[thien_tai_xxx]

Hi !! I'm ThanhTung
This is Excalibur II FAQ
First of all, this FAQ is solely for the purpose of acquiring the
elusive Excalibur II Sword for Steiner in FF9, and assumed that you
have completed the game already and mastered every nook and cranny of
it. The goal is to reach the ! mark in "Room of Emptiness" in the final
dungeon under 12 hours. Anything later and the ! mark will disappear.
This sidequest will pit you against time and skills so you'll need to
learn a couple of things before you start:

a)You have to know the game very well at the tip of your fingers. You
need to know clearly what to do next so you won't waste time
remembering and wandering aimlessly.

b)Skip ALL ATE events unless instructed.

c)Skip ALL FMV movies. IF you use a PSX, open the disc-cover until the
disc stops rotating and immediately close it back. For PS2 owners,
eject the disc and close it back in. FMVs take up a lot of time and
skippin them this way drastically reduces your clock-time.

d)Before you buy equipment, always save your game and plan what you
gonna buy and equip. Reset the game after that and rush through your
purchase again.

e)Try to have minimal encounters. Most areas are possible to have less
than 3 encounters. If you do have an unnecessary encounter, escape
using Zidane's 1st skill. If you felt there are way too many encounters
while in a dungeon, reset by pressing L1/L2/R1/R2/Select/Start all at
once and retry again. My trick to reduce encounters is to stop for a
while after running a short distance.

f) L1/L2/R1/R2/Select/Start. You're gonna use that a lot!

g)Skip all dialogue very quickly by pressing the 'CONFIRM' button very
rapidly. You'll have sore arms but it cuts down time.

h)Save game often, especially before and after a dungeon/town. But do
not save too much as it takes time. Try to set aside a few empty slots
and not just use one slot for the whole game.

With that said, I hope you have a lot of patience, endurance and
commitment to get this Sword for Steiner. But this is NOT a guaranteed
Guide and the stipulated time I've added in are general guides, a lot
still depends on your personal game and how you choose to play it.