FINAL FANTASY X: AP TRICK FAQ

8/17/2001

By CronoRye - Ryan@vortexonline.com
Ver 1.1

Please do not DISTRIBUTE or host this FAQ in any form without my written
permission. 

Version Updates

1.1 - (08-17-01) Added method of acquiring "Alone" overdrive technique
--
1.0 - (08-09-01) First edition


This Mini-FAQ is about a method to building up your S.Level to its
maximum. There are ways to vary this technique so I've listed some of 
the wildcards within the trick. To help those playing the import
that do not understand much Japanese, this will be a step-by-step guide.

The overall purpose of this is to build yourself up to S. Level 99; the
maximum S. Level you can have at a given time. Final Fantasy X has
replaced the traditional experience and level system with the AP and S.
Level system. The S. Level trick will raise your level to 99 after only
10-20 mins of battle!

First and foremost you need the following item:

Doorway to Tomorrow (x10)

This can be acquired in two methods. The first is a one-time acquisition
by stealing from the Ultima Weapon boss in the Omega Ruins. You can
input the airship coordinates for Omega Ruins (X-74 Y-36 Z-doesn't
matter) through the third option on the airship map screen. The second
method would be to use the bribe command on Gagazett Mountain. Gagazett
is the snow-covered mountain just past the Nagi Plains. When you fight
the three robotic enemies while climbing in the snowy region, the smaller
one should be Auto Commander. You'll recognize him because he has 3700 HP.
Bribe him with 20 times that amount (74,000 gil). He'll run away and drop
Doorway to Tomorrow x2. Repeat as necessary.

Add Drive to AP:

With 10 Doorway to Tomorrows, enter the menu screen and find the
weapon-augmenting screen. Make sure you already have a pretty good weapon
on Tidus for example. You might want to have more than one slot open on
the weapon in order to add APx2 or APx3 if you have the items for it.
We'll use him as the test case. Now find the weapon he has equipped and
bring up the abilities menu. Near the bottom of that menu should be some
fairly recognizable abilities such as APx2 and APx3. You should also see
another one with "AP" clearly in the name. That one is Drive to AP ability.
It should cost 10 Doorway to Tomorrows. Obviously equip that ability. 

Change Overdrive Type:

After that you'll want to move to the overdrive menu from the main menu.
You'll want to change the method that leads to overdrive. One of these
methods is the alone method. The second option on the top of the overdrive
menu screen allows you to change the type. Alone should be near the
bottom. It is very easy to tell if you have it. The only way your overdrive
meter will build is when both of the other characters in a battle are
dead. Obviously the person with the alone overdrive must be alive.
Then it will build up with your commands.

Frequently Asked Question:

Question-
"Dear CronoRye, I've tried everything on that menu but I don't see
the Alone type for a certain character!"

There's a good chance that Yuna and Lulu won't have the Alone
overdrive. To teach them it, enter into a battle with a weak
enemy and kill off everyone else in your party. Obviously you can 
only do this with one character that needs the overdrive method at a time.
Then just sit there and keep hitting triangle over and over again.
Cast curative and defensive spells accordingly. It will take a 
few minutes of doing this so be patient. Eventually a message
will show up telling you that you've learned the overdrive 
technique 'alone.'

Choose your Battle:

I chose Bisaido Island as the destination because of the weak enemies. You
can take your airship there or if you are doing this in the middle of the
game, try to go back to an area with weaker enemies assuming that you can
acquire the necessary materials. You can compensate for stronger enemies
by casting shell or augmenting your defense against the type of enemies
you're most likely to encounter. To continue with Bisaido as the test
example, you'll need to head towards an area with encounters. Before
your first battle, make sure this new weapon with the Drive to AP ability
 is NOT equipped. Equip anything else you want. I know you can switch
weapons in battle but this is the easiest method for any importers with
little to no knowledge of Japanese. Walk into a battle and proceed to
kill off your two other allies. Then hit the triangle button to defend
a few times until your overdrive meter has filled up. Once it is full,
go ahead and kill the enemies. Next, go to your menu and switch to
your weapon with the Drive to AP ability. Walk around to encounter
another battle. Make sure you keep the same characters that died since
their 1-HP will make them easier to kill for the enemies and yourself.
Once again, kill your other two allies off. At this point, you'll
probably find it easiest to leave the Dingo (the orange wolf-like one)
as the lone enemy. Proceed to cast Haste on yourself and slow on the
Dingo or enemy of your choice. You should now have several turns in
a row.

The Method:

At this point, the AP trick is up to you. Every time you press triangle
(defend), you'll accrue a lot of AP. A weak enemy like Dingo won't
substantially hurt you the few times he'll have a chance to hit you,
so don't worry about your HP. Just keep hitting triangle to defend.
Personally I use my old PSOne turbo controller and tape down the
triangle button. Anyone who remembers the FF3 (6) waterfall leveling up
trick with Banon will remember doing something similar. If you don't
have a turbo controller for PS1 or PS2, then it is up to you to manually
hit triangle over and over again. Regardless, the amount of time you
leave your controller doing it or you yourself do it is arbitrary. I'd
say to do it for about 10 minutes at first and see where you end up
since APx2 or x3 can really speed this whole thing up. 

After you decide you've had enough, go ahead and kill the enemy. You'll
see your AP is a ridiculous amount and surely you'll get to S. Level 99.
Most likely it will take you a few times of doing this to get around the
entire Sphere Board. 

Clearly you can do this with every character so have fun. 

Problems:

The biggest problem you'll encounter is running out of regular sphere
board pieces. You'll be so powerful that you might as well fight several
random battles in any place you feel will yield the most. 

The second problem you'll run into is that you'll be at 9xxx HP and
you'll still have more than half the board left. I suggest consulting
DokiWaku's excellent Secrets guide. You'll find out how to exceed Max
HP (up to 99,999) and exceed Max Attack (up to 99,999), etc. Just a note
though, some of the ultimate weapons have these properties intrinsically.
For example, Tidus' ultimate weapon already has the exceed Max Attack
attribute. 

I hope this helps everyone who is playing. Honestly though, I suggest
not using this until after you've beaten the game and want to explore
since the regular FFX bosses are rather challenging all the way through
if you aren't doing every single monster quest, using this trick, or
using the Magu 3 Sisters. You'll still be no match for some of the
special monster trainer battles though!


Credits and Thanks:

Thanks to John-Luke who sold me his Japanese PS2. 
Thanks to DokiWaku for the solid tips in the secrets FAQ.
Thanks to Muni Shinobu for the Steal FAQ (the Ultima Weapon steal)
Thanks to Rocki for being an angel.
Thanks to Squaresoft creating another spectacular Final Fantasy.


This document Copyright 2001 CronoRye

