I was apprehensive about the whole card game phenomena associated with Final Fantasy VIII. People were telling me how great it was, and how much fun it is to play it. Yet I couldn't stand it. I couldn't *quite* grasp the rules of the game, and I think that put me off Final Fantasy IX's Tetra Master before I entered playing it.

From what little I played of Tetra Master, I found it similar to VIII's card game. The game was slightly more enjoyable, and I won a little bit more, but I still couldn't wrap my head around the rules, nor find any enjoyment out of it, nor any benefit to being a master player. So I decided to ignore the game until I completed the storyline.

So, has anyone out there achieved the top level for the card game? Can anyone out there offer someone with very little patience some tips on how to lose less? Or did most people find the card game a distraction also?

My relationship with FFIX's card game was more hate-hate than love-hate, like it was with FFVIII's. Mainly because in FFVIII it worked into the plot more and you could also get cool stuff for your cards, where as in FFIX you can hardly get anything. Still, I managed to achieve a collector's rank of about 1400, which is about 200 off from the max. I guess you want to max it: here's what you need to do: write down what arrow configurations you have. Then accept cards that don't match those configurations. In other words, you can have up to eight different cards that have one arrow pointing in a single direction, maybe two or three with six arrows pointing in different directions, one card with no arrows, one with eight arrows and so on. Because the more different configurations you have, the more different levels you have, the higher your level gets. To build up the cards, I recommend going to the card stadium on Disc 4. You can have your choice of any opponent there and quickly rack up lots of great cards. It took me a while to figure this out, I thought it was just if the card had more arrows, it was better. So I started trying to get as many cards as possible that had eight arrows, but that turned out to be wrong. Getting all 100 cards I think definitely helps. To do that, you'll just need to play the card phantoms in Memoria eventually. The final one has neat cards like Two Moons and the Mog card and so on.

Depends what you mean by the "top level". I've gotten all 100 cards, and only one of each as there's a maximum of 100 (which sucks). The rules are quite clear to me now so....ummm, can't remember the last time I lost actually, so I must be doing something right. Plus, all of the cards I use are E and F levels. Most with X as the 2nd letter which is more powerful. I like the FF9 card game much better than the FF8 for reasons that it's easier to play, and there's no damn Plus rule, or any rules that can change.

I think by "top level," Bahamut Zero is referring to "Collector's Level." And in order to the maximum collector's level, 1600, you have to get cards with lots of different arrow configurations. The letters and numbers on the cards actually don't affect the Collector's Level, except I think that maybe having an "X" gets you one or two extra points.

To get 1600, you'd prolly have to get most cards having arrows on all sides or something.

No, no, that's not the way. I tried that, but getting more cards with eight arrows only decreased my score. In order to increase your collector's rank, you need cards with as many unique arrow configurations as possible, as described in my first post. So in order to get the best, each card would have to have a different set of arrows, although I think it may be possible to reach 1600 before having them all unique.

I used to HATE Tetra Master! Untill I actually figured out what I was doing. Now I love it. I could spend hours playing it, actually. :) Is anyone going to try out the Online Tetra Master came coming out soon?


The mysteries of Quad Mist revealed! Once and for all! :D

The letters and numbers on the cards actually do affect yoru collector's ranking.

First stat: Card's attack power, in "hexadecimal," which goes from 0 to E, zero being the lowest, and E being the highest.

Second stat: Card's attack type.
P - Physical
M - Magical
X - Attacks the lowest defense number of the other card
A - Attacks the lowest number of the other card

Third stat: Card's physical defense in hexadecimal, going from 0 to E, again, zero being the lowest, E being the highest.

Fourth stat: Card's magical defense in hexadecimal.

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Anyway... To get the highest Card Ranking:

1. You need all 100 cards.

2. You need to play each card enough so that the first stat is "A" or higher.

3. All cards need different arrows.

And there was one more thing I forgot... <_<

I've never gotten 1600... takes too long to level the weak cards up to attack level A. <_>

<font color=red face="comic sans ms">Err, I think to get the highest rank you need to get the second value up to A on all the cards rather than the first one. Although values on cards can increase, each card has maximum values, so they can't go past a certain point, and so some cards can't possibly get an attacking of A. Every card's second value can go up to A, however, although I've never had it myself.

I think my collector's rank was about 1250 or so in the end, but I could never really get into the game that much. It was far too random as the best card didnt' always win, and the cards themselves didn't really serve any purpose (they may have a small effect on your Treasure Hunter rank, but that in itself is fairly useless anyway, all you get is a medal :p). Basically I didn't really like the game, I just played it so that I could get a good game with everything done, although I still never got all 100 cards.

A thought it was really kool but I preferd the FF8 card game, cant mind my collectors rank tho, I remember it being quite high tho.....