=======================================================
= -Final Fantasy X-      -Thunder Plains' guide-      =
=======================================================
= -By-:   =  KeRoChAn  =      kero_hikaru@hotmail.com =
=======================================================
=  -Version 1.0-  =  Last Updated:  17 December 2001  =
=======================================================



Note
----
This guide is written by KeRoChAn(me) and copyrighted 2001/2002. Please
email me if you wish to put my guide on your website, and changing of 
content(or even a single letter) is not allowed. Webmasters, get my 
latest version of this guide from www.GameFAQs.com and make sure it is 
at the lastest version. Do not publish this guide for any use (magazines,
books).




Introduction
------------
Thunder Plains is located north of Guadosalam, and south of Makalania 
Forest. It is a place which consists of 3 sections/screens: A southern 
part, northern part and Outside the Travel Company. Thunderbolts strike 
very often here so towers were built to _absorb_ the lightning. But not 
all thunderbolts are being _absorbed_ by the lightning, and they strike 
to the ground. So travellers who are not near the tower to avoid bolts 
are likely to be striked by these bolts. 



How to avoid the thunderbolts
-----------------------------
During your very first time at Thunder Plains, there will be a tutorial 
about how to avoid the thunderbolt when it strikes. When the thunderbolt 
is about to strike, your television screen will flash and it will come 
shooting down followed by a thunder sound. To avoid the bolt, simply press
down the O button (JP Version) or the X button (US Version) when the screen 
is flashing and you will be able to dodge the lightning bolt. 

In my opinion, it's better to avoid the bolts as you walk along Thunder 
Plains as:
- it won't give you a bad record of the times that you were striked by the 
  bolts   
- you'll be pushed back one or two steps when you're striked by the bolts, 
  thus encounters will be increased



The Mini-game
-------------
This game is all about dodging the thunderbolts. The more thunderbolts you 
dodge, the better the prize is. This mini-game is avaliable once you reached
Thunder Plains.

The prizes for the bolt dodging are:

.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
| Number of Consecutive Times   |            Prize             |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|              5                |          X-Potion x 2        |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|              10               |        Mega Potion x 2       |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|              20               |         MP Sphere x 2        |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|              50               |    Attack Power Sphere x 3   |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|             100               |         HP Sphere x 3        |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|             150               |         Megalixir x 4        |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|             200               |        Fire Holy Crest       |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.

.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
| Total Number of bolts dodged  |            Prize             |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|              30               |            Ether             |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.
|              80               |            Elixir            |
.-------------------------------.------------------------------.



Prepare yourself
----------------
Although you can start this mini-game before obtaining the Airship, I think 
that you should start it after obtaining the Airship. Why? Because Cleansing
Salts are only easily avaliable after you obtained the Airship. Collect 30 
Clenasing Salts and equip it to your weapon gives you the [Encounter-None] 
ability. With this, you can be free from those annoying battles when you're 
playing this mini-game. 

Q. How do you get Cleansing Salt?
A. These are the possible ways of getting Cleansing Salt.
   I've made a data for this item.

Sample
------
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
|   Item name    |                    Description                      |
.-------.--------.-------------------------.---------------------------.
|  Buy  |  Sell  | Ability in weapon/armor |     Ability for Aeons     |
.-------.--------.-------------------------.---------------------------.
|   Steal/Mug    |  Monster's name(No. of items), Monster's name(Rare) |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
|    Dropped     |        Monster's name, Monster's name(Rare)         |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
|     Bribe      |      Monster's name(Amt. of gil= No. of items)      |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
| Treasure Chest |             Place to obtain the chest               |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
| Training Fac.  |      Which Zone/Race conquered (No. of items)       |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
|   Mini-game    |                  The name of game                   |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.


.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
| Cleansing Salt | Damages 1 enemy and removes all good status from it |
.-------.--------.-------------------------.---------------------------.
|   -   |   70   |   Encounter-none (30)   | Dispel (3)                |
.-------.--------.-------------------------.---------------------------.
|     Steal/     | Fallen Monk with bayonet(Rare), Fallen Monk with    |
|      Mug       | flamethrower(Rare), Abadon(3), Hornet(Rare-2)       |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.
| Training Fac.  | Dragon Race Conquering (99)                         |
.----------------.-----------------------------------------------------.

If you want to Steal/Mug from the enemies, they are located in:

.---------------------------------.------------------------------------.
|           Enemy Name            |              Location              |
.---------------------------------.------------------------------------.
|     Fallen Monk with bayonet    |             Yevon=Dome             |
.---------------------------------.------------------------------------.
|  Fallen Monk with flamethrower  |             Yevon=Dome             |
.---------------------------------.------------------------------------.
|            Abandon              |      Monster Training Facility     |
.---------------------------------.------------------------------------.
|             Hornet              |      Monster Training Facility     |
.---------------------------------.------------------------------------.

For the Monster Training Facility, you need:
--Vivuru x 4
--Ramashyutou x 4
--Kusaariku x 4
--Mushyufushyu x 4
--Niizuheggu x 4

to conquer the Dragon Race and get 99 Cleansing Salts.

Q. It's too troublesome, I want an easier way.
A. Another way of getting [Encounter-none] is defeating Devil Monolith,
   which is located in Omega Ruins and Inside Sin, but dropping the 
   weapon for encounter none is rare.
 
   I've constructed a data for Devil Monolith.

.--------------------.-------------.--------.--------.-------.-------.-------.-------.
|                    |     HP      | Attack | Magic  | Fire  |Thunder| Water |  Ice  |
|   Devil Monolith   .-------------.--------.--------.-------.-------.-------.-------.
|                    |    45000    |   33   |   99   | Half  | Half  |  Half |  Half |
.--------------------.-------------.--------.--------.-------.-------.-------.-------.
|        AP          |   Overkill  |   Gil  |Capture |Special|       Location        |
.--------------------.-------------.--------.--------.-------.-----------------------.
|                    |             |        |        |       |       Inside Sin      |
|       11000        |   Unknown   |  1400  |  Yes   |   -   |           /           |
|                    |             |        |        |       |       Omega Ruins     |
.--------------------.-------------.--------.--------.-------.-----------------------.
|       Guard        |   Death/Zombie/Petrify/Poison/Confuse/Berserk/Threaten/Sleep  |
.--------------------.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|                    |                    Normal Attack(Zombie-Single)               |
|      Attacks       |                        Breath(Petrify-All)                    |
|                    |               Paraoh's Curse(Poison/Silence/Blind)            |
.--------------------.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|       Steal        |                Stone Grenade x2/Stone Grenade x2              |
.--------------------.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|      Dropped       |                   Mana Sphere/Lv 3 Key Sphere                 |
.--------------------.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|       Bribe        |                 Lv 3 Key Sphere x40 (900000 gil)              |
.--------------------.-------------------------------.-------------------------------.
| Dropped Equipments |         Weapon Ability        |         Armor Ability         |
.--------------------.-------------------------------.-------------------------------.
|                    |                               |       Full Petrify Guard      |
|    3 to 4 Slots    |         Petrify Attack        |               /               |
|                    |                               |         Encounter None        |
.--------------------.-------------------------------.-------------------------------.

Q. Now I've got the [Encounter-none]. What should I do now?
A. Start the mini-game!

Q. I couldn't dodge for 200 times! I can only dodge for xxx times!
A. I have this experience before and what I could tell you is to try and keep trying.
   Practice makes perfect!

***Well, I have some tips to guide you through this dodging game.

1)Choose a suitable place to dodge the lightning.
-------------------------------------------------
Thunderbolts strike in different parts of the area and the frequency of bolts striking 
is different too. Some strike in single bolts, double bolts or even triple bolts. The 
place with triple bolts indicated is the highest frequency, which means the bolts 
strike down every 3-7 seconds. Staying in the Triple bolts area to dodge will save more 
time than dodging in the double or the single bolt area.

In my opinion, I think the best place to dodge is at [Thunder Plains=Northern part]. 
There is a Triple Bolt area at the southern tip of the Northern Part, which leads to 
the Travel Company if you go further south. So you need not run from one end to another 
to dodge and claim your prize.

o----------------Thunder Plains - Nothern Part Map----------------o
|         / X                 XX     /                            |
|        /                           \                            |
|        \                           |                            |
|         \                         /                             |
|          \       XX               |                             |
|         _/                        /     ______________________  |
|        /                         /     /        Legend        \ |
|       /                         |      |        ------        | |
|      |                          /      | X - Single Bolt      | |
|       \               (O)      /       | XX - Double Bolt     | |
|        \                     __|       | XXX - Triple Bolt    | |
|         \  XXX              /          | (O) - Tower          | |
|          \      __          |          |  A - To the Travel   | |
|          |     /  |         |          |      Company         | |
|          |    /   |         |          |  B - To [Thunder     | |
|          |   /    |         \          |      Plains=Southern | |
|          |   |    |    B    _\         |      Part]           | |
|          | A |    |    ____/           \______________________/ |
|          -----    |___/                                         |
|                                                                 |
|                                                                 |
o-----------------------------------------------------------------o

*I hope this map helps*

2)Choose a suitable time
------------------------
Yep. Choose a suitable time. Not the time in FFX, it's your real-life time. 
Time is one of the _important_ factors. When do you think you're most alert? 
Morning? Afternoon? Night? Or even Midnight? Why do you need to be alert? If 
you're not alert enough, you might be striked during your xxxth dodging, and 
you'll have to restart.

Another reason for choosing a suitable time is: Concentration. You need to 
concentrate in order to dodge the lightning. You can't be watching cartoons 
and dodging at the same time. Choose a time which is the most quiet. If it is 
too noisy, your concentration may decrease. Another tip is choose a dark night
or a very early morning to play this mini game. Why? The flash before the bolt 
strikes is white. So you could immeadiately notice this and press the appropriate
button at the right time. A bright sky might decrease your alert-ness.

*I really hope this helps*



Well....
--------
This is all the information I can supply now. If you have more strategy to dodge 
the bolts, feel free to email me(kero_hikaru@hotmail.com) and tell me the strategy
and I'll post them here.

I'll add the [Obtaining Longinus] in later versions because I'm not confirmed as 
which statues to pray. Or will someone help me out with this?

If you have some suggestions to improve this guide, feel free to tell me and I'll 
make the changes.



Credits
-------
Thanks to:

CB! for the Ultimania Guide of the Bolt Striking Frequency Map, which I'm _drew_ it
from.

CJayC for creating such great website.

Squaresoft for creating this marvellous game.

Everyone(including you) who is reading this guide.