Final Fantasy IX Disc 4

Memoria and Hades

Entering Memoria

OK. Now that most of your optional side quests are finished, let’s head to Memoria. If you’ve unequipped some abilities (like Master Thief, etc.) re-enable them before continuing. You can leave and come back later (if you want) so don’t feel like you absolutely must get every little thing done before proceeding. Pay attention to your Antibody, Locomotion, and Reflect on each member for the Memoria area; you’ll be glad you did.

Head to the large glowing red sphere atop the Iifa Tree and press the “Circle” button to begin watching the fun. Eventually, you’ll get sucked into a battle with Nova DragonBossBoss guarding Memoria. Steal: Remedy, Dragon Wrist, Grand Armor. Vulnerable to Sleep, Silence, and Darkness; rewards 13 AP and 9,505 Gil. (I guess he doesn’t go anywhere rimshot). Anyway, you can steal a Grand ArmorEquipmentArmor for: Knights Only, a Dragon WristEquipmentArm Armor for: All except Steiner and a RemedyItemRemove Status Effect: Stop, Poison, Venom, Mini, Gradual Petrify, Silence, Darkness.

Boss Fight Prep

Protect the party from Wind and Water damage. Nova DragonBossBoss guarding Memoria. Steal: Remedy, Dragon Wrist, Grand Armor. Vulnerable to Sleep, Silence, and Darkness; rewards 13 AP and 9,505 Gil. is vulnerable to Sleep, so Insomniac plus Night can keep it from acting while Zidane steals.

Have Vivi put him to sleep (or equip Zidane’s Ultima WeaponEquipmentWeapon for Zidane and use Soul Blade), then steal if you want. Use Magic attacks to avoid his counter attacks. If you need it, use Mighty GuardBlue Magic64 MP Blue Magic. Casts Protect and Shell on the party.. If you can keep him asleep or if you have Auto-Regen on your characters, this battle really shouldn’t be much of a threat at this point.

Memoria’s Entrance

After the battle, watch the dialogue then head up the stairs. You can save by jumping into that large blackish bubble surrounded with swirly lights on the left. While you listen to the music from Final Fantasy VII (Temple of the Ancients) you can head just up past that and search on the right. There is a Kain’s LanceEquipmentWeapon for Freya hidden there. It’s not as good as the Dragon’s HairEquipmentWeapon for Freya, but it’s better than just about everything else.

Head up one screen. On the next screen, wind around the walkway and head out the doorway on the left. On that screen, go up the stairs until you get to the walkway leading out into thin air. There’s The Tower there (it’s a weapon for Zidane; it’s nowhere near as good as the Ultima WeaponEquipmentWeapon for Zidane). Continue up to the next screen. You’ll see a long walkway in the sky.

Follow it and you’ll hear the “Boss Music” start up. Congratulations, you get to fight the Chaos Guardians again. First up: MalirisBossFire guardian fought in Memoria. Weak to Ice and absorbs Fire. Steal: Masamune, Ultima Sword, Genji Armor. Rewards 10 AP and 8,532 Gil.…

Boss Fight Prep

Equip Zidane with the Ultima WeaponEquipmentWeapon for Zidane and/or enable Auto-Regen.

You can steal a MasamuneEquipmentWeapon for Zidane, an Ultima SwordEquipmentWeapon for Steiner, and a Genji ArmorEquipmentArmor for: Knights Only (of course, if you’ve been following along, you’ve probably already acquired each of these.) Have Vivi cast Sleep or equip Zidane with the Ultima WeaponEquipmentWeapon for Zidane and use Soul Blade. If she’s asleep at the end of the battle, you won’t get hit with the Raining Swords death counter. Otherwise, use Auto-Regen or keep your HP up; when she gets killed, she’ll cast “Raining Swords” which will ruin your day if your guys aren’t around 1,500 HP.

Continue on and your party will come across “Alexandria.” You’ll learn a little. When the lesson is over, go look closely at the ruins. To the left of the ruins is an Angel FluteEquipmentWeapon for Eiko. To the right is a hidden save point.

The Stairs and Card Phantom

Optional: Card Phantom

Continue on to the right and you’ll come to a stairway that’s kind of tough to see. You have to wrap around towards yourself. Go through the doorway at the top of the screen and continue on. At the top of the stairway (slightly left), Zidane can look around. This is your cue that he can hear something there.

What he can hear is someone to play cards with. I strongly suggest you have the game saved before card battling these guys. This is the “Ghost of the most infamous card master.” This guy plays with Ribbon cards. You can get some really sweet cards, though. I played one of the ghosts and got a perfect, netting myself an Ifrit card, 2x Two Moons cards and 2x Madeen cards!

Continuing On

As you cross the bridge to the right, Zidane will see a pair of travelers. You’ll get a little more information, then you’ll continue on. Head up the stairs and you’ll come to the “Eye-in-the-Sky” staircase. After a bit of lecture, search off to your left for the Rune ClawsEquipmentWeapon for Amarant hidden there. Arm yourself for battle before heading up the stairs. You get to fight TiamatBossWind guardian fought in Memoria. Steal: Blood Sword, Feather Boots, Grand Helm. Its attacks inflict Zombie and Heat and drain party stats., and you’ll want to prep a bit.

Boss Fight Prep

Protect against Wind and Fire magic, and protect against Heat. Be ready to put it to sleep.

Throw a TentItemIf used in battle, inflicts Silence, Darkness and Poison. If used in the field, restores HP/MP at save moogle. or cast Silence to stop the magic attacks. Equip Freya with Dragon Killer and use her Jump attack. He can also absorb some of your MP, so use Chakra to recharge your guys if needed. But the important thing here is to put it to sleep as fast as possible. If a character gets hit with Float, TiamatBossWind guardian fought in Memoria. Steal: Blood Sword, Feather Boots, Grand Helm. Its attacks inflict Zombie and Heat and drain party stats. can counter that character’s physical attacks with Snort. Unless it’s asleep. Use Dispel to remove Float so it can’t use Snort, and/or use magic attacks to kill it off.

After the battle, continue on up the stairs. On the next screen, there’s another hidden save point on the right. You’ll walk between two buildings down an alley, which is almost impossible to see. TentItemIf used in battle, inflicts Silence, Darkness and Poison. If used in the field, restores HP/MP at save moogle./Save then head up and to the right. On the next screen, Zidane will look around if you walk to the lower right corner of the screen (another card ghostEnemyDali underground enemy. Aerial/undead; Earth has no effect, Holy does half damage, and Wind/Shadow are weak points. Steal: Potion, Ore, Hi-Potion, Phoenix Pinion. Drops: Echo Screen. Quina can later eat it to learn Roulette.).

Head left to the next screen and you’ll walk through the bell tower - directly above the screen where you found the hidden save point. Go right and up the stairs to the next screen. After a brief lesson, head up the long stairway and over to the next screen. Save at the save point and get ready for a battle. Head down and into the waterfall. Watch Quina spaz out, then get ready for…

Optional: Master Synthesist / Hades

Boss Fight Prep

Equip protection against Shadow so Doomsday heals or misses the party, and prepare for Curse’s status effects. HadesBossOptional Memoria boss and Master Synthesist. Weak to Holy and absorbs Shadow. Steal: Reflect Ring, Running Shoes, Battle Boots, Robe of Lords. is weak to Holy. Head around behind (away from you) and to the right of the coral just to the left of where Quina had their fit and search, you’ll hear a Mysterious Voice. It will say, “Who dares disturb my sleep? Leave at once, or you will die.” Select “Don’t Leave” from the pop-up window to begin the battle.

You will be catapulted into a battle with HadesBossOptional Memoria boss and Master Synthesist. Weak to Holy and absorbs Shadow. Steal: Reflect Ring, Running Shoes, Battle Boots, Robe of Lords. with Festival of the Hunt music. If you can, steal a Robe of LordsEquipmentArmor for: Eiko, Vivi, Quina and Dagger - it’s worth it. Continue stealing if you want, then attack. Shock and Dragon’s Crest can both do 9,999 to him. If Eiko goes TranceSystemFF9 limit-break-like state that temporarily enhances character commands. you can double-cast Holy, which can do some serious damage.

After you beat him, you can come back here and have him synth stuff for you. This is how you can get the PumiceEquipmentAdd-on for: All (from two pieces) and THAT is what teaches Dagger the powerful ArkEidolonDagger eidolon learned from Pumice. Damage is linked to Lapis Lazuli count. summon. See the Shops Section under “Memoria” for a list of all the cool stuff you can get here!