The aquisition of Steiner's most powerful weapon, the Excalibur II sword, is often considered by many fans as Final Fantasy IX's greatest challenge, more so even than defeating the optional boss Ozma. Most tend to find it near impossible to complete, and some think it's simply not worth to level of effort required purely for a few extra attack points.

The challenge is still there regardless.

How do you get this insanely powerful weapon? It's simple... or not so, depending on how you look at it. You just have to reach the terrance in Memoria... within 12 hours!

Sounds impossible? Almost, but it is do-able. Below are a number of hints and tips to try and help you achieve this momumental task.

Tips for aquiring Excalibur II:

It's a good idea to wait until your second playthrough before you attempt this challenge. You'll know the layout of the game better, and you'll be able to speed your way through it at a much quicker pace as a result.

Skip every FMV sequence - time still passes on the game clock even while you're watching them. Since you can't skip them naturally though, the only way to do so is to eject the CD from your PlayStation1 or Playstation2, and insert it back in straight away.

If using this method on the PSone, wait for the disc to stop spinning before you close the, or you may end up damaging the CD! You've been warned of the potential risk involved here, and Video Game Chat takes no liability if you something like this occurs.

Keep enemy encounters to a minimum. Use Zidane's Flee ability regularly, and set the battle speed to maximum so each character's turn will come around more quickly. Your level are likely to be very low by the time you reach Memoria, so the game in general is going to be a hell of lot more challenging as a result.

Set the message speed to maximum in the option screen, and keeping pressing the X button to skip through dialogue as quickly as possible, throughout the game

Skip all unnessecary Active Time Event, except ones that are compulsory, and required to progress the story.

Plan ahead! Know what you want to buy when entering a town, what you need to equip your characters with, and the quickest routes through any parts of the game. Don't stand around sight-seeing

Keep more than one save file handy, but try not to save too often. This way, if you feel you spent too long in one section, you can go back to an earlier save and try for a faster time.

Friendly Creatures

During some random battles, you may have noticed that the music changes into a melodic and friendly version of the usual battle theme. This signifies that you're about to encounter one of Final Fantasy IX's "friendly" creatures.

Friendly creatures are unoffensive opponents that reward you with AP and items if you give them the items that they request. There are nine of these friendly creatures in the world, and they'll turn out to be very useful in helping you quickly amass AP for your abilities.

Notes on Friendly Creatures:

Do not attack friendly creatures, or they'll run away.

A friendly creature will only appear at random. If one of them doesn't appear straight away, just keep getting into random battles in the relevant location until you encounter them.

You won't receive any Gil or EXP from encounters with friendly creatures, but that's not their purposed. Giving them the items they desire will net you a large amount of AP and some gems.

You don't have to encounter the friendly creatures in the order listed in the table below, but it's strongly adviced that you do. The gems desired by the next creature on the list will always be the ones you recieve from the previous creature on the list. Following the order given will make completing the task far easier.

It will be impossible to reach the Friendly Yan or the Purple Jabberwock until you gain possession of an airship or a red chocobo.

Unless you've encountered the first eight friendly creatures and fulfilled their requests, the last creature - the friendly Yan - will always run away if you encounter him.

Though the friendly creatures are a great way to amass a large amount of AP quickly, they also serve another benefit. If you give the Friendly Yan the items he desires you will be able to attack Ozma, the optional hiddent boss, with direct physical attacks, something which is impossible to do otherwise.

Monster	Location	Item	Reward
Brown Mu	The plains and forests between the Ice Cavern and Dali	Ore x 1	10 AP and 1 Potion
White Ghost	Outside of Treno on the plains	Ore x 1	10 AP and 1 Hi-Potion
Color Ladybug	Outside of the Black Mage Village in the forest	Ore x 2	20 AP and 1 Ether
Green Yeti	Outside of Madain Sari in the large forest	Ore x 2	20 AP and 1 Elixir
Green Nymph	The forest near the Iifa Tree	Ore x 3	30 AP and 1 Emerald
Purple Jabberwock	East of Oeilvert in the forest	Emerald x 1	40 AP and 1 Moonstone
Green Feather Circle	On the Lost Continent near the Chocobo tracks	Moonstone x 1	30 AP and 1 Lapis Lazuli
Rainbow Garuda	Eastern forest on the plateau after climbing the rope inside of Gizamaluke's Grotto	Lapis Lazuli x 1	40 AP and 1 Diamond
Friendly Yan	Southwest of the Iifa Tree on an island	Diamond x 1	50 AP and 1 Rosetta Ring

The Ragtime Mouse

As you explore the forests of the world map, in place of a usual random battle you may end up encountering a strange creature resembling a mouse. This unique little creature will offer you money (and eventually a prize) if you can answer all his questions correctly.

To make the task all simplier for you, the answers to all his questions are below.

- X stands for false
- O stands for true

Question	Answer
The 15th Lindblum War started in 1600.	X
Chocobo Forest is located between Lindblum and South Gate	O
"I Want To Be Your Canary" was written by Lord Afon.	X
The theater ship Prima Vista was built in the Artania Shipyards.	X
Fossil Roo is an underground tunnel that connects Treno and Alexandria.	X
Lindblum's Air Cabs operate around the clock.	O
Burkmea Cable Cars have been running for 8 years.	O
Treno's cafe, Card Carta, is members only.	O
Lindblum Castle is larger than Alexandria Castle.	O
Some Mus are friendly and do not attack.	O
The theatrical airship Prima Vista flies by mist.	O
Conde Petie is a village of Goblins.	X
Only one desert exists in the entire world.	X
Bobo bird is a bird that brings you fortune.	X
Prima Vista means love at first sight.	X
You can defeat the Ragtimer.	O

Stellazzio / Zodiac Coins

Stellazzio	Location
Aries	1st floor of Dali Windmill
Taurus	Treno, behind the item shop
Gemini	Treno; throw 13 coins into the fountain at the entrance
Cancer	Burmecia; check the fallen-over cart in the first area.
Leo	Alexandria Castle, left tower
Virgo	Black Mage Village, Inn
Libra	Madain Sari, near the fountain
Scorpio	Quan's Dwelling, near the treasure chest next to the springs
Sagittarius	Lindblum, Business District
Capricorn	Daguerro, in the water on the right path of the entrance
Aquarius	Ipsen's Castle; left-hand treasure chest in first hall
Pisces	Invincible; treasure chest on the left
Opiuchus	Same location as Scorpio