Via Purifico and the Highbridge

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 start with Yuna alone in the dark. The party is scattered through two halves of this place, and you play them one after the other. Neither half can be walked again once you are through it, so check every room.

Yuna’s maze

The maze is a set of rooms joined by corridors, plus teleporters on the floor whose arrows rotate. Wait for the arrow to point where you want to go — it blinks twice before it turns — then step on.

Pick up your friends as you find them, and the chests as you pass:

• Kimahri’s room has a Mega-Potion.
• Lulu’s room, the big one east of the T-junction, has a Wht Magic Sphere.
• The room south of the T-junction has an Elixir in the rubble and a glyph to touch.
• The room north of the start, past the first right turn, has a Blk Magic Sphere and a glyph on the floor. Stepping on it moves the teleporter in the centre room so it reaches a new part of the maze.

Ride that teleporter with its arrow pointing west. The room it leads to has two chests in plain sight — a Skill Sphere and a Lucid Ring for Yuna — and a third that is easy to miss: 10,000 gil, tucked against the gate. Walk along the gate pressing confirm until it opens.

The fight at the end of the maze is aeon against aeon. Your party stands back and Yuna’s aeons do all the work. Three rounds, each against a different aeon:

• The first comes in with its Overdrive ready. Lead with your strongest aeon, or Shield the first big hit.
• The third starts a countdown to a huge attack. Bring out your ice aeon and use Shield when the countdown reaches 1.

Underwater

Now it is Tidus, Wakka and Rikku in a flooded tunnel. Lightning-element weapons make the random fights here quick.

The chest next to the save sphere is a shop. Stock up on Phoenix Downs and X-Potions.

The boss of this section is undead. Healing hurts it. Throw a Phoenix Down at it — two of them, or two X-Potions, end the fight outright. If someone is turned to stone, they are gone for the rest of the battle, so be quick.

During the fight you will be offered commands to open the locks on the gates. Ignore them. Opening a lock moves the fight elsewhere, and you lose the two chests that are waiting along the tunnel afterwards — weapons for Wakka and Tidus.

The Highbridge

The party is back together on a long bridge. There is a shop and a save sphere at the near end and another save sphere at the far end, so this is a good place to fight a few battles and level up.

Before you go to the middle:

• Equip armor with Stone Ward or Stoneproof if you have any, and carry Softs.
• Make sure Lulu knows Bio, and level Yuna toward Reflect if she is close.

The boss on the bridge comes with a second part that keeps reviving itself. Hurt the main body, and expect the fight to change twice:

• Partway through, it starts turning people to stone and the other part can shatter them. Cure stone the moment you see it.
• Near the end it casts a big attack spell on your whole party, while the other part heals it. Cast Reflect on the boss and that heal bounces onto you.
• It throws out any aeon you summon on its next turn. Summon only to use an Overdrive.
• If all three of your characters share the same buff, it strips them all. Haste two people, not three.

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

Do not open the gate locks during the Evrae Altana fight. The trigger commands look like a tactical option. They move the battle down the tunnel and lock you out of the Rematch and Avenger chests — and the Via Purifico is never revisited.

Everything else here is simply one-way. Take all seven of Yuna’s chests before the Isaaru fight.

Yuna’s maze

Yuna starts alone. Kimahri, Auron and Lulu are in separate rooms, and you collect them as you go. Teleporter arrows rotate and blink twice before turning; step on when the arrow points your way.

Lulu’s chest holds one White Magic Sphere, not two.

Isaaru

Yuna’s aeons against Isaaru’s, three in a row. The aeon matching the one he has out is unavailable. No steals, no drops — just AP.

• Grothia (Ifrit, 8,000 HP). Starts with a full Overdrive gauge, so Hellfire can come immediately. Shield it with Valefor or open with Bahamut’s Mega Flare if your gauge is full; Shiva’s ice does the most otherwise.
• Pterya (Valefor, 12,000 HP). No weakness. Bahamut hits hardest; Ixion heals himself with Thundara.
• Spathi (Bahamut, 20,000 HP). You cannot call Bahamut. Mega Flare comes at the end of a countdown. Use Shiva and Shield at countdown 1, heal her with Blizzara, finish with Diamond Dust.

Underwater: Tidus, Wakka, Rikku

Lightningstrike weapons clear the random fights. The chest beside the save sphere is a shop — buy Phoenix Downs and X-Potions.

Evrae Altana

16,384 HP, undead. Each Phoenix Down takes away half its HP: two Phoenix Downs or two X-Potions win the fight. Steal Water Gem first if you want it. Drops a Blk Magic Sphere.

Stone Gaze underwater shatters the target immediately — no AP for them, and if it is Rikku you lose your item healer. It counters every physical attack and Photon Spray hits eight times at random. Stone Ward on armor helps.

The gate lock trigger commands move the fight further down the tunnel and bring back shattered characters. The cost is the save sphere and two chests. Win where you stand.

After the fight

• Rematch (Wakka) — Evade & Counter, one slot. In the chest just before the turn.
• Avenger (Tidus) — Counterattack. In the chest just before the next open room.

Neither is strong. Both are one-time chests, and a completionist save wants them.

The Highbridge

Kimahri is held back for the walk, then rejoins for the boss. O’aka XXIII sells at the near save sphere; a second save sphere is at the far end, which makes the bridge a safe AP loop. Get Yuna to Reflect, Lulu to Bio, and equip Stone Ward or Stoneproof.

Seymour Natus

36,000 HP, plus Mortibody (4,000 HP). Steal Tetra Elemental x2 (x3 on a rare). Drops a Lv. 2 Key Sphere. Every party member should land one hit for AP.

• Mortibody cannot be removed. Kill it and it uses Mortibsorption: drains 4,000 HP from Seymour and revives. The drain shrinks to 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000, and its max HP shrinks with it. Use this as free damage.
• Above 24,000 HP: Mortibody casts a low elemental spell, Seymour follows with two -ra spells of the same element.
• Below 24,000: Seymour Protects himself (Dispel it) and casts Break — Petrify. Mortibody’s Shattering Claw shatters stone permanently. Soft or Esuna at once.
• Below 12,000: Seymour casts Flare (about 2,500 to everyone) and Mortibody casts Cura on him. Reflect on Seymour sends Cura to you.
• Banish ejects any aeon on Seymour’s next turn. Summon only for an Overdrive or Grand Summon.
• Desperado strips positive status if all three party members share one. Haste two, not three.
• Yuna’s trigger command with Seymour raises her Magic Defense; Tidus’s and Auron’s raise Strength.

Lulu’s Bio early and Auron’s Magic Break help. Then the escape, and the party heads for Macalania.