Macalania

Upon entering the woods you'll meet up with Donna's guardian who has something important to tell you. After talking to him make your way up the sharp slope to the left of the save sphere. As you make your way around the second bend search behind the tree for a Sleepy Cait Sith. Around the very next bend is a chest with 2000 gil.

As you go along this next section of branch you will encounter a strange shaman-like character. This begins the butterfly mini-game. For more information about this check out our Butterfly Catching sidequest section. Also in this area is a chest with 3 Phoenix Downs that's partially hidden by a tree trunk.

In this next section there's a chest with a Remedy hidden behind a tree. It's also the second location where you can play the butterfly mini-game. Do note that the mini game is at its simplest difficulty level right now and will increase in dificulty after the upcoming boss fight. Take advantage of this to get some good items.

Eventually you'll come to a save point and our friend O'aka. Before buying anything from him look at his wares and exit out without buying anything. He'll ask if his prices are too steep and if you say yes he'll lower them. Also, right across from O'aka is a tiny path and hidden at its mouth is Al Bhed Primer XV. It takes a bit of hunting to find.

Once you've got the primer and are prepped for battle continue forward. Auron will stop the group and open up a pathway to a spring. At the spring the crew will encounter a rather annoying boss.

Before going into this battle make sure no one has any elemental attacks on their weapons (this means no Brotherhood for Tidus). The Spherimorph has high physical defense so you're going to have to hit it with magic. However, its elemental weakness changes. To find out what element it is currently you have to hit it physically - it will retaliate with its current element. Then have Lulu hit it with the opposite element. However, after she successfully hits it with a spell it will change its element. Simply repeat the process. Do watch out for the boss's physical attacks. Use Yuna to keep everyone's HP up.

When you kill the boss it leaves behind a sphere that Jecht recorded. After you watch this sphere Auron will learn his next overdrive - Shooting Star. To learn more of his overdrives you must go about Spira and collect the rest of the Spheres. For their locations see Auron's section on the Overdrives page.

After the battle head back to the main path and take it until you reach the Travel Agency. Outside you'll find Clasko. He'll ask you whether or not he should take up Chocobo Breeding - your answer may affect his appearances in the future. Don't worry about the chest behind him - you can't get it on this visit to the agency.

Don't miss the Al Bhed Primer XVI on the far side of the agency. Also, make sure you take advantage of the agency's amenities and save sphere. When you're ready make your way past the agency.

This huge machina is accompanied by a small flying Negator. Its purpose is to keep you from using any magic. Therefore pull out Wakka and set him to destroying it. Meanwhile use your heavy hitters to take down the Crawler. Once the Negator is gone your magic is opened up again but it starts a countdown to the devastating Mana Beam. In order to survive this attack you're going to need to pull out Ixion. Not only can he heal himself with Thundara, but if you have him Shield right before the Mana Beam is unleashed it will deflect most of the damage. The Crawler's regular attacks should eventually set off Ixion's overdrive but if possible wait until you've got the Crawler's life down enough that the Overdrive will finish it off. If you use the Overdrive too soon the Crawler will have enough turns to hit Ixion with the Mana Beam and he won't be able to shield. If you do happen to loose Ixion you can always pull out Ifrit. Follow the same strategy.

After the battle Tidus and Co. confiscate some machina transports to get to the temple more quickly. Don't bother to backtrack because you can get the item later. Instead grab the Mega-Potion at the temple's entrance and enter the temple area. As you go down the steps to the ice path you'll encounter an Al Bhed who will give you 400 gil to leave her alone. She's also a fairly good Blitzball player to recruit at this point. Upon entering the temple speak with Tromell who gives you a Shell Targe. Then try and go up the stairs to the Cloister.

There's a big commotion in the chamber to the right of the cloister entrance. Go down and investigate. After the scene here you can speak to the people on the right to get 2 Hi-Potions. Also, there's a chest with 2 Remedies. Back in the main hall search the the short paths for two chests with 2 X-Potions and 5000 gil. The people in the chamber to the left of the cloister entrance will give you an Elixir and an Ether. The chest here contains 3 Phoenix Downs. Now save your game and enter the Cloister.

This is one of the most complex battles of the game. At the beginning of battle Tidus, Yuna, and Wakka all have Trigger Commands - using them will boost one of their stats. You start out facing Seymour and two Guado Guardians. The Guado have hardly any life so they're easy to kill, except that they use Auto-Potion after every attack - healing themselves completely. To stop this you need to steal from both of them. After that they can't Auto-Potion. Now that Seymour is unprotected he summons his one and only aeon - Anima. Anima will kill your party quite quickly so you'll need to summon an Aeon to take it out. Look in Yuna's Summon menu after Tidus prompts her and select the unnamed aeon. The new aeon, Shiva, is well prepared for the task. Heal her with Blizzara while Anima performs basic attacks. Once Shiva's Overdrive Guage is full make sure she's at full life and then unleash Diamond Dust to deal 9999 points of damage. Repeat this process again to defeat Anima. At this point you must dismiss Shiva and not summon any more aeons. Seymour will eliminate them immediately. Seymour's going to start casting second level multi-spells on the party. Luckily he casts them in a specific order. Pull in a character with Sensor or Scan to get the order. Then have Yuna cast the appropriate Nul spell before each of Seymour's turns. While doing that have Lulu cast Bio on Seymour if you can and have your heavy hitters finish him off.

If you thought you got past the trial in this temple guess again. It works backwards this time. Make your way down the ramp to the main room. Grab the Glyph Sphere from the middle column.

Put the sphere into the pedestal nearby and push it towards the ice spikes. The pedestal stops and the ice disappears. Now push the pedestal towards the other set of ice spikes on the far side of the room. The spikes disappear and the pedestal slides down the ramp - follow it down.

The wall to the left down here has two slots. Put the Glyph Sphere from the pedestal into the left slot. This raises a section of wall above the slot so that it's accessible from the above room. In the section of wall is a Macalania Sphere.

Go grab that Macalania Sphere and take it back down the ramp. Put it into the pedestal. Then push the pedestal toward the partial column on the right. This restores part of the ice tunnel.

Now take the Macalania Sphere from the slot that controls the first set of ice spikes (under the Cloister entrance). Go down the ramp and put the sphere in the full column on the left causing another section of the tunnel to appear. Now take the Macalania Sphere from the spot at the top of the ramp (the ramp disappears). Place it in the center column to restore the last part of the tunnel.

Before you leave the frigid temple, however, you need to get the hidden item. Go up the ramp to the tunnel and you'll see a glyph has appeared on the floor. Step on it to bring the pedestal up from far below. At this point it's essential that you take the Macalania Sphere out of the pedestal. If you don't you'll have to start again. Push the pedestal down the ramp. When it hits the glyph on the platform the pedestal shoots to the right, freeing a Destruction Sphere from the large ice spike.

Go down to the main floor and step on the floor glyph here to bring the pedestal within reach. Put the Macalania Sphere from the pedestal into the slot that activates the first set of ice spikes. Then take the Macalania Sphere from the center column and put it in the slot that restores the ramp.

Now go grab your Destruction Sphere and take it down the ramp. Place it in the right slot on the left wall. This destroys part of the ice floor behind you, making a chest with a Luck Sphere accessible.

Now that you've acquired this temple's hidden item it's time to get out of here. Go back to the main floor and push the pedestal towards the first set of ice spikes. Then grab the the Macalania Sphere that activated those spikes and put it in the pedestal. Then push the pedestal back downstairs.

Now put the pedestal back under the incomplete column. Then, lastly, go back upstairs and put the sphere from above the ramp into the central column.

Just when you thought your trial was over, you exit the temple with hordes of angry Guado on your tail. Once you get outside the temple you're going to be chased by Guado Guardians all along the ice bridge. If one catches you you'll have to fight the Guardian and the fiends they summon. When you get past the ice bridge you'll have to make your way back towards the travel agency. This time make your way along the narrow trail to the right because at the end you'll find a chest with a Lv. 1 Key Sphere. Cross back over at that point and save before proceeding because there's yet another boss fight in store. When you head out onto the frozen lake two Guado Guardians summon a fierce Wendigo.

Right away you've got to eliminate the Guado Guardians because they provide all sorts of support abilities on the already fearsome Wendigo. Unfortunately they have the annoying auto-potion ability. If you have an aeon Overdrive available use it right away. Failing that you can still use an aeon if you shield before the Wendigo's turn. If your attackers are tough enough it's possible to take out one Guardian in a single attack. Whatever you do, just eliminate the Guardians ASAP. When they die they cast protective spells and Berserk on the Wendigo. Auron's Threaten ability will get rid of Berserk. You can also use a Remedy or Dispel if you happen to have it. At this point use Wakka to put the Wendigo to sleep. Then you can steal items and cast Fira on it. If it wakes up you can either put it back to sleep or use Armor Break and Jinx to lower its stats.

Just your luck - after you defeat the Wendigo its fall to the ground cracks the ice beneath you and you fall to the bottom of the lake. When Tidus recovers talk to all of your party members. There's a chest at the far end of the area that has an Avenger for Tidus in it. After the scene with Yuna Kimarhi will have moved and you can get the chest that was behind him earlier. It contains a Lv. 2 Key Sphere. Then talk to everyone again and approach Auron.