Qu's Marsh Frog-Catching

Around the world, there are "Qu's Marshes" that, not surprisingly, all have a frog pond. Only one is accessible at first, but eventually, Quina will get to take a dip in all of 'em. Pointless as it may seem, attentive frog catchers can get a couple of Quina's better weapons prior to their availability at shops. Perseverant frog catchers will be rewarded with Quina's ultimate weapon - but not without a fight. First, a few basics about ponds:

• All frogs are worth 1 point.
• Ponds all have frogs to catch!
• Frogs can either be male or female.
• Golden frogs (unisex) increase population regrowth.
• A population grows faster when a male and female are left in.
• A population grows faster when a male/female is already an adult.
• Capturing a frog reduces the population and thus the respawn rate.
• Time must be spent in-game (shutting off doesn't work) to respawn frogs.
• If Quina is not in the current party, frog-catching cannot be performed.
• After getting a certain number of captures, Quale will give Quina a prize.

As such, you'll want to harvest frogs in such a way so as to not overly hinder population regrowth (e.g., always leaving one adult male and one adult female), like the ecologically-aware RPG player you are. Note that the regrowth rates for the golden frogs themselves are often negligible and if you plan on continuing with the game before returning to the ponds, they probably won't be noticed (as opposed to leaving the quest to endgame and trying to do the sidequest in one go). Here is a list of all Qu's Marshes:

1. Lindblum territory, lower marshland.
2. Outer Continent, in about the middle portion by choco tracks.
3. Forgotten Continent, on the northern part of the peninsula.
4. Lanar Island, southern sea, NW of Daguerreo (tear-shaped).

And as far as catching frogs for prizes goes...

Frogs	Prize
2	Ore
5	Ether
9	Silk Robe
15	Elixir
23	Silver Fork
33	Bistro Fork
45	Battle Boots
99	Gastro Fork**

Save before catching the ninety-ninth frog, though - you'll have to fight your master to obtain Quina's ultimate weapon. Here's how to prepare. First off, you'll want water-absorbant/-nullifying equipment: Ribbon works well here. You'll want to be able to remove the Mini status from your characters, so make sure you have Angel's Snack or someone with the Mini ability handy. Status effects are the main annoyance in this battle, so the abilities Clear Headed (confuseproof), Bright Eyes (darknessproof), and Loudmouth (silenceproof) will be useful. Quale has a few good things available for the stealing (such as the Robe Of Lords), so you may also want to have Master Thief set.

Quale Boss Monster Can't Flee	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	Exp	Attack	Magic Atk.
	Human	76	65535	3680	10800	65535	96	26
	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade	Speed	Strength	Spirit	Eaten Magic
	8	10	24	9	50	26	47	None
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items			Dropped Card
	Slot 1: Elixir Slot 2: Ninja Gear Slot 3: Glutton's Robe Slot 4: Robe Of Lords			Slot 1: Elixir Slot 2: Elixir Slot 3: Elixir Slot 4: Elixir			Grand Dragon
	Elemental Absorb					Elemental Immunities
	None					None
	Elemental Resistence					Elemental Weakness
	None
	Status Immunity
	Petrify, Venom, Virus, Silence, Blind, Trouble, Zombie, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, Auto-Life, Trance, Defend, Poison, Sleep, Regen, Float, Heat, Freeze, Doom, Mini, Gradual Petrify

This frogface has the most HP in the game, but unfortunately doesn't have a lot of MP to match it. Thus, using Magic Hammer over and over will make his reservoir deplenish pretty easily (in about 6 turns). If you've got a stiff-arm passive ability up for the status effects, this battle's far, far easier - those are his main method of attack. (Quale's Rolling Attack is not too shabby, though, and can probably do 2000+ to front-row fighters.) If his MP is drained, he won't be able to do any counters (i.e. counter physical attacks w/ Confuse) - and will get "No MP!" messages over and over when his turn comes up! Take this time to erect Mighty Guard and slam away, but only after stealing all that good equipment. I prefer an Amarant/Eiko/Quina/Zidane party, since Amarant can use powered-up Chakra attacks (if you have Power Up ability) to keep the MP supply going with ease and Eiko can use Might to power up any physical attacks or use Phoenix to revive everyone.

After defeating the master, Quale forks over (pun very intended) the ultimate weapon for Quina: a Gastro Fork!