=============================================================================== Auron Only FAQ By Mason Rhudy, User Name: _Mace_ E-mail: scratchgamer@hotmail.com FAQ started 3/04/07 at 2:22pm Version: 1.25 =============================================================================== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 1.0 - Copyright = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Copyright 2007 by Mason Rhudy. GameFAQs user name: _Mace_. Neoseeker user name: Mace22. This FAQ was created solely by me, through my hard work. You are more than welcome to access this FAQ for personal use. If you are to redistribute without me allowing you, you will be punished to the fullest possible extent of the law. You cannot sell for profit or share as your own. I want full credit for this piece of work. GameFAQs and Neoseeker are the only sites allowed to host this FAQ. If other sites host this FAQ without being given permission in this FAQ, please contact me. If another site would like to post my FAQ, contact me, and I'll most likely agree as long as I'm given credit for the work and there is no alteration made to the FAQ. If you host my FAQ, you are responsible for posting the most recent update of said FAQ. GameFAQs is the only site I'll manually update on, it's up to you to get the latest version from them. If your site is removed from the list of sites allowed to host the FAQ, you are responsible for taking down the FAQ, and if it is still up after 24 hours of me updating on GameFAQs, I will contact you to remove it. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 2.0 - Index = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Copyright 1.0 Index 2.0 Introduction 3.0 Summary 4.0 Version History 5.0 Rules 6.0 Auron's Skillset 7.0 Overdrives and Overdrive Modes 8.0 The Masamune 9.0 Boss Quick Jump Table 10.0 Walkthrough 11.0 Random Encounters Credits 12.0 ***There will be Spoilers for the FFX plot from here on out, fair warning.*** = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 3.0 - Introduction = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I'm back! This is my second (and a half) FAQ for FFX, some of you may remember my Yuna Only No Summons FAQ, or my revision of zzanmato's Lulu Only FAQ. If you haven't gotten the hint yet, I like Single Character Challenges. With the recent revival of Single Character Challenges on the FFX board on GameFAQs in the last couple months, I thought it would be nice to do my job to help round out the FAQs for the SCCs. Many people have claim to have started writing an Auron FAQ, but most of them haven't been seen since this claim (mostly just people who pass by, none of the regulars). I thought it would be helpful to take it upon myself to just go ahead and get this one completed. Due to the difficulty of this challenge and the popularity of Auron as a character, there are the occasional questions about this challenge, and hopefully this FAQ will answer everything about it. By the way, you may recognize the layout of this FAQ. It's identical to the layout for my YONS FAQ. It seemed to work well the first time, and I was never one to try and fix things that weren't broken (and yes, that's an excuse for laziness). = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 4.0 - A Summary of an Auron Only game = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Some people are initially under the impression that an Auron Only game would be one of the easiest SCCs that you could attempt, this is far from the truth. In actuality, Auron Only is incredibly difficult, much more so than a Yuna Only No Summons game in most respects. While extremely powerful and durable, Auron is severely lacking in three relatively overlooked areas as a stand-alone character: Accuracy, Evasion, and Agility. These stats are almost non-existant for Auron in an Own Sphere Grid game. Enemies can pile up turns on him and break him down in a short amount of time because of his (lack of) Agility, and he won't be dodging any attacks for the most part because of his horrid Evasion stat, and when he DOES get a turn, he'll be struggling to hit any enemies that have an actual Evasion stat of their own. In short, this challenge is about who can dish out as much damage as possible before the other, Auron vs. The World. Do you have what it takes to sit through countless Game Over screens starting as soon as the Mi'ihen Highroad? If you do, pull up a chair and I'll tell you a tale, a tale about how Auron got his groove back. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 5.0 - Version History = = = = = = = = = = = = = = .25: Legal crap, outlined the layout. Playing challenges and writing the FAQ concurrently. .50: Finished up all the AO strats. Added all of the AONC strats. .75: Added AONCNO strats where applicable (*coughNatuscough*). 1.00: Completed first half of the No Items strats. Omitted the random encounter strats for now, will add them at a later date. 1.25: Finished AONI strats, defeated BFA. Added section on Auron's Masamune. 1.50: Added AONINO strats where applicable. 1.75: Added AONINONC strats where applicable. Updates to be expected. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 6.0 - Rules! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Alright, he's the deal; Auron Only, Own Sphere Grid. I'll also be giving strategies for those of you who want to add the No Customization and/or the No Overdrives rule, as well as No Items strats, thus making it much more painful...er...fun. Let me go over how the Own Sphere Grid rule is defined. First off, we're using the Standard grid here. You are to only hang around Auron's portion of the grid. You may not use Key Spheres to gain access to any areas that aren't his own. There are some Key Locks that are on his grid, and blocking access to other nodes that are clearly part of his grid. The Level 1 Key lock that grants access to the five empty nodes may be opened, the Level 4 Key lock that grants access to Zombie Attack may be opened, the Level 2 Key lock that grants access to a single Agility node may be opened, and lastly, the Level 3 Key lock that grants access to the small area that houses a Luck node, Hp node, Mp node, and Entrust (worthless in this game) may be opened. Aside from that, it's HANDS OFF! I hope this makes it clear enough for you, opening any other Key Locks would be a violation of the Own Sphere Grid rule. Now, I'm not a complete monster, am I? Of course not. You will most certainly be allowed to allocate stat spheres that you find along the way to Auron's Sphere Grid and activate them to aid you in your quest. I'll point out each and every one of these Spheres so that you don't miss any of them along the way. As for the other characters, there are rules as well. Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Yuna and Rikku will not be allowed to touch the Sphere Grid, ever. This game will take on the role of a standard No Sphere Grid game when Auron is not in the active party. This is a staple rule of a Single Character Challenge game, so no complaining. Feel free to buy weapons and armor for the others, as well as Customize for them, even use items, their Overdrives are also fair game. You are not to use any equipment on any characters that would affect the battle while Auron is in the party. No Initiative, First Strike, or elemental or status protection for any other characters while Auron is in the party. Lastly, if Auron dies, it's a Game Over. And that about wraps up rules! Feel free to add any rules you like, or change the rules to suit the game you wish to play. Keep in mind, that this guide will follow the rules that have been listed above and below. ****Adding optional rules**** ESG - Expert Sphere Grid. For those of you playing the PAL or Int version of the game, you have the option of using the Expert Sphere Grid instead of the Standard one. The Expert Grid offers more Strength, much more Magic Defense, a little less Agility (resulting in Auron being a tick slower than his SSG counterpart), the same Hp and less Mp. Auron also has access to Full Break on the ESG, but loses Zombie Attack. Funnily enough, Auron doesn't get enough natural Mp from the ESG to actually use Full Break, you'll have to add at least one Mp Sphere to the grid to get enough Mp. NC - No Customization. You're not allowed to use the Customization feature to create weapons or armor for Auron. This will increase the difficulty in random encounters as well as boss fights, also BFA will be MUCH tougher, and much more reliant on luck without the ability to Customize new weapons and armor. Add this if you want, as I'll be adding both Customization and No Customization strategies where applicable. NO - No Overdrives. You're not allowed to use any of Auron's Overdrives, ever. While this won't have too much of an effect on boss fights, this will make the random battles much more difficult, specifically those fights with flying enemies. I'll provide strats for this restriction where applicable. NI - No Items. Couldn't be more self explanatory. No Items in battle, no Items in the field. Note that in any NI game, you will want to avoid raising Auron's Evasion stat. Many of the late game strategies involves Auron healing himself with an Elemental Eater and the corresponding Elemental Strike. (Note that you can heal yourself this way even if you're Zombied). NENNE - No escaping, ever. No use of [No Encounters] equipment, ever. This will make the challenge incredibly difficult, and there will undoubtedly be many resets involved. Keep in mind that these rules go hand-in-hand, it's not practical to have one without the other. NBB - No Blitzball, except for the tournament in Luca, ever. If you're adding No Customization, this rule doesn't really hurt, because you would only be Blitzing for a Return Sphere and some Teleport Spheres, but you could add a little difficulty to a regular Auron Only game by adding this rule. You'd have to wait until Bikanel to Customize Evade and Counter, and wait until after the Biran and Yenke fight to Customize First Strike. When you have to train for a long time, (Gui in NI games), Return Spheres can also be helpful for jumping from node to node, and you can win several at a time by getting players tied for Top Scorer. NCW - No Masamune. Let me just set the record straight here, the only way you can add this restriction is if you don't also have either No Items or No Customization. RSO - Red Spheres Only. This rule applies to the Sphere Grid, in that you can only use Power, Mana, Speed, Ability and Fortune Spheres. No using Key Spheres or stat spheres at all. Not used very often in Auron Only games, The most difficult challenge concept that has proven to be possible is OSGAONONINC. It has yet to be completed, but will be in the near future. Don't be misled, even a standard AO game or one with just a single extra restriction can be difficult unless you're a bit more than familiar with the game, or unless you follow this guide word for word. = = = = = = = Auron's stats = = = = = = = ++++++++++++++++++ Base/Initial Stats ++++++++++++++++++ Hp: 1030 Mp: 33 Str: 20 Mag: 5 Def: 15 MDef: 5 Acc: 3 Agi: 5 (16 tickspeed) Eva: 5 Lck: 17 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Own Sphere Grid Stats, Standard Sphere Grid +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hp: 4630 Mp: 153 Str: 56 Mag: 11 Def: 37 MDef: 13 Acc: 4 Agi: 17 (11 tickspeed) Eva: 15 Lck: 18 *Stat increases for Auron are the same in all versions of the Standard Sphere Grid. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Own Sphere Grid Stats, Expert Sphere Grid +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hp: 4630 Mp: 73 Str: 63 Mag: 11 Def: 37 MDef: 27 Acc: 4 Agi: 16 (12 tickspeed) Eva: 13 Lck: 17 *When using the Expert Grid, Auron loses Zombie Attack, but gains Full Break. = = = = = = = = = = = 7.0 Auron's Skillset = = = = = = = = = = = A concise breakdown of Auron's OSG abilities. **All of Auron's Breaks (as well as Zombie Attack) have a base 100% infliction rate, which can and will be reduced by an enemy's resistance to said status. Power Break - Exactly what it sounds like. Power Breaking an enemy will reduce their physical damage output by half. Needless to say, this is a staple ability of any Auron Only challenge. Rank 4 action, costs 8 Mp. Magic Break - Same deal as Power Break. Halves the magical damage output of any enemy that is under this status. Rank 4 action, costs 8 Mp. Armor Break - Nullifies a fiend's Armored status and reduces their Defense stat to 0. I shouldn't have to tell you how great of an ability this is, so I won't. Rank 4 action, 12 Mp. Mental Break - Reduces a fiend's Magic Defense stat to 0. Not worth a damn in this challenge, considering that Auron doesn't have any magic at his disposal. Rank 4 action, 12 Mp. Zombie Attack - Inflicts the Zombie status on the targetted enemy. Unlike his Break attacks, this is a normal Rank 3 action, 10 Mp. Has a base infliction rate of 100%, and can be reduced by an enemy's resistance to the zombie status. Not available to Auron if he's using the Expert Grid. Guard - Allows Auron to take damage in place of an ally. Only works for single target physical attacks. You won't be using it in any Auron Only game. Sentinel - Allows Auron to take damage in place of an ally while in a Defensive stance. Only works for single target physical attacks. You won't be using it in any Auron Only game. Threaten - Delay's the affected fiend's next turn. Effect wears off on Auron's next turn. Aside from removing Berserk from Wendigo, it has little to no use. If you need to charge an OD against a single random enemy and switching equipment isn't fast enough, Threaten might be an option to consider. Note that Threaten will also remove Berserk from an enemy, this comes in handy a couple times. Entrust - Transfer's Overdrive gauge to another character. Dead worthless in any Single Character Challenge. Full Break - Inflicts all four Breaks with a 100% base infliction rate (subject to resistance). Costs 99 Mp, Rank 5 action. Only available to Auron if using the Expert Sphere Grid. Note the irony of Auron not having enough Mp increase from the ESG to actually use Full Break, unless you add a Mp Sphere to an empty node. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 8.0 - Overdrives and Overdrive modes = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = --OVERDRIVES-- ***All of Auron's Overdrives can go critical, and they all receive a damage increase based on how fast you input the button commands, up to a 50% increase in damage output.*** DRAGON FANG - A bit stronger than Auron's normal attack, and it hits all enemies on screen, as well as delays their next action. If the enemy is Immune to Delay, then the attack power is increased. Great for random encounters, as it will always connect, which is hardly the case for Auron's regular atack. If you fail to enter in the button commands, the attack power is decreased by a small amount. The recovery time for Dragon Fang is a bit longer than a regular attack, so keep a watch on the CTB bar, but also keep in mind that the delay effect may alter what is shown before the attack is executed. When facing a groupt of flyers, this is a great option, because it's a guaranteed hit, and Auron will have a difficult time hitting them otherwise. SHOOTING STAR - A powerful blow that is 1.5 times stronger than a normal attack, it targets a single enemy. If you enter the button combination in time this will Eject the enemy from the battlefield. If the enemy can't be Ejected, the attack power is slightly increased to compensate. It has the same recovery time as Dragon Fang, and should really only be used in fights against a single large enemy, like a Sand Worm, Zu, Malboro, etc. Don't bother using it on an enemy that has two or three companions, just go with Dragon Fang. BANISHING BLADE - Even more powerful than Shooting Star, and it inflicts Full Break (Power, Magic, Armor and Mental Breaks) guaranteed if the enemy isn't Immune. If the enemy is Immune to the Breaks, the damage is (as the trend shows) increased. More recovery time than Dragon Fang and Shooting Star, don't use it on a normal enemy, and be careful when you use it against a boss. TORNADO - A very cool looking attack that hits all enemies on the screen, but isn't as powerful as Shooting Star or Banishing Blade. In the PAL/Int version, this attack hits the enemy twice, in the NA version only once. A failed button input will cause the damage to be slightly lower than that of a normal attack (and it'll only hit once even in the PAL/Int version), but it will still hit all enemies on screen. --OVERDRIVE MODES-- You'll be using only one OD Mode throughout this game, and that's LONER. This will allow Auron to fully charge his OD gauge in 7 turns (4 turns with Double OD, 3 turns with Triple OD). If anyone comes up with >any< major fight that is made easier with an OD Mode other than LONER, certainly shoot me an email about it. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 9.0 - The Masamune = = = = = = = = = = = = = = As with all Celestial Weapons, Auron's Masamune Ignores enemy Defense, and has a critical bonus factor. That's not where its true strength lies though. Similar to the other Celestials, there's a damage output correlation with the wielder's Hp. Instead of being a detriment like the other weapons, Masamune's power actually increases as Auron's Hp % drops. At full Hp, the Masamune will deal half the normal* damage. At 70% Hp, the Masamune will deal normal* damage. At less than 1% Hp, the Masamune will deal 216% normal damage! *"Normal" in this sense is referred to using the standard damage formula, but ignoring the enemy's defense stat. You can compare this damage to attacking an enemy that is Armor Broken with a normal weapon, as Armor Break and Ignore Defense will have the same effect on the damage formula. So, in actuality, Auron's Masamune is the only Celestial weapon that gets an increase in damage output. Note that in the Original Japanese release of FFX, the Masamune was TWICE as powerful! Meaning that at less than 1% Hp, it would deal 433% normal damage. I refer to the Original Jp Masamune as the UberMune, for obvious reasons. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 10.0 - Boss Quick Reference = = = = = = = = = = = = = = This is just a helpful index that will allow you to jump straight to a boss fight that you may need help with. While you may be able to simply get away with searching the name of the boss, I occasionally mention boss names prior to the fight, making this a more direct route to said fight. Sinspawn Echuilles A01 Lord Ochu A02 Sinspawn Geneaux and Tentacles A03 Oblitzerator A04 Chocobo Eater A05 Sinspawn Gui A06 Sinspawn Gui A06A Extractor A07 Spherimorph A08 Crawler, Negator A09 Seymour, Anima A10 Wendigo, Guado Guardians A11 Evrae A12 Isaaru, 3 Aeons A13 Evrae Altana A14 Seymour Natus A15 Defender X A16 Yojimbo A17 Seymour Flux, Mortiorchis A18 Sanctuary Keeper A19 Spectral Keeper A20 -Chimerageist A20.1 Lady Yunalesca A21 Left Fin A22 Right Fin A23 Sin, Sinspawn Genais A24 Overdrive Sin A25 Seymour Flux, Mortiphasms A26 Braska's Final Aeon, Yu Pagodas A27 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 11.0 - Walkthrough = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Well...you know what a walkthrough is, right? I'll take you through pretty much everything you'll be doing in this game, even if it's as simple as "Hey, get that chest over there!" At some points I may even give detailed explanations about things that apply to the game in general and not just to the challenge, so consider those parts a chance to learn more about the game. I like to comment about the story, and I'll even squeeze in a (bad) joke here and there. I'm not one to give a bullet pointed list of things you need to do, so you might find that I offer a little more than what's necessary, just drink it all in and enjoy. I won't be walking you through the boring mandatory crap like the Cloisters or how to get through Baaj Temple the first time. And while a base NSG games is relatively easy, I'll still provide strategies for those fights that Auron is not available for, meaning you'll be using the others in a NSG format. This FAQ is unique in the fact that it's a guide for multiple different challenges (similar to Blitz_Ace's TONC FAQ). I spent a great deal of time thinking about how I should present this guide. I settled on the idea that I'll write it as a single walkthrough, but add notes in every section for the different challenges. It's pretty simple, but if anyone has any better suggestions I'll gladly accept criticisms that would help me with the format of the FAQ. And...go! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dream Zanarkand - The Jecht Memorial Tournament = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = In the first actual battle with Sinspawn have Auron learn LONER. It won't take long at all, considering that the Sinspawn skip their turns in this fight. Obviously don't bother to learn LONER if you're playing a No Overdrives game. = = = = = = = = = = = = Baaj Temple - Stranded = = = = = = = = = = = = Not really a whole lot to do here. Build your fire, fight Klikk, get kidnapped by Rikku and the gang. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Ocean - A three-hour tour... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The guy behind Brother will hand over three Potions. Here's a tip: if you enter the underwater ship and return to the surface, you can keep receiving Potions from the Al Bhed man, do this till your heart's content. Not really a big deal if you only grab the first three Potions, but it's worth mentioning. Take out Tros as you normally would, no reason to outline that fight. Head back to the Al Bhed ship, just when things were getting fun, here comes Sin to ruin the party. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Besaid - Spira's Backwater Island = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Tidus wakes up in Besaid after getting hit with a Blitzball. With how bad the Aurochs are supposed to be, I'm surprised that one of them actually managed to hit something. Make your way to Besaid. When you get there do yourself a favor and pick up all the treasures in the area, and buy some Potions and Antidotes for Kilika. Note that there is NO item shop in Kilika, so make sure to buy your restorative items in Besaid if you need them. You've got Yuna's Cure and Esuna though, so it shouldn't be a thing. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On the road! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Make your way back to the Besaid beach. Along the way you'll take part in a few battle tutorials. Just gun it to the beach and get out of there. Nothing I hate worse in a SCC than parts in which your SCC character isn't available. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = S.S. Liki - GREAT name for a boat... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = After boarding, you should try to talk to Yuna, then Wakka. Ignore Lulu. Go inside the ship and trigger the O'aka event. Donate however much you want, but you don't have to give him anything, Wantz will still sell the weapons and armors in Macalania as long as you talk to him on Gagazet. You'll have such an abundance of money throughout this adventure; you won't need O'aka's discounts at Operation Mi'Ihen either. Also, check the other rooms. There will be a suitcase and a treasure chest in the cabin which yields Potions, the charity stops when you reach 20 in your inventory. Inspect the rabble surrounding Yuna at the front of the boat, then speak with Wakka. Lulu takes a cheap shot at him for Tidus's amusement, now that Yuna's fan club has dispersed, she's all yours. Tidus and Yuna share an awkward teen moment, and Sin comes in to crash the party again. ********************* BOSS: Sin's Fin - A01 ********************* Sin's Fin: 2000 hp. Sinscale: 200 hp. Kill two of the Sinscales in this fight, then concentrate on the Fin with Lulu and Kimahri. I advise keeping Tidus and Wakka out of this fight, if you want to keep them in to charge their Overdrives, make sure they're healthy for the next fight. ****************************** BOSS: Sinspawn Echuilles - A02 ****************************** Sinspawn Echuilles: 2000 hp. Open up with Element Reels and/or Spiral Cut if you have their OD gauges full. It doesn't matter which elements you use in Wakka's Overdrive, as Euchilles has no strengths or weaknesses to any elements. Keep attacking and heal when necessary. There's no reason to have any problems with this fight. Note that Blender is a Water elemental attack, so if you happened upon any Water Ward or Proof armor you'll save yourself a Potion or two. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Kilika - The Sending = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Watch Yuna dance. Save the child. Get the Ether. You know what to do. Don't bother buying weapons or armor, there's nothing of importance. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Kilika Woods - = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The enemies in the Woods are a bit more powerful than the ones found in Besaid, but still aren't anything of a threat. Have Lu or Wakka take out the flyers (have Lu use Blizzard if you're using her), you'll find an Icestrike weapon for Wakka to help with the bugs, Lu takes the Elements, Tidus and Kimahri will get the Dinonixes. Ragoras can be taken down with Fire and a couple of attacks from Kimahri, Tidus, or Wakka. ****************************************** Boss: Sinspawn Geneaux and Tentacles - A03 ****************************************** Sinspawn Geneaux: 3000 hp. Tentacle: 450 hp each. Nothing too difficult here. Have Lu use Fire on the Tentacles, and then finish them off with physical attacks. Note that the Tentacles absorb Magic damage targeting Geneaux, so be sure to take them out first. Have Kimahri and Lulu go to town on the main body (with Fire, and physicals). If Tidus has an Overdrive, feel free to use it even when the boss is in its shell. After the boss comes out of hiding, continue to use Fire spells (or Fury) and attack with Tidus and Kimahri. Cure Poison and use Potions/Cure as necessary. Not difficult at all, even at NSG stats. = = = = = = = = = = = = To the Trials! = = = = = = = = = = = = Complete the Cloister in Kilika Temple, you might as well grab the Red Armlet while doing so, because it'll sell for a decent amount of money. There isn't anything you need to do after that other than head back to the boat and get ready to head out to Luca. If you feel like repeatedly beating the hell out of Ochu now for the two Hp Spheres (Rare drop, and you'll need to Overkill him for both), go right ahead. Note that we can return later with Auron and get these Spheres after completing the Djose Trials, and it'll be much easier to Overkill him repeatedly. I would advise waiting for now. Make sure not to kill Ochu unless you're getting the two Hp Spheres. = = = = = = = = = = Luca - The Luca Cup = = = = = = = = = = BUY THE STUNNING STEEL FROM O'AKA! It'll be really helpful for the Extractor fight later on. Do not forget to grab the Hp Sphere in Luca!. It can be found on the dock that is one over from the dock on which you will fight Oblitzerator (going clockwise). Before the Oblitzerator fight, you need to go around to the front area that leads to the Locker Rooms and head off to the right to access this area, because the Al Bhed have blocked it off from being accessed from the other side. Yuna kidnapped, oh noes! She can wait...off to harvest workers. I highly suggest getting 30 or 40 X-Potions, and of course 99 Hi Potions (this won't be a problem based on how many X Potions you'll be getting). I'm dead serious about these potions, this challenge is difficult enough, and you'll find that we might be using X Potions as early as the Gui fight. If you're playing a No Items game, then you can obviously skip this part. Don't be afraid to get a full stock of X Potions, especially if you've added NENNE to your game. Workers will drop from a single casting of Lu's Thunder spell, don't even bother using Kimahri or Tidus in any of the fights, just have them escape. Once Lu learns LONER (which she undoubtedly WILL learn) things will go a bit faster. There is some bad news about all this Worker killing, while they can drop SOS Nul armors and Elemental Strikes, since Auron hasn't officially joined the our party yet we won't be receiving anything for him. ************************ Boss: Oblitzerator - A04 ************************ Oblitzerator: 6000. Have Lulu use Thunder on the Crane three times (or a Thunder Fury). After that Tidus will be able to use his [Use] Trigger Command to severely damage the Oblitzerator. After this a single Thunder spell will kill the boss. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Besaid Aurochs vs. Luca Goers = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Win. This. Match. If you've never won it before you may be under the false impression that it's way too difficult. For those of you who aren't adding the No Customization rule, you can get away without winning this match, but I still highly recommend it (and my strats will be based around you having used the Strength Sphere). For those of you who have added NC and any other combination of restrictions, I'd highly recommend getting it. Actually, I'm flat out ordering you to get it. That extra 4 Str can really make a difference in the more difficult Auron Only games. A few tips on the Blitz match. -There's not a whole lot you can do against the Goers when they're on offense, you'll be relying on the random number generator going in your favor. -A good tactic to get Tidus the ball would be to take Jassu or Letty and swim up the left side (bottom on the map) of the Sphere Pool and shadow Tidus as they both head towards the goal. Stay on the perimeter of the Sphere Pool and when the defender comes for Jassu/Letty, pass to Tidus when he has swum free of the defender's range. Get as close to the goal as possible without initiating an encounter, because you'll most likely get the ball stolen from you. Take a shot at the goal, Tidus's SH stat is 10, while Raudy's CA stat is 8, so there's a good chance for you to score (Raudy's CA will range from 4 to 12). -At the half, I recommend that you equip Jecht Shot. Usually I would opt for Sphere Shot instead, but you'll most likely only be able to use either of these once (and even if twice, Sphere Shot can't be used more than once without powerleveling Tidus in the first half) and you won't need the extra SH value you'll most likely get from Sphere Shot. -At the 3:00 mark in the second half, Tidus will leave the Sphere Pool and be replaced by Wakka. Wakka will have an easier time scoring on Raudy, because his SH is 13, with another 3 on top of that from Venom Shot. -If you have a lead at any time in the second half, swim to your goal and hold the ball next to Keepa. The Goers will very rarely come up to you and initiate an encounter, so this is a safe area to let the time run out. If you do this before the 3:00 mark, be aware the Goers could win the next Blitzoff and score on you. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Mi'Ihen Highroad - Yay Auron! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = This is where our challenge picks up. We now have Auron in our party and we can start the arduous task of playing through the game with only him. First off, allocate the Strength Sphere to Auron's grid and activate it, we'll want that Strength boost as soon as possible. Do the same with the Hp Sphere you picked up in Luca (and if you got the ones from Ochu in Kilika as well). Don't bother with the Magic Sphere, as it will only waste an open node on Auron's grid. A special note for our friend's attempting a No Items game. Your torture begins now. Hopefully you knew what you were getting into, because you're in for one hell of a treat. Mi'ihen is a long road, and without any items to help you along the way you'll probably find yourself dying a great deal. Just gun it to the Travel Agency as fast as you can, don't be surprised if you're the victim of multiple game overs before you even hit the Travel Agency. Speak to anyone and everyone on the Highroad, as just about everyone will offer items to the party. You have two options here. You can train until you get the Strength +4 node on Auron's Grid, or you can allow the Chocobo Eater to push you off the cliff. You will need to train a decent amount for the Sinspawn Gui fight coming up, and you might be killed on one or more occasions walking back up the Oldroad. Auron's Crest is there, but we can easily grab that after getting a (free) chocobo. My advice would be to train on the Mi'ihen road near the Travel Agency until Auron hits that first Strength node on his Grid (not the one you created with the Strength Sphere from the Luca tournament). For our No Items gamers, you also have a couple options as well. You can either heavily powerlevel until you've hit the second Strength node on Auron's grid, (not counting the one we created with the Strength Sphere) or you can allow the CE to knock you off the cliff. (NOTE: This is like, 25 Sphere Levels, I stongly urge you to just get pushed off the cliff and continue with your game. You'll need to Powerlevel before the Gui fight anyway, and the fights on Mushroom Rock Road offer much more AP than the ones on Mi'ihen Highroad. "That's our cue, let's go." ************************* Boss: Chocobo Eater - A05 ************************* Chocobo Eater: 10,000 Hp. Weak against Fire. There is a bit of luck involved with this fight, but it's not too difficult. Two hits from Auron will knock the Chocobo Eater on its back, and one more hit will push it back. I'm almost positive that it's impossible to knock it off the cliff out the stats that I've recommended, but it's certainly possible to defeat this thing before it pushes Auron off. Power Break should be your first action, note that there's only a 50% chance of Power Break working against the CE. Toss Hi Potions to heal when his Hp gets low. The fight isn't too difficult. Make sure to Defend before Fists of Fury, the CE will point and say "You're next!" to indicate that it's about to use FoF. No Items strategy: Even if you just want him to push you off the cliff so that you don't have to defeat him, you can get kind of unlucky and wind up dead. Just Defend before his attacks, hopefully you wind up on the Oldroad and not in a body bag. If you actually want to defeat him, you won't have too much trouble at the stats I've recommended. The battle is strikingly similar (fancy that <_<) to a normal AO battle with CE, but activating that extra Strength node will allow us to whittle down CE's health at a faster rate, without relying too much on luck. Keep in mind that the CE can't kill you with his push back move, as it does proportional damage. Your first move should of course be Power Break. It will take Auron two hits, or one critical hit to knock the CE on his back, and one hit to push him back. Simply exchange hits between yourself and the CE. If he points to Auron and threatens that "You're next" make sure to Defend before that attack, it'll reduce the damage from ~900 to ~450. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = You take the Highroad and I'll take the Lowroad... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = If you defeated the Chocobo Eater, then this will be easy enough. Go rent a Chocobo for free and proceed North, collecting all the treasures that can only be obtained while riding a Chocobo (most notably the Luck Sphere and Wakka's Lightningstrike weapon). You will also want to head down to the dead end on the Lowroad and collect the Mars/Saturn Crest that we'll be using to upgrade Auron's Celestial weapon later on. Once you've done that, head to the end of the Mi'ihen Highroad and see what all the commotion is about. If you DIDN'T defeat the Chocobo Eater, then you'll have a bit of a task in front of you. Save at the Sphere and stock up on any items that you may need from O'aka (doubtful that you'll need anything he has). Go to the dead end and pick up the Mars/Saturn Crest, then proceed to the end of the Mi'ihen road. The enemies will be a pain in the ass, and you might die once or twice. When you get to the gate, rent a Chocobo and go back to collect the items that you weren't able to get previously (Fortune Sphere and Wakka's Lightningstrike weapon). Make sure to allocate the Luck Sphere to Auron's Grid that we picked up in Kilika, and then use the Fortune Sphere that we just obtained to activate it. This will help out a bit with Auron's horrid Accuracy and Evasion stats. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Mushroom Rock - Power leveling = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Grab the Light Bracer (Slow Ward) that O'aka is selling for Auron. Make sure you grab the Serene Bracer in this area for Auron, it'll be useful for the fight with Spectral Keeper much later on. Fun... My best advice for this part of the challenge would be to power level on the are called the Precipace, which is just before the elevator that takes us to the command center. The encounters there consist mainly of Garudas and Garuda + 2 Funguars. Funguars go down in one hit, so they aren't a threat, and Garudas can be Power Broken to lessen the damage they inflict on Auron. These fights easily offer the best Ap that we can get at this point in the game. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and buy the Sentry (Initiative) from O'aka and then come down and fight the battles without fear of being Ambushed. As for how much you train, that's entirely up to you. You can defeat Gui as soon as you hit the first Agility node on Auron's Grid, although it will be a very difficult fight. If you get Auron up to the Strength node right before Armor Break, you'll have a MUCH easier battle ahead of you (and keep in mind that we'll be power leveling before the Seymour and Anima fight anyway). Either way, you'll be using a lot of Hi Potions (possibly some X Potions as well) and Antidotes. The Training for a NO ITEMS game is much more tedious. You need to be able to defeat Gui in two hits. You have a couple options ahead of you. You can train until Auron's Strength hits 48, so that you can kill Gui with two critical hits. This will take quite a bit of luck, but also requires the least amount of training possible. Your next option is to raise his Strength to 52, which would allow you to kill Gui with a single critical hit, and a follow up attack that does not need to go critical (I would recommend this method). This only requires you to gain four more Sphere Levels than the double critical method. Your third option is to train until you hit 60 Strength, to guarantee that Auron takes Gui out in two hits, regardless of them going critical. This will require you to take Auron up to the last area of his grid, to activate the Strength node next to the Level 3 Key Lock. Make your decision and come back in a week once you've hit the required stats for Gui. Expect ~30 hours of training. = = = = = = = = = = Operation: Mi'Ihen = = = = = = = = = = Buy the Sentry from O'aka, Initiative will be a great asset from here on out. It will prevent all Ambushes (barring Great Malboros in the Omega Ruins and Sin's Nucleus), and increase the Preemptive Strike rate from 12.5% to 25%, which will help greatly with Auron's lack of Agility. "Look out!" ************************************** Boss: Sinspawn Gui - First fight - A06 ************************************** Sinspawn Gui: 12,000 Hp Head: 4000 Hp Arms: 800 Hp each This fight is...tedious to say the least, not to mention difficult. At least Gui has an attack pattern that we can play off of. His head will follow this pattern: Thunder -> Moving suspiciously -> Venom. If there was a way we could attack the head, we could prevent Venom by attacking it after it begins to move suspiciously, and eventually kill it. Sad thing is, we can't damage the head at all, not even with Dragon Fang, so we'll have to deal with Venom. There's no way to get a Poison Ward armor for Auron at this point, so there's a 99% chance that we'll be inflicted with Poison from Venom. The number one priority in this battle will be curing Poison. Venom will typically deal about 500 damage, and Thunder will hit for about 200 (equip any Lightning protection that you may have at this point). His body will alternate between Punch and Demi. Once it gets below 4000 Hp, it will follow this pattern: Punch -> Demi (any number of times on consecutive turns) -> Punch. This will actually work to our advantage, because Demi can't kill us, but I wouldn't plan on it using Demi after it has used it once before another Punch. After Gui has been Power Broken (which will be your first action of the fight), Punch will deal around 350-400 damage. You can reduce that damage even further by defending, but we won't really have time to defend before he attacks. Like I said, Power Break should be your first action. While the arms are alive Auron will deal about 175 damage with a physical attack (~250 if you leveled up to the Strength node before Armor Break). When the arms are gone, he'll deal about 750 damage (~1100 if you leveled up to the Strength node before Armor Break). And just to clarify, you can't Armor Break Gui. He's armored when his arms are defending him, not armored when they are gone. Period. Gui's arms will respawn once his body has had three turns after the arms have been destroyed. Dragon Fang is the most efficient method of dealing with the Arms, and you'll have one free turn to attack the defenseless body, but chances are you might have to heal up on that turn. Always keep Gui's attack pattern in mind, so you know if you need to heal or not before your next assault. Remember, curing Poison will take priority in this fight, unless you have under 400 and Gui will get a Punch before your next turn, in that case you'll need to toss an X Potion. You shouldn't get yourself into that situation though, but if you do don't be stingy about using an X Potion. NO ITEMS strategy: Uh...yeah. Start off with Dragon Fang. One more attack to the unprotected body will result in Gui's death. Remember that based on how much training you've done, you may need one or both of these hits to go critical on the body, or neither of them. Obviously if you're playing NI and NO, you can't use Dragon Fang. For this scenario you'll have to take out the arms with physical attacks, then take out the body with two physicals. **************************************** Boss: Sinspawn Gui - Second fight - A06A **************************************** Gui: 6000 Hp Head: 1000 Hp Arms: 800 Hp each Same idea as last time, but Gui's Strength has dropped considerably. After using Power Break, his Punch will deal less than 100 damage. Not really a whole lot to worry about here aside from Poison, cure it immediately and toss a Hi Potion if necessary. NO ITEMS: You'll be able to take out Gui with a single hit this time (which is great, because we don't get healed in between the fights). Take out the Arms with one attack each, then strike the body. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Djose Highroad = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Tidus will wake up on the Djose Shore, if you let Gatta live you'll see a very annoying scene with him. If not, you'll find his corpse lying on the beach and then see an annoying response from Tidus (although it's certainly worth it to see Luzzu's reaction in Djose). Some sequences take place, Seymour hits on Yuna again. Finally, we can continue our adventure. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Djose Temple = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I. Hate. Cloisters. That is all. "Moonflow baby here we come!" = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Moonflow - South Bank = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Buy Auron's Blurry Moon (Darktouch) from the merchant standing near Wakka and Lulu. There's a woman who sells armor, specifically a Water Ward Bracer for Auron that we'll need for the Seymour and Anima battle. O'aka is selling a Serum Bracer for Auron as well (Poison Ward, SOS Nulshock), you'll find him hanging near Yuna and Kimahri on the South end of the Moonflow. You can also pick a White Bracer (Ice Ward) from another swindler on the wharf. Ride ze shoopuff... ********************* Boss: Extractor - A07 ********************* Extractor: 4000 Hp. Weak against lightning, strong against Fire/Water/Ice. This is one of the reasons why you should have bought the Stunning steel from O'aka, as it will Slow the Extractor. Slow it to start off with. Attack with Lightningstrike weapons, use Spriral Cut and Lighting Reels. Depth charges will deal around 350 damage and cause darkness to Tidus and Wakka. Eventually, this thing will crap out. Heal when you need to. This can be a difficult fight if you're not used to NSG games. Those Hi Potions will be handy. If you see the message "Readying Depth Charges," you'll need to deal 500 points of damage to prevent the Depth Charges from being used. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Moonflow, North Bank = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Pick up Rikku and head towards Guadosalam. You'll be taken through her battle tutorial, Mix two Power Spheres instead of the Bomb Cores we found in the chest. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Guadosalam = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Not much to do here other than advancing the storyline. If you are allowed to Customize, use the Lightning Marbles found on the way to the Farplane to make a Lightningproof armor for Auron. If you're not able to Customize, buy a Lightning Ward armor from O'aka. Our No Items gamers can go ahead and Customize a First Strike + Evade & Counter weapon if possible. Evade & Counter would take priority over a First Strike weapon at this point. Make sure to pick up a Lightning Ward armor before you leave Guadosalam, it'll be pretty helpful in the next area, as well as very important for a future boss fight. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Thunder Plains = = = = = = = = = = = = = = -The Strength Spheres are necessary for the upcoming Seymour and Anima fight (along with a lot of luck) Since we don't have a [No Encounters] armor yet, this may seem extremely difficult. -Here's a decent strategy for dodging these bolts relatively easily. Alright, we all know that little side area in the south half of the Thunder Plains that has a Cactuar stone and a chest containing Wakka's Water Ball right? If you position Tidus between the Cactuar stone and the south wall correctly (it may take some time to get right), he won't move away after dodging a bolt, thus, you won't have to move around at all, thus no random encounters. This makes it very easy to keep your focus, and to not get unlucky and face a random battle right before a strike hits Tidus. Stay here until you dodge 100 bolts, and then go claim your prizes. You'll be rewarded with 2 X potions, 2 Mega potions, 2 Mp spheres, 3 Strength Spheres, and 3 Hp spheres. Well worth the effort if I do say so myself. -Personally, I just find a triple lightning spot and take my chances with the random encounters. It's not too difficult, just be on your toes at the end of every battle you get into. Try this a couple times before resorting to the more boring method described above. -Note that the Iron Giants in this area can drop SOS Regen armors. These can be very helpful in a No Items game (especially since you can get them with two free slots). If you decide to hunt around for one, note that Iron Giants only appear in the Northern half of the Plains. -If you're playing a game with any combination of the NI and NO/NC restrictions you'll need to hunt for an SOS Regen bracer. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. -Another note about equipment, you might want to consider getting a Hp Stroll armor drop from Qactuars if you have the NI restriction, it'll make Bevelle a bit easier (those forced battles can suck hard). Qactuars have a high drop rate, the only problem is Auron's accuracy. There isn't a huge change that he'll land the hit, but if he does it's a guaranteed kill. Remember that ODs can't miss, so if that option is available to you make sure to take advantage. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Macalania Woods = = = = = = = = = = = = = = You'll want to go ahead and buy Tidus's Sonic Steel from O'aka (First Strike), it'll come in handy on a couple of underwater areas. You want the good news or the bad news first? I'll give you the bad news. We will need to train until we have at least a Strength stat of 60 to take down Seymour and Anima. With our Strength Spheres from the Thunder Plains, this won't be as bad as it seems. The good news is that this is the last time that we'll need to really hang around and powerlevel in a certain area. The rest of the challenge more or less flows at a steady pace in terms of leveling (as long as you're not escaping from every battle). The Strength node that gets us to 60 Strength is next to another Hp +200 node and Agility +2 node. Feel free to get them as well, but you don't need them for the upcoming fights. You might want to wait until after the Spherimorph fight to level up, because the enemies in front of the Travel Agency offer better experience than those in Macalania Woods. For the record, we can take on Seymour and Anima with a Strength stat of 56, but we would have to rely on a critical hit against Anima. I really don't like leaving my battles up to luck (especially this one, which already involves a ridiculously precise order of events to succeed). This brings us to the next fight. Auron hacks a massive tree in half (females in the crowd, go ahead and swoon). "Fiends are also attracted to these places." *********************** Boss: Spherimorph - A08 *********************** Spherimorph: 12000 Hp. You could certainly Customize Lightningproof to potentially make this fight a bit easier, but it's not necessary, and we could save those Lightning Marbles for another time. First thing's first, Power Break Spherimorph, then follow up with Armor Break. Spherimorph randomly starts out favoring a certain element, there's really no way to predict which one. Simply attack him to find out which element he's favoring, and then equip Ward armor for that element if you have it in your inventory. You could spend time switching to Elemental strikes if you want, but chances are that you don't have one of each strike, so don't worry about it. Continue to attack on every turn you have, there isn't much threat here, and if you're allowed to use Overdrives, Dragon Fang will deal a decent amount of damage. Heal when necessary. No Items strat: Nothing really worth mentioning. This fight is beyond quick. Start off with Armor Break, then one more attack will dissolve our amorphous friend. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = STOP! Special notification = = = = = = = = = = = = = = For all of you who are allowing Overdrives in your game, you'll want to take this opportunity to head backtrack a bit and pick up all of the Jecht, Auron, and Braska Spheres. If you do this now you'll be able to get Tornado by the time you pick up the Sphere on Mt. Gagazet. This would also be a good time to go kill off Ochu for his Hp Spheres if you hadn't done so already. If you're playing a No Items game but allowing Overdrives you might want to consider going back to get these spheres now. Keep in mind those of you playing the PAL or International version, this is your last chance to get the Sphere in Besaid before obtaining the Airship, at which point Dark Valefor blocks your pogress. While Tornado isn't necessary for any fight in any variation of an Auron Only game, it's certainly worth mentioning. The locations of the Spheres are as follows: -Besaid Village, to the right of the Temple, lying on the ground. -On the S.S. Liki, inside the captain's quarters. -Luca Stadium, just outside of the Auroch's locker room. -Mi'hen Highroad, Lowroad, at the dead end, near Auron's Crest. -Mushroom Rock Road, off to the side of the large elevator to Command Station. -Moonflow South, near the Shoopuf dock. -Thunder Plains South, next to a Lightning tower. -Macalania Woods South, hang a right when coming from the Thunder Plains. That leaves the one you picked up after the Spherimorph fight, and the one on Mt. Gagazet. "Stand back." ***************************** Boss: Crawler, Negator - A09 ***************************** Crawler: 16000. Negator: 1000. With our newly gained Strength and a Lightningstrike weapon (which is optional) this fight isn't really difficult. We can't take out the Negator, but even if we could, we wouldn't bother doing it. Without a Lightningstrike weapon, you'll need to attack the Crawler six times to take it out (barring critical hits). With a Lightningstrike weapon, that drops to four or five attacks. The Crawler's only attack will be Gatling Guns, which hits eight times for about 110 damage each time. Once you get below 1000 Hp, toss an X Potion, you'll only need to do this once, and using Hi Potions won't do more than cure the damage from one Gatling Guns attack. Always keep an eye on the CTB bar to make sure that Auron can survive the upcoming attack by Crawler (at some points Crawler will get in two attacks in a row). No Items strategy: Very simple fight we have here. At this point Auron will have 72 Strength, which means he'll take out around 5,000 Hp per strike against Crawler. Four hits will be enough to put him down for good. Three hits if you have a Lightningstrike weapon. Alright all you AONI(NO) playing badasses, it would be awesome if you got a Waterstrike drop for Auron after this fight. Not necessary, as there are other methods of getting this weapon (which you'll need), but just keep an eye out for it. I don't recommend drop hunting for the weapon. Before you head out to Macalania Temple, make sure Auron has a full OD gauge. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Macalania Temple = = = = = = = = = = = = = Open the chests in the main chamber of the Temple, speak to Trommel to receive a Shell Targe for Rikku...and then sell it to O'aka for some scratch. Also buy Tidus's Sonic Steel if you didn't before. Equip Auron with any weapon, and an armor with either Fire Ward or Water Ward. Remember that woman on the South bank of the Moonflow who was selling that Water Ward Bracer for Auron? I hope to Christ that you bought it like I told you to. (The upcoming strategy involves Auron having a Strength stat of 60, 5030 Hp, and 11 Agility. You could very easily have gotten 5230 Hp and 13 Agility, but it doesn't change the strategy all that much, and I figured that you've done more than enough powerleveling.) No Items (+No ODs +No Customization) preparation: Auron's weapon and armor are irrelevant in this fight, as we've trained Auron to 5,630 Hp, 72 Strength, 15 Agility and 17 Magic Defense at this point. "We will protect Yuna from anyone. Even a Maester." ************************* Boss: Seymour/Anima - A10 ************************* Seymour: 6000 Hp. Guado Guardians(x2): 2000 Hp. Anima: 18000 Hp. This. Will. Suck. Here's the deal. We need to have Auron kill off the two Guado Guardians as soon as possible, but not allow Seymour to kill the allies before we cause him to summon Anima. This alone will be difficult enough, and on top of that, when we fight Anima, she needs to use Pain on both of the allies while we attack her (three attacks will be enough). Sounds difficult? You bet your ass it is. You will need a lot of luck for these courses of action to transpire. So, start off by killing one of the Guado Guardians. Hopefully Seymour uses Blizzara on Auron (dealing about 750 damage). On his next turn, target the other Guado, killing it. Once again Seymour uses a spell, this time it's Thundara (another 750 damage). Attack Seymour, this will cause him to Summon Anima. Anima will Boost and then use Pain, hopefully killing an ally. Auron's subsequent attack on Anima will deal ~6300-7100 damage. Anima will then get off another Boost and Pain combo, once again pray that it kills our other ally. Thankfully, Auron gets in a third and final hit on Anima. How did that suit you? Not too fun was it? Well the fight isn't over. At this point, Auron will have at least 3500 or so Hp. Seymour will get in consecutive turns on us, using Dual Watera on the first turn, and Dual Fira on the next turn. This will absolutely kill you without Ward protection for at least one of these elements (and even then, we'll be left with only a couple hundred Hp). Use your next turn to heal with an X Potion. After that, two attacks should be enough to put Seymour down for the count. Go buy a present, you've successfully completed one of the most ridiculously difficult battles in this challenge. No Items (No ODs/No Customization) strategy: Kill off Seymour's allies with physicals, you only need a single ally for the Anima portion. Seymour will then Summon Anima, she will Boost and then Pain one of your allies (Game Over if it's Auron, of course). This brings up Auron's turn, smack her once for 9999 damage. Anima then Boosts, Auron's follow up attack will end this encounter. Once Anima is taken care of, Seymour will begin casting Dual spells, and he'll start off with Multi-Blizzara (with Ice Ward these will only deal 750-800 damage to Auron, ~1,500 without protection). It doesn't really matter, one strike from Auron will take out Seymour. If you start this fight off with Dragon Fang, things with Anima get messier. Once Seymour Summons her, she'll get off a Boost, Pain (on an ally), then she'll boost again before Auron's turn, after he attacks she'll take out the second ally with Pain, then Auron finishes her off. Really, it's more of a hassle with Dragon Fang than without. Just so it's stated here, Pain has a 100% chance of inflicting Death, but each enemy and ally in the game has an innate 1% resistance to all status effects. This means that it's possible to survive Pain if that 1% kicks in, it'll deal a small amount of damage instead (500-600). Don't rely on this, but don't reset until you've seen that Pain has killed you, you might get lucky. = = = = "Run!" = = = = As you're escaping the temple, make sure to use the Save Sphere next to O'aka, and buy any items you may need while you're at it. On your way out you'll be chased by the Guado, and you'll have to fight at least two battles. Make sure that you take out the Guado first in both fights. Save again at the Sphere and make your way back towards Lake Macalania Travel Agency. Save once again at the Sphere on the far end, you'll be resetting more than a few times. Equip your Blurry Moon (Darktouch), it might help a little bit in this upcoming fight (you'll have a 30% chance of inflicting Darkness on Wendy). If you're allowed to Customize, equip your Evade and Counter weapon. Make sure to save before starting this fight. ************************************ Boss: Wendigo, Guado Guardians - A11 ************************************ Wendigo: 18000 Hp. Guado Guardians: 1200 Hp. Take your first two turns to kill off the two Guado that accompany the Wendigo, when they perish they will cast Shell and Protect on Wendy (unless you Petrify them with a Stonetouch weapon, which you probably don't have). Use Dragon Fang if you have a full OD (and if you're allowing OD use), but don't waste turns getting a full bar if you don't have one at the very beginning of battle. You can use a Remedy on Wendigo to remove the Berserk status, which will decrease the damage you receive, if for some reason you have no Remedys, then you can use Threaten to remove Berserk. Essentially you'll be able to survive two of Wendy's attacks before you need to be healed. Simply attack as necessary, and heal when your Hp drops below 2000. The only efficient means of healing is using X Potions. If you're playing a No Customization game, you'll need to fight Wendigo until he drops a Counterattack weapon for Auron. This is not optional in a No Overdrives game (unless you feel like drop hunting Mechs in Bikanel for SOS Reflect - trust me, you don't). This is optional, but HIGHLY recommended in a standard No Customization game. No Items strategy: Start off with Dragon Fang (if you're allowed to) to take care of the Guado Guardians. Two more hits will kill off Wendy (or a single critical hit). If you're playing a No Items game, you'll need to fight Wendigo until he drops an armor with SOS Haste and one free slot. Again, I'm not asking, I'm telling you. = = = = = = = = = = = = Under Macalania Temple = = = = = = = = = = = = Oh THANK YOU WENDIGO. You had to go and throw a fit, now we're stuck WAY beneath the surface of the ice, riding on Sin's back no less. Super. -_- Anyway, speak to everyone (ignore Wakka's pouting, it's beyond annoying) to advance the story. Auron has some profound thoughts to share with Tidus, as always. After the party realizes that they're being carried by a giant floating Chuck Norris-esque whale, they all freak out and we wake up on... Yes, I referenced Chuck Norris. Don't like it? Go complain on the internet. = = = = = = = = = = = = Bikanel Island = = = = = = = = = = = = Put away that SPF 15, this is no time to celebrate. Tidus wakes up alone in an Oasis. Open the chest next to him for four Remedies. Save at the Save Sphere. Great, now we're walking around ALONE with Tidus at base stats. Very soon into our mid-afternoon jog, we encounter a Zu. Tidus will die awfully quick (what did you expect at NSG stats?) Good news is, Auron comes to the rescue. If he has a full Overdrive gauge, use Shooting Star on the Zu to end the fight. If he doesn't have a full OD gauge (or if you're playing No Overdrives), equip your Counterattack/Evade and Counter weapon. After three or four attacks, the Zu will die. Watch out for Darkness though, and if you have a Dark Ward armor handy, you should equip it now. Head to the Central area of Bikanel Island and save your progress at the Sphere next to the sign that warns of powerful fiends residing to the West. I'd advise hunting Sand Worms for an Auto Potion armor for Auron if you're playing NC(NO). In the area to the left of the save sphere, you'll encounter Sand Worms more frequently than any other area in Bikanel. We'll want an armor with Auto Potion (if you get one with Hp +10% on it as well, feel free to dance). You should note that Sand Worms, Zus, and Sandragoras can all be Ejected with Auron's Shooting Star. = = = = = = = = = = = = Home = = = = = = = = = = = = Eh, collect the Primers here if you don't have them on a Memory Card yet. Not really a whole lot to do here other than head straight towards the Summoner's Sanctum. None of the encounters should give you any trouble here, not even if you're playing AONCNO or AONINO, Auron's Hp and single strike kills will get you through these fights. Remember your Hp Stroll and SOS Regen armors to keep your Hp up if you aren't allowed to heal manually. Guado Guardians take priority, of course, as they can Confuse Auron (which will suck). = = = = = = = = = = = Airship = = = = = = = = = = = Save your game, initiate the conversation with Dona, then go talk to Brother, who says he's found Yunie. Pick up the Underdog's Secrets from Rin and sell them back to him, because we won't need them. (If you want, go ahead and Customize yourself a Double Overdrive weapon first, it will come in handy for random encounters, but isn't necessary). Equip you Counterattack/Evade and Counter weapon and make your way to the deck. ***************** Boss: Evrae - A12 ***************** Evrae: 32,000 Hp. This fight is partly reliant on luck, depending on how powerful you are. First off, let me explain Evrae's attack pattern while the airship is up close, we won't be able to move it away at all. Swipe -> Swipe -> Inhale -> Poison Breath Secondly, let me outline what we need to worry about. Evrae's Stone Gaze will mean certain doom, considering that we don't have a Stoneproof armor, and even if we did survive it Auron will be delayed to high hell which means a Reset unless you have an Auto Potion + Auto Med armor to go along with your Counter weapon. For this fight, you just have to know that after being attacked three times, Evrae will be able to use Stone Gaze, but it doesn't use it on Inhale, or Poison Breath turns. This is where our Counterrattack/Evade and Counter weapon will come in really handy (not to mention entirely necessary). You'll need Evrae to target Auron with his first two physical attacks, so that Auron will counterattack. Attack on Auron's turn, which will be after Evrea's first physical attack. This bring's Evrae's Stone Gaze counter up to 6, which will more or less mean the death of us, but luckily enough, her Inhale and Poison Breath moves trump the Stone Gaze (meaning it only uses Stone Gaze on her attack turns). Basically, it'll take four hits to defeat Evrae. You need to make sure that it doesn't get a Swipe turn after your third hit on her (this includes counter attacks). Essentially, attack it once, then allow it two attacks to trigger Auron's counters on her so that you can get in the last attack before its next action. You don't want to get in three hits before her second turn. No Items strategy: You'll want Wakka and Lulu to start the fight off with 1 Hp so they can take themselves out immediately. You'll also need to bring Auron into the fight in critical condition so his SOS Haste armor is activated throughout the entire fight. (Try to get as close to 50% Hp as possible, for the fights afterwords). Start the fight off with our First Strike weapon. Immediately switch to your E&C weapon. Our goal here is to have Evrae's second physical attack trigger a counter from Auron, and have that be the third attack landed on Evrae, make sense? Ideally, it would attack Auron twice, with him countering both of those and getting in a turn of his own to attack as well (he'll have more turns than that, but once again we need to have the third blow landed on Evrae be a counter to her second physical attack). Chances are she may target one of your support characters, make sure that you kill them off (this is why I picked Wakka and Lulu, as Lu can always kill herself with Magic at 1 Hp, and Wakka only has a 1% chance of missing himself with a physical at base stats). = = = = = = = = = Bevelle - Wedding = = = = = = = = = After the fight with Bevelle's guardian, we'll be dropped off a couple hundred feet away from Yuna and Seymour. Heal Auron if necessary, and if you want to, go ahead and equip him with any Fire protection armor you might have at your disposal. The fights are pretty easy, you just need to make sure you don't allow the YKT's to take a turn while they're alone in battle. Keep your Counterattack/Evade and Counter weapon equipped for these upcoming battles. These fights can be a pain in the ass for our No Items gamers. You can't heal in-between the Evrae fight and these battles, but we can handle these fights in a manner that'll allow you to stay alive. Once you can access the menu, equip your First Strike weapon, switch your OD mode to Slayer. Battle #1 - Switch to your E&C weapon, take out the Flamethrower Monk first. The Monks with the Rifles are harmless as long as we have E&C. Make sure to switch back to your First Strike weapon. Battle #2 - Dragon Fang this group (two Flamethrowers and a YKT). Battle #3 - Once again take out the Flamethrower first. Save your OD for the next battle. Switch to any Fire protection you may have. Battle #4 - D. Fang the group. Battle #5 - Take out the two Monks, then finish off the large Machina in the back. = = = = = = = = = = = Via Purifico = = = = = = = = = = = First off, SAVE YOUR GAME. Last thing we need is for Yuna to be ambushed by two Bat Eyes and end up dead, forcing us to fight Evrae again. Allocate the Hp Sphere we picked up in Bevelle's Cloisters to Auron's Grid. This is very simple, take the Teleport pad in the next room (one north from your starting location) directly North to Auron, and then make your way out of the Via Purifico. Forget about Kimahri and Lulu, they'll find there way out, and none of the treasures are worth a damn to us. On the way out, you'll face a couple forced fights with enemies called Maze Larvae, which are incredibly similar to the Larvae found in the Thunder Plains, except that they have an affinity towards Water instead of Thunder. There will be no problem taking these guys out, a single hit will do the trick. ************************** Boss: Isaaru's Aeons - A13 ************************** Grothia: 8,000 Hp. Pterya: 12,000 Hp. Spathi: 20,000 Hp. No trouble here, your Aeons will be more than strong enough to take out your foes. I'll just make a few quick suggestions for these fights, just for the hell of it. Start off by Summoning Shiva against Grothia (Ifrit), don't bother Grand Summoning her. On your first turn, cast NulBlaze, because Grothia comes with a fully charged OD bar. It will unleash Hellfire on Shiva, but she will be Immune to it due to NulBlaze, and for whatever reason, this should fully charge her OD Gauge. After that simply attack on every turn, stopping only to heal or to use Shield for an upcoming Overdrive. Nothing too difficult about these fights at all, chances are you'll be able to complete all of them without losing a single Aeon, but if you do just go ahead and summon another one. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Via Purifico - Tidus, Rikku, Wakka = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = If for some reason you don't have at least 2 Phoenix Downs, "buy" a couple from the chest that is directly to the right of your starting location. If you're playing a No Items game, you might consider having Rikku Steal 20 Water Gems to Customize Water Eater for the later bosses. Or you can defeat Chimerageist in the Monster Arena (which is what you NINC(NO) players will be doing). Your call. You'll also want to grab 4 Fish Scales for our Waterstrike weapon as well. Do this BEFORE you fight Evrae, as the random encounters stop after she bites the dust (...again). ************************ Boss: Evrae Altana - A14 ************************ Throw two Phoenix Downs. If you think it's cheap, or you want to fight Evrae any other way, that's your problem, not mine. After you've defeated Evrae, the random encounters stop occuring in the Via Purifico, so you're free to swim safely to the exit. = = = = = = = = = = = = = Highbridge = = = = = = = = = = = = = If you have ANY leveling left to do on Auron's Grid, take care of that now. The enemies on Highbridge offer a tremendous amount of AP, more than enough to easily clear out the last bit of Auron's grid. You might even want to stock some extra Sphere Levels so that we can clear out the last little bit when we get our hands on a Level 3 Key Sphere, and so that we can more easily traverse the grid to manage our stat spheres as we procure them. AONONINC gamers might have built up extra sphere levels anyway, you'll need to farm the Warrior Monks until Auron receives a Magic Counter weapon. Absolutely essential, no way around it. Before initiating the Seymour fight, make sure Auron has a full Overdrive bar, his E&C/Counterattack weapon, and his Auto Potion(/Hp +10%) armor (not for you NI gamers, of course). "Kinoc was still my friend, Seymour. You will pay for his death." ************************************ Boss: Seymour Natus, Mortibody - A15 ************************************ Seymour: 36,000 Hp. Mortibody: 4,000 Hp. (If, for whatever reason, you have an SOS Reflect armor available for Auron, equip that and refrain from attacking Natus, he will kill himself with his own spells, without entering his Break and Flare phases as long as you don't target him. You can SOS Reflect armors from the Machina in Bikanel, although there's a VERY low chance that you'll get it as a drop). Yikes, talk about a pain in the ass fight. Once again, Auron's Agility is a big problem here. At times either Seymour or Mortibody, or both of them will get in two attacks each in between Auron's turns. Good thing we got that Auto Potion armor, right? Natus has three phases based on his Hp, his Multispell phase (36,000 - 24,000), his Break phase (23,999 - 12,000), and his Flare phase (11,999 - 0). His Break phase is what we're really worried about here, as being targetted with Break is a guaranteed Game Over. Overdrive allowed strategy: Seymour will always kill off two of the three party members (Yuna, Kimahri, and Tidus), just switch Auron in for whoever remains alive. Start the fight off by using the Talk command to raise Auron's Strength by 10. Attack Natus once, this will deal 9999 damage to him. He'll cast some multi spells and reduce Auron's Hp by about 2400. You'll then need to use Dragon Fang, but make sure that Morti will get in a turn before Seymour (check the CTB window). Dragon Fang will deal 9999 damage to both targets, which results in Morti absorbing 4000 from Seymour. Morti then uses Shattering Claw on Auron, for a couple hundred damage to Auron, Auron then counterattacks which results in another 3000 damage to Seymour. Natus then uses Flare on Auron, which he won't survive unless he has more than 2200 Hp. Toss an X Potion and then attack Seymour again, this will deal roughly 8000 damage, one more attack will put him under for good. No Overdrive strategy: (The following strategy was given to me by Andy2094.) SWitch Auron in and use the Talk command. Attack Natus once to bring his Hp down to 26,001, then toss a Mega Potion to heal him for 2000 Hp (or two Hi Potions). Attack Morti, he will then drain 4000 Hp from Natus, bringing his Hp down to 24,001. Attack Seymour once again for another 9999 damage (make sure that Morti's turn comes before Seymour's when you do this). This will bring Natus into his Break phase, in which Morti uses Shattering Claw, which Auron will counterattack and cause Morti to absorb another 3000 Hp from Natus, bringing Natus out of his Break phase. You'll most likely have to use an x Potion to heal Auron after Natus's first Flare. Morti will use Cura on Natus, which will heal him for around 1200 Hp, a few attacks from Auron will finish off the fight. No Items strategy: Make sure you start off with a full Overdrive gauge. Come into battle with your E&C weapon, and a Lightning Ward armor equipped. Don't worry about Talking, we don't have time for that. You'll need to follow these directions exactly as I've laid them out for you to have any chance of winning. Note that if Kimahri is the one you switch Auron in for, this strat will not work, as Morti's turn will come before Auron can unleash Dragon Fang, which would screw up the sequence of events. Attack Natus once for 9999 damage. Auron will then take a Thunder spell from Morti and two Thundaras from Natus, and will be left with about ~4600-4700 Hp. Auron uses Dragon Fang (you must NOT complete the button sequence, because it will inflict a Delay upon Morti, which would cause Natus to get a turn before we bring him out of his Break phase) for 9999 on Morti and ~7500+ on Natus. Morti will then take 4000 from Natus, Natus will set up Protect, and then Morti uses Shattering Claw which Auron will Evade and then counter. This will cause Morti to sap another 3000 from Natus, bringing him out of his Break phase. Natus will cast Flare on Auron (leaving him with just about 2500 Hp), then Morti will get in two Curas on Natus. Switch immediately to your SOS Haste armor, Natus will then get in another Flare on Auron (after Morti Curas him again), which leaves him with a couple hundred Hp at most. You'll now get two turns in a row, use them to attack. This SHOULD kill Natus, but there's a chance it won't based on how cooperative your random number has been in this fight. If you don't kill him with these two attacks, Morti will cast Cura again, and you'll be able to take Natus out with one final attack. = = = = = = = Calm Lands = = = = = = = -After some very inappropriate touching by Tidus, we find ourselves in the Calm Lands. You'll start to see a noticeable increase in difficult of the random encounters from here on out, luckily most of them will fall in a single hit from Auron. -Do yourself a favor and go ahead and start capturing fiends now, it'll save you the trouble of doing it later on. If you're allowed to Customize, add Evade and Counter to your capture weapon, this will speed things up enormously when capturing. -For all of you No Items gamers, go ahead and Customize Water Eater on one of Auron's armors. Preferably one with an extra slot or two if at all possible. Do the same with the Waterstrike weapon. For the weapon you'll want two slots if at all possible, add Evade and Counter as First Strike. Priority would go to Evade and Counter. -It would be a good idea to win a Level 3 Key Sphere from the Chocobo Trainer by beating her in Catcher Chocobo. I would actually recommend using it to access the Agility +2 node near the end of Auron's grid instead of the very last part, as this will bump Auron's Tickspeed from 12 to 11. -If for any reason you don't have a Counterattack weapon or SOS Haste armor, capture an Ogre and drop hunt him in the arena for whichever one you don't have at the moment. All weapons will come with Counterattack, and armors will either come with SOS Haste, Hp +10%, or both. -At some point you'll need to hunt for a Berserk Ward armor, you can either do it now or later. Malboros are your best bet. Good luck. For anyone worried about Bad Breath, it's not an issue. Unlike their Greater counterparts, Malboro doesn't use Bad Breath until its BB counter has reached seven. Fire based attacks add two to the counter, everything else adds one. Auron can take these things down in three hits, so there's no problem. Capture a Malboro and farm it in the Arena. Reload your game every now and then while farming if you want to conserve Gil. ********************** BOSS: Defender X - A16 ********************** Defender X's attack pattern is pretty simple; three regular attacks followed by a Haymaker every fourth turn. The regular attacks can be Evaded with E&C, that is not the case with Haymaker, which deals roughly 3,400 damage to Auron. Half the time this guy counters with Blast Punch, an attack that halves your Hp. **Customization allowed strategy: Start off with Armor Break. With an Evade & Counter weapon, your only problem is Haymaker as it can't be Evaded. Simply switching weapons while Evading and Counter his regular attacks will deal enough damage, make sure to defend before Haymaker. If you attack at will, just don't do so before his third attack (right before Haymaker), as you run the risk of getting your Hp halved from Blast Punch and then getting KO'd by the follow up Haymaker. **No Customization strategy: Equip your Counterattack weapon and SOS Haste armor and Defend on all turns, except your first which you'll be using to Armor Break our friend. You'll be healing frequently with Hi Potions, try to stay away from those X Potions. Always Defend before Haymaker, don't bother attacking. **No Items strategy: Start off with your First Strike weapon. Immediately switch to your E&C weapon. If you have your Water Eater + Waterstrike combo going, then you won't have much trouble. The safest way to fight this guy is to only defend, and let Auron deal damage with his counterattacks, and Defending before Haymaker. If you attack normally you'll be subject to the occasional Blast Punch counterattack, which can put you in a spot of trouble considering that Haymaker can't be evaded. Start off with Armor Break, as very late in the fight Defender will set up Mighty Guard, this will allow us to still deal respectable damage through his Protect shield. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Cavern of the Stolen Fayth = = = = = = = = = = = = = = First off, yes, this is an optional area, but since we need Auron's Masamune later on in the challenge, we'll want to stop by here anyway, there's no reason not to get some capturing done. We might as well take out Belgemine's Yojimbo while we're at it. Those of you playing a No Items game will have a bit of a chore ahead of you. You'll need to farm 8 Lunar Curtains from Magic Urns so you can Customize SOS Shell to your SOS Haste armor. This will be necessary for the Flux and Lady Y battles. To get Lunar Curtains from them, you need to hit the correct Eye on the Urn, and then hope that they toss the item you want. There are five eyes you can target, and if you hit the correct one, there are seven possible items they can toss at you, so this may take a while. Needless to say, you should take this opportunity to capture anything else you encounter in the game. Hold on to the Lunar Curtains, we can't use them yet, first we'll need to drop hunt a Bashura for a three slotted SOS Haste armor. You'll find a Fortune Sphere in here that you can use with the Luck Sphere we got in Macalania Temple. ******************* BOSS: Yojimbo - A17 ******************* Not a difficult fight in any format. Simply hack away for around 6000 per strike. Yoj starts off with Daigoro and will progressively use his stronger attacks as his Hp lowers, at the rate of Auron's damage output, you'll only see Kozuka twice at the most. If you have the cash (which you could've gotten from selling your Underdog's Secrets from Rin if you have them) hire Yojimbo now. Obviously we can't use him in battle, but we'll want to come back and get a Strength Sphere from his Fayth later on, and we can't do that without hiring him at some point. Save it for later if you must. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Mt. Gagazet - Trail = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On your way up Mt. Gagazet you'll find a Defending Bracer (Stoneproof + Poisonproof), a Level 4 Key Sphere, and a Hp Sphere. Make sure to allocate the Hp Sphere as soon as possible, use the Level 4 Key Sphere to unlock the Key Lock that leads to Zombie Attack. You'll also find another Sphere that further explains the journey of Braska, Jecht and Auron. If you took my advice and backtracked to get the other Spheres after you defeated Spherimorph, watching this sphere will allow Auron to learn Tornado, his final Overdrive. No Items gamers: Capture a Bashura and head back down to the Calm Lands and drop hunt it for a three slotted armor with SOS Haste armor with two free slots. Slap on SOS Shell and Water Eater, we'll need it for Lady Y, and there's no reason not to make the Flux fight a touch bit easier. When you see Wantz, make sure to buy the Zombie Ward + Hp +10% armor for Auron from him, it's necessary for our upcoming fight. Equip that newly purchased Zombie Ward armor and your First Strike weapon (if you have one). Save at the Sphere and initiate the fight. ************************ BOSS: Seymour Flux - A18 ************************ Cross your fingers. Hopefully your Zombie Ward armor prevents Lance of Atrophy from inflicting Zombie on Auron. If it doesn't and Flux follows up with Full Life, you might as well reset your game. You won't be doing much other than attack and healing. Once Flux casts Protect you'll only be capping at around 4000 damage per strike, but it'll be enough to take him out eventually. No Items strategy: Start off by switching from your First Strike weapon to your E&C weapon. Hope that LoA doesn't inflict Zombie on Auron, as a follow up Full Life would result in death. There's a chance that LoA/Full Life will hit another party member, but I choose to kill them off as soon as possible. Keep in mind that Auron will counterattack LoA, this will actually help us quite a bit. Chances are that you'll need to get through two LoAs without being Zombied to make it to the next part of this fight. After taking two hits, Flux will cast Protect on himself, which caps Auron's damage output at around 4500-5000 Hp. After your fourth attack, you'll see Dispel and then Cross Cleave. CC will deal around 2200 damage to Auron, and inflict a strong delay. Immediately switch to your Haste/Shell/Eater armor so we can keep ourselves healed for the rest of the fight. Flare will deal about 2000 damage to Auron, 1000 while Shelled. Total Annihilation can be reduced by Shell as well (thank god), but if you aren't in Critical condition when the first hit of TA strikes Auron, you won't benefit from SOS Shell, and if you're anywhere less than 4000 Hp, this'll mean a game over. You'd be well advised to make absolutely sure that you have full Hp before Total Annihilation. You may find yourself struggling to get in an attack, just be patient and never place attacking above healing, even when you have two consecutive turns coming up, because there's always a chance that Auron may MISS himself with an attack. = = = = = = = Gagazet Cave = = = = = = = On your way through the cave, you'll want to make sure you do two things. Capture a Bashura. Grab the Fortune Sphere from the underwater "trial" of Gagazet. (The one in which Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku need to be positioned with the glowing stones.) Steal 20 Water Gems from Maelspikes in the waters of the Cave for another Water Eater armor for Auron. Don't use these until we get a four slotted armor. You'll need to Capture a Bashura because, frankly, we need an SOS Haste armor. And these guys are the only source for them (as well as Ogres in the Calm Lands). At some point before the Lady Y fight, you'll need to trek back down the mountain (via the teleport pads) and repeatedly fight a Bashura for a Haste Bracer. _______________ Equipment Check ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ At this point it'll be nice to have a Confuse ward armor in your inventory. If you don't have one, go capture a Mandragora in the Gagazet Cave and drop hunt it in the Monster Arena for one. Save at the Sphere near the exit of the cave. Equip your Confuseward armor and Counterattack/Evade and Counter weapon. All you No Items gamers should equip your First Strike weapon and a Sleep Ward or Dark Ward armor if at all possible. The armor isn't necessary, but it'll help you out a tiny bit with Photon Wings. "It comes!" **************************** BOSS: Sanctuary Keeper - A19 **************************** While a seemingly difficult fight at first glance, we'll be killing him before he gets a chance to become a pain in our ass. His attack pattern is like so: Photon Wings Attack Attack Mana Breath Curaga Curaga Repeat After being attacked 3 times, he counters with Tail Sweep, this does not replace any part of his attack pattern. First off, hopefully you'll get through Photon Wings without being Blinded or put to sleep (50% chance for both). Just reset if either of these occur, as it'll only make the fight more difficult. Photon Wings will deal about 1000 damage to Auron, nothing to worry about. On your first turn Armor Break Sanctie, this will deal roughly 4000 damage and drop his Defense stat to 0, which will allow our attacks to deal 9999 damage. On your next turn have Auron switch to his Auto Potion armor, this will help ensure that we don't have to bother healing at all. Then come the physical attacks. Those of you with Evade and Counter don't need to worry about this at all, as Auron will simply Evade the attack and counter for 9999 damage. Those of us with a Counterattack weapon will be glad we switched to our Auto Potion armor, as the second attack will surely bring Auron into the critical status. Two counters to these attacks will add up to another 19,998 damage (only about 15,000 to go!) Auron will toss a Hi Potion resulting in us having just enough Hp to survive Mana Breath. Use your next turn to attack Sanctie again for another 9999 damage, and then take Mana Breath. You will survive it with a few hundred Hp left, and you'll only need one more attack to bring Sanctie to its knees. No Items strategy: Start off with your First Strike weapon, immediately switch to your Evade & Counter weapon. Use Armor Break on your second turn, then get ready to rely on a bit of luck. As long as you get through Photon Wings without being put to Sleep or Blinded, you'll be just fine, Sanctie will follow up PW with a physical attack, which Auron will dodge and counter with an attack that deals 9999 damage. Attack on Auron's turn, for another 9999 damage. Again he'll attack you and Auron will counter for 9999 damage. On your next turn, attack again to send Sanctie to the Farplane. Congrats, now off to Zanarkand. ^^ = = = = = = = = = = = The Road TO ZANARKAND = = = = = = = = = = = If for whatever reason you don't play games with the sound on (watching another TV, listening to music, etc), I suggest you turn the volume up for this part. "Someday the Dream will end" plays even throughout the battles in this area, and it's a wonderful score in my opinion. Just thought it was worth mentioning. ^^ There's a Fortune Sphere on the Road to the Zanarkand Dome, do yourself a huge favor and grab it. We find our second Level 3 Key Sphere right after the scene with young Seymour and his mother, grab that and activate the Hp and Mp node in the last section of Auron's grid. For the love of god don't activate that Luck +1 node, as we're about to pick up another Luck Sphere on the way to the Cloisters, allocate it to Auron's grid immediately and use that Fortune Sphere to activate the node. Save at the Sphere and equip your E&C/Counterattack weapon and Berserkward armor. ************************* BOSS: Spectral Keeper A20 ************************* By far the easiest late-game fight of this entire challenge. At this point, if you've completed Auron's grid and have allocated all of the Hp Spheres we've found up to this point, you should have 6430 Hp, which is more than enough to get through this fight without healing. Here's the strategy: Defend. Yep. On every turn have Auron take a defensive stance. With his Berserk Ward armor we won't have any fear of being Berserked, and while Defending, Berserk Tail will deal between 550-600 damage, and Auron will counterattack every time for around 5000 damage, 9999 on a critical. Before Auron even comes close to needing a Hi/X Potion, Spectie will be dead. Obviously this strategy applies to all challenge variations that I'm covering. Hope you enjoyed that, our next fight isn't so forgiving. -_- Save your game before you enter the final chamber, you won't be happy if you have to sit through another 15 minute scene if you eat it. If you're playing a NINONC game, you'll need to drop hunt Spectral Keeper for an armor with Fireproof, Waterproof and Lightningproof/Iceproof (either/or for that last ability). You'll need it to fight Chimerageist for an elemental Eater armor. (Skip straight to Lady Y fight if you're not playing a NINCNO game). ************************** BOSS: Chimerageist - A20.1 ************************** Hp: 120,000 Note that you'll only have to fight Chimerageist if you're playing a NINONC game, or if you decided not to steal Water Gems in the Via P with Rikku and are playing a NI game). Weapon: Magic Counter Armor: Fireproof, Waterproof, (Iceproof/Lightningproof) Chimerageist, like its brethren, follows a strict attack pattern, but also note that it can start the battle anywhere in said attack pattern Charge Aqua Breath Meggido Flame Thundaga/Blizzaga (randomly determined) Repeat Even with our preparation, we've got to get rather fortunate to win the fight. Start with Power Break, it'll have a 50% chance of infliction, pray that it works, it's absolutely essential that Chimerageist is Power Broken before it uses its first Charge. Auron can take a max of 4 (Power Broken) Charge attacks before dying, >if< he's Defending as well. Always make sure to Defend. Another luck driven aspect of this fight is the Thundaga/Blizzaga part of the attack pattern. You've simply got to hope that whichever one is used is the one your armor guards against. Have fun. Thundaga/Blizzaga and Megiddo Flame will be countered with Magic Counter, this is vital to racking up damage on CG. Charge can be countered as well, but seeing as how you can't get both counter factors on one weapon, we're using the one that'll score us more free hits. If you've found time to switch to Counterattack weapon before Charge as well as Defend (fat chance), then do so, but only near the end of the fight. Aqua Breath can't be countered as it's a full party attack. Sucks. After that preparation, it pretty much comes down to getting lucky enough to pull it off. It's not as if it's extremely unlikely, you just need the wind to be blowing in your favor, as it were. Don't get frustrated, there's nothing you can do about losing (unless you've got a better strategy, in that case please email me). Any single Elemental Eater armor will do the trick, you can get multiple abilities as well, but that's of no consequence. Hopefully you have the corresponding elemental strike weapon at this point. = = = = = = = = = = = = Back up the Mountain... = = = = = = = = = = = = Back in my day, we had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get where we was going, no shoes either, had to wrap barbed wire around our feet just to get traction on the ground. Luckily enough for Auron, this long (albeit not unfamiliar) path can be skipped by simply using the Teleporter at the bottom of the Mountain. Head back to the antechamber that leads to Yunalesca. I would advise seeing the first scene with her first, then saving again. Like it or not you'll be resetting a few times (and if not, you're to buy my next lottery ticket <_<). No Items prep: Start with a First Strike weapon, you'll need a Dark Ward armor for the first form as well. "PAYBACK" ************************** BOSS: Lady Yunalesca - A21 ************************** This fight is quite the pain in the ass. -_- FIRST FORM: 24,000 Hp. She alternates between two attacks, a Dispel Slap that removes any positive status (aside from Reflect and Regen), that deals a very small amount of damage. Her other attack is Absorb, which Drains half of your Max Hp (it isn't halved by Shell), meaning that it can kill you. SECOND FORM: 48,000 Hp. She starts this form off with Hellbiter, which inflicts the Zombie status. She still uses the Dispel slap, but as a counterattack. Before you finish off her second form you'll need to make sure you've done the following three things: Auron needs to be Zombied, and make sure you have your Confuse Ward armor and Strength +10% + Strength +5% weapon equipped. THIRD FORM: First off, her attack pattern: Mega Death Hellbiter/Cura(ga)/Regen Hellbiter/Cura(ga)/Regen Mind Blast Hellbiter/Cura(ga)/Regen Repeat She still counters all attacks with her Dispel punch, and you'll most likely be under Regen throughout the entire fight, which eats away at your Hp while Zombied. You need to get very lucky with the attacks she chooses. I fought her so many times hoping she would use Hellbiter right before Mega Death, or that she wouldn't use Curaga while I was Zombied, and she has a nasty habit of not doing what you need her to do. Obviously if you're not Zombied before Mega Death, you'll die. And if you're Zombied and she casts Curaga, you can kiss your ass goodbye if you don't have 5000+ Hp (doesn't matter anyway, you wouldn't have time to cure Zombie, then heal, then get Zombied again before Mega Death. All that being said, here's the closest thing to a strategy that you could follow. As always, she starts off with Mega Death, which you'll be protected against because of your Zombie status. She'll then either use Regen, Curaga, or Hellbiter on Auron, pray to god she doesn't use Curaga, as that will mean your demise. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ NO ITEMS strategy FIRST FORM: Immediately switch to your E&C + Waterstrike weapon. You'll need to attack her once, hope Dark Ward kicks in for her Blind counter. You'll need Dark Ward to kick in twice during the first form. Absorb will always target Auron, because he'll have the highest current Hp. It will steal half of his MAX Hp and give it to Lady Y, meaning this attack can kill Auron. You should only see this once if things go the right way. Lady Y always opens up with her Slap attack, then alternates between it and Absorb. It would be nice if her first attack targeted Auron, but isn't a huge deal if it doesn't. Make sure your other characters finish themselves off as soon as they can, so that at the very least Lady Y's second Slap targets Auron so he can take her out before you see a second Absorb. SECOND FORM: Well, she opens up with Hellbiter, so you just go ahead and switch to your Water Eater/SOS Haste/SOS Shell armor, make sure you have that Waterstrike weapon equipped as well. She will most oftenly use Hellbiter and Cura, and Regen. It's possible for her to use Curaga in her second form, although very unlikely. To play it safe, try to keep Auron's Hp above 4500, this will be stupidly difficult with Regen if it's applied. Life will be a bit easier if she doesn't cast Regen on Auron, as he'll be perma-zombied for the rest of the battle. Not a deal breaker but obviously the less damage you take the less you have to worry about. Should be noted that in my first fight against her, I never saw Regen, but in subsequent test fights I saw it upwards of 20 times. To be on the safe side, you'll want to try to have 4500+ Hp before initiating the form change, as a follow up Curaga after Mega Death will kill Auron if he has any less Hp. If you have Regen before entering the third form, there's a big chance you'll be screwed. THIRD FORM: She opens up with Mega Death...surprise surprise. You'll be zombied, so that's nothing to worry about. She'll immediately follow that up with Hellbiter, Cura(ga) or Regen. Basically, if you see Curaga anywhere lower than 2200 Hp, or anywhere between right above 50% Hp and 4400 Hp, you're screwed. Once again, the fight is a bit easier if she doesn't target you with Regen. The plan is pretty simple, attacking when you have the opportunity to, given that your Hp doesn't fall in the ranges I've described above. At all other times you'll be healing yourself. Don't worry about Mind Blast, because Auron physically attacking himself is not a problem in this fight. Pick your spots, you don't have to kill her quickly, so be patient and only attack when you have as close to a guaranteed chance at survival before your next turn as possible. Keep in mind that you could certainly have a very easy fight depending on what she throws at you. If you see a lot of Hellbiters and Curas you haven't much to worry about, but know that Regen and Curaga will screw things up for you. There's always the chance that Auron will miss while trying to heal himself, which can end your fight very early. Lady Y will drop at least one Level 3 Key Sphere, which you'll want to use to open up the last area of Auron's Sphere Path. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Airship - Masamune/Final Weapon & Armor Customization = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = First off, if you didn't grab the Rusty Sword outside of the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth during our initial visit, go do so now. You'll also need to head over to Remiem Temple to win the Chocobo Race there and obtain the Cloudy Mirror. Take the Cloudy Mirror to Macalania Woods and find the mother and child, speak to both of them twice. Now run to the campsite and find the father, tell him where his wife and child are. Run back to where you found the mother and child and speak to both the husband and wife twice each. Now take the Shimmering Path up to the top to find the boy and obtain the Celestial Mirror. Now take your newly acquired Celestial Mirror and the Rusty Sword to the Mushroom Rock Road and grab the Masamune. So far we have one of the two necessary items to fully power Auron's Masamune, time to get the third. We need to unlock a combination of 10 Area and Species Creations to obtain Auron's Sigil. Capture one of each enemy in the following areas: Besaid, Kilika, Mi'ihen, Mushroom Rock, Djose/Moonflow, Thunder Plains, Macalania Woods, Calm Lands, Cavern of the Stolen Fayth and Bikanel Island. If you're allowing Customization, make sure to snag: - Five Dual Horns (NI gamers only) and four Floating Eyes while on the Mi'ihen Highroad - Four Buers in the Thunder Plains - Four Evil Eyes in Macalania - Five Valahas (NI gamers only) in the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Five Grendels (NI gamers only) and four Ahrimans on Mt. Gagazet For players allowing Customization, this is the most desirable Final Armor for Auron: Auto Haste Auto Potion Zombieproof Stoneproof You've already taken care of all the capturing at this point (unless you're waiting for after OD Sin for Floating Deaths), so go find Wantz in Macalania Woods for a four slotted armor and Customize your armor. For a No Items game, we'll be switching out Auto Potion (Der) for Auto Protect, and Zombieproof for Water Eater.. Auto Haste Auto Protect Stoneproof Water Eater This will be our final Weapon in our No Items format. Waterstrike Evade & Counter **Zombietouch **Zombiestrike If you have a four slotted Waterstrike weapon, and you're going to add the Zombietouch and Zombiestrike combo, make absolutely sure that you ADD ZOMBIETOUCH FIRST, otherwise you won't be able to get both -touch and -strike on the same weapon. The reason we're doing this is because BFA has a 50% resistance to Zombie, and Zombietouch and strike will have a 150% infliction rate. This means we'll be almost guaranteed to inflict zombie on BFA (aside from the 1% innate resistance), and with E&C, we can make sure that BFA doesn't benefit too often from Power Wave. **Keep in mind that it's more than possible to win this fight with just Evade and Counter and Water Eater (hell, even just Water Eater), Zombietouch/strike are just nice little additions that will speed the fight up a bit. = = = = = = = = = = = Return to the Trials = = = = = = = = = = = You should also take this opportunity to return to all of the Temples to grab the treasures in the Fayth Chambers and the gifts from the Fayths themselves. Remember that Yojimbo's Fayth will give up a Strength Sphere if you hired Yojimbo (which I did recommend). Keep in mind that you first need to go view the events at Bevelle's Highbridge before you can return to any temples. For those of you playing the PAL or International version of the game you won't be able to get back into Besaid or Macalania Temples, because of the Dark Aeons blocking your path (Valefor and Shiva respectively). This won't be a huge problem, but it certainly is inconvenient. You'll miss out on an Evasion Sphere, Accuracy Sphere, and Magic Defense Sphere (as well as some other items of no significant value). Once you've captured all the fiends that need capturing and have revisited the Temples, grab your Sigil from the Monster Trainer and head to the Macalania Woods to power up Auron's Masamune. = = = = = = = = = = = = Pit Stop = = = = = = = = = = = = Go to Luca. Buy a Fireproof armor for Auron. = = = = = = = = = = = = Sin - The final chapter = = = = = = = = = = = = ********************************** BOSS: Left Fin/Right Fin - A22/A23 ********************************** The strategy is exactly the same for any combination of restrictions. You'll need to have either Tidus or Rikku command Cid to "Move in" so that Auron can attack. On your first turn, use Armor Break. Continually attack until you've defeated the Fin, if it uses Negation, reapply Armor Break. Yes, even with the Masamune we'll need to Armor Break both Fins, as they are Armored. It's important to make sure you Overkill the Left Fin (first fight), because it drops Hp Spheres, and we'll want to get two from the fight instead of just one. If you're playing without the Masamune, chances are you don't have another BDL weapon, so you'll be settling for just a single Hp Sphere. Note that if you come into either battle at 1 Hp and you land a critical strike you can one hit KO either Fin after you've Armor Broken them. Nice to know that Auron's Masamune is the most badass weapon in the game, right? *************************************** BOSS: Sinspawn Genais, Sin's Core - A24 *************************************** Genais will drop from a single hit of Auron's Masamune. That was easy, right? Go ahead and Armor Break the Core (it too will use Negation at times) and just attack until the core is no more (...). While this won't be too much of a problem, you'll want to finish this fight in critical condition, in preparation for the next fight. ***AONC GAMERS DO NOT TOUCH A SAVE SPHERE AFTER THIS FIGHT!*** Equip your SOS Haste armor and Masamune. Again, you'll want to begin this fight in critical condition. ************************* BOSS: Overdrive Sin - A25 ************************* No Customization strategy: You can't attack OD Sin until he has lurched forward three times. If you want, heal yourself with Potions/Hi Potions until he gets close enough, but make sure you don't take Auron out of Critical status. Armor Break him on your first turn, and then repeatedly attack. IF OD Sin attacks you, he will inflict roughly 600 damage and possibly inflict Zombie, Confuse, or Petrification. We can deal with Zombie, we won't even need to heal it, but Confusion or Petrification will mean a Game Over. Chances are that you'll finish this fight before OD Sin attacks you. Critical hits will deal upwards of 40,000 damage at around 50% Hp, up to 60,000-70,000 at 1 Hp. As long as you aren't Petrified or Confused, this battle will end shortly. No Items/Customization allowed strategy: Start the fight off by having Auron attack himself (with Auto Protect, while at full Hp this will take off about 3500 Hp). Then have him kill off his allies. Your first attack will be Armor Break, after that just launch a series of regular attacks. With Auto Haste and the Masamune, this will be over in seven at most. A critical hit while in critical condition can deal upwards of 60,000 damage. Not necessary, but it's cool to see. ************************* BOSS: Seymour Omnis - A26 ************************* A relatively easy fight regardless of the challenge you're playing. Equip your Fireproof armor (bought from Luca). Seymour starts off with Multi Firaga. 2+2=4. At full health Auron will be dealing roughly ~7000 damage per hit, with his Masamune. That's why you'll want to enter battle at less than full Hp, or at least attack yourself once with your Masamune then switch to Fireproof (only possible if you have your Auto Haste armor on at the start). At roughly 50% Hp you'll be dealing ~20,000 damage. This fight would be quick if we didn't have to sit through his Multi-Firagas. If you're playing with the NC restriction, you'll need to farm Omnis for a SOS Haste/Protect armor, which is needed for the BFA fight. = = = = = = = = = = = City of Dying Dreams = = = = = = = = = = = Not much to say here other than to make sure you pick up the Hp Sphere and Defense Sphere on your way to the big finale. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Braska's Final Aeon Preparation = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _________ EQUIPMENT ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ AURON ONLY (NO OVERDRIVES): Weapon: Masamune (Substitute): Break Damage Limit Zombietouch Zombiestrike Evade & Counter Armor: Auto Haste Auto Potion Stoneproof Zombieproof AURON ONLY NO CUSTOMIZATION (NO OVERDRIVES): Weapon: Masamune Armor: SOS Haste SOS Protect AURON ONLY NO ITEMS (NO OVERDRIVES): Weapon: Waterstrike Evade & Counter (Zombietouch) (Zombiestrike) Armor: Auto Haste Auto Protect Stoneproof Water Eater _____ Stats ¯¯¯¯¯ **Remember if you're playing a No Items game, you do not ever want to increase Auron's Evasion.** Stat: Final value = (OSG stat + value from stat spheres). Hp: 7930 (4630 + 3300) Mp: 273 (153 + 120) Str: 76 (56 + 20) Def: 45 (37 + 8) Mag: 7 MDef: 25 (13 + 12) Acc: 12 (4 + 8) Eva: 19 (15 +4) (Those of you playing NI should not increase Evasion). Agi: 25 (17 + 8) Luck: 33 (17 + 16) STAT SPHERE LOCATIONS HP SPHERES (11): 2 from Lord Ochu in Kilika 1 from the Luca docks 3 from Lightning Dodging 1 from Bevelle Cloisters 1 from chest on Mt. Gagazet 2 from Sin's Left Fin drop 1 from chest in City of Dying Dreams STRENGTH SPHERES (5): 1 from winning Luca Blitz Tourney 3 from Lightning Dodging 1 from Yojimbo's Fayth DEFENSE SPHERES (2): 1 from chest in Kilika's Fayth Chamber 1 from chest in City of Dying Dreams MAGIC DEFENSE SPHERES (3): 1 from chest on Moonflow 1 from chest in Macalania's Fayth Chamber 1 from chest in Djose's Fayth Chamber AGILITY SPHERES (2): 1 from chest in Kilika's Fayth Chamber 1 from Chest in Djose's Fayth Chamber ACCURACY SPHERES (2): 1 from chest in Macalania's Fayth Chamber 1 from chest in Kilika's Fayth Chamber EVASION SPHERES (1): 1 from chest in Besaid's Fayth Chamber LUCK SPHERES (5): 1 from chest in Kilika Woods 1 from chest in Macalania Trials 1 from chest in Zanarkand Ruins 1 from chest in Kilika's Fayth Chamber 1 from Chest in Djose's Fayth Chamber (Of course we can only activate four of them). FORTUNE SPHERES (4): 1 from chest on Mi'ihen Highroad 1 from chest in Cavern of the Stolen Fayth 1 from chest in Zanarkand Ruins 1 from chest on Mt. Gagazet ******************************* BOSS: Braska's Final Aeon - A26 ******************************* Just a few notes about BFA, who is rightfully so the most difficult boss in any Auron only game. This is most likely a refresher course for the majority of you, but I would hate to leave out pertinant information such as this. -All of BFA's physical attacks inflict a weak Delay, this includes Sword Swipe, and the Slap and Push/Punch attacks. -Sword Swipe is only used in the second form (obviously), and deals roughly 3,000 damage, 1,500 if BFA is Power Broken or if Auron is under Protect, ~700 if BFA is Power Broken and Auron is under Protect. It's halved again if you're Defending, but you won't have time to Defend in any of these fights. -Slap deals around 1,000 damage in the first form, and around 1,500 in the second. Once again it can be halved by Protect, and halved again if BFA is Power Broken. -Push deals around 2,200 damage in the first form. -Jecht Beam will deal around 700 damage, and has a 99% chance of inflicting Petrification without protection. -Triumphant Grasp will deal ~1500 damage per hit in the first form, ~2500 per hit in the second form. -Ultimate Jecht Shot will deal roughly 4000 damage to Auron, and is only used late in the second form (< 60,000 Hp). -Power Wave will heal BFA for 1500 and Dispel any negative statuses (Power Break and Zombie). Used on every turn by both of the Yu Pagodas. If BFA is Zombied, PW will damage him for 1500 Hp and then Dispel the Zombie status. One last thing, Overdrives aren't optimal for any strategy against BFA, as Auron can deal plenty of damage with his Masamune without worrying about the delay his Overdrives present. I won't be mentioning Overdrives in any strat, and while the lack of them has certainly made our journey more difficult, they matter not for our final encounter. Customization allowed strategy: By far the easiest BFA fight of any Auron Only Challenge. Come equipped with the Masamune and our Auto Haste/Zombieproof/Stoneproof/Auto Potion armor. Not much to say about this fight, really. You can choose to either Power Break or Zombie Attack on every turn. Personally, I would recommend Zombie Attack, as it's a Rank 3 action (same as Attack), and it has a 50% chance of inflicting Zombie on BFA, which will stifle Power Wave's healing effects. Auto Potion will take care of any healing you'll need, and Auto Protect will be enough to mitigate the damage dealt by BFA's physicals. No Customization strategy: Let's set the record straight here. Jecht Beam = Game Over 99% of the time. (VG beat BFA in his AONCNO game after surviving a Jecht Beam with the innate 1% resistance...bum, took me more than two dozen attempts). The only positive thing about this fight that we can rely on is that Auron's Masamune will increase our damage output as our Hp lowers, other than that, we don't have much to go on for this one. You'll want to have at least 1600 Hp, before facing off against the second form, as Sword Swipe will mean your doom otherwise. Also, if you're Zombied at the beginning of the second form, you're pretty much screwed if BFA has anywhere near a full OD gauge. No Items strategy: Start the fight with your Masamune equipped. You should be able to get through the first form without the need to heal. Either way, you'll want to switch to your Waterstrike weapons once your Hp drops below 2000 to be on the safe side. Once you make it to the second form, don't take any chances, with Sword Swipe and Triumphant Grasp at his disposal, you'll want to remain fully healed. Keep your Waterstrike weapon equipped, keep your Hp above 5,000 at all times, and if need be, rely on counterattacks to deal damage while healing. You'll get a bit of a break when BFA starts using Ultimate Jecht Shot, as it'll only deal about 4,000 damage to Auron,, instead of the combined 5,000 or so from TG. You'll be topping out at around 6,000 per strike with your Water Eater weapon, it would help to use Zombie attack on all your turns if you didn't add Zombie -touch and -strike to your weapon. A rather simple battle, just be careful with your Hp, keep in mind that with Auto Protect you'll only be healing yourself for about 4,500 per strike, unless it goes critical. Keep at it and you'll see BFA fall eventually. ******************************************************************************* Congratulations! You've just finished one of the most difficult SCC games out there, regardless of what format you chose. Pat yourself on the back, lean back and watch the ending. If you have any issues with this FAQ please feel free to email me at scratchgamer@hotmail.com. I'll accept and read all criticisms, but I would ask that you keep your emails concise and to the point. I won't respond to an email unless you specifically request that I do, or unless I feel it's necessary. I don't intend to be rude, but simple "Thanks for the FAQ!" and emails of that nature most likely will not warrant a response from me. If you would like to see me take on another FAQ project, suggestions are welcome. The FFX Main Board on GameFAQs is a great place to reach me for comments, questions and complaints, as I spend more time there than in my mailbox. Once again, you are to not reproduce this FAQ without my permission. You can certainly use it to your benefit all you want, but if I discover that it has been posted somewhere on the internet without my permission I WILL take legal action. This is my intellectual property, and plagiarism and/or outright theft WILL result in a legal response by me or counsel representing me. = = = = = = = = = = = = = 12.0 - Credits = = = = = = = = = = = = = Thanks to the following people for putting up with me, Tyrant_Wave, Villa_ftw, SoulSpark and Blitz_Ace470. All great members of the FFX board, and great people to just shoot the shit with. Thanks again guys. ^^ Thanks to the other board regulars, as well as the entire challenge community on GameFAQs for making the FFX board a great place to hang out and discuss one of my favorite games of all time. gaverion and voidling as of recently have also been a great help Big thanks to Andy2094 for the No Overdrive strat for Natus, I was racking my brain thinking about how to do it without using an SOS Reflect armor. Andy was also the first to complete the AONCNO challenge, as well as AONC before that, and most recently, AONINO. Thanks to Kotetsu for his input on the AONI format. He got stuck at Lady Y because he increased his Evasion stat, but his posts on the first half of the game were helpful. Shameless mention to myself for being the first to complete AONI. <_< Thanks again to the entire board for putting up with my tardiness. This FAQ should've been released at least two months prior to the initial posting, but I got lazy and also had a long period of time during which I couldn't work on the FAQ at all due to me moving to another residence. Thanks to the following people who've used and commented on my guide while playing their challenges. Manny (BrandonMossFan) Doc MC Of course, who could forget the big man? Thanks to CJayC for running a great site that allows me and people like me to further pursue our love of games.