-= F A Q v 1 . 4 =-
by Mark Matarazzo (Heretic)
raptox@cybernex.net
Welcome! If you're reading this, then you've no doubt run into one of the
hardest superbosses in video game history: Ozma. This whirling bouncyball
packs quite a punch for something so inane looking. Anyway, this guide
will, hopefully, aid you in your quest to defeat this spawn of Satan and
gain a few nice items as a reward.
-----------------
Table of Contents
-----------------
- The Prologue: Things to do before the battle.
- The Characters: One way to set up your party to smash Ozma.
- The Enemy: Detailed information about Ozma and his spells.
- The Battle: What to expect when you enter this fight.
- Other Helpful / Interesting Info: Other things that could help.
- Special Thanks / Credits: Can't do everything alone, you know.
- Version History: Yeah, I update this FAQ from time to time.
- Legal Junk: Obligatory disclaimers, etc., just in case.
------------
The Prologue
------------
First of all, you may have run into some weird creatures around the world
that ask you for gems like Ore or Lapis Lazuli. In return they usually
say something weird and then the battle ends, giving you some relatively
large amount of AP. Hey, no problem there, right?
Well, there's something more to those little guys. If you try to fight
Ozma before finding all 9 of these spirits, as they're referred to, you'll
find that he's out of range of regular attacks. Now, this sounds really
crippling, but regular attacks don't do nearly as much damage as you need
to dish out in order to win.
So why find these spirits? Well, the AP is nice, for one thing. You'll
need some expensive skills in order to pull this off, as well as the
devil's own luck. It took me at least twenty tries to beat Ozma, and all
the while I was praying for either a certain spell at the right time or
a miss.
If you've found Ozma, then you obviously have a gold chocobo. Did you
find all of the chocographs and some of the other hidden treasures as
well? They'll really help you out, because you can get some really
nice equipment from them.
You'll know if you've found a spirit (or a pop quiz...damn that
Ragtimer...) if the battle theme in a random encounter is replaced by
a happy little merry-go-round tune. Here's where you can find those
elusive spirits:
1. Mu - a brown squirrel you can find on the plains near Dali.
It wants an Ore.
2. Ghost - running around the dark plains of Treno, it wants Ore. You
might also be able to find him right outside South Gate.
3. Ladybug - find her in the forest surrounding the Black Mage
Village. She wants 2 Ore.
4. Yeti - There's a forest right outside of Madain Sari. When
you find him there, he wants 2 Ore.
5. Nymph - there's only one forest on the landmass where the Iifa
tree is, and Nymph is there. Sometimes she can also be
found on the little green patches of land near the Iifa
tree. She wants 3 Ore.
6. Jabberwock - travel east from Oeilvert until you find a small
circular forest on the coast. Jabberwock is there
and he wants an Emerald, which you get from the Nymph.
7. Feather Circle - Run around just east of the chocobo tracks on the
icy continent for a while, and you'll find him.
You'll eventually have to give this guy the
Moonstone you got from Jabberwock.
Note - Other Moonstone Locations: If, however, you no longer have that
Moonstone because you used it to synth a Pearl Rouge, you can get
another by doing any of the following:
a. Travelling to the path near Madain Sari where you
fight the trolls. There, you can find a Yellow, Red, Blue, and
Green Stone, as well as a four-slotted statue. Place the four
stones in the statue and you will receive another Moonstone.
b. In the ruined belltower of Alexandria, you can find
Stiltzkin peddling his wares, and he'll offer you a combo
including a Moonstone for 5555 gil.
c. Impress 100 nobles really early in the game at the
swordfighting scene and the queen will reward you with one.
Of course, this won't do you much good if you're already
past that point, but it's nice to know it's there.
8. Garuda - Many players have taken a wrong turn in Gizmaluke's
Grotto and ended up in a forest only to be slaughtered
by a Grand Dragon. Well, that's where Garuda is. Climb
out of the Grotto using the rope near the save moogle and
run around that forest. Garuda wants the Lapis Lazuli you
get from Feather Circle.
9. Yan - the 9th and final spirit to find, oddly enough it looks like a
little sheep. Make sure you've found the other 8 spirits first,
and then travel to Vile Island, the island in the center of the
map with the giant pyramid mountain on it. There's a forest
there where I found him, but BEWARE THE SHEEP! If you're not
prepared they're going to destroy you with Comet. This guy
wants the Diamond you got from Garuda. If you have not found
all of the other spirits before you find Yan, he will run away.
After giving that little sheep guy the Diamond, you'll see a phrase along
the lines of "You can attack the Round Guy now!" Wonderful.
Unfortunately, this isn't like Xenogears where you weakened Deus by
destroying his parts. Nope, Ozma's still just as mean.
--------------
The Characters
--------------
It's time to prepare your characters for battle. Zidane was at level 67 for
this fight, probably the absolute minimum you'd want to consider. Level 99
isn't necessary, but wouldn't hurt, obviously. Just make sure that none of
your characters have levels that are a multiple of 5. There were several
key abilities and pieces of equipment that helped me win the fight, and all
will be listed below. Please note that this is simply the way that I chose
to set up my party, and that other methods of defeating Ozma do exist.
------------------------------
ZIDANE
Stats:
Level 67
HP: 5376
MP: 270
Magic Stones: 54 used out of 54
Equipment:
Weapon: Ultima Weapon - Disc 4, have Choco dive into the water in the exact
location where the Shimmering Isle once stood.
Head: Circlet - buyable in Daguerro in Disc 4
Arm: Power Wrist - buyable in Disc 4
Body: Ninja Gear - steal one from Garland, or buy them. They absorb shadow,
very important.
Add-on: Rosetta Ring - synth it in the black mage's village in disc 4 if
you don't have one
Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste - cut down on Ozma's speed advantage. Learn it from Running Shoes,
which I believe you can synth in several locations. You can also
find a pair in Quan's dwelling in the clock. In order to get
them, though, you have to do the little Quina / Vivi sidequest
there first.
Auto Life - this one time reraise can really save you
HP +20% - the extra HP is a must
Insomniac - Curse can probably put you to sleep
Antibody - Curse can also poison you
Bright Eyes - Curse also causes darkness
Auto Potion - every little bit of healing helps
Locomotion - Just in case
Clear Headed - Curse can also confuse you. This is bad.
Pertinent Abilities:
Item - Seriously, just have Zidane keep using items unless he's tranced
Thievery - If you have an extra turn in there, and you've managed to
get this skill to do any appreciable amount of damage, feel
free to use it. The more you steal from enemies, the more
damage this will do.
Dyne - If you get him into trance, just keep casting your best ones
Use in Battle:
Zidane, unless he's tranced or you've managed to get Thievery to do a
respectable amount of damage, even with the Ultima Weapon, just doesn't
hit hard enough to be useful as a damager. Instead, keep his turn
ready to use Remedies or other needed items on party members. If he
trances, go all out.
------------------------------
EIKO
Stats:
Level 59
HP: 3152
MP: 319
Magic Stones: 41 used out of 41
Equipment:
Weapon: Tiger Racket
Head: Circlet
Arm: Power Wrist
Body: Rubber Suit
Add-on: Pumice Piece - it absorbs shadow, very important
Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste
MP +20% - part 1 of not having to worry about MP
Half MP - part 2 of not having to worry about MP
Antibody
Loudmouth - Don't want her silenced, do ya?
Clear Headed
Pertinent Abilities:
White Magic: Curaga, Full-Life, Esuna, possibly Mini
Summon: Phoenix
The Double White trance is essential. I kid you not.
Use in Battle:
Have her heal as much as possible. Don't waste MP with Holy, it's
not going to get you anywhere. If you're at max health, cast Curaga
anyway. If you've got double white activated and you're desperate,
throw in an Esuna. Use Phoenix if you don't have the double Full-life
option, and with Phoenix, there's a chance that you can get a one time
auto-party-reraise like Phoenix did in FF8. There's the luck factor
again.
Special Note: Have her trance bar within one hit of being activated.
Double White is the single most useful ability to have for this fight.
------------------------------
FREYA
Stats:
Level 53
HP: 4689
MP: 245
Magic Stones: 46 used out of 46
Equipment:
Weapon: Dragon's Hair - you can find it by using a dead pepper on Choco
at a crack in a mountainside just went of Oeilvert.
Head: Grand Helm
Arm: Defense Gloves
Body: Grand Armor
Add-on: Pumice Piece - absorbs Shadow, very important
Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste
HP +10%
HP +20%
MP +10%
High Tide - Just in case you want to use that tranced Jump
Antibody
Bright Eyes
Clear Headed
Pertinient Abilities:
Dragon's Crest
Jump
Use in Battle:
Use Dragon Crest. Keep using it. If she trances, you might consider
using Jump, but I never got the opportunity to do that. You see, even
if Freya is Mini, Dragon Crest does the same damage. To get Dragon's
Crest to do lots of damage, kill lots of dragons. Grand Dragons give
great EXP and AP anyway.
------------------------------
STEINER
Stats:
Level 59
HP: 5664
MP: 219
Magic Stones: 49 used out of 49
Equipment:
Weapon: Ragnarok - This sword is really important since it teaches
you Shock. I'm pretty sure it's one of the
chocograph treasures.
Head: Genji Helmet - another chocograph treasure
Arm: Venetia Shield
Body: Demon's Mail - no, it's not the best, but it absorbs shadow,
so it's very useful
Add-on: Protect Ring - you can get this in a number of places,
and it aids in his magic defense
Skills Equipped:
Auto Haste
Auto Life
HP +10%
HP +20%
Antibody
Bright Eyes
Auto Potion
Clear Headed
Pertinent Abilities:
Shock
Item
Use in Battle:
Similar to Freya, Steiner should probably be doing Shock, unless he's Mini.
In that case, his damage stinks and you should either use an item or some
other beneficial command. However, you want to be using Shock as much as
possible, since it should also be doing 9999 damage.
---------
The Enemy
---------
Ozma has several spells that can wipe you out. He has some other annoying
spells that can also pretty much wipe you out. Then, to spite you, he'll
cure himself. Oh yeah, can't forget his tendency to take two or three
turns at once, and his speed is high enough that he can go pretty much after
every single one of your party's moves. Here's a list of what he's got:
Death - Standard Instant Death spell, works most of the time
L5 Death - same as Quina's, if you're level is a multiple of 5, you're dead.
MP Absorb - if Ozma somehow gets low on MP, he'll use this on someone and
replenish his supply.
Star Flare - Old school (FF6, if I remember correctly) attack-all spell,
does roughly 2500 damage to all. Tends to miss people
sometimes, though.
Curaga - Oh, he'll cast this on himself plenty of times. He heals for
about 7000 a shot.
Mini - This one is just plain annoying. All your characters are, most of
the time, afflicted with the Mini status. Sometimes it'll miss one
person.
Doomsday - Remember Merton from FF6? Well, this is similar, except sometimes
it heals Ozma, sometimes it hurts it. With your party's equipment
setup, it always heals you. Pray for this spell a lot.
Curse - Pray that you never see this spell. It causes every status ailment
in the book unless you've guarded against it, and that includes
Blind, Mini, Confuse, Poison, all your favorites. On top of that,
it can do enough damage to wipe your party out in one shot. The
damage seems to be somewhat random, though.
Flare - Just like Vivi's although it hurts more. Much more.
Holy - Just like Eiko's. Doesn't hurt much more. I considered it a breather
when he cast it on me, cause he has so many better spells.
Meteor - If he casts this, you're toast. Well, mostly. I can't figure out
why it'll do 9999 to a character one time, then 800 the next, and
then miss the next time.
Ozma's Stats:
HP: 65535
MP: 9999
Win: Pumice (and in some cases, Dark Matter)
Steal: Elixr, Dark Matter, Pumice Piece, Robe of Lords
EXP: 65535 (divided between your living characters)
AP: 100
Gil: 18312
I don't care what the BradyGames guide says. With their wonderful advice
from the past, including getting the Final Attack materia in FF7 from the
Chocobo Races, I tend to disbelieve everything I read from BradyGames guides.
----------
The Battle
----------
This battle is not fun. It is also largely based on luck and what Ozma
decides to cast, just like Chaos in FF1. Keep Zidane ready to use Remedies
if you can. Freya and Steiner should immediately start using their abilities
that cause 9999 damage. Eiko should be knocked into trance on her first
hit, so save her turn until she does so and then use your Double White
command to ensure that everyone stays at full health. If party members
fall during the battle then a double Full-life can save you. Use Elixirs
when needed. Hey, this is the hardest battle in the game, so go all out.
You've basically got to do as much damage as fast as possible while staying
on your feet. Ozma has somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 to 60,000
HP, which doesn't seem like a lot compared to Emerald, Ruby, Ultima, or
Omega WEAPON. However, there's no Omnislash or Lionheart to save the day
here. Luck is the biggest factor, and I can't stress this enough.
Imagine being down to critical with your entire party and then seeing him
heal you back to full with Doomsday! It's that kind of luck that you need
to win, even at ridiculously high levels.
You will win the battle eventually. It might take a lot of tries, but
you'll get it. As rewards, you get 1 Pumice (teaches Dagger her last
summon) and 1 Dark Matter, as well as over 18,000 EXP and GP and 100 AP.
Mene is quite impressed by your feat and gives you the Ozma card, the
Strategy Guide key item which tells you how to get an "S" class treasure
hunter rating, and finally he restores your HP/MP back to full and
removes all stati from your characters.
There you go! Good luck, you're REALLY going to need it!
--------------------------------
Other Helpful / Interesting Info
--------------------------------
- If you have any extra Dark Matter lying around, don't hesitate to use
them. They should cause 9999 damage instantly to anything, including
Ozma, and that just might make the difference in the battle. Then
again, you'll have to find a spare turn to use one.
- Quina, though many people dislike him/her, actually has a few useful
skills if you're set on using him/her in this fight. Mighty Guard
can make a significant difference in the damage you take, just like
in previous FF games. Blade proved to me that this strategy does in
fact work, so, Quina fans, don't lose heart! Another great skill of
Quina's is Angel Snack, which uses 4 Remedies to clear your party of
harmful status effects. Pretty handy for dealing with Curse, isn't
it? And if you're bored enough to get Frog Drop up to a fair amount
of damage, then I guess you could use that too. As for Magic Hammer,
I've seen it written that you can get rid of Ozma's MP and then be
done with him. Well, after 11 Magic Hammers, which ranged from
knocking off 3 to 7000 MP a shot (and I wish I was kidding about the
3...), Ozma proceeded to use MP Absorb on Quina, taking all of his/her
MP for himself. Then Ozma cast Meteor and that was the end of that.
Bottom line on Magic Hammer: If you can get rid of all Ozma's MP,
congratulations. If you get screwed by Magic Hammer's randomize
function, well, sucks to be you.
- Don't worry, if you really like to use Garnet instead of Eiko, there's
nothing stopping you. THe only thing that Eiko has over Garnet that I
can see is that if Eiko has learned Phoenix, there's a slight chance
that, when you're defeated, Phoenix will rezz your party. Other than
that, there's little difference if you want to use Garnet. Knock
yourself out!
- If you manage to beat Ozma before finding Hades in the final dungeon,
Hades will actually acknowledge this impressive feat! In one of the
most amusing video game quotes I've seen to date, Hades says: "What?
You defeated Ozma? ...I've come too far to retreat now!"
- Hades isn't the only one who has a significant reaction to your beating
Ozma. If you beat him before finding all 9 spirits, then complete that
little quest, Yan will say "Reach the round guy...Huh?! You already BEAT
him?!"
------------------------
Special Thanks / Credits
------------------------
GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/)
- For actually posting this FAQ. Hehe...
Blade (bergeb2@rpi.edu)
- For bouncing strategies back and forth.
- Finding that Mighty Guard is actually useful.
Edwin "Shinji" Chow (ikarishinji5@hotmail.com)
- FFIX Sidequests/Secrets Guide v1.6: great guide, helped me a lot!
Caric (WOOFSepho@dog.com)
- Name of the 9th spirit, Yan (curse those sheep!).
- Alternate locations of Ghost and Nymph
Seigfried (seigfried@iname.com)
- Legal Advice
Salpedro (salpedro@accesscable.net)
- Use of the "Strategy Guide" key item
Blossom Storm (fmns@yahoo.com)
- Pointing out that Zidane's "Thievery" ability can be useful.
- Reminding me about Eiko's Phoenix summon, which I forgot about
- Information on some of Quina's more useful abilities.
Oliver Surpless (osurpless@clarku.edu)
- Garnet / Eiko comparisons
Advantz (advantz2000@yahoo.com)
- More specific location of Feather Circle
Z? (ebk@sfu.ca)
- Yan's reaction to beating Ozma before finding the spirits
Samuel Lessard (nukedragon@hotmail.com)
- Information on Ozma's total HP and MP
Drew Evans (starfire@ghg.net)
- Location of the Moonstone in the Alexandria belltower
Sexy Schrock (schrock87@yahoo.com)
- Location of the Swordfighting Scene Moonstone
K (kavela@singmail.com)
- Detailed info about Ozma's stats
And all others who have sent me email about this FAQ, your input
is greatly appreciated.
---------------
Version History
---------------
v1.4: 1/25/01
- Added more locations to find Moonstones.
- Updated Ozma's stats. Now more precise!
v1.3: 1/11/01
- Added the location of another Moonstone.
- Updated the notes about Zidane's Thievery ability.
- Added how to get Dragon's Crest to do more damage.
- Added notes on Ozma's HP and MP
v1.2: 12/18/00
- Updated some information about Feather Circle and Yan.
- Added some locations to get Running Shoes.
- Added a few notes about Dagger to the Helpful Info Section.
v1.1: 12/4/00
- I've got a Table of Contents!
- Added alternate locations to find the Ghost and Nymph spirits.
- Added the name of the 9th spirit, Yan.
- Added a few abilities to Zidane and Eiko that could help
- Edited some of the formatting in the characters section.
- Added "MP Absorb" to the list of Ozma's spells.
- Added the use of the "Strategy Guide" key item.
- Added the "Other Helpful / Interesting Info" section.
- Revised the Legal Junk and Credits a little
v1.0: 11/30/00
- The beginning of the madness. Updates to follow!
----------
Legal Junk
----------
The Ozma FAQ v1.2
Copyright 2000 by Mark Matarazzo (Heretic, Raptox)
All Rights Reserved
The Final Fantasy series is copyright by Square/EA. It sure isn't
mine, because if it were, I wouldn't be sitting here trying to get
an engineering degree. This FAQ is not endorsed by Square/EA or
any other big name company, nor would they probably want to, anyway.
This FAQ may be freely distributed as long as it is distributed for
free and its content is not altered in any way.
Something missing? Email me at raptox@cybernex.net. Thank you.
If you're really bored, you could check out my homepage:
http://www.rpi.edu/~matarm/
"Heretic Heretic, hand us the stone!"
