Team 2: Balamb Garden (Disc 2)
Make your way into Balamb Garden and when questioned by the faculty member choose to side with Cid. Either that or accept a quick fight.
There is not too much to explain about searching for Cid. You pretty much just have to check every area in the Garden and then make your way to the training center. If you want to find a save point you will have to head to the dormitory (Squall’s Room).
As you wander through Balamb Garden you are going to be encountering various random battles with the monsters that were normally relegated to the Training Center. Among those monsters are the T-Rexaurs. While they are much easier to defeat now that you are significantly higher leveled, they can still prove quite formidable. They have approximately 20,000 hit points and hit fairly hard. Just remember that they are susceptible to Sleep magic.
Start by heading left to the infirmary and help the students you encounter along the way. Talk to Dr. Kadowaki after the fight is over to get a free [Elixir].
Next make your way up to the stage area (Quad). If you talk to the faculty member running the opposite direction you will be thrown into battle - your choice. When you get to the bottom you will see three SeeD members jump down from the rafters. Tell them that you’re with the headmaster, and then talk to each of them. Two of them will give you information (who cares) but one will give you a free [X-Potion]. Then head back up and make your way to the cafeteria.
There is another faculty member along the way that you are going to have to push out of the way. He only throws a Bomb at you though so it is a trivial fight. One of the SeeD members in the cafeteria will give you [Gysahl Greens] if you talk to her. The next stop is over at the dormitory. Another faculty member and another super easy fight against a Caterchipillar. Take the opportunity to save and heal up by taking a rest on Squall’s bed.
Make your way over to the parking lot next for another fight. Don’t get too excited at the fake Cid in the parking lot. Talk to the two SeeD members standing in the parking lot for a free [Tent]. Head out and skip past the Training Facility for now. Go over to the library instead and talk to the girl in the back. She will give you a Mega-Phoenix if you have Zell in your party or a Remedy if you don’t, and as you can see from the screenshot below, my party was Zell-less. Now make your way to the Training Facility.
Follow the students and faculty member into the Training Facility and choose to help them out when presented with that option. You’ll be thrown into battle against a T-Rexaur. The T-Rexaur, as explained before, has approximately 20,000 HP but they aren’t all that strong in terms of damage output. Just be prepared for a long battle.
After the battle talk to the SeeD member to receive a free Remedy and then head back to the front of Balamb Garden.
In the main hall you’ll meet up with Xu. Meet her up near the elevator and follow her up. Go to the end of the hallway to find her and talk to her one more time. Make your way up to Cid’s office to tell him about the missiles. After that he will give you access down to the lower floors (MD Level). your team member’s weapons using Elemental Attack. Nearly all of the upcoming monsters and fights have some weakness to fire.
Take the elevator down to the MD level and as you do it will get stuck along the way. Examine the buttons on the wall, and then examine the square panel on the ground to begin your descent.
Follow the suggestion by junctioning some Fire/Fira/Firaga magic to your elemental attack to make the fights down here a little easier.
Make your way through the hall and down the ladder. Through the door at the bottom of the ladder you will find a wheel at the front of the room that you can turn. The first time you try it will be just Squall by himself. You press Square as fast as you can to turn it. It’s really hard to do with just Squall, but afterwards one of your team members will join you making it much easier.
Leave the room and a new pathway will have opened up allowing you to continue climbing downwards. On one of the platforms you will find a draw point for Full-Life. Don’t miss it!
Squall will be given a choice at the bottom of the pathway, to continue or not. Select “We have no choice, let’s go” and continue up the ladder.
Start pressing buttons on the control panel when Squall lands in the next room and then climb back down. At the bottom there will be a flashing green light pointing the way to go (down the ladder).
Save at the save point and then pull the lever just off to the right of it to open the doorway at the end of the walkway.
Make your way down the walkway to initiate a fight with two Oilboyles. These two enemies count as bosses (as evidenced by the music), but they are not particularly tough.
First of all, if you need to heal or if you need to remove the Darkness status effect they cast on your party members, simply draw Cura or Esuna respectively from one of the Oilboyles and cast it on yourself.
They do moderate damage but nothing all that devastating. Use fire attacks (including Ifrit) to bring them down quickly.
Crawl down the ladder and give the wheel at the control panel another couple of turns to get things rolling.
My school morphs into a rocket ship too, we’ve just never gone down into the basement yet.
Cid will insist you go check on the others first and foremost. Approach the elevator and you will automatically be taken to the second floor. Go to the end of the hallway, near where you met Xu, and go through the red door at the end of the hallway. Now go back a little ways and you’ll be told to meet up with Headmaster Cid once again. It’s all talk from here.
It’s just you and Rinoa once again. Save before you take off and do anything important. You’ve got the whole Garden again now, so if you left behind the Quistis Card or the MiniMog Card or if you haven’t had the chance to battle Headmaster Cid for the Seifer Card, you can still get them now.
Make your way to the front all and you will be approached by one of the robed faculty members. He will tell you to make your way down to the basement. The third member of your party won’t be far behind.
You can now also complete the first portion of the Card Club (CC-Group) side quest.
Make your way down to the basement to engage the next boss battle.
Boss Battle: Master NORG
You start off fighting Norg’s outer shell. It consists of Norg’s Pod, and the Left and Right pods. The Left and Right Pods go from blue to yellow to red. Once they turn red they start destroying you so make sure not let that happen. Each time you hit the Left Pod or Right Pod they go back to their previous color. Slowly whack away at the three targets until the center pod, Norg’s Pod, is out of HP (it only has 2000 HP). After you destroy the shell the actual fight will begin.
Start by drawing Leviathan from Norg – Leviathan is a new GF. Do not forget to draw Leviathan!
This fight works the exact same as the previous fight, except instead of having the Norg Pod in the center, which doesn’t attack you at all, you have Master Norg sitting there, who does attack you periodically. Now you have to keep the Left and Right Pods from turning red while slowly beating down Norg. Use Esuna on any character Norg puts a status effect on (Slow, Darkness or Silence). You can draw Esuna off him and cast it on yourself if necessary.
After the fight be sure to grab the Bio draw point hidden at the front of Norg’s Pod.
Head back up the elevator and make your way to the Infirmary. Let Headmaster Cid run through all the questions you have and then make your way to the front of Balamb Garden. You will meet up with Xu who will talk to you about the Headmaster and then tell you to go up to the second floor.
Cid will send you after Ellone, who can be found hiding in the library.
As you and Rinoa leave Squalls room for the second time there will be an announcement as you leave the dormitory. Balamb Garden will make a crash landing at Fisherman’s Horizon.
