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Yeah. You have to keep the shield on or you lose your progress you've made with that character.

And as for the Ragnarok I'd say the espers better because it's a heck of alot quicker. And the esper is extremly useful for turning your enemies into items.

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- The problem isn't relgion, the problem is religious tolerance -

Quote (Dark_Kain_24 @ 17th June 2005 17:50)

Yeah. You have to keep the shield on or you lose your progress you've made with that character.

That's a popular conclusion, but it's inaccurate.

The counter only stores what battles you've won with the shield equipped, not which character equipped it. You can switch it between characters as many times as you want or even unequip it entirely, fight a lotta battles, and then equip it again and the counter will never reset. The only time it does is when you've completed the required 256 battles to uncurse it.

If it seems the counter HAS reset prematurely, either your game is glitched or you miscounted your battles at some point.

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Words of Wisdom:

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If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

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The first couple of times through the game, I got the esper (didn't know about the paladin shield thing), and after that, I tried the sword out too. Aside from a quick and dirty method of learning Ultima, the esper is relatively worthless - there's a couple useful relics you can morph, but morphing isn't as useful as it OUGHT to be (unlike stealing or doing a bit of wagering). so I have to side with the sword being better, but I still like the esper for ease of use.. because I am that lazy!

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

I get the Esper,- I like it - but I guess he is no use after you get the paladin shield (Okay, is very boring fight the battles, I take 1 month to did it, but I didn't play all time.) - But I see the sword - And I don't know, but I like to go to the Colosseum to get Ilumina - My friend tell me that sword is cool.


So I don't know what is the best.... - but I say - Ragnarok Sword is better - because the magicite didnt do anything good - this conclusion was made for analysys...


(sorry, I dont speak English very well cause I am brazilian...=D)

Quote (Ross, Alexander. @ 5th June 2005 14:33)

I thought the Ragnarok sword taught Ultima as well.

sorry man, the palidin shield teaches you ultima. you can obtain it by fighting 255 battles with the "cursed shield".

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I got the sword my first time through, and then I was sorely underleveled, and didn't use a guide. Didn't get any of the powerful stuff, never touched the colliseum, and my most powerful spell was Bolt 3. Still, it wasn't that bad, partly because I had the Ragnarok. Edgar was using that like crazy, and the auto criticals and flare castings got me through many of the hard battles, like Poltergeist and such.

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I'll bet Kefka's tower was hard as hell with a save file like that!

Quote (Shrouded One @ 15th June 2005 03:38)

Here is my feeble attempt to kill the debate. The Ragnarok Esper is a waste and worthless. Now I will say one thing on the contrary. If you are playing for your first time through this game, get the esper, it's easier that way, if not, I think anyone should know, its worthless. You can get anything you want by stealing and doing colloseum runs. I think the only thing hard to get would be an economizer which you'd have to give up the Gem Box for (no way) or win it from a Brachosaur. Either way, the next point is this, even if you don't use "Fight" The sword, after you get the Illumina that is, is uber in its rights on what it offers you, paired with the right gear, you can't die, we'll, it'll be darn hard to kill you. Point is, there is nothing you can't get with the Esper, EXCEPT the Ragnarok and Illumina sword, taking the sword you can still get all the gear you need and have a gnarly weapon to boot.

You want Ultima? Get the Pally Shield, its worth it, for all those who never uncurse it, do it now!

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but...I don't think I am...

Exactly! Thats why I chose the sword and have 255 more battles to go to uncurse the shield.

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I look kinda like Vince so ill pick him as my avatar. :)

Let me tell you all who recieved the Esper - I am about to tell you why you made a pretty stupid mistake. Not the biggest mistake, however, as that would be not getting the Atma Weapon or not saving Shadow, but a pretty retarded one.

1) The Ragnarok Esper's ability is Metamorph. It does nothing special. Nothing that you metamorph gives you ANYTHING that couldn't get without Metamorph. You want 99 Genji Gloves? What in Kefka's name would you need that for? Besides the fact the only person in the game thats even worth equipping it on is Gau if he has the Merit Award? Gauntlets? I don't even recall using them once in the entire game. (I think Metamorph can get you those items, correct if wrong please - CORRECT, not insult ;D)

2) You can get Ultima elsewhere. Get the Paladin Shield. Everyone can equip it, everyone can learn Ultima. You simply don't need the Esper.

3) The Sword is better. The Ragnarok is a great sword, probably the fourth or fifth best weapon in the game. (Atma and Valiant rule all!!!) Then you can get the Illumina, the third or fourth best weapon in the game, which saps MP for critical blows every turn, randomly casts pearl, boosts attack power to 255, boosts stats, and raises your evade and mblock? Your sacrificing that for Metamorph? You're joking, right?

End result: Sword is by FAR better.

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"A little tight, but the price was right" - Locke
"Oh, what a Fuddy Duddy" - Relm
"..." - Shadow
"I'm a General, not some love starved twit" - Celes
"Although Edgar showers his attention on the ladies, most are smart enough to pay him no attention. Oh! King Edgar!" - Figaro Castle Inn Attendant

I'd say the sword for all the reasons listed above, since you can learn Ultima from the Paladin's Shield.

But there's just something satisfying about equipping a Genji glove and having a go at enemies with the Ragnarok and the Excalibur.That old school feel.

(or of course the Illumina and the Excalibur, or Atma Weapon, or whatever).

I seriously wish there was a way to have both the Illumina and the Ragnarok. Of course, you can probably cheat yourself an Illumina.

For those who get really bored fighting 255 battles, they could fight in the same island where celes woke up, take a turbo controller and a bunch of rubber bands (I never done this so you'd be the first) and just go around in circles. All the enemies die in 4 seconds, and after 255 battles. you're done.

Illumina is useful mainly cause of the 50% MBlock. That plus a Aegis Sheild/Tortoise Shield/Paladin Shield and other MBlock equipment will get you to 100% MBlock :-D which will block most-all magic attacks and enemy skills.

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As a side note, you CAN steal another Ragnarok in the Final Battle for use against the Final Part of the Final Battle, so if it's just that that you want it for, then go for the Esper. Although you won't get Illumina that way

it keeps track of the total number of battles no matter whether you switch users or not. and the ragnorok esper is worthless. the paladin shield teaches you ultima just as fast as the esper does, while the sword can be wagered for a much better sword: illumina. the only drawback on these 2 swords is that every blow drains 10-15 of your total mana, so be prepared to use osmose in tough situations.

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I prefer the sword, why?, because it's powerful, and I can learn Ultima from the Paladin Shield!

edit: oooops sorry, there was a thread on this before!

This post has been edited by SaffireWeapon on 21st February 2006 19:55

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

When it comes to it you're the one who makes the choice; when i have to decide between morphing and giving a hell of a beating i know what i want

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They may be monsters, but they're sea monsters. What're they gonna do? Flop around on deck and suffocate at us threateningly?

I always got the esper, for morphing and ultima and what-not, and because I'm far too lazy for the Paladin's shield. Like a few people above said, It's a matter of personal preference.

(But I like morphing Cactuars, so... )

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Every time I go thru the game, I always get it as the esper. I am impatient for the cursed shield or Terra's natural learning, so I grab it and teach it to all my favorite characters first. I never bet in the Coliseum anyway.

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Neneko is Neneko because Neneko couldn't be Neneko if Neneko wasn't Neneko!
--as quoted from Neneko, Mahoraba {Heartful Days}

I can stab a man with a thick paperback book thru the ribcage.

As often as I attack, I think I usually go for the esper to get some awesome items (Ribbons, Genji Glove, etc.) for all my characters.

The sword is nice, but let's face it; Ribbons and Genji Gloves all around beat it out

If I didn't know how to get infinite Genji Gloves (Dragons, Floating Continent) and infinite Ribbons (Brachosaurs) and Ultima (Paladin Shield), I'd definitely choose the Esper over the sword. As it stands, the Esper doesn't really gain you anything in the long run, so if you want a perfect game, you're much better off with the sword.

Of course, you may say that you need the Esper for the Cursed Ring, but Magicite/Slots lets you use the Ragnarok Esper anyway, so you can still get the Cursed Ring. Conversely, if you choose the Esper, you will never have the Illumina.

This post has been edited by Esponer on 5th March 2006 01:06

Well, in a perfect game, you'd NEED the sword, though. And you can still Metamorph with Setzer and slots (and a crapload of luck), and Gogo. And the only thing that this applies to is the Cursed Ring. -CSM

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i think u have to start over
(always pick sword because the paladin shield teaches ultima)

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I made a really big mistake of taking the Ragnarok esper. The sword is way better... but too bad, it's all good.

I had a hard time deciding on this same thing too, only to discover you can get both.

Getting the esper is better.

You can actualy steal Ragnarok from one of the statues in the final dungeon.

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

Quote (SaffireWeapon @ 21st January 2007 18:00)

You can actualy steal Ragnarok from one of the statues in the final dungeon.

I'm surprised it took someone so long to mention that. You can steal it from "Girl" in Kefka's Tower.

Why would you want to wait that long to get the sword? And you STILL can't get the Illumina that way.
I went with the Ragnarok sword. You need to level anyway, so why not uncurse the shield? It only takes a ribbon on one character... and I even did it without (used two relics that killed all the status ailments but deathclock, which was fine). Even so, I had everyone with Ultima at under level 70.
~LK

This post has been edited by LadyKarasu on 26th January 2007 15:08

Quote (LadyKarasu @ 26th January 2007 10:08)

Why would you want to wait that long to get the sword? And you STILL can't get the Illumina that way.
I went with the Ragnarok sword. You need to level anyway, so why not uncurse the shield? It only takes a ribbon on one character... and I even did it without (used two relics that killed all the status ailments but deathclock, which was fine). Even so, I had everyone with Ultima at under level 70.
~LK

On the SNES version, this may be correct, however in the new GBA remake coming out in a couple weeks, you can actually save after beating the game, and hence steal unlimited versions of the sword.

Even without that though, I would choose the esper over the sword. The game is easy enough without the best sword out there - especially if everyone happens to know Ultima.

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

The Esper. I like to have a complete Esper collection.

(Is there anyway to get Illumina in the GBA version and still keep the Esper?)

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SuperHeroChat

The Sword. With Atma Weapon, that you got to steal to the monster, and with paladin shield, that becomes with this name after you won a lot of battles in the world of ruin, you can learn ultima.

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Quote (Thanos6 @ 8th February 2007 15:21)

(Is there anyway to get Illumina in the GBA version and still keep the Esper?)

You can steal Ragnaroks from the final battle and keep them, so you can get infinite Illuminas now.

Personally I've always taken the esper, but that's mostly because I usually played with sketch bugged files

Quote (Thanos6 @ 8th February 2007 15:21)

The Esper. I like to have a complete Esper collection.

(Is there anyway to get Illumina in the GBA version and still keep the Esper?)

Yes If you beat the game you can save after wards meaning you can steal the sword from girl and wage it for illumina