All the spots
on the world map are potentially hotspots, depending on how much of the
story you completed throughout the first four chapters. However, only
a few of them lead to actual missions for completion. The rest are either
storyline resolutions, such as in Besaid and Kilika, or side-quests, such
as the hidden dungeons scattered around Spira. Also, even when an episode
or mission in an area is complete, it pays to visit the location yet again
to obtain additional treasures and get more backstory. For more information
on the hidden dungeons, go to the Hidden Dungeons, Sidequests, Minigames
link on the homepage.
All this mission really entails is a tour of Yuna’s memories of her
and Tidus’ time together in Luca. Since Chapter 5 marks the return
of blitzball season, you can also play that here as well, although it
is certainly not necessary.
Make your
way to the bridge just before the entrance to the Mi’ihen Highroad
and head toward the balcony opposite of where the save point is. This
will trigger a cutscene that features a flashback to FINAL FANTASY X.
A ghostly Moogle will appear and float off in the direction of the Crystal
Monument area. Walk down to that area and catch up to the Moogle. You’ll
see a second flashback sequence. Follow the Moogle again to the T-shaped
intersection and witness a third flashback. Keep following it as it makes
its way to the docks. It will wait for you at the ramp leading to a cargo
ship one screen west of the Blitzball Stadium. Examine it and you’ll
see a final flashback sequence. After the cutscene with Paine and Rikku
the mission will be complete.
•"Youth
League Tournament" at Mushroom Rock Road•
Though the conflict between New Yevon and the Youth League has subsided,
many of the Youth League’s soldiers have become frustrated with having
nowhere to direct their aggression. Lucil mentions that they are going
to hold a battle tournament to blow off some steam, and offer Yuna the
chance to participate. Go speak with Yaibal and tell him you’ll compete
in the tournament, and the mission will commence.
The objective of this mission couldn’t be simpler: make your way
through a gauntlet of 7 groups of Youth League soldiers to the entrance
of Youth League Headquarters. After each battle, just follow Lucil along
the path to where the next group is waiting. The final battle will be
against Lucil herself. Once you defeat her, the mission will conclude.
Lucil will then address the League in an assembly at Youth League Headquarters.
After her speech, the episode will be complete.
•"A
Fallen Genius?" at the Thunder Plains•
A scene of chaos awaits you as you arrive at the Thunder Plains. The Sphere
Screen that Shinra rigged up for Yuna’s concert in Chapter 4 has
caused some powerful fiends in that area to go nuts. The mission starts
pretty much as soon as you get there.
The objective
of this mission is to go to every lightning tower on the plains and eliminate
the fiends that are drawing power from them. The lightning tower locations
are highlighted on the map by white arrows. Every monster you defeat drops
a treasure chest. Remember the side-quest to calibrate the lightning towers?
Your progress with each tower in that mini-game determines what is contained
in each chest.
Once you’ve
defeated the fiends at 9 of the towers, follow the red arrow south. Once
you get to where the red arrow is set, you’ll be given the option
to check out the tower on the far side of the pond. Select yes and a boss
fight with a fiend called Humbaba will ensue. Defeat it and the mission
will be complete. After the fight, an Al Bhed points out that there is
a large hole at the tower on the other side of the lake, and will offer
to take you there. It’s up to you whether you want to explore this
new area now or later, if at all. For
walkthrough information on this new area, refer to the Sidequests section
of this guide.
•"Find
All the Cactuars" at Bikanel Island•
You can actually begin this particular Bikanel Island mission during Chapter
3, but you’d only be able to complete half of it. The other half
would have to wait until now, during Chapter 5. To begin this mission,
speak with Nhadala and she’ll ask you to pay a visit to the Cactuar
Nation. Going along for the ride is Benzo, the only person that can understand
the Cactuar language. Once you reach the Cactuar Nation, the group will
be introduced to Marnela, the leader of the Cactuars. She tells of an
ancient menace that their ancestors dealt with long ago, and now it is
threatening to return with a vengeance. The only thing that can stop it
is to find the 10 Cactuar Gatekeepers and have them cast a seal to get
rid of them again.
The Cactuar
Gatekeepers are scattered all around Spira, and the objective of this
mission is to find them and bring them back. None of them are going to
go back without a fight, so you’ll be required to face them in a
shootout of sorts, with Yuna’s guns vs. the Cactuar’s needles.
Each Cactuar will be flanked by two other creatures or obstacles, and
you have to time each shot with when the Cactuar appears on your screen.
If you hit one of the other obstacles, you’ll miss. Even shooting
at the right time is no guarantee that you’ll hit the Cactuar, so
choose your shots carefully. You have a limited amount of ammo to work
with, and to make matters worse you lose more ammo when the Cactuar successfully
returns fire with its needles. To avoid this, quickly press the R1 button
to dodge the needle salvo. Regardless of whether you win or lose, the
Cactuar will come back with you, but defeating the last Cactuar, Frailea,
will win you the Covenant of Growth Garment Grid, which doubles your Experience
Points and AP intake. You don’t have to worry about beating them
if you’re in a rush to complete the quest, since they’ll all
be available to challenge again at the Cactuar Nation after completing
the mission "Last Battle in the Desert".
Once a Cactuar
is with you, return to Bikanel Island and return the gatekeeper to its
mother, whose location is marked by a green square on the map. Search
the map for another green square and you’ll be asked to find the
next one on the list. Once you’ve found 9 of the 10, the mission
"Find the Last Cactuar" will begin.
Find All
the Cactuars – Locations
Here are
the locations where each Cactuar gatekeeper can be found. For hints on
how to engage the Cactuars more effectively, please refer to the explanation
section of this Side Quest’s menu:
• Lobivia
– Return to the Excavation Camp at Bikanel Island and take the hover
to the Oasis, where he’ll be waiting for you.
• Toumeya – On the beach at Besaid Island, near where the fishing
boats are located.
• Lobeira – Hiding in a treasure chest in Ormi’s bedroom
(the room with the workout gear and weights) in the basement of Chateau
Leblanc.
• Areq and Arroja (count as 2) – Go to the northern section
of the Calm Lands, just before entering Mt. Gagazet and you’ll find
them riding a chocobo.
• Islaya – Go to the northern part of the Thunder Plains and
walk over to the Cactuar statue directly south of where Tower 9 (the northernmost
tower) is. Islaya will be in directly in front of it.
• Chiapa – On a treetop in the northeast section of Kilika Woods.
As you’re walking toward Kilika Temple, you’ll walk by a tree
on the right that will tell you to press the Circle button to climb. Chiapa
will be waiting for you there.
• Erio – Go to the Mountain Gate at Mt. Gagazet and use the
Teleporter to reach the Mountain Path. Go north to the next screen and
Erio will be there looking out over the cliff.
• Bartschella – Go to Dona’s house in Kilika. Bartschella
will be hanging out in the left hand corner.
Once you’ve
gotten the above Cactuars, the mission "Find the Last Cactuar"
will begin.
•"Find
the Last Cactuar" and "Last Battle in the Desert"•
After bringing the Cactuar Bartschella back to her mother, you discover
that one Cactuar is still missing. That Cactuar is Frailea, a confused
lad given to hanging out with the wrong crowd. The other gatekeepers use
their powers to open the sealed cave to the north. This is Cactuar Hollow,
where the Rogue Cactuars dwell. You must go inside to find Frailea.
From the
entrance, you’re going to follow the path as it goes east and curves
north. Proceed southeast at the intersection and you’ll come to an
area that the Rogue Cactuars have booby-trapped with a sand trap. The
passageway is starting to fill with sand, and it is getting higher and
higher. Don’t worry about it too much, since all it does is return
you to the point just north of the last intersection. Progress through
the passageway as many times as it takes you to go through to the other
side. From there, just continue along the corridor and you’ll eventually
come across Frailea, who will engage you in a shootout. This shootout
is made harder by the fact the 2 other Cactuars are flanking him on either
side. Win or lose, once the challenge is over a group of Rogue Cactuars
will throw themselves into a pit and merge to form the Jumbo Cactuar.
Defeat this boss and make your way back to the exit. Upon leaving the
cave, you’ll witness the Gatekeepers working their mojo and get rid
of the fiends attacking the camp. Once that cutscene ends, you’ll
receive word that a huge fiend is attacking the Excavation Camp. Take
the hover to return there and you’ll get the option of going right
away or returning to the Celsius to stock up. Once you’re ready,
go to the Excavation Camp. The mission "Last Battle in the Desert"
will begin, and you’ll be put into a boss fight with Angra Mainyu.
Defeat it and the mission will be complete. Return and speak with everyone
at the Camp and at the Cactuar Nation to get an "Episode Complete"
for Bikanel Island.
•Final
mission to defeat Vegnagun•
Before you start this mission you’ll be given the option to choose
which hole to jump into to get to the Farplane. It doesn’t really
matter which hole you choose, since they all lead to the same destination,
but each path has its own challenges. Talk to Brother when you are ready
to proceed.
Now you are
on your way to take on Vegnagun. There is a long winding path to follow,
and, depending on the hole you chose, various traps. Eventually you’ll
reach a large platform. Once you reach the platform, move forward and
a Boss fight with the former Aeon Shiva will begin. Defeat her and keep
moving ahead, now jumping onto the platforms until you reach another clearing.
It’s time for another Boss fight, this time with the Magus Sisters.
Once you defeat them, the platform beneath you will crumble, forcing you
to proceed further in. You’ll eventually reach yet another clearing,
where you’ll encounter the last of the rogue Aeons, Anima.
After defeating
Anima, you'll end up in a lush, colorful place. Leblanc and her crew are
here. There is a save point at the upper right part of the screen. You’ll
definitely want to save here. On the upper left side of the screen, there
will be a portal into the Farplane. Enter it.
Once inside,
you’ll notice several beacons on the ground. When you stand on them,
a note or sequence of notes will play. Write the note sequence down. Whenever
you come across a red beam, hold the circle button down to jump over it
automatically. When you finally reach the keyboard, play the notes in
the appropriate order to deactivate the electrical barrier. The first
set of notes to be played are as follows: So, Mi*, Re*. New areas will
now be accessible. Go left first. Step on the beacon on the ground. Go
straight and then head south to locate more beacons. Find the next beacon
and head straight toward the keyboard. The next set is Do*, Ti, La, So.
Repeat the process to deactivate the electrical barrier. Go straight and
head right. Jump down to the lower level and continue going straight.
There are two more beacons ahead. Activate them and head back to the left
path now. Head toward the keyboard and play the final set: Fa, Mi, Fa,
So, Do. This will take care of the last barrier. If you mess up on any
of these and run into the Azi Dahaka Boss battle, be prepared for a long
fight. Otherwise, proceed to the next area.
A cutscene
occurs with Gippal. Leblanc and crew soon arrive as well. Gippal gives
you Paine’s sphere. Paine will suggest watching it later, but Yuna
talks her into watching it now. After viewing the sphere, you'll be in
a new area.
The objective
here is to jump onto these platforms that play a set of notes. What you
need to do is to play the correct melody by jumping on the appropriate
platforms. Take the first one on top. Then jump over to the right block.
You will hear some notes. Jump to your right again. Then up and onto another
larger platform that plays some more notes. Now jump back down to the
save point spot. Next, jump on the platform before the save point to a
higher area. There will be two platforms to choose from. Take the highest
platform to a larger platform to play another note. Jump back down to
the save point spot once again. Jump back up onto the first platform near
the save point again. This time, you’ll need to jump left. The platform
carries you to another spot. Jump on to the next platform to play a note.
Next, take the first platform again to another higher spot. Jump to the
platform next to the platform with a treasure chest. You should hear two
notes play. Jump back down once again to the save point area and again
use the same platform to head up. Jump left and then left again to the
lower platform. A note will play. Finally, head back to the save point
area and take the platform before the save point. Jump onto the lower
platform. Two notes will play. If done correctly, make your way to the
electrical barrier toward the final beacon. This should play all the notes
that you had activated earlier. This finally deactivates the gate. With
all of this completed, it is highly recommended that you head back down
one final time to save your progress.
As you head
forward, you'll run into Nooj. He’ll clue you in on the latest happenings
and explain his strategies to take Vegnagun out. After the cutscene, prepare
the party for the final confrontation with Vegnagun and the one who controls
it.
