-= F I N A L  F A N T A S Y  I X =-

-= T H E =-
 
    ######      ############  #####        #####      #####
  ##########    ############  #######    #######     #######
#####    #####        #####   #### ###  ### ####    #### ####
#####    #####       #####    ####  ######  ####   ####   ####
#####    #####      #####     ####   ####   ####   ###     ###
#####    #####     #####      ####          ####  #############
#####    #####   ######       ####          ####  #############
  ##########    ############  ####          ####  ####     ####
    ######      ############  ####          ####  ####     ####

                                          -=  F A Q  v 1 . 0 =-
by Mark Matarazzo (Heretic)
MarkMat581@aol.com

Welcome!  If you're reading this, then you've no doubt run into one of the 
hardest superbosses in video game history:  Ozma.  This whirling bouncyball
packs quite a punch for something so inane looking.  Anyway, this guide
will, hopefully, aid you in your quest to defeat this spawn of Satan and
gain a few nice items as a reward.


------------
The Prologue
------------

First of all, you may have run into some weird creatures around the world 
that ask you for gems like Ore or Lapis Lazuli.  In return they usually 
say something weird and then the battle ends, giving you some relatively 
large amount of AP.  Hey, no problem there, right?

Well, there's something more to those little guys.  If you try to fight 
Ozma before finding all 9 of these spirits, as they're referred to, you'll
find that he's out of range of regular attacks.  Now, this sounds really 
crippling, but regular attacks don't do nearly as much damage as you need 
to dish out in order to win.

So why find these spirits?  Well, the AP is nice, for one thing.  You'll 
need some expensive skills in order to pull this off, as well as the 
devil's own luck.  It took me at least twenty tries to beat Ozma, and all 
the while I was praying for either a certain spell at the right time or
a miss.

If you've found Ozma, then you no doubt have a gold chocobo.  Did you 
find all of the chocographs and some of the other hidden treasures as 
well?  They'll really help you out, because you can get some really 
nice equipment from them.

You'll know if you've found a spirit (or a pop quiz...damn that 
Ragtimer...) if the battle theme in a random encounter is replaced by 
a happy little merry-go-round tune. Here's where you can find those 
elusive spirits:

1.  Mu - a brown squirrel you can find on the plains near Dali.  
It wants an Ore.

2.  Ghost - running around the dark plains of Treno, it wants Ore.

3.  Ladybug - find her in the forest surrounding the Black Mage 
Village.  She wants 2 Ore.

4.  Yeti - There's a forest right outside of Madain Sari.  When 
you find him there, he wants 2 Ore.

5.  Nymph - there's only one forest on the landmass where the Iifa 
tree is, and Nymph is there.  She wants 3 Ore.

6.  Jabberwock - travel east from Oeilvert until you find a small 
circular forest on the coast.  Jabberwock is there and he wants 
an Emerald, which you get from the Nymph.

7.  Feather Circle - Run around the chocobo tracks on the Icy 
Continent for a while. A long while.  You'll eventually have to 
give this guy the Moonstone you got from Jabberwock.

8.  Garuda - Many players have taken a wrong turn in Gizmaluke's 
Grotto and ended up in a forest only to be slaughtered by a Grand 
Dragon.  Well, that's where Garuda is. Climb out of the Grotto 
using the rope near the save moogle and run around that forest.
Garuda wants the Lapis Lazuli you get from Feather Circle.

9.  I don't know what the heck this thing is named, but it looks like a 
little sheep. Travel to Vile Island, the island in the center of the map 
with the giant pyramid mountain on it.  There's a forest there where I 
found him, but BEWARE THE SHEEP!  If you're not prepared they're going to 
destroy you with Comet.  This guy wants the Diamond you got from Garuda.

After giving that little sheep guy the Diamond, you'll see a phrase along
the lines of "You can attack the Round Guy now!"  Wonderful.  
Unfortunately, this isn't like Xenogears where you weakened Deus by 
destroying his parts.  Nope, Ozma's still just as mean.


--------------
The Characters
--------------

It's time to prepare your characters for battle. Zidane was at level 67 for
this fight, probably the absolute minimum you'd want to consider.  Level 99
isn't necessary, but wouldn't hurt, obviously.  Just make sure that none of
your characters have levels that are a multiple of 5.  There were several
key abilities and pieces of equipment that helped me win the fight, and all
will be listed below.

------------------------------

ZIDANE

Stats:
Level 67
HP:  5376
MP:  270
Magic Stones:  54 used out of 54

Equipment:
Weapon:  Ultima Weapon - Disc 4, have Choco dive into the water in the exact
location where the Shimmering Isle once stood.
Head:  Circlet - buyable in Daguerro in Disc 4
Arm:  Power Wrist - buyable in Disc 4
Body:  Ninja Gear - steal one from Garland, or buy them.  They absorb shadow,
very important.
Accessory:  Rosetta Ring - synth it in the black mage's village in disc 4 if
you don't have one

Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste - cut down on Ozma's speed advantage
Auto Life - this one time reraise can really save you
HP +20% - the extra HP is a must
Insomniac - Curse can probably put you to sleep
Antibody - Curse can also poison you
Bright Eyes - Curse also causes darkness
Auto Potion - every little bit of healing helps
Locomotion - Just in case
Clear Headed - Curse can also confuse you.  This is bad.

Pertinent Abilities:
Item - Seriously, just have Zidane keep using items unless he's tranced
Dyne - If you get him into trance, just keep casting your best ones

Use in Battle:  Zidane, unless he's tranced, even with the Ultima Weapon,
just doesn't hit hard enough to be useful as a damager.  Instead, keep his
turn ready to use Remedies or other needed items on party members.  If he
trances, go all out.

------------------------------

EIKO

Stats:
Level 59
HP:  3152
MP:  319
Magic Stones:  41 used out of 41

Equipment:
Weapon:  Tiger Racket
Head:  Circlet
Arms:  Power Wrist
Armor:  Rubber Suit
Accessory:  Pumice Piece - it absorbs shadow, very important

Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste
MP +20% - part 1 of not having to worry about MP
Half MP - part 2 of not having to worry about MP
Antibody
Loudmouth - Don't want her silenced, do ya?
Clear Headed

Pertinent Abilities:
White Magic:  Curaga, Full-Life, Esuna, possibly Mini
The Double White trance is essential.  I kid you not.

Use in Battle:  Have her heal as much as possible.  Don't waste MP with
Holy, it's not going to get you anywhere.  If you're at max health, cast
Curaga anyway.  If you've got double white activated and you're desperate,
throw in an Esuna.

Special Note:  Have her trance bar within one hit of being activated.
Double White is the single most useful ability to have for this fight.

------------------------------

FREYA

Stats:
Level 53
HP:  4689
MP:  245
Magic Stones:  46 used out of 46

Equipment:
Weapon:  Dragon's Hair - you can find it by using a dead pepper on Choco
at a crack in a mountainside just went of Oeilvert.
Helmet:  Grand Helm
Arm:  Defense Gloves
Armor:  Grand Armor
Accessory:  Pumice Piece - absorbs Shadow, very important

Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste
HP +10%
HP +20%
MP +10%
High Tide - Just in case you want to use that tranced Jump
Antibody
Bright Eyes
Clear Headed

Pertinient Abilities:
Dragon's Crest
Jump

Use in Battle:  Use Dragon Crest.  Keep using it.  If she trances,
you might consider using Jump, but I never got the opportunity to
do that.  You see, even if Freya is Mini, Dragon Crest does the same
damage.  If it's not doing 9999 damage, you're in trouble.

------------------------------

STEINER

Stats:
Level 59
HP:  5664
MP:  219
Magic Stones:  49 used out of 49

Equipment:
Weapon:  Ragnarok - This sword is really important since it teaches
you Shock.  I'm pretty sure it's one of the chocograph treasures.
Helmet:  Genji Helmet - another chocograph treasure
Arm:  Venetia Shield
Body:  Demon's Mail - no, it's not the best, but it absorbs shadow,
so it's very useful
Accessory:  Protect Ring - you can get this in a number of places,
and it aids in his defense

Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste
Auto Life
HP +10%
HP +20%
Antibody
Bright Eyes
Auto Potion
Clear Headed

Pertinent Abilities:
Shock
Item

Use in Battle:  Similar to Freya, Steiner should probably be doing Shock,
unless he's Mini.  In that case, his damage stinks and you should either
use an item or some other beneficial command.  However, you want to be 
using Shock as much as possible, since it should also be doing 9999 damage.


---------
The Enemy
---------

Ozma has several spells that can wipe you out.  He has some other annoying
spells that can also pretty much wipe you out.  Then, to spite you, he'll
cure himself.  Oh yeah, can't forget his tendency to take two or three
turns at once, and his speed is high enough that he can go pretty much after
every single one of your party's moves.  Here's a list of what he's got:

Death - Standard Instant Death spell, works most of the time

L5 Death - same as Quina's, if you're level is a multiple of 5, you're dead.

Star Flare - Old school (FF6, if I remember correctly) attack-all spell,
does roughly 2500 damage to all.  Tends to miss people sometimes, though.

Curaga - Oh, he'll cast this on himself plenty of times.  He heals for 
about 7000 a shot.

Mini - This one is just plain annoying.  All your characters are, most of 
the time, afflicted with the Mini status.  Sometimes it'll miss one person.

Doomsday - Remember Merton from FF6?  Well, this is similar, except sometimes
it heals Ozma, sometimes it hurts it.  With your party's equipment setup, it
always heals you.  Pray for this spell a lot.

Curse - Pray that you never see this spell.  It causes every status ailment
in the book unless you've guarded against it, and that includes Blind, Mini,
Confuse, Poison, all your favorites.  On top of that, it can do enough 
damage to wipe your party out in one shot.  The damage seems to be somewhat 
random, though.

Flare - Just like Vivi's although it hurts more.  Much more.

Holy - Just like Eiko's.  Doesn't hurt much more.  I considered it a breather
when he cast it on me, cause he has so many better spells.

Meteor - If he casts this, you're toast.  Well, mostly.  I can't figure out
why it'll do 9999 to a character one time, then 800 the next, and then miss
the next time.

He's probably got even more spells, and I may have forgotten one or more.
If I have, expect to see them in a future update.


----------
The Battle
----------

This battle is not fun.  It is also largely based on luck and what Ozma 
decides to cast, just like Chaos in FF1.  Keep Zidane ready to use Remedies 
if you can. Freya and Steiner should immediately start using their abilities 
that cause 9999 damage.  Eiko should be knocked into trance on her first 
hit, so save her turn until she does so and then use your Double White 
command to ensure that everyone stays at full health.  If party members 
fall during the battle then a double Full-life can save you.  Use Elixirs 
when needed.  Hey, this is the hardest battle in the game, so go all out.

You've basically got to do as much damage as fast as possible while staying
on your feet.  Ozma has somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 to 60,000 
HP, which doesn't seem like a lot compared to Emerald, Ruby, Ultima, or 
Omega WEAPON.  However, there's no Omnislash or Lionheart to save the day 
here.  Luck is the biggest factor, and I can't stress this enough.  
Imagine being down to critical with your entire party and then seeing him 
heal you back to full with Doomsday! It's that kind of luck that you need 
to win, even at ridiculously high levels.

You will win the battle eventually.  It might take a lot of tries, but 
you'll get it.  As rewards, you get 1 Pumice (teaches Dagger her last 
summon) and 1 Dark Matter, as well as over 18,000 EXP and GP and 100 AP.  
Mene is quite impressed by your feat and gives you the Ozma card, the 
Strategy Guide key item (dunno what it does yet...), and restores your 
HP/MP back to full and removes all stati from your characters.

There you go!  Good luck, you're REALLY going to need it!


------------------------
Special Thanks / Credits
------------------------

GameFAQs
Blade - for bouncing strategies back and forth
EChow - FFIX Sidequests/Secrets Guide v1.6 - great guide, helped me a lot!


---------------
Version History
---------------

v1.0 - 11/30/00:  The beginning of the madness.  Updates to follow!


----------
Legal Junk
----------

The Ozma FAQ v1.0
Copyright 2000 by Mark Matarazzo
All Rights Reserved
Something missing? Email me at MarkMat581@aol.com.  Thank you.
