Al Bhed Salvage Ship

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.

You wake up on a working ship, and most of the crew speaks a language you cannot read yet. Do three things on deck before you go anywhere.

The deck

Learn the Sphere Grid. Talk to the girl in red. She walks you through moving on the grid and spending a sphere. On the Standard grid that means one step for Tidus and his first ability, Cheer. If you want the explanation again, the man on the right will repeat it.

Take the Potions. One of the crewmen on the north-west side of the deck gives you three Potions if you talk to him.

Pick up the book. In the back corner of the deck there is something lying on the ground. It is an Al Bhed Primer, and it teaches you one letter of the crew’s language. There are more scattered through the game; each one makes more of what these people say readable. This one cannot be picked up later, so take it now. It also unlocks an achievement.

Save, then talk to the girl again to start the dive.

The dive

Swim down along the chain and use the dive button to go deeper. Small fights start here. The fish carry Grenades — have your companion steal a few on the way.

Inside the ruin, save, then follow her through the door and work the panels to start the machine.

The boss on the way out

Something big ambushes you as you leave. It is not hard if you know one trick.

Attack it while it is in front of you, and throw Grenades. When it swims off behind a pillar, you cannot reach it — the game shows you a trigger command. Choose Stand By to recover a little HP while you wait. It comes back with a charge that hits both of you hard, so heal before then.

The second time it retreats, a new trigger appears. Use it: the two of you pin it from both sides and it cannot get away again. Finish it off.

Then follow the scenes. The area ends with Tidus waking up on a beach.

Completionist mode. Full spoilers, in play order, with every permanent loss called out before you reach it.

Spoilers from here.

Rikku’s family ship, salvaging the ruins off Baaj. Short, and it holds the first permanent missable in the game.

Al Bhed Primer Vol. I — take it now

Al Bhed Primer Vol. I is lying on the deck in the back corner, near the crewman who gives out Potions. The salvage ship is never revisited.

If you leave without it, a spare copy appears in the Sanubia Desert on Bikanel Island, on the oasis screen — and only if this one was missed. That is the only second chance, and it comes many hours later:

• The Primers drive the Al Bhed translation. Miss this one and its letter stays untranslated in every Al Bhed line until the desert.
• Master Linguist — the achievement for all 26 Primers — and the late-game reward for a full set both need this volume, from here or from the desert.

Picking it up unlocks Speaking in Tongues, the one-Primer achievement. That one is not at risk — any later Primer earns it too.

The rest of the deck

• Sphere Grid tutorial. Rikku explains the grid. On Standard, Tidus moves one node and spends the Ability Sphere from Klikk on Cheer (raises Strength and Defense for the party, stacks up to five). The crewman on the right will repeat the tutorial in Al Bhed if you ask.
• Potion x3 — talk to the crewman on the north-west side of the deck.
• Save sphere on the left.

Talk to Rikku again to dive.

The dive

Follow the chain down. The Piranhas here are the first random encounters and carry Grenades to steal. Take several with Rikku; Tros goes faster with them.

Inside the ruin: save, examine the control grid, follow Rikku and work the panel to start the generator. Tros ambushes you on the way out.

Tros

Boss: Tros. 2,200 HP. Attacks with a physical hit, Tentacles, and Nautilus Charge, which hits both characters for the most damage of the fight.

• Tidus attacks, Rikku throws Grenades and steals more when she runs low.

• When Tros retreats behind the pillar it is out of reach. The trigger-command tutorial plays; use Stand By for both to regenerate a little HP. Heal before it comes back with Nautilus Charge.

• The second time it retreats, Pincer Attack appears. Use it. Tidus and Rikku take positions on both sides, and Tros can no longer escape.

• Steal: Grenade.

• Drop: Power Sphere x2.

Sin takes Tidus again

Back on deck, Rikku introduces herself and tries to work out where Tidus came from. Then Sin hits the ship and Tidus goes into the water.

He wakes on the beach at Besaid. Rikku leaves the party here; she rejoins for good later, on the far bank of the Moonflow.