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What follows is my personal cribsheet for playing Final Fantasy X (North American edition). I haven’t the heart to attempt a full walkthrough, with rejection almost guaranteed anymore. My quibbles with the existing FFX FAQs are tiny, in truth, limited to a few omissions and the choice tidbits being scattered across so many files.
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This is my initial pass at writing this guide. Much of what you’ll find here is taken from memory at the outset—recent memory—and will be verified in later playthroughs. Errors are likely, though hopefully nothing too ghastly. If you spot something, by all means, feel free to offer a correction. |
There be spoilers here, arrrh. This guide is aimed at those who, like myself, have played the game a time or two and only need a few reminders rather than wading through every guide for a tip they once saw.
Seriously, first-timers have one opportunity to play FFX (or any RPG) with a sense of discovery and wonder. Before hurling your controller to the ground, sure, look for tips, but look away the moment you have a clue. Don’t forsake your chance at a little adventure.
Whether you play the original or the Greatest Hits edition matters not to this guide. The diffs are in the packaging (and the black-and-white manual), not the gameplay.
With that said, however, the original edition’s full-motion videos (FMVs) played erratically on my console and at times froze my system entirely. How erratically? When Yuna jumps, the vid stops as she opens her arms; at the pond, the vid cuts out as the music begins—mighty confusing, storywise. Could be a quirk of that copy or my console, or something odd from the disc’s early production run, but I have no such problems with the Greatest Hits disc.
A few things to remember throughout the game.
Many NPCs give you items, but they may not cough over the goods until they’ve had their say. Many of the walkthroughs cover chests found, but few detail every gift-giving NPC. One guide does include a comprehensive Item Checklist, however—Anthony Charles Ambrose’s Secrets/Sidequests FAQ.
And while you have the NPC’s ear, press and see if the NPC has a scout screen. Though the game won’t tip you to scouting until after you’ve left Luca, you can scout NPCs from the very beginning of a new game.
Scouting is part of FFX’s imbedded sports game, blitzball, and NPCs who mention blitzball can invariably be scouted. Even if you normally detest sports games (like yours truly), blitzing can be an enjoyable diversion, and it’s essential for learning Wakka’s overdrives and fully powering up his celestial weapon, World Champion. Treasure hunters can find goodies galore in the blitz arena, too.
Scouting has its own levels and initially all you’ll learn are some basic statistics and, more important, where Free Agents are found for future recruiting. Free Agents may move after storyline milestones, but usually only slightly. For example, Linna, the Al Bhed on the steps at the beginning of the long ice bridge to Macalania Temple, moves to the temple’s steps after you’ve visited Highbridge from the airship.
If you hate blitz, recruiting is especially important for minimizing the hours spent in the sphere pool—bring in the best players and you can quickly rack up the prizes. If you find yourself enjoying the game, however, an entire subculture surrounds blitzball, which may offer a few previously unexplored avenues.
After the in-game tutorial on using overdrives, use Tidus’s overdrive every single time his overdrive meter fills. Tidus is the only party member who learns new overdrives through using any of his existing overdrives—doesn’t matter which one. His last overdrive is without question his most potent, so getting it sooner means having it up your sleeve for unsuspecting early bosses. Remember: Emptying the meter is what counts, not how much damage is done, so don’t ration out his overdrives only for the Big Bad. Not until you have Blitz Ace in your arsenal, at least.
| Overdrive | Total OD Uses |
|---|---|
| Spiral Cut | Default |
| Slice & Dice | 10 |
| Energy Rain | 30 |
| Blitz Ace | 80 |
These numbers are cumulative. For instance, after receiving Slice & Dice you need twenty more overdrive uses (for thirty total) to get Energy Rain. Again, any overdrive use counts—keep Spiral Cutting, if you like.
The one place using overdrives doesn’t count is Fiend Info on the occasional terminal. The terminals are great for filling overdrive gauges, but not for using Swordplay.
In case you missed that, the blue information terminals found in shops and inns include a Fiend Info command in many places, offering mini-tutorials on select tough guys roaming the vicinity. This is a great place to quickly fill up everyone’s overdrive meters, aeons included! Pick the biggest bad listed, preferably one that can take a real pounding, and have at it. Lather, rinse, and repeat.
Take care with Yojimbo, however. The moment his overdrive meter fills, Dismiss him. Otherwise he’ll use his overdrive (and, argh, empty the gauge) on his very next turn.
FFX can be incredibly frustrating. The sheer number of random encounters at times (barely a bar of music cycles, then blam, you’re in another fight) can make you want to scream, but if you don’t take your time you won’t have a fighting chance against the next boss down the road. Getting creamed by a minor boss then running around in circles just to level up sufficiently is not only frustrating, it’s boring—better to get it done little by little. You’ll handle the minor bosses easily, but leave enough of a challenge with the beefier bosses.
Work everyone into those mundane encounters, too. Take out the annoyances, then cycle through all of your party members. Even if they only press to Defend, they’ll get a share of the spoils. Go for the AP, so you can....
Unless you’re playing a “No Sphere Grid” (NSG) challenge, the Sphere Grid is your best friend. Each party member, with one exception, starts on the grid at the beginning of a logical arc, leading them toward their best abilities. Tangents are Legion, however, and the very best abilities may require sidetracking a bit. After filling the grid through to the target or sidetrack, use Friend or Teleport spheres to swap places into another member’s section, then follow that track in reverse.
My own grid strategy, for example, focuses on getting Tidus to Hastega as quickly as possible. Auron usually finishes his section before Tidus gets to Quick Hit and they cross that last expanse together, continuing over to Cura before I send Tidus over to Auron’s section. I have Auron backtrack to Shell and Protect, improving Auron’s weak Magic stat along the way, before taking up Tidus’s section. Here are a few suggestions.
| Character | Target | Sidetrack | Swap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidus | Hastega | Quick Hit | Auron |
| Yuna | Holy | Full-Life | Rikku |
| Auron | Sentinel | Entrust | Tidus |
| Lulu | Flare | Doublecast | Wakka |
| Wakka | Triple Foul | Osmose | Lulu |
| Rikku | Bribe | Copycat | Yuna |
Yes, Kimahri is the exception. He starts out in the circle around Ultima and most of the paths leading outward are blocked, requiring key spheres. So make Kimahri your keymaster. Follow the circle around and have Kimahri use the Lv.1 and Lv.2 Key Spheres as you obtain them. Snag Mug along the way and other nearby abilities, but stick to the circle until every node is activated and all the locks are sprung, excepting the Lv.4 locks around Ultima itself (the combo of Copycat, Doublecast, and Full-Life is a better deal while Lv.4 keys are in short supply).
Kimahri’s circuit is also a good place for using any lavendar spheres you might pick up—central, easily accessible by other party members, with many empty (or soon to be empty) nodes. Keep an eye out, too, because other concentrations of empty nodes are scattered across the grid. Why use multiple Teleport Spheres when one will suffice, yah?
Conserve any White or Black Magic Spheres you gain. Use these yellow spheres to proliferate Holy and Ultima to as many members as possible, using the Magic stat as your guide. Hastega, Copycat, Doublecast, and Auto-Life, too, are worth proliferating, but using Teleport Spheres is more economical.
Special abilities like Cheer and Focus are widely considered among the top must-haves in the game. For example, casting Cheer five times reduces the damage done by foes down to a mere quarter of their usual potency, all by increasing your Defense stat. Cheer likewise increases the damage you inflict in turn by jumping up your Strength stat.
| Special | Increases Party Members’ |
Decreases Enemy’s |
Practical Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheer | Strength, Defense | n/a | Harder physical attacks; receive less physical damage |
| Focus | Magic, Magic Defense | n/a | Harder magical attacks; receive less magical damage |
| Aim | Accuracy | n/a | Fewer misses against elusive enemies: flyers, cactuars, and so on |
| Reflex | Evasion | n/a | Less damage taken; more misses by enemies |
| Luck | Luck | n/a | More critical hits delivered; steal rare items |
| Jinx | n/a | Luck | Enemies deal fewer critical hits |
Get as many stat-affecting Specials on as many party members as you can—and every aeon, too. They’re relatively cheap aeon abilities, give you a means for using up excess red spheres, and can prove a big help when facing Belgemine and Isaaru’s aeon duels.
They target only the current party, though, something to remember when swapping folks out. But against high-AP foes with devastating counterattacks, using these Specials is also a safe way to cycle through party members so everyone benefits, and often it’s far more advantageous than pressing to Defend.
Yes, you heard me right. Unless you’re a blitz fanatic on a recruiting drive, blitzball is best left completely untouched until you can recruit Wakka—especially if you’ll only blitz enough to get Wakka’s celestial weapon, overdrive reels, and the Jupiter Sigil. Blitzing before then allows opponents to level up and since Wakka is one of your best recruiting possibilities early on you don’t want to waste time playing catch-up.
Recruit Wakka your first trip on the airship (after Home and before Bevelle). Save before selecting Play Blitzball the first time. If the League prizes don’t include one of Wakka’s reels, reset, reload, and then check again. Prizes are locked in otherwise. Not such a big deal for Tournament prizes (Tournaments take only three rounds), but for League prizes only using Reset Data defeats needing to play through an entire League.
More storyline blitzball tips follow, but read my Blitzball Tech Primer for more basic info on winning matches. No stat spamming, promise.
I highly recommend Adagio’s walkthrough for the easiest-to-follow steps for each Cloister of Trials. I suspect most other guides copied her work, because one exception exists in most of them.
The exception comes in the Djose cloister. Rather than going up, pushing in the pedestals, going down for the Destruction Sphere, and going up again, just pick up the Destruction Sphere and take it up with you the first time. You can still push in all the pedestals while holding the sphere and save yourself a few steps.
Since you’ve played the game before (and if you haven’t, heh, shame on you for using a guide!), I recommend using a compilation sphere to save yourself the headache of collecting all the primers again. Doing it once is plenty challenging enough. I’ll only point out the “missable” primers as I go along.
Section [07] in enigmaopoeia’s Al Bhed Language Guide provides good details on finding the primers, if you’re determined (or feeling masochistic).
The character wielding equipment with Double AP, Triple AP, or Gillionaire abilities must be in the active party when the fight ends. Just cycling the char through ain’t enough; they need to be standing over the dead bodies to get the goodies.
Not at all comprehensive, a few highlights often overlooked. For a good end-to-end guide that doesn’t simply rush from boss fight to boss fight, I highly recommend Adagio’s walkthrough.
What you’ll no doubt find pitifully light here are boss strategies, since I’ll only make note of strange or unusual aspects. For a thorough guide, I recommend Gestahl’s Boss FAQ. The guide has a propensity for exclamation and numerous holes still, but unlike other boss references, Gestahl presumes your party members are typical for the direct course of gameplay, not über-fighters who’ve maxed out every stat. Quite refreshing.
Sets up the story’s hero and presents several small tutorials.
You can’t move onward until you’ve spoken with both the group of kids and the group of girls. However, you’ll move onward almost immediately thereafter, possibly missing the other conversations. Talk with the girls first, pick a name for Tidus, and then avoid the group of kids until after you’ve spoken with everyone else. You can talk to the girls individually after the group gab (one asks for a date) and the fayth hovers at the back.
Try to chat up the kids trotting past—goodness knows, I’ve never pulled it off.
Also, watch for a lady in pink who runs from group to group. She’ll fork over Potion x2 for promising her a ticket. All but two of the walkthroughs on GameFAQs miss this boon (Adagio doesn’t).
Ignore the urgency conveyed and fight a bunch of ’em. Leveling up early goes a long, long way in most RPGs.
And fight ’em alone to speed up getting Solo overdrive mode. Have Auron escape (press right-arrow) if you can, or just KO him yourself. Likewise, you can work on getting Healer mode by using your potions on Auron (not yourself).
For more on overdrive modes, I recommend Paul Friedman’s Overdrive FAQ.
The first sinspawn in the game has Demi at its disposal, but nothing else. It can’t KO you. And there’s a Save Sphere just past it, too, so don’t bother using up your potions.
And speaking of Save Spheres, a quick refresher. Examining the sphere is all that’s needed to restore HP & MP, even if you press and cancel without choosing any of the sphere’s offerings. I remember my first playthrough and trying to figure that out.
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Several more small tutorials. First clue in a long string of blue markers. Find the chests and the solutions to moving onward. Another staged fight. Introduces swimming and the antiheroes of Spira’s populace, the Al Bhed. Later on, this area is known as Baaj.
When you get control of Tidus, swim over to the right and up a ways is a platform you can climb. Examine the dark-blue marker on one pillar. Gibberish, eh? At the other end of the platform, pick up the chest. Then get back in the water and swim over to the far left side, where you’ll find another set of stairs to climb. Near the top of the stairs is a light blue, er, dot—it’s a sphere, but there are a lot of different kinds of spheres. This one is an Al Bhed Compilation Sphere and examining it lets you port in any Al Bhed Primers you’d already found in other playthroughs. Nifty. Oh, and there’s another chest up here, too. Pick it up before heading back to read the Al Bhed marker on the pillar.
By the by, these markers are clues to pinpointing secret places with the airship’s navigation system. Try figuring them out on your own, if you hadn’t previously. An astounding number of guides presume you can’t be bothered.
When you first fall in the water, don’t immediately swim toward the exit. Instead, take a moment to reacquaint yourself with the location of Lulu’s celestial weapon, Onion Knight. On the overhead map, swim to the bottom of the circular layout and at the very bottom, in the square left of the center line, the camera angle changes to a close-up of an alcove. You’ll need to beat the upcoming boss later on before the ruddy weapon appears, but this is where you’ll find it.
Note what looks like a sunken chest on the left. Getting the weapon actually involves descending further and turning to the right before pressing will trigger the Celestial Mirror (a must-have Key Item) and open the chest.
Also, if you missed the chest on the rockway above, try pressing to climb out of the water. I don’t recall if it’s possible at this point, but it’s worth a shot.
After the Use tutorial during the fight against Klikk, don’t bother using grenades again—well, one against Tros (upcoming) if really pressed, but even that’s rarely needed. Instead, have Rikku spend most of her turns thieving from the fiends and tossing an occasional potion. She can’t hit for diddly-squat at this point, she won’t be around long (nor will anyone learn Steal or Mug for a while yet), and she won’t turn up again until you’re halfway across Spira. Likely, no one else will have learned Use by then, either. Snag the grenades anyway, because you can sell them for good bank and buy things you do need. When you get to Bikanel and Gagazet later, you can stock up on grenades to overflowing again easily enough.
Remember, not being able to steal anything doesn’t mean the fiend’s stocks are exhausted. Random odds determine whether Steal succeeds, so keep at it.
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You learn Rikku’s name and a bit more about the Al Bhed. Some good exposition. Mostly this section is about item and experience farming.
When Tidus must work for his keep, after jumping into the drink swim down the chain to the next screen, then turn right around and return to the prior screen. As soon as the prompts are displayed, press to climb back aboard the ship. Talk to the guy standing nearest the Save Sphere and he’ll give you Potion x3...again. Talk to Rikku to jump back into the water and repeat ad nauseam.
And when you’re fully stocked on potions, continue thieving from the piranha-buggers until your grenade supplies are topped off as well. Get everything done before going inside and triggering Tros; after that, your time here is pretty much done.
You’re introduced to Trigger commands. Make good use of the Stand By trigger and save a potion or two, before employing the Pincer move. Again, have Rikku steal like crazy and don’t bother with Use unless you’re really pressed.
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Welcome to the mainland of Spira. Well, the beginning of the contiguous world, at least.
After the full-motion video (FMV), stay in the water and swim to the right. Around the headland, go ashore and open the chest for the Moon Crest, a Key Item that later on powers up Yuna’s celestial weapon, Nirvana.
Avoid Wakka until you’ve spoken with everyone else (multiple times, remember?) and fully explored the beach (aye, there’s a chest).
When Wakka pushes Tidus off the cliff is the only time in the game you can explore Besaid’s lagoon, so make the best of it and find all three chests underwater before following the red indicator anywhere near the exit—the segue triggers early, about halfway across the final pool. This is also the last chance to level up for a while, so fight the piranhas until you can take out groups in one shot (not always practical, but usually a good measure of “enough”).
After the last event on your first visit to Besaid, you’re dumped outside the village to make your way toward the dock. Instead, turn around and enter the village again. Visit the shop (first hut on the left) and speak with the shopkeeper. Whether you buy something or not, when you’re finished she mentions that her dog found something. Find the dog in the weaver’s hut (last hut on the right), talk with the beast, and the mutt drops something slobbery in your mitts—Valefor’s Energy Blast overdrive, which is considerably more robust than Energy Ray.
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This guide is still in a state of active development and subject to rapid change. If you don’t see your favorite tip—or the one thing you’re always forgetting—feel free to pass it along, but remember I simply may not have gotten that far just yet. Even so, if your way is better than mine, all due credit will be afforded you.
Visitors (since Wednesday, February 14, 2007):
Established: Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Last modified: Friday, May 18, 2007
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| Copyright © 2007, Falconesque |