The airship and Bevelle

Story mode. Written for a first playthrough and kept free of spoilers — it will not tell you what happens here, only what the game is asking of you.

The party is back together and there is no time to waste. This stretch moves fast: a short walk around a ship, one hard fight, a few battles on the way up a tower, and then a trial. It feels like a corridor. Treat it like one you will never walk again — because you won’t.

On the airship

Explore before you take the lift to the top deck. There is a save sphere on the bridge and another in the last room before the deck.

• Talk to the Al Bhed on the left of that last room. Four Al Bhed Potions, free. They heal and cure most status at once, and the fight upstairs throws petrification and poison at you.
• Rin is at the back of the ship with items and gear. If you have spare gil, Softs and Antidotes are the useful buys.

The boss on the deck

Use Wakka, Rikku and either Tidus or Lulu. Wakka hits from any distance and Rikku’s Use command turns those Al Bhed Potions into party-wide cures.

On some turns the game lets you tell the pilot to close in or pull back. Pull back first. From far away the boss can only spray weak shots around; up close it petrifies and poisons. Its strongest attack takes a turn to charge — if you see it winding up, pull back and it misses.

Have Tidus Cheer while you are far away, cast Slow on the boss, and expect it to speed itself up once it is badly hurt. Recast Slow and keep going.

Up the tower

You land fighting. Heal before you go up — HP does not refill between these battles.

• Kill the warrior monk with the flamethrower first in each group.
• The machina that kicks someone clean out of the battle is weak to fire and water, not lightning. Before it dies, have Kimahri use Lancet on it: he learns a new Ronso Rage.
• Rikku can steal an Ether from the larger machina.

The passage down

After the scene at the top, you walk down a stone passage toward the temple. There is an Al Bhed Primer on the floor of this passage. Pick it up. Then save at the sphere before the trial.

The Cloister of Trials

This is the longest Cloister so far and the only one you get one try at. You ride a moving pedestal along tracks and press confirm when it crosses an arrow pointing where you want to go. Tap the button repeatedly near arrows rather than trying to time one press. If you fall off, it resets you — no harm done.

The order that works:

1. Push the pedestal onto the track. Ride to the first dead end and take the Bevelle Sphere from the wall.
2. Ride to the next stop and set it in the recess on the far wall. A missing section of track appears.
3. Ride the new loop: it brings you past a recess holding a second Bevelle Sphere. Take it.
4. Cross the repaired track to the walkway stop and put that sphere in the wall on the left. The walkway beyond lights up.
5. Ride to the side stop and take the Glyph Sphere from its wall. Come back.
6. Cross the walkway and set the Glyph Sphere in the far wall. The wall vanishes and the Destruction Sphere is behind it.
7. Carry the Destruction Sphere back to the side stop and put it where the Glyph Sphere was. A new route lights up.

Stop here. You are not done. The new route leads to the exit, and that is where most people walk straight out. Instead:

8. Go back to the walkway and take the Bevelle Sphere back out of the wall.
9. Ride the new route to the stairs. The pedestal stops partway; push it the rest of the way.
10. Climb the stairs and set the Bevelle Sphere in the recess at the far wall. The chest on the right opens: an HP Sphere. Always open it.
11. Step on the glyph that appears under the chest. The pedestal comes to you. Push it onto the new track and ride it to a second chest: the Knight Lance for Kimahri.

The exit is to the right, past a glowing glyph. Do not wander right until both chests are open — going too far starts the next scene, and there is no way back.

What comes next

You receive a new aeon. Name it as you like. A long sequence of scenes follows with no fights. When you get control again, the party is split up.

Completionist mode. Full spoilers, in play order, with every permanent loss called out before you reach it. 1 entries below are marked where our sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

Spoilers from here.

The one thing that matters

Bevelle is visited once. The airship never lands there again, and the Highbridge return at the end of the game does not take you inside. Three things are lost for good when you leave the Cloister of Trials:

• Al Bhed Primer XXII, on the floor of the Priests’ Passage.
• The HP Sphere — Bevelle’s Destruction Sphere chest. Open it regardless. Whether skipping it leaves Bevelle’s statue at Baaj dark, and so costs you Anima, is disputed: some players say the statue lights for everyone because the Destruction Sphere must be placed to finish this trial, others that the chest itself is what counts. Two minutes makes the question moot.
• The Knight Lance, a bonus chest that is not the Destruction Sphere chest.

The Bevelle Cloister is unusual. In every other temple, the Destruction Sphere is optional and placing it opens the Destruction Sphere chest. Here the Destruction Sphere is mandatory — placing it is what lights your way out. So the moment you set it down the game looks finished, and the exit is right there. The HP Sphere chest needs one more Bevelle Sphere carried up a staircase. Steps below.

The airship

Al Bhed Potion x4 from the Al Bhed on the left of the room before the deck. Rin sells from the back of the ship; buy 30 Softs to customize Stone Ward (or Antidotes for Poison Ward) onto armor if you want insurance. Dona’s question about giving up the pilgrimage only changes where she stands later.

Evrae

32,000 HP. Steal Water Gem (Water Gem x2 on a rare steal). Drops a Blk Magic Sphere. Halves fire, ice, lightning and water; immune to Armor Break; Slow works.

On Cid’s turns, Tidus or Rikku can order the ship to pull back or close in. Pull back at once: at range Evrae only has Photon Spray, eight light random hits, while up close it has Stone Gaze and Poison Breath. Poison Breath takes a turn to charge, and pulling back during the charge makes it miss. Cid fires missiles while you are out of range, but only a few times.

Party: Tidus, Wakka, Rikku, or Lulu over Tidus. Tidus Cheers at range, Wakka and Lulu deal damage from anywhere, Rikku steals once and then keeps the Al Bhed Potions flowing. Mix for Mighty G or Super Mighty G is excellent here. Around a third of its HP it casts Haste, and it recasts Haste every time you Slow it — keep re-Slowing anyway, it costs Evrae a turn.

The tower and the wedding

You land in a chain of fights up the Bevelle tower. HP carries between them.

• Warrior Monks: kill the flamethrower monk first.
• YKT-63: weak to fire and water, not lightning. Its Thrust Kick ejects a party member from the battle. Lancet one with Kimahri for Thrust Kick.
• YAT-99: Rikku can steal an Ether.

Then the wedding, the stand-off, and Yuna’s jump.

Priests’ Passage

Walk down from the control panel, through the door and down the stairs to regroup. Al Bhed Primer XXII is on the floor along this passage. It is the only copy; without it you cannot finish the set of 26. Save at the sphere before the Cloister.

The Bevelle Cloister of Trials, exactly

You ride a pedestal along glowing track. Confirm while the pedestal crosses an arrow glyph that points the way you want; mash the button rather than timing one press, especially near the far stops. Falling off resets your position, nothing else. There is some luck in it.

1. Push the pedestal in front of you onto the track and ride to the first dead end. Take the Bevelle Sphere from the wall.
2. Ride to the next stop and set it in the recess on the far wall. The missing track section appears.
3. Ride the new loop. It passes a recess holding a second Bevelle Sphere — take it.
4. Cross the repaired track to the walkway stop and put this sphere in the wall on the left. The walkway beyond lights up.
5. Ride to the side stop and take the Glyph Sphere from its wall. Return to the walkway stop.
6. Walk the walkway and set the Glyph Sphere in the far wall. The wall vanishes: take the Destruction Sphere.
7. Carry it back to the side stop and set it where the Glyph Sphere was. The glyph to the stairs lights.

This is where the HP Sphere is lost. Do not take the lit route yet.

8. Return to the walkway stop and remove the Bevelle Sphere from the wall on the left.
9. Ride to the stairs. The pedestal stalls partway — push it to the far side.
10. Climb the stairs and set the Bevelle Sphere in the recess on the far wall. The chest on the right holds the HP Sphere. That is the Destruction Sphere chest.
11. Step on the glyph that appears under the chest; the pedestal is brought up to you. Push it onto the new walkway and ride to the second chest: the Knight Lance (Kimahri: Strength +3%, +5%, +10%; no Piercing).
12. Only now go right, past the glowing glyph, to leave.

Going too far right at any point after the stairs ends the Cloister and starts the next scene. There is no second attempt.

Bahamut, the trial and the Via Purifico

Yuna receives Bahamut in the Chamber of the Fayth. Kinoc’s men are waiting; the High Court, Kelk Ronso presiding, hears the case and sends everyone to the Via Purifico. No fights and no pickups between the Chamber and the prison.