How to get loads of exp on the first disk

[dappa]

You can defeat a grand dragon on disc one by doing this. When you leave lindblum for the first time go to qu's marsh and get quina to join your party.

Take quina back to lindblum and exit lindblum through the business district. There is a forest near pinnacle rocks. Fight the monsters in this forest till the bomb monster shows up (you may have to be patient as it rarely shows up).

Make quina eat a bomb and it will learn the 'mustard bomb' spell.

Go to the popos heights above gizamalukes grotto and challenge a grand dragon to a battle. Cast the mustard bomb on it and it will die when it trys to attack you.

This method relies on you getting the first attack on the dragon and the spell not missing it. When you defeat it make sure you save after each time because even if you manage to get your party to high levels using this method the grand dragon can still wipe you out as you have low strength armour.

Another method that works is go to the forests around the chocobo's forest and fight the mandragoras (the plant like monsters that throw nuts at you).

Get quina to eat one of them, quina will learn the ability 'limit glove'. Take quina to to gizamalukes grotto and delibrately ko him, then revive him.

There is a chance that quina will have 1hp when revived (if not keep repeating til you get 1hp)

Take quina to the popos heights and challenge the grand dragons to a battle. Cast 'limit glove' for 9999hp damage. Make sure your other party members stay idle and wait for quinas next turn. Have quina cast 'limit glove' again to finish the dragon off.

This method relies more on luck than the first method as you have to hope the dragon attacks both times with its claws rather than using thundaga and not hit quina either time.

You may want to try this method on the garudas that inhabit the forests in the popos heights first as they can be killed off with one hit with the 'limit glove' plus you still get a few thousand exp for your trouble.

This is quite useful for getting your characters to level 50+ early in the game so you can challenge the tantarion with high levels on disc two.

[2 + 2 = 5]

Anotherway to to beat Grand Dragons on Disc 1, Is to make sure Freya wins the Festival of the Hunt in Lindblum. If she does you will recieve a Coral Ring which absorbs 100% of Thunder attacks. Equip this on someone and just keep attacking, reviving the dead characters whenever there hit with Thundaga. It takes a while but is possible on Disc1.

An easier way to do it before you fight Tantarian, Is to buy 2 extra Coral Rings and a Reflect Ring when in Treno. Then you'll be Invincible to the Thundaga attacks and will be able to reflect some of it back to kill him faster. You could also buy Maidains Rings, Fairy Rings and Pearl Rouges from the Auction House, which have the add-on ability for quick LV Up.

The only problem with Leveling Up early in the game though, Is that your Stats suffer. It's alot better to try to reach Memoria at a low Lv and then Power Lv Up.

[dappa]

I once tried the method where you equip a coral ring to one of your characters and attack the dragon but got fed up with it as it was taking ages but it does work though.

I noticed that aswell that new members who join your party have the same level as zidanes level but seem to always have around 10 less for every stat including ability stones. I always thought that the stats they had when they joined were what they should've been if they had levelled up naturally. Thanks for clarifying that 2 + 2

[dappa]

I was thinking the other day that If you deliberately ko zidane when you are defeating all these grand dragons on the first disk using the above methods then everyone else will get high levels and zidane will stay at a low level thus not ruining eikos and amarants stats when they join your party, as new recruits will always have the same level as zidane.

[Mega Flare]

Another Method of defeating grand dragons is to get the Oak staff on the first disc and have Vivi get to level 40 first.

Then go into gizamalukes grotto and go up to the grand dragon area but don't fight them.

Then save your game and fight Garudas first and weaken them first then make Quina eat one to learn white wind.

Then save agen and go to fight grand dragons put vivi and Quina in the back row and give Vivi the coral ring then use bio on the grand dragons to kill them off.

This does work as this is wat i did against them it takes time for vivi to get to level 40 but it's worth it.

Ps Dappa try not to double post there is an edit button you know

[ultimate vivi]

I just die

[Doctor]

That is quite an interesting method. It's been so long since I have played so I don't remember exactly how I did it...I think I equipped Coral rings on everyone...

But I do know that fighting the Gimmie Cat (which is in the Dagurreo area, at the foot of the cliff,) repeatedly is a good way to make gil. You reap little experience, but hell, you get a lot of moolah if you fight them :D

[Yggdrasill]

I use the limit-glove method. It's the most effective as you can kill them in 2 turns.

[dappa]

limit glove on the first disk, a bit of luck on quinas part, two turns and the pesky dragon is dead.