the boxes near said Moogle Zidane will be tasked with tracking down Garnet, Steiner, and Vivi.
Exit the screen to the bottom left, and you should end up in the Evil Forest proper. Note that you will now be subject to random encounters from this point onwards. Check Zidane's gear and make sure he has the best stuff you have for him equipped. Simply head to the right, and you should bump into Vivi and Steiner, who are confronted with some kind of plant monster... who has apparently trapped Garnet. Great. Anyway, you will enter into a boss fight, where Zidane will enter into 'trance', which is basically the limit break system of FFIX. You will get a brief run-down of the Trance system here.
Now this creature, Prison Cage, will periodically absorb HP from Garnet. If she reaches 0 HP, then it is Game Over. She can take two absorbs, after which you need to heal her, otherwise she will die, and you will get a Game Over. Moreover, whilst this should go without saying, don't use attacks that hit all or multiple enemies, since these will hit Garnet too. You should get the following achievement as the battle starts:
However, once you've defeated the creature, don't think it's over yet. It will then capture Vivi. The same mechanics apply, although Vivi will actually attack the Prison Cage. Like Garnet, he can only take two absorbs before requiring healing. Upon defeating Prison Cage this time, it will be dead for good, releasing Vivi. However, Garnet has been spirited away somewhere. Well, there's nothing we can do now, and you will automatically head back to the Prima Vista crash site. You should regain control of Zidane in the bridge of the Prima Vista, after talking with Baku. Now, there is a chest in this room that may be hard to see, just below Baku on the right of the screen, containing Bronze Gloves.
Once you leave the bridge, you will receive another ATE prompt. You should be able to watch three ATEs here: Time to Escape, Left Behind, and My Little Baby. Watch all three of these. At the bottom of the spiral staircase is a chest containing a Wrist. Blank should be around here somewhere. Enter the room behind him to find Vivi. The chest by the door contains an ether, and, if you climb the ladder by the bunk-bed to the top bunk, you will find 116 gil. Speak to Vivi about finding Princess Garnet.
Exit the room and head through the doorway opposite. There should be a treasure chest here container an ether. Continue past Marcus and go down the stairs. In this room, there should be a Rubber Helm hidden on the left side of the screen at the top end of the room. Head south into the next area, and head all of the way to the right to find a treasure chest containing a Leather Hat. Backtrack to the previous room, and go through the door on the right of the screen to find Baku. Basically, because Zidane is breaking the rules by going to look for Garnet, he has to fight Baku.
Baku will exit into the larger room. Before following him out, however, there is a treasure chest with a Potion in it at the bottom of the room Baku was waiting for you in. This encounter is not too dissimilar to when you fought him in the beginning of the game when he had that mask on. Except, this is a one-on-one fight between Baku and Zidane. Much like the earlier encounter against Baku, he can also trip and therefore miss his attack entirely on occasion. Not too difficult at all, really.
Once the fight is over, Baku will wander off guffawing to himself, after punching Zidane in the stomach. If you go back up the stairs to where Marcus was standing earlier, you can now enter the room he was guarding and speak to Steiner. Zidane will recruit Steiner into joining him to find and rescue Garnet. You will exit the room automatically, but go back inside as you there is a chest in here containing an ether. Head back to where Vivi was resting to attempt to recruit him once more.
Vivi will eventually decide to help Zidane and Steiner in rescuing Garnet. Anyway, head back down to where you fought Baku, and exit to the south. Speak to Blank, and he will give you medicine to give to Garnet upon rescuing her and a map of the entire continent. Nice. Anyway, exit outside, and speak to Cinna if you want to stock up on any items you feel you may need. Speak to the Moogle here again to save, and also access Mognet, as there should be some additional letters to be read.
Head back to where you fought that plant monster earlier. Here you should get the ATE Orchestra in the Forest. Continue through the next area, and you should reach an area with a spring and a Moogle hiding in a tree stump. Speak to the Moogle to save, and select Mognet to give him the letter from Kupo and also read the letter from Stiltskin. Also, if you interact with the spring you can get your HP and MP restored. Continue forward and you should get a brief cinematic showing the monsters' lair. You should also get an ATE called Do As I Say, Not As I Do.
Eventually, you will be launched into a boss fight against Plant Brain. As a plant, it is obviously weak to to Fire, so cast Fire with Vivi, and use Steiner's Magic Sword ability to use Fire Sword. Note that the blind status does not affect Magic Sword. Moreover, Blank will show up at some point in the fight to help you out. Once the fight is over, you will then have to escape the forest whilst being chased by Plant Spiders. There is one mandatory encounter, and the rest are all easily avoidable.
Eventually, some cutscenes and a cinematic will play showcasing your escape from the Evil Forest. However, Blank gets stuck and is petrified along with the entire forest. Your party will then pitch a tent and camp for the night. When you awake, the Moogle from the forest, Monty, will come flying towards you and give you the Moogle Flute. This is how you can save on the World Map. You press the key that is mapped to the Square button and it summons Moguo. You will also have a mandatory ATE Teach Me, Mogster! Lesson 1.
When you get on the World Map, doing so 17 times in a row without doing anything will cause him to have a tantrum, which will give you the following achievement:
Now, the way forward is to access the Ice Cavern, but there is an optional side area you can visit before doing so if you should so wish. If you head all the way west, you can reach North Gate - Melda Arch. After some brief dialogue, you will regain control of Zidane. Inspect the treasure chest to obtain an Eye Drops. There should be another chest containing a Potion. Also, if you run up to the gate and choose to call out to someone inside, you can buy potions off of somebody inside. Anyway, the Ice Cavern is directly south of the Evil Forest.
After some further dialogue, where Vivi reveals his grandfather told him about this place, the party will enter. The chest on the ledge on the left will contain a Tent, so definitely grab that. Continue to the next area, and you should be able to find an interact-able section of ice wall, which Vivi should be able to melt with his fire magic to reveal a chest containing an Ether. There is another chest on the left side of the screen that is accessible by taking a hidden path to the right of the stairs leading up. If you walk up instead of going up the stairs, the path should loop behind the raised section of ice, all the way to the left section with the chest. This chest contains a Potion.
Backtrack and head up the stairs and continue into the next area. First, head left, and follow the path to reach another melt-able ice wall. Behind this wall is a chest containing an Elixir. Nice. If you then go back and head to the right, you should find this frozen log-looking thing. Now, a question mark should pop up in front of it, but don't do anything yet. First, climb the log and open the chest to find a Potion. Go back down and then have Vivi cast fire on it, and it will drop down. Go down to find another chest, this one containing a Mage Masher.
If you head to the top-right of this area, you should be able to proceed to the next area. In this area, there is a chest on the right containing a Phoenix Down. If you then head left, you can find another wall to melt. This should reveal a passageway that ultimately leads round to a chest containing a Leather Wrist. Head back and then go straight ahead into the next area. Here, there are two paths, one right and one left. Head left and use Vivi's Fire magic to free the Moogle, Mois, here trapped in the ice. You will get another mandatory ATE here, Teach Me, Mogster! Lesson 2. Access Mognet and he will give you a letter to give to Gumo. Most importantly, save your game here!
If you head back out and go to the right, the cold will somehow make everybody sleepy? Okay? Anyway, everyone will pass out, although Zidane will miraculously regain consciousness. There's a bell noise coming from up ahead. You will discover some kind of weird black mage who, apparently, cast some spell to make the rest of the party fall asleep, or something. Anyway, you will have to fight this guy, Black Waltz 1, solely using Zidane. Whilst this might sound not too hard, he summons another creature, called Sealion, to help him. Oh, bugger.
First thing to know is that Black Waltz 1 will simply re-spawn Sealion if you kill it first, so focus your attacks on Black Waltz 1 first. Moreover, Sealion's attacks become more devastating the less HP is has, and so it would be a bad idea to try dealing with that plus Black Waltz 1's attacks together. Of course, you could just wait for Zidane's trance meter to fill up and use his Dyne abilities. Black Waltz 1 has less health than Sealion and so will go down first if you use multi-target attacks. Just make sure to keep Zidane's HP up (in case it wasn't obvious). If you're prepared, you should be able to beat these guys first try, but it can be tricky. I've died here before.
It is worth noting, however, that it is possible to steal a Mythril Knife from Sealion, here. It is an uncommon drop, so may take a few tries more than usual to get. You can decide for yourself whether or not it's worth it. I personally never bother because I'm lazy. Once these guys have been dealt with, Zidane will be addressed by a mysterious voice (revealed to the player as belonging to Zorn and Thorn). Anyway, the rest of the party will wake up, although Zidane strangely neglects to mention the encounter with the Black Waltz that literally just tried to kill him.
Anyway, now that the enchanted wind is gone, you can go back to where you fought Black Waltz 1 and you can walk up the path here to the exit, outside. Here, Garnet will decide that it would be best if she went by an alias, to avoid arousing unwanted attention. The default name is 'Dagger'. Now, before continuing, you can actually visit the South Gate if you want to. They won't let you through without a pass, but you can choose to 'take a break' and wait for the shop vendor to show up. When she does show up, you can either rest or purchase items from here. Fortunately, the stock of items here is more than just potions.
If you have not gotten some already, head back inside the Ice Cavern and keep fighting Cave Imps until you end up with 9 Ores. The reason for this is because it is part of the friendly monsters side quest. You'll see in just a minute. Anyway, once back on the world map, if you run around the open grass area, you should eventually encounter a Mu. You will know if it is the right one, because the music will be different and you will see a message on the screen indicating that the Mu wants an Ore. Give it one Ore, and you will get a potion and 10 AP. Nice.
Before heading into the village, you can visit the mountain observatory right next to it. If you inspect the cart to your right as you enter, you should find a Hi-Potion. You can then find 135 gil behind a rock over at the far right sight. If you go into the small cottage, if you inspect the small airship model, you will have a brief conversation with the old man, Morrid. He will end up asking you to find some rare coffees for him. That's all you can do here for now, though. Whenever you are ready, head on over to the village of Dali.
When you first enter, there will be some lengthy dialogue, after which you will regain control of Zidane and promptly have two ATEs to choose from: Vivi, Confused and Dagger Tries. Note that the ATE select will go away after your first selection, however, the ATE select will re-appear with the other selection once you enter the next room. Before you leave the room, there are some items to be had, as well as a mini-game you can play for an achievement. There is a chest containing an Antidote in the bottom-right corner, and you can find a Potion in the bottom-left corner.
If you inspect the board area on the left side of the screen, you should be able to participate in the fortune telling mini-game. It is 10 gil per try. It is entirely random what kind of omen you receive, but, once you get 'a very good omen', you will get the following achievement:
Once you leave the room into the reception area, you should get another ATE prompt where you can view the ATE you didn't view in the previous room. Speak to Gumo, the Moodle, and give him the letter from Mois, and then save your game. Once you exit the Inn, you will get another ATE prompt, Cat's Eye. The house right across from the Inn is the Weapon Shop. You can stop here and browse their wares if you should so choose. Just north of the Weapons Shop, however, will be 120 gil just beneath the little wheel thing.
If you head all the way north, you should find Vivi standing there. Speak with him and you should then have access to another ATE: Cat's Eye 2. Exit to the right, and you should find yourself in a farm area with the old lady Dagger was talking to earlier. Speak with here before leaving the area. Exit back out to the main town and you should now have the ATE: Dagger Tries Harder. Once you've watched that one, head to the Weapons Shop and speak with Dagger. Meet Dagger back at the Inn, and you should then be able to get the ATE: Queen Brahne's Steiner.
It soon becomes apparent, however, that Vivi has gone missing, and so Dagger and Zidane resolve to go and find him. If you go back to where you first spoke to Vivi, then you will see that he is gone. You will then hear Vivi crying from underground. Head into the building directly to the left to find yourself in a windmill. Don't bother trying to head down into the next building as the Mayor will just tell you to go away and you will re-enter the Windmill automatically. The door to the north is also locked and you won't be able to get the key until much later. The same thing goes for the chests on the second floor: they are currently inaccessible.
However, if you go behind the post in the middle and inspect it when you see the question mark pop up, you should find the Aries Stellazzio coin. To continue with the story, inspect the grey dome thing and it should open. Inspect it again and choose to head down. Yeah, something is definitely off about this town. Like, this is some next level Children of the Corn/The Hills Have Eyes thing going on here. Once at the bottom, there is a small elevator/lift that should take you down to the pathway below. There will be a chest containing 156 gil in this area. Head up to the next area.
You will overhear the villagers talking about what to do with Vivi who will then march off with Vivi in tow. If you enter the area they were in, you should find a chest containing a Potion. There should be another treasure chest further along containing an Eye Drops. In the next area, you should be able to find a Moogle hiding in a barrel, named Kumop. He will give you a letter to give to Mogki. As always, save your game here. If you go into the area behind the barrel Kumop was hiding in, you should be able to jump up the boxes to the treasure chest above, which containers an Ether.
Jump back down and then inspect the crank at the end of the room. You should be able to kick it, which will drop down another treasure chest, this one containing a Potion. Exit to the next area. In this area, if you go up the stairs on the left and then climb the chest, you should be able to follow this path to a treasure chest containing an Iron Helm. Go back the way you came and you should find a treasure chest on your right, in between two large stacks of boxes and crates. This one contains a Leather Wrist.
In the next area, Dagger and Zidane will automatically free Vivi, who has apparently been stuffed into a box by the villagers. Once free, Vivi will rejoin the party. There is a chest in this room near a large door, containing 95 gil. Now, if you inspect the door, you will notice mist is coming from beneath it. You will be given the option of opening the door or not. Opening the door launches a random encounter against two ghosts, and you will start entering random encounters from this point onward. It's not that big of a deal, but you decide if you want to or not. There is treasure inside this room, after all.
Inside the room behind this door you can find three treasure chests containing a Phoenix Down, a Potion, and a Phoenix Pinion. You may have to search for the last one, as it is behind the machine on the far right side of the room. Exit back out to the prior room, and continue right to the next area. Eventually, you will discover that the villagers are manufacturing Black Mages?! Black Mages are a manufactured race?! Well, damn. Vivi seems to take it fairly in stride. As in, he didn't immediately burn down the village and massacre its inhabitants. Yes, I'm looking at you, Sephiroth.
Anyway, the scene should then shift to Steiner, who is at the top of the Observatory Mountain trying to speak to Morrid. Don't bother trying to talk to Morrid, as he will just tell you that you are in his way. Exit to the next screen, and then enter Morrid's house at the bottom once Morrid has finally gotten his butt down here and enters it. Steiner will try and pry information from Morrid, who treats Steiner about as seriously as one would expect. That is to say, not seriously at all. However, he will finally tell Steiner that the cargo ship will be heading to Alexandria. Exit the Observatory, and Steiner will take off sprinting to the cargo ship.
Steiner, however, will scare off the villagers, who will dump the cargo and then hightail it. Inspect the barrel. It doesn't really matter which option you choose, as Steiner will discover the rest of the party hiding inside. After re-uniting, Steiner will tell you that the cargo ship is heading to Lindblum. It is at this point that the party will be attacked by Black Waltz 2. Ugh. I mean, I know these guys literally come off an assembly line, but, come on. Anyway, so Black Waltz 2 won't actually attack Princess Garnet at all. Instead, he will focus on killing the guys. If that happens, and Black Waltz 2 then casts Sleep on Dagger, it's a game over.
However, that shouldn't be a problem, since you should therefore be able to use Dagger as a focused healer. Another thing to note is that, once it announces: "My mission is to take back the princess!" this means it will start countering Vivi's black magic with higher tier versions, which hit the whole party. Moreover, these counter-attacks are automatic and don't use up any of Black Waltz 2's turns, so it is actually a better idea to stop using Vivi's black magic entirely at this point in this fight. Once the fight is over, you have the option of going back to the inn and resting before continuing. Once done, head back to the cargo ship and choose to depart.
Once aboard the cargo ship, walk to the ladder at the back and climb to the deck above. Steiner, thinking that Garnet was left behind, will be bemoaning the situation, but will quickly start gloating that the cargo ship is heading to Alexandria. However, Zidane had already figured that out and is intending to commandeer the cargo ship and take it to Lindblum. After a bunch of dialogue and cutscenes, you will eventually be attacked by Black Waltz 3. Don't these guys ever give up?
The bad news is that Dagger is out of the battle, as she is at the helm, steering the Cargo Ship. The good news is that Vivi will start this battle in Trance mode, meaning he can cast two Black Magic spells in one turn. Nice. Also, Black Waltz 3 won't counter Vivi's attacks, either. Although once he starts hovering in the air, he will start doing attacks that hit the whole party. You CAN steal some Silver Gloves from him, but it is a rare steal, and so probably not worth it. He does have some Linen Cuirass as an uncommon steal, though, if you want to go for that.
Once defeated, he will fly off. Zorn and Thorn, awaiting nearby in some kind of speeder, quickly deduce that it is 'broken' and quickly abandon their observation position. Black Waltz 3 will commandeer their speeder and give chase. There's a cool cinematic where they narrowly get the Cargo Ship through the closing South Gate, and Black Waltz 3's commandeered speeder slams straight into the side of it, oof... Anyway, it seems as if that used quite a bit of the FMV budget, since the Cargo Ship will potter along to Lindblum in a regular cutscene. How... anticlimactic.
After arriving in Lindblum, the guards will quickly scoff at Dagger's claims regarding her actually being Princess Garnet. However, Minister Artanier arrives and verifies her identity and leads them onwards. You should then automatically proceed to the next area, which contains a large fountain in the middle, and staircase leading up on Zidane's left (thus, the right side of the screen from the player's perspective). Now, before you follow Artania, who will go straight across past two guards, into the elevator/lift, if you head up the staircase, you can do a couple of things first.
If you then head along the upper walkway and through the door on your left into the guest bedroom, you can find two chests: one containing an Ether, and another containing a Glass Armlet. You can access this area later, but you have to slog through tons of story, dialogue, and exposition before, so it is probably easier to just grab them now. You can also use this opportunity to give Mogki the letter from Kumop and then save your game.
Once done, head back into the prior hallway, and, this time, go to where Artania went off, where the two guards in white are standing. You should enter into this little elevator/lift contraption. Artania will automatically take y'all up to the top floor where the Regent resides. You should proceed automatically to the throne room where Minister Artania reveals that Regent Cid has been transformed into an Oglop. Apparently, someone snuck into Cid's quarters, cast some kind of Kafkaesque curse on him, abducted his wife, and then took off in his prototype steam-powered airship. Suck to be him, right?
What is more, it turns out that Cid is the one who apparently hired Tantalus to 'kidnap' Garnet in the first place, which even Zidane didn't know about. Apparently Cid and Baku go way back. Huh. Who woulda thunk? Zidane, however, eventually decided that all this high falutin' royal stuff isn't his style... so he promptly buggers off to some bar somewhere, where he runs into and old friend of his, whose default name is Freya. After some more farting about, you will experience another ATE: Teach Me, Mogster! (My First Synthesis Lesson).
You should regain control of Zidane in an inn somewhere. Speak to the Moogle, Moodon, in the next room, and access to Mognet to receive a letter, then save your game. If you then go downstairs, you should find 163 gil in the bottom-left corner. Exit out onto the street, and you should have access to the following ATE: Small-Town Knight in a Big City. If you then head all the way north to the end of the street and into the next area, you should find yourself in the street that you saw Steiner wandering around on in the previous ATE. Across from the Gysahl Pickle cart, you should see a door. You can enter the building here.
Inside are two chests: one containing an Ether, and one containing a Hi-Potion. Noice. Now, exit that house and first, take the branch of the street that goes to the left of that house. If you walk to the end of the street in this next section, then you can find a carefully concealed Tent in the area obscured by the tree, just in front of the large Church building at the end. Inside the Church, if you climb the ladder at the back, you can find a Leather Plate on the right side of the little scaffolding. If you head back to the central square area and, this time, head off to the branch on the right, you should reach a circular plaza.
This area has three shops: a weapon shop, an item shop, and, more importantly, a synthesis shop. Synthesis shops have unique items that you can generally only acquire by combining other weapons and/or items. The synthesis shop is on the far left, and, at this point in the game, if you have two Mage Masher's, you can synthesize The Ogre, which is a dual-bladed weapon that, at this point in the game, is a pretty decent weapon. If you don't have the requisite number of Mage Mashers, you can always buy some from the weapon shop on the right. I highly advise getting The Ogre at this point, as it makes things a lot easier.
Moreover, there are some Silver Gloves in the Synthesis shop just lying on a workbench if you want to grab some. Anyway, when you're done shopping, head all the way back to outside the inn you started off in, but, this time, take the door across from the inn into the air cab station. As you enter, an ATE: Vivi's Shopping, will play. Once over, take the air cab to the Industrial District. Now, when you first enter the Industrial District proper, if you turn around, you should be able to find a hidden Leather Wrist in the bottom corner of the screen, just around from the stairs. Turn back around and enter the square.
If you head up the stairs at the back, you will arrive just outside the pub where Zidane bumped into Freya. If you inspect the ground on the opposite right side the pub's entrance, you should find a hidden Bronze Vest. If you then continue up the road past the pub, you will find a house with two chests on the second floor: one containing a Mimic card, and the other a Steepled Hat. Once you're done, head back to the air cab and ride on over to the Theatre District.
As soon as you step out of the station, you will get the ATE 'Steam Power'. Afterwards, you can find 127 gil if you inspect the shrubbery down at the bottom of the screen. If you then head down the stairs in the bottom-right corner, you will enter an art studio with a chest containing an Ore. Exit and head down the stairs on the left to enter a new screen. Now, the Tantalus hideout/headquarters will be through the door on the left, but if you continue past it for now and go down the stairs at the end, you will enter a new area.
There will be a gaggle of sycophants crowding in front of an archway. If you talk to the person in purple, a short scene will unfold where the 'popular actor' Lowell makes an appearance, and some guy in Moogle suit appears, gets berated by the crowd and run off. Follow the guy in the Moogle Suit. He should lead you back to the Art Studio in the first area. Speak to Lowell, and he will give you his Autograph, and you can also find the Moogle Suit itself in the bottom-right corner. These items serve no in-game purpose, but count towards your Treasure Hunter rank and cannot be obtained later in the game.
Go back down the stairs and, this time, enter the Tantalus Hideout. This will trigger another ATE, 'What can I do?'. Once you regain control of Zidane, there are three treasure chests to plunder, netting you: 282 gil, 68 gil, and 97 gil. Moreover, if you climb the little ladder on the left of the screen and then check under the bed, you will find a 'Mini-Burmecia', which is another one of those functionally useless items that nevertheless contribute towards your Treasure Hunter ranking. Exiting the hideout will trigger another ATE, 'Baku and his Crew'. Once you regain control of Zidane, it is off to Lindblum Castle to go see Princess Garnet. Return to the air cab station and take an air cab to Lindblum Castle.
Once at the castle, head up to the guest bedroom Princess Garnet was staying in, where you will find Steiner. He will inform you that the Princess has gone missing, and will run off in an apparent attempt to locate her. However, Zidane will notice singing that appears to be coming from the floor above. The problem is that if you go back and try to use the elevator to head up to the top level, the guard will say you are not authorised and will block access. Well, drat!
Fortunately, Zidane is a former member of Tantalus, and so has a particular set of skills that allows him to solve stations like this all of the time. The guard said only authorised persons are permitted to use the elevator. Zidane is not permitted, and so this raises the question of who is authorised? Well, it would be a fair assumption that the Castle Guards would have access, at least those assigned to specific duties entailing the usage of the elevator. You won't have any luck, though, with the guards in white.
Head back to the corridor outside the guest room. If you head down the stairs, you will find the guard assigned to stand guard outside the guest bedroom sound asleep on a bench. Wake him up, and a short scene involving Zidane stealing his outfit will ensue. Once you've done that, go back to the elevator and saunter on in casually, and take it to the top floor. Once at the top floor, head left, go through the machine room, and take the stairs up until you wind up on the roof. You will find Princess Garnet at the tippy top, triggering a brief FMV.
After this there will be some dialogue, as well as a part where Zidane looks out of the telescope. You have to view 6 marked areas in order to continue: the Marshland, which is in the bottom left of the area, the Aerbs Mountains on the left, the Aerbs Mountains on the right, the South Gate, which should be just below the Aerbs Mountains on the right side, The ??? Forest, which should a little below that, and then the Ceebell River. After some more blabbing, dialogue, and so on, you will eventually end up in the guest room where Zidane, Freya, and Vivi are being briefed on the Festival of the Hunt, in which they have enrolled... well, Zidane signed Vivi up without asking.
To win as Zidane, you need to finish with the most points. To win as Freya, you have to find and fight Zaghnol, but make sure to KO Zidane so Freya can get the killing blow on Zaghnol. To win as Vivi, you have to knock both Freya and Zidane out during the Zaghnol encounter. The prizes are as follows: if Zidane wins you get 5,000 gil, if Vivi wins, you get a Theatre Ship Card, and if Freya wins, you get a Coral Ring. The other two rewards aren't really that great, so I usually let Freya win as Coral Ring absorbs lightning-based damage and allows her to learn the Lancer ability. Of course, there is also an achievement for letting Vivi win:
In order to get this AND get the Coral Ring from Freya winning, simply save the game and reload once you've won as Vivi. Now, you will take control only of Zidane. To allow either Freya or Vivi to win, you will need to head over to the Business District and just wait there until the timer reaches 4:30. Note that if you hang around in the square, you will have to exit and re-enter for Zaghnol to appear. Freya can only land the killing blow if Zidane is KO, due to the game programming, so when you do go for a Freya victory, keep that in mind and be careful that Zidane does not get the last hit. As aforementioned, simply KO both of them to allow Vivi to win. To get the Coral Ring, simply reload the game and this time let Freya win. If, for whatever reason, you want Zidane to win, he has to finish with the highest score. So, simply kill every enemy you can find in the Theatre District before moving on to the Industrial District, and then finally the Business District to take out Zaghnol. One thing you ARE going to want to do regardless is try and steal from Zaghnol, as you can nab a Needle Fork from him, which will be useful later.
Either way, once you win the festival of the hunt, you will received whichever of the three prizes corresponds to whoever you let win, and you also get a Master Hunter key item that counts towards your treasure hunter rank. However, an injured Burmecian soldiers stumbles in with news that Alexandria has invaded Burmecia, and then promptly kicks the bucket. Regent Cid holds a banquet so the party can mull over the best course of action. However, it soon turns out that the food is poisoned, and everybody apart from Princess Garnet and Steiner will promptly pass out. Once everybody wakes up, Freya suggests that they head through Gizamaluke's Grotto in order to reach the Kingdom of Burmecia.
In order to reach Gizamaluke's Grotto, you have to go back to the elevator and ride it down to the Base Level, and then take the tram to Dragon's Gate. However, before you do, there are a few things to do first. First of all, Freya has now joined the party and, for whatever reason, she starts off in the back row. Meaning incoming non-ranged physical attacks will deal less damage, but so will hers. Shift her to the front row; she can handle herself. Second, if you have not yet done so, make sure you are fully equipped, and especially stock up on healing items and tents, as now that Dagger has gone off somewhere, you don't have a white mage.
There are also some hidden treasures you can grab. Head down to the Base Level, but instead of taking the tram on the left that goes to Dragon's Gate, take the tram that goes to the Serpent's Gate. There is a tram to the harbour, but it is currently empty. However, there is a chest on the platform here containing a Wyerd card. Travel back to the elevator and go back up to the Mid Level. Take the air cab to the Business District, and exit onto the world map via Hunter's Gate. If you wander around, you should find two raised areas with a lake behind them, with a question mark popping up and an exclamation mark over Zidane's head.
This is Pinnacle Rocks, although you can only access the outside part for now. However, if you go inside, there are two chests containing an Elixir and a Phoenix Down respectively. Now, traipse all the way back to Lindblum, take the aircab back to the castle, take the elevator down to the Base Level, and, this time, take the tram on the left that goes to Dragon's Gate. First, speak to the Moogle here, Moonte, and give him the letter from Stiltzkin. Secondly, there should be a hidden chest somewhere on the right side of the screen that contains a Tent. There is also a merchant down here selling items.
Exit Dragon's Gate onto the world map. As you may have already surmised, Gizamaluke's Grotto can still afford to wait, as there are still sidequests and other things to do. First, you are going to want to head to the Qu's Marsh in between Lindblum and Gizamaluke's Grotto in order to recruit Quina. Whilst it is optional to get Quina at this point, failing to recruit him here will prevent you getting the achievement for watching all ATEs, as a later ATE requires Quina in your party but occurs before the second point in the game where you can recruit Quina. Secondly, you can also begin work on the Frog Catching minigame, which ends up saving time later.
If you head up into the marsh, you will actually bump into Mogster from the 'Teach Me' ATEs. You can talk to him if you would like for some pointers. Anyway, if you continue forwards, you should eventually reach a pond-like area within the marsh with a little wooden bridge and a very pale blue person in what appears to be a pink shirt, and is apparently wearing a chef's hat and apron. This is Quina who is a member of the Qu, who are apparently 'genderless' (despite the only other two Qu in the game being referred to using male pronouns). Anyway, Quina is referred to in-game as 's/he'. I can't be bothered to do that.
If you were able to steal Needle Fork from Zaghnol, you will have a better weapon than the regular Fork he comes equipped with. Quina also has access to Blue Magic, vis a vis Quistis' Limit Break from FFVIII and the Enemy Skill materia from FFVII. The way Quina 'learns' new Blue Magic abilities is by 'eating' enemies. You heard that right. Once an enemy has been reduced to 25% HP or less, you can use Quina's 'eat' ability to gobble up the enemy. Quina's trance changes 'eat' into 'cook' and basically enables him to one-shot enemies provided they are 'edible'. Obviously, this doesn't work on boss fights, and certain enemies cannot be eaten, such as Alexandrian soldiers and Black Mages.
If you want to go out and learn some abilities for Quina to make him useful, then there are a few enemies at this point in the game that can teach some decent skills. First, enemies that can be found either in Qu's Marsh, or near Qu's Marsh on the world map: Serpion teaches Mighty Guard, Axolotl teaches Aqua Breath, Gigan Toad teaches Frog Drop, and Hedgehog Pie teaches Pumpkin Head. Next, if you head back through Lindblum and exit through Hunter's Gate in the Business District, these enemies outside on the world map can teach the following: Bomb teaches Mustard Bomb, Axe Beak teaches Limit Glove, and Carve Spider teaches LV3 Def-Less.
You can go for all of them or not, but make sure you at least get Mighty Guard, because there is an upcoming boss fight that is particularly tough. Now, from the Qu Marsh, if you head east, across the river, and ignore the forest for now. Head north from said forest, and you will find South Gate, which you may recognise from an earlier ATE. There is a spring of water flowing from what appears to be a tree stump. Inspecting it refills your HP and MP. If you head just past it to the right, you should also find the Moccha Coffee key item, which is required for an achievement tied to a sidequest that requires this item. There is also an Ether on the other side of the bridge somewhere. Moreover, two enemies that spawn on the world map outside can also teach Quina some new Blue Magic: Ironite teaches Angel's Snack, and Vice teaches Vanish.
Now, remember the forest in between South Gate and Qu's Marsh? This was the ??? Forest you saw through the telescope earlier. If you enter, you will discover it is called Chocobo's Forest and is home to Choco the Chocobo and a Moogle named Mene. Now, it is optional whether or not you start this side quest now rather than later, but there are achievements that require you to complete the Chocobo side quest, so the sooner the better. Mene will ask if you want to ride Choco, and will give you Gysahl Greens. In order to summon Choco on the world map, stand in chocobo tracks and use a Gysahl Green.
First off is the Chocobo Hot & Cold mini-game, which is how you get the sidequest going. This is played within Chocobo's Forest itself. In order to play, you will have to leave the forest and summon Choco on the world map by heading to the nearest set of Chocobo tracks and then entering the menu and using a Gysahl Greens. Whilst riding Choco, go back into the forest. Walk over to Mene and then select "What's the big secret?" and he'll explain the mechanics. You see, in FFIX, Chocobos can seek out buried treasure. In order to use this ability with Choco, you will need to choose to pay Mene 60 gil each time (how convenient for Mene).
This mini-game is played by running around on Choco and pressing the button to dig (Square on the original PS1). Depending on where the treasure is, Choco will give one of four possible vocalisations: "Kweh." means you are far from the item, "Kweh?!" means you are close, "Kwehhh?! means you are very close, and "K-KWEHHH!!!" means you have discovered an item. Once you have discovered an item, rapidly press the dig button to dig it up. The better the item, the longer you take digging it up but you also get more points.
Aside from digging up regular items, gil, etc. you also have a chance of digging up Chocographs, which basically act as maps for treasures you can dig up with Choco on the world map using the same mechanics. You head to the image on the Chocograph and begin digging around. Digging up treasures from Chocographs will eventually allow Choco additional abilities, allowing him to cross new types of terrain and enabling you to access new locations to play Chocobo Hot & Cold later on in the game.
After obtaining Chocograph #4, you gain the reef ability, which allows Choco to travel shallow water. This is also allows you to gain access to Chocobo's Lagoon later on. You will later gain the ability to cross the ocean, and, finally, the ability to even fly. Once Choco gains the Sky ability, you will be able to fly, although you can only take off and land in forests. However, whilst flying, you will also be able to access Chocobo's Air Garden, albeit much later on.
Moreover, as you progress, you will later be able to dive in certain spots for hidden treasure, indicated by bubbles on the ocean, and dig up treasures on mountains, indicated by a crack on the side of the mountain. Lastly, playing Chocobo Hot & Cold is how you level up Choco's beak, enabling him to dig faster. Leveling his beak level all the way up to 99 gains you the following achievement:
You can only dig up a certain number of Chocographs and their respective treasures at this point in the game, so you will need to return later. For now, continue on to Gizamaluke's Grotto in order to continue with the story. The entrance to Gizamaluke's Grotto is just past the Qu's Marsh, at the foot of the mountains. Upon arriving at the entrance to Gizamaluke's Grotto, you will find some dead Burmecian soldiers, as well as signs of a battle. Go through the entrance inside, and you should see a door ahead with a bell on it. However, this door is locked, and can only be opened if you have a Gizamaluke Bell.
If you head to the right, you will find a dying Burmecian soldier who will tell you that they were attacked by an army of Black Mages and will give you a Gizamaluke Bell before dying. Go back to the locked door and interact with it and choose to ring the bell, and the door will open, shattering the bell in your hand in the process. Head through into the next area and you will see Thorn and Zorn, and then immediately be thrown into a fight against two Black Mages (of the Type A variety). Running through the archway will trigger another encounter against two more Type A Black Mages. Defeating this second pair will net you another Gizamaluke Bell.
At the back will be two doors with a third door all the way to the right. You should use your Gizamaluke Bell on the left door. Go through said door and follow the path to the left, and then down. In the corner in the bottom-left you can find a Bronze Vest. Turn right and follow the path, which should lead around to a wounded soldier. The soldier will give you a Gizamaluke Bell and promptly bite the dust. Go back the way you came and use this new Gizamaluke Bell on the right door. Not the big door in the middle, but the right-most door that's off to the side by itself. Go through this door and you will enter a staircase that circles around the area.
In this area, you can encounter a monster called Lamia. Whilst tough at this point in the game, it can teach Quina Lv3 Def-Less. As you walk around the staircase, you will be able to see a room below you. Now, as you walk around this staircase, you should come to a point where, if you look down into the room beneath, you should see a locked bell-door below. If you inspect the wall facing up, you should find some Mythril Gloves. The staircase should then loop underneath a bridge. Under the bridge you should find another hidden item, a Magus Hat.
The staircase will lead to the room below. You will find a Moogle, named Mogmi, whose other half, Moguta, is trapped underneath. Fortunately, Vivi is carrying a Kupo Nut, which happens to be Moguta's favourite food. Vivi will give the Kupo Nut to Mogmi, who will then tell Moguta she has a Kupo Nut. Moguta will then apparently gain super strength and fling the bell off of himself. Well, the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. The two Moogles will then run off somewhere.
If you inspect the chest where the Bell was located previously, you will find another Gizamaluke Bell. There will be two doors at the back of the room. The one on the left, however, can't be opened, so use the Gizamaluke Bell on the door on the right. Enter and speak with Mogmi, and you can save, use a tent, etc., Make sure to use the Mognet option and she will give you a letter to deliver to Atla. Now, the vines at the back of the room lead up to a plateau, but it is not advisable to go up there as the enemies are way too tough for this point in the game. Go back the way you came and Moguta will stop you and give you a Holy Bell, which you can use on the other door you couldn't get through earlier.
Go through the door and you will then be pitched into a battle against Gizamaluke himself, who has apparently gone nuts. What makes this fight tough is that you don't have a healer, and so will have to rely on potions and hi-potions. He also has a water-based attack that hits the entire party. Third, he also casts Silence when you use magic based attacks on him, and since you have no healer, you will have to use Echo Screens on him. However, he IS vulnerable to several status effects, including Silence.
If you have The Ogre equipped on Zidane, you can use his Soul Blade ability to inflict Gizamaluke with Blind. Alternatively, if you have the Mage Mashers equipped, it has a chance of inflicting Silence on him. However, this latter option isn't guaranteed. Alternatively, you can use a Tent, which can potentially inflict the boss with both aforementioned status effect. Although, it has a chance of affecting your party members as well.
Now, Gizamaluke IS also weak to Thunder, so you can use Vivi to pummel him. If you went to the bother of learning the Blue Magic spells for Quina, you can use them as a healer. Mighty Guard in particular will be of tremendous use here. You should have definitely stocked up on Phoenix Downs, Potions, Hi-Potions, Echo Screens, Eye Drops, and Tents. As long as you are sufficiently prepared, then he shouldn't be too much trouble as long as the RNG is on your side.
Once defeated, the scene will then shift to Steiner at South Gate, who is attempting to smuggle Dagger across the border back into Alexandria. The guards will stop him and attempt to search the bag he is carrying. The guard searching, however, has a strong aversion to Gysahl pickles, and the bag is full of them. Once inside, Steiner will have to look for a place to set the bag down so he can let Dagger out without anybody seeing.
The alleyway on the right is a convenient enough spot, but there are people watching who will need to be distracted so nobody notices Dagger appearing out of nowhere. The woman, Part-Time Worker Mary, is easy to move. Speak with her and, when prompted, choose to console her. The guy by the ladder, the Earnest Young Man, is not quite as straightforward. Speak with him and tell him that you are there to work. Then, go speak to the guy on the far left. This guy will then admit he is slacking.
Instead of choosing 'kill him', leave him alone and go back to the Earnest Young Man. Tell him about the slacker and he will go off to have a few words with him. You won't be able to get the chest at the top of the ladder with Steiner carrying the bag, and later circumstances will prevent you from getting it, so do not worry about it for now. There will be a Multina Racket hidden in the bottom-left corner, near a barrel beneath the slacker.
Head to the alleyway, and one of the guards will stop Steiner as they forgot to give him a Gate Pass. Enter the alleyway, and Dagger will exit and will then replace Steiner as the controllable character. You will automatically skip past the entrance to an area beyond it, and you will not be able to backtrack. Make sure to speak with Grimo the Moogle and save your game, and nab the Potion in the chest on the left side of the screen.
When you're ready, go speak to the cable car conductor, although you should probably make sure that both Dagger and Steiner are properly equipped. Whilst control will go back to Zidane, when you gain control over Dagger again, you will be plunged into a boss fight. So, make sure to prepare now. Once on the cable car, after some blabbing, you will be taken back to Zidane, et al. on the other side of Gizamaluke's Grotto.
Burmecia is directly to the north, but you can do a few things before going there. If you head east, you can enter the other side of North Gate, where you will find two treasure chests. One containing a Hi-Potion and one containing a Tent. There is also a Chocograph you dig up, but you will need to first find the chocobo tracks, which are on the other side of a crevasse to the north-west, past the sandstorm. Use a Gysahl Greens whilst stood on the tracks to summon Choco, and you should be able to find Chocograph #4: Healing Water nearby, which should also grant Choco the Reef ability.
If you want, you can backtrack through Gizamaluke's Grotto to the other side of the mountains and use Choco to find Chocograph #10: Birds'-Eye Lagoon and Chocograph #11: Small Beach. However, there is absolutely no rush, and you can always come back later. Either way, once you've done faffing about, you can head to Burmecia to the far north of the continent. However, before entering, you can find and fight enemies called Nymphs who can teach Quina the Blue Magic ability Night.
Inside of Burmecia an enemy called Magic Vice can teach Quina Magic Hammer, and another enemy, called Ironite, can teach Quina the ability Angel Snack. However, before venturing too far, there is a hidden item in the first street you come to: if you inspect the area behind a wooden box on the first street, you will 'receive' Cancer. Not the disease, thankfully, but one of the Stellazzio coins. These are Key Items you can hand over to a specific NPC later on for rewards and collecting all of them nets you an achievement.
Anyway, you should next come to an area with a building ahead of you with two balconies looking down. As you approach, Zorn and Thorn will emerge from said balconies and you will enter into a fight against two more Type A variety Black Mages. Once dealt with, you should first enter the door on the left. Inside this area you will find two more chests: one containing a Soft and one containing a Potion. Exit back on to the street and then head over the right side of the screen and take the stairs up and enter the door there.
Now, most of the treasure chests in here are going to be enemies called Mimics. You can fight them if you want for the EXP. Anyway, before heading up the stairs, make sure to grab the hidden chest behind by the staircase that contains a Soft. The treasure chest on the floor above is a Mimic. Whether you fight it or not, the exit is on the same floor on the top-left. The door in the middle is locked, so continue past it to the left side. In this next area, in order to reach the treasure chest on the other side of the walkway, you will need to walk slowly. Open it to find some Germinas Boots.
In order to continue, run across the walkway and it will drop down to the level below. Go back the way you came and go back outside, and go back through the door on the left outside the front of the house. You can now cross the walkway that fell down into a new room. The treasure chest here is another Mimic. Continue through to the right and you will exit onto one of the balconies and you will hop across to the next one and then enter another room.
In here will be a dying Burmecian soldier who will tell you that can find a bell for the locked door behind the bed. Go to the north side of the bed and inspect the area there to find the bell. Go back the way you came until you come back to that locked door, and you will be able to use the bell to open it. Continue through the door and up the stairs. Unfortunately, you will run into Burmecian soldiers who mistake Vivi for an enemy combatant (what with him looking like the other black mages and everything). Fortunately, Freya will be able to smooth things over.
Go through the doorway ahead and there will be a brief scene where Zidane helps a trapped Burmecian soldier from some rubble so he can escape with his wife. This is required in order to get a specific ATE later on in the game. Once done, you will exit back outside. Go up the stairs on the right and cross over the statue that has fallen down and go through the door on the left. There will be two treasure chests here: one containing a Tent and the other containing a Phoenix Down. There will be another treasure chest around the corner that is actually a Mimic.
Exit through the door at the back to enter a little square with a fountain in the middle. Go through the door on the left and inspect the statue at the back to find a Mythril Spear. Go back and take the door on the right and speak with the Moogle there, Atla. Give him the letter from Mogki and he will give you a Kupo Nut in return and ask you to deliver a letter to Monev. Moreover, you can also access Mogshop here in order to buy and sell things. A treasure chest at the back contains Lightning Rod, and collecting it will cause Stiltskin to appear.
Speak with Stiltskin and he will sell you an Ether, a Hi-Potion, and a Soft for 333 gil. This is part of a missable achievement, so make sure you do this here. Anyway, use a tent, and save. Exit back outside and follow the path to the north to arrive at Burmecia castle. After some brief faffing, interact with Freya and choose to 'leave her alone' and she will jump up above. Zidane, et al. will follow at a slower pace. In the next area, you will spy Queen Brahne, who is accompanied by General Beatrix and a silver-haired man.
A Burmecian soldier will try and take them on, forcing Zidane and Freya to intervene. This will launch you into a boss battle against General Beatrix. This is a battle where, once you've dealt enough damage, Beatrix will then use an attack that reduces the party's HP to 1 and promptly end the battle. Now, Beatrix is vulnerable to Slow, and it is also advisable for Freya to use Reiss' Wind on the party for the regen status it bestows. It is also advisable for Quina to use Mighty Guard. Once the battle ends, you will be treated to a cutscene.
Whilst Kuja is, without doubt, the weakest looking villain in the whole series, he nevertheless has one of the coolest themes, which will play as he flies off on a dragon. Apparently, we are so beneath the villains at this point that they don't even bother to finish us all off when it would have been ridiculously easy and most opportune for them to have done so. This is where Disc 1 of the original PlayStation 1 version ends.
This is where the portion of the game that corresponds to Disc 2 of the original PlayStation 1 version begins, and we kick things off by returning to Dagger and Steiner in their efforts to sneak across the border from Lindblum back to Alexandria. The cable car has reached the top, and Dagger and Steiner will disembark. After some blabbing, you will be able to control Dagger once more. Go up the platform and then go across to the right and enter the waiting/rest area. There will be a treasure chest in the bottom-right corner that contains a Phoenix Down.
Speak with the Moogle, Nanza, to give her the letter from Grimo, but make sure to select Mognet again as she also has a letter she wants to be delivered to Mochos. Speak to the guy at the desk on the left side of the area and he will tell you that the cable car for Alexandria has just departed. Exit this area, and you will then see Cinna and Marcus talking and then going inside the waiting/rest area. Go back inside for some more blabbing.
Eventually, another cable car for Alexandria will arrive. Simply hop on to continue. Whilst in progress, the cable car will come to a stop, and, upon leaving to investigate, you will discover Black Waltz No. 3, who survived crashing into the South Gate but appears to be badly damaged. It is pretty much impossible to lose this fight, since he will never attack Dagger, and will start attacking himself if she is the only party member left alive.
Once he is dealt with once and for all, get back on the cable car to reach your destination. Anyway, so Marcus is heading for Treno in order to find an item called Supersoft that should free the petrified Blank back in the Evil Forest. Dagger will then volunteer herself and Steiner to assist him in this effort. Marcus will then join the party as a temporary party member, but will remain with you for quite some time, so you can choose to equip him with better stuff if you should so wish.
Part-Time Worker Mary will have come along and she will sell you any items if you are in need of stocking up on anything. The area beyond the cable-car platform will contain a fork: one path leading to Treno and the other to Dali. Now, before heading to Treno, you can go back to Dali and nab the chest in the farm area that was previously blocked off by the old woman. The chest contains an Elixir, so it is worth going to Dali for even though there isn't anything else to do here at this point.
Take the left path to take a brief detour to Dali. Although you will need to speak to the guard by the gate in order for him to let you through. Anyway, nab the Elixir from Dali and then head back to South Gate and, this time, take the right path at the fork in order to progress towards Dali. Before you get to the gate, you will first arrive at a partially destroyed bridge you will need to jump over. However, before continuing on to the gate, there will be a chest containing 1,610 gil down some steps.
Go back up the steps, continue to the gate, and then talk to the guard to let you through to the Treno area. Now, Treno is the town up ahead that is somehow perpetually during night. Before heading in, there are a couple of things you can do first. For starter's, you can visit Quan's Dwelling (i.e. Vivi's "grandpa's" place) at this point in the game. There are two chests inside both containing an Ether, as well as an Ether at the top of a ladder. You can also find another Stellazzio Coin, Scorpio, which should be in the area with the hot spring. Just search around until you find it, it's not hard.
Secondly, on the world map, you have a chance of running into a 'friendly monster', Ghost, who will ask you for an Ore. You will gain 10 AP and a Hi-Potion for doing so, and you will also be making progress towards the Friendly Monsters side quest, for which you not only get an achievement for completing, but it also makes the battle against Ozma later on MUCH, much easier. Once done, you will then want to enter Treno.
Now, it is very important to note that in order to view all of the ATEs here, you will need to follow a precise path. If you don't follow the directions I am about to relate, then you will miss out on certain ATEs and won't get the achievement for watching all ATEs. Dagger and Marcus will both promptly ditch Steiner once inside. Once you gain control over Steiner, make sure to view the ATE 'Treno Tradition'. Dagger will get pick-pocketed and loose 1,000 gil... unless you press the action button when you see the exclamation mark, in which case it will only be 500 gil stolen.
Once you return to Steiner, head west after Dagger and make sure to watch the ATE 'Pursuit'. You will then want to go down the stairs after Dagger and watch the ATE 'Confusion'. Once done, you will then want to head south, away from where the four-armed man went. In the next area, it is important that you select the ATE 'Ambition'. You will then want to backtrack to the entrance and, this time, head east. In the next area, select the ATE 'Meeting Place'.
Head north into the next area and watch the ATE 'Unexpected Visitor'. Once back to Steiner, go down the stairs west of the drunk man. Head south from there, and then left past the Card Stadium across to the next area. Head north and enter the building on the left. Stop to speak to the Four-Armed Man, and he will panic and give Steiner the Power Belt he spent the stolen gil on. This is your only chance to get the item from him, so if he leaves, you'll have to reload a prior save.
Head back to the entrance again, watching any remaining ATEs along the way, and walk up to the fountain on the left side of the screen. If you select to throw in 10 gil 13 times, you will eventually discover another Stellazzio Coin: Gemini. Once you have it, head to the right area again. Now, if you take the ladder down to the lower level, there will be two treasure chests, one containing a Yeti Card. and one containing 1 gil. There will also be another Stellazzio in this area, Taurus, which will be hidden behind the item shop.
Go back up the ladder and head north. Speak with the Moogle, Mogrich, and select the Mognet option so you can read a letter from Stiltzkin. From here, there are two places you can check out. One is the weapon shop, which is behind the big door to the right of Mogrich. Make sure to purchase at least one Mythril Sword for Steiner, as it the only weapon that can teach him Armour Break. You can also choose to fight the monster in the cage below, but that is optional at this point in the game.
North of Mogrich will be the entrance to the Auction House. Before entering, head to the far left to find a hidden stash of 2,225 gil. Head inside the auction house to find Dagger, where she will once again take control of the party. You won't be able to bid on any items at this point in the game, but Dagger will seemingly recognise a certain silver-haired villain. Anyway, exit the auction house and backtrack to Mogrich.
This time, head straight down past the stairs and follow the path that curves around to the left. This area has the Card Stadium, which is optional at this part of the game. Keep heading left and, once in the next area, head north until reach another area. Enter the house to the north and speak to the assistant, and she will explain that Stella, the bird lady sat on the fancy chair suspended in the middle, offers rewards in exchange for Stellazzio coins.
At this point in the game, you should have five: Aries, Cancer, Scorpio, Gemini, and Taurus. Hand them over for some rewards! Namely, 8,000 gil, a Phoenix Pinion, and a Blood Sword. This should be the last of the faffing about you have to do for now, so you will want to continue with the main story. To do so, you will need to go back to the slum area (to the right from the entrance area) and enter the pub on the left, where you should find Marcus.
It will soon turn out that their plan to obtain the Supersoft will involve a non-compensated exchange. So, basically, they're just planning on stealing it. Steiner won't be happy about aiding and abetting known criminals, but Dagger doesn't seem to care. Anyway, exit out the passage Marcus was stood in front of and ignore Steiner. Eventually you should reach the leader of Tantalus himself, Baku. You will then engage in some kind of Mission Impossible style heist, except without all the cool gadgets.
In fact, it's more like the bit in From Russia With Love where James Bond and Kerim Bey take a secret passage underground, use a boat to traverse the underground waterways, go to the spot under the Russian embassy, and then use a hidden, repurposed periscope to spy on them. Of course, it soon turns out that Dagger's former tutor, Professor Tot, is at the building they are robbing, and agrees to get them the Supersoft, but that they would have to meet him at his personal residence.
Once back at the Treno Pub/Inn, go back to the entrance area and head left. This time, keep going left until you see a tower. Open the treasure chest on the far left to obtain a Mythril Dagger before continuing. After some lengthy dialogue, Tot will open up a secret passage with a ladder leading down. Once he has done blabbing, head back up and exit the tower. You can now watch the final Treno ATE at this point in the game, Crime and Punishment.
Go back inside and down the ladder into Gargan Roo, and speak with the Moogle here, Mochos. Give Mochos the letter from Nazna and then save your game. Tot has somehow forgotten how to summon the Gargant, so it's up to Dagger and Co. to figure it out. First, head to the bottom-left. In this area will be a chest right next to you as you enter, and another one to the north-west. Inside these chests you will find a Chain Plate and a Phoenix Down. Next to the chest in the north west will be a lever.
Pull the lever, the head back to Tot. This time, head to the bottom right. In this new area, head east around the corner, and Doctor Tot will conveniently remember that the switch in front of you can be used to summon the Gargant. Pull the switch and the Gargant will enter the station, but will keep running around the station in circles until you can get it to stop. To do that, go back to the previous area, go left down the stairs and then activate the switch Doctor Tot is stood next to.
Dagger, et al. will hop on to the Gargant, and then Doctor Tot will press the levers and switches to allow the Gargant to exit the station and towards Alexandria. Of course, it won't be that easy. For there will be a boss fight against Ralvurahva, a giant snake-like creature that likes to inflict poison. If you have the ability available for Dagger and Steiner, then make sure to equip Antibody. Marcus, sadly, has no abilities, so he will have to make do.
Now, the boss IS vulnerable to blind, so have Dagger cast that on the boss straight away. You can equip Steiner with Blood Sword, and then have Dagger heal when necessary and Steiner and Marcus pummel the boss into submission. Once defeated, the boss will escape, and you will continue to Alexandria via the Gargant. Unfortunately, after some brief dialogue, the trio will be caught in a trap by Zorn and Thorn. Control will then transition back to Zidane, Freya, Vivi, and Quina back in Burmecia.
After contemplating their life choices, Freya will suggest they head to the neighbouring kingdom of Cleyra to the south-west. Once a sister kingdom of Burmecia, the Burmecians and Cleyrans went their separate ways due to cultural differences. Anyway, the city of Cleyra isn't an actual city per se, but is built around a massive tree in the middle of a desert, protected by a sandstorm. If you went to the trouble of doing all the Chocographs so far, you very well may have already seen it.
Since Cleyra is built on top of a giant tree, you will need to climb its trunk to reach the city itself. Great. Anyway, there are a number of enemies here that can teach Quina Blue Magic: Zuu teaches White Wind, Dragonfly teaches Matra Magic, and Carrion Worm teaches Auto-Life. One thing to note is that you will also run in to an enemy called a Sand Golem. The only way to actually kill it is by killing the red core. Unless you kill that, the base of the Sand Golem will keep regenerating.
Best thing to do is to target the core with magic, as both the core and the base are resistant to physical attacks. Once the core dies, the whole thing dies. Following the path should lead you to an area with a locked door. Conveniently, you can unlock by going up the stairs to the right of the door and using a lever to open it. In the next area you can find a chest containing a Phoenix Down.
In the next area, there will be two hidden chests that you won't be able to pick up later. One just below the tree in the middle of the sand, containing Magician Shoes, and one above the tree, containing an Ice Staff. This latter chest is obscured by the branches and is just to the left of the sand waterfall at the back. Now, to exit this room, head to the bottom-right corner. In this next area, there will be some vines you can climb, but ignore it for now.
Instead, keep going left and up into the doorway above. There will be a chest in this area containing another Ether. Down and to the right from this will be a hole you can inspect. When prompted, select to put your hand in the hole. You should hear a sound, and then a torrent of sand will begin pouring into the room below. Exit the way you came, and now you are going to want to climb the vines up. This will lead you back into the lower room, which has now been flooded with sand, enabling Zidane to access areas that were previously inaccessible.
Head to the next area by going through the passage on the opposite side of the room. Head all the way to the left and you should find a chest containing a Needle Fork. If you then go back and head up, you should also find a chest containing a Tent. To the left on the mid-level you should find the Moogle, Monev. Deliver the letter from Atla, and don't forget to save your game. Continue up until you reach a fork. Take the path on the left, and you will find a Flame Staff.
Go back and then take the right path to continue up Cleyra's Trunk. Cross the bridge and you should come to a large, cavernous room. There will be several chests hidden in here that you should open before continuing along to Cleyra. There should be one on the far right containing a Remedy, one in the middle containing some Desert Boots, and one above and to the left of the middle chest containing a Mythril Vest.
Now, if you head all the way to the back of the room you should be able to enter another area. There should be a chest in this area containing Mythril Gloves, and, if you head all the way to the back, a switch. Interact with the switch and pull it to stop the sand flow on the left side of the map. You won't be able to get there from here, so backtrack into the previous room and, this time, head all the way to the far-left.
There should be a chest in front of you containing a Potion, and then take the right path to enter the area that you couldn't get to earlier. You can now access a chest that contains an Elixir. Go back and now take the left path to continue. In this next room will be three sand whirlpools that will try and suck you in. On the PlayStation version, you had to hammer the X button to escape, so you will have to use the key that is mapped to that.
If you get sucked in the middle then it will automatically throw you into battle against a Sand Golem. There will also be two treasure chests that you can try to get. One contains a Hi-Potion and the other contains 900 gil. Once through, continue to the left to the next area and follow the path around and to the right. Continue past the ladder all the way to the left to find a chest containing Gysahl Greens. Go back and head up the ladder to reach Cleyra Settlement.
You will be greeted by some Cleyrans, one of whom will escort Freya to meet with the Burmecian king. The other will offer to give you a guided tour. As tempting as the offer may sound, it is advisable to choose 'no thanks'. There will be four ATEs that you will want to watch: "No Yummy-Yummies!", "There a Mushroom", "Don't Hate Me", and "I-I Haven't Hurt Anyone." Simply wander around Cleyra until you've seen and watched all four. Once done, head back to the entrance.
Go right, and you should come across Quina in a sand-pit area. Speak with him and there will be a brief scene where Zidane and Quina will drop down to Cleyra's Trunk. Doing so will allow you to nab some treasure chests that were inaccessible earlier. One contains a Silk Robe, and the other contains Magician Shoes. The only downside is that you will have to head back up Cleyra's Trunk to Cleyra Settlement with only Zidane and Quina in your party.
Once back at Cleyra Settlement, if you head back to the sandpit area, there is a hidden treasure of 970 gil at the bottom of the screen to the right of where you entered. Go back to the entrance and go up the first flight of stairs, but not all the way to the next area. If you go all the way to the right you can find another hidden treasure, a Phoenix Pinion. Go up the second set of stairs, and head left. If you inspect the well in the middle you should find some Thunder Gloves.
From here, go right into the next area. Head all the way to the far right and inspect the flower bed to find an Ore hidden there. Head back slightly and then go up the small flight of stairs and you can find Burmecian Soldier Dan. If you speak to him a few times, he will offer to sell you weapons and armour. Whilst here, go inside the Inn, and go up to the second floor. Speak to the Moogle here, Mopli, to receive a letter from Ruby to Zidane.
You will also find an Ether hidden in between the two beds, 1250 gil hidden under a table near the stairs, and an Echo Screen near the barrel behind Vivi. Exit the Inn and head to the right. Go up the stairs here, but stop near the broken ladder and inspect the area to find a hidden Remedy. Continue up the stairs to the next area. In this area, you can find another Phoenix Pinion to the right of the woman standing in this area.
This Cleyran lady will sell you an assortment of items if you speak to here. I would advise to stock up on Annoyntments for some upcoming battles. Lastly, head up the stairs going up to reach outside the Cathedral. There will be some Gysahl Greens hidden in the shrubbery immediately to the right near the sign post as you enter, and an Echo Screen in the flowers in front of the Cathedral, to the right. Enter the Cathedral, and if you go to the left you can find a Yellow Scarf.
Speak to the Cleyrans here and they will tell you that Freya is meeting with the Burmecian King and the Cleyran High Priests, and so you cannot enter. They relay that Freya advises them to rest at the inn. Once you arrive at the Inn, however, Burmecian Soldier Dan will arrive, bringing news that a creature has attacked a child at the sandpit near the entrance. The party will automatically assemble there.
It turns out that the child is Vivi's acquaintance, Puck, and that Puck is also a Prince? Figures. Anyway, once the battle starts, have Vivi use Sleep and/or Slow if you have learned them. Quina's White Wind will be great here, as the Antlion will use an attack called Sandstorm that reduces the party's HP to a meager amount between 1 and 10 HP. Freya's Reiss' Wind ability will also be useful here. The Antlion is weak to ice based magic, so using Blizzara will melt the boss like he was made out of butter.
One thing to note is that the Antlion also has an attack called 'Trouble Mucus' that can inflict the Trouble status, which can only be cured with Annoyntment. After the battle, there will be a lengthy series of cutscenes. Freya will take part in a ceremony to strengthen the sandstorm surrounding Cleyra. However, the harp breaks, and the sandstorm fails as a result. Good job. There will be a few cutscenes involving Dagger and Steiner, before going back to Cleyra, where you will take control of Freya.
You will first want to travel back to the Cathedral and go to the inner chamber. Speak to the High Priest to receive an Emerald, and if you inspect the back wall, you will find another Ore. The wall on the right side has another Phoenix Pinion, and inspecting the pillar on the left will yield you another Ether. Go back to the Inn and you will now find Stiltzkin on the second floor. He will offer to sell you a Hi-Potion, an Ether, and a Phoenix Pinion for 444 gil.
Make sure to buy these items now as you will not be able to back track and get them. Speak to Mopli again and select the Mognet option to receive a letter from Monev. Make sure to save your game and then head to the entrance to meet up with Zidane, Quina, and Vivi. Climb down the ladder to Cleyra's Trunk and continue on. You will battle Alexandrian Soldiers as you progress. Once you reach the bridge, you will realise these encounters are a little too easy and so decide to return to the Settlement.
Your party will be brought back to the entrance of Cleyra Settlement and then immediately be thrust into battle against a Black Mage (Type B). Once the fight is over, first head over to the Antlion sandpit and you will find Mopli and Stiltzkin. Speak with Mopli and select Mognet, and he will give you a letter to give to Serino. Go back and head up the stairs and you will enter into battle against three Alexandrian Soldiers and then a battle against two Type B Black Mages.
Once these two battles are done, Zidane will automatically go to the next area. In this area, you will encounter some Cleyrans trying to escape from the invading forces and you will have a chance to direct them to safety. When given the option, select 'Let's head right' and you will escape with said Cleyrans to the next area. Outside the Inn you should see some Burmecians, speak with them and select the option 'Let's head left'. You will then have to fight two Alexandrian Soldiers and a Type B Black Mage.
Follow where the Burmecians went and, when given the option, select 'cross the bridge to the right'. You will then have to fight three Alexandrian Soldiers. Outside the Cathedral, select the option 'Not Yet' when given the chance. If you have followed these directions carefully, you will get:
A mysterious man will then aide you. When you head inside the Cathedral, you will find out that it is Sir Fratley, Freya's long lost boyfriend... who has amnesia. Of course he does. Anyway, General Beatrix will show up and steal the magic stone from the harp. If you speak to the people you saved, they will give you the following items: a Phoenix Down, a Remedy, a Nymph Card, an Elixir, a Zuu Card, and an Ether. Speak to Mopli and save your game and head after General Beatrix.
Much like the fight in Burmecia, the fight against General Beatrix in Cleyra is unwinnable. The battle will automatically end after 10 turns, so the best strategy is simply to move all your party members to the back row. Once again, Beatrix will leave your party at 1 HP and then leave, even though she could have totally finished you all off. Anyway, the Alexandrian forces will soon begin to depart through magical bubbles. Zidane, Freya, and Vivi will follow... and Quina will instead opt to escape down the trunk.
Beatrix will give the jewel to Queen Brahne, who will then promptly summon Odin, who then proceeds to obliterate Cleyra entirely. So, yeah, Queen Brahne just committed genocide and so is basically the in-universe equivalent of Hitler. After spying on Brahne on board the Red Rose, head back to the pods and you should see a Moogle, Serino appear and then go down the stairs. Give Serino the letter from Mopli, and he should give you a letter to give to Moodon. Save your game. You can then enter one of the pods to be teleported to Alexandria Castle.
The scene will then shift to Steiner and Marcus whom have both been locked up in a cage that is suspended from the ceiling via a length of chain. In order to break out, you have to swing the cage from left to right over and over again until, eventually, it will crash into one of the platforms. Once free, you will then have to evade Alexandrian Soldiers who will keep running at you until you exit the area. Head all the way to the left and use the ladder to go up.
Once at the top, head left. Steiner will then be reunited with Zidane, et al., as they arrive via teleportation. You will then be given a 30 minute timer to find Dagger before Queen Brahne returns in the Red Rose. As you progress forward, Marcus will trap the chasing soldiers by pulling a lever that drops a heavy metal grate in place at the close end of the corridor. Exit the tower, head left into the next area, and then head inside the castle.
Run up the stairs and run around the balcony until you reach the exit at the bottom of the screen. Immediately head up the circular staircase and then head up through the double doors. Keep going forward and through the double doors at the back. This is the Queen's chambers, and there will be a secret passage that leads to where Dagger is being held. Investigate the purple light in the top-left corner and you will be able to open up said secret passage.
Go down the secret passage and, in this next area, you will have to deal with these rotating platforms to get across. Now, on the first one you come to, there will be two treasure chests on a platform to the north and so you will have to wait until the rotating platform brings you to where you can jump off and grab them before getting back and then jumping off on the right side. These two chests contain a Tent and an Ice Brand.
Continue down the stairs all the way to the bottom, and go through the door at the top of the screen. As you enter, you will have to face Thorn and Zorn in a boss fight. Now, they do actually pack a punch, as they use heavy magic attacks such as Flare. However, you will see a notification that one of them has 'given the power of _ to _'. Attacking the twin who 'received the power' will interrupt the attack.
Upon defeat, they will run away. Run up to the altar and collect Dagger and a mandatory ATE called 'Friendship' will play, showing Marcus in the Evil Forest. Once back to Zidane there will now be a Moogle, Mosh, near the exit of this room. Make sure to save your game and all that good stuff. Head all the way back up to the Queen's Chamber... where you will now have to General Beatrix... again... for the third time.
Once again, this is a scripted battle you cannot win. So, just keep your party alive until she effortlessly reduces all your characters' HP to 1. However, upon discovering that Brahne intended to kill Garnet, she has a change of heart and chooses to disobey the Queen. Beatrix will then revive Garnet, and then Brahne will show up. Freya will then join Beatrix in battle against a Bandersnatch. You will then switch back to Zidane.
As soon as you jump on the rotating platform, a bandersnatch will appear behind you. Jump across to the other side and head down the stairs. As you progress a rotating bridge will rise to a door, out of which will come three Black Mages of the Type C variety. Upon dealing with them, you will then have to deal with another two bandersnatch. In the next area, Steiner will now opt to go and aid Beatrix and Freya in keeping the forces of the Queen at bay so Zidane can escape with Dagger.
You will then have to deal with ANOTHER Bandersnatch, and then you will be in control of Freya and Beatrix again. You will have to fight two more Bandersnatch. Steiner will show up to help, and you will have to fight two more Bandersnatch. You will gain control over Zidane once more. Before heading down the stairs, go back up into the room you found Dagger in and speak with Mosh and select the Mognet option. He should give you a letter to give to Monty. Exit and then go down the stairs.
You will then be caught in the same trap that caught Steiner earlier. Fortunately, Marcus and Blank will show up and free you. You will then board the Gargant. Unfortunately, you will then enter a boss fight against Ralvuimago. Either the previous boss we fought in Gargan Roo hit the gym and got some upgrades, or it ran away to fetch it's bigger brother. One noted difference is that this one will periodically coil up around itself. When it does this, it will counterattack if you attack it physically.
However, it will not counterattack magic. Since it is weak to ice based attacks, it would be a good idea to pummel him with Vivi's Blizzara spell. The only other thing to worry about is an attack called Ultra Sound Wave, which can inflict the mini status. The only means of removing this status effect at this point in the game is by using a remedy. One thing to note is that it is possible to steal an Oak Staff from the boss, which can teach Vivi Bio. It is a rare drop, so it may take quite some time to obtain.
Once you've dealt enough damage, this boss will run away like the last time. However, right as the party starts breathing sighs of relief, the Gargant suddenly breaks into an all-out sprint, as it turns out the boss was merely feigning defeat and is giving chase. Eventually, there will be a cutscene showing the first-person perspective of the Gargant, and then you crash into something. You will then find yourself in Pinnacle Rocks. Whilst technically accessible earlier on in the game, the terrain leading in is impassable and so this is the only time you get to spend actually inside the interior of Pinnacle Rocks.
You will then encounter the Eidolon, Ramuh. After throwing shade on Dagger because her Eidolons were taken and used to commit genocide by Queen Brahne, he will nevertheless agree to help you. The catch is that he has hidden 5 copies of himself around the area. Dagger's task is to find each Ramuh copy and listen to the portion of a story each one tells. Once you have found and listened to all five, head to the exit and speak to Ramuh, and then tell the story in the correct order.
You will then enter the next area. Go and speak to the Moogle here, Monty. Give him the letter from Mosh and then save your game. There should also be a chest near Monty containing a Mythril Vest. The first instance of Ramuh is actually just up from Monty, on the top branch. Speak to him and he will tell you the part of the story called 'Beginning'. If you then return to the beginning area you will find another copy of Ramuh and he will recite the part of the story called 'Hero'.
Go back to the main area. If you head left and up the path, you should reach a second area. Go clockwise around the screen and you should come to a point where a question mark appears above your head. Choose to jump down. Open the chest here for a Mythril Armlet. To the left of the chest will be another manifestation of Ramuh, who will recite the 'Silence' portion of the story. Head down and to the left and you will enter another part of the area.
Here, there will be a treasure chest on the left containing 'The Ogre' sword for Zidane. Next to the chest will be another Ramuh manifestation, who will tell you the 'Cooperation' portion of the story. Head down and you should emerge beneath Monty. If you head directly to the right, then you should find another copy of Ramuh tucked away who will tell the portion of the story entitled 'Human'. Head all the way back to the top and back to where you previously jumped, and go past to the left and Ramuh should appear.
The correct order is: Beginning, Cooperation, Silence, and then either Human or Hero. Final Fantasy veterans should recognise that this is essentially part of the story-line from Final Fantasy II. Anyway, after some more blabbing and pointless yakking, Ramuh will give you the Peridot accessory, which teaches Dagger the Ramuh summon ability. You won't have a chance to use it for awhile, though. When you do summon Ramuh, however, you will get the following achievement:
Go through the arch and you will reach a point of no return where you can either jump off now, or jump off later. Select jump off now, and there will be some cutscenes, as well as a cool cinematic. Unfortunately, Brahne is laying siege to Lindblum, and summons Atomos, sucking up her own black mages along with Lindblum's soldiers. You will then eventually end up back in Lindblum. Lindblum will now be quite different, with entire sections of the city no longer being accessible. Zidane will have the bright idea to have Vivi stay at the entrance by himself whilst he and Dagger enter the city.
Continue down the street, past the Lindblum residents crowded round a downed Black Mage, and all the way to the end to enter the next screen. As you will see, the passage on the left that previously led to the church is now collapsed and so can no longer be accessed. Head right and up to the top-right corner and go up into the next area. In this area, Zidane and Dagger should run into Minister Artania.
He will take you to Regent Cid, and Vivi will shortly arrive escorted by Lindblum guards who think he is an enemy soldier... even though Lindblum is under Alexandrian occupation. I'm assuming Cid is pulling an Edgar from Final Fantasy VI. Pretending to be an ally to the enemy whilst secretly undermining said enemy. Anyway, Regent Cid will inform the guards that he is 'in disguise', and they wander off without a second thought.
So, Cid will share what intel he has gathered so far. Brahne is being supplied magical weapons (i.e. her Black Mage army) by a weapons dealer named Kuja, who apparently hails from the Outer Continent. However, one does not simply walk into Mordor... I mean, the Outer Continent. Whatever. Basically, since airships in Final Fantasy IX rely on mist to travel, they cannot travel outside of the Mist Continent. Cid did have a steam-powered airship, but it was stolen (how convenient).
Well, how about taking a ship? Ships are a thing in Final Fantasy IX, right? I mean, Lindblum and Alexandria both have harbours. Of course, since Lindblum is under Alexandrian occupation, the harbour is now off-limits to non-Alexandrian military personnel. So, how on earth are we supposed to get to the Outer Continent? Well, as it turns out, there is an ancient passageway connecting the two continents, similar to Gargan Roo.
Cid will inform you of an old excavation site in a swamp to the north of Lindblum. Hmm... that sounds familiar. He will also give you 3,000 gil, which is nice. You will then return back to where you first met Artania, and there will be a man there you will need to talk to in order to continue with your quest. However, before you do so, there's some exploring to do (duh!). Leaving this screen to the next area should allow you to then view the ATE 'The Third Jewel'.
If you go to the destroyed passage that previously led to the church, if you rummage around you will find a Lindblum Card. If you go back up slightly, and enter the door in the middle, you will enter Card Freak Gon's House. On the upper floor, you will find two chests: one containing an ether, and one containing a Phoenix Down.
Next, you will want to visit Moodon in the Lindblum Inn near the city entrance. If you speak with Moodon, you can give him a letter from Serino, and he will give you a letter to give to Moonte. He will give Zidane a letter from Ruby regarding trying to recruit Lowell for her theatre in Alexandria.
If you then take the Air Cab to the Theatre District, you can find Lowell near the Tantalus Hideout. If you have the letter from Ruby, then Zidane will convince him to join Ruby's theatre in Alexandria. More importantly, if you go the the artist's house in the previous screen, there will be a chest containing an Ore.
That's about all you can do in Lindblum for now, though. So, once done, head back to the area you met Artania and speak to the man there and you will witness the ATE 'Brahne's Fleet Arrives'. You will then briefly go back to party, who are now in the base level of Lindblum Castle. You should also witness another ATE '<Gwok-gwok!>How Infuriating!' and Cid will give you a World Map.
Once you reach the Dragon's Gate, speak to Moonte and give him the letter from Moodon. The merchant by the exit is still here, so stock up on any remaining items if you need to. Lastly, before leaving, there is a chest in one of the corners containing a Bandanna. When you are ready, exit on to the world map and make your way to Qu's Marsh.
Before that, if you haven't gotten it already, head over to Chocobo's Forest and obtain Chocograph #5: Abandoned Beach. You won't be able to find and dig it up just yet, but you will shortly. Anyway, assuming there's no additional farting about you may want to do, head over to Qu's Marsh.
Once at Qu's Marsh, you will find Quina once again at the frog pond and he will rejoin your team. This is another opportunity to play the frog catching game if you have yet to get a golden frog for the Going for the Gold achievement or catch the requisite 99 frogs for the Frog Wrangler achievement.
Once Quina has rejoined the party, head to Quale's hut and speak with him in order to ask about the excavation site. He will reveal a clue about it's possible location, stating that there are secrets hidden in the brush. If you leave his hut and head right, eventually Quina will get distracted by the smell of frogs... which will actually lead you to the entrance to the Excavation Site. Enter and you will find yourself in Fossil Roo.
Inside, as soon as you make it a certain distance down the hallway, past the dark gate on the right, a monster called Armodullahan will burst out of aforementioned gate and give chase. Whilst you can stun it temporarily and escape, you can't kill it. In fact, if you don't escape the battle and keep trying to fight it, then it's more likely it will kill your entire party. Anyway, it will give chase down two hallways filled with swinging blades.
If you run into a swinging blade, it will knock you back, so time your movements right to escape Armodullahan. Don't worry if it catches up to you, as dealing 800 HP will stun it allowing you to escape. Just don't stick around too long. At the end of the second of such hallways, there will be a pit that Zidane artfully leaps over that Armodullahan will fall straight into. In the room at the end, however, you will then be accosted by one of the Queen's bounty hunters, Lani.
Apparently, her only mission is to retrieve the pedant, and so Princess Garnet is considered collateral damage. The pedant can be easily retrieved from her corpse should Dagger choose not to comply. Of course, Zidane, et al. aren't about to let that happen and so you will enter into a boss fight against Lani. Lani will primarily target Dagger, so make sure to keep her health topped up with healing items and curative magic.
If Dagger get's knocked out, then Lani will move on to targeting Vivi as her primary target. Of course, since she is so focused on Dagger, that will give Zidane, Quina, and Vivi ample time to blast Lani into oblivion. You can also use Dagger to summon Ramuh if you would like, as that does a fair bit of damage to Lani as well. After beating her, Lani will run away. Now, if you backtrack to the room behind the gate that Armodullahan came out of you will find an Elixir.
Now, if for whatever reason you have not gotten White Wind for Quina, the enemy Griffin can teach this to Quina also. However, there is also a new ability that can be learned here: the enemy Feather Circle can teach Quina LV4 Holy. Once done, head back to where you fought Lani, and, this time, head deeper into Fossil Roo. In the next area, you will briefly see a Gargant running by. This area is kind of like Gargan Roo, except there are multiple Gargant 'lines', and the mechanic for hitching a ride off of one is different.
You should see a yellow looking flower. Walk up to it and interact with it and Zidane will pick one up. If you then backtrack until the field icon pops up, interact with it and Zidane will hold it up to summon a Gargant. You will then automatically hop on and be taken to the next 'station'. This area will involved some backtracking in order to actually reach the exit over at the Outer Continent.
The first area you come to is a mining site. Here, you will find Mogki and also Stiltskin. Speak to Stiltskin and he will sell you a Phoenix Pinion, a Remedy, and an Ether for 555 gil. Make sure to buy these now, since Stiltskin will be gone the next time you return to this area. If you speak to the miner here, he'll briefly go over the mechanics of getting to the exit. Essentially, since Gargants don't like water, there are a series of switches throughout Fossil Roo that can change which direction the Gargant goes by activating/deactivating different water pumps.
However, despite the fact that some of the tracks will lead to dead ends, it will still be worth your while to explore them. For instance, if you head down past Mogki and Stiltskin, grab a flower, and the Gargant will take you to a dead end containing a chest. Said chest will contain Fairy Earrings. Head back and, this time, head north-east, and take the Gargant. In the next area, you should find Switch 1. Interact with it to push it to change the water flow.
Go back to the Gargant, and it will now take you to a new area. First, take the top path and it will take you to a chest containing an Ether. Back track and take the lower passage, and you will reach Switch 2. Interact with it to change the water flow. Go back the way you came and take the Gargant back. Head back to where Mogki and Stiltskin are and then go to the Gargant down from them. It will now take you to a different area.
Go down the stairs. The miner here will sell you some items if you need them. Go down the stairs past him and, in the next area, press down Switch No. 4, and then continue on and take the Gargant. This area is a dead end but you will find a chest containing a Lamia's Tiara. Head back, flip the switch again, and then go back the way you came. In this next area you will see some vines. Climb on to them and attempt to traverse them until you get shot down by some water.
Swim over to the right side and climb the vines and get off on the upper-right and continue through here into the next area. In here you will find a miner who will let you mine in here in exchange for a potion. You will able to get two achievements through this mini-game. Take him up on his offer, and then head over to the right side and you should fine rock wall composed of boulders. Mine here a couple of times until you free the Moogle trapped behind here.
This will get you the following achievement:
Select the Mognet option and the Moogle, Kuppo, will give you a letter to deliver to the Moogle Kupo. Huh. Totally not confusing at all. He also has a Mogshop if you need it. Make sure to save your game here. Through the mining mini-game, you also have a chance to dig up a Madain's Ring. It may take a couple of tries to get it. Just keep digging until you get it and you will get the following achievement:
The bottom-right leads to a storage area where you can find a Survival Vest. Once done, head back to the room with the vines and the water. Climb the vines up and go over to the switch on the top-left (Switch No. 3). Use this switch and then go back and exit to the bottom right. Take the gargant, and then exit this area to find yourself at the Outer Continent. You may want to summon Moguo, use a tent, and then save your game, as the enemies here will be tougher than the ones you've been fighting so far.
Two enemies in particular can teach Quina new Blue Magic: Goblin Mage can be used to learn Goblin Punch and Cactuar can be used to learn 1,000 Needles. If you still need to work on the frog catching mini-game, there is also a Qu's Marsh to the east, and there are some chocobo tracks to the northeast of said Qu's Marsh. Now, to the north, you should see a bridge-like structure. This is Conde Petie, and where you will need to go to continue the story,
In order to reach it, the Qu's Marsh, or the chocobo tracks, you will need to head underneath it. If you need to visit the Qu's Marsh or not, head to the chocobo tracks and use a gysahl green to summon Choco. If you have it, you can dig up the treasure for Chocograph #5: Abandoned Beach, which should be south of said chocobo tracks. You will get 9 Phoenix Pinions, 5 Phoenix Downs, 12 Peridots, and some Diamond Gloves for your troubles.
Once done faffing about, head to Conde Petie. You can only enter it from the plateau it connects to, just in case it wasn't obvious. Upon entering, you will automatically continue on to the interior after some brief dialogue. Now, in order to get the Movie Critic achievement, for watching all ATEs, you will need to watch all ATEs here in Conde Petie, so pay attention. As soon as you reach the interior, you will have two ATEs to choose from.
First, select 'Vivi and the Couple'. Before continuing, if you search the dark corner to the left, beneath the doorway in the top-left, you will find 2,700 gil. Next, head through the doorway to the top-left and select to watch 'Quina Accused'. In this hallway, continue through the doorway to the left to reach the Inn. You can now watch a new ATE, 'Quina Can't Communicate'. If you then search the bottom left bed in the top half of the Inn, you will find 1,800 gil.
Go back down, and through the doorway on the right that you entered, and then right one more time to get back to the main entrance. From here, go right one more time, and you should be able to watch the ATE 'Dagger and William'. Once done, head right to reach the items shop. Inside, you will find the Moogle, Mogmatt, who will task you with giving a letter to Suzuna. If you then search behind the stairs, you should find a Phoenix Pinion. If you head up the stairs, you should find Vivi. It is very important that you don't talk to him just yet as this will advance the plot.
What you will want to do BEFORE talking to Vivi is to explore the Kirkboat, which is the boat thing that is suspended above a chasm between both sides by these stone walkways. So, go past Vivi and go up just past the two dwarves, and walk over to the Kirkboat. If you faff around, you should be able to find a Diamond at the back somewhere lurking about.
Now you want to go back and speak with Vivi, and you should then get the ATE 'Hungry Bryan'. After watching that, go back down into the item shop and you will see Vivi bumping into a Black Mage who promptly runs away. The dwarves, who refer to the Black (and Vivi) as 'Pyntie-Hets' will tell them that a whole village of Black Mages can be found in a forest to the southeast. Vivi, wishing to learn more about his origins, suggests they go search for the village.
Exit Conde Petie from the way you came in and head to the beach down south. You will then want to head west and then follow the cliffs around into the forest. At the end will be a slightly larger grouping of trees that you can enter. Although if you hang around the forested area on the world map long enough, you may run into another friendly creature, Ladybug, who will ask you for two Ore. When you enter the actual forest, you will then have to take a certain path in order to reach the Black Mage village. Essentially, you have to go down the right path twice, down the left path, and then down the right path one more time.
You will catch up to the Black Mage who took off from Conde Petie just as he opens a magical barrier. Upon entering the Black Mage Village, the party will immediately split up. It is VITALLY important that you pay close attention here and follow these instructions to the letter in order to avoid missing out on certain missable ATEs required for the Movie Critic achievement. As soon as you gain control over Zidane, start by watching the ATE 'Everyday Life'.
Now, once you return to Zidane, take note of the building in front of you. That is the item shop. What you will want to do is take the path to the right of said item shop. However, before doing so, if you inspect the area in front of the door of the hut on the left, you should find a hidden Elixir. Now, head to the right of the item shop to continue.
This will bring you to an area where you head over a bridge, or take a back entrance into the Item Shop. Here, you will want to choose the ATE 'Life on the Run'. Next, enter the item shop using the back entrance. Grab the ether hidden on the left side of the room, near to the shelf, and then exit out the other side and select the ATE 'Gourmand's Nose'. Your next order of business will be to head all the way to the right to find the Moogle, Mogryo. Access Mognet, and he will give you a letter to give to Mocchi.
You will then want to watch the ATE 'Different Language' and then head left past the Item Shop. Don't go into the Synthesis Shop yet, however. You'll know you're going the right way if you see Vivi run past you. Continue to the left to reach a graveyard area, and watch the ATE 'Visitor, Not Invader'. You will then want to visit the Synthesis Shop, where you will have a brief cutscene involving Dagger, after which you can view the ATE 'Life Cycle.
Inside the Synthesis Shop, there will be a treasure chest hidden at the back of the shop containing 2,000 gil. If you then climb the ladder, you arrive on the roof. If you follow the pathway, then you will find a treasure chest at the end containing 843 gil. To continue with the story, head to the right side of the Item Shop to reach the Inn. You will find Vivi standing next to some bunk-beds inside, and the other party members will arrive. When given the option, choose to rest up.
There will be some brief plot development involving Vivi, the Black Mages, and all that. Once you regain control of Zidane, check by the ladder next to the beds in the room in which you found Vivi to find the Virgo Stellazio. Now it is time to head back to Conde Petie. If you return to the area where you found Mogryo, enter the hut and you can find some Gysahl Greens on the right side of the room.
Upon returning to Conde Petie, some dialogue will ensue wherein Zidane will concoct the beginnings of a cunning plan. However, before any shenanigans can ensue, the first order of business is intelligence gathering. In essence, the name of the game is to deduce a means of gaining access to the other side of Conde Petie so you can go and see what this 'sanctuary' is, and whether it is connected to that anus, Kuja. Now, there are actually two different methods of continuing with the story.
The first of these involves speaking with the two dwarves that are standing guard by the weapon shop, and the second involves speaking with the dwarf guarding the passageway in the top-right corner of the room that contains the Kirkboat. Whichever method you choose, you will be instructed to seek out 'His Holiness', aka David Heavenguard. So, basically, the dwarf pope. 'His Holiness' David Heavenguard can be found wandering the hallway outside of the Inn.
After some dialogue, etc., Dagger and Zidane will get 'married'. Now, it is a matter of vitally important exigency that, when presented with the option, that you select 'Why don't you guys get married, too?' This ATE is required for the Movie Critic achievement and is missable. There will also be an ATE involving Eiko running past. Anyway, when ready, leave Conde Petie, and you will find yourself in the Mountain Path.
As you exit Conde Petie, you will briefly encounter Eiko and her moogle, Mog. Eiko is stuck on a tree branch, and Mog will quickly abandon her to her fate. Quina will leave the party here to chase after Mog. Fortunately, upon rescuing her, Eiko will join the party. One thing to note is that she can summon Eidolons as well, albeit a different set of Eidolons than Dagger.
Now, if you run to the left, you can get on top of the little overhang from where Eiko was dangling previously and use the vines to climb up to the large tree root above it. On top of this root will be a chest within which you can find a Remedy. If you then continue to the right, you should come across some kind of statue with which you can interact. Go ahead and interact with it, and, when prompted, choose to take out the Blue Stone inside.
Once this has been done, you can head back down the vine to the path that you were on previously and follow the pathway to the right. You should see some steps hewn from rock leading up to a small tree root. You can climb these steps onto the tree root, and then head left to the previous screen. Here you will find a chest containing a Tent, and another one of those weird statues. This one will contain a Red Stone which you will definitely want to collect.
Go back and down the steps, and continue right down the path to the next area. As a side note, in this next area will be three oglops. Catching one and returning it to the dwarf, Bryan Rootrunner back the Conde Petie Item Shop, he will give you an Oglop card. In the next screen from this one, you will find Stiltzkin again. You will want to buy the items he has for a bargain 666 gil, netting you a Magic Tag, a Tent, and an Ether. This is necessary for the Driving the Hard Bargain achievement.
Speak to the Moogle here, Suzuna, and select the Mognet option to give her the letter from Mogmat. Take the left path, climb the ladder, and then follow the vine and root path to the right side of the screen, where you will be treated to a breathtaking view and cinematic of the enigmatic Iifa Tree. However, shortly after this, you will be thrust into battle against Hilgigars. This boss is annoying as he is capable of dealing quite a bit of damage (and of varying types) and has the annoying tendency to cast Curaga on himself.
If you have taught Dagger the ability, have her cast Float on the party to avoid Hilgigar's Earthquake attack. Meanwhile, you can attack with Zidane, cast magic with Vivi, and use Eiko to summon the Eidolon Fenrir, which will net you the following achievement:
The good thing about having Eiko in the party is that you have a second healer and summoner, so you can alternate between her and Dagger being the healer depending on the severity of the beating you receive at the hands of the boss. However, casting Float should protect you from the brunt of the damage. Just plug away and keep your party's HP up, and he should go down.
Following the battle, Eiko will tell you a bit about the Iifa Tree, including that the dwarves refer to it as 'the sanctuary'. There should also be another statue in this area containing a Yellow Stone. Interact with the statue and take the stone. Continue right to the next area and then take the lower pathway that leads off to the right. There will be a treasure chest containing an Ether, and also a statue that has the Green Stone. Make sure you collect the stone.
Now, if you backtrack all the way to where you found Stiltzkin hanging out with Suzuna, and take the pathway to the right. Here you will find a statue. Interact with it, and place the Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green stones inside it in order to receive an elusive Moonstone. Backtrack to where you fought Hilgigars and follow the large tree root onto the world map. At this point in the game, if you have followed the guide and interacted correctly with the preceding friendly monsters, you should find a friendly Yeti in this area.
Give the Yeti two Ores, and you will be rewarded with an Elixir and 20 AP. He hangs out in the large forested area next to Madain Sari, which is your next destination. You'll know it when you see it, because it sort of looks like a rocky hill or mound that is right on the coast. Once you're done tracking down and placating Yeti, enter the village. Now, this is another area where there are easily missable ATEs, so make sure to follow the guide.
When you first enter the village, there will be quite a bit of dialogue. Once all the blabbing is over, you should then be able to watch the ATE 'Vivi's Feelings'. In the area with the fountain, you can find the Stellazzio Libra behind the fountain itself. You should also now be able to view the ATEs 'Dagger's Feelings' and 'Eiko's Feelings'. During Eiko's ATE, you will be given a few choices. When prompted, choose the following options:
For "Who should go fishing?" choose Momatose, for "Who should go dig up potatoes?" choose Mocha, which leave Chimomo to help Eiko in the kitchen. Upon regaining control of Zidane, open the treasure chest behind Dagger for a Tent, and then head left to find Vivi. You should also then gain access to the ATE 'Dagger's Feelings'. Once you regain control of Zidane, head to the left to try and enter Eiko's house, and a moogle will prevent you from entering.
The moogle in question will ask you to follow it to the Eidolon wall. You should now be able to view the ATE 'Eiko's Kitchen'. When given the prompt, choose to make enough food for 11 people, and do not put the Oglop in the food, and help Momatose with the fishing. Quina will then be reeled in and the ATE will end. When you regain control of Zidane, return to the entrance of Madain Sari to find Dagger, then return to the two centre and go to the Eidolon wall.
Exit the area and you will gain access to the ATE 'Eiko's Kitchen 2'. When prompted, ask Quina for advice. All of these choices ensure that Eiko's meal for the party and her Moogle is the best it can possibly be. Once the food is done, loot the two chests to get an Ore and a Phoenix Pinion. One thing to note is that equipping a Phoenix Pinion on Eiko allows her to use and ultimately learn the summon, Phoenix. Summoning Phoenix results in earning the achievement:
There is also a second, related achievement tied to the Phoenix Summon:
This involves a random chance ability called Rebirth Flame. It is based on the following formula [(# of Phoenix Pinions / 256) * 100. The item limit cap is 99 of each item. Ergo, the highest percent chance of this ability occurring is 38.67% (assuming you have 99 Phoenix Pinions. Since Eiko is the only one who can summon Phoenix, she is required to be in the party. Basically, if the party gets wiped out, and Eiko has the summon Phoenix, there is a random chance it will activate Rebirth Flame in order to avoid a game over.
Anyway, back to the story; if you head left into Eiko's Kitchen and inspects the left side area just above the stairs, you will find Kirman Coffee. After some more dialogue, etc., you will end up outside Madain Sari. Note, if you want to stock up on weapons, armour, and items, you can head back inside Madain Sari and speak to Morrison, who has a MogShop. Anyway, to get to the Iifa Tree, you will have to backtrack to the Conde Petie Mountain Path.
Traverse the large root down, and take the left exit, which should take you back to one of the stone statues. Instead of continuing left to Conde Petie, head up and you should exit at the top end and arrive back on the World Map. Now, in this area, you can find another friendly monster, Nymph, hanging about in the forested areas (provided you already met Yeti and gave him the Ore). She will ask for three Ores, and will give you an Emerald as well as 30 AP.
As far as getting to the Iifa Tree itself, you can't miss it. It's the huge, massive tree that you saw earlier, just on the World Map now. Anyway, when you first enter the outskirts of the Iifa Tree's roots, you will find the entrance inside the Iifa Tree is blocked by an invisible forcefield. If you ask Eiko about it, she will break the seal, netting you a Ruby in the process, which teaches the ability to summon the Eidolon, Carbuncle. Summoning Carbuncle earns you the following achievement:
One thing to note is that two of the monsters in this area, Stroper and Dracozombie, can basically be one-shotted. If you use Soft on Stroper, it will eat the poo-poo immediately. If you cast Life or use a Phoenix Down, etc., then Dracozombie will bite the dust. The path across the roots are fairly trivial to get across, since it is basically a linear path. Somewhere along the line will be a platform with a Moogle, Mocchi, will be standing. If you select the Mognet option, you can give Mocchi the letter from Mogryo.
Once you've reached the end of the path, you should eventually reach a circular platform. When presented the option, have Zidane 'stand on it to reveal that the centre is an elevator. After some blabbing, the party will descend below. In the next area, there are actually two treasure chests. One at the bottom of the screen containing a Hi-Potion, and another that you have to activate a hidden switch to reveal. This switch will be on the right side, and will drop down a chest containing a Phoenix Down.
There is a similar gimmick in the next area; there will be a hidden switch, except on the left this time. This one drops down a chest containing a Healing Rod. There will be two more treasure chests in this area further down; a chest containing a Lamia's Flute, and a partially hidden chest containing a Remedy. Continue down to the bottom and into the next area. You will arrive at a platform shaped like a leaf. During the journey down, there will be fixed battles; one against 3 zombies, and 1 against a Dracozombie.
At the bottom of this little ride down will be two sets of stairs. Take both down to the bottom, and you will find an Elixir hidden by the bottom of the second staircase. You should also find another hidden chest behind the wall where Eiko and Vivi are standing. If you then continue to the left, you will then encounter Soulcage. After some back and forth, you will be pitched into battle against the creature.
Now, despite being a tree, Soulcage is actually an undead opponent, meaning he can be one-shotted by casting Life, using an Elixir, or using a Phoenix Down. If you do decided to take him on 'legit' don't cast fire magic, as that will cause him to counterattack by shooting flaming shards of bark at you. Also, it is worthwhile equipping the passive ability Body Temp, since he has an attack that causes the overheat status, which causes your character to get knocked out if they make any attack.
Once defeated, the party will blab a bit and then decide on returning to Madain Sari with Eiko. Upon returning to Madain Sari, we learn that the village precious stone has been stolen. Follow Eiko back to her house, through to the kitchen, and then go down the stairs. Enter the small room to find Eiko lamenting the loss of her tribe's heirloom. She runs off, and gets promptly kidnapped. Before running off after Eiko, there two treasure chests here; one containing a Survival Vest, and the other a Phoenix Down.
Leave and go all the way to the Eidolon Wall and speak with the Moogle standing outside, Morrison. When given the option, choose to Peek Inside, where you will find that Lani, the bounty hunter from earlier, has kidnapped Eiko. Morrison will then give you an Exploda and an Elixir. Before selecting 'go save her' have him heal up your party first, then go in to save the day. However, the stand off is promptly interrupted by the arrival of a large man with green skin and red hair.
Turns out he is another bounty hunter, but he does not approve of child kidnap. He then challenges Zidane to a one-on-one fight. This is a fairly straight forward encounter. Not really much I can say other than, have Zidane equipped with Auto-Potion, Counter, and High Tide, only attack when he returns to the centre and says 'Here I go!', and use the highest Dyne ability if Zidane goes into trance. Upon defeating the man, he returns the stolen stone and leaves.
Eiko and Vivi will return to Eiko's house. Head back to the small room at the bottom of the stairs south of the kitchen to find Eiko. She will decide to wear the precious stone as an earring, and you will gain the item Memory Earring. If you leave Eiko's House, there is a spot where a question mark will appear over Zidane's head. Zidane will then find Dagger sitting in a boat, singing the same song from earlier.
There will then be some scenes of dialogue, where Dagger suddenly recalls some early childhood memories, and the party will eventually assemble at the village's exit. The red-haired man from before will re-appear, but will ask to join you, giving his name as Amarant.
However, you still aren't any closer to learning anything about Kuja. As such, the party decides to return to the Iifa Tree, as Soulcage did remark it was expecting Kuja when they visited last. When you arrive back at the Iifa Tree, Kuja will come flying in on top his white dragon. Jackpot! Anyway, much of the following will consist of cutscenes, dialogue, and some cinematics. You will have control over Zidane for parts of it, though.
During your ascent, Kuja will summon mist monsters, appropriately named Mistodons, to assault you. After battling your way to the top, Queen Brahne and the Alexandrian naval fleet will show up, intending to do away with Kuja now that her plans for world domination are basically complete. Kuja will promptly leave to assault the fleet as Brahne prepares to summon Bahamut as waves of Mistodons assault her fleet.
Bahamut will then be summoned, and, in a manner reminiscent of the battle between Thanos, and the Guardians of the Galaxy and members of the Avengers on Titan in Avengers: Infinity War, Kuja will remark that Bahamut was able to hurt him a little, wiping a single drop of blood from his cheek. However, Kuja then summons the airship Invincible, which ensnares Bahamut, placing him under Kuja's command.
Meanwhile, back at the Iifa Tree, Dagger will run off in search of a nearby Eidolon, and there will be one more Mistodon battle. Before running off after Dagger, the Moogle, Mocchi, is hiding behind the tree when you regain control over Zidane. Rest up, and use the Mognet option to get a letter from Stiltskin. Then make sure to save your game.
Going after Dagger, you will come across a shrine where you obtain an Aquamarine, containing the Leviathan summon for Dagger,
Whilst you won't get the opportunity to do so now, summoning Leviathan results in the following achievement:
Of course, since Brahne is on a boat, Leviathan is of no help here. As such, you can only watch on as Kuja orders Bahamut to obliterate the Alexandrian naval fleet.
Kuja will then promptly bugger off back to Legoland, as Dagger has a brief 'moment' with Brahne, aka the FF9 in-universe equivalent of Hitler (when you think about it). Still, it seemed as if Kuja had exerted some kind of subtle influence and even control over Brahne as, lying on the beach dying, she repents of her previous villainy and apologises to Dagger.
This is where Disc 2 ends on the original Playstation version, and where Disc 3 begins. You will find you have returned to Alexandria. Since Brahne is dead, Dagger (aka Princess Garnet) is next in line to the throne, and so you will be treated to a scene where Beatrix, Dagger, Steiner, and Doctor Tot will be discussing officially crowning Garnet as the new Queen. The scene will then change to the pub, where Zidane is drowning his sorrows.
However, you will find yourself once again in control of Vivi this time. So, leave Zidane to mope, and leave the pub. Now, there are going to be certain missable activities that, if you don't do now, you will not be able to do later, and will have screwed yourself out of several achievements. The first of these is the racing mini-game, required to obtain Athlete Queen. From outside the pub, head right and you will first have an ATE 'It's So Big!' to watch.
Once the ATE is over, speak with the Hippo lady, and she will ask if you wish to race against Hippaul. Choose to do so. You will have to race and beat Hippaul until you reach 'level 80', upon which you will obtain the 'Athlete Queen' title, and get the following achievement:
Unlike the other mini-games in Alexandria, this one is easy and straightforward. So, you shouldn't have much if any trouble getting this one. Once you have gotten this out of the way, head back to the pub, and, this time, head left. You will get the opportunity to view the ATE 'Long Time No See!'. If you then continue into the square, you will then get access to the ATEs 'To Fly High' and 'Artemicion'. Upon concluding the two ATEs, if you head north to the dock, you will find a Phoenix Pinion above the soldier on the left, and 3,927 gil above the soldier on the right.
Return back to the main square. If you go ahead and go left, past Blank and Marcus, and all the way to the Church, you will find Stiltskin inside. Make sure to buy his selection of items. For 777 gil, he will give you a Phoenix Pinion, Hi-Potion, and an Elixir. Then, speak to Kupo and give him the letter from Kuppo. If you climb up the ladder and pull the rope at the top, you will find a Shiva card and a Ramuh card. In order to continue with the story, you will want to head to the theatre (i.e. where Blank and Marcus were standing earlier).
After some dialogue, etc., the scene will shift back to Dagger. Doctor Tot will then give you an Opal, Topaz, and an Amethyst. These jewels can teach Dagger to summon Shiva, Ifrit, and Atomos respectively. Whilst you will not be able to do so right now, summoning these Eidolons will get you the following achievements:
You will briefly gain control over Eiko inside Alexandria Castle for a brief scene where she gets stuck dangling from the architecture after accidentally getting knocked over the side by Baku. You will eventually regain control over Zidane, who is joined by Vivi. Vivi managed to talk Zidane into going to see Garnet before her coronation. As soon as you exit the pub, view the ATE 'I Forgot!'. If you backtrack to the mini-theatre, you will find 2,680 gil lying on the ground between the two tables at the bottom of the screen.
There is also another mini-game now that you have control of Zidane. If you head to Weapon Shop in the town square, you will find the brothers Benero, Denero, and Genero. If you speak with them, they will challenge you to a guessing game where you have to guess which one is Benero after they 'shuffle'. This one is particularly annoying, but once you have completed it 9 times in a row, you will get the following achievement:
When you're ready, head to the north of the square where you will end up breaking up a fight between Amarant and Freya. Take the boat to the other side. Once across, if you inspect the pillars on either side, you will find a Phoenix Pinion on the right, and an Ether on the left. You will also find a Lapis Lazuli behind the fountain. If you head to the left of the fountain into the west tower, you can find a Phoenix Pinion hidden on the right side of the screen.
If you then go through the doorway on the left, you will enter a new room with a statue holding a trident in the middle. If you inspect the top-right corner, you will find the Stellazzio, Leo. That's all the items you can get for now, so head back to the main entrance, and enter the castle grounds to find Steiner in the process of kicking Eiko out. There will be a scene involving them saying 'goodbye' to Princess Garnet before she is crowned Queen, and some more involving a misplaced love letter.
Eventually, the party will decide on a trip to Treno to get their mind off of things. This second visit to Treno will have some more tricky ATEs that require caution in order to view them. Of note is the fact that there are two mutually exclusive ATEs that you cannot watch both of during the same playthrough. But the good news is that you don't need to watch both of them. Once you regain control of Zidane, you will first want to watch the ATE 'Eiko Talks Life' followed by the ATE 'How He Ended Up Here'.
Upon conclusion of the second ATE, Vivi will have two choices: to stop by at home, or stay in Treno. Which one you pick decides which of the two mutually exclusive ATEs you get to watch. If you stay in Treno, you get the ATE 'Hippo's Prize', whereas if you choose to visit home, you will get 'Home Sweet Home'. Whichever one you choose, once done, you will want to head down the stairs next to Tot's house that leads down, and you should get the ATE 'Memories by the Water'.
If you then head south towards the stadium, you will then get access to the ATE 'City People', where you will get a Chimera Armlet from the four-armed man who tried to rob Dagger in the first visit to Treno. Now, at this point in the game, it is possible to backtrack to the village of Dali from earlier on in the game. Once in Dali, enter the Windmill and take the door into the Mayor's house. Choose to check the room, and, when prompted, check the desk.
You should pick up the rare item 'Mini-Brahne'. Keep searching the Desk until you see the little boy say "Zzz..." then search the Heater to find the Mayor's Key. You can then quit after this. Back in the Windmill, if you take the ladder up to the next floor, you can now access the two treasure chests here, one containing an Elixir and another containing a Cachusha. Go back down and inspect the door at the back of the room and you can use the Mayor's Key to access the Chocobo's Pen.
There will be a hidden treasure chest on the right side of the screen containing 30,000 gil. If you then inspect it a second time, you will find the rare item 'Burman Coffee'. Exit the village and enter the Observatory, and speak with Morrid. At this point in the game, you should now have all the rare coffees in the game, and Morrid will ship a Mini Prima Vista model airship to the Tantalus headquarters in Lindblum.
Once this is all done, head back to Treno. There is one more thing to do in Treno before advancing the plot, and that is by heading to the Auction House. During your second visit, the Auction House will now offer a range of rare items, including Dark Matter. If you acquire nothing else, make sure to get Dark Matter, as it teaches Dagger how to summon the Eidolon, Odin. Once again, whilst you can't summon him right now, summoning Odin will get you the following achievement:
Go ahead and return to the Card Tournament to continue with the story. One thing to note is that there are ATEs in between each match that you need to view for the Movie Critic achievement. You have to win two games before you can play against the champion. Save your game before hand, then play the first match. After winning the first match, when given the option, select 'Of course I'm interested'. This should allow you to view the ATE 'Lessons of Life'.
Save your game, then play the second match. Upon winning, there will be an additional two ATEs, 'Hallucination' and 'Premonition'. Save your game, then play the Champion, who is actually Regent Cid. If you win, you get a Rebirth Ring as a prize. Upon the tournament ending, there will be a bunch of dialogue and cutscenes. Alexandria has come under attack from Bahamut under the command of Kuja!
The scene will shift back to the castle where you will control Dagger. First order of business will be in ordering the Knights of Pluto into position. For gathering information, select Blutzen & Kohel; for protecting the townspeople, choose Weimar and Haagen; to contact Lindblum, select Breireicht & Laudo, and finally; to begin preparations to fire the cannons, choose Dojebon & Mullenkedheim. If you make those choices, Beatrix will give you some Angel Earrings.
You will then gain control of Steiner who, accompanied by Beatrix, sets off into the town to fight the waves of incoming Mistodons. You will have to fight 7 of them and then you will revert back to Dagger again. What you will want to do is climb the stairs to the second floor, and follow the balcony until you reach the middle exit at the far end of the room. From here, climb the stairs and then head up through the door.
If you then take the door on the left, you will find a staircase. Head up the stairs to the Altar on top. There will then be some more cutscenes, where Eiko and Dagger summon Alexander to shield the caste and the city from Bahamut's attacks. Kuja plans on using the Invincible to ensnare Alexander as he did Bahamut, but, instead, he discovers that the Invincible is now under the control of a man named Garland.
You will then regain control over Zidane. All you have to do is pretty much take the same path that Dagger did, and then there will be another cutscene whereby Garland uses the Invincible to destroy Alexander, and decimate much of Alexandria. The game will then skip to Zidane waking up in the guest bedroom in Lindblum Castle. Now, this is another area where it is vitally important to pay attention in order to get all of the ATEs in this area.
You will be joined by Blank as you attempt to leave. When given the option, ask Blank where Dagger is in order to get the 'My Bad' ATE later. There will be two treasure chests in the guestroom, one containing an Elixir, and the other an Egoist's Armlet. If you speak to the Moogle here, Mogki, you can pick up a letter to deliver for Moodon. Leave the room, and you should gain access to the ATE 'Something Washed Ashore'. Note that this ATE is only viewable if you previously viewed 'Hallucination' back in Treno.
Anyway head to the elevator. Before going up, though, head down and take the trolley to the Dragon's Gate. Behind the platform at the top of the screen will be a Remedy. Then go to the Serpent's Gate, and there will be a treasure chest containing Chimera Armlet. Once you are done treasure hunting, take the lift up to the Upper Level. Go left and up the stairs to the telescope and find Dagger. Once you are done speaking with her, you should be able to view the 'My Bad' ATE assuming you played your cards right earlier.
Head back down to the elevator to find Blank, who explains that Regent Cid is waiting in the throne room. There will be a couple of ATEs that play automatically: 'Self-Reproach; and 'Deep Anger'. However, Dagger is still at the telescope, so Zidane of course volunteers to go get her. This time, she will be back in the guest room. Upon returning to the meeting in the throne room, the party agrees they need an airship that can travel without mist.
However, since Cid is currently an Oglop, the process in making another steam-powered airship has been slow. The prototype Cid flew to Treno was barely able to make the journey. As such, they endeavour to try and find a way to make Cid human again.
When you regain control of Zidane, there should be an available ATE to watch, called 'My Hammer'. Anyway, head to the elevator and return to the Mid Level, and go to the Air Cab station. First, you will want to head to the Business District. Head across the street to the Inn and give Moodon the letter from Mogki, then go back onto the street. Head north and, in the next screen, you should find the Stellazzio Sagittarius on the left hand side of the screen.
If you enter the house across from the lady selling Gysahl pickles, you will find the chests there have been refilled, and contain an Elixir and a Remedy. Exit out of the house and head right to the next area and speak to the woman called Alice, and ask her about the Beautiful Potion, and she will give it to you. Go back to the Air Cab station and, this time, go to the Theatre District.
Upon arriving, you will bump into Kal and Wei, provided you saved them all the way back in Burmecia, and will also be able to watch the ATE 'The Rally'. Enter the art studio and open the chest to get another Lapis Lazuli. If you speak with the artist, Michael, he says he has never heard of the potions we are looking for, but that we can help ourselves if we find anything. If you inspect the bottom left corner, you will find the Strange Potion.
Exit the studio and go down the steps to the Tantalus hideout, and Zidane will ask Cinna about the Unusual Potion. Cinna turns out to have just the exact potion we are looking for and gives it to Zidane. If you enter the hideout, you can open the chests to receive 1,273, 970, and 4,826 gil respectively. If you collected all four rare coffees and spoke with Morrid in Dali, you will also find a model mini Prima-Vista airship, which will get you the following achievement:
Before returning to Cid, your next objective is to spend as much gil as humanly possible until you have less than 50 gil total. The reason for this is because there is a specific ATE that will only trigger if you have less than 50 gil.
Return to Lindblum Castle and go up to Regent Cid's throne and Doctor Tot will administer the potions. However, instead of becoming human again, he is instead turned into a frog. After you leave Cid's chambers, you will be able to access the ATE 'No Free Lunch'. Assuming you have less than 50 gil, you should also be able to view the ATE 'Give Me My Money'. Once this is done, head down to the Serpent's Gate and board the Blue Narciss.
Now that you have a ship, you can cross the ocean. Now, to continue with the story, you will head to the Black Mage Village. However, before you do that, there are a bunch of sidequest activities to do. If you return to Chocobo's Forest, you will find that Mene is not there when you arrive. He will arrive shortly, and announce he has discovered a new location: Chocobo's Lagoon, which is then marked on your map.
Assuming that Choco has the reef ability at this point, you should be able to travel there via the Blue Narciss, use Gysahl Greens on the chocobo tracks, and then use Choco to enter the lagoon. Play Chocobo Hot & Cold until you find and dig up the following three Chocographs: 'Forgotten Lagoon', 'Abandoned Lagoon', and 'Dawn Lagoon'. Exit Chocobo's Lagoon, and you should be able to now dig up the following Chocographs: 'Cold Field', 'Forgotten Lagoon', 'Faraway Lagoon' 'Abandoned Lagoon', 'Bird's-Eye Lagoon', 'Small Beach', and 'Dawn Lagoon'.
Digging up the treasures from these Chocographs will allow Choco another upgrade; he will gain the mountain ability, enabling Choco to climb mountains, and changing his colour from blue to red. With this upgrade, you should now be able to find and dig up the Chocograph 'Uncultivated Land'. Upon doing so, return to Chocobo's Forest, and you can dig up the following Chocographs: 'Forbidden Forest', 'Green Plains', and 'Forgotten Plains'.
Return to Chocobo's Lagoon, and you can play Chocobo Hot & Cold until you find and dig up the Chocograph 'Dusk Plains'. Go, find, and dig up the treasures for Forbidden Forest and Green Plains, one of which will give Choco the Ocean ability, enabling him to cross deep ocean and changing his colour from Red to Purple. Once done, return to Chocobo's Forest and play Hot & Cold until you find and dig up the Chocograph: 'Cold Lagoon'.
Then, head back to Chocobo's Lagoon, and you can now unearth the following Chocographs: 'Sea at Dusk', 'Ocean', and 'Outer Island 2'. With the exception of Dusk Plains, Forgotten Plains, and Outer Island 2, you should be able to find and dig up every Chocograph treasure you have the Chocograph for at that time. Once you only have these three remaining, there won't be any more treasures to dig up for the time being.
However, with the Mountain and Ocean abilities, Choco also gains the ability to open Mountain Cracks, and to go diving. Mountain Cracks are visible cracks that, if you use a Dead Pepper whilst riding Choco, will allow Choco to dig up the treasure there. Whereas with diving, you will notice bubbling areas. You can dive at these spots for treasure by once again using a Dead Pepper whilst riding Choco. For now, you can only find and dig up one Chocobo Mountain Crack, but you can dive for treasure at 4 of the 5 dive spots.
The Mountain Crack you can access is on the Lost Continent in the north-west. There will be a Mountain Crack there that contains 41 Lapis Lazulis, a Rosetta Ring, a Protect Ring, and an Airship Card. If you seek out the 4 dive spots, they contain the following treasure respectively: #1 will contain 50 Potions, 25 Hi-Potions, 9 Ethers, and 7 Elixirs; #2 will contain 8 Straw Hats, 8 Pearl Armlets, 7 Aloha T-Shirts, and 8 Sandals.
#3 will contain 10 Remedies, a Black Robe, a Genji Glove, and a Blue Narciss Card, and; #4 contains 9 Ores, 15 Topaz, a Tiger Racket, and a Red Rose Card. Note that 3 will contain 10 Remedies, a Black Robe, a Genji Glove, and a Blue Narciss Card, and; #4 contains 9 Ores, 15 Topaz, a Tiger Racket, and a Red Rose Card. Note that obtaining the Tiger Racket will get you the following achievement:
One more thing to do would be to visit the Qu's Marsh on the Outer Continent to catch some frogs. Once all this has been done, head to Black Mage Village to continue with the story. Enter the Black Mage Village and you will find it deserted. Head to the cemetery area to find Vivi talking with Mr. 288. He explains that they all went to work for Kuja, because he promised them he could extend their lives.
If you then head over to where the two other remaining Black Mages have the Chocobo Egg, Mr. 288 will tell you where Kuja's Palace is, as well as a hint on how to enter it. It is located in a huge desert on the eastern side of the Outer Continent. So, go and take the Blue Narciss to the east side of the continent and you should find a desert. Now, there will be four sand whirlpools, three of which are fake and contain an Antlion, and one of which leads to Kuja's Palace.
The trick is to see which one of the four DOESN'T occasionally emit puffs of sand. The three that do are the fakes, the one that does not occasionally emit puffs of sand is the one to enter. Of course, it turns out to be a trap anyway. Zidane will regain consciousness to find himself in a cell with Cid. Kuja will then blackmail Zidane into going on a mission to a place called Oeilvert to retrieve something for Kuja. Kuja himself can't go because there is an anti-magic barrier.
With the anti-magic barrier to consider, you will be asked to pick which three of your companions accompany you to Oeilvert. First pick should absolutely be Freya, if for no other reason than because she can obtain her ultimate weapon by going. I usually then pick Amarant and Steiner, as they are strong, physical fighters with non-magic based abilities. Once Kuja has summoned your team mates, go up the stairs after you are warped out of the room.
Board the airship, and it will automatically fly to the Forgotten Continent in the West, where Oeilvert is located. Of course, it won't land next to Oeilvert, as that would be too convenient. Instead, you will be dropped off on a plain to the north of the valley that leads to Oeilvert down in the South. Of course, this wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game if there weren't also side-quests to do as well. For starter's, there is a Qu's Marsh to the north if you want to do some frog catching.
However, there will also be some Chocobo tracks to the North as well. There will be two Chocographs you can dig up here, 'Dusk Plains', and 'Forgotten Plains'. There will also be two Mountain Cracks to dig up, one of which will contain the Dragon's Hair weapon for Freya which, despite being her ultimate weapon, does not have a related achievement. There will also be another friendly monster to be found in the forests of this continent called the Jabberwock. He will ask you for an Emerald, in exchange for which he will give you a Moonstone and 40 AP.
Once you're done faffing about, head south and navigate the valley to find Oeilvert, which should be marked on the map. Upon entering, speak with the Moogle here, Mimoza, and select the Mognet option to get a letter to give to Mooel. One thing to note is that there is a somewhat annoying enemy here called Epitaph that you can one-shot by using Soft on it. Upon reaching the entrance to Oeilvert proper, there will be a brief cutscene where Zidane somehow opens the door inside.
First, go to the back of the room to open the chest behind the stairs, getting a Remedy in the process. There will be another chest at the top of said stairs that containing a Rising Sun. From the top of the stairs, head left to find a room with a blue orb and a treasure chest. Interact with the orb to change its colour from blue to red, and then open the treasure chest next to it to get an Elixir. Then head back to the main room and down the stairs.
This time, head to the far right side of the room and into the next room to find the Moogle, Mooel, who is joined by Stiltskin. Speak with Stiltskin and buy his items for 888 gil. This will get you a Hi-Potion, an Emerald, and an Elixir. There should also be a treasure chest containing a Gaia Gear. Speak with Mooel and give him the letter from Mimoza. Rest up and save the game here if you want to. Head back to the main room, and go across to the left side to the next screen.
This should bring you to a new area with a large yellow light in the middle. A hologram of a red planet will appear as you walk past it. There will be two treasure chests in this room, one containing a Diamond Sword, and one containing Shield Armour. Once done, head down to the bottom of the screen and take the stairs there into the next area. There will be two additional treasure chests here, one containing a Power Vest and the other containing Feather Boots.
Go up the stairs in the middle of the room to the upper portion and interact with the yellow light on the left, and then the light on the right. Head back down the stairs into the lower portion of the room, and interact with the right light, followed by the left light. Then go ahead and backtrack back up the stairs to the upper portion of the room and then take the stairs on the left. Go up the stairs until you reach a platform with a large orb.
Interact with the orb to view a holographic projection depicting some scene. Once it has stopped, head up the stairs to the left, and go through the previously locked door in the top-left side of the screen where you will find a wall of faces. These automata will give a brief description of the rise and fall of the Terran civilisation. Return to the room with Mooel in, and rest up and save your game. On the far-right side of the room will be an elevator.
At the bottom, will be a large triangular object containing the object you have been tasked to retrieve. However, when you try to take it, you will be attacked by a sentient airship, the Eidolon Ark. One useful ability to have equipped is the Clear Headed ability, as it has an attack that can make your party members confused if it hits them. Other than that, rely mostly on healing items and hit it with every OP attack you have at your disposal.
Upon defeating Ark, you will obtain a Pumice Piece. Whilst this doesn't do anything special right now, it can teach the powerful Boost ability. But definitely hold onto this as it will come in handy much later. Upon grabbing the Gulug Stone, the scene will then return to the Desert Palace. To prove how mustache-twirlingly evil he is, Kuja will, of course, renege on his promise and activate a trap that slowly opens the floor of the prison cells, revealing lava underneath each of them.
Fortunately, however, Kuja simply failed to take into account Regent Cid, what with him being a Frog and everything. After some blabbing, you will actually get to control the Regent himself. First head down the central pathway, and then go right to find a room. Unfortunately, the key for the trap is right up against a cage containing a large monster called a Hedgehog Pie. The goal here is to only move towards the key whilst its back is turned.
Once you have the key, you will then have the task of figuring out which weights to place on the scales. Well, I'll go ahead and give you the answer now: Clay, Stone, and Iron. Cid will then deactivate the trap and the doors to the other prison cells will open. Take some time to equip and set up your party members. Return to the room with the hourglass in it, and there will now be a Moogle here, Mojito. So, go ahead and save your game.
Now, there is going to be an upcoming boss fight at some point in Kuja's Palace. How powerful it will be will depend upon how many security systems are still active. As you traverse the palace, there will be various 'puzzles' for lack of a better term that can be used to turn these security systems off. If you turn them all off, the boss will be a piece of cake. Leave them all on, and you might as well just kiss your arse goodbye.
Anyway, head across from the hourglass room, and up the stairs. In this area, there will be a candle on the left. Go ahead and light it, and an orb on the right stand will begin to glow. Inspect it receive a Promist Ring. Grab it, and then head through the stairs at the far end of the room.
In this next bit, there are three statues. Two of said statues will move their heads as you walk by. Run to the left of the statues, as if you were going to leave, and then double back and run down to the right (past both statutes) and a hard-light staircase should appear. Go up the stairs and light the candle you find there before returning back down. There should now be a chest containing Fairy Earrings.
Collect them and then exit the area to the left, and continue up the stairs in the next screen. The path is blocked by a wall of statues, and you will have to light certain pedestals to get them to move. Light the pedestals on this side to cause the stained glass windows to disappear.
Head through the passageway to the right side of the room, and light the pedestal in the lower-left corner. This should cause the first set of statues to disappear. Go back to the other side of the room and into the now accessible middle. Light both pedestals here and it should cause the second set of statues to disappear.
Now, go ahead and light the remaining pedestals, and then return to the centre and down the stairs and light the pedestal. This should cause a stone to light up. Interact with it to obtain an Anklet. Exit this area by taking the passageway on the far right past where both sets of statues used to be. In this passageway will be two lit candles and one unlit candle. Lighting the third candle causes a stone to begin glowing.
Inspect the stone to obtain Shield Armour, then follow the path around into the next area. Go up the stairs and light the candelabra here, and it should light up a nearby, darkened stain-glass window. Follow the passageway round into a new room containing three large bookcases. First, light the candle in the back-left corner and then tale the stairs that appear. At the top, light the candle on the far left in order to rise the bookshelf up.
Go through the passageway that this opens, and interact with the glowing stone to receive an N-Kai Armlet. Return to the previous room and go down the stairs. This time, take the steps to the middle section of bookcase, and light the candelabra on the right side. The middle bookcase will rise up, revealing another secret passage. Go through the passage and up the stairs. There should be two candelabras here, one on the way up the stairs, and one at the top. Make sure to light both of them, and then head back downstairs.
Light the unlit candle on the ground floor on the right side to reveal, yes, you guessed it, another secret passage. Go through and light the candelabra on the other side, and then return back. The wall on the left side of the library will light up, revealing a room behind it. You can now access this other part of the room. Interact with the Moogle here, named Mogsam, and give him the letter from Mojito. Head left into the next area.
First, you will want to light both candles in front of the winged statue, causing a stone to light up. Interact with it and get the Black Hood. Then, extinguish the candle on the left of the statue, and then go through the passage on the left. Follow the little balcony through to reach the other side of the previous room. Light both candles in front of the statue and inspect the stone that lights up to get a Venetia Shield.
Once done, extinguish the candle on the statue's left side, and this should cause another hard light staircase to appear on the other side of the room. Take the passage back, but quickly rest up and save your game with Mogsam before continuing up the hard-light stairs. Walk up the stairs and towards the candelabra and you will enter into a boss fight against Valia Pira. If you inspected all the glowing 'blood-stones' from earlier, this will be a significantly easier fight.
One thing to note is that Valia Pira only uses magic attacks, and the battle will end if its HP or its MP reaches 0, so you may want to consider ways of whittling down its MP as well. With Eiko in the party, you can summon Carbuncle to cast protect on everybody, and most of the boss' attacks will reflect back onto itself. Once it has been defeated, light the candelabra at the end to be teleported up. This will cause the scene to transition back to Zidane getting off of the airship back at Kuja's Palace.
Go back to the teleport to return to Kuja's chambers, and there will be a lot of blabbing, etc. Eventually Eiko ends up getting kidnapped. Before leaving, however, there is a Namingway Card on the table in the bottom-left corner of the room. Take the teleporter and you will find the airship gone. Head up past it and use the switch to lower the step-ladder. Go down, and exit to the world map, and there should automatically be a scene where you track Kuja's Airship in the Blue Narciss.
You will follow Kuja to the Lost Continent in the North-West. Before entering the structure there, there will be another friendly monster encounter. Close to where you land in the Blue Narciss will be some Chocobo Tracks. Within this area will be the next friendly monster encounter, this time with Feather Circle, who will ask for a Moonstone. It will give you a Lapis Lazuli and 30 AP in return. Note that giving it the Moonstone does not impact the achievement for having all 4 Moonstones.
There are just two more friendly monster encounters after that one, but you cannot encounter them just yet, so enter the structure to find yourself at Esto Gaza. The Bishop here will tell you that Kuja and some Black Mages came through here and left out the back passage. Before following Kuja's trail, seek out the Moogle here, Mogrika, and use the Mognet option twice: first to read a letter from Artemicion, and again to get a letter to give to Moolan.
Exit out the back where Kuja went and head right. You should come to some massive double doors. Enter, and head left. Search the bottom-right corner and you will find 9,693 gil. Take the ladder up and inspect the rubble to find an Ether. Exit through the doorway on the left and take the ladder down. You will find a Red Hat in one of the corners. Take the ladder back up, go back into the house, go down the ladder, and exit back out on the right.
Go through the building on the right and past the well. If you face the ledge above the well, then a field icon should appear. You can jump up to said ledge here. Go through the doorway into the next area and follow the path until you reach a treasure chest. This chest contains a Golden Hairpin. Backtrack to the well and go down a level. Enter the building on the right first, and speak with the Moogle, Moolan. Select the Mognet option to deliver him the letter from Mogrika, and then select it again and he will give Zidane a letter to deliver to Mogtaka.
There will also be a Wing Edge in the bottom right corner of the room. Save your game here, and continue through to the right. Follow the passageway until you eventually reach a room containing a hidden Gaia Gear. You will be ambushed by two Red Dragon's on your way back. These guys can be quite tough, and also deal a lot of wind-based damage. If you can get Quina to eat one s/he will learn Twister.
Once defeated and you're back at the well, head all the way left into another building. Grab the chest here, as it contains Demon's Mail. Exit, and then take the path leading up. There will be another Moogle here, named Mogtaka, on the upper platform. Select the Mognet option to deliver the letter from Moolan. Head up the stairs and outside, and then follow the path round to the right. As you approach this treasure chest, you will be surprised by another Red Dragon.
Fortunately, there will only be one of them this time, making it easier. Once it is defeated, open the chest to find an Elixir. Backtrack back to the well, and choose to flip the lever down three times, and then slide down the rope once more. At the bottom of the well, you will be attacked by another pair of Red Dragons. Following this battle, you will then witness a number of cutscenes. Zorn and Thorn will try to extract the Eidolons from Eiko.
However, Eiko's Moogle, Mog, transforms into the Eidolon Madeen, and seemingly kills Zorn and Thorn, and you will obtain the Ribbon accessory, which teaches Eiko the summon, Madeen. You won't be able to summon it now, but summoning Madeen gets you the following achievement:
However, it soon turns out that the two jesters are not quite dead enough. They will merge to form the entity Meltigemini. Meltigemini has the annoying tendency to cast the Virus status onto your party members, so a good stock of Vaccines will be of use here. Upon defeating them, Kuja will have fled once again, but you will find Regent Cid's captive wife, Hilda Garde, in an adjacent room. She will turn Cid back into a human again back at Lindblum. You will also unlock the following achievement:
So, basically, we're still no closer to catching Kuja, but at least now Cid is getting laid again. Oh, and you now have an airship that can fly without using Mist. You will regain control of Zidane in the Lindblum Castle Guest room. make sure you select the Mognet option with Mogki in the Guest room, and he will give you a letter to give to Kumool. It will soon turn out that Kuja was in love with the sound of his own voice and prattled on endlessly about his various scheming.
Hilda will inform you that Kuja is from another world, and that the access point is somewhere called the Shimmering Island. However, the entrance is sealed, and they need to break said seal to enter through the portal on the Shimmering Island. The key to breaking the seal lies in a castle in the north of the Forgotten Continent, called Ipsen's Castle. Zidane will then meet up with Beatrix in Alexandria, who will give you a Garnet.
The Garnet jewel teaches Dagger the Eidolon, Bahamut. Whilst, once again, you cannot summon him here, summoning Bahamut will earn you the following achievement:
Now, before heading to Ipsen's castle, you will want to go to both Chocobo's Forest and Chocobo's Lagoon, and dig up a total of six Chocograph pieces. You may have found some already, but this is the first point in the game you can actually find all 6 pieces. Finding all 6 gets you the Chocograph 'Mist Ocean'. Finding and digging up that treasure grants Choco the Sky ability, enabling him to fly, and changing his colour from purple to gold.
You can now find and enter Chocobo's Air Garden. However, unlike the Forest and Lagoon, Chocobo's Air Garden does not have a fixed location. Instead, it will be in one of six places. There will be a shadow on the ground, and interacting with it allows Choco to fly up into Chocobo's Air Garden. You can then find and obtain the following Chocographs 'Outer Island', 'Fairy Island', and 'Forgotten Island'. You can also find and fight Ozma here, but that is extremely inadvisable.
There are, however, two last friendly monsters to find: Garuda, and Yan. If you head back to Gizamaluke's Grotto, to where Moguta is, you can climb the vines up to a plateau. Garuda can be found there, and he will ask for a Lapis Lazuli. He will give you a Diamond and 40 AP. Yan, on the other hand, can be found on an island off of the coast of the Outer Continent. You will know the one as it will be southwest of the Iifa Tree, and will have a big mountain on it.
Yan will ask for a Diamond, and, in exchange, will give you a Rosetta Ring and 50 AP. You will also get the following achievement:
Completing this sidequest also make one very important change in the Ozma encounter. Ozma will now be weak to Shadow-based damage. This is massively important for reasons I shall explain later on. You should also take the time to visit Daguerro, a town located on an island south of the Forgotten Continent. If you take the right hand path, you will find the Stellazzio Capricorn in the water in the bottom-right corner. You can also find the four-armed man. He will be able to tell you what your treasure hunter rank is.
When you are ready to continue with the main quest, head over to Ipsen's Castle in the north of the Forgotten Continent. When you enter, Amarant will decide to go on his own to see if he can best Zidane. Another thing to note is that there is a gimmick for this dungeon. Because the castle is upside-down, you are supposed to use your weakest weapons and armour. I don't know how you were supposed to figure that out on your own, but it is what it is.
Take the flight of stairs up inside the castle. On the right hand side will be a chest containing the Stellazzio, Aquarius. Go up the steps at the back of the room and through the doorway into a courtyard. Speak with the Moogle here, Kumool, and give him the letter from Mogki. There should also be a chest containing Cat's Claws. Walk up to the pole on the right side of the room, and slide down into the room beneath.
Your first aim is to reach to the ladder just above where the pole ends. Walk forwards, then go up, and then right. Climb the ladder and follow the upper level around to the left and go through the door on the left side. In the next screen, simply go through the other doorway. Jump onto the ladder and climb up to the next level. Choose to jump off onto the left side, and follow the pathway to reach a chest containing a Javelin. Go back to the ladder and, this time, choose to jump off onto the right side.
Follow the path to a treasure chest containing a Broadsword. Go back, and climb back onto the ladder. There isn't anything above, so instead take the ladder all the way down. Take the path to the right and go up the stairs to find another ladder. Climb up and choose to jump off at the first level you come to. Follow the path and open the chest at the end to get a Rod. Go back and take either of the two ladders here to the door at the top and enter.
In this room, head all the way down and you should find that has a carved relief on the wall. Inspect it and choose the following, in order: 'Examine', 'Push', 'Pound', 'Think', 'Push', 'Pound', 'Try Something Drastic', and then finally 'Rest'. This will open up a secret passage that leads back to the entrance room. There will be a treasure chest here containing a Barette that you can now open. Go back the way you came, and, this time, take the lift at the back up to the next level.
Amarant will already be there waiting for you, and will promptly leave on his own. Enter the next room. Remove the four mirrors on the far wall and attempt to leave. However, you will be accosted and then thrown into a boss battle against Taharka. The only thing really worth noting is that you can steal Orichalcum from him, which is the most powerful dagger weapon in the game. Once he is defeated, head back down.
Go back to the room with Kumool in it, and there will be a little scene where you almost fall down a trap door. Apparently, removing the four mirrors have activated various booby traps around the castle. Head to the north of the room and purposefully allow yourself to fall down the trap door there. In the room below, you will have landed on a raised platform with a chest containing Maiden Prayer. Jump down, and then climb back up.
Go back out to the main hall, and there will be a staircase on the left side of the screen. Well, there will also be a hidden staircase in between the new staircase on the left and the door on the right. If you find and take the hidden staircase, they will bring you to the upper level in the room with Kumool. You should now be able to see two treasure chests on top of a chandelier in the room below. Go back down and back to the lower level of said room.
This time, you will want to climb up the pole onto the Chandelier and open the two chests: one containing a Mage Staff, and the other containing a Fork. Head back and go back up the previously hidden staircase to the upper level and follow the path through to the next screen. Go down the steps here and through the doorway. In this room will be chest on the left side containing an Air Racket. Then, go ahead and stand in the elevator in the middle and it will bring you down to another area.
In this new room will be a chest, two pots, and an empty shelf. Open the chest to get a Golem's Flute. Now, the aim of this puzzle will be to move the pots between the three shelves. Move them around in a circle going anti-clockwise and you will obtain Ancient Aroma, which teaches the 'Odin's Sword' ability. With that in hand, go back to the entrance of the castle and down the stairs. However, you soon learn that Amarant is still in the castle somewhere.
Zidane volunteers to go back to find him. Go to the room with Kumool and take the pole down, and Amarant will be in the bottom-left corner of the room. Having learned his lesson, Amarant will leave with Zidane and choose to remain a party of the party. With the four mirrors in hand, the next order of business will be taking each one to its corresponding shrine. The party opts to hit all four at once. The Water Shrine is in the ocean to the left of Ipsen's Castle.
Drop off Eiko and Dagger there, and then head back to Esto Gaza. The Fire Shrine will be located inside the volcano nearby, where you will drop off Freya and Amarant. The Wind Shrine is located in a crevice wall, in the valley containing Oeilvert at the south of the Forgotten Continent. Steiner and Vivi will be dropped off here, leaving Zidane and Quina to tackle the Earth Shrine. The Earth Shrine is located on the east side of the Outer Continent.
Now, make sure to prepare Zidane and Quina, and save your game before tackling the Earth Shrine. When you enter, there will be some switching back and forth between the various parties. As you enter the Earth Shrine, a series of booby traps will activate, and you will have to jump across to avoid being crushed by the pillars. You will ultimately reach the centre of the shrine where you will battle Lich, elemental guardian of Earth.
Upon defeating Lich, the other parties will have beaten their corresponding elemental guardians and placed the mirrors accordingly. This therefore opens up the portal to Terra on the Shimmering Island. The Shimmering Island is located south of the Lost Continent. Upon entering, there will be a number of cutscenes, etc. before you finally find yourselves in Terra.
Upon arriving you briefly encounter Garland, who delivers a series of vaguely-worded, cryptic half-sentences. Dagger will then show up and you will get a chance to pick your party members before setting off. Take the exit in the bottom-right corner. In the next screen, you will encounter a girl that resembles Zidane... who will promptly run away. However, instead of following where she went, take the path leading down on the left.
In this next screen, jump across the gap, and there will be a treasure chest on the right side, across another gap, that contains a Coronet. Grab it and then jump back to the main path and, this time, go up. This will bring you to an area with a treasure chest containing a Dragon Wrist. Once done, head back to where you came and, this time, follow after where the girl from earlier ran off to. In the next area will be a treasure chest containing an Elixir on the left-hand side.
Collect it, and then go up to run into that girl again, who will, once again, run away. Follow after her and cross the bridge in the next screen. You will once again encounter the girl who will, yet again, run away. Follow her, and she will have somehow disappeared somewhere. Go to the right, and take the spider-web looking thing down. Before continuing down the second one, head left, jump across the gap, and you will find a hidden Mythril Racket around the corner.
Backtrack and go down the second cobweb looking thing to find a chest containing a Remedy. Go back up, and go back across that gap. This time, climb down instead of going back across. At the bottom will be a treasure chest containing a Demon's Vest. Go around the corner and you will actually get to briefly speak with the girl. She will tell you to follow her before running off yet again. Follow after her, and continue past her across a bridge.
In this next screen, take the staircase up. There will be a secret passage on the left that goes right and then left, all the way down to the treasure chest at the bottom. The chest contains a Minerva's Plate. Open it, and go back up, and climb the stairs all the way into the next screen. In this next screen, there will be some dialogue, and then the airship, Invincible, will show up, causing Dagger to faint.
Go up the stairs, and there will be some more dialogue. You won't be able to go through the doorway with the glowing green light just yet, so, instead, head right. Zidane will find himself in a town full of... well, him. All the people here look like Zidane. Go into the first building on the right. Inside will be a treasure chest containing a Wing Edge. There will also be a pot containing a Moogle, named Moorock. Select the Mognet to get a letter to deliver to Mozme. Exit the building, and re-enter to find Stiltskin. Buy his items for 2,222 gil to get a Diamond, an Ether, and Elixir.
Exit the building again, and follow the path around to the left. Go past the building there, as there is nothing of interest in there for now. Continue past it and into the next screen. There will be a doorway on the left side. Enter it, and Zidane will decide this is a good place to let Dagger rest. The scene will then switch to Eiko outside, who is trying (and failing) to get information from the Zidane lookalikes. She will then have a conversation with the girl from earlier.
Once you regain control of Eiko, head into the building on the left. There will be some more dialogue and Eiko will enter, where Dagger has regained her consciousness. Eiko will relay a message to Zidane from the mystery girl to meet her in an underground laboratory. Once outside, head down and to the right. There will be a staircase here leading back to the green light. Instead of going there, there will be a path to the right of it that you can take.
In the next screen, go to the other side, and jump across to a platform containing a treasure chest. Open it to get a Flash Hat. Backtrack and then take the stairs up. You still can't go through the doorway with the green light, so cross over to the other side again. This time, go into the building to the left of the building that had the Moogle in it. Then, inside, take the stairs down, and there will be some dialogue as the mystery girl explains to Zidane stuff about Terra.
You will then regain control over Eiko, who decided to set off after Zidane. But first, there will be an ATE you can watch involving Zidane and Quina. Once watched, open the treasure chest in here to get an Elixir. Exit the building, and view another ATE, this time involving Vivi. Once you have watched it, go up and to the right to the other side of Bran Bal. You should get a third ATE here. Once watched, head down and go back up the steps to the doorway with the green light. There will once again be another ATE, this time involving Zidane talking with the mystery girl.
When you have regained control of Eiko, speak with Amarant and he will join Eiko. Go through the doorway with the green light, which you can now pass through. Head up and speak with the mystery girl. Eiko will then run off, and control will shift back to Zidane, who has been teleported to Garland's 'haunted mansion', Pandemonium. Go up the path and to the next screen, and Garland himself with appear and converse with Zidane.
Follow after Garland, and there will be some more dialogue. Including the reveal that Kuja is actually Zidane's older brother. Keep following Garland and listening to the dialogue, and then eventually the scene will shift to Kuja. Control will once again go back to Zidane, who awakens in a chair, by himself. You will now have the task of fighting a number of fixed encounters with awkward party setups, but at least the music will be kickass.
Eventually Dagger, Steiner, and Quina will talk some sense into Zidane. Once you have regained control over him, again, head back the way you came until you reach Eiko, Vivi, Freya, and Amarant. You will also find the Moogle, Moorock, who has seemingly followed you. Make sure to save your game here. Once done, head all the way to the left until you reach a room with a number of unlit, blue orbs. At the top will be one that is larger than the others. Interact with it, and some orbs will light up.
Now, the goal is to navigate through the smaller orbs without getting near to any of the lit orbs. In order to get out, you have to head for the south-west corner. If you accidentally make contact with a lit orb, you get thrust into a fixed encounter. If you make it, you will find yourself at another one of those blue, hard-light bridges. Run across before the timer expires. In this next room will be an orange orb with various claw-like spikes coming out of the ground around it.
This controls an elevator in the room to the left. If you activate the elevator enough times, you will gain access to the final ATE 'The Elevator'. Assuming you've watched all the ATEs leading up to this point, you will get the following achievement:
First, set the standard heading to 3, and go into the next room, and take the elevator up. There will be a treasure chest at the top that contains 20,007 gil. Nice. Take the lift back down, and go back to the orange orb. Set the standard heading to 4 this time. Take it up, and then follow the path all the way to the top floor. You can then call the lift from here and ride it up another floor. At the top, there will be three paths. One going down, and on either side.
If you take the left side, there will be a teleporter that takes you to a treasure chest containing Carabini Mail. If you take the right side, there will be a teleporter that takes you to a treasure chest containing an Elixir. Once you have both treasures, return to the centre, and take the bottom path leading down. Follow it around to the left and take the teleporter there. In the next area, follow the path and you should reach a split in the road.
Take the lower split that should bring you to another teleporter. Take it, and you will reach another treasure chest, this one containing Battle Boots. Go back where you came to the split in the road, and take the other path. This will bring you to Mozme the Moogle. Give Mozme the letter from Moorock and save your game. From where Mozme is standing, take the path through the doorway to the right. After some monologuing on the part of Garland, there will be a series of boss fights.
You will first have to fight a Silver Dragon, which has two powerful wind-based attacks called Aerial Slash and Twister. So, armour and equipment that reduces, nullifies, or absorbs wind elemental damage is advised here. Although one other thing to note is that Silver Dragon is vulnerable to Blind, Silence, Sleep, and Slow. Once you have defeated it, you will then have to fight Garland himself. Garland is susceptible to Blind and Silence, but he can also cast Flare and Stop.
Once he has been dealt with, you then fight none other than Kuja (finally). Kuja's attacks are magic-based, so you can use shell on your party to reduce the damage. Do not summon Carbuncle or cast Reflect, as Kuja will use a non-reflectable move called Flare Star, and then you're SOL. Upon defeating him, Kuja will somehow enter into trance and cast Ultima, instantly defeating you. There will be more dialogue and cutscenes here.
You will then escape aboard the Invincible along with the Genomes as Bran Bal burns around you. The game then continues in the Black Mage Village. This is the end game, now. The equivalent of Disc 4 on the original Playstation version. Now, to continue with the main quest, you will want to head to the Iifa Tree, but there are sidequests to be done first. Once you are aboard the Invincible, go inside by pressing the menu button.
In the interior will be a chest containing the Stellazzio, Pisces. Now, if you return to Quan's Dwelling and inspect the spot where the Scorpio Stellazzio was located, you will find the final Stellazzio coin, Ophiuchus. If you bring all of these back to Treno and speak with Queen Stella's attendant, you will be able to exchange these for prizes, getting you the following two achievements:
Next, if you return to Alexandria, you can find Stiltskin once more in the Church. Buy his items for 5,555 gil to receive a Moonstone, Ruby, and an Elixir. This will also get you the following two achievements:
Speak to Kupo to the Moogle and he will ask you to deliver a letter to Atla back in Burmecia. Atla will ask you to deliver a letter to Mogryo at the Black Mage Village. Mogryo will ask you to deliver a letter to Kumool, who is inside Ipsen's Castle. Kumool will ask you to deliver a letter to Mois. Mois can be found outside the entrance to Fossil Roo at the Qu Marsh on the Mist Continent. Mois will ask you to deliver a letter to Noggy.
Noggy is located in Daguerro, and he will give you a letter to deliver back to Kupo. This letter mentions an item called Superslick, and that it is somewhere in Alexandria. Well, if you head to the mini-theatre and speak to Ruby, she will give you a bottle of Superslick. This will earn you the achievement:
You will next want to get on Choco and head to an island north of the Outer Continent. On this island will be another mountain crack that you can use a Dead Pepper on. This will allow you access to Mognet Central. Speak with Artemicion to give him the Superslick, and earn the following achievement:
The final Chocobo diving spot will now also be accessible. If you take Choco to where the Shimmering Island used to be, you will find Ultima Weapon, Zidane's ultimate weapon. This will also earn you the following achievement:
By this point, you should have dug up every Chocograph, and obtained all the treasures from Chocobo dive spots and Chocobo mountain cracks. The Chocograph 'Ocean' contains 27 Ore, a Light Robe, an Alexander Card, as well as the Whale Whisker, earning you the achievement:
Whereas the Chocograph 'Outer Island' will net you 21 Amethysts, 16 Garnets, the Ragnarok, and the Genji Armour. You should therefore have three pieces of Genji equipment, earning you the following achievement:
If you have dug up every Chocograph treasure, every Chocobo mountain crack, and every Chocobo diving spot, you will earn the achievement:
If you head to the farthest north-east point on the world map, you will find an unmarked island with a mountain on it. If you use a Dead Pepper here on the crack, you will gain access to Chocobo's Paradise. Speak with the Fat Chocobo and he will tell you to visit every beach in the world. Upon visiting all 21 locations that have beaches, you will earn the following achievement:
Your next order of business will be travelling back to Treno. First, if you head to the Weapon Shop, the monster in the cell below should now be a Behemoth. Fight and defeat it playing as Dagger for the following achievement:
Secondly, head to the Auction House and bid for the item Magical Fingertip. This is required to get the Excalibur. In order to get Magical Fingertip, however, you need to acquire the following items. Doga's Artifact, Une's Mirror, Rat Tail, and Griffin's Heart. Speak with the scholar in the Synthesis Shop and sell him Doga's Artifact. Sell Une's Mirror to the Nobleman outside the Synthesis Shop. Sell the Rat Tail to the Adventurer who is also near the Synthesis Shop.
Finally, sell Griffin's Heart to that very same adventurer. Then, head back to the Auction House and Magical Fingertip should now be available. Go ahead and bid for it, and, if you haven't already, continuing bidding on items until you have won a total of 10. This will earn you the following achievement:
With the Magical Fingertip, head back to Daguerro and go to the second floor. There will be an old man on the left side. Talk with him and give him the Magical Fingertip. In return, he will give you the Excalibur, which also gets you the achievement:
Lastly, there is one last thing to do in Madain Sari. Return there with Dagger in the party, and approach Eiko's house. You should see Lani run away. Leave and change the party. Make sure that Amarant, Dagger, and Eiko are not in the party. Once done, head back inside. Speak with Lani a few times and she will eventually ask if you want to go to the Eidolon Wall. At the Eidolon Wall, walk clockwise around it once, and then walk around it anti-clockwise.
Do this a total of nine times, and you should get the following achievement:
With all of that out of the way, it is time to head to the Iifa Tree aboard the Invincible. Head to the large, purple thing above the Iifa Tree and enter it for a cinematic involving a pretty awesome aerial battle between airships belonging to the various nations of Gaia versus dozens if not hundreds of Silver Dragons. The Invincible will head straight for the glowy, purple thing and you will end up in a boss fight against a Nova Dragon.
After defeating it and gaining entry to Memoria, Garland will somehow address you from beyond the grave. Huh. Anyway, head up the path to the next area. There will be a large bluish orb with swirling things flying around it. To the right of that will be a hidden treasure chest containing Kain's Lance, which isn't Freya's ultimate weapon, but you will get the following achievement:
Head through the doorway at the back of the screen and into the next area. Follow the staircase round and to the next area. In this area, follow the path until you reach a point where there is a staircase leading up, and a seeming dead end leading to the left of the path. Go down there and inspect the bottom-right corner to find a hidden The Tower, which is Zidane's second-best weapon. This will get you the following achievement:
Head up the stairs and along the path and you will be pitched into battle against Maliris, elemental guardian of Fire. It will use predominantly fire-based attacks as well as the inflicting the heat status effect on your party members. So, as long as you have the Body Temp ability on each party member, you'll be fine. It also has an attack called Raining Swords when it dies that deals between 500 and 1000 HP of damage, so prepare accordingly.
Defeating Maliris will earn the following achievement:
Continue on along the path to the next room. In here, there will be a brief scene displayed as you walk past the castle looking thingy in the middle. Now, if you go up the little steps there, and inspect the right-side in front of it, there will be a hidden save point. Whereas, on the left side, there will be a hidden Angel Flute. Collecting this item will earn you the following achievement:
Continue along and up the stairs in the next screen. Continue up and there will be a brief bit of dialogue involving Zidane and Dagger. Continue on until you reach an area with a staircase leading into a giant eye in the sky. Search the left side of the screen to find Rune Claws, Amarant's ultimate weapon. This will earn you the following achievement:
Head up the stairs to be launched into a battle against the elemental guardian of wind, Tiamat. Aside from wind-elemental attacks, such as Twister, it also has an attack called Jet Fire that can inflict the heat status ailment, and which does fire damage. Also, it has an attack called Snort that can remove a party member from battle. Fortunately it will only use this as a counter-attack, and only against party members who have the float status effect.
Defeating Tiamat will earn you the following achievement:
Keep going on until you eventually reach a room that appears to be submerged in water. Now, if you inspect the area on the top-right, you should eventually find the hidden boss, Hades. This boss can be reasonably tough. He has an attack called Judgment Sword that reduced a party member's health down to 1, can cast Curse, which inflicts multiple status ailments, and he can also use Doomsday, which does shadow-based damage to the whole party.
However, upon defeating him, he will reveal himself as the master synthesis. At this point in the game, you should now have two Pumice Pieces. One from the boss battle against Ark way back in Oeilvert, and one from digging up the Chocograph 'Outer Island 2'. You can synthesise them here to get Pumice, which teaches Dagger how to summon the Eidolon, Ark. You won't be able to summon it just yet, but there is an upcoming boss battle.
Summoning Ark will net you the achievement:
It is also strongly recommended that you synthesise Tin Armour here, as well, as it is the best armour in the game. Anyway, if you continue onwards, you will reach an area with a winding set of stairs rising out of the water. You will then have another boss battle, this time against Kraken, elemental guardian of water. This can be quite a tough battle if you are not well prepared. First, Kraken has two tentacles that attack independently of himself.
One tentacle will use 'water gun', which will obviously deal water elemental damage, but the other one has an annoying attack called Ink which inflicts the blind status effect. It can also inflict the freeze status effect as well. Plug away at it with thunder based attacks and it should go down in no time. Defeating Kraken will earn you the following achievement:
You will eventually reach a room with a large fireball in the background, and with a long ladder rising up into the sky. After all the dialogue, etc. take the ladder up. In this next area, inspect the top-right corner of the first platform to receive the Mace of Zeus, Vivi's ultimate weapon. This will earn you the following achievement:
Continue up the ladder and you will reach a room where you will fight the elemental earth guardian, Lich (a second time, I know). There is a spot here where you can find the Excalibur II, Steiner's ultimate weapon, but the conditions for it to appear are quite difficult to achieve; it requires you to reach the spot in 12 hours of gameplay or less. I recommend a second playthrough if you want to attempt to get that.
Anyway, Lich has several attacks, including Lv5 Death, and Doom, which can be annoying. Don't use shadow-based damage on him, as he will absorb it. Once defeated, you will get the following achievement:
Once it has been defeated, walk through the doorway and you will appear to now be in space. Keep walking towards the light and you will eventually find yourself in the crystal world. Here you will encounter crystal versions of the four elemental guardians. Continue through the crystal world until you eventually reach Kuja. He will summon the creature, Deathguise, forcing you into another boss encounter.
Aside from being able to cast instant Death, and also Lv5 Death, Deathguise can also cast Twister, and Meteor. Once defeated, you will now be able to approach Kuja, but do not do so just yet. There are some final sidequests to do. First, if you haven't already done so, visit the various Qu Marsh's and play Frog Catching. You will want to capture a total of 99, plus be on the lookout for a single, golden frog. Catching the golden frog earns you the following achievement:
Catching 99 Frogs will also earn you the following two achievements:
If you haven't already, go and seek out the friendly monster, Ragtime Mouse. This is not part of the friendly monsters sidequest, but part of a separate sidequest. You will have to encounter him and answer his questions correctly a total of 16 times, and then find and encounter him a 17th time to get the following achievement:
You can only encounter him a set number of times per disc, so if you have not ran into him, you can encounter him all 16 times at this point. Note that getting a question wrong will prevent you from getting the achievement. Lastly, if you fly Choco to the Chocobo's Air Garden, you can find and fight Ozma, an optional superboss. This guy really is a pain in the arse, but completing the friendly monster sidequest will render him vulnerable to shadow elemental damage.
If you keep on eating the poo-poo, you may want to consider level grinding until all your characters are level 99. Reaching level 99 with just one character unlocks the following achievement:
There are a number of cumulative achievements that you will almost certainly get along the way, if you haven't gotten them already. These achievements are as follows:
Defeating Ozma will earn you the following achievement:
If you haven't already, go and synthesise items for the following two achievements:
If you haven't already, go and play Tetra Master until you've gotten the following:
You also almost certainly should have gotten the following achievement by now:
At this point, if you go and visit Daguerro and speak with the four-armed man, you should have collected enough treasure to earn an S-Rank, so go and speak to him and you should get the following achievement:
There are two more, miscellaneous achievements you may or may not have gotten, one for forming a party with all male characters, and one for forming a party with three female characters and Quina. These will earn you the following two achievements respectively:
Lastly, you will have needed to make sure that one of your party members has been inflicted with every single status effect, positive as well as negative, at least once. They do not need to be inflicted with all of them at once. This will earn you the following achievement:
With all of this out of the way, you can go back to Memoria and curb stomp Trance Kuja, and the final boss, Necron. Beating the game will earn you the following achievement:
There should just be two achievements left, one for getting the Excalbur II, and one for playing the blackjack mini-game. Now, the black-jack mini-game is something that can be played once you have reached the 'The End' screen. In the original playstation version, you would press the following key combination to play it: R2, L1, R2, R2, D-Up, X, D-Right, Circle, D-Down, Triangle, L2, R1, R2 L1, Square, Square, Start.
For the Steam version, it will depend to which keys you have mapped these all to. But playing at least one hand will earn you the following achievement:
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