Luca

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.

Luca is the first real city in the game, and it is busy. The story gives you a free hand for a while after you arrive, then takes it back. Use the free time: almost everything worth having here is on the docks, and the docks are where the story drags you later at a run.

The stadium

After the arrival scenes you end up below the stadium. Read the blitzball tutorial if this is your first time — you will play a match before you leave the city.

Before you head up, look in the corridor on the other side from your team’s locker room. There is an Al Bhed Primer on the floor behind a player in green, and a chest with two Hi-Potions at the end. Come at the primer from the side; walk straight at the player and the camera swings round and hides it.

Primers teach you the Al Bhed language a few letters at a time. Pick up every one you see. There are two in this city.

The docks

There are five docks. Walk all of them.

• Dock 1 has the travelling merchant from the boats, now selling gear as well. Lend him more gil if he asks; it pays you back later. Two chests further down: 600 gil, and a spear for Kimahri. Put it on him.
• Dock 2 has a chest with two Phoenix Downs.
• Dock 5 looks empty. It is not. Walk to the stacked crates on the right and squeeze through the gap behind them for two Sphere Grid chests.

Docks 3 and 4 have nothing for you yet.

The theatre and the square

North of the stadium is the sphere theatre. The second primer sits on the carpet at the foot of the stairs inside, next to a big flower pot. The clerks upstairs sell music and movie spheres. They are expensive and purely for fun; leave them for much later.

In the square, a merchant sells weapons, and a staircase in the north-east corner climbs toward the edge of town. Take those stairs now — there is a 1,000 gil chest at the top, and the next time you pass it you will be in no position to stop.

The building at the north of the square is the cafe. Going in moves the story on, so do it last.

Down to the docks again

Things go wrong, and you have to cross the docks to Dock 4 in a hurry. The small machines that get in your way fall to one Thunder each. Save at the sphere before the end.

The boss at the end hits back every time you hit it, so do not trade blows. There is a crane on the dock next to Tidus. He finds it has no power at first. Have Lulu cast Thunder on the crane, not the boss, three times, then have Tidus use it again. That does most of the work for you. Clean up with whatever you have left.

The match

Talk to Wakka in the locker room to start the final. This is the one match the story makes you play, and it does not matter if you lose. Winning gets you a Sphere Grid sphere you will find plenty of later.

If you want to win:

• Set controls to Manual A so your team stops running blindly at the other goal.
• In the first half, keep the ball in your own half and pass it to Tidus, so he gains the experience he needs for a technique.
• At half-time, equip the shot Tidus learned on the boat, if he has it.
• Score with it early in the second half. Tidus does not stay on for the whole half.
• One goal up near the end? Keep passing until the clock runs out.

After the match

A string of fights follows. They are easy, and a couple of them are fought by people you would not expect. Heal between them. When it is over, someone joins the party for good, and from then on you can play blitzball from any Save Sphere if you want to.

Follow the arrows to the edge of town to leave. The road north is next.

How this page was made

Researched across 7 community walkthroughs and written from scratch — no source’s wording appears here.

How we decide what to print

Completionist mode. Full spoilers, in play order, with every permanent loss called out before you reach it. 2 entries below are marked where our sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

Spoilers from here.

Nothing in Luca is permanently missable. The city stays open for the rest of the game, every chest waits, and the only one-time prize — the Strength Sphere for winning the final — is a common drop later. What you should not do is enter the cafe before sweeping the docks, because the story then runs you across them with no time to stop.

Before the cafe

Stadium Basement B, the corridor opposite the Aurochs’ locker room: Al Bhed Primer Vol. VI behind the player in green on the left (approach from the side, or the camera hides it), and 2 Hi-Potions in the chest at the end.

Dock 1. O’aka XXIII sells gear now as well as items. Keep lending. His prices at every later meeting are set by the total you have lent by the end of the Mi’ihen Highroad:

Total lent	His prices later
0–100 gil	double
101–1,000 gil	+50%
1,001–10,000 gil	+20%
10,001 gil or more	−30%

The two chests further down hold 600 gil and the Tidal Spear for Kimahri. The 600 gil chest may be full again when the story sends you back across the docks; check it on the way through.

Dock 2: 2 Phoenix Downs. Dock 5: squeeze behind the crates on the right for an HP Sphere and a Magic Sphere. Docks 3 and 4 are empty. Maester Mika and Seymour are greeted at Dock 3 during the arrival scenes.

Theatre reception: Al Bhed Primer Vol. VII on the carpet at the foot of the stairs, beside the flower pot. The clerks upstairs sell Music Spheres at 2,000 gil and Movie Spheres at 5,000. The Theater Enthusiast achievement wants every one — about 426,000 gil, with stock that grows through the story and is complete once the final dungeon opens. When a clerk’s list runs dry, talk to him again for a few more. Endgame money; leave it.

City Limits: the stairs in the north-east corner of the square climb to a 1,000 gil chest. The story marches you past this spot after the final, so take it now.

The kidnapping and the Oblitzerator

Kimahri’s brawl with Biran and Yenke in the cafe ends with the news that Yuna has been taken by the Al Bhed. Cross Docks 1 to 3 to reach Dock 4; the Worker machina on the way are weak to lightning and die to a single Thunder. Save before the boss.

Oblitzerator — 6,000 HP. Weak to lightning. Every physical hit draws a Blind Ball (Darkness) and every spell aimed at it draws a Mute Ball (Silence); Blitzball Rush peppers random targets. The crane is the fight. Tidus’s trigger command finds it unpowered; Lulu casts Thunder on the crane three times — spells on the crane are never countered — and Tidus uses it again for most of the boss’s remaining HP. The crane also stops it attacking. A full Fury gauge on Lulu can power the crane in one turn. Cheer and Haste while you wait. Rikku is not with you yet, so there is nothing to steal.

The final

The Aurochs were seeded; their first match against the Al Bhed Psyches plays out while you are on the boat. You play the final against the Luca Goers. Win or lose, the story is identical. Winning pays a Strength Sphere and the Teamwork! achievement — the sphere is a common drop later, and the achievement comes from any blitzball win, including the first easy league match you play from a Save Sphere.

To win: Manual A; pass between Tidus and one other player in your own half so he reaches the experience for a technique slot; equip the Jecht Shot at half-time if you landed it on the S.S. Winno (it knocks two defenders aside); score early in the second half, because Tidus is substituted for Wakka partway through it. Wakka has Venom Shot. Holding a one-goal lead by passing works.

The match is the only time the story asks you to play. The Jupiter Sigil for Wakka’s celestial weapon is a league prize, and blitzball as a whole is covered in the blitzball guide.

The attack on the stadium

Sahagin Chiefs pour into the sphere pool: a run of easy fights for Tidus and Wakka. Auron kills a Vouivre in one blow on his own, then Garuda (about 1,800 HP) with Auron, Tidus and Wakka. Dark Attack and Power Break neuter it. Seymour’s Anima clears the rest of the stadium.

Auron joins permanently — Piercing, Power Break, and Dragon Fang as his first Bushido. If you won the final, Wakka leaves the cup with the Aurochs. Blitzball is now playable from any Save Sphere and players can be scouted by talking to them; Zev Ronso and Zalitz are recruits who hang around Luca. Meet the others at the City Limits, then talk to Yuna for the last scene in the city.

On a later visit

Two things are not here yet.

• Jecht Sphere. Jecht Spheres only appear after the first one turns up in Macalania Woods. Then walk back here (or fly in later), take the right-hand locker corridor in the stadium and look outside the Aurochs’ door at the far end. It counts toward Banishing Blade (three spheres) and Tornado (all ten).
• Jupiter Crest. At the back of the Besaid Aurochs’ locker room, any time after the tournament. It is Wakka’s, and it powers World Champion together with the Jupiter Sigil.

How this page was made

Researched across 15 community walkthroughs and written from scratch — no source’s wording appears here. 2 are marked where sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

How we decide what to print