I want to know what is the most useful and most common status protection accessory in this game besides the Ribbon that one can buy in shops. I’d rather not buy all of them when I encounter them in the game. For example; if the majority of the game’s monsters cast paralyze and petrify spells, then it would be wise to invest in Jem Rings. Any ideas?
Well, Ribbons are pretty much the best accessory for negative status, as they provide immunity to pretty much all of them. Apart from that, the Jem Ring, Peace Ring and Safety Bit are also very useful for dealing with specific statuses. But in terms of overall protection, there is nothing better than the Ribbon I’m sorry to say.
In terms of frequency of negative statuses used by monsters though, Poison, Confusion, Sleep and Darkness are probably the most commonly used, so at the very least it’s useful to try and protect against those as early and as often as you can.
Don’t forget you can also link the ‘Added Effect’ support materia in a character’s armour with a spell materia like Poison, Seal or Mystify to also provide immunity to the status effects of the spells those materia have (this is a handy way for dealing with the Cursed Ring’s Death Sentence – you still get the death counter, but the effect misses when it reaches zero if you have Added Effect materia linked with Destruct materia in your armour ;)).