Training in Terra

Wow! I can't believe what incredible luck I just had! I never expected to finish this part so soon. Anyway, now is the time for the detour that defines this path. The reason for the detour is that both Quina and Dagger require a Holy Miter for their leveling, but only one is available at this point. That means one of them has to level up enough so that character will not gain any levels in Pandemonium. This requires a minimum level of 45. Unfortunately, Quina can't afford to gain that many levels without access to Dark Gear, so I have to level Dagger. Furthermore, Dagger needs Minerva's Plate for all her leveling, and the first place that becomes available is in Terra just before reaching Bran Bal. Thus, I have to train her in Terra without the benefit of saving between battles because I can't train anymore once I enter Bran Bal.

I'm already set up the way I need to be for this training, so I got in the airship and flew to Shimmering Island. I kept my party the same when I reached Terra. I had a total of four random encounters before reaching Minerva's Plate. The first one was against two Ring Leaders. Before I could do anything, one of them used Virus Powder on Amarant, inflicting him with Virus status. This was a huge lucky break for me because it made the rest of this whole process much simpler. I revived him and cast Night to put the Ring Leaders to sleep. I then had Zidane and Dagger knock themselves out while Amarant killed the Ring Leaders with one hit each. Quina went up to level 28 as a result of this battle. Leveling Quina at this point is optional, but it helps a lot in the upcoming fight with Abadon. I revived everyone and removed Quina's gear after the battle, giving him a Yellow Scarf and activating Millionaire and Loudmouth with the increased number of magic stones Quina now has available. I fled from the other encounters I had before reaching Minerva's Plate because Quina can't afford to gain any more levels before Pandemonium.

When I got Minerva's Plate, I equipped Dagger with her leveling gear, which is the Magic Racket, Holy Miter, Magic Armlet, Minerva's Plate, and Ribbon. I also activated her Level Up ability, deactivating Loudmouth because she doesn't have enough magic stones yet. I put it back on as well as Ability Up once she had space for it. I then ran around in circles on that screen, getting into battles and leveling Dagger all the while. In another stroke of luck, I never encountered a Mover during the leveling process. Mover is by far the most difficult enemy to deal with here. Hecteyes was easily dealt with by casting Life after Zidane and Quina had knocked themselves out. I took out Ring Leaders using the same strategy detailed above. Between battles, I used Dagger's Life spell to revive everyone, thus saving Phoenix Downs. I also used an Elixir on anyone who got low on MP. I avoided selling my Eye Drops and Echo Screens in Daguerreo so I could use them in case the Ring Leaders inflicted those statuses, but I turned out to not need them. It's still a good idea to keep them, though, because they did it several times in my practice runs.

In case you don't get lucky like I did getting Amarant in Virus status, here is a link to the original strategies as given by camdad04. They work very well, although the Mover strategy relies on a fair amount of luck.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197338-final-fantasy-ix/68411051
The strategies are in post #40.

I gave Dagger the Dark Matter once she reached level 43 because she can only gain 42 levels with the Ribbon. It's ok to do this at level 42 if you're worried that she might go straight to level 44 with the next fight. When she reached level 46, I noticed she was about 16,000 experience away from the next level, so I deactivated Level Up hoping that the next battle would be just enough so put her to the next level while keeping her at least 26,377 experience away from level 48, and it was. This is so she won't gain any levels from Shell Dragon. If Dagger gets too close to level 48 then you'll have to reset because she can't afford to reach that level without a Pearl Rouge. In the process of leveling, Dagger learned Berserk, Mini, Body Temp, Insomniac, and High Tide.

NOTE: Even if you're letting Steiner take Abadon's experience and thus don't need to train Dagger, it would still be a good idea to level her up a bit before entering Bran Bal. This will make the Shell Dragon fight easier.

When the training was complete, I changed Dagger's equipment to give her a Magus Hat, Gaia Gear, and Pumice Piece, activating Chemist, Auto-Potion, and Boost. Make sure you deactivate Level Up at this point if you haven't already! If you're not going to use Shiva, I would recommend giving her the Mythril Racket, Green Beret, Bone Wrist, Power Vest, and Black Belt (taking it from Amarant), and activating Auto-Float. This is to maximize her physical attack damage.

Once she was ready to go, I entered Bran Bal and headed straight to the hut with the moogle. I picked up the Wing Edge, freed the moogle, and picked up the letter. I then sold the spoils from Earth Guardian (Avenger, Rubber Suit, and Phoenix Pinion), and bought 9 Zorlin Shapes, 1 Defender, 1 Bistro Fork, and 1 Adaman Hat. I also bought a few Phoenix Downs, making sure to reserve 2,222 gil for Stiltzkin. If you need more cash, you can sell the items you picked up in Terra except for the Coronet. Also, the Bistro Fork and Adaman Hat are optional. If you can only afford one of the two, I would recommend the Adaman Hat. Don't forget that you can buy the Defender after the forced battles if necessary. The three battles give you a total of 6996 gil. When my shopping was done, I saved with a time of 10:13:46.

EDIT: After looking into it further, I've concluded that Movers will never appear in the screen with Minerva's Plate. Thus, I highly recommend that you not backtrack to any previous screens during Dagger's training. Also, it seems that single Ring Leaders rarely appear here. With this in mind, I looked at all the possible ways to get into one of the experience windows Dagger needs to be in and determined that these two options are the best:

Option 1:
5 battles against 2 Ring Leaders with Level Up
3 battles against Hecteyes with Level Up
1 battle against Hecteyes or 1 Ring Leader without Level Up

Option 2:
4 battles against 2 Ring Leaders with Level Up
6 battles against Hecteyes with Level Up

Both these options give Dagger just enough experience to be at level 47 without gaining a level from Shell Dragon. Option 1 is a bit faster if you can pull it off without having to run away because you got the wrong encounter, but either of these should be doable in a decent amount of time.

Breaking the Seal

Now I march into Ipsen's Castle. On the way to Kumool, I equipped my party as follows:

Zidane              Freya              Steiner                  Quina

The Ogre          Javelin             Flame Saber          Fork
Red Hat            Barbut            Cross Helm            Green Beret
Bone Wrist       Gauntlets        Thunder Gloves      Egoist's Armlet
Power Vest       Genji Armor    Shield Armor          Mythril Vest
Power Belt        Extension        Lapis Lazuli           Yellow Scarf
_________________________________________________________
Distract             (no changes)    Accuracy+             Ability Up
Master Thief                             Distract                  Millionaire
Ability Up                                 Bird Killer            
Bandit                                      Add Status
                                               Ability Up
     
With my party thus set up for Taharka, I saved with Kumool. After reloading, I marched up to the top of Ipsen's Castle, took the mirrors, and fought Taharka. Zidane opened by stealing the Mythril Claws. Taharka then attacked but missed. When Zidane's turn came up again, he stole the Elixir, and Taharka decided to curl up. On the third turn Zidane finally got the Orichalcon. Steiner then attacked and inflicted Heat, and the battle was over. As a result of this fight, Zidane learned Soul Blade and Add Status, Freya learned Dragon Killer, Cover, Body Temp, Accuracy+, and Level Up, Steiner learned Devil Killer and Distract, and Quina learned Ability Up and Auto-Potion.

I ran back to Kumool and saved again with no random encounters. This next part I kept having to redo because I changed my mind on how to proceed a lot, but my mind is finally made up. On my way out of the castle, I prepared my party members for upcoming battles like so:

Zidane              Freya              Steiner                  Quina

Orichalcon        Javelin             Ragnarok              Silver Fork
Green Beret      Barbut            Cross Helm            Holy Miter
Bone Wrist       Gauntlets         Venetia Shield       Egoist's Armlet
Power Vest       -                     Genji Armor           Gaia Gear
Power Belt        -                     Coral Ring             Yellow Scarf
_________________________________________________________
MP Attack      (no changes)     Accuracy+             Ability Up
Devil Killer                              Distract                  Millionaire
Insomniac                               MP Attack             Insomniac
Bandit                                     Bird Killer

I then went through the scenes with rescuing Amarant and talking about how to break the seal to Terra. When prompted, I chose a party of Vivi, Quina, and Steiner so I wouldn't have to change it as I dropped people off. I flew straight to the Water Shrine, followed by the Fire Shrine. I then took a slight detour to visit Daguerreo. I ran in, fixed the lift, and rode it up to the weapon shop, where I proceeded to empty my inventory of all unnecessary items. Here is my sell list.  An asterisk next to an item means I kept one copy of that item.

Potion (enough so that my number of remaining Potions equals my number of Ores)
Remedy
Antidote
Soft
Annoyntment
Gysahl Greens*
Phoenix Pinion
Dead Pepper*
Tent
Rising Sun
Wing Edge
Mythril Dagger
Gladius
The Ogre
Fork
High Mage Staff
Mythril Claws (only the one stolen from Taharka)
Cat's Claws
Partisan
Ice Brand
Exploda
Thief Gloves
Mythril Gloves
Thunder Gloves*
Lamia's Tiara
Ritual Hat
Red Hat
Golden Hairpin
Mythril Helm*
Gold Helmet
Fairy Earrings
Madain's Ring
Anklet
Feather Boots
Germinas Boots
Demon's Mail
Shield Armor
Plate Mail
Adaman Vest
Brigandine
Extension

After selling all those, I bought the missable items as instructed in the guide as well as a Venetia Shield. I then headed over to the synthesis shop and turned all my remaining Potions and Ore into Opal. I had 13,535 gil remaining after doing all this, so you shouldn't have any problem affording everything here. If you fall a little short for some reason, you could remove Amarant's Jade Armlet and sell that as well.

NOTE: If Steiner is to take Abadon's experience, then you need to give him his leveling gear now. Equip him with the Rune Blade (or Ragnarok), Barbut, Venetia Shield, Diamond Armor, and Dark Matter. You won't be able to level Quina on this path because s/he will need the Dark Gear for all 98 levels, so you don't need to worry about the availability of the Dark Matter in the next part.

I left Daguerreo and saved next to the airship. I then got on, dropped the last two party members off at the Wind Shrine, and traveled to the Earth Shrine. Then, I finally got to use the Earth Guardian strategy that I helped develop over a year ago. I began with an attack from Zidane and Quina casting Night. Zidane then stole the Avenger. When their ATB gauges filled up again, Zidane attacked and Quina cast Night again. Zidane then stole the Rubber Suit. Zidane then attacked one more time and Quina ate Earth Guardian, which taught him Earth Shake. After the battle, Zidane learned MP Attack and Quina learned Insomniac and Level Up.

After the party reuniting scenes, I formed a party with Dagger, Quina, and Amarant. I then landed in Blairsurpass Plains and equipped my party one more time as follows:

Zidane              Dagger              Quina                   Amarant

Orichalcon        Magic Racket    Silver Fork           Kaiser Knuckles
Green Beret      Bandana            Holy Miter           Bandana
-                       -                       N-Kai Armlet       -
-                       -                       Robe of Lords      -
-                       -                       Dark Matter         Black Belt
_________________________________________________________
Accuracy+        Insomniac          Level Up             MP Attack
Bird Killer          Loudmouth        Insomniac            Bird Killer
Alert                                                                    Insomniac
Insomniac                                    
                                               
With my party now prepared for Terra, I saved with a time of 09:49:39.

Ultimate Chocobo Hot 'n' Cold

Now it's time for one last session of Chocobo Hot 'n' Cold, and it's a doozy! First I played a game in the forest where I got the Forgotten Plains Chocograph and a Chocograph Piece. I saved afterwards, then in the second game I got the last Chocograph Piece and two Dead Peppers. With that done, I rode Choco over to Treno and went to the weapon shop to have Amarant take on Amdusias. Just one attack from Amarant was plenty to end this battle immediately. I then left Treno and dug up the Mist Ocean Chocograph to gain the ability to fly, after which I traveled north to the Outer Continent, made my way to the closest forest, dismounted, and saved.

I then had to reset until Chocobo's Air Garden showed up at the Outer Continent. When it did, I flew up and played a game, making sure I got all eight items so I could get a good score. I need a total score of 10,000 points to get a Robe of Lords, so I had to play several games here to make it. I played a total of nine games at the air garden and got all eight items in each game with an average of about 1,000 points per game. (I already had about 1,000 points coming into this.) I allowed lower scores in my first few games and made up the difference later when Choco could dig better. My highest score was 1485. I probably could have done it in eight games if I'd had a lot more patience, but I just want to get this done. I had three Dead Peppers coming into this and two at the end, so I averaged just under one per game. I was never in danger of running out of them, so I think three is a good starting number. A useful trick I found is that, when exiting the air garden, you can use the square button to make Choco fly backwards. This is faster than turning around to land at the nearby forest.

With the Robe of Lords in hand, I was off to dig up more Chocographs. I got all three Chocographs that are available at the air garden, so my first stop was to get the Outer Island Chocograph with the Ragnarok and the Genji Armor. This only takes 25-30 seconds, so I figure it's a worthwhile detour. Next, I flew over to Vile Island to dig up the Fairy Island Chocograph for the needed Holy Miter. I skipped Forgotten Island because none of its contents are useful. I then landed on the Forgotten Continent and ran west to dig up Forgotten Plains. Finally, I ran to Ipsen's Castle and saved with a time of 09:29:51. Sadly, I'm no longer beating the target time, but that was to be expected at this point.

NOTE: This part could change in up to two ways depending on your perfect game preferences. If you don't want to use Shiva against Shell Dragon, then you don't need the Forgotten Plains Chocograph. You can instead go for one that gives you more money, like Abandoned Beach, or just not bother with a Chocograph. If you plan to have Steiner take Abadon's experience, then you don't need the Robe of Lords. Thus, you'll only need to play one game of Chocobo Hot 'n' Cold at the air garden so you can get Fairy Island. If you have time to spare, you could play another game for Outer Island if you want, but the time investment for you would be about three minutes.