THE MONSTER ARENA
The owner of the monster arena in the Calm Lands allows you to fight whichever monsters you like, for a certain fee. But first you must have captured at least 1 specimen of the monster which you'd like to fight against. Also, after meeting certain requirements, you get to fight some unique creatures, which are stronger than any monster in the rest of the game. In addition, this sidequest helps you get a lot of certain very valuable items which would be otherwise very difficult and tedious to obtain.
When you first arrive at the monster arena, you can't use the facilities cos there aren't any monsters there yet. The owner beseeches you to help him capture at least 1 specimen of the 9 types of monsters in the Calm Lands so he can open for business again.
To capture monsters firstly you need to have weapons with the ability 'Capture'. You can't add this ability on any weapons (cos there aren't any items for this ability) so the only way is to buy weapons from the monster arena shop. You don't have to buy weapons with this ability for every person in your party, just 1 or 2 will do. For example I only bought the Taming Sword for Tidus, and thereafter I had Tidus do all the capturing (Tidus and Wakka would be good candidates as 'capturers', cos they're the only ones who have high Strength and can do battle underwater as well - Rikku's Strength isn't high enough, at least initially). To capture monsters just let whoever has the weapon with the 'Capture' ability kill a monster with that weapon equipped (that monster must be 'captureable', of course. Not all monsters can be captured, for example like robots). Note that monsters killed with Overdrives, magic and special abilities are not captured, only ordinary attacks and skill abilities can be used to capture them. The maximum number of specimen of each type of monster you need is 10; once you've captured enough a message will appear on the screen to let you know if you try to capture any more.
Once you can use the facilities of the monster arena (that is, you've captured at least one specimen of each type of monster in the Calm Lands) you'll receive a treasure chest containing the Nirvana (Yuna's legendary weapon), as well as 60 Farplane Winds, which is your prize for conquering the Calm Lands.
At the monster arena, you can check how many of each type of monster you've captured in different areas. You can also pay some Gil to fight against monsters you choose. Basically, the stronger monsters would cost more to fight. These are some characteristics of battles at the monster arena:
1. Only one monster will appear in each battle;
2. The game isn't over even if your party is wiped out;
3. Monsters at the monster arena cannot be captured (it would be too easy to capture monsters otherwise) and
4. You still earn AP, Gil, items and equipment for defeating monsters, and you can steal items and bribe those monsters which can be bribed (same as ordinary monsters outside).
Unique Creatures
There are some monsters which can only be found at the monster arena (hereafter referred to as unique creatures). These creatures are extremely strong, and to fight them you need to pay a little more Gil than to fight normal monsters at the arena. However, you can steal valuable items from these creatures, and when you win you get plenty of AP and more valuable items/equipment. Also, when you first unlock each battle, you get a special reward from the owner (like for unlocking the Calm Lands Area Creation you got Yuna's Nirvana and 60 Farplane Winds) and also get to fight your first battle against that creature for free.
To fight the unique creatures, certain requirements must be met. Unique creatures can be grouped into 3 categories: Area Creations, Species Creations and Original Creations.
Area Creations
You unlock battles against these creatures by capturing at least 1 specimen of each type of monster in a certain territory. At the monster arena, Spira is divided into 13 different territories, so there are 13 of these creatures.
Species Creations
You unlock battles against these creatures by capturing a certain number of each type of monster belonging to a certain species (for example the Elementals, Bombs, Mushrooms etc). The number of types of monsters in different species is different; for example there are 7 types of elemental monsters but there are only 3 types of mushroom monsters. The number of specimen of each type of monster you need to collect for each species is also different. There are a total of 14 different species of monsters, so there are 14 Species Creations.
Original Creations
Different conditions must be met to fight each of these creatures, for example 'Capture at least 1 specimen of every type of monster that can be captured' or 'Unlock at least 6 special battles against Area Creations' etc. These creatures are the strongest you'll find at the arena.
Special prizes
You get the Mars Sigil for Auron's Masamune when you unlock 10 special battles (either against Area or Species Creations, or a combination of both). If you defeat Nemesis (good luck!), you'll receive the Mark of Conquest.
Monster lists
Below are all the information you'll ever need about the monsters at the monster arena; how to unlock each special battle, what rewards you get, how much it cost to fight them, etc:
List of ordinary monsters
List of unique creatures
Go back to the Sidequests page.
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