Final Fantasy X/Tidus

Tidus (although he can be re-named), is the game's main character, and the one which you will be controlling for most of Final Fantasy X.

Background
At the start of the game Tidus is introduced to us as a popular Blitzball player in the futuristic city of Zanarkand. However, the blitzball game is interrupted mid-way by the evil entity known as Sin, leaving Tidus to fight his way out with the help of ../Auron/. Due to Sin, Tidus leaves Zanarkand and is transported to Spira, which he learns is actually the same planet just 1000 years in the future. This takes Tidus aback due to the lack of technological developments, which is eventually explained to be because of Sin. Tidus soon joins Yuna on her pilgrimage to Zanarkand, following in his father's footsteps (who he has a rather turbulent relationship with) who was a guardian of Yuna's father (Lord High Summoner Braska) 10 years prior to Tidus' journey. Tidus' father, Jecht, disappeared from Zanarkand 10 years before the game begins, and we learn more about his relationship to Tidus and his eventual fate through flashbacks and spheres as the game progresses.

Basic Fighting Style
Tidus' weapon of choice is a sword, and his armour is a small shield on his arm. Following Tidus' basic path on the sphere grid will give him a fairly high accuracy (although not as high as Wakka's), decent strength, defence and HP slightly above that of Wakka. Tidus has little flair for offensive magic on his initial path on the sphere grid, owing largely to a low magic attribute as well as relatively low MP and few opportunities to learn black magic spells. However Tidus' real strength is his speed in combat, as he has not only a good agility stat, but also access to the haste spells (see ability list) as well as delaying attacks.

Through the game Tidus is ideal for taking out wolf-type enemies and lizard enemies due to his good accuracy, as well as helping to get lots of hits in on bosses. Tidus's support abilities grant his allies the same speed and increase physical stats (Doubling attack and defense with five stacked Cheers). He can also allow the party to escape safely with Flee if the fight is too much. If you decide to tackle the monster arena or dark aeons, Tidus is an essential member of the team due to powerful overdrives and a good bonus on his ultimate (celestial) weapon.

Advanced
About half-way down his Sphere Grid, Tidus can branch off into the early portions of Yuna's Grid. If one opts to, and possesses the needed Level 2 Key Sphere (Obtainable before Macalania Temple), one can turn Tidus into a traditional Final Fantasy "Paladin". By going backwards down Yuna's grid, Tidus can quickly pick up the ever-useful Life spell and, with patience, pick up other essential spells such as the Elemental Nuls, Cure and Esuna. Just remember that Tidus' Strength will be neglected and the boosts to Magic are little at best, but having a swimming character with access to White Magic healing spells can prove useful on Bikanel, in the Via Purifico and at Gagazet, where Yuna isn't available. At this point, Tidus has already learned his most essential skills on his grid: Cheer, Haste and Flee.

Once Tidus completes his Sphere Grid, he passes into Auron's Sphere Grid, granting him the benefit of Auron's high HP and Strength which accentuate his sword fighting, making it the best progression. If one is feeling creative, Rikku or Wakka's Sphere Grids are also good choices through the use of a Teleport Sphere.

Tidus is one of the best candidates to learn Mug with a Skill Sphere, or Steal with a Special Sphere.

Notable Skills
The skills that Tidus gains on his initial sphere grid path are detailed below:


 * Flee - Helps the party flee from a (non-boss) battle
 * Cheer - Increases the 3 active member's strength and defence attributes until the battle is over. This effect can be stacked up to 5 times.
 * Provoke - The affected enemy will only attack Tidus (or the character who used the skill).
 * Delay Attack/Buster - This skill will cause an enemy's turn to move further down the list, enabling Tidus' agility to be exploited further.
 * Haste/Hastega - Haste cast on one or all party members is an invaluable skill due to how many more turns it will allow your party to squeeze in between an enemy's attacks, and is especially useful on slower characters such as Auron.
 * Slow/Slowga - Although not as useful as haste due to enemy immunities, this skill can prove useful by consistently lowering the number of turns an enemy will have in battle.
 * Quick Hit - The final skill on Tidus' path will initially be difficult to exploit to its full potential, as it requires 28mp for a minimal reduction in the time until your next attack. However, as you get more powerful this skill will allow you to land many more blows between enemy turns, as the effect can quickly stack up.

Overdrives
To get Tidus' overdrives to inflict maximum damage, you must successfully stop a pointer scrolling along a bar in the middle section as quickly as possible. For example, if you fail to do this in the 4 seconds allotted for Blitz Ace, the Jecht Shot will not be executed after the 8 strikes. Swordplay:


 * Spiral Cut:
 * Attacks a single enemy
 * Available from start of game.
 * Slice and Dice:
 * Hits random enemies a total of 6 times at around 50% power
 * Use Tidus' overdrive command 10 times
 * Energy Rain:
 * Hits all enemies once
 * Use Tidus' overdrive command 30 times
 * Blitz Ace:
 * 8 Slashes at around 15% power followed by a Sphere Shot (damage equal to that of the 8 slashes) on one enemy
 * Use Tidus' overdrive command 80 times

Celestial Weapon
Tidus' Celestial Weapon is the Caladbolg, and is powered up by the Sun Crest, then the Sun Sigil. Obtaining the weapon will require the Celestial Mirror, as will powering it up.

Obtaining the Weapon
In the north west corner of the Calm Lands, you will find a path sloping down. However, this path is initially blocked by an obnoxious man, who has taken it on as his sole role in life to block you from going down this path. Fortunately, it is possible to get this fool to shift with little effort. You will need to find the chocobo trainer, who has various haunts around the calm lands. You will need to scout around to find her (no-encounters may be useful), but she can often be found at the entrance from Macalania, to the far west and sometimes just outside the shop at the centre. When you have found her, talk to her and ask if you can train a chocobo. You must now complete 3 fairly simple tracks (hyper dodger can be a bit tricky, but all that is required is some perseverance), and then win a race against the trainer (see the Sigil location for more information on this part). After you have done this the guy blocking your path will finally move, enabling you to go down the path (take a chocobo if you want), examine the square on the wall and claim the Caladbolg.

Sun Crest
This crest is found in the area where you fight the second boss in Zanarkand (the one with 3 phases, after going down the elevator). You must go down the stairs in this area a couple of times before the chest will appear at the top of the other set of stairs (all the way up, so they warp you to the bottom of the other set of stairs), in which you will find the sun crest. If you are playing the International (PAL) version of the game, you must get this chest straight after the boss battle, otherwise you will find Dark Bahamut in your way, who you will not only be able to defeat for a long time afterwards, but also may have trouble doing this without Tidus' weapon.

Sun Sigil
Go back and talk to the chocobo lady again, and choose the 4th race. To obtain the sigil you must win the race in under 0:0:0 (getting a time of exactly 0:0:0 will only be rewarded by a Turbo Ether). You can afford to be hit by a bird once (if you're very lucky twice), and must get a lot of balloons (around 13) to get this time. Although this takes a long time, it isn't that hard and will be done eventually with a lot of perseverance. After obtaining this you will be able to fully power up Tidus' weapon.

Final Outcome
When we power up the Celestial Weapon to the very limit the outcome will be:
 * Weapon Effects:
 * Break Damage Limit
 * Triple Overdrive
 * Evade and Counter
 * Magic Counter
 * Does more damage when Tidus has a higher percentage of HP remaining