[FFX-2] Short (Text) Guide: How to get Mascot during Chapter 1

[Hinnyuu]

Hey everyone,


Since I've been asked by two different people and since there doesn't seem to be one already, I'm writing up a quick guide here on how to get the Mascot Dress Sphere while still in Chapter 1 of the story (normally it is available only in Chapter 5 after getting "Episode Complete" conclusions on ALL areas).

Naturally, this involves the Creature Creator system, a new feature added to the International Version and not available outside of Japan before during the original release. I encourage everyone to read some of the truly excellent Creature Creator guides out there if you want to learn more; this is just going to be a rough guideline on how to get Mascot specifically. I'd like to credit the collaborative efforts of the community who have posted a great deal on everything CC-related already, however I did not find a short, concise guide to Mascot anywhere. If there is one that I simply overlooked, please let me know!


#1 - Requirements

Barely anything. You need access to the airship, and having White Mage can be helpful. It is therefore suggested you do this after finishing the first mission in Besaid, which is really not too long into the game. Do the Creature Creator tutorial if you like (or skip it for instant rewards) and do the same for the Garment Grid tutorial to get the associated Garment Grid reward. That's it!

NOTE: it can be helpful to have YRP in early teens levels, so your captured fiends start out a bit higher. This is not required, however, and you can easily just level up fiends manually. A lower YRP level means lower initial fiend levels, which can be helpful when trying to level their story lines (since most need 4 level-ups to complete, so the lower the initial level the faster you complete). It's up to you where you want to go. Some people also like to have a lower level on YRP to beat the story with and not oneshot every boss, but that is of course personal preference.


#2 - The Fiend Team

There are many possible teams that you can do this with, however for the purpose of this quick and dirty guide I am focusing on one specific 3-fiend team that you can take from the very beginning all the way to the very end, no questions asked. It makes things less complicated and faster to go through, but feel free to diverge if it strikes your fancy.

The team I would recommend consists of the following three S-size fiends:

• Chocobo - captured on the Mi'hen Highroad using a Trap Pod S. You may need several tries to find it.
  Chocobo is one of the most popular fiends, and with good reason. It has very balanced stats and is noted for its high Agility, meaning a low charge time on abilities. Also, it will learn Auto-Haste at lvl 40 which is a very powerful ability.
  NOTE: One of the Fiend Arena Cups (Chocobo Cup) actually REQUIRES you to have a Chocobo in your team to enter.
  
  
• Tonberry - captured in Mushroom Rock using a Trap Pod S.
  Tonberry comes with very high attack power as well as innate Death Strike, meaning it will sometimes just kill weak enemies outright which is very unreliable but a fun bonus while grinding. It will also learn Ailment Defense, the sort of supercharged Ribbon-effect protecting you from all status effects plus death effects.
  
  
• Red Elemental - captured in Kilika using a Trap Pod S.
  Red Elemental is a pure caster with high defenses. It provides support and offensive power, as well as non-physical damage (which can be relevant against fiends highly resistant or immune to physical attacks). It will learn MP1 at high levels.

That's it! Capturing these 3 should be trivial. Note that you can never run out of Trap Pods - as soon as you use up the last one, exit to the previous menu and you will be supplied with either a Trap Pod S or M immediately. You can simply go back and forth and spend all pods this way until you capture what you want. Note that you can only keep 8 concurrent fiends at a time, so don't just keep every random fiend if you don't want/need them.


#3 - The Grind

This is where it begins. Realistically, you will need your fiends' levels to be at about the mid-50s before you can safely grab Mascot. It may be possible to do so earlier with some luck, but it only gets easier as you go higher. My team was 52/54/52 when I got it, and it took about 6-8 hours. Of course, you're not just going to stupidly grind through 50 levels right off the bat. It's a bit more interesting than that.

There are two ways you will go about the leveling process: A) in tournaments, where you also nab good rewards; and B) in the Battle Simulator, where you can choose to fight specific teams. What you do when is essentially up to you, however it's important to note a few things:

• tournaments offer a variety of enemies, as well as a variety of rewards; what you loot/steal/get as a prize there can help develop your fiends by teaching them abilities or giving you good equipment. While you still get drops in the Battle Simulator, it will be the same things over and over (depending on who you fight).
  
• check a CC guide on how to unlock cups, however for this specific guide just winning them a few times will do as the more complicated unlock sequences come later (after you've finished with this particular goal here)
  
• you MUST encounter a team during a tournament in order for it to be available to choose and fight in the Battle Simulator. You do not have to BEAT the team in order for it to appear, just engage it during the tournament. If you're missing one of the recommended teams, queue for a tournament until you get them.
  
• some teams specifically are recommended to grind with:
  
  • Black Chandelier (Dark Elemental x1) appears in Standard Cup: Hard and higher. It is very easy to defeat even at lower levels but offers substantial XP (over 600). A good team will often finish it in seconds, making it ideal for early/mid level grinding.
    
  • Hellbreeders (Gug x1, Tindalos x2) appears in Standard Cup: Hard and higher. Another fairly weak team that offers well over 2,500xp for your trouble. Takes a bit longer to kill, but is a solid source of XP all the way to the beginning of higher levels around 50.
    
  • No Mercy (Machina Panzer x1) appears in Standard Cup: Hard and higher. Decent XP for another easy fight, however most importantly it will drop Crystal Bangles which can be consumed by fiends for a permanent +50HP buff (or worn for a lot more). It may be a good investment of time early on to put some meat on your team's bones.
• depending on your starting level, you may want to grab your first XP points in the outside world as well. If you are below level 10, try spots like Mi'hen instead of tournaments, but from lvl 12 or so onward you should have no trouble tearing through the Standard Cup tournament

#4 - Setups: Dress and Grid

One of the most crucial aspects of using Creature Creator fiends is how you customize them. Their abilities vary with Garment Grid, Dress Sphere, and various moves and passive auto-abilities you teach them (see CC guide for details).

A useful general guideline is to make use of a fiend's innate strengths. Red Elemental, for example has high Magic and Magic Defense but terrible Strength - make it a caster!

Good Dress Spheres to use include Thief (gain ability Mug), Psychic (gain ability Telekinesis, which actually kills some relevant enemies instantly, like the Dark Elemental from Black Chandelier), and Black Mage (gain ability Drain MP, makes your casters last for a long time).

Good Garment Grids include Vanguard (gain ability Armor Break), First Steps (gain ability Cure), and of course Abominable (gain auto-ability Ribbon; reward from beating Grand Cup: Hard); if you progress to a short scene in Macalania, you can also nab Unerring Path (good stat bonuses, gain ability Crackdown)

For most of my fights, I used the following:

• Chocobo
  Dress: Thief
  Grid: Unerring Path, then Abominable once available
  
  
• Tonberry
  Dress: Thief or Festivalist
  Grid: Vanguard
  
  
• Red Elemental
  Dress: Black Mage
  Grid: First Steps, or Helios Guard (requires some progression in Moonflow)

The reason Thief is used so much is primarily because of Mug. Because the AI is sometimes a bit terrible at picking what move to use, having a large number of offensive moves to choose from makes it more likely you dish out quick damage - and in addition you stock up on a lot of items along the way, which help you learn more moves. Thief also comes with decent Agility, meaning you will act more often. Black Mage is a pretty obvious choice for the Red Elemental, and essentially never changes. Tonberry can switch to Festivalist once you start encountering enemies with high physical defenses, as the Popper ability ignores defense (irrelevant once you learn Darkness, see below).

#5 - Setups: Moves

As the moves you teach your fiends dictate how they fight, it's imperative to get a good combination set up. In general, the AI will become smarter at using moves - once it does things that are obviously stupid once or twice (such as e.g. casting Raise on a living party member) it will stop doing that in the future. Be mindful of that when you teach new moves and go straight into tough battles!

Some of the best moves available are (only listing relevant ones for this fiend setup):

• Vigor (consume Turbo Ether x3, or use White Mage) - this is one of THE best creature abilities, as it is a 0-mana short-charge self-heal for a whopping 50% of max HP! It is the bread and butter of creature survival, but getting Turbo Ethers in Chapter 1 can be a bit tricky (steal from Mega Tonberry).
  
• White Wind (consume Mega Potion x3) - a great group heal that also cures status effects. Mega Potions can be stolen from a variety of enemies, including the Earth Worm (which is very weak).
  
• Flare (use Minerva Plate accessory) - this move can also be learned permanently but don't even bother trying to get the required items at this point. Minerva Plate is one of the best things to put on your Red Elemental later on, and Flare will easily hit for 9,999 even during the mid level-30s. NOTE: You gain 0xp while using Minerva Plate, so save it for the tough fights and don't use it for xp grinding.
  
• Raise (consume Phoenix Down x3) - very useful against some of the more annoying enemies, which tend to grind you down during long fights and kill party members every now and then. Also a very cheap move to learn and one that is used only when the situation is right, so it can be great to plug a move slot to make sure other things are used more often.
  
• Hastega (consume Chocobo Wing x5) - very powerful spell early on, but may be tricky to get the materials for; later on it becomes less useful, especially once Chocobo learns Auto-Haste
  
• Darkness (consume accessory Regal Crown x1) - a defense-ignoring attack that hits all enemies. It's amazing against a lot of teams, and instrumental in helping you get past some the big roadblocks like Shady Duo (more on that later).

Feel free to switch moves around as you feel the current progression requires, but for the most part you will want to use the above and the ones you automatically gain from your equipment. Note that you can learn some moves by getting hit by specific attacks, but those may require a certain level (e.g. Chocobo will learn Auto-Haste after getting hit by Haste at level 40 or higher). Most of the time it happens fairly automatically during the normal course of gameplay.
You can also delete moves, including 'Attack' - sometimes this may be helpful if you want to use some other form of special attack instead (e.g. Mug) but it is not always optimal to delete it. Note that moves you delete may be quickly re-learned as long as there are free move slots.

[Hinnyuu]

#6 - The Endgame

Once you've gotten a hang of the moves and equipment, it's time to progress towards the goal of Mascot. As mentioned earlier, you fight your way through Cups, stealing and plundering on the side as you level up and accrue items and accessories to improve your stats and moves. As you beat Cups a couple of times (x3 for most, x6 for Grand Cup: Hard) new Cups will unlock

• Standard Cup - spend as little time here as possible. Fight through a few times to get the rewards, but as soon as you can comfortable beat it move on to...
  
  
• Standard Cup: Hard - you will spend more time here as you try and get the good teams to use in the Battle Simulator, and steal more powerful items to improve your team. Once you feel you can survive it easily enough, go to...
  
  
• Grand Cup - this has an extra round of fighting, and better rewards. I spent a good amount of time here, because the next two cups have some tricky enemies in them.
  
  
• Grand Cup: Hard - beating this 6 times is essentially your first goal, as that unlocks the Youth League Cup in which the prize for the first grand victory is the coveted Mascot Dress Sphere. Most teams are fairly beatable here - HOWEVER, after you've beaten this Cup 3 times two teams will enter that are incredibly difficult to beat at low levels.
  
  • Shady Duo (Black Elemental x1, Mushroom Cloud x1): these guys are no joke. Mushroom Cloud's Spores will cripple your offense, while you are then bombarded with Flare and Ultima - the latter of which can easily hit for 9,999 if you're not careful. Your best hope is to beat Mushroom Cloud before it can Spore you, which may require high level 40s or even lvl 50+ to do reliably. Do not expect to beat this earlier than that barring exceptional luck. Once you learn Darkness on Tonberry, the odds of beating this go up by a lot.
    
  • Tonberry the Ripper (Mega Tonberry x1): this is one of the most dangerous teams in the entire game. He hits ridiculously hard and will attack you for upwards of 10,000-20,000 damage like it's nothing, even on 0 stars. Beating this before lvl 50 is a pipe dream, and even at 50-60 it can be hard to survive outside of very dedicated setups. My advice is to steal the Turbo Ether he's carrying, die, and hope next time you don't get paired against him.
  
  
• Chocobo Cup - after a win or two in Grand Cup: Hard, a chocobo team will enter and always progress to the finals there - beat it in those finals, and you unlock the Chocobo Cup, which requires a chocobo in the party to enter (luckily you have that anyway). This Cup has mostly pushover teams, however two are not that easy:
  
  • Today's Friends (Chocobo x1, Anything Eater x1): The Anything Eater melees for a couple of thousand; considering how early you can reach this Cup, that damage will usually oneshot any party member. The Chocobo supports him with annoying spells like Mighty Guard and Mega Potion. Depending on how early you enter this Cup, this team might be a near certain loss - however once you get into the higher 30s, you can reliably destroy them.
    
  • Chocobo Kings (Chocobo x3): Same as the above, these 3 Chocobos can be a tough nut at low levels, as they heal and support a lot and like to hit you with Choco Meteo at the most inopportune times. But once you level up a bit, they die like flies (Flare can oneshot them).
  The Chocobo Cup should be a premier farming ground, as it rewards very good equipment for beating it. Minnerva Plate teaches Flare and boosts Magic by insane amounts, Rabbit's Foot gives a ridiculous +100 to Luck, which will make Chocobo critically hit on nearly every attack, Champion Belt is a huge stat boost, and Regal Crown teaches Darkness. I suggest beating this Cup a lot of times to farm up on the gear you need (you get each piece once in order, then it's random).
  
  
• Cactuar Cup - similar to the above, a Cactuar Team will eventually wait in the finals of Grand Cup: Hard and beating it unlocks this Cup; and equally similarly, you need a Cactuar in your party to enter. Unfortunately you can't recruit one until Chapter 5, which means you cannot enter this cup at all at this point.
  
  
• Youth League Cup - this is it. Beat this Cup once, and Mascot is yours. However, that is no mean feat. Many of the enemies encountered here are Chapter 5 story bosses with beefed-up stats, and they have a number of unfair moves at their disposal to ruin your day. Going in here at lvl 50 does not make things easier. Expect enemies like Nooj or Baralai to wipe the floor with you, and even Lucil can be a tough not to crack. However, there are a few easier teams as well. Yaibal, Elma, the Ronsos, and even Gippal can be beaten consistently at lower levels. I got Yaibal -> Ronsos -> Gippal during my 3rd try (after getting obliterated by Nooj in round 1 twice) and managed to get through. Gippal has some fairly powerful attacks, so make sure to manage stars well; other than that, just outlast him. And once you do... congratulations: you now have the all-powerful Mascot Dress Sphere in Chapter 1 of the story!

I hope you found this interesting to read, and I'm happy to answer questions or receive feedback or new suggestions. Note that this is just one possible route to the eventual goal. There are many ways to do it differently. This is what worked best for me after fiddling around with it for a good while, but I welcome people who have had different experiences and want to share them.

(NOTE: I am aware there are ways to (ab)use NG+ mode by rerolling incomplete games over and over to get lots of early game accessories. I personally don't like using exploits like that, but if that is what you enjoy then by all means.)

[Pajonk]

Good job but I have one question: how to equip on this 3 creatures garments other than First Steps and Vanguard? I have Unerring Path and Helios Guard (and some others too) but they are all grayed out and I cannot use it. Only first two can be equiped on other creatures than YRP. :/

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by Pajonk:

Good job but I have one question: how to equip on this 3 creatures garments other than First Steps and Vanguard? I have Unerring Path and Helios Guard (and some others too) but they are all grayed out and I cannot use it. Only first two can be equiped on other creatures than YRP. :/

Make sure to actually put dress spheres in them! Creatures need a dress sphere, too.

[Pajonk]

@Hinnyuu thx: exactly now I figured it myself - but thx again - I'm newbie in this FF. :D

[Hinnyuu]

Asking questions is how you stop being a newbie :) Never be afraid to ask.

[Lluvia4D]

First of all, I would like to thank this great guide, since I was looking for a plan B to get the vetisfera.

For vigor, it indicates

"Turbo Ether x3, or use White Mage"

But as you say, the turbo ether is obtained from the mega tomberi that I understand is very difficult to beat, it's about stealing and running away from the fight?

-

In other places I've read that they mention using the Lady luck sphere to get exp x2 and level up faster, I don't know if it affects fiends..

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by Lluvia4D:

For vigor, it indicates

"Turbo Ether x3, or use White Mage"

But as you say, the turbo ether is obtained from the mega tomberi that I understand is very difficult to beat, it's about stealing and running away from the fight?

Facing Tonberry the Ripper is practically inevitable. You'll be fighting him several times with basically no hopes of winning, so make sure you steal Turbo Ether from him before he kills you ;) You can flee if you like, or just die - it makes no real difference.

Originally posted by Lluvia4D:

In other places I've read that they mention using the Lady luck sphere to get exp x2 and level up faster, I don't know if it affects fiends..

You can use Lady Luck for more exp to be sure, however that sphere is not available in Chapter 1 - which this is all about.

[M E T A L]

Hi there! I managed to get the Mascot DS yesterday and I wanted to add a few things that can help other pleople in the process:

. I had Flak Python in my party instead of Red elemental. His Full-Auto attack is really good (I equipped the Unerring path GG).

. You can steal Turbo Ethers from "Aranea" (Lady Tarantula) which you can fight in the Grand Cup: Hard.

. The key to defeating Shady duo is Darkness. It's dmg is STR based. I had Tonberry and Flak Python with Champion Belt and Rabite's Foot. Tonberry dealt around 9.000 dmg per Darkness.

. Teach Magicide to Tonberry, he will drain Lulu's/Baralai's/Lucil's MP though Lulu uses Turbo Ethers.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by M E T A L:

. I had Flak Python in my party instead of Red elemental. His Full-Auto attack is really good (I equipped the Unerring path GG).

Definitely an option, however there are some enemies with annoying resistances to physical damage so I like having a caster around. Once you get Darkness this becomes less relevant, in fact Tonberry with Darkness + Chocobo can basically two-man most cups anyway and you can add whatever you like to that team.

Originally posted by M E T A L:

. You can steal Turbo Ethers from "Aranea" (Lady Tarantula) which you can fight in the Grand Cup: Hard.

That's a good catch! I haven't exhaustively checked all the steals, so this is useful info. Especially since Aranea is a joke to defeat (much unlike Mega Tonberry).

Originally posted by M E T A L:

. The key to defeating Shady duo is Darkness. It's dmg is STR based. I had Tonberry and Flak Python with Champion Belt and Rabite's Foot. Tonberry dealt around 9.000 dmg per Darkness.

Yes, I did mention Darkness for that very reason. Once you get it a lot of fights become much, much easier (and/or faster).

Originally posted by M E T A L:

. Teach Magicide to Tonberry, he will drain Lulu's/Baralai's/Lucil's MP though Lulu uses Turbo Ethers.

I've never found this to be necessary or super useful, and it cuts down on the uses of Darkness, too. But sure, it probably works. Neither Baralai nor Lucille are any real challenge anyway, and Lulu can be rushed down before she Furies you to death. The big problem in the YLC is Nooj. Most of the others you just stomp over (though Garrik tends to take foreeeever sometimes).

[Marco]

But turbo ether is not avaible in chapter 1?

[Marco]

Nevermind it is grand cup hard my bad

[Marco]

How to get chocobo wings?

[MakoSipper]

You need access to the airship, and having White Mage can be helpful. It is therefore suggested you do this after finishing the first mission in the Gagazet Ruins, which is really only a few minutes into the game.

You actually get White Mage from the initial mission on Besaid. From Gagazet, you get Black Mage.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by MakoSipper:

You actually get White Mage from the initial mission on Besaid. From Gagazet, you get Black Mage.

Corrected, thank you!

I might also edit a few other things in the future, it's been a long time since I wrote this and I've since optimized a few things. Just need to double check they're actually relevant to the unmodded game and not a result of playing with difficulty mods.

[Isaac]

There is in fact also a quick and easy way to beat the Youth League Cup and get the Mascot dress-sphere without grinding. ( https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/643146-final-fantasy-x-x-2-hd-remaster/78853110 )

It requires almost no effort, but only works in Chapter 5 because it makes use of an Adamantortoise and is more for players who failed to get an "Episode Complete" and missed their opportunity to get the Mascot dress-sphere the easy way. Maybe you should post something about that in your guide too?