Final Fantasy IX Walkthrough

3.15: Pandemonium

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1.1: The Prima Vista Visits Alexandria 1.2: Dramatic Play in Alexandria 1.3: The Evil Forest 1.4: Through the Ice Cavern 1.5: Dali and the Waltz 1.6: The Festival of the Hunt 1.7: Back on the World Map 1.8: Gizamaluke's Grotto 1.9: At the Bohden Arch 1.10: Burmecia, Realm of Eternal Rain 2.1: The South Gate 2.2: Treno, City of Eternal Night 2.3: Gargan Roo 2.4: Cleyra Trunk 2.5: Cleyra Settlement 2.6: Alexandria Castle Revisited 2.7: Pinnacle Rocks 2.8: Lindblum Revisited 2.9: Fossil Roo 2.10: Conde Petie 2.11: Black Mage Village 2.12: Conde Petie Mountain Path 2.13: Madain Sari, Village of the Lost Summoners 2.14: Iifa Tree 2.15: Back to Madain Sari 2.16: Back to the Iifa Tree 3.1: Alexandria Revisited 3.2: Treno Revisited 3.3: Defending Alexandria 3.4: A Salve for Cid 3.5: The Open Seas 3.6: Back in the Saddle Again 3.7: Oeilvert 3.8: Desert Palace 3.9: Mt. Gulug 3.10: Third Lindblum's A Charm 3.11: Daguerreo 3.12: Ipsen's Castle 3.13: The Four Shrines and Some Out-of-This-World Advice 3.14: Terra 3.15: Pandemonium 4.1: Assorted Sidequesting 4.2: Memoria 4.3: The Crystal World

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Enemies: Mover, Marlboro, Abadon, Shell Dragon,
Silver Dragon,
Kuja,
Garland

Treasures: Elixir, Holy Miter, Carabini Mail, 20007 Gil

Enter inside to find Garland, who will give a "brief" historical overview of everything. A couple of observatory scenes later, there's a string of battles you must fight, and at a disadvantage to boot.



It's got stacked immunities, so the Tent trick / Sargatanas trick doesn't work here. Either way, all its attacks affect only one target, so if you can hold off until the comrades show their faces, it's not too difficult. If Amarant's got Aura learned, this ballgame's a whole lot easier.

Behind door number two is…



Spam Mighty Guard when all three are in battle and use White Wind after that. Steiner should just attack or use Darkside (hazard a risk if you want) while Zidane attacks and throws Hi-Potions/Elixirs around when needed. LV3 Def-Less works as well, although you will generally not want to waste a turn for that.

Behind door number three…



Since the monster has an attack that can bring your HP to 1, put Zidane on the defensive and heal to start (this also makes sense since the dragon can't be defeated until help comes). Once she's there, try to get Float on the party so as to evade 'Earth Shake' and have her spam Cura / Curaga on both targets each turn; Zidane should attack and use his Trance if he's got one. This may actually be the easiest of the three battles due to having a white mage involved. Use Elixirs if you get into a jam, because if you die, you have to start all the way back in Bran Bal and that's no fun.

Everyone rejoins at this point. Backtrack to the first room to obtain the Holy Miter at the throne, then save at Moorock who's still got his shop in tow. He will also change your party members if you want. Buy some Vaccines if you don't have any! Save and proceed in a leftward/westerly manner until you get to a room with some weird "buds" sticking out of the ground and arranged in a matrix of sorts.

Hit the switch nearby to make them light up. The object is to get to the southwest corner and exit without standing adjacent to a blinking light, which not only eats up the 0:30 timer you have but makes you fight a battle. I prefer to go down the right side and cut across left to the exit, but there's no wrong way to do it. Cross the bridge to find an elevator mechanism! There are six customizable positions you can turn the lift, which will be important in a second; they're even numbered for convenience! This allows one to get some treasures, and if you keep messing up, there will be an ATE called 'The Elevator' that allows you to switch the thing without doubling back to it.

If you set the switch to '3' and go up twice, there's a 20007 gil chest! Set the switch to '4' and take the elevator up twice to a room with three paths. Take the northeastern of the three to find a teleporter, leading to the floor above. Take the leftmost blue teleporter to land by the awesome Carabini Mail. The other blue teleporter (to the right) by where you came in leads Zidane by an Elixir. Return to the elevator room below and take the path southwest on the screen, which will lead back up to the maze above. At the fork, take the southeastern offshoot to end by some Battle Boots; take the opposite path to end up by Mozme. Deliver her letter and Tent up. Now's a good chance to eat a Marlboro which teaches Quina the Bad Breath ability (Mozme can change party members, too). The next boss is heavy on wind-element attacks, so equip gear (Coronet is good) that gets rid of that damage. Get Locomotion on everyone, and thunder-nullifying/absorbing stuff, too. It's a lot to ask, but it will definitely help.



Inflict Darkness/Silence with your preferred method, which gets the half of its attacks out of the way. I suggest having Eiko for this battle, as she can heal and use Might, which will raise a target's attack power. Have Steiner use Stock Break / Shock, Dagger play healer, Amarant use Aura and No Mercy, Freya Jump ability or just plain slam that Dragon's Hair into the Silver Dragon (if you have it). Vivi can do some Flares, which you might recall can do more damage if bounced off targets with Reflect status. This battle can be a little hard if you haven't guarded against wind attacks; if you have, it's gravy - just Cura every other round. Definitely try to steal its Dragon Mail and Kaiser Knuckles, if you're fancying them. Shockwave can set off 'Counter', too - kinda funny. Try to keep your HP up as you'll go into another battle.

Next up is an old man.



The first hard part here is that your HP values are the same as the fight right before. Oddly enough, Garland can be hit with Darkness/Silence which goes against the usual boss fare, right? That now known, slap him with the Tent trick before his 'Stop'/'Flare' combo becomes an almighty nuisance. 'Psychokinesis' can miss a bit more often if you hit him with darkness, and who doesn't want to do that? His fourth move, 'Wave,' is the only big-hitter, and moving to the back row isn't a terrible strategy for that case. Eiko should sling Curaga / Madeen, Quina should use Mighty Guard / 1000 Needles, Steiner can use his best sword skill, and Amarant should use Chakra / Aura on whoever's low on MP. Dagger can summon, but not necessarily to great effect, and Freya can use Jump or a powered-up Dragon's Crest - whichever works best for your preferred fighters. Zidane should of course steal garland's rarified equips if possible. HP values at the conclusion of this battle will carry over to the next, so keep them high by keeping tabs on your opponent's huge HP!

Last and most certainly least…



Kuja's 'Flare Star' attack (which does damage equal to an ally's LV*35) seems to appear with astounding accuracy if you use Carbuncle to put Reflect status on - DO NOT DO THIS! 'Thundaga' and 'Demi' can of course be bounced back his way, but I wouldn't chance the odds at such a high cost. He's got no physical attacks, so Shell works very well. Have Zidane attack/steal; Amarant can use Chakra and Aura with No Mercy; Eiko can Curaga everyone and use Might; Freya should be a Jump-er or use powerful skills; Steiner should use his best skills; Dagger should be a healer primarily; Quina should use Mighty Guard and White Wind. When you damage him enough, he unleashes Ultima and ends the battle.

Some scenes later, after Dagger joins Zidane, run down the path towards the castle's exit to arrive back in Bran Bal. A few more dialogue scenes and we're shooting out of this mushroom kingdom like a cannonball! And with that, we're on to our final disc change.

<< First

< Previous Chapter:    Terra

1.1: The Prima Vista Visits Alexandria 1.2: Dramatic Play in Alexandria 1.3: The Evil Forest 1.4: Through the Ice Cavern 1.5: Dali and the Waltz 1.6: The Festival of the Hunt 1.7: Back on the World Map 1.8: Gizamaluke's Grotto 1.9: At the Bohden Arch 1.10: Burmecia, Realm of Eternal Rain 2.1: The South Gate 2.2: Treno, City of Eternal Night 2.3: Gargan Roo 2.4: Cleyra Trunk 2.5: Cleyra Settlement 2.6: Alexandria Castle Revisited 2.7: Pinnacle Rocks 2.8: Lindblum Revisited 2.9: Fossil Roo 2.10: Conde Petie 2.11: Black Mage Village 2.12: Conde Petie Mountain Path 2.13: Madain Sari, Village of the Lost Summoners 2.14: Iifa Tree 2.15: Back to Madain Sari 2.16: Back to the Iifa Tree 3.1: Alexandria Revisited 3.2: Treno Revisited 3.3: Defending Alexandria 3.4: A Salve for Cid 3.5: The Open Seas 3.6: Back in the Saddle Again 3.7: Oeilvert 3.8: Desert Palace 3.9: Mt. Gulug 3.10: Third Lindblum's A Charm 3.11: Daguerreo 3.12: Ipsen's Castle 3.13: The Four Shrines and Some Out-of-This-World Advice 3.14: Terra 3.15: Pandemonium 4.1: Assorted Sidequesting 4.2: Memoria 4.3: The Crystal World

Next Chapter: > Assorted Sidequestin…

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