How to

…get the Combat King magazines

Zell can learn five new moves by reading the corresponding five Combat King magazines. All the issues can be found during DISC 2 or DISC 3; the first one during the District-D prison part, the second and the third in Balamb City, the fourth in Esthar City and the fifth in Lunatic Pandora.

In case the player misses one or more issues, there are two possibilities. The first one is entering the combinations as one with the magazine would do (since it isn’t required to read the magazine to perform a certain move), the second one is to buy the missing magazine(s) from shops, such as Karen’s Book Store in Esthar City.

Here is the list of where the magazines can be found and what is necessary to do in order to get them.

  • Combat King 001: Galbadia’s Prison Tower, first floor (DISC 2)
  • Combat King 002: Balamb Hotel (Galbadian Invasion), defeat Fujin and Raijin (DISC 2)
  • Combat King 003: Balamb Hotel, Pigtail Girl side-quest (DISC 2/3)
  • Combat king 004: Esthar (before the arrival of Lunatic Pandora), talk to an Esthar soldier. Take Doctor Odin’s laboratory as benchmark, go right twice, then go straight on, turn left to walk on the staircase and finally go left twice, where there is the Esthar soldier (DISC 3)
  • Combat King 005: Lunatic Pandora. Enter Lunatic Pandora and use elevator 02, go on till you see a fork. Take the first way on the left and proceed till elevator 03: there should be a staircase in the bottom right corner of the screen. Walking down the stairs, you will see a Chaos drawing point. Now go left; the magazine can be found at the right side of the screen (DISC 3)

Once the magazine has been obtained, learning the new move is very simple. You only have to select the Combat King Magazine from the list in the Item Inventory, once you click on the magazine Zell will acquire his new move automatically.

…get Zell’s card

Zell’s card can be won as early as in DISC 1, I usually get it before going to Timber since it is a significant addition to the card collection both at the beginning of the game (when strong cards are rare) and at the end (ironically enough, I think Zell’s card is great when used along Seifer’s).

Most of Player Cards belong to character closely related to them, Zell isn’t an exception as his card can be won from his mother. The only requirement to get it is to have him in the party, otherwise his mother won’t use this rare card. First of all head to Zell’s house in Balamb and speak with Ma Dincht, then leave. When coming back, she will be willing to play cards. She isn’t very difficult to beat and, aside from Zell’s card, she uses high level cards so it can be useful to stock some.

From Zell’s card you can get 3 Hyper Wrists; one Hyper Wrist teaches to a Guardian Force the STR + 60% Ability, ten Hyper Wrist mod into one STR UP, which permanently raises by one the Strength parameter of a character.

After modding Zell’s card it is still possible to get it back under one condition: defeat all the CC Group before entering the Lunatic Pandora (DISC 3). I would recommend to spend some time in completing the collection because this is a great way to gain rare items making the most of Triple Triad and Quezacotl card mod ability.

All the seven members of the CC group can be found during DISC 4 in Ragnarock (to play against Quistis put her in you party, go to the Airlock room, get in front of her, then press the square button). If you haven’t missed a lot of cards during the game, each CC group member will likely have one so, for example, if you win a rare card from Quistis look for the next one from another player. Also keep in mind that each player will use the rules of a specific place (Jack = Balamb, Clubs = Dollet, Diamonds = Trabia, Spades = Esthar, Hearts = Fisherman’s Horizon, King = Moon, Joker = Centra).

Normally I play against Diamond1 using Squall, Seifer, Zell and two other level 9 or 10 cards. Diamond tends to use the same patter over and over again: she begins by placing her first card in the upper-left corner, the second card will usually go in the upper-right corner, then she will go random. The best strategy is to fill the left side first, then the top, and finally turn cards in the remaining spots.

  1. The reason I tend to pick her is because, from my three gameplays, I noticed she is the one holding all rare cards, including those painted by the Queen of Card’s father. I find it easier to beat her, rather then the Queen of Cards in Esthar. Also when Diamond doesn’t use a particular rare card, try with either the girl to her left or the other girl to her right. [↩]