Learn abilities without losing useful equipment
Turn item lessons into permanent commands and activate the support effects you need.
Original 2000 PlayStation game across four discs. The screenshots include the original PAL Spanish localization; character names and menu labels can differ by language. Remaster boosters, autosaves and later graphical changes are outside this guide.
Pictures for this guide
Read the lessons before replacing gear
A character can use an eligible item's ability while the item is equipped, even before mastering it. Winning battles awards AP toward those lessons. Once the required progress is complete, the ability remains available after you remove that item. Compare the learning bar as well as the attack or defense value before accepting an upgrade. A slightly older item may be worth using until its useful lesson is finished.
Spend Magic Stones on support abilities
Action abilities add commands such as spells or special attacks. Support abilities work during battle only when you activate them in the Ability menu, spending from that character's limited Magic Stone capacity. Learning a support ability does not automatically switch it on. Select status protection that answers the current dungeon's enemies, then fill the remaining capacity with useful offense or recovery effects. Recheck the active list after changing an item that supplied an unmastered ability.
Keep equipment for synthesis and summons
Synthesis shops combine specified items with gil to make new equipment, so selling every old weapon as soon as a stronger one appears can remove a useful ingredient. Keep a small reserve and inspect new recipes when you arrive in town. Dagger and Eiko also learn summons from particular jewel accessories. Optimize chooses equipment for statistics and may bypass those lessons, making a manual inspection valuable whenever you want a new ability.
Mastering and activating are separate: a learned support ability still needs Magic Stones assigned to it.
Picture details
Game artwork belongs to its respective rights holders.