Okay, so welcome to the walkthrough for the main game itself. Now, it is possible to get all the achievements in one play-through, but I also have written a 'Contrived Finish' play-through on a separate page for those who want to focus on that one achievement separately. Now, Final Fantasy VIII has some notable differences from other games in the series. The first is a lack of equipable armour and accessories, and a novel weapon system whereby you can only get new items by going to a Junk Shop, and then paying the shop keeper to forge your new weapon, but only if you have the requisite component parts. Second, there is the new Junction system. You don't learn magic, you acquire it by using the Draw command, either on enemies, or from Draw Points. You can then 'junction' magic to various stats, assuming you have the right abilities equipped. Third, the summon monsters in this game, Guardian Forces of GFs, must be equipped to party members, and are essentially required to utilise the junction system. GFs learn abilities, and the party member they are equipped to can, in turn, equip some of these abilities.
Now, after the epic introductory cinematic where the main character, Squall, faces off against his main rival, Seifer, in an epic 'Duel of the Fates' duel, you will find yourself in the infirmary. Despite being a 'training exercise', Seifer left you with a scar on your face (although you were able to score a similar scar on Seifer in retaliation). Squall will see (or hallucinate) a girl in blue, who promptly vanishes, and Squall is chided, first by Doctor Kadowaki, and then by his instructor, Quistis. After being lectured, you will then leave the infirmary where Squall will take a walk with Quistis.
You will then end up in the 1st floor classroom, and Quistis will talk about the upcoming SeeD Field Exam. Once the class is over, speak to Quistis who will ask if Squall has met the requirements for entrance in the Field Exam. Turns out, you need to go to the nearby fire cavern and fight the GF there. Speaking of which, if you head back to Squall's desk and use the computer, you will obtain your first two GFs, Quezacotl and Shiva, netting you the following two achievements:
Yeah, it should be spelled Quetzalcoatl, but that would exceed the character limit. Now, when you get to the corridor just before the elevator leading back down, if you talk to the guy sat down on the floor, he will give you a few cards. I'm not going to lie, the Triple Triad card game in FFVIII is super addictive. Whilst there are achievements for it in the Steam version, getting all the Cards and completing the various card-related side quests will net you some serious endgame rewards.
Anyway, head to the gate of Balamb Garden to meet up with Quistis, exit to the world map and head on over to the Fire Cavern. Note that if, for whatever reason, you did not grab Shiva and Quezacotl, then you will get them from Quistis here. Now, whilst you might be tempted to choose the maximum time limit, you shouldn't. Why? Because if you are left with a ton of time left over it will lower your score, which will affect your starting SeeD rank later on. If you go with the minimum time limit, it is best to run from all random battles. I'd save outside of the Fire Cavern before attempting just to be sure.
Anyway, you will want to approach the weird-looking Garden faculty dudes stood outside. Talk to them and select a time limit, and then enter. After some awkward dialogue with Quistis, head onwards. Eventually you will get to a long, thin strip of rock surrounded on both sides by lava leading to a circular piece of rock with a hole in the middle, surrounded on all sides by lava. As you approach, Ifrit will emerge from the centre of the stone ring. You guessed it, boss time!
Now, if you have equipped Shiva, then this will be a piece of cake. Just keep summoning Shiva and utilising any other ice attacks you might have to beat Ifrit into submission. Beating Ifrit will net you the following achievement:
You will also get the Ifrit card afterwards, as well. Once done, head back to Balamb Garden. You will need to return to your dorm room and get changed in order to advance the story. Before doing so, there are one or two things to do in Balamb Garden. There is a boy in blue who is running laps around Balamb Garden. He has the MiniMog card, which you can win from him by playing him at cards. Make sure you save before challenging him as well as after beating him. Doing so will also net you the following achievement:
If you visit the library, you will also find Occult Fan I here in one of the bookcases. Once done farting about, head over to dormitory and change clothes. You will then want to head over to the garage, and you'll get in a car and drive to Balamb. The car will automatically take you to the docks where you will have to board what appears to be some kind of catamaran.
Get in, and you will be briefed on the mission as you travel across the sea to Dollet. It seems as if Dollet has been invaded by the Galbadian army, and Dollet has requested help form Garden. Whilst the main fighting is to be done by full SeeD members, cadets will be assigned specific roles for their field exam. Your squad consists of Squall, Zell, and... Seifer? Seriously, whoever decided that these three would work good together can't have thought very well, long, or hard about it. Your squad's mission is simply to secure the town square and stay guard there.
Squall will be asked to go outside, which will trigger a cutscene. You will then end up on Dollet beach. As you progress forward, there will be a save point. Past here, in the next area, will be a couple of mandatory encounters against Galbadian soldiers. The next area after this is the square that your squad needs to secure where there will be some more mandatory battles against Galbadian soldiers. Once you've cleared the square of soldiers, your squad will lollygag for a while, whilst Zell and Seifer put aside their animosity to comment on how bored they both are.
After a minute or so, a conga line of Galbadian soldiers will run through the square and exit to the path to the left. Seifer, in his infinite wisdom as 'squad captain' (again, worst decision ever), decides to disobey orders and abandon the post assigned to your squad, and order you to follow him up to the Communication Tower up on the hill the soldiers were heading to. In the next screen, you will see a wounded Dollet soldier who will start to get dragged off screen, prompting a scripted battle against an Anacondaur. Whilst not hard, it does have considerably more HP than the Galbadian soldiers you've been fighting so far.
After the battle, the Dollet soldier you saved will be lying on the side, to the right. Continue up and across the bridge for some more scripted battles against Galbadian soldiers. You'd think adult members of a standing army would be a harder challenge for teenage military cadets, but these guys go down so easily. In the next screen, Seifer will run off, and you will be interrupted by the arrival of Selphie, the girl Squall showed around at the beginning of the game.
She will jump off of the cliff after Seifer. Now, whilst you might be tempted to leap off the cliff after her, doing so will lower your overall score for the SeeD exam when you return to Balamb Garden. Head to the Communications Tower, and take the lift up. You will interrupt two squabbling soldiers, Biggs and Wedge, who will eventually decide to fight you. Both are pretty easy, but make sure to keep your HP up as you will be interrupted by Elvoret, which promptly blows Biggs and Wedge away. This is the real boss fight.
Before doing anything, make sure to draw Siren from Elvoret. The only other place in the game you can draw Siren is right at the end of the game, on the Disc 4 portion of the game, in Ultimecia's Castle. Elvoret is also a good source of Cure spells to stock up with. After the fight, you will get to name the new GF you just acquired and get the following achievement:
Selphie will then casually inform you that the retreat order has been given and you only have 30 minutes to get back to the beach. Of course, as you leave the communications tower, Biggs will activate and send X-ATM092, aka 'The Black Widow', after you. Now, it IS possible to defeat X-ATM092, but it is long, tedious, and not really worth it. For one thing, you miss out on easily one of the greatest video game FMVs of all time, i.e. Quistis blasting the machine to pieces with a machine gun turret. Secondly, whilst there is a bonus for defeating X-ATM092, you will get points taken off for taking too long.
In order to defeat X-ATM092, you have to fight it until it collapses, and then escape the initial battle. During the initial battle, it can regenerate itself an infinite amount of times. However, after the initial battle against X-ATM092, if it catches up with you and you engage it in battle once more, the number of times of it can regenerate is limited to 5 in a single battle. If you plan on defeating X-ATM092, it is best to wait until you are in the town proper, since you are closer to the beach and, upon defeating X-ATM092, random battles against G-Soldiers will start.
Whilst not difficult, the repeated encounters will slow your party down. Other things to take note of is that there are certain things that can affect your final SeeD report. When you return to the square your team was tasked to guard, there will be a dog there. Shooing it out of the path of the robot will get you positive points, whereas failing to do so will get points taken off. The same applies to hiding in the Dollet Pub; hiding in the pub gets points taken off (and also skips the aforementioned cutscene), whereas not hiding in the pub will get you positive points.
Upon returning to Balamb, Seifer will, of course, take off in the car without you. Don't be too bummed, though, since you can use the time to explore the town. First, head to Zell's house, which is the lower of the two houses on the right-hand side of the main street leading into Balamb, to the left of the Hotel. If you challenge Ma Dincht with Zell in the party, you can win the Zell card from her. Make sure to save before challenging her and after winning the card. If you head to the left after exiting the Dinchts' and go to the next screen, you will find the Queen of Cards, who, if I'm honest, looks vaguely similar to Aeris from FFVII.
The Queen of Cards is central to the one of the main card-related achievements. You see, there are a number of rare cards that can only be obtained if you have lost a specific rare card to the Queen of Cards (don't worry, you can win them back later). Whilst this might sound easy, you will have to repeatedly save and reload in order to get the Queen of Cards to where you will need her to go. Whenever you win a rare card from the Queen of Cards or lose a rare card to her, she will move to another location. To make things easier, you will want her to move between Balamb and Dollet.
The reason for this is because, in order to obtain the rare cards from this side-quest, you have to find her in Dollet and speak to her. Ask her about her artist father, who will use the card you lost to his daughter as inspiration in creating a new. You can then win your old card back by playing cards with the Queen of Card's son. You will then have to find and play a specific person to win the newly created card. Now, here, in Balamb, you will want to lose the MiniMog card to her. Save before challenging her, since you will need her to say she is going to Dollet to make things easier. Just quit and reload until you lose said card to her and she says she is going to Dollet. Losing MiniMog to the Queen of Cards will net you the following achievement:
You won't be able to visit Dollet any time soon, so head back to Garden once you're done faffing about. Although make sure to grab the Timber Maniacs magazine lying on the ground in the train station proper. Back at Garden, you will find Quistis, Xu, and Headmaster Cid. After talking to them, head right to the area leading to the library where you should find Seifer moping about. After talking to Seifer, head back and use the elevator to up to the 2nd floor, and then go to the hallway in front of the classroom. After some time, a Garden faculty member will appear and announce those who passed the SeeD exam. You will then be taken to Headmaster Cid's office where he will congratulate you all. After he is done talking, you can speak to him to receive the Battle Meter.
After you head down, you will then go through a bunch of FMVs, talking, and all that stuff. Quistis will ask Squall to meet her at the Training Centre. Head back to your Dormitory to change first, and then head to the Training Centre. Speak to Quistis, and she will briefly mention that the T-Rexaur monster should be avoided, since it particularly tough to beat. Although there is a trick to beating it, involving junctioning Sleep magic to your attacks via Siren's ST-Atk-J ability in order to put the monster to sleep every time you attack.
It does not matter which path you take, as both will lead to the same area at the end leading to the 'secret area'. Quistis will ramble on about quitting being an instructor given Seifer's repeated failures, and Squall will... just be Squall and offer little to no condolences whatsoever. Afterwards, as you head back through the Training Centre, you will come across the mysterious girl from the beginning of the game who is under attack from monsters. You will then enter a scripted battle against a Granaldo and three Raldos.
Not a particularly difficult fight. Even if you don't use any fancy tactics, it does not take long to beat these guys. If you want to stock up on magic, cast Sleep if you have any on Granaldo. The Raldos won't attack on their own unless you kill the Granaldo, so take the time to use Draw to stock up on any magic. Kill the three Raldos, and then finish up on the Granaldo. Once the fight is over, the mysterious girl will be escorted away by some guys in white uniforms, leaving you to ponder the significance of such an occurrence.
Head back to the dormitories and you will find Zell, who informs Squall that, as actual members of SeeD, you have new digs. It's an upgrade from Squall's old room. Plus, if you check the desk you will find an issue of Weapons Monthly, the April edition. Head to the front gate where headmaster Cid awaits. Zell will show up late and get his hoverboard confiscated in the process. Anyway, Cid will task the group with their first official mission as full members of SeeD. You are to head to Timber where you will be assisting the Timber Owls, a resistance faction opposed to Galbadian rule and fighting for Timber's independence. One of the Garden Faculty members will tell you the response to the code phrase when you meet the resistance members.
Now that you are an actual SeeD, you will now start getting paid an actual salary. So, at some point, sooner or later, you will get your first pay cheque, which will get you the following achievements:
Before leaving, Cid will give Squall an item called 'Magic Lamp'. This lamp contains a powerful Guardian Force, Diablos, and so you should probably hold off using it until you are stronger, since Diablos can destroy your party at this stage in the game. Whenever you feel you are ready, save your game first, and then open the menu, find the Magic Lamp in the item and select it to use it. Doing so will initiate a battle against aforementioned GF. Defeating Diablos will net you the following achievement:
You can challenge him at any point during the game, although once he is your GF, he does have some decent abilities, so don't wait too long if you want to make full use of him as a GF. However, before leaving for the train station in Balamb, there are some cards to be played in Balamb Garden. First, there are two more rare cards to be won: Cid has the Seifer card, and one of the 'Trepies' has the Quistis card. Specifically. Trepie Groupie #1, who can be found in the Cafeteria. Secondly, this is a good point to get in some games, win cards and all that. Mostly so you can build your deck, but also because certain cards will be very useful later on in the game.
Two cards in particular are very useful in sufficient quantities: Malboro and Elnoyle. Elnoyle cards can later be card modded into Pulse Ammo, which are required for Squall's ultimate weapon, and Malboro cards can later be card modded into Malboro tentacles, and is a far easier way of obtaining them than actually fighting Malboros. This is also the best way to get these items if you're doing a no-leveling run. Once you feel you've developed an adequate deck of Triple Triad playing cards, head back to Balamb and head on over to the train station.
At the train station, you will need to purchase a train ticket for 3,000 gil (I know, I thought South West Trains were steep!) Once on board, you will eventually open up the door to the train car and you will then head to the SeeD car. Here you will find an issue of Pet Pal, Vol. 1, which Zell should pick up automatically. As Squall sits in sullen silence, Selfie wanders in from the corridor saying she is sleepy. However, all 3 of the party will suddenly fall asleep instantly, on the spot.
You will then be transported to another place, where the party are observing the actions of another party: Laguna, Kiros, and Ward. As the player you will control Laguna and company whilst Squall's disembodied thoughts will make commentary on the events being witnessed. The Laguna Dream Sequences are some of the best parts of the game, and whilst they will make no sense for awhile (if this is your first playing), they will by the end of the game. Or, at least, they should make sense to you by then if you pay attention to the dialogue, etc.
Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are soldiers in the Galbadian Army and appear to be in the forests surrounding Timber during the Galbadian invasion and conquest of Timber. So, it's a flashback. Again, the events witnessed during these sequences all tie into the main plot, but that won't become apparent until the endgame. However, despite being Galbadian soldiers, they come across more like the Three Stooges. Anyway, Laguna is apparently the squad leader and has apparently gotten his unit lost.
This first Laguna-Dream Sequence isn't particularly hard. All you have to do is head forward through the forest until you reach an armoured car, which will then take you to the Galbadian capital city, Deling City. Once in Deling City, Laguna will leave the Armoured Car parked in the middle of the street, stylishly showcasing his parking masterclass skills. The corollary is that this will stop traffic, allowing you to casually saunter down the streets of Deling City without having to worry about traffic.
Head east and go into the Galbadian hotel. After a bunch of faffing about and talking to Kiros and Ward, head back to the lobby and speak to the concierge and he will direct you to the room of the Pianist, Julia. Eventually, after even more faffing about, the scene will shift back to Squall, et al., back on the train in the present. Upon reaching Timber, you will be greeted by a person who issues the code phrase: "Oh, the forest of Timber sure has changed!" You need to select the following response: "But the Owls are still around."
You can follow your contact to the train headquarters of the Timber Owls, where you will meet Zone and Watts. They will then ask you to go and wake up their 'princess'. If you challenge Watts to a card game, you can win the Angelo card here. To find their 'princess', head all the way to the train car at the back and enter the room to find Rinoa, who was the girl who danced with Squall at the graduation ceremony. You should also find a copy of Pet Pals Vol. 2 in this room.
Now, just for those who do not know, acquiring new volumes of Pet Pals is how you can acquire new limit breaks for Rinoa to teach her pet dog, Angelo. You go into the menu and select Rinoa, and at her limit break screen you can select which limit break you want Angelo to learn. Once you have walked a sufficient number of steps, Angelo will have learned that ability.
Anyway, with Rinoa in tow, walk back to where you left the others and you will head into the planning room. I'm not going to lie, this is one of the best sequences of this game. It just really makes you feel like you're actually controlling a squad of elite mercenaries for hire, and has a somewhat Mission Impossible vibe to it. Rinoa, Zone, and Watts will go over their mission plan with Squall, Zell, and Selphie. Vinzer Deling, president of Galbadia, will be visiting Timber via train. The Timber Owls want to use this opportunity to abduct Deling.
Essentially, the plan is to catch up to the president's train, where Squall, et al., will jump across and go across the roof of the second escort car at the rear of the president's rain. The next step will be to uncouple the president's car from the first escort car in front. The Timber Owls train, will then speed up and change to lines to get in front of the president's car. They will have a fake, dummy car attached to the front of their train, which will connect on to the first escort car. The real president's car will then connect to the Timber Owl's train.
Once this has been done, you will detach from the dummy car, and then detach the 2nd escort car before rapidly switching tracks so you can escape with the president's car, whilst the 2nd escort car attaches to the dummy car. There are essentially two gameplay components for you to worry about: getting across the roof of the 2nd escort car without being detected, and inputting the codes to detach the cars without being detected.
The guards in the 2nd escort car will have sensors that detect heat and motion. You can either do the whole stop and go routine of standing still as the motion sensor guard walks by and running like hell when the thermal sensor guards walk by, but if you wait at the beginning, at some point their sensors will stop working, which they will helpfully announce, allowing you to sprint across like a gazelle without detection.
Now, the codes for disconnecting the train cars are randomised, so make sure you know what you have the controls mapped to. For the first car you disconnect, Zell and Selphie will be on lookout and will announce when the guards are on their way back down the carriage. When they announce a guard is on his way back, jump back up to avoid being detected. For the first car, there are only 3 codes. The second car you have to disconnect, Zell and Selphie are busy elsewhere, so you will have to keep an eye on the guards yourself. Moreover, there will be 5 codes to disconnect this car.
If done right, you will make off with the president's car, leaving the dummy car in its place on the original train. If you did it without failing or being detected, etc., you will gain a SeeD rank. Anyway, once the operation is complete, you will head inside the president's car along with Rinoa to confront president Deling. However, it turns out to be a fake... a body double, so to speak. Moreover, it seems as if this fake is not entirely human, either, since, after you defeat him, he will morph into the hideous Gerogero.
This boss is undead, so is vulnerable to the usual one-hit KO exploits (phoenix down, etc.) However, I've never found it necessary to rely on that since he is generally quite weak. If you do decide to try and one-shot him, just remember that Phoenix Down's sometimes fail. X-Potions and Elixirs always hit, but they are harder to obtain, so just spam Phoenix Downs and he will go down once one of them connects. After the battle, there will be a debriefing of sorts in the strategy room. Essentially, the plan is to storm the TV Station President Deling will be delivering his message and deliver your own message.
Before trying to locate the TV station, I advise to first explore Timber, especially since there are certain items and collectibles to be found. You can purchase two editions of Pet Pals from the Pet Shop in the train station (Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 specifically). There is also a Timber Maniacs lying around in Timber Maniacs office, as well as a copy of "Girl Next Door", a 'naughty magazine' that will come in use later. The copy of Timber Maniacs is in the Artist's Office of the Timber Maniacs office building, and the copy of "Girl Next Door" can be found in a magazine stack in the lobby area. This item is required for a rare card later on. Moreover, you are going to want to make sure you have picked up Galbadia rules here for Triple Triad. You can do this by challenging Watts, or by challenging one of the Dollet guards near the hotel. Make sure every time they ask you if you want to mix rules you select NO.
To get to the TV station, you need to first get through the pub. On the way in, you will find some Galbadian soldiers guffawing about robbing a drunk guy. You will automatically enter a fight with them. Upon defeating them, you will receive the cards that they stole. Now, inside the pub, you will find the drunk guy leaning against the door leading to the TV Station. To get him to move, you either need to buy him a drink, or offer to return the stolen cards. I recommend the latter option, since he lets you keep them. If you want to get him a drink, he'll only accept a Reagan. Go through the back door and you will arrive in an alley leading to the TV Station.
Ascend the stairs and President Deling will start his broadcast, announcing that he plans on making someone known as 'The Sorceress' Galbadia's peace ambassador. Also, it turns out that Seifer broke out of disciplinary at Balamb and has stormed the TV Station. When you arrive, Seifer is holding President Deling hostage. Unfortunately, Zell inadvertently reveals that they are all from Garden. Seifer then attempts to retreat but is intercepted by aforementioned Sorceress who recruits him as her Knight, before disappearing through some kind of portal. After running away, the group then decides that the best course of action is to head to Galbadia Garden.
Head to the train station, and you will get on board after bidding farewell to Zone and Watts. Now, you will disembark and at some point you will arrive at East Academy Station. This is where you need to get off. To find the way to Galbadia Garden, simply head to the nearby forest with the red rock formations on either side. However, before you head off to Galbadia Garden, you are going to want to head to Dollet first. To get to Dollet, head east, following the road and railway tracks. The first thing you will want to do is to abolish the random rule. To do this, head to the Dollet hotel, located in the middle of the Town Square.
Inside, there will be a save point. Save your game here. Now, you are going to want to do a hard reset. The reason for this is because this will reset the random number generator (RNG). A soft reset will not reset it. A soft reset is pushing the buttons equivalent to the L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 + Select + Start. A hard reset is basically fully closing the game application and then relaunching it. Reload your save, and immediately exit the hotel. Once done, re-enter the hotel and challenge the girl in green to a game of Triple Triad twice, but decline to play both times. Challenge her for a third time and accept the card game, but then quit once the Triple Triad screen has loaded. One of either two things will occur here. You will either spread the Open rule or abolish the Random rule. If you spread the Open rule, simply repeat these steps one more time.
Now, at this point, make sure Siren has learned the Move-Find ability, and that said ability is currently equipped. Head over to the pub, and go to the second floor to find the Queen of Cards. If you have Move-Find equipped, you will be able to see and use the Save Point at the top of the stairs. Save your game, and then challenge the pub owner to a card game. Once he has been defeated, he will invite you to a secret back room reserved for the best card players. Once in the secret room, challenge him again, and you should be able to win the Siren card from him. Note, also, that the three piles of magazines contain random items. You may have to back out and back in the private room a bunch of times, but one of them will get you Occult Fan II. If you challenge the pub owner again in this secret room, you are able to win the Siren card from him.
To get the MiniMog card back that you lost earlier, walk back into the second floor and speak to the Queen of Cards and ask about her artist father, and she will tell you that she gave said card to her son. There is a street to the south with a dog. On this street you can find the house with the Queen of Cards' father and son in it. Challenge the son and win your MiniMog card back. Examine the painting before leaving and return to the town square again. 'Talk' to the dog, and you should find a bone. However, when you look, you will receive a potion. Once this is all done, save, and challenge the Queen of Cards. Lose the Sacred card to her, and then make sure she goes back to Balamb. Just keep reloading your save until she says she is going to Balamb.
Head back to East Academy station and go through the aforementioned forest. As you enter, most of the group will mysteriously fall asleep again. This time, Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are stationed out in Centra, dealing with Esthar soldiers in some kind of excavation site. There are a number of scripted battles here in addition to the usual random encounters. Moreover, this area is particularly labyrinthine, so it can be easy to get lost.
If you go straight down, you should reach the entrance of the excavation site. You'll know it when you see it, as they will be two paths: one going straight ahead and one branching off to the right. Head straight, and you'll reach another area with multiple paths (this time there's 3). Once again, head down the straight path (the middle road). You will reach a ladder, so take it down. Now, there should be a glowing sign thing in this next area. If you inspect it, you should find an Old Key. Pick it up. Whilst Laguna will lose it, this is for something later on.
If you continue, you should then reach a room with three hatches. If you inspect them, you have the option of tampering with them. Leave the first and third alone, but, instead, flip the switch on the second hatch. Continue onwards, and you should reach an area with big metal rings and support beams. If you inspect said rings and support beams, then you should find another Old Key (which Laguna will lose too). Continue until you reach a screen with a switch lying in the middle of the screen. This is a detonator, and which option you choose will have consequences later on in the game. Press the red switch first, and then the blue switch second.
After this, head up the stairs, past the room with the boulder in it (this boulder will have a cure draw point hidden in it), and you will reach a save point. Head up the stairs and you will reach a cliff. Unfortunately, you will be surrounded by Esthar soldiers. You will enter a scripted battle against multiple waves of enemies, culminating in a fight against an Esthar Guard whose final move is Soul Crush. This will reduce Kiros and Ward's HP to 1 each. What is important to remember is that once the dream sequence is over, Selfie and Quistis will also be at 1 HP as well, so heal up! After you wake up, exit the forest and Galbadia Garden should be just ahead and to the left.
Once you enter Galbadia Garden, Quistis will immediately bugger off somewhere. Well, then. Anyway, so if you continue all the way to the end into the building, there will be a somewhat hidden draw point in the middle of the room for haste. Continue straight across to the north-west corner, and through into a corridor. Take the stairs on the right up to the second floor. Once at the top, enter through the door at the bottom of the screen. Speak to everyone at least once, and Quistis should enter. Once you regain control of Squall, run back down the stairs, and back into the main room and Squall will be interrupted by Raijin and Fujin. Exit the south-east corner, and you will receive your new assignment: to assassinate the Sorceress.
Moreover, you will be assigned elite sharpshooter, Irvine Kinneas, to assist you in this endeavor. Leave Galbadia Garden, and you should be able to take the train to Deling City from the nearby train station. Once at Deling City, take the escalator up to the actual city itself. First thing to do is head on over to the Galbadia Hotel and stay the night. Once you wake up, if you inspect in between the two beds, then you will find an issue of Timber Maniacs. After leaving the hotel, walk down the street to the next screen. This area should contain a weapons shop. Directly opposite, there should be a man in black. Challenge him to a game cards, and you should now be able to win the Kiros card from him.
You will now want to head over to Carraway's mansion, which may take you awhile to find, given how maze-like Deling City can be. However, you will be unable to enter. Speak to the guard, and he will inform you that you have to perform some task before Carraway will grant you with an audience. Odd, given he is supposed to be the contact for this mission, but okay. The task in question is to head to the Tomb of the Unknown King and retrieve a student ID from a student who never returned from there. So, this guy sent a kid to this place, who presumably died, and no you want to send some more kids to retrieve prior kid's ID? Were Indiana Jones and Lara Croft both unavailable or something?
Anyway, if you speak to the guard, he should offer to take you to the edge of the city. Exit to the main map, and head north from Deling City to the coast, and follow it east until you reach a rocky outcropping. This is the Tomb of the Unknown King. As you enter, you will see a group of three students apparently running for their lives, who will all quickly hightail it out of the map. Okay. Anyway, once you enter the tomb proper, you should find the ID tag right in the entrance. The number is different each time and randomly generated, so you can't just cheese this part.
However, your trip isn't over just yet, as there is an optional boss fight! Head forward past the entrance and you should reach a crossroads. Now, the main thing which makes navigating this difficult, is that the perspective isn't always from the characters' point of view, and so if your sense of direction isn't great, it is remarkably easy to get lost. Of course, the corollary to this is that this place is basically a big circle... well, kind of. Geometrically, it is a bunch of squares, but it all loops round. The trick for this first part is to always head to Squall's right.
You should first arrive in a room with a mysterious statue located inside of it. Approach and talk to the statue, and it quickly comes to life and challenges you to a fight. But, of course! This is Sacred, and he loves earth based attacks. Of course, he doesn't take much to beat, and will run away to tell his 'big bro' about it. Okay. Leave this room, and then take right turns until you reach another room. There should be a chain in front of you. Walk up to and interactive with it, and you should be able to undo it, causing the water it was holding back to start pouring into the thing in the ground. Exit the room and head right continuously again until you reach another room.
In this third and final room, there should be a series of cogs. Inspect them, and they should start turning. Exit the room and take every right to exit the tomb proper, and use the opportunity to save your game. Re-enter the tomb and, this time, head all the way straight forwards without stopping and you will reach the Unknown King's actual tomb. Here you will find Sacred once more, this time accompanied by his 'big bro', Minotaur. Do not be fooled by his small stature, as he is tougher than his brother, and you will fight both at once this time. Defeating them will get you the Brothers GF, and net you the following achievement:
Best way to beat them is to cast float on them, as this will prevent them from getting healed by the ground. Once defeated, the ghost of the King will appear and thank you. You should get two cards: here: Sacred and Minotaur. One from the boss fight, and one from the Unknown King's ghost. Head back the way you came and return to Carraway's mansion. Now, when entering the Student ID number, it is important to know that you have to input each digit separately. Ones, tens, then hundreds. So, if the student ID is 236, you will have to select, 6, then 3, and then 2. Anyway, when the guard finally lets you inside, you will end up talking to General Carraway, who will walk you through the plan of attack/action plan.
After some blabbing, Carraway will take you on a 'tour' of the areas of Deling City critical for the success of the mission. Essentially, Galbadia will be throwing a parade in honour of the Sorceress. The route will have a large mobile platform carrying the Sorceress herself around the city, but will then loop around and come through this central archway. There will be two teams: the sniper team, and the arch team. The sniper team consists of Irvine and Squall. Their job is simple. Make their way to the top of the clock tower on top of the Presidential Residence. Inside the clock tower, they will find a sniper rifle waiting. At the exact time the parade arrives through the archway, directly across from the clock tower, a mechanism will activate, bringing the compartment with the sniper team outside. Irvine is to snipe the Sorceress. Squall and friend are to assist Irvine in getting in position and then making a clean getaway.
The arch team wait inside the archway, with Quistis being team leader, joined by Selphie and Zell. Once the Sorceress' mobile platform is going through, they are to activate the two gates in front and at the back of the arch, trapping the Sorceress' mobile platform, and making them a sitting duck, wide open for Irvine's shot. There is an escape hatch in the archway leading to the sewers, allowing the archway team to escape. Man, this is some proper Mission Impossible stuff, right here! Anyway, once back at Carraway's mansion, you can commence the mission. Of course, as it turns out, Rinoa is General Carraway's daughter? Rinoa, Timber resistance leader is the daughter of a Galbadian general, who is not only apparently okay with this, but is helping a paramilitary organisation assassinate his own nation's ambassador? This went from Mission Impossible to Metal Gear Solid real quick.
What's even worse is that General Carraway sees fit to place Rinoa under house arrest whilst the SeeD teams are out and about. She tries to offer help, but it shot down pretty quickly by Quistis... who then feels bad about berating Rinoa and so goes back to apologise. Only for Quistis, et al., to get trapped whilst Rinoa is able to sneak out before the mansion's automated lockdown system engaged. Really, Quistis? You will then regain control of Rinoa... whose plan is to sneak into the Presidential Residence, and give the Sorceress a magic-suppressing bracelet under the pretence of it being a gift... because Rinoa is the daughter of a Galbadian general and all that nonsense.
Once you have control of Rinoa, before climbing up to get to the roof of the Presidential Residence, if you inspect the manhole cover, you should have the option of going down there. The reason to pay the sewers a visit is because there is a Weapons Monthly, May Issue to be had! Go back up, and then climb up the boxes, etc. to get to the top of the building, and allow you entrance. Unfortunately for Rinoa, the sorceress sees right through her plan and places Rinoa in some kind of magic induced daze. Well done, Rinoa.
You will then gain control of Quistis, who has to figure out how to escape the mansion and get over to the archway. Essentially, there is a secret passage behind the statue. If you find and pick up a glass, you can place it in the hands of the statue. The arms will lower slightly, and then the statue will slide into the wall revealing the secret passage. Go down the stairs, and you will then enter the sewers via a ladder. In order to navigate the maze-like tunnels, you will be required to hop onto some of the water wheels to continue. So, run over to the water wheel and inspect it to ride it, so your characters can make it to an otherwise inaccessible portion of the tunnel they are currently in.
Second, there will be doors essentially hidden, as they are plush with the metal bars. If you inspect the bars directly north from where your characters land, one such door open. As you walk up the next tunnel, the parade will start, and there will be a brief cinematic. The Sorceress basically refers to the citizens disparagingly as mindless automatons and then kills President Deling right in front of everybody, casually tossing his body aside. Not going to lie, that is a real Darth Vader power move. Hard to not to respect that.
However, once her 'speech' is over, she will bring a pair of statues of life, intending to finish the night "with a sacrifice", by having them kill Rinoa. Once this has finished, you will then be in control of Squall. Make sure that Squall and Irvine both have a fairly decent set-up, as there is going to be a string of boss fights up ahead. If, for whatever reason, you did not grab the issue of Weapons Monthly with Rinoa, you have another opportunity to obtain it here. Anyway, if you climb the boxes up to the top of the Presidential Residence. Head inside, and you will initiate a boss fight against the two Iguions. If you use your draw ability, you will have the opportunity to obtain Carbuncle from them, thus netting you the following achievement:
Afterwards, Rinoa will join the party, so take the time to make sure she is properly set up as well. Head back into the hallway and examine the panel on the floor. This will let you inside the clock mechanism. Inspect the rifle on the ground, and, after much blabbing, you will then regain control over Quistis and Company. From here, if you proceed forward along the west wall, you should find a gate you can open. In the next area, there will be a ladder. If you inspect it, it will fall over, allowing you to access the Esuna draw point on the other side. If you do so, you will have to back track to your starting position.
Either way, the way forward is directly ahead of you when you enter the area. In the next area, follow the path around and go up. Once in the next area, keep going up to the next area and then head right. Open the door in the upper-right, and head right into the next area. You can then ride the two water wheels in this area, head down into another area, and then ride the water wheel on the right side. Go down again, head through the door, go over the wheel, go through another door and head right. There will be another ladder in the next area that you can knock down.
This essentially allows you to go across to the ladder that leads back up to the mansion, so just ignore it. Head right, over the wheel, and then head up twice until you reach the end of the sewers. Save your game here. Head up the ladder. Unfortunately, Quistis & Co., will get off halfway to have a good blab. That's right. You've been assigned to a high priority assassination mission to prevent the Sorceress from leading Galbadia to conquer the world and/or whatever other nefarious schemes she has planned. You've already ballsed up once, by accidentally getting locked in the mansion of your informant. Against all odds, you found a secret passage leading into a series of tunnels in the sewer below that just so happened to lead to where you need to go. And now, with the midnight hour fast approaching, you're stopping to have a chat?
Ugh. Anyway, once they've quite finished faffing about, you can get back on the ladder and climb up to the control room. As you stare out the window and a cinematic starts, go and press the switch to trap the Sorceress. You then switch back to Squall. Unfortunately, Irvine, despite being the designated sharpshooter and thus the only one who can pull off the shot, is getting cold feet and freaking out about murdering a tyrannical sorceress in cold blood. Squall eventually talks him back into doing the job he was assigned to do, and then the carousel pops out, giving you a clear line of sight to the Sorceress.
Irvine lines up shot, and nails the Sorceress clean between the eyes. That's it, the game's over! You can go home! No, just kidding. Of course it's not going to be that easy. Whilst the shot is indeed bang on target, the Sorceress must have somehow sensed her impending doom and promptly summoned an impenetrable magical shield to deflect the bullet the second it was fired. Well, it was either prescience or extreme luck. Well, that's it, I suppose. Nothing for it but to surrender. No, of course not! There is, of course, a plan B. Which basically entails Squall rushing the Sorceress' location head on and take her out via close quarters combat.
Squall basically just leaps from the top of the Clock Tower and breaks his fall by landing sword first on a Galbadian soldier. Apparently, Squall is the Master Chief, now. He will then charge the Sorceress' platform where he runs into a familiar face. Remember Seifer? Well, apparently he's gone over to the dark side, and is now working as the Sorceress' enforcer. So, basically, the Sorceress is the emperor, and Seifer is Darth Vader... well, he's more like Kylo Ren, as he's kind of too wimpy to be Vader. Squall and Seifer will then engage in a good, old-fashioned sword duel. Cue 'Duel of the Fates'.
If you have Carbuncle equipped on Squall, he can summon Carbuncle, thus bestowing him with the reflect status. This will bounce all of Seifer's magic attacks back to him. Of course, even if you don't do that, he is still kind of easy. Squall will then close in on the Sorceress. However, by this time, Irvine and Rinoa will have finally caught up, and will join Squall in the attack. Since she is a Sorceress, her attacks are almost exclusively use magic. You can use reflect on your party, but she won't cast damaging spells that will bounce off of you. Instead, she will waste time dispelling Reflect off of your characters one by one.
Eventually, the Sorceress will get bored and the fight will end, regardless if you've dealt enough damage to her. If you did damage her enough, you will get AP. Otherwise, you get none. She will summon a particularly large icicle, and will promptly launch it at Squall, impaling him through the chest. He will then fall over the edge, and dies. Game over. You lose. No, just kidding. Whilst it may be too easy to assassinate the Sorceress with a sniper rifle, it is also apparently too easy for the Sorceress to defeat the party.
In the original PS1 version, this marks the beginning of Disc 2. Instead of dying, you will back in control of Laguna for another dream sequence. Huh. Laguna, who, despite FALLING FROM A CLIFF, will wake up in a room in a house. He will be woken by Ellone, and she will say that he is needed in the pub next door. Go downstairs, exit the house, and then the pub is immediately south and to the left. Note, that, in this town (a lovely little hamlet called 'Winhill'), you will enter random encounters. Nothing that Laguna can't handle, despite being alone.
Enter the pub, and Kiros, who also apparently survived FALLING OFF A CLIFF, will be waiting. You will end up getting tasked to do a 'patrol'. Basically, after leaving the pub, head south ALL the way to the end of the village, and then Laguna will automatically stop and announce that the patrol is completed. Head back to the pub and speak to Raine, and the sequence will end. Squall will wake up in a prison cell, miraculously free of all and any injury despite getting IMPALED IN THE CHEST. Seifer will waltz in and try and act all tough despite getting an absolute drubbing.
Eventually, you will regain control of Zell. When given the option, choose to 'stand up' to the Mean Guy when he's wailing on the poor Moomba. You will then switch back to Squall, who is being tortured for information via electrocution. How very Metal Gear Solid. When given the choice, select the option "just let me die". You will then switch back to Zell. Despite having their weapons confiscated, because Zell is a martial artist and his only weapons are his fists, the plan is to escape the cell, get their weapons back, and then mount an escape attempt. Zell apparently also had another Laguna dream, but from the perspective of Ward, who also survived FALLING FROM A CLIFF, and ended up working as a janitor in the same prison Zell, et al., are now located in.
Man, that's awfully convenient. Anyway, so if you go up a floor, to Floor 08, approach the two soldiers to initiate a fight. Once you have beaten the two soldiers, head back down to equip the rest of your team. Once you have set everybody up, you will promptly be subject to a boss fight against some old friends, Biggs and Wedge. They are not particularly difficult, especially if you took the time to set up your party. Now, the logical way most people would assume going forward would be to head down, right? For whatever reason, the Galbadian prison does not work that way. You see, the prison itself is partially submerged under the desert, with the bottom floor actually having no way to get outside.
Of course, it won't be so easy as to simply climb to the top either, as the top portion of the prison is suspended above the desert. However, despite the way to continue being up instead of down, it is still worth your while to explore these lower floors anyway, as there are items to be had! The party starts off at the 7th floor. There is a save point on the 6th floor. On the 5th floor, one of the cells has a prisoner whom you can challenge at Triple Triad. Whilst he will charge you 500 gil per game, if you win, you get a random prize. Some of these items are mediocre, but some are pretty good. You have a chance of winning one of the following every time you beat him: a Potion, an Eye Drops, a Remedy, a Gysahl Greens, a Flare Stone, a Mega-Phoenix, or a Luck Up.
Floors 4 and 3 will have a tent and pet house respectively. Floor 2 will have a Str Up, and a Pet Nametag. Whereas on Floor 1 there will be Combat King 001. Head back to floor 7 and start your ascent. There is nothing on Floor 8, but there will be a Berserk draw point on Floor 9, and another card player on Floor 10. This guy will only charge you 300 gil to play, but, if you beat him, he will give you a customised battle metre. There will be another card player on Floor 11, who will charge you 200 gil per game. Winning has a chance of winning any of the following items: a Potion, an Eye Drops, a Remedy, a Hi-Potion+, a Holy Stone, a Mega-Potion, a Rosetta Stone, or an HP Up.
There is nothing on Floor 12, and Floor 13 is where you will find Squall. After freeing him, Irvine will saunter in casually along with Rinoa... who promptly kicks him down the stairs. Nice. Anyway, you will gain control of Squall. Form a party and set them up with GFs, etc. Head all the way down to Floor 1, and you will realise that the 'exit' is buried underground. Zell will then be thrown into a number of scripted encounters against some regular enemies. Once you are back in control of Squall, you will need to haul arsehole ALL the way back up to Floor 13. You will then switch to Irvine, who has to go ALL the way down to the third floor. They will then take some kind of elevator back up to Floor 13 and rejoin Squall and friends.
Once you are back in control of Squall yet again, talk to the two Moombas for a Cottage and a Rename Card. Continue going up, past the control room, etc. and you will finally reach the outside. You will then enter a scripted encounter against two GIM52A and an Elite Soldier. After the fight, continue on, and a cutscene will start, with the structure morphing. When he's hanging on the ledge, simply continue shimmying right across. After some faffing around, you will separate into two teams. One team, headed by Selphie, will head to the Galbadian missile base in order to stop the missiles being launched against Balamb garden, whereas the other team, headed by Squall, will go back to Balamb garden in order to warn everybody and evacuate.
You will start off with Selphie's team. Now, the missile base itself is north-west of the prison, although you will need to go around a body of water to reach it. However, if you head back to Deling City, and enter Carraway's mansion, you have the option of challenging General Carraway to a game of cards. Now, in order for him to play the Rinoa card, you will first need to lose the Ifrit card to him. Once done, he will then begin using the Rinoa card. You will be able to get the Ifrit card back later on in the game. Anyway, once done, head back to the missile base. Walk into the base entrance, to the left once you're inside, and use the save point.
Inspect the panel in the middle, and this should enable you to use the door on the left. When you approach the first guard the party comes across, you will be given a choice how to proceed. Choose to walk by quietly. The guard will stop you and comment at how you're walking in single file, but that will it. You will be free to continue. Continue through the next area, and down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, there is a yellow arrow on the ground pointing south. If you follow that arrow around you will reach a large, open area. You'll know it when you see it because there will be a draw point in the bottom-left corner containing Blind.
There will be two guards directly opposite. Speak to them, and they will ask you to relay a message to the guys in the missile launcher room. Head back to the prior area. The missile launcher room will be through the door in the middle. Speak to the guy in front of the missile launcher module on the left to relay the message. Select the option "...to go on ahead". Go back to the two previous maintenance guys, and they will ask you to do the inspection for them. Head back to the guy who commented on your walking in single file. Go into the room behind him, and select the option "just hit whatever".
As you leave, you will be accosted by the maintenance guys. Just choose to talk your way out of it, and that you were on your way to go get them. Selphie & Co. will then follow the two guys in and knock them unconscious. Head back to the room just before the missile launcher room and try to enter the missile launcher room. A guard will accost you. Choose to play it cool, and, when asked, choose to help them out. Go over to the missile launcher, in between the two guys already there, and interact. Selphie and the others will then take positions, and you will have a button mashing sequence to get the launcher in place.
Once the launcher is in place, talk to the guy who asked you for help, and he will task you with ensuring that everything is set on the control panel. Go back out the room and inspect the control panel on the right, by the door. You can't change the target, but you can adjust the error ratio. Once up to 75% (the maximum) choose Data Upload. Check the equipment, and then select the data simulation options. Head to the guard in the bottom-right, and the guard will accost you, saying that access is restricted. However, Selphie will tell him that you are there to report on the co-ordinate data. The base commander, however, will realise that you are the intruders, prompting a fight against an Elite Soldier and two Soldiers.
You now have to figure out how to stop the missiles. Examine the computers in this order: the big one on the left, the one on the right, and then the one at the back of the room. You will then be given the choice of selecting the self-destruct timer. 10 minutes will get you the highest SeeD ranking if you pull it off. Once done, head through the door to the right. This will get you back to the beginning of the missile base area, although one of the soldiers in the control room will lock themselves in and initiate the missile launch. There won't be any time to worry about that, as you will then be launched into a boss fight against BGH251F2, aka 'The Iron Clad'.
Much like the X-ATM092 before it, this boss is tough and hits hard. Whilst it won't self-regenerate like X-ATM092, it will nevertheless cause you grief in other ways. It has the ability to insta-kill one party member, and has a powerful attack called Beam Cannon that does 1,000 HP to the whole party. Protect will lessen its damage, and it is weak to lightning based attacks such as Thunder and Quezacotl. Every time you take of 1,500 of its health, then one of the pods will explode, giving you a good indication of your progression in this boss fight. Once it is defeated, you can run around the parking lot, but the group will eventually realise it is pointless and give up shortly before the whole base explodes. However, at least you'll get Weapons Monthly June Issue out of it!
You will then change to Squall's team, who will arrive at Balamb Garden to find it in bedlam. As you approach a Garden faculty member, they will ask you what 'side' you're on. Choose to side with Headmaster Cid, and you will enter a forced encounter against a random monster from the Training Centre. You are basically going to have to search the entire Garden, slogging your way through Garden Faculty members (who all summon random monsters from the Training Centre). Head to the infirmary first and speak to Dr. Kadowaki for a free Elixir. Head to the Quad next, and deal with the Garden Faculty there. Go into the second area and three students will jump down from the rafters. Choose to side with Cid, and then speak to them. One of them will give you an X-Potion,
Head to the Cafeteria and deal with the Faculty there. Enter the Cafeteria proper and one of the students will give you a Gysahl Greens if you speak to them. Next, head to the Dormitory. Deal with the Faculty and head up into the Dormitory, and use the opportunity to save and heal up. Head to the Parking Lot, deal with the Faculty here, and head inside. You will find a 'fake' Cid here (it's a hologram) but one of the students here will give you a Tent. Skip the Training Centre for now and head to the Library. Deal with the Faculty and head inside and talk to the girl in the back. If Zell is in your party, she will give you a Mega-Phoenix. If not, she will give you a Remedy.
Now head to the Training Centre. Inside, choose to help out the students, and the Faculty will summon a T-Rexaur. Really? Fortunately, they'll be easier to deal with (although don't underestimate them). After the battle, one of the students will give you a Remedy if you talk to them. Head back to the front of the Garden. In the main hall area, you will see Xu head up to the elevator. Follow her up to the 2nd floor, and talk to her when you catch up to her. Turn's out, Cid's been in office the whole time. Head up to Cid's Office and warn him about the incoming missiles. He will give you a key giving you access to the MD level, underneath the ground floor.
Now, all the enemies here are going to be weak against fire, so junction fire to your elemental attack here to make this part a lot easier. However, the elevator will break down. Inspect the square panel on the floor and you will open it and climb down the emergency ladder here. Of course, the elevator will suddenly start working again, leading to a close call as Squall and his team jump to the passageway connecting to the elevator shaft. Go down, and inspect the large hatch to open it. Head down the ladder and into the next room. In this room will be a large, circular handle. You will then have to engage in button mashing to open it.
This will open up a pathway leading down. On the platform below, you should come across a draw point stocked with Full-Life. Anyway, you will come across a ladder, and you will be given a choice on how to proceed. Just select 'we have no choice' and continue up. The ladder will give, however, launching you into a control room. Mess around and push the buttons here and then climb back down. Now, there should be a flashing green light by a ladder going down. Head down, and use the lever at the bottom. Save before continuing, as you will have to fight two Oilboyles. If you have junctioned fire to your elemental attacks and/or use fire based attacks, such as Ifrit, these guys will go down in no time.
Once dealt with, progress forwards and down another ladder, and inspect the control panel. Mess around, and eventually these two large turbine looking things will start up. This will lead to a cinematic, with Balamb Garden RISING OUT OF THE GROUND, and literally moving. The missiles will then impact the spot where Balamb Garden used to be, whereas Balamb Garden will narrowly miss hitting Balamb itself, and will then land in the ocean and begin drifting. Once you regain control of Squall, Cid will tell you to 'check on the others'. Head to the lift, and it will take you down to the second floor automatically.
Once done, head down to the ground floor into the main hall, and a faculty member will approach you and inform you that you have been summoned by Master Norg, the mysterious individual behind the brief 'civil war'. Apparently, whoever he is, he resides in the basement level, which you will now have access to. Before doing so, however, you are now able to begin the Card Club side quest. The first member, Jack, will be in the main hall itself. Once you have completed 15 card games or more, he will now appear in the area by the directory now that the Garden is mobile. Anyway, head down to the basement to meet Norg.
So, apparently, Norg is a member of the reclusive Shumi Tribe, but apparently eschews traditional Shumi beliefs and practices by being focused on materialism and the acquisition of wealth. He was the benefactor behind Garden, who helped Cid get the funding he needed to start up Balamb Garden. Garden being targeted by Galbadia is not to his liking, and so he informs you of his plan to hand you over to the Galbadians as a sacrificial 'peace offering' to show his sincerity. You will then enter a boss battle against Norg himself.
Now, this boss fight is interesting in that Norg himself will start off hidden within his protective pod. This pod has its own HP, and will only open once it's HP of roughly 2,000 is brought down to zero, thereby making Norg vulnerable. He is also accompanied by two smaller orbs that will change colour, signifying what kind of attacks they will use. If they both turn red, this is bad news, as they will use powerful magic attacks against you. Once the main pod opens up, begin by drawing the new GF, Leviathan, from him. This will get you the following achievement:
After the fight, Norg will enter into some kind of cocoon, and there will be a hidden draw point in front of it that contains Bio. Anyway, head back up, and go to the infirmary to talk to Cid. Turns out that the Sorceress is his wife. Yes, THAT sorceress. Edea. Go back to the main hall area and you will run into Xu, who will tell you to head up to the second floor. Here, you will see that a ship has docked with Garden and that mysterious SeeD members, all dressed in white, are they for someone called Ellone. Go back to Cid, and he will tell you to go and find Ellone. She can be found in the library, and she turns out to be the mysterious girl from the beginning of the game.
Once that is taken care of, you will end up back at the Dormitory. As you leave, an announcement will be made over the intercom, and the Balamb Garden will promptly crash into Fisherman's Horizon. Before leaving, make sure to challenge the remaining Card Club members. Card Magician 'Joker' can be found in the Training Centre. If you take the right path, he will be in the area at the back with the wooden plank looking walkways. He is not always here, though, so, if he is not there, simply exit and re-enter the area until you see him. If you beat him, he will upgrade your battle metre further. Moreover, he also has the Leviathan card, although it usually takes multiple games for him to play it.
CC Knight, Club, can be found in the north-west section of the ground floor, patrolling from left to right. Card Princess Diamond turns out to be a pair of twins in front of the Directory in the main hall. The rest of the Card Club side quest can only be completed after completing the Fisherman's Horizon portion of the game. So, head to the second floor and exit out. Fortunately, the welcoming committee turn out to be surprisingly reasonable, and even offer to repair Garden. Continue on, and talk to the guy blocking the path to get him to move. Continue to the next area, and then down the stairs. Now, there is a missable rare item here that will be unavailable later on in the game.
There is a carefully concealed ladder before the lift that leads down to a secret area. You should be able to see the ladder, but it basically looks like background art rather than an interactable ladder you can climb and descend. But you can, in fact, descend! Go down all the way to the bottom, and head to the left, and climb a second, much smaller ladder up. Head left, down the little slope, and up the crane arm looking thing. At the end will be another small ladder you can climb. Head all the way to the left and you will reach a new area. Talk to the Master Fisherman, and he will give you Occult Fan III. Head back all the way until you are back on that upper walkway, and head right and take the lift down.
Once down, head right and keep going straight ahead until you reach a small square with a house in it. Don't go in just yet. Head all the way to the right to find Master Martine. He will have the Ifrit card you lost to Carraway. Head inside and speak with the mayor. He has the Quezacotl card, so challenge him after the blabbing is done. Also, if you lost your Sacred card to the Queen of Cards back in Dollet, his wife, Flo, will have the Irvine card. These will make fine additions to your collection. If you head back to the top of the dish-like structure, a cutscene will begin. Galbadian soldiers have arrived! The Mayor's plan? To try and 'reason' with them.
This obviously would not end well, so go and follow him. When given the choice, help out the Mayor. You will then end up fighting... BGH251F2? Not sure how it ended up all the way here from the Galbadian Missile Base. It is also easier than the prior fight. Upon defeating it, it turns out that Selphie and her team survived by hiding inside of BGH251F2. Doesn't really explain why we had to fight it again, though. After everybody has stopped faffing around, speak with Rinoa, and you will have free roam of the town. If you wander around, you will find an issue of Timber Maniacs in the house by the rail tracks, and another on the 2nd floor of the hotel.
Head back to Balamb Garden, and make sure to speak to Irvine along the way. Anyway, from this point, you are now able to continue with the Card Club quest. CC Knight, Spade, turns out to be the guy who gave you your first cards, by the elevator on the 2nd floor. He too can sometimes not be there, so just exit and enter until he shows up. Card Queen, Heart, is none other than Xu, who can now be found in the 'bridge' (on top of the metal thingy that is now in Cid's former office). She will also have the Carbuncle card. But who is the Card Master, King? Well, in order to initiate this card battle, you will have to rest in Squall's dormitory until they challenge you.
The Card Master, King, is none other than... Quistis? Huh. Anyway, she also has the Gilgamesh card. Once you have beaten her once, you will then be able to challenge her on the bridge, so don't worry if you don't win it off of her the first time. To continue the story, head to the Quad. In an effort to cheer up Selphie, and in order to assist Squall in 'romancing' Rinoa, you are tasked with setting up a musical performance to kind of just lighten the mood. There are two separate songs: a slow ballad, and a fast-paced song. To pick the slow ballad, choose the following instruments: bass guitar, piano, saxophone, and electric guitar.
Once done, Squall will take Rinoa on a 'date'. Basically, just sitting around talking in a 'romantic spot' (which Irvine will have marked out with a tasteless magazine). Once all the talking is over and done with, Squall will wake up in his dormitory. Head back to the bridge, and Squall will be named by Cid as the 'Commander' of the mobile Garden. You now are relatively free to explore somewhat. At this point in the game, you are now able to obtain Odin, and the Tonberry GF. You are also now able to visit the Shumi village, and start the Chocobo Forest side-quest. Fortunately, getting Odin and Tonberry are gotten from the same area, and the start of the Chocobo Forest quest is close to the Shumi Village.
To obtain Odin, you will need to find the Centra Ruins, which is located on the southern continent, Centra. It is on the large landmass north of the southernmost landmass, directly south of Balamb. Now, before acquiring Odin, you will have a 20:00 minute timer every time you enter, so it advisable to beat Odin first. It is also advisable to have Enc-None equipped on one of your party members to eliminate time lost due to random encounters. This ability is learnable by Diablos. Anyway, upon entering the ruins, head up the staircase, all the way to the top until you reach a room with two sets of stairs on either side, and a big stone block in the middle. Standing on said block will activate a lift, taking you up.
Begin by climbing the ladder on the left. At the top, there will be a second ladder leading further up, leading into a room. Enter the room and inspect the machine to start it. Head all the way back down, and there will be a device between the two ladders that should now have an orb that is glowing blue. Examine it, and it will activate some kind of hard light stairs leading up and to the right. Take these stairs to the next area. In this new area, there is a ladder on the left. Climb this ladder and inspect the statue and choose to take the left eye. Go back down the ladder, and continue heading up and to the right.
Climb the ladder and place the eye into the Gargoyle, and it will give you a 5-digit code. This code is randomly generated, so write it down. Take out both eyes, and head back down to the prior statue. Place both eyes in the statue, and it will allow you to input the prior 5-digit code. Doing so correctly will unlock the door next to the ladder. Enter here to challenge Odin. The fight itself is easy, as he does not attack. The challenge is to beat him before the timer reaches zero. If it reaches zero before you beat him, he will one-shot your party with Zantetsuken. Now, Odin is different from most other GFs in that he will appear at random as you fight enemies.
To get the Tonberry GF, take off Enc-None, and fight and kill 20 Tonberries. After defeating the 20th, King Tonberry will appear. Each regular tonberry has 20,000 HP and deals gravity-based damage. Tonberry King will have much higher HP, and will deal a lot more damage. He has one move called Junk that is particularly damaging. Using Meltdown, if you have it, will make this battle easier. One of the best strategies is to keep Squall at low health and just spam Renzokuken to deal massive damage. Once you beat Tonberry King, you will gain the Tonberry GF, netting you the following achievement:
The Shumi Village can be found on the eastern portion of the Trabia continent (in the northeast). In the entrance, various Shumi will be blocking access to a draw point and will charge you 5000 gil to use it. However, it contains Ultima, making it worth your money. The village itself is underground in some kind of bio dome, so take the elevator down. Exit the elevator, and then head left until you reach an area with a pond in it, containing a frog. The house on the right will have an issue of Timber Maniacs. Also, speak to the Artisan here a bunch of times. The house on the left contains an incomplete statue that looks like Laguna. Head all the way to the back of the house and inspect it.
The Sculptor here will then talk to you about Laguna. If you leave this house, and then backtrack to the right to the house that was being guarded by a Moomba, it will now be sat off to the side, allowing you access. Inside, the Elder and the Elder's Assistant will discuss Laguna with you. As you leave, the Elder will task you with assisting the Sculptor in completing the Laguna statue. Head back to the Sculptor and he will ask you to find specific stones. The first stone, the Blue Stone, can be found by inspecting the blue rocks in the very room that the statue is located in.
The Wind Stone can be found in the area near the bottom of the elevator. Inspect the rocks in the middle between the two houses. The Life Stone will be by the rocky roots next to the Elder's House. Inspect them to get the stone. The Shadow Stone will be across from the Ultima draw point, on the right side. Now, in order to get the Water Stone, you will first have to find the 'fake water stone'. Go to the pond by the Sculptor's house, and inspect the rock with the frog on it. Head back to the Sculptor, and he will tell you it is not the correct one. After this, go back to the Artisan's house, and inspect the sink to find the real Water Stone.
Go back and talk to the Sculptor and he will basically straight up tell you that he didn't actually need any of the stones, and just had you collect them so you could learn about the village. Go back to the Elder, and, after nearly being bored to death, go to leave. His assistant will give you the Phoenix Pinion. Leave the house and select "explain what it all meant". Then exit all the way back to the world map. But wait, there's more! Re-enter Shumi village. The Elder's Attendant is now in the Sculptor's house, near the statue. Go and speak to him. Afterwards, go and talk to the Elder, and then go and speak to the Moomba outside the Elder's house.
Follow the Moomba to the Sculptor's house, and then go inside and speak to everyone who is stood around the statue. Go back and talk to the Elder, and he should speak about how the Attendant is destined to become the next Elder. Go back to the Sculptor's house, and talk to the Attendant again. Afterwards, leave and go speak with the Artisan. He should tell you that he cannot assist you with the statue. Following this, go and speak to the Elder one more time. If you've done all of this, leave Shumi Village and go back to Fisherman's Horizon, and go back to the area where you previously fought BGH251F2.
There should be a home here containing a fellow named 'Grease Monkey'. He will give you something that should help with the statue. Also, there is another issue of Timber Maniacs in his house. Return to Shumi village and speak with the Artisan. Speak to the Elder one last time, and you will receive the item 'Status Guard'. That's about all you can do at Shumi Village. Anyway, leave and there is a nearby Chocobo Forest. Essentially, just behind the Shumi Village, there will be a round, almost spherical looking forest. Walk up to it to enter the forest, which is the beginner chocobo forest. Inside, talk to Chocoboy and tell him that you are interested in catching a Chocobo.
He will offer to give you a whistle called a ChocoWhis. Moreover, for 1,000 gil he will explain the mechanics to you. Anyway, the ChocoWhis has two functions: ChocoSonar and ChocoZiner. The ChocoSonar helps locate Chicobos, and the ChocoZiner summons them. In order to actually catch a Chocobo, you have to get to where there is only one Chicobo on the ground in the forest. Once there is a single Chicobo by itself, speak to it to summon the mother Chocobo. Whilst you can obviously ride them, right now you should be more interested in the second mini-game in Chocobo Forests. Hunting for treasure.
Now, for the Beginner's Forest, use the ChocoZiner at the back-left to bring down a single Chicobo, and then search for treasure in the back-right with the mother Chocobo to find an Aura Stone. The next Chocobo Forest, the Basics Forest, will be in area to the south of Shumi Village. If you check the menu, it should be called Sorbald Snowfield. In this forest, you will first want to position Squall such that he is just to the left of the middle of the screen, at the back. There should be a tree just to the north-west of Squall's position. Use the ChocoZiner here, and it should summon three Chicobos. Stand on one of them and then use it again. If done right, two will go back up, whilst the third will stay on the ground.
Use the mother chocobo to search the far top-left area to find a Flare Stone. The next Chocobo Forest, the Roaming Forest, should be located north of Trabia Garden, in an area called Bika Snowfield. First, sound the ChocoZiner right near where Chocoboy is standing to bring down two Chicobos. Stand between the two of them, and then sound it the whistle again. A third one should drop down. However, all three will disappear. Now, head all the way to the entrance, and use the ChocoZiner in front of the fallen log to bring down a single Chicobo. Use the Chocobo Mother to investigate the far back of the area to find a Shell Stone and a Holy Stone. You should also get the following achievement:
These are all the Chocobo Forests on the Trabia continent. The next three forests can be found among the islands of the Centra continent. The first of these forests, The Forest of Solitude, will be located at the furthest point north, and then the furthest part east on the island where the Centra Ruins are located. This one can be a real pain to get the sole Chicobo to come down. You will need to stand ever so slightly to the north-west of where Chocoboy is standing and you should be able to do it. Anyway, once you've called over the Mother Chocobo, you will need to challenge Chocoboy to a game of cards to get him to move. You don't even need to play a game, you just need to challenge him.
Search the spot where he was standing to find a Protect Stone, a Meteor Stone, and 5 Gysahl Greens. The next Chocobo Forest, the Forest of Fun, is located on the far south-west of Centra, and is reachable via Chocobo from the Forest of Solitude. Now, this one is going to be a little hard to explain, so bear with me. From where Chocoboy is standing, walk down a little, and then walk to the right. You will want to stop a couple of paces away from the far right. Use the ChocoZiner here. Walk to the left a few steps, and up a small amount. You should be stood roughly south-east of Chocoboy. Use the ChocoZiner here.
Finally, walk back down a smidge, and then walk left until you are stood south-west of Chocoboy, and use the ChocoZiner here. If done correctly, you will end up with a single Chicobo and thus summon the Mother Chocobo. If you search in the farthest top-right corner, you should find a Meteor Stone, a Flare Stone, and an Ultima Stone. Nice. The penultimate Chocobo Forest, the Enclosed Forest, is located on the south-eastern most point of Centra. This can also be tricky to explain. First, stand to the right of Chocoboy, and then walk up a smidge. Use the ChocoZiner here.
From here, walk north-east until you are directly left of the boulder that has a tree to its right. Use the ChocoZiner here. Now, there should be a Chicobo in the top-right corner. You will want to stand directly to its left. Use the ChocoZiner here. Finally, if you take a step south-west, use the ChocoZiner here and you should be left with a single Chocobo. Once you have summoned the Chocobo Mother, search the last spot you used the ChocoZiner at to find a Meteor Stone, a Holy Stone, and an Ultima Stone.
The last Chocobo Forest, the Chocobo Sanctuary, is in a location that can only be accessed via Chocobo. First, you will want to head back to the Roaming Forest over by Trabia and catch a Chocobo for riding purposes. You will want to reach the north-east shore of the landmass. Head down from the forest, and you should be able to loop around to the north-east. There are some water shallows in between this shore that lead all the way up to a shore on the landmass opposite. If you follow the landmass to the east, you should reach the other shore. You should now be in the Grandidi forest region.
If you follow the cliffs, you should be able to find a gap leading further in. The Chocobo Forest will be located within this area. It can be hard to find, but just look for a green semi-spherical forest sticking out of the background trees. Fortunately, there are no more mini-games here. Just watch the little cut-scene and then walk up and speak to the Chicobo once you are done to receive the Chicobo card. Now that you have this card, you can continue with the Queen of Cards side quest. However, it seems as if Balamb is currently occupied by Galbadian forces, so you are going to have to deal with that first!
Whilst Galbadian soldiers will tell you that Balamb is currently off-limits as they search for Ellone, you should be able to sneak in with no issue. Now, to proceed with this part of the game, you have to find someone referred to as 'the captain', so you can go and speak to 'the commander', the latter being holed up at the Balamb hotel. Now, you could run around like a headless chicken trying to find him yourself. There is a fellow at the docks hidden behind some crates who will give you 'hints' in exchange for exorbitant amounts of gil. Fortunately, however, you have this guide to make this substantially easier!
First, head to Zell's house. However, his mother won't be there. So, once you've paid a visit, head down to the Hotel and speak to the guards here. Once done, head down to the docks, and head up to the pier. Speak to the guard standing next to the dog, and he will tell you that the captain was only just there a moment ago, and fishing no less. Head back to Zell's house. Zell's mother should now be here, albeit in the back. Speak with her, and then head over to the train station. At the train station, you will want to talk to all of the guards, plus the conductor.
Head back to Zell's house and speak with his mother again. Now, head back down to docks, up to the pier, and speak to the guard with the dog again. The dog should take off to the train station. Follow the dog and guard to the train station, where you should catch a glimpse of this elusive 'captain' fellow... who turns out to be Raijin. He will run off to the hotel, so follow him. You will then have to fight Raijin and two soldiers. This fight is easy. Unfortunately, you then have to face the commander.
The commander turns out to be Fujin, but don't think this fight will be easy. Raijin will apparently recover from the sound drubbing you gave him to assist her. It is advisable to take out Raijin first, but you will first want to draw Pandemona from Fujin. This will get you the following achievement:
Raijin will attack with quick hits, which by themselves are nothing to worry about. However, Fujin has an attack, called Sai, that reduced a character to just 1 HP. Both of these enemies are susceptible to blind, however. You will receive Combat Kings 002 upon defeating them. Your next objective is to check on the status of Trabia garden, which, unlike Balamb garden, did not escape the missiles. However, before doing so, go back inside Balamb. If you challenge the hotel owner to cards, you are now able to win the Pandemona card from him. Moreover, if she wasn't there before, you can challenge the Queen of Cards. Lose the Chicobo card, and make sure she says she is going back to Dollet. Otherwise, reload your save and try again.
Head to Dollet, and ask her about her artist father, and then go and win your Chicobo card back from her son. You are now able to win the Chubby Chocobo card from the guy sitting on the bench by the library in Balamb Garden. Trabia garden is located on the Trabia continent, north of Balamb. It should be located in the Bika Snowfield region. You can tell it when you see it, since it looks like a ruin. The reason being, they got hit by a full payload of missiles.
Selphie will run and jump/climb over the wall. Follow her. Note that there is a Thundaga draw point in the next area. Speak to Selphie, and she will run off. However, if you inspect the cracks near where she was standing, you should find a Weapons Monthly, August Issue. Selphie will be at a cemetery, all the way at the back of the Garden. After all the blabbing and stuff, if you re-enter the cemetery and go to where Selphie was standing, you will find an issue of Timber Maniacs.
Return to the area with the Thundaga draw point, and then go to the area to the left. If you then head to the right, you will reach another area that has a save point. There is a computer screen you can interact with. Once done, exit back to the prior area for more story exposition. Talk to the two kids in front of Selphie, and then talk to Selphie herself. She will tell you to wait for her at the basketball court. From this area, head left, past the area with the unexploded missile. You will arrive at the basketball court. Be prepared for substantial amounts of blabbing.
Here, it is revealed that Squall, Zell, Quistis, Seifer, Selphie, and Irvine are all orphans. Moreover, there are all from the same orphanage, which was apparently run by the sorceress, Edea? For some reason, only Irvine can remember this seemingly important detail. Apparently, using GFs results in memory loss. Irvine, not being a member of SeeD, has used GFs a lot less than the others. Rinoa is the odd one out, it seems (although her mother died in a car crash, so at least she's a half-orphan?) Anyway, after all the blabbing, the party resolves to head to their old orphanage, which, oddly enough, is located in Centra? Once the blabbing is concluded, you will automatically return to Balamb Garden.
However, before heading off to Centra, leave Balamb Garden and go back inside Trabia, and you can now challenge Selphie's friend (the one sat on the fountain) for a chance to win the Selphie card. Be warned, this region does have a bunch of annoying rules, which are a pain to get rid of. Save your game, and reload your game after each failure. If she asks if you want to blend rules, just say no until she stops asking. Now, Edea's house is located in the southwest area of Centra. However, you should notice the former Galbadia Garden hovering nearby. Approaching it initiates a cinematic.
Squall will be then prompted to issue orders. The best orders to give, in order, are as follows: prepare for the attack, prepare for the defence, and protect the junior classmen. Head down to the second floor hallway and speak to everyone here. One of them, 'MG Junior Classman', should give you a free Cottage. Anyway, head down to the Quad. Once there, talk to Zell, and then talk to Rinoa. Squall will then ask to borrow Squall's ring. OK? Anyway, as you leave, Squall will be called back up to the bridge, and you will gain control of Zell.
Head back to the left area of the Quad, and there will be another cinematic involving Rinoa almost falling to her death, and clinging on to Balamb Garden for dear life, frustratingly out of reach. Head to the main entrance, where you should see Squall. Follow him to the main gate area. You will then regain control of Squall, and required to form a team. Make sure everybody is properly equipped. Anyway, head to the classroom on the second floor, and take care of the Galbadian soldiers here. Once done, make sure to speak with the SeeD member protecting the two junior classmen.
Dr. Kadowaki will then announce that you're needed on the bridge. Great. However, you will need to briefly help a female SeeD member find a junior classman named Mark, who is in the area by the door leading to the 2nd floor balcony. He will walk off to the SeeD member. Of course, a Galbadian Soldier will burst through the door and corner Squall. When given a set of options, select: "Look around for another option". This will bring up a second list of options. Select: "Press the button for the emergency exit". The Galbadian soldier will try to slam into Squall as he does so, resulting in both of them tumbling out, dangling from the soldier's exo-frame hover-suit, thing.
You will then have a brief mini-game where you will have to block the soldier's punches and kicks, whilst delivering your own. The goal is to bring the soldier's health down to zero. Once done, he will plummet to the ground below. If Squall's health reaches zero, then it is game over, my friend. A cinematic will being, where Squall heroically rescues Rinoa from certain death. Once back in control of Squall, run across the battlefield, all the way to the left. It is time now to infiltrate Galbadia Garden, and confront the Sorceress, Edea.
Pick your teams and make sure everybody is properly equipped. You will want to begin by heading to the corridor on the right. In this hallway, there should be some stairs, leading up. Walk up to the second floor to find Raijin and Fujin standing there. They won't fight you this time, but talk to them anyway. From here, take the left corridor, and take the door on the right in the hallway and speak to the student there to receive the 1st Keycard.
From here, head back, back down the stairs, and back to the starting area with the Save Point. Now you will take the hallway on the left. In this corridor, you can now unlock the door on the left, which leads to an ice rink. Run across to the other side, and leave through the door on the opposite side. There should be a doorway on the right containing a student who will give you the 2nd Keycard. You will now want to return to the stairway that leads up to Raijin and Fujin, although now that you have Keycard 2, you can just head south, unlocking a door to another corridor. Head south all the way one more time to find yourself back in that corridor with the stairs.
This time, head up to the third floor, and you can now use the 2nd Keycard to open the door, which leads to a pathway overlooking a basketball court. You should be able to jump down into the court itself. From here, head left and you should reach the main hall. Don't worry about the big creature sitting in the middle. This is Cerberus, a GF, and an optional boss fight. However, you do need to fight and beat him for the following achievement:
However, before fighting him, head to the front entrance and use the save point there. Now, the tough thing about Cerberus is that he casts Triple on himself, which allows him to cast three spells per turn. You can use this to your advantage, however, if you make use of reflect, or simply summon Carbuncle. Once he is beaten, take the south-west path, and then take the door on the left in the next area. Speak to the student inside, and you should receive the 3rd Keycard. Head back to the main hallway, and take the north-east corridor. Take the stairs up to the second floor, and then head left. Take the elevator up, which you should now be able to do with your new keycard.
Here you will fight Seifer once more, although he isn't particularly tough. Once beaten, Edea will then phase through the floor into the room below. Now, to reach said room, take the elevator down, and, this time, take the right path (which is the one directly across from where you just came). You should emerge in the main hallway, albeit on the second floor. If you follow the path around, you will eventually reach the auditorium for the final showdown against Edea.
Of course, Seifer will show up, despite the drubbing you just have him. He will once again go down easily. You will now face Edea once more. First of all, use draw to obtain Alexander. This will get you the following achievement:
Edea will tend to use status effect spells this time around, and also has an attack called Maelstrom that takes off 50% of each character's HP. Yikes. Once beaten, however, some strange things will go down. You will then end up back in Garden, as Squall. So, basically, Rinoa is now in some kind of coma. Your first move will be going to Edea's house. So, land Balamb Garden and head inside. There will be a Timber Maniacs lying around somewhere. As you go inside, you will find Cid, who will lead you to the beach where Edea is waiting for you. So, apparently, she is no longer evil anymore. OK?
Basically, she was somehow being possessed by a sorceress from the future, named Sorceress Ultimecia. Anyway, in between all the dialogue, you can challenge Edea to cards, as she carries the Edea card. Be aware, though, that this can be a real pain to get, since Centra has the random rule. Best method is simply to save outside Edea's house, and reset if things go poorly. Once you have finally gone through all of the exposition and narrative, you will gain control of Squall back in Balamb Garden. Note that, at this point in the game, you can now find Weapons Monthly, July Edition in the Training Centre, if you take the left path.
Head to the infirmary to visit the comatose Rinoa. However, Squall will end up passing out for another Laguna dream sequence. Note that if you read the Timber Maniacs in Shumi Village, you will NOT have Ward as part of the party here. Apparently, Laguna is trying his hand at acting, and is shooting on location in Trabia Canyon. However, it soon turns out that the guy who is supposed to be dressed up as a dragon has been scared off by a real one. Whereas, the oblivious Laguna will think it is just really good special effects, and will act out the fight scene. This will be a little mini-game similar to the one against the Galbadian soldier, but easier.
However, Laguna eventually figures out that it is a real dragon, and it is up to him and Kiros to fight it off. Note that, before fighting, you are presented with two options: "H-hold on a sec" or "Here we go". Choosing the first option gives you a chance to access the menu and junction properly before the fight. Anyway, you will end up fighting a Ruby Dragon. It is important to know that you should NOT have any fire or wind junctioned to elemental attack here. After the fight, there will be some more talking, and then the dream sequence will be over.
Squall will decide he needs to speak to Edea again. So, head on back over to Edea's House. Where you can find her at the back, along with Cid. Speak with her, and she will give you the 'Sorceress' Letter', and will tell you to find the ship with the mysterious SeeDs wearing white. She does not know where it is, but says it is most likely anchored in an inlet within the Centra area. So, at least you have the general vicinity to search.
If you take Balamb Garden north of Edea's House, the inlet in question will be on the right side of the northeast Centran landmass, roughly in the centre of the east coast. If you hug the coastline, you should find it easily enough. Approach it and you will automatically attempt to board. Speak with the leader of the White SeeDs, who basically tells you to bugger off. Anyway, in the centre of the ship, you can find Watts and Zone. If you didn't win the Angelo card from Watts, this is the last place you can get it. Also, if you head up the stairs after Zone, and speak to him three times, then, if you obtained the 'Girl Next Door' magazine from Timber, Squall will offer to give said magazine to Zone.
It is very important you let him have it for free, since he will give the Shiva Card, as well as a Rename Card item. If you charge him, you will get nothing. This is the only place to get the Shiva card from. There is also an issue of Timber Maniacs here. This should be the last issue of Timber Maniacs. If you have collected all of the others, then you will get the following achievement:
If you head into the main cabin, you should find the White SeeDs leader again. This time, Squall will hand over the Sorceress' Letter. Unfortunately, Ellone is no longer aboard. It seems as if they were being pursued by Galbadian vessels. They were then assisted by the Esthar fleet. An Esthar vessel then pulled alongside the White SeeD ship, and said they were there for Ellone, who promptly just jumped on their ship with no questions asked.
Now, before continuing, there are a couple of things to do. First, go inside Balamb Garden, go to the library and speak to the girl with pigtails. Once done, head on over to Balamb Town. Make sure to have Zell in your party. On the first screen, there should be a girl you can talk to who asks if you know the girl in pigtails. Go to Zell's house, and speak with his mother. Go to Balamb Garden and stay the night, and you will wake to find Zell is not there. Go downstairs to find him talking to the girl in pigtails. Once their conversation is over, you will get Combat Kings 003.
Next, if you haven't already, you are going to want to learn Alexander's Med Data and Med Lev Up abilities. Next, you are going to want to obtain the following items: 6 Malboro Tentacles, 6 Steel Pipes, and 6 Remedy+. 10 Remedies can be turned into 1 Remedy+, so buy 60 of them for this. The easiest way to get Malboro tentacles is by refining Malboro cards. The only other option is to use the Mug ability when Malboro's, which is not ideal, given how tough they are. They use 'Bad Breath', which gives you every negative status in the game. Ugh. If you hate yourself that much, they can be found in the Grandidi forest area (near the Chocobo sanctuary)
Steel Pipes can be obtained by using the Mug ability against Wendigos. They can be found in the forest near to where Galbadia Garden used to be. You can obtain Remedy+ by using Alexander's Med Lev Up ability on regular Remedies. These items are necessary for an achievement you can get later on in the game. For now, once this is all done, pilot Balamb Garden back to Fisherman's Horizon, and Squall will take it upon himself to take Rinoa to Esthar with zero assistance whatsoever. Of course, knowing Squall to be a bit of a dummy sometimes, the other party members, plus Edea, will be waiting for him on the other side.
Edea will briefly become an available party character, so choose if you want her or not. Just know she is only a temporary character, so you can just not use her in the party if you want. Once back on the world map, head east and you should enter the Great Salt Lake. Continue straight forward until you reach an area with large dinosaur bones. If you want some Meteor, then you can climb the dinosaur skull like a ladder up to a ledge containing a draw point for Meteor that is otherwise inaccessible. If you then head left from that draw point, there are some bones going across the little canyon below that you can cross to an area containing a Thundaga draw point.
Anyway, from here you can jump down. Head north to the next screen. First, head to the right to the next area and save. Head back, and then go across and to the left, where you will enter a boss fight against Abaddon. Fortunately, this boss is undead, and so the usual exploits apply. However, he does have Flare spells you can draw, so stock up if you want before doing him in. Head over to the top-right to the next screen, and you will see some kind of doorway in the middle of the air. Inspect it, and a ladder leading up will materialise. Climb up.
You should reach a little platform which will lift you up of its own accord. Unfortunately, most of the characters pass out for another Laguna dream sequence. Laguna will be joined with both Kiros and Ward this time. Apparently, they are being used as prison labour in some kind of laboratory in Esthar. Once you regain control of Laguna, head over and speak with the guard at the elevator, then go and speak to the guard on the left of the screen. Talk to the Moomba a few times, and then go and talk to the guy in the green shirt. Talk to the Moomba one more time to initiate an encounter against an Esthar soldier.
Kiros and Ward will then show up and you will fight two Esthar soldiers accompanied by a Gesper. Take the elevator up, and eavesdrop on Dr. Odine. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward will exit the laboratory and meet up with the Moomba and the guy in green. After some talking, you will regain control of Laguna. Save, and head back inside the laboratory. If you enter the area Dr. Odine was located prior, you should be able to find a Weapons Monthly, First Issue. Take the elevator down and speak with Dr. Odine, prompting a fight against two Esthar soldiers accompanied by an Elastoid.
Follow Dr. Odine back up to the ground floor, and then you will have to fight two more Esthar soldiers as you leave in the car. You will arrive at another location. Examine the bench/seat thing in the middle to be taken up to another level. You will fight two more Esthar guards here. Once done, if you walk up to the glass, you will see Ellone in a room below. If you then examine a screen on the right, you should get a notification saying 'Unlocked'. Head back down to the ground floor. This time, if you take the door behind the bench/seat thing to reach Ellone, and the dream sequence will end.
When you regain consciousness, you will be approached by Esthar's welcoming committee. After remanding Rinoa to the custody of Dr. Odine and the Presidential Aide, take the lift up to the city of Esthar. Now, this city is big. If Deling City confused you, you're going to have a worse day with Esthar, unfortunately. Beautiful scenery, but big and can be confusing to navigate. At this point in the game, you will be able to challenge Dr. Odine at cards in order to win the Ward game. However, if he asks about mixing rules, always choose no until he stops asking. This will make things much easier.
Anyway, you will start off in a room in the presidential palace. Exit the room you start off in. The way left will be inaccessible, so go right, taking you outside. Essentially, Esthar is one big circle, with two walkways going across the diameter of the circle. It is also important to note that two of the areas will have an upper and lower portion each, with no way of going between the upper and lower portions. Great. The Presidential Palace is located in the 12 o'clock position of the circular layout.
On this main, outer ring, there are 12 areas including the Presidential Palace. There is a Shopping Mall located in roughly the 4 o'clock position. The entrance/exit area is located in the 5 o'clock position. Dr. Odine's laboratory is accessible from the area that is in the 7 o'clock position. The Airstation is accessible from the area that is in the 9 o'clock position. There are 3 areas that connect diagonally south-east to north-west connecting the 5 o'clock and 10 o'clock position areas, and there are also two more areas, which are connected to each other, with one connecting the 11 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions and the other connecting to the 2 o'clock position.
There is also a walkway connecting the 2 o'clock and the area north-west of the 5 o'clock position. This walkway goes over the area south-west of the 2 o'clock position. Moreover, there is a walkway that goes between two of the areas in between the 10 o'clock and 5 o'clock positions that goes over the area that connects the 11 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions. The two places that intersect are the ones that have the upper and lower sections that do not connect to one another. Before continuing with the story, head over to the area that corresponds to the 9 o'clock position (the one that connects to the Airstation).
There should be a man hear in blue and white robes talking to a woman. If you speak to him, he should tell you that he is a Presidential Aide, and that he is currently on break. From here, return to the Presidential Palace. If you speak to the person in front of the door, they should stand aside, revealing Occult Fan IV. Head to the 10 o'clock position, and exit south-east into the one of the connecting areas. If you continue to the next screen, you should be on the upper section of one the interconnecting sections. Find and speak to the Esthar Soldier here. He should say: "Oh yeah. That's right."
This is required in order to obtain Combat Kings 004 later on. From here, keep going south-east until you reach the 5 o'clock position, and head to the Shopping Mall in the 4 o'clock position. Some of the stores are closed. One in particular has a chance of giving you a Rosetta Stone item, which is very handy. It can take a lot of tries to get, but if you keep trying to enter Cheryl's Store, you should get it eventually. You can also grab Pet Pals Vol. 5 and Pet Pals Vol. 6 here as well. Once you're done exploring Esthar, head to the exit/entrance at the 5 o'clock position. I recommend renting a car here if you have the money. Don't buy the Combat King volumes here, as you can get them for free later on.
You will appear back on the world map, but the city of Esthar on the world map consists of several raised platform overlooking impassable scenery, and so you have to head north-east and find the slope leading down to the actual ground. You may also notice several new areas if you inspect the world map. You will first want to go to Tear's Point, which should be located to the South of Esthar. At Tear's Point head up into the next area, and inspect the area near the big statue thing. By the statue's foot, on the left of the screen, you should find Solomon Ring. If you have 6 Malboro Tentacles, 6 Steel Pipes, and 6 Remedy+, using Solomon Ring from the menu will get you a new GF, Doomtrain, getting you the following achievement:
Head over to Lunar Gate, where Squall and Rinoa will be launched into space. No, really. They are literally put inside pods, loaded on some kind of miniature rocket, and literally fired from a cannon to the moon. Before this happens, you will be giving the option of trusting Zell to guard Edea, and you can form a party with Zell as party leader. As Zell, you will have to head back to Dr. Odine's laboratory in Esthar City. Basically, Galbadia have somehow raised the Lunatic Pandora, a large, cuboid floating fortress. Within, it contains a crystal pillar that, when aligned with Tear's Point, initiates an event called the Lunar Cry. Basically, a ton of monsters will rain down from the moon.
Bear in mind that a past Lunar Cry is what obliterated Centra and the civilisation that used to be located there. Yeah. Whilst Esthar didn't build the Lunatic Pandora, they apparently excavated it during their war against Galbadia. It was apparently then sunk on orders of the president of Esthar. Well, a fat load of good that did. Odine will explain that, in order to board the Lunatic Pandora, you will have to be at a certain point in the city at a certain time. Essentially, there are different places you can board the Lunatic Pandora from at three different times, so you have three tries at boarding before you get a game over.
Of course, you're not going to fail, since you have this guide here to help you. As soon as you leave Dr. Odine's laboratory, a countdown timer will start in the corner. You basically have 20:00 minutes to do or die. You will have 5 minutes until the Lunatic Pandora reaches the first point. From the 7 o'clock position, head to the left until you reach the 10 o'clock position. If you reach the Presidential Palace, you've gone too far. It is the area two screens to the left of the palace. From the 10 o'clock position, take the south-east exit to the interconnecting areas. From the first of these areas, head right and speak to the Esthar Soldier, and he will give you Combat Kings 004 for free.
From here, head right one more time to reach the first spot. Once the timer has reached 15 minutes, you will have three minutes to actually board the Lunatic Pandora. As it goes past, run alongside the part with the doorway, and you will fight two Galbadian soldiers. If you beat them in time, you will board the Lunatic Pandora. If not, you will have to head to one of the other two areas. Now, if, during the second Laguna dream sequence, you followed my directions, you should now be able to get some pretty decent items now as Zell. Sweet.
First, use the draw point to get some Meteor spells if you need them. Then, head up the stairs. From here, take Elevator 3. There should be some stairs at the bottom-right of the next area, go down them, and take the ladder down. At the bottom of the ladder should be a draw point for Confuse if you need it. You should also find a LuvLuvG if you walk into the tube and press whatever you have set the confirm button as. If you then head left, you should eventually come to an area containing trap doors. Depending on what you did as Laguna, you will receive either: a draw point for Silence, a Phoenix Pinion, or a Power Generator.
Head left to the next area, and you should find Combat Kings 005 lying on the ground. If you have been following the guide so far, you should now get the following achievement:
There should also be a draw point containing Ultima at the end of the tunnel. Go back the way you came, and all the way back up the ladder, and then take the elevator back up. This time, take Elevator 1. In this new area, there should be a draw point containing Holy. Moreover, there should be a little crevasse on the left side that has a hidden Luck-J scroll if you inspect it. Head up all the way, and your party will be abruptly ejected from the Lunatic Pandora by some kind of elaborate security system. Oh well. At least you tried, Zell.
You will then switch back to Squall's party, who arrive at the Lunar Base (which is actually a space station not actually on the moon, but whatever). Once you are able to, speak to all the various people, and Squall should pick Rinoa up, and the story will continue from here. Follow the medical staff, and you should come to a room where Squall sets Rinoa down. Once you have control, save the game as soon as possible. Now, from here, exit this room, and head north. You should eventually reach the control room. Now, Piet has the Alexander card, and so you can challenge him to cards. The downside is that every rule of the game is in effect. Great.
Just reload your save until you win Alexander (without losing any decent cards, of course). Once this is done, save your game. Then go and talk to the team member you brought along. You should then be able to follow Piet, who will take you to Ellone. Before talking to her, challenge her to a game of cards, as she has the Laguna card. Again, reload if necessary if you lose decent cards and are unable to win the Laguna Card. Once done, save your game. Then talk to Ellone.
Rinoa will then mysteriously arise from her coma, but appears to be semi-corporeal. She seems to be phasing slightly, and anyone who approaches her will be violently thrown back from her. Follow Rinoa, and you will end up back in the control room. Rinoa will then deactivate the seals on Sorceress Adel's prison. Yeah, just in case you weren't aware, the former ruler of Esthar was a Sorceress named Adel, who was overthrown by the current president, and trapped in this prison and promptly launched into space.
Moreover, if you look out the window, you will see the Lunar Cry beginning. Basically, it looks like it will coincide with Adel's prison passing through the Lunar Cry zone right as the Lunatic Pandora triggers said event, bringing Adel's prison back down to earth. Uh-oh. Of course, the last seal is located physically on the prison itself, so that's safe, right? Wrong. Rinoa will leave the Control Room, and head towards the Airlock Room, don a spacesuit, and then exit the space station. Don a spacesuit yourself and follow her.
However, the large outer doors will close when Rinoa gets past them, barring Squall from following. Head back down and return to the control room. Here, speak to Ellone, and then Piet, which should trigger more cutscenes/cinematics. Talk to Ellone once more once you regain control of Squall, and follow her into the next room. You can save your game here. Do so, and speak to Ellone once more, and you should be able to get into one of the hatches. You will be then treated to several more cutscenes and cinematics.
Basically, Rinoa deactivates the final seal on Adel's prison, which then gets hit by the stream of monsters. Adel's prison is taken along with the current towards Earth, and Rinoa, who has now regained consciousness, will be sent flying off into space. Squall will then exit his hatch, and exit the escape pod into the vacuum of space. Your task will be to catch Rinoa. Be warned, you can fail to catch her. Of course, once you've saved Rinoa, you will soon have the daunting challenge of figuring out how to get back to earth from the vacuum of space.
Miraculously, a derelict spacecraft will just so happen to come into view, apparently orbiting the Earth. What a splendid, marvelous coincidence. How remarkably fortuitous. You will also unlock:
Anyway, the first thing you will want to do is to save your game as soon as you have control of Squall again. If you go through the door into the next room, there will be some talking. Afterwards, walk through the next door into the next area, where you will quickly discover that the spaceship is overrun with these strange, alien-looking monsters. Now, there is a specific trick to clearing these guys out. These guys are different colours, but they exist in pairs. Meaning, to permanently kill them, you have to kill both of a specific pair one after the other.
If you accidentally bump into a different colour monster, then the one you just killed will respawn. This may not sound too hard, but you have to remember, you're on a spaceship. Space is tight, and these things will make a beeline straight for you. Secondly, you are unable to run from these battles. Now, from the little hallway, with the big door ahead of you, and a staircase to the right, take the stairs down to the room below. You will find the purple alien you saw earlier. Kill this one.
The other purple alien will be two rooms over, but the room in between will container a red alien that will sprint straight for you. Meaning, you have to quickly run to the correct exit to get to the second purple alien, otherwise you will be forced to fight the red one. From the room you killed the first purple alien, take the large door at the top of the screen. In this next area, you will want to take the path on the left, so quickly dash forward and then sprint to the left to avoid the red alien. In this next area, fight and kill the second purple alien. That's one pair of alien monsters dealt with.
Go back to the previous room container the red alien and kill it. If you head left, you will come to a room with a green alien standing in an elevator. Strangely, this one will NOT chase you. Thus, you can walk right on by without issue. Just don't actually run into it directly, otherwise it will trigger a fight you can't escape from. Anyway, from this room, head down to back to the hallway with the stairs leading down you started from, and there should now be the second red alien here. Go back and kill the green alien, then go back out into the hallway and down the stairs to the big room where you killed the first purple alien.
This time, take the small door on the right, and you will find the second green alien here. Kill it. Go back, back up the stairs, and then head down to the next screen, and there will be a yellow alien here, facing away from you. Go back, then back to the room where you killed the first green alien. Take the door on the left, and the second yellow alien, which should be the last one, will be here. Now that the spaceship is yours, head to the elevator and take it up to the spaceship. After some faffing about and dialogue, Squall and Rinoa will be contacted by Esthar, who informs them that they are aboard the derelict Ragnarok, one of the three ships used to launch Adel's prison into space.
They will then assist Squall in landing the ship back on Earth. Of course, the Esthar welcoming committee will seek to 'container' Rinoa, who now apparently has sorceress powers. By which, they really mean, sticking her in a sealed vault/room. Of course, once you have control of the Ragnarok, getting Rinoa back is as simple as flying over to the Esthar Sorceress Memorial, and entering. After some cutscenes, Squall will heroically rescue Rinoa, and she rejoins the team. Honestly, why did Esthar even bother?
Anyway, Rinoa asks if they can go and visit Edea's house again. So, fly over there, and walk on in. When you arrive, you should see Angelo, off to the left. Follow him, and there will be a ton of talking. Once all the blabbing is done, the next thing to do is to head back to Esthar. Note that you can now land the Ragnarok on the Airstation building, so just fly low over Esthar and you should run into it in no time. Second, there will now be random encounters as you walk around Esthar. Of note are some scripted encounters against monsters called Elnoyles, that you can farm for loot. Anyway, you will want to head to the Presidential Palace.
You should now be able to meet the mysterious president of Esthar, who turns out to be none other than... Laguna. Yes, that's right. The hapless buffoon you've been dreaming about is the mastermind behind the overthrow and imprisonment of Sorceress Adel. After a ton of plot advancement, you will eventually be back in control of Squall. At this point, to continue with the story, you will basically just fly the Ragnarok south to Tear's Point and fly into the Lunatic Pandora that is now hovering above it.
Before continuing, however, there are a number of side quests to complete that will become unobtainable if you continue on with the story. First of all, if you didn't get Doomtrain earlier, you now have another chance to gather the materials and use Solomon Ring. Second, Laguna should now be on board the Ragnarok. If you challenge him to Triple Triad, you can win the Squall card. Interesting. I wonder why he would have Squall's card? I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. (In case you're wondering, it is heavily implied that Laguna is Squall's father, and that Raine was his mother).
Third, now that you have the Ragnarok, you are now able to land on Cactuar Island, which is an island south of Esthar. Aside from regular random encounters against Cactuars, which give you tons of EXP and AP, you may also notice a giant cactuar randomly appearing and disappearing over the island. If you manage to run into it, then you will be thrust into an encounter against Jumbo Cactuar. Note that you can have Enc-None equipped to make starting the encounter easier. This guy can hit hard. For starters, he has a move called 10,000 Needles, which deals 10,000 damage. Coincidentally, that is 1 more than the max HP limit.
Second, once it is down to about 5% of its max HP, you will see a message stating that "Jumbo Cactuar is hesitating...". This is important, because, once it reaches 2% HP and isn't killed in a timely fashion, it will run away. Meaning you will have to catch and fight it all over again. However, once you do beat Jumbo Cactuar, you will gain a new GF, Cactuar, which will gain you the following achievement:
Another area that is now accessible now that you have the Ragnarok is the Deep Sea Research Centre. Much like the KOTR island from FFVII, this place is not on the map and is in the middle of the ocean, miles away from the closest land. However, instead of being in the furthest most north-east, the Deep Sea Research Centre will be in the furthest most south-west. You can enter it by landing on it with the Ragnarok. You can actually visit it once Balamb Garden becomes mobile, but you won't be able to actually enter it until you have the Ragnarok.
Essentially, this place was a mobile research centre that was looking into alternatives to magic junctioning, discovered something, and then was immediately abandoned. Because that's totally not ominous or anything. Once you enter the interior, you should find yourself in a room overgrown with plants, with a large, glowing, blue cylinder in the middle. The goal is to reach this by slowly walking towards it when it is not glowing and to stand perfectly still when it is glowing. If you move whilst it is glowing, you will be thrust into a forced random encounter against a Ruby Dragon.
Once you are close enough to the cylinder to interact with it, interacting with it will prompt some unknown entity to communicate with you. Now, you will be given a choice in how to respond. You will want to choose "It is not our will to fight". This will launch an encounter against a Ruby dragon. It will then address you a second time. This time, choose to respond with "Never!" You guessed it, another Ruby Dragon. Although this one will always start off as a 'back attack', meaning it will get one attack in you before you get the chance to attack.
You will then be addressed a third and final time. Now, whilst there are only two visible options, if you keep scrolling down, the cursor will reach a third, hidden option. You will want to select this option. Be prepared, though, as this will start an optional boss fight against the king of dragons himself, Bahamut. This guy can be quite tough, but there are ways to make it easier if you prepare before hand. First, his attacks are wind and thunder based, so junction both elements to your elemental defence if you can. Secondly, using protect and shell lessen his attacks, and he is also vulnerable to blind and slow. Once you have defeated Bahamut, you will gain him as a GF, and the following achievement:
In order to access the rest of the facility, you will first have to leave and then re-enter, although I also advise saving before heading back in there. Now, there are going to be fixed encounters against monsters called Tri-Faces, even if you have Enc-None equipped. You can farm these guys for Curse Spikes as the encounters reset every time you leave and then re-enter the area you encountered them in. Curse Spikes have a lot of uses: 100 of them can be refined into a Dark Matter, and you can use them to refine Rosetta Stones. Dark Matter can be refined into either 100 Ultimas or a Luck-J Scroll, the latter of which can be used to refine a Luck Up. Lastly, you also need Curse Spikes to upgrade Selphie's weapon to her ultimate weapon, Strange Vision.
Of course, these encounters can no longer be repeated once you reach the bottom and have fought and defeated Ultima Weapon. To reach Ultima Weapon, you are going to have to navigate a little mini-game, where you will have to efficiently use 'steam units' to open doors. Now, it is strongly advisable to have Zell in your party, as he is able to save you some of these 'steam units', making it substantially easier. You will start off with 20 of these steam units, and will need to have 10 or more to reach the area containing Ultima Weapon.
Anyway, when you head back in, there will now be a hole in the ground where the glowing cylinder used to be, and a save point next to it. Use this opportunity to save your game before climbing down the hole into the depths below. You will receive an explanation of the steam unit mechanics here. Open the first hatch, and go down a level and insect the terminal here. Choose to use 1 steam unit here to open the door. Go down to the third level, and again choose to use 1 steam unit to open the door and continue. You can keep using one steam unit until you reach an area with a machine. Now, if Zell isn't there, you will have to use steam units to fix it, but if Zell IS there, he will offer to fix it. Choose "Well... Zell's pretty good machinery".
Zell will basically just punch the door open, though, but it will save you a lot of steam units. You will then exit the Research Facility itself into an underground Excavation Site. This is the area with all the Tri-Faces. Approaching the Save Point will initiate the first encounter. There are two other spots that initiate fights against Tri-Faces too. If you want to farm them, simply turn on Enc-None, fight all three of them, and then exit the area and re-enter. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Now, when you are ready to fight the big bad himself, Ultima Weapon, head all the way down the Excavation Site all the way to the Deep Sea Deposit. You will need to use 10 steam units on the winch machine.
Ultima Weapon is no pushover. He can and will straight up 'eff you up. He has an attack called Light Pillar that deals 9,999 damage. It can't be blocked, and nothing can reduce the damage. It is a one-shot insta-kill. Deal with it. However, he also has the Eden GF, which you can draw. This is the most powerful GF in the game, as it can deal more damage than the 9,999 damage cap. Drawing Eden will net you the following achievement:
He also has Ultima magic that can be drawn from him, in case you needed to stock up and can wither his assault to do so. Anyway, aside from being prepared to revive KO'ed party members, it is advisable to cast Aura on everybody to spam Limit Breaks. Also, Ultima Weapon is susceptible to Meltdown, which brings his defence down to 0. If you have the Forbid Med-RF ability from Doomtrain learned, you can refine Shaman Stones into Hero Trials, which are like the Hero item, but with a chance of not working. Hero makes one character invincible for a time. Anyway, once he has been beaten, you are all done at the Deep Sea Research Centre.
At this point in the game, you are now able to complete the PuPu/UFO side quest. This quest is required in order to get the PuPu card. First, you will need to make sure that you have 5 Elixirs or more. You can either visit Esthar Shop in the Esthar shopping mall, or you can use the Call Shop ability if you have it. Second, you should have Enc-None equipped. For this quest, you will basically have to run around like a headless chicken in four spots on the world map until you enter a random encounter featuring a UFO flying around, and these ignore Enc-None. So you can have Enc-None equipped to stop random encounters, but still be able to get these four UFO encounters.
Note, you don't even fight anything. The UFO shows up on screen and then promptly buggers off in all four cases. The first location is around the small town of Winhill, which is on the lower part of the Galbadian continent, south-east from the D-District Prison and Galbadian Missile Base. The area will be called 'Winhill Bluffs'. The second location will be near Timber, at the coast. It is called Mandy Beach, and is near to some train tracks. The third location is on a small island south of Trabia called Heath Peninsula. Lastly, the fourth and final location will be in the Kashkabald desert, which is just east of Cactuar Island.
Once you have seen the UFO in all four locations, you will then want to head on over to Grandidi Forest, near to the Chocobo Sanctuary. Land at the top of the canyon in the non-forested area, and, again, run around like a headless chicken with Enc-None on. Eventually, you will enter an actual random encounter against said UFO. Destroy it. The last step will be to head over to the crater where Balamb Garden used to be. Land here, and run around the crater with Enc-None on until you encounter PuPu. You will need to feed it 5 Elixirs. Once done, the encounter will end and you will get the PuPu Card! This will also get you the following achievement:
You can now also complete the Queen of Cards side quest. Head to Balamb Town and lose Alexander to the Queen of Cards, making sure she says she is going back to Dollet. Head to Dollet, go to the pub and ask her about her artist father, and make sure she says she is going back to Balamb. Win Alexander back from her son. You are now able to win the Doomtrain card from the pub owner over in Timber, but he is kind of shy about using it. It may take some time for him to start using it. Once you have Doomtrain, return to Balamb, and lose the Doomtrain card to the Queen of Cards, and make sure she says she is going back to Dollet. Go to Dollet, ask her about her artist father, win the Doomtrain card back from her son.
You can now win the final card from the Queen of Cards side quest. Return to Esthar, and head over to the Presidential Palace. Go to the room Squall first dropped Rinoa off in, and challenge the Presidential Aide here in order to win the Phoenix card from him. Once you have done so, that will be the end of the Queen of Cards side quest. If you have every other card in the game, you will get the following achievement:
There is now one more side-quest to do, and that is the Obel Lake side quest. Note that this quest cannot be done after heading to the Lunatic Pandora. First, it is once again advisable to have Enc-None equipped to make things go by quicker. Head over to Timber, and, to the north, there should be a lake with a peninsula jutting out into it. Walk over to said peninsula and press the button you have keyed for confirming/interacting until a window pops up. You should get the notification: "Thus must be Obel Lake." You will have the option of humming or throwing a rock. Select: "Try humming." Keep doing so and, eventually, a shadow should appear and will address you.
Keep on speaking with it and it should eventually tell you about his friend, 'Mr. Monkey'. He will ask you to find Mr. Monkey for him. If you keep talking to it, he will give you various hints about where Mr. Monkey is located. Anyway, before leaving to find Mr. Monkey, interact with the peninsula again, and, this time, choose to throw a rock. Keep doing this and it should say that the rock skipped many many times. In order to find this 'Mr. Monkey' (who is also invisible, by the way) head over to Dollet, and there should be a patch of forest to the west of Dollet. Run around interacting until you find Mr. Monkey.
Once you have found him, choose to throw a rock at him. It may take a few tries, but he will eventually throw a rock back at you with a bunch of random letters written on it: U R H A E O. If you then head back to Obel Lake and speak with the shadow, he will start giving you various hints about where the find other rocks. Each clue corresponds to a separate location. "You'll find something on an island east of Timber, too..." refers to an island east of Timber, funnily enough. Except, there are two islands here. The rock will be on the smaller of the two islands. Run around interacting and you will eventually find the rock, which has the following letters written on it: R E A I D R.
The clue: "There's also something on top of a mountain with a lake and a cavern..." corresponds to a mountain north-west of Timber. In the Ragnarok, hover over Timber, and head west along the train tracks until they cross over a river. If you head north, up the river, you should come to a mountain with a waterfall coming out of it. Land on this mountain, and then wander around until you find the rock. It will have the letters: E A S N P D.
The fourth and final clue will be: "At the beach in Balamb, something special washes ashore at times..." corresponds to the beach on Balamb Island. Of course, there will be many 'fake rocks' here. However, eventually, you will find the fourth and final rock, which has the following letters: S T S L R M. If the shadow gives you any other clues, then ignore these, since they lead to Draw Points that have no relevance to the side quest. Once you have all four rocks (the one from Mr. Monkey, and the three hidden around the World Map) head back to Obel Lake and speak with the shadow, and the letters on the rocks will spell out a big block of text.
S T S L R M
U R H A E O
R E A I D R
E A S N P D
Now, to save everybody a headache, I will translate this for you. Starting in the top-right corner, going down, and then continue left, going top to bottom on each column, it actually spells out the following message: "MORDRED PLAINS HAS TREASURE". Mordred Plains is a location north of Esthar that is surrounded by mountain ranges, and so is inaccessible unless you have an airship. So, fly on over in the Ragnarok, and land here. As you wander around 'interacting', you will encounter various rocks that will have some kind of message. The only ones you need to pay attention to are the red rocks, as they state the exact opposite of what is true. So, if they tell you to go north, head south, and so on.
Eventually, you will find a red-faced rock that says: "The treasure is not here", and you will find a Three Stars. However, you're not done yet! One of the clues you may have received from Obel Lake was a clue to check out Eldbeak Peninsula. At that location, you should get the clue: "Check out Minde Island". If you head to Minde Island once you have obtained these clues, you will eventually find a Luck-J Scroll. Completing this side quest gets you the following achievement:
Of course, before heading off to the continue with the game, you can take the time to farm items, stock up on magic, and grind AP and stuff. If you return to Esthar, you can farm Elnoyle's for Energy Crystals, which are very useful. Particularly, they are integral in a number of characters' ultimate weapons. Cactuar Island is a great place to teach abilities, and generally grind in general. Anyway, once you feel your characters are ready, save, and then hop in the Ragnarok and fly on over to the Lunatic Pandora.
After an epic cinematic, which involves the Ragnarok actually firing its armaments and clawing inside the Lunatic Pandora, you will immediately be thrust into a boss fight against Raijin and Fujin again. Whilst they hit harder than last time, they are not particularly difficult. Although you can use this opportunity to draw Curaga and Gull-Cure magic from Fujin if you would like. If you continue to the next area, you will run into Biggs and Wedge. Fortunately, these two have actually learnt their lesson, and do not fight you here.
Save your game and exit left here, and follow the path to the elevator. Take the elevator down to the main lobby area, and then take Elevator 1. Exit and follow the pathway, and you will reach second save point. Save your game here. Continue onwards, and you will bump into Raijin and Fujin again. Don't these guys ever give up? Although, you won't be fighting these guys. You will instead be fighting Mobile Type 8, the security system thing that ejected Zell from the Lunatic Pandora earlier.
This thing can be a pain, as it has some attacks that hit hard. When its shoulders are attached, it will counterattack any attack against its main body with Homing Laser. When its arms are detached, it will use an attack called Corona, which reduces all characters' HP to 1. It also has an attack called Megiddo Flame, which always deals 2,000 HP of damage, no matter what. However, it is weak against lighting, so you can try junctioning thunder spells, as well as summoning Quezacotl. You will also need to be ready to be heal whenever it uses Corona, to avoid your party getting wiped out by Megiddo Flame.
After the fight, Raijin and Fujin will run off to Seifer. Continue forwards to confront Seifer, who has decided to continue serving the Sorceress... despite Edea now being on the side of good. However, it turns out he knows that, as he was tasked by Ultimecia possessing Rinoa after Edea's defeat to raise the Lunatic Pandora. You will then engage in a boss fight against Seifer. If you have Odin, then he will now appear, which is odd for a boss fight. However, Seifer will seemingly destroy Odin, with Odin's sword flying off and being caught by a mysterious disembodied hand.
However, a new GF, Gilgamesh, will appear to take Odin's place. He has Odin's sword, as well as three other, lesser swords. He will appear at random, and use one of four attacks: Zantetsuken, Masamune, Excalibur, or Excalipoor. The last of which deals 1 HP of damage. He will promptly kick Seifer's butt and leave, but will appear at random going forward in Odin's place. However, despite being soundly defeated, Seifer will someone abduct Rinoa, intending to give her to Sorceress Adel (who is presumably going to be possessed by Ultimecia for whatever nefarious scheme she has planned.)
Head back to the area you fought the Mobile Type 8, and you will now be able to use a series of ladders to reach another area. There is a Save-Point on the walkway here if you have Move-Find equipped. Anyway, enter the next room, and you will have to fight the newly released Sorceress Adel... who is somehow absorbing Rinoa? Weird. The main thing to note is that Rinoa's HP reaching 0 results in a Game Over. Moreover, you can damage her along with Adel, so no GFs, multi-target hitting Magic, and no attacks that hit multiple targets. However, the corollary is that you can use healing items on Rinoa to stop her from dying (Adel will periodically drain some HP from Rinoa throughout the fight).
Your best bet is to begin by casting Regen on Rinoa. This can be long and tedious, since you are basically forced to use regular attacks, but, once done, save your game. You will then be treated to a long series of cutscenes. Essentially, with Adel destroyed, Rinoa, already being a sorceress, absorbs Adel's powers, thus preventing someone else from becoming a sorceress, and meaning Ultimecia will be forced to possess Rinoa again. Laguna and Ellone will show up, and Ellone will do her magic dream voodoo on Rinoa. This somehow enables Ultimecia to utilise 'time compression', which basically merges the past, present, and future into one.
So, I did a lot of reading on this, and, basically, this has the effect of making Ultimecia being the only being in existence (somehow), and that she will someone be a god of some kind? I don't know. It's not really explained in the game, and most of what I can find out comes from obscure lore sources, or vague hints in-game, and fan theories. (Fun fact: there is a fan theory that Ultimecia is a future Rinoa (since Sorceress' are apparently immortal?). Anyway, your characters will get sucked into some kind of spatio-temporal vortex, where you will be forced to fight a whole bunch of 'sorceress' creatures, culminating in a fight against a large, snakelike sorceress creature.
Killing this last one will eventually result in your characters eventually emerging in Ultimecia's time (i.e. the future). They end up at Edea's House, with dead White SeeD members littering the beach. If you continue up the chain, you will notice three portals on the left side that you can jump to. Choose to jump to the middle portal, and go through it. You will end up somewhere in Centra. Make sure to have Enc-None equipped to make things easier. At the northern tip of this area, you will find a Chocobo Forest. Enter and catch a Chocobo.
Since Chocobos can cross shallow water, you can use the Chocobo to cross over to the south-eastern landmass, and over to Kashkabald Desert. You can use the Chocobo to reach the Ragnarok. Note, there will also be a portal nearby that leads back to Ultimecia's Castle, which, when activated, opens a fourth portal on the right side. Inside the Ragnarok, however, you will find all the other Card Club members, assuming you completed the Card Club side quest earlier. Now, the really neat part? You can card mod all your rare cards, and then win them back from the CC members on board the Ragnarok. Although, don't do them all at once, or may have a hard time winning them back.
One thing you will want to do is to card mod the Gilgamesh card 10 times. Because, each time, you get 10 Holy Wars. These are items that make your entire party invincible for a brief period of time during battle. These are going to be very useful. Anyway, at this point, you can't visit any of the towns, since they are all blocked off with these weird magical barriers. If you have not done so already, take the time to fully level up your characters. Best spot is Cactuar Island. You can also grind kills here. At some point, you will get the following achievements:
Moreover, you also take the time to farm Draws for the following achievement:
You can also finish learning all of Quistis and Rinoa's limit breaks here if you have not already. You can learn Limit Breaks for Rinoa by going into the menu, and selecting which ability to teach Angelo. You acquire new abilities to be learned by acquiring Pet Pals. You learn them by running around with an unlearned ability equipped. You have to go in and change which ability to learn next every time you learn one, though. For Quistis, you have to find and use specific items on her.
She already starts off with Laser Eye. Here are the remaining attacks along with the item to teach them to Quistis: Spider Web teaches Ultra Wave, Coral Fragment teaches Electrocute, Curse Spike teaches Lv? Death, Black Hole teaches Degenerator, Water Crystal teaches Aqua Breath, Missile teaches Micro Missile, Mystery Fluid teaches Acid, Running Fire teaches Gatling Gun, Inferno Fang teaches Fire Breath, Malboro Tentacle teaches Bad Breath, Whisper teaches White Wind, Laser Cannon teaches Homing Laser, Barrier teaches Mighty Guard, Power Generator teaches Ray Bomb, and Dark Matter teaches Shockwave Pulsar.
Learning all of Rinoa and Quistis' Limit Breaks will give you the following achievements:
It is also advisable to upgrade every character's weapon to their ultimate weapon, especially Squall, since he learns new Renzokuken finishing moves by upgrading his weapon. The Ultimate Weapons are as follows:
Squall: Lionheart - 1 Adamantine, 4 Dragon Fangs, and 12 Pulse Ammo.
Rinoa: Shooting Star - 2 Windmills, 1 Regen Ring, 1 Force Armlet, and 2 Energy Crystals.
Quistis: Save the Queen - 2 Cockatrice Pinions, 4 Sharp Spikes, and 4 Energy Crystals.
Zell: Ehrgeiz - 1 Adamantine, 4 Dragon Skins, and 1 Fury Fragment.
Selphie: Strange Vision - 1 Adamantine, 3 Star Fragments, and 2 Curse Spikes.
Irvine: Exeter - 2 Dino Bones, 1 Moon Stone, 2 Star Fragments, and 18 Screws.
Moreover, if you have yet to upgrade a weapon, you will get the following achievement:
If you have a decent number of powerful spells, at this point it is advisable to junction some of your most powerful magic into your characters' HP. Unless you've already done so, if your characters are max level and have enough powerful magic, then you should have no trouble maxing out their HP, getting you:
If you have not already gotten this achievement, you can just keep playing the CC members until you get:
Now, there are draw points in the castle, as well as hidden draw points on the world map. So, if you do not yet have it, you can still get the following achievement:
Lastly, if you have not done so already, max out your SeeD rank by going into the menu and taking the tests. Each level consists of yes or no questions. Here are the answers for the relevant tests:
Level 1: YNYYYNNYNN
Level 2: YNYYYNYYNN
Level 3: NNYNYYYNYN
Level 4: NYYYNNYYNN
Level 5: NNNYYNNYYY
Level 6: YNYYNNYYNY
Level 7: YYYYYYNYYN
Level 8: NYNNYYNNYN
Level 9: NYNNNNNNYY
Level 10: YNNNNNNNYN
Level 11: YYNYYNYNNY
Level 12: NYNNYNYNYN
Level 13: YNNNYNNNNN
Level 14: YYYYNYYNYN
Level 15: YYNNNNNYNY
Level 16: YNNYNYNNYN
Level 17: YNNNYNNYNN
Level 18: YNNNYNNNNN
Level 19: YNNYNNNNNY
Level 20: YYNYNYYYNN
Level 21: YYYYNNYYYN
Level 22: NNNYNNNYYN
Level 23: YNNNNYYYYY
Level 24: YYNNYYNNNY
Level 25: YNYYYNNYNN
Level 26: YYNYNYNYNN
Level 27: NYNNNNYNYN
Level 28: YNNYYYNYNN
Level 29: NNNYYNNNYN
Level 30: NYNNNNYNNN
This will get you:
You are now ready to tackle... Ultimecia's Castle. Of course, the only way to get back is by taking one of the portals, since you apparently can't enter Edea's House from outside... which is odd, but whatever. Land near the portal of your choice, and use it warp back to the chain leading up to Ultimecia's Castle. Let's see. Creepy final dungeon? Check. Lots of boss fights? Check. Superboss? Check. Evil sounding music? Check. Well, just in case it wasn't obvious, this is, indeed, the final dungeon. Time to confront the mysterious Sorceress Ultimecia and put a stop to her weird time compression magic.
Now, when you reach the front of the castle, the characters not in the party should be waiting in front of the large doors. There is a save point here, which I advise using. Now, when you enter the castle interior, your characters' abilities will be 'sealed'. Essentially, you will only be able to use the 'attack' command. The only way to regain the usage of other abilities will be to fight and kill the various minions of Ultimecia scattered around her foul abode of evil. The first boss is directly ahead of you, and is not terribly difficult to defeat. Once he has taken enough of a beating, Sphinxaur will transform into Sphinxara, who isn't much tougher at all, really.
Another thing to note are the green portals on the ground. You can use these to switch between your two parties, which will come in handy later. Anyway, you will want to use your main party for now. Once Sphinxaur/Sphinxara has been defeated, I recommend unlocking the usage of GFs, since that entails the return of being able to junction. I recommend junctioning thunder based magic to your elemental defence. Anyway, head through the door and walk onto the chandelier. It should drop the party down into the room below. Don't worry, this is supposed to happen.
For now, walk over to the cellar hatch and inspect it, and you will be given the option of opening it. Open it, and go down into the room below. If you take the stairs down, you should see the next boss hovering around in the bottom-right. This guy, Tri-Point, is weak to Fire and Ice, and primarily uses thunder based attacks. Hence why you should have junctioned thunder magic to elemental defence. It makes this guy a lot easier. Otherwise, you may find your characters getting fried and ending up well-done and extra crispy. Once you have beaten Tri-Point, select to unlock magic next, as it will help against the next boss fight.
It also worth remembering that this room has a draw point in the top-right corner for Aura, so come back here once you have Draw unlocked to make use of it if you need it. Head back up to the room above, and then exit left into a corridor. If you go down, then it should lead to the main hall where you start off in. Go back up the stairs, but, this time, take a right and go up some more stairs here. In the next area, go down the staircase and through the big door ahead. You should arrive in an art gallery. In order to solve the puzzle here, you will have to first inspect the main painting, and then all of the smaller paintings. Go back to the main painting and choose, in this order, Vividarium, Viator, Intervigilium.
This will reveal the title of the big painting as being: "In the garden, sleeps a messenger", and a boss will spawn behind you. Walk up to it to start the encounters. Now, this guy, who is called Trauma, is very resistant to physical attacks. Thus, the best way to beat him is by using magic. You can use Meltdown on him to reduce his vitality, thus making your physical attacks effective. Once you beat him, you can choose whatever ability to unlock at this point. Go through the door at the back of the art gallery into the next area.
From here, continue past the green portal here and into the next area through the door down the stairs. Head through the door on the left, and you should find yourself in a prison cell, with a key dangling at the bottom of the screen. Grabbing the Prison Key initiates a boss battle against Red Giant, who appears behind you. Much like Trauma, this guy is highly resistant to physical attacks. He IS vulnerable to Meltdown, but it doesn't always work. If it misses, he will claim that "that magic is useless" but it will land eventually. Make use of protect, and also use blind on him, as he favours physical attacks. He shouldn't be too much trouble.
The door you came in through can be unlocked now using this key, although the other door across from it will be locked from the other side. From here, you will now want to head back ALL the way to the main hall again. Stand in the green portal and switch to team two. Take the second team through the door to the left, into the corridor, and then enter the room underneath the chandelier. From here, go over to the green portal in the far right. You should receive the message: "the lever has been depressed". Switch back to your main party.
Go up the stairs, and through the big door at the top. You should now be able to cross over the chandelier and onto the other side without falling down. On the other side of the chandelier will be the next boss, Krysta. Like the previous two bosses, it has ridiculous vitality, and so Meltdown is required to make your physical attacks do anything of note. Moreover, unlike Red Giant, Krysta prefers magic attacks. So, make use of shell. Moreover, keep your health up, as it will counterattack with 1,000 damage after every single attack your make. It also will cast Ultima when it dies.
Once you've dealt with Krysta, it is time to head back down to the main hall. From here, go through the door on the left and then go to the room the second party are in. From here, go through the door at the north of the room, into a courtyard. Go past the green portal and through the door at the back. In this next room, take the stairs on the right. Ignore the swirling mist for now. At the top of the stairs on the right will be a wooden walkway with the Armoury Key on it. Running will cause the key to fall, whereas if you walk, it will not fall.
If it does fall, then it is still obtainable. Once you either have the key, or it has fallen down below, head back to the main entrance hall. Head back to the Art Gallery, through the door on the other side, and then down the stairs. This time, take the door on the right, and you can use the key you got to open it, leading into an armoury. Now, don't mistake this guy for a regular enemy. Whilst he starts off as the regular skull and two hands, he transmogrifies into Gargantua. This guy counters all attacks with a physical attack called Counter Twist, so use Protect if you want. Once again, Meltdown makes this a lot easier.
Once this is done, head back to the hall underneath the chandelier, and take the door at the north into the courtyard. Walk up to the fountain, and inspect the left side to find the Treasure Room Key. Now backtrack all the way back to the main entrance hall. Go up the stairs and, this time, go left into a corridor. Halfway down the corridor, on the left, you can use the Treasure Room Key to enter the treasure room here, although it looks more like a crypt, to be honest.
There are four large tomb/coffin looking boxes here, and you have to inspect them in a certain order so that they are all open at the same time. Are you ready for the order? OK. Going from left to right, inspect each one, in order, from left, to right. No, really. 1, 2, 3, 4. This will start a boss fight against Catoblepas. This guy is pretty similar to all the previous boss fights. Use Meltdown, and cast Shell and Protect. Keep your HP up, though, as he uses Meteor when he dies. You are almost done fighting Ultimecia's lackeys.
From the hall underneath the chandelier, head into the courtyard, and into the room at the back (the one with the organ and the swirling mist). Now, the organ does not really do anything, but you can play it in order to unlock a secret passage that gets you a Rosetta Stone. However, to unlock it, you have to press 8 buttons at once. On the original PlayStation, these were the Square, Triangle, Circle, X, R1, R2, L1, and L2. So, press whichever keys you have mapped for these respective buttons all at once. For obvious reasons, do not press the keys mapped to select and start, otherwise you will trigger a soft reset.
If you go back to the courtyard, take the top-right exit. If you did it right, the passageway should be clear, and you can walk in and grab yourself a Rosetta Stone. From the organ room, take the stairs on the right side up. This time, go across the wooden bridge to the other side, and to the next area. You should now find yourself in a large clock tower. You will want to ascend the spiral staircase until you reach the area with the pendulum swinging back and forth. You will want to stand on the stairs to the left of the pendulum, and wait for it to come as close as possible. You should be able to jump onto it and across to another area.
Here you will find the last of Ultimecia's minions, Tiamat. Basically, Bahamut's evil sibling. Tiamat only has one attack: Dark Flare. Each time he gets a turn, one letter will appear on screen. Eventually, this will spell out the words 'Dark Flare' and he will actually use the attack, which hits hard. You will want to junction Thundaga, Blizzaga, and Firaga, to all three characters Elemental Defence. That way, Dark Flare will do next to no damage. Use Meltdown to make things easier, if you like, and he should go down.
At this point, all your sealed abilities should be unlocked. You're going to need them. Not just for the final battle against Ultimecia, but also for an optional superboss. Ultima Weapon's bigger and badder brother, Omega Weapon. First, take your main party and position them in the green portal back in the courtyard. With your second team, go back to the main hall. Head up the stairs and through the door on the right. However, instead of going to the Art Gallery, approach the long rope and interact to ring a bell. This will start a countdown, and you will hear "monsters roaring in the distance".
As soon as you are able to, head to the green portal and switch back to your main portal. You should have absolutely saved prior to this, as the following fight is the toughest in the game. With the main party, head into the chapel, and, in place of the swirling miasma, will be Omega Weapon. You have until the timer runs out to reach him, otherwise he disappears again. Anyway, run into him to trigger the boss battle. You are going to need to bring your absolute A game to this fight. You should also have a healthy supply of Holy Wars. Even then, this involves a lot of luck.
First off, make sure either that none of your characters are a level that is a multiple of 5, or have them with Death junctioned to status defence. Because Omega Weapon starts off with Lv.5 Death right off the bat. It will only use this once, fortunately. However, the rest of his attacks still hit pretty hard. He uses Meteor, which is then usually followed by Megiddo Flame... which deals exactly 9,998 damage to all your party members. So make sure to heal up after Meteor!
He also uses Gravija, which takes 3/4 off of each characters' HP. He has an attack called Terra Break, which shoots projectiles that will hit party members at random. He will cast Ultima. He also has Light Pillar attack, which deals exactly 9,999 damage, and is a one-shot insta-kill every single time. Interspersed between these will be random physical attacks. He usually deals 5 hits when he attacks physically. To begin, immediately make sure each character has Aura. You can either summon Cerberus, or have each character use Aura on themselves, or an Aura Stone on themselves. Once done, and, assuming Omega Weapon doesn't kill them in the interim, use a Holy War to make the party invincible for a short time.
Basically, spam limit breaks. If Squall has his ultimate weapon, he will have access to his ultimate limit break finishing move. So, every time you use Renzokuken, and you do well enough, there is a chance he will use this move, called Lionheart. Now, this attack is basically Squall's version of Omnislash from FF7. If he uses Lionheart twice in a row, this will take off roughly half of Omega Weapon's HP (which starts off at over 1,100,000. It can also be a good idea to have Rinoa, and use her Angelo limit breaks. Shooting Star also deals a ton of damage. Or, you can use Angel Wing, but you'll lose control of her until she dies or the battle is over.
As for a third member, Zell is a good choice here, since you can rack up damage with his limit break. If you manage to pull this off, you will get a Three Stars, and the 'Proof of Omega' key item (which does nothing except give you bragging rights, I guess?). You will also gain the following achievement:
You now have the final boss to deal with. So, save your game, and then return to the clock tower. Ascend the clock tower all the way to the top, and exit at the top onto the clock hands. Walk across the clock hands, and down the ladder. Walk up the path until you reach the Save Point. Save here. When you approach Ultimecia's room, you have the choice to either enter, or back out (in case you forgot something). Enter, and be prepared to deal with Ultimecia once and for all.
This fight is actually broken up into five sections. That's right, FIVE. Her first form is just her regular, sorceress self, vis a vis, Edea. Ultimecia is also no pushover. She will cast Meltdown on your characters, and has an attack called Maelstrom which takes off 5/8ths of your HP (62.5%), and has a chance of causing the Curse status effect. However, here's the kicker, when the battle starts, your party members are chosen at random. So, you either make sure everybody is set up prior to this battle, or just let each character die and do not revive them, so that they get 'absorbed into the time stream' and replaced by another party member.
Once she takes enough damage, she will summon her own GF. If, when Rinoa asked what the lion on Squall's ring was called, you changed the name from Griever, this GF will have that name. However, for simplicity's sake, I shall just refer to it as Griever. The first thing to note here is that Griever has an ability to entirely remove the entire stock of a single spell from a character. Basically, a message stastating that "[x]s [y] was blown away" with x being a character name, and y being the name of the spell being removed. This is incredibly annoying, since if he eliminates a spell you have junctioned that character's stats, that stat will revert to the pre-junction value. Yeah.
It also has a particularly devastating attack called 'Shockwave Pulsar', which is the same as Quistis' final limit break of the same name. If you beat him before he has used this move, he will use it as a final attack upon being defeated. It is strongly advisable to take him out as quickly as possible. Best method is to use Meltdown on Griever, Aura on Squall, and then just plug away with Renzokuken. However, upon being defeated, Ultimecia will then junction herself to Griever? I don't even want to know what that actually entails. Anyway, you will then have to fight a half-Griever/half-Ultimecia monstrosity.
The main thing to note is that the Ultimecia/Griever hybrid will summon these things called Helixes. These GREATLY enhance Ultimecia/Griever. Summoning the first one will grant her/him/it the Ultima spell. If she/he/it summons the second one, it grants them Meteor, and a move called Great Attractor (which ignores vitality and so deals a ton of damage). They both automatically disappear once Ultimecia/Griever's HP has been depleted by 65%, which is around the time Ultimecia/Griever change form. At this point, the bottom half of this abomination breaks off and disintegrates, leaving a floating upper half.
At this point, he/she/it/they gain an ability called Hell's Judgment, which reduces everybody in the party to 1 HP. Yikes! It is also a lot quicker... at least it always seems that way to me when I get to this part. If you have megalixirs, make use of them. You can get a good supply by card mod farming. Once beaten, this unholy combination will be destroyed. But, wait, there's more! You will now face Ultimecia's final form. This form consists of two separate halves, although, if I recall correctly, you can only target one of them for the beginning of the battle. At some point, however, the top half will draw a spell called Apocalypse from its lower half and then use it on you, which deals a ton of damage.
Ultimecia will also use Hell's Judgment, so keep your HP up! Again, best method is cast Meltdown on Ultimecia, Aura on Squall, use a Holy War, and then spam Renzokuken. Congratulations, you have now beaten the game! You should now have the following achievement: