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Final Fantasy 7 : Battle Arena
The Battle Square can be found at the Gold Saucer. For 10 GP, you can fight a series of battles against randomly selected enemies. You won't recieve any gil, experience, or AP, but you will be awarded Battle Points (BP). You can then trade in BP for good prizes. We all like prizes, don't we?
It is rather difficult if you're not on a high enough level or improperly equipped. Make sure you have a Ribbon, at least one character's ultimate weapon, and enough materia to make you deadly. If you want the materia "W-Summon" and Cloud's best Limit "Omnislash", then be prepared to fight in the Battle Arena for a long time.
Where the Battle Arena is located:
To enter the Arena, go to Battle Square at the Gold Saucer, and talk to the lady behind the counter at the right of the back of the room. You will fight 8 consecutive battles every time you enter the Arena. After each round you will recieve the message "Great!", and your current BP will be displayed on the right side of the screen (you will rarely have more than 1000 BP before the last round of combat). You will be asked if you wish to keep going, and given 2 choices: To quit or keep fighting. If you keep fighting, you will choose a new random handicap via a slot machine. The handicaps are listed in a section below.
You can't learn Enemy Skills in the Arena. However, you can either Morph enemies or Steal from them if you want. When you exit, your Limit will remain at the level it was before entering, even if you use it during battle.
How to leave the Arena:
You will not leave the Battle Arena until:
-You win all 8 rounds
-You quit after a round
-You are killed by your opponents
-You cast "Escape" or use an item that ends a battle
-You run away
Suggestions before entering the Arena:
Equip the Ultimate Weapon for whichever character you choose to use in the Arena, because you won't gain AP for materia growth anyway, so you might as well have high attack power. The ideal armor would be the Imperial Guard, since it has high Defense power. The Ribbon accessory is perfect for negating all bad status affects.
As far as materia is concerned, use as little as possible. Naturally, fill all your open slots on the character you're using. Cloud is best. Assume you use Cloud for the Arena. Equip him with Slash-All, Enemy Skill(big guard), Time(haste/slow), HP Plus, Counter Attack, Knights of the Round, and a powerful Green Materia such as Ultima or a mastered Bolt or Fire. Rely on your equipment, but use your magic as well. That way, you'll need only worry about the Break Yellow Materia handicap and the Break Purple Materia handicap. If you rely on Summons and Magic, you'll be crippled if you receive the Break All Materia handicap.
Strategies for winning in the Arena:
The first round is pretty important if you want the battles ahead to go as smoothly as possible, because the enemies will be the weakest you will face. First, cast Big Guard or Haste, whichever you have. This will make your time meter fill up faster not just for this battle, but for all the upcoming battles as well. Then dispatch your enemies with a Slash-All.
If you have a Ribbon equipped, try to time the handicap to hit an abnormal status handicap (such as "Poison", "Miniature", or "Toad"). That way you'll suffer no handicap, plus you'll get a few seconds for your time meter to fill up while you're covered in the orange mist that tries to change your status. If not, try for the least severe handicap given (except Cure, as you will receive 0 BP if you do).
From the second match on, you won't have to worry too much about anything. Remember to use Big Guard or Haste if you are ever slowed and use items to heal yourself.
Problems with the Strategies:
In the first round it is common to encounter a silkworm-type enemy called "Jayjujayme". Not a major threat, but he can slow you down with Silk. In this case, kill the enemies and cast Big Guard/Haste in round 2.
You might encounter a small, hunched over enemy called a "Tonberry" in the later rounds (6 or 7). Kill him as quickly as possible, because his Knife attack automatically kills you. Use whatever means you have to kill him before he reaches you, and don't be afraid of overkill: He has over 30,000 HP.
Another enemy to look out for is the "Ghost Ship". He usually comes in the 8th round, and he also has the ability to instantly end you. He picks you up on his oar and throws you from the Arena. He generally doesn't use this as his first attack. If you use a Phoenix Down on him, since the Ghost ship is undead, the Phoenix Down will kill the ship outright. He is a much larger threat than Tonberry, because you'll get way less time to defeat him.
On occasion, you will be forced to accept handicaps. These are usually going to be the hardest battles you will fight, as the handicaps are almost always extraordinarily hard to recover from (such as a broken accessory. If you're using a Ribbon, this can be devastating.). The best thing to do is continue fighting until you can't survive another round, then quit. You won't gain many BP, but it's better than nothing.
Handicaps information:
After each round of battle, you are asked to select your handicap from a slot machine containing three choices. You'll have to pick 7 of them for each time you go through the battle arena. Handicaps range from physical damage to status ailments, to completely filling your HP! They are as follows:
Slot Icon
Handicap
Effect
Poison
Poison
You become poisoned
Frog
Toad
You become a toad
Small Cloud
Minimum
You shrink
Red Materia
Summon Materia is broken
you can't summon
Yellow Materia
Command Materia is broken
you lose special commands
Green Materia
Magic Materia is broken
you can't cast spells
Purple Materia
Independant Materia is broken
your stats are normal
Blue Materia
Support Materia is broken
other materia loses support
5 Materia
All Materia is broken
disables all materia of every color
Ring
Accessory is broken
you loose accessory benefits
Bag
Item command is sealed
Prevents you from using items
Lucky 7
Yesss! No handicapp!
No handicap.
Boot
1/2 Speed
Makes your Time gauge fill half as quickly
HP
1/2 HP
Lowers your Max HP by 50%
MP
1/2 MP
Lowers you Max MP by 50%
HP MP
1/2 HP&MP
Lowers your Max HP and Max MP by 50%
MP0
Zero MP
Empties your MP, but you can refill it normally
Sword
Weapon is broken
your attack strength is lowered
Bracelet
Armor is broken
your defense is lowered
Clock
Time X30 Damage
you take damage based on your time meter
LV v
Down 5 levels
Your current level is lowered by 5
LV V
Down 10 levels
Your current level is lowered by 10
Cure
HP restored