Final Fantasy IX Walkthrough

Written by Shotgunnova

Contributor

3.12: Ipsen's Castle

Enemies: Veteran, Tonberry, Agares, Gargoyle, Cerberus

Treasures: Dagger, Aquarius, Cat's Claws, Broadsword, Javelin, Rod, Barette, Maiden Prayer, Golem's Flute, Wind Mirror, Fire Mirror, Water Mirror, Earth Mirror, Fork, Mage Staff, Air Racket, Ancient Aroma

Optional: Blue Magic Update

Enemy to Eat	Blue Magic Learned
Veteran	Doom

Word of advice: equip your worst weapons on the characters, since the weird upside-down nature of this place makes them stronger while making others a lot weaker. Although, Soul Blade +

Sargatanas instantly petrifies monsters and thus makes a good substitute. To aide you towards this end, everyone's initial equip can be found somewhere around here, too, just in case you've sold them off. Note that skills and magic are not impacted by this oddity, and therefore do their regular damage.

Your party will be slightly limited once you arrive, but it likely won't be a significant burden. Organize the party and enter the first room. Get the

Dagger behind the left pillars, and the

Aquarius behind the right. Beyond is a large courtyard with Kumool in it. Deliver his letter, check out his mogshop if you like - he does have Vaccines, so it's not a complete waste. Get the

Cat's Claws in the upper corner (visible) before sliding down the pole, fireman-style.

In the upside-down part, take the nearby ladder to a balcony door. Take a screen to find the hollow part of the castle, full of ladders and walkways. Climb up and jump off to the right, leading to a

Broadsword chest; then jump left off the ladder to find a

Javelin chest. Descend the ladder fully and take the catwalk. At the first prompt, jump off to find the

Rod chest before exiting at the ladder's pinnacle.

The next room has an elevator and a fresco; investigate the latter first, in this order:

Examine
Push
Pound
Think
Push
Pound
Try Something Drastic
Rest

After resting, the door will open - kind of plays to the nature of this backwards place, huh? This opens up a passage to the first room's balcony with a

Barette on it. Go back and take the elevator; if you don't have a mage in the party, make sure to equip better weapons since skills will do more damage!

Up the elevator, inspect the mural's four seals and get the

Wind Mirror,

Fire Mirror,

Water Mirror, and

Earth Mirror. There's a pathetic crony of a boss to fight over these objects, though. So vain!

Taharka Boss Monster Can't Flee	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	Exp	Attack	Magic Atk.
	Flying	46	29186	1776	8092	0	61	19
	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade	Speed	Strength	Spirit	Eaten Magic
	5	21	10	7	28	19	32	None
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items			Dropped Card
	Slot 1: Elixir Slot 2: Mythril Claws Slot 3: Orichalcon			None			Ramuh
	Elemental Absorb					Elemental Immunities
	None
	Elemental Resistence					Elemental Weakness

	Status Immunity
	Petrify, Venom, Virus, Blind, Trouble, Zombie, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, Auto-Life, Trance, Defend, Float, Freeze, Vanish, Doom, Mini, GradualPetrify

The first order of business is inflicting this doofus with Silence, which will take out its main method of damage. Taharka is basically a two trick pony with two states. When 'compact', physical damage is decreased by a lot and it can only use the 'Ram' attack; when 'open' it uses magic and the 'Chop' ability. So… uh, what's the problem here? Besides its HP, it isn't so much of a trial. Gizamaluke gave you more bang for your buck! You can inflict Slow, Poison, Power Break, Armor Break, and probably a few more… as if you needed the help here. This creepy crawlie is also susceptible to Heat status, making the fight much shorter. Make sure to steal an

Orichalcon from the thing, though!

Backtrack to Kumool and an ally nearly falls through a trapdoor (all are now active). Fall in the one nearby to land by a

Maiden Prayer, then backtrack to the first room. If you opened the fresco by the elevator, there will now be a stairway going up…and another 'hidden' stairway underneath it, which is a bit of eye trickery. Going up it leads to a balcony in Kumool's room where a chandelier is revealed above the pole - the

Fork and

Mage Staff can now be obtained by climbing that thing to its top. Back in the hidden stairway, follow it to a 2nd elevator by an

Air Racket chest; take the thing down.

There is a replica of a sword here, with two odd pots in front of it. Open the

Golem's Flute chest and start moving the pots counterclockwise (a hint will come up telling you to 'go against the flow of time' if you're going the wrong way). If you do it right, the sword's power will drain and Zidane will receive an

Ancient Aroma when he picks up the pot into which the power siphoned. Leave this place.

As you try to leave, you'll find that you can't yet. Go back in for a bit, it won't take long.

Zidane's the man with the plan now. Read on to find out more.

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