Battles

like other final fantasy villains, you fight ultimecia directly at the end of the last disc. only she isn't alone in the battle against seed. her obedient guardian force, griever, whose image also decorates squall's ring (griever) and his gunblade (lionheart).

she will pick three of your party at random to battle her. don't worry; if one of your party should be KO'ed (and you don't revive them quickly enough) they will be replaced with another party member. this will only happen three times.

the first stage you will fight the external form of the sorceress. she will only use magic to attack. use meltdown to decrease her defense and speed. if you draw and cast ultimecia's magic you will find it rather useful, and it will prevent you from wasting your own magic. cast aura on party members to enable them to attack with their limit breaks, and use holy war to make your characters invincible against any attacks. she has weak hp, so you should be able to defeat her without a problem.

for the second stage, she will summon griever. this beast gf will attack both physically and magically, so be sure to heal yourself if your hp gets too low. again, draw and cast griever's tornado magic as it is extremely useful against him. as you decrease his hp, he will begin to use more physical attacks, so using a protect or two would not be wasteful. as ever, the gf eden is not to be overlooked. use boost; you can get up to 245.

ultimecia joins forces with her gf in the next stage. your opponent will try to steal magic from you, a few spells at a time, and then your whole stock of one spell. attack the griever part of this opponent first to prevent him stealing, then ultimecia. as ever, draw demi and tornado, both are infinitely effective.

the fourth and final stage is ultimecia in her internal form. be in awareness that she now possesses apocalypse, even more powerful than ultima, and one of her attacks brings your hp to 1, so have healing magic and potions on the ready. if you have no more holy wars left, use hero to make one character invincible at a time. the most effective way to defeat this final form is to cast eden (not forgetting boost!) and draw and cast apocalypse. as soon as she begins to speak, you will be about six or seven hits away from the end of this battle.