Final Fantasy IX Disc 2

Iifa Tree

Side note: For the longest time, I thought this said, “LIFA” tree. I only recently noticed that was an “eye” character, not an “el” character. Wait… That would mean it’s pronounced like Eva the Hebrew for the first woman (Eve - as in Adam and Eve) - the life-giver. And the whole circle-cross vibe seems like a shout out to the Egyptian Ankh - the symbol for eternal life. That went deeper than I thought it would.

Anyway, leave Madain Sari and head back to the Conde Petie Mountain Path. When you get back on the Mountain Path, head left two screens, then take the upper exit and end up on the . Don’t go directly to the Iifa tree when you first leave the path, though. We’re going to visit in the forest there. When you leave the Mountain Path, you’ll come out on the . There is a forest to the south (just left as you exit the path, if you are facing away from the path). Go wander around in there and you find (See the Friendly Monsters Section ).

You can technically level up a bit here if you want, but it’s not really going to buy you a whole lot unless your party is seriously under-leveled, needs to learn a particular skill, or doesn’t have good equipment. Or if everyone is a multiple of five - if that’s the case REALLY get everyone to a different level. Head to the Iifa tree and /save/enter. Welcome to Iifa, the Ancient Tree of Life.

After Eiko breaks the seal (just ask her), equip the (it’s not just an actress!) and head forward. Spend a few screens wandering forward. If you run across any zombies or Dracozombies, cast Cura or throw a at them. For practically everything else, bounce Fire or Fira off your reflected characters. If any of your characters get hit with the status, use one of those you bought back in Madain Sari.

Eventually, you’ll run into Mocchi (the Moogle) near the top of the path. Mognet/ /save. Give ‘em a letter from Mogryo, then head past him to the end of the path.

Step on the circular thing and ride it down (don’t worry, you can get back up if you want/need to). At the bottom, you’ll wind your way lower and lower. On the next screen down, here’s a hole you can reach into and push something (look toward the right, but not the upper right). Do it, then go up to the ledge and open the chest that falls down and you’ll get a ! Just a little below that, you can get a out of another chest.

Wrap down to the next level. You can push a lever on the left side of the screen here. After that, continue down and find the in a cave a bit further down. Don’t go straight down from here! A little past this cave is a branch off to the left that leads to a chest with . Just to the left of that (barely visible) is another chest with a .

Open the menu screen and take a look at your levels. If your guys are a multiple of 5, you may want to level up until they aren’t. Go back up a bit and take the path leading down. On the next screen, you’ll hop on an el-leaf-vator and start down. Fight a few battles and talk with Vivi on the way. If you accidentally got on to this screen and missed above, you can ride back up at this time.

At the bottom, walk down the stairs, past dagger and down the other flight of stairs. Hidden behind them is a chest with an in it. Go past where Vivi and Eiko are and look behind the wall to find a chest with a (Zidane can FINALLY learn ability up). Talk to all your friends, then…

Boss Fight Prep

If you’re planning to steal from a sleeping enemy, be sure to un-equip the “Mug” ability, if you have it enabled. If any of your characters are a level that’s a multiple of five, be prepared to revive them. When you’re ready to advance the story, walk to the bottom left edge of the screen and examine it to start the next section. You can’t go back after this, though, so you better be sure.

Boss Fight: Soul Cage

Steal	, ,
Weak / Absorbs	Weak to Fire and Holy; takes half damage from Shadow
Reward	9 AP, 3800 Gil
Drops	,
Strategy	Put it to Sleep and steal if desired. Avoid Fire magic: setting it on fire gives it Fire Blades; avoid levels divisible by 5.

You’ll fight “Soulcage” at the bottom of this level. I hope none of your characters are a level that’s a multiple 5. He’s vulnerable to sleep, so cast it as soon as you can. You can steal a , a , and an . Between the you just found and the weapon shop at Conde Petie, you should have all these. On the other hand, I reflected sleep off all four characters to put him to sleep, then my next three steals worked.

You can certainly just kill him off if you don’t want to try and steal everything; he’s pretty easy to kill. I found it hilarious to reflect “life” off one of my guys to kill him in a single shot. No Exp, but 9 AP and an are good. Watch the cut scene and you’ll eventually have control again and you’ll run back to Madain Sari.

Back to Madain Sari

Go ahead and do it - there isn’t really anything else for you to do at this point (I went all the way back to both Black Mage Village and Conde Petie, but there wasn’t anything new to buy or synth. :( Also, you don’t have Quina, so you can’t really eat anything new or catch frogs, now, can you?)

Save outside the village, then head inside and go through her house, through the kitchen and down the stairs where the Moogles went fishing and into the lower room. After a bit, you’ll be in control again. Open all the chests here before you go running around. There’s a and a in here.

Grab them, then head toward the Eidolon wall. Remember those chest you couldn’t get to? Talk to Morrison at the entrance to the Eidolon Wall. Peak inside and Moco and Chimomo will go grab those treasures for you. You’ll get an and an . You probably have something better than the , but whatever. Before going on…

Boss Fight Prep

Equip Zidane for a one-on-one fight - Distract, Man Eater, high damage weapons, high defense armor. Talk to Morrison again and ask about Mog then go save her from…

Boss Fight: Scarlet Hair

Steal	,
Weak / Absorbs	No elemental weaknesses or absorbs
Reward	9 AP, 4790 Gil
Drops
Strategy	It is a one-on-one Zidane fight. Attack only when he says “Here I go!”; otherwise he evades every hit.

Random Side Note: AFAIK, this is the only time you actually get to see Amarant’s face. You can steal and an . You’ve probably got enough of both, so focus on attacking - but wait to select it until he says, “Here I go”. It shouldn’t be too tough of a fight. (One time I got a and cast the ‘Solution 9’ dyne for over 7000 pts.)

When the battle is over, I ususally unequip everything useful from Dagger, and then follow Eiko out of the Eidolon wall area to the room below the kitchen. Let Eiko know she can leave if she wants, then you’ll get the . Head out of the house and you’ll hear Dagger. Pay close attention to these cut scenes.

When it’s time to leave town, you’ll be able to swap characters. I usually use this opportunity to swap out Dagger.

Back to the Iifa Tree

Area Enemies & Blue Magic: Iifa Tree Return

Enemy	Eat to learn

See Blue Magic for the full reference.

Now head back to the Iifa Tree an watch Kuja come rinding up. Swap out people, if you want. When you’re ready, head up the roots to the trunk and watch more cut scenes. Eventually you’ll have to fight more mist monsters. The Mistodons are vulnerable to lightning attacks (and cure magic/items). You can steal an and a from them, but really - why bother? Watch more cut scenes and get in more fights. When you finally have control again, don’t follow Dagger immediately. Go UP to the trunk. Mocchi is hiding there. Read a letter and /save, then follow Dagger down (and of course fight more Mistodons) and watch more cut scenes. Save, if you want, then let’s move on to Disc 3. Wooooah! You’re half way there!!!