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Soft Reset

I suppose anyone who has been playing any SquareSoft games will know this trick. This trick works for other Final Fantasties, Chrono Cross, Legend Of Mana and MORE. Are you fustrated of having to restart your PlayStation over and over again? Here is a trick that allows you to restart your game very quickly. Simply hold the four buttons at the top, as well as the Select and Start. In short, it is to hold L1, L2, R1, R2, Select and Start. The game will restart within seconds and the usual logo which says 'Published by Square Electronic Arts L.L.C' will appear.

Auto-Pilot

Final Fantasy 8 is the first FF game to have this trick. It is not surprising that this trick can be found in Final Fantasy IX. To let the trick works, when you are in the airship, which can either be the Hilda Garde 3 or the Invincible, press the Select button until you see the full view of the World Map. Point the cursor to your desired destination. Then, press the X button and choose to go to your desired destination. You notice that the airship now travels automatically.
-The airship will stop when it reaches the desired destination.
-It saves time as the airship will always take the shortest possible route from where your initial location is to the desired location, just in case, you pilot your airship aimlessly.
-Auto-Pilot only works for areas that are labelled in the World Map. An example of an area that does not work is the Chocobo's Paradise.
-To regain control of the airship while using the Auto-Pilot, press the Circle button.
-While using Auto-Pilot, you can use the d-pad, either up or down to adjust the altitude of the airship.

A Secret With Ruby

At the beginning of the game, after fighting Baku for the first time, Baku will start explaining about the first mission that you will be having. Your first mission is to go to Alexandria and kidnap Princess Garnet. Baku will ask you whether you are kidnapping Queen Brahne or Princess Garnet to ensure that you know your mission well. If you keep answering Baku's question incorrectly for 64 times by choosing Queen Brahne, Ruby will then storm into the room. And, as to what happens next, you find it out yourself.

Stiltzkin's Cheap Combo Offer

During your journey, you might come across a weird-dressed moogle called Stiltzkin. His appearance is weird, as if he is wearing an outfit made of a tiger-skin.
Stiltzkin is a moogle traveller. In order to let him continue his journey, you must buy items from him. The best part about Stiltzkin is that he will sell a combo of items at a cheap price. Furthermore, you can buy many RARE items like Elixir or add-on gem like Moonstone, Diamond etc. However, if you have any 99 of an item that is in his combo list, Stiltzkin will not sell the items at you unless you discard one of the items. For example, if you have 99 Ethers, he won't sell the items to you if Ether is one of the items to be sold in the combo list.
Stiltzkin wanders around in cities, towns and even dungeons too. Sometimes, he meets danger during his journey like being 'trapped'. it is your job to help him, if not, he cannot continue his journey and sell combo items to you at a cheap price.
Please take note that if you don't buy items from Stiltzkin, he WILL NOT have the money to CONTINUE his journey. That will means he cannot move on to his NEXT desired destination and you will not be able to buy item from him in his NEXT desired destination.

Treno Auction

Remember Final Fantasy VI's auction house? Yes, it is back in Final Fantasy IX. You can do all the bidding in Treno. There are lots of key items and some powerful equipments being auctioned off. You MUST do your very best to bid for these items. Of course, money talks.
Upon entering the auction house, the auctioneer will first list down all the items that are going to be auctioned off. The item will then be auctioned off one by one in ORDER. To bid, go to the stage until you see a '?' mark over Zidane's head. Then, press the X button and a menu pops up. The menu automatically reveal a price that is 100 gil higher than the previous price that is being offered. You can then adjust your bid but take note that each adjustment costs a difference of 100 gil and you MUST offer at least a price of 100 gil more than the last bid. Your opponents are those nobles sitting down and it seems that they have a lot of gil to give away. See below to see what cool items you can bid.
Key Items:
The key items offered at Treno's Auction house are Mini-Cid, Griffin's Heart, Doga's Artifact, Une's Mirror, Rat Tail and Magical Fingertip. Other important items that you MUST GET include Dark Matter, Thief Gloves etc.
Bidding Tips:
The trick to offer as little gil as possible when bidding for an item, is to avoid being caught into a bidding war. If you attempt to outbid the nobles at every turn, they will keep raising their bids and as a result, you have to pay even higher price, just because they know that you are VERY DETERMINED to outbid them.
The trick is to let the nobles bid among themselves for a while and when it seems like the item is about to be sold, quickly offer a price that is reasonable and is HIGHER than the last. This last-minute bid will most likely guarantee you to get the item at a reasonable price. If you allow the nobles to keep raising the price, you might not gain a profit when you resale the item. Check the resale value of the key items below.
Resale Value:
After purchasing the key items in the auction house, it is wise to sell these items to the nobles so that you can earn a profit. Don't worry since the key items you sold, will reappear in the auction house again. When selling the key items, choose to decline their first offer and the noble will offer a higher price. The second offer is the highest price that can offer, so accept the deal. Also, take note that if you leave the auction house before the key item is sold, it will still be available the next time you enter the auction house.
Here are the prices. The Une's Mirror can be sold to a nobleman walking towards the cafe. His first offer is 12000 and second is 15000. The Doga's Artifact can be sold to the scholar in the synthesis shop. He will only pay 10000 for it, so dont ask for him to go higher. The Griffin's Heart sells for 8000 the first, and 10000 the second, to the adventurer at the Cafe. The rat tail re-sale value is highest. It also sells to the cafe adventurer. The first time for 20000, the second for 25000. Easy Money.

Final Fantasy IIIj Music

You MUST have the Doga's Artifact and Une's Mirror. You can bid for these two key items at the Treno's Auction house. After the world of Terra has been destroyed, at the beginning of disc four and onwards, return to Black Mage Village. Examine the gramophone at the Black Mage Village inn. You notice that the background music will change to a beautiful melody taken from the Final Fantasy III [Japanese] soundtrack and this melody continues on until you leave the Black Mage Village. Dont be surprised if you dont recognize the music, the USA never received a copy of the NES version of Japan's Final Fantasy III.

Getting Excalibur

Excalibur sword is Steiner's third most powerful sword. You will definitely want this sword since it lets Steiner learn a powerful ability, Climhazzard.
In disc four, return to Daguerreo. Talk to the old man near the inn in the library. The old man's last wish is to find an item called the Magical Fingertip. This key item can be found in Treno's Auction house and it might cost you a decent amount of gils during the bidding war. After getting the Magical Fingertip, return to Daguerreo and give it to the old man. In exchange, you get the powerful Excalibur sword.
What If Magical Fingertip Doesn't Appear:
This situation happens to me also. The only advice I can give you is sell away ALL your key items you have purchased in the Auction house previously. [Please refer to 'Treno Auction' section for details on the resale value of these key items.] After selling these key items, Magical Fingertip should appear at the Auction. Also, bid for the key items which you have sold once again. After selling all the key items, if Magical Fingertip still doesn't appear, you might want to exit and then enter the auction house until it appears.

Getting Excalibur II

Steiner's most powerful sword, Excalibur II is indeed hard to get. This sword is by far the most powerful weapon, even more powerful than Zidane's Ultima Weapon. This is a challenge to all RPG veterans and you MUST really need to be very familiar with every parts of the game. To get this powerful sword, it is inevitable that you will lose a lot of chances to get some powerful weapons, items etc earlier in the game. You might even lose the chance to play certain mini-games, fight some optional bosses, miss certain side quests etc. I haven't got this sword yet since I haven't begun my second round of playing Final Fantasy IX.
You have to reach the Terrace in Memoria within 12 hours. You will encounter a boss fight there. Defeat Lich there and quickly check the second pillar from the right. You should see a '!' mark appearing over Zidane's head. This mark indicates the position of the sword, Excalibur II. If you exceed the time limit, the '!' mark will immediately disappear.
Tips:
-Know the game at fingertips to prevent wandering around aimlessly.
-Skip all FMVs. To skip a FMV, open the disc cover, then wait for the disc to stop spinning and then close it back immediately if you are using a PlayStation. If you are using a PlayStation 2, eject the disc and then close it immediately.
-Skip all Active Time Event when possible, except for the compulsory ones.
-Have minimum enemy encounter. Use Zidane's Flee ability.
-Skip all dialogues very quickly by pressing X button rapidly. Set message speed to maximum.
-Plan your game carefully like what equipments to buy or equip.
-Reset if you take too much time.
-Save when needed like after an event, visiting a town etc. Don't save too often since time is wasted when you are saving. Yeah, it takes time for the moogles to appear in the world map or 'throw' the book at you. Prepare more than an empty slot for saving. Each slot has game saves at different points of the game. If you feel you have spent too much time, at least, you have a slot with a game save that leads you to the earlier part of the game so that you can try everything again.
-Use 'Soft Reset' by holding L1, R1, L2, R2, Select and Start together if you feel that you have wasted a lot of precious time.

For a complete walkthrough of ExcaliberII, check out the 'ExcaliberII' section within Kuponut.com in ff9 section. Or, you could take the easy way out and just click here.

Quan's Dwelling Reunion

After the destruction in Alexandria by Kuja in disc three, return to Quan's Dwelling with Quina and Vivi in your party. Quina starts to dream about food and a conversation soon takes place on the patio. I won't reveal anything about this conversation but you will meet a very important person here and learn some profound things. After the conversation, search the stopped clock on the patio to find a Running Shoes.

Secret Of The Eidolon Wall

A very big secret is engraved on the Eidolon Wall in Madain Sari. I won't reveal what is this secret. Take note that you can only reveal this secret from disc four onwards and it is rather complicated, in my opinion.

-Form a party with Dagger and enter Madain Sari.
-Visit Lani who is standing on Eiko's back porch. Lani will run away.
-Exit village and return with anyone, EXCEPT Dagger and Amarant.
-Then enter Madain Sari, find Lani in Eiko's back porch and talk to Lani twice.
-Go to the Eidolon Wall.
-Walk clockwise from the entrance by heading to the right. You will arrive back at the entrance eventually. **
-Move just past the '!' until a chime is heard. **
-Walk counterclockwise back to the entrance, just past the '!' again. **
-Repeat the prevoius three steps for another 8 more times (the steps marked with **). Make sure you hear a chime.
-On the ninth round, your HP and MP will all be recovered and any status abnormalities will be removed.
-Read all the paintings on the wall. You can read them in ANY ORDER.
-After reading all the paintings, return to see the Ifrit painting drawing and look for an extra message.
-You have discovered the Secret of the Eidolon Wall.

Southern Tropical Outfits

Aloha T-shirt, Straw Hat, Pearl Armlet and Sandals are a full set of the Southern Tropical Outfit. Remember that in Final Fantasy VI, Square added Imp Weapon and Armor for the characters? Those who wants more challenge, defeat Kefka, the final boss with your party members as Imp by equipping them with Imp Weapon and Armor.

Equip your character with this FULL-SET of outfit. [This includes equipping the Aloha T-shirt, Straw Hat, Pearl Armlet and Sandals.] You notice that your character's Defense, Evade, Magic Def and Magic Eva will decrease to ZERO while Speed, Strength, Magic and Spirit might also greatly be reduced.

Take this as an ultimate challenge. Equip these outfits on your party members and see if you can defeat Ozma, Hades etc or the final boss, Necron. Actually, it makes no difference. Except that if you think Ozma is too 'easy' for you, you might consider equipping these outfits to make the fight tougher and more challenging for you.

Where To Get The Outfit:
There are 8 Aloha T-shirts, 8 Straw Hats, 8 Pearl Armlets and 8 Sandals. The reason is there are eight party members, right?

Dead Pepper Treasure:
-Foaming Water Directly Between Mist Continent and Outer Continent.
-Please refer to the 'Chocograph' section for the Dead Pepper treasures exact locations.
-You will find 8 Straw Hat, 8 Pearl Armlet, 7 Aloha T-shirt and 8 Sandals.
-Give a Kupo Nut to Moguta in Gizamaluke's Grotto in disc four to receive the last Aloha T-shirt.

Legendary Synthesis Shop

Defeat Hades in Memoria and you will gain access to the Legendary Synthesis shop. Below shows the list of the items that are offered in the Legendary Synthesis Shop.

Item	Gil	Materials
Robe of Lords	30,000	White Robe, Black Robe
Tin Armor	50,000	Ore, Hammer
Protect Ring	40,000	Dark Matter, Rebirth Ring
Pumice	50,000	Pumice Piece, Pumice Piece
Garnet	350	Ore, Remedy
Amethyst	200	Ore, Annoyntment
Peridot	100	Ore, Soft
Sapphire	200	Ore, Antidote
Opal	100	Ore, Potion
Topaz	100	Ore, Eye Drops
Lapis Lazuli	400	Ore, Dead Pepper
Pumice Piece	25,000	Hammer, Pumice
Save The Queen	50,000	Javelin, Silver Gloves
Phoenix Pinion	300	Phoenix Down, Gysahl Greens
Ether	500	Echo Screen, Vaccine
Item	Gil	Materials

Final Fantasy IX's Second Ending

Complete the Stellazzio quest and keep either Cinna's Hammer or Beatrix's Save The Queen in your item inventory. DO NOT use the Hammer in the Legendary Synthesis Shop. You will see an additional hidden sequence in the ending. The second ending is just a few minutes longer than the original one. Have one save file with the Hammer in your inventory and another save file without the Hammer in your inventory to spot the differences.