Post by dgunther on Mar 10, 2015 11:09:33 GMT -7
Joe, you probably won't have to deal with this, and you're probably better off for it. But, Caleb, if you're feeling masochistic and REALLY want to ruin your life by going for the Elusive Platinum Trophy, Mastering the Sphere Grid is a MUST. Obviously you need to do it for a Gold Trophy but the Dark Aeons, and Penance are nearly impossible even if you HAVE mastered the Sphere Grid. Hopefully this will expedite the process.
Gaining Sphere Levels: In the battle arena, one of the monster creations is the Don Tonberry. He is created after you capture 1 of EVERY monster from the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (where you find Yojimbo). Every time you attack him, he counters with Karma, which does an INSANE amount of damage, based on the amount of monsters you've killed. And he doesn't do anything else until the very end of the battle, which means you can rely on him ONLY attacking the people you WANT him to attack . This can be used to great advantage for leveling. Equip your characters with a weapon that contains the "Overdrive - AP" Ability, and set their Overdrive to Stoic. Now, anytime they get attacked, their Overdrive gauge will fill up - Or it WOULD, except that now all of that is converted to AP, which means EVERY time they get attacked, that character will gain 5 or 6 sphere levels. Which means you should get about 20-30 levels per battle. Using Auto-Haste, or casting Hastega repeatedly will also increase the amount of times you can attack (and thus get counter-attacked) before Don Tonberry stops counter-attacking and starts Shanking people. That's when you can flee and rake in the unreasonable amounts of Sphere Levels.
This works best if the character has killed a lot of enemies (Tidus, Auron, etc.). If you find that Karma isn't doing a lot of damage, then change your overdrive mode to "Comrade." So, for example, every time Auron attacks, Don Tonberry hits him hard, but because Yuna's Overdrive is set to "Comrade," She'll also get the AP for it.
This process can be further sped up by equipping weapons that contain the Double (or Triple) Overdrive Ability and/or Double (Or Triple) AP. At this point you can EASILY gain 99 sp. Levels in a matter of minutes. Make the process even faster by having armor with Auto-Phoenix, so that you don't have to waste a turn using Phoenix Downs.
Gaining Power/Mana/Speed/Ability Spheres: At this point you will routinely run out of Power Spheres, Mana Spheres, etc. To get a LOT of them quickly, fight another Monster in the Arena named "Kottos" (Acquired after capturing 1 of each monster from the Mi'ihen Highroad). If you overkill him, you get x40 Healing Springs. HOWEVER, if you use a Distiller on him, those Soul Springs will turn into the respective Spheres (Mana, Power, etc.) so you can get FORTY spheres / Battle.
Gaining Stat Spheres: Finally, you'll need to max out your stats one the sphere grid by filling in empty nodes, and probably replacing a few of the nodes that don't increase your stats much (Example: Replacing Strength +1 with a Strength +4). Fortunately, Every kind of sphere can be farmed from a monster in the arena:
HP: Ironclad
MP: Vidatu
Magic Defense: One-Eye
Defense: Tanket
Strength: Juggernaut
Magic: Jumbo Flan
Agility: Fenrir
Accuracy: Hornet
Evasion: Pteryx
Luck: Greater Sphere
For fighting the Dark Aeons and Penance (Maybe I'll post that later), you do NOT need over 9,999 HP. Seriously. You DO need max (255) Defense, Magic Defense, Agility, Evasion, Accuracy Strength and Magic. Some people say you can swap out Accuracy for 255 Luck, but farming Luck Spheres from Greater Spheres takes WAY too long. And this is coming from a guy who maxed out EVERYTHING else... Hope this helps!
Gaining Sphere Levels: In the battle arena, one of the monster creations is the Don Tonberry. He is created after you capture 1 of EVERY monster from the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (where you find Yojimbo). Every time you attack him, he counters with Karma, which does an INSANE amount of damage, based on the amount of monsters you've killed. And he doesn't do anything else until the very end of the battle, which means you can rely on him ONLY attacking the people you WANT him to attack . This can be used to great advantage for leveling. Equip your characters with a weapon that contains the "Overdrive - AP" Ability, and set their Overdrive to Stoic. Now, anytime they get attacked, their Overdrive gauge will fill up - Or it WOULD, except that now all of that is converted to AP, which means EVERY time they get attacked, that character will gain 5 or 6 sphere levels. Which means you should get about 20-30 levels per battle. Using Auto-Haste, or casting Hastega repeatedly will also increase the amount of times you can attack (and thus get counter-attacked) before Don Tonberry stops counter-attacking and starts Shanking people. That's when you can flee and rake in the unreasonable amounts of Sphere Levels.
This works best if the character has killed a lot of enemies (Tidus, Auron, etc.). If you find that Karma isn't doing a lot of damage, then change your overdrive mode to "Comrade." So, for example, every time Auron attacks, Don Tonberry hits him hard, but because Yuna's Overdrive is set to "Comrade," She'll also get the AP for it.
This process can be further sped up by equipping weapons that contain the Double (or Triple) Overdrive Ability and/or Double (Or Triple) AP. At this point you can EASILY gain 99 sp. Levels in a matter of minutes. Make the process even faster by having armor with Auto-Phoenix, so that you don't have to waste a turn using Phoenix Downs.
Gaining Power/Mana/Speed/Ability Spheres: At this point you will routinely run out of Power Spheres, Mana Spheres, etc. To get a LOT of them quickly, fight another Monster in the Arena named "Kottos" (Acquired after capturing 1 of each monster from the Mi'ihen Highroad). If you overkill him, you get x40 Healing Springs. HOWEVER, if you use a Distiller on him, those Soul Springs will turn into the respective Spheres (Mana, Power, etc.) so you can get FORTY spheres / Battle.
Gaining Stat Spheres: Finally, you'll need to max out your stats one the sphere grid by filling in empty nodes, and probably replacing a few of the nodes that don't increase your stats much (Example: Replacing Strength +1 with a Strength +4). Fortunately, Every kind of sphere can be farmed from a monster in the arena:
HP: Ironclad
MP: Vidatu
Magic Defense: One-Eye
Defense: Tanket
Strength: Juggernaut
Magic: Jumbo Flan
Agility: Fenrir
Accuracy: Hornet
Evasion: Pteryx
Luck: Greater Sphere
For fighting the Dark Aeons and Penance (Maybe I'll post that later), you do NOT need over 9,999 HP. Seriously. You DO need max (255) Defense, Magic Defense, Agility, Evasion, Accuracy Strength and Magic. Some people say you can swap out Accuracy for 255 Luck, but farming Luck Spheres from Greater Spheres takes WAY too long. And this is coming from a guy who maxed out EVERYTHING else... Hope this helps!
