Strategies & Secrets
100% Completion in a Single Attempt
This is not as easy as you would think even with a strategy guide. In fact, it's possibily the most dificult quest of any games. It's very easy to miss couple minor things if you're being careless. Even after you've completed all the little details of the story, you will have to complete Via Infinito, an optional dungeon, towards the end in order to gain 100% completion. This is extremely hard even for RPG experts. I did manage to complete this secret dungeon, but I missed four minor things and ended up at 97% complete.
If you somehow gotten 100% complete for the game, you'll be rewarded with the perfect ending. I've seen this ending. Be honest, it's only a short regular cut scene, not worth all the effort you've spent. Just make sure you get the good ending. There's a pretty cool FMV scene after the credits roll.
|
Angra Mainyu, Tawrich, Zarich
Besides the monsters from Via Infinito, this will probably be your toughest battle through out the game. What makes this boss hard is its enormous amount of HP. If you've fought this guy during the early chapters and reduced a small portion of its HP, this battle would be a bit easier. However, I didn't fight this guy at all during the early chapters, and I was only at level 51 when I confronted against him, which made the battle super hard and extremely long. It took me almost two hours. It was the longest battle I've EVER fought in my life. I used almost half of the items that were in my inventory, about 30 Ethers, 30 Phoenix Downs, 30 Hi-Potions, 20 Remedies, 10 Mega-Potions, 5 X-Potions, 5 Turbo Ethers, and few other items. Though, I did manage to save the Elixir and Megalixir I had.
Preparation
If you use my strategy below, this battle will be a piece of cake, but I battle this guy before I obtained the Cat Nip. The strategy from BradyGames is probably the best way to defeat this guy. However, I used an alternative way. You�ll want to have two fighters and one healer in your party. I had one Dark Knight, one Samurai, and a White Mage. Alchemist is a better healer for this battle, but if you�re used to using White Mage like I am, go ahead and use White Mage. Dark Knight�s Darkness is one of the stronger attacks against this boss, plus it deals damages to all three parts. The downside about this attack is that it�ll drain a small portion of your total HP. Samurai also has couple pretty nice techniques. Fireworks deals even more damage than Darkness, but one of the two sides, Zarich, is immune to this attack. Sparkler can also take away a decent amount of HP from Angra Mainyu. Don�t use any of the black magic, for they merely do no damage to this boss. Before you enter this battle, you�ll also need to equip your characters with accessories that�ll protect you from various status effects.
During Battle
As soon as the battle starts, if you�re using an Alchemist, immediately throw a Light Curtain on the party, follow by Lunar Curtain and Star Curtain. This will give you Protect, Shell, and Reflect on the party. If you�re using a White Mage, cast Protect only. Do not cast Shell or Reflect, for you�ll need to cast Curaga to heal the party later. Have your Dark Knight or Samurai keep attacking with their strongest attacks. Beware! This boss is capable of reducing your MP. You will need to have your fighters to use whatever items necessary to help out the White Mage and the party at times.
|
Via Infinito
WOW!!! This is HARD!!! Incredibly HARD!!! Who was it that was complaining the RPGs nowadays are getting too easy? This is by far the most difficult optional dungeon in any of Square�s games. It is almost as hard as the Cave of Trials from Star Ocean: The Second Story.
I completed this dungeon at level 77. To those who played this part of the game, level 77 may seem a little too low. Indeed, it is very low. Remember FF7 when you had to max out your characters� levels and statuses, but you still could not defeat Emerald and Ruby Weapon. And then your friend beat both monsters at level 70 using the infinite Knights of the Round strategy. Well, the strategy I used is similar. I can also guarantee you that my strategy will be the easiest way to complete this dungeon.
One Gunner
Garment Grid: Highroad Winds or Mounted Assault; Accessories: Cat Nip & Speed Bracer
Two Dark Knights
Garment Grid: Valiant Lustre; Accessories: Crystal Gloves & Shining Bracer
Cat Nip may seem like a useless piece of accessory at first. It shows its effectiveness when the bearer�s HP reduces to critical range (turns yellow). During the critical range, every hit the bearer deals will be 9999. You�ll obtain this item after you defeat Black Element at Cloister 40. Gunner has the ability Trigger Happy. If you�ve mastered all three levels, you�ll be doing massive amount of damage. Suppose you press the button 20 times. Multiply that by 9999, that�s how much damage you�ll inflict in one round. 20 hits might be a little hard to reach sometimes, but you should be able to hit 17-18 hits without much problem. A super fast turbo controller can definitely help here. Highroad Winds or Mounted Assault Garment Grid gives the Gunner first strike even if you�re ambushed. This way, you should be able to kill off the enemies before they can even make a move. Speed Bracer generates a constant haste on the character. This is very useful when you fight some extremely fast monsters. With this equipped, your Gunner will stand up faster, shoot faster, switch targets faster� Everything she does will be faster. If you�re not sure what I�m talking about here, go try this out and you�ll understand what I mean.
Your other two characters should be Dark Knights since they have super high HP and Defense. The purpose of these two characters is not offense. They�re here to take damage for the Gunner and help out the Gunner. In this dungeon, your defense is more important than your magic defense. The Garment Grid Valiant Lustre boosts your defense and magic defense by 20. Crystal Gloves raise your defense by 60, and Shining Bracer generates a constant protect effect. At level 77, your Dark Knight�s defense should reach almost 230 with Auto-Protect.
If you get really lucky, it�s possible to not die even once in this dungeon. You will run into monsters that are immune to physical attacks, so just run away from these battles. If something goes terribly wrong, escape if you can. Carry lots of Phoenix Downs because you will need them. At every 20 Cloisters, there will be a boss fight. There are no random battles during those Cloisters, so save your game at the Cloister before the boss fight. This way, you can still encounter a random battle and reduce the Gunner�s HP to critical range. It is very important that you enter the boss fights with your Gunner in critical stage, so she can immediately perform her duty.
Bosses
Aranea (Cloister 20)
This guy is easy, attack like you usually do.
Black Element (Cloister 40)
Make sure you equip everyone with accessories that protect you from Berserk before you enter this fight. Gunner�s Tableturner works well. Dark Knight�s Darkness works okay too. Samurai also has a very effective attack. I can�t remember if it�s Sparkler, Fireworks, or Momentum, or maybe all of them.
Concherer (Cloister 60)
You should have the Cat Nip by now. Follow my strategy above and you�ll finish him in two rounds.
Chac (Cloister 80)
This guy will probably give you the most trouble out of all the monsters in this dungeon. You need three rounds to take care of him, but can you stand three rounds? He will cast Stony Glare, which turns one of the characters into stone. This attack CANNOT be protected. You can equip Ribbon or any other accessories. They won�t work, so prepare enough Soft in your inventory to cure this status. This guy can also cast Heaven�s Cataract. This will send you beyond Farplane for sure since your magic defense are so low. Your goal here is to finish off him before he unleashes Heaven�s Cataract. This may take you several attempts. In the next few Cloisters, Chac may still appear during random battles. I strongly suggest you run away from him.
|
Trema w/ Paragon
Trema is the final boss in Via Infinito. Before you can fight him, you must first defeat Paragon. Even though they�re two different monsters, they�re really just one battle. There�s a short cut scene between them, but you won�t get any breaks. Your HP won�t be healed. Any negative statuses you�re inflicted will be carried over.
Preparation
Start off with Paragon, use my strategy above, it takes one or two rounds to beat him. If he manages to cast Genesis or Bid Bang, you�re toast.
Since you�ve obtained Cat Nip, you have been using the strategy I have above to conquer all the monsters. Fighting Trema will be the same, but it also requires something else. You must have at least five Mana Springs or Soul Springs. In your previous battles, you�ve managed to defeat all the monsters before they could unleash their ultimate attacks. Trema has Ultima that�ll wipe out your party. The odds to finish Trema before he casts Ultima are almost nil. You have to use Mana Springs or Soul Springs to suck away his MP, so he can�t cast Ultima. I didn�t have any Soul Springs, but I had several Mana Springs. Each Mana Spring will take away about 200 MP. You�ll need five totals to completely drain his MP. You may think you can use Gunner�s Target MP or Samurai�s Magicide. No! They�re useless against Trema.
During Battle
Defeat Paragon like how you defeated the previous bosses. When the battle against Trema begins, heal if necessary. Do not attack Trema yet! Throw a Chocobo Wing on the party if you want. It�ll boost up the speed for the two Dark Knights. Beware, Trema is extremely quick. Now, have everyone keep throwing Mana Springs or Soul Springs on Trema until his MP is gone. None of Trema�s other attacks will be deadly against the Dark Knights. If your Gunner gets knock out, revive her back with a Phoenix Down. Five or six rounds of Trigger Happy will put an end to this battle.
|
|
