Desert Palace

Now, with the rest of my characters, I get to go through the Desert Palace. I started by lighting the first candle and grabbing the Promist Ring, completing my collection of 10. I then went into the next room, activated the staircase, and ran up to the candelabra. I ran back down, collected the Fairy Earrings, then returned to the moogle to save.

After that, I proceeded through the rest of the palace, lighting all the candelabras and collecting all the treasures from the bloodstones. One thing to note is that, in the last room where you solve the puzzle to activate the staircase, it's unnecessary to ever light the candle on the far left (under the portrait). The only thing it does is unlock a hint about how to solve the puzzle. I got the treasures from the two bloodstones, activated the staircase, and then equipped my party as follows before saving:

Vivi                  Freya                   Quina                       Dagger

(no changes)    Holy Lance           Fork                        Magic Racket
                       Mythril Helm         Green Beret             Black Hood*
                       Diamond Gloves    Magic Armlet*          Egoist's Armlet
                       Chain Mail            Mythril Vest             Silk Robe
                       Power Belt            Fairy Earrings          Opal         
_________________________________________________________
                       HP+10%             Ability Up                 Ability Up
                       MP Attack
                       Bird Killer
                       Ability Up
                       Insomniac

* These pieces of equipment are unnecessary; they're simply what optimizing gave them, and there's nothing better for them to wear in those spots.

NOTE: If you're not going to use Shiva against Shell Dragon, then give Dagger the Feather Boots so she can master Auto-Float.

With that done, it was time to take on Valia Pira. I started the battle by having Freya attack. She did 5082 damage (her maximum with her current setup). Valia Pira then got a turn but wasted it by casting Reflect. I then had Quina cast Night and Freya attack again for the win. This strategy relies quite a bit on luck as Freya only has a 9/49 chance of dealing enough damage this way. If Vivi's turn comes up before Quina's you can try having him cast Sleep instead of using Night. This only has about a 1/5 chance of succeeding, but it can save you time if Quina's starting ATB gauge is low. After the battle, Freya learned HP+10%, Bird Killer, and MP Attack, Quina learned Clear Headed and Body Temp, and Dagger learned Cure, Locomotion, Level Up, Loudmouth, and Shiva.

I removed Dagger's equipment after the battle, but left the rest because nobody's going to need what they've got before they're in my party again. Afterwards, I returned to the moogle to save again after the battle and then prepared Vizuino's trick for card arrow manipulation. I want six arrows on my Namingway card, so here's what I did. I reset the console and loaded my last save in Treno. I bought a whole bunch of cards, then examined them. I saw that the 14th card I bought was the first one to have six arrows. You'll probably want to check to make sure it's the same on yours when using this trick. I then reset the console again and bought 13 cards before doing a soft reset and loading my current save. I got two random encounters with Zidane's group before reaching Kuja, but thankfully, battles don't affect the card arrows. I made a party with Vivi, Freya and Amarant when I got the chance, picked up the Namingway card, and left. I made it out of the palace with no more encounters.

When I arrived at the Lost Continent, I ran halfway to Esto Gaza and saved. After saving, I checked my Namingway Card and it does indeed have six arrows. My time is now 08:27:11.