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Gun Mage Challenge FAQ

by Saoshyant_

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                        ZOMG, A PORTUGUESE PRODUCTION
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Guide name:    The Gun Mage Ahoy Challenge Guide / FAQ
For game:      Final Fantasy X-2 (all versions + Last Mission)
Platform:      Flopstation 2 (at least Dreamcast could do 60Hz)
Version:       1.1, released on 17th July 2007
Author:        Ivo Emanuel Gon�alves (Saoshyant) <[email protected]>
License:       Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Made in:       VIM, ISO-8859-1 encoding, and using Split Infinity's layout
Best viewed:   With a Monospaced font and the Firefox or Opera browsers
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Attention: Do NOT e-mail me without checking the Contact Info at the bottom.
Remember that every time you send me an useless e-mail, the Christian god
kills a kitten.  Please, think of the kittens.

Warning: The following guide may have some sarcasm and mild swearing, as well
as spoilers.  If you are easily offended, please do not read it.  Thank you,
and have a nice day.



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01.)                       LEGAL INFORMATION - G0100
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Copyright � by Ivo Emanuel Gon�alves.  Some rights reserved.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
License.  To view a copy of this license, visit 
//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative
Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Thus, you are free:

   * to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
   * to make derivative works

But under the following conditions:

   * Attribution.  You must give the original author credit.
   * Share Alike.  If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you
     may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to
     this one.

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence
terms of this work.  However, any of these conditions can be waived if you
get permission from the copyright holder.

Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.



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02.)                       TABLE OF CONTENTS - G0200
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If you need to find something quickly, press and hold CTRL (Command in Mac),
then press the F button.  This will bring up the 'Find' box.  In it type the
word you're looking for and you should be taken to it immediately.  This is
much faster than scrolling through the entire guide.

For your convenience, there are special search codes near every section to 
help you easily hop on to that section by using the search code provided. 
Each search code will appear only twice in whole guide--thus, getting stray 
hits will be unlikely.  Credit goes for Split Infinity for this idea.

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SECTION NUMBER AND NAME     | CODE  | WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
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01.) Legal Information      | G0100 | Copyright and license info.
02.) Table of Contents      | G0200 | Sections of this guide.
03.) Latest Updates         | G0300 | Read what was added in last update.
04.) Introduction           | G0400 | Self-explanatory.
05.) What You Need to Know  | G0500 | Everything about the GMA.
06.) Alternative Challenges | G0600 | Check here for additional handicaps.
07.) Walkthrough            | G0700 | Basic guide to beat the GMA.
08.) Past Revisions         | G0800 | Version changes can be found here.
09.) Honour Roll            | G0900 | Contributions and stuff go here.
10.) Contact Info           | G1000 | Find out why you shouldn't reach me.
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03.)                        LATEST UPDATES - G0300
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- Version 1.1, (17th July 2007)
# Minor fixes to text and grammar.
# Changed e-mail address.
# Changed license to CC-BY-SA 3.0.  Commercial use now allowed.
# Changed encoding to ISO-8859-1.  GameFAQs was screwing up on UTF-8.
# Added credit to Creative Commons.
# Are you still reading this?  Go check my Time Stalkers FAQ.



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04.)                         INTRODUCTION - G0400
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This is a lame challenge I made for myself.  I beated it. I decided to make a
FAQ about it.  If you care to try it as well, go for it and keep reading.

I created this challenge because I liked the Gun Mage sphere enough to play
an entire game with it.  I just love a job that has both Scan and Blue Magic.

The challenge is different from the usual low level games, or one character
only games, and similar.  And yet, it's something the Average Joe Sixpack can
beat as well, while still making the game a little more interesting and fun
to go for a second playthrough (if you were planning one).

The GMA challenge may sound easy, but consider that the GM sphere offers very
poor stats (pretty much White Mage with attack and no magic power), and that
Gun Mages have very weak blue spells (or bullets, or whatever) and that most
of them are useless.  Not only that, but to master a GM, you really need to
know the game well enough (or use a whole bunch of guides).  Oh, and you also
have to beat most of the Via Infinito bosses, and if you're playing Last
Mission it's a never ending fun!

Ready?  Let's go.



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05.)                      WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW - G0500
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- This challenge doesn't require 100%.  I actually advise against it.

- This challenge does require you to get every Blue Bullet for the 3 girls.
  That means GM mastered for everyone.

- This challenge requires you to beat Chac only, in Via Infinito.  However,
  if you want to, you're free to go against Trema and/or Major Numerus.

- All the girls are required to use the GM sphere throughout the whole game
  as soon as you get it.  It's also required that the GM sphere be the one
  and only sphere in the Grind.

- You are allowed to use any Grind and Accessory in the game.  However, you
  cannot use them if they offer a skill or a spell from another job.  Getting
  a status boost is okay.  Using Ultima is not. Anyhow, since you can't learn
  abilities for any other job besides GM, you have no skills or spells to 
  use in most situations, even if you have access to, say, Black Magic.

- The only exception to the rule above, is when you need to cause Confuse on
  the fiends to learn Mighty Guard and White Wind.  You can't confuse enemies
  efficiently with Blue Bullets.  While Bad Breath does that, it does it
  randomly, and even though you could try it dozens of times until it works,
  why bother?  However, you should use Bad Breath if you want to stick tight
  to the GMA rules, and get magical elite points.

- You are forced to use only Rikku, Paine and Yuna, so if you're playing
  Last Mission, don't get any funny ideas.  You know what I mean.

- You are allowed to beat this challenge with extra handicaps, if you want.
  Check the respective section below.

- You can use a Charm Bangle when you get one.  I know I did.

- You are also allowed to skip any scene in the game (Pause game, and press
  Square).  I know I did.  You should too.

- No Cat Nip crap.

- No New Game Plus.

- No Gameshark shit.

- No fapping to Rikku.



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06.)                      ALTERNATIVE CHALLENGES - G0600
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Guess what?  You may find the GMA challenge boring, or you might beat it and
then decide to redo it, but with variations.  So, this is what this section
is for, in case you want some ideas for an alternate GMA game.

For handicaps, here's a list of different possibilities:

- First Steps GG Only
- No Attack Command
- Everyone Berserk*
- Single Character Only
- Two Characters Only**
- Speed Challenge
- Gun Mage Mania GG***
- No Annihilator BB
- Send Hate Letters to Square-Enix While Playing
- Send Bombs Too
- Level 1 Everyone
- No Items
- No Accessories
- Fap to Hot Paine Character****

You may mix some of these handicaps with the GMA game, or none.  It's your
call, really.  I for one didn't, because I want to have some fun while
playing.  There's enough pain in this game already, what with Yuna being
there, you being forced to do match-making with bloody monkeys, and
anything to do with the Chocobo Dungeon.

As a last note, if you aren't serious about the GMA challenge, don't
master your Gun Mages.  Annihilator, Cry in the Night, Mortar, and
Supernova are a major pain in the ass to get.  For Mortar you'll need to
find all Crimson Spheres--miss one, and Mortar's gone.  You need to dig
a lot, and I mean a lot to get Annihilator.  You need to spend hours 
hunting chocobos in CH5 to get access to the Chocobo Dungeon to get
Supernova.  And Cry in the Night involves killing 16 Tonberries, discuss
the wheater with an Oversouled Mega Tonberry, and survive to tell the 
tale.  I'm no Christian (i.e. I don't torture people), so relax and 
choose how you'll enjoy the game.  That's something you decide, not me.


* Extremely fun to do with berserked White Mages, but sadly you cannot use
  White Mages in my GMA game.  But try it sometime for the Niflheim of it.

** I actually tried this one with my GMA, but the damn save sphere just
   kept resurrecting Yuna.  Damn you, save spheres!  I was so close...

*** If you didn't understand what I meant by this, it means a Grind full
    of GM dresspheres only.  That means you would have to finish the game
    at least 3 times and play a 4th (on New Game Plus, yes) to get four GM
    dresspheres to fill up a 4-slot GG.  But hey, at least you can get the
    fabulous gate bonuses!

**** Yes, my boy. This is possible, really.  You just have to remember that
     Square made this game for the sole purpose that you--yes, YOU--would
     have fantasies about the girls, and that means Paine's on the love
     boat too, okay?  Keep trying, and eventually you'll beat this challenge.



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07.)                           WALKTHROUGH - G0700
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The following is addressed in this section:
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Foreword -------------------------------------------------------------- G0701
Chapter 1 ------------------------------------------------------------- G0702
Chapter 2 ------------------------------------------------------------- G0703
Chapter 3 ------------------------------------------------------------- G0704
Chapter 4 ------------------------------------------------------------- G0705
Chapter 5 ------------------------------------------------------------- G0706
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A - FOREWORD - G0701
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I recommend that you check the Blue Bullet FAQ by Split Infinity if you
haven't yet.  Regardless, I'll be describing how to get them, and which to
use in what situation.

Do yourself a favor and skip as much of the story as possible (Pause +
Square).  Really, the story sucks that bad.  Sadly, Square Enix doesn't allow
you to skip every scene in the game.  You'll have to watch pretty much
everything in Chapter 5, and Yuna will make you cry, but not in an emotional
way.  More like a stomachache, but worse.

If sometimes you have the feeling you're playing Tomb Raider 1 all over
again, you're not alone.  Gun them down, Lara!  Oops, Yuna.  Right.


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B - CHAPTER 1 - G0702
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Alright, you know you won't start with the GM sphere right away, so what you
gotta do is rush over to the Moonflow as quick as possible. Keep in mind that
until then, you should avoid leveling up as much as possible. If necessary,
run from some battles.

Start the game. Watch some crappy J-Pop song. Guide Rikku to battle the 
three stooges. On the Celsius talk with Shinra and watch the Dressphere 
guide to get the Vanguard GG. This will be a neat GG for the start of the
game. Later, use whatever you like more.

Rush to the top of the ruins, and try to get the Red Ring and the Muscle 
Belt. Back on Celsius, you now can go to the Moonflow, but don't go there 
yet. Ask Scotty to beam you down to Djose, don't talk with Gippal, leave
Djose through the bridge, and enter the Moonflow through the South entry.
Talk with the blue thing and escort it without losing any luggage at all.
Don't ever try to talk with Tobli. You probably know I'm aiming for the
Minerva Plate. Okay, got the GM sphere? Now we're talking.

Put the dressphere on whatever Grind you like, and leave it alone. Equip the
Grind on everybody. I recommend you start learning the following abilities:
Flan Eater, Dismantler, and Mech Destroyer. You can assign one for each 
girl. Afterwards, I recommend learning Fiend Hunter Lv.2 for everyone.

Take notice that you'll need to find every single Crimson Sphere there is.
Oh, not because of 100%, but for Mortar BB, which you can only get by
fighting Gippal's Shadow. I'll say you should report to Split Infinity's
main FAQ for FFX-2 and look for the A047 entry.

Now, you need to make a decision. You'll need to cause Confuse on two enemies,
and you may want to cheat the GMA here. There's several ways of doing Confuse,
but I consider only two of them not to be really cheating. Alchemist Mix and
Raging Giant GG.  Alchemist DSP can be found in CH2, and Raging Giant in CH3.
Bad Breath will cause Confuse occasionally, so if you don't want to break the
rules, use it instead.  Keep in mind, however, that Bad Breath may only be
found on CH3, and it usually doesn't cause Confusion easily.

The only way to get Confuse on CH1 is by getting Full Throttle sphere on
Macalania Woods.  However, you'll have to learn a lot of abilities with that
sphere to enable Crazy Wing.  Another alternative is to find O'aka on
Macalania, get him on board of Celsius and pay his debt before going to
Besaid on CH1.  If you do this, get ready to buy thousands of Hi-Potions of
him and sell them to Barkeep.  You'll need 900,000 gil to buy the Besaid Key
to get the Raging Giant on CH1.  Plan your decision well.

If you're aiming for the Alchemist dressphere, get that Clasko pussy from 
Mushrom Rock Road. If you're aiming for O'aka or Full Throttle go to
Macalania.  I recommend that you go to Kilika before going anywhere, though
You need to talk with the telescope guy once in this chapter. That's right,
we're aiming for the Invincible.  Observe the Youth League base on the
following chapters, as well.

After this, buy some Potions and Phoenix Down's, and go to Macalania.  We're
going to get our first blue bullet, and it will be one of the best.  Find a
Haizhe, keep healing because they're tough, and try to get Absorb for all
the girls.  Absorb is awesome because it will save you lots of precious
Ethers.  If you have access to Confuse, use it on Haizhe to get Mighty Guard.
This is another awesome skill to have.  Then, find O'aka or Tromell depending
on your decision, or don't find them at all.

Now, if you want a Charm Bangle, beam down to Calm Lands and trade 5000 gil
for credits to buy one from Open Air.  Try to find a Coeurl here to get
Blaster.  It's a useless BB, but you're aiming to get them all, anyway. If
you have Confuse, use it on Coeurl to get White Wind as well.  This BB will
provide you with healing for pretty much half of the game.  There are Coeurls
on Besaid Cave, too.

Next stop, the hot spots.  If you have enough money, buy the Besaid Key and
get Raging Giant (report to a relevant walkthrough for this part).  If not,
clear Besaid, then Zanarkand, and finally Kilika.  There's a Megalixir hidden
on Kilika forest.  I recommend getting that, and answering all passwords
correctly when heading to the temple.

If you already got Mech Destroyer, use and abuse it against Zero on the
incoming battle.  End of Chapter 1.


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C - CHAPTER 2 - G0703
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You have to decide who you'll give the gay sphere to. You'll get better
Grinds by giving it to New Yevon, so take your pick.

Now, you can go to Besaid and beat Gunner's Gauntlet if you want the 
Adamantite, but personally I never beated the last level (it's 2800 points
for goodness sake). Regardless of you doing this or not, your next stop 
should be Macalania Woods. Find the five musicians (yes, five) including 
three tiny ones. This will give you a somewhat useful Grind on CH3. After 
finishing the mission, don't go back to the Celsius. Find the hypello, and
grab you rewards, including the Minerva Plate if you have been following
my lead.

Then beam down to Mi'ihen Highroad, and let's do another retard mission. We
need to catch the stupid chocobo to later get the Ragnarok. After wasting 
a hour on this crap, go to Mushroom and head to the Youth League HQ. 
After defeating Elma, you'll get the Shining Mirror GG, which is a neat GG.
That is, if you have sided with New Yevon.

If you've got Clasko, you have to order him inside the airship again. Go 
back to Mi'ihen, and get him and Calli. Then head out to Calm Lands, and
follow him into the Monster Arena. Clean up the fiends in another annoying
mission, and get the Alchemist DSP.

Now you need the three uniforms. First, go to Djose Highroad and beat the
crap out of the Syndicate. Then go to Dsoje Temple to get the Letter from
Gippal because Square Enix wants you to go dig to advance the story. Get
the uniform from Bikanel Oasis. Next stop, Gagazet. You won't be able to
climb to the Fayth Scar before talking to Kimahri. Notice the plot holes?
Hmm, tasty.  Get the uniform in here as well.

If you haven't learned White Wind and Mighty Guard yet, now's the time. 
Find the proper fiends (Haizhe and Queen Coeurl) and use Mix with a
status-inflicting bomb and a potion (e.g. Sleep Bomb + Potion), then 
revert the girl back to GM, so all of them can learn it.

Go to Guadosalam and do everything needed to advance the story.  And don't
forget to please Leblanc til she has an orgasm.  That's very important.

You know what's even more funny than that?  If you try to escape the
spike trap (which is the sensible thing), instead of running towards it
(which is NOT the sensible thing), you'll get stuck in the game unable
to advance the story.  Thanks Square.  I loved to reset the bloody game.

AND you're forced to go to Bevelle.  When you reach the underground,
there's two things that you should pay attention to.  First, you should
do all that crap to get the Ribbon.  Why?  Because on GMA you can't bribe
enemies to give you ribbons, so there's only two in the game.  So get
the one in here, and the other one will come after you defeat Angra Mainyu.
The second thing you need to pay attention is that you can get Heaven's
Cataract BB from the Kukulkan monster on this area.  Heaven's Cataract
is pretty handy at this stage in the game.  It hits all enemies for a
good amount of HP, and it lowers defense.

Continue.  You don't need the Dark Knight DSP, but get it if you want.
Equip something to protect against Stop.  Then meet Baralai, but don't
beat the crap out of him. Instead, do the following:

1) Hit him once with Attack
2) Heal him once with Hi-Potion
3) Do that 8 more times until he uses Drill Shot on one girl

The girl he used Drill Shot was the last one to hit/heal him. The
10th move.  Get Drill Shot for everyone else, okay?

Done?  Shoot his butt.  Then proceed and blast the aeon weakling.

Say, Square Enix, you've put some shit-crazy Dark Aeons on FFX-1 for
no reason, and those were near impossible to defeat.  Now you've put
these critters here that can barely breathe?  Cool.  End of Chapter 2.

Oh, and Drill Shot is useless. Don't bother trying it.


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D - CHAPTER 3 - G0704
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Oh me God!  Fiends!  And they're coming out of the temples!  But fret not!
The Gullwings are on the case.

If you still need Raging Giant GG, and you didn't buy your access to it, 
you'll need to save the tourists on Yojimbo's cave.  Refer to a relevant
guide.

In this chapter, you'll also need to make another decision. According to
Square Enix, the key to your success will depend on you allowing an entire
race to be wiped out. So, if you care about the Guado, go to Gagazet and
stop Garik. If not, don't bother going there, and you'll get at CH5 one of
the best accessories in the game. Key to Success offers you Double HP, MP,
Exp, AP, and Luck+100. This is pretty powerful stuff. The extra luck means
you'll rarely get hit at all, if ever. On the other hand, getting this
accessory means that you have indirectly killed the Guado and the musician
race.  Aren't you adorable?  Make your decision and proceed with the game.

Go to Macalania Woods, find the tiny musicians, and speak with them until
the gel fiend appears. Examine the fiend to get an average decent GG. Then
go to Bevelle. If you sided with New Yevon, there'll be a Hot Spot. When 
you're back on Celsius, head back to Bevelle again, and go all the way
down to where you fought Bahamut.  There, tell Pacce to "go for it".

Go to Mi'ihen Highroad and defeat as many machina as possible.  If you
can beat the machina on a hidden ledge, I'll say you succeeded pretty
well here.  You'll also need the second commsphere to be installed around
here.  Report to Rin's Mistery FAQ for all details. We want the Ragnarok,
don't we?

Now, go to Besaid and kill the aeon there.  You can find a Cephalotus and
a Malboro outside the village.  The former has the Seed Cannon BB, while the
latter hits you with Bad Breath (equip the Ribbon).

Then, go to the Thunder Plains.  You can find a Malboro here too, but we are
here to find Balivarha (Fire Breath), Ironside (Storm Cannon), and Gucumatz
(Heaven's Cataract).  Watching Square Enix naming fiends after gods like 
Gucumatz, Kukulcan, Zurvan, Ahriman, Angra Mainyu, etc, makes me wonder if
we'll ever see a Jesus aeon or a Yahweh fiend.  Hmm... not a bad idea.

I believe you also need to talk with Cid to get access to a cave in this
area later in CH5.  Force of Nature is a pretty handy accessory for both
attack and defense.

All done?  Go to Kilika and there talk with the telescope guy again.
Proceed with the story and beat the crap out of Ifrit.  You can find an
Ironside in the forest and there's a Tomb (Stone Breath BB) inside the
temple.  When you are done, go to Djose and fight Ixion. Ixion's the only
aeon (besides Yojimbo) that may ever cause you trouble.  Hit him with
Heaven's Cat and Fire Breath, and keep your defense high with Mighty Guard.

End of Chapter 3.  Oh, and Yuna will make you cry... again.  Why can't we
skip the FMV's?  Huh!?  Why, damn it!?  Sigh.


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F - CHAPTER 4 - G0705
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Commspheres are so cool.  You're also forced to watch four scenes with them,
and there's no skip option here to save you.

After this, I recommend you get the Ragnarok.  So, if you've followed the
steps on the Rin's Mistery FAQ, keep going and access Mi'ihen Highroad
through the commsphere.  Now, go ahead and chase that ugly penguin around
the Moonflow to advance the story.

Afterwards, you get more commsphere crap and an invitation to the Thunder
Plains, where you'll be killing innocent fiends that were doing nothing but
lying on their square-shaped dungeons, sleeping peacefuly. Go ahead and blast
those bastards!  I dare you.

I wish we could forge some Damascus guns.  You can't go wrong with Damascus.

Moving on, skip as many scenes as possible until the concert starts.  I liked
the song's theme, but once is enough for me, and this isn't my first game.
So, if you want my advice, when the FMV loads, switch to a TV channel, or go
make some tea, or something like that.

After the concert, don't talk with Shinra.  Go to the engine room and get a
Crimson Sphere from Leblanc.  This is one you can easily miss, so watch out.

End of Chapter 4.


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G - CHAPTER 5 - G0706
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Go to Kilika.  We ain't here for the story, so hurry up to meet the telescope
guy one last time. Choose to travel across to the base, and get the
Invincible.  You can also get 5 Geo coins, if you want to play Sphere Break.
Take notice that there's only three things you'll get if you bother with
Sphere Break: Lady Luck DSP, White Signet GG, and Treasure Hunt GG.  Those
are pretty useless on a GMA.

I actually liked Sphere Break a lot, but shamefully Square Enix screwed it up
by not allowing coins to be carried over to a New Game Plus.  Not to mention
that in CH5 there's some pretty hard opponents, but nothing to win from them.

Enough rambling.  Next, we'll stop by Mi'ihen to get the Ragnarok, and if you
allowed the Guado to die, go to Guadosalam and check the chest on Tobli's 
office for your Key to Success.

Now, it's a good time to go to the Thunder Plains, beat some Rhyos (shame we
can't learn Aqua Breath), save Cid inside the hidden cavern, and solve the
bloody puzzle, not once, but twice to get the Force of Nature.  You should
report to a relevant guide here, as well as lots of patience and a Charm
Bangle.  Machine Panzer is easy to beat, unless you were dumb enough to get
your abilities locked.  However, Humbaba might give you some trouble due to
Meteor.  Just remember that Mighty Guard will protect you, but if your HP
level is that low, use a Stamina Tonic.

Regardless you doing this or not, I recommend that you stay in TP to catch as
many chocobos as you can. You'll need 4 chocobos, whose Max Level are equal
to 5. I advise you to pull the Gysahl Greens up to the top of your item list,
use the Lure Bracer, and report to the Chocobo Ranch guide. The idea is that
you get access to the hidden cave below the Chocobo Ranch to fight Ultima
Weapon and get Supernova. Some people might say you can find Ultima Weapon
on Via Infinito, but that's only true if you've found it here before. Special
fiends only appear in Via Infinito if you've fought them previously.

Speaking of special fiends, you'll need to go to Bikanel, from there head to
Cactuar Nation, and then go hunt for Cactuars all over the world (notice the
plot holes?). Lots of fun here. You'll be doing this for two reasons: 1000
Needles BB, which you can only learn by fighting cactuars during the search
for Frailea, and the second Ribbon in the game, which you can only win by
defeating Angra Mainyu.

However, we need more power before we'll face this fiend, we need
Annihilator. So, you'll also have fun by digging for hours in Bikanel to get
parts needed to power up the Experiment to learn Annihilator. The good news
is that it'll prove to be the most powerful and useful BB you'll ever have.

These are undoubtely the worst moments you'll have to endure in this game,
but if you want to beat this challenge, there's no way around this.

Now's also the time to start leveling up to face Mainyu later on. You can
start by going to Via Infinito, so head to Bevelle, inside the main temple,
and there take a turn to the right. Pacce and gang will be there around the
entrance. I recommend that you beat the first 40 levels, and kill as many
Tonberries on the way as possible, but keep counting them. Mega Tonberries
will be found only after level 40, and they'll be in pretty much every floor
after the 60th one. You need to kill 16 Tonberries, and then face the 17th
one as a Mega Tonberry, who'll be oversouled. For now, focus on beating the
initial 40 floors. The first boss (the crab) is beyond easy, and the Black
Elemental can be defeated with one mere hit of Annihilator, or even two or
three anti-Elemental bullets.

By the way, any Elder Drake you meet on the way can be avoided, but if you
want to kill them, equip someone with Force of Nature, and use the standard
attack, or a mix of Drake Slayer and Invincible. And the other two girls
should be using Annihilator. It's still quite a bit risky, so you better
beware of them Elders.

On Via Infinito you should have found the last Crimson Spheres, so if you're
ready, go to the Den of Woe. The only enemy you should be afraid of is Nooj's
Shadow. When its HP is below 75%, it will use an attack that will pretty much
bring out the Game Over screen, so you have to use a combination of Scan and
very powerful attacks to finish him off right when his HP hits the 25% mark.
And remember, you've come here, not because of the story, but to get Mortar
BB from Gippal. I recommend you keep healing your party in that battle, and
keep in mind he'll use Mortar when his HP goes lower than 75% (just like
Nooj's Lightfall).

Do you feel ready to have a go on Angra Mainyu? I recommend that you defeat
the Experiment first. You'll need to learn Annihilator from it. My strategy
is slow, but it works. You need a few Star Curtains, the Invincible, and
Ragnarok. Adamantite and some Mega Potions are also handy. One girl will be
the attacker. The other two are supporting units. They might throw one or
two Annihilator's occasionally, but their main focus will be on reviving,
healing, and shielding. I used Rikku as the attacking unit.

You should probably equip Valiant Lustre on everyone, but if you want to
know, the best GG you should use here would be Shining Mirror. Sadly, you
can't use its bonus gate, so no sell. Now, equip Rikku with Ragnarok and
Invincible. One of the supporting cast should wear a Ribbon. Minerva Plate,
Key of Success, and other defensive equipment are recommended as well. Use
what you got. A similar strategy will be used against Concheror.

Start the battle by using a Star Curtain with Paine or Yuna, and then use 
Mighty Guard with the other girl. Rikku will be using Annihilator every 
round, and, depending of your level, it might hit the three parts of Angra
Mainyu for 9999 or less. And when Zarich and Tawrich are out, Annihilator
will hit Mainyu for 15000-23000. Rikku's wearing the Ragnarok, so she won't
need MP, ever. Although, if she used Minerva Plate, Annihilator would hit
stronger, but there would be occasional pauses for MP recharge, which might
be deadly for your party.

Keep in mind two other things. White Wind will remove Silence status from 
everyone, and you'll have to do everything in your hand to keep Tawrich and
Zarich dead, or else Mainyu will use Perdition's Flame, and that means Game
Over. Eventually, you'll win.

Now, if you feel like going down 20 more floors on Via Infinito to defeat 
Concherer, you could do so. However, I recommend that you first beam
yourself up to floor 20, go down until you reach floor 27, and there use
a Lure Bracer to find a whole lot of Shell Shocker's. You need to kill 7
of them to make Concheror oversoul. He'll be weaker this way.

When you go on your way down to floor 60, stop for a while in the 50th,
equip a Lure Bracer, and try to get as many Rabbit Feet as possible from
Jumbo Cactuar (Rare Drop). If you manage to get 3, you'll be okay on the
road ahead.

Strategy for Oversouled Concherer is as follows. One attacking unit, two
support units. Equip the support units with one Rabbit Foot each, and if
possible a Speed Bracer for Auto-Haste.  You should replace one of the
Rabbit Feet for Key of Success, in case you have it.  The attack unit will
be using a Ribbon and Invincible.

Start the battle by using a Star Curtain on your party, but don't bother
with Mighty Guard. Concherer will be killing one of you characters pretty
much every round, so keep using Phoenix Down's and Mega Phoenixes
accordingly. Attacking unit, which would be Rikku in my case, will be
using Annihilator in every round, unless something goes way wrong, and
she'll have to temporarily replace a supporting unit. If Reflect wears
off, use another Star Curtain. You only need them for these last battles,
so I assume you've got a few lying around like I did. The high Luck level
should protect you against Concherer's standard lick attack.

If you've beated him, prepare to meet a lot of bloody Mega Tonberries on
your way down. I recommend you avoid every single one of them, except the
one you get oversouled, because it's the only way you'll learn Cry in the
Night. When you get all the way down to floor 80, you'll face the last
boss the GMA requires you to beat: Chac.  And she's a real tough bitch.

Before you walk to that battle, I recommend you tie up any loose ends. If
you haven't got into the Chocobo Dungeon yet, now's the time. Find Ultima
Weapon there and get Supernova. If you haven't learned Cry in the Night,
do it now.  Let's go over a strategy on how to do that.

You'll need 3 Crimson Rings, and that will be tough if you haven't paid
O'aka's debt (his shop at CH5 sells this accessory).  Any Defense Bracer,
or Moon Bracer will be pretty useful as well.  You'll need every turn you
can get to survive the battle, so keep everyone alive constantly.

Start the battle by using as many Annihilator attacks as possible.  After
5x9999 damage, Mega Tonberry will use Cry in the Night, but the key here
is to survive his Chef's Knife attacks until you can hit him 5 times.
His Firaga attack will heal you thanks to the Crimson Ring (part of Rei
N's strategy), but you'll need Shell on everyone together with a high
HP level to survive Cry in the Night.  Keep everyone alive by using Mega
Phoenixes and, when you learn the Cry BB (hopefully for each girl), take
him down as fast as you can.

Two things can go wrong here: you may either run out of Mega Phoenixes
(get a lot before the battle), or the tiny Tonberry might be the one
oversouled, instead of the big one (reset the game if that happens).
If you can't survive the process of learning the Cry BB, you won't
stand a chance against Chac.

My strategy against Chac isn't the more efficient, I'm afraid.  It's
pretty much what I used against Mainyu and Concherer, and it's prone
to failure even then.  For accessories, I recommend everyone to wear a
Luck+100 accessory (Rabbit Foot, Key of Success), and maybe a Speed
Bracer.  Rikku (or whoever you choose as an attack unit) will use the
Invincible as usual.  You should set ATB to as slow as possible and
cursor mode to Memory.

By the way, nothing can negate the stone status Chac causes, so just
kept a lot of Remedies on the top of your Item list.  If you've got
Ray of Hope GG, equip that for the extra Luck.  Chac's normal attack
may be dodged with enough luck.

One thing you have to keep in mind: if Chac isn't oversouled, you'll
very likely die when she uses Heaven's Cataract. In oversoul mode she
loses this attack, and that is a major point to keep in mind if you want
to survive the battle. When Chac turns someone to stone, heal up the girl
immediately, or Chac will smash the statue into pieces.

If you won the battle, congrats. All you gotta do now is defeat Shuyin to
beat the GMA game. Or, if you're crazy enough, go on and challenge Paragon
and Trema. I've to confess I can't beat those two under the GMA rules,
although I did use a Gun Mage to defeat Trema.

Thus, I'll tell you the strategy that worked for me to defeat Trema with a
Gun mage, even if I know it goes againt the GMA. If you can beat those two
under the GMA rules, you're a better player than I am, and I'd like to hear
from you, and add your strategy to this guide if possible.

I started the battle with a Gun Mage (Rikku looks lovely on that outfit),
an Alchemist and a Lady Luck. I had enough money to bribe Paragon, but if
you don't have enough, you can use the 777 Pause Trick, but consider that
Paragon needs to be in oversoul for that trick to work, because in oversoul
mode, he won't attack at the start of the battle (reels are very slow).

Why bribe him? So you get Dark Matters. On the next battle, the Lady Luck
turns into another Alchemist, and you'll be basically using Mix of Dark
Matter + Whatever to turn everyone immune to damage (Miracle Drink). To be
on the safe side, you need two alchemists, because the effect of Miracle
Drink is temporary, and you'll want to do the mix again ASAP. The only one
attacking is--you guessed it right--Rikku with Annihilator + Invincible.
Equipping everyone with Luck+100 accessories is recommended, and so is
using a Soul Spring to blow away Trema's MP. Take notice, however, that on
Last Mission, Trema is under Spellspring; hence he won't be needing the MP.

Why would I blow away his MP, or use Luck+100 accessories when my party's
invincible? Because, like I said, the effect is temporary, and you don't
want it to end right when Trema's casting Ultima, and if he'll use a normal
attack, you want it to miss, and Luck+100 is here to protect everyone
against three of his various physical attacks. Split Infinity gets credit
here as well for the tips that helped me form this strategy.

Well, I've pretty much nothing else to add. I can't add a strategy to beat
Major Numerus, because I didn't play Last Mission, and I know I won't play
it, because I'm more than tired of this game. I wrote this FAQ/guide thing,
because I wished to contribute my own experience of FFX-2 to the gamers out
there, while practicing my English skills. I'm not adding a strategy for
the final bosses either, for unless you are on Level 10, or something like
that, you can't lose to them. They shouldn't even be described as bosses.

I would like to mention one last thing, though. You know the battle against
Vegnagun's leg(s), where there are these untouchable orbs? Cry in the Night
can kill them; it's actually one of the very few attacks on the game to do
that. Providing you keep healing the leg(s) until the orbs are destroyed,
you can destroy them easily with this BB, and you may win a Hero Drink by
each orb you take down. Worth it? You are the judge.

Thank you for trying my Gun Mage Ahoy challenge.

Here's a little (wallpaper) gift for you:
  //i36.photobucket.com/albums/e7/saoshyantdesu/1150906150906.jpg



=============================================================================
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08.)                        PAST REVISIONS - G0800
=============================================================================
=============================================================================

- Version 1.0, (11th July 2006)
# Initial release. There's probably no need for further updates, but we'll
  see how the situation turns out.



=============================================================================
=============================================================================
09.)                       THE HONOUR ROLL - G0900
=============================================================================
=============================================================================

- Split Infinity features on this list for all the guides he created. They
  were pretty helpful, but for his own sake, I hope he's doing other things
  with his life now.

- Creative Commons feature on this list due to all their work towards the
  creation of a world of Free Culture.  A very important consideration, if we
  are to save the planet from ourselves.

This section will feature mostly people who have finished this challenge and
provided me with feedback on how to improve the guide.  If you annoy a lot of
people to try this challenge, you'll also get listed here.  Order now!



=============================================================================
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10.)                         CONTACT INFO - G1000
=============================================================================
=============================================================================

If you want to contact me, waste a day or two thinking about it.  After that,
think some more.  Still want to send in something?  Are you sure?  Then, do
read the following guidelines:

- The Subject of the e-mail must include "Final Fantasy X-2" or "FFX-2".

- Make sure your e-mail is readable, as in proper English and an actual 
  message.  Flaming and other crap will be blocked without a second thought.

- Don't ask me to send updates of any guide, because I won't.

- Make sure you've read the guide before asking any question. You'll probably
  find your answer here or in another guide, so please don't waste your time
  and mine.  It's for the best.

- And, of course, if you want to provide some help or contribution to improve
  this guide, you'll be more than welcome to.

E-mail/Jabber: [email protected]

Web sites of interest:
  -  //spreadopenmedia.org
  -  //justivo.com
  -  //vorbis.com
  -  //theora.org


/* EoF */