Oeilvert

So, Zidane and co. tried to break in to Kuja's palace and got caught immediately. When Kuja sent me to Oeilvert, I took Steiner, Amarant, and Eiko with me. Before going anywhere, I equipped Zidane with the Germinas Boots, Amarant with only a Ritual Hat and Leather Plate, and Eiko with only the Running Shoes. I also activated Auto-Haste just for fun. I got into a battle on the way to the Hilda Garde. During the battle I had Eiko attack Amarant to get him in critical HP. With the way I've set them up, she will do 100 or 108 damage, guaranteeing critical range. She has now completed the last useful thing she can do in the entire challenge, so I had Amarant knock her out before fleeing so I don't have to bother with her anymore.

After the battle I boarded the airship and we took off for the Forgotten Continent. When I arrived I made a change that was originally suggested by camdad04 but for some reason never made it into the guide. Instead of heading north to the chocobo tracks, I went south into the canyon. I turned right and then left, stopping to save at the fork where going right takes you to Oeilvert. You don't have to run quite as far as I did; I got really lucky as this was my first try. When I reloaded, I turned left and ran the remaining distance to some other chocobo tracks and called Choco.

Now it's time to dig up some treasures! I started by riding north just a little bit and used a Dead Pepper on the mountain crack to get the Genji Helmet along with some other junk. I then went west and used another Dead Pepper to dig up the Dragon's Hair and Gauntlets. All these things won't be used until Pandemonium or later, but it's most convenient to dig them up now. If you don't have enough Dead Pepper right now, you can wait until you can fly to dig these up, but it will be a bit longer of a detour. NOTE: If you're going to have Steiner defeat Abadon, then you should skip the crack with the Genji Helm as it has nothing useful for you.

There's still one more thing to dig up here, and it's the most important of all! I headed south to unearth the Dusk Plains Chocograph and obtain the almighty Kaiser Knuckles. With all that done I rode to Oeilvert, dismounted, and entered. I collected the Mognet letter and bought everything according to the guide, but I skipped saving because getting to the chocobo tracks from my previous save point was really easy.

In Oeilvert, I collected the Remedy and ran up the stairs to activate the orb thing and then collect the two treasures up there. I then went back down the stairs and followed all the directions except that I delayed equipping everyone until right before I was ready to save again so I would only have to enter the menu once. I swapped Zidane's and Amarant's positions and equipped everyone according to what the guide instructs, including the Shield Armor. The only change I made was that I had Zidane keep the Germinas Boots on because I don't have a Reflect Ring.

After saving, I collected the Gaia Gear and went to face Ark. Skipping the FMV of the ride down takes just as much game time as simply letting it play, so it's not worth the hassle. When I fought Ark, Zidane got the first turn and stole the Elixir. Ark then used Propeller Wind to no effect because everyone had Clear Headed activated. Amarant attacked and Steiner used Charge!, causing Amarant to attack again. Zidane then stole the Power Vest, and Ark used Propeller wind again. Before finishing Ark with Amarant and Steiner's turns, I had Zidane steal one more time, and he got the Holy Lance this time. Thus, I picked Ark clean, and as a bonus, it dropped an Ether. As a result of this battle, Amarant learned Curse, Add Status, Stone Killer, and Bird Killer, Steiner learned Insomniac and Man Eater, and Zidane learned Flee. He would have also learned Bandit if he hadn't died in that one fight in Alexandria, but this will be remedied before too long.

I made sure to remove everyone's equipment before grabbing the Gulug Stone. Next comes the most annoying minigame for doing a speed run of this game. When trying to get the key as Cid, I refrained from tapping circle as fast as I possibly could to avoid screwing up, but I still managed to get caught once. Despite that, I still made it to the hourglass with about four minutes left on the clock, and I hate this minigame so much that I'm fine with losing a little time here. When the party got together, I picked up the letter and saved with a time of 08:11:19.