-- Final fantasy X No Sphere Grid Monster arena FAQ
-- By Hyprophant/Klink, [email protected]
-- Version 2.1

Legal Disclaimer: This FAQ is for personal use only, and copyrighted to me,
Hyprophant. You are not allowed to post this FAQ on your magazines, website
or any other form of public media without contacting me first and receiving
MY permission, and you must not change any single word in this FAQ. If you
want to make any change of this FAQ, then you will not be allowed to use it.
Do not dare to violate this disclaimer, or I will pursue the legal rights and
you will regret it.

Attention: I am NOT going to list bosses' states, item/steal list or prize
list in this FAQ, you can find them in CB!'s monster arena FAQ. This FAQ ONLY
provides strategies of how to complete monster arena quest in NSG game, if
you are playing a regular game, this FAQ is not going to help your game a lot.

WARNING To Webmasters: If you received my permission to use this FAQ, it is
your duty to keep the newest version. If you can't keep it current, then you
can forget about using it.

Appendix B is about how to defeat Dark Aeons in a No Sphere Gird game in FFX:
I/PAL version. This part is credited to Klink <[email protected]>. If you
receive my permission to use this FAQ, I will e-mail you the one WITHOUT
Appendix B and that's WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO USE on your site or magazines. If
you really want the information in appendix B, you must receive Klink's
permission before you talk to me.

Translating this FAQ into any foreign language is absolutely forbidden except
these following languages: Spanish, Japanese and Chinese, since I cannot read
any other language besides them and English. If you wish to translate this
FAQ to one of the three foreign languages listed above and post them on your
site, ask me first. Also, you must translate this FAQ word by word, and you
have to let me view it first before it is posted. I have the right to edit
your translation if you did not translate this FAQ directly or add any other
new information that is not in the original FAQ.

--Table of Contents-

 I. Version History

II. Preface

III. Preparations
 a. Customizing weapons and armors
 b. Learn about items/mixes
 c. Leveling up aeons
 d. General strategies
 e. Yojimbo and Zanmoto

IV. Area Creations
 a. Stratavis
 b. Malboro menace
 c. Kottos
 d. Coeurlregina
 e. Jormungand
 f. Cactuar King
 g. Espada
 h. Chimerageist
 j. Don Tonberry
 k. Catoblepas
 I. Abadon
 m. Vorban

 V. Species Creations
 a. Fenrir
 b. Ornitholestes
 c. Petryx
 d. Hornet
 e. Vidatu
 f. One Eye
 g. Jumbo Flan
 h. Nega Elemental
 i. Tanket
 j. Fafnir
 k. Sleep Sprout
 l. Bomb King
 m. Juggernaut
 n. Iron Clad

VI. Original creations
 a. Earth Eater
 b. Greater Sphere
 c. Catastrophe
 d. Th'uban
 e. Neslug
 f. Ultima Buster
 g. Shinryu
 h. Nemesis/Aka Omega Gold

VII. Frequently asked questions

VIII.Appendix A: Useful Items list

IX. Appendix B: NSG Dark Aeons

 X. Author's notes: The End Of Our Quest

XI. Credits/Thanks

--I. Version History

Version 0.1, 4/06/02. Gestahl started the first topic about NSG monster arena
on GameFaq's message board.

Version 0.2, 7/20/02. Hikensasame Yuki confirmed the strategy of defeating
Nemesis without Zanmato in NSG.

Version 0.9, 8/11/02. Hyprophant finished NSG monster arena FAQ.

Version 1.0, 8/13/02. This FAQ has posted on GameFaq's FFX FAQ board.

Version 2.0, 9/06/02. Minor changes were made in the original creation part;
add appendix B, more frequently asked questions, and author's notes.

Version 2.1, 10/25/02. Renew Appendix B part; add Dark Anima strategies in
Appendix B; and other minor changes have been made as well.

--II. Preface-

This is an in-depth strategy guide of how to conquer monster arena without
using the sphere gird option. The purpose of this FAQ is to explain how it is
possible to defeat those extremely strong bosses in monster arena and acquire
the "Mark of Conquest" without even raising your characters' states one bit.
And I only recommend players who truly master this game and have knowledge
about every boss in monster arena trying this ultimate challenge.

The "NSG monster arena" topic on GameFaq's FFX board was started by Gestahl
in April, 2002, and I carried on his progress after his topic was gone. With
many experts' help, I/we finally found out the way to defeat all monster
arena bosses in NSG. This FAQ is actually credited to many people, not only
my work. I am just the one who gathered info and made this FAQ.

I will try to make this FAQ as clear and easy to understand as possible, if
you still have any question about NSG monster arena or you need help, please
leave your messages on GameFaq's FFX message board and I will answer your
questions there. DO NOT email me if you just have a game play question, I
will delete your mail, and you won't get any reply.

--III. Preparations

a. Customizing weapons and armors

In a NSG, your characters' states never raise, so having good weapons and
good armors is extremely important. Unlike a regular game, it is not
necessary for you to have abilities such as "Break damage limit", "One Mp
cost" or "Magic boost". Instead of them, there are several abilities can save
your life when you are battling monster arena bosses in NSG:

1. First Strike: This ability allows you move first before your enemies, even
if you are ambushed. You will have to be initiative to beat many bosses in
NSG. You can add first strike ability on your weapons with a return sphere,
and you can acquire return spheres by playing blitzball, or from Sanctuary
Keeper.

2. Evade and counter(*): This ability sounds a bit useless since your evasion
is so low in NSG, while most bosses in monster arena have high accuracy,
however, Evade and counter ability can also raise your speed a bit during
battles, and it will give you few extra turns to attack. You can add evade
and counter ability on your weapons with a teleport sphere, and you can
acquire teleport spheres from playing blitzball, treasure boxes or fighting
Master Tonberry in Omega Ruin.

3. Initiative: This ability prevents you being ambushed (except against
Malboro Menace). With a weapon bears both first strike and initiative ability,
you may have some extra turns before your enemies' first move, but it depends
on your enemies' agility. You can add initiative ability on your weapons with
a chocobo feather, and you can steal chocobo feathers from cactuars in
Sanubia desert.

4. Triple overdrive (optional): It triples the speed of refilling your
overdrive gauges, some bosses in monster arena does not use very strong
attacks, and you will have to have triple overdrive weapons in order to
charge your overdrive gauges quickly. You can add triple overdrive ability on
your weapons with 20 doors to tomorrow, and you will have 99 of them by
unlocking Catastrophe in monster arena.

You will use Rikku, Wakka, and Tidus in most battles, and you have to add
those four abilities above on their weapons before you can take bosses in
monster arena in a NSG game. Now, you need weapons with four empty slots
first.

The best way to get weapons with four slots is buying them from Wantz. You
can find him in the entrance of macalania forest, he sells everyone 's
equipments with four empty slots there, and each of them costs you 100,000
gil... and it is NOT easy to earn money in NSG.

In order to get the big money you want in your NSG, find Rikku and Auron's
celestial weapons and power them up!!! There is " Gillionare" ability on
Rikku's weapon, which will double the money you get after you defeat monsters;
and there is " Triple overdrive" ability on Auron's celestial weapon, which
will increases the speed he refill his overdrive gauge.

Now go to Omega Ruin and fight mimics, and be sure that Rikku and Auron are
in the party. If Auron's overdrive gauge is full, you can use shooting star
to blow mimics away. With Gillionare ability, you will receive massive
100,000 gil after the battle!!!!

Of course you can not complete NSG monster arena with only good weapons, you
have to customize your own armors as well. Here are some abilities you will
need for your armors:

1. Auto phoenix: It allows a character uses phoenix downs to revive the dead
party members other then him/herself, if there is any phoenix down available
in the inventory. Even if it is not his/her turn. You can add auto phoenix
ability on your armors with 20 mega phoenixes, and you can get 99 of mega
phoenixes by unlocking Pteryx in monster arena.

2. Auto haste: It keeps a character in haste statue constantly. You can add
auto haste ability on your armors with 80 chocobo wings. You will need at
least three auto haste armors, so which means you will have to gather massive
240 chocobo wings just for 3 Auto haste armors!!!

You can get 99 chocobo wings from unlocking Cactuar King in monster arena,
however, you still need 139 more... the best way to get this many chocobo wings
is having Rikku equips a "master thief" armor (for how to customize a master
thief armor, please refer to my " NSG monster taming FAQ"), and steal chocobo
wings from cactuars in Sanubia desert.

Basically, that's it. With these two abilities on your armors, you will be
able to handle most of creations in monster arena. You should have Rikku,
Wakka and Tidus equip armors with "auto phoenix" and "auto haste", and you
MUST add these two abilities on armors with four empty slots. You may need
some extra abilities to fight specific bosses later.

If it doesn't bother you, giving Yuna an auto haste armor would be a wise
idea, too. It increases the chance that Yuna is able to have a turn after an
aeon is dismissed/killed.

b. Learn about items/mixes.

No matter you are fighting monster arena bosses or not, as long as you are
playing a NSG, Rikku is the center of your entire party, she is the only one
can "use" items and "mix" integrants.

The most important mix in NSG is "trio of 9999", it allows everyone in the
frontline party deals 9999 damage in every single hit. Mix trio of 9999 in
conjunction with Wakka's overdrive " attack reels" will deal massive 119,988
damage in one turn!!!

There are several ways to mix trio of 9999:

1. Underdog's secret + Level 3/level 4 key spheres

You can get 99 underdog's secrets from Rin after you collect all 26 al behd
primers, and you can get level 3 key spheres from Defender Z ( use Auron's
shooting star to eject it) and maybe some other monsters in Omega Ruin. You
can not bribe in a NSG, so your level 4 key spheres might be limited in your
game.

2. Door to tomorrow + Door to tomorrow

You can get 99 Doors to tomorrow by unlocking Catastrophe in monster arena.

3. Wings of discovery + Wings of discovery

You can get 30 wings of discovery by wining chocobo race outside reniem
temple with three chests opened. To win the race and open three chests, go
straight and get the first chest, then take the path in your right hand side
and go south to get your second chest. Take the path in your right hand side
again and go north to get your third chest, then just go straight to the goal,
you should be able to win the race easily.

4. Gambler's spirit + Gambler's spirit

You can get 99 gambler's spirit by unlocking Th'uban in monster arena, and
you can steal them as many as you want from Earth eater or Greater sphere, as
long as you have the money you need to fight them.

I only provided those four ways since I used them quite often, there are many
other items you can use for mixing trio of 9999, however, I am not going to
list them here because they may requires some items that could be more useful
besides mixing trio of 9999. If you want to know them so bad, please refer to
CB!'s mix FAQ for more detailed info.

Besides Trio of 9999, "Hyper Mighty G" is another important mix in NSG
monster arena, you only need to use "Hyper Mighty G" against few bosses, but
that's reason enough for u to learn about it.

The best way to mix Hyper Mighty G is winning formula + star/light cartain.
You can acquire 99 winning formulas by unlocking Neslug, 99 star cartains by
unlocking Nega-elemental, and 99 light cartains by unlocking Juggernaut in
monster arena.

Again, this is NOT the only way to mix Hyper Mighty G, but I am not going to
list all of them here. Please refer to CB!'s mix FAQ for more tips if you
really need them.

Those two mixes are good enough to carry you through NSG monster arena, let's
talk about the useful items. I put items into two categories: Items can be
only used by Rikku, and items can be used by everybody.

Useful items in the first categories are most likely attack items like Dark
matters, supreme gems and elemental gems. Dark matters usually deal 12,500+
damage to targets; supreme gems almost always deal 9,999 damage to targets,
elemental gems hit targets five times with fair damage per hit, however, if
you use elemental gems in conjunction with trio of 9999, each elemental gem
can deal 49,995 damage and it will be your lethal weapon against some
bosses!!! Plus unlike overdrive, "use" command takes much less time. It is
another advantage of using items to attack, and it will save you in some
battles.

You can get 99 dark matters by unlocking Ultima Buster, 60 supreme gems by
unlocking Greater sphere in monster arena, and you can steal elemental gems
from Fire flans, Grenades or some other elemental enemies.

Al behd potion is a healing item that can only be used by Rikku, and it works
just like mega potions in NSG since your party's Hp is very low. Plus it
cures poison and petrifaction. You can steal them from machine type of
enemies, they are easy to steal, they are cheap, and they are effective.

There are more good items for Rikku to use, please go to Appendix A for more
info there.

For the items in the second categories, you must always keep 99 phoenix downs,
20 mega potions, and 20 mega phoenixes. Phoenix downs will keep auto phoenix
works, mega potion can complete heal the entire party, and it is good against
some bosses that have low strength but good at status attack, and mega
phoenixes is just in case that you run out of phoenix downs.

c. Leveling up aeons

Since a NSG game stands for a "No Sphere Grid" game, it means you can still
use spheres to level up aeons' attribute and items to teach aeons abilities.
Some bosses can not be defeated in NSG unless with powerful aeons, although
only few of them... but remember, you have to defeat at least each boss in
monster arena once before you can face Nemesis.

The theories of leveling up aeons are vary, DREMC used to have a topic about
how to level up aeons in NSG on GameFaq's FFX message board. I have played
NSG several times in order to test aeons' growth in NSG, although I can not
say that I have completely discovered the absolute theory of leveling up
aeons, there are several things I am sure about:

1. Aeons' growth has nothing to do with Yuna' sphere level. Even Yuna has
sphere level 99, it won't help your Aeons one bit.

2. Your Aeons' grows about every 30 battles, it does not matter if you win or
loss, it does not even matter if Yuna is in the party or not. I have found
that after Yuna is caught by the Guados, my aeons state was still growing in
Sanubia Desert.

3. Every Aeon has a "Nature growth limit" which means they stop growing after
they reach a certain level. After that, if Yuna does not become any stronger,
then they stop growing unless you use spheres to raise their attribute.

I have played NSG many times, and I always got those following stats as the
final result of aeons' growth limit:

Valefor:

Hp/Mp: 2,225/71
Str: 45
Def: 66
Mag: 64
Mag def: 69
Agility: 34
Luck: 17
Eva: 42
Acc: 20

Ifrit:

Hp/Mp: 3,067/68
Str: 46
Def: 84
Mag: 62
Mag Def: 62
Agility: 30
Luck: 17
Eva: 22
Acc: 20

Ixion:

Hp/Mp: 3,025/74
Str: 47
Def: 74
Mag: 61
Mag Def: 81
Agility: 26
Luck: 17
Eva: 26
Acc: 21

Shiva:

Hp/Mp: 2,680/85
Str: 42
Def: 48
Mag: 70
Mag Def: 71
Agility: 52
Luck: 17
Eva: 66
Acc: 20

Bahamute:

Hp/Mp: 4,340
Str: 50
Def: 79
Mag: 55
Mag Def: 84
Agility: 34
Luck: 17
Eva: 44
Acc: 20

Anima:

Hp/mp: 5,090/130
Str: 65
Def: 74
Mag: 66
Mag Def: 69
Agility: 30
Luck: 17
Eva: 44
Acc: 20

Yojimbo:

Hp/Mp: 3,064/0
Str: 61
Def: 73
Mag: 48
Mag Def: 69
Agility: 30
Luck: 17
Eva: 122(!!)
Acc: 38

Magus sisters-Cindy

Hp/Mp: 8,410/140
Str: 60
Def: 94
Mag: 64
Mag Def: 84
Agility: 34
Luck: 17
Eva: 44
Acc: 20

Magus sister-Sandy

Hp/Mp: 6,910/103
Str: 69
Def: 76
Mag: 73
Mag Def: 84
Agility: 34
Luck: 17
Eva: 38
Acc: 22

Magus sisters-Mindy

Hp/Mp: 4,887/178
Str: 50
Def: 70
Mag: 85
Mag Def: 84
Agility: 42
Luck: 17
Eva: 50
Acc: 21

Those states above is when and where your aeons stop growing, and I doubt if
it could be possible to get any different result, I don't really think so,
but even if I was wrong, your aeons' growth limit would be at least VERY
close to the aeons above. After that you have to use spheres to beef them up.

Of course you are not going to strengthen all your aeons in your NSG, it
could take you forever, you have to choose few aeons that you want to level
up. I recommend choosing Anima/Bahamute as your first choice. They both have
non-elemental overdrive, which would be good against bosses in monster arena,
since most of them either nullify or absorb certain elemental attacks. Plus
Pain and impulse are both wonderful special attacks, although it takes a long
time to fire them.

You have two choices: you can level your aeons up to a reasonable stat, or
max them, depends on if you are planning on using Zanmato on Neslug, Ultima
Buster and Nemesis. You really need very powerful aeons to beat those three
dudes, there may be a way to defeat Neslug with a weak aeon, but I just have
the possible theory and I haven't tested it yet. And leveling up your aeons
to max will be insane, plus you are only going to use them against three
bosses... I would like to just Zanmato them, however, if you still think
Zanmato is cheap, then you have to max out your Anima/Bahamute and Magus
sisters, best luck of your NSG if you really are going to max your aeons out.

To calculate the spheres you need to raise 1 point aeons' attribute, divided
the number by two and round it up. Like if Anima's defense is 78, you will
need 39 power spheres (78/2 = 39) to raise it to 80; also like if Bahamute's
magic is 81, then you will need 41 mana spheres ( 81/2 = 40.5 and we round it
up to 41) to raise it to 82. And after a stat is raised to over 198, you will
need 99 spheres to raise 1 point of aeons' attribute.

For example, like Anima's defense ends up with 74, and if you want to level
up to 255, that's how many spheres you need:

2 x (37+38+39...+97+98) + 99 x 54 = 13,716 power spheres.

I don't know the exact formula of raising Hp and Mp, and I will update this
part as soon as I figure out the calculation.

Scared a bit, did ya^_~? Yes, that's how many spheres you need just for max
out Anima's defense!!!

Now there are some tips for people who choose the first option:

You want level up your Anima/bahamute to a "reasonable" stat, so how strong
should she/he be? Here is an example: (I use Anima here because I did not use
Bahamute a lot, he is just not cool enough to me)

Anima: (I used a rename card and changed her name to Hyprophant^_^)

Hp/Mp: 8,060/500
Str: 110
Def: 165
Mag: 147
Mag Def: 135
Agility: 91
Luck: 17
Eva: 64
Acc: 30

This Anima is good enough to defeat Vorban, Nega elemental and Jumbo Flan
( you have to use aeons to defeat these three bosses). Actually, if you raise
Anima/Bahamute's strength and magic to 100, that will be enough, but for
defense, magic defense and agility, the higher, the better.

Before you complete monster arena quest, you will have to capture 10 of each
monsters (Please refer to my NSG monster taming FAQ for more info about
taming monsters in NSG), and monsters drop spheres, so using those spheres
dropped by regular monsters will be enough to raise Anims/Bahamute's state
the one is shown above.

For those who think Zanmato is cheap and decide to max out aeons to battle
Neslug, Ultima Buster and Nemesis, be prepared!!! You will have to spend a
long time to achieve your goal.

First, when I said "max" your aeons out, I did not mean that you have to
raise everything to the max, like Hp 99,999 or luck 255. The things you
really have to max out are defense, magic, magic defense and agility. You can
raise your strength to 200+ if you like.

It is almost pointless to raise luck, evasion or accuracy. Most of bosses in
monster arena have accuracy 255 and evasion close to 0, some bosses do have
high evasion like Petryx or Cactuar King, but thanks to the heaven, your
regular party-Wakka, Rikku and Tidus will be good enough to take care of them,
you won't even need to summon aeons. So I don't see why you want to raise
evasion and accuracy, unless you just want to do it for fun. Raising luck
could be a good thing, however, you need a lot of fortune spheres to raise
luck, and you can only get two fortune by defeating Earth eater in monster
arena...so, if you want to raise an aeon's luck to max, you will have to battle
Earth eater more than 6,000 times!!! I doubt anyone could have this much time
in his/her hand.

You won't need to raise a aeon's Hp to 99,999 and mp to 9,999, around 25,000
Hp and 900+ Mp will be good enough for your Bahamute/Anima, however, if you
are going to use aeons to fight Nemesis, you will have to raise Magus sisters
Hp to around at least 80,000, and 4,000+ Mp for Cindy.

You need power spheres to raise strength, defense and Hp, mana spheres to
raise magic, magic defense and Mp, speed spheres to raise agility, accuracy
and evasion (and you need fortune spheres to raise luck, but I think you
would like to pass this part), the best way to get spheres you need to power
up your aeons is using the distiller trick on Kattos:
Purchase some power/mana/speed distillers from the owner of monster arena
first, and then use it on Kattos, after you defeat him, he will drop 40
spheres. What spheres does he drop depends on what distiller you use on him
first. Like if you use power distiller on Kottos, after you defeat and
overkill(use trio of 9999+ attack reels), he will drop 40 power spheres.
After you level Anima/Bahamute's str and defense to 200+, you can start using
aeons against Kattos instead of your regular party, it will be much faster.

d. General strategies

Against most of bosses, you will use Wakka, Rikku and Tidus in your frontline
party. You have to refill their overdrive gauges before each battle in NSG
monster arena, and set their overdrive mode as comrade. Have Rikku mix a trio
of 9999 and have Tidus, Wakka use their most powerful overdrive.

The difficulty of bosses in NSG is not based on how powerful their attack is,
but how often they use group attack, and their agility. If a boss can only
use a single target attack every time, even he can do 99,999 damage on one
person, auto phoenix will revive him/her immediately. However, Auto phoenix
does not work if all three people in your front line party are K.O. Agility
is another important part, it determines how many turns will your characters
have before the enemy after they are dead and revived by auto phoenix. These
knowledge are not really helpful in combats, but I just talk about them a bit
to help some novices understand more about NSG monster arena.

You should always fill all your aeons' overdrive gauges before every battle
as well. Anima and Bahamute's overdrive are most likely deal heavy damage to
the opponents.

Of course, In NSG you have to abuse overdrive, but always remember this:
Overdrive delays your turn, especially blitz ace, since it is the 4th overdrive.
If you use overdrive constantly, some bosses have high agility will be able
to move more than 4 times in a row, even if you have auto phoenix to revive
dead persons, every time your people is killed, his/her turn will be delayed,
and it will allow your opponents keep moving without stop, and you will die
after you run out phoenix downs, I had a record that Fenrir moved 76 times in
a row without even stopping once. So you ought to pay attention on the turn
list, if the boss is going to move too many turns, select defend to interrupt
your enemies' turns instead of using overdrive.

e. Yojimbo and Zanmato

If you check Yojimbo's state list, there is a special attack called "Zanmato",
this attack can kill everything in one hit (except Shinryu, since you can not
use Yuna in water). I must say it is cheap to use Zanmato against bosses...it
requires little strategies, however, if you don't want to spent 500+ hours to
max out Anima/Bahamute and Magus sisters, then you have to use zanmato to
slay few original creation bosses.

Basically, Yojimbo does not easily perform Zanmato unless you pay him a lot
of money, especially against bosses in monster arena. Every boss in monster
arena has Zanmato resistance level "5", so it is impossible to get a free
zanmato in monster arena. If you want Yojimbo to do the free zanmato for you,
your enemies must not have Zanmato resistance level higher than "1", and your
affection level with Yojimbo must be very high (Please refer to Azure Edge's
Yojimbo FAQ for more detailed info).

Some people said that you have to build affection level up with Yojimbo in
order to increase the chance to see Yojimbo does Zanmoto in monster arena,
based on my experience, that's not true, if you want to Zanmato bosses in
monster arena, you have to pay all the money you have, like if you have
1,000,000 gil, then you will have to pay that much in order to let your
greedy Yojimbo to do Zanmato for you. If you only have 1,000 gil, then 1,000
gil will be how much you have to pay, of course, the more you pay him, the
higher the chance that Yojimbo perform Zanmato against monster arena bosses.

Also, if Yojimbo's overdrive gauge is filled, then he will do Zanmato a bit
more often. If you want to Zanmato a boss, refill Yojimbo's overdrive gauge
before the combat, and then switch to Yuna and pay all you have and see if he
does Zanmato, if not, reload the game over and over 'till he does the dirty
trick for you.

Although it is possible to see him does Zanmato in monster arena with little
payment, I still suggest paying him at least 1,000,000 gil or more, if you
don't want to reload your game like insane.

As I have mentioned above, fighting Mimics is a good place to make money, and
there is another way to get quick money in NSG: Fighting One-eye. He only has
150,000 hp and with trio of 9999, you can kill him in one minute. He
sometimes drops weapons with "Triple overdrive" ability, which is very pricey.

IV. Area creations

Note: I will only use aeons in boss strategies part if aeon is really needed,
because I have to concern about most of people who don't want to spend too
much time on maxing aeons.


a. Stratavis    Hp: 320,000

This boss uses regular attack, which deals damage to a single target, and he
also has sonic boom that will destroy your entire party.

In order to defeat him easily, Switch to Yuna and summon Yojimbo. Stratavis
will not use sonic boom against any aeons, so he will just keep using regular
attack, and with Yojimbo's high evasion ( 122 as his growth limit), Stratavis
will not be able to touch Yujimbo. You can just keep paying Yojimbo 10 gil
'till you defeat Stratavis, simple and easy.

b. Malboro Menace    Hp: 640,000

This giant Malboro always ambushes your party. He always uses putrid breath
as his opening attack, which deals around 6,000 damage to the entire party
(plus various status changes like confuse, berserk...etc, but since you are
dead, the status changing does not matter). His "chew time" and Juice attack
hits a single target and will kill the target for sure. The worst part is his
juice blast, it deals 10,000+ damage to the entire party and shatter the
targets with 50% chance.

You will need a little luck to defeat him. First, have Rikku mix a Hyper
mighty G, Malboro menace's putrid breath will wipe out your party and you
will be revived by auto life. Now mix a trio of 9999 and have Wakka use
attack reels and Tidus use Blitz ace, Rikku can attack with element gems
( but not water gems) sometimes to help.

Malboro rarely uses juice blast after he uses putrid breath, so you can keep
attacking with overdrive, mix another trio of 9999 if two of your party
members were killed at least once.

I noticed that after Malboro Menace's Hp drops below 300,000, he uses juice
blast MUCH MORE often than usual, and you don't hold a chance against this
attack. You can still keep attacking with trio of 9999, but summon an aeon to
block his attack before his turn comes. You will barely have a chance to
attack since every time your aeon is killed, your turns will be delayed. Keep
being cautious you will be able to kill him after several attempts.

c. Kottos      Hp: 440,000

Every time you do ANYTHING on Kottos, he will counter attack and kill one
person, he also uses regular punch, which will deal 9,999 to a single target.

This boss is easy, mix a trio of 9999 first, and attack with Wakka and Tidus'
overdrive. After both Wakka and Tidus are killed once, mix another trio of
9999, after you mix 3 or 4 trio of 9999, he will be dead for good.

d. Coeurlregina    Hp: 380,000

He has an attack called " chaos" which inflicts confusion statue on a single
target, and he also uses hyper blast that will inflict instant death on a
single target, both of these two attacks deals no damage so neither of them
will refill anyone's overdrive gauge. He also uses flare and drain sometimes.

The best way to defeat him is to add "confuse proof" ability on your armors
(if you followed the entire FAQ so far, you should have two empty slots on
your armors besides auto haste and auto phoenix), but it is not required. You
need 60 musk for confuse proof ability, and you can steal musk from Floating
death.

Mix a trio of 9999 first and attack with overdrive. Then you have to wait for
Coeurlregina's flare and drain to refill your overdrive gauge, otherwise,
keep defending and use remedy to cure the one is confused, if you choose not
to customize confuse proof armor.

Mix another trio of 9999 ONLY after all three people have full overdrive
gauges, and at least one person has a turn after Rikku, so he can attack
immediately after her without taking the risk of being confused by
Coeurlregina and wasting trio of 9999. This battle should not be too
difficult.

e. Jormungand      Hp: 520,000

He likes to petrify you, and he has a group attack called "Space Time Varpel",
which deals 9,999 damage to everyone.

So do you have to add stone proof ability on your armors??? Absolutely NOT!!!
Jormungand is immune to slowness, so have Rikku use a silver hourglass to
slow him down first, then mix a trio of 9999 and attack with wakks and Tidus.
Summon an aeon to block his attack, after your aeon is killed, keep attacking
with regular attack (since everyone's overdrive gauge is empty right now) and
Rikku's elemental gems. Call another aeon before Jormungand's turn and block
his attack again, after three or four of your aeons are killed, you will slay
Jormungand.

f. Cactuar King      Hp: 100,000

Lol, poor thing. His agility and evasion are both high, but since your
overdrive never miss, so they are not going to help him a bit.

Mix a trio of 9999, have wakka do a perfect attack reel with 12 hits will
overkill him for good.

g. Espada      Hp: 280,000

Espada is constantly in regen statue, his regular attack deals massive amount
damage to a single target, and he also counter any attack with Hades claw, it
is a powerful single target attack and inflicts instant death.

Espada is not immune to slow, so silver hourglass works well in this battle,
and I assume the slowness will decrease his recovery rate.

The "evade and counter" ability will help you dodge Espada's Hades claw
(around 30% chance) and other physical attacks. After battle starts, use a
silver hourglass first, then mix a trio of 9999 and attack with Tidus and
Wakka. For some strange reasons, his recovery speed is much higher if you
don't have evade and counter ability, he will keep killing you and healing
himself while you are busy to mix trio of 9999 one after another, but with
evade and counter ability, you will be able to defeat him after around 15
minutes.

Also, you can use aeon and cast Jinx on Espada, after you cast Jinx twice, he
can rarely recover around 16,000 hp each turn.

h. Abyss Worm       Hp: 480,000

Abyss Worm is slow and easy. His regular attack deals around 8,000 damage to
a single target, and he has a group attack called earthquake, however, before
he does this special attack, he always spends a turn to do "ready quake" so
you know exactly when he is going to use the trump.

Mix a trio of 9999 and keep attacking. Mix another trio of 9999 if it is
needed. Every time you see him does "ready quake", summon an aeon to block
his earthquake before his next turn comes up.

i. Chimerageist     Hp: 120,000

Easy, easy, mix a trio of 9999, Tidus blitz ace and Wakka attack reels,
Chimerageist will be dead quickly.

j. Don Tonberry     Hp: 480,000

Don Tonberry does not attack before he is close to you, he only counter
attacks your attack with a powerful version Karma. So, he is another easy
boss.

Mix a trio of 9999 first and attack with blitz ace, attack reel and elemental
gems, it will take half of his Hp out. Of course Don Tonberry will counter
attack with Karma, after all three people have been killed once, mix another
trio of 9999 and launch your second wave attack, he will be dead before he
can reach you.

k. Catoblepas       Hp: 550,000

This boss is a super behemoth, all of his attack are based on behemoths but
much more powerful, like heave or thundaga, however, they are all single
target attacks, so you can still mix trio of 9999 and abuse overdrive like
you fight other bosses, and let auto phoenix take care of the reviving job.

Catablepas casts ultima after he is defeated, so you have to watch out his Hp,
before you kill him, mix a Hyper mighty G so your party will be saved bt auto
life after his ultima attack, also, if you don't want to use a Hyper Mighty G
here, you can overdrive Anima/Bahamute/ Magus sisters as your finish blow.

l. Abadon           Hp: 380,000

Abadon is immune to all four elements, so element gems won't work in this
battle. Rikku's job is only to mix trio of 9999, nothing more than that.

Abadon is constantly in reflection statue and he casts powerful "ga" spell on
himself and bounces it back to your party, so auto reflect armor won't work.
But his spells only hit one person each time, so you can mix trio of 9999
and...NOT abuse your overdrive, use it wisely!!! Abadon is a very agile monster,
and every time you use overdrive, it delays your turn, so if you abuse
overdrives much, Abadon may be able to attack 3 or more times in a row. He
does have a powerful group attack called "Emblem of Cosmos", and before he
dose this attack, he spends one turn to do "Mana focus" and it delays his
turn a bit, so actually he will need three turns to charge before he uses
Emblem of Cosmos, however, if you let him move three times in a row, you
won't have a chance to switch to Yuna and summon aeons to block his attack,
so after you mix trio of 9999, do not use overdrive constantly. Keep this in
mind and you will be able to defeat him in about ten minutes.

j. Vorban           Hp: 630,000

Vorban is armored, he randomly counter attacks mortar, which will hit all
three people in your party; He also uses regular attack that hits one person
each time; and he has "body splash" attack which is a muti-target attack just
like mortar.

Although it IS possible to beat him without aeons (Actually I have never done
this before...but seeing his mortar counter is randomly used, if you are lucky
enough, he won't use it at all), I think using aeons in this battle would be
a wise choice.

You don't need max out your aeons in order to defeat Vorban, just level up
your Anima/bahamute to the state shown above will be good enough to beat him;
also you need to teach Anima Protect, Shell, Curaga and haste.

Don't even bother using Armor break because Vorban is immune to it. After
battle starts, switch to Auron and have him use overdrive "Banishing Blade",
it inflicts all four breaks on Vorban. If Vorban does not counter attack with
mortar, then switch to Yuna and summon Anima; if he does, then try again.
Dying in NSG monster arena happens quiet often, and you should learn how to
get used to it.

After you successfully summon Anima, cast haste on her first, and cast
protect on him if your Anima is fast enough to have an extra turn before
Vorban, if your Anima is not fast enough, do it later.

Cast Curaga on Anima after Vorban attacked her, and cast shell on Anima. DO
NOT attack until Anima is under the protection of protect and shell spells.
After everything is set, have Anima use regular attack constantly, if Vorban
counter attacks with mortar ( the damage will be halved by shell), cast
Curaga on Anima. Also, use shield before Vorban's turn will help you winning
this battle a lot.

V. Species Creations

a. Fenrir           Hp: 850,000

Fenrir is a boss with agility 200, compare to your laughable agility, he is
too fast to you. Every time he kills a single person, he will have three
extra turns after that person is dead and revived by auto phoenix (he only
has two extra turns before Rikku if she is killed and revived). He only uses
single target attack, "Fang of Chaos" deals damage as much as 75% if your
current Hp, it will not kill you instantly, but it also inflicts confusion.
Fang of Hades inflicts instant death on a single target. He sometimes uses
regular attack, which deals around 14,000 damage to a single target.

If you have already added confuse proof ability on your armor when you fought
Coeurlregina, it is going to help you in this battle again. His Fang of chaos
can not kill anyone unless his/her Hp is drop to single digit number, each
time someone is hit by fang of chaos, use high potion or al behd potion to
heal him/her. The amount of damage of fang of chaos is totally based on your
Hp, so if you keep your Hp high, it will do more damage and refill your
overdrive gauge much faster, with your triple overdrive weapon, otherwise, he
rarely uses regular attack, and Fang of Hades will not recharge anyone's
overdrive gauge.

Like you fought abadon, you should not abuse overdrive too much, hold your
chocobo if Fenrir is going to have too many turns in a row. Be patient and
fight him carefully, you will defeat him in few tries.

Note: if you don't have confuse proof armor, you can still fight him, however,
every time someone is hit by Fang of Chaos, you should use a remedy to cure
him/her immediately, good thing is that Fenrir like to use Fang of Chaos on
Tidus, so it is hard to him to confuse all three people, unless you are too
lazy to cure the confused party members.

b. Ornitholestes    Hp: 800,000

This lizard has two attacks: poison touch that deals damage as much as about
75% percent of your current Hp, pretty much like Fenrir's Fang of Chaos, the
only difference is that poison touch inflicts poison on a single target
instead of confusion. Orhitholestes has another annoying attack called drain
touch, which drains around 17,500 Hp from a single target.

Of course, mix a trio of 9999 first and attack with overdrives. Your avoid
and counter will help you to dodge some of his poison touches, and you will
be able to counter attack him and deal some extra damage (although you will
probably miss most of time, seeing he has 80% evade rate). Have Rikku use Al
behd potion to cure the ones are poisoned and hp dropped to critical stage.
Mix another trio of 9999 if everyone has been killed by drain touch once,
because they lose their trio of 9999 statue once they are killed.

After Ornitholestes' hp drops below 150,000~200,000, he will abuse drain
touch on your party and attempt to heal his wound, but that's not a big deal,
just keep attacking and have Rikku use element gems to deal some extra damage,
he will be dead eventually.

Note: Ornitholestes absorbs fire element, so do not use fire gems to attack
him. Also, if you are willing to add auto protect ability on your armors, it
will halved the damage of drain touch and halved Ornitholestes' recovery rate
as well. I don't think it is wise to use one slot here, but if you really
like the idea, you need 60 light cartains to obtain auto protect ability, and
you can steal them from all kinds of iron giant enemies.

c. Pteryx           Hp: 100,000

This bird has high evade rate, however it is not going to help him since you
have overdrives. Mix a trio of 9999 first, and have wakka use attack reels.
See, you just kill him before the battle begins.

d. Hornet           Hp: 620,000

This giant insect use poison stinger that deals 15,000+ damage to a single
target (and inflicts poison, but it does not matter because you are dead
anyway), and his regular attack inflicts instant death to a single target.

Based on my experience, Hornet uses poison stinger a bit more often than his
regular attack, so you don't have worry about your overdrive gauges, he will
refill them for you with a good rate. Mix a trio of 9999 and abuse overdrive
'till he is dead, and mix another trio of 9999 if it is needed. Don't worry
about his agility, he is not fast enough.

e. Vidatu           Hp: 95,000

^_^... he does not even have 6 digits Hp!!! You know what you are going to do,
mix a trio of 9999 and attack with attack reels. You won't even bother using
blitz ace.

f. One-Eye          Hp: 150,000

Without first strike weapons, he will use shock wave and wipe out the entire
party, with first strike weapons, he is just a piece of cake.

Mix a trio of 9999, Blitz ace + attack reels will be good enough to finish
him. As I mentioned before, One Eye drops pricey weapons, and he could be a
major source of the money in your NSG game.

g. Jumbo Flan       Hp: 1,300,000

Okay, here comes a tough one. Jumbo Flan has massive amount of Hp, he is
immune to physical attack, and he absorbs all four kinds of elements, he is
constantly in reflection statue; he knows how to cast reflect on your party
and casts regen on you so it will bounce back on himself, trio of 9999, blitz
ace, attack reel, and fury are not going to work in this battle.

Using aeons is your only hope to defeat this cheap boss. No matter how lazy
you are, you have to raise your Anima magic, magic defense to at least 90 or
above, agility to at least 60 or above, Hp to at least 6,000 or above, and
500+ mp for safe.

You have to teach aeons those following ability: Curaga, haste, dispel, focus,
lancet and shell (optional)

Have Rikku use a silver hourglass to slow down Jumbo flan first, then switch
to Yuna and summon Anima. Cast haste on Anima first, then use shield and
block Jumbo Flan's attack.

Jumbo flan uses all four "ga" spells and it deals minor damage to Anima, he
also casts flare and ultima, which deals massive amount of damage on Anima
(3,500~ 4,500 if Anima is shielded). Cast Curaga on anima after Jumbo flan
uses flare or ultima spell and hit him hard with pain (35,000+ damage with
magic 100). Every time Jumbo flan is about to attack, make sure Anima has Hp
5,000 or higher.

Jumbo Flan's flare delays him A LOT, it will give you about three or more
extra turns if Anima's agility is 65+ with haste, you can use focus and raise
your magic power.

After Jumbo Flan's Hp drops to around 350,000, he will cast reflect on you
and cast regen on you so it will bounce back to Jumbo Flan, in this case,
cast dispel on Jumbo flan every time he is in regen states, sometimes he uses
curaga, but it won't heal him much. Use lancet if your Anima is about to run
out of her Mp. This battle will be long and tedious.

h. Nega Elemental     Hp: 1,300,000

This boss is a magic freak like Jumbo flan. He counters every physical attack
with ultima, and he absorbs all elements, even holy. He counters all magic
attack with drain or osmose, the worst part is that osmose drains all your Mp,
which means if you use Anima and hit him with pain, Anima's mp will be gone
in the next turn and she won't have any mp to heal or cast any support spell.
You can use osmose to drain your Mp back, but you can only use it once. Next
time you use osmose, you will gain no mp back. This boss is so cheap, much
cheaper than Jumbo Flan.

You have to use aeons to defeat her. If your aeon is strong enough to defeat
Jumbo Flan, then he/she will be good enough to defeat Nega elemental, the
only difference is you have to teach your aeon reflect.

If your aeon's agility is lower than 80, then you must hit a preemptive
strike, or you have to reset the game. Once everything is set, switch to Yuna
and summon an aeon (I will use Anima here), cast haste on herself first then
followed by reflect.

Nega elemental will cast reflect on himself and attempt to cast osmose/drain
on himself in order to hurt you, in this case, just simply cast dispel on him
and hit him with pain, he will counter attack with osmose, but due to your
reflection status, he won't be able to drain your mp. He will not use reflect
in few turns, and that's your chance to hit him hard with pain.

Every time you see him cast reflect on himself, cast dispel on him again. I
have defeated him several times in my NSG game, the average mp cost in this
battle is around 400, sometimes it will go up to 600, depends on how often he
uses reflect.

i. Tanket             Hp: 900,000

Tanket has regular tackle attack that deals up to 60,000+ damage to a single
target, also he uses rush attack, which works like quick hit. Every of his
attack inflicts berserk status, but seeing you are going to be killed anyway
if he attacks you, it is not really a big deal.

After battle begins, mix a trio of 9999 and attack with all you get. When his
hp drops below 450,000, here comes the tough part: He will keep using rush
attack, it almost triple his attack speed and you will barely have a turn,
since your characters are killed repeatedly and their turns will be delayed
very bad.

Tanket's rush attack does not hit the person in the left side often, so you
have to place Wakka on the far left side of your party, Tanket's rush attack
will most likely kill the other two persons over and over, and it will refill
Wakka's overdrive gauge and give Wakka chance to abuse attack reels.
Hopefully after four attack reels, Tanket will be dead for good.

j. Fafnir             Hp: 1,100,000

Fafnir is a tough boss. His regular attack deals around 20,000 damage to a
single target, and he usually hits the one with the lowest maximum Hp. He
also has an attack called "Triple attack", it is a combination of his regular
attack and an elemental breath attack, and he can use it three times in a row,
I think that's why it is called "Triple attack".

You have to add two elemental "proof" abilities on your armors (besides auto
phoenix and auto haste ability, you still have two empty slots on your
armors). For example:

Tidus's armor: Auto phoenix, auto haste, fire proof and lighting proof.

Rikku's armor: Auto phoenix, auto haste, lighting proof and ice proof.

Wakka's armor: Auto Phoenix, auto haste, ice proof and water proof.

You don't have to follow the list above exactly, but you have to make sure
all three armors cover all four element proof abilities.

After you enter the battle, mix a trio of 9999 and attack with overdrives,
mix another trio of 9999 when all three people have lost their trio of 9999
status. Your elemental proof armors will prevent you from being wiped out.
Fafnir's attack Rikku much more often than other two guys because Rikku has
the lowest maximum Hp among all three people, if you think Fafnir kills Rikku
too often and it makes you have a hard time to find turns to mix trio of 9999,
you can switch Tidus to Rikku before Fafnir's turn, he will attack Lulu
instead.

k. Sleep Sprout      Hp: 98,000

Sleep Sprout has a special counter attack called "Good night", which deals
around 8,000 damage to the entire party plus various status changes. However
his low Hp makes this battle easy. Mix a trio of 9999, DO NOT let Tidus
attack, and have Wakka do a attack reels, easy and simple, ya?

l. Bomb King         Hp: 480,000

Like other Bombs, Bomb King swells, and when his is in his biggest form, he
counters any attack with ultima spell. The good thing is that normal attacks
do not always make him swell, especially overdrives, so you can just attack
him with trio of 9999 in conjunction with overdrive and elemental gems. You
should be able to kill him before he can use ultima spell. DO NOT wear fire
proof armor in this battle, because it will prevent you from being damaged by
his fire spell and you will lose the chance to refill your overdrive gauges,
also remember Bomb King absorbs fire, just like other Bombs.

m. Juggernaut        Hp: 1,200,000

Juggernaut ALWAYS charges in his first turn, which won't hurt you, and he
will use salvo in his second turn, it damages all the active party members,
after his salve, he only does single target attack.

So, another long and easy fight. Mix a trio of 9999 and attack, and summon an
aeon to block his salvo before his second turn comes up. After that, just
keep attacking and mix trio of 9999 when it is needed.

n. Ironclad          Hp: 2,000,000

Ironclad has three attacks: Reppageki deals 20,000+ damage to a single target,
he also counters Reppageki every time he is attacked; Bushinzan deals massive
amount damage to all party members, plus reduces their mp to 0, and
Shinryudan deals 40,000+ damage to a single target.

Ironclad does have attack pattern, but if you are trying to fight him without
aeons then it is not going to work well. The best way to defeat him is using
an aeon with evasion 220+ (preferably Yojimbo, his evasion ends with 122 and
it will take you less time to level his evasion up to 220 or higher). Have
Auron use Banishing blade to crake ironclad's armor, then summon Yojimbo,
Ironclad won't be able to touch Yojimbo and you can just keep paying Yojimbo
1 gil 'till he slays Ironclad.

VI. Original creations

a. Earth Eater       Hp: 1,300,000

Earth Eater attacks and counterattacks with megaton punch, which inflicts
instant death on one (or two) characters in one turn. He also uses regular
attack, which deals 30,000+ damage to a single target.

Seeing his Megaton punch inflicts instant death, it won't refill your
overdrive gauges, so you have to wait for him using regular attack to refill
your overdrive gauges. Mix a trio of 9999 first as usual, and carefully
looking for chances to attack, try your best not to let Earth Eater has two
turns in a row-I don't' know if Squall soft hates girls or not, but if two
people is killed in one turn, "Auto phoenix" ability allows guys to revive
two people at once, and girls can only revive one of them (that's so mean...u_u
girls rule), so if Earth Eater has two turns in a row, he could use Megaton
punch and kill Wakka and Tidus, Rikku can only revive one of them, if Earth
Eater does another megaton punch and it kills two people again, BOOM!!! Try
again. So be careful.

It is possible to knock him down, after two or three overdrives attacks, if
you use a regular attack (must be 9,999 damage), you will have fair chance to
knock him down, and he will only use flare instead of Megaton punch. I did
not use this trick, but I think it is not a bad idea after all.

b. Greater Sphere    Hp: 1,500,000

Greater Sphere counterattacks normal attacks with ultima, and he
counterattacks overdrive with Hydraulic press, which deals damage as much as
around 90% percent of your maximum Hp (based on Squall6cloud's info,
Hydraulic press actually deals 93.75 % of your maximum Hp, but in my
experience, the result is quite vary, anyway, if you keep full Hp then
Hydraulic press can not kill you), and it hits all active party members. His
regular attack deals around 28,000 damage to a single target.

The basic concepts of fighting Greater Sphere are 1. Only attack with
overdrive 2. Keep everyone's hp full. Mix a trio of 9999 at the beginning of
the battle, have Tidus attack with blitz ace, and Wakka heals party with mega
potion after Greater Sphere counterattacks with Hydraulic press.

Mix another trio of 9999 if it is needed, and ONLY attack Greater Sphere if
there is another person has a turn between the attacker and Greater Sphere.
If you attack right before Greater Sphere' turn, Greater Sphere will
counterattack with Hydraulic press first, of course, and if he uses another
Hydraulic press in his turn, you are toast. Keep this in mind and you will be
fine in this battle.

You will need about 30 mega potions and 30 al behd potions in this battle.

c. Catastrophe       Hp: 2,200,000

This battle is extremely long and tedious. Before I input the strategy
against him in NSG monster arena, let's talk about him a bit.

Catastrophe has two forms, in his first form, he hides himself in a big shell,
and he only attacks in his even number time with Toxic cloud, it deals
20,000+ damage to all active party members.

After you deals around 350,000~ 450,000 damage, Catastrophe will come out
from his shell, he does have an attack pattern: Toxic Spray--> Demy--> Hundred
Thorns. Toxic Spray deals 18,000+ damage on a single target, and for some
strange reasons, it always hits Wakka, if he is in the party. Demy reduces
your party's hp to 3/4, and Hundred Thorns deals 37,000 + damage to the entire
party. After his Hundred Thorns, he will start the pattern over with Toxic
spray.

In order to defeat him, those following items are what you need:

99 phoenix downs and 20 mega phoenixes.
99 Dark matters.
50 supreme gems
99 shining gems
Around 50 elemental gems.
A LOT OF Hyper Mighty G items
Trio of 9999 items, of course.

After battle begins, mix a trio of 9999 first and have Wakka and Tidus attack
with overdrive, Rikku attack with elemental gems. Catastrophe won't do
anything in his first turn, keep attacking and summon an aeon to block his
toxic cloud  before his second comes up. After your aeon is killed, don't
stop, keep attacking like insane. You will be able to break the shell before
his fourth turn comes up.

Catastrophe will use toxic spray and kill Wakka, and it will refill other two
people's overdrive gauges, attack with overdrives and elemental gems, after
he uses demy, summon another aeon to block his Hundred Thorns, then attack
him again and again. Mix another trio of 9999 if it is needed.

Everything looks easy so far, however, don't forget you only have 8 aeons, so
after 8 Hundred Thorn you are on your own. You have to keep mixing Hyper
Mighty G in order to survive the Hundred Thorn attack, and it will give you
no time to mix trio of 9999.

You will have to use dark matters to attack Catastrophe (around 12,500 damage
per dark matter), follow the steps listed below you will be able to defeat
him:

1. After Hundred Thorn killed your last aeon, Switch Yuna back to Wakka.

2. Catastrophe uses toxic spray on Wakka and Wakka will be saved by auto life.

3. Have Rikku use a dark matter

4. Catastrophe uses Demy.

5. Have Rikku mix a Hyper mighty G

6. Catastrophe uses Hundred Thorn and wipes out your entire party, and they
will be saved by auto life.

7. Return to step 2.

You should be able to defeat him before you run out all the dark matters, if
Catastrophe still stands there after you threw all 99 dark matters on him,
then use supreme gems instead.

d. Thu'ban           Hp: 3,000,000

He counterattacks EVERY attack with condemn-a tail attack that hits your
entire party, and removes all positive statuses include auto life. Theban
does have attack pattern, regular attack--> Rainbow--> regen/shell/protect (he
will skip this step if he is already in all these three status)-->Convergence
and he will start the cycle over with regular attack

His regular attack hits a single target, his Rainbow is a muti-targets attack,
it deals 18,000 + damage to the entire party plus lots of negative status
changes. His convergence deals 99,999 damage on a single target-even if you
summon an aeon with magic def 255 and is shelled and shielded, it still deals
around 30,000+ damage.

Because of his powerful counter attack, there is no way you can attack him
and still win the battle. So, how can you defeat him if you never attack?

Here is the solution: Theban is not immune to doom (count down: 255), and he
also has attack pattern, which makes his action predictable, so, you can kill
him by holding 255 turns.

Item required in this battle:

Enough items to mix 85 Hyper Mighty G

99 phoenix downs and 30 Mega phoenixes for safe.

1 candle of life

Some purifying salts (optional).

Rikku will move first in this battle with her first strike weapon, have her
use a candle of life on Theban, then Theban will use his claw attack kill one
of the characters ( most likely NOT Rikku... this monster is pretty nice to
girls), have Rikku mix a Hyper mighty G after Theban attacks and it will
prevent you from being destroyed by his Rainbow attack. After the Rainbow
attack, everyone's overdrive gauge is filled, Rikku will have an extra turn
before Theban, don't let her do anything. Theban will cast protect on him
first, and cast Convergence on one of your characters, after the Convergence,
mix another Hyper mighty G. If Convergence killed Rikku, then don't worry,
before Theban uses Rainbow again, he will use his regular attack, Rikku will
have enough time to mix Hyper mighty G.

You may notice that if you mix a Hyper Mighty G after Convergence, after
Theban's regular attack, there will only be two people have auto life status,
and the other one will not survive the Rainbow attack, which means you have
to revive him manually, remember, in this case, use MEGA PHOENIXES instead of
phoenix downs. Because Mega phoenixes won't keep auto phoenix works, but
phoenix downs can, so don't waste any phoenix down here. Of course you can
choose mixing Hyper Mighty G after his regular attack instead of Convergence,
then you won't have the problem, however, it could be a bit more risky.

If Rikku has some extra turns, have her use purifying salt on Theban and
dispel all his positive statuses, hw will spends turns to cast spells on
himself again, and it will kill him more quickly.

Your phoenix downs will surely run out before Theban is dead, so you will
have to use mega phoenixes to revive your party member in the last 50 turns.

e. Neslug           Hp: 4,000,000

If you want to defeat him without Zanmato you will need to have an aeon with
strength, defense, magic, magic defense and agility 255 with around 25,000+
Hp and over 1,000 mp.

Neslug uses regular attack that deals minimum amount damage to your Aeon at
defense 255, his Megaton won't deal more than 4,000 to your aeon either, the
biggest problem is his slime attack, it inflicts armor break on Anima, and if
he uses another Megaton, it deals 16,000 damage on your Aeon if he/she is
protected and shielded.

You have to teach Anima (or whatever aeon you are using) haste, protect,
curaga, dispel, double cast, flare or ultima.

Switch to Yuna and summon Anima, cast haste, protect oh her and use regular
attacks on Neslug, after you deal more than 2,000,000 damage on Anima, he
will retreat into his shell-here comes the tough part, Neslug is constantly
in regen status while he is in the shell, and he is immune to all physical
attacks. You CAN NOT use pain against him, because using pain takes a lot of
time, and every time you use pain, although you can deal 99,999 damage on him
per hit, he can regenerate around 100,000~180,000 Hp after you attack, you
won't be able to break his shell.

Once he retreats into his shell, have Anima use Jinx on Neslug twice, it will
lower Nelson's luck and decrease the amount of Hp he can recover with regen
status, then double cast flare/ultima until you break Nelson's shell.

You will break his shell after you deal 3,000,000 damage on him, now watch
out, Nelson's agility is doubled after his shell is broken!!! He will abuse
slime much more often. If your aeon does not have very high Hp, he/she could
be killed easily. Every time Neslug uses slime on your Aeon, cast Curaga and
dispel on him/her and remove the armor break status. Cast haste on Anima
again if you have a chance. Your 255 agility should be able to lead you to
victory in this battle, seeing even Nelson's agility is doubled, it is still
only 86.

f. Ultima Buster         Hp: 5,000,000

Again, you will need a strong Aeon to defeat this boss. You have to have one
aeon with 255 in strength, defense, magic, magic defense, and agility, with
Hp 25,000+, and around 900 mp.

You have to teach you aeon curaga, shell, drain, double cast and haste. After
you are done with the preparations, actually this battle is not very hard.
First summon your aeon and have him/her use overdrive, it will destroy Ultima
buster's head and both arms (If you are using Bahamute, then you can use
impulse instead of Mega flare, it will save your turns).

Ultima buster will attack you twice and it will not kill your aeon. Cast
curaga on your aeon, then shell. Attack Ultima buster's body constantly with
regular attack. If you see his arms are regenerated, double cast drain on his
arms and heal Anima, then attack the arms and destroy them again. Cast Curaga
on Anima when her Hp is low, and you will kill Ultima buster eventually.

g. Shinryu               Hp: 2,000,000

This battle is the hardest battle in the entire NSG game. Shinryu lives in
water, so you can only use Rikku, Tidus and Wakka in your party, the worst
thing is: he DOES have a powerful group attack, and his agility is good, too.
This battle will take you hundreds, or maybe thousands attempts to win, you
will need luck in this battle very bad.

Shinryu has three attacks: His claw attack deals 15,000+ damage to a single
character, he also uses his claw attack as his counterattack; his shining
fires 9 missiles to your party as his infamous group attack, each missile
deals around 1,500~2,000 damage; and his eraser shatters a single target,
which can not be prevented by stone proof armor, and I assume ribbon armor
(only in international or PAL version) won't work against eraser, either.

Your chance to win this battle is almost close to zero, but in order to
unlock Nemesis, you HAVE to win. Let's get it starts:

You don't have to add anymore new ability on your armors, auto phoenix and
auto haste will be good enough. Some people suggest me adding Hp+30% and auto
shell abilities on armors, but it still won't be good enough to block
Shanty's shining.

You need these following items:

99 phoenix downs
Enough items to mix around 50 trio of 9999 and 50 Hyper Mighty G
30 Mega phoenixes for safe
Few elemental gems
Something that can raise your "luck" in the real life like a good luck charm,
a bible, a picture of your boyfriend/family or something makes you feel lucky,
luck is the most important thing in this battle!!!

Overdrive mode: Comrade for Rikku, and stoic for Tidus and Wakka.

After battle begins, have Rikku mix a Hyper Mighty G first, and have Tidus
attack Shinryu. Shinryu will counter attack Tidus and refill Rikku's
overdrive gauge.

If Shinryu uses claw attack on Wakka or Tidus in his turn, Have Rikku mix a
trio of 9999 when her turns is up, and have other people attack.

If Shinryu uses shining, then probably all three people will be killed, and
they will be revived by auto life. However, Shinryu will have an extra turn
before you can move, so if he uses shining again, you are dead. The only
thing you can do is to pray that if he does not do two shining in a row.
Sometimes his shining only hits two people, consider you are lucky if it
happens.

You have to keep at least two people in auto life status, mix another Hyper
Mighty G when it is needed. Only mix trio of 9999 after he uses claw attack.

If Shinryu uses eraser, then you are basically screwed. However, since
Shinryu selects his attack randomly, it is possible for him not to do eraser
at all in the battle, although the chance is very little. And it is possible
for him only doing claw attack, although I doubt if anyone could be this
lucky.

IF you can defeat Shinryu, then the biggest obstacle in your NSG monster
arena quest has been conquered!!! Be ready for the ultimate boss: Nemesis!!!

h. Nemesis/Aka Omega Gold    Hp: 10,000,000

Finally!!! You are so close to complete this ultimate challenge, you can just
Zanmato him if you are tired of fighting Shinryu thousand times, I used to
think using Zanmoto is the only way to defeat him in NSG, but Hikensasame
Yuki has provided a way to defeat Nemesis without Zanmato.

First, you have to have Anima and Magus sisters with 255 in strength, defense,
magic defense and agility, about the Hp and Mp part, the higher the better,
and you have to teach Anima shell, protect, haste. If you have time, you can
max out Bahamute for an easier fight.

Nemesis has four attacks:

1. Regular attack: 16,000+ damage on a single target at defense 255.
2. Ethereal Cannon: 18,000+ damage on a single target at magic defense 255.
3. Ultra Spark: 28,000 + damage to all targets at defense 255, inflicts curse
and power/mental break.
4. Armageddon: 99,999 damage to all targets, the damage can not be reduced by
any spell or defensive action.

Nemesis DOES have 8 attack patterns, and he will choose one of them randomly,
and when he finishes one pattern, he will choose one from all eight patterns
and start it over:

<This part is currently under construction>

Sorry that I couldn't find my save of Nemesis's attack patterns, I have to
ask Hikensaasme Yuki again, once I got the correct info, I will update this
part as soon as possible.

Nemesis most likely uses Armageddon in his 7th turns or 8th turns, if you want
to defeat him without too much luck, your object is to find the pattern he is
using and dismiss your Aeon right before his deadly Armageddon attack. Mix a
Hyper Mighty G and let auto life save you, then summon the aeon again.

Summon Anima at the beginning of the battle and get her under protect and
shell, hit Nemesis hard and heal when it is needed. Dismiss Anima before
Armageddon and have Rikku mix a Hyper Mighty G, it will prevent your party
being wiped out by Nemesis. You can summon Anima again and let her fight to
the next Armageddon, if you don't think you can find his attack pattern again.
Anima will be able to deal around 3,000,000 damage to Nemesis, 4,000,000 if
you are lucky.

After Anima is being killed, summon your max Bahamute if you have one, follow
the same strategies above and deals another 3,000,000~4,000,000 damage to
Nemesis.

Summon Magus sisters after your Bahamute is killed, and try to have Cindy
casts auto life on all three sisters before the next Armageddon (it should
not be that hard), and try to have Mindy do passado attack on Nemesis, once
she does it, choose the "do it again!" command for Mindy every time, and try
to have Sandy cast haste on sisters. With some luck, you should be able to
take care of the rest without problem.
Good luck!!!

VII. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is Nemesis the hardest boss in NSG?

A: I have answered it many times on GameFaq's FFX message board, and I will
say it again here: Shinryu is the biggest problem, not Nemesis.

Q: How can I tame monsters in my NSG games in order to unlock the bosses in
the monster arena?

A: Check out Hyprophant's NSG monster taming FAQ, you will find the info you
need there.

Q: Can Dark Aeons and Penance (they are only in the International/PAL version)
be defeated in NSG game?

A: Refer to Appendix B and you will find the strategy. The Dark Anima and
Penance part is not completed yet

Q: Are you the first one complete NSG monster arena on GameFaq's FFX message
board?

A: Nope, I am not. You are talking about Noneofyourbusiness.

Q: Is there any difference between monster arena bosses in U.S version and in
International/Pal version?

A: I really don't know. From what I heard from other FFX:I players, it
appears to me that monster arena bosses in FFX:I are the same as the ones in
U.S. version, they use the same attacks, I don't know if there is any
difference in their status.

Q: What's the purpose of acquiring "Mark of Conquest" in NSG game?

A: The "Mark of Conquest" in NSG is exactly the same the "Mark of Conquest"
in a regular game, but if you get this key item in your NSG, it just proves
you are an elite FFX player with wisdom, patience and luck.

Q: I am playing a regular game, so is this FAQ going to help me any?

A: Certainly not. You don't need a lot of trio of 9999 in a regular game, and
the strategies in this FAQ will make your regular game more complicated. Go
find celestial weapons and power them up, then level up a lot, that's what
you should do in your regular game.

Q: What's my gender?

A: Think what you want then you will be fine. The only thing you have to know
is that Hyprophant is the original author of this FAQ, that's all you need to
know.

VIII. Appendix: Useful Items List

< This part is currently under construction>

IX.  Appendix B: NSG Dark Aeons

As true master FFX players, our ambitions did not stop after we conquered NSG
monster arena, because there are still Dark Aeons and Penance left.

Dark Aeons and Penance are in FFX:I and PAL version only, and of all the
advanced NSG players, Klink is the only one owns FFX:I so far. He has been
tested our theories of defeating Dark Aeons WITHOUT Zanmato, and he has
defeated all Dark Aeons except Dark Anima. This part is all his work, and
should not be used anywhere except in this FAQ, unless you receive Klink's
permission.

_*_*_NSG Game Dark Aeon Strategies_*_*_ (written/produced by Klink):

Before getting started with the Dark Aeons, there are a few things that
should be noted:

1) None of the Dark Aeons have ANY elemental attacks. - Even Diamond
Dust and Hellfire are classified as non-elemental.

2) Any information that isn't specifically relevant to an NSG game has
been disregarded.  For example: Shiva's Heavenly Strike inflicts
Berserk and Confuse.  However, since aeons are immune to these effects
(and your characters obviously aren't going to survive a Heavenly
Strike), I have not bothered to include this information because it is
extraneous. - There are _several_ other examples similar to this.
Suffice it to say, if you were using this as a guide for a 'normal'
non-NSG game, you would be wise to cross-reference the information here
with another source.

3) Since there is an inherent randomness with regard to all damage
calculations in FFX (and most RPG's), all of the damages given below
are approximated averages.

4) As far as time is concerned: My current game's time is about 195
hours (I've killed everyone except Shinryu, Nemesis, Dark Anima, and
Penance).  Now, I obviously didn't have the benefit of a FAQ to guide
me through the Dark Aeons...  In addition, there are a few things (in
hindsight) that I could've done much faster (powering-up Anima, etc.).
- That being said, there's no doubt in my mind that if I were to start
a new "Monster Arena/Dark Aeon NSG game", I could finish in _MUCH_ less
than 195 game-hours.  Of course, since I don't plan on EVER doing this
again, exactly how much faster I could do it is anyone's guess...  In
any event, I'd say that it *should* be possible for someone to achieve
a game file comparable to mine in about 165-185 game-hours.


___EQUIPMENT___

Below is a list of all of the weapons and armor needed for the Dark
Aeon strategies that follow.  This is also the exact same equipment
that I used when fighting in the Monster Arena:

Weapons --

Tidus & Wakka:
- First Strike
- Evade & Counter
- Triple Overdrive
- Alchemy

Rikku:
- First Strike
- Evade & Counter
- Initiative (For the Monster Arena.  It isn't needed for Dark Aeons.)
- Triple Overdrive (*Optional* - I had [Gillionaire] here)

Yuna:
- Evade & Counter
- Alchemy


Armor --

Tidus, Wakka, Rikku & Yuna:
- Ribbon
- Auto-Haste
- Auto-Phoenix
- I recommend [Auto-Regen].  It isn't required, but it'll make the
  battle with Dark Cindy easier, and will also be essential if you're
  attempting to kill Dark Anima (without Zanmato).  If you want to
  kill Dark Mindy without an aeon (just for fun), you'll need
  [CurseProof] (refer to the section on the Dark Magus Sisters).

Kimahri (Will probably see action against Dark Ifrit.):
- Auto-Haste
- Auto-Phoenix

Auron (Might see action against Dark Ifrit.):
- Auto-Haste
- Auto-Phoenix


___EQUIPMENT CONSTRUCTION/ACQUISITION___

Most of the needed/recommended weapon and armor abilities have already
been discussed in the Monster Arena section, so only the new ones are
listed here:

[Alchemy]: 'Healing Water' is a normal steal from Adamantoise.

[Auto-Regen]: You can obtain mass-quantities of 'Healing Springs' by
killing Kottos.

[Ribbon]: You get 99 Dark Matters for unlocking Ultima Buster...
However, I wouldn't recommend using those for [Ribbon] (unless you're
desperate and only need one more set of armor).  Of course, even if you
did use those 99 Dark Matters - that'd only be enough for _1_ [Ribbon]
armor!  So, I'd suggest that you do one of the following:

___Method #1___
1) When you get Yojimbo, say that you want to "destroy powerful
   fiends" - this will make it easier to Zanmato enemies with a high
   resistance level.
2) Max your 'affection'/'compatibility'/'mojo' with Yojimbo.
3) Fill both Yojimbo's and Yuna's OD gauges - this will make it easier
   to get a Zanmato (the difference isn't huge, but it's better than
   nothing).
4) Fight Dark Yojimbo and Summon/Grand Summon Yojimbo.  Try to get a
   Zanmato, and then hope that Dark Yojimbo drops 3 or 4-slot armor
   with only [Ribbon] on it.  However, if he drops something with 4-
   slots, [Ribbon], and [CurseProof] - TAKE IT.  You really don't need
   all 4 slots, so keep whatever you get and be happy that there's one
   less piece of armor left to win.  Actually, [CurseProof] is
   somewhat useful (against Dark Mindy).  While you're slicing him, be
   careful not to kill Dark Yojimbo 5 consecutive times (because then
   he'd be gone for good).  Instead, Zanmato him as many times as you
   can (probably 2 or 3), and then, if you didn't get any good armor,
   reset and try again. - Resetting will save you the trouble of re-
   filling Yojimbo's and Yuna's OD gauges, and will make things much
   faster.  If you did get some good armor, save your game and repeat
   steps 3 and 4 as needed.  In case anyone's wondering, I usually had
   pretty good success getting Zanmato against Dark Yojimbo when I
   used one of these 3 amounts (depending upon what I could afford):
   66,000; 132,000; 270,000.  Obviously, using more is better.

___Method #2___
   Simply wait until Anima is powerful enough to kill Dark Yojimbo.
   Use the strategy listed for Dark Yojimbo, and keep defeating him
   until he drops the armor(s) you need.  Once again, be very careful
   not to kill Dark Yojimbo permanently (5 consecutive times).

___Method #3___
   The problem with killing Dark Yojimbo for armor is that he
   virtually never drops armor with _only_ [Ribbon] on it.  So, if
   want to have the absolute best possible armor, you'll need to get
   your [Ribbon] armor elsewhere so that you have 3 empty slots to
   work with.  The best targets would probably be Dark Valefor, Dark
   Shiva, and the 2nd fight with Dark Ixion (in that order). - After
   them, you'd also need to use your 99 prize Dark Matters on whoever
   is left (Tidus, Wakka, Rikku, and Yuna).  Now, I got my armor from
   Dark Yojimbo, so I can't verify the quality of this method; I
   really don't know for certain if you'd even be able to get
   [Ribbon]-only armor from these Dark Aeons any easier than from Dark
   Yojimbo...  But, hypothetically, it _should_ be easier.

Regardless of which method you choose, there's a few things to keep in
mind:

   1) You'll only _NEED_ to use all 4 of your armor's slots if killing
      Dark Anima is possible. - But, so far, using Zanmato seems to be
      the only way to kill her.
   2) If you're going to fight Catastrophe without an aeon, you're
      going to want to have a hefty supply of Dark Matters.
   3) If you get the 99 prize Dark Matters from the Monster Arena and
      put [Ribbon] on someone's armor, I can almost guarantee that
      you're going to _win_ armor for that exact same person the next
      time you kill a Dark Aeon!  So, if you're going to customize
      [Ribbon] onto someone's armor, you should wait until you only
      need 1 more set. - That way, there's no chance that you'll kick
      yourself later.
   4) You can teach an aeon 'Full Break' by using 2 Dark Matters.

[Auto-Haste]: Ok, this one was already listed in the Monster Arena
section, but here's what I suggest:  The fastest way (IMO) to earn
wings, is to use some of the Chocobo Wings you got for unlocking
Cactuar King to put [Auto-Haste] on a targe with [Master Thief].  Then,
use Rikku, Auron, and Kimahri and fight Cactuars in the Monster Arena
(set OD's to 'Victor' and give everyone [First Strike] weapons). -
Steal 1 or 2 wings, and then use either 'Shooting Star' or 'Self-
Destruct'.  I'd recommend either Rikku or Auron having [Gillionaire],
and having someone with [Initiative] would also be helpful.  Between
the gil you win (with [Gillionaire]) and the gil you get for selling
the dropped equipment, you should be able to get very close to
offsetting the cost of the fight's entrance fee.  In addition, this
method will allow you to earn 'Speed Spheres' for boosting Anima's
Agility.  The best part about using the Monster Arena for Cactuars is
that you don't have to worry about running into those stupid Sand Worms
on Bikanel Island - even in the 'Cactuar village', those Sand Worms
seem to be everywhere...


___POWERING-UP AEONS___

There are a few Dark Aeons that MUST be fought using an aeon.  Since
aeons eventually stop growing, this means that you'll need to manually
increase your aeon's stats using Power Spheres, Speed Spheres, and Mana
Spheres. - That's not fun, but the good news is that you only need a
single aeon to be powered-up.  So, which aeon should you beef-up?
Well, there really _IS_ a single best aeon, and that aeon is Anima.
Against most Dark Aeons, Anima's Oblivion will allow you to do 6-digit
damage.  Furthermore, using 'Pain' is absolutely _required_ against
Dark Bahamut.  So, now that we have that cleared up, what is the best
way to power-up Anima? - Well, as previously mentioned, after Anima
reaches her natural growth limit, you'll need to use spheres... and the
best way to get spheres is to fight Kottos.

Now, Kottos is no pushover, so you're going to have to do some
substantial powering-up before you can kill him.  The single best way
to do that is to fight Belgemine's aeons at Remiem temple.  So,
whatever you do, DO NOT SEND BELGEMINE TO THE FARPLANE!!!  At Remiem
temple, you'll be able to pick which aeon(s) you fight, and will
therefore be able to control which spheres you'll get.  Furthermore,
since Belgemine heals you before every fight, you don't even have to
save your game between battles.  The only bad thing about Remiem temple
is that you have no way of earning Speed Spheres there... but you
really don't need Speed Spheres yet anyway.  Regardless though, if
you've already done all of the monster capturing, and you followed my
advice for getting Chocobo Wings (at the Monster Arena), you should've
scratched together enough spheres for Anima's Agility to be somewhat
respectable (70-90).  In any event, your top priority should be to
boost your Magic (if needed) so that you can kill both Yojimbo and
Bahamut with a single DoubleCast of Flare (Yojimbo = 10 Power Spheres;
Bahamut = 8 Mana Spheres).  After that, boost your Strength (if needed)
until you can kill the Magus Sisters with a single Oblivion (Magus
Sisters = 12 Power Spheres).  Once you're that far, set Yuna's OD to
'Loner' and equip her with her partially-powered Nirvana (which will
have [Double Overdrive]).  Keep fighting Bahamut and/or Yojimbo, and
whenever Yuna's OD is about to be full, Grand Summon Anima to do
Oblivion against the Magus Sisters.

At this point, it's really up to you as to which stat(s) to boost.
Boosting your Magic will allow you to increase the power of Pain, and
boosting your Strength will allow you to increase the power of
Oblivion... - I went with Magic, but in hindsight, boosting Strength
would probably have been _MUCH_ faster in the long run.  You see, if
you boost Magic in the hopes of using Pain and/or Flare against Kottos,
you're also going to need to boost HP, Defense, Agility, and MP.
However, if you boost your Strength so that you can kill Kottos with
Oblivion, you can ignore all other stats. - Once your Strength is up to
about 170-180, Oblivion will be able to single-handedly kill Kottos.
So, I'd recommend that you ignore everything except Strength, and once
you have that at about 180, proceed to the Monster Arena for Kottos.

Kottos:  Your front-line should have Rikku, Yuna, and someone slow
(Auron, Kimahri, etc.).  Rikku and Yuna need [First Strike].  Set
Yuna's OD to 'Comrade'.  When the battle begins, have Rikku use a
Distiller.  Kottos will counter-attack Rikku and Yuna's OD gauge will
be filled.  Yuna can then Grand Summon Anima who will then use
Oblivion.  Kottos will die and you'll get 40 spheres (2 if Kottos does
a rare drop). - And that's all there is to it; you don't even need to
save between fights.  If you're fast, you'll be able to kill Kottos
about 45 times in one hour. - Assuming you don't fall prey to any rare
drops, that makes 1,800 spheres per hour.

Do NOT be worried about having enough gil to buy Distillers and pay the
entrance fee for Kottos.  Fighting Kottos is _EXTREMELY_ profitable.
All you need is at least 100,000 gil to get started. - Once you spend
that, you should be seeing a noticeable profit from selling his dropped
equipment.  After I finished powering-up Anima, I had made a grand
total _profit_ of around 20,000,000 gil from selling the equipment that
Kottos drops.

By the time you've killed all of the Dark Aeons, your Anima will need
to have the following stats (my Anima's stats are in brackets):

HP: >= 54,000  [55,090]
MP: >= 3,000  [3,600]
Strength: 255  [255]
Magic: 255  [255]
Defense: 255  [255]
Magic Defense: 0 [100]
Agility: 255  [255]
Accuracy: >= 125  [125]

Of course, this is the _FINAL_ state that's required. - Depending upon
which aeon you're fighting, Anima wouldn't need to be nearly this
strong.

In addition, Anima will need to know: Haste, Protect, Shell, Curaga,
Lancet, DoubleCast, Drain, Osmose, Flare, and Ultima.  Teaching most of
these abilities should be very easy, but you may have trouble with
Ultima (which requires 99 'Supreme Gems').  You get 60 Supreme Gems for
unlocking Greater Sphere. - After that though, you'll need to fight
Jormungand ("Overkill" him for 4 Supreme Gems).  Since Dark Cindy is
the only Dark Aeon that you need Ultima for, it's best to wait until
your Anima is _REALLY_ strong before you start collecting Supreme Gems.
- That way, you can just summon Anima, and Jormungand will be a piece
of cake.


___DARK VALEFORE (800,000 HP)___

- Uses Sonic Wings, normal attack, or Energy Ray on her turn.
- Uses Energy Blast when her OD is full.
- Sonic Wings: Causes Delay Attack.

As best as I can tell, her attacks seem to be completely random (though
there may be something I'm just not seeing).

Valefor's liberal use of Energy Ray is the primary reason why I think
this fight is impossible without Anima. - Valefor is just too quick for
someone to rely on Hyper Mighty G.

In any event, using Anima is how I decided to kill her.  The only stats
of any real importance are:

HP: >= 10,000
Strength: 255

Front-line: Wakka, Tidus, Rikku (all with [First Strike] weapons).
Battle begins: Swap Rikku and Yuna; summon Anima.  Use Oblivion (damage
= 700,000).  Valefor will attack, but she will NOT be able to break the
damage limit (9,999).  Have Anima use either Pain or a normal attack
and the fight's over.  Of course, if you use Pain, you'll need to be
sure that your Magic stat is high enough to hit Valefor for max damage.

If Valefor uses Sonic Wings for her 1st attack, Anima will be delayed
and might die (depending upon Anima's HP). - In this situation, I'd
recommend just trying over.  Otherwise, you could just swap Tidus and
Rikku, mix Trio, and finish Valefor with Attack Reels.


___DARK IFRIT (1,400,000 HP)___

- Physically counter-attacks all of your attacks.
- Uses Meteor Strike on his turn.
- Uses Hellfire when his OD is full.
- Meteor Strike: Causes Delay Attack.

Using an aeon against Ifrit really isn't an option.  Aside from the
fact that your aeon would need to be god-like just to survive his
physical counter-attack, Meteor Strike's Delaying properties do work
against aeons.  With the exception of Anima, aeons will not provide any
offense in this fight.

When someone is killed, Ifrit will have 3 turns (on rare occasions,
only 2) before that person gets a turn. - In that time, he'll be
pummeling you with Meteor Strike.  The worst part about this fight is
the fact that you have no idea when you're going to get your next
turn...  His OD might only be half full, but he could very well keep
killing everyone until he suddenly uses Hellfire and wipes you out.  As
with all of the Dark Aeons, Ifrit is _VERY_ good at spreading his
attacks across your entire party (he's not like Tanket and some other
dumb bosses in the Arena who constantly attack the same person).

Needed:
99 Phoenix Downs
Ingredients for 10-20 'Trio of 9999'
Ingredients for 5-10 'Hyper Mighty G'
Ingredients for 5 'Winter Storm'

Overdrive Modes:
Tidus - Stoic
Wakka - Stoic
Rikku - Comrade

You might need to use both Kimahri and Auron as 'place-holders' at some
point in the fight - so keep that in mind when preparing.  Depending
upon how things are going, you most likely won't need Auron, but plan
on using Kimahri.  All armors will need [Auto-Phoenix] & [Auto-Haste].
Rikku, Tidus, and Wakka need [First Strike] weapons.

As soon as the battle begins, use Trio, Blitz Ace, and Attack Reels.
After that, it's basically chaos...

This is probably the biggest 'chess match' of a fight I've ever been in
(lots of weapon changing and blocking).  You need to try to get a turn
after his OD is full, but before he does Hellfire. - Sometimes, this
will be easy, but other times, you'll have to manufacture a favorable
CTB. - This is where 'place-holders' come in...  If you have someone
with 'Trio' status, but cannot risk attacking (because Ifrit's meter is
almost full), pull in a 'place-holder' and wait for Ifrit to fill his
meter himself. - When successful, bring in Yuna and have her summon.
The aeon will use Shield, and will then be destroyed.

If you can't get a turn between his OD filling and him doing Hellfire
(for example: if he has 2 consecutive turns), you must summon either
the Magus Sisters or Anima -- all other aeons will die before Ifrit
does Hellfire.  The Magus Sisters will only save you from this
predicament once.  Assuming you've already cleared most of the Monster
Arena, your Anima should be pretty powerful (around 20,000 HP), and
will be the key to your success.  Summon Anima, use Haste and _maybe_
Shell, then Shield until Ifrit does Hellfire.  Afterward, cast Curaga
with your spare turns and Dismiss Anima before Ifrit gets another turn
-- this will allow you to summon Anima again the next time you're in
trouble.

Of course, summoning an aeon to shield you from Hellfire assumes that
Yuna isn't in your front-line and you're able to pull her in. - That is
a poor assumption.  On more than one occasion, I've witnessed Yuna
becoming 'stuck' in the front-line (from constantly being killed).  In
this situation, your only prayer is that Rikku is not also 'stuck', and
you're able to mix Hyper Mighty G.

When Ifrit's meter isn't close to full, the only "strategy" is to mix
Trio and hope that at least one person can actually use it before
they're killed (Tidus=Blitz Ace; Wakka=Attack Reels; Rikku=Winter
Storm).

With max strength, Oblivion will give you 340,000 damage.  However, you
want to wait until the very end of the battle before using Oblivion
because Anima will surely be killed afterward...

All in all, this fight will most likely take a few tries before you
manage to win.  Your ability to deplete Ifrits HP depends largely upon
whom Ifrit kills, and when he kills them.  When I finally killed Ifrit,
I had only used about 65 phoenix downs and 9 mixes (8 Trios and 1
Winter Storm). - This is in stark contrast to the times I ran out of
Phoenix downs and/or mixed Trio upwards of 20 times (and failed).


___DARK IXION (1,200,000 HP) -- 1st Fight___

- Physically counter-attacks all of your attacks.
- Uses Thundaja on his turn.
- Uses Aerospark when his OD is full.

When someone is killed, Ixion will have 4 turns (if Rikku, only 3)
before that person gets a turn.  This battle is extremely similar to
the Dark Ifrit fight...  The big difference here is that you don't have
to worry about any multi-target attacks. - That doesn't mean that this
is a cakewalk though, because Ixion's improved speed over Ifrit is a
big problem.  Most of this 1st fight will be spent watching Ixion cast
Thundaja (and watching yourself die).  Basically, this 1st battle isn't
"impossible", but it is very "improbable" (it took me about a dozen
tries before I finally killed him).

Aeons are rather useless here...  Sustaining a battle with an aeon
could only be attempted with god-like stats (I'd guess you'd need all
core attributes maxed; at least 50,000 HP).  The only aeon that'd I'd
suggest summoning at some point (for the final hit) is Anima.  While
certainly not impressive, Oblivion will give you 135,000 damage.

Needed:
99 Phoenix Downs
Ingredients for 15-20 'Trio of 9999'
Ingredients for 2-5 'Tidal Wave'

Overdrive Modes:
Tidus - Stoic
Wakka - Stoic
Rikku - Comrade

All armors will need [Auto-Phoenix] & [Auto-Haste].  Rikku, Tidus, and
Wakka need [First Strike] weapons.

As soon as the battle begins, use Trio, Blitz Ace, and Attack Reels.

Every time Rikku gets a turn, mix Trio and pray somebody gets to attack
(Tidus=Blitz Ace; Wakka=Attack Reels; Rikku=Tidal Wave).

As with Ifrit, the outcome of this fight will be determined by the
enemy, and not you.  All you can do is hope that Ixion starts attacking
the same person repeatedly, and that you can somehow mount some offense
before you run out of Phoenix Downs...


___DARK IXION (1,200,000 HP) -- 2nd Fight___

- Uses either a normal attack or Aerospark on his turn.
- Uses Thor's Hammer when his OD is full.

This is probably the single easiest dark aeon battle in the game
(Valefor doesn't count because I used an aeon to kill her).  Compared
to round #1, this is a cinch.  Ixion will still get 3-4 turns whenever
someone is killed, but you will NOT die very often in this fight.

Needed:
20 Phoenix Downs
2-5 Water Gems
Ingredients for 2-5 'Trio of 9999'
Ingredients for 2-5 'Tidal Wave'

Overdrive Modes:
Tidus - Comrade
Wakka - Comrade
Rikku - Comrade

All armors will need [Auto-Phoenix] & [Auto-Haste].  Rikku, Tidus, and
Wakka need [First Strike] weapons.  Rikku, Tidus, Wakka, and Yuna all
need [Evade & Counter] on their weapons.

As soon as the battle begins, use Trio, Blitz Ace, and Attack Reels.
Ixion will either use a normal attack or Aerospark (the probability for
each seems to be about 50/50, but I'm not certain).  If he uses a
normal attack, the [Evade & Counter] on your weapons will save you and
give you some damage in return (if your attack doesn't miss).  If he
uses Aerospark, 2 people will get their OD's filled.  Either way, you
shouldn't have much trouble taking away about 400,000 HP before his OD
meter is full. - At that time, bring in Yuna and have her summon
Valefor, Bahamut, or Anima.  Since counter-attacks aren't an issue, be
sure that each of these aeons has a full OD so that you can get a
little offense out of them before Thor's Hammer kills them.  After
Ixion does his OD, continue attacking as before (mix another Trio if
needed).  Again, you should be able to do about 400,000 damage before
you need to bring in another aeon.  Repeat the cycle and Ixion should
die shortly after his 3rd OD.

In this 2nd battle, I killed Dark Ixion on my 2nd try (on the 1st try I
forgot to summon - <*smacks head*>).  I used 10 phoenix downs, 2 water
gems, 3 aeons, mixed 2 Trio's and mixed 2 Tidal Waves. - Basically,
what I'm trying to say here, is that if you've been through the Arena,
this battle shouldn't be more than a bump in the road...


___DARK SHIVA (1,100,000 HP)___

- Uses either a normal attack or Heavenly Strike on her turn.
- Uses Diamond Dust when her OD is full.
- Normal attack: Causes Delay Attack on the entire party.
                 Dispels positive status effects (Haste, etc.).
- Heavenly Strike: Causes Delay Attack.

Her normal attack delays the turns of your ENTIRE party (even though
she only actually hits one person).  Heavenly Strike also delays your
turn, and I suspect that it functions the same way as her normal attack
and delays everyone - but I haven't been able to validate that yet...
In any event, having [First Strike] gives you the 1st three turns, but
I'm yet to get a 4th.

While Shiva spreads her attacks around pretty well, I did manage to
witness one battle where she never hit Rikku.  Despite the fact that
she was never killed, Rikku never did get a turn after her 'First
Strike', and ended up being killed by Diamond Dust...  Basically, you
_must_ use an aeon in this battle.

Anima versus Shiva:

HP: >= 45,000
Strength: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255
Accuracy: >= 125 (I got by with 125, but I'd recommend higher.)

Against max Defense, both Shiva's Heavenly Strike and a critical-hit
normal attack do about 9,000 damage (she seems to do critical-hits
about 50-75% of the time).

We need Anima to do at least 980,012 damage against Shiva (then we can
finish her with Attack Reels).  With Oblivion doing about 390,000
damage, 2 Oblivions and 2 normal attacks (about 99,999 each) would be
enough.  Also, we can Grand Summon Anima (when she already has a full
OD), and thereby give her 2 full OD's right away.  Since Heavenly
Strikes won't Dispel Haste, we need Shiva to favor those over her
normal attacks.  So, here's the plan:

Put Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku in your front-line (they all need [First
Strike]).

1) The battle begins and Rikku swaps with Yuna.
2) Yuna Grand Summons Anima.
3) Anima casts Haste and does one normal attack.
4) Shiva uses Heavenly Strike.
5) Anima does a 2nd normal attack, and then uses Oblivion.
6) Shiva attacks (this could be as many as 4 attacks).
7) Anima does a 2nd Oblivion and is killed shortly thereafter.
8) Rikku swaps in for Tidus and Mixes 'Trio of 9999'.
9) Wakka does Attack Reels.

The biggest variable here is step #4. - If Shiva doesn't do a Heavenly
Strike there, the whole strategy will probably go down in flames...
Because of that, you'll most likely need to keep retrying until she
uses a Heavenly Strike.

Assuming that Shiva's 1st attack is indeed a Heavenly Strike, the next
hurdle is step #6. - Depending upon your HP, what happens there could
mean the difference between victory and defeat...  45,000 HP should be
enough for you to survive a worst-case scenario (4 critical-hit normal
attacks). - On the other hand, if she does 1 or 2 Heavenly Strikes
followed by 1 or 2 non-critical normal attacks, you'd be able to get by
with as few as 35,000 HP.


___DARK MAGUS SISTERS___

Since fighting the Dark Magus Sisters individually is a marathon (you
can't save or buy items between fights), the easiest way that I can see
to legitimately kill all 3 sisters is to use an aeon against Sandy, an
aeon against Mindy, and use a combination of characters and an aeon
against Cindy. - That sounds pretty simple, but we need to be careful
about the MP requirements.  If you were to use Flare on both Sandy and
Mindy, and use Ultima on Cindy, you'd need approximately 4,000, 2,000,
and 1,500 MP for Sandy, Mindy, and Cindy respectively.  Since you can
absorb 999 MP from each sister, we can lower the grand total from 7,500
MP to 4,500 MP. - This is still a rather huge amount of MP.  We CAN do
better though because using 3rd-level elemental spells ("3rdE") against
Sandy and Mindy will push the MP requirements down drastically. - This
is because 3rdE spells are much more potent (damage per MP) than Flare
or even Drain.  So, by using 3rdE spells, the new requirements would
be: Sandy = 2,200 MP; Mindy = 1,000 MP.  You really do need to use
Ultima against Cindy, so her requirement would remain at 1,500 MP.  We
can once again factor in the fact that you can get 999 MP from each
sister, and the new grand total for prerequisite MP = 1,700!  So, a
single aeon with as little as 1,700 MP will do the trick (but I'd
recommend waiting until after you kill Dark Bahamut so that you have at
least 3,000 MP - things will be much easier that way).  Furthermore,
since Oblivion will give you some good damage against Sandy, and Pain
will be used to finish Mindy, I'd recommend that Anima be the aeon that
you use (if not, expect to need more MP).  Now, I can imagine some
creative ways that you could use 2 or 3 different aeons here, but
powering-up 2 or 3 aeons would require _much_ more time than simply
beefing-up a single aeon. - Because of this, I'm not going to elaborate
on any variations of my strategy...  However, if you already have
multiple aeons powered-up, I've included the battle-specific aeon
requirements for each Magus Sister so that you can easily formulate
your own strategy.  If you follow my advice though, and only use Anima,
her stats will need to be as follows:

HP: 40,000 - 50,000 (50,000 is probably ideal)
MP: >= 1,700 (hopefully around 3,000)
Strength: Not needed, max it so you can use Oblivion to save some MP.
Magic: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255

Now, using an aeon in the 1st two battles might bother some people, and
if you're stubborn (like me), you're going to want to kill Sandy and
Mindy at least once _without_ an aeon (just so that you can say that
you don't _NEED_ an aeon to kill them).  So, I've included 2 strategies
for both Sandy and Mindy. - One of which is basically a character-only
strategy (just for fun), and the other is an aeon-only strategy.


___DARK SANDY (2,500,000 HP)___

- Uses either a normal attack or Razzia on her turn.
- Uses Mega-Graviton when OD is full.
- Normal attack: Inflicts shattering Petrification.
- Mega-Graviton: Reduces everyone's HP by 7/16 of their Max HP.
                 Inflicts Sleep, Silence, Slow, Doom and Darkness.

Whenever someone is killed, Sandy will have 4 turns (if Rikku, only 3)
before that person gets a turn.  This battle is very similar to the 1st
Dark Ixion fight because there's no multi-target attack to worry about
(Mega-Graviton doesn't count). - The only big difference here is the
fact that Sandy doesn't counter-attack (which is obviously in our
favor).  Also in our favor is the fact that 99% of the time, Mega-
Graviton won't kill anybody.  But the big equalizer here, is the fact
that Sandy has more than twice the HP of Dark Ixion...  All in all,
this fight is only a little easier than the 1st Dark Ixion fight, and
you are once again racing against the clock. - When you run out of
Phoenix Downs, the battle is over.  This fight took me exactly 10
tries.

Other than using Oblivion (for about 205,000 damage) at the very end of
the fight, aeons will not be used.

Needed:
99 Phoenix Downs
10-20 Hi-Potions and/or Potions
Ingredients for 15-20 'Trio of 9999'
Ingredients for 5-10 'Burning Soul', 'Tidal Wave',
                    'Winter Storm', or 'Lightning Bolt'

Overdrive Modes:
Tidus - Comrade
Wakka - Comrade
Rikku - Comrade

All armors will need [Ribbon], [Auto-Phoenix], & [Auto-Haste]. - [Auto-
Regen] or [Auto-Potion] would also be nice, but aren't needed.  Rikku,
Tidus, and Wakka need [First Strike] weapons.  Tidus & Wakka need
[Alchemy] on their weapons.

[Auto-Phoenix] normally only gives you 1/2 of your HP.  But, with
[Alchemy] you get 100% HP which allows you to survive 2 Mega-Gravitons.
- You may say that this sounds absurd because Sandy only does Mega-
Graviton when her OD is full.  But, without [Alchemy], if Sandy goes
from one Mega-Graviton all the way to a 2nd without killing a specific
character, that character will be killed by the 2nd Mega-Graviton. -
The odds of this happening aren't tremendous (Sandy attacks 5 times
between each Mega-Graviton), but it happens a lot more often than you'd
think. - There are even times when I've seen someone survive to see 3
Mega-Gravitons (and get killed by that 3rd one). - Because of this, if
you don't have [Auto-Regen] or [Auto-Potion], it's wise to have Tidus
and Wakka uses Hi-Potions/Potions whenever they have a turn without
'Trio' status.  Of course, if you do have [Auto-Regen] or [Auto-Potion]
on everyone, having [Alchemy] becomes less important.

When the battle begins, use Trio, Blitz Ace, and Attack Reels.  After
that, you basically just use the "Standard Dark Aeon Strategy": Mix
Trio every time Rikku gets a turn, and pray that someone can use their
OD before they're killed. - Of course, if Rikku manages to get a turn
with 'Trio' status, she should use one of her 9-hit elemental mixes.

*Note*: I noticed that whoever occupies the left position (spot #3 on
your menu screen), seems to be killed about 10-20 times LESS than
anyone else. - That being the case, I'd recommend putting Rikku over
there.  Be forewarned though, that I only recorded 3 sets of data on
this phenomenon and my statistics are therefore rather flimsy; it
could've just been a fluke.  In any case, I mixed the people around
each time, and the person on the left was killed 10, 13, and 20 times
less than the person who was killed the most.

If you're fighting Sandy with an aeon (Anima), your stats will need to
be:

HP: 35,000 - 50,000
MP: >= 2,200 (Osmose will give you 999 MP.)
Strength: Not needed, max it so you can finish her with Oblivion.
Magic: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255

Sandy's Damage:

1 = Anima has Protect and Shield.
2 = Anima only has Protect.

Normal Attack: 1 = 1,600 (Critical Hit = 3,200)
              2 = 6,400 (Critical Hit = 12,800)

Razzia: 1 = 22,000
       2 = 88,000

In order of importance, get Anima into 'Haste', 'Protect', and 'Shell'
as soon as possible (if you have less then 50,000 HP, you may need to
keep resetting until she uses a normal attack as her 1st attack).
Because of Razzia, you have no choice but to 'Shield' every single time
Sandy has a turn.  Anima will have 2 turns (and on rare occasions 3)
for every one turn of Sandy's, so there's exactly one turn to attack
and/or heal before you need to use 'Shield'. - The exception to this is
if Sandy is going to use Mega-Graviton.  With Shell, Mega-Graviton will
only take 7/32 of your HP - so you shouldn't need to Shield Mega-
Graviton.  If Sandy does Razzia, DoubleCast Drain/Drain. - Otherwise,
just keep DoubleCasting your 3rdE spell(s) and Drain.  Drain will give
you about 9,500 HP and each 3rdE spell will give you about 20,000
damage (if you've go tons of MP, Flare will give you about 28,000
damage).  When Sandy only has 200,000 HP left, unleash Oblivion
(205,000 damage) to finish her off.


___DARK MINDY (2,000,000 HP)___

- Uses either Calamity or Passado on her turn.
- Uses Mega-Graviton when her OD is full.
- Calamity: Inflicts Silence, Darkness, Poison, and Curse.
- Mega-Graviton: Reduces everyone's HP by 7/16 of their Max HP.
                 Inflicts Sleep, Silence, Slow, Doom and Darkness.

When someone is killed, Mindy will have 4 turns (if Rikku, only 3)
before that person gets a turn.

This battle is so easy that I almost feel sorry for her...  If you have
the proper equipment, Calamity won't do anything.  In addition, Mega-
Graviton won't kill anyone unless you're grossly negligent with regard
to your HP.

You really won't need any aeons for this battle.  But, you can use
Oblivion for 270,000 damage at the end of the fight.

Needed:
15-25 Phoenix Downs
2-5 Elemental Gems (Fire Gems, etc.)
1-2 Al Bhed Potions
1-2 Mega-Potions
5 Hi-Potions and/or Potions
Ingredients for 5 'Trio of 9999'
Ingredients for 2-5 'Burning Soul', 'Tidal Wave',
                   'Winter Storm', or 'Lightning Bolt'

Overdrive Modes:
Tidus - Comrade
Wakka - Comrade
Rikku - Comrade

All armors will need [CurseProof], [Ribbon], [Auto-Phoenix], & [Auto-
Haste].  Rikku, Tidus, and Wakka need [First Strike] weapons.  Tidus &
Wakka need [Alchemy] on their weapons (if you're wondering why, refer
to Dark Sandy's character-only strategy).  Having [Triple Overdrive]
for everyone is nice, but it will rarely help.

At the start of the battle, use Trio, Blitz Ace, and Attack Reels.
After that, Mindy will use either Calamity or Passado (the probability
for each seems to be 50/50).  Keep some people in 'Trio' status and use
Overdrives.  This is the first Dark Aeon battle where having a full OD
gauge was actually a problem for me!  If Tidus or Wakka have a turn but
don't have their OD, have them use either a Potion or Mega-Potion
depending upon your party's HP.  If Rikku has a turn but doesn't have
her OD, toss out an Al Bhed Potion.  If Rikku were still in 'Trio'
status, you'd want her to either do a 9-hit elemental mix or use an
elemental gem (depending upon the CTB and whether or not she has her OD
full).

*Note*: I have absolutely no proof of it, but I think that Mindy kills
the person on the left more than anyone else.  Therefore, I recommend
having Tidus on the left and Rikku on the right.  On the menu screen,
your order would be: Rikku, Wakka, Tidus.

The aeon-only battle requirements for fighting Mindy are as follows:

HP: >= 30,000
MP: >= 1,000 (Osmose will give you 999 MP.)
Strength: Not needed, but max it in case you get a chance for Oblivion.
Magic: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255

Mindy's Passado Damage:

Anima has Protect and Shield: 5,300 _Total_
Anima only has Protect: 22,000 _Total_

As with Sandy, you want to cast 'Haste', 'Protect', and 'Shell' as soon
as possible.  If your HP are high and the CTB is favorable, try to do
an Oblivion early in the fight before she uses Calamity and Curses you.
- Doing this Oblivion really isn't very important, but it'll save you
some MP...  After that, the strategy here is really simple: DoubleCast
3rdE spells as much as possible (33,500 damage per cast), and use Drain
to heal (15,800 HP).  You'll be attacking so fast that she'll only get
2 turns between each of her Mega-Gravitons! - Keep strict track of her
HP and use Pain to finish her (so you can save some MP).


___DARK CINDY (3,000,000 HP)___

- Uses either a normal attack or Camisade on her turn.
- Uses Mega-Graviton when her OD is full.
- Normal Attack: Dispels positive status effects (Haste, etc.).
- Camisade: Attacks both your HP and your MP.
- Mega-Graviton: Reduces everyone's HP by 7/16 of their Max HP.
                 Inflicts Sleep, Silence, Slow, Doom and Darkness.

Whenever someone is killed, Cindy will have 4 turns (if Rikku, only 3)
before that person gets a turn.  This battle is almost identical to the
battle with Dark Sandy.  Just like Sandy, Cindy will have 5 turns
between each Mega-Graviton (and someone WILL die after each of those 5
turns).  There are 3 significant differences here though, and none of
them are in our favor:

1) The biggest, and most obvious difference is the simple fact that
Cindy has 500,000 HP more than Sandy.

2) Cindy has an attack that removes your MP (Camisade), which makes
using an aeon for a prolonged period of time impossible. - It's
important to note that Camisade doesn't 'Drain' your MP - it just
attacks it.  In other words, aeons won't be able to use Osmose to get
their MP back.  Using 'Shield' doesn't seem to lessen the amount of MP
lost.

3) Cindy is a tank compared to Sandy.  Oblivion does a pitiful 125,000
damage.  While Cindy has the lowest Magic Defense of the Magus Sisters,
her MP-attacking Camisade makes using any offensive magic very
difficult - but not impossible.

Needed:
99 Phoenix Downs
10 Hi-Potions and/or Potions
Ingredients for 10-15 'Trio of 9999'
Ingredients for 5 'Burning Soul', 'Tidal Wave',
                 'Winter Storm', or 'Lightning Bolt'

Overdrive Modes:
Tidus - Comrade
Wakka - Comrade
Rikku - Comrade

All armors will need [Ribbon], [Auto-Phoenix], & [Auto-Haste]. - [Auto-
Regen] or [Auto-Potion] would also be nice, but aren't needed.  Rikku,
Tidus, and Wakka need [First Strike] weapons.  [Alchemy] is strongly
recommended for Tidus, Wakka, and maybe even Yuna. (If you're confused
by the recommendations for [Alchemy], [Auto-Regen], and [Auto-Potion],
refer to Dark Sandy's character-only strategy)

Your characters alone should be able to do about 2 million damage
without too much trouble (2.3 million if things go _really_ well). -
You'll need an aeon to do an additional 1 million damage.  The most
potent form of offense that aeons can use against Cindy, is to
DoubleCast Ultima.  With 255 Magic, each Ultima spell will do about
76,000 damage.  10-14 Ultimas should be enough for victory, but do as
many as possible so that there's less pressure on your characters.

Aeon versus Cindy:

HP: Not important.  But, being able to survive a couple of Cindy's
   normal attacks might be helpful.
MP: >= 1,500 (Osmose will give you 999 MP.)
Strength: Not needed, but if you run out of MP, being able to use
         Oblivion would be really nice.
Defense: Not important, but you'll need it if Cindy does a normal
        attack.
Magic: 255
Agility: 255

Cindy's Damage:

Normal attack = 10,000

Camisade = 99,999

Now, combine the power of Camisade with the Dispelling properties of
Cindy's normal attack, and you've got trouble. - Then, add in the fact
that Camisade attacks your MP, and you've got _BIG_ trouble.  So, how
do we overcome this? - Simple: We run from and avoid Camisade like a
scared little girl!  Here's the plan:

Your front-line should be Wakka, Tidus, and Rikku.  When the battle
begins, Mix Trio and switch Tidus with Yuna.  Yuna summons Anima.
Tidus's [First Strike] will have been transferred to Yuna when they
switched places, and then further transferred to Anima. - Basically, at
the very beginning of the battle, Anima will have 2 turns before Cindy.
So, have Anima cast Haste on herself and then Dismiss her.  Next,
attack normally and replace Yuna with Tidus as soon as you can.

Your goal is to run a normal, character-only offense as smoothly as
possible and try to accumulate about 2 million damage.  When you have a
turn _IMMEDIATELY_ before Cindy is going to use her OD (Mega-Graviton),
bring in Yuna and have her summon the already-Hasted Anima.  Anima will
have 1-3 turns before Mega-Graviton, and 2-3 turns immediately after
(you'll most likely only get 1 turn before and 2 turns after; it
depends on how you 'manufactured' the CTB).  Having Anima cast Shell is
a good idea. - After that, use as many turns as you can to DoubleCast
Ultima (76,000), and then Dismiss Anima before Cindy uses a non-OD
attack. - During subsequent summonings, you'll eventually need to heal,
so just use Drain (22,000 HP) when needed.  After Anima is Dismissed,
you'd once again want to get Yuna out of the front-line and continue
with your character-only offense.

It really goes without saying, but your character-only offense will
consist of the usual routine of Mixing Trio as often as you can, and
using Blitz Ace, Attack Reels, and 9-hit elemental mixes as much as
possible.

Overall, you're going to need to get at least 3 or 4 turns where
Cindy's OD is full, and you can summon Anima for some quick Ultimas. -
Having those 3 or 4 opportunities to summon really shouldn't be that
difficult.  When Cindy is almost dead (or if you run out of MP), start
using Pain and/or Oblivion and hope that Cindy does a couple of normal
attacks before she does Camisade and kills you...  As long as you meet
all of the prerequisites (and have plenty of MP), there are exactly 3
realistic ways that this strategy could fail:

1) Yuna gets 'stuck' in the front-line for an extremely long time.
2) Your character-only offense does horribly and only manages about 1.5
  million damage.
3) Both #1 and #2 happen at the same time.

There's no possible way to avoid any of these - they're all up to
Cindy.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this Dark Cindy strategy.  It worked
both times I tried it, and I really think it's the only way to go...
(On a side-note, during the two times that I used this strategy, I
manage to do a total of 13 Ultimas and 18 Ultimas.)  Of course, it
might be possible to 'brute-force' your way through this battle if
Anima had upwards of 80,000 HP - but that'd be a pretty steep
requirement for HP.


___DARK YOJIMBO (1,600,000 HP)___

- Uses Daigoro, Kozuka, or multi-target Wakizashi on his turn.
- Uses Zanmato when his OD is full.
- Daigoro: Inflicts Poison and shattering Petrification.
- Zanmato: Removes Auto-Life.

Yojimbo's extremely high Agility, his Wakizashi attack, and his Zanmato
attack are all reasons why fighting him without an aeon isn't possible.
Therefore, Anima should have the following stats:

HP: >= 54,000
MP: 1,900
Strength: Not needed, but max it so you can finish him with
         Oblivion (165,000).
Magic: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255

Yojimbo's Damage:

1 = Anima has Protect and Shield.
2 = Anima only has Protect.

Daigoro: 1 = 1,600
        2 = 6,500

Kozuka: 1 = 1,600
       2 = 6,500

Wakizashi: 1 = 2,800
          2 = 11,500

Zanmato: 1 = 51,000
        2 = 99,999

Get Anima into both 'Haste' and 'Protect' as soon as possible.  Since
all of Yojimbo's non-Zanmato attacks aren't all that impressive, you
really don't need to Shield before he has a turn.  The strategy here is
very straightforward: DoubleCast Flare (41,000 HP each) and use an
occasional Drain (13,500 HP).  You can expect to get 2 (and sometimes
3) turns for every one turn of Yojimbo's.

When Yojimbo's OD gauge is almost full, you need to be very careful...
If he has the next turn, and attacking him will fill his gauge, you
obviously don't want to attack because you won't be able to Shield
Zanmato. - In this situation, just use Shield and wait for Yojimbo to
fill the gauge himself (after his next turn).  Make sure you have at
least 54,000 HP and Shield before every Zanmato.

*Notes*:
You need to fight Dark Yojimbo 5 consecutive times.  You can use the
save sphere between fights, but if you die, warp to the front of the
cave, and/or leave the cave before completing all 5 fights, the
sequence will start over and you'll have to go back to fight #1.  Of
the 5 fights, it's only possible to 'miss' one of them: Fight #3 is in
the 'green room'. - Its name pretty much says it all, but the 'green
room' is a small room off to the right-hand side of the map about mid-
way through the cave; it glows a greenish color.

It really doesn't matter, but I guess I should mention that you are
_always_ 'Ambushed' in fight #1.

As you go from battle to battle, Yojimbo's OD gauge fills progressively
faster.  This isn't really a problem, but it just means that you need
to keep an extra close eye on his OD gauge.  Expect to be hit with
Zanmato with the following frequency: Fight #1 = 1 Zanmato; Fights #2 &
#3 = 2 Zanmato; Fight #4 = 2-3 Zanmato; Fight #5 = 3-4 Zanmato.

If your MP starts running low (or you don't have the prerequisite 1,900
MP), you can Lancet Yojimbo for 999 MP at each fight.


___DARK BAHAMUT (4,000,000 HP)___

- Uses a normal attack on his turn.
- Counter-attacks every 5th attack with Impulse.
- Uses Mega Flare when his OD is full.
- Impulse: Inflicts Petrification and Slow.
           Causes Delay Attack.
- Mega Flare: Dispels positive status effects (except Auto-Life).
              Causes Delay Attack.
              Ignores defenses ('Shield' is the only way to reduce
                                 damage).

When someone is killed, Bahamut will have 4 turns (if Rikku, only 3)
before that person gets a turn.

Blitz Ace 'malfunctions' against Bahamut. - I have no idea why, and
have tried using several swords - including a fully-powered Caladbolg
(none of which help).  Basically, anywhere from 3 to 6 of the hits will
register ZERO damage (despite Tidus having 'Trio' status).  Anima and
Bahamut are the only dark aeons that exhibit this problem, and it is a
complete mystery to me...  In any event, you need to use an aeon for
this fight - so the Blitz Ace problem is irrelevant.  Hypothetically
though, Tidus would need to use Slice & Dice instead of Blitz Ace if he
were to battle Dark Bahamut.

Fighting Bahamut with characters is _possible_, but it'd also be
extremely difficult. - Since Bahamut uses Impulse after every 5 of your
attacks (and you need to watch out for Mega Flare), you'd be constantly
either mixing 'Hyper Mighty G', or shuffling Yuna in and out of the
line-up...  Suffice it to say, there'd be very little time for
attacking.  Even if you could ignore both Impulse and Mega Flare, doing
4 million damage is well out of the reach of characters alone, so we
need to focus our attention on using an Anima.

Anima's stats will need to be as follows:

HP: >=50,000
MP: 4,000 (*See Notes*)
Magic: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255

Bahamut's Damage:

1 = Anima has Protect and Shield.
2 = Anima only has Protect.
3 = Anima is unprotected.

Normal Attack (critical-hit rate seems to be 100%):
    1 = 3,200
    2 = 13,000
    3 = 26,000

Impulse: 2 = 6,500

Mega Flare: 1 = 10,500
           2 or 3 = 43,000

Magic is completely useless against Bahamut (Drain = 2,600; Flare =
8,000). - Because of this, all healing will need to be done with
Curaga.  Since Oblivion only does 98,000 damage, Flare only does 8,000
damage, and normal attacks (if they don't miss) only do 24,000 damage,
Anima should use Pain at all times.  When using Pain, Anima will be
trading turns with Bahamut 1-for-1. - Otherwise, Anima will have 2
turns (and on rare occasions 3) for every one turn of Bahamut's.

Since he counter-attacks every 5th attack, you're going to need to keep
track of how many times you attack Bahamut. - You need to make that 5th
attack as quick as possible because Impulse hits you with both 'Slow'
and Delay Attack.  I recommend using Lancet (750 HP). - Since you're
going to need to spend your 1st turn after Impulse re-casting Haste,
you'll have to survive a minimum of 2 of Bahamut's attacks before you
can start healing.  If, on the other hand, your 5th attack is something
that delays you ('Pain'), Bahamut will probably get 3 or 4 turns before
you can heal.  In order to minimize Bahamut's turns after he does
Impulse, you need to be sure to use Lancet with the 1st of your 2
turns. - In other words, don't use Lancet when Bahamut has the very
next turn.

When Bahamut does Mega Flare, you'll need to re-cast both Haste and
Protect.

Because both Mega Flare and Impulse delay your attack _and_ slow you
down (by Dispelling Haste or inflicting Slow), you need to be extremely
careful about when you attack Bahamut for that 5th time...
Specifically, I'd recommend aiming for using Pain 2 times before the
1st Mega Flare, 2 times before the 2nd Mega Flare, and then using
Lancet as early as you can before the 3rd Mega Flare.  Be sure to cast
Haste, cast Protect, and have at least 40,000 HP before using Lancet.
Repeat this cycle of using 2 Pains between Mega Flares and doing Lancet
as early as possible before the 3rd Mega Flare. - If you don't follow
this pattern, you probably won't have enough time to sufficiently heal
yourself before Mega Flare, and you will eventually die. If you follow
the above pattern, the totals for the battle will be: 40 Pains, 9
Lancets, 9 Impulses, 28 Mega Flares and about 70 minutes.

Throughout this fight, I tended to alternate between 2 distinct
'phases' of attack.  One phase was just offense (using Pain), and the
other phase was defense (cast Haste and/or Protect if needed; cast
Curaga; use Shield before Bahamut's turn). - These two phases never
mixed, so I was basically either in 100% 'attack mode' or 100%
'survival mode' at all times.

*Notes*: Even if you're desperate for HP, do _NOT_ DoubleCast Drain
(5,000 HP) on your 5th attack. - Using DoubleCast will count as _2_
attacks toward Bahamut's Impulse counter-attack.

Although the prerequisite MP for this battle is 4,000, you can get by
perfectly fine with 3,000 - here's how: For the first few 5th attacks,
use 'Jinx' instead of Lancet.  That way, by the time you start to use
Lancet, your MP capacity will be empty enough that you won't waste the
MP absorbed from Bahamut.  With 255 Magic, your 1st Lancet will give
you about 800 MP, and your 2nd Lancet will give you about 200 MP
(totaling 999 MP).

On a side-note, using 'Jinx' never gave me any noticeable results in
this fight. - Bahamut was doing 100% critical-hits regardless of how
many times I jinxed him...  Specifically, I think that my highest total
for using 'Jinx' was 6 times.


___DARK ANIMA (8,000,000 HP)___

- Uses a normal attack, Pain, or Mega-Graviton on her turn.
- Uses Oblivion when her OD is full.
- Normal attack: Inflicts shattering Petrification and Curse.
- Pain: Causes Death (Aeons are NOT immune).
- Mega-Graviton: Reduces everyone's HP by 7/16 of their Max HP.
                 Inflicts Sleep, Silence, Slow, Doom and Darkness.
- Oblivion: Attacks both your HP and your MP.
            Dispels positive status effects (except Auto-Life).
            Causes Delay attack.
            Ignores defenses ('Shield' is the only way to reduce HP
                               damage).

*** I believe that this fight is _possible_ in a NSG game, but it is
also highly improbable.  The following discussion should give you an
idea of what would need to happen for victory, but it could very well
take you a lifetime of attempts before achieving that victory...
Therefore, I recommend that most NSG gamers (including myself) 'bit the
bullet' and use Zanmato. ***

Dark Anima's attacks seem to be completely random.  Furthermore, the
probabilities for a normal attack, Pain, and Mega-Graviton seem to be
equal (33.3%).

When someone is killed, Anima will have 4 turns (if Rikku, only 3)
before that person gets a turn.

As with Bahamut, Blitz Ace 'malfunctions' against Anima. - This means
that Tidus will once again have to abandon Blitz Ace in favor of Slice
& Dice - which always works.

Dark Anima's OD charging works as follows:
- 10% increase per turn (functions like 'Ally' mode).
- 5% increase per attack received (similar to 'Stoic' mode).
It is important to note that Dark Anima's 'Stoic' mode isn't a true
'Stoic' mode.  Damage is ignored and multi-hit attacks only count as
one attack.  In other words, whether you do a 12-hit Attack Reel or
miss her with a normal attack, she'll get 5%.

Anima is _IMMUNE_ to all magic, but there are exactly two ways around
that:

 1) Use magic Overdrives (Diamond Dust, Hellfire, etc.).

 2) Use magic items (elemental gems, blessed gems, etc.).

The bad news is that even this 'back-door' around Anima's magic
immunity is heavily guarded. - Anima will absorb all elemental
overdrives and elemental gems/mixes.  The only ways to do any magic
damage whatsoever are: Soul Springs, Stamina Springs, Poison Fangs,
Blessed Gems, Shining Gems, Supreme Gems, Dark Matter, Lancet, Energy
Blast/Energy Ray, and Mega Flare. - I'm rather certain that this is a
complete list.  Of the items, Dark Matter is the only one that does 5-
digit damage (12,600).

Since Pain causes instant Death to aeons, sustaining a _prolonged_ aeon
battle against Dark Anima is not an option. - The keyword here is
"prolonged".  As previously mentioned, you have a 33.3% chance that
Dark Anima will use Pain against you. - That being said, allowing Dark
Anima to get a turn against one of your aeons would be like playing
Russian roulette...  So, you need to use your aeons _very_ wisely.
Specifically, your goal will be to summon the Magus Sisters as often as
possible, and then Dismiss them before Dark Anima has a turn.

Your biggest concern is Oblivion...  You can either summon an aeon for
a shield or use Hyper Mighty G.  Since Yuna will account for the
majority of your offense (via the Magus Sisters), she probably won't
have a spare turn to summon a shield aeon.  In other words, you're most
likely going to have to rely on using Hyper Mighty G to save you from
Oblivion.  Regardless of your strategy, Oblivion is a highly
problematic attack. - Due to Dark Anima's high Agility, you probably
won't be able to get a turn _immediately_ before Oblivion. - The
problem there is that if you use a shield aeon, you have a 33.3% chance
that Dark Anima will use Pain and kill your aeon (leaving your party to
be wiped-out by Oblivion).  Using Hyper Mighty G in the same situation
is an even bigger gamble because there's a 66.6% chance that Dark Anima
will either use Pain or a normal attack and kill one of your party
members (thereby relieving them of their Auto-Life status). - This
means that you'll have to claw your way back into the battle and find a
turn to manually revive the person that you lost.  Sadly, since using a
shield aeon would be an 'all or nothing' proposition, using Hyper
Mighty G is actually the safer choice.  Of course, given ideal
conditions (having a turn immediately before Oblivion and also having
your choice between Rikku and Yuna), you'd want to pull out a
sacrificial aeon. - This is because, with an aeon, you'd avoid the huge
delay caused by having your entire party killed.

Needed:
99 Phoenix Downs
20-50 Dark Matters
Ingredients for 10-20 'Trio of 9999'

Overdrive Modes:
Wakka - Comrade
Rikku - Comrade

[Auto-Regen] should allow you to survive most situations involving
Mega-Graviton.  Therefore, all armors would need [Ribbon], [Auto-
Phoenix], [Auto-Haste], & [Auto-Regen].  There are some very specific
circumstances by which [Auto-Potion] would be superior to [Auto-
Regen]...  Overall, though, I think [Auto-Regen] is the better choice.
Rikku and Wakka would need [First Strike] weapons.  It wouldn't be
critically important, but you'd probably want Yuna and Wakka to have
[Alchemy].  In addition, it _might_ help to have [Triple
Overdrive] for Wakka and Rikku.

My Dark Matter and 'Trio of 9999' recommendations are very generous.
Most likely, your non-Magus Sister offense would account for an
extremely small percentage of the damage needed to kill Dark Anima.

Aeon damages against Dark Anima (all figures are non-critical hits):

Normal attack: 27,000
Sonic Wings: 14,000
Aerospark, Heavenly Strike, Meteor Strike, Impulse: 25,000-29,000
Camisade, Razzia: 35,000
Passado: 49,500 (total)
Daigoro: 16,500
Kozuka: 22,500
Wakizashi: 29,500
Delta Attack: 102,000 (total)
Oblivion: 106,000 (total)
Mega Flare, Energy Blast: 99,999

Dark Anima's Damage:

Normal attack: 3,400 damage
Pain: <Death>
Mega-Graviton: 7/16 of Max HP
Oblivion: 88,000 damage; all MP (Shielded = 22,000 damage; all MP)

Dark Anima's normal attack can be shielded with Protect, and Mega-
Graviton can be blunted with Shell.

I estimate that a victory would take _at least_ 23 'rounds' of combat.
- A 'round' would be defined as the time between two of Dark Anima's
Oblivions.  This means that you'll need to use aeons to shield Oblivion
23 times (Hyper Mighty G aside).  Since a Shielded Oblivion does 22,000
damage, you'd need at least 5 aeons with almost max HP to be used as
shields.  Which aeons you choose really isn't important, but be sure
that Bahamut, Anima, and Valefor are included.  Your 'shield aeon'
stats will need to be as follows:

HP: >=89,000
Agility: 255

In addition, be sure that both Bahamut and Valefor have high enough
Magic so that their OD's do max damage.  All of your other 'shield
aeons' should have 255 Strength and Luck high enough for them to get
critical-hits with consistency.

Of course, the centerpiece of this battle is the Magus Sisters.
Their stats will need to be:

Strength: 255
Defense: 255
Agility: 255
Luck: High enough for consistent critical-hits.

Having high HP and MP for the Magus Sisters isn't really _essential_
(because you should be Dismissing them before they're attacked), but
try to get their HP as high as possible.

Now that all of the prerequisites are out of the way, let's start to
dig into the in-battle requirements and strategies:

The _IDEAL_ battle plan is pretty simple:

Have Rikku, Yuna, and Wakka in the front-line.  When Rikku has a turn,
either mix 'Trio' (if Wakka is _guaranteed_ a turn) or use a Dark
Matter.  Wakka uses Attack Reels if he's in 'Trio' status or blocks if
he's not.  Yuna should:
1) Summon the Magus Sisters and have them attack until Dark Anima's
  turn (then Dismiss them).
2) Summon a shield aeon to save you from Oblivion.
3) Go to step #1.

You don't need to be a genius to see that things aren't going to go as
smoothly as that...  But that would be what's required for victory.

You don't _need_ to use an aeon to shield Oblivion, but using Hyper
Mighty G (and being killed) would cost Yuna at least 4 turns before
she's able to summon again. - By that time, Dark Anima would have at
least 40% of her OD filled. - This would be acceptable (as long as you
can recover from it), but if you use Hyper Might G against Oblivion too
many times, your Phoenix Down supply is going to get into trouble
_really_ fast.  Here's some other things that will need to happen in a
successful battle:

- Yuna is never killed.  Ok, she could probably die a few times (as
long as you survive Oblivion), but she needs to survive for the vast
majority of Dark Anima's attacks.

- Sandy uses her very 1st turn to cast 'Haste' on herself.  The turns
immediately following that would be used to cast 'Haste' on her sisters
('Haste' is a product of the "Defense" command).

- All three Magus Sisters spend very little time doing non-attack
commands (using magic, 'taking a break', etc.).  Tell Mindy to "Do as
you will" so that you have a better chance for Passado.  Attack with
Sandy and Cindy as much as possible.

- Each 'shield aeon' would shield a total of 4 Oblivions (and be
Dismissed after each).  When summoned to shield a 5th Oblivion,
Bahamut, Valefor, and Anima would use their OD's (Mega Flare, Energy
Blast, Oblivion) and Shiva, Ifrit, and Ixion would use their special
attack (Aerospark, Heavenly Strike, or Meteor Strike).

There are also a few small things that should be done to give you a
little bit extra.  For example: Start with Rikku, Wakka, and Tidus.
Mix 'Trio' and then sub in Yuna.  Then, you'd rotate Tidus and Wakka so
that you could use Attack Reels and Slice & Dice.  Once Tidus loses his
'Trio' status, you'd settle in with the front-line of Wakka, Yuna, and
Rikku.

If all of these conditions are met, victory should be assured.  If you
haven't won by the time you enter your 30th 'round', you're most likely
going to lose. - This is because the most Oblivions you could shield
with aeons would be 30 (32 if you use Yojimbo).  At about that same
time, I estimate that you'd also run out of Pheonix Downs.  If
everything happens perfectly, you'd probably win somewhere around
'round' number 23.

X: Author's Note: The End Of Our Quest

If you read this FAQ carefully, you would know that we did not actually
defeat Dark Anima in NSG game without Zanmato. We did come up a reliable
theory based on the calculation of characters' agility, effects of Dark
Anima's attacks and hundreds of times of testing. Dark Anima could be
defeated in NSG without Zanmato in theory, but no one has actually done yet.

I hate to admit, but looks like that it is the end of our quest. We still
have Penance left, and I do think that there might still be a small
possibility of defeating Penance in NSG without Zanmato. I never assume
anything is impossible unless I could prove it with my own eyes. However, NSG
Penance's might is beyond our intelligence and knowledge, plus after working
on this project since April, we are tired, we really are tired. There is no
way we could focus on this quest anymore. It is sad, but our intelligence and
patience do have a limit. It is time for us to rest now.

Maybe there will be another legendary player stand up someday and finish this
quest for us...who knows? I really hope my prophecy will come true, but even if
not, I will still be happy and proud of everyone who has participated this
project. It is indeed, the highest achievement in RPG history. I have never
heard any FAQ is taken more than four months to complete. The ultimate
victory does not belong to us in the end, but my heart is filled with joy at
this moment.

                                                  --By Hyprophant, 10/25/02

XI. Credits/Thanks

Thanks to CJayC first, for creating this wonderful website, and posting this
FAQ.

Thanks to Hyprophant, of course. Hyprophant has sacrificed much sleep on NSG
monster arena project. Around 80% info in this FAQ is from Hyprophant's note
books, It was too much coffee for this 18 years old person.

Thanks to Klink for submitting the NSG Dark Aeon strategy.

Thanks to my parents, for supporting me writing this FAQ.

Thanks to Gestahl, for creating the first NSG monster arena topic on
GameFaq's FFX message board and submitting the "Auto Potion" strategy.

Thanks to CB!/Ceeb and her monster arena/mix FAQ, so I don't have to count
those bosses' Hp by myself.

Thanks to Hikensasame Yuki, for submitting fantastic strategies against
Ultima buster, Neslug, and Nemesis.

Thanks to Bartman2890, for his special support, as well as all die-hard
Hyprophant fans on GameFaq's message board. ~_^

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