The Great Crystal

[Nezkeys]

Ok .... came back here and this place seriously sucks. Worst map ever and enemies constantly respawning (yo necrophobe) so interrupt you pressing x on stones etc or slow down the timer. I frequently get lost lol

[Hinnyuu]

Follow a map or make your own as you go. Goes a long way towards making it less confusing.

[Arkhne]

Also, don't forget confuse protection, and keep a way for healing disease. IMHO, those are the worst that the area can throw at you. (And yeah, I'm not a fan of the area either). Confuse protection + fleeing + stopping at the start of a room to heal will generally be enough, even at lower levels, whilst still retaining plenty of time for the gates.

[Serafie1999AD]

For navigation, find a map online or draw one yourself. Some mobs in the Great Crystal are quite hard, and you may easily get swarmed by the large number of enemies. When you need to press a button on stones or gates, I usually disabled my party leader's Gambits to make sure the ATB bar doesn't interrupt the button pressing. When a timer was going on, I just held the escape button to keep moving. If I needed to heal, I did that at the beginning of a screen, since you usually won't get ambushed immediately when you enter a new screen. For the hardest timed gates (after Warp Stone XVI), I suggest planning your routes in advance.

Edit: For status protection in the Great Crystal, I had two characters with confuse protection, and the third with sleep protection (the undead Forbidden enemies cast Sleepga). You may also want to keep Bubble cast on some of your characters, to help them stay alive and to protect against Disease.

[Nezkeys]

The problem is there is only like 2 or 3 maps online that make any sense and even those are a pain to navigate especially if they are not zodiac age maps and showing you original loot. One of them took me to a completely different room than i was expecting based on their layout. Because the map itself isnt displayed the hardest part is getting your bearings of N S E W. Seriously considering just watching a youtube video that goes from waypoint 8 through every treasure.

I think the names of the rooms are stupid as well. Ive since found out they arent actual gibberish but they still are tbh. Seriously considering exiting this place and continuing the story. Ive been in here for hours and this is how i give hastega to my white/time? I also heard some really cool treasures are here (i got one the yagyu darkblade but everything else has just been ♥♥♥♥♥♥ chests. Do i need diamonf armlet for anything in here?

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

Do i need diamonf armlet for anything in here?

Diamond Armlet is ONLY needed for Cerobi Steppe chests. Nowhere else in the game does it change equipment drops, only non-equipment items (turn into Knot of Rust with Armlet).

The most important drop in the Great Crystal, in my opinion, is Excalibur. The spells are nice to have, too. Yagyu Darkblade is great of course but can also be found somewhere else (albeit more difficult to get there).

And of course you also get Ultima, which unlocks some nice nodes.

[Serafie1999AD]

I thought the map in FF Wiki was helpful for getting a good overview of the whole area. Meanwhile, this one has all the Zodiac Age treasures listed: https://imgur.com/a/hciFU For a better overview, scroll to the bottom of the page. Rather than using NSEW directions, I kept thinking about the routes according to the entrance direction. For example, "on the next room, turn left/right from the entrance." When I moved from Taurus switch to Hastega (treasure 23 on the above map), I just memorized the route, as in, "forward, forward, left, right (you're now at Libra switch), left, right, left, forward".

[Sacred Myths]

this place is EZ. Use a bubble belt. Hell i even farmed there for exp a bit while looking for a weapon there and the summon there

[Arkhne]

Originally posted by Serafie1999AD:

I thought the map in FF Wiki was helpful for getting a good overview of the whole area. Meanwhile, this one has all the Zodiac Age treasures listed: https://imgur.com/a/hciFU For a better overview, scroll to the bottom of the page. Rather than using NSEW directions, I kept thinking about the routes according to the entrance direction. For example, "on the next room, turn left/right from the entrance." When I moved from Taurus switch to Hastega (treasure 23 on the above map), I just memorized the route, as in, "forward, forward, left, right (you're now at Libra switch), left, right, left, forward".

This. Can also orient to a map based on exit order, as most rooms have an asymetrical exit layout, if you lose your spot in the room (perhaps due to mobs), you can re-orient to the side with no exit (for example), and "count" exits (anti-)clockwise from there. Again, whilst using a map. I used one on, uh, vgmaps or something, site looked kinda shady, but didn't set off any alarms, so I rolled with it, but I wont go linking it due to that shady looking nature.

[JD]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

The problem is there is only like 2 or 3 maps online that make any sense and even those are a pain to navigate especially if they are not zodiac age maps and showing you original loot.

Tirpitz721's map and chest guide has all the zodiac info and works perfectly. His loot and bazaar guides are also great reference tools.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1292596668

[Nezkeys]

Originally posted by JDHski:

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

The problem is there is only like 2 or 3 maps online that make any sense and even those are a pain to navigate especially if they are not zodiac age maps and showing you original loot.

Tirpitz721's map and chest guide has all the zodiac info and works perfectly. His loot and bazaar guides are also great reference tools.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1292596668

Sweet ive not seen that one ill check it out later. Looks like they pit a lot of effort into it.

Anyway tbh whm/machinist looks less appealing now i know when you get famfrit and hastega. I was going off the assumption it was an easier way to get hastega on the whm without using all the other useless time magic and freeing up the role but honestly by the time you get it wouldnt really matter im guessing. Sure the dps might be more than crossbows and thus can contribute more offensively during downtime, and more hp but i really dont see what the buzz is about it. Really whm/time is good just low hp. Im trying whm/shikari (main gauche) next playthrough tho which sounds pretty good tbh

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

Anyway tbh whm/machinist looks less appealing now i know when you get famfrit and hastega. I was going off the assumption it was an easier way to get hastega on the whm without using all the other useless time magic and freeing up the role but honestly by the time you get it wouldnt really matter im guessing.

Quite the opposite. Haste is overkill for most of the early/mid game. It's on the tougher marks and superbosses that it really has time to accumulate value. On fights that last seconds it's often not even worth casting.

[StrifeRaider]

This place is a f.ucking nightmare. trying to get ot the next gate in xx amoun of time is BS as every enemy respawns very quickly and blocking your path even when fleeing. >.<

In my opnion that place is not worth exploring.

[Nezkeys]

Originally posted by StrifeRaider:

This place is a f.ucking nightmare. trying to get ot the next gate in xx amoun of time is BS as every enemy respawns very quickly and blocking your path even when fleeing. >.<

In my opnion that place is not worth exploring.

I think it was worth it tbh even if just for shellga and excalibur, but i agree its a nightmare. I turned off gambits and just ignored enemies. I have to return to this place at some point for omega and go through giruvegan as well lol

[StrifeRaider]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

Originally posted by StrifeRaider:

This place is a f.ucking nightmare. trying to get ot the next gate in xx amoun of time is BS as every enemy respawns very quickly and blocking your path even when fleeing. >.<

In my opnion that place is not worth exploring.

I think it was worth it tbh even if just for shellga and excalibur, but i agree its a nightmare. I turned off gambits and just ignored enemies. I have to return to this place at some point for omega and go through giruvegan as well lol

The rewards are way to low for the crap you need to go through lol

[Nezkeys]

Originally posted by StrifeRaider:

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

I think it was worth it tbh even if just for shellga and excalibur, but i agree its a nightmare. I turned off gambits and just ignored enemies. I have to return to this place at some point for omega and go through giruvegan as well lol

The rewards are way to low for the crap you need to go through lol

Dunno. I think excalibur, yagyu darkblade, and the ability to cast shell and haste aoe are more than "way to low" as a reward. Im sure there are more rewards than that too just those four off the top of my head

Yagyu and excalibur rip through enemies weak to dark and holy respectively. Excalibur is so op that it managed to kill a boss quickly that was being healed by dark from yagyu. Thats hilarious.

Casting protect/shell/haste x3 each is annoying af so yeah 🤔😎