I've noticed one or two FAQ's on the interweb on how to complete the game in under 12 hours I think it is, in order to obtain Steiners coveted 'Excalibur II' weapon.

First off, has anyone actually managed to do it? Secondly, 12 hours! How is it even possible? And lastly, what's the point?

No, never. FFIX is one of my favorite games, and I would never rush through it just to get Excalibur II. It's not like the game gets easier with the weapon.

Pretty pointless if you ask me.

Im not convinced you can do it. 12 hours cant be possible. If you run from every battle you wont be strong enough to beat some of the bosses and im sure you could spend a good few hours in random battles if you do fight them. All the cut scenes must take up a bit of time too.

You can skip the cut scenes, though.

It is possible but you need to have a very well thought out plan and intricate knowledge of the game mechanics.

I'm not even going to try it, ever. Especially on my pal machine.

There are like a million walkthroughs out there of how to get to Memoria within 12 hours. But at the end u end up with a party lvl 20 ;)

Im not convinced you can do it. 12 hours cant be possible. If you run from every battle you wont be strong enough to beat some of the bosses and im sure you could spend a good few hours in random battles if you do fight them. All the cut scenes must take up a bit of time too.
Almost every boss/enemy has some sort of weakness that you can take advantage of, and there are several characters that have abilities and things you can use that will make a low-level fight against a boss quite possible.

Quina actually becomes everyone's favorite person to have in battle. XD "THANK YOU LIMIT GLOBE!"

I decided to start the Excalibur II challenge earlier this week. It is possible; search for videos on youtube.


1) Is this challenge even possible? No way can you do all this in 12 hours.

Yes, it is possible, and that's why this guide was written. Do you really
think I would write a 264 KB fairy tale, submit it to GameFAQs and have it
get accepted?

It is quite a challenge, even while following his guide (I'm not sure who would waste their time attempting a "perfect game" + Excalibur II without his walkthrough); you will need to reset many, many times, and play through each circuit a few times to get acquainted with item locations, but, again, it is possible.

No, never. FFIX is one of my favorite games, and I would never rush through it just to get Excalibur II. It's not like the game gets easier with the weapon.

Pretty pointless if you ask me.
A great point Zulu, it's a waste of time to go for Excalibur II, I remeber a article in a magazine about Excalibur II and it came to the concluson: "This is a ridiculous task that takes out half of the enjoyment of the game, but alas it's the only way" having said that if you really want to attempt this task complete the game first then start a new game, if you can achieve it though then you truly are a FF gamer.

oh come on, who is crazy enough or stupid enough, to complete the whole game in under 12 hours...

okay it's possible to do so, but I'm sure that this maybe the only strong weapon in your game, or at least one of the few stronger weapons you will be still able to obtain!!!

I think this is stupid an I can't see any advantage in racing through the game without enjoying it!!! :-(

People only do it for bragging rights.

Yea and if you can do it you deserve them.

I tried this challenge a while back. I ended up getting to Gizamaluke's Grotto with a decent time but was unable to defeat the boss there. I really enjoyed playing it as far as I did, it was one of the more enjoyable experiences I had with that game.

I heard a good tactic is that you should Choose 4 charecters to level up then stick with them for the rest of the game.

I heard a good tactic is that you should Choose 4 charecters to level up then stick with them for the rest of the game.

you're forced to use all characters at certain points of the game, and i always thought that there were always 4 primary characters that a given individual would prefer to use anyway.
not so much a good tactic as it is a bad tactic to do the opposite.

I tried this challenge a while back. I ended up getting to Gizamaluke's Grotto with a decent time but was unable to defeat the boss there. I really enjoyed playing it as far as I did, it was one of the more enjoyable experiences I had with that game.

If you are talking about the boss that comes out of the water, try giving him a tent in the start of the fight.


I agree that having Excalibur II doesnt make the game easier at all. You will end up with Vivi knowing no magic, with Garnet knowing no summoning and with Zidane knowing nothing more than flee. But still its a challenge ;)

you're forced to use all characters at certain points of the game, and i always thought that there were always 4 primary characters that a given individual would prefer to use anyway.
not so much a good tactic as it is a bad tactic to do the opposite.

Yeah I agree It's just something I heard.

I would like to get it just to prove to myself that it's possible but I hate rushing games so it isn't going to happen.
I'll be satisfied when I see someone else manage it.

I was close once but I missed by 3 hours I think it was because I got dragged away for something repeatedly like Go fetch the dog or stuff like that and while it only takes a few minutes it adds up after awhile.
I haven't tried since then though it REALLY cheapens the game in my opnion oh wow you got the sword but you did nothing fun nor did you get to enjoy the plot but Hey at least you got the sword.

It's a cop-out if you ask me. Why ruin an almost perfect game just because you feel the need to brag about having accomplished something completely irrelevant? Or because you fail to stay focused enough to enjoy the game's story for a tenth time? ><

I don't think I could do it anyway.

I know that is why I own Gameshark go through any game no cheats to enjoy it to the max then on next play cheat to have all the best stuff from the begining and Pwn all in the way. =)

I wasn't referring to you, Revaninja, so please don't think I was being mean to you. x)

Oh I wasn't I was agreeing with you is all. No harm no foul

It is possible to do it. Final Fantasy 9 was my favorite game. But after 4 years, I wanted to try it for the hell of it. I missed Excaliber 2 by 1 hour. Wasn't very happy.

LOLZ imagine missing it by one second.

It's a cop-out if you ask me. Why ruin an almost perfect game just because you feel the need to brag about having accomplished something completely irrelevant? Or because you fail to stay focused enough to enjoy the game's story for a tenth time? ><

I don't think I could do it anyway.

The actual cop-out is saying something along the lines of "I love the game too much to rush it." What kind of reason is that? After beating it a couple of times, it is interesting to try to beat the game in a much different fashion. If you loved the game so much, you would dedicate the effort into accomplishing the challenge.

The enjoyability is in the challenge--not only in obtaining the sword.

Some people like the story too much to rush. Let every one play as they will. There is no cop outs for a challange like that if you can do it fine good for you if you don't want to do it again fine have fun playing the game.

As for Loving it so much to get all challanges not every one likes to do that
maybe what makes them love it is the music or the sidequests etc and to skip it would cheapen their fun that is what he meant by the Love the game too much line.

I love the 12-hour challenge. I've done it a few times and didn't think it took away from the game. Yeah, you rush through the dialogue, but after having played it several times, it's nice to focus on the gamplaying part of it and see how much of the gameplay you remember and how quickly you can remember it, and how well you can do it. That's the challenge and fun in it to me.

It means that I enjoyed the game enough to get know those places by heart and to figure out how to use what were usually "pointless" skills, and finding out how and when they became utterly awesome. ;) Plus, trying it without a guide and developing my own method of getting to Memoria in less than 12 hours WAS fun.

It doesn't "cheat" you out of finding any other ultimate weapons and is even good for getting high stats because you stay at a low level until the end. When you get towards the end of Memoria you can just warp out of there and level everyone up to 99, finish most of the sidequests (and get everyone else's ultimate weapons).

Might not be worth it for everyone, but I thought it was fun. :P

I like excalibur 2. one of my favourit swords. took me acouple trys to get tbh

I never knew that Excalibur II existed. What does this weapon offer?

Attack power = 108 (making it the highest-powered weapon of the game)
...and Bragging rights + 1 (if that)

Bragging rights more like +100. =O

Also, I'm actually going to try it out, despite of my initial post disregarding this challenge.

I guess I'll have to settle for Ragnarok. I don't have enough patience to do this.

I could just imagine my 10-year-old PS1 hanging and suffering major loading problems.