Final Fantasy IX Disc 3

Alexandria and Treno

A New Queen in Alexandria

You are now Vivi in Alexandria. Be sure to look around a little before walking in to check up on Zidane. Head right one screen. Since this is the only chance you’ll have to play this mini-game (you’ll be locked out of this side quest permanently before too long), you may want to consider racing against Hippaul here. You can win rare cards and the rare key item . See the Racing Hippaul Section.

Return to the previous screen and talk to the tour guide (with the trumpet). He’s looking for work. Head left and check out the item shop. Head left one more screen (to the screen where the ticket booth is) and you can visit the weapon and synth shops. The next screen up is the dock.

Head there and search just above each of the guard’s platforms. You’ll find 3927 Gil on the right and a on the left. Head back down to the ticket booth screen (one down) and left two screens from that one (don’t talk to Marcus or Blank), and head to the bell tower. Run up and talk to Kupo (mognet/save) then meet with the others, too. Be sure to buy the , and for 777 Gil from Stiltzkin.

Check to make sure you have space available, then head up the ladder and pull the rope to get Hippaul’s Treasure (part II): Shiva Card, Ramuh Card. Wander into the bar and try to talk to Zidane, then talk to the bartender.

You’ll discover you need to head to the mini-theater. If you don’t already know, it’s in the alley where Blank and Marcus are hanging out. Go try to walk down the stairs, then agree to go with Marcus and Blank. Head on down. Watch some cut scenes, then you’ll become Eiko.

First see if there is anything you need to equip, then head into town. Eventualy, you’ll become Zidane back at the bar. Equip him up and head out. Go to the bell tower and read a letter from Stiltzkin. Stop off at the mini-theater and you can pickup 2680 Gil on the floor at the bottom edge of the screen.

Now that you aren’t alone, you can head out of town, if you want to learn some skills, but you can do that later when you add more characters to to your party. If you head into the weapon shop (as Zidane) you can meet up with Genero, Benero and Zenero. Their “Game” is that they move around fast and you have to guess where each one is. If you have a few friends (each watch a different person) it’s a little easier, but you can also record it and play it back in slow motion.

Emulator Note: Genero, Benero, and Zenero

If you’re using an emulator, just save before answering and reload if you get it wrong.

When you’re ready to advance the story, head to the river surrounding the castle (one screen up from the ticket booth screen). After you break up the fight you’ll be all four characters. NOW if you wanted to go outside the castle, you could use the opportunity to teach your guys some skills, if you like. There isn’t really any place you can go, though.

Into the Castle

When you step out of the boat and onto the dock, search on either side. There’s an on the left and a on the right. Behind the fountin (at the top of it) is a (Zidane gets his Ability Up and Accuracy+). Head left one screen and into the left tower. On the far right of the screen (next to the gate) is a .

Go into the door on the left, and head to the top right of the screen to find the Stellazio. See the Stellazio side quest section for more information. Head back to the fountain and up one screen (there is nothing to do at the harbor at this time, and the right-hand tower is gated off at its entrance) then watch a bunch of cut scenes, then you’ll end up as Zidane in Treno.

Zidane in Treno

Read a little here before attempting this. This is the only time you can get the (see the Mordid’s Coffee Section for more information), which you’ll need if you want to get the Theater Ship Model, which will increase your treasure hunter rank. In fact, there are lot of things you’ll want to think about doing here. When you first end up as Zidane, you’ll want to head down the stairs.

Take the path that leads you to the right, through the entrance and around through the slums to where the Moogle is and mognet/save there. Head on into the Auction house and buy stuff if you need too. If you can get it, you really want the . At this point, though, my guys have so much dough that I just bought one of everything. What else am I gonna do with 500,000 gil? Also, people near the outdoor cafe will buy some of this stuff from you:

You can sell the Griffen Heart for up to 10,000 Gil (take the second offer).
You can sell the to the same guy for 15,000 Gil (take the second offer).
The Scholar in the Synth Shop will buy for 10,000 (take the first offer).
The fat guy in red will pay 25,000 gil for (take the second offer).

You can use and later on, so some folks say you shouldn’t sell them. On the other hand, if you do sell them, you can head strait back to the auction house and usually buy them back again for less than you sold them for - meaning you can turn a profit of a few thousand gil.

Anyway, after you have any stuff you want to buy, head into the Treno Knight’s house (door on the right) and talk to the old woman there.

Boss Fight Prep

Equip Jelly and Beast Killer. A , Auto-Reflect, or Auto-Float will help with its magic. Ask about the monster and offer to fight it.

Boss Fight: Catoblepas

Steal	, , ,
Weak / Absorbs	No elemental weaknesses or absorbs
Reward	15,000 Gil from the shopkeeper
Drops	n/a
Strategy	Protect Zidane from Petrify, Thunder, and Earth, then use Beast Killer and your strongest attacks.

If you fought the moster previously, this time it should be a . He casts thundara, so auto-reflect can help keep you healthy. He also uses earthquake magic, so auto-float can be nice (if you are not fighting as Zidane, or if you have , which both have auto-float AND absorb earth attacks). If you’ve been doing a lot of stealing like I have, Zidane’s Thievery skill can be very useful (it hits for 9999 every time). When you defeat him, you’ll get 15,000 Gil.

Continue down the path toward the card statium and watch the ATEs. Keep going and head to up from the outdoor cafe and go sell off your Stellazio Coins (See the Stellazio Coins Section for more information). There is an on the ground near the tree to the left (if you didn’t get it earlier). If you stop by the Synthesis shop, be sure to get the .

Choice:

If you’re at a decently high level, you can head out of Treno now.
If you’re still at a low enough level that you want a larger party, visit all the locations and watch all the ATEs, then skip past “Mordid’s Coffee Quest” to “Back in Treno”, then do this side quest once you run into some friends during the card tournament.

Mordid’s Coffee Quest

(NOTE: For efficiencies sake, I have reproduced some of the information in the Mordid’s Coffee Quest Section within this section. You don’t have to flip back and forth anymore.)

Save outside of Treno and head through Southgate to the town of Dali. If you enable counter, the random battles on the way don’t take as long. Unfortunately, though, it appears that the cars for southgate are powered by mist, so you can’t go down them. The wench is still running though, so apparently the game designers missed something. ;) The ice cavern is still off-limits, so Dali is really the only thing you can do over here for now.

Save outside the village, then head inside. Head straight to the mayor’s house and snoop around. Check the desk and you’ll get a . Search it another time or two until the Mayor’s Son says “Zzz…” Now check the Heater and you’ll receive the . Leave the room, go to the windmill, and head up the ladder. You should be able to get to both chests now. The upper one has a in it, the lower one has an .

Back downstairs, check the door on the far right which has always said, “You need the Mayor’s Key” before. Now you can go look around where the chocobo is (you may have to wait for him to move out of the way before you can get to the chest). The far back corner has a chest with 30,000 Gil in it. Search the treasure chest again (There’s something under the treasure box…) Select “Reach for it” to receive the . You shoud now have all three specialty coffees.

Leave Dali and go to the the “Observatory Mountain” just a bit North-East. Mordid should be standing at the bottom of the stairs. Isn’t it nice that he’s getting some sun? Standing there… Blocking your way to go up the stairs… Whatever…

Go talk to him and he’ll be VERY happy you have the beans. Give them to him, and he’ll send you the model of the Theater Ship. Head back to Dali and stock up on low-power weapons you might have sold off or synthed (seriously - you’ll want these soon). Head back through South Gate to Treno and unequip any uniqe gear with abilities that you might want someone else to learn.

Back in Treno

Save at the save Moogle and then head to the tournament stadium. You’ll have to win two rounds in the stadium before you can challenge the champion, but you can leave and save in between each battle. I had good luck playing with:

Tantarian Card
Nova Dragon Card
Lindblum Card
Ribbon Card
A weak card that has arrows all around (I can flip it on my last move and win everything touching it)

After the first battle, you’ll be treated to an ATE with Amarant and Freya. When given the choice, chosing not to pry information out of him will mean you can find both of them around town later. Remember when I told you to leave town and do the coffee side quest earlier? If you’re too low a level, having one or both of these characters can really even the odds outside.

Important: Once you start the final card battle, you’re committed to leaving this area. Be sure to save before hand. If you can manage to win, you’ll receive a . If you don’t win, it’s probably work reloading and trying again.

When you’ve won the battle (or decided you just can’t play any more cards), you’ll watch a few cut scenes and then head…

Back to Alexandria

If you are one of those people that think geting titles like “Your Majesty” and “Your Highness” accurate is important, I’d recommend bracing for impact. Anyway, your first act as Queen here is to tell people you want them to do stuff. You’ll be asked what your orders are, then who you want to do them. Here’s the optimal deployment pattern:

Knights of Pluto Deployment:

Gather Information -> Blutzen and Kohel
Protect the townspeople -> Weimar & Haagen
Contact Lindblum for Reinforcements -> Breireicht & Laudo
Begin preparations to fire the cannons -> Dojebon & Mullenkedheim

After this, will tell you “You were splendid, Your Highness” (not your majesty…) and give you . Watch more cut scenes then you’ll become and Steiner. You shoud be able to unequip all the stuff from at this point except her sword (Save the Queen). Go ahead and do it; she’s tough. Head out and go fight mistodons. You can only head toward the town exit, so do it and fight the monsters along the way. You can equip new weapons, armor, and accessories to Steiner, as he’ll likely level up quite a bit here. Be sure to check his active abilities, too.

If you’ve trying to learn new abilities and you’ve got the , you can equip them and activate Ability Up for three battles. I switch to different armor after that, though. Also, be wary of giving Steiner the here - mistodons are inverted in the way cure works against them - this sword will work in reverse, giving steiner’s HP to the . You’ll be fighting in one battle per screen for 3 screens; then you’ll get in 4 on one screen. After the “Save your Valedictions” battle, you’ll be Dagger.

You can’t go anywhere else except toward the royal apartments. Head up the stairs and out the exit at the bottom of the screen. On the next screen, take the spiral stair case, the head through the door at the top of the screen. When you get to the room where you can go to the royal appartments, head left instead, and up the stairs you find. At the top, you’ll watch more cut scenes.

Out on the landing, go up all the stairs and watch more cut scenes then eventually you’ll end up as Zidane’s group. Go upstairs and find Mosh the Moogle (in the knights of pluto dressing room, where you first met him) so you can save. Now head back downstairs to the entrance and flush the scholars out of the library. In the left library, examine the bookcase closest to the bottom of the screen until you see a question mark.

Boss Fight Prep

Make sure all your guys are reflected, and you don’t have the mug or counter abilities enabled. Enable Antibody and Devil Killer if you can. “Try to listen” to the talking. Then “Challenge” the voice to start this optional boss fight.

Boss Fight: Tantarian

Steal	, , ,
Weak / Absorbs	Weak to Holy and, while open, Fire; takes half damage from Shadow
Reward	30 AP, 4472 Gil
Drops
Strategy	Open it by dealing enough damage to reach pages 150–200, then use Fira or Thievery without physically attacking while it is exposed.

I’m going to tell you something I wouldn’t normally: Don’t bother trying to steal everything from this enemy. If you want to try to steal the , fine. But the is a 1 in 256 chance, and you’ll be able to buy them by the time your party is joined by anyone who can equip it. He has a couple of nasty attacks: doom and paper storm. He takes two forms:

Closed/Hidden: He starts out hidden in the closed book form. Every time you hit time, he’ll open to a random page - usually it will be a blank page, but after a while he’ll open to the page where he’s hiding - at that time he’ll stay open for a while unless physically hit. While he’s in Closed Book Form, have Zidaine steal, have Vivi cast slow at first the attack, and have Freya cast Rei’s Wind first then attack. He won’t react unless you attack him.
Open/Exposed: Once he’s opened up, have Vivi case Fira (reflected if you can) and/or have Zidane use Thievery. If that attack does more than 5k damage, have the other folks concentrate on healing and support while Zidane uses it. Once he’s been found, he’ll stay found (the book will stay open and he WON’T cast really nasty magic) - unless you hit him again or you don’t kill him quickly (after about 10 attacks). In other words, focus on Thievery and Fira instead of physical attacks. If your attacks aren’t powerful enough to finish him off quickly (or you’re trying to steal), he’ll eventually close back up and you have to start this process all over again.

Weirdly, Amarant becomes your best healer here. Mostly he can throw on KO’d characters and can use Chakra to replenish MP for the party.

When you’ve finished with this enemy, continue your wandering of the castle by going and chasing everyone out of the kitchen (just talk to people, they’ll run). When you’ve talked to everyone, head upstairs to the same door dagger went through (There’s nothing else in the castle you need to worry about). At the top, you’ll watch more cut scenes and then you’ll wake up in…