Final Fantasy X-2/Chapter 3/Luca

Entering Luca, the Gullwings will enter the Sphere Break tournament. To qualify for the final round, you must defeat 3 players. Save before facing each opponent just in case you do lose.

You can challenge yourself by facing the harder core spheres, but if you are looking to quickly get through the tournament, the easiest opponents to play against are the guy in green and brown walking around the square, an old person sitting on the bridge between the square and stadium, and a woman in blue standing just inside the Blitzball dome.

In the final round, you must face and defeat Shinra in order to win the Lady Luck Dressphere. Shinra's core sphere is a tough one to beat. It has a high quota of 50 coins, with only 45 seconds per round, and only 15 rounds. The key to defeating the champ is to achieve a high Echo Bonus. Complete a core using 2-3 coins, then continue to make core breaks using the same number of coins as before. Doing so will multiple each round increasingly.

For example using a core break of 3 coins, achieving an Echo Bonus for 5 consecutive turns, your total is multiplied to count as 6, 9, 12, and then 15 coins. After those five rounds with that bonus will have reached the quota and won the game.

Sometimes however, the core has a strong tendency to constantly throw a 1, ending the Echo Bonus. If that happens to many times by round 10, start breaking the core with as many coins as possible or reset the game and take another try.

An overview of how to play Sphere Break can be found on the Sphere Break mini game page.

If you do get frustrated and Shinra ends up beating you, keep in mind that you will have an opportunity to play his core sphere again in Chapter 5 as many times as you like to win the dressphere.

After the tournament, don't forget to collect a chest with Lunar Curtain x3 found across the ledge on the steps leading down to the square.