SIDEQUEST: Cactaur Catching on Bikanel Island REWARD: Mercury Sigil NEW AREAS OPENED: Cactaur Valley on Bikanel Island WHEN: Once airship is available OTHER: It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you equip one character (does not need to be in your active group) with a No Encounters weapon before beginning this Sidequest. To begin the sidequest, go to Bikanel Island after you get the airship. You can start step one before you get the airship, but won't be able to proceed any farther. Anyway, the first thing you must do is go to the Cactaur glyph statue. Before that, however, let's get a little geography straight. SCREEN ONE: This is the first screen, with the pond, where the airship deposits you. The menu describes it as "Sanubia Desert--Oasis." SCREEN TWO: This screen is a winding path, with open areas at each end, and a save point near the center. The menu describes it as "Sanubia Desert--East." SCREEN THREE: This screen is the big open desert, and the ruins to the left. The menu describes it as "Sanubia Desert--Central." SCREEN FOUR: This is the last screen, which contains the sand pits and the big sandstorm. The menu describes it as "Sanubia Desert--West." All compass directions in this guide refer to the top of the screen as "North" and the bottom as "South." That is, moving from screen one to screen four, you will enter each screen at the south, and leave at the north. Now, the Cactaur glyph is in screen four. Enter Screen Four at the rightmost entrance (that is, from the desert in Screen Three, not the ruins). Then, go straight North-East. You should arrive at a cliff overlooking a valley with a sandstorm. Approximately in the center of this cliff top is a rock with a picture of a Cactaur on it. Just stand in front of it and talk to it. It will have words for you, and then your quest will begin. You cannot continue past this point until you have the airship. Now, you must catch ten cactaurs on Bikanel Island. In order to catch them, you must first find them. Once you find them, you will play a little mini-game. In this game, your goal is to sneak up on the Cactaur within a certain amount of time. Essentially, while the Cactaur has its back to you, you can move around, but when it is facing you, you must stay completely still or you will lose. If you run out of time, you also lose. Should you catch it, you must now fight it. I suggest this sidequest as a good opportunity to catch your ten Cactaurs for the monster arena, if you haven't yet, so you might want to equip Capture weapons. Don't worry, Cactaurs are pretty easy to beat by this point in the game, unless you're playing a NSG game or something. You can also steal Chocobo Feathers from them; a rare steal is Chocobo Wing. Whether you win or lose, you get a sphere. If you win, it's a sphere with the Cactaur's name on it. If you lose, it's a "Sphere del Perdedor" (Loser Sphere, I think). Then you take the sphere back to the glyph, it takes it and gives you a clue for the next Cactaur. Here's a summary for each Cactaur, in order. LOCATION is where you find him; COURSE describes the area you will try to sneak up on him in (the area of the mini-game); and then there is my assessment of this mini-game's difficulty, plus any tips. NOTE: All difficulties are based relative to the other Cactaur minigames; compared to the butterfly-catching, these are all as easy as a warm apple pie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOMAY Glyph Clue: Tomay's gone. Gone to fetch the water. Location: At the oasis in the first screen. He is toward the right side of that little shore, you really can't miss him. Traits: Duties: Fetching water. Takes his time and, as a result, is often left behind. A little dim. Time: 10.0 seconds Course: You start off on a hill in the back left of the screen. Tomay is in the front right, under a tree. Difficulty/Tips: Easy. You just run straight toward him, watching his movements and stopping when he turns around. Or, instead of watching his movements, you can wait for the Al Bhed word "Needletime!" to appear onscreen. Stop when you see it, as this word means he is looking at you. However, I recommend watching his movements as the best strategy. Time is not an obstacle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROVIVEA Glyph Clue: Rovivea's gone walkabout. Location: You will find Rovivea in Screen Two. When you enter from Screen Three there is a large open depression to the left side of the screen, it's not hard to see Rovivea. Traits: Has no patience for certain dim-witted friends. Not a progressive thinker. Time: 13.6 seconds Course: Rovivea is at the very front of the screen, you are at the far back. Setup is similar to Tomay. Difficulty/Tips: Easy. Same strategy as for Tomay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAVA Glyph Clue: Little Chava likes big numbers. Location: There is a narrow point in Screen Four. On either side of this narrow area, there is a signpost facing each other horizontally. Go to the left sign and press X to read it; it should say something about an Al Bhed 20% off sale. (What a deal!) After you read the sign you will see little cutscene in which you find Chava. Traits: Recently learned to count to 50. A little needy. Attention deficit. Time: 13.0 seconds Course: You are at the back near one sign, Chava is in the front near another. A straightaway. Difficulty/Tips: Easy. Same strategy as for Tomay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALEK/ALOJA Glyph Clue: Alek and Aloja play tag in the ruins of men. Location: They are running around in Screen Three, among the ruins on the far left side of the screen. You will easily spot them in the lowest part of the valley, running back and forth. Traits: Two brothers, rarely separated. They move as one, their closeness a paragon of brotherhood. Time: 13.0 seconds Course: The two brothers are at the front of the screen, you are in the far back. A straightaway course. Difficulty/Tips: Medium. Again, just run straight at them and watch their movements; this is a little more difficult than previous ones, you have to use your time to its fullest to reach them within the time period. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VACHELLA Glyph Clue: Vachella seeks the shining blue. Location: The "shining blue" refers to a Save Sphere. Just go to the save point in Screen Two (it's approximately in the center of the area, under a tent) and examine the sphere. You will have the chance to save, etc. Once you cancel out of the Save Sphere menu, Vachella will appear. Traits: Loves new things. Hard on others, easy on self. Stingy. Time: 14.0 seconds Course: You are standing by the Save point, Vachella in the front of the screen. Another pretty straight course. Difficulty/Tips: Medium. Vachella likes to turn around very quickly. After he turns for the first time, he will turn around three more times right in succession. If you want to win, you must take full advantage of your opening period to run, then take at least a small step between each of his next four turns. He makes 8 spins total during the time; you'll need quick reflexes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROBEYA Glyph Clue: O, Robeya's stuck inside. Location: Robeya is in a treasure chest, in the far southwest corner of the main desert area in Screen Three. Just follow the south wall westward, or follow the fence southward, it's up to you. Try to open the chest and Robeya will hop out. Traits: A real needle brain. Likes cramped spaces. Check out his great collection! Time: 14.0 seconds Course: A straightway course, but there are four treasure chests, two on each side. The back one on the left is open. The back right one contains two Shadow Gems. The front left contains two Shining Gems, and the front right a Blessed Gem. You can open the chests to get the prizes; if you lose a trial, you can still keep your prize, but you can only open each chest once. Difficulty/Tips: Easy. The challenge is to get all three items, and still beat Robeya. However, since this is quite difficult, I suggest you just choose two of the three prizes, get them, and then beat Robeya with trial #3. I usually grab the Shadow Gems and the Blessed Gem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISRRA BUG ALERT!! Apparently, if you do not leave Screen Four after giving the glyph Robeya's sphere, Isrra might not appear. However, don't worry, just leave the screen and come back, and all will be well. (Thanks to CB! for the solution to this bug, though I'm sure many others have discovered it as well.) Glyph Clue: A fiery description--The lord of the hole is gone, Isrra thinks. Location: In Screen Four, there are three antlion pits (little whirlpools of sand). You will find Isrra running around in the middle one of them. Traits: The philosopher about town. Today, he digs holes. Again. A cautious sort. Time: 15.0 seconds Course: The course is a basic Isrra front/Tidus back setup, however your vision is slightly hazy as it from the heat. Difficulty/Tips: Hard. Isrra looks at you for seconds at a time, so you must be very precise with starting and stopping--don't waste a single tenth of a second that he is looking away. EASY WAY TO BEAT ISRRA: There is a pit next to Tidus on the screen. Run into it when you first have a chance to move, and once you are in just keep running toward Isrra, even when he is looking at you. Apparently there is a tunnel connecting the two pits, because after a few seconds you will be standing at the bottom left of the screen, right next to Isrra! Then just run over and touch him and you will have caught him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELIO Glyph Clue: Much-curious Elio has left on a journey. Location: Go to the pond in Screen One again. To find Elio, you must simply enter the pond area from the north (not the screen, just the area around the pond.) Basically, if you morph in at the Save point, you need to go up and then come back down again. After this, you will see a cutscene in which Elio beams up to the roof of the airship. Head to the airship roof to find him. (I love the cinematography, when you see Tidus' back, and then it rises up to show Elio. Sorry, back to the guide.) Traits: To what lies beyond the sands, he travels far to distant lands. Hyper-reactive and a bad poet. Time: 11.0 seconds Course: You are at the door of the roof, and Elio, in the forefront of the screen, is at the prow. Be warned, the ship will tilt when you are trying to get to him, so be prepared and keep your reflexes sharp. Difficulty/Tips: Hard. You just need to watch both Elio and the ship and pray you will succeed. Even I, having had a lot of practice, still sometimes fail to get him; 11 seconds is very short to achieve this in. Also, you don't actually fight Elio. If you reach him, he just falls off the edge, and apparently dies. Oh well. PROBLEM WITH ELIO: If you have gone to the "Sin" destination on the airship, but have not fought the battle with Sin there, you will automatically be forced into that battle when you go outside to meet Elio. So, you have to fight Sin and get that over with before you can continue with the sidequest. I don't know of any other solution. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLAILE Glyph Clue: Flaile is always behind. Location: After you take Elio's sphere to the glyph, Flaile will automatically jump out and initiate the minigame. Traits: The guy you never invite but he always shows up anyway. Cheeky. Time: 13.0 seconds Course: A basic straightaway; you are standing be the glyph rock, he is in the front ground of the screen. Difficulty/Tips: Hard. Ignore the sounds and the words that appear onscreen, as they are meaningless for this one. However, it is not that hard to just look at his movements and time your running. Flaile gives you a special red sphere when you are done with him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once you beat Flaile, take the red sphere to the glyph and there will be a lengthy sequence in which the glyph repeats the clue for each of the 10 Cactaurs' locations. Then, the sandstorm in the valley will disappear. Now that the sandstorm is gone, you can go get your prizes. There are two treasure chests in the area revealed by the sandstorm; both are toward the southern end of the valley. In the left one is the Mercury Sigil. The prize in the second chest varies, depending on how many Cactaurs you successfully defeated: 1 Named Sphere = Potion 2 Named Spheres= Potion 3 Named Spheres= Elixir 4 Named Spheres= Elixir 5 Named Spheres= Elixir 6 Named Spheres= Elixir 7 Named Spheres= Megalixir 8 Named Spheres= Megalixir 9 Named Spheres= Friend Sphere 10 Named Spheres= Friend Sphere None of these prizes could be classified as great, so don't feel a lot of pressure to beat every Cactaur, but it isn't difficult, and an extra Friend Sphere never hurt anybody. ******************************************************************************* RIKKU'S "GODHAND" CELESTIAL (ULTIMATE) WEAPON Where to find it: At the Airship Destination screen, enter the password GODHAND and a new location will open up, called "Mushroom Rock". Go there, and you will find a chest. To open the chest, you need to have the Celestial Mirror in your Key Items menu. Inside the chest is the Godhand. Power-up items: Mercury Crest and Mercury Sigil Where to find the Mercury Crest: Go the the Fourth Screen on Bikanel Island. Remember the antlion pits where you fought Isrra? You fought him in the middle one of three. The leftmost pit is in a little side area, and in this side area there is also a chest. This chest contains the Mercury Crest. Where to find the Mercury Sigil: FROM THE CACTUAR MINIGAME!! How to power up the Godhand: When you recieve the Godhand, the only ability it has is the No AP ability. You need to apply the two Mercury items to power the Godhand up. Go to Macalania Woods. On the shining upper path, go to the middle screen. Here, you will be able to take a turn to the north (top of screen) that leads you to a dead end at a rock. Examine the rock, and it will ask you to present Celestial Weapons. Select the Godhand. Now it will power up with the Mercury Crest; after this power-up, it will have the ability Double Overdrive as well as No AP. Present the Godhand again, and it will power up with the Mercury Sigil. This will bring the weapon to maximum power. It now has the abilities Break Damage Limit, Triple Overdrive, Double AP, and Gillionaire. It does more damage the fuller Rikku's HP is. Truly, an "ultimate" weapon!