Battle
Arena
In the Gold Saucer, you'll be able to prove your fighting skills in the Battle Square. There, you'll do fight ferocious monstersand win spectacular prizes. With this guide, you'll learn tips that will ensure victory... Well, not really, since it's practically impossible to win all the time (there's tip #1). Anyways, here are some things I recommend you have when entering the Arena (listed from highest priority):
•
Level 50+
• a lot of GP
• Ribbons
• HP Plus materia
• Enemy Skill materia (with Big Guard, White Wind, Death
Force, and Angel Whisper if possible)
• good armor with elemental protection (eg, Escort
Guard and Ziedrich)
• good weapons (preferably ultimate
weapons)
• several Elixirs
• Double Cut materia
• Final Attack + Phoenix/Revive
• Counter Attack (several, if possible)
• Added Effect + Hades/Contain
Equip these things on the character you want to fight (preferrably Cloud since he's probably your best all-around character). When you enter the Arena, cast Big Guard immediately and pummel away. After you win your first battle, you'll be given the choice to continue or to quit. If you quit, you'll get to keep all the BP (battle points) and leave the Arena, but if you're looking for the big-ticket items, continue by all means! But as you continue, the enemies will get harder and you'll get more and more handicaps. Handicaps are determined by a slot machine and are:
No
handicap!!!
HP max
is cut in half
MP max
is cut in half
HP/MP max is cut in half
MP
level drops down to 0
Your Attack power is now based on your initial equip
Armor loses effect, except for elemental protection
Accessories lose effect
Items can no longer be used
All of your materia lcan no longer be used
Spell materia can no longer be used
Summon materia can no longer be used
Command materia can no longer be used
Support materia can no longer be used
Independent materia can no longer be used
You drop down 10 levels
You drop down 5 levels
Poison is inflicted on you
Minimum is inflicted on you
Toad
is inflicted on you
Your speed is cut in half
Damage is inflicted on you depending on how long
you've been in the Arena
Some of these handicaps aren't too tragic (eg, Poison isn't a big deal if you've got your Ribbon) whyile others are, especially if you lose use of all your materia. As I've said, you won't win all the time as a twist of bad luck will often come your way. For instance (and I'm not making this up: it happened to me) Berserk mixed with Minimum does not leave you hanging well. Other times, however, it'll just go great (eg, you just keep on getting Lucky 7). As you move on, the handicaps aren't all that block your way to victory. Don't forget about the enemies and the powerful punches they can bring. These enemies are some you should watch out for:
•8
Eyes: drain A LOT of HP/MP from you. Poison is instant death to
them.
• Master Tonenberry: you might've seen this guy in the
Northern Cave, and fortunately, he doesn't cast Everyone's Grudge
in teh Battle Arena. However, he does still cast Knife, which
causes Death. Cast Death Force on yourself and he won't be a
problem.
• Ghost Ship: it uses Gonnai, which doesn't kill you but
throws you out of battle. Since it's dead, use Elixirs on it or
White Wind to Petrify it.
• Blue Dragon: a fearsome foe with no particular weakness.
Its attacks are powerful, considering the fact that it's
often found at the end when your HP level/max is probably down a
lot.
If you win all eight battles, you'll get anywhere from 500 to 15,000 BP, depending on how hard the battles were. You can enter more battles to win more BP, but whatever you do don't leav the arena until you've exchanged all your BP! (If you leave the arena, your BP will vanish! Too bad there's no Save Point inside.) Here's a list of items you can get later in the game and their BP prices:
•
Remedy (100 BP): counteracts all statues ailments
• Enemy Lure (250 BP): increases enemy encounter rate
• Right Arm (500 BP): explosive damge on all enemies
• Pre-Emptive (1000 BP): increases pre-emptive encounters
• Reagan Greens (2000 BP): raises chocobo's Stamina
• Speed Plus (4000 BP): increases Dexterity
• Stardust (8000 BP): casts Comet2
• Championship Belt (16,000 BP): raises Strength and Spirit
by 30
• Omnislash (32,000 BP): Cloud's level 4 Limit
Break manual
• W-Summon (64,000 BP): allows you to cast two Summon spells
in one turn
If you win both Omnislash and W-Summon, you'll be invited to a special battle. Use the sames strategies in the special battle as you would for normal battles, but make sure your level is at least 75 since the monsters here are very tough, some coming from the Sunken Gelnika Plane, others from the Northern Cave, and even one enemy boss: Proud Clod (though it's not as tough as before). IF you manage to win all eight battles in the special battle, you'll be rewarded the Final Attack materia. You can continue on with the special battle and win tons of BP, and each time you win you'll get prizes (though they're all pretty useless):
• 2nd
try: Autograph
• 3rd try: Battle Journal
• 4th try: Gambler
